Three weeks had passed, and the verdant green leaves had given way to the beautiful reds, golds, and oranges of autumn. Taihou had been cleared for duty the week prior, and Scharnhorst and Gneisenau were beginning to work up for sea trials. I don't think I've ever seen anyone as happy as Scharnhorst when she got to test fire her guns. While I was exceptionally happy for both her and Gneisenau, I was going to miss having them as my secretaries. Gneisenau was outstanding at her job, and I liked having Scharnhorst around. But I knew keeping them, especially Scharnhorst, cooped up in the office was doing both them and the fleet a disservice, so I was prepared to let them go.

Our last week together began with discussions about the upcoming Halloween party. Much to my surprise, Gneisenau was expressing interest in attending…

"I was assisting Memphis the other day with this Halloween party you're throwing and it was brought to my attention that it would be a costume party," she matter-of-factly stated as she handed over the morning's fuel reports. "I was wondering if I would be permitted to attend."

I froze, my arm outstretched, the reports still in my hand as I peered up at her, surprised by the sudden nature of the request and of the request itself. "I'm...throwing a party?" I really did need to get out more...

"Yes," Gneisenau confirmed, "Memphis said it would be held this Friday night." When I continued to give her a clueless stare, her own stoic expression faltered. "You are throwing a party, correct? For the kansen on base?"

Just then, it finally clicked and I realized what she was talking about. "Ohhhh, the base Halloween party, right!" I nodded as I set the reports down on my desk. "I'm not throwing it, but because it's a base function, I've got to delegate it to someone. This year Memphis volunteered for it. And to answer your earlier question, you can both attend if you want to, costume or no."

Scharnhorst scoffed derisively from her corner of the office and we both turned to look at her. She sneered as she shook her head. "Nuts to that," she spat, "I've got better things to do than go to some frilly dress-up show."

"Such as?" Gneisenau cooly asked.

"Literally anything else," she huffed as she sat back down at her desk and pointedly focused on her work. With Scharnhorst's opinion firmly stated, Gneisenau and I turned back to each other.

"So...will you be attending, Kommandant?" She asked. Her tone seemed casual, but I thought I heard a hopeful note in her voice.

I sighed and leaned back in my chair as I nodded slowly. "Yeah. The girls go through all this trouble to set it up and I'm expected to be there, so I always put in an appearance."

"Would you mind if you accompanied me to the party?"

While unexpected, I didn't see any problem with it, so I nodded and answered, "Sure. As long as I don't have to go in costume."

"But I can still attend in costume, yes?" Gneisenau countered.

"Of course, of course!" I reassured her. "I'm just not much for it nowadays, myself. What do you plan to wear?"

The bespectacled kansen tapped her lollipop against her lips thoughtfully before answering. "I'm not quite sure just yet, but I want to wear something that will make me stand out from the crowd."

"Well, in any case, I look forward to seeing whatever you come up with."

Scharnhorst snorted derisively from her desk, not even bothering to look up. "For once, Scharnhorst has the right idea," I teased, earning a brief scowl from the elder sister, "we should probably get back to work…"


"Can't believe you're taking my sister to that frou-frou ball," Scharnhorst groused as she lunged towards me.

"Why not?" I asked as I swiftly backpedaled, keeping just out of reach of her fingers. "She asked, and I'm going anyway. It's not a date."

"Yeah, but you said you don't really like going to those things," she countered as she stepped back, waiting for me to make my move.

"True," I conceded before I ducked in, trying to catch her with a leg sweep that she skillfully leaped over. "But it doesn't feel right to cut her loose if I'm going anyway. She doesn't know a whole lot of people yet, and I thought it'd be nice for her to have a familiar face."

Scharnhorst seemed to think it over, then nodded in agreement. "Hadn't thought about that. And this'll give her a good chance to make some new friends while she's there." A wicked grin crossed her face as she theatrically shrugged and said, "Who knows, maybe she and Shangri-La will become best friends!"

I balked at the thought, and that momentary distraction was all it took for Scharnhorst to send me flipping through the air and flat on my back again. As I tried to get breath into my lungs again, Scharnhorst stood over me, not even bothering to pin me, that infuriatingly smug grin on her face. "I win," she announced.

"Goddammit…" I groaned as I tried to get my feet under me. "Every single time…"

"Yeah," she chuckled as she pulled me back up. "I figured you'd have learned by now. Man, she is living in your head rent-free."

I scowled at her, to no effect, and dusted myself off. "Look, it's not easy getting over someone, even if it was mutual."

Scharnhorst gave me a sad smile and shrugged again. "Wouldn't know."

Her admission came as something of a surprise to me. While she never struck me as a romantic, I would have expected her to have some experience with dating. "Really?"

"Doesn't have to do with fighting, so why would I care?" she scoffed. "Besides, look what it does to people. You can't even win a match if I bring up your ex. I've been doing just fine without a love life, and I'll be fine with it staying that way."

Despite her dismissive tone, I thought I heard a bitter undercurrent to her words. "'Tis better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all.'" I replied.

"More Shakespeare?" she snorted, rolling her eye at me. "Spare me. Besides, how true could that corny sentiment be?"

I'd never really considered how accurate the statement was, and I gave it some honest thought before I answered her. "Fairly accurate," I finally said softly. "Yeah, it may have ended, and yeah, it'll take time before I'm back to normal, but in the end, I have happy memories and I got to know the joy of loving someone and being loved by them. I would rather have experienced that happiness, even knowing it would end than to have lived wondering what might have been."

My answer wasn't what she was expecting, and for a moment, she stared at me, her guard lowered as I looked back at her. Once again, I saw anger and passion, but beyond it, I saw fear and loneliness and a deep vulnerability. She must have seen that reflected in my eyes because, in a heartbeat, those defenses were back up. "Alright, Admiral Shakespeare," she began in a tone that was supposed to be playful, but was tinged with uncomfortable awkwardness, "Enough wordsmithing for one sparring match. Let's get showered and grab lunch."


The night of the Halloween party arrived, and the base was all decorated for the event. Cobwebs, ghosts, and jack-o-lanterns adorned nearly every corner and doorway, and I swore I could hear the caws of crows and ravens in the distance. I was amazed at the sheer amount of effort Memphis, Gneisenau, and the others must have put in to get this all up in time, and made a mental note to issue them each a commendation for their hard work.

As I approached the door to the dorm Gneisenau and Scharnhorst shared, I heard their voices through the door, and, in a moment of weakness, I refrained from knocking so I could hear what was being said.

"You really won't go with me?" Even through the door, I could hear the resigned tone to Gneisenau's question.

"Damn right!" Scharnhorst's voice declared. "What's the point of some namby-pamby frou-frou dress-up party? Call me when they got a pumpkin-smashing gunnery competition or something worth my time!" I have to admit, that actually sounded like a fun idea…

"... Of course." The disappointment in Gneisenau's answer was palpable, and my heart went out to her.

Scharnhorst, on the other hand, was unrelenting in her disdain. "And what's this goblin getup you're in? Doesn't leave much to the imagination!" At this point, my curiosity was once again piqued. Goblin? Not much to the imagination? Did they make "Sexy Goblin" costumes…? It wouldn't surprise me if they did, but I wouldn't imagine Gneisenau of all people wearing it. " ...they're gonna remember you, that's for sure."

Not willing to wait a moment longer to see Gneisenau's costume, and also to avoid feeling too much like a creep, I knocked on the door and waited.

"I think the Commander's arrived. How do I look?"

"Exactly how you looked when you asked five minutes ago, you look fine. Besides, this ain't a date, what're you sweating this for?"

"I should still look presentable."

"Whatever. Just open the door, poor bastard's just sitting out there twiddling his thumbs."

Whatever witty retort I had planned for Scharnhorst died on my lips as soon as Gneisenau opened the door and I saw what she had on. Far from any goblin I'd ever seen, her costume was that of a sultry, seductive succubus if I had to wager a guess. She wore thigh-high black latex boots, sheer gloves that went to her upper arms, and a bodysuit made of that sheer satin material. Only carefully placed leather straps kept Gneisenau from being accused of indecent exposure. A pair of ornate horns and an elaborate heart-shaped tattoo just above her pelvis completed the ensemble.

"G-Gnice...Gneez…" I stammered, simply awestruck by the transformation from a no-nonsense woman to a sensual succubus in the blink of an eye. While she'd certainly had an attractive figure, I'd never realized just how attractive it was.

"Gneisenau," Scharnhorst helpfully offered, her voice dripping with barely restrained contempt.

To her credit, Gneisenau merely giggled and did a slow spin to fully show off her costume. "Everyone wants to be a witch for Halloween, so I chose something a little bit different," she said with a grin. "After seeing your reaction, Commander, I think I chose correctly."

"You're definitely...memorable," I finally managed to get out, looking her up and down as she twirled. "I don't know what I was expecting, but it wasn't this."

Scharnhorst grew increasingly agitated as she watched the two of us until she growled out a warning. "Hey, that's my sister you're eying up like a Christmas ham. Sir."

Here's where I make several key, and more importantly, really stupid mistakes that could have been easily avoided and saved me a lot of trouble later that evening. "What?" I glanced over at Scharnhorst, a big grin still on my face. "It's a good costume and she's showing it off to me."

Mistake one. Her irritation slowly crossed into suppressed anger as I failed to read the situation. "Uh-huh," she snapped back. "And the fact that you couldn't make a t-shirt out of the available fabric used in said costume isn't part of the reason at all, right?"

My irritation began to bubble up in response to her increasingly surly attitude. "Hey, I didn't ask her to wear this, she's showing it off to me."

"Yeah, well you're enjoying it too much!" She shouted.

"What do you want me to do, not look?" I replied angrily. "Sorry I've got eyes!"

And there was my second(and nearly fatal) mistake. As soon as the words were out of my mouth I realized the depth and breadth of my error, and the entire world went dead silent. I turned as white as a sheet, and Gneisenau looked nervously between the two of us, wondering what would happen next. Scharnhorst stared at me, her entire body frozen in shock for a moment. Then, slowly, it gave way to sullen, repressed anger. But not before I caught the look of deep hurt that briefly crossed her face.

"Screw this, and screw you," she muttered as she shouldered past me, knocking me aside as she stormed out into the night.

"Scharnhorst, wait!" I called out after her, to no avail. "I didn't...I'm sorry!"

I moved to go after her, but I was stopped by Gneisenau's gloved hand on my shoulder.

"She needs some time to blow off steam, calm down. I wouldn't go after her if she's like this," she warned. I looked at Gneisenau, saw the serious look in her eyes, then back at the darkened streets Scharnhorst had disappeared down. Part of me wanted to stay, to enjoy the party, along with Gneisenau's company if nothing more than to see everyone else's reactions. But another part, the greater part of me, knew I wouldn't be able to enjoy myself knowing Scharnhorst is out there, in pain, because of something I said.

With a pained expression, I placed my hand on Gneisenau, giving her a sad smile before I moved it off of my shoulder. "I'm sorry," I whispered, "but I've got to go find her. If she doesn't want to accept my apology and stay mad at me, that's fine, but I can't go have fun at a party knowing I hurt her like that without doing something, at least."

Gneisenau returned the sad smile and nodded slowly. "I understand. I don't agree with it, nor do I recommend it," she added with a wry smirk, "but I understand. If you don't survive the apology, do you have any final wishes?"

I couldn't tell if she was joking or not, so I simply put on a roguish grin and quipped, "Shangri-La gets my book collections, the rest of my stuff goes back to my family. And tell them I love them."

"Understood, Mein Kommandant." Without any warning, she leaned in and gave me a kiss on the cheek. "For luck."

I placed a hand over the spot where she'd kissed and smiled back at her. "Thanks…" I mumbled before I turned and headed out after her wayward sister…


As it turned out, finding her was far easier said than done. In hindsight, I probably should've asked Gneisenau where Scharnhorst would have gone, but it was too late now. My first thought, the gym, yielded no results, and neither did the officer's club. I thought about our first meeting when she retreated up to the hospital roof to be alone and to get a good look at the sea. With that in mind, I began checking all of the overlooks where you could get a good view of the sea and the docks. While I didn't find her there, I spotted flashes out on the training lagoon. Nobody was scheduled for nighttime training, and so I decided to head back down to check it out.

Sure enough, Scharnhorst was out in the lagoon, training hard. At the moment, it looked like she was practicing torpedo runs, dashing in, dropping a salvo, and then dashing back out again. I watched her for a few minutes before she turned, saw me standing on the shoreline, and then froze. We stood there, staring at each other, waiting for the other to make a move until Scharnhorst headed for me. She skidded to a stop, kicking up a spray of water that splashed at my feet.

"You're back?" she said, keeping her voice pointedly nonchalant as she avoided my gaze. "Good timing. I'm just about to test my guns."

"Look, Scharnhorst, I'm sorry. What I said was insensitive and-"

"You're goddamn right it was," she snapped, turning to face me, fury in her clear blue eye. "Where the hell do you get off talking to me like that? You think this is a joke?"

"No!" I protested, holding up my hands as she slowly and steadily advanced on me. "I was completely out of line, and it was a dumb screwup and I admit that. I didn't mean it, it just came out!"

The corners of her mouth curled up in a contemptible, mocking sneer. "Oh, you 'didn't mean it', so I guess I'm supposed to forgive you, then?"

"Not at all!" I protested. "Look, I just wanted you to know I'm sorry and if there's anything I can do to make this better, I will."

That stopped Scharnhorst dead in her tracks, and she eyed me up and down for a moment, then her gaze traveled to somewhere over my shoulder and she nodded to herself. "Stand right there, Commander," she ordered, pointing over at the pockmarked and blasted ground behind me. I had been backing up right towards the live-fire range for shore bombardment. "If you can take a shot from me, I'll forgive you…"

As much as I wanted to just cut and run, or ask if she was serious, the only way I was going to prove to her how bad I felt was to agree, and hope she was joking. "Alright," I nodded once, then made my way out to the middle of the range, stopping inside a large crater. It felt a little like stepping into my grave and I felt more than a little nervous. She said she'd never pull punches, but surely she'd make an exception this time….right?

I watched as she sailed out onto the lagoon, her turrets rotating and adjusting as she prepared to fire. "Any last words, Admiral?" she called out. "You know, just in case…"

"Gneisenau has my final instructions in case I don't make it," I called back, trying to keep my tone calm. I really hoped she was just messing with me on this one. This would be an unbelievably stupid way to die. "And I really am sorry about this."

Her turrets locked into position, her gun barrels pointing directly at me. I fought the urge to cower, to shut my eyes, or otherwise hide. If she was serious about this, I wanted to face this head-on, with my eyes wide open. "Anton, Bruno, Caesar... Cannons at the ready!" she called out. "Feuer!"

All nine cannons belched fire, momentarily before their shells landed. There was a tremendous roar, the earth around me lifted up, and I suddenly realized I was hurled up into the air with it. The sky and ground tumbled end over end until I found myself, once again, on my back, staring up at the night sky. At first, all I could hear was ringing, then a voice, muffled, distant, growing louder and closer.

"...mmander! Admiral! Kurt!" Suddenly, a familiar face popped into view. As usual, it was Scharnhorst, although, in place of her usual smug grin, she wore a concerned expression. I dizzily smiled up at her and she let out a long sigh of relief. "You stupid son of a bitch, I thought I killed you for a second!"

In my dazed and shell-shocked state, all I could say was, "...'m forgiven now, right?"

Scharnhorst just stared at me for a second, then regained her cool, disinterested composure. "Well, I said if you could take a hit from me, I'd forgive you so...yeah, I guess. C'mon, on your feet, sir."

Unlike our daily sparring matches at the gym, getting back up wasn't so easy this time around. As she helped me up, it felt like the world was spinning again, and I had to grab onto her to steady myself. "Really thought you were gonna pull your punches there…" I mumbled as I tried to stay upright.

Thanks to her quick reflexes and deft handling, she managed to both keep me upright and lead me out of the firing range. "So did I," she grumbled, and when I shot her a curious look, she added, "I wasn't aiming anywhere near you. Guess Cesar could do with some more calibrations."

"Yeah, might want to get on that…" I nodded. "I'm not bleeding or anything, am I?"

"Nah, you looked okay when I found you, but let's get you to someplace less exploded so I can make sure."

"Good idea."

By the time we got to the nearby shore, I was already feeling better, although I certainly felt sore. Glad I had the weekend to rest up before our next sparring session. Scharnhorst eased me down before checking me over for broken bones or other major injuries. Finally, she sat down next to me and gave me her final prognosis. "Yeah, I think you'll be fine."

"Oh, good." There was a familiar, awkward silence settling over us, and I was determined not to let it happen again. "Again, really sorry about the eye thing. I wasn't thinking, and I'm a jerk for saying it."

Scharnhorst sighed heavily and shook her head, still staring out at the open ocean. "It's alright. Wasn't what I was really mad about, anyway." She glanced over at me. "You're still a jerk for saying it, though."

"So...if not that, what were you mad about?" Her answer left me stunned.

"You and Gneisenau."

A/N-Well...he lived! At least, so far. Hopefully, he'll manage to survive the rest of the evening without any further shellfire. Until next time, fair winds and following seas!