A/N: Someone in the review section mentioned something about the Destroyer Princess, and though only one person brought it up, I'm sure there were plenty of people thinking something similar, so I might as well address it here. While I am aware that the Destroyer Princess is traditionally seen as the Abyssal reincarnation of Harusame, in this story, there is no 'ship girls become Abyssals when they die' or vice-versa, so the Destroyer Princess and Harusame are not the same person. The reason for that is just because I felt like writing the Abyssals slightly differently in this story, and that the ship girl/Abyssal conversion theme has been done many times before, and it usually ends up becoming THE central aspect of the plot. There are plenty of authors who can take an overdone concept and make it great, but unfortunately I am not that skilled, so I will leave that aspect of Kancolle out of this story.
That being said, the Abyssals and ship girls are still related, and there is a reason why Harusame and the Destroyer Princess look so similar. This will be explained later on, so no point in saying it here. Either way, thank you to that reviewer for pointing this out, and thanks in general to everyone has reviewed. Well, this author's note has gone on for long enough, so onto the actual plot:
Shigure found herself back on the rainy ocean. She did not know exactly where or when she was, but she was outfitted with all her standard equipment, and so she sailed forwards, trying to figure out what she was doing there. However, the farther she sailed, the darker the world around her became, and the harder the rain poured. She was beginning to feel a sense of desperation creeping up on her, and she wondered if she would continue sailing through this emptiness forever. Finally, a lone shape emerged from the darkness, causing Shigure to sigh in relief as she recognized the familiar silhouette.
"F-Fusou, is that you?" Shigure asked timidly.
The figure turned towards her, revealing that she was indeed the battleship Fusou. Her red eyes twinkled through the rain, and she smiled at Shigure. The destroyer smiled back, but her expression quickly shifted to a frightened one as she noticed the gruesome wounds on the battleship. Fusou held an arm over her stomach but could not hide the blood spilling from it, and she coughed up more blood as flames began to spread from her wound and onto the rest of her body.
"Shigure…" the burning battleship started, staring into the petrified destroyer's eyes. "Why… Why did you run…?"
"What…" Shigure took a step backwards.
In the distance, more shapes emerged, all of them fixated on Shigure. They were the other members of the Nishimura Fleet, and though Shigure couldn't see their expressions from here, she did not feel any sort of comfort from their presence.
"Shigure," Fusou moaned, reaching a hand towards her.
"W-wait, what do you want?" Shigure asked, taking another step back. Though she normally enjoyed Fusou's company, she felt like something was very wrong here.
Fusou's red eyes filled with tears. "Ah… Are you going to run away from us again? Why…"
"I didn't run…" Shigure insisted even as she took another step backwards. "You - you all told me to escape! I didn't want to, but I had to!"
"Oh, Shigure, it hurts so much," Fusou groaned as she continued to reach for the destroyer.
It was then that Shigure realized that she must be in a dream. Now that she thought about it, she recognized that she had dreams similar to this multiple times before, and this was the part where she usually awoke. However, she felt that she had to do something different this time. The fight with the Destroyer Princess came to mind, and she knew that just like the decision she made in that battle, she wouldn't run away anymore.
Shigure swallowed nervously, but stood her ground. "Fusou… Everyone… I… I ran away last time, but this time, I promise I will stay and fight. I won't let this happen to you again. I promise."
Fusou paused, then slowly smiled at Shigure again. Shigure felt the the warmth seep back into the atmosphere, but before she could say anything more, another voice spoke.
"That won't make a difference…"
Shigure whirled around and came face to face with the bloodied and bruised body of her sister, Yuudachi. Behind her were the damaged bodies of Kawakaze and Murasame as well, all three of them glaring at Shigure.
"You all…" Shigure said, unsure of what they were doing in her dream which usually only involved the Nishimura Fleet.
"Yes, you stayed and fought," Kawakaze picked up, "but what difference did it make? Were you able to win in the end?"
"No," Murasame continued, "we were all still defeated, and we all still suffered. You were useless."
"Is that true, Shigure?" Fusou asked, her voice full of disappointment and sadness.
Shigure felt trapped. "I… I…!"
"You know, Shigure," Yuudachi whispered, suddenly right beside Shigure's ear. "Even if you stayed back then, you wouldn't have helped. I mean… What does it matter if we're all still dead in the end?"
"Shigure!" Fusou yelled before she let go of her stomach. Her blood and organs immediately gushed out, and her torso ripped off of her hips, bisecting her. Flames consumed her sinking body, and in the background, the rest of the Nishimura Fleet suffered similar fates.
Shigure stood still with horrified shock, then turned around to see the lifeless corpses of her sisters also sinking into the ocean. The rain poured harder than ever.
Frightened blue eyes flew open, and Shigure awoke from her nightmare. After taking a few steadying breath to calm herself, Shigure looked around and found that she was in bed, probably in the base's hospital. She had no recollection of what happened after she had passed out from the pain, but fortunately, it looked as if she had been fully repaired, as the parts of her limbs that the Destroyer Princess chewed off had now been replaced with new ones. She didn't know how she was still alive, but she was grateful for it. However, that good feeling was lost as soon as she remembered the fate of her sisters. The words Yuudachi said to her in her dream rang through her skull, and she frantically swept her eyes across the rest of the room to see if she could locate the other Shiratsuyu-class destroyers.
A dark blue curtain stood to her right and obscured most of the room from her view, and to her left was a window, so the only other bed she could see was the one directly in front of her. Lying in that bed was Kongou, the flagship of their ill-fated sortie. The battleship was asleep, and an oxygen mask covered her face. Either way, it seemed like she was alive, which was miraculous considering the savage blow the Battleship Princess had dealt her.
Though Shigure was relieved to see that Kongou was not dead, she still needed to know what happened to her sisters. She tried to get out of her bed in order to search for them, but her new limbs refused to cooperate and half of her body did not move at all. Unable to get out of bed, Shigure thought of just calling out to them instead, but before she could do that, someone drew back the curtain and stepped up beside her bed. The tall, broad figure with dark eyes and hair startled her at first, but she quickly recognized who it was even though she had only seen him from afar up until this point.
"A… Admiral Drake?" she said weakly.
Drake nodded. "You're awake now?"
"Um… Yes. I mean, yes, sir."
"That's good. Does it hurt?"
Now that he asked, Shigure did feel a soreness resonating throughout her body, particularly in the limbs that had been chewed off by the Abyssal. Though it was very unpleasant, this pain was nothing compared to the torture she had been put through during the actual sortie. The very thought of the Abyssal's jaws made her shudder, and she quickly pushed it out of her mind. The fact that the Destroyer Princess looked eerily similar to one of her sisters, Harusame, also unnerved her, but she knew they couldn't be related since Harusame was still at the base the last time Shigure checked.
"A little… But it's nothing," Shigure replied, then remembered her more important task. "Sir, what happened to my sisters? Where are they?"
Drake frowned, thinking. "Uh… Oh, you mean Murasame?"
"Yes. Also Kawakaze and Yuudachi. They were part of Admiral Genji's fleet."
Drake looked like he was struggling to remember their faces, but after a few moments, he was able to answer her.
"Yeah… So Yuudachi and Kawakaze should be fine, but they're both still asleep right now. Murasame is all right too, I guess, but she won't be waking up for a while."
Shigure was relieved to hear that none of her sisters was dead, at the very least. She then gathered the courage to ask another difficult question.
"Did… Did anyone sink?"
"No," Drake answered, a hint of surprise in his tone. "You all somehow managed to survive. Though the Abyssals fucked your fleet up pretty badly, the only part of a ship girl we can't reconstruct is her brain, and none of you took a shot that caused permanent brain damage. A couple girls like Murasame and Kongou were technically dead for a while, but the medics and repairmen on the Guadalcanal were able to artificially keep the blood pumping to their brains until they reached the base. It was close, but they pulled it off. Japan only has the best and brightest working with the Kancolle Program, and it really showed there."
Shigure felt another wave of relief at hearing that. "I see… Thank you. But… There is one thing I still don't understand. How did we escape that battle alive? There were fourteen Abyssal Princesses there. Did someone in our fleet actually manage to defeat -"
"Yeah, no," Drake cut her off. "From what I understand, you girls basically did no damage to the enemy and had your asses handed to you. The only reason you survived was because the Americans at Midway and Pearl Harbor received an emergency request from Genji to send reinforcements to your position. The US sent a huge squadron of B-2 stealth bombers and our fastest submarines when Genji radioed that the enemy was employing some sort of anti-air fire. The bombers dropped everything they had on the Abyssals and that 'Bethlehem' thing as a distraction while the submarines collected you all and then sped away. Unfortunately, every single bomber on that mission was shot down despite their usual ability to slip past anti-air defenses, and all the pilots died. It came at a heavy cost… I guess our Kancolle units are just that important."
"Oh…" Shigure suddenly felt a lot worse now that she learned that so many had died anyway to get her out of there. "I… I'm sorry…"
Drake shrugged. "It wasn't your fault. If anyone's to blame, it's the people who didn't see this coming, which would be us admirals. But all we can do now is recover and learn from our mistakes. It's useless beating ourselves up over something we can't change."
Shigure felt nothing behind Drake's last sentence, and she wondered if the admiral himself even believed what he was saying. Either way, she decided that it was not her place to question him.
"But anyway, I feel bad that your first sortie ended up like this," Drake continued. "So much for being in reserve…"
"It's… It's all right," Shigure replied dutifully, though she doubted she would be able to forget this mission anytime soon.
Drake nodded. "Uh, I'll be checking on Murasame periodically as well, so I'll let you know if she wakes up. But I've got to get back to work now and I'm sure you're tired, so I'll leave you to rest. I'll be back later."
The rear admiral gave her a small salute before heading off.
Drake sighed softly as he approached the Administrative Building on his walk back from the hospital in the docks. So far, Shigure was the only one from his fleet who had regained consciousness, and even then, he didn't even know what to say to her. It was also his first time meeting her, which made things even more awkward.
She must have been through a lot. If the reports of her injuries were to be believed, then Shigure got fucked up pretty badly during the mission. Though her wounds would eventually heal, that still could not have been a pleasant experience for her, especially since that was her first sortie too.
The American entered the building and continued up the steps until he reached his office. After he got back from Los Angeles, he decided to remodel his private office to make it more comfortable. The room was a lot smaller than the main office, but he also didn't have to share it with anyone if he didn't want to, so he might as well take full advantage of it. Initially the office had been pretty bare, but Drake was able to take a few things back with him from America in order to fix the place up. He had charged all the expenses to the Liberation Navy, which was really only possible because Fleet Admiral Wei was too lazy to check where the leftover funds for the Los Angeles defense were going.
Either way, that helped Drake out a lot, and now his private office was actually liveable. He installed a computer and a flat-screen television there, and he brought along an Xbox for good measure. He also added a fridge and a microwave just because he could, and he of course bought all the necessary office supplies that his desk in the main office had as well. In front of his desk and across from the wall-mounted television was something he actually found at the base itself: a kotatsu. Drake had always wanted one, and now that winter had come, it was the perfect time to use it. He still planned to do work at his desk in the main office most of the time, but this office was a great place if he ever needed some privacy or if he didn't want to disturb anyone else.
Currently, the main office was mostly empty, with only Nagato, Mutsu, and Ooyodo present. Fleet Admiral Miiro and Rear Admiral Genji had been called off to some meeting in Tokyo, and Drake guessed that they were being grilled hard on the disaster by Midway. That left him as the highest-ranking officer on the base, but since he was American, his authority only extended so far, and so Nagato was actually the de facto head of Tokyo Bay right now. The three ship girls in the main office were understandably extremely busy, and so Drake decided to leave them to their work and focus on his own in his private office. The atmosphere in the main office was also tense and slightly uncomfortable, so he was glad he had somewhere to get away to.
When he entered his office, he found Kaga, Shoukaku, Zuikaku, Bismarck, and Haruna waiting. Everyone in his fleet pretty much already knew the situation as it stood right now, but Drake had asked his flagships to report to his office to discuss it and the future plans of the fleet in further detail. He had actually said that everyone was free to come, which was why there were three extra ship girls present, but the majority of his fleet was tired from the sortie and long trip back or were busy visiting friends or family in the hospital.
"Admiral," Haruna immediately said when he arrived, "have there been any changes…?"
Drake shook his head. "Kongou and Hiei are still asleep in the hospital, but the mechanics and medics are pretty certain that they will be fine in the end."
Haruna nodded silently, but that information didn't seem to be much of a consolation. It seemed she felt guilty for coming back from a relatively easy sortie unharmed while two of her sisters were utterly wrecked by the Abyssals.
"And everyone else?" Kaga asked. "Nobody else is in danger of dying, correct?"
"Yeah, everyone will be fine eventually," Drake answered as he sat down by the kotatsu and fiddled with the remote for the television, trying to see if he could stream football games from America over some web apps.
"Sir," Bismarck began as the group of ship girls watched their admiral struggle with the gadget, "we are here to discuss the next sortie, are we not?"
"Yeah, hold on… This fucking thing…"
After a few more minutes, Drake finally got the picture to work, and playoff football began playing on his screen. "Finally. Jesus."
Ignoring the slight feeling of homesickness that the game made him feel, Drake turned back to the five girls, who were still standing by his desk.
"Technically, there is no 'next sortie' right now. INFCOM hasn't come up with any sort of strategy as of yet, so we'll just have to wait and see," Drake said, frowning as he watched his team turn the ball over on his new television screen. "Un-fucking-believable…"
"What is this shit?" Zuikaku asked, raising an eyebrow at the TV.
"American football. It's probably the most popular sport in the US, but it's not really played anywhere outside of there, so you've probably never heard about it."
"Oh? Why are they ramming each other?" Zuikaku questioned, the sport evidently having piqued her interest.
"The goal is to -"
"Admiral," Kaga interrupted, "perhaps it is best to postpone the explanation of the rules of American football for the time being?"
"Uh, right… " Drake sheepishly agreed. "Anyway, the reason I called you here was just to say what I just told you, basically. I know a lot of people at this base and in the naval community in general are pissed off and want to go after the Abyssals as soon as possible, but right now, all we can do is wait. However, there is one other thing I wanted to talk about, and that is that 'Bethlehem' thing."
Based on the look on the girls' faces, they clearly weren't familiar with what he was referring to, so Drake elaborated.
"As you know, Admiral Genji's fleet was sent to investigate Abyssal activity in that area of the Pacific, and unluckily for them, they found fourteen Princesses. However, those Princesses were only there because they were guarding this huge black tower that was rising out of the ocean called 'Bethlehem.' We don't know exactly what it is or what it does, but the few things we know for sure are that it has extremely good anti-air capabilities, its physical defenses are very strong, it is able to jam even the most advanced communications and radar, and the Abyssals are planning to use it as some sort of forward operating base."
"So it's so important that the Abyssals sent fourteen Princesses to guard it…" Kaga noted.
Drake nodded. "The Princesses have retreated inside the structure for now, but we still can't get close. We've tried sending unmanned drones to do surveillance, but they were all shot down."
"Have you tried bombing it with a nuclear weapon?" Bismarck asked.
Drake blinked. "Uh… No. Let's not go that far just yet. Right now, Bethlehem poses no significant threat to any human settlement due to its distance from them, and it has shown no significant offensive capabilities. I don't think we're going to be dropping a nuke on it anytime soon, if that will even destroy it in the first place."
"So basically we're just going to leave the Abyssals alone? After what they did to us?" Zuikaku demanded, frowning angrily.
"For now, yes," Drake slowly replied. "Honestly, what I'm most worried about is if the Abyssals use this swing in momentum to attack this base or some other country. We haven't picked up anything like that right now, but it would be the next logical step. It's what I would do if I were in their position."
"But this base doesn't seem like it has prepared any defensive measures," Shoukaku observed, a hint of alarm in her tone. "Everyone is still reeling from the defeat, and two of our admirals are not even at the base…"
Drake shrugged as he continued watching the game. "Like I said, nobody's detected any Abyssal movement anywhere near this base or any other ones. Unless the Abyssals have gained the ability to teleport, we should be able to detect them if they move into shallow waters, which they will need to do if they plan to attack a land-based installation."
"So then we are just going to sit here," Bismarck summarized. "It seems to me that is what you are suggesting, Admiral."
"If you have a better idea, I'd like to hear it."
Bismarck frowned, growing frustrated. "Well, for one, I would not be sitting here like a coward. You must take the fight to them, or they will crush you before you can even mobilize your forces. Hit this 'Bethlehem' with all our power, including every bomb and plane that our countries have. Destruction must be answered with destruction, or else the enemy will continue to pound you into the ground until you are nothing but dust."
Drake yawned, his eyes never leaving the television. "Was that a joke, or a serious answer?"
Before Bismarck could reply to Drake's unnecessary provocation and get caught up in another fight with her admiral, Kaga intervened.
"A plan like that isn't possible right now, even if we wanted to do it," the carrier simply said. "You say we should launch a lightning-fast, all-out attack on the enemy, but we do not have the resources to pull that off. Ship girls are our best weapon against the Abyssals, but a third of this base's active roster has been put out of commission. On top of that, you are forgetting the logistical aspects pertaining to a full-scale mobilization spanning across multiple different countries and governments. To be frank, a full-powered attack and a fast attack are contradictory and cannot occur together, at least not at the moment."
The German frowned at that, but she kept silent as she knew she couldn't refute the Secretary Ship's arguments.
Kaga turned back to Drake. "But sir, I do think she has a point in questioning our current actions. Simply sitting around and recovering does not seem to be an efficient use of our time."
Drake rubbed his chin in thought. "Yeah, I guess. Well, actually, we're not just 'sitting around' like you girls keep saying. The first thing I plan to do is gather information on Genji's sortie, and what exactly went wrong. I want to know everything about Bethlehem and the Abyssal Princesses. Some of the girls from our fleet fought those Princesses, so once they wake up and have had some time to recover, I'm going to ask them about the enemy's abilities. I'll decide what to do next from there."
"And what about us, sir?" Haruna asked, her normally gentle demeanor overshadowed by a determination to properly deal with those who so severely injured her sisters. "What should we do? We are still able to sortie if necessary."
"You can continue your training," the admiral simply replied. "If those Abyssal Princesses are as strong as I think they are, then you're all going to need to get a lot stronger, and fast. Even if you're not being sent out to sortie, don't neglect your training."
"Fine. I shouldn't have expected anything else out of you," Bismarck scoffed as she stalked out of the office, her blonde locks swaying behind her.
Drake merely shook his head as she left. "The rest of you can go too, if you want. I really don't have anything else to say for now."
Kaga and Shoukaku saluted and left the office, but Zuikaku lingered behind.
"Zuikaku?" Shoukaku asked, glancing at her sister.
"Oh, uh, I just had something else I wanted to say," Zuikaku told her. "It's nothing important. You can go on ahead."
Shoukaku remembered saying something similar to Zuikaku a while ago when she wanted to talk to the admiral alone, so she nodded and left Zuikaku with Drake. After she left, Zuikaku sat down at the kotatsu as well.
Drake gave her a curious glance.
"Are you that interested in the game?" he joked.
"What? No," the former Fifth Division carrier replied. "I, uh, just wanted to talk to you about something."
"Oh? Are you going to confess your love to me?"
"What?!" Zuikaku scowled even as she blushed furiously. "You think you're funny, don't you!"
"I might not be, but your reactions sure are," Drake replied with a smirk. "Anyway, what do you want?"
"... It's about the Airfield Princess," Zuikaku said after calming down. "I heard they saw her during the sortie."
Drake paused. "Yeah. And?"
"I want you to let me fight her next time," Zuikaku demanded passionately, drawing closer to Drake. "Put me in charge of the main attack."
The American shifted his gaze from the television to Zuikaku. "Why should I?"
Zuikaku faltered for a bit, but quickly regained her composure. "You've seen me in training, and during actual sorties. You don't think I'm up to it?"
"It's not that. I just don't see any reason why I would put you in charge of the attack over Kaga or Shoukaku."
"I want to be the one to defeat her," Zuikaku insisted. "I served as the Flagship of the First Carrier Division after Akagi and Kaga sank, so it's not as if I have no experience. I know I can do it!"
Drake shook his head. "First of all, we don't even know if our fleet will fight the Airfield Princess again. Even if we do, we don't know what the circumstances will be, so what you're asking for isn't even concrete."
"But in case we do find her again, you have to let me fight her!" the carrier said again, her pale green eyes burning with feeling. "I just… I just feel like I haven't been able to live up to my full potential so far…"
Drake twirled a lock of his black hair around his finger as he gave Zuikaku a hard glance before turning back to the football game. Zuikaku hadn't been difficult to figure out ever since Drake met her, and now was no different. It was clear that she felt like she was being overshadowed by Shoukaku and Kaga, something that understandably infuriated her. Her desire to fight the Airfield Princess was an effort to show that she wasn't to be made light of, and that she could do everything her sister and Kaga could do.
"How about this," Drake started, "instead of begging me to let you fight the Airfield Princess one-on-one or whatever because you think it will make you look cool, you just follow orders like everyone else?"
Zuikaku looked offended. "I'm not fighting her because I want to 'look cool!'"
"That's basically what you're saying, though," Drake replied. "Think about this, Zuikaku: to truly be a great warship, would it be better to fight because you want to satisfy your own ego, or would it be better to work with the rest of your fleetmates and defeat the enemy strategically in a way that minimizes losses? Which method do you think your sister or Kaga would choose?"
Zuikaku's expression deflated as she realized her mistake. "I… I didn't mean it like that…"
"I know what you meant. Zuikaku, you are doing fine even the way you are right now. There's no reason why you have to keep acting like you have something to make up for, okay? You're never going to feel like you've accomplished anything if your entire sense of self-worth is just based on you comparing yourself to others."
"But…"
Drake turned to her. "If we ever see the Airfield Princess again, I'm going to need you. But you're going to be most useful if you're fighting to bring victory for your fleet instead of fighting only for yourself. Understand?"
With a sense of purpose rekindled in her, Zuikaku nodded. "Yes, sir!"
A brief moment of silence followed as they locked gazes, but it was quickly interrupted by a loud cheer from the television. Drake turned his eyes back to the TV and saw that his team had just scored.
"All right, finally," he said with an approving nod.
"Huh? What just happened?" Zuikaku asked, also looking at the screen.
"The team from my city just scored," Drake told her.
"Oh? Then why are they now kicking the ball into that giant yellow fork?"
"That? Well, you see…"
Shigure smiled reassuringly at her sister, Yamakaze, who sat at her bedside. The green-haired destroyer nervously clutched the hem of her skirt, refusing to meet Shigure's eyes.
"So, um, how was training today?" Shigure started off unsurely. Yamakaze was always very timid, even around her own sisters, so sometimes it was difficult to talk to her.
"Um… It was fine…" Yamakaze answered, still not meeting Shigure's gaze.
"How are the others?" Shigure continued.
"Yuudachi was being treated when I came, so I wasn't allowed to see her… Murasame still isn't awake… But Kawakaze is in the docks now, so I think she will be fine soon…"
"Oh, that's some good news, at least," Shigure said with another smile. "I think they might let me go to the docks soon too."
"Um, yeah, that's good…" Yamakaze agreed, smiling softly before lifting her turquoise eyes to meet Shigure's blue ones. "I… I'm sorry I couldn't be there to help you…"
Shigure shook her head. "That's all right. You had your own duties to fulfill, and there's no way you could have known what would happen anyway. If anything, you've done a good job so far in a fleet all on your own without any of your sisters there to help you. That's something you should be proud of, you know."
Yamakaze blushed as she looked down at the ground again. "Tha-"
"Oh, Yamakaze, you're here too?"
Admiral Drake stepped out from behind the curtain and in front of Shigure's bed. He smirked at Yamakaze's bashfulness as he patted her on the head, and the destroyer frowned and shrunk down in her seat.
Normally Yamakaze would run away if someone tried to touch her. She must be used to her admiral by now, I guess, Shigure thought.
"Good evening, sir," Shigure greeted, as she saluted.
Drake returned the salute. "I see you can use your arm now."
"Yes, most of the pain has subsided by now. I was just telling Yamakaze that they might move me to the docks soon."
"That's good to hear. Looks like you're the one who's healing the fastest in our fleet. Murasame still hasn't woken up yet, by the way, but I'm sure it's only a matter of time… Anyway, I need to talk to you about your last sortie."
Shigure felt slightly nervous at hearing that, but she quickly realized that her admiral probably just wanted to know what exactly had happened and about the enemy's abilities now that Shigure was feeling better.
"Oh, I sh-should go then," Yamakaze hurriedly said, standing up.
"You don't really have to. It's not like this is top secret information," Drake casually told her.
Now unsure of what she should do, Yamakaze fidgeted nervously in place, then slowly sat back down.
"So, you fought an Abyssal Princess, right?" Drake started off. "I only have a general understanding of what happened during sortie right now, but considering the fact that the injuries you sustained looked like they were caused by some sort of beast, I assume they had to have been inflicted by a Princess rather than a stray shell or bomb."
Flashbacks of the Destroyer Princess and the two snapping jaws at her heels ran through Shigure's mind, causing her to suppress a shudder. "... Yes… My sisters and I fought one of them called the 'Destroyer Princess.'"
"I see… So each Princess represents a different class of ship, or in some cases, an installation," Drake said, recalling the Battleship Princess and the Airfield Princess.
"Um, sir," Shigure piped up, her curiosity getting the better of her, "are the Abyssal Princesses actually royalty? Why are they called 'Princesses'?"
"Originally, the moniker for the Princesses was something that had been intercepted from an Abyssal transmission very early on in the war, but the decoders didn't know exactly what the term meant and if it really did refer literally to a 'princess,' so calling these powerful Abyssals 'Princesses' was basically just an educated guess," Drake answered. "However, if the Abyssal you're talking about referred to herself as a 'Princess,' then it seems like the decoders got it right… But yeah, that's about all we know, so I can't really answer your question. I don't think it matters that much in the end, though."
"Ah…"
"Anyway, about that Destroyer Princess. I assume she was pretty strong?"
Shigure nodded as her blue eyes darkened. "Myself and three of my sisters could barely scratch her… She took full salvos from our guns multiple times, but she didn't appear to be damaged at all."
"Hm… Did any of the battleships fire at her? Or was it just you destroyers who fought her?"
"I can't speak for the time after I was unconscious, but from what I remember, it was just us four."
Drake had a thoughtful look in his eyes. "So we know that the Destroyer Princess definitely has armor that outclasses that of destroyer ship girls, but we don't know exactly how much stronger it is… Though the Airfield Princess was damaged by our planes, so Princess armor can't be that powerful. What about her guns?"
"I didn't personally experience them, but they were able to take out Murasame in one hit," Shigure said with a downcast expression.
"So one hit from the Destroyer Princess was able to put Murasame in that state?" Drake repeated. "Maybe we shouldn't fight her with destroyers next time…"
Shigure then remembered a crucial aspect about the Princess. "Actually, I don't know if that is a good idea, sir. That Destroyer Princess was extremely fast, so much so that I don't think even fast battleships will be able to keep pace with her. She was a lot faster than us, but… I think the destroyers are the only ones who can even hope to match her speeds."
"Yeah, that would be a problem if she could outspeed our bigger ships and then just keep hitting them while they couldn't touch her," Drake conceded. "So then we need fast ships… Amatsukaze is probably the fastest one I know…"
"What about Shimakaze from the Sasebo Base?" Shigure suggested, the special destroyer's speed being famous throughout both bases.
"Shimakaze? Oh, right, I remember Amatsukaze mentioning her. Or maybe the 'Kaze' we need to fight the Destroyer Princess is right here: Yamakaze!"
"M-me?!" Yamakaze cried out in alarm, a panicked expression coloring her face.
"Calm down, it's a joke," Drake quickly said, suppressing a laugh as he patted her on the head again.
"It's not funny…" Yamakaze replied softly, pouting as she tried to regain her composure.
"So we'll probably bring those two along," Drake continued, referring to Amatsukaze and Shimakaze. "Shigure, we might need you and your sisters again since you've fought her before. I'll obviously help you train between now and then, but be prepared to fight her again."
Shigure tried to respond with a confident 'Yes, sir!', but her breath caught in her throat as she suddenly recalled the feeling of having her bones ground to splinters and her flesh torn apart between the Abyssal's teeth. She tried to force it out of her mind, but this time, it didn't work. A cold sweat broke out on her skin, and the icy seed of fear and panic took root in her stomach as the Destroyer Princess' image came to mind. The disappointed, sorrowful faces of her sisters and the Nishimura Fleet from her dream also flooded her brain.
Everyone is going to die again.
"Shigure? Are you all right?"
Drake's voice snapped the blue-eyed destroyer out of her thoughts, and she jerked her head upwards to see her admiral and Yamakaze leaning over her bed, both of them wearing varying expressions of worry.
"Oh… I'm sorry…" Shigure said, her voice coming out in a weak whisper.
Drake's frown deepened as he gently patted Shigure on the shoulder. "You should rest some more. Don't worry about the war for now, all right? I'll take care of everything until you're out of the docks."
Shigure's face fell as she mentally berated herself for allowing such a weak side of her to be shown to her admiral and her youngest sister. "... Yes, sir."
The destroyer laid down in her bed, turning her body to face the window. She stared out at the sky, wishing her own thoughts could be as free and empty as the view. She heard Admiral Drake say something to Yamakaze, and then the two of them left, probably intending to leave her alone so that she could rest.
Shigure tried to close her eyes, but when she did, the darkness that she saw gripped her and threatened to drag her into the abyss. So she kept them open, those clear blue orbs reflecting the identical crisp color of the sky outside.