Neon Genesis Evangelion
New Mobile Suit Report Gundam Wing
Crossover Fanfiction
Children of War
Chapter 2:
By Trek1030
Version 1.0 (Began 3 September 2001 - finished 23 September 2001)
Quick Author's Note:
I've spent so long on this fic, and finally I have finished a detailed outline of the first 5 chapters! This chapter may be kind of slow compared to the previous one, but the next one will be where the story will take a massive divergence from the Evangelion story line. This chapter just sort of sets the next one up. Also, here's the reason for the lack of GW characters and stuff; this is only the first multi-chapter "book" in a series I am writing. The next "book", tentatively titled "Children of Death", will be taking place mostly in the space colonies and outside of Tokyo-3. I am not sure of how many chapters each book will contain, maybe six each.
Well anyway, here's chapter 2. I hope that I have worked out any serious problems, eliminating the need for another draft, but my hopes are never answered, so feel free to tear apart my fic, so that I can make this as good as it can possibly be.
The bright morning sun seared through the cloudless sky, pouring down upon the school building. The warm light glowed through the windows, giving a somewhat gold illumination to the classroom of class 2A. Within the room small groups of students were spread about, chatting amongst themselves before class begins.
Sitting at three desks near the front of the room, sprawled the trio called the "three stooges" by certain members of the class. Shinji, Kensuke, and Toji sat in each other's company, going on about trivial things until the topic of a certain fiery redhead was brought up. Though due to the immaturity of 2/3 of the trio, the mentioning was because of some snide remark that had something about the Second and Third Children doing some... un-child-like things.
"No, Toji," Shinji replied flatly, almost banging his head on the desk in frustration, clearly embarrassed by the slight blush creeping upon his face, "the reason Asuka hasn't been to school the past two days is NOT because she is still sore from sex. And no, I still can't tell you exactly what happened; Asuka would probably gut me if I told you."
"Oh come on," Kensuke urged, "Why isn't the red-devil here? Not that we care, but what's she doing?"
"I already told you guys, I can't say anything about it. God knows I already tell you two too much classified NERV stuff."
"Can you at least explain to us about Heero?" Toji complained, leaning back in his desk, "I mean... That guy's so odd, and he comes to class in the middle of the year. Then his talking about war and crap like that..."
"My guess is that he's a NERV pilot, maybe for a new Eva!" Kensuke interrupted, starry-eyed in his imagination.
Before Shinji could respond to them, the class representative walked up to the three, and gave Kensuke and Toji an angry glare. She closed her eyes and shook her head as she began to question them.
"Oh no," Hikari sighed, "please tell me that you two aren't pressing Shinji for information again? Didn't Katsuragi-san warn you two about that already?"
"Come on class-rep," Toji pleaded, "The red-devil's your friend, isn't she? Aren't you at least curious about where she is?"
"Pilot Sohryu is in the hospital, recuperating," Heero answered from behind the group. The four shocked students turned to see Heero Yuy glaring at them. He had just walked through the door, when his keen ears overheard their conversation; silently, he had made his way over to their group, choosing now to speak. "She will be back in school by tomorrow."
"Oh my God," Hikari exclaimed, full of worry, "Is she alright?"
"Yes," Heero replied, his cold expression still not changing, "She suffered minor lacerations to the abdomen during a training exercise."
Hikari sighed in relief, and began to walk away to prepare for the day. Once the class rep was out of earshot, Toji turned to question Heero as he was beginning to walk away. Cautiously, Toji asked, "Hey Heero! Just who are you, how did you know that?"
Stopping in his steps, Heero turned once again to face the three stooges. In his monotone voice, with his stone cold expression, he coolly responded, "I pilot a mobile suit for both NERV and the U.N.. I am the pilot of the Gundam Wing Zero."
Not wanting to be questioned further, Heero turned and walked to his desk, leaving behind the awe-struck stooges. Toji and Kensuke stared at him with their eyes wide as he walked away. Recovering himself, Kensuke smiled in joy and looked up at the ceiling while squealing with joy. He giggled like a schoolgirl while he began to babble on about having the four most famous mech pilots in the world in his class.
Toji, on the other hand, just turned to Shinji, who also had the sense to temporarily ignore Kensuke. His eyes still wide, Toji asked, "Did he just say he piloted the one mobile suit that practically won the colony wars?"
"Um...," mumbled Shinji, unsure of what he should tell them, "yeah, I guess he did."
Thankfully for the Third Child, he was saved by the Sensei walking into the room. While Hikari scrambled forward to begin her "rise, bow, sit" routine, most of the students in the room began to hurry to their proper seats.
During another day of menial lectures, Shinji sat at his desk trying to ignore the teacher. Full of worries, Shinji decided to open a conversation with Heero over their desk terminals. Hurriedly, he typed in a question and desperately waited the reply.
IkariShinji Heero, why did you do that?
HeeroYuy Do what?
IkariShinji Tell everyone about Asuka
HeeroYuy That information is not classified.
IkariShinji Yeah but- never mind. At least you didn't tell them that it was you who did it. She'd blame us if anyone brought it up to her; I know she'd definitely hurt me.
HeeroYuy I am not inhuman, though it may seem so. Pilot Sohryu has an ego-problem; and until that can be dealt with, hurt pride and a shattered public image would make her unfit for duty. I am not in the business of disgracing fellow pilots unless it is necessary.
Shinji breathed a sigh as he read that last IM from Heero. He momentarily leaned back in relief before returning to the conversation.
IkariShinji Thank you, Heero.
HeeroYuy If that is all, I will be terminating this conversation.
IkariShinji Wait! I just have one more question.
HeeroYuyYes?
Ikari Shinji Why did you tell everyone that you were a Gundam pilot? I thought that was classyfied and all, since the Gundam pilots' identities were never released to the public.
HeeroYuy Not officially classified. Our identities were withheld at our own requests. We never fought for recognition or fame; the knowledge that peace was restore was all we wanted. In addition, all of us Gundam pilots hate the media.
IkariShinji Oh I get it. That sounds so noble.
HeeroYuy Is that all?
IkariShinji Um.. Yeah I guess so. By the way, are you busy after school? You could come with Kensuke, Toji, and me to the arcade downtown.
HeeroYuy Actually, I have something of much importance to do. It's nothing official, just something concerning my current houseing conditions.
IkariShinji Oh, ok then. Bye.
The connection was dropped as Heero terminated the conversation. Internally, he was overjoyed as something as simple as a conversation to break up the stupidity of the day. Though he was quick to end the conversation because of the trepidation he felt that this insecure connection may be found and had Shinji revealed anything of confidential importance, the secret would be out. Also, he didn't want to be caught by the teacher, who would most probably give him a detention, meaning that he would have to stay even longer in this hellhole of school. Heero considered going to school a sick joke, though he still hadn't had a chance to take it up with one of the commanders or Dr. Akagi. Maybe Major Katsuragi would listen to him and be able to give him leave from school to train at NERV.
As the day dragged on, Shinji began to daydream. Strange images filled his mind, a remembrance of the fight against Heero. The incident had happened in a blur, Shinji still not quite sure about what really happened. Playing through his mind were the events of the fight. Why had he done that? What happened to him? He was scared. Scared of Eva Unit 01 and scared of himself. He remembered the bright flashing lights of his entry plug, and the strange multi-colored glow that had surrounded him before he saw an image of Asuka dead, and another of Heero dying at his hands. That glow had been there before, but never looked like this.
Just as the lunch bell rang in class, Shinji sat up and gasped. He breathed hard, eyes wide in sudden confusion. Toji and Kensuke, who had been walking toward him to join him for lunch, rushed forth to aide their friend. Shaking him a bit, Toji prompted Shinji for any response, "Ikari!"
"Wha..." was all Shinji muttered. Abruptly regaining his composure, Shinji shook the thoughts out of his head. Looking at the concerned faces of his friends, he said, "It's nothing I'm fine."
"It looked like something scared the shit out of you." Kensuke said, still a bit concerned.
"Like I said, it's nothing. Lets go to lunch." The boys agreed, and the trio left to eat lunch on the roof. All the while something haunted the back of Shinji's confused mind; he remembered the seconds before he fight, the last clear things he remembered about it. He remembered he saw in the corner of his viewscreen, small flashing texts indicating some process going on. Shinji had read "Initiating System E- 20" before the wall of the entry plug turned to light and he saw a hallucination of Asuka's entry plug; crushed, dripping blood mixed with LCL, and the girl's limp, dead arm hanging out a rupture in the side.
A blue Renault Alpine A310 blurred down the surprisingly empty streets of Tokyo-3. Pushing the small car to its limits, the driver jammed it into sixth gear, causing the engine to release a beastly roar. It's tires squealing, the blue Renault rushed on; a metallic reflection from farther down the road hinted at the semi-truck speeding down the opposite lane. With the small Alpine switching lanes, the two vehicles roared onward, speeding directly toward each other. As the car came into the view of the truck, the loud air-horn snarled a warning to the oncoming auto.
"Misato! Look out!"
The little blue car turned at the last moment, narrowly missing the truck. The blue car screeched as the sudden, high-speed movement caused visible tire tracks to he etched into the pavement. It bobbed slightly from side to side, almost spinning out of control. After a few moments, the motions began to succeed, and the car strode calmly down the road at its normal high speed.
A woman as immature as a teenager giggled in the driver's seat as she adjusted her sunglasses. She leaned back in her chair with a little smirk on her face. Beside the woman, a redheaded German sat fuming, ready to scream.
"Did you have to do that?!" Asuka shrieked at Misato, who was futilely trying to plug her ears, "I just got out of the hospital, I don't want to go back anytime soon."
"It was fun," Misato replied slyly, "Didn't you think so?"
"Hell no," Asuka snorted, calming down a bit. She leaned back in the seat a bit, only to be bitten by a sudden sharp pain in her side. Asuka rubbed her side over the bandages, and resumed looking blankly out at the sky, deep in thought.
"You've been like that since the hospital, Asuka," Misato said, a slight hint of worry in her voice, "Quite frankly, you seemed so zoned out that I didn't think that you would have noticed my little run at the truck."
"So you did that stupid thing to get my attention?" Asuka retorted, annoyed, "Well what do you want that merits almost killing me?"
"You haven't said anything since we left the hospital. Don't you have anything on your mind?"
Asuka only remained silent and stared straight ahead. With only the purr of the engine to break the uncomfortable silence, Misato put all her attention back into driving, giving up for now on trying to talk to Asuka. After minutes of cold silence, Asuka finally spoke.
"At least tell me that the Gundam baka got what he deserved," she said softly, sounding slightly disheartened, "You scolded him at least, didn't you, Misato?"
"Yeah, I did," Misato replied, quietly. She pondered about the events of that incident for a moment; Misato decided to let the events be known to the Second Child.
"And yes, Heero did get a beating," Misato said calmly, unsure of how enthusiastic she should be talking about the incident.
"What?!" Asuka blurted, shocked in misunderstanding, "He got a beating as punishment? That seems a bit cruel for you, Misato. Not that I mind..."
"No, not that," the Major interrupted, "I don't think you get it. The training exercise didn't end when you got hurt."
Curious, Asuka remained quiet and looked at the woman driving the car. Momentarily taking her eyes off the road, Misato saw the look on Asuka's face and began to explain.
"I was watching from the control room; Shinji in Unit-01 jumped at him. He brutally fought Wing Zero until we cut the power to both mecha. Readings from his plug were strange and erratic; we thought that Unit-01 had gone berserk again. Hell, it even screamed like it did before."
Misato paused for a moment to let the chilling thought of the berserker Eva leave her mind. Asuka felt a similar shiver as she recalled when Unit-01 ripped its way out of the Sea of Dirac. Taking a breath to prepare for another disturbing part of the story, Misato ventured on into her story telling.
"But it wasn't berserk; Unit-01 didn't lose control. The readings from Shinji's plug were erratic, but they were accurate."
"What does that mean?" Asuka questioned, a bit frightened.
"It means that Shinji was doing it; he was that fighting beast. It was because of you... Shinji fought like that because he thought you were seriously hurt."
Her cold defenses around her were caught off guard, and Asuka simply remained quiet the rest of the trip home. The German girl's perception of her cowardly roommate had changed; leaving her in a slight confusion. She wondered why he would fight; perhaps he cared, but to Asuka, no one cared. In her mind, Asuka would deny to herself that there was someone who cared for her; yet she came to one, inevitable conclusion: maybe she'd lighten up on what she put Shinji through, at least for a little bit.
In the bowels of NERV, Heero walked from the administration department. Before he could do anything of any value, the Gundam pilot had to rid himself of school; Heero Yuy formed a private mission of his own, to rid himself of this hell so that he could fulfill his duties. Not only did he have his duties as a NERV and U.N. pilot, he needed time to execute his other, more important mission unknown to NERV...
Stopping in front of a map mounted on the wall, Heero looked over the layout of the level he was on. Darting over the multi-colored diagram, he quickly found his destination in another section not too far. Putting his finger to the plastic, Heero traced and memorized the path he would follow to Commander Ikari's office.
Walking down the brightly lit corridor, Heero silently smirked to himself. He inwardly laughed at the fearful expression of the secretary in the administrations department; not that it had been unwarranted, few could have stood against Heero's icy glare as he angrily demanded his work schedule be changed, after the secretary had told him she didn't have the authority to do that. The young girl trembled as she told the pilot that only Commander Ikari, Sub-commander Fuyutsuki, and Dr. Akagi had the authority to change schedules of the mech pilots. Heero had stormed off in silence, much to the relief of the poor secretary.
As Heero reached the glistening metal doors of the Commander's office, he spotted a figure leaning against the door. The image of the figure began to get clearer as Heero strode closer to the door. It was an old man in a black suit; dark gray hair came down his balding head in a conservative haircut. The man had an odd familiarity about him that Heero seemed to recognize, but not remember. At least not until the called out to him.
"Master Yuy! It is a surprise to see you here," the man said cheerfully, in his somewhat English accent.
Now standing in front of the man, Heero got a good look at his face. Heero was granted a momentary shock as he realized what this man's presence meant; the man's name was Pagan, a servant of Princess Relena Peacecraft.
"Why is Relena here?" Heero demanded, his voice somewhat in shock through its normal cold.
"She's in a meeting with the commanders of NERV," Pagan responded with a slight smile, "I would've thought that you off all people, would have known Princess Relena's whereabouts."
"I've been... busy," Heero said as he and Pagan both stepped away from the two mammoth doors to the commander's office, which were now opening with a loud creak.
Form within the archway, three persons walked out of the office. In her formal, dark blue business dress, Princess Relena calmly walked out of the office talking to the two commanders following behind her. She slowly stepped on, not yet noticing the spiky-haired pilot in the hallway.
"...so, Commanders, I will not let NERV set up a branch in the Sanq Kingdom until I see just what these Evangelions are, and how they are used. I will reserve my judgment until I witness that activation test of Unit-03."
As she turned to face the commanders, to give her farewells, a certain boy leaning against the wall caught her attention. Relena's eyes grew wide in shock as she recognized the boy's frosty blue eyes. His face seemed unchanged, his hair still a spiky mess. Her eyes locked with his in unspeaking ecstasy until the dark voice of Commander Ikari interrupted her dream world.
"Is there something wrong, Princess?" Ikari questioned, noticing her stare at the pilot leaning against the wall. "This is pilot Heero Yuy, of the Gundam Wing Zero. I was under the impression that you were already acquainted with him."
"Oh, yes," Relena smiled, talking somewhat dreamily, "I know him... I haven't seen you for so long Heero..."
Internally groaning at the Princess' childish nature, Commander Ikari walked up to Sub-commander Fuyutsuki and whispered into his ear, "First her quixotic dreams of pacifism, now this. Handle it, I'll be back in my office." Finished, Ikari quickly walked back to his desk, at the other end of his immense office.
"Princess," Fuyutsuki said with a smile, though inside he profanely cursed the Commander for always sticking him with the job of taking care of politicians, "we are done with the meeting. Feel free to tour NERV until you are scheduled to leave; I'm sure Pilot Yuy here would be glad to show you around."
"Yes..." Relena responded, still not taking her eyes off of Heero, "that would be delightful."
With a quick nod, Fuyutsuki retreated to the Commander's office, shutting the massive metal doors behind him.
"Hi Shinji-kun," greeted Misato as Shinji walked through the doorway into the kitchen. He had just gotten home from school, and had put away his backpack in his room.
"Hello, Misato-san," replied Shinji, "Why are you home so early?"
"Well, I decided to take the rest of the day off after I brought back Asuka."
"Speaking of her," Shinji started to ask, quickly looking around, "Where is she?"
"She's in her room," replied Misato, before she changed the subject, "Are you feeling alright?"
"Of course, why do you ask?"
"Because," Misato said worriedly, "you always seem distraught after a battles where you are forced to fight."
"I don't know what happened in that fight," Shinji sighed as he took a seat in the chair beside his guardian, "It was if something showed me something horrible, and then what I must do about it, but I don't know why I did it."
Misato put her arm around Shinji, comforting the boy who was now staring off, trying to come to some epiphany about the events past. After a few moments, Shinji stood up.
"I'm going to go see how Asuka's doing," he said as he began to walk down the hallway.
Misato sat at the table still thinking. She felt so sorry for Shinji, for what he had been going through. But what could she do? The Shinji she had scene in the fight with Wing Zero had seriously disturbed her. Her cute little Shin-chan couldn't be some violent beast... it was always the Evangelion's fault, wasn't it?
She headed to the kitchen for a six-pack of Yebisu, perhaps that could help her thoughts.
"She seems very young to be running a country, no wonder her goals are so childish," Fuyutsuki commented, as he stepped back into the commander's office after seeing the Princess off, "Ikari, I do not see why we need another branch of NERV so late in the game."
"We need more numbers," responded the commander, "SEELE and the UN outnumber us right now. Any sort of contingency will be useful with such a risky scenario we are running."
Fuyutsuki nodded at the statement. Then he asked something which had been bothering him. "Why did you activate System E in Unit 01? The system in Unit-01 is only a prototype that does not have the power of the full system."
"The pilot of 01 did not possess the power to fight. I activated E in order to test the abilities of both the Third Child and the ZERO system. It is crucial to Kushrenada's scenario that we have a highly accurate sense of what our capabilities are."
"Why didn't you use the dummy plugs to test that?"
"Because, Fuyutsuki, they have not been tested as reliable yet. The first working prototype should be completed before the tests on Unit 03. We'll have on installed into Unit 01 before then."
"This activation is not necessary under Kushrenada's scenario, why are we still commencing with it?"
"We need to follow the committee's plan until the Messiah Suit is finished. Besides, the incident that will occur will bring forth the purified mind of the Chosen; without the Chosen, there is no way we can succeed."
"Asuka?" asked Shinji as he stopped outside Asuka's door, "Can I come in?"
"Sure, baka," the girl snidely replied from behind the door.
Shinji nervously and slowly walked into the room and saw Asuka sitting her bed. He stayed near the door, still unsure of himself.
"Um... I'm glad you're all right, Asuka. You know, Misato talked to Heero after it happened. That jerk won't do anything that stupid again."
"Yeah, I know. Misato told me. She also told me what you did."
Shinji gulped at the mention of that. He himself did not know what had happened that day. He trembled at what she might be thinking of him now... now that something so strange had overcome his mind; that he could lose control of himself. Yet as he thought, Shinji came to realize that it was because he genuinely care about her.
"I wanted to say..." Asuka began, but quickly choked and started to hesitate in the words she was going to say. Shinji just waited silently by the door for her to continue.
"I wanted to say..." Asuka struggled to find the words, " ... Um ... thank you."
Shinji was shocked at the sincerity of the words she had spoken. He realized what he had felt when the image of her flashed inside his entry plug. The emotions he had toward her, he knew he had always had; perhaps that incident had let him see it, and now he had a slight chance that she could understand him, and just why he did what he did. He attempted to convey and admit something to Asuka, but trailed off, " Asuka, I... I... um..."
Some strange look came back to Asuka's softened eyes. "Baka, you can't even speak straight. Now, get the hell out of my room, I've said all I wanted to say to you."
Shinji was very perplexed by what had just occurred. What the hell had just happened? Where did the emotional, kind, and peaceful Asuka go to? He saw the Asuka he had once knew returning. He tried to keep speaking, perhaps striving to maintain the peace and emotion of the events that had occurred just seconds ago. "But Asuka..."
"But what?" the angry girl interrupted, glaring at him, "I already thanked you, don't expect more. I do not need you to fight for me. I don't need your help or pity. I don't need anyone. Now, didn't I just tell you to get the hell out of here?!"
Shinji slowly backed out of the doorway and shut the door. He walked slowly to the other side of the hall, and into his room. What the hell had just happened? Shinji was still in shock and not reacting to the past events. His mind wandered back into the visions of Asuka he had seen inside his entry plug. He felt a yearning to go back, a feeling that all will be clarified if he could only experience System E one more time.
The effects of Asuka's actions finally hit Shinji. "She hates me..." he muttered to himself. "She doesn't truly know how I feel. Then again, do I?"
A feeling of sorrow swept over him. Without Asuka, Shinji felt... alone. But through this, Shinji felt scared; it still puzzled him where these sudden thoughts had come from. The young pilot put on and activated his SDAT and let the soothing music drown down the confusing pains of his life.
The calming classical music Shinji listened to would usually put his mind at ease. The powerfully moving symphonies of Beethoven, Bach, and Mozart would bring an air of bliss to his chaotic mind, allowing for the Third Child to lose his own self, and drift away into some fantasy world of instrumental harmony. Violins, pianos, and a barrage of musical instruments would unite into a melody of pure ecstasy.
But not tonight; tonight the Third Child was forever trapped within his mind, the freeing power of the masters of classical music could not bring him to their land of musical happiness.
Thoughts stirred within Shinji's mind; thoughts that would not become clear, but yet would never leave his consciousness. He now remembered the name of the system that activated before he lost control; but Shinji could not understand how so many conflicting thoughts could surface at once. It was as if a door was opened, allowing his mind to see the truth; but there was a screen door behind that one, leaving the images cloudy, only letting Shinji feel the emotions that came along with them.
Hatred.
Love.
Death.
Followed by the images of the people he knew; though Shinji could not seem to comprehend for whom he felt each emotion. Frustration filled his mind, the boy unable to handle his own thoughts. Eventually, he reached a point where the classical music blaring in his ears became a nuisance, rather than a source of calm.
Struggling to find some outside source with which he could extend his emotions, Shinji walked over to the desk in the corner of his room. Reaching underneath the desk, the boy pulled out a notebook computer, one for which he reserved for homework and storage of the music he considered so precious. After booting up the system, Shinji started up a file-sharing client, and began to search for music; not the classical that used to calm him, but rather for new things... things that would express the emotions which confused his mind.
Beneath the surface of Tokyo-3, a garden inhabited the space in front of NERV central; within that garden, numerous beds of flowers lay, with pathways snaking between them. In the center, a fountain quietly spurt water into the air, only to catch it again. Off to the left of the fountain, a white gazebo stood with a single wooden bench beneath its unneeded sheltering roof. Above the garden, the roof of the geofront glowed a light blue from mounted lights; this dim light shined down upon the couple who occupied that single bench.
Snuggling closer, Relena inched closer to Heero. She rested her head on his shoulder, as she clutched his left arm as if he were going to leave her forever. A serene smile went across her face, as she was lost in the moment, only caring that she could be near the one that she loved. Relena remained as silent as Heero, who hadn't spoken a word since they had arrived in the garden.
Heero sat on the bench, seemingly oblivious to the fact that a teenage girl was almost all over him. His eyes remained closed, and his body remained still, his face not betraying any emotion. But within his mind, Heero knew just what he was doing, and what he must do. The soldier in him knew this was a waste of time, but deep down, Heero was reminded of just one more reason for which he fought. But Heero's personal war was not over yet, and until then, Relena could not be a part of his life. With this in mind, Heero broke the serene calm, asking about Relena's reasons for being at NERV.
"I wanted to meet with the commander," the princess answered, not moving from Heero, a hint of happiness still in her voice, "about his request for a branch of NERV in the Sanq Kingdom.
"I wanted to see what these Evangelions were; these massive weapons for humanities defense. Sanq Kingdom is still a pacifist nation; but I will not stand by without helping all of humanity."
"Is that why you are going to watch the activation test of a new Evangelion unit?" Heero questioned, further prodding to gain any useful information.
"Yes," Relena answered. Yawning, she loosened her grip on Heero's arm, and sat up, still holding onto him. She looked at his cold face, his eyes still closed, and asked a question in her sweetest voice, trying to hide the concern and worry she felt. "Heero, why are you a pilot at NERV? The last I heard, you were in special ops for the U.N."
"I still am," Heero said, still unmoving, "I am currently working on a joint mission with NERV against the angels; I pilot Wing Zero against the Angels."
"So... you're fighting again," responded Relena, her voice dropping, no longer having a happy tone to hide her worries. She knew all along that Heero would be fighting someone, somewhere; but it scared her to death that he would be fighting aliens bent on destroying humanity itself.
"I always am," Heero stated, mentally adding, 'but only until there is peace enough that we can be together.'
A quiet electronic beep interrupted the princess and the pilot; it was Pagan calling Relena's cell phone, alerting them that it was time for Relena to leave. Straightening out her skirt, Relena stood up and face Heero, who was still sitting on the bench. Struggling for the words to say, Relena only let out a single "sayonara." Heero simply looked at her with his icy blue eyes and nodded with a slight smile; Relena quickly gave Heero a kiss before she walked off, leaving Heero alone in the garden.
During the silence of the night, a figure shrouded in darkness crawled along all fours, slithering his way into the deep, heart of NERV. Pitch black filled the access shaft, to be disturbed by only an occasional bar of light coming in through a vent. With his night-vision goggles on, Heero saw everything in a light greenish tint. For nearly half an hour, Heero crawled on, ignoring the heat building up in the shaft, pushing his way past cables and wires.
Eventually reaching his destination, Heero looked out the slits of a vent, noting the writing on the wall of the corridor below. Glowing dark-green from Heero's goggles, the walls read: Terminal Dogma - Level E79 Section Q. Silently, the boy carefully unscrewed the vent with a utility knife, taking care to slide the vent out of place. Reaching into his back pocket, Heero unearthed a small blue device, not much bigger than Shinji's SDAT, but far more useful to the Gundam pilot. Clicking a small green button on the device, the blue box began quietly beeping as Heero dropped it through the opening. Giving a metallic clang as it hit the floor, the electro magnetic pulse grenade activated its payload, surging power in a 300 ft. radius, filling the corridor with a momentary white light as it fried the active electronics of the security system.
Wasting no time, the spiky-haired pilot dropped down from the access shaft into the dark corridor. Eying a certain metal door labeled "Sys E. - Main", Heero sprinted toward it, rushing to gain access to the secret behind it before the secondary security systems would activate. Feeling along the edge of the door's massive frame, he felt the cold glass encasing the emergency opening mechanism; with no power to this corridor, this lever would be the only way to open the door.
The door hissed as the pneumatics lowered their pressure, pulling open the metal slabs that stood in the doorway. Once they were open about a foot, Heero slid into the room, and pumped the levers on the other side to close the door. Edging along the wall, he felt a light switch and activated it, flooding the vast room with brilliant white light, chasing the shadows into the corners.
Stepping forward, Heero realized the enormity of the room; its metal lined walls held a space as huge as an Evangelion cage. Directly in front of the boy, the floor stopped at the edge of a chasm, railings across the ledge, with catwalks and bridges crossing the eerie darkness, a massive dark figure entangled within the web of pathways, and a veil of wires and cables coming out from its uncovered innards.
"Is this another Eva Unit?" Heero thought to himself as he walked closer to the edge of the railing. The cage was illuminated by light, but a shadow was still cast on this beast in the center, hiding it from Heero. Seeing another light switch, the Gundam pilot activated it, pulling a fluorescent glow out of the walls and ceilings, shining down upon the massive beast.
Even without most of its armor plating, the beast still shown in its black and burgundy glory. Biological muscle tissue, enmeshed in and infinite amount of cables, revealed the living monster beneath the metal. Yes, this was an Evangelion Unit, but there was something more...
In recognition, Heero's eyes grew wide in terror and confusion; though anger and determination soon made itself shown through the expression on Heero's face and his burning eyes. The machine lay dormant, its long whip seeming in the process of being mounted on its left arm; to its right, a massive plasma based beam sword was hooked up to testing machines. Yet its face was the first detail Heero recognized; though more grotesque and organic-looking than the original, its head had dull-green eyes with dark-burgundy detailing on its sides, matched with an equally reddish-purple crown that mocked the signature golden head-details of the Gundams.
Heero deactivated the lights, readying another EMP grenade for his escape. Though all the while, the memory of his final fight again Zechs Marquee flooded his mind. Heero silently spoke to himself as the lights faded.
"I destroyed you, Epyon. You once brought my mind into disarray; there's something disturbing about your mind system. I will destroy you again, and whomever had raised you from the ashes."
Miles below the floor of the geo-front, near the dark secret known as Terminal Dogma, a lab with an LCL-filled tube subsided. Within that tube floated the nude form of Ayanami Rei; breathing the blood-like liquid, she stayed motionless as the others in the room watched on.
Turning to the blonde woman at the computer terminal, Commander Ikari coldly spoke, breaking the silence by asking for a status report.
"System E has brought on noticeable changes in brain chemistry," Ritsuko responded, looking toward the commander, "No changes to chemical make-up in frontal lobes, so personality changes are doubtful. Only strange thing is that some normally inactive parts of the brain are not active."
"Is she still suitable to pilot?"
"Yes."
"What adverse affects do you predict in the Third Child?"
Sighing, Ritsuko leaned back slightly as she prepared to give Commander Ikari the results of the daylong experiment with Rei.
"The Third Child's DNA may be a 50 match for Rei's, but the effects of System E on his chaotic mind are nearly unpredictable," she answered. Smugly, Ritsuko commented, "Maybe if you raised Shinji instead of Rei, he'd fit your new plan."
Seeing no reaction from the commander, Dr. Akagi continued. "What we do know is that prolonged exposure will cause massive changes in brain chemistry, essentially letting the user think in manner unlike normal, sane human beings. Their personality can only change if they want to; only by psychological reasons not physiological."
"What affects has this experiment had on Rei?"
"The last ten hours, we have been running System E at about 30. Rei's problem solving abilities and logical thinking skills have increased dramatically." Ritsuko answered, snidely adding, "she's still the emotionless puppet you raised her to be."
"End the experiment and record the data," Commander Ikari ordered. Taking one last look at Rei before leaving, he said to Ritsuko, "Don't lecture me on how to raise children; they are nothing like cats.
Growling angrily, Ritsuko watched the Commander leave. Letting her rage out by violently hitting the keys to open the tube, she then helped Rei out, handing her a towel.
"Are you feeling any different, Rei?" Ritsuko said, typing in the finishing parts of the experiment, making meaningless conversation.
"I feel... Different."
Curious, Ritsuko stopped what she was doing to listen. She urged Rei, asking, "How so?"
"I can feel emotions that are not mine. Until I was released from the tube, I could feel a deep love, intertwined with an unending hatred. And as you helped me out, I could feel that wrath growing."
"Don't be silly, Rei," Dr. Akagi said quickly, fearing what she suspected. Just how else had System E affected the First Child? Just what had the clarity of System E done to Rei's inhuman mind?
"I can feel..." Rei said, closing her eyes to concentrate, "Fear... Your fear..."
"Rei, I think that's enough," Ritsuko stammered, "I think you should go home now."
"Hai," the blue haired girl said, walking out the door of the lab.
Alone in the lab, Ritsuko let out a sinister cackle; perhaps now, this accidental gaining of powers could rid her of the Commander's pet, and throw off his precious scenarios. Stopping momentarily to catch her breathe, Ritsuko continued to laugh into the night at Rei's newly acquired extrasensory perception.
To Be Continued...
Up next, Children of War Chapter 3: Divergence
Author's Note:
Oh god, I'm finally finished with that chapter. It got really hard to write at the end; at least I finished. I know this chapter is sorta slow, but it is mainly just filler to properly bring forth the next chapters without a sense of awkwardness in introducing new or weird things.
Next Chapter: the Forth Child will be chosen, and the story will start to completely deviate from normal Eva, into my spliced universe of Gundam Wing and Evangelion.
Just a few closing notes; Heero's mysterious spying will be explained next chapter, so please don't tell me I should explain it this chapter. Rei's new psychic powers was something I came up with for a fic I did a while ago, and I thought the E system would be a convenient plot device to give her some powers which will eventually become a bigger part of the story. Also, just because this had GW in it, does not mean it is going to be a yaio; I find it sickening at how much fanfic authors pair up Gundam pilots (not because I'm homophobic, but because it's just stupid. Nowhere in Gundam Wing does it even hint that they are gay!). Also, no matter what happens in the story, don't expect Asuka to end up with Shinji; I hate her too much for that (that hatred comes from a shy, depressed, near-suicidal teenage boy's personal experience with falling in love with an arrogant, bitchy, but beautiful girl that treated me like scum.)
Well, Till next time, seeyas! Please, please, please comment or something about my fic; I just want to know someone out there is reading it, regardless of whether they hate it or not.