Hello all! Got a big one for you again today, probably the biggest one to date, I didn't originally intend for it to be so big but the details just kept piling on. So please forgive the delay since the last chapter, this one was a bit of a struggle to get just right.
I also just want to take the time to say thank you so much to all of you who have faved/followed, and a big thanks to the people who have left encouraging reviews. Your words have reinforced my drive and desire to keep writing, and I thank you for assuring me that this story is being paced well and the descriptions aren't too overwhelming. I really am trying, with all the research and revising I just need that every now and then. So again, thank you!
Judging by the title of the chapter, you might be able to tell where the mood is going to go. I told you to enjoy their innocence while you could, good things don't last forever... So begins the pulling on the heartstrings. It has been divided into two parts since the amount of inhumanity was too great to contain in just one.
Without holding you up any more, please enjoy reading.
Flight of the Jian
Chapter 7
Inhumanity : Part I
March 3 - 2135
It was somewhat surreal that things had gone right back to normal routine after such a harrowing ordeal, but time doesn't stop for anyone in Garden, so all things must go on.
Hiro was discharged in the late morning hours of the day after his third "ride of death", as some people had dubbed it in rumors. If he was considered famous before, he was a real celebrity now as his tale of surviving death spread among the Parasite cadets.
They could hardly believe it when they saw him walking around looking perfectly fine after many claimed to have seen him barely clinging to life right before his mission. Yet here he stood before them, looking none the worse for wear, appearing quite proud of himself, actually.
In all fairness, he had every right to feel that way, as he had beaten all the odds and surpassed the doubts of everyone. Done what had been considered the impossible.
Hiro and Zero Two have gone on quite a few rides together since then, and it was with immense relief with every one that the growth did not return to form. They knew because Zero Two had made a habit of checking every night after each ride, which Hiro didn't deny her as he somewhat needed that reassurance himself.
He'd rather not go through that excruciating pain again...
However, after recovering from that third ride he couldn't help but feel so energized, able to do physical training for longer periods without tiring, amazingly. Before, he was hardly considered athletic and struggled to keep up long enough to meet the benchmarks Doctor Franxx set for him. Now, it looked like all that effort was finally gaining some long-deserved benefits.
Then again, he was also a healthy growing thirteen year old moving into the next stage of his life, his body was changing all the time in some way or another.
It was remarkable, feeling so alive after being so close to death, but the dark-haired boy didn't look a gift horse in the mouth. He took it in stride, and even took advantage of it when he could.
Like right now, he was taking advantage of his increased strength to help push the few but heavy pieces of furniture around their new room. They were finally allowed an official room since they were no longer technically part of Garden, now that they were able to sortie and go on missions.
While they still remained in Garden for the time being, Doctor Franxx thought it would be better for them to room in the same area as the rest of the Parasites. Away from the other children still in training.
They were now rooming in the same wing as the 9's, which neither of them cared for but they were going to have to get used to it, as they were going to eventually be part of a whole squad with them when they were ready. The 9's were still going through their own training together, which while they had progressed far faster than other children they were still technically only a couple years old.
They first had to be indoctrinated so that Papa was satisfied with their level of loyalty before they could even start training. Though the indoctrination itself didn't take long at all, as they took to being Papa's lapdogs very eagerly - Zero Two noticed with disdain - it would take some time for them to learn and experience all the teachings and simulations that Hiro and Zero Two had been doing for years.
But when they were ready they were going to be some of the best Papa had to offer. Willing to do anything and everything he commanded of them.
There wasn't much different about their new room compared to their old one, except that it held more furniture like a dresser for uniforms that would be restocked every couple days, as well as a new desk and a bookshelf.
The best part of their new room, though, was they actually had a window now. They were finally being trusted with one again.
"You pushed that almost effortlessly, Darling, that's incredible!" Zero Two cheered as he positioned their new dresser opposite the modified twin beds pushed together to make a full sized bed. When he was done he brushed the little bit of sweat off the side of his face.
"It's kind of weird but... I feel like I've gotten quite a bit stronger lately, Zero Two." Hiro said with a grin as he flexed his arm a little, observing the newly developed muscles he discovered there. "All those training exercises are paying off, I guess."
"You've gotten a little taller recently, too, Darling." Zero Two pointed out with a smile, as she now stood eye-to-eye with her beloved. "Must be a growth spurt."
Again, chalking it all up to puberty, Hiro did notice with happiness that he was matching her in height now. It never made him feel bad that she gained an inch or two over him as they were growing, but it did make him feel a little better knowing they were equal again now.
"Haha, perhaps. Maybe soon I might be taller than you." Hiro laughed, leaning forward to rest his forehead against hers. It was so easy to do this at this height, felt just perfect.
"Ah!" Zero Two suddenly gasped, her head jerking back in reflex. Hiro jumped at this, looking at her with concern.
"Zero Two? Are you alright?" He hurriedly asked her.
"I'm fine, it's just... I felt something poke me just now..." Narrowing her eyes in suspicion, Zero Two's hand quickly came up and pushed his bangs up into his hair, taking the boy aback by it as his eyes widened.
"H-Hey, what-?"
"Darling..." Zero Two interrupted him breathlessly as she stared wide-eyed at his forehead. "... You have horns."
She had whispered the words, her enlarged teal-green eyes staring at two small bumps that were beginning to bud out of his skin just beneath his hairline. They had yet to break through, but she could tell there was a slight blue tone coming through under his skin, hinting at their color.
Huh...? Hiro looked at her dumbly as he processed what she'd just told him.
"I have... I have what?"
"Horns. Little tiny blue horns that look kinda like mine." Zero Two reiterated firmly, her face practically void of expression as she took them in.
"Oh..." He said dumbfounded, unsure of what else to say in reaction. He reached up to touch his forehead himself, rubbing the hardened nubs that quickly gave an explanation to the slight headache he'd been feeling the last couple days. It was so minuscule, though, he had just brushed it off as a very minor migraine but this made so much more sense.
Horns... in the exact same placement as the ones Zero Two had. And she said they were blue? Well that didn't make much of a difference to him, what mattered most is he now shared something in common with Zero Two! He felt so much closer to her now that he was gaining something of hers, even if it was a different color.
It made him so happy, this was something he'd always wanted for her, he just never imagined it would be him that could give it to her since he had always been a fragile Human.
"Well, the doctor did tell me ages ago my body would be going through changes, I guess this is one of them. Maybe from the - what did he call it...? Oh yeah, saurification." Hiro said in a light tone as his fingers felts around the hard points that were protruding from his forehead, his flesh still encasing them fully.
He wondered when they were going to break the skin, that was probably going to be a little painful...
Now that he said it out loud, it suddenly made sense why his body was going through all these sudden improvements. These were the hypothesized effects Doctor Franxx told him could happen over time if he allowed the DNA mixing with his human genes to develop further.
The faster reflexes, the enhanced body strength, and now the physical changes... these were all things Franxx told him could happen on day one. Things the old man had been waiting and watching for every day since that first day.
Riding with Zero Two must have been the trigger.
Zero Two, however, didn't appear all too pleased with that bit of news. In fact she didn't like the nonchalance with which he spoke about this.
Why was he taking this so casually...?
"You mean, you knew something like this would happen...?" Hiro awkwardly scratched the back of his head at that. No use in hiding it now, not that he had intended on hiding it in the first place. It just never came up.
"Kind of, but at the time my mind had been thinking of more drastic changes like gaining red skin like you have." He'd meant it as a little bit of a joke but clearly that did not go over well since Zero Two did nothing but wince in what almost looked like horror.
All she had ever wanted was to be human like him... but now he was turning into something other than human. Because of her.
Once again she was a plague on the most precious person in the whole world to her... she just couldn't stop being a monster...
"Zero Two...? Does it make you... unhappy?" It made Hiro sad that she didn't like these changes that were seemingly improving him, making him more like her. He was just now learning to treasure them, and it hurt him that she was resenting them.
"I'm such a monster..." She muttered to herself, her head lowering in shame. Hiro's eyes widened as he heard this, his mouth dropping open in outrage.
"What?! No you are not, how can you say that?!" He demanded, his brows furrowing slightly from anger.
"Look at what I've done to you!" Zero Two cried, gesturing to his forehead. "You were perfect as you were and now I've ruined you with my filthy self!"
"Zero Two, stop it!" Hiro demanded, his anger rising at her awful words towards herself. "There's nothing wrong with you, you're perfect!"
"How can you call me that when I've done nothing but cause you pain and trouble? You chose to leave your friends for me, a monster who taints everything she touches! You almost died riding with me! You're far too kind for your own good, Darling, you don't realize that you're ruining your life choosing to stay with me."
"Stop it!" Hiro growled, but she wasn't listening to him. Tears were running down her face as she rambled over him.
"There's still time to fix this, we can call for that old geezer and he can do something about them, maybe he can stop them from growing fully. He can make some kind of cure for you, and you'll be human again-"
"I SAID STOP IT!" He roared, his mouth flashing newly sharpened canines as he screamed at her. He was tired of being talked over, he deserved to have his opinion heard too!
Zero Two's eyes widened as she gaped at Hiro open-mouthed, shocked that he had raised his voice to her. He hated doing it, he truly felt awful for screaming at her but it was all he could do to get her attention.
"I mean it... stop. I hate it when you say disparaging remarks about yourself. I absolutely hate it." Hiro scolded, making her shoulders tense up in shame. "I don't like it when the adults do it and the same goes for you."
The red-skinned girl whimpered at him, her slightly smaller frame shaking from the turbulent emotions rampaging through her at this moment. Hiro cleared his throat and spoke a little more gently now.
"Now... I understand you have a hard time accepting yourself the way I do. I know it's hard for you, after all the awful things those adults have said to you I don't blame you in the slightest. But you can't begin to heal and love yourself if you don't learn to accept that those parts of you that you hate so much, they make up who you are, and I wouldn't want you any different."
Zero Two looked off to the side, her mouth curving down in a deep frown. She had never felt like she could love herself, not until she was fully human! She admitted she liked herself a little more now ever since her new inhibitor helped her horns stay a manageable size, but she still had a long way to go before she could feel truly happy with herself.
"But I... I-I want to be like y-you..." Zero Two whispered softly, more tears beginning to form in her eyes again. "I want to be a human so I can b-be with you forever and never have to be s-separated from you."
The last page of their storybook flashed across his mind, and Hiro suddenly understood why she was so desperate to become a human.
And it made him want to cry himself... how could he have been so blind to her misinterpretations of the ending to their treasured book? Hiro had always known they shared the same opinion that it was sad and tragic ending, but he'd never known she'd interpreted it so literally in light of their own situation.
Zero Two was afraid, she didn't want them to go through what the Prince and Princess in the story did, under the impression they'd have to part one day because of their differences too. She truly believed that by somehow becoming human, she would never have to hurt or leave him like the Princess in the story did.
He desperately needed to wipe away that doubt now, or else it would be so much harder to snuff out later on.
"Have you ever stopped to think about how I feel about this? How much it means to me?" Hiro asked her gently, his hand coming up to wipe at the tears that were spilling onto her cheeks. When he was done he took both her hands into his, holding them between the two of them.
"N-No..." Zero Two answered honestly, once again feeling ashamed at herself. It was unfair of her to never consider Darling's feelings in moments like these, she knew this now. No matter how distressed something made her, she couldn't let it make her forget to ask Darling how he felt about it. They were supposed to be a team, after all.
So she braced herself for him telling her he hated them and wanted them gone.
"These horns make me so happy... because now I feel so much closer to you. I feel like I'm finally becoming your equal, and without you having to give up any of who you are."
Zero Two's eyes raised to his quickly, a torn up look on her face. "B-But you're giving up who you are to become like me!"
"No, I'm not." Hiro said confidently and firmly, bringing their joined hands to his chest as he leaned his forehead gently against hers. She felt his tiny undeveloped horns brush against her again, but this time she didn't pull away now that she knew to expect them.
They felt... odd, but that was mainly since she wasn't used to the feeling. Other than that it was... slightly comforting...
"I'm not giving up anything, I'm still me..." Hiro said softly, placing her hands over his chest so she could feel his heartbeat. It pounded in his chest with a purpose, not stuttering or skipping a single beat as it remained steady in it's rhythm. With a heartbeat so confident, she had no reason to doubt him as he spoke with such sincerity.
"I'm just gaining so much more. Now I understand why I'm getting stronger, why I'm gaining faster reflexes like you have, even why I'm getting taller. I'm growing into more of an equal for you, that's what these changes are doing to me. And I'm so happy for it too, because it means I can protect you if the need comes again, I don't have to feel helpless or weak in any capacity anymore."
To demonstrate his words he released her hands and wrapped his arms around her waist, then lifted her up off the ground with hardly any effort on his part.
Zero Two let out a surprised gasp at the sudden act, but a smile quickly formed out of habit from any form of affectionate behavior her Darling gifted to her. He grinned at her, absolutely loving that he made her smile.
"See? I can lift you so easily now, I can be a much more suitable partner for you. I know you always loved and treasured me as I was, and I am so grateful to you for it, but I personally always hated that I couldn't do more for you. Now I can, please don't take that away from me..."
"Darling..." Zero Two whimpered as she gripped his shoulders, the tears coming back once again as she grasped what he was requesting of her.
He was asking her to accept the parts of him that were changing, and she struggled with the concept as it would mean she'd have to accept those parts of herself as well. As much as she hated herself for forcing these changes on Darling, she couldn't just stop loving him because of them, not at all.
Darling would always be Darling.
"It would be very hypocritical of you to love me the way I am but not yourself, you know." He added suddenly, as if reading her mind. She grimaced at him, a pout forming on her lips. Hiro laughed at her expression, knowing he hit the nail on the head.
"I love you the way you are, Zero Two, no matter what you look like. Because it's you! And I don't want you to be human if it means giving up all of this that we share, now. I want to be the way we are, forever with you. In our picture book, the Princess had to leave the Prince and never be seen again, but the two of us won't be like them."
He set her down on her feet, then grabbed both her hands in his again. Zero Two's heart was racing as a soft gasp left her at his profession of love, her cheeks growing redder with blush as she bashfully looked up at him. Hiro beamed at the look on her face, so beautiful and lovely...
"We'll write our own ending of that story together, make it the way we want it to go, because I... I can't imagine a world without you in it!" He exclaimed passionately.
Zero Two looked down at their joined hands, taking note of the stark differences in their skin tones.
Perhaps the reason she'd always hated herself, hated her own smell and taste so vehemently, was because she had learned to hate herself the way everyone else did. After all the years of everyone around her avoiding and ostracizing her because of how she looked, it was inevitable she would look at herself in a similar fashion.
She couldn't ever find it in her to love anything about herself because she was the only one who looked like she did, she felt so estranged from everyone around her. Even Darling, sometimes...
But now... Zero Two couldn't deny that it was a comforting thought to imagine Darling being her equal and sharing things with her now, being able to feel the things she felt. Especially when he was the only one who thought of her as anything other than disgusting.
He was the only one who ever called her beautiful, and for a fragile few seconds she could let herself believe him, because he said it so assuredly. If there was one thing she could always trust, it was that Darling would never lie to her.
"Forever... Darling." Zero Two finally whispered against his shoulder, before shyly adding, "... I love you."
"I love you, too. I always will. Forever." Hiro murmured against the top of her head before placing a gentle kiss to her hair.
It was the first time either of them had said it outright, fully intended for the other's ears. Sure, they had always felt it and known deep down where they stood with each other, but neither had ever taken it upon themselves to actively say the words. Til now there hadn't been a need.
Now, it was out there and official. They loved each other... and they would only love each other so long as they lived.
For the first time in her life, Zero Two felt whole and happy with herself. Darling had always made her feel complete, but the difficult act of starting to accept herself had finally made her begin to feel a semblance of belonging in this world.
Maybe not as a Human, but a person nonetheless.
March 21 - 2135
Franxx looked around the new temporary laboratory he was going to be using for the time being, noting with dismay that they lacked some of the equipment he was used to having back in the Garden labs. Oh well, he would have to make due with what was here.
He took the time to get acquainted with his new tools and environment as he waited for 002 to arrive for her test ride with a new Stamen. They were scheduled to sortie in just under an hour, so she would be coming in soon for debriefing.
The two of them had traveled all the way from Garden to Plantation 8, where her potential new partner awaited them. The boy was said to be decently prodigious in nature, not nearly as impressive as 016 but still better than most average. With any luck he'd suit the needs for this new project Papa assigned him.
Well, it wasn't technically new. It was something he had unwillingly promised years ago, and now he had to try and deliver.
It goes without saying that the moment Hiro became aware of the new appendages growing from his forehead he knew the old man would want to know immediately. It was the day after he discovered them during his daily checkup that Hiro showed him the budding horns, and Franxx couldn't have been more pleased with the new development.
It raised several questions, but also seemed to simultaneously answer some as well as the scientist took all the data he'd accumulated over the years and came to a suitable conclusion.
Looking back at all the results and data from previous flights and from the information he collected from each of his blood samples throughout the course of these last few years, it was now confirmed that the boy's yellow blood cell counts have risen to a level above that of a normal human's.
In fact, they had gone beyond the point of any normal human to be able to survive.
However, 016 was a special subject, as Franxx always knew he would be from day one. That above average YBC count is the very reason he has become his own breed of a Klaxian-Human hybrid.
But now... Now came the hard part.
Werner sighed as he finished listening to the last of Papa's recent video message to him. The supreme being had tried to make it a personal call, but Franxx had been preoccupied by more pressing matters and wasn't able to take it in person.
He wouldn't admit, but he did purposely try to be busy any time Papa called... Rewinding it a bit, he played the last part of the message over again.
"Also Werner, while I'm pleased with the results of 016's transformation, I told you at the start that if he were a success you were required to repeat the process. His physical prowess has increased exponentially ever since, he's become a step above the 9's and I want more like him, Werner. Take what you've learned and start making the little beast pilot with other Stamen if that's what it takes. I want her piloting with any low numbered Parasites that don't have or lost a partner."
When he first agreed to this it was with a heavy conscience, as he considered the Klaxosapian royal who would be very displeased to learn her lineage was being further bastardized by attempting to create more to use against her. He had agreed offhandedly as a matter of preservation.
Now, though, after years of watching the process slowly take root in the boy, Werner wasn't sure he could reproduce the results. Even if he wanted to - which he did not - he didn't think it was possible to create another hybrid.
Unless... Franxx shook his head. No, they were both far too young to even consider that option, and heaven forbid if Papa ever consider it for himself...
If he ever learned that 002 was fertile, there was no telling where her future path would go, and nothing Werner could do would prevent it. That thought brought a legitimate shiver of fear through the old man, a feeling he hasn't felt in a long time. Only recently did he start feeling it more with these brats of his giving him close calls.
The bio-mechanical man sighed long and deep. He truly had gone soft on them, it seemed...
No, if he was going to have to go through this moral-testing process, he was going to have to go all the way with it in order to satisfy Papa. A few failures won't be enough, it would take many to make their overlord see reason, and even then it would be by his reasoning.
Needless to say, it was not something his ward took lightly when he told her eight days ago.
"You and I are going to visit a new plantation where you will attempt to pilot with a new Stamen." Zero Two's eyes widened and she immediately jumped out of her chair at hearing this.
"What? Why?!" She demanded, her heart beating in panic. Why was she being reassigned a new partner now with no warning? They hadn't done anything wrong and things had been going just fine with Darling now!
"Calm down, child, it doesn't mean they will be your permanent partner. I'm simply following instructions." Hearing that made Zero Two relax slightly, knowing that she wouldn't have to be parted with Darling forever. They were still Partners, they would still have each other.
"Papa wants to see if we can replicate what happened to 016. There's no doubt his survival of that tumor was beyond expectation, even more so was the development of his horns. Surviving three rides with you has increased the saurification process within him, which appears to have been the catalyst for the changes I have been anticipating since I discovered his mutated blood. However, it still begs the question of if it can be done again with someone else. Papa's words, not mine."
Zero Two grimaced at what he was telling her, and a part of her began to grow worried at the prospect that she might hurt someone else by riding with them. What if what happened to Darling wasn't just a one-time occurrence?
"So I only have to do a couple test rides then, right? That's all?" She asked with furrowed brows as she looked up at the old man questioningly.
"For now, yes." Franxx could see where she was going with her questions, but kept stoic with his replies.
"But... what if they get that growth thing that Darling had?" Whether or not she didn't know or care for the person she was going to be riding with didn't matter, she still wouldn't wish that terrible burden on anyone. Even the rotten adults who had been messing with her life since the day she was born.
Well... maybe some of them...
Seeing her Darling suffer so much like she had, it would be horrific to witness it happen again. Especially when she couldn't guarantee the next one would be strong enough to live like Darling had.
In truth, Doctor Franxx had no answer for her, as he was just as in the dark about the possibilities as she was. Unfortunately, he had no right to refuse Papa's orders, regardless of the consequences that were bound to come. If he was to continue on with business as usual, he was going to have to obey.
"That's not something for you to concern yourself with." He answered instead. Zero Two's frown deepened as she scowled at him.
She hated that answer. The adults always had some kind of similar response to all the questions she and Darling posed, and it was incredibly frustrating. Why weren't they trusted with more information if they were supposed to be entrusted with the safety of the entire Human race? Protecting adults and children alike?
That question always ate away at her, and made her nose wrinkles like something stinks.
Now, today, they had to see whether or not she was capable of flying with someone other than 016. Whether she liked it not, unfortunately.
The sound of the door to his lab opening brought him back to present reality, and he turned to see Zero Two entering the room after giving one last look of distaste towards her escort. Honestly, couldn't they trust her to walk anywhere by herself by now?
"So when am I meeting this new guy, old man?" She asked aloofly as she crossed her arms and stood casually beside his temporary desk.
"Here soon, I'll debrief you on the mission ahead and then you'll go suit up." He then proceeded to bore her with details of the stray Klaxosaur that was prowling around, how simple of a mission it was. All Zero Two heard was "Blah blah, kill this Klaxosaur, blah blah", so instead of giving him her full attention she began to anticipate what was about to go down.
Eventually she couldn't hold her tongue anymore and asked him. "What if we can't sync up?"
"That's for me to worry about, you just do your part and we'll all be alright."
Oh yeah, that really helps a whole lot, thanks... The pinkette thought sarcastically with a roll of her eyes.
"Whatever you say..." She eventually murmured.
Regardless of her grievances, Zero Two suited up and met with the old man out in the hall, where he proceeded to escort her to the active hangar where Strelizia and her temporary partner were waiting. Giving him a brief once over as she approached him, Zero Two didn't think he was anything interesting, bit on the boring side based on the way he carried himself.
"This is Code 093. He was the top Stamen of his squad before a tragic accident lost him his previous partner. Regardless of the incident, his skills are top-notch and should suit your needs when it comes to combat." Zero Two listened with half her attention, the other half taking in the Stamen standing with his arms crossed.
He was a lanky boy, on the thin side with little muscle to show for how tall he was, which was a good six inches over her. He had dark hair that appeared black at first glance but her good eyes could see there was a deep violet undertone in it, making his dark green eyes stand out quite a bit along with his pale skin. Overall not bad looking, but certainly didn't hold a candle to her Darling.
"Code 093, this is the Pistil you will be riding with today in Strelizia, Code 002." Doctor Franxx introduced them, observing their interactions as he stood between them.
"Nice to meet you, I prefer to be called Zero Two." Zero Two said, copying what she had seen from Darling's example. He was always polite and nice to new people he met, so she figured she'd give it a try.
But the boy standing before her said nothing in reply, which forced her take in the awkward silence that followed. Instead, he looked at her with trepidation, and a hint of disgust in his expression as he first took in her the odd color of her skin then her horns and eyes.
093's hollow eyes didn't have any of the warmth that Darling's gave, just a cold steely gaze. It almost made her want to shrink in on herself, but she was used to people looking at her like this by now.
Didn't make it any easier, though, it still hurt... Fine. If that's how it was gonna be.
"Whatever... Let's get this over with, then." Zero Two muttered, stepping onto the lift. Her temporary partner stepped up after, grunting to himself in a way that seemed to be in agreeance to her statement. The entire ride up to the head platform was spent in silence, with neither party bothering to try and communicate.
For Zero Two, he communicated all he needed to through his tense body language, and practically scowling facial expressions as he avoided eye contact with and ignored her. As if she wasn't even there, standing five feet from him. If this was how he acted to her in person, how in the hell did he or the adults expect them to connect at all in the FRANXX?
Maybe if she was lucky, the sync would fail and she'd be free to go back to her Darling. If only he'd been allowed to come along with her, even if there wasn't much he would be doing, she just wanted his supportive presence here.
I miss you, Darling...
Since this wasn't Darling she certainly wasn't going to give this rude statue of a boy a kiss of any kind, that was a special thing between her and Darling alone. So she just did her light stretches and hooked herself up into the terminal to get started, Strelizia remaining quiet and silent as he took his seat in the pilot's chair.
It was only after having to manually activate the FRANXX that she came alive, her lights flooding the cockpit and her energy powering up. It was the first time she had ever had to be personally turned on, seeming to come alive through the power of a kiss alone. Not this time, though.
You don't like him either, do you? Zero Two thought with light humor towards her mecha partner as her hood came over her head and the handles at her hips deployed upwards. She received no reply, of course, but she could get a good sense what the answer was.
When it came time to sync up, Zero Two found herself in yet another awkward situation as she waited for what seemed like forever for the Stamen to connect with her. Her blue negative bar went up as normal on the hood's monitor, while the red positive bar remained stagnant at zero percent.
She let out a huff, which for once didn't cause a long streak of hair to tickle her face as she had started trimming her front bangs to be able to see better while she was piloting. She kept the side bangs framing her face long though, as Darling seemed to really like the long length of her hair, so she kept that for him.
"You have to reach out to me for this to work, Genius..." Zero Two jabbed sarcastically as she gave an audible nudge to her supposed partner. Only then did 093 sigh heavily and reluctantly seem to send his pulse out far enough for her to reach, and even then it was just barely. As she took him into her, there was nothing comforting about the connection, far from it in all honesty.
It was freezing cold... not the pleasant coolness that felt like soothing water like she was used to, but a harsh bone-chilling sensation that shrouded her like snow-filled winds. Shivers wracked Zero Two's physical body, but instead of with pleasure it was in reaction to the severe cold that was invading her. It was like ice was running through her veins!
Remarkably, despite the clear incompatibility between the two of them, the pulse levels still went up, albeit to the minimum range that was acceptable for synchronization.
Franxx monitored the process from his handheld inside the control room, a deep frown set on his face as he watched 002's negative pulse struggle to reach the maximum potential he had seen with 016. Even more frustrating was the Stamen's positive pulse was stagnant at the minimum passable level.
He expected this match to work out much better than this since 093 was in the double digits with pretty decent stats to make him a candidate for Papa's wishes to try and create more hybrids. However, he admitted that he failed to take into account the emotional capabilities of the Stamen, as well.
Perhaps he should have injected the boy with a bit of her blood before the ride...? Now there's a thought for another time.
In the end, the sortie was able to go on as expected, and it was such an easy mission that Strelizia was able to go solo with no back up other than a reserve team that was on standby if needed. Zero Two was able to brace herself against the cold frigidity of the connection to 093 enough to push through it, though it wasn't without a lot of effort.
This was by far the most uncomfortable she had ever been in a FRANXX or any other machine before now. From what little she was allowed to feel from her pseudo-partner, he didn't feel all that comfortable from his experience either, so the feeling was very much mutual.
I can only hope there won't have to be many more of these kinds of rides... Zero Two though bitterly as they engaged the Klaxosaur head on.
When it came to fighting the bio-mechanical creature, 093 wasn't as flashy or creative as her Darling was when he was in control, but he seemed to have enough self-confidence in his own ability to manage. At least, to Zero Two's relief, he could handle his own in a fight and didn't cower before an enemy.
But then suddenly, something extremely strange happened in the midst of all the action. Something that made both Pistil and Stamen pause from the extremity on top of the unexpectedness of it.
Zero Two could feel her link to Strelizia tighten, as if the FRANXX herself was grabbing hold of her from within and all she could do was gasp as she felt more sensations begin intermingling with hers. It felt like she was being pulled deeper into Strelizia, and whether she wanted to or not she was held there, firmly locked in her embrace.
Strelizia? What's happening?!
Then, through that very embrace she felt like Strelizia herself was beginning to channel into 093 through the link, and his breath caught in his throat. Zero Two's eyes went wide as she began to feel exactly what he felt as the very energy in his body quickly began to slip away, as if he'd just ran a marathon and exhausted himself.
He went from sitting up straight and fine to slouching down in his chair as his face began to pale considerably and a noticeable sheen of sweat coated his skin. He began rapidly gasping for air, and his grip on the controls loosened as his body and mind struggled against the mysterious force that was sapping his strength.
"093's vitals are dropping! Pilot, please respond!"
The red-skinned girl clenched her teeth in discomfort as she felt the entire vessel she carried reaching the border line between Iron Maiden and Stampede. If this guy didn't get a firm grip on himself quick things were going become chaos!
Hey... Come on! Talk to me, what is happening to you?!
Zero Two nudged at 093 as insistently as she could through their link, but she still received no response from the boy connected to her. Whether it be from the fact he still refused to respond to her or the fact he couldn't, she wasn't sure anymore!
Through either some miracle or sheer force of will, she didn't know, but somehow Zero Two managed to defeat the Klaxosaur alone. All the while her would-be partner was unresponsive and began actively blocking her from their connection, she quickly learned this over the course of the rest of the fight. Any time she tried to check in on him it felt like a firm wall was placed between her and the person she was connected with.
Even when the Klaxosaur was dead, the sense of danger still lingered in the cockpit as Zero Two felt the weakened state of her co-pilot, he could mentally block her all he wanted but she could still access his status. His vitals hadn't gone down any further in the process, thankfully, but were still getting dangerously low to where he needed to get medical attention fast.
I'm going to get us back as quickly as possible, hang in there! She told him, but she doubted he was listening to her.
When she was finally able to be disconnected when they'd docked, Zero Two turned to check on him and her eyes widened in horror as she visually saw what she'd done to him for the first time. It turned out 093 didn't get the tumor like she'd been fearing.
No, it turned out far worse than that, far worse than anything her mind had imagined.
Code 093 was gasping desperately for air and slumped practically lifeless in the pilot chair. His hair, which had been dark and full hair at the start of the ride, was now appearing greyer and slightly thinner. His skin looked even paler than before and slightly sunken in, as if his very life had been drained from him.
He looked far more haggard and deathly than Darling had at his worst, yet there was no trace of the grossly thick blue veins that had taken over his entire being.
Zero Two didn't understand at all what was happening to him! This was the exact opposite of what happened to Darling!
Then he said the first and only words he had spoken directly to her the entire time they had known one another...
"Wretched... beast..."
Zero Two flinched further away from him, her face contorting into a mix of horror and confusion.
Why...?
Why did this happen to people to rode with her in the FRANXX? What even happened to him?!
Then to her surprise the face plate was lowered from the outside and a small team of adults from the medical bay began to fill the space as they pushed passed her and gathered around the panting boy in the chair.
"093, can you speak at all?" They asked him, while preparing a stretcher they had brought with them to carry him out. As they unfolded it into position, the weakened Stamen spoke again the best he could.
"Sh-She..." He gasped as they fitted a medical mask over his face to help give him oxygen. "She t-tried to... kill me... the m-monster..."
What...? No! No, I didn't! She tried to say these words aloud but no one would hear her out, they just walked and talked all over her as they gathered the weakened boy onto a stretcher. They paid her absolutely no attention as they checked his vitals with handheld devices, and injected him with some fluids to keep him stable til they got to their destination.
Then 093 was taken away on the stretcher to the medical bay, leaving her alone on the walkway with Franxx, who lingered behind for a few brief moments to look to her and ask her directly.
"What the hell happened out there...?"
"I... I don't know... All of a sudden I felt Strelizia begin drawing from him... I didn't understand what was happening, I couldn't stop it!"
Franxx said nothing, his eyes drifting off to the side as he considered what she had just told him. Never before had he seen something like this happen, but he had to remember that this wasn't an average Pistil he had created. Like there had been with her true partner, there were bound to be anomalies.
Life-threatening anomalies, it seemed...
"Return to your quarters for the time being... For now, I have to see to the boy." The old man sighed as he turned to follow after the group that just left with their emergency cargo. Zero Two looked up at him with pleading eyes even though he didn't see them.
"I swear, I didn't do anything intentionally!" She insisted, and her guardian did pause at that.
But instead of offering any form of comfort or reassurance, he simply commanded her, "Just... go to your room, 002."
And with that, he left her there alone and confused on the walkway to go tend to the wounded boy. Zero Two stayed there for several minutes, looking down at the floor in front of her as she went over every minute of the last hour in her mind over again.
What had she done that caused this to happen? Was it because she was actively against the connection, and somehow made it create a negative physical effect?
Or was it simply because she wasn't a Human and therefore couldn't sync with one safely...?
The pink-haired girl slowly sank to a squat, burying her face in her knees as she wrapped her arms around her legs. She didn't know what to do now, how she could possibly be expected to pilot again after what just happened? How could they keep expecting her to do this...?
"Please... someone believe me... I didn't mean to..." She whispered into her knees.
093 had to be bed-ridden for at least three days before he was cleared to leave. For that entire time Zero Two was stuck waiting in a sort of limbo state, as she didn't pay attention to anything else, all she could hear were those words. Those awful words that kept being whispered wherever she went.
Beast... Monster... Plague... Curse...
Even when he 093 was released from the medical wing, he required a crutch to walk and looked far older than he did when she first met him. Deep seated wrinkles and greying hair that usually came with middle to old age, even though he was only fifteen.
093 did not meet her gaze the next time she saw him, he purposely ignored and avoided her more than he had in their first encounter. In fact he'd flat out refused to continue to pilot with her after the last time which cost him several years of his life.
Unfortunately for both him and Zero Two, APE did not take well to refusal to sortie. It basically became a standoff; between her and 093, and the multiple guns that guards had pointed at them to comply. At that point the status quo was made perfectly clear, and there was no changing it.
They truly did not care what lives were lost or ruined, did they...?
After the second ride, with the adults and Franxx trying everything in their power to be better prepared this time, 093 came out looking even worse than he did in the last ride. This time he was hospitalized for a whole week, and was far weaker than a ten-year-old child as a result.
The children around the plantation were convinced he wasn't going to make it, having seen him being carted off to the medical bay despite the adults trying to keep it hushed. They saw what riding with the horned red girl did to him, and none were eager to volunteer their number to try next.
Zero Two had to keep herself locked away in her room whenever she wasn't forced to do training and checkups, she couldn't take the stares and the way people spoke about her. Some of them didn't even try to hide their disdain for her and what she had done.
Her emotions were all over the place, and it was hard to keep a firm grip on them as the temptation to lash out at anything or anyone became greater and greater.
She felt angry that she was being talked about by everyone as if they knew her and the whole story, hearing the many liars ad-libbing so much to what really happened. Making her out to be a demented girl who took pleasure in each life she took.
There was the crushing loneliness she felt from no one being willing to hear her out, the one person in the world who would was miles away from her. Her overwhelming shame made it to where she couldn't bring herself to call him again despite everything.
But then came the day of the third ride... and Zero Two knew what was going to happen as well as anyone else with a brain did.
The saddest part was 093 seemed to be reserved to his fate, and still did not say another word to her even as she murmured a quiet apology as the hood went over her head. Whether he accepted it or not, she just wanted to say it...
It was mid-ride that her prediction came to be, as 093 just keeled over with a sudden drop in his vitals, leaving Zero Two alone to finish the mission by herself. Barely seconds after his heart had stopped beating, Strelizia was forced into Stampede Mode for the second time.
Then, as if she couldn't feel more guilty about everything, a sudden wave of energy came pouring into her from her connection to Strelizia. Her eyes widened as she realized that she had just absorbed this boy's life energy right from his very body, sucking his life clean out of him.
Which brought her to the conclusion that she had been doing it all this time over the course of each ride. Each time Strelizia had been drawing from him, she was feeding it into her...
With her partner passed away, and her as the only pilot in Stampede Mode, it was with a great struggle that Zero Two conquered over the Klaxosaur. But the victory felt so hollow, it felt so grim and disrespectful to be fighting with a corpse rolling around the cockpit without anything to stop it, it felt so wrong.
While this person wasn't anyone nearly as precious to her as her Darling, she was still stricken with dread and heart-wrenching guilt. She never wanted this to happen to anyone...
When Zero Two returned to the docking bay, she hesitated to disconnect for several moments, knowing she was going to come face to face with the gruesome sight that waited behind her. But there was no running from what she had done, she had to accept her punishments as they came, no matter how awful.
It hadn't been nearly as horrifying as with her partner, believe it or not... it was so much worse. She had looked over her shoulder to find a sight she wouldn't be able to get out of her mind for a long time, and haunted her nightmares for several weeks to come.
It was one thing to witness death on the battlefield, it was a whole other to experience it within your own cockpit on the battlefield. With you as the cause.
At the end of it all his hair was as white and thin as paper, his already weakened body was battered and blood was everywhere. All of it had come pouring out of his mouth, drowning him in his respirator and leaking out the sides of it down his chin and neck, staining his dark suit and the area around him red.
They didn't even wait a whole week before they made her try again with a new partner.
There was Code 102; the dark red-head who actually spoke to her... to tell her how much he hated the idea of riding with her.
Then there was Code 121; a blonde with far too much confidence in himself, he brushed off the stories as if they were challenges to his ability. He died crying and begging for his life.
Code 097; a boy with glasses who wasn't full of hatred for her, just overwhelming fear. Both for her demon-like appearance and the fate that awaited him as he was forced to ride with her.
All of them died in excruciatingly painful ways, one after the next, and the adults would just pick another unlucky specimen out of the lot and try again.
And then again with another one.
And again with yet another one.
And again and again and again...
Each time it happened she and Strelizia were forced into Stampede Mode to finish the mission completely solo, with only the help of the back up FRANXX to ease the struggle. And each and every time she felt the pain of piloting alone get more and more numb, able to go for longer periods of time without tiring but still ultimately causing internal damage.
It might've been because she was getting stronger from absorbing the life energy Strelizia gave to her each time they died, she didn't know or care, all she knew was it pained her in so many ways every time she was forced to take that lion form.
But with each tragic incident that occurred over the months, taking Zero Two to new plantations all the while, there were just that many more eyes on her. More condescending and judgemental gazes that spoke volumes of what they thought about her.
No matter how bitter she felt towards others for the way they treated her, it didn't mean they deserved to suffer like that... And yet everyone looked at her as if she did this on purpose, like she knew what was happening. Talked about her with a certainty that almost made her want to believe them herself, except she was there for every ride, she knew what the truth was.
She had no more of a clue what was happening than the old man who was practically working day and night to figure it out. That, however, didn't stop everyone who came across her to spread the tales of her "cursed" rides. Spreading the fear and antagonistic feelings towards her even further out in reach, while fanning the flames of the ones who already despised her.
After all was said and done, after all the people who witnessed her returning from another mission with a wounded or deceased partner...
And so Zero Two became known all throughout the Parasite Corps as the infamous "Partner Killer"; a Pistil who couldn't be tamed by any Stamen but one...
Meanwhile, she was forced to deal with every single day of it all alone, with no one there to be at her side. Franxx was nothing more than a silent bystander who just gave his professional opinion on the next poor soul to suffer her curse. Any time she had sought some kind of uplifting reassurance from him he stone-walled her with nothing but the usual sanity-melting answers.
I swear... I didn't try to hurt anyone... Why won't anyone believe me?
The only person who would possibly be willing to hear her out and believe her was Darling. Throughout every minute all Zero Two had wanted was her Darling there to hold her and tell her everything would be alright, but even she couldn't delude herself with such fantasies. She didn't deserve his comfort!
Darling...
No, she couldn't possibly see or face him now after all this... Not after all the lives she's stolen, he'd be so disappointed in her...
Even worse was the ever lingering fear that the very same fate could still happen to her Darling if they ever got the chance to pilot together again. Like he had said before there was no guarantee that she wouldn't poison him like she had every one else, just because he survived once doesn't mean it's completely over.
The hardest part was that no matter how many lives she took, no matter how many rides she went on with these poor boys... the adults would not stop sending her out with them. They didn't even bother to show an ounce of remorse or empathy, and while she expected the lack thereof towards herself she was appalled they would do the same to so many Stamen they willingly sacrificed.
When they failed, the adults would look at her in contempt and his corpse in disappointment, then simply pick out another one and do it all over again. As if she was an insatiable creature who took sheer pleasure in each and every time she had to bend over and suck the life out of another victim.
As if she were an animal they were feeding, and the Stamen were her fodder.
And with every single one, Zero Two felt more and more like a curse on Humanity once again.
July 19 - 2135
I miss Zero Two...
Hiro was thinking this as he finished putting on Stamen suit and stepped out of the pod, now prepared for the upcoming task at hand. It wasn't a task he was particularly excited for, but he was forced to bite his tongue to keep from complaining aloud.
Today he was being tested in a capacity trial with a new Pitsil he'd never met before, in order to see if they were compatible enough to pilot together. With Zero Two gone, Hiro had been left to his own devices in the meantime, busying his time with training and reading. The days seemed to seamlessly blend into one another through the monotony, as he restlessly tried all he could to keep his mind occupied from the loneliness.
It's been almost four months already, and by now the adults were getting impatient with his inactivity in that time. By inactivity they meant piloting, of course.
They weren't able to see each other on her birthday before she had to leave, worse was that she hadn't come back at all before the cherry blossoms went away... It was so disappointing for Hiro, and he could only imagine how sad Zero Two herself had been during that time. She always eagerly looked forward to seeing the falling petals, and so did he...
Plus, she needed the comfort of seeing them this year more than any year previous, given all the heavy guilt that had to be weighing down on her lately...
He had heard the stories going around, the ones about her killing innocent Stamen who rode her in Strelizia. Each one dying before or on the third ride, not one ever making it passed the third.
Hiro couldn't imagine what she was currently going through, but felt even worse about the fact that she was all alone on those journeys, with only the old man as a companion as he monitored all her rides with a skeptical eye. She sure as hell wasn't going to get any comfort from that man, so she was probably dealing with it all by herself. What he wouldn't give to be able to hold and comfort her right now...
Or even just be able to talk to her, but he hadn't been able to reach her on video calls practically since she left. Zero Two had stopped calling and taking his calls, but he was thinking maybe it was because they were just keeping her that busy?
He missed her so much, this was the longest they had gone without seeing each other in all the time they had spent together for the last three and a half years. Before, they were used to seeing each other every single day, having to go half a day without seeing the other at the most.
It was depressing on some nights, with Hiro coming back to their room and seeing her unfinished artworks in her hobby corner, and Zero Two nowhere to be seen to complete them. One of his favorite pass times was sitting with one of his books either on the bed or in a chair and every now and then pausing to look up and watch her work.
She sometimes made this cute face of absolute concentration as she moved her hand across the paper, her little tongue occasionally poking out as she colored. But it's been so long since he'd seen it, and he missed it so much.
All he had to feel comforted by was the finished pieces they had hung up on the walls, and the hope that she was going to come back safe and sound. Come back to him...
He didn't understand why they needed her to pilot with someone else when he was a perfectly suitable partner for her, capable of handling almost any mission they gave him. Within reason, of course. Why did they insist she have to go through that special process with someone else?
Hiro hated to admit it but he was genuinely bitter about the whole thing in the beginning, he hated the idea of another boy syncing up with his Zero Two. No other boy would respect her the way he does, no other would care about her the way he does! They don't deserve the privilege to feel her sweet embrace in a FRANXX!
But then he started hearing the stories, and at first he didn't want to believe them, but then he had to stop and remember his own experiences riding with Strelizia. More specifically, that tumor and the third ride.
He had come close to death, too, but from what he was hearing from the other Parasites that wasn't the case with the new Stamen. People claimed she sucked the very life out of them little by little with every ride until she consumed them altogether on the third.
If all this is true, why are they still making her do it...?
Everything was going just fine when they were piloting together, now it all seemed to be falling apart. He thought with how amazing they were together that they were guaranteed to stay with each other, but now they're trying so hard to replace him with someone else.
Now, as if it couldn't be worse, they were trying something similar with him, too. In order to "make him more useful" as Papa demanded, since he couldn't stand that his prize Stamen was just sitting around doing nothing while his partner was off being tested.
In their great monarch's words "If the boy breathes he pilots!", as doing anything other than that made him a waste of space. Some adults had been muttering such things when they thought he couldn't hear, but his newly increased hearing was able to pick up even whispers from a few meters away.
Hiro kept that new development to himself, no way was he going to let anyone in APE know he could hear their whispered secrets.
Nice to know how Papa really feels... Hiro thought with slight malice, not at all feeling smug at being proven right about his gut feeling about Papa and his false claims of love for the children. The deeper he found himself at the heart of APE's inner workings, the more harsh realities he was observant to.
Turns out being deemed "special" didn't give him special treatment like everyone thought it did, go figure...
So now he was being set up with a new temporary Pistil partner while his true one was one her own experimental journey to find another compatible person. It left a bitter taste in his mouth, but he tried to keep his irritation to himself.
Ease up, Hiro... Just because you don't want to do this doesn't mean you have to be rude to them. The dark-haired boy psyched himself up for the meeting about to take place. He didn't mind meeting a new person, he just wished it was under better circumstances.
"Code 016, this is the Pistil we're going to test your capacity with while 002 is away on her mission; Code 379. Take a moment to get acquainted while we finish preparations." The adult waved a hand towards a young woman about his age, maybe a year older, that was standing with her hands on her hips in a very bored posture.
She had mahogany hair that went down her back and over her shoulders in luscious waves, the color almost reminding him of Naomi's. Perhaps if she grew her hair out to be this long she could be this girl's twin, except while Naomi had brown eyes this girl here had bright blue ones.
She was a nice looking person, on the outside at least, as she eyed him with seemingly innocent curiosity as they were introduced. Hiro gave her a smile and extended his hand in a customary greeting.
"Pleased to meet you, I hope we can work together cohesively." She stared at his hand in bewilderment for a few seconds before slowly bringing up her hand to grab his. Hiro gave a small laugh at the awkward moment before lightly shaking their hands.
Her light blue eyes dragged slowly up and down his form as they shook hands, making Hiro internally cringe from her blatant scrutiny and want to curl in on himself to hide from her critical gaze. Despite wearing his suit, he felt practically naked. He didn't understand why she was looking at him like this.
"So you're the famous 016?" 379 inquired, he assumed rhetorically, as he had literally just been introduced by his code. He focused more on the way she described him as he let go of her hand.
"I wouldn't call me famous, but I guess you can call me well-known. I prefer to be called Hiro, though." Hiro said as he scratched his cheek in a nervous habit. He had to deal with a lot more of these kinds of Parasites in recent months ever since his third ride with Zero Two, whereas before it was every now and then from children who wanted him to name them.
379 clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth in a disapproving way, her brows scrunching as she gave him a somewhat sarcastic smile.
"Umm, no, I would call you famous. Making a name for yourself - literally - as well as other children and being the talk of the plantation because of your 'ride with death'? Yeah, I'm pretty sure you'd count as famous."
Yeah, she was definitely one of those who heard the stories. Granted, he wasn't exactly sure what had been told in these stories other than he survived a close call with death because of some mysterious ailment, and he wasn't sure he wanted to know what people had been saying if he was honest.
"Well... regardless of my reputation, I still want to say it's a pleasure to meet and be working with you." Hiro said with a smile, trying to divert the topic away from him and his supposed fame. 379 grinned at him, and from his experience with Zero Two he knew a predatory look when he saw one.
"Oh no... the pleasure is all mine. Riding with you will do wonders for my position in this program, so I'm looking forward to what it's like to ride with you." She said confidently with a wink. The dark-haired boy struggled to maintain his smile.
"Come this way, please, Code 016 and Code 379. We're ready to begin." The adults called for them.
"Maybe later after this you can give me a name!" 379 added eagerly as she clasped her hands together in an attempt to look pleading. She even started batting her lashes at him, making him feel all the more awkward.
"Uh, sure. I'd be happy to." Hiro said just before the masked adult began ushering them onward, making the boy breathe out a secret sigh of relief as he now had an excuse to drop it. Sure he had no problem helping her find a name for herself but the way she was acting just made him feel on edge for some reason.
She just didn't seem very authentic, there were things about her that nagged at Hiro's instincts that she was faking most of her sincerity... Almost as if she was trying to imitate something she'd seen before.
The two were then guided to a machine that looked like they had gutted the inside of a FRANXX cockpit and set it in the middle of the room. Instead of the screens that usually surrounded them, there were sensors that connected to various equipment and computers that several adults were stationed at.
This would be Hiro's first time going through the capacity test, usually children go through these before graduation when they were being divided into squads for plantations. Since he was already set to be a pair with Zero Two, and a squad eventually with the 9's, they'd skipped this part altogether for him.
Now, though, he was going to see what it was like to try and sync with another girl. For once he was going to see what it was like to be like the other children, who had to go through this process in order to find their new home away from Garden.
379 began to gather her long hair into both her hands as she pushed it all up behind her head, pulling off a hair band that she had wrapped around her wrist to tie it up into a high ponytail. When she was done she turned back towards Hiro with a big smile.
"You ready to connect, Hiro?" 379 asked in what he assumed was meant to be a coy fashion as she leaned forward towards him, her modest chest thrusting outwards slightly. Hiro blinked at her strange behavior, wondering if maybe this was her way of trying to strengthen their bond for the sync.
If this were Zero Two he could deal with it so much easier but he was forcibly reminded that she wasn't his beautiful red-skinned love. Even if 379 behaved slightly similarly she could never make him feel anywhere near the same as Zero Two does.
"Y-Yeah, let's do this." Hiro relented, stepping into the test machine and climbing onto the seat. 379 followed close behind and waited for him to already be seated before she made a show of throwing her leg over the terminal and slipping into position. The boy was confused why she was being so exaggerated in her movements, as if she were giving a performance?
He quickly averted his eyes to the side as she gave a slight wiggle to her hips to accentuate her control handles, and by extension her bottom, for him. Releasing a heavy sigh, Hiro grabbed hold of them and prepared himself for the connection.
This girl is so strange...
"Stamen and Pistil, please begin synchronization." They were instructed, and Hiro began to channel his pulse like he always did. He felt it be met with a very eager pulse that practically smothered him at first before he managed to get a decent balance between the two.
On the back of her hood, their capacity bars of red and blue went up and coiled around like they should, reaching the higher medium area, close to but not quite the max. More than satisfactory for a test like this, surely.
"Negative pulse confirmed. Positive pulse confirmed."
379 gave a small giggle as they announced the successful connection. This was going splendidly already, all according to plan. She couldn't wait to tell everyone about how she was able to match with the famous Code 016, and introduce herself with the new name she was going to get out of this!
"Maintain connection until we can get a proper reading on your synchroni-"
The adult didn't get to finish the sentence as the red bar suddenly began to deplete in level, much to everyone's surprise. It continued to drop until it flat lined at the very first notch in the meter, effectively shutting down the synchronization.
"Positive pulse dropping. Timed out."
All persons present looked towards the subject in question with visible confusion, though it was hidden for the most part by their facial coverings, not at all expecting this from the Stamen. The Pistil, perhaps, but certainly not the golden child with amazing aptitude and skill.
W-What...? Hiro himself was gobsmacked at what just happened, looking down at his hands on the controls in absolute bewilderment. Never once had his numbers decreased so extravagantly as they just did. But why had they?
Was it because he was being moody about Zero Two earlier? Was that sullying the connection? It was a well-known fact that partners had to be fully mentally and emotionally willing to let the sync work in order for it to be successful, perhaps he was the problem.
"Try it again." The head scientist of the trial ordered, and the system reset to give it another go.
Hiro quickly nodded before shaking himself out of his puzzlement, it had to have been just a fluke. He had been so out of it lately with his worrying, and it's been a while since he had piloted so it was probably just his own incompetence.
Yeah, that's all it is... He told himself as a drop of sweat went down the side of his face.
"Initiating second connection attempt."
"I dunno what that was about but come on, let's do it." 379 huffed at him, taking a couple deep breaths to prepare for the next attempt. That was not supposed to happen, he was supposed to give her a taste of that amazing potential she heard so much about!
"Right." The dark-haired boy replied as he psyched himself up into a more firm state of awareness.
Once again he felt the persistent nudging of the girl's pulse as he tried reaching out in return, only now he found it incredibly difficult to grasp as it kept slipping away. Not because she was toying with him or anything, but because his own pulse wasn't actually making contact.
"Negative pulse confirmed. Standing by for positive pulse."
Seconds ticked by as they waited for the Stamen to connect, all eyes turning to stare at the boy in the mock pilot seat. He could feel all of their attention on him, and it made the mounting pressure increase as he tried his hardest to get it to work.
For some reason now Hiro's pulse wasn't reaching out like it should, it was becoming a struggle even to get it to go out at all! Almost like it had a will of it's own and flat out refused to connect.
Come on... Why isn't it working? Hiro's teeth clenched into a deeper scowl as he gripped the controls tighter in his hands, as if that would help drag the potential out of him.
"4... 3... 2... 1... 0... Timed out."
"Stamen's para-capacity is unresponsive." The adult behind the wall of computers reported.
"Hey, what's your deal?! Get it together and do it right already!" 379 hissed at him. This was the prodigy everyone talked about in the Nursery? She was starting to wonder if she was pairing with a fraud.
"I-I'm trying..." Hiro replied, trying not to let his own frustration at the situation bleed into his tone. This wasn't her fault, and she wasn't wrong to point out he was clearly the problem. But for the life of him he couldn't understand what was going wrong, he was doing everything exactly the same as he always did.
So why was there a problem now? Why couldn't he connect?
"Initiating third connection attempt."
Throughout the next try Hiro felt sweat pouring down his forehead and face as he exerted all he could into trying to send out his pulse without forcing it. If he forced it too hard then he was doing more harm to himself than anything, it was already an incredible struggle to try and connect now for some reason.
They kept calling for his positive pulse but no matter how much he pushed himself the red bar didn't go up at all, just staggered at the lowest level.
"3... 2... 1... 0... Timed out."
Not again...! Hiro cursed himself, getting more frustrated with each second that counted down. Why the hell couldn't he do this?!
"Are you doing this on purpose or what?! If this is a joke it isn't funny!"
"I'm not doing it on purpose!" This time Hiro couldn't help the bit of hostility that came out, he had to take in a few deep breaths to reign it in.
While Hiro could understand her own frustrations she really wasn't helping anything right now. He was already struggling with accepting the sync with a girl who wasn't Zero Two, now he had to struggle with his own ineptitude at this time, too.
"Initiating fourth connection attempt."
"This is taking longer than was anticipated, this will be the last time we're going to try, if it's unsuccessful as well this trial is over."
"Come on, connect to me already!" 379 whined in a panic, not wanting to fail this once in a lifetime opportunity for herself. If she had to go back to the barracks with a failure on her record they wouldn't ever give her a chance like this ever again!
Her pestering certainly wasn't helping him, as he was already under pressure from all eyes on him, and he had begun panicking to himself. Hiro took several deep breaths to try and get a grip on himself, but it didn't seem to calm his racing heart as he gave his all into one last attempt to synchronize.
Come on... please! He begged himself.
"Negative pulse confirmed. Awaiting positive pulse."
"2... 1... 0... Timed out."
Then the system began to power down, and Hiro and 379 were left heaving in deep breaths to try and relieve their exhaustion. Hiro couldn't even bring himself to wipe away the sweat drenching his face as he stared ahead in stunned silence aside from the heavy breathing.
What happened, I don't understand...?
The head adult made it abundantly clear exactly what happened in the next instant, turning towards the two of them with an air of disappointment.
"Code 016, Code 379... Para-capacity: Failed."
Hiro's eyes were wide as he continued gasping for air, the words echoing in his mind. He failed...?
He'd never had anything like this happen before, his numbers and skills had always been enough to get him through every test and obstacle he'd ever encountered. So why...? Why was this suddenly happening now after all the successful times he rode with Zero Two? Compared to that this should have been simple!
"Para-capacity between 016 and 379 has resulted in failure, archive all the data and set is aside for Dr. Franxx to look over when he returns. In the meantime, clear the system and prepare a new Pistil."
"Understood. Reports have been documented as requested."
"Send them to the council as soon as possible. They'll want to know 016's status."
With the system powered down and the trial over, 379 disengaged from the mock terminal, throwing her hood off her head as she turned towards Hiro. With an indignant scowl on her face she screamed her ire at him, making the boy lean back from the intensity.
"What the hell?! I thought you were a prodigy?!" If she were any closer she'd be spitting in his face, and while that type of thing usually angered Hiro he couldn't find it in himself to get angry when he was in a perpetual state of confusion.
"I... I don't know what went wrong...?" He said quietly as he sat there, dumbfounded. He genuinely didn't know what to say, didn't know what he could do. He was so lost right now...
"Well whatever it was it, it was clearly your fault! You suck!"
"379, that's enough. Your negative pulse was satisfactory, we'll be returning you to the reserves at Garden for the time being."
"The reserves...? No..." She looked as if they just told her she was dying, as her face paled and her mouth dropped open in what seemed like horror. Based on what Hiro knew about the reserves, however, maybe she had a right to look that way.
That was the place where a lot of Parasites went if they lost or couldn't match completely with a partner in their plantation. It was a fearful place of limbo for many of them, as if the adults were incapable of finding someone within that matched them quickly, they were more than likely going to be left there.
Forgotten, as more new and perfectly capable children were made into Parasites every year, easier to find a purpose for.
The brunette whipped around to face Hiro again, her long ponytail almost smacking him in the face as she glared at him through tear-filled eyes.
"This is all because of you! I can't wait to tell everyone what a let down you are..." She said bitterly as she was guided away to change out of her suit, then go on to be another number in the reserves. Her shoulders were slumped in defeat and she was gripping her other arm in a nervous gesture as she walked away.
But I didn't do anything different, I tried to synchronize I swear!
Hiro felt so bad for her, he really did, he knew the rumors about certain children who went into the reserves and hadn't been heard from years later. It was a terrifying word among the children, but Hiro didn't once think it would come up when he was told to do this today.
"We're going to find another Pistil to test your synchronization with, just sit tight until then. For now, return to your quarters."
Another one...?
He didn't want another Pistil, though... he just wanted to fly with Zero Two. He only wanted to fly with her. Why couldn't he just pilot with her again like he was used to...?
But that quickly made him stop and think of another pressing question... how did he know he could still fly with her now? What if, somehow, in the months they had been apart he had lost his compatibility with her, too? He didn't know what he was going to do if that was true, what they would do to him?
All he was good for in the adults' eyes was to pilot, if he couldn't do that anymore was he going to end up like all the other children who disappeared from Garden? Stuck in a dark place somewhere with no way to get back to Zero Two...?
Have I... Have I seriously lost my ability to pilot?!
For the first time in his life he actually wished Franxx was here to help him. If anyone could tell him what was going on, it was that old man.
Sitting alone in his and Zero Two's room that night, Hiro sat on his beloved's side of the bed, which unfortunately had lost her scent in recent weeks since he started sleeping on it. Now he didn't even have that temporary comfort to soothe him, he was just stuck dealing with this all alone.
The two halves of the Jian remained alone in their separate cages, silently crying for their missing wing...
There has never been a definite reason as to why Zero Two is "cursed" when it comes to riding with people, so I have tried my best to give it perspective in this story. I believe the reason she becomes so disconnected and cold towards the lives that are lost during rides with her is likely a result of the trauma and isolation from years of being used like that all by herself.
This is why the simple change of having Hiro with her growing up is so fundamental for the rest of the story going forward, because his influence on her can change everything. At the same time, he's not immune to the injustices being done to them either, so we'll see where this goes... next time!
Thank you for reading, hope to see you again in the part 2.