[ E]

The Klaxosaurs stirred from their nests, and rose.

The ships had returned from orbit, minus one, and they had been feared the worst. But now- they could sense her! It was faint, but she was still alive!

The princess was coming home.

They had no idea how long or how fast they had been flying when a *ping* alerted them to a message displayed on the H.U.D.

Hiro stared at the message, and Strelitzia's flight faltered ever-so-slightly. Zero Two, who couldn't see, mentally nudged the blue Klaxo Sapien. "Neh, Darling. What does it say?"

Darling hesitated, before answering. "There's a FranXX nearby, and it's coming towards us rather quickly."

Zero Two hummed. "What's a FranXX doing out here?" She felt her Darling shrug, and they angled the FranXX slightly to the left. "Let's go find out."

With their new goal in mind, Strelitzia flew faster. The faster they dealt with this, the sooner they could go home.

Unknown to them, they were effectively killing two birds with one stone.

…

…

…

Alpha and Zeta sat in silence as they waited for their quarry. They had detected the FranXX a few hours after they left, and were pleasantly surprised that it appeared to be coming towards them, saving them time. The two had landed the 9-Model in a clearing, deciding to wait for them instead of flying further north.

They didn't have to wait long.

Two hours after landing, Streltzia landed not five feet from them. The fucking Iron Maiden, Doctor Frank's pride and joy, the same FranXX that had blasted off into space with a massive world-destroying bioweapon, never to be seen again.

And now it was just standing standing there.

The two FranXX stared at each other in shocked silence, and their Stamens, who had established a com line, stared at each other as well.

Alpha, never being one to lose his cool, nonchalantly dialed for Hachi. When the immortal caretaker answered, Alpha remained quiet, waiting for the blue-haired man to begin.

Hachi, sensing the tension, quickly began to question the former elite.. "Ah, Nine-Alpha. Were you successfull in your mission?"

"HACHI WHAT THE ACTUAL FU-"

Nana watched in curiosity as Hachi fist-pumped victoriously, before focusing on… whatever he was doing. Walking up to him, she tapped him on the shoulder. "What's gotten you so… enthusiastic?" Wow, that was not a word she had ever expected to associate with her significant-other.

Hachi gave a serene smile, something that both soothed and creeped Nana out. "The festival the kids have been planning may not be necessary."

"Oh?" Nana's eyebrows quirked upwards. "What does that mean? Care to enlighten me?"

Hachi seemed to ponder over it for a moment, before coming to a decision. "I'll keep to myself for now. Hopefully, it will be a pleasant surprise. You trust me, right?

"Nana nodded rubbing his shoulders. "Of course I do." She turned to leave, giving Hachi a peck on the cheek. "I'll leave you to your scheming."

While she slumbered, she dreamt.

She dreamt of a time long past,of people long dead. She dreamt of her mother, her life smothered before her own eyes. She thought of her siblings, slaughtered in a convoy ambush. She thought her of father, whose orders, alongside the machinations of her dead mother were the only thing that saved her from dying with the rest of them.

She dreamt of her Darling, name lost to time, buried beneath layers of grief and anguish and hatred.

She wants to remember his name.

So she dives headfirst into memories she'd spent eons suppressing, of family, friends, enemies. Of the battles she'd fought, of the losses that continued to mount. The happy memories were few-and-far between, and most of them included him, which only served to frustrate her more.

Why couldn't she remember?

Had she wanted to forget that badly?

So she kept searching, deeper and deeper until the memories darkened, hidden from her. Yet, she kept searching, and her perseverance was rewarded. Although it was a name, it was not the name she was seeking.

It was hers.

…

…

…

It was Hime who went to sleep, yet it was Nawabari who woke up.

"So, let me get this straight," Alpha pinched the bridge of his nose. "You died."

Hiro nodded. "Yeah, pretty sure we did."

"You came back, in space. With Strelitzia."

"Uh-huh."

"You flew back here, ended up across the sea where you fought a giant robot, somehow manage to cross said sea in record time-"

"Why do we need to do this if you already memorized what we told you?" Zero two snorted.

"-and to top it all off, you never ran out of fuel?!"

"...huh. Never thought of that," the red Klax pondered. Zeta nudged Alpha before wandering away from the group, and Alpha, recalling something, held up a finger to add one more thing.

"Ah, that's right. For whatever reason, you are both blue and red, respectively. And no longer human. How does that even happen?"

The two pilots of Strelitzia looked at each other, then shrugged in unison. Alpha groaned, dragging a hand down his face. "I am going to kill Hachi when we see him next."

Suddenly noticing a lack of grey hair, Alpha swiveled to look at his surroundings.

"Where did Zeta go?"

She treaded carefully as she entered the deactivated FranXX. She had no idea what had possessed her to explore the dimmed cockpit, only that she felt a pull of sorts, the same she held with her selfsistersclones. It made her curious; no one outside of her look-alikes had made her feel the pull, yet this one felt… stronger. Older.

Primordial.

It was in this state of curiosity that she found the black-and-blue cocoon, lying in the far corner of the cockpit. Emboldened by it's apparent lack of life, she inched closer, and closer still.

Then, with no warning whatsoever, it unfurled.

Strangely enough, she felt to fear or anger when the horned blue girl untangled herself from the tentacle-like appendages, only the bond.

The girl shook herself and stood up, eyes groggily falling on the clone, then they abruptly sharpened..

The silence was nearly unbearable, they two females staring at each other, both refusing to turn their backs from a possible hostile.

The cold war ended when Hiro poked his head in the cockpit and let out a distressed sigh, muttering, "First Zero Two and Alpha, now you and her." Then, louder; "Don't kill her Hime."

"...I wasn't planning to."

The three stood there in silence, before Hiro finally beckoned them outside.

"Also, Hiro."

The mentioned blue Klax stopped, allowing Zeta to move ahead to their respective partners (who were bickering, of course.) He looked at the now-conscious princess. "Yeah, Hime?"

"My name isn't Hime."

Hiro blinked. "...do you not like the name?"

"No, no, it's a nice name. But… I no longer need it.

My name is Nawabari."

A/N: Work, Exams, procrastination, Writers Block. Also, I was busy enjoying other stories on this site.

In other news, the Manga's ending was a letdown for me, but meh. That is why I write this, anyways.

Cyao.