"Why are you here with her?" Rei demanded of Shinji. Ritsuko had just released her from the hospital with a clean bill of health, and she had decided to immediately go act on her new determination to become closer to Shinji, only to find him walking with Asuka.
In front of a restaurant.
Shinji and Asuka were returning from an (aborted) attempt to go out to a fancy restaurant, after Asuka had dragged the boy around the mall.
"We're friends." Shinji replied, puzzled at the animosity in Rei's tone.
"No, why did you take her THERE, to eat!" She pointed at the steakhouse, her hand quivering with her barely suppressed rage.
'Perfect. Just perfect.' Asuka scowled. First the shopping trip was a flop (and she still didn't understand what had gone wrong, despite being a prodigy), but then her evening had gone to scheisse as well - not only did she not get to eat a nice meal, she had looked like a pathetic loser in front of Shinji (and that was HIS job! She was supposed to be his cool, collected mentor!) And now she had little miss passive-aggressive questioning her. "We live together. Shinji feeds me every night." Asuka snapped, without thinking.
Asuka barely had time to stagger back as Rei leaped at her with a snarl. Just in time, she managed to push Rei aside.
As the normally impassive teen lunged at Asuka again, hands outstretched to grasp and rend, Asuka threw a jab, and then another. Asuka's reaction time was fast, but Rei was faster. Despite her martial arts training, the redhead was having a hard time dealing with Rei's raw ferocity.
Rei twisted out of the way of one punch, and let the other slide off her shoulder before grabbing Asuka's outstretch arm and yanking the other girl off balance.
As Asuka staggered forward, Rei grabbed her head and twisted, throwing the other Pilot to the ground.
Asuka rolled up to a crouch, but before she could get up, Rei pounced, knocking her down again. Rei attacked without yelling or saying a word, her face was frozen in a rictus.
Shinji watched, stunned as Rei landed on top of Asuka and tried to rip her face off. Asuka only just managed to fend off the attacks, tucking in her elbows up to her chest and knocking away Rei's hands as they came at her.
"Rei, Stop!" He tackled Rei, pushing her off of Asuka.
Rei struggled in his grip, trying to wriggle free as she glared at the other girl.
"She's an animal!" Asuka spat.
Rei stopped struggling and turned to glance at Shinji.
"What happened?" Shinji asked, loosening his grip instinctively as he met Rei's eyes, only for Rei to turn and bolt, running as fast as she could.
"Rei?" Shinji was about to give chase when Asuka grabbed his arm.
"Let her go. She needs to calm down."
Shinji turned to look at Asuka. Her lip was swollen, and she had scratch marks on her neck from where Rei had grabbed her. "Are you ok?"
"Yeah, she was hitting like a girl." Asuka sighed. "Let's go home.
/\/\/\Beautiful/Night/\/\/\
The next day was tense. Asuka walked quietly to school with Shinji, conscious of everybody around her. She wore a silk scarf to hide the bruises, even though it made her look like some old lady.
Shinji wasn't certain what to say to Asuka. He felt guilty for what Rei had done, but when he tried to apologize, Asuka had just snapped at him to shut up.
When they got to school, Rei was sitting in her usual seat, looking out the window. Shinji had no idea what to say to her either, but he also couldn't interact with her without facing what she had done. So instead he ended up avoiding her for most of the day.
For her part, Rei shut down, acting like she used to before Shinji had arrived, spending all her time looking out the window. Maybe if she pretended that yesterday had never happened, it would just go away.
Rei didn't join Shinji and Hikari for lunch. Shinji kept surreptitiously looking around, hoping that Rei would come up to join them on the roof. It would still be awkward, but Hikari would smooth things over, and maybe he could talk to her afterwards. Finally, Hikari managed to distract the morose boy out of his funk. By the end of lunch, they were chatting. "Remember that food bank idea? I know I said that I would take care of everything, but can you help me organize stuff? You know the layout of the city a lot better than I do." She took a deep breath to psych herself up," How about we meet up this evening and plan it all out over dinner?" The words came out in a rush.
Shinji nodded again, "Sure. I'd love to help." He felt like he had been neglecting Hikari lately, Which wasn't fair to her - she was his first friend in Tokyo 3. Possibly his first friend ever.
Hikari beamed. It would almost be a date. She watched the boy eat, trying to work up the courage to ask him out for real. 'Next time.'
From the other side of the roof, Asuka watched as Shinji chatted with Hikari. 'Rei's going to be pissed once she finds out." Right now, psycho-bitch was still down in the classroom, eating lunch by herself and probably staring out her window. But how clueless could she be?
Asuka continued watching as she ate methodically. Not because she had some schadenfreude from watching a train wreck in slow motion. She wasn't that petty. She just wanted advanced notice for when the balloon went up, so she could call in sick. She did not want to in school the day that Rei lost her shit again.
"Um, Suhryu.." Asuka turned to see a one of her classmates – a guy on the soccer team - approaching, interrupting her view of Shinji "I was wondering if.." He began, holding a small sealed envelope in both his hands.
"Do you need something, Saichi?" She snarled. The temperature on the roof dropped 5 degrees.
Saichi froze, a deer in the headlights, "Um, no, nothing. Sorry to bother you, Sohru-san" He retreated.
Asuka sighed. It would be nice if somebody treated her like Shinji treated Hikari.
/\/\/\Beautiful/Night/\/\/\
"Why am I here?" Ritsuko asked.
"Because you need to take a break, Sempai. And get a decent meal" Maya replied. She had come into the office that morning to find Ritsuko already at work. Given that she had been there when Maya left at eight the previous evening, it wasn't a stretch to assume that she hadn't gone home. So when lunch time rolled around, Maya had insisted.
And by 4 pm, Ritsuko had acquiesced.
"I hear that this place is pretty good." And cheap. That went unspoken.
Ritsuko rubbed at the circles under her eyes, "Well, I guess you're right. I'll be more productive after I get some food."
The two women chatted about work as they waited for their food to arrive. It was a little stilted, as neither was used to just conversing. Ritsuko frowned - there was a familiar voice behind her.
"I don't see why we have to have a spreadsheet for this," The voice was male, slightly whiny.. She stood and peered into the booth behind their own
"Why hello, Shinji. What are you doing here?" Ritsuko took note that Shinji was there with a girl, but Ritsuko wasn't Misato - she didn't pay much attention to other people's social lives (Heck, she didn't really pay attention to her own).
"Uhm, oh, hello, Dr. Akagi. We're going over the budget for a project we're working on. We're trying to help set up a food kitchen to feed people in need here in Tokyo 3. There are a surprising number of them."
"That's.. a very responsible thing to do." Ritsuko commented. Surprisingly so. 'This is the socially withdrawn teen that spends all his time listening to music? Gendo's profile is so much toilet paper.'
Shinji ignored the non-statement, "Hikari wants to do all sorts of bookkeeping for it, though."
"Good record keeping is always important," Maya interrupted, "But where is the money coming from?"
"Um, it turns out that I get a small salary from NeRV, and some of Hikari's dad's friends donated a little.." Shinji trailed off. They actually had so little that he didn't see why they needed to track it.
"Well, I think it's a great idea! I'll talk to the other staff, and we can start up a collection!" Maya beamed. "But we'll talk later - I'll let you get back to your date."
"We're just working together." Hikari blurted self consciously. 'Why did I say that? I'm so stupid!'
"It's not a date." Shinji added, glancing at Hikari. Was it? He was pretty certain that the class rep didn't think of him that way - she had a lot of friends, after all.
/\/\/\Beautiful/Night/\/\/\
The following day was a little bit more normal. Asuka returned to her regular self, talking to Shinji, but she ate lunch with Hikari, dragging the pig tailed girl away (it was for her own good).
Rei continued to sit, looking out the window.
On the third day, at lunch, Shinji came up to the First Child. "Rei, would you like to eat lunch with me? I brought you a bento." The rest of the class was filing out to the cafeteria or to the yard outside, to sit with friends as they ate.
She slowly turned to face him. "I do not think that would be advisable."
Shinji sighed and pulled up a chair and set out two bentos onto the desk in front of Rei. "I don't know why you were so upset, but I know that sharing meals is important for you, so I want us to eat together."
Rei looked down at the bento before turning her face back towards Shinji. "You are not afraid of me?"
Shinji sat quietly for a moment, puzzled. "Rei, I get into a giant robot so I can catch an alien falling with enough kinetic energy to blow up all of Tokyo 3. I fight monsters with nothing more than the weeny little knife they issue us. Why would I be scared of you?"
"Because I was angry. And I could hurt you."
Shinji considered. He used to be scared of other people's anger, but the emotional detachment that had plagued him when he first moved to Tokyo 3 had deadened all that. And now, with Asuka mercurial behavior, he had become inured to excessive emotions. "No. I trust you not to hurt me."
Rei nodded, and reached out to put her hand over Shinji's. They sat like that for a moment, before Shinji added, "You should apologize to Asuka."
Rei considered the statement for a couple of minutes before replying. "No."
/\/\/\Beautiful/Night/\/\/\
It was the Wednesday of the following week when Asuka burst out of her room, startling Misato as she was opening another beer (her second of the night – she allowed herself two). "I need to borrow some perfume for tomorrow!"
Misato took a sip of the beer before turning to the teen, "Why? What's tomorrow?"
"I have a date!" Asuka beamed.
15 minutes earlier:
"There are no real guys at this school. All the boys are so immature!" Asuka ranted over the phone as Hikari made sympathetic noises. Asuka had become a good friend (though at times she wished Asuka was less insistent about eating lunch just the two of them - it cut down on her opportunities to spend time with Shinji).
Asuka felt faintly guilty for venting at Hikari, but frustration with her life - no, she couldn't call it a 'life', her existence - had been growing daily. Why did baka Shinji always take Rei's side? More importantly, why didn't anybody support HER like that?
"Well, my sister was telling me that a friend of hers was hoping to get a date with you – he saw you a couple of weeks ago." Hikari replied. She was more than happy to set up Asuka. It would let her vicariously enjoy Asuka's relationship second hand.
Asuka consider. "How old is he? I'm not going to go out with some creepy old guy."
"He's just three years older than us. Here, I think I have a photo." Hikari tapped on her phone and flipped though photos until she came to one that showed a bunch of college age people. She circled the guy on the left and texted it to Asuka, "That one."
"Huh. He looks hot. I'll take it!" Asuka smiled.
Now:
"Absolutely not. You're still a teen." Misato paused as she considered, before adding, "And especially not for a first date."
Asuka huffed and was about to argue when Misato added, "incidentally, I'm going to be out tomorrow evening - I'm going to a friends wedding."
"I bet you're going to wear perfume."
"Damn straight. But I'm 29, not 16" Misato finished her beer and looked wistfully at it before tossing it in the general direction of the recycling. Shinji caught it and deposited it in the appropriate receptacle.
/\/\/\Beautiful/Night/\/\/\
After school on Thursday, Shinji walked Rei home. It had been some time since the two of them had gone for an evening stroll, and after what had happened last week, it felt awkward at first.
The two teens walked quietly next to each other as they headed out of the school. Shinji looked around, trying to find something to talk about, but nothing came to mind. Thankfully, they were heading in the opposite direction from the restaurant were *that* had happened.
"Shinji, thank you," Rei pronounced as she forced a stiff smile. But when Shinji took her hand, it melted into a real one.
"What are you thanking me for?"
"I do not know. I just felt the need to express it."
/\/\/\Beautiful/Night/\/\/\
Shinji walked back to his apartment as if floating on air. Rei was back to normal, and she was happy to spend time with him. He was helping Hikari with her food project, which made both halves of him feel like a hero, and there hadn't been an Angel attack in weeks. He could finally act normal.
He was humming tunelessly as he opened the apartment door.
The lights were on. "Hello?" He called out as he entered.
Asuka was sitting on the couch, staring at the TV. Which was turned off. "Asuka? I thought today was you big date." It was only 8:30.
"It was. I came home early. The guy was a creep." Asuka got up and went to the fridge to get a soda. "He was this college guy looking to hook up with a high school girl."
Shinji nodded. "Well, have you had dinner? I can cook you something."
"No, he at least paid for dinner." Though he apparently thought the cost of buying dinner covered buying HER as well. Would it be TOO much to ask that people stopped thinking of her as a number? It didn't matter if the number was her IQ or her chest size. It was still not her.
"So, you want to watch TV or something?" Shinji asked, trying to cheer up the sulking Asuka.
"Eh, I guess. As long as it isn't anything romantic."
"Ok!" Shinji perked up. Action movies were always better than rom-coms. He was just turning on the TV when the phone rang.
Asuka took the call, and after a couple of 'Uh-huhs, she hung up. "That was Kaji. He says that Misato won't be home tonight – she had too much to drink." 'I bet that he's making that up, and they're just going to his place to have sex.' She always knew that Kaji had a thing for Misato, but it was still disappointing.
As they sat down in front of the TV, Asuka felt strangely awkward. She glanced at Shinji. It's not like they hadn't been alone in the apartment before. But maybe it was the failed date, or the call from Kaji or something, but it felt like there was a tension in the air.
"Hey, Shinji, have you ever kissed a girl?"
"What sort of question is that?!" spluttered the teen.
"A logical one, since you're, you know, friends, with Rei. And Hikari."
"I'm friends with you too!" Shinji tried to avoid the innuendo.
"Hmm." Asuka nodded, "How about I teach you how to kiss, then?" Misato was right - teasing Shinji DID make you feel better.
Shinji waved his hands in front of him in a panic, "no, I mean that isn't necessary."
Asuka smirked at his antics. "Well, you're no fun. Hit play already."
The movie was not bad, but Shinji found that he was analyzing the fight scenes, and found most of them wanting. They just weren't very realistic. Not compared to what he had lived through. And also, he was hyper-aware of Asuka, after her strange behavior earlier. She was sitting (slightly sprawled) just a few feet away, in her usual apartment wear of a loose fitting t-shirt and shorts.
Finally, after the movie was done, everything seemed to be back to normal. Shinji was just putting the snack wrappers into the trash when Asuka announced, "Well, I'm going to sleep."
"G'dnight," Shinji replied absent-mindedly as she walked by.
Which is when Asuka stepped in and kissed him, quick.
As Shinji stood up straight, shocked, she continued to her room and slid the door shut.
/\/\/\Beautiful/Night/\/\/\
'Why did I do that? I don't even like him. He's a skinny little nebbish.' But wouldn't Rei be pissed if she ever found out. Asuka smiled malevolently. 'Though pissing off Rei might not be the smartest thing.' Asuka recalled the strange girl's fury. And how Shinji had dived in to rescue her. 'GAAH! Why am I even thinking about this? It was just stupid hormones from that messed up date!' Asuka rolled over to try to go to sleep.
'But the look on his face after the kiss was priceless.'
/\/\/\Beautiful/Night/\/\/\
Shinji blinked, still standing in the kitchen, and lowered his hand from his lips.
/\/\/\Beautiful/Night/\/\/\
The following day was another strange one. Just when Shinji had emotionally adjusted to Rei's attack on Asuka, the redhead sent him into a tailspin. He glanced at where Asuka was sitting, near the front of the class. 'Was that a serious kiss, or was she just teasing me?' Shinji knew in theory that some people didn't take a physical relationship as seriously as he did. Not that he had ever HAD a physical relationship. But if he ever did, it would not be something casual. He glanced over at Asuka again.
Rei pursed her lips. She was not certain what was going on, but she could smell the tension on Shinji. And he kept looking at the Second Child.
She would have to ask Dr. Akagi again if killing the Second would still jeopardize NeRV's mission. Maybe she was no longer required.
/\/\/\Beautiful/Night/\/\/\
Shinji tried to act normal during lunch, but he suspected that Rei had noticed that he was a little flummoxed. But it wasn't the sort of thing he could bring up with her - she clearly didn't like Asuka, and she was likely to get angry. Maybe he could ask Hikari? He glanced over at the other girl, who was sitting next to Rei. 'That would be awkward as well. But at least she's friends with Asuka - she will be able to explain.'
Understandably, he was distracted as he ate.
"After the sync test this afternoon, I would like to spend the evening with you" Rei asked.
"Sure," Shinji beamed, "I'll come over after dinner."
Rei shook her head, and replied while staring at her hands "I would like you to come over to my apartment right after the test. I will prepare dinner." She blushed. And after THAT she and Shinji would spend the evening together, doing what couples did to join as one. But she didn't verbalize that part as yet. She had finally found a manga - Food Wars - that gave step by step instructions, and it had made it clear that these things had to be done in the correct order.
"Oh, ok. That sounds like fun."
Hikari could feel her heart freeze 'is Rei asking him out?' She had always known that Rei had some feelings for Shinji - he was the first person that the blue haired girl had talked to, after all. And they worked at NeRV together. But she had never thought that the withdrawn girl would actually do anything about it - she had assumed that Rei was too autistic to express herself emotionally. But they way she was acting just now...
Hikari waited until lunch was over. As Shinji was putting his lunch box away, she grabbed his arm. "Uhm, Shinji, can you come over here for a moment?" Hikari led the boy off to one side of the roof as Rei headed downstairs, "I want to ask if you want to go out with me this weekend." Hikari forced out.
"Go where?" Shinji asked puzzled.
"I mean like a date!" Hikari mumbled, blushing even more. But before Shinji could answer, her nerve broke and she ran back down to the classroom.
/\/\/\Beautiful/Night/\/\/\
Despite appearances, Rei actually did pay attention in class, learning what little the teachers taught. Except today. After lunch, it was very difficult to keep her mind on what the teacher was saying. She even found herself shifting around in her seat several times as uncomfortable warmth suffused her.
Fortunately, it was not sufficient for the rest of the class to notice. Shinji was attuned enough to the nuances of her behavior that he would usually have noticed such a change, but he was assiduously staring at the papers of his desk, not lifting his eyes up, for fear of seeing Hikari looking back at him.
'Hikari is my best friend. It makes sense that we date, right?' But the idea of actually dating Hikari was too scary - she was so much more suave and confident. She knew what to do in social situations. 'What will we do? Or talk about? Couples are supposed to talk about feelings and things!' Shinji froze up whenever he had to talk to more than one person. And he still didn't know how to act with (normal) girls. He cast a quick glance over at Rei. 'Being with Rei is so much easier.'
Rei sighed. This day was dragging on interminably.
/\/\/\Beautiful/Night/\/\/\
Asuka floated in her test plug, bored out her mind, as usual. She used to like the sync tests, but ever since Shinji's scores had started creeping up into HER territory, they lost their appeal. Now, they were just wasted hours floating in red goo that made her hair smell bad.
When the hour was up and the test was done, she was incredibly grateful. But as she stepped out of the tube, Misato cheerfully chirped as she read over Ritsuko's shoulder, "Would you look at that! Shinji has reached parity with Asuka!"
"What?" Asuka huffed. "The only reason Baka has managed to get a score that high is because he's in love with the Evangelion, and is having porn fantasies about Eva."
That only elicited a smirk from Misato.
Asuka frowned. 'ok, I wish I was back in the tube.' She stomped off to the locker room.
Rei exchanged a glance with Shinji at Asuka's histrionics before glancing away quickly. While she had heard Misato, at this point everything was secondary to what was coming next. For the first time in her life, she was finding it difficult to keep still.
But before either pilot could take a step forward, the public address system came on. "Blue signal detected. Repeat, blue signal detected. All personnel to their Action Stations"
/\/\/\Beautiful/Night/\/\/\
Shinji watched as the giant spherical Angel approached. Even through it was alreadyevening, that wasn't a problem - the Evangelion could see pretty well in the dark, and several VTOLs hovered around the zebra-striped globe, using plasma arc lights to illuminate the Angel. Each light would only last for a half hour, but that should suffice. In the meantime, the actinic greenish lights cast wobbly shadows around the Angel as it approached.
The three Evangelions were stationed in a small semicircle around the Angel as is drifted slowly towards the center of Tokyo 3. It was still at the edge of the city, where many of the buildings hadn't retracted because they were under construction.
A low growl, or possibly an annoyed sigh, came over the radio.
"Everything ok there, Rei?" Misato asked. Her vice sounded staticy.
"Yes." Rei snapped. Usually, killing the Angels was just a job. She was required to do it. But this was different. This thing was interrupting her time with Shinji!
"In that case, hold position as it approaches – we're having a hard time getting a reading on the Angel. We can't detect the core's location." Misato commanded. It was worse than that – the command room was in a furor, as the spectroscopic signal from it kept flickering from orange to blue and back again. And it wasn't just the sensors - the radio connection to the Evangelions had to claw its way though some sort of interference. Misato watched the transmitter skip from channel to channel as it strained to maintain a signal lock.
"That's atypical," Maya's voice lacked the panic that usually accompanied a surprise during battle, but her task today was simply monitoring the synchronization scores. "Rei's score has crept up 5%."
Before Misato could formulate a response, Rei came on the radio again. "I will probe its defenses."
"Be careful. Shinji, provide close support. Asuka, hang back as a spotter."
Unit 00 shouldered it's pallet rifle and darted for cover closer to the Angel. As it ran, it fired a burst form the rifle.
Instead of hitting the Angel and deflecting in a shower of orange hexagons, they just disappeared.
Misato swore. "What just happened/'
"I don't know. Sensors are still messed up!" Aoba replied.
"Rei, hold position!" Misato ordered.
'This was going to take forever. Why doesn't the annoyance just die, like all the others!' Rei's frustration grew.
Unit 01 had been trailing behind Unit 00 when Rei stopped behind a shield wall and fired a longer burst.
At that moment, everything under the orb began to sink.
"What the? Rei, get back!" Shinji cried out as Unit 01 stumbled back, but Unit 00 just repositioned to stable ground and fired again.
"The ground is melting!" Unit 00 skipped back as everything around her began to sink, first stepping onto a mound of dirt and then jumping onto a crane that had toppled as the mound sank into the ground.
"It's the shadow!" Asuka could see better from her vantage point. One of the shadows under the orb didn't correspond to a light source - instead of falling behind the orb, it reached out, towards the Evangelions and the VTOLs hovering above them. And everything this shadow touched was sinking into it. "Rei – it's stretching towards you!"
"I cannot retreat." Rei announced. Unit 00 was trapped at the edge of the shadow, its feet already starting to sink in. The Evangelion grasped at the steel frame of a half built building to try to pull itself out, but the steel frame buckled, not providing sufficient support.
"Hold on, Rei!" Shinji leaped forward, grabbing Unit 00 with one hand as the other got a solid grip on the building. Unit 01 pulled as hard as it could.
Unit 00 stopped sinking, but that was all - Shinji didn't have the leverage to pull Unit 00 out from his angle. He held tight to Rei's unit. If he could just somehow magically pull her out of the entry plug, even if it meant leaving the husk of Unit 00 behind, he would do it.
"Asuka move in to assist!"
"I'm trying." All the buildings around Asuka were tilting at crazy angles as they started to sink as well. She tried to maneuver towards the other two Evangelions at the lip of the shadow, but a tilted building snapped, sending rubble clattering to the the ground.
And the shadow crept forward. The building that Unit 01 was holding on to was starting to lean as the shadow sucked it down as well.
"Shinji, retreat. I can be replaced." Rei wasn't certain if that was true. She used to believe it, but these last few weeks had changed her. She had experienced more than she had ever before and she wasn't certain if she would be able to continue having the same experiences if she was brought back in a new body. But it didn't matter - it was more important that Shinji be safe.
"Like hell." Unit 01's fingers dug hard into Unit 00's arm, and the purple Evangelion curled in on itself, pulling with all of its strength.
Unit 00 was drawn up, out of the black, but at the same time the building that was supporting both units was pulled into the shadow, sinking fasster. With a final twist, Shinji flung Unit 00 out of the shadowed area as Unit 01 collapsed into the pitchy blackness.
"Shinji!"
Unit 01 disappeared from sight.
/\/\/\Beautiful/Night/\/\/\
"So what's the plan? How are you going to get Shinji back?" Asuka stormed at Misato, Rei at her side.
In this moment of crises, their animosity was forgotten.
"We need more time to analyze this Angel - it is nothing like the ones we have seen before." Ritsuko interrupted.
"We don't HAVE time!" Asuka retorted. "How long can Shinji survive in there?"
"If he shuts down everything except life support, about 11 hours." Misato replied.
Rei stood, watching. Her anger from before was gone, replaced with an emptiness. Rei usually felt empty, so much so that she didn't even notice it. But this emptiness had a shape. And a name. Shinji.
She looked over at Asuka. It was lucky that she knew what to do. Rei felt unexpected gratitude for the redhead.
"Do we have ANYTHING?" Asuka continued pushing. She couldn't understand how Misato was so calm - Shinji wasn't just another pilot: He was their friend. They lived with him. Who would make dinner? And try to make her feel better when she did something stupid? She glanced over at Rei, who stood impassively, "A little support, Blue, or do you not care what happens to Shinji?"
Rei just looked down at her hands. What could she do? All she was good for was killing things. Why had she lied to herself otherwise? She was a monster, and that was all. She was no good for Shinji.
"Maya is analyzing the data, but it looks like the Angel is actually the 'shadow', or maybe it's IN the shadow - the shadow is acting as a Dirac singularity, where a multidimensional space impinges on our reality. The sphere that we first thought was the Angel is just a projection or maybe a reflected image of the actual angel. I can model it mathematically, but I can't explain it any better than that."
Asuka nodded. She would look at the math later.
"So how do we kill it, if we can't reach its core?" Misato asked. She hated being out of her depth like this, but this Angel would have to be killed with science.
"I'm working on it." Ritsuko walked over to look at what Maya was doing. "On the plus side, the Angle has stopped moving."
Misato didn't voice the obvious fear - that it had paused to digest its meal.
/\/\/\Beautiful/Night/\/\/\
Everything was gray. Shinji looked around, but as far as he could see there was the same nothingness. 'I better reduce power consumption.' He glanced nervously at the battery timer. It had started ticking down from 5:00 as soon as the power cable was severed.
He went through the checklist, shutting off all systems except life support. That took all of 10 seconds.
He turned the radio back on. "Hello, can anybody hear me? Is anybody out there?" He waited for a response, but there was nothing. 'I'm all alone.' He began hyperventilating. 'No, that'll use up life support.' He took a deep breath and let it out slowly.
'Misato will figure something out.'
'I need to relax'
Breath in
Breath out
Breath in
'Oh, god, oh god, I'm going to DIE HERE!'
'Ok, ok, calm down'
Breath in
Breath out
With life support on minimum, it was starting to get cold.
/\/\/\Beautiful/Night/\/\/\
"Why do you fight?" Shinji looked up. He must have dozed off, for he found himself sitting on the hard bench seat of a train. Sitting opposite him was a red haired boy, maybe six or seven years old, with an intense expresion. "Why do you live?"
The answer to both questions was the same, "To help people."
The train car swayed as the train continued to rattle along the tracks. Outside, the city was a burnt out wasteland, with the charred remains of buildings jutting out of the ruins.
"Is that because your own life is worthless?" The boy asked casually.
"No." As long as he was helping others, he had value.
"But they will ask more and more of you, until there is nothing left. Are you truly fine with that?"
"Yes."
"So you fight in order to let others destroy you."
Shinji had no answer. He curled in on himself, oblivious, as the ruins outside burst into a silent conflagration.
/\/\/\Beautiful/Night/\/\/\
"Hello? This is Hikari Horaki. Can you put me through to Major Karutsagi?" Hikari held the receiver of the old fashioned land line phone as she stood in the corner of the shelter. They were told not to use the phone except in case of emergency, but Hikari couldn't care less about the rules right now. It was midnight, and she had been in the shelter for hours. It was mostly other students, and they were sleeping on the provided blankets, or reading quietly.
They had no news from the outside. She needed to know if Shinji was alright.
"Yes, I'll hold." She wanted to scream and rage, but she knew it wouldn't accomplish anything. So she stood quietly, and spoke in a calm voice as (yet again), she felt like her lungs were filled with ice water. 'It's not fair. I need to do more. Shinji is putting his life on the line, protecting me, I need to do more for him.'
The voice on the other line came back. "I am sorry, the Major is not available right now. I will transfer you to her voice mail box."
There was a click, and then the automated voice mail message began.
Hikari slid to the floor, clutching the phone to her chest. Her mind kept going back to her last interactions with Shinji today. She had asked him out, and he hadn't replied. In a manga, that was like a death flag.
/\/\/\Beautiful/Night/\/\/\
"So, what have you got?" It was 1 am - it had been six hours, and the Angel was still hovering, paused.
"It looks like the Angel's multidimensional space is not as big as we first thought. Maya did some calculations based on the ripples we're seeing on the sphere, and I think we can pop it if we apply enough pressure into it." Ritsuko was still at her work station in the command center, working on a simulation as Misato leaned over her. Rei had fallen asleep on a chair, draped over an unused desk, and Asuka had gone for a walk to burn off nervous energy.
"How?" Misato was skeptical. She was all in favor of killing Angels, but she was worried about Shinji. He was like a little brother. She had never had a family, not since her father had died 16 years ago, but now, it was a second chance at a normal life.
"Just like with the fifth Angel, we'll have to requisition some weapons, except this time, we'll need N2 mines. According to my calculations, we'll need at least 800 to generate a pressure wave high enough to burst the Angel."
"And what happens to Shinji?"
Ritsuko looked away, "I know you are attached to him, but he's just one pilot."
/\/\/\Beautiful/Night/\/\/\
Shinji was exhausted - he had dozed briefly, experiencing strange, barely remembered dreams. He couldn't get comfortable in the pilot's seat, and breathing LCL was physically exhausting – the human lungs weren't designed for liquid.
But he didn't really want to sleep anyways – he was worried that if he fell asleep, the creepy boy would be there, waiting for him. That he would latch on to him, drain him of his will to live.
He pried his eyes open and looked around the cockpit. Nothing had changed. He had been in here for - he glanced at the clock – 10 hours. That means he had been awake for… 23 hours. The battery indicator was flashing red.
Shinji forced his eyes open again.
He was standing on a field, with low rural-looking building in the background.. Directly in front of him was Eva. As usual, she was dressed in her old fashioned blue dress, but her blond hair was down, making her appear more relaxed and less like the fierce warrior that he envisioned. He could not see her face because she was facing away from him.
"It is all over now?"
"Yeah," he heard himself reply. He wanted to reach to her – to close the distance. There was a strange sensation in his chest.
"I have been a blade to you, protecting you from your enemies. I am glad I kept that promise." She spoke softly, far more gently than he imagined.
"You did great."
There was a long pause, and then Eva added, "There is one more thing I must tell you". She turned to face him, but as she did, her image flickering, become that of Rei.
Shinji was startled awake. 'What was that about?'
The shot of adrenaline had pushed him towards wakefulness. He examined the readouts. He had been asleep for five minutes. Nothing had changed. 'How long has the battery indicator been flashing?' He took a deep breath, but he his lunges demanded more. He gasped, but it was still not quite enough - there wasn't enough oxygen in the LCL.
At this rate he would die here.
He took another gasping breath as his head swam.
A slow burst of anger pulsed through Shinji at the unfairness of it all. That boy had no right to criticize him. Maybe his ideals were flawed, but if everybody had them, then nobody would get hurt. People would all be happy. The anger throbbed, emanating from his core and reaching out to his fingertips. If he could just get back out into the world and help, really help, somebody, he would understand.
Shinji felt trapped. It was hard to breath.
He wanted to get back out there. Eva needed him... no, it was Rei... He wasn't certain, but what he did know was that he needed to escape this place of endless stillness and act. Do. Help those that needed help, and put a smile on their faces.
Shinji no longer felt like he was floating, but that he was wrapped up in layers and layers of something. Each layer was thin, like a cawl covering his body, but together they they all locked him him place, preventing him from acting.
The shot of adrenaline had pushed him towards wakefulness.
Just like his fear used to.
He reached up and tore the thing off of his face.
He needed to be free.
/\/\/\Beautiful/Night/\/\/\
"I would like to register my protest." Misato ground out as she stood at attention in the command center. She was exhausted, swaying on her feet after the sleepless night.
"Duly noted," Gendo acknowledged, "But I am taking direct command of this operation. If it is to succeed, it must follow Dr. Akagi's scenario precisely."
Ritsuko nodded, "prepare to drop the first round of N2 mines." She waited for a confirmation from the the first flight of VTOLs.
"Ready."
"Drop."
Ten N2 mines fell into the shadow, detonating and setting up a slight ripple along the surface.
"Drop round two."
Another twenty VTOL flew in, dropping a steady stream of 40 more N2 mines, the drops carefully spaced apart so that the ripples grew more and more extreme.
As Ritsuko watcher monitor, looking for the peaks of the ripples to coincide so that she could order the next wave of N2 mines, an alarm began to blare. Ritsuko glanced around in a panic, trying to determine what had gone wrong.
All of a sudden, the sphere above the shadow bulged, and a huge hand burst out.
A purple armored hand.
"This is not part of the scenario!" Ritsuko looked alarmed.
"It's Shinji!" Misato's face split into a grin, "Hold the attack. I repeat, do not drop!"
A second hand pushed through the tear, ripping the Angel back like a torn tent as Angelic ichor spewed forth onto the street below
Evangelion 01 squirmed out, a moth exiting a cocoon, shrugging the angel off of its limbs and leaving bloody smears.
/\/\/\Beautiful/Night/\/\/\
Shinji opened his eyes. He was in the hospital. Again. He was frustrated at his uselessness. But as he lay there, in addition to the gentle beeping on the medical monitors, he heard a quiet breathing. And somebody was holding his hand. He turned his head to see Rei sitting at his side. Again.
'She is always supporting me, even when I am a failure.' Shinji recalled the dream he had while in the plug. Eva was his creation – a woman who fought at his side, always there, always protecting him. She had morphed from a simple personification of a war machine that was too alien to comprehend to being a sort of fantasy ideal woman (Shinji refused to dwell on what that said about him). But she wasn't really a fantasy, was she? His subconscious had told him. At the end, she had looked like Rei.
Hikari was a good friend, but she didn't understand what he went through. She was too cheerful, too normal. She scared him - what if he made her broken, like himself?
But Rei... He gently pulled on Rei's hand. Puzzled, she stood up.
"Are you well?
"Yeah, I think so. Thank you for staying with me."
Rei just nodded. It was the least she could do. She hated how useless she had been when his Evangelion was swallowed. 'The Second Child had at least tried to fight for him.' Her previous gratitude towards Asuka had morphed into a bitter jealousy overnight. Her free hand clenched in anger as she stood at the bedside, unsure how to express what she was feeling. Asuka would know what to do now.
But Shinji continued to pull on her other hand, guiding her to sit down next to him on the hospital bed.
"Uhm, Rei? Would you be my girlfriend?"
Rei stopped, her anger and self hatred forgotten.
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