jaune arc: a pilot's legend

chapter 25: a painful decision

after squad 67's sacrifice the entirety of squad 13 with the exceptions of jaune and sakura had shut down this was to the point that none of them could connect what had to happen was hiro and jaune had to train franxx so jaune could connect with sakura to carry the rest of them back one by one and this took quite a bit of time

when we finally arrived at the hanger nana and hachi were waiting for us although even after everyone disembarked not a single word was said from either side

once we did get back to the house, all that was felt was despair, no one ate, slept, or even spoke, it was impossible jaune and sakura could have done all of these things but felt it was inconsiderate to the rest

then again it was only through sheer dumb luck that squad 13 had even survived they could have been the ones sacrificed had doctor franxx not stepped in if not for him and the importance of sakura and jaune who were the strongest pistil and stamen respectively that not even the nines could compete they would have been the ones

the next morning jaune and hiro dressed in complete silence before making their way to the dining room like it was any other morning even though it was far from it as they enter they spot only two other members of the squad mitsuru and ikuno respectively jaune takes his spot leaning against the door frame where as hiro sits on the couch

however the most obvious change was kokoro the usual lighthearted and cheery girl was almost dead by appearance she appeared to not have anything left to live for

as everyone takes seats with the exception of sakura who leans on the wall next to the window the atmosphere hadn't changed whatsoever still dark and dreary jaune felt rather bad for them he knew how they felt he felt the same way when the nines killed his partner haruna

"sitting in silence is not doing us any good" i said starting the conversation that would come eventually

"what is there to even talk about we all had already agreed papa didn't care for us this is just the nail in the coffin" ikuno said in a matter of fact tone

"no, the adults would nev......." zorome started

"shut up zorome they ordered my partner killed simply because they could" i said

"i agree with jaune, with everything that happened to him and what we have seen from the other two squads that were sacrificed for nothing but save resources means our lives mean less to them the materials and fuel" ichigo said she hated to say it but it was fact

"if we meant anything to them then why are we forced to be addressed by codes, jaune: code 013, hiro: code 015, me: code 002" sakura said

"fine we mean nothing what do we do about it they created us they feed us care for us we know nothing except for piloting" zorome said

"false" i said

"what do you mean" ichigo said

"that survival mission we did the mine they were planned by me and doctor franxx" i said

"WHAT" the entire squad said

"nothing you have seen have been fabricated our goal was to force you to open your eyes to what APE is as a government you have my word as an arc on that" i said

"why" ikuno asked

"our intention was to turn you against APE to take control of the plantation and use the adults as hostages, that being said" i said

"that being said" mitsuru pressured

"we did not anticipate the garden or the recent mission we were apart of" i said

"so that was an unexpected casualty" ikuno asked my face turned dark

"if you think me and the doctor ordered those kids to sacrifice yourself than all the time i spent here was for nothing" i said

"he has a point jaune may be cold and ruthless to his enemies but evil he is not" ichigo said

"are their any other squads who know the truth" ikuno asked

"yes plantation 42 they were to be our spies from the inside as the doctor can't give away too much without blowing his own cover" i said

"who else knew" mitsuru asked

"here you mean" i asked he nodded

"i did" sakura said

"so what now" miku asked

"that is up to you i'm gonna be honest after what you have seen i do not expect you to go through with this because we will have to fight other squads if we rebel" i said

"no i say we leave" ichigo said

"what" i said

"we leave take our franxx leave the plantation behind if we choose to start a rebellion we will use nothing of APEs but the franxx" ichigo said

"that is an option we'll likely live longer if we do, but we will  be hunted down" i said

"alright how about this then me and ichigo are leaving weather you wish to join us or not is not our problem" i said

"jaune" she scolded

"what it's fair" i said

"i agree it's fair darling what do you say" sakura said

"we're in" hiro said sakura smiled and the two joined to stand beside ichigo and me and one by one the rest followed suit with zorome only giving a frustrated huff but we knew he wouldn't abandon his partner if she chose to come he'd be there to follow

"alright we can get to planning hyacinth has an autopilot feature so i can remote control it from delphinium so that is a walking cargo container in and of itself we will stuff it full of resources we will need and the rest we can put into our unit's storage containers" i said

"let's also eat sparingly put back as much as possible from every meal" futoshi said

"we can take the rations the plantation keeps as well that should do for food for the time being that will secure us the water we need" kokoro finished for her partner

"we can't carry everything and fight at the same time what if we are attacked" miku asked and with that an evil smile graced my lips

"that i have already planned i will introduce you after we have escaped" i said they nodded deciding to trust you

"alright everyone jaune you have the highest clearance here can you get us a map" she asked

"oh easily i can literally walk in and take it with hachi watching me since i can say it's for strategy training have anywhere in mind" i said

"that town we visited on vacation" she said

"i'll get it" i said

"good, now everyone needs to be very careful if we are caught then even with jaune's authority the adults will come down on us hard and fast" ichigo said everyone nodded after that we all had breakfast before the room slowly cleared out leaving only me and ichigo

she grabbed me by my collar and kissed me as my hands move around her waist hers moving around my neck