Morning felt like an eternity away as the night passed, revealing the comfort of sunrise. A certain failed-stamen, however, did not find such closure. Joseph had not gathered much sleep, the thought of being responsible for those poor pistils was responsible for his temporary insomnia. Was this how things were run where the strong simply trampled over the weak if so how long would it be till he would be next. He was no parasite, he was a soldier. He had barley coped with the idea of not remembering his past life before he was 'taken in' and that was by truly kind people. How would he survive among the relentless and merciless.
Joseph sat on his bed rubbing the mark where he was stabbed, his eyes dried and left damp from previous tears. If he couldn't be a parasite then there truly be a waste of oxygen and have nothing to show for his life. 'Stamen..I don't know how I will, but I promise, I will become one of you. I was left on this planet for a reason, I will not become a burden on humanity.'
The silence he endured was broken as a set of footsteps approached his vintage door and twisted the knob. His hopes raised as her stood up right, his knew found confidence and commitment wouldn't let him down, silently wishing that it was one of the masked men or even this 'Nana' or 'Hachi' he has been hearing everyone speak with. Few seconds passed, and 2 faces appeared: Goro and Ichigo, the operators for the Delphinium.
Goro walked in first, stretching out his hand as if he was a butler. "Good morning S-2 I would like to introduce you to someone, this is Ichigo our squad leader."
'Squad leader!?'
"H-hello Miss Ichigo." Joseph greeted, bowing his head down in respect. "Its a pleasure to meet you."
Ichigo giggled a little from the comment and walked in, his enthusiastic greeting was well appreciated by her as her initial thoughts of him before hand pictured him as a stereotypical know it all who thought he were better than the rest. He quickly noticed how small she was compared to him and the towering figure that was accompanying her but never or less she was squad leader for a reason.
"You don't need to be so formal just call me Ichigo, I hear you have an interesting background." She softly said looking over to Goro's nod of approval. "I was thinking why don't we introduce ourselves properly over breakfast?" Her innocent smile and warm spirit was a guaranteed that they day would be a great day.
"I would be more than happy too, allow me to fix myself first then ill head straight down." Joseph scratched the back of his head, quickly getting a small glance at the state that his hair was in.
They both nodded in unison and left the room, taking care not to create too much noise when closing it. Joseph froze with his eyes closed and wide smile as he waited for the distance footsteps to become quieter and quieter until it faded. Instantly he scuttled over to his mirror and started to straighten his crazy hair style into something more formal and more him while fixing his blazer jacket too.
.
..
Joseph walked nervously into the dining room, everyone had already taken their seats and began eating with the delicious smell of bacon engulfing his taste buds, pulling him towards his chair at the end of the table. As always Hiro and 02 were by themselves but something was certainty different, 02 was sitting on the opposite side of the table from Hiro was where usually they are closer than childhood friends and neither of them dared to open their mouths to speak, leaving everyone else feeling quite unwelcomed. Somehow, they were completely oblivious to the fact that she had been acting quiet strange lately although not as much as to cause immediate notice.
"So I've heard from everyone that you've travelled a couple of years into the future apparently? im curious what was it all like back then?" Ichigo's voice called down the table, gaining most members attention and eyes onto Joseph.
To be honest that was something he wanted to know for himself too, there has not been a single night where that question has not appeared into his head before he sleeps never mind he also now needs to worry about his future as well. If only there were some form of clue he could be given that would help him shake it off.
"Honestly I don't know anything at all sorry. Its all still like a blank picture for me, although from what I've gathered what I think happened is that life was like what today is just a little short of the technology but when the klaxosaurs came we all united as seen back in the city when I saw logos and symbols saying united. Tst you can imagine how one sided it was for us, we didn't have these iron maidens or plantations...just guns and hearts. Overall apart from waking up in that capsule and after that's all I know." Joseph explained.
"Wait hold on guys! that means S-2 is 10,20,30,40-" Zorome said while leaning over the table, using his fingers to count, apart from him thinking out loud the only noises heard was Joseph stuffing his face full off food and Hiro trying to talk to 02. "80 years old!?" He yelled in disbelief.
Josephs eyes blasted open, he looked down at his shaking hand fearing the possibility that was a young-old man, he swallowed everything down his throat but his mouth hung open thinking about it. Everyone else understood it was a complete dumb question but only Joseph would be gullible enough to think hard about it.
"Cut it out Zorome!" Miku's interrupted before turning her attention to Joseph. "There is something I want to know too, I found it during our last mission and it was certainty not normal." She added.
"What was it?" Joseph replied, gulping down a glass of water.
"There was this huge opening in the ground when we doing a mission in the city we found you. At first I thought it was just a random hole but then we saw ancient machinery still functioning and some dim lights but even weirder was that it kept on going down, deep underground and at the very bottom there was this bright white light I also managed to make out a title above the descent 'Sentinel ark'. I've been confused on it ever since we encountered it and it couldn't be any Klaxosaur base documented all in the while you just happen to be in the same city so im just wondering if you know anything about it?" Miku questioned as she thought about the whole experience again. She would of asked about the other franxx unit but she doubt he would know fully.
"Miku! he just said he knew nothing about it, right S-2?" Futoshi answered in Josephs Behalf, waiting on his approval however none came. "S-2?" He asked again.
He then started to hear faint mumbles coming from the bottom of the table and quickly turned around after seeing everyone silently staring at Joseph to seeing him shaking forwards and backwards with his widened eyes occasionally twitching. Instantly all of them raised to their feet's and rushed to his aid, their attempts to make him come back to his senses failed and confusion settled in. Meanwhile deep in Joseph's mind he was trapped in a endless, floating, black void.
"What!...what's going on!?" He yelled out loud but the only response he got was his voice being echoed through-out the void. It was strange he felt weightless but could still move around, instead of wearing his plantation outfit he was in the clothing he woke up with back in the city.
"Promise me you will return..." He heard a sweet voice coming from behind but when he turned around he was met with a tombstone that had no text on it but it crumbled away almost instantly he turned.
"Congratulations! you're existences will help push humanity to new brinks." A old mans voice called out to him while a stitched up teddy bear fell into his arms, staring directly into his soul with usually realistic eyes. The feel of the bear for some reason made Joseph feel happy and warmed him up a little but it then somehow passed right through him and descended into the abyss.
By this point he was getting freaked out with all these emotions and pinched himself hoping that this was just all a bad nightmare and shut his eyes. "APEX..those cowards!" He had no choice but to open his eyes, the name APEX sounded so familiar but he didn't know from where all he could see however was a picture, torn down the middle by a knife hung on a wall suspended in mid air.
"S-2!" Kokoros voice rang in the distance but Joseph was too focused trying to get a better view of what the picture was. It was a group photo of 6 people with 4 on one side of the tore and 2 on the other but suddenly he was yanked straight out of his thoughts and the first thing he saw was most members of squad 13 huddled around him, continuedly shaking him. He froze on the spot dividing his attention to each one.
"S-2 you need to get a hold of yourself!" Goro said.
"Im…..fine?" He replied taking in deep breaths while sitting up straight.
"You didn't seem fine there a moment ago, chanting 'good soldiers follow orders' what was that all about?" He heard Hiro question from the other side of the room. He held 02's hand but apart from that nothing had changed between them two, guess he couldn't leave her side at the moment to get a closer look.
7540. Those numbers that kept repeating to him. It was the last thing that Joseph remembered before he lost consciousness or that's what it felt like to him. His body was still suffering from traces of shock so he didn't want to speak a lot but there was just too much to think about so he needed to leave, just for a while anyways.
"Im sorry everyone, I guess the lack of sleep is finally catching up on me. Im just going to bed for a couple of hours, I promise we'll continue our talk later on." Joseph said to everyone and left, obviously lying about everything and instead left via the front door without anyone noticing while they themselves were still confused on what all just happened.
'Darn it! what the hell just happened back there? I said id become a parasite but I've just embarrassed myself instead and in front of the squad leader too!. Was it because I was weak? no that couldn't be right ive been trying to keep in good shape since I got here but if not that then...'
Closing in on the lake he began to think that he was being watched from somewhere, the sensation cant be described but you know it when you feel it. At first he simply thought he was becoming paranoid over earlier and shrugged it off however he soon spotted a figure wrapped in a black robe sitting on top of a rock which overlooked the whole lake, staring directly at him. He found himself close by it.
'I'm getting a bad feeling from this.'
He stopped running and began to slowly inch his way towards the hooded figure, making sure he didn't make any noise.
"So it's like that now is it..Corporal?" A mysterious female voice said and broke the silence.
'Corporal? what does sh-'
Before he could fully say anything in response the figure suddenly disappeared out of sight causing Joseph to break his attention and rush over to where she was, checking if she fell into the lake or not. Instantly he felt a chin rest on his shoulder while a arm wrapped around his chest. Her giggling mark the beginning of the fear he would feel that day
"I think it's time I got to know my mystery boy, I've got sooo bored of waiting to claim what's rightfully mine~~" She whispered into his ear softly, he could feel her warm breath make its way down his neck.
Not surprisingly Joseph freaked out immediately and was shove into the lake, little did anyone know however...he couldn't swim and started to squirm around and struggle.
"Just watching you squirm around like that Oooh your simply adorable! I seriously cant wait to get a piece?, no I WANT A CHUNK OF YOU!" She yelled and held herself while rotating her shoulders. While Joseph was trying to stay afloat however he noticed that she was putting on a pair of glasses but a small wave blocked his vision for a second and just like that she was gone. Once he crawled his way onto the dry land a pair of white boots stomped right in front of him while he lay on top of a branch.
"You actually can't swim? pathetic, perhaps I've underestimate just how much you've sunk. Your nothing more than a shadow of your former self." She spat, for some reason her personality had completely changed, he looked up and saw that the robe that was previously covering her was no longer there.
She threw daggers at Joseph with her big blue eyes through her plain glasses, her deceptive face was small and round that would cause her to be underestimated before anyone saw her dominant stance, making it obvious she was not to be messed with. The slight breeze tugging on her long silky brown hair made it all seem like a divine entity had personally came to his side a navy blazer but a feature that stopped any imagination was the eye patch that told him that the angel had through a lot.
"Alright you've got me. Just who are you anyways?" Joseph mumbled, his tone tragically changing from his original intention. She didn't say a word although she did extend our a hand to help him up.
"Call me S-1, you must be S-2." She answered finally able to get a good look at his face.
After she helped him up she began to walk in circles around Joseph, lifting up his arms, checking his muscles etc. before finishing her inspection with her placing her hind on his heart. "There's no doubt about it. You survived too." She mumbled to herself, showing a slight satisfaction in her voice.
Joseph didn't know what to say after everything that has happened to him over the last couple of days he's tried his best just to pile it up in the back of his head, he was certainty not in the mood to be tested or from the stuff he has heard, mocked. Although a small portion of his mind wanted to hear her out before he did anything.
"I'm sorry I've a lot of questions like who are you for example and how do you know my name." Joseph asked. If she was going to do some inspections the smart thing for him to do is try and do the same.
"Your name huh...S-2 what a disgusting tag to give, a person like yourself deserves better so I'm going to be calling you by your real name, Joseph or would you prefer your old nick name : JoJo?" She replied, giving a mischievous smirk and removing her hand from his chest.
Images of the spirit he encountered back at the town began to flood his mind.
'Jojo? wait! that's what that ghost was calling me back in that city but how could she know it as well. Is it a coincidence? no it couldn't possibly be, I've never seen her before and the odds off that are too low. But what if...'
While he was busy arguing with himself he didn't notice S-1 get close enough to him to rap her arms around his back. Another shot of Deja vu immediately shot right up his spine but he didn't know why, once again she rested her chin on his shoulder and approached his ear.
"You weren't the only one who forgot to set their alarm big boy." She whispered into his ear obviously referencing the pods that put him to sleep. Almost instantly she was shoved off while Joseph fell back onto a tree.
"Just tell me!, how do you know me!?" Joseph yelled out much to her surprise.
"Don't you dare raise your tone with me!" She instantly yelled back, silencing Joseph. "That's something your going to have to work out on your own, I cant help you with everything now can I? your memories cant simply just disappear. Its all there somewhere you just need to find out how to regain it." She explained and took a couple of steps towards Joseph, removing her glasses.
'Work out on my own? how am I suppose to do that if I don't even know where to begin!, never mind I don't even remember telling her about my memories!"
"Hmm Tell you what JoJo ill make you a deal. You give me what I want without question and in return ill grant you the status of being my official property, a stallion like yourself would make me very happy to be with.
"Your property...?" He murmured and couldn't help but feel a little confused on what she meant.
Just then a loud beeping noise started to be emitted from her watch, they both looked down to see what it. Joseph managed to see that it was from Hachi but that was all before she stood up straight.
"Darn I've overstayed my visit I need to go. Think about my offer gorgeous, we are from the same project after all so I know how you feel. Ill be here everyday, at this exact time. Don't keep me waiting~~" She said and ran off into the forest disappearing into the tree line. From that incident alone one thing was sure, he was hitting crossroads and if he should focus on the past or bet on the future.
Just then a patch of armed guards surrounded Joseph with their weapons aimed and ready to fire.
"There you are!, your suppose to be in the testing facility now move!"
