Authors notes: All right here we have the long awaited (not really) third
chapter to my continuation of Axel Terizakis A Tale That Wasn't Right. This
chapter is pretty self-explanatory from the title. Death and Rebirth/A
Terrifying Revelation. In case you don't know I will take a moment to
explain.
*author raises a battered metal shield as he looks at the audience before him in fear*
In this chapter Rei dies and is reborn as ReiIII. That is the death and rebirth part. The Terrifying revelation is Shinji learning of Rei's horrible origins.
If you were paying attention during the last chapter then you noticed that Asuka is still around, in one form or another. There will be more with her in this chapter as well.
Now for the disclaimer…. *Ducks and raises his shield as several, heavy objects are thrown at him* I do not own anything pertaining to Eva. *A high- heeled shoe slips under his guard and breaks the authors nose*
On with the show……
1 A Tale That Wasn't Right
2 Death and Rebirth/A Terrifying Revelation: Part One
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It has been two weeks since the funeral. Shinji Ikari is not feeling any better as he sits on the couch in the living room, his SDAT blaring music into his ears. His eyes are distant as he stares ahead listlessly. He has lost all interest in anything that once held any meaning for him.
He can now be seen carrying his SDAT player around with him everywhere
he goes. On more than one occasion he had absentmindedly tried to take it into the entry
plug with him for during synch tests. Ritsuko had stopped him when she noticed it.
He briefly thought of all the tests that he had gone through in the last two weeks. Ritsuko had run extensive tests on him to try and find out if his intimate encounter with Asuka while she had been partly possessed by an angel had done anything to him.
He almost wished that it had. If he started to change then he wouldn't feel guilty about taking his own life as well. He glanced down at the cold glittering metal sitting in his lap.
"They say time heals all wounds." He whispered to the empty apartment. "I don't think time will ever heal this one." He stood and slowly walked out of the apartment to go for a walk around the city.
As the door to the apartment slid closed the knife slipped off the edge of the couch and fell to the floor with a thump, the cold metal reflecting the soft light coming through the window.
____________________
"How is he?" Ritsuko asked. Misato looked up at her from across the table. The two women were sitting in the NERV cafeteria eating lunch. Well actually only Ritsuko was eating; Misato found that she just couldn't stomach much of anything these days.
"Terrible." She answered. "He cries every night." Her voice was heavy with her sorrow. "I can hear him through the walls. He screams her name and I can hear him crying desperately for her to come back to him."
"Do you ever try to comfort him?" Ritsuko asked. Misato silently shook her head. "Why not!?" Ritsuko was shocked. She knew how much Misato cared for Shinji but here she was telling her that she let him suffer alone.
"I tried the first night." Misato said. "I ran to his room and sat down on his bed next to him as he cried. I tried to hold him but he wouldn't let me. He started to struggle." Misato unconsciously put one hand to her right cheek. "He hit me." She whispered. "He screamed at me to leave him alone and then he slapped me."
Ritsuko blinked in shock as she tried to imagine Shinji hitting another person. She couldn't do it.
"He said he was angry that I stopped him at the cliffs. Things would have been better if I hadn't stopped him."
"Misato if you had not stopped him from jumping off those cliffs then we could all die the next time an angel attacks." Ritsuko said hoping to jar her friend back to reality. "You were right to stop him. I don't blame him though. He is hurting. You can't take what he says seriously, eventually he will calm down." She stood and stepped away from the table.
"Just give him some time Misato." She turned and started to walk away. "Time heals all wounds." She said over her shoulder. Misato simply nodded as the blond woman walked away from her, lost in her own contemplation, and inner turmoil.
____________________
Shinji had come to a decision. He needed something. He needed something to remind him of her when he wasn't able to visit her grave. He had come to this decision several days ago but had been unable to think of anything that would bring him this peace of mind. There was nothing that he could think of to express his love and devotion for her, even after her death, that he could keep with him.
Today he was wandering the streets of Tokyo-3. He was not going anywhere really, just wandering aimlessly, when he passed a shop. A sign above the door caught his eye and he turned to read it. Realization dawned on him, and he hurried inside the shop to make a purchase.
He went inside and spoke to a man behind the counter. After a few minutes of conversation he looked down inside the case and pointed at an object. The man smiled, bent down and removed the object that Shinji had indicated.
Shinji paid for it with his NERV card, emptying his account in the process. Then he pocketed the purchase and walked out the door. He reached into his pocket for his phone and dialed a number.
The phone rang three times and Misato picked up.
/Misato here./
"Misato it's Shinji. I need you to do me a favor."
/What kind of favor is that Shinji?/
"Get a hold of two section 2 agents. I want to set up a guard at Asukas' grave. 24 hours a day. Two agents there at all times. Come down to the cemetery right now. Can you do that Misato?" By the tone in his voice Misato could tell that it was more of an order than a request. But she was curious to see what he wanted with a guard.
/Sure I can set that up. Two agents there at all times./
/Click/
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Misato held the phone away from her ear and looked at it, an expression of shock spread all over her face.
"Did he just….." She put the phone back to her ear and listened for a moment. "He just hung up on me." Misato growled and slammed the phone back on the cradle. She glared at it for a moment before remembering her promise to Shinji.
So she snatched up the phone and started making the arrangements.
____________________
When Misato and the Section 2 agents arrived at the cemetery Shinji was already there, waiting for them. He was sitting on the ground in front of Asukas grave his legs crossed Indian style.
"Well Shinji, we're here. What is it you wanted these guys for?" Misato asked as she approached him. The blank, expressionless look on the boys' face did not falter at the sound of her voice. Nor did he seem to acknowledge that he even heard her.
Several minutes pass in silence and just as Misato is about to ask her question again Shinji speaks.
"I need something Misato." He said, his voice heavy with sorrow and a deep regret. He looked up from the black five-foot black obsidian slab that marked the resting place of his beloved. His eyes were dead, no longer holding any emotion at all. His once warm blue eyes were now as cold as ice, and their color was reminiscent of the deepest oceans.
That is how Misato felt as she stood there gazing into his eyes, as if she were sinking into a bottomless pool and she had no way to save herself.
"I need something to show how much I love her. Even now after she is gone." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small black velvet box. He opened it, and inside sat two brightly shining wedding bands.
They were very unusual bands. Plan, with small vine like etchings around them. The design was so thin and delicate as to be almost invisible. They appeared to be made out of silver. But upon closer inspection Misato could tell that the metal was not silver despite its' color.
"This is going to show my love for her." With that Shinji rose to his feet and walked towards the grave. He stopped beside the marker and removed the smaller of the two rings from the box. Kneeling he placed the ring on the small ledge created by the bottom of the marker.
Rising to his feet he stepped around in front of the marker and looked down at the other ring that was still in the box in his hands. Misato stepped closer to him standing a few feet behind and to his right.
"Do you know why people wear wedding rings Misato."
"No Shinji. I don't know why."
"It is symbolic. The circular band represents eternity. It has no beginning and no end. It is a symbol of the love shared between two people. Unbreaking and unwavering. Do you know what metal I had these rings made out of?"
Misato remained silent.
"They are made out of Titanium Misato. One of the strongest metal alloys' known to man. I got them this way as another symbol." He turned and faced Misato, tears welling up in his eyes as he spoke. "These bands are a symbol of my love for her. Humans are fragile creatures Misato. They break easily."
"This ring will still exist long after its wearer is gone from this earth." He pulled the second ring out of the box and slipped it on the fourth finger of his left hand. "I will never take this ring off Misato. I want everyone to know that I still love her, even in death she will be the only one I will ever love."
"And when I die, I will be buried wearing this ring." He stood up straight and squared his shoulders. "Misato I asked for you to arrange to have the guard placed here because I am leaving Asukas ring here. This is a public cemetery however so the guard is to make sure no one disturbs it."
Misato nodded with a dumbfounded expression on her face. With her acknowledgment of his wishes Shinji placed the earbuds of his SDAT in his ear and slowly walked away from the grave. His eyes were downcast and his shoulders were slumped.
Misato stared after him until he was lost among the other grave markers. Then she turned to look at the two men dressed in black. They had stood a few feet away throughout Shinjis' extended speech. Now they were paying close attention to their commanding officer.
"Well guys, you heard the man. Take up your posts." The two men walked without speaking to a spot on either side of the black grave marker. They stood their silent vigil over that slim, precious piece of metal that meant so much to a boy that held the fate of the world on his weary shoulders.
____________________
Asuka stood by the grave watching as he slowly walked away. Once again she knew that he would not hear her if she called out to him. She turned and right on cue Kaoru stepped up to the grave appearing out of nowhere.
"Why am I here Kaoru?" she asked for the hundredth time.
"Your purpose has not yet been fulfilled." He said again. She screamed in anger and clawed at her hair. This was the same answer he gave her every time. Spoken in the same calm voice.
"What the hell does that mean??!!!!!!!!" she screamed at him. He merely gazed at her with the same insufferably calm expression on his face. She swung her fist at his head, fully intent on knocking that calm expression right off his face.
At least she would have but her hand passed right through his skull. She had no affect at all on the material world around her anymore. After several minutes of cursing, screaming, and more attempts to injure the light haired angel, Asuka finally calmed down.
"Asuka you are here because you can't die yet. You still have a purpose on earth, that you must fulfill." Asuka took a moment to consider his words, and as she did she thought once again about that day two weeks before when they had met.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"I am your guide, and I am the 17th angel." Asuka gasped and jerked her hand out of his grip. She slowly started backing away from the pale boy.
"The 17th?" she asked in surprise. He nodded.
"Yes. I am here to guide you through the events that will soon occur."
"What events would those be?" she asked suspiciously. Kaoru smiled softly at her. With out bothering to answer her question he turned and slowly walked away from her.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Now Asuka glared at him for a few moments before speaking.
"You keep telling me that I have a purpose that must be fulfilled. Do you ever intend on telling me what that purpose is?" she asked. Kaoru just smiled again, and shook his head.
Asuka growled at him but managed to restrain herself from attacking.
"Asuka I have come here today to tell you something. You are no longer bonded to this place." Asuka blinked, and used his pause in speaking to express her confusion.
"Huh?"
"You have noticed that you have been unable to move very far from your grave. This is no longer the case. You may now go anywhere that you want." Kaoru stood and looked at her expectantly.
Asuka slowly started to walk away from the grave. Six feet….. eight feet….. ten feet….. eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen. Asuka stopped and turned to look back at the grave and the two men standing watch over her wedding ring.
Why those two men never saw Kaoru she'd never know. She turned and sprinted away from the grave, in the direction she had seen Shinji go. Soon she noticed a presence beside her. Turning her head she saw Kaoru easily keeping pace with her.
"Where are you going?" he asked.
"To find Shinji."
"Why are you running?" She skidded to a halt.
"How else am I supposed to find him?" she asked. Kaoru smiled that soft, almost sad smile that he always used with her.
"You could feel him." He quickly noticed the confused expression on her face and clarified hi answer. "Close you eyes and concentrate on him. You will be transported to his side. His love for you will make it very easy for you to do."
"Really?" Asuka closed her eyes and drew up a picture of Shinji in her mind. It was the image that she had last seen before jumping off of the cliffs. He was standing in his plugsuit. The woods behind him. She saw clearly the frightened, desperate look on his face. And in that instant she had seen how much he really loved her.
Suddenly Asuka felt a strange sensation. It felt like her body was turning into liquid, and was being pulled somewhere by some irresistible force. When she felt normal again she opened her eyes to find that she was no longer in the cemetery.
Looking around she saw that she was on one of the streets of Tokyo-3 and two feet away Shinji was sitting at a bus stop. Asuka stopped and stared at him. He looks awful. she thought. Indeed he did.
He was thin, thinner then he had been when she had last seen him. His face was drawn and tired. Like he hadn't been getting any sleep. And at last she came to his eyes. Those warm blue eyes that had once gazed at her with so much love in them were no dead and glassy.
He seemed oblivious to everything that was going on around him. His SDAT was in his lap the earbuds in his ears. Shoulders hunched over as if he were bearing a great weight on them.
Suddenly a bar of light passed over his face. Like a reflection off of a piece of metal. He didn't even flinch or blink as the light passed right over his eyes. He seemed to be intently studying what ever was reflecting the light at him.
Taking a few steps closer she realized what it was. Shinjis hand was in his lap and held in that hand was an open pocketknife. He was tilting it back and forth watching the sunlight reflect off of the blade.
"Shinji. Don't do it." Shinji looked up, almost as if he had heard her. And for a moment seemed to stare directly at her. Asuka breath caught in her throat. can he see me? she thought.
His dead eyes continued to gaze directly at her for the space of several heartbeats before he lowered them back to his lap. Asuka walked over to him and sat down on the bench beside him. Turning she studied him.
"Shinji." She said. "Don't give up. I know you, you're stronger than this. You need to continue to pilot Shinji. Everyone is counting on you, Rei, Misato, Touji, Kensuke, Hikari. I am counting you Shinji." Asuka new that he couldn't hear her, and perhaps it was that little detail that allowed her to pour her heart out to him. Without her pride getting in the way.
Shinji stood. With his thumb he carefully closed the knife and slipped it into his pocket. Then he turned to his left and started to walk away from the bus stop. Asuka sat for a few minutes, thinking about what she had seen.
He looks terrible. I never thought my death would hit him so hard. I was trying to save him the agony of killing me. Maybe I should have let Rei do it. Asuka was too upset to realize what she had just thought of.
"Was it what you expected Asuka?" Asuka turned her head to find Kaoru sitting on the bus stop next to her. He had his arms back supported on the back of the bench. His legs were extended in front of him, crossed at the ankles in a relaxed position.
"Shut up." She growled with as much venom in her voice as she could muster. "I love him. And my death is hurting him terribly." He nodded his head to her.
"Yes it is. But that is what happens when you lose a loved one. He loves you and the pain of losing you is slowly destroying him. He needs comfort Asuka. But you are the only person in this world who can ease his pain."
"I know that. But I'm dead!!" she shouted. "How can I ease anything if I am dead?" Kaoru looked at her with an expression on his face that clearly said he already expected her to know the answer to that question.
"You might try his dreams." He said. Asuka blinked, all the rage leaving her in an instant.
"His dreams?"
"Yes. In your present form you would be able to enter his dreams and speak with him. He may not believe that they are real but it could give him some semblance of peace right now."
Without a word Asuka stood from the bench and began to walk in the same direction that Shinji had gone, deep in thought about what the red eyed angel had just told her. She knew where to find Shinji when she needed to. He would be back at Misatos apartment later that night.
She spent many hours wandering the streets of Tokyo-3. She ignored everything around her, her intangible form allowing her the freedom not to worry about things like cars, walls, and people. She walked through them all as if they weren't there.
Finally as the setting sun painted the sky a dull glowing orange she found herself on the sidewalk outside the apartment she had spent nearly a year living in. With a sigh Asuka squared her shoulders and marched into the apartment.
____________________
"Shinji it's time to eat!" Misato called from the kitchen. She stuck her head around the corner and looked down the darkened hallway towards his room………… silence. The door did not open and nothing was heard from the boy within.
Misato sighed. She had resolved to let Shinji's grief run it's course but this was too much. He had hardly left the apartment in two weeks now. She marched down the hall way to his room and yanked open the door.
"Shinji you have to come e….." Misato trailed off at the site of the empty room. where is he? she wondered. Turning slowly her eye settled on the door to Asukas room, and a growing suspicion began to build in her mind.
Inside she found Shinji huddled on Asukas bed, his back to the door. He had his SDAT on and his body was shaking as he tried to stop his tears. The music was turned to full volume, drowning out the world around him in a desperate effort to escape his pain.
He gave no sign that he had noticed Misato when she sat on the bed next to him. She reached out with one trembling hand and laid it on his shoulder. He tried to jerk away at her touch, a cry escaping his lips.
"Asuka…" She held him tightly and in that one brief sound she heard his pain.
Tears began to form in her eyes as she finally understood the depths of his tortured soul. He was blaming himself.
"Forgive me Asuka," he mumbled. Misatos tears began to roll down her cheeks as she gazed upon the tortured form before her. She could see the pain. His body wracked with an unforgiving cold. His soul, twisted, and tortured as he struggled to make sense of his beloved's death.
"Shinji listen to me." She said as she shut off his SDAT and pulled him up from the bed. He was limp in her arms and unresponsive. As she pulled him to a semi sitting up position his body sagged back towards the bed, head hanging limply on his neck.
"Shinji there was nothing you could do." She soothed gathering him against her, holding him tightly to her chest. He continued to cry in her arms, unable in his grief to return any words.
She held him closely and rocked him slowly back and forth whispering soothing words in his ear. As she continued to attempt calming the poor boy down she was unaware of a certain person nearby, watching them.
____________________
Asuka climbed the stairs to the apartment taking her time as she thought about what she was planning to do. And as she drew ever closer to the apartment door all the worries and fears she had had earlier returned in full force.
"Should I really do this?" she asked herself. "I mean, going into his dreams. Dreams are private. Should I just intrude like that?" She looked up and found herself standing in front of the door to the Katsuragi apartment.
After another moments hesitation she stepped forward, through the reinforced metal door. As soon as she entered she knew something was wrong. Misato was not in the kitchen, but there was food on the stove, slowly starting to burn.
As she moved down the hallway towards the back of the apartment she could hear sobs coming from one of the bedrooms. A quick search found that it was coming from her room. Sticking her head through the door she looked inside to find Misato sitting on the edge of her bed, crying quietly while she held a trembling Shinji in her arms.
Asuka felt an overwhelming urge to run to him and hold him herself, and actually took a few steps before remembering that she would just pass right through him, unable to hold him in her present form.
For several long minutes Asuka stood there watching them, her heart slowly breaking inside her as she saw her love broken and defeated in a way that no angel could ever do.
Finally he pulled away from Misato a little and wiped his eyes with the backs of his hands. She looked at him for a moment.
"You okay now?" she asked. Shinji shook his head.
"I don't think I'll ever be okay Misato." He said. "But I'm better now." She sighed and hugged him tightly for a moment.
"Well come on. You have to eat something or you'll starve." Shinji nodded weakly and slid off the bed. Shuffling out the door with his head low. Misato just could not get over how much older the poor boy seemed after only two and a half weeks.
With a sad expression on her face she followed him out the door.
____________________
Three hours later Shinji found himself in the throes of a nightmare, Tossing and turning fitfully on Asuka's bed he struggled with his own inner turmoil, oblivious to the ghostly form sitting next to him.
Asuka watched him as he twisted and turned, crying even in his sleep. She sighed loudly as she felt tears stinging her eyes.
"My poor Shinji," she murmured. "You've been hurt so much. Maybe I can help." Standing she leaned over the bed and placed her hands on his head. All her earlier doubt fled from her and she knew that this was something she had to do.
Closing her eyes she sank into his mind.
When she opened them again she almost wished she hadn't. Before her a scene played out in a startling familiarity. She realized that she was watching her own death from Shinji's point of view.
And she was feeling his pain as he watched. She saw herself leap backwards off of the cliff, and she felt her heart break within her, hearing her own screams as she wailed over her loss. For a time she was unsure weather she was Asuka or Shinji, the pain was so complete it swept her away like a blade of grass before I high wind.
She felt Shinji's heart break within his chest over and over as the scene repeated itself relentlessly, and beneath the pain, beneath the sorrow, she could feel his guilt. He was still blaming himself for her death as he had blamed himself for everything else.
"Oh Shinji there was no way you could have saved me," she thought. "It was my choice to die. There was nothing you could have done."
She suddenly felt him calm and she realized that within this world of Shinji's mind he had heard her thoughts and her reassuring words. Her claim that he was not at fault seemed to give him some comfort.
Suddenly a sound intruded itself on the dream, and she felt herself being drawn away as Shinji slowly woke up. Suddenly she was standing by the bed again and Shinji was slowly opening his eyes.
The doorbell was ringing.
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Rei Ayanami stood outside the door of the Katsuragi residence. She had been standing there for several minutes now and was unsure of how to proceed with her plan. She had decided that Shinji was in too much pain, and she felt a need to try and comfort him.
But now that she was here she had absolutely no idea of how to go about it. Finally she raised her hand to ring the doorbell. After a few minutes she heard the sounds of footsteps inside the apartment and suddenly the door slid open before her.
"Ayanami?" Shinji said, startled to find the quiet girl there at this time of night.
"Ikari-kun." She said. "May I come in?" Shinji was stunned into speechlessness for a moment before stuttering a response.
"S…s..sure Ayanami. Come on in." He stepped back from the door, letting her slide past him and into the hallway. He turned and slid by her to lead the way into the apartment. Going into the kitchen he sat down at the table and glanced at the clock on the microwave.
2:30 in the morning. Shinji groaned silently, and wondered why she was here at such an ungodly hour of the night. "Ayanami why are you here?" he asked. She was silent for a few minutes and Shinji was shocked to see her lower her gaze to the table in front of her.
"I am unsure." She said, her voice the same old soft monotone. But Shinji managed to catch a slight tremor of uncertainty in her voice. That brief display of emotion was enough to catch his attention. "You are in pain Ikari-kun. I promised you I would protect you."
Looking up she met his gaze with slightly watery eyes as if she were about to cry. "If I allowed you to suffer alone how could I be keeping my promise?" It was a simple enough question, but Shinji found himself hard pressed to find an answer for her.
"Ayanami. Rei. Yes I am in pain. But there is really nothing you can do about it. No way you could protect me from this."
"You tell her Shinji!!" Asuka yelled from the couch, even though she knew that they couldn't hear her. At her words Rei's eyes went very wide for a moment and her gaze flickered over to the couch.
Asuka peered at the pale girl. Did she hear me? she thought
"Ikari-kun. Let me comfort you. You are in pain and I would like to help ease it if I can." Rei said determined to see this through in any way she could. Then a thought struck her. It was from a movie she had seen. A man had been hurt, emotionally. And there had been a woman who had kissed him to help ease that pain. She figured anything was worth a try.
Standing Rei walked around the table and stopped in front of Shinji. Shinji looked up at her, trying to figure out what she was doing. Then she leaned down tilted his head up with her fingers and kissed him.
His eyes widened as her soft lips made contact with his in a loving kiss that almost took his breath away. His mind screamed at him that this was wrong. He loved Asuka not Rei. Yet here he was letting her kiss him, and he wanted to continue letting her.
He couldn't explain it but for some reason this felt so good, all the pain just seemed to vanish for the duration of the kiss.
"Get your lips off of him you stinking slut!!!!" Asuka screamed at Rei. She swung her fist and feet at the girl in an attempt to tear her away from Shinji. But all of her attacks just passed harmlessly through the girl.
In the haze that was the mind of Shinji Ikari he seemed to hear Asukas voice. At the thought he jerked away from the kiss, that had slowly been turning more passionate.
"Rei! You shouldn't do that." He said. "I don't love you Rei. I can't do that with you. I love Asuka." Rei tilted her head to one side in a comical gesture of thought.
"But Pilot Sohryu is dead." She said.
"I know she is dead. But just because she died doesn't mean I stop loving her." He said. "Rei I think you should leave." He turned his head away from her, sad eyes staring fixedly at the wall to the side.
After several minutes she stood and walked to the door. Slipping on her shoes she opened the door and looked back inside.
"Good bye." She said. Shinji felt a shiver run down his spine at the mimicking of the words she had said to him right before their battle with the 5th angel. Then the door slid shut, and she was gone.
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Outside of the small apartment Rei stood for a minute before turning and walking down the hallway. Behind her Asuka appeared through the door. She followed Rei for a few minutes as she walked down the stair and out onto the street of the city.
Rei walked towards her apartments for several minutes. Finally she stopped. Asuka, startled skidded to a stop as well three feet behind Rei.
"Why are you following me Pilot Sohryu?" Rei asked.
"Huh?" Asuka said before running around to stand in front of Rei. The girls' blood red eyes fixed squarely on Asuka. "You can see me?" she asked. There was no response from Rei but Asuka could tell that she had heard.
"Why are you following me Pilot Sohryu. You have won. Shinji has no interest in me." Rei was filled with conflicting emotions. On the one hand she desperately felt that she should do something to help Shinji. But he had quite clearly said that he did not want, nor did he need the help she was offering.
"Why did you do that tonight Rei?" Asuka asked. For once the girls curiosity was getting the better of her anger.
"I wanted to help him." Rei said before stepping forwards through Asuka and continuing on her way.
"What the hell was that all about?" Asuka said, still standing in the street. "And how could she see me. Only Kaoru can see me and that's just cause he's an…" Suddenly it dawned on her and Asuka eyes grew wide in shock, then narrowed down to angered slits.
"It appears that Miss. Ayanami is more than she seems." She murmured to herself, before turning and walking back to the apartment.
____________________
Kaoru Nagisa stood by the grave of one Asuka Langley Sohryu. He was facing east towards the sea. Closing his blood red eyes he sent his mind out in search of a signal. For several minutes he stood there in silence. Standing as solid and unmoving as a statue. Not even the movement of his chest to signify that he was even breathing.
Then his eyes opened in a piercing gaze,
"Come brother. The time for the final days has begun."
____________________
200 miles off the coast of Japan a bright glow emanated from beneath the surface of the dark ocean. The 16th angel would soon awaken and begin its test of humanity.
____________________
At 7:35 the next morning Shinji was in for a rude awakening. The Angel Alarms rang out through the city, startling him so much that he fell out of bed, landing on the floor with a crash.
He scrambled to his feet and into his clothes, getting dressed in record time. Running out of the door to his room he threw open Misatos door to find her still sound asleep on her futon.
"Misato wake up!" he yelled in her ear. At the sound of his voice her left hand flashed out grabbing his throat while her right came up to his face, service revolver in hand. She glared at him for a minute before blinking and looking again as if she were just seeing him.
"Shinji? What's going on?" she asked. Then she cocked her head to one side, listening to the alarms. "An angels attacking get out of here so I can get dressed." She pushed him out of the door and slammed it shut behind him.
"Hurry up Misato!" he yelled through the door, then he grinned for the first time in weeks when he heard something heavy slam against the wall.
____________________
In the car on the way to headquarters Shinji looked out the passenger window at the large glowing hoop that was the 16th angel. I have a bad feeling about this. he thought.
____________________
Arriving at NERV the two of them parted ways, Shinji racing to the locker rooms to change while Misato ran to the command center.
"Where have you been?" Ritsuko asked as she ran through the door.
"Sorry. No excuse." Misato said, before turning to look at Makato. "Status report."
"The angel is hovering directly above us. It appears to be motionless."
"Where is Rei and Unit 00?" Misato asked.
"She's already out there," Ritsuko said. Misato turned to look at the view screen. On it was a view of the 16th angel, spinning in a circle. It was not making any other movement of any kind, the double helix design of its body glowing with a yellow light.
"Rei!" Misato said. "Fall back for a few minutes and just observe it. We're gonna try to get some more information on it."
"No. It is coming." Came the small monotone. Suddenly the angel stopped turning and its double helix structure thickened into a solid beam of light. The now snake like angel flew forward at top speed, penetrating Unit 00's AT field like it wasn't even there and spearing into the Unit's abdomen.
Unit 00 wrapped one hand around a section of the glowing angel and pressed the barrel of its gun against its body pulling the trigger from point blank range. Rei was startled to find that the bullets had no effect on the angel.
"It can't penetrate the field!" Ritsuko screamed, staring up at the monitor from inside the Command Center." Maya looked at her monitors information scrolling up the screen at a frantic pace.
"Sempai Bio Contamination in Unit 00!"
"What?" Outside large thick veins were forming on the armor covering the Eva. Flowing up the torso, covering the body and down the legs and arms. Inside Reis own body was mirroring the symptoms. Veins spreading across her entire body, outward from her stomach.
Her back arched in agony as her blood seemed to catch fire, searing through her veins, each pulse of blood bringing a new level of agony. It was the beginning of the end.
____________________
Asuka was standing on the command deck, watching events unfold before her eyes. Eyes wide she gazed up at the screen in shock as Unit 00 fell back under the angels' intrusion.
"Mienn Gott." She breathed.
"Pretty gruesome isn't it Miss. Langley?" Turning around Asuka found Kaoru standing behind her watching the screen. She blinked.
"How did you get in here?" she asked. He calmly shrugged his shoulders.
"Easily enough." His eyes narrowed, calm demeanor dropping away. "Do you know yet why you are here? Why you can see and hear what is happening here?"
"How could I know?" she screamed. "You never tell me anything."
"You have one more thing to see before the time comes for your chance to return." Kaoru smiled at her in that knowing way that always made her want to strangle him, before turning and slowly walking off into a dark corner of the command center where he then vanished from sight.
"What the hell am I supposed to see?" Asuka muttered under her breath. She began to aimlessly wander around the panicked command deck, ignoring the occasional person that ran through her since she was now used to the fact that she didn't have to dodge them.
Looking up at the view screen Asuka got an idea. Closing her eyes she created a picture in her mind. As she had before when she found Shinji she felt her body melting and sliding away. When she felt normal she opened her eyes to find herself inside the entry plug of Unit 00.
Rei was looking much worse then the Eva. Thick vein like protrusions had spread across her body, from her abdomen down her legs and across her breasts and arm. Her back was arched in pain, and small gasps escaped her frequently.
Suddenly she went limp and the inside of the entry plug changed.
No longer where they sitting in a tube of reinforced steel. They were in a large orange lake. Asuka gazed around her for a minute before hearing voices behind her. Spinning around in the lake she felt the weird orange water swirling around her legs.
Behind her Rei Ayanami stood hip deep in the water, head bowed, hair falling over her eyes, and she was talking quietly to a form standing in front of her. Shifting her eyes Asuka gasped when she saw a SECOND Rei standing ABOVE the water.
Her feet were two inches above the surface of the strange water and she was staring at the Rei before her.
"Do you want to become one with me?" the Rei in the water asked.
"No. I am I…. you are you." What is going on? Asuka thought.
She watched as events unfolded before her and she was given an inside look into the mind of Rei Ayanami. When it was over, she would wish she had never seen it.
Reality returned to the small cockpit and a few drops of water landed on Reis leg. She stared at them in surprise.
"A tear? Am I the one who is crying." The intercom crackled to life and the inside of the giant machine was filled with sound.
"SHINJI!!!" Misato yelled. "AT field to full save Rei."
One of the launch buildings appeared out of the ground nearby and the door opened to reveal the massive purple mecha, and with the enraged boy in the pilots' seat it was the most deadly thing on the face of the planet.
The air before it seemed to shimmer as if a wave of heat had been dispersed from the machines surface. The trailing end of the glowing snake like angel whipped in Unit 01's direction.
There was a surround sound scream from the mouths of four people as the angel streaked towards Unit 01. One from Asuka, one from Misato, one from Shinji, and most surprisingly from Rei.
The giant purple Unit dodged to the left just in time to avoid the first strike but not fast enough to save its rifle. The weapon was destroyed by the impact. Shinji screamed in frustration.
"Rei!!!!. No I can't let this happen. Not again." All who heard him were at first unsure of what he meant, but soon it returned to them. The 15th angel, and the fate of Asuka Langley Sohryu.
Rei turned in the pilots' seat and activated the self-destruct sequence behind her. She ignored Misato and Shinji's frantic pleas for her to deactivate the mechanism. Instead she inverted her AT field and spoke to the angel.
It is not of my mind for you to become one with Ikari. I will not let you have him." Turning her head she looked directly at Asuka. "Protect him for me. Tell him… tell him I am sorry for failing in my obligation."
Asuka was suddenly possessed of a calm she had never known before. She understood now. She knew what she had to do.
"I will… Rei." A smile graced the pale girls' features, and she was looking with tear filled crimson eyes directly into the ice blue of the second Childs, as the world exploded into white around them. And Rei Ayanami… ceased to exist.
____________________
"No…" Shinji Ikari sat in shock as he watched the giant fireball of the explosion approach him. He didn't even bother to put up his AT field as the shockwave hit him. Unit 01 was thrown back for several hundred feet before slamming into the side of a mountain. It's hand came down near the edge of a shelter ripping into the foundation and crumbling one wall, exposing the twenty four men and women inside to the fires of hell rushing towards them.
They were all burned to ash in an instant. Unit 01 did not fare much better, the paint job was completely gone and the metal armor covering it was blackening even going so far as to warp and bend under the intense heat.
Inside the cockpit Shinji was too far gone in shock to even register the sensation of searing heat burning him alive. He merely watched the view monitors with eyes he could not force shut as he re-lived the moment of her destruction again and again.
Asuka had stood in midair, as the hurricane of flames roared around her, completely unperturbed by the flames licking through her body. She gazed with sad eyes through the wall of flames at the dark form that was Unit 01.
Turning she found Kaoru standing before her. She didn't even bother asking how he was standing in the air like that, she simply nodded once to him. He turned and began to walk away, she followed and the flames roared up around them, covering them completely. When they died down the two were nowhere to be seen.
____________________
Gendo Ikari reached under the edge of his desk and quietly depressed a button. Deep within the bowel of NERV in a room that only two other individuals had ever seen, a sequence was started, and soon a third life would arrive in the chain that was Rei Ayanami.
End.
Authors notes: Normally I don't do this but I have ended it here. Now some of you may be screaming: "But where is the Terrifying Revelation?" Well I say to you. CALM DOWN. Just scroll down a bit and you'll find it.
*Turns away from the audience grumbling under his breath about the impatience of his audience. But he is quickly silenced as an irate member throws an N2 mine onto the stage*
*Lord Deathscythe appears on the destroyed stage.* "Random! We're gonna need a new Ryan!
A Tale That Wasn't Right
Death and Rebirth/A Terrifying Revelation
____________________
Deep within the bowels of the earth, in a secret room, a pale form slowly comes into being. The beginning has ended, the end now begins.
____________________
Dr. Ritsuko Akagi reaches for the phone and dials in a series of numbers. After three rings the voice of Misato Katsuragi can be heard on the other end of the line.
/Katsuragi speaking./
"Misato. It's Ritsuko. Rei's alive."
/WHAT??!!!!!!/ clatter from the other end as Misato drops the phone. /SHINJI!!/
____________________
Rei Ayanami stood at the window of the hospital gazing out at the white scene below. Light filtering in through the glass cast a bluish tinge to everything around her. Her arm and head were wrapped with bandages.
Suddenly from far down the hall came a commotion that caught her attention. She turned her head to see a boy running towards her at speeds deemed against the law on most major highways.
He seemed slightly familiar to her and she frowned as she tried to place his face and voice. Her attempts were cut short as he suddenly ran right into her, wrapping both arms around her in a tight embrace.
"Rei! I'm so glad you're alive." The force of Shinji's momentum carried them both to the smooth tile floor where they landed in a tangled heap of arms and legs. Shinji now conscious of the bandages carefully extricated himself from her and helped her to her feet. He was breathing hard and his brow was covered in sweat.
Tears of joy poured freely from his eyes.
"I am glad I am alive as well." Shinji suddenly stopped breathing. This was not the Rei that he had spoken to a few nights before.
"Rei I want to thank you," he said after a few moments of silence.
"For what?"
"For saving my life. You destroyed unit 00 to save me."
"Did I? I am afraid that I do not remember that. I think… I think that I am the third."
____________________
"Where am I?" Asuka asked looking around her. She was standing on what appeared to be a dark gray layer of mist. The world around her was comprised of this same material encasing her on all sides in a gray cage.
"You are about to begin your journey back Miss. Sohryu." She whirled around to find Kaoru standing behind her. "Soon you will be among the living again. If you survive the process that is."
Asuka suddenly felt a cold fist of fear wrap around her heart, and she gulped involuntarily. She peered at him and her eyes slowly widened in shock as he outlined what was expected of her.
This was NOT good.
____________________
Shinji Ikari was sitting in the living room of the Katsuragi apartment when the phone rang. Misato was out. She had been working more lately in her desperate attempt to uncover the truth about NERV and its purpose.
He reached over and picked up the receiver.
"Hello?"
"Shinji. You will be free from security for a few minutes. Do exactly as I say." Shinji quickly recognized the voice of Ritsuko Akagi, but he had no clue as to what it was she expected of him.
Before the night was over he would wish he had never learned.
____________________
Deep within Central Dogma, Misato Katsuragi waits in concealment. Her patience is soon rewarded when she sees a lone figure walking towards the two large steel doors at the end of the hallway.
Ritsuko slides her keycard through the security slot on the door and frowns when it refuses her passcode.
"It will only open with my code." Ritsuko hears a click and feels the cold metal of a gun pressed against the back of her head. "No more secrets Ritsu. I want to know the truth right now."
"Okay. But this one comes with us." Ritsuko presses a button on a remote in her pocket and a light comes on illuminating the form of Shinji standing nearby.
____________________
"My mother?" Shinji gasped as he sank to his knees. He looked up at Ritsuko, just in time to see her press yet another button on that little remote she carried. The black walls lit up, and he surged to his feet at what he saw.
"REI!!!" Hundreds of blue haired heads turned at the sound of his voice, and he found himself the target of a thousand deep red eyes. Boring into his soul and he would forever have the next memory burned into his mind.
They laughed. All of them in perfect unison laughed a soft giggle that was the laugh of a person gone mad, or one without a mind to begin with. He suddenly realized that the good doctor had been talking again.
"…. The don't deserve to live." A push of a button. Shinji's scream echoed throughout the large room for a solid ten minutes.
End.
More Notes: Okay I KNOW that ending was a little weak but give me a break people. My creative mind has been sapped for the last several months with many other projects and a meeting coming up with some VERY famous authors, I need to prepare some original pieces for them to look at.
Well now we have seen the Death and the Rebirth. The revelation is at hand, How will Shinji handle this latest blow to his sanity? He already hovers on the brink of suicide what will this do to him?
What will happen to the new Rei? And WHAT is happening to Asuka?
You'll just have to wait for the next installment to find out.
*Lord Deathscythe comes onto the stage and stops the recording. Luckily this tape had been prepared for just such an eventuality as the death of the current Ryan. Hopefully they would have the new one finished in time for the next chapter to be written before the audience moves on to him and Random.*
A Tale That Wasn't Right
Death and Rebirth/A Terrifying Revelation
Written by
Ryan T. Nelson
Until Next Time…
See you on the other side.
*author raises a battered metal shield as he looks at the audience before him in fear*
In this chapter Rei dies and is reborn as ReiIII. That is the death and rebirth part. The Terrifying revelation is Shinji learning of Rei's horrible origins.
If you were paying attention during the last chapter then you noticed that Asuka is still around, in one form or another. There will be more with her in this chapter as well.
Now for the disclaimer…. *Ducks and raises his shield as several, heavy objects are thrown at him* I do not own anything pertaining to Eva. *A high- heeled shoe slips under his guard and breaks the authors nose*
On with the show……
1 A Tale That Wasn't Right
2 Death and Rebirth/A Terrifying Revelation: Part One
____________________
It has been two weeks since the funeral. Shinji Ikari is not feeling any better as he sits on the couch in the living room, his SDAT blaring music into his ears. His eyes are distant as he stares ahead listlessly. He has lost all interest in anything that once held any meaning for him.
He can now be seen carrying his SDAT player around with him everywhere
he goes. On more than one occasion he had absentmindedly tried to take it into the entry
plug with him for during synch tests. Ritsuko had stopped him when she noticed it.
He briefly thought of all the tests that he had gone through in the last two weeks. Ritsuko had run extensive tests on him to try and find out if his intimate encounter with Asuka while she had been partly possessed by an angel had done anything to him.
He almost wished that it had. If he started to change then he wouldn't feel guilty about taking his own life as well. He glanced down at the cold glittering metal sitting in his lap.
"They say time heals all wounds." He whispered to the empty apartment. "I don't think time will ever heal this one." He stood and slowly walked out of the apartment to go for a walk around the city.
As the door to the apartment slid closed the knife slipped off the edge of the couch and fell to the floor with a thump, the cold metal reflecting the soft light coming through the window.
____________________
"How is he?" Ritsuko asked. Misato looked up at her from across the table. The two women were sitting in the NERV cafeteria eating lunch. Well actually only Ritsuko was eating; Misato found that she just couldn't stomach much of anything these days.
"Terrible." She answered. "He cries every night." Her voice was heavy with her sorrow. "I can hear him through the walls. He screams her name and I can hear him crying desperately for her to come back to him."
"Do you ever try to comfort him?" Ritsuko asked. Misato silently shook her head. "Why not!?" Ritsuko was shocked. She knew how much Misato cared for Shinji but here she was telling her that she let him suffer alone.
"I tried the first night." Misato said. "I ran to his room and sat down on his bed next to him as he cried. I tried to hold him but he wouldn't let me. He started to struggle." Misato unconsciously put one hand to her right cheek. "He hit me." She whispered. "He screamed at me to leave him alone and then he slapped me."
Ritsuko blinked in shock as she tried to imagine Shinji hitting another person. She couldn't do it.
"He said he was angry that I stopped him at the cliffs. Things would have been better if I hadn't stopped him."
"Misato if you had not stopped him from jumping off those cliffs then we could all die the next time an angel attacks." Ritsuko said hoping to jar her friend back to reality. "You were right to stop him. I don't blame him though. He is hurting. You can't take what he says seriously, eventually he will calm down." She stood and stepped away from the table.
"Just give him some time Misato." She turned and started to walk away. "Time heals all wounds." She said over her shoulder. Misato simply nodded as the blond woman walked away from her, lost in her own contemplation, and inner turmoil.
____________________
Shinji had come to a decision. He needed something. He needed something to remind him of her when he wasn't able to visit her grave. He had come to this decision several days ago but had been unable to think of anything that would bring him this peace of mind. There was nothing that he could think of to express his love and devotion for her, even after her death, that he could keep with him.
Today he was wandering the streets of Tokyo-3. He was not going anywhere really, just wandering aimlessly, when he passed a shop. A sign above the door caught his eye and he turned to read it. Realization dawned on him, and he hurried inside the shop to make a purchase.
He went inside and spoke to a man behind the counter. After a few minutes of conversation he looked down inside the case and pointed at an object. The man smiled, bent down and removed the object that Shinji had indicated.
Shinji paid for it with his NERV card, emptying his account in the process. Then he pocketed the purchase and walked out the door. He reached into his pocket for his phone and dialed a number.
The phone rang three times and Misato picked up.
/Misato here./
"Misato it's Shinji. I need you to do me a favor."
/What kind of favor is that Shinji?/
"Get a hold of two section 2 agents. I want to set up a guard at Asukas' grave. 24 hours a day. Two agents there at all times. Come down to the cemetery right now. Can you do that Misato?" By the tone in his voice Misato could tell that it was more of an order than a request. But she was curious to see what he wanted with a guard.
/Sure I can set that up. Two agents there at all times./
/Click/
____________________
Misato held the phone away from her ear and looked at it, an expression of shock spread all over her face.
"Did he just….." She put the phone back to her ear and listened for a moment. "He just hung up on me." Misato growled and slammed the phone back on the cradle. She glared at it for a moment before remembering her promise to Shinji.
So she snatched up the phone and started making the arrangements.
____________________
When Misato and the Section 2 agents arrived at the cemetery Shinji was already there, waiting for them. He was sitting on the ground in front of Asukas grave his legs crossed Indian style.
"Well Shinji, we're here. What is it you wanted these guys for?" Misato asked as she approached him. The blank, expressionless look on the boys' face did not falter at the sound of her voice. Nor did he seem to acknowledge that he even heard her.
Several minutes pass in silence and just as Misato is about to ask her question again Shinji speaks.
"I need something Misato." He said, his voice heavy with sorrow and a deep regret. He looked up from the black five-foot black obsidian slab that marked the resting place of his beloved. His eyes were dead, no longer holding any emotion at all. His once warm blue eyes were now as cold as ice, and their color was reminiscent of the deepest oceans.
That is how Misato felt as she stood there gazing into his eyes, as if she were sinking into a bottomless pool and she had no way to save herself.
"I need something to show how much I love her. Even now after she is gone." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small black velvet box. He opened it, and inside sat two brightly shining wedding bands.
They were very unusual bands. Plan, with small vine like etchings around them. The design was so thin and delicate as to be almost invisible. They appeared to be made out of silver. But upon closer inspection Misato could tell that the metal was not silver despite its' color.
"This is going to show my love for her." With that Shinji rose to his feet and walked towards the grave. He stopped beside the marker and removed the smaller of the two rings from the box. Kneeling he placed the ring on the small ledge created by the bottom of the marker.
Rising to his feet he stepped around in front of the marker and looked down at the other ring that was still in the box in his hands. Misato stepped closer to him standing a few feet behind and to his right.
"Do you know why people wear wedding rings Misato."
"No Shinji. I don't know why."
"It is symbolic. The circular band represents eternity. It has no beginning and no end. It is a symbol of the love shared between two people. Unbreaking and unwavering. Do you know what metal I had these rings made out of?"
Misato remained silent.
"They are made out of Titanium Misato. One of the strongest metal alloys' known to man. I got them this way as another symbol." He turned and faced Misato, tears welling up in his eyes as he spoke. "These bands are a symbol of my love for her. Humans are fragile creatures Misato. They break easily."
"This ring will still exist long after its wearer is gone from this earth." He pulled the second ring out of the box and slipped it on the fourth finger of his left hand. "I will never take this ring off Misato. I want everyone to know that I still love her, even in death she will be the only one I will ever love."
"And when I die, I will be buried wearing this ring." He stood up straight and squared his shoulders. "Misato I asked for you to arrange to have the guard placed here because I am leaving Asukas ring here. This is a public cemetery however so the guard is to make sure no one disturbs it."
Misato nodded with a dumbfounded expression on her face. With her acknowledgment of his wishes Shinji placed the earbuds of his SDAT in his ear and slowly walked away from the grave. His eyes were downcast and his shoulders were slumped.
Misato stared after him until he was lost among the other grave markers. Then she turned to look at the two men dressed in black. They had stood a few feet away throughout Shinjis' extended speech. Now they were paying close attention to their commanding officer.
"Well guys, you heard the man. Take up your posts." The two men walked without speaking to a spot on either side of the black grave marker. They stood their silent vigil over that slim, precious piece of metal that meant so much to a boy that held the fate of the world on his weary shoulders.
____________________
Asuka stood by the grave watching as he slowly walked away. Once again she knew that he would not hear her if she called out to him. She turned and right on cue Kaoru stepped up to the grave appearing out of nowhere.
"Why am I here Kaoru?" she asked for the hundredth time.
"Your purpose has not yet been fulfilled." He said again. She screamed in anger and clawed at her hair. This was the same answer he gave her every time. Spoken in the same calm voice.
"What the hell does that mean??!!!!!!!!" she screamed at him. He merely gazed at her with the same insufferably calm expression on his face. She swung her fist at his head, fully intent on knocking that calm expression right off his face.
At least she would have but her hand passed right through his skull. She had no affect at all on the material world around her anymore. After several minutes of cursing, screaming, and more attempts to injure the light haired angel, Asuka finally calmed down.
"Asuka you are here because you can't die yet. You still have a purpose on earth, that you must fulfill." Asuka took a moment to consider his words, and as she did she thought once again about that day two weeks before when they had met.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"I am your guide, and I am the 17th angel." Asuka gasped and jerked her hand out of his grip. She slowly started backing away from the pale boy.
"The 17th?" she asked in surprise. He nodded.
"Yes. I am here to guide you through the events that will soon occur."
"What events would those be?" she asked suspiciously. Kaoru smiled softly at her. With out bothering to answer her question he turned and slowly walked away from her.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Now Asuka glared at him for a few moments before speaking.
"You keep telling me that I have a purpose that must be fulfilled. Do you ever intend on telling me what that purpose is?" she asked. Kaoru just smiled again, and shook his head.
Asuka growled at him but managed to restrain herself from attacking.
"Asuka I have come here today to tell you something. You are no longer bonded to this place." Asuka blinked, and used his pause in speaking to express her confusion.
"Huh?"
"You have noticed that you have been unable to move very far from your grave. This is no longer the case. You may now go anywhere that you want." Kaoru stood and looked at her expectantly.
Asuka slowly started to walk away from the grave. Six feet….. eight feet….. ten feet….. eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen. Asuka stopped and turned to look back at the grave and the two men standing watch over her wedding ring.
Why those two men never saw Kaoru she'd never know. She turned and sprinted away from the grave, in the direction she had seen Shinji go. Soon she noticed a presence beside her. Turning her head she saw Kaoru easily keeping pace with her.
"Where are you going?" he asked.
"To find Shinji."
"Why are you running?" She skidded to a halt.
"How else am I supposed to find him?" she asked. Kaoru smiled that soft, almost sad smile that he always used with her.
"You could feel him." He quickly noticed the confused expression on her face and clarified hi answer. "Close you eyes and concentrate on him. You will be transported to his side. His love for you will make it very easy for you to do."
"Really?" Asuka closed her eyes and drew up a picture of Shinji in her mind. It was the image that she had last seen before jumping off of the cliffs. He was standing in his plugsuit. The woods behind him. She saw clearly the frightened, desperate look on his face. And in that instant she had seen how much he really loved her.
Suddenly Asuka felt a strange sensation. It felt like her body was turning into liquid, and was being pulled somewhere by some irresistible force. When she felt normal again she opened her eyes to find that she was no longer in the cemetery.
Looking around she saw that she was on one of the streets of Tokyo-3 and two feet away Shinji was sitting at a bus stop. Asuka stopped and stared at him. He looks awful. she thought. Indeed he did.
He was thin, thinner then he had been when she had last seen him. His face was drawn and tired. Like he hadn't been getting any sleep. And at last she came to his eyes. Those warm blue eyes that had once gazed at her with so much love in them were no dead and glassy.
He seemed oblivious to everything that was going on around him. His SDAT was in his lap the earbuds in his ears. Shoulders hunched over as if he were bearing a great weight on them.
Suddenly a bar of light passed over his face. Like a reflection off of a piece of metal. He didn't even flinch or blink as the light passed right over his eyes. He seemed to be intently studying what ever was reflecting the light at him.
Taking a few steps closer she realized what it was. Shinjis hand was in his lap and held in that hand was an open pocketknife. He was tilting it back and forth watching the sunlight reflect off of the blade.
"Shinji. Don't do it." Shinji looked up, almost as if he had heard her. And for a moment seemed to stare directly at her. Asuka breath caught in her throat. can he see me? she thought.
His dead eyes continued to gaze directly at her for the space of several heartbeats before he lowered them back to his lap. Asuka walked over to him and sat down on the bench beside him. Turning she studied him.
"Shinji." She said. "Don't give up. I know you, you're stronger than this. You need to continue to pilot Shinji. Everyone is counting on you, Rei, Misato, Touji, Kensuke, Hikari. I am counting you Shinji." Asuka new that he couldn't hear her, and perhaps it was that little detail that allowed her to pour her heart out to him. Without her pride getting in the way.
Shinji stood. With his thumb he carefully closed the knife and slipped it into his pocket. Then he turned to his left and started to walk away from the bus stop. Asuka sat for a few minutes, thinking about what she had seen.
He looks terrible. I never thought my death would hit him so hard. I was trying to save him the agony of killing me. Maybe I should have let Rei do it. Asuka was too upset to realize what she had just thought of.
"Was it what you expected Asuka?" Asuka turned her head to find Kaoru sitting on the bus stop next to her. He had his arms back supported on the back of the bench. His legs were extended in front of him, crossed at the ankles in a relaxed position.
"Shut up." She growled with as much venom in her voice as she could muster. "I love him. And my death is hurting him terribly." He nodded his head to her.
"Yes it is. But that is what happens when you lose a loved one. He loves you and the pain of losing you is slowly destroying him. He needs comfort Asuka. But you are the only person in this world who can ease his pain."
"I know that. But I'm dead!!" she shouted. "How can I ease anything if I am dead?" Kaoru looked at her with an expression on his face that clearly said he already expected her to know the answer to that question.
"You might try his dreams." He said. Asuka blinked, all the rage leaving her in an instant.
"His dreams?"
"Yes. In your present form you would be able to enter his dreams and speak with him. He may not believe that they are real but it could give him some semblance of peace right now."
Without a word Asuka stood from the bench and began to walk in the same direction that Shinji had gone, deep in thought about what the red eyed angel had just told her. She knew where to find Shinji when she needed to. He would be back at Misatos apartment later that night.
She spent many hours wandering the streets of Tokyo-3. She ignored everything around her, her intangible form allowing her the freedom not to worry about things like cars, walls, and people. She walked through them all as if they weren't there.
Finally as the setting sun painted the sky a dull glowing orange she found herself on the sidewalk outside the apartment she had spent nearly a year living in. With a sigh Asuka squared her shoulders and marched into the apartment.
____________________
"Shinji it's time to eat!" Misato called from the kitchen. She stuck her head around the corner and looked down the darkened hallway towards his room………… silence. The door did not open and nothing was heard from the boy within.
Misato sighed. She had resolved to let Shinji's grief run it's course but this was too much. He had hardly left the apartment in two weeks now. She marched down the hall way to his room and yanked open the door.
"Shinji you have to come e….." Misato trailed off at the site of the empty room. where is he? she wondered. Turning slowly her eye settled on the door to Asukas room, and a growing suspicion began to build in her mind.
Inside she found Shinji huddled on Asukas bed, his back to the door. He had his SDAT on and his body was shaking as he tried to stop his tears. The music was turned to full volume, drowning out the world around him in a desperate effort to escape his pain.
He gave no sign that he had noticed Misato when she sat on the bed next to him. She reached out with one trembling hand and laid it on his shoulder. He tried to jerk away at her touch, a cry escaping his lips.
"Asuka…" She held him tightly and in that one brief sound she heard his pain.
Tears began to form in her eyes as she finally understood the depths of his tortured soul. He was blaming himself.
"Forgive me Asuka," he mumbled. Misatos tears began to roll down her cheeks as she gazed upon the tortured form before her. She could see the pain. His body wracked with an unforgiving cold. His soul, twisted, and tortured as he struggled to make sense of his beloved's death.
"Shinji listen to me." She said as she shut off his SDAT and pulled him up from the bed. He was limp in her arms and unresponsive. As she pulled him to a semi sitting up position his body sagged back towards the bed, head hanging limply on his neck.
"Shinji there was nothing you could do." She soothed gathering him against her, holding him tightly to her chest. He continued to cry in her arms, unable in his grief to return any words.
She held him closely and rocked him slowly back and forth whispering soothing words in his ear. As she continued to attempt calming the poor boy down she was unaware of a certain person nearby, watching them.
____________________
Asuka climbed the stairs to the apartment taking her time as she thought about what she was planning to do. And as she drew ever closer to the apartment door all the worries and fears she had had earlier returned in full force.
"Should I really do this?" she asked herself. "I mean, going into his dreams. Dreams are private. Should I just intrude like that?" She looked up and found herself standing in front of the door to the Katsuragi apartment.
After another moments hesitation she stepped forward, through the reinforced metal door. As soon as she entered she knew something was wrong. Misato was not in the kitchen, but there was food on the stove, slowly starting to burn.
As she moved down the hallway towards the back of the apartment she could hear sobs coming from one of the bedrooms. A quick search found that it was coming from her room. Sticking her head through the door she looked inside to find Misato sitting on the edge of her bed, crying quietly while she held a trembling Shinji in her arms.
Asuka felt an overwhelming urge to run to him and hold him herself, and actually took a few steps before remembering that she would just pass right through him, unable to hold him in her present form.
For several long minutes Asuka stood there watching them, her heart slowly breaking inside her as she saw her love broken and defeated in a way that no angel could ever do.
Finally he pulled away from Misato a little and wiped his eyes with the backs of his hands. She looked at him for a moment.
"You okay now?" she asked. Shinji shook his head.
"I don't think I'll ever be okay Misato." He said. "But I'm better now." She sighed and hugged him tightly for a moment.
"Well come on. You have to eat something or you'll starve." Shinji nodded weakly and slid off the bed. Shuffling out the door with his head low. Misato just could not get over how much older the poor boy seemed after only two and a half weeks.
With a sad expression on her face she followed him out the door.
____________________
Three hours later Shinji found himself in the throes of a nightmare, Tossing and turning fitfully on Asuka's bed he struggled with his own inner turmoil, oblivious to the ghostly form sitting next to him.
Asuka watched him as he twisted and turned, crying even in his sleep. She sighed loudly as she felt tears stinging her eyes.
"My poor Shinji," she murmured. "You've been hurt so much. Maybe I can help." Standing she leaned over the bed and placed her hands on his head. All her earlier doubt fled from her and she knew that this was something she had to do.
Closing her eyes she sank into his mind.
When she opened them again she almost wished she hadn't. Before her a scene played out in a startling familiarity. She realized that she was watching her own death from Shinji's point of view.
And she was feeling his pain as he watched. She saw herself leap backwards off of the cliff, and she felt her heart break within her, hearing her own screams as she wailed over her loss. For a time she was unsure weather she was Asuka or Shinji, the pain was so complete it swept her away like a blade of grass before I high wind.
She felt Shinji's heart break within his chest over and over as the scene repeated itself relentlessly, and beneath the pain, beneath the sorrow, she could feel his guilt. He was still blaming himself for her death as he had blamed himself for everything else.
"Oh Shinji there was no way you could have saved me," she thought. "It was my choice to die. There was nothing you could have done."
She suddenly felt him calm and she realized that within this world of Shinji's mind he had heard her thoughts and her reassuring words. Her claim that he was not at fault seemed to give him some comfort.
Suddenly a sound intruded itself on the dream, and she felt herself being drawn away as Shinji slowly woke up. Suddenly she was standing by the bed again and Shinji was slowly opening his eyes.
The doorbell was ringing.
____________________
Rei Ayanami stood outside the door of the Katsuragi residence. She had been standing there for several minutes now and was unsure of how to proceed with her plan. She had decided that Shinji was in too much pain, and she felt a need to try and comfort him.
But now that she was here she had absolutely no idea of how to go about it. Finally she raised her hand to ring the doorbell. After a few minutes she heard the sounds of footsteps inside the apartment and suddenly the door slid open before her.
"Ayanami?" Shinji said, startled to find the quiet girl there at this time of night.
"Ikari-kun." She said. "May I come in?" Shinji was stunned into speechlessness for a moment before stuttering a response.
"S…s..sure Ayanami. Come on in." He stepped back from the door, letting her slide past him and into the hallway. He turned and slid by her to lead the way into the apartment. Going into the kitchen he sat down at the table and glanced at the clock on the microwave.
2:30 in the morning. Shinji groaned silently, and wondered why she was here at such an ungodly hour of the night. "Ayanami why are you here?" he asked. She was silent for a few minutes and Shinji was shocked to see her lower her gaze to the table in front of her.
"I am unsure." She said, her voice the same old soft monotone. But Shinji managed to catch a slight tremor of uncertainty in her voice. That brief display of emotion was enough to catch his attention. "You are in pain Ikari-kun. I promised you I would protect you."
Looking up she met his gaze with slightly watery eyes as if she were about to cry. "If I allowed you to suffer alone how could I be keeping my promise?" It was a simple enough question, but Shinji found himself hard pressed to find an answer for her.
"Ayanami. Rei. Yes I am in pain. But there is really nothing you can do about it. No way you could protect me from this."
"You tell her Shinji!!" Asuka yelled from the couch, even though she knew that they couldn't hear her. At her words Rei's eyes went very wide for a moment and her gaze flickered over to the couch.
Asuka peered at the pale girl. Did she hear me? she thought
"Ikari-kun. Let me comfort you. You are in pain and I would like to help ease it if I can." Rei said determined to see this through in any way she could. Then a thought struck her. It was from a movie she had seen. A man had been hurt, emotionally. And there had been a woman who had kissed him to help ease that pain. She figured anything was worth a try.
Standing Rei walked around the table and stopped in front of Shinji. Shinji looked up at her, trying to figure out what she was doing. Then she leaned down tilted his head up with her fingers and kissed him.
His eyes widened as her soft lips made contact with his in a loving kiss that almost took his breath away. His mind screamed at him that this was wrong. He loved Asuka not Rei. Yet here he was letting her kiss him, and he wanted to continue letting her.
He couldn't explain it but for some reason this felt so good, all the pain just seemed to vanish for the duration of the kiss.
"Get your lips off of him you stinking slut!!!!" Asuka screamed at Rei. She swung her fist and feet at the girl in an attempt to tear her away from Shinji. But all of her attacks just passed harmlessly through the girl.
In the haze that was the mind of Shinji Ikari he seemed to hear Asukas voice. At the thought he jerked away from the kiss, that had slowly been turning more passionate.
"Rei! You shouldn't do that." He said. "I don't love you Rei. I can't do that with you. I love Asuka." Rei tilted her head to one side in a comical gesture of thought.
"But Pilot Sohryu is dead." She said.
"I know she is dead. But just because she died doesn't mean I stop loving her." He said. "Rei I think you should leave." He turned his head away from her, sad eyes staring fixedly at the wall to the side.
After several minutes she stood and walked to the door. Slipping on her shoes she opened the door and looked back inside.
"Good bye." She said. Shinji felt a shiver run down his spine at the mimicking of the words she had said to him right before their battle with the 5th angel. Then the door slid shut, and she was gone.
____________________
Outside of the small apartment Rei stood for a minute before turning and walking down the hallway. Behind her Asuka appeared through the door. She followed Rei for a few minutes as she walked down the stair and out onto the street of the city.
Rei walked towards her apartments for several minutes. Finally she stopped. Asuka, startled skidded to a stop as well three feet behind Rei.
"Why are you following me Pilot Sohryu?" Rei asked.
"Huh?" Asuka said before running around to stand in front of Rei. The girls' blood red eyes fixed squarely on Asuka. "You can see me?" she asked. There was no response from Rei but Asuka could tell that she had heard.
"Why are you following me Pilot Sohryu. You have won. Shinji has no interest in me." Rei was filled with conflicting emotions. On the one hand she desperately felt that she should do something to help Shinji. But he had quite clearly said that he did not want, nor did he need the help she was offering.
"Why did you do that tonight Rei?" Asuka asked. For once the girls curiosity was getting the better of her anger.
"I wanted to help him." Rei said before stepping forwards through Asuka and continuing on her way.
"What the hell was that all about?" Asuka said, still standing in the street. "And how could she see me. Only Kaoru can see me and that's just cause he's an…" Suddenly it dawned on her and Asuka eyes grew wide in shock, then narrowed down to angered slits.
"It appears that Miss. Ayanami is more than she seems." She murmured to herself, before turning and walking back to the apartment.
____________________
Kaoru Nagisa stood by the grave of one Asuka Langley Sohryu. He was facing east towards the sea. Closing his blood red eyes he sent his mind out in search of a signal. For several minutes he stood there in silence. Standing as solid and unmoving as a statue. Not even the movement of his chest to signify that he was even breathing.
Then his eyes opened in a piercing gaze,
"Come brother. The time for the final days has begun."
____________________
200 miles off the coast of Japan a bright glow emanated from beneath the surface of the dark ocean. The 16th angel would soon awaken and begin its test of humanity.
____________________
At 7:35 the next morning Shinji was in for a rude awakening. The Angel Alarms rang out through the city, startling him so much that he fell out of bed, landing on the floor with a crash.
He scrambled to his feet and into his clothes, getting dressed in record time. Running out of the door to his room he threw open Misatos door to find her still sound asleep on her futon.
"Misato wake up!" he yelled in her ear. At the sound of his voice her left hand flashed out grabbing his throat while her right came up to his face, service revolver in hand. She glared at him for a minute before blinking and looking again as if she were just seeing him.
"Shinji? What's going on?" she asked. Then she cocked her head to one side, listening to the alarms. "An angels attacking get out of here so I can get dressed." She pushed him out of the door and slammed it shut behind him.
"Hurry up Misato!" he yelled through the door, then he grinned for the first time in weeks when he heard something heavy slam against the wall.
____________________
In the car on the way to headquarters Shinji looked out the passenger window at the large glowing hoop that was the 16th angel. I have a bad feeling about this. he thought.
____________________
Arriving at NERV the two of them parted ways, Shinji racing to the locker rooms to change while Misato ran to the command center.
"Where have you been?" Ritsuko asked as she ran through the door.
"Sorry. No excuse." Misato said, before turning to look at Makato. "Status report."
"The angel is hovering directly above us. It appears to be motionless."
"Where is Rei and Unit 00?" Misato asked.
"She's already out there," Ritsuko said. Misato turned to look at the view screen. On it was a view of the 16th angel, spinning in a circle. It was not making any other movement of any kind, the double helix design of its body glowing with a yellow light.
"Rei!" Misato said. "Fall back for a few minutes and just observe it. We're gonna try to get some more information on it."
"No. It is coming." Came the small monotone. Suddenly the angel stopped turning and its double helix structure thickened into a solid beam of light. The now snake like angel flew forward at top speed, penetrating Unit 00's AT field like it wasn't even there and spearing into the Unit's abdomen.
Unit 00 wrapped one hand around a section of the glowing angel and pressed the barrel of its gun against its body pulling the trigger from point blank range. Rei was startled to find that the bullets had no effect on the angel.
"It can't penetrate the field!" Ritsuko screamed, staring up at the monitor from inside the Command Center." Maya looked at her monitors information scrolling up the screen at a frantic pace.
"Sempai Bio Contamination in Unit 00!"
"What?" Outside large thick veins were forming on the armor covering the Eva. Flowing up the torso, covering the body and down the legs and arms. Inside Reis own body was mirroring the symptoms. Veins spreading across her entire body, outward from her stomach.
Her back arched in agony as her blood seemed to catch fire, searing through her veins, each pulse of blood bringing a new level of agony. It was the beginning of the end.
____________________
Asuka was standing on the command deck, watching events unfold before her eyes. Eyes wide she gazed up at the screen in shock as Unit 00 fell back under the angels' intrusion.
"Mienn Gott." She breathed.
"Pretty gruesome isn't it Miss. Langley?" Turning around Asuka found Kaoru standing behind her watching the screen. She blinked.
"How did you get in here?" she asked. He calmly shrugged his shoulders.
"Easily enough." His eyes narrowed, calm demeanor dropping away. "Do you know yet why you are here? Why you can see and hear what is happening here?"
"How could I know?" she screamed. "You never tell me anything."
"You have one more thing to see before the time comes for your chance to return." Kaoru smiled at her in that knowing way that always made her want to strangle him, before turning and slowly walking off into a dark corner of the command center where he then vanished from sight.
"What the hell am I supposed to see?" Asuka muttered under her breath. She began to aimlessly wander around the panicked command deck, ignoring the occasional person that ran through her since she was now used to the fact that she didn't have to dodge them.
Looking up at the view screen Asuka got an idea. Closing her eyes she created a picture in her mind. As she had before when she found Shinji she felt her body melting and sliding away. When she felt normal she opened her eyes to find herself inside the entry plug of Unit 00.
Rei was looking much worse then the Eva. Thick vein like protrusions had spread across her body, from her abdomen down her legs and across her breasts and arm. Her back was arched in pain, and small gasps escaped her frequently.
Suddenly she went limp and the inside of the entry plug changed.
No longer where they sitting in a tube of reinforced steel. They were in a large orange lake. Asuka gazed around her for a minute before hearing voices behind her. Spinning around in the lake she felt the weird orange water swirling around her legs.
Behind her Rei Ayanami stood hip deep in the water, head bowed, hair falling over her eyes, and she was talking quietly to a form standing in front of her. Shifting her eyes Asuka gasped when she saw a SECOND Rei standing ABOVE the water.
Her feet were two inches above the surface of the strange water and she was staring at the Rei before her.
"Do you want to become one with me?" the Rei in the water asked.
"No. I am I…. you are you." What is going on? Asuka thought.
She watched as events unfolded before her and she was given an inside look into the mind of Rei Ayanami. When it was over, she would wish she had never seen it.
Reality returned to the small cockpit and a few drops of water landed on Reis leg. She stared at them in surprise.
"A tear? Am I the one who is crying." The intercom crackled to life and the inside of the giant machine was filled with sound.
"SHINJI!!!" Misato yelled. "AT field to full save Rei."
One of the launch buildings appeared out of the ground nearby and the door opened to reveal the massive purple mecha, and with the enraged boy in the pilots' seat it was the most deadly thing on the face of the planet.
The air before it seemed to shimmer as if a wave of heat had been dispersed from the machines surface. The trailing end of the glowing snake like angel whipped in Unit 01's direction.
There was a surround sound scream from the mouths of four people as the angel streaked towards Unit 01. One from Asuka, one from Misato, one from Shinji, and most surprisingly from Rei.
The giant purple Unit dodged to the left just in time to avoid the first strike but not fast enough to save its rifle. The weapon was destroyed by the impact. Shinji screamed in frustration.
"Rei!!!!. No I can't let this happen. Not again." All who heard him were at first unsure of what he meant, but soon it returned to them. The 15th angel, and the fate of Asuka Langley Sohryu.
Rei turned in the pilots' seat and activated the self-destruct sequence behind her. She ignored Misato and Shinji's frantic pleas for her to deactivate the mechanism. Instead she inverted her AT field and spoke to the angel.
It is not of my mind for you to become one with Ikari. I will not let you have him." Turning her head she looked directly at Asuka. "Protect him for me. Tell him… tell him I am sorry for failing in my obligation."
Asuka was suddenly possessed of a calm she had never known before. She understood now. She knew what she had to do.
"I will… Rei." A smile graced the pale girls' features, and she was looking with tear filled crimson eyes directly into the ice blue of the second Childs, as the world exploded into white around them. And Rei Ayanami… ceased to exist.
____________________
"No…" Shinji Ikari sat in shock as he watched the giant fireball of the explosion approach him. He didn't even bother to put up his AT field as the shockwave hit him. Unit 01 was thrown back for several hundred feet before slamming into the side of a mountain. It's hand came down near the edge of a shelter ripping into the foundation and crumbling one wall, exposing the twenty four men and women inside to the fires of hell rushing towards them.
They were all burned to ash in an instant. Unit 01 did not fare much better, the paint job was completely gone and the metal armor covering it was blackening even going so far as to warp and bend under the intense heat.
Inside the cockpit Shinji was too far gone in shock to even register the sensation of searing heat burning him alive. He merely watched the view monitors with eyes he could not force shut as he re-lived the moment of her destruction again and again.
Asuka had stood in midair, as the hurricane of flames roared around her, completely unperturbed by the flames licking through her body. She gazed with sad eyes through the wall of flames at the dark form that was Unit 01.
Turning she found Kaoru standing before her. She didn't even bother asking how he was standing in the air like that, she simply nodded once to him. He turned and began to walk away, she followed and the flames roared up around them, covering them completely. When they died down the two were nowhere to be seen.
____________________
Gendo Ikari reached under the edge of his desk and quietly depressed a button. Deep within the bowel of NERV in a room that only two other individuals had ever seen, a sequence was started, and soon a third life would arrive in the chain that was Rei Ayanami.
End.
Authors notes: Normally I don't do this but I have ended it here. Now some of you may be screaming: "But where is the Terrifying Revelation?" Well I say to you. CALM DOWN. Just scroll down a bit and you'll find it.
*Turns away from the audience grumbling under his breath about the impatience of his audience. But he is quickly silenced as an irate member throws an N2 mine onto the stage*
*Lord Deathscythe appears on the destroyed stage.* "Random! We're gonna need a new Ryan!
A Tale That Wasn't Right
Death and Rebirth/A Terrifying Revelation
____________________
Deep within the bowels of the earth, in a secret room, a pale form slowly comes into being. The beginning has ended, the end now begins.
____________________
Dr. Ritsuko Akagi reaches for the phone and dials in a series of numbers. After three rings the voice of Misato Katsuragi can be heard on the other end of the line.
/Katsuragi speaking./
"Misato. It's Ritsuko. Rei's alive."
/WHAT??!!!!!!/ clatter from the other end as Misato drops the phone. /SHINJI!!/
____________________
Rei Ayanami stood at the window of the hospital gazing out at the white scene below. Light filtering in through the glass cast a bluish tinge to everything around her. Her arm and head were wrapped with bandages.
Suddenly from far down the hall came a commotion that caught her attention. She turned her head to see a boy running towards her at speeds deemed against the law on most major highways.
He seemed slightly familiar to her and she frowned as she tried to place his face and voice. Her attempts were cut short as he suddenly ran right into her, wrapping both arms around her in a tight embrace.
"Rei! I'm so glad you're alive." The force of Shinji's momentum carried them both to the smooth tile floor where they landed in a tangled heap of arms and legs. Shinji now conscious of the bandages carefully extricated himself from her and helped her to her feet. He was breathing hard and his brow was covered in sweat.
Tears of joy poured freely from his eyes.
"I am glad I am alive as well." Shinji suddenly stopped breathing. This was not the Rei that he had spoken to a few nights before.
"Rei I want to thank you," he said after a few moments of silence.
"For what?"
"For saving my life. You destroyed unit 00 to save me."
"Did I? I am afraid that I do not remember that. I think… I think that I am the third."
____________________
"Where am I?" Asuka asked looking around her. She was standing on what appeared to be a dark gray layer of mist. The world around her was comprised of this same material encasing her on all sides in a gray cage.
"You are about to begin your journey back Miss. Sohryu." She whirled around to find Kaoru standing behind her. "Soon you will be among the living again. If you survive the process that is."
Asuka suddenly felt a cold fist of fear wrap around her heart, and she gulped involuntarily. She peered at him and her eyes slowly widened in shock as he outlined what was expected of her.
This was NOT good.
____________________
Shinji Ikari was sitting in the living room of the Katsuragi apartment when the phone rang. Misato was out. She had been working more lately in her desperate attempt to uncover the truth about NERV and its purpose.
He reached over and picked up the receiver.
"Hello?"
"Shinji. You will be free from security for a few minutes. Do exactly as I say." Shinji quickly recognized the voice of Ritsuko Akagi, but he had no clue as to what it was she expected of him.
Before the night was over he would wish he had never learned.
____________________
Deep within Central Dogma, Misato Katsuragi waits in concealment. Her patience is soon rewarded when she sees a lone figure walking towards the two large steel doors at the end of the hallway.
Ritsuko slides her keycard through the security slot on the door and frowns when it refuses her passcode.
"It will only open with my code." Ritsuko hears a click and feels the cold metal of a gun pressed against the back of her head. "No more secrets Ritsu. I want to know the truth right now."
"Okay. But this one comes with us." Ritsuko presses a button on a remote in her pocket and a light comes on illuminating the form of Shinji standing nearby.
____________________
"My mother?" Shinji gasped as he sank to his knees. He looked up at Ritsuko, just in time to see her press yet another button on that little remote she carried. The black walls lit up, and he surged to his feet at what he saw.
"REI!!!" Hundreds of blue haired heads turned at the sound of his voice, and he found himself the target of a thousand deep red eyes. Boring into his soul and he would forever have the next memory burned into his mind.
They laughed. All of them in perfect unison laughed a soft giggle that was the laugh of a person gone mad, or one without a mind to begin with. He suddenly realized that the good doctor had been talking again.
"…. The don't deserve to live." A push of a button. Shinji's scream echoed throughout the large room for a solid ten minutes.
End.
More Notes: Okay I KNOW that ending was a little weak but give me a break people. My creative mind has been sapped for the last several months with many other projects and a meeting coming up with some VERY famous authors, I need to prepare some original pieces for them to look at.
Well now we have seen the Death and the Rebirth. The revelation is at hand, How will Shinji handle this latest blow to his sanity? He already hovers on the brink of suicide what will this do to him?
What will happen to the new Rei? And WHAT is happening to Asuka?
You'll just have to wait for the next installment to find out.
*Lord Deathscythe comes onto the stage and stops the recording. Luckily this tape had been prepared for just such an eventuality as the death of the current Ryan. Hopefully they would have the new one finished in time for the next chapter to be written before the audience moves on to him and Random.*
A Tale That Wasn't Right
Death and Rebirth/A Terrifying Revelation
Written by
Ryan T. Nelson
Until Next Time…
See you on the other side.