Chapter 23: Rebirth of the fireflies.
Question: If Kirito from sword art online and Shinji got into a big fight (in real life with only their fists and feet as weapons). Who would you put money on if you got 999 trillion dollars for guessing correctly?
What about if Kirito had his video game powers and Shinji had his full Evangelion powers in his Evangelion (the one that caused third impact when he saved Rei).
Now answer the same question but this time between Asuna and Rei, first in real life and then for if Asuna had her video game powers and Rei had her End of Evangelion world destroying powers.
Curious to see what you think.
Myself. I put the money onto Shinji simply because he's a nicer person in light of his circumstances.
He has no friends and no one who gives a damn about his contributions to the world's safety but he still manages to be consistently badass and self-sacrificing while sympathetic to the plights of those who mistreat him as opposed to Kirito who refused to do anything for a long time hiding his powers, even when he knew they could be really useful in clearing the game and getting everyone back into real life.
Kirito also refused to sympathize with a lot of villains even when they had at least somewhat admirable motives. Like that scientist who wanted to kill a lot of players to bring back his dead daughter who died playing the sword art online game the same way Kirito went on a crazy rampage on Asuna's killers when he thought Asuna was dead.
The biggest difference between hero and villain at least for me is that while a hero tries to sympathize and empathize with the villain, the villain doesn't try to do either for the hero.
It is why I treat Asuka as a villain since while Shinji clearly tries to take her side, she has not once in the series done the same for him. The closest she gets is not punching him in Evangelion 3 and not strangling him to death at the end of Evangelion. Even that might only be because she'd be all alone otherwise with no one to torment.
Mari POV
As the German lady friend of Yui's soul disconnected from my now completely enlightened Psyche, the look of hatred with which I looked upon Asuka in her EVA became a look of complete disgust.
Such an amazing offer given by such a caring mother and she spurned it.
Shinji and Asuka were indeed very different people after all.
"You've thrown your lot in with Gendo." I sorrowfully muttered, poison in every word.
"You're not an EVA pilot. You're not my teammate."
A lone tear dripped from my normally unflappable lids.
Shinji POV
"Thank you for taking care of my dear daughter Asuka all this time, Shinji. Know that though there is no way in which I can repay you for your saintly endeavours that I will watch over you eternally. And as insincere as it will sound coming from me. Please accept my sincerest regretful apology for her terrible behaviours and hurts she's dealt upon you despite my best efforts to change her ways."
EVA unit 2 faintly cried as it expended the last of its energy on that one line of praise.
"Apology accepted" I immediately fire back without the need for any need for thought.
"That is big of you. Shinji. I too always hoped that with age and good treatment she would eventually grow out of it. Now I realize I never had as much control over her as I thought and it breaks my heart."
"Your mother's soul is still in EVA unit 1." It manages to add with one final burst of willpower before the tingling sensation in my head dies away and all is quiet once more.
I did not need a long and drawn-out dawdling period of reflection this time to realize what had just happened. No crazed, incoherent dream nor nonsensical vision.
Asuka. The girl I once extended myself completely to. Had failed to know the power of the dark side.
She had declared herself through the closing of her heart to her mother's, a Jedi.
Unable to control myself, I slammed my head into a nearby wall as hard as I could. I needed for Asuka to see that despite her refusal to change for the better that her suffering gave me no joy and that I would regret every single bit of hurt I would soon be forced to inflict on her for the safety of my friends.
"So be it...Jedi" I sullenly remarked surprisingly free of sobs despite my sadness.
I had no problem with laws. They kept us safe and society functioning.
What I had a problem with was when no one enforced the laws for the lawmen.
When the lawmen didn't follow their own laws.
When laws meant to protect life, cost dedicated and loving mothers their lives.
You failed father. You failed miserably.
Your plan to use your EVA's to protect mankind involves the killing of mankind.
One life? Asuka's mother counts as just one life? I don't care.
One life to be given away for the rest is one life too many.
Since mother's still in unit 1. That's two.
Since there are a countless number of EVA's of which some have already been destroyed.
I can't count that high and frankly I don't need to.
You deprived one human of their most priceless possession and now you must answer for your transgressions.
Lost money can always be earned once more. Lost time is never found again.
Lost time between mother and child is one of the most unacceptable losses anyone could be forced to suffer.
Rei POV
Asuka. I think I know what the problem is.
For starters, it has nothing to do with your regret over losing your mother the way Shinji and I lost ours.
Yes. I consider Naoko and Yui both my mothers in different ways.
They deserve my respect for their hand in gifting me the gift of life even if they weren't perfect.
You see Asuka. You have a K in your name between the U and the A.
Which means you've got it set to K for Kruel.
When it should be set to N for nice.
You don't know the meaning of "nice" with your straight A grades hailing from Germany's best schools?
Well to that. I have but one piece of advice for you.
Niceology. The study of niceness. It's first grade Asuka.
I learned it. Shinji learned it. Mari and the other rebels accompanying us all learned it.
The emotion that makes the world go round and humanity's advancement to this day and age possible.
The emotion we'd never have even come into existence without.
A single human could barely put together a pile of stones in a lifetime while a group could assemble a skyscraper in a matter of days.
A house divided cannot stand.
Apes. Together strong. EVA children. Together indominable.
I clear my throat and aim my assault rifle even as Asuka recovers from her momentary inner turmoil to face us with seething rage once more.
"If you will not be turned" I gravelly announce as I level the barrel straight at the cockpit where I know from Shinji the Evangelions are the weakest. "Then you will be destroyed."
Lola POV
Memories. Broken fragments of my younger self swirl round my dazed vision as I lay dying on the soil and compost of the burning forest.
I had managed to land on a steeply sloped ledge on the fall down breaking the descent into two.
But I knew without immediate first aid I would still have no chance.
I couldn't move a muscle.
…
The younger Lola Anwalt Gruneschmitz who'd not yet assumed the family name of Rules prior to meeting Angelo whistled merrily as she carried the Pizza castle (In Germany known as Pizzagrotte)
pizza without a care in the world through the gold paved streets of Berlin.
"The pizza castle Pizza. Is the Pizza. Absolutively." She sang above the surprisingly strong wind blew her threadbare clothes around and round.
She was so grateful that Pizza castle had given her a delivery job on such short notice despite her young age so that she could support her struggling mother.
Her first delivery was a large double olive, double pepperoni and double meatball with extra chilli oil.
But as she was rounding the corner to the customer's house, from the nearby bushes burst a wildly salivating redhead girl much larger than her and decked stylishly in blue velvet.
She had clearly smelt the delicious scent of the special-order pizza and was determined to get it at any cost despite having already eaten a large luxurious meal which according to Lola upon a smell of her bad breath, some roast beef, some chicken and a peanut onion sundae.
"By order of the great and prestigious Asuka Langley Soryu of the esteemed Soryu manor. Let go of the pizza." She ordered imperiously as without warning, she sprung forward like a wild cougar. She never bothered to ask Lola her name or details. She just pounced.
"Please no" Younger Lola pleaded as she was pinned to the ground one hand barely gripping the pizza box to keep it from being snatched.
She had already suffered quite the scrape.
"Will you let go of the stupid pizza already?" The girl that would soon become Lola's greatest teacher for how not to treat others barked once again as she tried to wrestle the smaller pink haired child even more mightily.
"I can't. Please. It's for the customer" Lola tried to reason with as much respect as she could muster up despite her fear and fright.
"Who cares about the customer?" The red-haired thief howled like a banshee as she continued to try and pry the pizza from the now sprawled out pizza delivery girl wearing the pizza castle logo cap.
The wind blew a small stack of gravel into the hungry robber's eyes letting Lola at least stand up as the wind blew her back, keeping both arms locked on the pizza box as if it were her dear life.
Which considering her mother's continually decreasing wages as NERV downsized, it could well be.
"I do!" Lola insisted at the top of her lungs.
"Well, I don't!" The sharply dressed lowlife roared in response.
Something very strange happened that day that would forever baffle the minds of weather forecasters and scientific researchers everywhere.
Lola herself would be unsure whether she was simply having a panic induced hallucination when asked to recount the event even years later.
The winds stopped completely. For a few fateful seconds mother nature herself seemed to be granting a merciful reprieve to the world she was usually indifferent towards.
This brief pause allowed Lola to sharply intake a breath of fresh air and give Asuka the most disapproving stare of absolute pity she'd give anyone in her lifetime.
Even a quadriplegic beggar suffering from leprosy would not warrant the same magnitude of pity.
Lola gasped.
"Asuka." She shamefully sobbed before the winds resumed blowing her far down the street the very direction that she needed to go to get to the customer.
While the pursuing Asuka was blinded and held in place by the same breath of nature.
"But why Asuka? The customer depends on us for their happiness and you want to take that away?"
I sobbed in the present day.
I try to move once more as Asuka's Evangelion advances one menacing step raising its weapons. Its gargantuan size makes it visible from even behind the fortress where I lay.
How ironic that I called myself Pyro when asked to choose a name.
I was first to burn out. Good.
The brightest flames burn only half as long and I died trying to negotiate peace.
At least Angelo and the others would also go on to outlive me. I never wanted to outlive my friends since it would mean I was the one left with the most sorrow at the end of it all.
"Goodbye Angelo. Take care of Shinji and Rei, Mari. To all of you, yes Asuka even you. Live long and prosper" I whispered infusing my last spark of energy into my left index and middle finger which I bunched together and managed to lift a fraction.
I never wanted to die in war. There was nothing to be gained from war.
I...
"Need a medic?" An unfamiliar monotone of surprising cordiality trickles toward me as the sound of gunfire fills the air once again. I sigh. I should have been happy but this only meant that now I would be the sole survivor while Shinji and Rei were taken back into captivity and Angelo and the others would be slowly gassed in a chamber. Der Gaskamer mit der sehr todliche abgase.
The standard way NERV dealt with traitors.
I have no energy to protest as a syringe flies through the air and gracefully buries itself into my left shoulder. A position the "medic" clearly knew would not hit any vital organs or vessels.
Immediately the pain killing fluids within begin to take effect.
Within seconds I'm not sure I ever suffered a fall in the first place as my clearing vision shows me the blonde-haired white lab coat visage of my saviour.
"Here. Eat this sandvich. It will restore your strength." Medic gently assuages as she draws from her medikit a very tightly packed sandvich of seeded bread(brot) , ham and cheese (schinken mit kase),
sardines and a generous topping of fries (fisch mit pommes). Topped of with a bunch of delectable purple grapes (trauben).
"Danke." I manage to weakly mutter, my language lobes still refusing to cooperate following my near-death experience as she feeds me like a child by very delicately dangling the sandvich at my lips while I take one bite at a time.
"Bitte. Keine probleme." The blonde woman who has just saved my life modestly replies.
Unlike old medic who was just as likely to kill as heal those patients whose lives he was responsible over, new medic hadn't fallen asleep in class after all.
Especially noticeable since despite being a clear Japanese, her accent was authentic and flowing when she addressed me. Old medic could go take a hike.
"Let me go. Shinji and the others need my help." I request the instant the last bite of sandvich is in my system as my speech language system finally stabilizes once again unlocking the Japanese option.
"No. Pyro. You stay here. You might not feel the pain any more but I still need to put bandages over your ribs so that they stay in place while they heal. You won't be doing any fighting for a few days at least."
She apologetically tells me as with my permission, she strips off my green Kimono so that she can fully operate on the fractures in question.
"This will help you rest. I promise it is not harmful." She sincerely states as she readies another syringe which I know even as she fills it up is tranquilizer liquid.
"You trust me. Right?"
"With every fibre of my body." I confirm as I give an approving nod for her to complete the injection.
Sorry other members of Team fortress 3. The flames need to die down a little while.
It's up to the rest of you now.
Whoever it is that's saved me. You have my complete respect and my debt. Such debt extends to every last one of my allies since we have promised to hold our vow of universal justice in shared duty.
Shinji POV
I have no more words for the barbaric brute who would refuse not one, not two but three chances of parley. From her childhood victim of her bullying. From her present-day victim of bullying. From her own mother who never once looked down on her litany of crimes all in the hope that one day she'd repent of her own accord.
The pirate code stated we were well within her rights to engage her especially since she had made perfectly clear that she had no intention whatsoever of letting us go.
She was not after our booty. She was after our lives and liberty.
"Everyone. OPEN FIRE!" I call as I leap from a window spotting an abandoned jeep parked not too far.
I had yet another plan that I was sure would succeed.
I land gracefully on my two feet slightly dazed as I make a beeline for the jeep.
Just as all children were given basic arms training, so were they given simple driving lessons.
I had seen Misato do it plenty of times to know what NOT to do at the very least.
Luckily the now probably dead driver had left the keys in the ignition so there was no delay in hotwiring as I started the engine.
Even more fortunately was that there was a loud hailer on the passenger seat.
Probably to announce when they found me to the rest of dad's army.
I knew from the gruelling days of my tenure as optimum pilot that Evangelions had a spot even weaker than the cockpit on their rear backside on which was located their fuel cell that sustained them and their pilot's life energies.
It was this knowledge that encouraged me to fight defensively rather than offensively like Asuka and Rei did while taking care to engage only one target head on at a time.
I had secretly relayed this information to everyone while Asuka was busy ranting so they knew exactly what I intended to do by my sudden bailout.
Now it was up to me to distract Asuka long enough for them to get a solid aim.
I didn't know if it would be enough but it would for sure at least keep Asuka busy until maybe the stealth jet sent to pick us up could arrive to whisk us to the supposedly completely secure safe haven of the mushroom kingdom.
I prayed that Asuka's voice reception system was turned up as I took in as much oxygen as I could in anticipation for the most derogatory wave of insults I could possibly muster up.
This meant a lot of swear words in which usually I'd slap my mouth shut before the first breath.
It meant sacrificing that part of me which as of now had remained pure and wroth.
But what else could I do?
I did not want to do anything to even mildly inconvenience Asuka but I could not have her killing my friends all for her sick amusement.
Setsuko III Sorakage POV
"No. Fio. No. How could this happen!?" I shout more furiously than I intend in passable though heavily accented Italian at my co-pilot who herself was in a frenzy of teary lamentation.
We almost crash our stealth jet into a mountainside as we allow our concentration to drift fixatedly towards the slightly dirty television screen on our dashboard that was still broadcasting the graphically disturbing imagery of the Mushroom's kingdom governors' demises as they were slowly drawn and quartered in a dark age style torture chamber one by one.
The high ranking NERV official Bowsette and her tall dark and beautiful secretary Kemeka stood proudly grinning ear to ear as they announced the glorious news of the mushroom kingdom's discovery and immediate putting to the sword.
Or rather the torture chamber since the last thing those "bothersome scoundrels" deserved was a merciful and quick end according to her.
President peach was first to meet the stretching rack. His screams were the loudest to echo among the victims awaiting their sorry end.
Next were his two most iconic representatives. Vice president Daz originally of the neighbouring Sarasaland and Grand Moff Rosslynn who fled from NERV to bring his scientific expertise to save it from its own dark path before it was too late when no one listened to his urgent warnings.
Their most loyal followers at the head of their fighting force were taken too.
"There's no knightingales in shining armour to rescue you this time, princes. Bowsette had boasted mockingly with a crazed laugh that shook the broadcasting camera.
Marie Octavia.
Louise Gallagher.
Valerie Gottfried who was often looked down by even the magnanimous and caring folk of our fair kingdom despite her many selfless close shaves with death that made her antisocial and paranoid despite her genuine selflessness.
Even Varie Ophelia (Varie-O) normally known for her myriad of cunning escape plans that had gotten her out of the best guarded strongholds built by even SEELE the organization above even NERV failed to make it out.
They were taken with the governors and their eyes forced open to watch their inescapable demises.
Then since Bowsette got bored of the rack, they were tied to a stake while she let them have it with a jet of flame from her beastly flamethrower she always carried around. A small flame. To ensure that it would take a long time for the fumes to stifle and suffocate them as they wheezed in indescribable distress.
A single Koopa soldier in her Koopa army sympathized with such suffering and tried to throw oil to hasten the torture but this Koopa was quickly branded a traitor and seized by guards who threw the screaming white-faced boy into a vat of boiling black oil.
"You like oil so much. Have a potful of it" Kemeka insultingly teased.
"Let the world know that this is what happens to those who defy the rule of NERV and do not show the loyalty that is their due." Bowsette roared as the weather report of the day came on reported by an almost equally smug weatherman dressed head to toe in NERV's uniform.
"We can't go back to Italy now." Fio notes putting a hand in shame on her auburn shoulder length hair.
When I don't answer, she rests the same hand on my slightly shorter dark hair. It was still much longer than first Setsuko's since I wanted to express a more vibrant and carefree persona that took pride in power.
"Hey. Look on the bright side Setsuko. If we had not taken off when we did then we would have been found and killed as well. "
"It's not fair." I crassly murmured under my breath.
"Not fair." A flashing inner thought of a coffin being laid into an already dug hole within an abandoned bomb shelter as expensive incense was burned over it.
It makes me break.
"NOT FAIR!" I shriek with a gust of devilish fury as I raise a clammy and sweaty palm to slam the now switched off television screen that broadcast the awful news.
I'm only stopped by Fio's timely intervention as she once again gently caresses me in the way that only she knows how.
Her old comrade and main pilot Porco used to love her doing this for him when he was down in the dumps she said. Especially when she rubbed his pig like chubby ears.
"Thank you. Fio. It's tragic but like you said. At least we made it out alive on our way here to fetch Shinji and the other children."
"No problem. The only question is where do we go now?"
It takes a few silent minutes of continuing to guide the jet with a much steadier hand toward the secret meeting place before I'm able to formulate an answer.
The new place where I guide Shinji and his other children needs to be a restful sanctuary for them to fully recover from their traumas but also a highly remote location that would make any attack from NERV on it impractical if not impossible.
The people need to be understanding of all he and his friends have been through to protect their livelihoods.
"Hold the steering steady for little bit Fio. I need to make a call."
Fio takes over my duty as I fumble through my jumpsuit pockets for my phone.
I input the very difficult password, scroll through the contacts and eventually find the intended caller I wish to contact on a secure channel obscured from the rest of the global signal system.
The voice that comes through the other end is a little fuzzy and riddled with static.
The natural result of using an out-of-date radio as the only means of communication available in the backwater settlement that is perhaps the one place on Earth NERV won't think to search.
It's a lovely place as but the surrounding forest...
Let us just say that unless toxic spores that would burst your lungs with one whiff were your idea of a good time then it was best to go venturing in some other joint of nature on your field day out.
"Nausicaa. Er sorry. Princess Nausicaa. Is that you?" I speak into the phone as the sound of gunshots begins to ring faintly in the far distance. We are getting close and it doesn't look good.
"Yes. Setsuko. Something wrong?" My old friend of a now dying line of royalty's panicked reply comes back to me. There are but a few working radios in her abode's perimeter and they are thus reserved only for emergency use.
"Oh and please. No need for the princess bit. Just Nausicaa is fine."
"Um yes. Er sorry" I sheepishly beam before snapping back to attention. "I understand your village in the valley is getting short on supplies and space with all the refugees depending on you but would it be too much trouble to make space for a small group. We are talking about seven children about the same age as ours give or take one or two. Among them is the legendary Evangelion pilot Shinji Ikari and his almost equally as renowned partner and the commander of NERV's personal favourite Rei Ayanami."
A pause and very uncomfortable breathing. It's clear that the mention of the commander's favourite startles her speechless.
"Now I know that may sound bad but I assure you, her amorous affection for Shinji as well as her loving and mild nature makes her a very pleasant heroine who would not harm a fly. Well. Or the Ohmu as the insects back in your place are called."
"Well...Setsuko. You know..."
"The fate of the world depends on it. You said yourself that if anyone is a friend of Shinji's then they are a friend of yours." I rudely force myself to cut her off before she can conjure up a counterargument. I'm normally very quiet but when the well being of those whose shining examples guided me to my destiny are in any sort of danger I go up like a firefly.
Just like. Just like the first Setsuko.
"You gave my word on this and I for a fact know that you are of far too great a character to just go back on your word."
Another anxious sigh.
"Well. Alright. Since it involves you and since it involves Shinji, I guess I can make an exception.
Bring them just outside the village and I'll arrange some lodgings where they can stay at least for now.
Make sure you do not land too far away. As you already no doubt know from your time with me, the forest is still very toxic despite our best efforts to purge the air. For now though I have royal duties to attend to. Each day is still a fight for survival. See you soon Setsuko. Bye"
She rings up as I am still finding the words with which to express my wholehearted gratitude at her accommodation.
I'm so relieved even if the destruction of the mushroom kingdom still makes me distraught.
Yet another crime for NERV to pay for.
Another match to kindle the taillight of this firefly as she soars through the sky in search of retribution against the deceitful bankers and other supposedly trustworthy adults who took the first Setsuko's life away to leave her good brother Seita an empty shell.
He never smiled or laughed once since the day of his sister's burial with the last of his family money according to my father who not long ago also lost his life to austerity.
Some said that world war two was a resounding victory for the great Japanese empire.
I would amend that saying with how it was the Japanese government's resounding victory in tricking its workers and their infants. How the laundered money used to fix up the zero's used to scorch its adversaries from up above starved more civilians to death than were bombed to death by the zeroes.
Even that was simplifying it more than was needed.
The big winner was an invisible foe that did not even really exist but only in our collective minds it did.
A harmless looking entity made up of a portrait on a scrap of paper with a number beside it.
That evil within was money. The lust for money was what forced the first Setsuko and her brother to flee their homes out of worry when they saw their already aloof aunt's beady eyes go wide with hunger at the sight of the size of the stack of notes given by the ministry of labour for anyone who no longer had a fondling for their offspring adopted or not to be given over for back breaking labour.
Bomb factories full of noxious fumes. Sulphur mines which were also prone to collapsing and boiling hot. Iron casting plants where a slight wrong move would tip you face first into a vat of molten iron that would leave you singed with black even if you were fished out in time.
It wasn't just a country's soldiers that fought and struggled for their very lives when it decided to go to war.
It was where it all began for me and my line.
With the early loss of his sister at a tender age encouraging Seita that every first daughter of his lineage be given her namesake to remind us all that the past was never dead and not even past.
Like how every princess of Hyrule was named Zelda only for a far less flattering reason which made for a far less appropriate children's bedtime story.
Trees passed us below as the explosions filled the air alongside the furious revving of an all-terrain engine. Had NERV outplayed us too well this time for us to make a difference?
"Fio. Bring us closer. We need to see what's going on but make sure you keep circling." I call above the din. I ready my rapidly moistening hands for the most exhilarating flight in my lifetime as I bring the gatling gun that Fio was canny enough to decide needed to be fully loaded before setting out from her experiences in travelling alongside Porco.
I had done her one better by deciding that yet an extra line of raw prowess was required to make truly certain that we'd not be left defenceless no matter the circumstances. Even though it all looked so hunky dory like it would go without a hitch back in our hangar.
I rested one aching finger on a certain button that usually nothing would induce me to even look at.
The doomsday button which did not usually belong on any machine of flight whether military or passenger.
An ornately decorated circle of metal on which was drawn a smaller circle of three sixths yellow and three sixth black arranged in a very even pattern in which a section of yellow always followed one of black and vice versa.
A button that for the sake of both the cabin occupants and mankind as a whole would not activate unless firmly hammered down with every bit of might.
I began to murmur hail mary's all the while as I took in the unbearable carnage of what was unmistakably Shinji in a jeep as he swerved and spun to avoid the baneful barrage launched his way by a spine-chilling assassin of red hair and red suit of ceramic from her high throne in an Evangelion standing far above them all.
I could see the quickly failing determination of Rei and the other members of his entourage as they fired wildly at the killing machine from a parapet which I knew would fall like a domino the instant the relentless killer got tired of chasing Shinji around.
She seemed to already be rapidly boring up as she let off a yawn.
Little jolts of electricity were fizzling from a tiny hole on her Evangelion's back but it did not seem to be hindering her in the slightest.
The time to act was now.
"Fio. Get as close as you dare to that Evangelion and maintain as steady a course as you are able. It's time to play out our ace in the hole."
I order as boisterously as I can bring myself to. The courage I'm able to put in my voice reminds me the reason why I took up piloting a device known to be almost equally as harmful as the Evangelions I despised so greatly. The lightning quick levitator that Seita would spend the rest of his short and miserable life blaming for Setsuko's tearful fate.
It was a stupid reason but from what I'd seen of the headless chickens in NERV who ran around trying to make mountains out of molehills, plenty of people had stupider.
The first Setsuko spent her last days hiding from the bomber jets. Now I was going to fly an even deadlier jet and bomb down on the warmongers who began the pointless conflict in the first place for their own disturbing ends. Why be the runner when you can be the chaser?
Why be the prey when you could become the predator?
Why listen to the disgusting lies of those who could not be trusted when you could listen to the song of your soul instead?
I knew Shinji and Rei knew the answers to none of these vital questions and it was my self-appointed duty to see to it that they did. It was something Setsuko the first would have expected nothing less of me.
In response Fio for once in silence guides us right behind the metal beast even as a vicious gust almost blows us into a tree.
One step back from here and it could crash right into us. That was how close we were and as good an aim as I would get.
I narrow my vision taking careful aim with the aiming joystick as both my arms cramp up in a mixture of fatigue from many hours of endless flying and horror at the depths that I was about to force myself to sink to all in the name of my cause. Our cause. Rei and Shinji's cause of Juliet and her Romeo.
I manage before my will fails me to bash the button with a fist that will have to be checked by a doctor the instant we arrive at our destination. This area was about to become the next Hiroshima and Nagasaki. First fat boy, then little man so what to call this one? Setsuko strikes back sounded appropriate but I considered it far too sadistic so I kept silent.
"Commencing ultimate burn." the computer emotionlessly and apathetically announces as a beautifully painted rocket of red and black only slightly smaller than our jet zips speedily towards the redheaded barbarian who looks almost remorseful as her instrument of judgement connects.
Fireflies. Why do they have to burn out so soon?
Once again kudos to fictionelement777, neoWarkid4, bandiras, An enemy of the state, Fantasian, Kycosoccerref and every other unnamed guest for your kind and generous reviews.
You are all great people. Thank you for reading and see you all next time and bye.
I've been thinking about the reason I wrote this story.
See the main conflict of the series is that Shinji didn't really know who to trust and who not to. He thought his father was a good guy when in fact the old man just wanted to throw him under the bus. I wouldn't put it past Gendo to have hired Asuka specifically to drive Shinji to insanity and take away his will to live.
So it's not so much that this story has no conflict rather that Shinji now knows what the actual conflict actually is.
Also. If you've ever seen a series of games called the Henry Stickmin series. I'm trying to make it like that. I'm trying to create a universe in which all my favourite shows and games take place in the same universe since a lot of great shows take place in different places and it is perfectly possible and logical that many of them are happening at the same time.
Or at different times throughout the same historical timeline.
Especially when the shows deal with similar themes.