A rewrite! A rewrite! Yes, that's right! I'm talkin' about a rewrite!

Normally whenever I start a fanfic I don't really. . . finish them. I try! I really do- the motivation to continue them just sorta disappears and then never comes back. However, I have had this rewrite in mind for a while now. As I thought about how I wanted the story to progress, I eventually realized that I made a mistake starting so far into the main story.

I couldn't create proper emotional connections between our MC and the others with that short of a time limit! So I'm dialing it back, we're starting from Railgun (one) itself!

So buckle up, hold on to your butts, let's rewrite this sucker!
(Whether this continues or not is completely up in the air, though. I love Toaru and have an idea and slight plan of how I want this to go, but let's be honest. My track-record isn't the best when it comes to this sort of thing. I'll try though.)

Sorry if this first chapter is so long, I cut out the last MC and replaced him- This chapter will be short, but I'll try and make longer posts in the future (if I do it-).

This isn't fair.

I can't stand it.

It wasn't supposed to be this way.

I don't want to die.

I-I don't want to die!

I just. . . I just. . .

I just want a second chance.

. . .

. . . .

. . . . .

. . . . . .

A second chance? A foolish request. . .

What? Who are-

Silence.

You whine and cry, but you never strived to do anything about your oh-so "miserable" life.

You- Shut up! What do you-

I said SILENCE.

! . . .

Insolent and pathetic, that's all you are. Someone like you doesn't deserve a second chance.

. . .

. . . And yet it's exactly because of this that you are the perfect vessel.

So let's make a deal.

W-What?

I shall provide you with what you want most: A second chance.

However, in return, you'll provide me with what I want most.

. . . No.

No?

I don't want to die. . . Fuck, I don't want to die. But I'm- I'm just. . . A screw-up. . . I'll fuck it up again, I. . . You're right. . . Someone like me doesn't deserve a second chance.

I see. You truly are ready to give up, aren't you?

Please. . . Just leave me alone. . .

A being beyond your comprehension is offering you what you've practically begged for since you were little more than a child, and you're refusing now when it matters most?

Yes.

Then you really are as pathetic as they come. Nothing more than a coward-

I TRIED, OKAY!? But nothing I did got better! Everything I did made my life worse! This is finally my chance to rest and sleep and I won't ever have to deal with this terrible fucking world anymore! Just- Just leave me alone. . .

Leave me be. . .

Disappear. . .

. . . What a disgusting creature you are. If I had the ability, I'd gag at your very presence.

But what if I told you that you don't have to stay a disgusting creature? What if I told you that your second chance could be in a world you love? In a world you've fantasized before?

. . . Didn't I tell you to leave me alone. . .?

Allow me to, as you humans put it, "sweeten the deal".

Wouldn't you want to be. . . someone incredible?

What?

I will give you the ability to become a truly exceptional creature in this "second chance", should you take it, of course.

In this new life you could have everything you've ever wanted:

A new body.

Friends.

No debts.

And power, the kind that you could only dream of in your world.

The person you could become would solely be determined by your actions.

. . . What are you?

I have already told you. I am a being beyond your comprehension, one that is offering you what you've always begged for.

All I ask is that you give me something of equal worth.

Y-You're ready to give me a new life. There's nothing that I could give you that would even be close to that.

Normally you'd be correct, but because of your "special" circumstances you've become the best candidate to give me what I want.

And what do you want. . .?

You.

W-What?

In exchange for your second chance, you will follow any orders I give you in the future.

You, in a sense, will become my vessel in this world.

Feels like I'm in one of those isekai plots. And. . . what would you make me do exactly?

Do you really have the option of being picky at this moment?

I want to know what I'd be doing-

You don't have much time-

What orders would you give me!?

Silence.

?!

You have no right being so persnickety with your choices. This is your only choice, after all.

Do not get it wrong, you are dead. In fact, you have been dead since the moment we began this conversation.

No. . . y-you're wrong-

I'm not.

I have managed to slow the disintegration of your soul, for now, but your time is running out. With each moment you hesitate it's another piece of your very soul you forfeit.

You have no more time.

Choose: Die or Live.

It is as simple as that.

. . . That's not a choice. . .

Then why are you taking so long to choose?

My whole life I've messed up. . . Everyone's gone and everything just got worse and worse. . . A new life. A new chance to live a life I can be proud of. . .

One I won't waste. . .

I. . .

I accept!

'Wha. . . What's going on?'

I wasn't breathing.

I couldn't hear anything or see anything but total darkness.

The only thing I was sure of was that these were my thoughts. This was me. Right?

Before I could think much of it, my thoughts turned to where I was. While I couldn't see the area around me I could definitely feel it. It felt like I was floating, almost. I was surrounded by. . . liquid? It enveloped me with its warmth. It felt nice. It felt safe.

But where was I?

The last thing I remember was. . . was. . . Damnit. What was the last thing I remember? It was cold, that much I do remember. And then. . .

I really can't remember.

Why can't I remember?

My train of thought shifted as the fluid around me began to leave, draining away near the bottom of my feet. I heard a small hiss as a rush of frigid air overtook me. Compared to the warmth I had not more than a little bit ago, this was bone chilling. It felt like my skin had never been this cold before, which wasn't true at all.

Memories of snow days, canceled schools, and rushing to the warm car to escape the cold winter flooded my mind for a second. Those were my memories. I remember that.

But as I tried to reach out to grab onto those memories for a little longer I found that- I couldn't. Like grabbing at sand they slipped through my fingers and I was left with nothing but little insignificant parts of the memories.

The darkness I was in began receding as light hit my eyelids. It was nearly blinding, even with my eyes closed. I tried opening them but it was hard, it felt like I was just waking up from a long rest. A very long rest.

'Was I in an accident. . .?'

I felt my two feet hit the ground. It felt metallic.

Even though my entire body felt weak, and I couldn't quite see, I hesitantly tried taking a step forwards. My legs were wobbly, practically shaking so badly that I couldn't help but fall to my knees. Right as my body was about to follow suit, a hand caught me, grabbing me by my shoulder. Once it was sure I wouldn't fall over it set me on my knees.

My hands reached up towards my eyes, rubbing them in hopes that the blurriness would leave me for just a moment. My hands felt. . . Soft. Smaller than I expected.

They were bigger before, right? At least. . . I think they were supposed to be.

And then there was something wet on my back as well, it felt like hair. But- That couldn't be right. Even if my hair was a little long, it shouldn't have been this long.

I tried reaching behind me to feel whatever it was, but it was like my body was still waking up. I could barely move.

As I put my hands back onto my lap, I hear two voices in front of me. My eyes still refused to work with me, so I could only hear the two people in front of me.

Who were these people? Were they my doctors. . .?

The language they were speaking in sounded foreign, something akin to Korean or Japanese. No- Wait. No, that was definitely Japanese. While both sounded feminine, one sounded much more excited while the other one sounded a little monotone. I couldn't make out. . . well, anything about what they were saying. I think I was one of those casual anime watchers. . . But that didn't mean I knew anything about the Japanese language.

I did make out one thing. More like a name.

"Misaka."

It sounded familiar. Very familiar. But just like before, I wasn't able to concretely remember anything about it. That was definitely getting very annoying, very fast.

I tried once more to open my eyes, it felt like I hadn't used them in a long while. Right as my eyes opened, the light that invaded my retinas was blinding- As I immediately shut them tightly, I heard an effeminate gasp. Were the doctors surprised by something?

I waited another moment, before trying to open my eyes again. This time instead of fully opening them I did it slowly, allowing my eyes to adjust so that I could see what was in front of me.

Two doctors, one a little bit on the young side while the other was older, wearing lab coats and all. Both of them wore round glasses, although the older doctor's seemed narrower in design.

I looked around me for a bit before noticing that this was starting to look less and less like a hospital room and more like something out of a science fiction comic. Instead of cheap marble tiles the ground was a metallic steel that almost gleamed with how pristine it was. There were metal covered tubes with hoses connected to vats everywhere I looked. My eyes hadn't adjusted quite yet so I couldn't really see what was inside of them though.

What really startled me was when I looked at myself.

Looking down at my arms, I could see that they were slim. Much slimmer than I think my arms used to be. And my hands were so small. My legs were skinny but my thighs were a tiny bit about the size I think they used to be? My hair was so long- It spread all around me like a small blanket attached to my head. I think my hair was dark brown- or at least used to be dark brown, but now it was more of an amber brown than anything else.

As I tried looking more at my body, a hand took my arm and lifted me up.

I looked up and saw the younger doctor, she was attempting to help me stand (which admittedly was harder than I want to admit).

I tilted my head in confusion as she said a few words, I still couldn't understand a thing.

The older one said something to the younger causing an embarrassed look to overtake her features.

'Just what is going on?'

The younger doctor tugged on my arm, pointing towards the only door leading out of the room. An attempted step forwards led to the discovery that I'm going to need a little more help getting to whatever place they wanted me to go to.

With a little leverage and support, they led me to a hallway just outside the room. We walked a little more which wasn't as tiring as I thought it would be.

The hallways were gray, almost beige. Not the stark white you'd expect from a hospital. I looked at the younger doctor, opening my mouth to try and speak but nothing came out. My tongue wouldn't cooperate with me. The doctor gave me a sympathetic smile.

What the hell was going on?

The older doctor opened a door, leading us into a room that really did seem like another science fiction comic panel. There were multiple large capsule-like machines. They sorta seemed familiar, but from where. . ?

The doctors spoke to one another once more, the older one went onwards to a terminal(?) and opened one of the machines, a glass panel opening up to show an empty capsule.

The younger doctor gently pulled me towards it, slowly pushing and positioning me to lay down in it.

'This doesn't feel right.'

The foreboding feeling caused me to squirm, attempting to get up since I didn't really know what was going on but I knew I really didn't want to lay down here.

The doctor eventually won the battle as I couldn't muster up any strength to fight them. They laid me down, putting a large and slightly bulky helmet on my head. It was cold but snug, the front part positioning over my eyes as the sides clamped down on my ears. The only warning that the capsule was closing itself was a small hiss that was barely audible due to the helmet.

I really didn't like what was happening. I had been going with the motions of what had been happening since- well. . . What the hell was I supposed to do? I could barely move, much less fight to keep still in one place. I couldn't speak to them at all either. I was basically able to do nothing but be puppeteered by both doctors.

Funnily enough it sort of reminded me of-

. . . Oh.

Oh no-

I remember- I remember something.

The large tubes that spanned over tens and hundreds of meters, the walls and floors that seemed to fit more with a research facility than a hospital, the doctors that wore regular clothing under their lab coats instead of scrubs or face masks, the sad look that one of the doctors(?) gave me, the amber brown hair I now sported, the feminine gasps and hisses of pain I heard during our walk over here, the large machine that featured several tubes and wires- I had seen all this before in-

In an anime.

How funny that I should remember my favorite anime right now-

The machine I'm in right now should be- Test. . . Testament? Was that the name? The machine that overrode and downloaded information straight into a subject's brain. I remember that from the Sister's Arc for- for the Sisters. . .

'C-Crap!'

I tried kicking my legs but they wouldn't move, I tried reaching to take off the helmet but my arms felt like they were being held down.

I could do nothing as a bright light came from inside the helmet's visor.

Right. Now I remember. . . The entity- The deal- This was supposed to be my second chance.

That same feeling that I felt right as I died. . . I feel it again. My(?) entire body's going numb. I feel a cold gripping my heart. . .

Did I ruin my chance already. . .?

Will I. . . still be me. . . when this is all over. . .?

'Please. I don't. . . Want to die again. . .'

Kanmi Eiga fidgeted with her glasses, peering down at the clone inside of the Testament chamber with worry. She had never seen one get so fussy during this process.

'Sure they sometimes whine a little but that's to be expected considering have the mind of a newborn before Testament does its job. But this one felt different. . .'

"Hey, Kusakabe?"

Looking at various screens near the Testament Pod, the older colleague glanced at Kamni from the control panel, "Yes, Kanmi?"

"Did this one seem a little. . . weird to you?" Kanmi's voice wavered with slight hesitance. She was still new to being a researcher here so she didn't want to step on anyone's toes, especially not Kusakabe's.

"How so?" If Kusakabe thought anything of Kanmi's question she didn't show it, her expression unreadable in its neutral look.

"I dunno it's just- they never get this fussy. It didn't even cry when it first came out of the pod!"

"Hm, it's not too odd. We've had a few before that didn't cry at first either. Newborns cry because of the shock that comes from transitioning from a warm and generally soft environment to a cold and stimulant harsh one. Some clones simply don't cry, it's nothing to get too worked up about." Kusakabe said, looking back down at the control panel.

Kanmi bit her lip as she looked back at the clone.

While Kusakabe said it wasn't anything to worry about. . . That didn't mean she wasn't going to anyway. She personally oversaw the growth of this batch! If something was wrong with this clone it meant that it was her fault.

She supposes there's nothing she can really do about it though. If there's a defect with this clone that means there might be a defect with the whole batch. And to dispose of an entire batch meant hundreds of clones would be unable to be used. While it didn't cost much to make them, there was simply no way she would destroy an entire month's worth of work!

She walked over to join Kusakabe in reviewing the data. So far they were quite good. Normal activity, normal installment of data, and even its vital signs.

'Phew, I was worried for nothing.'

So far nothing was wrong with it, so maybe it really was just a case of a clone being fussy for no reason.

Kamni couldn't help but feel a wave of relief, no clones would be getting scrapped today! While she was grateful that everything was going well, she was starting to get a bit tired at the tedious routine each clone needed at the start. The same haircut and tests each and every time.

Oh well, that's just part of the job she supposes.

She looked at the close, 2:45PM. This makes the 426th clone Kanmi's personally created. She was starting to get good at this.

Today was just another day in the lab.

'Glad to meet you,-

Sister Clone #10032.'