The combined ending of Mastermind in the FranXX clocks in at roughly twenty-four thousand words (23,891 according to wordcounter). Some aspects have been foreshadowed since the very first chapter. It has been over two years in the making. I hope it lives up to expectations.
If you are at all iffy on various plot points, a full reread is highly recommended.
Thank you for everything, all of you. The perpetual interest this story's generated has genuinely honored me. I'll post the final author's note tomorrow.
For now, I'm gonna go get some sleep.
"Two hundred thousand years ago, there was a war."
'Over the ridge line! We're almost to the breach! Let's go, let's go!'
'Captain-Lieutenant! Saurians are flanking from the south!'
'Genista!'
'On it!'
"No... no written or verbal records exist. The klax didn't see a point in recording their end. To them it w-was less a war and more a... last stand. They figured they'd die attempting to stop the saurians."
A scavenger sergeant raised his hand. "These saurians and klax - I'm assuming they're related to the klaxosaurs?"
"Yes. The klax are the mind. The saurian is the body. The k-klax are... they're hominids, descended from the same lineages we are. They're a... a cousin species, like the Neanderthals were. But instead of staying on the surface, they became fascinated with exploring cave systems and the subterranean. The saurians were their mining machines - excavators, industrial drillers, haulers, mobile refineries..."
"So this was, like... some sort of machine uprising?" an APE defector questioned.
Ichigo rubbed at bloodshot eyes. "It... n-not intentionally. It was a mining accident. The klax - they obsessed over the expedition. Their whole culture, society... all of their advancement came from - was devoted to going deeper, making more progress. Mining to them was like... like warfare is for humans. They were good at it. The creativity, the things they d-did, their techniques, it would... humans would balk."
'Hey, man. You get the news?'
'News?'
'The convention delegates returned the other day. Said one of the other camps found the next level.'
'No way. Below atomic?'
'Yup. Can't wait to see what comes next. Gonna be exciting!'
Solemn silence overcame those in the room. Zorome scratched his cheek.
"So that means... uh... they s-screwed up?"
"Like us, their resource extraction eventually became intertwined with physics. They broke apart atoms and harnessed every part of the fission reaction, but for them it wasn't enough. So they went lower, to the subatomic - electrons, protons, bosons and quarks, stuff like that. They designed a machine meant to mine antimatter, but it malfunctioned. Instead of... it - it went too deep. It mined the fabric."
Hachi leaned forward. "The fabric?"
Ichigo winced against some unseen force. "I need a q-quill and a... a map. A world map."
They'd never been procured faster. She turned the map to its reverse and scrawled three intersecting lines, which she labeled x, y, z.
"General... general relativity..." she muttered. "The universe is composed of three spatial dimensions... and..."
She drew another intersecting line, marked t.
"...one temporal."
She circled the intersection and held the map up for the room to see. Ichigo gestured to the marking.
"The machine mined this."
'What's it - hey! Hey, shut it down! SHUT IT DOWN!'
Gravitational ripples brought the workers to their knees.
'Nanos aren't responding! Signal's been cut off!'
'Manual override!'
The worker nearest the machine crawled on hands and knees to the emergency shut off. It didn't budge.
'Jammed!'
The foreman signaled panicked orders.
'Evacuate! Evacuate the site!'
"That machine became the first saurian. It became the lion."
A scavenger wheezed static. "That's... uh... this whole thing's impossible, ain't it?"
Another paused, shook her head. "Hang on, wait - isn't that... doesn't that, like, hypothetically - doesn't that result in... in a..."
"It's not hypothetical," Ichigo interrupted. "Not anymore."
...
One could hear a pin drop.
"Your city is inside a wormhole, and the seal keeping it stable is disintegrating."
Captain Richter stared at the paper. The weight of the world bore down on his shoulders. "...More details, please. I need more info."
"That pinpoint, microscopic collapse in spacetime acted like a... like a dimensional fault point. It grew in size until it couldn't be closed."
Ichigo turned the map to its correct facing and drew sharp, jagged lines across the Earth's surface, all centered on a point in southwest Germany.
"Christ..." someone whispered.
She blinked against the headache.
"In the cracks, they... they found magma. The saurians were forge machines, operating on inputs and outputs. The klax designed them to be semi-autonomous, to automatically search and produce any conceivable refined product from raw materials. But the magma... it's the byproduct - the liquidized fabric pulled from its own space and time, like a gas forced to become a liquid. It has no output. The saurians couldn't understand it, so they went insane. They assumed an output had to exist, which meant they needed more magma. But because the magma is a... a state change, when it was pulled out, it left g-gaps in spacetime."
The girl drew a series of perpendicular slashes through the line marked t, then colored them in. Then she added spiraling lines from the gaps to a singular point further along that same line, which she labeled 'us'.
"And those missing pieces of the past pop up like hallucinations wherever the magma concentration is the highest. That Barrier, out there-"
She pointed off into the distance.
"-is the edge of the hole, in the form of a storm that has already happened. It happened seven hundred million years ago, when the planet was a snow globe. Everything beyond it is dead because all the magma's been sucked up by APE. Evolution's been reset because, as far as spacetime's concerned, it technically never happened."
That brought some startled gasps.
"Then - then how do we still exist if the chain's been broken?"
"Because it... it hasn't been broken, it's..."
Ichigo squeezed her eyes shut and desperately searched for some way to explain, some analogy they could understand. Goro rubbed her shoulder.
"I-It's like... like having multiple file formats on a computer. The wormhole forcibly 'converted' readable 'files' into a format the universe couldn't understand, and then flung those files into different parts of the computer. The information still exists, it hasn't been deleted - it's just illegible. That's why every person suddenly has a natural amount of magma in their body. Your magma is your history, your past going back to the Big Bang. All of your ancestors, everything everyone living or dead has ever done over thirteen billion years, leading up to you... it's all there. You contribute to it with each action you take, every word you say. But the universe can't read it. We've gone from... from spacetime-dot-exe to spacetime-dot-magma, and the Earth can't process spacetime-dot-magma."
Mitsuru made the connection. "It's... like temporal DNA..."
Hachi stared at the table long and hard. "And how do we fix this?"
"The klaxosaurs - they tried to close the breach and seal the faults. The anchor point, ground zero, where they attempted the fix - it's... i-it's just north of here, in a grove in the woods behind that old APE bunker. Strelizia's behind all of it! The lion ripped it open so it was able to reverse engineer a way to seal it shut, but they never figured out how to incorporate the magma, and the saurians forced them to rush. Instead of restoring the fabric, instead of reconverting the magma back into its original form, they instead pushed all the magma into the breach and filled the fault lines!"
Nana's jaw dropped. "The... the magma deposits..."
Ichigo took a moment to rub at her temples.
"For... a while that worked as a t-temporary fix," she continued. "The files were still corrupted, the system hadn't been repaired, but... but they were plugging the right gaps. The magma was in the correct spacetime. So I guess, in a way, the planet could infer what was in the magma and go from there. Then... then APE came along."
Mitsuru seethed. "So when APE began harvesting the magma, they tore off the bandages covering the wounds, and we're right back where the klaxosaurs started."
A lieutenant leaned to Richter. "Sir, this makes sense. It could explain why the klaxosaurs never bothered us."
Richter nodded and turned to Ichigo. "What you're saying seems plausible enough, given the situation, and I'm not doubting your words. But do you have supporting evidence we can look over ourselves? Documents? Data?"
"The evidence is the magma in my brain that's been trying to tell me all this since we first got here!"
...
Kokoro buried her face in her hands. "The training accident."
Ichigo collected herself. "S-Sorry. I had a training accident back when we first got a new squadmate. The wolf - uh... m-my Franxx, Dephinium - it reacted to Hiro. I got sucked in. I don't know how long un...until Hiro p-pulled me out. First the... the memories stayed tied to him and his partner. But when we entered Asphodel, with all its ambient magma, I just... I just..."
She trailed off with a shaky sigh. The people present ruminated. Hachi grimaced.
"You somehow became the file reader. Is that it?"
Ichigo shifted her weight in the seat and nodded.
"When this is over, we'll figure out some way to help you. The blame lies partly with us," Nana apologized. "How much does the doctor know?"
"All of it. He got the story from Strelizia and the data supporting it from his dead wife." Ichigo looked at the captain. "If you want the hard proof, he's your man. He's probably the only one on the planet who both understands the situation and has the evidence backing it up."
Richter nodded and turned to the same lieutenant. "Mark that secondary."
"Aye, sir."
"He... had a wife?" Nana muttered.
Ichigo grit her teeth.
"For that psycho, this is personal. He wants to prove her hypothesis by saving the world. She's the reason he never tells us anything. She died getting the data on the magma. I saw everything she saw! When she died, her past, h-her experiences and memories and everything else - it all got added to the magma. So the magma learned about itself, and it began to fight back. It's been trying to communicate with us. Those horses, the Barrier letting us through, all of it! It - it, like... it showed me all these m-memories but in a specific order, just to get me to find her grave, all so I could see her memories and learn what was happening! It found a way to tell me so I could tell all of you!"
Zorome shook his head, confounded. "This is so fuckin' weird, dude..."
"Hold on, Ichigo," Hachi interrupted. "You're losing us. Say that again. Slower."
She groaned in exhausted frustration.
"Karina Frank became the first file reader. The magma is the past, corrupted into an unnatural form. She read it, and then died. When she died her ability became part of the magma, because her actions, memories and experiences - her own magma - they were all added to the past, the total. The magma learned to read itself."
Mitsuru cupped his chin, mulled it over.
"In a messed up way, it makes sense. It learned that it was corrupted. If what Ichigo says it true, the magma is, strangely, part of the Earth, just as all of us are. Humans, animals, plants - like one big information hivemind, almost. So if it's life, or its cumulative accomplishments, and it's trying to survive, it would stand to reason that it's trying to undo the corruption and return to its natural state. And to do that..."
"...it's using the girl as a translator," a defector concluded.
"Wait, wait, hold on," a scavenger stammered. "A-Are you saying the magma's..."
He trailed off.
"I don't know."
Because they didn't.
Hachi kept the conversation on track. He pulled a USB drive from his pocket. "And the protocol the doctor gave us - is it trustworthy? Is it related to the lion's algorithms?"
Ichigo gulped, then nodded.
"I didn't see that far before getting pulled out. But b-based on everything he knows, he's probably... figured out a way to complete the lion's original plan. Doctor Frank's a lunatic, but he's... he's our lunatic. The only way to solve the problem for good is to weave the magma back into the fabric and stitch the breach shut forever. Any other options either maintain the status quo or causes the breakdown to... to grow."
"Grow how?"
"APE, they - they drained the magma from the fissures, the faults. The faults are e-empty. But they're still connected to the main wormhole!"
She pinched the bridge of her nose, jaw clenched.
"The Barrier - it's like a leaking d-dam keeping water in a lake, but the lake's a... a sinkhole! Eventually the dam's gonna crack and burst under the pressure. The magma around Asphodel - it'll f-flow back into the fissures. The world may revive for a bit, but now the sinkhole's no longer sealed shut. There's nothing keeping us from falling in. And when that sinkhole grows..."
She trailed off. The weight of her implications suffocated the room's occupants. One of the defectors spoke up.
"So the Earth and the magma, they've been... trying to buy us time?"
Ichigo slouched.
"Yeah. I think so."
...
"How do we get the magma back from APE?" Richter questioned. "Do we know its location? Is it concentrated? Spread out? In their systems?"
Nana spoke up. "There are two main locations. The first is on the ground, in APE's last two plantations, both of which are currently at the Grand Crevasse orbital launch facility. The second, primary storage point is in orbit, on board the Cosmos arc ship."
"And how are we supposed to get to orbit?"
"Leave that to the doctor. He has an agreement with the klaxosaurs: he prevents their technical extinction, and they hold the Crevasse long enough for him to collect the evidence, get into orbit and confront the council."
The captain nodded. "Then we should focus on the ground." He turned around. "Kyuma!"
Code 090's hand shot up. "Sir!"
"Come here, son. You know these plantation layouts better than the rest of the company."
He maneuvered his way to the center of the room. "Aye sir!"
Hachi nodded and extended a hand.
Kyuma reciprocated. "Do we have schematics to use?"
Nana stepped forward; she activated the miniature hologram display on her communicator and brought up a plantation's internal layout.
The four of them leaned over the table. Various defector and scavenger lieutenants stepped closer, while gesturing for their sergeants to prep their squads. The room bustled with activity.
The plantations rumbled forth. Soon after came the guns' hellfire; dozens of volleys bombarded the battlefield, their justice indiscriminate. Franxx and klaxosaurs alike swerved around the impacts. Drones were slaughtered by the multitudes. Bloodied wreckage pockmarked those sands. Red and blue coagulated into heinous purple rivers. Men and women fell with pained screams, limbs severed and entrails eviscerated. Cores exploded, their klax souls vaporized into the wind, and their safety measures took the saurians with them.
APE's armored cities surged ahead, side by side and fury absolute, their automated programming locked to a doomed collision with the Crevasse. To stop their march, the Mohos and Conrads threw themselves into the massive treads. Their sacrificial attempts did nothing. The Gutenbergs searched for solutions, but their focus lagged, for the Franxx onslaught was relentless. The humans pushed, and pushed, and died, and pushed-
Then came the earthquake.
Then the ground erupted.
Then surfaced Gaia.
Tendrils thicker and taller than the eldest of trees coiled around Plantation 2. Dust and sand billowed. And with the creaking of metal and a triumphant roar, the kraken hoisted aloft humanity's penultimate shelter.
Snapped in twain.
The trap was sprung!
"READY!" came Alpha's roar.
Countless Franxx clung to the falling pieces, spears angled at the beast's gaping maw.
"READY!"
Their thrusters fumed, the flames billowed, the bladed tips hummed orange!
Alpha sneered. Fingers squeezed the controls, and but a moment later-
"ENGAGE!"
The Nines, the first to charge. They rocketed off the debris; fearlessly the men followed. The throes of gravity overtook them, aided them, and hellward they spiraled unto that mechanical horror! But a trio of friendly IFF signals greeted them. Delta locked the radar and enhanced the image.
"Alpha! Those are...!"
"Mark them hostile!"
Atop the Gaia, arms crossed, waited Delphinium, Captain-Lieutenant of the Guard. Their own Franxx, supporting the enemy! The M9 tightened its grip; its thrusters belched fury!
"SLAY THE BEAST! FOR THE EARTH!"
"FOR THE EARTH!"
"Hachi! What can we do? Tell us how we can help!"
They could do nothing. With Argentea? Perhaps. But the machine was dead and its parasites, crippled. Zorome and Miku were useless.
Could Hachi tell them that? No. He'd had a hand in their ordeal. He wouldn't dare.
"Find Naomi and help her protect the citizenry."
Zorome saw through the suggestion. His fist clenched, his lips parted into a snarl. Miku rubbed his shoulder, her expression pained.
"There has... to be something we can..."
"Go to the grave."
They turned to Ichigo, fully equipped in her pistil suit, who'd overheard their conversation while passing.
"Why?" Miku asked. "What for?"
"It's the wormhole's center. The doctor put his wife's grave as close to the breach point's exact grid reference as he could. When they tried to close it the first time, Strelizia used an anchor, something... something that exists in the present, something with a notable presence in the current spacetime. Back then, they used the last living flower."
Zorome crossed his arms. "Why us, though?"
"Because you're the catalyst. You could be our anchor."
"Eh?"
Ichigo's eyes quivered in their sockets, unfocused, searching for invisible answers.
"If you hadn't entered Plantation 13's city, none of this would've happened. Hiro and Zero Two might've left eventually, but it wouldn't have been so soon. The rest of us would've never abandoned APE. You two are the change. It started with you, just like it started with Argentea."
Miku blinked. "With Argentea? What do you mean?"
Ichigo rubbed her forehead.
"Argentea held the line."
Zorome scowled. "Against those saurian thingamajigs?"
She nodded. "The saurians should've won. They had too many advantages, even after the klax became the klaxosaurs. They won the battle, killed most of the klaxosaurs, and made it past Delphinium, Genista and Chlorophytum. Argentea alone bought Strelizia the time they needed."
Their jaws dropped. "How?!"
"From what I saw, it was probably the sync rate. Unlike us, the klax weren't trained soldiers. They were all civilians who stepped forward in the planet's defense. Even my parents, Delphis and Niumi, were simple architects before their time in the militia. Argen and Teana were the sole exceptions. They were practicing martial artists, and they were absolutely obsessed with each other."
"Hehe, see that, Miku? Your parents were badasses!"
Miku blushed. "Like - like Hiro and Zero Two obsessed?"
Ichigo rolled her eyes and nodded.
"The saurian they paired with, the wolverine - the thing was vicious. Fury in a machine shell. The others had goals in mind... the lion wanted to seal the breach, the wolf wanted a pack, gorilla to protect, that sorta thing. Wolverine wanted none of it. Wolverine just wanted a fight."
Hachi eyed Argentea's parasites. "Sounds familiar."
"It was a one in a million match. The machine's rage and tenacity combined with their technique and control. No other klaxosaur matched their output, not even Strelizia. Argentea became their ace, the core of their defense. Then Argen gave his life in the thick of it, during that final battle, and Teana... she just..."
...
'Freeee... DOOOOOOOOOOOM!'
Miku's voice came out a whisper. "She killed them all, didn't she?"
Ichigo stared at the ground. Zero Two's life flashed before her eyes.
"'Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned'."
Three versus three. Human against klax. Machine to machine.
The war surrounded them. Klaxosaurs and drones fought the Franxx to a standstill. The Gaia exchanged blows with the single remaining plantation.
Chaos: truly and utterly.
"Drive them back!" the Nines' leader roared. "Into the Gaia! Go! Go! Go!"
Only the best had survived this long. The remaining parasite, hardened by war, were fodder no longer. Their actions - sharp and efficient. Their spears - swift and deadly. The drones stood no chance, and the Gutenbergs, experienced though they were, ultimately lost ground. Squad after squad poured into the kraken's mouth.
The invasion commenced. Delphinium signaled their troops.
After them! After them! Purge your self-destructs! Purge them now, or the planet is lost!
The cores - designed to annihilate the saurians should their klax jailers fall - melted away. The Gutenbergs shuddered; the klax fused into their machines. Souls became body, magma became blood.
Like butterflies from cocoons, the humanoids burst from their beastly shells, and into the depths they went.
"Alpha!" Beta demanded.
Alpha locked the spear to Delphinium's tonfas.
"Go!"
Beta shoved Chlorophytum back and rushed forward.
Chlorophytum!
Pursuing.
Genista! Stop that transport!
Genista ducked under Gamma's horizontal swipe and disengaged. The redheaded clone growled.
"Oh no you don't!"
Then they were alone. The factory beneath them shook with the battle. Faceplate glared at faceplate.
And they dueled.
"Alright, so what am I lookin' for?"
Ichigo ignored the aircraft's flickering lights and leaned over the pilot's seat. She scanned the horizon.
The Barrier raged.
"There! We should be close enough - can you see that bird?"
An eagle circled the sky, held aloft by the air currents. The defector pilot shuffled in the chair, twisting and stretching to loosen nervous muscles.
"I see it. Stay on its six?"
"And whatever you do, whatever you see, don't deviate. It'll do its best to lead you through."
The man and his copilot shared a nod. They locked their HUDs to the target. "Might wanna head back there and buckle up, lil' miss. It's gonna get bumpy."
"Good luck, guys."
She returned to her squad. The copilot thumbed a few keys and opened the radio to the rest of the flight.
"All birds, Kilo 1. We've got our eyes on the guide. Broadcasting visual lock now, form up behind us nice and wide and prepare for manual control."
The rest of the flight responded their affirmatives and moved into position. The aircraft's frame shook in the turbulence. Goro helped Ichigo buckle it.
"You alright?"
"I'll be okay. Thanks for everything, Goro."
He gave her a strange look. "I... uh... hope your parents approve."
She grinned despite herself. "I know they will."
Kokoro wiggled in her seat. "I'm so excited! We're finally gonna meet them!"
"I don't like being down so many members, though," Futoshi groaned. "We're going into a warzone without our heavy hitters! What kinda strategy is that!"
Ikuno fixed him with a look. "Since when did you care about strategy?"
"Since I realized that if we screw this up, all of Asphodel's delicious food will dissolve into freaky magma wumbo-jumbo!"
Mitsuru head actually moved, so intense was his eye roll.
"We'll be fine," Nana consoled. She scrolled through battle plans for another second, then pocketed her communicator. "Just because they aren't with us, doesn't mean they aren't helping. Naomi and Theta are helping barricade the town, and Zorome and Miku have their tasking. They're all with us in spirit."
"And Hiro and Zero Two?" Goro asked. "Any word from them?"
A loud thud against the hull momentarily stalled Nana's reply. She had to shout over the howling wind.
"None! No contact! But their role is simply staying alive and evading APE! As long as they survive, the klaxosaurs will fulfill their end of the bargain!"
The aircraft banked hard left. Squad 13 braced themselves. The movement shoved Genista and Chlorophytum's parasites up against their straps. Goro, Ichigo and the coordinator slid back into their seats.
"I hope we see them again!" Kokoro yelled.
Mitsuru's grabbed his straps. "Got to survive this first!"
Something pricked at Ichigo's mind. "Nana?! Can you ask the pilots to display the outside view?!"
Nana struggled to lean around the door. "Pilots! Give us the external camera feeds!"
The aircraft straightened with a groan. A moment later the walls shimmered and dissolved into a transparent display. Ichigo watched the opposite side's expressions morph from fear to shock.
"What the fuck?!" Futoshi roared. "Guys! Look behind you!"
Ichigo twisted as much as she could. Her gaze landed on the left wing.
It was iced over.
Was.
A man stood on the frozen aluminum, unaffected and unphased by the apocalyptic blizzard. Strapped to his back were two oblong fuel tanks, with a smaller propellant canister situated in between. The backpack fed through a hose to a trigger-fed pipe, out of which spewed a river of fire.
The man - the soldier, judging by his outdated helmet and uniform - swept the flamethrower across the wing. He was melting the ice.
Goro turned to her. "Where's he from?"
"The Second World War," she whispered.
The soldier turned to them, to reveal a scared, world-weary boy their age. But he mustered a smile, and he mustered a nod.
And then he was gone.
The cloud line parted. The snow and hail fell away. In the distance, beyond both sides of the aircraft, a crowd stretched across the full horizon, by far the largest they'd ever seen. Men and women. Young and old. Creeds of all beliefs and people of all races. Farmers. Politicians. Kings and peasants and scholars and scientists and laborers and artists and so many, many more.
Every soul to have ever existed pushed the Barrier back.
Ichigo turned back to her squad who, finally, saw what she saw. Tears descended her cheeks.
Karina stood before her then, eyes filled with kindness. Her attempt to thumb away the younger woman's tears did nothing, so instead she lifted a finger and pointed off into the distance: to reunions, to the future and to one final battle.
At the responding nod, she vanished from whence she came. Ichigo wiped at her own eyes; she answered her squad's unspoken question with her own broad, beaming grin.
"Humanity."
"Again."
Bang. Bang. Bang.
...
"Not a fatal placement. Again, Midel."
Midel heaved a groan, frustrated. He checked the bolt action and put it on the counter.
"Why are we doing this, Uncle? There's nothing out there! It's just wilderness and stuff."
Alpha lifted a grizzled eyebrow. "You wanted to learn, correct?"
"Yeah, but - but isn't this more than just learning? Why does the placement matter so much?"
'The last guy to argue that was eaten by a bear,' he wanted to retort. But the boy's question was genuine, and Alpha scratched his bearded chin in thought.
"Want to hear a war story?"
Midel's olive eyes came alight. "Sure!"
Well, background info first.
"Have your parents told you anything about the battle at the Crevasse?"
"Not really. Dad told me you were there with him and Mom, but they didn't say much more."
Oh boy.
"Correct. We fought each other."
...
"Wait - wait, you what?! You - you were on opposite sides? I thought you were with Asphodel!"
Alpha barked out a laugh.
"No. I was with APE. Your parents and I were all Franxx pilots, but on opposing sides of the conflict. I stabbed their unit through the chest with my machine's spear."
A mix of emotions came over the young man. Alpha didn't say much more - didn't want to, both out of respect for Midel's parents as fellow veterans and for his own personal reasons.
Those were some of his darkest moments, and he wasn't proud. Better left in the past, where it belonged.
"It wasn't on purpose," he continued. "I was aiming to pursue another target, but they intercepted. The strike ruined their machine. Any higher and it may have gone through the head, where the cockpit and your parents were. A family member later showed me what I'd almost done. Placement matters."
Midel stayed quiet for a length while he processed the story.
"Which family member told you that?" he eventually asked. "Was it Auntie Two?"
Alpha nearly bit his tongue trying to stifle the laugh. Dear sister eldest? The wise one?
Oh, Papa. Hysterical.
"No, no. You've probably seen him around the city once or twice. But that story can wait. Again."
Midel nodded and shouldered the rifle again, focus renewed.
...
Bang. Bang. Bang.
Clang. Clang. Clang.
Spear to blade, fury to tenacity. Two pairs of warriors rode their sacred mounts against the other, and the world fell to chaos around them. High above the ruinous conflict they warred their private war, beholden to nothing beyond the clash of their weapons. Strikes deflected. Stabs evaded. They maneuvered, tested, pushed and strategized. In foreign tongues they barked orders; chemicals and radio waves streamed through the charred air.
The generals understood each other through objectives and strategies, through footwork and tactics. To understand the other's language was to reach compromise.
There would be no compromise.
For the Earth, for their ancestors, for their friends, and futures, and the dirt upon which they bled: victory or death.
The historians, bold as they were, would label the klax-saurian conflict the First War - the earliest recorded instance of large scale, ideological violence between two opposing factions. Its sequel, two hundred millennia removed, would consequently be called the Last War, but for reasons not as obvious.
Of the participants in this three-sided conflict, the APE defectors and their Asphodelian allies numbered the fewest. They were underequipped. They lacked training, ammunition, food, and a general ability to make any sort of difference. Taken together, this human remnant, these dregs of civilizations long since faded, were estimated to have composed a small battalion of between three and four hundred.
The klaxosaurs - specifically, the actual klaxosaurs, the citizens of that fallen city beneath Stonehenge, fused into the so-called Gutenbergs - numbered around two hundred. But their drones were legion, thousands strong, and so three to five thousand took to the field in defense of the Crevasse.
APE deployed similar counts. Having pulled every last parasite, infantryman and supporting element from all corners to that battle, they stood somewhere between a regiment and a division: six to seven thousand.
The scope of this battle, compared to others in the grand saga of human wartime history, was almost laughably low. During the First War some ten thousand klaxosaurs of that self-same city stood against a saurian rampage nearly one hundred thousand strong. Caesar alone conquered Gaul with six legions - between six and thirty thousand served under his command. Military casualty estimates of the Second World War ranged somewhere from twenty to twenty-five million, and the true, total count of men deployed across all sides and theaters was never found beyond educated guesses.
The Last War climaxed in a day-long fight over the Grand Crevasse: humanity's final, failing orbital launch facility on the planet. It was a retooled, MacGuyvered construct, a reworked underground ICBM silo originally built just outside Paris. Over the years APE built up this stronghold using scrap from the city's ruins, until it resembled little more than a massive, covered dome, reminiscent of a giant bastardized clam. Housed within the Crevasse was the last of the automated Hringhorni rockets: unmanned, pre-programmed cargo vehicles used to get mined magma energy up onto the Cosmos arc ship, itself bound for Mars.
Cosmos irked the historians, mostly because its mere existence defied everything they knew about APE's post-collapse society. Given their resources, manpower and militarized industry, there was simply no way APE had the capacity or time to build a fully functional spaceship from scratch. They could barely put things in orbit, let alone stage a Martian exodus. Eventually the scavengers found re-entry wreckage in Moscow's ruins; after comparing it to records on old world orbital technology, the historians had their answer.
Cosmos was the International Space Station.
Like with the Crevasse on the ground, APE modified something old into something new. They somehow managed to hook the station up with salvaged rocket engines. Once completed, they then tore apart and welded several cargo ship containers into an absolute monstrosity and mounted the thing length-wise alone the station's spine, center mass.
It was insanity. There were doubts it could've escaped orbit, let alone reach Mars.
But it also put the conflict in perspective. Before the discovery, when asked to draw Cosmos, artists renditioned some futuristic space station super-freighter hybrid, a 'space plantation', with flashing bells and whistles and open spaces from which Papa and his council could gaze out into the vast beyond.
No.
The magma golden age allowed for the plantations. After the klaxosaur re-emergence, every resource went to Franxx production and military mobilization and upkeep.
Their terminals were literally terminals. Their windows - viewports. When they held meetings, they sat in cramped conditions, almost shoulder to shoulder, hovering over flickering holographics and hazy reports from the ground.
The APE council, essentially, ran a kids' television show from the ISS. They dressed up in gaudy outfits and used green screens and stage names to entertain, inspire and provide hope to the legions of child soldiers created to save humanity. They tried to upload everyone they saved in the collapse not because they wanted to, not out of some scheming desire, but because it was quite literally the only way they'd fit in the ISS. They never returned to the surface not because they abandoned their men, not because they thought themselves above it all, but because they could not.
APE - A.P.E., the Allied Producers of Energy - attempted it by the seat of their pants and the skin of their teeth. They tried to save Asphodel, their own citizenry, and all that remained of humanity's millennia of progress with duct tape, hope, and reverse-engineered ancient hominid industrial equipment.
That was all they had. That was all that remained.
Everything else was dead.
The Last War was not named such out of some naive sense of anti-war posthumanism. The Asphodelians did not hug it out and claim ideological supremacy or victory over their enemies. Less than five thousand humans remained alive following the conflict. From the old world collapse to post-war Asphodel, the species suffered a 1,600,000% decrease in population. Taken another way, zero-point-zero-zero-zero-zero-zero-zero-six-two-five percent of humanity survived. In biological terms, it was an extinction-level event the likes of which had never before been seen.
The Last War received its name because it was the last time humanity had any capacity to wage war.
In the midst of the duel Delta received an incoming video communique from Gamma. The call displayed from the clone's point of view: a squad of fellow Franxx, weapons readied, all faced Gamma's M9. A whip-like tail hovered before the screen; the tip, the spear, pointed at the cockpit.
Delta knew that tail.
"The fuck are you even thinking, Iota?!"
"Talk or die, darling toucher! Where's the doctor?!"
"Like we know, you eloper! He went AWOL! Just like you!"
With surging rage, Delta realized their missing sister and her partner were actively attempting a battlefield interrogation inside a live, very hot combat zone.
"Alpha!"
"Busy, Delta!"
"Emergency, dumbass! Look!"
Iota shoved Gamma away. A Franxx caught the M9's stumble, and the machine whirled around to keep Strelizia within line of sight. The runaways' Franxx burned ruby. Despite Iota's obvious presence within, Strelizia's faceplate remained inanimate. Brilliant green filled in the optical cameras, both sclera and pupil, and the horn raged her partner's blue.
The spear stayed angled at Gamma, but its head had turned partly in the other direction, to a line of humanoid klaxosaurs flanking a traitor machine the IFF labeled Genista. The olive Franxx pointed its cannon to the ground; its free hand pushed forward, palm out, in an attempt to placate. Judging from Iota's responses they seemed to be conversing, but whatever Genista said remained a mystery.
"You think this is by choice? We know how much of a shitshow this whole thing is!"
...
"Because your dumbass princess is attempting suicide by combat and the doctor is fucking with us again! We're only here to drag her out and get our answers, and then we're gone!"
...
"That's no excuse. What if it was Kokoro, huh?"
Genista's empty eyes narrowed. It almost seemed to frown - if static could frown.
...
"Yes it is! Family is family, damn it!"
Gamma's sarcastic, wounded chuckle interrupted their conversation.
"Oh that's rich, coming from you."
Strelizia twisted in the M9's direction faster than Delta could blink. Their sister's voice bled fury.
"You. Aren't. Family."
A slam reverberated through their cockpit; the feed clicked shut. Alpha's closed fist rested on the pistil console. Delta watched teeth clench and grit. Angry, hurt tears could no longer be blinked away.
They disengaged. The sudden acceleration momentarily overwhelmed the g-force compensator, and back into the stamen chair the clone went.
"IOTAAAAAAAAA!"
Truth is colored.
"Hey! Ichigo, was it? Three o'clock low! Is that your machine?"
That is to say: facts are objective; their interpretation is subjective. Some may see green truth. Others, red truth. Some may see a combination, and more still, neither.
"Yes! That's them! Pilot, can you take us lower?"
The historians, the scholars, the people at the scene and many more all saw variations of the same truth. They were all correct, in their own piecemeal fashion. When their various opinions and observations were combined, the conclusion seemed to be that many parties had a hand in the saving of the planet, and had but simple changes occurred at key times, the world may have ended up a vastly different place.
"We'll try! Hang on!"
For example.
Delphis, do you sense that?
Had that specific defector transport not arrived at that exact moment, Delphinium and the girl-turned-shaman would not have reunited.
Aye, I do.
Had the reunion not occurred, Delphinium would not have died at the moment they did.
"Goro! Grab my hand and don't let go! We're gonna jump!"
Had Delphinium not perished at that exact moment, the miracle would not have happened.
"We're gonna what?!"
If the miracle had not happened, Nine-Alpha would not have seen the predictions of the future.
"They'll catch us! Don't worry!"
Had Nine-Alpha not seen those predictions and acted accordingly...
She has become quite the risk taker.
...the Nines, Squad 13, the hybrids, Elistre and everyone else at the Crevasse...
An admirable quality.
...all would have died.
"It's now or never, kid! Light is green!"
If Ichigo, Goro, or the hybrids died, the chain would have been broken, and the magma's guiding predictions severed.
"DELPHINIUM!"
It could be said, then, that those unnamed defector pilots likewise saved the world.
Betrayed animosity fueled Alpha's every movement. The M9 engaged Strelizia as a tornado encroaches on a farmstead. War's endless clamor fell to the wayside; metaphorical blinders obscured allies and enemies alike.
Only rage existed now.
"Who dragged you out of all those battles?! Who defended you from Papa's questions?! Who dealt with all the squads asking about their dead stamen teammates?! Who arranged the burials?!"
Sister dearest offered no response.
"Fucking answer me, Iota!"
Strelizia parried the next stab and slammed both their spears into the bloodied dirt. A glacial reply eased through the speakers.
"Her name is Zero Two."
"You are not part of this conversation, vermin!"
A venomous, shrill screech drowned out Code 016.
"Yes he fucking is, creepazoid!"
"He doesn't even know who you are!"
Strelizia slammed its foot into the M9's torso. Alpha skidded back, every nerve ablaze.
"He knows me about as well as you know your junk doesn't work!"
Delta hissed the same way air escapes a tire. Alpha felt her - felt that clone recoil into the stamen chair through the tug against the controls.
A full decade of trauma, resentment and miscommunication boiled to the surface. For both of them. For all of them.
Words escaped hi- the clone. Words escaped the clone. He - the clone lunged. Alpha went for the throat. The blonde wanted the spear in Iota's jugular.
"Well excuse us for not being perfect!"
Strelizia ducked to the side. Sparks against its metal cheek signified the near miss.
"You are the only one who thinks that!" she roared in reply. "Who always stared at me like I was insane?! Who said the machine's whispers were just Iota being Iota?! Every time! Every fucking time I tried to explain, every time I said I needed to check something - oh noooo Iota, that isn't why we're here, Iota, stop looking for your imaginary friend, Iota, he isn't fucking REAL, IOTAAAAAA!"
Every strike, an attempt to kill.
"IOTA'S-" Wham. "-A-" Wham. "-SLUR!" Wham.
"Papa gave you that name, you ungrateful brat! He gave you food! He gave you shelter!"
"He threw me into war zones against my fucking will! I just want to farm, damn it! I want to create things, not blow them up! I want to draw! I want to cook! I want some nice flowers in a pot! I want a family!"
Her words were white hot coals across the Nines' collective backs.
"We are your family! Papa literally means father!" Delta snarled. "You're always trying to get yourself killed, and now you pretend you've changed? Those little checks of yours kept leading you into unauthorized areas! Generators! Service vents! Mistleteinn residences!"
Gamma's M9 flanked to the side in an attempt to sweep Strelizia's legs.
"And it always came down to us to find you and make sure you weren't a meat splatter in some food processor! Every single day Iota! Every week! Shit, Iota ran away again! Shit, is she dead? Shit, our sister may be dead!"
Strelizia evaded away and countered with a stab to the neck.
"You can't decide that for me! I can handle the consequences!"
A bladed tonfa redirected the blow.
Genista's faceplate hissed shut; they rocketed forward and tackled Gamma away. An APE transport VTOL hovered above, spewing hot lead down onto the Nines' allies. More aircraft flew in the remaining plantation's direction.
"Zero Two!"
Strelizia stumbled back. "I-Ichigo?! What're you-"
Delphinium knocked their head against Strelizia's. "They're not worth your time! The doctor is at the Crevasse! We can handle things here! Hurry!"
Gamma's roar punctuated the surrounding chaos of combat.
"You fucking traitors! All of you! You're dooming our species!"
"Stay away from our friends, jerk!" Kokoro seethed in reply.
"...Okay," Zero Two relented. "But be careful! Let's go, Strelizia!"
Strelizia's shoulders actually slumped, as if relieved to be done with the ordeal. It gave Delphinium a quick hug, then sped away.
Alpha made to give chase. "Oh no you don't! Not this time, not again!"
Delphinium blocked the attempt. Round two began.
77.
84.
"Out of my way! She's my sister!"
They locked weapons. Everything Ichigo had learned, all she'd experienced and suffered...
"Alright, that's enough now. You need your rest."
"I need to see! Everything that led to this point! Every creature's struggle! I want to see it all!"
"I WILL SAVE THE EARTH!"
The past she'd seen.
"Zack?"
"Yeah?"
"Have we changed at all?"
Please save girl.
"And then, I'll be your da-"
The dreams she'd shattered...
"I want it too! I want it so badly! I hate this! I want him to look at me like that! I want him to smile at me, I want to sit with him and laugh with him! It's... not fair! It's not fair! Why couldn't it have been me under that tree! Why did he choose her! I just... I just...!"
"I... I want that too, Ichigo! I want it, I get it! It's not fair, is it? I want it too!"
'Delphis? I... I got the tests back. I'm... I'm barren.'
'...I'm so sorry, Niumi.'
96.
...and gained anew.
"You're like a sister to me, Ichigo. We're family. I've always thought that, had you met each other, you two would've been great friends. If there was anyone I'd want to share those memories with, it'd be you."
"I trust you. I know you didn't mean anything by it."
"Y-Yeah. I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable, Ichigo."
111.
'I've an idea.'
'And that is?'
'Why don't we adopt?'
130.
"My... my hairpin? But I gave that to..."
"This is a different one."
145.
'What do you desire, beast? What would you have us do to earn your aid?'
gRanT unTo mE a PACK, aNd i sHaLL reTUrN tO yOu tHE WORLD!
156.
162.
All of it bubbled to the surface.
So that's what that emotion was. He finally had a name for it.
"Really? What is it? What's it called?"
"L-Love. It's called love."
He loved Ichigo.
"Love. Love, love, love love love. Loooooo-ve."
"Humans cannot be alone. There cannot be just one."
ASSOCIATED PROJECTS TO UNIFY OUR SPECIES
"I love you!"
"Don't go! Please don't go!"
170.
So spoke the five souls of Delphinium.
"Family-"
White inverted blue.
180.
"-is-"
Blue inverted white.
"-more-"
Magma surged.
188.
"-than-"
And two new inputs were placed on standby.
193.
"-bLOoD!"
[DELPHINIUM - ACTIVATED]
[DELPHINIUM - ACTIVATED]
[DELPHINIUM - ACTIVATED]
199.
Inside the cockpit, the world flashed. A brilliant white enveloped them. And then - silence.
"You find them yet, Ikuno?!"
"They're in the damned Gaia!"
Futoshi winced as small arms fire pinged against the exterior.
"And how are we supposed to get to them?!"
The copilot overheard them. "By 'Gaia', do you mean that mechanical eldritch horror dueling with the fucking plantation?"
"That's the one!"
"Wonderful!"
"Can you try to get us a bit closer?" Ikuno called. "They said they're gonna come to us!"
"Why is Chlorophytum inside?" Nana asked.
"APE apparently got the same idea we did! They can't kill it from the outside!"
Nana bit her lip and nodded. She turned back to her datapad, obviously to coordinate various responses and update Hachi.
"It's too close to the plantation! If they've fixed their IFF, that thing's anti-air will make us a fireball!"
Ikuno snarled and turned away. "Chlorophytum! Can you guys get your big guy to do something about the plantation? The, uh - the dome with all the magma?"
...
"Tell it to aim for the hangar! Those big doors on the bottom! Cave those in and our allies can get inside! Once they're in we should be able to link up!"
Moments later, the Gaia shrieked like a thousand-ton banshee. Two of its arms coiled together, pulled back, and slammed into the hangar. The doors dented; the plantation responded with a withering barrage. 16-inch guns cratered the beast's exterior. In defense the kraken lifted wreckage from Plantation 2 as a makeshift shield, but the debris' weight required all arms and prevented any retaliation.
Futoshi pressed his face against the transparent walls. "C'mon... c'mon...!"
Ikuno grimaced. "Whining won't help, idiot!"
A sharp crack simmered the air. Some sort of projectile pierced the entrance through, and the connections failed beneath the force. The doors collapsed. Defector VTOL transports rushed forward, guns blazing.
"We'll wait for our opening!" the pilot announced. "Get ready, you two!"
Futoshi would've recognized the sound anywhere. He lifted his arms in victory.
"ATTA GIRL, KOKORO!"
"What should I do?"
"Treat her to breakfast."
"But... but it can't be that easy, can it?"
"Sure it is. You've come this far, haven't you? Follow through."
The young man fidgeted on the bench. He balled his hands in his lap.
"What if she... I don't know, doesn't enjoy it?"
Her. Not enjoy it.
Alpha didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
Every single person acquainted with the two saw the writing on the wall. None of their other friends... Papa, any other interested kid their age - of either gender - stayed away, period, once they spent some time piecing the clues together. Wasn't like they could blend into a crowd or anything.
As it turned out, few people had blue hair. Fewer still had...
Well, yeah. Rumors abounded.
Their 'relationship status' was pretty much a de facto, unspoken rule for anyone remotely familiar with the story. A forgone conclusion to some, the tail end of prophecy to others. And much like these cliche tropes go, the two lovebirds would be the last to figure it out.
"Look, Midel, there's always that chance. But you miss every shot you don't take. Would you rather know for certain, or let it go and live your life wondering what could've been?"
The poor lad groaned an almighty, love struck, teenage groan.
"How did Uncle Hiro and Auntie Two meet?"
Oh no. They weren't doing this. Comparing any relationship to those two bordered on a logical fallacy.
"They were childhood friends. That's the only part that matters."
"C'mon, Uncle, you too? My parents never tell me anything about them."
"For good reason, kid. Listen - those two, they aren't - their situation is complex. Biologically complex. That's the long and short of it, and you'll do yourself a disservice if you try to use their... relationship... as the standard. Don't compare yourself to others, especially not them. Stand on your own merits, Midel."
As if on cue, the bustling crowd thinned just enough for the boy to glimpse the conversational subject on the other side of the street, outside the local diner. She'd come dressed to impress: a flowery sundress and a wide-brimmed hat. Crimson hair fluttered in the mid-morning breeze; their eyes locked. She graced him with a toothy grin and a shy wave.
Alpha shoved his shoulder.
"It's rude to keep a lady waiting."
"It doesn't look like a wolf."
Delphis followed Ichigo's gaze to the monolith and laughed.
Only on the outside, and even that's more a metaphor for their behavioral quirks than anything else.
mUsT yOU bE so RuDE?
Goro took stock of the eerie, empty landscape. He'd never seen so much uniform white, not even at Garden.
"What is this place? Weren't we just in the cockpit?"
Niumi folded her hands behind her back.
We pulled you down. We wanted to see you before we said goodbye.
"Goodbye? But, wait..." Ichigo rubbed her forehead. The memories flowed through the link. "Weren't... weren't you planning on going with the doctor?"
Strelizia's inheritor will take care of that. Werner Frank only gave us a copy of the finished protocol. Best to use the original for something so important, and besides...
Delphis shrugged, finishing the thought.
You two are a bad influence. We've decided to be a bit selfish.
"Selfish?" Goro questioned. "I don't understand."
We... well, we want to see what happens. With the lion's success, we know it can be done. We want to see the same thing Strellic and Elizia saw when they held the newborn hybrids all those years ago.
Niumi shifted her weight from one foot to the other.
Elistre's a fickle, silly girl, but we know she'll keep the hybrids alive. The klaxosaurs will take care of the rest. We've already won, you know? And for us, victory is death. Since Strelizia is going to the doctor, our only priority now is making sure you two survive. And the wolf-
thAt LiOn BaSTArD OnE-UPpEd mE!
The machine's oddly human reply threw Goro for a loop. "You - you're doing... isn't that k-kinda... petty?"
peTTy?! PETTY?! tHe LiOn wAs aLwAYs FIRST! FIRST sAuRiAn! FIRST kLaxOsAuR! FIRST pRedICtOR! i WiLL nOT dIe WiTHoUT gETTiNg thE lASt LAuGh! wHaT thAT cIrCuiT boARd diD, i WiLl dO bEtTeR! qUaLitY mATTerS!
Wolf's always been very... goal-oriented. It's commendable.
Niumi elbowed her taller mate in the ribs. Ichigo felt a bit strange not having to look up to meet someone else in the eye.
In all seriousness, we know the request is rude. You don't have to accept if you don't want to. It's just-
"It's not!" Ichigo interrupted. "It's not. I get it. Anyone would want their last memories to be of their family."
Goro nodded. "We'll do it. What do we need to do?"
Her adoptive parents' faces melted into relieved, sentimental smiles.
Place your hands on the wolf's central terminal. We'll give the needed power, and the saurian will handle the rest.
Delphis paused.
And yes, I approve.
Goro's back went rigid.
Niumi nodded, giggling. Her smile brightened their spirits.
You two are super cute together!
Ichigo gave him a knowing look. Goro blushed.
"Th-Thank y-you very m-much!"
Again they found themselves in Strellic's makeshift laboratory. Again they looked around the room at the silent, defunct computers. Again, again, again.
But this time, no one else stood with them.
"I'm sorry for getting so angry, darling."
"You don't have to apologize for anything. I get it. I'm stressed, too. That's the first time you've stood up to them, right?"
"Yeah."
"One day they'll get the message. Until then, or until you change your mind, I'll keep them away."
"I love you."
"I love you too."
This time, they had their other. This time they were there, in person and not memory. Their hearts drowned within the bile of their stomachs. Tensions ran thick and suspicions, deep. Above all else, Hiro and Zero Two prayed they were wrong.
"The output increases whenever we're synced, right?" she confirmed.
"Right. Magma fuels the systems, and it's in all of us, which..."
"Which implies it's our joined magma amplifying Strelizia's power."
They took to rummaging through the room. Drawers were opened. Files were emptied. Hiro eyed one of the computers with a wary glance.
"Kivala said it used to be a klaxosaur. Three souls total - two klax and the machine. And Elistre's parents were already dead when you began piloting, right?"
Zero Two stared at the angry klax words flashing across a monitor.
=BREACH - BREACH - BREACH
=WORMHOLE WHITE - OPEN - DESTINATION UNKNOWN
=WORMHOLE BLACK - OPEN - DESTINATION UNKNOWN
=BREACH - BREACH - BREACH
"Yeah, they were gone. It was just the lion."
"Which died during the kissing operation. That left the two of us. But we were unconscious and Strelizia's continued to move on its own, so there has to be..."
A metal drawer screeched open.
...
"...something else..."
Utter horror strangled his words. Dread mounting, the two hybrids turned to the noise.
At the far end of the room, where Strellic and Elizia once stood, a young woman of their approximate age flicked through a set of files. Unlike Hiro and Zero Two, she appeared to know exactly what to look for.
But they focused on her appearance, not her actions. Zero Two grabbed his hand, panicked and frenzied.
"This is wrong," she whispered in a single, harsh breath. "This is - darling, that girl...!"
Ice chilled his blood. His mind whirled. He knew the girl. He knew her like he knew Zero Two, like he knew himself.
He knew her, yet he did not know her.
"Where?" he rambled. "Where is she from?! Think, think!"
A hand vanished beneath crimson mane. The woman hunched over some sort of notebook. Tense shoulders revealed her frustration.
...
"Hnnnn! Why do I have to... no. No, this should work. I just gotta..."
Her words - her voice - rifled through his heart. Zero Two couldn't bare it any longer.
"Um! Um, excuse me!"
The woman froze, petrified. Then she turned, and their world began to collapse.
"No way," he muttered. "No way. No way."
Emerald eyes, wide in shock. Zero Two's - and hers.
"You're... you're..."
Atop her forehead: twin sapphire horns.
"You can see me?"
His soul ripped in two. Zero Two wailed.
"Yes! Yes, we can see you! I'm - we're sorry! We're... we're so..."
The redhead recoiled against the terminal. "I... I didn't think..."
She saw the guilt on their faces and winced.
"It's not your fault."
"Yes it is!" he hissed. "Don't say that! Don't you dare say that! We're hypocrites! This whole time, we've - not... not once did we consider what you wanted! We never asked! We saw you as a tool to be used! What kind of people could do something so... so heinous!"
"No!"
She couldn't fight this! She was the victim! They'd failed! The thing they held dearest, and they'd failed!
"No, I don't see it like that!" she continued. "I... I'm lucky! I'm lucky I'm here! Walking with you, listening to you - I've learned so much! None of this is your fault, there's - there's no way you could've known, okay?"
Zero Two choked out a refusal. "That's not an excuse! Not for this! We should've realized from the beginning! What kind of... who wouldn't recognize..."
She crumpled to the floor. The rhetorical question went unsaid. The young woman considered her next words.
"I'm here on a hunch. I don't know if... if I'm actually here, either, you know? A ton of things don't... it's - it's confusing. Strelizia's notes say I'm a prediction, the... the end result of the lion's analysis. I'm the likeliest to become real. That's why I'm here and not something or someone else. Me being here just... it means things get better, I guess? I hope."
...
He swallowed against a dry throat. "Do you... do you have memories?"
"Yes."
"Are they - are they good memories?"
"Y-Yeah. You've seen a... few of them. When you, um, connect."
Zero Two blinked back tears. "F-From our perspective, right? Because... because we were... there?"
The woman beamed, broad and toothy, just like him. She, too, was crying.
"Yes. You both were there. We were all there!"
Delphis... Delphis... look...!
[ERROR: SIGNAL LOST]
[ERROR: SIGNAL LOST]
[ERROR: SIGNAL LOST]
They... name... him...
[ERROR: PULSE REG]
[ERROR: PULSE REG]
They grazed his cheeks, joyful and proud.
And then they were gone.
"You have some fucking nerve! If I had a gun I would shoot you where you stand!"
Werner glanced from Hiro to the Strelizia-sized hole in the wall. Noted.
"You have every right to be upset," he attempted.
"If you know it's upsetting, why do you keep screwing with us?!"
From the corner of his eye, the pissed hybrid watched his equally pissed mate march to the far corner of the control room. Werner tucked the old astronaut helmet beneath his arm.
"Given the situation we have found ourselves in, and given what exactly is at stake, it is only logical that we would use every advantage at our disposal. The magma is a powerful tool, as I'm sure both of you have come to realize. We wanted to make sure we were-"
"You chained her to a giant fucking robot!"
Werner sighed.
"Strelizia and I only set the stage, Hiro. She created herself."
The distinct sound of a hand impacting face resounded through the spacious interior. Both men turned to see Zero Two with her hand held aloft. Elistre rubbed her cheek. The skin beneath stun an angry, deep blue.
"Suicide is not the answer!" the taller woman hissed. "You're making a mistake, Elistre! You're scaring the shit outta me!"
I'm correcting one.
"No you're not! What would he think?! Hm?! What would he say if he saw you like this?! If he saw what you were trying to do?!"
The girl balled her fists.
I don't know! I don't know anymore! All I know is that I need to do this for my species! It's my duty!
Zero Two grabbed her shoulders.
"Elistre, look at me."
She refused.
"Look at me! Please!"
Elistre settled for staring at Zero Two's nose through puffy, tear-stained eyes.
"You're my sister and I love you!"
The klax's shoulders slumped. Her lips quivered.
"The last thing I want is to lose my sister after I just met her. None of the klaxosaurs would ever ask you to sacrifice yourself. You're the last of your species - they want to protect you! They've tried to hide you since the war began, Elistre! You said they'd do anything to keep me and Hiro safe! That probably goes double for you!"
One of the snakes lowered itself to peer through the window.
It does.
"See?!"
"None of you were ever supposed to be on the front lines," Werner interrupted. "Your only job is surviving the conflict. You escape, then Strelizia and Elistre's parents keep all three of you safe until the madness is over. That was the arrangement. After Strelizia's death, the task fell to Delphinium and myself. We intended to solve the problem. Elistre already explained her... viewpoint... before you two arrived, which leads me to question..."
The frustration of their situation nearly overwhelmed Hiro.
"...why you came back."
...
"She wants to help," Zero Two bit out. Deep stress lines creased her forehead.
Werner's visible eyebrow shot sky high.
"I understand she is here while Delphinium is not, and that she has the original protocol, but you two are the last people on the planet I'd expect to allow something of this nature."
"We don't want to!" Hiro snarled. "Like hell we want to! Every bone in my body is screaming at me for letting her do this! But we... it isn't out choice to make. We don't have the right to deny her this!"
His heart and mind warred against each other. The arguments played themselves out. So desperately did he want to keep her safe. How could he allow something like this? He knew where it would lead. He knew what would happen!
Yet, she wanted it. All on her own she'd come to her own conclusions. When they found her, she'd been doing her own research. Forming her own ideas. Speculating. Problem solving.
"All this time we have forced her to fight for us. We've been no better than our own masters. We're hypocrites. We're cowards. And now, here, when we've finally figured it all out, how can I look her in the eye and tell her, 'I won't let you do this'? Who am I to command her to live for us when she wants to help human and klax alike? When she wants to end this chaos with her own hands?"
He shook with fury. He damned fate. He damned the doctor and he damned Strellic and Elizia and he damned himself for being so self-absorbed and for not seeing the truth sooner.
"What example would that set for her? What kind of people would Zero Two and I be if, at the exact moment she decides to leave the nest, we instead put our little bird inside a cage?"
If you believe that, then why would you let her go but not me?!
Werner turned to her, scowl masked by metal.
"There is a difference between understanding how you or someone you love can better the world, and throwing your life away due to survivor's guilt. You, my dear, are most definitely the latter."
The doctor paused then, and brought the helmet to his head.
"I should know, of course. I'm the same."
He let his gaze linger on Hiro and Zero Two. Pride twinkled in his lonesome eye.
"And for what little it is worth, I'm glad the two of you are not."
"You... you know it's gonna be obsolete in, like, five years or something, right? It's just a stop gap."
"But I want it!"
That damn pout. Every time.
"What would your mother say if she saw you traipsing around with medieval weaponry?"
The pout deepened.
"What would your father say?"
"Hnnnn - darliiiiiiin'! You're not supposed to refute my emotional plea with facts and logic! That's not how it works!"
"Have you... even used one before?"
She crossed her arms. "Yes!"
...
"I think."
...
Oh.
"This is like the tail thing, isn't it."
She scratched at her lower back. It told him everything he needed to know.
"Alright, alright. Maybe he'll let us try it out on a dummy or something."
"Yes! You're the best!"
With an exasperated grin, Midel approached the blacksmith's counter. How was he supposed to phrase something like this? 'Hello, sir. My diminutive, introverted girlfriend fancies herself a heavily armored frontline combatant from 1500s England!'?
"Ready to decide, lad?"
He refused to make eye contact, and instead perused the wall behind the man. Decorative tools of war gleamed in the midday sunshine poking through the window. A pair of arming swords caught his eye. Something stirred in his gut.
Close, but not quite what he wanted. He didn't even have a name for the weapons in his mind's eye. Frustrating.
"Uh... c-could we try out... um... that one?"
He pointed an awkward finger at one of the racks. The shopkeeper followed the gesture.
"That one, that one?"
"Y-Yeah..." He tried to clarify. "Just... just to practice. Give us a dull one, maybe? And a shorter one if you have it. We'll just rent it for an hour or two."
"You're sure you don't wanna start with somethin' a bit smaller, lad?"
"She's kinda adamant. Dragged me in when she saw one in the window."
The man shrugged. Far be it from him to turn down a quick buck.
"Alright."
A moment later, he rested the dulled polearm against the counter.
"Only training one we've got, so make sure to bring it back, y'hear? Not many folks use 'em anymore, not since they rediscovered the bullet."
"We'll be careful."
"Anything else before I ring ya up?"
Midel eyed the halberd and summoned his courage. "Just a... question. I've been trying to find this particular weapon. It's kinda obscure."
The man arched a brow. "I'll need a bit more than that, lad."
"Do you have a quill? I'll draw a picture."
"Aye."
He slid Midel the quill and parchment. The quick scribble came from memory.
'Memory'. Quotation heavy. He still didn't know how he could remember something he'd never seen.
The shopkeeper offered a low whistle. "You weren't joking, lad, this is obscure. It's... Japanese? Chinese? Bah, somewhere around them parts. Asian, definitely." He pointed at the drawn blades attached to the ends. "But I've never heard of 'em being bladed. They were blunt, usually, wooden. Used to put more force behind punches, that sorta thing. Not so much a weapon o' war, not like a pike or somesuch. Martial artists used these, mostly. They're pre-collapse. Not sure a single pair still exists."
Midel's heart leaped to his throat. This was far more information than he expected.
"Do you know what they're called?"
"Aye. Tonfas."
{This is a story unforgotten.}
The shockwave of power reverberated through the M9's body. Sensors blared. Alpha squinted through the magma's miasma; a stab threatened to disembowel. The blonde sidestepped.
The shadow dissolved into reality. Delphinium's tonfa rushed forward, but the clone had seen the strike before it happened.
Predicted.
They countered with a horizontal swing at the traitor machine's neck. It slammed against the second tonfa. Reality quivered. Magma rippled into the ground.
For the first time in their miserable lives, Alpha and Delta beheld grass.
"Two - two eggs. A bit of milk. You whisk it all togeth-"
"Delta!"
Alpha dared not look away from the fight. Visions flooded the eyes. Whispers graced the ears.
"The Niner Diner," Delta blubbered. "We call it the Niner Diner!"
"What should I do?"
"Treat her to breakfast."
Predict. Predict. Predict.
Past. Present. Fut-
The enemy would attempt to kick in the knee.
Alpha jumped. The blow did not connect.
"What do we do? How do I beat it?"
"I don't know, man. You can see it now, right?"
The past influences the present. The present influences the-
"No. I was with APE."
An opening. The M9 took aim.
"Your parents and I were both Franxx pilots, but on opposing sides of the conflict."
The future becomes the present. The present becomes the past.
"I stabbed their unit through the chest with my machine's spear."
Alpha stabbed Delphinium through the chest with the M9's spear.
"Any higher and it may have gone through the head, where the cockpit and your parents were."
Delphinium crumpled to the ground, broken and lifeless. Magma pooled in the wound. With a sneer, Alpha dislodged the weapon and made to pursue their wayward sister.
A metallic hand grabbed the M9's ankle.
"A family member later showed me what I'd almost done."
"Place...ment... matters..."
The garbled, distorted voice matched the one plaguing Alpha's addled mind. Delphinium's ironclad grip couldn't be removed, so the M9 once again lifted the spear.
"Who are you? Why am I seeing these things?!"
"Un...cle..."
The static butchered its words. Hands shook on the controls.
"I am no one's uncle!"
"You... will... be..."
The spear was leveled at the downed machine's cockpit.
"Tell me who you are!"
"Don't do it," a voice whimpered.
Alpha turned to the stamen seat. Delta returned the stare, slumped against the chair's back. Tears brimmed in the single visible eye.
"He's family. Don't do it."
"I... will be..."
Alpha's heart pounded a million beats a minute.
"...their son..."
The clone - he.
He would become he.
"Ichigo... my mother... will have... a son..."
The M9 threw away the spear. Bile ascended Alpha's throat, and horror shook him from head to toe.
"To honor... her parents... Delphis and Niumi..."
Fields of larkspur shimmered to life around them, aglow against the rising sun. A roar deafened.
"My father... Goro... will name me..."
Beyond the war and beyond the apocalypse, humanity's final rocket rose heavensward.
"...Midel..."
{This is a story of inheritance.}
Across the battlefield, for those few ephemeral minutes, all the violence drained away. Quiet descended over the desolate fields - a quiet interrupted only by a somber rumble.
For neither the first time nor the last, man lifted his weary eyes, once again, to the stars.
The klaxosaurs, too, looked up. Their broken optics followed the most triumphant of humankind's achievements as it carved a smoky path through the stratosphere. High overhead, the dimming stars shone bright their eternal greeting. Horrified Franxx and mystified klaxosaur alike pointed at the shrinking vessel, bidding their allies to watch.
Morning was soon to come. Hringhorni underwent first stage separation; air collapsed around the fuselage, then radiated outwards. Ever the curious engineers, Genista asked a question, both for themselves and their dying race.
What is it?
Mitsuru recounted the stories he'd read as a boy, of miraculous adventures and impossible worlds. And with a keen sort of longing thick in his voice, he replied:
"Our potential."
"What do I do, Midel? How do I fix this?!"
A trembling hand pointed at the rocket.
"Save... the girl..."
"What girl? The one from the visions? Who is she?! I can't help someone if I don't know who they are!"
"You... already... know..."
Every fiber of his being focused on the boy's words. In his core, Alpha already knew of who he spoke. He desperately wished he was wrong. Sobs wracked his person.
"Tell me. Please, tell me!"
"Listen... Uncle..."
"Delta, record this!"
"Already done," she whimpered.
The magma crested over the volcano that was Midel's wound. His grip around the M9 weakened.
"It is... almost... six in the... morning. The world... will end... in eighteen hours..."
The clock began to tick.
"What do I do?" Alpha repeated, dazed. "What do I do?"
"To save... the world... you must save... the girl..."
All along, the Nines had been incorrect. Their sister had indeed cleared the path - indirectly.
"And... to save... the girl..."
"You want to use the prototype?"
'It is... our best... hope. It... is new. Uncorrupted...'
"With no biasing variables to potentially skew the results. It's yet to be started!"
'Correct...'
"And if we get the data we need? If we figure out the magma? What then?"
'If the results... are... as expected... we shall conduct... a second experiment... ourselves...
{ 0 }
"What would this experiment entail?"
'The saurians... suffered from... information overload. By... chaining ourselves... we halted the... search for... outputs... and focused their processing... on a manageable amount... of data. We shall... continue... the experiment. The next step... the next... step...'
Strelizia paused, exhausted.
'We... will continue the... magma limitations... but remove the... jailers... blocking... the output. We shall give... two inputs... and see where it leads...'
...
...
{ 2 }
"What do you expect to see?"
'If... you are right... and the magma... is the liquidized past... our memories... our experiences... our souls...'
Stories speak of prophecy, fate, destiny. Everything is, supposedly, set in stone - but that is a lie. The future can not be known. Precognition does not exist.
'Then by... understanding... analyzing... reflecting... on what... makes us... us...'
...
{ 1 }
But foresight and statistics do.
'We can... predict... likely... outcomes...'
"We can predict the future," Karina whispered.
'And if... we accurately... predict the future...'
...
...
...
...
...
...
{ 6 }
'If we... predict... how this ends...'
{This is not a story of destiny.}
'We can... follow the correct path... and save it all...'
...
{ 02 + 16 = 1 }
{This is a story of-}
"That looks like a... heartbeat?"
{-a monster.}
"Strelizia isn't a Franxx. Why would it behave like one?"
{-a guess.}
"What is it?"
{-a ghost from a machine.}
"It is not a true Franxx, nor is it a true klaxosaur."
{-a soul neither human nor klax.}
'In your own words: what is it?'
The machine gave Delphinium a big hug; it was all Ichigo could do to prevent toppling over.
The tail removed itself, coated in blue blood, and the mech bounded away to land in front of Delphinium. It crouched protectively, growling.
"I don't think that was Iota."
"It's alive."
"It is both and neither. It is a hybrid."
"Were my wife still alive, she would label it a parasite."
It was covered in snow! Had it been waiting for them all night?!
MASTERMIND IN THE FRAN{XX}
No way were they leaving their third partner behind! They all traveled together! What if it was attacked while they were gone? Hell no!
"Strelizia, is it... is it a klaxosaur?"
'They were. It was.'
"It was?"
'Their corpse still functions, though it should not. And whatever resides in it now, whatever apparition possesses the body...'
'But the beast is the beast! It's always there, as soon as the process finishes! It's the... the soul, the origin point! You can't just change a soul!'
'...we do not believe it to be a klaxosaur.'
'What if... and - and this is just a hunch. A theory. We're spitballing here. What if... what if the process was different, this time?'
It crawled towards the light, like a toddler, before planting its hands in the ground.
For the quickest of moments, the laughter of children graced their ears.
REVELATION - PART 3
"How many children do you want?"
"No more than three. I wanna dote on them!"
"Here, we'll rule two out. One will be a mini-me, the other will be a mini-you. What'll the last one look like?"
'Think about it. It's the only thing that makes sense, right? Three minus two is one.'
"What hair color do you think they'll have?"
Would the child have her jawline, or his? Blue or green eyes? A boy or girl?
Feathers of ruby and eyes of emerald.
'That would make it - make her - female, wouldn't it? A girl.'
"You have blue horns, not red horns!"
A single blue horn illuminated the darkness.
=THIS ACTION CANNOT BE UNDONE
=PROCEED?
For the first time in their short, tortured lives, the prince and princess had found an ally.
=I AM NOT A NUMBER
Stupid Cores.
"What... who... are you?"
The twin-headed bird split its focus. One head looked at her, the other, him. Its beaks opened.
'The Princess called her a child, didn't she?'
"Isn't it-"
"I'll see you guys later! Love you, bye!"
"-obvious?"
"To save... your niece... Strelizia..."
{And a story of a reunion.}
"You... must save..."
THEIR DAUGHTER
"...her parents..."