Life As A Commander

Chapter 59: Habits

"Emily, is Bel okay?" I took a seat beside Emily.

"She's fine." Emily replied. "I just want you to have a chat with her. She has some stuff she wants to say to you." She then promptly got up and walked away so that we could get some privacy.

"Soooo...What'd ya wanna talk about?"

"..." Belfast only sat there staring into nothing.

I placed my hand onto her shoulder. "Bel, it's okay to talk to me about it. I wont be angry." 

"Why do always insist on doing things your own way?" She whispered in a hoarse voice. "I already know how much you've heard this. But you still insist on doing it yourself."

"..." I couldn't form an answer.

"So why? You have a fleet for a reason. There's a reason why we're here. So why?" As each word escaped her lips, the more desperation seeped out of her voice.

"If I were to give an answer, it would be that it's just how I am. I just got so used to Amy not being at home that I just got so used to doing things on my own. Obviously Emily now tries to help out but back then when she was younger, I was the one to take care of her."

"Then why cant you just try and let others help you?"

"C'mon, you of all people should know why it's not that easy. It's pretty hard to break habits."

"Can you at least try?" Belfast's voice adopted a more frustrated tone.

"I've been trying. But look at where that got me. Eugen got sent to another world with me. And then she loses a part of herself for half a month. Every time I try to het people help, they just get hurt because of me." I let out a pitiful sigh.

"But you're also hurting us by not letting us help. Do you know how bad it feels to see your commander get hurt when you could have perfectly prevented it from happening."

"...I'd gladly sacrifice my life for the people I care about." I tightened the grip on my shirt.

"And we'd gladly sacrifice our lives for you. That is what we were made for after all."

"Don't...I don't know if I could take it if one of you died on my watch."

"We wont."

"What?" When I looked up, I saw Belfast smiling at me with a calming aura radiating off of her.

"Trust your abilities as a commander. Plus with your plans to form an alliance with the sirens and how that's going. There doesn't seem to be much of a concern in many conflicts."

"That's wrong. They're still willing to attack and invade us and our planet. There will definitely be more conflicts in the future." 

"Stop it with the solemn talk. You're the one who's supposed to be comforting me. Not the other way around."

"Right, well. Are you okay?"

"I'll be okay once you start to listen to my advice." Belfast said in a stern tone.

"You of all people should know how hard it is to break habits." I gave her a deadpanned expression. 

Belfast then let out a tired sigh. "It feels a lot better to let all of that off my chest." I then felt a hard chop to the top of my head. "I swear to god, every time you do something dumb, it just puts all that weight back on me."

"Well, like I said, I'll try to break that habit." I chuckled as I stood up. "Lets finish our day, shall we?" I held my hand out to her to help her up.

"Of course." She took my hand.

As we walked to Emily I realized that Belfast was still holding my hand.

"Sooo, how long are you going to hold my hand for?" I smirked.

"W-What?" Belfast almost instantly retracted her hand.

"I'm just kidding. You can hold my hand for now if it makes you feel better." I chuckled.

"Geez, are you sure you're not Eugen's long lost brother?" Belfast crossed her arms with a pout.

"Doubt it. I aint part German." I replied with a shrug.

When we arrived at where Emily was, she immediately asked. "Bel, are you feeling okay now?"

"Yep, I'm feeling just fine." Bel had a bright smile on her face.

"Great! Now lets continue our fun day!" Emily declared.

NONE POV

In a lab within a siren base, stood Tester who was looking through many files. But her research was soon stopped as another siren had made their appearance in her lab.

"Tester, what information have you gathered on the wisdom cube?" She demanded.

"From what we have observed from our countless battles; the wisdom cube is a device that allows the user to harness the power and abilities of naval warships." Tester replied.

"Tester, that is all information that I already know about."

"Aww, come on. You always scold me for not giving you the basic information." Tester teasingly smiled.

"Just tell me the new info you got on your recent recon mission."

"Well, we got some new information on the commander's wisdom cube." Tester said as she pulled out a document. "Basically, the commander's wisdom cube allows the user to use all of the naval warships and use their abilities. Though it is just a theory, I believe that something is restricting him from using his wisdom cube to its highest potential. That's all that I've been able to discern for now. But give me a little more time and I might get some valuable information."

"That's perfect. I'll go and look through these documents now." The siren took the document and walked out of Tester's lab.

"If you plan on making a frontal assault, then can I suggest that I come along for it as well along with Regenerator and Accelerator?"

"I'll keep that in mind." And with that the siren had fully left Tester's lab.