Well, here we go again. It's just as well I don't have that much of a social life, because if I did this would never get done. Quickly I should say that there have been a few minor adjustments to the text of the previous chapters, especially chapter 1. I felt I was giving a bit too much away a bit to early so I have made a few slight changes. Nothing major though. Thanks again for all the reviews. All comments are appreciated, even criticism. LIE Fine criticism isn't appreciated per say, but I don't mind - LIE . Fine. I can deal with- LIE Go to hell dammit. Just review.
Me no own. You no sue.
XVII: Promises
Shinji sat in the plastic seat, smiling at the ceiling listening to the laughter only he could hear. Shamshel and Eve were playing in the unchanging memory of his that they had made their home and he could hear the little girl's shrieks of laughter when he chose to listen in. It had been a few days since his return from the purple behemoth and through trial and error Shinji and his two ethereal tenants had established that they could indeed think and speak without the others hearing. It was easy in a way, but completely impossible to describe. It was like shifting his perception slightly, but in another way it wasn't anything like that at all. Explaining what it was like would be like explaining a sunset's colour's to a watermelon in terms it could understand.
A few days of having Misato near permanently attached to him, apparently fearing another disappearing act, of a more voluntary type than being sucked into his Eva. He had assured her several times that he wasn't going anywhere, but it was only recently that she had relented. Her last words before she left him waiting in the Nerv employee lounge for his check up with Doctor Akagi still resonated within him.
'I'll be waiting at home Shinji ok? Please... I'll see you later ok?' He had smiled and nodded, once again noting how much he had come to cherish the older woman in his life. She was the mother he had never had... and one day he might have the courage to tell her that. Shifting uncomfortably in his hard plastic seat Shinji mused that whatever Nerv had intended these chairs for it certainly had not been comfort. Trying to adjust his spine to fit the chair was proving futile, so Shinji settled back resignedly and embraced his pain. Since his re-emergence from the Eva he had been scheduled for a thorough examination, to be sure there had been no contamination of his body as a result of the experience. He was a little nervous about that, seeing as he now had a couple of mental house-guests and his body could apparently calcify at will. This was not something he would appreciate Ritsuko knowing about, though Shamshel had reassured him that there was little chance that anyone would find out. It was in Shinji's nature to worry and like any good hobby he had become better at it as time passed. He could worry on a national level now and was working his way up to international competition.
Absently shifting again and feeling a vertebrae crack sullenly, Shinji quested out to the girls inside his mind intent on answering a question that had been worrying him for a while.
-Eve? Shamshel?-
-Shinji!- Eve's piping voice answered his query followed by Shamshel's slightly calmer response. Not by much though.
-Hey girls.-
-Are you coming to play?- Shinji laughed.
-Not yet Eve. I just wanted to ask you both a couple of questions if you don't mind.-
-Ok!-
-Yeah Shin, what's up?- Shinji felt himself twitch at the nickname Shamshel had given him, thankful only for the fact that Eve hadn't started copying her. He had the depressing feeling that it was only a matter of time though. Suppressing a sigh at the giggle he heard from Shamshel, making it apparent that she knew just how little he appreciated the nickname she had bestowed upon him, he continued.
-Eve, you said that you talked to other people when you were in the Evangelion? Two people like you?-
-Yep! Evandiel and Eva! I've never seen them, but I could talk to them most of the time. But I can't hear them anymore. First Evandiel stopped talking, then Eva. I don't know what happened.- At the last the little girl's voice was quiet. Shinji remembered that these people had been her only real friends for so long.
'Evandiel and Eva... Unit 00 and Unit 02. The first is gone... not much I can do about that, but if I'm right and the one of the two people Eve knew is in Unit 02 and disappeared after the incident with the 15th... I might be able to free them...' Shinji thought to himself resigned to the fact that his head was going to become a lot more crowded pretty soon. Turning his attention back to the others he continued.
-Shamshel, what about the other's trapped in the Evangelions? Is there anything we can do for them?- He referred to his mother and the two others in the Evangelions. One he assumed to be Asuka's mother, the other he had no idea about. From what he knew of Rei he figured the closest thing she really had to a mother was Yui Ikari. And he knew exactly where she was already. Still there had to have been someone trapped in Unit 00, though they like the girl Eva that Eve spoke of had to be gone now.
-I don't know, Shin. They're souls are not the same as ours. I don't think you can do for them what you have done for us.- Shinji had kind of expected as much.
-What... what about setting them free? Can... do you think I can do that for them?-He couldn't be sure that was what they wanted... but he knew that given the choice himself he wouldn't want to be trapped inside the Eva. He sensed the girl's reluctance to answer the question. -Please. I need to know.-
-I think you might be able to do that, yes.- She answered finally, with no little amount of hesitation. Shinji sighed. He did not know if it was the right decision to make, but at least he knew his option now. Being better informed about what he could and could not do was a benefit always. Leaving the girls to their own devices Shinji tuned back into the real world, realising belatedly that he had been giving to much attention to the silent conversation and might have missed someone talking to him in the real world.
Blinking once or twice as his attention returned to the world around him, he winced briefly at the renewed pain in his back and gave up on hoping the chair would be anything other than eternally uncomfortable. Wrenching his spine away from the chair, Shinji heard loud footsteps echoing down the corridor. Turning towards the sound the young man found himself watching Maya Ibuki approaching him. The young tech smiled brightly at the boy and stopped before him.
"Hey Shinji, Doctor Akagi is ready to see you now." Shinji nodded and stood, glad to be away from the throne of torture. Falling in beside the brunette Shinji walked silently with her through the corridors, winding a path to Ritsuko's office. Maya shifted uncomfortably as they walked, remembering the pilot's last serious encounter with the blonde scientist. She had no doubt that the incident would strain their meetings for sometime. As much as Shinji strained anything anyway. Maya felt that all too often he merely seemed to take things in stride, seeing him become agitated only during the battles against the Angels. At all other times he accepted all that was thrown at him without complaint. The bridge bunny had yet to decide whether this meant he was very strong or incredibly weak.
"Shinji..." The pilot looked at her, surprised by her sudden decision to speak. Shinji didn't dislike Maya; far from it, he always appreciated her cheery personality when they spoke, it was just that those times which they spoke at all were very rare. "What happened with Major Katsuragi and Doctor Akagi at you're last sync test... She didn't mean it. Doctor Akagi has been under a lot of stress lately and... well, it just got the best of her I guess." Shinji continued to walk in silence, remembering the bottle blonde doctor's speech about duty and childishness and his subsequent unusual reaction.
Maya had been right in a way. This next meeting was indeed not one that Shinji was looking forward to particularly. However there was a larger bone of contention between the two of them than her little rant during his test. An ethereal giggle slithered through his mind and dozens of crimson orbs peered through the darkness at him, making him shudder violently. Whether they had possessed souls or not, the deaths of the callously named 'spare parts' did not sit well with Shinji. In addition Akagi's at some times blatant disregard for the safety of the pilots made the boy feel uncomfortable around her. His dislike for Ritsuko Akagi went far beyond any insults she aimed at him, be they directly aimed or absently backhanded. Still, he could tell that Maya only wanted what was best. She didn't know about the clones after all.
"I know Miss Ibuki. It's ok." He heard Maya sigh.
"How many times do I have to tell you to call me Maya? I'm too young and perky to be called Miss Ibuki yet." Shinji couldn't help but smile.
"Ok, Maya it is." He felt slightly uncomfortable calling his superior something so informal, especially since they didn't know each other that well really, but it had been her request so he could hardly say no. A few seconds later they arrived at the infirmary door. After saying a brief good bye to Maya, stumbling over her name in the process, Shinji entered.
Ritsuko was standing on the far side of the room next to a gurney, stocked with medical utensils. Her white lab coat made a startling juxtaposition against the dull grey of the walls behind her. Hearing the door open the woman turned to Shinji and smiled slightly.
"Hey Shinji. Take of your shirt and hop onto the bad and I'll be with you in a second." She turned back to the gurney. Reluctantly Shinji unbuttoned his white shirt and dropped it carefully onto a bright orange chair behind him. Feeling the chill in the clinically cool air Shinji sat on the bed behind the doctor, feeling the springs give as he gave his full weight to the mattress.
After a short while Ritsuko turned back to him, a long thin syringe in her hand. Briefly placing the needle down, she quickly donned two disposable sanitary gloves and turned to Shinji, having taken up the syringe once again.
"I'm just going to take a bit of your blood to run an analysis. We need to make sure that there were no side effects of your stay inside the Eva." Shinji nodded as she spoke before watching her approach. "This might sting a little... there." Shinji winced briefly as the needle was gently eased into his skin, and felt a little light headed, as he always did when he watched his blood being drawn. He was also a bit confused. Up to this point Ritsuko's bedside manner was nothing like this. Hell up to this point Ritsuko's bedside manner was non-existent. She also rarely told him why they did the tests they did. It was... unusual.
Giving the vial of his blood a cursory glance and setting it down, Ritsuko turned back to him.
"Take off you're shoes and step onto the scales Shinji. We'll do a quick check to see if we need to change your body parameters for the sync data." Shinji nodded unlacing his shoes quickly. Standing from his position on the bed he turned and nearly ran into Ritsuko, surprising him with her closeness. As he tried to mutter an apology and divert his path around her she caught his shoulder and stopped him.
"Hold on a second Shinji." The doctor stood in front of the young man, making him fidget and want to avoid her gaze. It quickly became apparent though that if he looked down to avoid her eyes all he would see was her impressive bust. His fidgeting increased tenfold. "Has the plug suit become a bit tight recently Shinji?"
Shinji, thinking all the wrong things about what would and would not be tight in a plug suit nearly fainted before he heard Ritsuko continue.
"Around the shoulders and back, right?" Shinji relaxed abruptly.
"Y-yeah. It's been a getting a little tight, but I only really noticed a short while ago." Ritsuko hummed.
"You have gotten taller. Maybe it's time we got you a new suit. I'll measure you when you're on the scale so we can see then. On you get." Moving out of his way, Ritsuko allowed him to get to the small set of scales in the corner. In front of the scales a tape measure seemed to be pinned to the wall, doubling as a height chart. Stepping on the pressure pad Shinji faced directly forwards at the doctor's request. The process only took a few seconds as Ritsuko jotted down some brief notes on her pad, before slipping it back inside the pocket of the lab coat she wore. "Back on the bed please Shinji." She said brightly.
A few hours passed in this manner, with the suddenly friendly scientist taking various samples of saliva and... other bodily fluids. Most of the test were fairly passive, such as testing Shinji's reflexes and eye co-ordination. More involving ones such as strength and endurance trials quickly tired the boy out, though both he and the doctor were surprised to find that his stamina score had significantly increased. Shinji was ruefully musing on what jokes Misato could wrangle out of the fact that he had uncommonly high stamina for his body weight when Ritsuko ushered him onto the next test.
The only brief blossom of embarrassment was when Ritsuko insisted on taking a semen sample. Shinji spent a good ten minutes behind a quickly curtained off area of the room trying to...provide the required sample. It was only when Ritsuko teasingly asked if Shinji would like her to fetch Maya to provide him some assistance, or if he would like her to come around and give him a hand herself that the task was completed. The image of Maya or Ritsuko - separate or together - in such a circumstance quickly accomplished the job.
He couldn't help but feel sheepish when he came out from behind the curtain. The admittedly attractive blonde doctor was smiling at him and he had a brief flash of cat like ears peeking through her dyed tresses. Shaking his head to clear his mind he handed the small cup to Ritsuko trying not to allow all the blood in his body to turn his face florescent.
Ritsuko chuckled quietly and muttered something about 'still having the touch.' Shinji tried to ignore her.
The tests came to an end eventually, just after the young lab rat had decided that all the physical endurance tests had him feeling like road kill. Snagging his shirt and slipping it on he turned to leave, still fiddling with the buttons.
"Shinji?" Pausing he turned back to Ritsuko, surprised she wanted something of him now that the tests were completed. After he finished doing up his last button he raised his face to meet hers, confused by her silence. "Shinji...I-I'm sorry..." It took a lot of will power not to gape.
"I'm sorry I've always seemed like I care more about the mission than about the pilots, it's just that... without all of you... we have no hope. But now that it's all over, I'd still like you to stay. Remember that Misato isn't the only one who'd care if you left us, ok Shinji?" With that Ritsuko smiled weakly and hugged the boy gently. Not knowing what to do, or how to react the boy found himself hesitantly hugging the woman back, his face buried in the white expanse of her lab coat's shoulder.
After a while she pulled away, smiling at him again.
"I'm sorry about that. Guess I'm getting more emotional, huh?" Shinji smiled as best he could and began to turn away for the door. As he moved he knew that he could not leave the woman with only silence as a response. Stopping in the doorway, he turned back to see the woman leaning over the gurney silently. She stiffened when he spoke, but did not turn around.
"I-I meant what I said before. I'm not going anywhere. This is my home." Embarrassed he turned away and left the room, gone before he could see the woman's body begin to quake with the tears that slipped across her cheeks.
"Thank you..."
Though exhausted by his ordeal, Shinji Ikari had one last thing to do before he returned to the Katsuragi apartment. Turning away from the infirmary Shinji wandered through the hallways of Nerv, largely unnoticed by the wandering personnel. Technicians wandered through the hall and corridors mostly in groups of one or two, some pouring over notes and files and some just chatting amiably. The young man dodged between them all, his mind digesting the incident with the blonde doctor only a few minutes prior. So far he had gotten to:
'What the hell just happened?' His progress was less than significant. Ritsuko had never acted that way as long as he had known her and the sudden change had stunned Shinji. He smiled softly when he remembered her words to him before he left and his own. 'I guess in a way this is my home after all.'
-Shinji? Are we getting closer? I can feel something nearby.- Shinji avoided the glances of two Nerv employees as they passed and replied silently.
-We'll be there in a few more minutes. I'm taking a round about way so that if anyone asks I can just say I wondered there without thinking.- Turning left at a corridor intersection Shinji stuffed his hands into his pockets and kept his head down.
-Aren't you putting to much effort into this, Shin? It's not like men in black suits are gonna jump ya if you walked straight there ya know.- Shinji ignored the nickname and continued on, espying another intersection up ahead. If he remembered correctly there was a lift immediately around the corner of he left hand junction. That would take him into the lower levels.
-Just being careful. I don't know how far I can trust this place after all.- Shamshel gave a non-committal grunt.
-Shinji... when we're done here will you come play with me?- Shinji could hear the plea in Eve's voice. He knew that she was afraid that her friend... Evandiel was gone. Asking him to play with her was her way of re-affirming that he, at least was still there.
-Of course. As soon as we're finished here and I get home, I'll come visit ok?-
-Yay!- Shinji couldn't help but smile. The two girls had become so much like the little sisters he had never had, which was laughable seeing as at least one was an eternity older than he was. But both of them were so childlike he couldn't help but see both of them as younger than him. Smiling at the absurdity Shinji turned left and came to the steel doors he had expected.
Finding that the lift was only a few floors above him he pressed the button then leaned on the wall to wait.
-My legs are killing me. Damn tests.- Shinji lifted one foot of the floor, than the other trying to ease the ache in his muscles as he waited for the lift to arrive at his floor. Eve spoke again.
-Shinji... do you think we'll find Evandiel? Will he be ok?- The boy sighed, not really wanting to answer the question. He simply didn't know whether Unit 02's innate 'soul' was well or not, or if they would find him at all. He didn't want to give the girl an answer which might turn out to be wrong all too soon.
-Don't worry. I'm sure everything will be ok.-
'Coward.' He thought to himself. He turned back towards the lift and was startled to see that the doors were open and that the sole occupant of the compartment was staring at him calmly, apparently waiting for him to enter the lift. Her crimson gaze held him as she watched him curiously. Blushing a little Shinji hurriedly stepped into the lift next to Rei Ayanami and went to press the button for the Evangelion cages. He paused, somewhat startled, when he noticed that the button for the cages was already illuminated. It seemed that the Evangelions were Ayanami's destination also.
'This might make thing's harder. I can't think why she'd want to visit Unit 01 and since she is piloting Asuka's Unit 02 now, it makes more sense for her to be going there.' Uncommonly for the young man he found himself cursing the company of the quiet Rei Ayanami. Most of the time he enjoyed her company, silent though it was. She placed no demands on him and that was perfectly acceptable to Shinji. He was not particularly talkative himself so he did not begrudge the silence. It was true that when he had first met her she had scared him a little, but developments since then had allowed a friendship of sorts to bloom between the two.
His new found knowledge of Rei's origins had made him intensely uncomfortable around the girl however. As such he was uncertain where he stood when it came to her. She seemed so different from the Rei he had known and had in a limited way formed a friendship with, but some of who she was he recognised from the Rei he had first gotten to know. It was like seeing a complete stranger's personality mixed with a friend's.
"I eat sand."
"Wuh?" Shinji was startled out of his reverie and turned to stare at Rei, confused and questioning his hearing. Rei repeated herself.
"What are your plans?" She looked at him, seeing his incomprehension. "What do you plan to do when you reach the Evangelion cages? You do not normally visit them." Shinji relaxed slightly, though he was still slightly uneasy. Rei rarely initiated conversation, at least the Rei that he knew did not. This was one of the albino girl's newer traits it seemed.
"Ahhh, n-nothing really... I was just wandering around Nerv and thought I'd go down and... think for a while." Shinji was conscious of the fact that this wasn't the best excuse he could have come up with. "What about you, Ayanami?" The girl remained silent, but Shinji was used to this. It seemed to be arbitrary choice as to whether or not the girl would answer any question posed to her. It seemed that she had no interest in answering this one.
After a while her quiet voice broke the silence, somewhat startling the boy.
"Sohryu's Unit 02. It... rejects me. And I cannot open myself to it fully. I wish to know why this is."
"Do you think spending time with it will answer your questions?" The girl hesitated.
"I do not know." Shinji couldn't ask for a more honest answer than that. The lift descended in silence.
'She doesn't feel right Shin. It's like standing next to a burnt out candle; you can still feel the heat, but there's no source anymore.'
'Yeah. She feels weird'
Shinji remained silent, thinking about Rei Ayanami. He would explain to Shamshel and Eve later but right now he couldn't afford the distraction. She had caught him spacing out once and that was enough. The doors slid open revealing a metal gantry way, suspended over the orange bakalite sea below. Shinji waited a few seconds before stepping out onto the gantry, allowing the former pilot of Unit 00 top exit first. Passing through the cages they wandered through a couple of empty ones before they got to Unit 02. As Ayanami paused in front of the red behemoth Shinji felt compelled to continue onwards, not wanting to arouse suspicion. he would just have to wait until she was gone. Intending to continue his walk into the adjacent cage he was stopped as Rei spoke once again.
"How was your medical examination with Doctor Akagi? After her... foolishness during our test I would have imagined that your interaction would have been somewhat strained." She did not turn away from gazing into the four dull eyes of Eva Unit 02 while she questioned him softly. Shinji was surprised that Rei had gone as far as to criticize Ritsuko's actions and it made him wonder if the flash of irritation he had glimpsed had really been for the interruption Ritsuko and Misato's argument posed.
"It went ok." There wasn't really much else he could say since he wasn't sure himself what had happened. As he turned a way once more he couldn't help but consider if her interruption of the argument had been because of the distraction it posed... or because she knew it was disturbing him. She had always taken her orders to protect him far too seriously. He tried to dismiss the thought, knowing that such an action would be ridiculously out of character for the taciturn girl. None the less he could not shake the feeling. Preparing himself to look like an idiot he turned a little, watching Rei staring up into the Evangelion's armoured visage.
"Thanks Rei." Quickly he turned and hurried through to the next cage, not waiting for an answer. Which was just as well, because Rei Ayanami did not give one.
Moving quickly Shinji found himself before the purple giant, it's horn extending far over his head. It's two eyes were dull and silent. Much like Unit 02, the Evangelion before him showed no emotions, only a mask. A brief memory skittered across his mind; the face armour falling off the Eva, revealing a grey damaged head. The skin warping and reforming into a vibrant green pupil, excentuated by three odd markings around the outside of the eye at equidistant points. The eye staring at him.
Shinji tried not to shudder. Leaning against the railing behind him, he stared up at the creature before him, seeking some hint of life in it's giant eyes, some hint of his mother within the beast. Finally tiring of such futile efforts he collapsed against the railing allowing his body to slid down the cool metal so that he was sat on the floor before Unit 01. He sighed loudly, thankful to have his weight off his tired feet.
In truth he had no real reasonfor being in Unit 01's cage. He was only there to kill time until Ayanami left so he could examine Unit 02. Slightly bored, Shinji looked around the cage, searching for something of interest. Instead he quickly noticed that video camera's and other observation equipment were scattered across the ceiling. He cursed silently.
'It'll be the same in all the other cages. I'll have to be really careful about what I say and do. Last thing I need are more questions.' Turning his attention back to the leviathan before him, he tensed feeling the shivers in the air and the hair rise on the back of his neck. After a few seconds Shamshel and Eve materialised before him and the sensations disappeared. He was becoming used to that happening now.
"Wow! It's huge!" Eve skipped up to the armour plate and pressed her hands against it in wonder. Shamshel leaned on the railing next to him and watched the little girl.
"So whatcha gonna do now?" Shinji wary of the camera's and the listening devices they no doubt concealed pitched his voice low in response and tried not to look at Shamshel.
"I'll just have to wait until she's finished. Not much I can do." The golden maned girl sighed loudly. So loudly in fact that Shinji was certain that the only reason she did was to make absolutely sure that he heard her sighing.
"Why are you mumbling like a baka? Just think it remember? Yeeshhh..." Shinji couldn't help but blush a little at that. They had all found out the hard way that all Shinji needed to do to talk to the two Angels was to think, rather than actually having to speak. He let a couple of choice thoughts escape before they bothered to correct him. In truth it seemed that even Shamshel was surprised by the fact that they could converse on so many levels.
'But hey, nothing like this has ever happened before, so what do I know?' She had laughed afterwards.Shinji had not been reassured by that little speech. He stayed silent, not seeing much point in repeating himself and still feeling a little embarrassed at his lapse.
Shamshel dropped into a crouch next to him, apparently content to wait with him for his co-pilot to finish. Shinji was reluctant to check on Ayanami too often. The girl had an uncanny ability to tell when she was being watched and by whom. He figured he would wait for a while before investigating whether or not she had left. A quick thought came to him and he readjusted his legs into a rather haphazard lotus position. Before he had come to Tokyo-3 his teachers had taught him the basics of meditation, but it was not a skill that Shinji had ever really picked up on. He had no intention of trying it again now, but figured that it would arouse less suspicion if it seemed like he were actually doing something. He closed his eyes and slumped slightly, not really caring enough about the matter to make his posture perfect.
"So seeing as we're gonna be around each other for a while, do you think you could tell me how many more times I'm gonna end up seeing you naked, Shin?" The boy blushed hotly at her teasing tone. It was true he had ended up in her presence naked far too many times for his personal comfort. Maybe he could get her a bell to ring whenever she was due to appear. A bit of warning would do the world of good. Aside from the blush he felt it was better not responding. He heard her giggle.
With no way of keeping the time Shinji wasn't sure how long he sat there, but it hadn't taken him long to start wishing he had brought his SDAT with him. Between trying to avoid Shamshel's constant teasing and passing the time he could use a peaceful distraction.
'It's like having Misato in my head for crying out loud.' Quick forays into the next cage by the dark skinned girl to check on Rei, something else Shinji was embarrassed to have not thought of, always ended the same way. Rei was still there, just staring up at the red giant. Somehow this did not surprise Shinji.
"Shinji?" The young man's eyes snapped open and he couldn't help but look up in surprise, for it was not Shamshel that had spoken, but Eve.
The girl was stood next to him, apprehensive and worried. Quickly she knelt down next to him and snuggled into his side, while Shinji sat confused and bemoaning the loss of feeling in his legs.
-What's wrong, Eve?- He wasn't sure what exactly she hoped to gain from her position at his side seeing as to him she was insubstantial and would simply fall through if she tried to lean on him. He figured she got some comfort from it though.
"I can hear the lost woman." Shinji stiffened. "It started when I touched the big purple thing and it hasn't stopped. She sounds really lonely and lost." Shinji licked suddenly dry lips.
-C-can I speak to her?- Shamshel answered rather than the little girl.
"I don't think so, Shin." The elder girl crouched on his far side, eyes on the Evangelion that towered above them. "I think when we freed Eve, we left her to fill the void in the Eva alone. It looks like your mom is stuck even deeper within the Evangelion then she was before. I don't think there's anyway to free her now."
Shinji bowed his head in frustration.
'I can't free her... can't get her out of the Eva... and now I can't even free her spirit? I... I won't accept that. I won't accept that.'
"I don't accept that." He bit the words out through a clenched jaw, still muttering quietly. Shamshel went to lay a hand on his shoulder but stopped when she realised that she could not anyway. Both she and Eve shared in Shinji's pain as they saw twin tracks of liquid glimmer as they arced down his cheeks.
Shinji fell deeper into himself, certain that there was a connection between himself and the Eva, one with far more depth than the entry plug. He could feel his half of the connection, feel the end was torn and shredded as if it the link wasn't two halves joined together, but one whole sundered apart. He was connected to the Eva. He just had to find out where. The sounds of the girls faded into the background noise and then even that itself faded away. Shinji felt himself drop.
He opened his eyes. He stood in the field he always came to when visiting the girls in the place they had made for themselves in side him. The tree stood before him, towering upwards with it's leaf coated branches arcing out overhead. The boy reached out and touched the bark of the tree, expecting to feel it's rough surface against his fingers. instead the scene flickered and snapped before his eyes as soon as he touched the grey wood. Suddenly a different scene stood before him. Instead of one tree, there were two instead. Two sakura trees, one slanted to the left and the other to the right, their trunks wrapped around each other and their branches exploding from the centre, covered in pink cherry blossoms. He snatched his hand away and the trees disappeared.
"What the hell...?" Looking around the field he found it much as he always did, mid-calf length vibrant green grass swaying in the soft breeze, the sky a bright and endless blue, soft pastel coloured flowers that he didn't know the names of dotted randomly throughout the greenery. He looked up at he tree. Dark green leaves hung, thick among the numerous thin branches, covering the tree.
"What the hell did you do?" Shinji spun finding a shocked Shamshel and a worried Eve peeking out from behind her. "Next time you're gonna disappear on us give us some warning first!" Her voice softened. "We were worried." Eve nodded her head timidly. Shinji smiled weakly and crouched down in front of the two.
"It's ok Eve. I'm fine." The little girl smiled and hugged him tightly. After a while he tried to let go, but the girl refused, hugging him tighter. Resignedly, Shinji lifted her with his right arm, being careful to hook her legs over his arm so she could use it as a seat. This had become one of her favourite spots since they had met and Shinji had given up on being shocked that he could lift her one armed in this place.
"Thanks Shinji." The little girl smiled up at him and he blushed faintly at her gratitude.
"Well Shin? Why are we here?" Shinji smiled sheepishly at the frowning girl who was standing with her arms crossed, waiting for an explanation. Turning back to the tree he answered as best he could.
"There's a connection here. Somewhere. I have a connection to the Unit 01, the same as I have a connection to both of you. I can feel it." He trailed off softly, reaching out to touch the tree once more. "I just have to find it."
His fingers touched the bark and he felt the shift, saw the two intertwined sakura trees and watched the gentle cascade of white and pink blossoms as they fell around him. The connection was made, but he could feel it wavering, stretching. It was like two wires touched together. The circuit was complete, but not seamless. Shinji knew that the only thing keeping the connection in place was his hand on the twinned sakura trees. He closed his eyes and sought the link that he knew he possessed, the connection he knew was there. He felt it, could feel the sensation of it, it's taste and touch and sound and smell all under his finger tips.
Gentle as a caress he rotated his wrist, dragging the soft pads of his fingers across the tree and locked the connection in place. Opening his eyes, he removed his hand from the trees, hearing the girls gasp as the scene failed to shift. Eve hopped out of his arms and danced among the falling petals, laughing with glee and Shamshel stood frozen in wonder as a soft pink blossom landed in her cupped hands.
Shinji smiled at them both, looking out beyond the tree to a transformed field. Blooms and blossoms of every colour filled the grass verges and wound their way across the white pillars that jutted from the ground. The pillars were lost in decay, shaped into a crescent around a central fountain. Vines covered the white stone, the pure clear water bursting from the ground and raining down on the circular slabs of white stone that stood around it.
Green tree's flourished and sprouted between the pillars and across the field, some sakura shedding blossoms of softest pink, palest white and faintest blue, others held bright blooms in their branches and others with names he could never imagine flourished in the landscape.
Hearing Shamshel gasp, he turned around. And stared upwards. Knelt on it's right knee and leaning it's titanic weight on one mighty fist Evangelion Unit 01 towered behind him. It's head was down, looking directly at him and it's right arm rested on it's thigh as it genuflected to the boy it dwarfed. Small birds of all shapes and sizes fluttered around the beast, some braver feathered souls landing precariously on it's slender horn.
"Wow!" Eve had finally noticed what had captured her friends attention and ran closer to the silent Eva, seeking a better view. Shamshel quietly approached Shinji, her tan legs moving quickly through the lush grass.
"Why is it here, Shin?" Shinji's eyes lost their focus, as if he were gazing though a mist only he saw, seeking sights only he could see. Too a girl who had lived eternally, the feeling that someone else was seeing something she could not was unnerving.
"It's the link way. A part of the Eva is with me and a part of me is with the Eva. Wherever I go and whatever I'm doing... there will always be a way to call it to me. That's what it was trying to tell me. It doesn't need a soul like my mother's... and it was conscious before it ever had a soul of it's own. They just aided it in it's mission. They gave it the strength it didn't have and it allowed them to, because they were doing what it wanted anyway. They defended me. It... is here to protect me. I am... everything to it."
Shamshel's jaw dropped open.
"A-and how do you know that?" She stammered. Shinji turned to her and she watched the dawn of understanding brighten his dark blue eyes. He raised a hand and gently tapped his temple.
"It's telling me."
Today was not a good day. Oh, sure she got to talk to Shinji and she was beyond happy about that, to have finally gotten her feeling off her chest. The relief she felt was unimaginable. Even the tears the had streaked down her face after they had talked had been refreshing. Even if it meant Ritsuko Akagi had to re-do her mascara afterwards, she was glad she had wept those tears.
That, however did not make up for having Captain Half-a-Beard glaring down her back as she and the rest of the tech staff tried frantically to recover control of Unit 01.
One of the bridge technicians had noticed it first. Since Unit 01 had a history of berserker episodes and moving when it had absolutely no power source it had become standard procedure to keep the Eva monitored at all times, for safety reasons.
The first spike on the monitors had been logged in at twenty-five minutes after the First and Third Children had entered the cages. The security videos showed Rei Ayanami standing at the bridge to the entry plug staring up at the crimson unit, the same way she had since she had entered the cage. The second video feed showed Shinji sat cross-legged before the presence of the Evangelion he piloted. He appeared to be meditating, but the young woman who monitored the security feeds had attested that on several occasions he had twitched or jumped. Now he was completely silent within the cage, oblivious to the chaos that surrounded him.
'Approximately twenty-five minutes after his entrance and nine minutes after his decision to begin meditating, Unit 01 activated.' Even now Ritsuko could see the pale yellow glow of the Eva's eyes on the screen. 'Somehow it's A.T. Field formed and helpfully scythed through the connecting gantry on both sides of Shinji, resulting in the deadlocking of the doors from the cages both to the left and to the right of Cage 05, where the Unit in question is being stored. As such there is no ready method of approaching the pilot and as long as the damn thing can summon it's A.T. Field we can't get anywhere near even if we could open the blasted doors.'
Ritsuko cursed and sat back, popping her knuckles and stretching her back. No matter how analytical she was the facts were no more palatable. Shinji was trapped in there and they had no way of directly contacting him. The wall's, thick enough to contain an Eva's rage were certainly thick enough to be sound proof. There was no way they could alert him that way. And not much they could do after they told him of the situation. One of the lower tier bridge bunnies had uncharitably muttered that the pilot would throw a fit, fall of the gantry and drown himself in bakalite if he found out what kind of danger he was in.
A glare from Ritsuko had sent the idiot scurrying away quite satisfyingly. Unconsciously though she couldn't help but wonder if it was better that Shinji didn't know what was happening around him. No need for him to worry about what he couldn't solve. Besides if he hadn't heard the metal catwalks collapse after their abrupt severance by Unit 01 then anything else wasn't going to make much difference. She had no idea he could attain that depth of meditation. Hell, she had no idea he could meditate at all. Setting the Magi terminal to running another computer mock up scenario while Maya, Shigeru and Makoto tried a dozen different ways of doing the same thing, trying to get the machine to respond to outside input. So far, unsurprisingly, no luck.
As she waited she knew that some technicians had volunteered to navigate the ventilation shafts and try to find their way into the cage. It had been the techs themselves that suggested it, all were apparently eager to help the shy young boy who had saved them so many times.
'It seems you have more friends around here than you know, Shinji.'
Major Katsuragi had been informed of the situation, but it had taken longer than anticipated to get in touch with her. Having dropped Shinji off in the Nerv waiting area it seemed she had decided to pay her comatose second ward a brief visit. Her mobile had run out of power and they had attempted to contact her during her drive back from the ward Asuka was being kept in. They had to wait for her to arrive home before they could get word out to her about the emergency. She was no doubt driving halfway up a building in a bid to get here faster right this minute.
Ritsuko couldn't help but chuckle at the thought. She had traded horror stories with Shinji during the tests he had undergone involving her old friends driving skills. It seemed that she wasn't the only one who praised Buddha after every journey.
The results of the scenario came back. Negative again. As the blonde doctor set to typing again she mused that the only real bonus about this incident was that Gendo was down with the techs who were trying to break through the door to the cages. They weren't making spectacular progress, but then neither was she and Fuyutsuki was a much more lenient taskmaster than Gendo.
"Any results Doctor Akagi?" The grey haired man leant over her shoulder, bracing himself on the panel in front of them both with his left arm. Ritsuko shook her head tiredly.
"None. The Eva still refuses to accept any outside commands and all sensors indicate that it is still active, a feat that should be impossible without any outside source of power. Nothing we have attempted has had any effect."
"The Eva's rejecting all outside signals from inside the plug. Nothings getting through." Makoto added his report to her own from further down the line his frustration open for all to see. Shigeru just grunted his agreement and Maya stayed silent.
Rei moved forwards, into Ritsuko's line of sight to her right, and began to examine the wavelength fluctuations on the screen before her.
Rei's appearance was a minor mystery. Of course most things about the girl were a mystery except to a chosen few, but the Evangelion's latest temper tantrum had displaced the conundrum of Rei Ayanami by quite a margin. She had appeared after the techs that entered through Cage 04 in an attempt to open the sealed doors had informed her of the situation. Thus far she had remained silent and out of view. No one was quite sure why she was there but the Commander had left before she had arrived and Fuyutsuki had no objection to her presence so she remained.
Her soft voice drew Ritsuko's full attention to her.
"Does this data not resemble Ikari's sync graphs?" Ritsuko blinked twice before standing and moving to Rei side. The albino girl was standing in front of a set of readouts that were so deeply routed into the Eva that there had been little point in checking them by way of anything more than a cursory glance. After a few seconds it seemed that Rei was correct. The graphical data showed three lines, all fluctuating in rhythm. Individually they meant absolutely nothing. They were gibberish. But if they were relayed on top of one another then it did look remarkably like the sync and personality data of one Shinji Ikari. Ritsuko was not surprised that she didn't notice it.
For a start it was tertiary data, which wasn't really relevant to her task at hand. In fact, interesting as it was this new information didn't help in any immediate way. If anything it provided more questions than answers. In addition to this it was highly unlikely that unless you knew what you were looking for that you would notice the pattern. No, Ritsuko Akagi was not surprised that she had not noticed. Ritsuko Akagi was however surprised that Rei Ayanami had noticed it. However she tried to put that out of her mind for the moment as she studied the data, while the quiet girl stepped aside.
"Something Doctor?" Fuyutsuki had apparently followed her and stood at her shoulder as she pored over the information on the screen.
"I don't know... This data indicates that some reaction similar to a synchronisation is occurring, but I don't understand how that is possible, or who's synchronising with who. No ones inside the Eva so..." Fuyutsuki grunted.
"Shinji is syncing with Unit 01." Rei spoke softly again, interrupting their conferral. Fuyutsuki snorted.
"That can't happen Rei. He's not in the plug. There's nothing to connect him to the Eva."
"None the less, it is happening. A synchronisation is occurring. The only logical conclusion is that Shinji is syncing with Unit 01. I believe that if you can disrupt that synchronisation then the Eva will de-activate." Ritsuko stared at the emotionless girl, before staring at the readouts on the panel again.
'That's the second time you've called him Shinji...' Ignoring her errant trail of thought Ritsuko turned to the sub-commander who was waiting for her response.
"She might be right. If nothing else it's something we haven't tried yet anyway. It won't cost us much to give it a shot." Rei stepped forward again.
"I would like to assist you Doctor Akagi." Ritsuko nearly gaped. Fuyutsuki had turned back to the other consoles but the blonde thought the chances were good that he was still paying attention to what was occurring behind him.
"R-Rei? You want to help?" Another wild tangent of thought made Ritsuko wonder if this wasn't the most that the First Child had ever said of her own accord, at least to her.
"Yes. I am aware of the functions of the Magi Super-System and would pose no distraction." Ritsuko almost inhaled her own face and choked in shock.
'That was Rei's way of saying that she could help and that she wouldn't get in the way! What the hell is going on?' The sub-commanders strong voice broke the resultant silence as the scientist stared at the young girl, his attention still nominally turned elsewhere and his hands clasped in the small of his back.
"Why do you want to help Rei?" The girl's gaze faltered from it's fixation on Ritsuko and slipped to the floor quickly.
"I-I am... concerned for... Ikari."
'I'll eat Misato's cooking if she wasn't going to call him Shinji again!' The woman wasn't sure whether she should be shocked at the girl's admittance that she wanted to help the young man or that she was calling him by his first name. Eventually she settled for just being aimlessly shocked. After all there was more than enough shock to go around.
The Commander's former teacher spoke again.
"Then by all means help."
"Yes sir." The girl whispered before moving past the two elder members of the group. She paused, seemingly at a loss as to where to go. All the terminals were in use. Apparently the conversation in the corner hadn't been as private as they had thought. Makoto stood up and grinned weakly, scratching the back of his head.
"You can use mine Miss Ayanami. I'll use the back-up module." He gestured vaguely to the spare terminal in the corner. Rei knew it was there but did not have the authorization to activate the terminal. She nodded to Hyyuga and approached his station as he hurriedly backed out of the programs he was currently running and reconfigured the unit for a new user.
"Are you sure about that Hyyuga? No offense Ayanami." Shigeru added with a quick smile.
"None taken." The long haired bridge bunny seemed surprised that she had answered him, then began to grin.
"You kiddin'? I've seen her aptitude scores with the Magi systems. She probably knows more about this thing than I do." Makoto finished logging Ayanami in then made way for her to sit. If anyone but Ritsuko saw the slight blush at the complement to her skills, they remained silent about it. "There you go Miss Ayanami. It's all yours." Nodding at the girl quickly the spectacled man turned and moved quickly towards the spare module, quickly activating it and logging in again.
Ritsuko watched as the girl settled herself quickly and her hands began to fly across the console, easily as fast as any of the bridge bunnies. She shook her head in wonder, before noticing the sub-commander watching her.
"Looks like she's growing up, eh Doctor Akagi?" With that he turned to check on his subordinates progress. Ritsuko stared after him, then swept her gaze across the row of consoles before her. Maya, Rei and Shigeru, their fingers snapping across the keyboards, with Makoto doing the same in the far corner. She couldn't help but remember the mass exodus of the bridge crew when Shinji had returned from the Eva earlier in the week, despite Gendo's abject disapproval.
"Your not the same girl you were before, are you Rei?" She murmured under her breath as the girl worked, her mind rebelling slightly against her ingrained dislike of the girl. "And it looks like I was right..." She watched as the boiler suited technicians on the surveillance screens showing the cages down below heaved at the doors repeatedly and remembered the smaller team of techs who had crawled into the ventilation shafts in a bid to get to the boy below. "You have far more friends than you know Shinji..."
Shamshel gaped at him.
"I-It's telling you?" Shinji nodded, turning his attention back to the kneeling giant.
"With the connection made, I don't need to be in the plug to sync with the Eva. It can speak to me clearly now because we freed Eve. Before, as a side effect of having two souls in one body, well three if you include mine," He chuckled. "there was too much thought noise. Now it can speak." Shamshel snapped her gaze back and forth between the leviathonic beast and the young man who had begun to walk through the grass towards the Eva.
"Wait a sec, Shin! What did you mean when you said that you could call it wherever you were?" She hurried after him to walk at his side. He shrugged.
"Wherever I go, we will still be connected. Even on the other side of the planet, if I summon it, it will come." Shamshel dropped back into silence as they walked.
Shinji stood in the shadow of the titanic creature, looking up at the Eva's face and watching the sunlight reflect off the purple armour. Eve, now tired out from her running around stood on his left next to Shamshel.
'Can I do this? is it the right thing to do?' Shinji wracked his mind for the answer, all the while ruefully noting how easy it was for the extraordinary to become commonplace. If he had been in this position just a fortnight ago he would be on the floor sucking his thumb and praying for it all to go away. And now he was deciding whether or nor to make a huge commitment, one he hadn't even made to the two girls that lived within him. He thought of the pain Shamshel had experienced when he had been drawn into the Eva and the fact that he had felt nothing at their separation and knew that he could not allow such a one sided pledge to continue if he could prevent it.
Decided he stepped forward and reached out and upwards to the Eva.
"Shin, what-" The shadow of the Eva shifted, it's motionless right arm that had been lain on it's knee lifting and lowering itself towards the boy. It's palm open it gently held itself in front of the tiny lilim in front of it. Stepping forward quickly Shinji pressed his palm to that of the Eva making his decision known, even though the huge hand of the Eva dwarfed him.
A few seconds later the hand retracted and moved back to it's previous spot on the Evangelion's knee. The head lifted upwards, it's eyes now on the distant horizon, startling the birds that had begun to take rest on it's horn, scattering them. There was a moment of settling before the fire in the behemoth's eyes dimmed and faded.
"What did you do?" Shamshel whispered, looking up at the giant in awe.
"I made a pact with it. Wherever I am it will come to me, wherever it is I will come to it. If it calls me." The elder girl gasped and spun towards him.
"What!" Shinji shrugged.
"It seems like so little. It protected me through battle after battle, it promised it's aid to me whenever I called it. It... was like it was making a slave of itself. Just doing whatever it was ordered to do. Like Asuka used to say Rei was." He sighed. "Like I was. I can't ask that of it. This way we are equals. Just because I don't want to be a slave anymore doesn't mean I want to be a slave master."
Shamshel stared upwards, speechless. Light glinted strangely on the Eva's left shoulder and she squinted in an effort to see better. Giving up and using her Angelic powers she brought her focus on the scene closer. She gasped. A transparent facsimile of Shinji stood on the shoulder plate, dressed in his plug suit and wearing the sync connecter headsets.
"A little bit of the Eva is in me... and now a little bit of me is in the Eva." Shamshel turned to Shinji and stared.
'How can one boy change so much so quickly? Has he changed? Is this just the man he always was?' Shinji crouched next to Eve and ruffled her hair gently.
"C'mon. We better go before someone misses us."
"Yup!" Shinji grinned and stood up again.
"Just give me a second. There's something else I have to do."
"Your gonna try and bring her out with us aren't you?" Shinji looked at Shamshel out of the corner of his eye and nodded.
"The Eva told me... she weeps. She is alone in the darkness and the only times she returns to the light are when she comes out to protect me." He sighed. "With all the Angels gone that probably won't happen again. I can't leave her there." Shamshel nodded her understanding.
He closed his eyes and reached out once again, searching for the conduit that made him and the Evangelion one, like they were when he synced in the plug. Quickly finding it he delved into the corridor, streaking through the ether searching for the point that did not belong. Shinji found the point of incongruity without much delay. It was a glistening point of red, like a ruby prism or a small but bright red star. Reaching for it, he grasped it in his hand. The light was so bright he could see the bones through his flesh. He retracted, retracing his steps, bypassing the mindscape he had stood in only a few minutes previously and returned to his body.
Shinji opened his eyes and found Eve staring at him, poised just a few inches away from his face.
"Gaa!" Shinji tried to back peddle quickly and succeeded in smashing his head into the rail behind him. Eve giggled at his antics. Feeling his legs arching he stood and tried to work some feeling back into his muscles. He wasn't sure how long he had sat there, but he had lost a bit of circulation.
"Er, Shin I think you need to look at this." Shamshel's uncertain voice prompted him to turn to her.
"What the hell?" Beyond the bronze skinned girl the gantry way abruptly ended. Walking over to the edge, he knelt and saw the edge had been sheared cleanly. A quick look over his shoulder confirmed that the other side was the same. Turning to regard the silent Evangelion he pondered.
'I-It cut the bridges? To keep other people away? So much for being low key about this. I didn't even do what I was meant to do!' He thought impotently, knowing that there wasn't much chance he'd get near Unit 02 for a while. Turning around he moved to the centre of the platform, feeling uncomfortable with his position so close to a drop into LCL when he couldn't swim.
"Shin..." He turned to Shamshel, trying to make it look like natural movement for the camera's that were now probably working overtime. She took this as aknowledgement and continued. "Are you ok? You didn't seem like yourself in there...?" Shinji thought about the time he had spent in the mindscape.
-I... I think you're right. Maybe linking with the Eva, gave me new perspective y'know? Made me think a little from it's point of view? There isn't much to fear when you're an Eva right?- Shinji sighed, wishing a little that he was that brave all the time.
"So what about your promise to big boy over there?" She gestured to the purple giant. "You gonna stick to it?" Shinji looked away, abashed.
-I know normally... I wouldn't have made a promise like that. But, I-I'm glad I did. I will keep it if I can.- Shinji wondered just how likely it was that he could keep such a promise.
'Maybe thinking about things from it's point of view wasn't so helpful after all.' All at once he noticed a hard round sensation in his right palm. Bringing what he now saw to be a clenched fist up to his face, he unwound his fingers and found a small red jewel in the palm of his hand. Hearing Shamshel's gasp he closed his hand again in case he dropped it.
"Is that what it looks like?" Shinji swallowed. Shamshel continued. "Our souls were held within the cores. Is that... Is that core your mother? Her soul?" Shinji nodded tightly remembering the bright point of crimson light in the darkness. "You freed her Shin. She's not trapped anymore." Shinji looked up to see Shamshel smiling at him happily. He smiled weakly back.
'My mom's free...'
Eve had remained on the edge of the gantry swinging her legs and humming a little tune to herself idly, but yelped in surprise when the metal door across the chasm fell through and plummeted into the amber sea below. Shinji turned to face the sound as Eve scampered to hide behind the two of them, peeking out behind their legs. As the smoke faded away Shinji could see a team of workers moving cutting equipment out of the way and rolling a make shift bridge out to cross the distance between the door and the platform on which Shinji stood. Shinji ignored that, only noting it numbly. All he could see was the dark suited figure behind the workers. The figure whose sepia stained gaze was focused solely on him. His father.
"I am your father, Shinji."
"NOOOOOOOOOO! That's, That's not possible! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
Sorry couldn't resist. Anyway That's another chapter done. Hope you liked. I tried to give an explanation for Shinji's OOCness that you'll swallow hook, line and.. erm I mean understand and agree with. Yeah. That's what I meant...
Anyway some brief points and then some questions for you! Yes YOU! Yay You!
The bit where Rei says 'I eat sand' is a tribute to the Love Hina flash dating game on-line. One of the numerous secrets in the game is that Rei appears and claims to ingest sand. Then her head falls off if I remember correctly.
Ok so I lied. It wasn't some brief points, it was one brief point. Get over it.
Yay you time!
I'm hurtin' for cities and countries that i can set the 'Angelic search' in. I don't need to be writing a chapter then having some smartass telling me that the country I've set it in is underwater. So if someone could tell me where exactly is and is not above water I would appreciate it hugely. So much I might even say thanks. Na not that much. But if you give me your real name I will put you into the story at some point. Hell it doesn't have to be your real name, just a name of your choice that I can use. For example Ted, Norm or Sam. Spasticmonkeylove, Gottagetiton and Eiffel65 are not names I can use. Nor is anything similar.
Finally, one last point of contention. Makoto Hyuga and Aoba Shigeru. Which are their first names and which are there last? All the rest are easy, but on half the sites I've been to one name comes first and one other sites it changes! Which is the japanese one and which is english dammit!
Also any and all confirmed information or at least highly hinted at information about Gendo and Yui's courtship would be extremely helpful. Thanks in advance. Don't worry if you can't help, I'll just hunt you down and murder your family pet. Failing that then you.
Enough Yay You time.
Ja Ne readers.