Nimbus Child I: Games of War

[REWRITE] Present 5

Bismarck and her fleet had kept their promise and collected Oki, the little ship quite literally picked up by Montana, I-400 curiously tagging along.

As a group, they rushed towards the plaza in front of the main building where each and every ship had assembled, Kongō in their midst, a lighthouse without light in a sea of sharp, deadly wrecks.

"Kongō!", called Bismarck, the crowd making way for them once they noticed the arrivals.

They stood face to face with the fast battleship, only now noticing that she had her flagship equipment online.

It gave her a true Imperial air. White clothing, white sigils, golden accessories and two-faced flag hanging from her headwear, swaying in the wind – for a moment, it took Bismarck's breath away.

The blonde looked at the surrounding crowd once, before she refocused on Kongō's serious face as best as she could: "Kongō, what is going on?"

"Your expedition was successful, I take it?", she nodded over at I-400.

Taken by surprise by the uncharacteristic ignorance towards her question, the blonde also looked behind her at first: "Y-yeah."

"Well done", Kongō spoke in a quiet voice, slowly closing her eyes, before heaving her blade up rapidly and pointing it straight at Bismarck's face.

Surprised by that, the battleship backed off instinctively, slipped on a stone that had gotten loose and fell on her behind.

"Lady Kongō!", Bougainville called in shock, all of them having backed off as well.

"Bismarck."

Said battleship's head snapped up, wide, sky blue meeting cold white glow. From the angle they were at, only Bismarck could see Kongō's eyes clearly – it hurt to look at them, because they were full of hurt.

"This is a declaration of war", the expression of pain vanished with a grimace, but Bismarck thought that she could still hear it in the first few words, "the auxiliary ships will not be touched. They will stay neutral and serve us both."

Bismarck could only stare, not computing what was being said while computing it all much too fast at the same time.

Kongō had begun to turn, her nodachi dispersing into loose nanomaterial while doing so: "Once this passes, we'll meet in peace again, and part should the world call for war. Good luck, My Lord."

The blonde couldn't do anything; body frozen as if in arctic waters, unresponsive as if she'd still been alive, non-existing bile rising in her throat.

Panicked, she searched for Tirpitz, only to feel her gut finally drop fully when she saw her standing on Kongō's side: "Tirpitz!", she called, while scrambling to her feet.

Alas, Tirpitz merely stopped her by retreating her hands behind her own back and stepping backwards, out of reach.

"...Tirpitz...?"

Tirpitz avoided her eyes and hurried after Kongō, moving as if she feared to change her decision should she look at her sister.

"She said that she didn't want you to die", Prinz Eugen explained from somewhere behind Bismarck: "earlier, that is."

Others had thought similarly. Even if they couldn't stand war, even if they never wanted to live through it again, it was better than dying, or seeing those they loved die.

Tirpitz had been the first to voice those thoughts, been the final push for them – they were all here because they wanted to live, after all.

Kongō took only a small amount of ships with her, those left feeling the cold of the rain seep into them, murmurs arising while Bismarck sank to the ground with unseeing eyes.

Unnoticed by all, the still raging fire finally weakened.