The Betrayed Commander and The Abandoned Tsundere (Azur Lane: Origins 1)

Chapter 9: Battle Aftermath

A/N: I couldn't think of a good picture for the chapter cover so you get a song instead. You'll know when to play it but just in case you don't, I'll put an asterisk (*) there in bold. Also, last night I didn't update this 'cuz I felt like having a break. Anyway, I think that's all the necessary stuff out of the way, so enjoy!

Sora managed to get out of the bed and change out of the hospital gown he was wearing while Hipper waited outside. He had been given the all clear to leave just a few minutes ago. Admiral Hipper watched as the commander slowly limped out of the building, wincing with every second step. 'If it hurts that badly then you should rest,' Hipper told him.

'Nah, it's more that my leg is stiff. It doesn't hurt that much, and besides, I need to let the other shipgirls know I'm alive and relatively okay.'

Hipper and Sora were walking around, trying to get his leg to loosen up when Takao saw and walked over to them.

'I'm glad to see your alive, Commander.'

'Jeez, Takao. I thought you'd be more concerned than that,' Sora responded in a joking tone.

'Well if I kept obsessively worrying about you, I wouldn't get anything done.' Hipper raised her eyebrows at Takao. 'And of course I'm not implying that the others are obsessively worrying about you but they are very worried. They're all in the second briefing room, if you want to talk to them.'

'Thanks, Takao. And... why are they in a briefing room?'

'Plot convenience.'

'Ah, that makes sense. I think I'll head over there, then. You two gonna join me?'

'Sure.'

'Okay.'

On the way, Takao asked Sora if there was any damage done by the Sirens and he told her that he'll tell everyone at once to make it easier. Just before they arrived, Sora spoke. 'Hey, Takao?'

'Mm, yes?'

'Please can you go in and ask the others to not jump at me when I walk in. I've barely been awake for half an hour.'

'Alright, Commander.'

The rest of Sora's shipgirls were sitting in the briefing room for no apparent reason. Then Takao walked through the door.

'Everyone,' she called out. 'The Commander's here. Please don't jump on him, he hasn't been up for very long and he's been weakened from being unconscious for three days.' Sora then walked in, followed by Hipper. All eyes followed them as they took they seats at the end of the table.

Sora held up a hand before the others could speak. 'Before you say anything, I have something to tell you about my battle with that really big Siren.' A few of the shipgirls giggled at their commander's very professional choice of words.

'As most of you know, the really big Siren fired a beam weapon at the island I was hiding behind. Thanks to the particles from the beam, even though it didn't hit me, I won't be able to fight with you.' Sora's audience looked shocked but they let him continue.

'The particles affect the muscles, apparently. My entire left side was exposed to them, apart from my head. These particles eat away at muscle very slowly. Slow enough that I won't be majorly affected for a very long time but fast movement helps erode the muscle.'

'I can still technically fight, if I'm sniping from afar, but manoeuvring on the water would probably make it worse so I'll stick to the land. If I can't, then I'll commanded from wherever I can. But hey, I don't need to do this sniping, we don't have to fight anymore. The Sirens are gone.' All the shipgirls looked happy. Except Hipper.

'Of course, there will still be patrolling stuff every now and then and small riots might break out in areas where we can help.'

Sora and his shipgirls continued to chat for a while when Laffey asked about his rigging.

'Commander... when did you get that rigging? I didn't know humans could... use rigging.'

'Yeah tell us!'

'Please, Commander?'

'Alright but I'm not expecting you to believe me.' Sora told them about the cube, Yamato and Musashi and how they had even lent him their strength at one point. The shipgirls were fascinated and most of them believed him. Only Laffey didn't, probably because she had fallen asleep. 'Jeez, you'd think the one who asked would pay the most attention.' They all laughed which Laffey woke up.

After another few days, Sora and his fleet left the main base. When they returned, most of the injured ships had been given sufficient emergency repairs and were sailing to their respective bases.

* Hipper, once again, found Sora sitting on the bench in the clearing on the cliff overlooking the base and the ocean. She joined him on the bench as the sun began to set.

'The sunset's really nice from here,' he said.

'Yeah, it really is.' They sat there in silence for a few moments.

'Y'know how you girls always call me 'Commander'?'

'Yep?'

'Now that we aren't under almost constant threat from Siren's, we can loosen up. I never really enjoyed being called 'Commander' anyway.'

'So what do we call you?'

'You do realise I have a name, right?'

Hipper blushed slightly. 'Yeah, I know. So what is it?'

'Have you really forgotten? I told you when we first met, all those months ago but I guess I have to tell you again.' Hipper blushed a little more. 'I'm Sora, Sora Kaiyo. Nice to meet you, Admiral Hipper,' he said as he turned to face her. Sora held out his hand.

'Nice to meet you too, Sora.' Hipper shook his hand.

'Man, does it feel weird being called by my name by you.'

'I thought you wanted me to!'

'Yeah, I do.' They laughed and turned back to the sunset. The two of them fell back into silence so Sora tried to get the conversation going again. 'You're worried, Hipper. About the future. I can tell.' She looked at him, surprised he knew. 'You think that now the war with the Sirens has ended, after all these years, you have no purpose. You think that you'll be scrapped.'

Hipper started crying. She cried into Sora's shirt. When she spoke, her voice was muffled slightly. 'I've been think about that ever since you said that it's all over, right after you woke up.'

'Don't worry, Hipper. You won't be scrapped. None of you will. Not when you have whole lives ahead of you. You're not human, but you're the closest thing to being human. There is no way you'll be scrapped when there is so much ahead of you.'

'R-really?'

'Yep.' Sora smiled at her and Hipper began to calm down.

'Whenever we're here when the sun sets, I always have a breakdown for some reason.'

Sora laughed. 'C'mon Hipper. That only happened one other time! We've been here when the sun sets may times, break down free. Just let go of it. Relax. Everything's alright now.'

Hipper nodded and rested her head on Sora's shoulder and he smiled. He felt happy there, watching the sunset with Hipper. He had a warm feeling in his chest. Maybe it was a coincident that Hipper had the same feeling.