Chapter 1: Short life in the garden and the birth of the wolf pup named Okami

A/n: okay...after finally getting to watch Darling in the franxx. I am actually impressed at how good it is, I'm only on episode 8 now, So I'll get to finishing up. Now yes, I know that all of you are wondering where I have been and why I haven't updated anything.

Simple:

Major family and financial issues took up my time and had to be taken care of first. My parent was low on money, So I made sure to work hard each day to support her. And a family member of mine has passed last week and I'll be going to the funeral today. So yes, That is why I have been missing in action for so long.

Now this will be my take on Darling in the franxx, In my own way. After reading Darling in the franxx: Homecoming by CulpableGlint.

Note: check out that persons story, It's awesome!

I have decided to throw my hat into the mix as well and give it a shot too. I did a lot of research and have my notes all set, So I hope that I do a good job.

And yes, I know about keijo, I'm not forgotten about any of my other stories, It's just that my brain like to do new ideas the second I like an anime that I find interesting. And mechas are my absolute favorite things! So I just had to.

So with help from CulpableGlint, I was able to understand more on the characters and the emotions that they didn't understand, That was where I had to do countless hours of reading and searching online. But I think I'm good.

-deep breath- okay...here we go.

-the garden-

In an area covered in vast amounts of snow and trees, Stood two facilities. One in the development of children known as parasites, The second, A research hub that towered over and stood watch over the children.

Adults left and right coming and going, Checking on the Children, Or Taking them away. They had no knowledge of the outside world, But what they did have was each other. And so they clung to one another like a family, As they waited for their parents that would in reality never come back for them.

"Name?" Code 15 ponders as Code 16 nods at her with a sweet smile.

"Yeah! I gave myself a name, My name is Hiro" Code 16 now known as Hiro tells her as he then ponders a name for her "And I think that I could name you, Ichigo" Hiro tells her.

Code 15 just held her bear toy tightly as she just looked at him with a mixture of curiosity and confusion at this given name to her. "Ichigo..." Code 15 now as Ichigo muttered to herself. That's when the other children then began to come over asking for a name for themselves.

"Give me a name!".

"I want one too!".

"Can I have one? I want a name".

Hiro smiles as he then began to name each child that was there in their small white room with checkered colored tiles. They felt like they were someone with their newfound names. Hiro then explained to them that names given to themselves would give them a sense of uniqueness since their only name is a code. And thus, His fame among the children of the garden was born.

Every child then spoke with one another about their new name that was given to them.

Well...all but one child who was sitting in the corner by himself, Holding a wolf plush. His code was 300, Code 300 just held his wolf plush ever so closely to his chest, His orange and azure blue eyes shadowed by his grey and white shoulder length shaggy hair. He mostly kept to himself most of the time, Too nervous to express himself to the other children. Something that Ichigo had happen to notice about him.

In fact, Ever since day one when the children were at the garden in there little playroom, Ichigo had always kept her eye on code 300, Although she never understood why she did. But whatever the reason may be, She decided to continue doing so. But today, She was going to finally speak to him. Ichigo then carefully made her way to code 300, She was that the child had his head down in his toy, Breathing slowly with each exhale that came from his nose. Ichigo found it adorable as she smiled at him, As she then proceeded to sit with him and lay her head onto his shoulder. She glanced at his wolf plushie and poked it.

'He likes wolves I guess' she assumed in her head as she then began to look and then play with his hair a bit. However this made code 300 wake up from his nap, As he felt the girl touch his hair. He looked to his side and instantly jumped.

"Agh! W-what are you doing?!" He asked her in surprise. Ichigo just blinked as she then played with her hair a bit "Sorry..." she expressed "I just...saw that you were by yourself all the time. And...I...wanted to get to know you".

"So touching me is your way of getting to know me?!" Code 300 asked her in a bit of anger in his voice. Ichigo then stopped playing with her hair as she looked at code 300 once more "I said I was sorry..." she told him again "But you just...looked so sad by yourself. So I...wanted to...talk to you".

Code 300 wanted to say something to that, But she was right, He was sad when he was by himself. He was angry at himself that he couldn't break out of his nervousness, But here was a girl, Someone who kept an eye on him all this time, And spoke to him. He was happy that she was talking to him, And he felt like he had earned a friend as he waited for his parents. He then started to soften at her as he then spoke to her.

"That's...nice of you to take your time to come and talk to me" code 300 told her "But creepy that you kept watch on me ever since day one and didn't say anything to me then!" He added, Getting Ichigo to giggle at him. "Sorry" She said with a smile across her face "Oh! My name is Ichigo!" She introduced.

Code 300 just looked at her with absolute confusion.

"Name? Ichigo? What's that? And what do they mean?" Code 300 asked her hoping that she would provide him with an answer.

"Hiro gave me this name! Code 16 I mean! I don't know what it means either, But it sounds better than our codes, Don't you think?" Ichigo asked him still showing that smile of hers at him. Code 300 blinked, He had heard of code 16, And he had seen him too. But he never once interacted with any of them and just kept to himself until Ichigo spoke to him. Code 300 then began to ponder a bit.

"Better than our codes huh...?" Code 300 thought out-loud until he then looked at Ichigo with curiosity and asked her something:

"Then...can you give me a name then?".

Ichigo then just looked at code 300, She had finally got the courage to speak to the person she had been watching for so long, And now he asked her if she could name him. Ichigo honestly didn't know how to name him, She wasn't good at it like Hiro, But she then looked at the wolf toy in his hands, And remembered what Hiro told her what a wolf is called. She smiled again and spoke:

"Okami!".

"O..Kami...?".

"Mhm! It means wolf! That's what your wolf is called, An Okami" Ichigo expressed with happiness in her voice, Proud that she was able to name code 300. Code 300, Now under the nickname Okami then looked at his stuffed toy. "So I'm a wolf..." he muttered to himself. Ichigo looked at him, Still smiling as she then noticed the small smirk growing on Okami's lips. Okami then looked up at Ichigo "Thanks" he thanked her.

-three weeks latter-

In the spam of three weeks, Okami and Ichigo had began to bond and grow closer together as friends, She was able to help him break out of his nervousness, And help him bond with the other children. And he was a lot more happier than ever before, Unfortunately today unbeknownst to them would be the last time that they would see each other.

Okami was playing with Ichigo and Hiro, They were playing with the ball that Ichigo had in her possession tossing it back and forth. However when they tossed it around for the 8th time, The door to their playroom opened as two adults; A male and female, Came into the room. The female adult was looking at a chart that had a list of children from codes 225-300.

"Is he in here?" The female adult asked the man.

"Let me see...ha! Here he is. Code 300!" The man said as he then walked over to the three children and placed his hand onto Okami's shoulder, The ball stopping right at his feet. Okami, Hiro, And Ichigo just looked at the adult in silence until he spoke to the child.

"Sorry code 300" the man said "But I'm afraid that you're going to have to say goodbye to your little friends here".

Okami was absolutely confused.

"Huh? Why? Why do I have to say goodbye to my friends?" The child questioned the adult until the woman that was with him soon spoke up with impatience "Enough questions! Now come with us code 300!" She demanded. Okami slightly flinched at her harsh tone, But the man then rubbed his head to calm him.

"Don't let her scare you little guy" the man told him "But you do have to make your goodbyes and come with us, Okay".

Okami still didn't understand why he had to just suddenly leave the playroom, Away from his new friends. He honestly didn't want to go with them.

This however didn't sit well with them, Especially Ichigo. The young girl then walked over to him and stood close to him. "Why do you have to go?" She asked him until looking at the male adult "Will you bring him back?".

The man sighed, He really liked the kids in the garden, But he didn't want to tell her the truth that Okami wouldn't be coming back at all. However before he could say anything, The woman marched over and forcefully snatched Okami's wolf plush from his grip and threw it aside and grabbed his hand and walked to the door, Basically dragging the boy away. She then heard Okami cry to his friends.

"No! I don't wanna leave! I don't wanna leave my friends! Let me go! Let me go!".

The woman just coldly ignored his cries as they were then out of the playroom. Ichigo was absolutely devastated by this scene and she then started to cry as she then looked at the man again. "Where are you taking Okami?! Bring him back!" She asked and demanded. The man could only looked to the side as he saw the toy that was forcefully taken from code 300 as he then walked over to it and picked it up and gave it to Ichigo, Ichigo was sniffling and rubbing her eyes, With Hiro both comforting and helping her until she then opened one of her eyes to see the man holding out his left arm, The wolf plush held out to her.

Ichigo instantly grabbed it from him, Clutching it tightly close, Her sounds of sniffles still being made. The man then stood up, Gave them a look of sadness before heading out as well, However Hiro was curious as to where they were taking his friend.

"Umm, Where are you taking our friend?" Hiro asked "Why do they need him? Are you bringing him back?".

The man turned to Hiro and kneeled to him, He knew that the boy was one of the teens, And he knew how curious he was in asking questions, So the man played it off easily.

"Your friend is just going to be doing a test, That's all".

"For how long will he be gone?".

"I can't say for sure, It's classified".

"Why is that?".

Heh, You are a curious one aren't ya code 16" the man expressed "But I honestly cannot tell you, Otherwise I'll be in trouble. But we'll take care of him. Don't you worry". And with that, The man stood up and left the children. Hiro was upset that his questions were once again unanswered by the adults, But he brushed it aside to comfort his friend Ichigo as the girl kept crying and keeping her hold onto Okami's toy.

-meanwhile-

Okami was still being dragged by the woman, He was trying to struggle, But that only made the woman angrier and even more forceful with him.

"Enough struggling code 300! Now get your act together!" The woman scolded him. However Okami wasn't having any of it. "No!" He shouted "Take me back! I wanna stay with my friends! I don't wanna leave them!".

The woman couldn't take it anymore with the child's disobedience, As she then then leaned down to him and straight up punched him across his left cheek with enough force to draw a little blood from his mouth, But it was effective as he was now out cold. The woman then picked the child up over her shoulder as her accomplice came over to her.

"You could have-".

*slap*

The woman was taken back by the males sudden action as he then took code 300 out of her grip, And pulled out a small white cloth to clean the blood that was on his lower lip seeping out.

"You don't hit children, And you sure as hell don't punch them either!" The man scolded the woman as he gently had the boy's head on his shoulder, Comforting him as he rubbed his back and took him.

-large room-

Inside a large room, Many children were present. And like Okami, They were just as demanding to go back to their friends. Dr. Franxx as well as seven individuals all dressed in black suits, Their faces covered by animal masks, All but one that had the most human like mask out of them. The seven individuals were watching the children behind a black glass window, looking ever so proud at how the children were basically being forced to undergo with the Seven Sages project.

The Seven Sages: Gorilla, Marmoset, Vice Chairman, Lemur, Baboon, Tarsier, And the leader, Founder of APE, And god-like figure of the world: Papa.

The Seven Sages were looking over the children with the absolutely lowest aptitude results. They wanted those with low scores for an experimental test known as the Belladonna unit. The Belladonna unit, An organization of child soldiers that are made to fight and live on the battlefield. Their duty never ending, Their purpose was to die for the adults, No matter the cost, Their mission to kill all Klaxosaurs was the only thing that should matter to them and nothing else.

However they knew that they wouldn't just willingly agree to this, So they hatched an idea. The idea, Was to memory wipe their minds completely, With the exception of their code names. They wanted to make these children learn everything from scratch, They wanted them to be 100% ruthless, Unhesitant, Cold-hearted, Absolutely loyal to their every order, And full of rage. They wanted monsters, And monsters they were going to get.

was ordered to make a special elixir for them that was highly infused with the blood of the Klaxosaur Katze-Chimare. A Klaxosaur with the body of a wolf, But the head of a cat. The things were the size of wolves, But there were extremely rare ones that ranged to the size of a large plantation, With the exception of their cores being in the center of the chest, But hard to reach due to that types cannon pulse, And tendrils.

Of course their were side effects for taking this "Medicine". Once injected into the body, The person undergoes an extremely painful transformation. Their whole left arm turns into a katze-Chimare arm, Becoming black in color with blue veins visible on the black skin, Their fingers become sharp claws with orange fingers, Their canines become slightly sharper and a little longer in their mouths, And they have sky yellow eyes. But the most important part of this, Is the healing factor. Katze-chimare are known for their healing abilities, But they only rarely use it in battle. Their healing abilities are known to heal missing limbs, And organs, However while limbs can be regenerated at any time at a fast rate, The organs for humans unfortunately couldn't, There were no second chances if your internal organs got destroyed.

The Seven Sages and Dr. Franxx then saw the pair bring in an unconscious code 300 as they laid him down onto the floor, The two then left the room of crying and screaming children and went into the room with the Seven Sages and the Doctor. Gorilla then approached them. "Why is code 300 unconscious?" He demanded to know, The man looked over at the woman who sighed and gave an answer "He was acting out of control and refused to cooperate, So I punched him to render him unconscious" she admitted. Gorilla gave a hard snort before turning back to the others, Papa just looked at the children before adjusting his tie, He was going to show himself to get them to calm down and get them to cooperate.

"Heading out to calm them down?" Vice chairman asked.

"They need to be calm in order for this project to fully work" Papa told Vice Chairman "We already have the franxx for them all set and customized, We cannot afford these children to lose their nerve now and refuse to cooperate with the memory wipe program. So what choice do I have other than show myself to them" he stated before making his way to the door and leaving. The other Sages as well as Dr. Franxx went back to looking at the whining children, Dr. Franxx was disgusted at the project, Erasing absolutely everything from the children's minds and turning them into bloodthirsty weapons of war was inhuman. But he was no saint himself, He had done ungodly illegal experiments on others, And the less he forget what did with 002 the better. But he wanted to at least save one of them, True it wasn't much, But it was better than nothing.

The children were still being a mess, However the door opened as Papa made himself known to them. They all looked at the adult who came to them, And they all quickly recognized the human mask that he always wore. Their crying stopped, Their whines to go back to their friends ended, They then gathered around Papa. Papa comforted them with his soft words:

"My dear children, Don't be sad. I understand how you feel about this and how you were forced away from your friends. But fear not! For this isn't a time of woe, But of absolute celebration!" He lied "For you have all been rightfully chosen for a greater purpose in this world! And I shall help you along the way, You have my word".

Children's faces all then smiled and expressed large amounts of joy, Completely unaware that they were being outright lied to, Papa then walked over and picked up Okami into his arms as he then turned to the children, "Come along my children, I want to take you to something that will make all of your worries go away". And with that they did as he had asked and followed him. Seeing him leave made Dr. Franxx leave, As well as the other Sages.

-memory machine room-

Papa guided them from the hallway to another large room, One that had large soft beds in them, And was surprisingly able to fit all of them inside. Papa then turned to the group of children behind him.

"In this room, I shall give you a special surprise my chosen ones" he informed "All you have to do, Is get into a bed and close your eyes. Then I shall give you all your surprise. But you have to have your eyes closed, Understood my children?".

The children all nodded at Papa as he then moved out of the door way as they all walked over to their beds and got into them, After the last one had gotten in, Papa then took the still unconscious Code 300 to the last bed and carefully tucked him in. After he was done, He left and closed the door behind him. He made his way to the hidden room, As the sages and Dr. Franxx were already present in the room. Dr. Franxx then looked at the large array of controls before him, As he glanced up at one of the cameras that was showing the large black machine above the children's heads completely out of sight.

"Are they all in?" Baboon asked Papa.

"Yes" he answered "Every last one,Dr. Franxx , If you would be so kind".

"Yes of course!" Dr. Franxx complied, In his head however he smirked, Because unbeknownst to the Sages, There was a memory restore machine that he kept in his personal office. He made it to look like a medical table to hide it from any suspicious people. As he was starting up the machine, He was looking at the child that Papa had personality carried in his arms, He was still unconscious, He figured that he would be the one that he would restore his memories.

The memory wipe machine then fully and silently started up, And then, In a flash of blue light, it was over. The Sages were pleased with the success as Papa then walk out of the room to greet his new children, He opened the door and gently went over to code 268 and asked her a few questions:

"Hello my child" Papa calmly spoke "Can you hear me?".

Code 268 started to open her eyes, she looked around to see he surroundings, Until her eyes met the masked man before her. "Papa...where am I?" She asked. Papa then placed his hand on her head. "You were asleep my child, You and your brothers and sisters were found here in this room, I don't know how long you all have been in here. Tell me, Do you remember anything?".

Code 268 just shook her head at him "No..." she answered "I don't remember how I got here, Or anyone in this room. All I know is that my code is 268" she told him.

"I see...that is quite unfortunate" Papa expressed sadly "Well, I know what you are my dear. You are my chosen one, All of you are! You are being chosen to protect this world, And I'll do everything in my abilities to help you all achieve that".

Hearing this made the girl happy, She was a chosen one, As well as the others. That's when all of the other children started to awaken as well, All but code 300 Who was still unconscious, Even after his memories were erased. Papa told all of them the same thing he told 268, But when he came to the last one, He was that he was still unconscious.

"Interesting...I'll talk to the doctor to see if he can get him to wake up" Papa muttered to himself as he then made his way back to the others. Everyone gathered around.

"It worked, They don't remember anything from earlier. Now we can begin phase 2. Get them to the helicopters, And transport them to plantation 78. Today they start their new life as Belladonnas". Papa ordered. The other Sages nodded at his orders until Papa looked at Dr. Franxx to inform him of code 300. "Code 300 hasn't woken up, If you can try to get him to awaken. Then get him transported to the plantation".

Dr. Franxx nodded at his orders as the Seven Sages then left him alone. This made him quickly act, As he then made his way to the room to get code 300. He carefully rushed to the room and opened the door to see the other children look at him, They didn't recognize him at all, Then again they never were introduced to him in the first place. He then saw code 300 and he was so happy that the kid was light, It wouldn't be a pain in the ass to carry him.

He walked out of the room with the boy on his back as groups of adults came to pick up the other children and carry them off to plantation 78. As that was going on, Dr. Franxx made his way back to his personal office. "I won't let you suffer the same fate as them, But you'll unfortunately have to go to plantation 78 I'm afraid. I just hope that you can forgive me for sending you there..." he told him as they went into his office as Dr. Franxx placed the boy onto the machine table and started it up, In the same flash, The boys memories were restored. But this time Dr. Franxx made sure to pour some water onto his face to get him to wake up. And it worked as Okami quickly shot up, Face wet from water.

"Huh?! What!? Where...where am I?" Okami questioned until he looked at his surroundings only to see Dr. Franxx "And who are you?".

Dr. Franxx then placed his robotic hand onto the boys head, Muttering two words to him.

"A friend".

A/n: not the best way to start a story, But I'll go into flashback on what his time Was like latter. Hope you like this, And I haven't forgotten my other work.