Gamma's charge broke the momentary calm. Genista avoided the wild strike, brought their cannon to bear. The exchange told Kokoro and Mitsuru all they needed to know.
In lieu of defeat, vengeance ruled the day.
"Kokoro! Aim to disable!"
"R-Right!"
The shots rang out. Genista's voice reached him through his connection with his partner.
Why are we not eliminating?
Mitsuru grimaced, aware as he was of honor's place in a war. Kokoro responded in his stead.
"Their family is waiting for them! It's alright, Genista, just - just keep the head intact! The rest is fair game!"
Very well.
Genista clenched the cannon's trigger mechanism; the massive bayonet sprung forward.
We shall decapitate.
The M9 swerved around their bullets and tried to close the distance. Plumes of dust marked each missed round - all of them, Mitsuru noted, for the gap between the two machines only decreased. Melee was their disadvantage. Genista had the power, but it wouldn't matter if their strikes missed their mark.
"Here they come, Kokoro! Get ready!"
Kokoro nodded, bracing herself.
Sparks flew. The cockpit shook. Genista augmented the parasites' shaky defense, and with their assistance the two Franxx remained evenly matched. Blow after blow they traded in that wasteland before the plantation. Kokoro slammed the bayonet against the spear; Mitsuru pulled the trigger. But the M9 twisted out of the way.
Two humanoid Gutenbergs formed up alongside Genista. Weapons readied, they brimmed with celebratory intensity. The doctor's successful launch had clearly boosted their morale.
Protect the children! Protect the children!
For our future!
The M9 spared quick glances to its left and right, but not Franxx arrived in support. Mitsuru spied a distant squad of four flee in a random direction.
"It's a rout," he realized. "They know it's over."
Kokoro activated the external speakers.
"Surrender! There's no point in continuing!"
The Nine didn't budge nor reply. Scowling, Mitsuru added his own voice.
"Theta is alive!"
Their enemy flinched, hesitated. But then it hefted its spear, rage fueling every movement.
"You fucking animals! How dare you!"
"Gamma! Gamma! Stand down!"
"Wh-"
A second M9 joined the fray. It tackled its ally; they wrestled over the spear.
"Alpha! The fuck are you-"
"Theta is alive! They're telling the truth!" Delta cried. The second M9 turned its head to Genista. "Is she in Asphodel?!"
Confusion overcame Kokoro. "How do they..."
For once in his life Mitsuru declined to over-analyze the situation. He just went for it.
"Yes, she's in Asphodel! She was captured at Garden and asked us to bring you there!"
Delta hissed and started to ramble, not aware they still broadcast on an open net.
"Alpha! Alpha, that must be how we-"
"Right, I know, which means Midel-"
Gamma roared in frustration. "What the hell are you guys gossiping about?!"
Kokoro? What's happening? What are they saying?
Kokoro shook her head. "Sorry, Genista, we're confused too. Give us a moment, okay? Don't - don't attack them yet."
Understood.
Genista turned to their allies.
Flank them. Wait for our signal. The humans are having communication difficulties.
The klaxosaurs snickered, but obeyed nevertheless.
"Gamma, just stand there for a moment and let us talk to them!"
"Fucking why?! They're traitors!"
"Because if we talk to them we may get out of this alive, damn it!"
The redhead bit back a snarl and lowered the weapon.
"Fine."
ALpha's machine turned to Genista. It raised its empty hands in the universal sign of surrender.
"You there! That blue machine, the dual wielder, is it a member of your squad?"
Mitsuru glared, suspicious. "That depends on what you say next."
"They're wounded. I believe the parasites inside are unconscious."
Mitsuru closed the connection in an instant. Delphinium's position had dropped from their squad-net.
"Ichigo? Ichigo, Goro, it's Mitsuru. How copy?"
...
"Delphinium, Genista. How copy? Over!"
...
"Genista?" Kokoro asked.
We cannot sense them.
He reopened the connection. "Where are they?"
The M9's left arm lowered and pointed off to the southwest, their right. "One click."
"Mitsuru, it could be a trap," Kokoro whispered in warning.
"I know."
He raised his voice.
"Why are you telling us this?"
"Before they lost consciousness, they told us the world would end in eighteen hours, and to prevent it we need to find Io-"
The voice cut off with a burst of static for a half second before returning.
"We needed to find... Z-Zero Two... and her... partner."
Mitsuru, bluntly put, was baffled. Gobsmacked. Dumbfounded.
Did they expect him to reveal Strelizia's location? But they already knew that - they were at the Crevasse. Then: why? What was the point of this conversation. After that scene not a half hour earlier, where both of those machines were genuinely trying to kill them? It had to be a trap. No one could be so stupid to believe such obvious shenanigans. There had to be fowl play here, or some sort of scheme.
But then why did they surrender? And after such a heated confrontation, after so much resentment, brutality and apathy, why did they now choose to call their 'sister' her actual name?
Confused beyond all measure, Mitsuru asked a genuine question.
"What are you asking of us?"
Alpha took a while to respond.
"We were not told how the world ends. We have no strategy and no options. We do not know where to take them, or how to protect them. Our relationship is strained. They... would not accept our aid if offered. We understand that. I understand that."
The M9 stared at the ground. Mitsuru wished he could see their faces.
"You are their squadmates. They trust you. With our defeat here, we only wish for our family to survive the coming ruin. We are... we are desperate."
Realization illuminated him, and with it came an idea.
"We will keep them safe. You have our word."
"Thank you."
"But we cannot do that while engaged."
"APE's morale is broken. The rocket is all we had. They will offer no challenge."
"You said you wish to survive. Does that apply to them, as well? Your men?"
"Mitsuru?" Kokoro asked. "What are you..."
He brought a finger to his lips and winked.
"We believe it does, yes," Alpha replied. "May I ask why?"
Mitsuru understood now. His education, the doctor's scheming, their chase for the truth, the master key. Hachi's protocol.
He understood, because he had been taught to understand.
"I believe I may have a solution that could benefit us all."
"I am listening."
"Gather all who will listen to you, and request they lay down their weapons and return to Plantation 1. Surrender to the Asphodelian forces inside. Seek refuge within its walls. In return, the klaxosaurs will grant you passage and end their assault."
The M9 shifted its weight, as if its suspicion matched that of its pilots.
"You speak for the klaxosaurs?"
"I wouldn't dare. We have a certain... mutual trust. They are friends of my friends. Tell me: you claim to be Zero Two's family. Is that by blood? Are you hybrids yourselves?"
The bayonet retracted immediately.
What?!
A pregnant moment passed. The clone considered how to answer. Then, at last:
"We do not know. The doctor never told us our origins. We only know we are her clones. It may be possible."
What did they say?! Tell us! Please!
"They... they don't know," Kokoro whispered.
Then we must confirm! All uncertainties must be laid to rest! Tell them we wish for a genetic sample! A strand of hair! A bit of saliva!
A Gutenberg's voice whispered in their ears.
Genista? What's going on?
The white machines may hold hybrids!
Wait - wait, what?! When did this happen?! Why were we not told there were more?!
The second Gutenberg lowered its weapon with haste, panicking.
Vizeri! Aren't they the ones that killed Ixlio?! What's going on here!
Just... hang on, Otriva! We need more information!
Gamma's M9 looked between the two Gutenbergs, alarmed at their sudden change in behavior.
"The klaxosaurs wish for a genetic sample," Mitsuru clarified. "They will tell you the truth. Will you comply?"
Tick.
Alpha's M9 glanced from Genista to Gamma, then back again.
"Non-invasive?"
"Alpha!" Gamma snarled. "You can't be fucking serious!"
Tock.
"If this is our best shot at getting out of this hellhole alive, I'm taking it!"
"Non-invasive," Mitsuru confirmed. "A strand of hair will do."
Tick.
"And this is not a trap?"
A maniacal grin split Mitsuru's lips.
"If you hold no daggers, neither do I."
Tock.
{This is the story of a miracle.}
"Contact! Contact!"
Kyuma slammed his back against the wall, and Higosa soon followed. Bullets spewed from the doorway. A defector took point on the other side and readied a grenade. The two men shared a nod.
"Three! Two! One!"
Into the room it went. Fragmentation peppered the area. The defector shouldered his rifle, rounded the corner and immediately loosed bursts of lead.
He mirrored the soldier's actions; where the defector went left, he went right. A bloodied APE soldier in the far corner took aim at Hachi's man. Kyuma nailed him center mass. Recoil lifted his rifle - the burst's fourth shot went through the skull. Brains splattered the wall. The man dropped, his strings cut. Kyuma pivoted right, and too late did he notice a second APE soldier, legs bent at odd angles, up against a dented table and sighting him down.
Someone shouldered him aside. Massed gunfire assailed his hearing.
Adrenaline surged. Kyuma rolled to the floor, his grip around his rifle ironclad and absolute.
"Clear!" a voice called.
He huffed filtered air, thankful for its chill on his parched throat. Though the room was safe, hell still pounded against his ears. Plantation 1 had descended into a horrid kind of slow burning chaos. Firefights erupted in every hallway. Bloodbaths drowned every room. Even now, hyped up as he was, he could still hear muffled shouts and screams and gunfire.
Higosa's finger shook on the trigger. The barrel trailed smoke. Her obscured visage snapped away from the corpse.
"Kyuma!"
His hands roamed, poking and prodding. No holes, no blood. Just a pounding heart.
"Good! I'm good!"
"Defect!"
"Good!" the defector shouted. He was hunched over a body on the room's other side, pilfering unused magazines.
No one injured - for now. The tension lifted from Higosa's shoulders.
More than anything, Kyuma wanted to sit down. But that would be a mistake. If he let the combat high fade, he'd grow sluggish, and if he grew sluggish, he'd get shot. Getting shot was bad.
Objects in motion, and all that.
Instead, he keyed the radio button the side of the helmet.
"Sajimi, how's it looking?"
Some would find his loose comms unusual given his upbringing, and they'd be right. But in the time since Squad 26's defection, the former parasites had found themselves growing ever more adverse to professionalism unless absolutely necessary. Within their own group, the ranks and billets were mere formalities. They couldn't be faulted; after so many years of rigid backs and solemn expressions, it was only natural for the pendulum to swing in the other direction.
The freedom intoxicated.
Their lieutenant seemed fine with it so long as Kyuma maintained results and showed obligatory respect in public settings. A decent arrangement honored by decent men.
Sajimi's voice crackled over the net, distorted by static and the incessant gunfire.
"Not too good, man. Can't do anything against this stupid turret network. No injuries so far, but Mureiko took a ping off the helmet. Don't think he's concussed, but..."
"What about the HE?"
"Can't get a shot off, not with this suppress- hey! Hey! Yotsuni! One-thirty, off me!"
Sajimi's voice fell away under the lead hailstorm's distorted crackle. It lasted far too long for Kyuma's comfort.
"Sajimi! How copy?!"
"Good! I copy!" came the intermittent reply. "Sorry, it's like the bastards walk through walls. We don't know if the HE has enough oomph. These things look twice as reinforced as Chrysanthemum's, they made this place a fucking fortress. And Delta 3's SL just said Hachi wants to save as much as he can for the generator breach, so we're, like, stuck here just twiddling our dicks, y'know?"
Sajimi paused, remembering something. "Their number eight alright, by the way? His comms still fucked?"
Kyuma glanced at the defector holding security with Higosa. Blackened scorch marks covered his chest's right side, where his radio was located. Communication issues aside, the fact the man survived with only minor burns attested to the resiliency of APE's equipment.
"His radio's FUBAR and he'll need to get checked eventually, but for now he's good. If you see them, tell Delta 3 we'll try to get him back ASAP, yeah? I don't have their net and command's been in business mode since the hangar ambush."
"Yeah, no prob. Got an ETA?"
He sighed, annoyed at the situation. "Unfortunately not. We'll do our best. In the meantime we'll see if we can get into their FCS and deal with those turrets. I think it's close by."
"Solid. I'll let you know if we start moving again."
"Thanks. Stay safe, Sajimi. Out."
So desperately did he wish he could rub his eyes through the NVGs, but alas, wrong model.
"You guys ready?"
"Yeah."
"Green."
'No plan survives first contact with the enemy.' Often repeated for a reason.
What a fucking mess.
"Alright, here's what we're gonna do."
He'd lost his mind.
Without a shadow of a doubt, insanity ruled him now. It was the only possible explanation. He'd fought too hard for far too long, and the stress had flung him into the rivers of chaos.
Alpha cared not.
So be it. So be it! Here he stood! Vulnerable! Exposed to the enemy's machinations! Less than an hour ago he swore their demise upon his blade! Yet now, with all their plans in ruin, with their own extinction certain and his family's backs against death's precipice, what could he stand to lose?
Nothing!
He would lose nothing!
If Midel's visions were mere hallucinations, a disease of the mind, so be it! If all of this was a trap meant to disable and distract, so be it!
The klaxosaur's odd tendril absorbed his strand of hair. The machine hummed, the machine groaned. That traitor boy stood on his Franxx's lowered faceplate, the same as he, and together they watched humanity's enemy analyze his genetic lineage.
For once in his life, Alpha would choose to believe. Because more than anything else, he wished to be a man. He wanted Midel's future, he wanted it yesterday, and the consequences could go politely fuck themselves.
Hope would die last.
The klaxosaur visibly recoiled. The enemy pistil glanced to the ceiling of her machine's cockpit, to her partner, and then, finally, to him.
"You are three quarters human and one quarter klax. They cannot identify your human donors, but assume they are at least partly based on Zero Two. Your klax genes match those of Elistre, princess of the klaxosaurs."
Alpha slumped. The energy drained from his body. That same klaxosaur took a tentative step forward.
"They consider you family," the girl continued. "And they are happy you are alive."
The klaxosaur Vizeri hugged his M9, and Alpha's new world began early.
Higher and higher!
Beyond the veil!
Up Hringhorni soared!
The dead Earth glinted!
Faster they twisted!
That rocket, how it roared!
"What's the point of this again?"
"Lily, I swear-"
"No, Sam, look," the girl snapped. "If what your mom and Captain Richter said is true, we're all fucked five ways to Sunday. Why are we boarding up wooden houses with, you know, more *wood*? Trees can't stop a wormhole, girl!"
Naomi hammered in the nail perhaps a bit harder than she should've. "Bitching won't stop a wormhole either!"
"That's not the point!"
"Guys! Please!" Santiago pleaded. "Arguing will only get us killed!"
Tensions, obviously, ran high. Across the city people muttered and questioned and whispered their doubts. For the most part the anger only fueled their speed, but here and there temperaments frayed and bouts of shouting spilled into the air.
"We don't have anywhere else to go," the Hispanic man continued. "Hunkering down is our best bet."
"What about that old bunker?" Lily questioned.
Naomi shook her head. "Too small and run down. Chances are it'd collapse quicker than the houses, even. And besides, how many would actually go? Half the city thinks it's haunted."
A new voice joined in.
"Um... um! I - I b-brought more... wood!"
Naomi recognized the pale girl. She looked like Zero Two.
"Thanks. Theta, right?"
Theta handed her the boards. "Y-Yes!"
"Aren't Miku and Zorome supposed to be with you?"
"They... they were! They're answering... um... q-questions. Again."
Naomi suppressed her grimace. News of her squad's role in the coming events had spread through Asphodel with just as much zeal. While some of the elderly remained suspicious, the vast majority appreciated their efforts. But scavenging was optional and few of the citizenry had ventured beyond the Barrier; with Squad 13 engaged in their battle, Argentea's crippled parasites were left to bear the brunt of Asphodel's curiosity and worry, and the impeding rapture only exacerbated the emotional pleas.
They took it in stride. They were warriors, and they could handle it. Of all the people she'd met, only Ichigo matched Zorome and Miku in sheer mental fortitude.
Even still: old world celebrities had bodyguards for a reason.
"I should go check on them."
"Oh no you don't!" Lily demanded. "The first rule, Sam! First rule! Finish the job!"
"Lily-"
"It's fine, it's fine. Go on, dear. I'll take your place."
They turned to the building's doorway, from which the old librarian peered. He held a small hammer.
Santiago shook his head, almost appalled. "No, sir, there's no need. We can handle it."
"The books are under lock and key, the furniture has been adequately positioned and the floors, swept. I insist!"
Naomi's friends shared a fearful look. By no means was the city perfect, by no means had the journey been smooth or utopian - but the next generation stood on the shoulders of the previous, and Asphodel's education had instilled in them a keen respect for those who'd done their part.
Chief among them was the city librarian. He'd scribed half those books himself. If they survived this and word got out, they'd be on manure duty for a year.
"S-Sir, please..."
Lily was more adamant. She squared her shoulders. "It's our turn now, gramps! You should rest!"
Santiago affixed her with a glare potent enough to boil anthrax. The spunky blonde withered.
"T-Term of endearment..."
But the man's guffawing laugh told them he took no offense.
"Very well, very well!" he barked. "Then I will provide refreshments! What good is the end of the world without a cold glass of water? Thank the founders for their plumbers!"
Scavengers took torches to the FCS blast doors. Men stacked on both sides; Hachi took stock of their numbers.
"Sajimi," he radioed. "Are they still in there?"
"Affirm, Hachi! Three of 'em are pinned hard, but we've still got comms!"
"Copy. Keep us updated."
"Wilco!"
He didn't know how Kyuma and his stragglers got into the plantation's fire control system. It didn't matter. What mattered was the progress they'd gifted the operation, and here, at this juncture in history, every second counted.
They'd get medals, provided they survived.
He turned to Richter. "We need to get the doors off their hinges. I want the explosives for the generator breach."
His scavenger counterpart nodded in agreement. "We can handle it."
The man shuffled a bit down the wall, careful not to expose himself to possible APE stragglers.
"Specialist Cross!" he roared.
"Aye!" returned a shout.
A burly scavenger maneuvered his way to their position. Richter gave him a once over.
"You still have it, lad?"
The man gasped static and hefted a monster of a weapon, an old world firearm Hachi didn't recognize.
"Clenchin' it tighter than my asshole, sir!"
"Good man. Knock it down."
"Affirm!"
He approached the door's corner, shared a nod with the torchers. The teeth of the weapon's muzzle locked against door's hinges.
"What is that thing?" Hachi asked.
"Automatic shotgun," the scavenger captain explained. "Docs call it an AA-12. Last one in existence, far as we know."
Hachi grimaced, keyed his radio to the shared command frequency.
"All squad leads, Hachi. Friendlies are suppressed on the left hand side. P.I.D. your targets, perform final gear checks now. Out."
Richter echoed the command to his own men. Muffled chatter echoed up and down the hall.
"Hachi," Sajimi radioed. "They're on their last mags."
"Copy."
Richter's torchers turned to them as the call came. The captain nodded at their thumbs ups.
"Stack up!" he called.
"Red 1, stack up!"
"Red 4, stack up!"
"Delta 3, stack up!"
Richter flashed Cross a hand sign. The scavenger braced the gun.
Thunk, thunk, thunk.
The door screeched. He moved to the opposite hinge.
Thunk, thunk, thunk.
It slammed to the floor. The specialist put his boot flat against the metal.
"The Earth says hello, you planet-killing fuckers!"
He pushed.
Bang.
"Breach!"
Bang. Bang.
Bangbangbangbangbangbang-
Cut off from the outside world's chaos, Beta and Zeta remained ignorant of the revelations plaguing their family. They and the few surviving Franxx squads continued their battle deep within the Gaia's bowels. Morale remained high despite dwindling numbers - polar opposite to the situation on the surface.
It was there amid the factory's mechanical perpetuity that the remaining five dozen Franxx chose to make their stand. Their heroic struggle, though ultimately futile, proved distracting enough to prevent the kraken from pursuing any further actions.
"Remember your duty!" Beta roared into the clash. "Deny them everything! Humanity will build the future on our shoulders!"
"YES SIR!"
Chlorophytum and the klaxosaur detachment were relentless in their pursuit. The Gaia aided the chase; hallways formed and collapsed, rooms with exits became dead ends. Skill showed in the saboteurs' survival, for within the beast the terrain itself was as deadly as any enemy.
Indeed, those parasites could be considered fodder's exact opposite. The Nines chose many of them for their tenacity in the face of certain death. One squad in particular, having lost their plantation early in the war, had warred for countless years upon the Crevasse's bloody soils. Those men and women, once boys and girls, saw the facility fall. Now they fought for its reclamation.
Klaxosaurs swarmed the human detachment from all sides: the entrances; the walls; the ceiling. Viciously they warred - robotic limbs were severed, mechanical blood oozed and splashed. With a unified, indignant roar the Franxx charged forward five paces, formed a wall and raised their spears. Their enemies, aloof to the concept of death, impaled themselves upon the line.
Still more came. Chlorophytum raised a silent hand, and at their order a swarm of drones launched themselves off the walls and descended from above upon the outnumbered party. Those Franxx in the middle lifted their weapons and sliced them to ribbons, but with so few allies remaining the situation descended into chaos.
"HOLD!" Beta roared.
"HOLD!" the humans echoed.
Drones perished by the dozens. The Gutenbergs signaled their commands to flank and isolate, but the Franxx would not break their ranks. Into a circle they retreated, shoulder to shoulder and squad to squad. Eviscerated machinery piled upon the floor like a makeshift junkyard.
Chlorophytum, recognizing the futility of their orthodox tactics, instead utilized the terrain.
They ordered the Gaia to drop the ceiling.
Its low groan reverberated through the chamber. As the drones pulled back the environment shifted. Beta barked panicked commands.
"Break ranks! Evade!"
Franxx bolted in all directions. Shapeshifting pillars descended upon them like a hammer to an anvil, and as the line evaporated so too did their unified defense. Drones and Gutenbergs reengaged their quarry. Isolated as they were, the klaxosaurs' numbers became too much to bear.
But just as things became hopeless... the aggression stopped. The drones froze in time, statues before the exhausted humans.
For Chlorophytum had received word from the outside.
One by one the Gutenbergs dropped their weapons and raised their hands in the universal human sign of surrender.
High above their war within a war, the ceiling opened. Light streamed down upon Beta's ragged machine, and brought with it the hope of the future. An APE VTOL transport circled the opening, a mere speck against the sun's rays.
"To all APE forces in the Grand Crevasse," the message began, "this is your commander, Nine Alpha."
In the room's center, Chlorophytum spread their arms. The attachments lining the appendages unfurled into a pair of wings. Fire erupted from their waist, swirled about their form.
"The klaxosaurs are human."
They took flight.
"I repeat: the klaxosaurs are human."
I'm sorry.
But sympathy couldn't heal their pain.
It's my fault. If I'd come here sooner... if I hadn't hesitated, this needn't have happened.
And assigning blame wouldn't bring her back.
"Why?" Zero Two rasped through her tears. "Why are y-you... always so..."
The facility shook; a stray round from the plantation slammed into its base. No one inside cared.
For the same reason you are. We feel taking responsibility will give us some semblance of control when we have none.
Elistre's 'words' were a dagger carving grief into the hybrid girl's soul. Zero Two pushed herself into Hiro. A heart-wrenching wail spilled from her lips.
His arms wrapped around her in a futile attempt to console. "It shouldn't have been her."
Nor should it have been him. Nor should it have been my parents.
Hiro's jaw tightened. "But... but they at least all had something before...!"
Do you truly believe that?
...
We were not a society of fools. We saw the writing on the wall. Every day inched closer to the inevitable. The city lived in a mire of tension. Desperation. No, ours was one of suffering. I envy Strelizia.
Something between a sob and shout spewed from his lips.
"She w-was born into a death machine! Born with a... with a spear in her hands! We made her kill people!"
And then you helped her escape.
...
Debris glinted in the sun's rays, yet still they didn't understand.
You two have only ever seen your actions from your own perspectives. Your daughter's story mirrors your own. She comes into the world as a weapon, despair and war her only profession, and with your help manages to free herself of the shackles.
Woeful exhaustion lashed at them in waves.
Your escape was her escape. For probably the first time, she was given the opportunity to learn and think.
Like a tidal wave it drowned. It bashed them upon the rocks below.
The saurians are beings of magma. The actions we're taking will deactivate all of humanity's machines and free the spirits of my friends and family. Your daughter would have died either way. She, too, is a casualty of this conflict.
And there it was.
Pain. Overwhelming, incomprehensible pain. The pressure behind their eyes, the weight upon their chests, the grief and wails that rolled from their persons.
And she undoubtedly understood all of that. She knew. She had my parents' logs, she had the lion's data. And rather than sit and wait for the end to claim her, she chose to take advantage of her situation and give you both the best chance for survival.
Truth is colored.
It cares not for right or wrong. It can be interpreted in many ways.
"No parent should have to bury their child!" Zero Two wept.
Elistre rested her head against the wall, her own tears freely falling.
And no child should see their parents suffer.
Their miserable silence lasted but a moment; something far larger than the previous projectile slammed into the outer wall just outside the control room. Ceiling panels fell to the floor, and at last the flickering lights failed.
"Damn it," Hiro swore. "What now?"
The Grand Crevasse fell silent - but the world beyond did not.
A shadow appeared in the hole left by Strelizia's prior entrance. Biomechanical fingers gripped its outside edges. Something climbed inside.
"Hello?!" a speaker called.
...
The hybrids knew the voice.
"Hiro? Zero Two? Guys?"
That something-
Long ago, Zero Two would've thrown such people to the wind with nary a thought nor prayer. Now?
Now...
"Ikuno," she whispered.
-was Chlorophytum.
Spotlights found them amid the rubble and dirt and grime. Chlorophytum placed its palm upon the entry walkway.
"Guys! Guys!"
Futoshi's excitement stirred their tired muscles; the hybrids supported each other and climbed to their feet.
The relief overwhelmed. Hiro smiled so he wouldn't cry.
"I... I never thought I'd see you again..."
"Sh-Shut up and get inside, dumbass!" his stamen counterpart choked out. "Everyone misses you! We can catch up after we survive this thing!"
They approached, but Zero Two paused, and turned back to their third musketeer. A hand extended.
"Come on."
Elistre hesitated one last time. She looked to her grandparents down below. The twin snakes only returned her gaze.
Her fists clenched. Her shoulders shook. She took the hand.
Thanks...
"You two really are batshit insane."
Zorome rolled his eyes. Naomi wanted to slap him.
"C'mon Naomi, it's not like the world's endi- agh! Ack! Dammit Miku, at least let me finish the joke first!"
Miku's hand ceased its ruffling.
"Now's not the time, idiot! Who knows how long it'll take us to get there, we gotta go now!"
Utter stupidity. Seriously!
"Guys?! Hello?! Number one, it's rough terrain and Zorome's wheelchair-bound, and number two, do you even have a plan for when you get there? Did Ichigo leave you instructions?"
Idiot number one scratched his cheek.
"Well, I mean, Ichigo's crazy now so who knows if her instructions would do anything, you know? And if reality's really gone whacko like she says it has, chances are the magma'll tell us what to do when we get there. We'll be fine!"
...
These two were responsible for sealing a wormhole?!
"You can't believe her and also not believe her!"
Then Naomi paused, forced herself to calm down. Breathe in. Breathe out. Ho-kay.
"Alright, you know what? I'm going with you. God knows if you'll make it more than three steps through the woods before that thing gets stuck on something."
Argentea's parasites shared a look. Both shrugged.
"Sure, fine by us," Miku replied, nonchalant. "Let's go."
Chlorophytum soared like an eagle. Hiro and Zero Two clutched each other tight, pale.
"What's the matter?" Futoshi asked. "You guys've pulled worse stunts before, haven't you?"
Ikuno leveled him with a glare. He blinked.
"What?"
No verbal response was given. The hybrids closed what little distance remained between them.
Chlorophytum's feminine voice lilted in their minds.
We are sorry for your loss.
That woke Futoshi up. He winced at his prior words; it was apology enough.
Here is fine, Chlorophytum.
Of course, princess. Ikuno, dear?
"Right." She prepared the speakers, set the volume as loud as it would go.
A gust of wind came with the faceplate's descent. Elistre adjusted her headband and marched out.
They hovered over the battlefield. Scuffles continued here and there as the last zealous holdouts refused to lay down their arms. They were stopped not by the klaxosaurs, but by their own companions. Franxx wrapped their arms around scared, desperate allies. Uneasy silence had taken hold over the two sides, a tense ceasefire that suffered under countless years of hatred, vitriol and dire necessity.
Such was the state of the world.
My friends.
The klaxosaurs turned their heads to the sky. Out of curiosity and due caution, the Franxx followed their gazes. Elistre balanced herself on the faceplate's edge, secured by Chlorophytum's cables.
She turned to the cockpit, and held out her hand.
Zero Two and Hiro didn't respond, overcome as they were by their loss.
She chose to take advantage.
...
They stood. Chlorophytum secured them, too.
Elistre, princess of the klaxosaurs, last of her race, took Zero Two's hand. Through her dried tears and through her many losses, she led the hybrids to the center of the faceplate. Ikuno took a deep breath.
Hiro and Zero Two, the final products of generational torture and experimentation, stood before the Franxx and the saurians, the humans and the klax.
Elistre, princess of the klaxosaurs, savior of her race, did not declare victory.
We are going to live.
"We are going to live."
"There they are."
"I see them! Oh no, oh no, that looks bad..."
Kokoro, we must hurry. Delphinium's children must be rescued.
"Right!"
Genista powered through the rock and sand. Dust billowed in their wake. Delphinium laid silent in the ruins, a fatal stab through their torso - but the head remained undamaged.
The momentum would have seen them pass their objective by, but Kokoro dropped the Franxx to all fours and skid to a halt. On hands and knees they climbed atop their destroyed ally.
"Please be okay," she whispered. "Please be okay. Please be okay."
Genista's hatch opened; Mitsuru dropped himself off the side. His boots clanged against the metal of Delphinium's neck, and with great effort he hauled himself up against the cheek and ear to pry open the emergency latch.
The faceplate swung out with enough force to lay a man low. Genista shifted their body lower, grabbed Dephinium's shoulders and hauled them into a sitting position. Mitsuru climbed into the cockpit.
Ichigo and Goro lay in each other's arms, their forms surrounded by a twisting mass of wire and cable. Out cold, but very much alive.
One of the cables twitched as Mitsuru approached; startled, he flinched back, yelped. A low groan reverberated from within the pistil terminal. The cockpit's lights flickered.
"Save... my parents..."
A voice, swathed in static and misery. One Mitsuru had never heard before.
"We will," he whispered. "I promise."
The last dregs of power found within Delphinium's system slowly burned away.
"Thank... you..."
Hringhorni's cargo vessel approached Cosmos; the station rejected all automated docking requests.
Typical.
"Hmph. Stubborn to the last," Werner muttered. "Strelizia? Could you bring me to the airlock? Left hand side."
The machine rumbled in response. After tightening the cables' seals around the cockpit, Strelizia tore her way out of the pod. Her thrusters tested themselves. Frank marveled as the girl inside the system acclimated the lion's corpse to the new environment.
Franxx were not designed for orbital operation. Not in the slightest.
With the utmost caution, Strelizia drifted her way to the station's exterior. She maneuvered alongside it as an astronaut conducts a spacewalk, augmenting her mechanical locomotion with the occasional burst from the thrusters on the skirt.
To Werner's surprise, the airlock was already open.
"Unbelievable. Make up your mind already, fool."
Oxygen in order. Backpack ready.
"Alright. Let me out, Strelizia."
The faceplate opened. He drifted to the airlock. Upon his safe arrival, Werner turned and regarded his wayward granddaughter.
...
"I'm proud of you. Thank you for everything."
Her face closed. Green eyes glowed against the dark. The airlock sealed, hissed.
Werner entered Cosmos proper to find a pistol pointed at his forehead.
"Hello, Gabriel."
The Vice Chairman wore his outlandish outfit no longer. A human face, a man in his late forties, stared back instead.
"I ought to shoot you where you stand."
He sighed through the mechanical jaw. "We are scientists, not savages."
"Morality exits feet first when it concerns humanity's extinction."
"I agree." He held up the backpack. "That's why I brought a dead man's switch."
Such a passive-aggressive way to lower a firearm. His counterpart regaled him hatefully, then pushed off a wall. Werner followed; they floated deeper into the station, to the self-proclaimed 'meeting chambers'.
The APE council awaited him. Gorilla crossed his arms as they entered.
"I don't know whether to admire your tenacity or piss on your corpse, Werner."
"Isaiah," he replied. His lone eye drifted to each of his associates. "Glad to see you're all in health."
"Just stop," John seethed. "You didn't come here for small talk. Everyone here knows where we all stand. Show us your proof, Werner. Show us why you've fucked the species."
Words held no meaning. After so much death, after so much insanity, actions alone mattered. Each person here saw the collapse themselves. Each person here survived it, and did what they could to fix the problems as they arose.
The same goal. Different methods. Disagreements over how to proceed. Arguments over inconclusive data. Friendships snapped in two while the fauna evaporated and the flora disintegrated. How to test? How to analyze?
How to make sense of a new world born from a mistake, where the rules no longer applied.
From the backpack, Werner retrieved small bundle, a pair of items. Unwrapping it revealed the contents: a wilted, charred flower, and a nondescript flask. The things Elistre brought him.
The lying man told the truth.
"The klaxosaurs are an ancient human sister species entombed in magma-altered industrial vehicles. The magma is liquidized reality squeezed out from a wormhole they accidentally opened during their civilization's heyday. Utilizing the correct procedures to return the magma to the wormhole will reset the self-destruction and correct causality."
Lemur buried his face in his hand.
"Oh my god, not this again. We've already told you the data was inconclusive. We ran the tests we could. What more do you want, Werner? Please."
"Look," Werner snapped. "All of you, just look. Look at the flower."
One by one the council members turned their frosty, disillusioned gazes to the blackened flower long past death. Werner removed the top of the glass covering protecting it from the outside elements. He unscrewed the flask, placed its opening within the covering, and shook the magma onto the leaves and stem like a cocktail.
He let the bird of paradise flower, the reborn strelitzia, float in the cabin.
Werner stared at them.
"We repeat this for the entire planet."
...
Silence.
"The container won't survive reentry," John whispered.
Werner pointed out the viewport. "It doesn't have to."
The hybrid machine floated just beyond the station, its head lifted to the stars.
"That machine created the wormhole," he explained. "It knows how to fix it, too. Give it the container. It'll handle the rest."
Flickering hope lit their visages one by one.
"You are sure this will work," Lemur demanded. "Absolutely, positively sure. You'd be willing to present the hypothesis before a committee?"
"My wife died for this. I have no other choice."
"We angle the station and prime the backup generators," Baboon suggested. "Use the bomb Werner undoubtedly brought as an igniter. With the proper alignment it'll give the machine the needed velocity."
"Where's the hole's location?" Gabriel asked.
"One kilometer north of Asphodel," Werner replied. "I made sure to mark it myself."
"The Barrier," John hissed. "Will they be safe?"
"If the machine's calculations are correct, there should be enough ambient magma there to shield the city and provide a fail safe while the hole closes. The point is to disperse the magma into the atmosphere and use it to stitch the hole shut. Doing so will align things in their proper orders. If it works, they'll come out the other side on an Earth that progressed through spacetime naturally after the collapse. Paris will be covered in moss and trees, for example. Not dust and ash."
The scientists put two and two together.
"Like it is inside the Barrier," Lemur noted.
"Correct. Asphodel's immediate surrounds are the intended state of the world."
Gorilla maneuvered over to a communications terminal - the one connecting Cosmos to the surface.
"And will physics work again? None of this illogical idiocy?"
Werner shrugged. "The Franxx shouldn't work anymore, if that counts for something."
A myriad different emotions crossed the council members.
Square-cubed law.
Papa John held out his hand.
"Give me the bomb."
{This is a story of self-sacrifice.}
Sure enough, the wheelchair got stuck.
"Damn it!" Miku grunted. "C'mon, really?!"
Zorome looked down at his amputated legs. "Guys? I have an idea."
"Huh?"
"Naomi, do you think you could carry me?"
"I... can."
The voice wasn't Naomi's. The trio looked to the new face. Zorome's brow furrowed.
"Hey, aren't you... uh..."
"Th-Theta," she rasped. "I... um... I saw you s-sneak out the gates."
Zorome blinked, then turned to Miku and Naomi.
"Help me unwrap my bandages, yeah? We'll make a harness."
Naomi's eyebrows shot up her forehead.
"Zorome, are you sure?"
He nodded.
"Don't got a choice."
{Tenacity.}
In the depths below Stonehenge, the two snakes burst into the cavern of their former lives. They coiled through its walls and buildings, focused on retrieving the last items yet to be passed on to the next generation.
From the home of their children, the late Strellic and Elizia, they pulled three sets of clothing.
{Acceptance.}
The hours came and went.
"Upload complete! We're beginning generator modifications now!"
Hachi stared at Plantation 1's monitors.
"Have we received everyone?"
Beta sighed. "Most have returned at this point, though there are still some stragglers. Per Papa's instructions, our parasites are hooking their machines to the generator. His communique was quite helpful."
Hachi glanced over his shoulder.
APE personnel, defectors and scavengers alike hustled to and fro, their goals aligned for the first time since the fall of civilization. Weapons emptied of their magazines formed a makeshift boxing ring, where various parties entered to settle any remaining disputes and grudges.
The Gaia's massive tendril - a construct once intent on seeing the plantation destroyed - now attached itself to a makeshift connection port in the generator's side, hastily constructed by the klaxosaurs' drones. Magma energy transferred from its depths into the plantation.
The slightest of grins worked its way to his lips.
"Sometimes, that's all it takes."
{Reconciliation.}
Elistre received the bundle from her grandparents.
What is this?
For the future.
She frowned.
No more of that.
Huh?
No more frowning, Elistre. You made this possible. Your losses end today. Be proud. You've freed your tired people.
At their comment, Elistre turned her attention to the depths of the human facility's hangar.
Zero Two and Hiro faced a shorter blonde man.
{Hope.}
"I'm sorry for your loss, Zero Two."
His sister couldn't contain her tears, and no longer tried.
"You're... you're always just... so...!"
Alpha stared at her feet, eyes downcast.
"I saw her future."
He lifted his gaze to find her staring at him, flabbergasted.
"How?" she whimpered.
"I fought a blue machine. One of your squadmates, I believe. During that time Delta and I witnessed moments from her life, as seen from the perspective of a bespectacled young man with blue hair. His name was Midel."
...
"Those... those moments..." she rasped. "Had they already happened?"
"No. One of them referenced that very battle."
A lengthy silence followed. Alpha's attention switched to his sister's partner.
"Is your name actually 'Darling'?"
The man's red, tear-stained eyes widened.
"What... I don't..."
"That's what you called yourself before you threw me into the wall all those months ago."
Exasperated shame took the hybrid over.
"A-Ah... right. I'm sorry about that. I'm a bit overprotective."
"No need, the fault laid with myself. I never made an attempt to understand her side of things. Our family was never taught how to handle our emotions."
It felt strange, to let it all go. But simple, in a way. Almost refreshing.
Better to be done with the charade now than let it persist. He was far too tired to continue pouring salt in old wounds. They all were.
"My name is Hiro. Darling's what she calls me."
"I see. Take care of my sister, would you?"
The man squeezed Iota's - Zero Two's hand.
"Always have, always will."
"Good." He dismissed himself, his piece spoken.
"Alpha."
Alpha paused and glanced at his sister. She swallowed, collected herself.
"Why did you tell me? About what you saw?"
Why indeed...
"My entire life, I've lived with the assumption that I would die seeing Papa off this planet. Humanity would be saved. Our family wouldn't. We were jealous and angry when we saw you trying to escape and build a future without us. We wanted what you had, and it frustrated us when it seemed like you took that privilege for granted."
...
"Seeing Midel's world... knowing that option still existed despite everything that happened - it made me happy. I want that future. I want to see those visions become a reality, and know I had a part in making it happen. That's all."
Zero Two's free hand clenched into a fist. Her face scrunched up into that familiar emotional outpouring.
"If... when she comes back, I want you to be her uncle!"
...
Ah...
So that's what it felt like...
"I'd like that very much."
{Empathy.}
The International Space Station detonated.
Its explosion propelled the collected magma, the girl Strelizia, and the body she occupied to a rendezvous with not destiny, but a goal she'd established for herself.
{Determination.}
After what felt like hours of shifting positions, switching the designated carrier, and a whole lot of cursing, the four wayward children stumbled into the grove.
Karina's grave stood in the center, against a backdrop of flowers curling in the gentle breeze. Evening sunlight crested through the trees; twinkling fireflies danced among its rays.
"What... what do we do?" Naomi panted.
"Hell if I know..." Zorome grumbled. He winced, and tried his best to ignore the sore pain in his waist and thighs.
But Miku blinked, squinted, then rubbed her eyes.
"You guys don't see that?"
Her partner groaned. "Oh, not you too. I thought you just faked your craziness, Miku!"
She whacked his arm.
"No, seriously. There's a woman by the grave. C'mon."
The other three exchanged odd looks, but followed nevertheless. Miku led them to the tombstone. She nodded at nothing.
"I... think we gotta put our hands on it."
They did so after a moment's hesitation. Theta lowered Zorome to the ground, and he scooted closer with his hands.
A man and woman, both with horns and blue skin, blinked into existence before them. They would've been oddly reminiscent of Zorome and Miku in appearance, had the two been adults.
"Should've brought snakes," a masculine voice muttered. It confused them, for the man's lips didn't move with the words.
The woman rolled her eyes with a grin.
"Argen, stop."
The air left Miku's lungs.
"Ar...Argen...?"
The woman's head twisted in her direction. Her ponytail bobbed with the movement.
"You've grown, Miku."
"Who are you?" Naomi asked.
"We are representations of Argen and Teana, based on how Miku imagines them in her memories," Argen explained.
Theta frowned. "Based on? So you're... not the real... thing?"
Teana shrugged.
"It's a rough approximation. The past is subjective. People remember things different ways, and memories change over time. The magma shows the objective past, reflected through the individual's subjective viewpoint. Miku has Teana's magma in her, so she's the vector."
"This is the one spot where those memories can be given a constant image and voice," Argen continued. "At this tombstone, and nowhere else. This is the wormhole."
"Unless you're Ichigo," Zorome drawled. Argen laughed.
"There's always an exception! Like now, for example. We can talk with you guys because Argentea's magma is still fairly fresh. It hasn't fully dispersed yet."
Naomi released and grabbed the tombstone several times. The images flickered in and out of her vision.
"This is so weird."
An epiphany struck Zorome like a bolt of lightning. He craned his neck to Miku, smirking.
"Argen looks like me. Teana looks like you."
She blushed.
"Sh-Shut up!"
"So... what do... we do?" Theta asked.
The sun set behind the trees. Twilight descended.
"Disperse the magma around Asphodel and prepare it for absorption," Teana explained. "And try not to get sucked into the wormhole. That too. You guys are the anchor point. Without you, reality won't know where to resume spacetime. So, basically, don't let go of the tombstone."
Miku gulped. "A-And we're doing this now?!"
"Nah, we've got a few hours until it begins. Should happen at midnight."
Zorome's shoulders slumped.
"Should've brought snacks."
Miku and Teana both rolled their eyes.
{Friendship.}
And then...
As the new day approached...
"Guys! They're waking up!"
Ichigo and Goro woke from their slumber.
The girl rubbed the sleep from her eyes. Her partner checked their surroundings.
Those surroundings were the elated faces of their squadmates.
"What...?" Ichigo mumbled.
"The battle is over," Mitsuru explained. "We're waiting. It shouldn't be long now."
"Waiting?" Goro asked, confused. "Waiting for what?"
"For Strelizia to get back."
The feminine voice gave Ichigo pause. The parasites of Genista and Chlorophytum stepped away.
Zero Two and Hiro sat on the other side of the hallway they occupied, dirtied, bruised, but alive. They stood.
Ichigo's lip quivered. She bounded to her feet.
The two girls embraced.
"I missed you!"
"I missed you too, Ichigo!"
{Reunions.}
[COMPROMISED - LEFT ELBOW SERVO]
My name...
[SYSTEM ERROR - SYSTEM ERROR]
...is Strelizia.
[WARNING - OVERHEAT]
And I am trapped in a corpse.
[WARNING - OVERPRESSURE]
I move this body like a puppeteer controls a doll.
[JOINT OVERLOAD]
And for a long time now, I've... wondered. About who I am. About why I'm here. I tried to ask questions... but this body is silent.
[CRITICAL MALFUNCTION]
Because while you can force a corpse to move, you cannot make it talk.
[INTEGRITY FAILURE - INTEGRITY FAILURE]
I believed my fate to be a curse. But now... now I consider it a blessing!
[STRUCTURAL FAILZJZHXBS-]
For I feel no pain, even as the air pressure tears the horn from this head!
[ERROR - ERROR - ERROR - ERROR]
Because I know I have two horns, not one!
[CORE STABILITY - 18%]
And I do not fear, even as the magma rips through these eye sockets!
[MEMORY STABILITY - 216%]
Because I know they are not my eyes!
[PREREQUISITE PARAMETERS MET]
So though they burn, and though the magma melts them away, I will put one hand in front of the other and claw my way to victory... just like they taught me!
[INITIATING FINAL PROTOCOLS]
And I will accomplish my goals! And I will choose not to regret! And I will do what I believe is right! Because I am not a machine, damn it!
[DISPLAYING LOG MESSAGE 3249 OF 3249]
I am Strelizia!
[WHAT EXAMPLE WOULD THAT SET FOR HER?]
And I will make my parents proud!
[MAGMA DISPERSAL - ACTIVATED]
{Pride.}
"Now. Now, now, now!"
The clock neared midnight.
Naomi gulped. "O-Okay, um... Th-Theta! Focus on Asphodel!"
"How do I... d-disperse it?"
A fireball headed directly for them. The air trembled.
"They're memories, right?" Miku realized. "Ichigo said it's reality! So... so use your memories! Give them form!"
"M-My..."
Theta's eyes widened. A glowing, biomechanical hand emerged from the ground beside them, pressed its palm flat against the ground.
Argen and Teana grinned, and vanished.
"It's not enough," Naomi urged. "We can do this. All of it, guys! Protect the city! Protect it like it's-"
"-Plantation 13."
An orange glow suffused the landscape.
"Zorome?" Miku whispered.
"Like it's the city we got lost in...!"
Particles became lines. Lines became buildings.
A dome arose.
"That's..."
The Mistleteinn bird cage wrapped around the city of Asphodel. Orange particles crawled across the sky like a spider web.
Tears streamed down Zorome's cheeks. Theta's summoned hand became an arm. Then a shoulder.
A head emerged from the ground.
"The things that... protected us! Epsilon...!" she whispered.
The fireball detonated above their heads. Imagination and reality inverted. The midnight sky twisted and churned into a whirlpool stolen from the void. Stars spiraled. Clouds coiled.
"Hang on!" Naomi yelled.
The four children wrapped their arms around the tombstone.
"Everything!" Miku urged. "Remember everything!"
The events of the past months played out in their minds. Magma condensed, dispersed, fluctuated, solidified.
Theta's destroyed M9 pulled itself from the ground, and rose above the treeline. The wormhole grew.
"That's bad!" Theta grunted. "That's... very bad!"
"The magma's not entering fast enough!" shouted Naomi into the insanity.
"Miku!"
She looked to Zorome.
"Remember the battle!" he roared. "Remember Argentea!"
The crippled parasites closed their eyes in concentration. Magma swirled around the grove. The imagined M9 placed its hands upon the wormhole. Naomi blinked.
"Theta, what're you...?"
The girl strained from the pressure.
"Buying... time...!"
The particles began to trace an object.
Plantation 1 rumbled.
"There's not enough magma!" an engineer called. "We can't vent fast enough!"
Squad 13 huddled in a circle. Zero Two squeezed her eyes shut.
"C'mon Strelizia, c'mon Strelizia, you can do it!"
Zero Two! Hiro!
They lifted their heads. Elistre beckoned to them from a doorway.
"What now?" she whined.
I need your help. The klaxosaurs are going to try something, and my chemicals alone aren't strong enough to aid them. Bring me to the highest point of this facility.
The two hybrids shared a nod.
"Guys," Hiro said. "We're gonna be right back. We need to go to Mistleteinn."
Ichigo blinked.
"We're going with you."
"But..."
"Ichigo's right," Futoshi grunted. "No more separating!"
Everyone was in agreement. As a group they stood and followed.
Fingers became a hand.
Feet became a leg.
A knee into a thigh.
A bicep to a shoulder.
Old world fighter jets rocketed into the wormhole. Every book Naomi read, every story her city told. All of it, she used.
Theta bowed her head.
"Come on... Epsilon...!"
The M9 braced its shoulder against the void.
Trace the chest.
Form the head.
Attach the parts.
And say its name.
As one, the parasites screamed their orders to the heavens.
"HOLD IT BACK!"
From the grave, one last time.
It rose.
"ARGENTEAAAAAAAA!"
Squad 13 and the princess of the klaxosaurs pushed their way through the emergency exit door leading to the Mistleteinn forest. They sprinted towards the long-abandoned parasite house.
"What's the plan?" Mitsuru called. "What are we doing?"
"The klaxosaurs are gonna try something!" Hiro shouted back. "Elistre needs our help to signal them!"
A strange time and place for the squad to learn the princess' name. Ikuno and Kokoro nodded at each other.
"We can help!" Chlorophytum's pistil acknowledged. "We have connections to our Franxx!"
Zero Two pointed at the house. "We can do it from the roof! That's the highest point we have access to!"
"What are they going to try?" Goro asked.
As he asked, the Gaia's tendril withdrew from Plantation 1. A massive number of klaxosaurs crawled about its surface; the kraken pushed away and rolled through the sand, in the direction of the wormhole eclipsing the distant horizon. The group reached the door; Elistre's backpack ripped the it from its hinges. They all bolted inside.
"Elistre!" Zero Two repeated. "What are they doing?!"
...
"They're going to self-destruct en masse, Gaia included! The released magma should give Strelizia the boost she needs!"
A bout of grief hit Kokoro at Zero Two's words.
"Genista...!"
"They knew this would happen!" Ichigo claimed. "This was always their ending! Let's just help them do it right!"
Ikuno squeezed her eyes shut, mourning the loss, and took a breath.
The children pushed open the door and emerged onto the room.
FREEDOM!
FREEDOOOOOOM!
FREEDOM!
FREEDOOOOOOM!
The calls rang out across the mobile factory. Gutenbergs lifted their hands in celebration as the remnants of their once-great civilization sped towards glorious release.
Freedom from their bonds. Freedom from their crimes. Freedom from their pain. Freedom from their war.
Now! five voices rang out. You're clear of the humans!
Today, at last: for all they'd lost, for all they'd attempted, for their grandest, most beautiful goal.
In one final cheer to the lion who'd saved them all, the klax species raised their 'voices' in a toast.
We inter you here!
On this field of death!
Having borne witness!
To your last, sacred breath!
The Gaia primed its self-destruct.
Now we may rest!
Now we are done!
You have not failed us!
O great, chosen one!
FREEEEEEEEE-!
Finally...
-DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
The explosion shook the world.
Those wayward souls freed themselves of their shackles.
And charged into the great void.
Critical density was finally reached.
MASTERMIND IN THE FRANXX
Sirens rang. Plantation 1's blast shields lowered.
The citizens of Asphodel huddled together.
As the faux bird cage rippled under the wormhole's throes.
Argentea lowered itself atop four wayward children.
GENESIS
IN THE VOID BEYOND SPACE
IN THAT POINT BEFORE BLACK
THE GIRL INHALED NOTHING
AND FELT SOMETHING CRACK
REINCARNATION
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
A forest. A silent, still forest. Where the previous one had been quaint and humble, this was incredible and magnificent.
Indeed - Garden's forest had changed.
Their breathing was the only sound he could hear. The trees were in bloom. All around them, no matter where they looked, petals fell - vibrant and beautiful, the same shade as her hair. As far as the eye could see, they fluttered to the ground, endless and omnipresent. Their legs carried them through that forest, their destination unknown, until they happened upon a clearing.
A tree of mistletoe.
Full of life and beauty, its leaves swayed in the soft breeze. The beams of sunlight caressed its boughs and warmed their skin. They dared not say a word.
...
Zero Two smiled, and placed the discarded headband at the tree's base.
"Really?" he asked.
"It's a test," she giggled. "I'm hoping we don't need to build an actual tombstone, you know?"
"Yeah, but aren't you gonna use it for-"
"Shh!"
Hiro rubbed his neck. "Right."
"We can get it after," she explained. "It's just to catch her attention."
He laughed. "That's awfully superstitious."
Zero Two grinned, and threw her arms around his neck. "It's her own fault."
"Let's hope it's just a passing phase, in that case."
"And if it isn't?"
He shrugged. "We'll tell her story to the next one."
"I like that idea, darling! Now then." She checked the sun's position. "We have about an hour before the others get here."
"That may not be long enou-"
She jumped him. They tumbled into the flowers.
This is the story of a monster.
"Werner."
"H-Huh... wha...?"
She extended a hand.
It was born into the world an empty vessel.
It hated that emptiness, that lack of purpose.
It raged across the land, destroying all.
Her face burned.
"What if... what if he doesn't like it?"
Ichigo's jaw dropped in disbelief. She paused in her brushing of the girl's locks.
"Honestly, do you hear yourself sometimes?"
Her face burned harder.
"Zero Two, seriously," Miku groaned. "You could walk out there in a trash bag and you'd blow that boy's mind."
Elistre approached her sister from behind, leaned over the shoulder. They stared into the mirror together.
The former princess had resumed her aging. Less younger and older, and more twin. The more the two women grew, the more they saw the resemblances. She lowered the flowery headband over Zero Two's horns, smoothed the girl's sky blue dress.
"I can't believe your grandparents were able to find this."
The klax grinned.
It was my mother's. You have her figure, you know. Lucky.
Zero Two rubbed her elbow into the other girl's gut.
"You don't look half bad yourself, sweetie."
I'm just glad I finally got to wear it. Even if it's not for the intended purpose.
"He's admiring you from the clouds."
I know.
Ikuno poked her head into the room.
"You girls ready? Damn Elistre, looking good!"
Elistre glanced at Zero Two.
"She says you look good."
The girl chewed her lip, took a moment to think.
"Thaaayyynk... yeww?"
A beaming smile lit Ichigo's face. She clapped her hands together.
"Very good, Elistre! Very good!"
But in its agonizing search for purpose, the monster stumbled across another.
Across something similar to itself.
And together, they forged a bond. That emptiness filled.
Unfortunately, the monster's rampage had already destroyed the world.
Hachi and Nana set up stuff for the barbecue. Kyuma and Higosa helped them unpack.
"This been a long time coming?" Higosa questioned.
The two former coordinators shared a knowing look.
"You have no idea," Nana sighed.
The sun shone high in the sky. Birds chirped.
Stricken with grief, the monster and its companion searched for some way to repent. They found none.
"Alas," whispered the bondmate, "this world is dead and broken."
The monster cried out, defeated. Seeking to console, the bondmate added:
"But... perhaps we could create a new one in its stead?"
So did the story of the monster become a story of inheritance.
The isle was made of flower petals collected from the forest. The scavenger corps dropped off some refurbished lawn chairs earlier in the day, before taking off to do their collecting.
A small gathering. Former parasites, mostly, plus Naomi. She'd taken it upon herself to read the vows. Said it was her job or something. She also threatened to murder anyone who objected, but that's a story for another day.
The threat held no worth. No one in the right mind would stop this.
Elistre walked her down the isle. Hiro wore Strellic's old suit; it fit him well. He looked over only when they stood shoulder to shoulder.
His jaw dropped, as everyone knew it would. But that was okay, because hers did too.
Naomi cleared her throat, and prepared her book.
"We are gathered here today to bind these two adorable lovebirds together in holy matrimony."
The hybrids blushed something fierce.
"Do you, Hiro, take Zero Two to be your wife? Do you promise to be true to her in good times and in bad, in sickness in health, until death do-"
Her jaw snapped shut. An awkward silence descended. Naomi frowned.
"That's way too cruel. Hang on, let me start over. Ahem!"
...
"Do you, Hiro, take Zero Two to be your wife? Do you promise to be true to her in good times and in bad, in sickness in health, beyond death and forever more?"
A chill descended Ichigo's back. She caught wind of wedding bells.
"I do."
But no wedding bells rang at this ceremony.
She turned her gaze back to the field leading to Garden's silent complex.
The klax race watched. She blinked, and they were gone.
...
Goro nudged her. "Ichigo? What's wrong?"
Ichigo wiped her eyes, then returned her attention to the couple.
"It's finally over..."
"Do you, Zero Two, take Hiro to be your husband? Do you promise to be true to him in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health, beyond death and forever more?"
It would be the last vision she ever had.
"I do!"
Naomi beamed, clapped the book shut, and tossed it over her shoulders.
"Nobody here objects! No exceptions! I pronounce you husband and wife!"
Laughter and cheering punctuated their kiss.
Long and hard did the monster ruminate on such possibilities.
It had difficulty with many tasks.
So it enlisted the help of allies.
And as a result, it formed numerous, new bonds.
"You're sure this will work?"
Mitsuru cocked a brow. "Do you doubt my education?"
It'd been a long time since the Nines walked through this idled plantation. Lots of time and effort went into getting it back on its legs. Computers hummed away at complex formulae and wild equations.
"Do we have a reason to?" Alpha questioned.
Mitsuru cracked a maniacal grin. He dropped a pamphlet on the desk. Beta grabbed it, and together the family leaned over his shoulder.
Gene therapy?
"If you hold no daggers, neither do I."
And one day, the monster understood it was a monster no longer.
The chime tinkled with their entry.
"This is kinda cute."
"Right? Food here is good, too. Goro and I come all the time."
An elderly man entered from the back. He blinked with recognition.
"Ichigo! How are you, my dear! How's Goro?"
She giggled. "He's fine, he's fine. I brought some new friends today, if that's alright. I told them all about you."
"Is that so?"
Hiro and Zero Two pulled off their oversized hats. The librarian paled.
"Hi," she introduced. "I'm Zero Two. This is my darling, Hiro. We were wondering if we could ask you some things?"
From this realization came the monster's tears.
Babies were loud.
"She's healthy!" Miku cheered. Her first delivery as a new nurse. She cleaned the girl's face. "A beautiful baby girl! Congratulations, Zero Two!"
Zero Two pushed her head into the pillow in pain and exhaustion. She took the bundled child from Miku's arms. Hiro leaned over the bed.
Brilliant green eyes stared up at them. Blue dots sat above thin crimson eyebrows.
"No way..." he whispered.
The child gurgled.
"What's her name?" Miku asked. She prepared a pen and paper for the birth certificate.
But a sudden interruption drew their attention away. Goro leaned his head into the room, his face panicked and coated with sweat.
"Guys! Ichigo's water just broke!"
Miku blinked like an owl. She turned to the new parents. "I'll... be right back, okay? I should be there for that one too."
Hiro laughed and waved her off. He and Zero Two smiled at their daughter.
"Welcome back..."
From the monster's tears came the world.
"...Midel? Midel! Hey!"
Little legs raced through the forest.
"He's fine, Goro. Let him go. C'mon, help me unpack.
"A-Ah, right."
Down the grassy path.
The sunlight sparkled.
And onto the sand.
Their meeting place had long been established. Since their first memories, really. Even at eight years old, his body took him there by itself. The gentle waves brushed his ankles. Midel raced to over to the rocks on the far side, towards the giant slab of crystalline metal the color of brightest sapphire. In their previous meeting, she'd called it a horn. He didn't understand, but that was okay.
They had all the time in the world.
"W-Whaaa- oof!"
As usual, she tried - and failed - to climb it. Midel ran over and offered his hand.
"Hi Streli!"
Big green eyes blinked up at him from beneath her sun hat. Her face collapsed into a giant, toothy smile.
"DARLIN'!"
She took his hand. Once on her feet the young girl pulled up her hat and knocked a tiny pair of blue horns into his forehead.
"Tag! You're it!"
"H-Hey!"
And, also as usual, they began to chase each other around Strelizia's horn.
"Strelizia! Midel!"
The two kids paused and looked up the hill. Strelizia's parents waved at them.
"Come on!" her mother called. "Auntie Elistre beat you two inside! She'll eat all the clam chowder!"
"Nuh uh! No she won't!" Strelizia grabbed his hand and charged to the house. "Let's go!"
They raced past Hiro and Zero Two, laughing.
The two shared a smile.
"Deja vu?" she asked.
"Something like that."
And thus was the cycle...
...
Ah. She'd died.
Well, that was kinda fun. Better than she'd expected. Those kids really went on an adventure.
Hiro and Zero Two raised them well.
...
She really couldn't have any regrets. Honestly. She wasn't a little girl anym-
"Oh, come on. You don't really believe that, do you?"
...
Impossible. That wasn't... no. Just her mind playing tricks on her.
"Princess."
Elistre couldn't take it anymore. She hesitated a glance in the voice's direction.
And there he was, smiling at her.
Already her eyes warmed. She couldn't. She didn't deserve him. Not after all she'd done, not after the disrespect and fighting a war and-
"Thank you, Elistre. For everything. Your actions honored me more than a burial ever could."
...
Tears fell onto the fists she clenched in the waving grass. Young again. Just like that time, all those millennia ago. Flowers bloomed here... wherever here was. Was it a dream? Was it real? She didn't know. She couldn't know.
Did she care?
Once more, she met his eyes. He hadn't moved an inch. Still there. Still waiting.
The man she fell for held his arms out wide.
"I'm so damn proud of you."
The words warmed her more than this place's sun ever could. Relief flooded through her. She raced to him, jumped into his arms.
"Darling!"
...complete.