"Hiryuu! HIRYUU!" Soryuu sobbed, gasping for air as her eyes burned with the warm salt of tears. From the very first moment of her existence, the instant her cubes had resonated with her hull, she had felt a presence at her side, striding alongside her through hell and high water. That presence was suddenly gone. For the first time in her life she was truly and utterly without her stupid, loveable, brawler of a sister. Surrounded by burning oil and sinking ships, cries for help from survivors, and the impending battleships of the Union, honor ceased to matter. Nobility in death was well and good when meditating on morality over a cup of tea with Lady Kaga. It meant nothing as she watched half of her sister's ship sink beneath the waves, the second half soon to follow.

"On your knees and hands on your head, unless you want to end up like her," a stern voice ordered from her back. Soryuu turned to find a raven-haired bombshell walking towards her, her stockings and deep blue uniform singed and torn. Her rigging even featured a disabled main battery, but every other gun was pointed straight at her.

"Y-you?!" she spoke as the Union battleship continued to advance across her flight deck.

"Do what I say, unless you wish to die in service to the generals who just abandoned you," the battleship insisted. The carrier attempted to launch a couple of cards at her, but Pennsylvania already had her guns aimed and at the ready, firing the moment Soryuu moved her arms. She gasped in pain and fell to her deck as her ears rang and her head swam with stars.

"Why? How?" she wondered futilely as Pennsylvania loomed over her, rigging pointed at her head as she brushed the hair out of her eyes.

"The older sisters always seem to have some fight in them it seems. You have two options, rabbit. Surrender to Commander Andrew Thorson or suffer the death you so richly deserve," the battleship laid out the terms clearly.

"Just do it then," Soryuu whispered sadly, looking across the sea at the Tennessee. Only the tip of the Hiryuu's bow could be seen anymore.

"I suppose some of you really do believe in that honor above all horse shit," Pennsylvania scoffed. "You'd really leave your sister behind just for the sake of your own conscience?"

"Do not toy with me, Union warrior. You have won your victory, now end it so I may join my sister in the afterlife."

"The hell are you talking about?" Pennsylvania demanded, surveying the ocean around them where triage and rescue operations were in full swing. Thorson's injured were already aboard the Akashi, with those capable of continued sailing scouring the battlefield for usable cubes, surviving Sakura shipgirls, or the wisdom cubes that marked the graves of others fallen in combat. "Tennessee, status?"

"Toughest bitch I've ever fought. She should be dead but she isn't. Get that other one in chains and let's get back to Thorson."

"Understood," Pennsylvania acknowledged before turning to Soryuu. "Your sister is alive, but barely. Surrender your shard to us and I'll take you to her immediately. Fight and you will die."

"Hiryuu… you must be lying!" Soryuu snapped in desperation. "I can no longer sense her!"

"Because Tennessee slugged the ever-loving shit out of her you dumb fucking rabbit. I don't have time for this!" Pennsylvania suddenly roared, green eyes alight with fury. "You murdered my sister and friends! You think I'd be trying to keep you alive? What I am trying is to keep myself from ripping your throat out and shoving a barrel down your neck! Now choose before I disobey my commanding officer and end your miserable life!"

Soryuu could only blink in shock as her analytical mind did its best to overcome the perceived death of her sister and analyze the situation. Though the Union woman was her enemy, her logic was sound. Even if the Union planned to interrogate her and the story about Hiryuu was a lie, she could simply end her own life upon verifying her sister's demise. Accepting that surrender was the prudent course of action, Soryuu nodded and pushed herself into a kneeling position, hanging her head in shame. She grimaced as a sudden pain assaulted her, grasping at the back of her neck. Something burned there, something that should not have been. She tore at it before Pennsylvania could stop her, relief washing over her as power drained from her body along with something else. It was like a drunkenness had been magically dispelled from her mind, one she'd not even been aware of until that moment. She and Pennsylvania both watched as the pale red shard in her bloody hand cracked and fell to dust, blown away by the wind along with a good deal of her strength. "What in the name of the gods just happened?"

"You'll have plenty of time to think about it in captivity. Now come, Sakura," Pennsylvania ordered, hoisting her up onto her shaking feet and prodding her from behind. "Let it not be said the Union is full of liars. Commander Thorson will decide your fate."

"And my comrades? Does his mercy extend to them?" Soryuu wondered, knowing that as pieces went she was far more valuable than a pawn.

Pennsylvania answered shortly. "Those who managed to survive."

"Hmm, Laffey may have gone a little overboard. Excuse me please," the sleepy voice requested, blowing down the door to Hiei's bridge with her twin rigging pistols. It was not hard to find the shipgirl within the blackened room, her pale skin, ivory horns, and white clothing the only things in the space that weren't charred or burned. Laffey stood silently in the doorway, surveying her work with sleepy, sad eyes. "Laffey is sorry, but you hurt the Commander."

An awful, wheezing sound came faintly from Hiei's throat. Laffey's ears twitched as she moved to the fallen battleship's side. An expanse of raw, burned tissue covered the left side of her face and seemed to extend down her neck and along her body, marring her otherwise pristine beauty. Her port side had taken the full force of the attack. "Laffey is not a nurse, no no. Commander would be sad if she killed you now that you are no longer a threat. Miss Colorado?"

"I read you, Laffey. One of the prisoners is apparently her sister ship. What's the status of that charred tub?" the battleship wondered, impressed that even after the attack it was still afloat at all.

"Laffey needs your strength please, big and strong battleship. Laffey did not kill her, but if nothing is done Laffey is pretty sure she will die."

"By my main batteries, repeat that! You're saying she survived?!" the perpetually calm Colorado gasped.

"Please, Miss Colorado. Laffey does not have enough alcohol to disinfect all of the burned skin," the destroyer explained.

"Oh hell, I'm on my way," Colorado affirmed, leaping from her ship onto the water's surface. "Maryland, West Virginia, scout the area where the other battleship and that heavy cruiser went down. We have a survivor over here."

"Understood, sister."

If Commander Thorson had thought the chaos would end with the retreat of Akagi and Kaga, he was wrong. Aboard the Akashi, the controlled mayhem of triage and post-battle first aid reigned. The repair ship featured a large medical bay designed for shipgirls, and the beds were filling by the minute. Many of them were occupied by his own ships, those who needed to be tended to before they could join in the search and rescue missions that were ongoing. He sat between Yamashiro and Fusou, each of whom had suffered serious fire damage to their superstructures on account of their size, their position as flagships, and the fact that Akagi and Kaga had singled them out as traitors.

"Easy now, it's healing," he offered, moving Yamashiro's hand away from a jar of secret coolant. He replaced the washcloth he'd been using to soothe Fusou's burns in a tub of cold water and offered her the drink himself. "Both of you did exceptionally well. I'm very proud of you."

"Tono-sama," Yamashiro murmured sweetly, leaning over to sip through the straw. She sighed contentedly when she was finished, and he wiped the sweat from her body. Both she and Fusou had been stripped naked on Akashi's orders so that the full extent of the damage could be assessed, but no one seemed particularly off put or aroused by the circumstance. All that mattered was caring for his girls, and to his great relief the power of their cubes was restoring the angry, red patches of skin to their pristine, smooth, creamy state minute by minute. Another had not been so lucky.

"Commander Thorson!" Colorado shouted from the doorway as Laffey cleared a path for them. In the battleship's arms was a tall, horned woman with long black hair and burns the likes of which he'd only seen once before, during Pearl Harbor. "The woman Laffey attacked is alive, but she's in a bad, bad way."

"Place her here, nyaa! The sheets are sterile. Akashi will go find another IV bag. Bulins, Akashi wants a full evaluation upon her return!" the minty kitty ordered before scampering off on all fours. The white-haired mechanics snapped to attention and surrounded Colorado, offering aid and guiding her to the open bed. From the back of the room, one of the prisoners stood suddenly.

"Hiei?! Oh gods, what happened to-"

"Sit down Sakura, now," Tennessee growled, seated at the end of the room where Hiryuu lay unconscious and bandaged in bed, taking in coolant from an IV drip. "I don't care if you look like a Royal, no sudden moves."

Kongou, who had been disabled but not gravely wounded in the battle, could do nothing but watch as her sister was laid down nearby. Her clothes needed to be cut away, the burns were so bad. "Why… Why isn't she healing?"

"Go, tono-sama," Fusou urged. "We will recover."

With a curt nod, Thorson stood and walked over to inspect Laffey's grisly work. Both the destroyer and Colorado stood nearby, silent and looking almost guilty. He spoke with them first. "You're both well?"

"Yes sir."

"Laffey is just fine, yes yes."

"Good," he rubbed her between the ears and saluted Colorado. "If that burned out wreck is still seaworthy, move the human survivors to it and we'll give it a tow to Midway. We don't have the manpower to keep human prisoners on our ships."

"Yes sir, it will be done," Colorado saluted in return, straightening her high collar and leading Laffey from the medical bay. Thorson was left to review Hiei's condition, her bed surrounded by frantically working bulins who were covering her burned skin with sterile gauze and hooking her up with fluids in her relatively unscathed right arm. Maimed men were bad enough, a sight and smell to turn the stomach. Seeing a once proud Sakura battleship in such a condition made his heart tighten with guilt.

"Why isn't she…" Kongou gasped quietly. Thorson turned to face her. He'd never seen a Sakura with such a light complexion as her.

"How is your arm and neck?" he demanded, taking note of the sling and bandages. Kongou glared at him but replied courteously.

"Fine, enemy commander."

"Not shikikan? What is your name."

"Kongou, lead battleship of the Kongou class and proud warrior of the Sakura."

"Spare me," Tennessee demanded, her guns still trained on the other blonde battleship.

"Thank you Tennessee, but let's not antagonize her further. I don't think I need to tell you what you'd do if California looked like that," Thorson guessed. Tennessee accepted the point and tipped her cap. Her sister had needed a couple bandages and a drink before heading back out to participate in the rescue mission. That alone was reason to celebrate. "Kongou, I cannot say for sure but I will give you my best guess. Your sister's cubes have expired… or they have been damaged in some way I don't understand. Frankly I'm amazed her body is still holding on. We will do everything we can to help her."

"Why should I trust you?" Kongou asked helplessly, watching as her sister's entire left side was slowly covered in gauze. All she could do was give thanks that Hiei's eyes, hair, and the majority of her face and body appeared undamaged.

"Other than the fact that you have no other option?" Thorson pointed out. "Because I want as many of you Sakura in my fleet as I can get. Your Siren masters need to be put in their place. Many of your comrades seem to agree."

"Kongou, you can believe him," Fusou added quietly from her bed, coughing quietly.

"You will forgive me if I do not take the words of a traitor so easily, shrine-keeper," Kongou bowed politely. Fusou seemed unworried.

"I believe we will have some time as we travel home. If you will listen, I will tell you why Yamashiro and I fled the Sanctuary," she promised. Kongou had no reply.

"How bad is it?" Thorson asked the chief bulin as Akashi returned with morphine, disinfectant, and more coolant.

"Unlikely she will fight again, buli," the mechanic replied as Akashi nodded her head sadly.

"Akashi has not seen this since Amagi-sama fell ill. With luck we will not lose another. Shikikan, you are in the way please. Nyaa nyaa, what a mess."

"Right, sorry," Thorson muttered, finally tearing his eyes away from Hiei. By his orders a being of incredible grace and beauty had been permanently scarred. He suddenly felt as though he could remain no longer. On the way out to deck he passed a sleeping Cassin as well as Minneapolis and South Dakota, both of whom were resting and recovering. The battleship's revealing attire showed off ample bruising, scrapes and cuts, but she remained defiant. "The two of you doing alright?"

"We're Indians, Commander," Minneapolis provided simply. "Your kind could not exterminate us. It would take a hell of a lot more than that to finish the job. It was a fine hunt though. I eagerly await our next one."

"Let's get ourselves recovered first, and then we'll see about chasing down those foxes," Thorson agreed, bringing a smile to Minnie's face as she laid back and rested her head in her lap, indulging in a well-earned snooze on a surface more comfortable than any pillow, her own thighs. "Dakota?"

"I am well, Commander. A shield does not complain about such paltry things."

"You are a woman, South Dakota, and one of the reasons we survived today's action. I'll be recommending you for combat honors when we return to the base," he stated simply, knowing she preferred blunt conversation.

"That is the best news Foo and I have heard today, at least since we learned that Miss Houston is only lightly injured," Kasumi added, her presence almost nothing as she tended gently to her battleship partner. Thorson had barely noticed she was there. "Congratulations, Miss Dakota."

"I see," the dark-skinned battleship replied, looking down at her hands. "Thank you, Commander."

"Oh and before you go, Commander, there's something you should know," Minnie jumped back in. "That horned girl, Portland's sister? She's a bit of a mystery but there was no mistaking it in the thick of things. Her ability to read the wind and waves, the flow of battle… she's one of us."

"If that part of her identity becomes important to her, I'm counting on the two of you," Thorson replied after a moment of consideration, earning salutes from the both of them before he left the med bay and headed onto deck. There he came face to face with Pennsylvania, who was leading a proud-looking woman with deep blue hair and tall rabbit ears.

"This is the other, Commander," Penny stated, a bite in her voice. "She removed her own shard."

"She did what?" Thorson demanded, immediately turning a furrowed gaze to Soryuu and looking over every inch of her. "We will speak later. Your sister is alive and asleep inside. Penny, take her to Tennessee and then get yourself checked out. Damn fine work today, you and Arizona."

"Thank you, Andrew. I'm glad you survived too," Pennsylvania replied unabashedly. "Alright bunny girl, you heard him. Move it."

Soryuu complied silently, her eyes not leaving Thorson's until the rotation of her neck forced her to look forward again. Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, the Commander began a trip around the Akashi's deck, not wanting to occupy any of his girls with the pointless task of carrying him from ship to ship while so much was in flux. At the bow of the ship he saw her, the one woman who had destroyed his confidence and yet saved his fleet. She turned as his footfalls approached, brushing her jagged hairdo out of her eyes.

"Knight Commander? To what do I owe the honor?" Ark Royal asked.

"You mean other than tangling with four of the most powerful carriers in the Sakura navy and coming out on top?" he laid it out with a thin smile, one that she returned as he halted a few inches from her. The stiff breeze made the proximity necessary for calm conversation.

"I had help, Knight Commander," Ark demurred humbly, leaning heavily on her rifle. Her shoulder armor was chipped and cracked in various places, and her long cloak and short skirt were in terrible condition. Were it not for her distress, it would have been sinfully alluring. "Those battleships and cruisers of yours really pack a punch."

"Here," Thorson insisted, throwing her arm over his shoulder and providing her with a fresh bottle of coolant he'd taken with him from the medical wing. "I'm sure you're sick of it by now, but no one's working the kitchens."

"It's more than enough. Thank you," Ark accepted with grace, allowing her rigging to vanish as she drank deeply. Thorson spoke up again.

"I was wrong, you know."

"About what, Knight Commander?"

"Without you, without airpower, my battleships would have fallen today. You worked for weeks to master a plane you were never meant to launch. You managed to equip them with anti-ship weaponry when it mattered most. And I'll wager three month's salary that you have a higher aircraft kill count than Enterprise and her sisters combined in this theater. That's not a lot of money by the way," he admitted openly. Ark laughed well before clutching at her side and looking him in the eye.

"I wasn't expecting this when you said you were going to use me, Knight Commander." Her voice was a bare whisper, but it might as well have been a bullhorn. Unsure what else to do he leaned in and brushed his nose against hers. Ark closed her eyes before stiffening as though she'd been shocked by a live wire. "Y-you certainly have more important things to do than sit here and prop me up, Knight Commander!"

"I should probably go oversee the prisoner transfer, yes. And you don't need me interrupting your recovery and invading your privacy," he rationalized awkwardly. She nodded with vigor.

"Yes, yes of course. I'll recover and get back to it. The sooner we get back to work. Yes, that's right." Ark and Thorson swallowed heavily. It was much more uncomfortable than lust or even love as they waited and watched one another. Eventually she did speak again, earnestly. "We should get home as soon as we can. I worry about the little ones."

"I know, and we will," he affirmed with equal honesty, leaning in and kissing her for real. He did not know what it was like to kiss one's wife. The way things were going he wasn't sure he'd ever know. But something in the way Ark's lips lingered tenderly and lovingly on his tricked his brain for that moment, tricked him into believing they were the lips of the mother of his children. "Thank you Ark, for everything."

"G-Godspeed, Knight Commander," she gasped quietly. "I'll find you if I need anything."

"Good… I'm sorry," he apologized for not having anything else to say. Ark laughed. It was not triumphant or jovial, not ridiculing or humorous, just a simple and beautiful testament to the fact they were both alive and able to fulfill the promise they'd made to Mutsuki, Kisaragi, and Mikazuki.

"I'm not, Knight Commander. Now go, before we both abandon our duties."

"As you say, Ark."

"Keep trying, Downes! Those planes are well ahead of us!" Javelin encouraged as the two of them along with Yuudachi and Yukikaze sprinted over the waves to the east, desperately searching for Enterprise's task force. Downes was attempting to hail them on Union channels but up until then had met with no reply. Looming over the four of them was the unknown result of Hiryuu's 'suicide' attack and the fate of the Union navy.

"I am trying!" the tomboyish destroyer insister, laying into her radio again and channeling as much power as she could into it without sacrificing speed. "This is the USS Downes for Enterprise, hell, for anyone who's left! There is one final air strike coming from the west! The main Sakura battle group has been defeated and Commander Thorson requests a rendezvous at Midway. Please respond!" After another few minutes of silence she pounded the controls on her bridge. "For the love of my mismatched eyes, say something! The battle is over and we want to help!"

Yuudachi barked happily as the radio finally crackled to life in reply.

"I saw those eyes myself! It's her! Downes, this is Enterprise! Yorktown is… please help!"

"Yeah, that's the idea," Downes assured her, feeling her engines thrum with anticipation. "Give us your coordinates! We'll escort you all to Thorson. He's rounding up the Sakura we took prisoner right now."

Enterprise complied immediately, apparently over the wishes of her own commanding officer based on the disgruntled shouting. The four destroyers adjusted heading slightly south and put on a final burst of speed. Within minutes, a column of smoke could be seen on the distant horizon. Yukikaze sighed sadly. "I think we found those planes, nanoda."

"Forget the planes!" Yuudachi shouted in between audible sniffs of the air around them. "Yuki, I smell slugs."

"They wouldn't, they couldn't!"

"Just smell!" the snowy inu demanded. Yukikaze's reaction was immediate.

"Oh crap crap crap! They're here, nanoda!"

"Who's here?" Javelin demanded.

"Union ships, this is Yuudachi! I don't know what you're doing but if you don't have depth charges in the water you best start launching them before you all get blown to the gods, wan~!"

"Shit, submarines?" Downes deduced.

"But that's- how did they get past my sonar?" Javelin demanded.

"Not they, she!" Yukikaze clarified as they hurried towards the Union formation where cruisers and destroyers were scrambling to respond to Yuudachi's warning. "Hey, doesn't that ship there belong to the sassy Union cat?"

"She? You mean one lone submarine? What could one ship hope to do?" Downes demanded. "And what's that gotta do with Hammann?"

The answer to that question became clear as the Hammann and Yorktown, tethered together as the former tried desperately to save her friend who had endured more than should have been expected of any one carrier, were struck by torpedoes from an unknown source. "Why is it the one time I'm right it's really bad, wan?" Yuudachi lamented in frustration.

"Forget that, doggy! We have to save the Union cat, nanoda!"

"What about Yorktown?!" Javelin demanded, watching as the ship finally succumbed to weeks' worth of damage.

"She isn't like us! The Union can save her! Us dogs and cats need to stick together!" Yuudachi insisted.

"Shigure is still a baka-inu!" Yukikaze insisted.

"Not the time, girls!" Downes shouted. "Now move!"

Contrary to Yuudachi's optimistic claim, there was little the Union shipgirls could do to save Yorktown without rigging of their own. Only Hammann, who had directly boarded the ship, was at her side, crying and clinging to her as she felt her ship sinking. "Come on Yorktown! Please, we have to go!"

"Oh you sweet child," Yorktown whispered heavily, feeling the weight of a lifetime at war slowly lowering her eyelids. She petted Hammann between the ears as Grim landed on her shoulder, a stern look in her eyes. "Go to her, my friend. I may be lost, but the battle is won. The day is ours and my sister must now bear the torch forward. I know how much I'm asking of you but with Hornet gone… you must be at her side."

With a haunting cry, the bald eagle nipped affectionately at Yorktown's finger once before taking flight, circling the sinking carrier as her calls served as something of a funeral dirge. With her constant companion taken care of, Yorktown embraced Hammann and kissed the top of her hair. "And now you must leave, my dear. There is still more for you to do in this war, I know it."

"I can't! I won't!" Hammann insisted tearfully. "Sims… I can't lose you and Sims!"

"We will never truly be lost, so long as you survive, little one. You and my sister and everyone else will keep us alive in your memory. Please, don't let my fate be yours," the elder carrier implored, feeling the steel beneath them shudder and snap. "Now go."

"Noooo!" Hammann wailed, closing her eyes tightly as an explosion ripped through the Yorktown's hull and her world went dark. By the time Yuudachi and Yukikaze fished her out of the water near the wreckage, only Grim's constant circling was left to mark the location, her calls a testament to the Union carrier who had only been brought down by the combined efforts of no less than six Sakura ships. Yukikaze shook Hammann's body vigorously, willing her to wake. The neko's lips were blue and her clothing was soaked. Every worry she felt for her own sisters, lost somewhere on the other battlefield, bubbled to the surface as Javelin joined her and Downes met with Enterprise to give directions to the Union fleets.

Escorts on highest alert, the task forces finally turned for Midway Atoll at full steam. Downes allowed Enterprise to mourn her sisters privately, mumbling her own exhortations that Cassin would make it through another awful battle. Burdened by Enterprise's top cruising speed, the only thing left for her to do was to set her ship to autopilot and board the Yukikaze, gathering around her three compatriots as they attempted to warm and revive Hammann. When the neko finally opened her pale blue eyes to find Yorktown gone, coughing and spluttering as brackish water left her lungs, she succumbed to tears that did not relent until they reached Midway.

"Shikikan, Arizona needs your help, nyaa," Akashi poked him awake and conveyed the news quietly, delivering several blankets and a pack of coolant to him. "She requested these, now go go."

He nodded silently, standing from the Spartan chair that he'd nevertheless managed to fall asleep in within the medical wing. All around him ships were resting and sleeping as his fleet slowly made its way back to Midway under cover of night. There were plenty of prisoners to account for, but Arizona's needs came first. Ships like Kongou weren't going anywhere. Outside he found Arizona waiting for him, her rigging out. She gathered up the items and made to depart with barely a word, but Thorson's hand on her shoulder stopped her.

"Angel," he whispered. She seemed almost eager to get back to her ship, but spared a moment for him.

"I'm fine, Andrew," she promised, her bright, teal eyes glinting in the sparse moonlight.

"Alright. Thank you for today. You saved us all, again," he reminded her. She turned back his way and pressed up against his body, driving away any chill from the air and accepting a kiss tenderly.

"Yukikaze's sisters are not doing well, Commander. I need to go now," she insisted. He saw her to the edge of the deck before letting her depart.

"You're sure you don't need my help?" he asked.

"I have Laffey and Z23 with me, Andrew. Thank you for the supplies. I love you." Thorson was not given a chance to return her words before she was gone, left instead to wonder at the fate of Urakaze and her sisters, not to mention what sort of tragedies awaited when the stack of wisdom cubes they'd collected was finally sorted into hulls and souls. He didn't know how many of his own girls would have to live with the knowledge that they'd slain their own sisters or comrades. All he could do was wait for the dawn, when he hoped Yamashiro and Fusou would be willing to assist him in his awful task. He wasn't sure if it was the stress of battle, the relief of survival, or both, but he actually managed a heartless chuckle into the night.

"I wonder what Vampire would have to say about all this?"

Commander Thorson's sleep was as restless at the battle itself. A charitable individual would attribute it to the carnage of Midway. One less inclined to the benefit of the doubt would have pointed out that it was the first night in many he'd not spent with a loving companion to warm his bed. In a stunning display of mercy that convinced him every damn ship in his fleet was worthy of combat honors, his girls had spent the night making longer and longer trips back to the scene of the battle from Thorson's fleet to retrieve human survivors from the Sakura wreckage. Stashed aboard the charred but floating Hiei, they were the last thing on his mind when he re-entered the med bay. Many of the girls, though he knew ship-women would be a better name, were looking at him. Many others still rested. He walked quietly over to Fusou and Yamashiro's bedside where a table sat between them, laden with wisdom cubes collected after Midway. "How are you two doing?"

"We are well, tono-sama," Fusou assured him. "Akashi, the bulins, and even the manjuus have been good to us."

As if on cue, a small flock of the birds arrived in the open doorway, chirping quietly as they carried more secret coolant to all the bedsides in need. Pennsylvania accepted one and sat up in bed, rolling her shoulder. The crack was audible but she smiled widely. "Really going to be happy to get back to Shiratsuyu's cooking."

"You're not the only one," Thorson assured her. Perhaps on account of fear or weakness he forestalled his grim task that morning as Midway and the Union task forces became visible on the southern horizon with the light of dawn. "Fusou, can I ask you a question?"

"You need not be so formal, tono-sama," the elder sister replied as Yamashiro claimed her share of morning attention and snuggled up to his right side. She earned herself a petting between the ears for her troubles.

"Is there a term in your language for what you are, for a shipgirl? It's such a… misnomer in English," he explained. "Especially after what we all just went through."

"Kansen," Fusou replied simply. "We are the kansen."

He smiled faintly. "I like that a lot more. Now, will you help me with this?"

"We both will, tono-sama. This is our duty," Yamashiro offered bravely as he turned his chair around so his back faced the rest of his fleet. Union and Sakura alike looked on as the score was finally settled. Perhaps on account of their connection to the gods or their former comrades, it took but a moment for the two neko maidens to sort the pile into cubes that Thorson could use as raw material, ten in all, and cubes that had belonged to living kansen not days before. Yamashiro's ears wilted as she picked up the first one. "This was Chikuma. She had blue eyes and was very kind."

"I'm sorry," he whispered, taking the cube from her and holding it in his hands. If any soul remained within, he could not reach or even sense it. "Does she have sisters among our fleet?"

"Here is her sister," Fusou said calmly, though her eyes held great sorrow as another cube was offered to him. They seemed to glow just a bit brighter when held together in his hands. "Tone was the elder. She reminded me of Soryuu in many ways, serious and committed to her training."

"God damnit," Thorson muttered, setting the cubes aside so that they could be together while they carried on. The process didn't get easier from there. "Who are those?"

"Yukikaze and Shiranui's sisters," Yamashiro replied. "Nowaki and the eldest, Kagerou."

"Shit," the commander lamented. "At least Arizona managed to salvage the other four. We'll make sure they receive proper rights and that the living can participate."

"Thank you, tono-sama," Fusou said as more and more of the kansen stirred from various states of rest, listening with somber curiosity. The shrine maiden looked past him to another bed in the infirmary. It held the young woman he'd seen through his binoculars the day before. He'd given the order to fire at the whites of her eyes. "Mogami, the eldest of her sisters. I'm sorry, Suzuya."

The young, horned woman said nothing, hanging her head and clutching the bedsheets with bandaged fingers. Her sword had been taken from her the moment she'd been rescued by the Union forces. There was naught she could do but mourn as her sister's cube was placed gently at her side. She didn't dare address the enemy commander, even as he offered his condolences. "Please tell me this is the last one," he implored when he returned to Yamashiro. She nodded.

"It's a battleship, Haruna," the neko told him with drooping tail and ears. A choked sob came from down the row of beds near where Soryuu and Hiryuu were resting under guard. Thorson stood, and the kansen rose to meet him, the same one who had lamented Hiei's marred body the night before. Kongou was breathing heavily, trying to control herself as far too many eyes watched her. After an eternity he stood before her and offered Haruna's cubes. Blinking back tears she took them from him.

"When we return to my base you'll be given an opportunity to lay her to rest in your own tradition, even if you choose to remain a prisoner," he promised. Kongou could not bring herself to reply, and was spared an extended moment of tension, fear, and sorrow as a commotion made itself known at the doorway to the medbay.

"Knight Commander, we're back! Come quickly, it's… Kongou?!" Javelin gasped.

"J-Javelin?" the battleship whispered, something of a British accent slipping through in response to Javelin's own. Thorson glanced between the two of them curiously.

"You know her, Javelin?"

"I was constructed in Royal Navy shipyards," Kongou answered directly, though she averted her eyes when he tried to hold contact.

"Oh for the love of- The two of you can have tea later!" Downes yelped. "Now move! Cassin, please tell me you've still got all your limbs this time!"

Thorson cursed himself for having sent Downes away without thinking of her sister, but the moment the spunky, ashen-haired destroyer confirmed her sister was on the mend she turned his way. "Commander, the leaders of Task Torces 16 and 17 are waiting for you on shore."

Every Kansen who could watched with bated breath as Thorson squared his shoulders. He hoped Colorado and her sisters were not already antagonizing anyone. "What's the score, Downes?"

The destroyer licked her lips nervously and met Tennessee's eyes. The frowning battleship didn't move a muscle but she gave Downes the resolve she needed to be the reaper's messenger. "We weren't fast enough, Andrew."

Thorson pulled his cap low over his brow as Downes walked forward and clasped his hand gently. He squeezed tight, felt how warm she still was. "How bad?"

"Hornet and Yorktown are gone."