Hey, everyone! I just finished Darling in the FranXX a few weeks ago, and probably like a lot of you, I loved the show overall, but had some pretty strong feelings about the ending. Specifically, I think we deserved a better one, and this story is my attempt to deliver that, starting with the rebellion arc that we wanted but never got.
I'll also be trying my best to address/tie up several plot threads that the show just sort of dropped or let fizzle out toward the end, like Stampede Mode, Hiro's transformation, Zero Two's regenerative abilites, and her full red form. No, she will not be turning into a giant spaceship at any point during this story. Also, I think it's important to say that while I'm not aiming for a completely happy ending, the two main protagonists will survive this time, with no reincarnation BS. Endgame pairings are still unclear, but HiroTwo will definitely stay together, as will Kokoro/Mitsuru and Zorome/Miku, with more to come as the story progresses.
Darling in the Rebellion
Chapter 1: Bring Down the Sky
I knew that I was dying.
something in me said,
go ahead, die, sleep, become as
them, accept.
then something else in me said, no,
save the tiniest bit.
it needn't be much,
just a spark.
a spark can set a whole forest on fire.
just a spark.
save it.
-Charles Bukowski
"Say, darling. Did you mean it?"
"Huh?" Hiro blinked, forcing his eyes back open. He'd nearly drifted off into sleep when Zero Two's voice woke him, her body stirring gently against his. Pale silver moonlight filtered through the far window, and only the quiet, electric hum that filled the halls of the Bird's Nest was audible over the sound of his own heartbeat. "Mean what?"
"What you told Papa today. That you're done with him after the next mission, with all of them. That you don't consider him your leader anymore. Did you mean all of that?"
Their limbs were still tangled together beneath the sheets of the bed they'd come to share in the nights since they were forced to leave Mistilteinn, their fingers intertwined. Even through her nightgown, he could feel the warmth that she radiated, a presence more comforting than any blanket- by this point, it was almost impossible for him to fall sleep without her at his side.
"Of course I did, Zero Two." He turned his head to face hers, a soft smile on his lips. She was watching him intently, her expression somewhere between curiosity and worry, and out of instinct he shifted toward her and planted a gentle kiss on her forehead at the sight. "I'm done being Papa's tool, and so are the others. We're finally going to learn what it means to be free."
But her uneasy look didn't fade- if anything, it only worsened, the corners of her lips twitching ever so slightly into a frown.
"You really think freedom's gonna be that easy, darling? That after everything, he'll just let us go out into the world? Let us abandon him forever?"
Where's this coming from all of the sudden? He wondered, his brows furrowing in thought as he ran one hand through her long pink hair before letting it come to a rest against her cheek.
"Once we defeat the enemy in the next battle, he won't need parasites or Franxx anymore. What reason would he have to keep around extra mouths to feed if we wanted to leave?"
She giggled at that, and kissed him full on the mouth for a fleeting moment, but the anxiousness still didn't leave her eyes.
"Darling, I love you so much, but you're still too quick to trust people."
"And you don't trust easily eno-" Hiro was midsentence when she laid a finger over his mouth. Suddenly there was an urgency behind her gaze that hadn't been there before, and he fell silent.
"Please, darling, listen to me. APE isn't like you or me or Ichigo or even Nana. They don't understand loyalty, or promises, or love. They don't understand choice, or free will. All they understand is control, and once they have it, they never let go. It's not in their nature." Her tone grew cold and venomous in the last few syllables, and Hiro touched his budding blue horns to her red ones in a gesture of comfort.
"I guess it wouldn't be the first time they've lied to us. But what are you saying? That they'll just keep us here forever, like prisoners?"
Zero Two nuzzled her head against the crook of his neck, and nodded slowly.
"They'd rather put us all in a beautiful cage than watch us fly free. No matter what happens on this next mission, they're never planning to let us walk away. We should know that better than anyone, darling- we tried once before."
"Things were different then," he countered, desperately searching for some flaw in her logic. "We were young, they still needed both of us. But now, once the Klaxosaurs are gone…" Hiro sighed, and gave up halfway through. The more he thought about it, the more her words started to seem like reality rather than paranoia.
She watched patiently as Hiro gradually came to the same conclusion she'd already reached, and pulled him tight against her.
"Just promise me one thing, darling." Her eyes met his again, and this time she took his cheek in hand, squeezing it delicately.
"Anything, Zero Two."
"Promise me that you'll fight back if they try and stop us. That we'll break the cage, together."
Fight back? Against Papa? Through all the anger and pain he'd experienced over the past few days and weeks, all the sorrow for what Kokoro and Mitsuru had lost, all the horror of remembering what they'd done to Zero Two, he'd never truly considered striking back. Maybe deep down he was afraid of the possibility of creating more bloodshed, of risking more loss. Maybe a part of him still wanted desperately to believe what his teachers in the Garden had told him over the course of his entire childhood, that Papa was a savior, the only one who knew what was best for humanity's future. As he looked into her eyes, though, two burning pools of blue and red flame, any hesitation left over his answer melted away in an instant, and he returned her kiss with renewed passion. Perhaps some of her fire had spread to him- he could feel it coursing through his veins, devouring him from the inside out, a sensation more satisfying than any he'd known since the last battle.
"I promise, Zero Two. No more empty words. Until the moment we can all say we're finally free, I'll do whatever it takes, no matter the cost, and no one will stand in our way, not even Papa."
Werner Franxx was in the lab when the call came, as he usually was at four in the morning. He wouldn't have even answered the blinking yellow light on his personal comm if he hadn't already been waiting for a batch of proteins to denature; he took great pleasure, after all, in listening to his colleagues' and superiors' irritated voicemails. But regardless of motive, for some reason or another he pressed 'accept', and listened patiently as Hachi's voice crackled through the other end.
"Doctor, my apologies if I woke you."
For a brief moment, Werner was almost tempted to pretend that he had been asleep, if only to make this intrusion on his nightly ritual disappear. But as he took a seat on a well-used workbench and let his gaze drift to the window, he decided that he wasn't in the mood for deception.
"You know very well that you didn't, Hachi. What is it that you need at this hour?" He cracked a wry grin. Then again, I might as well have a bit of fun with him. "Wait, let me guess- Squad 13 again, isn't it? Who's trying to marry each other this time? I have my money on 016 and Zero Two, personally."
"No, sir, it's not any of the parasites." For a split second, Franxx thought he could detect a hint of exasperation in Hachi's voice, but before he could declare victory, it returned to its normal, impassive tone. "All I can say is that your presence is urgently requested at the following coordinates. Please make your way here as soon as possible."
"Oho, you're giving me a mystery, are you, Hachi? How very unlike you!" He glanced down at the text he'd just received, and narrowed his eyes. "Did you send me the right coordinates? This is in the middle of-" The line went dead before he could finish his sentence. In the ruins of Mistilteinn. Hanging up on a superior isn't like you either, Hachi. What's gotten into you tonight?
Considering briefly that it might be some sort of elaborate prank, which was unlikely, or simply a waste or his time, which was certain, Werner weighed how much of an upbraiding he could receive for simply pretending that the call had never happened and going back to his proteins. But he was already on thin ice with APE after criticizing their heavy-handed blundering with Mitsuru and Kokoro's memories, so against his better judgement, he set his instruments to automatic, grabbed his cane, and walked out the door, into the Bird's Nest's brightly lit, empty corridors.
By the time his personal shuttle touched down at the edge of Mistilteinn, rain had begun to fall heavy on the fragments that remained of the sanctuary's glass roof, and the droplets shone against the glass like a thousand shadowy points of reflected moonlight as he strode into the darkened forest, the sound a dull, constant roar above him. His artificial right eye had all the night-vision capability he needed to navigate through the pitch-black trees and brush, so it only took the aging doctor a few minutes to reach the coordinates Hachi had given him, a clearing beside a pond that was mostly dry by now. The place felt vaguely familiar, but the feeling quickly faded away when he saw the outlines of four figures beneath a nearby tree, their silhouettes strangely ominous in the predawn darkness. When he drew closer, it became apparent that one of them was Hachi, but the other three were unfamiliar- two men and a women, they were dressed in soldiers' uniforms, but wore no helmets or visors.
Something about the way they bore themselves, though, told him that he should treat them with respect. Though he had no idea who exactly he was meeting, he nodded in acknowledgement when he drew close, and extended his artificial hand in greeting.
"To whom do I owe the pleasure, gentlemen and madam? If I know you from somewhere, I'm afraid I don't recall- an old man's memory is rarely perfect, after all."
They didn't accept the handshake, and in fact looked rather surprised that he'd even offered it.
"I suppose we can forgive you for not recognizing us, Werner," one said, illuminating the group of five with the soft orange light from his commlink. He was tall and broad-shouldered, with dark skin and close-cropped hair. "You've never seen us without the masks, after all."
The doctor's eyes widened, and he bowed his head out of instinct. APE members? Here? There's no mistaking that voice and that body, he's Gorilla.
"My goodness, forgive me, your Excellencies! But what are you doing in a place like this, away from your fortress, dressed like mere soldiers?"
The three exchanged a knowing glance, and were silent for a moment. The woman, Marmoset, was the first to speak, her aged but regal countenance and flowing blonde hair commanding his full attention.
"As our century-long war with the Klaxosaurs draws to a close, some members of APE have become increasingly worried that Papa and the Vice Chairman no longer have the best interests of humanity at heart. Are you aware, for instance, that the delegation he sent to negotiate with the Klaxosaur Princess attempted to assassinate her rather than carry our orders to demand a surrender?"
"Kill 001?!" His mouth fell open, and his heart grew tight in his chest. "Of course I wasn't aware! Surely they didn't succeed?"
"No, they certainly didn't. This was only the most recent, though, in a long series of instances in which Papa and his more loyal followers among the APE High Council have either deceived the rest of us, withheld vital information, or acted explicitly in defiance of our group decisions. For years, we've accepted these transgressions, justified them in our mind by telling ourselves that surely he knows best. But we can no longer convince ourselves of that lie- the truth has become apparent. It's time for new leadership; the fate of our species depends on it. Papa has lost his way, and he must be stopped, by any means necessary. We know he won't relinquish his power willingly, so when things are set in motion, we want your support."
"My support?" He shook his head, and let out a dry chuckle. "You overestimate my influence. I'm merely a scientist- what could I possibly offer you that you don't already have?" Though he feigned humility, in truth Franxx was simply stalling while he tried to process what he was hearing. A transition of power. Half of APE is planning a coup against the other, and I'm in caught in the middle of it. How typical.
"Don't be modest, Werner." The third APE member, Baboon, stepped forward out of the shadows, revealing olive skin, neatly combed grey hair, and a sharp, angular face. "The parasites, the Franxx- the backbone of our military forces come directly from your designs and labor. You know more about them than anyone, even Papa. If we can combine our knowledge and resources, we could end this swiftly and with as little bloodshed as possible. If he gets wind of what we're doing, that we're down here on the surface, he'd turn all of humanity's military might against us without a moment's hesitation. You are the key to preventing that."
"So you really are here." Though he'd seen none of the trademark flickering of holograms when we approached the councilors, the doctor still found it difficult to believe that they had actually descended from their orbital fortress; an APE member hadn't paid a physical visit to the surface in decades. Even most of their meetings with each other were carried out remotely. "But why? How? Wouldn't he know?"
"We had to speak to you in person- we can't trust remote communications, Papa has access to nearly all of them. Our personal channels are supposedly free from monitoring, but we have no way of verifying that. As for how we came here in secret, don't underestimate our resources."
"We rode down on a cargo transport, disguised as guards." Marmoset spoke up again, her tone curt and impatient. "It was a humiliating experience, but with the future of humanity in the balance, we were willing to make certain sacrifices. Clones are currently carrying our daily routines on Cosmos, but the nature of our lives allows for a large decree of discretion, thankfully. We chose this place for the same reason- it was always impossible to monitor every square inch of an area as large as Mistilteinn, doubly so now that it's in ruins."
"Very well, I see. So… what is it that you intend to do?"
"We intend to end this quickly and decisively, with as little fuss as possible," said Gorilla. He pressed a button on his commlink, and a holo-map of the area around Gran Crevasse was projected into the air between them. "While running scans to detect hidden enemy defenses before the battle, my adjutants found some strange energy signatures underground." With another swipe of his gloved finger, a ten glowing blue lights appeared on the display, arranged in a circle with Gran Crevasse at the center. "These are Klaxosaur constructs, cannons of massive size and firepower, but with none of the capability for movement that the others types share. I was intrigued, so I ordered further scans; according to the current estimates, their caliber is so massive that using them against targets on the ground would be inefficient- we believe they were designed as anti-air weapons, but their range is sufficient to reach targets in orbit."
"Their power supply remained dormant during the siege of Gran Crevasse," Baboon continued, "so it was decided that they were not a threat, and their discovery was never brought to the full council's attention- or Papa's, for that matter. But if we could somehow activate them, and turn them against Cosmos…"
"We could eliminate him and the Vice Chairman in an instant," finished Marmoset. "In the aftermath, it would be simple to blame the tragic loss on the Klaxosaurs- after all, it will be their technology which kills him. The path will be neatly paved for our takeover, and if all goes well, we can resume negotiations for the Princess' surrender before her forces arrive, and swiftly bring this conflict to its natural conclusion. Cosmos' destruction will be unfortunate from a logistical perspective, but it can be replaced in due time. We have many other secure locations which can serve as the new leadership's headquarters."
Werner remained silent for a long moment afterward, his brows knit in contemplation. In over a hundred years, the APE High Council had never outwardly showed so much as a crack in its unity. For this to happen now, so suddenly… he cast a glance to Hachi, whose eyes had remained largely fixed on the ground for the duration of the meeting.
"You're in support of this? I didn't know that rebelliousness was a trait they allowed you ex-parasites to keep."
"It isn't," he replied, his voice remaining monotone. "I live to serve the will of APE."
"Even when they are divided amongst themselves?" Franxx pried, searching the man's face for any sign of emotion. "Even when they order you to help plot the deaths of their colleagues, of Papa? How do you choose who to follow, who to believe?"
Hachi's slowly lifted his eyes to meet the doctor's; confusion clouded his expression for a brief moment, but his answer was just as confident as before.
"I live to serve the will of APE. I am still doing so, doctor."
"He's loyal to us," Marmoset interrupted. "You should know best of all that it's in his blood. Unless he receives an order from Papa specifically countermanding one of ours, nothing will stop him from carrying out our will. Now, if you're done interrogating him?"
"Yes, yes, forgive an old man his curiosities. But do tell me, what role am I to play in this?"
"You'll help us activate the Klaxosaur cannons, of course," said Gorilla. "You're more knowledgeable about their technology than anyone. Send one of your parasite squads to investigate them, we'll help you cover up the operation as a routine patrol. Squad 13 is your pet project at the moment, isn't it? Perhaps 002 and 016 will be able to offer a contribution to the effort, what with their… unique traits."
"Just as importantly," cut in Baboon, "if our initial plan to eliminate Cosmos fails, or Papa gets wind of what we're doing, you must help us win the parasites to our cause, and either disable the Franxx or ensure that only we can use them. None of us want this to come to open warfare, not with the Klaxosaur horde just days away from our position, but we must prepare for every contingency."
"I… see, yes. I would have to look into setting command system overrides, blocking remote signals… it might take some time. I'll get to work on it right away, though."
"See that you do," said Marmoset. "We're glad for your support, Werner. Remember this moment as the beginning of a new era for humanity. If you keep up the good work, you'll find that it will treat you very kindly."
At that, the three disguised councilors quietly took their leave, following Hachi's lead back toward a shuttle parked in the distance and leaving Franxx alone in the darkness. With those last few words, Werner realized, he'd crossed an invisible line, from speculation and hypotheticals into realities and commitments. He was a rebel now, no longer a mere wishful idealist. It went without saying that he'd chafed under Papa's yoke for countless years, and it would be a lie to say that he'd never considered subverting APE before. But that's all it had ever been- a passing thought, never acted upon. Now there was no going back- he was with them all the way, in success or failure. How interesting, that I should discover my spine a time like this. Whichever way this ends, it will certainly prove amusing to observe. And if I'm executed as a traitor, at least I'll have good company on my way into the ditch.
He let his gaze drift in the direction of Squad 13's boarding house, just a few hundred meters down the path, quiet and still, abandoned for days in the wake of the parasites' attempted wedding. Its onetime occupants were far away now, still blissfully unaware of the machinations taking place on the doorstep of their former home. Franxx glanced down at his commlink and considered summoning the squad now, but decided against it after a moment's contemplation. The first few birds were beginning to chirp their morning greeting as he turned away and began to hobble back toward his own craft. They deserve a few more hours of peace, I suppose.
The sound of rain was the first thing that Zero Two became aware of as she stirred slowly from her dreams, the content of which rapidly slipped away from her memory the moment she forced open her tired eyes. Dull morning light shone through the window, partly obscured by the streaks of water running down it. Unwilling to disentangle herself from her darling's warm body, she twisted her head around to face the digital clock on her nightstand. 6:48 AM. More time to sleep with darling!
Smiling giddily to herself, Zero Two planted a swift kiss on the back of his neck before closing her eyes, and she was nearly out cold again when the violent screech of an alarm cut like a knife through the morning stillness. Out of a combination of instinct and anger, she bolted straight up in the bed and slapped the clock clear across the room, smirking when its glass face shattered against the far wall. By the time Hiro sat up beside her seconds later, though, it was clear that the offending sound was actually coming from their comm badges, hung up with the rest of their uniforms in the closet.
"That's the third one you've broken this month," Hiro piped up, looking up at her with a smile on his face. "Nana and Hachi are going to run out of spares to give us eventually."
"It's not my fault that they make them sound so annoying," she replied with a huff, her arms crossed above the sheets. "Or that sleep is so nice. They should know better than to try and wake me up before ten."
He grinned and gave her hand a squeeze before swinging his legs out over the edge of the bed.
"Well, I guess we should see what they want."
"Or we could just stay here, and pretend we never heard it." Without warning, she wrapped her arms around his waist from behind and wrestled him back down, a devilish grin on her face.
"No," he managed, chuckling, "we have to set a good example for the squad!"
It was too late by then, though; she had him pinned, and after watching him for a moment with a predatory gleam in her eye, she pounced on Hiro and began to tickle him mercilessly. His sides, his armpits, the soles of his feet- nothing was safe from her onslaught. Their laughter quickly drowned out the muted shrieking of the alarm, before it transitioned into hysterical wheezing on his part.
"Zero Two…" He choked out through a wide smile, tears streaming from his eyes, "Stop, please… I c-can't breathe!"
"I've finally caught you!" She cried in mock triumph, before leaning down and sinking her teeth gently into his bare shoulder.
Suddenly the door slid open with a metallic whoosh, and Zero Two whipped her head around to find Ichigo standing in the threshold, her eyes wide and her breath frantic.
"I… I heard Hiro saying he couldn't breathe," she stammered, her cheeks swiftly growing scarlet as she realized what was actually happening; her gaze fell toward the floor rather than meet Zero Two's. "W-we all got the alert from command, be at the common area in five."
"Ichigo, I-" Beneath her, Hiro pushed himself up and reached a hand out toward the squad leader, but she'd already shut the door again by then.
"And here I thought she was done with all that," Zero Two remarked impassively, a frown spreading across her face as she stood, pulled her bra on, and strode toward the closet to grab her uniform.
Over the course of their aimless, month-long hiatus after the battle for Gran Crevasse, most of the former tension between Ichigo and Zero Two had dissolved with time, and the two had steadily grown closer. There were still fleeting moments, though- mostly involving Hiro- when some of the old jealousy flared back up, reminding Zero Two all too clearly that her feelings hadn't entirely faded.
"Darling," she said, as she pulled her shirt over her head and slid on her jacket, "can I ask you something? If I hadn't come to Plantation 13 and found you again, do you think you would have ended up being Ichigo's darling?"
"Eh?!" There was a sudden thud from behind her, and she turned around to find that Hiro had lost his balance and fallen to the floor while attempting to pull his pants on, his face flushed red.
"Is it really such a strange question?" she asked, helping him back to his feet. "She loves you, after all. Would you have loved her back, or would you never have been anyone's darling?"
"I… I don't know," he murmured, his eyes downcast as he buckled his belt and straightened his tie. "Before I met you, I was in such a dark place. I don't know if anyone other than you could have pulled me out; Ichigo had been trying for weeks, after all. Right before I piloted with you for the first time, I'd decided to stay and keep giving it my best, for Naomi's sake. So maybe I would have noticed eventually… but why ask now?"
"Because I don't know what makes me sadder," she replied quietly, laying her head on his shoulder, "the thought of my darling never finding me, or the thought of my darling alone forever."
"Neither of us will ever be alone again," Hiro said, embracing her tightly before he finished buttoning up his jacket and checked the alert on his comm badge. "Huh, it doesn't say much, besides asking us to meet down in the common room. Come on, let's go check it out, before we're late."
I wouldn't mind being late, Zero Two almost said, throwing one last longing glance at the bed before pulling on her grey cap and following him out the door and down the stairs. The Bird's Nest living quarters were sleek, modern, and Spartan compared to the quaint, homey feel of Mistilteinn, with plain white-and-grey walls and harsh, unpleasant lights, but their mattress, at the very least, was heavenly. The rest of the squad was already waiting for them when they finally arrived at their squad's designated common area, a small, cramped space that felt more like a hospital waiting lounge than anything else. Zorome made a sarcastic remark about the two loverbirds sleeping in that was met with several stifled chuckles before Zero Two stuck her tongue out in response and Ichigo ordered them all to quiet down.
"So what's going on?" Goro was the first to ask, straightening his glasses and rubbing the sleep from his eyes. "Is it the Klaxosaurs already? I thought Hachi said they wouldn't be here for another few days, at least."
"That was the projection, yes," said Ikuno from the corner, "but there could have been an unexpected development in the meantime- I wouldn't be surprised if this area still had hidden defenses and traps left over from before the battle. Should we prepare to sortie, Ichigo?"
"I don't have any more information on what's going on than you do," the squad leader replied, trying her best not to seem at a loss. "Just that we have to muster here and await further orders. I think the message would have been a bit more urgent if the enemy were actually here."
"Well whatever it is," Futoshi piped up from the back, a hand on his stomach," I hope we have time for breakfast first."
"Forget breakfast," Miku snapped, "I still want them to apologize for what they did to Mitsuru and Kokoro!"
The mood dampened considerably at that, and Zero Two cast her eyes down to the floor as the two parasites in question glanced awkwardly to each other and then back to the squad; nothing they'd tried since they came back last night had been able to jog their memories. Based on her own past experience after she first met Hiro, she'd known in advance what APE was doing to them, but decided that for the other squad members' sake, it was best to let them find out on their own. And maybe it was a selfish thought, but the couple's abduction and mind-wipe made her sad for a second reason as well. If that's how they react to a wedding, how will I ever marry my darling?
Before she could push the thought out of her mind, though, the door slid open, and Werner Franxx stepped through with Hachi at his side. They all snapped rapidly to attention at the sight, but he allowed them to fall back at ease with a wave of his mechanical hand.
"I'm glad to see that you all managed to rouse yourselves so quickly at such an hour," he began, tapping his cane on the wood of the floor. "To answer your question, yes, you will be sortieing, but not against the Klaxosaurs. We have a special reconnaissance assignment for you instead, outside the security perimeter." At Franxx's prompt, Hachi pulled up a holographic map of the area, but Hiro interrupted him before he could speak any further.
"Doctor, with all due respect, you were there with us when we told Papa we'd only do one more mission for him."
"This mission doesn't come from Papa," Werner countered. "It comes from me."
Zero Two raised a questioning eyebrow at that, and a glance around the room confirmed that Ichigo and the others seemed just as perplexed.
"But… isn't Papa the only one who can give us orders?" Kokoro asked after a moment. She and Mitsuru had been silent until now, even when the issue of their memories was brought up. They'd only been back for a single day, but it was already clear that Papa hadn't just been content with erasing any trace of their romance and wedding- he'd actively tampered with their personalities and values as well. "Doesn't he need us here, with the rest of the parasites?"
"APE has authorized this mission," Hachi replied bluntly. "It is a necessary component of the preparations for the upcoming battle."
"I… guess that makes sense, yeah," said Mitsuru, giving Kokoro a reassuring nod.
When he was certain there would be no more interjections, Franxx continued, pointing to a glowing blue dot several kilometers east of Gran Crevasse.
"You will be investigating what we believe to be a group of dormant Klaxosaur defense platforms buried underground at these coordinates. They didn't activate during the initial battle, but with the enemy horde approaching, we don't want to leave any potential vulnerabilities."
On the other side of the foyer, Ikuno cracked a satisfied grin at the confirmation of her theory as Hachi stepped forward to speak next, his hands clasped behind his back.
"Strelizia, Argentea, and Delphinium have been equipped with special excavation tools to unearth the constructs, while Chlorophytum and Genista will stand guard- we don't know what kind of resistance we can expect once we start uncovering the platforms. Further orders will follow once you reach your targets. As a final note, this mission is classified in nature; you are not to speak of it to anyone, no matter their rank. Report to the Franxx hangar, you sortie in twenty. Dismissed."
Ichigo couldn't shake the feeling of uneasiness clawing at the inside of her chest as she zipped up her pistil suit and strode out onto the metal gangway leading to Delphinium's cockpit. Again and again and again as she stepped into the Franxx and connected with Goro, she told herself that it was just the usual battle nerves, that the situation with Kokoro and Mitsuru still was still troubling her. Both of those may have been true, but far at the back of her mind, she knew that there was something else as well, that seeing Zero Two and Hiro like… like that this morning had bothered her, even though she knew it shouldn't.
Pull yourself together, Ichigo. Move on. She slapped herself hard across the face, and the rush of adrenaline was enough to push her synchronization with Goro up to the required level.
"You alright down there?" His voice called out from behind her, muffled by her hood. He'd clearly only heard the sound and not actually seen it, or else he would have already disengaged himself and rushed to her side.
"I'm fine!" She called back, flexing Delphinium's arms before disengaging the docking clamps. "Let's go!"
Even as they left the hanger and began to jet toward the distant coordinates at the head of Squad 13's other Franxx units, though, Ichigo continued to mentally chastise herself. You promised yourself you'd leave those feelings behind after the battle. It was working for so long, too, things were going so well! So why today, of all days? Why'd I have to hear him say that? She'd been walking past their door by chance when she heard Hiro's choked cries intermingled with Zero Two's laughter. I can't breathe, he'd said, and for a moment her mind had flashed back to the sight of him in a hospital bed, dark bruises around his neck. Of course it had all been a misunderstanding this time, just like it had been then. Of course it was all her fault, her punishment for her inability to stop loving him. But she couldn't let it consume her, not on a mission, not when she was still responsible for her squad's lives. Maybe she'd finally talk to Hiro about all of this, apologize and ask for forgiveness, bury these feelings for good, but that could wait for when they returned, for now, she needed to-
"The target is coming up ahead of us, your 2 o'clock, Delphinium." Zero Two's voice cut straight through her jumble of confused thoughts and emotions, and she was dragged back to reality by the steady beeping of a proximity alert on her heads up display. The buried construct was three hundred meters ahead, though they never would have been able to tell if not for the map provided by Doctor Franxx; for all intents and purposes, the ground above it was just as grey, flat, and lifeless as every other patch of earth as far as the eye could see in any other direction around them.
"Alright," she called once they'd reached it, purging her mind of unnecessary thoughts and doing her best to channel calm, confident authority through her voice. "Genista, Chlorophytum, form a perimeter around the target area and set the sensitivity on your motion detectors to maximum. Argentea, Strelizia, follow my lead."
The modifications that Hachi had mentioned didn't disappoint; Delphinium's twin magma blades had been widened and reinforced for digging into the earth, and similar adjustments had been made to Argentea's claws and Strelizia's lance, which looked like a cross between an axe and a massive spade. Together, the three of them tore apart ten square meters of dirt in next to no time, but it was Zorome who let out a cry of triumph first, when one of Argentea's blows struck solid metal.
"Aha, look at that! We win!"
"Since when was this a competition?" Miku grumbled as their Franxx scrambled to uncover more, and the other two mechs arrived on the scene to assist.
There was no mistaking the object's origin, though, once they'd uncovered around half of it after another few minutes of labor. Its angular shape and black-and-blue coloring were unmistakably Klaxosaur, but there was no discernible head or body of any kind, just a massive barrel, and as Franxx and Hachi predicted, it seemed to be entirely inert.
"Just look at the size of that thing," said Goro, his voice full of awe.
"It's massive," Hiro replied. "It must be twice the size of a Moho-class."
"Do we get to kill it yet?" Zero Two butted in excitedly. "Screw the mission, I think we should just kill it, darling, it can't be too hard to find the core."
"Our orders are to investigate it, not destroy it," Ichigo countered, tapping a few buttons on the console in front of her to patch a live feed from the squad's cameras through to Doctor Franxx. "Are you seeing this, doctor?"
"I am!" He cried in response; his gleeful countenance flickered to life on the screen before her. "And it's incredible, simply incredible! This is a class of Klaxosaur technology we've only glimpsed on rare occasions before- the data I'm getting right now will last me for months! Would it be possible for you to uncover the rest, and perhaps search for its command module, where the core is stored?"
"Affirmative, doctor. Keep digging, everyone!"
Another minute had passed by the time Delphinium uncovered what looked to be the construct's nerve center at the back end of its massive barrel, but the doctor's next order upon seeing the visual feed was to back away rather than continue.
"Strelizia, dismount and attempt to commence DNA linking, as we discussed. If the procedure fails, I'll attempt a remote override, but the process might take days, depending on how strong its security systems are."
DNA linking? Ichigo could only look on in confusion as Strelizia knelt down and opened her cockpit, allowing Hiro and Zero Two to clamber out onto the surface of the dormant Klaxosaur.
"W-what do you guys think you're doing?" Zorome cried, Argentea's expression turning to one of disbelief. "Are you trying to get yourselves killed?"
"He's right!" Goro added frantically. "That thing could turn on at any moment, get back in your Franxx!"
"What's going on down there?" Ikuno asked from above; Chlorophytum's head peeked over the edge of the vast hole. "Is everything alright?"
"Everything's fine," Hiro called back up once he'd patched his wrist-mounted commlink into the squad network, giving the other mechs a friendly wave. "We're just following orders."
"Well I certainly didn't hear about any orders like this!" Ichigo protested, pushing Delphinium to take a step back toward the two.
"That's because they didn't concern you," Werner responded patiently, as Strelizia's two pilots made their way on foot to the Klaxosaur's command module. "I didn't want to put any undue stress on you as squad leader."
"What he's saying is you never would have agreed to let us try this in the first place," said Zero Two, her smug grin visible even from a hundred yards away. A few moments later, they finally reached what seemed to be their objective, a small rectangular panel on the back end of the barrel, its outline scarcely a few meters high and perhaps only one wide. If she hadn't known better, she would have thought it almost looked like… a hatch? When Hiro and Zero Two both laid their hands on the bare black metal and it began to thrum with a sudden surge of energy, Ichigo finally decided that she'd had enough, and forced Delphinium to kneel down near the duo's position before disengaging herself from the Franxx and opening the cockpit hatch.
"Ichigo, what are you doing?" Goro stammered, but it was too late- she was already advancing rapidly toward them along the rough surface of the hollowed-out ground.
"I swear that I trust both of you," she called out, "but I just need to be sure that whatever you're doing won't endanger the…"
She trailed off as she drew closer, her mouth agape in abject shock as her blood ran cold in her veins. Sprouting out from between her best friend's long black bangs were a pair of short blue horns to match Zero Two's red ones. Blood was dripping down his face in two crimson streaks from where they'd broken through his skin, and his eyes were glowing bright blue, just as Zero Two's were alive with the same red light they'd shone with the day she nearly choked Ichigo to death. He won't be human anymore by the time she's done with him, Alpha's voice echoed at the back of her mind. She choked back a sob as she took another tentative step towards them.
"H-Hiro? Is that… you?" No, no, Alpha was lying, it wasn't the truth. It can't be the truth.
"Of course it's still me," he replied, a weak smile on his face. Behind him, the seal on the Klaxosaur hatch broke with a loud hiss of compressed air, and the black metal plate slid open, revealing a narrow passageway beyond. The doctor's voice suddenly became audible through the commlink on Hiro's wrist, his tone overjoyed.
"Simply marvelous! Activating the machine's dormant systems might have been impossible with only Zero Two's genetic material, but together, the two of you have enough Klaxosaur DNA to fool its detectors! I knew I was right to keep you on as a special subject all these years, 016! It seems that the process accelerated your genotype's transformation, but in the long run that's an acceptable side effect."
Klaxosaur DNA? His transformation? Ichigo's head was spinning even more rapidly than it had been before, and she fell to one knee, her eyes wide and her hands at her temples. By now, the other parasites in the hole had all seen their squadmate's transformation as well, mostly responding with stunned silence.
"What the hell's going on here?" Zorome finally sputtered. "W-where did those horns come from, Hiro?"
"Is this some kind of joke?!" Miku cried, her voice breaking partway through. "Hiro, Zero Two, tell us, please!"
"I'm coming out too," radioed Goro from inside Delphinium's cockpit, but Ichigo forced herself back to her feet, and held out a hand in his direction.
"No. Delphinium, Argentea, hold your positions- that's an order. This is what you were expecting to happen, isn't it, Hiro? If it's not an emergency, we… we can't jeopardize the mission."
"It is," he said quietly, his eyes drifting to his feet as he interlaced his fingers with Zero Two's. "I've known about this for a while now. I'm sorry for not telling you all sooner. I just… I guess I just didn't want to worry you. I didn't want you to think any differently of me."
Tears welling up in her eyes, Ichigo started toward Hiro again, and at first Zero Two took a protective step in front of him. He placed a reassuring hand on his partner's shoulder, though, and she grudgingly backed away. When Ichigo reached him, what she wanted most was to slug him across the jaw, but she sufficed for a hug instead, wrapping her arms around his waist and burying her head in his chest.
"You idiot, of course we'd never think any differently of you! This doesn't change any of the things you've done to help us in the past! It doesn't mean anything at all, as far as I'm concerned, as long as you promise that you'll always stay the same Hiro." She reached one arm out and pulled Zero Two into the embrace as well; the girl seemed surprised at first, but slid one comforting arm around Ichigo's shoulder after a moment, a gesture Hiro quickly reciprocated on her other side. "We accept both of you, no matter what kind of DNA you have. We always will. Because it doesn't matter whether you're human or… or Klaxosaur, or whatever, you're a member of this squad first, and I'd never let us treat you any other way."
"This is all quite touching," Franxx butted in, "but we're on a tight timetable, 016."
"Of course, doctor." Hiro ruffled her hair playfully with one hand, then stepped away from her and exchanged a swift nod with Zero Two. The two set off together toward the open hatch, and after a moment's contemplation, Ichigo darted after them.
"Wait. Let me come with you, please, at least."
"It's allowed the two of us past," said Zero Two evenly, gesturing toward the door. "We can't guarantee what'll happen if a human comes in with us."
"You can't guarantee what'll happen at all, can you?" She countered. "As your squad leader, I can't let you risk your lives alone. I'm coming with you, no matter what. Do you hear that, doctor?"
"…I hear it." He replied after a moment. "The chance that there would be a substantial danger to you at this stage is admittedly minimal; I won't order you to stay. You may proceed, 015, at your own risk."
"Thank you, doctor." Wiping what remained of her tears away, she exchanged a shaky smile with the two other pilots, and the three of them stepped up together to the entryway. The passage was dimly lit and only wide enough for them to advance single-file, so they linked hands before proceeding in slowly and cautiously, one at a time, with Ichigo in the middle. Thankfully, the narrow corridor gradually lit up with a dull blue glow the farther they advanced, and the strange, rhythmic humming that she'd heard from the outside began to fill the air.
"What are we looking for, doctor?" Hiro asked; he'd taken point, and was watching every corner carefully for any sign of trouble. "It's been nothing but hallways so far."
"This place gives me the creeps," chimed in Zero Two with a shudder. "I feel like the walls are gonna close in on me any second now. Would it have killed them to make the design more… friendly?"
"They likely had priorities other than 'friendliness' on their minds when they designed this construct," Werner chided. "But as for the control room, I think you'll know it when you see it."
His prediction was swiftly confirmed when they turned another bend and stepped into a small, open chamber with one curved, golden face of the Klaxosaur's spherical core at the far end and a small, dark plinth topped by a slanted blue screen in the middle. Other than that, the room was bare, but it was still large enough to allow the three of them to spread out for the first time since their entry.
"How are things going in there?" Goro asked over the comm, his voice tinged with anxiety.
"Yeah," Zorome interjected, "give us some updates! There's still nothing happening out here, I almost wish some Klaxosaurs would show up."
"Don't say that, you moron, you'll jinx it!" Miku huffed; Ichigo could practically see her exasperated expression.
"Everything's still going fine so far," Ichigo replied, watching as Zero Two puzzled over the plinth in the center of the room. Hiro joined her shortly afterward, and the moment both of their hands touched the screen, the entire room started to shift and change; a row of soft blue lights emerged from the ceiling, and a jet-black stamen and pistil array laced with cyan circuitry rose up from the floor. Holographic displays flickered to life on both walls- one showed a targeting solution, with crosshairs currently resting on the ground in front of them, while the other monitored the turret's power levels and ammunition reserves, both currently at full.
"Is this what I think it is?" Zero Two asked, brushing her hands over the sleek metal of the pilot's console.
"Only one way to find out." Hiro squeezed his partner's hand, then took a seat in what seemed to correspond to the stamen's place. "Doctor, what do you think?"
"My theory was correct!" Franxx crowed, his excitement contagious. "The secondary power readings were an auxiliary piloting system after all! If I'm reading this data correctly, then you two might be able to connect to the entire defense network from here!"
"Connect to the array? Wait, what happened to reconnaissance?!" Ichigo took a step toward them, but Zero Two was already lowering herself into the pistil array, grabbing onto two handles as a black hood slid over her head and sprouted two blue holographic horns instead of the standard yellow, one at the front and one at the back.
The moment she connected, the bright gold hue of the core dimmed, and Ichigo was thrown to the floor as the entire Klaxosaur suddenly stirred. The sounds of cracking stone and shifting metal filled the air, and a new was projected into the air in front of the two pilots, a live feed from a front-mounted camera. Argentea and Delphinium were barely visible through the thick clouds of dust the machine was kicking up as it pulled itself out of the earth, and her heart plummeted in her chest at the sight.
"Zorome, Miku! Get Goro out of there and back to the surface! All units, move back from the target, it's active, I repeat, the Klaxosaur is active!"
"But what about you?!" Goro protested, even as Argentea wrapped its arms around Delphinium's waist, activated its thrusters, and carried the other Franxx back out of the hole.
"Trust her," Miku shouted back, "she knows what she's doing, Goro! Focus on keeping yourself alive for once!"
"Should we be prepared to engage?" Ikuno asked, a sentiment quickly echoed by Mitsuru.
"Genista here, we're prepared to set up a defensive line one click south of your position. Awaiting your orders."
No, she wanted to say, you don't need to, there's no danger. But when she glanced back to Hiro and Zero Two, currently unresponsive as all of their attention was focused into their connection with the Klaxosaur, the words wouldn't come to her. Is there really no threat, none at all? She'd doubted Zero Two's intentions before and been proven wrong. And what about this time? Ichigo asked herself. Am I certain enough that this is all harmless to risk my squadmates' lives on it?
"There's no need for that," Franxx cut in before she could issue a command one way or the other. "016 and 002 are in control of the construct."
"You mean they're piloting that thing?!" Futoshi cried in a panic as Chlorophytum stumbled back from the dig site, its arm-cannons raised. "They're piloting a Klaxosaur?!"
"We are," replied Hiro, his voice calm and reassuring. When Ichigo's head snapped back around toward him, he was looking straight at her, his eyes aglow with ocean-blue light. "And there's no need to worry."
When Doctor Franxx pulled Strelizia's pistil and stamen aside before their new mission and informed them of their true objective, using their combined genetic material to attempt to directly activate and pilot the construct, Hiro still hadn't known exactly what to expect. As Werner had explained, the technology for Franxx was based on Klaxosaur designs, so en route to the dig site, he began to comfort himself with the thought that it wouldn't be too different from operating Strelizia.
An hour later, now that he was actually plugged in, he could hardly imagine the sensation and memory of piloting anything else. His connection to Zero Two wasn't just more intense, it was deeper, broader, expanded somehow. Her thoughts still filled his mind, but beyond them, a chorus of thousands of other voices filled the distance and stretched out into the horizon, their unintelligible words running together into one harmonious stream of sound. Even though he didn't know the language they spoke, something depe inside him seemed to understand regardless, and before he knew it they were both operating the controls in unison, with a level of deftness and dexterity that suggested they had been piloting this machine for a lifetime. Hiro could feel a dozen generations' worth of experience flowing into his hands, and with a rumble of earth the Klaxosaur continued its climb upwards and out of the pit their squad had dug.
Comforted somewhat by his words, Ichigo remained silent for now, hanging on for the ride in the far corner of the chamber, her eyes never leaving him. Franxx's voice soon came back in over the radio, and for a moment their forward progress was halted as they paused to listen.
"Excellent work, Strelizia, but that's enough of a test run for today. Pilot the machine back into the hole, or the surface sensors might pick it up."
"Quite impressive progress," added another voice, its tone somehow damningly familiar. An APE councilor? He and Zero Two thought in unison after a moment's contemplation. "We commend you on a job well done, 002, 016."
"Well done indeed," intoned a female. "This revelation about your abilities will speed the timetable of our plans up significantly. We'll require your skills again tomorrow, once the Doctor's part is done. How much more time do you require, Werner?"
"I should be able to infect all the plantations with my signal-dampening algorithm within the next twelve hours or so, and from there, taking the Franxx offline remotely will be a simple matter. No more than eighteen hours in total."
Their conversation was confusing at first, its terms distant and remote. A glance to Ichigo, who showed no reaction other than the same look of vague uneasiness which she'd been wearing throughout the entire ordeal, confirmed that none of the rest of the squad could hear it. Even Zero Two seemed perplexed, her thoughts muddled.
What are they talking about, darling? I don't understand.
I don't either. They're planning something. Hiro thought harder, back to when Franxx gave them their assignment this morning. Something that's a secret from Papa. Something that…
Hiro's gaze drifted down the massive turret's barrel to the sky beyond, and his eyes widened in revelation as they fell upon the small point of light just beneath the crest of the moon, aligned almost directly in front of them.
Something that requires this gun to accomplish. Zero Two, I think they're going to use this thing to kill Papa.
Like a spark from a match, the thought set off a fire in the network that neither of them had anticipated. Flashes of light and color and sound blinked in and out, each one more brief than the last, but the image they painted was clear. A prosperous civilization, invaders from above, an unspeakable tragedy, endless war, suffering and devastation. A thirst for vengeance filled his heart to the brim, the undying hatred of a dead race; Zero Two felt it too, he could sense it in swelling up in her mind. All at once, they knew that they had to do.
Let's kill the bastards, darling.
Every last one of them, Zero Two.
Out of a sudden instinct which felt at once both newfound and ingrained deep within him since the day of his birth, Hiro reached out with his mind, a rallying cry for help, and the ground everywhere around them answered. Visible on the holographic map to their right, five more Klaxosaur constructs of the same turret-like configuration burst out of the hard grey earth, their positions a rough semicircle stretching halfway around Gran Crevasse, still far in the distance behind them with the rest of humanity's forces. In a matter of moments, Squad 13's channel erupted with panicked shouts of confusion and dismay from nearly every member, and Zero Two muted it out of annoyance, leaving only the doctor's frequency open. Once that was done, she locked her eyes on the faint pinprick of Cosmos, and all six barrels, including their own, followed suit, forming a perfect targeting solution automatically.
"W-what are they doing, Werner?!" Baboon cried, distress clear in his voice, the first genuine emotion Hiro had ever heard from him, from any APE high councilor. "Did you give them the order to fire?! We're not ready!"
"No, I didn't." Franxx responded hesitantly, his tone half worried and half curious. "016, 002, stand down, this wasn't what we discussed. What's gotten into you two?"
"We know what you're planning," Hiro replied, watching with satisfaction as their turret's power levels began to slowly build up to firing capacity. "And we're going to do it for you."
It's like you said, he told his partner. He'll never let us free of his own will- we have to fight back ourselves.
They want to put it off, darling, until all their little plans are ready. We can't let that happen. They think there's time enough to plot and scheme before they do the deed, but we'll only ever have this one chance. I can feel it.
I trust you, he replied. It was the truth; he did with all his heart and soul.
"We know what Papa's capable of," Zero Two continued aloud, "and it can't wait another day. It has to happen now."
"How could you possibly… you insolent children!" An audible thump rippled through the comm channel's audio as Marmoset slammed her fist onto her desk. "Do you know how much planning you're about to ruin? There's no way to conceal all those energy signatures, everyone can see them!"
"All the more reason to finish this now," Hiro retorted, as the guns' charge passed 60%.
"015, called Franxx, "remove 016 and 002 from their stations immediately. I don't think they're entirely themselves anymore- they're jeopardizing the entire mission."
Ichigo, who had already begun stepping hesitantly toward the two with one hand outstretched and shock plain on her face, pressed forward more deliberately now, her eyes full of a mistaken belief that she was saving her friends from some horrible fate. She was too slow, though, too hesitant to physically pull Hiro from his place. By the time she'd wrapped her hands around his side, the charge had shot up to 100%, and his fingers were ghosting over the firing controls.
Break the cage, his mind whispered to Zero Two as he pulled the trigger.
Break the cage, her thoughts whispered back.
Within a span of a single second, Ichigo yanked him to the floor, the display was bathed in bright blue light as the Klaxosaur guns fired in unison, and the room began to shake and jerk from the recoil of the blast. Torn from the gravity tethers of the stamen's seat, Hiro stumbled headfirst into his squad leader, landing squarely atop her chest amid the tremors. Her face scarlet, she made a panicked sound and tried weakly to push him off, but he was too busy watching the screen to even notice. The six beams of light sailed upward together, all converging on the single point that was Cosmos, and for a brief moment, it looked as if nothing had happened.
When they finally did connect with the distant station, the sheer size of the explosion was staggering. Marking the detonation of the magma cores, a rapidly expanding ball of white and orange fire filled a quarter of the sky, and chunks of debris began sailing outward in every direction from what had moments ago been APE's fortress, tracing burning trails through the upper atmosphere. Even the weak shockwave was powerful enough to reach them at this distance, along with the dull sound of a distant roar.
All concern for her squadmate's position forgotten, Ichigo lifted up her head with horror in her eyes.
"Hiro… w-what did you do?"
"Hey, give me some credit too," Zero Two purred, stretching as she disengaged herself from the pistil array and wrapped her arms around both of them. "We just did something beautiful, Ichigo. We're finally free."
"Free is the last thing you are right now," the doctor snapped. "Why didn't you just listen to us? We're on the same side, we wanted the same result! Papa got a brief signal out before Cosmos was destroyed, but I was only able to jam the receptors to ten out of the remaining nineteen plantations in time. The rest are mobilizing against your position as we speak." He sighed deeply. "You two just managed to single-handedly start a civil war for the fate of humanity."
I know that was a bit long, but hopefully you all enjoyed this start to the rebellion arc! I tried to add a bit of Ichigo drama without going too overboard, I've always had a soft spot for her. Anyway, let me know what you thought in the reviews, whether good or bad, and where you want to see this go!