Chapter 17: Loss
"This isn't the hospital, is it?" asked Hatake sarcastically as he woke up to find himself in a bed inside a white camp tent.
"You were so confident that it would be the Federation hospital? As if you expected all of the mess to be cleaned up before you woke up?" asked Hiro who was sitting beside him on a chair.
"Well, partly yes... and I really didn't expect you to be beside me either." Said Hatake with a laugh, "Well, what is going on today?"
"Well, after you fainted, the Federation reinforcements arrived to help secure the rest of the city and do some much needed repairs. There's also the fact that many were surprised and happy to see that Prismertine sent a fleet to help us even though that also means, in Orion's words: 'A lot of diplomatic headaches.' After that, we spent the last two days surveying the damage of the battle and in the end, we got bad news about it." Hatake's face changed into a serious one before Hiro continued: "Apparently, most of the city was fortunately saved but many of the infrastructural systems that are needed to support the lives of the inhabitants have been in-utilized or destroyed by the attack. As such, Ichigo and Orion had decided to send everyone as refugees towards Aztlan, where everyone will stay until the city is repaired after the war is over..." After that, he sighed and Hatake couldn't blame him for that, being told that you will need to abandon your home for the sake of your security was something that nobody liked, specially when this was the home in which many beautiful memories have been made. Then he continued, "On the bright side, Ichigo and Orion had shown everyone how the capital was and most of them are interested on living for a little while in there." He then got up and started to walk towards the exit: "I'm just going to let everyone know that you are awake."
"Well, thanks for telling me the news. Also, it is curious that I don't see Zero Two around you now." Said Hatake.
"Well... right now I'm trying to put some distance from her…" said Hiro with a sigh.
"Why?" asked Hatake shocked, "Did you piss her off so bad that she wants to kill you or something?" he asked nervously laughing, not wanting to get caught in her crossfire.
"Kokoro was talking about how she had her kids, and something about 'maternity' and," said Hiro scratching his head, "well, basically, Zero Two wants one too now so that she can experience that…"
"She wants what?" asked Hatake laughing before saying: "Oh boy! I can already imagine her being bigger, having many sugar cravings and becoming such an emotional mess!"
"Yeah…" replied Hiro with a sigh, even though in his mind, a picture of him and a pregnant Zero Two sitting together under the sakura tree they planted years ago while he rubbed her belly started to form, which cause him to smile: "It's nice to see you laughing again after all of this mess, you know. Anyways, I'll let everyone know-" he was interrupted as something fell down on the entrance of the tent.
It was Oniria, whom had let some books fell down from her hands, "Hatake!" she said with a cry as she hugged him, "I was really worried, brother…"
"With the number of times I have fainted," said Hatake, "isn't it something obvious now? Also, brother?" he asked.
"Well, considering you had finally accepted the oath of the crown and officially became our King, that means you're my brother-in-law now!" she said with a smile.
"hey, just don't go addressing me you brother, I mean we aren't married yet and..." he said with an embarrassed face.
"Why?" she asked, "you don't like it? Okay then, I'll call you Ni-san!" she said as the words made a slight amount of blood drip from his nose that he quickly rubbed off before her face changed into a worried one, "Still, what if you don't wake up next time? I don't want to lose any more of my family!"
"That probably won't happen soon," said Hatake, "at least not until your sister is around." He said as he sensed a tremendous aura of jealousy in the room, as Seraphime's tail came in between their hug and separated both of them.
"That's enough, little sister..." said Seraphime desperately trying to control her leaking anger and jealousy, "maybe we should just let him rest."
"Yeah moreover-" said Hatake as he noticed his watch was not on his wrist.
"Here," said Oniria sensing his feeling as she passed him a small box which had his watch and every little broken part of it.
"Thank you." Said Hatake looking at the box with a smile.
"You should thank big sister who is also your wife!" replied Oniria, "She made the Klaxosaurs work all night to find every little part of the watc-"
"Oniria stop already!" said Seraphime as her face turned red, "A-Anyways, let him get some rest."
"I'm fine-" said Hatake as he tried to get up but got stuck when the joint point of his right arm released a 'pop' sound.
"Don't even try to move," said Nana as she entered, "you are too weak to even stand up at the moment."
"Nana?! What are you doing here? What about Hachi and the children!?" asked Hiro shocked to see her.
"We were assigned to Mistilteinn after the Federation saw that the number of injured personnel had gone up significantly." She replied, "Both of us are here as a medical unit. And don't worry Hiro, Elise sent some close friends of hers to take care of them before we came here."
"I see." Said Hatake as he crashed back on the bed with a smile, "At least this one battle is over, huh?" he asked.
"Yes, at least this battle is over." said Nana, "But even with the sacrifices made in this one, the war is far from over…"
"How many casualties were there?" asked Hatake looking at the ceiling as his face turned into a serious one.
"Around two hundred lost souls. Most of them belonging to the vanguard defenders while the rest comes from the 'Parabellum' personnel." Replied Nana looking at the reports.
"These things are never over without a sacrifice, are they?" asked Hiro looking at the ground.
"That is why it is called a war." Said Orion as he entered, "Sacrifices are needed to overcome it, something the everyone hates, and that is why war is hated as a result. It only brings the worst of everything in one single concept that, unfortunately, is like a siren to those who are unaware of its true nature, and realize it a little too late."
"Something that commanders like him or many others I have seen around here are responsible of helping with to make sure most of the people returns from it alive." said Hachi as he entered, carrying a clipboard filled with reports, "the motherships have started to refuel, it would be better if we pack up all of what belongs to our squad and take Hatake to the medical mothership."
"What do you mean 'take Hatake'?" asked Hatake, "I can go there by myself-" he said as he tried to got up but screamed as a sound of bone cracking was heard.
"You are NOT going getting up from that bed until I tell you to." Commanded Seraphime, her eyes glowing causing a Hatake's new white horns to also glow, which eventually made him crash back into the bed.
"It's kind of unusual to see Hatake ACTUALLY obeying Hime-sama's orders." Said Orion getting suspicious.
"I wouldn't have if it wasn't for the contract…" he whispered.
"The what now?" asked Orion, grinning sensing that he just found something useful for blackmailing the new King.
"N-Nothing!" said Hatake, "Just take me out of the bed please! I want to at least see how is everyone doing out there."
Orion decided to take pity on the king and said to Sera, "Hime-sama, think that we can humor him with his grace request? The bed has hovering abilities so it wouldn't be that difficult to move him around the compound."
Sera at first refused but once she saw Hatake make a puppy-eyed face? "God dammit! Why did you have to be cute!?" She thought while blushing red (while Orion took a quick photo of this, a mischievous grin in his face) and eventually saying, "Fine, but I will be the one handling it just to make sure this idiot doesn't do anything stupid."
"Sounds fair."Orion answered as he proceeded to grab a remote controller to which he pressed a button that made Hatake's bed hover and to also lean it upwards so he could have a good seeing angle. He then said, "All done your highness, you can now steer the bed from the back. Also Hiro, you better get moving, Zero Two is around here and can easily track you because of the amount of pheromones you release..."
"What!?" said Hiro shocked "But I made sure to mix well with the rest of the hybrids to cover mine!"
"Hiro," said Hatake, "not to sound rude but considering how long you two have been together, I think she can easily identify yours from everyone else. I mean, you two know each others 'scent' if I remember correctly." At this part he wiggled his eyebrows at him, which caused the blue-eyed ex-parasite to blush and to get out of the tent. Few seconds later after that, they saw a shadow of pink hair running towards his direction and also heard, "Darling! Please wait for me! I want to have a kid with you!"
This in turn created laughter around the group for a while until everyone soon followed their example and proceeded out.
They soon saw that the airspace above them was filled of many motherships and cruisers along with starfighters, apparently keeping eye on any unwanted 'guests'. Looking around, Hatake saw they were near the main entrance of the city, located to the East of the 'Parabellum' ship. The allies had made a makeshift refugee camp using a lot of fabrics as tents and with many personnel wearing a red cross badge going back and forth, attending patients and wounded people, some of them being helped by some of the civies while the rest of them were either talking with some people of the Federation, making sure to keep eyes on the children or helping pack things up for the departure towards the capital. When the royal group passed along, some of them made a salute or reverence towards either the king or the president before continuing with their duties. Hatake felt relief seeing everyone get along, he was worried that some of the inhabitants of Milstinteinn would have trouble interacting with the new "foreigners" but it seems he was wrong. However, the scene soon took a grim turn once they reached an area which was separated from the tents and with a good reason. In that area there were body-bags, filled with the corpses of the fallen and waiting to be transferred. There were a few people near there, apparently comrades of the fallen, some of them looked over at the group, specifically at Orion, whom gave an acknowledging nod at them of understanding.
Hatake soon thought, "How many would have fallen if I had stayed here? Was a mistake to abandon my post? Whatever, I cannot change the outcome anymore..." He looks at his broken watch then at his right hand that still had a part of white skin before continuing his train of thought: "I'm alive and more powerful than I ever hoped to be. And I will use it to make sure most of our people returns from this war..." he thought as he looked at Sera and at his friends, "Including me... No more dying for them, I will LIVE for them! That will be my new purpose from now on!"
After spending a few minutes paying their respects, the group continued their walk towards the camp tents of the pilots, which was where their friends were at right now. Once they arrived there, Orion saw something interesting, "Well, looks like our group of APE-klaxosaur war veterans is getting acquainted with the ACES."
Hatake followed Orion's line of sight to see that his friends were talking with other pilots belonging to other squads... and when he saw a few of them he recognized, his jaw dropped, "Orion! Dude! You never told me many of those ACES were actually those old ACES!"
Orion put on a smug and said, "Well, I was planning to reveal them to APE in the case we had to fight them to basically tell them they were screwed up now."
Oniria soon asked, "Pardon me for asking but what is the big deal with those ACES of old you're talking about Hatake?"
Hatake soon answered to his sister-in-law, "Those ACES are literally the kind of people that can change the course of wars like Jian Squad... they're basically them but from the Old World." The gasps of surprise coming from Oniria and her sister were more than enough...
Meanwhile, with Jian Squad a few moments before Hatake's group arrived...
Ichigo felt that for the first time in her life she was going to pass out of boredom. Her squad had just returned from a perimeter patrol, and after reporting towards the officer in charge, they were sent to their tents; even though there was still a lot to do around the city to help, their officer told them that right now they weren't needed for anything urgent so the group had literally nothing to do for now. Well that wasn't the case for most of them; Mitsuru, Futoshi, Kokoro and Kofuku were reading a booklet about interesting events and places in the Federation thinking of ideas to spend time with their children once they returned. Ichigo would have joined them but she was right now stuck with a bit of paperwork that had built up while she was absent from Milstinteinn. And Goro was out cold taking a nap, still feeling a little exhausted from their "Rampage" run from two days prior (although she was suspecting that he did it on purpose when he saw the mountain of papers to sign.) Zorome and Miku were outside talking their experiences in the Federation to some of the people of Milstinteinn. Ikuno and Titus were doing an inventory check-up along Naomi to see how many materials and loot their group would get as part of their paycheck. Hiro and Zero Two would have helped her with the paper work but the latter became a little horny when Kokoro told her about her pregnancy and maternity that Hiro had to run off hoping that it would calm her down. So she was right now stuck with something that she and Orion could hate in common...
Fortunately, she finally heard the aforementioned couple returning towards their tent; apparently, Zero Two finally caught her darling. Soon both entered the tent... with Hiro being dragged by Zero Two, "Zero Two! I already told you that right now it's not the perfect time!" he said.
"But darling!" replied Zero Two,"If we hurry we can give the other children new friends to play with!"
As much as she would have liked to see Hiro get into more embarrassing trouble, Ichigo decided that right now she will use their hands for her work. So she went towards Zero Two carrying a big pile of papers, "You will have to wait then," she said, "because right now I need to sort this things out and considering you two have a lot of energy to spare..." Then, before Zero Two could react, she dropped the pile on her hands and guided her towards a desk, "I need you to have them ready before lunch time or otherwise no lunch for you!"
"I miss the days where I could intimidate you with just staring..." said Zero Two grumbling.
"Well, sorry to disappoint you now but I'm the one in charge here and many things changed while you were absent..." She said with a smirk, then looked towards Hiro and added, "And to prove you I'm not that heartless, Hiro will help you with your task."
"Wait, what?" sadi Hiro but before he knew it, Zero Two pulled him towards her and then both sat down in the desk, "Come on darling!" she said, "The earlier we finish, the earlier we can make a child!" This caused Hiro to blush again.
Ichigo was about to remark that Zero Two couldn't have a child right when they were in the middle of a war when a new voice was heard from the entrance of their tent...
"Excuse me, captain Ichigo?" said a Federation soldier, "There is someone outside who would like to talk with you ma'am."
Ichigo was curious so she soon went through the entrance and found out that it was...
"Well, there you are blueberry." said Miranda, "Still tired after the run you made yesterday?"
There she was her main rival, the "Ribbon of Grace". She was wearing the standard starfighter pilot uniform, a one-piece Nomex flight suit that had sand color, along with thick boots of the same color, and her flight helmet, which was colored white with the figure of a blue ribbon drawn across the upper part of it, in her right hand. She was also smirking a little, which made Ichigo's blood boil. However, considering that she was an important ally and that it would be better to avoid unnecessary conflicts, she kept her cool and said, "Captain Miranda, glad to see you're okay, what is it that you need?"
Miranda then responded, "Haven't they told you? I'm here to deliver you my thoughts about the performance of your squadron. As an instructor of the Federation forces, it's my duty to do it."
Ichigo was feeling her anger rise little by little, specially considering that from what she heard about Miranda was that she was very harsh when judging performances on cadets. Still, she knew that it was for a good reason, or otherwise many pilots wouldn't be alive today. So, she prepared herself to bear for it, "Fine, just get this over with." said Ichigo.
"Sure..." said, Miranda, "I'll start first with Jian 666 and Jian 390. Those two seemed to be very childish and... troublemakers. You need to implement some more control on them..."
"That one is actually not surprising." Ichigo thought, "Miku and Zorome didn't changed that much after the final battle at the Gran Crevasse."
"Then there's Jian 345 and Jian 196." Miranda continued, "For their supposed "aerial supremacy" role they are quite too accustomed to fighting on the ground and way too close to the front-line, they need to get in the air and put distance between them and the enemies."
"That one is actually assertive." Ichigo thought after that, "If I remember correctly, Chlorophytum upgrades were to emphasize that role. Probably something I will need to talk with them later."
"Then there is Jian 326 and Jian 556." Miranda continued with the next pair, "They're standing WAY too close to the front-line battlefield. Genista as a heavy arsenal unit works way better when on the back of the formations were she can shoot all the heavy artillery without worrying too much of direct confrontation. Sure, she is quite useful at the front but only when the timing is right and the situation is optimal for it."
"This might be a little problem," Ichigo thought, "Kokoro and Mitsuru are accustomed to give close heavy fire support since in most of our battles it was always close-quarters. They are gonna need to train their accuracy and coordination capabilities."
"Now we cover Jian 53 and Jian 214." Miranda continued on, "Both of them are actually doing what they're supposed to but they're getting too exposed to enemy attacks. Freiturnier was designed as a combat medic, not as a "pocket medic" so they need to rely more on themselves and the weapon systems of their Franxx and perform less healing unless necessary on their squad mates to keep themselves aware of their position in battle."
"This one will be the most complicated." Ichigo thought about this, "Futoshi and Kofuku are trying their best to support us and we usually end up fighting in the front-line, where literally everything is shooting at us. Maybe some training in spacing and self-defense will help."
Miranda then said, "Now for the special cases of Jian 2 and Jian 16. Both of them are surprisingly good except on one detail: Both of them fight way too solo."
Ichigo was confused by this, "What do you mean by that?"
"I'm not saying it as a bad thing but remember that Strelitzia's role is to be the tank of the group." Miranda explained, "She receives hits and returns them with interests while the rest of the squad terminate the attacker. As far as I saw, the only time they did it like that was when that VIRM squadron of Franxx attacked your squadron. They have been acting more as hunters rather than team players so they need to let go of some prey and stick more with the flock. Got that?"
Ichigo couldn't find any fault in her reasoning, "Damn, I never thought of it in that way. Zero Two is not going to like hearing this..."
Miranda then said, "And at last to finish my report, I now get to judge you and Jian 56. Only two words: not bad. However, you and captain Goro are putting yourselves a lot in harm's way. Sure, it makes sense that it should be the squad leader the one who protects their squad-mates or to take the risky positions for their sake. However, you're also the responsible one to guide them into hell and back by example and dying is not one of them. A dead leader is a bad leader so make sure to trust your companions and have faith that they will know how to stay out of unnecessary danger, that way you will soon see an upgrade in your performance."
"Sure that sounds about right... and that's it?" asked Ichigo, "I expected you to be harsher..."
"And I expected you to be a spoiled brat," responded Miranda, "but it seems both of us got wrong about that, didn't we?"
"Yeah. That's true." said Ichigo smirked.
Miranda then looked to the side and saw that her squad was being called up, "Well, that's it for now. Remember to tell your friends about what I told you, alright? I'm looking forward to participate with your squad in future operations."
"Sure, take care out there." said Ichigo, with that, Miranda ran away towards her group while Ichigo sighed, "It seems that there is still a lot for us to learn. We need to do it fast or this will be the last war we will fight in many ways..."
"Did the 'Ribbon of Grace' just compliment you?" asked a voice from behind, "That is something you don't see everyday!"
Ichigo turned around and hissed without knowing, only to realize what she did and blush before taking a look at whoever talked to her. It was a young human man with bronze-colored hair tied up in a ponytail, he had silver-colored eyes, yellowish skin and his body was of a similar complex like Futoshi's. He was accompanied by a human girl with white hair, white skin, red round eyes and eating a lollipop in her mouth. Both were wearing the standard Stamen/Pistil Federation uniform, both being of color silver with gold highlights and an armband on their right arms. The armband had the picture of a cylindrical container on a sky blue background with a platinum "C" inscribed behind it.
"Sorry, it is a bad habit of mine." said the guy, "My name is Akio Nakamura. Designated Code 572 by APE. And the girl at my side is my friend and pistil Yoshiko Yamamoto. Designated Code 532 by APE too. Pleasure to meet you for the first time Captain Ichigo."
He then stretched his hand towards her to which Ichigo complied with a handshake, "Honoured to meet you too Captain Akio and Captain Yoshiko..."
"Colonel." said Yoshiko suddenly.
"What?" asked Ichigo confused.
"Our rank is colonel since we're two of the CAPSULES." Yoshiko continued without showing any emotion, "We are in charge of the Districts, both politically and military."
"Oh..." Ichigo said, "Sorry about that then."
"Don't worry about that Captain Ichigo!" said Akio, "Yoshiko is usually like this when working so don't feel bad about it! You can call us by our first names if you want to! Any friend of Orion and king Hatake is a friend of ours!"
"Glad to hear it." said Ichigo with a smile, "You can call me Ichigo then. What can I help you with?"
"Captain Miranda told us that you were thinking about remodeling the Mistilteinn District into Japanese architecture once the war was over." said Yoshiko,
"Well, she suggested it, but I don't know anything about what that word means and less about it's architecture." Ichigo answered.
"I'm here to teach you about it." said Yoshiko, "I have a side-job as a historian in my District and I know most of the topic. Once the war is over, you will have at least the general concept of it."
"Oh, thank you!" Ichigo said as she looked back towards the tent where she sees that Zero Two is complaining a little of the amount of papers along Hiro, "You know, right now we have a little of time. Think you can give me the starting steps please?"
She saw Yoshiko keep the same expression but seeing how her eyes shined a little at that, she supposed that she liked teaching about history "Of course. Sit with me please..." said Yoshiko.
Meanwhile...
Goro had just woken up from his nap when he saw that Zero Two and Hiro were dealing with Ichigo's paperwork...
"Huh, would you look at that..." he thought.
He then looked around and saw that his wife wasn't there so he stood up and soon said towards Mitsuru: "Hey, do you know where Ichigo is?"
"She went outside because she had a visitor." Mitsuru responded, "She probably is still out there since she hasn't returned."
"Thanks." said Goro as he went outside and started searching around while thinking, "She couldn't have gone too far, did she?"
After a few minutes of searching, he was starting to get worried and it was showing in his horn,: "Come on, where are you Ichigo?" he thought, "How is it that it is always hard to keep track of you?" Fortunately, he soon saw her talking with two other people in a table not far away. Ichigo managed to see him and waved at her husband. The other two with her soon followed. He smiled and waved back with his eyes closed, which unfortunately made him oblivious of the change of the expressions of the other three into a horrified look. Suddenly, Goro got spiked by a bad feeling creeping up his head, and, as if he had a sixth instinct, he suddenly launched himself to the side just in the moment a cart filled with crates rushed through the spot he was a few seconds ago and crashed against a bigger crate. Goro just stood there leaning on the ground seeing how close he was to being ran over that he didn't see nor hear when a new female voice called for him...
"Sir, sir! Are you alright mister?" asked a voice. He turned towards the source and for a minute he looked in shock toward the person before he said, "Ichigo?"
"Huh? Sorry sir but that's not my name." the voice responded confused, "Are you sure you are alright?"
Goro blinked a few more times, even took of his glasses to polish them and soon saw the face of the female, it wasn't Ichigo but for some reason, she reminded him of her. The person that he was looking at had short sky-blue hair tied up in a bun facing back, green colored eyes, and for some reason, her face looked similar to Ichigo's yet it was also different, and she looked older than her. She was wearing a totally black Pistil uniform with a few gray highlights.
The person then said while extending her hand, "Need any help? You are starting to worry me..."
"OH! Oh! Sorry!" said Goro coming back to his senses, "It's just that I was lost in thought for a moment there. I may have confused you for someone else..." Then he took her hand and stood up. He then was hugged by the real Ichigo who said, "Oh thank the heavens you're alright dear! I was afraid that the cart would roll you over!"
"Yeah," said Goro, "caught me by surprise too. Apparently being a hybrid gives you a sixth sense or something."
"Yeah, sorry about that." said the other woman, "It was the fault of my husband Hans. Oh, that's right, I haven't introduced myself. My name is Novae Grimm, Pistil of the "Razgriz 2" unit."
"Captain Ichigo, Jian 15, and my husband Captain Goro, Jian 56." replied Ichigo.
"Ah!" said Novae, "The same ones of the veteran Squad 13? It's my pleasure to meet you!"
"Captain Novae, did you managed to stop the cart your idiot husband let loose?" said an angered voice.
A man that looked on his late-twenties with black hair, ebony eyes and a serious face was looking at Novae. He was wearing a Stamen uniform of the same color but with a golden armband on his left arm.
"Negative, mayor Blaze." Novae responded, "It proved to be too fast. Fortunately, nobody got hurt."
"Unfortunately, that won't be an excuse to spare his disciplinary punishment for this accident." said Blaze with a sigh. He then noticed the other two pilots and said, "I remember you, weren't you two the Jians we had to carry because you had your first 'Rampage' run?"
"Yeah, that's us." said Ichigo, "Captain Ichigo, Jian 15, and my husband Captain Goro Jian 56."
"Major Blaze Nagasake," said Blaze"Stamen of the "Razgriz 1" unit and leader of the "Ghosts of Razgriz" franxx squadron. You did a good job out there."
"Glad to hear that..." replied Ichigo, "although after all of what Captain Miranda told me, we still got a lot learn..."
"Wait, you encountered her again?" said Goro afraid of the outcome, "Please tell me you didn't end up ripping her throat."
"On the contrary, Captain Goro. Miranda was impressed by your performance!" said Akio, "She just told them their flaws without even giving them a harsh critique."
"Really?" said Blaze, he seemed to be genuinely impressed, "Then you actually seem to have great potential inside you. Not even our squadron was safe from her critiques."
"Hmpff!" said Novae with an angry pout, "More like WE weren't safe from her critiques. She didn't even judged you, Nagase, Snow and not even my hubby Hans when me and the other pistils entered at your squadron! She already knew about you guys!"
"Yeah, that's also true." said Blaze with a sweatdrop.
Goro however, was kind of worried now, "What did she told you about our squad?" he asked.
"Nothing too harsh, just some flaws and tips to optimize our performance." said Ichigo, "It is something we will have to discuss as a group."
"There you are Blaze!" said Orion from beside them, "I want you to meet someone important!"
Everyone turned around and saw Orion, Elise, Nana, Hachi, Oniria, Sera and Hatake, the last of them on a hover bed with Sera on control of it. Everyone, with exception of Ichigo and Goro, saluted.
"Excuse me for a moment..." said Blaze as went towards the group: "Commander Orion, to whom should I feel honored?"
"You can cut that crap short, Blaze," said Orion bluntly, "I already know you have met King Hatake here."
"Always the wiser mister president." Blaze said then looked at Hatake while saluting at him, "Mayor Blaze Nagase, leader of the "Ghosts of Razgriz" Franxx squadron. A pleasure to meet you your highness. Pretty big of a show you put out there."
"Hatake Frank. Well, thanks for that but look at its price," replied Hatake with a sigh, "I was reckless."
"Well," said Blaze, "In the end it still got us the victory, so yeah even though it was reckless you are still alive, isn't that something to be happy about?"
"Happy to be alive after all of those people died out there just to save me?" asked Hatake, "I don't think that something like this means that I should be happy."
"Spoken like a true leader." said Blaze with a smile, "But that also doesn't mean that you have to always be mourning them. Many of them died just to make sure that the smile of most people that are still alive still reaches them. It's fair to remember them but not only by mourning."
Hatake smiled at this before they were interrupted by someone...
"General Orion!" said a male dressed in the uniform of a mothership cruiser crew staff, "Your assigned transport is all set to go! Looking at the weather, it would be nice if your convoy departs without any further delay."
"I see," said Orion, "alright Blaze, we will be taking our leave then, see you back at the HQ!"
"Sure thing, general! And your majesty, I believe that you will make a great ruler along the Queen." he said as everyone walked away.
"That one was the same Blaze of the Coalition War, wasn't him?" asked Seraphime, "The one you spoke a lot about?"
Hatake responded, "Yes he was... I still can't believe that he and his squadron is still alive here... and we're talking about decades of years!"
Orion soon was interested, "Do you happen to have already known about him?" he asked.
"Not personally, but my father did when the Klaxosaur Crisis started." said Hatake, "They were the first group of pilots to successfully pass the tests AND ride for the first time a Franxx. I was a kid back then and also heard a lot of them and their actions in the Coalition War, so they were like my idols. Even my father said that he could get an autograph from them for my birthday!" He smiled at the memory before frowning, "Unfortunately, a klaxosaur pack attacked their facility and only the data obtained from their test rides survived... well that's what my father said." He thought about this last part, "How did they survived then? Also..." He took a look towards Novae and suddenly noticed something, "Why does that girl look like an older Ichigo?"
"Well, it seems your father was wrong again!" said Orion oblivious, "Those guys managed to escape thanks to their old good jets: the F-14's! They regrouped with Miranda's group after that event and basically joined forces to survive until the Federation was announced publicly."
"Oh I see..." said Hatake, "Hey, ummmm... do you happen to know who is that girl that is talking with Goro and Ichigo right now?"
"You mean Novae Grimm?" Orion responded, "I sure do... she was actually with the "Razgriz" squadron back at the facility they were being trained for Franxx piloting. Why do you ask?"
"I have a hunch about a theory of mine..." said Hatake.
Some minutes later...
"Hurry up! We are already 20 minutes late because of you!" Shouted Elise towards Jian squad whom were running behind her. The group was running late towards their transport.
"We're sorry, but the paperwork was way bigger than we thought!" Screamed Ichigo, "There's also the fact that a couple of lovebirds did it wrong and I had to correct those mistakes!" She said this while looking at Zero Two and Hiro, the former with a smug and the latter smiling sheepishly.
Elise just sighed, turned around a corner and gladly saw that their assigned transport was just about to take off.
"General! Hurry up!", One of the soldiers near the entrance ramp shouted.
They all did just that and managed to get inside just before the ramp closed and the transport took off towards one of the cruiser ships. Later, once the transport got inside its hangar and opened his ramp, everyone disembarked and Elise said, "Phew, we manage to arrive just by a few minutes..."
"Huh, it seems you actually managed to arrive." said Orion, "I was just going to dial towards the captain of the next convoy to take you in his flight."
"Wow, you have that much faith on us?" Hatake responded sarcastically.
"You should appreciate the hospitality when it's being offered, otherwise I can easily send you back down there..." replied Orion with a tone that clearly indicated he wasn't joking.
"Fine." Replied Hatake with a sigh.
"Alright then," said Orion after the ship finally reached its designated altitude, "Hatake will be taken to his room to rest, we should arrive at the federation by the day after tomorrow. Since we're going in a convoy procedure, it's going to be a longer flight than the one we did coming here." He said as everyone was catching their breath, "Go leave your luggage in your rooms and then go do whatever you want. This ship has a lot to give for entertainment!"
Hours passed and soon it was nighttime...
"Things will never go as they're planned, will they?" asked Oniria standing beside Seraphime as both of them looked out the huge glass pane that gave a beautiful view of the cold evening desert.
"What happened at Prismertine?" asked Seraphime, "Considering that unless martial law is applied, the responsible one for the planet cannot leave, what happened there that made you move here?"
"We were attacked," replied Oniria with a disappointed face, "I wanted to protect them, I wanted to stay by their side and help them but…"
"So the ultimate protection law, the one establishing the one in charge is to be sent away from home with the most powerful and faithful servants and fighters in case of an attack, was applied on you." Said Seraphime completing her words, "How many were there to attack that even the shields couldn't hold them?"
"It was only one." Whispered Oniria.
"WHAT?!" asked Seraphime shocked.
"Agiliton," continued Oniria, "one of the fastest Franxxs made by Hatake, that one moves so fast that it can almost be compared to teleportation, however, the amount of power it required, no battery or power source could keep up with it. Hence, he discontinued the project and the blueprints were kept in secret locations, until one of the Shape Shifting class VIRM unit disguised as a former high ranked Klaxo sapien stole it."
"You're talking about the same Franxx that I had to duel against?" asked Seraphime.
"Yes, but of course it can't stand to the same level of Meteorix thanks to its composition of Klaxonite," Replied Oniria just as Ikuno and Titus arrived at their place and heard about a new element.
"Klaxonite?" asked Ikuno from behind.
"One of the costliest and strongest elements found on the realms of Prismertine," replied Seraphime, "the element is one of its kind that can absorb the energy around it to repair itself."
"What kind of energy? According to our laws of thermodynamics, that technically is impossible." asked Titus.
"At least for you humans," replied Oniria, "we Klaxosaurs release our excess body energy through our horns in form of wavelengths. Elements like Klaxonite absorb such energy and repair any faults in it, Hatake took advantage of this reaction and completely rebuilt Meteorix out of Klaxonite. Hence, whenever he releases tremendous energy out of his body during battles, the energy is automatically absorbed and the Franxx is repaired. However, there is no limit to the amount of energy absorbed, so the pilot often gets tired after even a few minutes of battle.
"Interesting..." said Titus and took notes about it, "By the way, Orion told us to get you two inside, said that the temperature is going to drop a lot this night so he is ordering all doors and windows closed to conserve the temperature."
"Really?" asked Oniria, "I wasn't feeling that chilly..."
"That's because Klapiens have higher temperature tolerance because of their metabolic efficiency levels." said Titus, "Taking into account that there are humans in here too and their tolerance is lower."
"Good point, well thank you for the warning." said Seraphime, "Better get going to our cabins..."
"Yeah..." said Oniria yawning "sleep well sister... and don't make anything loud with your husband, eh?" She then ran away, barely avoiding one of Sera's tails trying to get her...
"Why you little brat..." said Seraphime growling. Even so, she smiled slightly; deep inside her, she missed this interaction with Oniria. It had been so long after the last time they had their sibling anthics...
"Hmmm, your highness I want to ask if you could do me a favour..." asked Titus.
"Which is?" asked Seraphime.
"Well," Titus nervously gulped before gaining the courage to say, "it's related about the First VIRM-Earth war or, put into simpler words, the war your civilization fought first..."
Seraphine's gaze became hardened and gloomy which made panic set on Titu,: "You... you don't have to if you want to!" said Titus, "I was only asking for your permission after all and I understand if-"
"No, no, no..." Seraphime interrupted him with a sigh, "It's alright. I guess I can understand why you would want to interview me. After all, I'm the only one survivor of those who went there..."
"Thank you, your highness." said Titus releasing a huge breath of relief, "If you want to, we can do this another day. For now it would be better if we went to get some sleep. It is starting to freeze in here."
"Sure." said Seraphime.
And as such, the three soon left towards their cabins. Soon enough, the lock down was activated and everyone, with exception of the night shift staff, went to sleep. Although, not everyone slept that fast. In one of the cabins, a certain black haired hybrid was trying to do so...
"Dammit, why can't I sleep?" Hiro thought while trying to get into dreamland in vain. Dressed in a simple white night shirt along with grey night shorts, the blue-horned stamen was getting restless. For some reason, his insticts were "screaming" to him about something that he couldn't put his finger upon and it only left him frustrated since it took away his sleep. Eventually, uncomfortable about it. he stood up and headed to the bathroom thinking some water could relax him. However, a knock in his door stopped him. He could sense that behind it there was a female and he know easily who it was, "Uh... seems like Zero Two can't sleep either." He thought as he went and opened the door...
"Hey Zero Two, I guess you couldn't sleep neither... Woah!" Hiro was interrupted when he was suddenly grabbed by Zero Two, who closed the door behind her, then dragged him towards the bed.
Hiro, after recovering from the shock of being yanked by his girlfriend and suddenly finding himself under her in the bed, said: "Zero Two, what are you...?"
But he was interrupted when she kissed his lips with hers, both going at it for a few moments before Hiro broke free from its intoxicating flavour and asked more seriously this time, "Zero Two, I'm serious! What are you doing?"
Zero Two said, with a lustful gaze in her eyes: "I'm doing what we wanted for so long, my darling. Can't you just give yourself to it?"
Hiro knew that she was right in certain degree but even then, this looked a little too much. Then he remembered how earlier she had been trying to convince him to basically procreate with her and he soon fit the pieces together. Even though a deep part of him also wanted to have a kid, his conscience tells him that this wasn't the perfect timing, "Zero Two," he said, "I want a child as much as you do right now, but please be sensible. This isn't the right time-"
He was interrupted again by another kiss, this time longer and with tongue. Once they both separated for air, Zero Two said: "Please darling... I have waited for so long... ever since those days in the Plantation... don't you think that it is the moment to finally create something wonderful with our love...?"
Before Hiro could reply, Zero Two stood on her knees and started to unbutton her dress, showing little by little her smooth, soft, pale skin along her curves and dressed in red and white lingerie...
Hiro felt something inside him snap and raise, and he had no control on it. Without him knowing, his hands suddenly went towards her hips and...
"So that's why you exited your room Zero Two..." said Elise as the door opened.
Both suddenly turned towards the door to see Elise standing on it. And she had a look that said that this wasn't her first time interrupting and that it won't be her last.
"Elise!" said Hiro panicked, "Ah, eh... This..."
"Can't a couple get their privacy in here?" Zero Two said with a sigh of frustration, "What do you want?"
"Don't speak to me like that lady..." replied Elise in a serious tone, "You know very well why I am here. Just be glad that it wasn't Nana or somebody else."
"To be fair, I would be glad if it was somebody else than you." said Zero Two, "Now, would you mind?"
"Oh hell no." replied Elise, "Don't you dare think you can fool me, pinkie. With me, now!"
Zero Two hissed and growled menacingly, in a try to scare off Elise, but the android girl wasn't affected by it and said in a firmer tone, "I...said...with me... NOW."
"Zero Two, please." said Hiro trying to cool down the situation,"Elise is someone who probably understands, just do what she says and talk to her."
Zero Two kept her glare at Elise, but after turning towards Hiro worried face? She simply sighed, buttoned her dress again and stormed out of the room, with Elise closing the door after. Hiro then sat on the bed and thought, "I think I may have screwed up big time. Is this how Ichigo felt that time in the assault of the Grand Crevasse?"
Meanwhile, the horny (in both senses) pink-haired hybrid and her superior were walking through the halls. The former was stomping and ignoring the latter on purpose, trying to provoke her into whatever reaction she would do to discipline her. That's why it took her by surprise that she said calmly, "You know, you just helped me win a bet against Orion. Want to come for a drink? Its on me."
"What?" asked Zero Two as she turned towards her in shock.
"Earlier, when Orion saw you tailing Hiro throughout the camp," Elise explained, "he and I made a bet about if you would try to take his v-card during the travel or after we arrived at the city. As you can see, my bet was that you would try to while in the ship. Also sorry for interrupting, you aren't the first couple that tried to "elope" during active service and my job is to catch them in the spot. Although, after I heard everything you two went through, I wouldn't mind looking in another direction..."
"Then why did you stopped us?!" said Zero Two angered.
"Because one thing is that I would allow you two to have sex, but another thing would be to allow you to reproduce while on the job." replied Elise, "Are you at least aware at what you will be facing if you get pregnant?"
"Of course I do!" Zero Two said exasperated, "I already asked and talked with Ichigo, Kokoro and Kofuku about it, which is why I am trying right now!"
"Did they also told you that once pregnant you cannot ride your Franxx again for the whole duration of it?" asked Elise with a sigh.
"What?" asked Zero Two as she stopped in her tracks.
"Figures..." said Elise, "Pregnant women, no matter if they are human, hybrid or purely klapien, cannot ride a Franxx during the whole time in which their pregnancies lasts. It is something too risky for the babies. Now, try to think about that, what do you think would happen if you suddenly got pregnant right now as if you planned to do?"
Zero Two stood in silent knowing the implications about it, if she got pregnant right now, she would be forced to step out until she birthed her child which in turn would mean that Hiro, her darling, would be left alone again, without anyone to pilot Strelitzia. And he already had suffered of it before...
Taking her silence as an agreement that she realized the consequences about it, "You're also not the first couple to suffer of this kind of problems too." continued Elise, "There has been many cases about female personnel bearing the fruits of such passionate nights, forcing them to end their careers and return prematurely to the civilian life, while the fathers stayed at work, now burdened with the fact that they have to provide and raise a child. And I can tell that by your experience, this is something you wouldn't want to face again. Then there's also the chance that the father may not live to meet his child because of his job, leaving the widow and the child in a harder situation. You wouldn't want your kid to go through something similar to the pain and horror you and Hiro suffered, would you?"
Zero Two simply stood in silence, knowing deep inside that what Elise just told to her was true, she and her darling suffered so much while they were children under APE's control, specially her since she was created as a special living weapon to use against the klaxosaurs. She was treated as a monster and believed she was one, at least until her darling came to rescue her in that snowy day. After that he showed her the world of the outside, even if it was little, and treated her as something much more than just a monster. That opened her heart and her mind, and she knew from that moment that he and she were to become something special. But then, it all went down when they were captured and erased their memories. Or at least, they tried in her case, but that worked in her darling which led her to another kind of suffering, knowing about him and what happened the whole time while also consciously knowing that he wouldn't even remember her. And that was more painful than any other kind of treatment they gave her. Could she really force her darling, or even worse, her own child to suffer something similar to this? The mere thought about it made her frown in disgust and sadness which Elise took notice of and said, "I know that you want to have a child with him. And he does too. Just remember that right now is not the right time to do so. You're both needed in this war since you and your team maybe the key to it."
"But if you already won once against them..." said Zero Two, "Why would having us make a difference?"
"All I would say for now," said Elise with a smile, "is that you're quite singular..."
Zero Two was confused at this response but before she could say anything, both stopped in front of her cabin, "In you go..." said Elise.
Zero Two sighed and entered, and just before she closed the door, Elise said, "You know something girl? Let me promise you this, once this war is over, you and your darling will get married ASAP and I will cover the whole cost of it. Sounds good enough?"
Zero Two actually smiled at that and nodded excited.
"Good, but first make sure you two survive this. See ya tomorrow." said Elise as with that she closed the door, and Zero Two spent the next minutes giggling and imagining the wedding of her dreams before exhaustion finally caught up to her...
The next day...
"Morning…" said Zorome rubbing his eyes with a yawn as he entered the breakfast table, everyone was on the table as usual, nothing seemed too different, until he noticed, "WHAT IS ALL THIS?!" he screamed.
"Zorome calm down!" said Miku.
"I can't calm down!" replied Zorome as he pointed towards the breakfast table that was all full of honey and meat, "WHY IS THERE ONLY HONEY AND GRILLED MEAT?!"
"Well," said Orion scratching his head, "you see, the supplies for the trip were mixed by mistake and instead of getting the standard food rations, the staff loaded all of the honey and meat supplies instead."
"Ah, will you stop shouting?!" asked Miku who had already consumed a lot of honey which made her energized, "You are making my head ache!"
"Is she alright?" thought Hiro looking at Zero Two who was gulping the honey down her throat like water, "Zero Tw-" he said as Zero Two got up with a jar of honey.
"Stop speaking and just try it, you are a half Klaxo sapien now!" she said as she poured the honey into Zorome's mouth, "Well, what do you think?"
"Well," replied Zorome as he suddenly calmed down and started to enjoy the taste of honey, "I guess, I can try."
Meanwhile, in an executive class cabin...
"I'm bored," thought Hatake in sitting in his room as he could hear the quarrel of the breakfast table from there, "maybe I'll just take a walk to the table-" he said as he felt intense pain in his heart as soon as his legs hit the floor, "Damn it!" he said as he was about to fall on the floor before Seraphime rushed to pick him up.
"What are you doing?!" she asked panicked.
"I…" he said running short on breath, "I… just wanted to take a walk."
"You could have just called me!" She replied, "You know you can't just disobey my orders."
"But," he replied, "I just wanted to-" he said as he tried to stand up once again which made the pain even worse making him lie down holding his heart.
"Okay, you are allowed to walk!" shouted Seraphime as the pain slowly went away, "Like seriously, just how much stubborn can you be?"
"You do know I don't like following orders even if it hurts me." Replied Hatake as he got back up.
"I did it for your own good, you know?" asked Seraphime.
"I know," replied Hatake with a smile, "It isn't your fault. Anyways, let's go see what the others are doing." He said as both of them walked towards the dining room.
"What the…" he whispered as he found everyone to be hiding behind the tables with a scared look when he saw Zero Two looking for them with a fierce and wild look, "Zero Two-" he said before Orion pulled him towards them under the table, "What the hell happened here?" Hatake asked whispering.
"She had too much honey." He whispered.
"So?" asked Seraphime, "Why are you all hiding?"
"At first we thought she might just keep running around with too much energy," replied Hiro, "but, instead, she went over a feeding spree of honey. She is forcefully trying to feed honey to whoever she sees."
"Yeah," replied Elise, "the flight crew was just lucky enough to be able to lock themselves inside the control room."
"So, what do we do now?" asked Ichigo a little scared. She may have faced already an angry Zero Two before, but this was another kind of madness.
"Well," replied Hatake, "we need to wait until she gets tired and eventually falls to sleep due to the sudden drop on energy." He said with a sigh. Time was hardly flying by as they had to wait behind the same table for a long time. Eventually, they heard a Thud! and Orion took a look to see that Zero Two was laying on the ground.
"Finally... is safe now guys! Now lets see the time... it's 4 PM already?!" asked Orion in shock.
"Damn I can't feel my back," said Oniria rubbing her back, "that really did take a long time."
"Yeah maybe we should have just sacrificed Miku and run away." Said Zorome laughing as everyone looked at him silently with Miku looking at him with her horns lit up, "T-That was a joke…" he said with a sweat-drop expression after reading the mood.
"Anyways, let's have our lunch then," said Orion, "I'll let the crew know that the 'danger' is now gone."
"Yeah sure," replied Hiro, "but what about Zero Two?" he asked.
"Why don't you carry her to her room?" asked Hatake.
"M-Me?" asked Hiro flushed, "A-alright…" he said as he carried Zero Two on her back, "This reminds me of those old days…" he thought as he left the dinning room and now walked through the corridors towards her room, "When she was injured and I had to take her on my back through that snow, the memories taken away from us, the times when we felt like caged birds." He said as soon he could heard Zero Two murmuring.
"Dar-ling…" she whispered in her sleep as they finally reached her room and Hiro made her lie in the bed, time stopped as he looked at her asleep with a smile.
"Don't worry," he said as he kissed on her forehead while holding her hand, "this will all soon end, I promise." He then returned to the mess hall to find Zorome going through the usual again...
"WHY IS THERE HONEY AND GRILLED MEAT AGAIN-" asked Zorome as Miku caught him by his collar.
"Will you just stop with those stupid complaints?!" asked Miku looking at him with her horns lighting up along her eyes, "It's all there is! If you want to eat, well you are welcome or, you can just GET OUT!" she said looking directly into his eyes with a furious look which made Zorome scared as she calmed down.
"A-alright…" Zorome said with a pout, "Let's eat."
"Good," replied Miku, "let's eat then!" she said as everyone sat back on the table and to eat, after lunch was done, everyone got up to pack up their little things and get some sleep to compensate for the body ache they got from hiding in the same position for hours.
Some time later...
It was 7 pm already and they could see the translucent glass dome of the federation glowing, lighting up the dark night view.
"That view always looks just too beautiful to me…" said Hatake looking at the view, everyone was on on their passenger seats buckled up, ready to land.
"Of course, it is!" said Orion looking at the same direction, "It's home after all!"
"Home, huh?" asked Hatake with a sad look, "Perhaps you could call it that."
"Zero Two," asked Ichigo who was sitting with Goro right next to her and Hiro, "are you okay now?" she asked worried.
"Yeah," said Hiro in a scolding manner, "you better be careful with honey next time!"
"Yes," said Zero Two as she knocked her head with her fist lightly with her tongue out, "I really need to be."
"Y-Yeah." Said Hiro as he turned his head away as to not give in to her cuteness, "Who taught her that look? Damn it!" he thought looking outside the window.
"Entering wash gate, please make sure you are buckled up." Said the comms as the ship went in through one of the gates on the belt of the dome and finally, they could see the place that they now called as one of their homes.
Sometime later, back at the "Birdnest" quarters...
"Alright then!" said Orion as he got down from the transport ship that took them there from the Space Elevator, it was 11:00 pm already: "Let's have some sleep now. We have a ceremony to attend tomorrow."
"Ceremony?" asked Futoshi, "You mean the victory feast?"
"No, this one is as equal as important to that but more of a sad nature. Winning a battle doesn't mean that you have to forget the ones who died to achieve its victory." Replied Orion, "We will give them a formal goodbye with respect. The party will happen later after that."
"I see," said Futoshi, "alright then let's go have dinner! We are gonna need it if to answer the questions of our children after all..."
"Yeah sure." Said Hiro as everyone went inside. As soon as the door was closed, the cries of "Mom! Dad!" sounded from upstairs and soon their children came running towards their parents, happy to see them again. Another happy family dinner to enjoy.
The next morning...
"This is odd…" Hiro thought looking at the other side of his bed once he woke up and found it to be empty. "Usually Zero Two would always wake up by my side and I would always scold her for doing things like that, is she really angry with me for not taking her side when Elise was scolding her?" From his spot, he could hear the sound of soft driping on his window and when he tried to open the curtains out of curiosity, the door of his room suddenly opened with a bang and Zero Two charged in with a hyped face.
"Darling!" she said as she held his hand and pulled him with her.
"Zero Two, woah! Wait!" said Hiro, "Where are we going!?" he asked confused.
"Just come!" she said as she made him run with him to the terrace garden of the building.
"What are you even trying to-" said Hiro as he suddenly realised what she wanted to show her, she stood in front of him bare footed wearing a red night dress with her horns shinning from the drops of water as she laughed and jumped in happiness; turns out that outside it was raining, Zero Two's favourite climate. "It's raining… but how?" he thought looking at the dome of the federation and realizing it must had a similar weather system like that of the Garden before the war. He was interrupted of his train of thought when suddenly Zero Two jumped into a puddle near him and launching water that left him wet. Zero Two laughed at this, and Hiro couldn't help but smile and thought, "Even after all these years, she still loves to play on the rain." He was about to join in when suddenly they heard another pair of footsteps moving towards them.
"I KNEW IT!" shouted Ichigo as she came in rushing from behind while running short on breath, "I knew you two… would be… here."
"Yeah but catch your breath first." Said Hiro looking at her.
"Yes..." she replied, took some deep breaths and spoke normally, "Orion's looking for us all, he told us to assemble at the main hall."
"Alright," said Hiro, "Let's go Zero Two!"
"But darling," replied Zero Two with a sad look, "Our fun time on the rain!"
"Don't worry," said Ichigo, "the weather forecast said that is going to rain all day till midnight today."
"Really?" asked Zero Two excited.
"Yes," said Ichigo, "but you guys better hurry, Orion says that we need to arrive early at the ceremony. You can play later once it's over."
"Yeah sure," said Zero Two, "let's go, darling!" she said as all of them went down to the hall.
"Where were you guys?" asked Orion, he was dressed in a military uniform with no badges or any fancy stuff that made it look military, it was just a plain uniform that was fully black.
"Having some fun under the rain." responded Ichigo.
"I can easily tell that..." said Orion looking ta their clothes that were dripping wet.
"Damn, what is it with that outfit?" asked Hatake confused, as he soon entered alongside Seraphine.
"It's a funeral your highness, you need to keep track of these things. Or have you forgotten about such traditions already?" Said Orion.
"Oh, that's why the black colour. I know about them mister president, but I stopped doing that practice when basically most of the world was dying easily in a war..." Said Hatake exasperated.
"Anyways," said Orion as he pointed towards two boxes that the children had been looking at curiously the whole time, "those are the dresses you guys are supposed to wear for the ceremony. Have a quick breakfast and prepare your children quickly for the event because we don't have much time."
"Yes, sir!" said the squad as everyone quickly changed into the uniforms assigned to them, the uniforms very much looked like the same as parasite uniform that they wore before the war, but much more simplified and in a complete black colour. Orion also made the little detail of adding black kid-sized clothes for the children too!
After having a light breakfast and making the children presentable, and a little quick guide from Hatake about how one is supposed to behave in a funeral, everyone was soon ready.
"I guess that's all?" asked Orion, "Very well, let's go." he said as everyone followed him into a transport ship.
"Where are we going?" asked Hiro.
"To the Eastern Graveyards, abdicated in the coastal side of the Space Elevator, it is near the cliffs of the harbor..." said Orion, "That's where the ceremony will be held."
"Why so far to the east?" asked Hatake.
"It lets the spirits of the dead to see the rays of the sunshines first, before the rest of the city." replied Orion with a serious look on his face, "It's our way to let them know that their sacrifices didn't go in vain."
"Spoken like a true human being." Said Hatake as everyone sat in silence after that, with exception from a few questions of the children until the transport finally landed. On the ground they understood the importance of such a ceremony, there were hundreds of people who came from all over the federation, making it clear that many of them certainly looked different to others and not only because of their human, klapien or hybrid genes. Yet, even with a huge amount of diversification, they were all reunited together for one same purpose, that was to give their last farewells to their fallen, either if some were strangers to them or others have known them since birth. Not a single word was coming from anyone's mouth, only standing there, with saddened faces and some of them in tears and many of them heart broken. On the far side of the field in which they were, facing near the cliffside, there were three huge furnaces next to each other, the rain trying hard to cut off the flames that came out of it but to no avail. The dead bodies lied inside coffins that were in front of the mouths of the furnaces with the people looking at them with tears in their eyes. The podium was next to the furnaces which was not at much of a height. The sight was one of grief that seemed to seep through everyone, even the children, who hugged their parents closely seeking for comfort...
"So, this is what is feels like," thought Mitsuru as Komodo held his hand tightly, being scared of the view, "This is what a real final goodbye must be like."
"Orion," said Elise as she came from behind the podium, "all the preparations are done, we should start already."
"Yes, let us begin." Said Orion as he walked towards the podium without looking at any other direction, while the rest sat down in nearby chairs assigned for them. He knew deep inside that he wouldn't have the answer to the questions his people will have for him neither the answer he would have to tell to the children of the fallen once they asked where their parents went. Heck, he didn't even understood death itself; he had been more than once near its grasp, sometimes as something welcoming, sometimes as something completely unwanted, but every time, both he and Elise avoided it last second. At first, he thought of this as a blessing, but as time passed and people started having high expectations on him and in his responsibilities, he slowly realized that it was more of a curse. He had seen more than enough to put normal humans of the Old World mad: the wars, the klaxosaurs, the fall of modern civilization, the deserted and barren wastelands. He soon learned that APE has been a fool trying to make everyone immortal, eternal life was only a toxic lie of "eternal happiness"; death was the painful truth that really allowed it to happen. As such, he had a job to do, even if it was painful, he had to make sure everyone saw it as something not to be afraid upon; to see death as a friend just like life was. "Everyone..." he said in the softest voice possible, "we all know what we have gathered here for; we are all here to witness again the painful truth that comes with life and death: the corpses of many valiant men and women, all of them sacrifices of death, done so that the life of most people, like us who are here, can continue their own existence. You all have the right to ask me why did it happen? Or what did we gain? Honestly, I won't have any answers to them. I'm a witness of how having a very long life can become a curse rather than a blessing. I have seen many great friends and loved ones pass away, while I'm still here. I have seen great civilizations of my time, bringing me memories that only fill me with nostalgia every time I see their still existing ruins.. With all of what I could tell you about it, you might ask yourselves after, why are we living if we are to die in a world like this? For that I only have one answer: we all live for the sake of others who aren't prepared for its embrace, and that's more than enough of a reason. You might find the answer reasonable but not enough to bring back what we lost. At the most in the end... All I want to say is that, I'm sorry." He said as the rain started to pour a bit harder making him wet; Elise wanted to move towards him to hold an umbrella above the two of them but she was rendered immobile by the tears she saw in his eyes as he walked away from the podium. Everyone stood there, many on their knees hugging their children, crying in pain. It took a while but Hatake finally made his move towards the podium with a deep breath.
"Death…" He whispered as he got onto the podium, "Something that we all fear, but something that we all must face on the end. These tears you see," he said looking at everyone, "there will be many people to cry for them, but will there be any people to smile at them ever again? There will be another day, when we shall question our very existence, our very reason to live, our very thing to love and in the end we all will come to one single answer, that we live for each other, we protect each other and that is what gives us the courage to live on. If you can't live for yourself, live for others. People will go away with time, what's important is not forgetting them, they already have imagined you crying during their last moments, what's important is to surprise them with a warm goodbye." He said as everyone remained silent, a small smile of condolence on everyone.
"Start with the cremations!" shouted Elise. A group of soldiers grabbed the platforms in which the coffins stood and started pushing them towards the furnaces. It took a while and with each step they took towards the furnace, the slower their walking became and the more tears fell from their eyes. But eventually they did it, after almost 4 hours to the fire extinguished, and the ashes were taken out and given to the families.
"What are they going to do with that?" asked Hiro.
"Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. As it should be." replied Orion, "Everything that exists in this world originated from the land, Hiro. Hence, it should end in it too. Whenever a soldier joins whatever branch of our army, they have to write a will, a form of document that has the last wishes of the soldier that are to be fulfilled up to what is allowed, and along with that will, we also ask something that may look simple but is actually very important."
"And what is that?" asked Zero Two.
"What flower does the soldier like," replied Orion looking at the flower bed just a few meters away from the crematory, "After a their bodies are burned up and their ashes are taken, we mix part of them with the soil in that piece of land, and the flower that they had written in their will is planted with it."
"A form of reincarnation, huh?" asked Hatake looking at the flowerbed with a smile.
"Those flowers you see right now, each one represent one soul given for the sake of our city, our people and our existence." said Orion, pointing to the flower bed that seemed to have thousands of them... "Those are the flowers I would love to see in full bloom, but that I also don't want to see increasing in numbers. For there is not bigger burden than the knowledge of who sent those people to fight and die."
Everyone stood silent, reflecting about his wisdom, until eventually it was time to return.
"Damn it's 4 PM already." Said Futoshi looking at the time.
"Yeah," said Orion with a wry, "let's head back! I'm inviting today's lunch." he said as he and Hatake had a brief talk with everyone and were soon on their way back to their quarters.
"Will they be alright?" asked Hatake with a serious look, "Will those kids be alright without their parents?" he asked as he remembered his past that made his horns on his shoulders glow as Orion kept his hand on his shoulder.
"Don't worry," he said, "We will take care of them, you can always make a visit to them, or even let other adults who want kids to take care of them, you know? Adoption is something not to be ashamed of doing."
"Yeah, sure" replied Hatake as he calmed down.
"Children…" whispered Zero Two subconsciously looking outside the window with a sad look. The transport ship was soon on the terrace garden of the HQ, it was still raining and everyone soon had lunch, giving their children some junky stuff as a reward. They would often climb on to the head of zero two and play with her horns, she would look at them with a smile.
"I swear no one else can know it," thought Hiro looking at her, "but I can tell at the first look itself. That smile, it's fake."
"Well," said Ichigo as she stood up on with a glass of juice in her hands, "I never got a chance to say this but, we won it today because of our teamwork, and our trust in each other. We are finally maybe what you actually called friends. To the teamwork and victory guys!" she said as every one clinked their glasses and indulged into normal talking.
"Where did he go?" Seraphime though as she wondered through the corridors when she soon realised Hatake had already vanished from the dinner table. She went through all the rooms and finally ended up at the terrace garden of the HQ to find him sitting on the bench, "Hata-" she said as she looked at him looking at his broken watch.
"That really was an important thing, wasn't it?" she asked from behind as Hatake stood up with a jump scare.
"Oh, it's you." He said giving a fake laugh at his reaction, "It was, you know?" he said replying to her question, "It was the only gift I had from my mother, the only memory of her, Meteorix being one of dad's memories. Those two things are the ones most precious to me, were precious to be precise."
"I see…" she replied looking at his broken watch.
"But you see," said Hatake, "At least we won the battle- Wait… Why?" he asked as Seraphime looked at him, there were tears on his face that came out of nowhere, "I-It must be an allergic reaction or something!" he said wiping them, "I'll go see a doctor-" he said as he was about to get out of there but before he could Seraphime caught him by his shirt's sleeve.
"CAN YOU STOP LYING TO YOURSELF?" she asked angered as she burst into tears, "It's fine to at least cry, you know?" she asked as Hatake fell on his knees sobbing as she hugged him.
"I try so hard each time", he said crying, "and yet… and yet…"
"It's fine," she said in the softest voice possible, "you don't have to try hard on your own anymore, I'm here."
"Warm…" he though as he closed his eyes.
"Onee-chan-" said Oniria she came into the garden looking for both of them as Seraphime hushed her. She was sitting on the bench with Hatake resting on her lap.
"Did he fall asleep?" Oniria asked whispering.
"His body is probably still weak after the war," she replied looking at him asleep with a smile, "I'll stay here for a while."
"Sure, I'll get you a blanket." Said Oniria as she took her leave.
-end of chapter-