On the Dawn's Horizon

Chapter 1: The Abyss

December 17th, 2016

A few miles off the coast of Pearl Harbor

My father always taught me that no matter how comfortable things got or how well life was going, something would always strive to screw you over. It's with that in mind that I joined the US Navy, one of the safest branches of the military right next to the Air Force.

It ended up being the worst mistake of my life.

"Jones!"

I was jerked awake by my small bunk being kicked. Butrica had come to wake me up. I felt my world rock and remembered that I was on a ship.

"Come on Jones, your brother is getting cranky! Generator checks need to be done."

I let out a yawn, "The ship isn't my brother," I grumbled, dragging myself out of bed and gathering the splayed out uniform I had left on the floor. "Lemme get a shower, then we'll start our shift."

"You know if the LT catches you throwing your uniform on the ground like that he's gonna kill you."

I scoffed, "Eat my ass."

"I'm just trying to help you out Jones." He laughed and threw up his arms, "That way if you get some paperwork thrown at you, you can't blame me."

"Always looking out for yourself, huh?" I dug a fesh pair of socks out from the small drawer under my bunk and started to get dressed. I hadn't had a chance to shower last night, but skipping one day wouldn't kill anyone. I put on some deoderant and called it good. After getting my engineering uniform on I pulled out my cover and put it on my head.

It was time to go be an engineering slave. The ship could only run itself as long as we made sure everything was in working order, and as a Petty Officer Second Class I got to do the bitchwork while the engineering LT sat in a cozy part of the ship staring at computer screens.

Story of my life.

The generators were in the bowels of the ship. It was my job to do maintanence and make sure they were running smoothy, lest we ended up dead in the water and without power. Modern naval doctrine didn't allow for the large warships of old, so we were stuck doing our duties in small cramped spaces with little to no personal room.

It wasn't too bad though. Routine. That's the word I'd use to describe it. Routine that was about to be shattered completely.

Present Day

Location Unknown

A man, small in stature but big in authority, sits across from me in the small interogation room. A Japanese Admiral. The slant in his eyes gives away his nationality. He can speak english, but with a heavy accent. "The John Paul Jones sunk that day," he says.

I look to my right. There's a woman in a Japanese Navy uniform slightly behind me. Tall, almost as tall as me, long black hair tied into a tight bun on her head. "Sir, if I may," she says softly.

The admiral nods and gestures to me, as if giving her the go ahead.

The woman comes out of parade rest and steps towards me. I shift in my seat as she leans down and looks deep into my eyes. "We've been working on something that I think you'll be interested in."

I notice she has no rank on her shoulder, and I raise an eyebrow, "Who are you, exactly?"

"I'm like the girl you brought here," she says.

This comes as a surprise, "There are more of you?"

"Not many. Before we get to that, however..." she stands straight once again, and looks the admiral dead in the eye, "We need to know what happened in Pearl Harbor on that day. What did you see?"

"Is this about the time I say I saw hell?"

The woman raises an eyebrow, "That wouldn't be a surprise."

"No, no you've been on the fringes of this whole thing, defending your territory. You haven't been to Ground Zero yet." I lean on the table and take a deep breath, "What I saw wasn't hell. It was worse.

"That day, the USS John Paul Jones designation DDG-53, was blown to pieces, and I am the only remaining survivor. I don't know if it was luck or... or fate, but what happened on that day..." I pause, then take another breath, "It's a miracle I'm still alive."

I took a long drag from my cigarette as the sun set over the horizon. No matter how many times I saw it, it was just as beautiful. Bright orange colors spread across a dimming blue sky, reflecting on the ocean's waters. I never got tired of that part. I leaned on the railing and closed my eyes, flicking my cigarette butt into the ocean. Another beautiful day, another dollar.

"Hey Jones, you see that?"

Butrica's voice startled me from my moment of peace. "What is it?" I asked, opening my eyes.

"Port side!" he shouted from behind me, "Get your ass over here and take a look!"

I rolled my eyes, probably another fucking whale or something. I would humor him, though. I turned and walked across the deck, standing by Butrica as he pointed out what he saw. There, on the edge of the horizon was a small black dot. "Think it's debris?" he asked.

"We're close to port, but we're still pretty far out. I dunno man, could be a fishing boat."

"This close to a military instillation? This time of year? Not likely, we should probably tell the Captain befo..."

POP POP

Two small flashes of light came from the black dot, and then a moment later two large splashes erupted not but fifty feet away from our ship.

Before I could even think of sounding the alarm it was already blaring across the ship. "All hands at the ready!"

I couldn't tell where the voice was coming from. I'd never been in a combat situation before. I was frozen stiff and didn't know what to do next.

I felt a hand grab the cuff of my uniform and drag me away from the railing. Probably Butrica. I could hear him yelling but I couldn't make out the words. I saw the five inch guns of the John Paul Jones turn, and I saw the missile bays on the opposite side of the deck open to the sky.

Finally, I could hear Butrica, "We have to get off the deck! Move your ass!"

I followed him into the bowels of the ship as explosions rained down outside. I couldn't tell which ones were trying to hit us from the ones we were firing. The deep rumbling through the walls of the destroyer was enough to tell me we were in danger. "Get to engineering!" shouted Butrica. "We already got people on guns!"

"What are you gonna do?"

"Try not to die!" he yelled with a laugh, running down the hallway in the opposite direction.

I decided that it would be a good time to report to the LT. I ran down the hallway past all the men I had been stuck on this ship with.

Knight, Bailey, Redd, Michaels, Mason...

I could go on, but we're more worried about what happened.

I was about to go into the engineering office, then everything just went black. I couldn't hear anything, and it felt like I was floating. For a moment I thought I was dead.

It felt like it was my time to go.

An attack out of nowhere, explosions all around me. Maybe a stray round pierced our ship and I got caught by it. Maybe it was a painless death.

Then, I felt the pain that wasn't supposed to be there. I could feel the need for air. It was a natural reaction to try and take a deep breath right? Get some air into my lungs.

Big mistake.

I felt the water rush into my lungs, and I couldn't cough it back up. It was one of the most painful experiences of my life. Drowning fucking hurts I can tell you that much. Despite the burn of the salt water and the pain I was going through I could make out some small things.

Red lights blazing on and off, bodies floating in front of me.

I blacked out. Don't know for how long, but it couldn't have been too long because I don't have brain damage or anything.

Maybe there was a big hole in the ship, or some kind of divine intervention, I don't know, but next thing I knew I was in the open ocean, and...

"And?"

I... I felt a hand grab my arm. I remember it feeling really soft and small. It pulled me to the surface. Damn near coughed up a lung trying to get air back into my system. I started to float as I got my bearings.

"Hold on as tight as you can!"

The voice was definitely female, and had a slight Japanese accent to it. I could still hear the explosions, and now I could hear jets blazing through the sky, dropping bombs, but whatever had destroyed the John Paul Jones was still relentlessly attacking us.

The sky was fire, and I swore I could hear screams, but through all of that...

"Please, we have to get out of here!"

Was her. Weirdest shit I had ever seen. I'd seen magicians play parlor tricks, I'd read the bible when Jesus walked on water. Those are just practical illusions and stories, though. This? This was the real deal. This girl, two feet shorter than me at least, was standing on the water above me. There was nothing abnormal about her other than that. She was wearing just a normal schoolgirl uniform. I'd been stationed in Japan a bit, so I knew the stereotype. Skirt was a bit shorter on this one, though.

Her hair was brown, short, and tied into a small ponytail. "What the fu..."

"Please just grab my leg and hold on!"

I did as I was told.

I didn't know if I was hallucinating or not, but we came to the shore ten minutes later on a small beach. I didn't know exactly where we were at, but I could still hear the sounds of battle in the distance. The sun had set and it was night time. I was starting to get cold. Really cold. By the time we got onto the beach I could feel my body numb. I couldn't even move, and I was surprised I was able to hold on as long as I did. Decided it would be a good time to lay down and take a nap, death be damned.

"No, nononono." I could hear the girl panicking. Small footsteps as she ran off. The snapping of branches and the shifting of sand as she piled them next to me. "No no no. This is bad," she muttered. "Calm down Fubuki. The Commander is in trouble. What do you do?" More foot steps, "Please, is anyone out there?!" More rustling, and I could here a large piece of wood land next to me.

Just before I passed out I could feel warmth on my face.

I woke up hours later when the sun came up. "C... Commander!"

I rubbed my eyes as I sat up. My entire body was sore. After that ordeal I guess it made sense. The first thing I saw was the fire with some fish cooking over it, and the girl standing above me, bowing down.

"What's going on?" I asked groggily. "What happened?"

My eyes widened when I recalled the sinking of our ship. "The John Paul Jones! What happened?" I stood quickly, grabbing the girl by the shoulders and making her stand straight. "Did you find anyone else?!"

She looked to the right, her eyes downcast, as if ashamed, "Y... you were the only one, Commander."

I took a deep breath. It was okay, maybe a few of them got out. Even if they didn't, I could grieve later. "Why do you keep calling me that?"

"Commander?" she asked, tilting her head. She smiled shyly and twiddled her thumbs. "Commander is the Commander. I felt you calling out."

"Calli... never mind that. How did you do that back there?"

"Do what?"

"Float on the water like that. Was that actually what happened, or was I hallucinating and you just pulled me ashore?"

"You weren't hallucinating," she said. "I'm DD Fubuki, name ship of the Fubuki class. I'll do my best and try to make you proud!"

Fubuki... Fubuki. The name rung a bell, but what had me worried was the classification she had used and the phrase nameship. "You're just a girl."

"Y... yes I suppose I am." She looked down at herself and twirled a bit, then blushed, as if she had been caught doing something she shouldn't have, "Sorry. Still getting used to it."

"Do you know where we are?"

"Kind of."

"We have to get to Pearl Harbor."

Her eyes widened, "Pearl Harbor?! But that's..."

I turned to her, "What?"

"But I guess it makes sense," she muttered, bringing a finger to her chin. "You are speaking English. Wait, how am I speaking English anyways?"

"Fubuki, focus!"

"Y... yes Commander!"

"We have to get back to base. Where exactly are we?"

She looked around herself, and then took a deep breath. "I think this might be Ewa beach. Don't ask how I know that."

"Okay, so that means we're..." I thought for a moment. "If we head due east following the shore line we can come out on the shore across from the base. Considering the chaos on the sea right now, though, and what just happened back there, it might be better to follow the road."

"Lead the way Commander!"

-Present Day-

"We eventually found our way to I-76. After walking for a few hours down the highway we hitched a ride with someone who was evacuating with their family. During the trip I tried to ask Fubuki where exactly she had come from, but not even she remembers. All she knew was that I needed help, and she had answered the call. Thinking back to all the crazy shit that happened that day, I guess it makes a bit of sense."

"One thing still bothers me," says the admiral.

"What is it?"

"That the destroyer Fubuki answered your call, your need for help, and not ours."

I lean back in the chair and cross my arms. "I got orders from the base commander to escort Fubuki out here on one of the few destroyers we have left. Right now we would be using her to defend our shores, but the fact of the matter is that whatever those... things are aren't attacking us anymore. After they took over the waters outside of Pearl Harbor their attacks stopped. Then they went on to land lock Japan. We only slipped through thanks to a mystery escort that you provided and I never got a glimpse of. Was that escort more of these girls?"

The admiral nodded.

"Then I say she answered your call just fine. She's here, isn't she?"

"And yet she refuses to be separated from you," says the admiral. "What is your purpose here?"

"Look, I'm just a black thumb. I get paid to keep shit running. I'm in way over my head here. If you have any generators or aircraft arresting systems that need some greasing up I'm your guy, but this naval combat stuff isn't my territory. I brought you Fubuki because you needed her and I was ordered to, that's all there is to it, Sir."

"Forgive him," says the woman, "Many people are suspicious that the Abyssals have come from Pearl Harbor. He's only looking out for his men."

I scoff, "My government's done some stupid shit in the past few years but I doubt they're stupid enough to create something like this. Whatever shot at us that day, it... it wasn't natural or man made. It wasn't anything we could stand up against in a thousand life times. I mean, everyone always worries about the world ending in nuclear fire, but this? This is next level."

The admiral takes a deep breath and finally allows himself to relax. "Very well," he says, "Welcome to Japan."

I lean my head to the right and give the woman a look, "So which one are you?"

The woman nods, "I'm the battleship Nagato."

"You're shitting me."

She smirks, "I do find American expressions amusing." She turns and begins to walk out of the room, parting with a few final words, "Get some rest, Fubuki will be relying on your guidance."

"Whatever that means," I mutter.

Yokusuka is a large base, and easy to get lost in. Luckily the admiral had seen fit to give me a map. As I walk out of the large building I had been in a US Navy Ensign is making his way inside. I give a crisp salute, and he returns at.

At least some things remain the same. A small comfort in the face of what's going on. This comfort is immediately shattered when I catch sight of Fubuki. "Commander? How'd it go?"

"About as well as you'd expect. There's probably a lot of national tension happening right now from the way the admiral was talking. Not much we can put up for our defense when Pearl Harbor is on lock-down, though. How was your debriefing."

She pouts, "I have to get up at four in the morning tomorrow."

I can't help but laugh, "Welcome back to the military, Fubuki. Wanna go see what kind of digs they gave us?"

She tilts her head. "Digs?"

"Quarters."

"Oh! Uh... yes!"

"So why me?" I ask as we start walking down the street, following the map.

"I don't know. The other girls asked me, but... I don't know. They came not long before me. Some a few days, some a week before the attack. No one knew what to do with us."

"Then Pearl Harbor got attacked," I mutter.

"Apparently we're the only ones that can fight them."

"Only Japanese vessels?"

She nods, "Mm, so far."

The conversation is interrupted by a deep growl. It sounded like it came from Fubuki. This is confirmed when her face goes a deep red. "Eh heh, sorry."

I laugh, "You must be starving. Food out at sea isn't very good. Let's drop by the food court and see what we can scrounge up."

"Oh... you don't have to."

"Least I could do after you saved my ass."

-Location Unknown-

It starts as a low hum. Bubbles rise to the surface.

A form takes shape, tall and pale, with red eyes.

She can still feel it.

Small vestiges of happiness, despite the chaos of the world around them.

It is time to break.

It is time to feed.

It is time to kill.