===
Hooooly wow. This feels great.
'Akashi was NOT kidding about feeling better than new, I think I just got shit fixed that I didn't know needed fixing!'
'How long does this take anyways? There's no timer or anything, but it can't be too much longer, right? It's been an hour or so by now...?'
After a few more hours where I definitely didn't fall asleep, I wake up and request a DC report. The same ghost sailor floats out of a hatch again and informs me they've found more or less everything repaired, with only minor scratches here and there.
"Seriously? Even the coffee machine?" That damn thing hasn't worked right ever since 2062, that's fucking fantastic!
She nods enthusiastically and disappears back in eagerly.
"Thank the Seer for the small things, I suppose?" I haul myself out of the pool and make my way back to the locker, turning my internal heating up a little as the temperature difference hits.
'Time for the moment of truth.' I tug at my shirt experimentally, and there's a brief twinge before the thing just comes away cleanly!
It's a bit of a shame it didn't remove the bloodstains or the hole, or the blood and metal still clinging to it though. I'll have to fix that later.
Underneath is skin with a touch of scarring... And metallic flecks? '...Thaaaat's probably a thing that comes with being a boat person?'
Whatever. I'm in a good mood. The goodest of moods even! I just gotta get dressed!
And make some coffee. Standard Issue has to be something nice for all the praise on it. 'What even was Julianne's favored brew-oh nice, it's saved in here! Let's see...'
===
I turn out the lights in DD Berth 3, the sound of quietly sleeping DDs behind me. Putting the storybooks down gently on the countertop, I close the doors.
It's not the same, though-
'No, no, bad Tenryuu. Don't think like that.'
Shaking myself, I go to check back up on Rampart.
I think I know why I feel kinda like a stranger now. The halls 're a lot quieter than I remember. Used to be that you'd have groups of people walking around talking with each other, just shootin the breeze, and base folks carryin round files, supplies, the whatnot.
Now every so often I see a group of em luggin round a trolley of stuff, or a couple doctors and one of the repair ships, plus someone on a gurney.
Nobody talks or jokes, they just disappear round the corner.
Nobody's walkin round laughing, no more groups of destroyers running through the halls chased by someone...
"..."
'Fuck, I need someone to talk to, get this off a my chest or better yet forgettabout-'
As if in response, there's a joyous whoop from around the corner, something shattering, and then someone explodes into view. A blur kicks off of one wall, kicks off the second and-
"UNGH!" Ow...Ffffuck that HURT. What hit me?!
"Who the- Rampart?" I open my eyes and find a grinning destroyer straddling me, eyes wide open.
"...Okay, so middle of the hallway wouldn't be my first choice but-" A finger on my lips interrupts me.
"That stuff fixed the coffee machine! Hahaha~!" She claps, doing a small cheer.
'...coffee? Wait don't tell me this is her on caffeine? Oh no, there's a reason why the espresso's under armed guard and kept well away from the destroyers!'
"Arright, let's not get too excited here, uh, maybe- Mmph!" She just- she just kissed me!
Drawing back, she wipes her mouth off with a sleeve, still with a maniac grin on her face. "See, I gotta make the best of this right? While I don't have all my marbles flat, I gotta do everything I couldn't otherwise!"
"I-what? Marbles flat?" What the fuck?
"Yeah! Lost your marbles, straight and narrow, put em together and you get flat marbles, which are sad and stupid just like the normal me! See, if the world's gonna end, I'm not gonna die alone, see?" She grins and nods like it makes perfect sense.
'...eh? Wait is she comin in for another ki-'
flump.
Her eyes close midlean, and she flops over on top of me, fast asleep.
I guess it wasn't a massive amount of coffee, since she ran outta steam in like, what, thirty seconds? Small blessins I guess.
"Mmmh..."
"Wha-hey, hands! Personal space!" Geez, even modern destroyers really just inherited the cuddler tendencies didn't they?!
This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.
"Mmm~” Goddamnit why's she so stupid strong?! It's like being wrapped up in a hug by one of the battleships!
'...'m not gonna say no though...'
===
"Wha...?"
'Who-who's there?' I push myself up, glancing around, RADAR sweeping. Nothing's on the scope. It's just an apparently infinite flat landscape of jack squat.
"...?" I bend down and brush at the floor. Perfectly smooth, like oiled glass.
Waiting for a while, my IFF reports in, and suddenly my vision is filled with flickering shapes, their colors flickering back and forth from blue to red and back again.
"Well that's unpleasant. Nnh... Goddamnit, someone turn that off!" On instinct I reach to my hip and find... the butt of a handgun?
On closer look, it's my cannon mounted to a pistol grip. A little readout gives me 26 rounds in the autoloader.
'Fucking weird but okay, cool, 127mm pistol.'
I hear a rustling in the distance. "Misplaced child..."
"Who's there? Identify yourself!" I don't see anything. Where's this transmission coming from?
'There!' I whirl around, gun coming up, before something reaches out of the dark and swats me into the air.
"Oof! Ungh! Ow..." I skip off the ground a few times and something goes snap inside, but otherwise I think I'm fine.
Y'know, with broken bones. Fine.
With a groan I pick myself up, looking towards where that came from...
"I-Identify yourself! Who-" A sigh settles out of everywhere at once, before someone seems to walk out of nowhere, iridescent.
It fixes me with a burning stare, and I find I can't look away from it's endless, flat gaze.
Its voice comes from everywhere, deafening and terrible. "Now, do you have your answer?"
Something like a chime rings, and the world shatters out from under us. I hang there for an infinity, locked into it's eyes. Something about this thing is...
Searching me.
No, ripping out everything inside me slowly, hollowing me out with a rusting battered trowel, and pulling it through my eyes.
A scream wells up in my throat, feeling like honey as it struggles to get out, before in these years of a moment the stranger finishes it's task and blinks.
===
I wake up to a grunt and someone muttering. "S-so, Rampart, you up yet? Gah..."
Opening my eyes, I find... "Tenryuu?"
"Oh, hey! Could-couldja let up? Gods above girl, you trying to crush me or something?" She gives me a weary yet gently amused look, hair mussed and one of her ear things askew.
'Wait was I just giving her a death grip all the way through that?' I hastily loosen up and break the embrace, pushing myself up with my arms.
"Oh! So sorry, I- wait, what happened?" Tenryuu blinks, and then claps her hands together, pointing them at me.
"Weeeell, mostly just hugging. Seriously wow where does all that engine output come from? But, also, I learned you're decent at kissing and shouldn't be trusted with coffee."
"...huh?" Mentally, I play back the video logs-
"Oh. I-I'm sorry, I-"
The cruiser shakes her head, giving me a grin.
"S'okay, just be more gentle next time?" A faux lilt enters her voice, as she gives me some surprisingly good puppy dog eyes. (Eye?) I fight back some minor reddening...
"...no, die. I might've been built in the age of weebs and internet but I will not have that here!" Tenryuu snickers and returns to her smile.
"Alright, so can you get off now? I think my legs are goin to sleep, and you're pretty darn heavy. Like, this is kinda hot n all but the hallway floor sucks."
"Oh, uh, give me your hand-" I stand up, pulling the cruiser to her feet. She brushes off her clothes and does a quick series of stretches, as she gives me a glance.
"Hey, what happened in there by the way?"
"What?"
Her grin fades a little. "Back when you were tryin to hug me to death, your face... Didja have a nightmare or somethin?"
"...Kinda. I mean, between the magic water and... This," gesturing across my body, "I... I don't know. Still trying to process... But it didn't feel like a nightmare."
Tenryuu gives me a pensive look, and turns around, looking down the hallway. "Hmm. C'mon, there's a lounge somewhere 'round here we can sit down for a while in."
"...Affirm."
===