Intervention
Shinji placed his hands on the railing and lowered his head. He looked over the edge and saw the stream running by underneath the bridge.
He had had enough. Enough of the looks people gave him whenever they walked by. Enough of constantly reliving that moment over and over again in his head.
"I made the right choice, dammit...", he whispered to himself, the memory resurfacing yet again.
He took the revolver out of his pocket and clicked open the cylinder, inspecting the solitary round that occupied one of the chambers.
He had done this several times over the past hour or so. It was an impulsive action, every time he had done it he had immediately placed the weapon back into his pocket.
"Come on Shinji... Just do it... It's not that hard...", he spoke to himself, gritting his teeth as he did, "Just pull the hammer back, put the barrel against your temple and..."
His train of thought was broken by the sound of squealing tires coming from the distance. Shinji looked up and caught the glint of sunlight coming off of the roof of the blue sports car roaring towards him at what he estimated was at least 120 mph.
He grinned involuntarily. He couldn't help it. He knew exactly who would be in the car and almost exactly what they would say/do to him once they arrived. Which, he estimated further, would be in roughly three to four minutes.
He removed the revolver again and let it hang loosely in his hand. He had expected them to find him, but the speed in which they had done so still managed to surprise him.
He still hadn't built up enough nerve to do the deed yet, and he didn't want the women to witness the actual act. He had hurt them enough already, and, while he knew what he was about to do was only going to hurt them more, he needed to go away. He knew that if he did then everyone would finally be able to move on. They would finally be rid of the final remnant of Third Impact, and this is what they needed... He was sure of it.
He looked up and saw that Misato was only about a half-mile away now, still speeding, but slowing down.
God... She drives fast... he thought quickly before stepping back from the railing. He raised the revolver and placed it against his temple. The action had the desired effect as Misato slammed on her brakes and slid several hundred feet to a stop only 100 feet or so from where Shinji stood.
As the tire smoke cleared, he saw the driver side door open and the purple-haired Major stepped out. She turned quickly and leaned back into the car. Shinji could make out the distinct shape of another person in the car. He didn't even need to see the flash of red hair to know exactly who it was.
Misato was obviously yelling something at the girl, but Shinji couldn't make out the exact words. He gathered that it was to tell Asuka to stay in the car, however, when Misato stood straight again and closed the door, leaving Asuka to scoot over in her seat and peer out of the window.
Misato's shoulders rose and fell in the tell-tale manner of a sigh and she started her way towards Shinji, stopping about twenty feet in front of him. The two former NERV-lings stood there staring at each other for several moments, Misato with her hands on her hips and Shinji with the gun still stuck to his temple.
"Shinji...", Misato broke the silence, her voice calm and level, "What, exactly, do you think you're doing?"
"You read my note, Misato...", Shinji replied, his voice low and with a noticeable edge to it, "I have to do this... This is what's best for everyone. I need to... Just go away... I'm tired of everything..."
"Shinji... Do you really think this is what's best for everyone?", Misato replied calmly, her head tilting slightly, "After all the shit everybody has been through... After all the death, all the destruction... You really think that you killing yourself will just make everything better?"
Shinji faltered for a moment and Misato knew she had struck the right chord. She knew the boy couldn't willingly hurt anybody, and she needed to keep playing that angle.
"I don't care anymore, Misato...", Shinji replied, looking down as he did, "I... I just want all this behind me... And this is the only way I can think of to achieve that..."
Misato realized that, for once, the boy wasn't feeling sorry for himself. He genuinely thought that his continued existence was hurting everyone around him. She knew he couldn't allow that to happen, so this was the only way he saw to end that...
"Shinji... You can put this behind you... Let us help you... Let us show you that the things in your note aren't true... We want to help you...", Misato began to plead before a thought hit her, "Shinji... Think about Asuka..."
Shinji looked up at the mention of the girls' name, his eyes wide. Misato saw that she was going down the right path.
"You and her went through more than any of us...", she continued, "You two were in the middle of this entire convoluted plot to try and unify the human race, and because of this, you two are more connected than you could possibly imagine..."
She stopped as she noticed Shinji's eyes grew wide yet again and he began stepping back, his hand trembling around the revolver.
"No... No... Please, Asuka... Go away.. I don't want you to see this.. I never meant for you to have to see this!", the boy stammered as Misato wheeled around and saw Asuka standing a few feet behind her.
"Asuka! I told you to stay in the car!", Misato yelled, "You don't need to be here... I don't want you to have to do this..."
"It's okay, Misato...", the German replied, "I... I want to do this... I want to help Shinji..."
She took another step forward but stopped as Shinji tightened his grip around the pistol.
"Shinji... Please don't do this...", Asuka spoke quietly, tears beginning to roll down her cheeks, "You don't have to die... Please... Just put the gun down and come back home with us... With me... We'll talk this out... Please, Shinji..."
"Asuka..."
"Yes, Shinji..."
"I'm sorry... I'm sorry for embarrassing you when we first met... I'm sorry for all the stupid things I've done that pissed you off...", the boy spoke, his voice beginning to tremble, "I never meant to hurt you... I never meant to hurt anybody... I made that choice... I made that choice because I thought it was the right one..."
Asuka and Misato immediately knew what he was talking about.
It had been over a year since Third Impact, and ever since then Shinji could hardly go anywhere without somebody asking him if he was the one... If he was the one that decided to stop the process of Instrumentality and bring everybody back to a single, unique existence where everyone was still their own person.
Every time, he had to answer yes, and nearly every time he was met with disgusted looks. It seemed as though everyone would have rather lived in a combined state, free of pain and hurt. Shinji told himself every day that he had made the right decision, but every day he was confronted with evidence that he had not.
"Shinji... The choice you made was your own... You did what you thought was right, and you can't let anybody tell you otherwise...", Asuka spoke again, her voice warm and comforting, "If it makes you feel better, I think you made the right choice..."
Shinji looked up in surprise at the redheads' revelation.
"I know I should have told you this a long time ago, but I could never bring myself to just come out and say it..."
"Asuka...", Shinji spoke quietly, "I... I never knew..."
"I know Shinji... I know... I wish to God I had told you sooner, but I was afraid of how you might take it...", Asuka replied, "In the fragile state you were in, I didn't know if it was the right thing to say... But now... Now I know... And I'm sorry for not saying it sooner..."
"Me too, Shinji...", Misato spoke up, "I should have told you sooner as well... You made the right decision... People need to exist separately. We need to be our own person. People who think otherwise are just afraid of being alone... Just like you used to be..."
Shinji let the thoughts sink in for a moment. In the past year, he had never been told that he had made the right decision. He had never had someone tell him that they agreed with him... It was too much to take in.
His hand involuntarily tightened around the revolver, and Misato leapt into action. She raised her hand and dropped it in a quick, sharp movement. A second later, a gunshot rang out and Shinji's eyes grew wide. His knees buckled and he fell backwards.
"SHINJI!", Asuka screamed and ran towards the boy, knowing what she was going to see.
Instead, she found him clutching his hand, the shattered remains of the revolver laying beside him. Misato removed a walkie-talkie from her jacket and spoke into it.
"Alright... Good shot", the purple-haired Major said, looking at a confused and bewildered Asuka, "Stand down... Kaji."
"Hear ya loud and clear", the pony tailed man replied from his position a quarter mile away. He pulled back the bolt on the rifle he was laying next to, sending the spent shell flying off into the underbrush.
Back on the bridge, Shinji lay in shock, his hand bleeding from the force of the revolver shattering in his hand.
"Wha... What happened...", Shinji asked, his voice shaky as he looked from Asuka to Misato and then back.
"You didn't really think I'd come out here without a backup plan, do you?", Misato spoke up, placing the radio back into her jacket pocket as she did so, "Kaji had his cross hairs trained on that pistol the entire time. I asked him to assist me just in case I couldn't convince you to come along myself."
"And you didn't think to tell me all this?", Asuka nearly screamed as she looked up at Misato, her tears flowing freely.
"You didn't need to know, Asuka", Misato replied before bringing the subject back to where it belonged, "Shinji... Are you okay? Can you stand?"
"I... I think so...", Shinji replied after a few moments of silence. He leaned forward, putting his good hand behind him to push himself up. Asuka grabbed hold of his shoulder and assisted him in his effort.
After making sure he wasn't going to fall over, Asuka let go, but then placed her hand in Shinji's. He looked first at their entwined hands and then to her, a look of surprise crossing his features. He started to speak, but was cut off.
Nope... No talking...", Asuka stated, her grip tightening slightly, "You've said enough... Right now, we need to get that hand looked at. There will be plenty of time to talk once you're back home..."
"Asuka's right, Shinji...", Misato spoke up, her features going dark for a moment, "And trust me... We are going to talk..."
Shinji gulped involuntarily at the inflection Misato had put into that last statement. He knew he had royally screwed up, and had probably pissed off a lot of people, but right then, all he could think of was what the two women had revealed to him just a few minutes prior.
The fact that there were other people who thought he had made the right choice filled him with a sense of joy that he had not felt for a long, long time. He looked to Asuka and grinned as she smiled up at him.
"Come on, baka-Shinji...", she started, "We've got all the time in the world to figure this out... Let's go home..."
I know the ending kinda comes a little abruptly, but I felt that the story had run its course and done its job. I'll get back to working on Promises soon, so stay tuned!