Foreword
Back during my years in university, I decided that I wanted to write a fan fiction of Neon Genesis Evangelion as a spiritual sequel very much like Evangelion R. In it, I chose to take on the task of telling the story after Third Impact as was depicted in End of Evangelion. Despite how many cardinal rules I broke in that fiction, a lot of people were very positive about it and prayed that I would write the story to its conclusion. Unfortunately, I never really had any kind of conclusion in mind when I started writing the series and in the end, it finally trailed off as the plot lines became long, fibrous, and splitting.
Over the years this writing project has fallen by the wayside, and eventually I unearthed a long forgotten copy of the succeeding chapter beyond the one that was posted. After reading it over, I became disgusted with the quality and angry at myself for producing such a terrible work and realized that despite all he praise I received, I didn't like the work myself.
A few days ago, I stumbled upon the trailers for the Evangelion remake and it inspired me to return to this old work and finally get back to writing it as a creative project to fill up time that I don't want to do anything else with.
I don't know if I will ever finish it, or if it can ever be finished to begin with. In the end, Primum Revelation was merely the tip of an ever expanding iceberg as I tried to explain a major social and societal shift in humanity without fully exploring it. I definitely liked many plot points and many of the characters, but the later chapters started getting worse. What I've decided to do was to rewrite the entire work and do my damnedest to make it better than the original.
One thing I decided to toss out what trying to play fancy tricks with languages. English will be used predominantly throughout the entire work and I have wish to avoid having complete lines of other languages used. While not true in the story itself, all dialog will be translated and a specification of what language was being spoken will be added. This clears confusion due to bad translations, ugly writing as I would try and explain things, line per line, and ultimately keep nothing held away from the reader.
If you enjoyed the original version of this series I hope you'll stick around and new readers I hope you also enjoy this and future submissions. I really like to get feedback from readers and hear their thoughts, gripes, and suggestions. Finding and learning from my mistakes helps me improve the quality of my writing and gives me incentive in order to continue. Ultimately this work is for myself, like any other. I intend to keep it that way, though I will be mighty pleased if people enjoy it as much as I will.
Thank you,
TS aka Kain Tempest
PS: The first chapter is nearly identical to the original except for a few minor alterations near the middle and end. If you read the original, you can start from chapter two without too much confusion. I intend to make the first real changes in the chapters following the first.
The series, Neon Genesis Evangelion, from which this work of fictions is based is owned by GAINAX. Character from the source material are also owned by GAINAX. Original content herein is owned by the respective creators.
Evangelion: Primum Revelation Reprise
Chapter 1: The Beginning at the End
Written by TS "Kain Tempest"
The tinny bronze bell clattered on the door frame as the wooden door burst open, vomiting two soggy lumps out of the slick cold street and into the dusty dry confines of the dark store front. Thunder rumbled in the sky, drums of war as the clouds promised to invade the land, washing away the black filth that clung to the rooftops, walls, and pavement, sending down to the bottom of the hilly countryside.
Sneakers squished and knees knocked as the weary young man clung to the door, allowing entrance to his exhausted comrade. His breath came out in hard puffs, hers were shallow and slow. Too tired to shiver and too sick to care, the teenage girl stumbled in, shooting a hand out to catch the cash counter. The act slowed her fall to the floor, but still gave an audible thump.
Immediately her partner clamoured on his hands and knees, touching her shoulder.
"Are you alright?" She stiffened at his touch, turning her head slowly to glare at him with a single, cobalt eye, set ablaze with a lower simmer of anger from beneath scarlet tresses. The look alone was enough for the young man to retract his hand, for fear of being burned.
"The food went bad." She hissed, letting her hand rest of the floor, her back to him. "But I'll be fine. Once the rain stops we can keep going."
"This is serious Asuka, I don't want you to die." Slowly the young woman rolled onto her back and looked at her companion as he knelt nearby, his face creased with concern. His dark brown hair was plastered to his skull and the circles under his eyes only further marked the incredible depth of his dark blue eyes. Her mind wandered, stumbled really, into puzzling over his Japanese lineage to possess such a Caucasoid feature. A wave of nausea, however soon brought her out of her ponderings.
Rolling away to have her back to him again, Asuka began to heave. The young man bit his lower lip, looking away as the unpleasant grunts intensified to straining gags, gurgles, and finally panting and spats. He turned back to see her return to the foetal position and begin to shiver in the red, skin-tight suit she wore. Shifting closer, he felt reached to touch her.
"Don't touch me!" Asuka's cry was more like a wail, but he stopped her protector's approach. His hand hovered above her before retreating to his lap. She began coughing and that only tensed the young man's muscles even more. With a sigh, he began to unbutton his white shirt and draped it over Asuka.
"Shinji?" She asked, almost immediately berating herself for asking such a stupid question. Of course that was who it was. Despite the clammy nature of the shirt however, she dived into it, drawing it close, despite the unpleasant odour of the ocean that clung to the fabric.
"Just rest. I'm going to find something to make you feel better." Shinji stood up and moved slowly, cautiously through the dark shop. They had given up trying to use light switches, everything was off the grid now. "I'll be back soon." He added over his shoulder as he was enveloped in shadow. He tried to sound brave, but that quaver in his voice, from stress and fear, not to mention a momentary cracking, only showed his uneasiness.
Shinji strained to hear Asuka's ragged breath over the grumbling sky without and the squeak of his sneakers on the tile floor. His eyes scanned the dim surroundings, coming across shelves with a limited selection of anything beyond instant meals, cheap freeze-dried fare. A lone box of curry stood resolutely, seeming to try and challenge the teen.
Shinji gave a faint smile, a small memory surfacing. When Tokyo-3 became his home and Misato became nearly family. So many changes and anxieties had plagued him when he moved to the city. So many responsibilities had been placed on his shoulders, but Misato opened her door and her arms to him. In a way she had been just a kid too, looking for some kind of company. A thirty-year old looking for a little brother she probably never had.
He could still taste the blood on his lips from the time she kissed him, the first and last time. The small ounce of joy corrupted by the macabre recollection was paid back with anger to the little box of curry, which was slapped off the shelf and clattered into a shadowy corner elsewhere.
Shinji resumed his search, collecting bottles of water. They certainly were not medicine in and of themselves, but at least she shouldn't get sick on it. He shouldn't have forced food upon Asuka. He knew she was sick but he was adamant that they needed to avoid going hungry. A whole day with nothing and when opportunity knocked, Shinji wasn't going to take his chances that they would have such good fortune again.
Coming to a counter at the far end of the store, Shinji realized with pleasure that he had somehow found a pharmacy to take shelter in. He hurriedly approached the counter, peering over as if hoping someone was going to be there. He knew better, but somehow hope got the better of him, and despair immediately followed close behind. Down on the floor behind the desk was a collection of clothes, sodden in a puddle of viscous gold fluid. The associations immediately resulted in a reaction much like finding a corpse, given the implication of the fluid as LCL. Somewhere in the back of the boy's head, he somehow wished he had found a corpse, so at the very least there was some indication that somehow had been here at one time, rather than just the implication that puddle told.
Setting down the water, Shinji slowly climbed over the counter, gripping it firmly as he lowered himself over the other side, planting his feet down on the floor. With a sharp intake he lost his footing, falling backwards into the puddle, with equal parts shock and horror on his face. Scrambling, he pulled himself out of the ooze, feeling it slowly roll off of his naked back and slide down his pants.
"I'm so sorry." Shinji apologized to the air, as if he was now under the scrutiny of a ghost who's resting place had been disturbed by a bumbling oaf.
Turning his attention the shelves once guarded by the pharmacist on duty, Shinji was dismayed to find he didn't understand anything written on the containers. Having no understanding of medicine nor the willingness to pore over any written records if one existed, it dawned on Shinji why non-prescription drugs who so highly valued. Dejected, Shinji returned to the counter and climbed over again, stealing a glance at the puddle before collecting the water and returning to the regular shopping aisles and proceeding to grab items at random.
Minutes later, Shinji returned to the front of the store, arms full with the bounty of items he practically grabbed at random from the various shelves. Asuka was lying still and gently he shook her shoulder. She awoke with a start and then relaxed into a groan.
"Why'd you have to wake me? I was asleep for the first time in…" Her grumbling trailed off as her she rolled on her back to look at him through a slowly lifting grogginess.
"I'm sorry." Shinji responded, receiving an irritated snort in return. "I found some medicine, it might make you feel better." Asuka pushed herself up to a sitting position. Shinji picked up the first of several bottles. "Two tablets with water." He read and studied the instructions on the screw top after a failed first attempt and opening it.
"Give me that!" She snapped, plucking the bottle from his hand and deftly unscrewed the lid and shook out the recommended dosage. Not missing a moment, Shinji handed her an opened bottle of water which she took with far more care than the medication and immediately downed the tablets and a liquid chaser. She gave another full body shiver and Shinji got up to his feet.|
"Where are you going now?"
"Blankets, jackets, curtains, something. You look like you're freezing." She didn't say anything else. Asuka sat quietly for a few moments before feeling a tickle again, in irritation she started hunting for cough syrup or lozenges. Even though she couldn't read kanji, she could at least see if there was some kind of chemical list. She was smart after all, so it wouldn't be that hard to find what she was looking for.
Coming across one box, too thick, wide, or tall to be a box of lozenges. Curiosity took it as she carefully opened it and produced one of the items. Semi-cylindrical, the small tube was wrapped in opaque cellophane but Asuka immediately realized what she had found. Strange that they would be in such a small quantity, but then again, it was a different culture out here, so how could she know what the Japanese considered a normal quantity. Either way, the small item was definitely going to be useful and she opted to slip it into the front pocket of Shinji's shirt for later. Since they were travelling light and going through population centres, one would be enough.
Asuka returned to the medications with a semi-satisfied grunt, coming across a small bottle with a logo she recognized from Germany. At least globalization was good for finding cough syrup when you didn't know the language. With a grin she twisted the top off and took a swig, immediately confident of her choice with the sweet taste of the liquid. So sweet in fact that she needed to wash it down with some water.
Asuka didn't dwell on how long she had waited for Shinji's returned, but the discovery of a blanket and towels were not something she felt pressured to ask about either. They both looked awful when they made eye contact. Shinji was fortunate enough to not have an eye bound over with cause and soiled gauze wrapped around his right arm. Whatever horrors caused the wounds and who treated them where a mystery or something that Asuka simply refused to share.
"We should get going soon." Asuka started. Shinji simply shook his head.
"It's going to be dark soon, and it sounds like it's going to rain. We'll be safe here."
"Safe from what?"
"I don't know. But we'd be better off staying out of the rain." Asuka smiled weakly.
"Oh Shinji, I didn't know you were afraid of the dark."
"Of course not!" Asuka sighed, the teasing boring her sooner than she had hoped, her eyes drifting out the windows to the quickly gathering storm. She drew her knees towards her chin, completely ignoring her companion as he unwrapped a roll of toilet paper and began wiping off something that looked like cooking oil off of his back and arms. Asuka looked at it and curled her lip in disgust. They exchanged glances before Asuka looked away. They both knew what it was. They probably spent nearly a third of their fifteenth year submerged in the stuff.
The pills were slowly beginning to work, easing her stomach and Asuka sighed in relief. She wiped her forehead with her right arm and paused to study the bandaged appendage. Stretching her right arm to the ceiling, she spread her fingers and flexed them, wincing at a momentary sting as her middle and ring finger struggled to heed her command. She didn't want to see whether or not the brilliant red scar had gone away.
Days before, she had hazard to remove the bandage to discover the fine, puffing scar running down the middle of her hand and arm all the way to the elbow. It had horrified her immensely, her imagination conjuring up the idea that only a thin layer of healing skin held her arm together, and that a sudden jolt would split it in twain with a sickening ripping sound.
Asuka pulled her extended hand back against her, trying to fight off the nightmare vision. What scared her most about it was that she couldn't recall anything about how she had gotten so badly injured. The same fear that caught her in regards to her arm had stopped her from looking under the bandage over her left eye.
A tickle started wending it's way through her, and Asuka hunched forward hacking furiously.
"Damn it." The red head snarled, skin on her back prickling from the shock. Arching her back she took a deep breath of air, trying to clear her lungs and shuddered, dropping down to rest against the cold tile floor. More so than the walking or the vomiting, the coughing fits had drained all the energy she had. She turned her head to regard Shinji as he finished removing the yellow ooze and tossing the soiled towel aside.
Asuka found herself fixated on Shinji's naked back as he cleaned, not out of lust, but rather from the distant fascination with the way his skin, muscles, and skeleton, moved together. He didn't have much fat nor muscle to truly conceal the inner workings, it was a good reflection of his own character, transparent.
"Lift your head." She stared at Shinji, not quite computing what he had said. When he repeated himself, she complied and the boy slid a folded towel under her head as a pillow. As she lowered her head against the cushion, Shinji unfolded the blanket and laid it over top of her. "The medicine should also help you sleep." Asuka yawned in agreement, nodded as she relaxed and slowly closed her eyes.
Shinji slumped his shoulders, cocking his head and smiling as he watched Asuka drift into sleep. Deep down he knew it didn't matter who he would have woken up with on the white beach, he would have still shown the same amount of concern. For all he knew, they were the last two people left alive, and looking at all the empty towns from… He shook his head vigorously, forcing out the memory of that horrible place.
Shinji's silent recollections were broken by another one of Asuka's fitful coughs and an irritated grunt as she cleared her throat.
"Are you-"
"Yes. Fine. Stop asking… Just give me some more water." Shinji complied and handed it over. Asuka took a swig and grimaced as another wave of nausea struck her. "Worst feeling in the world. I can't even get to sleep. Stupid, useless cough syrup." She turned her head and watched Shinji pick up a small, squat jar. "What's that?"
"Vapour salve." She levelled an irritated look at the boy and snatched the jar from him.
"It had better be more useful than…" She paused, looking at the directions and cursing in German. "I can't read this." She tossed the jar back at Shinji, who fumbled with the container before finding the instructions.
"'Rub directly onto skin of back and upper chest."
"It doesn't say that! You're just trying to take a peep, you pervert!"
"Don't call me that! I'm trying to make your feel better, nothing more. You think I'd want to do something like that to you?" Asuka's expression was muddy to say the least and looked away as she considered her next response. A moment later and she snatched the jar from Shinji, and pressed the switches on the one remaining arm of the crimson plug suit wrapped around her body.
Asuka was impressed to find out that the suction mechanism still worked, making for a simple and easy suit to wear. She had chosen not to get rid of it, finding it comforting to wear. The small vents on the suit hissed open and the suit loosened. Shifting her long locks over her shoulder, she reached for the clasp at the back of the neck and shot Shinji an irritated, sideway glare. Like a well trained canine, Shinji turned his back to her while she undressed.
"If you peek I'll kill you." Shinji's head ducked beneath his shoulders at those chilling words. Unscrewing the cap, Asuka spread the stuff across her collar, taking a breath at the chemical chill. The back of her mind fumbled for what chemical it would be. She continued to rub and breathed into the sharp smell. Scooping up more, she spread it across her lower back, reaching up and struggling from under and above her shoulders to reach the spot that had given her the most discomfort. With a growl of frustration, she turned her back completely to Shinji and pressed the blanket over her chest.
"Shinji! Turn around I need your help." There was a moment's hesitation.
"Is this a trick?"
"What the hell is that supposed to mean? Turn around and help me get this stuff on my back. Now!"
"Are you sure!"
"Yes! Stop screwing around!" Shinji slowly turned, he face beet red. Asuka simply rolled her eyes. Not only was he boring and slow, but he was so damn shy. There were plenty of times when she was prancing around with just a towel and now he was scared of her back? She jerked her head towards her back. "Hurry up."
Shinji crawled over, picked up the jar, and hesitantly started spreading the cream as directed. As the minutes passed, Shinji started to relax again. Despite what his peers would consider a wonderful experience, that of touching 'girl flesh', the silence just made it far too awkward.
"Okay, that's enough. Turn away again." Shinji backed away and turned around as told. Dressing, Asuka noticed the meagre blanket that was Shinji's white shirt.
"Do you want your shirt back?"
"It's fine." Their conversation seemed distant. There was nothing for them to talk about, and what they did discuss tended to turn into an argument, then a shouting match. Anything else was too strange for either of them, their last attempt at real communication almost left Shinji with a knuckle sandwich. Asuka lingered on that, thinking about the call from Germany. She pulled on Shinji's shirt and buttoned it up, wrapping the upper portion of her plug suit around her waist like a belt.
"Done." Asuka announced laying back down and looking at the ceiling. Shinji didn't move.
"Are you decent?" He asked. Asuka gave another irritated snort.
"Yes. That's what I said, you idiot." The boy sighed and stood up, stepping towards the back of the store. "Where are you going?"
"I'm going to get some more sheets so that we can both get some rest." Asuka rolled onto her side and propped her head up, a coy grin on her face.
"Why don't you sleep next to me? You can keep me warm." Shinji half turned and glared at her.
"Stop teasing me like that." Asuka's face played the game of innocence.
"What do you mean? It's a fair offer."
"Stop it."
"Then why don't you stop apologizing for everything? It's pathetic." She snapped back. Shinji's strong face fell away.
"Sorry."
"Again. Are you hardwired to say that? It's not your damn fault…" Asuka trailed off at the strange look Shinji gave her. "You really think you're responsible for all this?"
"I am." Shinji turned and crouched down to look at Asuka squarely. "I can't say for sure, but I know it. And you do too." Asuka's skin crawled as what she thought was Shinji's idea of a joke got eerily close to the truth. She remembered flying, but not in a good way. Shinji dropped down to a sitting position. "I saw what they did to you. What they did to Unit-02." Asuka looked away.
"I dreamt of flying and pain. I knew I was doing both because you weren't there." Her voice grew quiet. "You let me die."
"I did not."
"You didn't help me."
"I wanted to… But the cages were flooded."
"No. There was always a way. If the invincible Shinji can kill any Angel sent his way, water wouldn't slow him down." She looked at him again with a look of bottomless anger, something that was rare even for her. "You let me die."
"I'm still human. Using the EVA is different."
"You had it all and you lost your nerve. Was it because your stopped loving you?"
"What?"
"I'm talking about Wonder Girl, idiot."
"She… She couldn't remember anything."
"So she got amnesia, which is why she never came back to you. Your twisted doll forgot about you and that's why she's not hear in my place. Not worth the effort the second time around, huh?" Shinji bunched up his fists and pressed her chin against his chest. How he wished he had the courage, to beat Asuka within an inch of her life. Once for every jab. Every mention of being a pervert, a pig, a loser, and so much more.
"Shut up! Just shut up!" He cried. The anguish in his voice only fuelled Asuka's fire which now boiled over with disgust.
"Is that it? Is that all you have to say."
"Shut up!"
"Your wish was never fulfilled. You thought you could get your wishes, you could get Wonder Girl back, but when it was me… You thought it was better to have no one at all. That's why…" Asuka blinked and touched her throat. Shinji looked up and the colour drained from his face.
"No! I didn't mean to." Like a flicker all the trust Shinji believed he had gained with Asuka disappeared. Her rage had swelled up so suddenly he had no idea it was coming. He felt worn to he bone and resorted to the best course he hand. He slapped his hands over his ears, snapped his eyes shut and locked his jaw.
Asuka stood up and looked down at the Pathetic Shinji, he mouth drawn into a firm line.
"To hell with you." She hissed, turning and opening the door. She slammed it behind her and entered the dusky evening. Anywhere was better than with him.
The sound and smell of the ocean drew Asuka away from the city and towards the harbour. The storm clouds and dusk left the world in a near darkness, the steel gray horizon being the only thing that cut through the shadows. All knowledge of time had passed and the lack of any real sky obscured the time and the distance she had travelled. She looked at the ocean and simply stared at the vastness before her. The sea breeze struck her face and she breathed it in, the nausea having passed.
There were no lights, no bird calls, or the final farewell horn of a freighter. Wonder Girl said something about it, about the shadows. It was on one of those days. Those rare times when all three of them had to work together to stop an Angel. In retrospect, she didn't mind it as much as when Shinji was alone, holding the glory, though sharing it was just as bad as losing. Having lived her entire life in order to kill Angels and to share the kill with others disappointed her. What made it worst of all however, was when she was defeated by someone who was in fact weaker than her.
Asuka sat down on the pier and looked down at the rouge water. The legacy that marked the end of the world. In her mind's eye, she could still see the black battlefield. The Evangelion's hung frozen in time, great land marks surrounding a massive sea of red. She saw the broken porcelain face that towered over the mountains and shuddered. She never wanted to return to that nightmare realm.
Something stood out in the scarlet water and Asuka stared at it curiously. It floated on the surface, puffing with something hanging beneath it. At first she thought it was a jelly-fish but she immediately dismissed that notion. It drifted closer to the pier and Asuka slowly dropped down to her stomach, looking over the edge and extended a hand out towards the thing, her finger nails barely touching it. She edge herself closer to the end of the pier and tried again, reaching further.
Finally, her fingers found purchase and she gripped onto the sodden fabric tightly. She pulled, seeming rather light, whatever it was. Hauling it up out of the water freed the object from it's buoyancy and the item regained its original weight, multiplied many fold by the water soaking into it. Asuka was pulled off balance and with a gasp was pulled over and under.
What little light on the surface quickly disappeared in the depths. It was warm, safe, and free of even the sound of the wind. It was like the womb or the plug. Asuka was reminded of Unit-02 and of her mother, locked inside both. But like vipers the violence and the betrayal of both of those cherished things came lashing at her. She had to get out.
Sensing distress, her mind ordered her to struggle. Her arms swung, her legs kicked, and she clawed for the surface, for air, for peace. The water seemed to pull her body down while more memories assailed her, drowning her.
Asuka could see the coolant pipes from which she hung, deep in the earth's core. She saw them tear and she saw the surface disappear. The horrid darkness and crushing pressure promising a gruesome death from which she would never be found. The pressure would cause the EVA to crumple and the heat inside the plug would intensify. The LCL would sublimate and she would be incinerated before her little world was crushed.
Her descent had been halted however, when a blackened devil grabbed onto her. She had looked up to see the visage of Unit-01 leering down at her. Shinji had saved her. But he wasn't here now, but she didn't need him.
The undertow continued to drag at her, but Asuka found purchase, something had in which she clung to. She hauled herself upward with all the strength she could muster. There was now no lead, and she was blind but she just needed to move, praying she was going in the right direction. Her lungs burned and she continued clawing upwards.
When her face broke the surface she took long puffs of air and opened her eyes, seeing the stormy sky above. Thunder growled on the land, a drum that heralded a parting in the clouds and the glimmer of a river of stars. The ocean waves calmed, caressed, loosing the hateful, bitter nature that had once tried to drown her and now was so calming and benign.
"This is what it's like to be reborn, isn't it?" Asuka asked the heavens. There was no answer, but she didn't want one either way. She lowered her gaze and looked around. Her anchor was a wooden post submerged beneath the surface several yards away from the pier. How much further would she have been taken out the sea were it not for her saving grace.
Asuka paddled back to the pier and with a grunt, heaved the weighted cloth up out of the water before chasing after it. Panting, she pulled herself clear of the ocean and sat, pulling the item of interest in her lap, hoping it was worth nearly drowning for. The wind returned and chilled Asuka's soaked clothes, but she didn't care now.
A jacket of red and black cloth. It seemed familiar, but Asuka couldn't place it until she saw the silver tag on the collar indicating the rank of major. It was Misato's jacket. What had happened to the poor example of a guardian? The answer was sobering to say the least.
They were gone. Not dead nor far away. They were simply and truly gone. They would never come back, what was here now was all that was left. Asuka raised her eyes to the silver horizon. Now it was just her on a pier in a big, empty world. Misato, Wonder Girl, the Three Stooges… Shinji was the only person left. Was this was she was afraid of? She was on the razor's edge of something shed had wanted for years. But once she had it, what was the point?
Asuka forgot what it was like to cry. Not tears of fury or frustration. She had no more tears to shed since she had made that promise to herself all those years ago. But now the anguish and despair, the raw emotion had been left loose and it was the only thing her body wanted to do. She was confused, set betwixt so many points in a paradoxical puzzle with no solution. Her mind was lost long before, her body not soon after, but now she could feel her soul dying.
She buried her face into Misato's sodden jacket to muffle the wracking sobs. It felt good, to know that no one was watching, to let out as much as she could. Until the lump in her throat felt like it was going to burst. All the heartache in one wave of tears.
She heard someone say her name and her breath caught in her throat. Looking over her shoulder towards the city she saw the owner of the voice approach, wearing only white sneakers and black slacks. She stood to face him, stoic and silent. He slowed his approach.
"What took you so long?" She asked. The boy stopped and shook his head. Asuka was now thankful she had slipped into the sea, all the better to hide the tears she had shed.
"Are you alright?" He asked, but his eyes quickly flowed downwards.
"What? Should I be? What are you looking at?" She followed his gaze down to her chest and realized she was still wearing his white shirt, now soaked. She shielded her modesty with the jacket. "What are you doing? You don't have to look, pervert!"
"Sorry." Shinji looked away and Asuka took the moment to don the jacket and zip it up, grimacing at the slimy feeling that the water left. The boy looked back and stared in shock. "Where did you get that?"
"It was just floating in the ocean. It was getting chilly so I decided to pick it up."
"But that's Miss Misato's-"
"So what? If her ghost decides to haunt me at least I don't have to talk with you all day then."
"Okay. I'm glad that you're feeling better. Sorry to bother you." He turned away.
"What? You came all this way to check on me? You just follow me around like some stray mutt. Don't walk away from me. I'm not finished!" Shinji started away and Asuka followed a few steps behind him. A crack of thunder far louder than before startle the both of them as it finally called down a downpour.
The duo hurried down the dark streets, finding shelter in the first hospitable place. Stumbling through the door they looked upon a large show room. A store for furniture.
Asuka snuggled into the covers of the showroom bed, quenching the chill that finally caught up to her from the pier. Shinji heard his friend trying to settle nearby from an overstuffed couch.
"Are you alright?" He asked. The rain striking the roof and windows softening his voice.
"I'm fine, stop asking." Asuka grumbled. Forty-eight hours of being practically shackled together when they awoke on that beach. For months she was his roommate and she couldn't stand his anxiety but now for once, she didn't care enough to stress over it. It was reflex now.
Asuka raised her right hand up out of the covers. The bandages had been ruined and did nothing to hide the terrible scar. Wincing, she carefully removed most of the gauze, but in order to pander to her macabre fantasy, she kept some of it tightly bound at the wrist, just in case it split apart while she slept. She then touched her forehead and realized that the dressings over her left eye were also ruined. Her hands hovered over the bandaged eye but then fell back under the covers. She would rather not know.
She rolled her head to the right where Shinji's shirt and Misato's jacket were drying on a reclining chair. No real thoughts came to her while looking at them. She knew then that she was exhausted.
"Shinji?"
"Yes?"
"Why did you go out to look for me?"
"You were sick. I was scared and I didn't want you to die."
"That's a poor excuse." There was a pause.
"Sorry."
"Idiot." Again, reflex, but softer than usual. "Guten nacht."
"… Good night." She knew he would mess it up, but he wasn't going to get any points for copping out.
"Good night then."
To Be Continued…
Author's Notes
I tried to remain vague with the one change that I added to the chapter. It felt like I needed to make a great deal of logical leaps in order for Asuka to think what she did and thus keep the item, and I honestly don't know how women treat the subject of menstruation. I feel rather juvenile for bringing it up but the benefit is that I can probably knock one or two chapters off and remove two characters which I personally felt were useless, you'll probably know the ones I'm talking about.