Disclaimer: I do not own Neon Genesis Evangelion, but I do own Satan at poker.
Okay, I'm running out of ideas, but hey, writer's block is normal! This is going to be the last chapter before vacation, and I believe that the vacation will help me clear my head a bit. Also, I don't know whether or not I will be able to update on vacation, but I will try nonetheless. Well, read on, this is the second interlude, following right after the first one.
6/30/06-7/1/06
"Fourth Impact." Shinji couldn't believe it. He had just figured it out. They needed him and Unit 01 to cause the bloody Fourth Impact. After the failed Human Complement project, they will still try to do it again. And he was needed, he was needed in order to complete the project and cause the Fourth Impact. That was why they killed his friends, who was supposedly his family. They needed to give him a reason to die, to not want to continue living to make him want to go through with it. It would have worked too, if he hadn't figured it out, he would have gone through with it, but, he was angry. ANGRY THAT THEY WOULD USE HIM LIKE THIS! He felt different, normally he would've been afraid, scared, and would run away to end all this suffering, but not today. There was something different he wanted. He didn't want to see his friends, not yet. He didn't want to run away. No, he wanted something he had never wanted before.
He wanted revenge.
Shinji was running away, once again, but he knew what he had to do. After slipping away from the agent, luckily they needed him alive, he headed of in a random direction to lose them. Thanks to his size, he was able to escape them once again and redirect towards his destination. However, despite how much he wanted to keep going, he had to stop and rest. As he walked by an alley he felt something grab him and pull him in. Thinking that they have captured him, he tries best to struggle free, much to no avail.
"Don't worry, I'm not here to hurt you." Shinji wasn't convinced. "You can keep struggling, but all your going to do is tire yourself out, and that's not going to do you any good." Shinji stopped struggling, realizing that resisting is futile. "Follow me." Shinji, realizing that he had no choice followed the man to his car. "Your in quite a lot of trouble you know."
"..." Shinji kept quiet in the back of his car.
"In case your wondering, the major asked me to take care of you." The man said.
"What? Misato?" Shinji wanted to know more.
"Yes, she said that they were after you, and that you could use my help." The man answered.
"Why would you want to help me?"
"Because I know we're after the same thing, I'm just a little higher up the ladder than you." the man replied.
"..."
"So, what's your beef with SEELE?"
"..."
"Don't wanna talk about it eh? Well, that's alright, you can tell me when you're ready."
"Why are you helping me?" Shinji asked softly. The man paused for a moment, thinking of what to do next.
"Well, it's a long drive I might as well tell you the story." The man took a deep breath before beginning. "You may not believe this, but I know you really well, I used to work for Section 2, at NERV, or so I thought."
"What happened?"
"Well, I'm sure you know now that SEELE was pulling the strings on NERV and that they were the one is charge."
"Yes, a little too late for that now."
"Yes, well, let's get back to the story. I watched over you and the other pilots, occasional doing odd jobs for the commander here and there, and I never questioned my work. I always thought that they always cared and wanted what was best for you and the other pilots. That was until the twelfth and thirteenth Angels. At first I knew that they marked you dead, so I didn't care for it much, I knew there would be casualties, and that to bother with such as loss would be irrelevant, for there wasn't anything I could do."
"What?"
"Don't interrupt, let me continue."
"I'm sorry."
"As I was saying, after they pulled you out, I saw you within an inch of life, I knew that you would be in the best of care. I felt glad that you were safe, I didn't know why, but I just did. I thought that they spent millions on you because they cared for their pilots, but I was wrong. I was assigned to watch after the fourth child on the day of his activation test. He was so scared, I could see it in his eyes. He told me that he was doing it for his sister, to make sure that she would have the best treatment possible. I felt happy hearing that, to believe one so young could care so much for a loved one. I told him there was nothing to worry about, I told him he would be safe, that there would be nothing to worry about, that he would be safe, I promised him that." The man started to tear as he continued to drive.
"It's okay, you didn't know what would happen next."
"No, it wasn't alright. I was the last person he saw before the test, I escorted him to the entry plug, and told him that it would be alright, and he believed me, he trusted me. But when everything went wrong, I tried as best I could to tell myself that everything would be alright, until I saw what the commander did. He ordered it's destruction, I was shocked beyond belief, that he'd throw away someone so young away like that, so easily. And then he had to unleash that goddamn dummy plug on him too. To make his own son watch his friend torn limb from limb before his very eyes.
From that day on, I couldn't bring myself to look, let alone speak to the commander anymore. I hated the man, I hated him. I couldn't bring myself to look at the fourth either, I couldn't believe what I had happened. I promised him that it would be alright. I know now that it was a huge mistake on my part. And to add insult to injury, the commander ordered me to break the news to his sister. Have you ever seen a little girl cry?
To tell this little girl, that her brother had nearly been... To tell that her only family was...I couldn't take it, I wanted to get out of there, but I knew I couldn't leave the girl, I knew that she needed someone, but I couldn't do anything. So I had to leave, with the image of that very day, burning in my head. I can't even look at my daughter the same way anymore. She was about as old as the fourths sister too. It was then I knew that we were all disposable, that I wasn't safe working for NERV, that I would be cast aside once I've outlived my usefulness. I didn't want to leave my daughter, I don't ever want to see her cry like how I saw the fourths sister, it tore me away inside.
I wanted to get revenge on NERV, but I was too blinded by revenge I didn't understand half of what I was doing, I helped out SEELE, I helped convince that UN to attack NERV, to take my revenge, I was too blinded to see, that you, and everyone else would be caught in the crossfire, but I didn't care, I didn't care, until I saw the second, or what was left of her. I couldn't believe my eyes, that I had sent that beast against such a young girl. I heard the screams, I watched the video feeds as they proceeded to eat her and tear her apart. I then knew what I had done, and I had become a monster myself, one I wished to destroy.
Then I saw you, I saw you take on those monsters, it isn't fair, it just isn't fair. It's not fair to put so much strain on such a young child's mind, to put him through all this, I wanted it to stop, I wanted it to end. The next thing I knew there was a blinding light and I woke up in a half destroyed building, I carried myself to the field hospital, and that was when I saw you, I couldn't believe what I had done. I had tried to end the pain, but I only made it worse, I couldn't believe it, but I was glad that you were safe. While you where watching over your friend, I talked with the Major, she told me everything, everything that happened, all that you've gone through.
I told her what I had done, and that I was very sorry, and that I was glad it was all over. But it was only the beginning. SEELE knew of my actions, they were upset, they decided that it was best that they put me out. I was shocked at first, but then, I laughed, I had outlived my usefulness, and that they would get rid of me. I could live with that, after what I had done, I deserved to go to hell. You were just children, just kids, you reminded me too much of Claire, all you wanted to do was make friends and play with other children. But no, you had to fight in those goddamn monsters, those goddamn monsters.
So I waited for that day, they allowed me to see my family one last time, granted I don't do anything. I told Claire that I had to go, and that I'd never come back. Then, I saw it, it reminded me of that day with the fourths sister, the look she had on her face, I regretted ever working for them, I didn't want to go. The look in her eyes, pleading, begging me to not go, she blamed it all on herself, she said she was sorry, and that she'd be a good girl. I told her that she was the best girl in the whole world, and that I was proud of her. But she just shook it off and said 'If your so proud of me, then why are you leaving?' I couldn't take it, I did the one thing I haven't done since I was a kid, I cried.
I cried like that all night, I cried for days, until the one day that I was to go. Luckily, they told me they had a use for me. I was told to retrieve you, I was told that they needed you to pilot Unit 01 again. I couldn't believe what I had heard, to make you get back in that thing, I couldn't accept it, but they gave me no choice. They told me that I had all the time I in the world, they said they didn't care how long I took as long as I accomplished the mission. But if I were to betray them, they would kill my family in front of me. I went home late that night, I walked up to Claire's door and I told her that I was home, she burst out of the door and held onto me for dear life, she wouldn't let go, and neither would I.
I focused on the mission, but I knew what my fate would be if I were to finish, they'd kill her whether or not I get the job done, but I had to find a way. I got a phone call the next morning. It was the Major, she told me that there were people after you, and she somehow trusted me. Ironically, she sent you to the very man sent to find you. Luckily for her I was sick of this shit. I don't want to see you go, but I knew what would happen on both sides of the track. I spent as much time as I could to find you. I was shocked at what I had seen them do. I just ordered the men to find you, no more, no less. But SEELE told them otherwise. I saw the Maj...Misato...on the floor dead, there was look in her eye. Somehow she looked betrayed, but content with her death, like she knew that in the end, everything would be alright."
I focused on finding you before they did, I saw them kill many more in their search for you. The second, the fourth, your friend Kensuke, I believe, and many more, I was sick to my stomach, this wasn't a simple retrieval mission, this was insane. Luckily I found you before they did. I am sick of them, I can't take it anymore, I want to get away, but I'm bound to this world by two things. Claire...and you... I can't rest in peace until I know for sure that you two would be safe. As you can see, I need you, as much as you need me.
"..." Shinji was quiet. For once though, he felt happy, but a new kind of happy, like finding someone that is suffering just as much as you were, maybe not more, but could understand. Misery sure does love company.
"We're here." The man pulled the car over in front of a large European style house.
"I'm going to be staying here?"
"Yes, this will be our base of operations for now, until we figure out what to do with SEELE."
"What if they search the house?"
"Trust me, you'll be very safe. In a way, this will be your new home."
"Home?"
"Yes, welcome home Shinji"
"It's good to be home...I'm sorry, I never caught your name."
"Name's Eugene, but just call me Ace."
A/N: Chapter's a little short, but I hope you all like it.
You know what to do...
