Isaac awoke in the fields of Germany, the same place he had made his happy place when Nimi had been killed. The only difference now is that the fields were now drenched in blood and black liquid, with bodies of men and Explorers strewn about. The flames and fog of war rages around him as his eyes were drawn to a pyre built on top of a nearby hill. From where he sat, he could see that Oceana's corpse was strung up, tied to the pyre as the flames drew nearer.

"What is all this?" Isaac asked as he frantically looked around until a familiar voice reigned in his focus.

"Do you like it? Do you enjoy seeing what you have done? The bodies you have stacked? The people you have killed? Huh 'Apollyon'?" Oceana's corpse opened it's eyes and struggled against the ropes that bound it.

"I'm doing it for the whole of humanity, not everyone can stay clean!" Isaac yelled as Oceana broke free.

"But yet, if that were all you felt about it, I doubt I'd be here. But yet, here I am. In YOUR dreams... well nightmares i guess." Oceana said as she quickly closed the distance between them.

"I did what I had to." Isaac said as he tried to back away.

"No. You did what your anger wanted. You tortured me to the brink of death before putting a bullet in my skull, all for what? To 'make me feel your pain'? Don't make me laugh. You can't justify that. You know you wanted to stop that train the moment your little destroyer showed herself again. But you let your anger take control. Maybe seeing her so scared brought up the day she died, and your anger overpowered your calls for mercy. Who knows. All I know... is that you feel bad for what you did. You wished you could have stopped it, but you kept giving the orders. And now look at you. Not as tough as you claim to be." Oceana said.

"SHUT UP! It's true... I wanted to stop." Isaac said as he lost the bass in his voice.

"You wanted to show mercy and end my suffering. But your anger forced the orders to continue. To keep the torture rolling. While your subconscious screamed for it all to end, your anger took sick pleasure in watching this all unfold. But I get the last laugh. You almost killed yourself better than I ever could have. And you want to talk about being the one to save humanity. How can you save them if you can't even save yourself?" Oceana said as she put her hand around his neck and lifted him into the air.

"I did... I realized it too late that i wanted it all to stop. I ordered them to do things that I couldn't even imagine doing myself... You deserved to feel pain for what you did... but even that has a limit." Isaac said as he clawed at the hand that was slowly closing on his throat.

"You are a monster. Much worse than any of us Sirens could be. The depths of your depravity are what seals your legacy among your fleet. I wouldn't be surprised if they all drop you and leave you for the wolves." Oceana said as the sound os a sword unsheathing could be heard.

"Unhand the Shikikan." Shinano said as she stood a few meters away.

"I'm not real. This is his own subconscious. I am nothing more than the instrument that his mind is using to torture him." Oceana said as Shinano closed the distance and sliced through her, causing Oceana to fade away into nothingness.

"Why?" Isaac asked softly.

"Why what, Shikikan?" Shinano asked as she took him into her arms.

"Why can't I just disappear..." Isaac asked.

"Why would you want to disappear?" Shinano asked as the scene around them seemed to freeze, as if time itself had stopped to listen in.

"I've become the very thing I swore to destroy... I'm a monster." Isaac said through his tears.

"How have you become a monster? From what I saw, you were a man in pain." Shinano said.

"I wanted to stop the torture... but I kept giving the orders. Something inside was screaming to stop... but I couldn't." Isaac said as he buried his head into Shinano's lap.

"And that makes you a monster?" Shinano asked.

"How does it not?" Isaac asked as Shinano pulled him up to see behind her.

"Because... if that voice didn't exist. It would mean that you didn't have a conscious. Which means you would be beyond redemption." Odin said as she, Friedrich and Nimi appeared behind Shinano.

"Getting freaky with the fox, Liebling?" Nimi asked, trying to lighten the mood.

"Another time perhaps." Shinano said, causing all laughter to stop as they realized she was serious.

"That doesn't change anything... I didn't stop." Isaac said as the three Ironblood girls surrounded him.

"The fact that you have a conscious, means you are nowhere close to being half the monster you think you are." Nimi said, earning a nod from every girl present.

"You wanted to stop. But the fact that you had a crew in there willing to do whatever you asked at the drop of a hat, on top of the anger you felt with having Nimi's killer in front of you... it would be nearly impossible to resist continuing until every primal urge was itched." Odin said.

"That makes me something less than human. I can't even take pride in that." Isaac said as the girls looked at each other and nodded.

"Kommandant... even if you were a monster, we aren't the cleanest people either. We won't fault you. But the fact is... you're not yourself right now." Odin said.

"What do you mean by that?" Isaac asked.

"Alice came to us before we came looking for you. We told her what was going on, and Norfolk showed her the footage. She believes that you might be suffering from something called PTSD." Friedrich said.

"That... feels about right actually." Isaac said softly.

"You are putting yourself under all this pressure, thinking you are some kind of soulless monster. When in reality, you were seeking closure, not in the best way by any stretch, but you were doing what you felt you needed to. You have to accept that." Odin said.

"I could have stopped it..." Isaac said before Friedrich held her finger to his lips.

"And at the same time, so could we. We have much more physical power and could have forced this whole fiasco to stop. In fact, most of us wish we would have. Do you consider us monsters for not using our power to stop it?" Friedrich asked, leaving Isaac speechless.

"You treat us as equals. and if you would not call us monsters for making the same choice in the same situation, then you cannot sit there and believe that you are truly a monster." Friedrich said as the other girls nodded.

"I guess... i wasn't thinking about it like that." Isaac said as he looked at all of them.

"We are here for you, no matter what comes. You're not a monster, Liebling. You just went a bit too far." Nimi said softly as she kneeled next to him.

"Everyone goes too far sometimes. Let this be the wake up you need to listen to your own conscious." Odin said as the three girls all sat around him as Shinano comforted him with her tails.

"I... I don't want to be alone." Isaac said softly as he laid his head back against Shinano's chest.

"We won't give you the chance to feel that way." Friedrich said as the girls all laid back against him. The burning fields slowly began to fade into oblivion, only to be replaced with the mountain top view of Kyoto, causing the girls to gasp at the beauty of it all.

"Shikikan. Running away, or wishing to disappear won't help you fix what is wrong." Shinano said.

"Then shouldn't we have stayed in the burning fields? I feel like I just ran away to an island paradise to escape that hell..." Isaac said softly

"Dwelling on something so morbid is not good either. Healing requires you to take a step back before facing it again." Shinano said.

"You seem to know a bit about this..." Isaac said as he looked up at Shinano, her soft eyes coaxing even his dream avatar to sleep.

"The Sakura has not been saints by any means. Bearing that weight and stigma... is not easy." Shinano said.

"Same here, Liebling. I know these two battleships don't know about it... but as an Ironblood... we too haven't had the best past either. We understand the pain you are going through, you're not alone." Nimi said.

"We are here for you, Kommandant." Odin said as Shinano nodded.

"As am I, Shikikan. When you awake, we will work through this. With Oceana dealt with, we can take the time needed to help you get past this." Shinano said.

"When I awake? Where is everyone?" Isaac asked.

The Ironblood girls and Shinano all looked at each other before looking at him.

"In your quarters." They all spoke in unison.

"What?" Isaac asked.

"I found you nearly frozen in the shower... then Odin and Friedrich showed up, and the three of us are currently asleep next to you." Nimi said softly.

"I had actually come to talk to you, so I boarded the Norfolk in search of you, when I found out that you had gone missing. So I followed Miss Odin and found you shortly after they got you into bed." Shinano said.

"That doesn't explain where you are..." Isaac said, knowing what was coming next.

"I fell asleep on the couch. Waiting makes me tired, so I decided the couch was as good a place as any." Shinano said softly as she ruffled his hair.

"So there are four women currently in my quarters?" Isaac allowing the tanget to let his mind drift.

"Four women who want you to be the man we know and love." Nimi said as they all nodded.

"Shinano never said anything like that." Isaac said.

"My dear husband... we are not blind." Friedrich said simply.

"I guess not." Isaac said as the four of them enjoyed the view of Kyoto inside Isaac's mind.