Hymn From the High Seas (Azur Lane x Commander Male Reader)

A Cost Too Great

As Enty leans over Yorktown, whose cheeks have become wet with her sister's tears, I stand up. My eyes wander over the waves for someone's help. No, I'm supposed to fix this. I'm supposed to? How do I pick up the flotsam of a failed operation like this? I look back at Yorktown's sinking carrier, and a coldness spreads over my heart. We're not home yet.

"TB," I cough, seawater still in my nose, "Have the Manjuu aboard Yorktown abandon ship. Order all escorts to rescue them and form an anti-submarine screen around Hornet and Enty afterward."

"Affirmative, Admiral, but–"

"Don't waste time," I grunt, walking back to Enty, "Send the order."

TB doesn't question me again as I lean down to my wife and touch her shoulder, "Enty... I need you."

She still gasps between sobs, clenching her sister's pale corpse in her arms.

"Enty..." I wrap my arms around her, "Get us home. Please, bring us home."

She manages to open her bloodshot eyes and gaze at me, "My home is gone! Gone! You said you'd save her!" Enty shrugs me off and shouts, "Bring her back, you piece of shit!"

A thousand knives carve into my heart, and I can only mutter, "Please, Enty... chart a course for home. We're still in danger. Hornet's still alive," her eyes soften at the mention of her younger sister, "Leave Yorktown with me."

"Hornet...?" she whispers, her tears still flowing.

Enty stands up while I cradle Yorktown in my arms, and she stumbles down the length of her carrier to see where her sister-ship sails. All the while, I sit with the burning sunlight across the back of my neck as I stare down at Yorktown. Her eyes are closed as if she expected to die. Maybe she even accepted it.

Time becomes a smudge of memory, and my eyes never leave Yorktown's bloodless face. My fingers have combed her hair dry under the Pacific sun. Enty hasn't come back. I look over my shoulder, knowing Yorktown would've sent me to find her, but I couldn't possibly leave Yorktown alone like this. Faint shouting from the portside draws my attention.

Gently, I lay Yorktown's head down on my dress shirt and run to the edge of the ship. Below me, a destroyer full of Manjuu sails alongside us.

Hammann, who sails the vessel, cups her hands around her mouth, "I've got Manjuu aboard! Want me to leave 'em with Enterprise for repairs?"

"Keep them!" I echo back, "We're going home anyway, and I don't want to hang around longer than we need to!"

The young girl shouts something else up at me, but unusual white caps beside her vessel catch my scrutiny. I stare at the foam, realizing the linear shape means only one thing.

"Torpedo!" My cry is doused by the rumble of an explosion.

Hammann hadn't even spun around when it rips through her ship, erasing her in a cloud of seething flame. Debris scatters across the water and atop the flight deck. Burnt feathers gently spin and drift through the air over and below me. Singed flesh smacks onto the flight deck along with bone fragments.

I stumble backward, Manjuu treading water as the destroyer, which had been split in two, falls beneath the waves. More escort kansen direct their vessels to save them, but a second detonation of Hammann's depth charges rings out below the water.

Dozens of Manjuu shriek in one painful cry when shrapnel rips up through them. Most die instantly and remain floating on the waves, lifeless next to their injured brethren, who tweet sadly and nudge the bodies of their flock with their beaks.

Something wet smacks onto the flight deck behind me. On the runway between Yorktown and I is a young girl's shoe – and a pale foot still wears it.

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