Neon Genesis Evangelion:
The Darkness Emerges
By Doffman
Jeez. I'm going to be posting 36 and 37 at the same time anyway, so why do I have to write forwards for both? It's kinda redundant, if you ask me (Do you find repetitive questions redundant? If you replied yes to the first question, do you STILL find repetitive questions redundant?) . By the way, did you know that it is really hard to type when you have a cat that keeps sitting on your hands and swatting at the space bar?
Now, if he hit the space bar at the right time, then that would be another thing. It would be saving me keystrokes. But he only seems to be doing it when I'm in the middle of a word. And, as you may or may not know, I henpeck when I type, meaning that I need to see the keys. My cat likes to lie between me and my keyboard. Which is fine. But when he lifts his head in such a manner so that I cannot see the keys, this is not fine. It is actually rather annoying.
Why am I talking about my cat instead of writing my fic, you ask? Because I want to. What? You didn't ask? Well… Screw you, then. By the way, a lot of what happens in this chapter was inspired by Demon: the Fallen, a White Wolf system of roleplaying that speaks a lot about Angels and Demons. I think it's quite correct, in a lot of ways… *Runs from the Radical Religious Right (If the KKK were Christians, they would be the RRR), because he said that evil, sinful role-playing might have valid information on religion.*
By the way, at this point, everything in the other chapters has happened excluding the events involving Asuka, Shinji, Kaji and Misato, up to the point just before Rei was kidnapped by Allen. I was told not to repost, so I'm not going to, so :p. I'll get to why probably in Chapter 38.
Chapter 37
"That," Asuka muttered, taking large breaths through gritted teeth, "Was painful." Giving a quick appraisal of the scenery, it seemed that they were in a church of some kind, but Asuka found herself not caring as her whole body was recovering from the shock of the immense amounts of pain she had just went through.
"Well… That's because you were ripped into separate atoms and then reassembled all in the span of 3 seconds. Quite a painful process…" Shinji explained as the pure white wings on his back were touched by a wind that did not exist. Seemingly made of a pale white light the wings flickered for a brief second, then withdrew into Shinji's body without a trace. Asuka stared at Shinji with astonishment.
"What… What was that…?" Asuka asked, gaping.
"An improved version of what Kaoru gave you, Miss Sohryu." A man in a priest's robe replied as he slowly ascended the stairs from the basement. "Or rather, that he awakened in you. You see, Shinji's wings are completely undetectable by any of the scientific means that exist… But you are not here to learn about things as trifle as that, are you?"
"I need to see Kaoru, Bren. And I need you to take me to him." Shinji spoke abruptly. The man Shinji had dubbed Bren laughed lightly, shaking his head slightly as he came closer, arms folded behind his back.
"I'm afraid I can't do that, Shinji. Though I don't know where you learned my name, or how you gained those powers that you possess, I'm assuming it has something to do with Jacob." Bren smiled observing Shinji to see if it were true.
"I have been awakened, Bren. I know a great deal more than you would think." Shinji replied with an emotionless face, giving nothing away. Bren nodded to this, rubbing his chin softly.
"If you have been truly awakened, then you should far surpass me in power and essence, shouldn't you, Milord? Are you up to it, then? Do you wish to duel me…?" Bren asked, grinning slightly, holding out his right hand, which seemed to glow with a light blue energy.
"Very well, Bren. If this is what you wish, then it will be so. We will duel." Shinji nodded, stepping forward. "You proposed the Duel, therefore I will allow you to go first." Bren nodded, and closed his eyes slowly in concentration.
"Now wait a minute!" Asuka interrupted, panicking. "Y-you guys should go around fighting in a church, should you!? Isn't that… Like… Sacrilege or something?" Asuka new very well that, even if Shinji were an Angel, he was a newer one, and didn't possess the kind of power that an older one did… And Asuka was not at all interested in watching Shinji die.
"I'm not sure what you mean, Miss Sohryu. Why would it be sacrilege?" Bren opened his eyes, tilting his head in curiosity towards Asuka. After about a second Bren nodded, chuckling slightly. "Ah. Ignorance. You know very little, Miss Sohryu. Rest assured that there will be no fighting in our duel. The mere concept of killing had not come to light until the Sin War." To this, Shinji nodded, smiling reassuringly at Asuka.
"Don't worry, Asuka. We will be dueling in the fashion that battles were fought before the idea of violence, and long before humans even existed… You see, before then, when Angels had a disagreement, they created, they didn't destroy. The one who could create the most beautiful thing was considered to have won." Returning his gaze to Bren, Shinji nodded. "Continue, please." Bren nodded back, and closed his eyes in concentration again, the blue light spreading out in front of him, forming into some vague shape that seemed indistinguishable at first, then forming into something more solid…
The blue light became more solid, shifting to brown in some parts, and to green on the top, taking shape till it vaguely resembled a tree, changing shape and growing solid until it looked like a marker drawing of one. A small part of the brown came free from the main part, and it began to take the shape of a bird. A small part of the green came free, and it fell to the ground slowly, taking the shape of a flower decorated bush. When finally everything was solid, what remained of the blue light in Bren's hand lifted upwards, and moved through the tree's leaves, making a soothing rustling noise that seemed to make Asuka want to rest her head on one of the pews as the bird chirped what seemed like a musical masterpiece. And the flowers decorating the bush were so dazzlingly perfect that Asuka had to fight the urge to run over and pick one immediately.
When all was said and finished, Bren let out a soft sigh and opened his eyes once more, admiring his work. "You know, Shinji, I was newly created just before the Sin Wars… The war of Lucifer against God… And This scene reminds me a great deal of what had pushed him over the edge…
"He and his angels had created a beautiful scene for Adam and Eve before they ate from the Tree of Wisdom. The Angels made this tree, this bird, and this bush. This was to attempt to make man see the beauty of nature. Do you know what they did when they saw it, Shinji?" Bren asked casually.
"No, I don't." Shinji admitted, raising an eyebrow out of curiosity.
"They did what came naturally to them of course." Bren shrugged.
"Adam killed the bird for food, then Adam proceeded to stomp out the bush to try and scare out any animals that might be hiding in it, while Eve checked the tree for fruit." Dracan finished, standing from the pew that he had been sitting in, until then concealed by a hanging tapestry. Rei also came from behind the same tapestry, holding to Dracan's arm tightly.
"Drac?" Shinji smiled slightly, as if relieved about something. "How have you been?"
"I've been… Busy, Shinji. A lot has happened since you've been gone. And now, a lot more will be happening now that you're here." Dracan sighed heavily. In response to this, Rei squeezed lightly on his arm.
"Shinji," Rei, addressed him, "I believe it is your turn." Shinji nodded slowly, turning back to what had been shown to him. It truly was a beautiful sight to behold. And the sound emanating from Bren's creation truly was one of the most beautiful things he had ever seen. Shinji wasn't sure if he could outclass this work of perfection…
And then it hit him. There was one thing that he knew of that was better than perfection… That was more beautiful…
***
Yumi had never been so nervous to enter her own house in the entire time she had lived. She was feeling so depressed right now, and so shallow… She felt like the had just coated herself with so much filth that it would take says to wash it off, even though she was perfectly clean… She didn't want to see Kensuke like this… Because she would see him, and remember how she had been with him…
How she had used him…
And she wouldn't be able to look him in the eye… She didn't want to see him right now… But Yumi just KNEW that he would be waiting there for her… Like a lost little puppy…
"I feel so… Tainted…" She muttered to herself softly. She dropped to a sitting position and leaned against the two foot wall that separated her house from the sidewalk, sighing heavily. "I really am alone…"
"That's not true, little sister. You have a perfectly good boy in the living room waiting for you to come home. That's not being alone, is it?" Came the voice of Yumi's sister, Cara, from no general direction.
"Cara!? Where are you!?" Yumi jumped to her feet, looking around hastily. In response, Cara seemed to step forward, through some invisible door, and appear right in front of Yumi. Cara, smiling broadly, touched her sister lightly on the nose.
"Right here, Sis. Right here." Cara said bending down slightly to meet her sister's eye level.
"Cara… What happened to you!? I thought that… After that man came…" Yumi spoke as if she were about to cry. Cara stood up strait, waving her hand in a dismissive manner while laughing lightly.
"OH, don't worry about that little incident. A complete misunderstanding on EVERYONE'S part." Cara said nervously, putting an arm around her sister's shoulder. "Right now, I'm fine. What matters now is you and Kensuke."
"Me… And Kensuke?" Yumi asked, baffled.
"Well, YEAH! I mean, here's this really cute… Well, maybe if you took off his glasses… I mean… Well, there's this really… Um… There's this guy with a GREAT personality* just waiting for you in your house, like in one of those juicy mangas you're always reading," Cara chattered, stumbling over her words of comfort.
*I don't remember where I saw that, I think the old Garfield cartoon, but it was hilarious… Apparently, "She's got a great personality!" means, "She's fat!", wonderful personality means she's enormous, and, "She's really a great person, she's got a wonderful personality!" means that she takes up two chairs at Old Country Buffet. Now, I'm not saying Kensuke is fat. I'm just using this as a scale of his desirability, if you will.
"As I recall," Yumi interrupted, "YOU are the one that likes those cheesy romance manga. I always liked the battle mecha ones."
"Can I finish?" Cara gave Yumi a look of malcontent. Yumi gestured her approval, sighing heavily. "Well, anyway, you got this hot… Well, you got this guy waiting for you, and you're moping out here? You should… Like… Do some grand entrance and get it on or something!"
"Unlike you, I don't do every guy I see, Cara." Yumi glared, turning away from her sister.
"Nevermind the fact that you already slept with the guy." Cara grinned broadly, snickering slightly.
"You know, and I was actually worried about you, Cara. Now, you can go get eaten by an Angel for all I care. I don't care where you've been, and I don't care where you're going after you're done with talking to me. I hope it's strait to Hell." Yumi spoke emotionlessly, standing, heading towards her front door, stopping, turning back to the wall and leaning back against it. "I hate you. You know that."
"But Little Sis was so WORRIED about her big sister!" Cara said with fake sweetness in her voice, wrapping her arms around Yumi in a hug. Yumi immediatley began trying to push her sister away, but to no avail. "You know, if you want to know what happened, I can tell you. But I'm kind of unsure when it gets to the part about the Jihad. I was actually hoping we could go inside and ask Kensuke about that."
"Why would Kensuke know anything? All he's been doing is sitting in my house and typing away at his keyboard!" Yumi growled, finally giving up trying to get her sister off her.
"It's BECAUSE he's been typing away at his keyboard that he knows so much. Didn't you know that the internet is a vast source of knowledge about everything!?" Cara chastised her little sister.
"Of COURSE, Cara! I'm sure you can just hop on Google and type in SEELE or NERV and you'll get complete access to all of their archives! I'm positive!" Yumi's voice overflowed with sarcasm.
"Actually, I heard from Greg that he hacked into the SEELE Servers and got the whole shebang of information as a reward." Cara smiled slightly. "Come on. Let's go ask him. I really want to know…"
"You're acting like a two year old, Cara." Yumi sighed heavily.
"Well, that's because I haven't been as happy as I am right now in a while." Cara chuckled slightly.
"What do you have to be happy about, Cara? What IS there to be happy about!? Everyone is either dead or in misery at this point! It's like the world itself is giving up on itself!" Yumi hollered, throwing her sister's arms off of her.
"Well, Yumi, That's because it IS." Cara whispered solemnly. "And Drew won't tell me anything because he doesn't want me to get involved…"
"Cara, is Drew really alive?" Yumi asked, rather shakily.
"Well… He DID die, if that's what you're asking… But… He came back because…" Cara trailed off, turning her face away slightly, but not before Yumi saw the deep red across her cheeks. "Well, he came back, and he did this really freaky thing to me… He called it Awakening the Soul, but I think it was just how angels do it… Anyway, he and SEELE are really going hardcore into the planning right now…"
"Cara, you're gibbering." Yumi sighed yet again. "Why do I have to be the older sister right now?"
"WhatEVER, Yumi. I'll always be the older sister, regardless of how mature I'm acting at the moment." Cara stuck her tongue out at Yumi, which provoked yet another sigh from Yumi.
"If you really want to talk to Kensuke, then we'll talk to Kensuke, alright?" Yumi stood and grabbed Cara by the arm, dragging her towards the house. Yumi really didn't want to see Kensuke, because she KNEW things were going to be awkward, but she knew Cara wouldn't leave her alone until they did.
"That HURTS, Yumi! You're squeezing my arm too tight!" Cara wailed in a 5-year-old voice.
"Stop complaining. We're doing what you want aren't we?" Yumi grumbled.
"Yeah, but do you have to squeeze so HAAAARD!?!?"
***
After what seemed like an eternity, Shinji was finally done with his creation. He held it clasped in both hands, and held it out to Bren so that he could examine it. Bren reached to take the object from Shinji, a small, spherical crystal ball, and upon touching it, withdrew his hand as if he had been surprised by something.
Asuka could only wonder what was going on. 'Did Shinji win? Did Shinji lose? And why for CHRIST SAKE is Bren STARING at me like that!?' Asuka thought to herself.
Taking his gaze away from Asuka, Bren closed his eyes and sighed heavily. "You win. I'll take you to see Kaoru." And even as he said it, the space behind him seemed to split open, no grand flashes of light or swirling pulses of energy, just as if someone had taken a scalpel to reality, and made a nice neat cut, parting it to reveal what was beneath it.
And through the cut, Asuka could see a very familiar place to her, one that she had met Kaoru in, and when she was given what she had been told to conceal, as well as when she renewed a promise to protect Shinji.
'Of course, the first time I made that promise, I was trying to creep him out…' Asuka recalled when she found she would be living with Shinji for the first time with a slight smile.
Bren stepped through the cut, and Shinji began to follow, but Asuka stepped forward, touching his shoulder gently. "Shinji, I don't get it. How did you win? What was it that you showed him?" Asuka asked, rather confused. To this, Shinji smiled and touched the side of Asuka's face warmly.
"I showed him my love for you." Shinji said simply before stepping away from her, through the portal that Bren had made. Before Asuka finally stepped through after him, Asuka smiled softly, only the edges of her lips curling upwards.
"Baka…" She whispered under her breath as she followed after Shinji without another word.
***
Yumi stared at the cup of tea that she had brought out for herself in silence, neither drinking it, nor actually looking at the tea for any other reason than it was something to look at other than Kensuke.
Kensuke found himself gazing too into the teacup in front of him, brought by Yumi, though he had not taken a drink, nor did he plan to. The unpleasantness that had perforated the room when Kensuke and Yumi sat across from each other had made him reluctant to look anywhere but.
Cara sat at the small round table between the two, smiling broadly and sipping loudly at her cup of tea, happy that she was finally going to get some questions answered.
Yumi took her fingernail and ran it along the ridge of the teacup, making a slight scraping . She felt really awkward being around Kensuke because she had used him when she really didn't feel anything for him other than friendship.
Kensuke coughed lightly, trying to break the silence, but for naught, as no one decided to speak up. Kensuke didn't know what went wrong. He thought Cara had finally chosen to be with him, and had decided to forget about Allen, but now, it was more awkward than it was before.
Cara continued to sip her tea, the cup having not left her lips since she had put it there. Cara internally found herself complementing Yumi on her tea-making skills, as this had been the best cup of coffee in a while. Cara found herself wondering if she could convince Yumi to cook dinner for her as well.
Yumi sighed heavily, very heavily, trying to convey her discontent that no one was talking, but offering no conversation herself, as she really didn't trust herself to open her mouth. The only reason she had actually came in was because Cara was coming with, and she hoped Cara would keep the uncomfortable silence to a minimum.
Kensuke found himself looking other places than the teacup, the table legs, the fridge, the wall, the ceiling, anywhere but Yumi. Perhaps she thought he hadn't performed well enough? Maybe she was embarrassed for him because he had done it really bad. Now that Kensuke recalled, she had actually been crying for the first half… He KNEW that she wasn't a virgin… Did she think he was a total nerd do to his complete lack of sexual experience?
Cara finished off her tea and let out a great gasp of air. "AAAAAAAH…! That was good!" Cara exclaimed, greatly unnerving both Kensuke and Yumi with the sudden break of the silence as they both turned to Cara with sweatdrops running down their temples. "What? Shouldn't you two be talking? I'm drinking tea here. Did Kensuke suck in the sack that much?" After the question, Kensuke made a soud similar to, "Tohoho…" in a very depressed manner as Yumi turned bright red and stood up quickly.
"CARA! I think that is awfully rude!" Yumi yelled, her ears now the color of beats.
"Well sooooooooooooorrrrryyyy! I'm not here for that anyway. I'm sure he's one of those early ones anyway." Tear streams flowed from Kensuke's eyes as his manliness meter plunged deeper into the negative numbers it had already been at. Cara sighed and continued as if nothing were the matter. "Kensuke, you know stuff, so spill." Cara stated bluntly.
"Stuff?" Kensuke asked, depression disappearing almost instantly. He was pretty sure what she was talking about, but he wanted to give her a hard time because of the last comment… "Okay… Let's see… Yumi's measurements are 85/53/83, but I noticed last night that the first number has gotten bigger…"
"KENSUKE!" Yumi screamed, as her face could not get any redder, she increased the volume of her voice. The truth was, her bust was now 87 cm, but that wasn't anyone's business, and she was rather curious how Kensuke had found out her measurements in the first place. Of course, now wasn't the time to ask, but still…
"Sorry, sorry… What is it that you want to know? I'll get my laptop up and we can run a search." Kensuke smiled nervously, turning on the computer. Yumi gave Cara a sidelong look, one of disapproval or of doubt, Kensuke couldn't tell. One thing was apparent. Cara was giving him a look, and this one was undoubtedly one of anger.
"You know exactly what we're talking about. There's something going on right now, and rumor has it that you're the hacker you busted into SEELE a few days ago. So spill." Cara glared, the cold look on her face telling anyone that she meant business. At least she hoped. She felt like an idiot, but that's because she was always used to either smiling or pouting to get her way…
"How did you find out about that…?" Kensuke asked nervously, sitting completely upright in the chair. Kensuke didn't have his gun with him right now, so he couldn't shoot her… 'Maybe if I smash her on the back of the head… WHAT AM I THINKING!?' Kensuke scolded himself internally. 'She just wants information! She's not bribing me or threatening to kill me!'
"Actually, I know the guy who got you in. I told him I needed to know things, and since he didn't have the time, he gave me your name to come talk to you." Cara explained with a carefree smile. 'Actually, I had asked him to give me information, and he said under no uncertain circumstances would he tall me anything, then he grabbed me by the hand and forcefully removed me from his office… But he slipped me a piece of paper with Kensuke's name on it while he had my hand… And the hacking was all over the newspaper, so…'
"…" Kensuke said with purpose. He had done that hacking anonymously… How had the guy found out his name…? Of course, that was irrelevant. Kensuke could have found out the other guy's identity had the situations been reversed, so he thought nothing more of it as he began reluctantly.
"You want to know about this 'Holy War' that's going on then, right?" Kensuke sighed heavily, not wishing to give this information up, but feeling that there was no other way.
"So you DO know something? How come you didn't tell me!?" Yumi demanded, hurt that Kensuke would hide this from her.
"Because I haven't SEEN you in the last few days, remember? Where have you BEEN, anyway?" Kensuke asked, now remembering the question he had asked himself hundreds of times while she had been gone.
"Well! Uh! That is! Um! We are getting off track! Back to the Jihad thing!" Yumi squirmed under the question before changing the subject. She couldn't just go outright and say, 'I've been avoiding you because I don't care about you the way you want me to!'
"Alright… Fine…" Kensuke nodded before going to his laptop and opening some folders.
"See, Yumi? He's opening up Google." Cara rolled her eyes as she mocked her sister for her previous comment.
"Hush, you!" Yumi flushed, turning to Kensuke to ask, "What ARE you doing?"
"I'm opening up the files." Kensuke said plainly as he unplugged the internet connection from his computer as he typed in his password for that particular folder, then opened the next folder, typed in the next, different password, and then went to a completely different directory and typed in yet another password before it prompted for a fourth, which he left blank and hit enter. He did all this in the time it took for him to say those words. All four windows closed as one opened, an MSWord document.
"Holy crap…" Yumi muttered under her breath. Kensuke had done that fast…
"I set it so that I had to do it all that fast, and in that order, or the hard drive would fry." Kensuke gloated, grinning broadly as he double-clicked on a file INSIDE the word document. This was an encryption/decryption program. Kensuke set the program to start decrypting the file, turning to the girls and taking a deep breath. "That's going to take a while, so… Where do we begin?"
"The beginning, please." Cara squealed happily, staring at Kensuke with starry eyes as she displayed a big goofy smile. FINALLY she would be able to know what was going on…
Kensuke cleared his throat, pushed his glasses up on the ridge of his nose, and began.
End of Chapter 37
Don't worry, my friends! All will be revealed in the next chapter! That might be the whole CHAPTER, actually… But, oh well. Might as well get the RRR on my case right away, as opposed to postponing it like I have…