Neon Genesis Evangelion: Rebirth and Undeath
-
-
++++
Disclaimer: I do not own Evangelion, or zombies =(
++++
A/N: Getting some stuff out of the way before the zombies show up in earnest… Character/plot development and all that. OOOPS I realised the first version wasn't in .html =P
=======
Gently Asuka's hand strokes Shinji's cheek as the boy's fingers squeeze the life from her neck.
"How disgusting…" She mutters…
=======
Chapter 1: Rebirth: Diebus Novis
=======
The two Children walk along the beach as the first rays of the sun strike their sides.
It has been a long day since Instrumentation. A full cycle of the sun since the end of the world had left them alone.
Some might think that two hormonal teenagers would have been ecstastic to be left alone, at least for the first few hours. But this was not the case with them.
They had not spoken to each other.
What was there to say?
'Don't you just love this LCL?' 'So how about that Instrumentation?'
And deep inside, each child blamed him/herself for the end of Human Civilisation. They had, after all, both experienced very similar Instrumentations. Both had relived the pain of coexistence, both had chosen to return to the world of pain. The real world.
Because they wanted to be alone. Independent.
Yet now, now that their wish had come true…
Now they are glad for the other's presence. The simple fact that they are not alone is extremely gratifying.
Shinji's feet make a scratchy sound as they dragged across the sand.
Today, one day after the Death of Humanity, the Reborn survivors would search for shelter in a broken world.
=======
Mishta grinned as he ran.
Not the horrible oscillation of feet that humans had to use, the ehtereal gliding run of a being whose age cannot be measured in years. It was something he had not been able to do for centuries. And he could feel, not many glide-steps from himself, his brothers doing the same.
His pallid feet, each missing a toe, flew across the terrain as Mishta's tattered black cape was whipped backwards hard by the lich's momentum.
The Lord of the Undead ran away from the rising sun, following the creeping movement of light across the surface of the world.
Dark energies trailed behind him, lingering even in first light of the sun. Wisps of pure darkness were torn away from his cape and billowed gently in the breeze as they slowly diluted the air.
Raising one deformed hand Mishta smashed into the human building before him. The ancient one easily broke through the concrete of the human building, not faltering in the least as he plowed through the walls.
This was power greater than anything the humans had ever created.
Lying in the middle of a gray-clouded street, the fingers of a policeman lying in the street began to twitch as hazy rays of light filled its world…
=======
"I DON'T NEED YOU!" Asuka shoved forward hard with both hands, forcing the Asian boy to the ground.
Slowly the coffee pot hit the ground and shattered.
As the redhead watched, tears began to develop on the eyes of the spineless boy. Worthless!
"I CAN LIVE WITHOUT YOU!" Asuka screamed as she grabbed a carving knife from the kitchen counter.
And suddenly the boy became representative of everybody who had ever left her.
Mother. Father. Step-mother. Constantine. Valerie. Misato. Shinji…
The knife came down…
=======
Asuka glanced at the boy from the corner of her one good eye.
Neither of them had eaten since yesterday.
Since the end of humanity.
The children hadn't wanted to go back to Tokyo-3. Even if it meant going hungry, they wanted to stay away from the place that had stolen their innocence.
But now, having explored both ends of the beach, it seemed there was no way out but through the city.
To the East the sun rose on what looked like a foggy day, and on two straggling teenagers as the silently walked toward the remains of humanity's greatest achievement- its tomb.
++
Shinji Ikari cast a glance left, toward Asuka and the window of a now abandoned clothing outlet.
His mouth opened as if to say something, but moments later he closed it wordlessly.
What could he say?
I'm sorry?
Would that make up for…?
With a loud crash the clothing store's window shattered and Asuka quietly let her good arm drop listlessly. On the other side of the window a rock bounced twice on the floor before losing its energy and coming to a stop.
And it went back to being quiet. Something about the gray hazy morning seemed to drown out sound…
++
Hazy sunlight curled through the windows, casting a blurry shadow that read "Chuck's Grocery." Within were the last two humans, one in a yellow dress and the other in what looked like a school uniform.
Asuka pulled down a bag of sliced bread with her right arm, careful to keep the sling on her left from bumping into the racks.
In another part of the supermarket there was the sound of glass tapping against glass as Shinji picked out a few jars of still-chilly honey.
When he finished, Shinji looked up to see Asuka looking at him with her good eye. Eye contact lasted for just one moment before both looked away.
Quietly and without a word to Shinji Asuka made for the exit.
The boy glanced at her retreating back briefly, then followed. New shoes crunched glass as he headed for the broken window and out into the street.
It was brighter outside, at least.
Sitting down on the curb, the two children took out their breakfast. Shinji popped open a jar of German honey and another of peanut butter while the girl tore open the bag of whole wheat bread.
After just a moment of staring at the food the two children dug in, using their fingers to slop honey and butter onto slices of bread.
=======
Varkildna, dre'yesh of the Terran lichs, drifted closer to the upper torso of Eva 08. The dark energies created by his compatriots made the white skin of the Evangelion look gray, but that wasn't important.
The lich thrust one well-manicured hand down, toward the LCL that surrounded the giant. A moment passed. Two. Suddenly the water directly beneath the lich parted at an alarming rate. The giant of white teetered under the force, but did not fall.
Calmly the ancient being drifted under the MP Evangelion's neck and flew upward, carrying the massive creature into the cloudless sky faster than most machines could fly unhindered.
=======
Shinji leaned back, using his dirty hands to prop himself up.
Beside Asuka finished scarfing down one last slice of bread covered with red honey and she stared at the boy.
A minute passed before Shinji turned to meet her light blue eye.
Almost immediately the boy's eyes turned away, to stare wordlessly at an ant that had just discovered the remnants of their breakfast.
Asuka, though, had had just about enough.
"Look at me Third Child!" she snapped.
Shinji flinched at the noise but did nothing.
The simmering redhead responded by shoving the boy hard, pushing him onto the opened jars of condiment. Both jars slipped away and rolled a little ways across the empty street.
Still the boy did nothing, choosing to stare at the jars rather than at his pretty companion. From under him an ant freed itself and scurried quickly away with a piece of bread still held in its mandibles.
A growling Asuka followed through by pushing Shinji to his back and standing over the boy, her feet spread around the boy's chest.
"LOOK AT ME, THIRD CHILD!"
Shinji kept his head turned toward the road.
With a sound between a growl of frustration and a whimper, Asuka yanked up the hem of her dress, allowing the boy what could have been a nice view of the lingerie she had just 'bought.' But he didn't look up.
Asuka held that position for what seemed like an eternity as her tears threatened to brim. Finally she mustered enough composure to say, "Come on you hentai! I'm-I'm giving you the opportunity of a lifetime you know!"
Shinji closed his eyes. "No." He said simply.
"W-what?" If the boy had looked up he might have seen a single tear course down Asuka's cheek, washing away a bit of the honey stuck there.
"…No" Shinji repeated, eyes still closed.
Another minute passed before Asuka let her dress drop, feeling both stupid and…
And…
Shinji's eyes snapped open as a fist hammered into the side of his head. Before he could come to his senses the fist landed again, painfully grinding his head against the sidewalk.
"You don't like looking at a cripple? Someone with only one ****ing eye?!" Asuka spat. "I HATE YOU! YOU'RE ALL THE SAME!!" The redhead, now straddling Shinji with her knees, punched the boy again before grabbing a tuft of dark hair and slamming his head into the sidewalk.
Not surprisingly the boy's face contorted in pain as his head cracked against the stone once.
Twice.
On the third, dazed and ready to pass out, he managed to grunt "I'm sorry." His eyes squeezed shut in expectation of a blow. Instead his head dropped the the ground, the sensation still sending lancelets of pain through his skull.
Asuka sat with her head down, a few more tears dripping from her eyes and onto Shinji's new shirt. Then, even angrier, she brought down both arms, intending to punch the boy's head again.
Her right hand thudded dully into Shinji's cheek. However the force of her left arm swing was stopped quite suddenly by the sling there, and a resounding crack sounding through the empty streets.
=======
Somewhere a pair of eyes open in the darkness. They blink twice before their owner rises.
Hazy sunlight streaming through a hole in the Geofront glances briefly off a head of blue hair before the figure finally gets to her feet. Her red eyes curve into a part-frown as, with small steps, she-who-was-once-one-with-the-mother awakens from her short slumber.
=======
The girl cried out as pain lanced through her arm like replica Longinuses. Clutching the sling she quickly rolled off the boy, the tears now uncontrollable.
A moment passes in which Shinji just watchd the girl whimper on the pavement, her slender form doubled over her broken arm.
Then, slowly, he got to his knees and crawled- even thinking about standing hurt- to the troubled girl. For a moment he just stared as Asuka kept on crying, while trying to edge away from him. Her rear bumped into the can of honey and sent it rolling down the curved street to hit the curb on the other side.
The sound of glass against stone seemed to wake Shinji up. Still on his hands and knees the boy crawled those extra few feet to reach Asuka again, only this time he reached forward to wrap the girl in a gentle hug.
He met with no resistence, and the two children stayed like that for a long time.
After a while Shinji was no longer sure which one of them was crying harder as his own salty tears coursed down his cheeks to wet the back of Asuka's dress. And as Asuka's tears mingled washed away the fresh blood on the side of Shinji's head.
Not far away a swarm of small black ants carried away small crumbs of bread, completely oblivious to the crying beings who had left them there.
=======
With a creak the door, black and hidden by the black walls, swung open, and in the red light beyond she could see the hanging body of a woman with her neck at a sickening angle.
From the doorway a ghostly, disembodied voice whispered, "Die with mommy Asuka…"
The little red-headed girl looked away from the shadow of the hanging woman, her light blue eyes turning to look toward a spotlight on her left.
At a jar of honey and the faint silhouette of a boy stood, shimmering and translucent, under the pure white light.
"He doesn't want you Asuka… Nobody wants you… Die with me!" the voice demanded.
Eyes still fixed on the jar, the little girl said quietly…
"N-no…"
=======
+++
++
+
To be Continued
--
A/N: Well whaddya think? As for the origin of the lichs, well I don't really know any official ones (beyond the D&D explanation with the ritual and all that) but I have created one of my own. Maybe it's not the greatest but it'll suit the story =D
Oh and does anybody know exactly which arm Asuka broke? I took a guess and picked one… Sorry! Just wanted to get this up quickly…
Yes I know the honey is cheesy imagery. It's better than watermelon jam (my first thought) though ^.^
And I believe the translation of the title is "at the new day" but I'm not entirely sure…