Forever yours, Darling (A Darling in the Franxx Fanfic)

Chapter 2: Dancing among the clouds

Hiro took a deep breath and sighed. He turned to Aimi. "Was it o...are you okay?" He asked, noticing a few tears streaming down Aimi's face. She nodded, wiping them from her check with both hands. "I'm fine, just feel very happy that they found each other at the end."

Hiro smiled, remembering how happy he was for the same reason the first time his father read him the story. "I see, I'm glad you are also happy." Aimi smiled and pointed at the book, asking, "If that's the end of the story, what are all these pages after?"

"Oh, that is a bit of history about the book!" Hiro exclaimed, eagerly flipping the page to show her. He always enjoyed reading about the story behind the Beast and the Prince book. It helped him to love the story even more once he knew how it came to be.

"You see, this person Ichigo wrote this part," he began, explaining the Klaxxosaur war, how it was ended by a small squad of parasites and how they helped humanity to heal the earth and allowed them to help civilization grow in peace.

Aimi eagerly hung onto his every word, especially when he flipped towards the last pages of the book, where the pictures taken were placed. Her eyes shone brightly as Hiro explained how they last met among the stars before they had bid goodbye to a special pair of soldiers.

He pointed to a small and shy looking blue-haired girl in the picture as he explained that she was the one that brought the book together and finished the story in their memory. "That one right there was Ichigo, who wrote the final part." his hands wandered over to the pair standing next to her. "And the book was written by these two!" Hiro said, pointing to 02 and Hiro in the picture.

Hiro then excitedly went on about the tale of 02 and Hiro, how their love story started with the book when they were children, how they came back together eventually helped to defeat the aliens, and ended the war.

"They loved the book since it was, in a way, their story. She was like the beast with the horns and he was the prince. They were separated by others but eventually found each other." Hiro then lowered his gaze, becoming slightly less enthusiastic. "Sorry if I was boring, I talk too much about this."

Aimi flash him a grin and hugged his waist, making him utter a high-pitched squeak of surprise. "You were not boring, I liked it!" She exclaimed. "But it was sad that they had to go fight and never came back." Hiro nodded.

"True, but I like to think that as long as they were together, they were happy no matter where they went." He said wistfully, gazing upwards into the sky. Their eyes both become heavy as they snuggled on the ground, their bodies propped up on the trunk of the tree. Hiro placed the book down to his side, happy that he finally found someone to share his love for the beast and the prince.

"Do you think that everyone will be like 02 and find their prince?" Aimi asked, yawning a little bit. The pink petals from the tree gently floated down to the ground, a few finding their way to the book cover.

"I don't know, I hope so," Hiro replied, also yawning. "I know some of the adults say that's impossible, but I like to think that is the case, even if it may not be in this life. Maybe it might be in the next one." Aimi smiled softly as she started to fall asleep. "I hope that I will find him in this life."

Hiro smiled, closing his eyes in his failed fight against his sleepy mind. "That would be nice." He muttered, slowly slipping into the dream world with Aimi. Soon the pair were fast asleep, dreaming of strange birds and forests filled with strange and fascinating creatures. The petals of the tree fell like the February snow, covering them with a thin scattering of patches of pink. Softly snoring, they would occasionally smile as their pleasant dreams went on.