Chapter 5: Light in Unhappiness

"I'm coming for you, my Princess!" shouted Hatake with a smile.

"What is that?" asked Hiro.

"Hair of the Klaxosaur princess…" Hatake said with a smile, "Dad got it when he encountered her for the first time…"

Hiro grabbed him from his shoulder.

"Bring her back!" he said with a smile.

"Come on!" Hatake said as both of them got out and hurried into Meteorix.

"A galactic call?" Hatake said looking towards the screen inside Meteorix. He pressed on a button on the holographic screen floating in front of him.

"Hello?" Hatake said.

"Hatake…" said the voice.

"Oniria?" he asked.

"Yes," she said as she sobbed, "I have something to tell you, it looks like sister was wrong… There are more than three fleets for us to face, we never knew…"

"How many fleets are there?" Hatake asked.

"We are unable to estimate the number due to communication defects..." Said Oniria, "But, the condition is even worse, you see they fooled us to attack one of their fleets as just a fraction of the fleet slipped past by towards earth… We hacked into a probe and it says that their primary objective is to destroy... You and the secondary one is to destroy earth itself…"

"No…," said Hatake, "No, No, No, I'm not prepared for this!" he shouted.

"I thought this might happen, so I had a special arrangement inside that mothership of yours in containment number 5."

"What is their estimated time of arrival?" asked Hatake.

"Well, we were able to shoot one of their hyper-speed engines so they should reach there by 12 hours." Said Oniria

"Alright then, I will see what I can do… Goodbye" Hatake said.

"Hatake….Please don't die…" She said as the call ended.

"What should we do now?" asked Hiro with sadness upon his face.

"Calm down…" said Hatake, "I can't disappoint anyone… It's my birthday after all…"

Meteorix flew back to Mistilteinn, as soon as Hiro got down, Meteorix's head shut off.

"Hiro…" said Hatake over the mic, "You go meet everyone and tell them about the coming fleet, I must get my princess back!" He said as Meteorix flew away towards the mother-ship they came in.

"Darling!" said Zero Two as she came running towards him, "Where were you?" she asked.

"Nowhere important," he said looking towards the sky, "I just went to know a person better… Come on we got even more problems to deal with…"

"What happened?" asked Zero Two confused with the serious expression on Hiro's face.

"We have a war to fight…" Hiro replied.

"Not again…" Zero Two said as she burst into tears, "When… When will we find peace, Darling?"

"I don't know…." Said Hiro, "All I know is that Hatake has taken himself to be responsible for all of this happening…"

"We can't let him die, can we?" Asked Zero Two.

"I read his lips when he was wishing while blowing that candle…" said Hiro.

"What did he say?" asked Zero Two.

"I want to live for the people I have found... to be my friends," said Hiro repeating the words Hatake said before.

"Come on!" said Zero Two, "We got to get to Strelizia… We will never have peace until all of this is over…"

Hatake took the DNA out of the capsule and placed it on the copier that mapped the Klaxosaur princess's body accurately.

"I obviously don't want her to be naked as soon as she is brought to life, maybe I will use the cloth fiber to give her a spandex…"

He checked the computer to look at the estimated time of completion.

"12 hours here too?" he thought, "The war will be in the next 12 hours and it's been 45 minutes since the message from Oniria. Therefore, I have to hold them for a total of 1 hour before the princess comes back to life… But for the person who has saved me, it's nothing…"

"Containment number 5, huh?" Hatake said as he walked through the containments, "Ah, there it is" he said as he opened the door of the containment.

"Oniria, and you call me an idiot…" he said looking inside.

"So, it's all because of him?!" said Goro banging the desk in front of him with anger.

"No," said Hiro, "without him, we all would have been dead already on the first day we encountered VIRM…."

"That's right!" said Zero Two, "No matter whose son he is, all I know is, without him, I and my Darling would have never come back to life. I don't care what you all have to say, I'm going to help him and so is my Darling… I don't care…." She said sobbing, "Without him, I would never have understood what does falling in love even mean…"

"Hiro?" asked a voice from behind them.

Hiro turned back to see who it is, "N-Naomi?!" he said shocked.

"Where were you?" she said as she slowly walked towards Hiro with tears in her eyes.

"I just got a bit lost in the middle of my life…" replied Hiro as he hugged her.

"Hiro…" Goro said, "In the war that's about to start… can't we do anything to help? I mean after all we are next after Hatake, right?"

"Yes…" replied Hiro, "I will ask him if there is anything we can do, though we only have about 6 more hours left. I must help hi-"

Hiro got interrupted as a ringing sound came from Strelizia. It was the intercom ringing to an incoming call. He hurried inside his Franxx which was kept there talking a knee.

"Hatake!" he said on the intercom, "Where are you?"

"Hiro…" Hatake said, "Looks like you all will need to hide somewhere until this war gets over… And thanks for making me understand, that I'm not alone… There are at least some people who care for me…"

"Shut it…" Hiro said in a serious tone, "We are coming for you Hatake, you saved us after all… If you die, I don't know what I will do…"

"Well," Hatake said as he got up looking at his princess's body, half of it was complete, "sorry Hiro, it looks like our journey was only till here…"

"Please!" Hiro shouted, "there's got to be something we can do, anything…. We will do anything… Just tell us what to do…"

"What about Goro and everyone else?" Hatake asked.

"They said they will do whatever they can…" Hiro replied.

"Ok then," Hatake said, "I will try my best to keep you all on the safe side… I'm sending some coordinates to Strelizia, reach there with whoever wants to fight within 5 hours" he said as he ended the call.

"Damn it…" Hiro said as he got down from Strelizia, "I have got to tell Zero Two…"

"Hey Goro!" shouted Hiro, "Do you know where Zero Two is?"

"Yeah," Goro replied "She is in my house, she went to meet Ichigo!" he said as he pointed towards a five-roomed house.

"Zero Two!" Hiro said as he entered Goro's house. He went towards a door through which he could hear a child laughing.

"Are you here?" he asked as he looked inside, Zero Two was patting a small girl's head standing in front of her while talking to Ichigo.

"Hiro!" said Ichigo, "You probably haven't her," she said looking towards the child, "She is mine and Goro's daughter… Nozomu…"

** 'Nozomu' in Japanese translates to 'Hope' in English **

"I see…" Hiro said. "No," Hiro thought, "No matter what I cannot let Goro fight in this war, he's has a small girl after all… and also there is Kokoro and Mitsuru's child…"

"Can I borrow Zero Two for a while?" asked Hiro.

"Sure," said Ichigo, "We were just talking after all…"

"What is it?" Zero Two asked as they walked an empty path.

"Looks like we will have to fight again… Even Goro wants to fight but I don't think that would be a good idea… He's got a kid after all and-"

"I don't care…" said Goro from behind, "I was never there for them… I still wish that I could spend that amount of time I spent roaming around the world. But, if the world itself does don't exist… How will I even be able to see them?"

"Damn it…" said Hatake looking at the screens inside Meteorix, "The VIRM flow energy is low, even though it's enough for a war, but if I use any of my moves... Then I won't last more than that. Only 4 hours are left for them to arrive…"

"Hatake!" said the intercom.

"Hiro?" asked Hatake.

"Yeah," Hiro replied, "We reached the coordinates you asked us to come at, we are all here, the whole squad 13… What do you want us to do?"

"Look in front," said Hatake, "Do you see those small ball-like things and the remote?"

"Yeah," said Hiro "what about them?"

"Well," said Hatake, "if you go slightly down from the tunnel beside there, there are huge networks of underground tunnels, I will send you the coordinates, you need to plant those balls on those coordinates…"

"Don't tell me," said Hiro "These balls are…"

"Bombs…" Hatake, "Don't worry though, suicide will be my last option. Good Luck!" Hatake said as he ended the call.

"These coordinates…" said Hiro as he and Zero Two went through those tunnels inside Strelizia, "They are not even close to the mother-ship. I think I know what Hatake is trying to do…"

"Alright everything is set!" said Hiro as Strelizia came out of the tunnels.

"Good," said Hatake, "It's time…" Hatake said ending the call.

"Alright!" said Hatake picking up the revival tank of the Klaxosaur Princess and placed it on a launcher.

"Well, maybe I will just program the tank to fly away from the mother-ship on my signal towards the region where Hiro and the squad 13 currently is…" Hatake said.

"Looks like you will need to fight alone, my princess," he said touching the glass of the tank as tears rolled down his cheeks.

Hatake went over and initiated the self-destruct sequence of the mother-ship, "That should do it…"

"They are coming…" said Hatake looking at the sky as in a matter of seconds, ships entered could be seen through that thin atmosphere of Earth.

"Hiro!" Hatake shouted on the mic, "Is the detonator ready?"

"Y-Yeah…" said Hiro, "But what are you planning to do?" Hiro asked.

"Wait for it…" said Hatake with a grin, "Just detonate Section 1 on my signal!"

"Hope you are not going to do anything mad?!" asked Zero Two grabbing the intercom.

"Don't worry!" shouted Hatake, "Now give the intercom back to Hiro."

As soon as they ended their talking, VIRM units started falling from the sky ejected by the VIRM mother-ship and fell on the ground.

"Now!" Hatake shouted on Hiro as he pressed the button, the units that had landed on the ground got sucked inside the hole created on the surface by the detonation as Hatake took out the Klaxo king crown he wore during the farewell speech and summoned blasters made of Klaxosaurs at the border of the hole formed and killed every one of them.

"For my princess!" Hatake shouted as Meteorix charged towards the flying androbot units in the sky. One of them leaped towards him as the androbot's arm turned into a sword, Hatake blocked it with his sword.

"You cannot win," said the androbot, "why don't you just surrender?"

"Well, that's because," Hatake said with a smile, "there is always hope, it only takes time for it to come!" he shouted as Strelizia stabbed the androbot with her spear.

"Hatake what's the plan?" Hiro asked over the intercom.

"Well," Hatake said, "just keep them away from the mothership and try to keep the enemies in the air if they land on the surface… They will have a huge advantage!"

"Alright!" said Hiro, "you ready, Zero Two?"

"Always, my darling!" said Zero Two as Strelizia dashed towards the VIRM ships entering the atmosphere.

"Alright!" said Hatake on the intercom given to squad 13, "get ready," he said as four AA laser Gatling guns summoned in front of the squad 13.

"Try to shoot as many sky units as possible," said Hatake, "and do not miss shots, those guns have an auto-lock mechanism so you don't have to do much except to aim and shoot but the more shots you miss, the more vulnerable you become to attacks, so good luck!"

"Roger that!" said Goro, "ok then let's give out best! The planet's existence depends upon it after all!" he said as squad 13 got on the guns in pairs of two.

"We got this!" said Mitsuru as he and Kokoro got on one of the guns

"Looks like we can finally hope or winning…" Hatake thought as he sliced through a few VIRM units, "No matter what happens, I must protect them all… Hiro, Zero Two, squad 13 and of course, my princess… Even if that costs my life…"

"You humans…" said a voice from the mothership, "You think you can protect yourselves? Why not just surrender to the absolute peace we offer you in exchange for your planet?"

"VIRM…" said Hiro through the speakers of Meteorix, "Peace you say?" he asked, "Tell me first of all… Why would we exist if there was nothing to live for? If you have found peace already, why don't you just take it yourselves?"

"We want to spread this peace…" said VIRM, "We won't die until we have completed our objective…"

"Shut up!" said Hiro's voice from Strelizia, "you all want nothing but to destroy planets… Of all the people you have massacred… Humanity has survived for all these years and it won't be crumpled by pests like you!"

"Then die, weaklings!" VIRM's mothership said as a green colored beam came for it that struck Meteorix.

"Power reserves less than 10%," said the computer.

"Nani?!" said Hatake as the thrusters of Meteorix extinguished making it fall right in front of the Klaxosaur mothership where the self-destruct countdown only had 15 minutes remaining.

** 'Nani' in Japanese, translates to 'what' in English

"Damn it," Hatake thought, "I can still activate the ultimate of Meteorix as the last strike but that would drain all of the VIRM fuel I have, I can use the fuel in Meteorix to increase the explosion when the self-destruct occurs… I did not want to use the so-called 'special weapon' Oniria has put in the mothership, but it looks like I don't have any choice…"

"Goro, everything alright there?" Hatake asked in the intercom.

"Yeah, everything is fine here, why?" asked Goro.

"Listen, I'm going to send a Franxx there, anyone no matter a pistil or stamen can use it, so make sure you put someone inside…"

"But," said Goro "everyone here is busy shooting the enemies and I don't think-"

"I will do it!" Naomi said from behind.

"Great," said Hatake "the Franxx should arrive there by the next 10 seconds," he said as he ended the conversation.

"Alright, let's send them the Franxx…" Hatake thought as he pulled out the holographic computer and initiated a launch for the Franxx in the desired location.

"Phoenix-01 launch successfully initiated" showed the computer.

"Hatake…" asked Hiro, "What are you trying to do?"

"Nothing," said Hatake, "Just get out of the battlefield when I signal…"

"Why?" asked Hiro.

"Trust me," said Hatake, "I will save you all…" Hatake said as he disconnected.

"What is this..." said Goro looking at Phoenix.

"I'm going then…" said Naomi as she got inside the Franxx.

"Wait…" said Goro, "I will go… You stay here and shoot them!"

"Sorry, Goro," said Naomi, "Hiro has become a person that I wanted him to become years ago… I don't want him to turn back into that lifeless being. So, at least let me help him with that!"

Naomi ran towards Phoenix with tears in her eyes, her feelings made Goro stay still at his feet like a stone.

"Damn it there are so many of them!" said Zero Two running short on breath as VIRM units kept coming at them at blink speeds, "What do we do?!" she exclaimed.

"Come on," Hiro said, "We cannot disappoint Hatake after he saved us, I'm sure he is thinking of dying in this battle itself… But I won't let him die-"

Before Hiro could finish talking, Phoenix came at blinking speeds towards the VIRM units slicing them within seconds.

"You okay?" asked Naomi through the intercom.

"That voice…" said Hiro, "Naomi?!"

"Yes," said Naomi, "After what you have done for us, I just wanted to battle with you at least once…"

"Yeah, alright!" said Hiro, "Let's do this-"

"Careful!" shouted Naomi as a missile came towards Strelizia. Phoenix came in between saving Strelizia but getting a critical hit on the back of Phoenix's shoulder.

"AAAH!" shouted Naomi.

"What happened?!" asked Zero Two tensed.

"Nothing…" said Naomi, "It's just that, the pain it was like as if the missile did not hit the Franxx but me…. And looks like I cannot fly anymore" she said as Phoenix slowly started to descend to the ground

"Yeah…" said Hatake on the intercom, "You see, the users of Phoenix are directly connected to it… So, they experience the same pain as Phoenix itself… I didn't want to bring Phoenix to this battle because I knew VIRM would strike it most critically, and now there is no hope but…. Hiro… Get out of the battlefield… Everyone, fall back!" Hatake said as he disconnected, he looked at the self-destruct timer, 30 seconds it said.

Meteorix took a knee, as Hatake came out of it and sat on the ground leaning on the leg of Meteorix.

"I wish," said Hatake whispering, "I could control the mothership to fire its weapons… But unfortunately, a Klaxo mothership only attacks on command of the queen… The king can only drive it…"

"25 seconds remaining," said the computer as the VIRM mothership started to descend to the ground.

The capsule of the Klaxosaur princess launched out of the mothership and landed near squad 13.

"What is it?" asked Goro.

"Well," said Zorome looking at the capsule, "it looks like a container… But I don't know why but it's empty!"

"You lose…" said Hatake with a smile as Strelizia came and sliced through the VIRM units that stood in front of the VIRM mothership.

"I told you all to go damn it! We will all die now!" said Hatake angrily as he stood up.

"5 seconds remaining," said the computer.

"Shut it, Baka! You think we will let you die just like that?" said Hiro.

"4… 3… 2… Self-destruct canceled." Said the computer.

"What?!" Hatake exclaimed as he fell on the ground exhausted, "Why… Why can there ever be happiness in my life? Does it all end here… The last hope of humanity…"

Suddenly the weapons of the Klaxo mothership activated and fired missiles with lasers towards the VIRM units wiping out all the lines.

"But how?" Hatake thought as an arrow went towards the VIRM mothership, destroying its jet engines.

"That arrow…" said Hatake, "I cannot confuse it with anything else… That was Meteorix's ultimate… But Hiro is up there fighting… I'm not inside Meteorix… Also, the weapons of the mothership… It only leads to one explanation" he said getting up.

"Puny human…" said a voice from behind Hatake.

"My princess!" Hatake shouted with a grin as looked back towards her, there she was with that serious expression on her face wearing white-colored spandex which looked similar to that of the pistil uniform with blue lines matching her skin running over it, the moonlight fell upon her making her look like an angel of war.

"Hatake?" the princess said whispering shocked.

"Thank you…" Hatake said as he blacked out.

"Ow…" said Hatake as he woke up inside the headquarter of Mistilteinn. He checked his watch, '11:30' it said, "Great…" he said, "just another ruined birthday…"

Hiro entered through the door, seeing Hatake woken up, he rushed towards him and grabbed him by his collars, "What were you thinking?!" he shouted as tears went down his eyes.

"It does not matter if I stay alive…" Hatake said with a sad expression, "If you two and my princess is alive, then I don't think you all will need me…"

"Baka!" Hiro said as he raised his fist to punch Hatake, "No, I can't hit you yet… It's still your birthday after all… Anyways," Hiro said getting up, "You have someone who wants to meet you…"

Through the door came the Klaxosaur princess. "Well," said Hiro, "maybe I will just leave you two alone here…" He said as he went out of the room leaving only the princess and Hatake inside.

"So, you brought me back alive, huh?" she asked as she sat near him.

"Well…" Hatake said with a smile, "You gave me a reason to live after all… So, my princess, what's next?" he asked.

"Frist of all," said the princess, "stop calling me that!"

"Why? Is 'My princess' embarrassing for you?" said Hiro sarcastically, "Oh my, I never thought a Klaxosaur princess would get embarrassed just by a human's word." He said laughing.

"N-NO!" she shouted as her face turned beet red, "Still… Y-You see, I got a name too…"

"Really?" Hatake said, "Never expected you would tell me that…" he said with a smile.

"It's," she said ignoring what Hatake said, "S-Seraphim…"

"Seraphim, huh?" Hatake said, "Then maybe I will just call you Sera…"

"Y-Yeah," she said.

"Anyways…" Hatake said, "I forgot to give you this…" he said as he took out a crown from his coat's pocket.

"The crown of the queen…" she said looking at it, "and you must be having the crown of the king right, after all, I sent you to Prismertine as the king…"

"S-Sera…" Hatake said, "about that scroll you sent... That was a fake marriage so that the people there would accept me there right? I mean, they won't let a human rule them just like that…"

"Yes," said Seraphim getting up, "it was a fake marriage… We did not do any rituals after all…"

"I see…" Hatake said looking down disappointed.

"It was… not that it is…" she said whispering.

"What do you mean-" Hatake got interrupted as Seraphim kissed him on his lips and went out of the door leaving Hatake in shock.

"Still sucks from earth styled marriage…" he said with a smile as he got up and wore his coat that was on the desk beside and went outside the room to the meeting room.

"Happy Birthday!" everyone shouted as he entered the room.

"You guys…" he said as he fell on his knees crying, "thank you…"

"Now come on," said Hiro as he offered him a piece of cake, "we only have 30 minutes to celebrate your birthday after all!"

"Man, I'm exhausted… We partied so hard after all…" said Hatake as he entered his room, "I just want to sleep…"

"Hatake," said Seraphim from behind.

"What is it?" Hatake asked as he drank water from the bottle kept.

"What do you mean what is it?" said Seraphim embarrassed, "I'm your wife… I… I have to sleep with… You…"

"Wha-" Hatake got interrupted as he choked on the water he was drinking.

"This" Hatake thought looking at her, "is the best birthday ever-"

"Come on Seraphim, you sleep at our home tonight!" said Kokoro from behind.

"But," said Seraphim, "Hatake is my husband… I must sleep with him…"

"You are on your planet, but not on Earth!" said Kokoro, "On earth, you must do the rituals to get married. So, you are not husband and wife here, and you don't sleep with him!"

"Nooooo!" screamed Hatake inside his head.

"Alright, then Hatake," said Kokoro as she took Seraphime away, "Sleep well tonight!"

"You still think I can sleep after what just happened?!" Hatake said crying.

"Okasama…" said Seraphim looking out of the window of Kokoro's house, "I don't know whether you are there in heaven watching over us… But I know, I haven't done any mistake choosing this man to be with me my whole life… Please, if you are watching over us... Keep watching and protecting us…"

** 'Okasama' in Japanese translates to 'Mother' in English**