From outside came the songs of children, along with the dawning lights, a young girl woke up. She slowly and somewhat lazily got up. Her eye-dazzling hair, like a wave of golden sea, like a cloak unraveling through her body. Her hair was so beautiful it could make people gasp. A slim waist compared to the outlines of big, firm breasts that lifted her nightclothes whenever she breathed, looked even bigger. The young girl wore only a single part of pajamas, and lightly yawned as she woke up. The girl's age was perhaps 15 or 16, but her delicate body, which had to be handcrafted by god prevented anyone from accurately guessing her age.

The girl reached out and opened her window, and a group of children ran toward her.

"Tiffania!"

"Tiffa!"

A group of children following one another ran toward the window, screaming loudly to the young lady. It appeared that this fairy-like beauty was these children's idol.

"Oh my! What happened? Jack, Sam, Jim, Emma, Samantha, everyone came together. I listened to your songs and I woke up. You've been singing the same song again, don't you know how to sing a different song?" she scolded playfully.

"No, we don't know!" one little boy replied

"In that case Tiffania teach us to sing." another replied.

Tiffania smiled, she considered these children to be her little brothers and sisters. She suddenly realized one of the younger children was standing back on her own, looking as if she wanted to say something. "Emma what happened? Do you have something to say?"

The young girl called Emma shook uncontrollably. "That…"

"Don't be afraid, tell me."

"In the forest… In the forest, I went to pick strawberries and I found…"

"What happened in the forest?" One of the children demanded, which silenced the shy young girl.

"Emma what happened? If there is something you should have told all of us!" the first little boy yelled at her.

"Why didn't you tell us?" one of the girls asked.

"Because, I am very scared… the body was covered in blood… ," Emma had the look of a girl on the verge of tears.

"Everyone stop picking on Emma! Emma, what happened? Tell big sister?" Tiffania asked comfortingly.

"…there, there is someone, collapsed there." she said, her eyes still watering.

Tiffania's face instantly became clouded. "Again?"

The children began to talk among themselves. "It is probably that, the war, the war! Yeah!" The children nodded together.

"Because this morning, through that road near from here, an army of soldiers passed."

Tiffania threw an overcoat over her pajamas, and leaped out the window, her hair spreading out behind her at this feat. "Emma, where did you find them?"

"…This way." The young girl flew through the already familiar forest as if it was her backyard, with the children following behind.

They found a young boy lying by a thick tree, his back against the wood. His golden hair was spread out around him. His armor was sleek and beautiful, if unusual. It was splattered with blood... Tiffania knelt down and placed her ear to the boy's chest. "He's not breathing...And there is no heart beat..." She murmured sadly. "But he doesn't have any wounds..." As she inspected him she gasped as he suddenly moved. The young man turned his gaze to meet hers.

"Who are you?" he questioned calmly, with piercing green eyes that met hers without any hesitation.

After locking up for a moment she replied in a small voice,"Tiffania." to which the young man nodded slightly. "Who are you?" she asked

"Who am I? I can't remember..." the young man replied after a moment's thought. "I wonder why that is..."

"Do you know how you got here?" she asked him.

With a small shake of his head he replied,"I do not."

"Can you stand?" she asked hesitantly.

The young man nodded and stood slowly. He moved his hand to his waist and stored what appeared to be a small white wand at his hip, then he turned to the young woman and tilted his head. Something about her seemed familiar to him, but he could not figure out what. "I do not know you?" He asked quietly, to which Tiffania shook her head. "Something tells me I do..." he looked at her intently as he said this.

"N-no," she replied hurriedly. Somehow when he asked that, she had wished he did.

Tiffania blushed at the inspection that he was giving her and said softly,"If you would like to wash up... We could take you to our home... It is not much, but if you're willing to pull your own weight you can stay until you remember who you are?"

The young man nodded and followed her.

***Break***

After cleaning himself in a small stream, the young man walked out, still in his glistening armor. Tiffania couldn't help but wonder what he looked like without it. "Excuse me, but won't your armor rust?"

"You do not need to worry. My armor is a metallic ceramic compound. It is not subject to the normal forms of corrosion that most base metals are effected by." The young man replied.

"Does it get heavy?" Tiffania asked curiously.

The young man shrugged then walked up to her. Emma hid behind Tiffania's skirt as the young man walked up. "I've cleaned up as you asked."

Tiffania nodded and said "Alright... I suppose we can go now. I'm sorry I didn't think to get a towel for your hair..."

"It is alright. It will dry." The young man replied calmly as he followed the girl, talking only when spoken to.

***Break***

The children were having lunch. Assisting their second caretaker, they had helped in making lunch, and all was ready for when Tiffania came back with Emma... No matter if they had a new guest or not. The children ran about the small cottage eager to help out and be praised. The door opened and in walked Tiffania. "We're back," She called out gently.

"Tiffa's back!" one yelled, and all of them hurried out into the main room.

"I'm surprised you're back so soon," A female voice said from the kitchen. As she rolled her simple chair into the room she continued,"Normally you take more time to heal the..." her voice trailed off as she saw the young man enter. "Y-you...!" she pointed at the young man as her face went white and she started to sweat. Surely he wouldn't track her down after all this time! He must think her dead!

The young man, looked curiously at the woman for a few moments then asked,"Do you know me?"

"Y-you're Zero right? Zero the Gandalfr?" She asked, her voice still shaking. Her gaze crept to his left hand... Which was pristine... Markless.

"Zero, is that my name?" He asked quietly then shook his head, "I don't remember..."

"I-i must be mistaken... Y-you don't have a mark on your hand." She reasoned aloud, relief and hope sweeping through her.

"A mark on my hand?" the young man looked at his hand and his helmet flared to life for but a second as he dropped to a knee gripping his head. A torrent of information he couldn't understand or hold onto assaulted him. So many voices, so many tones... Tones of adoration ... Tones of anger... Tones of resentment... Tones of grief... Tones of annoyance... Tones of desperation... Tones of hatred... All the different voices together. All saying a single word. "Zero..."

"Are you alright?" Tiffania asked as she knelt beside the young man.

"My name... It is Zero?" He looked towards her with out of focus eyes. "I know my name... but what does it mean?"

***Author's note***

Hah, short chapter with a quick F-You to Zero. You didn't kill the reoccurring villain! Although you probably scared what was left of the villain out of her with your arrival.

as is usual for my arc finishers, short chapter with a few days break to finish up the next arc and make sure story meshes correctly. Update on Friday or Saturday.

On the note of what happened to Zero? Absolutely NOTHING to do with the rune itself, except for the fact that summoning rune has brought him here. I will say that these happenings and the reason for his shut down are all quite thought out and go back to... Chapter 3 or 4. Some hints on the true extent of what happened to him will be showing up through the next arc for some of the less sharp eyed readers.

Why did he leave Derflinger? Simple, his Z-saber is far more powerful if he doesn't have to hold back(such as in a city area). In a normal swing for normal swing situation, Derf wins. But considering this is the first time he's moved the charging mechanism out of his buster into his saber, the saber went to a whole new level that this world hasn't seen before. He can also shoot waves of energy and channel them that way, creating far more massive damage than Derf can. Saber in one hand, and his bare fist as his other for use with Giga attacks is the optimal Zero set up for a battle where he doesn't have to worry about protecting other people. The other fact is, Zero did not kill the majority of the constructs. He targeted the mages that were holding them together, and with the ability to fire without absorbing magic, it does the most damage. If you've ever done the X vs Zero fight as X on a high level you'll understand just what I mean about that with his 1-shot to kill X attacks. And giving Axl Derflinger, will allow him a tool to protect the others if anything happened or happens while he's gone. Had the other thing not happened he would have destroyed the whole army eventually. The army had absolutely nothing to do with his shut down, other than it kept him running at a certain level causing... stuff I'm not gonna say yet to happen.

The other separate reason that Zero left Derflinger behind, was simple... This was his duty that he placed on himself. He doesn't take other people into danger with him, he always does his best to face danger and death alone. Now you can argue that he's trying to die, or just trying to shield others... but both of these views would lead him to this battle alone.

As to why Zero didn't destroy massive amounts of the actual land, Zero's walked rather lightly around nature. He really does not with to cause another planet's ecosystem to fail. They're not like pringles after all, therefore he can stop after just one.

As for what happened to Zero, in the novel Saito was controlled by Derflinger who had enough energy to take over the near dead human body and run him to "safety". in the anime Derflinger teleported them to safety at the moment death would have happened. Derflinger wasn't there though, so yeah. There is only one possible explanation that works... At least in my mind. I wonder if anyone else agrees with that.