Bug in the FRANXX [Darling in the FRANXX SI]

[GiftofLove]

Plus reintroduction to Zero Two. The Klaxosaur Princess can speak to Dr. Franxx, and I doubt she went out of her way to learn a human's language, so possible psychic shenanigans are on the table.

Then there's Zero Two's bizarre and aggressive behavior.

What's to say that proximity to her hasn't awakened the dormant Klaxosaur blood in Hiro, and is driving these changes?

Torture him for info? I doubt it. Medical tests that probably qualify as torture in their own right? Highly likely.

 

[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.

 

[Son'x]

Welcome back

 

[Ney☆Ru]

This story is back and silksong is still not out yet....
Ahmm, welcome back.

 

[Kirablack]

Haven't seen activity here in what felt like years. Welcome back.