Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

June 17th, 2027, 6:31 AM, Base, Commander’s House

“Master,” Belfast called out from the front door — gently knocking on it with Sheffield standing with her. “Are you in there?”

When no response came, Belfast pulled out her keys and proceeded to unlock the door. Upon swinging the door open, they could tell something was off. Nothing from yesterday had been altered, it remained the same when they had left after cleaning the house. Even checking the trash bins yielded no results.

A sign the two were all too familiar with during their time under Armstrong.

“Perhaps it would be wise to contact the others, to see if the sensor picked up anything,” Sheffield suggested, referring to the alarm system they had set up a month ago.

“Hopefully someone will be up around this time…” Belfast commented, pulling out her phone and opening a group chat.

           Belfast_inService: Is anyone up yet? We need someone to check the system.

           Кронштадт: I’m up and on my way there. Just got a cup of Vodka Irish Coffee.

           ShiningS: Vodka at this time? You Northerns…

           Кронштадт: The last time stamp here is at 9:25 AM, yesterday.

           Belfast_inService: That’s when Gloucester and Manchester finished cleaning.

           ShiningS: Meaning Master hasn’t returned home since yesterday.

           Кронштадт: Where could he be then?

           Belfast_inService: He could have stayed in the office, due to work.

           Belfast_inService: I’ll have Scylla check there once she’s done with her work.

Chapter Text

June 17th, 2027, 7:02 AM, Base, Command Building

Walking down the halls, Howe made her way to the office; carrying a basket of freshly baked sweets from Rosy Bakery. After helping out Dunkerque, she quickly made her way here, wanting to help John finish the work as fast as possible — to relieve the stress he’s been feeling for the past days now.

“Miss Howe!” a voice called to her as she passed an intersection. Turning around, Howe saw Scylla walking towards her.

“Good morning, Scylla,” she greeted the maid. “Is something wrong?”

“No, Howe,” she responded. “I was hoping we could walk together on the way to the Master's office.”

“Is there something you need of him?”

“No. I’m just wondering if he would like anything,” she replied, hiding her primary intentions of her visit. “Master has been under quite a lot of stress recently. I’ve even heard he gave a menacing glare at Her Majesty.”

“Work has been troublesome these past days — causing him to do things he wouldn’t normally do,” Howe solemnly added. “We should be able to finish it today, sometime in the evening if we continue at this pace. An entire day early before the deadline!”

“Oh that’s wonderful to hear!” the maid excitedly said as they reached the office door.

Opening the door to her room/office, Howe looked towards the Commander’s door, to see that there were no lights shining below.

He’s never late… , Howe thought to herself, placing the basket on her desk.

“Master? It’s Scylla. May I come in?” the maid called out, knocking on the door. But there was no response on the other side. A sense of dread filled Howe’s mind.

“Master?” Scylla called out once more, turning the knob to see if the door was locked. To her and Howe’s surprise, the doorknob twisted, an indication that it was unlocked.

Slowly pushing the door open, the two saw that the room was pitch black — not even the curtains were open. Reaching over for the light switch, Scylla flicked them on, and the sight they saw made them gasp. Papers scattered the office floor, with a cup of water in the midst of it. Miraculously, the water had missed all the documents, a little positive in this mess. But there was no sign of the Commander

As the two ventured further into the office, Howe made her way to the other side of the desk. There she saw that the chair had not been pushed in, and was swiveled away from the desk. Looking at what’s on the desk, she saw many reports and documents, a cup of coffee, and the Commander’s phone — eliminating the possibility of calling him. She looked at the computer, which had a blinking light, meaning it was in ‘sleep mode’ — not having been shut down since the last time the Commander used it.

Wiggling the mouse to wake the computer up, and typing in the password; Howe saw that the Commander was still working on a report. But the last line had a string of g’s at the end of it before ending. Looking at the top of the report, the last recorded auto-save was at 1:15 AM.

“What happened here?” Howe semi-quietly asked.

“And more importantly,” Scylla added. “Where’s Master?”

“Maybe… he’s at his house…?” Howe tried to find an answer.

Slowly shaking her head, Scylla said, “I’m afraid he isn’t. The Head Maid was there earlier and reported that he wasn’t there…”

“T-Then… Maybe he went out to grab something to eat…?” Howe retorted, feeling her anxiety grow with each second.

“It would be a good suggestion, but then what about the office? Why leave it in such a state? Or notify any maids to clean it up?”

“I- Then—”

“Miss Howe, I would think it would be wise to call for some assistance,” she said; planting a hand on her shoulder to help calm her down, and seating her in the Commander’s chair.

“Mein Gott (My God)!” a voice cried out from the doorway. Looking up, they saw Thüringen, along with Jintsuu and Volga with her, standing with shocked faces through the door. “What happened?!”

“That’s… what we want to know, as well…” Howe said.

Chapter Text

June 17th, 2027, 11:00 AM, Base, Commander’s Office

“Hmm…” Essex sounded out, inspecting the desk.

After Thüringen, Jintsuu, and Volga were filled in about the situation, Howe tasked them to search around the base and town to find the Commander. They were to do it discreetly; lest they might set off a chain of events leading to anarchy on the base. Even with Volga’s “Big Sister Intuition”, she was still unable to locate where the man was — as if another presence was overpowering her sense.

Once they left to do their task, Howe logged into the base’s hydrophone system, something Armstrong installed incase of an invasion. They surround the base 25 nautical miles away, recording any incoming and/or outgoing sea movement. Other than a few signals indicating a few ships passing by, there were no signs of anyone coming close to or leaving the dock. Meaning, the Commander is most likely somewhere on base.

Next, she contacted the two most “qualified” people to handle an investigation. Those two being Essex and Enterprise, and despite Essex’s pleas, they didn’t not change into their detective clothes. Although, Howe did allow them to dawn their deerstalkers, but only after they arrived.

Not wanting people to stumble into this, Howe asked Scylla to call some maids, and act like they were renovating the floor — thus a reason to block it off. The maid called on her sisters, Hermione and Charybdis to be a part of this. She also contacted Bellona and Black Prince to help block off the entrances to the floor. Scylla was also thinking about calling Dido and Sirius, but she didn’t want to have another panicking person in here. Additionally, if she was to just call upon Sirius, then Dido would start to become suspicious — so she thought it best to leave them out.

“Find anything interesting?” Howe asked. In her arms was Charles, who she picked up from her room to help calm her nerves.

“Well…” Enterprise began. “I was able to find a few fingerprints on the doorknob, but there are quite a few of them, and many overlap. I couldn’t get an isolated one so we can cross-reference with the fingerprint database.”

Directing her attention towards Scylla, Enterprise asked, “Scylla, do you know when the last time the Commander’s office was cleaned?”

“Oh, yes,” she nodded. “We have a digital logbook to keep track of this. And the office was cleaned at 12:25 PM, yesterday. Cleaning was done by Dido and Sirius.”

“I can verify that is correct,” Howe interjected. “The Commander and I left the office at around that time, and we saw those two walk into the office with cleaning equipment in hand.”

“Meaning that those fingerprints are the most recent one’s” Essex concluded.

“Thank you,” the Ghost said. “We’ll have these prints analyzed as soon as we’re done here.”

“Alrighty, my turn!” Essex joyfully said, despite the situation. “There were a few strands of hair on the carpet. But given that they were essentially black and short, they most likely came from the Commander. We’ll still have it analyzed, just in case. Other than that, there’s nothing else that could help identify a culprit or where he went.”

“But we did still come up with a pretty good timeline of what could have happened.”

“Firstly, the computer. Given that the string of g’s and the last save time. That probably means that the Commander most likely fell unconscious a little earlier than that, before being taken away.”

“Next the cup of water. Given that there’s no water on top of the desk means that the Commander didn’t have the cup in his hand and close to his face before falling unconscious. This could mean that he could have tried to throw the contents of the cup at a potential assailant.”

“But there are a few hiccups with that line of reasoning. Firstly, the Commander has no qualms with anyone here, or vice versa. The potential of one of the yanderes is quite high if they kidnapped the Commander, but they haven’t been known to be active this late into the night. Additionally, the spray of water doesn’t indicate a person throwing the water at someone. Rather, it more matches that of a spill.”

“Meaning that there was most likely no forceful abduction of the Commander, and he knocked over the cup when he fell unconscious.”

“This is further supported by the chair.”

“I could only find one set of prints on the chair, and they most likely came from the Commander — given he’s really the only one that goes around that side of the desk.”

“Plus, notice how the chair isn’t knocked over, or a distance away from the desk. If his safety was at risk, then he wouldn’t have moved the chair with such gentleness. It seems like our suspect simply turned the chair by grabbing a hold of the Commander, before carrying him out of the room.”

“While we would have loved to check the camera system, Armstrong had them removed a while back. Something about hating the feeling of being watched without your consent, or something?” Enterprise shrugged out.

“So here’s what happened,” Essex said, pulling out a notepad. “The Commander was working late into the night, trying to complete as many reports and documents before you came into the office, Howe. While he was working, he felt fatigued, and in an attempt to remain awake, reached over to grab either the water or coffee to drink it. But his body gave in, and his head landed on the keyboard. His arms also hit the stack of papers on his desk, and knocked over the water cup; likely the one he was intending to grab. That was when our culprit made their move, coming into the office. Noticing that the Commander had fallen unconscious; they made their way around the desk, took the Commander with them, and made their escape from the scene — somehow leaving very little evidence.”

“And that’s… all we could come up with… We’re sorry, Howe…”

“That’s okay, guys…” she said, despite the twinge of pain in her heart. “At least he’s still somewhere here…”

She then received a notification from Jintsuu on Juustagram:

           Jintuu: I’m sorry, Howe, but we couldn’t find him anywhere.

           Волга: We even asked around, but no one saw him since yesterday.

           Thüringen: We’ll continue the search.

           Волга: Have faith, Comrade. We’ll find him.

Despite Volga’s encouraging words, Howe still felt her heart sink further into despair. She felt her head feeling dizzy, and she took a seat on the edge of the desk — placing her hands on her face.

Placing a hand on her shoulder, Essex said, “We will find him.”

Enterprise joined in, saying, “We’ll immediately head over to Vestal’s to have these fingerprints analyzed ASAP. You’ll be the first one we’ll notify if we found anything.”

She then made her way out of the office with the evidence sealed in a protective envelope. Essex soon followed, but gave a Howe tight hug first — something she desperately needed at this time.

Chapter Text

June 17th, 2027, 12:23 PM, Base, Commander’s Office

“Hmm… E-7,” Charybdis called out.

“Miss,” Black Prince announced, both placing a white peg on the space. “A-1.”

“Miss.”

As an hour passed since the investigation conducted by Enterprise and Essex, Howe remained in the office, with the rest of them deciding to remain as well. Both Bellona and Black Prince also decided to remain on guard, but have since rotated with Hermione and Scylla. So far, the only people that have arrived on the office floor were Suffren, Duca degli Abruzzi, and Hai Tien. Howe saw them as trustworthy to help in the search, and filled them in on what had been happening — all three leaving to see what they could do.

To get some productivity done, Howe decided to begin finishing the rest of the paperwork that needed to be completed. Along with those in the office, they had managed to compile everything, and drafted reports that only needed the Commander to sign and send them off.

With nothing better to do, they started to play various board or card games, or idly scroll on their phones. But not Howe; she couldn’t stand still — her anxiety wouldn’t allow it even with Charles with her. Instead, she’s been pacing around in a circle for the past ten minutes, figuratively biting her fingernails — awaiting any news from Enterprise and Essex or Thüringen and the others. She clutched the necklace she wore tightly, as if it would somehow make John appear.

“Howe, not to sound rude, but pacing won’t make the situation any better,” Bellona called out while looking through her phone. “Why not relax like everyone else?”

“I’m sorry, but I can’t right now,” she said, a tinge of desperation in her voice. “I’m just too worried that if we don’t find him in time, he’ll be gone.”

“And that’s a reasonable concern, but we can’t do anything right now. Everyone that knows about the situation is working the quickest and hardest they could possibly be. So we just need to wait for them.”

Slowing her pace until she came to a halt, she slowly nodded, saying, “Yeah… Yeah…”

“Come on, let’s have a seat,” Bellona said, gently pulling her along to the couch. There, she coaxed her to have a seat on it — Howe’s anxieties starting to slowly fade away, along with many other senses.

“Wait… Isn’t this… the ‘Shinano… Couch’…?” were the last things Howe said before peacefully falling asleep.

After a few seconds to make sure she was truly asleep; Bellona, Black Prince, and Charybdis carefully rearranged Howe so that she was laying down on the couch. A moment later, Charles jumped onto the couch and rested on Howe’s abdomen. The others provided her with a comfortable pillow as they returned back to their original positions.

“Wow, I can’t believe that actually worked,” Black Prince commented.

Scratching her chin, Charybdis said, “It’s something she needed. Hopefully, she will rise in a better state than when she had fallen. Also, C-10.”

“Hit. Destroyer. Hmm… A-3.”

“Hit. You sunk my Destroyer.”

“Hey, do you guys want lunch?” Bellona called out to her sisters.

“Now that you mention it, I’m a little peckish,” Charybdis noticed. “What do you have in mind?”

“Hmm… What about steamed buns? Ping and Ning Hai’s stall should still be somewhere nearby.”

“I’d like some. Haven’t had any in a while. Make sure to get some for Scylla, Hermione, and Howe.” Black Prince told her.

“Was planning on it.”

Chapter Text

June 17th, 2027, ??? PM, Mundus Somniorum

As her mind started to regain consciousness, Howe felt like she was floating. Slowly opening her eyes, she found herself to be laying in a hallway, filled with many doors. Looking down, she saw that the floors looked like stars — as if she was walking amongst the heavens.

Cautiously looking around, she slowly made her way down the halls, noticing that the various doors were different from one another. One had various images of carrots, an alcohol bottle, a comfortable bed, and a picture of four. This immediately made Howe think of Laffey. Another contained an eagle, a bed of blue roses, and a picture of three — making her think of Yorktown.

Looking down the hallway again, she saw something blue fluttering — sprinkling blue particles as it headed down the hall. With some amount of curiosity and caution she headed down the hall in search of the blue thing.

As she followed the trace of blue twinkles, she saw the entire place was hallways filled with doors. Each door contained its own iconography; each of a person on the base. And despite several attempts, she couldn’t open them. This went on and on, even as she turned left at a T-junction. She felt both unsure of what to do, and calm about the situation at the same time.

After making a right at an intersection, the hall was occupied by a lone door at the end of it. Making her way towards it, she somehow felt like the door was where she needed to be. Yet she didn’t see whatever was making the blue track.

As she came closer, she noticed that the door was unlike the others. It was made of a dark oak on the left side with the panels many doors had, before morphing into a void-white, plain, flat surface — having a round, golden doorknob.

A few feet away now, she could discern more features of it. Where the oak and white met, a red crack was there; seemingly oozing out from the oak, and bleeding out textures — before fading into nothing. Next was a torn polaroid photo containing three figures, with the edges of another of where the photo had been torn — the same red cracks from the door lining the edges. The pictures were very blurry to her, but she could make out the faces of John and Samantha amongst the figures. The person next to Samantha was an older man compared to John in the photo, so she assumed it to be their father. Of the person next to John, she couldn’t guess who that may be.

Another thing that caught her eye was another blurry photo; this one containing only two people. The two were seated at the top of an incline, with a tree being the only thing else with them — with the figure on the left lying their head on the other’s shoulder.

“That’s like our first date…” Howe uttered.

Looking at the third and last blurry photo on the wall, it contained the same two figures from the previous one in a kitchen. They were close, with one standing behind the other in a embrace while the other had a bowl in hand.

“Our second…”

With nothing else to look at, Howe moved her hand to open the door, and twisted the knob to find the door open for her. Slowly pushing the door, she poked her head through to see a similar situation to the door. A room that was half furnished, half a void of white. Over on her right was what looked like a living room set up, with the TV on — only making out the words, “fish” coming from a woman’s voice in a stern tone.

But caution went out the window as she saw who sat where the red divide resided.

“John…? Is that you…?” Howe asked, moving past the door frame. Turning his head, John gave a soft smile.

“Hello, Howe. ” he said — the words scrawled on the floor.

At a slightly faster walking speed, Howe made the distance between them and hugged him from behind.

“You’re really here, John? I’m not dreaming?”

“Well… That’s a little hard to explain. Technically, you are dreaming, but you’re also in my head. ”

“Wait, what?” she questioned, tilting her head.

“Don’t worry about it. Just know that you are talking with the real me. ”

“Where are you right now?!”

“Some place where I needed a little more R&R, apparently. It’s really serene here. ” he responded, staring off into the distance. “I’m in no harm, if you’re wondering. ”

“John… We need to find you soon so High Command doesn’t take you away. I don’t want to see you go…” Howe said, tears welling in her eyes — resting her chin on his shoulder.

Reaching a hand around to caress her face, he softly smiled at her — saying, “And I don’t want to leave your side this early. But you’re going to have to come get me, it's really hard for me to wake up. ”

Wiping away the tears, she asked, “How come? I thought this was your head.”

“It is. ” he affirmed. “But it’s too peaceful where my body is, and it doesn’t want to wake up. ”

“But I don’t even know where you are.”

“Think about where you are, and where we are. ”

As her vision began to be encompassed by the white void, the answer she was looking for popped into her head.

Chapter Text

June 17th, 2027, 2:07 PM, Base, Commander’s Office

“Uh… Kangaroo!” Bellona shouted. Over by the other side of the room, Charybdis shook her head, jumping around on all fours.

“Frog!” Hermione next said, receiving the same answer. Charybdis then started to gnaw the air.

“Um… Flea!” Scylla answered. This time, the teleporting maid nodded her head, but also motioned her hand as if saying, “Keep going”.

“Pests!” Black Prince pounced on the information.

“Correct!” Charybdis cheered.

Walking over to the coffee table, Black Prince reached into a bag full of steamed buns. They had already eaten their lunch, and set aside a few for Howe; so now the sisters were competing over the remaining.

“Since you won, BP, how about you act out?” the purple-haired sister suggested.

“Sure,” she said, taking a bite out of her prize. 

Meanwhile, with Enterprise, Essex, and Vestal…

“How are we looking, Vestal?” Enterprise asked her.

“Well, I’ve managed to pinpoint down three prints so far,” she said, swiveling around in her chair — showing her monitor to her. “The first one here is from the Commander, this second one is from Howe, and this last one here is from Taihou. I’m searching for this fourth and last one, right now.”

“Taihou, huh?” Essex joined in. “Now that is a primary suspect!”

“Indeed, but we need to keep going,” the Yorktown class carrier advised. “Can you text Zuikaku about if she knew where Taihou was?”

“Of course!” she accepted; pulling out her phone, and texting the Lucky Crane.

           EssexG1: Zui, you there? We need to know something?

           Zuikaku: Here! Whatcha need?

           EssexG1: Do you know where Taihou was last night?

           Zuikaku: Taihou was with us, drinking… A lot. Passed out on our floor and has a hard hangover now.

           EssexG1: Okay, thanks!

           Zuikaku: Wait, why do you need to know her location?

“Drats! It’s not her,” Essex exclaimed, putting her phone away. “And I really thought it was going to be her…”

“Hmm… Interesting…” Vestal suddenly said, scratching her chin.

“What is it?” Enterprise asked, with her and Essex looking over the doctor’s chair.

“This last one looks like it’s from Shinano…”

“Shinano?”

“Wait, It’s all making sense now!” Essex said, piecing it all together. “If the kidnapping happened at night, then we should have thought about our ‘Night-walkers’!”

“You’re right! But wait, why would she take the Commander?” Vestal questioned, not seeing the motive.

“Think about it. The Commander hasn’t slept in the past two days.”

“Oh! I get it! Quickly, call Howe!” Enterprise ordered her.

“Righto!”

Back at the Commander’s office…

“Bird!” Hermione answered, with Black Prince nodding her head. She then positioned her arms, and moved one of them in a clockwise position.

“Clock!” Bellona next answered, receiving another nod.

“Cuckoo clock!” both she and Hermione said at the same time.

“Correct!”

A mixture of cheers and cries filled the room. As the two winners went to claim their prize, they all heard the sound of something ringing. Looking everywhere, they noticed it came from Howe. Being closer to her, Black Prince carefully reached into Howe’s coat, and pulled out her cell phone.

“Howe’s cell, this is Black Prince on the line. You’re on speaker.”

“Oh hey, BP!” Essex excitedly greeted her. “Is Howe with you?”

“She’s currently sleeping, so—” she said before Howe abruptly rose from her slumber; startling the sisters. “Nevermind, she’s awake.”

“Good! Howe, I have—”

“I know where he is!” Howe cut off Essex.

“You what?” both Black Prince and Essex over the line bewilderedly asked. But Howe quickly jumped over the couch, and rushed out the door — leaving everyone stunned.

“I’ll- uh… I’ll go follow her…” Black Prince offered.

“Aw man… I wanted to share some kind of clue with her. But I guess she’s already found our culprit…” Essex disappointingly said.

Chapter Text

June 17th, 2027, 2:41 PM, Base, Sakura Empire Temple

Rushing down a forested path, Howe made her ascent up the steps — Black Prince following closely behind her.

The Sakura Empire Temple is located on a forked path leading to the residential area, heavily forested compared to the surrounding locations. While the temple is primarily used during special events; the rest of the days, it’s occupied by two to three people — depending on if the third person decides to arrive. And one of those people was waiting for Howe at the top of those steps.

As Howe crested the top, she saw the warm smile of Musashi greet her.

“We’ve been expecting you, Howe-san,” the midnight-kitsune bowed to her.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you again, Musashi,” Howe bowed back.

“And welcome, Black Prince-san.”

“Good afternoon, Musashi,” the pink-haired woman gave her gratitude, bowing like the others.

“Musashi, is the Commander here?” Howe moved to her reason being here.

“Of course, if you will follow me,” Musashi told them. With a nod, she escorted the two into the temple. As they walked, Howe felt the thing that John was saying, of how it felt really peaceful. She felt herself calming down once again; her anxiety slowly fading away.

“It was a surprise to me that my sister would do something so bold,” Musashi expressed her feelings about the situation. “I don’t know what goes on in her head, but she always knows what will be the best for others… Here we are.”

Sliding the door open, Howe saw John. He was sitting like he was in her dream, but this time he was seated out on the balcony. Rushing over, Howe had to stop herself from tackling him to the ground; before hugging him like she did before.

“John! John, I’ve missed you!” she cried out.

“Zzz…” was his only response.

Confused, Howe moved to see his face, only to be met with his slumbering face.

“That boy is a heavy sleeper,” Musashi commented, walking to them with Black Prince following behind. “Doesn’t help that she’s also here.”

Looking to the right of the balcony, Howe saw that Shinano was also sleeping nearby, facing John. The moonlight-kitsune then slowly opened her eyes, before stretching slightly.

“Ohayō… Gozaimasu… ( Good… Morning… )” Shinano sleepy said.

“Shinano, it’s a quarter till three in the afternoon,” Black Prince corrected her.

“Is it… now…?”

“Shinano,” Howe called to get her attention. “Why did you take the Commander?”

“This one… has seen for a while… that he hasn’t… taken care… of himself…” she replied. “So this one… made sure… he will get some rest…”

“Could you have told him to rest instead of kidnapping him?” Black Prince retorted.

“He would have… not listened…”

“I appreciate your efforts, Shinano. But tell others about his whereabouts, yeah?” Howe asked her to do.

“Did you… not see… the letter… this one left…?” the sleepy fox questioned.

“There was a letter? We didn’t see a letter.”

“This one… left it… on the desk…”

This made Howe ponder; she, Scylla, Essex, and Enterprise thoroughly searched the desk, and all the compartments and found no such letter. But that’s not what Musashi was focused on.

“Sister, you have a Juustagram account. Just DM Howe,” the thunderous fox scolded her, facepalming.

“Wakatta… ( Okay… )”

“So… I guess we should take him…?” Black Prince unsurely suggested.

With a nod, Howe, with the help of Musashi and Black Prince, placed John on her back. His gentle breathing as they made their way out of the room reminded Howe of the first time something like this happened; over three months ago.

Before leaving the temple doors, Musashi halted them.

“Once again, I’m sorry for all the trouble my sister has given you today,” the motherly fox apologized.

“I’m just glad it was her and not someone dangerous,” Howe smiled back.

“Mmm… There is one thing I need to tell you. Shikikan-sama, during his time here, did wake up once.”

“He did?”

“Indeed. And he sought a match with me…” She then pulled out some sort of weapons case from behind the open door. “This is the blade I gave him to spar with.”

With her hands full, Howe asked Black Prince to take the case and open it. When she did, they saw a bokken (a Japanese wooden sword) that had been broken in the middle of the blade.

“Did you do this?” Black Prince asked Musashi.

Shaking her head, she said, “I didn’t even swing at him.”

“He did this… By himself?” Howe concluded, staring at John then back at the sword in disbelief.

Chapter Text

June 17th, 2027, 12:25 PM, Mundus Somniorum

“I need help… ” John admitted, sitting on the couch as he and Shinano watched an old memory. He had made Shinano turn into a fox once again, and was petting her head as tears welled in his eyes.

Shinano, still semi-uncomfortable with her position, leapt out of his grasp and was transformed back to her normal self.

“How can… this one… help you…” Shinano asked, seating herself next to him.

“I don’t know… ” he said, laying his head on her shoulder. “ I need to release this pent up anger… or something… ”

Caressing his head, Shinano silently thought to herself on what would be the best action for this. But she wasn’t the professional in this kind of thing; however, she knew of one person who was.

“This one… has something in mind…” Shinano said, propping the man off of her. “It will… take a little time… but this one… has a plan…”

She then headed towards the exit, leaving the man alone in his mind.

Walking down the halls, she followed a mental map of the place to reassure herself she knew where to find her destination. On her way there, she heard footsteps; a completely new anomaly in the realm of dreams. Halting her mission, she headed towards the sound, to find Howe wandering and looking aimlessly at her surroundings.

Interesting… , Shinano commented. Thinking quickly, she formed a blue butterfly and sent it down the hallway. She tasked the dreamy-insect to lead the arrival to the Commander.

As soon as Shinano started to see Howe follow it, she made her way back to her task — venturing further down the world of dreams.