Chapter 2

As the three girls entered what looked like a waiting area, Fubuki saw that there were several round tables with other girls talking to each other. Then one of them, slightly taller than Fubuki and with a darker blonde hair than Bismarck looked up at them, calling out, "oh sie da Bismark, was war die Aufregung da draußen, Sag mir nicht, dass Ts-vier wieder etwas angefangen hat (oh hey there Bismark, what was the commotion out there, don't tell me Z-4 started something up again)," she seemed to ask chuckling?

Z-4 looked annoyed before retorting, "Jetzt halte es genau dort, Prinzi, das letzte Mal, als ich nachgesehen habe, dass du selten über diesen Raum hinausgehst, also wage es nicht, dich über mich lustig zu machen (now hold it right there prinzi, last time i checked you rarely go beyond this room so don't you dare make fun of me).

This only caused the other girl to burst out laughing while the girl she was just talking to rolled her eyes like it was a common occurrence. After calming down a bit the girl then turned her gaze from Z-4 to the girl she was still carrying, "oh, ein besucher (oh, a visitor)," she said waving to Fubuki, "und wer könntest du sein, kleiner süßer Kuchen (and who might you be, little cutie pie)?

Fubuki noticed that all the others were now looking at her curiously, which was making her nervous. Then Bismarck cleared her throat and spoke, "Alles klar, das ist Fubuki, sie ist hierher gekommen, um unsere Hilfe gegen diese seltsamen Kreaturen namens "Abgrund" zu suchen (alright everybody, this is Fubuki, she came here seeking our help against these strange creatures called "abyssals")."

Everyone seemed to mumble in confusion about what Bismarck had just said, but soon a girl who looked like Z-4 except her hair was a light ocean blue and down to her neck, she eyed Fubuki as if she were examining her while asking inquisitively, "kannst du mir sagen woher du kommst (can you tell me where are you from)?"

Fubuki looked baffled about what how she was supposed to answer Z-4 said, "beruhige dich Schwester sie kann unsere Sprache nicht verstehen (calm down sis she can't understand our language)."

The inquisitive girl looked a little embarrassed at herself before trying again, "sorry, I'm just curious about where you're from?"

"It's ok," Fubuki ressured, waving her hand, "I'm actually from a naval base a long way up north," she then answered the girl's question.

The girl's face lit up as if it were a lightbulb, "oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, you're an actual northerner!" She shouted with pure glee, startling Fubuki.

Z-4 chuckled at what was going on in front of her, "that's my older sister, well one of them anyway, she's Z-3," she introduced her sister to Fubuki.

"I have so many questions," Z-3 said so quickly Fubuki could just barely process what she was saying. "Are you the only northerner or are there others and if so what are they like, what do you eat, what does your base look like, is it on the surface or in a cave like us, what do…" Z-3 bombarded Fubuki with questions until a noticeable growl interrupted her.

Fubuki blushed from embarrassment, "sorry that was my stomach, I haven't had anything to eat for almost 2 days," she nervously chuckled.

"I think I can help you with that," another older girl offered, pushing aside Z-3, her uniform was just a dark gray trench coat with different emblems and symbols either pinned or engraved on it and a lighter gray skirt that went down to her kneecaps, her hair was like light brown with a hint of pink, she also wore cap as gray as her coat that covered the top of her head, her cap somehow reminded Fubuki of one that a NCO would wear. "I could whip something to hold you down till dinner time," she offered.

"I really appreciate that," Fubuki accepted the offer. "I just hope I'm not putting too much on you guys," she said worriedly.

"It's ok, don't worry about it," the girl reassured Fubuki, "oh I'm Konigsberg by the way, the name ship of the Konigsberg class light cruisers." She introduced herself before darting off.

After a few minutes, in which Fubuki had already gotten to know some of the other six girls in the room: like Deutshland, the name ship of the Deutshland class battleships though the others many called them "pocket battleships'' due to them being smaller than most battleships, Prinz Eugen, the third in the Adm Hipper class heavy cruisers but also goes by the nickname Prinzi, and finally the other two destroyers Z-2 and Z-1. Konigsberg came back out with a plate full of steaming food. After Fubuki caught a whiff of what Konigsberg was carrying, she couldn't help but be entranced by the smell, though she couldn't tell if it was because of the food itself, her near starved state or both. "Tada," the light cruiser placed the plate along with a knife and fork on the nearby table, "I hope you like it,."

"Wow that smells good," Fubuki complimented. Having regained enough of her strength to walk over and sit down at the table, she stared at the plate before her in wonder, having not seen any kind of food like this before. "Would you mind explaining to me what this is exactly?" Fubuki asked, picking up the knife and fork.

"It's call Bratkartoffeln," Konigsberg answered, "essentially it's peeled potatoes that are sliced and mixed with sliced onions and fried in oil, I like to add salt and pepper during the frying process as a way of adding more flavor to the otherwise bland potato slices," she further explained.

As Fubuki put the first piece of potato in her mouth, she smiled from the flavor and at the fact she was finally able to quench her hunger. "Mmmm, this tastes great," Fubuki complimented. She quickly eats all the food, leaving her plate clean.

"I'm glad you liked it," Konigsberg said thankfully, "I've been trying to hone my cooking skills for a while now."

As Konigsberg took the plate away from Fubuki, another tall girl, this one with silver hair, a white uniform and cap and light black pants sat down next to her. Looking up at her, Fubuki couldn't tell if she was actually scowling at her or if that was just how her face looked. "So Bismark said that you came here suggesting our help against these things called "abyssals", so what are these exactly?" She asked Fubuki.

Fubuki didn't know how to explain but she just decided to say what popped into her mind, "well, they're these mutated shipgirls, but they act more like mindless creatures and basically took over the seas, but from what Exatior told me, they are possibly fleetgirls that had been killed."

"So they're like undead fleetgirls," the girl asked her?

"Yeah, that's what it looks like," Fubuki answered. "By the way, I didn't catch your name yet," she asked the girl?

"Oh, it's Graf Zeppelin, but I don't mind if you just call me Zeppelin, by the way I'm the name ship of Graf Zeppelin class aircraft carriers." she explained with pride.

"So," Fubuki started unsure whether or not to ask what was on her mind.

"Hmm," Graf Zeppelin raised her eyebrow in wonder "what's on your mind?"

"So Bismark told me that you may have had some history with the ones who were responsible for creating the abyssals," she said, "the Freedom Fighters?" She asked

Zeppelin's face quickly tensed up before responding, "y… yes, we do." Zeppelin then turned to look at Bismark, "Bismark, du hast ihr die Geschichte noch nicht erzählt, oder (Bismark, you haven't told her the story yet have you)?"

Bismarck turned to look at the two of them, "Nein, ich wollte sie euch zuerst vorstellen, bevor ich es ihr erzähle (no, I wanted to introduce her to you guys first before telling her)."

Zeppelin stood up and walked off to the side, while Bismark moved on and sat down next to Fubuki. "What were you guys talking about?" Fubuki asked, confused

Bismark looked at her with a serious but gentle expression, "I said I'd tell you more about our history with these so called," Bismarck clenched her teeth before uttering, "Freedom Fighters." Fubuki already heard briefly from Exatior that these Freedom Fighters weren't what their name made them out to be, but was still surprised by the vile tone Bismark had when saying their name, "well brace yourself," Bismarck warned, "because this story isn't really a happy one."

"Well I'm ready," Fubuki said confidently, "I mean the worse thing I've seen was one of the visions Exatior showed me in which I saw the girl I love get mercilessly destroyed by enemy dive bombers, so I think I can handle this."

Bismark smiled, "well then, let's get started shall we."