Darling in the FranXX: The Reaper Squadron
Chapter 13: What Is Love?
I apologize for the short chapter, it's been a busy week for me. Happy Halloween!
"Hey guys! They're here!" Zorome shouted.
Reaper 1 heard Squad 13 rush to the foyer and decided to figure out what was going on. Entering the main part of the manor from their wing, they found Squad 13 staring at a small pile of presents by the front door. Squad 13 immediately began to tear into them.
"What's all this?" Snake asked.
"Once a year, we can send letters to Papa asking for one thing, and today we received them." Ichigo said, as the others opened their presents.
Looking around, Reaper saw that Zorome got a new ball, Ikuno got a new set of books, which Reaper saw that Snake was itching to go look through, Mitsuru got a fancy ballpoint pen, Kokoro got a new makeup kit, Futoshi got a variety of new foods, Goro got a set of fishing rods, Miku got a new type of perfume, Ichigo got a stuffed animal rabbit, and Hiro got some type of bird book.
"It's like Christmas, a few weeks early though." Reaper thought.
Using the weather, they had guesstimated that it was somewhere in November although the heat from the desert made it a bit difficult to determine the month.
Reaper and his squad just smiled with amusement as they watched Squad 13 play with their new things. They then turned and headed back to their section of the manor so not to disturb 13, although Reaper had to drag Snake away, so he would leave Ikuno and her new books alone.
Later, Squad 13 heard a large thump sound from the porch of the manor. Poking her head out Ikuno looked down to see that there were seven black presents on their porch. Looking at one of the tags, she could barely read the handwriting.
"Reaper, perhaps?" Ikuno thought. "It must be. All our presents have already come, though whoever sent these needs to work on their penmanship."
"What is it Ikuno?" Ichigo asked.
"Presents for Reaper 1, although they look quite menacing." She replied, showing Ichigo what was outside the door.
They brought the presents in the house and were surprised at the heavy weight of them.
"Hey Reaper! You guys got something!" Ichigo called to Reaper 1's wing.
A few minutes later Reaper 1 emerged with confused expressions on their faces.
"What are you talking about Ichigo?" Reaper asked.
Ichigo showed them where they had placed the presents. As soon as Reaper saw the handwriting on one of the presents, he chuckled.
"My, my, master, since when did you play Santa." Reaper said as he began to hand out the gifts.
"Whoever sent those to you has very poor handwriting." Ikuno said.
"That's not poor handwriting, that cursive." Cypress said examining the tag on her new set of weights.
"Cursive?" Ichigo asked.
"Cursive is a fancy way of writing. It used to be used for signatures." Snake said. He had gotten a new set of books but they were more technical in nature than Ikuno's.
Raven had gotten a set of earrings that she wanted before they were frozen, Crow had gotten a diamond neckless which he promptly gave to Raven which caused the girl to just about die of joy, and Owl had gotten an expensive perfume which reminded her of James.
Reaper, however, got something that was very precious to him. It was a photo of the squad. It was the last time that the squad had been whole, they had been given leave and they decided to go to the beach. The photo was of them on the sand with the city and the ocean in the background.
Ikuno and Ichigo looked over Reaper's shoulder to see what he had gotten.
"Who is that?" Ikuno asked, pointing to a woman with long black hair and royal purple eyes. "She is quite pretty."
"Havana, R-07." Reaper said.
Ichigo and Ikuno looked confused but carried on.
"And that? Who is he?" Ichigo said pointing to a man with short brown hair and deep green eyes.
"James, R-08" Owl said looking at the photo.
"Are they a part of your squad?" Ikuno asked.
"They were." Raven said sadly.
"Were? What happened to them?" Ichigo asked.
"They are no longer with us." Crow said quietly.
Ikuno and Ichigo covered their mouths in shock when they realized what that statement meant.
"Oh my Papa. I'm so sorry." Ichigo whispered in horror.
Reaper just sighed and placed the photo in his cloak. There was a message from their master attached to it. "I thought you might want this back." It read.
Looking at the last present, Reaper tilted his head in confusion. What did master want to give her?
"Ichigo, can you go get Zero Two for me please. This last one is for her." Reaper said.
Ichigo looked confused but did as he asked and returned with Zero Two a few minutes later.
"Yes Reaper?" she asked.
"This is for you." He said handing the present to her.
When she opened it her eyes widened in shock. It was a book titled The Beast and The Prince, a picture book by the looks of it. Zero Two squealed and rushed off, book pressed tightly to her chest. The group looked at each other before shrugging. Reaper then left to put the photo in his bedroom, glad that his master was able to recreate the photo.
…
That evening, Goro was staring out the window at Ichigo lost in thought. He was so lost in thought that he never heard Reaper approach until he touched his shoulder causing Goro to jump.
"Sorry didn't mean to scare you." Reaper said.
"It's fine Reaper, just lost in thought." Goro said turning back to the window.
Reaper stood beside him for a moment before sighing.
"Alright Goro, what's biting you?"
"Something is biting me?" Goro asked confused, he didn't feel anything.
Reaper laughed. "It's a figure of speech. I'm asking what is bothering you."
Goro sighed. "Nothing major, I'm just trying to figure out what it is I'm feeling for Ichigo is all."
"Describe it. Perhaps I can help."
"I feel drawn to her. When she is happy, I'm happy, when she is sad, I feel like I should cheer her up. I know everything about her, I know what makes her laugh, what makes her cry, everything. I feel like she is special to me."
Reaper smiled. "That feeling, my boy, is called love."
"Love? But what does it mean to love somebody?"
"To love someone is to take their hopes and dreams and care for them as if they were your own. To be willing to do anything to keep them smiling. To look at that person and be able to tell them anything, and not have to hide from them. That is love."
Goro looked at him in shock.
"You have found something very precious, don't let it get away." Reaper said, before turning and walking away.
…
The next morning, the Klaxosaur alarm went off bright and early and everyone raced to the briefing room.
"We've detected a Gutenberg class Klaxosaur at a distance of 48 clicks (about 30 miles)." Hachi said.
"It's moving slow but judging from its course, we predict that it will make contact with the plantation. We do not want a repeat of the last attack, as such, we are sending you out early in order to prevent it from getting anywhere near the plantation. Due to the distance, we are loading your FranXX with extra fuel." Nana said.
"It's too far away for our cameras to tell what type of Klaxosaur it is so you are going in blind. Also unusual weather has been reported in the area, make sure that your FranXX are not hit by lightning." Hachi said.
…
As Squad 13 and Reaper 1 approached the target area, all they saw was a massive thundercloud.
"Where the hell is it?" Zorome asked.
Black Rose's eyes were searching the clouds before noticing several tentacles on the ground.
"It's hiding in the storm." She said.
There was a loud screech and the storm clouds parted, revealing the Klaxosaur.
"Seriously, a Jellyfish?" Reaper sighed out annoyed, Jellyfish were a pain in the ass to kill.
"Argentea, going in." Zorome said before unsheathing Argentea's claws and racing toward the Klaxosaur.
"Don't you idiot!" Lotus shouted but it was too late.
Argentea dodged the tentacles with ease before jumping to strike the core at the bottom of the Klaxosaur. She struck the outside of the Klaxosaur but quickly got stuck as the outside of the Klaxosaur was membrane like. She was then brought out to the side of the Klaxosaur where it started to absorb her.
"Damn it! This is why you don't rush into things you idiot!" Reaper said as he summoned Nightmare.
This was going to be difficult. He had to throw Nightmare at a high enough speed as to slice through the membrane containing Argentea but at the same time not hit her. Just as Reaper was about to toss it. Delphinium leaped forward, punching Argentea and freeing her. Unfortunately, she was now caught within the membrane. The Klaxosaur began to swell up.
"Take cover!" Snake said before the Klaxosaur exploded.
…
"Owwwww." Black Rose said as she woke up.
Getting up, she saw that the blast had thrown her a good half mile from the detonation site. Looking at the Klaxosaur, she saw, unsurprisingly, that it was still moving toward the plantation. Near the core, she could see Delphinium suspended, but she was inactive. Black Rose remembered seeing something deploy from Delphinium before the Klaxosaur detonated.
"Hey, Reaper, Owl, you awake up there?" she said tapping her head.
She got a groan from Reaper as a response and she was forced to her knees as Rampage mode activated. She transformed into a black lion with red marks running down her body. Black Rose knew her pilots could take quite the beating before getting knocked out but after getting thrown half a mile and being slammed into the ground, she knew her pilots would be out cold for a while, and probably have a concussion.
Looking to her left, she saw that Lotus and Digitalis had also changed into their Rampage forms as well. Lotus had a sleeker body than she did and had white lines running down her body while Digitalis was bulkier with blue lines on her body.
"You two ok?" Black Rose said, but since she was in Rampage form all that came out were a series of growls and short barks.
"Yeah, but these two are out cold." Digitalis said tossing her head.
"Careful Digitalis, we don't want to hurt them anymore than they already are." Lotus said.
"Relax, they are strapped in." she replied.
"Focus you two." Black Rose said. "Lotus, there was something ejected from Delphinium before the Jellyfish exploded, it was orange and about the size of a human, find it. Digitalis, let's check on the rest of Squad 13."
"Yes, ma'am." They replied and went to do their assigned tasks.
As Black Rose was checking on Strelitiza, she began to wake up. Black Rose backed off as not to scare them.
"Ugh, my head." Strelitiza complained. "Are you alright Darling?"
"Yeah, I'm fine." Hiro replied, "Where is Delphinium and Reaper 1?"
Looking around, Hiro saw that there were three Rampage FranXX running around, one was standing next to them, another one was sniffing Chlorophytum, and a third was several miles away digging for something.
Strelitiza then turned around and saw, to Hiro's horror, the Klaxosaur was still alive and was slowly drifting toward the plantation, Delphinium stuck inside next to the core.
"Ichigo, Goro." Hiro said in shock.
A Rampage FranXX with white lines on its body then walked up to Strelitiza with an orange thing in its mouth. It then gently placed it at Strelitiza's feet and walked off. Looking at the orange thing, Hiro realized that it was a deployment pod from a FranXX.
"Ichigo." Hiro said picking up the pod.
"….Reaper…..13….hear….?" Nana's voice came over the comms, although she was breaking up very badly.
"Nana?" Hiro said.
"Oh….Papa! What….there? Where….Reaper 1?" she said.
"Nana, we can barely hear you." Argentea said. She had gotten up and drawn her claws at the sight of the Rampage FranXX.
"Squad….fall….plantation…..retrieve…..later." Hachi said.
"You heard him, retreat." Hiro said to the others.
"Wait, what about Reaper 1? Where are they?" Genista said.
"Don't worry about them, we can retrieve them later." Mitsuru said.
Squad 13 retreated to the plantation, leaving the three Rampage FranXX behind.
…
Reaper's head was throbbing as he awoke.
"Owww." Reaper said holding his head.
When he removed his hands, they were covered in blood. Reaper grimaced. Great, head wound. Looking down at Owl, he saw that she was covered in small cuts but otherwise she was unharmed. She was also just starting to wake up.
"Ugh. Reaper are you alright?" Owl asked.
"I've been better." He replied.
This caused Owl to whip her head around and look at him. Reaper had blood running down the side of his face causing him to have to close one eye to keep the blood out.
"Head wound and a slight concussion." Reaper said.
"Reaper." Owl said, concerned.
"I'll live until we complete the mission." He said.
He then opened the comms.
"Squad, damage report."
"I'm fine but I think Crow hurt his leg." Raven said.
"I can move my leg, but it really hurts, a bend perhaps but not a break." Crow said.
"I've got a slash across my abdomen, but Snake is far worse." Cypress explained.
"Snake." Reaper said.
"The FranXX must have landed on her arm wrong." He said, and Reaper could hear the pain in his voice. "I can't move it, and it hurts too much to try. Definitely broken."
"Alright, try not to move it too much. Owl, let's see where we landed." Reaper said.
Reactivating Black Rose, they saw that they were about 10 miles behind the slowly drifting Klaxosaur. Reaper could see that Delphinium was inside the fuel source of the Klaxosaur and was deactivated. Reaper could see a hole where something had been dug out of the ground a few miles in front of them.
"Goro must have ejected Ichigo just before he was absorbed. The damn fool." Reaper said.
"God damnit Goro. Of all the things to take literally from what I said yesterday, you chose that?" Reaper thought.
"What do you want us to do Reaper?" Lotus asked.
"From the looks of it Squad 13 was ordered to retreat, we were still unconscious at the time, so they were probably told to leave us behind. We need to buy them time to get back out here. We are going to do Hit and Run attacks to draw the Klaxosaur's attention from the plantation and on to us. Digitalis, I want you to stay back. With Snake's broken arm, you're not going to be doing him any favors by trying to attack with us. Take it slow and use your minigun to lay on some damage."
"Yes, sir." Digitalis said.
"You have your orders, let's go." Reaper said, and Lotus and Black Rose dashed off to attack the Klaxosaur.
…
Lotus and Black Rose had just completed their third attack when Squad 13 came within comms range.
"Reaper?" Hiro said in shock.
Black Rose and Lotus cut off doing another run, in favor of rendezvousing with Squad 13 while Digitalis kept the Klaxosaur's attention.
"Thank Papa you guys are alright." Ichigo said over the comms.
"A few injuries that need to be looked at sooner rather than later but otherwise we're fine." Reaper said.
Well, he said he was fine, but he really wasn't. The amount of blood running down his face had not stopped and he was getting lightheaded.
"What's the plan? And why is Ichigo in your hand Strelitiza?" Lotus asked.
"The plan is to get Ichigo into the Klaxosaur via the exhaust vent on the Klaxosaur's head. She will then kill the Klaxosaur from the inside out." Mitsuru said.
"That is very dangerous Ichigo, you are going to have to swim through the fuel source of the Klaxosaur in order to reach him, do you even know if your suit can withstand it? Also, you are going to have to swim through the minefield of live ammunition that Digitalis has pumped into the Klaxosaur." Lotus said.
"I'll be fine." Ichigo said determined.
"Very well. Digitalis! Break off! 13 has a plan." Reaper said.
Digitalis stopped firing and banished her minigun. Snake then grasped his arm in pain. His grunt of pain could be heard across the comms. Black Rose suddenly stumbled.
"Reaper?" Strelitiza asked.
"The sooner we get this done, the sooner we can get treated, so get going." Reaper said, he was getting really lightheaded now. "I'm not going to be able to hold on for much longer, go!"
Strelitiza ran forward and Genista and Chlorophytum interlocked their hands just in front of her. Just as she was about to hit them, Strelitiza jumped and Genista and Chlorophytum threw her up toward the top of the Klaxosaur's head. Halfway there, she activated her boosters and she flew up to the exhaust vent and shoved Ichigo inside. She then jumped off and landed beside Black Rose. There was a few minutes of silence as Ichigo swam to Delphinium.
"Ichigo, Goro, respond." Hiro said, and silence was heard.
Then the Klaxosaur shrieked and they soon heard Goro's voice.
"Guys get the hell away! Its gonna blow!"
The heavens were then torn asunder as the Klaxosaur exploded like a massive firework, and given what they are, the description was accurate.
"Alright everyone, lets head back." Delphinium said looking at Reaper 1.
…
Reaper was fighting for consciousness by tooth and nail as they entered the hanger. Nana was standing by their storage docks waiting for them. They had just finished docking when the damage they had taken caught up to them. Reaper passed out due to blood loss at his console while Owl fell unconscious due to exhaustion. Both Cypress and Crow passed out due to the pain their injuries caused. Only Crow and Raven were relatively unaffected by the battle.
Nana entered Black Rose, ready to give Reaper a tongue lashing for disappearing. The words however, died on her lips as she beheld his state.
"MEDIC!" she shouted, and two medical officers came rushing in out of nowhere.
They quickly ran out again and soon returned with more medical officers and several stretchers. They quickly split off to check the other FranXX. The two that went to check on Crow and Raven quickly returned to Black Rose since Crow and Raven were mostly fine. As Squad 13 approached, the medical officers were loading Reaper and Owl on to stretchers while another two were doing the same for Snake and Cypress.
"They were fighting in that condition?" Kokoro said horrified.
"Idiots." Ichigo muttered although concern was showing on her face.
…
Squad 13 was waiting outside the medical ward waiting for Nana. She had gone in with the medical officers about two hours ago and had yet to emerge. At that moment, Nana exited the medical ward.
"Well?" Zero Two asked, she was worried for Reaper and the others but was doing her best to show disinterest.
"Well they are still alive. Reaper is suffering from a concussion, a large head wound, and blood loss. Owl just passed out from exhaustion. Cypress had an inch-deep gouge across her abdomen, and Snake has a broken arm. Raven is perfectly fine, and Crow has a bent leg."
"Are they awake? Can we see them?" Goro asked, it was his fault that they were in that condition after all.
"All except for Reaper and Owl. Those two are still unconscious." Nana said, and Squad 13 entered the room.
"Hey guys." Snake said as 13 entered.
"Goro, wipe that look off your face. It's not your fault, we've been through worse." Raven said from beside Crow's bed.
Ikuno walked over to Snakes bed before she slapped him. "What the hell were you thinking?!"
"Trying to keep you alive." Snake said with a smile on his face.
"Idiot!" she huffed and sat next to him.
Crow smiled, glad to see the two bookworms getting along.
"Can I get you anything Cypress?" Futoshi asked.
"Yeah, you got a sandwich on you? I hate hospital food, tastes terrible." Cypress replied.
While the others were chatting with those four, Zero Two, Hiro and Ichigo walked over to the curtained off beds which housed Reaper and Owl. Pushing aside the curtain around Reaper's bed they could see the cut along Reaper's forehead that had been stitched shut.
"I'm sorry Reaper." Ichigo said, tears gathering in her eyes.
A hand reached up and wiped away the tears. Following the hand Ichigo realized that Owl was the one who did it.
"You have nothing to apologize for, Ichigo. You are not the one who hurt us, the Klaxosaur did. You were protecting your squad, just as Reaper protects us. Sometimes that results in him getting hurt, but we know that any damage he takes was so that we didn't get hurt worse. I have no doubt that, when he wakes up, he is going to tear into Zorome for making such a dumbass move, especially against a Jellyfish."
"Jellyfish?" Zero Two asked.
Owl nodded. "We call that Klaxosaur a Jellyfish, due to the fact it sort of looks like one. Jellyfish are suicide bombers, had it gotten close to the plantation, it would have rushed forward and exploded itself. Killing itself but also annihilating the plantation. It is an extremely effective siege weapon."
"You speak from experience?" Goro said, he had stuck his head around the curtain looking for Ichigo when she had disappeared and heard the explanation.
Owl nodded again. "We never actually experienced it ourselves, but we saw the result. A city, larger than the one you found us in, vaporized. Nothing left but a sheet of glass, the defending Reaper Squadron, obliterated along with the city. So many lives lost."
Goro put a hand on Ichigo's shoulder.
"Come on you two, the nurse has ordered us out." He said.
Ichigo turned and walked out without a word, her head down. Zero Two bid Owl a good night and left as well.
"Don't worry you two, with Reaper's regeneration, he will be out of here tomorrow morning." Owl muttered and went back to sleep.
…
True to Owls words, the next morning, they were released from medical and returned to the Birdcage. Both squads were laughing at the scene before them. Reaper, Harvester in hand, was chasing Zorome about the yard in front of the manor while Zorome ran away screaming.
"Get back here Zorome! I'm gonna beat the shit out of you!" Reaper shouted.
"I said I'm sorry!" Zorome shouted back.
"Sorry doesn't cut it! You are going to learn the hard way to never make such an idiotic move again!"
"Would you guys quit laughing and help me!"
"Nope. You went in without learning about your enemy and put your partner in danger. You deserve what you are going to get." Snake said with a laugh.
"Get back here!" Reaper shouted swinging Harvester.
"AHHH!"
A/N: Oh Zorome, will you never learn? A brief explanation is now necessary. Yes, the FranXX are sentient. Death did some work and brought the Klaxosaurs within the FranXX to life. I will try my best to make it obvious when the FranXX are talking and when it is the character's thoughts. Don't worry, Reaper and his squad will find out they truly are sentient soon enough. Anyway, as always, reviews and criticism are greatly appreciated, and flames will be used to roast marshmallows. Ciao!