User blog:Victorica/Story Time! ~ Upon that Cliff

'Just a random one-shot short story~ Enjoy! '

'WARNING: This is meant to be a tragic romance story! >.< Don't ask why I thought of writing something like this! It just popped up in my mind!'

Upon the Cliff~

It never occured to me how strange all this had been to me. I was not born to be human and yet here I am, overwhelmed with emotions as I watched him slip into the sleeves of his pristine admiral's jacket before marching off as his words repeated in my mind.

''"Stay here. Please." ''He had pleaded just a moment prior as I prepared to head out but as soon as I've heard him said that, my heart stung and I couldn't help but turn abruptly towards him with the most hateful glare I could muster at him with clenched fists.

''"I will not stand idle! Not when this battle is the most crucial!" ''I shouted at him. I knew I shouldn't have, I knew he said that in order to protect me. I'd do the same for him as well if I was in his position.

"..." He didn't respond to me. Instead, he calmly pressed a button on the coms network on the desk. "Is my boat ready?"

Boat?! What does he think he's doing?!

''"...Yes sir. Your boat is ready." ''I could clearly hear Ooyodo's hesitant and worried voice.

Something's not right... This does not sound right at all! I grit my teeth as I fought back my angry outburst as I strained to keep my voice leveled. "What are you planning to do?"

"I'm planning to end this once and for all."

I snapped.

''"End this for all...?" ''My voice was trembling and rising as I continued. ''"For us...?" ''My gaze that had been aimed at the carpetted floor shot up to look at him, blurried as tears streamed out of my eyes. "Don't take me as a fool!"

He stopped to look up with barely any changes to his expression.

"You always do that...You always took the blame when it's never your fault to begin with! It was our mistakes, our decisions during battle that costed some of us! Yes you were in command but it's not always because of you..."

''"Haruna." ''He said my name with a low voice as I looked at him. "I've had enough."

It hurts to hear him say that. It's painful....So painful...I could barely stand it. But he just walked past me and whispered "sorry" before grabbing the white admiral jacket on the rack and slipping it on followed by the admiral cap and left the office.

It could've only been seconds or even hours but I couldn't move. He just up and left me here as he went off to fight a war that he can't possibly win on his own. He must have been building the weight of the burden inside of him for all this time, always keeping it in him while trying his best to ease our burden just bit by bit overtime. He had always been like that. Even though he was not supposed to hold any concern for us, merely give us orders to fight against the Abyssal Fleet and yet he ignored it and reached a hand to us. Each and every single one of us.

That's why I...

I turned to exit the office, out the main headquarters and down the road towards the docks and hangars, Passing the the various fleet girls that participated the last battle. It was a costly one as all of us were sortied under not Teitoku's command but the higher ups that were his superiors. There was virtually no one that was in condition to fight.

I heard the sound of a boat motor out in the distance along with many of the other fleet girls nearby before we all looked out into the bay.

"Shirei-kan!" I heard Fubuki gasp as we spotted an armored motor boat streaming out of the bay and into the horizon. "What is he thinking?!"

"We need to help him!"

"Teitoku! Come back!"

The girls quickly attempted to head back to the equipment bay and gear up but they were too injured. I grimaced as I broke into a run for the hangar which had my ship frame still under heavy repairs. There was no time.

As soon as I entered the hangar, I couldn't help but stop to take a look at the empty spots where my sisters would've been standing when we sortied.

"Wait!" I looked back to see Yuubari who was one of the luckier ones that were not heavily injured limp her way to me with panted breaths.

"Yuubari-san."

"I'm not here to stop you. None of us would..." She gave me half a smile as she leaned against the metal wall. "All of us wants to go too."

I knew that. I knew that very well. He cared for all of us within the fleet and did everything he could. We were all just happy to be under his command and yet he believed that he didn't deserve it even after all he did for us.

"You're not the only one to think that you know?" She broke my train of thought as she gave me a look before her face changed back to being serious. "He actually had something left for you before the battle last time...Me and Akashi had finished it just a few hours from the start of it."

I gave her a confused look before she gestured for me to step on the sortie platform that was to the far left. I hesitantly obeyed and stepped on it before it glowed a rainbow of colors around me as I gasped. What was this? I could feel my wounds healing up faster and my energy restoring and doubling as I bathed in the light.

"You know?" She started and I looked back at her as she gave me a small sad smile of defeat. "I've always been jealous of you."

I was about to ask her what she meant but she pulled the nearby emergency sortie lever before I could get the question out as I was catapulted out with the feeling of an unfamiliar ship frame attaching itself to my lower back and its strap buckling on my waist tightly.

It was a new model.

My hand brushed over the new frame in wonder before I noticed another thing that was positioned on one of the painted turrets. It definitely didn't fit in with its velvet rounded box along with the slight color of maroon which contrasted the striped black turret it sat on.

Along with it, a letter tied with a delicate pink ribbon on it.

This made me almost lose balance as my heart pounded hard. I knew what it was but my mind could not catch up in time. I shakily reached for the letter and opened it with trembling hands before I started reading it.

Haruna,

''This may seem a bit sudden and slightly cowardly of me for not doing so in person. But I expected that when this letter had reached you, I wouldn't be there to tell you directly.''

I remember how we had put up facades when we faced each other for the first few times, not knowing whether we trusted each other to be in each other's care as we carry out mission to mission and fight a war that never seemed to end.

''And I definitely remembered when I had completely lost your trust during that one mission back then. The one mission that I knew I would regret before I announced it. I was a total fool, a fool that didn't deserve to have you and your sisters and I can understand if you're still mad at me for it.''

''But because of it, I had an even clearer goal towards the end of the war. Not only will you and your fellow fleet girls survive but also be free once it is all over. I vowed on that day that I wouldn't let a single one of you sink and I had put everything I had into making it come true.''

''I was determined to take the first steps and I did. The first step was to regain the trust I lost which lead me to have you as my secretary on that cliff during the sun set. When I think about it the view we could see from the cliff was quite a sight to behold. And from then on, I worked day and night with hardly any sleep just to find strategies and other ways that will work out and I would always see you all return safely back home.''

''During all this, I knew you still resent me and I knew that I was never going to rebuild that delicate bridge between us but I still pressed on. But somewhere during all this time, I somehow fell for you. And with every mission, the urge to keep you from sortie'ing out grew.''

''I was selfish and a fool to think that. But I couldn't help it. Especially after what happened before, I knew you were immensely focused on protecting your fellow fleet girls more than before, I watched from my office as you continued to train until your clothes were ragged and even your frame would be damaged from time to time.''

''Even when each time you return from a mission all injured and battered, you still kept a strong stance. And seeing you like that made me fell for you even more and made me even more determined to even sacrifice my own reputation and pride just for you and the others.''

''And finally, I made up my mind. I will personally go out there for all of you and I will end this once and for all. My only regret was that I could never bring myself to ask you this. I knew you would not hesitate to reject me but I will regret it if I keep it with me to my grave.''

I love you.

My vision blurred as tears continued to stream down my face, my hand almost wrinkling the letter. That idiot! That ridiculously idiotic egghead! Why would you do this?! My heart felt like it was prickled with a million needles after reading that.

How could you do this to me?

I fought back the urge to sob and increased my speed. With a trembling hand I opened the box and took in sight of the most beautiful ring I've ever seen resting in the soft bedding of the box. Gently, I caressed it before picking it out and slipping it onto my ring finger, it's clear diamond sparkled from the sunlight it reflected.

"...Baka Teitoku..."

Up ahead I could finally see the first signs of battle as I saw smoke rising into the sky. I pushed my legs and the engine of the frame to its limits as I sped my way towards the battle.

His boat...

Where is his boat?!

All I could see were smoke where ships should've been with floating wreckages drifting here and there. For the first time in my life, I felt more fear than I usually would, even more than when I was face to face with death itself.

Frantically, I made my way closer to the middle of the battle and I could barely hear the sound of cannon fire and explosions in the water and I quickly picked up speed.

There he is!

His gunboat was smoking as it made a turn, barely evading several torpedoes before the small cannon at the front of his boat fired with deadly accuracy, sinking another one of the lesser destroyers. But then an enemy torpedo bomber dived at him from a distance before releasing its deadly bomb.

I sped my way to his position. There was no way in hell that I'll let him die!

Just in time, I smacked the bomb before it could make an impact on his boat as it exploded just a few yards away.

"H-Haruna!" He had the most shocked expression I've ever seen on him. If it were any other situation, I'd be laughing at how he reacted.

Instead, what I felt was a wave of relief to see that he was safe before I once again felt the tears were ready to burst like it would a dam. I fought it back as hard as I could while resisting to hug him and never let go, tightening my fists.

"You idiot! Why did you come here! I thought I told you to stay at the base!"

"I won't accept it!" I cried at him, failing to hold back some of the tears. "Not unless you return to the base with me! Not until you say it to me on that cliff where you made me your secretary! I won't accept it until then!"

He gritted his teeth before his expression changed to fear and not a even a single second had past before he reacted and grabbed me, pulling me onto the boat before a bomb exploded where I was just a second ago.

"Why...Did you...Come?" He asked me as he panted from that stunt he pulled.

"Because..." I struggled to get back up, not caring if I was straddling him at the moment. "...You're going to come back to base with me."

Without hesitation I leaned in and pressed my lips against his. His lips were callous and rough but it did not matter to me. It was an instinct I didn't knew I had. It was a sudden action that I did not know existed in me as I made the kiss last just a bit longer, relief washing over me and I gripped his now tattered uniform jacket.

Just as I ended the kiss, I immediately got off him and jumped out of the boat before noticing a few enemy ships closing in. I was way too embarrassed to face him so I instead focused on the battle that was coming.

"No matter what happens, Haruna will give it all she's got!" I shouted as I opened fire with my cannons, sinking three of the five enemy ships while the remaining two split up and circled around us.

But not even halfway, one of them was shot in the middle and sunk instantly. I looked back to see him facing away from me and I couldn't help but do that same. But we both knew that this wasn't the time to clear what had happened as I skated my way towards the last remaining ship and picking it off with a salvo.

"The Queen is on that island over there." He pointed ahead and I could barely make out a mountaineous looking island in the distance. "Let's go."

"Yes sir." I replied before we both sped towards the island.

Along the way, we struggled as we were two against thousands of enemies but we mainly focused on dodging and evading the attacks and focused on reaching the island first. Although we did take out plenty that were in our paths, their numbers would be replaced soon after.

"I have a special type of bomb that I've gotten from the last time the higher ups delivered supplies. It's the only one in the world and developed just for this moment..." He told me as we continued to evade and sink enemies that were in our way. One of the shots got threateningly close as it nearly hit me. "Haruna!"

"I-I'm fine!" I assured him as we pushed forward, wincing slightly as I touched my side only to find blood covered it.

"Haruna?"

He couldn't see the bloodied hand from his position which I was grateful of. I merely nodded and he returned his attention ahead while I nearly lost my balance. My vision was starting to become foggy but I pushed ahead anyway. I could even feel my ankles slowly touching the waters.

I don't have much longer.

We were almost there! Just a bit more and we could end this once and for all! But a second later, we were once again blocked. This time, two large battleships stood between us and the Queen. With as much strength I could muster, I pushed to the front and stood firmly.

"Main guns! Aim! Fire!"

*Boom!*

One of the battleships sunk in a giant plume of smoke before the other one returned fire, barely missing us. He took this opportunity and fired the cannon on his gunboat and took out the last enemy. Without wasting another moment, we rushed towards the island that was now blocked by the black smoke coming from the sunken ships.

But no matter how far we pushed, the smoke didn't seem to give way. This didn't feel right. I squinted to try and see beyond the smoke to no avail but then something stirred inside me, making me feel uneasy. What is this feeling...?

I trembled before I instinctively looked forward, my eyes widening.

"Look out!" I called out before I went ahead and stopped in front of his gunboat with my armored back towards the island-

*BOOM!*

I screamed in pain as I felt the heated shells hit my back and melting my armored frame as my arms that were acting as support against the front of the boat lost its strength and I fell onto it.

"Haruna!!" I heard him frantically shouting as he rushed towards me and pulled my broken body onboard.

"Don't...Stop..." I told him weakly as my consciousness started to fade away. I started to feel extremely cold with each passing second.

"What are you saying?! Your wounds needs to be treated! She can't fire for a while after that salvo! I-"

"Please..." I stopped his hand weakly with my own...I don't have much longer. Was this how death feels like?

"No! I won't be able to...Not without you..." I couldn't see anymore but I could tell he was crying...

I was so weak that I couldn't even speak without it being a whisper as I struggled to see only to find what little vision I have left was blurred by the amount of tears coming out. I was scared. I was sad...

For the first time, I wished we were in a different situation. And suddenly, my mind was filled with images. I saw myself not in my standard outfit as a fleet girl but in a beautiful white dress along with him with the sun slowly setting behind the sea in the background. Another image flashed by, this time I was holding a child in my arms- a little girl who looked nearly identical to me as we quickly walked to greet him at the door to our house. And another image showing us all wrinkled and old once again sitting at the cliff looking at the sun set for probably the last time...

This was ending before it was even started.

I struggled between weak sobs as I tried to remain strong, grabbing hold of his hands to get his attention. "I...am still here...Right now..."

I couldn't tell what he was doing at the moment as my ears began to ring, blocking off all other sounds. But I felt the vibration of the motor starting up again and I could feel my upper body being gently lifted up. I didn't have the strength to keep my expression as it changed to the point that I don't even know if I was still letting out weak sobs or not.

"I wish our fate didn't go this way...There was so much more than this...I'm so sorry..." I said as my vision brightened intensely and for a moment I saw him clearly. His eyes showed a variety of emotions. Regret, relief but most surprising of all; joy.

His mouth moved but I couldn't hear him. But I could tell that he said I was an idiot for saying what I said and I couldn't help but smile at that.

In the corner of my vision I realized that he had activated a timer on the bomb we were going to use as we got closer and closer to the island. But before the last moments, I saw him lean forward and pressed a kiss one last time against mines which I happily accepted.

The next thing that I realized was that everything turned white.