Bug in the FRANXX [Darling in the FRANXX SI]

[Hampsterpig]

Bug in the FRANXX
Chapter 1​

"Are you sure you know what you're doing, Hiro?" I did my best to ignore the trembling in Naomi's voice as we settled into our positions in the mecha. I was going to pilot a mecha, holy shit!

"Definitely, now get ready," I lied. If Naomi noticed the way my hands fumbled as they trembled, she didn't say anything. "And I told you, I'm done with Hiro. Call me Zig."

"Right, Zig. Whatever, let's just do this." God, she couldn't have been much more than fifteen. No wonder she was terrified. A few days ago she was told that she would never be able to pilot a mecha because her partner was a fuck up. Then she was told that said partner was being allowed to stay for some reason while she had to leave all her friends behind.

Now here I was, the fuck up partner, asking her to try piloting with him again because a fucking steel kaiju-transformer-thing was attacking her home.

"It's fine, let's focus on saving everyone, then we can figure out… everything later!" I closed my eyes and breathed out, trying to force myself to calm down. 'Okay, so Hiro couldn't pilot before, but I'm not Hiro. I can do this. I just need to- what, drift like Pacific Rim, then kill a mecha-dinosaur that's like four times the size of my house.' I jammed one fist against my bouncing leg. 'No bitching out now!'

"You good back there slowpoke?" Naomi's voice jolted me from my thoughts. "Or do I need to come back there and smack you?" I blinked at the… challenge in her voice, the fear giving it a excited edge, like she was almost… eager?

"Hold on, this was my idea!" I snapped, feeling weirdly offended. "What the hell are you talking about 'coming back here?' I should be asking you that!"

"Then let's connect already!" Naomi shot back, and I saw on the screen-hood-thing she wore light up half-red.

"Fine!" I let out a laugh as anxiety and fear were shot with adrenaline. "Here we go!"

-X-​

Code 016, or Ichigo to her friends, let out a scream as another impact shook the Plantation, punctuated by a savage roar. For what felt like hours, but surely had been only a few minutes, she and Goro had been forced to sit and listen as something happened outside. Thundering crashes and the ear-splitting screams of metal against metal shook and rattled outside the garage of the FRANXX.

"Ichigo, are you okay?" Goro's voice echoed strangely in the pilot sphere of Delphinium, their shared FRANXX.

"I'm fine!" Why did he always have to worry about her all the time? She was the leader! It was her job to watch over everyone, why couldn't he get that and stop bothering her? "Just- What is happening?! Why did they have to lock us out of the controls?"

"I think it's to keep us safe from whatever's going on outside." Her partner's voice was level, calm, and for some reason that frustrated her more. Didn't he realize the problem with the timing?

"All parasites - remain in your garages!" The communication system blared again. They'd tried to get some sort of explanation for what was going on, but they'd gotten nothing. Ichigo didn't know why they were even bothering. It wasn't like they could do anything, locked out as they were.

The klaxosaur- because what else could make that sort of terrible roar?- had attacked right at the end of the ceremony. The same time as when Naomi and Hiro were supposed to be getting on a plant to head back to the Garden. Plants weren't designed to weather a klaxosaur attack like the plantations were, supposedly too small a target to draw out the huge creatures. But a plant or two next to a much more defended plantation? They'd be a snack before the main course. Hiro wouldn't stand a chance. Any hope of seeing him again-

Her heart twisted in her chest.

"Narcissus, that was an order! Return to your garage immediately!" The comms officer yelled, and Ichigo's mind froze.

Narcissus was Hiro's FRANXX, shared with Naomi. But…

"There's no way!" Goro finished her thought. He was right, it couldn't be, they should have already been gone.

"No fucking way we're going back!"

"Just try and stop us!"

"Was that…?" Ichigo whispered despite herself as two familiar voices cut into the communications. No, it was impossible, they had to be already dead, or gone on a plant.

"That was Naomi, and Hiro!" Goro exclaimed, jumping to his feet.

"Narcissus engaging the klaxosaur!"

Ichigo blinked, why was it so hard to see all of a sudden? She reached up and touched her face, fingers coming away wet with tears. Why was she crying? Fear? Stress? Joy? She didn't know, and for now it didn't matter.

Hiro was alive. Hiro was piloting!

For now, nothing else mattered, because now they could all stay together.

Everything was going to be fine.

-X-​

[1 Day Earlier]

I dreamt of a bird with a single wing. It was doomed to a life on the ground unless it found a mate. Only then could it know flight.

'What a sad existence,' I mused, somewhere between the dream and reality, 'to be forced to rely on another for even the most basic of functions.' It was beautiful in a poetic sense, but ultimately tragic. Such a creature would never survive in the real world, a predator would snap it up before it ever got a chance to soar.

-X-​

A short musical sound, paired with something buzzing against my leg, jolted me awake. I opened my eyes to see trees above me, a light blue sky behind that.

This was not my room, this was not the couch I napped in. It wasn't even my front porch!

I felt my heart begin to pound as my brain began to fully wake up and kick into gear. I felt grass poking against my hand as I sat up, and twisting my neck to look around, I saw what was almost the definition of a tranquil forest.

"Where the fuck am I?"

The plantation birdcage.​

The answer to my question appeared in my head as if it were something I'd always known, but what was the plantation exactly? When I reached for it, it felt like trying to remember a dream, always just at the edge of conscious thought, only a vague idea left in my mind. The plantation was… a city? A moving city?

Damnit, what was up with my brain? Why did I know this? Had I been slipped something?

That terrifying thought running through my head, I looked down at my torso, intending to check for surgery scars. I was wearing a strange uniform. It was a mix of grey sleeves with the same grey below the chest, which was either navy blue or something close enough to it that I didn't care to look closer, with a red that wasn't quite light enough to be called pink sort of three-pointed star at the center. It sort of looked like a 'Y' looking down at it. The shorts I wore were the same grey that took up most of the uniform.

Somewhere in the back of my brain, I found it strangely amusing I was wearing shorts. I only ever wore shorts to the gym, other than that, jeans or slacks were a constant with me. My legs were pale as fuck because of it…

My mind ground to a halt as I looked down at my legs.

Those weren't my legs.

The legs I knew were pale white and probably the hairiest part of my body other than my head. My time using a roommate's rowing machine off and on over the past year had given them some definition, something I was kind of proud of after living as a frankly lazy nerd who was averse to physical exertion for so long.

The legs I had now were much shorter than I was used to, white skin was now colored, the tone was almost… Asian? There was little to no muscle there, not necessarily weak, but undefined.

Looking from my leg to my hand, it was a similar deal and now that I focused on it, my body felt altogether wrong. I tried to stand up and immediately fell forward, planting my face in the grass and dirt of the 'birdcage,' cursing as I did.

The plantation was our home.​

I froze as the thought drifted into my mind. What was going on? I had woken up in a strange place, in a strange body, with no memory of how I got here! I dug my fingers into the dirt, the feeling altogether familiar and alien, like… well like I was using someone else's hands.

Turning over in the grass, I stared up at the sky and focused on my breathing.

'In through the nose,' I inhaled, 'out through the mouth.' I blew out a deep breath, feeling my heartbeat and nerves settle as I continued to breathe, trying to not think about how my lungs felt too small.

Calmer, I did my best to gather my thoughts. I was somewhere I didn't know, in a body I didn't know, in a uniform I didn't know-

THWACK

A meaty slap hit the air, my head snapped towards the sound, spotting a bloodstain on a glass window- no, that wasn't right. It wasn't a window. It was a glass dome. I was inside a giant greenhouse? I was in a giant greenhouse and something had just beaten itself bloody trying to escape?

I put one leg underneath me and stood, only to tip forward, instinct more than intent allowing me to catch myself from busting my nose against a tree root. I instead ended up staring at another patch of what I could only guess was blood.

Following the drops, a deep red against the greenery, I saw a tiny bird. Some sort of sparrow? It didn't matter. One of its swings bent oddly and was slick with red blood. As terrible as the thought was, I found it baffling just how much the tiny bird had bled for a creature so small.

"You're probably- oh goddamnit!" I flinched at the higher, nasal tone of not-my voice. "You're going to die. And I'll bet you know that." I leaned back into a sitting position. "Seems like we're both having a bad day."

If the bird heard or cared about my presence it didn't show it, opting to instead hop in a mad pattern as its shattered wing dragged it down.

"Yeah, I get it, we each have our own problems, sorry." Why was I talking to a bird? Why was I apologizing to it? Here I was, in a strange body, in a strange place, and I was apologizing to some bird too dumb to avoid a window.

It's going to die because it's too weak to fly.​

I swore again, loudly. What were these thoughts? I was no stranger to intrusive thoughts, but these felt different. It was like… it was like speaking and someone else's voice coming out. It was drinking tea and tasting coffee. A crunch in your food when you weren't expecting it. It was just wrong.

I closed my eyes and focused on my breathing again, imagining all the anxiety and fear and self-loathing- where did that come from?- balling it up, and breathing it out.

The mental exercise helped a little. I felt my shoulders let go of tension I didn't realize I was holding and my jaw unclenched. God, even my teeth felt weird- No, let it go, breathe it all out. Eyes still closed, I sat there for a moment and just breathed, letting the sounds of the forest flow over me- was that an airplane engine?

I looked up and my body locked up again, every muscle tensing as I looked up at the biggest plane I'd ever seen.

It was a strangely thick design, all grey and orange with hardly any aerodynamics to its design, to say nothing of the box it carried underneath. The container must have been at least three stories tall, and the plane was just as tall besides. It must have been the biggest thing to ever fly and the engineering part of my brain cried at the sheer inefficiency of it all. Why would you spend the extra energy to move something so massive through the air? It was just a waste of energy!

Tearing my eyes from the offensively bad design of the aircraft, I shook my head, trying to dislodge the pointless thoughts. It didn't matter how bad the design was, it apparently worked. Moving slowly so as to not lose balance, I rose to my feet. A few tentative steps carried me to the glass wall of the dome and I looked out to behold a flat plane of dust and stone, devoid of life as I was devoid of luck.

I was a city boy, I would never deny that. I'd been camping and had passed by farms on bus rides to school, and found some measure of peace in nature but I loved the constant movement of the city. As I looked out at the vast nothing, all the easier to see as I was apparently very high up on a giant moving hemisphere, I felt something give out inside me.

I didn't know where I was.

I didn't know what was happening.

I didn't even know whose body I was inside of.

My name is Hiro.​

I vomited.

====X====
​

Author's Note- This story idea has been bouncing around in my head for years so I'm giving in and taking a shot at writing it instead of any of my original ideas.

I'll say right now that the ending of the anime makes no sense except to enable Trigger's need for a climactic space battle with lots of lasers. That is not gonna be the case here.​

 

[Hampsterpig]

Bug in the FRANXX
Chapter 2​

I spat to try and clear my mouth of the taste of stress-vomit with little success.

Sighing, I looked back at the glass dome, more specifically, my reflection in it. A teenager who probably would have been a freshman in high school stared back. As I suspected, Asian features topped with a mess of scraggly black hair that had clearly only received the most basic attention. What stood out to me was my eyes. They were the same colour, dark blue bleeding to grey near the iris, that I'd always had. It was more than a little off-putting to see my own eyes on a strange face, but then my eyes had always been my best feature. Small victories, right?

'Okay, now we know the situation.' I thought to myself. 'So what now?' Well, the truth was I didn't know the situation. All I knew was everything was wrong, but that was the deal, so I could either keep emptying my guts on the nice clean grass, or I could try to figure out… something.

A buzz against my leg drew my hand to my pocket, and I drew out a small white… USB? It had a gold button that I pressed, suddenly making a holographic screen bloom into existence.

Okay, that was cool as hell, and I was willing to venture the guess that it was what had woken me up with its vibrating. I passed my hand through the holographic screen, feeling nothing. Part of me wanted to take it apart right then and there. How was it doing that? Holy shit that was cool. On the holographic screen, there was what was apparently a messaging app of some sort.

[Code: 015- The briefing is over. Contact me. We need to talk.]

The face attached to the messages was a girl with blue hair, maybe fourteen, a little older? She reminded me of a friend I made in my last year of high school.

Ichigo, our leader.​

Ichigo, a leader?

That felt important, but there was something else to the name. This Ichigo was important somehow. It was a familiar feeling, the closeness and an urge to protect, like I felt about my brother.

Was… was Ichigo this body's sister?

That could be an issue or a blessing. Someone so close to this body-

Hiro. My name is Hiro.​

No, it wasn't. Whoever you were, Hiro, you're not me.

[Code: 015- If you don't respond soon, I'm going to ask the adults to find you.]

Ah, that might be a problem.

I looked out at the dust plains below as the… plantation I guess it was called? As the plantation rolled across orange emptiness. How was I supposed to respond? What was this about a briefing?

It's not like I'll be taking part in the ceremony anyway.​

My stomach clenched again as Hiro's thoughts slipped into my own. I was struck with the urgent need to rip out my brain and beat it with a pulp. Was that a normal response to someone else speaking in your mind? I didn't know what a normal response would be, but brain-pulping probably wasn't it.

'In any case, there was a briefing and I missed it. It was about a ceremony that Hiro isn't going to be in.' Why was that?

The ceremony is for new parasites. I'm a failure, and I'm bringing Naomi down with me.​

A parasite? What did that mean? Why did Hiro's failure affect this Naomi girl?

Visions of a robot, an amazon forged in black and yellow, that towered some… I didn't know how tall, but I knew it was supposed to be mine. I could see how two parasites, one male, one female, had to work in tandem to pilot it, wielding an orange halberd to fight… something.

The klaxosaurs.​

Mecha-dinosaurs.

Hiro was supposed to pilot a jaeger to fight mecha-dinosaurs.

Alright, fuck it. Why not? Alice, here I come down the rabbit hole.

Revelations aside, what was I supposed to do about this Ichigo or whatever? I looked back down at the holo-screen in my hand, only to register that it was written in Japanese. And I could read it, but I knew that I didn't know Japanese. I shoved that new discovery into some corner and resolved to have a proper breakdown later.

Playing with the gold button for a moment, I typed a response.

[Code: 016- Sorry, be back soon.]

"Okay, next question: What is up with the code stuff?" Were they a rank? The idea of a briefing plus the uniforms all gave me a military vibe.

Papa gave us the Codes. I gave us names.​

I frowned and followed the thought deeper. It was the basic technique that I used to write. Start with a question, find an answer. Consider that answer, ask a new question. Repeat until you have a story, and the story I found within Hiro's memories was not a happy one.

Parasites raised from birth by a nebulous organization known as APE to pilot mechas called FRANXX in two child teams to protect the plantations against the klaxosaurs. APE was lead by Papa, so Papa was also in charge of these plantations. Scratch that, Papa was in charge of everything, and the faces of Papa gave me the impressions of priest robes. Big Brother had grown a god complex, wonderful.

Hiro had been one of those parasites, raised as a child soldier alongside many other children in an orphanage called the Garden that struck me more as a military lab. They'd recently been moved to this plantation where they lived in the birdcage, separate from all the adults. They were going to be this plantation's protectors.

But all this only left me with more questions. What were klaxosaurs? Why was everything some blend of Japanese and English? Why were children in charge of defending the adults? What happened to the children that disappeared from the orphanage, even when too young to pilot?

Also, despite passing tests for so long, Hiro had suddenly become unable to actually pilot sometime when he was much younger, despite showing some prowess up until then. Now he and his partner were going to be sent back to the Garden? Not that Hiro remembered a parasite ever coming back, but that wasn't my biggest question.

Hiro couldn't connect, that wasn't a new problem, but Naomi hadn't shown that same failure, so why had he been given the offer to stay when Naomi hadn't?

Why was Hiro consistently being given special treatment when by all rights he should be thrown aside by an organization that was perfectly fine sending children to a battlefield?

Thoughts circled my head, questions without answers, and problems I couldn't see an easy answer to.

"Code 016!"

Two adults in matching black uniforms and orange sci-fi visors were stomping through the underbrush towards me. Wait, how long had I been standing there thinking?

I looked down at my holo-thingy and clicked my tongue.

[Code 015: It's been an hour. I'm telling them to come get you.]

Oops.

I put up my hands as the two guards? Policemen? Soldiers? As the two policemen approached.

"Sorry, I-" Oh hey, now I'm speaking Japanese too. Sure, yes, why not? "I lost track of time."

"The administration building put out a request for you. You need to come with us."

The administration building, I focused on the idea and Hiro came up with nothing. The only structure he was familiar with was the dorm situation they had within the birdcage for the parasites to live in. Hiro had a room with Goro, one of the Stamen, or male pilots. The Pistils, the female pilots, had their own rooms. Sure, bunch of kids in a dorm where you could keep an eye on them. There were also different rooms that they weren't allowed in, but seemed placed like other dorm rooms would be in an actual dorm.

Note to self: break into those. There were secrets afoot and I was going to find the answers.

"Hurry up!"

"Yes, sorry, I'm coming!"

I took a step towards them, only to immediately slip and fall because new body, who dis? Yeah, just drag me back to the weird golf-cart thing, that's fine. Definitely not thinking about killing each and every one of you that signed off on child soldiers.

I cast one last look at the bird that had crashed into the glass dome, bloody and dying alone because it dared to dream of freedom.

Sorry little one, but I wasn't going down so easily.

-X-​

I was shoved into what was basically an all-terrain golf cart with police lights slapped on top. The ride through the forest was a bumpy mess, my head cracked against the frame twice, but for the first time, I was glad I wasn't in my old body. My old 6'1" frame would've had it twice as bad, probably knocking against the roof as well as the frame.

I was dropped off in front of the admin building, where a dour-faced man with close-cropped hair waited.

Hachi, he's been in charge of us with Nana for as long as we've been training to be parasites.​

Hachi worked as a name in Japanese, from what little I knew, but Hachi also meant the number eight. Was he a former parasite? It would explain his experience with the machines.

"Hiro, come with me." He led the way through the building, into a side corridor with an office at the end. Sitting outside the office was a girl I had already seen in Hiro's memories. She had her head back, resting on the wall as light brown eyes stared up at nothing.

"Naomi…" At the sound of my voice, she blinked, then looked over at me.

"Hiro, they called you too?" Her voice was fragile, soft, as if she was speaking while half-asleep.

"Yes," I glanced at Hachi, who had continued into what I guessed was his office. He was watching me, but he also made no motion for me to enter, so I took that as permission to take my time. "I…" I let out a heavy breath. "Something about this is wrong. I'm the one who can't connect. You shouldn't have to leave too."

"Heh, it makes perfect sense to me." Naomi's half-chuckle had no mirth to it. "You're Hiro, Code 016, the best at connecting except for Ichigo." Was that what the codes meant? That was confusing, but also not the point. "Here I am, Code 703, the highest out of the Pistils here and so the worst at connecting. Of course I'm the problem."

"But that doesn't make sense, we saw the FRANXX they built for us." Specially designed for each pairing. Was that normal? For a military focused around child soldiers, it was surprisingly accommodating for each pairing's taste in weaponry. "Narcissus is literally made for you, it probably doesn't even work for any other Pistil!"

Naomi's eyes sharpened as she peered at me, as if surprised that the thought that my partner and, according to Hiro, sister being punished for my failing wasn't infuriating!

"Hiro." My eyes flicked to Hachi a second faster than it took me to pull my expression back under control, if Hachi caught it, he didn't show it. "No shouting inside."

"You know Hiro," Naomi gave me a sad smile. "I've never seen you get this worked up over something." Really? Wow, Hiro was a fucking pushover. I'd been in his shoes for two hours max and I was considering homicide.

I'm a failure as a pilot. Who am I to question anyone when they're succeeding where I failed?​

See? Pushover. You need to grow a pair and fight for your own happiness. It's not always easy, but you couldn't live only for others. Everyone deserves a shot at happiness.

"Naomi… gah, this sucks." I screwed my eyes shut for a second, trying to bring my emotions- or were they Hiro's?- under control. When I opened them, I tried to give Naomi the kindest smile I could. "If it's any consolation, know that however worked up I look, it's only a fraction of how angry I actually am."

"Then I'm sorry I only got to see it now, at the end." I thought I saw the beginnings of a tear form in one eye and I felt my stomach clench.

"Hiro, I do have other business today." Hachi's voice brooked no argument and I almost shut the door anyway. What bastard wanted me to leave a girl that I had- no, that Hiro had grown up with- on the verge of tears?

"You'd better go." Naomi hung her head, shoulders shaking with barely-restrained emotion. "I don't want to cause you any more trouble."

I looked around, desperate. Where were the other kids? Come on, don't make me leave someone crying alone!

"Hiro!"

'HACHI, YOU ARE NOT THE PRIORITY RIGHT NOW, GO FUCK A CACTUS!'

Just as Hachi stood up from his desk, Hiro's blue-haired sister emerged from another office.

"Ichigo!" I called as I waved to her. Her eyes narrowed in clear worry when she saw me, whatever that was for, then widened when she saw Naomi. "Could you…?" I gestured vaguely to Naomi. "I have to go."

"What…?" Ichigo looked confused for a moment, then the idea connected and she nodded quickly. "I'll look after her, go."

"Thank you, you're the best!" With that, I stepped into Hachi's office, closing the door behind me as Ichigo moved to sit down by Naomi.

Hachi's office was largely bare, but that could have been because he himself was boring, or because he was just settling into the new location, same as everyone else. Aside from a largely bare bookshelf, there was a single picture on his desk, turned so it faced him when he returned to his seat. I took the only other chair in the room, set rather strangely in the middle of the room, far from Hachi's desk.

"Your care for your fellow parasites is well-noted, and I'm sure they would appreciate you staying. While Naomi's situation is non-negotiable, HQ has given you special permission to stay with the other parasites." I stuffed down the anger brought up by Hachi using Naomi's name. I couldn't quite tell if it was me that was angry at the man for the clear favoritism at play, or Hiro for using Naomi's name while he did it, feigning closeness that had not been earned.

"Can you tell me why I've been given permission?" I kept my voice as level as I could manage it. "As far as anyone can tell, the connection issue is-"

"I heard you outside." He cut me off and I felt my lip twitch towards a snarl that I tried to cover by scratching at my nose. "Your team leader put forth requests asking for both of you to be kept on plantation in case a solution could be found." Ichigo had? Good to know she had her team's back. "Only yours was approved."

"But if I could at least understand why-"

"Papa approved it himself." I bit down on my tongue to keep from snapping at the man for interrupting me again. "There's nothing I can do. Their words are final." The message was clear. 'Stop asking, follow orders.'

"Do I have a choice whether or not I stay?" Hiro had thought so, but if this 'Papa' was putting their weight behind it, I was less sure. Hiro had never met them as far as I could tell, but they seemed almost religiously significant in how people referred to them, or at least "Our Great Leader"-esque. The line was thin with that sort of thinking.

"Yes, but I ask you to consider what your other parasites might feel if you chose to leave." I cocked an eyebrow at him. "I can't imagine they would take it well." Well that was manipulative as fuck.

"How long do I have to decide?" The question gave Hachi pause and something played behind his eyes that I couldn't read.

"With your previous insistence, I've already asked for the plant to be able to accommodate two passengers. I imagine if you were to choose to not board the plant, there would be no disruption as Papa already approved your continued position here."

So I had until my ride left, huh? I couldn't tell if they were being very thoughtful or suspiciously desperate for me to stay.

The rest of the discussion went by largely without much of interest being mentioned. Hachi went over a list of tests that they wanted to put me through to see if Hiro's apparently significant piloting aptitude could still be used. I did my best to be non-committal about the entire thing, emphasizing that I hadn't decided whether I wanted to leave or stay yet, so I could promise nothing. Finally, I was dismissed and I wasted no time leaving.

I found Ichigo sitting on the bench outside Hachi's office, Naomi nowhere in sight.

"Hey," she began by way of a greeting. "Naomi calmed down a bit and went up to our room to pack her things."

"But we all just got here, did she already unpack…?" I trailed off as Ichigo's face stiffened in that way that meant I had just missed a hint. I thought for a moment, then nodded. "She didn't want to be around anyone, and you're giving her space, even if it's a space you should be sharing."

"Um… yeah." Ichigo looked up at me, surprised. I made a questioning sound and I could see on her face as she made some sort of decision. "Naomi aside, can we talk?" She cast around and I caught the silent 'not here.'

"Sure, lead the way."

====X====​

Author's Note- Comments and likes are basically my cocaine. That's all, have a good night.

 

[Hampsterpig]

Bug in the FRANXX
Chapter 3​

'Okay Hiro, your sister and squad leader wants to talk. What's the deal here?'

Ichigo has always been strong, she's the best at connecting out of all of us. That's why she's the leader. I've always admired the way she's done so well as a Pistil.​

'So she's good at piloting, but what about her as a person? Does she like it when people are blunt or are more polite with her?' I resisted the urge to groan when no answer presented itself.

I was beginning to understand how single-track Hiro's mind was. His entire focus was on being a FRANXX pilot. When that had become seemingly impossible, he'd started to develop some pretty serious self-worth issues, which I could empathize with. I'd wanted to be an electrical engineer when I got into college. Five and a half years later, I graduated with a creative writing degree.

Life didn't always take you in the direction you expected.

Nonetheless, I was starting to get a better idea of Hiro as a person. A teen boy with an obsession with piloting, self-deprecating, and going by how Naomi reacted, didn't do a great job at expressing his wants and emotions. Couldn't really hold that last one against him though. He was fifteen, who knew what they wanted or felt at fifteen?

'Wait, do I have to do puberty again?' I felt a chill go down my spine. God, I didn't know a person alive that didn't regret some of the things they did under the beguiling influence of hormones.

Ichigo led us to the dorm, then out past a courtyard where I spied a shorter kid with big floofy hair when suddenly anxiety tightened around my chest.

Zorome. Please, just don't look this way.​

The sudden rush of emotion, combined with my still-delicate control of how Hiro's body moved, made me stumble. Where had that come from?

"Wow, the loser can't even walk right!" Zorome called with a cruel laugh. I watched as he tipped the ball he was kicking around back, then flicked it up into the air with one foot. "It's kinda sad to see you now." He bounced it on one knee with practiced ease. "You used to be so cool."

"Gerome! That's enough!" Ichigo marched over to him, all righteousness and self-assurance while I carefully righted myself.

Why can't he ever leave me alone?​

I listened with half an ear as Ichigo tried to berate Zorome as I unpacked the latest surge of teen angst from Hiro. I could feel an old pain, that battered self-worth, picked and peeled open like a scab never allowed to heal until it scarred. Remarks and little barbs from this kid were nothing new. The problem was that what once had the light ribbing of two boys had ventured into full-on bullying as Hiro's piloting troubles had set in. It was no surprise, kids could be all too cruel.

He's still my friend!​

'Maybe you thought that, Hiro, but he isn't mine, and I'd had a long fucking day.'

"Hey, is there something you want?" Whether from acting in various plays or being a dungeon master, I knew how to project my voice and it carried clearly. "Code 666." Ichigo and Zorome jerked, turning towards me with poleaxed expressions.

His name is Zorome!​

"Hiro…" Ichigo looked at me like she didn't recognize me, and I didn't blame her. Hiro didn't have the spine to stand up to Zorome's constant snipes, or maybe Hiro just hadn't been able to recognize that he didn't have to just take them like that.

Zorome just glared at me, caught somewhere between confused at my outburst and angry at what I had said. Yeah, Hiro gave you your name and the parasites held those as precious. Don't forget that, bonds made as children could be broken if you pushed hard enough, you little pomeranian brat.

"No? Okay then." I turned on my heel and stalked back into the dorm, cursing under my breath when I tripped again on the step.

I needed something to do with my hands. Something to occupy my attention so I could just stop thinking for a moment. I opened a random door and found myself in what I took to be a library. Books lined the walls, and I was struck with the refreshing smell of old print, but what drew my eye was one of the tables that filled the space had a stack of lined paper and a cup of pencils.

I slipped into one of the chairs and took a paper and pencil. Physically writing helped me slow down my thoughts when I was trying to figure things out. Otherwise, I ended up getting lost down some rabbit hole I wasn't intending to.

But for now, I didn't want to think, so I began to draw.

Well, sketch was probably closer to the truth. I didn't consider myself an artist by any means, at least not when it came to the visual arts, but there was a simplicity to trying to get the image I was looking at to match what I put on the page that helped me relax, so I'd practiced.

When I'd been in engineering, I was always thinking about how I might make something myself. When I switched to writing, I'd be constantly thinking "how would I describe what's happening right now?" or "how could I make this into a story?" Suddenly it was "where was I?" and "whose memories are in my head?"

Drawing didn't have any of that. Make the thing on the page look like the thing I was looking at. Simple.

I shouldn't have been so mean to Zorome, it wasn't nice.​

Ugh, shut up Hiro.

I glanced up at the window I was sketching, then erased a stray line and corrected the angle.

Alright, maybe I'd been too harsh on Zorome. No, I definitely had been. After the stress of waking up in this child soldier's body and the chaos of dealing with two people's thoughts in my head, I'd seen an almost acceptable target and lashed out. He may have been a bully to Hiro, but he was also a child and I was an adult. I had to be better. It was a bad habit, letting my mouth say the first thing that came to mind, knowing that it could hurt someone.

And here I was, thinking again. I'd kill for some music, something to drown out my brain.

I always thought too much, sometimes working myself up into a tizzy over an issue that was barely real. Now I felt like I had two people in my head and I wasn't sure if I could take the pressure.

I punched my leg to stop it from bouncing, energy searching for release.

The window drawing was as good as I was going to make it. I flipped the paper and slid the cup full of pencils over so it was more centered in my vision and put pencil to page anew. Occasionally when a particularly persistent thought stuck in my brain, I wrote it out on some corner of whatever I was working on to get it out of my head.

It wasn't as if Hiro was in any measure of control. No, I was some eighty to ninety percent sure that I alone was driving this body, but that ten-twenty percent was the emotional bleed I was definitely getting from his memories. His gut feelings and his struggles. I hated all of it.

My mind was sharp. I knew I was smart, and the idea of something polluting it rankled.

Time passed and I continued to draw. At one point, a taller girl named Ikuno wandered in. We made brief eye contact and she seemed confused that I was there. Once she seemed to accept my presence, we nodded to each other before she walked over to the bookshelves and began to browse. She picked one that seemed to pique her interest and she settled into a chair to read. Neither of us spoke a word and that suited me fine.

I set aside another page and leaned back in my chair, gazing out the window. Belatedly, I realized it had gotten darker and I was famished. I pulled out my holo-thingy- fuck it, calling it a phone, it was all the same functions- I pulled out my phone and checked the time, early evening. Going by the time-stamped messages Ichigo had sent earlier, I'd been in Hiro's body for most of the day and I'd not eaten anything in that time.

It was then that another new-old face stuck their head into the library. Pale orange hair pulled to the sides into twintails. First it was Ichigo with blue hair and with this girl, Miku, we had orange? If these were dye jobs, I was impressed by the quality because I couldn't see any roots to speak of.

You know, after the plane design that made no sense and the mechas, I should stop trying to apply logic to everything.

"Ikuno, they're serving dinner." Miku's eyes flicked to me and she shot me a glare. "Hiro, didn't expect to see you here."

I cocked one confused eyebrow. What had Hiro done to piss her off?

She's Zorome's partner.​

Ah, I had done that. I couldn't think of anything productive to say in response to Miku, so I just nodded. She left with a huff and I glanced over at Ikuno, who stared back with measured detachment.

Shrugging, I got up from my seat and walked out of the library. Now, where was the dining hall? I sniffed at the air and caught a whiff of something familiar, curry. I could feel my mouth water at the scent. Good lord, I'd not had curry in years. My stomach growled loudly and I let it lead the way.

Entering the dining hall, I took stock of the kids already there. There were the girls at one table, Ichigo and Miku, plus another I'd not seen yet, Kokoro. At another table sat the boys, Hiro filling me in on their names as I noticed them.

Zorome was staring at me.

I sighed and took my seat where food was already set and portioned out, while extra bread rolls sat in the middle. The smell of blended spices wafted up at me with promises of heat and flavor, and so I sent a silent prayer of thanks to whoever might be listening. The quality plates and glassware gave me the vibe of a too-fancy prep school more than a child soldier situation, weird. But setting all that aside, there was something else to take care of first.

"Hey, Zorome."

"What? You have something to say?" His voice was short, harsh. It fit him.

Brain, no. Be nice.

"Zorome! Don't be-" I held up a hand to stop Goro.

"I'm sorry about earlier, you didn't deserve that." I wanted to say more, and explain myself but it was just excuses, so I swallowed it down.

Silence reigned for a moment as everyone in the room regarded me strangely. Zorome sat back in his chair, for the second time that day thrown off-guard. It occurred to me I wasn't doing a great job of pretending to be Hiro.

"It's… it's fine…" Zorome said after a long moment, giving me a sideways look before he glanced down at my plate. "...but only if you give me some of your curry." I clicked my tongue against the roof of my mouth.

Well played, Zorome, going after a man's food. Fair, but fuck you all the same.

"Take it." I spooned a sizable portion of my curry into his bowl and he eyed his meal eagerly. Bribery paid and tensions soothed, I grabbed one of the few remaining rolls from the bowl, the rest having ended up in front of Futoshi at some point.

Ikuno came in at that point, book still in her hand. I nodded approvingly as she sat down in her place, never quite looking away from whatever she was reading. I quickly checked my mental notes on the gathered parasites. I put names to faces to partnerships. Ichigo and Goro, Kokoro and Futoshi, Miku and Zorome, Ikuno and Mitsuru- Mitsuru was watching me out of the corner of his eye next to me but looked away when I caught his gaze. Okay, weird, but I put it out of my mind, instead focusing on the untouched set of food at the girl's table.

"Alright everyone, time to pray." I stopped reaching for my fork when Ichigo spoke up. No one else had moved to start eating yet, so I quietly brought my hand up to my face, doing my best to make the motion look natural as I scratched my nose.

Prayer, as in praying to Papa? I'd guessed that it might be a religious thing, but I'd not expected this level of ritual. Everyone closed their eyes and I did the same as Ichigo rose to her feet.

"May Papa never thirst. May Papa's heart be filled with happiness for eternity. Let's eat."

Okay, short, sweet, got the job done. Not the most complicated prayer I'd ever heard, but I wasn't going to complain about that. Still, it left a bad taste in my mouth. Ritual lines like that had a habit of sinking in over time.

A low hum of conversation filled the air, occasionally punctuated by the sounds of cutlery. I ate quickly, more out of habit than feeling particularly rushed, but also because the food was surprisingly good and I was hungry.

"Has anyone seen Naomi this afternoon?" I asked the room as casually as I could manage. I mopped up some curry with the bread and took a bite, letting out a hum of enjoyment at the taste. Why was the food so damn good? This was better than anything I could put together, or anything I expected from child soldiers.

There was a chorus of negative responses from both tables, except…

"It's probably just as well that she didn't join us for dinner." Mitsuru declared, dabbing delicately at his mouth with a napkin. "It would be rather awkward to have her here when she is leaving tomorrow." He looked towards me again and I was struck by the sudden impression that he didn't like having me there either. Also, stop staring at me, it's weird.

"But it is sad, isn't it?" Kokoro set her silverware down, food barely touched. "We've been together for so long, even after so many others left the Garden. I had hoped that, since we came here together, we wouldn't get separated anymore."

"There's nothing for it," Ichigo replied before taking a sip of her water. "It's Papa's orders, so it must be for the best."

'Hiro, your group is a bloody mess.' Was that all they had to say to one or two of their friends since childhood being whisked away? These were kids that were the same age as high schoolers, ripe for childish rebellion and saying fuck the man just for a taste of independence. ''Oh sure, it sucks but what can you do?' They're just gonna take it across the face and ask for seconds, aren't they?'

Hiro dreamed of flying, but these were the ones he shared the nest with! Small wonder he had no self-worth, no one had taught these kids how to live beyond what 'Papa' told them! The only one that seemed to care at all was Naomi!

"I'll take her food up to her."

-X-​

Hiro stormed out of the room, tray of food in hand. The remaining parasites looked at each other, none of them seeming exactly sure what had just happened.

"Is it just me," Futoshi was the first to break the silence, "or does Hiro seem really angry today? It's kinda weird."

"Yeah, he was really upset at me earlier for nothing," Zorome added, "but then he just apologized?" He took a bite of his curry, chewing as he thought. "Papa said he could stay, right? And it's like Kokoro said, it's not like this is the first time one of us has left."

"Zorome, Hiro got angry at you because you were calling him a loser. You were being mean first." Ichigo laid her silverware down carefully, perfectly, as always. If anyone were paying careful attention, maybe they'd notice the sound was a touch too sharp.

"But that doesn't mean that he had to call me by my code, I was just teasing him, that's how guys are, right?" He looked to his fellow stamen for support. "Back me up here!"

"You're not wrong, but you can be a little harsh sometimes," Futoshi spoke again, his tone delicate and soft so as to not upset the ever-touchy Zorome. "I'm sure he's just upset about Naomi, she is his partner."

"They're both failures as parasites, what does it matter?" Another broke in with an audible sneer.

"You're one to talk, Mitsuru." Miku shot back, often as loud as her partner, not that she'd ever acknowledge that. "Your connection numbers aren't that good either."

"My numbers are fine." He jerked his chin in his partner's direction. "The problem is her."

Ikuno kept reading. It wasn't clear to the other parasites if she hadn't heard the comment, or just didn't care.

"It doesn't help that you're so mean to her, Mitsuru!" Kokoro, who only wished the best for everyone without thinking of herself, chided. Mitsuru just let out a 'hmph' and stuck his nose in the air.

"It's obvious that Hiro is upset that Naomi is leaving, we all are." And then there was Goro, the tall, unbending oak. The one they all envied for stature and position. "All we can do is try to be patient with him. That's what team members do, that's what friends do."

"If he doesn't leave tomorrow."

"C'mon Mitsuru, why'd you have to ruin a good moment like that?" Zorome tipped perilously far back in his chair. "Why would he leave anyway? This is what we've always wanted!"

"What we wanted was to be pilots and protect the adults like Papa wants us to." Mitsuru stated like it was the most obvious thing. "And if he can't pilot, what use is he?"

No one had an easy answer to that one.

"He's our leader." Ichigo stood quickly. "He's the one who gave us our names, remember?" Mitsuru stiffened. "And so we can't just give up on him so easily."

There was a round of agreements, some less sure than others. The meal ended and the parasites filed out one by one, conversations already drifting to the ceremony tomorrow, when they'd be presented as full parasites in front of the adults of Plantation 13. Soon the room was empty, except for her.

Ikuno looked down at her book. She hadn't read a word during dinner, but some days it was easier to pretend she wasn't listening than to try and talk with her fellow parasites. No, her mind was too confused to read now. She flipped to the back-inside cover of her book and the paper she had folded there.

She loved reading, she always had, and so she had read all the books that the Garden had, asking for more each Christmas. Books didn't care about your numbers, or whatever secrets you kept so desperately. Books were just books. They didn't ask for anything, and gave you everything in return.

Many of the books had included phrases in another language. Never more than a line or two, but it was something new and so she had wanted to learn more. It had a different feel than the Japanese they spoke, instead closer to a few words she already knew that didn't fit in, words like "parasite," "code," or "partner." One of the adults watching the nestlings back in the Garden had said it was a language called "English."

She'd gotten a book translating English to Japanese that same year. It had been difficult learning the new language, but it had been a new challenge, so she had done it anyway. No other parasite else knew about the language, or if they did, they didn't care to talk to her about it.

But here was a drawing that Hiro had left in the library, and so casually written in a looping hand she struggled to decipher, was English.

Who is Papa?

Are they a person? A church?

Can they be beaten?

What was Hiro thinking? It seemed insane to consider not helping to protect Papa and the other adults, much less fight them! They were parasites, that was the entire reason they existed! Not to mention the other thing she had seen in the library, right when she first walked into the room and found him drawing. At first, she'd thought it'd been some trick of the light, but seeing it again in the dining room confirmed it.

The moment when Hiro, whom she had known as long as she could remember, looked at her with eyes she had never seen before.

====X====
​

Author's Note- Maybe it's on me for playing with text formatting in this story, but it's frustrating moving chapters over, fixing the text alignment, then posting, only to find I still missed some lines!

Whatever, the effect is fun and I'm not stopping.​

 

[Hampsterpig]

Bug in the FRANXX
Chapter 4​

I knocked on the door to Naomi and Ichigo's room. Well, more like I kicked it lightly with one foot, food tray occupying my hands.

First getting angry at people that didn't deserve it, and now taking care of people who were upset, even when I had my own shit to deal with. Some things were the same no matter where I was, huh?

"Hey Naomi? It's Hiro," I spoke to the door. "I brought dinner for you."

Silence.

"Naomi?"

Nothing.

"Naomi, I'm going to leave the food by the door." I set the tray down so the door wouldn't knock anything over if opened. "Please take care of yourself. We care about you."

"Hiro? What're you doing in the girl's wing?"

I turned towards the voice, and there was Naomi in what I took to be a plain white and yellow nightgown. Her hair was wrapped up in a towel, so I guessed she had taken a shower or something while we were all eating. Her eyes were tinged red.

"Oh, hey!" I gestured to the food on the ground. "Didn't see you at dinner, so I brought some up."

"Thanks, that's really kind of you." She looked down at the food, now lukewarm. "I'm sorry, but I'm not really hungry." I clicked my tongue. I knew that tone, and Hiro did as well. It was the voice of someone who didn't have the energy to take care of themselves, or just didn't see the point anymore.

"It's fine." I shrugged like it didn't matter. "You know, it's just as well, Zorome stole some of my food, so I'm still peckish." I wasn't, but that wasn't the point.

"Zorome stole your dinner?" Naomi blinked rapidly, surprised. "That's not like him."

"Well, he didn't exactly steal my food, I gave him some as an apology." I looked away, grimacing a little to add to the effect. "I was angry after talking to Hachi, and Zorome said something stupid, so I snapped at him."

"You, Hiro, snapped at Zorome?" Naomi let out a laugh of disbelief.

"Yeah, I guess I did." I feigned a sheepish grin, hiding my relief. She was reacting, engaging, laughing. This was good, it meant she wasn't too depressed. The sounds of conversation floated up the stairs and only got louder as they approached. "Sounds like the others are done. You think they're going to give me crap for being in the girls' wing?" I exaggerated a shiver of fear, drawing another small laugh from Naomi.

"Probably, but it's the girls' bath time, so they won't be back for a little while." She looked back down the stairs, seeming to weigh something before turning back to me. "Why don't we go somewhere else before they come back?"

"Sounds fine to me."

She led the way down the stairs and out into the courtyard again, me with the food tray in hand. We followed the path paved out into the larger birdcage until turning suddenly onto something closer to a game trail. Here I stepped more carefully, suddenly aware of my lack of balance and the tray of food I was holding. Naomi seemed to sense my discomfort because she slowed some, leading me through the forest until we came to a small lake.

"I found this when I left the administration building. I just started running and ended up here." Naomi sat down at one of the fallen logs, just on the edge of the water. "This isn't anything like the pool we learned to swim in, back in the Garden."

"No, it isn't." I sat down and set the tray on my lap. Grabbing the spoon, I got a scoop of curry and rice together. "You sure you don't want some? It's good." I leaned in, like I was whispering a secret. "Last offer before I take it all for myself." Naomi stared at me like I'd grown an extra head before letting out a sigh and reaching for the spoon.

"Fine." She took the spoon and put it in her mouth, then froze. "You're right, it's good." She went for another bite and I knew I had her. I slid the tray over to her wordlessly. Depressive episodes messed with your appetite something fierce, but once you actually started eating, your body remembered that food was important.

We should get back soon, or the adults will get angry at us.​

Ooh, good point Hiro.

"We've got a curfew, don't we? We're supposed to be in bed soon." Naomi nodded between bites. "It occurs to me that they can't really punish us if we aren't back in time." I looked up at the moon and was thankful, for it was the same as I remembered. "I mean, what're they gonna do? Kick us out of the plantation?" Naomi made a sound like she was choking, but she managed to swallow the obstruction. "Sorry, I'll make less jokes while you're eating."

"Are you really Hiro?"

My leg twitched, anxious energy building, demanding release.

"I don't understand the question." I said as easily as I could manage.

"It's just that the Hiro I know, the one I was first partnered with, wouldn't joke about leaving the plantation." Naomi was giving me a hard look and I was suddenly scared to move too much. "I don't like it, that you're giving up like this, I hate the idea of giving up on piloting!"

"Giving up on piloting?" I frowned, yes I'd not really entertained the idea of actually piloting. Hiro had failed to connect, so I'd imagined that was the end of it.

I failed as a parasite, what else is there?​

But then, I wasn't Hiro, was I?

"What do you think I should do then?" Naomi took a bite, I suspected to buy herself time to think of an answer. "What would the Hiro you know do?"

"I think the old Hiro," Naomi began slowly, "the one from the Garden who gave us our names. I think he would fight for every chance he could to stay with everyone."

The adults said I should stop doing things like that.​

Wait what? What did Hiro do?

Hiro?

What did the adults tell you to stop doing, Hiro?

"Hiro?" Shit, Naomi still wanted an answer.

"Sorry, I hear you, I'm just… I don't quite know how." I could feel the drive from Hiro, the need, the itch I felt when I had a story in my head and I needed to get it out onto a page. He needed to pilot. "I'm open to ideas if you have them?"

I need to fly.​

"Well you shouldn't leave with me. They're okay with you staying, so do it." I frowned. That was an option. I'd already decided to… actually I didn't have much of a plan at this point. I knew that I wanted out of this whole child soldiery thing, but what was the move after that? How did I get there in the first place?

"Can I just... think for a second?" Naomi nodded, focusing on her food. I stood and began to pace, the movement helping my focus. I felt the girl's eyes on me, but I put that aside for now.

The first thing I needed to figure out was what did I want?

Food, water, shelter. Basic needs. I wanted to live, simple.

The plantation has those.​

I wanted to know about the world I was in. I was pretty sure that I was on some version of Earth. Hiro knew more, but I'd not had the time to sort through everything in his head.

Mistilteinn has history books.​

I wanted to go home. Not the dorm or the Garden that Hiro saw as his home, but my home.

…yeah, I guess Hiro having an answer to that was too easy.

If I couldn't go home, then I wanted to carve out a place for myself in this world. I wanted stability and safety and to build a place that didn't need children fighting giant monsters in war machines! I demanded a world where kids could be kids!

I want to pilot, I want to fly!​

Yeah, I get it Hiro! You've been raised since birth to want to pilot and fight for the adults and whatever Papa is! Meanwhile, I had that pesky American need to resist government with that Floridian spice to make sure whatever I did, I did it big. In short, I wanted to Florida Man whatever powers existed and grow something better from the ashes.

Okay, so how did I do that?

I want to fly, more than anything.​

You have a point there, Hiro. FRANXX were weapons. Moreover, they were weapons that the adults couldn't use, if what Hiro had been taught about them was true. And being a pilot meant that I'd have a chance to build up knowledge on how the world worked now, and learn to use those weapons as part of a group.

'But where does that leave Naomi?' I looked over to the girl, vulnerable and exploited and now abandoned by the environment she had grown up in. She watched me in turn and I could only imagine how strange all this was. Her partner had suddenly changed so much over the space of a day to the point she seemed to regard me as some sort of stranger, but here she was, trying to give some last gift of encouragement to her friend.

I need to fly.​

I wanted to protect these children.

I needed to become a parasite.​

"Hey, the ceremony tomorrow, the one where everyone else is going to be made an official parasite for the plantation." Naomi nodded along with me as I spoke, meal finished and set aside. "All the adults will be going, and everything will be a mess, right?" She nodded again. "At the same time, the two of us are supposed to get on a plant to go back to the Garden." She paused, then nodded a third time, more unsure this time.

"What if, when the adults are distracted, we run and try to pilot Narcissus?"

Naomi was silent.

Then she laughed in my face.

"Alright, fair." I slumped down on the ground next to the log she sat on. "I knew it was a stupid idea."

"Let's do it." I looked up at her, gobsmacked. "What more can they really do? Take us from the plantation?"

In her eyes I saw a storm of emotions. Fear, desperation, confusion, joy all swirled together. But shining through all that, I could have sworn I saw a spark.

-X-​

Breakfast was… awkward.

Zorome yammered on like nothing was wrong, with intermittent additions from Futoshi. He'd talk of how they were going to make the adults proud, then his eyes would wander to Naomi or I and he'd go quiet for a second. Miku tried to make some comment about Naomi's hair looking 'especially cute,' earning a smile that didn't quite reach the other girl's eyes. Kokoro left suddenly, saying something like "bathroom" and when she came back with puffy eyes, no one said anything. Naomi and I would occasionally catch each other's eyes, silently checking that neither of us had gotten cold feet.

Eventually, the others filed back up to their rooms to put on the additional accessories that made up parasite dress uniforms while Naomi and I were left downstairs. We both had suitcases in our hands. Naomi hefted hers, testing the weight, thoughts elsewhere.

"You want to say something," I stated. It wasn't a question.

"Papa's going to be mad at you for this, Hiro," she said finally. "If this doesn't work, they might not let you stay." She paused, taking a deep breath. "It's okay if you decide not to do this, I promise."

I want to be a pilot, nothing else matters.​

"I don't want to leave anyone else behind." I replied, wrapping my free arm around her shoulders in a half-hug. "I told you, call me Zig from now on," I added quietly.

"Right. Zig." She smiled an apology as I drew back. "It feels strange, but parasites having names is strange too." I couldn't think of a good response so I shrugged like it didn't matter.

It was stupid, and I knew it, but I'd done it anyway. Zig was a nickname I picked up from home. My first name was extremely common, so I'd gotten in the habit of going by a shortened version of my last name. Since Hiro had given each of the parasites their names, I'd decided to do the same for myself. It felt better being called something from home, rather than the name of the guy I'd… what, taken over?

The whole situation with my mind and Hiro's baffled me. It was literally a fictional trope, but here I was living it. I'd spent more time last night sorting through Hiro's memories, and this morning I'd found moving to be a lot easier. Whether it was because I was getting used to everything or the mental pathways in Hiro's brain were reinforcing old lessons, I wasn't sure, but I didn't let myself dwell on it too long. There wasn't much point to it. This was the hand I'd been dealt, I just had to play it as best I could.

"Hiro." I looked up the stairs, where Ichigo was coming down in full dress-uniform. "Naomi." We both turned to face our squad leader. Our very short squad leader, now that I thought about it. Even in a fitted uniform, she still looked like a child playing dress-up. It was absolutely adorable, and more than a little sad.

"I…" she trailed off, not finding the words. Hiro and I's heart tore at the sight, though probably for different reasons. I couldn't imagine how she was taking this whole mess. I had flashes of a tiny girl with too-long bangs that had hated standing out, and now she was the commander of a military squad at fourteen and two of her squad-friends-family were leaving.

"Hey," she looked up at me, then stiffened as I wrapped her in a hug. After a moment she seemed to register what was happening and returned it, as if unsure. God Hiro, did you never hug your sibling? You're a bad brother. "Everything's going to be fine."

A second later I felt someone run into us and found Kokoro, tears sneaking out despite her best efforts, one arm up around my neck, the other around Naomi, who looked surprised and unsure of what to do. I rubbed one hand on Ichigo's back and Naomi took that as a cue to do the same to Kokoro.

"Hey! What's going on here?"

I laughed as Zorome and Futoshi made themselves known, immediately throwing themselves into the forming group hug. Miku came next, an orange ball of tears and blubbering, while Goro gave me the universal male nod of solidarity and I returned it. Teens, too emotional to hold it in, too dumb to figure out what to do with it. What could you do?

Ikuno and Mitsuru watched from the sidelines beside Goro, the only indications they felt anything at all was the small frown from Ikuno and a slight tightness around Mitsuru's eyes.

What did I do to piss you off, dude?

He's always been like this.​

The sound of footsteps on brickwork was the cue for everyone to untangle themselves from the group hug and straighten out their uniforms. A moment later, the front doors of the dorm building opened and adults in uniforms that I had labeled "policemen" but were closer to just bland armed guards. Now, Hiro had never seen them deal with anyone that wasn't a child that was taught to respect them so I wasn't sure how tough they actually were. I'd find out soon enough.

Everyone fell into a relatively standard "at attention" stance that I mirrored. The other kids left first, filing out to follow the majority of the guards as what I took to be some sort of honor guard. Only one was left behind to escort Naomi and I to the plant that would take us away from our friends.

"Hiro, Naomi, I see you're already packed." A new voice sounded as a woman with long red-brown hair walked in. It struck me that this was one of the few adults that Hiro knew that actually showed their face. Actually, this woman and Hachi were the only two full adult faces Hiro could think of. Everyone else wore some sort of face covering, be it some visor, tech sun-glasses, or the formal pope-hat-hood things Hiro had occasionally seen "normal" adults wearing. Why was that?

I gave my best "depressed teen smile" to Nana and picked up my suitcase. Naomi did the same. I knew of Nana already. Hiro had given her a passing thought when I met with Hachi and I'd made a point to at least figure out the list of people Hiro knew last night.

The resulting headache had been unexpected, but I'd slept that off.

"Nana, are you going to take us to the plant?" Naomi asked, a hint of worry in her voice.

"No, I'm sorry but I have to attend the ceremony with the others. I just wanted to see you two before you left." Naomi let out a sound close to relief. Nana looked over at me with a stern look. "Hiro, I've been asked to remind you that you don't have to return to the Garden. Papa has given permission because you were a special research subject."

I blinked, cocking my head to the side. It was the closest thing to an explanation on why Hiro had been given the option, but also raised more questions.

I had a high piloting aptitude, the adults did a lot of tests.​

'Oh wow,' I thought as images flitted through my mind. Flashes of needles, tests with nodes taped to his head, and those spinning spheres they used to train astronauts. 'Hiro… this is… I'm sorry you had to live with that.' I swallowed down the disgust I felt at the visions, focusing on the people in front of me.

They gave me sweets if I did well.​

"I know Nana, I've made my choice." It was a struggle to maintain my disaffected expression as I stared at her. 'And stop using our names. You might play 'house' real well, but you're still one of them.'

"Fair enough." She smiled so bittersweetly my teeth started ache. "I promise we'll come visit when we can." She walked up and hugged both of us in turn. Naomi enjoyed the attention while I only stiffly returned the embrace. After giving me an unreadable look somewhere near pity, Nana turned to the guard. "Remember, Code 016 is to be allowed to remain on plantation if he so chooses." With that, Nana left the dorm.

Naomi took a deep breath and I bumped my shoulder against hers in quiet reassurance. We both watched the guard, who seemed to ignore us. We didn't have to leave for a few minutes yet, mostly to allow for the elevator to drop off the other kids and Nana. They'd be going to the assembly hall, we'd be going to a slightly lower level for departures.

Coincidentally, that was also the same level as the pilot access to the FRANXX.

Time past slowly as Naomi and I watched the guard and he stared back impassively, the ticking clock deafening against the quiet. Some fifteen minutes later he declared it was time to leave and we followed him down the path to the elevator. As we stepped in, I couldn't help but note how big the elevator was. Height, depth, width, everything was bigger than I expected. You could move a lot of people in this elevator.

The city caught me off-guard.

I knew in a factual way that Mistiltienn was at the top of a massive dome that made up the plantation and I'd seen the outside of the dome when I'd first woken up. I knew factually that there was a city of adults inside the dome. Plain buildings were cast in an orange glow by magma energy, because that was apparently a thing. It gave everything a Hallowween sort of vibe, but that wasn't what made me pause.

I was struck by just how still it was.

I'd been to plenty of big cities in my time. New York, London, Paris, and I lived in Orlando. Cities were not still, nor were they so clean. People were dirty creatures, littering, spitting their gum out on the sidewalk. Wear and tear built up on surfaces as well, rust on pipes, cracks in the mortar.

The city of Plantation 13 had none of that. It was without flaw, perfectly dead.

"Zig!" I jolted as Naomi grabbed my shoulder. I blinked owlishly at her before looking over at the guard waiting expectantly for us to step off the elevator. We were at our stop. I looked at Naomi for confirmation and she nodded.

It was time to act like a teenager and misbehave.

====X====
​

Author's Note- Next chapter we finally get to a mech fight! It's already written, I just need to give it some time to rest before I go back for editing!

Comments and likes are my cocaine, they make me write faster!​

 

[Hampsterpig]

Bug in the FRANXX
Chapter 5​

"Oh, sorry." I said finally, shaking myself from my thoughts. I couldn't let myself be distracted now. "I'm coming." I walked towards the guard, heart thundering in my chest.

I'd never been in a true fight. I'd pulled a friend out of one, and I'd wrestled with my older brother a lot growing up, and I'd technically gotten a red belt in tae-kwon-do when I was like, eight, but I didn't think that counted. But for most of our lives, my brother had been bigger than me, so I had some experience in taking down people larger than I was, and I knew leverage.

"Hey, don't forget your suitca-" I lunged, wrapping my left arm around the guard's neck faster than he could bring his staff to bear, grabbing my left hand with my right so I was wrapped around his torso before I twisted, dropping my weight as I did and wrenching him down with me. His leg moved back to try and catch himself, but he tripped on my own leg that I'd already slipped behind him.

"Naomi!" I yelled. He came down hard and I was immediately on top of him, kicking away the staff as I scrambled to grab his arms, wrenching them to the side long enough for Naomi to smash her suitcase into his temple. He went limp immediately.

For a moment neither of us moved, waiting for an alarm to sound.

Nothing.

At my direction, Naomi helped me drag the guard back into the elevator, keeping watch as I rifled through his pockets, pulling out a holo-phone and taking his glove. Specifically, I took the glove that carried all his security clearances, preventing him from using the elevator if he were to wake up too early. The staff and suitcases went in the elevator with him. They would only attract attention.

That done, we hit the button to send the elevator back up to Mistiltienn and just… walked away like nothing was wrong. We headed towards where parasites went to change into their piloting suits.

"This is insane. What're we doing?" Naomi whispered. Our steps sounded deafeningly loud in the silent hallway. "We're going to be in so much trouble." As far as plans went, it was full of holes. It was also the best I could come up with sitting by the lake with Naomi with all the resources of two teenagers with nothing to lose and everything to gain.

"They can't punish us more than they already were doing." I whispered back, trying to hide the strain in my voice.

That's not true.​

Shut up Hiro, positive thoughts only.

"We just need to get changed before the others finish the ceremony." I reached out and caught her trembling hand, squeezing it lightly. She squeezed back and it seemed to help ground her.

We walked at as swift a pace we could manage without actually running. In an ideal situation, everyone would be too busy watching the ceremony to notice what had happened. In a slightly less ideal series of events, anyone that saw us wouldn't realize that the two parasites headed towards the pilots' changing room should probably be with the larger group. Once we were in our suits, we could hopefully make it across the catwalks to where Narcissus was waiting.

Did I have a plan for what might happen if we weren't able to connect once in the FRANXX? No.

Was there any guarantee that we'd be accepted as pilots if we did connect? No.

I'd made both of these facts clear to Naomi and she'd agreed to go with it anyway with all the desperation of someone clutching onto a liferaft in the middle of a storm. I could only hope I didn't drag her down with me. We turned the last corner when our plan hit a snag.

Standing in front of the parasite's changing area were two parasites I didn't know. One, male, was facing away from us. He was tall, taller than any of our friends, with bandages wrapped around his head. He was speaking to his counterpart. She was a smaller woman, though still taller than either of us, in a red bodysuit and pink hair, held in place by a hairband with two red horns peeking out of it.

She's beautiful.​

She was looking at us.

Naomi and I jumped back around the corner. Hearts pounding, we scrambled for a place to hide. Naomi found one faster than I did, pulling us into a woman's restroom and into a stall as footsteps echoed in the hall behind us. Naomi sat on the toilet, flicking the lock while I hopped onto the reservoir, pulling my feet up so someone wouldn't see anything if they glanced underneath the stall.

Naomi's shoulders began to quake and I put a hand on her shoulder to steady her. She looked back and behind me and I realized when I saw her face she had not been shaking in fear like I'd thought.

Tears began to leak out as Naomi did her best to hold in her laughter.

This girl was sneaking around with me, trying to take back our places as part of a child soldier program, risking everything to try to stay and fight monsters with our friends, and she was laughing.

I bit down on my tongue, fighting not to make a sound as my own smile snuck out at the sheer fucking absurdity of it all.

"What's so funny?"

Both our heads shot up, letting out small screams as we looked up at the pink-haired parasite who had pulled herself up over the stall door to peer down at us, a mischievous grin on her face.

"Zero Two! This is no time for games!" Another voice, I guessed the stamen I'd seen speaking to her, sounded from outside the bathroom. Zero Two looked towards the sound with an annoyed expression.

"Leave me alone, I need to use the bathroom," she called before turning back to us. With a gymnast's agility, she swung her legs over the top of the stall and slipped over, standing in the bathroom stall with us. With three people in a stall designed for one, she was immediately too close for comfort.

"Why are you two sneaking around?" She looked back and forth at the two of us. Neither Naomi nor I moved for fear of upsetting the stranger, and I was too confused by her presence to think of a good excuse. "You're supposed to be at the ceremony." When we didn't respond, she put on a wry grin and leaned in closer.

Then she licked me.

I jolted back at the sudden contact and whacked my head against the bathroom wall. As I swallowed a curse, hissing against the pain, the stranger moved again and licked Naomi in the same manner. She let out a small 'eep,' face flushing red.

"Hmm…" She leaned back casually, like she hadn't just licked both of us. She pointed to the blushing Naomi. "A hint of spice, not bad. But you," she planted a hand on the wall by my head, leaning closer so I could feel her breath on my neck, freezing me in place as I felt like my skin was on fire. "Your taste bites and lingers…" Her voice went husky, half-lidded eyes sparkling with something I didn't want to put a name to. "The taste of danger. Would you like to be my Darling?"

Yes.​

What.

Yes.​

Was she hitting on me?

Say yes!​

Hiro, I can't think!

"Hey!" Naomi's voice cut in as loud as she dared to, grabbing onto the stranger's arm. "He's already my partner." Pink-Hair and I both looked at her and I could see the same spark that I'd seen the night before shining. The spark of someone with a dream that would not be denied.

"Zero Two! We're going to be late!" The stamen yelled from outside the bathroom. "Hurry up!"

"Too bad." Naomi and I glanced at each other while Pink-Hair, or "Zero Two," straightened and pouted before giving us another wry grin. "Well, have fun sneaking around." She winked and walked out the stall, closing it behind her, footsteps receding.

"Were you talking to someone in there?" Naomi and I froze again as the other parasite's voice echoed. If she sold us out, I didn't know how we'd talk our way out.

"Were you listening to me use the bathroom? Pervert."

"What- Don't walk away from me!"

The footsteps retreated down the hall into silence. I had to fight to get my heartbeat back under control, along with other parts of me.

"That was too close," I finally said as my heart stopped trying to leap out my chest.

"And too weird," Naomi agreed quickly,running a hand through her hair. "Who was she?"

"It seemed like she was called 'Zero Two?'" I posed. We crept out and looked down the hallway, empty.

"A single digit code? Is that real?" Naomi said after a moment. "Why is she here?"

"Questions for later, we need to get changed."

No one else appeared as we crossed the last hallway to the changing rooms and went to our separate rooms. Changing was more complicated than I expected. As in "parasite uniforms are 3d printed onto your body" complicated, but Hiro knew how to do it, thus so did I.

"Took you long enough." Naomi was waiting for me when I came out, already in a white bodysuit with yellow accents that matched the yellow stripe I had on one shoulder.

"Sorry, let's go." Where had this girl gotten such a spine? If I didn't know better, I could have sworn she was starting to have fun.

Together we walked through the halls without issue, except for a single heart-stopping moment when another guard crossed paths with us, only to not spare us a glance. There was no sign that our misadventure had even been noticed yet. I'd tossed the guard's holo-phone and glove in a trash can in our walk, but if our own were tracked they'd lead back to the parasite changing rooms.

Well, by the time they found us, we'd already know our fate.

Getting to Narcissus was surprisingly easy, all things considered. The catwalk to enter the FRANXX was so high that two kids crouching as they moved were invisible to the adults on the ground. Besides, how often did anyone think to look up, especially when you didn't expect anything to be there?

I wanted to stop and get a better look at the mecha, but the risk of being seen was too great. Naomi touched the face of the machine, making it peel back to reveal the sphere within the metal amazon's head. We slipped inside and I pulled the door closed behind us. There was a beat as we both breathed out another sigh of relief.

The inside of the FRANXX was colder than I expected for a mecha that ran on magma fuel. I imagined that the interior was probably insulated against the heat. It wouldn't make much sense for the pilots to burn up while trying to drive the things. I touched the chair as Naomi took a long look at the slots she was supposed to step into. Hiro's scarred sense of self-worth hit me with another wave of anxiety and fear as I looked at the seat. I willed my leg to keep still. Naomi looked like she was dealing similar thoughts.

"I can't believe I'm finally gonna pilot a FRANXX!" A familiar voice echoed from outside the FRANXX.

"Only you huh? And how are you gonna do that?" Another shot back.

Naomi and I looked at each other and we were both forced to contain our laughter as our friends walked past, suddenly aware of how close we'd cut it. They couldn't know we were no more than a few feet away, feeling that same building anticipation they were. It was a glorious rush, this sort of insane rebellion. You could either freeze up in fear, or laugh at it, but we were too far to freeze now.

We listened as our friends passed by our mech, each having their own little conversations as they got ready for their first connections in a FRANXX. Finally, the last of them walked past and there was no more procrastinating, we both moved towards our respective places.

BRAAAAAWGH

An explosion along with a roar that sounded somewhere between an avalanche rocked the plantation, sending us both to the ground. Another roar answered it and the sound of screaming metal rent the air. A thousand alarms began to wail all at once as the FRANXX's communications came alive with different voices. One word cut clear through the rest:

Klaxosaur.

"Why aren't our controls working?" Goro's voice came next over the comms.

"All parasites - remain in your garages! Your controls have been disabled for your own protection." Hachi replied through the connection, calm despite the chaos raging. "Special reserves have been deployed to deal with the threat."

A video burst to life with the helpful warning "Proximity Alert Detected" showing the feed of some external camera on Narcissus. We were given front-row seats as the garage door suddenly dented inward, then tore, revealing a giant blue-black metal maw.

"It's breaking in!" Miku screamed as the klaxosaur roared again, threatening to deafen us.

Naomi and I looked at each other, then the controls. Naomi reached one hand into a slot, eyes seeing something I couldn't. After a second, she turned back to me, a slight smile on her lips. We moved as one.

"Are you sure you know what you're doing, Hiro?" I did my best to ignore the trembling in Naomi's voice as we settled into our positions in the mecha. I was going to pilot a mecha, holy shit!

"Definitely, now get ready," I lied. If Naomi noticed the way my hands trembled, she didn't say anything. "And I told you, I'm done with Hiro. Call me Zig!"

"Right, Zig. Whatever, let's just do this." God, she couldn't have been much more than fifteen. No wonder she was terrified. A few days ago she was told that she would never be able to pilot a mecha because her partner was a fuck up. Then she was told that said partner was being allowed to stay for some reason while she had to leave all her friends behind.

Now here I was, the fuck up partner, asking her to try piloting with him again because a fucking steel kaiju-transformer-thing was attacking her home.

"It's fine, let's focus on saving everyone, then we can figure out… everything later!" I closed my eyes and breathed out, trying to force myself to calm down. 'Okay, so Hiro couldn't pilot before, but I'm not Hiro. I can do this. I just need to- what, drift like Pacific Rim, then kill a mecha-dinosaur that's like four times the size of my house.' I jammed one fist against my bouncing leg. 'No bitching out now!'

"You good back there slowpoke?" Naomi's voice jolted me from my thoughts. "Or do I need to come back there and smack you?" I blinked at the… challenge in her voice, the fear giving it an excited edge, like she was almost… eager?

"Hold on, this was my idea!" I snapped, feeling weirdly offended. "What the hell are you talking about 'coming back here?' I should be asking you that!"

"Then let's connect already!" Naomi shot back, and I watched the screen-hood-thing she wore light up.

"Fine!" I let out a laugh as anxiety and fear were shot with adrenaline. "Here we go!"

I grabbed the controls and-

I want to fly!​

Hiro, not the time dude!

THERE'S NOTHING ELSE I WANT!​

Hiro, my friend, buddy, brother, I get it! I feel you, but you need to calm down!

I. HAVE. TO. FLY!​

Naomi screamed.

I dragged Hiro's hands off the controls, cursing every way I knew how. There was another roar outside, as if a dozen cars slammed into one giant screaming pile of steel and pain.

"Zig, what was that?" Naomi panted. "I felt you, but it was all too much."

"Yeah, I'm sorry! I… I don't know what happened!" I lied. I knew exactly what had happened. Hiro was a shit partner was what had happened. Connecting was a balance, I had immediately grasped that. I'd joked not a minute ago that it was like drifting in Pacific Rim, and I wasn't far off the mark. You allowed your mind to touch the other person's and the more the thoughts and emotions you put into the connection aligned and complemented each other, the better. It was like a conversation.

Hiro didn't seem to get that. His entire personality was wanting to pilot a FRANXX, it was all he wanted. Even his relationship with his squadmates had faded to a far second. Much like how he didn't know that much about Ichigo beyond her abilities as a pilot, he didn't really know Naomi either. They'd talked, you couldn't really avoid that after knowing each other so long, but Hiro had never tried to understand her.

The klaxosaur hit the door again, ripping it open further. Another scream, Ichigo's, came over the comms.

WE NEED TO HELP THEM! LET ME FLY!​

"Naomi, why do you want to pilot a FRANXX?" I asked, "Please, just work with me!"

"Why are you asking me this now?" Naomi shot over her shoulder. "It's because I don't want to leave everyone! I don't want to be alone anymore!" She swallowed around a lump in her throat. "I want to fight to keep them all with me!"

"Okay, then that's a promise! We're never going to let them separate us from everyone ever again!" I shoved Hiro's Icarus-wanna-be screams to the back of my mind and focused entirely on the group hug we'd shared. As I centered that feeling in my mind, I brought up my own base need to protect these kids that should never have been allowed to come so close to danger and mixed it in as well.

I grabbed the controls and we connected.

-X-​

"Sir, we're getting a connection from Narcissus!"

All Hachi wanted was to follow orders and do as Papa wished. It was all he had wanted as a parasite, it was all he wanted now as military commander for Plantation 13. It would bring him no greater joy than to be able to look at Papa and be able to tell them he did everything they wanted. Instead of being allowed that simple right, Papa, in their infinite wisdom, had seen fit to assign him to Dr. FRANXX's band of misfit test subjects.

"How is that possible? Only Naomi should be able to connect to that! Give me an internal feed!"

He'd bowed his head and agreed, because that was what Papa expected of him, but Hachi had come to regret not asking for a different, more typical, position. Weighing the delicate emotions of this generation of parasites against the orders he was given was a task better suited for Nana, so he let her handle the day to day interactions with them, focusing instead on the tactical side of things that he preferred.

"There is no internal feed! Work was canceled on Narcissus before they were installed!"

That was right, they'd not bothered adding the finishing touches to the FRANXX after he'd failed the pair's last connection test. It had been slated to be dismantled and repurposed, but too much had been happening with the ceremony and the arrival of her.

"Can we lock them out?" He yelled, already knowing the answer was no. That was the last thing they added, meant only to hold back over-eager pilots from waiting until the proper time in the ceremony. No one wanted a glitch to trigger the program in the middle of a fight and leave pilots stranded in a battlefield.

He looked to Nana and found the same concern he already felt. Strelitzia was stampeding, and while Code 002 had never attacked a fellow FRANXX to his knowledge, her mindless aggression and nigh-indestructible machine led her to engage in ways that killed almost as many FRANXX as it saved. A green partner pair would inevitably be drawn in trying to support her in some impossible maneuver, only to be killed while Strelitzia escaped with barely a scratch. He turned back to the screens in front of him, pressing the communications button again.

"All parasites - remain in your garages!"

-X-​

I pressed a button on my seat and the catwalk in front of our head peeled back, the blockers at mecha-shin level withdrawing as well. From there, Naomi took the lead and grabbed our weapon from beside us: a halberd, as tall as we were, a curved orange blade like a fan, topped with a wicked spike and a hook sticking out opposite the axe-head.

Yeah, I could work with this.

Armed and dangerous, we hit the jets, flying forward through the garage, all the other staff had since long evacuated as the klaxosaur tried to tear its way in. We tore through another of the metal gates with a swipe of our weapon and burst out onto the plains.

"Narcissus, that was an order! Return to your garage immediately!" Hachi yelled over the comms. I snorted at the idea and Naomi opened our own communications with a thought.

"No fucking way we're going back!" I laughed, exalting at the sheer power I felt pulsing through me.

"Just try and stop us!" Naomi added. We'd definitely get shit for ignoring orders so blatantly, but that was a few pebbles of crap on top of the absolute mountain of shit we'd already accrued for attacking a guard and (debatably) stealing a FRANXX, so who cared?

I felt Naomi's sheer joy surge as a chorus of yelling, screaming, and crying sounded from our teammates. Controlling the FRANXX as a stamen was somewhere between intent and a delicate knowledge of how to manipulate the limbs of your machine with relatively simple controls. The pistil could control the machine almost entirely herself, but the stamen distributed the mental strain and allowed for finer control of the FRANXX. Hiro had logged hours and hours into training bots, as had Naomi, while I had the base emotional stability and empathy to enable those skills to function.

"Ready to show them what we can do, par'ner?" I pushed my American accent as south as I could on the last word, muting the audio from the rest of Squad 13 as I did. I loved the attention and cheers almost as much as Naomi did, but there was a monster to slay and I couldn't afford the distraction.

"Enough joking, let's go!" Naomi yelled back, and I couldn't help but agree.

"Narcissus engaging the klaxosaur!"

The metal behemoth turned towards us and let out another ear-shattering roar. Naomi took us on a wide path to the right, circling the creature and drawing its attention away from the plantation. We had as much room as we wanted to dodge backwards from this position. I glanced along the damaged outer shell of the plantation and noted several heavy gun emplacements, some of which had been destroyed, so I wasn't sure how helpful they'd be.

"Let's poke it a bit, get it angry at us." I suggested, already leaning forward in my chair. I could see some wounds across the creature's outer surface that leaked blue ichor. Had the guns done that? They looked like scratches, not the burn marks of cannonfire.

"Okay!" Naomi agreed and I pushed the controls forward, sending us towards the creature and lashing out with the point of our spear, only to juke back before the two-legged t-rex head could snap at us. We scored a few shallow wounds across its nose and ended up trading a deeper slash for a headbutt that sent Narcissus reeling back. The klaxosaur lunged, trying to capitalize on our mistake, only for another FRANXX to slam into the beast's flank with an earthshaking impact.

"Who is that?" I shouted over the comms. We watched as the new FRANXX dug claws and feline teeth into the klaxosaur and kicked with its hind legs, tearing off mounds of blue steel gore with each swipe. Metal flesh and blue blood? How did these things work? Who made them? No, questions for another day.

"Special reinforcements from HQ while you all are learning to pilot your FRANXX, it's called Strelitzia." Hachi responded, apparently understanding that we would continue to ignore his orders to fall back.

The klaxosaur shook its massive head-body like a dog and the white-red FRANXX was thrown off. As it turned to address the metal cat, we took the opportunity to close in and hook the bottom of our axe around one of the titan's tiny peg-legs before hitting full reverse and pulling the leg out from under it to topple it, only to catch a wild tail-swipe to our head when we were too slow ducking.

"Don't get too close and let Strelitzia take care of things. If you insist on continuing the fight, keep harassing the klaxosaur so its attention is split between the two of you." Hachi continued as Strelitizia pounced on the fallen creature, ripping into it with renewed fervor.

"But do not, I repeat, do not take any risks going for a killing blow. Stelitizia will take care of it." I looked to the side at Hachi's avatar on a screen to my left. He almost sounded worried as spoke. Hachi didn't get worried.

"Can't Strelitzia just coordinate with us?" Naomi asked as we moved in again, looking for an opening as the four-legged FRANXX clawed deeper and deeper into the klaxosaur's body. "We'd be a lot more effective if we worked together."

There was a muffled conversation on Hachi's end, and I could have sworn I heard Nana say 'show them.'

A new audio source opened up, and a blood-curdling growl filled the cock-pit, stopping us in our tracks.

"Just die you disgusting monster!" The voice grated like something drawn across the line of human and beast. "Just die and die and DIE!" Each word was punctuated by Strelitzia ripping out another chunk of klaxosaur with its fangs. I wasn't sure if I hated the voice more, or the fact that I recognized it.

I cut the call and Narcissus's face took its place, Naomi's disturbed expression writ clear.

"Zig, was that…"

"Yeah, I think so." I shivered, thoughts of pink hair, green eyes, and red horns echoing through the connection. "Point taken, sir. We'll play support for them."

We pulled back and after some slight prodding, Narcissus shifted into a throwing stance.

The klaxosaur's body began to shift around its attacker, making the mecha-cat slip off blue-soaked metal. I let out a low growl as I saw a massive hollow cylinder bloom out of the bloody wreck of the klaxosaur and take aim at the plantation, too far into the shit to marvel at it for more than a second. I clicked my tongue and found a crack along part of the barrel, damage done by Strelitzia that morphing couldn't erase.

"Naomi, there's our target!"

"Right!"

I let Naomi take over aiming as I drove us in place for the next step, eying a rocky spire that would suit our purpose. Naomi let fly and the halberd slammed into the crack. As it did, I set one massive metal foot against the stone tower and pulled back on the trailing tube that connected our halberd to the rest of Narcissus.

I felt my smile grow feral as the tube went taut and the hooked end of the halberd caught in the wound. I yanked on it again and pulled the wound open wider, dragging the massive cannon with it.

"[Yee-haw motherfucker!]" I roared as Naomi and I pulled together, dragging the cannon fully away from the plantation just before a massive beam fired, carving a new line through the orange plains. Sound dampening pop-ups lit up across the screen, and yet I still felt the sound as much as heard it.

A flicker of movement drew my attention back to the plantation as I watched Stelitzia leap from the plantation dome to hammer down on the klaxosaur, blade-tail first.

Then the screens went dead.

I felt the FRANXX lurch forward before gravity shifted direction, throwing me out of the chair and slamming me into the metal wall of the sphere. I heard a scream just before Naomi fell on top of me, bouncing my head against the steel once more.

"What just happened?" I groaned, trying to rub the stars from my vision. That was three hits to my head in the past hour, and I could have sworn I felt my brain sloshing around. I let out a small laugh, what did you know? I did end up brain-pulping myself. Sorta. Ish.

Shut up Hiro, it was funny.

We both laid there for a second, listening for any continuing sounds of combat, but we heard nothing. I guessed that Strelitzia had found the core with that last pounce. It was just as well, because I wasn't sure that I could stand up, much less pilot.

"I think we ran out of fue-aaaAAaah!" Naomi let out a cry of pain as when she tried to put weight on her leg, falling back onto me and driving the metal handles on her suit into my gut, making me wince. "Sorry, did I hurt you?" Naomi tried to move again and let out a hiss of pain. "My leg got caught in the saddle when I fell." The saddle? "I don't think I can move it."

"Yeah, yeah, no. Just stay where you are, it's fine." I mumbled out as I looked up at where my chair was, above our heads. I cocked my head to the side as I oriented myself. From what I could tell in the red emergency lights, my chair and Naomi's "saddle" were above us, the door was to our right, and our floor was actually the ceiling. "I think we broke Narcissus." I chuckled, drawing a giggle from Naomi where she laid on top of me, staring up at the floor-ceiling.

"Hey Zig?" Naomi groaned after a moment. "What does [yee-haw motherfucker] mean?" I blinked, unsure of how to respond as Naomi struggled around the very American, not to mention English phrase. Had that gone out over comms? That seemed like a bad thing. "Also, 'yeah, yeah, no,' doesn't make sense."

"Naomi," I spoke to the ceiling. "Can I answer all those questions later? My head really hurts and I kinda just want to be happy we were so awesome." I held a fist up above Naomi so she could see it. "Fist bump?"

I could almost hear the gears turning in Naomi's brain as she processed all of that, then tapped her fist against mine.

Yeah, we were awesome.

====X====​

Author's Note- Finally, we get to the first mech fight and finish anime episode 1! It feels like it took too long to get here, but there was a lot of foreshadowing and messy emotions that we had to get through first. Updates are going to slow down a bit from here. I wanted to rush to get to this point so people had a taste of the more action-packed stuff, rather than just a lot of talking, but I cannot realistically keep up this pace.

All this was originally intended to fit into the previous chapter, but as I was writing it just kept getting longer, so a split felt necessary.

As always, comments and likes are my cocaine and they make me write faster.

 

[Hampsterpig]

Bug in the FRANXX
Chapter 6​

I looked down at the handcuffs locking my hands to the hospital bed. Sure, you help kill a kaiju and present your superiors with a new functional parasite team. God forbid you disobey an order or two along the way though, free thinking is bad. It's not like you distracted the mecha-t-rex from chomping the entire hanger bay, including every other parasite pilot on the plantation.

No. Bad brain. You figured something like this would happen.

It didn't take long for a crew of guards, plus Hachi, to pop open Narcissus's face and retrieve us. I'd tried to walk, only to have been loaded onto a stretcher like Naomi. I protested, but I guessed I had at least a minor concussion, so I'd just let it happen. Not that I really could protest much in the face of six guards.

I threw myself back against the hospital bed, wincing as my head protested to the sudden movement. I was alone for the moment, which was all well and good, but I was also under arrest and that wasn't exactly comforting. Not to mention that I might have yelled in English over the entire comm channel. I could only hope that the roar of the klaxosaur's gun had drowned it out. Not likely though, given my luck.

Well, that wasn't quite fair, I'd had some pretty awesome luck, all things considered. Naomi and I had made it to Narcissus, successfully connected with only minor issues, and proven our worth in a combat situation. Altogether, it had been a pretty successful morning. I glanced at the massive medical readout above me. It was only one in the afternoon. It was also some two centuries in the future, if the date readout was correct.

It wasn't exactly an earth-shattering revelation at this point that I was on some future version of Earth. There were traces of something to that effect all over the place, from the Japanese I recognized from too much anime to the clearly European architecture that made up the dorms and administration building. The dusty plains I'd seen outside the plantation could be cropped up to global warming or just being somewhere that didn't get much rain, but I was leaning towards the former.

It also meant literally everyone I ever knew was dead.

I took a deep breath in, then let it out, trying to keep myself from crying from just how very alone I felt at the thought. If I didn't figure something out, I'd never see any of them again. I wouldn't bicker about different anime with my roommates, or rage at dice for coming up on the wrong number during Dungeons and Dragons, or pet my dog.

Tears welled up and I curled up my knees to brush them away with the thin blanket they'd given me. I couldn't cry now. I'd find a spot later, someplace quiet in the forests of Mistiltienn or something, but not here, not now.

Now, I needed to figure out what I was supposed to do while I was cuffed to a hospital bed in a military compound that wanted children to die in mecha fights?

For one, I probably needed to stop thinking about the whole "cuffed to the bed" thing. It was making me really anxious and my leg had not stopped bouncing since the adults had put them on. Not to mention the battery of medical tests they'd done, lights in my eyes, sticking monitor stuff to my forehead and drawing blood without so much as a "do you mind?"

I hated needles.

Needles are normal.​

Nana walked in, a glowing tablet in one hand. My first thought was to make a joke about standing at attention, but one look from her put that to bed. Instead I sat and watched as she wordlessly crossed the room to a terminal that one of the nurses had been recording notes on and tapped her tablet against it. The tablet beeped and she began to read through what I guessed were my medical record.

For a long minute she read, seeming content to ignore me. Near the end of the file her eyes widened in surprise at some note and she read it over again, then scrolled back to previous pages, checking other information.

"Is there something I can help with?" I asked, craning my head to try and get a better look at what she was looking at. She looked over at me with a small frown of what almost felt like concern.

"It's nothing for you to be concerned with." She said tersely, which I took some issue with.

"They're my medical records, I feel like I should be concerned?" I replied, immediately flinching at my own tone. I bowed my head. "Sorry." I'd broken enough rules today, it wouldn't do me any favors getting sassy with the people in charge.

"Hmm." Nana raised one unamused eyebrow and went back to my file. "Look at me." I did, and she seemed to find whatever she was looking for. "Interesting."

"What's interesting?" I asked. Would whatever future-tech nonsense they had taped to my head notice a difference between my brain patterns and Hiro's?

"Nothing to worry about."

I opened my mouth, then thought better of it. Nothing that I wanted to say was productive. I'd apparently just have to learn what the issue was whenever the adults decided that I deserved to know what was up with my own body. I hated being a kid. I hated feeling so alone. And more than anything at the moment, I hated being fucking cuffed to the fucking bed.

"How is Naomi doing?" Whatever had rattled Nana, it probably wasn't going anywhere. I might as well try to figure out how much shit we were in. "Is her leg alright?"

"The muscles in her leg were twisted badly when she fell from the saddle. It's already being treated and she should be fine within a few days." Nana tucked the tablet under her arm and faced me fully. "I spoke to her before coming here. She is under the impression that because the two of you successfully connected, she should be allowed to stay on as a parasite."

"That was our hope, yes." I nodded. "The two of us are more useful to Papa in FRANXX than in Garden."

"Hence this?" She held out the tablet, showing a camera feed of Naomi and I taking down our guard escort. She raised an eyebrow expectantly.

"It was our only shot at connecting before you got rid of us." I raised one cuffed hand. "I told her this might happen, we wanted to try anyway."

"And whose idea was this?"

"Mine."

"And you accepted that you might be taken from the team for this, even if you succeeded?" I noted that it wasn't 'sent back to Garden,' as if there were some other option.

"Yes, I know I had the offer to stay with the plantation, but I couldn't just let Naomi go without trying something." I swallowed audibly. "I couldn't just sit back while the others fought without me."

"So why did you not simply ask to test again?"

"I…" my voice trailed off as the question sunk in. Fuck me, but she was right. Why hadn't we just asked to take one last shot at the test? That would have been a lot simpler. I had assumed that the adults were an obstacle and not a resource.

"Well? You clearly gave some thought to this little plan of yours." Nana began to pace. "Your takedown of the guard was well done and you even thought to take away his security glove so he couldn't escape the elevator. You even managed to slip into the FRANXX when the hanger was filled with staff." She counted off each point on one hand.

"So." Nana turned to face me fully. "You thought all this through. For what reason did you make us into an enemy?"

I knew my own reasons, that I saw the military that made child soldiers as evil and didn't want to risk them seeing our little jaunt coming. They honestly weren't invalid. Now, telling that to Nana probably wouldn't go over well. What I should have realized is that the plantation staff and larger military clearly wanted at least Hiro. Of course they'd be willing to let him at least try to connect again. It cost them nothing with everything to gain. Keeping their investment in Naomi was just a bonus to them.

I hung my head. More ashamed at my own tunnel vision than at Nana's rant.

"Look at me." I looked up, face as impassive as I could make it. As much as she had a point, I didn't feel like giving her the satisfaction of seeing it. To her credit, she seemed to be honestly disappointed that Naomi and I hadn't gone to her for help. She seemed to believe what she was saying. "Hachi and I are here to support you kids. You don't have to be afraid of us. We want the same things you do."

Heh, I really doubted that.

"Is something funny?"

"No, sorry Nana." I brought my face under control. "I… I guess I think it's funny how stupid we were."

"It's good that you can laugh at this, but don't get too hopeful." Nana let out a heavy sigh. Again, it struck me just how she seemed legitimately put off by the whole situation. She was acting almost like she thought she was a mom. "There hasn't been a decision on what to do with you two yet."

"That's understandable." So they weren't going to throw us out just yet. That was something at least. "I'm glad I got to pilot at least once," I added, more for Hiro's sake than any truth of my own feelings.

Nana gave me a look, eyebrows furrowed.

"All that aside, Naomi mentioned something else that we should discuss." I sat up as best I could, trying to look attentive. "She said that you're changing your name to 'Zig.'"

"Yes, is that a problem?" I hadn't honestly thought it would be an issue. Everything officially listed me as 'Code 016.'

"No, but it surprised me. For a parasite to choose a name for themselves is already unusual, and now you've chosen two different ones." I noted she had taken the tablet from under her arm and seemed poised to write. Whatever nonchalance she played at, my strange behavior was definitely being noted. "Why the change?"

"I didn't feel like 'Hiro' fit me anymore," I replied with a shrug. "Hiro wanted to be a pilot more than anything. It was all he wanted. Now I want something different."

"You make it sound like you're two different people. What does Zig want?"

"I want to protect my friends, and the plantation, and Papa, and everyone." Nana gave a small nod as she typed out my lie.

Yes, I wanted the children to be safe, but everything beyond that was platitudes to satisfy her. I did not relish the idea of killing anyone, but I already knew I wanted to revolution. I had no pretty illusions either, I wanted to rip Garden open, to free every child they had ensnared, to cut the strings on all of their puppets, and to laugh as their own weapons were turned against them.

But that was a ways away. For now, I had to dance like a good puppet should.

"Very well, Zig." Nana made another note on the tablet. "I'll be discussing all of this with our superiors, although I can't give you any guarantees." She gestured to the cuffs. "Until then, those will make sure you don't go anywhere."

"I understand, sorry for the trouble," I nodded, and Nana turned to leave.

I leaned back against the bed and sighed. That had been a difficult conversation, and my headache was ramping up again. It would be nice to just lie down, close my eyes, and let everything unclench.

"He's all yours." Nana spoke as she opened the door. I glanced her way, curious.

Ichigo stood in the doorway.

====X====​

Author's Note- You know, when I said updates would slow down, I was envisioning something closer to one a week. Not this, so sorry for that. This chapter did give me a lot of trouble, but that's nowhere near the whole story. The real reason is I finally got around to playing Cyberpunk 2077 after that last chapter and now I have a hundred hours in it. Considering I got it on sale for ~15 bucks, I think I got my money's worth.

In any case, I won't pretend like I'll definitely have another chapter out in a week, but I'm going to try.​

 

[Hampsterpig]

Bug in the FRANXX
Chapter 7​

The whisper of the door closing echoed like a coffin lid through the hospital room. Ichigo looked from me to the cuffs on my wrists, unsure.

"Hey Ichigo," I gave her my best, albeit tired, smile. "So, things might not be all fine, but we're getting there!" I waved as best I could. "How is everyone else?"

"Oh! We're all fine, the klaxosaur didn't get anywhere close to us thanks to you." Ichigo pulled up a rolling stool and sat down carefully, smoothing out her skirt. "You saved us, Hiro."

"That's good!" I nodded, "though I feel obligated to point out that Naomi did help a little." I rolled my eyes in false exasperation. "It is kind of hard to pilot solo."

"That's true," she gave a small nod. "I'll have to thank her as well when I see her." She looked down at the cuffs, expression turning grave. "Are the adults going to take you back to Garden for this?"

"Maybe, but I don't think so." I squirmed in place, trying to stretch muscles that ached from being still too long. "We're more useful to them as parasites."

"Hiro!" She spoke sharply, like I'd sworn at my mother. "You shouldn't talk about them like that!"

"Right, sorry." I tried to not roll my eyes. "I'm not really happy right now with how they, you know, arrested me."

"Hiro, you broke the rules." Ichigo reached up and poked me in the forehead. "They don't trust you right now, so of course they have to keep you under watch."

"We saved everyone!" Ichigo rocked back in surprise as my hands pulled against the restraints before I realized what I was saying. "Sorry." I forced myself to breathe as I leaned back. Control yourself, Zig. You can't go yelling at kids, you're an adult, even if you don't look like one. Fuck, God forgive me but I wanted to yell at something. I had to watch my words with Nana and now Ichigo was parroting bullshit and my head hurt and I just wanted to scream.

"Hiro, what's going on with you? You were mean to Zorome yesterday, and today you're yelling." Ichigo put a hand on my forearm. I'm sure she thought it was meant to comfort, but I felt myself flinch a bit and she pulled her hand back. "Talk to me, let me help you."

"They were doing tests after they strapped me to the bed and-" Stop, no. You're giving away too much. You need to stay in control. Give nothing. "I… I didn't like the tests." It wasn't as if the tests had been terribly hard, but the staff had never actually looked at me. Never spoke a word to ask what I thought. Hiro was supposed to be used to this shit but I had felt like a frog awaiting dissection. Were the cuffs getting tighter or was that just me? I itched to go stretch and move and not be so clearly tied down.

I want to go flying again.

Yeah, me too Hiro.

Ichigo was staring at me too, but it was full of concern and worry and confusion. I couldn't blame her for being unsure of how to handle me. Hiro was passive, letting the flow of his life carry him on without much care for what happened so long as he got to where he was supposed to, only getting upset when that was finally denied him. I wanted a lot more and I was willing to make a mess to get it.

"Could I get some water?" I jerked my head towards the cup, straw and water jug that was sitting on the bedside table. Ichigo nodded and poured. There was an awkward moment as I had to lean forward again to catch the straw in my mouth and drink. "Thanks."

"You're welcome." Ichigo's voice was unsteady and for another moment neither of us spoke, searching for something to fill the silence.

"Are the others okay?" I closed my eyes and leaned back again, trying to pretend I was anywhere else.

"No one was hurt." Ichigo replied. "We were locked out of our controls by Hachi, so we just sat there. It was only because they never finished the work on Narcissus that you were able to fight. The FRANXX shut down when you ran out of what little fuel was left from test runs." Ah, that explained a lot.

"Sure, but are they okay?" I tried to smile, "I'll bet Zorome's annoyed that we got to fight and he didn't."

Ichigo let out a small laugh. "He is. He says that once we're allowed to pilot, he's going to kill a hundred klaxosaurs for every one you do. Miku got mad because it sounded like he was going to try piloting alone."

"Makes sense." I imagined the smaller boy hopping on some crate to yell some challenge to the sky, only for his pilot to kick the box from underneath him. I felt an actual smile emerge for the first time since I'd been pulled out of Narcissus.

"The others aren't sure how to feel yet." Ichigo continued, quieter. "I don't know either."

"What is there to worry about? Nothing's changed yet." I said, voice light as I could make it. "Either Naomi and I have to go, or we both stay. Nothing's been decided so nothing's changed. We just have to wait." I felt my voice quaver at the end.

"But Hiro, you two hurt an adult! No one has ever done that! You disobeyed Papa!" Now it was Ichigo's turn to shout and I twitched my head away from the outburst. "Papa gave us everything and now you're acting like that's nothing?!"

What was I supposed to say to Ichigo? I didn't know anything about Papa. Hachi had said they had approved Hiro staying on-plantation. The kids gave thanks to him for food like a prayer. I needed to give it more thought, but I got cult vibes.

He gives us presents.​

Thank you, Hiro. I don't really care but it's good to know. My eyes flicked back to Ichigo, who sat expectantly, waiting for me to say something. I could lie to her like I lied to Nana, claim allegiance to Papa and the plantation and all that shit, but I was tired of lying, so I deflected instead.

"Nana says that Naomi's leg should be fine, she just needs time." I spoke into the silence and I heard Ichigo shift.

"She was hurt?" Ichigo's voice was… surprised? I opened my eyes and looked at Ichigo. Worry was clear on her face. Had she not gone to visit Naomi yet? She would have had to wait for Nana to finish talking to Naomi and then myself. She was still wearing her pistil piloting uniform, complete with hood-console. She had not changed since she returned. How long had she been outside my door?

"Yeah, when Narcissus suddenly turned off, it tipped over and both of us got thrown around the cockpit. Her leg was caught in the saddle." Ichigo winced at the image. "She can't walk on it right now, but she'll be fine in a few days."

"The FRANXX is supposed to prevent that from happening, but if they didn't finish the last touches…" She touched her hip at the thought.

A thought broke in then, Naomi had told Nana about the name change. If Ichigo went to Naomi too, she'd mention it. On one level, it felt cruel to dump that on Ichigo here, when she was so clearly off-balance from everything. On the other hand, I had the impression that Ichigo, Goro, and Hiro were thick as thieves. It felt dishonest to shove that off on Naomi when I could tell her right here.

"Hey Ichigo, there is something else." Ichigo's eyes looked at me, large, honest, fragile. "I'm not going by the name Hiro anymore. It doesn't fit."

"I don't understand." Her eyebrows knit together, "You gave us all our names. Why change yours?" There was a desperation there, like I'd kicked a leg out from underneath her and she wasn't sure if she could still stand.

"Hiro was- When I gave myself the name Hiro, I wanted to be unique, but I just used the number the adults gave me." That had been a laugh last night. "Hi" and "Ro" were just two component sounds of Hiro's code. "So I came up with a new name: Zig."

"Zig? What does that mean?" Ichigo's expression twisted as she started to see the stranger wearing her brother's face.

"It doesn't mean anything, and that's the point. Now Zig just means me."

"It sounds like one of those [English] books Ikuno has," Ichigo pulled back as I choked on nothing and began to cough. "Wha-? Here!" She fumbled for a second before grabbing the water again and holding it out so I could drink.

"Thanks," I gasped once I'd emptied the cup. "Wha-" I coughed again to clear my throat, "What books?" She had struggled around the unfamiliar word, but I'd caught it. Hiro didn't know Ikuno that well. All he knew was she liked books and didn't talk much except to Ichigo. Which was fair, I could respect an introvert. But also, what?

"She has all these books with different letters. She says it's a language called [English] and a lot of our words come from it."

"Thats… huh, maybe that's where I picked it up somehow? Weird." Was someone knowing English a problem for me? Sure, I was an American man in a Japanese child's body in a time and place I did not know. But thinking realistically, would the fact that said Japanese child could suddenly speak fluent English be a problem? I didn't think so. The leap of logic from "teenager knows more than they should" to "possessed by a ghost from centuries past" was lightyears in length.

"Yeah, it must be something like that." Ichigo laughed with a smile that never touched her eyes, then sighed. "Hi- Zig, back when we all hugged, you said everything would be fine. Do you still think so?"

"I hope so." I searched for a joke to lighten the mood. "Honestly, aside from the klaxosaur, this day has gone about as well as I could have hoped." Ichigo gave me a flat look, decidedly unamused.

"Well," she began, standing suddenly. "If you are allowed to return, I expect you to do what I say. We're parasites and we have to protect all the adults, and each other." Oh? She was pulling rank now? The image made me laugh and an idea popped into my head.

"Got it leader." Ichigo scowled at my unrepentant tone. "Look at my little sister, all grown up and leader of her very own squad." I smiled in mock pride as Ichigo reddenned.

"Hey! You're supposed to listen to me, understand? This isn't a game!" Ichigo tried as best she could for a serious face, but ended up more at a pout. It was adorable.

"Oh sorry leader, I'd salute if I weren't so tied-up!" I called at her retreating back with a laugh.

-X-​

Nana watched the security feed as Ichigo stood and left the room. Another camera showed Goro waiting outside the room as Ichigo stalked out and in short order they were walking down the hall towards the parasite changing rooms.

"Amazing, simply amazing." Nana turned towards the source of the synthetic voice. Dr. FRANXX was looking over the test results from Hi- no, Zig. The names were important to these children and she would respect that, even if the other staff thought of it as just another children's game. Dr. FRANXX looked over Zig's results, the muscles in his living cheek pulling up into the closest thing he had to a smile.

She didn't like looking at her superior. He was the only 'old' person she knew. Not that she hadn't met adults older than her, but Dr. FRANXX was the only one who looked old and it made her feel strange. Skin shouldn't have that paper-thin quality, and where his flesh had failed, steel now shown grey-black. Not to mention that single metal eye of his, always twitching and flicking independently of his real eye. Why the man who invented the immortality treatment refused himself that blessing, she would never understand. Who would choose metal that couldn't feel over flesh that would never falter?

Papa continued to allow him to command resources as thanks for his development of the immortality procedure and the FRANXX to protect the plantations. And yet, for all the man was a genius and she should be awed by his presence, she could not shake the feeling she shouldn't trust him.

"Code 007, have you seen these?" He stroked his metal chin like the stories said people would stroke a beard. "He takes a new nickname and all of a sudden it's like he's a whole new person!" Nana had seen the results. It was like Dr. FRANXX said, it was like she was looking at a whole new person. Cell counts were up, well exceeding the requirements of a parasite. His brain activity had changed entirely, once-dull emotional responses had become far stronger. And all of that did nothing to explain his eyes becoming darker. Still blue, but losing the almost green and gaining a touch of grey.

"Yes, I will be sending the report to Papa as soon as-"

"You'll do no such thing." Dr. FRANXX cut her off without room for argument. "This is too interesting and those old farts will want us to scrap the entire experiment." One gloved finger twitched from the walking stick and the screens changed. A video of Narcissus pulling the klaxosaur's cannon away from the plantation just before it could fire its main weapon, killing them all. Zig's voice rang clear from the speakers in a language she didn't know. Dr. FRANXX began to laugh.

"Yes, I do believe I will be staying to observe the results directly for some time. Make room for Zero Two in Mistilteinn. Given her history with Code 016, those two may be the key to everything." His voice went distant. "Finally, after all these years."

"Naomi is supposed to return to Garden, and Zig has knowingly disobeyed orders. Papa personally allowed him to continue as part of the parasite squad, despite his lack of ability. They may want to reconsider their decision." Dr. FRANXX turned to face her directly, raising an eyebrow at her. "Papa will want a reason if they're to stay." Nana was careful with her use of the plural in reference to who should stay.

"Fine, I'll tell them something to keep them out of my hair." He rolled his one flesh eye. "I doubt they will care so long as I say it. All that matters is that Code 016 is to continue piloting. If it means we haven't wasted resources on Code 703, all the better."

It was an effort to keep the relief off of Nana's face. Zig and Naomi would not be sent back to Garden. Keeping the plantation's squad at full strength was a small victory, but more importantly, she was happy to have two more of her charges back under her care. Of course, there was still the matter of Zig. She would have to decide how to handle him.

-X-​

Author's Note- Yeah, so this took a little longer than a week. No excuses. No promises on how long the next chapter will take either.