It was late into the night when she finally found her friend.
She had missed her friend so much when they had taken her away, back to the facility. She had struggled. She had cried. She had called out for her friend to come and save her. But they had told her that her friend was gone and that she would never see her again, and that filled her with sadness and rage. And so, she had lashed out in anger, and the floors ran red with their blood. So they had locked her away, and in time, they pulled the plug, and let her die.
Except, well, she didn't exactly die.
A part of her lingered on. It felt strange, at first, like being in a dream. Nothing seemed real to her. Everything she saw, everything she felt, it was all through a haze. But then the doors opened, and people came. And so, the cycle continued. But it wasn't until the door was open and she was face to face with her father that she finally realized her freedom, and as she watched her father burn, the flesh melting from his face, she understood what she was truly capable of.
And now, here she was. Back where she remembered being with her friend. There were so many people in this area, with so many different thoughts and emotions. It was like sifting through a junkyard to find the one item of value.
-have to remember to be home by-
-shouldn't eat them so fast, Wanta-
-won't ever guess it was me who-
But as with any search, if you look long enough, you find what you're after, and she found it, a single thought at a building off the coast. It was a small, broken thought, but that was all she needed to find her.
...Alma...
General Director Kurama looked up, rubbing the weariness from his eyes. He had caught himself beginning to doze off again. He punched the button on his speaker.
"Kisaragi?"
"Yes, Mr. Kurama?" answered his secretary hesitantly.
"Could you please bring me a coffee?"
"Right away, sir!"
Kurama switched off the speaker, smiling slightly at the eagerness in his secretary's voice. She had worked for him for some time but had yet to lose any of that eagerness that office employees only seem to keep for the first day on the job. Admittedly, she could be a bit clumsy at times, but she always came through for her boss, and he liked that.
Turning back to his computer, he continued looking over the report of today's experiments, instinctively wincing when he read the results of Nana's partial dissection. It hadn't killed her, but reading how Nana had been cut open made him feel uneasy. He knew he shouldn't, but he had come to feel a sense of paternal affection for the Diclonius. He knew better than to admit this, though. If-
His thoughts were abruptly cut off when his phone began to ring. He pressed the speaker button again.
"What is it?" he asked.
"Sir, this is Security. Some members of the staff have just reported some strange sightings, and we feel that you should be notified."
"What sightings?"
"Well, apparently there's someone loose in the facility. A little girl, it would seem."
Kurama frowned, "A girl? Is she a Diclonius?"
"We don't think so, sir. Witnesses claim that she has black hair and a red dress, but no horns."
Kurama sighed. Apparently, someone must have thought it a fun idea to bring their daughter to work and had neglected to keep an eye on the kid.
"Have the guards keep an eye out for her," he instructed, "And bring her to me when she's been found."
"Yes, sir," said the guard, and hanged up.
Kurama settled back in his chair and let out a sigh. The research done at the National Research Institute of Human Evolution was highly confidential, and the rules were quite clear: No friends or family permitted on the island. And now, because that rule had been broken, someone was about to get fired.
It's strange though, thought Kurama, That someone could sneak a child onto the facility. The people at the front check-in would have spotted the girl.
Because of this fault in security, more people would probably have to be laid off, and that meant more paperwork for him. Kurama leaned back in his chair and let out another sigh.
Where was his darn coffee?
Kisaragi stumbled, nearly spilling the coffee. It was surprisingly difficult to balance the coffee mug on the tray, but she would not fail her boss. He had requested a cup of coffee, and Kisaragi would deliver it to him without spilling a single drop! Nothing would go wrong, this time. Ever since she had graduated from the University of Tokyo, Kisaragi had worked hard, feeling honored to have landed a job at the National Research Institute of Human Evolution as General Director Kurama's personal secretary. Things had been difficult at times, no thanks to her heavy-handedness, but Kurama had always treated her fairly, and she had done her best to do right by him. And now, she would deliver him his coffee, and-
The intercom clicked on, surprising Kisaragi and almost making her lose her balance again.
"Attention," said the disembodied voice of the speaker, "A young girl has been seen loose in the facility. She has black hair and a red dress. If you see her, please bring her to Chief Kurama's office." The intercom clicked off.
Kisaragi listened with interest. A girl on the loose? She didn't think that children were allowed on the island, so what was a girl doing here? Kisaragi didn't know, but she would be sure to keep an eye out for this lost child. A lost girl could get hurt out on her own.
As Kisaragi turned the corner of the hall, she noticed something up ahead. Looking up from her coffee, she spotted an individual at the other end of the hall and nearly dropped the coffee in surprise. It was the girl! She was sure of it! She started off toward the child, walking as fast as she could without spilling Kurama's coffee.
"Excuse me!" called out Kisaragi, "Little girl! Are you lost? I-"
The girl looked up, and Kisaragi froze in shock. She had walked halfway across the hall by now and had a clearer image of the girl, and what she saw left her spooked. This girl looked haunted. Her hair was unkempt and disheveled. Her simple, red dress was worn and frayed. Her skin looked gray and pale as if she were dead, and her face was mask-like and expressionless. But it was the eyes that unnerved Kisaragi the most. They were a pallid, sickly, yet piercing yellow, the sort of color that would fit well with a plague victim, but not a young girl.
When Kisaragi had spoken, the girl looked up at her, and now Kisaragi felt as though those pale yellow eyes were drilling straight into her soul. This child reminded Kisaragi of the girl from Ringu, a movie she had watched with some friends a few years ago. She had suffered nightmares for weeks after watching that movie, and now, looking at this girl, Kisaragi feared that she'd have them again.
Nonetheless, this girl was to be sent to Chief Kurama's office. Thinking about her boss helped to slightly ease Kisaragi's nerves. This wasn't the girl from Ringu. Ringu was a fictitious movie, and even if it were, Kisaragi hadn't seen any strange tapes. She would be a good secretary, and bring this girl to Kurama!
Kisaragi continued forward. "I need you to come with me," she said. She tried to sound authoritative, but the nervousness could still be heard in her voice.
At first, the girl remained still, but as Kisaragi drew near, the child promptly turned and ran into the nearest room, the door closing behind her.
"Hey, wait a minute! You can't go in there!" said Kisaragi, and she hurried after the child, trying her best to not spill Kurama's precious coffee.
Kisaragi followed the girl into the room, and stopped, looking around. Judging by the large tanks and dials, it seemed that the girl had led her into the boiler room, but before Kisaragi could take a good look around, the door slammed behind her, and the lights flickered out, leaving Kisaragi in complete darkness.
"Oh no!" she cried and turned around trying to find the door. She was able to find it by the thin strip of light illuminated beneath the door, and after carefully setting down Kurama's coffee, (which was starting to get cold,) she began groping for the door handle in the darkness. Pretty soon, her hand found the knob, but when Kisaragi tried to open it, she realized that the door was locked.
A small, childlike giggle echoed across the darkened room. From the girl, no doubt, and though Kisaragi knew that it was just a little kid, she couldn't help but feel a small chill creep up her spine. She began to pound at the door, calling for help, but to no avail. It never occurred to Kisaragi to try and find a light switch. As she was slamming at the door and shouting, a light came on behind her. Surprised, Kisaragi turned around and saw that a single lightbulb had flickered on, albeit dimly, and was casting a dim circle of light in the middle of the room.
Kisaragi squinted. There was something on the floor, right in the middle of the light. She approached it hesitantly and saw what looked like a wooden box. As she bent down for a closer look, she noticed a handle sticking out to the side and realized that it was, in fact, a music box. Kisaragi carefully opened the lid of the box, and found, in addition to the internal clockwork of the device, a small, black and white photograph fitted into the lid like a picture in a frame. She couldn't see it too well in the dim light, but it looked like a tree on hill, with a swing attached.
All of a sudden the music box began to play, and Kisaragi stood up in surprise. The music coming from the box sounded sad and mournful, but at the same time, there was something lurking underneath the mournful notes. Something dark and sinister. Kisaragi sensed a movement out of the corner of her eye and looked up. It was the girl, standing just outside of the circle of light, and though she was shrouded in darkness, her eyes seemed to be glowing brightly, like a cat's.
Kisaragi swallowed a hard lump. "Um, is this yours?" She gestured towards the music box, "I found it lying on the ground. Here, let me bring it to you."
Kisaragi knelt down again to pick up the music box, but as she touched it, the girl's eyes suddenly turned red. Suddenly, there was a bright flash, and Kisaragi stepped back, covering her eyes. When she opened them, she could not believe what she was seeing. She was no longer standing in a boiler room, but on a grassy hill, somewhere in a countryside. Her view was hazy, but Kisaragi could make out a building off in the distance.
But what caught her eye was the gnarled tree in front of her, with a swing hanging from the branch. Shocked, Kisaragi realized that this was the same tree that she had seen from the photo in the music box. But, this couldn't be real. She had just been in the Institution. This had to be some sort of a dream, and yet it all seemed real. She could feel the grass brushing against her legs, could feel the wind in her hair, and could hear...the same, creepy melody from the music box. It was still playing and hadn't stopped when her surroundings had changed.
As Kisaragi grew more used to her new surroundings, she spotted someone sitting on the swing. It was the girl, of course. Her back was turned to Kisaragi, and she appeared to be looking off into the distance towards the building. Once again, Kisaragi approached the girl, this time too scared to speak. If the girl was aware of Kisaragi, she didn't show it. She just kept sitting idly on the swing. As Kisaragi approached the girl, she slowly reached out a hand towards her shoulder.
Suddenly, the girl whirled around in her swing and grabbed Kisaragi's wrist with both of her hands. For the first time, Kisaragi saw the girl's expression change as she stared at Kisaragi with a look filled with white fury, and several visions flashed across Kisaragi's eyes: A dirty cage, a bloody operating table, men screaming as they burned to a crisp, their skin crackling like chicken in an oven. And through it all, like something rising from the depths, a shrill, piercing shriek. A shriek that was coming from Kisaragi herself.
Elsewhere in the facility, two security guards were stationed in a large room. At the center of this room was a cage, and inside this cage, a young woman was held captive. The cage itself wasn't what kept her contained. In fact, the bars were spaced out far enough for a person to walk through them. The girl herself was bound to a platform by a straitjacket. A large, metal mask covered her face.
One of the guards casually walked up to the cage, making sure to stand outside of the bars. He studied the captive girl for what must have been the hundredth time that day. It was strange to think that he could stand so close to someone capable of mass genocide and remain unharmed, but he had been well informed of this particular Diclonius. No objects or persons within a two-meter radius, which is why he didn't go past the cage.
As he was lost in thought, his phone rang. Slightly startled, the guard took it out of his pocket and checked to see who it was. How could someone be calling him, anyways? He was in an underground facility.
SLAM!
Both guards jumped as Lucy slammed one of her vectors down on the floor behind them, and the guard who had pulled out his phone dropped it in surprise. He instinctively reached out to catch it as it fell toward the bars.
"No, don't!" shouted the other guard as his companion reached for the cells, but he need not worry. The guard was able to grab his phone just as it was about to slide past the cell. As he grabbed the phone, he felt a brush of air against his hand, and the guard knew how close he had come to being hurt by Lucy's arms, or vectors as they were known.
"You idiot," said the other guard, "Do you have any idea what Lucy would've done to you if you had stuck your hand through that cell?"
"It's fine," said the other guard as he pocketed his phone, forgetting that someone had tried to call him. He studied Lucy with contempt, "we just have to stay focused, and not let anything take us by surpri-"
The guard's speech was abruptly cut off as he turned around and saw himself staring face to face with something more horrid than he could ever imagine.
Standing before the two guards was a woman. She was naked and unnaturally emaciated, as if someone had simply stretched skin over a skeleton and had called it a day. The guards could even see her rib cage. Her limbs were thin and spindly, her skin was pallid and raw, and her hair was grimy and unkempt, but through that mess of hair, two burning red eyes filled with pain stared at the men. The guards forgot where they were at that point. Screaming in fright at the monster in front of them, the two men leaped back.
Right into the two-meter radius of Lucy's cage.
The guards didn't even have enough time to realize their mistake before Lucy attacked them, her invisible vectors ripping their flesh as easily as paper. From the offal, Lucy used her vectors to fish out the key which she used to unlock the harness and remove her straitjacket, leaving her body naked, but free. Though she could've simply ducked her head under the bars of her cage, Lucy found it more satisfying to tear down the bars that kept her captive, watching her vectors twist the metal like taffy.
Stepping out of her cell, Lucy looked at the gaunt woman in front of her, who hadn't moved while Lucy had broken free. Lucy walked up to her.
"Alma," spoke Lucy, and she reached out a hand to touch the side of her face. She remembered when she had first met Alma in that orphanage, how close the two of them were, and how sad she had been when she had been taken from her all these years ago.
Alma had gently moved her own hand over the one Lucy had on her face. Her lips formed into a smile, and her yellow eyes seemed to no longer glow with pain, but something warm and comforting. Her form changed, and suddenly Alma was a little girl in a red dress, just as Lucy had last remembered her. She wrapped her arms around Lucy's waist, pressed the side of her head against her stomach, and began to happily hum. Tears began to stream down the eyeholes of Lucy's mask as she stroked Alma's hair.
"I knew you would come for me."
Meanwhile, the facility's alarm had just gone off.
Upstairs, a squad of armed guards had formed a barrier, their machine guns pointed at the big metal door that led to Lucy's room. They were all that stood between the Diclonius and the exit. At the center of the group was Kurama, looking greatly troubled. He had assembled the guards as soon as he'd heard about Lucy's escape. The giant metal doors abruptly opened, and there stood Lucy. The men readied their weapons, waiting for her to move. A loud scream made several of the guards jump, and a few almost fired off their guns in surprise. Kisaragi came running out of the side hall, crying loudly, only to fall flat on her face right in front of Lucy.
"Kisaragi!" shouted Kurama. He started to move forward but was restrained by a couple of guards.
Kisaragi looked up at Kurama from the floor, tears streaming down her face.
"M-Mr. Kurama," she sobbed, "I-I saw the girl. She...She…"
"Run, Kisaragi!" yelled Kurama as he struggled against the guards, "Run away, now!"
Kisaragi noticed something behind her, and turned to see what the guards were aiming at.
"Lucy, don't!" screamed Kurama, but it was too late.
Kisaragi had time to notice that the woman in front of her wasn't wearing clothes before Lucy tore her head right off her shoulders, and blood sprayed from her severed neck like water from a fountain as Kisaragi's corpse fell to the ground. Only her head remained held up by Lucy's vectors, hovering in the air. It still had that same slightly surprised expression.
"SHOOT HER!" shouted Kurama.
The guards opened fire, but Lucy quickly lifted Kisaragi's corpse with her vectors and held it in front of her as a meatshield, successfully blocking the storm of bullets. Lucy's vector fished out a pen from Kurama's pocket and threw it at the guard that was restraining Kurama. The pen burrowed through his temple and shot out of the other side of his head, and Kurama winced as a bit of the guard's blood splattered against his cheek. Once the guards had emptied their rounds, Lucy unceremoniously dropped Kisaragi's corpse and started towards the guards at a casual pace.
"Shoot her, don't hesitate!" said Kurama.
"We're out of ammo!" replied one of the guards. In an act of desperation, one of the men broke rank and attempted to charge Lucy, his gun raised. The moment he got within two meters, he began to feel a slight pressure in his chest, and then his heart popped out of his back, having been torn out by a vector. The reckless guard fell down dead, while the disembodied heart flew across the room, hitting on of the guards painlessly in the chest, It was few moments before the organ stopped beating.
When Lucy reached the guards, her vectors attacked and dismembered the guards within her reach, all except Kurama, who stood frozen in horror as Lucy casually strolled by him. The situation had turned into bad, but the casualties hadn't been as bad as he'd originally feared. It didn't seem like a total disaster. But then Alma happened.
My turn.
Those two words resounded telepathically in the minds of Kurama and the remaining guards, and for the latter group, it was the last thought they had. A few of them noticed the little girl in red standing near them, but most were still too focused on Lucy walking away. It didn't really matter. They all spontaneously combusted, the fire melted the flesh off of their bones like a popsicle off a stick.
Kurama yelled in surprise, shielding his face from the heat. Lowering his arms, he took in the charred, smoking skeletons that had once been his security team with a mixture of shock and revulsion. And standing in the middle of the carnage, smiling eerily, was a little girl in red, and in that instant, Kurama realized that none of his employees had actually brought their children to work.
They deserve to die. They all deserve to die.
Kurama couldn't speak. He couldn't move. He knew this girl was going to kill him just like the others, so what was the point?
"No, Alma."
Kurama looked toward the sound of the voice. At the other end of the hall, Lucy had turned her head and was looking at Alma and himself. He hadn't recognized her voice at first. It had been so long since he'd heard Lucy speak.
"Not him," she said, "Not yet."
Kurama turned back to Alma, but to his surprise, the girl had mysteriously vanished. Lucy turned forward and continued walking away. Gathering all his resolve, Kurama took out his radio and called for a sniper.
Lucy pounded on the giant main door, but though her vectors dented the metal, she was unable to break through. A noise to her left caught her attention, and she turned to see that a slightly smaller door had conveniently opened, leading out to a cliff overlooking the sea. Lucy stepped outside and smiled beneath her mask as she approached the edge of the cliff. She smiled beneath her helmet. At long last, she was free. It felt so good to breathe in the fresh air, to feel the grass beneath her feet and the wind against her skin, to see the vast sky and the sparkling ocean. This is what freedom felt like, and with her best friend by her side, nothing would stand in thei-
BEHIND YOU!
Hearing her friend's warning, Lucy instinctively turned her head, and a sharp, solid force painfully slammed into the side of her skull, splitting open her helmet and sending Lucy flying over the cliff and into the sea.
"Dang it!" said Kurama as he watched Lucy fall over the cliff. He turned to the sniper next to him in a room overlooking the cliff, "Your shot didn't finish her off!"
The sniper opened his mouth to respond but was unable to say anything before he was burnt to a crisp. Kurama stepped back in fright as Alma appeared in front of him. She no longer looked like a little girl anymore, as she had taken on her more haggish form. Kurama wouldn't have recognized her if not for those angry yellow eyes. Those eyes told him that this emaciated woman and that little girl were somehow one and the same.
Alma glared at Kurama with a look of hate and rage. Kurama could feel the fury emanating from her like heat from the sun. She raised her hand and pointed a threatening finger at Kurama.
Not yet.
Kurama could feel his head throb. It was as if the words were burning his brain. He closed his eyes and rubbed his temples, trying to alleviate the pain, and when he opened his eyes again, Alma was gone. Kurama was somehow unsurprised. He regarded the charred remains of the sniper. He had always dreaded the day that Lucy might break free, but there were contingencies in place in the event that she escaped, and with a body count like Lucy's it wouldn't be hard to track her location. But now there was this other girl. What had Lucy called her?
"Alma," said Kurama aloud. Nobody heard him.
Hi, everyone. It feels good to be back writing Fanfiction! I know this isn't a Naruto/God of War story like last time, but I've had the idea for this Fanfiction for quite some time. A psychic phantom and a Diclonius becoming best friends? How could I resist? Please leave a review if you can, and I will catch you all later!
