Neon Genesis Evangelion:
The Genesis Crisis
The second day:
What it is to burn
Shinji wheezed as he felt the massive bulk of the mass production Evangelion land on his Eva. Shinji looked up at the black Evangelion. It was kneeling on Unit-01's stomach; its arms spread out, with its hands either side of Unit-01 supporting its own weight. Its wings folded into its back once again. Shinji froze in fear, his Eva staying perfectly still, its left hand gripping the Lance of Longinus piercing its right upper arm. The Eva lowered its head closer to Unit-01's, opening its mouth, letting its tongue loll out of its mouth. It looked hungry.
'What can I do? What can I do?' Shinji thought, squeezing his eyes shut to avoid having to look at the terrifying sight above him. 'What can I do?'
***
"Come on Shinji… move," Misato whispered under her breath, as she watched the scene through a monitor in Terminal Dogma. "What's the progress on the Unit-02 rewrite?" she barked at Maya.
"Just a few more minutes," Maya reported, not taking her eyes off the screen in front of her. Numbers and letters flew over the screen as she typed furiously.
"Hurry it up," Misato told her. "Shinji needs all the help he can get."
"What can we do for him, ma'am?" Hyuga asked.
"Nothing," she replied flatly. "He's on his own for the moment, we've just got to hope he can get out of this one himself." Hyuga nodded his reluctant agreement. He turned round to monitor Shinji's vitals once again. Misato looked back to the monitor, watching the black Eva lower its head closer to Unit-01, lying helpless on the mountainside. It looked like a mad dog, about to go in for the kill. She hated the feeling of helplessness that surrounded her, nothing she could say or do at this moment could help Shinji. 'Come on Shinji, do something.'
***
Shinji opened his eyes. The black monster was still above him. He saw it open its mouth wide, and then lunge down towards him. He screamed.
"You have to do something, Shinji," a gentle voice said.
"What?" Shinji asked, wondering what was going on. 'What is this voice?' he thought.
"You can't just lie there," it whispered softly. It sounded happy. "Come on Shinji," it said, gently coercing him to move. "You don't want to die here… do you?"
The mass production Eva lunged down, it's teeth bared, ready to sink them into its captive prey. Unit-01's eyes flared bright white. It brought its free arm up to grab the black Eva by the back of its head and pull it down towards itself. At the same time it brought its head up as fast as it could towards the Eva's open mouth. There was a horrifying crack as the horn on Unit-01's head penetrated the roof of its tormentor's mouth, passed through the Eva's brain and out the top of its head. Blood cascaded down Unit-01's face from the wound and from teeth knocked out by the purple Eva's brutal assault. Shinji screamed again, except this time it wasn't from fear, it was from a mixture of rage and triumph. Shinji jerked his head backwards, causing his Eva to do the same, it's horn splitting the mass production Eva's head in half. His opponent clutched its ruined face, blood gargling in its throat as it attempted to scream. Shinji continued the offensive, pulling his free arm back and delivering a vicious punch to the Eva's stomach. Although due to his position the punch wasn't as strong as it could have been it was still sufficient enough to dislodge the Eva from its position kneeling on top of his Eva. The Eva slid backward slightly, its legs slipping off his Eva's stomach, making it easier for him to move. Shinji pressed his advantage, drawing his Eva's knees up to its chest and then lashing out at the black Eva by kicking it in the stomach with both legs simultaneously. Although its brain had been severely damaged in the last attack the Eva was still going. Shinji realised it would rally itself soon to attack him again. He had to get into a better position to defend himself.
'I can't pull the Lance out of my arm though, so what can I do?' then an idea hit him. He gritted his teeth, mustered his strength and then pulled his arm down as hard as he could. He cried out in pain as a gash was torn open in his upper arm as it freed itself from the Lance. Huge quantities of blood poured out onto the earth from the wound. Shinji tried to put the pain towards the back of his mind and get his Eva standing upright again. As his Eva righted itself Shinji saw the mass production Eva launch itself at him again. It ran towards him, its arms outstretched in front of it. Shinji reached each arm up to his Eva's shoulder units to retrieve a prog knife, and then stretched his arms out behind him. As the mass production Eva came within striking distance he lunged with both hands at it. Both blades stuck into his opponent's chest causing yet more bloodshed. However this attack wasn't enough to stop his aggressor, and it continued charging towards him. Shinji commanded his Eva to set its legs apart, to attempt to stop the black Evangelion. Unit-01 skidded backwards under the force from the black Eva's charge. He was able to gain some purchase on the ground. He pushed forward in an attempt to bring his enemy's charge to a halt. But the Eva kept going, ending up pushing Unit-01's arms backwards so that the hilt of the prog knives were pressing up against Unit-01's chest. Shinji felt the black Eva's hands grasp Unit-01 by the shoulders, and saw its bloodied head lunge forward. He cried out as he felt the Eva's teeth sink into Unit-01's throat. Its ruined jaw and crooked teeth caused it to bite into the flesh at odd angles. Shinji pulled one of the knives out of the Eva's chest and then brought his right arm round so he could strike at the Eva's head with the blade. He stabbed the knife into the side of the Eva's head, while at the same time he drove the other further into the Eva's chest. More blood spilled on the ground between them as the black Eva bit harder on Unit-01's throat and Shinji drove his knives deeper into his attacker. Shinji was finding it hard to breathe as the mass production Eva's attack was beginning to crush his windpipe.
'I've got to try and get this thing off me, and soon,' he thought, panic welling up in him. He screamed in rage, putting as much effort into his attack as he could. Shinji felt the blade stuck in the Eva's chest stop as it reached something hard inside it. The Eva recoiled almost instantly as the blade touched this. It broke off its grip on Unit-01's throat and pulled away from the purple Eva as fast as it could. Shinji couldn't maintain his grip on the prog knives and they were wrenched out of his hands as his opponent backed away.
'It's core, of course, I just need to destroy its core and then it'll all be over,' Shinji realised. 'But I've lost my knives, I'll have to find another way.' Shinji leaned his Eva forward turning it to the side, so his right shoulder was facing towards the black Eva. He charged towards the mass production Evangelion as it continued to back away from him. He saw it begin to spread its wings as he drew near to it. He caught the Eva in its stomach just as its feet left the ground. His attack knocked the Eva out of the air and onto its back. Unfortunately Shinji had overestimated the power required to knock down the Eva and so the purple fighting machine continued forward, caught its foot on the downed Eva's arm and fell forward onto the ground as well. Shinji tried to get his Eva back on his feet as fast as he could, he couldn't allow the mass production Eva to get airborne and take the advantage in the fight. He managed to get the Eva back on its feet and as he turned around he saw the black Eva was in the process of getting back up itself. His Eva leapt through the air, its umbilical cord trailing through the air after it, and landed on the Eva. The black Eva found itself in a similar position to that Shinji had been in just a few minutes earlier, flat on the ground with another Eva on top of it. Shinji tried to make a grab for the knife in the black Eva's chest, but the black Eva got there first. The Eva beneath him pulled the knife out of its own chest and then lunged upward with it, stabbing the knife into Unit-01's throat. Shinji tried to cry out in pain, but couldn't breathe. Unit-01 sat upright as Shinji tried to pull the knife out of his throat, to get some air into his lungs. The mass production Eva took this opportunity to escape from Unit-01. Shinji threw the knife down on the ground and gasped great mouthfuls of air. He looked up to see the black Eva standing facing him, wings outspread, ready to take off.
'I've got to stop it,' he thought. He tried to run towards the Eva, Unit-01 stumbling slightly as it got up onto its feet. The mass production Eva flapped its wings and took off. It soared into the sky only to jerk suddenly in mid-air. It looked down in confusion to see Unit-01 grabbing its ankles. Shinji ran forward, holding onto the black Eva as it flapped its wings, frantically trying to shake off his grip and fly off in the opposite direction to the one Unit-01 was dragging it. Shinji flung the Eva, watching it arc through the air in front of him, its wings collapsing around its body from the force of Unit-01's throw. The black Eva then seemed to almost freeze in mid-air. Blood sprayed from its chest as a grey spike appeared from inside the Eva's chest. Shinji had thrown the Eva and impaled it on the end of the Lance of Longinus, still stuck in the ground. The Eva grabbed the end of the Lance, desperately attempting to save itself somehow. Then its body went limp as its shattered core finally stopped working. It collapsed back against the Lance that pinned it in mid-air. It's arms dropped to its side, and its head rolled back to look up at the sky. Finally the Evangelion that had taken so much punishment, and still kept fighting, was dead. Shinji gasped for air, and shuddered slightly, as the realisation that the fight was over hit him.
"Good work Shinji," he heard Misato say over the intercom. "Head back to the Catapult to be retrieved." Shinji was too exhausted to reply, so instead he nodded his acknowledgement, knowing that Misato would see it. He walked back to the Catapult, which was very close by, noticing that his body seemed to hurt more now the adrenaline flow in his body had stopped. Unit-01 had taken a lot of damage during the fight and he was paying for it now. "Shinji, behind you!" Misato cried out over the intercom. Shinji turned Unit-01 round in time to see a mass production Eva take to the skies. It was the first mass production Eva he had defeated, he could see that it only had the right side of its head, the left side having been blown off by his shot with a positron rifle. Shinji was once again filled with fear, the prospect of fighting another one of those things terrified him. The Eva flew high into the sky spreading its wings wide apart, its sword gripped defiantly in its hand. It looked like an avenging Angel from Hell.
***
"How is that thing still functional?" Aoba asked, looking very shocked.
"It must be the S2 engines," Misato said, partly to Aoba and partly to herself. "The S2 engines must be able to allow the mass production Eva's to function while heavily damaged, and to regenerate at a faster rate than normal." Aoba looked back at the monitor, and saw that the gaping hole in the side of the Eva's head did seem to be closing up. "I don't know if Shinji can withstand another attack, we need to deploy Unit-02 as soon as possible. Maya?" she asked the computer specialist who was still busily typing commands into the computer in front of her.
"The rewrite's nearly done," she reported, sounding panicked. "About thirty seconds."
"It's leaving," Hyuga said suddenly.
"What!?" Misato asked, stunned at what she had just heard. She spun round to look at the various screens relaying footage from outside. The black Eva had turned around and began flying away from Unit-01. "It's escaping, SEELE must not want to run the risk of losing another."
"Should we attempt to intercept?" Aoba asked.
"No let it go," she replied. "Trying to fight another would probably be more trouble than it's worth right now. But just keep an eye on it, try and see where it goes."
"Yes ma'am," Aoba replied.
***
Shinji watched the Eva fly off into the distance, it's black form nearly invisible in the darkness of the night. But it seemed to him that, flying into the sky to spread its wings, it had issued a challenge to them. He knew he would see it again, and probably soon.
"Okay Shinji, it's over now," Misato told him, although she didn't sound totally sure of that herself. "Come back now."
***
Rei glanced at Shinji as he walked into the NERV changing rooms, making sure not to stare too long at the boy. She could tell from his emotionless expression and dead eyes that he was not happy about what he had just done. She heard the door shut on one of the cubicles along the far wall, followed by the rustling of clothes as Shinji changed out of his plugsuit and back into his normal attire. Rei was already back in her school uniform, having been released from Unit-02 as soon as the danger was over. She didn't know why she had decided to wait for Shinji, but she had. So she sat on the bench in the changing rooms staring at the cubicle opposite her, trying not to look at the only occupied one. Thinking of Shinji brought back good memories, some of the only good memories she had. She remembered feeling happy around Commander Ikari, during their meals together, her childhood spent with him, but his recent actions and attitude towards her had tainted those memories. She heard the cubicle door open. She looked up to see Shinji standing outside the cubicle, now in his usual clothes of a white shirt and black trousers. He was staring at Rei, his hands by his sides. He seemed to be thinking about something. Rei stared back at him for a long while, trying to think of something to say.
"Ikari-"
"Shinji?" Misato interrupted as she walked into the changing room. Misato saw Shinji as soon as she walked into the room. She also spotted Rei, sitting over the other end of the room from the entrance. Her mouth was slightly open, as if she was about to say something, but nearly as soon as Misato looked at her Rei closed her mouth and stared down at the floor in front of her. Shinji seemed to do something similar, focusing on a section of flooring to Misato's right. It looked to Misato like he was trying to avoid eye contact with her. "Shinji, I'd just like to say… I'm sorry… for making you go out there," Misato said softly. She knew the boy would have disliked piloting Eva again, he made it quite clear he didn't want to before she forced him. The engagement had also been particularly brutal, so she knew he wouldn't like her at the minute. An apology seemed like quite a weak gesture on her part, but it was the best she could do.
"It's okay," Shinji said quietly, "you were only doing your job. As long as the mission is complete I guess it doesn't matter about me."
"No Shinji, that's not how it is at all," she answered, trying to sound sincere, but she knew he was at least partly correct. She folded her arms and looked over to her right, trying to think of something else to say.
"Is there anything else?" he asked, his voice carrying a twinge of sadness.
"Look Shinji, I'm just saying that I'm sorry. If there was another way I would have taken it, you know that right?" she asked hopefully. Shinji stayed exactly as he was, standing nearly rigid, staring down at the ground, his fringe hanging over his face to obscure his eyes. Misato sighed.
"I'm going to go back to the apartment," he said. Shinji stood still for a moment, as if undecided as to how to proceed next, and then slowly walked over to the door and out of the changing rooms. Misato watched him as he left, his movements, appearance, everything about him made him look very uncomfortable. She sighed again and then glanced over at Rei. Rei was looking in her direction, but once again nearly as soon as Misato looked at her she looked down at the floor in front of her. Misato turned to leave the changing rooms. Rei heard the changing room door open and close once again, leaving her completely alone in the room.
***
"The mass production Evangelions have changed from our original designs," Gendo stated.
"It does not matter," SEELE-05 answered, "You will be destroyed in the end."
"Not if all your attacks are as poorly executed as that," Gendo smirked.
"That was only part of our plan Ikari, we wished only to test your defences to see how well you responded to our attack," SEELE-09 replied. "And your defence was not well planned, if it was not for a lucky move from your son you would have been destroyed."
"What do you hope to accomplish by resisting us?" SEELE-07 asked. His arrogant voice carried the notion that he was genuinely intrigued as to what would cause someone to be stupid enough to stand against them.
"We still have eight more Evangelions Ikari, you know that NERV would not be able withstand an assault from them, let alone other weapons in our arsenal. You should surrender now, there is no need for you to perish needlessly."
"I do not believe there is," Gendo said in agreement, before letting another smirk form behind his white gloves. "But then again, I do not believe I will." "See sense, Ikari," SEELE-11 stated flatly.
"You cannot stand against us Ikari," Keel stated. "We began this project together, why can we not finish it so?"
"I have my reasons," he stated calmly.
"We should never have trusted you Ikari, a lowly dog such as you should never be offered the opportunity to receive Godhood," SEELE-09 answered, sounding angry.
"You will regret this Ikari," Keel said, with an air of finality that made it seem more like a statement than a threat. One after another the SEELE monoliths quickly disappeared, once again leaving Gendo and Fuyutsuki standing alone in an illuminated circle.
"The old men of SEELE are becoming reckless," Gendo commented.
"And desperate," Fuyutsuki added.
"They do not know how events will unfold, so they are clutching at ideas, hoping for a solution."
"But surely we are in the same position, that is if your prediction is correct."
"Yes, but with both Adam and Lilith in our possession we have the upper hand at the moment."
***
"So you got to pilot Eva again, huh? You must be so happy," Asuka said, in her usual patronising tone.
"No I didn't want to," Shinji said, but there was no strength to his words.
"Then why did you then?" Misato asked him.
"Because you made me. Because I had no choice."
"You had plenty of choice," Asuka retorted. "You coulda just said no."
"I tried-"
"Not hard enough," Misato interrupted him. Shinji stared down at his feet, feeling ashamed of himself.
"How do you feel?" Rei questioned him.
"About what?"
"About everything, dumbkopf!" Asuka replied. "About me, about them, but most of all…"
"About you," Rei completed Asuka's sentence.
"I feel… sad," he answered after a long pause. " I don't want to do this anymore, but I don't have any choice."
"Of course you have a choice Shinji," Misato told him in a soothing tone of voice. "Everybody has the right to choose."
"You're just too weak," Asuka nearly spat the words at him.
"I'm not weak… you just don't understand!"
"But you are weak," Rei said, in a voice which made it sound like a fact. "You are too weak even to end your own life."
"Tha- that was different, I-"
"You what?" Asuka interrupted. "You didn't have the guts?"
"No… It was just…" Shinji tried to think, to search for the answer to the question. "I don't know," he said at last, he looked down at his hands, feeling too shocked to do anything else. "I don't know," he looked up at the three figures in front of him, framed by the blackness that surrounded them all.
"I know why Shinji," Asuka said to him. He looked at the German girl, hoping for an answer, but he knew what she would say. "Because you are weak."
"Weak," Rei repeated.
"Weak," Misato echoed. "Fighting the black Eva's gave you the perfect chance to end your life. You could have not fought back, just let them kill you, if you were too weak to kill yourself."
"But you fought back," Rei said.
"But, if I had died, so would everybody else."
"Who cares? It's not like they like you, do they Shinji?" Asuka said.
"But, they still don't deserve to die."
"Your just too weak, Shinji, too weak to stand up for yourself. You just keep finding excuse all the time. You didn't have to fight the Eva's Shinji, you didn't have to save yourself Shinji, you didn't have to pilot Unit-01."
"I didn't want to!" Shinji screamed.
"Then don't," Rei said flatly.
"I won't, I won't pilot Eva ever again!"
"I'd like to see it," Asuka said scornfully.
"I will!" he shouted defiantly, clenching his fists by his sides. "I'll never pilot again! I'll never pilot again! I'll never pilot again!" Shinji woke up screaming once again. He gulped in deep breaths, trying to calm his racing heart.
***
Ritsuko Akagi sat in her cell in NERV's brig. She had spent a long time in her cell, too long for her to remember. She had spent the time, not feeling guilty for what she had done, although Gendo hadn't expected her to, but steadily brooding over her hatred. Ritsuko Akagi was not confused at all by the events that had occurred all around her. In fact she knew more about them than the majority of the NERV staff put together. She knew exactly what had happened, and she knew exactly who to blame. Her commanding officer, and ex-lover, Gendo Ikari. The man had single-handedly ruined her entire life. It seemed it was the man's particular talent. He had drawn her mother into Project E, which had eventually resulted in the woman's death. Ritsuko hadn't cared much personally for her mother, but she was still her mother, and one of the most brilliant scientists she had ever met. Her loss had affected her more deeply than she had thought it would, and far more deeply than she had actually let on. And then Gendo had become involved directly with her own life. It was a while ago when they had first become romantically involved. Exactly when Ritsuko had long since forgotten, but it was definitely after her promotion to NERV's head scientist. At first it had seemed like a whirlwind romance, and Gendo seemed to return her affections. But as the "Scenario" began to advance and pick up speed he seemed to become less and less interested in her. They had sex frequently, but there was no love in it, it was purely physical.
'Maybe it's just me?' she had thought at the time, 'perhaps I'm just losing interest in this relationship?' But she knew deep down that Gendo had never had any real feelings towards her. Indeed the project she helped him with was only just a way for him to be reunited with his long-lost wife. If the man was willing to destroy the world to meet another woman, how was she supposed to compete with love like that? And strangely enough it was that realisation that hurt her more than anything else. She had endangered the lives of so many people for this man and his project, she had neglected her friends to devote herself to its completion, and it was not a secret that she was disliked by many of the NERV staff. All of these had made her feel bad, but they seemed trivial compared to the pain she had felt when the truth dawned on her that the man she had done all of these things for felt nothing for her.
"I've come to see the prisoner," a voice outside her cell door said. She recognised the voice, it belonged to one of her oldest friends.
"Yes ma'am," a male guard posted outside her door said. She was the only person currently incarcerated within the NERV brig and so she had the privilege of a personal guard outside her cell. "Do you have clearance?"
"Yes." There was some rustling as she heard someone search their pockets and then unfold a piece of paper.
"Very well, go right in Major Katsuragi." Ritsuko heard the scraping of metal as the doors locks slid back and the door swung inwards. Misato stepped into the room. It looked quite cramped, in fact the bed seemed to take up half the room. As her eyes adjusted to the dark in the room she saw that a blonde woman sat on the bed, leaning forward with her elbows resting on her thighs and her arms hanging limply between her legs. She was staring at the floor, her hair falling forward to obscure most of her face.
"You can leave us now," Misato said to the guard, who was patiently standing at the door.
"If you need any help-" the guard began.
"I won't," Misato cut him off. The guard nodded and closed the door.
"Well, well, well, Misato Katsuragi what brings you here?" Ritsuko said with some venom to her words. She looked at the purple haired woman out of the corner of her eye.
"Ritsuko," Misato said as a greeting, ignoring what Ritsuko had just said. She knew that Ritsuko would be difficult to talk to. Being locked in a prison cell for a long period of time wouldn't exactly do your social skills any good. Misato began to question her judgement in coming to see her old friend.
"What is it you want to know then?" she asked wearily. She sat up straight on the bed and turned to look at Misato. "Doubtless you've been stumped by something and need my skill, why else would you have came here?"
"No, Ritsuko, I just need to talk to you, as a friend," Misato said, trying to sound as sincere as she could. "It's about Shinji."
"What's wrong with the boy now then? Has his feelings been hurt again?" she said, sounding almost disgusted.
"Look Ritsuko, I'm worried about the boy, I just need someone to talk to about it," she pleaded. "So please, can you just listen?" Ritsuko stared at Misato for a long while, and then leaned back against the wall and sighed. Misato realised this was as close to a "Yes," as she was going to get out of her. Misato sat down on the bed next to Ritsuko, leaning against the wall and staring at the opposite wall, just like her old friend was doing. "I think I've lost touch with him, Ritsu."
"How do you mean?" she asked, half-heartedly.
"He just always seems detached from everything. He doesn't want to speak to anybody… especially not me. He never shows any emotions now, he just always seems sad about everything. I think all the things that have happened to him over the past year have been too much for him to handle. He seemed to be coming out of his shell, and then…" she trailed off.
"The hedgehog's dilemma," Ritsuko said quietly.
"It looks like you were right," the purple haired woman agreed sadly. "But I just don't know what to do now. I've tried talking to him, but that hasn't helped at all. And I can't just leave him alone, he's spent too long on his own already, and that just seems to make him worse."
"What do you think is causing this?" she asked, turning her head to look at her companion.
"Too many things to count," Misato sighed in dismay. "Kaworu's death, all that's happened to Asuka, all that's happened to R-" she stopped herself, realising she had nearly accidentally blamed Ritsuko for Shinji's problems. Ritsuko turned her head away again, staring off into the corner of the room. Misato stayed silent for a while, peering at Ritsuko out of the corner of her eye, wondering how she would react.
"The boy certainly has some problems," Ritsuko said after a while, turning back to look at her old friend. Misato noticeably relaxed, feeling that Ritsuko had forgiven her for her slip of the tongue. "Perhaps his problems are too big for you to handle."
"I just wish I could do something for him."
"I know you care for the boy, you took him in and lived with him for nearly a year now, you were bound to develop some kind of bond with him. But torturing yourself over him isn't going to do either of you any good. Just act normally around him, like you used to, a good environment for him may be all he needs."
"I don't think the current situation is going to help then," Misato sighed again.
"What situation?" Ritsuko asked, sounding intrigued.
"You don't know?"
"I don't get much information in here," Ritsuko told her.
"Well SEELE seem to have had enough of the Commander and want to remove him, by force."
"So Gendo is finally getting his comeuppance?" Ritsuko said. She made no attempt to hide her gladness. The fact that she seemed to care more about Gendo's death than the lives of everyone in the Geofront made Misato feel decidedly uneasy.
"Well, not quite," she said, noticing a small smile forming on her friends face.
"What do you mean?" Ritsuko asked, sounding deflated.
"We were attacked, last night, by some of the Eva series. Now as powerful as they are it seemed, I don't know, wrong, that SEELE had only sent two of them to attack us. I had expected SEELE to launch a full attack, throw all their forces into it. The battle wasn't easy, but I had expected SEELE to only attack if they were sure of their victory. It just seemed clumsy, the whole attack seemed badly planned, the mass production Eva's didn't even have any support."
"Hmm…" Ritsuko seemed to ponder this for a while.
"What do you think could be going on?"
"I'm not sure, as I said I get little information down here, the situation could have changed a lot since I was put in here." The two friends sat in silence for a while. "So how are you coping? Aside from Shinji."
"I don't know, I guess I just try to get on with it, and try not to think about… all the things that have happened."
"Any luck with your… 'research?'" Ritsuko asked, putting emphasis on the last word.
"Some, I've discovered what really happened fifteen years ago."
"So you know the truth about… everything now, I guess." Misato nodded. "So now you know, what do you plan to do?"
"I don't know, I don't even know if I can do anything," Misato admitted dejectedly.
"I have…" Ritsuko began, staring hopefully at her friend, but then she returned to looking at the opposite wall. "No, it doesn't matter." The two friends sat in silence once again.
***
Rei looked out of the window in her apartment, staring at the horizon. She didn't know why she was staring at the horizon, but she was. Her eyes looked at the top of the mountains in the distance, tracing along their peaks and the valleys between them, noticing how they intersected the sky.
'The sky,' she thought idly. She laid her head down on her arms, which were folded on her windowsill, letting the cool breeze blow on her face and through her hair. She had spent a lot of time over the past week staring out of her window at the world around her. Again she didn't know why, but she had a lot of time on her hands and not much to do with it. In the past she had entertained herself with reading, and occasionally swimming. But she had read all the books in her apartment, and the swimming pool, along with the rest of the school, and the majority of Tokyo-3, had been destroyed. By her, ironically enough. And she felt no desire to find more books to read, or to swim in the large lake that had replaced Tokyo-3. So Rei passed the time by observing. She had watched as flocks of birds had made their nests in the ruined buildings, still jutting out of the lake at awkward angles. And she had watched many sunrises and sunsets. She didn't really enjoy just sitting and watching, but again what else was there to do? The sun was setting again, drawing to a close another day. The sky changed through various hues of pink, orange and then to a dark red, as it sank below the horizon. 'Red,' she thought, 'the colour I hate.' But she no longer felt as sure about that statement as she used to. Gendo's influence upon her had been extensive, and now, as she began to look back on her life, she doubted many aspects of herself. 'Am I myself?' she thought. 'Or just a doll.' She looked at the small chest of drawers by her bed. The usual items were on top of it, a steel tray, which carried a beaker full of water, and his glasses. His glasses that he had damaged saving her. His glasses that she had kept, to remind herself of happy times with the man she had looked on as a father. But those memories were no longer happy. Whenever she thought of those memories, it felt as if they had happened to a different person. The way he treated her now, was nothing like how he had treated her before. She picked up the glasses with both hands, letting them rest in the palms of her hands. She brought them close to her face, as if studying them to try to find an answer to something. An almost puzzled look crossed her face for a moment, and then her expression returned to the neutral one she usually wore. She opened up a drawer and placed the glasses inside. She closed the drawer and then resumed her vigil of the world outside. The sun had disappeared completely behind the mountains in the distance, turning the sky a dark blue, and shading the earth below a similar colour. She watched as stars in the sky blinked into existence, punctuating the darkness of the vast sky. As she watched her body seemed to become weary, and she realised she had not slept since the previous night, having missed sleep due to the attack on the Geofront. She closed her window and went to bed, trying not to think of her failed attempt to talk to Shinji.
***
Misato Katsuragi was also feeling weary, she too hadn't gotten any sleep last night, and the stresses of organising the defence of the Geofront were beginning to take their toll on her. She fumbled with the keys to her apartment, eventually managing to get them into the keyhole and open the front door. She stepped inside and took her shoes off as soon as she could. Standing in heels for several hours straight had also taken its toll on her feet. She wriggled her toes in an attempt to rid her feet of the dull ache that seemed to be inhabiting them. Although she felt tired, she also felt hungry, and her hunger seemed more urgent to her than her need for sleep. She went to the kitchen and grabbed a microwave meal from the fridge and placed in the microwave after reading the instructions on the back. She set the timer to correct length of time and pressed the 'start' button. She leaned back against the cupboards along the kitchen walls and tried to relax.
'It's times like these when I really wish I'd kept some beer around the place,' she thought, although she knew she didn't mean it. She looked around the kitchen, trying to pass the time the microwave signalled her meal was ready. The place looked clean enough, which was astounding since Shinji had never done his chores for the past week. If there had been such a lapse in his duties about six months ago the place would be unrecognisable. But Shinji wasn't the only person who had changed. Her eyes fell on the other fridge in the kitchen. It had been about a week since that had been used as well. 'I wonder how Pen-Pen is doing? Hikari will be taking good care of him I suppose.' She heard a door slide open in the apartment, which startled her slightly. She looked through the kitchen door into the living room. Shinji walked through the living room to the bathroom, wearing a pair of black shorts and a white vest. 'He must have came home to get some rest I suppose,' she thought. Her mind wandered to the conversation she had had with Ritsuko. 'I guess it's best if I don't bother him tonight, he'll have had a rough day.' She looked back at the microwave, the counter on the microwave told her she only had to wait another minute before her meal was ready. She heard the toilet flush and looked back out towards the living room. She saw Shinji walk past the kitchen once again, but this time he paused when he was opposite Misato, he turned his head to look at her, his face still betraying no emotion. He stared at her for a long while. Misato wondered what to do. "Shinji…" she said, in a questioning tone of voice, trying to get him to say something.
"I don't want to," he stated flatly. Misato was quite shocked by this, he sounded very determined, although she didn't know what he didn't want to do. "I don't want to pilot Eva ever again," he said, in that same tone of voice. She stared back at him, trying to think of something to say. The way he had said it sounded so forceful she doubted she could convince him otherwise. She looked at him with pleading eyes, hoping he would change his mind. "Not ever," he said finally, and walked back towards his bedroom.
"Oh, Shinji," she said sadly under her breath. 'Why did you have to do this now?' Behind her the microwave beeped.
End of the second day
Authors Notes:
Well, it took longer than expected to get this part finished, I know I said it might take a while but this is ridiculous. It's all my fault, if I had started writing it earlier, instead of screwing about for a month doing nothing, then this probably would have been up in about a week. Okay, thank you's once again: The Deftones, for writing the fantastic song "Hexagram" which inspired the fight scene (I hope you liked it!) Bowburn, once again, just 'cos he asked nicely really. Anyone who reviewed the first two parts, thanks a bunch guys and guyettes! And you for reading this thing.
Also mad props(???), a whole lotta kudos, and copious amounts of thank you's goes to my pre-reader Andre Laval, who did a fantastic job despite suffering computer crashes, exams, and my short comings.
The next chapter might take any amount of time to finish, but I'll try to get it done quicker that this chapter.