AQUALUNG OF LOVE pt3 END

Strike Witches-fanfic. Eila knew when she woke up that she would have a pretty bad day, and she wasn't proven wrong. Still, she didn't expect this.
Sequel to "Airplane of Lust".
(Eila/Sanya, mention of Minna/Barkhorn)
Final chapter.

Read AQUALUNG OF LOVE pt3 END

Disclaimer: See part 1.





AQUALUNG OF LOVE pt3 END
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by Carola “Ryûchan” Eriksson





“The camera is not a problem, I’ll ask Trude to take the pictures.” Hartmann informed them blithely before giving Lynette a speculative look. “As for the girlfriend, how about Lynette? Untie the hair and fluff it up, undo a couple of buttons, and have her draped on Eila. It should look convincing enough.”

When both women in question blushed hotly and waved their arms in a strongly emphasised and mortally embarrassed ‘no’, Hartmann harrumphed and scratched her chin, thinking. “How about Shirley then?” The grin this time was positively evil. “She won’t mind, and she’ll drape herself all over you as much as you need.”

The sound that the chair Sanya had been sitting on made as she stood in one swift but stiff motion was not loud, but still cut rather sharply through the ongoing conversation.

Everyone watched in silence as Sanya stood next to Eila with both arms wrapped about one of hers, glaring far from discreetly at a rather amused Hartmann. She didn’t say anything. She didn’t need to.

“I think that will be just perfect.” Hartmann sounded far more gentle than was her norm as she smiled at Sanya clinging to Eila’s arm. Lynette and Miyafuji both smiled and nodded approvingly as well. “Why don’t the two of you get started on replying to the letters and I’ll go ask Trude about the camera.”

With Lynette and Miyafuji’s help the reading and replying to the dreaded letters was less painful and awkward than Eila had expected, especially since either or both of the other girls managed to distract Sanya whenever her mood seemed to darken over a particular section of text or two. By the time Miyafuji and Lynette were called away by Major Sakamoto Eila was shocked to find that they had somehow picked up the Commander along the way, and the older redhead seemed to be an expert in the subject.

Hartmann had left but eventually returned with Barkhorn in tow, and the equipment was put in place and the background arranged. Eila and Sanya both suffered through some fluffing, primping and even some light makeup before the others deemed them fit to have their picture taken.

The actual posing was more of a problem. It was quickly decided, between the three people behind the camera and not Eila or Sanya themselves, that simply standing or sitting in front of the camera with smiles on their faces was not enough. Something more convincing was needed, and in fact the Commander seemed surprisingly keen on convincing Eila’s faraway admirers to stop writing so there was nothing to do but agree and pose to the best of her ability.

Eila would never object to anything that would allow her to hold Sanya in her arms no matter who was watching, and to look at her with obvious affection and adoration was not a difficult thing either. To do both of those things, especially while told to do so and while Sanya herself was told to do the same, well, that was more difficult, if for no other reason that Eila found it very hard to stop blushing. At least Sanya blushed as well.

As those behind the camera discussed things Sanya rested her head against Eila’s shoulder. Shifting a little to better accommodate her, Eila leaned her head against Sanya’s and spoke softly into her hair. “Are you tired?”

“Mm, just a little.” Eila couldn’t see the smile the younger girl wore when she tightened her arms around Sanya at that admission, but she could feel the movement when Sanya gave her shoulder a tiny kiss in gratitude. It nearly made her knees wobble.

“Thanks...” She said even more quietly after a little while. “...for doing this. I hope you’re not regretting volunteering to be my pretend girlfriend?”

Sanya drew back just far enough to pin Eila with a displeased and slightly hurt look. “Pretend?”

Eila’s heart did a rather painful somersault and lodged itself square in her throat. She was dimly grateful that she had Sanya in such a firm hold, because as dizzy as she suddenly felt she would have ended up falling on her face for sure otherwise.

“P-pretend?” She repeated weakly, voice squeaking embarrassingly on the single word. Engrossed in the moment and each other neither Eila nor Sanya noticed how their three onlookers had gone completely still and silent, with their commanding officer keeping a hand firmly clasped over the mouth of her youngest countryman. “D-did you, um, I mean...”

“You... don’t want to be my pretend girlfriend? Is that because you don’t want to pretend you like me? Or is it...” Eila trailed off, unsure of how to ask but desperate to know the answer.

“I am not your ‘pretend’.” Sanya quickly leaned back towards Eila’s shoulder, hiding her face, but not quite fast enough for Eila to miss the blush spreading on pale cheeks. “Don’t want to be ‘pretend’.”

Something exploded in Eila’s chest and she wasn’t even sure what. She was however quite sure there should be trumpets, or flags, or at least some confetti flying around now. She felt both giddy and shy, all at once. “Does that mean that it would be okay... if it wasn’t ‘pretend’?”

The silent nodding made Eila smile like no tomorrow.

“So... being my girlfriend would be okay, if it was for real?”

When the nodding continued Eila cleared her throat and in a rather bashful voice asked something she had wanted to for a long time now, longer even than she herself had realized. “Sanya, would you be my girl?”

“For real?” Came the timid question, somewhat at odds with the hand that came up to tug slightly at the tie Eila had been made to wear.

“For real.” Eila confirmed, and when Sanya looked up at her Eila allowed herself to look back without trying to hide all the boundless affection and adoration she had for the girl in her arms. The green eyes that looked back were swirling with emotions as well, pulling Eila in.

“Yes.” Sanya’s slowly widening smile was the sweetest Eila had ever seen. “My Eila.”

A pale hand came up to tenderly touch Eila’s face, and Eila held it there as she leaned forward until their foreheads touched.

The moment was broken by a sudden sharp noise, and Eila whipped around, chagrined and shocked that she had completely forgotten that she and Sanya were far from alone in the room.

Hartmann offered them a sheepish grin as she tried to catch the metal containers she had dropped and get to her feet, all at once. The other two were blushing slightly and smiling more apologetically, or in Barkhorn’s case more like wincing apologetically and coughing into her fist before pretending nothing was out of the ordinary, not even looking in Eila and Sanya’s direction.

“Sorry about that.” Hartmann didn’t sound too sorry as she dumped the dropped metal containers on a nearby table with a clatter. “But hey, so the two of you are going out now? That’s great!” The blonde ace grinned and gave Sanya an almost comically exaggerated thumbs-up, which had Eila’s brand new girlfriend smile bashfully and intertwine her fingers with Eila’s.

“So when will you have your first date?” Hartmann asked Sanya who in turn directed wide and wondering eyes towards Eila.

Eila started to panic slightly, she’d only had a girlfriend for maybe a minute and people were already expecting her to have at least one date planned for them? She hadn’t spared a single thought to anything of the sort, what they could do, where or when, during the whirlwind of events, and clearly that was careless of her. What was their schedule again?

Unexpectedly the Commander came to Eila’s rescue. “If the current schedule holds, the two of you have some time off the day after tomorrow.” There was something strange about the way she glanced at Barkhorn when she spoke, Eila thought, but after Major Sakamoto’s warning she wasn’t too keen on speculating what it might be. And either way, a helping hand was a helping hand. “You have enough time off to, say, take a short trip into town for, oh, an early matinee and dinner before curfew?”

Eager again Eila grinned widely and looked at Sanya who simply smiled and nodded in reply to the unasked question. “That sounds great! Thank you Commander.”

Hartmann leaned towards them and began suggesting a variety of things from transportation to suitable matinees and good restaurants to Sanya, but Eila found herself only half listening, distracted by the sight of her commanding officer not only gluing herself to Barkhorn’s back but quite conspicuously pushing her chest into the other woman as well.

When the redhead whispered something into Barkhorn’s ear the expression she wore could not quite be covered by merely ‘sultry’, and the terribly embarrassed Eila realized with a start that neither woman knew they were being watched. Of those in the room only Eila was turned towards the camera by now, behind which Barkhorn and the Commander were, well, Eila thought one could call it standing. At least on Barkhorn’s part.

She scratched her head and wondered if she should excuse herself and Sanya now and make a run for it, preferably before either Hartmann turned around or before the Commander realized Eila had been standing in front of them. She wasn’t too keen on finding out what either woman would do if embarrassed.

“Erm, well, I’m sure we got a few very good pictures out of that. I’ll let you know when they’ve been developed.” Barkhorn almost sounded her usual self to Eila. Almost. “I’ll just... finish up here, so why don’t you go...”

Clearly blanking out on what reason she should give to get the rest of them to leave herself and the Commander alone, Barkhorn turned towards her partner for help. It didn’t matter as Hartmann, apparently ignorant of what was going on behind her, jumped in with eager helpfulness. “I’ll help you out, Trude. We’ll get everything tucked away in a flash.”

“I thought I’d impose on you, Trude, to take a photo or two of me as well if you don’t mind?” The Commander intervened smoothly, much to Eila’s admiration. “Since you have all your equipment out and all? You girls can go right ahead, I’ll stay and help out afterwards and we’ll catch up to you in a little while.”

“A photo?” Hartmann brightened even further. “It has been ages since the three of us last had a photo taken! What a great idea!”

Eila wasn’t sure why she stepped forward, just that the stunned and slightly disappointed looks she was faced with struck a cord. It wasn’t such a big thing, to want to be able to take a picture as a couple, was it? It seemed mean if she didn’t try to help somehow. “Actually I was hoping you could go over the letters Sanya and I wrote, being more experienced at this than we are. I was also kind of hoping you would let me, um, write down your suggestions for our date? I haven’t really been off-base here for more than the bare necessities so I’m not very familiar with what would be good places to take Sanya.”

While it rankled her a bit to have to make herself seem even more incompetent in front of Sanya, it really was the only thing she could think of. And catching the startled looks directed at her while Hartmann was occupied by grinning at Sanya had Eila feel rather good about herself. She made a small gesture for the other two to back her up.

“Ah, I see.” The Commander stepped in, going from blinking in surprise to warmly convincing in less than a heartbeat. “Yes, you go help them out, it really would be a relief to have that settled finally. And the three of us will make sure to have our picture taken next time, right Trude?”

Eila didn’t hear whatever Barkhorn answered as the three of them were discreetly ushered out of the room, because she turned her attention back to Sanya and, gathering courage somehow, did something she had only dared to imagine before. She leaned in to place a brief but tender kiss right above Sanya’s ear before gently tugging her along.

Her reward was not only a pretty blush and pleased smile, but Sanya also wrapped her free hand around Eila’s arm and pulled closer, leaning her head against Eila’s shoulder lightly as they walked. Eila knew she was grinning like a fool, but she neither could nor would do anything about it. After all, Sanya had agreed to be her girl.

The rest of the day passed quickly and in something of a haze for Eila, despite the teasing she had to endure once certain people found out that she and Sanya were now officially dating, and almost before she knew it bedtime had arrived.

She supposed it should have been awkward, for her at any rate, or different in some big and obvious way, especially since they were to sleep together as was their habit, but strangely she didn’t find it so different at all. Although Eila might have blushed a bit more as she looked away from Sanya when they were both changing into their sleepwear, well, that was not too far from their usual routine.

It was when they curled up in bed like they had that morning, sharing a blanket and wrapped tightly in each other’s arms, with Sanya using Eila for a headrest more than their single pillow, that things felt different. Eila placed a few gentle kisses to the top of Sanya’s head and brushed slow, soothing circles on her back with one hand, and not only did it seem to be quite acceptable to Sanya, Eila received a sweet little kiss to her cheek before Sanya burrowed in deeper into her shoulder and played with Eila’s hair until she fell asleep. Happy and at peace Eila joined her with a smile still on her lips.

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The day of the date came before Eila felt she had prepared herself properly for it, but thanks to the help she had gotten the date itself was at least well planned. On the insistence of her superiors Eila was going to wear her uniform even though she hadn’t intended to and Sanya was not, because they thought that being easily identified as a member of the 501st would help ensure that they would not get any unwanted attention in town. Giving herself a quick but thorough polish that had both Major Sakamoto and Barkhorn nod in approval, Eila at least felt her uniform shone to the best of its ability.

She still felt hopelessly drab and unappealing a few moments after she laid eyes on Sanya. It took a few moments for her to regain her breath, much less her ability to form coherent thought, because the other girl was just too beautiful. Eila had seen Sanya get whisked away by a smiling Commander earlier, after overhearing the tail end of a conversation in which Sanya appeared to have asked the older girl to help her ‘make pretty’, but as Eila already thought Sanya was the most beautiful creature alive she really didn’t think there was anything that could be improved upon.

The bashful little angel in a white dress and a short pale blue jacket that was receiving a last-moment application of lip-gloss by the Commander when Eila walked in was just so stunningly beautiful that Eila was left grasping at her heart, held more or less upright by her smiling friends.

Once her wits had returned Eila regretted not looking better herself, but at the same time it became quite clear to her why it had been suggested she go on their date in uniform. Surely any single male in town, or anyone at all actually, that were to lay eyes on Eila’s beautiful girl would try to catch her attention any way they could. Hopefully all the things the uniform indicated would let them enjoy their handful of hours of leave, and if not... Eila straightened with determination.

The Commander fussed over a shy but happy Sanya much like a mother would for her daughter going on her first date, and it made Eila feel infinitely grateful towards the older girl to behold. With her parents gone somewhere half a world away her Sanya could do with some motherly or sisterly pampering sometimes, or just someone besides Eila herself to go to for advice. Eila soon felt more embarrassed than anything else as the Commander tucked the lip-gloss into Sanya’s tiny handbag and gave some final instructions in a low voice and while wearing an expression that made Eila worry. Finally though she had Sanya’s slender hand in hers and the two of them set off for the transportation that would take them into town.

If asked, Eila would not have been able to say much about the matinee she took Sanya to. In fact she did not even recall the name, all she was aware of was her arm slung over Sanya’s shoulders and Sanya’s head leaning on hers.

Completely mesmerized by the girl in her arms Eila never paid any attention to what they were watching, all her focus on Sanya’s face, Sanya’s hand in hers, the scent of Sanya’s hair, how it felt as they cuddled together in the dimly lit theatre. So overwhelmed were her senses that Eila could feel her powers wanting to activate, her second ears itching to come out from just under the surface. She had to push the urge down several times before the show was over.

Dinner was easier, because the restaurant Hartmann had recommended to them was perfect for the occasion, and because they managed to relax and laugh a lot. It was also in part more difficult, for during at least some of the meal Eila could swear that Sanya was deliberately flirting with her. Feeling more than just a bit flushed and light-headed at the end of their dinner, Eila was grateful for the slightly cool air as the two of them took a small stroll through town before meeting their ride back to base.

Just before leaving Eila managed to procure a single flower for Sanya from a street vendor, which made Sanya disproportionally happy and earned Eila a sweet little kiss to the cheek, all despite not being the red rose that Eila had wanted to get for her girlfriend. For the ride back they couldn’t really cuddle as they might have wanted, Eila was drawn reluctantly into conversation with the soldier that drove the truck while Sanya simply sat silently admiring her new flower. They managed to discreetly hold hands though, which to Eila’s mind was a pretty wonderful thing all on its own.

Once dropped off at the base Sanya took control and steered them not exactly to the main entrance, but rather to a slightly secluded corner not far from it, hidden by a tree and some bushes. Briefly the glowing blue-green antenna-like shape of Sanya’s power made an appearance – the glowing crown of her beautiful princess, as Eila liked to think of it – as the younger girl made sure the two of them was truly alone. After she had been satisfied that there was indeed no-one lurking in the bushes or anywhere else, Sanya turned to Eila with a shy smile and stepped close enough to slowly slide her hands up Eila’s shoulders until she had her arms wrapped around Eila’s neck.

Eila suffered a brief bout of panic when Sanya tilted her face upward and closed her eyes, very clearly asking to be kissed. Nervous but determined to do it right Eila wrapped one arm tightly around Sanya’s waist, pulling her even closer, while touching the side of her face with the other. Swallowing hard, Eila leaned down to gently touch her lips to Sanya’s.

It was even sweeter than she had imagined it would be. One brief touch was not enough, and by the way Sanya’s arms tightened their hold around her neck and refused to let any space between them, the younger girl agreed. They kissed again and again, becoming a little bit better at it and a little bit more involved with each passing.

Finally they had to stop to gasp for breath. Sanya blushed and hid her face against Eila’s shoulder, but Eila could still clearly feel her smile against the side of her neck. They held each other lovingly and Eila was so happy she felt she could just burst.

“I love you.” On impulse she whispered the truth, her truth, into soft silvery hair near Sanya’s ear.

Sanya drew back a little to look at her with large and astounded green eyes that were quickly tearing up. Despite already being in Eila’s arms she managed to tackle her with enough force that Eila took a stumbling step or two backwards before regaining her footing, the girl she loved so much sobbing slightly in her embrace.

“I love you too, Eila. I love you too!”

Eila gasped. The skies opened up and rain came pouring down, quickly going from drizzle to downpour. It didn’t matter, it was still the most perfect moment in all the world.

Torn between laughing and sobbing at the same time, Eila lifted her girlfriend and jubilantly spun her around and around, until they were both laughing like the children they could have been. A clap of thunder eventually encouraged them to finally head inside.

Hand in hand they raced through the rain, still with wide smiles on their faces. Eila decided that whatever happened she would never let go of that hand in hers. No matter what life threw at them.