Chapter Text
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Pacific Ocean
May 17, 1942 - 11:06 AM / 1106
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The skies on the day of May 17th are very bright and clear, bristled with small puffy clouds, and the seas are as smooth as a flutter. On the lead ship, standing on the bow facing out in the endless depths is a personification of a CV-6 Yorktown-class aircraft carrier, as a young woman wearing her black coat and a sailor cap on her white long hair, named Enterprise, who she hails from the Eagle Union.
The calmness of the sea gave her a sentiment of solace and relief but ultimately, she felt this is no time for any seagoing vacation. And so too were the combined forces of Eagle Union and the Royal Navy, who they are all heading into the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
They are part of an international naval alliance organization called Azur Lane, who was formed to combat the Sirens, a humanoid shipgirls of their own who they had been wreaking havoc on the world's oceans for decades. Their seagoing fleet is led by a former Air Force pilot Dave Charles Berenson, who he, alongside Hood and Prince of Wales of the Royal Navy, received word that the largest Sakura Empire force, helmed by Akagi and Kaga, are heading for a group of islands located just off Midway, which is right within Eagle Union territory.
Sakura Empire was one of the members of the Azur Lane, but now, everyone had their conflicted mood out at sea; most were ready to fight for their biggest naval threats, but some felt damned about the fact they were about to attack one of their own who were once their allies. For all of its greats, and for all they know, Azur Lane has been in a bitter conflict with one other part of their own alliance, who had broken off as Crimson Axis, a faction that seeks power and total control, and they often clash with their methods or their political or philosophical views, and Sakura Empire, along with Iron Blood, Sardegna Empire, and Iris Libre's breakaway state, Vichiya Dominion, are all the core members of the opposition faction, and numerous territories and shipping lanes, along with millions of innocent lives, since the conflict a few years ago, had been put under firing line.
And now, on that day, the time that they will have to fight and potentially sink down one of their own allies, had arrived. Under orders from Berenson, they all sailed off full force to stop them from reaching Midway at any cost.
Belfast, from the Royal Navy sees Enterprise staring out at sea. She is also as worried as everyone else, especially for Enterprise, who she had once remembered that Enterprise is not someone they would betray, and she is aware she would take them out at whatever cost. She walks up beside her on the flight deck and asked:
"Is there something bothering you?"
Enterprise replied: "It's... one battle over another, isn't it?"
She continues looking out at the oceans, attempting to mask her bitter cynical, yet conflicting expression of her face.
"I know..." Belfast understood and turns back and took a few steps, then she stops and spoke: "Do you really think you'd be able to get through with this?"
Enterprise sighed: "It is war... And that won't change...."
"If you don't have regrets, just do not act rash on your own accord," warned Belfast. "One day, you may never forgive yourself..."
She walks off leaving Enterprise on the deck alone.
On one of the escort ships, Javelin, also from the Royal Navy, is one of many who are anxious about the prospect of fighting what they were once allies. She's thinking especially about a certain shipgirl.
"You're thinking about Ayanami, right?" Laffey, along with Unicorn sees Javelin staring out with her shoulders pressing on the railing feeling slightly worried about her. For one, she intended to be part of Azur Lane to promote peace and foster friendship rather than squabbling in war. The three had first met Ayanami by accident while the latter is on an infiltration mission, and they wanted to make friends despite being on different factions, but for all the time, Ayanami had either become reluctant, or rejected their request of friendship.
"I know, but I won't give up on her," Javelin turns her head to Laffey and continued: "We may be at war, but there is no reason for the amount of suffering to go on like this!"
"I agree," said Laffey. Unicorn also joined in and said: "Me too,". The two put down their palms on Javelin's as a sign of assurance and Javelin can only smile.
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Sakura Empire Fleet - Pacific Ocean
May 17, 1942 - 11:12 AM / 1112
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Meanwhile Akagi, who also leads the Sakura Empire's main fleet in engaging the biggest combined fleet, appears to be determined to carry on with the mission, other fleet carriers like Shokaku and Zuikaku; who despite the latter was determined to defeat the Grey Ghost, are also slightly anxious... Especially knowing that Azur Lane simply won't let them off this easy.
"What is Akagi planning?" thought Zuikaku. "What did he have something on her sleeve?"
There are others in the Sakura Empire who are also as anxious as Azur Lane for similar reasons, but primarily its because they were expecting a lot of help from the Crimson Axis allies... Aviation battleships Ise and Hyuuga, however, are not afraid of the shortfalls and still continued to feel pumped up since they both have been retrofitted back in 1941 to launch dive bomber seaplanes, just days prior to the Pearl Harbor attack...
"So, with these bad boys, we'll be able to launch dive bombers and shoot cannons at the same time!" said Ise as she is feeling ready. "Even if we are outnumbered, we got the bombers ready up,"
But Hyuuga wasn't feeling pumped up as much as Ise's despite her retrofit, as she doesn't want to be overconfident. Hiryuu and Souryuu are also looking out intently at sea just like Akagi and Enterprise. On another ship, Japanese destroyer Ayanami still continued to feel a bit gloomy, partly about the prospect of the decisive battle and about Javelin and Laffey...
"Hey Ayanami, you feel a bit gloomy since you fought these two Azur Lane destroyers, are you okay?" asked Shigure, to which she replied: "N-no, I'm fine, that's all..."
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May 17, 1942 - 11:29 AM / 1129
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As the Eagle Union and Royal Navy fleets sail past Midway, feeling cautiously optimistic to see that Sakura Empire hadn't arrived yet and they had got there first. Although numerically and technologically superior, since the declaration of war between Crimson Axis and Azur Lane, they are still anxious about fighting one of their own, but eventually, they were able to reach to their own convictions about putting in line for their duty and they are aware that Sakura Empire would do the same.
But when they sail closer and closer to Sakura Empire's position, the skies around them suddenly went dark. The breeze suddenly eases into nothingness, and the crisp warm air started to turn blistering cold, despite both Helena and Berenson knowing there shouldn't be any winter activity in the Pacific Ocean, and they were old that there are no weather forecast for any extreme weather.
"What happened? What's going on with the weather?!" asked South Dakota, who also felt the breeze has suddenly ceased.
"Not sure... But it is getting cold as well," added Cleveland. "And it's getting dark too..."
The fleet continued sailing forward as the weather anomalies continue to pop up everywhere they see. Then they could see floating objects that didn't seem to belong to one of their own.
"There's more debris on the sea," said Montpelier. "Do you think what I think it is...?"
"And there's sunken wreckages all around..." added London. "Commander, do you know?" she then asked via her communicator but all she could hear from Berenson is a static... Behind the garbling sounds, Berenson can only say:
"L-London? Midway! .... Can you repeat? .... H-hello!? ...."
...before the communicators went dead silent....
Everyone tried to restore communications... all without success... But this was only the beginning.
"My radar's acting up wildly!" said Helena as attempts to diagnose the problem. As she does, suddenly Monarch shouts:
"Ships! 12 o'clock in front!"
Out in the distance, lies the Sakura Empire fleet. Alongside Kaga and Akagi, there are other shipgirls behind them; Atago, Takao, Maya, who are all aiming their guns at Azur Lane's Midway fleet, whislt Hiryu, Soryuu, Shigure, Ayanami, Shoukaku, Zuikaku all summoned their riggings in force. Enterprise realizes what was going on as she felt that something looked familiar with the debris they encountered:
"The wrecked ships, the debris... This is the Mirror Sea!"
Akagi giggled as she hijacks the communicator who somehow functions within the dimension. She spoke:
"That's right... And I lured you all into it.... Surprise!"
Almost in an instant, dozens of portals appear around Azur Lane and Sakura Empire fleets, as gigantic Siren battleships, cruisers and aircraft carriers lined with neon and lasers pour out from the portals and began lining up behind Sakura Empire's attack fleet, much to the surprise of Zuikaku and Ayanami.
Everyone from the Eagle Union and Royal Navy readied their riggings in return. They were also taken aback by how many of the Siren ships they have on their arsenal, but Enterprise and everyone else in Azur Lane wouldn't give in.
"We may not have the Commander, but I'll take lead..." said Hood. "But you have to help me... Enterprise,"
Enterprise looked at Hood and nodded:
"Let nothing stand in our way!"
Queen Elizabeth raised their sword and just as Ise and Tako fired their first shots, she yelled: "Split formation, everyone!"
In quick response, they swerved themselves out of danger as the artillery lands on their position, causing an explosion that generates a shockwave and a tsunami but they all dealt no damage as they managed to evade in time. As enemy forces started to fire more shells and deploy aircraft, Enterprise, alongside South Dakota, Helena, Illustrious, Monarch, and Sirius engage against Sakura Empire, while Cleveland, Montpelier, focus on destroying the mass-produced Siren naval vessels first, with Laffey, Javelin, Unicorn, San Diego, and Eldrige providing support. They all dodged the gunfire and torpedoes, whilst San Diego and Unicorn keep the Siren and Sakura Empire fighters and bombers away.
Hood, on the farther side away from Cleveland's side, aims her guns and fires volleys of high-explosive armor piercing shells that roars high above and slams on the Siren Mark III battleship behind them, causing it to sink in an instant.
"Such accuracy..." gasped Takao. "But not accurate enough for this!" She charged forward, katana raised and fires her guns at Hood, but missed. Belfast exchanged fire and fired their torpedoes as well. Under Hood and Queen Elizabeth's orders, Suffolk and Norfolk also fired their own shells and torpedoes, striking at Ise, Hyuuga and Kaga.
Illustrious and Enterprise launches numerous fighters and bombers to provide support, and they all managed to deal significant damage to Sakura Empire; the bombs temporarily disabled Ise's cannons and aircraft deployment systems and torpedo bombs hit Kaga, which she became infuriated. Enterprise fires an arrow, aiming at Takao, but Takao, with pinpoint accuracy, raises her katana in great force, slicing her arrow cleanly in two before passing her by inches, exploding behind her.
"Tch..." Takao can only say before she runs off, evading more gunfire and torpedoes from both Eagle Union and Royal Navy destroyers.
High above the cold, reddish skies in the Mirror Dimension, the aerial attacks are equally intense. Fighter aircraft from Enterprise and Kaga pit against each other as one struggles to gain their hold and try to drop bombs on either one.
"K-Kaga! L-let me help you, she's far stronger than you!" said Zuikaku, who wanted to offer her assistance, but Kaga shouted:
"No! Stay out of this! She got me once! THIS IS MY FIGHT!"
She then proceeded to fire up more of her fighters in an effort to pin down Enterprise's aircraft, leaving Zuikaku, alongside Shoukaku to engage at the combined Azur Lane fleet themselves, deploying bombers in an attempt to take out Queen Elizabeth and Hood, and then to the rest of the Royal Navy's forces, who, find themselves engaging at the Sirens and Sakura Empire, while Eagle Union also focus their efforts to hold them off from their positions.
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May 17, 1942 - 11:42 AM / 1142
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The fight went on for 10 straight minutes, and while the Azur Lane fleet were able to take down much of the Siren fleet supporting Sakura Empire, they are having difficulty in trying to take out the Sakura Empire shipgirls themselves. Laffey and Javelin also came head-to-head reluctantly against Ayanami, while Kaga, with Akagi's support, also tried to take out the Grey Ghost, and soon, Enterprise finds herself on a losing end, resorting to firing her special arrows as her anti-aircraft defense, which left her distracted as Zuikaku grabs the opportunity, and fires up her dive bomber to try and land it on Enterprise. By this point, she is slowly becoming exhausted.
Luckily, San Diego, Eldrige, Helena, and South Dakota managed to stop Zuikaku's aircraft from reaching to her hull, and they respond in kind by firing shells at Zuikaku, dealing significant damage to her rigging, as well as Akagi and Kaga's. Eventually, Sakura Empire's forces are now losing their foothold and are being slowly overwhelmed as the Siren's naval vessels continue to sink at an alarming rate, faster than what Akagi can summon.
Enterprise, seeing her opportunity, aims her arrow at Akagi, and in a well-aimed shot, the arrow lands on her hand, causing her to scream in pain and causing the whole dimensions around them to break. The skies started tearing itself apart with ripples of cracks began forming around them. Eventually, the skies shatter and it now became brighter once more. Everyone checked their surroundings to find out the Siren ships, and all the wreckages floating on the ocean, have all vanished in thin air, and realized the Mirror Dimension had been broken.
Zuikaku, Kaga, Ayanami, and Hiryuu are shocked to see Akagi tumbling down on her knees, as her aircraft carrier riggings started to wear down and crack and her hand where the arrow hit had nearly been mangled and started seeping out blood. She is fuming in anger as the whole of Azur Lane started surrounding them.
"You... You think this is over do you...." she grumbled to Enterprise as she looks at her. Enterprise replied: "No..."
Enraged, Akagi tried to summon her aircraft but Enterprise kicked her down and pushed her fists down to her face, knocking her down into the water. As she gets up, Enterprise aimed her bow and arrow, right at her face, stopping her by the tracks. Zuikaku and Ayanami saw what happened, and shielded themselves between Enterprise and Akagi, while Kaga and Shigure looked on. Enterprise grew angry by how persistent they are, and her arrow started to glow yellow as she charges up her weapon more in anger, as well as her eyes. Having once been afflicted with rage and madness, she wanted to kill them.
But before she could release her string to fire the charged shot, Belfast suddenly steps in and held her palm on Enterprise's hand where she was holding on her string and Enterprise suddenly became flustered. Her vision started blurring out and her mind pulsated in conflict, and she became speechless upon seeing her armored gloves touching by her hand, who she recognizes to be Belfast.
She slowly turned her head to Belfast who quietly said:
"No.... Please...."
Enterprise looked at both Belfast, and to Zuikaku and Ayanami, and realizes something is wrong. Recalling her flashes in her mind, and about the purpose of Azur Lane, and now seeing her weapon pointing at Akagi's head, she mumbled:
"I... I nearly lost control of myself..."
"You don't have to do this, remember?" said Belfast, continuing to urge Enterprise to lower her weapon. She eventually relents and lowers her bow, and the arrow dissipates. As she held out a long sigh, her communicator suddenly crackles, and came a voice:
"Hello! Midway Strikeforce! This is Commander Berenson! Your signal's popped back into our radar! What happened!?"
At the same time, they feel the winds suddenly picking up and they also hear huge rumbling sounds of thunder roaring. As the skies quickly grew darker, Enterprise calls up to the communicator and replied:
"We... we managed to stop Sakura Empire's attack force from advancing Midway...". Just then, Saratoga, who is in the command center as Berenson, quickly said:
"We've detected a huge storm right near your position!"
"What!?" both Enterprise and Belfast exclaimed, and Akagi and Zuikaku was confused about their reaction.
"What's going on?" asked Zuikaku. Saratoga spoke on the communicator rather frantically: "There's a big storm on your way! I-it popped out of nowhere, it was so sudden!"
Then the comms went out once more... Nothing but a static no matter how many times they tried to reconnect... It was then the thunder and lightning became louder and louder, and the waves started to grow bigger and bigger. Helena's radar had became hawywire not a minute went by after they had escaped from the Mirror Sea, and she is shocked to see by a far distance.
"Everyone... Look! The storm system, it's getting bigger real quick!" cried Helena. "And the skies are getting darker too!"
Everyone saw the thunder and lightning brewing by the storm and the waves are slowly becoming more rougher as the system was roaring straight towards them.
"We need to get out of here now!" yelled Zuikaku.
Everyone attempted to evacuate themselves out of danger, but the storm quickly grew intense with each passing second and now, not only did the torrential downpour started pelting down, but a thick cloud of mist starts rolling in right towards them.
"A rain and a fog!!? How the hell is this possible!?" grunted Akagi. Kaga and Zuikaku continued to drag her on her feet as the latter said: "No time for this! We have to get out of here!"
Both Azur Lane and the Sakura Empire, despite suffering injuries on both sides, started pulling themselves out from the battlefield, but it is all too late. The stormy skies, the waves, and the mist all enveloped around them, and the atmosphere suddenly take a violent turn. Lightings slam and crack all around the shipgirls, and the huge, gigantic waves started to toss and turn like ragdolls. Eventually, they all sank by the depths, as the seas started pulling them down. Among them is Enterprise, who finds herself whirling down in the endless depths, as she finds herself pulled down by the vortex, generated by bright, glowing fissures underneath her. Soon, after being thrown around, and Enterprise's lungs starting to take on water as if she is drowning, she slams through the fissures. Other shipgirls also follow behind her; Akagi, Shoukaku, and Ayanami were all separated from Zuikaku and they all fell into the depths, as well as Belfast, Javelin, Ayanami, Cleveland, and numerous others.
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...
As Enterprise continues to drip in and out of consciousness as she is felt being thrown around like she is still underwater, she continued to fall through the depths of the portal realm at never-ending velocity, until suddenly...
In a blink of her eye, it all turned black. Everything around her was black... Even her feeling that she is still underwater, it is now gone, and in its place, lies only air that she can breathe, albeit it is freezing, only a few degrees above zero. But the problems didn't end there however, for that her aircraft carrier rigging, including her bow, is completely gone as well. No matter how hard or how many times she attempted to summon, it just won't work.
"My Wisdom Cube... It didn't work?" she shivered.
She couldn't believe what she is seeing and experiencing at the same time. Checking on herself, she could see blood on her hands. Tapping by her face, she realize she is bleeding from her forehead right above her eye. Wanting to know where the other survivors are as she had hoped, she struggled to speak due to her injuries, until she gave out a burst of energy to shout:
"H-hello!? Is.. is anyone th-there!?"
...
There was no answer. Despite able to see herself that she was wounded with blood starting to drip from her head, mouth, and legs, all she could see is darkness and she could feel herself shivering... She frantically began to explore around the empty realm, hoping to find any survivors or any signs of life or a way out.
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??? - ???
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A few, dreading minutes of utter silence and emptiness went by. Enterprise didn't know what to do. She continues wandering around, still yelling out in her raspy voice as she tries to call out for the survivors to no avail, even her communicator doesn't work no matter how much she tried or prodded to try and get it to work with no success.
But then... as she makes another step, a large crack suddenly appeared right around her foot, then it immediately shattered, leading Enterprise to experience yet another fall, this time she is now travelling upwards, and then soon after, she hits what is appeared to be some sort of a sea covered with bright flames, with her alternate form of herself seen in the reflection, and as she slams right into the fiery water, she blacks out...
No sound, no nothing... She lost consciousness...
...
..
.