Darling in the FranXX: The Reaper Squadron
Chapter 23: Improvements and Finding Zero Two
Happy New Year Everyone!
The next day, Reaper decided to go and visit Epsilon. Havana had been worried sick about him since he had yet to wake up but was relieved to hear that he had awoken the previous day. Walking up to the medical room door he lightly knocked.
"Come in." Epsilon said.
Reaper entered the room and saw Epsilon sitting up in the bed. He had deep black bags under his eyes and looked very worn out.
"Ah Reaper. I was wondering when you would come visit us. We have yet to thank you for saving our lives. Please, take a seat." Epsilon said gesturing to a chair.
Reaper was confused as to why Epsilon said we until he fully entered the room. Next to Epsilon, with her head resting on the mattress, was a passed-out Delta. Epsilon noticed Reaper looking at Delta.
"She has been there since I woke up. She filled me in on what happened after the attack and then passed out. I don't know what I would do without her, but I have no idea why she is still here."
"She was concerned about you. After we rescued you from the VIRM, the poor girl was damn near in tears. She has been working with Havana to take care of you, since my wife cannot spend all of her time taking care of you, as much as she would like to." Reaper said.
"Havana has been taking care of me?"
"Quite. She refuses to let anyone besides herself to take care of you. She comes in here nearly every day to monitor you and encourage Delta to leave your side every once and a while to eat and sleep. She was getting very worried that you would never wake up, you were unconscious for several weeks."
"Yeah, so I've been told." Epsilon shifted in the bed using his hands. "I will never pilot again. Delta told me that my spine was shattered in too many places to be fixed."
"It is the unfortunate truth. Despite all the advances in science and medicine we know, total spine replacement is not something we can do. You will be unable to walk as well."
"I know." Epsilon sighed.
Delta shifted and groaned in her sleep, and Epsilon looked at her with a fond expression.
"When she told me I would never walk again, she cried and cried and cried, telling me it was her fault because she was piloting. I told her that anyone could have been piloting and the result would be the same, but she didn't buy it." Epsilon looked at her again. "Can you do me a favor, Reaper? When you leave, can you take her with you? She only fell asleep a few hours ago and I think she would be more comfortable sleeping in her own bed instead of here."
"Certainly. You are awful calm about this though Ep. Most people would be panicking at the thought of never being able to walk again."
Epsilon sighed. "We should have withdrew when that skeleton entered the field, but we didn't. I have to accept the consequences of my actions and this is the price. How is everyone else?"
"My squad and most of Reaper Beta are fine. Zero Two, however, is not in the greatest condition."
"Reaper Beta?"
"Squad 13."
"Ah. What is wrong with Zero Two?"
"The best explanation is that she is not all there at the moment. She stares blankly off into space and tends to walk off randomly."
Epsilon hummed, and Delta shifted in her sleep again.
"Go on and take her out of here. She needs proper rest." Epsilon said.
Reaper gently scooped Delta up and walked toward the door.
"When I see Havana again, I will send her your way. She will want to do a checkup on you now that your awake."
Epsilon nodded, and Reaper walked out the door. As Reaper walked down the hallway Delta began to wake up.
"Reaper?" She asked sleepily.
"Yes Delta, its me."
"Where is Epsilon?"
"Still in his medical room. He asked me to take you back to your room to get some proper sleep."
"Want to stay." She lightly protested as her eyes fell back closed.
"You can see him later, after you have gotten more sleep."
As he continued down the hallway he passed Havana who was staring at him in confusion.
"She fell asleep in Ep's room and he asked me to take her to her room to sleep."
Havana nodded. "I told her that she needed to get some sleep in her room, but she refused to leave his side. Is he awake?"
"Yes. Go ahead and check on him, I told him to expect you."
"She nodded and walked down the hall, heels tapping on the floor. Reaper entered the living quarters of the Birds Nest and easily found Delta's room. Entering, he placed her on the bed and tucked her in. She mumbled something about not letting Epsilon die as he did so. He quietly closed the door and walked away.
…
Later when Reaper was walking down one of the hallways, he looked out the nearby window and saw Zero Two standing in one of the courtyards with the metal trees. She must have wandered away again, and Hiro was nowhere in sight. Reaper walked to the nearby door which led out to the courtyard and approached her. As usually her head snapped toward him taking her eyes off the sky.
"You know that you worry your Darling every time you do this, right?"
Zero Two gave no reaction and since he was not connected to her he didn't know what she was feeling.
"Come on, let's get you back inside."
As he began to take her inside several wounds appeared on her body as the sky flashed with light from far off explosions. Reaper looked at the wounds and covered them in shadow, healing her while taking the damage himself.
"Where are you that you are taking so much damage?" he muttered.
Zero Two then moved and pointed a finger skyward.
"Space… Why and how and where are you in space though? That's not a place a soul randomly goes to."
Zero Two did not react.
Reaper sighed and walked her inside. He took her back toward her room and placed her gently on the bed. Hiro was still not around.
"The sooner you show your Darling where you are, the sooner we can come help you two." He looked at her sadly. "Give me something, anything, some kind of clue to where you are. It hurts me more than you know to see a squad member and friend of mine to be hurt and not to be able to do a damn thing about it."
Zero Two did nothing and Reaper sighed.
"Keep fighting you two."
As Reaper headed down the medical ward hallways he saw Nana outside a room struggling to stand from her wheelchair. He walked over to her and held out a hand to help her up. She took it and stood on shaky legs.
"Easy, Nana. Small steps." Reaper said.
She nodded and turned toward the room. Inside, there was a parasite that was curled in a ball, they were shaking with silent tears. Nana carefully walked forward, using the bed and nearby dresser for support and approached the parasite before getting on her knees.
She reached out with a hand toward their head but jerked back. She tried again and nearly made it before jerking back again. Reaper stood silently in the doorway. "Come on, Nana, you can do it. Showing concern for a parasite isn't a banned thing anymore." He thought. Nana withdrew her hand and curled up on herself before attempting to stand. "Don't!" Reaper thought, mentally willing Nana to gather the courage and comfort the parasite. Nana then got a determined look on her face and with both hands pulled the crying parasite to her chest and began muttering comforting words to them. Reaper smiled. "Good job, Nana."
Once the parasite had calmed down they passed out and she tucked them back into their bed. Nana turned toward the door and saw that Reaper was still standing there and blushed, embarrassed that he saw her do such a thing.
"There is nothing wrong with comforting a frightened child, Nana. Such things are no longer prohibited." Reaper said.
Nana still looked away embarrassed.
"There is, however, something I need to fix." Reaper thought. He stepped forward and pulled Nana into a hug.
"Reaper, what…"
Nana was then wrapped in shadow from Reaper. She could feel herself getting stronger, the fragility caused by her regression going away. She then heard Reaper's voice in her head.
"I will not let you carry on in this state Nana. Your strength is needed, now more than ever."
When the shadow dissipated, Nana was seen standing tall once more. No trace of shakiness or weakness remained. Nana then looked at Reaper and he answered the question she was asking with her eyes.
"I cannot let the parasite's surrogate mother remain in such a state. They need you."
"Surrogate…mother?"
"That's right. All of the parasites here look up to you, Nana, as one of the few adults left that can show them what to do. You did an excellent job in raising Squad 13, all I ask is that you do the same for these children." Reaper said gesturing toward the sleeping parasite.
Nana then nodded with a determined look on her face.
…
A week had passed, and things were changing rapidly. With the soil that they had pulled from Mistilteinn, the crops were now growing properly with no signs of the former decay that the others had. Zorome, Miku, and James were busting their asses to take care of the fledgling crops and the others assisted when they could.
Futoshi had finally learned enough that Havana was satisfied with leaving him in control of the kitchen and he, and the small army of parasites he had working under him, managed to continuously feed the parasites and adults that were residing within the Birds Nest. Kokoro and Nana, who had shocked everyone by being up and walking the next day, were doing their best to keep the parasites cared for and calm.
Havana and Owl were releasing more parasites from the medical ward per day. Epsilon was released not three days ago to Delta's joy. Reaper had quickly learned that Epsilon had a sharp mind and sent him to assist Ikuno in R&D. They had come to him with some rather outlandish designs that, when he built them, actually worked quite well. Reaper had been busy shifting the Birds Nest off of Magma Energy power and onto wind and solar. Ichigo had banned the use of Magma Energy and he was given orders to cycle all energy sources off of it ASAP. Snake was given priority orders by Reaper to finish the cell degeneration cure he was working on and did so with a fervor. Ikuno's condition was really worrying the poor man and he often worked himself to exhaustion trying to complete the cure.
Reaper was working on one of his solar arrays when a parasite came running up to him.
"R-01, I was asked by Code 015 to come get you and take you to the medical ward."
"Her name is Ichigo and mine is Reaper." He lightly chided.
He had been trying to get the parasites to call them by name over the past week. He was having some success but not much. He packed up his tools and followed the parasite toward the medical ward where he met Ichigo.
"What's the problem, Ichigo?" Reaper asked.
"It's the 9s." she replied.
Reaper growled. Even though they were taking care of them they were still being a pain in the ass!?
"We lost Theta, Eta, and Zeta last night. Alpha, Beta, and Gamma would be fine, but they refuse to eat and take their medication."
Reaper sighed. While he did not know the triplets very well he was sad to hear them go. He would have to ask his master later what his ruling on them was. Alpha, Beta, and Gamma however he could do something about.
"It seems that I need to slap some sense into them. Very well, I will go talk to them." Reaper said and started down the hall toward their rooms.
"Reaper!" Havana shouted to him, having overheard the conversation. "They may have given up on living, but they are still my patients. Don't give them anymore injuries."
"No promises."
Reaper continued down the hall and entered Alpha's room first. He closed and locked the door. Alpha was in a pitiful state. He had massive black bags under his eyes and was wasting away into nothing.
"How the mighty have fallen." Reaper said causing Alpha to jerk his head up.
"Reaper." Alpha growled.
"Hello asshole."
"If you've come to gloat, go ahead and kill me."
"Death's too easy. I'm not going to put you out of your misery just because you ask for it. Now, we are going to get to the root of this problem. We give you food and we give you medicine, why do you refuse to take it?"
"I don't need food. I need maintenance."
"Maintenance is not a thing that is going to happen anymore Alpha. The medicine we give you is what is going to keep you alive. Both Delta and Epsilon have taken it and are up and about just fine. You have given up, why?"
"Papa abandoned us. I have no purpose."
"Bullshit."
Alpha gave a hollow laugh. "You have been the biggest pain in my ass since you showed up. Why are you trying to help me now?"
"I have no interest in helping you, Alpha." Reaper said stepping forward. "The only interest I have in you, is making you suffer. Remember, your soul belongs to me and I intend to collect, but not while you are in this pathetic state."
Reaper grabbed Alpha's arm and, quite literally, began to drag him toward the door. With the weak state that Alpha was in, he could do little more than protest at the treatment.
"You don't get to throw in the towel just because life got hard. This is all shit that you have manufactured in your head. Delta and Epsilon are fine, so you should be fine too."
Reaper then unlocked the door and dragged Alpha out. He passed Havana in the hallway and she looked at him in shock.
"Reaper, what the hell are you doing?" she asked.
"Putting his sorry ass to work."
Reaper dragged Alpha out of the medical ward and outside of the Birds Nest. He dragged him over to the farm plots that Zorome was making and saw one of Zorome's assistants, Code 587.
"Hello Reaper, how can I help-AHHH!" she shouted as she saw Reaper dragging Alpha behind him.
Reaper deposited Alpha at her feet. "Someone get me a hoe!"
A hoe came flying toward him from the right and Reaper caught it.
"Thanks, Zorome."
Zorome nodded and went back to work.
"Stand." Reaper ordered.
"Reaper, I-"Alpha said.
"Stand up, Alpha." Reaper growled.
Alpha struggled to his feet after collapsing twice. Reaper handed him the hoe.
"This is called a hoe, its used for farming. Food no longer magically appears on the table, we have to grow it ourselves. Starting today, you are going to help with that process. If you can't figure out how to do it, ask someone else. I'm sure they would be more than happy to explain it to you."
Reaper then turned to Code 587.
"He is to plow an entire row by himself. I don't care how long it takes."
"Understood, Reaper." She said shakily.
Reaper smiled her. "You remembered my name. Good job."
Reaper then turned and walked back toward the medical ward. As Reaper entered the medical ward Havana was waiting for him. She was tapping her foot on the floor and was wearing the white lab coat she wore when in the medical ward.
"Where did you go with him?" she demanded as she fell into step with him.
"Out to the fields to do work." He then looked at her confused. "When did you start wearing glasses?"
"Huh?"
She then patted her face and felt that she was wearing glasses. She 'eeped!' and quickly took her glasses off, looking embarrassed.
"I need them to read the medical documents."
"Why did you take them off? You looked adorable with them on."
She blushed harder. "Thanks Reaper." She then turned and walked down an adjacent hallway with a small smile on her face.
With Havana sufficiently distracted, Reaper repeated the procedure with Beta. He walked into the room, unceremoniously dumped Beta onto the floor and dragged him out to the fields. Reaper gave him to Code 587 with the orders to not let him leave until he plowed a row by himself. Gamma was awake when he entered the room due to the noise the other two made. He was livelier than the other two, but all this did was made him do was yell and carry on as Reaper dragged him out to the fields. Code 587 was expecting him at this point and was not surprised to see Reaper dragging yet another parasite out to her and had a hoe ready. She gave it to him and showed him his workspace. Alpha was staring at him in shock as he leaned up against his hoe.
"You best get to work. It gets very cold out here at night."
…
The following evening, Reaper and Havana was taking were taking a walk through the fields looking at the progress. This was the first time in a few days that Havana has been able to escape the medical ward and not be absolutely exhausted. Their peaceful walk was about to be disturbed however.
"It's very nice to see all the progress we have made. We might yet be able to see our dream become reality." Reaper said.
"Yeah, oh guess what?" Havana said.
"What?"
"Kokoro gave me her decision."
"And?"
"She has decided to carry it to term. Mitsuru has also decided to take responsibility and help raise the child."
"That's good. It will be nice to see fresh life once more."
Hiro then walked up to them with his head down.
"Hiro? What's wrong?" Havana asked concerned.
"I know where Zero Two is."
"What?" Reaper asked.
"I know where Zero Two is."
"Where? Where is she?" Havana asked.
"She is in Strelitiza Apus. Up in space."
"Son of a bitch." Reaper said. "That's what she was trying to tell me."
"Ok, so she is in space. How do we get there?" Havana asked.
"What do you mean we?" Hiro asked. "Only I'm going."
"The hell you are." Reaper said.
"But…" Hiro said.
"This is not up for discussion. Now, how are we going to get up there?" Reaper said.
"I believe that I can help with that." Hachi said walking up behind them.
…
In the Command Center of the Birds Nest, Hachi connected to the Shadow Gaze and accessed the satellites.
"A few days ago, Goro approached me to look for additional resources. While we were looking we discovered this."
On screen, there was a massive buried Klaxosaur ship. "This appears to be a Klaxosaur mothership but for some reason I can access the internal controls. It appears to be awaiting a command, a command that only humans can give."
"Alright. So, we know where she is, and we have a way to get there, but how do we get her back?"
"Papa said Strelitiza Apus was a mass of life, right? So, it's possible that when those two took control of the Apus, it took Zero Two's soul out of her body and forced it into the FranXX. That means it's also possible that taking Zero Two's body with us and putting it on the pistil platform and destroying the Apus it would force it back into her body." Havana said.
"I wonder if that would work for Gaia as well." Reaper muttered.
"So, we have a way up and a possible plan, but how do we get those two to the Apus?" Havana asked.
"On our way out, I saw a maintenance hatch attached to an elevator which led to the cockpit. That's our door." Reaper said as he began to bring up his communicator. "Reaper Alpha, mobilize. Zero Two has been located. Grab Reaper Beta and report to the Command Center, it's time we end this."