My Wings Exist for You | Zero Two x Hiro

Chapter Two. The Mirror

Hiro's POV:

I sat slowly on the bed that was supposedly mine seven years ago and exhaled gently. My eyes roamed the room freely as my brain tried to make sense of it all. A frown caressed my features as my eyes landed on a silver mirror, face-down on the bedside table. My fingers itched closer toward it until I gave in and picked it up - admiring the back. 

In the middle of the silver surface was a shape similar to a 'y' with a small bunch of flowers above that. I traced a finger over it with furrowed eyebrows, wondering where I've seen this before. 

I flipped the handheld mirror over and gasped, almost dropping it on the floor.

Big, green eyes blinked at me from the other side of the broken glass. My eyes widened as the pink-haired girl smiled, flashing her little fangs. The pink under her eyes creased as she shut them. Red fangs protruded from her forehead, which coincidently caused a searing pain in my head. 

I winced slightly, bringing my hand up to my temple. The girl stopped smiling, her face turning serious. 

"Darling," she mouthed, a small smile gracing her lips. My eyes widened even more before I blinked, a heavy feeling appearing in my stomach as I saw my own reflection staring back at me. My lopsided face from the cracks in the glass had a sad expression, although I wasn't sure why. 

A small knock sounded from my door, resulting in me tearing my eyes from the mirror and directing them toward the door. The short girl with blue hair peeped her head in after she opened the door, smiling at me. I learned earlier that her name was Ichigo. 

"Hey, stranger," she sighed as she stepped into the room. I smiled back at her in what I assumed was a comforting way. 

"I can't believe you're actually back," she said, taking a seat on the bed next to me. She looked up at me, her hair falling in front of her face besides the small crane pin which held some back. I admired it for a moment before dragging my eyes to hers, which awaited a response. 

"I'm really sorry that I don't remember anyone," I began, scratching my hair. 

It was all so strange. How could I possibly wound up naked in a random field, when the last these people heard of me, I was in space fighting an enemy called VIRM. I shook my head as I frowned at the floor. 

Why couldn't I remember? 

How did I get back here?

She smiled again, putting one of her hands on mine, which rested on my knee. I flitted my eyes to it for a second and contemplated moving it, but decided that this may bring some peace. I forced a smile back. 

"It's not your fault Hiro, we are still coming up with theories as to how you're here, and why Zero Two isn't," she began to trail off, her eyes moving to the mirror. She stifled a giggle as she picked it up. 

"I remember when this was Naomi's mirror, then she gave it to Zero Two," she said, turning it over to trace her finger over the design on the back, "it was so long ago, and it hasn't left this room."

"What was Zero Two like? Everyone seems to speak fondly of her," I found myself saying as she continued to inspect the mirror. Eventually, she gave me her attention with a sigh. 

"You used to be so close with her, I'm surprised you don't at least remember her since no doubt she's the reason you ended up here," Ichigo said. I nodded slowly, trying to comprehend what she meant by that. 

"Yo!" Someone yelled before a small, sandy-blonde-haired boy rushed in, his arms in the air with small rock signals. Behind him followed a bigger guy with red hair, who sported a blush. This was Zorome and Futoshi. 

Zorome stretched obnoxiously as he groaned, scowling at Ichigo. 

"Come on man, enough with the sappy stuff, let's show him around the plantation!" He said excitedly, his purple eyes sparkling. I laughed at his attitude as Futoshi stood bashfully behind him, scratching the back of his head. 

"Or not, I mean it's completely up to Hiro," he murmured. I shook my head with a smile. 

"No no, Zorome's right," this earned a fist pump into the air from him, "I wanna see what I've missed out on, although I don't have much to compare it to," I said. Everyone nodded with a smile before they lead me out into the hall and down towards some kind of meeting room. 

As we pushed through the doors, I tried to take everything in - high ceilings with huge fans,  white flooring, and walls with large paintings hung up in golden frames.

 This wasn't at all what I was expecting from a survival camp essentially. 

After concluding that the huge paintings were some before and afters of the plantation, I examined the huge table that harbored the middle of the room. 

"Welcome," a voice boomed from above, causing us all to look up. A man with a blue buzzcut and a woman with red hair overlooked us from a large balcony. We all watched as the balcony detached itself from the wall and descended down the wall. 

"This is Hachi," Ichigo introduced once they made their way over to us, "and this is Nana." They both nodded and smiled at me before gesturing for us to walk with them. 

"This must all be so confusing for you, Hiro, but we promise we are working on techniques to get your memory back so this will all come as second nature," Nana said as we arrived at a set of sliding doors, which opened to a long corridor. It was white mostly, besides the long windows on either side of it. As I glanced out of them, I realized the corridor was actually a bridge, and down below was a deep ravine. 

At the bottom of the ravine was a slow-moving stream, only it resembled lava. Its yellow hue brightened up the bottom of the ravine, and before I could ask questions, we had arrived at another door. 

"In here is where we keep the Franxx, which in time, you'll remember how to use. We will have to find you a new partner, but until then, let's just focus on your recovery," Nana said as we entered through the sliding doors. I looked around at the space that was somehow an even bigger space than the meeting room. 

Large robotic creatures, similar to the one I saw in the field on my first day, were attached to pipes and cords along the wall. They were all different colors, but the one that stood out the most was a red, white, and yellow machine which sort of looked like a leopard compared to the others which took a more human form. 

"What's that?" I asked, pointing to it. 

"That's a prototype of Zero Two's Strelizia in its stampede mode, it is far from finished, and of course we can't power it until Zero Two returns, but it's something we have been working on," Hachi said, which is when I noticed a few workers below us on the metal bridge. 

"Let's continue with the tour!" Nana clapped her hands together with a smile.