Kaede kept running until she found she reached a familiar place. It was where she had first met Church and Tucker, where she first met Kouta, and where she always went to cry to herself when she still lived in the orphanage. She couldn't take listening to that woman anymore. While she was running away, she heard Simmons mutter that he would have snapped in her position. Would SHE have snapped had Tucker and Church never found her.
"If you had, no one would have blamed you." The voice said.
'Shut up shut up shut up!' Kaede screamed in her head. 'I never asked for you commentary, in any of this!'
"Thats only because you know I'm right." The voice explained "Sure there are good humans, but they must serve the purpose of being hosts for the vector virus. All others must be removed including that sorry excuse for a caretaker. Why resist me? You know yourself you want to do it."
'That doesn't make it right!' Kaede shouts back in her head.
"What is "right" anyway?" The DNA voice asks. "What is right is a human concept you are exempt from."
'Maybe so, but I'm going to follow it anyway.' Kaede decides.
"Kaede!" Kaede hears from behind her. She turns around just to receive a hug from Kouta. "She's not right. I hope you know that. You are an amazing person and everyone knows it."
"I... I know she's not right... but I can't help but feel she's not wrong either." Kaede responds.
"What do you mean?" Kouta asks.
"The voice I told you about... it won't stop. Thats... thats part of the reason I left. If I stayed, I would have gotten violent and I would have done something I would regret." Kaede tells him.
"Is it still talking to you?" Kouta asks. Kaede takes a moment to listen to her head to realize its silent.
"No. It shut up when you came." Kaede says. While Kouta wasn't much of an expert in psychology, he knew there was some kind of condition where someone could hear voices in their head weather they wanted to or not. While Lucy's condition could simply be a product of being A Diclonius, it could also be something as human as that.
"Okay. Thats good. If you hear it again, you come to me or anyone in the house." Kouta says. "We all understand and we'll all do everything we can to help you chase it away."
Kaede cracked a weak smile at this. "Seems like you're already getting experienced at that." She then frowns again. "It's not just that, what she said about my parents... my biological parents is true. I was disgusting and they didn't want me."
"How can you know that?" Kouta asks.
"Because its been spelled out for me! I was found in the woods as a baby with nothing on me but my name! My parents left me because they found my horns hideous!" Kaede exclaims. "I don't like them either. Even if everyone else who knows doesn't mind them I still do. They've done nothing but bring misery into my life and I wish they would just go away or that I was never born with them."
"Your horns are a part of you Kaede. I like them just like I like you." Kouta says, Kaede's heart skips a beat upon hearing that. "You just need to learn to like aspect of yourself."
'Should I tell him?' Kaede wonders. 'Confess to him my feelings for him?'
"He's right, Kaede!" Kaede turns to find Aiko, Mayu, Kanae, and Tucker there. "If I understand the situation right, I've been through something similar enough to what your going through now." Aiko continues.
"Yeah. We'll help you, just like you and the reds and blues helped us!" Mayu exclaims.
Tucker smiles at the others offering to help Kaede. 'Good thing I don't have to play the parent this time. It exhausting. Besides, this is actually pretty heartwarming.'
Kanae then slowly approaches Kaede. "I told you Kouta wouldn't see all that mental baggage as a burden, and it seems neither do they."
"What about you?" Kaede hesitantly asks.
"Can I... see your horns?" Kanae hesitantly replies. Kaede is slightly taken aback by this but reluctantly nods and removes her bow to expose her small, bone white horns. Kanae studies the horns for about half a minute before shouting out her conclusion. "Oh my gosh those are adorable!"
"You really think so?" Kaede asks.
"Yeah. At a distance, someone could confuse you for a neko." Kanae says. "I'm pretty sure guys are into that."
"Whats that got to do with anything, Kanae?" Kouta asks.
"You'll know very soon my dear brother." Kanae says, which only makes him more confused. "But as I was saying, how canyou hate such adorable little things!"
"If you lived my life, you'd understand." Kaede responds.
"Well, we may not have horns on our heads, but Mayu and I are no stranger to miserable pasts." Aiko says. "We can all talk with each other if thoughts of those get too much."
"Something like an alcoholics anonymous meeting?" Tucker questions.
"That could work." Mayu says.
"I dunno, they never worked in Blood Gulch." Tucker says.
Simmons walks into red base to find Kaede sitting alone amongst a circle of empty chairs.
"What's all this?" Simmons asks.
"An anonymous meeting between the reds and blues so we could work though all our issues." Kaede says. "Or at least, it was supposed to be."
"And no one showed up?" Simmons questions. Kaede nods. "I don't see how you didn't see this coming from a mile away."
"Then again, you're not us so I'm going to assume things will go better." Tucker says.
"Yeah." Kaede agrees. "Speaking of, where are the others?"
"They're around, looking for you." Mayu answers.
"Good. I thought they all stayed and tried to murder Caretaker Rika." Kaede says.
"They tried... well... Sarge tried, but we got him to realize that would just bring in unwanted attention." Aiko says. "Sarge will listen to anything so long as you know how to speak his language."
"Yeah, thats how I talk to him." Kaede says with a smile. She then turns to Kanae. "You didn't come here to listen to everyones traumatic backstorys, you came here to have fun, so lets get back to it, alright?"
"Yeah!" Kanae exclaims. Kouta leads the way onwards but unbeknownst to everyone, Kaede stays behind to look at the marker she put up 8 years ago and pay respects to it, this time with no amount of sadness. 'You'd be happy to know that I'm happy with them, just like I know your happy in dog Heaven.'
"Kaede!" Someone shouts back.
"Coming!" Kaede shouts back before chasing after the others.
On the Beach
Washington and Carolina strode down the beach in their casual wear.
"And your sure of what you saw?" Carolina asks him.
"I know what I saw." Wash replies.
"And your sure it has nothing to do with that angry man roaming around the beach?" Carolina asks.
"Why would he have anything to do with this?" Wash incredulously asks. "Besides, I'm pretty sure he couldn't even fit inside it." The two then find what Wash was referring to, some sort of life pod. "Can't say for sure, but this is looks to have come from that Institute."
"No question about it. This looks way too advanced for anything in the city." Carolina agrees. "Question is... what was inside?" After a moment of silent wonder, she continues. "I'm sure we'll find out, for better or worse. Anyway, we should get this out of sight. It might be useful later."
The two then move the pod (with a lot of effort) into an area between them storage place and the rocks, out of sight.
AN: Today marks the second anniversary of this fic... yay!