Darling in the FranXX: The Lost Prodigy

Chapter 14: Breakdown

Shortly after, a medical transport arrives at your position. You are loaded in and stabilized on your way back to the Plantation. Ryoken and Misaki refuse to leave your side until forced so the medical team can treat you undisturbed.

The ride back is accompanied with a deafening silence. Some were looking at Zero Two in horror, others worried about your condition.

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Plantation 13 – Command Center

"It looks like he's at the end of his rope," Nana states as she scrolls through the medical report, "His yellow blood cell count has gone far beyond what the human body can handle. It's so high that his saurification could begin any moment now."

"His mind is clearly hazy, too," Hachi adds, not averting his gaze from the monitors in front of him, "Did he connect to 002's mind too deeply via Strelizia and hallucinate? Either way, he's in a perilous condition."

Nana sighs and says, "I thought (Y/N) might be able to handle it, but it's time to call this off..."

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A few hours later

Every one of Squad 13 gets a message on their communicator that you've been transferred to a room in the infirmary and that they are able to visit you now.

As Squad 13 makes their way through the corridors to the infirmary, they see Zero Two ahead of them, walking in the same direction, but slowly and swaying from side to side.

"Hold on!" Ryoken shouts after her as he quickens his pace along with Misaki and Ichigo. Zero Two didn't seem to hear him though.

"Hey! Where do you think you're going?" he says sternly as he grabs her shoulder and turns her around to face him. "Don't stop me. I need to see my Darling," she states.

"You can't be serious!" Misaki interjects as she walks up to them, "Do you realize who put (Y/N) in that hospital bed? You're not getting anywhere near (Y/N) ever again."

"H-Hey, calm down guys," Goro says. "She must be worried about him, too," Hiro adds. "Yeah, why are you guys getting so worked up?" Miku asks nervously.

"All this time, you've deceived and exploited (Y/N)," Ichigo steps in as Zero Two is biting her nails, "And you just tried to make him lose his humanity."

"Lose his humanity?" Futoshi asks confused. "We heard all about it," Misaki begins as she turns to Zero Two again, "You suck up your partner's life and discard them once you're done. And you've killed hundreds of people that way."

"Who told you that?" Goro asks. "We overheard Nana and Hachi, too," Ryoken adds, "They said that if this keeps up, (Y/N) can no longer be called human."

"Is that true, Zero Two?" Ikuno asks from the back. "Of course not, right?" Kokoro says in her cheerful tone, trying to lighten the mood a bit. "It has to be a misunderstanding," Hiro remarks, "They have managed just fine so far."

Zero Two rips off the nail she was biting on and hisses towards Ryoken, Misaki, and Ichigo, "Shut up. What I do with my Darling is none of your damn business."

"So, you admit it?" Ryoken states coldly. "Happy now? Just let me see my Darling," Zero Two says as she turns around to continue towards the infirmary but stops when she sees that Ichigo and Misaki are blocking her way.

"At first, I had my misgivings about having you as part of our team," Ichigo speaks up, "But you started to fit in, and I thought we had finally become teammates." Zero Two lowers her head and says coldly, "Teammates? I couldn't care less about that. Outta my way already."