"Where's Asuka ?" Shinji was feeling ambivalent about this Angel attack. On the one hand, he was apprehensive of the fight that was to take place in the near future, as he always was when he had to get inside his entry-plug, and on the other he could barely wait to see Asuka. It had been two nights since she had stormed out of the apartment and he starting to really miss her. This Angel almost seemed like a blessing in disguise to him since it meant that he would finally be able to see her again. He had no idea of how it would go or what he would do or say, but he was determined to do anything in order for her to forgive him. 'Boyfriend...' This word kept repeating in his mind 'I was her boyfriend.' He thought with melancholy.
He was thus sitting in his entry-plug. His Eva had been positioned inside the Geofront, directly next to the Headquarters. He was wielding a pallet rifle, his right hand feeling a little numb because of the wound his Eva had sustained and which was not completely healed yet. Every second seemed to last a lifetime. It was far too unusual to be deployed below the surface, something was very wrong, and the briefing didn't tell him a lot about what was happening. He was shivering a little with anticipation. Or maybe angst was really to blame.
"Miss Soryu is no longer a member of NERV." The cold voice of his father declared.
"What do you mean she's no longer a member of NERV ? You fired her !?" Shinji retorted, not believing his ears. "Are you stupid !?" The rhetorical question came without him even realizing, living with Asuka sure had left an impression on him. "She's the best Pilot among the three of us !" He said angrily, forgetting about Toji.
"I do not have to justify myself to you. But if you really want to know, she is too unstable for us to risk everyone's safety. Her reckless behavior made her a liability."
"I shouldn't be surprised." Shinji said flatly, his anger giving him confidence. He was overwhelmed by what he had just learned and its implications. Now it made sense to him why Asuka had been upset last time they saw each other, and why he hadn't seen her since. He wanted to slap himself for not having insisted when she told him she hated him. For not following her when she stormed out of the apartment. He should have stood his ground and insisted on knowing what was on her mind. 'I should have been there for her.' He thought bitterly before focusing back on the present, deciding not to delve on it just yet, there were more pressing matters at the moment. "We beat the last Angel ! She saved Toji ! He would have been killed if she hadn't been there ! You have punished her because she's done the right thing !" He was about to continue lashing out his father when an explosion brought his focus back to the battle. He was now very angry, and decided to use this anger against the Angel which had just appeared above him.
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Asuka had left the station and had walked to the closest shelter automatically, almost like a robot. She could see it a few dozen meters away. She could also see Unit 01 further away, and in the same automatic way, she passed by the shelter and kept on walking towards the Evangelion. Towards Shinji.
"What are you doing there kiddo ?" Kaji said while she was walking a few meters away from him. He had his left hand in his pocket and was holding a watering can with his other hand.
Asuka didn't seem surprised by the display in front of her, it had been as if she had woken from a trance. She had walked towards the Headquarters without even thinking about it, and arrived right at Kaji's secret garden. He was there, not in a shelter, but then again, neither was she. "I've been fired, in case you didn't know." She said sarcastically. "And if I'm going to die today, it certainly won't be in one of these shelters !" She recovered quickly, hiding her true reason.
"And you want to see how Shinji's faring." Kaji simply said, seeing clearly through her facade, still watering his melons. They could see Unit 01 standing still in the distance, partially hidden by the pine trees standing in the way, a pallet rifle in its hands, its right wrist still bandaged from the previous fight.
"... We... Things didn't end well between us... I messed everything up. Big surprise right ?" She answered despondently, still transfixed by the purple giant.
"You didn't talk to him since ?" He asked, already knowing the answer.
"I couldn't. Not after what I did..." She didn't sound at all like she was supposed to. Even her demeanor was different, Kaji noticed. Her whole body language made her looked downcast, almost resigned. The fact that she wasn't wearing her neural connectors was what stood out more to the man next to her. "Besides, he's better off without me." At this precise moment, a huge explosion rocked the Geofront. They both staggered but didn't even try to take cover. Soon after, the grotesque form of the Angel appeared from the breach it had created. It looked more or less humanoid, with a disproportionately large black and white torso compared to its limbs. Its arms looked like paper ribbons, far too short to be used effectively in combat. At its center was a red sphere, its core. A stone-like mask adorned the top of its torso, locked in an eerie grimace. It descended slowly from the chasm, taking its time to approach its objective.
It then disappeared in a cloud of smoke as Shinji fired its weapon. The noise was excruciatingly loud, and amplified by the Geofront acting as a gigantic sound box. When the gun stopped firing, Asuka wasn't expecting to see the smoke dissipate as Unit 01 didn't try to shoot the Angel anymore. Shinji had remembered his fight against the fourth Angel, when a cloud of smoke that he was responsible for gave his enemy the advantage over him. Hence, he stopped firing and studied his enemy for some time. She thought about what she would have done, emptying magazine after magazine at the Angel, eroding its AT Field at the same time to weaken it from a distance.
"Is that really what you think ?" Kaji resumed their conversation as if nothing had happened, scratching his scruffy chin with his free hand.
"Of course not !" Asuka blurted out before she could filter her answer. The exhaustion of the past few days was taking its toll on her. "It felt nice to be able to count on someone. But I screwed it up..." As she said that, Unit 01 drew its progressive knife. "It doesn't matter now anyway. He probably hates me now... I could probably coerce him into staying with me, but that would just be selfish..." She trailed off. 'And I'd only hurt him in the end.'
"You've changed. You've grown so much in the last few weeks." He stated, proud of his former ward.
"I hate it ! Things were so much easier when I thought I could live only for myself ! I feel like I failed myself !" Her fire was coming back to her as she spoke. She wasn't being completely honest, of course, but at least her outburst meant that she wasn't defeated yet. She might have been stripped bare of her status, of her title, of her Eva, but nobody could rid her of her pride ! The Angel and Unit 01 were now looking at each other, studying each other, waiting for the other to move first.
"Don't think of it that way. You haven't failed, you have learned."
"And just what the hell did I learn !?" She spat out. "I already knew that living just by myself was less painful than this !"
"You've learned that you can be more than just an Eva Pilot. And that you don't have to be alone. That there are people out there who care, I mean genuinely care about you." He stated, looking at Unit 01 for a few seconds.
"And what good does it make ?" Asuka asked, fuming, turning to face her interlocutor. For the first time since they had started talking, she had managed to pry her eyes off Unit 01. She missed as a consequence the Angel throwing its ribbon arm at the Eva, who barely dodged it before taking a defensive stance a fair distance away from its foe. "After the battle is over I'll be escorted back to the station so I can be shipped back to Germany !" She was torn between anger and despair.
"If we survive." Unit 00 emerged from the ground at this moment, a sonic glaive in its only hand, since its left arm wasn't regenerated yet. Rei gave the weapon to Shinji who tried to close the gap between him and the Angel to attack it with his now longer range. Rei stayed back and picked up one of the many weapons which were laid close to Unit 01's position, a rocket launcher, and fired some distraction shots at the Angel. "It's said if an Angel makes contact with Adam, who lies below here, humanity will be eradicated. The Third Impact." Shinji barely avoided a ribbon coming for him by lunging forward while ducking. Slowly but surely, he was getting closer to his target.
Asuka turned her gaze back to the battle before her, silently cheering and encouraging Shinji. "Don't worry about it, he's the Invincible Shinji, he can't lose !" She said dismissively. "He'll kick this Angel's a-Shinji ! Duck !" She shouted as the Angel threw another of his ribbons at Unit 01 who managed to dodge it by quickly moving right, only to arrive directly in the path of the Angel's second ribbon. As if he had heard Asuka's command, he ducked and avoided the attack, however, his umbilical cable didn't. Both ends of the cable erupted in a fountain of sparks as they were cleanly cut off. Unit 01 staggered for a second, as if Shinji had let doubt overcome him until it started moving again, just in time to raise its glaive in front of its face to protect himself from the ribbon thrown by the Angel, which connected with tremendous force against the blade, cutting itself through all its length on the weapon. One of the halves hit Unit 01's left shoulder pylon, severing it with its momentum before falling limp on the ground behind the Eva, useless.
"Asuka, the only thing I can do is stand here and water." Kaji said, not paying any attention to the battle or the girl tensing up next to him. "But you, you have something that you can do. That only you can do." With only one usable arm, the Angel was now less efficient when attacking, and as a consequence, less threatening. Unable to focus on both targets at the same time, it seemed overwhelmed by the two Evangelions fighting it. "If you both die, at least he'll know that you had his back until the end..." The Angel was getting attacked more and more relentlessly now, until it stopped focusing on Unit 01. It turned to face the other Eva as its eyes started to glow, taking the two Pilots by surprise. A second after, a gigantic explosion rocked the inside of the Geofront and engulfed Unit 00. When the smoke cleared, the blue Evangelion was motionless, silent, lying down on the ground several hundred meters from its previous position, its armor melted on the front because of the explosion. Shinji seemed stunned, as Unit 01 didn't do anything for several agonizing seconds. "And if you survive, you'll be able to talk to him. He might not forgive you, especially for not telling him about you leaving Japan... But you owe it to him... To the both you." Shinji had retreated to the laying form of Unit 00 to put it on its side and grab its umbilical cable. Its entry-plug ejected as soon as it could, propelling itself away from the battle.
"You're right. Thanks, Kaji..." She trailed off for a few seconds. "And thanks for not doing anything on the Over the Rainbow. A lesser man wouldn't have been able to resist... But seriously, I'm sorry... For everything." Asuka said, not daring to look him in the eyes, though her feelings of weakness and shame from the apology were nothing compared to the determination and excitement she felt for the battles she was about to fight. First, she had to somehow get back inside her Eva, then she had to destroy this Angel. With its new source of power, Unit 01 resumed its assault. Shinji was fighting like a demon, Unit 01 was, if not gracefully, efficiently dodging every attack sent its way and getting closer and closer to its target. Maybe he wouldn't need her at all. Maybe nothing would change. She put those thoughts at the back of her mind for the time being. It was no use worrying about this right now, she wasn't even sure they, or rather he, would let her pilot anyway.
Kaji let out a small understanding smile. "Go." He didn't have to say anything more. He perfectly knew what she meant, and what it meant to her to say those words. Asuka ran like she never ran before. The entrance to the Geofront wasn't very far from Kaji's garden, but every second counted. She wasn't paying attention to the battle anymore, already focusing on getting to him, she was getting excited at the prospect of showing him that she still had his back. Huge cracking and slicing noises almost made her stop to look behind her but she refused to waste precious time, trying to mentally block the noises of crashes around her in order to reach the entrance as quickly as possible, using this short run to clear her head and prepare herself mentally.
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Things were getting dire in the Command Center. Everyone was trying their best not to panic. Even Fuyutsuki, behind his impassible stance, was feeling rather uneasy. Ritsuko was furiously typing on a computer next to Maya which was trying her best just to keep up with her sempai. But despite their best efforts, Unit 02 wouldn't accept the Dummy Plug. Ritsuko had tried to explain that Dr. Soryu's failed contact experiment and subsequent split of her soul made the synchronization with the Dummy plug too erratic to make Unit 02 usable in combat to Gendo. At times, the sync ratio was completely acceptable, but it never lasted long. With no apparent reason to people who didn't know the inner workings of an Evangelion, it dipped below the activation threshold, then reactivated, without regularity or any kind of pattern. The consequence was that the Eva deactivated in the middle of an action for several seconds, then reactivated and so on and so forth, so it would be completely useless against the Angel. But the Commander had given the order. The Dummy Plug had to synchronize with Unit 02, so Ritsuko and Maya were trying to find a way to circumvent this major setback. The constant headache Ritsuko was dealing with since she got injured in the explosion of the Matsushiro Experiment Facility didn't help.
Toji was in the entry-plug, desperately trying as well to synchronize with the red giant, but his lack of training made it clear that he wouldn't succeed. That he wouldn't be able to help his friend. He would have probably been able to do something in his own Eva, but it was far from being repaired, and still under quarantine. Gendo had no intention of using him in the first place, he had expected the Dummy Plug to easily sync with Unit 02. But desperate times call for desperate measures, so he had been ordered to get into Unit 02. Toji still tried as much as he could to do something. He hated the helplessness he felt while hearing Shinji's enraged screams through the comm channel.
Things were not going according to plan, so Gendo was bracing himself for a Third Impact which would not be on his own terms. Maybe he would still be reunited with Yui. His theorizations came to a halt when he heard sounds which didn't fit with the situation. He seemed to hear people cheering in the Eva cage below. He stopped pacing in the Eva's control room and turned towards the source of these unexpected noises. "Why are you here ?" He said upon noticing the reason of this joyfulness.
The entry-plug slid out of the Evangelion and its hatch opened, revealing Toji who jumped on the gangway next to him to watch the scene unfolding before his eyes.
"I am the Pilot of Evangelion Unit 02 ! I am Asuka Langley Soryu !" She shouted with determination and defiance. She knew that if he had been capable of launching her Eva without her, he would have done it by now. So for whatever reason, he needed her. A sardonic smile appeared on her lips.
She ran to the entry-plug without even waiting for the Commander to accept what was happening. Toji waited for her to be close enough to speak. "Well, looks like nobody can make this pile of junk move but you, Devil ! Even their damn autopilot didn't work !.. It's good to see you." He said with a genuine smile on his face, probably the first one he ever directed her.
"I'll show you how it's done, scrub !" She answered with a smile of her own, with no real aggression towards her usurper, already climbing inside the plug.
One of the techs caught up to them as they were talking and almost ceremoniously offered her a new set of A10 hair clips which she quickly put in their rightful place. "Thanks for coming back. We really needed you." He timidly said before leaving almost faster than he arrived. Most of the techs admired the Pilots of the Evas they were assigned to, this one was no exception.
"Go kick its ass !" Toji managed to add before the entry-plug sealed shut and slid inside Unit 02's neck. When the activation sequence started, Asuka felt something. She felt the connection between her and her Eva like never before. It felt clearer, more direct. When the walls of the entry-plug showed her the outside world, she was ready.
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Panic was now clearly etched on the face of every person present in the Command Center. And it had been spreading like wildfire in the entire Headquarters since Misato had ordered all personnel to be evacuated. It had been breached, and the attacker had promptly reached the Command Center. Everyone looked in horror at the Angel when its eyes started to glow threateningly. Time seemed to stop, silence seemed to envelop her as she closed her eyes and took her cross in her right hand, her left arm still in a cast, and prepared as much as she could for her impending fate. A deafening noise broke the silence in her mind and all the alarms resumed blaring in her ears. She opened her eyes just in time to catch a glimpse of a red blur punching the Angel away from them. Her brain kicked back into gear almost immediately as she realized what was happening. "Unit 02 !? Asuka !"
The only answer she got was a furious scream from the German girl. She had been feeling powerless and sorry for herself for the past two days, but not anymore. Her confrontation with the Commander had just been an appetizer, and this fight was the main course. As soon as she had carved herself a passage to the Command Center and seen the Angel, she let her rage lead her actions. She wasn't in her entry-plug to save humanity right now, she was there to kill. Her pent-up frustration over the last days now only served to fuel her ire. This Angel was going to die. All it could do would only postpone the ineluctable. The red Eva punched its enemy repeatedly before pushing it against the wall on the other side of the room, destroying it as well in the process. All crew members let out a sigh of relief as the threat was moved away from them.
The Angel stumbled and fell on its back in the empty Eva cage. Asuka, carried by her momentum fell on top of it. She raised her Eva's fist in order to punch the Angel again. A light emanated from its eyes but Asuka had seen this attack on the surface, she quickly dodged to the right thanks to her instinct and combat training. The laser only managed to hit the ceiling, making debris fall over Unit 02. Asuka should have been stunned by the huge chunks of metal and concrete falling on her back and head, however, in this state, nothing could stop her. She stumbled a little when she stood back up because of the rubble on the ground and the weight of the Angel that she was pulling with her by its face. Its "neck" stretched a little before the rest of its body followed the movement.
She punched it again a few times for good measure when it was standing. Asuka wondered for a brief second if this was the same Angel she had seen while talking to Kaji. It didn't react, it didn't try to fight back. She focused back on her objective and pushed it as far as she could, against the wall of an Eva lift. "Misato !" It had been the only intelligible sound erupting from her mouth since she had joined the fight. It had been unnecessary, since the Major had already given the order to launch the catapult. She maintained the Angel's face against the steel rail all the way up to the top, making sparks erupt from the friction. "Hey Third ! You and I will have a talk once this is over !" She didn't really want to sound threatening, but her actual mindset made it impossible to sound any other way. She was determined, angry. She wanted to show the Commander that she could not be that easily replaced. That he had made a mistake. That he needed her to win this war.
The two giants carried their momentum when the lift stopped, projecting them both in the air. She had already started to switch her position, standing over the Angel while still in the air, one foot right on her enemy's core, the other leg bent in order to put the most weight on the first one. She was emulating the position in which she had, with Shinji, literally landed the final blow on the Seventh Angel. It was at this moment, seconds before landing, that she froze. Out of her the corner of her eye first, she saw Unit 01, then she turned her head to make sure what she saw was real. There it was, a few dozen meters away from her, still standing. It had been decapitated. She couldn't concentrate on anything but him anymore. This was the reason why he didn't answer. She desperately wanted to know if he was alright. If he was still alive. With the sync ratio he had managed to attain during the tests, the neural feedback could have given him whiplash, or it could have blocked his trachea, making him choke to death, alone in his entry-plug.
She didn't even notice two rock-like appendages emerging from around the Angel's core, encasing it so they were between the core and her Eva's foot. The behemoths crashed on the ground not far from Unit 01's beheaded form. Unit 02 lost its stance and tumbled away from the Angel, destroying the landscape in its way. The fall put Asuka out of her daze, and she turned her attention back to the Angel with renewed anger, swearing and threatening loudly her foe in German. She launched her Eva head first towards the Angel, tackling it to the ground before punching it again.
She was boiling with rage, hitting it with all her might when suddenly, the walls of her entry-plug turned black. "No !" She shouted as she understood what happened. No more power. She had failed. There was nothing left standing between the Angel and the end of the world. She wouldn't see Shinji again. It was over. In the darkness of her entry-plug, Asuka started to cry once more. She didn't even care when her Eva was thrown away, nor when an explosion rocked her entry-plug. She just let herself get overwhelmed with helplessness, openly sobbing, not paying any attention to her confined surroundings. As time passed, she became more and more aware of loud impacts rocking her entry-plug, interrupting her despondency. The impacts were slow, but relentless, merciless. Some times later, the loud thuds were joined by the noise of something cracking all around her.
"No !" She shrieked. She had given up for a moment. Not anymore. She was Asuka Langley Soryu. She did not give up. "I can't lose ! I won't lose !" The hits didn't stop, nor did they increase in speed as she was now yanking furiously her butterfly handles, screaming madly, not caring anymore if anyone could hear her. "Move ! Move gottverdammt ! Move !" The impacts only served to make her more enraged. "Move ! Move ! You have to move !" She thought the Angel was mocking her personally now that she had fallen, humiliating her without honor. "I can't lose ! If I lose then it's all over and I can't let this happen !" The red behemoth didn't move, however. She kept on pushing the butterfly handles desperately, weakly wailing at the same time. Finally, this rollercoaster of emotions of the past days proved to be too much, even for the great Asuka Langley Soryu. She slammed her fist lamely on her right control yoke with a short shout full of anger, frustration and sadness, slouching on her seat.
The weight of her defeat was slowly creeping back to overwhelm her. "Move ! If you don't move we'll all die !" She lamented. "I don't want to die..." She solemnly said, her tears dissolving inside the LCL around her. "...I haven't had the chance to tell him how much he means to me... If we die, he'll never know that I... Love him."
She raised her head, her eyes wide when she heard a thunderous heartbeat. She stayed still when she heard another... Then another... Then another. She was completely paralyzed as her Eva finally answered her plea and awakened. Its four eyes lit up as the top and lower parts of its face mask shifted in order to reveal them. It raised its AT Field to block the next attack of the Angel. The ribbon-like arm was shredded as soon as it made contact with the octagonal barrier, and the reverberation was enough to injure the Angel itself, which crashed on its back while blood poured from the gashes it had just received.
Unit 02 stood up slowly, taking its time as its threat was neutralized for the time being. It breathed heavily through its mouth then arched and roared powerfully before falling on all fours and making its way towards its fallen foe. It stopped for a few seconds only to bury its fingers in the monster's eyes, preventing it from trying to retaliate with a last, desperate attack.
Unit 02's eyes narrowed in a vicious expression of anticipation. It then lowered its head towards the Angel until it abruptly stopped, its action impeded by some obstacle. It snarled in frustration, then arched back up before grabbing the lower part of its face mask at the chin with both hands before pulling on it with all its strength while roaring ferociously. The bottom of the face mask broke after a few seconds on both sides of the beast's jaw, freeing its mouth. The Eva let out a vicious scream, now unhindered by the restraining mask, its teeth glowing in the artificial light of the Geofront, before resuming its previous action. It started savagely eating the Angel, tearing its flesh, ripping its bones before crunching them in its powerful jaw. The beast suddenly straightened and looked cautiously behind its back before returning to its meal.
The Angel was dead, however Unit 02 was still very much active. It looked around for a few seconds before standing on its hind legs, the armor binding it to humanity's will breaking as the beast's muscles expanded on its arms, torso and back. It roared to the Heavens above as if daring humanity or the Angels, or anything else to try and stop it.
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A/N : This one's a little late. It's been mostly finished for a while but I just kept getting back to it and changing one word here, a sentence there etc etc. I basically had to force myself to just send it or I would have never been satisfied enough to do it !
I don't really understand how Shinji went from the station to a shelter inside the Geofront. It would have made more sense for him to be on the surface.
I really need a beta reader. I thought I could do everything by myself, keep this fic only mine, but that's selfish I guess. I need help to tie all of this together and make sure it's, if not good, at least acceptable ! Oh and if this person speaks German, that's even better ! I feel like I'm not doing justice to Asuka. If you're interested, PM me !
Anyway, thanks for reading !
Bye !