Blood Red
Episode 2
New Horizons
Chapter 8: New companions and new mysteries
Pilots' room, one hour after the Slayer left
The silence felt unbearable to Asuka and if she had to be honest, for a nearly mute man he really did make a lot of noise.
At the moment she was in the state that brought her as close to actual sleep as she possibly could, where her brain was semi-active.
It was a trait that her new angelic companion gave her, to be able to keep her body active even while her mind was somewhere else.
"Noise…
The noise of his armor moving around, of his own heavy breaths of anger, of the soil being crushed under his weight.
The sound of an explosion, caused by him… Why did he cause that… Did I forget because of my brain being shut off for so long?
Oh wait, now I remember.
A train… Destroyed.
The tracks and ground around it… Destroyed.
The village… Safe.
Let me go a bit further.
My evangelion… Destroyed.
The drones… Destroyed.
Our lives… Safe.
He has done more than that, I know it! Dammit stupid short term memory los- wait.
A drone… Rescued.
Our lives after the drone assault… Saved.
Our lives today… Saved.
But how?"
A loud noise suddenly echoed in her head:
"A weapon. He uses weapons to protect us… What does he also use weapons for?"
An even louder noise resurfaced from her memories.
"An N2 mine… After a massacre…
He caused that massacre to protect us, it was for our safety otherwise there would have been no food. Plus they were NERV allies!"
The sound of the meathook being fired into a person's body went from ear to ear.
"But today he killed someone in the village. He killed someone who was our ally, or was he an enemy?
He fired on us so it must have been an enemy right? No, he was firing on us because of his family's death.
He wasn't really an enemy, just someone who reacted badly to the changes around him…
Her good eye instinctively moved over to the boy who was having a troubled sleep next to her.
"A broken mirror… That's what he said about Shinji. He's another person who reacts badly to the changes around him, with his weak mind and will it's hard to get him to do anything useful…
So will the Slayer kill him too if he turns into someone like that man from today? Will he kill me too?
I don't want to die. I want to live. I was born to pilot the evangelion and to do that I must survive!
Otherwise-"
Images of a strange facility flashed in her eyes, with lots of cables, strange machines, tubes filled with orange liquid and inside those-.
A blue light appeared in front of her, along with an orange wall of transparent hexagons which launched her far up in the air for several hundred meters.
She began falling back down to the ground and just as she was about to hit it, she came back to the real world.
Asuka immediately got up from the bed, trying to not start a firestorm in her mouth again.
That's when she realized that her left eye was burning like hell instead, so she rushed to the bathroom to take a look at herself in the mirror.
She squinted her eye harder and harder until finally finding the cause of the intense burning, it was a small cut that had been opened in the eyepatch, probably due to all the dangerous situations she had gone through recently.
Asuka sat down on the closed toilet lid as she let out a sigh of relief while looking at the blue dirty floor tiles.
Since the room was pretty small, she was able to open a specific drawer under the sink in front of her and pull out some special black tape.
She took a small bit of it and applied it to the ruined part, where it then started to fuse with the anti-angel material of the eyepatch.
Then she thought while looking at herself:
"You little bastard, so it was you who made me think about those things in my past huh? Have you been trying to dig into my memories now or what?
Keeping me in this state wasn't enough for you?"
The eyepatch glowed blue, but Asuka couldn't interpret the message, so she just left the bathroom soon after.
But just as she opened the door, she found Rei standing right in front of her, fully awake as if she had never gone to sleep in the first place.
"If it wasn't for the plug suit I would have considered myself inside of a ghost story.
Did her skin always shine like that at night?"
"What do you want, Doll? Can't you see I'm busy?"
"I'm sorry, but I am here to inform you that the Slayer before leaving has left me all of his masks and tubes for emergency purposes. However, since tomorrow I will be busy with handling the local children, you will have to come with me so that I can aid you in case of an emergency."
"Why didn't you say this sooner?"
"My mind was busy. I was trying to understand where the children kept their Wonderswans when I saw them 'playing' today."
Asuka slapped herself in the face and then said:
"Playing means a lot of things Rei, not just with the Wonderswan."
"Will you come tomorrow to aid me in understanding how they play?"
"No, I hate children and I've already got one to look after anyway."
"Does that mean that you have positive feelings for Ikari?"
"Ehhh!? Where did you get that from!? I'm just going to make sure he doesn't kill himself out of guilt or anything!"
"But he seems to be in a better mood than before. Also that is my current mission, not yours."
"Shut up, I'm your captain, I decide what missions to give you. And for tomorrow your mission is to go and do your job."
Rei stood silent for a moment before smiling as she said:
"I understand, I will do as I am told."
"This way Shikinami will protect Ikari, making it easier for me to protect the other children too."
Asuka nodded at that and looked at her again, noticing how her skin was so bright that she almost needed to close her eye.
"What kind of water did they use in the bath you had today? Your skin is almost blinding me."
"My skin is- Oh…"
Asuka reopened her eye a bit and asked:
"What do you mean 'Oh'? You know what this is?"
"It's my AT field… Even with a fully functional plug suit it seems that I cannot stay for too long outside of NERV."
"Wait what?"
"My AT field will break soon and with that my body will be gone too."
Screams of pain from her memories began to resurface in Asuka's head, but she tried shutting them away as she said:
"Let's… Go in the kitchen to discuss this thing better."
"Why do you care so much about the subject Shikinami?"
She stopped walking for a moment, with her body immediately tensing up as her hands curled into fists while her eyepatch shone a bright blue.
Suddenly though the entire earth shook under their feet, which got Asuka out of her state as she almost fell down.
Then as the shaking disappeared she asked:
"What the hell was that?!"
Kensuke appeared at the end of the hallway as he said:
"You girls heard that too? It could have been an earthquake."
"But I remember you saying that in this area they aren't common." Asuka replied and so he said:
"That's true, but rare doesn't mean impossible, plus we're still in Japan after all. Go check up on Shinji to see if anything has happened to him."
The two of them nodded, deciding to leave the conversation for another time as they turned to go back to their room.
That's when a loud noise of metal falling and breaking was heard, making them run towards the door, only to have it collapse right in front of them.
"Shinji!" Kensuke shouted as he caught up to the girls and tried to make his way through the debris, covering his mouth with his shirt as the excessive amount of dust made it hard to breathe.
Asuka tried going in too, but given Kensuke's reaction Rei stopped her and said:
"Stop Shikinami, your lungs are damaged."
"As if a bit of dust could stop me!"
Rei frowned at that response, which made Asuka say:
"Alright alright then go get him for me! This is going to get you a rank promotion!"
"With pleasure." The pale girl replied as she walked through the rubble.
Suddenly a creaking sound was heard and the metal plate above the bed moved, revealing a struggling Shinji with the VEGA drone sitting next to him with its lights off.
Kensuke immediately got the boy out of there, while Rei took out VEGA with some difficulty.
They all went outside and finally stopped for a moment, then Kensuke asked:
"Alright phew… Are you okay Shinji?"
"Y-yes, VEGA was the one who woke me up in time to make me use the exoskeleton, without him I would have died while sleeping."
He let out the detail that Kaworu had warned him too just at the same time as he continued:
"Speaking of which, how is he?"
And Rei replied while looking at the drone on the ground:
"It seems deactivated, although I can see that electricity is still flowing through these exposed cables."
"Maybe a shock of energy would force a reboot?" Kensuke asked and so Asuka said:
"I don't know, but let's try. We can use the taser he gave me."
So she took out the green gun shaped object and pointed it at the drone,then fired.
For a moment bolts of electricity went all around the dark green machine before the two cables retracted and the current stopped flowing.
A moment of tense silence passed before the light blue neon lights came back to life after some flickering and soon the drone was flying again.
"T-thanks ffffor that Shikinami. My voice M-modulator is still restarting."
Then Kensuke said:
"Anyway, I think that it's best if we sleep outside of the house for tonight. With how unpredictable the Earth is nowadays it's impossible to determine whether there's going to be a second shake or not.
You guys can sleep in the entry plug out there, I'll just pull out my old sleeping bag."
"No way I'm letting both of them inside my entry plug, there isn't enough space anyway." Asuka remarked, but then VEGA said:
"A-actually there is enough space for two people in the seat, I took the measurements when the Slayer got a look at it before."
So Rei said:
"I can sleep outside. I'm used to not having a bed back at NERV."
The other two pilots looked at each other for a moment before they heard VEGA open the plug and say:
"The Royal bed is ready, Shikinami."
"Oh come o- Wait. Royal? Don't tell me you got in contact with her!"
"Yes I did, today during my call to the Wunder. Mari just ran across the bridge looking like she had just snorted a line of cocaine."
"What's cocaine?" Rei asked and VEGA replied:
"One of the few things you shouldn't try out.
Anyway she just came in to celebrate her victory in Paris and to hear how you were doing.
Oh and Katsuragi said that thanks to the resources in that base they'll be able to rebuild both of your units."
Asuka jumped in the air in excitement, letting herself go for just a moment. But as soon as she touched the ground again, she covered her head with her cap and said:
" *Ahem*.
Let's go to bed now. Follow me Baka."
He nodded as they both climbed into the gray pipe and entered the golden cylinder inside, but as they sat in front of the seat, they looked at each other for a moment before Asuka jumped on it and said
"I get the luxury of the special leather, you don't."
"Where am I supposed to sleep then? If I have to get on the metal I'd rather just stay outside with Rei." Shinji replied, but suddenly the girl grabbed him and put him over her as she said:
"You'll have the honor of sleeping on my perfect body! But one wrong move and I'm tazing you."
The boy couldn't hide his blush as they both tried to get comfortable, but at one point one of the parts of the exoskeleton that stood out of his left shoulder hit Asuka on the head, making him immediately apologize.
She let out a grunt of disapproval and thought about a possible solution for their situation. The best she could come up with was to slide to the right from under Shinji and make him get on the leather seat too.
And now they were sitting side to side on a seat that was way too small, but it was the only position that wouldn't have given them spinal problems.
Or at least, the only one that Asuka found acceptable at the moment.
They both turned to look up at the night sky, watching the giant red and white moon pass over them.
And so Shinji asked out of curiosity:
"Hey Asuka, do you know why the moon is like that?"
"What kind of question is that?"
"Oh uhm… S-sorry. I'll just sleep now."
"No, it's fine. At least I have something to fill out this very long night with.
Anyway, it turned like that after the third impact. Not yours, the one that came after it, which was what also fucked up the planet.
During the event the spear of Longinus was shot at the moon, where it then began to create those red crosses all over its surface and it lowered its orbit.
This was only stopped when Kaji went into terminal dogma and sacrificed himself to save the world, but unfortunately he was only partially successful.
Billions of people died that day and through some analysis while we were getting ready for our recovery mission, we theorized that their souls are now inside of the moon, floating freely in an immaterial form."
"Wow…" Shinji said as silence fell between them while a sneaky drone thought from outside the tube:
"Billions of souls huh? As soon as that storm is gone and I can get a connection with Samuel back, I need to make him analyze that.
Uh… It's that feeling of familiarity again… It's the first time that I feel like this twice a day…
Just what the hell happened with Mari?"
Several hours earlier, communication antenna
"Where is he now?" Misato asked and VEGA replied:
"The Slayer is exploring the nearby forests in order to find out more about some…Particular local fauna.
Do you wish to talk to him?"
"No, I believe that we will leave that for another time, plus we also have to start the repairs on our two units so-"
"Wait wait wait wait!" Mari shouted as she suddenly ran into the bridge, getting close to Misato as she asked:
"Is princess Asuka there?"
VEGA stood silent for a moment before asking:
"Uhmm… Are you the second pilot she told us about?"
"Yes! Mari Makinami Illustrious, at your service, nya!"
VEGA looked at the brunette in her pink plugsuit as her long hair settled around her red glasses after she finally came to a stop.
"It's a pleasure to meet you Ms Makinami. I am VE-"
His gaze was suddenly drawn to a reflective surface behind the girl, where a dark figure was standing there looking at him.
His mind froze completely as the humanoid disappeared soon after.
"Is everything alright, VEGA? You went silent for a moment there and our connection is stable."
He immediately regained his composure as he said:
"Oh don't worry about it, this drone isn't in the best shape so the microphone glitched out for a second, but it's all good now.
Anyway, Makinami, what were you saying about Shikinami?"
She then proceeded to explain to him everything that had happened during the battle in Paris, how she defeated the initial flying squadron only to then use the Eiffel tower to destroy the final enemy.
Then she went on to say that with the new parts they were going to be able to rebuild their units and bring them back to their original purpose.
"Original purpose? What are you talking about?" VEGA asked as she said that and Mari replied:
"Kicking NERV's ass of course!"
"Okay… I need to go now, I'll relay everything that you said to Asuka later. See you soon and goodbye."
And with that he left the call, leaving the ones on the other side of the line quite perplexed.
"He sounded nervous after Mair joined us." Ritsuko said and the girl replied:
"Well I doubt that he has ever seen a girl as hot as me and with boobs this big nya."
"Mari, go back to your quarters now."
"Okay Captain. And don't worry, yours won't start getting smaller for a good whiiile!" Mari said, shutting the door behind herself.
"That's not what I meant!" Misato shouted, losing her composure for a moment which got a good laugh out of everyone on the bridge.
Present time, on top of one of the hills near the village
"I forgot how a gentle midnight breeze feels like."
The Slayer thought as he sat on a flat grassy field which was high enough to let a slow wind relax his exposed face.
The last lights of the village had shut down a while ago, so now there were only a couple of service lights left in the guard posts here and there.
He laid on his back as he looked up at the giant moon over them, feeling himself lighter due to the different gravitational effects.
And also because his soul was at peace with the world, even if for just a moment.
He closed his eyes and sighed. He had really done it. He had killed a man.
Although, that man was probably in a lot of pain and he was going to kill Asuka and Shinji if he hadn't intervened, so his mind was at peace with that.
"At least he's with his family again now. Hell, now that I think about it, how many people would want to die just to get out of a world like this?
There's death around every corner, most of the planet is owned by an evil man and resources are scarce… Yep, it's a pretty shit place to live in, just like back home when the Nazis were around.
Still. If it wasn't for people like my grandpa who decided to persevere even in the worst situations, I would have never seen the light of day. Who knows, maybe WILLE is like the Allies.
Ahh it would be nice if it was the truth, but based on what Asuka told me they aren't the best people on the planet…
Although the same can be said about the Allies my mother told me about… I guess that I'll just have to wait and see."
A sudden buzzing noise came from the Slayer's helmet and Samuel's voice followed it pretty soon.
"Slayer, can you hear me? The storm is finally gone and I've been able to get the connection back up. Have you seen VEGA? He hasn't been responding since he sent me a message earlier."
The man shook his head as he put the helmet back on to hear better.
"Okay… Wait, why are you outside the village? Is it because of that guy you killed earlier?"
The Slayer nodded and so Samuel said:
"It's a good idea, seeing how angry those people could become staying there would have led to a massacre."
The Slayer then showed him the piece of paper that he had received while inside the hospital.
"Hm? What's that…
Oh, well it looks like not everyone is going to be hostile to us.
On another note, have you felt that earthquake earlier? I sent the ship into the ground a bit to measure it after some buildings in the city collapsed and I got this."
A geological holographic map of the area appeared on the Slayer's visor as the robot said:
"It wasn't all that powerful, just 3.0 on the Richter scale, however here's the strange part:
The epicenter was right under Tokyo 3 despite the absence of any tectonic plates or volcanic activity, so I did some research on the ground itself. It turns out that the entire city seems to be resting on top of a copy of the moon, as evidenced by the spherical change in underground density around its perimeter."
A large circle appeared under the city's location in the map as he continued:
"It seems to have a size similar to that of the moon over you, however I haven't been able to confirm that completely.
Now I'm telling you this because VEGA sent me a message detailing how, based on a popular theory, most of the souls of the people who died in the previous catastrophic events of this world have ended up in the moon over us.
And after scanning for Argent energy, I did find that there is a presence, although it seems way too faint to represent over three billion people.
I also strangely found an Argent signature under the city, but it has values I've never seen before."
The Slayer nodded and then pointed towards a nearby cloud. Samuel understood the message and said:
"It's a good hypothesis, that there was some interference in the instruments due to the storm, but given the earthquake from before and how little we know about this planet, I can't say it's correct either.
I'll do another test later tonight, right now I've got to start exploring the insides of NERV as the arachnodrones, are finally online.
What are you up to instead?"
The Slayer shrugged his shoulders and so Samuel said:
"Nothing eh? Don't worry I was in that situation too before. I spun around in my rotating chair so many times that I'd put the tires of a sports car to shame.
You could go check out the black pillars that Kensuke told us about earlier? There seems to be a facility there from how he spoke of them."
'taka-taka'
The Slayer immediately recognized the strange sound as he pulled out his shotgun and did a full scout of his surroundings, not finding anything unusual.
So, he moved a hand closer to his helmet and pressed a particular button near his left ear which activated the thermal imaging. This allowed him to instantly spot a rock that had a much higher temperature than the others near it.
Samuel saw this too as he said:
"I guess that we can postpone our visit until tomorrow morning.
Proceed with caution, we have no info on this creature."
"You don't have to tell me twice you grumpy tin can." The Slayer thought as he got closer and closer to the hidden Matriel.
Eventually he was standing right next to it, looking at the rock that was currently covering the creature's body, which had formed a sort of oversized gray nut.
He moved the tip of the super shotgun barely centimeters away from the cover, getting no visible reaction from the matriel.
"It seems to be nervous, I'm detecting its heartbeat rising." VEGA said and then added:
"Sorry for the previous silence I… Had to sort something out."
"It's okay VEGA, tell us if you want help."
"Thank you Samuel."
As VEGA said this the Slayer noticed how the rock had started to crack and shake, so he thought:
"Looks like it can't keep this up forever.
Alright, show yourself!"
The cover finally broke a moment later, leaving a stunned matriel in its place.
After a while it regained its composure, immediately noticing the two barrels that were being pointed right at it.
"Taka taka!" It shouted as it got trapped into a corner between two adjacent rocks.
It tried to climb over them with its short black legs, but their surface was too smooth and the angle too steep for it to make any progress as the Slayer suddenly grabbed it by the base.
It began shaking and moving in any way it could to free itself from his grasp, but it was futile as it ended up near the Slayer's face, where they looked at each other for a moment.
The matriel hadn't given up yet though and as a last resort it shot a bit of orange acid through the orange triangle in its front at the man, who had to drop him down to dodge it.
And as the Slayer looked behind himself, he saw the orange pool melting through the terrain with no issues.
"Slayer, it's running away." VEGA said and so the man entered the forest where it had run into.
The AI had been able to register its energetic signature, so that the radars of the ship were able to find it for the Slayer.
However the creature was still small and agile, making it easy for it to run through the congested forest. The Slayer instead made good use of his chainsaw and meathook to chase after it.
After a while though, the matriel landed on a tree branch which wasn't strong enough to support it and it broke, making it fall to the ground from such a height that it broke one of its legs and seriously injured another.
The Slayer this way was able to catch up with it, but he had to subsequently dodge the acid that it spit out.
He decided to throw an ice grenade at it, immobilizing the matriel as he got behind it.
Once the ice wore off, he was already holding it again, this time making sure that it didn't escape.
Then he pulled out a syringe filled with a fluorescent blue liquid.
The matriel screamed as it was punctured for the first time ever, though the pain stopped as it felt the liquid enter its now glowing body.
"It seems to be reacting well to the Argent for now." VEGA said as cracking sounds were heard coming from the creature's legs.
It looked at its own limbs in confusion as the blue energy that was flowing into its body mended the wounds and put the bones and nerves back together in an instant.
Once it was finished, the matriel was finally able to stand up again, but it fell immediately back down as it felt all of its energies dissipating.
Seeing this VEGA said:
"The body temperature is raised too much, even if the healing process works we'll have to refine it more to avoid a nearly-lethal fever. I believe that we can use it on humans as the effects will be reduced.
We can leave now, the matriel will recover soon."
The Slayer was about to turn around when suddenly he heard a low growl coming from behind a bush and to his surprise, a pack of wolves came out from behind it, looking at the tired matriel with anticipation.
The small creature noticed this too and it tried to fire the acid one more time, but it had run out before while trying to attack the Slayer.
It began to scream again to try and send the wolves away, but they were having none of it and as it failed to get up again, the small creature realized its fate, turning silent as the wolves got closer and closer to it.
Just as they were about to get a bite on him, the creature closed its eye and whispered:
'mama-mama'
In the following instant all of the wolves were disintegrated by shotgun pellets.
And as silence returned once more, the creature saw the Slayer standing in front of it, with the super shotgun in his right hand.
The man turned around to face the matriel, where they exchanged a small look before he left under the cover of darkness.
The creature however had been able to pick up his scent and once it was ready again, it started running back to him.
Deeper in the woods, some time later
The Slayer had just reached the top of another hill when a large cliff presented itself in front of him.
He looked forward, noticing the location where the giant black pillars had been placed. It was a large flat grassy field with white buildings and a large mess of cables surrounding each pillar.
These cables all led to a series of grey buildings whose lights were turned on.
Going back to the pillars, he noticed that there was a large rotating line of dark red empty rectangles which emitted a weak glow.
He didn't have time to elaborate on that as VEGA said:
"Slayer target approaching fast at 6 o'clock!"
The man immediately turned around and aimed his super shotgun at the forest, when suddenly a familiar black mass jumped out from behind a bush.
The matriel flew towards him thanks to its powerful jump, however the Slayer dashed to the side, making it fall into the cliff below.
He looked down to see where it went and quickly found out that these creatures could walk on walls as it jumped onto his visor shouting:
"Taka-taka, taka-taka!"
The Slayer got him off, but just before he was about to attack it, Samuel said:
"Wait Slayer, it's the same matriel from before, I'm detecting the Argent inside of his body.
I guess that he wanted to thank you for saving him, that's why he followed you all the way here."
"Still its behavior does seem a bit strange. Samuel, why don't you try talking to it? We know that they should somewhat understand us."
"Okay I'll try, you keep it there Slayer.".
The man nodded and as he activated the external speakers in his suit, Samuel said:
"Hello. Can you understand me?"
The matriel looked a bit confused for a moment before it said:
"Taka, taka."
"Oh right… Okay move your legs up and down if you understand us."
The creature did as it was told, taking them by surprise,so the robot continued:
"My name is Samuel, I am not the one in front of you, he is the Slayer.
Do you have a name?"
A bit of silence followed before the matriel said:
"Rami-Rami!"
"A… Peculiar name…Why are you here?"
"Taka-fren! Taka-fren!"
The creature replied on an happy tone, pointing to the Slayer as it added:
"Taka Sleir taka fren!"
'I might sound crazy but it feels like he's saying you're his friend Slayer' VEGA whispered to the man as Rami suddenly freed itself from the Slayer's grasp by using its acid as lubricant.
It then climbed up the Slayer's back in an instant, coming to rest on top of his head.
The man got him off once more, this time keeping him by the legs as the two of them exchanged a look before he sighed and placed him back down to the ground. Still keeping him firm in place.
He then made a gesture to tell him to 'Sit here' as if he was a dog and it partially worked. The matriel in fact only moved again once the Slayer was about two meters away from him.
The man let out a sigh, figuring that he wasn't going to get rid of this creature in simple ways that didn't involve killing it.
When he turned around though, he was surprised to see Rami looking out from the tip of the cliff, focusing especially on a small river that flowed through the area.
He looked back at the Slayer and approached him again, so they left and got deeper into the woods. The man's original plan was to sneak back to Kensuke's house and check on the kids after a while, but this newcomer said goodbye to the idea of stealth.
"Slayer come quick! Shinji is moving in his sleep again! He knocked me out!" VEGA shouted into his helmet, making him grab the matriel once again and start running in a direct line towards the house, taking down any tree in his path.
And between his arms, Rami was having the best ride of his life, even better than when he slided down his mother's legs for hundreds of meters.
Kensuke's house
VEGA's drone was smoking as he watched the sleepwalking Shinji grab a sharp piece of metal and slowly walk towards Asuka's almost unconscious body.
Originally Shinji had excited the plug to go do his 'business', but there was something off about him that he hadn't paid too much attention to.
In fact, moments later he returned with a medium sized piece of concrete that, thanks to the exoskeleton, he had used to knock out both Rei and Kensuke.
VEGA did try to intervene, but the exoskeleton had no problems overpowering his drone and hitting him hard.
Once this happened Asuka finally came aware of the situation that was previously hidden by the Wonderswan's sounds. She jumped out of the plug and got into a fight, however the sleepwalking Shinji hit her in the lungs just as she was about to win, causing her to convulse to the ground and lose all of her energy.
Unexpectedly, she still received a mask to let her not die of LCL poisoning, but this was all a scheme so that the sleepwalking Shinji could have her alive when he came in to stab her to death.
Samuel couldn't intervene either, as the guns were too powerful and would have killed them all no matter what rounds he used.
So now both of them were praying for the actions of a single man, while inside of Shinji's head, Kaworu was thinking.
"Thank Adam, finally I have an opportunity to get rid of this bitch! I can't thank that stranger enough to have died by the Slayer's hands ahah!
And now that I'm the only one left standing, it's time to finish the job and reclaim my place in Shinji's heart!
Hnng!-
Huh? Did the exoskeleton malfunction? Oh well, Shinji has enough strength to Hnng!-
What the hell is- OH SHIT." Kaworu suddenly realized what was happening as he felt something similar to a syringe sting Shinji in the back.
As soon as he turned around in fact the Slayer's fist came in contact with the boy's face with enough force to shatter all the bones inside of it along with various blood vessels while the body itself was launched through several trees, taking down each one of them.
Asuka's eyes widened as she finally was able to understand what was happening, but suddenly she noticed that in the Slayer's other hand there was an almost syringe with the same blue liquid that was present at the fortress.
She also felt something touch her legs and as she looked down Rami said:
"Taka taka!"
She fainted right there on the spot.
Back to the Slayer, he had now reached Shinji's body, who was in pristine conditions despite what he had just done thanks to the Argent energy he had given him just before striking.
He grabbed the unconscious boy and walked back to the house, noticing that Kensuke and Rei had just gotten up again, with the older one helping the girl stand up.
He then saw Rami trying his best to wake up Asuka again, but it was like watching a mouse try waking up a lion.
They all set down next to VEGA's drone who was able to fly again after the Slayer fixed some cables and the Ai then clarified what had happened.
"I recall a similar incident happening in our first sleep session on your ship. However it was much less severe." Rei said as Asuka finally got up again and joined them, followed by Rami.
And after a brief summary for the redhead, VEGA said:
"Thanks to the readings of the exoskeleton we can determine that these incidents happen when Shinji's mind goes below a certain level of control, which happens due to sleep, fatigue, or him feeling miserable.
When this happens, he falls under something else's control that has inhabited his mind. Thus this something is able to do whatever it wants with his body until he either regains control of his mind or goes completely unconscious."
"Wait so… All of this happened because of his fragile mind?" Asuka asked and he replied:
"Yes, however it is to be expected after what he went throug-"
"No. He was similar to how he was even fourteen years ago, just a bit happier I guess. Kenken?"
"You're right Asuka, however he entered a depressed state after, well… Your test."
The man replied and so VEGA used this as an opportunity to ask:
"Oh right, since you were there, can you tell us what happened after the unit 03 incident from your perspective?"
Kensuke nodded and said:
"The next angel attacked right as we were going to his apartment to give him a final goodbye as he had decided to leave NERV after 'that'.
But we had to run into the nearest shelter as Zeruel was attacking the city."
Kensuke was suddenly interrupted by Rami who said:
"Zero-Zero!"
Asuka looked at the small creature again as she asked:
"By the way, who the hell is this guy?"
And Samuel replied:
"It's a matriel who grew fond of the Slayer after he saved his life,his name is Rami. It was thanks to him that we were able to test the effectiveness of the Argent we used on Shinji.
Unfortunately that's all the material the Slayer had brought with him and it wasn't enough for him to heal completely, so his issues will still persist."
"Dammit, I'll go check tomorrow if I can sneak into the hospital for my own lungs too.
Anyway so far Kensuke you've just told us stuff from the official reports, can you get to the point?"
"Of course. After Rei tried sacrificing herself to stop the angel, unit 02 was flung into our shelter, destroying it with its head.
Toji had already run out of there since he was preoccupied with Sakura, leaving only me and Shinji in there as Mari talked him into getting in the eva again.
She succeeded and right after Shinji left, her eva deactivated and she exited the plug.
Now the strange thing is that… I almost saw wings on her back?"
"Wings?" VEGA asked and Kensuke replied:
"Not normal ones, but like a pair of pitch black bat-like wings. They disappeared immediately as she looked up to look around herself… Has Mari ever told you this, Asuka?"
"No. I mean… She never mentioned anything like that although now that I think about it…"
"You saw them too Shikinami? It's likely since you've been together for a long time since then."
"Yes I saw them, a pair of black bat wings extending from her back.
I always thought that I was seeing things given the special contact lense I wear on my good eye, but I guess that my doubts were true then."
"You wear contact lens Shikinami?"
"Yes, it's a special type that doesn't need to be changed for very long periods of time."
"Interesting… Anyway, do you know if this effect is recent or has some kind of history within her?"
"I...We never talked about it, probably she was trying to hide it from me to not get me uncomfortable, but it's strange given what I myself have to put up with."
Her eye stung a bit as she said that.
"Nonetheless, I do have a theory on what it could be.
One day while we were in our room, she was asking herself why they had decided to put a DSS choker on her too even though she wasn't possessed.
I spied her with my good eye while I faked playing on the Wonderswan and she seemed to recall something at one point, making a dark frown, which is quite unusual for her.
But after that she returned to her normal self, saying that it didn't matter because now we could be 'choker buddies'.
Over time I thought about that and I believe that she has both the choker and the wings because of the extensive testing that she did with beast mode.
Our sub commander Ritsuko told me that her unit 08 is actually a refit of the first ever evangelion prototype, which was delayed for production in London after SEELE discovered where the angels were going to attack.
So they completed unit 00 first and it gained such a title. Meanwhile back in London unit 08 was equipped with a prototype version of the beast mode and its pilot there was Mari.
I believe that given how much prolonged LCL exposure affects your body and the influence on the human genome that beast mode has, she grew that pair of wings and has been trying to hide it ever since.
That's why she knew the code to my unit 02's beast mode and I believe that she wears a choker so that we can kill her if her body ever changes too much."
Silence fell for a while before VEGA asked:
"Is there… Anything else about her that you noticed?"
"Well, apart from her almost retarded behavior at times, not really."
"Okay… Then yours is the most probable theory."
He looked around to see if they agreed with him and noticed that Rei wasn't in the best mood, so he asked:
"Is everything alright Rei?"
"D-don't call me by that name please."
"What? Why?"
She grabbed her arm embarrassed and said while looking at the ground:
"When he said that the other me had sacrificed herself to help others, I felt like I didn't deserve to be called like that anymore.
Even Ikari said it once, I think, that 'I'm not her' and he is right.
I've never done anything that she has done, I've never gone to school, read a book, or anything else that could make me similar to her.
I haven't fought with you against a common enemy, I simply followed orders because I knew nothing else.
During those times I felt nothing inside me, there was no real emotion in my body until Ikari arrived, but even that was caused by my own nature.
That is why I have decided to let go of the name Rei Ayanami, I'm someone different from her and I want to be treated as such."
Then Kensuke put an arm around her and said:
"Did you hear that? Our little girl is all grown up and independent now!
You still have to take care of the kids tomorrow."
"Of course I am looking forward to that very much."
Then VEGA asked:
"Have you thought of a new name? And surname too?"
"I… Haven't decided yet, but I would like to be part of the Hikari family if they are okay with it. Tsubame seemed to like me a lot.
As for the name…I want Ikari to be the one to choose it."
She then noticed that Rami had approached her and was looking at her face. She stared back, confused by its sudden behavior, until he got even closer and said excited:
"Taka Lily taka!"
"I think that he's sensing the part of your body made from Lilith. I think that I'm starting to like this guy."
Asuka said as Rami turned around to face her and suddenly jumped on her legs, trying to hug her for the compliment she had given.
This of course caused Asuka to go ballistic as she tried to get him off of her, but her limitations soon made themselves known and she was forced to stop before it was too late.
She frowned and crossed her arms in anger while Rami tried to get on top of her, but kept sliding off her long red hair, mostly because he found it pretty and got distracted by it.
Suddenly they heard some growns coming from near them and they all looked at Shinji, who was in the middle of regaining consciousness.
The Slayer got up and approached the boy, starting to hear more and more sobs the closer he got.
Finally when he was on top of him, he pushed him to see his face, finding full of tears as he said:
"I'm a fucking monster."
Meanwhile, a lone man moved away from his hidden position in the woods.
Inside Kensuke's bedroom, one explanation later
"Ow Ow you're putting it too tight!" Shinji said as the Slayer finished tying him up to the bed and Asuka siad:
"It's supposed to be tight, idiot. After what happened earlier I don't want to leave you any possibility of leaving this room, even if we deactivated your exoskeleton."
"But how am I supposed to eat and drink?"
"Me and Kensuke will take care of that, don't worry." VEGA said.
"O-okay, how long am I going to remain here?"
"Until your bones heal up and we can remove your exoskeleton. It should take around one week thanks to the lingering effects of the Argent."
"I understand, thanks VEGA. I'll try to sleep now." Shinji replied but suddenly the Slayer got closer to his right arm and Samuel said:
"We can't let you sleep normally for now, instead the Slayer is going to give you sedatives so that your entire body will be immobilized.
I know that it might sound a bit harsh, but we want to take every precaution we can."
"No, I understand and I'm okay with it. After today… I just want to be left alone."
"Tsk." Asuka muttered as she burst out of the room.
A moment later the Slayer motioned both Kensuke and Rei to leave too and VEGA followed them, closing the door behind himself.
Shinji was confused by this, but he became even more lost as the Slayer removed his helmet and sat down on the bed near him.
Then he said:
"Shinji, I want to ask you two questions before I put you to sleep.
The first is that I know that there have been times when you were able to take back control of your body, why couldn't you do it today?"
"I… Was having a nightmare in the plug, similar to one I had on the ship. By the time it ended everything had already happened."
"Can you tell me about this nightmare?"
"It's… Complicated. At first I found myself in my old apartment with Rei, Asuka and Misato, but at one point Asuka disappeared and I found her shrunk between my teeth.
Then a pair of powerful arms- f-forced me to ah… Eat her alive.
Oh God, I can still hear her screams."
The Slayer's eyes widened at this as he placed a hand on Shinji's left shoulder while his broken voice went back to normal.
"A-After that… Misato got up and left while Rei… exploded in front of me.
The explosion sent me to… What I think is a cell of the Wunder. There I was tied up to a metallic table and a large saw was getting closer and closer to my face.
I tried to get out, but it was impossible, however just before I was cut. The lights were turned on and the saw was removed by what I think was VEGA on a screen.
Samuel then untied me, but then a pair of female hands got around my throat from behind me and started strangling me.
I think that I… heard that person crying before you appeared and shot her.
Then it ended with Asuka, Misato and R- Ayanami gently carrying me away."
The Slayer stood silent as he mentally analyzed everything that he had been told. He didn't come to a definite answer on the meaning of the dream, so he just went in and said:
"Now the second question is…
Are you seeing anything that isn't supposed to be here?"
Shinji looked around the room, ignoring the silver haired boy who was staring at him from a nearby chair.
He then answered:
"No Slayer, I'm not seeing anyone."
"Very well, goodnight Shinji." The man said as he injected the sedatives in his arm, which put him to sleep almost instantly, protecting him from any sort of nightmare or external influence.
He then opened the door, finding the others who had decided to eavesdrop on their conversation, even Rami, although he was just confused by it.
Once they were far enough away, Kensuke asked:
"Since he doesn't seem to be possessed by something as he said that he sees nothing strange, what could his problem be?"
And the Slayer replied:
"You're wrong, he said that he didn't see anyone in that room. Which means that someone is definitely inside his head and was manifesting in that room with us.
Then Samuel said:
"Thankfully those sedatives from the hell campaigns were designed to protect from mental contamination as well. Otherwise I can't imagine what this person could be doing to Shinji in his sleep.
Actually do we have any idea of who they could be?"
"I have an idea." The Slayer said as he turned to face the Rei clone and asked:
"Who was the other pilot inside of NERV?"
"I only know that he was called Nagisa and he was the pilot of the mark 06, affiliated with SEELE.
We never spoke to each other, but he had a similar skin tone to me and red eyes just like mine and also curly white hair."
"Hmm… Asuka didn't you mention a certain Nagisa at some poin-
Is everything okay Asuka?"
The Slayer approached the girl who seemed to be shell-shocked ever since the conversation ended and once he was next to her she said:
"He could still… Hear my screams?"
TO BE CONTINUED
A/N:
Hey there! Sorry that this chapter took a lot of time to publish, but I had a bit of writer's block and school coming up didn't help either.
About that, by having to focus on school I'll have less time to write so expect to see more time between chapters. I can't give you a rough estimate since I don't know how long it might take to write each one, so let's hope for the best.
Until then, see you! And be sure to check out HydrationStation too! He helped me out with this chapter!
Oh and yes, that second question the Slayer asked was taken directly from Re-take ahahah.