Uncaring, unfeeling, remorseless. Those were some of the words people would throw her way. It's only what she would show through her callousness.

A monster.

Ingrained within her from the day she could first hear herself think, it's what she believed all the time of her waking life. Even in restfulness, she could not escape those thoughts.

Maybe that's what I was always meant to be.

They fed her stamen like they were nothing, like cattle to the slaughter. They knew they would die eventually, it was just up to when she finally drained them of all they had to offer. The doctors had judged them through mental capability and physical strength, simple statistics filtering through those who had the potential to pilot with her. When it came to the final test of piloting with her, she judged them all with extreme prejudice.

Yet, they are all so weak. They would never understand.

Every single stamen she piloted with, all of them ended up dead in one way or another by the third ride. Massive flesh wounds, broken bones, internal hemorrhaging, brain damage, they all ended up dead in one or a combination of the such. The weaker ones died within the first, and the strongest lay dying by the end of the third. The ferocity of the girl left them twisted and tormented, eventually leaving them with a hollowed out husk of a body. Their vitality fueling her incessant rage during battle—souls condemned by the first time they entered the mech. Only one could enter and come out unscathed.

Only Darling could understand me.

Code 086 was her most recent 'partner,' if that word had any worth to her. Within his first ride, he had been reduced to a broken version of himself after the previous battle, her ruthlessness going to the extremes during that defensive operation. Whether it was her determination to see that the Klaxosaur was completely destroyed, or if it had been something out of her control, didn't matter in the end. Seeing the mechanical beast dead was all that she wanted to see. Having seen Code 086 surviving the vicious ride, a daunting thought scratched at the back of her head: Is he Darling? She then soon answered that question by concluding that Darling would never be weak, he's strong. Never to be broken.

Darling's pure, untainted.

He's perfect.

And I'll make sure to see you again. Even if I have to cut through hordes of Klaxosaurs to do so.

Having been on a transport plane for a couple hours, she couldn't help but wonder why they had departed from the previous plantation so quickly after killing the Klaxosaur. The large transport ship was already prepped and ready for takeoff by the time she killed the beast, minus several important occupants. Upon boarding the transport, she attempted to ask the elderly man in a lab coat with several metal augmentations as to why were leaving so quickly and where to. Doctor FranXX simply raised his only functioning eyebrow and gave her a light chuckle. Of course she'd never get any answers out of him, never did anyways.

Now approaching Plantation 13, the number of the plantation being the only thing the doctor disclosed to her. On board the transport sat the girl with flowing pink hair, a bandaged up and arm in a sling Code 086, and the aged doctor, as well as a young woman with long red hair who went by Nana. Through the large window panes of the transport, there was nothing besides an endless desert. The only things of note in the endless expanse—besides the upcoming plantation—were large magma mines stretched out across the plateau, magma energy being the essence of power that humanity uses. She'd been told the Klaxosaurs were attracted to the magma energy, but the girl didn't care about that. As long as she got to kill them, she was content in her own way.

Being so close to the plantation, the girl decided to pry at the doctor in hopes of him answering something.

"Does Plantation 13 have an ocean?"

"An ocean?" Nana replies, somewhat caught off guard.

"I wanna swim in some clear ocean water."

"I'm sorry to say there's no ocean there. Won't a shower do?"

At least she got some sort of answer, better than the old fart beating the around the bush for the entire flight. Of course she wouldn't take a shower, as bathing is a much better alternative. Once she gets off this transport, finding something suitable for bathing in would be her top priority. Maybe in one of the lakes within the forest above the plantation? She would just have to make her way up there first. Since all the plantations were created the same, she knew the fastest route to take to get up to the top, and sneaking away from her posse of guards and the doctor would be an all too easy task. The doctor didn't care when she wandered off, oftentimes even letting her sneak off. As to why, she didn't know. Maybe he got a kick out of seeing how frantic the guards and her partner get when she did. Whatever his motives are, she took pleasure in the freedom from not being escorted all the time.

"We'll be descending shortly," announces a guard who came from the cockpit, interrupting the girl's train of thought. "Please sit down and buckle your seatbelts."

After hearing the announcement, she looked down at her hands. Disgusting, she thought. Entranced with her self-bitterness, she didn't bother listening to whatever Nana was telling her. Lifting one of her hands, she pushed back the white glove that was covering it. Sniffing it first, she wondered if her own taste had changed at all. Bringing the hand closer, she gave the back of it a soft lick. "I hate how I taste," she mumbles herself reaffirming her previous thought.

The girl then quietly pulls the glove back on and sets it back down to her side. Turning her head to the side, she gazes out of the aircraft's large window in an attempt to clear her mind. Looking at the plantation below, her gaze moving towards the giant glass dome covering the large forest. Her emerald eyes fixate on an immensely small portion of the forest, eyes widening in a mix of curiosity and elation. Her heart skipped a beat.

"He's here..." the girl quietly lets loose without taking her eyes the minuscule patch of forest. The doctor only grunts as a response. "Maybe, but that's only for you to decide."

For the first time in many years, the girl curls the edges of her lips up ever so slightly.

I'm coming for you, Darling.

A young man sits in the stamen seat of a mock FranXX cockpit, below him a young girl mounts the pistil controls. Given the all clear, both parties attempt to simulate a connection in the cockpit. After several seconds, the pistil's paracapacity score shoots up maintaining an average of 75. At the same time, the stamen is finding difficulty in trying to connection. As his paracapacity score slowly begins to climb, a fiery pain starts from his chest and spreads throughout his body in correlation to the score.

As the burning sensation encompasses the entirety of his body, a buzzer suddenly sounds alerting them that the test has timed out. Several attempts at a connection pass, each time ending the exact same way. After the 5th attempt, the test overseer declares that the test is over.

The stamen sits there dumbfounded as a wave of coolness washes away the pain, tears in his eyes, and his thoughts drowning out the crying of the girl below him. Why? Why wasn't I able to connect? What the hell was with that pain? More questions only came up as he attempted to answer them. In the midst of his teary eyed confusion, a firm voice sounds over the intercom in the testing room breaking him out of his mind.

"Code 016 and Code 703."

The voice pauses for a moment, before uttering the one phrase the young boy has never heard in his entire life.

"You fail."

Lying under a large tree within the forests of Mistleteinn, Hiro kept repeating the events of last night in his head and still finds it difficult to comprehend what had happened. Everything between the end of the test and the present had been a blur to the young man, the only details he remembered were his ultimate failure and the phantom pain he felt. For the latter, he chalked it up to just pushing himself too hard. The former, it was a massive shock to him and the other parasites of Squad 13. Him failing at something was unheard of. A child prodigy was what he was often called by the adults and someone that the children respected.

But that was back then during his days at the Garden. Right now he felt completely empty. Failing the compatibility test, but more importantly, failing Squad 13 and his partner, Naomi. He felt like he had no more purpose on this plantation. For reasons unknown, he was given special permission from APE HQ to remain on the plantation. Maybe the adults at HQ believed he was still this prodigy they made him out to be? If he had disappeared like all the other children from the Garden, the morale of all the parasites would tank.

Feeling a vibration coming from the communicator in his uniforms pocket breaks him away from his thoughts. Slowly opening his eyes reveals two big beautiful turquoise eyes. Setting himself up against the large tree was under, he reaches for the communicator in his pocket. Pressing a button, it lights up with a magma-orange color, revealing several messages sent from Ichigo. Seeing the many messages sent from the girl, he was reminded of how much the girl cared about him. Although she is Squad 13's leader, Ichigo always seemed to make an extra effort towards gaining Hiro's affection. Hiro on the other hand didn't know why she acted this way towards him, so he put it off as it just being apart of her over-caring personality.

Suddenly a loud thud emanates from within the glass dome covering the forest. Sliding the communicator into his pocket he begins to stand. Now standing, he slowly makes his way up a nearby hill to see a sizeable blotch of crimson on the inside of the dome. The raven haired boy then puts a finger to the stain, concluding that it's blood from some sort of animal. Hearing the sound of chirping, he turns around to see a small injured bird trying to take flight. Before Hiro was able to reach the bird, he notices a large shadow covering the majority of the forest and the sound of roaring engines.

Looking up, he sees a large transport ship making its way towards the plantation's docking bay. As far away as the transport was, a subconscious force made him focus on one single point towards the passenger cabin of the craft. Something or someone up there mesmerizing him. Hiro stood there for several seconds, which felt like hours to him under its shadow. Coming back to himself, he shakes head in an attempt to clear his mind. Turning back around, Hiro begins to follow the trail of blood and feathers that leads deep into the forest.

A/N

Well, I guess this is my take on attempting to rewrite the story. Both the Prologue and this chapter can both be viewed as one chapter, if that makes sense. I don't know how long I want to make future chapters, as this is my first attempt at creative writing since elementary school. (good god, it's been what, 8 or so years since I actually wrote a story?)

I will say that I have many ideas circulating in my head on how I want to approach this. First of all, if you didn't already pick up on it, a certain character is alive up a certain point, an attempt at giving Doctor FranXX some sort of moral compass on how he treats Zero Two and other stuff.

As for VIRM? Lolno. I have settled on something for Papa, but I don't want to give too much away and spoil the eventual surprise.

Anyways, those are some of my thoughts on where I'm attempting to go with this, so feel free to leave some sort of criticism or something.