Warning: This fanfic is based on the manga, which is a lot different from the anime. This fanfic contains spoilers, so be warned if you haven't read the manga.

Disclaimer: I do not own Elfen Lied. Elfen Lied is property of Okamoto Lynn.

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The institution was huge. It was full of technology, scientists and isolation cells.

They took Mariko to a large, white room, with chains attached to the wall and a huge machine in front of it.

Ishii, the soldier who had found Mariko, got the task to prepare her for examination.

"Take off your clothes," he said.

Mariko looked at him. She took a few steps back.

"I said: take off your clothes," Ishii repeated.

"W-why?" Mariko asked.

"You won't be needing them anymore," Ishii said. "They'll get dirty soon enough, anyway."

"What do you mean?" Mariko asked nervously. "What are you going to do with me?"

"Just take off the damn clothes," Ishii said. "If you won't take them off, I will."

Mariko tried to surround herself with her vectors and protect herself, but her vectors felt so weak, she felt dizzy bringing them out.

"Just as we thought," Ishii said. "You're weak. I can easily disable your vectors."

He took out a little machine and pointed it at her.

"Now's you last chance," he said. "You can either be a good girl or get your hands disabled."

"Please don't make me do this," Mariko cried.

"Alright, that's it," Ishii said impatiently. He pressed a button on the machine and a little vector came out. It went right through Mariko's head and touched the part of the brain that controlled her vectors. Her vectors disappeared immediately. Mariko could feel a short but strong shock going through her head. She grabbed her head and screamed.

"We learned that from your mother, you know," Ishii said with a smirk. "Isn't that ironic?" He laughed shortly and put the machine away.

"Now…" he said. "Take them off."

Mariko recovered and took a few more steps back. She tried to bring out her vectors, but she couldn't.

They're not coming out…

"N-no, stay back…" she begged.

"If you think this is scary, then you have no idea what's going to happen from now on," Ishii said. He took her wrist held it up high and ripped off her sweater.

"No! NOOO!" Mariko screamed. "STOP IT!!"

"Shut up!" Ishii said while taking off her pants. When he reached out for her bra, Mariko struggled even more.

"It hurts!" Mariko screamed. "You're hurting me!"

"You should have thought of that before you refused," Ishii said.

"Ishii," they heard a voice say. They both looked at the door. A man in a white coat wearing glasses was standing there.

"That enough," he said. "Let go of her."

"But she's–"

"Now, Ishii," the man said strictly. Ishii let go of Mariko and angrily walked towards the man. He grabbed the collar of his coat.

"Don't you tell me what to do," he said. "I'll kill you."

"If you kill me, then they will kill you," the man said calmly. "You can go back to your post now."

Ishii pushed him away and left the room. The man stared after him until he was gone, and then looked at Mariko. She was on her knees, silently crying and shaking. She tried to cover herself, for all she was wearing now were her bra and her panties. When she looked at the scientist, she blushed and immediately looked away.

The man had a friendly expression on his face. He walked towards her and sat beside her. Mariko wanted to run away, but she felt very weak. She tried to crawl away, but the man stopped her by holding her shoulder.

"Don't be scared," the man said. "I won't treat you like Ishii just did."

Mariko tried to get away, but she felt weaker and weaker. The man had no problem stopping her from moving. He went with his hand through her hair and saw the wounds.

"You really are a Diclonius," he said. "Unbelievable. You broke off your horns."

"What are you going to do with me?" Mariko asked nervously.

"Today… nothing," the man said. "You can't use your vectors for a few hours now."

"I want to go home," Mariko cried.

"I know," the man said. "It's scary when you've just arrived here. But most of you get used to it pretty soon. Especially those of your age. Once you get stronger, you'll be just fine."

"I don't want to be a test subject," Mariko said. "I just want my life back."

"I can't help you with that," the man said. "But I can help you live here. Help you get used to this place and your daily routine. You can tell me anything. If you let me help you get through this, you'll be ok. Trust me."

Mariko looked at him. He was so friendly.

He looks like Sensei…

The man stood up.

"Can you stand?" he asked.

Mariko slowly stood up. She was still shaking.

"Good," the man said. "Now can you please take off your underwear?"

Mariko looked at him in surprise and fear.

"Now don't look at me like that," the man said friendly. "It's alright. All Diclonius here are naked. It's nothing to be ashamed of."

Mariko still didn't move.

"If you won't do it, I'm afraid I'll have to call Ishii back here," the man said. "I don't want to do that to you, so please… just do it, ok? I won't touch you."

Mariko hesitated for a while.

The man sighed. "I'm sorry, but you leave me no choice," he said. He turned around and said: "Could you call Ishii back?"

"No, wait!" Mariko said. "I'll do it, I'll do it!"

The man looked at her.

Mariko's hands were trembling while she slowly took off her bra. Before she uncovered her breasts, she asked: "Could you just… please… not look at me?"

"I'm sorry, I'm not allowed to do that," the man said. "I have to keep my eye on you while I'm here."

Mariko stared at him, then turned around and dropped her bra on the floor. Taking off her panties in front of him was just as embarrassing, especially because he was standing behind her.

"Go on, it's ok," the man said.

Mariko decided that even though it was embarrassing, it was still better than Ishii ripping her underwear off. She dropped her panties, then she didn't move.

"Good girl," the man said. "Come with me." He pointed at the door.

Mariko covered her breasts with her arms and slowly followed the scientist. They went to a smaller room that looked like a doctor's office.

"Please sit down," the man said while pointing at a small chair. Mariko sat down and looked around. The scientist took his own chair and sat in front of her.

"I think I haven't introduced myself yet," he said. "My name is Yamada Nobu. You can call me Nobu. Nice to meet you."

He took his stethoscope.

"I'm going to run some small physical tests on you," he said.

"Phy-physical tests?!" Mariko asked.

"You know, heart beat, blood pressure, reflexes, that sort of thing," Nobu said. "It won't hurt."

"But I'm… I'm…" Mariko stuttered.

"You're what?" Nobu asked. "Hey, I've done this hundreds of times. Seeing a naked body doesn't do anything to me. You don't have to be scared for me to…"

"Alright, alright!" Mariko said. She didn't want to hear it.

"Ok," Nobu said. He took his stethoscope. "I'm going to listen to your heartbeat first. Please remove your arms."

Mariko's face flushed even more when she slowly moved her arms. She saw him looking at her breasts. Even when Takahashi had harassed her, she didn't feel as uncomfortable as she did here.

"You…" Nobu said. "Have you been…"

He saw some bruises on and around her breasts. He looked into her eyes.

"That man you've been living with… did he…?" he asked. He also saw the bruises on her wrists. "What did he do to you?"

"Nothing," Mariko said quickly. "I… fell down."

"I've seen marks like these," Nobu said strictly. "You don't have to be afraid. He won't find you here."

"He didn't…"

"That's probably why you're so scared to be touched by others," Nobu said. "Just relax. This will be over in a few minutes."

The stethoscope was cold. Then again, Mariko was cold, too.

"Are you ok?" Nobu asked. Mariko's face was completely red.

"No, I'm not," Mariko said. "I'm so embarrassed."

Nobu smiled. "You'll get used to it," he said. "And remember that you can tell me anything. You're not going to like your stay here, so I'm going to help you get through this."

She didn't care if she was not allowed to move during the examination. Mariko just couldn't hold it in anymore. She grabbed her head with her hands, leaned on her legs with her elbows and cried hysterically. Nobu stopped his actions. He felt sorry for her. Even though he had gone through this so many times, he still felt such pity for all the girls brought in here.

"What did I do wrong?!" Mariko cried. "What did I do to deserve this?! I'm not a bad person! I never killed anyone in my whole life!"

"I know…"

"THEN WHY?!"

"Mariko-chan, listen to me. Getting mad won't help you. It'll only make things worse."

"… That's not fair…"

"You're right. It isn't fair. I believe all this is wrong, too. That's why I'm trying to help you."

He had to get on with the examination, but when he tried to continue, Mariko grabbed his wrist.

"Stop it," she said. "Please…"

"Mariko-chan, if you won't let me finish, I will have to get you sedated," said Nobu strictly. "I don't want to do that. This'll be over in a few minutes, so please co-operate. Ok?"

Mariko wiped her tears away and closed her eyes. She relieved a sigh as Nobu continued examining her. She just tried not to think about it, hoping that she would get out of here soon.

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Ok, I'm imagining Nobu as kind of a geek, but still someone who has good social skills.

Now Mariko is going to face the life of a Diclonius in captivity (I'm saying it like she's some kind of animal XD but in Elfen Lied, all Diclonius were treated like animals in the institution, so whatever :P).

I still hope you like it, thank you very much for reading and once again: please let me know what you think of this fanfic so far. Thank you ^^