Author's Notes:
First of all, I would like to say sorry to everybody, who have been waiting for a new chapter of this story of mine, for it took me quite a long time to write this new chapter of this story of mine, to speak more precisely, almost a month and a half.
Second, I would like to thank RichardRahl for his very pleasant and inspiring review! Thank you oh so very much, RichardRahl! I am truly happy to know that at least some people are reading this story of mine, and I am even happier to know that at least one of these people decided to drop me a few lines in his review! I will try to write as fast as I can, but I cannot promise anything, since I have a lot of others things to do besides writing the fanfiction stories, even though I enjoy writing the fanfiction stories very much. Thank you very much once again, RichardRahl!
Third, I would also like to thank mimi6 for her pleasant and inspiring review! Thank you oh so very much, mimi6! I have recently read one of the stories of yours, mimi6, the one about Mr. Bester and Dr. Lecter, and found it quite good, especially since I am quite a fan of Dr. Lecter. So, keep up your good writing, mimi6!
By the way, I must say that I have a bit of an author's block with two others unfinished stories of mine – "Enemies of Apocalypse" and "NGE: No Need For Duty". So, for now, I think, that I will focus most of my attention on this story of mine. However, I have not forsaken any of my others unfinished stories, and eventually all of them will be updated sooner or later, and in some possibly quite distant future them will most likely be completed. And also I am hatching plans about starting to write another story of mine, but I am not really sure when exactly I will start to write another story of mine, of course if I will start to write another story of mine at all.
Okay, and now, without further ado, let this story continue!
Embracing the Shadows
A short while later, Asuka found herself standing in the rather large dark room. Despite its rather large size, this room appeared to be completely empty, except for Asuka herself, of course. However, she could almost feel…
"Come out, Asuka."
…The presence of another living being!
"Mommy!"
Asuka could now see her mother standing on the floor, dressed in beautiful red dress and looking exactly as Asuka remembered her. However, looking at her mother, Asuka started to realize that something wasn't right… Something about herself…
"Came out? What do you mean, mommy?"
"You are in the spaceship right now, Asuka. I don't fully understand what has happened with you, but it appears that this spaceship is a part of you right now, or should I say that you are the part of this spaceship right now?"
"But, mommy, what can I do about it?"
"I believe that if you will concentrate on who you really are, or precisely speaking on who you were, you will be able to become yourself once again. But for how long, I cannot say. We haven't understood what Soul Hunters did with you and this spaceship yet."
"We? Soul Hunters?"
Asuka's mother simply smiled.
"The answers will come later. Now I believe that you should try to become yourself once again. You can do it, Asuka."
Asuka nodded… And almost instantly realized what she has just done! She shook her head, blinked… And suddenly found herself standing inside Red Devil, her spaceship, with her hands still placed upon the red crystal orb. Asuka hastily removed her hands from the red crystal orb and let out a sigh of relief. Then a triumphant smile appeared on Asuka's face.
"Well, that was easy!" – though Asuka triumphant, and then said aloud, addressing the Red Devil – "Never forget who is the master here!"
Even if Red Devil was able to hear her, it didn't answer her.
Taking Red Devil's silence as a sign of submission, Asuka walked out of Red Devil, as usually simply using the hole in its side instead of tying to find a more civilized doorway. Once outside Asuka immediately rushed to her mother, intending to finally hug her…
"STOP! DON'T DO THIS!"
The commanding power within the was so great, that Asuka couldn't help but to stop when she has almost reached her mother. But this time, her mother didn't sound like herself as all…
"I am sorry, Asuka." – said her mother, more gently this time, and sounding more like her usual self this time – "But this is something you cannot do."
"But why, mommy?" – asked Asuka, sounding deeply hurt.
"Just trust me, Asuka." – replied Asuka's mother, smiling to Asuka gently.
"Okay." – agreed Asuka, still sounding a little bit unsurely.
Even though her judgement was greatly clouded by the shock from beginning of realizing that something strange was going on with her and Red Devil, as well as even greater shock from actually meeting her mother, Asuka was also beginning to realize that something was greatly wrong about this whole situation. But Asuka almost immediately pushed all such thoughts aside; she was with her mother right now, and this was all that mattered!
"I think that you should rest now, Asuka." – said Asuka's mother, still smiling to Asuka gently – "And while you will be resting, the others will take care about your spaceship."
"The others?" – asked Asuka.
"They are our friends, our allies." – replied Asuka's mother, still smiling to Asuka gently – "You will not be able to see them, but they will do their best to assist us."
"That's what you meant when you said 'we', didn't you?" – asked Asuka, still trying her best to understand the situation, at least as much as she could understand this strange situation at all.
"Yes." – replied Asuka's mother, nodding to Asuka and still smiling to Asuka gently.
"And who are these Soul Hunters you were also talking about?" – asked Asuka.
"They are the ones who…" – Asuka's mother paused for a few moments, and then asked – "They captured all the other people from your planet, didn't they?"
"Yes, except for me and… that Shinji-baka!" – replied Asuka, almost spitting out Shinji's name.
"Hmmm… how interesting." – said Asuka's mother, smiling once more – "You would like this Shinji to be here as well, wouldn't you?"
"No, of course I wouldn't!" – replied Asuka hastily and with a hint of anger in her voice – "Why would I want this baka to be here, especially after he made a total mess out of everything I fought for?!"
"As you wish then, Asuka." – said Asuka's mother, still smiling to Asuka – "Follow me then. I will show you a room where you will be able to rest."
Asuka followed her mother out of hangar, and then through the corridors of this spaceship. They walked in silence, as Asuka couldn't think of anything to ask. Well, in fact Asuka had quite a few questions in her mind, but she was afraid of even thinking about these questions, let alone asking them. Usually Asuka was proud of not being afraid of anything, or at least she thought so, but now Asuka feared that if she would ask some of these forbidden questions, everything could disappear like a dream it possibly was.
Eventually, Asuka and her mother came into the room, which apparently was going to be Asuka's. The room was very simply, with a bed, metal table and a single chair as the only furniture. Everything was steel gray in color, except for white bedclothes. And so, most people would possibly find such room somewhat unpleasant. But Asuka was used to this kind of rooms during all the years, which she has spent while she was being trained by NERV. So, she didn't bothered to complain, especially since she realized that any complains would possibly be fruitless.
As they walked into Asuka's new room, Asuka's mother remained standing near the doorway, while Asuka herself walked to the bed, moving more upon pure instinct rather then rational thinking, and sat down upon the bed. And as soon as Asuka sat down upon the bed, she realized how tired se actually felt. But still, despite all her tiredness, Asuka has found enough strength in her to stand up and to quickly strip off her plugsuit, throwing it careless to the floor afterwards. Then Asuka lay down upon her bed once more.
"Sleep well, Asuka." – said Asuka's mother, smiling to Asuka gently once again – "This day was certainly tiresome for you, but I would like to let you know, that you have done a very good thing today."
"A very good thing?.." – muttered Asuka tiredly.
*The Beginning of Flashback*
She flew forward and away, without bothering about the choice of the direction. She was already regretting that she didn't kill him. God knew, she was going to do it, but she just couldn't bring herself to do it for some reason. And this was angering her almost as much as what he had told her. And then, she felt another's presence. For a moment it was even able to interrupt Asuka's grim thoughts, as it felt very strange indeed; it felt, as if somebody was trying to make a contact with her, but silently, without words, only with emotions.
But then, Asuka's initial surprise was quickly gone, and Asuka once again remembered all the pain and hatred that she felt. The only thing that she needed right now was to let her rage out upon somebody, and now she realized, that she has just found this 'somebody'. Asuka couldn't fully understand the mental link, which has been established between her and the other person, and yet she somehow knew that she will be able to use it as her advantage, that she will be able to use it to both cripple the other person and to find this other person's location. And so, Asuka unleashed all the pain and hatred that she felt upon this other person, and she could feel this other person cringe in pain. And then, Asuka had absolutely no troubles of following the link towards the other person's location, until she saw a spaceship a few times larger then Asuka was, where the other person doubtless was located.
Even though the other spaceship was a few times larger then Asuka was, Asuka suspected that it wouldn't be able to do anything about her, as the other person still continued to cringe in pain.
"That's right!" – though Asuka with no small pride – "Not many can bear as much pain as I bears! Well, now I'll show them!"
Asuka knew herself very well by now, and so, she quickly thought of both safe and effective way to deal with her enemy. Asuka knew, that this system wasn't originally designed to kill, it was designed to allow the spaceship that was equipped with it to easily cut through any barriers, when it was necessary in order to reach destination. However, the designers unwittingly created one of the most powerful offense systems in the universe, and now Asuka was going to take the full advantage of it!
Asuka accelerated and bolted towards the other spaceship, and after a few seconds struck it. But there were no impact, instead, Asuka simply cut her way through the other spaceship just as a hot knife cuts through butter. The only thing that was darkening the situation was an unpleasant sensation in Asuka's left side, which reminded her that she was still damaged, and that it probably wasn't especially wise of her to cut through the other ship with such damages as hers.
However, after a couple of more seconds Asuka made it through the enemy ship, and was pleased to notice that no serious additional damages were done to her already damaged left side. But all the thoughts of damages were forgotten as Asuka heard a sound of a huge explosion from behind of her, and saw this huge explosion itself too. Asuka felt somewhat empty, as she saw the explosion dying down, but at least, the pain and hatred seemed to be gone as well, for now at least.
And so, Asuka put away these thoughts, and concentrated on the pleasure of flying instead. She didn't bother where she was flying to; she enjoyed flying, and that was all that mattered right now…
*The End of Flashback*
"A very good thing?.." – muttered Asuka tiredly once again.
"Yes, you did a very good thing today, Asuka." – said Asuka's mother once again, smiling to Asuka gently.
"Was it really a good thing?" – asked Asuka, sounding a little bit unsure about that.
"How did you felt after that, Asuka?" – asked Asuka's mother.
"I felt… somewhat empty… but…"
"But you also felt better, didn't you, Asuka."
"Yes. I guess, that I felt better after that."
"Then it was a good thing that you have done, wasn't it, Asuka?"
"I guess so…" – said Asuka, still soundings a little bit unsure about that.
Asuka wasn't really sure what to think about that anymore, but if mommy was saying that she did a good thing, then it was probably so…
"Sleep well, Asuka." – said her mother as she gently smiled to Asuka one last time before closing the door and leaving Asuka alone in the darkness.
Asuka smiled tiredly as well, as she closed her eyes. Soon the sleep claimed tired Asuka…
Author's Notes:
Once again, I would like to say sorry to everybody, who have been waiting for a new chapter of this story of mine, for it took me quite a long time to write this new chapter of this story of mine, to speak more precisely, more then a month.
I am also sorry because this is the second chapter in a row centered entirely upon Asuka, and the third chapter in a row without Shinji in it; and I am sure that some of those you have been reading this story of mine are beginning to wonder what is going on with Shinji meanwhile. However, I wanted to bring the things about Asuka up to a more or less logical conclusion before returning back to poor Shinji. I hope, that you don't mind it, people.
Anyway, I will try to write the next chapter of this story of mine, which is naturally going to be about Shinji, as soon as possible; although considering how many things I have to do nowadays, I am not sure about when I will be able to present the next chapter of this story of mine.
And finally, please, people, if you have half a minute or so to drop me a few lines, please, do so! I appreciate all the reviews and all the reviewers, for reviews make me feel like at least some people reading this story of mine, and needless to say, this makes me feel oh so very happy! However, please, people, avoid using the review options only to advertise others stories, for this makes me feel like people are reviewing this story of mine without even reading it, and besides, as I have already told you, you won't get much of a advertisement in reviews for my stories anyway, since only few people seem to read my stories, and even fewer people bother to review my stories. Oh, and keep in mind, people, that the good and positive reviews usually motivate me to write much faster, while negative and critical reviews can possibly help me to improve my writing skills. So, I'll repeat myself, if you have half a minute or so to drop me a few lines, please, do so!