Secrets unrivalled - Darling In The Franxx

Part 6 - Suffering

Zero Two awakens in her bed, she is full of sweat and tears.
"You're awake" a voice beside her says.
It's Ichigo, she holds a cold wet towel and pats it on Zero Two's forehead.

"You were sweating so I thought I'd grab a cold towel" she explains.
She and Ichigo are the only ones in the room and it seems like she is in the hospital quarters judging by the environment and the beeps of the machine next to her.

"Where's my darling?" She asks, she sits up holding the cold towel to her forehead.
Ichigo puts her head down.

"Actually, we were hoping you'd fill us in" she says as she stares down at her shaken hands.

Of course, They have no idea what happened because I was too busy mucking around instead of finding the control room to open the door for them.

"It's okay, you don't have to talk about it now" Ichigo says.
Zero Two doesn't say anything, her exhausted looks says it all.

"Whenever you're ready, come see us in the living room" Ichigo gets up from the chair.
"Nana will let you out of here any time you want"

Nana enters the room following Ichigo exiting.

"How are you feeling?" Nana asks.

Zero Two touches her eye, it feels bruised and swollen and she has a headache. Her wrists have red hand imprints on them.

"How long was I asleep for?" She rubs her eyes.

"A few hours" Nana replies.
"We couldn't wake you, they injected you with a sleeping serum"
The room stays silent.

"So it wasn't a dream" she says as she looks at her bruised imprinted wrists.

"When you're ready, we'd like to hear what had occurred in that side of the plantation" says Nana

"You took a good beating"

Nana sits an bright red apple and a blue lollipop beside on the table.

"Take your time"
Nana leaves the room, the tension in the air is immense. No one knows why such events occurred or what happened to Hiro. Everyone is quiet and are waiting to hear the news.

What do I tell them? What do I say?
She knows she has to tell them the truth, it's the right thing to do but she doesn't want to.

Why would they inject darling with klaxosaur blood? It doesn't make sense?

Zero Two looks to her side, she sees her lollipop. Sweets have always reminded her of Hiro, it signifies a big part of her and her Darlings first encounter.
She unwraps the wrapping from the top and sucks the blue lollipop. Tears are streaming down her face.

I won't let darling turn into a monster, I won't allow it!

She gets up out of the hospital bed and walks out of the closed room, she heads to the main living room where she sees everyone sitting there waiting for her.

"Guys" she says

"I have something important to tell you"