Author's Note:
Thank you for checking out my FF set after the canon ending of Darling in the FranXX! My goal here is to present a more cerebral look at things in a world which follows the events of the anime, post VIRM battle and post reincarnation. I would HIGHLY recommend watching Darling first before reading this story as it draws parallels to the events of the show.
Much of this story is still a bit unpolished. So if you read parts of this story when it first came out, there could be some minor differences (mostly word choice, foreshadowing, etc.) which have been changed to make everything consistent with the later chapters.
Characters thoughts are in italics.
The Zhenniao: also known as the bird with poison feathers
is forever cursed to fly alone, until she meets a prince with a heart of oak
and they will fly away together, unto ashes and saplings.
Diana looked up at the vast cloudless sky. An ocean of blue stretched above her head.
A small speck passed above her in a wide arc.
It headed straight for the control tower. A concrete rook on a grassy chess-square of land nestled between the Serilonan city-state and the surrounding ocean.
The sun caught her eye and she brought her hand up to shield herself. On her wrist, a silver pennant dangled from a thin leather bracelet.
The speck collided with the tower and fell silently, rocking back and forth as it fell, like a leaf caught by a gust of spring wind. In the distance, a lumbering hulk floated toward her from the horizon: a UNF Mammoth on Genista approach.
A trail of soft pink hair flew in front of her eyes and she brushed it away then lifted herself upright. Dark stone-like boots dug into the soft ground.
She approached the spot where the bird landed, out of boredom as much as curiosity. A white dove lay on the ground, covered in crimson, peeping and gasping for breath. She touched its bent wing.
The dove scooted away. A look of terror in its pinprick eyes. Its injured wing remained on the ground underneath her fingers.
It's afraid. Like they all are…
She rubbed her bloodstrained fingers together as she stood up, letting her hair flow horizontally in the wind as she watched the bird scurry away out of sight.
A roar of engines startled her as the mammoth passed overhead, eclipsing day into tan metal night. Above her she saw the rotating antennas on the control tower and above them, the amber glow of identification lights shining like stars. She shielded her eyes from the whiplash of her long hair.
They won't give me another chance.
There was a subtle vibration in her pocket and she lowered her head in resignation.
"Lieutenant Verbius. We've got landing clearance-"
All he could think about was her. Those captivating emerald eyes. The ones he dreamed of every night, for the last fifteen years. The rest was a blur. He rubbed the lump on the back of his head.
That's where they were- those memories they took from me. Maybe- maybe she's still here, in Serilona…
"Sir, we have landing clearance at Genista one eight right. Shall we proceed?"
He looked out the side cockpit window at the square of green land surrounding the runway. In the shadow of the control tower he saw a pink object, like a lone cherry tree waving its petals in the breeze.
"Yes, go ahead and take it around the pattern," he sighed. He was exhausted from the sixteen hour flight over the Pacific.
What I wouldn't give for a bath.
He stood up and clapped his co-pilot on the shoulder. "You ever been to Serilona before, Kristoff?"
"Nope. First time outside the U.N.F."
"Oh," he said. "You're not missing much."
His co-pilot peered at him. "Royce, I've heard the stories. I know this can't be easy for y-"
"It's not." There was a long silence as the two looked out over the orange city, rusting slowly in the waning light. "Just put her down nice and easy so I can get back to forgetting."
A telltale sequence of buzzes in his breast pocket startled him. All of those pent up messages came flooding back to his communicator like memories from a world away.
He looked at the first one.
"I miss you." It was Ria.
He texted back, "I miss you too." But in his heart, those words were empty and hollow. Cold as the screen he tapped them on. The surge of excitement he felt after spotting that dot of pink on the distant ground made his heart race more than Ria ever could.
He noticed a small three-pointed star, white as a cloud on the horizon, and pointed it out to Kristoff.
"That's where we're going next, buddy."
Kristoff looked at the pale white dot in the sky, "it's kinda spooky, don't you think? A space station that's been orbiting since before we had the rockets to get there. I mean, how'd it get up there in the first place?"
"You know buddy. I've thought about that a lot lately. You know there's an ancient ring of stones in what used to be England? Been there since pre-historic times. All of 'em are huge. Far too big to lift- and they're stacked on top of one another, long before people had the tools to move them." He pointed at the tiny star. "That's our Stonehenge. That's where we're going."
"Captain Diana Zhen, Sunbird unit Zero Two – you are hereby stripped of your flying status until further notice." She lifted the small communicator in shame and saw the sullen old wrinkled face of Ishigami, the squadron leader. There was no contempt in his eyes. Only regret and disappointment.
She spoke softly, "Your newbie couldn't handle it. He was just another weakling… why are you punishing me for his failure? I brought the bird back, didn't I?"
The commander looked pained. Wrinkles creased on the old man's face and she saw blue lights twinkling through his wispy veil of his hair.
"Two men are dead because of your reckless flying. And that's just this month. Don't get me started on your service history. You're lucky you brought the thing back in one piece. Twelve g's? Sunbirds aren't designed for that. Humans aren't designed for that! If you want a spot on a Tracer you'll have to get it together and start being a team player."
What the hell is he implying? I know exactly what Humans are designed for. Fear. That's what. Kono was human, alright. He got scared. He couldn't handle it. But you won't let me fly again, will you? Even though I'm the best- you just can't let me succeed. You're scared of me too.
A visceral reaction struck her like a knife between the ribs. She clenched her teeth and dug fingernails into her palm.
Maybe fear is what they want me to feel. Maybe the old man's right. But I don't feel anything like that. Only anger.
"I don't need a team," she whispered through clenched teeth. "All I need is for you to send me up there."
She noticed the cold silver ornament dangling from her wrist. The Jian bird. The only thing left of her childhood. What remained of her life- before her so-called father took it from her.
She pulled the long zipper of her gray flight suit down and set off toward the main gate.
I've got a train to catch.
In the distance a storm gathered. A storm she helped create.
Diana heard an automated voice ring out through her subway car. "Genista Station. Now departing Genista Station."
She rested her head against the scratched-up plastic window, looking out at the urban dusk as rain poured in sheets down over the city.
"Doors are closing."
She buried her nose in a simple red scarf wrapped around her neck and wiped tears from her eyes. The silver bird on her bracelet again shimmered in the bright fluorescence of the train car and she saw her own reflection in the window, distorted by lines of liquid and refraction.
Of all the shattered fragments of memory, she remembered one that cut her deeply.
"Mommy! Won't you tell me a bedtime story?" Diana peered up in anticipation.
Her mother let out a sigh. Then she spotted the small bracelet resting on her bedside table.
"Where did that come from?"
"I found it! Out digging in the yard!"
She shook her head in annoyance. "I don't know why you always go out in the yard digging like that. It's so strange, it reminds me of some kind of wild beast. And you always cut yourself too! I wish you'd be more careful."
She picked up the metal insignia and inspected it for a moment.
"It just so happens that I recognize that bird. It's a mythical Jian, from an old fairy tale."
"Yay! A story! Tell me!"
"Alright- I'll tell you if you promise to go to sleep."
"Okay!"
"Once upon a time, long long ago, back when natural rain fell from the sky and every continent was covered with people- there were some bad men who wanted to control nature. They devised a plan to dig deep into the Earth and suck out the soul of the world. They found the essence of nature and mined it from under the ground. They used the forbidden knowledge to make people immortal, and forbidden energy to power their cities. But over time, the plants stopped growing and the Earth became parched and bare. A giant desert stretched across the world.
"Then monsters emerged from the depths- and sought revenge for the destruction of their home. They attacked the humans' mines and cities, and people abandoned them as the monsters ravaged the world for centuries. The last vestiges of once great civilizations wandered the Earth in giant domes where they slept in perpetual silence.
"Then one day, a scientist gathered bones of the monsters and rebuilt them into machines. And then he recruited children to pilot the machines. They fought the monsters while the adults wasted away.
"But the monsters were too powerful, and their armies too numerous. It seemed that with each monster the children destroyed, two would take its place. Until one day, a child of the monsters fell in love with a prince of man. While each one was incomplete, together they gained the upper hand.
"They fought back the monsters and took to the sky to confront an evil which threatened both monsters and men. But the girl and her prince never returned. Instead, the monsters returned to their homes beneath the ground and the Earth became fertile again. Some plants began to grow and trees began to sprout. Men rebuilt their cities and swore never to mine the essence of nature again.
"People say that the monster girl and her prince would return one day, under the shade of a giant Sakura tree, but only when the world was most in peril. And like the mythical Jian, the bird which shares wings- each will be incomplete, but together they will be able to fly once again."
Diana looked up at her mother and after a long pause finally asked, "mommy, what's a Sakura tree?"
"I'll show you tomorrow. Tomorrow, I'll show you the place where your father and I met. The place where I met my Darling long ago." She got up and walked quickly from the room, covering her face in her hands.