Disclaimer: I don't own final fantasy or any other reference that I put in here. I only own the things that I make up!

Ch. 5 Who am I

In the hospital Elle's parents hovered around her room wondering why all of the sudden they weren't allowed to go inside. It seemed to them that nothing had changed, but soon after the specialist arrived they had been told to wait. It had been a day already and they were getting worried. From what they could tell she was still unconscious. It worried them. Did this mean she might never wake up? And...would she ever be the same?

Inside the room the specialist was still at a loss. It seemed to him that she should be awake. The machines showed there was activity in the brain, however, he could get no response whatsoever from her. Her brain was a computer processor that acted as a place to hold her data and it constantly recorded data and stored it in a remote location, but ever since the incident no data was being stored there. Not even dormant data. It looked to him like the shock had probably knocked out one of the firewalls meant to protect from this kind of thing. With that down it meant that any number of things could have happened. If something had lost a connection or one was destroyed they would have to remove it and spend time fixing it before she could even function. What worried him was something else. The readings were strange.

Everything about this is wrong. This anomaly could mean anything and right now it looks like if she wakes up she will be someone else entirely.

He was wondering where her data could have gone and how it would have left the confines of the processor in the first place. This data is very different from hers. Who will you be?

His thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door. He turned around peering through the small window. He hoped it was his colleague. He was not the only person who worked on this particular individual so he hoped they might give him some insight. It was the nurse, but he could see past her was another man. He was talking with the parents. He gave her the ok to let him in and turned back to the monitors.

"So I see you're having trouble, Itaku. Well, you aren't the only one." He said as he entered the room.

"I'm just hoping the circuits aren't fried. If so then we may have to start over."

"I don't think so." The man replied. "I just got a call from another hospital. We have another one. This time a boy a little older than her." He whipped around with wide eyes. "I sent someone to see him already. If they're the same then they're connected. If not then we're on our own here."

"Was there a storm?"

"Yes it's moving all over the place. The IWC is moving slowly from what I hear. I bet they're in an uproar over this."

"Probably. Well, you can have a look. Can't do much at the moment. We need to move her, but I'm not sure how she will react."

"I've been going over what you sent me. From what I can tell...everything looks fine. By all means, she should be awake right now."

"The anomaly..." He said thinking.

"Yes...that..." He paused looking through his briefcase for the data. "It is strange isn't it? I'd like to compare it with previous readings and also do the same with the boys. I mentioned it to them. I asked them to send over everything they found."

"That will take some time."

"Well, I think I'll chat with the parents for a few minutes. Maybe their account of what happened can shed a little light on this." He was thinking. "Have you spoken to them at all?"

"Not since it was done years ago." Itaku replied. "This is the third time I've seen her since."

"That's just like you, always wrapped up in your work."

"Yes, I suppose. But there are still things we don't know about using cybernetic prosthetics. Some of the strange things that occur during and after the process are puzzling to say the least." He said still looking at the readings.

"I'll be back" Itaku barely heard him.

Outside the parents were both watching the door intently and waiting quite impatiently. Both were anxious, nervous, and worried. Now there were two of them in there with their daughter. When one of them came out he was berated with questions about her condition and what they were going to do. He simply let them ask and waited for them to calm down a bit asking them to have a seat.

"I'm Ardet Lamasu a cyber-engineer and a friend of Itaku. I also worked closely with him when we did the procedure to transfer her data and gave her full prosthetics. Listen; at this point there is nothing to worry about. We have to move delicately. It appears that in a sense she is in a sort of coma. The shock probably knocked out a circuit and until we find the cause it's likely she won't wake up. However, I will be honest. There seems to be an anomaly in the data, but at this point it's hard to say if it's bad. It could be merely a discrepancy in the readings. Right now, we need you to be patient with us. This technology is still quite new even with the number of years we have been working with it. There are still things we don't know so bear with us."

"Mr. Lamasu, please do what you can. We already lost her once...I don't think we could bear to lose her again." Her father said. Her mother remained silent, but she was visibly shaken. This ordeal reminded them of their first encounter with Itaku Naozaki. Their meeting then had been very brief so until they heard the name they had almost not recognized the man that saved Elle. "We appreciate all you did for us then so please..."

"It's going to be fine. I'll do my best to keep you informed." He said smiling slightly. "There's also something I'd like you to do for me, if you're up to it." They both nodded slightly. "Good. Can you tell me what happened? Every little detail is important. It might tell us more about her condition."

They started confirming most of what they had already known. The storm arrived quickly and she received a shock when lightning struck the house. None of them had seen it happen so that part was a bit fuzzy. "She wouldn't listen to us. We tried to get her away from the computer and that game she was playing." Her mom said crying.

"We heard her scream and immediately went to her room. She locked the door so I broke in and found her lying on the bed unconscious. Then we immediately brought her here."

"I see..." He thanked them and returned to the room. "We have to find out what happened the moment they received the shock." He said thinking out loud. Itaku turned to him.

"Yes that is a hole in the story right now." Itaku replied absently. Suddenly the machines started beeping. Both of them rushed forward to see. The nurse came in as well worried. It had set off their alarm. "What's this? A spike in brain activity?"

"Perhaps she can hear us?" Ardet said wondering. "The data seems to have changed again."

They looked at her and realized that the nurse was attempting to strap her down because her body suddenly began convulsing. They both helped. Falling from the bed could create more trauma and issues for them to fix. They already knew that they needed to fix the skin on her hands. There was only a small burn on them where the electricity had entered her body.

Her eyes flew open and she started struggling against the restraints. The readings had them both wondering. Was she really awake? Was it even her? Ardet tried to calm her while Itaku examined the data. What he saw had him perplexed. He had been comparing it to some of the previous data and now seeing this he could see a similarity, but this data was not of Elle. It read as a totally different person. Can that be right? Is it someone else who's awoken in her body?

"Let go! Take these off! I have to go!" She was shouting. She suddenly paused and looked around. "What's going on?"

"Elle, listen to me. I'm Ardet Lamasu, please calm down. You were in an accident and brought to the hospital." He said. This seemed to aggravate her even more.

"Who? That's not..."

"Ardet!" Itaku interrupted her and grabbed his arm pulling him around to show him the comparison data. "This is...not her data." He said looking almost shocked.

"Then who?" They both looked at her feeling confused and concerned. If that were true then where was Elle?

"Look I don't know what is going on, but where are my friends? They need me! And why the hell does my voice sound like this?" She stated. Outside they could hear commotion and the nurse ran to the door to look.

"They must have heard her. What do we do?" She said looking at the engineers for answers.

"Don't let them in!" Itaku said. "That will only cause more confusion. Listen, please be patient. We need to run some tests before you can be allowed to go anywhere." She groaned and clenched her fists. In her mind this was ridiculous and unnecessary. She was confused though. Who were they talking about and why was she really in this place. Where is everyone? That was her foremost thought. At a time like this wouldn't they all be there with her. Is that the commotion outside?

Ardet andItaku were huddled together by the computers whispering to each other about this situation. "This data is female. Early twenties maybe. It looks like that is the anomaly we were seeing. It was data from someone else as I feared." Itaku said.

"Yes it seems that way. We need to find out who she is and what she remembers. Perhaps that will help us find Elle's missing data so we can put them back where they should be." They both nodded and turned around gazing at the frustrated looking girl before them. She looked like Elle, sounded like her, but obviously was not her.

Author: Wow has this one been on a long hiatus. So much has been going on I haven't really had much time to write on my fics. But I will try and update this one more often.