Elfen Liner Notes : The One Good Day
by Rob Morris
All that she had known was hurting a lot, and that, in one crunching moment, the hurt had stopped.
She wanted to get out of the bag, but couldn't figure out how to do it, so she lay there, just not hurting. She heard screams of pain, but she was used to that. The Bad Man had picked someone else to hurt, and it was all she could hope for.
"No-Please Don't!"
But this scream of pain was new. More, it was unbelievable. Someone was making The Bad Man hurt. Someone was making him cry, and beg, and plead, and this someone was ignoring The Bad Man just like he always ignored all the girls.
*The bag is lifting. Will this new man get to hurt me now?*
There was noise, and more yelling, and then they began to move. The movement stopped, and two voices were heard. One was the new man, who had yet to hurt her or mock her. The other one was that of someone she didn't know, but felt like she maybe should have. It was a voice that felt important to her, somehow.
"You wanna have it out here? Fine by me!"
The new man sounded rough, too.
"Stop! This poor kid is one of your own. Let me bury her with some dignity."
The other voice-another girl-sounded instantly suspicious.
"Why would you care about one of mine?"
Inside the bag, the hurt one felt like the other girl didn't care much about anyone.
"Why don't you care? That sicko hurt her, and laughed about it."
Sicko? Was that the Bad Man's real name?
"What sicko?"
How, the hurt one wondered, could the other girl not know about the Bad Man? Didn't everyone know about the Bad Man?
"You live with those two kids, and you don't know they nearly got taken by that pedo?"
The hurt one tried to recall if the bad man peddled or walked there, but she really hadn't been in a position to say.
The harsher voice of the other girl was silent, then spoke again.
"How is she in that bag?"
The bag opened, but the hurt one found she still couldn't move. Or breathe.
"See for yourself!"
The other girl's harsh voice exploded in fury.
"What did you do to her?!"
The only-slightly-less-harsh voice of the new man also exploded.
"I didn't do it! I hate you - your kind as a whole I can take or leave. This one never had a chance to hurt anybody, but being one of you is no reason to treat her like this. Now let me say prayers."
In the other girl's mind, a thousand tricks and traps sprung to mind. The man would pull none of them.
"Suit yourself. I guess she did deserve better-maybe the kids, too."
The new man finished his business with the hurt one, without hurting her at all.
"Lord, you owe this kid. You hear me? You cast me, and this other little bitch, down as far as we'll go, and turn up the flames to searing. But this kid? What the hell did she do to deserve what she got? So a little justice, huh? Amen."
The words were brief and to the point, maybe a little too much so for some.
"Those were prayers?"
The new man - The Good Man, the hurt one now knew, did not like this other girl much at all.
"DID I SAY I WAS A PRIEST? Now, on to the beach. And your horned head on a boardwalk post."
The Good Man took off at a gallop, and the other girl followed quickly after. It was then the hurt one found her way out of the bag, and looked down to see something strange.
"Huh? How did I get my legs back?"
She'd heard about a girl like her who got new arms and legs, but her Papa was someone special. Number 28 knew she had no Papa.
"Huh. I just wish I had clothes."
A lab uniform appeared to cover her nakedness. It might have been a fancy dress or something more casual, but this is what she saw as a sign of power and prestige.
"That good man. He chased the bad man away from that other girl like me, and her friend. I should thank him."
She wasn't sure how to find them-in fact she wasn't sure of anything at all, till she thought of the beach and found herself there.
"Was I always able to do this? It might have been helpful to know. I-I could have snuck into the showers, and cleaned myself up more often. Even used shampoo."
Her imagination was, understandably, somewhat limited. But now she saw the one she feared most of all.
"The Bad Glasses Man! Why is he being so nice to that horned girl, when he always hurt me and the others?"
Lucy had little use for her would-be protector, and aimed his head at the Good Man, the one who had beaten Bad Glasses Man up. But now, Bad Glasses Man was there with her, in the same place.
"You? Jeez, what do you girls do, regrow your parts? Suits me fine, babe, I-"
But now another man, in the same place as both of them, punched Bad Glasses in the nose.
"Asshole. You won't touch this kid again. Her, or anyone else."
Bad Glasses shook (the image of) his head. The Bad Man showed he didn't have all that much imagination, either.
"I killed you! A long time ago!"
A man who had changed his mind too late about abandoning his newborn daughter stood ready to fight.
"Yeah-just like Kaede killed you. Or didn't you realize?"
A father who was slightly better than young Lucy had been told of saw his slimy opponent shrivel.
"Me? I can't be dead! Not me. NOT MEEEE!"
Number 28 watched him cry and whine.
"He's such a crybaby. He hurt me a lot more before I started crying."
Bad Glasses raged and rushed at her.
"Dead or no, I can still stick it in you one last time, BITCH!"
A large hand grasped Bad Glasses from behind. The hand belonged to a dark, handsome man with black wings and a trident. Like Kaede's fallen father, this was another being better than the stories told about him, at least in this reality. If you needed to confirm this, you only needed to ask his daughter's best friend, an apprentice angel named Kanae.
"Hey, Jerkie! Dad insisted I come and get you, personally. You and me, we're going for a little trip. It's all downhill, and you pay all expenses. ALL expenses."
Kaede's father watched in satisfaction.
"Is he gonna get a Patrick Swayze?"
The big winged man raised a finger in the air.
"Technically, Sam went to the light, remember? At first, he'll get the good hands treatment..."
The final jailer, the one most never ever escaped, looked down at Bad Glasses, who was peeing and shitting in pants he no longer had-and so forth. The jailer made a gigantic pineapple appear in his hand.
"...but once we get him all registered, he gets what we call The Adam Sandler Special. Jawohl, Mein Fuhrer?"
Bad Glasses looked pleadingly at his favorite victim.
"Hey, Girlie? It was all in fun, you know that, right?"
The final jailer was compelled by rules beyond him to ask a question. His younger brother was big on repentance. Not that this would be a problem here.
"Kid? Was it like he said? All in fun?"
Number 28 asked a question that dramatically increased the size of pineapples to come.
"Ummm...what's fun?"
As promised, dark hands emerged from the ground and pulled Bad Glasses down as he howled and pleaded. The winged man looked at 28.
"Hang on, kid. They'll be coming for you real soon."
Kaede's father, having seen someone he hated die, also waved goodbye, leaving 28 alone.
"Is someone still crying?"
The other horned girl was gone, but the two girls from the house were there, and they were crying over the man who had beaten up Bad Glasses. Just for a moment, 28 saw the man get up, whole and hearty. But he looked at 28, shook his head, and climbed back inside his bisected form.
"Aw, Hell No! No way is Bando checking out that easy! I'll cling to this carcass till the cows come home-and twenty minutes after Doomsday. Got Me?!"
28 felt awkward, to say the least.
"Umm-thank you for beating up the bad man, sir."
Bando's spirit began to vanish back into his shattered form.
"Not-hearing-you-BECAUSE I'M NOT DEAD!"
The other girls left, and 28 felt badly confused. No one was hurting her, but no one was doing anything at all to her.
"I have to find those girls. Maybe they can let me stay with them, till I figure things out. Maybe-they can even tell me what this fun is. It sounded good."
The girl who wasn't horned came back and picked things up off the beach. There was a small creature there she had never seen before.
"Hi-you look nice. What's your name?"
The small creature seemed to be able to see her, but was just as confused.
"Don't you like me?"
The creature wagged its tail, and made a sympathetic sound. 28 felt sad.
"Did they remove your ability to talk, too? How cruel!"
28 saw the girl leaving, and the creature with her, so she followed.
"She seems so different from the others. Her little friend is nice too. Are there nice people somewhere?"
The question was not the foolish one it seemed. Number 28 (for she had no other name, no other designation, and in fact her number had belonged to previous, less long-lived residents of Monitored Room 28) had no way to judge whether nice people were some kind of mutation. Because for her, they were just that.
Again almost merely by thinking about it, 28 found herself standing in a small house surrounded by trees. The two girls had been joined by another one, who had pink hair and was crying.
"It's not true, is it? Am I really her? The killer?"
The blue-haired horned girl had anger in her eyes, even hate. 28 remembered how angry the staff at the place got when the girls asked 'stupid questions'. One even got hoses used for cleaning them shoved inside of her, or so the story went. But something else stayed Nana's hand. For in her heart was also understanding, and compassion, even for the one who had wronged her very badly.
"No. It's not true. Nana was mistaken. Nyu is not Lucy. Nyu is a good person."
The girl without horns looked wary, but was glad to have the one called Nyu back with them. 28 smiled when she saw her little friend the small happy creature walk up. A new man was right behind the creature, and he looked harshly at the three.
"Do you think I wouldn't be worried if you just disappeared? Now please come home-home to our family."
28 thought about following them, but now it was difficult.
*Hold up there, stupid girl. Just what are you hoping to find there?*
"Who are you? Why are you inside my head?"
*You-don't have a head, anymore. I guess, since the man with the black wings doesn't have the balls the legends say-then that makes me the devil. A friendly advisor to all horned girls, living or dead. Some say I'm just the broadcasted hate of that pink-haired whiner. But I'm on your side. Don't waste your time with the wastrels of the Kaede-Sou. Nothing worth seeing there, and nothing worse than a complete waste of precious time. You see-you died when Glasses slammed your bag. You're maybe not even a ghost. Just the residual brain-sparks of a girl who the world took pains to shit on. Pretty soon, even this will fade. Non-existence. A transcendent nightmare for some. For you, a great mercy. Or will that spark endure by fits and starts, half of a half and so forth, energy never going away entirely? Maybe there is no mercy for you, ghost or illusion.*
"What's dead, and what's a ghost?"
*Hoo-Boy. We're dealing with a real mind, here, huh? Let's just Keep It Simple, Stupid. Stay away from the Kaede-Sou. For you, there is only pain there.*
"Where is there not only pain?"
The Voice was not one to give up.
*You've known pain, right? Well-know it again.*
Now, 28 had to take painful steps to get where she wanted to go. No more just wanting to be there. The Voice made sure each step was a savage reminder. People stood over her like giants.
**No - - her mother died in childbirth-the horns caught the wrong spot on the birth canal. The father never even wanted to see her. What's she now, fifteen months? Check pain threshold. But set it for twenty-four months. Heh. Let's see what this baby can really do.**
"Stop it-please."
Someone had their face an inch away from 28's own. A woman named Saito.
**Today's your birthday. But we've eaten up all the cake and cookies. Now, how about a present for all of us? Like some vectors? Do you have any idea how hard the Chief comes down on us, when an anomaly like you fails to produce? Are you that selfish? I think you're a discipline problem. Do you want me to up the firepower on the cannon? Or the weight of the balls? Well, then-by all means. We'll do it your way.**
"I know all this. I just want to know if there is anything else."
The son of the man who ran the living hell which was all these girls ever knew was grinning.
**Hey, there. I've heard that my cousin with the glasses has his eye on you. Now, I make it my twin policies to always sample you girls first, and to always spoil his fun. I mean, I'm a perv. But he is realllly gross, right? So let Professor Kakuzawa teach you where good girls take it. After all, I have to be in practice when I mate with your queen, and take the Big Spot in Heaven. You don't use contraception, do you? Heh. Sorry. I can never resist that one.**
"I didn't like him. And I didn't understand a single word he said."
She felt as though her footsteps were being held back by the stubborn voice-entity, as it gave forth more horrors of memory. Now, a man who was a kind Papa to the blue-haired girl looked upon 28 with contempt.
**No, this one is completely unsuited for our purposes. Completely useless.**
Next came a man who fancied himself as the god of the new dawn. In fact, he was more the devil than the winged man 28 had just met. By his side was a scared-looking little girl.
**You see, my daughter? This one has horns, but you will be immensely more valuable to Papa than this Silpelit trash could ever hope for.**
The little girl mouthed "I'm sorry" at 28 as they left. In the present, The Voice taunted once again.
"Want me to amp it up? Because I can!"
Nousou was a man on a fishing expedition, and he looked at 28 like the proverbial boot pulled in on a fishing line.
**You wanted me to even consider this one for cloning? I mean, what the hell, man? She's so worthless, she makes Number Seven look like freaking Lucy! Hey, girl? Want some candy? Well, then-YOU SHOULD HAVE BROUGHT SOME!HHHHAAAAA-oh, God, that was a good one.**
28 felt as though she wasn't even making progress towards those girls' house anymore. She pleaded with the voice.
"Why do you care where I go?"
But the entity didn't respond, even with a taunt, and merely brought forth more bad memories. Arakawa had come to inspect the savage handiwork of the Bad Glasses Man.
**Wow-he really likes to hurt you girls, doesn't he? Poor kid-wish I could help, but those guards are just a mite trigger-happy. Then again, everyone here is. I empathize, but I promise to shut this place down forever, once my plans kick in. Oooh-but then where would you go? Look-I feel for you girls, but I have fame and fortune-maybe godhood-awaiting me. Just hang on, okay-ummm-think happy thoughts. Yeah. Happy thoughts.**
Something loomed ahead of 28. Something that might be her goal.
"Is that the place those girls went?"
A little girl in bandages appeared in front of her, and she looked angry. This was the voice in its rawest visual form.
"Defy me, will ya? Taste the worst one of all."
**Yeah, she'll die from the shock, so she needs a sedative. But make it a local. Just where it absolutely needs to be. I want her to hear the saw. I want her to smell the spurting blood and splintering bone. I want her to see her own bottom half cut off, fall into the charnel basket and watch as its whisked off by the nurse, knowing it's never coming back, ever. Itchy did that to Scratchy on Simpsons. Classic. Then, I'm gonna kiss her. Hard, long and deep-make her think I'm about to put it in her again-and then she'll realize-it can't happen. Not that way, anymore. Only-ONLY when she's screaming loudest do you clip her vocal cords. You do the Diclonius Spider-Sens/ GPS thing-but I'll install the pain-bringer. She's gonna be like a masterpiece!**
The Voice made its case plain.
"This was all pain brought on you by the ones you knew. Whose will you obeyed. All they could do was bring you to suffer ever more. So let me ask you, Number 28. Had Enough? Ready to leave this place off your must-see list for eternity?"
28 felt something within her she couldn't identify. She now had to enter the house.
"What could possibly be in there that's any worse than all I've known and seen?"
The Voice taunted once more.
"Why don't you go in and find out?"
28 felt fear seize her, but then moved forward.
"All right, I will."
The Voice made one last attempt.
"Why are you so anxious to go in that stupid place?"
28 looked the bandaged girl in the eyes.
"Well-why are you so anxious to stop me?"
The Voice almost seemed off as it responded.
"You-you don't have much time left-before brain death, and all. Why waste it on what's in there? I'm only trying to protect you, after all, you ingrate!"
A doorknob formed as 28 leaned forward. She began to turn it.
"I think I know what dead is, now. If I am just the dream of a dead girl, soon to fade for good, then I may as well find out what's in here. But I think maybe I'm something more. I've heard of a place. Maybe this is it. But I won't find out by hiding, or listening to memories deader than me."
The Voice tried to grab her (for whatever good that would have done), but 28 batted her back and glared.
"You seemed so strong and scary, but you're really small and scared."
28 drove the scalpel blade in with a sledgehammer.
"I Pity You."
Scorned, the Voice screamed and vanished, and 28 did not even give her a backwards glance. Instead, she entered a place she both was and was not mistaken about.
"Who are these people?"
There were many women and just one man, and they were all milling about a table on the floor, setting plates and bowls to it. Two of those there were the girls she had seen before, the one like 28 with blue hair, and the other one, with her strange but wonderful little friend with all the hair. He yelped and moved a leg that came out of his butt. The others seemed to notice that the little creature noticed her.
"What's Wanta barking at?"
The blue-haired horned girl answered the man.
"Sometimes Nana thinks dogs are just silly-but I'm glad we have Wanta here. Nana is happy we have everyone here-almost everyone-someday, Papa."
Boiling some water was the third girl, the one with pink hair. 28 saw now that she also had broken horns, though she thought that girls like her died without them. Next to the pink-hair was a very pretty girl who smiled at her.
"No boob-grabbing, Nyu?"
The pink-hair broken-horn blushed.
"C'mon, Yuka-chan! I've been good lately."
The one called Yuka head head-locked pink-hair and smiled while rubbing her fist playfully into her head.
"Just remember I have my shoe at the ready if you start acting weird again. And don't leave us anymore, alright?"
28 saw that the two were friends-even though she somehow felt they shouldn't be. The other girl from before talked to the man.
"Kouta-San?"
"Yes, Mayu-chan?"
The girl smiled broadly.
"I have to get something from the top shelf in the kitchen. Will you put your hand on my back as I use the step-stool?"
Kouta seemed uncertain.
"Are you sure you want a guy touching your back?"
She laughed at his hesitancy.
"You're not a guy-you're Kouta."
The absence of an honorific to his name almost floored Kouta, but he did as he was asked.
"She-trusts me."
Yuka grabbed and held him close.
"Why shouldn't she trust her Papa? It's not like you're a pervert."
A brief kiss was exchanged, and 28 felt the warmth grow even further.
"Did a place like this always exist? Why couldn't I be here all along?"
She felt some pain, to know now for certain there were better things in the world. But that pain evaporated for the exact same reason.
"Ohhh-that food looks so good!"
After the meal was prepared and served, they all talked to yet another girl.
"Nana believes in Nozomi-chan!"
The one called Kouta patted the girl Nozomi on the head.
"We'll see the test scores soon. I know you'll get in to music school."
Yuka kept the positive energy going.
"Yuka's Kohai cannot fail! I won't permit it to happen."
Mayu urged the Wanta-creature to go and see to Nozomi, who giggled as he licked and poked her face with his own.
"See? Even Wanta knows that you'll get in! Give us a song, Nozomi-chan!"
"She's right-a song."
"A song!"
"A song!"
Nozomi turned to one who she had once known a little too well.
"Nyu-chan, will you sing with me?"
Nozomi chose a song that her recent operatic auditions had kept her from, and Nyu fell in readily. 28 saw that this brought happiness even to the dimly-lit corners of Nyu's being.
"There's so many good things here. So much-is this what love is? Could this be it? The Place?"
She pondered this as the pair began singing what some called schlock, and some called fun.
**I have a dream, a song to sing I have a dream, a fantasy I have a dream, a song to sing
To help me cope with anything
If you see the wonder of a fairy tale
You can take the future even if you fail
I believe in angels
Something good in everything I see
I believe in angels
When I know the time is right for me
I'll cross the stream - I have a dream
To help me through reality
And my destination makes it worth the while
Pushing through the darkness still another mile
I believe in angels
Something good in everything I see
I believe in angels
When I know the time is right for me
I'll cross the stream - I have a dream
I'll cross the stream - I have a dream
To help me cope with anything
If you see the wonder of a fairy tale
You can take the future even if you fail
I believe in angels
Something good in everything I see
I believe in angels
When I know the time is right for me
I'll cross the stream - I have a dream
I'll cross the stream - I have a dream**
28 felt the love emanating from all of these people, for every last one of them there. There was darkness, too, and hate, but they did not and could never rule this place. No, not there. Never there. Even the traces of Glasses Man were being erased by the love, the light of this place.
"Is this Heaven?"
28 had heard people speak of a Heaven, sometimes as a joke, sometimes with tears in their voice.
"They trust each other here. They only love each other. No one is chained. Everyone has clothes, and food. This must be Heaven. It's so wonderful!"
Mayu turned her head at a sound.
"Is a bell ringing?"
A knock came on the door. Kouta turned to answer it.
"Guess it must be Nozomi's scores. Let's-"
He froze, and so did everyone else. 28 looked around.
"Does Heaven freeze up sometimes?"
Another new girl's voice was heard.
"Sorry-this isn't Heaven. But I'll take you there."
This girl was only a little one. She had a red bow in her hair, and red feathered wings growing out of her back.
"There are winged girls, too?"
The girl laughed a little.
"You're funny. My name's Kanae. This isn't Heaven, Baka. This is just my big brother's home. I'd like to visit here, too. But I have orders to get you up there. Your spirit is really tired, and well-someone wants to see you, and make it all right again."
28 felt heavy now.
"I am tired. But do I have to leave this place now? Can't I at least find out if Nozomi's scores are good? And if Kouta and Yuka marry?"
Kanae glared at 28, but quickly calmed herself.
"They'll all be all right. But we can't stay here anymore."
Kanae looked beyond the door her brother was about to open. She saw something she desperately wished she could warn him about. But the rules were clear.
"We should go now. Nozomi will become a great singer, and a seiyu as well. Ummm-she'll one day do the singing voice for a character named - Candace Flynn-Fletcher? Well, we get all the channels, where we are. We'll catch it. Are you ready?"
28 looked around.
"It was only one day. But I will remember this place always."
She looked at Kanae.
"You have a really nice big brother."
Kanae nodded.
"You have no idea."
28 leaned down.
"Goodbye, Wanta. I think I'll miss you, most of all. But I never understood a single word you said."
Just beyond the door, men with guns and an agenda waited in the company of four very deadly young women, and they would bring a nightmare to Maple House. 28 mercifully saw none of this.
As they left, 28 realized the place had again brought her pain. The pain of missing it. But this she welcomed. They rose and rose, again faster than 28 could account for. Kanae stopped.
"We're here-errr-28. Just look for where the sunlight is brightest. You'll find him there."
"Him-who? Who is he?"
Kanae blushed.
"He is-because-he is. Just go, okay?!"
28 walked, and saw the light Kanae had mentioned. She entered where it was brightest, and laid down in a grassy, comfortable area. She felt a presence, and it gave her all the peace she had never known.
"Papa? Is that you? Did you come back for me-like you promis-"
There is an argument that says the Voice was precisely right, and all the events just mentioned was the result of a series of diminishing brain sparks burning themselves out on the path to oblivion.
But whether this was simply a dying brain's last hurrah or the welcoming touch of a greater truth, know one thing to be true in either respect.
The one good day ever had by the girl once known as Number 28 lasted forever.