So how many of you are mad for me having Evans shoot Shinji? Well, tough
luck. You'll see why later in this chapter.
Chapter 12: Biblical Revelations
Shinji was floating in a white plane completely devoid of objects. He tried to look down but only saw more of the sameness.
Where am I? he asked himself. His thought echoed throughout the void. He didn't feel anything. Was this death?
Suddenly he seemed to be standing on the ground. He looked down and saw his body.
"Where am I?" he asked again. But this time, his voice was restricted. It carried only a little ways. Shinji looked around. Was this really what death was like?
He turned and started walking about. It felt strange to be walking in this place since he had walked so much before. He bent down and tried to touch the ground but couldn't find it. He stood up straight again and continued walking. His eyes were partially blinded by the light surrounded him. It felt warm. But where was everyone? His thoughts were still fuzzy. He tried to remember what had happened to him. He was running. But to where? Images flashed through his head, confusing him. But three kept popping up. All of them women. Two had blue hair. No, one had more of a violet color. Another had red. The violet one was older while the other two were closer to his age. What was going on? He continued to walk around, trying to think clearly but his head wasn't helping. Then the images of the three women became sharper. All three were smiling. But one seemed more distinct than the others. It was the redhead. He tried to concentrate on her. Why was she special? What made her different from the other two? He pulled his thoughts together. He could see her smiling face, her blue eyes shining like sapphires in the sun. She was so beautiful. But who was she? Suddenly, the image of an older man broke through his head. He fell to his knees, clutching his head. The pain was unbearable. This man had a beard and his eyes were cold. His face looked as if it had never smiled out of happiness. He tried to fight it, to get it out of his head.
Kaworu frowned. Shinji was struggling to regain his identity. This was not a good sign. Perhaps he could help him?
"You know the rules," a man said from behind him, "You may not interfere with this."
Kaworu glanced back and saw the man. "Yes Father. I understand."
He did, but that make him wish any less to help his friend. Just then the gray haired girl appeared next to him.
"Don't worry Brother. Shinji is stronger than he looks. You can trust him to make it through this."
That man. He hated him, yet he wanted to love him. Why? That question raged through Shinji's head. Why was he here? Why was he like this? Everything seemed so incomprehensible. What was he supposed to do? Then a man with a gun appeared in his mind and shot him. He fell back and hit the floor. But he didn't feel any pain. Shouldn't he be dead? Was he already dead? He got up and shook his head. This wasn't right. Something was terribly wrong. Who was he?
"Shinji."
He spun around. Someone had said something. What was it? But it sounded so familiar.
Kaworu looked at the man. "I'm surprised you would break your own rule."
"I make the rules, and I can break them if it serves our purpose."
Kaworu nodded. It was more his right than anything. But inside he was smiling.
What was the word? Shinji? Was that his name? He searched inside his head. Suddenly, the gate to the flood was opened. He was overwhelmed with memories and fell again. This time, not of pain or surprise, but because he simply could not concentrate. He saw flashes go past his eyes.
"Shinji."
There was that word again, but it was a different name. A woman's name. He looked up and saw an outline of a woman with short hair. He thought he could see her eyes. They were blue.
"Mother?"
Then, the image was replaced with a woman with long flowing hair.
"Shinji."
"Misato?"
She was gone and a shorter girl appeared. Her hair was a light blue and her red eyes were clearly visible.
"Shinji."
"Rei."
She too changed into another woman. This time the girl also had long hair. But her blue eyes shone beautifully and looked upon him with compassion. With trust. With love.
"Shinji."
"Asuka." He stood and walked towards her. He reached out with his hand and tried to touch her. Suddenly, her image winked out to be replaced with that of a man. The man with the beard.
Shinji's face turned into pure rage.
"Father." He charged at the figure and seemed to knock it down. When he landed, he found that there was nobody there. He turned back but saw nothing. "Where are all of you?"
Shinji stood up and continued to walk, reliving the memories of his life. The few happy ones he reveled in and tried to make them last. The painful ones he remembered them for the sake of the lesson that he had learned from them. Never again would he allow someone to have such power over his life. Only one person would ever be able to do this to him. Only one and he promised himself who it would be.
"I think Shinji passed the first test," said Kaworu.
"More or less."
Kaworu frowned. "Why did you help him if you didn't want him to pass?"
"I wanted to see his strength. Perhaps there is more to him than even one of us can see."
"Lillium are quite interesting," said the girl, "There are so many of them and they each have their unique traits."
"They also have the will to survive," said Kaworu, "Despite all the odds."
"And perhaps they will survive this time as well," said the man. He turned and disappeared in the mist.
Shinji opened his eyes and found himself on top of a massive board supported by four pillars. He looked around and saw an ocean surrounding the pillars. He didn't dare look down. Suddenly, the wind blew at his back. He turned and saw a man standing a few feet behind him.
"Evans."
"Hello Shinji."
"Why did you shoot me?"
"What else was I supposed to do? Ask you to leave your body and come join me on this plane? I doubt you could have."
Shinji raised an eyebrow. "What are you talking about?"
"All in good time. Now, on guard."
A bright white armor surrounded Evans. The light from his armor looked just like the light Shinji had seen in that other place. In his hands formed an orange sword. Shinji suddenly realized that he was also holding a sword and wearing a purple armor with a helmet like that of Unit 01. He was holding a simple metal sword like the one an EVA might weld.
"What do you want?"
"I just want to test humanity, and since you represent humanity, that means I test you."
Evans charged at Shinji and struck at him. Shinji blocked it and kicked at Evans. Evans jumped over Shinji and brought his sword down. Shinji was ready for him and blocked again.
"I have to say. You're better at this than I thought."
He suddenly unleashed a bolt of energy and shot Shinji back. Smoke rose from Shinji's armor as he struggled to get back onto his feet.
"But I am far more powerful. I'm surprised you don't know how to control your AT-Field yet. All that time spent in Unit 01 wasn't enough I guess."
Shinji finally got back onto his feet. He raised his sword and prepared for another blow. Evans lifted his arm and a blue beam of light seemed to swirl around it. He suddenly unleashed it upon Shinji. It was like an energy whip, lashing out at him. Shinji blocked it for a few seconds but it grabbed his sword and flung it aside. It then struck him across the chest and sent him flying.
"Come Shinji. You're disappointing me. I'm starting to think that Tabris was wrong about you."
Something seemed to ignite inside Shinji. That man had called one of his best friends Tabris. That seemed so wrong, to call someone he knew with a different name. He got up and stared at Evans. Evans stared back and did not flinch. The two remained standing for a very long time. Inside Shinji, the small fire that had ignited started to burn. Evans had shot him and prevented him from helping Asuka and Misato and all his friends. Now he claimed to want to test humanity, to test Shinji. Well, he certainly was going to get a test. Shinji's eyes started to glow blue and a bluish AT-Field appeared.
"Well, I guess you can tap into your AT-Field."
Shinji lashed out with it, striking Evans but Evans blocked it with his own. He threw back Shinji's attack which just bounced off the blue AT- Field.
"Your soul is very strong," Evans observed, "Now let us see which of our souls is stronger."
"Lets."
Shinji focused his AT-Field into a narrow spear and launched it at Evans. Evans enveloped the spear in a Field of his own and smashed it. He counterattacked and struck Shinji in the side. Shinji had softened the blow by slowing it down but couldn't stop it. He stumbled a little but regained his balance just in time to parry off another attack. He struck back with a blow of his own which smashed straight into Evans' AT-Field. His Field was too strong to be penetrated by such a weak blow and Shinji knew it. He needed to get a handle about how powerful Evans really was. An indication of that was the strength of the AT-Field. Quite suddenly Evans and Shinji's AT-Field clashed. The two Fields pressed against one another, trying to get at the other. Shinji focused harder and harder, trying desperately to penetrate Evans' field. He didn't notice a sign of orange flash behind him. The spear struck him and he screamed out in pain. Shinji's AT-Field collapsed and he with it.
I failed, he thought. Everything was going to end.
To his surprise, the ending blow did not come. He felt himself being lifted and he was soon standing on his feet. Evans had picked him up.
"You did rather well, as well as could be expected. I have to congratulate you Shinji. Your strength is greater than even your friends could have ever imagined."
"So what are you going to do with me?"
"Do? We're going to talk. But I prefer that we do something while we talk. It can be rather dull if we just talk and not also have something else to concentrate."
A chessboard and two chairs appeared. The chessboard seemed to be floating in the air.
"How about a game of chess? That ought to refresh our minds."
"I'm not very good."
"Get over that," said Evans, "You keep saying that but if you wanted to be good, all you had to do is put your mind to it and remember what, who, and why you are doing it for."
Shinji sighed. He had nothing better to do. He took the black side. Evans sat on the other side and moved the pawn in front of the knight two spaces. Shinji responded by bringing out a knight.
"You know Shinji, I've always wondered what humanity lives for. I mean, humanity fights amongst itself, not just for survival, but also for love and happiness. But what is at the root of all this? Do you know?"
He moved out the bishop and waved for Shinji to continue.
"I don't know. I've thought about it before but I never could figure it out," Shinji admitted. He was a bit puzzled at why he was answering Evans.
He brought out the pawn mirror that of Evans'.
"Well, why do humans love? A rather interesting question don't you think? If humans loved, there must be a reason. If humans hate, there usually always is."
He moved the pawn in front of his rook next. Shinji looked at the layout. It was still early in the game, but you could never tell.
"Humans don't always find their reason," said Shinji, "We just try to adjust as best as we can and we try to find the missing things in our lives."
"Yes. Missing things. That can be difficult to find."
Shinji moved the pawn in front of his bishop next to the queen.
"But why do you think humans try to find those things?" Evans asked, "Is it because we know they're missing? I doubt it."
Evans moved out his rook.
"If something is missing, we usually don't know about it," Shinji replied, "But we just sense something is incomplete so we reach out for it."
Shinji moved his queen out.
"You have to admire that about humanity," said Evans, "You always try to attain the impossible and sometimes you achieve it."
"But you're human," said Shinji, "Why do you keep saying you?"
"What? Oh, hardly. I'm just seeing how my grandchildren are doing. My daughter Lilith certainly spawned many of you."
Evans moved his knight into position to take Shinji's queen.
End of Chapter 12
Am I a bastard or what? Leaving all of you to hang there.
Z98
Chapter 12: Biblical Revelations
Shinji was floating in a white plane completely devoid of objects. He tried to look down but only saw more of the sameness.
Where am I? he asked himself. His thought echoed throughout the void. He didn't feel anything. Was this death?
Suddenly he seemed to be standing on the ground. He looked down and saw his body.
"Where am I?" he asked again. But this time, his voice was restricted. It carried only a little ways. Shinji looked around. Was this really what death was like?
He turned and started walking about. It felt strange to be walking in this place since he had walked so much before. He bent down and tried to touch the ground but couldn't find it. He stood up straight again and continued walking. His eyes were partially blinded by the light surrounded him. It felt warm. But where was everyone? His thoughts were still fuzzy. He tried to remember what had happened to him. He was running. But to where? Images flashed through his head, confusing him. But three kept popping up. All of them women. Two had blue hair. No, one had more of a violet color. Another had red. The violet one was older while the other two were closer to his age. What was going on? He continued to walk around, trying to think clearly but his head wasn't helping. Then the images of the three women became sharper. All three were smiling. But one seemed more distinct than the others. It was the redhead. He tried to concentrate on her. Why was she special? What made her different from the other two? He pulled his thoughts together. He could see her smiling face, her blue eyes shining like sapphires in the sun. She was so beautiful. But who was she? Suddenly, the image of an older man broke through his head. He fell to his knees, clutching his head. The pain was unbearable. This man had a beard and his eyes were cold. His face looked as if it had never smiled out of happiness. He tried to fight it, to get it out of his head.
Kaworu frowned. Shinji was struggling to regain his identity. This was not a good sign. Perhaps he could help him?
"You know the rules," a man said from behind him, "You may not interfere with this."
Kaworu glanced back and saw the man. "Yes Father. I understand."
He did, but that make him wish any less to help his friend. Just then the gray haired girl appeared next to him.
"Don't worry Brother. Shinji is stronger than he looks. You can trust him to make it through this."
That man. He hated him, yet he wanted to love him. Why? That question raged through Shinji's head. Why was he here? Why was he like this? Everything seemed so incomprehensible. What was he supposed to do? Then a man with a gun appeared in his mind and shot him. He fell back and hit the floor. But he didn't feel any pain. Shouldn't he be dead? Was he already dead? He got up and shook his head. This wasn't right. Something was terribly wrong. Who was he?
"Shinji."
He spun around. Someone had said something. What was it? But it sounded so familiar.
Kaworu looked at the man. "I'm surprised you would break your own rule."
"I make the rules, and I can break them if it serves our purpose."
Kaworu nodded. It was more his right than anything. But inside he was smiling.
What was the word? Shinji? Was that his name? He searched inside his head. Suddenly, the gate to the flood was opened. He was overwhelmed with memories and fell again. This time, not of pain or surprise, but because he simply could not concentrate. He saw flashes go past his eyes.
"Shinji."
There was that word again, but it was a different name. A woman's name. He looked up and saw an outline of a woman with short hair. He thought he could see her eyes. They were blue.
"Mother?"
Then, the image was replaced with a woman with long flowing hair.
"Shinji."
"Misato?"
She was gone and a shorter girl appeared. Her hair was a light blue and her red eyes were clearly visible.
"Shinji."
"Rei."
She too changed into another woman. This time the girl also had long hair. But her blue eyes shone beautifully and looked upon him with compassion. With trust. With love.
"Shinji."
"Asuka." He stood and walked towards her. He reached out with his hand and tried to touch her. Suddenly, her image winked out to be replaced with that of a man. The man with the beard.
Shinji's face turned into pure rage.
"Father." He charged at the figure and seemed to knock it down. When he landed, he found that there was nobody there. He turned back but saw nothing. "Where are all of you?"
Shinji stood up and continued to walk, reliving the memories of his life. The few happy ones he reveled in and tried to make them last. The painful ones he remembered them for the sake of the lesson that he had learned from them. Never again would he allow someone to have such power over his life. Only one person would ever be able to do this to him. Only one and he promised himself who it would be.
"I think Shinji passed the first test," said Kaworu.
"More or less."
Kaworu frowned. "Why did you help him if you didn't want him to pass?"
"I wanted to see his strength. Perhaps there is more to him than even one of us can see."
"Lillium are quite interesting," said the girl, "There are so many of them and they each have their unique traits."
"They also have the will to survive," said Kaworu, "Despite all the odds."
"And perhaps they will survive this time as well," said the man. He turned and disappeared in the mist.
Shinji opened his eyes and found himself on top of a massive board supported by four pillars. He looked around and saw an ocean surrounding the pillars. He didn't dare look down. Suddenly, the wind blew at his back. He turned and saw a man standing a few feet behind him.
"Evans."
"Hello Shinji."
"Why did you shoot me?"
"What else was I supposed to do? Ask you to leave your body and come join me on this plane? I doubt you could have."
Shinji raised an eyebrow. "What are you talking about?"
"All in good time. Now, on guard."
A bright white armor surrounded Evans. The light from his armor looked just like the light Shinji had seen in that other place. In his hands formed an orange sword. Shinji suddenly realized that he was also holding a sword and wearing a purple armor with a helmet like that of Unit 01. He was holding a simple metal sword like the one an EVA might weld.
"What do you want?"
"I just want to test humanity, and since you represent humanity, that means I test you."
Evans charged at Shinji and struck at him. Shinji blocked it and kicked at Evans. Evans jumped over Shinji and brought his sword down. Shinji was ready for him and blocked again.
"I have to say. You're better at this than I thought."
He suddenly unleashed a bolt of energy and shot Shinji back. Smoke rose from Shinji's armor as he struggled to get back onto his feet.
"But I am far more powerful. I'm surprised you don't know how to control your AT-Field yet. All that time spent in Unit 01 wasn't enough I guess."
Shinji finally got back onto his feet. He raised his sword and prepared for another blow. Evans lifted his arm and a blue beam of light seemed to swirl around it. He suddenly unleashed it upon Shinji. It was like an energy whip, lashing out at him. Shinji blocked it for a few seconds but it grabbed his sword and flung it aside. It then struck him across the chest and sent him flying.
"Come Shinji. You're disappointing me. I'm starting to think that Tabris was wrong about you."
Something seemed to ignite inside Shinji. That man had called one of his best friends Tabris. That seemed so wrong, to call someone he knew with a different name. He got up and stared at Evans. Evans stared back and did not flinch. The two remained standing for a very long time. Inside Shinji, the small fire that had ignited started to burn. Evans had shot him and prevented him from helping Asuka and Misato and all his friends. Now he claimed to want to test humanity, to test Shinji. Well, he certainly was going to get a test. Shinji's eyes started to glow blue and a bluish AT-Field appeared.
"Well, I guess you can tap into your AT-Field."
Shinji lashed out with it, striking Evans but Evans blocked it with his own. He threw back Shinji's attack which just bounced off the blue AT- Field.
"Your soul is very strong," Evans observed, "Now let us see which of our souls is stronger."
"Lets."
Shinji focused his AT-Field into a narrow spear and launched it at Evans. Evans enveloped the spear in a Field of his own and smashed it. He counterattacked and struck Shinji in the side. Shinji had softened the blow by slowing it down but couldn't stop it. He stumbled a little but regained his balance just in time to parry off another attack. He struck back with a blow of his own which smashed straight into Evans' AT-Field. His Field was too strong to be penetrated by such a weak blow and Shinji knew it. He needed to get a handle about how powerful Evans really was. An indication of that was the strength of the AT-Field. Quite suddenly Evans and Shinji's AT-Field clashed. The two Fields pressed against one another, trying to get at the other. Shinji focused harder and harder, trying desperately to penetrate Evans' field. He didn't notice a sign of orange flash behind him. The spear struck him and he screamed out in pain. Shinji's AT-Field collapsed and he with it.
I failed, he thought. Everything was going to end.
To his surprise, the ending blow did not come. He felt himself being lifted and he was soon standing on his feet. Evans had picked him up.
"You did rather well, as well as could be expected. I have to congratulate you Shinji. Your strength is greater than even your friends could have ever imagined."
"So what are you going to do with me?"
"Do? We're going to talk. But I prefer that we do something while we talk. It can be rather dull if we just talk and not also have something else to concentrate."
A chessboard and two chairs appeared. The chessboard seemed to be floating in the air.
"How about a game of chess? That ought to refresh our minds."
"I'm not very good."
"Get over that," said Evans, "You keep saying that but if you wanted to be good, all you had to do is put your mind to it and remember what, who, and why you are doing it for."
Shinji sighed. He had nothing better to do. He took the black side. Evans sat on the other side and moved the pawn in front of the knight two spaces. Shinji responded by bringing out a knight.
"You know Shinji, I've always wondered what humanity lives for. I mean, humanity fights amongst itself, not just for survival, but also for love and happiness. But what is at the root of all this? Do you know?"
He moved out the bishop and waved for Shinji to continue.
"I don't know. I've thought about it before but I never could figure it out," Shinji admitted. He was a bit puzzled at why he was answering Evans.
He brought out the pawn mirror that of Evans'.
"Well, why do humans love? A rather interesting question don't you think? If humans loved, there must be a reason. If humans hate, there usually always is."
He moved the pawn in front of his rook next. Shinji looked at the layout. It was still early in the game, but you could never tell.
"Humans don't always find their reason," said Shinji, "We just try to adjust as best as we can and we try to find the missing things in our lives."
"Yes. Missing things. That can be difficult to find."
Shinji moved the pawn in front of his bishop next to the queen.
"But why do you think humans try to find those things?" Evans asked, "Is it because we know they're missing? I doubt it."
Evans moved out his rook.
"If something is missing, we usually don't know about it," Shinji replied, "But we just sense something is incomplete so we reach out for it."
Shinji moved his queen out.
"You have to admire that about humanity," said Evans, "You always try to attain the impossible and sometimes you achieve it."
"But you're human," said Shinji, "Why do you keep saying you?"
"What? Oh, hardly. I'm just seeing how my grandchildren are doing. My daughter Lilith certainly spawned many of you."
Evans moved his knight into position to take Shinji's queen.
End of Chapter 12
Am I a bastard or what? Leaving all of you to hang there.
Z98