Always and Forever (2)

639 20 11
                                    

Who am I really? As I fall from the sky, the question rings through my head. Is not the first time I've asked this of myself and yet, as I fall my mind can't think of an appropriate answer. The answer should be simple. I am Zhejiang. I've always been and I always will be and yet, something feels like it's missing.

I am Zhejiang, a Type 003 Nuclear powered carrier built for the People's Liberation Army Navy and commissioned in the year 2024. I am the sister ship to PLAN Jiangsu and the first of our class. In my first deployment, I achieved my objective but during the mission, my fleet came under attack and I sank while defending my retreating allies.

I was reborn into a new world and given another chance. This time, I was able to make my own decisions and made friends, learned to love and hate, learned to laugh and cry, learned to live and yet...at the end of my journey, I still died. Am I fated to die every time? Am I fated to be killed by Enterprise regardless of which world I am in? If so, who am I and what have I ever done to deserve this?

????: You are Zhejiang. You are the product of fate gone wrong. By your own actions, you sealed your fate both in this world and the next.

Me: Who-

????: Fate always finds a way, remember this and it will serve you well. One often meets destiny on the path one takes to avoid it.

Me: How can I avoid my fate then?

????: I cannot say. However, I will give you one message before sending you back. You'd do well to heed it.

Me: I'm listening.

????: The future holds many trials. Keep the one you love close and you will see them through. However, the voice never lied. The cause of your woes, is Enterprise.

Me: What does that mean?

????: Now go.

Me: Wait! At least tell me who you are?

<->

A bright light overtakes my vision, soon replaced by darkness.

Enterprise: Zhejiang!

Enterprise?

Enterprise: Zhejiang! Wake up!

What's she saying?

Enterprise: Open your eyes!

Opening my eyes reveals a crying Enterprise staring back at me. Smiling, I reach up and brush away her tears but my hand soon falls back onto my chest. My body feels as though I've just risen from the dead.

Enterprise: You're alive!

Before I can process what's going on, she's squeezing the very life essence out of me as she grips me in the tightest hug I've ever experienced. When she finally loosens her grip, however, a little strength has returned to my body, enough so that I'm able to at the very least sit up.

Me: Don't cry. You'll get ugly if you cry.

 You'll get ugly if you cry

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