I had this idea one night after just watching Elfen Lied (the most amzing anime series I've yet seen!), and just had to get it out. I know this one might be a bit unusual, but thats what makes it interesting. I can only hope you all think so to.

As usual, all non-original characters, props, and tools belong to their masters. All AU and actual original stuff is mine.

Lilium for a shadow

By Shade the Raven

Os iusti meditabitur sapientiam,

Et lingua eius loquetur indicium.

(The Mouth of Justice is meditating wisdom,

and his tongue is speaking of a sign.)

The gentle breeze of the midsummer's night coolly kissed her bright cherry hair, yet she would trade anything for an embrace of a different kind. Tonight, she wandered the near-deserted avenues of the Kamakura marketplace, neither truly alone or in desired company. It had only been about an hour since her escape from that preposterous professor Kakuzawa and his violating intentions. And for the time being, Lucy's temptations to continue her destruction were in too great a flux to allow enough focus to remember which way it was to the Kadae House, and home.

The sounds. They caught her ear as soon as she passed by the shop. It was a music that echoed more than words could ever describe. Love, trust, pain, guilt, all colliding in a waltz marked by the few true smiles Lucy had ever bore and the downpour of blood Nyuu would never fully understand. She could still remember the first time she had heard this sorrowfully wonderful piece in the mountains not far from where she now stood as a little girl already well stained in tears and death. Only under the shade of an elder tree did she find some level of solitary comfort. The same place where she had first met that sweet little puppy that had been the first ray of light in her otherwise darkened life. And now the young canine's grave marked her spot, a testament to human cruelty and the realization of how truly powerful Lucy could be. After all, if the world would not give her acceptance, she had to take it.

At first, the appearance of a surprised little boy was the very last thing Lucy had desired. Yet his wide blue eyes were not paled with fear. Instead his exuberance and joy at finding her had saved his life for the time being. After all, how many other beings in the universe had offered her a kind word? Even when Kohta took note of her horns, his curiosity was infectious. Still, events of the past were not ones to be buried so easily, so she simply dismissed his offers of friendship and kindness until he made his first promise "Same time tomorrow, I'll be waiting for you right here!"

Lucy didn't want to believe him, and tried very hard to crunch down on her dim hopes all that night. Yet the next day, there she was. The skies themselves took no pity on her and drenched the area with a choking rain. Only lonely desperation kept her rooted in place for those last crucial seconds as that innocent little boy had arrived to keep his word with a gift, a simple hat to cover her unique cranial markings. Now she could blend in so easily with her prey. Now she could be a normal girl at last. That was the beginning of the only cheerful times she had come to know. The way Kohta had never asked about her past, the purity of his smile washing away her sins if only for a short time was like nothing she had ever known. Try as she might to clamp down on past misgivings, the tortured little girl could feel her shield collapse ever so slightly whenever he was close by.

Then came their trip to the zoo, the absolution to the summers end. Granted, the journey did not peak her interests at first. Seeing weird and odd-looking animals contained in a cage was not high on her choices of pleasure. Still, she was with him, and for that Lucy was thankful. It was becoming painfully clear deep down in her heart that this young boy was not like anyone she had ever known. Of course, being only around ten years of age had it's limits on experience, but still, the warmth of his hand as she had held it when they walked together danced up her own arm to work havoc inside her mind. Even when they had thoroughly soaked each other in an epic splashing war in the flow of a nearby creek and they had to remove all articles of clothing to let them dry, Lucy had summoned her courage to thank him, resting her head gently on his shoulder blade. And to this day, she could still hear his heartbeat skip ever so slightly at such proximity.

Beatus vir qui suffert tentationem,

Quonium cum probates fuerit accipient coronam vitae.

(A happy man who suffers temptation,

Since he is with approval, they receive the crown of life.)

Still, like all things resembling decency and goodness in her life, this moment also came crashing down around her when she spotted him again later that night. At first her mission had been simple, which was a blessing considering her limited time before Kohta boarded a homeward bound train to disappear from her life. She would meet with him before he departed and tell him exactly how her heart now felt. Even if it was only a child's version of love, it was stronger than anything Lucy's heart had ever felt before, so she was sure it was true. Maybe that's why it had broken that heart so much to see him completely encased in the embrace of some whining brown-haired bitch. Just as life seemed to enjoy doing do her, the one person she had let in so close appeared to have betrayed her. After that moment, life began to blur in the wrenching sounds of flesh being torn from her victims by her cloaked vectors and the screams of those unfortunate enough to witness it.

Alas, things went farther than even Lucy had wanted. Driven by renewed anger and jealousy, she had snuck aboard Kohta's transport to pay her last respects however she saw fit. What she hadn't counted on was the presence of his father or Kanae, his younger sister and witness to Lucy's bloody retribution. This little flower, stained by stranger's crimson remains lashed out at her brother again and again about what had happened, how such a 'big fat dummy' deserved the same fate, and Kohta did something Lucy hadn't entirely expected. He defended his friend's honor, refusing to accept that this mysterious and lonely girl he had met in the mountains could be so cold-blooded.

And then Lucy dispatched of Kanae as well, slicing the child in two separate pieces and spraying deep red blood and carnage all over Kohta's perceptions and memories. His horrified howls quickly drew his father's attention, allowing Lucy to behead him and complete her will, leaving Kohta just as alone as he had left her. Suddenly, his scattered and distraught mind made enough sense to realize what had transpired as this death-drenched girl vowed to remove the other interruption of the evening, the young hazel-crowned girl named Yuka that had epitomized Lucy's fury. With no other option crossing his mind, he lunged forward and tackled Lucy to the ground, but not to try and kill her for revenge. No, instead, he pinned her down and begged her to stop the bloodshed, his tears staining her face and his cries scarring her soul forever. And for eight long years, the events of that night had nurtured themselves into an undeniable guilt that chewed away at her mind. When she could simply take no more, she had hatched an escape attempt. This tortured soul had one last thing to say, and she would risk life itself to tell Kohta that she was truly sorry for the pain she had burdened him with, she owed him that much. Opposition had been fierce, yet fate seemed to favor her will until Lucy was finally outside in the breeze of the sea and one last sharpshooter hit his mark with a .50 caliber anti-tank rifle her vectors could not match. The impact was hard and true, knocking Lucy out and giving birth to the innocent and ignorant escape that was Nyuu. And if she had not been found by the one person in all of irony that had found her, there would be no telling what horrid deeds this purity would have been put through. Yet fate had tipped its hat in her favor and her injured form was discovered by the only object of her affections, an older, more grown-up Kohta.

Now the two misunderstood spirits stood as one in front of his unremarkable shop, listening to the simple chimes of a music box playing the one compilation of notes that had echoed in her every step for almost a decade. Internally, both sides of her were at equal unrest. With Lucy in control, Nyuu was silent. Completely unaware of the battles and atrocities that her unforgiving other half committed. All that tended to change whenever she encountered Kohta. It was like his unbiased nurturing nature triggered the reversal, and even if Lucy was so very close to saying what she had to say, she would retreat back inside herself to let Nyuu take over, her sweet innocence was the one trait Lucy could never pull off. Yet, that didn't stop the more icy side of her from experiencing the life she watched through someone else's eyes. The way Kohta had been scared for Nyuu whenever she ran off, the way he held her tightly and soothed her infantile discomforts with warmth and caring choked her heart with feelings of both love for the moment and regret at her past sins. Besides, Kohta hadn't quite figured out Lucy and Nyuu were one and the same. To shatter his newfound joy by resurfacing now could interdict the very goal Lucy had set. Still, she knew the day would come eventually and there was no way to stop it. Maybe it would be tonight, where Nyuu had been incapacitated by that bastard Kakuzawa and his sedatives. Lucy had taken care of that mess, but now found herself fighting too much internally to trust her return. Memories of happier times long gone clashed with more recent carefree moments that were never really hers to begin with, all to the solemn tune of this little box.

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Kyrie, ignis divine, eleison

(Oh Lord, Fire by divine power, have mercy!)

­It was a song he had not heard in a lifetime, so to recognize it now in the midst of his mission could only be described as destiny's twitch. For all the dreams he had lost in one moment of gunfire and all the memories reduced to scenes unorganized and chaotic within his mind, Shadow the Hedgehog could still place this one piece of history anywhere in existence. Because with the song came the image of her, blond hair wrapping around her shoulders as she moved and smile brighter than any star visible from the Space Colony ARK.

Shadow's life had began as a simple notion on paper; the conception of an Ultimate Life-Form. A bold project to be sure, the leading scientists, biologists, gene therapists and engineers had gathered to take part in the project. Most of the passive world leaders of their time had opposed the project, questioning its necessity or even its reasoning. Then the Guardian Units of Nations had sided with the idea, allowing its approval among the politicians. They were even generous enough to donate the newly completed ARK to the project, its advanced equipment and potential unmatched by any terran force.

Leading the way in both vision and brilliance was Professor Gerald Robotnik, a leader in genetics and molecular biology. It was on his napkin in some backwater diner that Project Shadow had been born. But it was not just to create some mindless weapon capable only of perfect destruction. In the beginning, the prototype was never to be used in such a way at all. Instead, the idea had sprouted the day that Gerald had learned that his young granddaughter Maria had been diagnosed with an incurable and soon-to-be fatal disease. And being a good guardian and relative, the professor knew he had to do something to help her. After a year of cycling through conventional methods of treatment that had all ended in failure, Shadow was conceived. A life-form immune to disease or the ravages of time. With such a specimen at his disposal, Gerald could not only cure Maria and all those afflicted with a similar condition, but he could bring a treatment to any thinkable ailment known. Was that not a worthwhile cause?

Yet, even with the world's leading knowledge and advanced equipment could not produce the results they desired, and the military began to tap its impatient foot. Perhaps there was a spy among them, or just another matter of fortunate timing, for one night in his sleep, the Devil himself appeared to strike a bargain with Robotnik. In exchange for the raw materials needed to complete Shadow, Gerald would hand over the project upon Black Doom's return for reasons the human dared not ask. Facing the choice of a obvious trap or certain death for him and Maria, the scientist reluctantly agreed. Project Shadow was soon completed, a hedgehog sheathed in ebony and splashed in crimson and ivory. And as soon as Maria laid her bright cerulean eyes on her unaware savior, she felt both gratitude and pity for the creature.

During the daylight hours when her grandfather and the techs were bustling about, the sweet little girl simply kept the newborn life-form company, especially during the more painful tests and trials. She was always ready with a reinforcing comment and cheerful smile to boost him. By nightfall, instead of letting this new creation slumber in some test tube, Maria began to teach him the world. To be sure, Shadow wasn't unintelligent, but hers was the only real education he had known. She taught him everything her youthful mind knew, from basic speech to her grace and delicacy. Even her taste in art and music. And it had all started with a simple music box.

O quam sancta, quam serena,

quam benigna, quam amoena

(Oh, how holy! How serene!

How kind! How pleasant)

"Maria, what is this?" Shadow had asked, studying the oak-encased contraption like a child with a shiny object.

"Oh this? It's a music box. See, you open it and it plays a song for you" To punctuate, she carefully lifted the lid wide and the first sorrowful notes escaped. His ears instantly perked up at the sound as she set the box on the metal deck and watched him quietly absorb the music "Its… beautiful!"

She giggled in reply "Well, I'm glad you like it. Grandpa got for me back on Earth. He says the world below is full of wonderful music like this." Both caught themselves staring out into the starlight and towards the rotating marble beneath them as the notes continued. "Shadow, someday, when we go back down to that planet, do you think you could help me find some of this? Not just the music, but the peace and tranquility we have up here?"

Even if they seemed saddened and misplaced for the scene, Shadow could almost look past that to the beauty that was the melody and harmony between grim reality and the dream. As long as that smile was by his side, the midnight hedgehog would take any pain and give and donation to make sure she stayed just as pure as she was in that moment. "Of course I will. You can count on me."

As if blessed with telepathy themselves, the military returned a few days later. Instead of the supporting hand once offered in a shared belief, now it seemed the powers in command wanted the results and wanted them now. When Gerald refused, hostility was guaranteed and shots rang out quickly. Shadow's heightened senses caught on quickly, as did Maria's intuition, though it wasn't until an armed patrol in sterling black armor entered their room and demanded their compliance that their worst fears were confirmed. On instinct, the hedgehog had snagged her hand and taken off in retreat, guns blazing in pursuit. With her direction leading the escape through the colony's bowls, they soon found themselves back inside one of the laboratories. One with ejectable testing cylinders that were perfect for retreat. Shadow moved to quickly secure the room while she prepared the course.

The fatal shot rang out loud and true, passing cleanly through her chest into the far wall. A sound that still haunted his fragmented nightmares. He could still taste the sweat and fear from the realization and the thud as the tube came down to imprison him. He could only watch now as her strength failed, skinny legs buckling and then collapsing into her dress, even her once vibrant eyes draining of all color. But it was her words that he remembered most of all Shadow…I beg of you…please, do it for me…For all those people on that planet…

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A sudden gust snapped his ruby eyes back into the moment and he was briefly stunned to find himself almost pressed against the glass of the storefront. It was like the notes had tractored him, one haunting step at a time. As much as he wanted to just snatch the music box right out of the window, something didn't feel quite right. No, I can't get distracted now. I promised Maria I would avenge her, and nothing will stand in my way. I won't fail her again…

As he turned to leave, he noticed the other observer next to him. A fair amount taller than he was, her bight pink hair seemed to float on a nonexistent current. Her slender form, sheathed in a darkened blue fit in quite nicely with the nightlight, but that didn't distract the hedgehog from the fact that she was human. That was, until he noted the horn that was rooted onto her skull. Impossible. Those can't be real. But, if she's not human either…

Then she turned her gaze to focus on him, as those frozen ruby orbs reflected within his own a pain all too familiar. It was like looking into some kind of warped mirror and seeing only pain incarnate. The lifeless stare she fixated him with told volumes on the two major lessons they had both learned. For both of them had lost something very dear and close to their hearts, and both had hands covered in blood. Sadly, there was no time for further observation, and the hedgehog removed himself in the patented glow of Chaos Control.

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She had paid no attention to the other's approach, her mind too far rooted in relishing past delights and futures lost. It wasn't until the streetlight reflected off the golden effects it wore did she mentally shake herself back into reality. She was at risk, out in the open like this, and it was only by the grace of everyone else's absence that she wasn't drenched in red once again. Mostly, Lucy just wanted to go home. But where is home for such a predator? Locked in the bowels of a research facility to be poked, prodded and more or less violated until her unfortunate death, or confined in a blissful shell of a life that she didn't even deserve with the one person in all of life itself that had welcomed her?

She cast a nonchalant glance at what it was that stood next to her and struggled to keep a smirk from her lips Looks like someone stands out even more than me…And with pitch black fur marked with bloodred stripes and a patch of white on its chest, this creature certainly belonged in that zoo. Still, the way it had been drawn towards the music and now studied her was a bit unnerving. If it weren't for those eyes, she probably would have dismantled it already. But the way it seemed to understand her motives, even echo her own compressed guilt was enough for a split second's hesitation in her vector's whims, which is apparently all it needed, as the shorter being was enveloped in a greenish light and vanished without a trace. Once again, Lucy found herself alone, no longer sure which part of life was the reality and which was the fantasy. Sighing at the wasted prospect of sorting it all out, she began to trek home once more, clinging to the last notes of the lilium as it mixed itself back into the chorus of the night.

O castitatis lilium

(Oh Lily of chastity.)

Das Ende

Reviews always welcome, and if you MUST flame, do so professionlly. And dont worry, all my other work is proceeding smoothly. This was done in a single evening.