Z23 formed her ship while Eugen and Roon helped get everyone on board. As the group boarded the ship, the trio turned to the fortress, wondering if the Commander was okay. Occasionally they'd hear explosions in the distance and worry what was going on.

First were the Iron Blood, followed by the fleet. Eugen and Roon checked the area once again, making sure they didn't leave anyone else. Once that was done, they too got onto the ship which soon moved away from the island.

When they were at a considerable distance. The group saw a bright light followed by a massive explosion engulfing the fortress.

"NOOOO!" shouted Z23, fearing the worst had happened.

But those fears were allayed when she and everyone saw Friedrich land on the ship, holding the Commander in her arms.

"What's the matter dears?" she asked, looking at them.

"We thought that you two died," said Eugen, sighing in relief.

"That would never happen," she said, smiling gently at them.

"Um, Friedrich," said the Commander, drawing attention back to him "you can let go of me now."

"Hmm?" she said, tilting her head "now why would I do that?"

"Because we're safe now."

"True, but then it would be a shame letting you go after you finally found your place in the world."

"Huh?"

"People have spent their whole lives searching for their place in the world. Yet at such a young age, you were able to find your place, here, in my arms, inches away from my loving embrace."

"MOTHER," shouted everyone in the Iron Blood, followed by the Commander being yanked out of Friedrich's grasp and into Roon's grasp, while she and Akagi were staring daggers at her.

"I knew it," shouted Deutschland "I knew there was something wrong about him from the get go."

At this, Friedrich let out a light chuckle of delight, enjoying the way her children were reacting to her statement.

"Please remain calm children," she said, "I merely said that as a joke."

This had admittedly calmed the fleet down, although the sly smile she shot in the Commander's direction told him another story. He could feel a cold chill running down his spine.

"Well," said Wales, letting out a deep sigh "I don't know about you, but I plan to take a long, hot bath when I get back."

"I'll be raiding the cafeteria when I get back," said Hornet "all that fighting's really got me beat."

"Now that I think about it," said the Commander, "we're going to need new buildings to house the Iron Blood."

"There's a nearby island we can use," suggested Z23

"Commander," called out Tirpitz.

"In light of everything that's happened," she began "from you saving my sisters to taking care of my family, I am certain that our lives are safe in your hands."

"Which is why," she added, going to one knee and lowering her head.

"I Tirpitz, leader of the Iron Blood and the Lone Queen of the North pledge my loyalty to you. From this day on your enemies are my own and all those who oppose you will know their place in the world, six feet under the ground."

At this, many of the girls from the Iron Blood as well as Eugen and Z23 were quietly muttering to themselves.

"What?" he asked, looking at the pair "what's going on?"

"Oh nothing, nothing at all Commander," said Eugen, purposely giving him a coy smile "it's just well…. It takes a certain degree of luck to get my sister to say something like that."

"Lucky you," said Z23, only furthering his confusion.

"I don't understand," said Hornet to Cleveland "that oath was a little heavier than normal but…."

She stopped to hear what Z23 was whispering in her ear. After that, Hornet whispered what she heard to Cleveland.

"Hey come on," said the Commander "tell me what you're all whispering about."

"That aside Commander," said Friedrich, stepping forward "I must ask, do you think you can defeat them? Do you think that you can succeed where your predecessors failed?"

"Yes," he said, with no hesitation.

"Oh? That was a rapid response."

"Sorry if that came off as a little arrogant but I mean what I said. We're now just one faction away from uniting everyone. When that's done, I plan on hitting the Sirens with such ferocity that if any of them survive, they'll think twice before coming to this world."

"But more than that," he added "I'll make it so that you, and your daughters will never have to fight another day. When this war's over, you'll all live normal, happy lives."

When he said that, the group looked at him in surprise. It looked like he was suddenly speaking an alien language.

To better understand their reaction, it is important to understand the nature of the women in the Iron Blood. That nature is best summarized by a saying "We are born on the battlefield and we die on the battlefield."

As stated before, the Iron Blood were the strongest faction in the world. This stemmed from them constantly training and sparring with their siblings, creating a group of warriors much like the ancient Spartans or Vikings. Fighting was all they knew and more than that, fighting was what was expected of them.

Yet, as movies have clearly indicated, even the most battle-hardened warriors dream of a day when they no longer have to fight and live a life of peace and quiet. The concept may sound strange, but look no further than to films where there are many characters who have given up a life of fighting and killing and enjoying a peaceful life.

To the women of the Iron Blood, a normal, boring life was like a dream one that they kept deep within their hearts and never told anyone about it. Whether it be for fear of being looked down upon by their sisters or simply that it was a dream far out of their reach, it was a life they never thought they could have.

Yet, when such a possibility was right there in front of them, they responded in an un-familiar way.

"Hey Deutschland," said Hipper, pointing to her "what's going on with your eyes?"

"Huh?" said the lady, feeling something trickle down her cheek. She touched it and asked "what's going on?"

"Now it's happening to me too," said Scharnhorst "what's going on?"

"Did you do this?" barked Graf Zeppelin, turning to the Commander furiously.

"Wait sister," said Z23 "what's happening to you isn't a bad thing. Those are called tears."

"Tears?" repeated Deutschland.

"Yes," said Friedrich "you're all crying because deep down, you all want a normal life."

"N-no mother," said Hipper "we're fighters through and through."

"It's alright," said Tirpitz "dreaming of a normal life is something we've all done from time to time. Those tears are proof that deep down, we all want the same thing."

"Oh Commander," said Akagi, shaking her head dismissively "you should be ashamed of yourself."

"Huh?"

"You've gone from making one or two women cry to making a whole faction cry."

There had to be a record for how quickly his mood changed from hopeful to depressed upon realizing what he had done. From that moment, till the end of the journey, he sat slumped down in a corner of the ship, and insisted everyone call him 'Tearjerker, the villain that makes women cry.'

0000000000000000

"This isn't working," said Enterprise, opening one eye and looking at Yorktown.

"That's because you keep talking," said Yorktown, her eyes remaining closed "but when I think about it, you were a very energetic child, never the type to sit still and enjoy things."

"By the way," said Enterprise, getting up from her meditation pose "where's our prisoner?"

"She isn't a prisoner, she's… she's a guest, of sorts. And she's with Belfast."

It was at this point in time that they heard Tennessee's voice through the intercom saying "ship spotted in the distance. I need Saint Louis, Neptune and Ibuki to report to the beach."

"It could be an attack," said Yorktown, standing up, then turning to Enterprise "go."

Enterprise leapt off the balcony of the two storey housing complex her sister was staying at. When she landed, she headed towards the beach, noticing that the others were ahead of her.

When they got there, she noticed that Alice was sitting on the sand, letting the ocean waves lap against her feet, while Belfast was taking the opportunity to do a little sunbathing.

"What?" she asked, upon noticing Enterprise's piercing glare "no telling what kind of madness is going to come to our shore courtesy of the Commander. I should take whatever opportunity I can."

Just as Enterprise was about to say something Ibuki interrupted "it's the Commander. He's back."

Immediately, the trio of Enterprise, Belfast and Alice stopped what they were doing and turned to the direction Ibuki was pointing at.

"Who are….." said Saint Louis, "who are those people with my master?"

"That's…. Hipper," said Enterprise "I'd know that hair anywhere."

The group watched as the ship drew closer. Alice, noticing the one man on the ship, immediately felt a flash of pain on the right side of her head. She closed her eyes and clutched that side of her, but took a few steps back, so as not to let anyone see what was going on with her.

'Why is this happening?' she thought, seeing a string of images flashing past her too quickly for her to recognize.

The group meanwhile watched as the ship reached the beach shore and everyone got off.

"Master," said Saint Louis, bowing to him "I am glad that your trip was a successful one."

"Thank you Saint Louis. I hope you guys weren't too bored doing nothing here."

"Cleveland," he said "head back to base and get Phoenix, Brooklyn and Lexington started on some housing rooms for our new comrades."

Cleveland took a few steps to the base then turned and asked "wait, why Lexington?"

"That woman's a genius in interior design," he replied and Cleveland nodded then left.

"Hornet, take everyone to Vestal and have them checked out," he said, turning to the other woman "after that, you guys can either grab something to eat or have a hot shower."

"Friedrich, right now we don't have enough room for everyone, please bear with me for the time being. You and your family can use Z23's, Eugen's and my room for the time being."

"And where will you rest?" asked Tirpitz.

"I'll use my office for that," he replied "first things first though. You need to get a clean bill of health so follow Hornet to the hospital."

"Um, Commander," said Tirpitz, pointing out to how Roon was holding his sleeve, eyeing the others suspiciously.

"With everything that's going on, I forgot to introduce her," he said, "Tirpitz, this is Roon, a PR class ship for the Iron Blood. I'd like you to teach her all about your family and their history."

"Roon, go with Tirpitz."

"No," she said, flatly.

"Come now Roon," said Saint Louis, "the master has work to do and you shouldn't stand in the way of that."

Realizing this, Roon (very reluctantly) let go of the Commander and followed Tirpitz.

"If you need," said Neptune to the Commander, "I can go with her."

"Yes please do that," he said "for some reason Roon takes a while getting used to others. And for some reason, I'm the only one she had no problem with from the start."

"There's a reason for that," muttered Enterprise.

"What?"

"Nothing"

"Enterprise," he said "how have things been in the base since I was away? wait a second, who's that girl? and why is Belfast lying on a lawn chair in her swimsuit?"

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about Commander," said Enterprise "not about Belfast, but about the girl there."

"I'm all ears."

"She's an Otherworlder, like you."

"Eh?" he asked, surprised by the statement.

"EHHHHHH?" he said, shouting as the statement had fully sunk in.

"Also, there's something else."

"What else?"

Enterprise gestured for the Commander to follow her and he agreed. He wondered though, what could be more important than the Otherworlder.

She took him to one of the storehouses. There, she opened a shutter and led him inside.

"Recently," she began "the girls from the Sakura Empire were able to find a few of them during their commissions. Seeing as you have better luck with them than anyone else, we thought it best to keep them here."

What Enterprise was referring to was a stack of wisdom cubes that were gathered and stored here. He understood Enterprise purposely kept them here so as to not draw too much attention to them.

"Enterprise," he said, walking over to the objects "with this many, we could do it."

"Do what Commander?"

"We could bring them back," he replied, turning to her.

"The Azur Lane, we could bring all six of them back."

(AN: *gasp. Sorry I haven't been able to update on a daily basis. Work gets hectic from time to time and by the time I reach home, I'm too tired to do anything. Hope y'all understand)