What do you want in life?
This is the question posed to everyone in the world at an early age. When this question is asked, the person is meant to look inside or to dream outside. This question would define the person they would become and the aspirations they would have.
The question itself is simple, yet the answers are as many as you can imagine. Some want wealth and money, some want power, others want love and there are some who pursue knowledge. Nearly everyone wants something big out of life and lives in a way to make that dream happen.
Yet, there are those, those rare few in the world who do not want anything lofty or grandiose. Strange as it may be to hear, there are people in the world who have simple goals and ideals.
One such person was seated in a leather chair, with his left arm locked inside a machine. He saw the girls near a keyboard, clacking away a string of commands and prompts. When they finished their work on the system, the machine beside him hummed to life, followed by a sudden stinging feeling on his left side.
"You can hold my hand if you want Commander," said Graf Spee, noticing his expression.
"Thanks, but it's not as bad as I thought," he said, remaining calm. The machine process continued for a little longer, then stopped.
"There," said Z25, all done now.
He took his arm out from the machine and saw his new arm. It looked a lot 'beefier' than the original one, but the added weight was meant to make it feel like an actual arm. Also, unlike Z25's which was red and black, his arm was purely red.
The Commander opened and closed his hand a few times, turned it left and then right, making sure it was responding well.
"Thanks a lot for creating this for me," he said, undoing his straps and getting off the chair.
"Nonsense Commander," said Graf Zeppelin, patting him on the back "why would we let you run around with that hunk of junk when we've got such advanced technology on our side."
He was a little concerned at Zeppelin's declaration. Apparently, the advanced technology in his world was pretty much a joke in this world.
Once again thanking Graf Spee, Graf Zeppelin and Z25 for upgrading his arm, the Commander left the Iron Blood building and was brought back to the main island.
He was one of those rare few people in the world. The ones that only want the simple things in life and are content with just that. Sure, he had ambitions of wanting to be a leader and doing his best in the Navy, but after he did his time and retired, all he wanted out of life were two things.
A home and a family.
It might be easy to write these two things off as something complicated, but that was not true at all. When it came to a home, as long as it had four walls, a roof and gave him a place to sleep, that was enough for him.
And as for family, it was a goal that he did want but could live without. At times, he'd imagine being the same abusive father he had growing up and fearing the person he could be, he resolved to not go down that path.
Despite the curveballs and twists that fate threw at him, the Commander found that he had what he wanted. He had a home with four walls, a roof over his head and plenty of clothes to wear and he had a family. Sure it wasn't a traditional one, but everyone in the fleet welcomed him and considered him one of their own. He had all that he needed and was not the type of person who'd grow bored with what he had and want more.
Today marked seven months since his return to the world and life of peace and quiet. That term was used liberally in this case as everyday had some kind of antic going on. But compared to the looming threat of war, this was a welcome change of pace.
The Commander arranged his documents on the table and was about to leave, when he noticed his tablet blinking.
"Ah, that's right," he said, remembering how little he used the device in his time here. Initially it was meant to help him assign the girls for going on commissions, but since he was a hands-on guy, the device was used very infrequently. To his recollection, this was the first time he saw the top part of the device blinking.
Curious, he turned it on and saw the message appearing on the main screen.
"Congratulations," said the message in big letters, with text underneath.
"Because of the relationships you've built, you are entitled to '1 oath'. Please click the box below to accept your prize."
'An oath?' he thought, wondering if that was something literal or something else.
"Well it doesn't sound too bad," he said, considering the display of the message being festive and not wary "What's the harm?"
He pressed the button prompt at the end of the message, expecting something to happen, but nothing did. Understandably a little deflated after this, the Commander now turned his attention to what he was going to do today. After asking the girls for long enough, Oklahoma and Nevada finally gave in and let him accompany them on one of their commission projects. Since it was the sole reason why he was able to change the décor in the dorm room, he wondered how these commissions worked.
With that in mind, he quietly left the tablet on the sofa and headed out the door, completely unaware.
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Belfast's day started off like usual. Following a bath and breakfast, she took to cleaning her master's office. Since he was off to observe a commission project, this was her chance to do her job and not have her master do it for her. If she did a good job here, then she could use it as a way to convince her master that she was better at cleaning than he was and that he should let her spoil him instead of being independent.
'I never thought I'd want to spoil someone till now,' she thought, swabbing the floor. She moved back and accidentally banged into the table, which unsettled some of the objects.
Concerned about her mistake, she quickly set about arranging everything once again. As she carefully put everything into place, she noticed a small, elegant box located in the center of the table. Curious, she picked up the box and shook it a little, hearing something knocking about inside.
"I wonder," she muttered to herself, examining the box in an effort to find out what was inside without actually opening the box. Try as she might though, she could not fully figure out what was inside, after several attempts.
Belfast took a moment to consider her options here. She could leave the box where she found it and go about her day like nothing happened or she could open it. If she left it behind, it would certainly weigh on her mind throughout the day. This will have the effect of causing her to make a mistake during work and it could easily snowball into something that threatened the lives of everyone in the fleet.
Since this was done for the sake of everyone else, Belfast had no other choice but to open it.
At least, that's the lie she told herself to justify opening the box. She shook the sides a little and watched the box separate into two halves. When she looked at the second half, her eyes opened wide in shock.
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The group of Enterprise, Akagi, Roon, Friedrich and Belfast were now assembled in the meeting room. After receiving a call from Belfast, the others assembled in the room. Here, their attention was brought to the seemingly inconspicuous box that started the mess in the first place.
The reason why this box caught the attention of the six girls was because of the object inside. It consisted of two metal circles, close together at the bottom but slightly apart at the top. At the top, there were two pieces of metal inserted into the gap in order to hold a small diamond.
It was a ring, but not just any ring; it was a wedding ring.
"And you found it on the table?" asked Enterprise to Belfast, who nodded.
"By the way, where's Cleveland?" asked Roon, noticing how the room was absent a certain member.
"She's being surrounded by many of her adoring fans," replied Belfast "they really liked her performance with her sisters."
"Back to the matter at hand," said Enterprise "you know what this ring means right?"
"Yes I do," said Akagi, standing up from her seat "I need to call Kaga and start sending out the invites."
"What, why?" asked Enterprise.
"For my wedding of course," she replied and nearly everyone fell out of their chairs.
"What?" shouted Belfast "and why do you think it'll be you?"
"Considering how close the two of us are," said Akagi "it only makes sense."
"No, it doesn't," corrected Enterprise "don't forget that you're not the only one who keeps coming into his room."
"This is getting us nowhere," said Friedrich, bringing in some reason to the situation "what we need to do is figure out which of us is the most likely choice."
"Well that's…." said Roon.
"But we have to ask someone else," interjected Friedrich "someone who knows us, the Commander and knows what kind of decisions he'd make."
"Considering he thought it was okay to stick a Siren arm to his body means that none of us here will ever understand what goes on in that mind of his," countered Belfast.
"At least someone close enough," said Enterprise.
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"And this is why, you came to me?" asked Yorktown to the group, while her class were busy reading.
"Exactly," said Enterprise "everyone here knows the Commander relies on you whenever he goes out on his missions…"
"And you figured I'd have the best insight to help find out what's going through his mind… " said Yorktown.
"And it all started with this," she added, closely examining the ring "it's funny to imagine that something so small could cause so much trouble."
"Yorktown," said Belfast "we need to know what he's thinking."
"Unfortunately I can't help you with that," she said, much to their disappointment "after all, I may have spoken to him and interacted with him a lot, but I still have no idea what goes on in that mind."
"However, I can at least help you figure out the most likely candidate," she added, which caught their attention.
"I think the best way to know which is the person is to try and figure out which of you have gotten closest to the Commander," she suggested.
"To elaborate," she added "nearly everyone here has held his hand at some point or the other. Additionally, he's had the habit of being tossed up many times, which means some of us have carried him."
"So you're saying that it'll have to be someone who's done something more than that," said Friedrich.
"Ah, well then," said Belfast, realizing this "that would be me."
"Huh?" asked the girls in the room (including Yorktown).
"The Commander and I have kissed, which is something no one else has done."
"That's not possible," suggested Roon.
"How come?" asked Yorktown.
"Because I've been recording his movements ever since I joined the fleet and not once did I see the two of you get so close," she replied.
"Well that's because it happened on a mission," countered Belfast.
"Elaborate," said Friedrich.
"It was when he was attacked by one of the Sirens and kept her busy in order to buy us time to complete the plan," said Belfast "the plan was successful, but the Commander got caught in the flood and nearly drowned. Worrying for his safety, I gave him 'the kiss of life.'"
"That doesn't count," interjected Enterprise.
"Of course, it does," countered Belfast "it was a kiss."
"Akagi, tell Belfast here, oh she fainted."
The group had to pause for a moment as the leader of the Sakura Empire was lying unconscious on the floor, no doubt in that state as a result of Belfast's statement. It took a little time for Akagi to wake up. By then, the group had decided to leave Yorktown alone and tackle the subject on their own, instead of involving her.
This was why the group were seated by the beach, watching the waves roll in and seeing the sun set beyond the horizon. Friedrich was enjoying the scenery, Roon was playing in the sand, Akagi watched the waves roll forward and back, Enterprise seemed deep in thought and Belfast was lying on the sand, looking at the sky.
"When I think about it," said Enterprise, reaching into her pocket and taking out the ring "an object this small has caused us more trouble than we expected."
"What object?" asked a familiar voice from behind them. The five girls blinked a couple of times then turned around and saw the Commander standing behind them, looking puzzled.
"Hey girls," he said, noticing their troubled looks "Yorktown told me something was going on with you, but she didn't tell me what exactly."
They quickly scrambled to their feet and dusted the sand off their body. To answer the question, he was trying to get to, Enterprise held out the ring for him to see.
They noticed how surprised he was upon seeing the ring, but then they saw him pause and perhaps recall something important.
"Commander?" asked Roon.
"I remember now," he said, holding the ring "in the morning, I saw a message about a reward. Thinking that it'd be something great to share with everyone, I accepted."
"So you didn't know?" asked Akagi.
"Of course not," he said, still looking at the ring "if I was planning to ask a girl to marry me, I'd never leave the ring on the table like that."
"So, um Commander," said Enterprise, looking a little fidgety "do you have someone?"
"Hmm?" he asked, raising an eyebrow to the question, then understanding what she meant.
"The thing about it is, I've never really given it any thought."
"Why Commander?" asked Akagi, "do you not…. Like us?"
"What? No. I do like you," he replied "hell, in my world there'd be guys practically fighting each other just to hold your hand."
"I never really thought much about marriage because, I thought it was being greedy."
"What?" asked Belfast, having trouble understanding his statement.
"Growing up, I only wanted two things in life: a home and a family. Being in the Navy, I learnt that there were people I could rely on and trust without being related to them. When I came here, I had a place to call my own and the trust of everyone here. I had everything I ever wanted and this was enough for me. I didn't want to be selfish and think about what matters more to me or greedy and want more than that."
"But Commander," said Friedrich, "doesn't that sound like an excuse?"
"Come again?"
"We may not know your life before you came here," she began "but we know that it has shaped your mindset a lot more than you care to admit. Because of that, you're content with staying still in one place after you have what you need. But that isn't living Commander, that's the opposite."
"Life is all about change, moving from one point to another. By staying here like this, you're denying yourself the chance to experience a long and fulfilling life."
He was silent, looking at the ring then examining it a little closely but also reflecting upon Friedrich's words.
"Alright, say I do decide to move forward," he said, "this is one ring and I hope you understand what that means. One girl is happy and the rest get rejected. Are you okay with that?"
"Yes, we are," replied Enterprise, looking resolute.
"For once, you should be selfish Commander," said Akagi "stop thinking about how this affects us and think about what you want."
'What I want?' he thought, repeating her words in his mind. He'd be lying if he said he didn't think about the girls in a slightly more than professional way, but when that happened, he'd always brush those thoughts away out of fear of ruining their relationship.
But seeing as they too felt the same way, he did not need to hide his thoughts or feelings anymore.
It may be a simple gesture of putting a ring on a finger but the choice was no easy matter. Based on the conversation they had, he understood where their feelings were. They made their point clear and it was time for him to make a decision.
Enterprise was loyal and friendly, Belfast loved to spoil him and was the best fighter here, Akagi's personality was as hot as the fire based projectiles she used, Roon may seem a little too much but she meant well and Friedrich was kind and very protective of the people she loved.
Understanding the weight of his decision and coming to a conclusion, he came forward. The girls, seeing that he made his decision closed their eyes and mentally prepared themselves.
He reached out and held her hand. Then, he placed the ring on her finger and watched as a white light enveloped her. The light was strong enough that it caused him to cover his eyes and look away. After a few minutes, the light faded and he saw her, now dressed in a beautiful white-colored wedding dress. The only thing that was differently colored on her were her red cheeks, indicating a noticeable blush. Looking at her beautiful face, he smiled at her warmly.
Taking her hand once again, the commander asked the single most important question in his life.
"Will you marry me?"
"Yes."
(AN: with that the story has come to an end. Originally it was supposed to end with a madcap run across the base but then I decided to do a little character development. I did keep the choice of girl ambiguous because of the many 'moments' the MC has had with some of the girls so it could be any of the five of them.)
(Originally this FF was supposed to end in Ch 37 but thanks to questorimperialis102296's suggestion, I started thinking about a few extra chapters. It might not be as long as other Azur Lane FF's here but I'm happy with it. This was the longest story I've written and it did wayyyyyy better than I could have imagined. Thank you very much to the community for reading and appreciating this work.)
(BTW, if you want to read more of my Azur Lane stories, please check out Ship girl high jinks and Triple Alliance.)
(PS: Thank you very much to Overtale, Han1945, starburst98, Vent-Hikari, Ultimate Kuuga, REVANOFSITHLORD and the Guest reviewers who were the most vocal reviewers.)
(PS: I'm happy to say that the Siren Saga has expanded into two more stories. You can find the second and third story in my profile. Please give them a read and share it with other AL fans.
Pt 2- Triple-Alliance (Completed)
Pt 3- Azur-Lane-The-Final-Act (Ongoing)