Chapter 2

New Friends, Old Friends

As the final filing cabinet was slammed shut and the last folder placed in its mailbox, Goro flopped down in a chair and sighed.

"Thanks again for your help today Goro, we couldn't have finished this fast without you," said a dark brown haired girl who sat at a desk with the label 'Surifoo'.

"No problem, but you and Hachi were way better than me, I probably didn't do much, sorry," Goro replied as he stood up.

"Yeah, well Ichigo is better than either of us at all this, we don't really realize that until she's not here," Surifoo sighed.

Goro looked at the door at the back of the room, labeled 'Ichigo'. He looked at his watch and said, "I better get going, I still have some things to do."

"Ok, we will see you later," Hachi said as Goro left the room, waving back at them.

He walked quickly through the halls to the west bridge, and crossed the lake. The wind smelled of spring, and the late afternoon felt cool. He looked down at the lake as he went and anyone he met greeted him as he went along. He looked up at Genista as he passed it.

"There he is!" Zorome exclaimed, "Hero, there's your papa!"

A little boy with dark blue hair, the same as his mother's, ran over to Goro, who picked him up and hugged him. Then, setting the boy on his shoulders, he said to the others there, "sorry it's later than I said."

"It's fine, you were this late yesterday too," Miku said.

"Yeah, sorry, but I should be free tomorrow, so you can relax," Goro said apologetically, as he took the five year old boy off his shoulders and set him to the ground.

"Eh, Hero's a pretty well behaved kid, all things considered," Nana said sweetly.

"Well, still, I'll leave you be tomorrow," Goro said, as he turned to leave, "Bye, see you later!"

"Cya!" Zorome called back as Goro turned the corner.

He walked with Hero over the bridge, joking with him the whole way. They wandered over to the nearby houses, watching the sun start to set. Goro stood in front of the door and gestured for Hero to knock, he did.

Steps were heard along with some laughter, then the door opened and a silver haired woman stood before them, with a little brown haired girl peeking around her leg. "Ah, good evening Goro," the woman said.

"Good evening Kokoro," Goro said, then he crouched down to look at the little girl, "And to you too Heiwa."

"Hello Uncle Goro!" The girl said with a big smile.

"Ah you came for the gift!" Kokoro said while turning back into the house, "Come on in!" she gestured for Goro to enter.

"Hello Uncle Goro, you can come sit on the couch," An adolescent Silver haired girl said.

"Oh, thanks Ai, but I don't think I'll be staying long, just came for the gift your mom made," Goro explained.

"Ok, suit yourself," Ai said, she then went over to Hero and patted him, "Oh my, you got a haircut, I like it!"

"Thank you!" The little boy gleamed, "I'm like papa!" he said, pointing to his and his papa's matching haircuts.

"Yes you are, good for you," said the now returning Kokoro. She went over and handed Goro a brown paper package with a neat ribbon, "Give this to Ichigo as soon as possible." She smiled.

Goro led Hero out the door and waved the family goodbye, "thanks, this will make her really happy!" he said, as he began walking home into the dark, hand in hand with his son.

O O O

Waves of the lake splashed in the strong morning wind. Hero sat on the lowest branch of a tree, with his dad right below him, carefully watching him. The perfectly clear morning was cool and crisp. The pink sakura blossoms blew in the wind.

"Beautiful day, isn't it," Kokoro said, as she watched her own children playing by the edge of the lake. She was brushing the hair of a little brown haired girl.

"Yes it is, really pretty," Goro replied, as he helped his son down from the tree, "Better than yesterday's gray afternoon."

"But at least it didn't rain super hard," Kokoro said. She ran the brush through the little girl's hair one last time, "There you go Sora, nice pretty hair."

"Thank you Mama," the girl said. She then laid on her mama's lap to take a nap.

The two adults stood there watching their children in silence for a while. Then they both heard uneven footsteps from behind them. They turned to see a man with short red-blonde hair, and a short scruffy beard. He wore a dark blue, almost black jacket with teal highlights, and 3 patches on the shoulders, the one on the left, bigger than the two on the right.

"Hey, Goro, been a while," The man said, now standing next to them.

"Oh, hello, yeah, real long time, how you been Yasoroku?" Goro asked the man.

"Excuse me, I don't think I know you," Kokoro said, Standing to greet the man.

"Ah, this is Yasoroku, a scavenger I met on my journeys," Goro explained. He turned to the man, "I haven't gone out since Hero was born, so it's been at least five years, good to see you man." Goro watched as the man walked around the bench to sit, "What's up with your limp? Are you hurt?"

"Oh, that? Wow, it has been a while, I've had this for years now," Yasoroku said, sitting down, "So, I wrecked my knee a few years ago, had this limp ever since." He looked at the little boy standing next to Goro. "But you sir, also had some big changes, you're a dad now?"

"Yep, this here is Hero, five years old." Goro patted the kid on the head.

"Well, Cool." Yasoroku looked distracted for a minute, but then regained his focus, "I came looking for you, I want you to see something, or well, meet someone."

"Meet someone? Ok, are they here?" Goro looked around.

"No, not here, back at our HQ," Yasoroku said.

"Hold on, I'm a little confused, HQ?" Kokoro piped in.

"Oh, I guess I should introduce myself better," Yasoroku said, turning to the woman next to him, "My name is Yasoroku, I used to be part of Squad 36. The surviving members of my squad formed a group that we call Daedalus. Generally speaking, we scavenge for materials, then use those for research and invention, sorta like what Goro did, but our group is entirely based around that."

"Oh, interesting," Kokoro paused and looked at her children. She turned back to Yasoroku and continued, "I suppose I should introduce myself as well, my name is Kokoro, I was in the same squad as Goro and I run a tailor shop."

"Yeah, nice to meet you, although I sort of already knew all that, squad 13 is pretty well known after all," Yasoroku replied, shaking her hand.

"So you want me to meet someone? Who?" Goro said, getting the conversation back on topic.

"Oh, well I want you to meet them, but I want you to meet them before anyone else does, so I didn't bring them," Yasoroku explained. He slowly stood up, "It's kind of extremely important," he said with a chuckle.

"Is it really? Cause I kind of have some stuff to do," Goro said, looking at the Bird's Nest.

"I'm pretty sure that this is more important than any of that," Yasoroku said more seriously, "well unless the thing you need to do is a matter of life and death, I think It can wait."

Goro was kind of taken aback by the intensity of his statement, "Ok, I'll see when I can go."

"You can come right now, I have some people waiting," Yasoroku said, walking to set a hand on Goro's shoulder. There weren't many people who could rival Goro in height, but Yasoroku was one who could.

"I can watch Hero, this sounds important," Kokoro said, Standing up and holding the boy by the hand.

"Ok, sounds good. I guess," Goro said.

He walked off with Yasoroku. His expression made him seem unsure, not of the man's trustworthiness, but something else.

"Where Papa going?" Hero asked the woman holding his hand.

"I don't know, but he'll be fine," She reassured the boy. "I hope," She mumbled quietly, as Hero ran off to play.

O O O

Goro followed Yasoroku for about twenty minutes, until they reached the southern point of the town, the day was getting warm. There they found a small, roofless, backless truck, with seats facing inward from the pickup bed height walls. Next to the truck was a dirty blonde, well kept looking man. As they approached, the man looked over and began walking toward them.

"You got him?" The man said to Yasoroku, who nodded. He turned to the guest, "great to meet you, my name is Gojuyon. Thank you for agreeing to come, even on such short notice."

"Sure, it sounded pretty serious. Ah, my name is Goro, although I expect you already know," He said.

"Alright, enough introductions, we should go," Yasoroku said, patting Gojuyon on the back.

Yasoroku gestured for Goro to sit in one of the seats. He climbed up and sat down, and the electrical motor began silently moving the wheels slowly. It didn't have very good acceleration, but once it got up to speed, it was decently fast. They sat in silence for a while, the wind rushing past as the vehicle sped along the road. Hills and trees whizzing past.

Goro finally decided to make conversation. "So who do you want me to meet?"

Gojuyon and Yasoroku both hesitated, thinking of what to say. "You'll understand once you meet them," Yasoroku said finally.

Goro made an unsatisfied expression. Yasoroku picked up on it and shrugged. They continued in silence.

"This is so much better than that motor cart, wish we could use it all the time," Gojuyon said, referencing the vehicle.

"Yeah, but we can't, Rokujushi only let us because of the delivery," Yasoroku said sternly, "Don't get your hopes up. Plus this doesn't work for rough terrain."

"Yeah yeah, I'm just thinking out loud," Gojuyon sighed. He leaned back and glanced at Goro.

Goro sat there with a stranger, and a man he hadn't seen in years. He began to question what he was doing, why did he come out here? What made him follow this guy? He wasn't sure why, but he had a strange feeling as if he needed to, like something big was about to happen.

"Did you see that big meteorite, when was it? A week ago? Yeah," Goro said, again trying to make conversation. He hoped to break the silence, but the other two just looked awkward. Goro decided to just be silent until they arrived.

O O O

Goro had been to the Daedalus base before during his travels, but it had grown significantly since he last saw it. The old Misteltein, which he remembered as the whole base, was now surrounded by lots of buildings and the whole area was enclosed by a large fence. It was rather impressive.

They entered by a gate on the south side of the perimeter. There they were met by a woman that Goro actually recognized. "Welcome back, and hello Goro," She said politely.

"Hello Shinisan, been a while," Goro said to the woman. Next to her stood another woman, a shorter girl with black hair, who said nothing but politely bowed.

"Here, hurry," Yasoroku said impatiently, gesturing for Goro to follow him.

'What's with the rush?' Goro thought. He followed the man toward one of the buildings. It had a red cross on the front, and was painted white, 'A medical emergency? Could someone be injured? Why do they need me?' All kinds of thoughts ran through Goro's head as they reached the entrance.

Yasoroku led him through the door, past a woman at a desk, who promptly followed them, past a few vacant rooms full of medical equipment. He turned and started slowly going up a flight of stairs, placing one foot on a step, then raising his injured leg to meet it. After they arrived at the top, he turned to the nearest door and opened it. No one was inside.

Yasoroku turned to the woman who had followed them up, and sternly said "Tsuki, where is she?"

"Calm down, there's no need to rush," Tsuki said. She pointed out a window down the hall. "She wanted to see outside, and I can't blame her."

Yasoroku sighed, calming himself down. He began limping down the stairs, gesturing for Goro to follow him. Goro did so. As they stepped outside into the spring air, the sakura's blowing in the wind, Goro buried the sting of worthless hope that bubbled up in his heart. The two walked around for a while, silently searching for someone, who seemed to have disappeared. While searching, they reencountered the same black haired girl who they had met at the gate. She came over to Goro, shook his hand, and smiled at him.

"Allow me to introduce you," Yasoroku said, "This is Chinmoku, or, well, most of us just call her Chini."

"Nice to meet you, my name is Goro, I'm from Bird's Nest," Goro said. The girl began moving her hands, then, seeming to realize something, stopped.

"She says it's nice to meet you too," Yasoroku explained. He walked over to the girl and placed a hand on her shoulder, "Chini here is mute. She lost her voice while piloting a Franxx, so now she uses gestures to speak."

Goro looked at the girl with interest. She was quite pretty. She wore the same dark blue jacket, but with one less patch. Her neck had a scar on it. She looked behind him at something.

"Goro?"

He jerked around at the voice to see a pink haired girl with red horns. He stammered back and nearly collapsed as tears began to form in his eyes. He was speechless. Zero Two just smiled at him.

"Been a while, sorry we're so late," she said. Goro barely regained his composure. He walked over to her and gave her a hug. Zero two seemed very startled at that, but she hugged him back.

Goro let go as Yasoroku approached the girl. "Please don't wander off like that."

"I wasn't wandering off, I just wanted to go look at the sakura trees, and get out of that room," Zero Two responded, seeming offended, "anyway, why do you get to order me around?"

Goro stood in silence and disbelief, then realized something. "We?" he said excitedly, "So Hiro's here? Where?"

Yasoroku put a hand on Goro's shoulder. "That's what I wanted your help on."

Yasoroku led Goro back to the medical building, with Zero Two behind them. Goro kept glancing back at Zero Two to make sure she didn't disappear. She did not. Once they arrived at the second floor again, Yasoroku passed the first room that he had opened, which Goro now assumed was the one Zero Two was in. Yasoroku opened the next door along the hall. Inside was the same as the first room, but this time, it was not vacant. On the bed was none other than Hiro, probably? He was very different, he had the same marks by the eyes as Zero Two, but blue, his skin seemed paler, but most obviously, he had blue horns to match Zero Two's. Hiro was a klaxosaur, just like Zero Two. He was fast asleep with an IV in his arm.

Goro stared at him, unsure of what to say, or think, how did this happen? How did they come back? What was going on? Was this a dream? Zero Two walked over and sat on the bed, and took Hiro's hand, with a worried look on her face.

"That meteorite seven days ago," Yasoroku began. Goro turned to look at him, finally realizing why he was so awkward, why he felt rushed, why he came to find him after five years. "That meteorite was somehow Strelitzia. We went to look at it, and pulled them out of it. We brought them back here, then three days after, Zero Two woke up."

O O O

Zero Two awoke. She looked around at her surroundings, she seemed to be in a room that looked like a hospital room,painted with a calm yellow. She looked out the window behind her and saw a landscape resembling the inside of Misteltein, forests and grass, but everywhere, all the way to the horizon. She stood up and twitched with a sting from the IV in her arm. She walked to the window and saw sakura blowing past. She looked down at the ground that had paths cutting through it. To her right, barely visible around the windowsill was the vine covered form of a Misteltein dome. She looked back down and saw two people walking along one of the paths, laughing together. She turned back to the room. Next to the window was a stand with a vase of fading flowers, across the room was an empty desk. Otherwise the room was quite plain.

She heard the door open, and a girl with light brown hair entered the room with a bunch of flowers matching the one in the existing vase. She shut the door and turned to see Zero Two, to which she seemed startled.

"Ah, good morning," Said the woman. She calmly walked over to the vase and replaced the flowers as Zero Two watched her curiously.

"Good morning," Zero Two replied. She continued to watch as the woman turned to leave. "Hold on," Zero Two said, to which the woman turned to her, "where am I, what is going on? Who are you?"

The woman stood for a moment, thinking, then answered her last question first, "My name is Tsuki, it is nice to meet you Zero Two." Her answer seemed awkward, as if she was trying to act calm. "You are currently at our base, south of Bird's Nest."

"Bird's nest? So this is earth?" Zero Two said, looking out the window at the unrecognizable landscape.

"Um, yes?" Replied Tsuki, unsure as to why that was a question.

"How long has it been?" Zero Two asked with a hint of worry.

"Since you left? I think it would be fourteen years a month from now," The woman answered, looking out the window to see what Zero Two was looking at. She turned to look back at the pink haired girl, who sighed with relief. "Were you worried about something?"

"Don't mind it," Zero two said, turning back to look at the fresh flowers. She then jerked her head to look at Tsuki, "wait, where is my Darling?" She said frantically.

Tsuki seemed startled by the sudden outburst. "You mean Hiro? He's in the next room, I was about to check on him."

Zero Two looked at the door with a smile of relief and took her IV rack. She began out the hall with Tsuki close behind her. She looked around the hall, to her right was a staircase, and to her left the hall went down a bit and then turned to the right. She went over to the next door and opened it. Lying on the bed was her Darling, with horns and fangs like her. He hadn't awoken. She kneeled down next to him and laid her head on his chest. She listened to his heart beating. He was alive, no doubt.

The woman looked at her, she stayed with her head on his chest for a while. "Is it ok if I can give you a checkup?" She finally said to the girl, who then raised her head. "You'll have to go back to your room."

"I'm going to stay here, I'm not going to leave my Darling," Zero Two responded with determination.

The woman sighed, "Look, I can't look you over unless we go back, and I need to look you over to make sure you're in good health, to be honest, you probably shouldn't be moving around anyway." Tsuki took Zero Two's hand and looked her in the eye, "Don't worry," She said with reassurance, "He'll be fine, we won't hurt him."

Zero Two reluctantly stood up and followed Tsuki back to her room. Tsuki left, but quickly returned with a white box. She opened the box, which entirely consisted of medical equipment. The woman spent a short while doing things like measuring blood pressure, heart rate, reflex, responsiveness, and so on.

"Well, you seem to be in good health, by human standards," Tsuki said. "I'm not sure how much your body's standards differ from ours, but you seem fine," she said with a chuckle.

The door opened as a man limped in. "Ah, so you are awake," he said.

He was closely followed by a serious looking man with red-black hair. "Good morning, my name is Rokujushi, I am the leader of this group," He said formally. "I thought I should meet you when I heard you woke up."

"Ok, what happened?" Zero Two asked again. She stared down the two men at the door.

"I can explain," said the first, "allow me to introduce myself, my name is Yasoroku. Eh, I guess I'll just explain it outright. Three days ago, a few of our group went out and found Strelitzia, which had returned from outer space. We found you two inside, and brought you here. Not much else to it, I guess." He paused then continued, "Now I have a question for you, how did you get back to earth?"

"Why do you care?" Zero Two asked sternly.

"Curiosity? Nothing more, you don't need to tell us if you don't want to," Yasoroku said.

"Well I couldn't even if I wanted to, I don't know how," Zero Two continued in her stern voice.

"Really?" Rokujushi asked. Zero Two did nothing. "Oh, well, I guess it doesn't really matter."

The two men left the room.

O O O

"After 3 more days passed without Hiro waking up, We decided to go find someone from squad 13. Many of us knew you, so here we are," Yasoroku finished the explanation.

Goro had spent the whole explanation staring at the two at the bed. He barely believed it. "So you have no idea how you got back," he said to the girl.

"No, I thought we would die, certainly not come back here," Zero Two said, staring at Hiro.

The room fell silent, as the wind blew the curtain around in front of the open window.

"You came to find me because Hiro won't wake up?" Goro asked. "Why the hell would you wait so long?" he lashed at Yasoroku.

"Woah man, calm down, look, we hoped for them to both wake up and be in good health, we didn't want to bring two comatose people to you," Yasoroku explained.

Goro stood there, thinking about how he would feel if they had brought the two asleep and dying. "So why look for us now?" He asked.

"We were hoping that Bird's Nest would have some more info on these two, I mean biologically," explained Tsuki, who had at some point entered without anyone noticing, "We essentially have no idea how different their bodies are from ours, so we were hoping to find something in all the files Bird's Nest has."

"I see," Goro said. He turned back to look at Zero Two, who had laid her head on Hiro's shoulder and closed her eyes. "I see, ok, so what you need from us is information," Goro continued.

"Sort of, but more than that, we aren't the best equipped for this kind of situation, but I think you and your people in Bird's Nest would be, so we were hoping to move him there for treatment," Yasoroku explained.

"Ok, I think we can make that work," Goro said.