+Rewrite date: 3rd March 2019+
+ This was without a doubt my worst chapter in this story before the rewrite. +
+For this rewrite I'll be taking Zero-Two and Casten's relationship slower. +
+ There's now more introspection and improved character interactions.+
+The Ritual of Becoming will also be completely rewritten.+
+ Once again. Special thanks to co-author Tech Jammer. +
+ Chapter II: The Bonds +
+ 001. M42 +
+ Plantation #13: Mistletein +
She licked him as he approached her to take back his belongings. Soft tongue running across Casten's cheek, sending shivers down his spine. The surprise attack stunned him for a moment.
"You taste bitter... Bleh!" The girl stuck her tongue out at him, hopping out of his reach.
He made another lunge. She jumped back, long, wet pink hair whipping him across the face and stinging his eyes. Casten grit his teeth and squeezed his eyes closed as he tried to rub the water out. By the time his vision cleared she was standing in the ankle deep water, taunting him by spinning his Plasma pistol in her fingers, a wide mischievous grin of her face.
"Enough frivolity!" He hissed at her. "Why wouldn't I be bitter!?"
She giggled, side stepping his attempts to take back his things. Unlike him, the ankle-deep water wasn't sending her off balance in the slightest. "That's boring!"
She blew up her cheeks, pouting in a manner that would be cute if he was in any mood to jest.
"Your boredom is the least of my concerns!" Anger boiled over now.
His tone went from irritated outrage to a low, roiling rumble. "Return my wargear...at once. Or I'll resort to force."
No longer was his duty as an Imperial representative in his mind, only anger as she made light of his grief. His fists clenched and his stance lowered, ready to strike her for daring to insult him. He only wanted to retrieve his belongings at first, now he wanted retribution for the slight against him and his House.
The girl only grinned at his threatening stance. Amusement,danced across those large teal eyes, contrasting the red markings framing them. "And?" she called out his challenge. "What're you gonna do about it?"
Two long strides put him into striking range and he threw a swift right hook. Only to miss miss its mark wide; a deft sidestep that moved with superhuman grace. Navy blue eyes widened as his mind processed faster than his body. The Freeblade's eyes caught the girl's from the corner of his vision, her cheshire grin mocking him in their mystery.
His body still in motion, the girl's foot hooked around his ankle and with an effortless heave. His vision reversed in an instant where the ground was up and the sky was down, his mind registering the sight of her raised leg heading straight for his solar plexus. He didn't even have time to register the pain before he was hurled gracelessly into the air, the taller boy sailing like a missile into the shallow lake.
He gasped for air as his gag reflex kicked in when water rushed up his nose and down the wrong pipe. Before he was effectively pinned down on the shallow surface by the foot of the same girl that launched.
"H-..." Casten's mouth opened to speak, but nothing came but a dumbfounded question. "...How?"
"Gotcha~" She smiled, thoroughly relishing his incredulous expression. She leaned forward, looking down on him, her hand on her knee putting pressure on the boy below. Letting him know his place against her.
Incensed by this humiliation, he grabbed her leg. His attempt to push her off him were sadly were in vain. It began to dawn on him this odd girl's unnatural feat of strength and agility was more than just skill or luck. Her expression of bemusement disappeared, replaced with a look of curiosity. Bright eyes seeming to be searching for something in him.
She's an Abhuman… He should have expected something out of the ordinary. He underestimated her from her appearance. He didn't take the time to further chastise himself. Instead, Casten did the only thing that he could do. Now that his head has both figuratively and literally cooled. He raised both arms in surrender.
"I yield…" He accepting of his defeat. Shamed at himself for losing his temper after something so trivial.
The girl grinned, her canines teeth gleaming in delight before getting off him to lend hand. Casten took it firmly in his grip. Her more than human strength easily lifting him in one go, he winced slightly at the tender feeling in the area where she kicked him and will have no doubt leave a good bruise.
"Now you have to do what I say!" she yelled in his face that startled the Freeblade. Wondering if the concept of personal space was taught on this world.
"Pardon?" He asked, more for the sake of rational conversation than affirmation.
"Well you lost, and I won right?" she tilted her head at his clueless look. "So the loser has to do what the winner says. Isn't it the same for you space people?"
He scratched his head how to answer appropriately. In most cases that would be the definitive truth. In diplomatic cases, such things are not as straightforward. However, given the nature of their 'duel' … he supposed she was technically correct.
"That is correct… I think," he answered "As the winner, you may state your terms miss…?"
The Freeblade now felt like an even bigger fool. He went into a confrontation who not only done him no wrong, technically, but didn't even try to ask for her name. Instead another voice in the distance answered.
"I'm code: Zero-Two!" Casten recognized the voice as the caretaker's... Nana, if he remembered correctly.
He was about to call out when the girl rushed forwards, wrapping her hand over his mouth. "Shh… come with me."
"Hmmph?" His muffled confusion was palpable, but he nodded nonetheless.
She grabbed his wrist and pulled him away from the lake. The splashing of the water at their fleeing steps didn't go unnoticed.
Casten didn't know where she was taking him. All that he knew was that they were going deeper into the habitat. The filtered sun rays barely even penetrated the thick canopy as the trees grew ever more dense.
The teen's gaze was fixated on her back as they went along, bewildered by the brazen girl outright ignoring her superior. The grip she had on his hand was solid as plasteel, he felt that he was better off not saying anything. At the pace they were going, he knew she was holding back to match his sprint. In more than one occasion left him being dragged across the dirt. Only when it seemed that they were about to reach the wall of the enclosure did she release him.
"So you're this 'Zero-Two' I was supposed to meet on the landing pad." Casten concluded tending to his hand to return a normal blood flow.
The girl grinned. "Yup!"
She sauntered up to him, pointing a finger at him and poking his chest. "You're that space knight guy that everyone keeps buzzing about."
"One of many knights." He pushed the finger that poked his chest away. "By the the will of the God-Emperor. I am was entrusted with the honour of being the first liaison of the wider Imperium to your society."
The Freeblade began to remove his white undershirt, now thoroughly soaked. He sighed, twisting the water out of the fabric. Grimacing at the unpleasant feeling of wet socks in his boots.
He sat down on the ground, getting out of his socks and boots to let them dry in the sunlight.
"I apologize for my short temper" He started. "What you took were not just my weapons. They...hold sentimental value to me."
He looked at her straight in the eye, pleading but firm. "I would be grateful if you would please return to me my personal effects."
Zero-Two hummed, she wasn't expecting that from what she thought was a jarhead like those masked guards from A.P.E as she gave him a once over.
His features were squared and sharp, with a head of charcoal back hair. A pair of narrow, navy blue eyes seemed to bear an intensity to them that she couldn't quite place.
Tall, muscular, lean, with faded scars littering much of his body. Many of them were old but some looked recent; particularly a few burn marks across his torso. She looked down in her hand, examining the heavy toothed weapon that hung from the pilfered belt and holster; there were some jagged marks on the boy's that looked to be made by similar weapons.
"You really know how to take the fun out of this... Here." She sighed, tossing the belt back to him.
He caught the thrown weapons with a nod of thanks and clipped it back around his waist. She watched the boy fiddle around with his pants to wring the excess moisture. Soon enough, she had the pleasure of grinning at his boxer clad self while his clothes shared his boots in the sun.
"You know. You're just the cutest thing pouting with that scowl," she teased
He raised a brow at her statement. "I think I have every right to be...displeased at my current state of dress." He thought over to rephrase his actual predicament. "Or lack thereof."
Zero-Two giggled at the boy's candour. So different from the people that surrounds her waking moment. He was an interesting person already!
His grouchy disposition evaporated. Merely minor irritation now that things have gone to where they are. He didn't feel as wound up anymore. No doubt the black mood was going to start again when next his grief acted up; but the change in atmosphere served his mood well. Since the person next to him seemed genuinely amused; even if it was at his own expense.
"Casten Zelius." He announced himself. "Freeblade, formerly of House Zelius"
"Zero-Two." She replied, sitting next to the boy on the ground. "Just Zero-Two."
"Is that your handler's given designation?" Immediately the girl invaded his personal space where their noses practically touched and her horns digging almost painfully into his forehead.
"No." She glowered. Pushing at him. "Zero-Two is my name. Remember that."
Though confused at her ire. A beating from his offense and possibly damage diplomatic ties wasn't what he wanted. Thus, held up his hands in surrender "Apologies, I didn't mean to offend. On my honor as a knight."
She backed off. Forgiven but not forgotten. Casten breathed a sigh of relief of avoiding a potential fiasco. Silence dragged between them, neither paying attention to anything in particular before Zero-Two decided it was long enough, and it was time to break the ice.
"So…" She started, thinking up the first question in her head of the space person. "What's space like? The old man won't shut up about you people travelling in space and stuff."
Casten pinched his chin and looked up, his eyes seeing past the canopy and the glass dome, visualizing the expanse."It is a place of equal wonders and terrors. Where the lights in our sky means that there planets beyond the human eye. To know that our kin may be living in that star system we see from down here."
"Hm~" She hummed, obviously unsure how to follow up since. What he said didn't hold much meaning to her..
The shuffle of footsteps thumped along the grassy grounds, growing louder with each passing moment. "We should return. I have my own affairs to return to and your own people are searching for you."
With a sigh not unlike a child told it was time to stop playing, she stood up from her spot next to him while donned back his relatively dried clothes. Just in time for Nana's and her group to approach the pair; Zero-Two's clothes carried in the caretaker's arms. Nana was not happy with her precious time being wasted by the wayward Parasite's gallivanting. She refused to give the upstart the satisfaction and opted to glower in silence holding out Zero-Two's to take and get dressed.
Zero-Two grinned, plucking her clothes from the irate caretaker and began to dress herself. also approached. Albeit he arrived at his own leisurely pace.
A grin formed under the old man's thick moustache. "You kids sure have gotten chummy."
"She is… unique company." The Freeblade offered.
Nana straightened her skirt and brushed twigs and leaves off her uniform. Composing herself once more, the woman took the boy's soaking cloaked clothing. "We're so sorry for the trouble."
"Think nothing of it caretaker." Casten waved her off. "We all have our days."
"Thank you for understanding" Nana's breathed in relief. Casten raising a hand to press into the voxbead in his ear. .
It was Brigid's static-tinged voice that crackled into his ear. "Sir Casten, your throne is ready. Transmitting navigation data to you posthaste."
"Message received. I will be with you shortly"
+ Plantation #13: FranXX Garage +
The sound of footsteps echoed in the halls of Plantation #13. The stark, sanitary appearance was unsettling to the Freeblade. He had grown accustomed to the colourful banners and mural hung from walls. Dancing shadows cast by statues of hooded angels under the candlelight.
He kept those thoughts to himself.
"So…Freeblade" Nana cleared her throat. "How do you find Mistlestein and the enviro-complex?"
Casten nodded, enthused to give his approval. "Simply put Educator, stunning. Such greenery, and the level dedicated to maintain this small working biosphere, is a testament in itself. I can only imagine such a need for a place of tranquil and recreation on your Land Behemoth."
Doctor Franxx perked his ear up at the last one. "You people have something like this tin can where you're from?"
"Yes. Three I can name. Though I only know of them through stories and my studies: Ambulon, the Everwalking city on Scintilla, vehicle-hives of Zayth, and the Land-Behemoths of the Iron Hands Astartes Chapter on Medusa." Casten explained
He decided not to press; none of it would be relevant to his duties. "So you are to observe me."
"Hm…?" Doctor Franxx's feigned ignorance did not go unnoticed.
The Knight gave the doctor an incredulous stare. "The Chamber of Echoes that you allowed us to fabricate? In exchange; on the grounds at your personal request to observe the Ritual of Becoming?"
"Oh! Of course! Of course!" The old man's tone was carefree, clapping his hands as of he had just remembered that rather important detail.
Such aloof candour perturbed him. Regardless, the Knight chose to ignore 's behaviour and lackadaisical disposition. "I trust that Sacristan Bridgid has forwarded to you the general process of the ritual?"
"The bonding of the machine's 'Anima' through the Mind Impulse Unit cerebral implant." Franxx recited the general process "It is an inelegant procedure if you ask me. When you can do the same thing with a cerebral resonance scanner. Its cleaner, less messy, and reduces the risk of the body rejecting foreign material."
"Isn't that hypocrisy when you are essentially a cyborg yourself?" Casten gave him a pointed look.
"Oh no doubt about that, that is hypocrisy at its finest. Two reasons: I choose to trust in cold hard metal… and I don't care one bit what others think."
Casten didn't know if he was supposed to be amazed or confused. Here was a world untouched by the Mechanicum. Yet, the doctor sounded like a typical day to day Magos. Apparently no matter the distance in stars or time, the saying 'like minds think alike' held true.
"As you wish." Casten said, deciding not to entertain the old man any further.
Their arrival to Brigid's current residence began with the young Knight nodding to the two tall figures that flanked the door the newly scraped together Chamber of Echoes.
Skitarii tech-guards; boasting six and a half feet of steel, circuits, and silica. Clad in gunmetal grey hooded robes and armoured metal metal harnesses, left only their metallic hands and brass death masks visible. Complete with Arc-mauls and Arc-pistols, electro static weapons that served both lethal and 'mildly' lethal functions.
"Sigma-seven, Delta-nine," Casten greeted both guards.
The two death masks gave a small, nigh imperceptible nods in return. Glowing green lenses fixed on the locals, analyzing them for any threat in their unfeeling gaze.
The security detail guarding the good doctor and Nana kept their quality professionalism. Broadening their shoulders to look bigger against the sentinels. Yet the weakness of the flesh betrayed these souls, as tiny shuffles and small pores of their sweat glands opened in the face of the space faring cyborg soldiers.
The group entered to a hollow chamber. What was once an empty FranXX garage now housed the Knight Titan 'Ave Rubrum'. In the darkness, only hints of the superheavy walker's form was visible. Besides the gangway, it was a sheer drop sixty meters to the Forgeshrine that housed and maintained it. A control room above accessed via a stairwell, normally used by staff to monitor crew progress on FranXXs; disassembled and overhauled to the tender mercy of Brigid's Plasma Cutter and servo arm to install proper, sanctified imperial technology to her specifications, in tangles of exposed power coils and data conduits leading to the Knight's maintenance alcove.
A bridge led to a wire-infested mechanical jungle circled by spotlights, At its center, a: bulky,empty metal seat suspended over the Questoris Errant's open cockpit. The Throne Mechanicum.
The reclined Throne was a gold-framed construct padded in red leather cushions. Cables, gears, hydraulics, and wires snaked from the ceiling panels that had been pulled off, connecting to back of the seat and all the way into the cockpit below. At the base of the headrest, series of holes perfectly aligned to the MIU ports in the implant behind the Freeblade's head. This throne, however, had clamped shackles built into it.
"Hmmm...interesting design." Dr. Franxx relishing in observing a technological branch outside of his sphere of influence.
Brigid lowered her grey hood, turning to face Casten from her position manning a console and formed the Cog Mechanicus, ignoring his company. "Preparations are complete, Sir Casten. Engage ritual when ready. May the Emperor protect your soul, and the Omnissiah see your virtue."
He returned a nod and managed a small smile of thanks despite swallowing a lump in his throat and forming his own half-Aquila, half-cog. There were no words now, it was too late to turn back and he had no future should he fail. At least he would be able to face the Emperor having done all he could.
"Is it at least..." Nana swallowed the tiny lump of saliva fearing for his life at technology unknown to her. "Painless?"
"Painless? No. However, it's nothing to concern yourself over." He smoothly explained, hoping he masked his own trepidation well enough.
Brigid nodded. "He possesses a…" She paused, running the complex probability calculations through her internal cogitator implant. "Thirty seven point three percent chance of death or permanent mental damage from the process, it is indeed favourable. Though it would be far lower if we had House Zelius's original Chamber of Echoes; the Omnissiah teaches us to create his works where we can."
"Thirty-seven percent?!" Nana was horrified at such an absurdly low figure. That meant it was a pure coin toss on whether the pilot lived or died just by simply imprinting himself! That was an inexcusably low survival rate even for parasites!
Though, if Nana were more rational... she didn't have the stance to defend herself either. Where she was taking care of children being forced to fight; used by adults like her to and the strong being weeded out from the weak in Garden. She had no right to object.
"Indeed Educator Nana, good odds are hard to come by." Brigid said in good nature, mistaking the remark as a positive outlook.
Nana decided to shut her mouth before she becomes irrational and just stared at the fate of the soul strapped to the chair. Hoping that he lives whatever these people considered a norm in procedure.
Zero-Two didn't care or thought about the goings on around her.
Though it was a shame if he died. This one seemed really interesting. An actual person from outer space! Where there are humans out there beyond this world. No A.P.E. , no FranXX, and no Klaxosaurs. While the boy didn't look like he had a rosy lifestyle; what with the scars that married his form, his dour attitude, and way he was dressed to his recent outburst. He had guts, and Zero-Two could confidently say she admired that.
He stared at the mechanism that was to determine the worth of his existence. With him as its master, or his executioner. Finally, Casten took a deep breath and sat down to confront destiny. Adamantine shackles clamped around his wrists, elbows, knees and torso.
Brigid's all too perfect lips droned the Litany of Activation. The locals stared at her as she seemed to sing an unintelligible electronic melody. Summoning the metallic arm behind the throne that guided umbilical cables into place behind Casten's neck. A hiss of pressurized gas escaped when the sealed access ports to Casten's Mind Impulse Unit opened.
Brigid looked to the locals. "We may want to take our leave. This could cause hearing damage to those unblessed with audio receptor bionics."
Then the metal arm extended, plugging into the port with a soft, muted click. Three seconds later, Casten's navy-blue eyes went wide. His mouth opened; at first, no sound escaped... Then a blood curdling scream shattered the silence in the room.
Agony lanced through Casten's body. Every nerve was on fire. Every heartbeat sent blood that felt like it was boiling coursing through his veins. Muscles contracted and spasm seemingly at random. The sensation of unbearable, searing heat torching him from within was at war with the feeling of a shower of frozen, piercing needles of a blizzard that pricked at his skin. Sometimes he screamed, other times it became too much to even do that. His form a wide range of silent, spasming.
In the control room above, the group watched as the teen writhed in the Throne. His pain was unmistakable to all present. Nana in particular made no secret of her discomfort. She had seen children in pain before but this… this was just torture.
"How long does this last?" She asked.
Brigid's eyes remained fixed on the ritual, yet her answer came just focused as if they were facing each other. "Approximately eight hours, supposing he does not die midway."
There was no reply, if the caretaker had anything to say she thought better than to lend her voice to those thoughts.
"Marvellous..." Dr. Franxx muttered, metal scraping against metal when he reached his mechanical hand up to scratch his chin.
As a scientist, he did not see this as torture as did the comparatively weak-hearted Nana. While he still thought such a direct neural connection is an inelegant device. It removed the pollution of space and the natural defensive layer of the flesh impeding the connection. Thus, signal transference between the Throne and the brain is an instantaneous affair by design; through the means of the human nervous system hardwired directly into an access link.
He would admit and without shame, that his own cybernetics have their limitations. So he was more than eager to learn how his own designs compare to these Imperials'.
Where is here? Is the question raised in the midst of the void before him.
The first and last thing he remembered was sitting down... Then he felt the world pulling him to the furthest four corners of this foreign planet. His mind blinded by the agonizing sensation of his unbroken bone and flesh, stretched and distorted into shapes and lengths not meant to be experienced.
The Throne was tearing him apart without the luxury of death. He was pulled into a vortex of suffering. Where he was being treated like living clay at the mercy of the Throne Mechanicum. He felt his body compress and twist at the Throne's whim, his eyes pulled and warped till the world itself is folded into himself, feeling himself being turned into a ball and compacted into oblivion.
In an instant, his vision returned. His fingers and his body shape as before and not the nightmarish molded abomination the throne put him through. Despite the empty void, he tried to breathe, but he could not. He panicked. For did not breathing mean but death? He struggled at his throat and lungs at why he couldn't breathe, only to realize again that it wasnt that he couldn't breathe; he was in the mind, ergo he didn't need to breathe.
It was not real. He is still under the influence of the Throne Mechanicum, it was testing his worth.
"...Boy." The voice called to him again… how long had it been?
"W-...What?... Who?" Casten finally managed.
The voice answered. "What do you fight for, boy?" It was clearer now, a man's voice deep and confident.
"The… Imperium…AAAARRRGGGHHH!" Electricity coursed through his mental being, the sensation of hot needles driving through skin, raising his body temperature and his eyes threatening to pop out of his skull.
"A weak foundation" The voice sneered at the him. Relief came when the pain stopped "Makes for an even weaker man."
The Freeblade paused, "H-humanity…"
It said nothing, was it satisfied? "...Bold statement...from someone who ran away to be a Freeblade and abandoned his people when they needed him most." He heard the sound of his bones breaking at the shin.
It was an exquisite kind of pain...
The scream that echoed throughout the darkened chamber was indescribable.
His first scream was a familiar and somewhat manageable. A scream similar to that of a warrior powering through despite the pain. The longer it went on however, the worse they became. Whatever he was currently experiencing must be something that only the most sadistic of enemies would relish in the boy's torment.
Zero-Two watched with renewed interest, if this something common for their people then she didn't give them enough credit. These Imperials were bred to be tough. Tough, but at the same time stupid and stubborn. They know that they could very well die in these machines. Yet, they do it anyway, and there are thousands of them out there in the galaxy with entire organizations of these crazy people.
Yet, she could not felt but felt something stir in her. Stupid, but brave. Crude, yet passionate. They live in an empire that has lasted longer than anyone here has been alive. She doesn't hate them for it. No, if anything, she felt emboldened by their spirit.
So, Zero-Two decided for herself. Unsure what the future with this boy brought, but dropping down down from the control room window anyways.
"Hey! Zero-Two what are you doing?!" Nana was too late to stop her.
Brigid was equally shocked, but that soon gave way to outrage. She signalled to her Skitarii guards at the door to seize the girl that was sprinting her way to the Freeblade.
"You two! Get that blasted Abhuman away from the Freeblade! She will defile the sacred rites!" The Sacristan growled.
The Skitarii were on the girl in moments. Aided by their Omnissiah's blessings; they somersaulted, robes whipping in the air before landing in front of Zero-Two with a thunderous clang on the gantry. Arc weapons sparking threateningly, blue light dancing off their brass death masks.
She looked at the two and smirked. These were not like your typical soft A.P.E security detail. They were bigger than her, stronger, evidently much heavier, and she would bet they were more dangerous. She glanced at the their weapons; and she have no doubt that not even she wouldn't get back up if she was hit.
The Skitarii thrust forwards in perfect sync, arc-lances raised. Zero-Two charged into their guard and dodged their mechanical motions in a blur or red and pink. Though, she didn't stop to get out of their guard. She sandwiched herself between their bulk and used her slender frame to take advantage of the spacing needed to grapple her.
The two reared their arms and bodies to crush her in their grip from both sides, only for her to duck and sending the two bumping into each other at the space where she was. Slipping underneath one, she pressed her shoulder on the back of the Skitarii she slipped under and with as much force as she could muster pushed them off the railing. Sending the two down the lower levels with a clang that vibrated the chamber.
Brigid could almost physically feel her emotional dampening chip fry itself at the Skittari's loss in the bout. Even with their prodigious speed, they won't be able to reach the Freeblade Zelius before whatever she is about to do to the Knight.
"If you want something done right," Brigid broke the glass of the control room, launching herself from the monitor. Fully intent to get that girl and demand recompense
Zero-Two looked at the screaming boy in front of her. While she did not show care that he was in pain, she did know that maybe...just maybe...his people can get her what she wants.
She grabbed his still screaming head by his jaw. Forcing him to look at her, silencing him for a moment and snapping him to focus on her.
"Hey...if you can take me to see the world...to see the stars" Zero-Two whispered, regardless if he heard her or not. "Will you be my darling?"
Casten was still in the throes of his suffering. Barely hearing the sudden muffled buzz that was whispering to him. Barely conscious of what she was offering; but if it means to assist him in this ordeal... He would take it.
"Y-" Casten weakly spoke, his throat physically sore from his ordeal. "Yes…"
Zero's features expanded to a smile that promised to bewitch a poor unfortunate soul. He lost, so now he is hers, and hers alone.
"You can't take that back now darling!" She leaned in and gave him a kiss to seal the vow.
The oath was made… and he would be bound to it from now unto death. Whether he actually wanted it or not.
Thoughts of a girl… a girl with small red horns, pink hair, boundless energy, and a feral demeanour. Yet her playful smile filled his thoughts.
'Why?' he thought 'Why her?' He was confused, for what reason does the person he has only met invade his mind. Is the Emperor giving him a vision? That he has a destiny to be shared with the pinkette? If it is, then would pursue it with all his might.
The voice in the darkness hummed, taking interest in this strange development. " A House of two… I suppose that'll do."
Black gave way to pink and pale, milky skin. That deep, threatening voice gave way to the sound of skin smacking against skin and soft, ragged breathing. Pain became the pleasant sensation of her touch and the scent of her hair drifted into his lungs. Only when their lips finally parted did the Anima of his Throne released him to slip into unconsciousness.
"Your my darling now!" her voice spoke
The last thought on Casten mind was 'Why is he her darling?'
+ Later +
Long pink hair flowed in the air as Zero-Two skipped along the corridors, humming a tune to herself as impacts from the attacking monster just outside the walls rocked the city. Paying little to no mind to Brigid and Dr. Franxx that followed behind her.
"You seem happy," the doctor noted.
"I found someone great!" Zero-Two grinned.
Brigid narrowed her eyes at the horned girl. She served Sir Casten, but loyalties to the Omnissiah warred with that notion of an Abhuman being intimate with her lord. Despite the fact that it was that very act of intimacy that seemed to stabilize the failing Ritual of Becoming. When Casten's vitals dipped; for some reason only the Machine God must know, her act of passion saved him.
It was before she was about to fully commit the intent on ensnaring the girl, that the precise moment the Throne Mechanicum released Casten from his ritual, accepting him as a Knight Pilot.
Whatever she spoke or did that allowed the Freeblade to pass his trial, this was an irregularity; and by the will of the Omnissiah, Machine-spirits hated irregularity. She let the thought go. Trying to decipher hidden functions of enigmatic machines like the Throne was beyond a Sacristan like herself.
Thus, she decided to leave Casten to rest. The Ritual's final rites would not be eventful beyond the ancient, ill understood mechanism performing the final protocols of bonding between Throne and Knight. Dr. Franxx, as the head of this planet's artifice in technology, had offered her a showcase of their own guardian walkers in the other garages.
The FranXX units, apparently named after the doctor that accompanied them, were decidedly underwhelming. How were they not malfunctioning with no chants of Function and Repetition being played throughout the hallways? Without servo skulls dabbing them in sacred oils?
Only one thing was certain the Adepts of the Cult Mechanicus had much work ahead consecrating these moving cities and their admittedly impressive technological achievements. Not even mentioning coding the blueprints to blessed Mars for approval and addition to the Omnissiah's blessed works. Of which could take centuries of testing, evaluations and scrutiny by the upper Martian priesthood.
Doctor Franxx opened his arm wide at the bay full of standing machines. "These are the Franxx; my brain-children."
Brigid simply nodded, opting not to speak just in case any of her discontent leaked into her speech, and soured tender relations to the lead technical mind on this planet. One needed to tread carefully in the field of politics. A simple misstep could lead to open conflict and needless waste and destruction of the Omnissiah's great gifts.
If the Sacristan was disappointed in the state of the Plantation itself, the appearance of the much spoken-of FranXX was decidedly more underwhelming. Decidedly less durable-looking and well armed war machines compared to their Imperial counterparts. Without visible weapons or armour plate. They left much to be desired, though Brigid held her tongue for the moment. Appearances could be deceiving to the true effectiveness of these machines after all.
Somewhere on the way, Zero-two had split off as the doctor showed Brigid the garage section. Donning her Parasite suit in preparation for the coming battle. Or so the doctor had said.
The trio found Zero-Eight-One leaning on a steel beam next to their mount. He seemed calm despite knowing what fate awaited him. "You're late."
"Now, now, code Zero-Eight-One. Zero-Two was simply busy with someone she had taken a liking to." Franxx explained.
He nodded, shooting Brigid a glance before his attention was turned to Zero-Two mounting Strelizia. "Hurry up, you. I don't want to keep my Darling waiting."
The man in question raised an eyebrow but nodded, deciding that he didn't need to know. His time was up. After all, dead men tell no tales; and he was very much a dead man after this ride.
Doctor Franxx gestured to the monitor in Zero-Two's hood and the spinal cable system. "You see our control system is similar to yours but we don't have this 'Anima' as you call them. Similar that Throne of yours, the female, called Pistil, is like that Anima of yours. she controls the unconscious and fine factors like maintaining balance and sensation. The male, the Stamen, controls active moment and weapons," Franxx explained.
Brigid hummed. "So both must be in tune with each other for the machine to operate?"
The old man nodded. "I would love to yammer on about this but-" A sudden impact made them stumble. His point was made for him.
"That." Brigid nodded. "Of course."
The pair cleared out with the doctor as the garage shutter opened to release the lion FranXX into battle.
Zero-Two sighed. Already she doubted this Stamen would last even this fight, he had barely survived the last one. Plus… He wasn't; it wasn't her darling.
She pushed forward from the garage, already facing the general direction the Klaxosaur was attacking. Strelizia reared back, her feline frame bolting forward a moment later.
Emerging from the ground with cascade of rock, sand and earth the monster was huge. A beast of black metal and glowing blue seams of energy. It bore a massively over sized reptilian head attached to a stubby body. All carried by a pair of tiny stilts for legs that seemed barely able to carry it.
Panels all along the moving city's armoured walls flipped open to reveal hidden firing ports rows of point-defense Magma energy cannons revealed themselves and started opening fire upon the Klaxosaur. None of which seemed to do more than generate clouds of dust and smoke.
The thing faced the barrage of shells head massive armoured head-first. Reaching the platforms to tear along the side of Plantation #13, ripping apart gangways, firing ports and defensive cannon batteries with titanic strides. Strelizia followed in the wake of its dust storm until it finally seemed to decide to attack a garage. Ramming its oversized head into it and preparing to fire an energy blast from its mouth to cook the FranXX and pilots within.
On one of the extended platforms, the ceremony celebrating the new Parasites of Plantation #13 had been interrupted by the appearance of their enemy. Guards and functionaries struggled to evacuate and keep from getting caught in the crossfire. Doctor Franxx and Brigid leisurely strolled their way next to Nana, who was busy directing the evacuation.
"Ah... so sorry I'm late. These Imperials and their technology are just so interesting," he smiled. Almost immediately, the old man's attention snapped to the attacking monster. "Is that the Mohorovic-class? It seems big and strong, has a fine look to it!"
Brigid nodded. "Indeed a mighty Xenos, it unfortunate that it must die like any other.."
"Now isn't the time for casual commentary!" Nana yelled. "Evacuate in an orderly fashion. Assemble the Parasites to sortie!"
The red and white robotic feline pounced out of the dust onto the creature's side before it could fire and obliterate the pair of children who were inside the garage. Ramming into the metal lizard with enough force to send both massive beings airborne, landing some distance away. Strelizia tore into the living metal of the Klaxosaur, clinging onto the bucking creature with her claws and ripping out chunks of blue cable as she held onto her prey.
Back on the ceremony grounds, the gathered holographic avatars of the A.P.E council calmly watched as events unfolded before them. "How unsightly, did she devour her stamen again?" Father huffed.
"Difficult to tell which is the beast you should root for. No?" One of the council members dryly muttered.
Zero-Two gasped, beginning to feel more and more of the strain to control Strelizia. Zero-Eight-One was almost spent, her FranXX's movements were getting more and more sluggish with each passing second. She took another bite out of the Klaxosaur's back before she felt no response to her extended body's controls.
Her Stamen had just given out.
+ Plantation #13: FranXX Garage +
+ Chamber of Echoes +
"Wake up." The voice came back again.
Casten's navy blue eyes opened. The snaps of retracting cables and hiss of escaping gases filled the Chamber of Echoes. A shower of sparks, metallic shrieking following path of the Throne Mechanicum into Ave Rubrum's waiting cockpit. A series of heavy clanks punctuated the grinding of gears aligning long forgotten internal control mechanisms connecting pilot to Knight Titan.
With a final hiss of hydraulics, the hatch yawned closed. "Duty calls us, wake up."
"Wake up!" It yelled this time. The voice bouncing within the confined metal chamber with a sonorous ring.
A moment of silence passed, then a climbing, whirring howl of the Knight Titan's Plasma reactor heart starting to pound. Thermal exhaust rose from from the machine's thermal vent stacks for the first time. Ruby red optics flashed to life as a pair of burning orbs pierced the darkness.
The groan of creaking joints followed a single, thunderous footfall and an explosive vox-enhanced roar. "Ave Rubrum awakens!"
+ Outside Plantation #13 +
Plantation #13's outer wall cratered in with an earth-shaking crash. The Klaxosaur had taken the opportunity to dash the FranXX against the moving city with a whip of its tail. The hit was hard enough to almost fold Strelizia into the wall itself. She was little more than a red and white mass of twitching limbs.
A hiss of steam punctuated the opening of her mouth, revealing the cockpit control sphere within. The hatch opened, a corpse of a bulky man thrown from the inky darkness followed red clad girl slumped against Strelizia's cockpit, blood pouring from wounds at her head. Zero-Two slumped against the frame of the FranXX's cockpit rubbed her eye, trying to wipe away red staining her vision.
"What are you doing in there!?" She heard a new voice say.
She could just about make out the hazy colours a standard parasite's uniform and the slight frame of a boy. She recognized him as a standard, weakling was he doing on the outside of the Plantation? The thought disappeared from her mind as quickly as it came. It didn't matter; both of them were likely going to die soon anyways.
"What does it look like? I'm hunting monsters," she strained a laugh at the stupid question.
The boy stepped forwards, concern lacing his voice. "Are you going to pilot that FranXX alone!? That's insane!"
"It's coming back!" The boy suddenly cried.
Despite her bangs hanging over her eyes, she did manage to raise her head to see the Mohorovic staring directly at the collapsed form of Strelizia. Grunting and growling, it's leg kicking back clouds of dust and sand as it reared for a charge to finish off the offending thing that dared to attack it.
So this is how it ends? A disappointed, wistful smile graced her features.
A mounting sense of dread filled the depths of her heart. Despite her usual attitude to death and all her proclamations that she was indifference to it… when her eyes closed and she saw the fields white snow covered in blankets of white. Memories of a boy she wanted more than anything to see again.
"Darling…" She whispered, feeling her demise approach. Would she see him again, back in those cold, white plains?
In the next few moments, the very walls of Plantation #13 started to shake and tremble. The violence of which forced the pinkette to her hold onto the cockpit's frame to keep from falling hundreds of meters below. A muffled screeching and the sound of rending metal reverberated all around her.
Zero-Two felt a sudden throb within her chest, breathing became strained and ragged panting. She pressed a hand against her breast, trying to calm the throbbing and heat that was building within. Large teal eyes went wide and strength seemed to leave her body.
Boy gasped, falling on his backside onto the steel gangway. "W-what's that? Another Klaxosaur coming?"
It wasn't. The source of the quaking didn't come from below… but behind them. The Klaxosaur's swaying, clumsy steps carried with ever building speed and momentum. Intent on crushing the Parasites into paste along with breaching the Plantation's armoured wall. Neither would be able to get away; it was already upon them.
Then the garage door next to them exploded. Metal shutters twisted, splintered, and tore when something massive burst out from within.
"MEA MAXIMA AUTEM!" Came the deafening battlecry; followed by the crash of debris and scream of tearing metal.
Shocked gazes tried and failed to lock onto the giant figure that emerged in a hail of shredded debris and a dissipating screen of shimmering gold that smelled of ozone in its wake. Zero-Two's pink hair whipped across her face as air rushed past with the dark giant's wake of destruction. Just in time to see it move directly into the path of the Klaxosaur in a counter-charge.
An explosion of gold expanded at the moment of impact. The Klaxosaur was the one that was smashed backwards, sent flying. Its armoured head smashed inwards into a crater of crushed black biometal and blue, alien ichor. The Xeno's mass worked against it when it the dry earth shattered beneath its weight, half burying it in rubble.
"What's that… thing?" The Stamen beside her mumbled, voice shaking.
Their vaguely humanoid mechanical rescuer turned around slowly to face the fallen Strelizia, casting a shadow with its back against the desert sun. They saw the Imperial Knight's full form.
It was wider than any FranXX, bearing a crab-like carapace and thick, sweeping armour plates. Most of him was dark metallic grey with white pauldrons, poleyns, all bordered in silver. Golden icons of twin headed eagles and steel cogs scattered across his frame and a single gilded banner across its chest displayed the Knight's name 'Ave Rubrum'. Each arm ended not in hands, but giant weapons. The left, double barreled cannon and the right a revving chainsword.
"Zero-Two, are you uninjured?" A deep, familiar voice boomed.
It came from the helmeted head that sat inside Ave Rubrum's armoured cowl, little more than a featureless angled faceplate with a V-shaped slit for its two, ruby red optics. With a ratcheting mechanical hiss, he lowered himself before the gangway in front of the girl he had come for. Zero-Two found her feet, standing on Strelizia's hatch to get closer to the Knight Titan. With his arrival, the throbbing within her chest died down.
Though her wounds still stung; she faced the looming Knight Titan with a glowing smile "I'm fine..."
Burning red lenses seemed to dim; optical shutters moving to reflect the brief moment of relief. Bestial grunts and the sound of wrenching, pulsing brought the Knight Titan's attention back to the crater the Xenos had made where it landed. It was getting up, the crushed part of its over-sized head somehow twisting the black metal armour back into shape.
Zero-Two's gaze followed the Knight's. "Aim for the core, darling."
The Knight's head pulled back from the gangway and nodded to her. "I will vanquish the Xenos filth. Hold fast."
Heavy Adamantine footpads cracked the earth beneath them. Each step too him closer to the Xenos, now aware of the Imperial superheavy's approach.
His first time connected to Ave Rubrum… and he felt powerful… no- complete. His sight was Ave Rubrum's optical lenses. His sight and smell was Ave Rubrum's sensorium suites. The sun beating on the Knight Titan's Adamantine plates felt warm against his own skin and his weapons were extensions of his will.
"What's this?" One of the A.P.E councilors leaned forwards, her fingers pressed together as she watched the unfolding scene.
The ominous, dark mechanical Knight and the Lizard-like Mohorovic started to circle each other before the audience. The two seemed to sizing each other up, each taking a measure of the other. Tension building in the air in the imminence of their clash.
"My, my… and here I thought we we're going to be bored." Amusement tinged Papa's voice from within his bearded golden mask.
Doctor Franxx stroked his metal chin. Transfixed by the Imperial machine. It looked crude, bearing a mixture of the advanced and archaic. Obviously ceremonial decorations of cogs and a two headed bird with wings spread littered its form. Yet, unlike the graceful, organic curves of FranXX; this machine exhibited an aura of inelegant brutality. Its glowing red gaze seemed to exude hatred for the alien before it, reflecting the will of the pilot within.
"Hm… Interesting." He hummed.
The clicking of heels beside the doctor brought his attention to the arrival Zero-Two. Her still bleeding wounds disappearing into her red piloting suit. Yet, she didn't seem bothered. Her teal eyes fixed on the ongoing battle.
Neither said a word to each other.
The two giants circled each other for some time. Casten tried to see if there was any strategy to the Klaxosaur. Though that didn't last for long; the beast's seemingly fixed blue maw opened. Hexagonal blue plates split to a blinding electric blue light from within.
Casten's eyes widened, raising Ave Rubrum's Thermal cannon when he recognized what the Mohorovic was doing.
Flares of light burst from the two combatants. The Klaxosaur's pale blue beam struck Ave Rubrum's left pauldron. For the briefest moments, a veil of golden particles danced across the air where the beam of blue struck the the walker as the Ion shield flashed to life. At the same moment, an orange solar flare of agitated particles lashed out from the Knight's weapon.
Casten examined his armour through both Ave Rubrum's and the diagnosticador diagram in the corner of his vision. There was only cosmetic damage from the Klaxosaur's energy beam; a black scorch marring the white paint. His counter fire, however, had clearly done better despite missing his mark of the monster's center of mass. The tongue of agitated molecules had hit the right side of the Klaxosaur's head. It groaned, reeling back and forth on its tiny, peg-like legs leaving a trail of smoke and blue blood.
At first he assumed it was going to keel over dead. He was wrong. The Klaxosaur's armour had been reduced to molten slag and smoke wreathed its wound to reveal its innards were little more than a molten pulp of blue muscle fibre and red hot metal surrounding a spherical crystal.
"The core…" Ave Rubrum rumbled, locking on with his armour's targeting cogitator and preparing to let loose another shot.
His aim was thrown off when the monster's off balance totter turned into a looping charge. Ave Rubrum drew back his cannon arm and brought the flat armoured side of the meters long Reaper chainsword to over his chest. Casten shifted Ave Rubrum's balance forwards; again, the Knight Titan met the Klaxosaur's charge with his own counter-charge.
Once more, the impact of two metal giant sent a shockwave across the desert. This time, however, both combatants held their ground. Two giants clashed in a contest might and dark metal. The Klaxosaur pushed against the Knight's guard. Footpads dug into the dirt, stubbornly refusing to give ground before the onslaught of the ram-like head.
"RRAARRGGH!" The mighty roar filled the air.
A blast of heat exploded from Ave Rubrum's vent stacks as Casten unleashed a surge of effort. The Knight Titan shifted its balance to smash his pauldron against the Klaxosaur's face, sending the stunned creature off balance. Before it could recover, his roaring Reaper chainsword swung down on the creature's side and slammed it into the ground.
Ruby optics burned with murderous intent. "I'll suffer not your ilk to live!"
Adamantine teeth rained a shower of sparks against the Klaxosaur's biometal armour. Though the resistance lasted only for a moment before blue ichor sprayed from the rending flesh. It roared in pain, thrashing to get away from the ripping teeth. Yet all its struggles only fed the Reaper more flesh to rend. Even that was ceased when Ave Rubrum's foot stomped down on the Klaxosaur's massive head, using its own bulk to pin the xeno down.
Blood splattered in every direction, drenched the Knight's livery, the Plantation's white walls, and the very desert in a hue of sickening blue.
Eventually, he had sawed, cut, and tore deep enough to expose his target. Amidst a pulsing mass of glowing blue muscle that oozed and squirted it's disgusting alien ichor. Already, he could see the shredded cables trying to reform and the black metal twisting back to protect its vulnerable core.
Casten wouldn't allow it.
Ave Rubrum's raised Thermal Cannon hung over the core. The Freeblade willed his weapon to life. There was no ceremony in the kill, just the simple discharge of the heat within his forearm and the satisfying sight of the crystal atomizing to nothing. With its destruction, the rest of the Xeno's body fell dead with a final spasm.
Orange light from the setting sun glinted off Ave Rubrum's plate by the time he turned away from the corpse with a final prayer of thanks to the Emperor. His red gaze fell upon the platform. Specifically, his optical system focused on the pinkette that watched his approach.
Brigid, Zero-Two, and Dr. Franxx watched the Imperial Knight as he approached; the councilors' projection having departed when the outcome of the skirmish became apparent. The litany of deactivation droned from Brigid's lips as the Walker's Plasma reactor heart spun down with a whine.
The red glare from within the slit that was Ave Rubrum's visor dimmed and died when he arrived. The whole machine went down to a knee with a dying whine of his Plasma reactor shutting down. The cockpit hatch filled open and Casten emerged, the red setting sun at his back as he descended onto the platform… and fell to his knees.
Separation from his armour wracked his body with pain. Ave Rubrum's bellicose machine-spirit protesting at the pilot's departure. The strain of piloting immediately after the ordeal of the Ritual of Becoming tore at his body. A deep seeded pain throbbed within the wiring of the Omnissiah's blessed MIU.
"Darling!" Zero-Two called out, running towards him. "Glad to see you're still alive."
He didn't get up. Content to kneel in place after his first proper battle in a Knight Titan. The undertaking and the power was greater than being in any of the Simulacrums that he had trained in. So, working through the pain, he moved his hands across his chest to form a wing of the Aquila and half the Cog Mechanicus.
"Zero-Two." He lowered his head to greet her. "It is always a pleasure to be of service to the Emperor and the Omnissiah"."
The girl smiled brightly, grabbing his hand and hauling the boy to his feet. "I don't get all that but… don't you dare die and break your promise now." She rapped his chest plate with her knuckle "You hear?"
"Promise?" He asked dubious
There it was that grin of hers that spoke of great mischief and hardships to come his way.
"Yeah! You promised to take me to see the world, and to the stars of your Imperium." She informed him, knowing full well that he might not even be cognizant to her request.
The Freeblade now looked dumbfounded. He wanted to argue and rebuke that whatever he said or promised was under duress. He should be angry and vilify such a weak promise. Yet he couldn't really find the heart to speak such complaints. She entered as a part of his Ritual after all. Whether she was the cause of it, or the Emperor's, a new start was something that he sorely needed. This opportunity presented to him seem to hold interesting promise.
"Then...if so" He bowed, as befitting of one taking an oath "This knight, your… 'darling' shall support you. In times of need, or in times of duress or war. I will stay with you, now to the end of times."
Thus cemented the picture of a lost, crimson horned girl and an oathless Knight seeking atonement, found each other.