Darling in the FranXX: The Lost Prodigy

Chapter 23: Escape

Alpha's POV

Bird's Nest – 1 day later

"It's decided," Beta states nonchalantly as he and the rest of the Nines exit the lab, "We're the pinnacle of perfection."

"One shot of maintenance makes us lively, doesn't it?" Gamma adds. "But since her last visit at the Garden, Iota hasn't any," Delta remarks as they walk down the corridor to their private lounge. "It's a little embarrassing really, considering it's required," Epsilon says almost sounding worried.

"Guess that just means she really isn't one of us, Epsilon," Beta replies. "That's right. We should always be as one," Gamma responds as he sits on the couch, leans back and puts his feet on the table, "Isn't that right, Zeta, Eta, Theta?"

The triplets just stand there silent and motionless as they look at Gamma. After a few moments, Gamma speaks up again, "See? They agree." "That's easy for you to say if they don't talk," Beta interjects sarcastically.

Suddenly, the table in the center of the room starts to emit a ringing noise, which means that they are being contacted. The Nines immediately get into order around the table. Shortly after, Alpha presses a button to start the transmission. A hologram of Papa appears.

"I have received your scouting report on the Gran Crevasse and the new cores," Papa states, "Thank you, all your hard work is going towards one goal. I expect your good work to continue." And with that, the transmission ends as quickly as it began.

Everyone relaxes again as Delta says proudly, "Papa praised us again!" "Well, we retrieved cores without damaging them," Beta states matter of factly, "And Hringhorni requires the highest quality of cores."

"And only we are capable of doing this sort of thing," Gamma adds as he takes a seat on the couch again. "That's because we're not limited in the same way as humans," Alpha explains, "Therefore, this task was not formidable."

"Hey, hey, Alpha," Beta speaks up, "There's no need to point that out." "That's right," Gamma adds, "There's no comparison. After all, we're better than them in every way."

"Still," Alpha asks, "Aren't you a little curious about them?" "What do you mean?" Beta inquires. "Clearly Squad 13's parasites are different from other parasites we've seen so far," Alpha elaborates. "They certainly are strange ones..." Delta says, deep in thought.

"Their behavior is so odd," Alpha begins, "They can have pointless arguments over the most trivial things." "True..." Gamma ponders. "Also," Alpha continues, "I wonder about this 'kiss' thing I heard from one of their conversations."

"Kiss?" Beta repeats confusedly. "What's that?" Gamma adds. "The act of bringing two mouths together," Alpha explains. "What? That sounds gross!" Delta shouts, clearly disgusted. "Wouldn't that spread bacteria?" Beta wonders aloud. "Then why do people do it?" Epsilon inquires.

"It's strange, isn't it?" Alpha responds, "It's said that they do it to stay with one another. They can't live without it, lest they are an unstable and incomplete creature."

The rest of the Nines are silent for a moment, letting the words sink in until Alpha continues, "However, Iota and Code 023 were more deeply linked in the Franxx. We all saw it. Strelizia's red color is the color of magma fuel itself, yet I can't wrap my head around these wings..."

Seeing no response from his team to that, Alpha raises the question once again, "Isn't everyone interested?" "Well..." Beta murmurs. "Yeah," Gamma follows.

"I keep asking myself," Alpha continues, "Why does Iota live with these parasites, despite having the same abilities as we do? So, there is something I want to try..." "And what's that?" Delta questions.