It had been ten years since that fateful day of Papa's fall, and much had changed since then. The once dead Earth had been renewed, the majesty of her green landscape once again revived. Once again, the planet was a garden fit to nurture the remnants of humanity. Plantation 13 had finally settled down near the entrance to the Grand Crevasse, becoming the first human settlement in over a hundred years. For there, the humans of squad thirteen had expanded, building a settlement not only for themselves but for their children. But this time, they would not lose contact with the Klaxosapiens instead building a society where they could all live together.

Queen Naomi led the remaining Klaxosaurs in rebuilding their once great city while raising her children that served as the last hope for her people. Ikuno and Futoshi had gone with her to help, being instrumental in rebuilding the human and Klaxosaur worlds. Ichigo had been elected the first leader of the human settlement, and she, along with her husband, did their best to lead the humans into the future.

But for now, everyone sat peacefully on the beach, Earth's oceans restored by Maya's sacrifice.

Hiro breathed in the salty air of the sea, looking out over his children. Alina's black hair streamed out behind her as her younger brother chased her. He and his son shared the same name, and he watched as the wind rustled the boy's black hair, his emerald green eyes alight with laughter. Their three-year-old daughter waddled over to her mother, the two of them sharing Zero Two's gorgeous pink hair. Zero Two smiled as their youngest daughter sat down next to her, placing a hand on the swell of her belly, their fourth child already growing inside his wife.

Zorome chased after his children, an energetic set of twins that were always getting into trouble. The brother and sister were always together, and the only way to tell between them was the fact that the daughter had all of Zorome's traits, and the other one had taken after his mother.

Goro's son stared longingly after Alina, watching quietly as little Hiro chased his sister. Goro's son Gwyn was the spitting image of his father and was only matched by his baby sister, who was the very embodiment of her mother. He looked over at Naomi, who lay next to him in the sand, the Queen of the Klaxosaurs spread out exhausted.

"You look like you need a break." He said, laughing.

"Don't ever have twelve children all at once." She groaned, rubbing her eyes, "I swear they'll do anything to drive me up the wall. Even with Ikuno and Futoshi's help, they're a handful."

He chuckled, "Trust me, I don't have plans to have quite that many children."

"Maybe a few more thou?" Naomi asked with a grin.

He smiled, "Possibly."

Off in the distance, he could hear Naomi's children fighting over something trivial, and their mother sighed. "One day…" She moaned. "If I can have just one day."

"How's Numa?" He asked, looking around for her, "I haven't seen her in a while."

"She's busy kissing Dillon behind that bush over there," Naomi said, gesturing.

He looked and saw Ikuno's son, quietly holding Numa, their lips brushing against each other in an awkward first kiss.

He smiled and looked away. "I'm sure she'll have all sorts of questions for you this afternoon."

Naomi nodded, "I'm sure of it." The queen of the Klaxosaurs sat up with a groan; looking over at her children, two of which now hitting each other as they fought. "The price of motherhood." Naomi groaned, standing up. "Hey!" She shouted, fury blazing in her eyes as she walked over to her children. "Stop hitting your sister!"

He chuckled, and standing, made his way over to his wife. She smiled at him as he sat down, gently digging in the sand with her feet.

"Daddy, I'm hungry." The three-year-old asked, looking up at him with her sapphire blue eyes.

"Lunch will be ready soon, Emilia." He said, to his daughter, "Ichigo and Nana, will let us know when it's ready."

"Okay," Emilia said, sitting up.

"Emilia, let's go find shells!" Kokoro's youngest daughter yelled, running towards the beach.

"Okay," Emilia said happily following after her.

Zero Two sighed happily and stretched. She looked over at him. "Darling, that beard has really got to go." She said, stroking along his jawline.

He pulled away from her. "I kinda like it." He said defensively.

Zero Two grimaced, "It just doesn't look right after so long without one."

"What? Just because I've been shaving it off, means that I can't have one now?" He asked,

"It just doesn't feel right." She said, yanking off a particularly long hair.

"Ouch." He grimaced, pulling away, "That wasn't very nice."

She fingered the hair between her fingers before dropping it. "Well, that's one less." She said smugly.

Grinning, he kissed her, the wiry hairs of his beard prickling her face.

"Ah, stop it." She said, pushing him away.

He laughed, "Oh, you're too funny."

He smiled and lay on his wife's lap, the swell of her belly warm as it gently pressed against his face. Zero Two sighed and gently ran her fingers through his hair.

"You know." He said with a sigh, "When I think back on the old days, I still can't believe we managed to pull it off. I mean, the fact that we somehow managed to regain our freedom and create all this."

Zero Two smiled, "I know what you mean. It's a miracle in itself that we managed to defeat Papa before we had Alina, let alone at all."

He smiled, "I know. We really were a little overeager, weren't we."

She smiled, "Maybe, but I wouldn't take back a moment of it."

He nodded and looked out at the sea, watching as Emilia searched for shells along the shore.

"Darling," Zero Two said after a moment, "I've been thinking, should we add a few more beds to our Garden. I wanna make sure we have enough food for our children, and they'll only need more of it. I'd like to get started before we're in real need of it."

He nodded, thinking about the best way to add a few more beds to the garden surrounding their house. "We could. Goro needs help building another greenhouse in town, but if I have the time, I can start adding a few more beds."

"You should have Alina help you." She said, "Hiro and I can manage the watering and weeding for a few days."

He nodded, "I'll think about it."

"Guys, lunch is ready!" Ichigo shouted from the top of a small hill.

The children ran towards Ichigo, eager smiles on their faces. He stood and gently helped Zero Two to her feet. Smiling, they crested the hill and looked down at the tables being set, food being prepped to be served. Delicious smelling steaks were laid out on plates, the meat from one of the cows they kept on a small ranch. Off to the side, Naomi infused the food for her children with magma energy, making it so that it would have some nutritional value to them. He smiled as he gazed out over their little community, the fruits of their labor spread out for them to enjoy. He stood there, drinking it all in, feeling grateful and blessed. They'd accomplished so much and now had a fighting chance at the future. With the technology and knowledge of the old world, humanity was making a comeback. But this time, they'd do it right. The future was there's, and nothing could stop them now.

"Darling," Zero Two said, gently squeezing his hand.

He smiled, and they walked down and joined the others at the table.

The rest of the day passed in jovial celebration, laughter dancing on the wind as the children played and memories from another time were exchanged in blissful remembrance. As the tide began to drift out to sea, however, they all wrapped up, the adults packing everything back into the transport as the children had a few more minutes by the sea. But soon enough, they were all aboard and headed back to the settlement.

Later that evening, he and his family sat on the roof of the house, watching the sunset. The golden sun painted the sky a mural of color, orange and red smeared across the sky. A warm breeze blew over them, the leaves in the trees rustling quietly as the bird sang the day away.

"Daddy, why does the sky always turn red at dusk," Alina asked.

"I don't know." He said pleasantly, "It's just one of those wondrous things, ain't it?

"I guess," Alina said, still curious.

Zero Two smiled, gently stroking her belly. "This world is filled with so many curiosities, isn't it?"

He grinned and kissed his wife.

"Gross!" Alina said, backing away from them.

He looked over at his daughter, grinning, "You thought that was bad?"

"Yeah, gross daddy," Hiro said, backing away too.

He grinned at Zero Two, and she cracked that evil smile of hers. Gently he pulled her close and pressed his lips against hers, pulling her into a deep passionate embrace. She opened her mouth to accept him, and he gently prodded in with his tongue.

"That's nasty!" Alina recoiled, disgusted.

Alina beat a hasty retreat back into the house, her brother and sister following her, agreeing with Alina's assessment.

He and Zero Two burst out laughing, clutching their sides. "I love teasing them." He said, after a moment still grinning from ear to ear.

She nodded, laying back a grin still on her face. "That was worth it."

"Isn't it always worth it?" He teased.

"It'd be a treat without the beard." She said, elbowing him.

"Stop picking on it." He whined, stroking it. "Or, I'll kiss you again."

She laughed and sat back, looking out as the sun began to retreat behind the mountains far off in the distance. Quietly they watched as the light slowly faded, sinking back behind the horizon and making way for the stars. They glittered like a thousand tiny diamonds, all sparkling down at him. It was truly amazing as he gazed up, the light of a thousand far away places shining down on him.

"Remember that night, I took you to the top of the plantation?" Zero Two asked, quietly gazing up at the stars.

He smiled. "I'd never forget, that was the first time I ever felt truly in awe."

She giggled softly, "I'm glad I could be of service."

He grinned, "You know, you really are the one who has brought everything special into my life. I don't know what I'd do without you."

"Oh, Darling." Zero Two said with a sigh, "You really are corny sometimes."

"Well, it's true. If not for you, I probably be dead by now, and none of this would have happened. And you create the miracles that are our children."

She shook her head and awkwardly rolled on top of him, giving him a kiss. "I'm going to go tuck the children into bed. You just make sure you don't stay out here too long."

Awkwardly she got up and made her way back into the house, calling out to their children that it was time for bed. Smiling, he listened to the sounds of Zero Two gathering the children and tucking them in, slowly getting them to settle before finally convincing them to go to sleep. For a while longer, he stared out at the stars, still full of awe and wonder.

As the night started to get cold around him, he slipped back inside, shutting the window that led onto the roof. Quietly he walked through the house and slipped into the kid's bedroom, his children fast asleep, the gentle sounds of their breathing the only things he could hear. Quietly he made his way over to Alina's bed and gave her a gentle kiss on the forehead. "Good night." He whispered. "Sweet dreams."

"Daddy?" Alina said dreamily, her eyes fluttering open.

"Go back to sleep." He said softly,

She nodded, "Good night."

Slowly he made his way around to all his children, gently pulling the sheets back up over his son before giving him his goodnight kiss. Smiling, he picked up Emilia's teddy and put it back on her bed. His daughter stirred as his lips brushed against her forehead, but thankfully she didn't wake up.

Smiling, he retreated from the room and quietly picked his way across the house into his bedroom, Zero Two pulling off her nightshirt as she prepared for bed. He smiled and pulled off his nightshirt, crawling into bed, snuggling against Zero Two as she pulled the covers up over them.

"Today was fun." She said with a smile, "It's nice to get everyone back together once in a while."

He nodded, wrapping his arms around his wife, "Yeah, we spend so much time doing things around the town, that we often don't have time to get together like we once did. And now that Nana and Hachi have retired and changed focus on raising the children Dr. Franxx cloned, I hardly get to see them all that much either."

"The ocean was very pretty." Zero Two said, "It was so much more magical than the photo that Goro brought back from his scouting trip."

He smiled, "I agree. Maybe we should make a boat and go sailing."

"Yeah, like you know how to make a boat." She teased.

"I could figure it out." He said defiantly.

She smiled, "Yes, darling, I'm sure you could. Just figure out how to make the garden beds first."

He sighed, "I'll get you your garden beds; you just focus on getting Hiro to read."

"I'm trying. Believe me…"

He yawned and gently gave his wife a little squeeze. "Goodnight, Zero Two. I love you."

She smiled and snuggled against him. "I love you too. Darling."

The two of them drifted off to sleep the happy family nestled in their nest of love and hope. Ready to face the new day and to push forward once again into the future. They were a fated pair, and through love, they could do anything.

The Jian Bird also known as the bird that shares wings. Unless a male and female find a partner, they are forever grounded. But to me, I found their way of life to be profoundly beautiful.


THE END