Darling in the Franxx: Cold Blood

Chapter Twenty: Back into the Fray

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The sound of a heart rate monitor was the first thing you noticed when you woke up. After that were the dull lights and recently cleaned walls of the room around you. Then finally it was the throbbing pain in your head. "What the hell happened?" You groggily mumbled as you sat up in the bed. "Oh good, you're finally awake." You hear Naosu say. Now looking over to his voice. You could see the man rise from his chair and walk over to you. "Careful, you don't want to wake her up."

Down at the far side of the bed. You could see Hime had fallen asleep at the foot of the bed. She was currently drooling on the blanket near your feet. But overall seemed okay. "How long has she been here?" "She's been by your side since we pulled you from your suit." Naosu answered as you slowly sat on the side of the bed so as to not wake her. Rubbing your head to calm your raging migraine. You look over to the mechanic. "Speaking of which. What exactly happened to me? I can't really recall much."

"Let's start with what you do remember." Naosu states while pulling up a chair. Placing a hand on your chin. You think for a moment before you begin. "Me, Hiro, and Zero Two mind dived together. I saw their memories. They most likely saw mine. It's a long story. That was until I got to the part where I exited hibernation. After that, things get fuzzy. Then that's when I woke up here. Wherever here is." Naosu nods his head as he takes in the information. Then once he pieced together how he was going to explain everything. He began.

"You kinda went crazy, Warrior." He says truthfully. "You'd suffered a mind flare. We weren't able to react to it in time. Which caused you to turn animalistic and almost tear your face off. Though luckily you didn't manage to go any deeper than the armor. After that you tried to kill Ichigo, Goro, and Futoshi. But Miku and Zorome were able to knock you out before that happened." "I'm guessing that's why my head hurts." you say, still rubbing your temples. "I mean. You wouldn't be wrong."

"Anyways, what happened next?" You state in an attempt to get back on subject.

"Oh yeah." Naosu says before getting back on topic. "So after Argentea knocked your lights out. You went into a coma for three and a half days. During which I did some more digging. I got the medbay somewhat up and running. Which is where we are by the way. After that I managed to drain all that seawater from the lower levels. Then I also found out we now have an armory, a cantina, a workshop, and a whole bunch of other things in storage. Luckily not a lot of it got damaged by the water for some reason."

"Well I guess that's good." You say in an attempt to be optimistic. "No Warrior. You've been in a coma for three days. That's a very bad thing." Your face then goes deadpanned at his stating of the obvious. "Okay, other than the coma. But what about the kids? How have they been holding up?" Naosu stops once again to think. Only once he found the right set of words to use. Does he starts to explain.

"What about Hiro or Zero Two?" You ask, trying to probe him for information. "What have they been up to since the mind dive?" Naosu goes quiet once again. But this time for even longer this time. Once he was done thinking. He turned to you as if to speak. "Well, you see-" "Naosu." You interrupt. "Just tell me what happened. I can handle it." Naosu's shoulders then slouch as he releases a belated breath. "Guess I couldn't hide it from you forever. But it would probably be easier just to show you."

Suiting back up into your armor. You were about to walk out of the room before Naosu stopped you. "Should we wake her?" The mechanic says motioning towards the princess. "No, I'll come back later to get her. Once I have a good idea of what's going on." Now leaving the small medical room you were both in. You and Naosu enter into the large open area of the medical bay. Though as you do, you look over to the door next to yours to see Miku and Naomi standing guard. "See," Naosu lets out. "Hiro's been in there ever since the mind dive."