Part Fourth
"Well... we could try asking Ritsuko or Misato for help..." Shinji suggested.
"One problem though," Asuka replied, "How do we prove that you're really inside my head? I can't just walk up to them and say 'Shinji's mind got ripped from his body, took up residence in my brain and has been talking to me' without some way of proving it."
"I see your point." Shinji conceded.
They lapsed into a thoughtful silence for a while before either spoke again. Shinji was the one that spoke up first. "We might not need to tell anyone... maybe we can solve this on our own."
"What do you mean?" Asuka asked, intrigued.
Again, she thought she felt Shinji smile, though it was less pronounced this time. "I've got an idea." he replied.
- M - I - N - D -
"Thermal expansion?" the young man quipped without looking away from the screen.
Apache groaned at the very poor attempt at a joke.
The young man let out a long sigh. "You're right... I'm really not cut out for humor, am I?"
The young man took a deep breath and explosively exhaled, still facing the monitor. "Sorry Shinji, but I doubt physics is going to be able to do the trick this time..."
* G * A * M * E * S *
"Asuka!" Misato's voice called out, causing Asuka to jump slightly in surprise. Shinji's idea would have to wait. She just hoped he wouldn't forget it before they had another chance to talk.
"What is it? I just got out of the shower!"
"Since you're feeling better, you still have to go to school today." Misato said. She looked at Pen-Pen, who had already begun the countdown with his claws. Five... four... three... two... one...
"WHAT did you say?!?!?" came the towel-garbed redhead's reply. It was plain to see that she was less than happy with the news. In all seriousness, she looked infuriated.
'We have temper-tantrum....I repeat, we have temper-tantrum.' Misato thought to herself. "I said 'since you're feeling better...' "
"WHY?!?" Asuka interrupted, "Right after an Angel attack? That's crazy, Misato!! Not to mention just plain stupid!"
"The Board of Education feels that its best for students to maintain as normal a routine as possible." Misato lectured..
"But..."
Misato placed her hands on her hips and gave Asuka a I'll-tolerate-no-nonsense-from you-right-now look. "There's no buts about it, Asuka. Its better for you than moping around here all day, anyway."
Asuka sighed mentally. 'There isn't gonna be any way around this is there?'
"I doubt it." came Shinji's reply. "She seems to be in "superior officer" mode, its much easier to just go along with it before she makes it an official order."
Asuka grudgingly agreed, but she felt that she didn't have to be happy about it. She stalked off to her room to get ready for school.
+ M + I + N + D +
The young man pauses in his typing as a thoughtful look appears in his eyes.
"I wonder if Asuka ever used the excuse 'An angel ate my homework' to get out of an assignment?" he muses aloud, then returns to work.
- G - A - M - E - S -
"That's your idea?" Asuka asked aloud, sounding highly critical. Thankfully, the street was completely devoid of both traffic and people, or else Asuka would have been the object of every passerby's bewildered stares.
"Well, it's the best I could come up with." Shinji said defensively. "Have you thought of anything better?"
"Not yet, but I'm sure I will." Asuka shot back, almost growling.
"I hope so." Shinji said, surprising her. She knew he wasn't lying, as she could feel his heartfelt sincerity along with his words, and it confused her a little. "Asuka, remember not to answer out loud. You don't want to be given away, do you?" he commented.
"I never thought carrying on a sub-vocalized conversation could be so frustratingly irritating." Asuka thought/spoke; her lips, tongue and vocal chords moving almost imperceptibly.
"I... I'm sorry Asuka." Shinji apologized, crestfallen. "I didn't realize I was bothering you... Call me if you want to talk some more later..."
Again, Asuka felt the presence of her roommate suddenly disappear. She felt an urge to call him back, but she decided against it. They'd talk more later, she told herself, it wasn't as if he were going anywhere else. She completed the rest of the walk to school in silence.
She plunked down in her seat with a quiet sigh. There was no sign of the other two stooges, and Hikari was currently talking with Yuriko Mitsumishia, and had not seen that Asuka had arrived yet.
Though she had felt well rested when she woke up this morning, Asuka now felt quite tired, though she couldn't figure out why. She just didn't have the energy to join in gossip and idle chit-chat at the moment. She pillowed her head with her arms on the desk and let her mind wander.
'Why did Shinji run away like that?' she pondered. 'Was it what I said? I thought he'd learned to take a joke, by his actions earlier. What caused him to get so sensitive all of a sudden? It just doesn't make any sense... one moment he's shooting back just as good as he gets, and the next he's... well, he's acting like he normally did not too long ago. Why?'
"Hey, Asuka." Hikari's voice tore Asuka from her thinking. Looking over at her friend, Asuka smiled weakly.
"Good morning, Hikari." she greeted the class representative. "How are you?"
"I'm fine, Asuka." Hikari replied, though she sounded concerned for some reason. "But how are you? I know there was an attack yesterday. When you didn't call me that evening, I started to worry about you."
'Good old Hikari.' Asuka thought to herself with a slight smile. 'Always worrying about everyone else.'
"I'm fine, Hikari." she assured her friend. "I was... I was just so tired afterwards, that I forgot to call."
"I'm just glad you're okay." Hikari said.
Asuka smiled confidently. "Of course I'm okay! I'm Asuka Langley Sorhyu, EVA pilot extraordinaire!!"
Hikari found her friend's smile and confidence infectious, and grew a smile of her own. "You're right Asuka, how silly of me to be worried."
Though Asuka had fooled Hikari with her words of self-confidence, they echoed hollowly to her soul. 'Yeah, you're so extraordinary that Shinji had to get himself hurt pulling your fat out of the fire.' A little voice in the back of her mind mocked. She did her best to silence it, but the memory of it wouldn't easily fade.
Hikari went on to fill Asuka in on the latest in class gossip. Asuka listened, but only commented passively, since her mind was distracted by other things.
"Asuka, where's Shinji?" Hikari asked after a few minutes. "He's going to be late if he doesn't get here soon."
"He... He won't be coming today." Asuka told her. 'At least not physically.' she added mentally.
"Oh..." Hikari said, feeling it best, by the sound of Asuka's voice, to let the matter drop. Seconds later the teacher arrived, and Hikari performed her daily duty as the class rep. "Everybody, stand. Bow. Sit down." The elderly teacher began taking the morning's roll call.
Asuka settled in for yet another boring day of tuning out elderly teacher who continued to prattle on about the days before Second Impact. Soon she was staring blankly at the fascinating screen-saver that had come up on her laptop's screen.
Some indeterminate time later, Asuka thought she heard the music of a stringed instrument coming from somewhere. She quickly glanced around and noticed that none of the other students had seemed to notice it. 'Is it who I think it is?' she wondered.
"Shinji...Are you there Shinji?" She subvocalized, careful not to make a sound or any obvious lip movements. The music stopped, and she soon felt Shinji's presence in her head.
"Asuka? Was there something you wanted?" he asked.
"I heard cello music a few seconds ago... Did you have anything to do with that?" she queried.
"Er... Sorry, I just learned how to create things in here. I thought I'd get a little practice in. I'll stop if its bothering you."
Asuka replied quickly for fear he'd be gone again. "No, it didn't bother me any, Shinji. Actually it was rather nice. Much more interesting than listening to that old fossil of a teacher or watching the fish swimming back and forth on my screen."
She thought she felt Shinji smile slightly. "I guess even my playing can't be as bad as having to pay attention to those things." he said. "So, you use the fish tank screensaver? The mystique has always been my personal favorite."
"Do you realize how old that one is?" Asuka asked, a bit surprised at his preference. "That one predates Second impact by about a decade!"
"I guess I'm just a guy with old fashioned tastes." Shinji replied.
"I'd have never have pegged you as one of those."Asuka told him. She couldn't help but smile. She was glad he was acting less like a wimp again. She found it much easier to talk to him when he was like this for some reason. "What song were you playing, anyway?"
Asuka felt Shinji grow uncomfortable from the question. "I... I wasn't really playing anything." he said. "I was just... well, playing what felt right, I guess."
"You mean you were just making it up as you go along?" Asuka asked, a little surprised.
"Er... yeah, I guess that's one way of putting it." Shinji replied.
"It was pretty nice." she told him.
Though she felt them, she could not understand Shinji's feelings of embarrassment and uncertainty that followed her words. 'What could have possibly brought that on?' she wondered briefly. 'All I did was compliment him... Is that what made him react like that? Why?'
It was a while before either spoke again. Finally, Asuka broke the wall of silence between them. "Could you play some more?" she asked.
Shinji was quite surprised by her request. "S-sure I'll play. If its alright with you, that is..."
Asuka bit her lip in agitation. "I asked, didn't I?"
She felt another flush of embarrassment from Shinji. "Any requests?" he asked.
"Not really." Asuka replied. "Doing what you were doing earlier would be fine."
"O-okay." Shinji said.
Shinji's cello once more began to sing its gentle song into the ears of Asuka's mind. Despite his claim that it was completely random, Asuka felt that Shinji's music had a definite form and melody to it. It made her think of pictures of clouds floating in the clear sky, riding on its blue winds. It was quite relaxing, really, causing Asuka to release tensions she wasn't even aware she was holding.
Unconsciously, Asuka began to think/play her violin in accompaniment to the music. Though a bit surprised by it, Shinji continued to play without being thrown by it. It wasn't too hard, he'd later reflect... She played an excellent counterpoint; the strong, vibrant song of her violin giving new life and form to the melody. As they played, their two songs gradually attuned to one another, each forming the perfect compliment to the other. Though they showed no semblance of any harmonizing motion, the two melodies somehow naturally fit together.
The sound of the lunch bell brought the mental duet to a startled halt. Apparently, neither had kept track of time, and lunch had crept up on them. Asuka's attention snapped back to reality.
"I assume you don't have a lunch today, huh?" came Hikari's voice from beside her.
Asuka turned to her friend. "No," she replied.
Hikari smiled warmly. "You're in luck." she said. "I packed more than enough for two today. Would you like to share?"
"Hikari," Asuka said with a relieved smile, "You're a true friend."
"I...I'll leave you two alone now." Shinji's voice echoed in her mind, then vanished along with the feeling of his presence. Asuka felt strange with him being gone from her conscious mind. It was as if a part of something suddenly wasn't there any more.
She shrugged off as she got to her feet. "Let's eat."
- M - I - N - D -
The dark bedroom was slowly filling with the grey light of day's dawning. As he had done many times already, the young man yawned as he extended his arms skywards in a lazy stretch. He rubbed at the sleep creeping into his dry eyes and returned his deadened stare to the screen in front of him.
"Emotional connection developments in subject Asuka now confirmed." he reported with a weary sigh. "Cerebral digestion process suspected to be imminent due to the recent appearance of several symptoms, though further clarification is required for proper diagnosis. Proceeding to observe subject Shinji's reactions."
+ G + A + M + E + S +
Shinji felt strange after returning to the quiet void of Asuka's brain... Though he tried to put a label to the feeling, he found that he really could not classify it. Giving up after a few minutes of struggling stubbornly to fit the emotion into a category, Shinji's thoughts moved on to less structured matters.
Asuka... She sure knew how to play a violin well. Shinji couldn't remember a time when he'd had more fun with music.
Their little duet had been a truly amazing experience for him. For the first time in long while, Shinji felt truly connected to another human being. Sure, he was inside her brain and everything, but even then, he still felt he lacked the feeling of being connected closely to another human being. After she had joined him with her violin, though, something changed. He'd felt... joined somehow, on some sort of spiritual/emotional level with Asuka. It was rather... pleasant, actually; while it had lasted anyway. And now...
...And now he missed it. 'Funny,' he thought to himself, 'You really can't appreciate what you've never experienced, and once have experienced those things, you learn to really notice its absence.'
Sighing, Shinji shook his head slowly. His luck being as it was, he'd never feel that way again. Trying not to get depressed over that particular epiphany, he reminded himself that it had been awful nice while it had lasted, though that was a very small comfort.
"I wonder..." Shinji mused aloud, trying to turn his thoughts completely away of such thoughts, "How long are they gonna take for lunch?"
+ M + I + N + D +
"Significant emotional connection development in subject Shinji has been confirmed." the young man reports as he scratches the side of his head absently. "Subject Shinji shows no sign of being affected by cerebral digestion, nor does the subject appear aware of the possibility."
+ G + A + M + E + S +
"So..." Hikari began soon after they had settled into their regular spot for lunch. "What had you smiling so dreamily during class today?"
Asuka stopped in mid-bite and looked over at her friend. Slowly lowering the food away from her mouth, she answered, "What do you mean?"
"You can't fool me, Asuka." Hikari chided, a playful grin on her face. "I saw you. You were most definitely not paying attention to class, and you had that same misty look in your eye that you get when you talk about that guy Kaji."
Asuka's eyes widened slightly from surprise. 'Was I....was I really acting like that?' she wondered.
Hikari continued, "I've never seen you act like that. It was as if you were off in your own little world."
Asuka frowned as she turned herself inward. 'I'll admit making music with Shinji's mind was pleasant, but... to behave like a grinning idiot like that...how... how...'
"Asuka?" Hikari's voice cut off Asuka's search to find a word to go with the emotion that she felt towards the situation.
"Are you alright?" her friend asked.
Asuka shook her head slightly as if trying to dislodge the confusing emotions and thoughts by physical force. "Everything's fine." she told Hikari while she was mentally working to convince herself of the same thing.
"Then tell me, already!" Hikari laughed. "Were you fantasizing about someone perhaps?" Hikari's smile grew. "Was it anyone I know?"
Asuka's automated self defense responses began to kick in. "What!? Of course I wasn't doing anything of the sort, Hikari!"
Hikari laughed. "Whatever you say, Asuka." she said, her voice taking on placating tone. She tried to hide her teasing smile, but failed. She so rarely had things like this to joke about with the German girl, and was rather enjoying the moment.
"I wasn't!" Asuka repeated indignantly.
"Then what was it that had you smiling like that?" Hikari asked.
The question summoned up the memories of that strangely pleasant feeling she had felt when she had been making music with Shinji. She remembered how it had felt when the two of them had been interrupted and Shinji had retreated from her consciousness.
"I was..." Asuka started, her voice sounding distant, "I was thinking about a song."
Hikari blinked. She hadn't expected that kind of reaction out of Asuka. It sounded like she was being perfectly honest though. "It must sure be some song, for you to like it that much." she commented after they'd sat in mutual silence for a few moments.
"Yeah..." Asuka said, her voice very soft and sounding even more distant than before. She looked towards the ground and Hikari saw that her eyes looked as if they were trying to see something miles away. "Yeah, I guess it is."
* M * I * N * D *
"... and now, for something completely different." the young man said with a grin.
+ G + A + M + E + S +
In a place of darkness, around six colored squares of light, sat a gathering of the most powerful men in the world.
"This was not a part of the planned scenario." declared the long needle-nosed man sitting at the yellow-lighted desk. "Nothing of this nature is described in the Dead Sea Scrolls."
"Indeed." commented the visored chairman Keel. "The Thirteenth Angel was not predicted to attack in such a manor."
The broad-shouldered man sitting at the green lighted desk twirled the cigar in his hand thoughtfully. "Hmm. Yes," he said after a few moments contemplation. "But the question is, what does this mean? Are the Dead Sea Scrolls no longer to be trusted?"
Commander Ikari at last spoke up. "If the Enemy that attacked was not as the scrolls described there can be only one solution: that it was not the Thirteenth."
"Explain yourself, Ikari." Keel demanded.
Gendo was unfazed. "It could not have been Bardiel." he replied.
"Your own instruments recognized it as being an Angel!" protested the spider-thin man that sat behind the red desk. "How can you say otherwise?"
Ikari regarded him calmly. "I didn't." he said flatly, with just the slightest trace of arrogance. "I only said that the recent attack was not caused by the Thirteenth Angel. It may very well could have been a different angel."
Gasps came from all board members save for Chairman Keel, whose countenance was made of stuff similar to unyielding granite.
"But... But that's impossible!" stuttered the man with the long needle-like nose.
Commander Ikari smirked from behind his gloves. "Not that long ago, most thought the Katsuragi Super Solenoid Theory was impossible." Gendo remarked. "Nothing is impossible."
"You forget your place Ikari." Keel said gravely.
"I meant no disrespect." Gendo apologized humbly, though there was the nearly undetectable hint of mockery in his voice, assuming you knew where to look for it.
Keel seemed to contemplate him a moment before letting the matter drop and begin speaking again. "The report says the Angel's status is currently unconfirmed."
"We were unable to recover a body, and there was no detonation of an inverted AT field or of a Core." Commander Ikari responded.
"So it still could be out there, somewhere..." the man sitting at the green desk said thoughtfully.
"Indeed." Gendo replied, his glasses flashing ominously.
"That will be all, Ikari." the Chairman said, voice ringing with finality. "Your presence is not required for the rest of the meeting."
The five members of the SEELE council disappeared into the darkness, leaving Gendo Ikari there alone, illuminated by the light of his desk.
+ M + I + N + D +
"That was fun." commented the young man. "How's about we try something a bit new, eh?"
* G * A * M * E * S *
There was a glimmer of thought, an then a presence began to take shape. It sent its call into the expanse of the cosmos.
"It is time. A council is required."
One by one, new presences arrived, until where there once was only one, there were now five shining entities, and ten glowing ones.
"All has been made ready."
"Very well, let the council now begin."
There was a brief moment of silence, in respect for the missing two entities.
"One of our number hath violated the foreordained and threatened the sanctity of what has been decreed that must come to past. Arael, what have you to say?"
The bright white entity moved forth to speak.
"I protest that I have not, in fact, violated the dictates of the foreordained."
"Explain."
"Though it says that we must each preform our test of the lillim's worthiness by the time appointed to us by the dictates, it is not said that we must do nothing else before this predestined time."
"You twist the words of the prophecy for your own ends!"
The sentiment was echoed among the dimmer glowing entities.
"You close on grounds that could call you a blasphemer, Arael."
"Forgive me, my brothers. But these are the words of the prophecy, I did nothing to change them."
"He's right. Nothing is said that such cannot be done. It might very well ensure us our triumph over the lillim."
"Et tu Bardiel? You realize that a Child now may be lost."
"What does it matter? He is merely a lillim. He can be replaced."
"Can he?' there was a brief pause, as if he expected one of the others to answer him, then continued. "Never mind, I concede the point. This council is at an end."
One by one, the entities vanished, until only two were left.
"Something else, Arael?"
"I recognize your... affection for this particular lillim."
"That is not any of your affair."
"I merely worry for you, brother."
With that the presence vanished.
Returning, he opened his eyes, once again seeing the world filtered through LCL.
Your worries are unfounded... "brother." I can still do what needs to be done, when it needs to be done. In the end, the choice shall be mine to make.