Author's note: In the Manga version of Elfen Lied Lucy's real name is Kaede, and Lucy is typically referred to as the "killer". So I went with Kaede rather than Lucy, sorry for any confusion.
Chapter 1
Kaede look with a final glance at her true love. Kouta was so close yet was fading away from her fading vision. As she drifted away her entire soul yearned to be with him. she tried to stretch her hand, but it had already melted away. As she sunk deeper into the darkness she felt more alone than when she was running from home to home. In what seemed like a cruel joke, her only comfort was the voice that had driven her to betray Kouta. With only the voice and a veil of darkness that pressed on her like a vice grip, peace did not come. She tried screaming through the veil, but the darkness let no sound escape from her. The voice simply mocked every attempt she made to scream or cry making her situation utterly hopeless..
Kaede had no perception of time in the vast abyss, only the mocking taunts and laughter of the voice that had plagued her while she was alive. Previously Kaede thought she would obtain peace with death, but iit was just another method of torture forced to endure. In a quiet hush Kaede heard a voice, different from the murderous one she knew far to well. She tried to find it yet could only make out the blackness that was her hell. She tried to yell for it, but the darkness constricted her voice again. With a glimmer of hope visible the voice tried to make her more miserable, but Kaede ignored the insults and tried to move through the darkness to find the voice, but she could no longer hear it.
With the only thing that could possibly bring Kaede hope gone, she wished that she could disappear from the world, the darkness and the curse that was her blood. When her final gasps of hope left her, the darkness was melted away by a bright and colorful rainbow that looped around her. The bright light was so foreign to the darkness she had become accustomed to that she almost recoiled in fear, but she embraced the light and felt the light reinvigorating her. She felt her tormentor try and discourage her, but the light cast the voice back with the darkness. With the light came a voice that was so light and joyful that Kaede could not help but feel her soul brighten just by the contact.
"Kaede, though this is the first time you and I have met, I know of your pain and there is a way back. I am sending you to a place where you can find your way back to Kouta. It is up to you whether or not you succeed, but I do warn you that you will be much different when you arrive. Will you take my offer?"
Kaede was so invigorated by the rainbow looping around her that she could not even imagine saying no. When she replied the rainbow looped around her faster and the light was greatly intensified, and when she tried to look away the light grew even brighter until she was completely blinded. Before she was completely overtaken by the light she heard the voice say one last thing.
"Only you can determine your future, but you must overcome your greatest fear if you will succeed. Believe in yourself and you will find your goal is not that far out of your reach."
With that the light completely permeated her soul and she lost herself in the blinding colors.
When the light faded away she found herself lying on the ground. For some odd reason she felt different from when she had been alive. She tried to stand up and almost instantly fell down. Her arms and legs seemed to be shorter and did not bend as much. She looked at her hands and saw that they were hooves. She had a brief flash back when Kouta took her to the zoo, but quickly came back to reality and started to examine her body in a quick and frantic manner. Her arms and legs were turned into something like a pony and had grown a thick black coat. She tried to see if she had her horns, but even her face felt different. Not knowing what was a bump or not, she decided to find a mirror to see what she was. Carefully, she tried standing on two legs only to fall over.
After trying many attempts she managed to up the idea of standing up on two legs, and instead tried standing on all fours. For some reason it almost came naturally, but her legs were very unstable. With a strong effort she tried to look forward and see where she was going. When she looked up she lost her balance and fell over. Taking a break she looked around at where she was. She appeared to be deep in some forest she didn't recognize, with sounds of unfamiliar animals and filled with plants and trees she had not seen before. Stumbling, she got up again and headed forward not knowing where she was going or whether this was the correct way out.
With a loud snap she heard something moving behind her. Startled she instinctively turned around quickly only to lose her balance and fall over. She then heard a growl coming somewhere around her. She tried looking around and could see a flash of something moving off to her left. Kaede tried to summon her vectors to defend herself, but for some reason she could not feel them or summon them. Panicked, she tried to get up, but the sudden loss of her vectors caused her to loose focus and make her stumble back to the ground. She tried getting up again, but was distracted by a hot sticky breath in front of her.
Directly facing her was an orange and black striped creature that was growling menacingly. Kaede then felt tendrils of fear slowly rake her body into a stiff figure that would not move no matter how hard she tried. Kaede put all of her will to try and move herself, but the terror seized her heart and forced her hooves to stay put.. The creature was now so close that she could see individual strands of its fur. With the prospect of running away gone, Kaede closed her eyes hoping the end would be swift.
"Leave her alone!" Kaede looked up to see a purple unicorn with a brightly glowing horn charge at the beast. The beast seemed scared at the pony for some reason, but Kaede could not understand why. The horn then grew brighter and she saw the animal being raised and moved away. With the impending sense of death gone Kaede was stunned by the show of magic. She tried to think whether or not the pony used vectors, but she did not see any when the pony had charged the beast.
The pony came back as Kaede was pondering this and started to talk to her.
"Now why is a little filly like yourself wandering in the Everfree forest? Didn't your parents tell you its very dangerous in here?" the pony asked her. Kaede wasn't sure what she meant by "filly", and wondered if it had to do with her transformation.
"What do you mean by filly?" Kaede asked. The other pony looked surprised at her but then took on a look of skepticism.
"Well you of course, you're a young pony. Didn't you know that?"
"No, and how did you lift that beast?" With that response the other pony took on an even more skeptical and analytical tone.
"I'm a unicorn that has a gift in magic, and how do you not know what a filly is?", the pony then crept so close to Kaede that she started to get uncomfortable.
"May I ask what your doing?" Kaede asked. The other pony backed off and looked as though she was measuring her up.
"Well you seem to be a unicorn, but you have two horns which i didn't think was possible, yet you claim to be not a pony?" At the mention of horns Kaede thought that the voice would be back, but Kaede recalled that she wasn't a diclonius that was born to kill in this world. At least, she hoped she was truly reborn..
"I guess I just became one. You see I come from a different world where ponies cant talk, and where you walk on two legs." Kaede looked over at the pony and saw an even greater frown of skepticism and disbelief.
"That's quite a crazy ponytale you have there, but I cant quite leave you out here by yourself. Follow me and I'll take you somewhere safe. Oh and by the way my name is Twilight Sparkle what is yours?" Kaede looked up at Twilight and saw only a pony who was willing to help. Feeling that this was her only way out of the forest she decided it would be better if she went with her.
"Very well Twilight, I will follow you, but then I must find a way to get back to my home. My name is Kaede." Twilight seemed to smile a little more with this.
"OK Kaede, I do live in a library, so maybe you could find more about this 'different world' you come from."
The two, after a few more run in with wild beasts, reached the edge of the Ever free forest. Kaede noticing they were clearing the edge of the forest, trotted in front of Twilight.
"I would like to thank you for leading me out of the forest, but I can manage on my own from here out." She turned and headed away from the forest. Before she could get far, Twilight jumped out in front of her.
"So where are you headed?" Kaede tried to move around her but Twilight wouldn't let her go.
"I told you before to find a way back home now if you would excuse me," and with that she pushed back Twilight and headed off. Kaede got a little further when Twilight appeared in front of her in a flash of white light. Kaede jumped back, surprised at how Twilight appeared so suddenly. "How did you get in front of me!" Twilight simply pointed to where she was currently heading.
"So you know that over the next hill is a sheer cliff right?"
Why won't she get the hint Kaede thought to herself.
"Yes, I had planed to go that way the next trail I found." Kaede raised a hoof to the right somewhat wobbly. She seemed to get the hang of walking around on all fours a little better. Twilight seemed to almost smile at this and pointed the same direction.
"So you would have trotted over to an area infested with parasprites? I doubt that you would be able to find your way back, and even then which way would you go? I DID tell you I live in a library maybe you could at least TRY to find something more then a random direction to get to your 'home'. There has to be a book on this somewhere" Twilight began to mumble about what section she would start to find more about this other world.
Seeing this as an opportunity Kaede snuck off in the opposite direction that she had pointed at and hid in a nearby bush. Twilight paused from her world of books and noticed that Kaede had run off.
"Kaede? KAEDE! Great! That pony has no idea where she's going," With that Twilight galloped off in the direction that Kaede had pointed at. Kaede waited until she couldn't see or hear her and decided to head out in the opposite direction. She hoped that the other ponies wouldn't be as intrusive and try to stop her.
"AND SO THEN SHE PULLED OFF THE SONIC RAINBOOM!" Kaede froze and quickly ran into a nearby bush. Peaking out from the bush she saw a group of three ponies walking down the trail she was on. Though they were all talking joyfully, the pink one was loud enough for her to hear clear across the meadow. "OK I'll see you at my PARTY!" the pink pony waved as the other two trotted away.
These ponies are way to cheerful, it would be better if i avoided the lot of them for now, Kaede decided.
She watched as the pink one turned and trotted away from where she was hiding, thinking that the pink pony couldn't see her anymore, she decided to sneak past while her back was turned. When Kaede turned around she accidentally stepped on a recently fallen tree branch. Kaede turned around and looked to see if the pony noticed her at all. She didn't see the pony down the path and thought she had run to herself she turned around to become face to face with the pink pony.
"Hi I'm Pinkie Pie! Who are you? Your new here aren't you because I haven't seen you here before and I make it a personal note to now every pony that comes into Pony Ville and I have NEVER seen a pony with two horns..." the rest of the speech was garbled due to Kaede covering Pinkie Pie's mouth with both her hooves. Kaede didn't even notice that she had snuck up on her so easily.
Looks like ponies here also like to point out differences, Kaede bitterly thought to herself. I need to find some way to keep this pony quit. Twilight probably realized I went a different way by now.
"OK Pinkie, I'm going to let go here but I need you to be quite for a second" Kaede uncovered Pinkie's mouth for a second.
"..." The speech was once again interrupted by Kaede covering up Pinkie's mouth. Kaede silently prayed that every pony in this world was not like this one. With not much time until Twilight came looking this way Kaede thought of an idea to keep Pinkie quiet and help her as well.
"Hey Pinkie do you like games?" Pinkie began to hop up and down very excitedly while trying to scream something out and it was all Kaede could to to keep Pinkie quiet. "Do you know the game called spy?" Pinkie shook her head quickly. Kaede smiled to herself and thought this was going to be easier than she thought. "So you're sure you have never heard of the game called spy," once again pinkie shook her head excitedly no "well the goal of the game is to retrieve a map of the area without being noticed or caught. If you get caught you lose, but in this game you have a partner that needs to be escorted without getting noticed or caught as well. So you have to be quiet and stealthy in order to win. Do you understand the rules?" Pinkie shook her head violently up and down.
Kaede removed her hoof from Pinkie's mouth. Pinkie remained quiet and immediately grabbed Kaede and dragged her completely in the bush. Kaede protested and found Pinkie's hoof in her mouth before she could get a word out.
"Quiet," she whispered "or you'll blow our cover" Kaede was stunned by the sudden change in the pony, but didn't think much of it since it could possibly lead her to pertinent information. Unable to tell Pinkie that she was being dragged she could only grunt while Pinkie was running at full speed. With a jolt Pinkie stopped on a dime and almost sent Kaede straight into a tree trunk. Pinkie began to crouch and point at a building and began to make complex signs that she couldn't quite understand. Kaede shook her head to tell her she didn't understand. Pinkie made the signs again.
"Could you just tell me what your trying to say?" Kaede whispered. Pinkie looked annoyed and whispered back.
"This is our goal, all you need to do is grab a map of the area so we can make our way out of the city.," Pinkie motioned forward with her hoof inclining that Kaede should make her way into the building. Kaede nodded relieved to be almost rid of this crazy pony. Kaede started to head towards the building when she heard a cry from the air.
"HEY PINKIE! What are you doing down there?" Kaede looked up to see a blue winged pony with a striking rainbow mane. Pinkie jumped in front of Kaede with a worried look and whispered, "every pony for herself" and ran off.
"OH WHAT IS WITH THAT PONY! HEY, WAIT UP!" and with that the winged pony flew off after Pinkie and soon disappeared from sight. Kaede couldn't believe her fortune, she was left alone near the building that could have something to help her, and she had just lost the crazed pony. Trying to draw as little attention she quickly ran for the door and opened it quickly and slipped in before anyone could notice. She failed to notice that she had knocked over someone as she ran into the building.
"Twilight you really need to stop opening the doors so fast," Kaede spun quickly around to see an odd purple lizard rubbing its head. Kaede was slightly confused as to what this creature could be, but she did not want to attract any more attention in this town. She quickly ran from the creature into a random room and peered from the edge of the room watching him The lizard got up and looked confused.
"Where did you go?" The lizard shrugged and picked up the pile of books that he was carrying and headed straight for the room that Kaede was hiding. Kaede backed away from the doorway and tried to find an exit, but the only other exit was the way that she got in. She quickly decided to hug the wall and hope the lizard didn't see her.
The lizard walked past the door and was so busy trying to balance the multitudes of books that he didn't notice Kaede. Relieved Kaede tried to walk through the door way when something with feathers flew into her face screeching very loudly. Startled and unable to see past the whirl of feathers Kaede was forced back into the room where she bumped into the lizard. The lizard unable to balance the books toppled over on top of Kaede.
"Owlicious!" the lizard yelled. Kaede rubbed her head with her hoof, but it didnt really help the lump on her head from the books crashing into her.
"What the heck was that," Kaede mumbled to herself. She opened her eyes to see the lizard looking straight at her head with a puzzled look. "What do you want?" she asked in an annoyed tone, she wanted to get out of this town and find a way back to Kouta.
The lizard reached out and poked one of her horns. Kaede recoiled from the hand and became extremely angry from the contact. "What do you think your doing!" she demanded. The lizard didn't seem shocked at Kaede's tone of voice.
"I haven't seen a unicorn with two horns before, its just strange." the lizard continued to stare, and even though Kaede felt no harm from him, she grew even more irritated. The lizard seemed to catch this, "You know you could use them to make an awesome slingshot!" the lizard seemed to try to make Kaede more cheerful by saying that, but it just made her more furious at him.
"You know," Kaede started without trying to scream at the purple lizard, "I can't stand people who judge others on how they look, and I hate people that openly point out flaws just to make themselves seem better." The lizard looked confused at this. "I also can't stand hearing it from a lizard." the lizard seemed to get extremely upset by this and was about to say something but Kaede interrupted again. "Its people like you that made my life hell," Kaede turned from the lizard and trotted towards the door. She felt a tear go down her check, and was surprised. It wasn't often that she cried, but she felt the pain of losing Kouta and started to cry more.
She heard the lizard start to say something back, but she didn't care. she did not want to be seen crying in front of a person like that. She bolted for the door and swung it open. She no longer cared about a map, she would look elsewhere, right now she wanted to be alone. Kaede ran through the door and slammed into another pony. She felt wousy since she had hit her head again, but she looked up to see Twilight rubbing her head.
Kaede quickly tried to get up but Twilight saw her and held her down so she couldn't escape.
"LET ME GO!" Kaede yelled, but Twilight was to heavy for her to lift off the ground. She wanted to be alone, but everyone kept getting in her way. Kaede tried even harder to break free, but couldn't escape.
"SPIKE, fetch me the book i was reading yesterday!" Twilight yelled through the door. What seemed like a moment later the lizard came through the doorway with the book.
"I would just let her go, she isn't very nice," the lizard commented and dropped the book in front of Twilight. Her horn started to glow and the book levitated in front of her and she began flipping through the pages quickly. Kaede used the opportunity to pry one of her hooves free.
"HOLD still," Twilight commanded, but Kaede wouldn't she had to get free. Kaede managed to get a second hoof free when Twilight's horn grew even brighter. Kaede felt the sudden urge to sleep, but she fought it with all her might. Her tears continued to fall as she struggled hopelessly against Twilight, and attempted to push her off. With a final effort she managed to push Twilight off her.
Kaede uneasily got up, but found it hard to walk. She felt exhausted, and could barely keep her eyes open. She saw Twilight move ahead of her and she was trying to say something, but she couldn't hear it. She barely felt the ground as it rushed towards her. Her body betraying her, she could only cry quietly as her eyes closed and she slipped into unconsciousness.
She saw Kouta waving at her with a broad smile on his face. The one person who saw her for what she was. Kaede screamed his name, but Kouta only waved at her. She ran up to him and apologized and swore to be better. But Kouta didn't was looking past her. Kaede turned to see his cousin running up to him. Kaede screamed Kouta's name, and Kouta finally turned to look at her.
"That horse is sure being noisy." Kouta reached for his cousins hand and together they walked away from Kaede. Kaede tried to run after them but they kept getting farther and farther away from her. When they had vanished from her vision she heard a familiar laugh behind her.
She slowly turned to see herself in her true form.
"If you had never shown yourself to him, he would have been happier. You should give up, you'll never reach him again." The voice then began to head the same way Kouta had went. "In fact I'll make sure of that." She saw her vectors appear around herself and then she vanished. She heard yelling in the direction that Kouta went. Then she heard the voice yelling "if you cant even stop me from killing innocent people how can you protect him from me!" Kaede ran with all her might, she couldn't let this happen.
"Kouta!" Kaede yelled "GET AWAY!" Kaede continued to cry out for Kouta, but she could only hear the voice mocking and laughing at her attempts.
"You took his loved ones from him and ruined any chance of a normal life, he won't ever forgive you, even now I bet that he completely hates you and wants you to never return," Kaede screamed out Kouta's name once more, but only had the laughing of the voice. "But I'll always be with you Kaede, you can always rely upon me. After all, who else would accept someone with two horns into their lives." The voice began to laugh again and again, until Kaede couldn't even hear her own voice.
"Kouta!" Kaede woke up with a start from the dream.
"Are you ok?" Kaede turned to see Twilight looking at her with great concern. Kaede wanted nothing more to be ok, but she could never feel at ease until she was reunited with Kouta in her world.
"I'm fine so please can you leave me alone for a bit," Kaede began to lie back down, but was overcome with a splitting head ache. Kaede grunted in pain, and Twilight gently lay Kaede back down.
"Lie still and I'll be back with some medicine." Kaede could barely respond with a yes. She waited as Twilight rushed off somewhere.
"Spike I need to go to the pharmacy, make sure Kaede doesn't strain herself the sleep spell i put on her is affecting her a little more than i thought." She heard the door open and close. She then heard the lizard, who she put together was Spike, mutter that he could care less and complained loudly about the nerve Kaede had calling him a lizard.
"Owlicious let me know if anyone needs something, I'll be in the back so I wont hear the door." She heard another door shut. Kaede tried again to get up but the headache made her collapse back on the bed. Kaede wished she could be on her way already not collapsed in a bed waiting for medicine. She heard a tap from the window from somewhere in the room. She looked around and saw Pinkie pie tapping on the window wanting her to open it.
Sighing, Kaede slowly got up and with an extremely large effort managed to unlock the window and barely cracked it open when she was knocked flat off her hooves as Pinkie slammed into her. Pinkie then quickly shut the window and locked it making sure she wasn't followed.
"I've been waiting for you to be alone," she whispered "I lost Dashy about an hour ago, she's very persistent when she wants to be, though i was surprised she could keep up with me for a solid 7 hours. But never mind that, we have almost completed our mission, I just need to get you out of here with a map in tow." Kaede tried to say something to stop Pinkie but her headache made her cringe from having to move so quickly.
Pinkie then grabbed Kaede by a hoof and was forced to follow her drowsily behind as Pinkie quickly navigated the library shelves and pulled a scroll out from a shelf.
"...Pinkie..." Kaede managed to get out before the headache made her wince.
"SHHHHHH!" Pinkie said in an exaggerated manner, "You'll get us caught." Kaede moaned quietly and hoped Twilight would get back her soon. Pinkie shoved the scroll at Kaede and pulled a rope from somewhere and tied it to her. Kaede tried to stop Pinkie but she didn't have any energy to stop her.
"Lets go!" Pinkie grabbed Kaede's hoof and dragged her through the library while stopping at every corner to check their cover. The sudden stops and fast pace sneaking was making Kaede's headache much worse. Kaede soon couldn't stand up anymore and collapsed.
"Kaede?" Pinkie said questioning. Kaede couldn't move anymore her head was forcing her to stay as still as possible.
"New mission..." Kaede forced out, each word causing the headache to flare more, "Find Twilight," Kaede managed to force the words out before her vision became darker around the edges. She heard Pinkie's cheerful reply and saw her bounce away and faintly heard the door shut. She lay there for quite a while and saw something walk near her, she couldn't make the figure out, her vision was fading rapidly.
Kaede woke up from her sleep and looked around her. She was in the same room as before. She saw Spike sitting in a chair by the door. The lizard was reading a book and hadn't yet noticed she was awake. Kaede got out of the bed and Spike looked up from his book.
"Are you going to collapse again?" Spike asked. Kaede only then noticed her headache was gone.
"No I don't think so, did Twilight come back yet?"
"Twilight still hasn't come back yet, so make sure you dont strain yourself. I don't want to have to carry you all the way back up here again." Spike grabbed his book and was making his way to leave the room.
"Wait, did you carry me up here both times?" Spike turned back around with a puzzled expression on his face.
"Well yeah, I mean Twilight was really tired when she cast the sleep spell, and it just wouldn't be right to leave you lying on the floor like that. Wouldn't you do the same for someone else?" Kaede had never thought someone would carry here to a bed if she fell. Most people would try to kill her be fore she recovered. The only one that would carry here without a second thought was Kouta.
When she thought of Kouta missing her she remembered that she had to leave. She headed towards the door.
"Where I come from Spike, there are very few people that would help a stranger in need." Kaede thought back to when she had snapped at him earlier. Reflecting on what he said Kaede didn't think that Spike meant any harm in the comment he made. "I also want to apologize from earlier, I guess I misjudged you. Now if you will excuse me I must get going." Spike moved in front of the door stopping Kaede from proceeding.
"Are you sure you should be leaving? I mean how do you know the effects of the sleep spell has worn off? You should at least wait until Twilight has come back before you leave." Spike had no intention to move from the door until Kaede changed her mind. Kaede almost decided to stay, but came to the conclusion that Twilight would try her best to keep her here.
"No I can't stay here, I am keeping an important person waiting for me, so please move I would prefer not forcing my way through you." Spike reluctantly moved away from the door, Kaede said her thanks and opened the door to find Pinkie Pie holding Twilight by a hoof.
"PLEASE TELL PINKIE PIE TO STOP!" Twilight gasped.
"Mission accomplished," Pinkie Pie said "WHATS NEXT?" Kaede had no clue what went through this ponies head, hoped that Pinkie had not dragged Twilight the way she was dragged earlier.
"Umm? Go about your business?" Kaede wasn't sure what business Pinkie would decided to do, but she couldn't let her go on with this game. Pinkie looked disappointed for a second then started to jump around even more.
"AWESOME I CAN THOROUGH YOU A WELCOME PARTY NOW!" Pinkie stopped jumping right in front of Kaede. "IT'LL BE TOMORROW AFTERNOON AND EVERY PONY IN PONYVILLE WILL BE THERE DON'T BE LATE!" Pinkie then dashed as quickly out of the library then Kaede could blink. Kaede then saw Twilight get up, a little shaken from Pinkie Pie.
"WHAT THE HAY WAS THAT!" Twilight yelled. "I WAS ON MY WAY TO ZECORA'S WHEN PINKIE CAME OUT OF NO WHERE AND DRAGGED ME ALL THE WAY BACK HERE!" Kaede wasn't sure if she was feeling shocked or surprised.
"Well I was being forced out of the library while the spell was still affecting me, and I needed you to come back and fix it, I had no other choice." Kaede looked up to see Twilight a little calmer than before.
"Ok, I am glad your feeling better at least, but PLEASE don't EVER do that again." Twilight then trotted down the stairs. Curious Kaede followed her down, where she watched Twilight open a notebook. She levitated a pen over and started writing something down.
"What are you doing?" Kaede asked,
"I'm making sure that I can make it to the party tomorrow, its not often that we have a new guest in Ponyville, everyone has probably received the news by now, that's how Pinkie is." Kaede was completely sure that she did not want to go to a party hosted by Pinkie. Considering how she acted when she was playing a game she didn't want to imagine what her parties would be like.
"Thanks," Kaede started, "but i have no intention on going. You will have to inform Pinkie that i won't be joining her." Twilight's pen stopped writing and she looked up.
"Oh you ARE going whether I have to drag you by your front hooves, and you OWE me for Pinkie dragging me COMPLETELY ACROSS PONYVILLE." Kaede was slightly surprised at Twilight's sharp demeanor. It seemed as though Kaede would not be able to slip past Twilight this time.
"Very well, but i will not promise that I will enjoy it and when its over I will take my leave of this town." Kaede turned back to Twilight, "will it be ok to spend the night here since the only other acquaintance I know of is crazy?" Twilight nodded her approval and with a hoof waved her to go back to the room. She got over that really quickly Kaede thought to herself.
"Also don't think about trying to sneak out, I just placed a spell around the library that will be VERY unpleasant if you try to leave before tomorrow."
"That wouldn't have been necessary, but thanks for the warning." Kaede opened the door and fell on the bed ready to start her search fresh in the morning.