Darling in the FranXX: The Reaper Squadron
Chapter 10: The Beach
So with Hurricane Michael rolling through the area last week i was able to get two chapters written for you. Enjoy!
When Reaper awoke the next morning, he was surprised to find that he had slept for over 13 hours, a new record for him. He was also surprised to find Owl asleep in a chair next to his bed. She sat next to his bed until he had fell asleep and apparently had fallen asleep soon afterward.
"She worries about me too much." Reaper thought as he picked her up and carried her to her room. He placed her on the bed and tucked her in before exiting the room and closing the door. She would awake soon, it was 0545 hours. As he walked back into his room he noticed that his communicator had a message on it. After attaching it to his wrist he opened the message, apparently Dr. Franxx wanted to see him and Hiro in the hanger at 0730. Sighing at the fact that he had to deal with that annoying doctor, he left his room and went to the dining hall.
When he entered, he let out a small chuckle. Apparently, the invisible caretakers had figured out that Reaper and his squad were early risers, so they had placed out a small amount of food for them, so they did not have to wait for Squad 13 to wake up in order to eat. He grabbed a small amount of food and began to eat.
After about 20 minutes, he heard footsteps approaching. When he turned to the doorway he was unsurprised to see Owl standing there. He was surprised to see the state she was in though. Her brown hair was a mess, and her cloak was open, showing she was wearing a black sports bra and black panties. Reaper blushed and averted his eyes.
"Morning Reaper." She said yawning and stumbling into the room. She was apparently not fully awake yet.
"Um, Owl, your, uh, cloak is *cough* open." Reaper said embarrassed. While she did not have the same figure as Havana, she was very easy on the eyes, not that he would admit it to anyone.
Owl's eyes snapped open. "Huh?" she said and looked down. Her face turned beet red and she squeaked and fled the room. After getting himself together, and yanking his mind out of the gutter, Reaper continued to eat. Owl returned to the room a few minutes later looking like her normal self with a massive blush on her face.
"I'm sorry you had to see that Reaper" Owl said bowing.
"Your fine Owl. You were not fully awake yet, you have nothing to apologize for." Reaper said. "Although the view was nice." Reaper mentally added.
Owl straighten up and entered the room to get her own breakfast, a blush still present on her face. After she began it eat she asked Reaper,
"How long did you sleep this time? And how did I get in my room?"
"Surprisingly, I slept for a little over 13 hours, a new record for me. As for how you got in your room, you fell asleep in the chair next to me, so when I awoke, I carried you back to your room."
Owl looked down to hide the blush that was rising to her face again. "Thank you, Reaper."
One by one, the rest of Reaper 1 trickled into the dining hall, saying their hellos and grabbing something to eat. When it was 0645 hours Reaper stood up and began to leave.
"Where are you going, Reaper?" Raven asked through a mouthful of waffles.
"Manners, Raven." Crow chided.
"I have to meet Dr. Franxx in the hanger with Hiro at 0730 hours. So, I'm going to go wake him up." Reaper said.
Owl whipped her head toward him, sending him a glare.
"Do not use the airhorn." Owl said.
"Aww, why not?" Reaper chuckled.
"No." Was her response.
"Fine, fine." He said before walking out.
All of Reaper 1 paused and waited to see what Reaper would do. They heard him walk up the stairs, and everything got quiet. They suddenly heard Reaper playing Reveille as loud as he could. They heard several exclamations of shock and the squad busted up laughing. Owl just looked resigned. They heard footsteps racing down the stairs and saw Reaper running past laughing his head off with a pissed of Ichigo right behind him.
"You only told me I couldn't use the airhorn!" Reaper shouted to Owl as he ran past.
"Get back here!" Ichigo shouted.
"Nope!" He shouted back as he ran out the front door.
…
At 0725 hours an annoyed Hiro and a happy Reaper were approaching the hanger bay.
"Was that really necessary?" Hiro asked.
"Well I wasn't allowed to use the airhorn so that was the next best thing." He replied.
As they entered the hanger bay the saw Nana looking at them. She took one look at them and sighed.
"What did you do?" she asked Reaper.
"Played Reveille at 0645 hours to wake him up." Reaper replied.
"Reveille?" Dr. Franxx asked.
Reaper nodded. "Reveille." He then pulled his trumpet out of shadow storage. Hiro covered his ears as Reaper played, everyone else jumped at the noise.
"Interesting. Well anyway, I called you two here for two different things. First, Hiro," the Doctor turned toward him. "I would like to congratulate you. You are now an official parasite, you are to be assigned here with Zero Two to defend the plantation. Also, a warning. If you always want to be Zero Two's partner, don't let her consume your emotions as well."
Hiro's eyes gleamed with challenge, Dr. Franxx did not know that he had regained his memories. The doctor was the reason that he lost his memories in the first place, thus he did not trust him.
"You are treading a very fine line Doctor." Reaper growled.
"At ease R-01, I'm not threatening anything. As for you, over the past day, your FranXX have been experiencing some...technical difficulties. I will have to take them with me, they are rather minor issues, but it will take a few days to repair."
Well, he called the issues minor, but they were in fact major concerns.
Flashback
"What is it Nana, it's too late for this" Dr. Franxx yawned as he entered the room.
"You really need to see this doctor." She replied and gestured to the monitor which was showing footage from the hanger, about an hour ago.
All was quiet in the hanger for a few minutes before Dr. Franxx saw the impossible. Reaper 1's FranXX were beginning to move. They each cracked their necks before shrugging their shoulders or attempting to move their legs. When the FranXX realize that they were shackled in place, a collective snarl was heard before all fell silent again. For a few moments nothing happened, then what looked like a wave of shadow passed through the room obscuring the camera. All that was heard for audio was static. This lasted for a few minutes before the camera cleared up and they saw that Reaper 1's FranXX were covered in shadow before it dissipated. All was silent before the footage looped again.
Anyone who knew Dr. Franxx on a personal level would have seen that he was giddy with excitement. Sadly, most of those people were dead, but that didn't matter. He needed to get his hands on those FranXX! They might have the key to fusing Shadow Energy and Magma Energy. The possibilities!
"Summon two transports, I need to look over those FranXX. The fact that they are moving on their own is concern enough for me to recall them." Dr. Franxx said.
"What if they are needed to sortie?" Hachi asked.
"I should have them back by the time they get back from their little vacation, but just in case shift them to standby status. If Squad 13 runs into something they cannot handle, recall them and put Reaper 1 in their FranXX." He replied. Dr. FranXX then walked out the door.
"Really now? What a shame." A boy with light blond hair and green eyes said. He was wearing an all-white uniform that was emblazoned with gold.
"And you are?" Reaper said raising an eyebrow, not impressed.
"Ah forgive me, I am Nine Alpha, leader of the 9's, Papa's elite parasites. Your squad and ours were scheduled for a mission, but I guess it will have to wait until your malfunctioning FranXX are returned."
Reaper had to bite back a growl. He did not like this child, he reeked of arrogance and had a major god complex.
"And you," Alpha said turning to Hiro, "must be Hiro, Iota's new toy. I must admit I'm impressed, I never expected to meet someone who was capable of riding with Iota more than three times." Alpha began to circle Hiro. "Not what I expected," Alpha said in a patronizing tone. "but perhaps that's why it worked. I'll be keeping an eye on you." Alpha then turned and walked away.
"Uh, thanks." Hiro said before looking at Reaper who was suppressing a snarl, his hand was twitching like he wanted to summon Harvester but wouldn't quite dare.
"Honestly," Nana scoffed. "who does that boy think he is?"
"Someone who needs to be knocked down a peg or ten." Reaper muttered.
"Anyway," Dr. Franxx said, catching their attention. "that is all. You may go."
As they started to walk away Nana called out to Reaper.
"Reaper!" Nana shouted.
"Yes ma'am?"
"Can you make sure everyone gathered in the living room at 0830 hours?"
"Of course, ma'am." The two then turned and exited the hanger.
…
As requested, at 0830 hours everyone was gathered in the living room. Ichigo was, once again, chasing Reaper around for waking her up at, what she considered, an ungodly hour of the morning, much to everyone's amusement. Squad 13 were doing their best to suppress their laughing while Reaper 1 wasn't even trying.
"I'm going to kill you!"
"I would like to see you try!"
"Why did you even make such a racket so early?!"
"I needed Hiro to get up and you just got caught in the blast! You didn't have to get up too!"
"There are quieter ways of waking someone up you know!"
"Yeah, but their no fun!"
"Grrr!"
Ichigo eventually ran out of steam and plopped down on the couches with her squad. Reaper joined his barely out of breath.
"We will see how you like it when I do it to you." Ichigo said.
"If you manage to get up early enough for that and manage to catch me sleeping, then I deserve it. But at that point you face the wrath of Owl." Reaper.
"Why?" Kokoro asked.
"Because she will have spent the previous two to three hours coming up with every argument she has to make me go to sleep and, a) you would have woken her up in the process and she likes her sleep, and b) you would have undone all her hard work." Reaper replied.
Nana then walked into the room.
"Alright children, as a reward for completing the kissing operation in such a spectacular manner, Papa have given you all a special vacation." Nana said.
"Vacation?" Ikuno asked.
"Right, we are headed to a place called a beach. When you go into the changing rooms, there will be special uniforms for you to select from. Once you have found one you like, meet me down at the docking bay. We will be arriving in an hour." Nana explained. She then turned and walked away.
Everyone then looked at each other before shrugging and heading to the changing rooms. When they arrived, they found out what Nana meant by 'special uniforms'.
"Ah, swimsuits." Reaper said as he opened the door.
"Swimsuits?" Miku asked.
"Swimsuits are clothing that is waterproof and doesn't weigh you down when wet." Raven explained.
As Reaper entered he heard Cypress and Raven explaining to the girls about the different types of swimsuits. He left them to it and went to pick out a pair for himself. As he was looking through the different designs he felt Crow nudge him.
"Reaper, what are you going to do about them?" Crow asked.
"I'll wear a shirt for now until we get there but… there is no way to hide them. The shirt will only make it worse once it gets wet." Reaper replied.
He was not looking forward to that conversation. His squad knew the reason behind his scars but no one else did. It was not going to be fun telling them where he got them.
As they exited the changing rooms he saw that the girls were all wearing thigh length shirts that covered their swimsuits, with the exception of Zero Two. Reaper had the feeling that she wanted to show off what she had to Hiro. And it appeared to be working, as Hiro seemed to be unable to tear his eyes away from Zero Two. Reaper snapped his fingers in front of Hiro's face a few times before he came back to reality.
"Getting lost Hiro?" Reaper said with a smile.
"Kinda." Hiro said rubbing the back of his head.
"Keep your eyes on the prize boy, the best is yet to come." Crow said as he walked past.
Hiro looked at Reaper confused.
"You'll see." Was all he said before he started walking to catch up with the others.
…
When they entered the docking bay they saw one of the doors was open and Nana was standing beside it. Reaper could see green beyond it.
"Alright children, the beach is just through the tree line. Follow the trail and it will take you right to it. We will bring you out food and things to spend the night out there. We will be back to pick you up at 0900 hours. Remember if you need us you have your communicators, otherwise be careful and have fun children." Nana said.
As Squad 13 walked off Nana stopped Reaper and his squad for a moment.
"Reaper 1, you guys are the oldest among them. Keep an eye on them and keep them safe." Nana asked.
"Of course, Nana. They're in good hands." Snake said, and they walked off.
When Reaper 1 caught up to Squad 13 they found them marveling at the forest around them. To them, it seemed more… real, than the one in the plantation. There were plants blooming everywhere and animals moving through the underbrush around them.
"It's amazing that places like this still exist." Ikuno said looking around her.
"Yeah, it's nice to know that some places weathered the desertification." Raven said.
The group continued walking. They soon heard the sound of waves crashing against the shore, and Reaper could smell the salty air. As they rounded another bend, Squad 13 was presented with their first view of the ocean. The water was a deep blue and the golden sand stretched for half a mile in either direction.
"It's the ocean!" Zorome shouted and ran forward.
"Hey, wait for me!" Futoshi shouted and ran after him. The two ran into the surf screaming like children. The others laughed and began to set things up. Once they had everything set up the girls began to take off the shirts they were wearing that were covering their swimsuits. Reaper, having seen Owl in a swimsuit multiple times, thought he would be prepared for this moment. Oh, how wrong he was. Owl was wearing a black two-piece swimsuit and her hair seemed to sparkle in the sunlight. Her body was tight and toned, due to her work as a Reaper. Reaper found himself thinking about how she would look with nothing on, and quickly mentally slapped himself.
"You are a married man, damn it! Stop thinking like that!" He thought.
"You used to be a married man." Reaper suddenly heard in his head. "And she used to be an engaged woman. Now neither of you are."
"Master?" Reaper whispered.
"There is no shame in looking Reaper, you know that. You two have more in common than you think. Don't shove her aside over something that can never happen again." Death told him.
Reaper shook his head and decided that he needed to swim in order to clear his mind. So, he took off his shirt and dived into the water. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on how you want to look at it, he took it off in front of the female half of his squad and Squad 13. He did not hear the sudden intake of breath. Reaper had a well-defined six pack and muscular arms. While he wasn't built like Cypress was, but he wasn't bad. But it was ruined by the scars. Reapers chest and back were a patchwork of scars, long and short scars trailed across his body. He also had a line of 5 scars across his right wrist. Ichigo was looking at the scars in horror and opened her mouth to ask but was stopped by Owl.
"Don't ask." Was all she said.
"But…" Kokoro started to say.
"Don't. The only thing you need to know is that Reaper has had a hard life." Cypress said.
Back with the boys, Zorome, Futoshi, and Goro were all looking back at the shore staring at the girls.
"Is it just me, or are the girls were 50% cuter today." Zorome said.
"Yeah the view is certainly nice." Goro said.
Zorome and Futoshi looked at him confused.
"What did you say Goro?" Futoshi said.
"Yeah, for a moment it sounded like you were one of us." Zorome said.
Reaper surfaced next to them. "He is a guy just like the rest of you. He acts no differently than you would." Reaper said.
As he looked back at the beach, Reaper saw that Snake was sitting in the shade of the umbrella talking to Ikuno while the two held to different books, Kokoro and Miku were playing a game of volleyball, and Cypress, Owl, and Ichigo were relaxing in the sand working on their suntans. Reaper heard Hiro and Zero Two behind him to his left talking quietly about something. Goro, Futoshi, and Zorome were all staring at Reaper in shock. Reaper wondered why they were staring at him when he realized he was in the water.
He sighed "Right, scars."
"What happened?" Goro asked.
"Don't ask. All I will say is that I went through a few years of hell and this was the result." He said gesturing to his scars.
Zorome looked over his shoulder at Hiro and Zero Two just in time to see the two kissing.
"He has a lot to answer for, let's go." Zorome said and dived beneath the water, Goro and Futoshi following. Reaper sighed.
"I better go do damage control." He said before diving beneath the water.
Even though he was underwater, he could still hear bits of their conversation.
"…this is…feels like. Finally made…thanks…Darling." Zero Two said.
"Zero Two…can't look…right now." Hiro said.
"What…wrong?"
"No, no…look great…seeing you…swimsuit…"
"…Darling…saw…naked before."
"Wait, What?!" Reaper thought.
"…That…on accident." Hiro said.
"…you…kissed…other than me?"
Reaper then saw Hiro get pulled underwater by Zorome and Futoshi. Hiro seemed to sigh before following them. Reaper surfaced behind Zero Two.
"The need to borrow him for a while. I apologize for interrupting the moment." Reaper said.
Zero Two turned to respond to him but it died on her lips as he beheld his scars. Reaper grimaced, was this going to be everyone's response? Zero Two suddenly lunged forward and grabbed his right wrist and turned it over. She gently ran a finger over the 5 scars along his wrist. She then looked at him.
"Why?" she asked.
Reaper sighed. "After I got over my grief, I blamed myself for Havana's death. As a result, I felt I needed to punish myself for failing, I still do. And this is the result, I have a cut on my wrist for every year that Havana has been dead." Reaper said.
"And these?" she asked, tracing the scars on his chest.
"Rage." Was all he said and Zero Two nodded in understanding.
She then shocked Reaper by pulling him into a hug, placing her head on his chest.
"You need not hurt yourself anymore, Friend. You have healed my hurts, let me heal yours." She said after she had let him go.
Reaper looked at her in shock.
She gave him a sly look. "I think Owl would be a good match for you."
"Don't you dare." He said.
"Hey guys! Come over here! Mitsuru found something!" Goro shouted to them.
Reaper and Zero Two looked at each other before shrugging and swimming their way back to shore where the others were standing.
"Friend?" Reaper thought. "She considers me a friend? Not simply an ally?"
…
"We are here." Mitsuru said as they reached the top of a nearby cliff.
What lay before them was the ruins of a sea-side town. The forest was already well on its way to reclaiming the town, there were vines growing up all the buildings and plants and grass were growing through the sidewalks and streets. Reaper's squad grimaced. Another abandoned town.
"What was this place?" Kokoro asked as she turned to Reaper 1, since they were the resident experts on all things considered ancient.
"An old sea-side town. Such places tended to be popular retirement destinations as there wasn't the rush of larger cities and there was almost always nice weather." Snake said.
"We never had the chance to explore the city we found you guys in." Ichigo said. "Why don't we take a few hours and go explore? We can meet back here at sundown." Everyone nodded, and they split off into pairs, Ichigo and Goro, Zero Two and Hiro, naturally, Kokoro and Mitsuru, Futoshi and Ikuno, Cypress and Snake, Crow and Raven, and Reaper and Owl. While Squad 13 was actually there to explore, Reaper and his squad were there to do as they had in the city they had awoken in, collect information.
…
They reconvened at sundown at the entrance to the town. They were tired, there feet were sore, and had more questions than they did answers. Reaper met with his squad to discuss anything they had found.
"Anything?" Owl asked.
"From what we observed, either these people were given no time to prepare to flee or…" Raven trailed off.
"…they didn't get out." Crow finished for her.
"I found something of interest Reaper." Snake said.
"Oh?"
"Yeah, I found some notes from a retired researcher. They were examining the effect of the Immortality elixir on humans. The notes are faded but I got the gist of it. Humans given the Immortality injection have to live in sterile environments. If they don't, they risk getting infected, but by what it does not say. Also, being in the same sterile room with someone who is not immortal causes them to become sick as well."
"Immune system suppression maybe?" Reaper said putting a hand on his chin.
"That's not all, the notes were too faded to read properly, but there was mention of YBC's causing rapid ageing." Cypress said.
"What?" Owl said.
"Beyond mentioning that it happens to people with YBCs I could not read anymore of it." Cypress said.
Their eyes wandered to the children who were starting to trickle in.
"'Protect the children'." Reaper muttered. "Does Master know something we don't?"
"Keep an eye on them. If one of them begins to experience rapid ageing find a way to pull them from active duty, and keep an eye out for other notes about this. We need to find a cure and we need to find it fast." Reaper said.
"Yes sir." They all said and went and joined Squad 13.
"I don't get it, why is this place empty? Why did everyone leave all their things here?" Zorome asked.
"They had to abandon it." Zero Two said wistfully.
"She is right. Humanity used to live on the surface. Cities and towns like this one used to spiderweb across the globe. We were forced to pack in with the arrival of the Klaxosaurs, and when the desertification started, we had to abandon some areas entirely." Crow said.
"Most likely this town was one of the areas that we were forced to abandon. When the order was given, you were given no chance to pack your things, you had to go right then." Reaper said.
After a moment Ichigo said,
"It looks like we are all here, let's head back."
"Man, I'm exhausted." Miku complained.
"Now we can cook food!" Futoshi says excited.
Everyone laughs, helping to brighten the mood. They all follow Ichigo and Goro back down the cliff back to camp.
…
"How the hell did all this get here?" Raven asked as she and the others looked at the sleeping bags, burning fire and shish kabobs that were roasting above it.
"Who cares? Let's eat!" Futoshi says grabbing a skewer and biting into it. "Ow! Hot, hot, hot!" he yells burning his mouth.
Everyone sits and shares about the things they found in the town. Reaper and his squad, naturally, keep quiet about the research they found, they did not want to scare the children. They chatted for a while until Miku walked over. She grumbled about being tired before sitting next to Kokoro and putting her head in her lap.
"Miku, what are you doing?" Kokoro asks blushing.
"Hey, boys. Pick your jaws up, your embarrassing yourselves." Reaper snapped to Zorome and Futoshi whose tongues were waggling and their were eyes bulging. Reaper could feel the glare that Owl was sending at them.
"Miku, where are your manners?" Kokoro asked.
"I don't care right now." She replied. "I'm tired and you are comfortable, plus the boys are just jealous that I got the lap and they don't."
"Hey Reaper, what was life like when people lived outside the plantations?" Hiro asked.
"Where did that come from?" Zorome asked.
"I don't know, I'm just curious." He replied
"Well it depended on what you decided to do with your life. Beyond the mandatory 8 years of school, you could decide to do what you wanted. If you were a civilian, you could finish High School and go to college and get a degree for a better job or climb your way up the corporate ladder from the bottom to reach the top. Money or currency was a necessity, so you needed to do something to get it. Most worked a standard 9-5 job. You could run for a variety of official positions if you wanted to. Everyone had a say in the way that the governments were run. If you were in the military like we were, you were trained to fight and defend your country and those who lived in it. After at least 4 years or so you were given the option to leave and join the civilian world or reenlist and continue. Things were not always balanced. There were those who had more than others and there were those who had less, but the system worked. There were uprisings every now and then with unruly groups but all in all, before the Klaxosaurs showed up, it was a simpler, peaceful time." Reaper explained.
"That sounds great and all but look at what Papa and APE have done for us." Zorome said. "No one has any hardships, and no one has to work, and Papa makes all the decisions for us. There is no inequality between us and everyone is treated the same. The adults get to live the life of luxury while we defend them, and soon we will become adults as well!"
Reaper and the others just shook their heads. To them, that sounded like a dictatorship or a utopia. Everyone was equal, but it stifled growth. One person made all the decisions, and everyone just went along with it.
"*Yawn* I'm tired, when are we going to bed?" Miku asked.
Everyone agreed with that sentiment and began to break out the sleeping bags. Zero Two however wanted to go for another swim so she dived back into the water. Reaper saw Hiro look after her concerned.
"I'll keep an eye on her Hiro, go to bed." Reaper said, and Hiro nodded.
Reaper sat on a nearby rock, keeping one eye on Zero Two while looking at the stars. One nice thing about magma energy was that, with coal and oil no longer burning, the stars were easier to see. He heard Owl approach and she sat down next to him, laying her head on his shoulder.
"Today was a good day, wasn't it?" She asked.
"Yeah." Reaper replied.
They were silent for a moment before Owl said,
"These kids have no idea, do they?"
"None at all. That is why we need to protect them, to keep the truth from hurting them so much when they finally figure out that Papa is using them."
They sat watching the stars until Owl fell asleep. Reaper then picked her up and tucked her into her sleeping bag and went back to stargazing. Zero Two eventually got out of the water and wished Reaper good night before falling asleep beside Hiro. Reaper was the only one awake for the rest of the night, as he watched the millions of stars shine in the night sky.
A/N: Poor Reaper, having gone through so much hell from the loss of Havana. While I do not suffer from depression myself, I do know people who do. To those who have depression, I hope reading my story helps, even if it is only a little bit! As always, comments and criticism are greatly appreciated, and flames will be used to roast marshmallows. Ciao!