The Telephone That Will Never Ring

pt2

I don't own nuttin... Yet...

A/N: I wrote this in about three hours during a case of writer's block for another story. Hope you all like it...

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She sat there; waiting for the call that would change her life. She had been waiting for it for all her life, ever since her mother died, although sometimes it was clearer then others. She sat on the chair, next to the phone, that she had moved from the table. Her hands lay harmlessly on her lap, and her eyes solely on the small object that had been her focus for the past three days.

It was funny when she thought about it. She always thought that she held an immense amount of power over her peers. The First Child, the Third Child, hell, even Katsuragi. She was always the dominant one in her relationships. But now, her life as she knew it rested solely on a small, ¥2,000 phone and the voice on the other end that would make or break her life forever. She was no longer the dominant one.

Part of her hated it. She wasn't used to not being in charge. Ever since her mother died she always tried to put herself in a position of power, but now her life was in the hands of one of the people she had made fun of, abused, and humiliated. She prayed that he wouldn't return the favor. She prayed that, despite all she had done to him, he would know that not calling her would ruin her life forever. She knew deep down that he didn't have it in him to do that. It wasn't his way. She prayed anyway. "Just to make sure." She told herself.

The phone rang, and she quickly picked it up and brought it to her ear. "Hello?" She said eagerly, expecting to hear the voice she had been waiting for. Unfortunately, it was mearly her school calling to see why she wasn't at school for the past three days. She sighed and looked down to the ground, at small penguin-sized mud tracks that made a small path past her to the bathroom, and presumable from there to the bath. She told Misato that she would clean it up. That was four days ago. She'd be home soon, and when she saw that they still covered the floor Misato would no doubt be angry. It didn't matter to Asuka, though. All that mattered to her right now was hearing the voice she longed to hear.

"Hello? Ms. Soryu, are you still there?" A voice called out over the phone, causing her to look up in surprise. Remembering that the school had called her asking about her absence, she quickly made up a story about her having the flu. She even threw a couple fake coughs in to make it seem more realistic. Fortunately, they bought it, and after hearing them say goodbye she hanged up quickly. Putting the phone, down, she looked at it for a few more moments, before a thought came to her head: What if they called while I was on the phone? What if they got a busy signal and gave up?

She quickly grabbed the phone and tried to find a way to check if she had missed any calls. Her palms were sweaty and her fingers twitched with a mix of anticipation and fear as she pressed button after button to find what she was looking for. A simple message: No missed calls. In her fear, she couldn't remember what button would bring that message up, and she bit her bottom lip as she began to randomly press buttons in a small panic. Not finding what she was looking for, she bit her lip even harder, until she felt a sharp pain in her lip. She let go, and ran her tongue over the mark on the inside of her mouth. The taste of copper alerted her instantly to what it was. She had drawn blood. She brought her fingers to her mouth and ran them over her lips lightly.

She took a deep breath as she let her hand return to her lap. "Calm down…" She muttered softly to herself, before looking down at the phone again. She suddenly remembered what button she should press, and she pressed it quickly. Her eyes shot to the display, which now displayed a message to her. She looked it over a few times. She couldn't believe what it said.

No missed calls.

She took a big sigh of relief. She thanked whomever it was that gave her the break. But then she put the phone back on the table, placed her hands back in her lap, and began staring at the phone again. In the corner of the phone's display, there was a little battery that showed how much power was left before the phone went dead. It was ¾ full, and without wasting any time Asuka picked it up, carried it over to its charger, and plugged it in. There was no reason to risk it, she figured.

The charger lay on the table in the living room, which was low enough not to require a chair. As such, she sat down on the carpet of Misato's apartment and crossed her legs. Not once during the move did she take her eyes off of the phone.

It wasn't long after she sat down that she heard a familiar paddle sound come from behind her. She didn't turn her head. Rather, she kept her eyes on the phone and braced herself for what happens when one ignores a hungry penguin. It didn't take long for Pen-Pen to nibble her on the elbow. "I know you're hungry!" She said, annoyed that he was interrupting her. "Get the food for yourself!"

The penguin didn't go away so easily, however, and it continued to nip at Asuka's elbow until Asuka had finally had enough and angrily tried to shove the penguin away from her. Pen-Pen responded by biting her on the skin of her lower back, which made her jump. She tried her best to ignore it, but soon she could feel a small trickle of blood make its way down her back. Grudgingly, she grabbed the phone and got up. "Alright, fine!" She hissed angrily at the penguin. "I'll get you some damn food!" She thought about kicking the infernal bird, but she restrained herself. The last thing she needed was to have her eyes pecked out.

Holding tightly onto the phone, she made her way to the kitchen. She walked slower then usual, to make it clear to Pen-Pen she was doing so against her wishes. When she reached the fridge, she opened it and grabbed the first thing she saw; a tub of butter.

"Here, Pen-Pen, eat th—Ow!" She cried out in pain as the penguin bit at her toes. It looked up at her, and from the look it was giving her it was clear that it didn't want a tub of butter. "Fine, whatever…" said Asuka, putting the tub back in the fridge. "Of course, I would eat it… I don't see why you have to be so special…" She continued to mutter things among these lines as she searched the fridge for something to feed Pen-Pen. Finding a fish, she took it out the fridge and held it over Pen-Pen. "Suppose you want it cut up, right?" She sighed and placed the phone on the counter, before grabbing a knife and placing the fish on the counter right next to the phone. She began to cut the dead animal up. The insides of the fish were all over her hands, but she didn't care. All she wanted to do was get back to the phone.

After cutting the fish up into ten different pieces, she picked it up and tossed it into Pen-Pen's bowl. "There." She scowled as she turned around and reached out to pick up the phone. Right before she touched it, she noticed her hands were still covered in fish blood and gore. Sighing, she rolled her eyes and walked over to the sink, where she covered her hands in soap and turned one of the taps with her mouth. Running her hands under the water until the soap covered her hands in a lather, she scrubbed the blood and gore from her hands. She was in the middle of getting it out from under her fingernails when she heard a sound that made her jump in excitement.

The phone was ringing.

She turned around and quickly reached for the phone. Her hand wrapped firmly around it, she pressed the talk button as she began to bring it towards her ear. "Hello…" She began to say, before something she never thought possible happened. She didn't dry her hands, and because of it the phone slipped from her grasp and fell to the ground. She made an attempt to catch it, but she missed, and she was nearly in tears when it hit the ground.

"Hello… Hello? Asuka, are you there?" She heard a voice say. It was Him. He had finally called. She quickly rubbed her hands on her shirt as she picked up the phone and quickly – but cautiously – brought it to her ear.

"I'm here! I'm here!" She nearly shouted into the phone. There was no reply, however.

"Asuka, I know your there. You picked up the phone. Please say something."

She couldn't believe it. He couldn't hear her.

She heard Him sigh. "Goodbye Asuka…" He sounded heartbroken as he said it, but it couldn't compare to the heartbreak that Asuka was feeling at the moment. She had dropped the phone, but something in it broke and he couldn't hear her. It was bad enough that she missed the call, but she also made him believe that she was ignoring him. She felt horrible. She collapsed on the floor as she held the phone in both hands. She stared at it as she heard Him hang up, and she continued to stare at it for a long time afterwards. She couldn't believe it. She had waited for three days for that call, and she came so close… So close…

She bashed the phone against the floor as tears began to fall from her eyes. "No! No, no, no, no, no!" She yelled as she continued to smash it against the floor with all her strength. "It's not fair! Goddamn it!" She continued to yell until she had broken the phone, and when she saw that it was broken she stood up and, in a fit of rage, threw it as hard as she could over towards the balcony. The phone went through the sliding door, shattering it into a million pieces, but she didn't care as she collapsed on the floor once again, this time banging her fists on the floor. "Why? Why did this have to happen to me!" She yelled at no one in particular.

The pain caused by her hitting her hands on the floor suddenly became very apparent to her, and she closed her eyes tightly, although she continued to hit her hands on the floor. When she couldn't take it anymore she fell onto her side in a fit of tears. She curled up into a fetal position as she lay there and cried. Her stomach ached and she had a headache, and those mixed with her now bruising hands only made her cry harder. She felt like she would never be able to cry after this – it was the first time she had cried like this for as long as she could remember.

The familiar paddle sound made her open her eyes slightly, and through the blurred vision she had she could see Pen-Pen coming over to her. "Don't come near me…" She choked the words out in between her sobs. To her dismay, the words didn't avert the penguin's path, as it continued to walk towards her. She watched it until it stood a foot in front of her and looked down at her with a curious look on its face.

"Stay the fuck away from me!" She cried out suddenly, before violently reaching out with her leg and forcefully shoving Pen-Pen away from her. She knocked him near halfway across the room, and when she saw it painfully try to lift its head, only to have it fall back down, she quit crying long enough to sit up and watch him. "Pen-Pen…?" She quietly asked, beginning to move towards the body of the penguin. She didn't know if he was dead, unconscious, or pretending either so she'd get close enough for him to poke her eyes out. She didn't care. It was wrong of her to push him away. The phone had been her last attempt to keep herself from being alone, and for her to push Pen-Pen away when he walked towards her was one of the worst things she could have done.

She was within reach of the small penguin when its flipper twitched. Asuka was immediately relieved that the little guy wasn't dead, and any fears of him being unconscious were put to rest when it got up and looked around. Its small, black, beady eyes rested on her, and in an attempt to see if it was alright, she reached out towards it. "Pen-Pen?" she muttered quietly as she moved her hand closer and closer. She meant to pet him, but when her hand got close to him he violently bit her hand. She didn't try to retract her hand – a part of her knew it would happen – and so she stared at Pen-Pen with apathetic eyes as he bit down hard on her fingers. Blood was already dripping from his beak and down Asuka's hand, and she tried to ignore it, but it eventually became too much for her to bear. "Pen-Pen… I'm sorry, I deserve it… But please… your hurting me…" She winced as Pen-Pen finally let go of her hand, before he turned around and walked away from her. She slowly brought it back until it was right in front of her eyes. He could feel her pulse throbbing through her fingers, and she didn't know why, but the lack of pressure from Pen-Pen's beak made her fingers hurt more then they did before. Using her other hand, she wiped some of the blood away and looked at the cuts that came from Pen-Pen's beak. She had cuts on three of her fingers from where the beak's pressure was at the most, and she lightly touched the cuts on her right ring finger with her left hand. It stung immediately, but she tried to play through the pain as she looked over the cuts. She tried to open one of them up, see how deep it was, but the pain was too much for her and with a short cry she moved her hands apart. The cuts were deep, she knew that much. Probably down to the bone.

She turned her head just in time to see Pen-Pen disappear into the bathroom, and it suddenly hit her right then that she was alone once more. She didn't answer the call; she kept Pen-Pen away from her. She had no one right now. She would even take Rei's company over this. She couldn't stand it. For the first time, she felt truly alone. When her mother died she still had her father, but now she had no one in the world that could make her feel better.

She collapsed on her back and stared up at the ceiling. A light hanged brightly right above her face, and she stared at it for a few moments, hoping she would go blind so she would have to have someone take care of her. At least she wouldn't be alone. After a few minutes, however, she realized that it was a futile hope, and again she curled up into a ball and cried until she felt like she couldn't go on doing anything anymore.

Right before she passed out, she thought she heard Misato scream her name in fright.

A/N: I am so sorry to anyone that read the "Look for my next story in the coming weeks" thing in my biography. I know, I've been slow. I have that story lined up to be posted, but I wanted to rewrite the second paragraph, and I just never got around to it.

I'm sorry for the really abrupt ending of this story. I had a dream sequence and a scene with Misato all written out for to follow the ending, but I started watching TV and I lost the mood that I originally had when I wrote the first part. Depending on the reception, I'll see if I can post the ending. It's all written out, but it just doesn't fit the mood of the story as is.

I've left the person on the other end of the phone a mystery for a reason. In the dream you find out who it is, but I coudln't decide whether I wanted Shinji or Kaji to be the voice. I can't remember if there are any parts that state who it is, but if not, as of now it is not meant to be anyone.

Anyway, I'm rambling. Please review.