It was a beautiful summer sky, The clouds drifted along lazily as vapors in the sky. In the roasting ultraviolet rays, The tides of the sea were slowly curling up ever s softly. Yet, big waves began to wag and ascended as something colored red and black came into view.
I gritted my teeth, squirting my eyes as I hastily brought up my shield in time, a plane of light coming to life to vaporize the very shells that had been intended for me as I hastily fired off a few bursts of 35mm CTA rounds from my close-in mounts. Watching as 155mm ETC guns fired off a salvo. Base-fused rounds taking care of the Akizuki that had been gunning for me earlier.
"Neptune! Go and assist the others! The cruiser squadron cannot withstand these attacks by these rocketeers alone!"
"Y-Yes!" The prototype light cruiser speedily moved off as with a single thought like moving my arm, I directed my Su-33s toward a squadron of Jet bombers-the very same bombers made from reverse-engineering a few stolen examples of my weapons when that enemy destroyer had torn them off and made away with them- to intercept and kill before they could launch their Gargoyles. AAA explosions, shell tracers and even beam fire from enemy Sirens that had been augmented into pseudo-arcana girls, Again. with my very same stolen. Dried blood.
I didn't let my mind settle on the thought. The APAR radar was still feeding me information of the battlespace, But even I was just one girl as Graf Zeppelin herself. and in battles involving hundreds of shipgirls, my capacity to influence things was not much beyond being a statistic. Still, my mind wandered to Jupiter. the quirky sister of Javelin as once again, A-7Fs reported a kill with KAB 1500s and 70mm Persuader hypersonic flechette rockets.
The constant roar of engines overhead couldn't drown out the sound of my thoughts.
Jupiter... She was at risk, Caught up in a battle against an unknown foe, And yet for all her naivety and innocence, she wasn't exactly safe either. The air warfare above wasn't even half of it as submarines sometimes joined in, launching off their cursed payload of yet more missiles from their towed external containers, and the accompanying fleet engagement between my comrades and the opponents that sought to end us.
My brain buzzed as my eyes took in the sight of Neptune's efforts to fend off four Type 1936s that had closed within point blank range before opening fire, My hands reached forward, trying to concentrate on the planes I still needed to control and give orders to, but they didn't seem enough to make me focus on anything other than Jupiter or where she was.
"Graf! Wake up!"
I snapped back into reality as another barrage hit me squarely only to be stopped by the red-orange and black outfit i was wearing. The warning this time coming from Orleans. I whipped around and fired off another light red beam as I saw shots tearing through the water not far from me. It seemed more and more Sirens tried to close the distance. Yet again, I focused on the skies, desperately looking around for any sign of Juno.
The girl who has become a friend to me... a very dear one at that. One I could trust and be myself around.
It was then when something caught my eye, and it wasn't good. The blue hair tied in twintails bobbing along with her signature crown visible even as I noticed the girl leaping about and taking to the skies so often. Red and golden underneath a white coat clashing against her sky blue colored locks, And with each second, her form became clearer. But so did a bloodstain upon her side, splattered all about her clothes and machinery.
My eyes widened as her image burned itself onto my very soul before I felt a presence behind me. Turning quickly, I whirled around only to see nothing but an bloody ocean, yet my sixth sense screaming with danger as I turned back toward Jupiter just in time to bring my beam sword above!.
"Zeppelin..." The voice came, softly, if angrily muttering into my ears as I jumped backward away from my attacker. "Curse you!"
A blur of movement followed, Just in time for her to open fire with light cruiser-calibre guns, shells tearing open my chest arcane-weave external armor like a lead can, Even as I managed to bring up my shield to fire off multiple clouds of flechettes from a hidden shield beam shotgun, the damage was done. I felt my hangar shaking apart as more firepower was thrown at me as I found myself staring down at that very same enemy shipgirl once again. Her golden eyes filled with malice.
"Damn you! Damn you!" She called out, only for me to scream and raise my shield just in time to block her spear. Yet even then, the arcs of lightning as beam clashed with shield caught me across the face, tearing open my cheek and fraying a few hair strands. Feeling pain surge within me, I tried desperately to push back against her as Jupiter continued her mad dash towards the enemy.
Her hair tattered, clothing shredded by countless shellfire as she struggled to weave and steer clear of Tester's mind-controlled beam drones. The Javelin she was carrying-well, a downscaled version of the one used by her sister had been cut in half from a saber attack, its hilt still looking like putty at where it had been severed as she was left with increasingly little options.
Tester, on the other hand was in perfect condition for fighting, having just adapted to the augmentation a few months ago, Especially when combined with her cold, if borderline sadistic mindset. The blue haired destroyer barely evaded just another salvo as her drones returned to recharge and rest.
She groaned softly before pushing off the water, suddenly accelerating into a blur and hoping that she could hold out long enough to force Tester away long enough for support to arrive or allow her to think up some new strategy. At the same time, She turned around just in time to shoot down a Crusader that had been diving at her for a PTAB cluster bomblet run.
Even the passive radar warning sensors that had been rolled out recently had failed to catch up with the Siren's major advances in their own radar technology. she distastefully thought.
Gritting her teeth, Jupiter fired off a full salvo from her guns along with a hail of yellow bolts and beams, spreading out in a conical pattern only for Tester to raise her field, It shattering the shells even as it nearly disintegrated under its fundamental opposing counterpart of the yellow beams and bolts. More secondary gunfire from the siren followed and son, one of her main mounts exploded, The pain reminding the bluette of what it was like to be hit by a five-hundred kilogram bomb.
The little girl cried out as she tried desperately to dash backwards while fighting against this siren who seemed hellbent on killing her.
"Jupiter! No! I still need you!"
These were the words Jupiter hadn't expected to hear from the silver haired German carrier some distance away. It was almost raw with pain and desperation. It was when the thoughts of Jupiter came into view inside the carrier's soulspace, begging the human-kanmusu to save her.
"Graf..."
The carrier's face contorted with horror as Jupiter leaped backward, Trying to sloppily dodge out of the way of another beam net pattern as Tester had already ejected her beam drones onto her, Jupiter missed her... And the Carrier also missed her badly as well. Jupiter wanted to hug her tight, If only she was the one who could bring smile onto her scowled face, Could bring comfort into her heart. could calm her violent feelings into her stoic, if weary soul. could reduce stress in her days and could bring some respite to a human soul from another reality that or might not even have existed. The single tear was followed by another-until she was silently crying her eyes out, She was alone in a frightening situation. One thing was in her mind though;She wanted to be with Zeppelin.
Her body shuddered as another beam tore straight through her leg, Causing the poor girl to stumble forward only for Tester to collide two of her drones into her in a ramming attack, The resulting explosion of aetheric energy hotter than any thermobaric weapons in Man's arsenal sending her flying away.
Jupiter groaned in pain as the sea lapped against her face, a mixture of saltwater and even more crimson liquid mixing together while she coughed softly. She knew she was out of options, Yet something inside wouldn't allow her to give up. She had to live, And soon enough, she felt the warmth of the sun caressing her cheek once again. The siren slowly made her approach, a grim smile upon her lips as her main batteries reloaded.
"Jupiter!"
It happened so fast, but yet not nearly quick enough for me as I saw the woman-bastard raise both her weapon and aim her main batteries, as Jupiter's sparkling blue eyes met mine, the tears that had formed within them reflecting those of my own.
A fierce orange lanced out forth.
That was the spark, The beam and shells tore through destroyer plating easily, and at this range, it was almost like it tore straight through where her heart used to be. igniting the magazines and fuel bunkers alike as the girl was soon engulfed in a explosion. A mere destroyer was not surviving;not with how the beam tore into her ammunition stores, or how each shell had hit in such a way that something critical like the boilers, generator or the flood pumps would be destroyed. or that her main mounts were torn into two, one half flying into the sky and the other shattering into splinters...
Even the ocean around seemed to lay still as the last rays of light shone through the clouds above, illuminating my one friend...
My only friend who understood me. My thoughts raced even faster now, The pain of losing someone I cared about felt like a knife piercing deep into my very soul as something inside snapped.
"JUPITER!" I screamed aloud as I stared in horror at what had just killed my friend. "O...Oh god... I'm..." I thought as I shook my head in bereavement, cursing myself for another one of my failures, And this time one that would taint my soul at how i could have easily saved her.. But i didn't.
'Graf! What's wrong!?'
Finally I looked up. My stoic face replaced with a murderous look, my brows furrowed in a way that gave no facade to the lack of mercy in my ruby crimson eyes. Even though my eyes were still covered by tears, I roared out aloud.
"You... YOU FUCKING BASTARD!"
The sudden wave of anger that washed over me made me blindly focus on Tester and nothing more, As if all the problems of the world laid squarely on her shoulders, Mentally devoting so much power to my aerial propulsion that my red wings flared out with a blinding intensity, The Wings of Light coming to life as I split my twin beam sword into separate beam short and longswords and slammed the pedal on the accelerator, accelerating immensely even as the effects of the wings made me show up like a sun on radar, yet at the same time denying radar locks and seducing infrared seekers like the signals were destroyed and sent back as false data, almost like a hologram as i charged straight toward Tester.
Something broke within me as I collided with her, stunning her and knocking her backwards before I deftly let go-then switched to a reverse grip-and swung my shortsword, slicing her bow off amidst a scream of rage, hate and despair that flowed through every fiber of my existence. The beam sword cut cleanly through her bridge, Each motion almost too fast to be seen by the human eye as nothing more than afterimages of what one would have assumed to be lightsaber blurs sending sparks flying as she tried desperately to defend herself.
Another blow, A kick from Tester so fast i failed to see in time flattened itself onto my machinery, the impact leaving a massive dent in the side of my unprotected hull. yet it didn't matter though with a growl in my throat; My anger was too great now.
My beam longsword came down again, cleaving her bridge in two as Tester cried out in pain, I activated the beam shield and rammed it straight into her in a punch, The planar energy shape reacting violently as it collided with her with such force that the directed force field had actually broke through her rigging just before it slammed into her neck-first. causing something on her to explode.
The siren looked at me in shock, Her eyes wide open as if she had seen a ghost or worse-Raguel itself as I raised both beam blades high above my head. already emitting at maximum power as far as their crystalline cores could allow.
"You... You killed Jupiter..." I said softly, tears streaming down my face from those wide, ruby red eyes as I glared daggers at this woman who had taken everything from me.
"THAT'S WHY YOU COWARDS BOMB CITIES AND INNOCENTS IN THE STREETS OR SINK CIVILIAN SHIPS!? FUNEBERE - I WILL KILL YOU! YOU WAR CRIMINAL!"
Without another word, I slammed them downward, cutting into her ammunition lockers as this set off another explosion. such was the power behind it that I was thrown away, only protected by my remaining arcana-weave armor as it fell apart and disintegrated, fading away into light particles. Yet even as the world before me spun, limbs tumbling like fallen sausages around in my vision. water, sky, water, sky.
Finally i found myself face-up staring into the sky on my back, Staring at the puffs of explosions. rocket trails and dots of black in the sky. Yet i didn't care, my eyes dripping with tears. I sobbed aloud even harder as my heart broke under its own metaphorical burden. Yet something deep within me felt that Jupiter's sister would be here soon. And I didn't want her too. Not now. I was in too much despair to care about the shouting on the radio, or the pinches in my mind that told me my fighters needed to land... My suicidal mind ignored it all in favor of my memories with Jupiter that was flooding my consciousness.
The next thing that I pondered on was that my senses were failing me, Even my precog/psychic abilities;Maybe this was it, It's all just a dream. It was just a nightmare-
I slowly opened my eyes after a glowing sensation engulfed my body. All I saw was myself floating alone in some kind of... Space. I saw stars and beautiful, eye-stunning nebulas, enough to make me gasp in a dream that was not a dream, Or perhaps it was in a timeless place. Suddenly, Orbs gathered together into light in front of me as I saw something emerging from it.
A girl with sky blue eyes and hair as pale and gentle as the clouds themselves. It was the shining form of Jupiter.
"Jupiter!" I immediately tried to reach out for her, Only to fail to even float toward her. Her body was like an Illusion where i could see it but not touch it. It dawned on me with horrifying realization that I was looking at the ghost of her-Even I was myself discorporeal, As if the light of consciousness that laid in my memory cube had been plucked out and then flung into a timeless space. The very idea making fear rise within my non-existent stomach since spirits were reserved for Kancolle... not this... Oh god, was i dead-
"Graf..." The words were kind, loving yet with a youthful tone to them as she broke me out of my panicked stream of thoughts with a smile. "Thank you for everything. You showed what it was like to be with someone who u-understood me." She continued softly before pointing to her chest, where i suspected her heart would lie If that siren hadn't killed her.
"Even though I left your side, I will always r-remember our time together... F-fight for peace-"
I cut her off suddenly, my normally soft and reserved voice now "No! I.. It's because of my hesitations that I failed to protect you, Jupiter! I let you die without me even realizing it as a useless boy! And now in death..."
Jupiter floated over to me, holding my cold and trembling hands with her's. Even with the comforting and warming light that I only had just noticed was a very shipgirl's spirit in a synesthesic song as blindingly bright as the summer days in my child days, It still did nothing for the raw, distilled sorrow and agony in my own soul. "Grafie... You can't give yourself up so easily.." My eyes welled up once more. Even though she was seemingly a ghost now, Jupiter could smile like an angel for me, Comfort me without asking anything in return-She didn't want to be treated as an adult or as a one-night stand, but rather someone who cared about my wellbeing no matter what. How stupid i must have looked to her now; a grown shipgirl bawling over such a trivial note.
Still, The tears kept coming down harder than ever before as I looked at her. "It's because of me that you died! Just like my love interest! My former friend who got sucked into egg culture and became someone else entirely! Everyone around me dies at some point when they know me!"
She smiled soberly with a glint of a phantom tear in the corner of her eyes. "G-Graf... I can't stay connected to you like this any longer. Even though I sank before you.. At least i sunk fighting.. And not as prey. And I g-got to know you." She wiped my tears gently even if there wasn't anything tangible to feel, but rather just an imagined sensation of warmth and love.
I flinched slightly at the feeling. "How do i ever continue my life without you by your side?"
Jupiter hugged me. "I'll always be by your side. even as a phantom in your soul."
"You can't...! I'll follow you, If it's what it all takes!" I screamed, in defiance. Why did I...
Even she seemed hesitant, But the sober smile still remained on her face along with the warmth and comfort. "Don't be sad that I'm no longer with you, Graf, because it a-also makes me sad as well. Remember our times together; Those happy days by Juno's side... And never forget who you are... Please.. Don't forget that. Okay?" She smiled softly before dissipating slowly but surely.
"It's okay Grafie... You will see Javelin soon... And she will comfort you too." With those last words, Jupiter's spirit faded into light. Leaving me truly alone with my thoughts until something tugged on my soul.
"Graf zeppelin... Graf!"
I groaned and slowly opened my puffy eyes, I recognized this as the sickbay that I had walked by many times before. Was.. Had i been damaged or...
"You were having a bad nightmare, so I decided to wake you up." A voice startled me, Soon, I got my bearings and everything came crashing back to me as i suddenly stood up in bed.
"S-Southampton." Besides the blonde haired girl was Juno and behind them were Prinz eugen and Neptune. They all had their faces of sympathy, with Juno being the exception as she wore a expression of hurt, the atmosphere tense and as silent as the dead until the German cruiser broke it.
"We heard about what happened when you fought off one of their more infamous shipgirls, Javelin made her appearance about her sister's sinking and Neptune had to tow you all the way here. We don't know what the current plans for their total commerce and aerial blockade of the South-east asian countries are now with their losses."
I stuttered out of the blue to interrupt what Eugen was saying. "I.. I talked to Jupiter, Somehow, in my dreams." My voice cracking slightly with each word as i choked on them. Everyone was surprised at what they had heard, Was Zeppelin insane with the loss she just experienced?
Seeing their reactions. I continued, too distraught to cry. "She asked to keep fighting for peace, As if she wants the fighting to stop..."
Neptune stepped forward first, her eyes holding back tears even while looking into mine. Even a ship with no history at all still understood that feeling on how it was like to lose someone dear to you.
"Zepp... You did everything you could-" She started before pausing, Looking at Prinz who nodded solemnly before continuing.
"And I'm sorry... the girl, she was important to you. was she? Sooner or later we will see an end to this senseless war." Her words caused more memories of Jupiter to rush through my mind like the flow of a river.
Hope crossed my mind in that there would be the right time for the Jupiter I knew and me to cross paths again even if it wasn't on this world. We would just have to see each other again on the other side of life itself, That I would not be Graf zeppelin, The lowly carrier project of Germany that wasn't even properly managed. and most especially not the ironic harbringer of this world's doom as the original grown up Magical girl. Even if I was the boy who had found the strength to trade my human body for a Magically awakened shipgirl, And the one trying to ensure the life of this world wouldn't perish-I was just me. as Graf who happened to fall in love with a blue haired destroyer.
And for that my heart would have to ushur in the new future, A future without the constant threat of Armageddon. The world she would have wanted.
Fin