December 7, 2011
Pearl harbor.
"I'll always watch over you…"
Missouri stood solemnly next to a large white memorial dressed in black, gazing down upon the battleship Arizona who had tragically been sunk over 70 years ago as she looked like sleeping beauty just below the water, with her hands across her chest.
Her battleship sisters Iowa, Wisconsin and New Jersey were with her as they stood in a semi-circle around the sunken girl.
Iowa was next to her sister Missouri, took her hand and squeezed it supportively.
"S-She looks so peaceful." Missouri spoke through a shaky voice as tears streamed down her gentle face. Mo bit her lower lip suddenly, stifling a sob as she spoke again.
"We love you Zona. You have no idea how much we miss you, I can only hope you're in a better place now..."
Iowa glanced at Missouri, beginning to tear up herself as she cooed lightly to her sister.
"It's ok Mo…." Wisconsin and New Jersey stood to the left of them, dressed in black as well as both were having trouble expressing themselves.
"It's hard to think 70 years ago this place was war-zone." Wisconsin said sadly as New Jersey moaned lowly.
"It's hard to enjoy your birthday when something like this happened on the same day huh sis?" The black-haired girl wiped her face as they both shared the same birthday on the same tragic day.
Nearby, Missouri's respective ship, BB-63 itself, blasted its horn loudly in remembrance of its sunken sister ship.
Missouri and her sisters all turned to see an entire fleet of sailors, dressed in their Class A uniforms, in full parade formation on the nearby dock.
A large group of civilians were milling around nearby, when suddenly from the dock, a loud call echoed out over the harbor as everyone froze.
" FLEET! ATTEEEENEEN-TION!"
The sailors on the dock suddenly snapped to attention, dead motionless.
"PRESEEEENNNNNNNNT......ARMS!"
The sailors slowly rendered a solemn hand salute as 3 flags slowly raised upon the mast of the Missouri.
The Stars & Stripes, Missouri's State Flag, and the Flag of the City of St. Louis came to half mast along with her own sisters flags as they all looked knowingly at each other.
A single sailor walked out in front of the fleet to the edge of the dock, holding a trumpet as Mo sounded her horn once more, followed by her sisters in unison, then silence…
The lone sailor brought his instrument to his lips slowly as nothing was heard but the light breeze over the harbor.
Iowa and Missouri held hands, heads bowed as Wisconsin and New Jersey did the same.
But what happened next brought Missouri to her knees, covering her mouth to mask her loud soul-wracking sobs of unbridled grief.
The lone sailor began to play TAPS somberly as the Arizona state flag slowly began to climb up the secondary mast of the Iowa class girls poles, pausing at the height of others, then rising to its full height.
"It's ok Mo…" Iowa cradled her sister and her arms as tears poured from her crystal blue eyes.
Even the hot-tempered troublemakers of the Iowa girls Wisconsin and New Jersey had trouble fighting back tears.
"You crying Jersey?" Wisconsin asked stoically, her face rock hard as tears ran down from behind her black frame glasses and cheeks.
"I just got s-something in my eye is all!"
As the mournful tribute tailed off after the last note as a moment of silence fell over the Harbor.
"ORDERRRR, ARMS!"
A distant, but loud mechanical whir of metal sounded as one by one, the turrets of Missouri raised to their highest firing positions, and slowly turned to face over the harbor, perpendicular to the direction she was moored
"REMEMBER PEARL HARBOR! WE WILL NEVER FORGET YOU, ARIZONA! GENTLEMEN, MAN YOUR STATIONS AND PREPARE FOR SALVO!!!"
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
A final pause, then on the ninth salute, Missouri let all her main guns loose in a final furious roar of remembrance, a sendoff that left everyone's ears ringing
BBOOOMBOOOOMBBBOOOOOMBOOOOOOM!
The entire harbor fell silent once more as everyone began to disperse. The Iowa girls slowly left the memorial, everyone but Missouri.
"Mo…" Iowa looked back sympathetically at her sister, as did the others.
Missouri stood at the edge of the memorial's side, looking through an opening.
Her blue eyes were reddened and swollen as tears streamed down her face, her lower lip quivering violently.
"Goodbye Zona… I hope you find peace…" She pulled a single white rose from her overcoat, and tossed it into the water covering the Arizona's watery remains.
"She will..."
A random voice spoke up softly in the air as she felt a hand gently touch her shoulder.
The hand felt cold, yet warm at the same time as Missouri looked over her shoulder at a brown-haired girl with green eyes that looked just like Arizona's.
"P- Pennsylvania?!"
The semi-transparent ship-girl only nodded as the other Missouri's sisters suddenly cried out in fear and panic as more ghostly apparitions appeared and by the looks of them, it was the girls from Battleship row.
"Tell me I'm not the only one seeing fucking ghosts here!?" New Jersey saw California and Tennessee appear next to Missouri as they both took her hands into theirs.
Wisconsin flinched back wildly as she saw Oklahoma and Nevada appear suddenly in front of her, holding out their hands.
New Jersey felt a light tapping on her back as she slowly turned her head to find West Virginia and Maryland grinning up at her, their hands raised to be held.
All the Iowa girls looked around dumbfounded as Missouri exploded into crying laughter.
"Come on sis, it's time to go." Pennsylvania said softly is Arizona's spirit slowly lifted up from her wreck.
The super dreadnought turned her head with a smile as it slowly became more transparent.
"Sorry to keep you all wanting...."
YOU ARE READING
Azur lane: A history through their eyes...
Historical FictionA short series about different ship-girls from all factions and what happened in real life.
