(A/N: Alright, so here's the next chapter. What's going to become of Lucy and the others? Read and find out.)

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Chapter 4: Awaken

Kohta was relieved when Yuka announced that Lucy/Nyu didn't appear to be hurt. Once she had washed off all the blood, she found out that none of the blood was the Diclonius'. She didn't appear to be hurt, but both of her horns were gone, leaving only jagged stumps.

Mayu was out of her mind with worry. Nana was aware of her friend's distress, which made her even more concerned. She too wanted Nyu to be alright, but she was concerned of what would happen if it was Lucy who was in control. Though Lucy had seemed less hostile than when they had first met, Nana felt that Lucy was still dangerous. And no matter how much she cared for Nyu, she would take down the Diclonius queen if she attempted to hurt her friends.

'As if I really stand a chance' she thought to herself. 'I'll have to… have to kill her when she's Nyu. But I don't want to hurt people. Oh, Papa, what should I do?'

But Lucy wasn't her only concern. She had felt that other dark presence within Lucy/Nyu. What it was, she didn't know, but it frightened her more than Lucy ever could. This new mind was dark and twisted. While Lucy was full of pain and anger, which drove her to kill, this new one was anxious to kill, excited by it. Wanted it. And that scared her. Nyu was nothing to worry about, and Lucy only harmed others that attempted to harm her or to take control of her. If this new one actually wanted the killing to continue, then who knew how serious the situation was.

'I have to talk to Kohta.' She decided. "I will trust his judgment.'

Her mind made up, she went in search of her new fatherly figure. She found him sitting by Lucy/Nyu's side, where he had been since Yuka had finished cleaning her up. She felt so bad for him. The expression on his face revealed his inner turmoil. She couldn't blame him. He cared for Nyu like a little sister, yet it had been Lucy who had killed his father and real sister. The situation was similar for her. Nyu was a dear friend, almost like a sister, yet Lucy had mercilessly torn off her arms and legs. It was hard to comprehend.

"How is she?" Nana asked.

Kohta sighed. "I'm no doctor, but I think she'll be alright. She doesn't seem to be hurt physically." He looked at Nana. "Which one is she?"

Nana knew what he meant. "I can't tell while she's unconscious. But before she fell unconscious, I did sense someone." She took a breath. "It wasn't Nyu or Lucy."

Kohta gave her a confused look. "Neither one? What do you mean?"

"I'm not entirely sure myself. The only possibility I can come up with is that a third personality has appeared."

Kohta gasped, looking worriedly back at Lucy/Nyu. "A third personality. What do you mean?"

Nana scratched her head, trying to find the right words to use. "It's hard to explain. I'm not entirely sure myself. It's like, depending on who is in control, I can sense the thoughts and emotions of them. There's a difference between them. This new presence, I fell nothing but the drive to kill. It's very dangerous. Lucy may have killed, but it was never out of desire. This new one wants to cause pain. It wants to kill and take the role of the Diclonius queen. And if this presence has its way, all of humanity will die, and Diclonius will take over. That is something we can't let happen!"

Kohta remained silent, comprehending everything Nana had told him. He didn't really understand, but from what he had gathered, there was a drive deep inside Lucy that wanted to kill. He knew that it wasn't Lucy or Nyu that wanted this, but someone, something, did.

"So what are you telling me?" he asked. "That we should kill her?"

Nana gasped. She didn't know what she was trying to say. Kill her? She can't say that the thought hadn't crossed her mind, no matter how briefly. But that would only be as a last resort. She would not kill Lucy/Nyu unless she truly did become a killing machine.

"No," she said, "just that we should be cautious, and be prepared for the worst, depending on which one wakes up."

Kohta sighed. He couldn't argue with that, no matter how much he wanted to. But he couldn't bring himself to kill Lucy or Nyu. He didn't have it in him to kill anyone, no matter what the circumstances were.

"I'll keep that in mind." He told her. "Just don't tell the others."

Nana nodded in agreement. "Yes, we'll keep this between us."

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Yuka was worried. Poor Nyu hadn't woken up for hours. And Kohta hadn't once left her side, insisting to be there for her when she woke. A small twinge of jealousy went through Yuka, but she pushed it aside. Now was not the time to be jealous. Kohta was worried about Nyu, just as she was. There didn't need to be any reason beyond it. She too viewed Nyu as a sisterly figure and was worried about her. Yes, no reason beyond it except for worry about Nyu's wellbeing.

'Oops, I mean Lucy's wellbeing.' She thought as she entered the room.

Kohta was still sitting by Nyu's bedside, watching her protectively. Yuka sat down beside him, setting down a bowl of water. She dunked a rag in the water and began lightly dabbing Nyu/Lucy's face.

The Diclonius groaned at the contact, causing both Yuka and Kohta to react.

"Nyu? Lucy?" Kohta asked.

"Is she waking up?" Yuka asked hopefully.

The Diclonius' magenta eyes slowly opened. They weren't cold and cruel, or sorrowful and hurting, but innocent and naïve.

"KOHTA!" she wailed in a high-pitched voice, throwing her arms around him.

Startled by her sudden outburst, Kohta fell on top of her. From the tone of her voice and the look in her eyes, he knew that it was Nyu who had awoken and not Lucy. He was relieved. In his worry over the Diclonius, he hadn't had much time to think of what he would say or do with Lucy when the two of them finally did meet again.

"Kohta!" Nyu cried happily. "Kohta! Kohta! Kohta!"

With a nervous glance at Yuka, Kohta returned the embrace. "Nyu, are you ok?"

The Diclonius nuzzled him. "Nyu miss you, Kohta! Nyu miss you! Don't leave Nyu!"

"I won't." he told her. "I won't let you go again."

The door burst open as Nana and Mayu hurried in, both looking relieved, Nana for two reasons.

"Nyu's alright!" Mayu cried happily, running to join in on the hug.

"Mayu!" Nyu cried. "Nyu home! Nyu home!"

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Director Kakuzawa walked down the specimen lab. He needed to get Lucy back. But first he had to find her. It would require another Diclonius to do that. Not himself, of course. He wasn't fool enough to go after Lucy. She'd kill him without even batting an eyelash. No, what he need was a Diclonius that would stand a chance against Lucy, but would still obey him.

Fortunately for him, he had a certain Diclonius that would meet his requirements. It was risky, he knew, for this Diclonius was extremely unstable, but he was left with no other choice in the matter.

"Sir! Director Kakuzawa!"

He stopped and turned to see Arakawa running towards him. If the girl didn't amuse him so, he'd find her terribly annoying. "What is it?"

The woman took a moment to catch her breath. "Sir, I've been looking into the behavior patterns of the Diclonius."

Kakuzawa motioned for her to continue. "What about it?"

Arakawa began flipping through pages before, in her hast, she dropped them. "Oh shoot." She sighed. "Sir, I was looking into why Diclonius are always so hostile. It just didn't make sense that they should all want to kill for no apparent reason."

"I don't see where you're going with this." the director replied impatiently.

"Sir, aside from Number 7, also known as Nana, all the Diclonius that we have at the facility have been aggressive and hostile to humans. But all of them have been subjugated to rather cruel and brutal tests. After forced to live a life of such torture, it's common sense that they'll view humans as their enemies and want to fight back."

Kakuzawa glared at her. "So what are you saying?"

"I'm saying that it's not fair to classify all Diclonius as dangerous when all the Diclonius we've ever researched on have had a reason to be hostile to humans."

"You are grasping at straws." Kakuzawa told her. "To have every case of Diclonius we've had to be hostile is proof enough to classify Diclonius as dangerous."

Arakawa returned his glare. "Every case we know of is due to cruel treatment. I'm going to look into this further."

She turned away, but Kakuzawa grabbed her arm. "Be careful of the answers you seek. You may not like what you find."

Arakawa pulled away. "I'll take my chances, sir. You brought me here to do research on Diclonius, so that is what I'm going to do."

Kakuzawa watched as she stormed away. He had to admit, he liked her spirit. He was going to enjoy breaking it. But first, he had bigger fish to fry.

Running his keycard through the key slot, the door opened for him. Inside, chained to the wall, was a boy of about 14, pink hair and horns classifying him as a Diclonius.

Kakuzawa approached the boy, making sure to stay out of range of his vectors. "Hello, Number 28." He hesitated a moment. "Or would you prefer Kenshin?"

Slowly the boy looked up. His expression was blank, his eyes empty. He stared at Kakuzawa as if were seeing him, but not seeing him.

"Still nothing to say?" Kazuzawa asked. "After 8 years, you still haven't spoken a word."

The Diclonius, Kenshin, merely cocked her head to the side, his half-lidded eyes staring at him blankly.

Kakuzawa sighed. Communicating with Kenshin was like talking to a wall. It was strange how the boy had changed over the years. Kenshin had once a lively boy who had been abandoned by his parents as an infant due to his horns. At age 4, he had been brought here from an orphanage, and, like all the Diclonius here, been experimented on. One day the boy just seemed to break. Ever since then, he hadn't spoken a word, displayed no emotion, didn't even react to the most brutal of torturous experiments. He didn't seem capable of thinking for himself. He obeyed every order without thought or question. Other than that, he just sat as still as a statue, sleeping when he was tired, eating when food was brought to him, basically existing and not living.

"Well," Kakuzawa muttered, "since you still have nothing to say, I'll do all the talking. Tell me, Kenshin, how would you like to get out of her for a while?"

The boy merely blinked at him, giving no indication that he even heard the director.

With a groan, Kakuzawa continued. "A Diclonius escaped from us, and I want it back. If you are willing to go after her, you will be able to walk freely. While searching for her, you may do what you want and go anywhere in the city that you want as long as you report in everyday. How does that sound? To be able to walk around in the fresh air and sunshine, to be able to eat real food, to sleep in a real bed, to not have to go through any experiments until you bring your target back. How does that sound?"

Kenshin still didn't react. If it wasn't for him breathing, you would think he were dead. He was definitely dead on the inside. What little was left of his mind seemed to revolve around doing what was required to live and nothing more.

Pinching the bridge of his nose, Kakuzawa turned away. "I should have known that this was pointless."

He began to leave. He was about to walk out the door when someone spoke.

"Which one?"

Kakuzawa froze. He turned back to Kenshin, to find the boy staring at him. So the boy did still know how to speak. Granted, his voice was unbelievably horse and raspy after years of nonuse, but at least he was till capable of speech.

"Lucy," he replied, "the queen of your species."

Kenshin blinked once. "Alright."

Kakuzawa raised an eyebrow. "That's it? You'll do it just like that? You want nothing in return?"

Still Kenshin displayed no emotion. "What should I want?"

Kakuzawa shrugged. "Never mind. You'll leave immediately."

He left the room and Kenshin was once again left alone. His body went limp again, all traces of life vanishing save for the rise and fall of his chest.

(A/N: So it was Nyu that woke up. Things are all right, for now. But Kakuzawa is unleashing another Diclonius. And emotionless people like Kenshin are often the most dangerous. How will thing turn out?)