You Wish! Productions presents...
Neon Genesis Evangelion: Cross
By: Blue Taboo
Chapter 7- Would you take my hand?
The corridors of the NERV infirmary were dark and quiet except for the sounds of various medical devices and the occasional footsteps of the vigilant nurses of the night shift. Pretty much all the patients were asleep, except for two, who most considered as one. A girl whose appearance was dominated by ice blue sat up in bed, staring at the glowing red numbers of the digital clock above the door to the room she occupied. Dr. Akagi was now seven minutes late. This irritated both minds of the body, surprisingly enough. Asuka was just really anxious to get back to normal and get away from Rei, whose whole thought process was creeping her out, and Rei was only irritated that Dr. Akagi wasn't following the schedule she had set. However, just as the clock told the time to be 3:08 am, Ritsuko quietly slipped into the room with an armload of papers in tow.
"It's about time!" was her greeting.
Ritsuko didn't bother to reply, but instead began to wonder why exactly
she was doing this, risking her job and her life, for a little brat and
a girl who could be so easily replaced. She had told herself that it was
her personal rebellion against Gendo and his cruelty, but that wasn't the
only reason. Ritsuko shook the thoughts from her mind and pulled a chair
up to the girl's bedside and turned on the lamp behind the headboard.
"I have a theory on this situation," the scientist began, "But
I'm going to explain it to you from the start," she pulled out a clipboard
from her stack of documents and handed it to the girl, "The purpose
of the Eva to Eva synchronization experiment was not to improve your ability
to work as a team, it was actually to prove a theory that Commander Ikari
and myself developed about Units 02 and 00. We suspected that they had the
ability to combine with each other, but not to the extent that they did..."
Ritsuko confessed.
"WHAT!?" obviously Asuka demanded, "You KNEW that we were
going to end up like this and you still did it!!!???" She started to
get to her feet, but Ritsuko gently pushed her back down.
"Let me explain! We didn't think that you would lose control! I had
planned for you to just maybe start merging at the hand and then we would
be able to stop it, but we didn't have much of an idea of what would happen
after the Evas began to merge."
By now, it seemed that Rei had surprised Asuka's control, for the girl's
expression was now calm with maybe a hint of interest.
Ritsuko continued. "You see, your Evas are made from the same thing.
They are modified versions of the first Angel, Adam. Eva Unit 01 is a little
bit different, so Shinji's presence in the test was only a cover-up. To
initiate the merger we had to match the signals that your Evas are given
and produce themselves, and we had to have both pilots produce a similar
mental image, which, would in turn hopefully produce a similar set of brain
waves. I wasn't even sure you could do it, but you did, and that's all I
really know about the experiment that I could explain to you."
The girl nodded as she studied the papers attached to the clipboard.
"Then what is your theory on the correction of the state that we are in?" it seemed that Rei asked.
"We're going to try to do the opposite of what has been done. I'm going
to try to get you into the Eva that the experiment created. The bridge crew's
nicknamed it Unit 1.5. (AN: Credit for this name goes out to Quincy007!
You reviewed my fic, therefore, you rock! See what you get when you review??!!)
I have to find a way to set up a test to cover this up and figure out a
few of the details, but if you can do what you did three days ago, then
I believe that you can undo it. You're just going to have to be patient,
but if all goes well, you'll be as you were before the experiment."
"Why do you have to do another cover-up test?" Asuka had control
again.
Ritsuko lowered her eyes and said in a low, hushed voice, "Because
Commander Ikari isn't doing anything to solve the problem at hand. I'm beginning
to think he knew it would turn out this way."
The girl's eyes shut tightly, not wanting to display the inner turmoil that
went on behind them as the two minds fought for control over the body they
shared. Asuka wanted only to curse the name of that bastard who called himself
a father to Shinji, but Rei wanted ask why the Commander, who really was
like a father to her, would want such a thing. Neither got their wish, for
Ritsuko got up to leave before either could take control.
"One thing before I go...After this is over, I want you to leave NERV,
and take Shinji with you. You've suffered enough, and I don't want to cause
any more suffering for you, all of you, if I live..." and with that,
she went out as quietly as she came in.
For once, both minds thought as one.
But Eva is my life...
Shinji woke up at 5:30. It almost brought a smile to his face, the fact the he seemed to have been waking every hour and always on the half hour. He had never slept well, but now he didn't think he'd ever be able to sleep a night through again. He sighed and sunk into his 'Oh well' mentality and got up to make himself some breakfast, since he was getting tired of trying to sleep. He took a quick shower and changed into some fresh clothes then proceeded to the kitchen, and found a very unusual sight.
Misato was up, and it wasn't even 6 am, and she didn't have to go to work.
She sat at the low table, staring at an unopened can of beer. Her eyes slowly
moved up to Shinji and he could see that he was not the only one who didn't
get much sleep the previous night. His guardian's eyes were bloodshot and
had dark bags under them, but what was even more shocking was that they
looked totally sober.
"M-Misato?" he stammered.
"Good morning Shinji," she greeted flatly.
He blinked a few times. "Would you like me to make breakfast?"
he asked after a little silence.
"I want to talk to you first," she told him, "Sit down."
He sat down across from her on the low table, looking slightly troubled
by her unusually serious demeanor. "What is it, Misato?"
"I got a call from the infirmary a few minutes ago," she informed
him, "They said that Asuka and Rei are ready to go, and that Ritsuko
recommend that they stay with us. Are you going to be okay with this?"
Shinji reflected a little on the determination he had found last night,
wishing that it was still as strong, but it was still there, along with
some hope. "It's not me you should be worrying about. I want to help
them, Misato. It's okay."
Misato smiled, feeling proud of Shinji for making a good decision outside
of battle, which was rare, especially if it was about a social aspect of
life. "That's good. I'm going to pick them up, but first we need to
get a few things straight. If anyone asks about...her...then you are to
tell them that she's the daughter of a friend of mine that's visiting us.
If they need a name, tell them it's Aisu. Hopefully they don't ask for a
last name before we figure one out. Asuka and Rei are in on this, so don't
worry, they'll play along. No one outside of NERV is to know what happened,
not even your friends. Understood?" Misato asked in a kind of self-mocking
way, making fun of her militaristic side.
Shinji smiled. "Understood."
About an hour later Misato's beat up blue sports car was raging down the road towards NERV headquarters, more accurately its infirmary. Shinji had surprisingly volunteered to come along and was sitting, or rather hanging onto the back seat for dear life as Misato "parked". Once he got his pulse under control, Shinji jumped out of the car and joined Misato in a long walk through the twisting corridors of the base.
"So why do you have this new conviction all the sudden?" the Major
inquired curiously as he came up along side her.
"I don't really know, Misato," he shrugged, "They say people
do strange things in strange situations."
Misato smiled lightly. "I don't think it's a strange thing. They're
your friends and your co-workers. Of all people around here I think you're
probably closer to both of them than anyone else is."
"I don't think so," Shinji denied, "I mean, Hikari probably
knows a lot more about Asuka than I do, and Rei...my f-father..." He
couldn't bring himself to even think of them together for some reason. The
image of them talking while he watched from a far was all Shinji could think
of.
Misato shook her head. "You're wrong, Shinji. Commander Ikari only
knows a certain side to Rei, but you are the first person, besides the Commander,
that she has ever even tried to talk to, let alone maybe open herself up
to. And Asuka...I always thought you had something for her," she said
slyly.
"I do not!" Shinji protested.
"Of course, Shin-chan, but you can't fool me!"
"Misato! I do not!"
The head of tactical operations could only laugh as they entered the infirmary
and immediately received strange looks from the personnel. Shinji blushed
with embarrassment and Misato went over to the front desk to check out a
patient that would be known to everyone except a select few as Takahashi
Aisu. Once papers were signed and doctors were advised, the pair set out
for the room that they already knew too well: 103.
This time, Shinji felt neither the apprehension or sickness he had felt
when he walked down that same hallway before. This time, he was confident
and in control, a strange condition for him. When Misato opened the door
to room 103, he followed her in and found that he didn't have to force himself.
Fear would not get the better of Ikari Shinji, at least for today. They
were greeted with the sight of the girl, dressed in either Asuka or Rei's
school uniform, sitting on the bed, waiting for them.
"Hey guys!" Misato addressed them cheerily, even if the sight
still wrenched on her heart a little, "We're here to take you home!"
Shinji seconded that with a nod and a smile, feeling just a tiny bit fear
creep into his being.
The girl nodded as well, showing little emotion and making the others guess
that Rei was in control.
Kaji Ryouji was somewhere deep in the bowels of NERV, sitting in an unknown dark corner, typing away on his laptop. If anyone one but him could see the screen, it would have read.
He then heard footsteps echoing off the walls of the dim corridor and swiftly closed his laptop and quietly ran the other way. It seemed that everyone was beginning to dislike Ikari Gendo for what he had done, probably since his monstrosity had been shown in full force through his failure to act on the current status of Eva's 00 and 02 and their pilots.
"I'd give you my hand if you'd reach out and grab it. Let's walk away from this hell." Brett Detar of Juliana Theory
-Blue Taboo-
