I know that the first chapters went fairly slow, but I promise I am
trying to pick things up in this chapter. I aim to provide insights into
Colin's character, but not too many just yet.
++++++
Slave to the Machine
By: Langerhast
Chapter Three
++++++
Asuka murmured dark thoughts to herself as she made her way from Shinji's bedroom to the quarters of the Sixth. She hated waking the Third every morning, because she thought him too lazy, but she felt it was her responsibility, somehow.
She sighed as she knocked on the door to Colin's new bedroom. No answer came. Her patience was running short, so she simply ripped the door open. She gasped as she found Colin leaning against the doorframe, smiling at her. "Good morning, Miss Sohryu."
The German girl stared at him for a short moment, blinking, but she quickly regained her composure. "Hurry up, you oaf," she sighed, planting her fists on her hips. "Just because you're new doesn't mean I'm going to take things easy on you. Move it… we're going to be late if baka-Shinji doesn't get up soon."
"Yes, Mistress," the boy replied, giving her a formal bow. Asuka gave him quite an odd look. It had been a sarcastic remark, but there wasn't a hint of sarcasm in the boy's voice. Strange kid; that much she could determine already.
Colin fought the urge to laugh at the look on her face as she stormed away. 'Hmmm… baka,' he thought. 'I wonder… is she using that as some sort of pet name?' He chuckled at his own thoughts as he set off in the direction the redhead had gone.
++++++
Speculation arose that morning in class. Shinji had entered, being trounced on by Asuka, as usual, but shortly behind him followed a new face: a boy with blond hair and eyes as icy as Asuka's. It was soon to be discovered, however, that he himself was not icy.
Soon after the introductions had been made, he began to win the immediate popularity of many of his new classmates, mainly the stooges. Looking over at the small group at lunch, Asuka couldn't figure out how this had happened. But this meant more trouble for her. Not only was this new pilot a rival, but now he was also a stooge. She would need to start calling them Monty Python.
Asuka took a moment to break away from her conversation with Hikari, however, as she heard her name mentioned over in the area of the stooges. She strode up to their small group, blue eyes narrowed. "What did you say about me?"
They all looked surprised for a moment, even Colin, until Toji finally spoke up. "I don't know why you would care, but I was just telling the new kid here to watch out for the bitchy she-devil: Asuka."
The German girl slowly raised her fist, and the jock's eyes began to widen. "It's all right," Colin put in quickly, jumping to Toji's defense. "I already know. Poor Shinji here has already told me. By the way, Asuka, do you use 'baka' as a pet name for him? You know, like chan, kun, sa-!"
Colin, after his first real dangerous experience in Tokyo- 3, had to squint out of one eye for the rest of the school day. The pain was lessened occasionally by remarks from Toji and Kensuke like "Bold move, my friend,"
++++++
Shinji sat calmly in the entry plug of Unit 01. He tried to forget all of his worries that day, all of his pressures, and tried to hang limp in the LCL. This was his strategy… and the reason why his sync ratio was rapidly increasing. It had dropped some since the Angel Wars, but he was busily recovering lost ground.
He sighed when the voice of Ritsuko announced over the comm. link that the tests were over. Just as he was about to deactivate the plug and get out, the visual image of Colin caught his eye. The new pilots eyes had just snapped open as if he were awakening from sleep.
++++++
"Good work, all of you," Ritsuko said to the four pilots standing in front of her. "Your test scores remain steady. Rei, your current percent is 53%, Asuka's is 72%, Shinji is at 70%, and Colin," she said finally, turning to the boy in the jet-black plug suit. "Yours is currently 43%. I must say, not bad for a beginner."
Asuka almost breathed a sigh of relief at the results. She was back on top. "Hah!" She yelled. "I am once again the Great Asuka Langley Sohryu! You've got a long way to go, Sixth…" she scoffed.
"I know," Colin replied, grinning around his blackened eye. "But you just give me something to live up to, right?" The German redhead scowled slightly at this remark, and was about to turn and set off to the locker rooms, when she was stopped by Ritsuko.
"And, Asuka…" she said, gesturing towards Colin and his face injury. "Please don't try to kill your comrades." The redhead blushed slightly at this, but just turned and walked away. Ritsuko sighed, before walking off back to her work.
++++++
Shinji lay sprawled on his bed, quietly watching the darkening sky through his window as the familiar music of the SDAT filled his ears. Misato was still working at NERV in these late hours; Asuka was out somewhere with Hikari. He found himself wishing she wasn't… that she was here. But right now, it was just him, Pen Pen, and the Sixth.
Slowly, reluctantly standing up, he placed the SDAT on the folds of his bed and walked out, heading to look for Colin.
++++++
"All right, penguin, I know we got off to a rough start," Colin said quietly to Pen Pen, who was standing before him, gazing at him curiously. Colin himself was seated at the kitchen table, looking down upon the beast with an eyebrow raised. "But I want to be the first to say that I am sorry for what happened and I want to give friendship a chance… what about you?"
Not surprisingly, the penguin didn't answer. "Should I take that as a yes or a no?" The boy inquired, just as Shinji walked in.
"Uh, Colin?" The British boy glanced up at him, wide eyed, and hurriedly turned away from the penguin, desperately trying to regain his composure. Shinji smiled slightly.
"Yes?" Colin asked, those piercing blue eyes gazing directly into Shinji's. Despite himself, the Japanese boy shivered slightly. Shinji took his seat across from Colin calmly, though.
"I was just wondering… are you… okay?" He pointed to the boy's black eye.
Colin just laughed. "It's alright. I've had worse*, and I'm getting better*."
Shinji sighed in response. "You'll need to live with her for a while, I'm guessing. I'm sorry, but she always acts like that. Already, she's starting to beat up on you close to as much as she does to me."
The Sixth just flashed a strange grin at him. "Ah well, can't complain. She is a hot one, you know. You are one lucky son of a bastard, Shinji."
The Japanese boy almost fell out of his chair, choking on absolutely nothing at all. 'What had he just said?' Clearing his throat, Shinji straightened up. "You can't be serious."
"Oh, but I am. I'll admit, she is a strange one… but you need to look past that. Me, I see a girl who doesn't want to be near people but cries desperately for love. What do you think?"
'That's what he sees in her?' This set off a whole new train of thought for Shinji. 'I guess that's what I see, too… though I've never really thought about it. Could that but I why I want to get closer to her?'
"Shinji?" The British boy suddenly said, snapping Shinji out of his thoughts.
"What is it?" The Japanese boy asked in return, staring at him.
"You are a talented Eva pilot, am I correct?"
"Well, I… guess so…"
"That is good, my friend, because I am not."
Shinji raised his eyebrow at this remark. "So… you're starting out just like I did…"
"Maybe," Colin replied, standing up. "Make no mistake… I have been in an Evangelion before. I just had… problems."
"I see…" the Third found himself saying, staring at the grain in the table. He thought that he might have found out too much about this new pilot too quickly. He certainly was a strange boy, if nothing else.
"Good night, Shinji," He heard from behind him.
"Yeah, see you in the morning," he replied, not truly paying attention to what he was saying. He had far too much on his mind right now. Sighing, he stood up, and moved to his room in the direction that Colin had gone. Tomorrow would bring more confusion and pain.
++++++
Colin was sprawled on his bed with his hands behind his head, staring at the ceiling as his new roommates had done so many times before. His mind was filled with apprehensions and worries… worries that he would fail again.
"What are you planning?" He asked the blank ceiling, brow furrowed. "When are you going to make your move?" He knew all too well what was coming… and that was one of the things that threatened everyone around him.
He bolted upright as he heard the apartment door open, but slowly dropped back down. It was only Asuka and Misato. Those two women confused him, more than anyone else had. Except, of course, the First Child…
-Flashback to Before Sync Training-
The blond haired boy approached the locker rooms, his black duffel bag holding his new plug suit in hand. Suddenly, ahead of him, he spotted a girl walking with a slow, graceful movement. Without knowing her name, he could already guess who she was.
Quickening his pace, he moved up beside her. "Hello, Pilot Ayanami," he stated. She stopped to turn and look at him. He nearly jumped at the sight of her crimson eyes.
"Yes?" She asked in reply, her monotone voice almost as startling as her eyes.
Colin presented her with a sweeping bow. "I am Colin Fredericksen, designated Sixth Child and pilot of Unit 06. I am sorry I did not have the chance to meet you at my arrival yesterday."
She gave him a questioning look. "I know very well who you are. I am sorry I was unable to attend. Now I must go." With this, she padded away across the metallic floor, skirt swaying.
The British boy simply stood, scratching his head. Strange girl.
-Present-
He was jerked out of his thoughts as the screaming reached his ears. Asuka was definitely home, and Shinji had done something wrong.
He made his way to the end of the hallway and glanced around the corner, to be greeted by the sight of Asuka backing Shinji into a corner. "Why won't you even listen to me?" She screeched at him, clenching her fists. "What is wrong with you tonight, baka?" Colin blinked; she actually seemed to have a hint of pleading in her voice.
"I… I'm sorry Asuka… you force your questions on me! I can't take it anymore!"
"Then why do you stay around, dummkofp! You'd be better off dead if you feel that way!"
Tears welled up in Shinji's dark blue eyes. His mouth worked silently, but finally he choked out the words. "I stay… because I care, Asuka! I care. But you don't. You only hate!" Sobbing, he staggered to the hallway and dashed past Colin, not even seeing him and nearly knocking him over.
Colin looked after his friend, before turning back to Asuka. The girl stood there in utter disbelief, her mouth hanging open and her ice blue eyes wide with confusion. Suddenly, she noticed Colin. "Shiestkofp! Get out of here!" She yelled at him, raising a fist. Punching the wall, she threw herself down in the stiff wood chair at the table. She buried her head in her hands, auburn hair hanging from her shoulders like a ragged waterfall.
Colin turned again, this time back to his room. He shook his head sadly as he closed the door to his room, his mind on Asuka.
Hot as fire, cold as ice.
++++++
(*- Monty Python references)
I'm sorry if that chapter still seemed to drag on a bit, but many important topics were touched upon, and this part needed to be done. I promise, though, that things will truly start to pick up in the next chapter. Wait and see.
++++++
Slave to the Machine
By: Langerhast
Chapter Three
++++++
Asuka murmured dark thoughts to herself as she made her way from Shinji's bedroom to the quarters of the Sixth. She hated waking the Third every morning, because she thought him too lazy, but she felt it was her responsibility, somehow.
She sighed as she knocked on the door to Colin's new bedroom. No answer came. Her patience was running short, so she simply ripped the door open. She gasped as she found Colin leaning against the doorframe, smiling at her. "Good morning, Miss Sohryu."
The German girl stared at him for a short moment, blinking, but she quickly regained her composure. "Hurry up, you oaf," she sighed, planting her fists on her hips. "Just because you're new doesn't mean I'm going to take things easy on you. Move it… we're going to be late if baka-Shinji doesn't get up soon."
"Yes, Mistress," the boy replied, giving her a formal bow. Asuka gave him quite an odd look. It had been a sarcastic remark, but there wasn't a hint of sarcasm in the boy's voice. Strange kid; that much she could determine already.
Colin fought the urge to laugh at the look on her face as she stormed away. 'Hmmm… baka,' he thought. 'I wonder… is she using that as some sort of pet name?' He chuckled at his own thoughts as he set off in the direction the redhead had gone.
++++++
Speculation arose that morning in class. Shinji had entered, being trounced on by Asuka, as usual, but shortly behind him followed a new face: a boy with blond hair and eyes as icy as Asuka's. It was soon to be discovered, however, that he himself was not icy.
Soon after the introductions had been made, he began to win the immediate popularity of many of his new classmates, mainly the stooges. Looking over at the small group at lunch, Asuka couldn't figure out how this had happened. But this meant more trouble for her. Not only was this new pilot a rival, but now he was also a stooge. She would need to start calling them Monty Python.
Asuka took a moment to break away from her conversation with Hikari, however, as she heard her name mentioned over in the area of the stooges. She strode up to their small group, blue eyes narrowed. "What did you say about me?"
They all looked surprised for a moment, even Colin, until Toji finally spoke up. "I don't know why you would care, but I was just telling the new kid here to watch out for the bitchy she-devil: Asuka."
The German girl slowly raised her fist, and the jock's eyes began to widen. "It's all right," Colin put in quickly, jumping to Toji's defense. "I already know. Poor Shinji here has already told me. By the way, Asuka, do you use 'baka' as a pet name for him? You know, like chan, kun, sa-!"
Colin, after his first real dangerous experience in Tokyo- 3, had to squint out of one eye for the rest of the school day. The pain was lessened occasionally by remarks from Toji and Kensuke like "Bold move, my friend,"
++++++
Shinji sat calmly in the entry plug of Unit 01. He tried to forget all of his worries that day, all of his pressures, and tried to hang limp in the LCL. This was his strategy… and the reason why his sync ratio was rapidly increasing. It had dropped some since the Angel Wars, but he was busily recovering lost ground.
He sighed when the voice of Ritsuko announced over the comm. link that the tests were over. Just as he was about to deactivate the plug and get out, the visual image of Colin caught his eye. The new pilots eyes had just snapped open as if he were awakening from sleep.
++++++
"Good work, all of you," Ritsuko said to the four pilots standing in front of her. "Your test scores remain steady. Rei, your current percent is 53%, Asuka's is 72%, Shinji is at 70%, and Colin," she said finally, turning to the boy in the jet-black plug suit. "Yours is currently 43%. I must say, not bad for a beginner."
Asuka almost breathed a sigh of relief at the results. She was back on top. "Hah!" She yelled. "I am once again the Great Asuka Langley Sohryu! You've got a long way to go, Sixth…" she scoffed.
"I know," Colin replied, grinning around his blackened eye. "But you just give me something to live up to, right?" The German redhead scowled slightly at this remark, and was about to turn and set off to the locker rooms, when she was stopped by Ritsuko.
"And, Asuka…" she said, gesturing towards Colin and his face injury. "Please don't try to kill your comrades." The redhead blushed slightly at this, but just turned and walked away. Ritsuko sighed, before walking off back to her work.
++++++
Shinji lay sprawled on his bed, quietly watching the darkening sky through his window as the familiar music of the SDAT filled his ears. Misato was still working at NERV in these late hours; Asuka was out somewhere with Hikari. He found himself wishing she wasn't… that she was here. But right now, it was just him, Pen Pen, and the Sixth.
Slowly, reluctantly standing up, he placed the SDAT on the folds of his bed and walked out, heading to look for Colin.
++++++
"All right, penguin, I know we got off to a rough start," Colin said quietly to Pen Pen, who was standing before him, gazing at him curiously. Colin himself was seated at the kitchen table, looking down upon the beast with an eyebrow raised. "But I want to be the first to say that I am sorry for what happened and I want to give friendship a chance… what about you?"
Not surprisingly, the penguin didn't answer. "Should I take that as a yes or a no?" The boy inquired, just as Shinji walked in.
"Uh, Colin?" The British boy glanced up at him, wide eyed, and hurriedly turned away from the penguin, desperately trying to regain his composure. Shinji smiled slightly.
"Yes?" Colin asked, those piercing blue eyes gazing directly into Shinji's. Despite himself, the Japanese boy shivered slightly. Shinji took his seat across from Colin calmly, though.
"I was just wondering… are you… okay?" He pointed to the boy's black eye.
Colin just laughed. "It's alright. I've had worse*, and I'm getting better*."
Shinji sighed in response. "You'll need to live with her for a while, I'm guessing. I'm sorry, but she always acts like that. Already, she's starting to beat up on you close to as much as she does to me."
The Sixth just flashed a strange grin at him. "Ah well, can't complain. She is a hot one, you know. You are one lucky son of a bastard, Shinji."
The Japanese boy almost fell out of his chair, choking on absolutely nothing at all. 'What had he just said?' Clearing his throat, Shinji straightened up. "You can't be serious."
"Oh, but I am. I'll admit, she is a strange one… but you need to look past that. Me, I see a girl who doesn't want to be near people but cries desperately for love. What do you think?"
'That's what he sees in her?' This set off a whole new train of thought for Shinji. 'I guess that's what I see, too… though I've never really thought about it. Could that but I why I want to get closer to her?'
"Shinji?" The British boy suddenly said, snapping Shinji out of his thoughts.
"What is it?" The Japanese boy asked in return, staring at him.
"You are a talented Eva pilot, am I correct?"
"Well, I… guess so…"
"That is good, my friend, because I am not."
Shinji raised his eyebrow at this remark. "So… you're starting out just like I did…"
"Maybe," Colin replied, standing up. "Make no mistake… I have been in an Evangelion before. I just had… problems."
"I see…" the Third found himself saying, staring at the grain in the table. He thought that he might have found out too much about this new pilot too quickly. He certainly was a strange boy, if nothing else.
"Good night, Shinji," He heard from behind him.
"Yeah, see you in the morning," he replied, not truly paying attention to what he was saying. He had far too much on his mind right now. Sighing, he stood up, and moved to his room in the direction that Colin had gone. Tomorrow would bring more confusion and pain.
++++++
Colin was sprawled on his bed with his hands behind his head, staring at the ceiling as his new roommates had done so many times before. His mind was filled with apprehensions and worries… worries that he would fail again.
"What are you planning?" He asked the blank ceiling, brow furrowed. "When are you going to make your move?" He knew all too well what was coming… and that was one of the things that threatened everyone around him.
He bolted upright as he heard the apartment door open, but slowly dropped back down. It was only Asuka and Misato. Those two women confused him, more than anyone else had. Except, of course, the First Child…
-Flashback to Before Sync Training-
The blond haired boy approached the locker rooms, his black duffel bag holding his new plug suit in hand. Suddenly, ahead of him, he spotted a girl walking with a slow, graceful movement. Without knowing her name, he could already guess who she was.
Quickening his pace, he moved up beside her. "Hello, Pilot Ayanami," he stated. She stopped to turn and look at him. He nearly jumped at the sight of her crimson eyes.
"Yes?" She asked in reply, her monotone voice almost as startling as her eyes.
Colin presented her with a sweeping bow. "I am Colin Fredericksen, designated Sixth Child and pilot of Unit 06. I am sorry I did not have the chance to meet you at my arrival yesterday."
She gave him a questioning look. "I know very well who you are. I am sorry I was unable to attend. Now I must go." With this, she padded away across the metallic floor, skirt swaying.
The British boy simply stood, scratching his head. Strange girl.
-Present-
He was jerked out of his thoughts as the screaming reached his ears. Asuka was definitely home, and Shinji had done something wrong.
He made his way to the end of the hallway and glanced around the corner, to be greeted by the sight of Asuka backing Shinji into a corner. "Why won't you even listen to me?" She screeched at him, clenching her fists. "What is wrong with you tonight, baka?" Colin blinked; she actually seemed to have a hint of pleading in her voice.
"I… I'm sorry Asuka… you force your questions on me! I can't take it anymore!"
"Then why do you stay around, dummkofp! You'd be better off dead if you feel that way!"
Tears welled up in Shinji's dark blue eyes. His mouth worked silently, but finally he choked out the words. "I stay… because I care, Asuka! I care. But you don't. You only hate!" Sobbing, he staggered to the hallway and dashed past Colin, not even seeing him and nearly knocking him over.
Colin looked after his friend, before turning back to Asuka. The girl stood there in utter disbelief, her mouth hanging open and her ice blue eyes wide with confusion. Suddenly, she noticed Colin. "Shiestkofp! Get out of here!" She yelled at him, raising a fist. Punching the wall, she threw herself down in the stiff wood chair at the table. She buried her head in her hands, auburn hair hanging from her shoulders like a ragged waterfall.
Colin turned again, this time back to his room. He shook his head sadly as he closed the door to his room, his mind on Asuka.
Hot as fire, cold as ice.
++++++
(*- Monty Python references)
I'm sorry if that chapter still seemed to drag on a bit, but many important topics were touched upon, and this part needed to be done. I promise, though, that things will truly start to pick up in the next chapter. Wait and see.