Mighty Eagle, Calm Nest

by xT-Zealot

With Enterprise suffering from a crisis of identity brought on by her battles with the Crimson Axis and visions of a dark reality, Belfast has chosen to take some liberties to bring Eagle Union's ace to London to try and restore her humanity that had been smothered by duty. Meanwhile, the overseers of this timeline consider its continued worth and what they can extract from it.

17. Chapter 17

There had been a lot to do in the aftermath of the Siren attack. Though the threats had been thoroughly neutralized, a heightened sense of security remained in effect throughout the Royal Isles with all Royal Navy forces and their assigned allies having either been mobilized to establish tighter patrol patterns and supplement the escorting forces for what supply convoys were cleared to make their departure or put on standby in case a call to action was needed on the chance that the Sirens would initiate a follow-up attack whether it be the Isles or one of their other territories. Even with the massive losses that their great enemy had taken with their daring attack, there was no telling if it all really could be an opening to a much wider offensive.

With that in mind, what efforts that weren't focused on security and surveillance were dedicated to repairing and rebuilding, namely when it came to Devonport's defenses.

The cliff-based defense guns that guarded the entrance to the bay had been destroyed to the last, leaving the Royal Navy to assign a perimeter group dedicated to guarding the construction equipment and crews that were to salvage what they could from the defense guns and then survey whether they could be rebuilt at their original placements or if they needed to be placed in newer, more stable positions. Immediately past it, although Breakwater Fort had survived as the final line of defense against the Sirens, it had its own damage that needed to recover from.

This included the shipgirls who had rallied around it and managed to hold out along with it.

There had been casualties, the docks around Devonport and its repair facilities having been running full steam since the battle's conclusion days ago to facilitate repairs for their damaged warships. Priority was to their most severe casualties while shipgirls who had still been able to run on their own power had been transferred to facilities elsewhere to free up space and attention for not only the repairs but to house the combat-capable ships who had been reassigned to the base.

For those who couldn't, the berths that held their ships had become ringed with scaffolding, engineers and manjuus scaling up and down in order to work on them. Alongside a couple, repair ships were donating what assistance they could with their cranes and workshops.

Of these extreme cases, the earliest that a number of these ships could be brought back into fighting shape would be weeks. For the rest, it'd take an eventual visit to the proper yards and months of additional work. On top of the lesser cases that had been sent to other facilities and the production ships that had been declared as total losses, their only worth being for scrap once they've been recovered from the bay, it was a blow to the Royal Navy's fighting strength, but one that they would be able to recover from.

It could've been worse. A lot worse.

Of the other warships that had now become homed at Devonport, one was Enterprise, her carrier body having been docked and remaining in its assigned spot for the days while other shipgirls had been sailing in and out for their assigned roles. She hadn't taken any damage, and although she could use a replenishment of what planes of hers had been lost, what had taken her time were the debriefings that she had been brought aside for. A committee had been immediately established in the wake of the attack to investigate and find out all that they could about the Sirens and their latest tactics, so obviously she was of extreme interest given her part in the battle.

Although she was questioned extensively to give what details that they could learn from, she kept it simple, saying only how the fog had vanished after she had defeated Purifier and that the mass production ships of her fleet had went along with it. Nothing about conjuring black holes or cross-dimensional conflicts with a past iteration of herself. While her debrief was far from satisfying the officers that were trying to figure out what to make of the Siren assault and their new weapon, it was those same uncertainties surrounding that weapon that had led to her eventually being dismissed without any real suspicion. Not that Enterprise had lied, she only omitted a few key details that – she suspected - would not only breed questions that couldn't be answered, but the ones that she could answer would probably be met with disbelief and troublesome inquiries of her mental integrity.

Ever since then, there had only been one place she had spent the past several days in.

Along with the berths to house their ship bodies, there were nearby medical facilities for shipgirls to recuperate – little different from ordinary hospitals. Keeping the two halves of their existences close, as had been come to be believed, assisted in encouraging smooth recoveries of the patients with studies having established a correlation of the progress of repairs with their ships accelerating the healing of their human forms. Recordings of stimulated activity from Wisdom Cubes of numerous examples have given scientific credence to it.

So, while the docks were abundant with messy activity accompanied by the loud sounds of machinery, on the other side Belfast's recovery room was quiet and clean, the only noise coming from the monitoring devices that were keeping track of her vital functions through the use of electrodes and an IV.

She had been declared as in the clear a few hours after she had been interned. After separating her from her damaged rigging and her torn, blood and oil-stained uniform, she and her wounds had been cleaned and dressed, the shrapnel having all been removed. No abnormalities had been detected within her Wisdom Cube's signature, no notable signs of flaws or damage, and since then her body had been recovering to normal shipgirl standards. The gruesome lacerations were closing without leaving scars, the broken bones of her one hand had been set and were restoring to their rightful configuration, and though her leg remained wrapped and elevated she'd probably be able to walk on it again soon – something that would've been an entirely different story if she had lost it.

But not once had she woken up.

Other than the physical damage that Belfast had undertaken, there was the outstanding shock that had to come from both her bodies suffering such sudden and heavy damage from the magazine explosion. That, as had been explained to Enterprise, was a toll that may lead to a lengthened stay of unconsciousness; a state of emergency damage control and recovery that had been initiated to prioritize healing. But given how there had been no signs of any complications, the medical personnel were confident that she'd wake up eventually.

But that wasn't doing anything to soothe the misery that Enterprise felt at how Belfast wasn't awake now.

That she would be forced to relieve in what ways that she could during the hours spent with her sitting at Belfast's bedside: sliding her chair over close enough so that she could observe the slight rise and fall of the cruiser's chest beneath the blanket, holding her own breath so that she could make out Belfast's, and after skirting around a line that she had been hesitant to cross, Enterprise succumbed to the temptation of reaching over and holding her hand, fingers interlacing with hers to better experience the warmth and feel of her skin.

Going through with these acts would have Enterprise wondering if this was okay. Other than the appropriateness of doing these things with Belfast unconscious, the carrier had noted something about the strangeness of her actions: that being how she couldn't remember having done anything similar when Yorktown had been crippled.

Recalling the events surrounding the tragedy that had struck her elder sister, what Enterprise encountered was a distressing field of apathy surrounding them. She could remember scenes similar to this such as when she had been waiting to hear progress about Yorktown's condition, speaking with her afterwards, but there was a stark difference between then and now and it had to do with this barrenness of emotion when it came to her sister carrier. For example, Enterprise hadn't waited at Yorktown's bedside like this, having memories instead of wandering around the nearby base, thoughts distinctively empty, and only ever going to speak with Yorktown after such a period.

It made Enterprise worried that she was committing another kind of crime by feeling something for Belfast that she hadn't with Yorktown. Yet while it did trouble her, Enterprise couldn't find it in her to pursue that line of thinking and make sense of it. When she tried, she would stray and then walk off completely with how Belfast wasn't awake for her to speak with her, hear her voice, look into her eyes, let her know for sure that she was here and that she was all right. Without that assurance, Enterprise couldn't find it in her to be worried about anything else.

There had been no one else for her to interact with. Most of the cruiser squadron who Belfast had been working with were all sent elsewhere; Sheffield, Curacoa, and Southampton having been transferred out for their repairs while Sirius was out overseeing security around Devonport. The other Royals who Enterprise had established friendships with also weren't around. There was much to take care of, much to be on alert for, and yet while Enterprise would feel the call of duty resonating within her of how she should be going out there to help…it was lost in the face of how all she wanted to do instead was to remain right here, dwelling on her thoughts.

Again came the concern of how she was doing something wrong or how something new was wrong with her now with another bout of misfortune having been visited upon someone who she cared about. Was it wrong for her to be feeling like this? The difference between Belfast and Yorktown, her conscious neglect of duty, how all she had opened herself up was now being contracted around how Belfast wasn't awake…

It was what she had been wrestling with the entire time she remained at Belfast's side, with no hope of obtaining answers because Belfast wasn't able to help her figure them out. She was lying right here, her hand in hers, but she felt miles apart from her with Enterprise afraid to step any further away and create miles more, requiring her to remain here until things were back to normal.

And what exactly was her normal now? She hadn't known, even when she had been so enthused to see what it was with Belfast when they were about to set sail on the resupply, but it was here that Enterprise understood that not only could she not figure it out, but the only clue she had was that she needed Belfast to be with her in order to be capable of doing so. To help her, guide her, be at her side, just as she always had.

Remarkably, the several decades of her life had shrunk to the time she had come to know Belfast; a span that was of only a couple months. The change she wanted to make – the normal she wanted now – had started and needed to continue from there.

But it couldn't because Belfast remained asleep in this bed, and thus Enterprise couldn't go on either, stranded here.

The door to the room was left slightly ajar as it tended to be when the two were alone. Noise from the hall outside traveled easily whether it be the calm footsteps of nurses or the more unchecked paces of visitors. Having been quiet, the sudden rush of steps echoed loudly. Enterprise didn't pay them any mind at first, her attention piquing when they got closer, but her expecting them to either stop before or continue past the room.

They did stop, except it was right in front of the door. Just as Enterprise was looking over, it was quickly pushed open, the visitor passing through and then abruptly halting when she spotted Enterprise.

"Christ," Hornet hissed out, her shoulders dropping with visible relief.

Enterprise stared, unsure if she was making some mistake of who was in front of her despite seeing for herself the distinctive black hat and coat and her sister ship's long blonde hair. "Hornet?"

"Yeah, me!" Hornet confirmed, the other carrier having a mind to keep her voice from being too loud despite how it was charged with frustration as she reached back, managing to set the door to its previous position without slamming it before rounding back at Enterprise. "Been looking everywhere for you!"

Her hand unconsciously slipping out of Belfast's, Enterprise stood up from her seat to watch, bewildered, as Hornet approached her, still aggravated.

"Thought you were over in London, but then I found out that you were here!" she began ranting. "And then when I got here, they told me you had been spending the past few days in medical so, you know, I hadn't already been worried sick enough as it was or anything. And then when I got here and tried to find your room, imagine my surprise when they said you weren't assigned to one, so I had to go through a whole set of verbal gymnastics before someone overheard and was able to point me to here, finally, so would be so kind as to tell me what-"

Halfway through it the younger carrier had already reached Enterprise where she stood, fists planted at her hips, as she stuck Enterprise with her irritated stare while continuing with her tirade. Enterprise for her part kept regarding her dumbly, trying to catch up with the fact that Hornet was here.

When she did, she grabbed Hornet and yanked her into an embrace, her arms coming tight around her shoulders.

It effectively cut Hornet off, her turn to be struck dumb as she stood rigid in the sudden hug, her now quietly questioning, "Sis…?"

Enterprise didn't respond to the soft inquiry, her arms instead constricting tighter around Hornet as she sought to better grasp the invisible sisterly bond that linked them together; that personal connection and the love it contained something that she had wanted to reconnect and rebuild and what she so needed right now after spending so long with nothing but her own despairing thoughts.

She could make out when Hornet's head turned towards the bed, the stiffening of realization, and then the younger carrier relaxed and slowly returned the embrace.

"Hey," she quietly spoke, a hand hesitating and then beginning to rub circles along Enterprise's back. "Hey, I'm sorry. Sorry, sis. Don't worry, it's okay."

Enterprise sniffed, trying hard not to be led to express more than that despite how the comforting press at her back seemed to be encouraging her to do just that, made worse with how Hornet started to sway, bringing them both into a gentle rocking that she breathed shakily through. Her eyes stung but they did not free any tears, leading her to drop her face against the top of Hornet's shoulder to help alleviate them. It got Hornet to take the opportunity to lay her cheek at her head, the brim of her hat better trapping her, and this time Enterprise was convinced to stay where she now gasped against her.

They remained like that for a while up until Enterprise eventually loosened her grip which Hornet took as a signal to pull her head away, giving Enterprise a parting pat on her back before they separated.

Appearing chastised now, Hornet glanced over and gestured to a free chair. "May I…?"

Enterprise wordlessly nodded, falling back into her chair while Hornet pulled up the one for herself. She pushed her coat off from her shoulders before settling upon it, the garment folding down the back of her seat with her twin-tails hanging over the sides.

"When did you…?" Enterprise asked, voice still weakened with emotion.

Hornet paused while lifting off her hat, mentally filling in the rest of the question and answering after placing it on her lap. "Little more than a couple hours, I think?" She grinned crookedly. "Wasn't really keeping track when I started looking for you. I came in with a fleet from the joint base. When word of the attack reached us, Elizabeth and a bunch of the Royals were already racing on out of there. I happened to be able to link up with them on the way out and they weren't keen on wasting time arguing."

Enterprise was a little surprised by that. So, Queen Elizabeth is here, now? She wondered how things were shaking up with the tiny monarch having returned. A thought occurring, Enterprise glanced back at the door as if expecting someone else to come barging in any second now. When they didn't, she returned to Hornet. "Hammann?"

"Ah, yeeeaaah," Hornet drawled, rubbing the back of her neck awkwardly. "She wasn't so lucky there. I'm expecting an earful when I see her again."

Enterprise felt the tiniest of contractions at the corner of her lip, managing to muster that along with her, "Oh."

Hornet's grin, hesitant, became better encouraged before she glanced back at where Belfast was resting, losing what little it gained when confronted with what she wanted to address. "So…" she said slowly, "what happened? We knew that London was under Siren attack, but it was hard to get details when we were sailing over." She gestured in the direction of the docks. "It looked like this place took a beating."

Having already been questioned plenty about it, the fatigue of having to explain again weighed down on Enterprise, even if it was Hornet who was asking. The Eagle ace did her best to muster the energy to at least get out the minimum. "London was attacked but the Sirens hit here, too. They were using some kind of jamming mist to cut the base off from the rest of the Royal Isles, so Belfast and a team was sent to investigate. They found a fleet commanded by Purifier and…"

Her throat seized up, preventing her from continuing, and her struggle to continue was seen by Hornet who leaned forward and grasped Enterprise by the shoulders. "I can get the rest."

But Enterprise shook her head, wanting to say what would take over every time she went over the events in her head. It was an occurrence that had to have gone on hundreds of times by now because it was one of the only things that she could do, with her here and Belfast the way she was, because of what Enterprise did or didn't do, leaving her with the dozens of other things that she should've done instead that could've fixed all the problems that she was having now.

This battle was all about Enterprise trying to find a starting point on that list. "I should've…" she internally stumbled, "I should've been there sooner. Should've been there at the start, and even when I got there I-"

Hornet firmly shook her. "Don't do that," she ordered. "Don't do that, sis. We both know that's not going to help so stop right there and just take a moment to calm down."

The order and her sister's touch at her shoulders managed to convince Enterprise to do that, establishing a hold on one of Hornet's wrists and leaning into her grip, accepting her support while she tried to keep herself from being torn in the innumerable directions of hypothetical 'what-ifs'. They wouldn't have any impact on the here and now, and all that thinking about them would do would just serve to make her worse for wear. She did know better than that, had handled it better, but the days since then had been very trying.

Enterprise patted Hornet's wrist and nodded.

The other carrier released her, setting her hands upon her hat, but remained angled close. "They didn't succeed, right?"

Having commented about the physical state of things before, Enterprise was sure that Hornet had been able to figure out how the engagement had gone despite how certain things may've looked. "They didn't touch the city or the base," she answered. "The Siren fleet was…destroyed, along with Purifier." Those key details she was still going to keep to herself, even from Hornet, and for distance she added, "There were casualties that'll take months to recover from but overall…"

"Another victory to put under your belt," Hornet praised with a proud grin.

Enterprise was of mixed feelings. She didn't want to take the credit like that, knowing that Devonport still stood because of the shipgirls who had held the line, and then there was what had come of Belfast. It soured the 'win', leaving Enterprise with this bitter aftertaste that she's had to deal with, but with Hornet's coaxing she was being steered back to what had been accomplished. What was still here even after what could've been taken away, and that included Belfast.

Compromising, she said, "It wasn't just me but…it was a win, yes."

Something passed over Hornet's face and though Enterprise couldn't decipher the nature of it she felt that the way Hornet was looking at her in the wake of it was…different. But then Hornet tilted her head in Belfast's direction. "How bad?"

"Magazine explosion," Enterprise revealed which did get Hornet to wince upon hearing it. "I…we got to her in time. Her ship needs major repairs, but her body is healing fine. Mostly the shock that's keeping her out. She…" her throat thickened, leading her to swallow, "…hasn't woken up yet."

"Lucky," Hornet commented, unintentionally repeating the one word that was constantly revolving around the cruiser and her injuries. Inspecting Belfast's still form, she added, "Some of your luck must've rubbed off on her."

"…Yeah," Enterprise replied.

The hesitation and the actual effort that Hornet mustered after it was palpable in trying to keep the conversation going. "Well, you said yourself she was healing fine, and she's already looking pretty good to me. I'm sure she'll be up soon."

"…Yeah," Enterprise repeated, holding back her complaint of how soon wasn't now.

It was a major obstacle in continuing the conversation and Enterprise did regret it with the silence that came between them, one which followed with Hornet drumming her fingers on top of her hat, the shift she made from looking away at Belfast but not quite meeting with Enterprise awkward. Having reacted the way she did when Hornet had entered led Enterprise to criticizing herself further.

Wasn't she the one who said that she wanted to talk with Hornet as soon as possible? She had practically boasted about it to Belfast, and she had been looking forward to it, but despite this chance right here she couldn't think of anything to say.

Instead of the sister ship who sat right across from her, all she could think about was the cruiser who remained out next to them.

While Enterprise silently sat where she was though, Hornet exhibited ongoing restlessness, constantly glancing towards Enterprise as if trying to meet her eye but other than Enterprise being reluctant to do so, the moments their gazes did meet ended with Hornet also breaking away, wandering elsewhere. She landed on Belfast a couple times which tended to then shift to Enterprise, hints in her expression contemplative – like she was trying to judge something. Probably whether or not it was right for her to try and get them to talk again considering the situation.

The stretching quiet didn't seem to discourage her. On the contrary, it made her more restless, the way her feet rose on their toes a visual aid to her balancing around a possible opener. If Enterprise wasn't as distressed as she currently was, she would've found it strange with how Hornet was acting.

"This brings back memories, doesn't it?" she suddenly asked.

Enterprise blinked and looked at her blankly. "Huh?"

Hornet grimaced, regretting her choice, but she stubbornly forced herself ahead even though her eyes strayed off to the side to a wall of the room instead of Enterprise. "Uh…us being here, you know? Last time it was…"

"Yorktown," Enterprise filled in.

Although back then, the space had been much wider between them when they had been in the waiting room, Enterprise having wanted to be left to herself and her brooding while they awaited news about Yorktown. Hornet had been different, having found her way to sit by Hammann's side, preferring the productivity that her nearness to the upset destroyer had managed to accomplish and what had carried on afterwards when the two would be found together more often.

Enterprise though…all she remembered was the distance that she further created when they were informed about Yorktown's condition, simply turning and leaving, ignoring the perplexed stares that had followed her.

"We never really…talked about it, you know?" Hornet went on, gaze still astray.

Enterprise shook her head, ending when her own eyes had gone aside. "No, we…didn't."

Ever after Yorktown had regained consciousness, Enterprise hadn't seen her right away. Whether it had really been a conscious decision on her part, she had delayed, going to see her when she thought it to be a 'right' time which just so happened to be when Hornet, Hammann, and their other comrades had made their visitations and she was able to see Yorktown when it was just the two of them. The timing also happened to coincide with Enterprise leaving on her next assignment so shortly after.

The war, after all, was still going on, and they needed to retain what they had managed to acquire with Yorktown's sacrifice.

That had been her reasoning, anyway, and the one that wanted to come out, but Enterprise held back, disliking how much it sounded like an excuse. Here and back then.

But she didn't know what she should say instead.

Fortunately, Hornet remained stubborn in her persistence, driven by some sort of motivation. "We both had our reasons, I guess, even…you know…after that…"

Enterprise felt a pang when she recalled their interactions when they did happen to cross each other's paths and the wide berth that was involved with them exchanging very little in terms of looks or words. She forced herself to look to her now over the small space between them. "Hornet…"

She shot up a hand, her green irises jolting to meet with Enterprise's. "I-I'm not…!" she started to say hastily before weakening, her hand receding a little along with her gaze, uncomfortably subdued. "I'm not saying we need to get into that stuff about why we did it 'cause we were both going through a rough patch. Yorktown was our sister and we wanted to handle it in our own ways but…." She suddenly sighed, her hand now going to aggressively scratch the back of her head. "Geez, this isn't going so well…"

Enterprise watched her frustrations silently, and it was those that ended up shaming her a little with how Hornet was struggling while she remained unhelpful. "You can…keep going," she awkwardly encouraged. "I'm listening."

Hornet glanced back, Enterprise witnessing the shot of surprise when she forced herself to meet and stay in eye contact with her sister, and that in turn got Hornet to keep it from being one-sided, contributing to maintain it. "Yeah, sure, just…give me a second." She shrugged while producing a grin that was uncharacteristically embarrassed for the usually confident sibling. "I had things sorted out better on the way over here."

Enterprise arched a brow. "You were thinking about it the whole way here?"

"Not the whole way here!" Hornet denied with a shake of her head, almost hiding how her cheeks darkened. "I had been thinking about it before…" She slowed, her face cooling with an epiphany of how she wanted to go about this. "Well, actually, I had probably done too much thinking."

"What do you mean?" Enterprise asked.

Hornet straightened in her seat, her countenance influenced with a maturity that wasn't out of place despite her younger form. "When we went back to fighting, I was thinking that with all the thinking I was doing, we'd have all the time in the world to wait for the opportunity to talk about things. We don't age, and with how long we had been fighting already I didn't think anything could really happen, even after what happened with Yorktown happened. I might've even thought that, maybe, we could wait long enough for her to get better, and things could work themselves out." She looked at Enterprise hopefully. "You follow?"

Enterprise spent a moment to take it in, eventually nodding. "I do."

Hornet mimicked it, bolstered. "Yeah, okay…yeah." The motion slowed, burdened with what also began bringing her down. "So, when we got assigned to help in the Pacific, I kind of just…left you alone with that in mind. You were still as strong as ever, and though I was worried at how much you were pushing yourself, at the same time it convinced me of how you'd just be able to keep on going to when things would eventually sort themselves out. And since I was there, I thought…I don't know…that I'd be able to watch your back in case anything happened. Not that that went too well at the start, when you needed to save my butt and all…"

Hornet ended that with a quiet chuckle and though Enterprise made an answering noise of amusement, she was becoming concerned about how strained her sister's efforts were – how Hornet appeared to be going further off somewhere, and Enterprise thought that wherever it was, it was becoming steadily harsher on her.

It got her to say, "Don't forget, that didn't go that well for me, either." Though Enterprise had saved Hornet from Zuikaku, it ended up being both of them and the rest of the fleet that needed to be saved from the ambush of the Crimson Axis. By the Royal Navy…and Belfast.

Hornet nodded, a grin quirking, but the strain seemed to only grow. "Yeah, I guess it didn't. But we all made it out of there in the end and that got me to believe more of how things would always work out. If we just did what we always did…"

Incredibly, Enterprise found herself needing to suppress a smile that was trying to appear. It was a sad, sullen smile that she managed to hold back, brought on by just how amazingly familiar with how Hornet was speaking.

Unaware of it, Hornet said, "Then that big battle with the Sakura Empire happened, and then Orochi…it knocked some sense into me with what happened to you, so when you went back home I was spending time reevaluating everything, thinking of how I wanted to talk to you as soon as you got back. Then you did, and I found out you were getting shipped right out again, and everything I thought of just fell apart on me and like an idiot I let you go again thinking that it could wait when you got back."

Here Enterprise couldn't help it, the sad smile slipping on. "Two-way street, Hornet." After successfully interfering with the unfair allocation of responsibility, she started to claim her even amount. "I didn't want to talk, and I know I wasn't making it easy on you." Thinking of Cleveland, Massachusetts, and others, she said, "Or anybody else, for that matter. Even with Yorktown, when I would talk to her, I wouldn't ever really listen to her. Continuing to fight as much as I did made it easier for me and harder for you."

"Yeah, maybe," Hornet reluctantly agreed. "But I wish I tried anyway. If I had, maybe…" She cast her gaze down. "At the very least…" Her voice was growing small, something that Hornet tried to mask when she rubbed at her chin, feigning a display of how she was trying to think of what to say next, but how her fingers passed over her mouth, hiding it when she breathed out unsteadily, her looking up and away at anything that wasn't Enterprise, told a completely different story. "If the worst had happened…I-I could've told myself how I did and…"

Enterprise watched with growing astonishment as Hornet stared at the far wall before she hid her eyes, palm pressing hard against them, but concealing what she wanted there revealed how her lips were tight and shaking, barely getting out, "And, w-who knows, maybe having the guts to just fucking say it would've…"

It hit Enterprise then, and it hit her hard seeing these emotions that were breaking through, having not expected them despite their obvious extent. She thought first of how it explained her sister's restlessness, but just like that the line just went longer and her going further to follow it, leading her to think of those moments when she would happen to notice Hornet in the background or off to the side even when deployed together. A separation that had become a norm, with Enterprise thinking nothing of it. Nothing of what may be troubling Hornet not just now but the whole time…

With her own eyes misting over Enterprise leaned over, the action not entirely of her own control with her expecting Hornet to resist but, to her quiet relief, her sister seemed to sink herself into the hug where it was now her who was clutching Enterprise tightly, burrowing her face against her where Enterprise could feel the damp spot at her shirt forming. She swiped at her cheeks, dispelling the few tears that broke through, wanting to give Hornet her turn when she moved on to brushing her hand through her hair.

"I love you, sis," Hornet said, slightly muffled. "The whole way over here it was just tearing me up as to how I could've missed out on saying it again because I've been so stupid this whole time."

"Not any more than me," Enterprise replied. "I love you, too, Hornet."

Guess we really are sisters, she remarked silently.

They were just so stubborn and hopeless without Yorktown, it seemed. Without the guidance of the one who had welcomed them here and guided them through the tough times they were in, they didn't know how to act – not even with each other.

Enterprise knew she was the worst offender though. She had been the one to isolate herself while Hornet had been the one to try and connect herself to others because the one who she really wanted to connect with she couldn't reach, the distance and obstacles that Enterprise placed in her path having made it too intimidating for her and forcing her to settle in the wake of the shadow that she had cast and what she could do there, even if that shadow became ever longer.

"I've wanted to say something to you, too," Enterprise revealed, still running her fingers through that blonde hair, so different from hers. "And that's 'I'm sorry'. We're sisters and I was never able to act like it when it really mattered because I didn't know how."

"This is a start," Hornet commented, the way her hands remained fisted over the folds of Enterprise's shirt stating how much she approved of it.

"I've been learning. I've been learning a lot during my time here, actually. I'm going to try to be…better. For you. For everyone."

"Ha," Hornet breathed out humorously right before she slipped out from the hug, wiping at her face with the back of her arm. When she dropped it, her eyes had become reddened but the smirk she had was what Enterprise was used to seeing when she looked over to their side. "I can guess who's been doing all the teaching."

Enterprise joined her while she defensively replied, "She did most of it."

Next to them, Belfast remained asleep, having not made any sound or movement during their reconciliation.

"So, we said we'd talk, right?" Hornet asked, waving her hand in a 'come on' gesture. "Let's keep this going. Tell me what you've been doing out here. Do some actual sister talk. Haven't had any of that in years."

Years did not seem to accurately measure the last time when they were like this, with Enterprise turning to Hornet, her sister sitting there while she sat where she was. Even at the earliest days of their lives, there had always been Yorktown, and Enterprise could register the absence of her presence; off to the side, but still right there between them, having once joined the three of them together but, without it, it had revealed how little there was to keep Enterprise and Hornet together over that rift.

Rather than that emptiness though, what Enterprise focused on was the sister who was here – her little sister. Younger, brighter, wilder than she, but through that hopeful smile on Hornet's face and those still-reddened eyes, Enterprise could keenly feel the familial link between them and the ache of the neglect that had come to burden it. Focusing on Hornet, seeing her for all that she was for what could be the first time in their lives, what Enterprise really wanted to do right then was talk with her.

So they did, and it was a much more pleasant experience than being grilled by an investigation committee, even when their talk stretched into hours as Enterprise recounted her two-week stay to Hornet, complete with interruptions for clarification when Hornet snorted early into the recollection.

"You played games?" she asked disbelievingly upon hearing her rounds of skee ball.

"Yes," was Enterprise's indignant response. "I did." Remembering her little match with Montpelier, she added – with a tiny bit of pride -, "I wasn't bad at it either."

Hornet arched a just as unbelieving brow. "Suurre…"

A strange desire to be sincere to Hornet had Enterprise insisting, "I wasn't!"

Such exchanges occurred consistently, some humorously such as Enterprise's makeover at the banquet – which included Hornet demanding to see Enterprise's dress with Enterprise answering with a 'someday' – while others were more inquisitive around the various landmarks and activities that Enterprise visited and partook in with the carrier's knowledge she had picked up from Belfast serving her well there in actually impressing and intriguing Hornet. No matter which, Enterprise found it so…easy and natural to be speaking with Hornet about the day-by-day events and retorting to what remarks she would make.

"Man, those Royals really have it going for them with such a palace like that," came another of Hornet's comments when Enterprise's sightings of the Docklands stretched to the Royal Palace itself.

"They work hard to maintain it," Enterprise defended, going into the duties and responsibilities that the maids and other branches of the Royal Navy followed, something that Hornet eventually had to concede with.

"Yeah, I don't need that," she dismissed. "I'll take the occasional resort trips between sorties, thank you."

This even extended to when she would refer to her condition and the issues that stemmed from them and of that Ghost of herself. The nightmares she ended up mentioning to Hornet, her trauma, she merely cited as lingering influence of Orochi to conceal their true nature, yet even then she was surprised at how simple the words flowed out. Hornet for her part had been respectful, adopting expressions that were appropriately serious when Enterprise touched on them, but her older sister's ease of speaking about them were becoming apparent to her as well. How unrestrained Enterprise was about what she had gone through.

But that was because it was all over. Orochi, Grey Ghost, and her fears that they had taken to such extremes were all truly over. It just hadn't really occurred to her yet as it did now, now that she was taking the time to review and come to the conclusion herself.

She had nothing to fear from them or from herself anymore, and though there was still their war with the Sirens, she had so many new ways to live her life now that it would be strictly of her own choices with the things she cared about.

Of that eventual breakthrough that she had, Enterprise would use Belfast's words for it. "It was like the world suddenly opened up to me and I was able to see and feel how…beautiful everything was. I was able to see the humanity in me, in us, and how it was all connected. What I hadn't understood before suddenly all made sense about what we were – not only as ships, but as humans, too."

"Well, it was about time it did," Hornet's comment and her smile were genial as she viewed Enterprise with brimming pride.

Enterprise looked to the one responsible. "It's all thanks to Belfast. I wouldn't have gotten through any of it without her."

"It's funny," Hornet said. "When we were all assigned together at the joint base, I was thinking that it may do you some good to see everyone hitting it off as they were. Yeah, we were all there to fight but there was more to it than that and I was hoping during the downtime you'd be able to relax for once. Imagine my surprise when you managed to pick yourself up your own personal maid."

"I didn't 'pick her up'," Enterprise responded, a little put off by the phrasing. "She was the one who kept coming to me, even when I would tell her not to. She had been a very obstinate person though."

Hornet snorted. "Listen to you and your fancy vocabulary now."

"I have been learning a lot." Enterprise felt the tug against her lips, gradually manipulating them into a smile. "Honestly…I don't know what I could do without her."

Hornet went quiet at that, leaving Enterprise uninterrupted when she thought of all that she had done with Belfast – all that she regaled to Hornet having been thanks to the cruiser – and she became drawn to her resting features.

It was different this time. Whether it was due to Hornet or not – or, rather, what Enterprise was able to accomplish with Hornet – the carrier felt the lightening that extended to her smile, modifying in a way that she was barely aware of with her attention becoming increasingly fixated on Belfast. Stuck with that urge again, Enterprise reached over to take her hand.

This was another such thing that had become familiar. Comfortable, even. Enough that Enterprise found herself doing something new, her thumb rubbing along the back of Belfast's hand, the run along her knuckles while their palms rested together, the fingers around her pleasant.

Please wake up soon, Bel, she urged with the act. There was more she wanted to learn but there was much she wanted to do in return for her. How she could possibly do that she didn't know and, even if she did, it probably would be far from ever being enough, but to have Belfast around so that she could…that was all Enterprise wanted right now.

"Holy shit…"

Startled, Enterprise went to Hornet to see that the blonde carrier's eyes had grown big. When she followed them to figure out what it was that had her looking so surprised, all Enterprise saw was where her hand was joined with Belfast's.

"Holy shit," Hornet repeated.

"What?" Enterprise asked her, worried that there was something wrong as she constantly switched between her sister and her important friend.

"Holy shit!"

Enterprise tightened her grip around Belfast's hand. "Hornet, what?"

"Don't tell me…" The younger carrier was also doing some looking but it was a more random pattern that involved Enterprise, Belfast, and their held hands. "Have you two…?"

"Have we…?" Enterprise urged her to finish.

Hornet leaned forward, expression shocked but for some reason excited with whatever she wished to pass with discretion. Enterprise also moved closer so that she could hear whatever it was she was about to say.

"Have you two…" Hornet whispered, "…been banging?"

Enterprise jerked back from her. "What!?"

"Holy shit!" Apparently taking Enterprise's reaction as confirmation, Hornet's chair rocked with how she nearly leapt out of it but managed to force herself – and her exclamation – from turning into something that could end up alerting the entire medical facility. "I knew it! I knew it! I thought Hammann was just exaggerating in the beginning but holy shit!"

"Hornet, wha- what!?" Enterprise tried, tripping over her words as she messily tried to recover.

"I mean, I did start thinking something was up with you two but really!? I'm so proud of you!"

"Hornet-!"

"Who would've thought!? My sister! But I suppose it was going to be anyone of course you would go and aim high like that! That's so you!" She smirked devilishly. "So, what's she like? You know-"

Enterprise may be inexperienced on certain things, but she knew enough to figure out what Hornet was implying. "Stop!" she demanded in a strangled, screech-like whisper, her hands cutting the air frantically. "Stop, stop, stop! It's nothing like that!"

Hornet stopped, her proud expression turning into one of confusion. "Wait…so you two haven't…?"

Enterprise shook her head quickly, wishing she had her cap right now to hide the radiant blush on her face. "No! Why would you think we would be doing that?"

Hornet stuck her with silent disbelief, the younger carrier gradually leaning back against her chair. "Oh…" She had an odd, deeply thoughtful expression of someone trying to figure out what they had gotten wrong when they had been so certain of it, and she turned it up towards the ceiling as if the answers were located there. "Could've sworn… I mean, just how you were looking at her and holding her hand there…"

"So?" Enterprise asked while trying to remove her blush. "We've done that before."

There came a very long pause with a very still look that Hornet had towards the ceiling before she very slowly lowered her chin down to stick Enterprise with it. "What?"

"What?" Enterprise returned, finding nothing unusual about what she just said.

"'Done that before'. As in, held hands?"

"Yeah, so?"

"Wait, what?"

Enterprise was beginning to feel like she was going around in circles. "What? It's just something we've come to do. Completely…" The many instances of Belfast holding onto her and her holding onto Belfast all came through in an instant and Enterprise's voice faltered when she said, "…normal."

Now she was the target of a very skeptical look from Hornet. "What have you two been doing out here?"

"I already told you."

Hornet shook her head. "No, no, no. Everything you've told me was what you've been doing. You haven't said anything about what you've been doing with Belfast where holding hands has suddenly become 'normal' for you two."

"Is that such a big deal?" Enterprise asked, annoyed, although Hornet's reaction was making her wonder if it really wasn't as normal as she had been trying to say.

"Okay, okay," Hornet retreated, taking a different angle. "Take me through it again, from the beginning, like what you guys would do when you returned to the base after your trips. Were things like how they usually were?"

"We weren't staying at the base. We were at a hotel the entire time."

Hornet froze, saying and giving away nothing, and then she leaned her head back again, breathed in deeply, and then returned when she breathed out, "Wait, what?"

"Didn't I mention that?"

"Um, no! Not at all!"

Enterprise got a grave sense of foreboding that hinted to her as to how, despite having come to learn more about life, there were still a great many things that she didn't know and was about to get a harsh lesson about it. And despite how easy and willing she had been speaking with Hornet moments ago, what she encountered now was a great reluctance to do so here due to how – because it was her sister being involved – there was going to be dire consequences that were going to follow.

But she chose to take the plunge anyway when she reiterated, "We were staying at a hotel the whole time, not the base. It was Belfast's idea."

Hornet had an intense stare. "It was Belfast's idea for you two to spend weeks sharing a hotel room together?"

"We had separate rooms," Enterprise clarified hastily, not knowing why but sensing that it was an important detail that needed to be known quickly, both with how Hornet was looking at her and her own unsettling feelings. Those feelings also made her very reluctant to expose another detail. "They were connected though."

Hornet seemed to be weighing something between those details, muttering an 'interesting' before refocusing on Enterprise. "Okay, we're getting down to the bottom of this."

The reservations that Enterprise was having multiplied. "And what is it that we're getting to the bottom of?"

Hornet ignored the question in favor of her own. "So you said you two danced at the banquet. You guys didn't happen to kiss or anything like that, too, did you?"

"No," Enterprise answered immediately, with a firm tone, which made it clear how there was something very inconsistent when she suddenly stiffened, remembering a detail that contradicted the answer she just gave.

Hornet's sharp-eyed gaze noticed it and a grin tugged along her face. "You're looking a bit unsure there."

"We didn't…" Enterprise made sure to establish, but that base was on a foundation as rocky as her upcoming explanation. Quickly, in an attempt to blow through it she said, "But when I asked her to dance, I kissed her hand-"

"What!?"

"-as per their customs!" Enterprise rushed to finish. "It was a custom in the nobility that George insisted I do when I asked her for advice!"

Hornet nodded in a very slow, unconvinced way. "Uh huh. Sure."

"It is! George had greeted me with it before."

Hornet perked up. "You don't say. Tell me, did Belfast have any kind of reaction to it?"

"…Why would that matter?" Enterprise asked, suddenly wary.

"Well, if she didn't react then I guess it wouldn't," Hornet replied, seeming to wave it off as if it were nothing but that grin of hers was saying that she didn't believe there was a chance of that as she waited for Enterprise to respond.

For some reason, Enterprise was sure that answering truthfully was not the way to go here. "…She reacted fine."

"Uh huh," Hornet uttered again, not believing it at all. She set one leg atop the other, it bouncing while she leaned back in her seat with arms crossed, setting herself up for what was about to come and what she was going to relish in. "Alright, we're going through everything again."

"What are you trying to get out of this, Hornet?" Enterprise asked, feeling very cautious.

"Hey, this is all just girl talk!" Hornet replied with a smirk that was absolutely devious. "And we're at the tippy top of topics right now!" She reached over and slapped Enterprise upon her arm. "So spill, sis! What else have you been doing with your personal maid to serve your needs?"

Enterprise was very concerned about not only why Hornet would be so interested, but also her wording of that last sentence. She knew she was failing to register any of the significance that Hornet apparently found to be so, and because of that she was afraid about divulging anything else to her with the possibility of her sister discovering more of what Enterprise may've been oblivious to.

She didn't want all that she and Belfast had done together to be seen as anything strange or…unordinary.

Or did she?

Enterprise was perplexed at the suggestion, but there was something that hooked her and convinced her to give it another look instead of turning away from it.

She was worried about someone else seeing what she and Belfast had done as unusual, but wasn't there something off about that, when Enterprise had come to view their interactions as something special to her?

She called Belfast her friend, but while Enterprise had discovered that she had several more friends, she had raised Belfast above the rest of them. Belfast was the one she had come to trust the most and enjoy being around the most. Her fondest memories have become the ones that she shared with the cruiser, and the time she spent with her here what she had come to cherish the most.

Yet for how much she treasured those memories, when others had implied anything exceptional about them, her reaction was to downplay it. Many of the Royal Navy girls who would know Belfast the best – Newcastle and George, for instance – had voiced such possibilities, but Enterprise had always been to argue against it. Wasn't there something wrong with that, with Enterprise wanting to see their friendship as something special, and then denying it when others pointed it out?

Was there the possibility that she had come to see her and Belfast's relationship as so sacred that she didn't want others to speculate about it, even when that speculation paralleled with what she really felt about it?

The reasoning caught her off guard, but again when Enterprise gave it a chance it became not only alarmingly coherent but perfectly in line with the great question that surrounded about what, exactly, Belfast meant to her.

Other than the embarrassment that was making Enterprise not want to talk to Hornet about what she and Belfast had been doing, did she not want even her own sister to intrude on it?

Even though it could potentially validate and help her figure out just what it was that she felt about Belfast, something that she hadn't been able to do and leaving her to agonize over it these past few days?

Under her sister's expectant gaze, Enterprise struggled restlessly until she finally forced herself to meet it and – foolishly, she believed – begin to trudge forward in the task of informing her more about her and Belfast's time together.

"Wait, wait, wait," Hornet would end up interrupting again at the first day of the two's stay, but this time at the revelation that Enterprise had neglected to mention previously. "She had you play the Pocky Game with her!?"

"I…guess?" Enterprise confirmed uncertainly. It had been a game with pocky, but by Hornet's reaction it was apparently a more 'official' game than she had thought. "Is it that much of a well-known game?"

"A well-known…?" Hornet sighed and dropped her head into her hands, it remaining there for the few shakes she made. "Oh, my amazing, sweet, naïve sis…"

Enterprise's stomach flipped around nervously, both at Hornet's tone and how Enterprise was remembering back to the game and what happened during it. "What?"

"I'll inform you all about the wonderful implications of the Pocky Game after, but I'll tell ya, Belfast is really starting off as the mad genius that I'm beginning to see her as."

"How so?"

"We're going to move on and find out!"

This interrogation proved to make the debrief that Enterprise had with the officers pale in comparison to the grilling for details that she would undergo with Hornet, the ones that she had neglected previously proving to have a profound effect when the blonde carrier pounced on them to draw them out into the light.

"So you two would just feed each other often?" she asked when Enterprise revisiting her food-related discoveries led to when Belfast would feed them to her, and Enterprise being compelled to return the favor.

"…Not that often," Enterprise replied with a hesitance that was attached to each and every one of her answers that Hornet would pry out from her, which then would typically be followed by the likes of, "Just for a few things she introduced me to, and I would give some of mine in return. It was the fair thing to do."

"Uh huh," Hornet replied, but did so after lowering her head into her hand again – something she was going to repeat often -, just missing on hiding that smirk of hers while rubbing her temples. "Yeah, sure. Fair."

Any chance to inquire further would usually have Hornet signaling her instead to go on.

"Oh, dammit, sis," she exasperatingly exclaimed during another point. "You didn't mention that!"

This time, at least, Enterprise knew that Hornet was reacting appropriately, and she was busy bowing in shame. "I know, Hornet, I know. She wanted to dance with me."

"And you handed her off to someone else…"

"I know, but I said I danced with her later!"

"After you kissed her."

"On the hand and it was a custom."

"Oh yeah? Speaking of all the hand kissing and handholding, was there any other kind of holding involved?"

There was, of course. Plenty, which made Belfast's explanation at the start – that they were two friends sticking close – and what Enterprise repeated to Hornet become weaker and weaker with each time Enterprise remembered when they 'stuck close', leading to Enterprise to squirm under the evolving expression on Hornet's face when one or two examples ended up numbering far more than that. And as for the later ones, when it was Enterprise who would initiate them, there was no excuse for sticking close but just how the carrier had been so comfortable – so content – to just have Belfast as attached to her as she had come to be with her.

Enterprise was holding back on exposing those feelings, and Hornet's digging wasn't threatening them, but the younger carrier appeared engrossed in speculating on the meanings that Enterprise was unknown to with what had become their 'every day normal' punctuated when Belfast had washed her hair, when they had gone on their picnic together, when Belfast had always been there to embrace her both during her worst of nightmares and during her most pivotal discovery of their humanity, and so on.

Until, eventually, Hornet was leaning back in her seat, deep in thought, while saying, "You know, I've been seeing my fair share of how those Royal Maids act around the joint base…and let me tell you, I haven't seen any of them act the way you've been saying Belfast has been acting, and she's supposed to be Miss Perfect Head Maid. I mean before when she was looking after you, sure, but what you've been saying here…"

"She hasn't been acting as a maid," Enterprise defended. "She's been acting as a friend."

Hornet gave her a suspicious eye. "A friend, huh?" The corner of her lip quirked mischievously. "Spending two weeks together in a hotel, checking out the sights while being all handholdy, feeding, bathing, and dressing all nice for each other, dancing. I'm thinking of a different word for how you two have been acting."

Enterprise stared blankly at Hornet. "And what would that be?"

The short grin perished, it turning into a frown while Hornet squinted at Enterprise. She set her feet back down on the floor, her palms resting heavily upon her knees as she angled close. "Do you honestly have no idea what I've been getting at here? I'm trying to figure out if you two are head over heels for each other!"

Enterprise's blank look turned quizzical, not getting it.

Hornet slapped her palm against her forehead. "Oh my God! Love, Enterprise! I'm trying to figure out if you two are in love with each other!"

Love…? As soon as it entered her mind, the word traveled down as a sudden warmth in her veins while her nerves sparked. Despite the bodily reaction though, what Enterprise felt in response was confusion – both to it and what Hornet had said. "Love…?" she asked aloud, her very lips tingling which settled moments later. "You mean…like you and me?"

It left Hornet flabbergasted, she gawking at Enterprise. "No, not-," she started and then stopped, her scratching vigorously at her head as she tried to come to terms with this situation. "Seriously, you know what I'm talking about when I ask if you're banging but not if you're in love?"

"I…" Enterprise began and then halted, lost on what she should be addressing and how she should.

She did know what Hornet meant concerning that first thing. A means of reproduction for humans, but when it came to shipgirls who could not have children it was, to Enterprise, a different kind of occasional maintenance. Stress maintenance. She was aware of it and could probably recognize those moments in her service where it was implied to happen such as when she would notice shipgirls who were not assigned bunks together nonetheless coming out from a room in the morning, then scurrying off, abashed, when Enterprise happened to be in the hall to witness them. As long as she had lived and served among her compatriots, of course she would overhear the occasional hushed tones while on base and even on patrol about planned engagements of that nature.

Yes, she knew what sex was, but it was nothing she had ever been inclined to do – or for the suggestion to be made to her in such a manner that it wouldn't be immediately dropped when she would express her disinterest. Disinterest and…unease at the thought of engaging in it that became the face-immolating embarrassment of Hornet thinking that she had done it with Belfast.

In the end it became one of the many things that she would eventually come to ignore in favor of putting her entire existence into their battles, and – as she was thinking now – was probably yet another thing that she was ignorant to the meanings of why those of her kind did it.

Such as why 'love' would have a part in it.

"Why would those be…relevant to each other?" Enterprise asked hesitantly, feeling the temperature rising with her inquiry, the uncomfortable squirming of certain organs. "And why would you think of…me and…Belfast…that we…?" The remains of her question died out while she visibly receded from it.

Somehow, this with Hornet may very well be worse than the ambush at the banquet that had her at the center of attention of hundreds of people in terms of embarrassment.

Hornet for her part appeared to be stuck in a quandary as she regarded Enterprise. "I have no idea whether I should be sad about this or laughing my ass off right now. Really, sis, you're not understanding this at all?"

"What about you?" Enterprise asked, really wanting this to not be about her that she took the first opportunity that came to her. "Have you…?"

She was successful in bringing Hornet up short and then it was her sister who became slightly flustered, her gaze straying away while she scratched at a cheek that had gone pinkish. "Er, well, you know…I-I'll tell you when you grow up a bit more!"

Enterprise frowned at her. "But I'm older-"

"Age isn't the factor for this!" Hornet hastily interrupted. She clapped at her colored cheeks, the action getting her to snap back into focus as she met with Enterprise again. "Anyway, that's a discussion we don't need to have right now! This is about what you and Belfast may be feeling for each other!"

The return to that was only marginally better for Enterprise. "And why would you think its…love?"

"What, you mean other than your little vacation sounding more like a honeymoon?"

"Honeymoon?"

There came another slap of hand meeting forehead from Hornet. "Oh my God…"

Enterprise decided that the very best thing to do was sit there and do nothing, too mortified by Hornet's exasperation at what she was recognizing as a colossal failing on her part over a very important issue of the more common variety of sense. Beneath the hand currently stuck to her face, Hornet's one eye slid to Enterprise, sticking to her, until her palm lowered, fingers dragging down, with her sighing once they cleared.

"Enterprise…" she began, barren of judgment with what she presented now being a calmer, serious demeanor with her arms folding over her legs. "What is it that you see Belfast as?"

The change helped coerce Enterprise into answering. "A friend."

Hornet lifted a questioning brow.

"A…special friend," Enterprise elaborated on the distinction she knew she saw Belfast compared to her other 'friends'. "An important friend."

"Does that make you trust her more than others? Care about her more?"

There was a short pause of reluctance of wanting to admit it, even if Enterprise knew for certain what the answer was. "Yes."

Hornet tilted her head, watching her sister ship closely. "As much as me and Yorktown? More?"

The reluctance was far more powerful, but Enterprise's lips had already been parting with the answer and instead of internal arguments to convince her of how it wasn't true, what came instead was just how much Enterprise had come to trust Belfast with – some of which she hadn't confided to her sisters and remained unwilling to do so. In such a strictly plain sense, Enterprise understood what that meant.

Did that mean that she…cared about Belfast more? More than Hornet? More than Yorktown? She didn't want to go that far but…as much as them? Could she…admit that?

"…Yes," she eventually answered, her voice as small as she started to become in her seat, feeling ashamed. "Or at least I think I…might."

"There's nothing wrong with that, sis," Hornet assured upon seeing the obvious conflict. "That just proves how special it is. Able to find someone else, outside of family, just goes to show how special they are when you come to care about them as much."

"Like you and Hammann?"

"Uh…not quite. The thing with Hammann…you could say I like looking after her. She's like a little sister that I never had. For you and Belfast though, I think it's a bit different. You don't see her as a sister, do you?"

Enterprise thought of when she'd seen Hammann and Hornet together, a few of those times tending to involve Hornet teasing and pulling some kind of prank on Hammann with the destroyer throwing a fit while others had them hanging out and having fun. While Enterprise could see a couple similarities with how she and Belfast interacted…even she could see how it wasn't the same.

"I don't," she replied, drifting into silence before asking, "And that's…love?"

Hornet looked long and hard at her. "Enterprise…I have never seen you like this before. When Yorktown got hurt, it's like something in you just shut down or…I don't know…broke off and you left it behind with her when you went back out to fight and started thinking of yourself as just a ship. It was like you gave up on being happy. This is the exact opposite. You've changed so much since I last saw you – you looked happy when we were talking earlier - and the way you were looking at Belfast before, talking about her…I can tell how much she was a part of that to the point where you look like you're stuck in place right now without her. Like you can't go on until she wakes up because you need her to keep being happy."

Enterprise nearly gasped at how accurate the explanation was, nearly verbatim, to what she had been struggling with. The difference of how she felt between Yorktown getting hurt to Belfast, how her happier life had come to a standstill… What had been putting her under such stress, however, had been what it all meant and whether it was wrong or not.

But what she was feeling…what she had come to feel about Belfast…was love? Something that she felt for her sisters, but what she hadn't been able to see as being able to exist anywhere else, in any other form, beyond that familial circle that she stuck exclusively with, and what she had been gradually diminishing until she had cast it aside along with all the other chances of happiness when it became entwined with the pain and hardship that had struck that family.

Enterprise turned to Belfast. To watch as she slept while she thought hard about this.

Then, to Hornet, she quietly recalled, "When Belfast was sinking, I was the one to get to her first. She was badly injured, and her gear had too much flooding. I was trying to keep her up, but she was getting too heavy. I knew that if help didn't come soon, I wouldn't be able to hold on anymore and she'd sink. When it looked like help wasn't going to come in time and I was going to lose her…I thought right then of how I wouldn't be able to live without her. I thought that if she was to sink…then I would rather sink with her."

Out of her view, all she got from Hornet was a low creaking of her chair. "Woah. If that doesn't sound like love, then I don't know what does."

Unfortunately, Enterprise wasn't settled by Hornet's experienced opinion. She may actually be more troubled because of the complications that were not only becoming more obvious but had also been added to the situation. Other than her own difficulties understanding what love really was and what it entailed, there was still the very important question that went together with what Enterprise felt for Belfast.

If it was love that Enterprise felt for Belfast…did Belfast feel the same about her?

Obviously she couldn't ask her and find out now, but even if she could…would she? For some reason, learning more about this was making her more worried. For how sure she wanted to be in Belfast feeling something as special as she did for her, shrinking the possibility down to one specific thing created risks of Belfast not feeling the same way.

And this chance of Belfast not loving her in return frightened her in an entirely new way.

"How can I be certain that she feels the same about me?" Enterprise asked, praying that her sister's wisdom could give her the insight she wanted.

"I say kiss her and find out."

Enterprise whipped towards Hornet, shocked by the suggestion. "You're joking."

Hornet was smirking. "Half-joking. Maybe." She tamed her smirk and teasing temperament. "Alright, full serious here. I already said that it's been sounding a lot like Belfast has been giving you special treatment."

"For a special condition," Enterprise pointed out, it immediately stinging when she realized that 'special condition/treatment' had been what Belfast cited as her justification for initiating this whole trip.

"Well, I for one would like to know how half of the things you've told me she's done was to help you get better and not for the sake of cozying on up to you. You've talked to a bunch of those Royal girls, right? Have any of them given the impression that what she's done for you is normal?"

The list immediately became too much for her to go through individually. "No," Enterprise awkwardly settled with instead. "Some have said how it wasn't normal. George had to lay it on pretty thick for me about that."

"Want me to offer another example?" Hornet volunteered.

Enterprise blinked in surprise. "You?"

"Oh yeah. Back when you were recovering at the joint base, after Orochi, I decided to stop in and try to see you at the medical ward one evening." She shrugged. "It was late, but I wanted to check on you to see if you were improving. When I got to your room though, I saw that Belfast was already there. She didn't notice me, and I decided to step back and peek in on her. And you know what?" She pointed a finger at Enterprise. "With her standing over you when you were asleep, she had a look a lot like some of the ones you've been giving her ever since I came in here."

"…Really?"

"By the end of today, I believe I'm going to get really good at recognizing the whole 'oh-woe-the-woman-I-love-is-not-here-with-me' kind of heartbroken looks that you two give each other whenever one of you is hurt."

The observation got Enterprise to flush moderately. "I've been able to remember more about that battle, such as how Belfast was the one to find me first. She thought I was dead and started crying for me and when she saw that I wasn't…she was still shedding tears for me, except in relief. How she reacted was the same way that I did when I thought I was going to lose her and when we were able to save her."

"Huh, I'm noticing a pattern," Hornet teased lightly.

Enterprise looked beseechingly to her. "Do you think she…loves me?"

"I think there's a damn good chance that she does," Hornet replied enthusiastically until Enterprise saw her bring her enthusiasm in line. "But if you want me to say that I know for sure…sorry, sis, I can't. That's something that can't be guaranteed. Not until you're able to ask her if she does."

Enterprise saw regret in her expression for possibly setting her expectations too high, and Enterprise did feel disheartened by it. Worse yet, imagining her asking Belfast if she loved her jumpstarted that new type of terror she felt when she thought of how she may be mistaken with her feelings. Mental pictures of Belfast's usually soft and smiling features that had been so exclusive to her would be ruined when they would droop with her important friend asking if she was sure about what she was saying or that she didn't love her the same.

The feelings surrounding such a potential rejection were almost as bad as when Enterprise had thought that Belfast was about to die. She thought pinning down what she felt about Belfast was supposed to make her happy, especially when she had considered such feelings to be potentially mutual. This was proving to not be the case, any kind of theorized happiness now imperiled with the threat of being crushed into dust with how vital it was for Belfast needing to be feeling the same specific thing and how Enterprise was swamped with the ideas of the unlikeliness of it.

Left stricken in her chair, the carrier wondered if this right here was the best course of action. She could just stay right here, remain as they were. As friends. Special friends. It had all been fine, right? They had both been happy. Why risk it with a misunderstanding, and one that Enterprise was very likely to be having? It remained so obvious that she was still ignorant about things, and this could be yet another.

Even with Hornet saying how good the chances are…if they were, just what was Enterprise going to do? Could she 'win' in that regard, in proving that she was worthy of that love? That her ignorance wouldn't fail her there? That she wouldn't…disappoint Belfast?

Her elder sister becoming so hushed was a source of concern for Hornet, the younger carrier frowning worriedly at the obvious fretting from Enterprise. Finding herself in that rare role of being relied upon by her renown sister, Hornet looked about ready to continue offering what she could.

But that was when there came the knock on the door.

The sound startled the two carrier siblings, more so for Enterprise who glanced at it in what could be described as a daze. "Come in," she said reflexively, without thinking.

The door opened the rest of the way, the pristine gold with pure white and brilliant red of George's uniform acting as the recognizable, opulent carpet that rolled out for her and her presence that illuminated the dull colors of the recovery room when she entered. Her gaze immediately landed on the two carriers, she expressing nothing but pleasant, warm welcomes that were immaculate even with what had to be the unexpected addition of Hornet.

"Enterprise," George greeted before smoothly switching to Hornet, her features sparkling with evident delight. "And this must be your reliable sister who had come as swiftly as my own to be of aid to you. Enough for the joint base to ask about her whereabouts only for us to lose track of her so soon after her arrival, I might add."

Other than George's grand presence providing a needed distraction for Enterprise, there was the addition of Hornet's reaction to meeting the Knight Commander. Whatever previous interactions that she had with the Royal Navy shipgirls at the joint base did not seem to properly inoculate Hornet to the effects of meeting their second-in-command, the younger carrier physically leaning back in her chair in instinctive deference while doing her best to get a proper appraisal of her.

Which was when the greeting hit, throwing her completely off as she sputtered, "Oh – ah – haha." Her face flushed and, in a trait that was obviously shared with Enterprise, Hornet made a move of what would be to fiddle with her hat but, since it wasn't there, she was forced to fist it where it remained at her lap while bravely trying to meet eyes with George. "Yeah, sorry about that… I did kind of ditch everyone back at the base… Er, both bases I guess…"

"Naval movements have become a tad tumultuous in the past few days," George replied. "We'll let this be as another consequence of it." She gave Hornet a bow. "But proper etiquette should be maintained, utmost with introductions. I am King George V, and I know well of your own reputation as I do for all your sisters, Miss Hornet."

While George was bowed, Hornet directed a quick look at Enterprise that silently asked, 'Why did you not warn me better about this?'

Enterprise shrugged in reply with a short grin. She probably neglected describing just how charismatic George could be.

"Just Hornet is fine," Hornet returned awkwardly to George when the battleship rose. "You know, without the Miss. And, uh, I heard about you as well. From Enterprise. Thanks for helping her out."

"I and the Royal Navy have much more to be thankful for from Enterprise's efforts." To Enterprise, George said, "Although I suspect the investigation committee had neglected much in their show of it during your debriefings with them."

"Do they want me in for more questioning?" Enterprise asked, dreading the prospect a little, although it could explain why George had shown up.

Though exuding an air of sympathy, George shook her head. "They're irritated about the results, but I believe they've resigned themselves to what little they could elicit from the ambiguity of our foe. I suspect that, during the coming days, all they'll be investigating are new policies and procedures to put in place in response to these Mirror Seas, working alongside Her Majesty and the Admiralty."

Enterprise was relieved by that, although she was revisited by the guilt of not being able to help more. She wanted to provide a solution, and being the one who had erased the threat of the fog generated additional guilt, but when she imagined telling more than what she had answered to the committee…she suspected that there was going to be a lot more complications involved and there wouldn't be any real progress made on a countermeasure against Mirror Seas even if she did.

When it came to those specifically, Enterprise believed that any kind of concrete solution involved her getting a better handling of what it was she had done and the effects that they would have over her in the coming days. Maybe after such a time when she understood better but until then…it was best to keep them to herself for now.

Perceiving some of her guilt, George said, "It's thanks to you that we were able to gain intelligence with a fraction of the cost that we would've had to pay for it otherwise. Although not a direct countermeasure, the knowledge alone will allow us to take steps to mitigate their effectiveness in case they're to happen again."

Not sure if the battleship's kind words were really that effective, Enterprise nonetheless nodded, assenting to leaving it at that.

"So, Queen Elizabeth has been taking over things now?" Hornet inquired.

George nodded. "She's still being briefed all about the attack and the events that have occurred since then, which just so happens to leave me free to see to other matters."

"Has anything else happened?" Enterprise asked with a different kind of guilt – one that came from her own inactions from sitting here with Belfast.

George shook her head. "Not what you're currently thinking. There haven't been any follow-up actions from the Sirens whether it be here or at our more distant holdings." There was a fraction's pause and with it a break in George's usual disposition. "However, there has been some other developments that have occurred."

Enterprise noticed the break and suddenly felt nervous because in that fraction of a second she felt George's attention directed solely at her. "What kind of developments?"

There was another pause, but for this one it was so that George could take the time to step back and close the door that she had left open, securing privacy in their room. That didn't make Enterprise feel better.

"It's not just the Royal Navy that was shaken by this bold assault," George began to inform her, glancing at Hornet to let her know that she was included. "Communications have been going nonstop with the other nations of Azur Lane. Everyone's on alert now, as concerned as we are about this being a new escalation on the part of the Sirens, with our military leaders exchanging information on how best to respond. The distribution of our forces has been a topic of intense discussion – namely, those of our joint operations."

Enterprise began to feel adrenaline race through and her pulse pound, a reaction that never failed to occur when she was about to head to battle against a threat. And in this small recovery room, she did sense a threat in what George was saying.

"Most of our forces still stationed at the Azur Lane Pacific Base will remain," George briefed them. "It's a vital point of not only strategic but diplomatic importance when it comes to the Sirens and our allies in that hemisphere which includes the evolving negotiations with the Sakura Empire. However, ships outside of that are being recalled…which includes Eagle Union forces stationed elsewhere in Europe, such as the Royal Isles."

"You don't mean…" Hornet spoke up.

George nodded, but her attention remained on Enterprise, the Knight Commander sorry about the news she was about to deliver. "I mean as of oh nine hundred this morning, Eagle Union had transmitted a list of warships currently supporting Royal Navy operations that they want to report back to their waters. Enterprise…you're on that list."

There was nothing but the steady beeping of the monitoring devices hooked up to Belfast, the cruiser remaining completely unaware to the news that a salvo of armor-piercing shells could only match with the effect that they had on Enterprise, piercing through and gutting her, damage control now in full effect as the carrier tried to recover from it to accomplish the barest of functions in order to respond to it.

Her mouth moved soundlessly, trying to form words that she hadn't prepared yet and, really, couldn't, with it being a miracle when she got two out. "…I'm leaving?"

Not even George could provide any assistance, the battleship regretful at how worldly affairs had come to ruin Enterprise's. "I'm sorry but yes. In your case, you are to report back to New York."

Enterprise was numb, her mind blank, and her lips moved what had to be on their own. "…When?"

"Today has been meant for all selected ships to gather and prepare for the journey to Eagle Union waters as early as tomorrow morning."

"Tomorrow!?" Hornet blurted out. "That soon?"

George turned to her. "The plan was already being discussed beforehand, with preparations taking place yesterday to consolidate Eagle Union ships together to set sail as soon as a decision was made which was expected to be imminent."

It failed to placate Hornet in any way. "What about Iron Blood? The whole point of Eagle Union support was to help you guys against them."

"Only a portion of the shipgirls stationed here were meant to remain, with the rest to return to the joint base or other areas that Eagle Union command saw fit to assign them to. Yesterday, a major breakthrough occurred that no longer necessitates even those supporting elements: Iron Blood wishing to establish peace accords with the Royal Navy and Azur Lane."

"Iron Blood wants peace?" Hornet asked, stunned.

"We engaged in parley yesterday," George revealed. "We had all been hoping that the continued extension of the lull was a chance that Iron Blood was progressing to such an eventuality with us and that may very well have been the case this whole time. Their assistance against the Sirens, I suspect, was to give them better standing for the negotiations which are now underway and will be Queen Elizabeth's highest priority."

Peace with Iron Blood should be a momentous occasion, and so soon after the ceasefire with the Sakura Empire. An Axis that had been created between two of Azur Lane's major powers, having divided the world in half over a month ago with further destabilization feared by other member nations like Sardegna planning to join them, had instead been dissolved so shortly after its formation, with Iron Blood – the perpetrator of the civil war – now suing for peace in the wake of the latest machinations of their real enemy.

It was nothing short of a miracle meant for tremendous celebration, not something that George should be reporting with solemnity or Hornet responding to with dismay because of how they both knew what else it meant.

But while the two continued – George patiently, Hornet aggressively -, Enterprise was stuck like glue to her seat, dimly aware of the two in front of her but not hearing anything from them.

She was leaving?

Her deployment was over with her returning to base and to be given her next assignment that would take place at another location, often miles away across the seas from where she had been last. That was the pattern that had dictated her life and, eventually, was all that her life became; the great repetition that sent her from battlefield to battlefield with no home to return to. Just the brief stops that did not connect her to anything. Checkpoints of her unending progress in conflict.

She would be ordered to go, and she would follow with no protest or unnecessary thought. Eventually, orders stopped being necessary. Wherever there was a battle, she would go. She didn't need anyone to tell her that anymore because that was her only function as a warship.

She was being ordered to return to base. Return to that pattern. This had always been expected.

But she didn't want to.

Because to go in this instance was to leave. To leave implied there being something she had to abandon.

Enterprise looked towards the bed.

She didn't want to abandon Belfast.

The cruiser slept on, Enterprise watching her sleeping face as she had done for days now, waiting for her, and what she was now being pushed to go before she could wake up. To stand up, walk out, and leave her for those battles that had to be fought for the human race to continue to exist. The war that they were so vital to fight in and needed them to eventually return to – both of them.

But I'm not ready yet.

A ridiculous thought. In functionality, Enterprise was more than ready to return. She could fight again, probably better than she had ever before.

But I'm not ready.

Her capabilities weren't what was in question. It was her meaning behind them. To fight and to live in between the fighting. How unnecessary that it had been before, when she had been able to last so long without it, but now that she had one…she could not go without it.

Nor could she go with it as incomplete as it was. The things she wanted to tell Belfast, the things she wanted to ask, what had been boring a hole in her, hollowing her out, and what she was being told to now leave behind…she would be as she had been before except instead of being crippled by fear or soul-shattering trauma it would be questions that she was not going to be able to get answers for.

"Unbelievable," Hornet growled out.

"In this specific case, it is most unwelcoming," George agreed. "But we are being called, and it is our duty to answer as we have done since the onset of our births, especially with what could be another turning point in our wars." She turned to address the silent Enterprise. "I will personally make arrangements for you, Enterprise. I give you my word that the second Belfast awakens, you will be made known of it, and I shall ensure direct communication as soon as-"

"No."

For how little Enterprise had known King George, the Knight Commander had never seemed to fail to remain perfectly infallible in addressing whatever may come her way. And yet that impenetrable demeanor was brought up short by the single syllable that the carrier uttered.

"Begging your pardon?" George asked, genuinely confused.

Hornet had also gone to Enterprise, her eyes wider but just as confused.

Neither of them swayed Enterprise from the solid standing that had her becoming fixed in her seat, refusing to move from this spot. "I'm not going," she declared, looking not at them but remaining on Belfast.

Hornet and George glanced at each other, both needing to be sure they heard right but neither could supply the other as to the reasoning behind it, leaving them at a loss for words when they looked back at Enterprise.

All Enterprise did was grab Belfast's hand, showing that she was not going anywhere.

"Enterprise," George eventually said, "this is an order coming directly from Eagle Union headquarters."

"I don't care," came Enterprise's blunt response. "I'm not going."

For the first time in her entire life, she was disobeying an order.

But she didn't care. Rather, instead of not caring, Enterprise found herself growing angry.

They were telling her to go back? Now? Right now? When she still had something so important that she needed to do, they were telling her to drop it all and leave it?

That was so unfair.

It felt so childish to think of it like that, but Enterprise didn't care. It really wasn't fair to ask her this and expect her to just drop everything and follow it so thoughtlessly, without taking any consideration as to how it was getting in the way of something she needed to do.

"I understand how you feel," George resumed with her diplomatic tone. "But this is an order from your nation that needs you. If I could, I would try to arrange for you to stay but Eagle Union command had been quite clear on the matter. With such potentially monumental shifts being made both with the factions and the Sirens, it is best that we return to our respective stations for now to respond accordingly to what may come next."

Enterprise slowly turned to stare directly at George. "And I…" she responded, just as slow, her tone just as immovable. "Don't. Care."

George looked about ready to respond but rather than sit and listen to the same thing over again, Enterprise was prepared to jump out of her seat to better stand against her. But as that would mean letting go of Belfast, Enterprise instead lurched in her seat towards the Knight Commander's direction, the action cutting her off, and leaving Enterprise free to retort.

"I've listened and obeyed every order they've ever issued for every second of my life," she spoke tightly. "I've won every battle they've sent me to, accepted every reward they've awarded me with, taken every name that wanted to give me, and did so without rest or complaint. I did everything they've ever asked me and more that they haven't. And now that I want one thing in return, the least they can do is let me have it!"

Enterprise was glaring at George, her voice rising higher with her anger, and though it was not the battleship she was infuriated with, she wasn't sure if it was Eagle Union either even as she snapped, "If you don't want to tell them that, then I'll do it! Get me a line to HQ so that I can tell them that I'm staying here until Belfast wakes up and not a moment sooner!"

George was entirely taken aback, and even though she was angry there was a small part of Enterprise that could still be aware and ashamed of it, awash in this lividness she may be. But she would not yield, even with the possibility of straining her friendly relationship with the Royal battleship who began recovering, with Enterprise wondering if she was about to see a side of George that few ever did in response to her blatant disobedience.

That was until a form darted between them. "I'll go!"

The intervention halted whatever was about to come next, including Enterprise's anger when it broke off with the surprise she directed towards the one between her and George. "Hornet?"

But her sister wasn't speaking to her. "I'll go back instead of Enterprise."

George delayed but eventually regarded the younger carrier. "Your superiors had been specific in their demand for Enterprise to return."

"They want a Yorktown carrier to come back," Hornet returned. "They'll get one. Just not the one they want."

"As far as I'm aware, there had been no specific orders for you. I believe they were going to let you remain at the joint base."

Hornet shrugged and extended her arms out to her sides. "Sounds like as far as they know, I'm still there and not here and they could hardly give a damn." She grinned with open conspiracy. "'Tumultuous movements', right? You lost track of me, but you'll be able to say that there was an Eagle Union carrier that had left the Royal Isles along with the rest. You can even transmit our course that's taking us through a nice scenic route to make sure we get back safe and sound." She switched to Enterprise. "That should buy you a few more days."

Enterprise was gaping at her, but George had become thoughtful, the battleship stroking her chin in contemplation. "A proposal of a great many conveniences," she commented. A corner of her lips quirked. "How audacious, and fits exactly to some of the tales concerning Eagle Union girls. So thrilling to see it myself."

"Uh…" Hornet cocked her head, not knowing how to take that. "So, is that a yes or a no?"

George chuckled, removing her hand from her chin. "I think it's in our best interests that, officially, this conversation never happened. Unofficially…"

Hornet made a quick laugh as she swung to Enterprise, proud of her scheme. "There you go, sis."

"Hornet…" Enterprise said again, at a complete loss. "I don't know what to say…"

Hornet was setting her hat back over her head. "You don't have to say anything. This is what sisters are supposed to do, right? Watch out for each other?" She tipped the brim up so that she could give Enterprise a wink. "Feels nice to be the one bailing you out for once." She glanced over at Belfast, her expression shifting. "Just use this time to get things settled between you two, alright?"

Flashing Enterprise with a quick salute, Hornet swiveled to George. "I guess I better go and say hi to everyone before we head out tomorrow, huh?"

George nodded and stepped towards the door, opening it. "I'll show you to the assembly area. I'm going to need to make a certain call to Her Majesty that's best to remain off official channels anyway."

Hornet made a quick laugh while passing through the door. "Royal Navy girls really aren't bad at all."

While she exited though, George didn't follow, staying and focusing on Enterprise.

Enterprise receded in her seat. With the threat past and her anger gone, the shame of her conduct was all that was left. Surely even George would not let this go without a thorough dressing down.

"I trust you are satisfied with this, Enterprise?"

Enterprise nodded, head still bowed.

"You sounded very human right then."

Enterprise looked up. "Sorry?"

George was giving her a steady smile. "It seems that you've acquired your new perspective, and Belfast has become indispensable to it."

"I…" Enterprise once again found her gaze drifting to Belfast. "I guess so."

"Well, I hope you take this extra time your sister gave you to be certain of it. We all have our obligations to our duty that we must return to, but it appears you have finally found the elegance you've been missing with yours. For that, a little misbehavior can be condoned in this instance. Just try not to make too much of a habit of it now."

"I'll try not to," Enterprise responded guiltily.

"That said, I will have to ask for some indemnity. Given the redeployments, there will be some pressure on our forces that I'd like you to help alleviate for the time being by contributing to our security. This'll also have the benefit of obscuring your presence that, officially, is not supposed to be here come the morrow. I promise to keep you close to this area and word will reach you immediately if Belfast happens to awaken while you're out."

Enterprise felt herself recoil at the chance of her not being here when Belfast wakes up, but for here she had very little rightful ground to stand on. Between the sacrifices that Hornet was making and the lenience that George was exerting in order for her to remain in the Royal Isles, even this selfishness of hers had limits. "I'll accept that."

"Then we have an agreement," George declared. "And one that won't be enacted until tomorrow so, for the time being, you can remain here."

"Thank you, George," Enterprise said right before the Knight Commander was about to leave.

George bowed her head in her direction before disappearing through the door, pulling it shut behind her.

Enterprise felt a very odd sensation: a heavy weight settling what felt directly over her bones, her head hanging back over the chair once she was alone. She didn't feel tired or drained, just…heavy. In body, in mind, with both needing some time to recover from what they had just been put through.

The soft touch beneath her one hand was warmly distinct, and it eventually pulled Enterprise's attention to it.

The things you've done to me, Bel, Enterprise silently accused. And you're not even here to take responsibility.

Belfast only answered with the unbroken rhythm of her quiet breathing.

Enterprise sat up in her seat and then started angling closer towards the cruiser.

And it's because of…love?

The unnatural weight unnaturally lightened when Enterprise thought of the word with Belfast in her view, the feeling close to when she was flying in the skies. That weightlessness, however, was so efficient that the carrier felt a number of internal organs being freed to float around in her body, turning and bouncing within her interior. The most bothersome one was within her rib cage, the rapid, heavy beating of her heart rattling against its prison.

Did she…love Belfast?

As uncomfortable as the sensations of her malfunctioning internals were, however, there was a tender, ineffable feeling that Enterprise experienced by simply staring at Belfast. Her serene features, framed by her hair, with the lack of her usual braid and her head lying on the pillow leaving tips of pure white strands to trace along her cheeks, they and her bangs partially obscuring her eyes and lips, those over the latter riding along her gentle breaths.

The fingers of her hand that wasn't locked with Belfast's twitched with a sudden impulse and what then became a persistent, unyielding longing that Enterprise was convinced to act on. She reached over, fingers delicately brushing aside the maid's bangs, clearing them from over her closed lids, and it felt startlingly natural for the path of her digits to continue along one side of Belfast's face, fingertips stroking along her smooth cheek in the process.

Enterprise traced the longer locks down to Belfast's neck, looking thinner and slenderer than ever without her collar or other decorations. Enterprise felt she was touching forbidden territory when her index finger grazed along her throat, the beating of her heart becoming heavy hammering with the thrill of this sacrilege, but for the carrier's own wellbeing she finished her journey across quickly, repeating the process up along the other side of Belfast's face.

She had never felt this attraction for anyone before. How…beautiful she would find another to be, whether it had been with whatever Belfast chose to dress herself with or when she was just lying right here beneath a blanket and medical gown. No matter what, the cruiser would always manage to monopolize Enterprise's fancies to her whether they were together or when Enterprise would be averse to make any kind of attentions to others when they were separated, wishing to maintain a strict exclusivity to Belfast.

Was that what it meant to love?

Thinking of one of the other prerequisites for this thing called love – trust -, Enterprise had confirmed way in advance that she trusted Belfast as much and, for certain issues, more than her own sisters. But was trust only measured in what she could speak with someone about?

Was it also trust when it came to how they've come to understand each other? Like how Enterprise could trust that Belfast could understand what she was thinking? What she wanted? Not just when it came to her best interests, but just how Enterprise would not need to speak to get a particular point across, even if they were just having a normal conversation or just enjoying the passing of time together, trusting not to need to make any communication at all?

And her believing that it was the same the other way around, where she could understand Belfast at least half as well where not needing to speak to convey what they wanted was a quiet joy…was that all part of love, too?

And was her despair at the thought of losing such a person she was connected with an appropriate measurement of how real that love was? When she felt her very existence required hers to remain or otherwise it'd be for naught?

I just don't know.

Enterprise hated to admit it, feeling like it was a terrible failure on her part for not being able to know despite how unique and special Belfast was to her. Even with the friendships she was making with others, none of them could really compare to the relationship she had with this life-intrusive cruiser.

More distressing, it wasn't giving Enterprise any kind of insight into these feelings being reciprocated.

She had finished brushing aside Belfast's hair, leaving her features unobstructed – gorgeous – but rather than pull her hand away, it had gone astray, with Enterprise not having paid any kind of attention with how her fingers had followed the line of Belfast's cheekbone until they were touching near the corner of her mouth. Then they were passing over her lips, soft and supple, and they became Enterprise's sole focus.

Kiss her and find out?

Enterprise's hand jerked away, her face flushing as her palm came over her mouth to smother a tingling temptation there, and the blush instantly upped to another hundred degrees at the proximity that her fingers were to her own lips now after having touched Belfast's, with her hastily removing them.

Where they ended up landing next was over her chest, Enterprise pressing down to try and keep her heart from bursting out from there.

Is this love?

Her heartbeat began to slow but while the speed lessened, its strength did not, Enterprise swearing that her breastbone was being dented outwards from the force of it. It ached profoundly, swelling with an emotion that could be…might be…

I think it is…

Enterprise removed her hand from her chest and then laid it down on top of her other so that both hands were holding onto Belfast's.

"But I still need you to wake up," Enterprise said in a quiet plea. "So, please, hurry up, Bel…"

---

She had to aim high, her shells striking and detonating upon that monstrous rig and though she was successful in removing pieces from the compromised machinery, the light damage was far from what she wanted.

"Get away from her!" she actually screamed, as if that would accomplish what her attack didn't.

Unsurprisingly, all that both managed to do was get her Purifier's attention and even then the Siren seemed more confused by Belfast's actions rather than genuinely threatened.

It didn't do anything to get her away from Enterprise, who remained lying at the battleship's feet.

If she could've, Belfast would've used her torpedoes, but she ran the risk of hitting Enterprise. Though she had known the ineffectiveness of her cannons, Belfast's other idea of charging and ramming Purifier ran into a couple problems as well: her hand that was hanging, broken, at her side and her mangled leg that she could only put the minimum amount of weight on but was still trembling beneath her.

Maybe she should've done it anyway. Her leg being torn off was an acceptable cost if she was able to remove that thing from Enterprise.

She had seen what Purifier had drawn from her rig and had recognized the evil that pulsated from that tiny fragment. Her shock at seeing it here and Enterprise's sudden powerlessness had put her into inaction and by the time she had sense to do something Purifier was already pushing the vile crystal into Enterprise with her charge promptly collapsing.

For a second time right before her eyes, Enterprise had just been taken from her.

And to stop her from being lost, Belfast had to do something.

What options she was trying to consider were cut short by the lasers that struck the starboard side of her rigging. Belfast only had time to identify them as such but not who shot them or where they came from because her magazine blew a second later.

She didn't feel pain, it all unnaturally muted. The powerful pressure wave felt like a forceless shove that nonetheless sent her flying and tumbling, the splitting of her skin cool incisions, the blood and oil splattering upon her like fallen rain drops.

And the breaking of her neck was reduced to a sudden but painless pop of her vertebrae when she impacted headfirst against the water's surface.

Somehow, she retained consciousness. Her field of vision rolled along with the rest of her body that she could no longer feel anything from before both came to an eventual stop, the bloodied limbs and wrecked plates that happened to land at the edges of her vision the only indicators of how badly she was damaged.

With morbid perfection, they also framed the sight of Purifier turning her back to the broken cruiser in order to examine the still downed Enterprise.

There was nothing that Belfast could do. She couldn't move, nor feel anything. What she wanted to intervene in remained in front of her, with no one to oppose it as time passed by. And Belfast knew the longer it went, the more it became too late. But all she could do was watch.

The water began to rise in front of her. Though she remained physically senseless, she could understand what was going on and dread when she saw the waterline continue to rise, taking a quarter of her view, a third, then half with what she could see of her body and her rig disappearing beneath the water.

It was only taking seconds, but the view remained unchanged in front of her: Enterprise lying there at Purifier's feet with the latter still waiting for something to happen. When Belfast only had a quarter of her view remaining above water, she saw it when something did happen.

Enterprise opened her eyes, and when she did it was to reveal how they had become orbs of demonic crimson.

And then the cruiser sank.

Her descent into the depths remained as quick, Belfast being turned up and watching for herself as to how much higher the surface was rising away from her, with no hope of her being able to return. What little light there was started to fade, making the gradual transformation into what would be total darkness.

That was until the surface suddenly lit up, turning into a fiery ceiling of explosions too distant for Belfast to hear. But she saw the results that weren't restricted to the conflagrations occurring above. There were sudden breaks in the surfaces, splashes of objects being tossed into the sea, and with the light of the apocalypse above Belfast could see the wreckage of destroyed rigs, and attached to them the human bodies that began to sink after her, quickly turning this expanse of the deep into a debris field.

The more shipgirls that joined her in sinking, the more that the overhead chaos was appeased, the fires dwindling.

In its place, there came a sinister glimmer.

Around Belfast, the sinking shipgirls suddenly began dismantling, their silhouettes breaking down into the mass of cubes that were drawn up towards the evil light that began to strengthen in illumination, becoming brighter, as more of their essences were fed into it. The glimmer now an abysmal beacon, it dropped lower, seemingly eager to deconstruct and absorb whatever it could. As if possessed with a great hunger it wanted satiated.

Belfast would be the last. Dropping to her level, it was for the cruiser to see the black Wisdom Cube. No longer a fragment, it was a nearly restored cube with a crack running down the side that was presented to the cruiser.

Helpless to the very end, there was nothing Belfast could do when her body broke down into the cubes that were brought towards the long crack, filling it, completing it, with the last trace of it being for Belfast's consciousness that fragmented, crystalized, and merged with the cube.

Only then did she truly stop feeling anything.

---

"My lady…"

Her consciousness twitched but she couldn't respond. She felt she was somewhere dark and deep, where everything was heavy and sluggish.

For some reason, she had an impression that she shouldn't be able to feel even that.

"My lady…"

Still, she had no lips to speak with and no eyes to open. All she did have was this overwhelming lethargy that was keeping what faculties she was possessed of muddled and incoherent.

"My lady, you need to wake up…"

They weren't words caught by ears she did not have but vibrating nudges against her awareness that slumped back to its deep, heavy slump when they passed.

"Your duty is not yet finished, my lady…"

Duty…?

It roused her, getting her to make a weak, impulsive shrug in a half-hearted attempt to shift the immobilizing weight on top of her but it remained virtually unmoved.

"So improper of you to be sleeping this long, my lady…"

The patronization succeeded in eliciting another shrug, one with vigor sourced from the annoyance at the playful timbre.

"The schedule must be kept, and your charge's desires fulfilled, my lady…"

My…charge…?

An image blurred into existence. An obscured face, a name, and they were enough for her to begin hoisting herself up.

"There we go." There was a light tickling of a giggle. "I knew you could do it, my lady."

Who are you…?

They didn't respond this time, but she felt them there, at the very edge of her range, taunting her. It incentivized her to lift herself up further, to reach out and seize them to gain answers and administer discipline.

With her just about to grasp them, they merrily questioned, "Who do you think, my lady?"

She dove forward, the sudden lunge she hoped to use to catch them.

Instead, Belfast woke up.

Her lids lifted from over her eyes groggily, the slow opening helping them adjust to the mild lighting that poured through them. She blinked, a dull throbbing occurring at her right temple, and she weakly turned her head in that direction to better rest it against the soft pillow to help dampen it.

Though not the same as what she just freed herself from, the current drowsiness made her thoughts and her body leaden. Nonetheless, she looked around for what she could to help her figure out her surroundings.

With her head angled the way it was, she saw the machines to the right of her bedside with blinking and beeping monitors, most of which she only had an idea of their readings. What she did recognize better were the long, thin wires hooked up to electrodes that were attached to points of her body, clad in its gown, to monitor her functions while the thicker tube of an IV was connected to the needle that was embedded and taped in place to her arm.

Beneath that was the cast around her right hand.

Seeing it seemed to trigger the stiffness that was not due to the covering, and her instinctive response to try and move her fingers against it turned that stiffness into a painful soreness that not only radiated from her hand but from other parts of her body. Belfast groaned quietly, feeling the pain's influence contort her cheeks, but she braved through it, rolling her head around to continue her investigation.

The sense of elevation at one leg gave her an idea of what to expect before she brought it into view: the limb wrapped and lifted in a sling over the white sheets of an obvious medical bed. She didn't try to make any kind of movement there.

She had been injured, seriously. Her hand, her leg…

One being crushed by the grip of a maniacal Siren, the other shredded between the teeth of a shark.

It gave her a start, something that she paid for when another wave of pain coursed through her, but she bared with it.

Purifier!

The quiet, plain recovery room and soft bed sheets could only do so much. They could assure Belfast that she was safe, and that any danger was nowhere in the vicinity of her, but the trick only worked when it was solely herself that she was concerned with. This was not such a case.

Enterprise.

The last memories she possessed came to her. Enterprise having arrived to save her, Belfast so happy to see her, believing the danger past, only for Purifier to return like the ruinous calamity she was, knocking out Enterprise, and Belfast, infuriated by the Siren leering so proudly over the fallen carrier, having made her desperate stand that was obliterated in the blast of fire, shrapnel, and agony that erupted at her side – the last thing that she remembered.

What happened to Enterprise?

Belfast managed to rotate to where she thought the door to the room to be, prepared to call out from it as soon as she spotted it.

She didn't need to, because right next to her bed was Enterprise.

What she saw first was the carrier's hair, its slight grayish tone and how it was right there next to Belfast making the cruiser believe that her desperate desire was being answered by a cruel figment of an illusion that would be immediately dispelled when she realized the truth. If so, it was a very sophisticated illusion because once Belfast peeked beneath the blanket of hair, she saw the bare shoulders and white shirt normally worn by Eagle Union's most famous carrier ace.

She could even make out the tie that was worn with them, bunched up and trapped beneath where Enterprise had leaned over from her chair and come to rest at the edge of Belfast's bed. She was laying her head upon her arms, turned in such a way that what half of her face that the cruiser should be able to see was instead hidden by her hair.

What she was able to view instead was how Enterprise clung to her left hand with both of hers.

She's okay? A question that was not answered in a way was adequate for Belfast. She needed to confirm it. To really know.

Though bandaged, her left arm was in a much better shape than her right, the discomfort she experienced upon moving it being a limb that had to break in the restored tissue. She gradually wiggled her hand out from Enterprise's hold, weakly trailing up one of the carrier's arms until she was touching the obstructive drapery.

Impatience and her own weakness had Belfast burrowing right into the thick of it to touch the skin of Enterprise's face, her fingers stretching and palm sliding enough so that she could part the strands and see what had already been hinted to: Enterprise having fallen asleep at her bedside, whatever dreams she was having peaceful enough for her to not be pulled so easily from them despite Belfast's touch.

If this really was a trick, then it was the vilest one that had ever been played on her.

She's here? Belfast asked even with the warmth of Enterprise's face beneath her palm. She wasn't taken? The strands of hair swept along the back of her hand while she brushed the carrier's brow.

Movement that was not wholly her doing occurred, the brow she was touching quivering and the eye beneath fluttering open.

It was not the crimson that she remembered from that nightmare, the one she dreaded the chance of it coming to pass when she had seen that other piece of that terrible vision held by Purifier right before the Siren had inserted it into Enterprise.

It was violet. A bleary but the same beautiful violet that was matched by the other that Belfast was able to see when Enterprise moved to better make out what had drawn her out from her sleep.

"Bel…?" she murmured.

Bel? A nickname that was not new to her, used by her closest colleagues in the Royal Navy when addressing her, but hearing it from Enterprise was another part of this setup of such impossible perfection that could only be with her dreaming right now, escaping and correcting the reality that she had been witnessing and had failed to do anything about it. One that she would break from any moment now.

It remained very tenacious though, when Enterprise suddenly shot up, her sleepiness purged by shocked delight. "Bel!"

She accidentally gave Belfast and the mattress a small shake, but the movement was actually welcomed by the cruiser, the happiness that was infused to her name, spoken in the way, overriding what discomfort she felt, and turning the shaking into blissful realization of how Belfast was lying here, safe, and Enterprise really was here, also safe, and happy because of this reunion.

Her weakness made it hard enough, but Belfast managed to force the carrier's name through the choking ball of happiness that was trying to impede her. "Enterprise."

It may've just been her, but she was very sure that Enterprise was about ready to collapse right there and then. She gasped out what may've been some semblance of an exclamation of joy and then she was dropping forward, arms winding around Belfast. "Oh, Bel!" she whispered, managing to have a mind to take care of her voice as well as her strength when she embraced the cruiser. "Bel, you're okay!"

The last time Enterprise held her this delicately, called to her with such reverence, was right before fate decided to administer a cruel intervention of it.

But it's okay now, right? Belfast weakly lifted her arm up, barely managing to grasp onto the back of the carrier's shirt. This is allowed? I can have this? At least this?

There were multiple meanings to those inquiries directed at multiple entities that may decide that this couldn't be so, as they tend to dictate in their particular ways, but the sudden, happy giggling in her ear did not give them a chance to deny her.

Enterprise parted, but only so that her features were hanging over Belfast's. A watery sheen had come over her eyes, and another trembling giggle freed a tear from one of them. "I get it."

Curiosity pinched Belfast's brows. "What?" she asked softly.

Enterprise stared at her, appearing to be debating about something, and then she giggled, more tears escaping. "I'm just so happy." Her hands came from around Belfast, the cruiser feeling the soft palms that cradled her face so that the carrier could lean down and place her forehead against hers, staring right into her eyes. "I'm so happy you're okay, Bel."

Belfast made her own breathy exhale, whatever Enterprise had contagious as she felt her eyes water, wet lines coming down her cheeks as she did her best to tilt her head better against Enterprise, her hand coming to at least reciprocate halfway when she touched her cheek. "I'm okay."

She couldn't keep her hand up, still too weak, but Enterprise pulled one of her own back to catch it in mid-fall to not only bring it back but keep it there.

Belfast's smile was stretching so much that it was starting to hurt with the two of them here together, touching and crying and so desperate to be as close as possible. "I'm okay, Enterprise."

She really didn't know just how much of this was okay, but for now she didn't care.

Because she knew that, with all her heart, she loved Enterprise, and she was going to savor another miracle of her once again triumphing and becoming even more beautiful than she thought possible.