The Revelation of Sacrifice
Chapter 1 - Figure Upon the Horizon / Savior
Based on characters and ideas created by and copyright GAINAX
Reviews/Comments always appreciated
Anything else? Requests? Questions? Contact me at: vicious471@hotmail.com
Guide:
"..." = Speech
'...' = thoughts
(...) = audible sound like a sigh or moan or click
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Setting:
Story picks up right after the 12th Angel.
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Neon Genesis Evangelion
(Caption)
Figure Upon the Horizon
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=== Shinji's hospital room, night after the battle ===
Shinji's eyes crack open as he moans, awakening from the slumber induced by the battle against the Angel. The room is a blur. He blinks away the blur and his eyes gradually adjust to the darkness, looking up at the ceiling.
"I really DO hate this ceiling," Shinji chuckles, "but at least I can see it."
Shinji senses movement in the room.
"Misato are you there?"
Silence.
"Misato...?"
Silence.
"Asuka?"
"Rei...?" Shinji says, a bit panicky.
"......Good......," a male voice says.
"Who's there!?" Shinji asks, frightened.
"Do not be afraid. Your friends will be here when you awake tomorrow," the voice says.
The next thing Shinji hears is the air vaccume created by the door opening to the hall. In its frame a dark figure stands, covered in black save for his face. The tall man turned in the doorway, a warm, reassuring smile showing on his face.
"Your friends will be glad, but you need sleep now," he smiled to Shinji.
Shinji opened his mouth to ask the man's name and why he was here, at least a dozen question flittered through his mind, but when he spoke those words, Shinji felt his eyelids grow to the weight of an Eva as an unnatural, yet good feeling of fatigue swept over him and he found himself falling into sleep's warm embrace.
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=== Shinji's hospital room, morning ===
Shinji's eyelids crack open once again, this time he shuts them against the light of the day. Slowly opening them again, Shinji's eyes adjust to the brightness. He sighed as a small smile crept to his face as the
clearly refreshed feeling he had shown upon his face. He looked over to the window on his left, seeing the GeoFront's natural glory. He nodded as his head fell over to the right...and it suddenly whipped up as he sat up, coming face to face with Rei.
"You can rest today. We'll take care of everything," Rei said calmly.
"But, I'm feeling just fine now,"
"Well, that's good for you," Rei responded. Shinji later dismissed it as some sort of hallucination, but he would have sworn that he saw the smallest possible arch of her lips upward, smiling, and equally surprising, he thought he heard her give a small sigh, as if letting out a burden of worry she had.
"Huh..." Shinji thought out loud, smiling as he did so.
Rei stands and takes a book with her as she starts for the door...
Meanwhile, outside, a certain red haired German girl had been sneaking peeks into the hospital room occupied by a certain recovering Eva pilot...
"God, I can't hear anything they're saying..." Asuka whined.
She moved toward the door, leaning her ear against it, trying to pick up some sound...and sound was what she got.
"Footsteps?" she wondered out loud.
The whoosh of the door sounded as Asuka tried to regain lost balance as a pair of red eyes diverted their stare towards her fumbling figure on the ground. Rei simply stared for a moment, then continued on her path.
"Ah, oh! Mmm..." She could not form very coherent words as her faced turned a shade of her prized Unit 02. She tried to turn and back away, but a stranger clad in all black garments ran into her as she turned, knocking her into the doorway once again.
"Oh my goodness! I'm sorry!" exclaimed the stranger, offering a hand to Asuka. "I thought you were on your way in...didn't expect you to so suddenly turn around. My fault entirely," he said with a smile, helping her to her feet.
Asuka looked around, her blush increasing.
"I...ah...w-was..going in. Ya, I was going in!" she sounded off matter-of-factly. "That stupid Wondergirl just ran into me, that's all."
"Oh, well that's good to hear. I'll leave you to your boyfriend now," he walked off before Asuka managed to get close to a response.
'That was...him...?' Shinji thought to himself. Although, he smiled on the outside, deciding that whoever that man was, he was definitely a friend.
Meanwhile Asuka was turning shades of red that hadn't existed until now.
"DontgetanyideasfromwhoeverthatlunaticwasShinjicuzitsneverhappening!" she said very quickly.
"Of course," he chuckled.
The chuckle did not last very long as Asuka gave a Super Ultra Mega Death Glare at Shinji before stomping out, her face still red and muttering some curses about hell fires and such being brought down upon that man in the hall.
'She always overreacts...' he thought passively, "but it's worth it. Thanks for caring Asuka..." he finished with a grin, fading back into his pillow for a day of rest.
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=== Several floors down in the Nerv Hospital ===
A meeting of five men in all white cloaks is taking place.
"No longer shall the Holy Messengers be struck down by the infernal beasts!" exclaimed one of them, raising a fist in the air.
"Yes! Our Holy Father's Messengers will bring us redemption for our acts of courage!"
"The cretins of the evil one will no longer plague us! Their demon children will burn in the fires of hell!"
The cloaked men each put forth their right fist, connecting with each other in the center of their circle. Each hand bore a self-mutilated cross with a star above it...and each hand also bore a long serrated knife...
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=== The hallway leading to Shinji's hospital room ===
A cloaked figure walked through a wet spot on the floor. A red, wet spot. A nurse's body lay behind and beneath him and his four partners, their knives dripping with freshly drawn blood. Many more victims lay behind them. Security had only asked them to "hold on there a minute" before they had driven their knives deep into him, taking their weapons away and finishing off the other armed guards with the commandeered handguns. Section 2 was rushing to Shinji's room, but obviously not fast enough as they were always outside the building he was currently in, keeping watch from afar. The first cloaked figure motioned to the others as he reached Shinji's room. The others nodded and split up, two going each way down the hall.
Shinji stirred in his sleep as his resting body picked up the noise of the door opening...
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Neon Genesis Evangelion
(Caption)
Savior
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=== Shinji's hospital room ===
Shinji snapped awake as the sound of gunfire crashed through the air. He looked around, only to find a man in a white cloak grinning sadistically at him and holding a blood covered knife in his right hand.
"A little more time my brothers, hold the armies of darkness whilst I finish the Lord's work here," he grinned maniacally as he slid his hood off, revealing the grotesque image of his mutilated face, crosses and stars carved in his skin.
"Wh-Who are y-you!?" Shinji asked, falling off the other side of his bed, trying to distance himself from the man.
"You need only know I am a servant of God sent to destroy you, hell spawn! You have killed our redeemers time and again, and now we will kill you!" he retorted, noticeably disgusted by Shinji. The man closed the distance and raised his dagger to a cowering Shinji. "The Lord giveth!!!-" he raised the knife to an apex.
"-And the Lord taketh away..." answered a very different voice, just before the head of the would-be murderer exploded in a barrage of automatic fire. Shinji recoiled to the fire as if it had hit him, and tears ran down his cheeks as he curled up into a ball and tried to back away, even though he was already in a corner.
"A..uh...m..nn...an...ahn..mmm...mnn..." he mumbled out as his yet unknown savior approached him.
"I know, you're scared...(sigh)...but I need you to be strong right now Shinji. I know you're scared, but right now, I need to get you out of here, and it'll be a lot easier on both of us if you help me out and get up…okay?"
Shinji's sobs just continued.
"Listen it'll be OK once I get you out of here, I promise. I won't let anything happen, I won't leave you." He reached out and put a hand on Shinji's shoulder, "okay?"
Shinji tried to mumble something, but all he could do was nod shakily as the man helped him up, still supporting a bit of Shinji's weight as he was currently unable to stand on his own.
As they stood some yells were heard from the hall.
'Bastards don't stay down too long do they?' the man in black thought.
The man in black let the clip of his submachine gun fall and replaced it, as well as chambering the weapon. Then somehow he reached into his long coat and withdrew a small cylinder while still holding the weapon AND supporting at least half of Shinji's body weight. He pushed the top of the cylinder with his thumb and tossed it into the hallway. He quickly began a countdown from 12, and he put earplugs in and quickly slipped on some sunglasses. He smiled as he reached one and a loud bang and bright flash followed swiftly by a rough blast of air exploded into the room when the concussion grenade went off. The man carried Shinji as he ran through the now deformed doorway, seeing the four lunatics in white slowly moving to get up on the floor around him at various distances. If it were not for the sunglasses, you would have been able to see the hate and anger emanating from his eyes. He walked to the nearest enemy and stepped downward hard, crushing the other man's neck with his boot. The man in black turned, gradually raising his weapon as the gunfire worked its way up to the head of another assailant. He hefted Shinji up, not letting the boy's feet touch the blood stained floor. Rapid footsteps were heard on the metallic stairs leading to this floor.
"They'll want one of these...things...alive I suppose..." he muttered as the man in black looked back to the cloaked man farthest away from him. "Guess you get lucky today pal..." He walked toward the last of them he would kill and kicked the sprawled out form forcefully in the head, leaving his neck at an odd, unnatural angle.
Shinji was now shaking uncontrollably from the multiple sights of death he had just witnessed. His eyes were wide and he tried to scream as the man was carrying him down the hall, but no sound would leave his mouth, Shinji found that he could not even cry anymore, tears and sniffles would just not come to him.
A group of 4 Section 2 Agents leaped up the stairs, coming face to face with the man carrying Shinji.
"Hold it!" the agent yelled, beginning to reach for his gun...which never happened. As soon as his hand began to move toward the weapon at his side, he thought he saw a blur in front of him before realizing he was staring at the barrel of a submachine gun.
"Before you do anything rash," the man in black began, "know this, I am the only reason this child is still alive." He lowered his weapon and motioned to the bodies in white cloaks behind him, blood now staining their garments.
The Section 2 agent's eyes narrowed, as his hand relaxed, no longer reaching for the weapon. He looked back to the other agents and nodded to them as they nodded back.
"We'll have to ask you to come with us," he stated.
"I'll come with you once Shinji is in the direct custody of Major Katsuragi," the man in black responded, holstering the machine gun somewhere within his trench coat.
The Section 2 agent paused for a moment before taking out a cell phone and giving a hand signal to the other 2 agents, who nodded in unison.
"I left one of them alive for interrogation, so you might want to mention that as well..."
"That will be...appreciated...by the Commander, I'm sure..."
The dark clothed man carried Shinji to a nearby chair, followed by the Section 2 agents. After setting the now nearly catatonic Shinji into a chair, he lowered himself into one and breathed a barely noticeable sigh of relief.
(over the phone)
"Ma'am, I'm afraid we were too late to get to the Third Child, but-"
"What the hell do you mean, 'too late'!?!? You just said that the situation was under control!" Misato screamed into the phone, her emotions of fear for Shinji's life overflowing in her voice as it cracked, "tell me exactly what the fuck happened, NOW, because I'm already on my way!"
"As I was trying to say ma'am, the Third Child wa-"
"He has a goddamn name!" Misato cried, the tears evident in her voice.
"Alright," the agent was slightly annoyed by Misato's interruptions, but let his anger slide away as he realized how she must be feeling, "ma'am, as I was saying, Section 2 agents witnessed strange cloaked men enter the building and I ordered our single agent within the building to stop them and ask their identification and business in the building as soon as he found them. After checking in that he was going to question them, 7 minutes passed until we received a distress call from the hospital staff saying that some deranged killers were heading for the Thir-..Shinji's...floor. I ordered the immediate convergence on the building. We found numerous dead bodies from the lobby to Shinji's floor, the current count is 27, but total is as of yet unconfirmed."
"Sounds like you guys sure dragged your asses getting there," Misato snorted, obviously pissed.
"Ma'am, it was you who ordered us to keep a larger distance between ourselves and the Children..." then he heard a click as the line went dead.
Misato's eyes narrowed in her car as she pulled up to the hospital, having broken just about every driving law in Japan in the process. She slammed on the breaks in the middle of the parking lot, pushed the door open and got out, leaving the car with its door open, running in the middle of the lot. Misato ran to the entrance, she needed no ID, for almost every male in the entire Nerv organization knew her face (and her body). She ran up the stairs, reaching the floor that Shinji was supposed to be on, the tears beginning to return to her eyes. She saw a Section 2 agent look at her, as she frantically turned her head in search of Shinji, finding him a short distance away sitting in a chair, head cradled in his hands.
"Shinji!" Misato cried out, running to him whilst crying freely.
"M-Misato?" Shinji asked barely heard above the hysterical woman's crying.
She wrapped him in her arms, squeezing him as tight as she could. His head lay crushed against her more than ample bosom, something Shinji would have normally blushed furiously over, had he not still been in a half-shocked state. The two cried while holding each other, Shinji had gradually come out of his catatonic state and returned her fierce hug. All the while, neither had really noticed the benevolent figure watching over them from only a few feet away.
"I'm sorry to..interrupt ma'am, but the Commander wishes to see the Third Child and Mr.-....." the Section 2 agent looked oddly at the dark man, "ahh, I don't believe I caught your name Mr...?"
"Langley," responded the tall, dark man.
"All right, well, if you would come with us, Mr. Langley," the agent said dryly, as he stepped to the side allowing for the man to walk in front of him.
"Hold on a goddamn minute!" Misato yelled, "Who in the hell are you?"
The man's eyes made contact with Misato, boring a hole through every self-defense barrier she had and staring at her soul. She was unable to place the feeling that was coursing through her veins, but it was like nothing she had felt before. Not necessarily bad or good, but definitely different.
"A friend, Major. I assure you, I am a friend..." he spoke, breaking the eye contact.
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=== Commander Ikari's office ===
Two security agents stood on either side of Langley. Commander Ikari sat behind his desk, hands clasped together under his nose as usual. Vice- Commander Fuyutsuki stood ever present beside and behind him. Langley was not bound in any way, just standing, eyes masked by his wrap-around shades.
"Who are you?" Ikari asked flatly.
"Colonel Andrew Langley, United States Central Intelligence Agency," Andrew responded with a slight smile.
"Of any relation t-"
"No, sir, I am of no relation to Pilot Sohryu," Andrew interrupted.
"Why are you here?"
"The United States did not believe Nerv Security Forces would be able to handle the threat from the growing number of religious fringe cults aiming themselves to kill the Children and destroy the Evangelions, "he responded coolly. "So therefore, President Carville met with British, French and Russian officials, who collectively agreed to up the security on the Children with or without Nerv's specific approval."
"You did not answer my question."
"I suppose I didn't," Andrew spoke thoughtfully, "well, then I would be that heightened security, but you already knew that, didn't you?"
"...." Gendo paused before responding, and smirked, "One man to make the difference?"
"Well, Commander Ikari," Andrew grinned back, "this 'one man', is the sole reason your son, Pilot of Unit 01, currently breathes. And I also outclass all security personnel in Nerv. My records will be available upon request from the U.S. State Department should you wish to verify my statements."
"That won't be necessary...you will go to Matsushiro and board the next flight to the United States," Gendo responded coolly, his hand motioning to the agents to take Andrew away.
"Hey, would you just hold on a minute?" Andrew comically responded, holding up a hand to stop them, as he looked at his watch, which read 9:39:43, "you might want to wait about 15 seconds."
"And why would that be?" Gendo asked indignantly.
"8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1...bingo"
As if upon command, Gendo's phone rang. He picked it up slowly.
"Yes? Yes......I don't-.....of course...alright...fine," Gendo appeared to concede to whoever was on the other line.
"Who was that?" Andrew asked, fleeting no knowledge of who it was.
"The Japanese Security Council representative. Apparently your government has somehow gotten the UN to go along with this." Gendo answered.
"And...?" Andrew beamed knowingly at Gendo.
"...and we are to concede to you Alpha level security clearance." Gendo said, looking to Fuyutsuki questioningly.
"Ah, that sounds like a plan, now doesn't it? Well, I'll be taking my leave of you now, I won't take up any more of your time."
Andrew gave a smile and a wink, then turned and strode across the massive office with the security agents. They both went through the door while Andrew paused.
"Oh yeah...don't worry about me snooping around any, I don't work for SEELE, Ikari. So I won't be screwing around with either of your scenarios." Andrew spoke without turning around, then proceeded out the door.
Should anyone else besides Sub-commander Fuyutsuki been watching, they may have had a heart attack upon the site of Commander Ikari's mouth dropping slightly and his brow furrowing when he heard those words.
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=== Hallway outside Ikari's office ===
Rei is walking past as Andrew exits the commander's office. She looks at him, pondering a face she does not recognize. He pauses, looking at her for a moment, then smiling warmly.
"Ahh, the one intended for Instrumentality."
Rei's eyes went wide as his words registered in her brain.
'Who is he?' 'Why is he here?' 'How does he know this?' Were among the questions running through her mind.
"Wh-Who are you?" Rei stuttered, something she was unaccustomed to.
"I am one sent to protect you, Rei."
Rei could not place it, but the man's words created a sense of well being within her.
"Protect me? Why?" Rei questioned, knowing full well just how replaceable she was.
"Hmmm, how to answer..." Andrew thought aloud, "I suppose because, despite what you may think of yourself, you are not as replaceable as you may think Rei." he added with a serious tone.
"....I...I do not know what you speak of." Rei stammered, a mixture of emotions flooding her mind as she backed away from Andrew slowly.
"Hmmm, I think you do Rei. You just aren't accepting it...I don't believe Shinji or Misato or..." he laughed, "or even Asuka, for that matter, would perceive the loss of your current self as something good."
Rei blushed slightly as she quickly turned and walked away.
'That'll be the hard one' he thought, 'but I will succeed'. The dark man walked off into the deep shadows of Central Dogma.
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=== Back in Commander Ikari's office ===
"You will explain what occurred between the time of 9:13 and 9:27," Ikari commanded to Shinji.
"I...I...it..." Shinji couldn't think clearly let alone speak.
"Now," boomed Ikari.
"Men...men in crosses, they-they tried to kill me!" Shinji cried out.
"That much we already know, Third Child. I want details from you. The assassins destroyed the security cameras."
"I..it's...it's h-hard to remember," Shinji said, his voice betraying him to be on the verge of tears, something he wished not to show to the bastard of a father he had.
"...very well..." Gendo said unexpectedly, "you will gain a night's rest and try to remember again tomorrow, is that understood?"
"Y-Yes sir...I..uh..th-thank you father," Shinji spoke with words he never expected to say to the man sitting before him.
Shinji walked out of the office accompanied by four Section 2 agents. Gendo got up and walked to the window behind his desk, overlooking the entire GeoFront. Fuyutsuki joined his friend and commander.
"That American was fairly impressive, wasn't he Ikari?" Kozou spoke with an inward smile. It was rare that Ikari would ever have something like this forced upon him.
"Impressive isn't the word I would use..." Gendo practically snarled back at his Sub-commander. "He is a nuisance that will have to be dealt with some time in the near future."
Fuyutsuki was taken back by this. Normally Gendo was never so aggressive as to eliminate someone with such a low importance value. Then it hit him.
"You're concerned about his knowledge," Kozou answered, "He knew of SEELE, it's scenario, AND the fact that you have your own scenario. I'll have to agree that is fairly disturbing."
"Yes," Gendo agreed, "either the Americans have far superior intelligence abilities than we would have imagined or he is more than just a simple bodyguard for the Children." Gendo paused for a moment, then turned to Fuyutsuki, "I want him shadowed constantly. Get Kaji, he is our best, he may
learn some information from this 'Agent Langley'."
"I'll get him on it immediately sir." answered Fuyutsuki.
"It's gone too far for any mishaps or deviations. I trust you will instruct Agent Kaji on his options regarding such things, am I correct professor?" Gendo sneered.
"Of course Ikari," frowned Kozou, 'but what if he proves to be too resourceful to be eliminated by Kaji? I wouldn't underestimate his abilities if I were you Ikari...'
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=== Car train #14 loading area, Tokyo 3 ===
Andrew walked along with his hands in his long coat. A small downpour was going on. In the shadows behind him, one Agent Ryouji Kaji was following him, using the utmost of his stealth abilities. Kaji had encountered this CIA agent 4 times in person before. Although Kaji was in the elite of the intelligence world, he was unsure of his abilities when compared to Langley's.
'He's not taking any evasive action, which means one of three things; he doesn't think he'll be followed...not likely. He doesn't think he needs to worry about his safety just yet...hmmm, possible. Or lastly, he already knows exactly where I am...yeah, that's probably the one.' thought Kaji, his self-confidence diminishing.
Kaji was reaching for his radio to check in when he heard the all too familiar sound of a gun being chambered.
"Ryouji Kaji...come out from behind there now."
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To be continued...
Next Episode: The More Things Change, The More They Stay The Same
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Author's Notes: Well, there it is, Chapter 1 of my very first FanFic. Hope it's good. More will be coming soon. I hope to turn out a chapter every week or so, depending on how much time I'll have with school n' stuff. Please tell me if I'm making any characters too OOC.
Love n' Pizza
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