To all of you who understood the last chapter: WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU?
Disclaimer: Eonnay Enesisgay Evangelionay elongsbay otay Ideakihay Annoay anday Ainaxgay.
Fourth Impact
Chapter 32: Questions, Answers, and Other Stuff
"I can understand him being so irritable, yes." Misato grinned, listening to her friend whine about Adamu's foul temper. "He was locked in that plug during the most important part of the fight."
"That gives him no excuse to be so rude to his sister." Lilliko fumed. "To his older sister, no less." She paced back and forth while Takoru and Misato watched from a short distance.
""I'm always rude to you." they all spun in shock to see Adamu appear right in front of his sister. She slapped him.
"That's beside the point. You were especially rude yesterday." She told him. "I'm not forgiving you for what you called me."
Misato leaned over to Takoru. "What did he call her?" she asked softly.
"Screeching idiot." He whispered back. Misato blinked. She had thought it was something serious. "She's very sensitive about her voice. Screeching is very offensive to her."
They settled back to watch as Lilliko shrieked, screamed, and shouted at her twin. Misato's ears began to hurt. "I almost wish I had stayed in heaven."
Takoru turned to face her. "What?"
"I said I almost wish that I'd stayed in Adam's heaven with the Angels and Grandmother." She pouted. "At least there I could talk to Grandmother and be at peace." Takoru peered at her, raising an eyebrow but saying nothing. "And Armisael seemed nice enough…though considering what she did to Rei-san…" she sat back against the tree. "I'm confused."
Takoru nodded, unsure of what to say. She smiled at him. "Maybe I was just hallucinating."
"I don't care if you were upset, how do you think I feel? At least I have a better excuse than 'I was locked up for hours in a plug.' I was scared stiff in the bridge while you and Takoru-chan went out and fought, and mother inside screaming in pain, and me, not able to do anything!"
Adamu just leveled a glare at his sister. "You were too afraid to fight Lillith simply because she looked like mother."
"You didn't see what happened to mother every time someone hit Lillith! Mother felt her pain!" Lilliko shouted. "Maybe you are callous enough to let mother be hurt by your actions, but I'm not!"
Misato stared at them. "Lilli-chan warned me that they would both be really sensitive around this time of year." Takoru told her. "I didn't listen. I thought that, well, I've survived her time of the month, surely I can handle this. I'm not so sure any more."
"The Eleventh is dead." Samantha fell back onto the bed she shared with Ariline. "That leaves nine of us. I can barely feel the Thirteenth as it is."
Dai-syo nodded. Their dwindling forces were starting to disturb him. Lillith claimed that Adam's power was very limited, but apparently NERV was on Adam's side.
He was really starting to hate NERV. NERV had been the one to kill off six of Lillith's Chosen, and unless they banded together, NERV would probably kill the rest.
Samantha only had a sharp disdain for the organization. She had despised her parents as it was, so she didn't care when NERV killed them.
Ariline had much stronger views on NERV. She would shiver with rage every time NERV was mentioned, but when questioned about her anger, she would only say, "Unit 16."
"Ariline won't help us." He murmured. "She's too attached to Unit 16."
Samantha snarled at the girl's name. "She's nothing but a pest, with that sickly-sweet innocent façade and that little 'angel' body."
"She's just trying to be nice." Dai-syo countered. "And she is innocent. She never heard Lillith's voice before yesterday."
"You think she's pretty." Samantha said flatly.
Dai-syo glared at her. Why did she hate the girl so much? They were both Americans, they should be able to get along.
(AN: Yes, I know, he's clueless, please forgive his masculinity)
"So what if I do?"
Silence.
"Oh, good. At least we're being honest now." Samantha rose to her feet. "Don't reply. I'm not listening." She walked out, calm on the surface, in turmoil on the inside.
Dai-syo stared after her, completely confused. Apparently, neither was I.
Adamu lay on his bed, staring at the ceiling. Something was different. His body…had changed, subtly. Perhaps the contact with Adam…No. There was something else inside him. Something oddly familiar. It felt like…
"Mother." He looked over to see Rei enter his room and sit down next to him.
"How are you?" she asked. He smiled, slightly.
"I'm still upset about the other day, but I'll get over it." He replied. "And how are you feeling? Father says you're still sensitive." Rei looked down at her hands. She was even paler than before.
"My body is responding well, though I'm a bit weak and everything feels colder." She sighed, almost. "I feel like I've lost something." She told him. "Lillith was my mother, and I was with her again, and with my sisters. It did hurt, though. They all hate me."
"You're different. That's why they hate you." He said softly. "That's why you survived." She smiled wanly.
"You sound so much like your father." She got up. "Get some rest. Your core pulse is weak and your brainwaves are erratic."
(AN:?)
"The UN is demanding answers." Ritusko knocked open the door to Commander Katsuragi's office. "They want to know what all the explosions were."
"Tell them what we always tell them. End of the world, fate of humanity, apocalypse in shades and white gloves." Misato dismissed the matter with a wave of her beer can. "If we tell them what's really going on they'll pull our funding and send the SSDF to take us to the asylum."
"I think that they're serious this time." Ritsuko warned her. "They say that they're sending over a representative." Another spy? Another Kaji, or another Kaoru? She didn't want to openly warn Misato to be careful, but something about this situation set off alarms in the doctor's subconscious.
Misato grinned. "How much you want to bet that the poor sot's plane gets blown up while crossing the ocean?"
Ritsuko shot a disapproving glare at her co-commander. "Misato, this is not a time for jokes. You're forty-six now, try to act that way."
Misato put her beer can down and smirked at her friend. "Ritsuko, you're talking to a woman who hasn't been fully sober in seventeen years. How can you expect me to act my age?"
"Perhaps I should empty the beer drawer in that desk of yours."
Misato suddenly snapped to attention. "Fine." She picked her beer can back up, almost cradling it. "So, what's the status of the Evas?"
"We've lost Unit 18 and Unit 01 and Unit 20 are complete wrecks." Ritsuko reported. "As usual."
Misato shrugged, looking over the papers that Ritsuko had just handed her. "As usual. We're down to the usual two pilots. Let's just hope that we can refigure Unit 01 for Adamu."
"That's doubtful." Ritsuko replied, sipping her coffee. "He must have been in contact with Adam, at least for a moment, before the plug was ejected. The tests so far say that he is uncontaminated, but given his heritage, I don't trust the data."
Misato smirked. "Even though it's Maya running the tests?"
"Leave her out of this. It's the blood samples I'm not sure of, not her analysis. Remember what happened to Shinji."
Misato nodded solemnly. "Perhaps." She sat back in her chair and pulled out a beer. "So, are you free tomorrow? You know what's coming up soon."
Ritsuko nodded. "I just hope that the Nagisas are ready. If not, they're going to be very, very vulnerable."
AN: Um…what to say?
Oh, and Truhanku: I don't know about you, but in everything except for one fanfic, I forget what it's called, Lillith is always referred to as the Second Angel. I am assuming, possibly wrongly, that God created Man before Woman, because of reasons that I will never understand. I could be wrong, but then so would everything, except for one fanfic, and you. Who knows? I've been in your position before.
Oh, and, the next chapter will be a bit different from the others. I don't usually write that kind of thing, so it isn't as polished as I'd like. I have no idea what brought it on, but now it's necessary.