A/N: *inhales*

I'M BACK, BITCCCHHHEEESSSSSSSS

Bloody hell, writer's block is truly a menace.

The combined tackle-hug of Squad 13 nearly threw them off the cliff.

Not to say the hugs weren't welcome; it was nice to know that they had actually been missed by their comrades/squadmates/friends.

After maneuvering themselves and their friends away from the cliff so that they wouldn't fall (after all they've been through, lived through, fought through, that would be a stupid way to die,) they finally managed to calm everyone down enough to speak. Ichigo had been babbling happily almost as soon as she had embraced them, Zorome and Miku were pretending not to cry, Goro had lost all sense of voice, Futoshi was grinning, Naomi was spinning an elated Ikuno in her arms, and both Kokoro and Mitsuru, standing a little ways separate from the rejoicing reunion, were trying to explain who the red and blue strangers were to their child-

Zero Two's thought process ground to a halt.

Child?

Squeezing Darling's hand to let him know she was moving, she shuffled her way out of the impromptu hug and cautiously made her way over to the married couple. She moved slowly, not wanting to frighten them or the child they held in their arms. As she approached, they looked to her with joyful smiles, and Zero Two's heart swelled a bit.

Even though they had long forgiven her for her sins, she had been afraid of their reactions upon their return. It was nice to know that they cared for her in some capacity. Shoving those thoughts away, she raised a hand in greeting. "It's been a while, you two."

Kokoro nodded, still beaming. "I suppose it has, Zero Two. How are you?"

The red Klaxo Sapien would have responded had Ai, who had been staring curiously at her for a while, spoke up. "Are you an angel? Since you came out of the sky and all..."

Zero Two blinked.

That's new.

She had been called monster, demon, enemy, Partner Killer, Stamen Killer, the works, but 'angel' was something she had never thought she would be associated with.

"N-no, I'm not an angel."

Ai pouted, and Zero Two hurriedly backtracked. "I mean- Yes! I'm an angel!"

Mitsuru snickered at the flustered Klaxo Sapien. "I'm surprised, Zero Two. I've never seen you back down from anyone besides Hiro, and that's only because you can't refuse him, I think." He nodded at her, handing Ai over to Kokoro and heading over to Hiro, who was busy trying to rapidly answer the questions being shot at him. "Welcome back, Zero Two."

Zero Two and Kokoro watched him go before turning back to each other, and they were silent for a moment, before Zero Two shifted slightly. "So… when was Ai born? She looks kinda like you, is that how all children are..?"

Kokoro blinked. "How did you know Ai's name? We haven't told you yet."

"Oh, we heard it when we were in space."

"Eh?!"

After living with only Zero Two, then Hime- Nawabari for so, Hiro had nearly forgotten what it was like to be around Squad 13, and was only far too happy to rediscover it. Despite having fled from most social gatherings for the later half of his life since his memory wipe and subsequent removal from Zero Two's life (if anyone tried to pull that shit on him or his other half ever again he would rend them limb from limb) he felt at home amongst his squadmates, joking and laughing and talking and crying the same as the rest of them.

It was only after the euphoria of their return wore off (the sun was setting, and stars above was it beautiful, it had been so long since he had seen a sunset) that both he and Zero two sat down, backs against the massive sakura tree, and began to answer their questions. Squad 13, Nana, and Hachi listened with rapt attention as the two Klaxo Sapiens spoke in lengthy detail of their journey to VIRM's homeworld, the battle they had thought, and Hiro's near-disaster.

"I would have died if you guys hadn't done what you did," Hiro gazed at them solemnly. At their surprised looks, he nodded. "Yeah, we both heard you. I don't know what you did, or how… but thank you."

Bringing her head to rest on her Darling's, Zero Two smiled at them other former-parasites. "Thanks to you, my Darling is still alive. That means the world to me."

After that emotion-filled moment, the two carried on, describing Strelitzia's last charge into the corrupt core of VIRM's homeworld, ending the plague that had killed countless worlds and avenging the Klaxo Sapiens of which they now hailed descent.

"What happened next?! How'd you guys survive?!" Goro leaned forward, eagerly awaiting their answer, as did everyone else.

"...We didn't."

They had died, Hiro and Zero Two explained, or at least they should have. They had been embracing each other in the void between the to realms of existence, waiting for death's call to claim them.

"Then…"

Squad 13's joyous surprise turned into shock when they finally described their resurrection and their journey home. "If it weren't for the princess, I doubt we'd be here right now."

There was a deafening silence as the Klaxos finished their lengthy tale and relaxed against each other, content to watch their friends mull over the information presented to them. "So that's why the Klaxosaurs have been acting weird, huh..? They sensed the princess- what's her name? Nawabari? And they got worried when they couldn't anymore?"

Hiro shared a glance with his partner, then she shrugged. "Maybe? We'll have to ask her when we see her again." Then she grinned mischievously. "Hope you don't mind that we invited her over."

Silence.

Then Ichigo, being defacto leader and all, shot to her feat.

"You WHAT?!"

As soon as she judged them a good distance away as to not see her with the enhanced vision Strelitizia gave them, Nawabari let the soft smile fall off her face. She turned back to watch them go again, then continued onward, continued home.

At least, what was left of it.

The grass felt cold.

It took about two days for her to finally reach the former housing place of Her Child, and the Klaxosaurs, loyal as they were, had arrayed themselves outside the ruined walls and roared in triumph as she came into view of the Crevasse, as if hailing a triumphant conqueror retuning home from avenging her people.

She was no avenger, and her people were dead.

Allowing most of her Klaxosaurs to disperse back to their nests upon reaching inner sanctums of the Gran Crevasse (many had made homes elsewhere, and had eggs to return to), she let out a low, shrill rumble from her throat, calling to her Klaxosaurs again, specifically the ones who had survived not only the last great battle of the Crevasse, but the ones who had survived all the battles, the veterans of the old war.

Twelve Klaxosaurs presented themselves to her.

Twelve.

A hundred years ago, the veterans could have counted for an tenth of her forces, and they had been the ones overseeing the war against the major human nations whilst she oversaw the restarted construction of the Child.

Hundreds, if not thousands of veteran Klaxosaurs in her service, and she had emerged the war against the humans with only twelve.

Tell me, a dark voice whispered from the far corners of her mind, Was it worth it?

Ignoring the dark thought for a moment, she turned to the oldest among the remaining Lehta-Klaxos, who bowed their head. "Princess. Welcome home."

The princess nodded back, and spoke to them in her true tongue. "What had happened during my absence?" she paused for a moment, before asking another question; "Was anything salvaged? Anything at all? And what of the Twins?"

The Lehta-Klaxosaur was silent for a moment, and the other veterans exchanged wearied, tired looks with each other, and Nawabari's heart ached. Finally, the Klaxosaur, who had named themselves Nropu some time ago, if she recalled correctly, answered.

"The humans have expanded their farming fields. They work on switching from… the power of our brethren's sacrifices to other alternatives." Nropu hesitated before answering Nawabari's last questions.

"We set the non-Lehtas to search for anything of value that could be retrieved or repaired.

...There was nothing."

Something already shattered broke inside her.

The Gran Crevasse had been used as more than just a construction and holding site of Her Child, but the storage space of all the surviving works and documents and histories of her people, the only things that she had managed to scrounge up in the rubble of the old world after VIRM's defeat.

Gone.

Names, stories, all that was left of her culture, her people, gone.

In a trembling voice unbecoming and unlike her, she repeated her last question. "And of the Twins?"

The Twins, as she had taken to calling them, had been her companions for the longest time, her guards who had sworn to the Apex to protect her, and they had. They had been beside her for almost every battle in her life, and were the last true remaining friends she had from the old world.

Nropu said nothing, merely lowering their head, and another Lehta-Klaxo stood forward and answered.

"It is through they that your clone was able to liberate Her Child. They are dead."

There was a moment where Nawabari just stood there, amongst the rubble of her last stronghold, silent, then she dismissed the twelve, and they went their own separate ways, shooting the princess sorrowful glances as they left.

Only once she could not here the thundering of their feet and treads upon the ground did she allowed herself to let out an anguished cry and smash the wall next to her, all the while trying, and failing, to ignore the saltwater streaming from her eyes.

The dark voice spoke to her again. Was it worth it?

This time, it spoke in her lover's voice, the one who's name she could not recall, and what was left of her resolve in her cause broke.

She answered.

...No.

A/N: As much as I love Nawabari, it's going to get worse for her before it gets better. It is what it is.