It's been so long since I've updated this, but a lot's happened in the past...well, it's almost a year now, isn't it? Work's kept me busy and tired, and I've been more motivated toward art than writing. I can only hope the artwork I've been making over the past year has helped stave off people's hunger for an update o-o;

A reader actually brought up a good point about Lucy's powers and why she didn't seem bothered Alex knew about them. In both anime and manga, Lucy never really seemed to care about showing off her powers (it was just her horns she was self-conscious about) and she even willingly showed them to Aiko Takada to cheer her up, so I guess I never saw it as that much of a big deal for her. Plus, she figured he already kind of knew about them since she kind of...punched his heart out back in chapter one XD

Either way, I hope I can dedicate more time to writing chapters since I have a proper outline for the story set up, and there will be at least thirteen chapters based on what I've written already. I'll try to get them out in a timely manner, but I'm not going to promise anything for fear of letting folks down. Thank you for your continued patience, readers!

Disclaimer: I own the rights to neither Elfen Lied nor Prototype. This is a work of fiction for entertainment only.

Night settled over the town like a blanket, and aside from the streetlights and the lights of the odd gas station or convenience store, darkness overshadowed all. Nighttime made it so much easier to move, but it also meant silence would dominate more than ever inside the car. Alex and his companion weren't exactly the talkative type, and the darkness would make her sleepier than the daytime. Well, it's not like they had any choice, really. They had to get a new car, and fast. The one they had just wouldn't cut it anymore, not with the police surely starting to figure out whose car was stolen after the incident in the bar. They had to cross a couple state lines to avoid detection, and from there, he wasn't sure. Walking seemed best, but then they could always take a bus. He sighed at the thought, knowing only certain cities in the Midwestern US would have active bus lines. The bigger the state, the less practical public transport was, so it was best to just focus on a car for now. It wouldn't be particularly hard to get one, but it relied on Alex's willingness to hotwire a car or not. The only other alternative was to consume someone and take their keys along with their lifetime of memories. What a mess.

His pink-haired charge was elsewhere. He'd given her his wallet of cash so she could buy whatever suited her fancy at the nearest dollar store, and he hoped she didn't just book it after buying her supplies. Chasing after her wouldn't exactly be difficult, but it wasn't something he looked forward to doing either. The first time was still plenty irritating all on its own.

He'd turned his back for only a second. A second to get food in a nearby store, and she'd vanished by the time he came back outside. Rather than angry, he'd only been exasperated. Really? Running away after he thought they'd come to a silent accord? What a nervous little thing she was!

The path she'd left behind was glaringly obvious to someone like him. Her scent was everywhere, and he could see her footfalls in the dirt. She wasn't a fool either: she'd gone through a creek and went in random trail patterns to throw him off. He really had to commend her efforts. If he was a regular human, he'd have lost her almost immediately. Finally, he caught up, and for a while, he let his predator side take control. Instead of confront her right away, he stayed a ways back where she could still plainly see him if she turned around. There were only so many times she could turn her head to look back to see if he was still there lest she run right into a tree, and whenever she chanced a glance, he delighted in seeing her eyes bulge in shock. It got old unfortunately fast, though, so he took to the trees. From bough to bough he leaped, never losing her and staying just out of sight. Chasing after her, giving her little scares, watching the relief in her posture as she thought she lost him, all delighted the baser side of him, made him chuckle under his breath. It was a game to him, and probably the most fun game he'd ever played in a long, long time.

As she came to a stop beside a thicket, he realized just how many hours they'd lost to running around in the woods and oh, how quickly he tired of the game. Would she pull this stunt more than just this once? He hoped not, but perhaps she wouldn't try again if he popped up when she least expected it? Like now, for instance.

Alex dropped down from the tree and pointedly cleared his throat, and he did his damnedest to keep from chortling as the girl jumped nearly a mile in the air. She whirled around to face him, and her surprise melted away in an instant, replaced with absolute rage. Her face turned nearly as red as her eyes, and her hands clenched so hard into fists her knuckles turned bright white. The air around her roiled with danger, but the abomination in man's clothing just shoved his hands into his pockets.

"Leave." she hissed. Any lesser man would have surely quaked in his boots at so viciously snarled a command, but Alex only looked phenomenally tired. Or, he did until he heard the distinctive crackling of bark. The trees around the pair began to tremble and shake, leaves falling from the snapping branches, and the snapped-off limbs whirled in the air. A tree behind the pink-haired woman fell onto its side from a shockingly clean cut, and the crash sent birds flying and screeching in fear.

It was just like before, in Pennsylvania, he thought. That strange power . . . telekinesis? She'd used it a couple times as they'd made their way out of that little town, and mostly when she thought he wasn't looking. Just little things, like bringing something closer to where she sat, closing doors, or flipping on lights. And, of course, he'd seen it first hand when she struck him. So many police cars torn asunder, their occupants suffering the same fate, and, were he human, he'd surely have been dead himself. Now that destructive power was meant to scare him away, but it did the exact opposite. He was enthralled by the sight, and he even grinned.

"C'mon, Kitten. I got you dinner and everything, why run?"

Her anger abated only slightly, and the rushing tree limbs and leaves came to a halt. She watched him with the same caution as a caged panther, but her posture didn't slacken despite her expression becoming more confused.

"Not afraid...?"

It was his turn to tilt his head, and after watching her a moment, he shrugged and shook his head. He wasn't sure what face he was expecting her to make, but it certainly wasn't that snarl twisting her lips up like that. Didn't she believe him?

"Trust me, I'm nowhere near afraid, missy," he chuckled. He got a shove to his chest for that, one hard enough to send him backward a step. He looked down to his chest where the invisible hand struck, and his eyebrow raised at the hand print that lingered there for a mere two seconds. A hand? But she was all the way over there. How curious. Looking back to her, he saw her posture ease, but she still looked for all the world like he was an itch she just wanted to scratch and be done with. She gestured up toward her head, to the horns he knew were hidden underneath the cap she wore.

"Isn't weird?"

Ah, that was it. People didn't live long after she showed them her power, did they? And her horns? How many times had she shown them off and received looks of disgust? He could imagine it happened plenty of times. She didn't show herself to many, and when she did, usually they just died. It rang eerily familiar.

Again he shrugged. "I've seen plenty of weird things. And that? That's just interesting."

The look on her face was funny, but also, oddly adorable. She'd only looked that puzzled before when he offered to be her companion in the first place. It really was so odd for her to see someone so flippant about how she looked and the powers she had, wasn't it? Shocking him was the thought "poor thing." Deep in the pit of his gut, he hated it. He hated knowing what that felt like. Such an odd feeling, sympathy.

A silence far too long to be comfortable stretched between them, and he kept his eyes on the ground not far from her feet. She had to be tired from running for so long. Tired, hungry, and frustrated. He raised his head and gestured behind him with a nod, silently asking her to follow. At first, she just eyed him from under her bangs and didn't move an inch. As much as he didn't like it, he'd wait until she moved of her own accord. He lost track of the minutes, but the sun had disappeared behind the trees as they talked, and once the last rays of light began to die, she took a step forward in his direction. She stopped beside him and gestured with her hand for him to lead the way. Rather than take point, he stayed beside her, with her only slightly behind him so she wouldn't misstep. Reluctance dogged her every step, but at least she was going back with him.

Alex trekked through the parking lot looking for all the world like he was just out for a stroll, and stopped as he spotted a car so nondescript it would easily escape most people's notice. A white Honda Accord if his memory recalled correctly, common enough in color and size that they could be mistaken for anyone else and easily lost if it came to a chase. That would do just fine.

With as much ease as if he owned the car, he strolled up beside it and curled his fingers in the handle. A tentacle slipped out from inside his jacket's sleeve and into the lock, where it bulked up its form to fit the key slot. The door unlocked with ease, light flipping on as he opened the door, and the tendril retreated back into his jacket. Alex set Lucy's backpack down in the passenger seat and, in his own seat, pondered over how to actually start the car. If he used his tendrils, it would be a snap, but his companion still had no idea about his powers, and he wasn't sure now was the proper time to show them to her. In a couple days, maybe, but now?

He chewed his lip and held his hand to the ignition slot. Maybe he could just make a key? He could manipulate his biomass to shift his clothing around and take some of it off, so why not a key? He chuckled at himself, amazed he hadn't thought of it before. Once more a tendril slid into the key slot, from his palm this time, and filled up the space like the typical teeth of a key. He pulled his hand away, the tentacle snapping away from him in the process, and he retrieved the newly formed key from the ignition. It was actually kind of weird to be holding part of himself like that, he thought as he turned the key over and over in his fingers. But it would melt back into his being easily enough if he willed it to, so why worry? With a grunt, he put the key back into the ignition and started the car, soon after taking it to the front where the horned woman stood waiting. She almost ignored the car completely until she realized who was in the driver's seat, and after quirking her eyebrow upward, she shrugged and got inside. He tore out of the parking lot as soon as she had her seat belt buckled, much to her discontent. He couldn't help chuckling at the vicious look she shot him from where she was pressed back in her seat.

The car ride out of Tennessee had been thankfully uneventful after nabbing the new car, and within the hour, they were in Arkansas. However, it grew unbearable for another reason. While before he could get her to respond to his prompting, tonight the girl wasn't replying to anything he said. Anything more than a "hm" was too much for her to offer, so silence reigned during most of the ride. There was only so much quiet he could take before he wanted to drive the truck into a ravine. Just to shake things up a little. Considering what she asked next, he would have preferred the silence.

"How did you find the key for the car?" she asked all of a sudden, and Alex snapped out of his daze. He'd been so preoccupied with driving he didn't think she'd even ask that question, and he swallowed as he wondered how to answer. He could just say he found the owner and took his keys, but the owner was surely still in the store when she came out.

"I'm magic."

His answer had her head jerking in an odd way as she turned to face him fully, and he didn't much like the way her eyes crawled all over his face. Searching for something, but what? He never got that answer. She turned away, and out of the corner of his eye, he could have sworn he saw her face delve back into that sorrowful look she tried her best to hide under apathy. What happened? What had he said this time? She just gazed out the window, eyes cloudy and half hidden by her hair, mouth set in a little frown.

He remembered a saying, the origin of which he couldn't remember. It was something like "those who seem heartless once cared too much." Looking at his companion, he thought it amazingly apt. She was reserved, quiet, spoke few words despite her slowly expanding vocabulary, and always sounded amazingly pissed off. But when she wasn't looking, he could always see a sadness hanging around her like a thick veil. She got burned, and badly. Her heart had been broken before, long ago maybe, and since then, she guarded it with as many fortifications as she could.

Under her breath she mumbled a little string of words in that language of hers he couldn't understand.

"I'm a magician. There's nothing I can't do."

Alex waited close to a minute before he turned the radio dial up, and the inside of the car filled with the unobtrusive melody of Billy Joel's "An Innocent Man."