-Faith, Love, and Forgiveness - Chapter Two: Decisions-
Diclonius Research Institute: Six months ago
Kakuzawa was not happy.
The events of the last few days were simply too public to sweep under the rug. What was first reported as a simple military training exercise had attracted far more attention than expected, and after several videos of the battle between the soldiers and the Diclonius Lucy surfaced and went viral, the Government finally decided to relent and open an investigation to determine just exactly what the actual fuck was going on at Kakuzawa's Institute.
Now, two days after the investigation was announced, the Director received the news that a full audit of the Institute, it's personnel, all stored data, all remaining Sipelits, and even financial records was going to be conducted.
If that weren't enough, the UN launched it's own investigation to determine if there was sufficient evidence to indict him on Crimes against Humanity.
To him, even this was nothing more than a minor inconvenience.
Then, it was announced that the Diclonii still held at the Institute would be evaluated, with the ones posing the lowest security risk being allowed to testify.
NOW, he had reason to be concerned.
That same night, Kakuzawa held a meeting with the board members to discuss the recent developments, as well as their options for resolving the situation. Just as they began, the door opened and a naked, mousy girl with dark purple hair and glasses entered the room and stood beside the Director's chair.
"Kakuzawa, who the hell is this?" one of them asked.
"This is my ''plaything''. She's not much to look at, but the girl is a brilliant scientist."
"Why is she naked?"
"Because I want her to be."
With introductions made, the meeting got underway.
"Kurama's dead, Shirakawa's dead, Isobe's dead... even Number 35 and the Diclonius Queen Lucy are dead." one of the Board members lamented. "This is nothing short of a disaster!"
"Our Head of Legal Affairs has reported that we have no legal grounds to seek remedy in the Courts." another added. "What's worse, the Grand Jury has decided they want the Diclonii to testify BEFORE they move for a bill on any possible indictments."
"Shit!"
"Those little monsters are gonna ruin everything if start flapping their lips!"
"When are they going to transfer them?" one of men asked.
"About... seven to ten days."
"Dammit! That's WAY too soon to arrange a transfer to our sister facility!"
"Even if it were seven to ten WEEKS, there's still way too much that could go wrong. If they caught us trying to relocate them, we'd be finished!"
"We're going to be finished anyway once they testify in court!"
Closing his eyes in thought, Kakuzawa remained silent for several seconds.
"Plaything, do you have any thoughts on this matter?"
'Yeah, how about you stop calling me that, asshole!' she thought.
With the room staring at her, Arakawa cleared her throat and began to speak.
"Let me see if I have this straight: In about a week or so, Government officials are going to come take some or possibly all remaining Diclonii into custody, and let them speak before the Grand Jury. You can't ship them to the other location in time, and if they testify during a trial, you're all screwed... is that the situation?"
Kakuzawa and the other board members nodded. The scientist stayed quiet for almost a full minute before speaking.
"Kill them."
"What?!"
"That's absurd!"
"If we did that, we'd ALL go to prison! Kakuzawa, I thought you said she was brilliant?"
Holding a hand up to quiet them, the Director turned his attention to Arakawa.
"Killing them would accomplish nothing but making the situation worse." he told her.
"Not if the Diclonii forced you to do it." she replied.
"Forced?" one of the men asked.
"The guards were moving them to a holding area to await the transfer. During the move, they suddenly attempted to escape, and murdered several of your personnel. They then breached the outer partitions and were trying to escape the island. Knowing how dangerous they were, the guards were forced to shoot them before they took any more human lives."
The board members looked around and nodded. "That sounds like an excellent idea."
"How do you propose we do this?" the one closest to her asked.
"Armor-piercing rounds can't be blocked by their vectors. Go to their cells, give them some kind of pretext to lower their guard, then shoot them when their backs are turned."
"Wouldn't it be safer to just gas them?" someone asked.
"Yes, but that wouldn't fit the narrative. They need to be shot."
"Kakuzawa, could that be done?"
Nodding his head, the Director turned to Arakawa and dismissed her with instructions to go write the official statement.
"You can put some clothes on while you're at it." he said with a sadistic smile. "You've earned it."
Kaeda House: Present day
It had been two days since Lucy returned, and the Diclonius still hadn't woken up.
At the moment, it was Mayu's turn to sit with Lucy. As soon as she took over, Nana headed to Kouta's room. It had taken quite a bit of thought, but the purple-haired girl finally reached a decision about what to do with the truth.
Tap... Tap... Tap...
"Kouta?"
Glancing up from his textbook, Kouta looked from the door, to the clock, then to the door again
"Come in..."
A few seconds later, the door opened and Nana entered his room.
Naked.
"I hope I'm not disturbing you.", she said.
"Nana, why are you running around with no clothes on?" he asked after turning around and facing away from her.
"I always sleep like this." she replied simply. After everything she had been through in the Institute, Nana had no problem whatsoever walking around sans clothing. She'd even tried to take Wanta on a walk wearing nothing but shoes once, which prompted a very uncomfortable conversation between her and Yuka.
This moment was a testament to how surreal life at Kaeda House really was. A teenage girl who used to be a guinea pig for a research institute was running around the house nude, and he was reacting to it like a parent trying to explain to a five year old why they can't play in the snow without shoes.
"Would you please just put something on?" Kouta implored.
Looking around his room, she found a t-shirt with some sort of design on it and slipped it on. "This is kinda cool. Not sure what it means though." Turning around, Kouta immediately noticed two things:
One, she had on his favorite Batman shirt. Two, she was still naked from the waist down, but didn't seem to think it was a problem. At his insistence, the purple-haired girl finally found a pair of boxers to put on.
"I like this picture! What does it mean?" Nana asked.
"It's from Batman. He's a comic book character." Kouta explained.
"What's a comic book?"
"N-Nevermind... Did you need something?" he asked.
Taking a moment to consider how to answer, she decided that the best way to do things was to just be honest and hope for the best.
"I know what happened to Lucy."
"You do? How? Did she wake up?" he asked anxiously.
Nana shook her head. "Um... I used my vectors to view her memories. I didn't really want to do that, but I had to find out what happened to her." She could tell what was coming next just from the expression on his face.
"What did you find out?" he asked with a bit of hesitation.
Resolving to be truthful about it, she told him all he needed to know in a single word:
"Everything... but first, I need to ask you something."
Kouta nodded, not sure what to think about this new development.
"Why do you hate Lucy?"
Blinking in surprise, he told the young Sipelit that he didn't hate her then, nor does he hate her now.
"You won't forgive her, even though you know she's sorry. That's the same as hating her."
"It's two different things, Nana. She killed my father and little sister, that's not something you can just forgive someone for." Kouta replied.
"You CAN, but you WON'T." Nana said.
"It's not that simple."
"Yes, it is! If someone does something bad to you and says they're sorry, and they really do mean it, you're supposed to forgive them!" she answered, raising her voice a little.
Doing likewise, Kouta retorted that if she had been through the kind of suffering he had, she wouldn't be so quick to forgive the one who did it.
"You want to see suffering? Fine!" she said, clearly angry at this point.
Kouta stepped back in alarm as the Sipelit released her vectors. "Hey! W-What the hell are you doing?!"
Moments later, he felt an odd pressure on his head. It wasn't really painful, but it certainly felt strange.
"Close your eyes, and don't move."
"What are you going to do?" Kouta asked uncertainly.
"Close your eyes, and don't move." she said again.
After a moment of hesitation, he complied.
The next thing the young man saw was a brilliant flash of light, then he saw Nyu walking down a set of stone steps.
"Please! Wait a minute!" he heard Nana plead.
'What the hell is this?' he thought.
'It's my memory of what happened when I first met Lucy.' he suddenly heard in response, 'You're seeing it through my eyes.'
'You actually heard that?! How?!'
'Shhhh! Just watch.'
"You know... they won't let me go home until I bring you back." Nana said.
Immediately after, the scene changed to somewhere in the nearby cemetery. He couldn't make out exactly what Nana was saying, but he saw what looked like ghostly arms come right out of her back and latch onto Nyu's legs. For a brief second, he saw Mayu running towards them, then she was on her back, screaming as Lucy slowly tore off her arms and legs.
"Does it hurt now?"
Another white flash blinded him, and when he opened his eyes, he was back in his room with Nana. He blinked in confusion, staring wide-eyed at the young Diclonius as she retracted her vectors.
"Nyu did... THAT... to you?" he asked, horrified by what he just witnessed.
"Lucy did that to me, not Nyu." she responded quietly.
Looking at her in disbelief, he asked why she would forgive something as cruel and sadistic as that.
"When I saw Lucy's memories, I saw... well, more than I would have liked to. Until she met you, she had no one. You were the first person to ever be kind to her, and she loves you so much it... it kind of makes me a little jealous." Nana said with a giggle. I hope someone will love me that much someday." she said blushing.
"But... I don't get it. How can you still forgive her after what she did to you?"
"Because life is too beautiful for hate. It wasn't easy to forgive Lucy, but it had to be done. You can't hold onto a grudge and still have love in your heart." the Sipelit told him.
For a long moment, neither of them spoke. Then, Kouta looked up at her and cleared his throat. "Y-You said you saw what happened after she left, right?" he asked.
"That's right."
"I need you to show me... please." Kouta requested.
"I can't. It's Lucy's memory, not mine."
"What about showing me your memory of seeing HER memory?"
"I don't think that would work."
"Can you at least describe it to me?"
Nana looked at him for a moment, a little worried about how he'd handle it when he found out the truth.
"You aren't going to like it. Are you sure?" she asked solemnly.
"No matter how bad it is, I have to know."
Nana nodded, proceeding to relay to Kouta what she had seen in Lucy's final memory before she returned to Kaeda House.
Kamakura: Six months ago
Lucy walked alone towards a military roadblock. As she approached, floodlights came on and soldiers began ordering her to surrender, threatening death if she refused. For a brief moment, Nana heard the last words the they had exchanged; a plea from Kouta to Lucy, asking her to promise she wouldn't kill anymore.
Lucy accepted, and made the promise he requested. Then, she said goodbye to Kouta for the last time, knowing in her broken heart there was only one way to guarantee that promise would be kept.
"WE ARE NOT GONNA ASK YOU AGAIN, FREAK! SURRENDER NOW, OR YOU WILL BE SHOT!"
'Go ahead...' she thought. 'It's not like there's anything here worth living for anyway... not anymore.'
Kouta had made it clear there would be no forgiveness for murdering his family. Even when she literally begged him for it, he had refused. To her, having to go through life knowing the person she loved the most would never forgive her no matter how sincere and remorseful she was would be a fate worse than death. So, she decided to just let the soldiers kill her and get it over with.
Hopefully, Kouta would feel like her death avenged his family. Even if it didn't, it would at least help keep everyone at Kaeda House safe from the Institute. They already thought Nana was dead, so maybe if she died too, they would lose interest in everybody else and consider the matter closed.
The soldiers all took aim. Right before they opened fire, Lucy closed her eyes and stretched her vectors as far out as possible to prevent any last-second attempts to save herself.
'Goodbye, Kouta... live on, and be happy...' she thought, broken-hearted tears falling from her closed eyes.
Then, the soldiers started shooting.
Kaeda House: Present day
"Lucy's memory stops there. I have no idea how in the world she managed to get here, but somehow she... Hey! Are you alright?" a concerned Nana asked, looking up from her position on the floor to Kouta as he sat on the bed.
Shaking his head no, he put his face in his hands so Nana wouldn't see him struggling to keep his composure. Lucy knew he was going to withhold forgiveness, but was still willing to die to keep everyone safe. His refusal to forgive had broken her heart so badly, it crushed all hope of ever having a happy life with him.
Losing the fight over his composure, Kouta put his face in his hands and quietly started crying.
Getting to her feet, Nana sat down on the bed and wrapped her arms around a visibly shaking Kouta.
"You have no idea how much she loves you. She would happily die a million times if that's what it took to be with you." she said softly.
"I... I know that, but Nana, she... " he replied, his voice trailing off.
"Haven't you ever hurt someone before?"
"Yeah, but not like THAT! Do you have any idea how painful it is to lose both your father and sister at once?"
"You don't think Lucy's hurting because they're gone?"
Now it was Kouta's turn to be confused. "...Nana, what are you saying? She's the one who MURDERED them, how can she be hurting?"
"Because you are."
Kouta just stared at her for a long moment, "I never... I didn't know she..."
"Lucy knows how badly she hurt you, and the guilt is tearing her apart, Kouta. How long are you willing to just watch before you do something about it?"
"What am I supposed to do?"
"Forgive her..." Nana quietly answered as she gently rubbed his back. "Please... holding on to anger and bitterness will do nothing but make you miserable."
For nearly five straight minutes, Nana held him as he cried. She could clearly see him fighting internally about it. He wanted to forgive her, but at the same time, he wanted to tell himself he was justified in refusing. Was it even possible for something this heinous to be forgiven? Wouldn't it be an insult to Kanae and his father if he forgave their killer?
Or was it possible that they would WANT him to offer forgiveness?
The young Diclonius slowly climbed to her feet. "Just think about it, ok? Holding onto grudges will do nothing but poison your heart and soul."
Kouta nodded, so lost in thought that when Nana began taking her clothes off, it didn't even register until she put them neatly back where she found them. "Goodnight, Kouta. Thank you for listening, and... umm... don't tell Lucy I showed you that. Just say I told you about it." she said with a small bow before leaving the room.
Of course, Yuka happened to be coming to tell him goodnight just as Nana was leaving his room. They exchanged 'Goodnight's' and the Diclonius returned to her room, completely oblivious to how questionable the situation looked. Yuka opened his door and took a deep breath to calm herself down.
"Kouta, would you mind explaining to me why Nana was in your room naked?"