26th May, 1941.

Lurker had been watching the week-long hunt for Bismarck with a devious smile. She retreats to the depths before U-556 gets there. The submarine searches relentlessly for Bismarck's Cubes, not knowing she's been captured.

The Siren brings up her superior on a holographic screen in front of her, "Observer Zero, Bismarck has been sunk. Her Kansen was taken to Scapa Flow."

"Affirmative, Lurker. An unfortunate, but interesting development. Return there and resume your surveillance."

Wales has not been allowed to leave her room after getting her cheek stitched back up. She is being kept in there to detain her for knocking out Captain Leach. She is, however, allowed to let visitors in, but she has been ignoring all knocks at her door. Her sisters have tried multiple times to get in to talk to her. QE even tried to order her to open the door, only to be met with silence. Their worries increasing, they asked the Commander to try.

She arrives at the dorm door and knocks on it. "Wales? It's me, the Commander. Please open the door, we have to talk." To the others' surprise, they hear footsteps slowly approach the door, unlock it and then fade away again. The Commander whispers, "Everyone. Stay. Out." With her piercing gaze, she has never looked more serious. Even QE obeys without protest.

They all nod and the Commander opens the door. She closes it behind her and she sees Wales sat at her table. She makes her way over and sits opposite her. "Wales… how are you feeling?"

Wales takes a sip of her clear drink, and quickly places the glass back down on the table, spilling some of it. She shows the first hint of emotion since she got back with tears starting to well in her eyes. She says, "How do you think I feel, Commander? I lost her. I failed her. I know I was only built and awoken two years ago… but… she was my world. My life feels empty… hollow without her in it. She trained me when I was too ashamed of myself to ask George for help… I'm a King George V Battleship and I could barely even balance with my rigging deployed, for God's sake! It's all my fault… I… I couldn't protect her from that bitch… one shot... all it took… was one bloody shot…"

The Commander knows first-hand how emotional Kansen can be and how quickly they can grow to love someone. She puts her hand on Wales' to calm her and says, "Hey… come on now, Wales… that's not true. It's not your fault at all."

Wales pulls away her hand and glares at her, raising her voice. "What would you know!? Have you ever lost someone you thought you'd spend your life with? Lost them in a brutal, bloody battle when you know you could've done better!? When you know you could've saved them!?"

The Commander gets a sorrowful look in her crimson eyes and looks the grieving Battleship in the eyes. Without a hint of malice in her voice, she softly answers, "Yes, Wales. I have. I've never spoken about it to any of you because the memory causes me far too much pain, even though it happened a very long time ago."

Wales calms down and asks, "Oh… yes, of course… I remember reading about it… I'm sorry… you don't have to…"

The Commander says, "It's alright. I feel like I need to finally talk about it to somebody, anyway." She sees the clear liquid Wales is drinking. "And this isn't going to help, Wales."

Wales looks at it, then her. With a hint of annoyance, she holds it up and says, "…This is water, Commander… they won't allow me to have anything else."

Her superior chuckles and says, "Yes, I know, but you need a proper drink before I tell you of my tale." She produces a bottle from her big coat and places it in the table. It is brown and has a label featuring the silhouette of an old 1800s warship with the name of the drink plastered on it. The Commander says, "Some good old rum. Let me pour you some and cheer you up a bit."

Wales says, "Commander… I don't think Hood would appreciate me drinking while grieving her."

The Commander brushes it off, "Oh, come now. I doubt she'd really mind. I've known her far longer than you have, remember? She wasn't exactly teetotal herself. Besides, this stuff is made for humans. It's not going to do much to us." She pours some into a new glass and hands it to her. "Also, we're alone, Wales. You can call me by my name."

Felling more and more at ease, Wales puts the water to one side and says, "Thank you, Victoria."

"My proper name, Wales." Victoria insists.

"…Thank you, Victory."

Outside the room, QE has her ear against the wall until Howe gives her a glass to use instead. They both, along with Ark and Duke of York, place glasses between the door and their ears.

After taking a big sip to prepare for the painful memory, Victoria regales Wales with her tale of woe, how she lost a great man. About how he died in her arms just as he confessed his love for her, and she had been too foolish to just tell him about her feelings earlier. How it caused her to change drastically and sent her into a violent rage, capturing the Siren who is now locked away in their most secure cell. The girls outside have to hold back their gasps and cheers as she tells it.

After taking another sip, she puts the wooden cup back down and concludes, "So you see, Wales? I do know what it's like to lose a loved one in a bloody battle, but I can't possibly imagine the pain you're going through right now, having spent the best time of your life with her, day in and day out… I wish I could've had that, instead of being an idiot who didn't confess her feelings sooner. Yet… despite your loss being far more tragic than my own, you've shown you have a will far stronger than mine was at the time…"

Wales asks, "What do you mean?"

"I felt so hopeless…. So useless in that moment that… I lost it. Something… changed. As if I gave in to some sort of darkness, my rigging became burned and my cannons shot fireballs. I screamed at the top of my lungs and I annihilated the two enemy ships I was caught between… and that was right before I fought and captured-" Victory pauses and looks at the door, "You might as well all come in, you've heard everything else!" In a sudden bout of panic, the door swings open and all the girls who were eavesdropping fall into the room. They all stand awkwardly and apologise.

The first thing Howe can think of is to dart over to her little sister and embrace her tightly. She says, "Wales! Why didn't you just talk to me? You had me worried!"

Wales puts one arm around her sister, "… I'm sorry, sister…" and takes a sip of the fruity rum with the other hand. It tastes surprisingly good to her. She looks at Victory and asks, "So, what happened to you to give you such power, Commander?"

Victory takes a sip herself and says, "Girls, you're going to want to sit down for this. Have any of you heard of something called 'METAmorphosis'?"

U-556 makes it to the port where Fritz had been assigned and walks slowly to the cafeteria where the scientist and a lot of other Iron Blood Kansen are, dragging her feet. She walks in with her head down and silently sits at a table, holding back her tears. Fritz and Hipper sit with her and ask her what's wrong.

The Sub can't even look at them as she explains, "Lord Bismarck… and Prinz Eugen… were ambushed by the Royal Navy… one of their Carriers… sank Lord Bismarck… and I couldn't help her…"

Upon hearing the story, Hipper's first reaction is to get closer, "What about Eugen!? What happened to her!?" U-556 shrugs and says she doesn't know, making Hipper lose her temper and grab the sub, lifting her up.

Fritz manages to stop her and says, "Admiral Hipper! Please unhand your comrade!"

Hipper looks at him, then back at the emotionless U-Boat, slowly putting her back down and silently leaving the building.

Fritz shakes his head, then kneels down in front of the little sub. "U-556… she may not be gone." He tries to cheer her up.

She looks at him, "How…?"

"Well… you couldn't find her Cubes, correct?"

The sub nods.

"Well, perhaps they took her prisoner? Just because your ship sinks, it doesn't necessarily mean that you go too, only if it drags you down with it." He reasons.

Parzival's tears stop. She regains her hopeful expression, "You mean she could still be alive!? I can go save her!?"

"Oh, hold on a minute, U-556. You can't just storm into their base and—" before he can finish, U-556 darts out of the room faster than he can even process. "Oh, nein…" he gets up and chases after her.