Chapter 17: Loss

"This isn't the hospital, is it?" asked Hatake sarcastically as he woke up to find
himself in a bed inside a white camp tent.

"You were so confident that it would be the Federation hospital? As if you

expected all of the mess to be cleaned up before you woke up?" asked Hiro who
was sitting beside him on a chair.

"Well, partly yes... and I really didn't expect you to be beside me either." Said
Hatake with a laugh, "Well, what is going on today?"

"Well, after you fainted, the Federation reinforcements arrived to help secure the
rest of the city and do some much needed repairs. There's also the fact that many
were surprised and happy to see that Prismertine sent a fleet to help us even
though that also means, in Orion's words: 'A lot of diplomatic headaches.' After
that, we spent the last two days surveying the damage of the battle and in the end,
we got bad news about it." Hatake's face changed into a serious one before Hiro
continued: "Appartently, most of the city was fortunately saved but many of the
infraestructural systems that are needed to support the lives of the inhabitants
have been inutilized or destroyed by the attack. As such, Ichigo and Orion had
decided to send everyone as refugees towards Aztlan, where everyone will stay
until the city is repaired after the war is over..." After that, he sighed and Hatake
couldn't blame him for that: being told that you will need to abandon your home
for the sake of your security was something that nobody liked, specially when
this was the home in which many beautiful memories have been made. Then he
continued: "On the bright side, Ichigo and Orion had shown everyone how the
capital was and most of them are interested on living for a little while in there."
He then got up and started to walk towards the exit: "I'm just going to let
everyone know that you are awake."

"Well, thanks for telling me the news. Also, it is curious that I don't see Zero
Two around you now." Said Hatake.

"Well... right now I'm trying to put some distance from her…" said Hiro with a
sigh.

"Why?" asked Hatake shocked, "Did you piss her off so bad that she wants to kill
you or something?" he asked nervously laughing, not wanitng to get caught in her
crossfire.
"Kokoro was talking about how she had her kids, and something about 'maternity'
and," said Hiro scratching his head, "well, basically, Zero Two wants one too
now so that she can experience that…"

"She wants what?" asked Hatake laughing before saying: "Oh boy! I can already
imagine her being bigger, having many sugar cravings and becoming such an
emotional mess!"

"Yeah…" replied Hiro with a sigh, even though in his mind, a picture of him and
a pregnant Zero Two sitting together under the sakura tree they planted years ago
while he rubbed her belly started to form, which cause him to smile: "It's nice to
see you laughing again after all of this mess, you know. Anyways, I'll let
everyone know-" he was interrupted as something fell down on the entrance of
the tent.

It was Oniria, whom had let some books fell down from her hands, "Hatake!" she
said with a cry as she hugged him, "I was really worried, brother…"

"With the number of times I have fainted," said Hatake, "isn't it something
obvious now? Also, brother?" he asked.

"Well, considering you had finally accepted the oath of the crown and oficially
became our King, that means you're my brother-in-law now!" she said with a
smile before she changed into a worried face: "Still, what if you don't wake up
next time? I don't want to lose any more of my family!"

"That probably won't happen soon," said Hatake, "at least not until you sister is
around." He said as he sensed a tremendous aura of jealousy in the room, as
Seraphime's tail came in between their hug and separated both of them.

"That enough, little sister..." said Seraphime desperately trying to control her
leaking anger and jealousy, "maybe we should just let him rest."

"Yeah moreover-" said Hatake as he noticed his watch was not on his wrist.

"Here," said Oniria as she passed him a small box which had his watch and every
little broken part of it.

"Thank you." Said Hatake looking at the box with a smile.

"You should thank sister!" replied Oniria, "She made the Klaxosaurs work all
night to find every little part of the watc-"
"Oniria stop already!" said Seraphime as her face turned red, "A-Anyways, let
him get some rest."

"I'm fine-" said Hatake as he tried to get up but got stuck when the joint point of
his right arm released a 'pop' sound.

"Don't even try to move," said Nana as she entered, "you are too weak to even
stand up at the moment."

"What are you guys doing here? What about the children!?" asked Hiro shocked
to see her.

"We were assigned to Mistilteinn after the Federation saw that the number of
injured personnel had gone up significantly." She replied, "We are here as a
medical unit. And don't worry Hiro, Elise went back along some friends of hers
to take care of them before we came here."

"I see." Said Hatake as he crashed back on the bed with a smile, "At least this one
battle is over, huh?" he asked.

"Yes, at least this battle is over." said Nana, "But even with the sacrifices made in
this one, the war is far from over…"

"How many casualties were there?" asked Hatake looking at the ceiling as his
face turned into a serious one.

"Around two hundred lost souls. Most of them belonging to the vanguard
defenders while the rest comes from the 'Parabellum' personnel." Replied Nana
looking at the reports.

"These things are never over without a sacrifice, are they?" asked Hiro looking at
the ground.

"That is why it is called a war." Said Orion as he entered, "Sacrifices are needed
to overcome it, something the everyone hates, and that is why war is hated as a
result. It only brings the worst of everything in one single concept that,
unfortunately, is like a siren to those who are unaware of its true nature, and
realize it a little too late."

"Something that commanders like him or many others I have seen around here
are responsible of helping with to make sure most of the people returns from it
alive." said Hachi as he entered, carrying a clipboard filled with reports, "the
motherships have started to refuel, it would be better if we pack up all of what
belongs to our squad and take Hatake to the medical mothership."

"What do you mean 'take Hatake'?" asked Hatake, "I can go there by myself-" he
said as he tried to got up but screamed as a sound of bone cracking was heard.

"You are NOT going getting up from that bed until I tell you to." Commanded
Seraphime, her eyes glowing causing a Hatake's new white horns to also glow,
which eventually made him crash back into the bed.

"It's kind of unusual to see Hatake ACTUALLY obeying Hime-sama's orders."

Said Orion getting suspicious.

"I wouldn't have if it wasn't for the contract…" he whispered.

"The what now?" asked Orion, grinning sensing that he just found something
useful for blackmailing the new King.

"N-Nothing!" said Hatake, "Just take me out of the bed please! I want to at least
see how is everyone doing out there."

Orion decided to take pity on the king and said to Sera: "Hime-sama, think that
we can humor him with his grace request? The bed has hovering abilities so it
wouldn't be that difficult to move him around the compound."

Sera at first refused but once she saw Hatake make a puppy-eyed face? "God
dammit! Why did you have to be cute!?" She thought while blushing red (while
Orion took a quick photo of this, a mischieveous grin in his face) and eventually
saying: "Fine, but I will be the one handling it just to make sure this idiot doesn't
do anything stupid."

Orion answered: "Sounds fair." Then proceeded to grab a remote controller to

which he pressed a button that made Hatake's bed hover and to also lean it
upwards so he could have a good seeing angle. He then said: "All done your
highness, you can now steer the bed from the back. Also Hiro, you better get
moving, Zero Two is around here and can easily track you because of the amount
of pheromones you release..."

Hiro said shocked: "What!? But I made sure to mix well with the rest of the
hybrids to cover mine!"
Hatake then told him: "Hiro, not to sound rude but considering how long you two
have been together, I think she can easily identify yours from everyone else. I
mean, you two know each others "scent" if I remember correctly." At this part he
wiggled his eyebrows at him, which caused the blue-eyed ex-parasite to blush
and to get out of the tent. Few seconds later after that, they saw a shadow of pink
hair running towards his direction and also heard: "Darling! Please wait for me! I
want to have a kid with you!"

This in turn created laughter around the group for a while until everyone soon
followed their example and proceeded out...

They soon saw that the airspace above them was filled of many motherships and
cruisers along with starfighters, apparently keeping eye on any unwanted 'guest'.
Looking around, Hatake soon saw they were near the main entrance of the city,
located to the East of the 'Parabellum' ship. The allies had made a makeshift
refugee camp using a lot of fabrics as tents and with many personnel wearing a
red cross badge going back and forth, attending patients and wounded people,
some of them being helped by some of the civies while the rest of them were
either talking with some people of the Federation, making sure to keep eyes on
the children or helping pack things up for the departure toward the capital. When
the royal group passed along, some of them made a salute or reverence towards
either the king or the president before continuing with their duties. Hatake felt
relief seeing everyone get along, he was worried that some of the inhabitants of
Milstinteinn would have trouble interacting with the new "foreigners" but it
seems he was wrong. However, the scene soon took a grim turn once they
reached an area which was separated from the tents and with a good reason: in
that area there were bodybags, filled with the corpses of the fallen and waiting to
be transferred. There were a few people near there, apparently comrades of the
fallen, some of them looked over at the group, specifically at Orion, whom gave
an acknowledging nod at them of understanding.

Hatake soon thought: "How many would have fallen if I had stayed here? Was a
mistake to abandon my post? Whatever, I cannot change the outcome anymore..."
He looks at his broken watch then at his white skin before continuing his train of
thought: "I'm alive and more powerful than I ever hoped to be. And I will use it
to make sure most of our people returns from this war... *looks at Sera and at his
friends* including me. No more dying for them, I will LIVE for them!! That will
be my new purpose from now on!"

After spending a few minutes paying their respects, the group continued their
walk towards the camp tents of the pilots, which was where their friends were at
right now. Once they arrived there, Orion saw something interesting: "Well,
looks like our group of APE-klaxosaur war veterans is getting acquainted with
the ACES."

Hatake followed Orion's line of sight to see that his friends were talking with
other pilots belonging to other squads... and when he saw a few of them he
recognized, his jaw dropped: "Orion! Dude! You never told me many of those
ACES were actually those old ACES!!"

Orion put on a smug and said: "Well, I was planning to reveal them to APE in the
case we had to fight them to basically tell them they were screwed up now."

Oniria soon asked: "Pardon me for asking but what is the big deal with those
ACES of old you're talking about Hatake?"

Hatake soon answered to his sister-in-law: "Those ACES are literally the kind of
people that can change the course of wars like Jian Squad... they're basically
them but from the Old World." The gasps of surprise coming from Oniria and her
sister were more than enough...

Meanwhile, with Jian Squad a few moments before Hatake's group arrived...

Ichigo felt that for the first time in her life she was going to pass out of boredom.
Her squad had just returned from a perimeter patrol, and after reporting towards
the officer in charge, they were sent to their tents; even though there was still a
lot to do around the city to help, their officer told them that right now they
weren't needed for anything urgent so the group had literally nothing to do for
now. Well that wasn't the case for most of them; Mitsuru, Futoshi, Kokoro and
Kofuku were reading a booklet about interesting events and places in the
Federation thinking of ideas to spend time with their children once they returned.
Ichigo would have joined them but she was right now stuck with a bit of
paperwork that had built up while she was absent from Milstinteinn. And Goro
was out cold taking a nap, still feeling a little exhausted from their "Rampage"
run from two days prior (although she was suspecting that he did it on purpose
when he saw the mountain of papers to sign.) Zorome and Miku were outside
talking their experiences in the Federation to some of the people of Milstinteinn.
Ikuno and Titus were doing an inventory check-up along Naomi to see how many
materials and loot their group would get as part of their paycheck. Hiro and Zero
Two would have helped her with the paper work but the latter became a little
horny when Kokoro told her about her pregnancy and maternity that Hiro had to
run off hoping that it would calm her down. So she was right now stuck with
something that she and Orion could hate in common...
Fortunately, she finally heard the aforementioned couple returning towards their
tent; apparently, Zero Two finally caught her darling. Soon both entered the
tent... with Hiro being dragged by Zero Two: "Zero Two!! I already told you that
right now it's not the perfect time!"

Zero Two: "But darling!! If we hurry we can give the other children new friends
to play with!"

As much as she would have liked to see Hiro get into more embarrasing trouble,
Ichigo decided that right now she will their hands for her work. So she went
towards Zero Two carrying a big pile of papers and said to her: "You will have to
wait then, because right now I need to sort this things out and considering you
two have a lot of energy to spare..." Then, before Zero Two could react, she
dropped the pile on her hands and guided her towards a desk: "I need you to have
them ready before lunch time or otherwise no lunch for you!"

Zero Two just grumbled and said: "I miss the days where I could intimidate you
with just staring..."

Ichigo smirked and said: "Well, sorry to disappoint you now but I'm the one in
charge here and many things changed while you were absent..." She then looked
towards Hiro and added: "And to prove you I'm not that heartless, Hiro will help
you with your task."

Hiro then said: "Wait, what?" But before he knew it, Zero Two pulled him
towards her and then both sat down in the desk. Then she said: "Come on
darling! The earlier we finish, the earlier we can make a child!" This caused Hiro
to blush again.

Ichigo was about to remark that Zero Two couldn't have a child right when they
were in the middle of a war when a new voice was heard from the entrance of
their tent...

Federation soldier: "Excuse me, captain Ichigo? There is someone outside who
would like to talk with you ma'am."

Ichigo was curious so she soon went through the entrance and found out that it
was...

Miranda: "Well, there you are blueberry. Still tired after the run you made
yesterday?"
There she was her main rival, the "Ribbon of Grace". She was wearing the
standard starfighter pilot uniform: a one-piece Nomex flight suit that had sand
color, along with thick boots of the same color, and her flight helmet, which was
colored white with the figure of a blue ribbon drawn across the upper part of it, in
her right hand. She was also smirking a little, which made Ichigo's blood boil.
However, considering that she was an important ally and that it would be better
to avoid unnecesary conflicts, she kept his cool and said: "Captain Miranda, glad
to see you're okay, what is it that you need?"

Miranda then responded: "Haven't they told you? I'm here to deliver you my
thoughts about the performance of your squadron. As an instructor of the
Federation forces, it's my duty to do it."

Ichigo was feeling her anger rise little by little, specially considering that from
what she heard about Miranda was that she was very harsh when judging
performances on cadets. Still, she knew that it was for a good reason, or
otherwise many pilots wouldn't be alive today. So, she prepared herself to bear
for it and said: "Fine, just get this over with."

Miranda said: "Sure... I'll start first with Jian 666 and Jian 390. Those two
seemed to be very childish and... troublemakers. You need to implement some
more control on them..."

Ichigo thought: "That one is actually not surprising. Miku and Zorome didn't
changed that much after the final battle at the Gran Crevasse."

Miranda continued: "Then there's Jian 345 and Jian 196. For their supposed
"aerial supremacy" role they are quite too accostumed to fighting on the ground
and way too close to the frontline, they need to get in the air and put distance
between them and the enemies."

Ichigo thought after that: "That one is actually assertive. If I remember correctly,
Chlorophytum upgrades were to emphasize that role. Probably something I will
need to talk with them later."

Miranda continued with the next pair: "Then there is Jian 326 and Jian 556.
They're standing WAY too close to the frontline battlefield. Genista as a heavy
arsenal unit works way better when on the back of the formations were she can
shoot all the heavy artillery without worrying too much of direct confrontation.
Sure, she is quite useful at the front but only when the timing is right and the
situation is optimal for it."
Ichigo thought: "This might be a little problem, Kokoro and Mitsuru are
accostumed to give close heavy fire support since in most of our battles it was
always close-quarters. They are gonna need to train their accuracy and
coordination capabilities."

Miranda continued on: "Now we cover Jian 53 and Jian 214. Both of them are
actually doing what they're supposed too but they're getting too exposed to
enemy attacks. Freiturnier was designed as a combat medic, not as a "pocket
medic" so they need to rely more on themselves and the weapon systems of their
Franxx and perform less healing unless necessary on their squad mates to keep
themselves aware of their position in battle."

Ichigo thought about this: "This one will be the most complicated. Futoshi and
Kofuku are trying their best to support us and we usually end up fighting in the
frontline, where literally everything is shooting at us. Maybe some training in
spacing and self-defence will help."

Miranda then said: "Now for the special cases of Jian 2 and Jian 16. Both of them
are surprisingly good except on one detail: both of them fight way too solo."

Ichigo was confused by this: "What do you mean by that?"

Miranda explained: "I'm not saying it as a bad thing but remember that Strelitzia's
role is to be the tank of the group. She receives hits and returns them with
interests while the rest of the squad terminate the attacker. As far as I saw, the
only time they did it like that was when that VIRM squadron of Franxx attacked
your squadron. They have been acting more as hunters rather than team players
so they need to let go of some prey and stick more with the flock. Got that?"

Ichigo couldn't find any fault in her reasoning: "Damn, I never thought of it in
that way. Zero Two is not going to like hearing this..."

Miranda then said: "And at last to finish my report, I now get to judge you and
Jian 56. Only two words: not bad. However, you and captain Goro are putting
yourselves a lot in harm's way. Sure, it makes sense that it should be the squad
leader the one who protects their squadmates or to take the risky positions for
their sake. However, you're also the responsible one to guide them into hell and
back by example and dying is not one of them. A dead leader is a bad leader so
make sure to trust your companions and have faith that they will know how to
stay out of unnecessary danger, that way you will soon see an upgrade in your
performance."
Ichigo then said: "Sure that sounds about right... and that's it? I expected you to
be harsher..."

Miranda responded: "And I expected you to be a spoiled brat, but it seems both
of us got wrong about that, didn't we?"

Ichigo smirked and said: "Yeah. That's true."

Miranda then looked to the side and saw that her squad was being called up:
"Well, that's it for now. Remember to tell your friends about what I told you,
alright? I'm looking forward to participate with your squad in future operations."

Ichigo said: "Sure, take care out there." With that, Miranda ran away towards her
group while Ichigo sighed: "It seems that there is still a lot for us to learn. We
need to do it fast or this will be the last war we will fight in many ways..."

???: "Did the 'Ribbon of Grace' just complimented you? That is something you
don't see everyday!"

Ichigo turned around and hissed without knowing, only to realize what she did
and blush before taking a look at whoever talked to her. It was a young human
man with bronze-colored hair tied up in a ponytail, he had silver-colored eyes,
yellow skin and his body was of a similar complex like Futoshi's. He was
accompanied by a human girl with white hair, white skin, red round eyes and
eating a lollipop in her mouth. Both were wearing the standard Stamen/Pistil
Federation uniform, both being of color silver with gold highlights and an
armband on their right arms. The armband had the picture of a cilindrical
container on a sky blue background with a platinum "C" inscribed behind it.

The guy spoke: "Sorry, it is a bad habit of mine. My name is Akio Nakamura.
Designated Code 572 by APE. And the girl at my side is my friend and pistil
Yoshiko Yamamoto. Designated Code 532 by APE too. Pleasure to meet you for
the first time Captain Ichigo."

He then stretched his hand towards her to which Ichigo complied with a
handshake: "Honoured to meet you too Captain Akio and Captain Yoshiko..."

Yoshiko said suddenly: "Colonel."

Ichigo was confused: "What?"

Yoshiko continued without showing any emotion: "Our rank is colonel since
we're two of the CAPSULES. We are in charge of the Districts, both politically
and military."

Ichigo said: "Oh... sorry about that then."

Akio said: "Don't worry about that Captain Ichigo! Yoshiko is usually like this
when working so don't feel bad about it! You can call us by our first names if you
want to! Any friend of Orion and king Hatake is a friend of ours!"

Ichigo smiled and said: "Glad to hear it. You can call me Ichigo then. What can I
help you with?"

Yoshiko said: "Captain Miranda told us that you were thinking about remodelling
the Mistilteinn District into japanese architecture once the war was over."

Ichigo answered: "Well, she suggested it, but I don't know anything about what
that word means and less about it's architecture."

Yoshiko then said: "I'm here to teach you about it. I have a side-job as a historian
in my District and I know most of the topic. Once the war is over, you will have
at least the general concept of it."

Ichigo said: "Oh, thank you! *looks back towards the tent where she sees that
Zero Two is complaining a little of the amount of papers along Hiro* You know,
right now we have a little of time. Think you can give me the starting steps
please?"

She saw Yoshiko keep the same expression but seeing how her eyes shined a
little at that, she supposed that she liked teaching about history: "Of course. Sit
with me please..."

Meanwhile...

Goro had just woke up from his nap when he saw that Zero Two and Hiro were
dealing with Ichigo's paperwork...

Goro thought: "Huh, would you look at that..."

He then looked around and saw that his wife wasn't there so he stood up and soon
said towards Mitsuru: "Hey, do you know where Ichigo is?"
Mitsuru responded: "She went outside because she had a visitor. She probably is
still out there since she hasn't returned."

Goro said: "Thanks." He went outside and started searching around while
thinking: "She couldn't have gone too far, did she?"

After a few minutes of searching, he was starting to get worried and it was
showing in his horns: "Come on, where are you Ichigo? How is it that it is always
hard to keep track of you?" Fortunately, he soon saw her talking with two other
people in a table not far away. Ichigo managed to saw him and waved at her
husband. The other two with her soon followed. He smiled and waved back with
his eyes closed, which unfortunately made him oblivious of the change of the
expressions of the other three into a horrified look. Suddenly, Goro got spiked by
a bad feeling creeping up his head, and, as if he had a sixth instinct, he suddenly
launched himself to the side just in the moment a cart filled with crates rushed
through the spot he was a few seconds ago and crashed against a bigger crate.
Goro just stood there leaning on the ground seeing how close he was to being ran
over that he didn't see nor hear when a new female voice called for him...

???: Sir, sir! Are you alright mister?

He turned towards the source and for a minute he looked in shock toward the
person before he said: "Ichigo?"

However, the voice responded: "Huh? Sorry sir but that's not my name. Are you
sure you are alright?"

Goro blinked a few more times, even took of his glasses to polish them and soon
saw the face of the female: it wasn't Ichigo but for some reason, she reminded
him of her. The person that he was looking at had short sky-blue hair tied up in a
bun facing back, green colored eyes, and for some reason, her face looked similar
to Ichigo's yet it was also different, and she looked older than her. She was
wearing a totally black Pistil uniform with a few gray highlights...

The person then said while extending her hand: "Need any help? You are starting
to worry me..."

Goro soon reacted: "OH! Oh! Sorry! It's just that I was lost in thought for a
moment there. I may have confused you for someone else..." Then he took her
hand and stood up. He then was hugged by the real Ichigo who said: "Oh thank
the heavens you're alright dear! I was afraid that the cart would roll you over!"
Goro said: "Yeah, caught me by surprise too. Apparently being a hybrid gives
you a sixth sense or something."

The other woman said: "Yeah, sorry about that. It was the fault of my husband
Hans. Oh, that's right, I haven't introduced myself. My name is Novae Grimm,
Pistil of the "Razgriz 2" unit."

Ichigo responded: "Captain Ichigo, Jian 15, and my husband Captain Goro, Jian
56."

Novae said: "Ah! The same ones of the veteran Squad 13? It's my pleasure to
meet you!"

Then they heard steps coming towards them followed by a voice: "Captain
Novae, did you managed to stop the cart your idiot husband let loose?"

A man that looked on his late-twenties with black hair, ebony eyes and a serious
face was looking at Novae. He was wearing a Stamen uniform of the same color
but with a golden armband on his left arm.

Novae responded: "Negative, mayor Blaze. It proved to be too fast. Fortunately,

nobody got hurt."

Blaze sighed and said: "Unfortunately, that won't be an excuse to spare his
disciplinary punishment for this accident." He then noticed the other two pilots
and said: "I remember you, weren't you two the Jians we had to carry because
you had your first 'Rampage' run?"

Ichigo said: "Yeah, that's us. Captain Ichigo, Jian 15, and my husband Captain
Goro Jian 56."

Blaze: "Major Blaze Nagasake, Stamen of the "Razgriz 1" unit and leader of the
"Ghosts of Razgriz" franxx squadron. You did a good job out there."

Ichigo said: "Glad to hear that... although after all of what Captain Miranda told
me, we still got a lot learn..."

Goro said: "Wait, you encountered her again? Please tell me you didn't end up
ripping her throat."

Akio said: "On the contrary, Captain Goro. Miranda was impressed by your
performance! She just told them their flaws without even giving them a harsh
critique."
Blaze seemed genuinely impressed: "Really? Then you actually seem to have
great potential inside you. Not even our squadron was safe from her critiques."

Novae pouted and said: "Hmpff! More like WE weren't safe from her critiques.
She didn't even judged you, Nagase, Snow and not even my hubby Hans when
me and the other pistils entered at your squadron! She already knew about you
guys!"

Blaze sweatdropped and said: "Yeah, that's also true."

Goro however, was kind of worried now: "What did she told you about our
squad?"

Ichigo said: "Nothing too harsh, just some flaws and tips to optimize our
performance. It is something we will have to discuss as a group."

Orion: "There you are Blaze! I want you to meet someone important!"

Everyone turned around and saw Orion, Elise, Nana, Hachi, Oniria, Sera and
Hatake, the last of them on a hoverbed with Sera on control of it. Everyone, with
exception of Ichigo and Goro, saluted.

Blaze said: "Excuse me for a moment..." And went towards the group:
"Commander Orion, to whom should I feel honored?"

Orion then said bluntly: "You can cut that crap short, Blaze, I already know you
have met King Hatake here."

"Always the wiser mister president." Blaze said then looked at Hatake while
saluting at him, "Mayor Blaze Nagase, leader of the "Ghosts of Razgriz" Franxx
squadron. A pleasure to meet you your highness. Pretty big of a show you put out
there."

"Hatake Franxx. Well, thanks for that but look at its price," replied Hatake with a
sigh, "I was reckless."

"Well," said Blaze, "In the end it still got us the victory, so yeah even though it
was reckless you are still alive, isn't that something to be happy about?"

"Happy to be alive after all of those people died out there just to save me?" asked
Hatake, "I don't think that something like this means that I should be happy."
Blaze smiled and said: "Spoken like a true leader. But that also doesn't mean that
you have to always be mourning them. Many of them died just to make sure that
the smile of most people that are still alive still reaches them. It's fair to
remember them but not only by mourning."

Hatake smiled at this before they were interrupted by someone...

"General Orion!" said a male dressed in the uniform of a mothership cruiser crew
staff, "Your assignated transport is all set to go! Looking at the weather, it would
be nice if we your convoy departs without any further delay."

"I see," said Orion, "alright Blaze, we will be taking our leave then, see you back
at the HQ!"

"Sure thing, general! And your majesty, I believe that you will make a great ruler
along the Queen." he said as everyone walked away.

Seraphine soon asked to her husband: "That one was the same Blaze of the
Coalition War, wasn't him? The one you spoke a lot about?"

Hatake responded: "Yes he was... I still can't believe that he and his squadron is
still alive here... and we're talking about decades of years!"

Orion soon was interested: "Do you happen to have already known about him?"

Hatake said: "Not personally, but my father did when the Klaxosaur Crisis
started. They were the first group of pilots to successfully pass the tests AND
ride for the first time a Franxx. I was a kid back then and also heard a lot of them
and their actions in the Coalition War, so they were like my idols. Even my
father said that he could get an autograph from them for my birhtday!" He smiled
at the memory before frowning: "Unfortunately, a klaxosaur pack attack their
facility and only the data obtained from their test rides survived... well that's what
my father said." He thought about this last part: "How did they survived then?
Also..." He took a look towards Novae and suddenly noticed something: "Why
does that girl look like an older Ichigo?"

Orion said oblivious: "Well, it seems your father was wrong again! Those guys
managed to escape thanks to their old good jets: the F-14's! They regrouped with
Miranda's group after that event and basically joined forces to survive until the
Federation was announced publicly."
Hatake said: "Oh I see... hey, ummmm... do you happen to know who is that girl
that is talking with Goro and Ichigo right now?"

Orion responded: "You mean Novae Grimm? I sure do... she was actually with
the "Razgriz" squadron back at the facility they were being trained for Franxx
piloting. Why do you ask?"

Hatake then said: "I have a hunch about a theory of mine..."

Some minutes later...

"Hurry up!! We are already 20 minutes late because of you!!" Shouted Elise
towards Jian squad whom were running behind her. The group was running late
towards their transport.

"We're sorry, but the paperwork was way bigger than we thought!" Screamed
Ichigo: "There's also the fact that a couple of lovebirds did it wrong and I had to
correct those mistakes!" She said this while looking at Zero Two and Hiro, the
former with a smug and the latter smiling sheepishly.

Elise just sighed, turned around a corner and gladly saw that their assignated
transport was just about to take off. One of the soldiers near the entrance ramp
shouted: "General! Hurry up!"

They all did just that and managed to get inside just before the ramp closed and
the transport took off towards one of the cruiser ships. Later, once the transport
got inside its hangar and opened his ramp, everyone disembarked and Elise said:
"Phew, we manage to arrive just by a few minutes..."

Orion's voice was soon heard: "Huh, it seems you actually managed to arrive. I
was just going to dial towards the captain of the next convoy to take you in his
flight."

Hatake responded sarcastically: "Wow, you have that much faith on us?"

"You should appreciate the hospitality when it's being offered, otherwise I can
easily send you back down there..." replied Orion with a tone that clearly
indicated he wasn't joking.

"Fine." Replied Hatake with a sigh.

"Alright then," said Orion after the ship finally reached its designated altitude,
"Hatake will be taken to his room to rest, we should arrive at the federation by
tomorrow morning. Since we're going in a convoy procedure, it's going to be a
longer flight than the one we did coming here." He said as everyone was catching
their breath: "Go leave your luggage in your rooms and then go do whatever you
want. This ship has a lot to give for entertainment!"

Hours passed and soon it was time for dinner...

"Things will never go as they plan, will they?" asked Oniria standing beside
Seraphime as both of them looked out the huge glass pane that gave a beautiful
view of the cold evening desert.

"What happened at Prismertine?" asked Seraphime, "Considering that unless

martial law is applied, the responsible one for the planet cannot leave, what
happened there that made you move here?"

"We were attacked," replied Oniria with a disappointed face, "I wanted to protect
them, I wanted to stay by their side and help them but…"

"So the ultimate protection law, the one establishing the one in charge is to be
sent away from home with the most powerful and faithful servants and fighters in
case of an attack, was applied on you." Said Seraphime completing her words,
"How many were there to attack that even the shields couldn't hold them?"

"It was only one." Whispered Oniria.

"WHAT?!" asked Seraphime shocked.

"Agiliton," continued Oniria, "one of the fastest Franxxs made by Hatake, that
one moves so fast that it can almost be compared to teleportation, however, the
amount fo power it required, no battery or power source could power keep up
with it. Hence, he discontinued the project and the blueprints were kept in secret
locations, until one of the Shape Shifting class VIRM unit disguised as a former
high ranked Klaxo sapien stole it."

"You're talking about the same Franxx that I had to duel against?" asked
Seraphime.

"Yes, but of course it can't stand to the same level of Meteorix thanks to its
composition of Klaxonite," Replied Oniria just as Ikuno and Titus arrived at their
place and heard about a new element.

"Klaxonite?" asked Ikuno from behind.

"One of the costliest and strongest elements found on the realms of Prismertine,"
replied Seraphime, "the element is one of its kind that can absorb the energy
around it to repair itself."

"What kind of energy? According to our laws of thermodynamics, that

technically is impossible." asked Titus.

"Yes," replied Oniria, "we Klaxosaurs release our excess body energy through
our horns in form of wavelengths. Elements like Klaxonite absorb such energy
and repair any faults in it, Hatake took advantage if this reaction and completely
rebuilt Meteorix out of Klaxonite. Hence, whenever he releases tremendous
energy out of his body during battles, the energy is automatically absorbed and
the Franxx is repaired. However, there is no limit to the about of energy
absorbed, so the pilot often gets tired after even a few minutes of battle.

Titus responded: "Interesting..." And took notes about it.

//DRAFT

"Morning…" said Zorome rubbing his eyes with a yawn as he entered the
breakfast table, everyone was on the table as usual, nothing seemed too different,
until he noticed, "WHAT IS ALL THIS?!" he screamed.

"Zorome calm down!" said Miku.

"I can't calm down!" replied Zorome as he pointed towards the breakfast table
that was all full of honey, "WHY IS THERE ONLY HONEY AND GRILLED
MEAT?!"

"Well," said Orion scratching his head, "you see, the supplies for mixed by
mistake and instead of getting the food rations we loaded all of the honey and
meat supplies instead."

"Ah, will you stop shouting?!" asked Miku who had already consumed a lot of
honey which made her energised, "You are making my head ache!"

"Is she alright?" thought Hiro looking at Zero Two who was gulping the honey
down her throat like water, "Zero Tw-" he said as Zero Two got up with a jar of
honey.

"Stop speaking and just try it, you are a half Klaxo sapien now!" she said as she
poured the honey into Zorome's mouth, "Well, what do you think?"
"Well," replied Zorome as he suddenly calmed down and started to enjoy the
taste of honey, "I guess, I can try."

"I'm bored," thought Hatake in sitting in his room as he could hear the quarrel of
the breakfast table form his room, "maybe I'll just take a walk to the table-" he
said as he felt intense pain in his heart as soon as his legs hit the floor, "Damn it!"
he said as he was about to fall on the floor before Seraphime rushed to pick him
up.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"I…" he said running short on breath, "I… Just wanted to take a walk."

"You could have just called me." She replied, "You know you can't just disobey
my orders."

"But," he replied, "I just wanted to-" he said as he tried to stand up once again
which made the pain even worse making him lie down holding his heart.

"Okay, you are allowed to walk!" shouted Seraphime as the pain slowly went
away, "Like seriously, just how much stubborn can you be?"

"You do know I don't like following orders even if it hurts me." Replied Hatake
as he got back up.

"I did it for your own good, you know?" asked Seraphime.

"I know," replied Hatake with a smile, "it's not your fault. Anyways, let's go see
what the others are doing." He said as both of them walked towards the dining
room.

"What the…" he whispered as he found everyone to be hiding behind the tables

with a scared look when he saw zero two looking for them with a fierce look,
"Zero Two-" he said as before he could complete his words, Orion pulled him
towards them under the table, "What the hell happened here?" hatake asked
whispering.

"She had too much honey." He whispered.

"So?" asked Seraphime, "Why are you all hiding?"

"At first we thought she might just keep running around with too much energy,"
replied Hiro, "but, instead, she went over a feeding spree of honey. She is
forcefully trying to feed honey to whoever she sees."

"Yeah," replied Elise, "the flight crew was just lucky enough to be able to lock
themselves inside the control room."

"So, what do we do now?" asked Ichigo scared.

"Well," replied Hatake, "we need to wait until she gets tired and eventually falls
to sleep." He said with a sigh. Time was hardly flying by as they had to wait
behind the same table for a long time.

"It's 4 PM already?!" asked Orion as Zero Two finally fell asleep from being
tired.

"Damn I can't feel my back," said Oniria rubbing her back, "that really did take a
long time."

"Yeah maybe we should have just sacrificed Miku and run away." Said Zorome
laughing as everyone looked at him silently with Miku looking at him with her
horns lit up, "T-That was a joke…" he said with a sweat-drop expression after
reading the mood.

"Anyways, let's have our lunch then," said Orion, "I'll let the crew know that the
'danger' is now gone."

"Yeah sure," replied Hiro, "but what about Zero Two?" he asked.

"Why don't you carry her to her room?" asked Hatake.

"M-Me?" asked Hiro flushed, "A-alright…" he said as he carried Zero Two on

her back, "This reminds me of those old times…" he said as he left the dinning
room and now walked through the corridors towards her room, "When she was
injured and I had to take her on my back through that snow, the memories taken
away from us, the times when we felt like caged birds." He said as soon he could
heard Zero Two murmuring.

"Dar-ling…" she whispered in her sleep as they finally reached her room and
Hiro made her lie in the bed, time stopped as he looked at her asleep with a
smile.
"Don't worry," he said as he kissed on her forehead while holding her hand, "this
will all soon end, I promise."

"WHY IS THERE HONEY AND GRILLED MEAT AGAIN-" asked Zorome as

Miku caught him by his collar.

"Will you just stop with those stupid complaints?!" asked Miku looking at him
with her horns lit up, "It's all there is! If you want to eat, well you are welcome
or, you can just GET OUT!" she said looking directly into his eyes with a furious
look which made Zorome scared as he calmed down.

"A-alright…" Zorome said with a pout, "Let's eat."

"Good," replied Miku, "let's eat then!" she said as everyone sat back on the table
and to eat, after lunch was done, everyone got up to pack up the little things and
get some sleep to compensate for the body ache they got from hiding in the same
position for hours. It was 9 pm already, they could see the translucent glass dome
of the federation glowing, lighting up the dark night view.

"That view always looks just too beautiful to me…" said Hatake looking at the
view, everyone was on on their passenger seats buckled up, ready to land.

"Of course, it is!" said Orion looking at the same direction, "It's home after all!"

"Home, huh?" asked Hatake with a sad look, "Perhaps you could call it that."

"Zero Two," asked Ichigo who was sitting with Goro right next to her and Hiro,
"are you okay now?" asked asked worried.

"Yeah," said Hiro in a scolding manner, "you better be careful with honey next
time!"

"Yes," said Zero Two as she knocked her head with her fist lightly with her
tongue out, "I really need to be."

"Y-Yeah." Said Hiro as he turned his head away as to not give in to her cuteness,
"Who taught her that look? Damn it!" he thought looking outside the window.

"Entering wash gate, please make sure you are buckled up." Said the comms as
the ship went in through one of the gates on the belt of the dome and finally, they
could see the place that they now officially called 'Home'.
"Alright then!" said Orion as he got down from the transport ship that later took
them back to their quarters, "Let's have dinner and get some sleep. We have a
ceremony to attend to tomorrow."

"Ceremony?" asked Futoshi, "Isn't it a victory feast?"

"Winning the battle doesn't mean you forget the ones who died for the victory."
Replied Orion, "We will say them a former goodbye with respect. We can go for
the party after that!"

"I see," said Futoshi, "alright then! Let's go for dinner!"

"Yeah sure." Said Hiro as everyone went inside followed by a warm cry of their
children on seeing their parents again which made it into a family dinner.

"Was that all right?" asked Hiro lying on his bed as he looked at the celling of his
room. "Is it really okay to give up on one's dream for the benefit of others?" he
whispered as he slowly went to sleep.

"This is odd…" he thought looking at the other side of the bed and which was
totally empty, it was morning already, the curtains were closed to have a look
outside, "Usually Zero Two would always wake up by my side and I would
always scold her for doing things like that, is she really angry upon me for not
talking her side when Elise was scolding her?" he said as suddenly the door
opened up with a bang and Zero Two cake in with a hyped face.

"Darling!" she said as she held his hand and pulled him with her.

"Wait," said Hiro, "where are we going?" he asked confused.

"Just come!" she said as she made him run with him to the terrace garden if the
building.

"What are you even trying to-" said Hiro as he suddenly realised what she wanted
to show her, she stood in front of him bare footed wearing a night dress with her
horns shinning from the drops of water as she laughed and jumped in happiness,
"It's raining…" he thought looking at the dome of the federation, it was
something similar to the rain in the Mistilteinn before the war, not the real rain
but something done artificially.

"I KNEW IT!" said Ichigo as she came in rushing from behind while running
short on breath, "I knew you two… would be… here."
"Yeah and catch up your breath first." Said Hiro looking at her.

"Yes," she replied, "Orion's looking for us all, he told us to assemble at the hall."

"Alright," said Hiro, "let's go Zero Two!"

"But darling," replied Zero Two with a sad look, "the rain!"

"Don't worry," said Ichigo, "it is going to rain all day till midnight today."

"Really?" asked Zero Two excited.

"Yes," said Ichigo, "but you guys better hurry, Orion's looking for everyone."

"Yeah sure," said Zero Two, "let's go, darling!" she said as all of them went
down to the hall.

"Where were you guys?" asked Orion, he was dressed in a military uniform with
no badges or any fancy stuff that made it look military, it was just a plain
uniform that was fully black.

"Damn, what is that outfit?" asked Hatake confused.

"It's a funeral 'your highness', you need to keep track of these things." Said Orion.

"Oh, that's why the black colour." Said Hatake.

"Anyways," said Orion as he pointed towards two boxes, "those are the dresses
you guys are supposed to wear for the ceremony, do it fast because we won't
have much time."

"Yes, sir!" said the squad as everyone quickly changed into the uniforms
assigned to them, the uniforms very much looked like the same as parasite
uniform that they wore before the war, but much more simplified and version of
it in a complete black colour.

"I guess that's all?" asked Orion, "Hurry up!" he said as everyone followed him
into a transport ship.

"Where are we going?" asked Hiro.

"To the east most side of the federation," said Orion, "that's where the ceremony
will be held."
"Why the east?" asked Hatake.

"Always let the dead see the ray of the sunshine first," replied Orion with a
serious look on his face, "let them know that their sacrifice didn't go in vain."

"Spoken like a true general." Said Hatake as everyone sat in silence after that
until the ship finally landed. On the ground they understood the importance of
such a ceremony, there were thousands of people who came from all over the
federation but not a single word on anyone's mouth. Everyone was speechless, in
tears and finally heart broken. There were three huge furnaces next to each other,
the rain trying hard to cut off the flames that came out of it. The dead bodies lied
in from of the furnaces with the people looking at them with tears in their eyes.
The podium was next to the furnaces which was not at much of a height.

"So, this is what is feels like," thought Mitsuru as Komodo held his hand tight
being scared of the view, "this is what a real final goodbye looks like."

"General," said Elise as she came from behind, "all the preparations are done,
"we should start already."

"Yes, let us begin." Said Orion as he walked towards the podium without looking
at any other direction, he knew deep inside that he didn't have the answer to the
questions his people had for him, the answer he would tell to the kids when they
ask where are their father, "Everyone," he said in the softest voice possible, "we
all know what we have gathered here for, all the losses, all the sacrifices made for
our very own existence. You all have the right to ask me why did it happen? Or
what did we gain? Honestly, I won't have any answers to them. All that I can tell
you all, that would at the most might just sound like I'm giving reasons was that
it was for humanity. Again, you might ask for why are we living if we are to die
in a world like this? But all I would only say that we live for others and that's
more than enough of a reason. You might find the answer reasonable but not
enough to bring back what we lost. At the most in the end, all I want to say is that
I'm sorry." he said as the rain started to pour a bit harder making him wet, Elise
wanted to move to him to hold an umbrella above him but she was rendered
immobile by the tears she saw in his eyes as he walked away from the podium.
Everyone stood there, many on their knees hugging their children, crying in pain.
It took a while but Hatake finally made his move towards the podium with a deep
breath.

"Death…" He whispered as he got onto the podium, "Something that we all fear,
but something that we all must face on the end. These tears you see," he said
looking at everyone, "there will be many people to cry for them, but will there be
any people to smile.at them again? There will be another day, when we shall
question our very existence, our very reason to live, our very thing to love and in
the end we all will come to one single answer, that we live for each other, we
protect each other and that is what gives us the courage to live on. If you can't
live for yourself, live for others. People will go away with time, what's important
is not forgetting them, they already have imagined you crying during their last
moments, what's important is surprise them with a warm goodbye." He said as
everyone remained silent.

"Start the ritual!" said Elise, it took a while but they finally went ahead and
started taking away the corpses one at a time. With each step they took towards
the furnace, the slower they walking became, the more tears fell from their eyes.
The cremation itself took about 4 hours to finish as soon after the fire
extinguished, the ashes were taken out.

"What are they going to do with that?" asked Hiro.

"Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. As it should be," replied Orion, "everything in

originated from the land, Hiro. Hence, it should end in it too, every soldier that
fights there has to write a will, a form of document that has the last wishes of the
soldier. That is the wishes that are to be fulfilled up to what is allowed, and along
with that will, we also ask something what is also called a 'stupid question here'."

"And what is that?" asked Zero Two.

"What flower does the soldier like," replied Orion looking at the flower bed just a
few meters away from the crematory, "after a soldiers death, his ashes are taken,
mixed with soil and a plant of the flower that he had written in his will is planted
with it."

"A reincarnation, huh?" asked Hatake looking at the flowerbed with a smile.

"Those are the flowers that I love," said Orion, "those are the flowers I want to
see in full bloom, but those are the flower I don't want to see increasing in
numbers."

"Damn it's 4 PM already." Said Futoshi looking at the time.

"Yeah," said Orion with a wry, "let's head back!" he said as Orion and Hatake
had a brief talk with everyone and were soon on their way back to their quarters.
"Will they be alright?" asked Hatake with a serious look, "Will those kids be
alright without their parents?" he asked as he remembered his past that made his
horns on his shoulders glow as Orion kept his hand on his shoulder.

"Don't worry," he said, "We will take care of them, you can always meet them,
you know?"

"Yeah, sure" replied Hatake as he calmed down.

"Children…" whispered Zero Two subconsciously looking outside the window

with a sad look. The transport ship was soon on the terrace garden of the HQ, it
was night till then, everyone had dinner with their children. They would often
climb on to the head of zero two and play with her horns, she would look at them
with a smile.

"I swear no one else can know it," thought Hiro looking at her, "but I can tell at
the first look itself. That smile, it's fake."

"Well," said Ichigo as she stood up on with a glass of juice in her hands, "I never
got a chance to say this but, we won it today because of our teamwork, and our
trust in each other. We are finally maybe what you actually called friends. To the
teamwork and victory guys!" she said as every one clinked their glasses and
indulged into normal talking.

"Where did he go?" Seraphime though as she wondered through the corridors
when she soon realised Hatake had already vanished from the dinner table. She
went through all the rooms and finally ended up at the terrace garden of the HQ
to find him sitting on the bench, "Hata-" she said as she looked at him looking at
his broken watch.

"That really was an important thing, wasn't it?" she asked from behind as Hatake
stood up with a jump scare.

"Oh, it's you." He said giving a fake laugh at his reaction, "It was, you know?" he
said replying to her question, "It was the only gift I had from my mother, the only
memory of her, Meteorix being one of dad's memories. Those two things are the
ones most precious to me, were precious to be precise."

"I see…" she replied looking at his broken watch.

"But you see," said Hatake, "At least we won the battle- Wait… Why?" he asked
as Seraphime looked at him, there were tears on his face that came out of
nowhere, "I-It must be an allergic reaction or something!" he said wiping them,
"I'll go see a doctor-" he said as he was about to get out of there but before he
could Seraphime caught him by his shirt's sleeve.

"CAN YOU STOP LYING TO YOURSELF?" she asked angered as she burst
into tears, "It's fine to at least cry, you know?" she asked as Hatake fell on his
knees sobbing as she hugged him.

"I try so hard each time", he said crying, "and yet… and yet…"

"It's fine," she said in the softest voice possible, "you don't have to try hard on
your own anymore, I'm here."

"Warm…" he though as he closed his eyes.

"Onee-chan-" said Oniria she came into the garden looking for both of them as
Seraphime hushed her. She was sitting on the bench with Hatake resting on her
lap.

"Did he fall asleep?" Oniria asked whispering.

"His body is probably still weak after the war," she replied looking at him asleep
with a smile, "I'll stay here for a while."

"Sure, I'll get you a blanket." Said Oniria as she took her leave.