Nimbus Child I: Games of War

[REWRITE] Present 2

The drop that made the barrel overflow came in the form of Oki tripping on Shinano's deck while playing with the three sentoku, scraping her emulated skin open.

She wasn't in much pain, but the shock made her cry and once she had started, the accumulated stress led her to cry on and on and on.

When her playmates, then Shinano, her other sisters and finally even Kashino couldn't cheer her up, Mikasa and Kongō were called – with them came the rest of the 6-6-Fleet and the auxiliary ship Sonne had sent over just in case.

Now Oki, inside Shinano, sat half on Mikasa's and half on Kongō's lap, slowly drinking from the glass of juice Kashino had given her in an effort to calm down while Kongō rubbed her back and Mikasa made sure she didn't fall.

"Have you calmed down?", Mikasa's matter-of-fact voice carried a noticeably soft edge.

Oki paused to sob, nodded, then continued drinking.

"Then are you able to tell us what happened?", Kongō asked with a soft voice.

"I dunno...", her voice was small and rough from crying.

Kongō cleaned one of the little one's cheeks with the long sleeve of her haori: "Do you wish to try?"

It had seemed like that for a very long time now.

A few moments of silence followed: "...We were the first here, right?", she started in a small voice, addressing Kongō, "D...do you remember that?"

Mikasa and her "sister" shared a look. Excluding the Mars Nova-class ships – who were more a gift from God than anything else – Oki had been the first ship here, then Kongō had followed.

"I do. I remember how you showed me around", all bright smiles and glowing eyes, so awfully different to now.

"Y-yeah", she was shaken by a sob, "and how I talked about, uhm, God?"

Kongō nodded: "That too."

Thinking back now, Kongō wasn't sure if she had believed that it was a god back then, but she had definitely agreed that something had appeared.

"I... I really thought I could protect you, o-or that she would at least help me, but I could barely reach her!"

Mikasa took the glass and placed it on the table nearby, so that it wouldn't break and hurt Oki further.

"Little one, Oki", Kongō hugged her, combing through her long white hair, fingers careful to not hurt, "I know it is difficult. Please do not feel pressured; we can take a break."

"No!", she complained, "It's important! It really is!"

Kongō hushed her: "Alright, alright. Please, continue."

Oki had an iron grip on the fast battleship's sleeve: "The world is dying, I think? And there's a demon here? And... and... I didn't really understand all of it, but she said something about balance and-", new tears started streaming down her cheeks, "I... I really can't do it! I don't know what to do!"

Silence fell upon them. A strong, choking thing.

"...Are you able to get me into contact with that god?", Kongō asked, but Oki just shook her head.

It had been hard enough to get into contact alone, and that even though they had a certain connection with each other.

A warm smile – one which's honesty was questionable, Mikasa knew – graced Kongō's face, her features soft: "I shall ask Tirpitz, then. With such a bright mind on our side, I carry no doubt we'll find a way."

Tirpitz who was the brightest of them, the child whose processor never operated at full capacity simply because it never needed to, the one who had expanded the CCS into something the Fog would think impressive and who had the theoretical ability to hack each and every ship – who if not her could generate a channel of communication with a god?

--

"If she speaks the truth", Mikasa began once her and Kongō stepped onto Shinano's flight deck, the warmth of the sun greeting them, "then not even Tirpitz will be of aid."

Her sister, the person who had raised her in her first life, who she had raised in return, smiled at her the way the old Kongō did before never returning: "Do you trust me?"

Mikasa wanted to deny, tell how heavy that flag and those damned earrings had been, instead she found that she still couldn't lie: "Of course."