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Chapter 47: "…Leave you like a lonely solitaire…"
"ARGH!"
The slamming of a door followed swiftly was with the shout, but she didn't care if anyone heard her, she just wanted to hit something.
Her fists slammed against her sheet metal cabinet, leaving a small dent, and causing flashes of pain throughout her hands. Then, that anger that had boiled in her since seeing that boy in the hallway, that anger that had driven her to interrogation, that had simmered as she talked to him, it finally extinguished.
She turned, resting her back against the wall, and let herself slide down it till she was just sitting on the cold floor, letting her head rest back against the door.
She had touched him; he had really been there. This wasn't some dream, Shinji Ikari was again part of this world.
So why did that make her so angry?
The answer was simple. Just when she thought it was over, the moment she thought she had found some semblance of closure, it was ripped away from her.
Just like everything else in her life.
The girl pushed herself up slowly, looking around the room that had become her 'home'. The sparse quarters were more spacious than most accommodations, a desk, and locker, with a full bed too. The shelves next to the bed holding plenty of things from her life.
Walking over she just looked at the raggedy old doll that had been collecting dust for so long. One side was charred, blackened by the events surrounding the 9th Angel. While over the left side of its face, a crudely cut black cloth imitated an eyepatch.
ʡʘʘʘʢ
"These are your personal effects," an attendant said, placing the dusty bin in her lap.
The girl said nothing, she just stared at the box, while the woman proceeded to push her down the hall. Asuka said nothing as she was brought into a small officer's quarters or at least it appeared to be one. It was a bit more spacious than expected, but the girl could barely register that.
"Now Dr. Akagi will be here shortly to get you prepped."
With that the woman left, leaving the girl alone with her thoughts.
Four years.
She had been asleep for four years.
Misato and Ritsuko hadn't said much after that, instead they let her leave, saying they would speak later. As if she wanted to talk about it later.
Asuka looked to the small desk that had been given her and slowly wheeled herself over to it. With only one arm and her severely weakened state, she managed to do it, but just barely, leaving herself breathing heavily and feeling a burning pain in her right arm. For a moment the girl almost felt like she was back in Germany undergoing hours of rigorous training to be selected as a pilot.
But that was a long time ago.
Flipping the box over, she dumped the contents out over the desk. A few pieces of clothing had been stuffed inside, but what had been on the very bottom drew her interest.
Her prized possession. The doll that had been gifted her so long ago fell out onto the pile. Ignoring everything else, she picked it up and flipped it over. Instead of the pristine toy she remembered, the entire left side was horribly lacerated and charred nearly beyond recognition. Her eye looked over it, again and again, thinking about how she might save what was left.
Setting it aside, she looked through what else had been dumped out over the table.
The small bag she had brought with her to Unit-03's activation.
A few small items, a hairbrush, her makeup.
Her original A10 clips…. and her Wunderswan.
She eyed them, before setting them aside, unsure of what to do with them.
Then she spotted her phone.
Slowly she reached over, with the pendent still wrapped around her fingers seemed so much heavier now. Flipping it open, she powered it on, amazed that there was still a charge.
The screen flickered to life, showing the girl the picture, she had set as her background.
A sea of red and oranges lit up her eyes. The silhouetted figure of a scowling girl sat on the edge of a rooftop, with the backdrop of Tokyo-03 behind her.
"So, you never forget the memory, things fade, but you'll have that picture forever."
Somehow it all came crashing down on her in that moment, hearing those words echo in her mind.
He was gone.
The only person who understood her was dead.
The girl barely registered the droplets falling onto her medical gown, pulling the pendant to her chest she couldn't hold back the tears now falling freely down her cheeks. How was this fair? Why did this have to happen to her? Why did everyone leave?
Slowly and with a shaking hand, Asuka unwrapped the pendent from her fingers and tied it around her neck. Just clutching it, what little comfort she gained from it couldn't stop her tears. So she just sat there trying to process everything that had been happened.
"Hey, wake up sleepy head."
The girl's eyes fluttered open, revealing the rays of light coming through her window.
"Wha…" she sat up, her grogginess clouding her brain while feeling the weight of clothes being dropped on her.
"C'mon, we're gonna be late for school." She knew that voice.
Pushing herself upright, Asuka looked around. She was in her room, in her bed, where she could feel the warmth of Japan's endless summer in her bones.
"Shinji?"
"Yes?" he said, turning, just before he was about to leave, seemingly to let her change.
She jumped out of bed and ran up to him, wrapping her arms around him and crushing him with a hug. The girl wanted to latch onto him, to keep him as her anchor, her rock, and never let him leave.
"Hey what's that for?"
"I had a dream…" she said, her words reassuring herself that it was only a dream.
"That scary?"
"You were gone… everyone was gone."
"Hey, look at me…" he said, raising her chin so that she'd look at him.
"Didn't I promise I'd never leave?"
She nodded, just letting his warm smile wash over her.
"Alright, now get changed so we can go, I got some food in the kitchen before we walk to school."
Asuka cautiously let go of him, before he slipped through the sliding door, leaving her alone in the room. Walking over to the bed, she sighed before picking up the clothes and hanging them next to her mirror.
Looking at it, she saw the unmarred face of Asuka Langley Shikinami. No bandages, no sunken skin, just her.
Sighing in relief she took off her shirt to get dressed, only to feel a weight fall against her chest.
A Greek Cross, hanging lazily from around her neck.
Suddenly the mirror cracked, leaving half her image distorted as her entire figure began to cloud over, leaving behind only a black silhouette.
"Asuka?"
"Asuka?" the unmistakable voice of Ritsuko asked, waking her up.
"Yes?" she grumbled.
"It's time."
Asuka said nothing as the doctor wheeled her from the room, through the halls, and into some sort of medical room. An exam table sat on one side, while the other was occupied by a cylindrical tank of LCL.
"We're going run some tests, and we'll also start work on your rehabilitation."
Asuka nodded, allowing the woman to help her onto the examination table, lying there, she shivered from the cool material but said nothing.
"I'm going to remove the bandages on your left side, alright?"
Again the girl just nodded as the blonde began to work down at her leg.
The hospital gown they had her in was gently pushed out of the way. Gauze and bandages seemed to plaster her side, caking every bit of skin. She just looked down at the doctor as she came to her hip, but said nothing as she continued her work all the way to her shoulder.
Asuka shouldn't have been suppressed at the sight, but the sheer amount of scarring she saw was beyond what she could have ever imagined.
Ritsuko must have noticed her look and returned on of pity, "Once we got you out of Unit-03's entry plug you were in bad shape. I honestly didn't think you'd survive; I don't think anyone did. How you managed to pull through is beyond me, if it had been anyone else …"
Asuka tuned her out, just looking at the lines of pale skin that zig-zagged across her figure. When Ritsuko finally pulled all the bandages from her arm, the skin looked shrivled and lumpy, a far cry from the smooth perfection she had taken such pride in.
"Don't worry too much. We were able to set the bones years ago, and you'll likely regain full motor functions. Plus, when you gain back some weight, I'm sure it'll look better." Ritusko said optimistically, before taking out a stethoscope and placing the cool metal against her skin.
"There's something else…" the doctor said, finishing her reading.
"What?"
"Your eye… we don't know if it'll have any function, but it won't matter, you'll be required to wear this." She said, pulling out something from her lab coat.
Squinting, Asuka realized what it was, a grey eyepatch with a multitude of scribbles on it, runes probably. The blonde gingerly slipped it over her head and began to remove the bandages underneath.
"Why?" Asuka asked, not fully understanding the reasoning behind it.
"We believe there's Angelic contamination concentrated there, we don't know exactly what it is, but at the very least this will help keep it from spreading." the blonde explained, "Now about this hair…"
"Cut it." Asuka said flatly.
"Are you sure? It'll have to be short."
"I don't care."
"Alright then, let's get you sitting."
Asuka complied, allowing the doctor to help her into a sitting position, hissing at the effort it required of her. she hated this. All of this. She hated feeling so weak, unable to even sit upright easily without any help.
Shortly, the clipping sound of her hair being cut was the only noise between them as the girl felt the mass of hair slowly begin to dwindle.
"So, you and Shinji?"
"What about it?"
The blonde shrugged, "It's just… you didn't seem to get along with him."
Asuka stayed quiet.
"How serious was it?"
"And why exactly do you want to know?" Asuka hissed, turning swiftly to see the woman just standing there with scissors in her hands.
"I'm… just trying to talk Asuka," he said, holding up her hands in defense.
"Well, save it," she hissed, while turning back around, "I'm sure Misato'll fill you in afterward anyway," she grumbled, annoyed that she had even told the doctor.
"I don't think so."
"What was that?"
"Commander Katsuragi doesn't have ti… she's very busy." Ritsuko explained, "She has plenty of responsibilities occupying her time."
"She'll make time," the girl said, a tone of certainty in her voice.
"I don't know about that Asuka."
"Sure, just like you knew there wasn't an Angel in Unit-03."
"You can't…"
"Or that Gendo Ikari was going to try and kill us all!"
"Christ! I only asked because she order…!" she barked back, before cutting herself off.
"What?"
"Nothing." The woman clammed up, unwilling to say another word.
Misato had ordered her to ask about Shinji? No. She had ordered her to ask about their relationship.
Why didn't she just ask herself?
Another sense of irritation at the woman bubbled up inside her. What was the matter with Misato?
She was brought out of her thoughts by Ritsuko handing her a small mirror. Taking it, Asuka was able to finally see herself fully, no hair covering her face, no bandages blocking half her view. Her hair had been cut back, now just barely reaching her shoulders, much shorter than she always wore it these days. Though, perhaps more striking was the fact she was sporting a rather ugly scar.
And apart from all that…
"Why…"
"Yes?"
"Why don't I look…"
"Older?" Ritsuko answered, a bit of irritation still lining her voice, "We believe it has to do with the Evangelions, another pilot has the same condition,"
Asuka brought her hand up to her face, touching it, not registering the mention of another pilot.
"We don't know what other effects it might have, right now all we know is that you haven't been aging, aside from your hair growing you haven't changed."
Asuka just stared at her face, unable to say anything.
"To start we'll submerge you in LCL, we can lessen the stress on your bones and left lung. It'll be easy, there's a treadmill and some handlebars, just take it easy..."
The girl tuned her out, and just stared at the reflection, touching her face as a soft blue glow emanated from the eyepatch.
ʡʘʘʘʢ
Misato Katuragi hated these meetings.
In all honesty, they felt more like interrogations than anything. It was either her begging for more supplies and support or them demanding information and action.
Standing in front of the five faces, she wanted nothing more than to wrangle the majority of their necks for their aura of superiority.
"Commander," the second face to the left greeted.
"Vice-chairman." She greeted back.
He was an older gentle, with a receding hairline that was devoid of color, in a way he almost reminded her of Fuyutsuki, though he had a much more filled out figure than the slender aging man she had known.
"Sensors in Anchorage detected a massive energy spike North of the Bearing Sea hours ago," he stated, his face clearly accusing her of the obvious, "it very much resembles the simulated activation of Wunder."
"That's because Wunder is currently underway on her own power," Misato replied, a bit of pride creeping into her voice.
"The activation wasn't scheduled until a week from now, and that was a very optimistic estimate." This time the speaker was on the far right, a middle-aged woman whose face held more than her fair share of wrinkles.
"Yes, that's correct, but NERV attacked our position, we couldn't escape, so I gave the order to activate the ignition procedure."
"Don't you think that was a bit reckless?"
"Considering the options, we had at the time were limited, no, I saw that was the best avenue available to me."
"So, what is your operational capacity right now then?"
"Currently we're assessing just that, we were able to destroy the Mark 4s sent at us, but this ship needs to be evaluated first. There are plenty of systems that are not operating properly."
"Then we'll expect to be kept informed on the statue of 'the god slayer' commander. You are in possession of the only true S2 engine ever create, I hope you understand the gravity of your situation."
"That is not lost on me."
None of the council members said anything, instead, the immediate member to the right flicked something onto his screen.
"As we last discussed, our foothold in England has been… lackluster." The man said as a picture of the English Isles appeared on the screen. Nearly all of the main island was red, save for a small section of blue to the north.
"Last week the order to evacuate the remainder of our forces was given after the main Purification Pillar suffered a malfunction."
Misato watched as the blue was slowly pushed back until finally red encompassed the entirety of the island.
"It was expected something like this would happen, the whole expedition actually accomplished more than we expected." The furthest member to the left commented.
"And the Second-Generation JA models performed admirably, the preproduction units of the Mark III are predicted to be even more capable."
"Were NERV forces encountered at all?" Misato asked.
"No," the woman responded, "only Wanderers, though we learned quite a bit from fighting them. Namely, they are particularly resilient to our current firepower.
Misato could have told them that, it wasn't like she had been dealing with them for years now.
A silence fell over the group before someone asked whether there was any more business to conduct. Taking the silence as their answer all the screens flickered off, except for one. The center vertical view of the Supreme Commander of all Alliance forces sat there; hands folded.
He was a rather unsuspecting man, bald, and with not a hint of facial hair. For a moment both of them just stared at one another, before he sighed and frowned.
"I specifically withheld certain… information from the other council members," he said simply, his deep foreboding voice resonating from whatever sound system was installed in the room. "Very few people know about the current… situation surrounding Shinji Ikari."
"Then I'll thank you for that sir," she said, feeling a flood of relief knowing she the other members wouldn't be questioning her later.
"However, I'd like an update."
She took a deep breath, readying herself for the long-winded explanation and the reprimand she was going to get.
"He woke up sir. He seemed confused, or dazed, he escaped custody but was eventually recaptured and brought to interrogation."
"He escaped custody?"
"Yes, Wunder is barely combat capable, there's plenty of subsystems that are not fully operational. But he was brought in for questioning."
"And?"
"It was inconclusive, we're not sure if his mental state is undamaged, but…"
"But what?"
"He was taken… an EVA was able to retrieve him."
"I see."
"I'd like it to be known that he wasn't fully cooperative with it, I believe he didn't want to go."
The man frowned, Misato wasn't sure if this was a test or not, but she wasn't going to risk lying to him.
"What are your personal thoughts on the boy?"
"I don't believe I should be voicing my own feelings, sir. This isn't personal."
"Katsuragi," he brought his hand up to rub his eyes, "We both know that's not true. Trust me, if half the intelligence on the boy's relationship with his father is true then in the grand scheme of this war that boy is not worth this council's time."
"It's not personal," she reassured again.
"I assure you, you're not the only commanding officer who's deal with something like this, so don't bother trying to hide it. Let me tell you from experience nothing good comes of it. As a matter of respect, I'll let you handle this yourself for as long as I can, but I don't believe time is on our side."
"What are you saying?"
"With the Mark IIIs, we'll have the ability to strike beyond the Americas. The sentiment is that Europe is our number one priority, but… Gendo Ikari has been quiet for too long. I feel as though this is the quiet before the storm."
"Is every nation willing to commit to an offensive?" she asked.
"Considering the US is the last remaining Security Council member with any physical nation? Yes, if they want to, it'll happen."
She shook his head, even with the majority of the world uninhabitable, politics reigned supreme.
"Do you have anything else to add?"
"No sir."
"Then, this meeting is adjourned," he said as the screen cut off, leaving her in darkness.
So sorry about the wait, I'm kinda drowning in schoolwork, which is understandable, the semester has roughly a month left. Since that's the case, don't expect a lot until the second week of December. It's very likely I'll get bored, or procrastinate and finish up a chapter before then, but I'm trying to focus more on school right now.
As for the story itself, I'm going to try and pull back from flashbacks. For Asuka that's not really possible, we'll keep seeing her time before 3.0, but for Shinji there will only be necessary ones. I just don't want to have essentially 'flashback fatigue' or we're just spinning our wheels not moving forwards with the story.
SHOUTOUTS!
SheriffJohnStone- Thanks!
EvaPilotFair – Lewd hand holding? I think we can get more of that.
YodaMorpheu7 – 'Walls of Jericho' Moment haha. I think Shinji's pretty fluent in Asukanese by now though, it's the 'doing everything she says without question' part that's the problem.
UltraSpink of Da USA – You're assuming Gendo Ikari can feel anything in the first place lol.
Gyugya16 – SHHH! Don't give it away. Haha, yeah I love it when small details like that get realized.
Dyinglittelstar – Misato getting Star Warsed and losing a hand would be an interesting idea…
Fate-RWBY ODST – Thanks for the info!
Berix – Thanks! Get some sleep!
Xenile – Thanks!
JDH1080 – Thanks, but remember to sleep haha. Yeah I actually haven't read a whole lot of EVA fanfics, I don't really look off of . I didn't know Re-Take existed till I was invited to the Asushin Discord server.
tomdj1701 – Ah my last response was to be a bit humorous, theorize away!
skyfox - I too feel like there was a bit of a missed opportunity for seeing Misato and Asuka's relationship. It's a movie and time is an issue, but it would have been nice after the elevator conversation. The whole aspect of him remembering this is that this was the first time he confessed/told anyone about his situation (even if he was drunk or it wasn't remembered in the morning) but its also something I don't really see played with that much. Asuka would totally sneak alcohol from Misato as a mischievous 14 year old who thinks they're an adult, plus German/Europe's drinking age is lower, so its safe to assume she's had some before.
calborghete – Thanks!
Guest – I'd actually agree.
Guest(2) – Haha, here it is.
NoseGum – Thanks!
IllusoryMist (all) – Thanks for reading through it! Glad you've been enjoying it so far!
Doc1012 – Thanks! I think at his core Shinji Ikari is still Shinji Ikari. He had brave moments in NGE, saving Asuka in Magma Diver, going and rushing to help Rei from Unit-00. So he had that capacity its just 'flourished' now, but at the same time, he forgot to learn all the lessons of EoE.
Engel17white-
borisd34 – Thanks!
gyugya16 (2) – Remember Shinji didn't know that EVAs would 'evolve'. Shinji thinks this world (so far) is playing by NGE rules. Like I said very early on, Shinji's knowledge is almost a hinderance here, it'll come back to bite him.
Lupskillz – Hugging? In my story? What kind of degenerate do you take me for? (also yes)
Guest (3) – Here we go!
kempn200252 – THANKS!
Alright hope you all enjoyed this.
Until Next Time.