An Evangelion Fanfic written by:
Phionex of the Fallen
All characters are owned by (insert owners name here) and not by (insert fanfic authors Psuedonym here). All original storylines for the series are not owned by said author and he has made up this story you are about to read himself. Don't sue me, were not worthy. (Note: Creators of Waynes World please do not sue me either.)
Asuka, My Love.
"NO, NO DON'T LOOK INTO MY MIIIIIIINNNNNNNNDDDDDD!"
Shinji gripped the handles inside Eva Unit 01's entry plug until he felt sure that his knuckels were white from the force he exerted.
"FATHER! LET ME GO UP AND FIGHT!" He pleded with the remorseless man who sired him.
"No, apparently this angel has the ability to contaminate a pilots mind. We cannot risk exposing Unit 01."
"And what about Asuka?" Misato Katsuragi asked from lower down on the command bridge.
"Send Rei to retrieve the Lance."
"A spear? What the hell is a spear going to do to help Asuka." Shinjis thoughts echoed wildly in his mind, he had to protect Asuka, because even though he never showed it to anyone, even her; he cared and dare say loved the firey girl more than anything else in the world. He dropped his head and repeated his litany once more in his mind. He needed it now more than ever to help gather his meager amount of courage and strength.
"I musn't run away. I musn't run away. I MUSN'T RUN AWAY!!......................................................I won't...I will not run away when Asuka needs me the most." Shinji opened his eyes and stared at his guardian and friend for the past four months of his life. Out of all the people gathered on that bridge, she was the one who deserved to hear him once more before he left.
"Misato."
The sudden calmness of Shinji's voice caused everyone on the bustling command bridge to stop their frantic efforts and stare at the steely eyed boy who carried the weight of humanity on his shoulders more than once.
"Y...yes, Shinji?"
"Goodbye, my friend. I will miss you. Tell Asuka...tell her that I love her." With that, the signel cut off and Eva Unit 01 activated within its steel prison.
Asuka curled herself up within the entry plug, she had tried to block the intrusive probes into her past and memories; but she couldn't stop the attack. She felt violated, filthy, unclean and soiled.
"...help me...please, Kaji help me..." Silent tears rolled off her cheek and landed in her lap, slowly diluted by the LCL that filled her lungs and the entry plug. She didn't know what was left for her to do...except wait for death. But death did not come; Eva 01, however, did. With a crash and the feeling of having a dagger pulled out of her temple, Asuka looked up to find herself out of the horrible beam of light and in the soft rain coming from the gray clouds above. She cryed harder when she saw the figure that now occupied her place in that light, the light of a vengeful God...Shinji stood there, bathed in that soft light within the cold outer shell of Evangelion Unit 01.
"Sh--Shinji...you came...came to s-save me." Several more tears rolled from her eyes as she stared at the motionless from of the one she silently loved. Then without warning, the light dissapeared from the sky, leaving Unit 01 dark and menacing in the rain that poured down on it from above. Her systems flared to life, and Misato's face and voice appeared in one of her communication lines.
"...Asuka!...Asuka! You're alive, thank God! Are you alright?"
"I-I'm fine...What about Shinji? What happened to him and the angel?" She asked, a faint glimmer of regret and concern appearing in her eyes. Much to Misatos regret, she saw these glimmers and was forced to cast her eyes and head down.
"Misato! What...happened to him?"
"He's gone. Everything, him...and even his plugsuit. Ritsuko says that the analisis of the LCL reads negative...I'm so sorry Asuka."
Fresh tears of sadness and regret flowed down her cheeks, and she made no attempt to hide them as she sobbed aloud in the entry plug.
"Asuka..." Misato waited until the sobs abided and those ice blue eyes of the German girl raised up enough for her to see them. "He told me something before he left...he said...Tell Asuka that I-I love her..."
"..."
"Retreval crew are coming for you Asuka...I'm sorry."
The plug went dark as the entry plug shut down in preperation to be ejected. And all Asuka could think about was all the times she had scorned him, rejected him, insulted him...she started once more to cry in the plug.
"Where am I?" Shinji Ikari said aloud in the solid white room he lay in. No answer came. Wondering how he got there, he stood on the plane of nothingness that he found himself laying on and slowly looked around at his surroundings. Vast emptyness surrounded him, stretching for endless amounts of infinity in every direction man could percive.
"How did I get here?" He asked the air softly.
"You died."
Shinji jumped at the sudden voice behind him, and spun around in the void to face the speaker.
"Who are you?!" He demanded of the speaker.
"I am an angel."
"What?"
Shinji stepped back and looked at the small boy that looked to be around his age. The boy had gray hair and red eyes, with a slight build of musculature on his thin frame. He also had a pair of black feathered wings that streached a good twenty feet across the void.
"Well, a fallen messenger to be more precise. My name is Abraham, although you lilim call me the third angel."
"The third?..but, I killed...you?"
"Yes, and I died. This, however, is not heaven so don't think for one second that it is."
"Then, is it hell?"
"NO! No, its not...This is a pocket void. A place of storage and of solitude for those who seek it."
"Why am I here?" Shinji gestured with his hands.
"You are here to prepare yourself Shinji Ikari. You are here to finish your fight with the last angel, Jacob."
"More fighting?" Shinji's legs buckled underneath him and he slumped down into a sitting position. "I'm tired of fighting...it got me nothing and...and, oh what could you know about my troubles?"
"I know that you left a loved one behind, and so does God. That is why you were given a second chance to return and fight." Abraham folded in his wings to the sides and helped Shinji to his feet. "And that's why I'm here to help you."
"Asuka...its been nearly two months...please, talk to me?" Misato Katsuragi stood outside the door of what used to be Shinji's room. Ever since the last angel dissapeared along with Shinji, Asuka had taken up sleeping in his room, moving nothing and touching very little. Sometimes Misato could hear her crying in the deep hours of night, it hurt a lot for her to listen. Not that she hadn't had her own problems too. A week after he had left, she became so drunk that she was poisoned by the alcohal. Only Asuka's quick thinking and fast driving had saved her from an untimely death. Misato had been sober for a month and a half now.
"Asuka, I'm coming in...alright?"
The door slid back to reveal Asuka sitting on the side of Shinji's bed, looking at a small picture in a silver frame. A small glint of light fell from her face to land quietly on the glass cover of the picture.
"She's crying again." Misato thought with pity.
"Why?"
"Asuka, why what?"
"Why didn't he tell me sooner...why didn't he TELL ME?!" Asuka shouted the last two words and looked at her friend and guardian. Misato grimaced slightly as she saw the dark rings under her 15 year old ward's eyes. Soon those eyes teared over again, and she collapsed inward shaking with sobs. Misato quickly rushed over to her side and wrapped her in a warm embrace, the pair stayed that way for nearly two hours; slowly rocking back and forward.
"Shinji Ikari, this place will be the center of your world until you are ready to return and fight Jacob, if that takes you a year, two, or even a thousand; you will have to return to the world of the living and fight him."
"With what? The Eva? A lot of good the Eva did for me and Asuka when we fought him the last time!"
"No, no the Evangelions will no longer be needed to fight the last three angels."
"You sound sure of yourself." Shinji muttered sarcasticly as he once again sank to his knees and tried to remember Asuka.
"And God decreed that the last three mesengers of fate would take the forms of men, and they would be fought by a man of truth and valor if one could be found and brought forth. And this man would carry tools of his own make, and use them to fight the three, until he died...or until they failed. Do you know where that comes from Shinji?"
"No, but you're going to answer that aren't you?"
"Yes...it comes from the Dead Sea Scrolls...the same scrolls that made your father search for Adam, the same scrolls that made a three thousand year old society fund a small paramilitary organization and armed them with the false Adams: the Evangelions."
"So all of my actions were planned out on a piece of three thousand year old paper...then why am I dead?"
"The scrolls never said the man was alive."
Both Shinji and Abraham stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity, soon though, Shinji rose to his feet and asked the fallen messenger a question.
"If I go back, will I be able to stay until my natural death?"
"Your life will be restored to you, and your ressurection will return you to what your natural body would look like if it had never dissapeared." Abraham assured Shinji. Shinji looked at his sneakered feet for a moment and then back up at Abraham.
"I'll do it." He held out his hand and was met by a firm, warm grasp from the angel. "But...how will I fight him? I have no tools or weapons on me?"
"That is because you must make them first." Abraham gestured behind Shinji, who upon turning around found himself looking into an anchient blacksmiths shop from the thirteenth century. "You'll need to make yourself a decent set of armor...not to mention a strong sword."
It had been two and a half years since the boy known as Shinji Ikari had dissapeared in the human creation Evangelion. Asuka regretted every hour of that time because of what she and he had failed to do. Now, standing on the roof of the building next to which both she and he had been attacked by the fifthteenth angel, Asuka Langely Sohryu silently looked at the empty space where Unit 01 had stood before.
"Shinji," She called out softly. "I'm sorry that I treated you the way I did. I'm sorry that I didn't pay closer attention to you. And I'm sorry that we never talked to each other when we both knew that we loved each other. I still love you Shinji, you'll always be my one and only Baka...I just wish that I could see you again..." She stopped talking at this point and started to cry her silent, remorseful tears of anguish.
Shinji ducked and pivoted on the balls of his feet, quickly swinging around to face his imaginary opponent in the vast void of the pocket dimension. Moving quickly and with the speed drilled into his taller and heavily muscled frame of nearly three years, he thrust and spun his finely forged sword through the white null of his existance. He flipped easily into the air and landed as gracefully and as silently as a cat back on his feet, facing the opposite direction and raising his sword to block an imaginary downcut of his false opponents blade. He crouched when he completed the movement and brought his swords blade down in a arcing sweep to his foes midsection. Sweat dripped from his nose as he stood still in the final stage of the movement, his muscles not moving the tip a millimeter. A sudden clapping brought him back to the situation at present.
"Bravo, bravo Shinji. That was most excellent, does the armor slow you down at all?" Abraham asked as he approached from the side of infinite space. As the lad of 17 shook his head from side to side, Abraham could only note how much more the boy had matured while he was trapped in the void. Shinji had grown quite a deal in the three years since his death, and his 5' 10" frame was now covered by a swarth of muscle from the daily workouts he had endured for nearly a year. His hair had grown out a length too, nearly reaching the middle of his shoulderblades and bound up by a piece of leather to put it in a controlled ponytail. Another stark contrast to the 14 year old who died what seemed like so long ago was the shined and gleaming armor that covered his shoulders, chest, stomach, and back.
"He looks a lot like Ryoji Kaji with that stubble too." Abraham noted silently as he watched Shinji run his hands over the four days worth that had collected on his face. "Well, I do belive that now is the time for you to decide what to do next."
"What do you mean Abraham?" Shinji said in a neutral, controlled voice.
"If you are ready, you can return at any time. But you must decide when."
"You mean, I can return? Now?"
"Yes...I hate to see you go, but prophecy can't wait forever."
"I thought you said that I could stay here a thousand years and still return to fight the remaining three." Shinji said as he sheathed the sword, narrowing his eyes at his friend and compatriot of three years.
"Oh, did I say that?"
"Yes...but it doesn't matter. I AM, ready to go home...to Misato, to Rei, to Toji and Kensuke, and to...to Asuka."
Abraham crossed over to Shinji and placed his hands on the boys shoulders.
"My boy...no, you're no longer a boy...all that you have been through, all that you have sacrificed has made you a man. A true warrior poet you are Shinji Ikari...and before you go, I have one last parting gift for you."
"What is it?"
"This will hurt a bit..." Abraham quickly chanted a few words and both Shinji and he were suddenly encased in a glow of blue-white light. A scream resonated throughout the void as Shinji felt his skin alongside his shoulderblades tearing open and the bone underneath spreading and reshaping into something new. A grind of metal followed by a what could only be described as a sword cutting trough a sheet of silk soon followed after the scream.
"I am sorry Shinji, but all things come with some, if even small, amounts of pain." Abraham said steping away and admiaring his handywork, with Gods blessing of course. Shinji said nothing at all, but instead reached out and grabbed one of the many floating white feathers that eminated from the pair of wings that sprouted from his back.
"I...I have wings like an angel. Why?"
"God has blessed you. And with blessings of great power upon the dead, he has made you an angel. Not a messenger, but a true angel."
Slowly, understanding and peace spread across Shinji's face, and with a small grimace of pain the wings retracted through the slots in his armor and reshaped themselves into his skin.
"Shinji...I wish you luck. Although I grieve that we became enemies out of necessity, I will remember our time here, and hope that you succede. Goodbye Shinji." The two beings clasped each others hands in a firm grip and hugged for a short amount of time before they both were overcome by another flash of light. Then they were gone.
"OH MY GOD!" Aoba Shigeru lept out of his seat in the once bustling command bridge and quickly rechecked all of the Magi's sensory readings. It was exactly three years since the last angel had dissapeared along with Shinji Ikari, and now if what he was reading was correct, there were two blue patterns showing up in the heart of Tokyo-3. He activated the citywide PA system and hit a large red button off to the side.
"Attention all civilian personell. Report to your underground shelters immediatly. I repeat, report to the shelters immediatly. TWO, REPEAT, TWO ANGELS HAVE BEEN CONFIRMED WITHIN TOKYO-3! ALL NERV PERSONELL RETURN TO BASE. THIS IS NO DRILL!"
Asuka Langley Sohryu, now aged seventeen and looking even more beatuiful and ravashing as ever stood on the building nearby which Unit 01 had stood three years earlier. She had heard the announcement and noticed all of the people leaving the area quickly and efficiently, but she did not leave. For across the strech of road and on buildings eaqually as tall as hers stood two beings wearing armor and carring heavy swords. One of the beings had wings of coal black feathers, and the other looked for all purposes as a man who came from the past.
Shinji stood on the building with his shining armor heating slowly in the warm afternoon sun. Underneath his shoulder greaves he had chosen to wear a ankel long, sleevless brown robe of a rough cotton. He slowly looked around to see if he still remembered everything about the world he had left from unwillingly, and in his glances he noticed one curious onlooker on a nearby skyscraper. The wind picked up then and whipped his shoulder long hair and his loose robe around to the left as it also carried over the voice of the messenger of God.
"So redeemed one. Do you care to fight for the fate of man again?" Called the black winged angel across the chasm of buildings. Turning his eyes away from the innocent person to the angel of the mind, he called back his reply challenge.
"Yes Jacob. I am ready to face you today. And today we finish the fight from three years before!"
Without another word Shinji ran from the center of the roof he was on and lept headfirst into the air.
Asuka shouted out in suprise as the armored man jumped into the air, and then tried to shout a warning to him about the winged being flying down and following him. What happened next suprised her enough to force her to her knees as she watched.
Shinji fell ten stories before he heard a scream echo from off of the concrete buildings beside him.
"That sounded like...like Asuka."
Immediatly he brought up the image of himself with the newly acquired wings to his foremind and was rewarded by a small twinge of pain followed by a rip of cloth as they shredded through the cotton robe. Spreading them wide he slowed his descent and rotated upwards just in time to catch the descending sword that had been aimed at his back. Sparks flew from the enjoined blades and the pair of angels, one fallen and one redeemed, fell rapidly to the ground.
"Fight me pure one. Fight for the lifes you failed to protect before!" Jacob taunted and goaded Shinji as they fell. Anger flared in Shinji's eyes, and something happened that startled the fallen angel immensly. The eyes of Shinji Ikari glazed over and became filled by a blue white flame that seeped out of the corners only to disperse a few centimeters away from their sources. Shinji spun his sword through the air and forced the two blades apart before coming back down across the armored breastplate of Jacob. The angel gave a shrill cry of pain as the edge cut cleanly and sharply across his left breast and then trailed down to his right ribcage. Blood the color of LCL flowed out of the wound as Shinji completed the downstroke and furiously flapped his angelic wings in order to slow his descent. Jacob, through the haze of pain, copied Shinji but both slammed hard enough into the ground to cause impressions of their boots to show in the asphalt.
"Not bad..." Jacob said sounding slightly strained as he licked his angelic blood coated fingers. "Not bad at all redeemed. But to kill me you must do better than that."
With the fire still curling slightly around the sides of his face, Shinji mearly nodded and raised up his sword into a defensive position. Then the two began to dance. Jacob led off with a sweeping cut down aimed at cleaving Shinji in two pieces, which was deftly blocked and diverted to the side were it only tore the robe that swirled around Shinji's feet. Shinji counterattacked by sweeping down at the exposed right shoulder and smiled grimly as it landed a decent, if glancing, blow that drew out more blood. The angel flapped his wings and was sent flying backwards down the deserted street, a trail of LCL following him.
"Come back HERE!"
Shinji unfurled his wings and sped quickly to rejoin the fight. With a skirl and clash of steel on steel, the two holy combatants met again and then broke apart. They floated silently five meters off of the ground for a good minute before they both broke in opposite directions flying as fast as they could. After a few seconds, both angels banked sharply and skimmed across the facade fronts of the skyscrapers surrounding them speeding for each other once again. With flashes of glinting metal too fast to be seen normally, the two swords met, sought an opening, and struck. Shinji and Jacob fell to the ground clutching their new wounds. For Shinji it was a long gash cutting alongside the length of his arm. For Jacob it was a painful pierce in his side that managed to go through his armor. His blood flowed freely and openly down his side and onto the ground below him. He knew instantly that he had been wounded mortally, and so forknowing his death he turned and faced his slayer.
"Rede-...Shinji."
The sudden change in his enemys voice caused the teenager to turn and look at the fallen angel. The coal feathers wilted even as Shinji looked at him, and then started falling off rapidly.
"You fight well Shinji...You sacrifice yourself for others, but two are still to come...As my brothers before, I now pass away and say this. In a different time...we could have...been...f-frie..n..ds."
Jacob collapsed to the ground with a metallic crash and a clatter from his sword. Shinji rushed to the angels side and rolled him over, the fires in his eyes curling back in on themselves and going out. But it was too late for more words...Jacob, the fifthteenth fallen messenger from God, was dead
"Go in peace brother. God forgive his sins."
Sheathing his sword and spreading his wings, Shinji lifted off of the ground and headed up to the place where he saw the curious onlooker. He reached the height of the building but saw no one there.
"Probably left to take shelter..." Shinji's line of thought was interrupted by the sudden shreek of rubber on pavement. Glancing down he saw the blue car Misato drove three years earlier pulled to a stop beside the dead messenger. Misato stepped out of the car with a few security men and moved over to the fallen body. From the same building Shinji stood on ran out a woman with red...hair.
"Asuka...no, no I can't let them see me as this. Not yet, not now."
He ran to the opposite side of the skyscraper and dropped off into the air below, speeding off to find some solitude in the mountians around Tokyo-3.
Nine days later...
"ASUKAAA! Your dates here and waiting for you!"
"'Kay! I'll be out in a minute." She replied cheerfully, even though tears ran down her face.
Asuka quickly wiped away the traces of her sadness and washed her face quickly with water. After making sure she looked normal after applying her makeup she stepped outside the bathroom and entered the livingroom. The young man by the name of Hyuka Rishtimayo stood and found himself unable to speak as he looked over his date, his eyes roaming over her furiously. Asuka gently smiled and struck a slight pose that within her nearly skintight dress showed off even more of her body. By now Hyuka was drooling.
"Pervert...but he almost looks like Shinji..."
"R-ready to go, Asuka?" Hyuka asked shifting nervously on his feet. She nodded affirmative and the pair started towards the door of the miraculously clean apartment when Misatos sing-song voice held them up.
"Auska. Can I see you for only a minute?"
"Sure Misato."
Leaving Hyuka at the door she stepped back into the kitchen where Misato was drinking a cup of tea. Slowly she stood up and held out her arms to the redheaded pilot, who quickly stepped into them and returned a hug.
"Now remember, no drinking...and-"
"Be back before one, Misato I know already."
"Good...one more thing. Take this." Misato reached into a cabinet nearby and removed a deadly looking pistol. Asuka shook her head and almost took a step back. Realizing what she was thinking Misato tried to controll her laughter.
"N-no silly...look, there's another angel loose somewhere and we can't find it. You may just run into him and he may have his field down."
"Misato?"
"Yeah?"
"Thats the stupidist thing I've heard in nearly a year."
Misato just laughed at that but still handed Asuka the weapon. She quickly placed it into her purse and left the apartment with her date, heading for the Senior Prom Dance at the school
Shinji walked slowly in the cool afternoon sunlight, occasional gusts of wind stiring up his unfettered hair and his slashed and tattered robes as the scabbard that held his sword bounced along his back as he walked aimlessly near the outskirts of Tokyo-3. As he walk his hand ran across the bloodstained bandage of his robe that he had applied to himself a few days ago. It hurt still but the pain could be ignored. As he walked he kept his eyes on the glinting skyline of Tokyo-3, still amazed that even after three years it was still as beautiful as he remembered.
"But its still not as beautiful as Asuka." Shinji said aloud, dropping his hands to the side and sighing deeply. He stopped walking and remained there long enough for the sun to sink behind the hills and for the stars to show. When he looked up again it was beacuse of the unnerving sensation that he was being watched. He drew out his sword with lightning speed and whirled around slashing it through the air behind him. He met and saw nothing, but the feeling remained with him. Seeing lights off in the distance to the right, Shinji decided that now would be a good time to see what rumors were going around about his fight. Even as he ran though, the feeling stuck to him.
The dance was not going well for Asuka. Twice the boy she was with tried to go further down her side than she wanted, and he also tried to kiss her on the dance floor. Needless to say she was feeling very pissed off and violated when she collapsed into a seat next to her longtime friend Hikari Horaki and her own boyfriend Toji Susahara. Over the years Toji and Asuka finally came to accept the fact that neither would back down or leave the city or die, despite all the wishes they made to that effect. And so, came to a mutual agreement to ignore each other for as much as possible. But today she was feeling testy.
"Asuka whats wrong?" Hikari asked looking concerned for her friend.
"Was it that attack last week?" Toji asked perceptivly, cutting to the root of her problems. Also over the years Toji had matured greatly, and managed to develop a keen sense of a persons thoughts and moods. Another thing Asuka hated about him being around her when she felt bad.
"Is it?" He pressed.
"YES! Yes...it is." Asuka shouted over the music at him. Several dancers nearby turned to look at the source of the shout, then turned away again as they saw who had shouted. Hyuka winced when he saw her shout and felt that it would be in his best intrest to leave before she noticed him again. He turned around and kept to the shadows as he slowly made his way over to the double doors leading out of the gym that the dance was being held in. Reaching the doors he blew a sigh of relief and glanced around.
"Excuse me."
The light musical voice made Hyuka jump a foot into the air and whirl around in a loose defense stance as he faced the speaker. He found his attacker to be nothing more than a young man with light gray hair and red eyes, strange colors yes but when you had classes with Rei Ayanami you became used to such strange colors on a person. He could even see a slight resembalance between the two.
"Y-yes?" Hyuka answered hesitantly, dropping his stance and adjusting the tuxedo he wore. That was another thing, the boy facing him wore no formal suit for the dance.
"I was just wondering if this was the school that all of the Evangelion pilots went to?"
"Yes. It is." He said exasperatedly, grinding his teeth as he looked away remebering his embaressment when Asuka had slapped him in the middle of the dance floor.
"Oh. Thank You."
Hyuka turned to respond to the polite comment but found himself flying backwards through the air and the double doors of the gym, a sharp pain eminating from the center of his sternum. He was dead before the first screams could leave the mouths of several dancers. The boy that killed him stepped calmly into the panicked crowd and smiled a dark evil smile. Asuka could only stare in horror as the boy with gray hair paled and became a luminescent white form resembaling a human. She dimly heard Hikari scream as the boy unfolded his pair of ink black wings and pulled out from his body a piece of light that reformed into a flaming sword of blue fire.
"Fear Lillim, for the angel of forms has come. NOW IS THE TIME FOR RECKONING! ALL SHALL BE SERVED BEFORE ME!!"
"I don't think so." Came a calm, reassuring voice from the shattered doors behind the angel.
"WHAATT?! Who DARES to defy my words?!" The sixteenth angel, Judas screamed as he whipped around to face the door. Standing there with the soft streetlights outlining and defining his form and cloths perfectly, stood Shinji Ikari. Only a few could see his face, but the angel had no trouble making out his opponents features.
"YOU!"
"Me." Shinji responded, willing for his eyes to let loose their fire. Several people fainted when the eyes of the armored man with the tattered robes eyes became filled with blue-white fire of their own. But Asuka did not. If anything she was fascinated by the fact and somehow felt that she knew the man at the doorway. With curls of fire nipping at his eyebrows, Shinji drew his sword and dropped into a ready stance. The angels sword dissapeared back into its body and in the instant that Shinji was stunned by this change of tactics he was railroaded from behind. Another glowing being with ink black wings like the first angel wrapped his arms firmly around Shinji's arms and locked its hands behind his head. Shinji knew a moment of fear and despair as the other angel rushed forward at a blinding speed to land a punch into his stomach armor. Steel cracked and bent underneath the hard first punch from the angel, and Shinji lost all of the breath inside of his lungs causing his head to spin and his hand to drop his sword. The angel punched twice more into his stomach, and on the third blow: blood came flying up into Shinji's mouth.
"And now Redeemed...you DIE!" The sneering face before Shinji proclaimed as its hand formed into a knife edge as it drew back alongside the ribcage of its wielder. Shinji's head drooped from the pain he was experiancing, but a strange sound brought it flying back up. Asuka had finally regained enough of her senses to draw her pistol and shoot at one of the black winged angels holding onto the unidentified man between them. She was not suprised too much when the bullet was stopped by an AT Field.
"I knew it wouldn't work. Sorry Misato, this may be my last fight." She thought wildly to herself.
The angel however, was furious that a Lilim would interrupt his glorious victory against the one who had killed so many of his kin.
"FOOLISH MORTAL!" It screamed as the opposite arm flew out and streached to immpossibly long lengths to strike Asuka squarely in the face. She flew back several feet and rolled along the floor, clutching at the painful spot alongside her jaw. Shinji saw the flash of red in the girls hair, and rationallized quickly that only Asuka or Rei would even think about carrying a weapon to the school dance. And that made him angry.
"You...BAASSSTTTAAAAARRRRRD!"
And with an eruption of blue white fire, Shinji released his wings to their full length of ten feet and grabbed the angel that had struck Asuka. Becasue of his sudden wing release, the second angel was sent flying backwards into the wall behind the trio; the outer wall behind the area where the angel struck started to crack violently when he hit. But the first angel would not get off so luckly. Grabbing the undersides of its arms he flapped his wings forcefully against the air and propelled them heavenward. The angel screamed and thrashed violently as the blue aura of flames that now surrounded Shinji was pressed tight against his skin. Smoke the color of blood curled away from the points of contact and the angel punched Shinji desperatly in its attempt to free itself. Soon its wish was granted, but not in the way it wanted. When the pair had reached the ceiling of the building Shinji deftly released his prisoner and flipped nimbly in the air, catching hold of the two black wings instead. With a cry of agony that shattered several windows along the top of the gym, the two symbols of a fallen angel were parted with their owner and consumed by a burst of flames emintaing from Shinji before they died out. The dessicated angel fell helplessly to the hard floor below him, and landed with a sicking crunch of bone and another cry of pain. Shinji dropped down next to his sword and quickly made his way over to the angel, intent on ending its existance before another could be hurt. He dropped into a run and closed the distance between himself and the angel, and was almost within the absolute kill range of his weapon when his quarrys body intensified into a beam of light that shot out to the impression in the cement wall. The light connected with the unconsious angel laying their and engulfed it totally. When it dimmed enough for Shinji to see, the angel was standing up slowly and flexing its hands.
"Well, well...almost had me there. But I will not die so EASILY!" Both arms lanced up and out towards Shinji, their hands becoming shapeless forms of light that split off into dozens of strands that raced for him.
"SHIIITTTT!"
Shinji flapped furiously in an attempt to evade most of the strands, and used the sword to deflect others that came too close. But one strand was heading for the unmoving form of Asuka nearby.
"ASUKAAAA!"
With no way to deflect the strand he chose his only other option. Asuka slowly reganed a semblance of a working mind when she heard a sicking crunch closeby to her.
Shinji felt pain that was to say unbelivable to experiance. Nothing in his life, not in Eva, not before, not after, had he ever felt anything remotly like this. The stream of the angel had cleanly shot through his armor and entered his lower right ribs. The pain numbed his hands and his legs, which buckled beneath him letting him sink to the floor with a grind of metal. His sword fell once more to the floor from his numbed fingers and landed amongst the small pool of blood that was running from his wounds.
"I've...I've failed once again..."
"YES! DIE REDEEMED ONE! YOU HAVE FOUGHT FOR NOTHING! ALL OF MANKIND WILL BE JUDGED AND NO ONE CAN STOP THE APOCALYPSE!" The angel cried maniacly as he retracted his sliver of essence from Shinji's broken form. As Shinji fell forward he was caught by a pair of strong arms that wrapped around him. The arms pulled him against the body they were attached to, and then laid him down across the persons lap. Through the haze of pain he could make out a pair of blue eyes and a long length of soft, silky, red hair that gently brushed and tickled his nose. He also felt a drop of liquid on his face and felt that he himself was also crying.
"Asuka..." Shinji reached up with a hand and tried to touch his loves face. He found his strength flagging only halfway their though and wondered if he would never be able to touch her when she suddnely took his hand in hers and pulled up alongside her cheek, letting him carress the smooth and soft flesh gently as she carefully held him close against her body.
"Sh-Shinji...I...I lov-" Asuka was gently silenced by his fingers coming across her lips. The angel nearby made gagging gestures as he turned away and headed off to complete his mission of contacting Adam. His forehead came into close contact with the barrel of Asuka's pistol and he could only look at the weilder, Toji Susahara, with confusion and fear evident on his face.
"Block this!" Toji shouted as he pulled back on the trigger, sending a 9mm slug boring directly into the skull and then out again. The angel collapsed on the floor, his face still registering shock at his sudden end.
To be continued...
Phionex of the Fallen notes: Man, this was an interesting fic to write. This is actually the first one that I will have finished and sent out to the community for reviews. I do have several other fics (including some non Eva ones) in varying degrees of completeion written up and I may decide to release those at any time. After this one I will probably put out my big project: Wishfull Thinking. And I must say that the writing style differs slightly from this one so I urge you to look for that and read it as well. All of my fics are inspired by Evangelion: Made by those blessed people who work and own Ganaix. Damn, now how the hell much was it to buy the thing? I also think that Ganaix should sell out a liscence to collaborations of fanfic writers to come up with alternate book storylines (okay what the hell time in the morning was it that I came up with this shit?). Next episode: Asuka and Shinji, Shinji and Shinji's Inner Voice, Toji and Hikari, Kensuke and...REI? As well as the final angel.
P.S.: The part where Toji Kills the Angel? Well think the Matrix...If the agents in the Martix can dodge the bullets when they have some distance between the shooter, then they aren't hit...but get up close and personal...So I think that an AT Field can only deflect those hits and shots given a certian amount of distance between the angels flesh and the object of impact. Okay, so I am rambling...people do say that I am eccentric...SHUT UP!!
Phionex of the Fallen
All characters are owned by (insert owners name here) and not by (insert fanfic authors Psuedonym here). All original storylines for the series are not owned by said author and he has made up this story you are about to read himself. Don't sue me, were not worthy. (Note: Creators of Waynes World please do not sue me either.)
Asuka, My Love.
"NO, NO DON'T LOOK INTO MY MIIIIIIINNNNNNNNDDDDDD!"
Shinji gripped the handles inside Eva Unit 01's entry plug until he felt sure that his knuckels were white from the force he exerted.
"FATHER! LET ME GO UP AND FIGHT!" He pleded with the remorseless man who sired him.
"No, apparently this angel has the ability to contaminate a pilots mind. We cannot risk exposing Unit 01."
"And what about Asuka?" Misato Katsuragi asked from lower down on the command bridge.
"Send Rei to retrieve the Lance."
"A spear? What the hell is a spear going to do to help Asuka." Shinjis thoughts echoed wildly in his mind, he had to protect Asuka, because even though he never showed it to anyone, even her; he cared and dare say loved the firey girl more than anything else in the world. He dropped his head and repeated his litany once more in his mind. He needed it now more than ever to help gather his meager amount of courage and strength.
"I musn't run away. I musn't run away. I MUSN'T RUN AWAY!!......................................................I won't...I will not run away when Asuka needs me the most." Shinji opened his eyes and stared at his guardian and friend for the past four months of his life. Out of all the people gathered on that bridge, she was the one who deserved to hear him once more before he left.
"Misato."
The sudden calmness of Shinji's voice caused everyone on the bustling command bridge to stop their frantic efforts and stare at the steely eyed boy who carried the weight of humanity on his shoulders more than once.
"Y...yes, Shinji?"
"Goodbye, my friend. I will miss you. Tell Asuka...tell her that I love her." With that, the signel cut off and Eva Unit 01 activated within its steel prison.
Asuka curled herself up within the entry plug, she had tried to block the intrusive probes into her past and memories; but she couldn't stop the attack. She felt violated, filthy, unclean and soiled.
"...help me...please, Kaji help me..." Silent tears rolled off her cheek and landed in her lap, slowly diluted by the LCL that filled her lungs and the entry plug. She didn't know what was left for her to do...except wait for death. But death did not come; Eva 01, however, did. With a crash and the feeling of having a dagger pulled out of her temple, Asuka looked up to find herself out of the horrible beam of light and in the soft rain coming from the gray clouds above. She cryed harder when she saw the figure that now occupied her place in that light, the light of a vengeful God...Shinji stood there, bathed in that soft light within the cold outer shell of Evangelion Unit 01.
"Sh--Shinji...you came...came to s-save me." Several more tears rolled from her eyes as she stared at the motionless from of the one she silently loved. Then without warning, the light dissapeared from the sky, leaving Unit 01 dark and menacing in the rain that poured down on it from above. Her systems flared to life, and Misato's face and voice appeared in one of her communication lines.
"...Asuka!...Asuka! You're alive, thank God! Are you alright?"
"I-I'm fine...What about Shinji? What happened to him and the angel?" She asked, a faint glimmer of regret and concern appearing in her eyes. Much to Misatos regret, she saw these glimmers and was forced to cast her eyes and head down.
"Misato! What...happened to him?"
"He's gone. Everything, him...and even his plugsuit. Ritsuko says that the analisis of the LCL reads negative...I'm so sorry Asuka."
Fresh tears of sadness and regret flowed down her cheeks, and she made no attempt to hide them as she sobbed aloud in the entry plug.
"Asuka..." Misato waited until the sobs abided and those ice blue eyes of the German girl raised up enough for her to see them. "He told me something before he left...he said...Tell Asuka that I-I love her..."
"..."
"Retreval crew are coming for you Asuka...I'm sorry."
The plug went dark as the entry plug shut down in preperation to be ejected. And all Asuka could think about was all the times she had scorned him, rejected him, insulted him...she started once more to cry in the plug.
"Where am I?" Shinji Ikari said aloud in the solid white room he lay in. No answer came. Wondering how he got there, he stood on the plane of nothingness that he found himself laying on and slowly looked around at his surroundings. Vast emptyness surrounded him, stretching for endless amounts of infinity in every direction man could percive.
"How did I get here?" He asked the air softly.
"You died."
Shinji jumped at the sudden voice behind him, and spun around in the void to face the speaker.
"Who are you?!" He demanded of the speaker.
"I am an angel."
"What?"
Shinji stepped back and looked at the small boy that looked to be around his age. The boy had gray hair and red eyes, with a slight build of musculature on his thin frame. He also had a pair of black feathered wings that streached a good twenty feet across the void.
"Well, a fallen messenger to be more precise. My name is Abraham, although you lilim call me the third angel."
"The third?..but, I killed...you?"
"Yes, and I died. This, however, is not heaven so don't think for one second that it is."
"Then, is it hell?"
"NO! No, its not...This is a pocket void. A place of storage and of solitude for those who seek it."
"Why am I here?" Shinji gestured with his hands.
"You are here to prepare yourself Shinji Ikari. You are here to finish your fight with the last angel, Jacob."
"More fighting?" Shinji's legs buckled underneath him and he slumped down into a sitting position. "I'm tired of fighting...it got me nothing and...and, oh what could you know about my troubles?"
"I know that you left a loved one behind, and so does God. That is why you were given a second chance to return and fight." Abraham folded in his wings to the sides and helped Shinji to his feet. "And that's why I'm here to help you."
"Asuka...its been nearly two months...please, talk to me?" Misato Katsuragi stood outside the door of what used to be Shinji's room. Ever since the last angel dissapeared along with Shinji, Asuka had taken up sleeping in his room, moving nothing and touching very little. Sometimes Misato could hear her crying in the deep hours of night, it hurt a lot for her to listen. Not that she hadn't had her own problems too. A week after he had left, she became so drunk that she was poisoned by the alcohal. Only Asuka's quick thinking and fast driving had saved her from an untimely death. Misato had been sober for a month and a half now.
"Asuka, I'm coming in...alright?"
The door slid back to reveal Asuka sitting on the side of Shinji's bed, looking at a small picture in a silver frame. A small glint of light fell from her face to land quietly on the glass cover of the picture.
"She's crying again." Misato thought with pity.
"Why?"
"Asuka, why what?"
"Why didn't he tell me sooner...why didn't he TELL ME?!" Asuka shouted the last two words and looked at her friend and guardian. Misato grimaced slightly as she saw the dark rings under her 15 year old ward's eyes. Soon those eyes teared over again, and she collapsed inward shaking with sobs. Misato quickly rushed over to her side and wrapped her in a warm embrace, the pair stayed that way for nearly two hours; slowly rocking back and forward.
"Shinji Ikari, this place will be the center of your world until you are ready to return and fight Jacob, if that takes you a year, two, or even a thousand; you will have to return to the world of the living and fight him."
"With what? The Eva? A lot of good the Eva did for me and Asuka when we fought him the last time!"
"No, no the Evangelions will no longer be needed to fight the last three angels."
"You sound sure of yourself." Shinji muttered sarcasticly as he once again sank to his knees and tried to remember Asuka.
"And God decreed that the last three mesengers of fate would take the forms of men, and they would be fought by a man of truth and valor if one could be found and brought forth. And this man would carry tools of his own make, and use them to fight the three, until he died...or until they failed. Do you know where that comes from Shinji?"
"No, but you're going to answer that aren't you?"
"Yes...it comes from the Dead Sea Scrolls...the same scrolls that made your father search for Adam, the same scrolls that made a three thousand year old society fund a small paramilitary organization and armed them with the false Adams: the Evangelions."
"So all of my actions were planned out on a piece of three thousand year old paper...then why am I dead?"
"The scrolls never said the man was alive."
Both Shinji and Abraham stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity, soon though, Shinji rose to his feet and asked the fallen messenger a question.
"If I go back, will I be able to stay until my natural death?"
"Your life will be restored to you, and your ressurection will return you to what your natural body would look like if it had never dissapeared." Abraham assured Shinji. Shinji looked at his sneakered feet for a moment and then back up at Abraham.
"I'll do it." He held out his hand and was met by a firm, warm grasp from the angel. "But...how will I fight him? I have no tools or weapons on me?"
"That is because you must make them first." Abraham gestured behind Shinji, who upon turning around found himself looking into an anchient blacksmiths shop from the thirteenth century. "You'll need to make yourself a decent set of armor...not to mention a strong sword."
It had been two and a half years since the boy known as Shinji Ikari had dissapeared in the human creation Evangelion. Asuka regretted every hour of that time because of what she and he had failed to do. Now, standing on the roof of the building next to which both she and he had been attacked by the fifthteenth angel, Asuka Langely Sohryu silently looked at the empty space where Unit 01 had stood before.
"Shinji," She called out softly. "I'm sorry that I treated you the way I did. I'm sorry that I didn't pay closer attention to you. And I'm sorry that we never talked to each other when we both knew that we loved each other. I still love you Shinji, you'll always be my one and only Baka...I just wish that I could see you again..." She stopped talking at this point and started to cry her silent, remorseful tears of anguish.
Shinji ducked and pivoted on the balls of his feet, quickly swinging around to face his imaginary opponent in the vast void of the pocket dimension. Moving quickly and with the speed drilled into his taller and heavily muscled frame of nearly three years, he thrust and spun his finely forged sword through the white null of his existance. He flipped easily into the air and landed as gracefully and as silently as a cat back on his feet, facing the opposite direction and raising his sword to block an imaginary downcut of his false opponents blade. He crouched when he completed the movement and brought his swords blade down in a arcing sweep to his foes midsection. Sweat dripped from his nose as he stood still in the final stage of the movement, his muscles not moving the tip a millimeter. A sudden clapping brought him back to the situation at present.
"Bravo, bravo Shinji. That was most excellent, does the armor slow you down at all?" Abraham asked as he approached from the side of infinite space. As the lad of 17 shook his head from side to side, Abraham could only note how much more the boy had matured while he was trapped in the void. Shinji had grown quite a deal in the three years since his death, and his 5' 10" frame was now covered by a swarth of muscle from the daily workouts he had endured for nearly a year. His hair had grown out a length too, nearly reaching the middle of his shoulderblades and bound up by a piece of leather to put it in a controlled ponytail. Another stark contrast to the 14 year old who died what seemed like so long ago was the shined and gleaming armor that covered his shoulders, chest, stomach, and back.
"He looks a lot like Ryoji Kaji with that stubble too." Abraham noted silently as he watched Shinji run his hands over the four days worth that had collected on his face. "Well, I do belive that now is the time for you to decide what to do next."
"What do you mean Abraham?" Shinji said in a neutral, controlled voice.
"If you are ready, you can return at any time. But you must decide when."
"You mean, I can return? Now?"
"Yes...I hate to see you go, but prophecy can't wait forever."
"I thought you said that I could stay here a thousand years and still return to fight the remaining three." Shinji said as he sheathed the sword, narrowing his eyes at his friend and compatriot of three years.
"Oh, did I say that?"
"Yes...but it doesn't matter. I AM, ready to go home...to Misato, to Rei, to Toji and Kensuke, and to...to Asuka."
Abraham crossed over to Shinji and placed his hands on the boys shoulders.
"My boy...no, you're no longer a boy...all that you have been through, all that you have sacrificed has made you a man. A true warrior poet you are Shinji Ikari...and before you go, I have one last parting gift for you."
"What is it?"
"This will hurt a bit..." Abraham quickly chanted a few words and both Shinji and he were suddenly encased in a glow of blue-white light. A scream resonated throughout the void as Shinji felt his skin alongside his shoulderblades tearing open and the bone underneath spreading and reshaping into something new. A grind of metal followed by a what could only be described as a sword cutting trough a sheet of silk soon followed after the scream.
"I am sorry Shinji, but all things come with some, if even small, amounts of pain." Abraham said steping away and admiaring his handywork, with Gods blessing of course. Shinji said nothing at all, but instead reached out and grabbed one of the many floating white feathers that eminated from the pair of wings that sprouted from his back.
"I...I have wings like an angel. Why?"
"God has blessed you. And with blessings of great power upon the dead, he has made you an angel. Not a messenger, but a true angel."
Slowly, understanding and peace spread across Shinji's face, and with a small grimace of pain the wings retracted through the slots in his armor and reshaped themselves into his skin.
"Shinji...I wish you luck. Although I grieve that we became enemies out of necessity, I will remember our time here, and hope that you succede. Goodbye Shinji." The two beings clasped each others hands in a firm grip and hugged for a short amount of time before they both were overcome by another flash of light. Then they were gone.
"OH MY GOD!" Aoba Shigeru lept out of his seat in the once bustling command bridge and quickly rechecked all of the Magi's sensory readings. It was exactly three years since the last angel had dissapeared along with Shinji Ikari, and now if what he was reading was correct, there were two blue patterns showing up in the heart of Tokyo-3. He activated the citywide PA system and hit a large red button off to the side.
"Attention all civilian personell. Report to your underground shelters immediatly. I repeat, report to the shelters immediatly. TWO, REPEAT, TWO ANGELS HAVE BEEN CONFIRMED WITHIN TOKYO-3! ALL NERV PERSONELL RETURN TO BASE. THIS IS NO DRILL!"
Asuka Langley Sohryu, now aged seventeen and looking even more beatuiful and ravashing as ever stood on the building nearby which Unit 01 had stood three years earlier. She had heard the announcement and noticed all of the people leaving the area quickly and efficiently, but she did not leave. For across the strech of road and on buildings eaqually as tall as hers stood two beings wearing armor and carring heavy swords. One of the beings had wings of coal black feathers, and the other looked for all purposes as a man who came from the past.
Shinji stood on the building with his shining armor heating slowly in the warm afternoon sun. Underneath his shoulder greaves he had chosen to wear a ankel long, sleevless brown robe of a rough cotton. He slowly looked around to see if he still remembered everything about the world he had left from unwillingly, and in his glances he noticed one curious onlooker on a nearby skyscraper. The wind picked up then and whipped his shoulder long hair and his loose robe around to the left as it also carried over the voice of the messenger of God.
"So redeemed one. Do you care to fight for the fate of man again?" Called the black winged angel across the chasm of buildings. Turning his eyes away from the innocent person to the angel of the mind, he called back his reply challenge.
"Yes Jacob. I am ready to face you today. And today we finish the fight from three years before!"
Without another word Shinji ran from the center of the roof he was on and lept headfirst into the air.
Asuka shouted out in suprise as the armored man jumped into the air, and then tried to shout a warning to him about the winged being flying down and following him. What happened next suprised her enough to force her to her knees as she watched.
Shinji fell ten stories before he heard a scream echo from off of the concrete buildings beside him.
"That sounded like...like Asuka."
Immediatly he brought up the image of himself with the newly acquired wings to his foremind and was rewarded by a small twinge of pain followed by a rip of cloth as they shredded through the cotton robe. Spreading them wide he slowed his descent and rotated upwards just in time to catch the descending sword that had been aimed at his back. Sparks flew from the enjoined blades and the pair of angels, one fallen and one redeemed, fell rapidly to the ground.
"Fight me pure one. Fight for the lifes you failed to protect before!" Jacob taunted and goaded Shinji as they fell. Anger flared in Shinji's eyes, and something happened that startled the fallen angel immensly. The eyes of Shinji Ikari glazed over and became filled by a blue white flame that seeped out of the corners only to disperse a few centimeters away from their sources. Shinji spun his sword through the air and forced the two blades apart before coming back down across the armored breastplate of Jacob. The angel gave a shrill cry of pain as the edge cut cleanly and sharply across his left breast and then trailed down to his right ribcage. Blood the color of LCL flowed out of the wound as Shinji completed the downstroke and furiously flapped his angelic wings in order to slow his descent. Jacob, through the haze of pain, copied Shinji but both slammed hard enough into the ground to cause impressions of their boots to show in the asphalt.
"Not bad..." Jacob said sounding slightly strained as he licked his angelic blood coated fingers. "Not bad at all redeemed. But to kill me you must do better than that."
With the fire still curling slightly around the sides of his face, Shinji mearly nodded and raised up his sword into a defensive position. Then the two began to dance. Jacob led off with a sweeping cut down aimed at cleaving Shinji in two pieces, which was deftly blocked and diverted to the side were it only tore the robe that swirled around Shinji's feet. Shinji counterattacked by sweeping down at the exposed right shoulder and smiled grimly as it landed a decent, if glancing, blow that drew out more blood. The angel flapped his wings and was sent flying backwards down the deserted street, a trail of LCL following him.
"Come back HERE!"
Shinji unfurled his wings and sped quickly to rejoin the fight. With a skirl and clash of steel on steel, the two holy combatants met again and then broke apart. They floated silently five meters off of the ground for a good minute before they both broke in opposite directions flying as fast as they could. After a few seconds, both angels banked sharply and skimmed across the facade fronts of the skyscrapers surrounding them speeding for each other once again. With flashes of glinting metal too fast to be seen normally, the two swords met, sought an opening, and struck. Shinji and Jacob fell to the ground clutching their new wounds. For Shinji it was a long gash cutting alongside the length of his arm. For Jacob it was a painful pierce in his side that managed to go through his armor. His blood flowed freely and openly down his side and onto the ground below him. He knew instantly that he had been wounded mortally, and so forknowing his death he turned and faced his slayer.
"Rede-...Shinji."
The sudden change in his enemys voice caused the teenager to turn and look at the fallen angel. The coal feathers wilted even as Shinji looked at him, and then started falling off rapidly.
"You fight well Shinji...You sacrifice yourself for others, but two are still to come...As my brothers before, I now pass away and say this. In a different time...we could have...been...f-frie..n..ds."
Jacob collapsed to the ground with a metallic crash and a clatter from his sword. Shinji rushed to the angels side and rolled him over, the fires in his eyes curling back in on themselves and going out. But it was too late for more words...Jacob, the fifthteenth fallen messenger from God, was dead
"Go in peace brother. God forgive his sins."
Sheathing his sword and spreading his wings, Shinji lifted off of the ground and headed up to the place where he saw the curious onlooker. He reached the height of the building but saw no one there.
"Probably left to take shelter..." Shinji's line of thought was interrupted by the sudden shreek of rubber on pavement. Glancing down he saw the blue car Misato drove three years earlier pulled to a stop beside the dead messenger. Misato stepped out of the car with a few security men and moved over to the fallen body. From the same building Shinji stood on ran out a woman with red...hair.
"Asuka...no, no I can't let them see me as this. Not yet, not now."
He ran to the opposite side of the skyscraper and dropped off into the air below, speeding off to find some solitude in the mountians around Tokyo-3.
Nine days later...
"ASUKAAA! Your dates here and waiting for you!"
"'Kay! I'll be out in a minute." She replied cheerfully, even though tears ran down her face.
Asuka quickly wiped away the traces of her sadness and washed her face quickly with water. After making sure she looked normal after applying her makeup she stepped outside the bathroom and entered the livingroom. The young man by the name of Hyuka Rishtimayo stood and found himself unable to speak as he looked over his date, his eyes roaming over her furiously. Asuka gently smiled and struck a slight pose that within her nearly skintight dress showed off even more of her body. By now Hyuka was drooling.
"Pervert...but he almost looks like Shinji..."
"R-ready to go, Asuka?" Hyuka asked shifting nervously on his feet. She nodded affirmative and the pair started towards the door of the miraculously clean apartment when Misatos sing-song voice held them up.
"Auska. Can I see you for only a minute?"
"Sure Misato."
Leaving Hyuka at the door she stepped back into the kitchen where Misato was drinking a cup of tea. Slowly she stood up and held out her arms to the redheaded pilot, who quickly stepped into them and returned a hug.
"Now remember, no drinking...and-"
"Be back before one, Misato I know already."
"Good...one more thing. Take this." Misato reached into a cabinet nearby and removed a deadly looking pistol. Asuka shook her head and almost took a step back. Realizing what she was thinking Misato tried to controll her laughter.
"N-no silly...look, there's another angel loose somewhere and we can't find it. You may just run into him and he may have his field down."
"Misato?"
"Yeah?"
"Thats the stupidist thing I've heard in nearly a year."
Misato just laughed at that but still handed Asuka the weapon. She quickly placed it into her purse and left the apartment with her date, heading for the Senior Prom Dance at the school
Shinji walked slowly in the cool afternoon sunlight, occasional gusts of wind stiring up his unfettered hair and his slashed and tattered robes as the scabbard that held his sword bounced along his back as he walked aimlessly near the outskirts of Tokyo-3. As he walk his hand ran across the bloodstained bandage of his robe that he had applied to himself a few days ago. It hurt still but the pain could be ignored. As he walked he kept his eyes on the glinting skyline of Tokyo-3, still amazed that even after three years it was still as beautiful as he remembered.
"But its still not as beautiful as Asuka." Shinji said aloud, dropping his hands to the side and sighing deeply. He stopped walking and remained there long enough for the sun to sink behind the hills and for the stars to show. When he looked up again it was beacuse of the unnerving sensation that he was being watched. He drew out his sword with lightning speed and whirled around slashing it through the air behind him. He met and saw nothing, but the feeling remained with him. Seeing lights off in the distance to the right, Shinji decided that now would be a good time to see what rumors were going around about his fight. Even as he ran though, the feeling stuck to him.
The dance was not going well for Asuka. Twice the boy she was with tried to go further down her side than she wanted, and he also tried to kiss her on the dance floor. Needless to say she was feeling very pissed off and violated when she collapsed into a seat next to her longtime friend Hikari Horaki and her own boyfriend Toji Susahara. Over the years Toji and Asuka finally came to accept the fact that neither would back down or leave the city or die, despite all the wishes they made to that effect. And so, came to a mutual agreement to ignore each other for as much as possible. But today she was feeling testy.
"Asuka whats wrong?" Hikari asked looking concerned for her friend.
"Was it that attack last week?" Toji asked perceptivly, cutting to the root of her problems. Also over the years Toji had matured greatly, and managed to develop a keen sense of a persons thoughts and moods. Another thing Asuka hated about him being around her when she felt bad.
"Is it?" He pressed.
"YES! Yes...it is." Asuka shouted over the music at him. Several dancers nearby turned to look at the source of the shout, then turned away again as they saw who had shouted. Hyuka winced when he saw her shout and felt that it would be in his best intrest to leave before she noticed him again. He turned around and kept to the shadows as he slowly made his way over to the double doors leading out of the gym that the dance was being held in. Reaching the doors he blew a sigh of relief and glanced around.
"Excuse me."
The light musical voice made Hyuka jump a foot into the air and whirl around in a loose defense stance as he faced the speaker. He found his attacker to be nothing more than a young man with light gray hair and red eyes, strange colors yes but when you had classes with Rei Ayanami you became used to such strange colors on a person. He could even see a slight resembalance between the two.
"Y-yes?" Hyuka answered hesitantly, dropping his stance and adjusting the tuxedo he wore. That was another thing, the boy facing him wore no formal suit for the dance.
"I was just wondering if this was the school that all of the Evangelion pilots went to?"
"Yes. It is." He said exasperatedly, grinding his teeth as he looked away remebering his embaressment when Asuka had slapped him in the middle of the dance floor.
"Oh. Thank You."
Hyuka turned to respond to the polite comment but found himself flying backwards through the air and the double doors of the gym, a sharp pain eminating from the center of his sternum. He was dead before the first screams could leave the mouths of several dancers. The boy that killed him stepped calmly into the panicked crowd and smiled a dark evil smile. Asuka could only stare in horror as the boy with gray hair paled and became a luminescent white form resembaling a human. She dimly heard Hikari scream as the boy unfolded his pair of ink black wings and pulled out from his body a piece of light that reformed into a flaming sword of blue fire.
"Fear Lillim, for the angel of forms has come. NOW IS THE TIME FOR RECKONING! ALL SHALL BE SERVED BEFORE ME!!"
"I don't think so." Came a calm, reassuring voice from the shattered doors behind the angel.
"WHAATT?! Who DARES to defy my words?!" The sixteenth angel, Judas screamed as he whipped around to face the door. Standing there with the soft streetlights outlining and defining his form and cloths perfectly, stood Shinji Ikari. Only a few could see his face, but the angel had no trouble making out his opponents features.
"YOU!"
"Me." Shinji responded, willing for his eyes to let loose their fire. Several people fainted when the eyes of the armored man with the tattered robes eyes became filled with blue-white fire of their own. But Asuka did not. If anything she was fascinated by the fact and somehow felt that she knew the man at the doorway. With curls of fire nipping at his eyebrows, Shinji drew his sword and dropped into a ready stance. The angels sword dissapeared back into its body and in the instant that Shinji was stunned by this change of tactics he was railroaded from behind. Another glowing being with ink black wings like the first angel wrapped his arms firmly around Shinji's arms and locked its hands behind his head. Shinji knew a moment of fear and despair as the other angel rushed forward at a blinding speed to land a punch into his stomach armor. Steel cracked and bent underneath the hard first punch from the angel, and Shinji lost all of the breath inside of his lungs causing his head to spin and his hand to drop his sword. The angel punched twice more into his stomach, and on the third blow: blood came flying up into Shinji's mouth.
"And now Redeemed...you DIE!" The sneering face before Shinji proclaimed as its hand formed into a knife edge as it drew back alongside the ribcage of its wielder. Shinji's head drooped from the pain he was experiancing, but a strange sound brought it flying back up. Asuka had finally regained enough of her senses to draw her pistol and shoot at one of the black winged angels holding onto the unidentified man between them. She was not suprised too much when the bullet was stopped by an AT Field.
"I knew it wouldn't work. Sorry Misato, this may be my last fight." She thought wildly to herself.
The angel however, was furious that a Lilim would interrupt his glorious victory against the one who had killed so many of his kin.
"FOOLISH MORTAL!" It screamed as the opposite arm flew out and streached to immpossibly long lengths to strike Asuka squarely in the face. She flew back several feet and rolled along the floor, clutching at the painful spot alongside her jaw. Shinji saw the flash of red in the girls hair, and rationallized quickly that only Asuka or Rei would even think about carrying a weapon to the school dance. And that made him angry.
"You...BAASSSTTTAAAAARRRRRD!"
And with an eruption of blue white fire, Shinji released his wings to their full length of ten feet and grabbed the angel that had struck Asuka. Becasue of his sudden wing release, the second angel was sent flying backwards into the wall behind the trio; the outer wall behind the area where the angel struck started to crack violently when he hit. But the first angel would not get off so luckly. Grabbing the undersides of its arms he flapped his wings forcefully against the air and propelled them heavenward. The angel screamed and thrashed violently as the blue aura of flames that now surrounded Shinji was pressed tight against his skin. Smoke the color of blood curled away from the points of contact and the angel punched Shinji desperatly in its attempt to free itself. Soon its wish was granted, but not in the way it wanted. When the pair had reached the ceiling of the building Shinji deftly released his prisoner and flipped nimbly in the air, catching hold of the two black wings instead. With a cry of agony that shattered several windows along the top of the gym, the two symbols of a fallen angel were parted with their owner and consumed by a burst of flames emintaing from Shinji before they died out. The dessicated angel fell helplessly to the hard floor below him, and landed with a sicking crunch of bone and another cry of pain. Shinji dropped down next to his sword and quickly made his way over to the angel, intent on ending its existance before another could be hurt. He dropped into a run and closed the distance between himself and the angel, and was almost within the absolute kill range of his weapon when his quarrys body intensified into a beam of light that shot out to the impression in the cement wall. The light connected with the unconsious angel laying their and engulfed it totally. When it dimmed enough for Shinji to see, the angel was standing up slowly and flexing its hands.
"Well, well...almost had me there. But I will not die so EASILY!" Both arms lanced up and out towards Shinji, their hands becoming shapeless forms of light that split off into dozens of strands that raced for him.
"SHIIITTTT!"
Shinji flapped furiously in an attempt to evade most of the strands, and used the sword to deflect others that came too close. But one strand was heading for the unmoving form of Asuka nearby.
"ASUKAAAA!"
With no way to deflect the strand he chose his only other option. Asuka slowly reganed a semblance of a working mind when she heard a sicking crunch closeby to her.
Shinji felt pain that was to say unbelivable to experiance. Nothing in his life, not in Eva, not before, not after, had he ever felt anything remotly like this. The stream of the angel had cleanly shot through his armor and entered his lower right ribs. The pain numbed his hands and his legs, which buckled beneath him letting him sink to the floor with a grind of metal. His sword fell once more to the floor from his numbed fingers and landed amongst the small pool of blood that was running from his wounds.
"I've...I've failed once again..."
"YES! DIE REDEEMED ONE! YOU HAVE FOUGHT FOR NOTHING! ALL OF MANKIND WILL BE JUDGED AND NO ONE CAN STOP THE APOCALYPSE!" The angel cried maniacly as he retracted his sliver of essence from Shinji's broken form. As Shinji fell forward he was caught by a pair of strong arms that wrapped around him. The arms pulled him against the body they were attached to, and then laid him down across the persons lap. Through the haze of pain he could make out a pair of blue eyes and a long length of soft, silky, red hair that gently brushed and tickled his nose. He also felt a drop of liquid on his face and felt that he himself was also crying.
"Asuka..." Shinji reached up with a hand and tried to touch his loves face. He found his strength flagging only halfway their though and wondered if he would never be able to touch her when she suddnely took his hand in hers and pulled up alongside her cheek, letting him carress the smooth and soft flesh gently as she carefully held him close against her body.
"Sh-Shinji...I...I lov-" Asuka was gently silenced by his fingers coming across her lips. The angel nearby made gagging gestures as he turned away and headed off to complete his mission of contacting Adam. His forehead came into close contact with the barrel of Asuka's pistol and he could only look at the weilder, Toji Susahara, with confusion and fear evident on his face.
"Block this!" Toji shouted as he pulled back on the trigger, sending a 9mm slug boring directly into the skull and then out again. The angel collapsed on the floor, his face still registering shock at his sudden end.
To be continued...
Phionex of the Fallen notes: Man, this was an interesting fic to write. This is actually the first one that I will have finished and sent out to the community for reviews. I do have several other fics (including some non Eva ones) in varying degrees of completeion written up and I may decide to release those at any time. After this one I will probably put out my big project: Wishfull Thinking. And I must say that the writing style differs slightly from this one so I urge you to look for that and read it as well. All of my fics are inspired by Evangelion: Made by those blessed people who work and own Ganaix. Damn, now how the hell much was it to buy the thing? I also think that Ganaix should sell out a liscence to collaborations of fanfic writers to come up with alternate book storylines (okay what the hell time in the morning was it that I came up with this shit?). Next episode: Asuka and Shinji, Shinji and Shinji's Inner Voice, Toji and Hikari, Kensuke and...REI? As well as the final angel.
P.S.: The part where Toji Kills the Angel? Well think the Matrix...If the agents in the Martix can dodge the bullets when they have some distance between the shooter, then they aren't hit...but get up close and personal...So I think that an AT Field can only deflect those hits and shots given a certian amount of distance between the angels flesh and the object of impact. Okay, so I am rambling...people do say that I am eccentric...SHUT UP!!