Evangelion and their characters are owned by GAINAX
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EVA: FALLEN ANGEL
version 1.01
by Mekat
Eva Caelum
www.geocities.com/evacael/
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Chapter 3: Wisdom / Hatred
(PART 2)
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A day after Kaji’s departure
Seated in a small garden inside the Geo-front were the four children.
They had just finished school and Shinji had suggested that they took a
break to relax from the stress of life.
Shinji was siting under a tree, enjoying himself in the peaceful
environment. He was especially happy because of several things. He
wasn’t having painful headaches. He hasn’t had anymore episodes lately.
And his other co-pilots had managed to not start up any conflict for
quite a while now. He closed his eyes, barely conscious that Asuka was
droning on about something. He didn’t care… He was at peace. A small
smile sneaked its way onto his face before he slowly drifted off to
sleep.
Asuka was siting on the edge of a small fountain not too far from where
Shinji was. She still couldn’t believe what Misato had told her
yesterday after she got back from NERV. Kaji had left!! She said he had
some urgent business out of the country and that he would be away
indefinitely. How dare him! Leave with out saying goodbye! How could he
leave her here with Shinji and wonder girl? In reality it wasn’t
actually the fact that he didn’t say goodbye that got to her. It was
the fact that he left. Just like everyone else in her life. But he
would be back for her, she was sure of it. He would, right? And why did
she agree to come here with those two? She must be getting soft. But,
in a way, she felt that it was the right thing, it felt good to be out
and about. It felt good to be amongst friends. Friends? Since when did
she start calling Rei a friend? Or even Touji for that matter. She
couldn’t remember. It didn’t matter any ways. Even if they were
insignificant bugs in contrast her mighty presence. It was nice to know
whom you could trust.
She felt a hint of jealousy towards Shinji and Rei. Which wasn’t
something out of the ordinary, in fact she felt that she should be even
more aggressive towards them. But with that has been going on recently,
she was starting to think that they had their fair share of problems
too. However, she still hated they way Shinji made it look so easy to
beat the Angels. She hate the way Rei was such a doll when it came to
people ordering her around. She knew that her sync-ratio was not what
it used to be, and that Shinji’s was constantly on the rise. But she’d
had a dreaded feeling lately. That something was going to take them
away from her. What happened to Shinji in the cafeteria did not help
calm her nerves.
Rei on the other hand found herself intrigued with the prospect of
‘hanging out’ with her fellow pilots. She was seated on a bench facing
the small fountain Asuka was sitting at. Carefully, she brushed a small
strand of hair, which was getting in her sight. Ever since she had been
overwhelmed by the presence, several days ago, she had been able to
sense emotions radiating from various sources. The emotions weren’t
hers. Instead, they were of others, but she found herself able to
explore them, the fluidity of human feelings. The waves of ever
changing perceptions.
Sadness. Joy. Anger. Despair. Hatred. Love. She sensed them all, she
was currently still learning to identify them all. That didn’t change
how she acted or lived her everyday life though, by much. She did
however actually started to realize that she never knew what she wanted
on her own whim because she had never been able to interpret her own
feelings as clearly as she did now. She found herself able to cope more
with the ‘high and mighty’ attitude of second child. She didn’t know
why. The words ‘empathic’ obviously have yet to find it’s way into her
thoughts. Being able to sense someone else’s emotions would do that to
you. To the others though, she was the same old Rei.
At the same time, she had begun to question the reason of this sudden
ability. And being that she had already so much time to think, Rei
realized that there were some obvious connections with the arrival of
the fellow student known as Conrad Lervino. Still, she could not know
what to make of the evidence, which pointed his way. Certainly, there
was nothing to accuse him of, for he had done nothing. So she resorted
to what she does best; observe. She would keep an eye on him, as she
did with many things nowadays.
Touji on the other hand was laying flat on the grass with his eyes
closed. Of the four he was the only pilot without an Eva. He sort of
felt left out under the circumstances. He joined because he wanted to
guarantee the best medical treatment for his sister, but then he
realized that he was also doing it because he wanted to help Shinji,
Rei and even Asuka. He knew what kind of pain Eva had brought to
Shinji, but he also knew it’s value in the war against the Angels.
Plus, with the Angels getting stronger and smarted, they would need all
the help they could get, even though both Rei and Asuka would probably
not admit it. Now he could only sit around as a reserve pilot. Although
there were still parts of Unit-03 left after Unit-01 had gone through
with it, they did not wish to risk regenerating it with the treat of
contamination. The expense of screening out all traces of the Angel was
just too much, the Henflick limit had been reached and thus all
remaining parts were to be destroyed. At this point Touji didn’t know
whether to dread or wish for the completion of another Eva unit for him
to pilot.
Exhaling softly he finally opened his eyes, and turned his head to face
the other three. He was puzzled at how they could spend time like this
without tearing each other apart. Whilst at other times their argument
could be heard on the other side of the city. He was also beginning to
realize what kind of relationship Shinji had with his father. Shinji
was not the type to easily hate other people, but his father certainly
inspired it. It however, wasn’t simply in Shinji’s nature. Even now,
although he had expressed how he despised the Commander, Touji knew
that deep down Shinji still longed for acceptance. He wondered if one
of these days, the Commander would go too far, and bring upon himself
the wrath and Shinji and Unit-01. If he did so, Touji was sure no one
would be able to save him.
Currently in Shinji’s dream
Shinji was standing in a circle of light. He could see nothing around
him but for pitch darkness. Suddenly, a screen appeared in front of
him, much like a holo-display seen in the entry plugs. He felt
apprehensive at what was happening, for he was conscious that he was
dreaming and he feared that it would result in the same effect as the
previous one. The screen showed an image of Unit-02, it stood
stationary, head and arms were missing. Shinji’s heart leaped, he was
in shock. Then something else came into view. He realized then that it
was an Angel.
Voice: That is what will happen.
Shinji gasped in surprise at the sound of the voice. It was a familiar
voice, but he was still unable to recognize it. Then he realized that
it was the same one from the balcony.
Shinji: Who are you?
But the voice ignored him.
Voice: When the time comes, you will know what to do.
Shinji: But this is a dream! How can I be seeing the future?
Voice: This is past.
Shinji: What?!?
Before he could do anything else, Shinji disappeared from the dream
world. The screen vanished back into the darkness and silence engulfed
the room. Then, from the shadows, the figure of Conrad Lervino stepped
out into the circle of light.
Conrad: Good luck, Shinji.
Back in the real world, Shinji woke with a gasp. He was disoriented and
woozy. He grasped his head as he tried to understand what he had just
dreamt. Then he became aware of something else, a ringing in his ear.
It was the sirens.
An Angel.
In came from nowhere, there was little time to prepare for it. Zeruel,
the latest Angel smashed through Tokyo-3’s defenses like they weren’t
even there. Nothing could even slow it down. And anything that got in
it’s way was destroyed. With another shot from it’s eyes, Zeruel
finally ripped it’s way into the Geo-front, the multiple layers of
armor but a mere nescience to it. As it descended into the underground
facility, it was to be met by three fully prepared Eva units. But was
that enough?
Misato’s voice could be heard shouting, as always through the Comm-
lines.
Misato: There it is! Get ready!
Asuka: Yeah! Yeah! We’re not blind Misato!
Misato: Just watch it Ok? This one’s not going to be easy.
Shinji: Understood Misato.
Touji: Right on Shinji! Sock ‘m once for me Ok?
Touji, who was standing behind the Major in the Command center, receive
a nasty glare from the aforementioned. The Major was making a silent
statement towards him, that he was only here to observe as a reserve
pilot and not as a cheering squad.
Touji ( sweating under her glaring ): Ok…. I’ll shut up now…
Asuka: Hrmp! I’ll take care of the Angel myself. Shinji won’t even get
a chance at it.
Shinji: Please, Asuka, just this once, be careful…
Asuka: And what’s that suppose to mean?! I’m always careful! It’s you
who should be watching your steps 3rd Child!
Rei: It’s here.
The explosion rocked the ground as several building collapsed from the
force. The Angel calmly hovered down it was met by the combined volley
of several Palette rifles and Rocket launchers. But even the combined
assault was not enough to penetrate it’s AT-field.
Asuka flinched as she realized that this was not looking good already.
No, this time she couldn’t loose. She couldn’t be beaten like she was
last time. Shinji would not outclass her again. Asuka continued to fire
a rain of rockets on the Angel, anger blinding her to the fact that she
wasn’t even slowing it down.
Shinji, could not believe his eyes, it was the Angel. The one saw in
his dream. He could tell. But there was something missing… He couldn’t
quite put a finger on it… But he didn’t have time for that right now.
It was impossible, but yet it was there. He could not help but to
assume that the dream had revealed him what was going to happen, would
he be about to change it? Could he change it at all? It didn’t matter.
He had to at lest try to protect his friends.
The Angel landed on the grounds of the Geo-front with a heavy thud. The
earth shock as the massive beast crushed trees and pavements underneath
its body. Zeruel seemed to stare at the Evas with nothing but mild
annoyance. It soon turned its attention firstly to Asuka, it kept
facing her until it’s eyes flared.
Asuka: Shiest!
Asuka lost no time in discarding her Rocket launchers and diving out of
the way just before the massive beam of energy scorched hundreds of
meters of land where she was previously standing on. Trees and plants
were incinerated and watered was instantly evaporated. As she turned
around, Asuka also noted it had turned her weapons into nothing but
molten slag.
Shinji: Asuka! Are you alright?!
Asuka ( responding angrily ): Of course! It would take more than that
to take me out!
Shinji: Asuka! Watch out for the…!
Asuka turned to face the Angel just in time to see it had unfolded its
arms into what seemed like thin sheets. In fact, they were mono-
molecular, thus able to cut through the thickest and toughest of
materials with incredible ease. Before she could do anything she found
that the Angel had lashed out the arms straight towards her.
Kensuke: How do you think they’re doing?
At that very moment, Kensuke, Conrad and Hikari were seated within the
relative safety of the shelters. They were playing a game of cards
seeing that there wasn’t much you could do at times like that.
Conrad: Who knows? With all the information withholding they have
around here, I’m be surprised they would even inform us if we were
dead…
Hikari: Oh don’t be such a pessimist! I’m sure they’re beating the crap
out of that Angel right now.
Kensuke: Class rep! Such language!
She frowned in embarrassment as she realized what had just come out of
her mouth.
Hikari: Sorry… I must have been hanging around too much with Asuka
lately.
Kensuke: Ah… That explains it.
At that moment a massive explosion shock the whole shelter, causing
people to fall over and their playing cards to fly all over the place.
Kensuke: I don’t like how things are going! It sounded very close!
Hikari: I’m sure we’ll be alright. These shelters were made to protect
us… and I’m sure our friends would protect us…
However, Kensuke could tell by the sound of her voice that she was
trying to convince them with her words, just as she was to trying to
reassure herself. He then noticed that Conrad was strangely looking
very distracted, he was looking up to a corner of the room, staring at
something unseen by Kensuke.
Kensuke: Conrad, what’s wrong?
Still, Conrad seemed to not hear a word. Hikari noticed it too.
Hikari: Conrad? Are you ok?
Conrad: No.
Kensuke: ???
Hikari: No?
Conrad: We have to get out of here…
Hikari: This is no time to panic… just stay calm and everything will be
fine.
Conrad: No.
Before she could protest, Conrad grab both Hikari’s and Kensuke’s arm.
He begun dragging them both to the door. Hikari was surprised, as hard
as she tried, she could not pry Conrad’s grip off her arm. She could
see that Kensuke was similarly attempting to dislodge his hold as she
was but also failing miserably. He must have been much stronger than
she had originally thought to be able to hold on to both of them or
very stubborn. More likely the second one.
Conrad: Hikari, tell everyone to get out of here…
Hikari: But why? They’re safe here…
Conrad ( digging his fingers in her forearm ): Damn it! Tell them!
Hikari: Ouch! Stop that Conrad! You’re hurting me!
Conrad: I’m sorry, but we don’t have time for this. Please you just
have to trust me…
Kensuke: Class rep, I think you better do what he said, he was right
about the Unit-03 incident.
Hikari: Alright… I’ll trust your word… is it alright we move to D-2?
He gave her a quick nod.
She turn around to face the rest of the people inside the shelter,
Conrad still kept a firm grip on her.
Hikari: Ermm… Everyone excuse me… I’ve just been informed that it might
not be safe to stay in this shelter anymore. I would like everyone from
our school to move to D-2 and recommend that everyone else do the same.
Their classmates quickly followed Hikari’s instructions and began to
gather their stuff and leave. Most of the other adults also followed,
but some decided to remain there.
Woman: It’s too dangerous to go out there! It’s safer to stay put.
Conrad: Please, you have to come with us.
Woman: No, you can go, we’re staying here.
Conrad: Very well, goodbye…
He exited the shelter and met up with Hikari and Kensuke who were
waiting for him.
Hikari: What of the others?
Conrad: Leave them, they will not follow us. It’s too late for them.
The trio had stayed until everyone who was going had gotten out and
then begun to leave. They didn’t even manage hundred meters when they
were thrown forth by the force of an explosion. Hikari and Kensuke both
picked themselves up and stared wide-eyed at the devastation they had
left behind them. Shelter D-3, which they had been in, had been hit by
a stray shot from the 14th Angel. Raging flames flickered in anger as
the rubble and dust settled. It was obvious that no one inside could
have survived.
That was it! He realized what was missing from the Angel when he saw
it. The arms. It’s arms were missing from when he had seen it in the
dream. He hastened towards Asuka’s side as the Angel advanced
menacingly towards her. Then he remembered Unit-02 in the dream,
armless and headless. He then put two and two together and understood
what was going to happen.
Shinji: Asuka! Watch out for the…!
Too late, the Angel’s mono-molecular arms sliced cleanly through Unit-
02’s shoulders, taking of its arms cleanly. Shinji’s ears rung as he
heard Asuka’s screams of pain and agony from the emphatic wounds.
Touji: Holy shi…!!
Misato: Cut the connections now!
Maya: We can’t Major! There’s a fault in the system!
Aoba: Attempting a bypass, but it will take some time!
Ritsuko: Not now! Shinji! If she gets hit again like that again with
the connections still on, she could suffer from serious nerve damage or
even die!
Shinji ( angrily ): Understood Misato!
Rei: Major! Unit-02 is charging!
Misato: What?!? Asuka! What are you doing!?
Asuka: I won’t be defeated again! I won’t!!!
Shinji: Asuka!!!
He saw it then; the Angel prepared itself to lash out at Unit-02 again.
This time he was sure it would be going for her neck. He didn’t know
where the idea came from, but he didn’t care. Suddenly, he knew what
had to be done. He couldn’t harm the Angel with is Palette rifles and
was too far way to attack it in close combat. On the other hand he was
also too far away from Asuka to restrain her and couldn’t risk ( though
he was tempted ) to knock her out of the way with the rifles. So he did
neither.
Maya: Ma’am! Shinji’s sync ration just jumped twenty points and
raising!!
Ritsuko: What!!
Shinji: Rei! Get to Asuka and hold her! I’ll deal with the Angel!
Rei: Affirmative.
Misato: What are you doing Shinji? You can’t take that thing on alone!
Shinji: I know what I’m doing Misato. Now please, we don’t have much
time, release the locks on the city block Thirteen-B.
Misato: What!?
Shinji: I believe it’s vacant?
Misato: Yes… everyone’s been evacuated from the city blocks to the
Shelters already… but I don’t know what you hope to accomplish…
Shinji: Trust me Misato and do it…
Gendo ( out of nowhere ): Why?
Shinji ( thinking ): Damn it! We’re wasting time!
Shinji: Because… I need it done… Commander…
The older Ikari paused for a moment, apparently considering his son’s
strange request.
Gendo: Request granted.
Maya: Locks to city block Thirteen-B has been removed Sir!
Shinji: Good!
Misato: ?
At this point everyone watched in horror as the Angel was about to
lashed out its arms towards Unit-02 again.
Suddenly, Unit-01 turned to face where block Thirteen-B was and aimed
both its Palette rifles at it. He fired. The explosive rounds tore
through the concrete and metal structure.
Misato: Shinji! What the hell are you doing!?!
Eventually, the rounds found their mark, the machinery that elevated
the block to the surface were quickly blown apart. It’s destruction
meant that the whole block was now without anything to support it’s
massive weight, so it begun to slide down and fell towards the Geo-
front’s floor.
Just in time to intercept Zeruel’s arms as they sailed across to
decapitate the frenzied Unit-02. Block Thirteen-B was directly in the
path between the Angel and Unit-02. The arms stopped short of Unit-02’s
neck by but mere meters. That was enough to cause Asuka to stop dead on
her tracks. Thus allowing Rei to reach her and pin her down before she
did anything else liable to get her seriously injured or even killed.
In the Command center, everyone was silent. Even Gendo was surprised by
the bold tactical ploy conceived by his son. It was something which
even he would never had thought up. The result was a two-fold effect,
firstly it enabled Shinji to save pilot Sohryu from getting herself
foolishly decapitated for nothing, and at the same time, the Angel had
been pinned. Even Zeruel was having problems removing its arms from
underneath the demolished ruins of block Thirteen-B.
Misato: How the hell did you manage to think that up?!
Shinji: No time for that now. Terminate Asuka’s connection as soon as
possible and tell Rei to come and help me when she’s free.
Asuka: NOOOO!! Don’t you dare!!!!! I will kill you after this Shinji!
You hear me?!!!
Shinji: Please Asuka, forgive me…
Misato: You heard the man Ritsuko.
Ritsuko: I’m on to it.
Unit-01 dropped the now empty Palette rifles and drew its Progressive
knife. There was only one option at this point, which was to engage the
Angel at close quarters. Shinji pushed the Eva to it limits as he
charged the Angel who was attempting to free itself. It turned to face
him when he got fairly close and fired it’s cross flare at him. Shinji
managed to dodge just in time and headed towards the Angel’s side.
Behind him a stray shot struck Shelter D-3 and erupted into a massive
fiery blast.
Wasting no more time, Shinji spun up and drove his knife into the
Angel’s flank. The blade was however stopped by it’s AT-field, which
Shinji was having trouble neutralizing.
Shinji: Damn you!!
Unit-01 rolled towards it’s right as the Angel fired again, reducing
the grounds where Shinji was previously on to a smoking crater.
Rei: Ikari! I’m here, what should I do?
Shinji looked up to find Unit-00 standing several hundred meters behind
the Angel.
Shinji: Come on! We have to neutralize it’s AT-field! I can’t do it on
my own!
Rei: Understood.
Unit-01 made an act of attacking the Angel to distracted, whilst
allowing Rei to get into place. Rei quickly positioned herself nearby
and concentrated. Her own AT-field flared suddenly and overwhelmed
Zeruel’s already weakened field. The Angel clearly didn’t appreciate
this and turned to face her. It fired again. Rei tried to dodge the
incoming beam but was struck on the leg. The whole section below her
knee was blown to shreds completely. Unit-00 fell backward onto the
ground, having had its foot literally blown up from underneath it.
Shinji’s anger rose to dangerous levels as he heard Rei’s cries through
the Comm.
Shinji: Rei!!
He turned to face the Angel now. With its field down, he had a standing
chance of beating it on one to one.
Shinji: It’s you and me now you bastard!
He leaped onto the Angel and struck the Prog knife deeply into its
flank. The Angel roared in anger and pain as it trashed about in an
attempt to dislodge Unit-01 off its back.
Misato: Shinji! Watch out it’s getting free!
Zeruel had managed to pull one of its arms out from underneath the
rubble and had managed to reach out to grab a hold on Unit-01. The
beast lifted Unit-01 up and threw it with incredible force towards the
pyramid structure that was NERV headquarters. Misato was thrown off her
feet as the ground shook from the force of the Eva slamming into the
side of the building. Ritsuko fell on her knees and toppled over
dangerously close to the level’s side. Incredibly, Shinji wasted no
time and raised itself again to attack the Angel. Shinji was channeling
his hatred towards all that would harm his friends in an outburst of
pure bloodlust.
The Angel launched its free arm towards Unit-01, snaking its way in the
air towards the Eva’s neck. However, Shinji acted faster, he
sidestepped the arm and grabbed a hold of it. Though the edges were
possibly the sharpest things in the world, the thin arms easily
crumpled under the Eva’s grip. Shinji jerked on the arm, pulling the
massive creature straight into a full on punch. By doing this, Shinji
had unwittingly freed Zeruel’s other arm as well, but by now, he was
beyond the point of caring. Inside the Entry plug, he was like a
possessed man.
Touji: Alright! Give him a right and a left and there! Kick ‘m where it
hurts! Yeah! I taught him that you know…? Huh…?
The same glaring as before, but this time from quite a few more people
and twice the intensity.
Touji: Erm… Errrr….
Lieutenant Maya Ibuki shivered as she saw the sinister grin that was
worn on Shinji’s face on the side screen. She never would have thought
that the boy could have looked so evil until this moment. What have
they done to him? She was sure that he would never have become like
this if he’d ever come to Tokyo-3. Then again, they might have been all
dead already if he hadn’t. She felt a slight chill, which caused her to
turn around. Never had she felt such fear as she did there and then
when she saw the Commander, wearing the same grin as Shinji was.
Rei watch in silence inside her plug as Shinji pounded the Angel into
the ground. She felt uneasy from the way that Shinji was fighting, it
was more like an attack of some savage primitive predator than anything
else. And the Angel was its prey. She watched helplessly as the Angel
fired another flare at Unit-01 at point-blank range. The blast tore the
Eva’s entire right shoulder off to shreds. Bits and pieces of debris
showered the area. The flare went on to strike HQ, this time throwing
of their feet everyone who hadn’t already fallen on the ground and
threatening to cutting out the power. The entire flank of the building
was showered with blood and gore, painting it red from top to bottom.
Rei stare in mute silence as Unit-01 shrugged off the loss of a limb as
simply as a mere annoyance.
Unit-01 went on to strike the Angel with a heavy left hook, followed by
a low kick, which sent the Angel sprawling onto the ground. Shinji
leaped onto the fallen beast and begun to beat it with his Eva’s fists.
But Zeruel responded by cunningly warping its arm around Unit-01 and
pulling its feet from under it. Seeing it’s chance, Zeruel didn’t
hesitate in firing a flare directly into Unit-01’s umbilical plug. The
explosion ripped into Unit-01’s spine and triggered a secondary
explosion as most of the internal batteries too detonated, threatening
to tear the Eva in two.
Aoba: We’ve lost 70% of the sensor nodes! Internal batteries have
sustained severe damage!
Maya: Pulse reversing! Pilot life-signs are unstable!
Hyuga: All primary lower torso circuit clusters are out! Backup
clusters are failing to come on-line!
Aoba: Entry plug armour and midway clusters are holding but heat levels
are dangerously high!
Maya: Sync frequencies are hyper-fluctuating at critical levels!
Ritsuko: Reroute circuits B64 to D41! Engage internal coolant! Lower
the neural feedback regulator!
Hyuga: Attempting to reroute connections, B64 to D33 have succeeded but
D34 to D41 circuits have completely crashed!
Maya: Feedback regular is not responding! We can’t reduce the feedback!
Aoba: Coolant released, temperature returning to acceptable levels…
what the..!!!?
The already damaged power supply finally failed, shutting everything in
the whole command center down. Save from the emergency lights.
Ritsuko: Dear god no!
Inside the Entry plug Shinji screamed as mind-numbing pain tore into
his back as the immense feedback overwhelmed his senses. He felt as if
he was being ripped apart from inside out. Physically he was also being
knocked around as the blast had dangerously reached close to the plug.
No matter how much he tried he knew was falling on the verge of
unconsciousness. But he couldn’t let it win. He couldn’t fail. Too much
was at stake here. He wasn’t fighting anymore because he felt the shame
from running away. He was fighting because he wanted to protect his
friends.
Zeruel looked down triumphantly at Unit-01, who was still attempting to
get up. A massive chunk of the Eva’s back was missing and gore covered
components were exposed. There wasn’t much active time left neither as
the blast had also critically damaged the remaining batteries, leaving
the Unit-01 with less than thirty seconds. By now, Misato and the rest
of the bridge crew came rushing out of Command HQ. Her heart fell when
she saw what had befallen Shinji. Commander Ikari was there too; he
frowned, mildly displeased with the turn of events.
Maya ( who had brought out her laptop ): Ma’am! Unit-01’s got 5 seconds
of active time left… 3… 2… 1… batteries have been purged…. It’s over…
Misato: Damn it! He was so close!
Ritsuko: Well… guess it’s over then…
Back inside the Entry plug of Unit-01, Shinji had passed out cold.
However… in is mind… something was stirring…
Shinji was floating in a faint haze of blue light. He glanced around,
finding nothing but emptiness for as far as he could see. When he
turned back in front of him was a flicking image of a white flame. His
first instinct was to jerk away from it, but he soon realized it wasn’t
making any hostile movements towards him. It was simply floating there.
He felt a strange tingling sensation radiating from the flame. The same
warmth of which he had felt was missing until recently. The warm
feeling of being loved… but this was more specific… it had a feeling of
family…
Shinji: W…who… W… what are you?
An image flashed by of Unit-01 rampaging across the city to get to
Sachiel, the third Angel.
Another of Unit-01 tearing it’s way out of the black globe that was
Leliel, the twelfth.
Shinji: That was you…?
The flame seemed to nod… though Shinji didn’t really know how a flame
could nod. It seemed to him fairly obvious what the flame was
expressing now, even though there was no way he could do that in
reality.
Another image appeared… showing Unit-01 tearing apart Zeruel.
Shinji: No…
The flame looked questioningly towards him.
Shinji: I can do it… I just need to be able to move for a few seconds
more…
The flame seemed a little hesitant to agree with him, but then seemed
to concede.
Shinji smiled as he slowly faded from the scene, he was returning to
finish off his job.
When he vanished completely, the white flame disappeared, replaced by
the form of a young woman.
Yui: Good… he’s learning…
Back in the real world, Misato could not help but look away as Zeruel
lined itself up for a perfect clean shot to finish off Unit-01 one.
Everyone wore a disappointed look on his or her faces, believing that
this was the end.
By now, Asuka had climb out of her plug as furious as hell for that
stunt that bitch Rei and that fucking prick Shinji did to her. She
froze when she saw the limp bloodied form of Unit-01 along with the
fourteenth Angel hovering above it. She looked around and saw Unit-00,
attempting in vain, to crawl it’s way to aid it’s purple counter-part.
She turned back to Unit-01, where she saw the Angel charging up for
it’s finishing shot.
Asuka: No…
She watched as the Angel preparing to deliver its final blow.
Regretting everything she’d previously thought about Rei and Shinji.
Maya: Ma’am! Unit-01 is reactivating! Shinji’s sync is over three
hundred!!!
Ritsuko: That impossible! Is it going over four hundred!?
Maya: Negative! It’s stable at three hundred and twenty nine!
Misato: Wait! What’s he doing!?!
Asuka gasped as Unit-01 suddenly rose from the ground and rammed the
fingers of its remaining arm into Zeruel’s eyes. The flare went off
immediately after with Zeruel’s face being ground zero. The blast
vaporized Unit-01’s remaining arm and proceeded to be deflected into
the Angel, the massive creature erupted in a giant blast. Asuka was
forced to cover her face with her arm, the brightness of the explosion
blinding her temporally. Chunks of the creature were blown apart in
every direction, as the whole upper body was ripped apart by the
immense force. Shrapnel comprising of bone and armour shards were
thrown across the Geo-front creating a barrage of deadly projectiles.
Whilst everyone else tried to take cover, Asuka ignored it all. A
massive piece larger than her passed by over her head, it embedded
itself a few hundred meters behind her in the ground. She didn’t even
finch. After she had recovered from the blinding light, he could see
the heavily damaged Unit-01 slumping onto the ground, the Angel’s
lifeless lower body simultaneously falling away from it. Shocked beyond
belief, she could not believe in her own mind that Shinji would have
dared to do such a thing. It reminded her of the way he defeated the
fourth Angel. He had gambled everything on a single act and had turned
out victorious. And now, he did it again. Her eyes lingered on the
inert unit. She remained that way till the recovery team came to
finally pick her up.
Misato: So… how is he?
Ritsuko: He sustained serious nerve damage through the neural feedback.
He’s in a coma right now but he’ll be fine if we can regenerate the
damaged brain cells. I’m surprised that he even survived the feedback
since his sync ratio was over three hundred percent.
Misato: WHEN we regenerate the damaged cells… when…
Ritsuko: Right… when…
Misato: How long?
Ritsuko: I’m not too sure, depending on how the cells react, I’d give
it a week or so…
Misato: He’ll be in a coma for a… week…?
Ritsuko: Yes. That means that you and Asuka will have to all your own
house chores for once.
Misato: Hey! How could you kid around at a time like this?! That’s not
funny!
Ritsuko: Remember… think positive.
Misato: Right… positive…
Ritsuko: I must tell you however that, although I must agree with you
that he will be able to recover from the coma, I must also mention the
very real danger that he might have problems with his senses.
Misato: You mean…
Ritsuko: The feedback he receive from the Eva was beyond anything the
human body was designed to cope with, it is very likely he will retain
permanent damage in his nervous system or even his brain.
Misato: …
Ritsuko: We can now only fix what can be fixed and hope for the best…
Misato: Ritsuko…
Ritsuko: Yes…?
Misato: … thanks…
Ritsuko: …
Asuka walked slowly across the devastated landscape of the Geo-front in
silence. She was now in her school uniform, having changed and rinsed
off that stench of LCL. She didn’t know what she was doing, she didn’t
know why she was out there. It felt as though she was seeking
something.
They hadn’t bothered to tell her of Shinji’s conditions, but then
again, she didn’t ask. Asuka found herself wondering what must have
driven him to pilot Eva this time. Sure, he had mentioned that he did
it for his father’s praise, but she wasn’t so sure of that being the
case any more. Asuka didn’t like contemplating her own reasons very
often, this is because most of the times she realizes that they aren’t
very good ones. But what could she do? She wanted to stop lying to
herself, but at the same time she couldn’t. The truth was still too
hard to grasp, maybe some other time… All she could do at this point
was to continue… living…
She turned around a burnt out tree and was about to make her way back
when she came across the ruins of shelter D-3, the shelter where her
class mates where assigned to.
Asuka: …
Hikari, even those idiots Kensuke and Conrad… they would have been here
during the battle… that means… no… but it can’t be… no…
She fell to her knees on the singed grass, attempting in vain to block
out the tears… She should have been about to protect them, she should
have be there to stop the Angel’s flare… Instead, her pride, stupid
aggressiveness and shear stubbornness clouded her judgment. And now
Shinji’s in probably god knows what kind of situation and even Rei had
tried to help him when she had her leg blown off. She, however, had to
be restrained because she was a danger to others and herself… How
pathetic, how low a level had she reached. How could she go on, knowing
this…? If only they’d have a second chance at it.
Hikari: Asuka?
Asuka looked up from the floor, her face covered with tears. In front
of her stood Hikari, in the flesh, as alive as anyone could be…
Asuka: H…Hi.. Hikari! You’re alive!!
Hikari: Asuka! What’s wrong! Why are you crying?
Asuka ( indicating the shelter ): H…how?! You would have been in there
when it when up! No one could have survived!!
Hikari: Well… we would have been if in the middle of the battle Conrad
hadn’t suddenly had an anxiety attack! He suddenly didn’t feel safe
about staying in there… he was so serious about it he was dragging me
out by force until I agreed to evacuate everyone out to D-2. Look… you
can still see the bruise on my arm…
Asuka ( instantly forgetting her tears and her anger flaring ): That
lowly maggot! How dare he hurt you! I beat him senseless for that!!
Hikari: No… don’t worry about it… If he hadn’t done it I probably
wouldn’t have listened to him and we’d all have been still in there…
Asuka: …
Hikari ( looking back towards shelter D-3 ): Anyway, I convinced
everyone in our whole class to move to D-2, and almost everyone else
too. But some… refused to come… so… they’re… still… in there…
Asuka: So... where’s Kensuke and Conrad now?
Hikari: Oh, they’re still visiting Shinji in the hospital, I just came
from there… You didn’t visit him did you?
Asuka ( feeling terribly guilty ): …no… not yet…
Hikari: Oh! Come on Asuka! You can’t do this. He ‘s in a coma! Touji
told me what happened, what Shinji had to do to save us. Simply
visiting him is the lest you could do…
Asuka: I… I can’t… that idiot humiliated me…
Hikari: Damn it Asuka! Would you rather be dead? And don’t even try to
answer that! He wouldn’t have had to do that if you hadn’t gone and
charged the Angel without any arms!! Anyway, do you have any idea how
much he must have suffered.
Asuka: What do you mean…?
Hikari: I am not totally ignorant Asuka. I may not know how the
Evangelions fully work, but from what I do know from what you had once
told me, is that you can feel the pain from any injuries inflicted to
your Evas. How much of it you feel of it, is proportional to well you
can control your Eva. Touji told me Shinji’s Sync was over three
hundred at the end of the battle. I’m sure you can imagine what that
means?
Asuka: T… that I’ll never beat him now?
Hikari took a moment to glare at Asuka, as if she’d committed some
unspeakable sin. Which in Hikari’s mind, she wasn’t for from it.
Hikari: Asuka. For such a smart girl, you must be really thick… is
being the best all you ever think about?! I don’t even want to know how
having your arms shredded amplified three times over feels like. That’s
what it means Asuka, he felt everything amplified three times over, all
the pain. And you know what? For some reason, I don’t think he fought
this battle for his own satisfaction, I think that he did it to save
us… When he first came here he would have cared less… He didn’t have to
stay. He didn’t have to suffer; you just don’t realize how much he
actually gives… rather than take. He cooks, he cleans, he even washes
your clothes… what the hell makes him do it? He’s certainly not getting
paid to be your servant! I have to do that too, but I do it for my
sisters! My family! And don’t try to deny it Asuka, I’ve been around
you enough to know that you’ve let him do all the work, and it’s not
that you can’t do it, it’s just that you’ve convinced yourself that you
can’t or that you don’t have to!
For the first time since she known her, Hikari was scolding Asuka. To
make matters worse, everything Hikari was bringing up was hitting home.
Stunned beyond any comprehensible response, Asuka could do nothing but
stand there and take the brunt.
Hikari: You know what? I might be actually wrong there, I think that
maybe to Shinji, you and the Major are family, who knows, maybe you are
even more than that to him. But you just can’t see that, can you? You
don’t want to see it… I can tell that you’ve been hurt before, but it
doesn’t mean that you have to go and hurt others who try to be there
for you. I’ve always found your ways were a little bit too selfish but
I was willing to withstand it because deep down… I know you are a good
person. But this time you’ve gone to far Asuka, you must realize that
he could never wake up again! That you may never get a chance to repay
him for all the things he’s done for you… please listen to what someone
else tells you to do for once in you life. Please… listen to yourself…
Asuka sniffed hard as she contemplated what Hikari had brought to her
attention. She knew that it was the truth and that she was wrong. In
truth, from the very end of the battle, she wanted to running to Shinji
and tell him how much she really cared for him and how much of a bitch
she’d been. But she didn’t allow herself to do that, she had remain
frozen on the spot because she was unable to do anything else but to
keep herself from running to him. She was wrong to do that. She should
have gone. She should listen to herself and do what she knows is right.
However, old habits die hard.
Asuka: Al… alright… I will go and visit him…
Hikari ( exhaling in defeat ): Oh well, it’s a start…
Asuka: …
Hikari: …
Asuka ( managing a small smile ): Thanks Hikari… since when did you
become so wise?
Hikari: Me? Wise? Naaa… I’m just telling you what you already know…
The two girls stayed exactly as they were for a while. Then, both stood
up from their kneeing position, both, now knowing what was the right
thing to do.
Conrad: Never thought I’d see you cry over us…
The girls spun around to see Conrad standing on a nearby path with his
arms crossed. He wore a smug face, having see the all-powerful Asuka in
a vulnerable position for once. Unfortunately for him, that turned out
to not be very wise action, as Asuka wasted no time in flipping him for
all this troubles.
Asuka carefully cleared her eyes and begun to walk away with Hikari
whilst waving a finger at Conrad.
Asuka: Just because you effectively saved Hikari’s and other people’s
lives because of your cowardice I’ll go easy on you for now. But if you
dare tell anyone about this, next time you’ll find yourself needing
some new body parts.
Conrad ( still on his back and smiling softly as they walked away ):
Hmmm…. So… now you’ve finally realized you’ve got a better for piloting
reason too… but will it help?
Finally he got up and begun to dust his pants off. All of a sudden he
turned to face a group of trees not too far away, the dimming light of
the fading day had cast thick shadows underneath the foliage. From
someone in his point of view, Conrad could have not seen anything
within those shadows, but it still, it seemed that he could detect a
presence. A smile had crept onto his face. Then, he silently turned and
walked off into the distance.
From the hidden shadows beneath the trees, a certain red-eyed, blue-
haired girl had studied the scene with meticulous detail. From her
point of view, things were starting to get interesting indeed.
Rei: Who are you? What… are you?
Somewhere in Europe
Two figures were in a car, inside a large elevator much like the one
used by NERV to transport vehicles into the Geo-front. They stayed
motionless as they descended into the depth of the ground. After he’d
been sent to Canada, the woman he was now seated next to met him there.
She called herself Danielle and was with OMBRA. A petit brunette, he
guessed of around twenty-five. She’d been with him ever since,
directing him to another flight and guiding him through the streets of
Bern, Switzerland after they’d landed. He’d been blindfolded then, and
after a strenuous two hours drive he found himself in this elevator.
Danielle: Mr. Rouji Kaji. Welcome to Antrum-4 or what those who live
here call ‘The hole’.
Kaji: Wow… that’s… one big hole…
The elevator exited the tunnel and brought them into the OMBRA
installation. Kaji surveyed the massive underground cavern. It was not
as large as the Tokyo-3 Geo-front, but it was still of considerable
size. Within it was what seemed like a large military complex. But in
fact, surrounding it was magnificent parkland, as in the Geo-front.
Danielle: This is one of several bases that OMBRA possesses across the
globe. We modeled them in a similar fashion to the NERV’s Geo-front,
but instead of being primed against Angel attacks, they are designed
primarily to keep any hostile human incursions at bay indefinitely. We
are so deep underground, that even if they dropped an N2 directly on
top of us, we would barely feel it.
Kaji: But why? Why do these bases exist and what are OMBRA’s aims?
Danielle smiled at Kaji’s questions, he was like a child staring out of
the car at the wonders that they had achieved hidden away from the eyes
of even SEELE and NERV, two of the most secret and powerful
organizations in the world. Organizations which effectively wanted him
to feed the worms.
Danielle: OMBRA originated as a strictly research and development arm
of the organization you know as SEELE. These bases were actually built
originally as secondary alternatives as locations for us, since our
first base was actually in Greece, that, for obvious reasons was called
Antrum-1. This was all but solid rock eleven years ago…
Kaji: You mean this whole place and all the others were dug by hand
from solid rock only 11 years ago!!
Danielle: Well… not by hand I can assure you, but I know what you mean,
our bases did not utilize an existing cavern like the Geo-front did, we
had to make use of the latest mining equipment developed in the last
decade. Most of it was dug up using a device which amplified sonic
waves, in fact, I believe that’s what eventually led to the development
of the Progressive knives the Evangelions use.
Kaji: Why do they want me anyway? Surely you must have betters sources
of information on SEELE or NERV than me…
Danielle: You assume correctly Mr. Rouji, you know much more than you
even realize. No, we want you for your skills Mr. Rouji, we have many
agents, all trained in the arts of warfare and intelligence, but we
recognize a potential recruit when we see one.
Kaji: You want me to join you and take an active role?! But I’m a Intel
agent, what good is an Intel agent when everyone knows who he is.
Danielle: Oh… well, that’s true but we intend to retrain you in other
‘fields’, plus there’s also the small detail that there’s someone who’d
like to see you.
Kaji: …?
Danielle: You’ll see…
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
END CHAPTER 3
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
*Author's corner*
Ahhh... finally finished another chapter of Eva: Fallen Angel, bugger,
and I'm already halfway in writing the next bloody chapter.
Must... refrain... from ripping off... scenes from... Peter F. Hamilton
books... arggggg....
Well, I might as well take this time to acknowledge the authors who
inspire me:
Peter F. Hamilton (author of the Night's dawn trilogy)
Terry Pratchett (we ALL know who he is...)
Traci Harding (author of the Ancient future trilogy)
Rand & Robyn Miller + David Wingrove (authors of the Myst series)
Clive Cussler (author of the Dirk pitt series)
& last but not lest:
Patrica Cornwell (author of the Kay Scarpetta series)
As you can see, I read a lot of various genre so I have a large area of
inspiration to draw from... though the stuff I use to write this fanfic
come primarily from the sci-fic authors...
Coming up next: Chapter 4: Little white lies / Echo of memory. Will
Shinji fully recover form the injuries he substained from the battle?
What fate awaits former double Agent Kaji Rouji? But what about Gendo's
knowledge of Angela? How does he know her, it is a secret which he
fears should never reach Angela... Why? Bugger off! I'm not telling you
yet! Wait for the next chapter of course!!!!
Many thanks to my pre-readers (yes I now have more than one!!!!):
Axel Terizaki
Zoe Symons
Juan Luis Carrasco
Brad S. Battles
Anyway, enough talk... must go back to playing FF8 now...
cya...
From Mekat
               (
geocities.com/evacael)