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Ichigo's veins were on fire.
As a leader, she should've only been thinking about the objective, the very core in front of her that she needed to pierce, the beating heart dangling inside the Klaxosaur's acid-filled womb. That should've been enough to push Delphinium that little bit further. Their limbs were intertwined, but it was more like the machine's very frame was digging into her skin as she tried to move it. Live invisible wires were wrapping around her muscles. Something that shouldn't be in her body was feverishly pumping through her system like blood.
Somehow, Delphinium's posture felt completely wrong. Her posture was as it always has been in the Pistil's seat, but her arms and legs were not intended to mirror the machines. She could hear a metallic growl. Something hot was bubbling in her throat. Her lower jaw twitched.
Pain shouldn't have been a concern. It was what she expected. A FRANXX required two pilots, a Pistil and a Stamen, an organic console and pilot, a means of ensuring both positive and negative energy ran through and kept the system efficient and the metal body mobile. Pure negativity was now just running through it.
She had expected to be strong enough to handle it.
But this was beyond simple pain she was feeling. Raw negativity brought out something indefinable in both the human and the FRANXX. Neither was meant to truly combine, but she and Delphinium were very much forced to at this moment.
How long had her body been like this for? Time had slowed to a crawl as soon as she had attempted to resume control of Delphinium.
She raised a forelimb to at least achieve one more step, only for the beastly machine's leg to snag. She was ensnared, now stuck within a body no human was meant to control.
Through her blurred vision, she could see a human-sized shadow swim towards Delphinium on the monitor.
Ichigo was a leader, the one who was supposed to guide the other parasites, yet here she was, lost and desperate for a hand to guide her. If her body hadn't been seized, relief would've washed over her at the sight of the silhouette of spiky hair.
Had Hiro come to save her?
It would seem that she couldn't quite get him out of her head despite her efforts.
The muffled droning of the FRANXX abruptly ceased. She could hear a torrent of watery solution pour into the cockpit from the open back hatch. With the hatch released, Delphinium's hold over her had been released as well. Ichigo quite literally shivered back to life as her intense straining muscles rapidly cooled.
With control restored, she quickly turned her attention to the boy with spiky hair, an intensely relieved smile on her face.
That smile turned to shock.
It wasn't Hiro she was looking at.
###
Goro looked at the blue-haired girl with alarm. "Ichigo? Is something wrong?"
Ichigo looked down at the fork on the plate with an annoyed "tsk". The fork had previously been in her hand before a reoccurring phantom pain had caused her to lose her grip.
It had been over a week since the incident with Delphinium's Stampede Mode. The memory of the overwhelming sensations she felt in the cockpit as she attempted to reign in control of the warped FRANXX somehow still managed to resurface in full force even now.
"A bad memory just crept in out of nowhere," Ichigo responded brusquely.
Said memory had managed to creep in with increasing frequency as of late, not that the blue-haired girl would ever admit that. The worried stares the other Parasites gave her whenever they occurred were more than enough to encourage her to simply soldier through the episodes of raw pain silently.
They had to believe the pain would not be a hindrance. And she was sure that would have her bizarre condition under control by the time the next Klaxosaur attack occurred.
Zero Two's gaze only served as additional motivation. Even after becoming new official member of Ichigo's squad, the half-Klaxosaur still found it more nature to remain coy around everyone but Hiro. That was, until recently when the pink-haired hybrid inexplicably took a kind of passive interest in the blue-haired girl. Even if she didn't quite distrust Zero-Two as much as she initially did, Ichigo couldn't help but feel that any explicit attention from her couldn't be good.
However, her resolve was beginning to wane as the pain continued to burn just as badly as it had during that mission.
Ichigo forced a smile. "There's nothing wrong. Let's just get back to dinner."
Eating continued in complete silence. Ichigo had to force herself not to look up from her plate.
It was only as they were exiting the table to turn in for the night that Goro approached her, quietly breaking the silence with a simple request:
"Can I talk to you for a moment in private?"
Even though Ichigo knew exactly what Goro was going to say, it would've been even more suspicious if she refused. The blond-haired boy looked equally as uncomfortable as they stood alone by the stairs up to their bedrooms. It honestly felt like a waste of both of their time.
But Goro nonetheless burst into speech. "If you're dealing with something, we're always going to support you. You know that, right?"
Ichigo crossed her arms, glaring up at the taller boy. "There's nothing to hide if that's what you're trying to ask. The doctors already gave me the clear afterwards, remember? I'm perfectly healthy."
"I know that..." Goro sighed, very clearly at a loss for words yet attempting to keep the conversation going. "But you haven't been looking...well these past few days, and I don't think those are just flashbacks you're having."
"And how would you know that exactly?" Ichigo shot back. "Are you suggesting the adults made a mistake?"
"Of course not!" Goro flinched but still stood his ground. "But I can still see when you're in pain. You shouldn't have to pretend that you're not."
"And what would you suggest I do then?" Ichigo snapped. "Should I just sit out every battle from now on just in case I happen to ache a little?"
The taller boy clenched his teeth, likely trying to contain what would've been an outburst. "Please don't keep downplaying it. Those are more than just little aches you've been feeling..."
"I can deal with it!" Ichigo suddenly shouted back. Heat was suddenly flaring in her chest. "If I-I can't then I'm useless to everyone! What point would there be for us to pilot together if I'm going to do nothing but hold you back?"
At the utterance of the last sentence, Ichigo abruptly clammed up. Those weren't words that came from her consciousness. It was more like they had just tumbled out.
Goro scratched his cheek somewhat nervously in response, likely reflecting on the end of that fateful mission just like Ichigo was.
He had done a bit more than just rescue her that day. Ichigo found her finger fiddling with her hairclip. It was virtually identical to the one Hiro had gifted her when they were children but from a different boy years later. As it turned out, Goro had been holding onto it for quite some time, only able to give it to her after Hiro's had broken during Delphinium's finishing blow to the Klaxosaur core.
"You know, I think I love you."
In actuality, he had given her a bit more than just a replacement accessory, just something he had to get off of his chest to free himself of all regrets.
Somewhat ashamedly, it took until now for Ichigo to fully mull over the confession again.
The blond boy was the one to break the awkward silence, letting out a cough to dismiss the light blush on his cheeks before looking her back in the eyes. "I'd want to be your partner regardless of how strong you think you are. It's never been about that. I just also want you to be happy."
The blue-haired girl bit her lip with nearly enough force to break the skin. Goro's words had arrived just as the burning sensation had returned to her veins, causing her muscles to stiffen.
"Then let me deal with this," Ichigo managed to strain out.
Her already pained heart only twisted into further knots as Goro looked at her with disappointed eyes. "If that's what you think is best... Just know that all of us will be there when you're ready to open up."
His eyes drift down from her eyes for just a brief moment before he fully turned around and left up the stairs. Ichigo let out a quiet curse as she clamped her mouth back shut, knowing exactly just what she had exposed.
Her nose twitched. It actually had been near the start of her meeting with Goro, but she didn't wish to draw attention to it as to bring a particularly unwelcome guest into the conversation.
"That was supposed to be private," Ichigo muttered.
As the blue-haired girl dreaded but expected, a familiar figure descended with frustrating grace from the upper floor.
"I used to get the drop on you so easily," Zero Two said coyly. "I guess that means you took the time to become accustomed to my scent?"
Ichigo simply glared at the horned hybrid, not wanting to tell her that she was completely correct.
"That used to be something that was unique to me," Zero Two sighed before giving the blue-haired girl a sly look. "It's funny really. I really don't know what to make of your scent anymore."
That statement only seemed to intensify the stiffening pain running through Ichigo's system. "What are you talking about?"
Zero Two leaned in closer, uncomfortably close. Ichigo shivered as the hybrid took an audible sniff near her neck. "I know what everyone's scent is supposed to be, but yours has changed a lot recently. And it certainly doesn't smell like any of the humans I've been around."
Ichigo immediately recoiled, shoving Zero Two out of the way as she shifted closer to the staircase, teeth bared.
Zero-Two didn't look all too threatened. In fact, she looked rather triumphant. "I was wondering for a long time what those looked like up close. Those would definitely allow you to tear into meat more easily. Maybe that's why you've been clearing meals faster recently."
Despite the flames pulsing through her veins, Ichigo's face had never felt paler. "I-I don't... What? Are you obsessed with me, or something?"
"More just curious after a few glances," Zero Two said, closing the distance once again. "Until I saw Blond Boy, I didn't think anyone else had it in them to say how poor of a job you've done at hiding your changes."
Ichigo let out an undignified squeak as the hybrid suddenly pushed the blue-haired girl's bangs back, peering closely at her forehead before backing away with a look a slight disappointment. "Well, I didn't guess that right."
"What were you even looking for?" Ichigo snapped. In actuality, she could tell what Zero Two was looking for just by glancing up at the horns poking through the hybrid's locks. Inwardly, Ichigo let out a sigh of relief.
But that didn't assuage every other point the half-Klaxosaur brought up.
"Don't you already know?" Zero Two tilted her head quizzically at the blue-haired girl. "Are you trying to become more like me to win my Darling over?"
The heat that had previously paralyzed Ichigo's body now was springing it back to life. She barely managed to bite back a growl as she harshly pushed Zero Two out of her personal space.
"Enough!" Ichigo said sharply as she wiped some sweat off of her brow. "I'm turning in. You're giving me a headache."
She should've just kept walking up the stairs, but to her displeasure, something compelled her to look back. It would've honestly been less troublesome if Zero Two merely gave a knowing smirk back, but she could see a hint of concern on the hybrid's face as well.
"It's not like it's working anyways," Zero Two called out. "You don't smell like me either."
Those words replayed in Ichigo's mind as she made her way to her sleeping quarters all the way through her shower. She pressed her head against the wall, hoping that the water rushing over her would be able to wash away both the heat radiating from her and the intrusive thoughts. Unfortunately, only the physical pain was willing to cool down just enough for her to continue moving.
It shouldn't have been surprising that the Zero Two's statements would be so hard to remove from her brain even as she tried signaling to her body her intention to sleep by slipping on her underwear and nightgown. After all, the words fed into a pervasive thought, one that seemed to grow as the nights passed and the pain grew more pronounced and frequent with every morning.
It was only natural that they would when her reflection refused to just keep its mouth shut. Every night since she noticed something was off, Ichigo would inspect her teeth.
And just when she thought her canines had stopped lengthening, they would grow another millimeter the day after.
This time, Ichigo opened her mouth wider. Her previously flat back teeth were now looking slightly sharper as well.
Zero Two hadn't said it directly, but Ichigo could hear the meaning in her mind loud and clear:
She wasn't human anymore.
That dreaded acceptance seemed to be some kind of trigger phrase, a code to release some long held biological gate that had formed deep in her body.
Pain, clawing pain far more pronounced than anything that she had felt in the past laced her insides. Her stomach abruptly shifted, causing an intense wave of nausea to overcome her. She collapsed over the sink, heaving and coughing out whatever sticky contents were crawling up her throat. Her tongue stung as it tasted copper.
After blinking away a few tears, Ichigo was finally able to see what she had expelled. Her eyes widened as she saw what was lining the web of spit and mucus.
It was blue blood, the very same that the Klaxosaurs bled.
Ichigo struggled to breathe as she stumbled backwards, haphazardly scrubbing away the droplets of blood around her lips with the back of her hand. The task should've been simple, but it was getting progressively more difficult to even flex her hands as pain and pressure assaulted them in equal measure, like her skin was struggling to contain the very structure beneath.
Just as she finished wiping the last bit off her cheek, all sensation and control in her hands suddenly ceased as the invisible flames smothering her insides consumed them. A series of sharp cracks and pops filled the air as her fingers were forced through a series of grotesque convulsions and contortions right before her eyes. With every unnatural bend, her digits broadened while elongating ever so slightly along with her palms. All the while, her rounded fingernails stretched outwards, pushing closer to the fingertips as their very ends chiseled into more pronounced points.
But the worst part was the very skin. Soft pale flesh seemed to mottle with darkening spots that soon hardened like scabs, though the texture was far sleeker. It began at her mutating hands but soon spread up her arms, smooth peach color giving way to an uncanny pattern of shimmering black diamond and hexagon-shaped plating. Skin was becoming replaced by scales in other words. Meanwhile, the undersides of her hand swelled and numbed into an expanse of welt-like pads.
With one involuntary flex, her changing nails shot out, rapidly thickening and curving down into deadly hooks. Ichigo couldn't call them nails anymore. They were talons. And she couldn't say her hands were remotely human. They more belonged to a reptile.
Primal fear caused the transforming girl to attempt the futile task of backing away from her now-monstrous hands. Obviously, it was impossible to evade what was attached to her, not that the clumsy movements of her feet would allow her to do so even if it were possible. Clumsiness immediately gave way to uselessness as control left her feet left, causing the whimpering blue-haired girl to crash down to the floor.
Ichigo was left scrambling for any ounce of control, scratching shallow cuts into the floor with clawed hands that shouldn't belong to her. Blood suddenly rushed to her ears, causing her to wince as they blared, signaling the beginning of their metamorphosis as rounded cartilage reshaping and stretching out into prominent points.
Meanwhile, the scales that covered her distorted hands began spreading across her feet. Her toes curled and flexed as they grew slightly but unnaturally long and broad, nails stretching, sharpening, and curving into a second set of talons. That was with the exception of her largest toes, which completely compressed into her feet before disappearing outright. All the while, her feet elongated, though to a far greater extent than her palms. She gritted her rows of sharp teeth as her toes snapped forward with a resounding crack, the swelling sensation on the upper soles indicating that her feet had become digitigrade.
The intense fiery sensations became temporarily displaced by an equally intense itch running along her chest. Even her loose gown felt unbearably restrictive at that moment. With only the slightest degree of control she regained in her hands, she hastily pulled her nightgown off, cursing under her haggard breath as her talons ripped and tore at the fabric.
As soon as she was exposed to what should've been her completely-exposed upper body, her heart stopped. All across what should've just been naked flesh, thick patches of white hair sprouted, a particularly pronounced tuft bursting out right in the center beneath her collar bone as equally curly clumps bisected her breasts and ran all the way down to her navel.
No, that wasn't hair she was growing. It was fur.
The scales on her arms and feet were supposed to indicate that she was turning into some kind of reptile. But now her torso was becoming covered in fur that very clearly belonged to a different animal. Somehow, not knowing what kind of freak she was turning into caused Ichigo's brain to burst into a fever.
Her muscles followed in suit, burning with an intensity far greater than the aftermath of any particularly strenuous training exercise. And yet, it was unnervingly familiar.
However, in whatever vague memory the sensations were triggering, her muscles weren't literally rippling, stretching, and swelling. In the present, her narrow shoulders were broadening to coincide with the ballooning of her biceps. She let out a strained moan as she reflexively curled her legs to rid herself of the unbearable cramp, only to feel her thighs expand yet condense in mass. Every expansion seemed to press the hairs lurking beneath her skin out, completely covering the spots in coats of fur.
Ichigo's ears twitched upwards as they elongated, fur the same shade of blue as her hair sprouting along the ridges while pure white fur began sprouting on the insides. Every crack and pop within her body could be heard with distressing clarity, particularly the straining of her spine. She could feel a defined ridge forming along her back as her vertebrae pressed up against the skin, threatening to break it.
Her spine broke first, or at the very least it snapped like it did. Ichigo tried to scream in pain as her back was pulled up into a prominent arch, only for her throat to constrict, causing only lines of spit to be exhaled. Though the ripple muscles forming over her violently altered spine disguised its outwards hideousness, it only served to add to the burning sensations spreading across her torso. At the same time, she could feel the aggravating prickle of fur pushing out of straining skin, large, somewhat spiked clumps that were blue rather than white that was consuming the rest of her body.
There came another series of disgusting pops. Unconsciously digging her talons deeply into the carpeting, Ichigo forced her reformed back up even further. The skin along her waist tightened as her midsection elongated. However, even after her torso had achieved its new uncanny length, the popping of new spinal segments forming didn't cease. Pressure began building up in her tailbone as her spine pressed impatiently against it.
She clenched her teeth, which were now all chiseled into deadly points meant to rend and tear, so tightly that they felt like they'd shatter. There was a slight but stinging click in her jaws as her face shifted ever so slightly, the small pointed tip of her nose widening just enough to display her nostrils. Her cheeks tingled as fur began crawling up them.
Finally, a sharp crack pierced the air loud enough to cover up the rip as her underwear tore completely in half.
Ichigo could only moan and whimper as a brush-like appendage grew from the spine's base, arcing and curling in the air in response to its owner's distress. By the time the popping had ceased, her new tail had grown close to two feet in length.
Before she could dwell on having essentially grown a fifth limb, her mind became alight with searing pain now smothering her entire body anew. Chokes and gags expelled from her lips as her organs rapidly and violently reshaped, her lungs in particular inflating until they were tightly pressing against her ribcage. Her scaly hands flexed outwards as her forearms lengthened. Conversely, her calves shrank, completing the animalistic shape of her legs. Even lying on the floor, she could tell the posture was completely wrong. Her limbs shouldn't have been as level as they were.
Another painful distraction shot through her system as her ribcage finally was unable to contain her new lungs. Ichigo let out an agonized gasp as her chest abruptly pushed out into a barrel-like shape, forcing her small breasts further to the sides and beneath the still-thickening fur. At the realization that her body had no doubt taken a completely bestial shape, her still-changing ears drooped; now fully long triangles with prominent tufts at the tips that were beginning their ascent up the sides of her head.
An intense migraine suddenly rocked her head, localized particularly at her hairline. With her freakish reptilian-human hands, she gripped her temples. Her unnaturally long fingers froze as they brushed against two prominent bumps poking out and pushing out more by the second. Her tears broke free, streaming down her face.
Even amidst the hideous mutations ravaging her body, this was her worst fear realized. She was growing horns.
And the changes refused to end even then. She gagged once again as her neck throbbed, thickening with muscle as it stretched out several inches more. Her entire body stiffened as her sides burned, more external than the flames in her bloodstream. The dark room suddenly glowed dimly as neon aqua markings etched themselves across her flesh from her shoulders all the way down to her flanks, burning off the fur that had grown there as forming a border between the two fur colors that covered her body.
Then the migraine smothered her entire skull. The fur growing along her cheeks flared out as blue fur began working its way down the bridge of her nose. Her jaws felt incredibly cramped, like her fangs had suddenly grown too big for them.
There came a loud crack. Finally, after being prevented from doing so for so long, Ichigo was allowed to scream.
Her skull became like putty as it stretched out, though it felt like it had just shattered into many pieces. Her nose only continued to change further, the short and narrow ridge broadening and flattening as the tip fully flattened and her nostrils flared out. Her tongue flailed as it stretched along the expanding space, while pain pierced her jaws as her fangs multiplied. Her scalp tingled unbearably as her straight locks of hair burst out into a mane, the remnants of her former hairstyle now dangling by the sides of her neck, blending into the disheveled fur along her back of the same color. All the while, her horns continued to grow, becoming far longer than the ones Zero Two possessed.
By the time the pain finally died down and white and blue fur had fully engulfed what little skin was left, the only aspect of Ichigo's formerly human visage were her bright green eyes, which could only look at the long pointed snout in front of her vision with abject fear.
There was not a hint of humanity left in her appearance. She was now some kind of unholy chimera of canine and animal, the very shape of her being some kind of organic equivalent of the form Delphinium had taken when it went berserk.
Zero Two was right. Ichigo was nothing like her despite the Klaxosaur blood now also running through her veins.
Just what was she then?
Her lamentation was interrupted by a series of muffled footsteps. One of her ears raised up, her new bestial hearing able to pick up on a group quickly approaching her bedroom door.
That's right. She was screaming when her muzzle formed.
There was a knock on the door, causing Ichigo to freeze up, her ears peeling back and her tail stiffening.
"Ichigo?" she heard Goro's voice call out beyond the door. "Can you hear me? Ikuno said she heard screaming. Are you alright?"
It should've been easy to lie that everything was okay, just like she had done for the past week as the apparent signal for her metamorphosis began weighing on her. However, when she opened her jaws, the words refused to come out. It didn't even feel right to speak out of such an elongated mouth. Could she even speak in her new form?
Her mind went into a rushing haze as she realized what her refusal to communicate would entail. Soon the door would burst open and then...
How would they respond to her? No doubt they'd scream at the sight of a creature they had never seen before. Maybe they'd assume she had devoured the original Ichigo. The commotion would no doubt attract the attention of Nana and Hachi, and after them, the adults.
She'd be hauled away, likely killed and dissected if not just executed on the spot.
To her surprise, her body recoiled away from the door, her muzzle being directed towards the window.
Dying for sake of humanity's continued survival was always a possibility that had been ingrained in her mind. As much unease as that thought caused her whenever it surfaced, it was something she had made peace with. She had, after all, gone on what was effectively a suicide mission to destroy a Klaxosaur.
Ironically, the unknown affliction that mission had apparently infected her with caused Ichigo to come to a rather horrifying realization. It would've been better for everyone if she were to be sent to the adults or put down on the spot before she became a threat.
But now she was terrified of dying.
Just as she heard the creak of the door's hinges, Ichigo's body took off through the window, the frame splintering and the glass cracking as she forced it open. As she rushed into the foliage of the surrounding forest on all fours, she could hear the various indistinct shouts and cries of the other Parasites off in the distance.
###
Despite the increased lung capacity of her mutated form and assistance of all four limbs, Ichigo was completely haggard by the time she could dive beneath a particularly thick brush. Even as she attempted to lie down in what would inevitably be her new home, her heart refused to relax. And the knot that had formed in it refused to untangle.
Her talons gripped the dirt as her body shook, unable to discard the simple fact that she had just run away from people she was supposed to lead.
No, they were more than just teammates, even beyond just Hiro and even Goro. She had come to that realization quite recently. Memories of their time bonding together, establishing their dynamics, developing their rapport, and discovering everyone's quirks flooded her mind. Despite all the hardships and disagreements, she could still remember all the times they were smiling. She could remember the times when she was smiling as well.
Ichigo's muzzle fell into her crossed scaly arms as her body curled into a tight ball, unable to properly process the miasma of emotions swirling inside of her.
The voices of the past were so overpowering that she didn't bother focusing on any of the sounds in the present, nor did she register the familiar scent that was rapidly becoming more pronounced.
It was only when moonlight suddenly streamed in overhead that she realized she had been discovered.
Ichigo gasped, recoiling backwards and ready to make a dash once again only for a slightly smaller figure to tackle her to the forest floor.
"Oh no you don't!"
That familiar voice was one that typically got on Ichigo's nerves. However, in this particular case, it halted whatever frantic retaliation she had in mind.
Ichigo looked back up to see the mischievous face of Zero Two beam down at her. "Good girl."
The transformed girl let out a defeated huff. Of course the girl with the superior nose and enhanced physicality would be the one to find her first. Running away had been a fool's errand from the very beginning.
However, Ichigo couldn't help but question why the half-Klaxosaur bothered to hunt her down in the first place. Granted, their hostilities had lessened, but Ichigo had been such a reoccurring obstacle between Zero Two and her "darling" that she honestly believed the hybrid would've just allowed her to disappear into the forest.
"Looks like you have them now," Zero Two hummed as she playfully prodded at the twin horns poking through Ichigo's hair before her eyes travelled down the rest of the transformed girl's bestial form, "and a bit more than that, even more than what I used to be. So that's why you didn't smell like me."
There was something to the manner in which Zero Two's voice slowly quieted. It wasn't like how she interacted with Hiro, and it definitely wasn't how she had interacted with Ichigo in the past. The words may have been the same level of vagueness Zero Two enjoyed throwing around, but the coyness had been replaced by a kind of legitimate warmth.
Ichigo diverted her eyes from Zero Two's face, her mind caught between relief and bitterness over her newfound kinship with the hybrid.
The transformed girl's ears suddenly perked up in attention as a multitude of much clumsier-sounding footsteps and haggard breathing approached her location. The scents of the approaching figures were just as familiar to her as Zero Two's.
Zero Two immediately stepped off of Ichigo's prone form, allowing the transformed girl to roll back onto her feet.
"Found her!" the hybrid proclaimed proudly.
Ichigo felt tempted to make a run for it yet again as she reluctantly raised her head to the eyes of her cloak and pajama-clad teammates. No doubt they were horrified at what she had turned into if not outright disbelieving that this monster could even be her leader.
She was surprised to find that none of them had recoiled back at her motions. The emotions on the other Parasites' faces were a large mix, ranging from the distant and seemingly disinterested expression of the frequently-aloof Mitsuru to the shared lopsided and rather curious frown of Zorome and Miku to what appeared to the tearful relief of all things of Ikuno. None of them were even entertaining the notion of Ichigo being a potential threat, despite the cruel talons and sharp fangs she now possessed. And that wasn't getting into the fact that she had no idea if they even realized the beast before them was their leader.
Her attention quickly turned to the two particular people whose silent judgment, or at least recognition, she needed the most. Hiro's face looked caught between contemplation and uncertainty, almost willing to voice an opinion on the matter but very clearly struggling to get the right words out. Goro surprisingly looked relieved to see her even in her heavily distorted state, though he too was finding it difficult to speak.
However, he ended up being the one to take the first step forward. The movement was rigid at first but it smoothed with every new step. Zero Two graciously stepped aside, sauntering back to Hiro with her typical annoyingly-vague knowing smile.
As soon as it was just Ichigo and Goro, the taller boy finally spoke. "Does anything still hurt, Ichigo?"
The transformed girl froze as the mention of her name. From her perspective, nothing about her body was familiar anymore, but Goro never even asked if she was actually his partner. There was no hesitation at all, no second-guessing. He knew.
And he had just asked a question. Ichigo's open jaws twitched. She expected the words that were about to tumble out of her mouth to be nothing but distorted noise.
"You can still tell that it's me?"
Ichigo gasped at the sound of her own voice, still fully intact despite the unnaturally long mouth it had come out of.
Goro smiled warmly as he moved in closer, kneeling down to look the transformed girl in the face. "There's no mistaking those eyes or that hair. You're her."
Tears began to leak from Ichigo's eyes as she idly ran a scaly hand through the locks dangling down her neck. However, before catharsis could take hold, the unfortunate reality of her situation wormed its way back in.
"But those are all that's left of me..." Ichigo lamented bitterly. "The pain's gone, but I can't be your partner anymore. And I can't be the leader anymore either."
It was the dourly logical conclusion to her whole situation, but Goro looked bewildered by the declaration. "What are you talking about? We all want you back."
"Goro, look at me!" Ichigo exclaimed, gesticulating harshly to her own body. "What happens once Nana or Hachi sees me like this? Do you think they're going to let me still be a Pistil or even stay here? I'll just get shipped off to a lab o-or somewhere a-and g-get c-cut up..."
Her voice trailed off as her heart rate spiked, anxious thoughts once again possessing her. She could feel her head grow light. Her muscles tensed in preparation to take possession of her body to retreat further still into the forest to evade the inevitable fate that awaited her.
"That's not going to happen."
Zero Two all but spat those words out, but not at Ichigo. It sounded as though the hybrid was speaking from experience, and a particularly painful one at that.
Hiro gripped his partner's hand, stepping forward as well. "I don't know how you became like this, but that doesn't mean I'm just going to give up on you now, especially not when I know you're still the same on the inside."
The half-Klaxosaur looked at her darling lovingly before turning a hardened expression towards the other Parasites still in the back. "Well? What about the rest of you?"
Zorome and Futoshi noticeably flinched at Zero Two's judgmental gaze. Ichigo's ears dropped slightly as she saw what appeared to be slight hesitation on Zorome's face as well as Mitsuru's continued seeming indifference over the whole situation. Futoshi looked particularly at odds with himself as to how to respond.
"I want to protect you too."
Had it not been for Ichigo's more sensitive ears, she might not have been able to notice Ikuno's softer declaration. She did, however, notice the more resolute stance the purple-haired girl took as she took off her glasses to wipe her eyes, possibly the most assertive Ichigo had ever seen her.
Maybe it was just how uncharacteristic Ikuno was acting at the moment, but the other Parasites nodded almost in unison after the stunned silence had passed. There were no objections.
"See?" Goro said as he looked back from the other Parasites. "We're all with you no matter what."
Ichigo wished she could feel happy about this display of solidarity, but the anxiety refused to leave, not when the consequences were obvious to see. "If you try to hide or defend me, the adults will come after all of you. I'm not just a burden as I am. I'm a threat to everyone."
"And you're our friend and my partner," Goro stated firmly, placing his hands on her shoulders. "Forget about the adults."
Ichigo looked at the taller boy in shock. For their entire lives, they were raised to put the adults first. It honestly felt like blasphemy to dismiss them at all. The gasps from several of the other Parasites were more than enough indication that she wasn't alone in this thought. "Do you have any idea what you're saying right now?"
"I do," the taller boy sighed. "It's completely insane, and this is all new to me, but that's honestly what I feel. You're important to me, Ichigo. That's really the only reason I have."
Before Ichigo could try to dissuade Goro further, the taller boy reached in his pocket, pulling out a familiar object that glinted in the moonlight. It was her hairclip; another part of her human identity she had left behind in her bedroom. And now it had been dropped back into her hands. Almost instinctually, her elongated fingers gingerly wrapped around it as her eyes began to burn and blur.
"We'll figure it out together," Goro said as he held Ichigo's scaly hand in his own. "No one is going to leave you."
"I-I..." Ichigo started. But whatever words she was planning to say earlier had completely disappeared from her mind. All she could do was frantically wipe away the tears that were beginning to roll down her furry cheeks.
Goro leaned in closer, wrapping his arms around her in a light embrace. Her surprise was quickly quelled as he ran his hand down her mane. "Everything's going to be okay..."
The transformed girl's movements were hesitant at first, but soon her longer arms were wrapped around the blond boy as well. Slowly but surely, the rapid beating of her heart began to calm.
It was strange. Her mind had been set on Hiro for so long, to the extent that it almost felt like he was the sole other person who had stayed the longest in her memories, but she now remembered that there had been a third person who stood right by the two of them. She knew now that Goro had pined for her just as she did for Hiro, and yet, even as Ichigo quite blatantly fixated on their shared friend, Goro remained by her side with that reassuring smile on his face.
For the first time, she considered what it would be like to be separate from the taller boy. It honestly did feel wrong if she never saw him again.
Now that Ichigo thought about the past harder, it always felt so natural talking to him and simply sharing his company. Even in the heat of battle, she felt comfortable and focused knowing they were working together.
It was the same as just being in an embrace with him now.
Suddenly, a bizarre sensation washed over her, the complete opposite of the agony that afflicted her when she transformed. It was like a soothing breeze had somehow managed to seep its way underneath her skin, cooling her muscles.
She gasped as her body began to shake with a series of subdued cracks and pops. Steadily, her form began to shrink along with the fur covering her. Her hands and feet twitched as they lost their elongated proportions, the scales softening and fading into pale skin, while her talons retracted and dulled into harmless fingernails. The bulging muscles that previously laced her upper back and thighs practically deflated, thinning her arms and legs as they clicked back into their human alignments. The glow wreathing her form dimmed as the distinct aqua markings simply vanished off of her. A bit of a dull pressure pressed against her temples and the base of her spine as her horns and tail respectively retreated back into her. All the while, her long muzzle pushed back into her face and rearranged into a human nose and lips, her neck slimming and shortening in tandem as her mane shortened and reshaped into a familiar bob cut. There was one last twitch of her ears as they retreated back into her hair and slid down to the sides of her head before the sounds finally quieted.
When she looked back down at herself, she saw no trace of fur on her body or any remnant of a muzzle sticking in front of her vision. It was just the smooth skin and curves she was familiar with.
"I-I'm back to normal?" Ichigo could only vocalize in confusion.
It took a moment for her to realize that she wasn't wearing anything when she escaped the boarding house. And now there was no fur left to cover her extremities.
Before her face could fully turn bright red from embarrassment, Goro quickly threw his cloak over her, averting his eyes until Ichigo had wrapped her exposed body fully. The blue-haired girl let out a sigh of relief as she finally got back on the two legs she was familiar with, even if the raw earth beneath her bare feet was somewhat irksome.
"I guess you just needed to relax a bit," Goro said. A faint blush colored his cheeks. "Did the hug help?"
Ichigo felt her lips curl into a smile as she held her hairclip in her human once again. "It did. Thank you."
Unfortunately, the smile dropped as soon as she began tucking back the left side of her hair to place the clip back where it rightfully belonged. She could also see Goro and Hiro as well as some of the other Parasites reacting with surprise.
Even with just a casual brush of her fingers, she knew that her ears were no longer round. Though they were short enough to hide behind her hair and lacked any fur, the triangular ridges were unmistakable.
"I should've known it was too good to be true," Ichigo sighed as she let her hair fall back into place to mask her altered ear once again.
"At least they're easy to hide," Zero Two vocalized dryly off in the distance, casually pointing at the horns poking through her hair. Ichigo could see Hiro looking at his partner rather uneasily, likely referencing her and the natural hybrid's past history of tension.
However, maybe it was the fact that Ichigo had similar blood pumping through her veins now, but she somehow felt she could understand what the hybrid meant, far more than she ever did in the past. It wasn't just Hiro Zero Two seemed to yearn for. Now she realized that, despite the hybrid's aloofness towards her fully-human teammates, she had sought to be like them from the very beginning.
"We both have things we need to figure out," Ichigo conceded with a nod, wincing slightly as she took her next barefooted step. To her own surprise, she found herself giving the half-Klaxosaur she had been at odds with a slight smile. "At least everyone knows your horns are a part of you."
Zero Two raised a curious brow, though she returned Ichigo's small smile to the relief and slight confusion of Hiro.
No further words were exchanged as the blue-haired girl continued her awkward walk, with Goro providing a shoulder to drape her arm around for support. Even now, he was still supporting her, allowing her to make her way to the front of the group, as appropriate of her designation.
Ichigo looked down at the hairclip in her hand with a frown. She'd have to figure out some other way to wear it. The clip had been a part of her for so long that it being detached from her now felt unnervingly unnatural.
Then again, she wasn't exactly natural herself now either. Her tongue idly prodded her teeth. Her canines had shrunk back down to where they wouldn't be too noticeable as long as she didn't open her mouth too wide, but the points were still sharper than they should have been.
"Goro..." Ichigo said quietly, attracting only her escort's attention. "I'm still not sure why I transformed in the first place, but I'm... I don't know if this will be the only time..."
"You're worried that you might transform again if you get stressed out," Goro finished in equally hushed tones.
Ichigo nodded. "And if it starts happening repeatedly, there might... I might not be able to change back eventually. Then it'll be something that none of you can hide. And if I'm caught... I don't want any of you to risk your own lives for me. Just let them take me away."
Goro let out a soft, sad laugh, shaking his head subtly. "I don't think that's a promise I can keep."
There was so much in the future that was left uncertain by Ichigo's sudden transformation, so many dangerous possibilities for her to ponder beyond just what new Klaxosaur could appear out of the blue days from now. It honestly should've been enough stress to cause her to transform again right on the spot.
But those few words made that dire future feel like it was years away, too ill-defined to even ponder over. She looked behind at the teammates following her lead, each of them looking as they did every morning and every night. It somehow brought her comfort knowing that nothing had really changed among the Parasites, despite the transformation their very leader had just undergone.
Well, there were perhaps a few changes she was thinking about at the moment.
She smiled back at Goro. "I didn't think so."
###
Dr. Franxx leaned forward, silently but eagerly parsing through the various surveillance recordings before him. He had awoken to quite the startling new discovery. Squad 13 had managed to deviate from their intended course far more than what his superiors would ever have intended. They certainly had in regards to his own personal predictions.
Not that he was displeased. Far from it, witnessing the metamorphosis of 015 caused his scientific curiosity to alight anew, something that hadn't occurred since he created Zero Two.
Rather coincidentally, there was much to compare and contrast between the two of them now.
It would be a matter he'd need to look deeper into and observe more extensively in the coming days, but it appeared that 015 had somehow developed Klaxosaur blood within her system through means that had previously gone unexplored, and as a consequence had become a very different Klaxosaur hybrid than his own creation.
Upon reviewing prior footage, he came across 015's previous mission, in which she activated Delphinium's Stampede Mode for an extended period of time. The end result of such extensive use of Stampede Mode had always been the Pistil dying outright from overtaxing her body or going into an unresponsive or mentally-regressed state, both of which labeled the Pistils unfit to continue their services and subject to "Pruning". 015's particular performance records, however, pointed to her perhaps being of a different, stronger constitution, the only rationale he could find for why 015 had managed to retain her mind by the time her Stamen rejoined with her.
She hadn't quite retained her body in the traditional sense. He was stuck in the speculation stage at the moment, but he suspected that 015's extensive contact with Delphinium while it was in Stampede Mode may have caused her biology to interface with the system. After all, the Pistil's role already was to act as the console the Stamen was intended to pilot. It was obvious that she would possess a more physiological connection to the FRANXX.
And Stampede Mode tended to expose the FRANXX's true origins, which was an alien beast remolded into the bipedal humanoid shape. Who was to say it wouldn't be able to connect to the Pistil while the Pistil was connected to it during some bizarre moment of lucidity?
It did make sense upon reflection that 015 would develop a more bestial alternate form rather than become a horned humanoid like Zero Two.
After all, the Klaxosaur that made up half of Zero Two looked nothing like any other Klaxosaur he had ever seen...
Dr. Franxx leaned back, his mind drifting towards the obvious elephant in the room. Regardless of the breakthroughs this development could lead to, a mutation of this nature wouldn't be nearly as easy to hide as the simple changes in behavior he had been cultivating. It was only thanks to his prior contributions that his superiors even allowed him to isolate Squad 13 from the traditional forms of direct surveillance all other squads were subject to. Only the reports he sent informed the Council of the squad's state whenever they weren't in battle, reports that he privately noted consistently omitted certain particular details.
There was nothing he could do for Squad 13 once they entered the field of battle once again. The only illusion that could hide 015's altered nature from the eyes of the Council would have to be cast by the squad themselves.
It wasn't particularly concerning, however. He wouldn't have selected Squad 13 for his designs if they didn't possess the particular elements that could surprise him.
So far, they had yet to disappoint him.