Heya, Salo here! My update speed's shit, yeah, I get that lmfao, but I'll try my best to speed up. Life does suck at times, yeah.

Also, I've been collaborating with Lady Darkhound (yeah, she writes Hell on Tracks, which I really recommend!) on a GuP/KanColle crossover fic called Yet Still We Sail, and it's here on FFNet, so please go check it out! It's posted by Darkhound, so I reckon it'll be faster if you guys looked her up and find the fic from there. And for those of you who do follow her, you know she loves fast. So get to it!

And of course, a big thanks to her for helping me out! She's been a really great help so far, and I really appreciate it!

Anyway, here's Chapter 3! I hope you guys enjoy it!

Three: Family

A few minutes after she slipped back into her house, Louise finally mustered the courage to get out and brave her way through the media. She had to get out of her house sooner or later anyway, after all.

This was obvious, but Lou wasn't a fan of crowds. Especially one with their attention directed at her.

And after politely telling the reporters to go away and leave her be to no avail, her shyness had been steadily replaced with annoyance.

"(Piss off…)" she muttered under her breath as she pushed ahead through the crowd, looking straight ahead. She tried her best to ignore the camera flashes and the incessant, annoying flurry of questions that was just thrown at her by the reporters.

"{What do you have to say about the tank in your house?}" she caught one reporter shouting at her.

"{What did the authorities say they're going to do?}" another shouted.

"(We saw the Japanese girls enter your house! What part do they play in this?)"

Ignoring all of them, she walked on towards the bus stop, hoping the reporters would get a hint.

They didn't.

The young Tuckerman sat down on one of the benches at the bus stop, frowning as the incessant camera flashes, shutters and shouting continued. Thankfully, however, the police managed to get the crowd to stop getting close to her, and the bus arrived not long after that, the girl wasting no time to quickly hop on.

As the bus began to drive off, she watched out of the windows as the crowd broke free from the policemen and began to give chase. A futile effort, of course, as the bus was simply faster.

"{You might WHAT?!}"

"{I-It's like I s-said,}" Lou winced nervously and timidly as she gripped the paper cup of coffee in her hands, feeling like she might actually sink into her chair. "{I m-might be going to Japan really s-soon…}"

Surrounding her desk were her three friends, the three of them having managed to find a moment of fresh air for Louise during lunch, away from the massive attention and resulting crowd that had greeted and followed her around the moment she arrived just a while ago.

"{Alright, so let me get this straight,}" Laure continued, picking up from where Irene had stopped. "{there's a tank in your basement, that's one thing. But now you're saying you'll be leaving?}"

"{Y-yeah, if all goes well…}" the young Tuckerman nodded meekly. "{T-the American-themed school is seeing whether t-they can get Ace, and if that works they'll like me to c-come along…}"

"{But that's great!}" Irene beamed. "{Congrats!}"

"{Yeah, i-it is!}" Lou smiled in return. "{B-but..}" she faltered.

The boisterous French girl blinked. "{Well, what's the problem?}"

"{W-well … I won't get to see you guys anymore...}"

There was a small moment of silence.

"{... Oh,}" Irene broke the silence. "{Oh, yeah…}"

"{How soon will it be?}" Carole asked.

"{I'm not sure actually… But I t-think it shouldn't be too long after, since they've got to g-go home too...}"

Louise looked down at her coffee in sadness and shame, tears beginning to well up in her eyes. "{I… I don't know what to… we four... }"

There were a few moments of silence.

Then, out of the blue, a pair of warm hands gently clasped over Lou's hands.

Looking up, the young Tuckerman realized that they belonged to Irene, who had now knelt down in front of the desk to look the French-American girl in the eye.

"{Hey, it's okay,}" the energetic girl replied soothingly, a wide, warm smile on her face. "{It's not like you're disappearing for good, we can still talk online! Even through the phone!}"

"{B-but it's not the same…}"

"{Not at all,}" was the reply from the boisterous girl that interrupted her soft-spoken friend. "{It's definitely not the same as having you around. But that's pretty darn good already! We're going to be in contact for a long, long time! Don't you guys think so?}" she asked, turning her head to the other two girls.

Both Laure and Carole nodded approvingly.

"{Come on now, you're about to get your big break in life!}" Irene continued, turning back and patting Louise on her shoulder. "{That's something to celebrate! What are you doing crying?}"

"{Yeah, cheer up,}" Laure joined in, kneeling down beside Lou on her left. "{We're here for you.}"

"{And we'll always be here for you,}" Carole smiled as she knelt down as well, on the right side of the young Tuckerman. "{Just call us.}"

"{Not in the middle of the night, though!}" Irene laughed. "{But yeah, you can always get us!}"

Touched, Lou smiled, tears beginning to roll down her cheeks. "{Y-you guys…}"

"{Aww, c'mere!} Irene laughed as she moved over to hug the crying girl, along with her two other friends.

"{T-thank you so much…}" Lou sobbed, both happiness and sadness mixed in her crying.

"{Hey, that's what friends are for,}" Laure comforted her friend. "{Come on now, it's alright.}"

And for the next few minutes, the four friends stayed together, Lou locked in between her friends until she finally stopped crying.

There was barely enough time left for them to eat, but they managed well. Over food, they discussed plans; plans that they will enact for the next few days before Lou left.

A few hours later, after the last class was over, the four girls had gathered underneath a tree away from the school buildings; a tree that they had designated their own spot since the early days of their friendship. The area was quiet, not many students choosing to frequent there. Precisely why they liked it.

"{Man, it's been a while, hasn't it?}" Irene beamed as she leaned against the back of the trunk. "{When was the last time we came here?}"

"{Last year,}" was the near-immediate reply from Laure as she sat down beside the boisterous girl.

"{That long already?}" Carole puzzled as she sat down, gesturing to Lou to join her. "{Felt like it was just a few months ago.}"

"{Well, time flies when you're having fun,}" Irene commented. "{Speaking of which, what are we gonna do?}"

"{A meal for sure,}" Carole suggested. "{Our favorite spot!}"

"{We can have a sleepover too,}" Laure inputted. "{It's been a while.}"

"{Hell, even a barbecue sounds nice!}" Irene stretched. "{Nah, scratch that, I wanna try Louise's cooking again! You're great in the kitchen!}"

"{A-am I?}" Lou looked up.

"{Yeah!}" the boisterous brunette nodded eagerly. "{Your steak's the best!}"

"{And your uncle's escargots are perfect!}" the bespectacled blonde girl added on.

"{He does make the best, heh,}" Louise smiled.

"{I'm guessing dinner's what we're going for then,}" the dark-haired girl noted. "{Tomorrow night or so?}"

"{That sounds alright,}" the ponytailed brunette nodded. "{I'll ask my uncle when I get home later. He'll probably say yes, though.}"

"{Sounds good!}" Irene beamed. "{Ooh, that reminds me, want to sing for us again?}"

The young Tuckerman immediately began blushing. "{W-wait a second…}"

"{Yeah, that's a good idea,}" Carole nodded. "{We haven't heard you sing in a while! Just sing do that one for us!}"

"{You said that one meant a lot to you before,}" Laure continued, "{and you did win that competition with it. It's almost like it's your theme song or something.}"

"{Oh, no, I wouldn't say that,}" Louise chuckled. "{It's very significant to me and I've been through so much with it, yeah. But that doesn't mean that it's my leitmotif or something like that, that's reserved for something else.}"

"{Oh?}" the boisterous brunette piqued up. "{Then what is?}"

"{I'll tell you when I find it, heh.}"

"{Well, then I hope you find it!}" was the cheerful reply. "{Still, sing for us!}"

"{Yeah! Please?}" Carole asked as Lou's three friends looked at her with hopeful eyes.

"{E-ehh…}" Lou blushed, a little embarrassed.

"{You'll be fiiine,}" Carole reassured the ponytailed brunette. "{We're alone, aren't we?}"

"{Y-yeah…}"

"{Come on now, just do it,}" Laure joined in.

Louise scratched her cheek shyly. "{F-fine, just lemme…}"

Hearing this, her three others looked on in anticipation.

Seeing how her friends were staring at her like that, the young Tuckerman looked away shyly. "{Do I have to…}"

"{Just do it!}" was the excited reply from all three.

"{A-alright! Well, here goes…}"

She cleared her throat.

And finally, mustering enough courage, she began to sing.

"Oh Shenandoah,

I hear you calling.

Hi-oh, you rolling river!

Oh Shenandoah,

I long to hear you,

Hi-oh, I'm bound away,

'Cross the wide Missouri.

Oh Shenandoah,

I long to see you…"

The whole day had already gone by, most of it spent negotiating, arguing and making countless phone calls.

But despite everything, the future of Ace was still yet unsecured.

Okay, maybe that simply sounded worse than it actually was. While it was true that Ace was still not officially in Saunders hands, the negotiations had already reached its final stage. As the Japanese group and the uncle-niece pair waited for the replies from the calls that Mr Bastien Arsene Rigal was busy making outside the Tuckerman residence, the atmosphere was one of worry and tension.

The fact that some of the policemen were still around provided zero comfort to anyone. The large truck and trailer parked right outside the house definitely didn't help either, though the crowd of paparazzi and bystanders had long since dispersed.

Down in the basement, Louise stood in front of Ace. The policemen that once surrounded the Easy-Eight had already left earlier in the day, and this was the first time since her discovery that both the girl and M4 were alone. The red tape around the tank had been removed, too; there was simply no need to cordon her off anymore.

In the brunette's hand was an old photo album. An album that belonged to her grandfather.

Climbing up the hull of the American medium tank and onto the hatch, Lou temporarily set the album down as she used both hands to grab the commander's hatch. With a metallic creak, the hatch was easily pulled open.

I'll need to oil that later, Lou thought to herself as she let the hatch rest open, grabbing the album and climbing down into the turret once that was done. The interior was naturally dark, but the lighting pouring down the hatch from the basement ceiling provided adequate lighting for the young Tuckerman as she sat down on the commander's seat.

This wasn't the first time she was going to be looking through the album, but she had been looking through it these past few days. It contained many memories, from more recent times to periods far before she even existed.

Opening the back of the book, she was greeted with one of her from a few years back, taken with her grandfather and uncle. Behind them was an early production M4A1(75), painted in a darker shade of olive drab than that of the standard American OD 319.

Lou remembered that day. They were taking a vacation in Britain and visited the Bovington Tank Museum. That M4A1 behind them was Michael, the oldest surviving M4 in the world.

Flipping on, the brunette came across a picture of her on her 4th birthday, taken with a birthday cake and the rest of the family, including her mother.

It had been so long, but she still missed her.

Moving on, it felt like she was going back in time as she flipped ahead, the earlier pictures having increasingly less color than the later ones. There were pictures of her mom in various places, in front of the Eiffel Tower being one of the locations. And as she reached her mom's early twenties, the memories of what used to be were revealed.

There was a picture of her very-excited mom in front of a row of various tanks. Tanks of what was once the professional tankery team managed to briefly enter before it was disbanded. And before that were pictures of both her mom and uncle in the local lycee team. Her uncle, dressed in a casual T-shirt and long pants, was so dirty and oily, something that was expected from a tank mechanic. In contrast, her mother, dressed in the school's team uniform, was clean, prim and proper, something that was expected from the then-tank commander.

David, with his dirty, oily hand outstretched, was busy chasing a very-concerned Selena around, the then-17 year old girl clutching onto her side cap on her head as she ran away from her brother.

Chuckling at the scene, Lou flipped ahead. There were pictures of her mother's M26 Pershing, the team's various other tanks, more pictures of her family with her grandmother still around, her mother and uncle when they were actually kids…

And finally, the young Tuckerman reached the very first picture of the entire album.

Standing on the right side of the hull of a very familiar M4, on the shut hatch of the bow machinegunner, Archer was clearly having fun disturbing Ford over on the other side, the annoyed driver trying to retaliate over the 76 mm's slightly-elevated barrel to no avail. Sitting in front of Ford was Baby, nervously trying to break those two up, while Butter, himself sitting in front of Archer, simply looked on with amusement. And down on the ground and standing in front of the M4 was Josh Tuckerman himself, having facepalmed in exasperation. The then-freshly-painted single black spade on the right side of the front plate was clearly visible in the picture, serving as the defining identification mark of the then-brand-new tank.

This also happened to be the only picture of Ace in the entire album.

And nearly seventy years later, the tank was still around while the five men were now all gone. Her future was uncertain, sure, but at this moment, Ace was still here, alive and kicking.

"Lou? You there?" a voice called out from outside, snapping the young Tuckerman out of her thoughts.

Closing the album, the brunette stood up and stuck out of the commander's hatch. "(Y-yeah?)"

"Oh, there you are!" was the reply from the pigtailed Japanese brunette, her voice coming from the bottom of the basement's steps. "I thought you went upstairs."

"I-is there s-something?" Lou asked Alisa as she got out of the tank, now able to see the pigtailed vice-commander.

"Yeah! We've got some good news!"

The young Tuckerman's eyes lit up. "Really?! Hold on, I'm coming right now!"

Shutting the hatch behind her and with the photo album in hand, Louise hopped down Ace, following Alisa up the steps and into the living room. Kay, Ami and David were busy scrutinizing a document while the others stood by, waiting patiently.

"Oh, there you are!" Remi greeted as the group noticed the arrival of Louise. "Told you we'll get it settled!"

"W-wait, really?!" Lou blinked. "Ace is…"

"She's about to be safe!" Kay grinned. "We're just checking through the agreement before signing anything!" she explained, tapping the document in her hand. "We've got two copies to sign!"

"(Hey, I think you might want to read through it yourself,)" David continued as he passed her a copy.

"(Of course I will,)" the niece grinned as she began to read through it, making sure she scrutinized every little thing written in it.

It took a while, but after that high level of scrutiny, Louise found zero catches at all. The agreement read that the French government will not seize Ace, current ownership of the tank will be officialized to the Tuckerman family and all charges the uncle-niece pair had would be dropped, on the condition that the tank would be immediately transferred over to Saunders University High School of Japan.

"(Looks great to me!)" Lou looked up excitedly. "(Can I sign it now?)"

"(Nah, you're not old enough,)" Uncle David laughed. "(I'll do it.)"

And a few minutes later, it was done.

With one copy given back to the French bureaucrat and the other kept by the Tuckerman family, the man left, and so did the policemen.

And finally, everyone was in a celebratory mood as they watched that truck and trailer finally leave. Both Louise and Uncle David were hugging each other, the young girl laughing heartily as the Japanese group watched on happily.

Ace was safe now.

"T-thank you all," Lou thanked the Saunders command trio and JSF officials, wiping a few happy tears from her eyes. "You guys really saved Ace… I… I really don't know how to repay you…"

"There's absolutely no need to!" Kay gave the girl a thumbs-up. "We did it 'cos we want to! Oh, Lou?"

"Yeah?"

"I've got something for you~"

"W-what is it?"

In response, the blonde girl raised a document from behind her back. From that distance, the details of the first page were not visible to the young Tuckerman.

What was clearly visible, however, was the logo of Saunders University High School at the start.

Lou's eyes lit up. "Is this…"

"Your form to transfer over to Saunders, yes," Alisa beamed. "All it's missing is a signature from you and your uncle," she continued as her right hand pulled out a pen from her pocket.

Still unable to believe herself, Lou slowly approached the blonde Saunders girl. Reaching her hand out, she gently took the stapled pieces of paper from the light grasp of the Saunders team commander, looking at the details.

All these years, she had searched high and low for places she could go. Places where she could pursue her dream of tankery. Places that were not in Europe. Places where her interests weren't considered criminal activity.

She never stopped looking. She never gave up. She never lost hope.

And at long last, her efforts were now finally about to pay off.

"I… I never thought I'd get my chance like this…" Louise muttered, her hands shaking lightly.

"Well, you'd best believe it," Naomi grinned. "It's ready when you are."

"(I'm guessing these are the enrolment papers,)" David watched as Louise flipped through the pages. For obvious reasons, the document was written in both Japanese and English.

"(They are,)" the young Tuckerman nodded. "(Do you wanna…)"

"(Of course,)" the older man nodded as her niece passed her the form.

"Can we look through it first?" Louise asked the Saunders trio.

Three different variations of "Sure!" were the replies she got, and Alisa passed her pen over to the slightly-taller brunette.

The uncle-and-niece pair began to take their time to carefully look through the document, just as they had with the deal with Ace, taking great care to make sure there were no hidden catches. As they did so, Kay observed them as the others chatted amongst themselves.

That's prudent, she thought to herself.

"So, Kay, are we still needed here?" Miss Chono asked. "It doesn't seem like the three of us would be of any use now."

"Yeah, I think that's all the help you can give us," the blondie nodded happily. "Thanks for the assist!"

"It's our pleasure!" Ami gave a thumbs-up.

"No, wait, we're not done yet," Alisa interrupted, realizing something. "We still need a ride back to the camp."

"Oh, that is true," Captain Chono nodded. "Can we fit into the Merc?"

"I think it's possible to squeeze in all six of us, yeah," Remi pondered. "Four people in the rear, though?"

"Alisa can sit on my lap," Naomi suggested.

"Yeah, I ca- wait, what?!"

"It'll just be for a short while," the short-haired vice-commander responded to her blushing pigtailed partner. "I think you can do that."

"No chance, no way!" the aforementioned pigtailed vice-commander quickly refuted.

"Well, I guess you'll have to stay with Lou for the night then."

Upon the mention of her still-new nickname, Lou briefly looked up from her enrollment papers before returning to it.

"Hey, that's not fair…"

"Well, if you don't want to squeeze, that's the only option I'm afraid."

"Uhh… Kay?"

The blonde commander shrugged playfully. "Naomi's discretion."

"Hey!"

"Hey, the boot's an option too!" Naomi smirked. "You're small enough to fit in there!"

"Naomi!"

"So, what is it, Princess? My lap, the boot or Lou's house?"

"Huh?" Lou looked up again.

"Don't worry about it."

"O-okay…"

Alisa took a few seconds to grumble in embarrassment. "... Fine, I'll sit on your lap…"

"Glad to hear!" the Saunders sharpshooter patted the shorter girl on the head.

"Ugh…"

It took a while for the uncle-and-niece pair to look through everything, but when they finally did, the document was signed by both of them and returned to the Saunders girls.

"So, I guess this means you have things to settle in your school here tomorrow?" Hibiki asked.

"Yeah," was the reply from the young Tuckerman. "Though, I've already started settling things earlier today. We'll be able to handle the rest of it tomorrow."

"That's good to hear," Miss Inatomi nodded. 'Well, if there are any problems, we'll be happy to help!"

"Definitely!" Miss Takashima affirmed cheerfully.

"T-thank you!"

"Well, it's late now, so we better get going!" Miss Chono checked her clock. "You girls all did great today!"

Various positive calls came as replies from the other Japanese ladies.

"Yeah, we'll see you soon Lou!" Kay grinned.

"Y-yeah!"

"(They're leaving?)" Uncle David asked as she watched them walk towards the front door.

"(Yep.)"

"(Figured.)"

And with that, the niece and uncle bade farewell to their newfound Japanese friends as the S 65 AMG drove off into the night.

Alisa yawned tiredly as she stepped into the dark room. Dressed in a casual set of clothes consisting of a loose white T-shirt and blue shorts, she closed the door behind her and trudged noisily over to her bed, across the beds of the other two girls, guided only by the light from the corridor outside.

When they had returned to the camp just a while ago, the Saunders trio was almost immediately bombarded with attention from everyone else present. As it turned out, the news of the Sherman found in the basement had been spreading like wildfire since the late morning, and that included pictures of them photographed by the paparazzi. After a while, Kay finally relented and told everyone everything, which caused much excitement, especially amongst the Saunders girls. Though, the fact that it was an Easy-Eight was kept unspoken; according to the Saunders commander later on, the time wasn't right yet.

And over the past half an hour, the three of them quickly washed up and prepared for an early bedtime; all the events of the day had left them too tired to even talk with the others. Alisa was the last to come out from the bathroom, and by the time she returned both Kay and Naomi had already dozed off.

Finally getting the chance to crawl into her bed, the brunette quickly joined them, losing consciousness even before her head even hit the pillow.

The overwhelming smell of burning oil, metal and gunpowder filled her nostrils as she felt raindrops pitter-patter on her face.

She was still groggy.

Wait… wha-

The sudden flash of lightning and following clap of thunder immediately jolted her up, the vice-commander immediately scrambling up to her knees.

She stopped and stared at the unfamiliar surroundings ahead of her.

Well, this was clearly not the dormitory. What greeted her ahead were plains, trees and bushes. Incessant rain poured over the area, down from the massive, wide, dark storm clouds shadowing overhead.

Another flash of lightning briefly illuminated everything, followed by another loud clap of thunder.

"You're here," an unfamiliar male voice spoke from her right.

Startled, Alisa spun her head to look at the source of that voice.

It was a young man, probably no more than 20 years old. His face was dirtied with soot; so was his World War Two-era US tanker's uniform. Other things included what Alisa could immediately recognize as the M1938 helmet worn on his head, as well as the pair of M13A1 binoculars slung over his neck.

Alisa had never seen this guy before, but something felt… familiar about him.

"Who are you?" she asked.

"Just call me Josh," the young man replied, continuing to look at the younger girl.

The pigtailed brunette raised an eyebrow. "Have we met before?"

"Nope."

"Ookay…"

There were a few moments of silence, broken only by the distant flash and clap of lightning and thunder respectively.

"Where are we?" Alisa asked as she watched the man light up a cigarette, the rain continuing to pour incessantly.

The man took a single puff. "Somewhere you've never been before."

"Yeah, I can see that," the Saunders vice-commander retorted, a little annoyed. "Can you not be cryptic?"

"Look, kid, I didn't pull you here for no reason," the older man simply replied. "I'm here to show you things."

"What things?"

"Well, for starters, I think you're familiar with my tank here?" he asked, pointing to something behind the girl.

Turning around to take a look, the girl's eyes widened as she stumbled, landing on her back.

That was Ace. Yes, it was positively, definitely the same Easy-Eight back at the Tuckerman residence. The single black spade painted towards the top right corner on the front armour plate, the false muzzle and Sherman Firefly-esque barrel camouflage on the front half of that of the 76 mm M1A2, the name "ACE" scrawled in white on that same barrel…

Ace had her turret turned towards her right, her gun pointed at something in the distance. Looking in that direction, Alisa could make out the burning wreck of a tank in the distance, the flames and smoke clearly visible. That was when she realized that there were two more plumes of smoke rising into the air and being blown away by the wind; one of the sources was visible, a burning wreck of what the vice-commander could make out as an M4. The other, though, was blocked out of sight by the E8.

As Alisa recalled, Ace's paint was faded back in the basement. But here, the paint was fine. The tank was just… dirty. Dirty from use.

That was when she remembered something.

"Wait… Lou…"

"Is my granddaughter, yes," the man took another puff of his cigarette. "Joshua Benjamin Tuckerman, yep, that's me."

The brunette's face immediately turned pale.

Seeing this, Josh facepalmed. "Look, there's nothing to be afraid of, I'm not trying to haunt you or anything like that! Do I even look spooky to you?"

"N-no…?"

"Precisely! So get a damn grip!"

Alisa took a while to recompose herself. "Alright. So, you're Lou's grandpa."

"Yes."

"Okay… So where are we?"

"Technically this is a dream," was the reply from the tank commander. "But if you're looking for the answer in here, location-wise you're not actually far from that camp you're sleeping in now. Though, at this time, that camp doesn't exist. Or rather, hasn't come into existence yet. Date's August 24th, 1944. I believe Louise mentioned a battle to you girls?"

"... Yeah, she did," Alisa recalled. "So, this is it?"

"That would be correct," Tuckerman nodded as he put his cigarette in his mouth and walked ahead, climbing on board his tank.

Noticing that Alisa was not following him, he turned around to look at her. "Well what are you waiting for? Come on up!"

"O-okay!"

Scrambling to her feet, Alisa followed the man, climbing up onto the hull, then onto the turret of the Easy-Eight. Now that she was on this vantage point, she was able to see things more clearly; the burning wreck of the tank Ace was aiming at was a German one. Which made sense, of course; this was the Second World War. Behind the Easy Eight were four different M4 wrecks; the two that were burning had their turrets blown clean off.

Josh, meanwhile, had already opened the commander's hatch and slipped inside, only his upper body outside the tank while Alisa was still kneeling on the turret roof. "We were ambushed by that King Tiger there, you see," he began to explain, pointing at the burning German heavy. "Went about just as well as you'd imagine. The bastard took out Wolf there, and then Snowball at the rear. Standard ambush procedure, you know that."

"Yeah…" Alisa nodded as she continued staring at the wrecks in a mixture of awe and disbelief.

"Yeah. So we turned to angle and shoot at the Kraut, and then Peaches died. That's the one there," he pointed again. "So we decided to try to flank, but then Teddy died, so we had to improvise."

He shook his head sadly. "Obviously that wasn't enough. I only got out because I played dead. Nailed the asshole right at the back of the turret. Whole thing blew up. King Tigers keep their ammo at the back of their turrets, you see. But you know that."

"Yes. Yes I do," the girl nodded as she absent-mindedly opened the split loader's hatch and slipped down, wanting to try to get away from the rain.

There was something that the pigtailed vice-commander wasn't quite seeing, though. She didn't know what it was, but there was something.

Then it hit her. "Wait. Lou said you were the only one that got out alive, didn't she…?"

"Yeah, that's about right," Josh nodded, taking another puff of his strangely-lit and undepleted cigarette.

"So that means…"

The tank commander turned to look at the girl straight in the eye. "I won't stop you from looking."

Everything in Alisa's head screamed at her to not look inside the Easy-Eight.

But call it curiosity. Call it the lack of specific control in a dream.

Slowly, the brunette turned to look inside…

… and she promptly realized she wasn't prepared to see the gory sight that greeted her.

Blood. Blood was everywhere.

Instinctively, she pulled herself out of the loader's hatch, turning to face Josh.

That turned out to be a huge mistake.

The sight of the seriously injured, bleeding tank commander staring at her startled her as she lost her footing, tumbling back into the turret of Ace.

Reacting quickly, she instinctively curled up, covering her face with her arms as she frantically kicked herself into a corner. "GO AWAY GO AWAY GO AWAY GO AWAAAAAAAY!"

It felt like an eternity, when in reality only a few seconds had passed while she kicked and screamed.

And then, she stopped, realizing something had changed.

It wasn't just the lack of the sound of raindrops incessantly hitting the roof of the turret. The entire cruel, dark atmosphere of war having lifted away. In its stead was something warm and welcoming.

Slowly, the pigtailed vice-commander looked up.

Light was streaming through the open commander's hatch, the loader's hatch having been inexplicably closed and in a different orientation and in a different orientation. The bodies and blood of the dead crew were gone as well, the interior of the tank now clean, leaving no trace of what had once happened inside.

Slowly getting up, Alisa felt compelled to climb up the commander's hatch. And that was what she did.

The sight that greeted her was one that was both familiar and completely new to her at the same time.

This is…

This was the basement of the Tuckerman residence. But the place was cleaner than she remembered. Much less dust. Brighter ceiling lights. Less items around.

The joyful laughter of a little girl from behind the tank caught her by surprise. Spinning around, she noticed the girl and Josh Tuckerman around, working on the engine of Ace, exposed with the engine bay covers opened. The man looked… much older? In his late forties?

"Right, fire her up!" the man shouted towards the front of the Easy-Eight.

"Got it Dad!" the voice of a young boy called out in reply from the driver's seat, out of the open driver's hatch.

A second later, the Ford GAA sputtered for several seconds as it cranked, before it successfully ignited and started up. The girl cheered as the V8 grumbled happily, the RPMs slowly going up sounding smoother as the automatic choke slowly opened up.

"We did it, Daddy!" the girl beamed.

"Yes, Selena, we did it," the man chuckled, ruffling his daughter's hair. "David, you can shut off the engine!"

David?!

"Got it!"

"Daddy, have you heard of sensha-do?" the girl asked innocently as the Ford GAA was shut off.

"Sensha-do?"

"Yeah Dad, it's from Japan!" David grinned as he climbed out of the driver's hatch. "They use tanks and shoot at each other!"

Josh blinked. "Come again, what?"

"They modify World War Two tanks and make a sport out of them!" Selena explained happily. "This year they started using live rounds!"

"What?!"

"Don't worry Dad, it's safe!" the boy reassured his stupefied father. "They put in… uhh… c… carburr…"

"Carbon fiber," his older sister corrected. "They put in carbon fiber and then shells can't go in! So it's safe!"

"I… what…"

"And they use computers to check for damage!" David continued. "If they take damage that will make the tank go boom without the carbon fiber then they will disable the tank!"

"... You two are saying this is from Japan, right?"

"Yeah!" both his children grinned.

The exasperated man pinched the bridge of his nose. "What the hell is…"

"And they're bringing it to the world!" Selena beamed.

"WHAT?!"

"They're gonna call it 'tankery', 'cos it's translated from 'sensha-do'!" the girl explained helpfully.

"Y-yeah, I've got no doubt that's the case. But using tanks in a game…"

"Hey Daddy, can I use Ace if they come?"

"Use Ace?"

"Yeah, modify her so that I can command her like you!" Selena grinned.

"No, I'm going to be the commander!" David protested.

"No, boys aren't allowed in sensha-do so they're not gonna be allowed in tankery!" his sister retorted.

"What do you mean 'boys aren't allowed'..." the father muttered softly in confusion and exasperation.

"But things can change! Boys were in tanks before girls!"

"But sensha-do only allows girls!"

Alisa couldn't help but giggle at the two siblings arguing with each other.

"Right, the both of you, settle down a bit," Josh finally interjected, calming the two kids down. "I'll have to look up on what this 'sensha-do' deal is, but you two know Ace is really special to all of us. That's why I'm afraid she'll not be going anywhere."

"Aw…" both children pouted.

"Well, I'm sure if this turns out to be a good thing you two will have your own tanks to be with," the father advised. "Ace is great, yes, but having you two forge your own paths is just as good too, don't you think?"

"Yeah, that's right!" Selena agreed happily. "I'll become a commander like you, Daddy!"

"So will I!" David grinned.

"No, only girls are allowed!"

"Boys can be with tanks too!"

"Not in tankery!"

"You don't know that!"

Alisa continued to laugh, unheard by the Tuckerman trio as Josh facepalmed in exasperation.

Suddenly, though, the sounds stopped.

Looking around, Alisa noticed that things have gotten a bit dustier. The lights were just a bit dimmer, there were more things lying arou-

"Hey, you! Alisa!"

Spinning her head to the doorway of the basement, Alisa gaped in shock as a teenage Selena stood grinning at her, dressed in what the pigtailed Saunders vice-commander assumed to be the uniform of a tankery team. Grasped in her hand was a beautiful gold trophy.

"We did it!" the girl cheered happily. "Sainte Marie won the National Lycee Tournament!"

"W-wait, you know my name?!" Alisa gasped. "You can see me?!"

"Of course I do, and of course I can! Now what are you standing there for?! Don't you wanna take a look?!" Selena grinned, waving the gold trophy.

Reacting a few moments later, the pigtailed Saunders vice-commander climbed out of the commander's hatch and walked towards the cheerful girl. The Tuckerman offered Alisa the trophy, which the latter carefully accepted.

"You know how it feels like winning something for the very first time, don't you?" Selena asked as Alisa inspected the gold cup in her hands. It wasn't the main trophy, of course; that probably went to the school. Rather, this was one of others handed down to the individual members of the team. But that doesn't mean that this was worth any less than the big one; the design was simple but absolutely beautiful. "That day must still be fresh in your memory."

"Yeah, of course it is," the Saunders vice-commander smiled, recalling her very first victory Saunders had under her command. It was odd to think about the fact that that took place in the future of where this dream of hers currently was. "Congrats on the win!" she smiled, returning the trophy to Selena.

"Thanks!" the French-American girl grinned as she set her trophy down on one of the boxes around. "It's a pity Dad doesn't want to let Ace be used in tankery, or she's sure to be a beast under me!" she commented confidently as she walked over to the Easy-Eight, starting to climb the tank.

"Yeah, I'm sure she will," Alisa nodded as she continued to admire the trophy. She could tell this one definitely meant a lot to the girl. "You can never go wrong with an Easy-Eight."

"Yeah! Especially this Easy-Eight!" was the cheerful reply she got as the pigtailed girl heard her climb into the commander's hatch.

Looking up at the tank, Alisa caught a very short glimpse of the girl's head diving down into the turret.

Though, the vice-commander shook her head, noting that even she could be seeing things wrongly in dreams.

After all, Selena's hair was brown, not blonde.

"What are you doing in there?" Alisa called out.

"Nothing really, just making sure everything's clean in the turret!" was the reply she got. "My brother would check as well, but he's just gonna smear all his oil and grease everywhere!"

"I heard that!" David shouted as he ran down the stairs and into the basement.

"Have you taken your bath yet?!" the older sister shouted.

"Nope!" the freshly-bathed boy grinned. "I've got quite some oil on my hands! Wanna have some?!"

"You're bluffing! Alisa! Is he bluffing?!"

David turned to look at the Japanese girl and gave a cheeky wink.

Getting the message, Alisa smirked. "No, he's not! He really has a handful of oil right now!"

"OHMYFUCKINGGODGOAWAY!" Selena yelled as she quickly shut the commander's hatch, David running over and climbing up the tank. Undeterred, he unlocked the loader's M2 Browning from its travel lock, swiveled it around, opened the loader's hatch and jumped in.

The screams from the older sister continued for a few moments before the silence of realization, then bickering. Hearing everything go on from outside, Alisa couldn't help but giggle again.

The scene changed again. Dimmer lights, more dust, more items, more faded paint on Ace amongst other things. The mood has gotten more somber for some reason as well.

This time, an adult David was leaning against the front of Ace, looking pretty depressed. Beside him was an old Josh, who looked like he was in his late 70s.

"I still can't believe she's gone…" the younger man shook his head. "Who could've expected…"

"She gave her life to save another," the father commented sadly. "That's just like her, putting herself in harm's way to help others."

"Yeah…" David wiped even more tears from his eyes. "I wonder how Louise is taking it…"

"Louise is strong," Josh replied, "just like her mother. She's very upset now, but she'll be alright. She's got us, doesn't she?"

The son looked up at his father. "Yeah, she does."

"You know, when I pushed that girl out of that car's way I didn't really think about whether I'd be hurt in the process," a voice spoke beside Alisa. Turning her head, the pigtailed vice-commander looked at the brown-haired woman standing next to her. She was easily recognized as Selena herself, in her mid-30s.

Alisa pondered for a while. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure."

"If you had a second chance in life, if you could go back to that day, would you save that girl again?"

Selena took a few moments to contemplate. "In a heartbeat."

Just after she finished saying that, the scene changed once more. Now the basement looked rather similar to how Alisa remembered it, albeit with a few differences. This time, present down there was an elderly Joshua Tuckerman, walking stick in hand. Sitting on Ace was a familiar young girl, probably between 5 to 7 years old, her hair tied up in a ponytail as well.

"And Ace looks just as clean as ever!" the young Louise Tuckerman grinned as she hopped down the Easy-Eight, turning around to look at the tank.

"Yes, yes she is," her grandfather laughed.

"I wanna be a tanker when I grow up!" the young girl grinned. "Just like you and Mom!"

"Go for it then! What kind of tanker, though?"

"Tankery, of course!"

"Then you definitely have my blessings!" the grandfather smiled. "But you can't do that in Europe."

"I know! That's why I wanna go to another country to play tankery!"

"Ambitious, are we?" Josh chuckled. "But if you can, I'll definitely support you. I promise."

"Gotcha!" Louise gave a toothy grin. "Grandpa, all my friends say tankery is only for girls! But you're Ace's commander!"

"Indeed I am!" the old man affirmed proudly. "But that's precisely what everyone's forgetting these days, kiddo: those tanks may be crewed by girls and are used in a safe sport today, but all of them were once weapons meant to kill, manned by men who fought for their country. Men like me, my crew and any other tanker; we were willing to put our lives down to defend the world from the tyranny of the Axis Powers. And many of us did. Never forget that."

"Heheh, I'll never forget it!" the young brunette grinned happily. "Grandpa, can Ace be used for tankery?"

"Well, probably not," Josh replied. "Funny, your mom and uncle asked me the exact same thing when they were kids too."

"Then I think you can run her during those parades!" Louise suggested optimistically. "Grandpa, can I ride in her someday?"

"Oh, that's an entirely new issue…"

"My daughter really takes after me, doesn't she?" Selena smiled happily as she watched the conversation go on.

"Wait, you're still here?" Alisa puzzled.

"I never left!" was the cheerful reply.

"I see…"

"Anyway, thanks for looking out for Louise and Ace like that!" the older woman thanked. "I honestly thought that was it when the cops came down and all, but who knew luck was on our side?"

"You're welcome!" Alisa grinned, moving her arms akimbo. "It was by chance, really."

"Well, I hope that was interesting to you," an even-older Josh materialized, slowly trudging over to the pigtailed Saunders vice-commander. By the looks of it, the girl guessed that was him in recent times.

"Dad!" Selena called out cheerfully as she walked over to help her father.

"Yeah, that was really eye-opening," the pigtailed vice-commander nodded. "How old can you possibly get now anyway?" she joked.

"Well, this is it from me," the old man shrugged. "But yeah, what my daughter said. Thanks."

"It's our pleasure."

"We still have a request, though," Selena added on.

Alisa perked up. "What is it?"

"It's a simple one, one I'm sure you can easily do," was the reply from Josh. "Take care of my granddaughter and my tank. Please. That's all we can really ask for."

"Oh, you don't even have to say it, of course we will!" Alisa beamed widely. "But why do all of this with me? Why not Kay or Naomi?"

"Because we feel like it."

Silence.

"... You can't be serious."

"Of course not!" Josh laughed. "Well, first off, you're the right type. You'll be able to handle things well."

"Huh… Thanks!"

"And other than that, there are… certain things you're not aware of."

"Which are?"

"You'll find out."

The pigtailed vice-commander frowned. "You're being cryptic again."

"Yeah, we're not saying anything!" Selena grinned. "It'll come eventually!"

"Oh come on!"

"Plenty of time for you to find out," Joshua assured. "For now, you don't have to worry 'bout it."

Alisa sighed. "Fine, I guess I can take that. Louise and Ace are in safe hands. I promise."

"Sweet!" Selena cheered. "Thanks, Alisa!"

Just then, soft humming could be heard coming from inside Ace.

"Huh?" the pigtailed girl puzzled as she turned to look at the M4 again.

There was that blonde hair again.

"Huh? What's that?"

"Oh, that's just the little squirt sitting in my seat again," the grandfather replied. "You can go take a look if you want to."

Her interest piqued, Alisa climbed up onto the hull of the Easy-Eight. Looking down, she noticed Selena and Josh had not followed her. "Don't you wanna come up?"

The man facepalmed. "I'm eighty-nine years old and walk with a cane. I think that time has long passed for me."

"I'll stay with my dad!" Selena added cheerfully.

Hearing this, the Japanese girl chuckled. "I thought you spirits can do anything!"

The old Tuckerman sighed. "Fine, if you insist…"

In a blink of an eye, those two were gone.

"Huh…?"

"Well what are you waiting for?" the voice of Josh standing on the turret startled Alisa. "Come on up!"

"... Showoff…" the girl grumbled as Selena helpfully helped her up onto the turret.

Alisa looked down the open commander's hatch. Sure enough, seated down there was Lou herself, having closed her eyes as she leaned happily against the wall of the turret, humming a tune that the Saunders vice-commander did not seem to recognize. Clutched against her chest was a familiar looking document: her copy of the Saunders enrollment papers.

"This happened just shortly after you girls left," Josh commented. "She's been in here for ten minutes already."

"What's that she's humming?" Alisa puzzled.

"The Battle Cry of Freedom," Selena replied. "Civil War-era Union piece, just like the Battle Hymn you girls at Saunders are so fond of."

"Hmm…"

"You've never heard it before? You know, goes like this: 'Yes we'll rally 'round the flag, boys, we'll rally once again'..."

"Ah, I think I vaguely remember," the vice-commander recalled. "The one with 'Up with the Stars'?"

"Yep, that one!"

"Gotcha! Well…" Alisa chuckled, "I think it suits her."

"So do I!" Selena grinned.

"Well, I think it's time for us to go," Josh called out from the ground, having evidently teleported off Ace.

"Yeah, it's about time!" Selena agreed as she hopped off the Easy-Eight. "Thanks for everything!" she called out just as the garage door began to roll open, a white light beginning to fill the basement. "Take care! I can't wait to see Ace!"

"Will I see either of you again?"

"Mmm…" the woman put a finger to her chin for a few moments, before turning to the pigtailed brunette and winking.

"What?"

"You'll see~"

"Wow, come on, I'm just asking whether I'll ever meet you two again! Josh?"

"Perhaps," was the reply from the elderly man. "Perhaps not. Who knows?"

"You're being cryptic again…"

"Look, I'm a spirit, not a fortune teller," was the exasperated reply from the old man. "It's like what my daughter said; we'll see when it comes."

"Well, fair enough," the Saunders vice-commander sighed. "I'll take it."

"Good. Godspeed, Alisa."

And with that, the white light was now turning blinding as Alisa waved back at the father and daughter. For a few seconds, Selena turned around and waved back, smiling happily. "I'll see you around, Princess!"

"P-P-Princess-"

As her surroundings began to be blinded by the light and she eased back, realizing her embarrassed protest would be futile, the pigtailed brunette swore she felt someone hug her from behind.

But alas, she couldn't give it any thought before everything really turned to white.

Alisa's eyes snapped open, the sunlight from the windows shining down on her face.

Evidently, it was already morning. Looking at the two other beds, the brunette realized that Kay and Naomi were not present.

They probably let her sleep in.

Groaning and stretching, Alisa sat up, still waking up from a well-earned night's rest.

Though, that dream remained paramount in her mind. The details were slightly foggy, but it felt so… real.

Well, either way, Lou and Ace were really in good hands.

Getting up, the brunette grabbed her stuff and headed for the showers. She had a day to prepare for, after all.

She just hoped the girls remembered to leave her breakfast, though.

… Who am I kidding, it's definitely gone...