Blood Red
Episode 3
Bloodlust Crusaders
A/N: Guess who's back... Back again. Aaaa yep life is really making it hard to write isn't it? Still, at least I was making progress... If you can consider the fact that I did actually managed to finish this chapter XD.
Oh well. But seriously now, sorry for taking so long to get one out. In my defense I had quite a lot of trouble in figuring out what to actually write, and in fact did go through some major changes. Still, it's here now and I've written wayy too much. Bye now!
Don't forget to leave a review! There's a guaranteed five day shorter wait for the next one if you do!
Chapter 19: Windown
On the deck of the Eminent Domain, shortly after the battle ended
The Slayer squinted his eyes to protect them from the sunlight as got up to the front of the ship after climbing its bow, standing right next to Woodward as water dripped away from his armor.
"Welcome aboard! This captain here is honored to have you on his ship. Let's get something to dry you up shall we?" The man said as they walked towards one of the turrets, where a sailor had already brought a couple of towels for them.
Now that the sun wasn't in the Slayer's eyes anymore, he was able to make out the features of the man who he had just met and was surprised by his very extravagant clothes.
He was quite a bit shorter than him, standing at around one meter eighty five if the large black pirate hat he wore wasn't considered. He had curly black hair, a thick beard with a thin, well trimmed mustache accompanying it.
Other than that, his face was mostly occupied by the eyepatch which reminded him of Asuka's and a very large grin which seemed to glow by itself, emitting confidence from all angles.
Below that, he wore a dark gray coat with golden shoulder pads, both carrying a small star at their tip. The collar at his neck was bent to show partially the red foulard he wore underneath, while his open coat revealed a dark blue shirt with various decorations of sea monsters. The coat's pointy tips extended down to his waist, where black trousers were held tight by a leather belt with a golden anchor at the front, a decoration also found on the surface of his leather shoes.
The Slayer finished drying up, silently thanking the captain with a nod, but was surprised when he replied:
"Ah ya don't have to thank me, that lil' sailor over there did all the work."
The Slayer looked at the man wearing a classic pale white navy uniform and gave him a thumbs up.
"So, looks like we were a bit late for the full battle eh? Man how I wish we could have shown those NERV skallywags how the real masters of the sea fight.
But you and yo' friends managed to tie things up just as well. That ain't no small feat let me tell ya."
Woodward said as he regained the Slayer's attention, just as the huge gate in front of them started to open up.
They crossed it a moment later, as the Slayer felt the huge power of the battleship's propulsion system push them forward. Meanwhile, Woodward was stuck looking at the destroyed city around him, eventually fixating on the flaming wreck of the destroyed NERV warship and the destroyed residential buildings all around it.
For a moment that shining grin faded away, replaced with a face that tried in every way to show everything but sorrow.
It did not last, as a moment later the Fortress of Doom descended in front of them, still regenerating the damage from the battle as Samuel said over the speakers:
'Looks like you found the Slayer, thank you Captain Woodward.'
The man looked at Doomguy for a moment as he pointed at the flying ship.
"I feel like a small fish out of ma' barrel, tell me are these friends of yours?"
'Ah, pardon me, my name is Samuel Hayden and with me is VEGA, an artificial intelligence.'
"Well, if you're with the Slayer here, then I see no reason to dislike you chaps! Ohh and look who's here too! Katsuragi! You' finally done plundering the Asian seas?"
Woodward said as the Wunder floated next to them as well,while a small crowd had gathered around the three huge warships after the bunkers reopened.
"Looks like he hasn't changed, still as annoying as ever." Misato thought as she did not answer him and instead asked over the radio:
'Has anyone seen Shikinami? We found her evangelion, but the entry plug is missing. She was fighting with you Slayer, right?'
The man nodded as he jumped off the battleship and into the dry land once more, quickly heading towards the Atlan.
When he got inside, he grabbed the unconscious girl and crossed a portal VEGA created for him, making him appear in the middle of the Wunder's bridge.
'She has no injuries, and probably only needs some rest from the shock that caused her to faint.' VEGA said as he made a new portal for the Slayer.
"What happened to her?" Misato asked and Samuel replied:
'She was directly attacked by the leader of the attack, a man called John Davis. After disabling her evangelion he took her hostage by grabbing the entry plug. Knowing her previous incident I believe that she had a panic attack while stuck there in the darkness.'
"Poor Asuka… Being reminded of that…" Misato thought when suddenly a realization came to her mind:
"Wait, where's Davis now? Also why didn't he just kill her?"
"He wanted to fight with me. He only needed Asuka to stop me from killing him."
The Slayer said as he stopped right by the portal, showing them the traces left in his armor by the AT swords, even though they had already mostly been repaired.
"He used swords surrounded by AT fields and small AT shields for his power armor." The Slayer said, and VEGA added:
'Maybe it was a test, they could be developing a larger version for evangelions. However I find it unreasonable for them to build a human sized version first. In fact the Slayer's entire encounter with Davis seems unreasonable now that I am analyzing the footage.'
"How so?" Ritsuko asked as she drank some coffee.
'He had the upper hand in the beginning, with the ability to impose his own terms to the fight. If they were really concerned about testing a new weapon that would have been the perfect opportunity. And yet, he used it for what seemed like his personal goal… Of testing the Slayer.'
The Slayer's visor darkened, then Samuel said:
'He will make himself known for sure back in America, but for now let's try to find more information about him. We'll do it now since our ship is ill-equipped to deal with all the refugees that are gathering below. We will also survey the crash site of the NERV warship, to check if there are any survivors.' Samuel said.
"Okay. Nagara, make us land in the river and then open the side ladders, there's lots of people who need our help down there. Bring Asuka to her room too,if she only needs some rest then it's better if we have all of our medical space available for the citizens."
"Roger." The crew collectively said.
On the Fortress of Doom
Samuel remained watching Misato as she kept sending orders to everyone in the room, with determination taking over her face and making him glued to it, but eventually he was broken out of it by the Slayer who slapped him in the head.
"Hey!"
The Slayer chuckled for a brief moment, before VEGA got their attention by saying:
"Can you come down to the infirmary? I've finished my analysis on the tissue of that monster in Berlin and the findings have been… Interesting."
The Slayer and Samuel looked at each other for a moment before heading downstairs. Once inside they saw that a small creature had formed inside the vertical tube, looking like a malformed baby fetus. VEGA then said:
"Based on my findings, the creature that the Slayer fought is Berlin has a genetic code which is exactly the same as Shikinami's."
"So… That really was Asuka?" The Slayer thought as he remembered the horrid screams it let out while fighting it. Or she, now that he knew what it was.
"But how could it have been possible for one of her clones to turn into… That?" Samuel asked.
"Look." VEGA said as a meter that showed the LCL inside the tube appeared on the glass, holding steadily at 50%.
"We know that these cloned bodies need LCL to remain stable, as Molly has shown us already, but while her clones would simply dissolve given the lack of LCL, the ones based on Asuka's genetic material develop tumors from almost every cell of their body, starting an uncontrollable growth process."
The other two looked as, once the percentage of LCL was lowered, several bubbles of flesh formed all over the fetus as it began to grow in size, with eyes, arms, noses and other organs appearing at random over its body. The grotesque spectacle only stopped once the LCL was brought back to 50%.
"This seems to be an original way that these clones had been programmed to be replicated, with it sticking around the genetic code like a bug in a program."
"So, is Asuka just a ticking time bomb?" Samuel said and VEGA replied:
"No, our Asuka has Bardiel stuck in her eye.
When she was recovering inside this tube, I tried collecting a piece of her flesh to compare it with that of the monster, but a small, almost impercettibile, AT field blocked me. I then found that she has one covering her entire body, too weak to even be detected by my scanners."
"My guess is that the angel is keeping her alive."
"Yes, but not just that. That's why I called you here in the first place.
After the large fight in the WILLE village, I managed to recover some of Matarael's angelic flesh and I found it to be extremely reactive to Asuka's genetic material."
Suddenly inside the tube, a metallic arm appeared from above, carrying with it a piece of the angel's outer skin. It brought it closer to the malformed being, until they touched.
Bubbles began forming everywhere as the two components fused together, with the dark angel flesh stretching tendrils all over the being's body as a faint AT field formed around it,while a deep blue light emerged from the angel. The same light they had sometimes seen on Asuka's eyepatch.
"Asuka was made to fuse with the angels. To learn how to use their abilities to fight against the next one and eventually… She was probably going to be used to destroy the world."
After some silence, Samuel said:
"It... It all makes sense now, the way she thinks of herself, how she fights, the fact that she is the one in control of the angel unlike Shin-.
Wait, hold on a second… VEGA are you suggesting that this could help us get rid of Kaworu?"
"It's still a work in progress, but yes, the evidence points in that direction."
"Wait until Misato hears this…" Samuel said.
He then noticed that both of the Slayer and VEGA were looking straight at him, as the Ai said:
"So, you're finally admitting it Samuel?"
"Wha- Oh come on!" He replied while kicking the body of the tube without damaging it.
The Slayer watched in silence, not wanting to ruin the moment. But, he couldn't deny that a small voice had started whispering in his ear, and it said:
'Admit it Slayer, you would have killed her, when you stood face to face. You can't control yourself anymore.'
He dismissed it and left to go back to the deck, as they were already over the destroyed wreckage. While he activated the portal, he thought:
"Am I really that crazy when I get angry? I mean, every time it feels natural… Though what is even natural for me anymore?
Am I still a human under this armor? Even if I only have a single goal that's keeping me alive?"
He didn't have the answer to those questions, so he decided to try and use the exploration of the wreck as a way to clear his mind… For some time at least.
The Slayer crossed the portal, making the room completely empty, as if he had never been there.
On the Wunder, pilot room
"Is she awake yet?" Mari thought as she looked at Asuka from above, zoning out the noise that came from the outside as the crew moved around to help the wounded.
No sign came from the girl below, and even Bardiel was silent, not showing anything at all from the outside of the eyepatch.
Mari leaned lower as she poked her chest with one of her feet, trying to get a reaction out of her. But, when she had to catch herself to avoid falling from the bed, she decided to stop, opting instead to leave the room and head towards Shinji's cell.
A bit later
No guards were there so she walked inside without a second thought, making him almost jump in the air as he had been stuck looking at a random point in the room.
"Hey there puppy, am I interrupting anything?" She said and he hastily replied:
"Wh- Ah no, Mari. It's nothing. Really."
"He's so bad at lying it's almost cute. It's clear that Kaworu was talking with him…" She thought before saying:
"Oh really? Are you sure? You can tell me if you want, I'm great at keeping secrets."
"She's on your side, Shinji. Let her help you. I can tell that there's something you're not telling me as well. Let it out, all of it." Kaworu suddenly said inside the boy's head.
So, Shinji calmed down a bit and said:
"It's… There's something that has been bothering me. About Asuka."
Mari sat down near him and said:
"Keep going, don't worry."
"I am… Always scared around her. I can never feel safe, or secure about what I'm thinking. I'm scared that she might want to hurt me if I say the wrong things to her…But I know that she's not a bad person! I'm sure of it! It's that she's just… So confusing…
When we were in the village she was closer to me, but it's probably because they just told her that she needed to keep an eye on me. Now she feels so distant again."
A small grin formed on Mari's face as she said:
"Don't worry Shinji, Asuka is like that. I'm sure that you will understand her better with your double training that's coming up. I mean I've lived with her for fifteen years now and she still scares me sometimes."
"So, it's normal that I'm feeling like this?"
"Yep, nya! The princess is getting her beauty sleep right now, but we can go visit her if you want. No one's going to stop us anyway."
"I… I'd like that Mari, if she's not going to be mad about it."
"Don't worry, I'll hold her off if she wakes up,or even better, you might be exactly what she needs to wake up."
"What do you mean?"
As Shinji said this Mari kissed the air in front of him, making him turn as red as a tomato. She laughed it off and got up, inviting him to follow her outside.
He did and they began walking together back to Mari and Asuka's room.
At one point however Mari suddenly turned around, with her smile disappearing from her face. So Shinji asked:
"Is everything okay?"
Mari gave one more look at the empty hallway, finding it completely deserted except for a slowly moving security camera.
"Yes. Sorry I thought that I heard someone calling me, let's go now."
They resumed their walk, and as Mari turned around, a small current made its way to the security camera, making it turn towards them.
Pilot's room bathroom
"God, I feel like shit." Asuka thought as she splashed some more water in her face. Ever since waking up a few minutes earlier, her head had been in a constant turmoil, with even the headache pills she had taken having seemingly no effect.
She was looking at herself in the mirror, breathing heavily as blood flowed through her veins, visible especially around her hidden eye.
"It was your fault wasn't it?" She thought as she fixed her gaze on the reflection of her eyepatch.
"You're the one who made me lose right? You made me slower, you made me lose focus. Without you there's no way I would have lost that against him! There's no way I would have let him take me by surprise!
Because I'm the best at piloting Evas, that guy was nothing! It's because of you that we were captured! If you had just left me alone I wouldn't have lost! Because I can't lose since I'm the best!"
Bardiel glowed weakly from her eyepatch as she continued to try to fool herself with her tantrum. But it was no use.
"Aaaaaa!" Asuka screamed as she punched the glass in front of her, cracking it completely.
However, from the cracked glass, her reflection changed. She was still herself, but the eyepatch was gone and her hair looked brighter too.
She tried to move around, but then the entire mirror broke and fell down, letting her see clearly her doppelganger.
A smug appeared on the other girl's face as she turned around and opened her arms to the darkness, welcoming what was behind it as Shikinami remained completely frozen.
An arm of an evangelion appeared, along with the rest of its body soon after. It looked almost exactly like unit 01, except that its armor was damaged, with dark blood coming out of the various openings. Its eyes were red and instead of a single horn, it had two larger ones, however one of them was torn apart.
Its arm moved, grabbing the other Asuka by the legs as she still kept looking at it with stars in her eyes. Another arm appeared from the darkness that had formed around Shikinami, not letting her escape as she was grabbed as well.
She tried to scream and get away from its grasp, but no sounds came out of her mouth and she was powerless against the fist holding her.
Both her and the other Asuka were brought up to the height of the evangelion's mouth, as the other one said:
"If you truly are the best at piloting evangelions, if you were born to do this exact thing, then come with me and become one with it! Let it consume you and join me in the core! It's everything you could ever dream of! You'll be unbeatable, everyone will be always searching for you and needing your help! You'll always be useful to someone!"
The evangelion opened its mouth, and just as it bit down on her, she was able to let out one last scream:
"Isn't this what you always wanted?!"
Blood flowed down the eva's hand from the girl's ripped guts as Shikinami tried to hold herself together, trying to remain somewhat sane from this nightmare.
It was for nothing however, as she started screaming her heart out as soon as the other eva holding her opened its dirty, rotting mouth.
"Get away from me! I don't want to have anything to do with you!"
The screams of the other Asuka started to echo in the shadows as she was brought ever closer to her death.
"No no no! Get away! I don't want to be consumed by an evangelion, even if it means other people won't look at me!"
The teeth started slowly closing around her, making her lose sight of everything else as she closed her eyes.
Instead of darkness however, she saw something else, a dark cross, far away in the distance, with an eye poking out of it fixed right on her.
And then she remembered the smell of a warm dish made in the morning.
She looked at the eye in the distance and with her mind free from any restraint, she let out a barely audible whisper:
"I only want him to look at me!"
She felt the teeth touch her body, but also stop as soon as they did so, not going any further.
She opened her eye from the surprise, seeing that a giant hand of energy extended out her eyepatch and it was holding the jaws of the beast open.
"Bardiel!?" She said out of shock, before the eva exploded in a pool of blood all around her.
The giant hand suddenly became smaller, just as she suddenly felt extremely tired.
Asuka lied down on the floor, with the hand moving to carefully caress her to sleep once more.
Bardiel was happy, as he had now learned how to replicate exactly what Shinji was doing in the real world. And as long as his friend Asuka was happy, he was happy too.
Several hours later, in the Fortress' infirmary
The Slayer dodged a kick from Asuka as she said:
"Why should I even want to help that idiot after what he did!?"
"Asuka you need to understand that-" VEGA tried to say something, but had to move the camera to avoid a flying metallic trail.
"Also you need to understand that whatever you are going to tell me, that thing in there is not me! I don't care if it has my DNA, it's not a clone of me!
Hey! Let me go Slayer- agh! I will not do thi-"
*Crack*
Both the girl and the Slayer were suddenly drawn to a torn IV stand fallen on the ground, right next to one of VEGA's robotic arms as the AI said:
"Sorry, it slipped, these things are quite fragile."
Seeing the metallic tube completely bent around itself, Asuka calmed herself down as she slowly stepped out of the Slayer's grasp. Then she sighed and said:
"Look, I understand why you might consider this important… It's just that I don't feel like doing it… I mean there's still lots of things we all don't understand and… I'm not going to risk my life for him."
"Not yet, maybe…" The Slayer thought as he placed a hand on her shoulder while Samuel said:
"...We understand Asuka, it's quite dangerous after all. And as you said, we still need to study both you and him. So I had an idea, come with me."
She hesitantly followed Samuel, eventually reaching his office where a small metallic red bracelet was resting on top of his desk.
He grabbed it and said:
"I've been able to build this transceiver based on the design of your plugsuit. If you wear this while you have it on, you'll be able to transmit to us the data we need without many inconveniences. It'll even blend in with the wrist buttons that are already there. Think of it as one of those fitness bracelets that track your blood pressure and other things."
He handed it to her, but before putting it on Asuka said:
"Wait. If you had this convenient device here all the time, why even bring me to the infirmary in the first place?"
"We thought that it was worth a shot anyway."
Asuka looked at the device in her hand as she heard this, then pulled it around the wrist and closed it. It emitted a small *click* as it activated, with Asuka not feeling any different.
"The signal is holding steadily, the sharing of data has started." VEGA said.
"What are you actually checking in my body?"
"I am mostly looking at the level of LCL in your body and how it reacts to various alterations,especially during synch tests. Other than that I'm also looking at your more 'normal' values like heartbeat and blood pressure. On that aspect I suggest taking something to lower it as it seems quite high."
"You're not my fitness instructor VEGA!"
"I apologize." VEGA said as he concluded the test on rapid alterations to see if the device could keep up, feeling satisfied with the results.
"The portal is ready Shikinami, you may go back to the Wunder wherever you like."
Asuka left the room just as he finished saying that, leaving the three of them by themselves.
"It's a shame really that we weren't able to put that probe in her, maybe we could have even talked with Bardiel." Samuel said after a while, to which the Slayer replied by pointing his wrist blade at him and saying:
"She's still a kid, go easy on her. And don't do these things without telling her, we don't know how she's going to react."
"I agree with the Slayer, Hayden." VEGA said and Samuel slowly pushed the man away before saying:
"Alright, alright, I understand that it was too much. I guess that a part of the old me from the UAC days came back."
After the Slayer completely moved away VEGA said: "It is interesting to see how we have changed since then. I struggle to believe that we could have had this conversation during the first attack on Mars."
"I guess that we only needed to meet new people, right?... *Sigh*... And yet, Davoth is still out there. There are still demons around."
Samuel glanced at the Slayer, whose helmet had gone dark. Then a question arose in his mind.
"Say Slayer… How was your life before you met the demons? Who were you? If you actually remember."
The Slayer fell silent as he remembered everything that had happened.
The screams… They were coming back. He pushed them away, just like he was used to, then glared at Samuel before leaving the room.
He reached his room, waiting for the door to close. He knew that he was being watched by VEGA, but he had grown accustomed to it. It was as if he wasn't even there, which secretly creeped him out a bit. Nonetheless, he still had his own private area where he could really be alone.
As he reached the altar at the centre of his armory, he placed a hand on the skull at the top of it, revealing a secret passage under the floor.
He descended in total darkness, removing his helmet and letting his face feel the still and dry air. The stars he had been descending eventually came to an end, and after walking a bit more he reached the most important room in the Fortress.
It was a dark unlit bedroom with shards of glass on the floor near a broken window which led to a metallic wall. The floor was littered with bullet holes and scratches, while two streams of water illuminated red originated from the furthest wall, ending up at the base of a broken chair.
He sat down on it and placed the helmet by his side, then stared deeply at the wall in front of him and the two wooden crosses hung up on it.
The air was suddenly a lot colder, as he closed his eyes, losing himself in the darkness. The Slayer felt as if his body became lighter, with the heavy air from the room around him absorbing his thoughts like a sponge and placing another one in their place.
"You're doing this for them, for everyone. So that it may never happen again. So that no one may ever suffer your fate."
For a moment, the constant rage inside of him quieted down, that fire that fueled his war became lighter, going from the eruption of a volcano to a cozy fireplace in the winter. The Slayer sat there, giving his mind time to heal. He was used to doing this; even while fighting for his life in the middle of hell, he could still find these moments of solace. And despite how much he tried to not think about them, he still needed them, otherwise he would have gone mad so many years ago.
Still, everything had a limit. And as he felt the voices go away, he got up and put his helmet back on, not before taking a long look at his mirrored face on the visor.
Time seemed to skip for him as he went back on the main deck, ready to cross the portal that would have brought him to the fallen NERV warship.
Inside VEGA's core
As the AI watched the Slayer cross the portal, he thought:
"Alright, all systems are operating smoothly… Let me check another time for any vital signs."
A quick scan later, VEGA stared at the results, and at the large red zero which meant everyone inside had died.
He recalled the sensation he felt as he drilled through the ship, feeling the metal crumble like sand under the immense power of the Fortress.
Power… That's exactly what he had felt, though it was a sensation so alien to him that he doubted he was the one feeling it at all.
His train of thoughts was derailed by a small young voice calling out to him.
He turned around and found Molly searching for him in the white infinity that made up the centre of his core, not knowing that he was everywhere at one, dissolved into the nothingness.
Still, it only took him a moment to manifest himself in the form of a floating glowing yellow sphere, with two human arms to the side and his symbol, a circle surrounded by curved polygons, at the centre.
"Dad!" Molly shouted as she ran into him and hugged him.
He hugged her back, feeling her giggle as the energy around his sphere tickled her face.
"I didn't expect you to be here so soon, did the Wraiths get tired of playing with you?"
"Yes! They always do that!" Molly replied with a small pout on her face,but it soon turned into a smirk again as she looked back at VEGA.
"Hm, what is it?"
"You look funny with those arms and nothing else."
"Oh,well I thought I might have needed something to hug you didn't I? I can assume any shape I want after all. Take a look."
Molly was confused for a moment, but then she watched in amazement as she saw VEGA turn into a cat, then a flock of birds, a tiger, then he turned into a sports car, a fighter jet, a drone, a penguin and even into a small planet.
As Molly watched his continuous transformations, she eventually noticed that there was one constant in all of his forms, the sphere with his symbol in the middle of it was always present.
So she said:
"Oh VEGA! Why don't you try turning into an evangelion?"
"Sure, I can try."
He then disappeared from in front of her, as the entire area was covered by a huge shadow. Molly turned around to look at its origin, when she saw the lifeless body of an evangelion without its core looking down on her.
She felt chills run down her spine as a sense of pure terror enveloped her body.
The invisible floor began to crack all around her, partially revealing the other areas of VEGA's core to her,but she was too focused on the monster in front of her to notice them.
A dark aura enveloped the giant's head as it turned completely black, with what looked like droplets of ink falling off of it. Then, a single red eye opened at the centre of it, looking down at her for just a brief moment.
She suddenly woke up, finding herself in VEGA's arms as he said:
"Are you alright?"
"Y-yeah, what happened?"
"You got too close while I was changing forms and the energy knocked you out. Thankfully it was nothing serious."
He helped her get back up on his feet as she asked:
"Hey, did I ever ask you to turn into an evangelion? My mind is still a bit fuzzy."
"No you didn't. It's better if you go back to the crucible and get some rest, we can play hide and seek later. I know how much you like it."
"Hehe, you're right. Okay, but no cheating by changing forms alright?"
"I promise." VEGA replied as she waved at him while leaving the core.
He let out a sigh after she disappeared, dimming his light a bit, revealing what he had been hiding.
The floor was still cracked in several places, the dead evangelion was still there in front of him, but…
"The red eye and the black liquid are gone…
How was that possible… How was I unable to detect any of that, or control it?
…Just what happened to me?"
Over the Atlantic ocean
Davis was playing with a rubik's cube on his desk as his ship flew calmly towards the American coast, another hour and he would be home.
In the meantime however, he kept himself occupied with the small toy in his hands. Ever since his brother had introduced it to him when they were still kids, before their parents split up and they were separated, he had grown to love it. He smiled inside of himself whenever he held one in his hands, he made him think that the two of them were still together, playing with their dad in the living room.
A small click brought his attention to the various colored faces as he thought:
"Now that I think about it, solving one of these cubes really is a challenge for most people. The patterns that one has to memorise, the set-ups, the right order of moves… How each action must be considered, each possibility…To ensure victory."
Another click. He thought that the cube had been solved as the plain colored face stared back at him, but as he turned it around, he found a single tile on the wrong face. A dark green one, of a shade exactly the same as the Slayer's.
Davis rubbed his eyes, almost in disbelief, and put the toy away inside of his desk, then got up. His armor, full of bullet holes, was not enough to hide the pain that he felt whenever he stood up.
That close up shot from the super shotgun had really done a number on him and it was hard to keep a straight face when half of his chest wanted to collapse.
He at least found some solace in the rain of the thunderstorm they were going through.
"So many days spent behind the window of the kitchen, waiting for it to stop.
Ah, you were always so eager to go outside, eh little brother?
Who knows if you're dead to be listening to me or not now, but if you are, well don't take this in a bad way, but I kind of like the rain now. It helps me think."
A sudden beeping noise came from his desk, and he wished he could split it in half for interrupting him. But he answered anyway, finding Fuyutsuki waiting for him on the other side.
'Mr. Davis, I have received your report, and I would like to discuss it with you.' The elderly man said.
"What's left to say? We got our asses kicked by factors that we weren't prepared for. Factors that you imposed us to forcefully ignore. Where's Ikari anyway?
I'd expect him to be the one making these calls."
'He is currently unavailable at the moment, for reasons I cannot disclose. However I must say that this call is my idea, he is not aware of our current conversation.'
"Really? That's a bad joke if I ever heard one."
'I beg you to believe me. The situation of our foreseeable future is critical and we need to reorganize.'
"How so? I mean sure we lost a warship, but we still have some of them and the biggest army in the world. Are you really trying to say that's not enough now?"
'No. Which is why I'm calling you without Gendo's knowledge.'
Davis adjusted his position on his chair and said:
"Continue."
Fuyutsuki let out a sigh as he said:
'Gendo might be a genius at times, able to see several steps ahead of his opponents, but he can get too focused at times and that makes him lose sight of the larger picture. In this case, he was so focused on getting rid of the European distraction, that he hadn't planned accordingly for the Slayer's actions during the battle.
He has passed it off as a minor miscalculation, but I know him well.
He can't accept any kind of failure at this point. He has worked on the scenario for far too long to accept any other outcome. So even in the face of such a defeat, he still believes to have the overwhelming advantage. '
"What should we do then?"
'Nothing for now. Go back to the United States and reorganize your army, they will certainly attack your coast soon enough.
In the meantime, I will try to dig up an old project from the MAGI. If I am successful, it might be the only weapon we have to bring down that fortress, and the Slayer along with it.'
"I see…Okay then, keep me updated if you find anything."
'I will, thank you for your collaboration. May this finally bring Gendo out of his downward spiral.' The man said before closing the call, and Davis thought:
"Hm, deep down he does seem to care about Ikari, though I guess that's why he's the only one who remained on his side voluntarily. Oh well, as long as I get to accomplish my goal, then I really don't care much."
Thunder and lightning rocked the ship around as they flew through a storm, right as he started rewatching some of the footage they had of the Fortress in action.
Inside Shinji's cell, some hours later
"...Huh? Wh- Where am I?...
Is this the idiot's room? How did I even end up here?"
Asuka thought as her eye tried to to remain open while she reawakened, feeling a bit nauseous, but not much else.
She looked at the bed where she had been resting, and after realizing that this was Shinji's, she suppressed a blush while she turned around to look for him.
She found him behind her, sitting on the closed toilet with his eyes closed and his SDAT in his ears, with a calm expression on his face.
"It's been a while since I've seen him as calm as this… How long has he been like that?
I guess just as long as I was asleep in his bed, knowing him."
As she moved her eyes away from him and got rid of the bed sheets covering her, she took a look at the room and thought:
"Hm, it doesn't even look too different from my room. I guess that they're treating him better than what I expected.
Or… It's the contrary, and I'm the one who's sub par. Which wouldn't be surprising now that I think about it.
Heh, even in this room you can constantly see the explosives in the wall ready to be set off."
Eventually, Asuka's legs called out to her, forcing her out of the bed as she stretched out a bit, with Shinji still unaware of her.
She looked around, trying to mirror herself on the glass walls, but the image was too unfocused for her to check if she was okay, so she turned to the only other option in the room.
"Hey, you idiot." She said, without getting any response from Shinji. So she raised her voice and said:
"Shinji!"
And yet nothing, it was as if he was consciously ignoring her. She didn't try a third time and swiftly walked towards him, removing his headphones before moving his head around with the other hand.
He immediately reacted, grabbing both of Asuka's arms and standing up as they exchanged a confused look. Shinji was especially confused by Asuka's expression.
The confidence that was behind it seemed to have evaporated for some reason, leaving behind only her trembling blue pupils which failed to show anything but fragility.
It was at this point that he realized that he was using the exoskeleton's strength to hold her in place, easily overcoming her attempts of getting away.
Shinji immediately let go of her as he tried to spit out his usual 'sorry', but all that came out was a bunch of gibberish, which quickly ended once both of them were at a decent distance and in complete silence a moment later.
"I… Uhm." Shinji tried to say.
"Why am I here?" Asuka said after stopping his sentence.
"A-ah well, after you fainted, Mari and I found you. Your room was full of broken glass from the bathroom, so Mari told me to bring you here while she cleaned up.*
A moment of silence followed before Asuka said:
"And then? What did you do?"
"I waited for you to wake up again."
"For how long?"
"I… Don't remember."
"As usual, you idiot. You probably fell asleep anyway."
Asuka said, not knowing that Shinji was hiding the fact that he had remained awake the entire time, but had never been able to approach her or even try to wake her up.
She turned towards the door, intending to leave, but then Shinji said:
"Wait Asuka!"
She turned back around.
"Do your hands hurt?"
They still did, but in no world Asuka would have ever admitted that. So she said:
"No, I barely felt anything. But don't you dare try to do it ever again!"
"Ah, I'm glad." Shinji said, forcing Asuka to suppress a blush that she didn't expect.
"Yeah whatever. Be sure to not be late tomorrow." She said while staring to make her way outside.
"I won't… A-and… I hope that we can work together well!" Shinji said, forcing out a small smirk from Asuka before she closed the door.
As soon as he heard the locking mechanism close, his body gave out on him and he fell face first into the bed.
The sun was starting to disappear below the horizon as the light coming from the windows turned increasingly warmer, allowing him to relax for a moment as he thought:
"Asuka… My bed smells a lot like her now… I guess that it's a good thing."
The image of Asuka's trembling pupils came back to him, now engraved in his memory.
"When I grabbed her arms and she couldn't move… Was Asuka actually scared there? That I might have done something to her?
But why?...
Could it be that she felt like she couldn't do anything? I couldn't control my arms at that moment, but I think that I was gripping her arms very tightly, so she wasn't able to move them…
Maybe… Yes, she was frightened by that, or at least surprised and if that's the case, is there another side to her that I don't know yet?
I've never seen her laugh, or cry, but she's a human too! She must have done that at some point. If I were to get more friendly with her, I could get the chance to see another Asuka I don't know yet!"
A thunder echoed in the distance as dark grey clouds started obscuring the setting sun and as he got up to wash his face, Shinji thought:
"But do I even deserve to be close to her? After all I've done…"
An image of a bare evangelion appeared in his head and a torrent of rage overwhelmed his body. He felt like he was inside the Slayer's armor as he looked up at the beast and thought:
"It's all your fault… You things… Have caused me so many problems in my life!"
The evangelion exploded as he reopened his eyes, startled awake by another loud thunder. He looked at his hand, then closed it into a fist and quietly said:
"I'll find a way to make you show me your other self Asuka… Everyone has always done so many things for me…"
He looked at himself as he remembered Misato, Rei, Kaworu, the Slayer and especially Asuka, as she dragged him across the red sand of Tokyo 3.
"The time has come for me to start paying them back."
Near the Wunder's canteen
Aoba whistled to himself as he approached the doors in front of him, ready to grab something to eat after having skipped dinner with all the work he had to do.
He entered, finding the entire room completely empty, even the cooks were gone, as they had taken a break after serving all the refugees.
Only one person was inside besides him. Maya. Who was sitting at the very bottom of the room, in the seat nearest to the furthest corner, trying in every way to be as invisible as possible.
A sense of sorrow filled him by seeing her alone like that, so he ignored his aching stomach and walked towards her.
As he got closer, he noticed that she was sitting in a fetal position, with her head buried in her knees. Her phone on the table was playing some music, as a white cable went from it to her ears.
Thunder echoed from outside as he finally reached the table, sitting on the opposite side of the metallic plank.
He approached her and got her attention by calling out to her, but since it didn't seem to work, he placed a hand on her shoulder, which immediately made her shake in surprise.
The two shared a look for a moment that seemed to drag on forever, as Aoba felt his words die in his throat as he thought:
"Was she always this pretty?"
He then noticed that her eyes were shining with leftover tears and her skin looked a bit pale as well. So he sat back down and said as she removed the earbuds:
"Maya, is everything okay?"
"I… Guess not. But you shouldn't worry about it. I'm just being childish and stupid." She said while hiding her face again.
"Hey, don't be like that now. I'm here for you Maya and… I-"
He stopped talking as memories of what they went through after the near third impact resurfaced. Him and Hyuga alone, while Maya was being interrogated with Ritsuko in Beijing. The constant reminders from his friend that they should go and stop that, that they could put an end to their trials by coming in as witnesses… And his constant fear of the thing that unit 01 had become. Its horrid face haunting his dreams ever since that day.
"But we never went.
The trials only ended five years later. Five years of unjust prison that I could have prevented… If only I had more strength back then.
I couldn't even recognize her when we saw each other on the Wunder by how much she had changed. It's as if the old her had been completely destroyed… Maybe… Until now."
His eyes fixated again on the girl next to him. He knew that he was finally seeing the old Maya again, but that was also making his heart race to its absolute limits.
He tried his best to breathe as slowly and as silently as possible, eventually slowing down his heart enough for him to concentrate.
He looked at Maya and thought as icy sweat slithered down his forehead:
"This nervousness… The same one I felt at my first ever public exhibition. My guitar, cold as steel in my trembling hands. My breath, uneven and barely silent enough to not be picked up by the microphone.
It's just like back then… When all I had to do… In front of that huge crowd-"
He looked at Maya, then closed his eyes and thought:
"All I had to do was play the first note."
He grabbed Maya and pulled her into a hug before she could say anything, holding her like that for a couple of seconds before saying:
"Sorry, but I just couldn't stand to see you like that."
"I… I told you that I'm fine, Aoba."
"Your tears are telling me otherwise. Come on Maya, we've known each other forever at this point. You…
You can tell me if there's something troubling you. Trust me."
The girl's tears started to stop as he slowly let her go, but she remained close to his chest as she said:
"It's about something that happened with Ritsuko.
These last few days I had been stealing from the cafeteria the ingredients to make a small cake. It took me so many sleepless nights to get it done properly that at one point I had even forgotten that I had to sleep."
"Were you going to propose to her? About how you feel."
"I had written everything down in a letter, all the emotions that I always felt for her." She got closer to him and continued:
"So today I went to her room and she didn't even reply when I went inside. It was clear that all the work was stressing her out and I thought about coming back another time.
But I had gone through so much work to make everything, that my heart won me over and I showed her the cake and the letter."
Maya stopped for a moment to catch her breath before saying:
"I- I don't think that she has ever shouted at me this much since we've known each other."
"What did she tell you?" Aoba said.
"She said t-that I was stupid for wasting food on a dumb cake, now that there are this many refugees on board.
Then, she read the letter and told me that I was childish for believing that it could ever work between us. That she could love me back. She was even about to tear it apart, but I took it from her and ran away, then I came here."
"Wow… I mean that doesn't sound at all like her. I've seen her get angry, but never in the way you just described."
"I know! But what was I supposed to do!?"
Aoba let out a sigh as he saw small tears starting to form again in her reddened eyes,then hugged her as he said:
"Nothing, Maya. I guess that sometimes fate just wants to play with you, in a twisted way as well.
Tell me, do you still love her?"
"I… Yes. A couple of words aren't enough to make everything go away. But I'm not sure if I should even be feeling like this." Maya said as Aoba pushed her off of him and said:
"That's alright. To be honest I don't know how well I can help you, but you should just know that what you're feeling is normal. That it's okay to feel like this for what happened and that…
I'll be by your side, always."
"Make that two!" Hyuga suddenly said as he revealed himself to the duo, startling them as Aoba said:
"How long have you been there?!"
"I was passing by for a snack and I heard you two talking. I'm sorry to hear about what happened, Maya."
"T-thank you, but why did you come out only now?" Maya asked and a grin formed on Hyuga's face as he said:
"Well I could have done that, but you two just look too cute together."
"Ehhh?!" They said in unison while trying their best to jump away from each other as their faces became as red as the corrupted sand.
"Hahaha. Your faces are awesome guys. Hey, how about some cake? It's the one you made Maya, right?" He said as he grabbed the dish he had placed on a nearby table.
"Wait, I thought you had thrown it away? Or that at least Ritsuko did." Aoba asked.
"Oh well, I didn't have the heart to get rid of it…"
"To think that a week ago I would have thought that you were going to kick my ass if I looked at you wrong."
"Oh come on! I'm not that scary! Haha."
"Well you certainly aren't when you're laughing, but damn don't you have a strong grip. I thought you were going to rip my shirt off for a moment."
Maya giggled as they all sat down together and Hyuga gave them their forks. Words gave away to munching as they enjoyed each other's presence, a rare occasion considering how busy all three of them were, how bad the world looked out there.
But nonetheless, inside the Wunder, they still had hope, carrying it on with themselves every day, so that maybe it could become true after time.
As long as the Wunder remained, their hope would not vanish.
NERV Headquarters, Fuyutsuki's office
Fuyutsuki slowly typed away at his keyboard as his old fingers moved the various files around. His chair creaked as the sunlight faded from his window, replaced by a dark gray cloud.
He clicked 'send'. And was done.
He watched as the stream of data was sent to the MAGI computers below, activating an emergency protocol that only a very select few apart from him had known about.
Once it was done, he got up from his chair and walked through the countless corridors, eventually reaching one of the few still standing balconies.
Water droplets started falling in front of him as bright flashes of light illuminated the darkening sky in the distance.
He sighed in relief as he thought:
"Now all we have to do is wait for them to grab the bait. It'll take a while, but if it works then they'll never be able to recover."
The sound of thunder got closer and closer as Fuyutsuki suddenly felt an icy chill going through his back, making him feel like he was being watched. Then out of nowhere these words were whispered in his ear.
'A storm is coming.'
"Huh?! Who's there? Gendo? Tabris?"
Only the wind answered.
"God… I guess that age really is catching up on me. Now I've started hearing things as well." Fuyutsuki said as he went back inside, just as a lightning bolt struck the top of the NERV pyramid.
The storm was almost there.
TO BE CONTINUED