"[I fully expect to lose…but] If my death and the death of the courageous sailors under my command can save the Philippines, I will consider these deaths an honor!"

~Admiral Jisaburo Ozawa, to Admiral Soemu Toyoda~

~1944, During the planning stages of Leyte's Defense~

By late 1944, the Imperial Japanese Empire, and her Navy was on its last legs. The Americans, in their revenge-fueled wrath, came with their ruthless, never-ending drive of limitless men, planes, and ships.

'It all began with Midway,' Zuikaku thought. She had been reminiscing in a lot of her spare time, lately. The first six months of the war went perfectly, with the exception of Coral Sea- she and her beloved sister Shokaku had received a little too much damage to help at the next operation, Midway.

What if she was there? What if they had found the American dive bombers? What if Kaga and Akagi swallowed their pride, what if they knew the lessons Zuikaku knew about fighting the Americans by now?

'What if, what if, what if…'

And now, two years of desperation, sorrow, and defeat later, the end was near. The boastful General Douglas MacArthur was on the verge of fulfilling his promise; 'Return the Philippines to its people'.

'Right," she had drawled when she first heard it, 'And it has nothing to do with the fact that the Philippines were virtually your family's pet project since it was invaded in the Spanish-American War? Because that totally gives you ownership of the islands.'

She didn't think much of it at the time. None in the Imperial Navy did. But here the Americans were, surging onward past the Marshalls, the Carolines, Saipan, and the Palau Islands. The Philippines, placed directly in the Home Island's supply route to the resource-laden Dutch Indies, was next.

With the Americans there, Nippon would starve. Her factories would sputter to a halt, and her children and widows would cry out in hunger.

'But only over my dead, sinking body. No matter the costs.'

She was resigned to the fact that soon, she would die. If Kaga had been the symbolic pride of the Japanese Navy, Zuikaku was the symbol of defeat. Always taking the loss on the chin, like a heavyweight boxer, but at this point she was losing her rounds. She would die…

Was this all her fault? Short of Midway, Zuikaku and Shokaku had been at nearly every major conflict. Were her pilots not good enough? The planes she used were aged now, so was that it? Or perhaps the Gods had simply cursed their people?

...Perhaps, but that was not due to lack of trying.

She was tired. Tired of the war, tired of losing, and tired of sending young men, children even, off her deck in obsolete planes against the likes of Enterprise, with her new Hellcats, and the ridiculously powerful American AA weaponry employed by all their ships.

…

A hand on her shoulder halted her depressing thoughts.

"Sis? Are you alright?"

That was...Shokaku's voice. Her wonderful, white-haired sister, Shokaku, was speaking to her? Her sister, who had gone through thick and thin to stay with her?

No.

It was an illusion, and Shokaku was now dead. She had been dead since June, going down with adorably inept Taiho.

Zuiho, a shorter lookalike of Zuikaku, stood there. Like the larger carrier, she had a tired look on her face, riddled with scars from the many clashes against the Americans.

"-lright? Zuikaku?"

She snapped out of it. "Ah, yes, I'm fine. Just a little tired is all, I haven't been sleeping well."

The little carrier sighed, "Daydreaming again, right? I've said it before, but I'm here if you need anything. Please, you're still our leader, right?"

'However, I wish I wasn't. I was never cut out for this, despite what I said to Kaga!'

She didn't say it out loud, though. She needed to be strong. With Shokaku's death a mere few months ago, it was up to her to lead the Navy to victory...or at least an honorable death, something she had thus far been denied.

"Yeah, I'm fine, so don't worry about me." Zuikaku smiled, hiding her bald-faced lie with a strained smile and head pat on the smaller carrier. "Let's go get some food, then we can get to that briefing on the upcoming operation!"

Food, rest, and constant worry. It was all that was left for them to do while they awaited the time. The time to embrace death and utter defeat with tired but welcome arms.

Author's Note: Caboose here. Well, I can say that it's been far, far too long since I've made any progress on this.

This is just a short drabble I wrote just before going to work. I recently came across excellent source matiriel, and I couldn't help but begin writing. Should things work out, I expect to ahve both a Japanese and American view of Leyte. This is, after all, what the story is about.

I'll make no good excuses, but it took a while for me to get back to this. Azur Lane, the recently popular mobile game, covers WW2 decently, but I feel I could do a better job- it's a good game, but so many things are left out, and/or reasonings for events are convoluted for politic's sake. Blame the Sirens for provoking Pearl Harbor, not FDR and Hideki Tojo enacting risky policies on each other, right?

So, even if I don't update this soon, you can always expect more on the other stories I write- I just barely started working on a RWBY-Azur Lane crossover, which was pretty fun.

Also, I mentioned that this will not be chronological, and I stand by that. Midway, Solomons, and others will eventually be covered. Especially if you were to review and request it personally!

To DCWestby and all the others who have so kindly reviewed, thank you. This would not be happening if not for you. However, it would be nice if you had an account so I could actually reply to you.

Finally, I just want to thank you all for reading this.

See you soon,

Caboose out!