This story takes places after the last episode of Road to Berlin, so it begins around the spring of 1946.
This Fanfic is canon-compliant so don't expect powerups nor deaths (of major characters), there will be OCs but only will have minor roles. The story will be mostly focused on Yoshika. but the rest of the 501st will also have their moments to shine, and there will be appearances from Witches of the rest of the JFWs and they may or may not have important roles.
Since this is a Strike Witches Fanfic, you know what to expect, some ecchi-ness, romance, blood, military references (though I'm not very knowledgeable about it) but it will just go as a far as the franchise has reached.
The relationships between the cast would not be the focus of this story but they will be developed further.
I will also use both the dubbed and subbed version of the anime(s) as references well as some other media, but it would be properly tagged.
Finally, I'll try to update the story once a week (most of the time) and I can assure you that this story will eventually get completed.
"" Dialogue
'' Thoughts
Disclaimer: I do not own "Strike Witches", so this is just a fan made.
So, without further ado, here we go.
Chapter 1: The Aftermath
(Consequences)
"Shizuka! C'mon! Talk to me!" Yoshika pledged.
"Hang in there!" Yoshika begged to no avail as she had fallen unconscious.
"Shizuka…?" She insisted still but she seemed to have stopped breathing.
"NO…!" Yoshika cried from the top of her lungs, filling the dome with her despair, as she tried to use healing magic again, yet nothing happened.
"WHY!?" Yoshika screamed with tears falling onto the shed blood.
"Sergeant Miyafuji take cover," General Patton ordered her to, as he noticed Neuroi had started to come again from underground.
"I WON'T leave her." Yoshika swore.
General Patton knew there was no way to change her mind and thus, he went outside to help her to carry Shizuka to the flank tower but before they could take cover, they were surrounded by Neuroi once again.
"I guess this is it, sergeant;" the General acknowledged the fact there was no way to escape with his hands covered in blood Shizuka's blood as well as his.
"I won't let it end this way," Yoshika wiped her tears, yet she ended up staining her face in blood. She went then in front of both to try to use magic to protect them once again.
"I NEED MAGIC!" Yoshika pledged desperately as she tried to put out a shield, but nothing occurred, and the Neuroi readied itself to shoot.
"PLEASE!" Yoshika cried, down on her knees, hands clinging into the dirt, tears dropping from her brown eyes once again.
"Please" Yoshika mourned hopelessly as she raised her hands in front of her, but the ruthless enemy shoot its reddish beam, but before it annihilated them, Yoshika woke up, bathed in cold sweat, blankets on the floor, breathing hard and right after, she put her hands over her face trying to remember where she was now.
A couple of minutes went by, and Yoshika started to come to her senses, realizing that everything was just a nightmare. Still, since that day, she had been having trouble to fall asleep and when she could, images of Shizuka's body, bleeding to death without any way to save her, came back to her, every single night.
As Yoshika looked through the curtain-less windows, she realized the sun had started to appear over the sky in Den Helder. She got up quietly and went to check on Shizuka to reassure herself that it was just a nightmare, and to her sanity, it really was. She was peacefully sleeping, half covered in the blankets.
Yoshika heaved a sigh, still trying to recover from the nightmare but even though her mind told her that nothing of that was real, her body shivered just with the idea of falling sleep again, thus, she changed into her usual uniform as silently as possible, covered Shizuka well and she left the room afterwards.
With nothing pending and no commanders at the base, no one was awake at that moment, and she went outside to jog for a bit hoping to get those images out from her head.
Berlin, a few days before
After the annihilation of Wolf, as expected, the city was in ruins, the infrastructure was severely damaged, there was no electricity, the streets were empty, and the buildings were dark and silent, but people had already started to come back to rebuild their lives in their homeland, hoping to thrive once again.
Wing Commander Minna had fought hard to free the capital of her native country alongside the 501st and she hoped that there would be a ceremony to celebrate this grand event like the one that took place after the liberation of Gallia and Venezia.
Nevertheless, little to no progress was made, the event was still put on hold. The Southwind Operation had already exceeded its budget before it began, ever since the Antwerp port was destroyed.
Karlsland's Emperor himself was reluctant to celebrate such event as southern part of the empire was still occupied but after days of talks with Minna's fellow comrades, the highest rank Witch of the air force was finally able to persuade him to carry out the event. The ceremony seemed to finally being moving forward not without several days of uncertainty and threats of cancelations by many high-ranked Generals.
The base at Den Helder, the day of the event
Shizuka slowly opened her eyes and realized that it was late in the morning as the room was already well lit. Then, she got up and after checking the whole bedroom, she realized that Yoshika had already left, and her bed was a mess.
'That's weird.' She thought as she picked up the blankets from the floor and made the bed and changed into her usual clothes. Then, she went to the kitchen, hoping to find her friend.
"Have you seen Miyafuji?" Shizuka asked the two cooks.
"I thought she was still sleeping in your room," Perrine said, with a bit surprise in her tone.
"When I woke up, she already left," Shizuka pointed out.
"Maybe she's taking a bath?" Lynette wondered.
"I don't know, I better check out," Shizuka said and walked quickly there, only to find Charlotte and Francesca submerged in the hot water in the room full of steam.
"Have you seen Yoshika?"
"Miyafuji? She hasn't been here, right Francesca;" Charlotte noted.
"Nope, not here," the petite Witch added and then, Shizuka left hastily the bathroom to look for her in another place around the base, "that was weird."
Charlotte just shrugged at the comment.
'She cannot be in Sanya and Eila's room, can she?' Shizuka thought as she passed in front of their room, she was starting to get a little worried about the fact that Yoshika was nowhere to be found in the places she usually frequent, so, she decided to head again to the kitchen, only to find Gertrud in her way there.
"Good morning Captain Barkhorn, have you seen Miyafuji?" Shizuka asked.
"Good morning, Hattori, I think I saw her outside," Gertrud answered.
"Outside? Thank you!" Shizuka rushed to the closest window and when she peeked and checked the whole place with her eyes, she finally was able to see her sitting on the edge of a cliff, near the runway track, looking at the horizon. As she exited the base and approached her, she noticed that she was only wearing her swimsuit with her blouse beside her, and her hair seemed to be wet.
"Hi Shizuka," Yoshika greeted her friend with a soft smile as her roommate came approached her.
"Hello Miyafuji," Shizuka replied, giving an analytical, then she noticed the bags under her eyes; "Is everything alright?"
"Yes, Shizuka everything is just fine." Yoshika replied calmly as she took another look at her friend, noticing that she was, indeed, fine.
"Let's go inside, breakfast must be ready by now."
"I'm right behind you," Yoshika cheerfully added, and thus both walked to the base to have breakfast, nevertheless, Shizuka was still not sure if what she said was true as she had noticed Yoshika was acting a bit odd since the day Berlin was liberated. But at least, she did know it did not have anything to do with her magic because when Yoshika was asked to use it, she could do it with seemingly no issue.
'Maybe I'm overthinking this,' Shizuka said to her own head, she had seen how Yoshika dealt with her problems in the past and she knew how strong-willed she was; and at least for now, she or rather them, did not have anything to worry about.
Later that day
Even if the rest of the 501st were not invited to the celebration, in fact no Witches were other than the commanders of each JFW, they still decided to hold they own party to celebrate the destruction of yet another hive.
While neither Yoshika nor Lynette would mind being in charge of preparing the food while the rest took care of the remaining details, everyone had helped to prepare food from their own countries and by the time everything was ready, the dining table looked like a buffet with many dishes to choose from all across the globe.
Berlin at night
The emperor himself was not at the event as there was not guarantee that the city was totally free of Neuroi but nevertheless, there were many high-profile guests from across Europe, Fuso and Liberion.
All the assistants were waiting for the event to begin and after many the delays and lots of murmurs; fireworks finally went off, announcing the start of the event and shortly after, the skies of Berlin were covered in what seemed like shooting stars of various colors blazing through the starry night, the Idol Witches opened the event with their songs.
Shortly after the Witches' trails formed Karlsland's flag to everyone's amazement. At the sky, the songs could also be heard by different night Witches that were on patrol on that night. The ceremony was being broadcasted to the whole world so that everyone could know that there was still hope that the war would come to an end.
After the aperture ended, several Wing Commanders of the Joint Fighter Wings that participated as well as High Commanders gave speeches, some were longer, some were shorter, some were boring and some were inspiring, and then it was finally the turn of one of the organizers, Wing Commander Wilcke.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, it is a great honor to be here, in Berlin, part of my homeland and that of many others. This great triumph has reminded us that there is hope for war to come to an end. However, let us not forget that this can only be achieved through the combined effort of all of us. And let us always remember those who perished and honor their sacrifices, for none were in vain;"
Some applause was heard, but Minna did not move from the podium.
"…and likewise, I would not like the bravery of Pilot Officer Miyafuji from the Fuso Navy to go unnoticed, she who put her life on the line protecting Kiel and saving countless lives in the process and yet again at the zenith of the operation, hindering the escape of the Nest, allowing us to achieve victory and liberating Berlin in the process, thank you." Minna bowed as the applause came in, then, she left the podium, and went back to her seat next to Mio and the conference still went on as there were still more people left who still had speeches to give.
"Laudable discourse you gave there," Mio commented.
"After what happened these last few days, it needed to be done." Minna added with a serious tone of voice.
Den Helder, at the same time
Almost the whole 501st was hearing the event, save for Yoshika who was thoughtful, daydreaming even though when she heard her name mentioned on the radio, she came back to herself. She could not help but blush a little when she heard what Minna just said about her but then she remembered everything that happened there, and without her realizing, her expression became more serious, even troubled, though, then, she realized that everyone was staring at her.
"It's thanks to all of you guys," Yoshika made a pause as she tried to smile, "I couldn't have done it without y'all."
"True, true, but you're always there for us, let's toast to that." Charlotte pointed out.
"And to the destroyed nest," Erica exclaimed.
"And that we'll made it one piece!" Francesca exclaimed loudly without realizing that comment made Yoshika drop her smile.
"And to Miyafuji's recovery," Gertrud said.
"I'm so glad for that Yoshika," Lynette told her, smiling softly as she held her hand, making her smile again.
"Cheers!" they all said as their raised their glasses and after that, they eat what they had prepared while they celebrated another successful operation to destroy yet another hive.
After eating, everyone, surprisingly, helped to clean everything. Some of them started to yawn as they were doing it, but no one could blame them as the past days were exhausting to say the least, after everything was cleaned, they all decided to go back to their rooms so they could rest.
Most of them were asleep as soon as they hit the bed in their rooms, even Yoshika as she had been awake since dawn. Nevertheless, Shizuka was not able to fall sleep because she had many things on her mind, and could not help but wonder about what would happen to them, to the Joint Fighter Wing. It was the first time since she joined the 501st that they did not have a pending mission.
'I guess we're going back to our own countries.' Shizuka thought, she decided to ask Yoshika what she thought about, so she got out of her bed to check on Yoshika, and she noticed she was profoundly sleeping. There was no way she could wake her up just to ask her that but still, she contemplated her for a few minutes to see if she had woken up, but she did not, and she went back to her bed but just before she laid down, she heard something.
"Shizuka"
"Shizuka" Yoshika muttered again.
'Did I wake her up?' Shizuka thought as she went to check on her again.
"Yoshika?" Shizuka whispered but she did not reply as she seemed to be still sleeping.
'Is she dreaming… about me?' Shizuka thought and could not help but think about what kind of dream she was having. But as she came closer, she noticed she seemed anxious, muttered her name again and even started to move a little.
'She's having a nightmare?' Shizuka wondered and then soothed her as tenderly possible. "Yoshika, everything's fine," she softly repeated, as she decided to caress her hair but as soon as she touched it, she slowly opened her eyes.
"It's alright Yoshika, I'm here." she comforted her with a tender smile.
"Shizuka…" Yoshika exhaled as she sat on the bed, realizing that she was having that dream again.
"What were you dreaming about?" Shizuka asked her as comfortingly as she could, "was it about, me?"
"I don't know," Yoshika looked down to avoid looking at her, "I- I can't remember". Then she jumped out of her bed.
"Are you going somewhere?" Shizuka asked.
"I- I just… need some water." Yoshika sighed as she headed to the door.
"Do you want me to come with you?" she asked.
"What? I'm fine," Yoshika breathed away, "don't- don't worry about me."
Now, in the bathroom, Yoshika washed her face with cold water, 'it's only dream, she's fine, everyone's fine.' She repeated to herself again and again, hoping to soothe herself, and to forget the nightmare.
After a couple of minutes, Yoshika calmed down a little and decided to go back to their bedroom, only to find her roommate at the bottom of her bed.
"Shizuka?" Yoshika asked with a bit of surprise in her voice.
"Yoshika, you know you can tell me anything," Shizuka asked hoping to get an answer.
"I swear, I don't remember anything." Yoshika avoided her as calmly as she could as she went to her bed.
Shizuka noticed that she was still stressed about whatever she was dreaming, and it was better not to insist. "If you need something, anything, just wake me up, okay?" Shizuka then went to her bed.
"Thanks Shizuka, I really appreciate it." Yoshika replied as she turned around on the bed, hoping to sleep without dreaming anything this time.
After a couple of minutes, Shizuka had not been able to fall sleep, and started to dive into her thoughts, thinking about what just happened with Yoshika but at least for now, she seemed to be sleeping peacefully as the room was as silent as it could get, still she wanted to ask Yoshika what she was dreaming about and regarding the future of the 501st but not today at least.
Still, lots of things had happened in the last couple of days, Berlin had been liberated, Yoshika had regained control over her magic pressure, everyone made it safely and just celebrated that, but she could not help it but wonder what would happen to them and after some time, she had fallen asleep as well.
The next day
The whole 501st were currently sitting in the conference room, as Minna and Mio had called to give them the news regarding the future of the Joint Fighter Wing.
"As you may know by now, there are no notice regarding the operation to take down the hives over Southern Karlsland and Ostmark just yet," Minna told the group.
"And we haven't received orders from your respective countries so for now, I guess we can say, ladies you're free," Mio added.
"Don't worry, the Strike Witches aren't disbanded, we're just in stand-by for a couple of months," Minna assured them.
Everyone gazed at each other, but Shizuka, who just lower down her gaze with a bit of sadness in her face realizing that she was right, but after some murmurs, Gertrud stood-up to speak.
"Minna, wouldn't it possible to continue moving forward to Southern Karlsland, the armies are ready and so are the supplies lines." Gertrud pointed out.
"I tried Trude, I really did my best, but you know how bureaucratic these things are, the allied forces are willing to continue supporting us, but it will take time to come to an agreement, hopefully we can resume operations this year," Minna commented hoping it would not be too late by then.
"I hope you're right," Gertrud added as she took a seat, unknowingly to everyone Sanya's demeanor became regretful as she did know they did not have much time left.
"I guess this is it for now, you're dismissed," Mio wrapped up.
And thus, all the girls went back to their rooms to pack their things in order to leave the base, but as Shizuka was walking to her room, Mio stopped her.
"Shizuka, do you have a minute?" Mio asked.
"Yes, Major Sakamoto."
"I know you haven't received any news from the Fuso military but if you want to, you can come with me, to Fuso, I'll need some help training new recruits."
'I want to stay here in Europe,' Shizuka said to herself, but I got nothing to do here.' She thought, but her thoughts were interrupted by Mio.
"That's of course, if you want to, if not I can arrange something for you here," Mio added.
"That would be not necessary Major, I will go with you." Shizuka replied.
"Thank you Hattori, we will depart in a few days." Mio told her.
As for the rest of Witches, Minna alongside Squadron Leader Gertrud Barkhorn and Flying Officer Erica Hartmann agreed to stay in their homeland, in order to continue with the rebuild of the Berlin and also to go to the café they agreed when they this all was over.
Flying Lieutenant Sanya Litvyak and Flying Officer Eila Ilmatar Juutilainen decided to go to Suomus and then to Orussia to gather more information regarding the whereabouts of the Sanya's parents.
Flight Lieutenant Charlotte Yeager and Pilot Officer Francesca Lucchini decided to go to Romagna to help the 504th JFW to defend both Romagna and Venezia. Nevertheless, Charlotte had already planned something else to do in their temporary retirement.
Master Sergeant Lynette Bishop and Flying Officer Perrine Clostermann went back to Pas de Calais in Gallia to continue with its rebuilt.
As for Yoshika, she wanted to go back to Fuso to visit her mother, grandmother, and her friend Michiko but she knew she had already a duty here in Europe, she must go back to Helvetia to study at Lausanne Medical School. That was the whole reason she came to Europe this time and she promised them that she would study hard to become a great medic and she intended to keep her word.
Nevertheless, after hearing the news regarding Mio and Shizuka, she decided to ask them for a favor. She wanted them to explain to their family why she could not come back to Fuso right now. So, she hoped that they could help her with that as she was not sure when she would be going back to home.
Mio and Shizuka agreed as they already knew her family so it would be easy enough, though, before going back to Fuso, there was something Mio needed to do, she had arranged to send the Shinden to the Helvetia Air Force Base so that Yoshika could use it in case of an emergency. She also made sure that it was properly serviced not like the last time she had to use that neglected striker unit that almost got her killed trying to protect Antwerp.
The crewmen had to be trained by Ursula to properly service it as its design was a different in comparison to most other striker units and with the fact that Helvetia itself was not currently under Neuroi occupation, so the crewmen were unskilled with strikers' maintenance to say the least.
A few weeks later
Mio and Shizuka were already back in Fuso without encountering any problem on their way to the empire and shortly after they solved their pending military matters, they got into the jeep and headed to the Miyafuji clinic.
"I wonder if they already know Yoshika got her magic back" Shizuka wondered.
"They do, Miyafuji told me she wrote them," Mio commented.
"That's one less thing we need to worry about," Shizuka said.
"I guess but I hope she told them how she got it back." Mio remarked.
"Why?" Shizuka wondered.
"Well, you told us she was severely injured, " Mio pointed out.
"I…" Shizuka said with her voice trembling, "yes, that's what happened."
"That would not sit well with them, for one thing, they did not want her to join the military on the first place," Mio made a pause, "I cannot blame them though, after all Dr. Miyafuji died not long after he came to Europe," Mio continued, "and after Operation Mars, it was apparent she completely depleted her magic." Mio added with a troubled tone of voice, "and though I used to come here frequently, I haven't visited them since she departed for Helvetia".
"I guess… it's understandable they do not trust the Fuso Navy or the Witches for what matter," Shizuka disappointingly added.
"Indeed." Mio sighed and they arrived at the clinic, and both got out of the truck.
"Thank you, Hijikata, wait for us, I hope this won't take long," Mio said.
"Yes, ma'am."
"Good evening." Mio loudly announced their arrival and not long after a dog came running towards them.
"Hey buddy," Shizuka said as she petted him and shortly after, Sayaka came to the entrance and became pale when she noticed who had just arrived.
"Where's my daughter?" she asked visibly worried.
"That's why we came here." Mio said as both got walked towards her and not long after, Yoshiko also came and shared the same expression of her daughter, "Yoshika wanted us to tell you she would come back home later; she's currently studying at Helvetia." Mio naively said.
Sayaka sighed as the colors returned to her face. "Please come in."
Then, the three were sitting in seiza and shortly after, Sayaka brought tea to their guests and also took a seat.
"Thank you for the tea," both said in unison as they bowed.
"We read in the newspaper that a Fuso exchange student almost died during a Neuroi attack not long after Yoshika departed," Sayaka stated in a serious tone of voice.
Both gazed at each other, "that's… what happened." Mio said with a regretful tone while Shizuka stayed speechless thinking about how she almost failed her first assignment.
"But…" Shizuka hesitated, "that's how Yoshika got her magic back," she added with a guilty tone.
"That's what we thought, because she wrote us that she joined the Witches again." Yoshiko said with a soft yet firm voice.
"To a certain extent, that is how it happened," Mio commented on realizing that this was going to be more difficult than what they expected.
"And what happened in Kiel?" Sayaka asked, gazing Mio directly.
"In Kiel?" Shizuka wondered, also gazing at Mio.
"A Neuroi almost crashed into the base, but Yoshika protected us." Mio said, wondering how they knew about that.
"And why she put her life on the line?" Yoshiko now asked them with a serious yet somehow calmed voice.
'Of course, they heard Minna's speech' Mio say to herself. "Well," Mio sighed, "she used most of her magic and she needed to rest."
"And in Berlin? We read a Witch from Fuso was injured during the operation." Sayaka asked, gazing Mio directly, making her feel a bit hesitant.
"She wasn't injured. I was that Witch." Shizuka replied in low voice, "but Yoshika saved me".
"But rest assure, Yoshika got control again over her magic pressure after that." Mio added.
"Magic pressure?" Yoshiko wondered if what she heard was right.
Shizuka, just softly facepalmed after hearing that and had started to become tense and, she drank all her tea in nervousness.
Mio gulped, realizing the mistake she just made, "after… Yoshika regained her magic back, she began having problems controlling it."
"Why didn't she tell us?" Sayaka wondered.
"I don't have the answer to that," Mio sighed, "but for now, as I told you, she's studying just like she promised you."
Both looked down in regret, "do you know when she would come back?" the eldest asked.
"We cannot be sure," Mio added as she drank all her tea, "but if I know something, I'll come back here to tell you."
"Thanks both of you for telling us," Sayaka commented in low voice.
"We better get going," Mio said as she stood up, "we have a… meeting at the Witches academy, right Hattori?"
"Yes, ma'am." Shizuka replied as she also stood up and stood in attention pose.
"Thanks for the tea, Hattori, let's go," Mio announced.
"Thank you," Shizuka replied as she followed Mio and both walked quickly but as discretely as possible to the jeep, then both got into the vehicle.
"Hijikata" Mio sighed, "it's getting late for the meeting."
"Meeting?" Hijikata asked confused.
"Yes, the meeting." Mio added trying to use a firm tone of voice.
"Yes, ma'am." Hijikata said realizing what Mio meant, then he turned the vehicle on and started to drive back to the base.
"Thank you again for the tea," Mio said to Yoshika's family as she got comfortable in the jeep's seat and after, the clinic could no longer be seen.
"Well, that was uncomfortable," Shizuka sighed.
"It really was, I need to speak with Miyafuji when I see her again," Mio also sighed.
"But they knew many details about what was going in Europe even though Yoshika seemed to have not written them." Shizuka commented.
"They heard Minna's speech." Mio stated.
"Huh? I guess that explains it, at least, we did the favor Yoshika asked us to, right?" Shizuka said, trying to remain positive.
"Indeed, Hattori" Mio added in a neutral yet tired tone.
Author Notes:
This chapter turned a bit longer than what I initially expected but here it is, I think it turned out pretty well though.
The next chapter will be focused on Yoshika's studies and an opportunity that she would be given. It is going to be a bit longer than this one, I hope.
Another note: The next two or three chapters are on the rougher side (they are readable though), the story gets better on the next chapters. I'll try to improve them in a future time.