Disclaimer: I do not own Evangelion…

Okay, I've got new ideas and I can't go without writing, so here comes another chapter out quick for your reading pleasure. I'm kinda hyper right now, and I'm listening to Metallica, and I'm going to a Sevendust concert tonight, so I have decided to make this a mostly WAFFy chapter and give the guys a break, sound okay to you? Rated R for language, violence, and sexuality. (there is a very gory part at the end) J

Story Title: Masochistic

Author: Mosher-24

Chapter Twelve: Zeruel

*~*~*~*~*~*

Shinji woke upon the hill, morning dew soaking his bare body. His clothes were to his right, on the blanket, but they were wet too.

The morning was still dark, a small amount of light flowing over the trees and the ground. Shinji smiled and grabbed his clothes.

I'm already wet, what could it hurt? Shinji thought to himself. He felt the damp garments stick to his skin like Velcro and he walked uncomfortably out of the park and toward Kaji's house, which was a good twenty blocks away.

"Hey, need a ride?" said a man who pulled up in a green SUV. It was Kaji, who looked tired as well. He had a cigarette in his mouth, as usual, but he was not puffing on it. His features were sunken with fatigue and his chin had unshaved stubble on it.

"Yea, I could use one," Shinji said, getting into the passenger's seat. Toji took off down the street, avoiding the other cars and pulled down his street.

"Have a fun night?" Kaji asked with suggested humor. Shinji laughed, but didn't reply. Kaji laughed too, knowing that 'Yea, but I'm not going to tell you,' attitude all too well from his own teenage days.

The SUV pulled into the driveway and Shinji got out, followed by Kaji, who opened the door for him. The house was dark and smelled of smoke, but to Shinji, it was fast becoming home.

The third child went straight to his room and changed into a fresh school uniform. It felt good compared to the wet one, but he still hated the uniform. He didn't see why they had to still wear it.

"Go to school, if you want. I'm going to get some sleep," Kaji said, going upstairs to his room. Shinji heard a flop as Kaji fell on his bed, and snoring ensued almost immediately.

Shinji laughed softly and went out the door, shutting it behind him.

It was beautiful outside, except for the buildings.

The sky was bright blue, without a cloud in sight. The trees were lush green and wherever one was lucky enough to find grass, it was lush and green too. Flowers bloomed rarely along the patches of grass, and a couple birds were even singing in the sky.

A slight breeze blew past Shinji and he smiled. It was the best day to walk to school.

However, after twenty blocks, he was thinking it wasn't such a great walk after all.

*~*~*~*~*~*

"Sir?"

"Yes Akagi."

"We have an Angel on radar."

"ETA?"

"About ten hours sir."

"Hmm. Don't worry about it yet."

"Why not?"

"Commencement is not yet done. Give it time doctor."

"Yes sir."

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Shinji finally reached the school, already worn out. He knew he was late, about two hours late. Just as he reached for the front door, a hand touched him on the shoulder. He turned to see Rei with a small smile on her face. She had a large basket in her other hand.

"Hey," Shinji said, not knowing what else to say.

Rei looked more beautiful than he had ever seen her. Her hair was slightly wet, as was her face, with little droplets of water on it. She was wearing a beautiful black dress with black shoes to match. She had a little make-up on, but she didn't need a lot. A touch of eye shadow and some lip-gloss and Shinji was already drooling.

"You look… amazing," Shinji was finally able to say. He had stuttered for minutes, just staring at her. She blushed a little bit and grabbed his hand.

"Come on. We don't need to go to school right now," she said. Shinji just nodded and let her lead him.

They went passed the pool, past the parking lots, and into the woods. After several minutes of walking, they got to a clearing. The trees were in a circle, and a perfectly flat spot was already laid out with blankets.

"A picnic?" Shinji asked, with a smile on his face.

Rei smiled too, "Yes, a picnic."

The two sat down on the blanket and Shinji checked his watch.

"It's not lunchtime yet," he said, pulling the watch away from his face.

"I know," Rei replied. She scooted over next to him and leaned against his shoulder. He put his arms around her and held her close.

"We won't be able to skip often Shinji. The school will get involved, and even worse, NERV," Rei said sadly.

"I know, but let's just enjoy all the time we can," Shinji said, closing his eyes and kissing her neck. She smiled and nodded.

For a whole hour, the two just sat there, cuddling, not talking.

"Let's eat," Rei said with a grin as her stomach grumbled. Shinji smiled too and they set out plates and silverware.

"What'd you bring?" Shinji asked, looking over at the basket.

"Lots of different foods," Rei replied, opening it up.

There was potato salad, various fruits and vegetables, garden burgers, french fries, pasta salad, rolls, water, milk, and yogurt. Shinji stared and then smiled. It was going to be a good lunch.

The two teens ate and talked and laughed, and fed each other, but were laughing so they dropped the food, and laughed harder. Eventually, the two were just lying down, laughing.

After a few minutes, the laughter died down and they stared at the sky, which was perfect blue.

Rei reached out her hand and grabbed Shinji's. He clasped his hand around hers and the two just looked up at the sky, lying next to each other.

"How long have we been going out, Rei?" Shinji asked.

"8 months," Rei replied serenely, her eyes still closed.

"What… what do you think about… marriage?" Shinji asked timidly.

"I haven't thought much about it, Shinji," Rei replied carelessly.

"I mean, between you and me,"

"Hmm… I haven't thought much about that either,"

"Do you think it's too early to consider it?"

"I think that it's not a matter of how early or late one is in speaking of these things, I think it has to do with emotions."

"So… based on how you feel about me, and I feel about you, what would you think about marriage?"

Rei knew she was beating around the bush with him, and playing a cruel game, but she also knew her fate. Her purpose. And she didn't want Shinji hurt.

"I love you Shinji. I think marriage would be an excellent thing to discuss after the angel's are defeated," she replied, trying to word it correctly.

Shinji smiled and nodded, "you're right."

Rei rolled on her side and faced Shinji. They smiled at each other and leaned in for a kiss. But as their lips almost touched, Shinji gasped and drew back, holding his head.

"Shinji, what's wrong?" Rei asked desperately, afraid she may have hurt him. He curled up for a few minutes before uncurling and sitting up, looking around.

"I… I don't know. I felt a pain, and then a warmth and I'm fine now… fine," Shinji said distantly. Though, he didn't know if he was fine or not. He was much more aware of his surroundings. He could tell much more about the trees than he could before, though he didn't know why. He could sense what they were feeling, or what they wanted.

He turned to look at Rei, and he was much more aware of her than he had been before. He could sense spots on her body that he knew would drive her wild, he could also sense her fear of what had just happened. He could sense her love.

"I'm fine Rei, I promise. Just a little tweak, sorry," Shinji said, with a smile of apology. He kissed Rei on the lips and she kissed back, though he could still sense her worry.

Shinji mentally grinned and started to his her neck and slowly moved to a spot on her lower neck that he could sense would drive her crazy.

He kissed the spot, and slowly caressed the skin with his lips. Rei gasped and grasped her hands tightly on Shinji's shoulders. He could sense the worry disappear and turn into pleasure and excitement.

Shinji was beside himself with happiness at what he found himself able to do to Rei. She was also beside herself with happiness at what Shinji was able to do to her.

*~*~*~*~*


"Sir. Commencement has begun," Akagi said to the Commander. She could feel his smile, though she could not see him.

"Very good. Sound the angel alarm when you feel is best," Gendo replied.

Akagi bowed and left and decided not to tell him about what Rei and Shinji were doing at that moment.

*~*~*~*~*

Shinji was holding Rei in his arms, a smile upon his face. She was leaning back against his shoulder, sitting in his lap. Shinji had his arms around her torso and they were sitting in silence again.

Out of the silence, came an awful, high-pitched alarm. Shinji recognized it as the angel attack alarm and his eyes widened.

"Is that… what I think it is?" Shinji asked.

"The angel alarm…" Rei said.

The two stood up and looked at each other, then to the city.

"Let's go!" Shinji said and they ran off to the city not bothering to pick up the food and dirty dishes.

As the two got to the school, they saw the students going into the shelter. They ran past them and past the grounds to the NERV entrance up the street. It was hidden in an old building and had the card reader next to an old crate.

Rei swiped her card through and they entered the long hallways of NERV. The two ran to an elevator and pushed the call button and hit the level for the EVA cages. The elevator descended quickly and they soon found themselves outside of the locker rooms.

Asuka was running out as Rei and Shinji got there.

"It's about time you two!" she yelled, and his Shinji over the head. He was in too much of a hurry to care, though.

He and Rei were dressed in their plug suits in a matter of minutes and were running down the long hallway to the EVA cages as they felt a large explosion rock the whole network.

"What the hell?" Shinji yelled as he fell to the ground. Rei helped him up and they double-timed it to the cages, where they were hurriedly placed inside their respective EVAs.

"Activated Units 01 and 00, now. Launching Unit 02, now!" Maya said from the control room. Shinji saw the red EVA rocket up through the elevators to the surface and felt the plug fill with LCL.

"Once you two are at the surface, Units 02 and 00 will pull back and Unit-01 will engage the Angel," Ritsuko said over the communication link.

"What?" Shinji said in disbelief.

"Don't question orders. You are to engage the angel, understand?" Gendo's cold voice called from the link.

"Yes sir," Shinji replied, feeling his hatred for his father burn in his stomach.

"Unit 00 and 01 activated. Launching," Maya said. Shinji felt the EVA stabilize and barely realized he was submersed in LCL. His vision went through the normal color change, and then went back to normal as he shot up the elevator.

"Unit 02, pull back now," Misato said through the link.

"Why?" Asuka asked, sounding pissed off.

"Those are your orders second child. Now PULL BACK!" Ritsuko said, sounding even more pissed off.

"Yeah, whatever," Asuka said, but she acknowledged and pulled back to a safe spot.

When Shinji hit the surface, he saw a very large angel a few hundred kilometers away. It had large blade-like arms and stood roughly ten meters taller than his own EVA.

Then, Shinji saw the devastation. The angel had somehow destroyed a large part of the city, the buildings were totally melted, and even parts of NERV could be seen through the hole, as they were burned too.

Shinji moved toward it, cautious of its arms. He could start to feel its weak spots, and pinpointed one at its chest, most likely its core.

"Attack," Gendo said quietly.

Shinji willed his EVA to draw its progressive knife and circle the angel, which was now aware of his presence.

'Who are you?' said a deep voice.

Shinji ran at the angel and slashed out at its chest, but it jumped back and kicked 01 in the gut. Shinji groaned and his EVA flew backward, knocking into a building.

"Argh," he grumbled. 01stood back up and he circled the angel again, but it's blade arm slashed out. Shinji dodged just in time for the first one, but was caught by the second one and throw back. He felt a burn on his arm, which had been slashed.

The angel leapt into the air and landed on top of 01. It's blade arms started to slice 01 all over and Shinji screamed in pain. The angel then began to yank on his EVAs arm, which was slowly being pulled from the socket.

"AHHH!" Shinji screamed, just when he wished for death, the angel sliced his EVAs arm off.

"Dammit," Misato mumbled, chewing on her thumbnail. Things weren't looking good for Shinji.

Shinji felt a drilling pain at his chest just as NERV cut his synch.

He sat in the plug, crying in pain.

"I'm a failure… I'm a failure… I'm a failure… I'm a failure… I'm a failure… I'm a failure…" Shinji repeated over and over. He began to scream and he didn't know quite why.

*~*~*~*~*

"Units 02 and 00 move in to help…. wait," Ritsuko was cut off in mid sentence as she observed 01's readings. It was restarting!

"How in the hell?" Maya said in disbelief.

An earsplitting roar rattled NERV's control room, but it wasn't the EVA or angel who had done it. It had been Shinji.

Unit 01 had restarted and as kicking the angel off of it. The cockpit camera showed Shinji sitting there, his eyes rolled back into his pitiful looking head. He was bleeding from his nose and mouth, and seemed to be mumbling to himself.

01 jumped on the angel and punched its face, which had a crystal like substance on it. It cracked easily and 01 grabbed its arm and yanked it off. The angel gave a cry of pain and blood began to spurt everywhere.

01 forced the angel's severed arm to its own severed arm, and miraculously, it adhered and forged together to make one arm.

"Synch ratio at 400%!" Maya screamed.

Gendo smiled and turned to Fuyutsuki.

"It's started," he said.

"I know, Gendo. I know…" Fuyutsuki said quietly.

01 began to rip the breast armor off the angel as it screamed. Its blood was now covering Unit-01, but it didn't stop. It ripped off the armor and began to eat its organs, taking in its S2 engine without knowing it.

*~*~*~*~*

Rei watched in horror as 01 ate parts of the angel, which was now very much dead. Blood dripped from 01's evil looking face and mouth as it swallowed an intestine.

"Shinji…" she whispered.

*~*~*~*~*

Shinji snapped out of his trance as if he had been slapped. He looked around and saw the mangled angel under him, and saw the ripped insides and instantly screamed.

"Eject yourself, third," Gendo said calmly.

"No! Never! You turned me into a monster you old bastard!" Shinji screamed.

"Stop right now, or I shall have you thrown in the brig for insubordination," Gendo replied coolly.

"Fuck you! I hate you! I'll blow the rest of NERV up!" Shinji yelled.

"Have it your way then," Gendo replied.

Shinji felt an immense pain and pressure and was soon knocked out, hearing only "Shinji!" screamed by his lover before everything went blank.

Continued…


Author's Notes: That chapter started out okay, I hope the fight scene wasn't too much. It will all come together in the end though. Please keep your hands and feet inside the ride at all times, until it has come to a complete stop.

~Mosher-24