CHAPTER 6
One of the things that never changed in Shinji's life was the vague, diffuse awakenings at the infirmary of the headquarters, down at the Geofront. It always happened more or less in the same way, with a blur of images spinning around his head and the bright light that illuminated the hospital room blinding him. And, finally, while he tried to get used to the excess of light, he'd begin to spot the lone figure of Rei sitting down next to his bed.
This time it wasn't any different. Shinji opened his eyes slowly and looked around, blinking. He found himself staring at the blood red eyes of Rei, and he sighed, relieved. He didn't really remember what had happened.
"You're awake..." she whispered, pointing out the obvious.
Shinji nodded weakly. "How much time have I spent sleeping?"
It was always the same questions, although here the answer could change from 'several hours' to 'half a week'.
"Six hours," Rei mumbled softly. "The doctors sedated you."
"Oh... What happened?" Shinji whispered back. "I don't recall an Angel attack."
"There wasn't any," she nodded. "A test went... wrong."
"I see... Rei?"
"Yes?"
"Why are we whispering?"
"I don't wish to awaken your mother."
Shinji looked to the other side and he found that it was true. Yui was snoring softly in a small couch that –very likely- she had asked to be moved there. He smiled. While he was grateful to Rei for being there, it was nice to find more people waiting for him.
"Neither do I," he whispered back to Rei.
"Sohryu has been here, as well."
"Really?" Shinji's smile widened.
"Yes. But she left a little bit ago. Your mother has been here all the time."
"Have you been talking with her?"
Rei nodded.
"Oh. That's nice, I guess."
"Is it?"
"I suppose," Shinji yawned. He didn't feel like he had slept for more than six hours. He was tired, feeling as if he'd been smashed against the floor with an incommensurable force.
"She's been asking me things," Rei said a bit hesitantly.
"Yes?"
"About the Commander," she added slowly. "And you."
"What kind of things?" Shinji couldn't help but ask.
Rei didn't answer, suddenly looking very uneasy. She got up and fidgeted with her ribbon, her gaze jumping between Yui and Shinji.
"I have to go home," she said quietly, leaving Shinji alone in the room with his mother. Shinji scratched softly his head, looking at the closed door. He would never understand Rei.
o-o-o-o-o
The often misinterpreted blue haired girl walked quietly along the corridor. She didn't quite know why she had turned so nervous when Shinji had asked her that. After all, Mrs. Ikari hadn't asked her anything strange, she thought; only things about the Commander and Shinji. Rei had been a bit surprised at the reactions of the woman. She wondered idly if the green eyed woman was irritated with her, as she didn't seem to have liked some of Rei's answer.
Rei's line of thoughts went broken when she almost stumbled against Maya, who, as well, had been walking along the corridor looking down. While Rei stood impassible, the young technician gasped surprised.
"Hi, Rei," she said, essaying a weak smile. "Are you coming from Shinji's room?"
"Yes." She paused. "He awakened five minutes ago."
"Oh. I see," Maya mumbled eagerly. "Is he alone?"
"No. Mrs. Ikari is with him."
o-o-o-o-o
"Mum!" Shinji squealed, smashed under Yui's fierce hug. "Air! I cannot breathe!"
o-o-o-o-o
"Oh." Maya repeated, looking disappointed. "Um, are you returning home now, Rei?"
"Yes."
"So... I'm leaving, as well. Do you want me to drive you home?"
"Yes."
"Uh... Okay."
Both walked towards the infirmary's exit, without exchanging more words. Maya headed towards the parking, where her small car was stationed. While the elevator guided them out of the Geofront, the brunette technician looked with the corner of her eye to the pilot of Unit Zero.
Rei was staring out the window, down at the headquarters. Maya knew that, unless asked, Rei wouldn't break her silence until they arrived to her apartment. Maya let out a tiny sigh and fixed her stare on the black wheeled car.
The streets of the city were empty at that hour. Few people wanted to stay in Tokyo-3 while the Angels kept attacking the fortress city. Maya supposed that they couldn't be blamed for that. It wasn't panic, but common sense that had made the inhabitants of the city leave it. Their defenders were, after all, almost as destructive as the invaders, and no money could buy back the life of a loved one.
That was why, perhaps, all Nerv personnel were under a military code that prevented them from fleeing. Maya couldn't have run away even if she wanted to, unless she wished to stay all her life hiding and wincing each time she saw a policeman.
Maya slowed her speed and her thoughts returned to Shinji. Her path had led her idly to the infirmary, until she had stumbled against Rei. She wanted to see if Shinji was fine, but she didn't know what she wanted to say to him.
Perhaps, just hello. Good morning, or how are you doing? She wasn't sure. She didn't know... Only that she wanted to keep Shinji safe and unharmed. Maya never had been as scared as when Shinji's Entry Plug had fallen to the hangar's floor. It had looked so similar to Rei's accident, months ago... Maya gazed at the blue haired albino and then to the road.
"Rei?" she called softly.
"Yes, Lieutenant Ibuki?"
"Do you remember," Maya began hesitantly, "the accident with Unit Zero you had a few months ago?"
Rei blinked. "Yes."
"I... How did you feel?"
"I don't understand."
"Forget it," Maya sighed.
Rei returned to stare out the window, when her cell phone rang. She blinked again, surprised, and then she caught it. She didn't answer whatsoever; Rei just stood there, listening.
The person at the other end of the line had to know this, Maya mused, as she began to hear a soft murmur coming from the phone. Rei, of course, was able to hear it perfectly.
"Rei?" She recognized the cold, distant voice as the Commander's.
"Yes."
"Where are you?"
"In Lieutenant Ibuki's car," she explained.
"Why aren't you at the Sequencing Lab?" she Commander asked irritated.
On Rei's face appeared the most puzzled look Maya –or anybody else, for that matter- had ever seen. "Why should I be there?" she asked softly.
"You had a Dummy Plug sequencing scheduled. Did you forget it?"
"I do not recall it."
"I'm very disappointed, Rei," Gendo said coldly. "You should pay more attention to the project's schedule."
"Commander, there was no test scheduled for today," Rei said, frowning slightly.
Maya looked at her surprised. Rei sounded irritated, as if talking with a rather difficult child.
"Well," the Commander said quickly. "There is one now. You're to report immediately at the Geofront together with Ibuki."
"Yes, sir," Rei answered.
Without waiting for further instructions, Rei switched off the phone. Maya looked interrogatively at her.
"We need to return to the headquarters," Rei explained simply, "and report to the Commander."
Maya let out a deep, tired sigh and turned around to return to the subterranean facilities. She had a very bad feeling about why she was being called.
o-o-o-o-o
Finally, when Shinji was thinking that he would end with several ribs broken, Yui released him. The young pilot could see tears in the bright green eyes of his mother. He shivered slightly, beginning to remember what had happened to him.
"Are you okay?" she asked, concerned.
Shinji just nodded.
Yui sat down on the bed next to him. She stared at him for a so long time that Shinji began to feel uneasy. When he was about to speak, though, Yui frowned lightly.
"I'm tired of everybody treating me like if I were ill or something," she mumbled. "I want to know the truth, Shinji."
"I..."
"Now."
Shinji suddenly felt very, very small under the angry, cold look of his mother.
"I... Dad and I..."
"I'm not dumb, Shinji. I know that something's going on between Dad and you. Or did you think that I didn't notice that you didn't exchange more than a dozen words in a month?"
"We do not get along..." Shinji said, knowing himself that it was an enormous understatement.
"Why?"
"I... We..."
And then Shinji broke down. And he hugged Yui fiercely, crying like he hadn't cried since the day Gendo had left him alone.
And while Yui gently returned the embrace, Shinji told her everything he knew. How Gendo had abandoned him when he was nine years old. How he had taken care of Rei, instead. How he had summoned him a few months ago only to send him to an almost sure death within Unit One.
He told her about every attack, about every victory of Shinji that the Commander hadn't even bothered to praise. About all the little things; how Gendo had refused to go to the school's meeting with his teachers; how Gendo never had gone to see him at the infirmary.
Everything.
And with each trembling sob of Shinji, Yui thought, somehow, that she vaguely remembered some of the things that the young pilot was telling her. She shivered, feeling how a cold rage began to bubble inside the very depths of her soul.
What Shinji was telling her was only a small portion of the time frame. Gendo had broken all the promises he had made to her the day they had married. He had surpassed all the limits, all the boundaries. And may God forgive him; he wasn't trying to stop Keel's plans. Now she could see clearly.
When Shinji finally felt asleep, drained by tears, she let out a very tired sigh and got up. She arranged Shinji's sheets carefully, taking care that he wouldn't catch a cold. Yui looked lovingly at him, smiling at the quiet, tranquil face of the boy now that he was sleeping.
And she left the room.
o-o-o-o-o
It was dim in the room where the Dummy Plug sequencings were performed. Maya, of course, was well aware of the existence of the project and its details, but she never had watched a live sequencing. That was something that the Commander always supervised personally. A lot of disagreeable reasons for why that was popped into Maya's mind as she watched how Rei floated, naked, in the LCL cylinder. Still, she forced herself to listen attentively to the Commander.
"I'm very disappointed, Lieutenant," Gendo was saying.
"Why, sir?" Maya heard herself asking back.
Rei hadn't made any commentaries about the sudden sequencing, but Maya could see that the blue haired girl was slightly annoyed by the Commander's insistence. Even now, Maya would swear that she was frowning.
"Well, I only have to watch how damaged Unit One is," he answered coolly. "For example. Without mentioning your attempts of intruding into the MAGI."
Maya dropped her jaw to the floor. "But sir!" she complained. "I... Doctor Akagi... The test wasn't right. It would have ended with Shinji in..."
"Enough!" Gendo cut abruptly. "I do not wish to hear your nonsense, Ibuki. Consider yourself under arrest at the Geofront. Additionally, in the absence of Akagi, I want you to prepare a debriefing for her substitute. I want it on my desk by this night."
"But sir..." she babbled. It was so unjust that she wasn't able to complain. Then she realized something. "Yes, sir. But I would need to speak with Doctor Akagi."
"Why? She is under arrest."
"I need... some technical details to prepare the debriefing."
"Then you may speak to her. Report, then, to Katsuragi. Now get out of my sight," he waved, dismissing her harshly.
Maya kept staring at the Commander's back for a little while, then she left sighing. That man was impossible. And Ritsuko seemed worse. Everybody seemed to be turning crazy... including her.
Gendo turned, somewhat satisfied with his little, pathetic vengeance, and he stared at Rei. Of course, the bluehaired girl was right; there had been no test for that day, but Gendo didn't want to hear more complains or objections. He was discovering that people might do things he didn't want, and to find that he wasn't controlling everything was a very difficult concept to assimilate in a couple of days. Or years, for that matter.
Anyway, the buzzing of the computer was soothingly familiar, and Gendo sighed relaxed as the computer analyzed and scanned Rei's mind.
"Gendo?"
He closed his eyes and damned fervently to himself. He turned slowly around, all smiles again.
"Hi, Yui," he answered weakly.
"What are you doing here?"
"It's a laboratory," Gendo shrugged; from where Yui stood, Rei's vat wasn't visible. "I'm supervising some sequencing tests," he added, approaching her.
Yui stood silent, assessing him. He gulped, unsure, and smiled weakly. He thought of caressing Yui's cheek – a gesture that seemed to melt her down, at least until the last few days – but the ice beneath Yui's green eyes changed his mind.
"Shinji has awakened," she said simply.
"Has he? Oh... Well."
"Oh... Well?" she echoed coldly. "Is that all?"
"What?"
"Why aren't you running to his room, to see if he's well? Moreover, why didn't I see you there this morning?" she asked suspiciously.
"I... was busy."
"So busy you weren't able to check your injured son? Gendo?"
"Yui, it's not that, but..."
Yui covered her face with her palms. She leant against the wall, not looking at Gendo. He coughed, unsure, beginning to feel slightly angry. He had worked so much time, so hard to bring her back... It wasn't right, he thought, forever unable to understand anything other than his own selfishness. Yui shouldn't act that way; she wasn't the woman he remembered.
He felt a cold rage begin to boil in the very depths of his soul. It wasn't just, and it wasn't his fault, he told to himself.
"I've been talking with Shinji," Yui added calmly. "I still cannot believe what he told me."
"What did he say?" Gendo asked coldly.
"How could you send him to live with a tutor, Gendo?" she said angrily. "He told me that you took care of that girl instead, that you were too busy with Nerv to care for him in the least. And that you only summoned him when he was useful to you. That you blackmailed him to pilot."
"What I did..." Gendo said slowly, not moving a muscle. "I did everything for you, Yui. And for Shinji, although he wouldn't be able to understand why things should be this way. But, above all, for you."
"For me!" Yui replied with surprise. "How? Why? What did you do, Gendo?"
"You're here, now, free to yell at me," he pointed coolly. "You're welcome."
Yui stood speechless for a second, and then she frowned. "You didn't bring me back, did you? It was an accident. A matter of... Or... Did you mean something else?"
He didn't answer, simply staring at the amazed green-eyed woman.
"You... Oh my God!" she said, covering her mouth with her hands. "Keel... Seele! You couldn't possibly dare to..."
"I would have done anything to bring you back, my love."
"I cannot believe it..." she whispered. "But... I... You would have done that?"
Slowly, Gendo raised his hand and tried to stroke her cheek. When his palm was close to her face, she stepped back, looking at him with a scared, wet look.
"Don't... don't touch me," she whispered intensely. "I cannot believe it..."
"It was everything for you, Yui."
"And now?" she frowned. "Are you going to continue with such stupidity?"
"Of course not, now that I have you back," he sighed. "But I would hardly be able to stop Keel without being Nerv's Commander."
"Don't think I'm going to forgive you, Gendo."
"I'm not seeking forgiveness," he shrugged, "but a life with you."
"How could you be so selfish?"
"Think what you want," he frowned. "I'd hoped that..."
The ring of a phone distracted both. Waving at her, Gendo grabbed it and listened. He answered 'Yes' and 'No' several times, and finally he nodded.
"Rei," he called softly, pushing several buttons of a control panel. "Get out of there."
"Rei?" Yui echoed, watching the albino walk, naked, out of the room. "What's she doing here? And why..."
"It doesn't matter, now," Gendo said softly. "An Angel's coming. Stay here; it will be safer."
Before Yui could add anything, Gendo stepped outside of the lab and locked the door. He looked at his wife through the thick crystal of the armored door.
"Gendo! Let me get out of here."
"I will be back soon, Yui," he said, turning and leaving. "Forgive me."
"Gendo! Come back here!" Yui slammed the door with her fist. "Gendo!"
"Gendo?" she repeated, softer. "Don't leave me here... Gendo..."
She leant against the door, crying. Again, she was alone in the dark. And, in the dark, her ghosts again began to haunt her.
o-o-o-o-o
When Maya walked away from the sequencing lab, scared by the strange attitude of Gendo, she crossed paths with Yui. Maya saluted her politely, but she only received a dry nod as answer. Wondering why she would be so upset, Maya returned to the Command Center, where she had spent the last six hours, supervising the repairing works of Unit One.
Misato was there, sitting down in Maya's seat. She portrayed the same empty, absent look that had appeared in her eyes some time ago. Even when Doctor Akagi had tried to hurt Shinji –Maya shuddered- she didn't seem particularly angry or surprised; only tired and indifferent, as if she really didn't care whether if she died or lived, or if Shinji did. Only stopping Ritsuko because she had nothing better to do.
Maya thought that something must have happened to her, but she didn't dare to ask her anything. After all, she didn't know the Major very well. Still, she was sure that Misato knew where Doctor Akagi was being held, and she really needed to talk to her. Why, she wouldn't tell; she wasn't sure herself. She only knew that she needed to see the person that had guided and advised her for the last few years. When in trouble, return home, it's said, and Doctor Akagi and their work together was the only home Maya had on Earth.
"Major Katsuragi?" she called softly.
Misato didn't reply for several seconds. When Maya was beginning to think that she hadn't heard her, she stared at the young technician with her empty look and whispered quietly, "Yes?"
"I... would need to talk to Doctor Akagi..."
"Why?"
"Uh... I... The Commander wants a report, and I..."
"Oh, fine. She's in Section Two's holding cells."
"Thank you," Maya muttered somberly.
"Not at all," Misato answered with a bright smile that wasn't mirrored in her eyes.
With a chill running down her spine, Maya bowed politely and walked out of the Command Center, shivering slightly.
There was some furniture in Ritsuko's cell, but it was unused and covered by dust. The blonde scientist was sitting down in a chair in the middle of the dark, unpleasant room. She was looking down to an indefinite point of the floorboards. She didn't look up when the door opened. Whoever was under the frame wasn't going to help her recover her life, or merely the sanity that Gendo had stolen from her time ago.
She looked slightly up, observing the intruder's boots. They were the standard boots worn by the female crew of Nerv, and the way they flinched, nervous, wasn't unknown to her. She looked up, finding the pale face of Maya at the other end of the body.
The young technician, until few hours ago her most loyal assistant, was pale and haggard as a result of the lack of sleep. Maya bite her lower lip and tiptoed, unsure. She tried to speak several times, but she found herself unable to. She wasn't even sure why she was down there.
Finally, Ritsuko smiled sadly and got up, approaching her. She could see, behind Maya, the diffuse silhouette of a Section Two agent, placed there to prevent her from escaping the cell. What foolishness, she thought. She wasn't going anywhere.
"So?"
Maya looked at the ground, ashamed and toying with the edge of her skirt.
"Why?" she whispered, her voice barely audible.
It wasn't anything personal, mind you," Ritsuko chuckled bitterly. "Not against Shinji, anyway. You couldn't possibly understand it."
"I do," muttered Maya.
"You do? Well... I always have said that you were promising, Maya. Well, then. What brings you down here, to my small, private Hades?"
"I... needed to speak with somebody."
Ritsuko let out a laugh, letting herself fell into the lone chair and covering her face with her palms. She dried a tear and shook her head.
"Poor Maya... And you came to see me? How lonely... No, don't leave," she said. Maya had turned bright red and was turning away to leave the room. "Not yet, anyway. Maybe I'm here alone with my craziness, but I will hear you."
Maya nodded weakly and gulped.
"It... It's..." she mumbled, fumbling with the words.
"Shinji," finished Ritsuko, smiling cynically.
"What's that?"
"Yes."
"And you... like him, or feel something for him, whatever the hell it is."
Maya just nodded.
"Well, why wouldn't you," Ritsuko laughed. "After all, he's a young, good-looking school boy and a savior of Mankind in his free time... Just lovely enough to eat."
"That's not fair," Maya gasped. "Shinji..."
"Life's not fair, Maya, and I'm afraid that I won't be able to help you. My own love life is messed enough," she giggled. "And I have tried to kill your young lovely boy, my dear, if you didn't remember it."
"But..."
"But I'm your sempai, right?" Ritsuko sighed tiredly.
"Yes..." Maya mumbled.
"Well... Want my truth? You're feeling pity for Shinji, and you're too much naïve to differentiate it from love. But, believe me, of all the people on this little planet, the only person you should feel pity for is you, Maya. The rest of the people don't deserve pity. They deserve compassion, why not. And maybe mercy, just maybe... but not pity. They become addicted to it," Ritsuko added bitterly. 'Like Gendo,' she thought, letting out a small sigh. "Grow, Maya. Grow. Anyway, want some free advice?"
"I... yes."
"Stay away from Ikari, Maya. From all of them. Nothing good can come from an Ikari."
As if to confirm her theory, an alarm began to ring all over the headquarters. Ritsuko lifted an eyebrow, smiling happily.
"See? That's another gift from the elders. Go there. You're about to have a lot of work."
"But..."
"Go, Maya. Leave me alone."
Maya nodded awkwardly and left the room, leaving Ritsuko alone in the cell.
Ritsuko mused idly about the nature of this Angel, and she decided that, finally, it wasn't her concern anymore. She didn't care.
In the other hand, Maya ran upstairs, trying to arrive as soon as possible at the Command Center. She wasn't able to keep her breath, and after a few seconds she was breathing laboriously. She was too much worried by the alarm to deeply consider Ritsuko's words yet, but she hadn't liked what she had heard down there in the cells. It wasn't so simple.
Was it?
o-o-o-o-o
Misato looked up from her chair, sighing. She didn't feel like directing another battle. She just wanted to lie down and sleep forever, but the Angels wouldn't stop coming, and she still had duties to accomplish. And promises to keep, much to her strife.
Asuka's late, she thought idly. Rei was already there, dressed in her white plugsuit, while Shinji was in the dressing room.
Not that he could do anything: his Unit was frozen in the cage, after the last 'experiment'. Asuka and Rei would have to fight alone, this time. It didn't help that the two girls didn't work well together, but, anyway, nothing helped. Misato knew that she was alone, up there. The Commander was sitting down in his desk, but he seemed absent, probably thinking in his wife. He wouldn't help there.
Misato sighed relieved when a technician told her that Asuka was entering the headquarters. As well, Maya Ibuki arrived to her station, looking as if she were had just finished a marathon. She idly ordered to get Unit Two ready for battle.
She looked at the screen, where a satellite was taking a picture of the Sixteenth Angel. The Angel of Birds – at least, so the Commander had labeled it – looked really like a bird made of pure light, with vast, bright wings glistening in contrast with the dark space beneath.
Misato grimaced. She hated them. Well, this one wouldn't stand up there for too much time. The positron rifle would make the job for this.
"I'm in my unit," Shinji said through the radio. "But it's dark."
"It wouldn't work, anyway. How are you, Shinji?" Misato asked softly.
"Well. Nervous."
"Everything ready," Rei said.
"All right," Misato said. "Asuka?"
Silence.
"Asuka?"
"Okay, okay, I'm here. God, what a hurry," complained Asuka, breathing laboriously.
Misato smiled a thin smile. "Okay. Rei, you will pick up the positron rifle. We will shoot it down."
"Roger that," Rei nodded. "Unit Zero on its way."
The blue behemoth began to walk toward the launching pods, while the immense sniper rifle was lift to the surface.
"Asuka, you'll cover her, just in case."
"What?! I can't... you can't..."
"Asuka!"
"No way! I can do it, Misato!"
"Asuka, please..."
"You won't leave me out!" she yelled.
Suddenly, Asuka triggered the emergency launching system, ejecting the Eva just before Misato could prevent it.
Damning herself and the redhead, Misato waved at Makoto, who was trying to block the emergency system. The technician shrugged, and Misato concentrated again on the screen. She really didn't care about who shot the rifle, but she didn't like that Asuka wouldn't follow her orders.
"Asuka, can you hear me?" she asked, annoyed.
"Yes," Asuka replied sharply. "I'm ready."
"Don't do that again."
"You won't leave me out, Misato," Asuka muttered, defiant. "Nobody will."
"Whatever. Get ready to strike the Angel."
Asuka raised the rifle and let it fall on top of a skyscraper, smashing it. Slowly, like a sniper, she took the position. She let the rifle hang free, until it seemed to point at the Angel on its own. Then, delicately but firmly, she grabbed it and let out a deep breath.
She couldn't see the Angel through the sniper helmet. She only saw a thousand of crossed lines that represented all the little variations that the scope perceived. However, she was able to imagine it and the hate contracted her lips to a thin line. She would win, and this time, alone.
She didn't see the pure, angelic light coming from the sky. She didn't remember having pressed the trigger. She only knew that, suddenly, all that she could see was a blinding light, accompanied with a thousand thunders pounding in her ears.
And then, the pain began.
o-o-o-o-o
Shinji was watching the exchange in the Command Center, his unit unable to work. He knew instantly that something was going wrong, very wrong.
"Misato!" he called alarmed. "What's happening?"
"Not now, Shinji," Misato waved, trying to find a solution.
"Let me help her! Please!"
"You cannot, so shut up!" Misato yelled back, angry. "Rei, recover Unit Two."
"No," countered the Commander. "It would be... useless. Rei, go down to Dogma and pick up the Lance."
o-o-o-o-o
The Angel didn't care about their schemings. It kept blitzing Asuka's mind as the blue Evangelion approached the crucified Angel in the cellar of Nerv. It only needed one second to torment the redhead for an eternity.
Inside Asuka's mind, it seemed to have passed a thousand years. The pain didn't diminish with the passage of time, but grew. Asuka had stopped begging for death centuries ago, and she only emitted a long, low wail, like a hurt animal.
During the first five hundred years – or so it seemed – she had watched her mother's death from all possible angles. In slow motion, backwards, forwards and so on, and no one time had she been able to tell the little redhead to not open the door behind which her mother hung dead.
The Angel seemed to have got bored of that particular resource, so it had switched to more creative ways of tormenting Asuka. After a group of scenes regarding her father, Kaji and Rei Ayanami, her inquisitor seemed to have found in Shinji a new way of breaking her psyche.
She remembered, subtly deformed, all the little conversations and moments she'd had with Shinji in the last months. How Shinji always came to steal her victories in the last second. How Shinji didn't care about her in the least. Shinji, looking at the doll in the classroom. Shinji, together with his mother while Asuka remembered her own mother's dead.
The images flashed in her mind at a horrible pace, slow as death, and yet, without pause.
"That's a lie," she muttered, covering in despair her face with her palms and pressing her eyes until she saw bright lights. "A filthy lie."
"They're your memories. Not mine."
The Angel was incarnated in a little, pigtailed Asuka that grinned grimly.
And Asuka recognized the dress. Oh, she did remember it. And the day she had put it for the fist time. And what had happened afterwards.
"See?" the little Asuka pressed on. "Nobody cares for you. You're a little nothing, Asuka."
"It's a lie!"
"Then why does nobody come to save you?"
"They... Shinji will come for me!"
"He won't," giggled the child, delighted. "Why would he? He doesn't care for you."
"He does!"
("Leave me alone!" Asuka was yelling to Shinji, in an imaginary screen on her mind)
"He has a family. A real mother, who loves him. You have nothing. You insult and harass him every second. And now, you're an unworthy pilot. Why would he care for you?"
"But he does!" Asuka complained, repeating that like a mantra.
(Asuka was kissing Shinji, whose face was turning on a deep purple)
"He didn't kiss you back, did he?" laughed the little Asuka.
"I... He did!"
"Liar... He doesn't care for you, Asuka."
"He came for me to the volcano," Asuka complained weakly.
"A mere reflex," waved the Angel. "Nobody cares for you. Your mother didn't, your father didn't, Kaji doesn't, and, of course, you mean nothing to Shinji."
Asuka felt a tear of rage falling from her cheek. "IT'S A LIE!"
"Why do you care so much?" the Angel said curiously.
"Because... because... he cares for me. He has to!"
"Naïve, naïve Asuka..."
"Liar... Shinji!" called Asuka. "Shinji!"
Silence.
"Shinji..."
Again... Only silence...
o-o-o-o-o
Shinji only could hear the frantic screams of the redhead calling him. He shivered with rage.
"Misato! Father! Let me help her!" he asked for the umpteenth time.
Suddenly, the Commander got up and slammed his hands on the desk.
"You can't!" he hissed. "You're unable to, little brat. Shut up!"
"The Angel's killing Asuka! We have to help her!"
"We have to destroy the Angel first."
"If she were Mum you wouldn't say that, bastard," Shinji snapped angrily.
"Shinji..." Maya said softly, uncertain, "please..."
"How dare you say that?" Gendo frowned deeply.
Maya was utterly shocked. She didn't recognize any of them. It was like if two different people would have occupied Gendo and Shinji's skins.
"Shinji."
Another voice appeared in the radio, with the endless wail of Asuka as background. Shinji recognized it as the soothing, calm voice of Rei. He looked at the small video frame in the big screen of the Command Center.
Rei was looking intensely at the screen.
"Yes?" he asked uncertainly.
"I will help her. Please. Have faith," she whispered, grabbing the Lance of Longinus with her Unit's hands.
"Rei..."
"Don't worry." A tiny, angelic smile appeared on her face. "I will save Sohryu. Trust me."
"I... I do, Rei."
"It's all I need," she whispered quietly.
The Angel was too much busy tormenting Asuka to notice that there was another Evangelion rising from beneath the city.
Rei pursed her lips. When she appeared in the middle of the city, she felt the cold rain on the Unit's skin. She looked up, seeing only dark, heavy clouds. Beneath them, there was the being that was hurting Sohryu.
She breathed deeply and let the computers calculate the launching path. When her computer beeped, she knew that everything was ready.
"Have faith," she mumbled, stepping back.
She began to run, and after few steps, she threw the red, twisted Lance toward the Angel. It dispelled the clouds above the city. The Angel didn't perceive it until the spear was too much near to do anything, but it didn't care. Focused as it was in tormenting Asuka, the presence of the Lance and its imminent death was something that didn't bother the Angel, whose mind was too much alien to feel such a human concept as fearing death.
With a last, little push to Asuka's mind, the Angel exploded. The Lance crossed it as if the bird-shaped being was made of pure light, and nothing more. Splitting its two edges again, it kept flying through the frozen space, forever far from the reach of Mankind.
When the Angel freed Asuka's mind, she couldn't take it anymore and went into dismay. The red behemoth fell to the ground, first on its knees, and then completely. Two skyscrapers went down with her, raising a dust cloud.
Before darkness totally blurred her vision, she saw Rei's blue Unit standing defiant in the middle of the city, with its lone eye looking straight at hers.
And with the last remain of her conscience she knew, without doubt, that Shinji hadn't come to help her.
Author's Notes
First of all, many thanks to Steve Vader for his help with the characterization... and I'm currently worshipping Yui Ikari ('') for her help with everything. Thanks!
This chapter has no notes, because I don't feel like adding anything, except for one thing: since I thought that some people's comments about certain defficiences in Maya's characterization were right, I tried to fix it in this chapter.
See you!
Athos
