Kantai Collection: Death Throes

A Promise Twisted

"So not even letting the flying dutchman take revenge did the trick huh?" The fleet admiral mumbles as he, Miss Lycoris, the admirals and the two Abyssal flagships all lounge in the common room, wondering why Jack and Kongou were still not fully at rest yet.

"If it's not something that's still here driving the flying dutchman, then what could possibly be driving it?" Miss Lycoris asks.

"Honestly, I'm kinda stumped here." Vinh replies. "Is it just here because it has a grudge that just can't be settled? Do WE have something to do with it?"

"We weren't able to save them in time, but that couldn't possibly lead to them taking their anger out on us." Felicia says.

"What if it's like an onryo? Only here just because it wants to kill?" Linh asks. "I mean our legends of these spirits have held true up to a certain point, but could it be that?"

"I highly doubt it." Ru replies. "We were able to damage the flying dutchman with our shells, even if it was just for a brief moment, and force it back with Summer's bombs. If it truly were an onryo, all of our ammo would have passed straight through without a scratch. There's something that's tying the dutchman to this plane of existence."

"You're definitely right about that, but what exactly is driving and tying it here still eludes us..." Linh says. That's when Summer walks in.

"So... About this whole flying dutchman thing, I haven't heard too much about what happened before. All I know is that the former admiral went down with his ship. Would you mind if I got to know a little more about them?" She asks as she plops onto one of the couches next to Vinh.

"Yeah, I guess it wouldn't hurt." Vinh replies as he heads into Kongou's room, now turned into a memorial room, and returns to the common room with her camera before showing Summer some of the many pictures that she and Jack had taken together. "Jack was the admiral's name, and this was Kongou."

"I see..." Summer mumbles as she looks through the pictures, giggling at the cuter ones they took.

"Even before Jack became an admiral he was on really good terms with Kongou. I remember when we were all lieutenants he would always be joining her for tea time. When you become part of the admiralty you usually get assigned a ship girl to act as your secretary and your loyal ally in our cause, and when Jack joined those ranks, Kongou made it very clear who was going to be his secretary." Vinh chuckles, remembering how Kongou barged into the room with the admiralty looking at her in shock as she declared that she would be Jack's secretary, complete with "Burning... LOVE!!!"

"Oh yeah I remember that." Linh chuckles. "I remember the fleet admiral was like "What in the world?!" Or something like that."

"I certainly wasn't expecting Kongou to burst into the office like that, but she made it pretty clear that she wouldn't settle for anyone else but Jack, and the two only bonded even more as time flew and he ascended the ranks." The fleet admiral adds. "If it weren't for their sudden demises he would have replaced me as fleet admiral in due time. He even took advantage of our little promise system- I think I have a little photo of that moment... Let me see." He says as he heads into his quarters while Vinh returns the camera back to Kongou's room. When the fleet admiral returns he shows Summer the candid picture he took, capturing the exact moment Kongou latched onto Jack, seconds before they both fell to the ground and she peppered his face with sweet, tender and passionate kisses.

"Aww this is so cute!" Summer giggles.

"Wait you took a picture of that?" Felicia chuckles as everyone gets to look at the picture and have a little laugh. That's when Kongou's words begin echoing in Felicia's head.

"I'll never let you go!" Were Kongou's exact words.

"Wait... Those rings..." Felicia says. "Don't those have some strange properties to them?"

"Those rings tied their fates together, ensuring they lived a long happy life, but we never expected them to die in battle like that." The fleet admiral replies. "Wait a second... The rings!"

"What about the rings?" Summer asks before she also realizes it as well. "The rings aren't on their fingers anymore! So where could they have gone?"

"Well they didn't fall off. So reported that they saw glints meaning they were still on their hands." Ta says. "They must be inside the flying dutchman!"

"Perhaps if we somehow remove those rings and destroy them, it would break their ties and then they can finally rest!" The fleet admiral says. "But who's willing and gutsy enough to do that?"

"There's no time for that kind of question! The flying dutchman is back!" A Ne-Class girl calls out as she rushes into the common room.

"Let's put that theory to the test." Ru says as everyone heads out.