A blue orb hung faintly in Hiro's vision as he blinked himself awake, as thought he'd been staring at a bright light. Checking his clock, he saw that it was nearly time to get up anyway, so he dragged himself out of bed and cancelled the alarm before it went off. Still reflecting on this latest dream, he nearly ran into Cho as he entered the hallway, heading toward the kitchen to help make breakfast.

They bounced off each other and pushed against the wall to steady themselves. Cho laughed lightly. "Wow, odd to see you up early, huh?"

Hiro shrugged noncommittally. Cho tried to spark his interest again, "You heading to help with breakfast, too?"

This at least got a verbal response, but little more. "Yeah."

Cho sighed slightly and followed him to the kitchen.

…

"As I mentioned yesterday, we planned to run Doppelsoldner tests today. Those plans have been confirmed." Septimus managed not to visibly cringe at the cheering this deadpan announcement elicited.

The teenagers filed out of the briefing room with more alacrity than they had displayed the day before. Even the usual horseplay in the locker rooms was at a minimum, as they promptly headed back out. Since they didn't have an eighth member yet, the piloting pairs were still in flux, but the first round of tests were usually left up to the pilots. Cho quickly claimed Hiro, of course, and the twins locked high fived excitedly before rushing off to claim one of the behemoths for their testing. Chad sighed resignedly as Song quietly moved into orbit behind him. Almost in spite of his expertise with the Einherjar, his ability to synchronize with his fellow pilots remained the lowest within the squads. Song was on the low end of the squad as well, and the fact that they were consistently paired together was likely not helping their scores.

This obviously left Misha as the odd man out, but she smiled and waved Cho ahead; the squad took turns on sitting out the first round, so she'd known it was her turn before the day had even started.

Cho and Hiro settled into the cockpit of the as yet unnamed Doppelsoldner. Once permanent pilot assignments were made, the pairs would be allowed to name their units. Unlike the cockpit of the Einherjar, which was tightly built around the single pilots seat, the Doppelsoldner's cockpit was far more open. It had to be, to incorporate controls and displays visible to both pilots. The pilots' seats were next to each other, with a single extended console centered between them.

Hiro and Cho settled into their seats as the hatch closed them off from the outside world. Cho was as focused as Hiro for once, not attempting any small talk. They both grasped onto the central control yoke with one hand, with Cho studiously avoiding their hands touching. They then engaged the robot's startup sequence with their other hand, and closed their eyes.

-Doppelsoldner systems online-

-Synchronizing pilot- to-pilot interface-

-Stabilizing at 73/27-

Cho winced slightly as Hiro's presence invaded her mind. He was by far the strongest emitter on the team, which was both a strength and his greatest weakness as a Doppelsoldner pilot. 25% was the minimum ratio to be able to remain conscious for the synchronization with the robot itself, and Hiro unconsciously pushed hard enough to put his partners near that borderline.

-Synchronizing pilot-system interface.-

-Stabilizing at 64%-

On the other hand, that same power meant that he and his partner would achieve a higher responsiveness from their vehicle, as well.

Calling up a display, the other pairings numbers were shown compared to theirs for Cho to review. The twins were as usual close to an optimal 50/50 with each other, but as a pair they seemed to have some difficulty pushing the envelope with the mecha itself, hovering around a 50% there as well. Chad and Song seemed to have the worst of both worlds; they'd managed a pilot imbalance nearly as bad as Hiro's, but without the system synch to back it up.

Unlike with the Einherjar, the larger mechs remained locked down. The pilot connections remained tenuous at best, and having an active mech of that size shut down could be dangerous to the pilots themselves and to the carrier, and recovering them was no simple task, either. That had advantages of its own, however, as the first simulation replaced the static view of the inside of the hangar. Simulations could create far more interesting encounters than exercises in space, and the Doppelsoldners could handle much more exciting and innovative virtual battles.

In short order, though, the first round was finished and the partner selections began again. Chad elected to sit out the next round, and, after Cho gave her a warning glare, Misha paired up with Kato and Cho with Cein, leaving Song and Hiro as the last pair. Chad pulled out his PDA and pulled up a technical manual for one of the mechas, yet again searching for a system-based solution while he waited.

…

"What is your desire, little one?"

Zero Two stumbled back a step, then squared her shoulders and asked, "who… what are you?"

"What is your desire?"

The voice was insistent, and a dull ache began to build behind Zero Two's eyes. Looking around, was it just her imagination, or had the walls of the cavern grown closer? For the first time she could remember, a note of fear crept into her voice, "W-why do you want to know?

What is your desire?"

Clearly, the creature would not answer her own questions. The pulsing in her head grew stronger, making it hard to think. Maybe if she answered, it would answer her questions, too?

"I… I want to see him again. See Hiro again."

"What is your desire?"

She could feel a change in the voice. It had recognized her answer. Then why was it still asking the same question? The headache became blinding. She needed to answer again. Properly. Her first answer had lacked something.

This time, she cried out clearly, "I want to be with Hiro!"

"What do you require?"

A brief surge of relief went through her when the creature's question changed. Her response had worked. The ache subsided slightly as well. She was compelled to continue. "I need to get onto the carrier."

That wasn't what it wanted. The pain began to ratchet up again, and Zero Two bit her lip so hard she tasted blood. "I have to get back into the Doppelsoldner program?"

She could feel that that one was almost right, but the pain grew on.

"I need to be able to pilot!"

Zero Two collapsed with a gasp as the pain vanished. Her vision cleared as well, and she could now be certain that the walls had indeed closed in on her. She could feel a massive, eternally slow heartbeat through the floor. It felt as though the creature's thoughts and she answered its next question before it could finish echoing through her mind, "What…"

"Anything."

"…will…"

"Anything!"

"…you…"

"I'll give up anything!" Zero Two found herself on her feet again, shrieking.

That seemed to satisfy it, and it asked what she knew was the final question.

"Even your self?"

Her voice sounded hoarse after shouting at the top of her lungs, but there was no hint of hesitation as she rasped out a, "Yes."

She coughed once, her voice spent. Then she felt an impact, and she coughed again, and blood spurted from her mouth. A long blue spike protruded from her chest, reaching from a gap in the wall of scales.

…

Hiro jerked upright in his bunk, shouting in distress. Coming to his senses, he looked at his outstretched hand, which had been reaching for something even in his sleep. Cold sweat covered his body, but a haze seemed to cover his mind as soon as he tried to grasp at the fading dream. All he could remember was the girl, collapsing in a boneless heap. He had scrambled out of bed and stepped into the hall before reality caught up to him. Even if this was more than a dream, there was nothing he could do. He was on a carrier in earth orbit, unable to leave. Even if he could, he didn't know where she was.

He didn't even know who she was. So why was he dreaming about her? Why did his chest feel tight seeing her in danger?

"Are you okay? Did you have another dream?" Cho appeared around the corner, hair still mussed from sleep.

Hiro blinked, jerked out of his own thoughts. Cho frowned slightly when she saw his hand drop from where it had been on his chest.

"I'm fine. Just a dream again."

"You've been having those more lately. Was… was it about that girl again?" The look on Hiro's face was all Cho needed for an answer, and her fists clenched by her side.

"Do you know who she is? Someone you knew back home?

A strange expression crossed Hiro's face, somewhat a frown, before he hesitantly responded, "Yeah, I think so."

"You think so? How can you not…" Cho choked on the last of her words as Hiro looked at her levelly.

Turning to return to her own room, she gave a forcedly causual-looking wave, and told Hiro, "Try not to wake me up again, okay?" before accelerating as soon as she was out of sight.

…

While it still elicited some cheers, the excitement of doing Doppelsoldner drills for the second day in a row was not as high.

After exiting the lockers, they quickly paired off once again. It was Hiro's turn to sit out the first round, so Cho once again found herself paired with Cein, Misha with Kato, and Chad once again found himself paired with Song without her seeming to make her will known at all. Things proceeded smoothly through the first set of exercises, and Cho tried not to think about how Hiro's absence was a likely contributor to that.

The reunion for the second round involved the usual jockeying for partners. With Kato sitting out, Misha once again grinned evilly before moving toward Hiro, giving joking gesture when a glaring Cho beat her to the punch.

Hiro and Cho settled into the cockpit again, and Cho gave him a smile. "Let's see if we can beat yesterday's numbers, okay?"

Hiro seemed lost in thought, barely acknowledging her comments, so she asked, "Still thinking about that dream, huh?"

Hiro smiled sheepishly and responded with "Yeah, a little. Guess I should focus on the task at hand, right?" before quickly buckling himself in and beginning the startup proceedured.

-Doppelsoldner systems online-

-Synchronizing pilot- to-pilot interface-

The graphic showing their synchronization fluctuated wildly, then began to settle. But as it did, it suddenly changed to a lurid red color

-Abnormal synchronization detected. Pilot below threshold-

Cho bit her lip and tightened her grip on the controls, trying for will herself toward Hiro's consciousness, towards a usable ratio.

-Abnormal synchronization detected. Pilot below threshold-

No good. After the third time the computer repeated its warning, they were required to abort, and Cho gave a frustrated sigh and flipped the kill switch.

-Synchronization aborted, Doppelsoldner systems shutting down.-

Septimus instructed the other two pilots to proceed with the training exercise as the two exited the robot mere minutes after entering.

Hiro bowed his head slightly. "Sorry for messing things up again."

Cho sighed and patted his shoulder, replying, "No, it's fine. I was just hoping things would stay better after your last treatment, for once."

Hiro leaned against a wall, hanging his head. "Yeah, me too. I guess I need to talk to Doctor Sara again."

Cho started to speak again, but then stopped, deciding instead to just lean against the wall next to him.

…

Zero Two's eyes opened again, which was odd. Hadn't she just died? Looking down, the spike that had impaled her was gone, but her shirt was ripped. So it hadn't been a dream. There was also a dull ache coming from her chest, and she felt between her breasts, and froze. Sitting up and pulling up her shirt, she stared at the angry red boil the size of an outstretched hand. It pulsed like a second heart, and bulging veins seemed to be spreading from it, along her skin, before her eyes. She looked around in a panic, only to find herself staring into the same massive eye. Pain stabbed through her as she stood up and faced it. "What did you do to me?"

A different voice spoke within her mind this time, with no component that she could physically hear. It sounded like a young girl, but she felt a motherly warmth within it as well, and the power behind it dwarfed that of the mountain-deep voice from before.

"I have restored you, child."

"W-what?" Zero Two felt like she was about to break down. This was no time for riddles.

Images appeared in her mind. A glimpse of a woman, possibly the speaker, came first. Though she had white hair and dusk-colored skin, her slight build was very similar to Zero Two's own mother. Then she saw herself, but different. The apparition was wearing a uniform that she'd never seen before, and as she watched, the image pulled off the cap it had been wearing, revealing two red horns.

"You were fractured. Incomplete. A part of you was missing when you returned."

"Returned? From where?"

"Tell me, child, do you know why you seek him?"

This was something Zero Two had considered before, but she had never found a satisfactory answer. Seeming to read her mind, the voice sounded again, "You could not know. Your memories remain fragmented. I cannot restore them for you, you must reclaim them. Then your synthesis will reach its end."

"What are you an 'echo' of?" Zero Two asked, but broke off at another flood of images. The strange girl, or maybe just her, and a boy just like Hiro. Together, as she was not with Hiro. As each scene flashed by, they seemed more and more familiar. When she saw them piloting some strange mecha together, she understood what the beast had been looking for in questioning her.

"So that girl, it's me. But how?" The last image, of the same dusky woman fading into light, prompted another question, "and what are you? I just saw you… die?"

"I am but a fragment of her. When I granted those two my power, an echo of me remained behind, which is what is before you now. I felt my child's soul split from her body, piloting the great weapon, and so I held on, refusing to fade so that I could be a beacon for their souls."

"So, I'm…" Zero Two trailed off.

"Correct. Her soul inhabits your body. But you are fully human, and she was not. I have given you the last vestige of my essence. Knowing the VIRM where not stuck a fatal blow, I called for you, to give you the last vestige of my power."

"Why?"

"The two of you have defied fate twice. The VIRM are virtually unstoppable; you will have to defy it once again. But you are not ready. I ask again, why do you seek him?"

That question again. "Because he is important to me."

"And why is that? A boy you barely know, years ago. There is no reason the you standing before me would remain so attached. And yet you do. Look deeper. What is Hiro to you?"

Zero Two looked down at her own hands, then recoiled. The tendrils spreading from her chest had reached her wrists, and sweat, unnoticed until now, dripped from her face and hands. Whatever gift had been given to her, it seemed like it was as likely to kill her as help her.

Despite her sweat, an icy calm settled over Zero Two. She closed her eyes, searching for the intuition that had led her there that day. That had led her to Hiro in the first place, all those years ago. Then, without opening her eyes, she found herself face to face with… herself. The horned girl she'd whose life had just been shared with her. Was it this girl that had been pulling her forward all these years? The girl smiled, and so did she, a perfect mirror of each other.

A third voice spoke in Zero Two's mind, and this time it was utterly familiar. She opened her eyes, and they flashed as though to light up the dark cavern. The angry red lines across her body faded even more quickly than they'd appeared, and the second pulsing she felt on her chest faded, or perhaps matched to her own heartbeat. She looked down again to see that her chest had returned to its original state, without even a scar to show where she'd been impaled.

Looking back up, the apparition of the last Klaxosaur smiled at her, and she smiled back. She'd found her answer, and the voice within her sang out in concert as she shouted, "He is my Darling!"

…

Zero Two felt slightly melancholy as she rode the platform back up to the surface. After her declaration, the Klaxosaur's remnant had congratulated her, and then crumbled. It felt as though she'd lost something, even though she'd only spent a short time there. She was sure, though, that with this pilgrimage she'd gained… something, which would let her prove her ability to pilot.

Reaching the entrance to the cave, she stood in stunned silence for a moment. Despite the time, according to her PDA, it was quite dark outside. Massive thunderclouds had rolled in, despite the supposed desert conditions. A light rain had already started, and it quickly escalated into a heavy downpour. A sudden urge overcame her, and she dropped her bag in the cave entrance, and leapt from the cave, letting the clean rain wash the sweat and stress away.

…

Zero Two's return trip was much shorter than the trip out, because she wasn't returning to the same place. Her goal was only to reach the nearest city, rather than returning all the way home. She wasn't ready to face her family yet, and she needed to take care of the next step; getting herself back into the Doppelsoldner program.

That presented a challenge because she'd already been tested. While she was certain that the results would be different this time, there was no way to convince the testers, or anyone else for that matter, of what had just happened to her, or how that would affect the results. Which meant she would have to take the decision out of their hands.

…

Waiting for the cover of night, Zero Two spent the last of her money on some food. She'd always had a sweet tooth, and her cravings were worse than usual. Rather than buying a meal, she ended up buying a bunch of candy. Once it was fully dark, she popped the last piece of hard candy into her mouth, and lightly crossed the street to the SDF office, virtually identical to the one in her own city. Hopefully the interior layout was the same as well. The front door was doubtlessly locked, so she walked around to the sides and rear of the building. There was a small loading dock, but the bay door was properly secured. When she got to driver entrance next to it, though, she got lucky. The door appeared closed from a distance, and had swung far enough for the timed alarm to be inactive, but the latch hadn't engaged with the doorframe, and it opened when she pulled.

Once inside, she was obviously in an unfamiliar place, well away from the paths she'd traveled in the other site, but she followed the wall past the loading dock until she found another interior door. Finding it unlocked, she quickly went through it, and found herself in a corridor. In short order, that led her to an intersection with some hallway labels. Trying to recall the route she'd been led down before without thinking about some of the other events of her last visit to an SDF facility, she set off. Despite a few short missteps, she quickly found herself before an all too familiar door.

This door was locked, with a card reader built into the handle. There was probably a security system as well. Zero Two swallowed the last of the piece of candy, then pulled a chair out of a nearby office. There was an observation window next to the door, but she'd have to act fast once she broke it. Steeling her resolve on final time, she smashed the chair into the window with all her might. Spiderweb cracks formed in the glass, but it held for the moment. With the second strike the chair broke loose from her grasp as it went through the window, and she quickly followed it onto a raised platform in the two-story room.

Searching briefly, Zero Two quickly found what she was looking for. Dashing to a central control area, she pulled on a large lever labeled 'Lights', then another indicating that it turned on the simulators. She then moved past several simulators, heading for one set apart from the others. She thought she could faintly hear sirens in the distance as she opened the hatch and slid into the mocked up cockpit.

She hesitated slightly when she looked at the controls, forced to relive one of the lowest points in her life as she recalled the startup procedure from memory.

-Doppelsoldner simulation online-

-Emulating pilot-to-pilot synchronization-

…

Trace was in a foul as he entered the facility. Apparently there'd been some kind of break-in. He'd been called, right after sitting down for dinner, to come in and check for sabotage or something. The police had only been there for a few minutes longer than he had.

Now he was waiting in the breakroom adjacent to the testing bay. They'd rushed him out here, then told him to sit tight while they finished searching the area. He made himself a cup of coffee, since it looked like it was going to be a long night.

He was finally allowed into the bay, once they'd confirmed that there was only one culprit. From some chatter he'd overheard, it sounded like someone had broken in to take one of the simulators for a joyride. Shaking his head, he headed for the control center to run a diagnostic before he started running physical tests. His terminal was already on, and the screen was showing the readouts from a test. It seemed whoever had broken in had turned on one of the machines, and actually managed to start a test. Trace sighed as he saw that the simulator in question was the Doppelsoldner testbed; of course they'd pick the most expensive one to potentially break.

*Clank*

Trace's coffee cup slammed into the table and some of the contents sloshed over the side, as he finally noticed the numbers from the test.

-Emissive capability: 28%-

-Receptive capability: 87%-

"Holy shit."

Trace turned from his desk and rushed to the nearest officer, asking where they'd taken their culprit, his earlier annoyance completely forgotten.

…

The Delta squad mates gazed around in wonder. The Bifrost was busy at the best of times, but now it looked like an anthill that had been kicked. The cargo bay bustled as crates of supplies where brought onboard.

"Is the carrier getting ready to leave?" Misha asked.

Cein grinned smugly. "Oh, you haven't heard?"

"Heard what?" Misha narrowed her eyes.

"They've found an eighth Doppelsoldner pilot."

Misha and Cho gasped, and Kato followed up on his brother's statement, "Now that we'll be at full complement, they're ready to take the Bifrost out on its first real deployment. They know the general direction of the VIRM presence, so we'll be heading that way. Rumor is that we'll be shipping out in a week and a half. I suspect they'll tell us for sure tomorrow."

"If they're announcing the departure tomorrow, then why'd they ask us to come here right now?" Cho asked.

Chad, for once, spoke up, "Presumably they'll be introducing us to the new pilot. When we came to the bay, I saw that there was a passenger shuttle on the inbound board, among the cargo shuttles. Speaking of which…" he trailed off meaningfully as he pointed through the viewport.

A much smaller shuttle than the others currently buzzing around was approaching. It had a much more rounded design than the boxy cargo haulers, with viewports dotting the side. Everyone took a moment to gaze at it, but then turned back. Hiro's gaze lingered longer than everyone else's, attracting Cho's attention. "Hiro?" she asked, not even sure how to put her question to words.

Hiro finally turned away as well, "It's nothing, just thought I saw something for a second."

As the group speculated about the new pilot, the shuttle approached and docked. The airlock hissed as pressure was equalized between the two artificial environments, and then the hatch opened. Septimus called out, and the pilots snapped to attention. For once their latent sense of professionalism held, and they stood rigidly as several uniformed men walked through, escorting someone else, though their eyes all locked onto her. The tightly marching men walked forward, then stopped in front of the line of teenage pilots and turned to face them, and the pilots finally got a good look at the girl who would likely be joining their unit. When she turned to face them, her gaze casually wandered over them, obviously unconcerned with military courtesy.

Her eyes locked onto one of the pilots, and she started forward. One of the men escorting her tried to reach out, but she evaded it with ease.

"Hiro!" Darling! Another voice shouted along with her as she leapt into the air. Cho, the other pilots, Septimus, and her escort could only watch on in stunned silence as Zero Two wrapped her arms around Hiro's body and mashed her lips against his in a deep kiss.

…

Author's Notes:

Okay, I'm still not entirely happy with my Zero Two and the last Klaxosaur bits (especially the second half), but I just had to power through it so I could get the chapter out. You should see what my first attempt looked like. It was bad enough I just moved it to the boneyard and started fresh. I will almost certainly return to this chapter when I can figure out how to do that part in a less ham-fisted manner.