Ch 5: Separate Mindsets

Yesterday was a blur and Celia more than anything wanted to continue sleeping. The nudging hand on her head proved more concerning though, so after a yawn the young girl got up. She was at first unaware of her surroundings. She was lying on a thick blue cot, a blanket bundled over the edge as she had gotten up.

That was right! That kind girl who had gotten her from that bench and taken her. Her head had hurt terribly then but now that seemed like a distant memory. She could not remember what had happened, all she knew was that she was on a bench and her head had hurt like crazy.

She knew a few things about herself though.

Her name was Celia (Or so she assumed.) She was 17 years old and finally…well actually that was about it. She looked up, expecting to see that kind girl who had come to her on the bench. It was not, it was a small breasted girl, with brown hair. Her warm smile though was enough for Celia to trust her. She could hear voices in the background though, angry voices. Voice that were arguing.

"We can't risk it!"

"Why not?"

"You know exactly why, she's like…"

"Like you!"

Celia had no idea what was going on, but sincerely hoped it had nothing to do with her. She had the unpleasant feeling it did. The girl introduced herself as Mayu and a friend of Nana. That was definitely good enough for Celia, who instantly saw this girl as a sister despite knowing little to nothing about her.

The arguing increased in tempo and Mayu looked at the closed door in concern. She knew exactly who was yelling, who was on the offensive and who was on the defensive. She also knew that both parties had a well good reason for their arguments. When the door finally opened and a group of people came in, she backed away. She felt it would be easier to stay out of this mess, which she hoped would be minor at best.

Celia instantly saw Nana and smiled at her, who smiled back at her in return. Thank goodness there, she for whatever reason was not mad her. She noticed a young man who looked at her uncertainly, he was not mad at her, but apparently not happy with her either. He seemed to be arguing with his own self conscious.

Now with one good and one neutral, there had to be…bingo.

Another girl had come with them, nearly the same age as the young man who bore a slight resemblance to Nana, if only in the physical department. She had thick pink hair that was cut short so that that the strands just barely touched her shoulders. She looked at Celia with a gaze of intensity. Celia noticed the bumps atop of her head, seeing the similarity between herself and Nana.

"What is your name?"

The older girls voice could have been less cruel. She sounded threatening and Celia actually backed up.

"You don't have to say it like that." Nana said, heading over to the frightened girl and laying a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "Please tell us your name." Nana said kindly. Why couldn't that other girl speak to her like that?

"Celia." She said, looking at Nana in the process since she'd probably choke on her own words if she looked into the hate filled irises of the other girl. "Do you remember anything from yesterday?" Nana continued, her voice soft and calm. Celia thought for a moment, thought hard and strong…and nothing came. It was a blank. A total blank, the very last thing she remembered was being awoken by Nana on the bench. "I don't know." she finally said, shrugging her shoulders. All but that one girl who had spoken to her in such a cold way seemed ready to accept her word as the truth.

"Who have you killed?" She said.

"Killed?" Celia muttered, as if she had not heard correctly. The girl brought a spare newspaper and Celia recoiled. Thank goodness it was the usual black, white and grey kind. The amount of red that would be on it would have been astounding. She gulped, and turned her head. Not many people would want to see the bloodbath that was shown on the front page.

"Do you know what this is?"

"No." Celia responded truthfully.

"Please…" Nana began, but the other girl gave her a look which instantaneously kept her quiet.

"This is the kind of incident where only a Diclonius could have caused. Care to explain yourself?"

"I…I don't know. Please I really don't know!" She stuttered, tears running down the side of her face. What had she done to deserve this? The next person to speak though was not this mean girl, but the man next to her.

"Maybe we should let her stay. We have no proof that she was the cause of this accident and it would be cruel to let her out on the streets." He gave the girl next to him a slight smile, and she returned it, though her expression back to Celia was just a spiteful as it had been before.

"Fine then, you can stay, but if she starts acting up, I deal with her." She said, though her voice broke slightly in the middle. As if she was either unsure or regretful of what she was saying. What right did she have to judge this girl on, considering her own past. So she reluctantly agreed and Celia became part of the family.

She had already been introduced to Nana and Mayu.

The young man's name was Kouta.

…and the other girl, upon being asked what her name was.

…"Lucy."

"My God!" The voice said, shocked more than anything. The dark side of Celia could not even give her thoughts to just how true this shock was. First some human starts defying the laws of reality and kills Diclonius like a butcher. Then their entire memory gets erased, a third personality opens up and she, the Dark Celia was stuck in the thoughts of The Voice. Separated from the outside world physically, but not mentally. Even worse, they could not control this third personality, as it was completely oblivious to them. This was completely horrible to both of them as being near the humans and showing such kindness to them made them sick.

Number 7 was with them too. She was a mistake, unfit to be called a Diclonius.

But the worst of it had come now. She couldn't believe it, she refused to believe it. But it was true, that pink hair, those horns slightly longer than the average Diclonius. The red eyes, the adult body. Her name itself.

Lucy. The previous Queen of the Diclonius. She was dead however, died and thus all the Diclonius had waited for the New Queen to be born. Usually Dark Celia would have been glad to see her, actually she would have worshipped her. Like a sensei, ready for the New Queen to learn from the old. But instead of a utter delight, a rich hatred boiled inside her mind.

Lucy. The one that Diclonius worshipped and humans feared…was living with humans. Judging from her clean clothes and complexity, she wasn't being tortured either. She had chosen this life on her own, she had chosen it.

The traitor!