The former elite and the princess stared at each other in silence, Hiro standing in between them acting as a barrier. For good reason, at any rate, seeing as the first thing Nawabari had done when she heard his voice was attempt to impale him with a tentacle.

Only Hiro's quick thinking had stopped the impromptu meeting from turning into a bloodbath.

"Hime- Nawabari," Hiro corrected, and Zero Two gave him a confused look. "You promised to not kill anyone."

"That was before I discovered that the insects we're meeting are responsible for the death of hundreds of our brethren."

"In my defense-" Nine Alpha started, only to be cut off as Nawabari hissed at him. He glared back as he continued. "In my defense, I was following orders. How was I supposed to know that Papa was a genocidal alien hellbent on assimilating all forms of intelligent life?"

"Perhaps when he started mass-engineering children to die for him." the Princess shot back, and Hiro groaned."Can't you guys put the past behind you?"

"Or wait till we get home?" Zero Two snapped, and to her surprise, Nawabari had the decency to look guilty.

Nine Alpha blinked. "Ah, yes. The crux of our mission. We should probably depart now, Hachi will be expecting us." He turned towards his FranXX, Zeta trailing behind. Zero Two and Hiro turned to do the same, only to realize that someone had not moved to join them.

"...Princess?"

The Klaxo Sapien matriarch was currently staring in awe the snail that had slid it's way between her toes. She looked back up at them, and gave them a small, rare smile. "You two go. I can walk from here.

It's been eons since I felt living grass between my feet."

Then she turned to leave.

Zero Two sighed. "W-Wait."

The princess stopped as Zero Two called out to her. She turned, and, to her surprise, found the two parasites seemed sad to see her go. Do they value my companionship that much?

"...Come visit, alright? We're… family now, I guess. There's no need to be lonely anymore."

A family.

How long had it been since she had that?

"...I'll see you two in a week."

She turned to leave again, only to be ambushed from behind in a hug from the two of them. She stiffened for a moment before relaxing, treasuring the warmth and tranquility it brought her. Then it was gone, and she was bidding them goodbye. She stood in the clearing for a while, watching the two FranXXs take off towards the Bird's Nest, and only then did she start her trek towards the Gran Crevasse.

She took the time to enjoy the earth beneath her feet.


The two FranXXs maintained radio contact as they flew towards their home, and Hiro pestered the two elites for every detail of their friends. Both he and Zero Two were gladdened by what they heard, especially about Ai. They laughed at the antics of Zorome and Miku, grinned at the romance between Ikuno and Naomi, and smiled as they gorged themselves on happy memories, on ones made before and ones soon to be made.

It wasn't long before the Bird's Nest crested the horizon, and Strelitzia grinned. With renewed joy, the FranXX shot forward, outpacing the 9 Model, and flew into the sky.

Nine Alpha watched them go as he tutted to himself. "Well… She always did like to make an entrance." Then, to them; "How much time do you guys need?"

The two stamens of the Iron Maiden thought on it for a moment. "Tell them to meet us on that cliff, as soon as you land. Don't tell them who told you, though. Zero Two wants to make an entrance."

"Yes, I imagined that much."

"Wha- what's that supposed to mean, Fodder?" Zero Two growled. The 9 Model merely gave a semi-mocking salute before ending radio contact and descending to the closest landing platform.

Their landing was met with little fanfare; the Nines had come out to greet them, as did Kokoro, Ikuno, and Naomi, to his surprise. Ah, well, saves me the trouble of having to look for them, the elite thought to himself.

Alpha turned to acquaint himself with his squad-mates while Zeta joined up with her sisters. The blonde elite found, to his curiosity, that he somewhat disliked watching Zeta leave, but shrugged it off, before turning his attention back to the questions being shot his way. In absolutely no mood to entertain them, he sighed. "Just… gather the rest of your squad-mates and head to The Jian's Roost. All the answers will be there." With that, he and the rest of the Nines went back inside. Kokoro, Ikuno, and Naomi, looked at each other, shrugged, then went to get the others.


Ichigo was putting the finishing touches on the festival she had deemed the Festival of Wings when Hachi burst into her office with a shine in his eyes she had never seen before. "Hachi, wha-"

"There is no time to explain! You must come with me immediately; it is a situation of utmost importance!" He was grinning, something that caught her off guard. Before she had chance to interrogate the immortal, he was gone, leaving Ichigo to scramble after him. Her confusion only mounted as she encountered the other members of Squad 13 following Hachi. Nana was waiting at the end of the hallway with Ikuno, Naomi, Kokoro, Mitsuru, and Ai. When they got close enough, Hachi nodded to Nana, and they opened the door to that led to the bride over the moat-lake in the direction of The Jian's Roost.

Goro waited for her to catch up before continuing their pursuit of their former caretaker. "Any idea why Hachi's being so… not-Hachi?"

Ichigo shook her head. "He barged into my office and told me there was something I needed to see. I guess it's by the tree. They rounded the bottom of the cliff where they could see the massive sakura tree even from the bottom. Catching up with their fellow squad-mates, the shared an apprehensive look, but began to follow Hachi and Nana up the hill.

They were halfway up when they saw it.

Them.


Strelitzia hovered just above a cloud that was perfectly positioned below their envisioned landing spot. The FranXX gazed fondly at the land below, it's pilots reminiscing about memoirs from different times, and early conjuring new ones.

Inside, Zero Two turned to look at her Darling, who gazed back with a determined yet elated expression.

Zero Two beamed. "You ready, Darling?"

Hiro took a breath, the grinned. "Ready Let's do it, Zero Two!"

With that, they began their final descent.


...

...

...

The Jian came down from the heavens, crowned with a halo of sunlight, held aloft by wings crafted of the very clouds the Iron Maiden had parted in it's descent, looking, for all intensive purposes, like an Bird of Paradise returning to its nest. It was as if the Earth itself triumphantly heralded their return.

...

...

...

(Who is to say it did not?)

...

...

...


They stared, standing stock-still as the Jian came to rest at the foot of the very tree that had sprouted from Zero Two's statue years ago. Only then did they resume moving, everyone breaking out into a sprint uphill, eager to confirm what surely could not be real.

They were happily disappointing.

Sitting on the edge of the cliff, two Klaxo Sapiens turned their heads to look at the new arrivals, who stared back in shock. Ichigo took a step forward, not quite believing her eyes. "...H-Hiro? ...Zero Two?"

The two Wings grinned.

"We're home."


...

...

...

Arc One: End


A/N: Wow. I mean, ho-ly. I published this more than a year ago, and despite what it seems, I never had an end-goal in sight when I started. I do now, but jeez it's been a ride.

(Probably should've updated more frequently. I mean, I had a month of quarantine to do this!)

Also, thank you for...

"Favs: 126 - Follows: 157"

...

Huh. Well, this is now my most Favorited written piece of work. Which means a lot to me, so thank you.

Well, on to the next arc. See you there.