Director Kakuzawa stood glaring out of his enormous bay windows at the ocean. Behind him, on the other side of his desk one of his agents was waiting to give him a report that had just come in and Kakuzawa was in the mood to make him wait. It had been three months since the last capture team to locate Lucy had been all found dismembered, and there had been no unusual murders or sightings since that time. It looked to Director Kakuzawa that "Pandora's Box" was going to be postponed indefinitely unless they could locate and recapture their queen, and that thought had put him in an extremely foul mood.

Kakuzawa twirled a triangular shaped piece of bone with a thin covering of skin between his fingers; the only piece of Lucy that his S.A.T. had been able to recover from the last failed capture attempt. As far as he could tell, this was the only time the subject had so much as been injured by one of his teams.

After several long minutes he turned and faced his subordinate. Kakuzawa flicked the broken horn onto his desk and stared icily at the agent. "Do you have the police reports I asked you for?" he growled.

The agent nodded nervously. "There have still been no unusual murders since the subjects injury during the last failed capture attempt. It is most likely that Lucy died away from the scene as a result of her injuries…"

Kakuzawa slammed a fist on his desk, cutting the man off. "No, she is alive!" he thundered. "We made a thorough search of the surrounding area and have been keeping an eye on the local morgues and in three months her remains have not been found! She went into hiding somewhere, and it is imperative that we find her. Without a queen, the next stage in my plans cannot be set. We need her back!"

The agent straightened up and put on a confident face, more confident than would be expected from a man facing a serious reprimand. "Begging your pardon Director, but having Lucy may no longer be necessary for the Pandora's Box project."

"What do you mean?"

"We have found another queen, sir. Would you like to see her?"

…

Kakuzawa stood behind the shatterproof observation windows that allowed him to see into the cell where Lucy had been kept. Repairs had been made to the restraint table that she had destroyed and now doctors were in the process of placing a young woman into a straight jacket that would hang suspended from the upright frame. Her age looked to be in her late teens to early twenties, and she was a bit taller than Lucy. Oddly, her hair was a shade of dark brown rather than pink. As for her face…take away the differences in height and hair color and that would have been Lucy's face on this young woman.

"How was this new queen located?" asked Director Kakauzawa. It seemed odd to him that the queen would offer no resistance to the doctors who were still fitting her with the same type of neural restraint helmet that was used on Lucy and would disable her vectors.

"We've been keeping our eyes on maternity wards in the area where we first captured Lucy," the agent replied. He stepped over to a computer console to bring up further details on the new file being made for her. "We found a diclonius infant during one of our last sweeps. When we went to confront the parent about the possibilities of what her child might do, we discovered our queen. Her…um…her pubic hair is pink rather than black so we are assuming that she dyed her hair to blend in with society. We also assume that she normally kept her horns covered, but the hospital staff had not replaced whatever covering she may have used. We have dubbed her Persephone."

Kakuzawa allowed himself a small chuckle at the poetic irony. "The captive wife of Hades compelled to stay in the underworld for eating pomegranate seeds. Do you know who the father of her child is?"

"She would not say, sir."

"And her infant?"

"We are not certain as the status of her infant. When she ages and her vectors develop we should be able to get a better idea of how she will turn out. For now, the queen's child is an effective tool to ensure her cooperation."

"What of her parents?"

"She says that she was abandoned as an infant and that she was raised by a foster family. We're back-checking to confirm this."

Kakuzawa gave a broad tight-lipped smile. "I want full tests run on her immediately: brain tissue samples, spinal fluid samples, and harvest some of her eggs for DNA and stem cell tests. Its time we began crafting Pandora's Box, and this time we will have no mistakes. I will be by later to reprogram the computer systems that control her restraints so that only I have access to them."

Kakuzawa turned and marched out of the observation room. Before leaving he turned to face his agent. "Send Arakawa to my office. I have a new assignment for her."

"Yes sir. What about Lucy?"

Kakuzawa paused and rubbed his chin as he thought about what to do with the escaped queen. "With construction on Pandora's Box about to begin, and a new queen to provide us with the raw materials we need to make the Box, Lucy is no longer needed. In fact, she may be of more use to us on the outside, infecting people and speeding up the process of human evolution that much faster. Call off all searches for her. Its time our old queen was given the chance to fulfill the calling that nature has given her."

With that, Kakuzawa turned and left the observation room.

…

Arakawa sat in her tiny room flipping through the registry books from the university where she so recently worked. She would have preferred to just lie down and sleep on the small cot that had been provided, but the little red light flashing on the camera that had been installed in her room told her that she was being monitored. But oh, was she bored. She had already found the picture of that boy who had seen Professor Kakuzawa's butchered corpse, and she had torn it to pieces and flushed it down the toilet the first chance she had gotten. Fear compelled her to keep up the illusion of searching for the boy. Director Kakuzawa had already shot her once just to gain her cooperation, and she had no desire to see what would happen if he got really angry.

Arakawa looked up as the door to her little room was unlocked. They kept her locked up in her little room for days on end and Arakawa's cabin fever was beginning to develop into full blown claustrophobia. They brought her meals twice a day, and she had access to a toilet, but there was no shower and Arakawa was certain that her skin would never stop itching.

The door to her "cell" opened and two of Kakuzawa's guards entered. "The Director has requested that you be brought to his office for reassignment," one guard declared "But first," the agent sniffed once and wrinkled his nose, "He has ordered that you be cleaned up."

Arakawa groaned and immediately rose to her feet. "Finally, I haven't had a bath in weeks." As Arakawa exited her little room, flanked by the two armed guards, she noticed several lab assistants enter her room and begin removing the collage picture directories. Arakawa breathed a secret sigh of relief; she was going to go crazy if she had to keep looking through those blasted books.

…

'Cleanup' was not what Arakawa had in mind. Instead of being able to luxuriate in a nice hot bath, she was taken to a holding cell and ordered to strip. One guard stood by, leering at her as he held her clothes, while the other sprayed her off with lukewarm soapy water from a high pressure hose and used several huge high velocity fans aimed in the holding cell to dry her off. Before they allowed her to dress they threw a scoopful of delousing powder on her that caused her skin and eyes to burn like hell. The guards could not help but have a chuckle at Arakawa's expense. With her hair an uncombed damp mess and her clothes wrinkled from several days wear she looked every bit as miserable and disheveled as a half drowned rat that had washed ashore. She also looked incredibly nervous as she was marched into Kakuzawa's office.

Kakuzawa stood gazing out of his window with his hands clasped behind his back. As soon as Arakawa entered his cavernous office the guards stepped out of the room and closed the doors behind them. Arakawa shrank against the doors as her mind began to conjure horrible ideas about why she was called here. Her apprehension grew worse and worse with each passing moment of silence.

"Come closer to my desk," Kakuzawa called out after what seemed like an eternity. "I do not intend to shout across the room."

Arakawa swallowed nervously and made her way across the office. She stood trembling behind Kakuzawa's desk for several long moments before getting the courage to speak. "I'm sorry I haven't found that boy yet, but I only met him that once and there is a lot of directories to go through…"

"He no longer matters," said Kakuzawa, cutting her off. He turned around and Arakawa was surprised to see that he looked to be in an extremely good mood. "The information he could have offered us is no longer relevant. However, that does not answer the question of what to do with you. You were working with my son on extracting the Diclonius virus. How close were you to extraction and replication?"

Arakawa straightened up. She knew she had something useful to offer the Director and decided to take the chance to try and improve her situation. "We could have extracted it within a year given our current samples and equipment. I am confidant that if I was returned to my old lab and allowed to continue work using my samples I could have it within nine months."

"Nine months is a reasonable timeline, and to be expected considering the resources that my son had available." Kakuzawa strolled around his desk and stopped within a foot of Arakawa. He leaned forward so that his face was within inches of hers. "However, I am much more interested in what you could accomplish with more equipment, direct samples from a carrier, and an entire staff of researchers at your disposal."

Arakawa thought about if for a moment. "With those kinds of resources, I could possibly have your virus extracted and synthesized in three months."

Kakuzawa smiled and returned to the window to gaze at the sea. "Then you shall have those resources. I am appointing you to the position of Chief of Research, and the extraction and replication of the virus is going to be your only priority."

"Absolutely sir!" exclaimed Arakawa. "Although, it would be nice if I were to have better accommodations while I m doing my research here. I find I can concentrate better if I am more comfortable."

"Consider it done," said Kakuzawa. "However, I must warn you now that you will still be kept under twenty-four hour surveillance. My last Chief of Research made the mistake of sneaking around behind my back and he paid for it with his life. I will tolerate no disobedience."

Arakawa's knees shook and she had to support herself on the desk. "Don't worry sir, you have my complete loyalty. I will devote everything I have to finding a cure for the diclonius gene and halting its spread."

"Perhaps it is better if you understand your true purpose here, Arakawa. Your research is not going to halt the evolution of mankind; it is going to advance it. I want the virus itself, not a vaccine." Kakuzawa turned to face her and removed his wig. Arakawa gulped and forced herself not to stare at the horns sprouting from the Director's head. "You have completely misunderstood what diclonism is, Arakawa. It is not a virus that causes a congenital deformity, it is a mutation that has taken the course of human evolution in a whole new direction, and nature itself seems intent that mankind must change. As you can see, my family was blessed to begin the process centuries ago. Most unfortunately, the gene that caused our superiority was recessive and the necessity of continuing our bloodline had reduced us to little more than oddities. But nature introduced the diclonius gene again, and it has randomly appeared in two queens that appeared roughly at the same time in roughly the same region. Do you understand what all this would imply, Arakawa?"

Arakawa thought about it for a moment. "That the genetic coding for diclonism is present in the DNA of all humans, and that it only needs certain environmental factors to activate those genes in any random set of parents who have yet to conceive their child."

"You demonstrate intelligence," chuckled Kakuzawa. "You already understand that nature is trying again and again to change humanity into a new race. Your job is now to help speed up the process, since nature acts too slowly. The diclonius can spread their genes by use of a virus that they telekinetically plant into a human carrier. I want a virus that can be transmitted to entire populations without the necessity of a diclonius queen infiltrating a population and infecting as many people as possible before she is discovered. That sort of process could take decades, and I don't have that much time. The new world I create must have a leader to guide it through its tumultuous change, and I shall be the one to lead it."

Arakawa turned very pale and slowly walked backwards towards the door. "You…you're crazy! You are absolutely insane! If anyone knew that you are trying to cause the extinction of the human species..!"

Kakuzawa frowned and returned to his desk. Arakawa froze in horror as he opened a drawer and pulled out the same gun he had used to shoot her only a few months ago. He clicked the safety off and pointed it squarely at her torso. "I will shoot to kill this time, so I would not recommend that you try my patience. You have your ultimatum Arakawa; you can serve me well and become one of my chosen Vassals when I have reshaped this world, or you can die right here and now. Choose."

Arakawa looked desperately around her surroundings. There was no one to help her this time. No witnesses to testify of what they had seen. The months of isolation and confinement and the humiliating treatment she had received had completely broken her will. It was the work of a moment for self preservation to overcome integrity. "I…I will get you your virus."

"Good girl, Arakawa." Kakuzawa he put the safety back on his pistol and returned it to his desk. "You will quickly find that I am quite generous in rewarding obedience." He pressed a button on his desk and the two guards reentered the room. "Take Arakawa to her new chambers. She is going to start work on my virus first thing tomorrow."

Neither of the guards who escorted Arakawa back to her new dwelling noticed the tears falling freely down her face.

-:-:-

"Ow, geez!" Kohta dropped his hammer and began sucking furiously at the thumb he had just smashed. He was sitting on the roof of the Inn and was trying to replace several loose shingles. A recent rainstorm had revealed that the roof was leaking in several places and Yuka was insistent that the leaky spots be re-shingled before they got any worse. Kohta shook his head and climbed down the ladder he had propped up, wishing for the hundredth time that day that Yuka would just hire a professional to take care of it.

Lucy was in the gardens as usual as Kohta made his way to the washroom to run cold water on his aching thumb. It had been almost a month since she had returned home and she had decided to help out by de-weeding the horribly overgrown gardens. It was a simple task that required a lot of physical labor, and that kind of hard work was just what she needed to keep herself and her mind occupied. Of course, Wanta wasn't helping at all since he seemed to feel the need to roll around in the neat piles of weeds that Lucy pulled. She looked up from pulling weeds with a sly smile on her face. "Smacked another one have you?"

Kohta sighed as he examined his now heavily bandaged fingers. "This was not the way I was hoping to spend my weekend. Why couldn't Yuka hire someone who knows what they are doing?"

"Because we don't have the money to hire a professional," Yuka called from the dining room. "Both of you wash your hands, lunch is ready."

Lucy set a side her weed basket and hurried to get her hands washed. She and Kohta quickly made their way to the washroom and began scrubbing. "You still haven't told her, have you?" asked Lucy.

Kohta quickly rinsed the suds from his hands and began drying them on a fresh towel. "I don't know what you're talking about." He tried to leave but Lucy blocked the washroom door.

"Kohta, Yuka has the right to know what happened. You need to tell her."

Kohta slowly exhaled and stared at the floor. "I know I should, but I can't…And why are you trying so hard to get along with Yuka anyways? I thought the whole reason you killed Dad and Kanae was because you were jealous of Yuka to the point of being psychotic and had to punish me."

Lucy turned very red and stared at her shoes. There was no mistaking the accusatory tone in Kohta's voice, and it hurt her. "Whatever part of me is still left from that time…whatever part of me still becomes angry and irrational…I am trying to get rid of it. Yuka will find out sooner or later, and I'm certain that it will cause a rift between you two if you don't tell her. I've caused you enough pain Kohta, give me a chance to prevent it for once."

Kohta looked back into Lucy's face. The hurt in her eyes touched that part of Kohta that was easily moved to comfort the hurt and the lost. It was almost that exact same hurt look that Kanae had in her eyes when Kohta had told her he would have to hate her for the rest of her life. "Lucy, I'm sorry…I didn't mean to hurt your feelings."

Lucy stepped forward, wrapped her arms under Kohta's, and buried her face against his chest. "I'm sorry too, Kohta…for killing your father and your sister. I've never apologized for that." Lucy closed her eyes and let her tears flow freely. "I've caused so much suffering to so many people, and you have endured it he longest. Yet you still welcome me back into your home…why?"

Kohta wrapped his arms about Lucy's shoulders and pulled her closer. "When you finally told me what you had done…when I finally remembered, part of me wanted to hate you for it, but I couldn't, because when I saw your face I saw that sad lonely girl from so long ago, and I saw Nyu who was so lost and so innocent. I couldn't hate someone I liked so much, and I couldn't stay mad at such a person either. Lucy…I…I forgive you."

Lucy sobbed into Kohta's chest. For eight years she had needed to hear these words. With those three little words Lucy felt something inside her awaken, something she did not wish to confront anymore.

Lucy found herself sitting in a dreary place, full of dark mist. It was here in her childhood that something unclean had awoken inside her.

"Is he serious about forgiving you, or is this just another lie to keep you quiet?" Lucy shuddered and looked over her shoulder. That familiar figure was there, looking much older, but still wrapped in bandages. "Can you actually trust him? He lied to you once; you can bet he'll do it again."

"Get out of my head!" snarled Lucy. "I don't need you anymore. I don't need you prompting me to kill people just to make me feel better. I have a home and a family. You aren't going to ruin that for me, not this time!" With that Lucy began to walk away.

"Don't you dare turn your back on me you ungrateful bitch!" the voice thundered. Lucy stood rooted on the spot trembling. That voice which had always been so seductive had suddenly turned angry. Lucy was unsure of what to do, unsure if it would even let her leave. "I was the one who carried us through all those years! I was the one who helped us survive! You are nothing without me!"

Out of the corner of Lucy's eye another figure stepped out of the gloom. It looked like her, but with eyes that showed nothing less than complete innocence. "Nyuu!" the figure cried and flung itself into her arms. Behind her she heard a hiss of pain and a cry of agony that faded away into nothingness.

Lucy looked at the other in shock. "You made her go away?"

"Bad things," cried Nyu"Bad things scary, no good. Make them go away!"

"Yes, it looks like she's gone," said Lucy.

"But she's not gone for good, not if you keep hurting people," replied Nyu. She took Lucy's shoulders and looked her square in the eye. "I cant be awake and in control any more Lucy. I was there because you felt guilty for hurting Kohta. We needed to help him to not feel sad anymore. Now that Kohta has forgiven us, my purpose is served, but I will always be here in this place to guide you when I can. You know you can do kind things, because I can do kind things. Lucy, you have one more person you need to apologize to, one more person whose forgiveness you need to ask for. She was hurt too when you hurt Kohta. She felt sad for a long time when she thought Kohta had forgotten her. I remember I saw it when I first came to this house. You hurt her too, Lucy. You must make her hurt go away so you can feel better too." Nyu stepped back into the gloom, her voice fading with her into the darkness. "You can do great things Lucy. God has given you the ability to make a difference in this world, for good or evil. The choice is yours…"

…

Lucy found herself lying on her bed. She did not need to guess how she had gotten there, she knew perfectly well. She felt someone bathing her forehead with cool water and was surprised to see who it was. "Yuka?"

Yuka bent over her with a worried expression. "Kohta said that you and he were talking and that you collapsed. You've been laying here muttering to yourself for almost twenty minutes."

Lucy slowly sat up and rubbed her head. She had never blanked out for that long before. But, she had also never waged war with that voice in the back of her head before. She looked at Yuka and suddenly remembered that cryptic message that Nyu had left her. She threw her arms about Yuka's neck. "Yuka, I'm so sorry!"

Yuka gently stroked the back of Lucy's head. "Sorry for what Lucy?" she asked.

Taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly, Lucy began relating a rather unpleasant piece of her personal history with Kohta.

…

Kohta returned from the drug store with the items that Yuka had sent him to fetch for Lucy. I had taken him more than an hour and he had spent the entire time worrying about whether or not Lucy would be ok. As he made his way to Lucy's bedroom he noticed that Yuka was sitting by herself at the dining room table with an oddly blank expression on her face. Setting down the grocery bag, he quickly rushed to her side. "Yuka, is everything ok? How's Lucy, is she alright?"

"When were you planning on telling me?" Yuka whispered, still staring at the table.

"Huh? Yuka what are you talking abou…"

Yuka swung around and slammed one fist into Kohta's jaw so hard that he saw stars. "When were you planning on telling me?!" She shrieked, tears running down her face. Yuka grabbed Kohta's shirt collar and began shaking him. "When were you planning on telling me that we had adopted a murderer and she was living in our home?! When were you planning on telling me that she was the one who…the one who...?!"

Yuka slumped over onto the floor and began sobbing. As Kohta tried to help her into a sitting position Nana and Mayu came rushing in to the dining room. "What happened?" cried Nana. "Is Yuka hurt?"

"I'm not hurt," said Yuka, sitting up and wiping the tears from her eyes. "Actually no, I am. How could you keep something like this from me, Kohta?!"

Nana seemed to understand. "So Kohta finally told you about Miss Lucy; about what she did to him all those years ago."

Yuka stared at Nana in confusion. "Nana…you knew?"

"I knew that Lucy had killed a bunch of people before I met any of you," said Nana. She stared at the floor looking very embarrassed. "I was part of the same research lab where Lucy was kept. They sent me to find her when she escaped."

"I…also knew as well," said Mayu. "I knew that Lucy had killed a lot of people before you found her, and after she came back Nana and I have been trying to convince Lucy to convince Kohta to tell you." Mayu looked as though she was about to cry. "I'm sorry that we caused such a bad argument between you and Kohta. We knew it would be hard, but we figured you should hear it from Kohta instead of us."

"I didn't hear it from Kohta," sobbed Yuka. "I heard it from her."

"Huh, Lucy told you?" gasped Kohta. "I mean…why? What else did she say?"

"She said she needed my forgiveness, of all things" said Yuka. "But I don't see why I should forgive her."

"Neither do I," said Mayu, her tone suddenly serious. "After all, other than causing Kohta to forget you for a while she really didn't do anything to you to justify holding a grudge against her. It was Nana and Kohta that she hurt the most, and they've forgiven her, or at least they should," she added with a sideways glance at Nana.

"Wait a minute," said Kohta, staring at Mayu. "How did you know..?"

"Nana and I…um, overheard you and Lucy just before she collapsed. I'm sorry for eavesdropping."

"So I'm the last one to find out about any of this," said Yuka. She stopped sobbing and curled into a little ball with her chin resting on her knees. "Did none of you trust me enough to tell me?"

"You reacted exactly the way I expected you to," said Kohta, rubbing his bruised jaw.

"Yuka, maybe you should go talk to Lucy," said Mayu. "I mean, she's been trying to learn to like you ever since she came back."

"Hmph!" scoffed Nana. "Miss Lucy just wants to get along with Yuka to make Kohta happy and…ouch!" Mayu poked Nana hard in the ribs and gave Nana a rather dirty look.

"Yuka, she truly is sorry for what she has done," said Kohta, his voice barely above a whisper. "People can change, if you let them."

Yuka rose to her feet and took a deep breath. "Alright, I'll go talk to Lucy."

…

Lucy sat alone in her bedroom. She had gathered her few meager belongings into a pillowcase and was in the process of writing a note for Kohta when she heard the door to her room slide open. Yuka was standing in the doorway looking at her with a pained expression on her face. "Were you planning on going somewhere?" she asked, noting the pillowcase and the note.

Lucy set the note down and stared at the floor. "After that screaming session in the dining room, I just assumed that…"

"That I was going to throw you out, or turn you in to the police?" Yuka sat down next to Lucy on her mattress and just stared at her own feet. They both sat that way for several long uncomfortable moments. "What do you think I should do, Lucy?"

"I would have tossed me back out in the streets, if I didn't try to exact vengeance that is."

"It would be an understandable decision, given the circumstances" Yuka agreed. "But what would you prefer I do?"

Lucy stared at Yuka in shock. She knew just how temperamental Yuka could be, how she made snap decisions based on her sometimes extreme emotional reactions. And yet, here was Yuka, being deliberately calm, and letting Lucy decide what fate she should suffer. What fate she wanted to suffer. "I…would like to stay," said Lucy, quietly.

"Then stay you shall," said Yuka. "If Kohta can forgive you, even for murdering his father and sister right in front of him, then how could I refuse to do the same, especially since you have never really done any harm to me." Yuka rose to her feet and headed for the door. Before opening it she turned around to face Lucy one more time. "But Lucy, you still have a lot to atone for. You have our forgiveness, but you still need to do what you can to try and set things right." And with that Yuka slid the door open and stepped into the hall. "You, Kohta and I missed lunch…come on quick before it gets any colder."

Lucy breathed a sigh of relief and spent a few moments gathering her wits and letting the truth of what happened sink in before joining Kohta and Yuka for lunch. She had heard it said many years ago, though she could not remember where, that confession was good for the soul. She believed it now. She knew that the people she had hurt the most bore no bitter feelings toward her and it looked like everything was going to work out just fine for her new little family.

-:-:-

Rebecca looked almost incredulous after Kohta finished telling them about keeping his unusual little family together. "You know, I seriously don't get you, Mister Kohta. Not only did you forgive that Horned One for murdering your father and sister, it sounded like you were actually in love with her!"

"Yeah, I don't get it either," said Judith. "If you were in love with that diclonius, then how did you end up marrying that other girl, Yuka?"

"And how did you know about this Kakuzawa guy finding another Horned Queen?" asked Jim, his voice full of suspicion.

Kohta sighed and rubbed the stump of his left leg. "Your questions are going to have to wait until after breakfast. There is much more to tell and I really don't feel like talking on an empty stomach…"