Envoy of the Beginning

Disclaimer: I do not own Elfen Lied or any of the characters associated with it.

"talking"

Thoughts

Synopsis: Just that one little step over a thin line between some semblance of order and absolute chaos.

Strife

"Is everything alright gam-gam?" asked Karin as the elder woman seemed troubled.

"It's nothing" as Yuki put on a cheerful smile. "It's time we got going. I got us a ride. You can rest in the back seat as we travel".

"A car ride?!" as Karin's eyes twinkled. "I've never been in a car before!"

"Well I hope you enjoy the experience. But don't push yourself. So just rest for the time being".

"OK gam-gam".

Right outside the house was a military police car she had acquired from the men she interrogated. Popping open the trunk they packed a few essentials they would need for a long trip. Making sure to look the part, Yuki was dressed in one the uniforms as they would need to pass through the checkpoint.

She had done this plenty of times over the years in needing to cross through military posts. The key was presence. With the right words and appearances, it was easy enough to trick understaffed and underpaid guards since they were spread out so thin around the country and everywhere else. Frankly guarding a bunch of psychics who could crush your head like a watermelon was not exactly a dream job. Thus they wanted to get by with as little problems as possible from day to day. So the key to being incognito was not to oversell yourself as you want such people to like and forget you within a moments notice.

Driving along the area, the elder diclonius's mind began to wander as she thought about the two men she interrogated. She didn't like what she had to do as it hadn't gotten any easier over the years. Putting her medical knowledge to use, at times she had to use some extreme measures to force information out of people. While in others, she wanted to punish some people for what they've done. Though she told herself it was for her grandson, her heart couldn't help but feel heavy.

For those two guards she had to do something vile to make them talk as she slowly dissected them showing them one body part at a time instilling some extreme psychological trauma as they were being butchered alive. After showing them a couple feet of their intestines as she pulled it out of them, they really started to spill their guts. Learning everything she needed she patched them up before sedating them.

Honestly it was foolish in a way to bother healing the enemy. However this was her promise to her parents to respect and value life. Although there will be cases in which she had no choice, both Kohta and Kaede would be disappointed in her if she ever callously took a life. Being so heavily ingrained, she couldn't help but feel like this as she was a healer first and a warrior second.

"So stupid . . . ." Yuki said softly.

"Gam-Gam?" Karin asked curiously.

"Nothing" she smiled. "We're about to arrive to the checkpoint. So stay hidden for now till I tell you it's safe to come out". Doing as she was told the child diclnous hid within some of the carry on as they had arrived to the checkpoint. Being flagged down, the vehicle slowed to a stop.

Making sure to play the part perfectly, Yuki placed some padding to hide her chest to appear more masculine. Wore a hat to hide her horns and hair while shadowing her face. Phasing her vector into her throat, altered her vocal cords so her voice sounded deeper and rougher.

"Showtime" she thought as the guard had started to approach the window.

"I was pretty sure there two of you. Where is your partner?"

"Ugh, dumbass wanted to loiter around and look for anything valuable. Honestly a waste of time amongst these filthy diclonius. Like trying to find a million bucks in a homeless man's pocket. But unlike him I do have a life to get back too".

Earning a chuckle from the guard, "yeah damn green horns". Then looking over the rest of the vehicle, "and what's all this?"

This is where Yuki needed to be very careful. From the information she extracted, they were not sanctioned to be bringing anything back with them as it was strictly reconnaissance. Though it didn't stop them from taking a trinket or two. Obviously if you were trying to be incognito it was best to pack extremely light. However in the current world it was difficult for a diclonius to purchase any supplies as one would have to make it themselves or steal it. So playing it off, "just a bunch of junk really. But I figured I'd take it to isolation for further examination".

Before the guard could respond, some of the items shifted a bit. Karin fidgeted due to being cramped in such a narrow space.

Now growing a bit suspicious, the guard reached for both his light and gun as he warily started to approach the back.

Wavering for a micro-second Yuki had an excuse while exasperating out her tone, "ugh that dumbass doesn't even know how to stack things properly. And stop being so overly worried" looking to the guard. "All the diclonius in the area are either captured or dead. So stop being such a pansy" she finished with a light joking tone.

Sighing a bit as he put away his equipment, "just make sure to report in".

"Aye aye" with a half hearted salute.

After some time and weaving a careful excuse, they were gone again as they drove off.

As noted, this wasn't her first time as she had plenty of practice in getting through checkpoints for reasons such as smuggling people or to simply cross through the area. In truth, there was no place on Earth that diclonius can live safely among humans without worry.

However there was at least one place in the entire world where her kind could feel safe. A secret place built far away from prying eyes. A place that her parents among others had carved out as a sanctuary for her kind to live in peace. For a long time now she had brought many lost souls to that place in order to be free.

If she could find and rescue Kohta, then that was it. She was done with this world now.

She among many others took to the task of finding lost diclonius and bringing them to the sanctuary. But after what had happened . . . . She had enough. She had been fighting this losing battle for years as too much blood and tears had been shed. Humans were unreasonable creatures who were stubborn to a fault. Arrogant, prejudicial, and fearful of not being the superior species on this Earth anymore. If they wanted this world then let them have it as she couldn't afford to care anymore.

Kohta and Karin parents were gone now as they now needed her more then ever.

Abandoning the world and forsaking the many innocent out there was not a decision she made lightly. Her parents always told her about the possibility of a better world. If you truly wished for it, then it was a battle worth fighting for. For a long time she believed in them. But looking at the state of their reality . . . . "you were wrong . . . ." she bitterly whispered out.

"Gam-gam?" Karin asked sensing her sorrow.

"It's nothing" as Yuki gave a weak smile. Now in the city, she looked around connecting to the telepathic network to find a safe place they could lay low in. For these days she had to be extra careful as some of those signals were used as bait to lure out their kind. Hence ciphers and passwords were used amongst them to insure the safety of their area. Just as importantly information was limited to a 'need to know' basis to maintain their security. Hence keywords in certain sequences were derived to know the situation in the area.

After a bit of looking, she found what she was looking for as it was a rundown building in a slum like area.

"Gam-gam?" as Karin questionably looked at the building.

"You're going to wait here for me. There are people here I trust who will look after you. Be a good girl till I come back".

"Are you going to get oniichan back?" Karin asked weakly as her lips curved to a frown. She didn't know the fate of her brother. If her grandmother left, she would be all alone.

Sensing her feelings, Yuki patted her head ruffling her hair a bit. "Cheer up. There are still plenty of life in these old bones of mine. So don't worry. I'll be back for you as soon as I can, I promise".

With a wryly smile, ". . . . OK".

Entering the building, on the outside it looked pretty rundown. Even walking in it looked like a dump that only homeless people would live in. However a couple of secret rooms had been built which provided a decent living environment albeit a temporary one. A couple rooms dedicated to living quarters. Others for hydroponics to cultivate any vegetation they needed. A storage place of necessities they had to requisition. Finally a recreational area. It also had it's own independent power generator which kept the building off the map.

But in the event this place might have gotten out, the entire shelter was designed like bunker to withstand infantry assault and bombing strikes. Furthermore there was a direct escape route underneath the building into the sewer system. Several of these were located in many cities all around the world. But their purpose was to serve as a checkpoint as a place to rest and eat before making the trip to the promised land.

Only a few of them knew the way. If they were to ever be captured . . . . They knew what they had to do.

Talking with the watcher of this facility, "if I don't return in a month you send her on her way with the next travelers that come by. You make sure she makes it there, do you understand!"

Nodding to her request, "I understand. I wish you a safe journey ahead of you".

Turning to leave, Yuki made sure her granddaughter was settled in while giving her a hug as honestly she didn't know if she would be able to come back alive from this. Wherever Kohta was, it was going to be well defended. But regardless of the dangers she was still her mother's daughter and still standing as the one of the strongest diclonius on Earth. If there existed some percentage that Kohta was still alive, she was going to bring him home.

Telling Karin to stay safe, the elder diclonius left to pursue a couple leads she had.

~ Unknown place ~

As the days passed, more of them began to go missing.

Just looking into any of their eyes all you could see was death and despair as they resolved themselves to die in this hell hole.

However a few of them still held out hope.

Though their telepathy may have been cut off from each other they still had their methods of communicating. As such Kohta had completed the planned 'key' to their escape. It was just a matter now of finding the right moment for them to do so.

But this wasn't just a blind run to freedom. This had to be carefully choreographed to insure their odds of success. However this had multiple layers of problems.

First they had no map of this facility. They had no idea where anything was let alone the exit. They only thing they did know was that this place was huge and had multiple floors to it.

Second was how they planned to get out. Even if they somehow disabled their collars, there was still plenty of security between them and freedom. More then likely they had anti-vector weapons. As well as a good chance of a spare vector canceler device in case the primary one went down.

Third was getting off the island. They had no idea where they were. If there was no boat, then their odds of escape would dramatically drop below ten percent.

Fourth was the biggest issue which was how many of them were planning to escape. As much as he wanted to break everyone out even he had to be realistic. Too small of a group, they would be overwhelmed in no time. Too big, news of their plan might get out plus he imagined they had a plan in place in the event of a mass breakout. Also speaking very realistically, the casualties were going to be high. However there was no getting around that.

With most of the plans made, they just needed to get all the pieces into place where they needed to be. They had a good idea where they would be during certain times. Gathering their resolve, it was do or die now.

But the one who would signal this plan was Kohta as it would be time for everyone to move. However he was never quite certain where he would be at any point in time. But for the plan to start he needed to be back at the test site for robotic weapons as they had the parts he needed.

Finding himself in an isolated room, the young diclonius looked around not certain what the point of this experiment was. But at least it was better then getting needles stuck into him.

With an unknown passage of time Kohta heard the door open. Turning around was a very unusual sight. Walking in was a scientist as he was pushing someone in on a wheelchair. Judging from appearance, this person was female and was around his age. But what was odd about her was first the helmet she wore which covered her entire head. Second was how 'still' she was as she didn't seem to fidget even a bit.

"What is going on?" Kohta thought. But watching her as the scientist soon left, the girl wasn't moving. Warily approaching, he tapped her arm as she was still unresponsive. Waving his hand in front of her, she still didn't move or speak. Continuing to examine her, the helmet was definitely unusual. But from a quick look, parts of it were tapped into her spine and head. "What the hell is this supposed to be?". But if he had to guess this helmet was inhibiting her neural and motor functions. If so he just got a really bad feeling about this.

"Begin the test" a voice announced over the P.A.

"Huh?" as Kohta saw his collar deactivate. Like so, the girl's helmet started making sounds as she started to move now. "Oh this can't be good".

The girl had a little trouble moving as she had been immobile for so long. In that moment as she looked up to the boy that was in the room with her, the experiment had then started.

"Ahh!" Kohta screamed out holding his hands over his ears. However it wasn't sound, but rather telepathy as it felt like a horrible screech was echoing at every corner of his mind. Withering in pain, his very consciousness was under assault. Soon enough he started to bleed out from his nose, eyes, and ears.

He couldn't tell what was happening as this girl had so much unfiltered noise in her head. But the moment their minds touched, she started to swallow him up pushing his consciousness to the point of breaking.

"Get out of my head!" Kohta muttered as this girl was ripping through every moment of his life. He never felt a presence as overwhelming as this before. Regardless of his attempts, he couldn't block her out as she was like a flood while he helplessly thrashed along the current. Feeling himself about the black out, he held on to dear life as he was on the very edge of his consciousness about to slip away into the darkness. Gritting his teeth as he clawed his way back from demise he glared at her as he shouted at the top of his lungs as he pushed back with full force with his own existence. "I said stop it!" as the room shook from that outburst.

The girl gasped at the sudden counter. But before long her presence started to recede as she quietly sat there.

Cringing in pain, Kohta checked himself over as his vectors started repairing the damaged blood vessels as his brain had almost literally exploded from that interaction. Wiping the blood off his face while taking heavy breaths he was on guard now. "What are you?"

". . . ."

Not receiving a response, he asked again. "What are you?"

" . . . . What . . . . Are . . . . You?" the girl telepathically asked back.

"Can she not talk?" Kohta asked himself. But staying wary, "who are you?"

" . . . . Who . . . . Are . . . . You?"

". . . . Huh?" as Kohta wasn't sure what kind of game she was playing. Asking a few more questions only for her to repeat them back, it became clear to him she didn't understand how to talk. Of course it crossed his mind that she was childishly mocking him. However he didn't sense malice behind her intent. Rather it seemed she was intimidated by him when he lashed back. Continuing to talk to her he then understood that what she did earlier was not really an attack but rather her way of communicating since she lacked the knowledge of how too. Though he had to be careful as he never felt a presence as strong as her before.

With how telepathic conversations went, what seemed like seconds in the real world translated differently on the sub-consciousness level. Depending on the telepathic abilities between those communicating time differentials could occur with how fast information was being processed. A moment in the real world could easily become minutes, hours, days, months, or even years. This was partly the reason why the learning curve for humans and diclonius were so different. As the telepathic network allowed them to share their knowledge, it also allowed them to process it an unimaginable speeds. Especially when more minds were working together.

Taking a peak at her memories, he understood now what she was. Though a diclonius, she was in a way born yet made in a certain sense. From the brief things she had seen, heard, and from what Kohta was able to interpret, her mother was subjected to a genetic engineering experiments. Since cloning technology suffered from problematic genetic degradation, they figured to try and use a still developing embryo as they applied gene therapy on her.

From what he could understand, she was supposed to serve as a kind of 'wire tapping' into the telepathic network as she was to be used to collect information on whatever the diclonius were up too.

However at noted before, she couldn't talk due to defects making her usefulness drop dramatically. Hence she was delegated as a torture tool due to the immense psychic pressure she released when connecting to others.

Though after learning this much, the young diclonius heavily weighed out if he should try and teach her. Especially since she probed his mind and knew about his escape plan. But weighing out the costs and benefits, she could be of immense help when the time came for their escape.

So taking a leap of faith, this was a chance worth taking. Anything to heighten their odds.

For that moment in real time, the two had spent nearly a year together in their inner world.

To be continued . . . .

Author's notes: Not going to lie, I actually forgot I had this story.

Furthermore this already had a planned ending with a specific number of chapters in mind.

So if there are any questions or concerns feel free to ask.

And thank you for reading to which I further extend my gratitude if you can review as well.