NEON GENESIS EVANGELION
This Mortal Coil


NEON GENESIS EVANGELION is (c) GAINAX / Project Eva, TXV, NAS / Hideaki Anno
All other characters are (c) Ayanami (Eh-chan)





Yatta! The second chapter. The very first review I got for the last chapter really pushed me to continue (although I was planning on contining anyway... this just instigated me more :P). Now that I'm finally finished with my English research paper, I can put more time and effort into this. I'm really excited myself to see where the story will go. Sekunda chaputaa, GO!

CHAPTER TWO: HAJIME/THE BEGINNING
All life is precious.



Wake up...

Wake up...

Who's calling me?

Wake up... you're still alive.

Am I?

Yes... wake up, Izumi.

I'm still alive?!

"I'm... alive!" Izumi awoke abruptly, the sound of her own voice startling her into a conscious state. She sat up slowly, cautiously. There were trees all around her, and the ground was soft and moist, covered in rotting leaves and dirt. She was in a small forest at the edge of a large field. "Where am I?" she wondered aloud. The last thing she remembered was... a woman... an explosion... loud noises... panic.

"And darkness," she murmured aloud.

Now realizing her surroundings, Izumi glanced around, taking in the unfamiliar sights. She noticed that she was still wrapped in the blankets she was given before, only now they reeked of smoke and there were sporadic holes burnt into them.

Izumi groggily rose to her feet. "Where do I go now?" She wrapped the blankets tightly around her naked body in an attempt to ease her sudden fear and insecurity. The question echoed in her mind: Where do I go now? Where was there to go? What was she supposed to be doing? What was she? Who was she? She was Izumi. Yes. That's what the woman had called her. A name. A name which sounded familiar. Everything seemed so familiar, yet she couldn't grasp the memories that hid themselves within the recesses of her mind.

Suddenly, a sharp pang of hunger broke her thoughts. Izumi clutched her stomach. "What's this feeling... ?" she moaned quietly. She leaned against a tree for support, and then slowly, cautiously, began to make her way out to the other side of the forest. Within about 20 minutes, Izumi could hear the alien sounds of civilization: cars whizzing by on the streets, crows of people... noises that were familiar, yet not, all at the same time. Izumi made her way out of the woods and found herself in a small city neighborhood. She squinted in the bright sunlight which reminded her of the light that glared down from the ceiling in the laboratory. All the houses on the street looked different, Izumi speculated. Some were small, some larger. Some had children playing out in the front of the house, some were quiet and seemed despairingly devoid of life. The sight of one house, however, spurred a feeling of happiness inside Izumi, and she walked towards it. It was small yet charming, with a plain lawn and a few flowers on one side of the house. The white drapes in the windows gave the house a summery feeling. Izumi dragged her bare feet up the steps, her strength fading again. She jammed her finger on the doorbell. A moment later the door opened and a woman around 50, stood in the doorway. It took a moment for the woman to process the image of the pitiful-looking girl standing in front of her.

"Please... " Izumi trailed off as her legs suddenly gave out. She swayed uncertainly for a moment, then the world around her became dark as she fell to the ground.



"Whaaat?!" Misato's eyes widened in complete shock as they darted across the paper, reading the message. "Unit-04 wasn't supposed to come for another MONTH!" She turned to Professor Fuyutsuki, who had given her the message, her face full of anticipation, as if he would say something that would make everything all right. The older man just smiled grimly.

"That was the original plan," he said ruefully, "but the crew was able to finish the Eva ahead of schedule. Later on the plant just suddenly exploded. Nobody knows what happened, but the chamber holding the Eva survived and it was kept intact. Everything else within a 20-mile radius was completely destroyed."

Misato sighed. "Just another enigma to add to the suspicion surrounding NERV," she said sarcastically, and suddenly she looked aged and weary. She closed her eyes and massaged the bridge of her nose with her thumb and index finger. "So," she said at length, almost fearing the reply, "when's it coming?"

"Tomorrow," Fuyutsuki replied, wishing he could have given the woman better news. Misato's shoulders fell, and she sighed again.

"Great. It's going to be hectic enough as it is getting Asuka and Unit-02 here from Germany, but now we have to have Unit-04 transported from the U.S. and select a candidate for its pilot." Misato turned to leave, but stopped when she felt a firm, comforting hand grip her shoulder. "Fuyutsuki," she said slowly and quietly, fearing she would break down from exhaustion.

"Yes?"

"We... we're doing... the right thing, aren't we?"

"One can only hope," he replied at length. Misato stood there a moment, taking comfort in the invisible concern the older man seemed to have for her. Another moment, and Fuyutsuki patted Misato's shoulder and let her leave. The hollow clack of the woman's pumps on the old tile floor grew fainter and fainter until it disappeared completely, and Fuyutsuki was left in complete silence, his only solace the quiet hum of the MAGI, working diligently as always. The professor stood there, looking up at the ceiling with a rueful, contemplative gaze. He sighed, and turned and left the room as well. "One can only hope... " he murmured quietly to himself.




Rei Ayanami sat at the foot of her bed, fingering a pair of old and slightly bent eyeglasses. Although the young woman had no need for them, she held onto them as if they were made of the most precious gold in the world. They had come from Commander Ikari.

Rei reached up and pushed away a few strands of her icy blue hair that had fallen in front of her good eye; although the heavy cast and bandages that had covered her left arm had been removed a few days ago, her eyepatch was still there, an inconvenient nuisance and a constant reminder of the painful battle she'd fought with the Angel. The girl relaxed a bit, reflecting on what she could remember about that incident. It was mostly a blur, but she did remember a boy... a boy who, oddly enough, resembled Commander Ikari. 'Was he the one who had defeated the Angel?' Rei thought, now that she was able to analyze the situation thoroughly. Nobody had really talked to her about what had happened while she was in the hospital, and even now that she was out of the hospital, everyone pretty much kept their distance from her, like they always did. It didn't bother Rei; she didn't see the point in conversing with others. Besides, what could she talk about with anybody? The only person who seemed to understand her was the commander. She smiled slightly at the thought of seeing him again, and gave the glasses a small, gentle squeeze. Standing up, Rei made her way over to her dresser that stood behind her bed and placed the glasses on top of it.

Suddenly, an image flashed across her eyes. It was that boy again, the one who reminded her of Commander Ikari. It sparked a feeling inside of her. An unknown emotion... loving and comforting. "What... is this? What am I feeling?" Rei said quietly to herself. She placed her enfolded hands on her chest and closed her eyes, reaching into the back of her mind. This feeling she knew, but somehow she couldn't grasp what it meant or why she felt it.

Rei let her shoulders fall, and put her questions in the back of her mind for now. Crossing back over to her bed, she fell back onto it and rested her head on her pillow. Gazing up at the ceiling, she traced the outline of a dark water spot with her eyes. It was an ugly yellow-brown color, just one of many spots that had manifested themselves in the ceiling. Though Rei would rather have them gone, they did little to really bother her, so she didn't waste energy complaining about them. The girl turned on her side so that she faced the window. Flecks of dirt and dust covered it, creating an ugly mask over the scenery it let in. Nonetheless, she stared at it, gazing at the deep blue sky.

'I wonder... where it ends,' Rei thought to herself. She had often asked herself that when she looked out at the sky. 'Does something end just because you cannot see it anymore?' She sighed deeply and closed her eyes, suddenly tired. The world could be a confusing place sometimes, and the anesthetics she'd received from the hospital still lingered in her bloodstream. Rei idly fingered a small button on her shirt before falling asleep completely. Although she rarely ever dreamt, this time Rei saw faint, comforting images of a beautiful woman with short brown hair that looked strikingly similar to her own. The woman was smiling and holding a child, a boy. The two looked blissfully happy, and Rei smiled in her sleep as she looked upon the mother and child in her sleep.

This was fine.