A/N: Making more edits as I go along. Recovered pretty much from finger pain but now have cubital tunnel. I'm gonna continue writing this fic though, resurging interest in Elfen Lied. I do intend for it to be a platonic friendship between Train and Lucy, though.
Anyway, cutting out excessive detail, ooc-ness and some of the bs this fic has to make it more realistic. Also changing icon on story. Hope you like it.
EDITED MARCH 11TH, 2019.
""Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born."
― Anais Nin, The Diary of Anaïs Nin, Vol. 1: 1931-1934
from goodreads dot com on friends quotes
Chapter 2 Colliding Destinies
The sun rose above the hills, reflecting its light down upon the Earth, and down upon the rural valley that was in an isolated part of Japan. It promised another beautiful day, as the rays of light shone down on a lone building that, though it looked beautiful on the outside, was anything but inside.
This was an orphanage, a place for kids without parents to be, and it was not the most cheerful place to be.
The children of the orphanage would probably rather be outside playing, than being stuck behind the walls of the school, in the same classrooms as usual, learning things from their boring teachers. Although the work could be hard and the atmosphere depressing, for the most part the staff did care about most of the students-at least, save for two of them.
In fact, most of the children in the orphanage seemed to get along with, or at least tolerate each others' presence. If the adults were watching, they would see an idyllic paradise where the kids all laughed and played with each other and shared with everyone. Unfortunately, that was just an illusion.
The real atmosphere inside the orphanage resembled a sort of caste system; everyone fought over who would be dominant. None liked the idea that they were alone and that no one loved them, so they all pretended and secretly hated each other and gathered in cliques. Just like in high school, these children had different systems.
There were the bullies, who were well-liked by the teachers and liked getting away with their mostly unnoticed and heinous activities. They were undoubtedly at the top of the food chain and knew it, mostly reminding others of their place.
There were those that were unnoticed, and were neutral. The bullies ignored them as they weren't worth their time and they didn't intervene or try to stop them from acting out, so why bother them?
Then, there were the outcasts, the ones at the absolute bottom and social outcasts. No one liked them. Only a few children fit this group.
The pecking order usually led to different children being picked on and it varied, according to what the orders were of the most arrogant, cruel and black-hearted child in the orphanage. While the teachers neither noticed nor cared about his antics, as they called them, the students mostly despised, feared and hated him. Most dreamed about a world where he was gone.
This boy was sitting in the front row, and his name was Tomoo. Ironically, his name meaning friend was ironic, as he had no true friends, just minions. His last name was unknown since he, too, had been adopted after his mother had died under mysterious circumstances.
Many suspected that she had died of drug abuse, and his father was never really around, so Tomoo had wound up developing hatred for all adults because of the way he was treated, and eventually, this hatred also grew into a loathing of his very nature.
However, he could never face that, so why be miserable when you can spend time putting others down, after all? He did this all so he could feel better about himself, try to forget the fact that he was a freaking orphan, try to forget that he could never get adopted because he acted this way.
In Tomoo's favor, it worked out well for him. He often had several accomplices, cronies, lackeys, call them what you will, they were children who would do things for him, but not out of mutual respect, of course. That was for weaklings.
There were several he "trusted" enough to do his dirty work, and then there were the other kids, who he occasionally enlisted to do such things as spread rumors about the outcasts, spill things in the cafeteria, and cause general havoc.
He trusted none of them.
The opinions on Tomoo varied with the children; they ranged from despising Tomoo and praying they would never become the new target of his wrath to fearing him and hoping he would never show interest in them, there were a few who would actually be considered his loyal pawns, puppets, whatever you called them.
One of them was a boy named Ken, who was very much a typical stooge without any real personality. He liked doing as he was told.
The third was called Sprout, which wasn't his real name, but no one knew his real name nor cared enough to, so that was that.
No one really cared about who you really were in this place; all that mattered was if you were good enough to be seen worthy of not being bullied, tormented, and subjected to so much hatred you'd want to die, then you could call yourself lucky and go to sleep satisfied.
If so, Tomoo might enlist you in his dirty work and leave you alone otherwise. But that was only if you were really lucky.
If not, you were one of his victims.
Tomoo was very much what normal people would call a sociopath. He thought of himself first before anything else, and anyone who dared challenge his pecking order must be insane or crazy, therefore when any new child entered the orphanage, he would become the one to initiate them into the pecking order so that they knew their place.
Almost every one of them would be bullied, until they became like him or just ignored everyone else who was picked on.
He didn't discriminate, either. Whoever looked weak was an ideal target.
He picked on a young girl with glasses and called her blind, he picked on a young boy who was deaf, hid his hearing aids from him and called him an old man, he picked on a boy who used a cane to walk, and called him a cripple. That was until the 'crippled' boy had enough and had whacked him with his cane.
The crippled boy later was transferred out by his adoptive parents, and Tomoo regretted losing such a juicy target. Very few ever physically fought back, and it just encouraged him to continue his bullying.
He'd even picked on a boy with autism, calling him a space case and a freak,and he and his buddies had gotten very good pleasure out of tormenting him until he'd been adopted.
To Tomoo, it didn't matter if you were a girl or a boy, or a person whose existence didn't fall between those terms. Anyone who didn't fall into the very narrow-minded perspective Tomoo had of the world, was not allowed to just exist without being told of their place.
Lately, however, the pecking order had been disturbed by a girl. No, actually, two of them. One was a new girl who'd recently joined the orphanage, after her parents had met a tragic end in a car crash, and she was the only survivor.
Having no relatives willing to take her in, she had been sent here, against her wishes. Her name was Yukiko Kishibe.
From the second she joined, Tomoo's good life suddenly took a turn for the worst. This girl was a rebel who refused to do what Tomoo wanted.
She would also stand up for those who were being picked on. He had tried to break her, of course; by throwing spitballs at her during class, or shooting paper airplanes at her head, but she had merely ignored him and the teachers had sentenced him to detention, suddenly and uncharacteristically noticing his bad behavior.
Was it because she was a girl? That made sense to him.
Somehow, now that she was here, he was always landing in detention after detention. Before, the adults had never cared. Why did they suddenly care so much now what he did? Normally, they let it go.
They didn't care about the kids, they only cared about the money that landed in their pockets. Such was the darkness in this atmosphere that would contribute to even more misfortune.
There were even some children whose parents had been killed by...assassins. Tomoo scoffed at the idea of such a thing happening. Obviously, such people didn't exist anymore, just the stuff of legend.
The second was the young girl he currently had his eyes on, as she sat alone at her table, with other children pointing, making faces, and throwing things at her. This girl could be described as the odd one out among the orphanage.
She had crimson hair that was so red, it looked almost pink and resembled the evening sky.
Her eyes were blood-red, a fact that noticeably creeped out almost every adult or child she interacted with. She was smaller and skinnier than the rest of the children, which only contributed to her isolation.
But the one thing that made her stand out, more than anything else, were two small white horns she had on her head. Tomoo liked to call her the devil's spawn, a demon in human form, or better yet, an ox, or even a cat and make meowing sounds at her.
However, this girl was emotionless and had long grown used to his ways, and thus she ignored him; and it was really starting to piss him off. He stared at her, walked over, and stared at her, trying to get some emotion out of her, get her to say something.
All she did was stare right back, roll her eyes and then look away.
This wasn't very impressive for the resume of Tomoo the bully, so therefore Tomoo continued to smirk,"You're really stupid, aren't you?"
She didn't cry.
Instead, she said, softly, "You're the stupid one."
"You little bitch!" He yelped. "Nobody's allowed to interrupt me while I talk!"
"You're a lying, disgusting piece of shit. Why should I care what you have to say?" She said, softly. Again, why the hell didn't she show any damned emotion?
It really creeped him out.
"You should care, because it's your future." He hissed, as he grabbed at her horns, ignoring her protests, and slammed her face down into her food.
Instantly, all the children burst out laughing, as if they were all programmed to do so.
"Look at the freak!" Sprout cried, striding up to Tomoo's side from wherever he'd been (even he had no idea where the fuck the kid usually went) and kicked the girl hard. She let out a little cry, but otherwise showed no sign of discomfort.
"Come on, horns! Aren't you actually going to admit that you're inferior to me?"
"At least I'm not an asshole who pushes people around for their own gain."
"Name something I don't have that you do, then," He snapped.
"Manners," She said.
He just looked at her and then burst out laughing. "Manners aren't necessary for an animal like you. We need to establish control here."
"It's all bull, anyway. You don't really care about others, do you?" She said.
He looked at her with wide eyes. This was the first time anyone had dared to cross his way of doing things. Instantly, he kicked her, again.
"Shut the hell up, freaks don't need to talk!" He screamed.
"That's right!" His cronies chimed in, getting on either side of him.
"You'd be better off dead, no one would miss you!"
"I doubt anyone'd miss you, either," Was her casual retort.
Tomoo kicked her chair over, knocked everything off, and started to laugh as he did so. But no one made any move to help her. Because this was his reign, his empire, his territory, and whatever he said went; except for today.
All would have gone as Tomo had planned if there hadn't been a certain...irregularity seated at the table, eating his food calmly, silently praying to himself that he'd be freed from this hellhole soon and allowed to live by himself.
That was one Train Heartnet, sitting there watching the commotion with boredom, but he was growing more irritated by the second.
When he'd first arrived here at age ten, even a young Tomoo had made it his mission to torment the young boy who loved playing with cats, and being solitary.
That was until Train had become more advanced in the ways of Chronos and had pistol-whipped him. Thus, the little coward had been so terrified that he never bothered him again.
He'd never seen the young redhead before, but he noticed that she kept on acting like this was normal. Why did she put up with it when she could just say something or fight back? To be honest, it kind of infuriated him.
So he spoke up, lazily.
"Hey, monkey boy, you mind shutting up? I need to finish my dinner."
"Oh, look, if it isn't the freak who likes cats!" Tomoo cried, instantly shifting targets. Apparently, he had forgotten about the pistol whipping. Time to remind him.
All the other children looked at Train in fear. They didn't know much about him, but from what they knew, he was not to be messed with. Train normally liked children, but not these children. Sighing, he yawned and stretched.
"What'd you say? I wasn't paying attention, I stopped listening once you started heaving diarrhea out of your mouth."
Tomoo's face turned beet-red. "How dare you! You think just because you're older that you can do whatever you want!"
"I'm sorry, Tomoo, but it really, really saddens me, that you're so insecure that you feel the need to be a jerk to others to make your...physical inadequacy matter less." Train said smoothly.
"You little-" Tomoo cried, and with that, he lunged at Train, who sideswiped him.
"If you want me to, I will show you it...again." He said, pointing to his gun.
Instantly, Tomoo's face paled considerably.
"This isn't over!" He cried, as he ran out of the room, his goons close behind.
Train's gaze then went to the girl that was watching him closely.
Clearly, she hadn't expected someone to stand up for her.
"T-Thank you...but why would you do that? Are you trying to prove that you're better than they are?"
"No," He said dully.
"Then why?"
"Because they're not worth your time. You shouldn't be concerned with what others think." He said flatly.
"Yeah, you're right. But who are you?" She asked.
"I'm...Train. Train Heartnet, a lone cat who's looking for his purpose in life. I've seen exactly how strong you are."
"Strong? I'm not like you. I don't have the strength to fight for myself. My name's Kaede." She said, looking at the ground.
He shook his head. "You are strong, I can tell by your reactions."
Kaede blushed. "That's the first time anyone's told me something like that. And I don't have a last name. Tomoo claims my parents abandoned me in the woods."
"Tomoo's a lying bastard who hates whoever doesn't agree with him," He said.
She nodded, "I agree with that assertion. But still, I don't really like many people. It's better-"
"To be alone, right? It's better to be alone with your thoughts." He nodded, understanding what she was talking about.
She looked at him and then nodded in response, clearly not having expected him to be like this.
"You know, you can talk to me any time you want. I'll be there for you." After all, he couldn't just let a kid like this suffer.
She looked at him, unsure of what to say. "How come I've never noticed you here before?" She finally asked.
"Most of the time I keep to myself and only come here when I need to. Most of the time, what I intend to do is stay as far away from this place as possible."
Kaede fidgeted for a few moments before she spoke again.
"Um..." She began, "Would you like...to see a secret I have?"
He looked at her, perplexed, "A secret?"
"You can't tell anyone else."
"I'm particularly good at keeping secrets, especially my own."
"Um...I might show it to you later..." She said, but then Train received a message for his next mission.
But as the two parted ways, he saw a brown-haired girl make her move, coming over to Kaede.
"I'm sorry that they have to pick on you!" She said, sounding very unhappy. Or, was she faking it, he wondered? He couldn't tell.
"Don't be, they're always like this," She said.
"But it's awful that you get picked on! I simply can't stand to watch it any longer! They bully me, too, for what happened to my parents. They just got behind the wheel like usual...there was a loud crashing sound and screaming...and then Mom and Dad wouldn't move anymore. And because of that, they pick on me. Your name's Kaede, right?"
"Yeah."
"I'm Yukiko, it's nice to meet you!"
For some reason, the second Yukiko saw Train, her eyes widened and she blushed considerably.
Train blinked in bemusement, not sure why this was happening, before he turned and left.
"Who was that guy?" Yukiko chirped.
"I don't really know, but he said his name was Train." Kaede said. 'He sure is a mysterious guy,' She thought, 'Maybe he'll actually...save me from this place.'
"You really don't have to go on this mission so soon, you know?" A man with green hair said to his partner, who smiled.
"You know I can handle myself. What's the worst that could happen? I have this eye of mine...you promised you'd never tell anyone about it, right, Sven?"
Sven smiled. "Yeah, I won't tell anyone. They won't believe me. Just be careful out there."
"Yeah, I will. You should actually work on getting a woman this time around," His partner joked.
"I'm such a gentleman and yet they still don't get it!"
"I'll be back as soon as I can be." His partner said as he left, on his mission.
Sven walked into Annette's cafe, not surprised when she didn't look up from the book she was reading for a second, before she glanced up at him, and smiled.
"It's good to see you back," She said, "I just received intel about Chronos."
"Chronos, huh?" He said, his face darkening. "They've sure been active lately."
"Word is they have a new mission going, but I haven't uncovered it yet. And their youngest assassin has been pretty famous lately," She smiled as he sat down, "I told you to stop smoking."
"And I'm not gonna quit any time soon," He retorted."Who's this assassin?"
"He's called the Black Cat. They say he moves like a demon, that his eyes are gold and gleam like a cat's in the darkness."
"I see, and you honestly expect me to go chasing after a ghost tale like that?"
"It's not just a ghost tale. The Black Cat does exist and he is quite dangerous." She said.
"Don't worry, I won't believe that the Black Cat exists unless I'm unlucky enough to cross paths with him." He said, lightly, as he got something to eat and then left.
Annette looked at the wanted list and noticed that the Black Cat was listed there, for a large bounty. "What exactly is the Black Cat trying to achieve? I wish I knew the answers to that."
Train slouched, clearly bored at this mission at Chronos. Creed sent him a reassuring smile, at which he merely grimaced a little.
"Here's the name of your newest target that you are to attack." They said, handing him a paper.
"Director Kakuzawa," He said, reading the name off, and then raised a brow. "This name isn't familiar."
The dude sure was ugly, though. Guess that told you a lot about his true character.
"It's because they work undercover, where they experiment on young girls known as Diclonii. You weren't paying attention, were you?"
Train's only response was to give him a dry shrug.
"We trust you will not fail us in this mission, Black Cat. Unite Chronos and the world together."
The words that he had heard a thousand times before; still, he bowed, not allowing any emotion to grace his face.
"Of course, I'll give them the bad luck that they won't forget." He added as he walked out.
The one who had spoken to Train turned to the other Chronos Elder beside them.
"Young Heartnet is showing signs of promise, yet he seems to be too independent. But that Diskenth fellow, he troubles me. Heartnet told me Diskenth has been fantasizing about wanting to control Chronos."
"Just keep an eye on them. But if anyone's one hundred percent dedicated to our cause, it's Heartnet. There's no way he'd ever deviate."
Train came back rather late from his mission, after having killed quite a few people. There were a few victims that had to be silenced.
Train could only sigh as he wandered, only to blink in confusion as he saw a tiny brown puppy headed his way, out of the bushes. The puppy sniffed him and then barked happily.
"What is it?" A voice said from behind the dog. Kaede came out in time to meet Train's eyes and the two stared at each other before she blushed, again.
"Is this your secret?" He said.
She nodded her head and blushed deeply. "Yes. He doesn't have a name, but he's alone, too."
"So you both bonded, then," He said, extending his hand out for the dog to examine. The dog licked him enthusiastically, "What is his name?"
'To be honest, I'm more a cat person than a dog person,' He thought, grimacing a little.
"He doesn't have one." She said, "I haven't thought of a name, though."
"I'm sure you'll think of one. Good night, Kaede. Be sure to go in soon. It's not safe to be out here alone." He said, and like that, he disappeared in front of her, leaving her stunned as to what just happened.
"Where did he go?" Kaede questioned, but had no answers as she fed her dog, unaware of the tragic days to come.
