Blood Red
Episode 2
New Horizons
(Yes, it is an Animal Crossing reference, keep scrolling)
A/N: Quick message, if from now on some character has to whisper something, or, (Like Kaworu) has to 'think while another thought is going on, their lines will be marked like this:
'Whisper'
'thought inside of a thought'
Don't worry if the second one is a bit confusing, I don't believe that it will be used much and there is an example later in this chapter to make it clear.
That said, have a nice read.
Chapter 5: The new face in town
Village 2, some hours after the Slayer arrived.
"So, as your robot buddy told us.
You three are a group of people coming from another dimension who ended up here just in time to stop the fourth impact and then became friendly with the pilots, also saving them from certain death?!"
The soldier said as the Slayer nodded in response.
He was currently sitting in the lobby of the hospital, surrounded by shocked soldiers who weren't sure if they should be pissing their pants or not.
A moment of silence passed before a man with a large pair of glasses, a camouflaged jacket and a badly kept beard came out of the group and asked the Slayer.
"So, as long as we don't hurt you, you won't hurt us?"
"More or less, you have to take the pilots into account too, mister?" VEGA asked and the man said:
"Kensuke, Aida Kensuke. Leader of the village and one of Shinji's former classmates.
I can't say how surprised I was to see him still in the realm of the living after the rumors that surfaced when he was taken away from the Wunder."
"What rumors?" the Ai asked and he replied:
"That the captain of the Wunder killed him by detonating the collar they had put on him.
But I knew that it was a lie from the start and today you confirmed that to me, Slayer.
Say, I'm not really a sleepy person, so how about you stop by my place to talk a bit more?"
"What about the pilots? Are they safe?" Samuel asked and Kensuke replied:
"Oh sure, right now they're hooked up to the top of the line LCL decontamination machines, we have them since a lot of people get dust in their lungs when sandstorms like yours come by.
But we found something strange behind Shinji, a sort of metallic implant that goes around his skin."
"It's an exoskeleton that was installed on him until his bones heal.
After the fourth impact they sustained heavy structural damage, risking their integrity and possible damage to his nervous system."
"Ah…
Anyway you coming or? I think that some people might want to go back to their stations, or to bed."
The Slayer stood up and walked towards Kensuke, following him out of the hospital and into a path in the woods of a nearby hill.
It was a strange sight for him, after growing accustomed to the ruins of his Earth and the red sands, it had been a while since he had seen nature this vibrant.
Sure there was some on Argent D'nur, but the highly mountainous terrain and the constant threat of demons pushed it in the background.
Still, now that he could fully admire it from up close, he felt a smile forming in his face, knowing that there was still hope for this world.
He had been able to protect the pilots, bringing them to a small heaven on this destroyed world.
And the chains that stopped him from talking, suddenly felt a lot looser.
Around a minute of walking later they arrived. It was a medium-sized one story house, made up of both wood and some pieces of metal here and there, nothing to write home about. But then again almost all the houses in the village were built like that.
What was interesting however was the large white entry plug that rested right next to it.
The Slayer immediately got closer to it to have a better look and so Kensuke said:
"Ah that's an old version of Asuka's entry plug, left here after she defended the village for the first time."
"Could you elaborate on this a bit further?" VEGA asked as the Slayer moved his hand across the white metal surface.
"It's a story from some years ago, the village had just gone through a growth spurt, making it one of the larger human settlements in the region and the largest in relation to its distance from Tokyo 3.
This of course, was like showing a tasty bait to an hungry animal.
Soon enough in fact, we got attacked by the robots, thankfully Wunder was close, so they deployed both Asuka and Mari to deal with them.
It went smoothly until another evangelion arrived.
It was taller than theirs, welding a very large two pronged red spear and with a strange head.
It was called mark 05 and it engaged both of them at once.
That spear that it welded was special since it was able to cut through all the defenses that either were able to put up, but thanks to a straordinary act of teamwork, the two of them got the upper hand and took it down.
Unfortunately just before deactivating for good, the enemy launched the spear at Asuka's unit, hitting her in her right eye.
Thankfully no lasting damage had been done, but she still ejected and landed right here where I was the first one to come to her help and we got to know each other better.
WILLE found that the plug was damaged, so they decided to leave it here and get a new one they had ready.
Since then, it remained as a memorial of that battle, she even gets inside of it from time to time when she's stationed here."
Just as his story finished, the Slayer found what he was looking for. He pulled the outside emergency lever and the large tube opened up.
The man jumped on top of it to see how the inside looked like, hearing Kensuke say:
"Don't go inside please, she hates it when people touch her things."
He almost laughed as he began walking in circles around the hole, transmitting what he was seeing back to the fortress.
"That seat sure looks like a comfortable one, if I didn't have to stand and move to pilot the Atlan I'd gladly get one too.
Anyway, what else? The walls seem to be covered in some sort of golden sheet while the seat itself is surrounded by various control systems… but how do they move around in this?
The side handles can only move horizontally and the legs are kept still by the structure…
Maybe some sort of neural connection? It would also explain why he told me about Asuka getting hurt when her mech was hit.
Yes that must be it… is that- a stuffed doll? No it's more like a puppet, pretty old it seems, I can see that it was put back together a couple of times.
Oh well, I can't really see anything else in here, maybe Kensuke has some more information."
He got down from the plug and walked back to him, then he grabbed something from his back and suddenly Shikinami's cap was in his hands.
He presented it to him and Kensuke said:
"Oh I remember this one! It was a gift that Mari made for her when she was stationed here for the first time. You should have seen her face when she read the message attached to it about the roundels eheh.
She was so furious that it took two of us to stop her from walking all the way to the Wunder and kill her co-pilot.
Eventually she got used to it and now she gets just as angry if you take it from her. I'd be thankful that she's unconscious right now if I were in your place."
The Slayer looked again at the hat for a moment, focusing on the roundels as VEGA asked:
"What was written in that message?"
And Kensuke replied:
"It's… confidential, but maybe if I show you this photograph you might understand the meaning of the roundels by yourself.
I took it after a battle they had against the largest angel ever. I was lucky enough to be near the site and so I took it, given how much I geeked over the evangelions in the past it was the opportunity of my life."
He moved a hand to his jacket and pulled out a photograph which showed Rei, Asuka and Shinji out of their evangelions after stopping the eighth angel, Sahaquiel, whose gigantic dead body was resting in the background.
It seemed a fairly normal photograph until the Slayer focused more on the boy in it, seeing how his plug suit's colors matched the ones of the smaller roundel.
And given what he had understood about Asuka and Shinji's relationship so far, he smirked under his helmet as the dots connected in his mind.
Kensuke noticed this and so he said:
"I see that you've gotten to know them better than most people already haven't you?"
The Slayer nodded as Samuel said:
"People tend to share a lot of information when their life is on the line."
"Oh I know what you mean, however it doesn't always work. Lately we've caught a spy that just wouldn't spit out the secrets he was holding. We tried everything, but he kept silent, until his very last breath."
"He was protecting his allies with his own life… I guess you aren't that much different Slayer, right?"
The tall man stepped on the ground with such force that it completely shattered the concrete block he was walking on.
"Alright…
Say Kensuke, the pilots have told us that Gendo has some influence on the current world, but could you fill us in a bit more?"
"Sure.
After the near third impact Gendo disappeared and the world was left in a chaotic state after that.
Soon, all the major news outlets that were still functioning began blaming NERV and its reputation plummeted. After a while it was disbanded, with all the most important members being scattered around the world in either new jobs or lives.
That's when he reappeared to the public, with a perfect alibi to boot. Handcrafted by his superiors that led the secret organization inside the UN.
He himself began to blame Shinji for the incident, saying how he did it by his own volition and that's kind of true, but only partially.
What is true is that the boy didn't know what the evangelion could actually do, so in the most desperate situation he pushed it over the limit to save the last important person he hadn't lost yet.
That was Rei Ayanami, the second ever clone of her series to be exact."
"I guess that's why he seems so uncomfortable around her, but I don't believe it ends here."
"Anyway, he got a lot of people to his side, most of them actually, and eventually he formed a sort of cult.
They call themselves the Human Instrumentality Federation and all of them have a symbol that shows their alliance tattooed on their body.
Imagine a Swastika made of snakes and with an apple in the centre."
The Slayer lowered his gaze, partially hiding his eyes in the darkness of his helmet. Yet, he couldn't mask the red glow of rage that illuminated them of a deep crimson as soon as the word 'Swastika' reached his brain.
So Kensuke decided to immediately change the conversation, he still wanted to live to see the other day after all.
"Since Gendo's reappearance, this group has grown immensely and now they own most of the larger cities and production centers on the planet.
He uses them to fuel his army of robots that I'm sure you've encountered. It's a completely automated process and nearly impossible to stop."
"What about WILLE?" VEGA asked.
"We have some cities here and there, but they're nothing compared to the industrial megalopolis that NERV owns. But hey, at least the standard of living is much higher."
"How much?"
"Well, let's just say that you don't have to go around walking with a light gas mask everyday.
*yawn*
Hey um, even though my sleeping schedule isn't the best, I still have to close my eyes for a while and I don't feel like I can go on much longer.
What if we continue this conversation tomorrow? You in the meantime can go and explore the village, I'll alert the rest of the night guards about you."
The Slayer gave him a thumbs up as Kensuke replied:
"Well, it was fun meeting you Slayer. See ya tomorrow. Oh and don't wake anyone up please, they'd kill me otherwise, hehe."
He nodded and walked back into the road they came from, accompanied only by the sound of the wind blowing through the trees overhead.
At around halfway through the path, he noticed a smaller one that was only visible when coming back from Kensuke's house given how the plants around it were arranged.
He got closer to it and decided to keep walking along, up until there was an intersection, with seemingly no difference in either path.
He took the one to the right and kept going forward.
Eventually he ended up in front of a rusty gate closed by a large lock. He didn't want to ruin it as he had no reason to and to not make too much noise either.
So instead he looked around, noticing how the walls that surrounded it weren't all that high.
He climbed them swiftly and after getting back on the ground, he found himself in the village's graveyard, surrounded by crosses and stone slabs.
In contrast to the rest of what he had seen of the village, this cemetery held a dark and sad aura around it. It showed clear signs of abandonment, with invasive plants all over the place and the walls being filled with cracks.
Yet the grass on the ground was still cut short.
He walked around a bit more, eventually having to turn on the night vision module of his helmet given that it was two in the morning.
The Slayer went around giving each grave a general look, trying to read their names in almost complete darkness.
He was still able to understand some, there were members of the Horaki family, of the Kirishima's and of the-
"Davis family? That doesn't sound very japanese… Hold on, let me take a closer look."
He crouched next to it as VEGA interpreted the text for him given how this grave was more damaged than the others.
"Jessica Davis, born 21st of October 2006. Dead 4th of July 2025."
Then Samuel added:
"Her name sounds American… it must have been hard for her family to see her die at such a particular date."
"I'd think again, doctor Hayden. Look at the other slabs around it."
The Slayer moved his head around to the graves VEGA has marked and truth be told, each one of them held a member of the Davis family, all having died shortly before Jessica at random intervals.
A deep silence fell between the trio as the Slayer got up again and slowly walked away, his footsteps sounding heavier than before.
"I think that we've seen enough, it's better if we get out of here." Samuel said, breaking the icy silence.
Just as his words stopped echoing through the Slayer's mind, the light around them suddenly increased and the man looked up above them.
The moon was right over them, shining on the green land in it's very low and fast orbit.
The Slayer looked away from it after some time, intent on leaving the area, but then, his eyes fell on a strange building further away from the rest of the graves.
It looked like a small temple, made up of thick walls and a large glass one in the front.
He walked closer to it, noticing how it was better kept than all the other graves he had seen so far.
And once he got in front of it, he understood why.
There was an empty coffin inside, lit only by the moonlight and covered in a thin layer of dust.
How did he know that it was empty?
Because of the name written on it; Ikari Shinji.
"Asuka told us that he dissolved in LCL after his final battle… It could be the reason for this thing's existence.
It looks like the glass panel is also a door, I would try getting inside." VEGA suggested.
With a slight push, the panel moved away and left an opening large enough for the Slayer to enter.
Once inside, he gave a closer inspection to the coffin, but he didn't see anything important. However, as he walked towards the back of the small temple, he found a sort of gift that someone had left to honor the boy.
And given the two red triangular clips near it, it wasn't hard to understand who it had been.
As for the gift itself, it was a photograph of Shinji someone had taken at school while he was in the middle of handing them a prepared lunch.
The boy had a smile on his face so radiant with happiness, that even the Slayer's massacred heart found solace and tranquility for a moment.
Then, a voice from above took his attention:
"I guess it was just a matter of time before you found it huh?"
The man looked up, seeing a pair of glasses and brown hair smile down on him.
"I didn't really go to bed, sorry for lying to you. But in my defense I had to understand if you were lying about your intentions, so that's why I told you to go back and explore the village.
I didn't think however that you would have been able to find the graveyard, much less this temple."
"How did you know we were here?" Samuel asked and he replied:
"I have hidden cameras all around the village, even here, in case someone decides that the dead don't need their gifts or the sacrality of their tombs anymore.
But I guess it's a lost cause. As you saw it's not like anyone visits this place anymore, and I'm the only one taking care of it.
People after a while started getting away from everything that brought them pain or made them unpleasant, focusing only on the small heaven that is our village while shutting out the rest of the world.
Even now when someone dies the funeral is held in secret and after that they leave me alone with the coffin. Then I bring it here to this abandoned graveyard to give them a decent goodbye.
Almost everyone hates things that come from the outside world and they're never happy when the Wunder stops by, even if it brings supplies.
It's also why they don't have a good opinion of the pilots… Especially Asuka given her eyepatch.
Despite how much they have protected us, they always overlook that to find their wrongdoings.
For example, remember that battle I told you about earlier? Well when Asuka was hit her evangelion fell to the ground and destroyed a house.
The family in it was safe thankfully, but as soon as I passed by to bring her to the hospital, they were ready to throw at her any insults they had in their heads for making them homeless.
Let's just say that she didn't take it well.
Anyway, I saw you and watched you walk around for a while, particularly when you stopped by the graves to read them.
Well I have good news, every family you read about is still alive in some way or another.
Horaki is now held by Hikari Horaki, or should I say Hikari Suzuhara, after she married Toji Suzuhara, the village's medic.
Meanwhile Kirishima is held by Mana Kirishima, she left the village recently to go live in one of the larger cities thanks to the various languages she had learned in school.
Both Hikari, Mana and Toji were all in my class, however Mana moved away just before Shinji arrived."
"What about Davis?" VEGA asked.
"Oh well, that's a special case. The last member of the Davis family is a war hero called John Davis, who lost the ability to walk during the post impact wars.
He immigrated here from America and now lives by the lone house at the eastern side of the village. He's a nice person, however it still looks like he hasn't recovered from losing all the important people in his life."
Unknown to him the Slayer's heartbeat had increased exponentially as he said that.
"Anyway. I guess that you've also asked yourself about this temple's existence right?"
The man snapped out of his trance and nodded,so Kensuke said:
"Well… I'll be honest.
For how much I tried believing that Shinji wasn't gone… Fourteen years is a very long time and soon my other duties as village leader caught up, so I couldn't live in the past anymore.
Still, I wanted to leave something for him and four years ago I built this along with Toji. It should have been our solemn goodbye to our dear friend.
Even Asuka stopped by one time, she asked me to enter alone and she remained inside of the temple for almost half a day.
I guess that's when she left her gift there."
"That's… quite a bit of time she stayed in there. " The Slayer thought.
"I considered getting rid of it after the news of him coming back arrived, but I wasn't sure. That rumor about captain Misato seemed more and more true in my mind each day that passed.
But, now you're here and you have basically brought him back from the dead!
For that I don't know how to thank you enough, I'll come up with something along the way.
Now, since this grave has lost all meaning and nothing is inside of it-"
Kensuke suddenly pulled out a sledgehammer, showing another one standing behind him.
"How about we take it down?"
The Slayer chuckled and then he signaled the man to stop.
Kensuke was confused by this until he saw him take with him both the red clips and the photograph.
Then, as he walked out of the temple, he asked the Slayer:
"Aren't you taking a hammer too?"
He didn't say anything as he pushed him a bit further away from the nearest wall. Then, his left hand glowed like the sun as he accumulated the energy of a blood punch which he quickly released into the left corner of the structure.
All that was left a moment later was only rubble and dust.
The man with glasses stood there dumbfounded as the hammer fell from his hands, but after a moment he regarded his composure and said:
"Well, I guess that I did that extra chore of bringing a second hammer for nothing."
"Hehe." The Slayer this time openly laughed, surprising both Kensuke and the duo back in Tokyo 3.
"Huh. So that's how your voice sounds… oh well, I'm going to bed for real now, see ya tomorrow Slayer."
With that Kensuke left and the Slayer followed soon after, this time going back to the village itself.
Ten minutes later, Fortress of Doom.
"The Slayer has been walking strangely slowly compared to his normal pace. Do you think that there's something wrong Samuel?"
"He's probably just enjoying the view, I can't say that I miss some of that green too, but he probably does most of us.
Or heck it might not even be the nature around him. I think that simply the aura of peace that this village emanates is enough to make him slow down for once."
"...
…
I'm happy for him."
"VEGA?"
"Think about it, if he's in a better state of mind, his goals will be clearer to him, he will know better who and what to protect, thus leading to a faster development of his powers…
Until his eventual awakening."
"And then, he'll be the perfect weapon."
"He already is. Once his true powers reveal themselves he will be more than a weapon, much more."
"Are you really making a copy of yourself using him?"
"Oh no no, he'll be close, but not quite."
"After all… I already tried once." VEGA thought as he watched Samuel turn to look at the Slayer's feed again.
The robot then said:
"As long as we keep him by our side, then there is nothing to worry about.
Now, let me change the topic for a moment.
I've been studying the new material we've been using on the Atlan and it has been showing some impressive characteristics."
"How so?"
"Think of it as programmable matter. Once it acquires an initial shape, it will always regenerate no matter how much damage is done to it.
It just needs a source of energy large enough."
"Are you planning to use it for the ship's hull as well?"
"It's an idea. We don't know what weapons might be present in this universe and if the Argent shield is able to resist them, so I guess that something like this would come in handy."
"Earlier you said programmable matter right? Did you mean that I could control it?"
"You would be the one in full control, able to determine which pieces to regenerate first and if anything else tries to gain control of it, well…
I don't need to remind you that you are the Father right?"
"Not at all Samuel…
Alright I say that we give it a try, let's start with the lower part of the hull, since it's the one which would get the most punishment in case of a shield less re-entry from orbit."
"Alright then. How about a game of cards later? With Physical ones, not your own program, otherwise you always cheat!"
"I don't cheat."
"Alright then tell me, who is constantly aware of all the cards in the pack?"
"Me."
"And who is the one who can think more than five hundred moves ahead of the opponent?"
"Me."
"And who is the one who knows at all times every single strategy and can't be fooled with any existing trick?"
"Me.
I still don't see your point Samuel."
"Sometimes I really wish we didn't bring you back to Urdak."
"Well Earth would be gone if you didn't."
"That's true. But still there has to be some way to delete your memory again right?"
"No, I removed the last method from my memory."
"Oh f**k off."
Back at the village, main square
The Slayer was walking around the centre of the village, which to his knowledge was a repurposed train station, full of containers with the logo 'Kredit' on them.
"If they were trying to make a joke with that name then it's the worst one I've ever heard.
Anyway that's quite a lot of railways for such a small village, maybe it's their main method of getting what they need?
Well I don't know if conventional planes can work in this environment, who knows what LCL does to their engines. So I guess that it's just trains. Oh and ships too I believe, but we're too far away from any sea to confirm that.
Anyway, what else is there?
I can see a bar, that one over there is a small market, they even have a hairdresser!
Hmm maybe a change of haircut wouldn't hurt, after all how many years has it been since the last time I entered one of those?
Well I was still in Argent d'nur, so I guess a couple million years. Though that's hell time, who knows how much time actually passed outside of there.
Oh well, I'll think about it.
Actually, let me see if there's a calendar anywhere."
And so he walked around a bit more, peeking inside various houses, but ending up empty handed.
So in the end he went back to the main square and decided to head towards the bar.
As he got closer, he was able to read the name of the place, it was: 'Takeshi's tavern, formerly Araki's'
"Why do I feel like I've already heard about that Araki name somewhere else?" The Slayer thought as he entered the wooden building.
There were various tables, some attached to the walls, others not and in the back a metallic counter stood, full of small drops of various alcohols from all the glasses that had been drunk over it.
At the back wall of the counter, a single day calendar stood, showing him that it was the 15th of August 2030.
"Huh, well that wasn't too difficu-"
Suddenly he heard the wood creaking from behind the wall of the counter and only then he noticed that there was a door at the right corner.
"Slayer move out, now!" VEGA said and he didn't think twice before getting outside.
An old man walked out of the door, with a double barrel shotgun in his hands.
"Heh, mine's bigger." The Slayer thought as the man said after a while:
"Strange… I thought I had heard someone in here, maybe my ears are really getting worse.
Who knows, my son might be actually able to get me something to fix this. But Meh, with how much he works in that hospital I guess he doesn't have time for his old man."
"That's Toji's father? Huh, well the age does indeed add up.
Hm? Is there something at my feet or-?"
He looked down, noticing a rather large cat as it purred while moving its left cheek on one of his feet.
He crouched down, managing to pat it a bit before it walked off and went to sleep under one of the train wagons.
"Interesting, from my analysis, that cat is a pregnant female." VEGA said.
"That explains why it was so large. I guess that Kensuke was right when he said that there was a large growth spurt at one point.
… It's getting late and without the moon's help, my night vision will only do so much.
Maybe I should try getting back to Kensuke's and stay there until the next morning."
After making sure that the old man was gone, the Slayer ran back to the man's house, but as he was crossing the path in the woods, he ended up near the secondary road again.
Looking up at the moon, he noticed he still had some time, so he took that path again, this time turning to the left when he reached the intersection.
What he found surprised him beyond any of his expectations. It was a small lake,
where he could see vapor rise up from the water.
And after a small thermal scan, VEGA said:
"It's a natural lake warmed by an underground source of geothermal heat, most probably a fracture in the Earth's crust.
You could take a bath if you want, there's no need to worry about any outside interference."
The Slayer considered it for a while as he watched the moon's reflection shine upon the clear water.
And in the end, he removed his helmet, deactivating his suit and his connection with the fortress.
After that his armor opened up, letting him walk around naked for the first time in millenia.
He touched the water for a moment to get a feel for it's temperature and then he walked in, submerging himself completely for a moment before resting with his shoulders outside the
water.
It was warm, really warm, perfect for relaxing his muscles for once.
And after a while, his eyelids began feeling tired too.
They got lower and lower, eventually closing completely as he fell asleep.
Two minutes later
A sudden cold touch under the water woke him up and put his mind in 'danger' mode.
He looked around, seeing how the forest around him was on fire, with cacodemons and pain elementals raining death upon the land.
All of this illuminated by a blood colored gigantic moon.
He immediately tried getting out of the water, but soon he realized that the touch he felt earlier was that of a tentacle that had grabbed his feet.
He was pulled underwater for tens of meters before finally being thrown into the mouth of an underwater formation of demonic flesh.
He felt the teeth of the creature cut through his skin as he descended down its esophagus, but soon enough he reached his destination.
There was a lake of lava inside of it, where the three skeletons of the pilots in their plugsuits were there to meet him.
Suddenly a spike rose up from beneath the molten rock and just before he was impaled, he closed his eyes.
The instant later he woke up in the lake again, breathing heavily from what he had just seen.
Without a second thought he got out of that lake and put his armor on again, along with his facade.
And as he reconnected to the fortress, Samuel asked:
"That was a really short bath, was the water too hot from the geothermal source?"
The man stopped for a moment before nodding and walking off,not noticing that part of the lake had evaporated and that a brown bunny was looking at him from behind a bush.
Back at the Fortress
Samuel closed his microphone with the Slayer once again as he said:
"Say VEGA, I don't think that water can reach two thousand degrees from just a geothermal source don't you think?"
"It's possible that he unconsciously used part of his powers in response to something."
"Well, the only thing I can think of is that he actually fell asleep and probably had one of his nightmares. If I remember correctly it happened a couple of times back in Argent d'nur."
"It's the reason why he doesn't sleep after all."
"Is there anything we can do about it?" the robot asked and after some processing VEGA said:
"Not really, we would need to gain direct access to his mind, which I don't believe he's going to let us get."
"Oh well, I guess that he's going to have to stay with us for all twenty four hours of the day just like before."
"It seems so."
"Oh and I got the cards, you ready?"
"Sure."
The next morning, 7 am
A bell sounded through the village as the clock in the Slayer's suit ticked to one hour after sunrise, so he decided to walk away from Kensuke's house to actually see what life in this 'small heaven' looked like.
But first, there were the pilots to visit and since Kensuke had woken up early to tell everyone about him, he had decided to wait for a while before going out.
He quickly made his way out of the woods and into the main street, getting quite a lot of strange looks from people who hadn't yet met him.
A child hid behind his mother scared while a couple that was walking in his direction turned a full left just to keep him at a distance.
After a while other people came in too as he kept walking towards the hospital, all of them keeping seven meters of distance from him.
Not that he couldn't cross that in less than a second anyway.
When he finally got inside the building, he almost let out a sigh as he saw the annoying crowd still behind him. If it wasn't for a very nervous secretary sitting across the room behind her desk.
She picked up a phone and after pressing a button she said:
"He's here."
And the voice on the other hand replied:
"Let him in, I'm sure he's here to visit them."
She put down the phone with her hand visibly shaking, then she said after clearing her throat:
"T-third door to the right sir."
He nodded and went into the hallway, letting her finally collapse into the ground.
Pilots' hospital room.
As he entered, the situation hadn't changed much since last night, except that Rei and Shinji had now been detached from the machines.
A sudden tap on his shoulder from behind made him immediately turn 180 degrees in less than an instant as he identified the new presence.
It was a man wearing a white coat and a grey shirt underneath, with long black trousers that ended up in a pair of black shoes.
His skin tone was dark, with short brown hair and eyes and no other facial hair to speak of.
He had a small pocket by the left side of his coat where a pen and a stethoscope lay and what looked like a small list in his right lower pocket.
The Slayer guessed he was Toji Suzuhara, the village medic Kensuke had told him about.
"H-hello, I'm Toji. Toji Suzuhara, I'm sure Kensuke has told you about me." The man said after recovering from the abrupt meeting.
He then extended a hand outwards and the Slayer replied by shaking it lightly, although he didn't remember that his 'lightly' meant something else to other people.
"Ouch ouch! It hurts!"
The Slayer quickly pulled away as Toji shook his hand in the air to ease the pain a bit.
And once he was done he said:
"Ahem. Anyway, I've run some tests on them while they were asleep and both Shinji and Ayanami were in a good enough condition to detach them from the purifiers, while Shikinami has to remain attached for a while longer.
They should be waking up pretty soon, so you don't mind if I ask you a couple of questions in the meantime right?"
And so Samuel answered:
"Go ahead."
He seemed shocked for a moment, probably having forgotten about the fact that VEGA and Samuel talked while the Slayer didn't.
Nonetheless, he asked:
"Alright, so… What were you doing in the desert? It's not like there's anything important out there."
"The Slayer and the pilots were crossing the desert in an attempt to get away from Tokyo 3, where we had been stranded once our ship crashed into the planet and stopped the impact.
Me and Samuel are still currently in the city, however we plan on getting away once the repairs are finished.
During their escape in the desert, a plottoon of robots attacked the group, after which a red sandstorm arrived, where we then lost contact with them.
It's in this period that the Slayer took the pilots and ran the remaining one hundred kilometers, am I correct?"
The Slayer nodded and then Toji asked again:
"Wait. You ran for one hundred kilometers? In that desert?"
And so Samuel replied:
"The Slayer possesses powers that make him much more powerful than the average person, however he is still human."
"Hm… And, do you use these powers often or?"
"The Slayer has taken part since before arriving in this world in his lone crusade against the forces of hell in order to kill every last demon in existence."
"Wait, hell? I uhh… I'm not a priest so could you elaborate on that Mr. VEGA?"
"Sure. What we commonly refer to as hell is actually the first dimension ever created in the universe, which was turned into what it is now by its powerful leader in his search for immortality.
In his quest Davoth, also known as the Dark Lord, has begun consuming worlds to gain more and more power to eventually rule over the entirety of creation.
The Slayer's goal is to stop Davoth and bring an end to all the pain he has caused to countless civilizations by killing him in one final ritual duel.
They have fought for billions of years now, but the day of his demise is getting closer and closer.
…
Mr. Suzuhara?"
"Sorry sorry, I'm still processing this… Okay so let me get it straight.
Mr. Slayer, you are a multi billion year old demigod in a one man war against an entire dimension of demons whose leader has killed entire civilizations?!"
The Slayer nodded.
"And I thought that stuff like third impact was crazy enough already! But at least it does explain your particular… attire.
I mean no wonder you managed to gather such a large crowd just by walking around."
The Slayer hearing this moved a hand behind his head and shook it a bit. It was indeed a very large one and if he listened closely, he could hear them speculating outside the building.
"I find his combat attire quite peculiar too."
Suddenly Rei's voice caught both of them by surprise and as they turned around she continued:
"Don't you do too, Ikari?"
"Rei! I told you to stay silent!" the boy replied from his own bed as he slowly got up.
Suddenly though his exoskeleton gave out, making him fall face first into the comfy pillow below.
"Shinji!
You've just woken up, don't rush it!" Toji suddenly said and then Samuel added:
"Strange, that shouldn't have happened… maybe some values in the exoskeleton got messed up by the sandstorm… Hmm…"
The Slayer carefully got the boy back up as he waited for the robot's response
"Alright let's take a look… My God it's a mess! The strength values are all over the place and one of the legs can't even move properly!
I'm sorry to say that it's going to take me some time to get it back to normal, probably a couple of days…
You can still walk, but it's better if you use a crutch to go around, then again Toji is the medic here."
"Let me think for a moment… what might happen if he tried to go around in this state?"
"Well, due to the small errors and bugs here and there I'd probably say anything. From a sort of Alzheimer to the leg not moving at all.
The use of a crutch would limit the amount of sharp movements that he could do, making it possible to keep standing even if the stabilizer gives out a wrong value."
"Hmm… How do you feel about this Shinji?"
The boy looked down for a moment when he suddenly heard Kaworu say:
"It's a good idea, it's only a temporary thing plus it would allow you to stay away from dangerous people, like Shikinami when she wakes up.
In the meantime though, enjoy your peace away from her. I'm sure you won't get much of it in the future."
'Great, this way I'll keep the two of them apart.' Kaworu thought as Shinji nodded at the request of a crutch.
Later, Toji came back and gave it to the boy, who was finally able to get off the bed without much issue.
Even Rei had gotten off, curious about Ikari' s new tool, while the boy himself was focused on the sleeping redhead in the bed next to him.
He wasn't thinking anything and Kaworu wasn't able to intervene due to having already talked a bit before, so he just stood there, staring at her while her chest went up and down.
"Earth to Shinji? Did the Red Devil get your tongue?" Toji said with a smile as his former classmate turned to him,then he added:
"It's good to finally have you back in the gang."
Suddenly the man noticed what looked like tears forming in his eyes and a moment later Shinji said:
"Toji I-... I thought that you were dead… when I was at NERV I found a shirt with your name on it…"
"Oh… that… I was part of NERV's pilot roster for a while after the near third impact. They said that if I joined they could take care of Sakura with their medical technology, so I did.
I even became a medic partially to protect her and also because Hikari pushed me a lot too."
"Wait… Isn't Sakura on the Wunder now as a medic too?" the boy asked and he replied:
"Yep, she followed my example and got to work on the big ship, while I remained here to take care of my family-oh!"
As he said those words the Slayer suddenly put a hand on one of Toji's shoulders.
He didn't understand the gesture, but he wasn't dead, so it was good enough for him as he continued:
"Anyway, how about we continue this talk by my house? So that we can just sit down for a bit?"
The secretary from before suddenly entered the room with a nervous face as she said:
"I'm… I'm afraid that it's not going to be possible, Toji."
"Hm? What do you mean Nagase?"
"There's… A very large crowd outside… they want to know more about 'him' and they don't seem very… pleased… I think that I've seen a couple of them with baseball bats." She added, pointing to the Slayer.
Hearing this, Toji gave out a sigh of defeat and said:
"Alright, maybe we can go outside from the door in the back and-"
"It won't work Toji, they have probably surrounded the building already." Samuel said and so the doctor asked:
"Then what should we do? Hm? Wait, Slayer, where are you going? Hey!
The entrance is in that direction!"
As soon as he said this, the Slayer turned around just enough for the two of them to look each other in the eyes for a moment.
Then, he resumed walking towards the entrance as Toji thought:
"Those… Are they supposed to be the eyes of a human?!"
Outside of the hospital
The rambling and shouting was now getting worse by the second, with the habitants of the village eager to see the new guest who in their eyes, had come to interrupt their peace.
And not too long after, he emerged from the front door, silent as ever.
Then, just as the noise from the people around him began to rise, he quickly pulled out his super shotgun and fired once into the sky, it's thunderous boom echoing through the streets.
And just like deers when they see a wolf, everyone ran as fast as they could, away from that crazed maniac.
Meanwhile, the Slayer had already turned around and signaled the others to move out. Soon after they reached Toji's house, where Hikari was already waiting for them.
As soon as she saw her husband she ran into him at full force and hugged him as she said:
"Toji! I'm glad you're fine! I heard that shot coming from the hospital before and you don't know how much I was worried!
Oh I see you brought some frie-
Shinji!"
She suddenly jumped on the boy just like she had done on Toji and as she said:
"You're still as cute as I remember you!"
"C-Class representative?"
"Ahah, no Shinji, I'm just Hikari now, I've been like that for a long time now.
It's nice to see you again...Where's Asuka?"
And Toji replied:
"She's still in the hospital, her lungs were damaged quite a bit during the storm they were caught in, thankfully though there's no lasting damage.
How about we go inside? I'll tell you everything once we sit down."
"Oh! Sure dear, but uhm… Is that guy also with you?"
She said, pointing to the Slayer who simply stood there immobile.
And then Toji replied:
"Well… it's a long story, but don't worry, he's not evil or anything. It's just that he
…
Has his way of doing things from what I've seen."
Hikari looked at him with a confused face before realization struck her and she said:
"Oh! You're that newcomer that Kenken told me about earlier. Nice to meet you Mr Slayer."
Then, eager to learn more, she brought them inside their house as she said:
"Make yourselves at home, oh and don't make too much noise, Tsubame is still sleeping."
They all followed her inside and as she removed her shoes, the others did too, except for the Slayer.
When Hikari noticed this she said:
"Oh no mister, I'm not letting you inside with those dirty boots on."
"Uhm, I don't think that he can remove them dear."
Toji said and the Slayer nodded while thinking:
"Well technically I can, I just don't want to go around someone's house naked."
A moment later, Hikari's face lit up as an idea came to her head and she said:
"Wait for me here, I'll get something."
And as she disappeared behind a corner, Toji brought the other two inside, leaving the man alone by himself, standing awkwardly by the front door.
"Ugh… well, that's one strange way to start things.
I wonder how Asuka's doing, she's probably still asleep, but for how much longer?
Hm, I could go check up on her… it's not like I can't make it back and forth really qui- oh nevermind, here comes again Hikari and she has brought…
Two plastic bags?"
Hospital, pilots' room
*beeep*
"Procedure, complete. Releasing patient."
As the machine deactivated and the sleeping pills' effect wore off, two sapphire eyes slowly opened up, taking in their new surroundings as they adjusted to the light.
And after Asuka looked around for a bit, she thought:
"I'm here once again, a ceiling that I know too well…
And I'm all alone too…"
TO BE CONTINUED-
A/N: Oh and one last thing, the receptionist's full name is Kei Nagase from ace combat 5