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I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve.

Incorrectly attributed to Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto

The Awakening of Lucy refers to the brutal killings of Tomoo and his fellow bullies in the orphanage, marking the start of young Kaede/Lucy's journey into madness and murder as a regular thing under the influence of her DNA Voice.

The story begins with a young girl. Abandoned as a mere baby by her insensitive father, she was found by an Orphanage, and named Kaede (It remains unknown whether Kaede was the name her mother meant to give her, or merely one given at the orphanage).

The girl grew up in a hostile environment. Her peculiar physical traits, such as her bright pink hair, her unnatural red eyes, a ghastly pale complexion, and most notably, the pair of horns protruding from the girl's head made her the target of incessant bullying from her peers. Likely making the bullying worse, the Orphanage staff did little or nothing to stop it, some openly expressing their own disdain for her.

As the girl grew, the mistreatment continued, and as a result, she grew cold and reserved, shutting down emotionally. Unfortunately, this did nothing to endear her to either the other orphans or to the staff, who only found her all the more creepy. In Tomoo's case, this only made her even more of a target, wishing badly to provoke an emotional response.

Throughout all these hardships, however, she found solace in one single companion, her only friend throughout her horrible childhood: A small stray puppy.

She struggled day and night to care for her little friend, even going as far as to deprive herself of food just to give the pup something to eat. Its company was likely the only thing that kept the young girl's mind stable and sound during this part of her childhood.

Unfortunately, it was not meant to last.

It is said that the worst pain is not caused by your enemies, but by the betrayal of those you call friends. So it was for young Lucy. One typical day of bullying ended when another child stepped in to defend the lonely girl from Tomoo and his ilk. Kaede, perhaps in shock that anyone would be willing to aid her, decided to trust this girl. The result of this was that Kaede willingly revealed to her supposed new friend the existence of the puppy she had been taking care of for some time. The girl at first seemed delighted, and promised her she'd keep the secret between them, as well as aid in feeding the pup. But Kaede, friendless and alone, was naïve enough to believe her.

The next day, the young girl was seized by Tomoo and the rest for another round of bullying. She felt she could endure it by now, having grown accustomed to the constant mistreatment. But she had no defense against their willingness to hurt the one she cherished the most. With savage glee, Tomoo did just that by taking her beloved puppy and beating it to death in front of her. This horror was only topped when the very same girl she had entrusted her secret to burst in, suddenly revealing that she had been the one who told Tomoo about the puppy.

Whether or not she had done it on purpose or just made a mistake mattered nothing to Kaede. As far as she was concerned, the one person she had trusted most betrayed her, and that betrayal had cost her the life of her beloved pet, the one thing that had made her life bearable.

Finally, years of abuse and bullying pushed her past the breaking point, with all the pent-up emotions she had tried to bury for years erupting forth, and with them, a new horrible power was awoken in her.

With brutal efficiency, her Vectors emerged, silencing Tomoo's mocking laughter forever in a horrid spectacle of blood and gore. His fellow bullies, as well as the alleged traitor, all suffered the same fate, ending up as nothing but mangled remains in the blood-splattered room that witnessed the massacre.

Unleashed-0

The birth of the beast...

These were the first lives Kaede ended. Unfortunately, they would not be the last. With the death of the children that tormented her, Kaede began a trail of blood that would engulf the Kamakura region, and later the whole world. Worst of all, even when a sincere and true friend emerged shortly thereafter, her raw emotions meant she was simply not prepared for all that meant. This would only lead to yet more tragedies in the future. One can very well argue that this was, in a way, the beginning of the end of Kaede, and, as the title states, the start of her transformation into Lucy, the cold-blooded murderer bent on the extermination of mankind.

You know who isn't human...? You know who isn't human!? People like you!!

Lucy, unable to stand anymore torment.

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