Searching for Eden
Hand in hand, Shinji and Rei ran down a secret passage toward their freedom.
"They're all dead!" Shinji cried out. Never in his life did he expect for it to end like this.
Rei didn't respond. For she already knew what he said was true. She just quickened her pace as she lead him out. They were lucky that she knew the layout of NERV so well, But it wasn't until they made their plans to leave did she search for this exit.
"Shinji, please.. hurry!" She yelled out. Never in her life had she spoken so loud. The yell wasn't very loud by anyone's standard, but it was loud for her. She could hear SEELE soldiers behind them and Shinji's sorrow was slowing them down.
Shinji tried to hold back his tears and quicken his pace. He stared at the girl in front of him, leading the way. She looked so calm. Even after every thing they had been through, after everything she knew, and that death was running behind them with guns trying to kill them
A bullet passed over their heads. One of many.
"They see us!" Shinji yelled.
"Faster, Shinji!" She cried out and let go of his hand. "Turn that corner, then keep going straight until you get to a sign with an orange arrow. Touch it and a door will open. Wait for me in there!" She stopped running.
Shinji forced his momentum to stop and turned to face her. "What are doing?"
"I am.. going to protect you." She said as loudly as her voice would allow. "Now go, and do as I say!"
"No!" He cried out. His tears were streaming down his cheeks. " I will not leave you! We promised never to leave each other!"
She turned her head and looked back; she could hear the soldiers closely approaching. "*I* promised that I will always protect you." She turned back to him. "Please trust me! I will return to you!"
He could tell by her eyes that she spoke the truth, but he was still reluctant to leave.
"Please Oniisan!" A tear trickled out her crimson eyes. She didn't want him to see her for what she was. She didn't want him to know she was an angel.
Reluctantly, he nodded and ran in the direction she commanded.
She waited until he was out of sight then turned and faced the direction of her aggressors. Her eyes began to glow and a divine wind current swirled around her, fluttering her hair and dress. The very same instant her powers surfaced, the alarm announcing that an angel attack started to blare. Once the soldiers were in sight, her eyes narrowed. "I will not allow you to harm him."
~~~~~
Shinji covered his ears as he ran. The alarm was especially loud down there. He now knew why she wanted him to leave. I don't hate you for what you are imooto-chan, Please ..just be safe, He quickly found the hiding place, went in, and waited for her.
He was surprised what he found inside. Two book bags. He opened them. One was filled with a few female clothes, a black wig and some MRE's The other was filled with a few male clothes. Two passports, one of him and one of Rei with a black wig on and tinted shades. There were two train tickets to a city he never heard of, and some more MRE's. In a side pocket, he found about 500 dollars worth in yin He closed them back up and smiled to himself. He felt more secure in her promise that she would return to him. He was also impressed. She said that she would handle things when it came to their escape, but he didn't think she would be *so* prepared. He sat down, tucked his knees against his chest and wrap his arms around them.
Although he tried not to think about it, tears streamed down his cheeks and ended up whispering a mantra that "They're all dead."
About 20 minutes later he heard a light knock on the hideout door.
He felt his heart stop. He wasn't sure whether to open the door or not.
"Shinji! It's me!" Rei called out with a bit of an edge to her calm voice. "We must leave! Grab the provisions I stored in there!"
Quickly the boy complied and left the room. He handed her, her book bag. Allowing only a second to quickly put them on and they started running again.
About 38 minutes later.
Rei grabbed his hand. "This way, Shinji!"
They turned left and ten minutes later they arrived at a garage. She reached into a side pocket of her book bag, pulled out a set of keys, and ran toward a black Bentley. She clicked the alarm off and the doors opened.
As gently commanded "Get in, Shinji." as she quickly got into the drivers seat.
He got into the passenger's seat.
She smiled at him and started the ignition. "This is the commanders car. I don't think he will be needing it anymore."
He couldn't help but to smile back.
"Put your seatbelt on." She commanded as she did the same. "I do not know how to drive."
He nodded in understanding. He didn't know how to drive either. He knew how to save the world and control a giant robot, but he had no idea how to drive and automobile.
She pushed a button on the dashboard and the exit revealed itself. Slowly they drove out.
"Rei, shouldn't we be going faster?"
She shook her head no and concentrated on what she was doing.
The boy became frantic. "But they're going to catch us!"
"There is no one following us anymore, Shinji."
His mouth fell open in shock. They had to have been running away from at least thirty men.
She glanced at him despite the fact that she didn't want to. "I...I..am sorry"
He nodded for he couldn't speak. He wasn't angry at her...just shocked.
She returned to her task at hand. When they pulled out, they were nowhere near Tokyo-3. They were in what looked like, the country. He turned in his seat and watched the exit close and return to look like a grassy plain.
"Where are we?" He panted out quizzically. He was out of breath from running so much.
"About 2 miles outside of the city." She admitted as she drove the car. Her hands were on ten and two and she was sitting forward in her seat for could barely see over the steering wheel.
"How did we get so far out of the city, so quickly?" He panted out quizzically.
"Shinji, we were running for our lives for over two hours straight. We *ran* out of the city." Her brow furrowed as she increased their speed to the appropriate speed limit.
His adrenaline was still pumping hard. He didn't even realize how long he had been running.. He looked at his sister. She looked as calm as ever. "Rei"
She didn't answer.
But he knew he had her full attention. "Thank-you"
She smiled as she kept her eyes on the barren road.
He sat back in the plush seats of the luxury car. "I thought we were going to take a train."
"We are." She admitted. "But the train station we are going to use is approximately two days away."
"Why use one so far away?" He asked.
"It would be unsafe to use one any closer...." Her voice was as calm as ever. "If we were ever searched for...the closer station would be the first place they would use to track us down."
"You think that SEELE would search for us?" His tone expressed his fear then he noticed her clothes. Her whole left sided was bloodied. "Rei did you get shot?"
She glanced down at her arm then back to the road. She looked as if she just realized she was hurt. "Only twice." Considering how many bullets were shot at her, she did good.
However Shinji didn't see it that way. "Rei we've got to bandage up your wounds or you're going to bleed to death!"
She shook her head. "They were only flesh wounds."
"Then where did all the blood come from?" His stomach turned when he imagined it being someone else's "Its it someone else's?"
"No. It is mine." She admitted calmly. "I injured myself when I jumped out of the commanders jeep when he was taking me to central dogma."
"Oh.." He couldn't believe how nonchalantly she was talking about what looked like serious injuries. " Are you ok?"
"Yes" She stated simple "I have healed already." Her eyes widened after she made her confession. She didn't mean to say that.
He asked meekly "Is it because you are an angel?"
She looked at him, surprised that he knew.
"Well" He gave her a sheepish expression "The only other person I know..." His demeanor became sad, as he corrected his wording "Knew...The only person I knew how looked similar to you was Kaworu... and he was an angel"
She nodded and looked back at he road.
A few tears trickled out was he thought about what he did to his friend. He wiped away his tears and continued ."And when the alarm went off... and you got rid of thirty armed men, without a weapon .." He forced himself to laugh "That kinda was a dead give away."
She nodded. No other reaction to his words.
However Shinji words made him sad. The saying 'dead give away' made him think about all his friend that had died. "They're all gone... they're dead, Rei"
She nodded. No other reaction to his words.
He looked away from her. He didn't know how he expected her to react, but he didn't expect her to react as if she didn't care. It angered him; though, he refused to voice it. Instead he looked out the window and silently cried for his departed friends.
After about 39 minutes, Rei spoke on the matter.
"Shinji"
He didn't answer. He was upset with her.
She sighed and pulled over. He looked at her and was surprised to see the deep sadness in her eyes. He wiped away his own tears and embraced her.
"Rei... are you ok?"
"No." She simply stated. "I am sad, Shinji."
He held her tighter and cried onto her shoulder. He felt ashamed of himself for thinking that she didn't care. She did not cry, but she found comfort in him as he found comfort in her.
"It truly is just us now" He sobbed.
She caressed his hair and gently wiped away his tears with the back of her hand. She didn't try to stop him from expressing his sorrow. She just comforted him. However she didn't expect him to cry so long. He cried about two hours before he fell asleep. Rei sighed heavily as she gently placed his head on his headrest. She pushed a button and reclined his chair so he could sleep peacefully. Luckily, they were not behind schedule. She started the car and thanked her intelligence for giving them about five hour leeway for situations such as this. She knew that she would have to drive the entire night if there were to avoid any road blocks from SEELE, the UN or NERV depending who won that war in headquarters.
She glanced one more time at Shinji and smiled warmly. She had a feeling that even though she was the 'little sister' she was going to be taking care of him. At least for the first year.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Two days later.
Shinji drove into the small town of Tanaka. They had traded the Bentley for a car that wasn't so lavishly expensive. They got rid of it because they didn't need to draw any unnecessary attention to themselves. However, what surprised Shinji was that the location Rei drove to trade the car, was in the opposite direction of where they were headed. She said she did that because she wasn't going to chance being tracked or followed.
Shinji looked at the girl who was sitting next to him. She didn't even look like the Rei he knew. She had on her shoulder length black wig. Which made her pale skin stand out even more. She also had on tinted glasses that eerily looked like his fathers. All in all .. she looked sickly. "What are we going to do with the car?"
"We will abandon it, Shinji" She stated calmly as she pointed to an almost empty parking lot.
"What?" He couldn't believe she just said that. "We should at least try an sell it!" He slowly parked where she told him to.
"We cannot risk it."
"But the money..." He tried to convince her.
She cut him off with a serious look. "Shinji, we cannot risk being remembered in this town." She held up her finger to hush him when she noticed him about to speak. "You are Ikari Shinji. The son of the commander of NERV. I am Ayanami Rei, Proof of Artificial Evolution. It is too much of a risk right now. Right now, all things that were *not* supposed to exist are being *erased* A few thousand yin is not worth out lives."
He paled and swallowed hard and nodded.
By his reaction, she was satisfied that her point was made. She slightly shook her head and wondered how many times she was going to have to explain that to him.
They made sure that they got everything that belonged to them. When all was clear, she repeated the same procedure she did when they traded in the Bentley. Rei put on rubber gloves and swabbed the entire car, inside and out, with alcohol wipes, ensuring that they left absolutely not trace of themselves.
He didn't even bother to ask if that was really necessary. He didn't want to get the *speech* again. He wanted to think she was just paranoid, but he knew better. She was raised by his father, so she knew the rules of the *game* better than he ever would. He looked at his watch.
"Rei, were going to miss the train if we don't leave now."
She ignored him and finished her task.
"Rei." He said adamantly. He was stressed that they were going to miss the train.
She assured calmly. "We have time, Shinji." She got out of the car and held her hand out to him. "Give me the keys."
He obeyed with out question.
She wiped them off placed them on the drivers seat and closed the unlocked door. "Lets go."
His eyes tripled their size and he gestured wildly to what she just did.
"Someone will steal it." She assured, disregarding the true meaning of his gestures.
He shook his head in disbelief. It wasn't worth arguing about. He wasn't going to win. He learned that these past to days. He learned a lot of things about Rei these past two days. He learned that she wasn't shy like he had always thought. He found out the reason she didn't speak was because she was *selective* to whom she spoke to. He also learned that she was incredibly smart and street savvy. She informed him that she wasn't given back all her memories in her soul transfer. However, his father allowed her to have all her intelligence and the knowledge of everything that dealt with NERV, but he deemed all other memories unnecessary for his plan. But one thing that was confirmed during this trip was that Rei was completely ethereal. Her movements were fluid and beautifully gentle. Never in his life had he ever met someone who appeared to so fragile. It made him feel like he needed to protect her and take care of her; even though, she was quite possibly the strongest (not physically) person he had ever met in his entire life.
Rei noticed her brother looking at her again as she put on a baseball cap that covered the top portion of her face down to her tinted glasses. "What are you looking at?" She inquired.
Shinji blushed heavily and shook his head and sheepishly lied. "N..n..nothing"
She gave no response as she picked up her book bag and walked in the direction of the train station.
Shinji walked behind her. To him, she looked so weird with regular blue jeans and a tee-shirt and windbreaker on. And the black hair... He shook his head. She did not look like the Ayanami Rei he knew. But then again .... that was the point.
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I still don't own anything that deal with Evangelion.
