Disclaimer: Neon Genesis Evangelion is Owned by Gainax. Buy the DVD's of
the Series and the Movies from them. I did, and it was worth every dime.
I don't own anything except my DVD's, and this is done for my own
satisfaction.
Episode 2:10 A new life
Takes place after 1st season, and the End of Evangelion Movie.
Presumed date is Saturday June 11th, 2016
Asuka drifted high in the atmosphere over Mongolia, most of her fuel load expended from the initial acceleration that carried her up and away from Japan. Her eyes were red and puffy, but she'd finally stopped crying somewhere over China.
She couldn't believe this had all happened. It had started out as one of the best days of her life, and it kept getting better and better, until it had all crashed down around her, just like it always did. Why did these things always happen to her.
She'd woken up this morning with a phone call from Ritsuko. The seamstress making her dress had made it wrong, and was very sorry, but it was too small for her. She and Misato had tried to come up with another solution, but they'd finally decided that Ritsuko would just have to give up her place as Matron of Honor.
They were pretty sure that the dress would fit, Asuka, however, so would she please, please be the Matron of Honor. She'd agreed, and when she arrived at the Temple, Ritsuko had brought out the beautiful red dress.
It seemed almost to meld itself to her, when she put it on, and she didn't stop to think about how well it fit, she was so happy to be wearing it in Misato's wedding. Her foster mother had asked her, HER, to be the Maid of Honor. Admittedly, she was the second choice in an emergency, but still.
Then Ritsuko had come up with the idea of performing the ceremony herself, and having Professor Fuyutsuki walk Misato down the aisle as her father figure. Everything was working out just great.
She'd spent several hours helping Misato get dressed, and laughed at her attack of nerves when she started blathering about not being good enough for Kaji. Asuka had laughed and teased her, that if she didn't want to go through with it, the hall was already rented, and Kaji was in a Tux, so SHE'D have to marry him. The image of the 14 year old girl marrying Kaji had sent them all into laughing fits.
Misato and Ritsuko both knew that she no longer had a crush on Kaji, and the thought of her sacrificing herself to keep him happy was just too funny.
'If I'd known then what this was all about, I'd have stormed out and never come back,' she thought to herself.
Then it was time, and the processional had begun. She started down the aisle, nervous, but happy. She felt almost as if she was the one getting married. And then she'd seen him. Standing there next to Kaji in his tux. And he looked so damn good. The few times she'd ridden with him lately, she'd felt the developing muscles under his shirts and jacket, but hadn't noticed it until now. He was always wearing those loose damn button down shirts.
But now.
'Be still my heart,' she'd thought, as she'd taken her place on the stairs. She kept looking at him, but had to be careful. He was staring at her even more, and that made her heart beat so fast, she thought she was going to pass out.
'He's looking at me,' she'd thought giddily, 'He can't take his eyes off me.'
And then the ceremony was over, and she'd had to walk back down the aisle. This time arm in arm with Shinji. Most of the rest of that time was a blur, right up until the dancing had begun.
Misato had looked so beautiful, there on the dance floor with Kaji. She was so happy that her foster mother had finally found happiness. Then Shinji, in his soft, nervous voice had asked her to dance. She really wanted to, but she didn't want anyone else to know that, especially Shinji. That idiot had never picked up an any of the clues she'd dropped, about how much she liked him, so she hadn't thought he'd figure it out now. But he'd managed to ask her anyway.
Maybe because it was a tradition, but she hoped, more because he really wanted to dance with her, he'd taken her out onto the floor. And he could dance. He could really dance. If last week you'd asked her if Shinji Ikari could dance, she'd have laughed, and told you he was the biggest clumsiest blockhead she knew. But she was wrong, he could dance.
And there in his arms, she'd felt safer and more loved than she had ever felt in her whole life. At least safer than she could ever remember. Then he'd looked down at her, actually looked down. She'd missed it, but he'd grown taller than she had. If he wasn't always slouching, she'd have noticed it before. She liked the idea of Shinji being taller than her. And they had become lost in each others eyes, as they moved around the dance floor.
Then the world had just seemed to spin away, and as she'd leaned into him, she'd closed her eyes. She really hoped that his time she could keep her ego in check, and keep from insulting him. She wanted to kiss him, but she remembered the last time they'd kissed, she'd wrecked it for him. Plugging his nose so he couldn't breath. And he'd given a pretty decent account of himself. She still remembered that first kiss.
Now, she didn't plug his nose, she didn't force him into it. Instead she'd offered herself to him, and to her surprise, he'd accepted. There lips had touched, and as the kiss deepened they'd just held each other there, oblivious to the rest of the world. She'd felt something in her, something long buried, rising up to the surface. She knew what it was, but she was afraid to acknowledge the word. Four little letters had her terrified as no Angel ever had. Even the Angel that had tried to enter her mind, was nothing to this emotion.
But she couldn't bring herself to admit it. Not to him, not to herself. She had too much pride to admit it, but as they'd kissed, she'd begun to realize that that pride was what was holding her back. He didn't deserve a hollow shell of a woman. The man who could bring this out of her, who could convey so much of himself in this one kiss deserved a woman who really... who really... she couldn't even think the word. Even now.
And then, just as she felt like she was going to surrender to him, and give him what she knew he wanted to hear so desperately, that STOOGE had blown the entire thing. As the kiss ended she knew she'd been setup. Misato, Ritsuko, Shinji, Kaji, Hikari, and the rest of the Stooges had set this whole thing up just to humiliate her.
Her anger and rage had boiled up then, and she'd hit him. Not as hard as she'd wanted to, because he was still standing when it was over, but hard enough he wouldn't forget that bruise for a couple weeks. She'd stormed out of the reception, and headed for her F-22. Wanting to put some distance between herself and these idiots, she'd sought the comfort of the sky.
She'd been pulling out onto the runway from the taxiway when she saw it. That flash of gold and black. There was nothing else like it in the world, and her breath had caught as she guessed at how fast he had to be going to make the bike move like that. He was trying to catch up to her. He wanted to stop her. Well not this time. She was going to put some distance between them, and he wasn't going to stop her.
Never mind that he'd never tried to stop her doing anything before, he wasn't going to stop her this one time that he was really trying. Then her helmet comm. had begun the annoying buzz to let her know that someone wanted to talk to her. She'd watch him slew the bike around, blocking the end of the runway, and the last couple hundred meters of it. Well if he thought she wouldn't go right through it anyway to take off, he'd be surprised.
She'd finally answered her comm. with an annoyed, "WHAT?"
"Asuka stop, we need to talk," Shinji had said.
Yeah, right, they needed to talk so he and his friends could laugh about how they'd made the Great Asuka Langley Soryu a complete and utter fool.
"About what. About how you set me up, and then proceeded to humiliate me in front of EVERYBODY?" she'd demanded.
He'd sounded panicked then, and so soft an apologetic, she hated when he sounded like that. Why couldn't he be strong like she wanted him to be?
"Asuka, no, I didn't do that to you. I could never do that to you. We need to talk about US, about what just happened, about... you know you're coming towards me really fast?" he'd said.
About time you noticed Shinji. Several tons of hurtling aircraft under full power does tend to move pretty fast.
"Get out of the way Third Child, or I swear I'll run you over," she'd growled at him.
He'd know she meant business. There was no way he was going to keep her from taking off. She needed some time to calm down from this little prank. She couldn't face the others right now, and out of the corner of her eye she saw Toji's rig come flying through the gate. They were here to laugh at her. She'd let her defenses down for ONCE, and they'd never let her live it down.
"Asuka, you haven't called me that since the first day after we awakened. Do you have to start now Asuka-Chan?"
'Oh god, he's still playing the part. That BASTARD! And that soft little catch in his voice,' she'd fumed.
"Don't you dare use that tone with me Shinji Ikari, it won't do you any good. I am the Great Asuka Langley Soryu, and I will NOT be stopped by the likes of you."
There, maybe now he'd get out of the way. He'd better hurry, she was almost on top of him.
"If you want to get airborne Asuka, you're gonna have to go thru me. Can you do that Asuka? Can you kill a man in cold blood, just because he's trying to tell you that he's in love with you?" he'd asked.
Asuka started to breath fast again, and now the tears came. How cruel could he be. He told her he loved her just go play some joke on her. He'd even called her Asuka-Chan. That JERK!
Then he was talking again, as she hurtled toward him, he wasn't moving out of the way, he was really going to stand there and let her run him over.
'What does that idiot think he's doing? This is too much, even for a prank like this, he could get seriously hurt,' she'd thought. He was GOING to get seriously hurt if he didn't get off the tarmac right now.
His voice sounded thick with emotion as she'd realized it was too late, he wouldn't clear her jet wash in time. He was probably going to get killed, but he was still talking to her, still trying to get her to stop, as if that could happen now. If she didn't take off and clear him, she'd kill them both. The only chance either of them had was if she could just make the jet take off a little sooner than it wanted to. She punched power to the engine, and pulled back on the stick. Hoping it would be enough, knowing it wasn't.
"Asuka. Please. Don't do this," he'd said, holding his arms out in front of him, almost like he was begging her. He let out one final shriek as she yanked back on the stick and hoped it would be enough to save him. "ASUKA!" she'd heard him scream, sounding like some kind of wounded dying animal.
"LEAVE ME ALONE!" she'd screamed back at almost the same instant, and then the comm. had died, the connection broken.
She'd felt a horrible impact, then and she knew what it was, she'd cleared the bike, but some part of her landing gear had to have clipped Shinji. Nothing else could explain the lurch skyward her plane had taken. She'd hit him. At over 200 miles per hour, she'd hit him with her jet.
And he'd just said he loved her.
She hadn't believed him when he'd said it, she'd been to upset, but now...
Oh god.
Shinji.
She'd banked the plane, and looked out over her wingtip. Pieces of the bike were coming to rest hundreds of feet into the bog at the end of the runway, and a black clad figure was among the wreckage.
No.
A black helmet was splashing through the reeds, tearing its own solitary path.
Shinji's black helmet.
The one he'd been wearing so he could talk to her.
She'd turned to leave then, wanting nothing more than peace.
Misato had come on the comm. and said some useless angry things. She'd also talked about Shinji loving her. And she said it too.
Misato thought Shinji was probably dead.
Asuka couldn't face that, not if what he'd said was true, what Misato said was true. She couldn't ever face herself again. Better to die than to live with what she'd done to that poor silly boy. All he'd ever wanted to do was make her happy. He'd cooked her favorite meals, taken care of her when she was sick, and put himself between her and an Angels attack time and time again.
Well who asked him, but she knew. She didn't have to ask him. He'd loved her, even if he couldn't admit it until the end. The end that shouldn't have been, but she'd ended it. Forever.
She couldn't return to Japan now. They'd all blame her for killing their Messiah, that was how the others would look on her. They thought Shinji was their Messiah, the new Christ, who'd given mankind back it's existence. But he was more than that, he was Shinji, and that meant more than any of them could ever know. He was kind, even if it hurt him. He'd fight for them, even if it meant he had to be broken and beaten to win. And now, like all good Messiah's, he'd died for them. No. He died for her. Because of her.
The tears began to pour from her eyes, and she was wracked with sobs, as she engaged the autopilot, and headed west.
Maybe just maybe she could return to Germany. To her homeland. And there she'd do her best to honor Shinji's memory, by becoming the kind of woman he really deserved. Even if it took forever.
Now, cried out, and exhausted beyond belief, she just wanted a place to land a refuel. Heck, a place to land would be enough. Even if she couldn't find fuel, just getting down safe would be a blessing at this point. She was on vapors.
Then she saw it, in the gathering dark, a long strip of gray in the midst of the green, right on the edge of the Russian steppes. An airfield. She banked the F-22, and deployed her air brakes, slowing down, until she was cruising towards the landing strip at the perfect speed for a touchdown. There were several Russian jets parked along the sides of the runway in front of their hangars, but, thankfully, nothing on the runway to block her path.
She touched down at the Russian Airbase in Novosibirsk at a few minutes before local sunset. She taxied down the runway, until she came to the end, where a long string of buildings looking like barracks for the Russian pilots were, and stopped. Killing her electronics, she grabbed the survival gear out of the plane, and started to explore, hoping she wouldn't find anything dangerous, and would find a place to spend the night in some comfort.
Very early the next morning Asuka walked out of the barracks where she had spent the night and looked around. It took some searching but she eventually found the mess hall, and a well stocked kitchen. The perishable food had long since rotted away, and only the canned goods remained. She pulled a can opener from her emergency sack, and opened a can of peaches. As she slurped them down, she gathered other cans and stuffed them into her pack, for later. She found several tins of tuna, and canned chicken, and opened one, greedily gulping it down.
Finished with her breakfast, she returned to where her F-22 was parked, and began looking around the field for some fuel. She found it, but it was useless. Fuel normally had stabilizers in it, allowing it to remain in it's liquid state, and useful for long periods of time, but some aircraft fuels had special additives that had other properties. One of these additives made the fuel foam when it was sprayed, rather than turning into a combustible vapor, which made it very safe. It also made the fuel turn into a solid mass of something like gelatin, if it was left in it's tanks too long without stiring.
Evidently no one had been here to stir this batch.
Well, it looked like she was on foot, until she could find a car that worked. Turning, she walked back to the barracks, and tried to start every vehicle in the lot. Not one of them did more than click when she turned the key. Their batteries had discharged in their months of inattention. Well, it looked like she was going to have to go into the city proper to see if she could find a car with a good battery, or maybe a new battery in some shop that she could swap out for a dead one.
She had difficulty reading the street sighs, and the few phone booths did not have directories or even maps of the city. She was tired and frustrated when she heard the sound. Footsteps. One than one persons footsteps, and they were coming towards her. She could hear their shuffling approach, as they moved, sought cover, and moved again, ever closer.
Finally she saw a shadow move, and she said in what she hoped was a good approximation of Russian, "Hello, I know you're there, come out."
There was a loud whispering, and three ragged men appeared, boxing her in with a large building at her back.
"Hi guys, you wouldn't know where I could rent a car would you?" she asked nervously. She'd never seen men look that way in real life. That sort of lost vacant expression that said they were capable of anything.
They said nothing, instead one of them moved closer to her, taking a knife from a hip sheath, and brandishing it.
"Now look I don't want any trouble," she said. This wasn't good each of these men outweighed her by probably double. They were well fed, but hungry for something else, and Asuka had the distinct impression she was on their menu.
'Great where's Shinji when I need him,' she thought, and instantly regretted it. Then, while she was watching the one with the knife, the one behind her grabbed a handful of her hair, and twisted it, snapping her head back towards him. He put a blade to her exposed neck.
"You come look for excitement, eh?" he said, his breath foul
"We give you excitement. You have wonderful date with all three of us. You be nice and maybe we let you keep pretty hair and face," he said, dragging the knife down her cheek.
Asuka screamed, and tried to fight her way clear, but they threw her down and began kicking her. She caught a blow to her head, and one to the stomach, and began to gasp for air. One of the men stood between her legs and kicked her as hard as he could in the crotch with his steel toed boots. Asuka felt something explode under the assaults, and passed out from the pain.
She dreamed then.
She dreamed that Shinji was calling her name, and that he was desperately hurt. In her dream she spoke to him at length, explaining why she needed to return to Germany, to be away from him. He said he understood, but then he said it was time for him to die. She sobbed, and wanted to know why, and he'd told her of a destiny, and a new danger, one that was killing him even as he spoke to her. She couldn't bring herself to say what she wanted him to know, but she had to give him hope. So she told him to wait for her, and that she'd be back, if he just waited. Satisfied, the dream Shinji had appeared to awaken from the dream, and vanished. Asuka too, slowly faded from her dream, vanishing as she drifted into a deeper, healing, sleep.
When she awoke hours later, she was in a small clearing within the nearby forest. Her clothes were ripped to shreds and she was bleeding from numerous cuts. She cried. They'd had their way with her unconscious body, and left her for dead. It was a miracle she was alive at all. The attack, passing out, that odd dream, none of it seamed real, and even now it was fading.
She got unsteadily to her feet, and wondered away from the city, which she could see though a hole in the trees. She came out onto a large farm. There were several breaches in the fences that circled the place, and a few cattle lingered here and there, grazing on the grass and wheat that seemed to be growing in wild abundance here.
There was also a horse. Beautiful, cream colored, with a white blaze and white socks. She walked up to him, speaking softly, and stroked his mane. He accepted her caress, and, when she made a move toward the barn, followed her, as if he knew what was expected. There Asuka found some riding gear, and put it on him along with a saddle bag. It was empty now, but she thought that she could always go back to the airbase and get more supplies. As long as she stayed clear of the city, they'd never know she'd survived.
So she saddled up the horse, and mounted, riding him leisurely in an arc back to the airfield where she re-equipped herself, before turning the horse and heading west across the Steppes. She hadn't planned on riding a horse all the way to Germany, but you took what you were given in this world. Besides, the horse would be a better companion to her than she would be to the horse, she new.
By the time the sun set, she was miles and miles from the city. Within which the bodies of three men were torn and tattered, nearly squashed flat, but all dead. Killed by a strange orange glow that had erupted from their latest victim, as they had kicked her helpless form into unconsciousness. They had never had the chance to complete the act they had been planning, had never even started, before that weird orange field was crushing them against the wall of the building they stood in front of before propelling the girl into the forest, and then vanishing.
Next on Episode 2:11 of Neon Genesis Evangelion Attempting to discover exactly what he has become, Misato and Ritsuko each talk to Shinji about what happened inside the EVA, and attempt to gain some insights into his ability to join with the EVA. Shinji joins with the EVA so that Ritsuko can run some tests, and discovers his control over his AT field has changed.
It's Evangelion Episode 2:11 Testing the limits.
A/N: Spoiler warning, but a needed explanation for a couple of scenes above.
A couple of people have pointed out that the scene where Asuka is assaulted is rather disturbing. Then her memory of the event, hazy and distorted, doesn't help the situation. I actually planned it that way, so I need to explain.
When Asuka is attacked by the gang, she's beaten pretty severely, and assumes she's been assaulted. She doesn't realize that her AT field kicked in, as she passed out, and killed the men, throwing her clear, and into the forest.
Having never been treated this way before she is shocked and emotionally scarred by the attack. She will eventually find respite and happiness, and even, with the help of a therapist, discover what really happened, but not before it results in the total re-shaping of her personality.
(readers will be told this has happened, but I don't think I'll go into it. Not a happy experience, for most people to read about. I know first hand it's not pleasant to live through)
Between this, and the belief that she's killed Shinji, the Asuka we meet in later chapters will be quite different, and her eventual reunion with the young man will allow her to blossom into the kind of person we all hoped she would someday become.
Thanks for the R&R, I'll try to update every few days, as this thing is just pouring out of me one or two chapters at a time.
Stormofdragons
Episode 2:10 A new life
Takes place after 1st season, and the End of Evangelion Movie.
Presumed date is Saturday June 11th, 2016
Asuka drifted high in the atmosphere over Mongolia, most of her fuel load expended from the initial acceleration that carried her up and away from Japan. Her eyes were red and puffy, but she'd finally stopped crying somewhere over China.
She couldn't believe this had all happened. It had started out as one of the best days of her life, and it kept getting better and better, until it had all crashed down around her, just like it always did. Why did these things always happen to her.
She'd woken up this morning with a phone call from Ritsuko. The seamstress making her dress had made it wrong, and was very sorry, but it was too small for her. She and Misato had tried to come up with another solution, but they'd finally decided that Ritsuko would just have to give up her place as Matron of Honor.
They were pretty sure that the dress would fit, Asuka, however, so would she please, please be the Matron of Honor. She'd agreed, and when she arrived at the Temple, Ritsuko had brought out the beautiful red dress.
It seemed almost to meld itself to her, when she put it on, and she didn't stop to think about how well it fit, she was so happy to be wearing it in Misato's wedding. Her foster mother had asked her, HER, to be the Maid of Honor. Admittedly, she was the second choice in an emergency, but still.
Then Ritsuko had come up with the idea of performing the ceremony herself, and having Professor Fuyutsuki walk Misato down the aisle as her father figure. Everything was working out just great.
She'd spent several hours helping Misato get dressed, and laughed at her attack of nerves when she started blathering about not being good enough for Kaji. Asuka had laughed and teased her, that if she didn't want to go through with it, the hall was already rented, and Kaji was in a Tux, so SHE'D have to marry him. The image of the 14 year old girl marrying Kaji had sent them all into laughing fits.
Misato and Ritsuko both knew that she no longer had a crush on Kaji, and the thought of her sacrificing herself to keep him happy was just too funny.
'If I'd known then what this was all about, I'd have stormed out and never come back,' she thought to herself.
Then it was time, and the processional had begun. She started down the aisle, nervous, but happy. She felt almost as if she was the one getting married. And then she'd seen him. Standing there next to Kaji in his tux. And he looked so damn good. The few times she'd ridden with him lately, she'd felt the developing muscles under his shirts and jacket, but hadn't noticed it until now. He was always wearing those loose damn button down shirts.
But now.
'Be still my heart,' she'd thought, as she'd taken her place on the stairs. She kept looking at him, but had to be careful. He was staring at her even more, and that made her heart beat so fast, she thought she was going to pass out.
'He's looking at me,' she'd thought giddily, 'He can't take his eyes off me.'
And then the ceremony was over, and she'd had to walk back down the aisle. This time arm in arm with Shinji. Most of the rest of that time was a blur, right up until the dancing had begun.
Misato had looked so beautiful, there on the dance floor with Kaji. She was so happy that her foster mother had finally found happiness. Then Shinji, in his soft, nervous voice had asked her to dance. She really wanted to, but she didn't want anyone else to know that, especially Shinji. That idiot had never picked up an any of the clues she'd dropped, about how much she liked him, so she hadn't thought he'd figure it out now. But he'd managed to ask her anyway.
Maybe because it was a tradition, but she hoped, more because he really wanted to dance with her, he'd taken her out onto the floor. And he could dance. He could really dance. If last week you'd asked her if Shinji Ikari could dance, she'd have laughed, and told you he was the biggest clumsiest blockhead she knew. But she was wrong, he could dance.
And there in his arms, she'd felt safer and more loved than she had ever felt in her whole life. At least safer than she could ever remember. Then he'd looked down at her, actually looked down. She'd missed it, but he'd grown taller than she had. If he wasn't always slouching, she'd have noticed it before. She liked the idea of Shinji being taller than her. And they had become lost in each others eyes, as they moved around the dance floor.
Then the world had just seemed to spin away, and as she'd leaned into him, she'd closed her eyes. She really hoped that his time she could keep her ego in check, and keep from insulting him. She wanted to kiss him, but she remembered the last time they'd kissed, she'd wrecked it for him. Plugging his nose so he couldn't breath. And he'd given a pretty decent account of himself. She still remembered that first kiss.
Now, she didn't plug his nose, she didn't force him into it. Instead she'd offered herself to him, and to her surprise, he'd accepted. There lips had touched, and as the kiss deepened they'd just held each other there, oblivious to the rest of the world. She'd felt something in her, something long buried, rising up to the surface. She knew what it was, but she was afraid to acknowledge the word. Four little letters had her terrified as no Angel ever had. Even the Angel that had tried to enter her mind, was nothing to this emotion.
But she couldn't bring herself to admit it. Not to him, not to herself. She had too much pride to admit it, but as they'd kissed, she'd begun to realize that that pride was what was holding her back. He didn't deserve a hollow shell of a woman. The man who could bring this out of her, who could convey so much of himself in this one kiss deserved a woman who really... who really... she couldn't even think the word. Even now.
And then, just as she felt like she was going to surrender to him, and give him what she knew he wanted to hear so desperately, that STOOGE had blown the entire thing. As the kiss ended she knew she'd been setup. Misato, Ritsuko, Shinji, Kaji, Hikari, and the rest of the Stooges had set this whole thing up just to humiliate her.
Her anger and rage had boiled up then, and she'd hit him. Not as hard as she'd wanted to, because he was still standing when it was over, but hard enough he wouldn't forget that bruise for a couple weeks. She'd stormed out of the reception, and headed for her F-22. Wanting to put some distance between herself and these idiots, she'd sought the comfort of the sky.
She'd been pulling out onto the runway from the taxiway when she saw it. That flash of gold and black. There was nothing else like it in the world, and her breath had caught as she guessed at how fast he had to be going to make the bike move like that. He was trying to catch up to her. He wanted to stop her. Well not this time. She was going to put some distance between them, and he wasn't going to stop her.
Never mind that he'd never tried to stop her doing anything before, he wasn't going to stop her this one time that he was really trying. Then her helmet comm. had begun the annoying buzz to let her know that someone wanted to talk to her. She'd watch him slew the bike around, blocking the end of the runway, and the last couple hundred meters of it. Well if he thought she wouldn't go right through it anyway to take off, he'd be surprised.
She'd finally answered her comm. with an annoyed, "WHAT?"
"Asuka stop, we need to talk," Shinji had said.
Yeah, right, they needed to talk so he and his friends could laugh about how they'd made the Great Asuka Langley Soryu a complete and utter fool.
"About what. About how you set me up, and then proceeded to humiliate me in front of EVERYBODY?" she'd demanded.
He'd sounded panicked then, and so soft an apologetic, she hated when he sounded like that. Why couldn't he be strong like she wanted him to be?
"Asuka, no, I didn't do that to you. I could never do that to you. We need to talk about US, about what just happened, about... you know you're coming towards me really fast?" he'd said.
About time you noticed Shinji. Several tons of hurtling aircraft under full power does tend to move pretty fast.
"Get out of the way Third Child, or I swear I'll run you over," she'd growled at him.
He'd know she meant business. There was no way he was going to keep her from taking off. She needed some time to calm down from this little prank. She couldn't face the others right now, and out of the corner of her eye she saw Toji's rig come flying through the gate. They were here to laugh at her. She'd let her defenses down for ONCE, and they'd never let her live it down.
"Asuka, you haven't called me that since the first day after we awakened. Do you have to start now Asuka-Chan?"
'Oh god, he's still playing the part. That BASTARD! And that soft little catch in his voice,' she'd fumed.
"Don't you dare use that tone with me Shinji Ikari, it won't do you any good. I am the Great Asuka Langley Soryu, and I will NOT be stopped by the likes of you."
There, maybe now he'd get out of the way. He'd better hurry, she was almost on top of him.
"If you want to get airborne Asuka, you're gonna have to go thru me. Can you do that Asuka? Can you kill a man in cold blood, just because he's trying to tell you that he's in love with you?" he'd asked.
Asuka started to breath fast again, and now the tears came. How cruel could he be. He told her he loved her just go play some joke on her. He'd even called her Asuka-Chan. That JERK!
Then he was talking again, as she hurtled toward him, he wasn't moving out of the way, he was really going to stand there and let her run him over.
'What does that idiot think he's doing? This is too much, even for a prank like this, he could get seriously hurt,' she'd thought. He was GOING to get seriously hurt if he didn't get off the tarmac right now.
His voice sounded thick with emotion as she'd realized it was too late, he wouldn't clear her jet wash in time. He was probably going to get killed, but he was still talking to her, still trying to get her to stop, as if that could happen now. If she didn't take off and clear him, she'd kill them both. The only chance either of them had was if she could just make the jet take off a little sooner than it wanted to. She punched power to the engine, and pulled back on the stick. Hoping it would be enough, knowing it wasn't.
"Asuka. Please. Don't do this," he'd said, holding his arms out in front of him, almost like he was begging her. He let out one final shriek as she yanked back on the stick and hoped it would be enough to save him. "ASUKA!" she'd heard him scream, sounding like some kind of wounded dying animal.
"LEAVE ME ALONE!" she'd screamed back at almost the same instant, and then the comm. had died, the connection broken.
She'd felt a horrible impact, then and she knew what it was, she'd cleared the bike, but some part of her landing gear had to have clipped Shinji. Nothing else could explain the lurch skyward her plane had taken. She'd hit him. At over 200 miles per hour, she'd hit him with her jet.
And he'd just said he loved her.
She hadn't believed him when he'd said it, she'd been to upset, but now...
Oh god.
Shinji.
She'd banked the plane, and looked out over her wingtip. Pieces of the bike were coming to rest hundreds of feet into the bog at the end of the runway, and a black clad figure was among the wreckage.
No.
A black helmet was splashing through the reeds, tearing its own solitary path.
Shinji's black helmet.
The one he'd been wearing so he could talk to her.
She'd turned to leave then, wanting nothing more than peace.
Misato had come on the comm. and said some useless angry things. She'd also talked about Shinji loving her. And she said it too.
Misato thought Shinji was probably dead.
Asuka couldn't face that, not if what he'd said was true, what Misato said was true. She couldn't ever face herself again. Better to die than to live with what she'd done to that poor silly boy. All he'd ever wanted to do was make her happy. He'd cooked her favorite meals, taken care of her when she was sick, and put himself between her and an Angels attack time and time again.
Well who asked him, but she knew. She didn't have to ask him. He'd loved her, even if he couldn't admit it until the end. The end that shouldn't have been, but she'd ended it. Forever.
She couldn't return to Japan now. They'd all blame her for killing their Messiah, that was how the others would look on her. They thought Shinji was their Messiah, the new Christ, who'd given mankind back it's existence. But he was more than that, he was Shinji, and that meant more than any of them could ever know. He was kind, even if it hurt him. He'd fight for them, even if it meant he had to be broken and beaten to win. And now, like all good Messiah's, he'd died for them. No. He died for her. Because of her.
The tears began to pour from her eyes, and she was wracked with sobs, as she engaged the autopilot, and headed west.
Maybe just maybe she could return to Germany. To her homeland. And there she'd do her best to honor Shinji's memory, by becoming the kind of woman he really deserved. Even if it took forever.
Now, cried out, and exhausted beyond belief, she just wanted a place to land a refuel. Heck, a place to land would be enough. Even if she couldn't find fuel, just getting down safe would be a blessing at this point. She was on vapors.
Then she saw it, in the gathering dark, a long strip of gray in the midst of the green, right on the edge of the Russian steppes. An airfield. She banked the F-22, and deployed her air brakes, slowing down, until she was cruising towards the landing strip at the perfect speed for a touchdown. There were several Russian jets parked along the sides of the runway in front of their hangars, but, thankfully, nothing on the runway to block her path.
She touched down at the Russian Airbase in Novosibirsk at a few minutes before local sunset. She taxied down the runway, until she came to the end, where a long string of buildings looking like barracks for the Russian pilots were, and stopped. Killing her electronics, she grabbed the survival gear out of the plane, and started to explore, hoping she wouldn't find anything dangerous, and would find a place to spend the night in some comfort.
Very early the next morning Asuka walked out of the barracks where she had spent the night and looked around. It took some searching but she eventually found the mess hall, and a well stocked kitchen. The perishable food had long since rotted away, and only the canned goods remained. She pulled a can opener from her emergency sack, and opened a can of peaches. As she slurped them down, she gathered other cans and stuffed them into her pack, for later. She found several tins of tuna, and canned chicken, and opened one, greedily gulping it down.
Finished with her breakfast, she returned to where her F-22 was parked, and began looking around the field for some fuel. She found it, but it was useless. Fuel normally had stabilizers in it, allowing it to remain in it's liquid state, and useful for long periods of time, but some aircraft fuels had special additives that had other properties. One of these additives made the fuel foam when it was sprayed, rather than turning into a combustible vapor, which made it very safe. It also made the fuel turn into a solid mass of something like gelatin, if it was left in it's tanks too long without stiring.
Evidently no one had been here to stir this batch.
Well, it looked like she was on foot, until she could find a car that worked. Turning, she walked back to the barracks, and tried to start every vehicle in the lot. Not one of them did more than click when she turned the key. Their batteries had discharged in their months of inattention. Well, it looked like she was going to have to go into the city proper to see if she could find a car with a good battery, or maybe a new battery in some shop that she could swap out for a dead one.
She had difficulty reading the street sighs, and the few phone booths did not have directories or even maps of the city. She was tired and frustrated when she heard the sound. Footsteps. One than one persons footsteps, and they were coming towards her. She could hear their shuffling approach, as they moved, sought cover, and moved again, ever closer.
Finally she saw a shadow move, and she said in what she hoped was a good approximation of Russian, "Hello, I know you're there, come out."
There was a loud whispering, and three ragged men appeared, boxing her in with a large building at her back.
"Hi guys, you wouldn't know where I could rent a car would you?" she asked nervously. She'd never seen men look that way in real life. That sort of lost vacant expression that said they were capable of anything.
They said nothing, instead one of them moved closer to her, taking a knife from a hip sheath, and brandishing it.
"Now look I don't want any trouble," she said. This wasn't good each of these men outweighed her by probably double. They were well fed, but hungry for something else, and Asuka had the distinct impression she was on their menu.
'Great where's Shinji when I need him,' she thought, and instantly regretted it. Then, while she was watching the one with the knife, the one behind her grabbed a handful of her hair, and twisted it, snapping her head back towards him. He put a blade to her exposed neck.
"You come look for excitement, eh?" he said, his breath foul
"We give you excitement. You have wonderful date with all three of us. You be nice and maybe we let you keep pretty hair and face," he said, dragging the knife down her cheek.
Asuka screamed, and tried to fight her way clear, but they threw her down and began kicking her. She caught a blow to her head, and one to the stomach, and began to gasp for air. One of the men stood between her legs and kicked her as hard as he could in the crotch with his steel toed boots. Asuka felt something explode under the assaults, and passed out from the pain.
She dreamed then.
She dreamed that Shinji was calling her name, and that he was desperately hurt. In her dream she spoke to him at length, explaining why she needed to return to Germany, to be away from him. He said he understood, but then he said it was time for him to die. She sobbed, and wanted to know why, and he'd told her of a destiny, and a new danger, one that was killing him even as he spoke to her. She couldn't bring herself to say what she wanted him to know, but she had to give him hope. So she told him to wait for her, and that she'd be back, if he just waited. Satisfied, the dream Shinji had appeared to awaken from the dream, and vanished. Asuka too, slowly faded from her dream, vanishing as she drifted into a deeper, healing, sleep.
When she awoke hours later, she was in a small clearing within the nearby forest. Her clothes were ripped to shreds and she was bleeding from numerous cuts. She cried. They'd had their way with her unconscious body, and left her for dead. It was a miracle she was alive at all. The attack, passing out, that odd dream, none of it seamed real, and even now it was fading.
She got unsteadily to her feet, and wondered away from the city, which she could see though a hole in the trees. She came out onto a large farm. There were several breaches in the fences that circled the place, and a few cattle lingered here and there, grazing on the grass and wheat that seemed to be growing in wild abundance here.
There was also a horse. Beautiful, cream colored, with a white blaze and white socks. She walked up to him, speaking softly, and stroked his mane. He accepted her caress, and, when she made a move toward the barn, followed her, as if he knew what was expected. There Asuka found some riding gear, and put it on him along with a saddle bag. It was empty now, but she thought that she could always go back to the airbase and get more supplies. As long as she stayed clear of the city, they'd never know she'd survived.
So she saddled up the horse, and mounted, riding him leisurely in an arc back to the airfield where she re-equipped herself, before turning the horse and heading west across the Steppes. She hadn't planned on riding a horse all the way to Germany, but you took what you were given in this world. Besides, the horse would be a better companion to her than she would be to the horse, she new.
By the time the sun set, she was miles and miles from the city. Within which the bodies of three men were torn and tattered, nearly squashed flat, but all dead. Killed by a strange orange glow that had erupted from their latest victim, as they had kicked her helpless form into unconsciousness. They had never had the chance to complete the act they had been planning, had never even started, before that weird orange field was crushing them against the wall of the building they stood in front of before propelling the girl into the forest, and then vanishing.
Next on Episode 2:11 of Neon Genesis Evangelion Attempting to discover exactly what he has become, Misato and Ritsuko each talk to Shinji about what happened inside the EVA, and attempt to gain some insights into his ability to join with the EVA. Shinji joins with the EVA so that Ritsuko can run some tests, and discovers his control over his AT field has changed.
It's Evangelion Episode 2:11 Testing the limits.
A/N: Spoiler warning, but a needed explanation for a couple of scenes above.
A couple of people have pointed out that the scene where Asuka is assaulted is rather disturbing. Then her memory of the event, hazy and distorted, doesn't help the situation. I actually planned it that way, so I need to explain.
When Asuka is attacked by the gang, she's beaten pretty severely, and assumes she's been assaulted. She doesn't realize that her AT field kicked in, as she passed out, and killed the men, throwing her clear, and into the forest.
Having never been treated this way before she is shocked and emotionally scarred by the attack. She will eventually find respite and happiness, and even, with the help of a therapist, discover what really happened, but not before it results in the total re-shaping of her personality.
(readers will be told this has happened, but I don't think I'll go into it. Not a happy experience, for most people to read about. I know first hand it's not pleasant to live through)
Between this, and the belief that she's killed Shinji, the Asuka we meet in later chapters will be quite different, and her eventual reunion with the young man will allow her to blossom into the kind of person we all hoped she would someday become.
Thanks for the R&R, I'll try to update every few days, as this thing is just pouring out of me one or two chapters at a time.
Stormofdragons