Apart.
September of 2000 had spelled the end of the world, the Second Impact.
The seas made blood red and melting icecaps flooding much of the world in the aftermath; the reverberations of an explosion rocketed across the planet multiple times over. Whatever/whomever survived the event, that was able to alter the way the world would orbit the sun from then onwards, tore itself apart in conflict to divvy up what little remained. Children were born and raised in a world without seasons or scenery that the generation prior had taken as a given (many of that previous generation coming to forget much of what had once been). Living firmly in a world that scavenged for what was left in the near corpse of the third rock from the Sun.
Then December 31st of 2015 ended the world a second time, the Third Impact.
All human life exited their bodies as the mysterious AT fields were nullified and they all became a single consciousness brought together.
November was rolling into December with a slightly more biting breeze than the month previous, cold and frost witnessed for the first time for many people across the planet. A reminder that the planet Earth had once had seasons where the weather would drastically change from the muggy constant heat that had been ever present for most following the Second Impact.
November 27th, 2017, and the world after the Third Impact was staggering towards its second year. In far better shape than after the second apocalypse of the new millennia than the first. Not that she would know that fact, or the details surrounding it, from her position.
This is the world Asuka awoke to, white sand sticking to damp orange hair as she looked off into the distance. A large metallic dam-like structure stretched wide almost as far from her as the horizon, but not far enough to not see the sharp glittering blue waves gave way to an ocean of reddish orange beyond it.
There were people around her, lab-coats alongside full black bodysuits and Kevlar. White alongside black. The lab-coats all seemed tired, visible stress lines and baggy eyes juxtaposed by wide smiles and soft words. The others hid their faces behind black visors and helmets, if they spoke Asuka never heard them.
The lab-coats were gentle and soothing as she was strapped by the wrists and ankles to a rough white stretcher, their darker supervisors' silent witnesses to the ginger's visible confusion.
By the time she was settled onto a rickety gurney and moved to the back of some kind of van, they were all flanked by a quartet of the black-clad goons. Asuka now noticing the firearms holstered yet visible on their persons as she was loaded into the spacious back of the vehicle, hooked up to a multitude of noisy monitoring equipment and sent on her way.
But it was only as they started driving, road smooth and clearly rising up a somewhat steep incline, did Asuka begin registering specific words (instead of just their tone and delivery),
"Cardiovascular function is normal. No paralysis or muscle atrophy present in her limbs." A woman beside her, hip length brown hair pulled back in a high ponytail, "Yes ma'am, her eyes are open."
She was speaking into the receiver of a minute black flip phone as she let her narrow eyes flit between Asuka, the clipboard in her lap and the machines opposite her that beeped and whirred asymmetrically,
"Do you understand what I am saying to you?" Sudden, firm but not hostile; narrow eyes finding hers and holding them long enough to illicit discomfort. But one thing Asuka was not, was a coward. Thus, she forced herself to speak despite the protests of her painfully dry throat,
"Who… are you? Where are you taking me?"
Her scratchy interrogative was left unanswered, the brunette instead placing the phone back to her ear and addressing whoever sat on the other end (though she was now keeping her attention firmly on Asuka),
"She is responsive and seems to be fully conscious." There was a short pause, "No, not at present. She has only vocalised confusion regarding her surroundings and our destination."
"H-hey! Stop talking about me like I'm not here!" Asuka's initial shout sent stabbing pain up her throat, she struggled to snarl out the second sentence. Her eyes squeezing shut momentarily before weakly glowering at the unfazed brunette, raising her head somewhat to vainly receive a better view of the woman. In turn, she leaned over to Asuka, giving the girl a brief listen to the voice on the other end, a female's (but what she said was lost to her),
"Excuse me Miss, can you please confirm you are Asuka Langley Sohryu?" The woman, her outfit (on closer inspection) a set blue-grey scrubs under the pale lab coat,
"Y-Yeah… Yes, that's me." She vigorously nodded alongside her dry, cracking voice, "Now tell me what's going on!"
The voice came through again, crackly and unintelligible. If how firmly the woman pushed the phone to her ear was any indication, then the quality of the line was poor, however she seemed to respond without missing a beat,
"Yes, she is self-aware. A cursory inspection suggests she is fine. However, ma'am, given the Commander's… concerns…" the woman flicked her gaze Asuka's way for only a moment, but the girl could feel the tension of the four faceless goons ramp up at that sentence. The one to Asuka's immediate left allowed his hand to drift to the hip mounted pistol and the teen's mouth and throat dried up even further, "Do you think it is wise to transport her directly to the Geofront?"
'Geofront? Of course, no wonder they're being so uptight! These people, they're-'
"NERV."
"Not quite, Miss Asuka." There were two audible clicks, the first of the call hanging up and one of plastic meeting plastic as the mobile was flipped closed, "I apologise if you are uncomfortable, but it is standard procedure to detain all… returnees. We submit them to full medical and psychological evaluation before allowing them to reintegrate into society."
"However, considering your… particular circumstances, you are not being sent to one of our hospitals, but the WILLE Medical Centre at the Geofront." Asuka felt the tips of the ladies fingers brush her right cheek as the lady placed her hand down beside her, "But don't be alarmed, you will be given the most extensive care possible. You'll likely be back on your feet faster this way!"
The woman allowed her professional mask to melt away in this moment, gifting Asuka with a warm smile she assumed was for the sake of comfort. But,
"You're… not NERV?"
The silence settled like a coating of soot, thick and choking. And, in that moment, Asuka wasn't there in the back of the vehicle (trundling up an unknown road to a place she did not remember fondly). She was in her plug at the bottom of the lake, explosions from above battering her into consciousness as the Japanese government carried out their attempts on her life.
Reminded of the terror of that day all over again.
Reminded NERV had effectively fallen just before Shinji ended the world,
"NERV is-"
"Oi!" The older woman's sharp switch had the quartet of guards stiffening, leaving Asuka unable to determine which of them had spoken, her heartbeat hammering too loud in her ears for her to ascertain even the direction. The woman's expression became pinched and her tone softer, "There's nothing to worry about, Miss Asuka. You're safe."
Her heartbeat spiked and invectives rippled past her lips; Asuka straining against the leather bindings until a mask was forced firmly over her mouth and nose and she slipped firmly into oblivion.
An electronic bell tone hummed across the building and a young man rolled to his feet and breezed out of the room with nary a glance backwards,
"Yes. I'm on my way now. I just need to swing by the apartment to snag those papers you- y-yes… Okay… I'll bring you some." Firm tone giving way to a sigh, the young man's enthusiastic hustle slowing by a half step as he was hit by a wave of defeated exasperation, "Should you really be drinking when you're AT WORK?"
He shook his head as an equally exasperated, though more passionate, tone came back to him. A sharp sound of surprise hit his ears and he bit back his question over their wellbeing when a familiar siren-esque noise came through over the line,
'That alarm…'
"Have we got another returnee?" Mild curiosity met with a rushed response, "Nah, I bet you've just got it set to loud. You sound a bit breathless; did it make you jump, again!?"
The shaky tone of someone putting on a strong front left him no recourse but to chuckle,
"Okay, okay! I'll stop." He continued to snicker and could hear the pout as they spoke again, "Not quite. I've still got the last stretch of editing to do on my paper before I can submit my findings. NO! I can still help out this evening, my deadline's not until February and I'm basically done."
His heart clenched a bit, a loopy half smile present for half a second before he shook it off,
"Trains here. I'm gonna hang up now, Commander. I'll have Makoto bring everything up for you when I get in."
The call ended with a click just after the doors hissed closed; the mildest of lurches had them trundling out of the station. Unlike all those years ago, Shinji reached into his satchel and placed a glossy journal in his lap with nothing in his ears to drown out the world around him. As they were underway, he indulged in the other students further up the carriage arguing on how they were to spend their evening in hushed tones, smiling to himself softly as he tried to keep his focus on the printed words,
"My, that isn't the kind of book you see a boy your age reading." A voice to his right distracted him a few minutes into his second page,
"Ah… thank you, I think…" He felt his cheeks and neck heat up somewhat as he regarded the silver haired woman who had settled into the seating beside him, her round eyes lingering on the Bioengineering journal's densely packed cover, "Ah, your suitcase. Do you want me to put it on the rack for you?"
He was waved back into his seat by the cane of the now chuckling woman,
"Oh, you're such a dear. Sit yourself down, child, I'm getting off at the next stop." He knew he was blushing now, settling back into the seat he had bolted out of so suddenly under the affectionate gaze of this kindly stranger, "Are you, perhaps, looking to work for NER- ah, they call themselves something else these days, don't they?"
"WILLE, yes, and… possibly. My mother was… fairly accomplished in this field and-"
"Ah, are you looking to make her proud? I'm sure she is!" She nodded along with her statement and each motion tugged at the boy's heartstrings over and over. The brunette's smile was soft as he gripped the book a tad tighter than he had before,
"That's lovely of you to say. But it's not really for her, I'm doing it for myself." Shinji straightened in his seat, offering a bright smile to the lady as the line lead them out past the school's district. Offering the occupants, a near unhindered view of the now glorious blue sea beyond the sky piercing backdrop of the new Tokyo-3, "I just want to do my part to make the world beautiful again."
He let his eyes drift to the sea, his smile fading from his face as the two settled into a companiable silence. The sun was still high in the air, despite (as the young man had come to learn) its tendency to dip past the horizon earlier in the day this time of year; the Sun's heat weaker than Shinji was accustomed to but comforting all the same. His gaze drifting past the clear waters to the stretch of red orange beyond the whitish-grey steel structure that stood defiantly between the two stretches of sea.
Resolute, Shinji let the view pass him by as the train turned with the tracks, burying himself in his reading with renewed vigour,
"It's the least I can do." Spoken so softly not even his ears picked it up…
Thank you SO much for the kind words and support on the last few chapters. This is a passion project of mine and I'm glad you've been willing to put up with it from me thus far. If you have anything to say about the story as it progresses, please feel free to let me know, the Reviews thus far have really warmed my heart (and it helps me not feel so alone tbh).
Take care of yourselves and happy New Year x