The Legend continues! HELLO AGAIN DARLINGS! Wow it has been a long time since I've been active here at all. The year is 2020 and Iota has finally published another chapter after months of waiting. Actually it's been over a year. Either way, I had most of this done and it's just been sitting around waiting for me to finish it off. Got a little motivation in my system, so here's a piece to entice people back. Chapter 10 is in the works and will be coming soon as well, but I really wanted to get this out to let you all know I'm back! So, without further ado, enjoy Chapter 9 and the suspense it brings (hopefully)!

"Here," an outstretched hand slid a few photos across the table, having them arrive in front of the intended recipient. "These two are going to be guests in Center City soon. I want you to keep an eye on them, but stay out of sight at all costs. Got it?"

The exasperated, rolling eyes of the recipient are accompanied by a not-so-subtle scoff. "Yeah, sure." The irritation in the reply didn't seem to bother the benefactor in the slightest.

"..." The boss watched the eyes of the coworker suddenly sparkle with curiosity and intrigue as they glossed over the photo.

The eyes shot up, and narrowed, almost as if seeing through the details of the job. "...the girl - she's got horns. What's going on here?"

"You'll see soon enough. Just lay low for a bit. Stay out of the public eye until I give you permission. We don't need to cause any trouble prematurely."

"Hmph. I practically live in a dusty old basement. I don't think the public will be seeing me anytime soon," a simple rearward pointing gesture focused attention on large mechanical doors. "Especially with the experimental phases these guys are going through. Either way, I expect a proper explanation of this. Sooner rather than later would be nice." Rhythmically, frustrated fingers tapped the photos on the table.

"You'll be filled in soon enough." The client's hand waved dismissively at their junior. "The ball is in our court, so to speak. Now… we just need to play nice; if you're even capable of that. Please don't disappoint-"

"Oh. I see what's going on here. These two are another experiment of yours, aren't they? Typical. You're always sticking your nose where it doesn't belong. I really shouldn't be shocked."

"They weren't intended to be… but my curiosity has certainly been piqued, to say the least. I can't help it. Even in this day and age, things still manage to catch my interest."

"Strange, they've managed to catch my interest too, fufufu. Quite the pair of lookers, huh? Something about those two is oddly nostalgic..."

"That's what you'r-"

"Well, I've been cooped up in here for too long anyway." The smug patron stretched as they cut their senior off. "I'm gonna go sightseeing."

"What?! No! I just told you-!" His hands slammed on the table in protest.

"Oh don't piss your pants, old man. I'll stay hidden. As long as it entertains me, that is." After proceeding through the aforementioned electronic door, the younger of the two grins to themselves. "This… seems very exciting, fufufu…"

"I still remember those two like it was yesterday. Has it really been 200 years?" Nana joined the two under Delphinium's inactive form, smiling fondly at the two statues at its feet. "It's been even longer since I saw them as kids. Those two had to shoulder so much weight, that it seemed like by the time they were adults, they had long since matured."

"You really knew them personally?" the boy chirped with fascination. "What were they like?"

The woman smiled as she began to reminisce about the children. "Ichigo was… strong and proud, despite her stature. Her authority was generally well understood amongst the squad, but at times, she could be obsessive and dense too. Emotions were sometimes a driving force for her, but it wasn't always a bad thing. On numerous occasions, her perseverance and level headedness in the heat of battle kept her squad focused and safe. On the other occasions, her partner Goro made up for what she lacked, keeping her thoughts in check and her eyes on the situation at hand."

"She seems like a hotheaded, bossy bitch," Zakura jeered suddenly. "Right, darling? Reminds me of that Perri or whoever."

"Uh y-yeah…" Come to think of it, he almost felt like he had met that girl somewhere before...

Nana chuckled at the joking young couple. Their maturity was lacking a bit, and their more peaceful lifestyles had altered the way they perceived the world around them to a degree, but without a doubt, they were still Hiro and Zero Two. Somewhere deep inside, she knew they harbored fond feelings towards their old friends.

Soon after, the two had regained focus on their teacher's history lesson, paying close attention as she explained just how important Ichigo and Goro were to the perseverance of humanity; why they deserved the memorial they were given.

With the help of her close friends, Ichigo had established the basis of a governmental system at the tender age of 18. Goro, on the other hand, helped keep the fledgling civilizaliation alive with his efforts at remapping the world as it recovered, and finding resources, even helping rediscover lost history and technology of humanity. In many ways, the two were the mother and father of current day humanity.

"You know, I actually remember the time Ichigo had her first child," the woman added in nonchalantly. "Goro rushed in with her, panicked as she was already into labor, yelling 'It's time, it's time!' He certainly caused some confusion."

Hiko and Zakura exchanged glances, before raising their eyebrows as the ranting woman. "Huh…?" Their faces were painted with utter confusion at the sudden change of tone and topic.

Her eyes closed as she was lost in the memory, Nana was completely oblivious to the perplexed nature of the listener's feelings. "Well, we got her all set up in a hurry. Goro refused to move an inch from her side, which caused some complications, but it could have been much worse. Anyway, when the contractions hit hard, he offered his hand up as sacrifice. That poor, poor hand of his. She broke it like a toothpick. Adrenaline is a hell of a drug, you know."

"Ichigo… So she finally settled down, huh? Good for her," Zakura faintly commented to nobody in particular, baring a brief smile.

The boy holding her hand whipped his head from the reminiscing woman to Zakura, baffled as he was. "What do you mean?"

It took several moments for the young girl to realize what she had said. She didn't know this Ichigo personally, why in the world would she say something like that? Shock suddenly painted Zakura's face as she flailed her arms in denial. "I-I have no idea! It just came out!"

"Seems like Zero Two is shining through a bit," Nana explained, lowering the amount of confusion plaguing the teenagers. "That's all. It's quite clear to me that you have some type of connection to them, though how far that goes, I couldn't say for sure."

"I guess that makes sense. Zero Two… Who are you?" Zakura felt her consciousness being warped and drug away from reality. Bits of static whispered in her ears, but not nearly as strong as they had been a week or two prior. She knew this feeling all too well, the memories were back.

This time was different. Much different. It wasn't blurred or vague or blanked out. In fact, it was almost as if she was standing there in person. Everything was vivid, the sights, the smells, the sensations, all of it.

It seemed as though she was in a forest. A light, wet breeze brushed against her calves. Her legs were exposed to the weather, and for some reason, she knew rainfall wasn't far off. Gentle light radiated outwards from a greenhouse from behind, illuminating most of the open area she was standing in.

Without warning, a small hand had clasped her wrist, yanking it back a bit.

"What?" she hissed, turning to view the owner of the hand. A blue haired child had gripped her wrist pleadingly, and she seemed to almost be dragged to her knees. The bottom half of her thin, white sleepwear was coated in a thin layer of mud. There was something about this pathetic looking dwarf that pissed her off to no end. Zakura recognized that hairstyle.

Fucking Perri. Why are you in Zero Two's mem- wait…

The two were almost identical, but there were subtle differences that set them apart from one another. This one had her left side bangs pulled into a hairclip resembling a sparrow in flight. The way she had her head lowered in such a demeaning manner. This certainly wasn't Perri.

"Please don't push Hiro too hard," she requested, her voice quivering with worry. Zakura watched as her hand was yanked from the grip of the smaller girl with a scoff. Indeed, this wasn't Perri, it was Ichigo - the same girl in the memorial.

"Darling was the one who said he wanted to ride with me." Her own voice was not actively aggressive, yet her words felt like they were meant to sting their target. To get her to mind her own business, perhaps?

Ichigo's head remained lowered. "Yes… I know," she responded with surprising amounts of submission. "But try not to put a heavy burden on him, at least." The innocent, chartreuse eyes of hers were on the verge of tears. How simply adorable the sight was.

"Do you want me to give him to you?" The smaller girl's head snapped upwards in an instant, her eyes wide with both shock and a tad bit of hope.

She has feelings for him.

"But you tried to ride with him already, and it didn't work."

Her childish face flushed briefly before she retorted. "Leave me out of this!" she cried out, clearly trying to avoid the question.

"Then stay out of it," Zakura's voice hissed, this time actively aggressive and venomous. Her head was adjusted to avert her eyes from the blue haired child.

This Ichigo sounds like a totally nosy bitch.

A few moments of silence fell upon the conversation as the blueberry processed the comment.

"Are you trying to suck Hiro dry?" she whimpered, her voice was soft and concerned. It was easy to tell that she was getting close to a breaking point.

"Darling belongs to me," her voice replied dryly, almost without a single care.

"He could die, you know!"

"Sure, he could. But that'd just mean he didn't amount to much." It was suddenly difficult to discern who was friend and who was foe.

She's talking about her darling like that!? Wait, am I talking about my darling like that? This is so confusing…

A moment of silence fell upon the forest. The tiny girl must have had nothing to say. An angry, hissing-like sound emanated from her right, followed by the violent crunching of leaves coating the forest floor. Before she could even react to the sounds, and the sight of a livid Ichigo, she felt her cheek collapse slightly under the weight of an open palm slap.

It wasn't that Zakura could feel the pain, but rather the sensation. The pain was muted, distant. It made sense in her mind. After all, this was just a dream. She was just an observer. She was being allowed to occupy the memory, but Zakura was not truly there.

Something began to slip. What was this… icy cold fury building within her? It was like a raging beast had finally escaped its shackles, and was making its way to the surface. The pressure was immense, there was no way to hold it back any longer.

"You're heartless!", the small blue haired girl yelled at the now slumped over form, which Zakura was occupying.

A soft tap in the grass snapped her from the sensation momentarily. It was a white, scuffed up headband with flashing orange-yellow LEDs; it looked as if it would fit perfectly into place on her horns.

Was that… what was keeping this madness in check…? A headband?

"You really aren't human!"

What diD -

Crack.

- sHe JusT -

Snap.

- SaY…?

If the feeling before was the beast escaping its shackles, the feeling now was the limits of her self control being shattered. More and more of this deep seated rage seeped through with every passing moment. Zakura could feel her double fighting to keep her emotions suppressed.

There's so much pent up negativity! I feel like it's going to crush me! Is this what she had to deal with all the time?!

The flow of emotions produced a ruby glint in her eyes as her head gradually rose to face the bewildered face of her assailant. The girl's hands were clutched to her breast, trembling. Her entire posture screamed of regret.

"Human? Human, huh? Let me ask you something then," Zakura's voice was remarkably reserved. By now, the two were face to face, Ichigo's expression torn between fear and remorse for her actions. "What is 'human' to you people?"

A cold, wet breeze took place of an answer. Shock had already captured the blueberry as she stepped backwards. Speechless as she was, the girl took her leave from the scene in a hurry, leaving Zakura's figure alone.

"Human…"

Several raindrops met the lone girl in the forest. She raised her view to the darkened, murky sky. After a few moments, she commented indifferently, "...it's raining." She let the rain drench her thoroughly before letting her own negative feelings out, in the form of tears.

"Honey? Zakura…?" Her darling's gentle yet concerned voice greeted her back from her strange daydream.

"Wha-? Where- Where am I?" She whipped her head back and forth to evaluate her surroundings. "I'm… I'm not in a forest…?"

"At Memorial Park, with Nana and I. Don't you remember…?"

"There was a-a forest.. And someone who looked like Perri! A-and I could feel the wind and rain…!" Zakura blurted out descriptions of the scene she had just imagined, much to the shock of her company.

Darling's face had beads of sweat forming on it, and his eyes grew more worried with each thing she explained. "You must have had a pretty vivid daydream or something. Come on, let's go rest on a bench." The boy quickly took her hand only to be swatted away in a fit of confusion.

"No! I was there..! I felt it…! It wasn't a dream! … was it…?"

Rubbing his hand from the unnecessary slap, Hiko tried once again to comfort her. "It's alright. You're looking a little pale anyway. Either way, just take it easy. Please?"

Even with her mind a mess, her darling's constantly soft and soothing tone was enough to ground her in current reality once again. "Yeah… Good idea…"

The pair took to a bench nearby, giving Zakura some much needed rest. Hiko had decided that since no pillows were available, his lap could be used as a substitute and insisted she lay down. Zakura, of course, refuted this, explaining that he was meant to use her lap as a pillow. That is, until Hiko quite literally forced her head down onto his thighs.

Not too long after, he had begun to tease her hair with his fingers, observing its texture and length with extreme care. Zakura found it quite sweet and relaxing, especially as he took time between rubbing separate strands to give her scalp a few affectionate strokes. "I love your hair. It's gorgeous," he would comment every once in a while.

The serenity of those moments were perfect. No interruptions, no annoyances. No Perri. Just her and her darling, relaxing with the various calls of nature all around them.

If only this could last forever.

"He's growing quite well it seems. Definitely developing your devilish looks."

"Tomoko has taken good care of him for sure. How long has it been since I've been to see him now?" The voice on the phone sighed in frustration. Talking about the boy was never an easy thing to do for him. "I should have tried to visit him once in a while. What kind of father am I?"

"A very busy one. Your projects there have been a tremendous help to us. Besides, do you really believe she would allow you near him after what happened?"

"No. I have no right to see my child. Still, one of these days, I'm going to tell him the truth, and apologize from the bottom of my heart."

"You should be getting a chance to do that in the coming days. We plan to relinquish some information to Hiko and his partner soon, when they come to visit."

"You must have a reason for wanting to do that, right? You never do anything without a reason, as twisted as it may be," the voice on the other end almost sounded like there was some sort of grudge in play.

"It seems as though your son and his girlfriend are being influenced by some outside sources. Prior acquaintances of mine," centuries-old documents were being combed through meticulously, and with great intrigue.

"My son has a girlfriend?! Yes! Proud of you my boy! Well? Well?! What's her name?"

"I'll send the records your way soon. A pink haired beauty with long legs; goes by the name Zakura Tenshi." The records spoken of were brought up on display, before being attached to an email.

"I heard that comment. You better not be getting ideas…"

"Oh, I've always got ideas. You should know that quite well, Kosei."

"Unfortunately, I do. You better not be thinking anything perverted about my son's -" A notification tone could be heard through the phone, signifying the delivery of the email.

"You got the files? Good."

"..."

"Kosei?"

"Isn't this the girl that you-"

"The very same. My intuition was on point as usual."

"Interesting… very interesting. History repeats itself without fail. Isn't that right, doctor?"

The tranquil afternoon rest was more than enough to recuperate the two teens. Now back to the proper mindset of the present, they had finally decided to have their guide show them the rest of the way around their destination. Turns out they had barely scratched the surface of what was offered.

Delphinium. Argentea. Chlorophytum. Genista. Each giant mech and its piloting team had a place in the corners of the park. According to Nana, the statues of the Franxx were actually the real deal, the true mechs used in the past. However, they had long since been decommissioned and rendered inoperable. The size and scale of them however-

"Nana. I can't wrap my head around it. The plaques describing each memorial states that the Franxx were close to eighty to ninety meters in height, but they don't look nearly that tall - I would say closer to forty-five meters to fifty meters," Aihiko stated to the guide with a puzzled expression. Large was large, but this was almost incomprehensible at this scale. Maybe he had messed up the math in his head. "Although that may just be my own miscalculations. That's a large variable then…"

"It's likely best not to ask such questions. The mechs are large enough the tower us, and that's all you need to know," Nana replies in a hurry to discontinue Hiko's line of questioning. After giving her unsatisfactory reply, she then proceeds to mumble under her breath. "And that's as much as I can say since the writers clearly didn't even think it through. Damn it, Trigger."

"There's only four here," Zakura interjected with a sour expression. "I've seen all of these before. In my head. I never knew what I was drawing, but there's no doubt about it. These 'Franxx' are clearly the ones I remember. Would that even be the right word-? Recall? Anyway, the point is that there was a fifth one that I could never truly figure out the shape of. And judging by the lack of Hiro and Zero Two you keep speaking of, I can only assume the final one was theirs. The one they piloted-"

"They never came back." Nana's sudden statement caused Hiko and Zakura to remain silent for an extended period of time. Hiko's heart pulsed with pain. Something deep inside told him that she wasn't pulling a prank in the slightest. "We- we couldn't stand a Franxx in the park that we didn't have. Hiro, Zero Two, Strelizia, and Apus… We aren't entirely sure what happened to them. There was a recovery mission shortly before they left us." Nana brushed her hair from her brow with a few fingers and massaged her forehead, trying to repress the guilt of allowing their actions. Not like she would have been able to stop them regardless. "Hiro was intent on bringing back Zero Two after she had connected too deeply to the Franxx consciousness… the mission was to retrieve her, that's all. Things, unfortunately, didn't go as planned. Once Hiro had connected with Strelizia Apus, he warned us that there was no turning back. Apus' programming had them on a crash course to the middle of who-knows-where. Once they left… none of us ever saw them again. We all waited patiently for their return, Hachi, Ichigo, Goro, all of us." The woman had to fight to suppress the urge to cry. She couldn't have done anything to stop them, yet losing those two… it was almost as if losing her own two children.

Silence befell the group once more. Recalled pain in their hearts caused the young couple to intertwine their fingers and squeeze tightly.

Zakura, don't worry. I'll never, ever let you go again. I'll never let you experience the pain of an experience like that. Never. Never!

If only things were that simple.

Chapter Nine - Piecing the Past / Together