I'm waiting in my cold cell when the bell begins to chime.
Reflecting on my past life and it doesn't have much time.
'Cause at 5 o'clock, they take me to the Gallows Pole.
The sands of time for me are running low, yeah!

Eighty-Three could not tell how long he remained locked inside the dark and empty room. Only the somehow regular meals of nondescript broth served as a reminder that outside, time was still flowing. He could not tell what the consequences of his actions were. Sometimes, he could hear someone passing by in front of his door and he could only wonder if that activity was linked to what he had done.

When someone finally stopped and opened the door fully, the cold light from the corridor was blinding. The two bulky silhouettes that entered were not subtle when the grabbed him and violently put him on a stretcher and cuffed his hand and feet to the railing.

When the priest comes to read me the last rites,
I take a look through the bars at the last sights
Of a world that has gone very wrong for me
Can it be that there's some sort of error?
Hard to stop the surmounting terror.
Is it really the end, not some crazy dream?

Alongside them was an Internal Safety officer, easily identifiable with his verdigris uniform. As he started reciting paragraphs upon paragraphs of legal terms, Eighty-Three did not listen. He already knew what all of this meant. This, like with everything else, went on for far too long before he finally finished and gave the instruction to the guards to push the stretcher down the corridor.

Somebody please tell me that I'm dreaming.
It's not easy to stop from screaming.
The words escape me when I try to speak.
Tears flow, but why am I crying?
After all I'm not afraid of dying.
Don't I believe that there never is an end?

He had never expected things to finish like this. He did not want things to end like this. He would have preferred finishing with a literal bang, like a martyr in the eyes of those he tried to liberate. But there he was, the stripes of neon lights on the ceiling flashing in front of his eyes as he was carried towards his silent and meaningless doom.

As the guards march me out to the courtyard.
Somebody cries from a cell "God be with you".
If there's a God then why has he let me go?

The escort stopped in front of the closed elevator doors, waiting for the lift that would carry them up to their destination. The doors opened after a light tone and another similar group stepped off. But the one being escorted had way less restrictions than him. It was an officer that he did not know personally, but the embroidered number thirteen on her shoulder was enough of an explication as to what had brought her down here. Their looks crossed for a split second, and she could only give a simple respectful nod. But at this point, respect had lost all of its meaning. Without ceremony, both were hurried along their paths and the doors of the lift closed.

As I walk all my life drifts before me.
And though the end is near I'm not sorry.
Catch my soul, it's willing to fly away.

With the slight push of the elevator going up floor after floor, he could only wonder what had happened to the pilots of the thirteenth squadron and Fifty. He had made sure that they could get away, but all the rest was up to them in the world they did not know. Frederic had welcomed him and his co-pilot once, and he knew that the church would be a welcoming place for all of them. Maybe that at this time, they were enjoying freedom in an unpolluted wild.

Mark my words, believe my soul lives on,
Don't worry now that I have gone,
I've gone beyond to seek the truth.

The lift stopped and he once again was pushed along another bland corridor. Did he regret any of the things he had done? Of course not. Just being able to expose reality to everyone was worth all what he had done to achieve it and all the consequences he was about to live.

When you know that your time is close at hand,
Maybe then you'll begin to understand
Life down here is just a strange illusion.

When the stretched was finally pushed inside another room, he knew that he was not going to leave it alive. Along the various pieces of medical machinery a row of people were standing straight, waiting for Eighty-Three to be latched on the operating table. With their surgical masks and mob caps, only their eyes were visible making the appearance of one undistinguishable from the other. With straps tightly locking his body to the cold steel surface, those clones started to swarm all over him with probes and equipment to ensure how fit he was after all this time in solitary.

This lasted for a long minute up until the point where all his vital signs were deemed good enough and the request to proceed was sent to the relevant authority that was most likely watching over the procedure through security cameras. Without surprise, it was an approving answer that came back to the medical staff, kickstarting the final step of the procedure.

One doctor stepped forward with a syringe full of a precise dose of a clear liquid. Carefully, he put the thin head of the needle on the top of one of his veins and started to push the agent inside. It was cold as it slowly started to spread through the entire body along with his blood. One after the other, his muscles lost their will to move. First his fingers, then his arms, then his feet and legs.

His head and his brain were next. So in an attempt to remain active as long as possible, he opened his mouth and with all the force that was left in him he yelled.

Yeah
Hallowed be thy name

It was not a cry for help or a plea for his life. It was defiance towards those he was still fighting against. It was defiance towards those that were watching while he was on the chopping block.

Yeah
Hallowed by thy name

When the black veil covered his eyes, he only had the strength for one last sigh that faded away along his consciousness, leaving behind a cold and unmoving body.

Yeah

Welcome and thank you for reading the eleventh and final chapter of Discoveries.

I have had a lot of fun doing all of this for a year and a half now and I hope you enjoyed going along with me as I put my own twist on Darling in the FranXX. I might not have had the same kind of numbers as what my GATE fic, but it is not why I did that. Far from it even. And now that I have reached a good point to close it on, I feel like it is a good time to take a break.

Of course, I have some basic ideas on what could happen next, but it is not enough to make a good story out of. Maybe I will make a sequel sometimes in the future, maybe I won't. Only the future will tell.

Once again, a huge thank you to all of those that have read this story, to all of those that have followed it and favorited it and to all of those that have left reviews. I hope I will see you again with another story in another fandom or something completely different.

Merci