This is the story of a princess.
The world around her burned. The buildings crumbled, metal debris turned to molten slag and ships streaked across the sky.
Yet she was not harmed.
I was the last child of a dead dynasty to a dying race.
Zero Two groaned. Where was she..?
A symbol of hope in our time of need.
That voice… the princess?
A fail-safe, should the worst come about.
Over there! A person approaching. A kid?
I was their hope. Their link to the idea that life could resume at it had long ago.
She looked around, taking in the sight of the ruined city before turning her eyes back onto the blue-horned child now in front of her.
Yet, even in that, I failed.
This is the story of a monster.
Something was wrong.
He didn't know what it was, or how dangerous, but somehow, he knew.
He could feel it.
He had been walking back to the bridge when he had sensed some sort of mental agony erupting from Zero Two's end of their mental connection. As he got closer, the pain increased, and Hiro broke out into a run. What's happening, Zero Two..?
"The drone has been successfully deployed." Hachi stated.
The former parasites of Squad 13 had been sitting around the large round projector as they contemplated their precarious situation. Finally, Mitsuru had come up with the suggestion that they send an unmanned drone to the klaxosaur fortress.
"It may give us a peace of mind, as well as sorely needed intelligence." he had argued. "We can't afford to be left blind."
And so, the group agreed, and the drone was sent eyes were currently glued to the projected screen in front of them, so focused the video feed that they didn't notice when a blonde of their age walked into the room.
The voice of Nine-Alpha brought the parasites and administrators back to the reality. "Why does the building sound like it's trying to pull itself apart?"
"Nine-Alpha." Mitsuru looked at the elite with distrust in his eyes. Kokoro sharing the same disdain-filled look.
Clearly they had regained their memories, Nine-Alpha noted dryly. He noticed a child sleeping in Kokoro's arms. And that is the result. Is that what all children look like? Pathetic.
"Nine-Alpha, we believe the earthquakes are being caused by Klaxosaurs-"
"Then we'll go kill them. Give me and my squad some FranXX and that problem will be taken care off."
"We're not killing the Klaxosaurs. We were enemies once-no need to be enemies again." Goro stressed.
"If you insist." The elite at down with the other parasites besides Hachi. "Let's see what we have here."
The drone had finally reached the Crevasse and was currently doing a flyby. None of the Klaxosaur sentries tried to destroy it, so that was a good group noticed a lack of Conrad-Class Klaxosaurs, and the few there were seemed to be heading into the same hole that Star Entity had emerged from.
Nine-Alpha frowned. From what Papa (damn his soul) had told him, Star-Entity was a mass collection of Klaxosaurs, molded and tempered to form the ultimate weapon.
"Where are all the Conrads..? Hachi wondered aloud.
Goro shrugged. "Maybe they're trying to repair whatever is down there?"
"Either that, or-"
"They're trying to build something," Nine-Alpha interjected.
"No one asked for your opinion, smart-ass," Zorome huffed.
"What, do you not trust me?" the alpha asked dryly.
The answers were varying from 'No, nope, nadda, not even at bit,' and so on. "How could we?" Mitsuru spat out. "You joined us for one battle, only to fight. Not to mention you were Pa-that bastard's right hand parasites, not to mention what you did to me and Kokoro-"
"Yes, yes, we've all established that you're biased in your hatred-"
"And you came back from the dead."
Nine-Alpha had to admit, that was a valid point. "If I knew anything about how we came back to life, I assure you, I would tell you simply to get the trust issues out of the way."
Miku's eyes narrowed at the former-elite. "Hey...what if VIRM resurrected him? They can absorb people, right? What's stopping them from bringing people back from the dead?"
There was an unnerving silence before Ichigo spoke up. "Hiro and Zero Two. That's what stopped them."
The silence returned, and the group returned their gaze onto the monitor.
They didn't notice the blue light shining faintly in the sky.
The crumbling city disappeared as Zero Two and the blue girl (the princess, Zero Two deduced) seemingly walked into a new scene. Their new placement was seemingly new, with no sign of war or tear in the building, which appeared to be some sort of hospital room.
Here is where my reign began.
A wailing infant, and two Klaxo Sapiens, their features obscured by the hospital lights, snuggled together, the female seemingly lying on a hospital bed, holding the child, while the male clung to the two of them.
The war had not yet reached our part of the world, and every day, millions of our soldier died to ensure that it did not.
The scene changed breifly, showing a battlefield filled with the corpses of both VIRM and Klaxo soldiers, as VIRM's war machines waded through the carnage.
Yet, it happened anyways.
The scene changed,
During my youth, I was taught everything our species had to offer, in tactics and warfare, in our sciences, in our history, our culture, and many more things. I excelled in warrior training, but that was expected, given I had the strongest link to the Great Leviathan.
Who was the Great Leviathan-
Our myths spoke of him as the creator of species. In an ancient conflict, his blood spilled, and mixed with the Earth's primordial soup, and gave form to us, his children.
The scene changed briefly again, this time to a mural depicting what appeared to be a large black and blue dinosaur locked in combat with a…
...
Was that a three-dreaded dragon?
Our royalty have always been the closest to his bloodline, often being rewarded with bodily mutations different from our other kin. Sometimes, dorsal fins on your back, other times…
The blue child's extra limb flicked.
A tail.
Zero Two had barely paid attention to the impromptu history lesson, instead focusing on the memories flowing through her head that definitely weren't hers.
She had been a real prick, she realized.
"I-I had no idea-" Zero Two shakily began. Only to be cut off by a loud, rage filled wail.
The blue child before her tensed, before beginning to glow bright blue, and she grew taller, to her regular size. The princess-
Zero Two found she couldn't move. She could do nothing as the mental embodiment of the princess' rage grasped her neck with clawed hands, and began to squeeze.
Get out.
Get out.
Get out.
Zero Two began to fade. She knew she was dying-she had felt it once.
Before she could fully succumb, she heard her life line pull her out of hazy waters, the pain disappearing, the princess receding.
A voice.
..ro...o
Zer...Two…
Zero Two!
Shitshitshit!
Hiro ran with inhuman speed, making all haste towards where he had left his partner. He growled. Something was hurting her! Someone was hurting her!
He'd make them pay.
He reached the room and ripped through the sliding doors, and took the situation in a stride.
The princess, with her eyes seeming glazed over, was strangling Zero Two- his Zero Two- who also had her eyes glaze over.
He wasted no time tackling the princess to the ground, getting her to release her grip on the taller girl, before running over to said girl.
"Zero Two!" he cried. "Zero Two, wake up! Zero Two-"
With a gasp, both girls woke up at the same time. Paying no heed to the princess, he embraced his world in a loving hug, whose eyes were currently filled with tears, before turning around to beat the living crap out the princess-
Only to find he was staring into eyes filled with more rage he could muster in his lifetime.
The princess spoke only two words. "Get. Out."
Hiro, pulling a still-distraught Zero Two, quickly heeded the order, leaving the princess to her own devices.
Zero Two didn't respond to her darling's frantic questions about what happened, instead choosing to numbly focus on the memories that were hers, but not.
Particularly one.
A blue child, strapped to a table.
A/N Edit: To whom it may concern (random guest[s]), the princess will have eyes for no one. Not Hiro, nor anyone else. Not now, or later in the story.
See you next time.