16th August, 1941.
"Nelson! Wait! I can explain!" Victory yells as she chases down Nelson.
The Battleship turns around suddenly and gets in her face, "Explain what!? How that Iron Blood was all over you, kissing you!? How she was likely trying to do the deed with you!? She's just been Awoken and you're already getting with her!? When there is someone already wanting to be with you but she's just too stupid and stubborn to admit it!? Did you even consider for a moment about how SHE feels!? Or are you so damn dense that you never noticed!?" Her rant attracts a crowd around them.
"Woah, hold a moment! Who are you talking about? Who likes me other than Roon?" Victory asks, clueless.
Blushing hard, Nelson shouts, "WORK IT OUT, YOU BLOODY IDIOT! LEAVE ME ALONE! YOU AND ROON DESERVE EACH OTHER!" She turns and storms off.
Victory rubs the back of her head, look around at all the other girls staring at them. The Iron Bloods have no clue what that was about, but most of the Royals have knowing and disappointed looks on their faces, especially Rodney. Her scary aura is on full display. Victory says, "Um… Let me just state that Roon and I have nothing going on. She's just… very forward in how she feels. Let me sort this out and I'll find out who Nelson meant."
Bismarck sighs and approaches her. She puts her hand on Victory's shoulder, "Kommandantin… I have only been here a short while compared to many here, but even I know who she meant."
"Really? Who?" Victory asks.
Bismarck facepalms and looks back at her, "… You have helped me a great deal, and I am forever grateful to you. You are a great Kommandantin, but to not tell everyone what you should have about this world, and not picking up on who Frau Nelson meant, you really are dense…" she walks off with most of the Iron Bloods.
Victory, still clueless, looks at the Royals. Most of them have left in disbelief, but Belfast remains. "…Bel?"
"It is not my place to say outright who it is, Master, but I will say that the one who loves you has been quite close to you since you met." The maid smiles, curtsies and returns to her duties.
Stood alone except for Hipper, who has her arms crossed looking up at her, Victory thinks about what she means. Close to her? Close to her heart? Close to her location? Always has been since she met them?
Hipper sighs heavily and rolls her eyes, "UGHHH… Frau Nelson loves YOU, you dummkopf!"
Her eyes widen. "Oh… Bloody hell… Victory, you really are a complete moron…" she says to herself as she runs back to her office.
Hipper yells, "W…Wait! Kommandantin! I didn't mean it!" Suddenly worrying if she overstepped.
Roon sees Victory come back in. "Kommandantin~~! I—"
"Out." Victory says, firmly.
"K… Kommandantin?"
"Out, Roon. Now." She says in her serious voice.
Saddened, Roon gets up and leaves the office without a word. Victory shakes her head and goes to her desk. She opens a drawer she hasn't looked in for a long time. In it is a device that Anzeel had made to prove she can be useful to them. She dusts off the dirt covering it and turns it on. Her technology has always been years ahead. Makes sense that she came from the real world which is currently in the future. The screen activates and she sees a list of all of her early Kansen. The list desperately needs updating, so she doesn't have to scroll far to see Nelson. She clicks her name and her profile appears, complete with her picture, class of ship, name and Secretary. The stat she looks for, however, is her affinity level. She always knew it was because it reads the data of the simulation, but she couldn't show it to anyone and have them understand.
"Bloody hell… her affinity… It's at 100%…" Victory mutters. "Nelson… why didn't you just tell me?"
Hood rests Wales against the console in the room she had previously woken her up in. She doesn't dare leave her on her own in case she wakes up again or the Sirens find her. The Battlecruiser uses the computer to look at the other shipgirls in her faction to see where their pods are. Surprisingly, they're all rather close, but not separated into classes like one would expect, but relationships, secret or not.
"Hmm… I wonder if I can wake everyone up?" Hood mutters. She comes across one file saying, "Victory(Kansen)"
She tries to access it but she's denied, "Hmm… makes sense… she is our Commander, after all… but why am I able to see everyone else? That doesn't make as much sense…"
"Hood?" She hears beside her. She looks and smiles.
"Hello again, Wales. Have a nice nap?"
"Nap? But… I'm asleep now… aren't I?" Wales asks.
"I don't think so… wait… what happens when you fall asleep here?" Hood asks, suddenly interested.
Wales narrows her eyes and says, "I… I remember… Bismarck… and other Iron Bloods at the Scapa base…"
Hood's eyes widen, "We've been invaded!?"
Wales shakes her head, "No… we captured her and used her to recruit her underlings to our side… to fight the Sirens…"
Hood gets a warm feeling as she calms down, "So… we can be allies, after all…"
Wales smiles, "I've always loved your optimism, Hoodie…"
Hood smiles back, "I see you're learning from the best. Even now you still look so beautiful and elegant despite no clothes."
"Even… with this…?" Wales puts her hand to her cheek.
"With… what?" Hood asks, tilting her head in confusion.
"Huh?" Wales gasps, no longer feeling the horrible scar on her cheek. It's gone. "Hood… this place… what is it?"
Hood shrugs, "I have no idea. I can't get through the security on these systems. It's obviously a Siren facility, but I don't know what for. However, I have a feeling that the War we were just in is a recreation."
"It's a… what?"
"It's fake. They're using us to reenact it for something. Look. They have every Kansen known to exist here." Hood shows her the factions and everyone in them, suspended in stasis pods like them.
Wales says, "Well, let's save them, too!"
"Hold on, my love. Let's not be hasty. I can't help but feel like they allowed you and I to be woken up. I do want to get them as well, but I worry what the consequences of pushing our luck may be…" Hood warns.
"Fine… is there at least somewhere we can get some clothing?" Wales asks, finally becoming a little embarrassed.
Hood chuckles, "Ah… yes. I became rather preoccupied with making sure you're alright, I suppose…" Hood stands up, but the feeling in her legs suddenly goes away and she falls down.
"HOOD!" Wales cries out as she catches her, sitting her down in a chair.
"I do apologise, Wales… I may not be feeling fully rested right now…"
"Just get some rest then. I'll watch you." Wales offers.
"But… you keep switching realities…." Hood counters.
Wales promises, "Then if I do, I'll go back to sleep in there."
Hood smiles and says, "Thank you, Wales… my darling…" she leans against Wales and finally allows herself to sleep. Wales puts her arm around her and uses the other arm to look at other files on the computer.
"Hmm… The Commander has a file… and it can't be accessed…" Wales notices something strange, seeming to trigger some kind of memory in an alternate life, "wait… it's treating her file… like a virus?" She goes to the antivirus on the computer, and decides to see what happens if she turns it off…
Victory tracks down Nelson to the forested area of the island that night, then suddenly her right eye starts to twitch uncontrollably, causing her to put her hand on it and sit against a tree until it and the splitting headache it gave her fade away.
"Owowowowow!" The pain stops and her eye ceases twitching, but in the right side of her vision, she sees something different… lines of code? She blinks and shakes her head, her vision fully returning. "…what the bloody hell was that…?" She whispers, then her thoughts are interrupted by the sound of cracking wood up ahead.
Nelson stands on the small wooden fishing dock of a lake in the island forest, staring at the water. To calm herself, she tries skipping stones. Her Battleship strength ends up making a stone skip the water all way across the lake and embed itself in a tree. Her anger propelled it far enough to almost split the trunk.
"Maybe I can pretend that was that idiot's face…" Nelson mutters. The thought of it makes her chuckle a little, then thinks that if someone were to do that to her Commander, her assailant wouldn't be able to do it to anyone ever again. She blushes as she thinks about protecting her, being with her, but then remembers what she saw in the office. Roon was all over her, a strand of saliva connecting her lips to Victory as if they've been making out for ages. If Victory didn't want it, then why wouldn't she just push her off? Maybe Roon was forcing herself on her? Was Victory almost a victim? Is Roon seizing the opportunity to ravage the Commander's fake virtual body!? Her inner thoughts only help make her more angry. She throws another stone, but it completely misses the water, hits the same tree again.
This time it really does split in half.
Vertically.
"…Nelson?"
The Battleship spins around to see Victory with her hands behind her back. "What do you want!?"
"…I'm so sorry."
"Huh?" Nelson asks in confusion.
"… it's a nice little spot you've found here… even if it isn't real…" Victory says, trying to break the tension.
"Don't change the subject! What did you mean!?"
"… I've made a mistake, and I'd like to rectify it." Victory smiles.
"So… you figured it out, you bloody idiot?" Nelson asks, blushing.
"Yes. I have. You are right, I am a bloody idiot. For not seeing at all this time. I've teased you so much, and it just never clicked, and I'm here to sort it out. Prepare yourself, because you might freak out." Victory smiles sadly.
Nelson closes her eyes and breathes deeply. She's waiting for three words. Three words is all it takes.
"… I…"
That's one.
"I'm so…"
Okay, maybe she's choosing to use more words?
"I'm so sorry, Nelson…"
Wait, what? Nelson opens her eyes.
"I know you have feelings for me, and there's no good way to say it, but…"
No… no….
"I… I'm not so sure."
Nelson says, "What? What do you mean?"
"I've… I've never really even considered being with a girl, Nelson. I'm sorry. I don't have any experience with other women. I come from a time when that wasn't popular… Hell, it still isn't seen as normal nowadays among humans... I don't have anything against how you feel or any of the relationships here, but… living in a time where it's like that… it influenced my personality when I was Awoken. I… I feel something… when I look at you, Nelson… but it's always felt… different… than when I looked at… him…"
Nelson takes a step closer, "Him? You mean… Horatio Nelson?"
Victory nods, "He was my world when I knew him… I could never imagine being with anyone else, let alone a woman. Humans are… extremely fickle, and I suppose that rubbed off on me. I saw with my own eyes how people were treated when they were exposed as anything but heterosexual… when the hangings ended, life sentences replaced them… due to my position as one of the founders of Azur Lane, surely you can understand the need to avoid that kind of relationship?"
Nelson looks down. "… yes… I… Understand."
Appreciative of Nelson dropping the charade she always puts on, Victory smiles and gets closer to her. "But… now that it's just us Kansen on this base… perhaps…"
Nelson looks back up at her, "Huh?"
Victory gently takes Nelson's hands in hers and says, "…perhaps… I could… give it a try? If you'd be willing to… go easy on me? Don't worry… I won't tell a soul about us. About this conversation."
Blushing a fierce red, Nelson fought off every urge to insult Victory just to mask her own feelings like she always did. She nods, "I… I'll… try… but… it won't be easy, Commander…"
Victory pulls her into a hug. "Let's just… take it slow, alright? I'll be here for you."
Nelson hugs her back, now letting her tears out as they're alone. She cries happily into Victory's shoulder as she remains silent. Teasing her probably wouldn't be the best choice right now….
Wales manages to access the Commander's file after turning off the antivirus. She's not sure where she got this tech knowledge, but she's not going to waste it. "Ah, ha… hold on…" she sees the "Partner" stat of Victory's file change from "None" to "Nelson".
"Nelson? Nice work, Commander…" Wales smirks. She looks at the setting and she seems to have far more than any other Kansen. "Hmm… do all these options merely come from her rank?" She starts to change some to see if anything changes…
When they've finished hugging, Victory says to Nelson, "Come on. Let's get some tea, hmm?" She smiles and walks with her.
Nelson starts cheering up and says, "So… what about the others? Being a Kansen yourself, you already have a natural acceptance of multiple partners, right?"
"I do… Horatio himself was already with two other women when I fell for him… It's strange, isn't it? How we don't really seem to care?"
The both of them chuckle and the Commander continues, "To be honest, I'm not sure I can handle all of them if they confess any feelings the may have for me… especially Roon… I think we need to teach her about boundaries and what is right and wrong… I don't know how she will react…"
Nelson steels herself, "If she goes crazy, we will stop her, Commander."
"I'm glad you're all on my side…" Victory smiles, before saying, "Next stop, the cafeteria! She jokingly clicks, suddenly opening a Siren portal below them, dumping them into a cafeteria, just as she'd said… however…
Nelson stares at her, "How… did you?"
Victory looks at her, "I… have no idea…" she tries clicking her fingers to go back but it doesn't work. They both get up and see they've just been surrounded by unfamiliar Kansen. The Siren portal closes up.
One of them aims a pistol at them and commands her comrades, "Intruder alert! Someone get the Admiral!"
Victory and Nelson look at each other, then they see the flag pinned up on the wall.
The flag of Eagle Union.
"ROON DID WHAT!?" QE yells out at Warspite, who was witness to the Secretary screaming at the Commander.
"Apparently she made moves on the Commander, even though she didn't want it, Your Majesty." The combat corgi repeats.
"We cannot let this stand! I want that Iron Blood harlot brought before me!" QE rants.
Warspite argues, "Elizabeth, please calm yourself and think about this. The Iron Bloods may be guests here, but we have no right to just pick out one of their own and prosecute her! We need Bismarck here as well before we do anything rash! The last thing we need is to flare up the tensions between the two of our factions!"
"Good point, Warspite! Bismarck is in charge of her so bring them both here along with the Commander!" QE snaps.
With a heavy sigh, Warspite bows and goes to get Bismarck…
"What the hell is going on in here!? Lower your weapons!" The Eagle Union Admiral booms.
The one with the pistol informs him, "Sir! A Siren portal opened in the ceiling and dropped these two out of it, sir!"
Another Kansen, dressed in just a black bikini, coat and cowboy hat, rolls her eyes at the former's excessive professionalism and says in a southern accent, "Commander, I dunno who these two are, but they look pretty Royal to me."
The Admiral looks at the two intruders as they're sat down handcuffed at a table next to each other. He sits opposite them and takes his hat off. "Now, then. If you two wanted to speak to me, you could've just called ahead. That is, assuming you're here using Siren tech on a friendly basis?" He asks sarcastically. "What's your names, girls?"
"HMS Victory, Commander of the Royal Navy and the last remaining founder of Azur Lane. We got teleported here by mistake. We mean no harm."
The Eagle Commander strokes his stubbled chin and looks to the other, "And you, lil' lady?"
The red-coated Kansen huffs, "HMS Nelson. A member of the Big Seven and Secretary to Commander Victory." Earning gasps from some Kansen in the crowd.
"I see…" The Admiral turns his attention back to Victory, "Commander… I heard of you. You gave us the means to Awaken Kansen from warships, right? As well as how to summon riggings? That sure as hell makes managing the space taken up by warships a lot easier."
Victory smiles, "That's correct, sir. I see you've been busy. I commend you on such an impressive fleet." She looks around, making some Eagle Union girls blush, others huff in embarrassment, or give her death stares. Some like the cowgirl from earlier give her nods and smiles.
The Admiral says, "Alright, just one question, then. What was with that portal?"
Victory's smile drops, "I honestly have no idea, Admiral. I suspect some sort of Siren trick. Scapa Flow may be in danger."
The Admiral leans back, "Hmm… take their cuffs off."
The Kansen with the bow looks at him in shock, "Admiral? I must insist…"
"Now, Enterprise!" The Admiral orders. Enterprise silently nods, holsters her pistol under her black coat and frees them both.
Victory nods, "Thank you, sir. The sooner we get home, the sooner we'll be out of your hair."
The Admiral smiles, "Not a problem. Make yourselves at home. Just be glad you ain't Sirens."
Nelson looks at him, "You've been fighting Sirens as well?"
"Of course we have. The President has been holding off fighting the Crimson Axis because we're trying to fight the Sirens here in the Pacific. If the Sakura make any moves against us, the fighting those aliens is gonna be a whole lot harder. Come on, I might as well show you two around."
Victory smiles, "What do you call this base, Admiral?"
The Admiral smiles, "This place? Eh, just a little slice of Heaven called 'Pearl Harbor'".