Helena META breathed a sigh of relief as the headache disappeared with the jamming.
She was alone within the hideout she and the rest of her META comrades used as a base. The others had all left early in the morning; she didn't go with them because she was too busy doing what she had been doing for the past few days—spreading the encrypted signal for her counterpart to pick up. Such a feat required a lot of mental effort, especially since she had to keep her rigging out the entire time, but she was determined to see it through.
Imagine her perplexity when she realized that it had stopped working for no apparent reason. It didn't take her long to realize that the Arbiters were back and had set up a Mirror Sea around the approximate location of their hideout, all in order to capture her returning comrades.
She considered getting out and helping her friends, but in the end, with a weight in her heart, she decided to stay put. If she went out in the open, the Arbiters would immediately locate their shelter's entrance, and she couldn't allow it. She could only have faith in her comrades to come out of this predicament alive.
And now that the jamming had stopped, she didn't know what to do. Did it mean that the enemy had been repelled? Or that the Arbiters had won and didn't need the system up and running anymore?
She wouldn't need to wait much longer to get her answer.
The gate to the hideout opened. Right before the docks, a ten-foot-tall vertical fissure of light appeared in the ether, the lower section splitting sideways like the flaps of a tent, and when it became large enough to let a person through, a familiar face framed by blue hair walked in. Her hesitant gaze wandered around the place before settling on hers.
Time seemed to stop for a second.
They both began walking as if they were caught in a trance, their hearts fluttering as they were driven toward one another by some invisible force of attraction. They stopped at arm's length and reached with their hands, mimicking each other's movements like a mirror, until their fingertips brushed.
With an electric jolt and a flash of light, memories began flooding their minds, and images passed behind their eyes as emotions and feelings were exchanged in an instant.
Helena's insecurities, her newfound determination, and the remorse she was feeling for not being able to make it there quicker. Her META lookalike's pain and despair, and the guilt she was feeling for being forced to show both to her purer counterpart in the form of haunting nightmares, even if only to guide her to her.
After not even a second, they pulled apart, looking each other in the eyes in wonder. Helena couldn't help the giggle that left her lips, and her META counterpart smiled softly as they realized that such brief contact conveyed more meaning than any normal conversation could.
"Oy, Helena, you could have come out to give us a hand earlier, you know?" Hiyou blurted out after appearing at the entrance, followed by Junyou and the other shipgirls of Azur Lane. The carrier chastised herself as both blue-haired cruisers turned to look at her. "Oh, right, now there's two of them; this is going to be such a hassle…"
"Don't listen to her, Kindle," Junyou intervened, addressing her comrade with the moniker they had previously agreed on for the occasion. "Staying inside was the best choice you could have made."
"I know; thank you, Junyou," Kindle said before addressing the rest of the group. "I must thank you too, Azur Lane, for coming all the way here and for helping my comrades. I'm Helena, as you already know, but to avoid any misunderstanding, you can refer to me as Kindle."
Everyone acknowledged her with a nod; the only one missing was Hermione. She had remained outside with the shipboys aboard her own hull to keep watch and to tend to Renown and Alabama.
"I imagine there's a lot you'd like to ask," Kindle said. "But I think we should save the explanation for later. In the meantime, please make yourselves comfortable," she added, motioning for the group to follow her.
It took a moment for the shipgirls of Azur Lane to realize that the place they had arrived was nothing but their beloved home port. As they followed behind Kindle, they noticed the similarities—the island, the bay, the docks… everything was so familiar but at the same time so alien that it was daunting; the sunset's ominous lighting only added to the grim atmosphere.
Some of the buildings were half-destroyed, others had broken windows or were missing the roof. The run-down paths were invaded by weeds and plants, and all over the place were signs of old battles. Dirt and rubble, scattered tiles, charred spots on the ground... It felt like looking into a speck of the future—a dreadful, nightmarish future.
"I don't understand; why did you choose such a place as a refuge?" Zuikaku mused aloud as her eyes scanned the environment.
"Because we couldn't find anything better, Zuikaku," Helena answered. "Of all the timelines we've visited, this is the most suited to our needs. The surface has been reduced to such a lifeless wasteland that the Siren presence is restricted to a few stragglers wandering about the ocean. The base is in ruins, but it's still in better shape than others we've been to; here, at least, we can sleep soundly knowing that no fleet of mass-produced Siren ships will appear out of nowhere to level the place."
Everyone stopped in their tracks.
"I'm sorry, did you just say, 'timeline?' But I thought we were inside a Mirror Sea; we just came through the entrance…" Howe asked, voicing what was on everyone's mind.
Kindle shook her head in response. "If we could create a Mirror Sea with all the comforts and accommodations we require, we'd have done so already. We can only use them to travel through the timelines. In fact, it'd be more accurate to describe them as a 'portals.'"
The shipgirls pondered her words as the shock wore off, and Kindle led them inside the only building that seemed relatively inhabitable—the cafeteria. Inside, the rows of tables in the main hall had been amassed over the walls to make space for a number of worn-out sleeping bags strewn around the floor.
"This is where we sleep, but you don't need to concern yourselves with that," Kindle declared as she led them through the hallways. "Let's see how much is left in the pantry…"
Enterprise shared a few glances with her comrades. The next order of business would be to invite the Ashes aboard the Hermione for a full-course meal; they had plenty of supplies in stock for that and for the journey back.
"Helena- Kindle, you don't need to do any of this. We are only here to discuss something important; we don't want to impose," Enterprise intervened, stopping the META cruiser from taking something from their admittedly scarce provision supply just to act as a good host toward them.
"That goes for us too; otherwise, I wouldn't have gone through all that trouble to reach out to you, but that'll have to wait for later," Helena stated. "Our leader isn't here at the moment, and she's a lot better at negotiating than I am, so we might as well get comfortable until she returns."
"Wait, if you're not the leader, then who is it?" Enterprise inquired.
Kindle gave her an enigmatic smile. "We call her Cinder. She's the one who started all this and the only one in our group capable of opening portals. She used her ability to travel through the timelines to gather us all together. She saved us by giving us a second chance, and we repay her by following her in her endeavor to find others like us and offer them the same help."
"You didn't mention looking for the Original Timeline to find the Creator," Le Malin stated matter-of-factly.
The three METAs paused in their tracks, stunned, turning to look at them with wide eyes. "How… Who gave you that piece of information?" Hiyou asked them after recovering from the surprise.
"We recently had a talk with the Sirens. Observer Zero herself told us," Enterprise replied. "It's the reason we're here in the first place."
"Why didn't you say anything? Why keep it a secret?" Helena inquired, a betrayed expression on her face.
"Please don't misunderstand; we didn't mean to keep it a secret," Junyou intervened. "It's just that... We aren't the ones looking for the Original Timeline."
Her words caught the shipgirls of Azur Lane off guard. Did they get the wrong idea the whole time? Or did Zero mislead them with her words on purpose?
"But then why were the Arbiters coming after you? Why waste their time with you when they could go after the real culprits?" Enterprise asked.
"Because it doesn't make any difference to them." Kindle shook her head and began speaking with a sorrowful undertone in her voice. "Our ultimate goal has always been to gather as many of us as possible before reaching the latest timeline created by the Sirens to offer our help to Azur Lane. We wanted to join the fight against them and take our revenge for what they did to our homes, but we also wanted to bring others like us to safety. Unfortunately, external variables aren't allowed to interfere with the current simulation, and when the Sirens caught wind of Cinder wandering about recruiting survivors, they sent the Arbiters after us. They began following us through the timelines, hunting us down, sometimes even going out of their way to find and eliminate the other METAs before we could reach them. It doesn't matter how many times we fend them off; they won't stop just because we aren't after their Creator."
When Kindle finished explaining a grave silence fell over the group.
Enterprise carefully pondered her words. Kindle had no reason to lie; her story didn't clash with what they knew about the timelines and the Arbiters' goals, and it seemed they had cleared up the misunderstanding, but that still didn't answer the most important question.
"If what you are saying is true, then who's the one looking for the Original Timeline?" Spee wondered aloud, voicing what was on everyone's mind.
"It's Ash and her group," Junyou replied curtly, with a hint of venom in her voice. "They were with us for a period of time, but after a while, they decided to quit and go off on their own."
"Yeah, it's their fault if the enemy's out for our blood," Hiyou added. She knew the Arbiters would still come after them regardless of any excuse, but those bastards had never been so tenacious in their pursuit since Ash and her group left, so much so that they hardly had any time to catch their breath. It was the reason why it had taken them so long to get into contact with Azur Lane.
Enterprise's heart leapt in her throat when she heard Ash's name, and her mind was invaded by the memories she had gotten from her counterpart. She pursed her lips and shook her head before the smell of the smoke, the blood, and the fear could overwhelm her. Then she felt a hand on her arm, and she turned to see Helena looking up at her, her eyes full of concern. Enterprise smiled at the cruiser and patted her on the shoulder in thanks.
"Listen up; what your ex-comrades are doing won't do any good, on the contrary, it'll only make things worse for all of us," she declared.
"What do you mean?" Hiyou asked, but right at that moment, a ping went off in Kindle's head.
She brought her hand to the side of her head, and after spacing out for a few seconds, she said, "Cinder's back with her group; let's go outside to greet them."
While Helena and the others were inside the Mirror Sea, the shipboys decided to remain on the lookout aboard the Hermione. The cruiser had dropped anchor as close as possible to the lush but small speck of dirt and sand where the METAs had hidden the portal; the vegetation was thick enough for the entrance to go unnoticed whenever they went in and out.
Alabama and Renown were stable and were resting inside Hermione's crew quarters. Not that the battleship needed much taking care of; her wounds weren't as severe as the cruiser's, who was still alive only thanks to Emperor's intervention, but she still needed to rest after the feat she had accomplished. Yamashiro was also resting; the shrine maiden was still too ashamed of what she did to face any of her comrades, so she opted to take advantage of the maid's hospitality to fall unconscious on the first bunk she found.
By now, the sun had completely set, and with nothing to do but wait, the remaining Kansen were all standing on the deck of the Hermione.
The mood was sullen, mostly because of Fortune. The poor destroyer was still trying to process and come to terms with the most recent developments, and she had barely uttered a single word since the others had left to meet Kindle.
"Hey, bruder…" Leviathan turned to Emperor.
"What is it?" The two were leaning on the superstructure of the cruiser, enjoying the evening's fresh air with Lenin and Hermione.
"This seems like a good time to do 'that,'" Leviathan said, nodding his head toward the dejected destroyer. Fortune was leaning over the ship's railing, looking out to sea with a thousand-yard stare.
Emperor raised a confused eyebrow at him, then his eyes widened in understanding, and a grin appeared on his face. "Why, sure; you are totally right, brother."
"What are you two talking about?" Lenin asked as Emperor pushed himself off the cabin, taking off his tricorn hat and turning it into a top-hat under the icebreaker's and the cruiser's confused stares.
"Penny for your thoughts, Little Miss?" Emperor asked, pulling up to the destroyer.
"Oh, Mister Emperor... I'm fine, really, I…" Fortune said, a blush coming to her face as she remembered the embarrassment of hugging him out of nowhere and crying her eyes out in his chest. "I wanted to apologize for my behavior earlier; I showed you such an unseemly sight."
"Don't say that, Little Miss," Emperor said, patting her head. "It's okay to cry when you are sad, and it's even more okay to cry when you are happy because your friend came out of a life-or-death situation unscathed."
"B-but… It's unbecoming for a lady of the Royal Navy to..." Fortune trailed off, hanging her head in embarrassment.
"To be so open about your feelings? There's no protocol to follow here, and no one will judge you if you let yourself go every now and then," Emperor said. Since the shipgirl didn't seem entirely convinced, he decided to change his approach.
"Tell me, Little Miss, do you like sweets?"
"Um… I do, but I haven't eaten any in so long…"
"Then why don't you try to reach your hand in here?" He asked with a knowing smirk, taking off his hat to offer it to her.
Reluctantly, she did as she was told. Her hand disappeared for a second inside his hat and came out holding a small bag full of chocolate chip cookies. Fortune let out a surprised gasp as her eyes widened in shock.
"Courtesy of the lovely lady over there," he whispered in her ear, nodding his head toward Hermione a few feet away from them.
Fortune turned to look at the maid with a big smile on her face and gave her a small curtsy in thanks, which Hermione returned with a bow and a smile of her own.
"Oh, what's this? There's something else inside," Emperor faked surprise as he reached inside the hat himself to pull out a red piece of fabric.
Another gasp left Fortune's lips, her smile widening as she looked down into the cap. She could have sworn that there was nothing else inside. "This is… the ribbon I lost earlier, but how…?"
Emperor brought a finger to his nose, winking at her. "A true magician never reveals his secrets," he said, clipping the bow to her hair.
"Thank you, Mister Emperor!" Fortune beamed at him, her woes forgotten, if only for a moment.
"Just call me Emperor, or even 'big brother' if you feel like," Emperor said, eliciting a giggle from the destroyer, leaving Lenin with his eyes wide and his jaw on the floor.
"Mister E- big brother, can you show me more?" Fortune pleaded, looking at him with eyes full of excitement.
After that, the evening turned into a full-blown magic show. Using the ship's external lights as reflectors, Emperor began performing one magic trick after another for Fortune. The destroyer's eyes and attention were all on him as the shipboy made a coin disappear inside his hat, only to make it "reappear" behind her ear. From simple card tricks to mind reading to actual illusions he made with the help of his polyhedron, Emperor was using everything he had in his repertoire to keep the shipgirl's mind off the horrible things she had been through. He even called Hermione to help him on "stage" as his assistant, and the maid was more than happy to oblige.
Lenin had no words. What was with Emperor and his weird habit of collecting sisters in this world? He shook his head and told himself he shouldn't be that surprised. His guilt at having survived almost his entire class of Kansen, added to his already strong brotherly instincts, only intensified his desire to protect the most innocent Kansen he crossed paths with. He shouldn't be so upset since he always did the same for him…
Lenin grumbled under his breath as he decided it wasn't the time to act childish, opting to enjoy the show along with the others.
Unbeknownst to them, another group of Kansen was observing the warship from afar, their rigging out and ready. The moon and the stars provided plenty of brightness, which only added to the ship's headlights' visibility on board. They had to stay low if they didn't want to be sighted.
"Isn't that Fortune over there?" Memphis said to the others, her tone full of both concern and surprise. "She looks like she's having fun, doesn't she?"
"Or maybe she's being kept hostage and she doesn't even realize it," Vestal stated matter-of-factly.
"Cinder, what do we do? Do we wait for the others to come back or do we force our way through?" Arizona asked the white-haired woman.
Cinder hummed in thought, her tattered, black cape with a deep blue underside billowing in the wind.
The presence of an unknown warship anchored right outside their hideout had made them fear for the worst, but on second thought, maybe there was no need for them to be so tense. There was a good chance that Helena's signal managed to reach Azur Lane and that those people were the delegation they sent to meet them.
"Let's observe them a bit longer and see if we can figure out what they are actually after," Cinder declared. "If we realize Fortune and the others are in any danger, we rush in immediately."
Her three comrades acknowledged her words, but a fifth voice interjected in the conversation from behind, startling them.
"No need to be so on edge."
The four shipgirls turned in a flash, riggings ready and aimed at the new arrival, only to gawk in bewilderment as their eyes set on the figure before them—a giant, metallic shark with silvery-grey scales. Its half-submerged body still towered over them, even if only its back and upper jaw were above the surface of the water. The first thought that came to their mind was "Siren!" but the creature resembled more your typical Iron Blood rigging than the monstruous squid that had appeared a few days before, and it didn't seem hostile; its piercing, robotic, red eyes were staring at them with a steely but neutral gaze.
"Who... What are you?" Arizona asked after recovering from the shock.
"Imperator-class battleship, KMS Leviathan," the voice coming from the shark replied. "This is Liebe, my rigging. I'm using her to communicate with you from afar."
"But… you're a man?" Memphis asked aloud, the voice talking to them clearly not feminine.
"A shipboy, yes. I know it sounds crazy, so why don't you come over here so we can have a proper chat? Don't worry, she doesn't bite… unless provoked," Leviathan said through Liebe again. The shark then proceeded to dive under the water and swim toward the anchored cruiser, leaving the four shipgirls behind with a bunch of unanswered questions.
Aboard the cruiser, the atmosphere had shifted from the cheery mood of the magic show to a tense staredown between two groups. On one side were the four META shipgirls led by Cinder; on the other were the three shipboys, who were returning the glare the four women were sending them.
"G-girls, please, they're trustworthy; there's no need to be so on edge." Fortune was between them, desperately trying to cool things down.
"I shall be the judge of that, Fortune," Cinder replied curtly. "In the meantime, come over here; you are standing too close to them."
"I'm serious! They helped us with the Arbiters and saved Renown's life! Please, believe me, they are good people," Fortune pleaded.
Her comrades remained stunned for a second, their thoughts torn between their affection for the destroyer and the mistrust they harbored toward the suspicious men.
"You are being a bit unreasonable here, Cinder," Leviathan intervened. "If we truly had bad intentions, I wouldn't have bothered with warning you about Liebe's presence; you all would already be inside her stomach otherwise," he stated drily, prompting the METAs to glare at him.
Emperor chuckled internally at his brother's not-so-effective attempt at smoothing things over, then he addressed the META he recognized as the repair ship stationed at Azur Lane. "Miss Vestal, right? We have a couple of wounded on board, and one of them is your comrade, Miss Renown. Could you please come check on them? Don't worry, it's not a trick or anything; I don't have any more of those up my sleeves after that little show," he said, adding the last part with a chuckle after noticing the shipgirl's eyes narrowing on him.
"It's true, Miss Vestal," Fortune said. "Renown's in dire need of medical assistance; please, you're the only one who can help her."
At the destroyer's pleading tone, Vestal could only relent. She sighed in resignation and followed her under the deck toward the medical bay, where Alabama and Renown were resting.
After that, another less hostile, but admittedly more awkward atmosphere fell over the remaining Kansen.
"Fortune's such a good girl, isn't she?" Emperor broke the silence.
This time, instead of Cinder, Memphis was the one who replied, but she kept her aloof attitude. "Indeed, she's the latest addiction to our group. We found her following Helena's radar. She was wandering around the ocean in her own timeline, completely exhausted and abandoned to herself. She would have died of starvation if it weren't for us."
"We don't know how long she's spent alone or what happened to her specifically, but despite that, she still retains a bit of her cheery attitude," Arizona added with a soft smile. "She's our treasure and our hope; losing her to the Arbiters would have been a hard blow. Thank you for what you did."
The battleship's words and welcoming tone managed to dispel the hostility in the air, and now all that remained was the awkwardness, which was thankfully interrupted by the arrival of the rest of the shipgirls.
"Oy, Cinder, took you some time to get back." Hiyou greeted her comrades with a snarky grin after jumping on the deck of the Hermione, immediately followed by the others.
"Welcome back; we've been waiting for you," Junyou said as Kindle greeted them with a nod of acknowledgement before turning her attention to the men present.
"So these are the otherworldly shipboys…" she mused aloud as she examined them. "I didn't think there was anything else that could surprise me, and yet…"
"Hey, stop staring at us, you creep!" Lenin growled.
"Watch out, Miss; this critter bites," Emperor chuckled, giving Lenin a few pats on the head.
"What did you just call me?!" The boy yelled, shaking off his hand.
While the groups mingled and the Kansen bantered, Cinder remained aside, her gloomy eyes observing each interaction with caution and concern as a tide of thoughts flooded her mind.
"Yorktown…"
Her head whipped toward the source of the voice, and her eyes widened in surprise upon settling on Enterprise.
"No one's called me that in a long time," the META leader said. A hint of a wistful smile appeared on her lips as she gazed at the other carrier, but it was only an instant before her expression returned to her usual sullen look. "It's good to see you are doing well, Enterprise."
"I-I didn't know the Ashes' leader was you…" Enterprise said, the gasp of surprise still etched on her face.
"Not 'Ashes,' Enterprise," Kindle interjected. "I told you, that's Ash and her group. If you want, you can call us 'Cinders.'"
"Kindle, you already told them everything, didn't you?" Cinder asked her.
"Pretty much, yes," she confirmed. "But I only gave them a rundown. They're the one with the important news. You absolutely need to hear what they have to say."
"I think we can do that over a good meal, ladies," Emperor clapped his hands to catch everyone's attention. "Hermione just informed me that dinner is ready."
Inside the mess hall, Emperor was assisting Hermione in serving the food she had made for the fleet at the tables. It wasn't exactly a king's supper, just some cooked meat and veggies to the side, but thanks to the maid's skill and the fact that the Cinders hadn't had a properly cooked meal in who knows how long, the smell was enough to make their mouths water, and once dinner was served, the dishes were met with cheers and hollers by the METAs. Having gotten by with mostly canned food and expired stuff for the longest time, the shipgirls were wolfing down everything on their plates, some of them even crying tears of emotion, prompting Zuikaku and the others to share a portion of their own food with them.
With Vestal's power, it took her only a few minutes to put both Renown and Alabama back on their feet, and now the two were there with all the others, the former stuffing herself full of food, the latter smiling all the while.
Yamashiro was also there, still a bit dejected but nonetheless famished. When Arizona asked her what was troubling her, she found herself incapable of replying, but Fortune herself came to her help, telling the other woman that the two just had a little fight and that now everything was resolved, much to the surprise and gratitude of the shrine maiden.
The only ones standing on the side were the two Eagle Union carriers, both too busy discussing things to eat.
Enterprise had just finished recounting the most important events since the shipboys' arrival, informing Cinder of everything, from the Original Sirens to the existence of other worlds to the possible consequences of Ash's and her comrades' actions.
Cinder's hand was on the side of her head, massaging her temple as she tried to relieve the headache she felt coming after processing all the information that had just been dumped on her. To the shell-shocked veteran, everything was so convoluted that she was finding it hard to believe it was made up, but the possible veracity of Enterprise's claims only aggravated the sense of dread that was slowly coming over her.
"As much as I hate to admit it, this is all my fault..." Cinder bemoaned.
"What do you mean by that?" Enterprise inquired. She still hadn't gotten used to speaking with her sister's doppelganger, but the matter was of absolute importance, and she couldn't allow herself to get distracted.
"I taught Ash how to open Mirror Seas and use them as portals. I figured it was a good idea to have someone else capable of doing it in case something happened to me... But I couldn't have foreseen that she'd eventually leave us… Let alone that her actions could have such devastating consequences."
"Wait, you taught her?" Enterprise asked her in surprise. "Is there any chance you could teach us too?"
"And why would I do that?" Cinder inquired. "Don't tell me you want to try to stop her."
"That's right, sis- Cinder," Enterprise caught herself in time as she replied. "We need to prevent Ash from reaching the Original Timeline at all costs, but to do so, we need a way to reach her; it's the main reason we came here." Her voice then shifted to a more pleading tone. "If you're the only one who knows how to create those Mirror Seas… Portals… Whatever they are, you need to tell us how to make them."
"It's not that simple, Enterprise." Cinder shook her head in response. "Do you have any idea how much time has passed since Ash and the others embarked on this folly of theirs? Why do you think they haven't reached the Original Timeline yet?"
That question left the carrier stunned for a second. It's true; if they could move freely through the timelines with that method, why hadn't they already accomplished their goal? If they did, surely someone would have already noticed.
"It's because when I open a gate, the destination is completely random." Cinder began explaining without waiting for Enterprise to respond. "I have no way of choosing it, the same goes for Ash and her group. They can't go straight to the Original Timeline because they don't have anything to direct them there. Their only chance is to keep hopping through the timelines in the hope of eventually reaching it, just like we did to get where we are now."
Enterprise had her eyes peeled on her as she assimilated each and every piece of information Cinder was handing her, but then a thought crossed her mind.
"Then what about the Arbiters?" Enterprise inquired. "Kindle said that they're always after you, aren't they? How are they able to do that?"
"I don't know." Cinder shook her head. "Their ability to track us through the timelines goes beyond my knowledge. I only know that we can't track Ash the same way they do."
"But maybe we can learn how to do it," Emperor interjected. The shipboy had just finished serving at the tables alongside Hermione and decided it was the perfect time to join the conversation.
"What do you mean, Emperor?" Enterprise raised a questioning eyebrow at him.
"I mean, we can ask them directly," Emperor smirked, producing a small cubic object from his pocket, glowing with a light shade of purple. "I got this from Strength after smashing her face in."
Cinder couldn't understand what he meant, but Enterprise's eyes widened in understanding.
"Do you think she'll talk?" Enterprise asked him.
"I think she will. Preventing Ash from reaching the Original Timeline is in the Arbiters' best interests after all."
"Can you please explain what you are talking about?" Cinder asked in confusion.
With a knowing smirk, Emperor proceeded to give her a quick rundown of their plan, that is, using Strength's Cube to enter the Siren's mind and convince her to teach them how to track the METAs. Their words left her stunned for a second, and Cinder brought a hand to her face, rubbing her eyes at the absurdity of their claims. All of a sudden, the prospect of finding Ash and stopping her from doing something irreversible didn't seem like such an unfeasible feat anymore.
She let out a tired breath as she spoke. "Until now, I thought Ash's plan was insane not only because it had such a low chance of success, but also because what good would have brought us reaching the Original Timeline? What then? We'll never get back what we lost, no matter how much we try; that's why I firmly believed that reaching the current timeline and joining Azur Lane was the better alternative. I did it for the sake of my comrades, to give them a better future, but she believed otherwise. She said I was just roping everyone into another bloodshed and decided to part ways with us, saying that the issue required addressing its root cause directly. I never tried to convince her otherwise because I thought she wasn't entirely wrong, but now that I know what I know, I wish I'd acted sooner."
"But then why didn't you follow her?" Enterprise asked. "If her actions have been giving you all that trouble with the Sirens, why didn't you do anything to stop her when you had the chance?"
"Why would I do that? Following her would have meant bringing the Arbiters straight to her. We may be all from different timelines, but I consider Ash to be my sister as much as you are; even if I could reach her, I'd never do anything to put her in danger."
Cinder's words caught Enterprise by surprise. Her thoughts went to her sister for a second, when she would use that same tone to scold her and Hornet when they acted like impulsive dolts. She pursed her lips and averted her gaze, not knowing how to respond.
"Well, the Arbiters will take a while to recover from such a sounding defeat, and since you are having second thoughts, no better time to act than the present," Emperor declared, sending a telling look to Enterprise. She was the flagship of the fleet and the senior Kansen to whom Ryan had entrusted the talks with the METAs, so it was her job to make the offer.
Enterprise nodded to him and addressed the other woman.
"Cinder, let's make a deal: you teach us how to open those portals, and we bring you to Azur Lane," Enterprise declared. "We'll offer you protection, board, lodging, and we promise that we won't force you to fight, but if you decide to join us against the Sirens, we'll gladly have you with us. Whatever decision you make, I'm sure the Commander will support it."
Cinder sucked in a deep breath and closed her eyes. She pondered her words for a long moment before giving her response. "Only on one condition. I want to go with you."
"What do you mean?"
"If what you are saying is true, and you'll make that Arbiter tell you how to track Ash, then I want to be there when you confront her and the others."
"But why?"
"Because I know her," Cinder said dispassionately. "Words won't probably be enough to stop her. Tell me, what are you going to do if they refuse to listen to you?"
"Well..." Enterprise genuinely didn't know what to say.
"I knew it." Cinder let out another breath, extending her hand for Enterprise to shake. "Bring me with you; it's my only condition."
Enterprise looked at her hand and then into her eyes. She nodded her head in acceptance and shook Cinder's hand in a firm grip.
"It's a deal then."
AN: Not much to say here. I just wanted to point out that these aren't all the METAs with Cinder's group. There's more left that haven't returned from their patrol yet, but keep in mind that they won't receive the same focus as Fortune and the others, if any at all. They'll be background characters at best.
Next Chapter: Where It All Began