(A/N: I am so sorry for the delay. I had midterms this week and they took up all of my time. But now they're out of the way and I'm back with the next chapter.)

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Chapter 3: The Return

The clock chimed again. Kohta couldn't believe that it was actually working. Had sweet innocent Nyu actually been known what she was doing when she was taking it apart and putting it back together in a seemingly random manner, or was it a strange coincidence that she had gotten very lucky and just happened to put it together correctly?

Tears threatened to spill from Kohta's eyes. "Oh, Nyu."

He missed the sweet naïve girl. It was like having his sister back. Well, now that he thought about it, Nyu was like a cross between a clueless sister and an energetic pet. It was hard to believe that inside that childish mind was someone completely different.

He was, of course, referring to Lucy. It had been quite a shock finding out that Nyu had a split personality. No, that's wrong, it was Lucy that had the split personality that Nyu was the result of. He didn't know the full details of what happened, but he understood for the most part.

Apparently, Lucy was the lonely little girl he had grown to love while he was a kid. She was also the one who had killed his father and sister. The shock of witnessing the murder had caused Kohta to block out the memory completely. But he remembered now, oh yes, he remembered everything.

Now it suddenly made sense as to why Lucy had begged him to kill her if she couldn't stop killing. It was because she knew that she was on the pathway to becoming a killer, and she didn't want that. But something had set her off, something that made her kill his father and sister. Then she just disappeared.

How strange they would meet again years later. Well, it hadn't really been Lucy he had met, but Nyu. How Lucy had developed a personality such as Nyu, he had no idea. But Lucy had returned. It was after Dr. Kakuzawa had taken her. He didn't know what had happened between them, but Lucy had regained control and killed Dr. Kakuzawa.

From time to time, Lucy, or Nyu, or who whoever she was, would switch between personalities. But on the last day they were together, Lucy seemed to come back completely. That's when Kohta had learned the truth about the whole situation, and everything came back to him. Everything.

Even now, he still didn't know what to think of the situation. Lucy was the one who had killed his family. She murdered other people as well, some right in front of him. He should hate her. He wanted to hate her. But for some reason, he just couldn't. Why couldn't he hate her?

Maybe it was because of the way she opened her heart to him. He could tell that she truly was sorry for killing his family. And also that she loved him. She loved him enough that she was going to die for him.

From what he could gather, Lucy was some new kind of human species called, what was it, Dilnokus, Diklonus, something like that. And she was the queen of her species. If she wanted to, she could have her race dominate the entire planet it just three years.

But she had given it all up. For him. She had thrown away her destiny, walking readily to her death, just for him. And he couldn't let her. He just couldn't. Even though she had killed his family, he had meant what he said. He did love her. He couldn't bring himself to forgive her for what she did, but he couldn't stop himself from loving her either.

Nor could he stop her from going to her death. And he hadn't seen her since. He had heard the gunfire and knew that she was lost to him. All that he had left of her were confusing memories and conflicting emotions.

The doorbell rang again, bringing him out of his thoughts. He had gone and gotten caught up in the past and had completely forgotten about their visitor. He could still see their shadow behind the door. He wondered who it was.

"Hello," he greeted them, "sorry to keep you waiting."

He opened the door and time stopped.

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Inside, the others were happily enjoying their meal. Yuka delicately nibbled at her food while Mayu fed her pet dog, Wanta. The third person, Nana, who was also a Diclonius, shoveled food into her mouth as if she hadn't eaten in weeks.

"Nana, don't eat so fast," Yuka scolded lightly, "you're going to get a stomach ache."

"And you're getting it all over your face." Mayu pointed out, plucking a piece of rice off her friend's cheek and popping it into her own mouth.

Nana beamed at them. "I'm sorry, it's just so good. I never had good food like this while I was…"

She trailed off, but she didn't need to say anymore. Yuka frowned, feeling sorry for the girl. It seemed that everyone in this house had a tragic past. Poor Kohta had lost his family at such a young age, though she wasn't exactly sure how they died. She knew it wasn't by the reason she was given.

Little Mayu had been abandoned by her parents and had been living on the streets with Wanta until she and Kohta had taken them in. She wondered why the girl's parents had handed their daughter over, no questions asked. Little did Yuka know that Mayu's stepfather had been molesting her, which was why the girl ran away from home in the first place.

Sweet Nana was perhaps the most tragic of them. Just because she had been born with horns, she had been subjugated to cruel inhuman experiments her entire life, only to later watch the man she believed to be her father die right in front of her.

Then there was Nyu, or Lucy, as she found out the girl's real name. She was of the same race as Nana. Yuka had no idea of what happened in Lucy's past, but she had somehow developed a split personality. She suspected that the girl's past may have been more complicated than she was aware of, and she had a feeling that Kohta and Nana knew more about Lucy than they had revealed, yet she didn't press the issue.

Then, of course, there was her. She was the girl who was in love with her cousin. Who had tried her whole life to win his affection, only to have him remain completely oblivious to her feelings and to forget the best possible chance they had of ending up together. And to make matters worse, Kohta seemed to have feeling for Nyu, and vice versa.

With a sigh, Yuka went back to her meal. Even though Nyu was her love rival for Kohta's heart, she had never wanted anything bad to happen to her. And she too missed the sweet naïve girl. But maybe it was for the best. Once everything she had been kept in the dark about had come to light, all the strange events began to make sense. And with Nyu no longer around, all the strange things had stopped. So perhaps things really did turn out for the best. Nyu would no longer have to suffer from her past, and the rest of them could live their life in peace.

A patting on her arm caught her attention, and Yuka turned to Mayu, who was looking worried. "Is something wrong?"

Mayu turned to Nana. "I think something's wrong with Nana."

That's when Yuka noticed it too. Nana had gone pale, much more than her normal pale complection. Her eyes were wide and fearful, and her body was trembling.

"Nana?" Yuka asked carefully. "Are you feeling ok?"

Nana didn't seem to hear her. 'What… what is this? I sense it, but it can't be!' She jumped to her feet. "It can't be!"

She took off running, ignoring the others' cries. Running was still hard to do with her fake limbs, but she had to hurry and see for herself. If what she was sensing was right, then things were about to get real bad, real fast.

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Kohta's mind tried to register what he was seeing. Before him stood a pink haired girl with magenta eyes. Like the time when he had first seen her on the beach, she was completely naked, save for the coat of blood she was covered in. But this time she had no horns. The last time he had seen her she only had one, having lost the other one in a fight.

That's when he finally snapped out of it and realized that someone he believed to be dead was standing before him. But which one was it, Lucy or Nyu? Whoever they were, they had a hungry triumphant expression one their face as they looked at him.

"Kohta." She whispered, in a tone that he hadn't heard either Lucy or Nyu use before.

Then she collapsed, falling forward. Kohta quickly caught her, ignoring the fact that his clothes were being covered in blood. Blood? Oh hell, what had happened? Was she hurt? He hoped not.

"Kohta!"

He turned to see Nana come running out of the house. She gasped in shocked horror at Lucy/Nyu. Whichever one she was, he decided to worry about it later. Right now she needed help; he didn't know how bad her injuries were.

Scooping her up into his arms, he carried the unconscious girl into the house. He ignored the shocked gasps from Yuka and Mayu as he carried her. He knew they had questions. So did he. What had happened? Who did this? What the hell was going on? But these questions would need to be asked later. Right now he had to deal with the girl he had thought to be dead for two months.

Nana stood alone, trying to comprehend what was happening. That girl that Kohta had carried in, was undoubtedly Lucy. But it was only Lucy in body. The mind was not that of Lucy, nor was it that of Nyu.

(A/N: I know, not much happened, but after not updating for so long I wanted to give you guys something.)