(In)humanity
"What?!" asked Lara shocked over the intercom as hordes of drones could be seen coming from a nearby sandstorm.
"What's happening?" asked Hiro confused from hearing the sirens.
"Everyone!" shouted Lara as she grabbed all of she could of the squad's gear and putting them into the truck while Pixy turned its engine on, "Get out of there and into the vehicle! Fast!"
"Alright!" shouted Ichigo as everyone quickly got out of the lake and got inside the truck.
"Hit it!" shouted Lara as Pixy smashed the accelerator.
"Sergeant, you need to hurry up!" shouted the personnel on the intercom.
"We won't make it in time…" though Lara looking at the drones that were about to catch them up, for her, the whole environment became peaceful as she looked towards everyone tensed, "I failed, Orion. Just like that one time…" she though in her silent environment, "This wasn't supposed to happen!" she though as the she suddenly came out of the shock just to notice that the drones were now above them, they bombarded green colored canisters all over the field.
"I can't see!" shouted Pixy as the green colored smoke covered all of the windshield.
"Stop! STOP!" shouted Lara. Too late, the truck had gone over a canister that landed right in front of their way, lifting the right side and then crash upside down right into the sand. The silence suddenly became longer...
We were now caught into the middle of a big mess and I couldn't move... My senses seemed to be fading... I could see Zero Two trying to help me up. I tried to say something but it feels like I was out of breath. With the little consciousness I had, I saw the rest of our squad getting out of the truck with help from our instructors, Hatake and Seraphine but many of them looked like they were getting more and more tired by breathing the mysterious gas. The last thing I remember is collapsing into something blue...
A few hours later...
"W-Where am I?..." thought Hiro as he opened his eyes, it appeared to be midnight.
"Thank god!" said Zero Two as she hugged him tight, "You are fine…" she said with tears in her eyes. Hatake, Seraphime, Titus and Ikuno were standing beside them. He also saw that they were in some sort of blueish cave...
"Strange, I don't remember a cave near the lake..." Said Hiro.
"Well, he seems to be fine! Also, you're right on that Hiro. We are right now being covered by a klaxosaur that responded to my call for help..." said Seraphime as the "cave" moved and revealed a serpent-like klaxosaur that had wrapped itself on them. The klaxosaur lifted its face along its neck, bowed and then went away towards the desert...
"Well, I'm glad that those majestic creatures are on our side now..." Said Titus. "Also, how are the others doing?" asked Titus looking at the rest of the squad Jian who were lying on the cold sand unconscious and seemingly in pain.
"Well," said Pixy looking at Goro who was breathing heavily, "whatever it was, it looks like something lethal…" He then bowed down to check Goro's temperature...
"What was?" asked Hiro.
"The gas…" whispered Ikuno, "That's was something not normal…."
"Exactly," said Titus, "however, as you can see right now, we seemed to be not affected by it…"
"Yeah," said Hatake, "Only the ones who seemed to be pure human on our group are affected by it. I mean, we are all somewhat a mixed species squad…"
"Anyways," said Lara, after checking the rest of the vitals of the rest. "They seem to be infected by a disease. Fortunately, the air raid is over; I'm calling for help!" she said as she pulled out a small box from the back of the crashed truck containing a flare gun and a flare. She fired it towards the sky.
"But, if it only targets humans," said Hiro looking at Ikuno, "why isn't Ikuno affected at all?"
"Well," said Titus, "That's because-"
"I'm no longer a human! I'm a hybrid like you guys!" said Ikuno unexpectedly and moved her hair to show the two little purple horns.
"WHAT?!" shouted Zero Two.
"Yeah, well... um..." said Hatake scratching his head, "You see, I tried to help Titus with a way to help Ikuno get back her ability to walk, and sadly there was only one way, which was the HYB vaccine…"
"So," said Titus, "we modified the HYB vaccine to increase the regeneration rate of her cells, but, it also ended up mixing the genes of Klaxo sapien…"
"So, now she is a hybrid?" asked Hiro.
"Yes…" said Hatake scratching his head harder to get out of the awkwardness.
"I was about to tell you all," said Ikuno, "after we went back home but, that won't happen soon I suppose…" she said as a mothership appeared to their location, landed and hybrids wearing gasmasks came out and took the unconscious squad members in stretchers into the ship.
"I never expected VIRM to strike this way…" said Lara looking at everyone as everyone entered the mothership and soon, they were on their way.
Back at the OASIS HQ, a few minutes later...
"What do you mean that all of the OASIS checkpoints have been out of commission?!" Lara shouted to the hybrid officer in front of her after a while.
"They are not out of commission ma'am. They are just in lockdown quarantine! Apparently, all of them received similar raids and almost all of their human personnel are out! That diminishes the number of our effective units by a fifth!"
"Humanity lost…" whispered Hatake looking outside the window with a serious expression.
"What do you mean?" asked Hiro standing beside him.
"Can't you see?" asked Hatake, "They ended it, the pure human race… that's what they wanted to achieve…"
"Why are you looking at him with such sympathy? You usually scold him because of his inspiring phrases..." asked Zero Two looking at Seraphime who was looking at Hatake with a sad face.
"Well," said Seraphime, "usually he is never serious at times like these, because he always knows that we will be able to get out of the situation, but now that I look at him, it feels like even he has lost hope…"
"Can't we do anything? Our friends got infected by it too and they are suffering in the medical ward!" asked Hiro, voice anxious and worried.
"No medicine that we have now will save them from losing their humanity…" said Titus looking into the reports.
"What do you mean?" asked Hatake.
"Looks like VIRM didn't actually create the virus!" said Titus, "It seems they stole it from us… The DNA signatures of the virus matches to that of the first HYB vaccines we produced only that they are altered to make them more of a parasite."
"That means…" said Ikuno who was sitting beside Ichigo's temporary hospital bed.
"There was someone spying in the Federation!" said Hiro completing the sentence.
"This isn't the time to think about that," said Lara, "Can we prepare a cure for this situation Titus? If this disease is an altered version of the first vaccines, it means that a vaccine of the second generation or another one based on this could cure them..."
"Of course, we can!" said Titus, "although I will need Hatake's help!"
"Sure!" said Hatake pressing the center of his glasses with his index finger, "Let's do this!" he said and both soon went towards the research lab of the facility.
"Alright, while our duo of scientists gets to work, the rest of you should go back to your dorms and rest." Said Lara.
"But we want to help too! We cannot leave our friends to suffer like this!" Answered Zero Two.
"I'm sorry Zero Two, but this is something you don't have knowledge to help with." Responded Pixy.
"But...!" Zero Two said.
"They are right Zero Two." said Ikuno interrupting her, "You and Hiro don't know that much about chemistry and biology while Hatake and Titus are experts of it. All we can do is wait..."
Zero Two listened to reason, but that didn't stop her from getting sad and starting to cry. Hiro and Ikuno soon comforted her and went back to their dorms.
"Well, anything to do apart from following quarantine protocols?" Pixy said.
"I have to report all of this to commander Orion, just be ready with tea and coffee. It's going to be long days..." Answered Lara.
A few days later...
"What are you so worried about?" asked Titus looking at Hatake's face as he started to observe the specimen through a microscope while Hatake went through the reports.
"I feel so sad for them…" he said looking at the reports, "If we don't do anything, they will die. And if we save them, they will get turned into something that they never wished to and had seen first hand how different it was…"
"You are talking of hybridization as if it was the end of the world. Sure, our folks may have only gotten the experience from their old times under APE's service when Zero Two joined their squad but now they know it isn't all that bad. I mean, look at the whole Federation..." answered Titus with a smile, "Many intellectual people in the city thinks that maybe becoming hybrids is the next step of our evolution. It provides some advantages that humans can't have after all!"
"Ofc…" said Hatake cheering back, "Anyways, found anything?"
"Yeah," replied Titus, "we might just be able to do this! All we need is to test it now..." he said as Hatake looked at him with a proud smile.
Meanwhile, in the dinning sector of the facility...
"Hey," said Pixy holding Lara's hand. They were inside the canteen where the other fit members of the squad were having tea even though their mentors were drinking beer right now, "It isn't your fault, alright?" he said to calm her down. He could feel her pain, the same pain she and he had that day in the first war, when they woke up in an hospital and were later informed of the fate of their squadmates in that ambush...
"It's my fault…" she said with tears in her eyes, "It is like in that damn ambush all over again. In that battle we fought, I thought we would all make it out of there, we were the "Knights of the Round Table" but then many more of them came, they ordered us to retreat, our leader stood behind before falling to HIM, and then the rest of our friends followed one by one until…"
Pixy interrupted her and then started talking seriously, "Hey! Listen! I know how it pains you a lot! I WAS THERE WITH YOU! Stop blaming yourself of what happened! I was with you there which means that both of us share this guilt, alright?!"
Lara then hugged him smiling sadly and said, "Thank you Pixy. You're right on that. I'm sorry of thinking like this again... I mean, Orion left me responsible of this new squad and after all of the lessons and combat skills we received after he trained us, I think I just disappointed him..."
"I don't think Orion thinks the same," said Hiro trying to cheer her up, "does he?"
"No," replied Lara, "he said it isn't my fault but…"
"Then there is no use of blaming each other," said Pixy, "What's happened, has happened! All we can do is to work better and to find a solution for our problem now."
"I hope the boys find one soon enough, is not only them but also all of the affected human personnel that are in need of a cure soon." Said Seraphine.
Fortunately, fate heard the need of the Queen...
"Guys we need you all here!" said Titus over the intercom.
"What is it?" asked Pixy as everyone went into the temporary quarantine camp. They were greeted by Titus at the entrance who was smiling big time.
"Well guys, before I let you enter I got bad news, good news and great news! Which one you want to hear first?" Titus said.
"Just tell us first the bad news, it will make us receive more gladly the good news." Answered Lara.
"The bad news is that your squad mates are no longer human anymore." Answered Titus. Everyone was shocked of this but Ikuno knew better and asked, "I assume it is because of what I believe it is?"
"Yes it is. Now with the good news, they had woken up and out of the danger zone now! It seems that the cure worked! Although they are still a little weak but they will recover soon." Added Titus.
Then Sera asked, "Then what are the great news if their still alive but their no longer human?"
Hatake suddenly appeared behind Titus and said, "Come with us to see why, and to also say hi!"
They did, and what they saw, needless to say, caught them by surprise.
"Hi guys! We're glad to be back!" Kokoro responded while the rest of their squad mates waved at them.
Their friends were happy to hear the voice of the kind soul of their group again. However, they also saw something else in all of them that it was the reason they were surprised.
"Wha- what happened to all of you?" Hiro said shocked.
"Nothing…" said Goro coughing, "We just returned from death!"
"Seriously?" asked Zero Two glaring at Goro for his sarcasm. And with good reason, because right now she was looking at two yellow little horns that weren't there before and she was very familiar with...
"Well, it's going to take time for them to fully recover," said Hatake looking at the reports, "but with proper nutrition and their new abilities, there shouldn't be any problems…"
"Did you tell them about the side effects of these, at the least?" asked Hiro worried and also a little mad because of what they had become.
"Yeah..." said Hatake, sweating nerviously "well, how I'm supposed to ask them if they are willing to use a cure that is still a prototype and COULD transition them from humans into hybrids-?"
"You could have at least asked us before you...!" Hiro said before being interrupted by Ichigo.
"It's okay Hiro! It's okay" said Ichigo with a wry expression, "They told us about it as soon as we woke up… and to be fair, I think this was something that was bound to happen..." she said with a few tears of happiness as Ikuno hugged her crying hard.
"What do you mean by that Ichigo?" Asked Zero Two.
"Well, let's just say that it was an idea I had a long time ago while we were still parasites under APE." Said Ichigo before continuing, "When I saw how close you and Hiro were, even to the point he would become a hybrid like you, I always wondered myself if becoming an hybrid like you could make the whole squad a little more closer? I mean, you two were very powerful back then and it was easy to see it was because of your bond."
"Not to say also that it looked cool to have some horns like yours..." Said Zorome before chuckling, "I guess we have to be careful of what we wish for, right?"
"At least they seemed to be very receptive of the idea. I can't believe these are the same children I had fought against those years prior." Thought Seraphine.
Later, at night...
"So, the Federation archives have been compromised…" said Orion to Hatake, whom was lying on the desert just outside the camp over a secure phone call.
"Yeah," said Hatake, "I think that you need to inspect and interrogate all the staff of the NBC branch. According to Titus, all DNA data from viruses are kept there."
Orion rubbed his eyes before continuing, "I will soon send a FID (Federation Intelligence Department) detachment along with Elise to investigate the situation and alert the rest of the branches. At least you and Titus resolved the issue by developing that new vaccine; think that you can send the data of that to the Medical Bureau? I will give you the necessary IP addresses for a secure connection."
"Sure! No problem! We have also added new data about what needs to be modified to make it available for civilians also." Hatake responded.
"Perfect! This will help cure the units that are still affected by the disease while also preventing that their fate falls into the civies. Also, what about your first patients? They aren't happy are they?" asked Orion
"They accepted it with a happy face," said Hatake raising hand towards the stars as to touch them, "But, of course they aren't 100% happy of it considering the cost. It's like we forcefully took their identity…"
"Not 'we'," said Orion, "'them'. VIRM and their leader 'Papa'. You know very well they were responsible for it! There was no other choice for them."
"Yeah…" replied Hatake.
"Also, considering how they seemed open to it and with Titus, Hiro and Zero Two giving them a crash course, I don't think they are going to complain soon enough. How much time do you think they will take to recover?" asked Orion.
"They will be all fit by the day after tomorrow, that's for sure…" replied Hatake.
"Make that 'tomorrow', many of our operations are already behind schedule and Defense Command is worried that VIRM will launch another assault operation. They need all capable forces " said Orion, "A transport ship will arrive tomorrow so make sure everyone is ready to head back home! Take care!"
"Alright then, thanks!" said Hatake as the call disconnected.
"No matter what they say…" said Hatake looking at the sky, "All I can blame is humanity itself… It's a greedy specimen by nature; we used science to get on top of the food chain, we exploited our resources without care, clashed against ourselves for pity arguments and simply refused to do what was needed to be done to secure a future. Of course, VIRM is part to be blamed but, even without them, where was all this going? It would have ended with our end anyways, the rivers polluted, the trees gone, even the air, wars… To be honest, nothing makes sense to me…But now for once, it seems there is hope for redemption..." he said as he closed eyes, grabbed a warm blanket, and went into a deep sleep.
The next morning...
"Hatake!" shouted a voice beside him as he woke up to find Seraphime's tail poking his face.
"Is this a way to wake up a king?" asked Hatake.
"A worthless king, u mean?" she asked.
"Indeed…" he said as he got up and patted the sand off his shirt.
Sera sighed however and added, "Hatake, I already told you once and I'm telling you again, you're not that worthless. At least not to me..."
"Even after all the sins my father and I committed?" Hatake answered.
Seraphine answered,"Like I said before, yes. Everyone commits mistakes in their lives and even then, they still carry on, learning from them. Your father was one man that learned of them a little too late and that cost him his life. But you as his son learned from it, and can you see now the path it has guided you towards to?"
Hatake smiled and said, "I see what you mean Sera. Thank you." And then kissed her in the forehead which made her blush warmly. He then asked, "Also, what is Jian Squad doing right now?"
In the showers of the facility, near a swimming pool...
"Ah, this feels good!" said Zorome taking a shower along with the other males of the squad in the male section of the bathrooms.
"Yeah," said Goro from the shower booth at his side, "but this isn't fair, you know?" he asked.
"What isn't fair?" asked Futoshi.
"This whole thing…" said Goro slamming the wall in anger, creating a little crater that, surprisingly for him, didn't hurt. "Even if we are at war, we didn't even want to and yet…"
"Calm down Goro," said Mitsuru coming out of his booth, "They couldn't have done anything to cure us apart from this…"
"Mitsuru is right Goro. If there was another way, Hatake and I would have used it..." Answered Titus, changing into his uniform.
Goro just sighed before Hiro added, "Also, remember that you need to keep control of your emotions for now."
"Squad Jian is expected to assemble at their quarters within the next 30 minutes" said the announcement mic.
Goro said, "Well, at least we got something to keep ourselves occupied with for now."
30 minutes later...
"Alright!" said Pixy as all members of Jian squad assembled in front of their quarters, "We aren't going to train nor do anything special today. Orion has called for an emergency meeting to which officers and commandants of the military must assist, meaning the Lara and me will be going back to the Federation with you. The transport ship has arrived already and is refueling in the hangar with Elise onboard. Kids, I know things didn't work out as expected during this last month as that attack totally changed everything, but we must continue to strive forward in order to win this war, so don't forget your training no matter what! Now get your stuff and get into the truck in the next few minutes, we need to get to the ship soon! Dismissed!" Some minutes passed after that, and soon everyone in Jian Squad had their luggage packed and in the process of putting it in the truck...
"So, does everybody has all of their belongings with you? Nothing forgotten?" Asked Ichigo one last time.
"Yeah!" said Hatake as he walked towards them with Seraphime and their luggage, "We have all of ours here!"
"Shouldn't our luggage be transported instead of us dragging it to the truck?" asked Zorome annoyed.
"Well," said Pixy, "most of the staff hasn't recovered completely yet, so we are low on hands…"
"That's right," said Miku as he dragged him with her, "And how long will you keep depending on others? Learn to do something on your own!"
"I don't need to hear that from you!" shouted Zorome.
"Alright, everything is in! Let's go!" said Goro after closing the trunk. After that everyone got inside the truck and departed towards the ship ports. Once they arrived there, they saw their ship already docked and a red-haired girl waiting for them...
"Elise!" shouted Ichigo with a smile as everyone walked towards Elise who was standing right in front of the entrance of the mothership, "How are you-" she said as Elise hugged her tight.
"I'm sorry…" she whispered, "I'm really sorry…"
"It's okay…" said Ichigo as Elise let her go, "No one knew it was coming, did they?"
"Okay then let's load all this up!" said Goro as everyone took their luggage inside the mothership.
"Lara!" said Elsie with a smile with soon turned into a frown.
"I failed him again…" said Lara sadly and with a few tears, "I couldn't protect them there…"
"Hey," said Elise wiping Lara's tears, "It's okay… Now come on!" she said.
"I know, but at least they can still fight again..." Lara said before smiling softly.
Everyone soon entered then settled down and before they knew it, the ship was in the air.
"I'm wondering…" said Zorome, "What will it be like to be Kaxo sapien? I mean, they aren't completely different from us humans, but there have to be some rules we have to follow right?"
"Yeah," said Hatake, "Hiro, Zero Two, why don't you answer to their queries? I still need to looks at some reports."
"Us?" asked Hiro.
"Yeah, darling!" said Zero Two as she offered him a hand to get up from his seat, "It will be fun!"
"O-Okay…" said Hiro as he got up too.
"So," said Goro, "What is the big difference between a hybrid and a human? I mean they say we know they are different from humans, but what is it?"
"Well," said Zero two thinking, "it's basically just the appearance change, like the horns and blue coloured eyeliners, but the most important thing to remember is that they are very emotionally sensitive, they get angered or depressed very easily and the fact that they have high muscular and bone strength than normal humans."
"What about their diets?" asked Kofuku.
"Well u know what happens when zero two sees honey…" said Hiro.
"Yeah" she said with a wink while lightly knocking her head with her hand.
"C-Cute…" thought Hiro looking at her, "Well, yeah so," he said snapping out of it, "both hybrids and Klaxo sapiens have a high liking for sweet things, it's basically because of high metabolism rates. So, if u have a very high urge to eat something sweet, it's completely normal."
"Is that all?" asked Hiro as no one else questioned.
"W-Well," said Ichigo as she stood up stiff straight with an embarrassed look, "What I wanted to ask was…"
"Everyone." Said Goro, "Remember this face of her, our leader isn't always this embarrassed." He said teasing her.
"N-Not at all! B-Baka!" said Ichigo.
"Alright," said Zero Two, "What did you want to ask?"
"I wanted to ask that…" she said she pointed her fingers into each other in embarrassment, "I-Is there a… something like a 'mating' season…" she said as the holographic panel on which Hatale was reading his reports fell from his hand and crashed on impact.
"Oops…" said Hatake giving an awkward laugh, "And by the way, t-there isn't anything like a mating season, it's the same as in human…"
"I-I see…" said Ichigo as she sat down.
"I wonder how the kids are doing though…" said Kokoro changing the subject, "They must be waiting for us."
"You haven't told them yet?!" said Titus shocked as to let everyone know.
"Well, I was about to…" said Hatake picking up the broken glass using a vacuum.
"What is it?" asked Goro worried.
"You know what?" said Hatake, "I can't… You tell them!" he said as he went out of the room.
"What are you all talking about?" asked Futoshi.
"I'll just say it straight," said Titus, "you all can't meet you children…"
"What?!" shouted Ichigo, "What do you mean we can't?"
"The virus," said Titus, "just because you are healthy again, doesn't mean that the virus has totally gone away… It will take at least about a year for it to eradicate completely, so if you go to your kids in the current state this pandemic is, they might get infected too…"
"I don't care!" shouted Mitsuru as he lifted Titus up in the air by his shirt's collar, "We want to be with our children again!" he shouted in anger.
"Hey hey!" Said Goro calmly keeping a hand on Mitsuru's shoulder, "Calm down."
"MITSURU!" Everyone was surprised to heard Elise's voice near the door with Hatake and Seraphine. It was the first time they heard her shout like that, and everyone could clearly feel that this wasn't her first time doing that, "PUT TITUS DOWN NOW! I UNDERSTAND YOUR ANGER BUT THAT ISN'T AN EXCUSE OF YOUR SELFISHNESS!"
Mitsuru complied; his anger reduced by the fear of provoking Elise's ire...
"After all of this…" said Mitsuru as he realised his mistake and put Titus down and started crying, "If we can't see our children, what is the use of us staying alive then? Why keep this suffering…?"
Kokoro soon rushed to comfort him, "Mitsuru, dearie... It may sound unfair but that doesn't mean we won't reunite in the end. I'm pretty sure that Elise can help us with it, right?" She looked at her with a look of hope.
"Actually... we kind of have two choices for this," Said Titus, "The first one is to keep your children away into an isolated base and letting you visit…"
"Won't that would be the same as the garden?!" asked Ichigo, "I don't want our kids experience the same things we experienced!"
"Ichigo, listen before judging..." said Elise.
"And the other option is…" continued Titus ignoring her, "To inject your children with the same vaccine applied to you…"
"You don't mean they will end up the same as us, will you?" asked Goro worried.
"Yes," said Titus sadly just as the ship landed, "You have 24 hours to decide..." he said walking towards the exit, "If we risk more time than that, the virus might infect your children."
"We're deeply sorry about this guys," said Elise "but right now in these dark times, every decision, no matter how small or how big, will always count towards the new future everyone is hardly working for..." She then left as everyone who had children cried. She saw Titus stop there for a few seconds and looked back and then got out of the ship.
While this was happening, Hatake and Seraphine had gotten ahead and decided to show empathy by helping the squad with their luggage. They soon ran into Orion...
"How are you all?" asked Orion with a happy face, "I was really kind of missing you all-" he said as Hatake punched him hard, making him fall to the ground.
"That was for making me go through that hellish training!" said Hatake angered.
"Well," said Orion feeling his cheek, "I'm happy that at least the punch got strong!"
"Yeah whatever," said Hatake as he lent Orion a hand to get up, "now get up, you idiot."
Once he got up it was Seraphine's turn, who slapped him and said, "This is for the excruciating hours with books and documentaries of war..." Then she slapped him again and said, "And this is for the harsh decision you put the parents of our group into."
At that, Orion's face got sad and said, "I know, and I feel their pain. But unfortunately, this is the only options we have..."
Then they saw the rest of the squad catch up. As soon as they saw him, Ichigo came running towards him...
"Is it true?" asked Ichigo standing in front of Orion with tears in her eyes, "Is what Titus said, really true?"
Orion said nothing in reply but stood still looking down, then said, "It is. And it pains me to say to you..." Then he though, "Just like all those times with other families. I will be haunted always by their faces of pain and grief..."
"Come on guys," said Elise in a serious tone standing beside a transport vehicle, "Let's go…" No one said a word as their sadness took root, the ship took them to another corner of the Federation, into a place that was a house in middle of a jungle, resembling something similar to Squad 13's quarter of Mistilteinn before the war.
"Don't worry," said Elise with a soft voice, "All of your luggage has been transferred here already… dinner is ready inside, get freshened up, have something to eat and sleep."
Everyone got inside and unpacked while Orion and Elise left again, no one said a single word in the sadness, everyone took a bath and sat for dinner together. And still not a single word was told yet... until at least a certain king had enough of it...
"That's it!" shouted Hatake on top of his voice as he got up the table banging the table, "Is that all you guys are going to do?!" he asked looking at them, "Sit and take no decision at all?"
"What can we do?!" asked Goro annoyed, "It's out of our hands already…"
"We ourselves don't know what to do, Hatake…" said Ichigo, "I guess we will just leave it on fate-"
"It doesn't exist!" shouted Hatake as he deliberately tried to hold back his tears, "Fate doesn't exist… We are supposed to decide our things, not let things be decided by some imaginary concept like fate!"
"So, what do you want?" asked Mitsuru angered, "Let our kids change into monsters like us?!"
"Trust me…" whispered Hatake with tears falling down his cheeks, "If u leave them in that isolation, all alone on their own, with just a few caretakers, they will turn into something even worse than monsters… Please, I don't want to see people turning into a person like me…" he said as memories flashed in his mind and walked outside the room unable to hold his tears back.
The rest of the group stayed there, dumbfounded until Titus said, "You know, he is right on that..."
"On what part exactly? I lost track of it..." Said Miku.
"On the fate part..." Answered Titus, "I mean, you told me a lot of how you guys didn't surrendered that easily in the APE-klaxosaur war, even Hiro and Zero Two refused anything but the survival of humanity when they sacrificed themselves destroying the VIRM homeplanet in the process. And after what I had seen in the first Federation War, I can simply tell you this. The way humanity acts towards fate is summarized by this phrase from a man called Winston Churchill, 'We are still masters of our fate. We are still captains of our souls.'"
Everyone stayed there, thinking of the hidden meaning behind it...
Meanwhile, with Hatake...
"Are you okay?" asked Seraphime as she entered Hatake's room.
"How can I be this selfish?" asked Hatake crying, "What am I trying to do here?"
"So, what you are saying is," asked Seraphime "you forcing parents to stay away from their child and turning them into lonely beings just to save humanity isn't selfish?"
"But…" whispered Hatake, "I…"
"Sleep for now…" said Seraphime, "At least that should bring an end to this confusion even though just for a while."
"I'll try to." Said Hatake lying on the bed.
"Alright then," said Seraphime, "Goodnight... love." she said softly as she closed the door.
The next morning...
"That's just felt like I blinked…" said Hatake as he got up, it was morning already. He went down to the table, where everyone was ready to have breakfast this time with a sad but calm look on everyone's face, as if, they had a lesson learned in those dark hours of sadness. Even so their silence made it difficult for Hatake to even pick up the food to eat. He was just about to tell everyone to start eating when suddenly a voice came from the main door.
"Everyone," said Orion at the main door, "Please assemble outside." He said as everyone got up from the table without saying a word and assembled outside their quarters.
"I wanted to confirm it myself," said Orion, "that is why I came here instead of sending someone else… So, what have your all decided?"
"We all have come up on a single decision for all, Orion…" said Ichigo.
"I see," said Orion, "and, what is it?"
"We choose to vaccinate our kids…" said Mitsuru as Hatake looked at them shocked with tears in her eyes.
"Thank you for making us understand, Hatake." said Goro with a smile.
"No," said Hatake wiping his tears, "thank you for understanding…"
"Okay then!" said Orion, now smiling hugely "Get on! You will have a family breakfast today!" he said pointing towards a transport ship. Everyone got up with a happy face. A happy face that a parent should have for being able to see his kids.
"Vaccinate everyone, Elise" said Orion on the phone, "It should be done by the time we all reach there."
After 1 hour of flight...
"Mom!" shouted Ai as everyone landed and she ran to hug her mother crying, "What took you so long?"
"We were, um…" said Kokoro, "training to become stronger and deciding all of your future."
"You don't need to…" said Ai, "I just don't want to leave you all, that's all…"
"Of course!" said Kokoro patting her head.
"Alright then," said Orion, "Your luggage should be transported within an hour! I'll take my leave now!" he said as he went away and let the families had a well deserved moment for themselves.
"Finally," said Hatake, "everything's back to normal, I mean, at least most of it..."
"Just wait till you join their group once you have a baby with Sera..." Said Elise.
"Mommy, why are Uncle Hatake and Auntie Sera very red?" Said Nozumu.
A few days later, in the early morning at Jian Squad's familiar residence "The Tree nest"...
"What is this place?" asked Zero Two as she found herself to be in a laboratory, "Wait, this is the Garden!" she said surprised as she walked through the place. She was finally standing outside that place, the room that she had known for a long time.
"Is that?" she said peeking inside the room, inside was a small child with crimson horns and red skin, who looked outside the glass desperately to get outside.
"She is just a child, Frank!" said a woman who came towards the room walking with Werner, she couldn't identify her that well but for some reason, she sensed something familiar on her, "How can you all be so cruel to her?"
"Science need's sacrifice…" said Werner, "Anyhow, I heard you are leaving tomorrow?"
"Yes," replied the women, "I know I just came here yesterday, but I need to continue my research on 'you know what'."
"Sure, sure." Said Werner.
"But before that!" said the lady as she took out a book "I'll at least try to compensate for the cruelty u all have shown towards her."
"That book…" though Zero Two as the lady walked right beside her as she entered the room and gave the book to the red skinned girl with a smile. The red skinned girl then smiled in return, something so precious that suddenly made a click in Zero Two's mind...
"Wait!" shouted Zero Two she extended a hand to get that book back, along with the two people who had it at that moment only oyo woke up from her dream in shock and find herself in the bedroom breathing heavily.
"It was a dream?" she asked looking at her hands.
"What happened?" asked Hiro, woken up from her troubled dream.
"Nothing, just a bad dream…" Zero Two said.
"I'm glad that the dream is over, but can I ask you a question?" asked Hiro smiling.
"Yeah sure!" asked Zero Two smiling back.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY BED AGAIN?!" shouted Hiro as he got up.
"Well you see I was just-" said Zero Two, smirking when an emergency alarm started buzzing.
"Jian Squad, you are to report IMMEDIATLY towards the briefing room." Said the intercom.