Work of Fanfiction
Shinji hurried across the tarmac to Rei's ACTIVE. Though she had shut the plane down and opened the canopy, she had not gotten out of her ejector seat. Shinji doffed his helmet and put it on the ground, going to work on extending the small ladder built into the plane.
It didn't take him long, and in no time at all he was standing on the uppermost rungs, one of his hands locked onto Rei's ejection seat to balance himself. The sight that greeted his eyes was shocking, to say the least. Rei was shaking so badly that she could not unhook herself from her harness, and her breathing was shuddery.
"Hey, Rei. You okay?" She turned her head to him and nodded shakily. "You're just fine, alright?" Shinji smiled and took her helmet off, revealing Rei's short, sweaty, azure locks. "C'mon, let's get you out of here." He reached down into the cockpit and started undoing her harness. "Sorry. I guess this is kinda humiliating, huh?"
She gave him a weak smile. "No," she said quietly, "Thank you."
He finished undoing the last connector and gave her gloved hand a squeeze. "What I'm here for. Wingmates cover each other, ground or air."
"Still, thank you."
"You're welcome, Rei."
---
Both Shinji and Rei were drinking red wine this time, rather isolated from the other pilots, who included Flash 1 and Tempest 2. The two Mobius pilots had actually gotten to the party late, as Shinji was adamant about waiting for Rei, while telling the others not to wait up. The incident with the canards had really shaken Rei, and it had taken her some time to get so she was feeling up to snuff. But they had finally gotten there. The other had the party in full swing, but instead of joining in, Shinji had suggested that they sit for a little bit, concerned for Rei.
Shinji watched her, concernedly, as she took a gulp of her wine. "You going to be alright, Rei?"
"Yes," she said in a depressed tone. She looked at the wineglass. "Perhaps I should have purchased a Yebisu."
Shinji put down his wineglass and placed a hand on Rei's shoulder. "Hey, cheer up. We'll probably never see that fault in the ACTIVE's canards again, and it wasn't any fault of your own. Besides, you made ace! Can't you at least give a little smile for that?"
No, thought Rei, but I can for you. The corners of her mouth tentatively turned up. At Shinji's broad smile, her mouth curved into a contented grin. "Sure."
"You should smile more, Rei. It looks good on you."
---
Tempest 2 took a huge slug of his beer. "So," he said to Touji, "What's up with your callsign? Viper Squadron was destroyed." He ran a hand through his sandy hair. "I should know."
Touji downed the last of his bottle and waved at the barkeep for another. "Yeah, I know. I was just about to transfer in when they got sent off on that mission. I'm Touji Suzuhara."
"Kensuke Aida," returned the other pilot. "You were supposed to be my wingman. Believe me, you got lucky, missing out on that mission."
"You survived Stonehenge?"
The sandy-haired pilot smirked. "But for the grace of an ejector seat and God go I. That was my first mission."
"That sucks."
"No kidding. Actually though I'm kinda glad I have a Falcon instead of a Typhoon. Never really liked the EF. Didn't feel right."
"I hear you. So, how'd you get out of Emuland?"
"Overland." He leaned in, conspiratorially. "And while I was going, I saw Yellow Squadron's base! It's on a highway outside a captured town."
"No way! Did you see Thirteen?"
Kensuke nodded. "I'm pretty sure of it. To be honest, he creeped me out. Tall, slender guy, looked pretty young. Pale skin, weird voice, and he had a mop of gray hair. But what was really strange were his eyes."
"Eh?"
"Yeah, I'd never seen anything like them. They were blood-red."
"Whoa," said Touji, "That guy does sound freaky. But, you know, Mobius 2 had red eyes." He nodded towards where Shinji and Rei were talking.
Kensuke looked over his shoulder. "No, they weren't quite the same. His were a little darker, missing some shine." He looked back at Touji jerking his head back at the two Mobius pilots. "I bet Mobius 1 is going to find out if 2's hair really is blue soon."
"Shinji? No way." Touji shook his head and leaned back in his seat. "I was roomies with him at the Academy. No way will he let himself get that far that fast." He sighed and shook his head again. "He missed out on some really fine women cause of that too."
"I don't know, man," replied Kensuke, disbelievingly, "See how she's looking at him?"
"And how he's looking at her," returned Touji in kind. "No, I don't doubt that they will, just not so quickly."
"Right."
---
"So," crowed Asuka, throwing her arm around Flash 1, "Nice flying out there today!"
The Mirage pilot, a short, slight brunette, smiled. "You too. I'm Hikari, by the way, Hikari Horaki."
"Asuka Langley Soryu," said the redhead, "So, how's your kill tally?"
"Four," said Hikari, somewhat embarrassedly. "I'm not quite as good as you, huh?"
Asuka gave the brunette a big grin. "You just need a better plane, and some time to hit your stride in. Wonder if we could get you and Blonde-boy to join us?"
"I'd like that." Hikari took a sip of her beer. "Hey, how much do you know about your wingman?"
"His name's Touji Suzuhara, he's a pretty good pilot, knows Mobius 1 from the Academy, that's about it. Why?"
"Because," said Hikari, with a slightly dreamy look on her face, "I think I like the guy."
---
As Shinji and Rei got up to leave, Misato walked up to them. "Hey, nice job over Rigley, and I feel really bad about asking you two to do this, but can the two of you fly CAP for North Point tomorrow morning?" The two nodded. "Thanks a bunch. Shouldn't be too bad, just some normal flying about. Probably not even any combat." She grabbed a Yebisu off the bar's top. "Well, I'd better get to wasting myself."
---
The sun was just rising as Shinji and Rei walked out of the locker rooms and onto the tarmac. The whole airfield was bathed in a soft orange light, save for the hyper-elongated shadow that the few objects on the field cast. The ocean, visible from the airfield, lapped at the shore, a peaceful sound, seemingly out of place on the base, but so right for the moment.
Shinji gazed in wonder at the sight. "Wow…" He stood frozen.
Rei also was moved by the picturesque view across the tarmac, but soon turned her gaze to her fellow pilot. "Forgive me, Shinji." She grabbed him by the shoulders, and dragged him to her, uncaring of the g-suits they wore, the survival gear hooked all over them. All that mattered was bringing him close enough to her face to kiss him.
And kiss him she did. Her arms wrapped around his neck, holding his lips to her. She took everything she had ever felt, and poured it into this, her first kiss. Soon she was aware of Shinji's arms around her, and he was responding to her. His tongue sought entrance to her mouth, and she granted it willingly, lost in the ecstasy of Shinji's tongue against hers, gently mapping out her mouth. Rei would have gladly died of asphyxiation during that kiss, but it was not meant to be.
Very reluctantly, their lips parted as they stood there, locked in each other's embrace in front of the rising sun. Rei suddenly gasped and broke out of Shinji's arms, bending down to pick up her helmet. "Forgive me. I…I just had to…If I'm not coming back…Forgive me. Farewell." She sounded like she was ready to cry.
Shinji's arms encircled her from behind. "There's nothing to forgive. And that had better not be a farewell kiss." He planted a gentle kiss on the back of her neck, the only exposed skin he could find. "Because I know I can't settle for just one of those, and I think we have some talking to do." Rei nodded. "Good. Now let's get in the air."
---
"Four? Thirteen wants to speak to you."
Yellow Four looked down with a kindly smile at the boy with the harmonica. "Thank you." At this time of the week, it could only mean one thing: an update from Intelligence, the only reason she even flew for the Erusians. She jumped down from the wing root of her Su-37 and walked towards the squadron command trailer, lacing her fingers through her reddish-brown hair. Thirteen stepped down from the trailer and they started walking along the runway. "So, what's it say?"
Thirteen grimaced. "That EOMI needs to be the subject of some serious purges. All that they could track down was that…" he glanced at the hardcopy printout, "'Shinji Ikari is a member of the ISAF military and is stationed at North Point.' That, word-for-word, is the information. The rest of this," he shook the six pages, "is them patting themselves on the back for finding this out. You want it?" He offered the pages to her.
"Please." She took the papers and clutched them to her chest.
Thirteen smiled. "I'll leave you alone now, but don't get too distracted. We can't have you dying before you get back together with Ikari, right? Ja na." He started to walk off back towards the tunnel and trailer.
"Right. Ja ne." She looked down at the papers. Shinji was in North Point! She could find him! And when the war was over, she could be with him again. Yellow Four traced the patched he had given her so long ago, the thing that moved from flight jacket to flight jacket. It had a blue-green background with a three-pronged fishing spear in silver and gold thread as its centerpiece: a trident.
I said I'd come back, Shinji. And I will, or my name's not Mana Kirishima!
A/N: Hoo boy! Yeah, I know it's been a while since I updated. Complain and I'll use the Berkut to bomb your house. Heh heh! Evil me. I just set up a couple of love triangles. A T/H/A and an S/R/M. Hope you enjoy them. I also hope you are happy with the fact that the whole EVA 'school gang' is here. Kaji will be showing up soon, for those of you who like him. I promise we'll have some air combat next time, as well as hopefully a little romance development. Well, ja na till then.
OH! Remember the trick I posted, about using rocket pods as guns? Turns out an IAF pilot actually did that in an A-4 Skyhawk, downing a Mig-17. It was the Skyhawk's first kill for the IAF. Don't believe me?
Go to: w.iaf.org.il/Templates/HomePage/HomePage.aspx?lang=EN, then to the Aircraft & Armarments section, then to fighters, then 60's, then Skyhawk, then First Kill (under the picture). Add ww to the front of the address.