Okay, here's the latest update, hope you'll like it! BTW I have some answers to reviews at the end if you'd like to check them out.
Disclaimer: I don't own it.
On with the fic! (Darth Vader theme plays)
Fly Me to the Stars
A Star Wars/Evangelion x-over by Ausir
Chapter 2
Fires raged across the surface of Coruscant, casting an infernal light upon the high and menacing Imperial Palace. On one of the middle balconies, over a kilometre above the planet's surface, two dark shapes stood in silent contemplation of the chaos and calamity far below them. The shorter of the two, an elderly man wearing a dark robe with a hood shrouding his face, broke into a smile of grim satisfaction.
"Everything unfolds precisely as I have foreseen" he mused. Two reptilian eyes glowed beneath the black hood, whether they were reflecting the flames below, or emitting the ominous light on their own, was impossible to tell.
"Yes, Master" his towering companion responded. This one spoke in a metallic voice, cold and void of emotion, and drew breath in long, dry wheezes.
"The 'threat of the rebels' will now silence any opposition in the senate" the cloaked man said, still wearing his thin smile.
"Master" the human, if indeed human he was, tower inquired "why do we still allow the senate to interfere with your decisions?" His master's expression grew stern.
"Unfortunately" he said bitterly "those fools still retain enough power to somewhat negate my own" The smile returned "however, this incident will prompt them to give me full power in dealing with the rebels. Soon they will have played their part, and we shall rule unquestionably"
"Yes, Master"
The dark pair fell into silent observation of the battles which were still waged between pockets of stubborn rebels and relentless storm troopers. A faint purple flashing could occasionally be seen far in the distance. The tall shadow's body language subtly changed to one of slight uncertainty.
"Master" he ventured "I sense a powerful new presence in the Force"
The old man closed his glowing serpentine eyes in concentration. He too had felt the sudden wave of Force-power emitting from that purple light. The robed man reopened his eyes once he found the source of this intriguing phenomenon.
"Most excellent" he commented. His towering companion turned his helmet clad face towards his master, giving him a curious gaze but said nothing; he knew his master would inform him if he was deemed fit to know.
"Project Requiem appears to be a glorious success" continued the robed one "I am truly impressed that they found a pilot with so much potential" A sound which could initially have been mistaken for a death-throttling but was soon recognisable as a humourless cackle came from the old man.
"This one reminds me of you, my friend, when we first met" he continued "We should make contact with him as soon as possible"
"Should we send one of our agents, Master?" The old man seemed to think this over.
"No" he decided "This matter needs not to be dealt with in the dark. We shall send for him once he is ready"
"As you wish, Master"
The two once again fell into silence, brooding and awaiting events yet to unfold.
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Shinji steered the Requiem towards the nearest platform at the main entrance of GEHIRN Research, the very platform he had arrived at with Captain Katsuragi only a few hours prior. The boy didn't feel any guilt for leaving the ongoing battle in the skies; most of the rebel fighters had been shot down by now and the swarming TIE-fighters would be able to deal with those few remaining. Besides, Shinji had become greatly disturbed by the short vision which he had received a couple of minutes ago. The horrific image of his mother burnt to ashes. Therefore the young pilot needed to go down to the Research Centre, if only to confirm that his mother was still alive.
'Those things I saw…they can't possibly be true, right?' he asked himself, but was woefully unable to produce a satisfying answer.
He found that the fighting on the planet's surface had gone a bit worse for the Imperials than the one in the air. Here storm troopers and rebels were interlocked in a fiery battle, drawing great casualties on both sides. Some of the rebels noticed the black form of the Requiem through the heat of battle and launched their anti-air lasers directly towards it.
The impact shook the sinister fighter. Shinji had not noticed that he was being targeted, therefore he momentarily lost control of the craft, part from the impact, but infinitely more so from the pain caused by several direct hits. The Requiem soared through the air and flew past the imperials among who the pilot had intended to land, instead reaching ground some way behind the rebel frontline, more specifically near a demolished security tower not too far from GEHIRN's main entrance.
The elixir was forcefully ejected in black, steaming sprays through various exhaust holes in the black fighter's hull, and Shinji soon experienced the familiar feeling of having air fill his lungs. This initially made him cough and gasp as his body had become so accustomed to rely on the foul smelling liquid for oxygen. When Shinji had adjusted and was able to breathe normally, the fighter's exit hatch once again appeared on the wall, opening up so the young pilot could go outside.
Putting one foot outside the Requiem, Shinji instantly wished he hadn't. Surrounding the fighter were at least ten rebel soldiers all pointing their blasters and blaster rifles at the young pilot.
"Hands up, kid!" one of them barked.
Shinji was about to; when the mighty doors of the Research Centre flew open in a huge explosion, forcing everyone in its vicinity to drop to the ground. This included Shinji and his would-be captors. The boy however was able to get up faster than the others and quickly ran towards the ruined defence tower. Shinji wasn't actually a coward, but he fully understood that nothing could be gained from fighting when the odds were ten to one.
The rebels soon got to their feet as well and began firing at the fleeing imperial. Fortunately, Shinji was able to jump behind a small pile of rubble by the tower and thus avoided the blaster shoots. His pursuers temporarily lost interest in the lone pilot when a dozen storm troopers ran to the site and engaged the rebels. Once he found that he was safe, at least for the time being, Shinji heaved a sigh and let his eyes venture towards the ruined entrance from whence flames and black smoke now poured out.
Suddenly, someone wielding a blood red lightsabre came jumping out of the inferno tightly followed by a handful of rebel infiltrators. The person with the lightsabre, a girl Shinji accurately guessed by the formfitting black uniform, waged swift fury upon the unfortunate rebels, chopping them up with her lighsabre or using the same to parry her adversaries blaster shots back to themselves. While she did all this, the girls face did not betray the slightest emotion, and the whole time fought in silence. It did not take long for Shinji to realise that he recognised this girl.
"Ayanami?" he gasped incredulously.
Shinji was then abruptly brought back to his own dire situation when a blaster shoot grazed his right shoulder. The young pilot gasped again, this time from pain. This was his first real battle wound, although the pain was very much less than the one he had experienced within the Requiem. Shinji began to search frantically for a weapon, well aware that the rebels who had previously attacked him most likely planned to finish what they had begun. He found the nearby corpse of a security trooper who was still holding his blaster in a tight death grip. Shinji had to use quite some force to obtain the weapon for himself.
'Hope this thing still works' He peaked around the pile of scrap metal and took aim on the closest rebel only a few metres away. Shinji pulled the trigger. A small death cry came from the rebel when his back was penetrated by the blaster shot. The deed made Shinji petrified.
"I…I just killed a man…" he whispered to himself in shock while retreating behind the rubble one again, which provided him with at least some cover.
Shinji knew the man he shot had been an enemy, the Empire's enemy, and therefore his enemy as well, but he was still horrified by his own action. His stunned state and self disgust subsided somewhat though when he unconsciously let his gaze wander to the blue haired girl perform her dance of death.
'The way she moves… it's really fantastic' he noted, quite oblivious to the shots which had begun to sizzle past him.
Rei jumped and leapt, crouched and made pirouettes, parried and sliced. Although the girl was committing the worst single-handed carnage which Shinji had ever seen, her magnificent moves were oddly soothing to watch. Shinji thought it appeared to be more of an art than actual fighting, so delicate and refined. However his musings were interrupted when, completely without warning, a small shining object flying towards the red eyed girl caught his attention.
'What is…?' Sudden realisation caused the boy to once again recall the disturbing images he had seen inside the Requiem.
"NO!" both his mind and mouth screamed. At the speed of sound, Shinji leapt to his feet and dashed of towards Rei, paying no regard to the blasts which now filled the air around him.
'I can't let it happen, I can't let it happen!' He repeated the mantra over and over again.
Actually, the young pilot felt little hope of actually rescuing the red eyed girl, seeing as she fought at least fifty metres away from him. He willed his legs on however, filling them with his desire to arrive in time, to not allow that to happen. And seemingly at the blink of an eye, he was beside her at the same time as the detonator also reached its destination.
Shinji grabbed hold of Rei, almost losing a limb in the process as her sabre passed by him, and leapt as far as he could. When the explosion came, a fraction of a second later, the boy threw himself on top of the girl, using his own body as a shield. Searing pain scorched Shinji's back, he could feel the uniform melting and burning into his flesh, and nothing could have kept him from howling out in pain.
Finally, the pain eased a fraction when the fires died down, although his back still felt as if it was covered in flames. Shinji looked down at the twin red orbs of the girl whose life he had saved, and for the first time saw a hint of emotion pass over the girls face; confusion.
During the following seconds the world around the young pilot darkened until it became completely black and he fell into oblivion.
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The troopers carefully lifted up the incinerated corpses of Ikari Yui and Akagi Naoko on one bier each. The two dead women had been covered up by white sheets so as to not disturb their remains as per instructions. While the troopers sombrely lifted the biers and walked away with them, their every move was watched by a pair of steel grey eyes behind tinted shades.
Gendo watched with a mix of loss and rock hard determination as his wife and her best friend were carried away towards the mortuary.
'I will not let it end here, Yui' he promised 'I will find a way to bring you back, whatever it takes' Gendo sighed and turned away, walking towards the exit, wincing slightly from the burns he had sustained earlier. He would endure them though, those injuries could never compare to the pain he felt in his heart.
'Whatever it takes…' he repeated.
The last rebels had been killed or imprisoned by now; therefore the bearded man had nothing to fear as he eventually walked down the stairs of the battered main entrance where a speeder had been parked to his disposal. Gendo jumped into the small craft and activated its engines. Once in the air, he speeded of and disappeared among the high buildings of the capital.
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Shinji felt warm, safe. The pain had disappeared, and he now drifted through a blissful, grey void. He felt as if nothing could ever harm him again. Yet, darkness brewed within his dream, crawling ever closer, until the world around Shinji exploded into fire and chaos. Before him lay the fouled and desecrated corpses of everyone he had ever known and cared for; his parents, his friends, every last one…
"Yaaargh!"
With a scream of utter terror Shinji sat bolt upright. The whiteness pouring out from every direction blinded him as he opened his eyes, but he soon got used to the lighting, and found that he was sitting in a steel bed with white sheets in a whitish-grey hospital room.
After just a few seconds the door to his room opened and two human doctors plus one medic droid rushed in, most likely alerted by his scream. They soon calmed down though once he had assured them he was okay. Now, most other people would have been astounded to be the focal point of three expert surgeons. Hell, in most cases a medic droid would be quite enough. However, in the Empire, the higher up you were, the more doctors you got, and Shinji's family was pretty high up.
The senior doctor, an elderly man with greying hair, proceeded to do some check-ups on his young patient aided by the droid, while the somewhat younger female assistant filed notes on a small electric notepad. The examination wasn't nearly as thorough as the one Shinji had received by the Akagis, for which the boy felt much relief.
"Everything seems to be in order, Mister Ikari" The old man said politely once he was done "I'm afraid you will have to keep those scars though" Shinji became both stunned and confused.
"What do you mean by scars?" he asked in puzzlement.
"Well, you had some quite nasty burns on your back when you were brought here, Mister Ikari" the doctor explained "In fact, we had to put you in the bacta tank for two days" Shinji became even more flummoxed.
"How long have I been here?" he demanded.
"A few troopers brought you in three days ago, just about when the rebels finally retreated…" The slowly returning memories of his first battle made Shinji's stomach turn. However it also remembered him of the person he had last seen before blacking out.
"Um, sir, you didn't receive a patient called Ayanami, did you?" he asked hesitantly for fear of what the answer would be. The doctor looked at his assistant who quickly checked her notepad. After about a minute she stopped and shook her head.
"It doesn't appear so, Mister Ikari" she said.
Shinji heaved a sigh of relief; he had at least been able to save one person. That insight made all the difference in the galaxy for the young pilot.
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The sun shone brightly over the city planet, its warm rays reflecting magnificently off the many tall buildings. Even though it had been attacked only a few days ago, Coruscant was as vibrant with life as ever. Speeders and spacecrafts whooshed through the air and people jostled past each others down on the many platforms. Indeed, the city was perhaps more energetic now than a few days prior, due to the immense repairs which were being conducted.
Shinji absently let his gaze wander through the elevator window and over the busy city. He didn't notice it that much though; his head was full of thoughts. The doctors had told him that no-one had come to visit him during his three days in hospital. Why hadn't his parents visited him? Had something happened to them? Were they mad at him for some reason?
When the elevator stopped at his floor Shinji stepped out and quickly walked the small distance to his apartment. He drew the key-card and went inside the dark flat. Apparently his parents weren't at home. Not that he should have been surprised; they usually weren't home until late in the evenings. Shinji clapped his hands to activate the pre-programmed lighting mechanism. The apartment lit up to reveal the extravagance which Shinji had been used to since early childhood.
'This is getting creepy' the boy thought, a feeling off foreboding spreading in his mind. Shinji had quite a good eye for homely details, and he instantly realised that no-one hade been inside the flat since he left for school three days ago.
'Calm down, Ikari' he ordered himself 'mom and dad have probably just been working more than usual… that's why they haven't been home…' While he tried to convince himself of this, Shinji walked into the large kitchen and saw the com-screen blinking in its new-message mode.
The young pilot approached the communicator hesitantly, although he would have been hard pressed to explain why. He looked at the screen which displayed two messages. One was a governmental one, most likely for his parents, the other one was from his dad. Shinji quickly opened the later one.
Shinji,
I have been reassigned to Mengel 5 for governmental work; we will not see each other for a while. I leave the apartment to you; all papers are in order, as well as some credits on your account. Do not attempt to contact me.
Gendo
Shinji stared dumbly at the screen.
'What the hell is this?' he mentally exclaimed 'Mengel 5? Do not attempt any contact? And why would he leave the apartment to me? Is mom going with him? The questions buzzed around Shinji's head like angry insects while he tried to make some sense out of his father's cryptic message.
Finally giving up on that task, Shinji turned his attention to the government notice. Perhaps that was his father's reassignment order? If so, it should probably shed some more light on why his father's letter had been so short and unyielding. Thus reasoning, he opened the second message.
The notice was simple enough, it just read:
From: the Imperial Registrations Department
To: Ikari Household, code 239805,
Whit our sincerest regrets we hereby inform you that Ikari Yui has died in action while serving her Emperor.
However simple it might have been though, the information blatantly refused to stick inside Shinji's mind. Ever so slowly, realisation dawned on the teen, and with that, the world as he had known it cracked and fell apart.
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Shinji shambled his way to school. He felt completely hollow inside, not just because of the lingering realisation that he was practically an orphan, or at least abandoned, but also since this fact had prevented him from eating or even getting much sleep the previous night. Still, if he didn't go to school, the security would probably beat his door down to drag him there, or to prison. The Emperor was very keen on his subjects to be 'well educated'. Life really sucked.
Once Shinji reached the school and went inside his home classroom, he slumped into his chair.
"Hey, Shin-man, where've you been?" Touji called out from his seat. Kensuke nodded.
"Yeah, we haven't seen you for several days!" he said cheerfully "we almost thought the rebels had gotten you!"
"Meh, he probably hid somewhere they couldn't find him" Touji joked.
"Right in front of them you mean?" Kensuke answered "Those rebels aren't too smart you know"
Both boys laughed. Shinji tried to ignore them; he really had no desire to speak to either of them at this point, or anyone else for that matter. The classroom returned to order once the teacher entered, and the rest of the day disappeared in a slow and dull blur as far as Shinji was concerned. When he talked it was mostly just to give short answers to questions asked to him.
A weak passed in much the same manner. Although he went to school everyday, Shinji framed himself from as much contact with other people as possible. He ate, slept and went to school, that was all.
On the seventh day since Shinji had left the hospital, the boy in question was sitting in class, staring into space, when the classroom door opened and two storm troopers marched in, followed by an imperial officer. A female officer named Katsuragi Misato to be precise.
"Wow! It's that babe!" Touji and Kensuke exclaimed at the same time.
This gained a disapproving glare from the teacher for their disrespect. He would have to punish them for that later, the Empire craved discipline. The 'babe' in question didn't seem to mind the attention very much though, she just flashed the two students a foxy grin, causing both teens to pass out from the resulting blood loss through their noses. Then Misato turned to the teacher who was standing at attention and excused himself for his students' poor behaviour.
"At ease" Misato said "I'm here to fetch one of your students, Ikari Shinji" The old man pointed at the moping blue eyed boy sitting some way back in the classroom. The purple haired captain nodded.
"Shinji-kun!" she called out. Shinji turned his dead eyes to look at the woman. Misato reeled back slightly.
'Hell, that boy looks like crap!' she mentally commented but soon straightened up.
"Shinji-kun, come with us" she ordered. Without a word Shinji stood up, took his bag and shambled to the front of the classroom where the troopers and Misato waited. Misato apologised to the teacher for interrupting class and then walked out, shortly followed by the boy and troopers. Once they had gone outside, the teacher sat back down and continued his droning as if nothing out of the ordinary had passed. However, at recess, an ocean of rumours would soon begin to form among the students.
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Misato had been a bit pissed at first when she had been ordered to pick up the same kid again. Couldn't the boy just take a cab or something? It wasn't like she had nothing better to do. But when she turned in her seat to look at the teen sitting beside her in the speeder she took pity on him. Shinji was staring blankly ahead, not even disturbed by Misato's reckless driving.
'Poor kid' she thought 'I guess he's taking it all pretty hard'
Misato of course knew of Yui's death and Gendo's reassignment. After all, they were her superiors, or in Yui's case had been.
Eventually they reached the battered GEHIRN pyramid, landed and went inside. This time Shinji wasn't brought to the lower levels of the research centre, but to a conference room on the main floor. The room was oblong and quite big with two long and arched metal tables which went along the walls. In the middle of the room was a holo-projector. Shinji noticed that Ritsuko was sitting at one of the tables together with a number of officers discussing something or another. Once she noticed their entry, Ritsuko stood up.
"Ah, Misato, Shinji-kun, glad you could join us" she greeted, but sounding quite tired when she did.
"Hi, Rits!" Misato said cheerfully. Shinji said nothing.
"Please sit down both of you" Ritsuko urged them. Once the two had seated, the blonde scientist walked up to stand in front of the projector so as to gain everyone's attention.
"Now, Shinji-kun, I presume you wonder why I had Captain Katsuragi bring you here" Shinji shrugged, he didn't care that much. However, the susurrus passing among the officers clearly told that they certainly wished to know why a kid had been brought to this conference.
"In short, we want to put you on our permanent pilot's list for project Requiem" The boy merely blinked, but the officers were brought into uproar.
"This is preposterous!" one yelled.
"Aye, how could anyone think of letting a brat pilot!" another exclaimed.
"You have some explaining to do, doctor Akagi" a third officer said in a frosty tone. It was clear to Shinji that this person was of considerable rank, seeing as everyone else seemed to quiet down when this one was speaking.
"Yes, Moff Tarkin" the scientist responded nervously.
Shinji heard Misato gasp. Moff Willhuff Tarkin was the officer who wrote the Tarkin doctrine, the notion to rule the Empire through fear, and was known as one of the most cold-hearted and merciless officers within the Empire. Shinji couldn't help but shudder when he felt the Moff's evaluating gaze momentarily pass over him.
"I admit that your prototype is very impressive, doctor Akagi" Tarkin elaborated "However, I cannot see why we should turn such a powerful tool into a plaything for children" The other officers murmured and nodded in agreement.
"Then I shall gladly explain this to you, Moff Tarkin" Ritsuko promised and activated the projector "The Emperor assigned me and my late mother to conduct research on Force-sensitive humans some years ago" A photonic replica of the Requiem now shone above the projector "We found that, using a certain catalyst, a person with affinity of the Force is able to control a fighter up to fifty percent more efficiently than the most well-trained pilot. And since the great Jedi purge, most Force-sensitive humans are very young, ninety-nine percent being born after the event, thus explaining the need for children to pilot it"
"Not as elaborate as I would have wanted, doctor" Tarkin commented "but I guess this will have to suffice. Indeed who are we to question our Emperor?"
"Yes, indeed" Ritsuko said in relief.
"Though I am curious" the cold Moff continued "who was the one piloting the Requiem during the attack a few days ago"
"That would be Shinji-kun" the blonde researcher said and gestured towards the boy who noticeably flinched.
"I see…" Tarkin said while he eyed the terrified teen "And does 'Shinji-kun' intend to continue piloting for his Emperor?"
"Um…yeah, I guess, I mean… yes sir" Shinji managed to stutter. Tarkin held his gaze for a while longer and then nodded.
"Very well then, I hope to see you perform at your outmost, pilot" He stood up and the other officers did likewise "This meeting is adjourned" he proclaimed and then marched out of the conference room with the officers in tow.
"That guy is really creepy…" Shinji said once he was alone with the two women.
"I say" Misato nodded. Ritsuko stepped up to them.
"Shinji-kun, are you sure you want to continue piloting?"
Shinji pondered this for a while. He wasn't quite sure of what to do really, on one side he was absolutely terrified of getting into the Requiem again, for fear of a re-run of what had happened three days ago. On the other hand, his altruism, his desire to help others, prompted him to get into the pilot-seat as soon as possible. True, his feelings towards other people had suffered from his mother's death and especially from his father abandoning him. But now his helpfulness had returned at full strength, together with a new, burning urge to prove himself.
"Yes, I'll pilot it" he finally said. Both women sighed in relief.
"That's good, Shin-chan" Misato said teasingly "'cause if you said no we would've had to kill you"
"Whaaat!"
"Don't listen to her" Ritsuko reassured the boy "Actually, we're very glad that you wanted to stay. Otherwise, we would be stuck with just one pilot"
"Huh?" Shinji asked "Who's the other one?"
"Oh, that's right, we forgot to tell you" Ritsuko said "Your co-pilot is Rei"
"Ayanami?"
"The same" the blonde confirmed. Misato grinned.
"Why, Shinji-kun, are you blushing?" she teased "You're not having the hots for that girl, right? Co-worker relations are strictly forbidden you know" Shinji became as red as the setting sun.
"Ah, no, it's not like that!" he insisted while the purple aired woman clutched her ribs in laughter and mentally patted herself on the shoulder.
'You're really good at raising people's spirits, Misa-chan' she thought 'Shinji-kun seems to be a little better off now'
Ritsuko sighed.
"Come on Misato, quit making fun of him, we need to get Shinji to the training room"
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Red lasers sizzled all around her; she knew that one wrong move could mean certain death. This did not scare her though, so she took a deep breath and got into defensive stance, swiftly directing the deadly lights back to where they originated, neutralising several of her targets. Then she continued with a high jump into the air, parrying shoots as they came at her, and struck down another opponent. When she landed she retook her defensive stance, once again using her adversaries' weapons against themselves, until she took her next leap and cut through two more.
Rei was performing training pattern Delta; defence against an overwhelming opponent. She took a second to estimate how many of the small flying training droids where left.
'Around twenty' she calculated and took another breath before charging the droids once again.
She would do this quite often, indeed it was what she did almost everyday. The only things she did beside were pilot training, meditation, eat and sleep. It was enough for her though, even though she actually had known little else. That was the will of her master, whom she had to obey.
'Ten',she made another slash.
'Seven', parry.
'Five', pirouette and slash.
'Two', parry again.
'Zero'
She deactivated her blood red lightsabre and stepped out of the battle simulation room. Outside she encountered Doctor Akagi together with Captain Katsuragi and…
"…you?" She stared at the timid, blue-eyed boy who stood beside the two other women.
"Um, hi…" Shinji responded, once again becoming captivated by the quiet girl.
"Shinji-kun" said Ritsuko, waking the boy from his trance "Aside from being your co-pilot, Rei is also your new combat trainer"
"Combat trainer?" Shinji echoed.
"Yes" Ritsuko said with a nod "When you're not piloting, you will probably also be assigned to perform ground missions, and then you have to be able to defend yourself in such conditions" Shinji could see the logic in that.
"So, what will she be teaching me?" the boy inquired "Blasters? Hand-to-hand?"
"No" the blonde sad "Lightsabres" Shinji's jaw dropped.
"N-no way!" he exclaimed incredulously "You mean that… that weird thing she used during the attack?" The scientist nodded wordlessly and presented the boy with a black cylinder.
"Take this" she instructed. Shinji frantically shook his head.
"Look, I might be able to pilot a spaceship at first try, but there's no way I could ever fight with this the way she did" Shinji indicated the blue haired girl with a hand gesture.
"You will" Surprisingly, the voice was neither Ritsuko's nor Misato's, but the monotone of Rei Ayanami. The three moved as one to stare incredulously at the girl.
"You will" she repeated, and Shinji blushed.
"I…um, well…I guess I c-could try…" he stuttered and hesitantly took the black lightsabre from Ritsuko. Misato grinned like crazy.
"Shin-chan, you sly dog" she said, prodding the boy in his chest "you really know how to go about it, don't you?" Shinji blushed even more.
"N-no, I don't" he stuttered "stop teasing me, Misato-san!"
"Oh, but it's so much fun teasing you, Shinji-kun" the purple haired woman said, still grinning.
"Rei" Ritsuko said with a tired sigh "take Shinji-kun to training room 01. Get him up to speed on how to use the sabre" The red eyed girl nodded.
"Hai"
Rei began to walk away, stopping only once to look back at the blue eyed boy who was still being mercilessly teased by Misato.
"Are you not coming?" she asked.
"Um…yeah, right" Shinji answered and leapt away from his tormentor and put the black sabre in his pocket.
Rei stared at him for about one more second before turning her head and continued to lead the way down the corridor.
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Training room 01 was in the shape of box, with durasteel walls and dim lighting. Shinji thought it looked extremely dull; he was used from home to every room being well decorated. Though he perfectly understood why one probably wouldn't want to place a rylothian vase or something like that in there, he was still somewhat disturbed by the room's lack of warmth.
He glanced nervously at the red eyed girl standing in front of him. He had wanted to strike up a conversation with her when they walked through the corridors; sadly he had been completely lost for words. And now her evaluating gaze even made it hard for him to breathe.
"Take out your lightsabre" she commanded so suddenly that Shinji jumped in surprise.
"O-okay" He took the cylinder out of his pocket and studied it "How do I activate it?" he asked.
"Like this" Rei said, pulling out her own sabre and activating it, all at the blink of an eye.
"Wow…" Shinji said in awe. He looked down at his own sabre again and saw a small button on it.
'This must be it' he thought. He was just about to press it when Rei grabbed a hold of his arm.
"Wait" she said in her usual monotone. Shinji blushed fiercely at the contact.
"W-w-what is it?" he asked. Rei took the sabre from him, turned it around and gave it back.
"You were holding it the opposite way" she explained "Had you activated it, you would have cut yourself down" Shinji paled.
"Y-you mean I almost…"
"Yes"
"T-thanks" Shinji stuttered "you saved my life!" Rei just gave him her usual stare.
After some hesitation, Shinji finally activated his lightsabre. The red blade reminded the blue eyed boy much of the Requiem, they both seemed to contain some inner, hidden rage and malice. The sabre vibrated strongly in his hands, humming ominously and emitted an intense heat which made Shinji break into a sweat. Rei gave a short nod and took up a defensive stance.
"Now, let us begin…"
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To be continued…
AN: Not much to say really… I have begun on the ShinjiXRei in this chapter, although I'll try to take it slow.
By the way, if anyone is interested, I made Mengel 5 up using the name of a well known Nazi 'scientist' who was mad as a spoon. Just giving you a little hint on what Gendo might be working on.
Some answers to reviews:
To Rusty: Perhaps it won't… although I'm not quite sure (gonna let you float around in uncertainty, hehe)
To Grievous: Nice touch with that Sith code, but I prefer this one:
I am the hunter of embracing dark.
I am the bringer of fear.
I am the scorner of peace and tranquility.
I seek to crush the common place.
I seek to strike terror in every heart.
I know no passion or pity.
I seek to be Sith in all manifestations.
To NamelessHeretic: Rei is a dark Jedi, the only two Sith are (at this point) Palpatine and Vader. The other question… well can't really say, that'd spoil a lot don't you think?
To everyone else: Thanks for your support!
Untill next time, may the Force be with you.
Ausir.