REBIRTH
-An Elfen Lied Fanfiction

AN: This story is an idea I've been sitting on for a long time. A long time. At one point I had the entire story, along with characters and their motivations/arcs typed out, but it seems as though I lost that at some point so I'll be writing this from memory. That may lead to pacing issues, but I really don't feel like typing out all that again so I'm just going to wing it.

When I first watched and then read Elfen Lied I had really mixed feelings. I liked the characters and their struggles and arcs, but the story itself felt lacking. Progression was messy and the world didn't feel too cohesive. And the ending to the manga annoyed me quite a bit, especially with the asspull that was entropy. I considered retconning it for this story, but decided instead to just work within the confines of what the ending established. Hopefully with this story I can provide a more conclusive and satisfying conclusion to Elfen Lied, at least for myself. If others enjoy, then that's even better.

Future chapters will be longer, I just had to get the initial premise set.

Prologue: Zurückkehren

"Kouta! Nyu likes Kouta!" the self-introduced Nyu shouted in his face, oblivious to proper volume levels when near another person.

Kouta shook his head, snapping out of the daydream. Not a day went by that Kouta didn't think of her. The girl that he had brought into his home. The girl who he had gone through trial and tribulation with.

The girl he had killed.

'No,' he chided himself. 'I didn't kill Nyu. I killed that other girl.' He hadn't killed Nyu, hadn't killed Lucy. He had killed that other one. They just shared the same body.

He knew he was just trying to rationalize it; find a version of the story where he didn't gun down his friend. But it brought some comfort nonetheless.

Kouta leaned against the wall of the building he was currently standing outside, some clothing store he figured, and let his gaze drift to the clouds in the bright blue sky. 'Another day in paradise.' He supposed. It was a beautiful spring day, and a few weeks before the new semester would start. His second year in the Kamakura University would officially begin then.

"Ahh I wonder if I'll do any better this year." He absentmindedly asked himself. His grades hadn't been the best last year, but maybe he'd be able to put the past behind him and finally focus on schooling. Since his dad and sister's deaths he had never been able to focus on school. Maybe now that he had received closure, things would be different.

"Ah, Kouta," a voice broke him out of his daydream. Kouta looked up to be greeted by Mayu's smiling face, dressed in a new pale yellow sundress. "I'm all done shopping here."

"Oh Mayu," Kouta returned. "Sorry I didn't notice you, I guess I got distracted." He scratched the back of his head in embarrassment.

"Oh it's no problem. Since Nana is gone with Mr. Kurama it's nice to have someone take me shopping." Mayu replied, still smiling up at him.

"It's just a shame I can't give you the same advice that she can." Kouta smiled back, referring to the girl talk the two frequently shared, before lifting himself off the wall. "Well, where to next?"

"If you had time, I was hoping you would take me to the beach, I need to make sure that it's being kept clean." Mayu asked.

"Of course, Mayu," Kouta patted her head before turning in the direction of the beack. "Besides, a walk would probably do me some good." Mayu let out a happy hmf and the two walked side by side towards the Kamakura beachfront.

''It really is a shame that Nana couldn't come with Mayu, she's much better at this shopping thing than I am.' Kouta thought. Unfortunately, in the months following Lucy's death, public awareness of the Diclonius had led to much public debate (though using the term debate was being polite) about the perceived dangers of the race. This caused Kurama to be in constant travel, using his knowledge of them to try and create a more open dialogue in the very one-sided debate. More often than not Nana would accompany him. Kurama still had enough pull in the SAT and by extension the JSDF to insure she wasn't taken and executed on the spot, so he used the advantage of a "docile" Diclonius to try and sway the argument from the current "purge" mentality that had won over in the initial public reaction to something more resembling coexistence.

Many called the current situation the Diclonius War, but Kouta thought that was ridiculous. With how few of them remained, and with the anti-diclonius technology being implemented through the Vector Attack Crafts, the few Diclonius with enough survival instinct to override their desire to kill humans chose to flee rather than fight.

Added to this was the fact that the World Health Organization, with the assistance of Dr. Arakawa had created a vaccine for the vector virus that they were currently in the process of distributing to the world's population, and the threat of the Diclonius had been reduced to terror attacks. Kouta believed this reduced threat was the main reason Kurama was gaining any ground on his front. Despite the initial shock and awe, with Lucy gone the Diclonius were relatively powerless to actually destroy the human race anymore.

'A world where Diclonius could coexist with humans. I wish Nyu could have lived to experience it.' Kouta thought wistfully.

Meanwhile leagues under the waters outside Kamakura…

Visions. Memories?

"Nyu nyu. WOW LONG NECK! KILL THEM ALL! I told you, I'm a magician. I'll be a good girl."

"Kill me."

Rubble under the ocean from an island now sunken shifted and gave way under the constant ocean current, causing a lone pod to float out, being pulled by the tides.

"Oh Kouta, you don't need to help, I can handle this by myself." Mayu responded as Kouta began to collect trash off the beach.

"I know, but the sooner you get this done the sooner you can see Wanta, right?" Kouta smiled at her and then resumed gathering the debris. "I bet Wanta is bored to tears without Mayu around."

"Ahhhh Wanta!" Mayu began to panic. "I forgot to pick up treats for Wanta!" Mayu redoubled her efforts to clean the beach so she could get home sooner. It wasn't much longer until the two were done with their task.

"Sorry Kouta but I have to go before Wanta thinks I forgot him!" Mayu blurted out before dashing off. Kouta just sighed as he watched the girl's retreating form. He trusted her to not get into danger so didn't give chase.

Instead, Kouta turned his gaze out towards the ocean. "This beach has a lot of memories." He said to no one to particular. "We met Nyu here last year, didn't we?" Kouta began walking down the beach, getting lost in his thoughts.

'Kanae, Yuka and I went here before the festival that year,' He mused. 'This was also the first time we met Bando. When he tried to kill Nyu.' Maybe that memory wasn't as pleasant, but with how fondly Mayu spoke of the man, Kouta couldn't harbor any grudges.

Kouta's daydreams were cut short when he noticed the sun's low position in the sky. "I suppose I should head home before anyone starts to worry." He figured, turning around to begin the walk back. He only got a few steps down the beach before a loud crunch of metal digging into sand caused him to turn back around.

"What is that?" was the only response Kouta could muster. A strange capsule looking device had washed up on the shore, now lying a few paces from where he had previously been. Before Kouta could take a step forward to investigate, the hinges released in a gust of smoke, through which Kouta could make out a figure crawling out. It landed on the sand with a soft thud, before struggling to stand. He could visibly see it tremble through the smoke, as if too weak to properly stand.

Kouta began approaching the figure before stopping in his tracks as the shroud finally cleared, revealing a naked girl with pink hair and horns. Kouta stared in complete shock, only just able to utter out a name.

"N-Nyu?"

Fortsetzung folgt…