Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars or Evangelion. Just this story
Author's note: Alright, I'm back. I took a nice long break, and I'm ready to return. I've been pretty busy lately, especially now that I've gotten a job. I meant to work on this over the summer, but i never got around to it. However, oddly, now that school has started again I can actually work on it. Weird, huh?
Oh, and for all intents and purposes, Japanese schools went back to just going five days a week after Second Impact. Smaller classes means the teacher can focus more on individuals, etc etc, so yeah. Whatever. So, on with the show!
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Maul had already started his work on the furnace. It was coming along smoothly. He had worked constantly since he had gotten up on Saturday, and he was sure he was a third done with it. Of course, it was the easy third of the furnace. The internal workings of the device would be much more time consuming. But if he worked steadily at it, he was sure he'd have it done within the week.
He stopped for a moment to collect his thoughts, and plan his next move. The furnace was now coming along, and he had everything needed to create a lightsaber. Now all he needed was his Apprentice. He'd chosen quite carefully. He had to take in account both potential (which all three of them possessed) and personality. He knew what he was looking for, and he knew exactly who possessed it. He did have one more thing he should check though. And he knew Dr. Akagi would have the answer
888
Shinji and Rei walked through the park together. Free from school, they also knew they were free from Section 2. As long as they weren't around Maul, they knew they could spend time together without fear of discovery. Neither thought that anything positive would come of Gendo learning about them, so they intended to keep him ignorant of them being a couple.
"So Rei," asked Shinji, "What do you think about Maul?"
"I think he has made progress since we first met him," answered Rei. "It is likely that the Commander will have Section 2 stop following him soon."
"Good," said Shinji. He looked up at the sky. There were hardly any clouds. It was beautiful out. He looked back at Rei, walking alongside him. She was smiling, adding to the beauty she possessed, which Shinji felt made Nature's pale by comparison. At that moment, Shinji felt that he'd never seen anything as beautiful as she, and felt happy in the knowledge that she loved him.
They reached a bench near the pond in the center of the park and sat down. Shinji put his arm around the blue-haired girl, and she rested her head against his shoulder in response. The park was serene. There weren't many people around on that particular Saturday, so the air, while still filled with noise, retained a tranquil quality. There was a faint breeze, which was just enough to make the air cool and comfortable. He sighed, contented.
"I love you Rei-chan," he said.
"I love you too Shinji-kun," said Rei. They sat there for a long time, feeling like time had stopped just for them, just so that they could have this peaceful moment for as long as they wanted. Shinji looked down at Rei, who looked back up at him. Their faces began coming closer. Their eyes slowly closed, as did the distance between them. Their lips made contact, and they were completely lost in the moment.
They stayed that way for a long time. "Let's go get lunch," said Shinji when they finally broke it off.
"Alright," said Rei, smiling. They got of the bench and started walking towards a restaurant.
888
Maul stood outside Ritsuko's office. He needed some further information on the pilots. He felt instinctively that he'd need some information on their Eva piloting abilities. He wasn't sure why, but he felt that it would somehow affect their potential in using the Force. He knocked on the door and waited.
"Come in," came Ritsuko's voice. Maul stepped in. "Oh, hello Maul. What do you need?" Ritsuko was currently filing something away.
"I'd like some information on the Children," said Maul.
"What kind of information?" asked Ritsuko, looking up from her filing cabinet. Maul had to think about it for a few seconds. How best to put it?
"I'd like to look at their," he began slowly, "Battle records."
"Battle records?" asked Ritsuko. "Why do you want to look at those?" Maul had been asking for odd things since he arrived. Ritsuko was starting to get a little suspicious. Maul sensed this, and acted fast.
"You see," said Maul, "Where I'm from, I'm a warrior. I feel that I could better connect with them if I knew that they were too." It was pretty weak, and hastily constructed, but it was the only thing Maul could think of.
"Really?" asked Ritsuko, skeptically. "What are you really up to, Maul?" Maul looked from side to side. What could he say now?
"It's just something I need to see," said Maul. "You could say it was out of curiosity." Ritsuko raised an eyebrow. She hadn't bought it at all. However, she reached for the files anyway.
"'Curiosity', huh?" she asked. "Well, just out of curiosity, does this have anything to do with the materials you asked the Commander to get for you? Or maybe the diamonds I found for you?" She was holding the files, but she wasn't making any move to hand them to him. Ordinarily, Maul simply would have killed her and taken what he wanted, but he knew that doing so here would not work.
"You really don't need to concern yourself with it," said Maul, casually waving his hand.
"Considering that I got you the diamonds," she said, "Thus making myself an accomplice to whatever you're up to, I'd say I need to concern myself at this point. I'm no idiot, Maul. Unlike the Commander, who accepted your explanation of your list being for a furnace, I know a thing or two about mechanics. Even if you are building a furnace, it's not any normal furnace. And some of those things you requested have nothing to do with any kind of heating system I can think of at all."
Maul cursed silently. 'Damn,' he thought, 'She is not nearly weak-minded enough for the mind trick, and she knows I've been lying. What do I do now?'
"Whatever you're up to," she said, lowering her voice, "I want in." Maul's confused expression earned him some further explanation. "I've seen my share of strange things," she said. "I've seen a good deal of advanced technology. I've seen a great deal of biological anomalies. You fall into all of those categories, and now you're going to involve the pilots in some way. Don't look so surprised. I didn't become top scientist around here for nothing."
"What exactly is it that you want?" asked Maul. Ritsuko smiled.
"Just a few things," said Ritsuko. "The Commander is already conducting his own investigation into your powers. He'll be getting to your weapon soon enough. What I want is to study all of this myself. I want to know how you do the things you do. I want to know how your weapon works. What I'm proposing is this: I keep your little projects a secret, and I supply what you need. I won't let Gendo know about any of this, either. And all I want in return is the chance to study you, study your weapon, and study whatever it is you're going to be doing with the Children. What do you say?" Maul thought about it. These were strange terms.
"Why?" he asked. "Why do you want to study all this?"
"Knowledge is power," said Ritsuko. "I want to know something that almost no one else knows. And besides, that weapon of yours is good for fighting Angels. It might be nice to have when the next one comes." Maul thought about this.
"I have your assurance that none of this will be made known to Gendo?" Ritsuko nodded. Maul's eyes strayed to the files in her hand. "Fine," he said. "I will agree to those terms." They shook on it. Ritsuko handed him the files.
888
Asuka was sitting at home, bored. There was nothing good on TV, Shinji was out... somewhere, and she had nothing planned for the day. At least if Shinji was around she'd have someone to talk to. Misato was sleeping in, so talking to her was no good, and Pen-Pen wasn't exactly great for conversations. Venting, sure, but he didn't hold up his end of a conversation very well.
She sat there for a few minutes, still trying to figure out what she could do. She found herself thinking about Maul, strangely enough.
'What's with him?' she thought. 'He's so weird. He shows up out of nowhere, he's got some kind of crazy alien weapon, he's apparently some kind of crazy alien himself, he's got some kind of power, he's tatooed from head to toe, he's hot...' Asuka blinked. She did not just think that. She sighed. Okay, she did think that. However, her next thought gave her some solace. 'Just about every single girl in our class was saying the exact same thing. So really, thinking he's good-looking is perfectly normal.' She stood up and stretched.
'Still though, it's weird,' she thought. 'He's not a normal guy. The attention he's been getting from pretty much every girl in class would excite most, if not all, guys. He seems completely uninterested in anything. He's always just sitting there, brooding. He only seems to care about anything when he's playing basketball.' She walked to the fridge and started looking for something to eat. She looked in the freezer and found some ice-cream. She fixed herself a bowl and sat down to eat. She looked at the chocolate syrup running down the ice cream, which reminded her of Maul's tatoos. She suddenly remembered something.
"He said that only some of it was tatoo," said Asuka, taking a bite. "His skin is red and black. I wonder which color is tatoo?"
"Huh?" asked Misato, coming out of her room. "What are you talking about?"
"Nothing," said Asuka, taking another bite.
"Bull," said Misato. "You were talking about Maul weren't you?" Misato grabbed a beer from the fridge and sat down at the table.
"Why would I be saying anything about him?" asked Asuka. Misato smiled mischievously.
"Cause you like him," said Misato, taking a sip of her beer. Asuka's jaw dropped.
"What!?" she exclaimed. "Like him!? Are you nuts!?" Misato tried not to laugh. "He's arrogant, rude, always acts like he's about to kill somebody... He is absolutely infuriating!"
"Yep," said Misato. "You like him." Asuka opened her mouth to speak, but instead just took in another spoonful of ice cream.
'This must be how Shinji feels when Misato does this,' she thought. 'She takes great delight in tormenting us, doesn't she?' She glared at Misato, who only laughed.
"Calm down," said Misato, "I'm just teasing you. You should've seen the look on your face when I said 'You like him.' Priceless." Oh yeah. Misato definitely enjoyed tormenting them. "But you've got a point. He's not exactly my favorite person either. I don't think he's ever once given me a straight answer to anything."
"What do you mean?"
"He just keeps doing stuff that doesn't seem possible, and he keeps showing that he knows things he couldn't possibly know. When I ask him about it, he just changes the subject."
"See?" asked Asuka. "Told you. He's a real jackass."
"Yep," said Misato, taking another sip. "... But you still like him."
"Oh shut up!"
888
Shinji and Rei walked away from the restaurant, pretty much planning to just wander around for a while. The meal had been very nice. The atmosphere of the restaurant had been perfect, too. All in all, it added to Rei and Shinji's already wonderful day. They walked down the street, blissfully unaware that they were being watched.
"The First and Third Child seem to be spending time together," said a Section 2 agent, a light brown-haired man.
"Yes," said his partner, a dark haired man, "It seems they are. Is it of any consequence?"
"I don't think so," said the first. "Unless we see anything truly out of the ordinary, it's of no concern."
"Why exactly did we get stuck with this assignment, Mizaki?"
"Not sure, Kazuma," said Mizaki. "Commander Ikari just told us to keep an eye on Pilot Ayanami. He's having several guys watch that Maul guy."
"Maul I can understand," said Kazuma, "But why Ayanami?"
"Cause she's his favorite, I guess," said Mizaki. "He seems to be getting more tight-lipped about things lately. He's giving orders with less explanation than usual. Wonder why?"
"Me too," said Kazuma, "But- Hey! I lost them!" They had been so busy talking that they's lost sight of Rei and Shinji.
"Crap," said Mizaki. "Better find them quick. She shouldn't be too hard to spot though. I mean, she has blue hair."
As the Section 2 Agents looked for them, Shinji and Rei kept going, ignorant of their spies. They had begun talking.
"So," said Shinji, "What do you think's gonna happen when the next one comes?"
"The next Angel?" asked Rei.
"Yeah," said Shinji. "Do you think my father will really send Maul out with us? No Eva or anything?"
"Your father sent you out against the Third Angel with no fighting or piloting experience, with minimal chance of Unit 1 functioning," said Rei, "And he was going to send me out even though I was almost completely incapable of movement. I doubt he would have any qualms about sending out a person he hardly knows." Shinji's eyes narrowed.
"You have a point," he said. "My father doesn't care about anyone. I mean, I heard he rescued you after what happened to Unit 0, but still... he was going to send you out when you couldn't even move without it hurting." Rei looked at Shinji.
"And you got in Unit 1 so that I wouldn't have to," she said. Shinji thought back to that day.
"Well," he said, "Sorta, yeah. It was for a lot of reasons, but... I really couldn't let you pilot it." He remembered seeing her blood on his hand. "There was no way I could let anyone who was hurt as badly as you put themselves in any more danger. I just couldn't." He looked at Rei. She leaned forward and gave him a quick kiss.
"Thank you," she said, resting her head on his shoulder as they continued to walk. "There was also the time after we fought the Fifth Angel. You helped me out of the entry plug just as your father had done."
"The only similarity with my father I could ever be proud of," said Shinji. "I never want to turn out like him."
"You won't," said Rei. "I am sure of that." She grabbed his hand. Shinji smiled.
"I love you," he said.
"I love you too," she replied. They walked in silence for a few moments. By the time Agents Mizaki and Kazuma had caught up with them, they had gone back to just talking. They stayed far enough back that they couldn't hear what the Children were saying, but they could see their expressions.
"Is the First smiling?" asked Mizaki. "Is that possible?"
"I'm not sure," said Kazuma. "I've never seen her smile before. Is that out of the ordinary?"
"Not sure," said Mizaki. "We'll wait. So she's smiling, big deal. We only tell the Commander if it's something that may be important. Smiling aside, we've seen nothing out of the ordinary."
"Agreed," said Kazuma.
888
Ritsuko put the files back into the file-cabinet. She had made Maul copies. She smiled. She wasn't sure what Maul was up to, but she was willing to help. She hadn't told Maul the whole truth, either. Playing him at his own game, she'd kept her true motivations hidden. Certainly, studying him would be fascinating. However, th at wasn't exactly why she'd helped him.
This was her chance to get back at Him. She was sick and tired of Him, and his agenda. Helping Maul would certainly prove to be the best way at getting back at Gendo Ikari. Whatever the mysterious young man had planned, she knew it would certainly interfere with Gendo's plans. She could feel it.
888
Shinji got home soon after walking Rei back to her apartment. They had spent most of the day together. He would have gladly spent more time with her, but it was getting late and they all needed to rest up for the next day. They had sync-tests the next day, as well as a full run on the training program.
Asuka was sitting on the couch watching TV. "Hey baka," she said as he walked in.
"Hello Asuka," he sighed. 'I wish she would stop calling me that.' Asuka watched as Shinji made his way into the kitchen to make dinner.
"Where've you been all day?" she asked.
"Oh," said Shinji, "You know. Went to the park, hung out."
"Sounds thrilling," said Asuka.
"You don't know the half of it," Shinji said under his breath, smiling.
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Gendo sat at his desk, deep in thought. Maul had indeed set things back. However, the time of Third Impact was still drawing nearer. The only snag had been this: if Maul had appeared unpredicted, was it possible for there to be Angels on the way that the Scrolls hadn't foretold? If that was to be the case, NERV must continue it's anti-Angel function, and proceed normally.
However, he wanted Rei watched. The time for Third Impact could be right at any moment, and he wanted nothing to happen to the key before then. If something happened that resulted in Rei's death, he might not have a replacement ready in time. After all, when the UN found out exactly what he was up to, that his scenario was not what they wanted... well, needless to say things could become rather messy.
Maul aside, however, his plans would succeed.
888
Maul closed the last file. "I chose correctly," he said, satisfied. "My Apprentice is not only the one most readily attuned with the Force, but also the one with the most impressive battle record as well as the highest 'sync ratio'. Interesting. It seems the two may be connected somehow." He walked back to his room.
He put the files away somewhere safe. He sat down on his bed. "Yes," he said. "My Apprentice, shall be Shinji."
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Maul's Apprentice revealed! How will Shinji take the news? And what about the others?
So yeah, Ritsuko is now helping Maul. I figured that Ritsuko was certainly smart enough to see that Maul was up to something, and at this point would want in on it. Gendo's totally in for it, isn't he?
But, how will Shinji react to the news? And what kind of Master will Maul turn out to be? And what of the Agents nowo keeping tabs on Rei? Will Rei and Shinji's relationship be compromised? Tune in next time and find out!
