Author's Note: This story is set three years after the final episode of Elfen Lied. It is a continuation of the anime, and because of this, it is set in the anime's version of the world. Elements from the manga do not apply, except for Lucy's real name, Kaede. Silpelits age at the same rate as humans in this world, since there is nothing in the anime that indicates that they don't. Nana is physically and mentally 16, and her rate of growth and lifespan are no different from anyone else's. Mayu is one year older, and was the one who assigned Nana a birthday and an accurate estimate of her age.
The chill in the air was unseasonable for late summer in Kamakura, though not unheard of. Dark rainclouds had made up most of the sky the last several days, and this morning found a fine layer of frost covering the stone steps of the short courtyard of Kaede House. The first hint at winter made an early appearance, though the churning of the grey ocean and its soft, constant roar suggested building energy rather than slowing down. It was almost as if the water were writhing in pain for lack of the sunlight upon it, crying out in loneliness.
Kaede slipped into consciousness as softly as the waves she heard in the distance. In the dimly lit room, she saw her breath hang in the air. Shivering, she drew up her legs and tried to fit more of her body under the inadequate blanket. Collecting herself, she rose and closed the nearby patio door, which had offered a pleasant night breeze hours before. Kaede pushed her thick hair out of her eyes and stood, hand on hip, over the futon on which Kohta remained asleep, unmoved by the chill.
The cold had permeated the room, and Kaede was naked, but she didn't so much as flinch as she stood. Her period of imprisonment had seen her unclothed nearly all of the time, and as her former cell was always cold, she was less sensitive to these things than she would have been otherwise. So why had she shivered? Kaede came to the answer with gradual horror as she rapidly became fully awake. This was a deep, very nearly physical sensation she had not felt for three years.
Wrenching open the sliding door she had just closed, Kaede vaulted over the threshold and landed among the damp, crunchy ice crystals. Barely aware of them coming out, she pushed two vectors toward the ground and practically soared over the fence with the momentum. From her position in midair, Kaede scanned the area below, her eyes straining in the grey dawn. She could not stop the isolated tears that sprang forth as her legs absorbed the impact. Staggering for a moment, Kaede began to run down the empty street at top speed, following the intangible call of the Diclonius that she sensed.
"I shouldn't be surprised," she said to herself, and winced as her foot caught on a pointed rock. Ignoring the pain, Kaede adjusted her speed as the slope increased toward the ocean, and pavement gave way to sand. Reaching the water's edge, Kaede halted suddenly, and spun around defensively, looking in all directions.
"These girls... they're like my children..." she mused, and remained remarkably still as her four vectors kicked up sand and created a whirlwind around her. Anything coming at Kaede from any direction would be shredded.
It was true that many Silpelits born within the last twenty years were the children of humans infected by Kaede's vectors. Until she was about ten, however, she was never aware of or in control of these arms. This meant that Kaede could have infected any number of people who had been around her from early in life leading up that fateful day when a gang of boys beat her dog to death. Kaede's fury exploded in an instantaneous bloodbath, and the power of invisible, severing, biohazardous death became hers. Reflecting upon this possibility in the years following the loss of her horns filled Kaede with a new regret to add to the others she carried, even though it was something she could not have possibly prevented.
Kaede did her best not to think about those matters that separated her from humanity at large, let alone the numerous evils that she had both committed and opposed. Even so, in her quiet moments of touching upon the surreal peace of this new life, Kaede considered the facts of what she knew about her kind, her abilities, and her ultimate purpose. From what she had discovered about the Kakuzawa family, it was clear that the vector virus was much older than her, despite her role as the queen, center of the Kanagawa epidemic.
Indeed, the appearance of her vectors at this odd hour was an incredibly rare occurence in Kaede's new life. Since the night her other horn was lost, she took the Director's head, and she was astonished to find herself alive, Kaede swore to herself never to use her vectors for anything. The fact that her arms were now fully extended, and prepared to kill, ran on the same emotion that would be unlocked if Kohta were in mortal danger. And at present, that was a definite possibility to Kaede. She had sensed another Diclonius, and a deep, savage hatred. This was certain in her mind, and now the air was tense with the sensation of imminent death made tangible by the wind of her vectors.
There was no one on the shore. Kaede was looking around for a Silpelit, a girl younger than her, doubtless with a childish and distressed look in their eyes, but saw no one. There were no humans, either, which was readily apparent at this early hour. If there were, they would have seen a naked woman inexplicably surrounded by swirling sand on a calm day, scanning the shoreline with such focus and intensity that Kaede could have been mistaken for a furious goddess, newly emerged from the sea.
"Where..."
The feeling of dread and received hatred subsided. Kaede saw no one, and the threat of immediate danger evaporated. As the forcefulness of her gaze diminished, Kaede's head dropped slightly in puzzlement, and her shoulders relaxed. The vectors that were previously whirling rapidly receded. Had she been wrong? No, there was no mistaking that inhuman perception that regular people could never grasp, and the blind rage that accompanied it. So why did it just vanish? Was this a dream?
Kaede's new suspicion was exacerbated by the approaching figure she saw come from the path leading up to Kaede House, the very way she had come. It was Kohta. He appeared wide awake in spite of the time, looking disheveled and wearing a short yukata. The two of them locked eyes, and seconds passed by until Kohta, though waking, ran down to the beach.
"Kaede! What are you doing? You do know you're naked, right?"
Kaede's face slackened and her pose became something between ease and modesty, with one arm drawn under her breasts and the other across her hips, half-heartedly.
"I'm... sorry. People will almost be out."
Kohta got closer, and gave a small sigh while holding out another yukata. He draped it over Kaede's shoulders, but she took two steps backward and tied it herself.
"What's gotten into you? Were you sleepwalking or something?"
She brought up her gaze to him again, and paused very briefly before nodding. "Yes. I must have been. I'm as surprised as you are."
"Still, I've never heard of any sleepwalker moving so quickly, let alone all the way down here."
Kaede guessed that Kohta hadn't seen her use her vectors to move over the wall, and she was relieved enough to crack a faint smile when he put an arm around her, saying "Let's head back."
For the time being, Kaede thought, she would let relief take over, and deal with this mystery when Kohta wasn't around. For all she knew, she could have been sleepwalking, but that sensation, the presence of another Diclonius... Well, Kaede was not exactly a stranger to nightmares and waking up in a screaming panic.
"It's a bit warmer now," said Kohta softly as birdsong broke the waves' monotony.
"Yeah... I'm... sorry to worry you, Kohta. I don't know what happened."
"Hey, it's all right. I was just so surprised that you went out all of a sudden, but I figured you'd come here."
"Oh... That's because..."
Kohta slowed his pace up the hill slightly, giving a puzzling expression when he said "I've met you like this before. You remember, right?"
"Yes," Kaede said. At this, Kohta's odd expression turned into a wistful smile.
"I know I could never forget something like that," he went on, "Seeing a naked girl on the beach like that, out of nowhere. But you know, Kaede, you weren't yourself then, right? You were, uh… Nyu. You looked different, too."
It was true that Kaede's hair was longer when she had washed up on Yuigahama beach those three years prior, seemingly an eternity ago. She had since kept her hair at shoulder-length, mirroring the way she had kept it as a child. What's more, Kaede's Diclonius horns had been broken off, allowing her to pass as a human, in spite of her uncommonly vibrant hair color. The thing that most distinguished how Kaede was then compared to the present was the infantile Nyu persona created after being brain-damaged in her escape from the government facility. Since Kaede's injury had healed, she was not averse to the opinion that, in some way, Nyu had been manufactured as a means to leave the horror of her existence. She had admitted to Kohta that Nyu was the only way that both of them could interact without uncovering the ugly truth. But Nyu was gone now, from Kaede's injury healing, but also from the necessity of the truth coming to light. There was no going back to that innocence, for either of them, because justice would not allow it.
"I feel as though I've lived here for a long time," Kaede started again as she and Kohta came within view of the inn. "Who I was then and who I am now are different people. Not completely different, but not the same."
"Your memories are what are most important, Kaede."
"Yes, the good... and the bad."
Kohta broke his gaze. "It's... It's good that both of us remember who we were and who we are."
Kaede paused on the slope.
"And... who will we be?"
Kohta was silent, seemingly looking around for an answer, then he gave a short laugh.
"Why so serious today? Is work getting you down?"
"No. No, don't worry about that," she said, pushing aside her long bangs. "It keeps my mind busy, among other things."
Is this real? Kaede thought. Is it... all right for me to be here, like this? The wrongs I've done him won't ever go away, so, is it right for us to be happy together?
Stealing a glance at Kohta's upturned face in the sunlight, looking toward the approaching Kaede House, Kaede repeated that mantra that she had burned into her brain ever since she was welcomed back into Kohta's home: He's happy; it's your obligation to keep him happy. It's the least you can do.
Like so many times before, Kaede's confidence was restored, and her smile fluttered as she drew Kohta's arm closer, as she said "Sorry. About running out like that. I don't know what happened to me."
"Well, it's all right. I mean, there wasn't anyone in sight. I think... it's healthy to do something reckless like that every now and then."
Kaede blushed ever so slightly.
"But, Kohta, I said I didn't know what I was doing."
"Yeah, but, you're a girl who really doesn't mind being nude at all. Imagine if you were really uptight and this happened! You'd be mortified."
At the courtyard, Kohta stepped out of his sandals and switched to house slippers, just as a familiar patter of feet came down the staircase. Nana stopped on the second-last step and gave a quizzical look with her tilted body. Kaede wasn't surprised; though the presence of a Silpelit in the same house as her had become so usual that she had become innured to it, she could still track Nana's whereabouts wherever she might be in town.
"Oh, there you two are," Nana said, in the midst of a yawn she tried to stifle. "Out for an early-morning lovers' stroll?"
"I was just sleepwalking," fired back Kaede, before Kohta could open his mouth. "Don't you have school today, Nana?"
A somewhat petulant frown darkened the younger girl's face.
"Hmph. That's right."
"Nana, I thought you loved school?" said Kohta, showing his usual concern.
"Today we have a Japanese test, and I don't know if I'll pass."
Kohta put a fatherly hand on Nana's shoulder.
"Hey, I know you'll be all right. Nana's getting better at learning kanji every month, isn't she, Kaede?"
Kaede nodded robotically, very aware that this teenage girl, deprived of more education than her, was still significantly more literate. Kaede could barely scribble the characters for her own name.
"I know you'll feel better about it when the time comes," Kohta went on. "Just review your notes after breakfast, and you'll be fine." At this, Nana gave a hopeful glance and a wide smile. She practically purred when Kohta patted her head, making Kaede feel as though despite Nana's growth and experience over the past few years, she was still a child at heart. But a good child, untainted by the evil living in their DNA.
The morning meal was quieter than usual, with Nana poring intently over her books in between bites of sausage. By this time, she was already clad in her uniform, and rushed to pack up her things as soon as she was done eating.
"Nana... Your ribbons..." Kaede said cooly, then sipping her tea.
"Oh, right," she said as she continued, pulling out two wide, purple ribbons tied into bows. The thick fabric would be enough to obscure Nana's horns, everyone believed. Kaede watched her expertly fasten them to her head as she thought about the past, when, as Nyu, she would do the same.
Did I really hide them in such a girly way? Kaede mused silently. It wasn't her decision of what to wear back then, anyway. And she was glad to be rid of her horns, which had only brought abuse and fear to her. But as for Nana...
"See you later!" Nana called, as she sped out the courtyard door. "It's all right if Mayu comes over after school, isn't it?"
"Yeah, you don't need to ask by now!" Kohta said, waving at her as she slid open the door to outside.
In the dining room, Kaede replaced her tea on the table, folding her hands as she sat.
"Horns..."
Why did Nana still have hers, when both of Kaede's were torn off? The obvious answer was that this was the damage Kaede had received from her final battles, the struggles to end the nightmare produced by the government and by herself. Her entire life, they were a stigma to Kaede; she always hated them, and now that the horns were gone, she had the freedom to blend into human society more freely. But why? Why did this happen? Why did Kaede survive that fight against hundreds of soldiers and police, and the old and twisted Kakuzawa at the center of it?
A familiar feeling swept over Kaede, not guilt, not astonishment, but something that made her feel like a fish out of water.
"I... don't deserve this..."
It was a strange feeling, indeed, to be in a position of calm and security after a lifetime of pain, but even stranger to be feeling so out of place, when she had every reason to be happy. Kaede thought back to the day she finally returned here, home, her life as a monster forever behind her. But it can't be that simple, Kaede thought. It was never that simple.