Darling in the Franx: Alternate Core

Chapter 2: Trying to re/connect.

This chapter will feature our favorite squad reaction to the events of last chapter, alongside a little backstory between Naomi and Raven. Afterwards, it will be a little slice of life as Naomi stays behind in the bunker alongside Raven while Sally and Orion continue the mission.

Anyways, a little side note, (this means an author note), *this mean an action* in case you got confused on last chapter.

Now, onwards with chapter 2!

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Milstinteinn, inside plantation 'Cerasus', 10:00 am...

The morning after the attack, the ceremony was restarted as if nothing happened earlier, but this time the adults were absent. Afterwards, all of the graduated Parasites reunited at their new home from that point afterwards, the boardhouse inside the dome. But through all the day, two things stayed on their heads: Hiro's newfound ability to pilot Strelizia and, unsurprisingly, the unknown mechas that appeared on the attack. And none was busier thinking about it than Hiro himself. Hiro found hard to believe that he was able to pilot with the 'Stamen Killer' and would believe harder on it if it wasn't for the fact that he managed to woke up inside the cockpit alongside Zero Two to witness two mechs of unknown proceedings face off against two klaxosaurs. While Zero Two complained about the two unknown warriors stealing her prey, Hiro found himself watching very closely as the white gunner pummeled his klaxosaur to smithereens like it was nothing! And when it was shown that the creature remained alive, the mech finished the job in a gruesome but effective way. He took some time processing this as the same mech went towards debris and pulled out Naomi from them. At that moment, Hiro felt some relief as he saw that action as proof that the mechs were on their side, even if they were unknown at the time. That relief turned into horror when the same mech put Naomi inside a container and placed it on his back, which then freezed in front of his eyes. Her friend was being taken away!

In retrospect, he should have spoken with the unknown pilot to at least convince them to return Naomi, it could have been that they saw her injured and sealed her inside to keep her alive. However, for some reason he felt 'wild', the first after a long time, and acted impulsively by taking the controls and piloting Strelizia towards the mech. In the few glimpses he could give to his improptu partner, he saw that her reaction was first one of surprise followed by an understanding grin. The attack missed unfortunately as the pilot of the mech managed to dodge them. After a few words which he could have used to defuse the situation, they attacked again and this time the mech counterattacked with its weaponry after dodging again. The two of them, in surprising coordination, evaded them and went for a charge again when the white knight unleashed a highly powered wave from its blade, cutting his klaxosaur in half cleanly and rushing towards Strelizia. Seeing how deep it could cut, Hiro just barely managed to sway the robot out of the way so that the wave only cut the left hand. And yes, it hurt both of them, as Hiro suddenly clenched to his hand after the cut was made and while she saw Zero Two be more calm about it, the twitch on her left arm indicated that she also felt it too. The pain was enough to stop Strelizia which then gave the two unknown mech the chance to fly away.

After that, both were ordered to return into the plantation after recovering Strelizia's hand alongside an empty canister ejected from the gunner mech. Once inside, both were sent to the infirmary for a check-up. Hiro was given painkillers after confirming his hand was still functional to deal with the shadow pain given by the cut. After that, he was sent back to the boardhouse where he had to deal with questions from his friends alongside survivor's guilt. After all, Naomi was gonna be sent back to the orphanage because of him, and now she was at the hands of an unknown player that could very well hurt her in retalliation. At least in the orphanage, he knew she was gonna be safe. Now her fate was unsure and only he was to blame. Even as his friends assured him that he shouldn't blame himself for failing to rescue her, he couldn't get the feeling that his actions have done something that would change everything soon.