Part Two

In Darkness I Hide

"What's wrong with him?" Asked Asuka, sitting beside Shinji, as he lay unconscious on the hospital bed. His chest heavily strapped. Misato stood on the other side of his bed stroking the back of his hand. He had been unconscious since that morning. After the 'incident' he had spent the day in the hospital wing.

"Shinji has a partially collapsed windpipe and three broken ribs." Replied Ritsuko in her typical scientist tone of voice.

"How the hell did that happen?" yelled Misato, looking at the people present.

"It seems," said Ritsuko "that Shinji was not checked out after the last angel attack."

"What?" exclaimed Asuka and Misato.

"With the 'trouble' after the last attack, Shinji's subsequent incarceration and your eagerness to take him home, Misato. His injuries were overlooked." Ritsuko said without so much as a flutter in her voice.

"But that was three days ago!" yelled Asuka, both anger and concern heavy in her voice "You're telling me you left him wounded for three days just because he was overlooked?"

Only now did the blonde doctor show a small tinge of guilt and sympathy for the fourteen-year-old lying unconscious in front of her, turning away from his still form. Asuka was about to launch into another verbal assault when Misato stopped her, even though she would have very much liked to beat some sensitivity into her old friend.

Misato leaned close to Asuka and whispered "I know you're angry, I am to, but we can't let Ritsuko find out why he collapsed. Just let me do the talking alright?"

Asuka looked like a nuclear reactor about to go critical but slowly brought her emotions into check. As much as she hated to admit it, Misato was right it wasn't going to help Shinji. She looked over at the boy she had grown so very fond of, lying there with a pained look on his face. She knew that it wasn't his wounds that were causing this, she knew that he was being assaulted by his memories. Memories of abandonment, pain and the loss of those he could not save. She knew the pain memories could bring.

Even she could not have possibly imagined just how horrible the images inside his head were.

"MAKE IT STOP!" screamed the helpless boy, as he watched the black behemoth before him be torn to pieces, feeling every ligament tear and bone break. He felt everything; felt how easily the bio-weapons flesh gave way, how weakly it surrendered its hidden centre. He felt the entry plug being picked up, slick with blood. Trying desperately to stop this horror he beat the controls of his Evangelion but the nightmare continued. He heard the metal creak and groan under the immense pressure struggling to protect its precious core. Then, helplessly he watched as the plug was crushed, LCL and blood dripping through his fingers. He let cry a scream of pure unbridled agony and once more beat down on the controls of the purple beast. The yokes shattered at the blow, fracturing the throne of the soul and cracking the plug itself. Another blow destroyed the plug and sent it's shattered remains flying in all directions, leaving only a black abyss and a mirror. Looking into the mirror the boy was confronted by an all to particular visage. The orange glasses seemed to bore into his very core, filling him with a morbid sense of dread. The boy turned away, trying to escape the image, only to find another staring straight at him. He spun in all directions, trying hopelessly to escape, but finding only more spectres glowering over him. He tried to cover his eyes and let the nightmare end, only to find something even more horrifying. Gloves, those gloves, he stared in horror at what he beheld before him. He was wearing a pair of bloodied white gloves. He tracked up his arms, finding a dark dress coat and red skivvy. Slowly he reached for his face and felt a thin layer of untidy stubble. He shot upright and faced the mirrors, finding his father's reflection, mimicking his every move, that smug smile never leaving its face. In a last desperate attempt to flee, he lashed out at the reflections breaking the mirrors around him. He looked down at the shredded gloves, blood slowly trickling from the new wounds. Then he realised that the blood was beginning to flow faster, running down his arms.

"You are a murderer, third child" boomed a voice from the darkness. Shinji tried to scream, but found his face frozen into a smile, a smile which was growing more maniacal with each passing second. The face was no longer that of Gendo Ikari but now his own.

A massive pair of orange eyes appeared before him, moving towards him slowly and purposefully. Like something floating upward from a darkened sea the being began to take form. A giant Gendo Ikari, wearing the same maniacal grin as his 'son', reached towards the boy with a giant bloodied hand. The hand closed around the boy and brought him towards the monsters mouth. It opened its jaws to reveal a set of squared red metal teeth.

Shinji struggled with all his might to escape the creatures grasp but to no avail. As the monster of Gendo Ikari brought its great maw down around him, the last thing the boy saw was the ruined body of Touji Suzahara already lying broken over the devil's teeth.

Sorry about the short chapter guys, but it was surprisingly hard to write, also I want to let this one sink in a bit, as the way I've set it out may be a little difficult to understand. I wrote an alternate ending to this chapter, if anyone would like to have a read e-mail me and I'll send it to you. I'll try and have the next chapter up within the next few days. Unfortunately I have a horrible habit of losing all direction mid chapter so they can take a while.

Anyway, until next time, avoid being eaten by giant, menacing, steel teethed versions of yourselves. Good advice I think.

-Azrael