[Azur Lane Bismarck]

"…"

"…nein…"

"HOOD!"

I jolted awake covered in sweat. Again. Verdammt… having Geryon on the outside means he can't fight my nightmares anymore. It's up to me now…

This time… Hood… she…

…

… Nevermind. I got up, got ready and went to see Seaport. I needed an update.

Walking towards the cafeteria, I stopped outside. I instead sat down on a bench rather than the Kriegsmarine table inside. I very much doubted Prinz wanted to speak to me after I failed her…

"Bismarck… I have good news…" Seaport announced. It seemed she found me instead.

Also, good news? Well, that's a first. "What is it?" I asked.

"The one who… travels between dreams… she has helped the other Bismarck… regain herself…"

I breathed a massive sigh of relief. "Oh, Gott sei Dank… is she alright?"

"It would seem… she is being cared for… by Hood…"

Ah, Hood. Always there for people, even when they don't ask for her help. I swear, one of these days it's gonna get her in trouble. I decided that the moment I got back, I was having a serious talk with her.

I wasn't blushing thinking about what else to speak to her about. Nein, definitely not.

I looked at Seaport again and I replied, "Danke schön for telling me. Keep me updated, ja?"

The Abyssal nodded before leaving me alone. Before leaving though, she looked over her shoulder and said, "Prinz Eugen… does not hate you, Bismarck… go in and see your friends…"

Prinz didn't hate me for failing her? I would hate myself for it.

I did, in fact. Another failure to add to my long list.

Regardless, I decided to heed her advice and enter the cafeteria. But first…

"Seaport."

The Abyssal stopped, "Yes…?"

"May I speak to Shinano again? I know I'm asking a lot, but-"

"Of course. Linking…"

I then asked Shinano about exactly what happened on her end…

[Azur Lane Pacific Commander]

I met Leonardo Da Vinci and her fleet on the pier. It seems I made the right call as she seemed to have a prosthetic arm herself.

"Welcome to the Pacific HQ, shipgirls of Sardegna!" I enthusiastically announced.

Before anyone else could respond, the tall one with bright green hair threw her arms up and walked over to me and cheered, "Ah, so you are the Comandante here, si? Pleasure to meet you, signore!"

I shook her hand to welcome her, "The pleasure's all mine, signorina-?"

She made a playful gasp as she put her other hand on her chest, "You have not heard of me? Let us change that immediately!I am the great Littorio, Vittorio Veneto-class Battleship number two; the Mediterranean's mightiest Battleship! The legend herself has finally graced your port, Comandante!"

"Good to meet you, Littorio." I smiled at her charismatic demeanour, although I doubted her claim about being the strongest considering both New Jersey and Musashi were on this base.

Her platinum-haired sister approached us, rolling her eyes, "Sister, please tone it down a bit. The Atlantic Kansen here may not be in the mood for your… eccentricities." If anything, she looked like a more mature version of Z46.

I immediately deduced, "If I'm not mistaken, you must be the Eternal Flagship herself, Signorina Vittorio Veneto?" I offered my hand.

She smiled proudly and bowed, "In the flesh, Comandante. We are here to lend aid to you, signore, however, things in the Atlantic are quite grim. We had to pull all kinds of strings to get the Comandante del Mediterraneo to agree to let us come here." She put her hand on mine.

I politely raised her hand to my face and looked her in the eye. She nodded and I gave it a kiss.

I guessed, "Because of the new Siren Stronghold they built on top of the old Atlantic HQ? She doesn't want to be caught with lacking firepower?"

"A charmer, hmm, Comandante?" Littorio chuckled, "It is… something like that. Now that the Sirens control the Atlantic Ocean, it is incredibly difficult to get out of the Mediterranean to help the Royal Isles. The Sirens are starving them out now, taunting us. We convinced our Comandante that Signorinas Richelieu and Jean Bart can put aside their petty squabbles and step in to help Roma and Impero with secretarial and security duties in our stead while we lend our aid here." She nodded, "Though I'm not sure how they'll cope without the great Littorio there to guide them, I have faith in my siste— WHO IS THAT!?" She pointed past me.

I looked over and saw a beautiful white-clad Royal Navy Carrier walking with little Unicorn, her sort of adoptive sister. "Ah, that's Illustrius of the Roya—"

"That's Illustrious!?" Littorio exclaimed. "Please excuse me Comandante, the great Littorio has business to attend to!" She proclaimed while pointing to the sky and walked towards the confused-looking Illustrious.

I looked at Veneto, "What's that about? Do they have beef?"

The Eternal Flaship facepalmed and muttered, "Questa è l'unica cosa che le ho fatto promettere di non fare..." she looked at me and answered, "My apologies, Comandante, but I should've seen this coming. When she learned the Royal Navy girls would be here, she couldn't be stopped from coming with us. She'd be a stowaway if I had said no, and I wasn't about to have us sail halfway around the planet on just riggings just to make sure she didn't come. From Port Said, through the Red Sea and through the Indian Ocean and the Pacific I made her promise repeatedly not to do this… Please excuse me so I can pry her off your Carrier."

"Um… are they gonna fight?"

"No, to put it bluntly, my sister wants to bang Illustrious and all her sisters." She answered quickly. "Preferably, in her words, all at the same time."

"Oh... uh… okay." I rubbed the back of my head. "I need to speak to signorina Leonardo, anyway."

"Word of warning, watch yourself with Abruzzi. Before you ask her, she never lost her arm. She was born without it." She warned me before rushing after Littorio.

So, Abruzzi… her arm is a touchy subject. I'd better steer well clear of it.

I walked over and offered my hand to the inventor and her cybernetic friend. "Welcome to the Azur Lane Pacific HQ, signorinas."

"Ciao! I'm Leonardo Da Vinci! But you can just call me 'Da Vinci'. Now that I am here, I can help install this new arm onto your Battleship! Where is she?" The genius inventor replied.

"That's… complicated." I looked at her taller, unimpressed friend, "And you must be signorina Abruzzi?"

Dead silence filled the part as all of the Sardegna shipgirls stopped dead in their tracks and slowly looked at us. Littorio even stopped fawning over the uncomfortable Illustrious.

Veneto made a face as if to say, "Damn it, I forgot about that."

"Um…" I asked, "Was it something I said?"

"My name is Luigi di Savoia Duca degli Abruzzi." The red-eyed Kansen ominously responded while holding the tips of her artificial fingers together, "You find that too hard to memorize? Then you may shorten it to Duca degli Abruzzi, but no less than that. My dignity won't allow it. Do you understand, Comandante?"

Now, a more authoritative Commander would've scolded her and told her that they are the Commander of the base and they will call her whatever the damn hell they wished, but I value my life, so instead I just nodded and started again.

I cleared my throat, "Ahem. Welcome to the base, signorina Duca degli Abruzzi." I offered my hand to her again.

She cracked a smile and the Sardegna Kansen all let out breaths they probably didn't know they were holding. I'd better not get on this woman's bad side.

"That is better, Comandante." She used her prosthetic and gave my hand a good squeeze.

Probably a bit too good as it felt like a vice tightening on it.

"Now then." I nursed my hand after she let go, "Signorina Da Vinci, Akashi is in need of your help on a big project in the lab. We'll work on fitting Bismarck's arm when she's back from her mission, yeah?"

Da Vinci saluted, "Sì, signore! A big project? How exciting!" She trotted off to the lab. It seemed she was clever enough to deduce where it was on her own. The other Sardegnans went to their temporary accommodation, leaving me with Abruzzi. Alone.

I looked at her. Her red eyes stared into my soul. I nervously asked, "So… we got off on the wrong foot, I think. Just so we're clear, I meant no offence. I assume just 'Abruzzi' is reserved for your closest allies?"

She nodded, "Sì. My fellow shipgirls only. They're my family."

"Gotcha. Noted. Perhaps we could come to a comprise, though?" I offered.

"I'm listening." She said.

"If we're in a combat scenario and I need to communicate quickly, no offence, but saying your full name or your preferred abbreviation will be a bit of a pain in the ass." I explained.

"I see… then you may call me just 'Abruzzi' if we're in a fight."

"Thank yo-"

"On one condition." She quickly added.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Now where's the fun in telling you now?" She answered ominously.

"Right…" I nodded. I decided I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. I walked to my office, but she followed me. I asked, "Um… don't you have a room?"

"Sì."

"Then… why are you…?"

"I volunteer for secretarial duties, Comandante."

"Uh… why? You just got here." I had to ask. Wouldn't she prefer to get some rest?

"I want to see how long it takes." She answered.

"How long it takes for what?"

"I think you know. The record for the amount of time new people take to ask THAT question is about half an hour." She said while flexing her false fingers.

"I don't know what you're talking about." I feigned ignorance for the sake of my own ass. "Please go to relax, Duca degli Abruzzi. After a trip like that, you must be exhausted. Then we'll see about you being Secretary for a bit."

"…Sì, signore." She said before turning away and walking off.

Was she… smiling just then?

[Kancolle Bismarck]

I looked at my cannon arm again… the more I stared at it, the less human I felt… but then I remembered. The kind woman standing next to me, helping me through all this with seemingly no reward for herself… she isn't human to begin with. I had learned the Kansen are weapons created by humans to fight aliens… technically they shouldn't even have human rights. I don't believe that, of course. Hood seems human enough to me…

"Does she love you?" I asked her.

Hood looked at me and asked, "Hmm? Who?"

"Your Bismarck. Does she love you back?"

She chuckled, "Personally, I'd like to think so, but I honestly think she's buried under so much guilt and self-doubt that she can't admit to it, but it's possible she doesn't at all. I just wish she'd pick up on my hints and just give me a sign. I'd rest easier knowing if she does or doesn't instead of leaving me guessing. Why ask, anyway?"

I hesitated, "Don't take this the wrong way… but I feel like I'm no longer human."

"What are you talking about?" She asked.

I stared at my reflection. I saw my glowing blue eyes staring back at me. "You Kansen. You're not human beings, not scientifically. I just wonder if any of you contemplate your own humanity, like I'm doing right now…"

Hood sighed. She sat down on the fountain wall next to me. "All the time. There are moments where we Kansen are… overcome by existential dread. As a result, we very rarely go out on missions alone. If a Siren managed to get in our heads with their manipulative taunts or it happens naturally, it can lead to panic attacks and disassociation. You can see how bad that could be during a battle. We've learned how to support each other if it should happen, however. Having a man like that commanding us in the Atlantic didn't exactly help, either."

I nodded. "What about your rights? Are they ever threatened?"

Hood looked down, "Countless times. Our… I hesitate to call that man our Commander, he threatened us with convincing Naval HQ to revoke our basic human rights as weapons and as their property. It sickened us, especially us Royals. It went against our very being. If it weren't for the power he held, we'd have revolted against him within the first week."

"Rule Britannia, ja?" I smiled.

"A powerful song." Hood returned the expression, but then her face went dark, "A shame it no longer applies now. Back then, at the first sign of defiance by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, her two sisters Lady Valiant and Lady Warspite were brutally torn apart by the scrapper. Now? The Atlantic has fallen and the Eagle Union are the power of the Pacific. As for the Commander of their base… I don't think he has ever done anything like what ours did. I think it's safe to say his Kansen wouldn't stand for it for a second, but then he doesn't have the same amount of power over them as ours did over us. The Eagles are big fans of individual freedom, to the point they don't even have a dedicated flagship, although Lady Enterprise is the face of their faction, and the Sakurans would be dishonoured by following one so cruel. Also, there's no scrapper at the Pacific HQ, or at least, I bloody well hope there isn't."

I realised something after listening to her, "You know… has anyone ever pointed out how much your choice sounds like my counterpart's sister?"

"What? Lady Tirpitz?"

"Ja, if you had the same accent as her, you'd sound exactly like her."

Hood chuckled, "Well, nobody ever has mentioned it until now. I imagine it can be a little confusing to our Biscuit…"

I looked at her and she corrected herself again, "B-Bismarck, I meant our Bismarck."

"Hood, I know you love her. You can call her your cute pet name." I teased.

Red in the face, Hood crossed her arms and closed her eyes, "I'm afraid I don't know what you mean."

"Hehe… sure…" We enjoyed the peace and quiet for a while until I asked, "How long until Azur Lane gets here?"

She got put her pocket watch and deduced, "Should be any moment. They'll be using caution. Just stand with me with your arms raised. They'll be expecting you to have turned on me so I'll do the talking." She got up from the fountain.

"Still can't remember why I did that… If I could just remember…" I tried to search for the reason, to no avail.

"Don't worry about it. Probably just some Siren trick. You have been getting up close and personal to them in fights. It's advised that not even us Kansen do that very often. We have mostly ranged weapons for many reasons." She assured me while I got up myself, but I don't know…

There was something there in the back of my mind, but every time I try, that fox woman gently guides me away from it, even though she isn't in my head anymore, like she left some of herself there or something.

The scariest part, though… is that Nelson has stopped talking or appearing…

[Azur Lane U-556]

I spotted Frau Hood and… wait, Frau Bismarck is stood with her? I thought she went crazy?

"Frau Tirpitz! I think Frau Hood has brought her back to her senses!" I informed our acting flagship.

"It would seem so. U-556, Frau George, with me. Everyone else, hang back and cover us."

Our fleet waited for the three of us while we walked onto the beach. We saw the buildings near them had taken damage and Frau Hood and Frau Bismarck's clothes were tattered, but they seemed to be okay now.

"It's alright!" Frau Hood claimed, "Bismarck has control of herself again!"

"For how long?" Frau George asked, sword drawn as they approached us.

Bismarck stepped forward and answered, "As long as I don't remember what set me off, I should be okay. Your sleepy fox Kansen is preventing it, I think."

Frau Shinano has such power… if she were an enemy, she'd be so scary…

"Describe this fox Kansen." Frau Tirpitz demanded. After Bismarck described Frau Shinano perfectly, we all put away our riggings and weapons.

"Welcome back, Lady Bismarck." Frau George nodded with a smile.

"I am incredibly sorry for attacking Frau Hood…" Frau Bismarck said. She sounded genuine enough, "I just… couldn't seem to think… my mind was so clouded in hopelessness… she said we can somehow contain me until I'm all figured out?"

"We'll tell the Commander everything and we'll see what we can do." Frau George assured her. She may seem tough as nails, but she does have a big heart. "Now come, both of you. We were attacked by that pea-brained Purifier on the way here and we need to get you back unharmed."

Frau Hood replied, "Purifier? She has a new body already?"

I eagerly replied, "Ja! Now she's gonna need a third one!"

[Azur Lane Shinano]

I took Nelson-san with me so she was no longer stuck in Bismarck-san's mind. She was resting in my embrace in my mind. She looked very comfortable, which brought me some level of happiness.

"This one promises to find some way to give you a life of your own again, Nelson-san."

She mumbled, "I think I'd prefer to stay here…" while wrapped up in my soft tails.

I smiled, "As much as I'd like to stay and keep you comfortable, you deserve your freedom again."

"If you say so… could I come to you anytime? In my dreams?"

"When this is all sorted out, the anomaly may close… and I may not be able to find you…" I regrettably told her. "However, I may be able to leave a part of myself in your head to comfort you in your dreams."

"…I'd like that…" she smiled.

I will have to speak to the Abyssals to see if they can do something for her. Even an Abyssal body is a body of her own…

[Kancolle Prinz Eugen]

I stared into my breakfast on the table, not feeling hungry. I just couldn't stop thinking about my Bismarck… I promised her and myself I'd be there for her… and I couldn't do anything to help her in another world…

Graffy put her arm around me when I started to sob again.

I'm sorry, Bismarck… I-

The cafeteria doors opened again and in walked… the other one.

Nein… it's not her fault… I shouldn't be so mean… she tried her best to get back… I just…

"Prinz?" She asked me, now stood at our table.

I looked up, wiping my tears. Wait, she was smiling? "W… was?"

"My fellow Kansen back home have helped save your Bismarck. She's come to her senses. The Abyss wasn't strong enough to fully take her." She explained.

I gasped. My Bismarck is… okay? Even though she's an Abyssal, she's fine?

"But… what caused her to… what was the main reason she came back?" I had to ask.

She sat next to me and whispered in my ear, "Her memory of what happened at Oktoberfest. She remembers it vividly and she thinks you were too drunk to remember, so she didn't want to make you feel uncomfortable."

My face went deep red. I looked at her, "She… really does love me? That one memory… was enough to overcome… the Abyss?"

"Well, with mental help from my friend Shinano, ja. It was the key to helping her. Good job, Prinz." Other Bismarck nodded.

Graffy chimed in, "I'll get us drinks to celebrate." Before getting up from the table and walking over to the bar.

"Danke, Bismarck… und… es tut mir Leid… for being so mean to you recently…"

"Don't be. I deserve it."

I looked at her, "Why do you always say things like that? Sure, you've made mistakes, but—"

She looked back at me, "Many of those mistakes have caused the unessecary deaths of innocent civilians and almost 3,500 Kriegsmarine and Royal Navy sailors." She interrupted with an emotionally tortured face. "I see their faces every time I close my eyes, Prinz. Now that Geryon is free from my mind, my nightmares are now constant."

No sooner had Graffy put our Biere on the table had Bismarck grabbed one, said, "Prost" and down the entire massive stein in one go, the slamming it back down on the table. She looked at me again, "Apologies, Prinz. This was meant to be a happy moment. Looks like I've ruined that as well."

She talked to me about "spiralling" before… she was probably having another episode again. I gently put my hand on hers and said, "It's okay, Bismarck. We're here for you. Focus on us…"

Despite being stone-faced now, we couldn't help see a tear roll down her cheek.

This poor Battleship… the mount of pressure she must constantly be under being the flagship in her world on top of the mental anguish she's constantly in… and now she's sacrificed her mental stability to give her giant robotic friend the freedom he deserved…

She's got such a big heart… and she suffers so much for it…

This Frau Hood she likes so much must be some kind of miracle worker…

[Azur Lane Pacific Commander]

I finally returned to my office and sat down to log the arrival of the Sardegna shipgirls to let my fellow Commander in the Mediterranean know her girls got here safe. With that settled,no was just about to call in Sheffield for a coffee, but my radio buzzed instead. I answered it and Akashi was in the other end.

"Shikikan! Get to Akashi's lab asap, nya!"

"What's wrong? Are you in danger?" I stood.

The another voice was heard, "Give me that. This is the base Commander?"

I froze. "Yes. Who is this? I haven't heard your voice before." It was undoubtedly a Royal Navy accent, rather common yet refined and posh somehow.

"I'd imagine not. Never been to the Pacific HQ before. I'd very much like to meet you, considering what I've heard about you. Get here quick, yeah?"

Could it be…?

"…I'll be right there."