Evangelion: The Guardian Forces
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Disclaimer: I don't own Eva or Final Fantasy. Quelle surprise, non?
Many thanks to 01 for being my pre-reader!! And sorry about the speed… School's getting way busier with the year coming to an end and all the summative evaluations/ISU's…
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"ASUKA! SHINJI!" Misato called out, her voice all but lost in the crackling of flames. Smoke filled her lungs and made her cough but the woman kept on screaming regardless. The kids-Gesturing with her hands, the purple-headed Lieutenant created a watery sphere that flew forward, smothering a section of the inferno directly before her.
She wasn't the only one trying to put out the flames. Garden officers, students, SeeDs, and many Nerv employees spread out into the burning trees, each casting their own Water spells or summoning Ice based GF's to stop the destruction.
"SHIN-" Misato stumbled and almost fell, one hand clutching her forehead. Those Demis that damned Section 2 agent had cast were taking their toll…
Suddenly she heard a loud creaking from her right and whirled just in time to see a burning tree topple toward her…
Only to be knocked away, shimmering with frost in the firelight, after being hit by a massive Blizzaga.
"Like old times, huh Misato?" asked her saviour.
The Lieutenant looked at her blonde friend and gave a lopsided half-smile.
"Nothing but our looks and magic to go on, right Ritsu?"
Ritsuko half-smiled. ['You'll never change Katsuragi.']
"You know," Ritsuko started, taking her place at Misato's left, "I'm not paying for the drinks this time"
Wry laughter rang out, drowned out by the crackling of flames and the calls of impromptu firefighters.
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Chapter 2.0: AwakeningHeadmaster Cid plopped down onto the blue beanbag, an empty martini glass in one hand. ['What am I going to do? Nerv…'] Images of Commander Ikari and a burning Training Area came into his mind, ['Damn them!']
Cid resisted the urge to throw the glass across the room, instead setting it down on the floor. ['Grand Hyne!! If only you were here, Edea…']
The Headmaster's private chambers had not been usurped- not yet anyway. It was surprisingly bare of luxuries for someone who, supposedly at least, ran the most renowned military academy in the world. Some old oak furniture, tacky yellow wall-paper, a beanbag permanently fixed with an imprint of Cid's posterior, some boring-looking machines, a Queen sized bed with a Cid-sized depression on the left side… Not much at all.
The dining area was somewhat better off- a solid mahogany bar with several various liquors stored there. And above was a light browncabinet with a few bottles of champagne that the Headmaster saved for special occasions. ['Like anniversaries'] thought the old man bitterly.
With a sigh Cid reached over and pressed a button on a gray machine. This one looked suspiciously like a phone, only instead of a receiver it had what looked like a tape player. As Cid's pudgy finger depressed a blue button the tape started playing…
The first few seconds held nothing but silence.
['Does Ikari even use his phone?'] Cid thought, ['Maybe he uses e-mail instead… ?'] The Headmaster realised that perhaps it wasn't worth the trouble to tap into the Commander's phone line after all.
Then he heard a low man's voice begin to speak…
[']
"The resident doctor has submitted her report. The Second and Third Children suffered from burns of varying degree, all healable. The First Child, however, has been severely damaged. I would like to recommend discarding and replacing-" ['Discarding and replacing…?!']
"Heal her."
"C-Commander? It would be much... I-I mean y-yes sir… right away" There was a click of a phone being hung up.
[/']
A few seconds later the tape player stopped, having reached the end of what little it had recorded.
"Do they have so little respect for their pilots?" Cid shook his head. At least he was morally superior, if not financially, physically nor magically. The thought made his belly feel warm.
Or maybe it was the wine.
For a long time the Headmaster's room was motionless. After an eternity the silence was broken by the faintest of snores. The noise built gradually in volume as Cid sank deeper and deeper into slumber.
Soundlessly the lights shut themselves off.
======
Misato gently brushed aside loose strands of newly regenerated brown hair from Shinji's sweaty forehead. The woman's eyes were somewhat misty as she regarded the unconscious form of her young charge. Hyne, she didn't want to lose him too!
Standing in the doorway, Ritsuko chose not to make a comment about Misato 'putting the moves' on Commander Ikari's son. Given the current conditions, she decided, it would not have been the friendly thing to do.
['Friendly. What would I know about friendly?'] she thought bitterly. The woman's face darkened. A part of her longed to be in Misato's place. She had seen the way Shinji and even Asuka looked at their guardian. It was a look her cats would never give her.
Pure human affection.
Misato had yelled at her for 'filling the holes in her life with cats' before. And it was true. Doctor Akagi glared down at the shadow that stretched out from her feet as if seeking- but never reaching- the humanity before her.
Still next to the hospital bed Misato frowned. The boy had been badly burned. A vigorous dose of Hi-Potions had been fed to him, as high as was safe for his youthful metabolism, but he had not healed completely.
The boy's skin held an unhealthy pale tint, and he had not yet woken up.
Well it wasn't such a surprise after everything that happened.
After Eva-01 went ballistic, exhibiting a savagery that could not possibly have come from the timid boy who was supposed to be its master.
They- Ritsuko, the Commander and everybody else involved in Project E- had always believed the Evangelions to be mindless automatons.
But it turns out they know even less about their creations than they thought.
She looked at the unconscious boy again. That Commander Ikari, forcing both his wife and son into a monster nobody knew anything about and for what? So he could lead some agency?
The Lieutenant looked at her male ward again, ['Don't worry Shinji, you'll be fine…'] Misato thought, more to comfort herself than anything.
That done she moved across the room to give Asuka one last check-over. The Second Child had, surprisingly, fared much better than the Third. Her burns were mild and already her skin had returned to its usual rosy colour. But she too was unconscious. Nothing major though. Probably just because her mana had gotten too low…
An ether would have waken her up but the Commander hadn't wanted to 'waste' an ether.
['You're a strong girl Asuka…'] Misato's smile became wistful as she caught her own thoughts.
Kaji had been right.
She did, eventually, get used to the hot-tempered Galbadian girl. And as usual this somber line of thought brought her to a more painful topic.
['Kaji…']
As she stared at the head of her shadow, Ritsuko's expression suddenly lifted as the blonde woman reached a decision.
"Am- " She quickly cut herself off. ['No, it's- it's a stupid thing to ask. I'll ask, I'll ask…'] Her face darkened with realisation.
"What's wrong, Ritsuko?" Misato asked with a look of true concern, it wasn't like the Doctor be so unsure of herself.
"Huh- yeah, I'm fine." Ritsuko forced a smile that gradually became genuine. "So… how about a drink, Misato?"
The purple-haired Lieutenant grinned, obviously quite happy with that idea.
"Only if you're paying Ritsu!" she said cheerfully.
"Only if you'll pay me back." Ritsuko replied with a coy smile.
"Awww, you're no fun." Misato mock pouted and thus two women left, joking and chatting like…
['Like friends.']
======
In a room somewhere, twelve old men watched a replay of the Evangelion test on a hologram projected from the room's middle.
Flinching could almost be heard when the bursts of blue energy cut through Eva-02 like it was made of butter.
Moments later the entire room gasped involuntarily as Eva-01 ripped the sizzling Elnoyle apart with savage ferocity. Chunks of Elnoyle flesh flew everywhere. The purple Evangelion's own fingers smoked and burned after a while, from prolonged contact with the monster's scathing flesh.
A piece of the Elnoyle seemed to fly toward the committy… then the hologram shut off, plunging eleven monoliths and one SEELE Lorenz into darkness.
For a long time none of them spoke.
Nine was the first to break the brooding silence. "Perhaps the restrictions on the Evangelions power are too strict…"
"What? You saw the way Unit 01 ripped through our Elnoyle! You don't think it's powerful enough?" 06 asked in his low voice.
"The first two Children were defeated too easily! Need I remind you that these Evangelions will not heal the same way other GF's do? We cannot afford to have such large clean-ups after every battle!" Nine retorted.
"And how much more would it cost if one of these… things went loose?!"
"ORDER!"
Kihl's shouted command was obeyed. He looked pointedly at the two bickering SEELE members before making a final decision, "SEELE 09 is correct. The power restrictions must be loosened. I propose we release the barriers on their AT field capability to avoid any costly accidents."
"Ikari is afraid to overtax the Evangelions. Will he do as we say?" said SEELE 08.
"Ikari will toe our line. He is not so foolish as to act against us this early."
"But we may have to replace him…" SEELE 08 muttered.
Kihl's eyes flashed dangerously. "In time…"
======
Through slits in his helmet the Familar class Guardian Force known as 'Galahad' managed to gain fleeting glimpses of nature's beauty.
The field he floated in was wonderful. A grand, sunny plain full of white flowers. Their scent permeated his normally stinky helmet. Their beauty erased memories of painful sights from his tired eyes…
It was one of those times he wished the cursed armour was removable so he could smell a flower without having its fragrance tainted with his sweat. And yet…
And yet this small degree of freedom was better than none.
Galahad was careful to levitate, so as not to crush any of the fragile things beneath his clumsy metal feet. His red cape however he allowed to caress some of the flowers, knocking pollen loose into the warm spring breeze, from which they would eventually fall to spread beauty across the land.
From behind the iron mask the Thirteenth Knight smiled.
Suddenly the knight felt someone materialise on his left. He froze, not knowing whether this was friend or foe.
Then he heard the faint, throbbing thrums of an ancient melody, and he knew.
"Tabris."
The humming stopped. "How are you, Galahad?" asked the perpetually boyish Angel in his lilting voice.
Like the knight, Tabris hovered above the ground, his perfectly shaped feet just an inch from the tops of graceful flowers, who bent suddenly in a light breeze as if worshipping the two beings above.
"I am Independent now, if that is what you mean." Galahad's voice could only be described as manly- low and completely self-assured.
The Angel of Free Will smiled. "That is good to hear." He floated closer, so that he was face to visor with the larger being. "I will not ask who your new Lord is, Galahad. But… be careful. The old fools still search for you. They have even hired some mercenaries…"
Metal scraped slowly against metal as the knight nodded. "Thank you for your information. What do I owe for this generosity?" Galahad asked without a trace of sarcasm- that concept was inconceivable to the Guardian Force. Besides, information was better than anything material to a being of power.
"Consider it a gift, from one lonely soul to another." Tabris floated back a few feet and smiled his sorrowful smile. His hum began again, and the old song continued even as the Angel's body seemed to break into pollen-like particles. For a moment the Angel could still be seen, although his mass was spread out over a larger area. Then a strong breeze carried Tabris away.
Moments after the last note of the Angel's humming faded, a red cape was seen leaving the field, borne as well by invisible winds.
======
"Well? What should we do about the committee's request?" Fuyutsuki asked.
Gendo remained silently in his customary position.
Neither said anything until Gendo finally broke the silence, "Call Doctor Akagi…"
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"Uwaaah! That's some gooooood stuff!" Misato exclaimed as she slammed down yet another can of imported Yebisu. "They wouldn't let me bring enough from Deling" mused the Lieutenant as she began nursing a seventh can.
Ritsuko laughed, completely loose now that three cans of beer had gotten into her system. "You brought four cases Misato! Don't tell me you drank them all already?" She took on a look of mock horror. "You didn't feed them to the Children did you?! Ahhh poor Shinji having to put up with two drunk women!" Ritsuko managed to finish her sentence even as she dodged a swipe from the drunk Lieutenant.
"I liked you better when you were sober" Misato sulked playfully.
"What? When I was cranky and boring?" The blonde joked.
"When you were nice!" Misato swooned a little as she spoke and immediately seemed to sober up a little. "Ugh… gonna pass out…"
Before Ritsuko could reply she heard the ringing of her cell-phone, partially drowned out by the noise inside the bar. Somewhat reluctantly she picked it up. "Doctor Akagi speaking" she said soberly.
And Misato tumbled off her stool.
======
['… Unfamiliar ceiling…']
Shinji Ikari stared at the tiles on Garden's intensive care ward.
['What… happened?']
A few thoughts rushed back at him, disjointed and seemingly random. Fire. Smoke. A monster. His fists…
Suddenly they rushed away, fleeing before the boy could get a firm grasp on what they were trying to tell him.
Wearily Shinji closed his eyes.
['I just… wanna… sleep…']
======
Ritsuko sighed and swallowed another gulp of the tepid coffee, grateful for what little warmth and energy it brought to her system.
The two women were driving along the darkened road to Garden now. At least Ritsuko was. Misato had passed out in the back seat from too much alcohol. They had to get another patron to carry the purple-haired woman to her car. Two of them actually. The first wasn't very careful where he put his hands and got conked out by a roundhouse from the drunk Lieutenant.
Ritsuko could almost see her misty breath in the unnaturally cold spring air.
The second bar patron, a female SeeD on break, had been extremely nice until she heard they were from Nerv. Even afterwards she had been polite…
Tersely polite, to be sure, but at least she hadn't just dumped Misato in the middle of the street.
Ah well. Nothing could be done about how the SeeDs felt…
Outlined against the gray road by Ritsuko's headlights, a grat tried to dart away from impending doom.
Almost off-handedly she stepped on the gas to hit it, rupturing the bug's innards over the reinforced bumper of the armour-plated Nerv car. Its shattered shell remained on the left corner of the bumper for a few seconds before being torn off by the wind. The vehicle barely even slowed as the creature splattered over its front.
The bump caused light to flash wildly off the eyes of a chibi-Shinji and a chibi-Asuka bobble doll sitting on Misato's dashboard.
Sprawled out on the back seat Misato shifted only slightly, grunted once, and was promptly asleep again.
With the absent minded push of a button Ritsuko sent out a spray of green cleaning fluid that hit the red metal hood and slowly crawled up. At the same time the wipers, connected to a thin groove on either side of the car, began to move down, effectively scrubbing the grat bile off Misato's car.
['So many modifications to make…'] Despite what the other techies believed, Doctor Akagi did not enjoy making them work overnight. But tonight it didn't look like they'd be getting any sleep… As if on cue Misato started snoring from the backseat.
With a sigh, Ritsuko gulped down the last of her now cold coffee.
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InterludeEleven black rectangles.
Glowing red numbers with the subscript 'Sound Only.'
The true face of SEELE gathered at the behest of their former chairman.
"Ultimecia must be put in her place!" SEELE 04 proclaimed in a whiny, old-man voice.
"I agree." "We should not have entrusted our future to her." "How will we deal with the sorceress?" "But…" Answers came from the different monoliths, each in a different voice- the true voices of the SEELE committy.
Kihl sat at the one end of the black meeting room, his arm resting on a glowing red panel and his eyes obscured by slit-like VR glasses. He waited until the others had calmed down before speaking.
"We will continue as we have before."
"What? She knows of-" SEELE 07 began.
"She does not know of everything" Kihl half-snapped. "And we still have two cards in our collection. Powerful ones…"
There was a grumble of acknowledgement from 07.
"And we must- We will have them ready before the completion of Instrumentation."
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Chapter 2.5: A Long Night
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Doctor Kadowaki almost plopped to the floor after letting loose her final Cura spell.
Yet for all her efforts, the First Child was still looking extremely pale and her eyes were still shut against the world.
['Ah damnit!'] Her face darkened into a frown. ['Why won't she wake up?! I've healed all her wounds…']
Shakily the Doctor walked to the door, using the walls for support. ['Damn that Nerv! Letting their own Children get hurt so badly…'] She had heard the rumours of course. Nerv had every opportunity to rush in and retrieve their fallen pilots. But they hadn't.
A bunch of heartless bastards. And because of them, she couldn't spend time fixing up Squall and Seifer.
['Those poor children…'] Kadowaki thought as she shut the door behind her.
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Squall opened his eyes to the all-too familiar sight of a darkened infirmary ceiling.
['… I have a headache…']
Slowly he did a self-check. First he wiggled his toes, then slowly flexing the muscles of his legs before moving up to his abdomen. From there he went to his fingers, exercising every muscle up to his shoulders. Then, taking a deep breath, he slowly turned his head to the right.
It felt like somebody was trying to beat his skull open with a sledgehammer, but finally, eyes shut against the pain, Squall managed to complete the simple motion.
He opened his eyes and saw… her.
Short brown hair, light clothing… The girl stood at the window out side his room, bent over and peering intently at his face. She looked older than him though, probably not by more than a few years. When she noticed his eyes on her, she waved happily. Suddenly Squall heard somebody yell something from the room to his right.The room to his left was lit too, and standing in it was some red-haired girl in a Nerv suit. And it was really just a girl this time, probably even a few years younger than Squall. She yelled down at somebody lying on what the young man presumed to be another hospital bed, one hand reaching down to take hold of something.
"BAKA! WAKE UP ALREADY!" he could hear muffledthrough the glass.
With as much of a shrug as he could manage lying down, Squall turned back, hoping to catch a glimpse of the brunette again.
But she had disappeared…
"AAAAH! PUT SOME CLOTHES ON!!!" shrieked that red-head…
======
"It's not my fault you ripped my hospital gown!" Shinji protested as he struggled to cover himself with the blanket Asuka had so rudely ripped from him.
"BAKA! I'm not talking to you until you put something on!!" Asuka had her back to the boy, more to hide her blush than anything.
"Could you pass me my clothes then?"
The redhead looked around.
"Oh forget it, I'll get them myself" Shinji muttered.
Unfortunately Asuka hadn't heard, having just spotted Shinji's Nerv uniform lying on a chair. "Stupid Third Child too good to get his own clothes," She groused as she stormed over to the clothes, grabbed them, and turned.
Moments later there was a loud shriek, then a resounding slap.
======
Shinji, now fortunately fully dressed, held his cheek with one hand, partially obscuring Asuka's hand-print. "Why'd you have to slap me?!" His face took on an expression of frustration he found himself using quite often around the Galbadian girl.
Asuka whirled around to face the boy, "Because you were being a hentai!"
"Na-nani? What did I do?!"
The redhead made an angry growl, "Baka! You snuck up on me! And you weren't wearing anything! With your track record, what do you expect me to think?"
"Track record? What track record? When have I done anything perverted?!"
Asuka froze. "Wel-Well… Just a few hours ago!" She suddenly realised that she had no idea how much time had passed. And now was as good a time as any to change the topic… "How… how long have we been out?"
"H-huh?"
"Look outside baka!"
Turning Shinji looked out the window and saw that, indeed, it was quite late.
"Oh…" The glass reflected quite nicely the flourescent lights on the ceiling. Streaks of white light sparked another memory in Shinji…
Three spiralling streams of light hurtled toward a red giant. It hit. Struck through the armour…
And abruptly the memory vanished.
Shinji was about to ask Asuka about it when the door to their infirmary room was opened.
======
The elevator whirred silently down.
Inside it was deathly quiet, and Shinji Ikari again found himself standing between Asuka and Rei. He felt definitely uneasy about the silence, which had taken over ever since Rei walked in to 'inform' them that his father wanted something with the Evangelions.
The blue-haired girl stared straight ahead, her red eyes almost unblinking.
Beside her Asuka seemed to fume quietly.
['What the hell? They want us to spend another night waiting for them to finish modding the Evas? Can't they do it in the morning?! Damnit!'] Reasonably there was no reason for her to be so angry. The Hi-Potions had restored her body to its normal daytime energy levels, so there was no real need for sleep, yet. Still… ['Damn them!']
"I- uh… s-so what happened, with the Elnoyle?" Shinji asked, desperate to break the silence.
Both girls glanced at him, but neither answered.
To be truthful, neither of them remembered much past their own Eva's fall. Probably just a side-effect of taking all that damage…
"I do not remember…"
Asuka snorted. "Hmph. Well I remember getting knocked out by a weird beam attack…"
Briefly Shinji remembered the scene again, along with feelings of rage.
"B-but Wondergirl here got knocked out by a Thundaga first!" the redhead added quickly.
Rei's nose scrunched up ever so slightly and she said, looking straight ahead, "Why do you call me that?"
"Huh?"
The corners of her mouth turned down almost imperceptibly as the girl continued, "Why do you call me… Wondergirl?"
"Oh come on! Don't try to deny it! You're the Commander's pet, you'll do anything he say like a good little girl." Asuka said mockingly.
Internally Rei winced, then caught the sentiment and thought, ['Why am I afraid of Pilot Sohryu's words?'].
Her brows furrowed as the girl lost herself to introspection.
['Is it because… they are true? …']
"You're nothing but a lackey you know that? I mean, you've never even thought of disobeying an order have you?" Asuka changed her voice to mimic Commander Ikari's, "Kill yourself Rei." She then adopted a Rei-like falsetto, "Yes sir. Should I do it with a knife or my bare hands sir?"
Getting no reaction, Asuka continued "Really sad Aya-"
"Asuka! Cut it out!" Shinji finally snapped. Rei's red eyes flicked over to glance at him (neutrally, of course) for a moment before returning to the same spot on the elevator door.
In the moments that followed all the boy could hear was his own heart thumping. Oh great. He stood up to Asuka. Well… she did kind of deserve it for talking like that but- jeez this was going to hurt! Shinji squeezed his eyes shut in anticipation of a blow or a storm of insults or-
There was a ding and the hiss of hydraulics.
Asuka stormed away without another word.
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['Baka Shinji, overreacting to everything! I was just playing around! And why does he have to stick up for her anyway? What a- what a stooge! Looks like being away from those other two stooges hasn't taught him anything. Hmph. Well they've got another thing coming if they expect me to apologise. Hyne, why do those two have to be so touchy? Well at least now I know how to piss off good little Shinji the Third Child. We'll see who has the last laugh…']
Asuka grinned and allowed her pace to soften.
She had won that last encounter. Yup. She found out something new about her fellow pilots. And what did they get out of it? Absolutely nothing.
So it stood to reason that Asuka Sohryu Langley had, once again, won the battle.
======
Shinji stared at the ceiling.
Rei stared straight ahead.
Asuka paced back and forth.
The was the worst part about 'modifying the Evangelions' was this ridiculously long wait. They couldn't just go to sleep or get too distracted, for fear that the Evangelions would dissipate. Hmph. Ritsuko thought she had it bad actually having to install the things? She should've tried having to go for hours with NOTHING to do!
Asuka stopped pacing to glare at the two other pilots, both on a green wire bench. On one end of the bench lay Shinji, his knees pulled up to allow Rei to sit at the other end.
Within the albino girl, the train of thoughts begun earlier finally wound to a close. ['… Perhaps… perhaps Sohryu has been correct. I should… try to think for myself…'] A faint smile creased Rei's features as she thought this. ['This thought brings me pleasure…'] The smile deepened further with self-satisfaction.
Shinji's mind, meanwhile, roamed freely. He thought briefly of his cello, lying somewhere in the new quarters he had been given. Of his Slicer knife, probably somewhere next to the cello. Then his mind wandered to the other two pilots, and he briefly allowed himself to entertain semi-perverted thoughts about them. After all, he was still a fourteen year old boy.
Asuka, however, was not so good at tolerating boredom. Finally, after a few more stomping steps, she turned toward the other two pilots.
"UGH! That's it! Come on baka, we're going to get some cards or something!" Asuka said as she grabbed Shinji's ear and tugged hard.
Completely unprepared for this motion, Shinji fell off the bench, the hours of mandatory physical training the only thing keeping him from landing flat on his face.
"Whoa-OW! What was that for?!" Shinji asked. "You could have just asked me to get u-owowowowowowow!" his sentence was cut short when Asuka grabbed one of his ears and dragged him bodily toward the staff recreation room.
Watching, Rei smiled just a little. "I think…" Both other pilots looked up at those words, spoken in the same soft Rei-voice yet sounding very… un-Rei.
Rei almost blushed at the sudden attention, but she kept it in check and continued, "I think I will come with you."
And inside she felt… happy.
======
Ritsuko looked up from the terminal and sighed.
A long night indeed.
In front of her technicians worked hard tampering with the bindings both inside and outside the three Evangelions.
They were way behind schedule… Those techs weren't performing too well.
Another cup of lukewarm coffee disappeared down Ritsuko's throat.
She couldn't really blame the techs. They were working overtime, overnight and way past their bedtimes.
Picking up her printout from the bottom of the terminal, Ritsuko moved to join the orange jumpsuits working on the legs of Unit-02.
======
Rei was having second thoughts.
"We were not supposed to stray from the hall…"
"Oh who cares! We'll be back before they know it! Now where the hell did they put that recreation room?!" Asuka said in her usual snappy way, dragging Shinji by the hand even though it was no longer necessary. The Third Child followed without complaint.
"I-I suppose…".
"Here it is!" Asuka announced triumphantly as she finally found the door crudely labelled 'Rec Room: Staff Only!'
With a hiss the door slid open…
======
On a platform in the holding bay, Ritsuko's instruments detected a slight fall in the stability of Unit-02. She frowned. What?
It wasn't big enough of a drop to raise any alarms but…
"Makoto! Go find the-" She stopped suddenly
"Yes, Doctor Akagi…?" Makoto asked asked.
"Forget it." Ritsuko said.
And she turned away with just the faintest smile.
['Let them have their fun…']
======
"Full house!" Asuka declared triumphantly as she pulled what remained of Rei and Shinji's chips across the green poker table.
"W-whaat?!" Shinji said, turning over his own cards. He was holding a pocket of aces! How could he lose!!! Yet Asuka had somehow managed to pull out a full with the river. Hyne. He just had no luck, did he…
Rei's expression did not change as Asuka gloated over her pile. "Shall we start again?" the albino girl, of all people, asked.
Inside Ayanami told herself that she was getting used to (and perhaps even starting to like) this game. And that next time she would not bet half her chips on a '2/7 unsuited-' as Asuka had called it.
"All right, all right!" Asuka grumbled as she started dividing her pile of chips. Too bad they weren't playing for money… But at least they had something to pass the time with.
Soon Rei and Shinji's hands joined the redhead's and they quickly split the red, white and blue chips into three separate piles for each of the three pilots.
As he worked, Shinji looked between the two girls.
And he smiled.
This was happiness.
======
To be continued…
A/N: Yes, a bit of a slow chapter… Tried to do some character development here. Not sure how well it turned out but at least I can say I tried =D
They were playing Texas Hold-up by the way, the same thing they play on the World Poker Tour =D I didn't think it'd be logical to have a pile of Triple Triad cards just lying around, and normal cards are common enough.
The river is the last card to be flopped, and 2/7 unsuited is the stastically crappiest hand, they're low and you'd be hard pressed to make a straight or a flush.
Oh and the language of choice in Gaia is Japanese (both FF and Eva are from Japan anyway), but because I don't speak Japanese I've 'conveniently' converted to English, for the most part.