More reports, mostly about the headway that was made in solidifying our control, some about the peace talks entering the final stages, nothing of real value. In the few weeks since the last bombing I have been giving less and less of a shit about the current states of things, and have instead been shortlisting possible successors. There are a few guys within my own chain of command who can take up the mantle, and I know of a few people who would be happy with a me bending the rules to give them sideways promotions, in fact, I am expecting a new candidate to meet me today for an interview of sorts.

Eh, who cares anyway, once I oversee a smooth transition all that guy has to do is to not be a corrupt piece of shit that would cause another insurrection within our lifetimes.

Wait, fuck, that's actually quite hard. My brow furrows in frustration.

Haruna comes into my office with a teapot. I guess I earned a break. We head over to the couch and have a chat over afternoon tea. We talk about nothing, yet everything. I guess it is a normal day, or what can be called normal after the coup.

It's weird, this is a de facto civil war, and yet, it does not seem to have spread outside the navy. Or maybe between the confidential nature of the military and the fact that naval bases are so far from the population centers, civilians just don't know what is going on. Or maybe they are writing it off as something similar to the inter-service rivalry of Imperial Japan

I sigh. Kreislauf strikes again.

"Teitoku, is there anything wrong?" her cheery voice never fails to make me feel better.

"I'm just tired of this shit, darling," I grumble.

"Haruna understands; maybe you should take a break." With a warm smile she gives her lap a pat. She really does know what I need the most.

I lay my head on her lap, one of my arms reaching lazily up to twirl some of Haruna's hair around my finger. Haruna in turn caresses my forehead, trying out different looks by playing with my fringe, before ultimately ruffling up my hair to get my normal just-rolled-out-of-bed look back. I feel my eyelids becoming heavy, I guess there was something in that tea. I don't mind - sometimes Haruna is a bit too ashamed to ask me directly for a dream state date. I let my eyes flutter shut under Haruna's loving gaze.

~0~

I am "awoken" by the sound of something trying to force the locked doors open. I sit up, taking a quick look around. The lighting feels a bit off for a dream world, but then again all of them are a bit different each time. Haruna is in the same position she was in when I went to sleep, so I guess she is going for a roleplay thing? The doors are flung open, and into my office steps this admiral dressed in the European branch's uniform flanked by 3 Shipgirls, all with their rigging fully deployed. I recognize them from the fleet dossiers. They are, from left to right, Jervis, Janus, and Ark Royal. He turns to face me on the couch.

"To whom do I owe the pleasure of this unexpected visit?" I ask, a bit apprehensively.

"Under orders from European Command, and for the misappropriation of MY ship, you are under arrest, Admiral Krauss."

"Are you threatening him," Haruna interjects menacingly.

"High Command will decide your fate," he continues, with a hit of arrogance.

"Teitoku IS High Command."

"Not yet."

"It's treason then," Haruna gets up deliberately, her slow actions concealing her knife sliding down from her sleeve into her hand in a reverse grip. The intruders train their weapons on us.

This is too much like one of the last good pre-war movies that it has to be a dream, right?

They glare at each other; the silence is deafening.

Haruna acts first. She leaps through the air towards them. Janus and Jervis fire at her, but in their panic, they miss. The next thing I know, they are grasping at their necks, blood spurting out of their arteries like geysers as they crumple onto the ground. Ark Royal shoots an arrow at her, narrowly missing, hitting the wall next to me. The explosion throws me onto the ground. I watch, dazed and semi-conscious, as they tussle for a moment, before Haruna gets a good stab into Ark's flank that distracts her long enough for a clean slash across her neck.

Bang. I hear a report. Haruna stumbles back.

Bang. Another gunshot. Haruna falls onto the ground, letting go of her knife.

Fuck. The anti-Shipgirl munitions are ready.

"You bitch, you slut," he rages, "You cost me Gotland, and now Ark and the others. Fucking whore ruined all my plans." He moves towards Haruna, his gun still trained on her. I notice Haruna's knife landed within my reach.

He monologues more on how his plans to kill me were all thwarted by Haruna, not noticing that I am playing dead, now with knife in hand.

"Hansi..." Haruna whimpers to me weakly, "help me."

"Bitch calling for her master," he is blinded by rage as he starts kicking her in the ribs. And it is his blindness that I will use.

I muster all my strength as I lunge towards him. I am still dazed, and the knife misses him, but I am still able to headbutt him onto the ground. As he falls he fires at me, the bullet grazing my chin as it passes through my shoulder. The pain, it is intense, but I have him where I want him, and I still have my knife hand. I plunge Haruna's knife, no, OUR knife, into his chest, the 11-inch blade easily reaching his heart. I twist the blade, he struggles, firing wildly, some bullets striking me in the torso, hitting nothing too important, I hope.

And then there is peace.

The pain overwhelms me. This really can't be fucking real, but damn, I think it is. I collapse onto the ground next to him, flickering in and out of consciousness. In that state of purgatory I make out only one sound: Haruna's painful moans; My wife's painful moans. I use the last of my strength as I wrench the knife out of the dead body. I drag my broken body over to Haruna's, the bullet wounds leaving red streaks on the tile floor. It felt like forever, but I finally reach her.

"Hey darling..., everything... will be... okay," I splutter between labored breaths. Haruna forces a weak smile, as she reaches a hand up to caress my cheek.

I hear footsteps approaching. Good, help must have arrived. I cry out for help as my vision fades.

"Yes, admiral, help is here, I will save you," said a strangely familiar voice, one that I haven't heard in a long time.

"Oo...yo...do," I force out weakly as everything turns dark. The last thing I hear is the sound of a gun cocking.