Linkinparkfan9799 Stories

Elfen Lied-Anime

Rated T for Gore and Cursing

Minori

Chapter Four

Fear and Courage: Minori

I yawn as I open up my eyes.

My cap is off, so I quickly grab it and tug it over my head. I stand and wobble out of the room, looking around and wandering into the kitchen, where only Lucy, Nana, and Mayu are. "Where are Kota and Yuka?" I wonder, looking under the table.

"Working," Mayu answers. "They have to work in order to get food."

I walk over next to Lucy's seat and sit in the vacant spot. "Morning Minori," she pats my head.

I beam. "Morning Lucy-san~" I sing, hugging her waist.

Nana blinks and pokes her plate with chopsticks, all means of vegetables out of place. "Stupid monster…" she mutters.

"Oh Nana-san," Mayu sighs. "You didn't have to eat the vegetables all at once…"

"I don't want some big monster breaking in and eating me! Especially with that horrid explanation!" she points to me.

"I didn't think it was horrid," Lucy plucks up some rice clump and sticks it in her mouth.

"That's because-"A big arm knocks Nana backwards. "OW! What the Hell?-!"

I blink. "What's Hell?"

Lucy sighs and Mayu laughs nervously. "It's a very bad place, Minori, and bad people go there."

I blink and smile. "Does that mean the Veggie Monster will go to Hell?"

"Oh boy, NANA!" Lucy groans. "Don't teach her new words!"

"But isn't learning a good thing?" I suck my thumb.

"Yeah Lucy," Nana sticks out her tongue.

Lucy points her finger at Nana and mouths something I can't catch. Nana covers her mouth and glares. I grab the chopsticks and prod at the food with it: Teriyaki chicken over fried rice with peas and carrots. I twist my fingers a little and eventually snap the chopsticks in half. I pout. "Meanie sticks," I try stabbing the food with the living halves.

Lucy stands and digs through a drawer to return with a fork and offers it to me. "Try this," she chuckles.

I accept it and eat my food with tiny hearts floating around my head. I try to grab one, but my hand just goes through it. "Aw…" I pout again.

Lucy chuckles again and pats my head. Nana pokes the area I was grabbing with a fork. "Is something supposed to be there?" she wonders.

"Minori's seven, remember?" Mayu whispers.

"What does my age have to do with the floating hearts?" I cock my head to the side.

"Nothing, absolutely nothing," Lucy resumes eating her food. I let it slide.

Later, Mayu leaves to go to 'school'. So that just leaves the pink-heads with horns, right? I walk around the 'Maple Inn' in search to find something to do, but I find Nana under a table with a pot on her head and a big knife I saw in the kitchen. First thought: Err… "Err…"

She pushes a finger to her lips and then turns back to the end of the hall. I walk over and see her staring at Lucy's back as she fusses with white orchids in a fat, brown pot. I skip over and she turns with a small smile. "Oh hey Minori," she releases the flowers.

"Lucy-san, what's Nana doing?" I point to the table Nana is hiding under.

I hear Nana groan slightly and Lucy chuckles, patting my head. "Being ridiculous, that's all."

"This is not ridiculous!" she stands up, knocking her head into the under-table. "OW!"

Lucy laughs and walks over to Nana, helping her out from under. "Let's get an ice-pack on that," Lucy leads her to the kitchen. "You coming, Minori?"

I nod and run after, eventually catching up and hugging Lucy around her waist. Lucy pushes the sliding door aside and steps in, dragging me with each step (seeing she's bigger), and grabs some ice from a container labeled 'medical ice'. "Why is there a bucket called 'medical ice'?" I tug on her shirt.

"Because, it's not clean to stick your hands in ice other people put in water sometimes. Yuka thought it'd be easier to just do this," Lucy explains as she wraps the ice in some paper towel and tapes it shut, pressing it in between Nana's horns. "Now keep that on until your head stops hurting."

"Yeah, yeah," Nana grumbles, sitting at the table. "What time is it?"

Lucy glances at a band on her wrist with a little circle attached. "Lunch time," she clicks her tongue against the roof of her mouth. "What do you want?"

"Ice cream," Nana snaps, although I don't see how it's offensive.

Lucy narrows her eyes at Nana, but I beam with join. "Do we have ice cream?" I tug on Lucy's shirt again.

"Well…" she looks around, dragging me as I refuse to let go (it's funny~). "Actually yeah, but that's more-"

"Ice cream!" I sit at the table. "Ice cream, ice cream, ice cream!"

"Alright, alright!" Lucy huffs. "Jeez, calm down, you didn't have sugar yet."

I giggle and she grabs three bowls and three spoons. I bounce as I wait and Nana raises a brow. "Do you have to go to the bathroom or something?" she huffs.

"No?" I blink. "I'm excited for ice cream!" I giggle.

Lucy sets a bowl in front of me with white ice cream inside, a spoon at the side. "Well, eat up," she pats my head.

I nod and grab the spoon, shoveling some in my mouth. "Yummy~" I bounce.

Lucy puts a hand on my head while I'm still bouncing. I blink at her as I continue. "Huh, so that's NOT where the 'off' button is…" she mumbles.

I laugh and we eat in silence (or somewhat silence, seeing I'm humming). "Would you stop humming?" Nana huffs.

"She can hum if she wants to," Lucy stops the spoon from entering her mouth.

"It's annoying!"

I frown. "Sorry…"

Lucy sighs and pats my head, smiling a little. "What about I tell you guys a story, so we don't kill each other by the end of the day?"

"A story!" I clap.

"Uh…sure?" Nana shifts. "It is pretty boring on Mondays, even with her here."

"Why?" I blink.

"Because she hates my guts," Lucy shrugs.

"Why? Your guts can't do anything but pass food, crap, and piss."

Lucy's eyes widen and Nana sighs, shaking her head. "Oh jeez. And you said I teach her words…"

Lucy rolls her eyes and pats my head, laughing nervously. "Minori, those aren't nice words."

"But Daddy used them," I shrug.

She stops for a second and sighs herself. "Well, let's get to story time, shall we?" Nana and I nod. "Okay, so there were two people, one named Courage and one named Fear-"

"Is this a kid's story?" Nana interrupts.

"Not extremely, but yet again, it's a Life-interpreter," Lucy shrugs.

"Life what?" I blink.

"Life-interpreter," Lucy repeats. "Or a story with a point in life."

"Isn't that a Fable?" Nana groans.

"Can I tell the fucking story?" Lucy snaps. I nod and motion Nana to be quiet. "Okay, so Fear and Courage lived in two different houses with two different ideas. Then a third person moved in their area named…let's say Di. Di was a she, and Fear and Courage were boys, just to establish. Fear was scared of this new person, so he concealed himself. Courage made friends with Di and so it was good for some time, until Fear came out. Fear thought it would be good to kill Di so everything would return to normal. He tried that day, but Courage defended her and ended up dying himself. Di took revenge and killed Fear, and ended up the only one left."

"Uh, Lucy? Please note the hiding Diclonius behind me," Nana points behind her where I'm shaking, staring at Lucy with wide eyes.

Lucy raises a brow. "Too much?" she asks. I nod. "Ah well. That's life."

"Life's mean!" I squeak, pouting.

"Yes, yes it is," Lucy stands. "Well, I'll just hang around the house if you guys care to join."

I watch her as she leaves through the sliding door. "Well, at least that story's done," Nana stretches. "Nobody really wants to hear about her life."

I blink. "But she said that-"

"Where do you think she got it from?" Nana asks. "Listen Minori, Lucy and I have been in this thing called a 'facility'. You know what that is?" I shake my head. "Of course you don't. Well, the place was a testing place."

"You took tests?" I ask.

She sighs. "Okay, we were tortured." I gap. "They tortured us for information about us, the ones with horns. In the story, replace 'Fear' with 'the torturers' and Courage with 'those who dare get near me'."

I do such. "LUCY-SAN!" I run out. "LUCY-SAN! LUCY-SAN!"

I trip and start crying. Rapid footsteps sound and Lucy comes up. "Ugh, Nana!"

"I didn't do anything!" Nana runs up.

"Aw, shh honey," Lucy helps me up.

I hug her neck. "Lucy! You're not alone!" She stops breathing. "I'm here! I'm not going to leave you Lucy-san!"

I can't hear anyone else breathing. Lucy pats my head. "Thanks Minori," she whispers. "It's nice to hear that."