Right, now as those you who reviewed Chapter 2 realize Chapter 4 is going to cover what Chapter 3 should have covered. It was intended that Chapter 3 would take up these events but I found myself fleshing out some parts more than I thought I would so it became far too long for comfort. As things stand it's still the longest chapter thus far I think. I've been told that it drags a bit, so I'll try to prevent long drawn out states of nothingness. Some people are under the impression this is a story culminating in a giant battle at the end. I have re-wrote the parts in Chapter 1 which concern the 'Ender'. This is because I don't really think that's the direction to take the fic in.
Anywhatsit on with the show. I hope you all like. Or at least continue in a state of ambivalence. As always please read and review.
Me no own, so you no sue! Bitches.
XVII: Child
As the thin metal walkway was slowly levered across the intervening gap Shinji stood back and waited, not wanting to get in the way of the workers efforts. He watched the make-shift bridge slowly approach before being dropped onto the steel floor with a sharp clang. Wincing at the sharp sound and trying to avoid his father's auger like stare Shinji watched the technicians scramble across the gap and set about securing the loose metal. Striding through the milling workers Gendo Ikari traversed the bridge, his gaze intently on Unit 01, before deigning to spare a glance for the boy.
"What occurred in here, pilot?" Shinji swallowed and looked away, unable to meet his father's eyes.
"I-I don't know. I was... meditating and then I noticed that the plates had fallen..." He gestured weakly to the scene behind the taller man, still unable to make eye contact. "That was only a few minutes ago." His voice trailed off into a whisper.
"Why were you here?" Shinji tensed at the question. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Eve and Shamshel moving through the increasing numbers of labourers like insubstantial mist. "Well? I don't have time to waste here pilot."
"I-I wanted t-to be near... h-her." Shinji muttered, feeling the tiny crimson jewel digging into his palm as his fist clenched. Gendo stared down at him. Hunching his shoulders under the invisible onslaught, Shinji wished feverishly that he could be anywhere except where he was. Finally his father turned away silently. The younger Ikari stared at the floor and retreated, taking that as a dismissal.
"You were so deep in meditation that you did not hear the catwalk fall?" Shinji jerked to a stop. While he hadn't actually been meditating, it was true that he hadn't heard the fall and resultant splash into the LCL reservoir below.
"Y-yes." He stuttered, sounding strangled.
"Strange. Your teachers always used to complain that you had no aptitude for meditation. A curious reversal." With that Gendo walked away, never turning to aknowledge the boy he should have called 'son'.
Fists clenched and shaking Shinji walked slowly towards the freshly cut open door, not noticing the looks of pity and sympathy on many of the staff's faces. Stepping over the small lip of the dissected portal Shinji kept his head down as he passed through the cages, only briefly noting that his new path was taking him further and further away from Evangelion Unit 02, his original objective. He caught both Eve and Shamshel walking along side him out of his peripheral vision. Ignoring them he continued onwards.
Soon he had circled around through the cages and was back at the main lift in which he and Ayanami had arrived. A fleeting curiosity about where Rei had gotten to came and went without to much time in between the two. Feeling dejected Shinji stabbed the call button for he elevator with his index finger and shoved his hands in his pockets. Now slightly calmer than he had been he opened his hand and released the tiny jewel that held his mother's soul, letting fall to the inner lining of his trouser leg.
"Are you ok Shinji?" Eve's small voice broke him out of his dismal mood and he couldn't help but smile slightly at her open display of concern for him. Trying not to look at either of the two girls - he couldn't help but note that Shamshel looked just as concerned for him as Eve, but more reluctant to speak - since there were still at least a dozen techs in the area he replied without words.
-It's ok Eve, I'm fine.- The girl stepped closer, to the point where if she had a body she would have been leaning against his leg.
"Who was the mean man? I didn't like him.- Despite being reminded of his father Shinji's smile grew a little. There were many things that he could call his father. 'Mean' wasn't one of them. Much like calling an Eva ' slightly taller than average', the sheer size of the understatement involved should in some way fracture time and space. Pushing aside the miasma of depression that threatened to sweep over him he answered the little girl.
-He's my father.- Eve looked confused. Shamshel looked away. Shinji gathered from the bronze girl that she had garnered some information from her time dormant within him, though she was reluctant to detail just how much she knew. It was quickly established however that she knew the basics of Shinji's unhappy childhood and his less than familial relationship with his father.
Shinji wasn't sure if the smaller girl really understood the concept of a 'father'. It was not a relationship she would have any experience of. However in his talks with her over the past few days since her liberation from Unit 01 she had shown areas of knowledge that he would not have expected. Perhaps a legacy of her infrequent meetings with Yui Ikari.
Thankfully, he saw Shamshel placed a gentle hand on Eve's shoulder and shake her head quietly when the little girl looked up at her inquisitively. Suddenly saddened at the thought that she might have upset Shinji, Eve bowed her head letting her long midnight blue hair obscure her face like a watery curtain.
"I'm... sorry." Hearing the little girl's mumble, Shinji felt the tears prick at his eyes. Forgoing subtlety he turned and knelt in front of the girl, making a halfhearted attempt to fiddle with his shoelace for anyone that got too close as he did so. Unable to touch her or urge her eyes to meet his he settled for leaning in close to her, his head poised just over her shoulder so he was almost talking into her ear.
"Don't be sorry for what's not your fault, ok?" The breathy whisper stole the girls attention, as much because he had chosen to speak out loud as because of his words. Her look of stunned surprise quickly melted into a still teary smile and the girl nodded once, sniffling. Smiling at her once more Shinji turned back to the elevator, his thoughts lost in themselves.
Shamshel smiled softly at the sight and crouched down to hug Eve, soothing her sniffles.
'Is that you wanted to show me, Asuka? That I didn't have to apologize for everything? Did it hurt you to here me say sorry for things I had no hand in as much as it hurt me to hear Eve apologize for stumbling across a painful subject?' He snickered silently remembering the natural disposition of his former roommate. 'More likely it just pissed you off. But it was still good advice Asuka. Asuka...' The boy sighed at the thought of the vibrant Germangirl confined to a hospital bed, forever sleeping. He could think of no worse fate for someone such as her. It was like trapping Rei in a carnival. They were just too out of their element. He remembered the last words she had spoken to him. He remembered his weaknesses. And he remembered that this time he felt very sorry indeed.
A sudden clang interrupted his musings, spinning him around to find the source. A ceiling vent cover had fallen to the floor behind him, drawing the attention of a few of the workers around the area as well as himself. Looking up into the darkness of the vent and remembering his own trip through the maze to battle the 9th Shinji approached warily.
As abruptly as the cover had fallen an orange blur fell through the hole and crashed to the floor with a muffled grunt. Leaping backwards with an unfortunately high pitched squeak, Shinji found that the blur had coalesced into two groaning workers in orange boiler suits, one lying tangled with the other. A third black grinning head jutted out over the rim of the hole above them and leered down at them, his teeth nearly glowing white in his dark face.
"Come on you guys get a room already! Yeeshhh!" His two fallen comrades glared up at him before quickly extricating themselves from the compromising position they had both found themselves in, under their co-workers watchful smirk. Standing and cracking his back the taller one reached down to help the other up.
However a timely snort and an inquisition about whether they 'were holding hands now' caused him to release his grip suddenly and rail at the third member of the group, while the second fell back to the floor with a yelp.
Shinji heard the quiet chuckling of the rest of the techs who had continued their work with one eye on the proceedings. Everyone likes in-work entertainment. The third man jumped down to the floor, his work boots making a solid thud on the grating, while the second levered himself up muttering disconsolately. The landing made Shinji recall his and Asuka's less then perfect entrance to the bridge after crawling through the ducts. He had always secretly thought that Rei's perfect dismount had been her way of silently making fun of them.
"Aw dammit Leon, ya got us mixed up in there again! This ain't the right cage!" The second man who had spent most of the time thus far on the floor blinked owlishly at his surrounding, not noticing Shinji staring at them with a kind of horrified fascination.
"How can you tell, Derbus?" All three looked American and their names were certainly not Japanese, not the ones that he had heard so far anyway. The dark skinned man, now known to be Derbus turned and snarled at the thin lanky looking man before him, dressed in an identical bright orange boiler suit to himself with a bright blue bandana wrapped around his close cropped blond hair, revealed a little because the fall had partially dislodged the cloth.
The much taller dark skinned man was by far more muscular and seemed happy to show it as unlike the other two he had shed the top half of his boiler suit and had tied it around his waist with the arms, revealing a oil stained white vest underneath. He was also apparently about to throttle his slender companion.
"Well, lets see, the number on the wall behind you says Cage 01, not Cage 05, the kid is not here and THERE'S NO BIGASS PURPLE MONSTER IN THE CORNER!" Shinji was fairly certain that the third member of the group was banging his head none too gently against a steel wall behind the quarreling two. The slender man sweatdropped at his larger 'friend's' roar.
"Ah. Yes. In light of evidence that has just been brought to my attention it seems that a reallocation of our mobile resources as inadvertently occurred." He scratched the back of his head grinning weakly.
"Wuh?" A sigh was heard from the third man, somewhat older than the other two and sporting a red cap with the slogan 'Bossman' printed across the brow.
"He means that he got us lost Derbus. Again. Right Leon?"
"That's what I just said isn't it?" Shinji thought he saw Derbus' eyes go swirly. The third man grimaced and waved a clenched fist under Leon's nose.
"Thanks to your 'creative' navigation, we've visited every cage so far except the right one! I've nearly fallen into the LCL twice and the last time we fell out we nearly crushed Miss Ayanami! And she was on the bridge at the time!" The man's voice had risen to a near shriek.
"Chill Maze! It's nothing a little tube crawlin' can't fix!"
"Much more of this and your condition won't be something a little body cast can't fix. How're we gonna get to the kid first if we don't hurry? Dammit I've got to buy that bastard Aishi drinks for a week if we don't beat him there!" He reached out and grabbed Leon by the lapels and brought him closer to his suddenly gimlet like glare. "I can't afford to lose that bet Leon. You can't afford for me to lose that bet Leon." The thin man's grin had solidified into a rictus.
"Look behind you dumbass." A muttered call from one of the techs across the catwalk who refrained from looking up from his work as he spoke neatly centred the three American's eyes firmly on Shinji.
"Damn." All three slumped disconsolately. Three sweat drops, one visible and two not, appeared in the Cage. Shamshel and Eve had remained silent thus far, for the same reason that anyone remains silent when they're listening to a man avidly telling them that turtles fly south for the winter, or indeed the first time anyone sees a warm water penguin in the bathroom. Just watching the events unfold was enough to make the three young ones fear that ridiculousness was contagious.
While the eldest man proceeded to throttle Leon, who was now approaching the colour Unit 00 used to be, the dark skinned man approached Shinji grinning. Standing before the boy he offered his huge hand. A little hesitantly Shinji offered his own, immediately regretting it as all the bones in his hand became intimately acquainted with each other under the man's vice like grip.
"Pleased to meet ya, Shinji Ikari! Names Derrick, but most people call me Derbus. The blueberry back there," A casual indication of the vainly struggling man behind him. "is Leon. And the guy about to be serving twenty-five to life for homicide is Maze." Sighing loudly Maze dropped Leon's still twitching body and walked over to the young man, while Leon scrambled around the metal work in blind joy to be free almost resulting in him scuttling off the bridge and plummeting into the amber sea below.
"Nice to meet ya kid. It looks like your safe and everything then." The older man grinned slightly and rubbed his fingers under the brim of his cap.
"Er, yeah. T-They cut the door down and passed a bridge across." Leon approached the group, having hauled himself back over the lip of the catwalk. He looked behind him at the chaos in the distant cages.
"Looks like old man Ikari's team got there first, Bossman." Maze's grin tightened into a mild scowl.
"Pompous jackass." His eyes flicked to Shinji. "No offense kid." Shinji nearly smiled.
"None taken." Maze grinned widely again and Leon burst into laughter. Derbus chuckled quietly.
"Told you I'd like this kid if I ever met him." Maze looked over his shoulder at the milling confusion at the door to Cage 05 then at the other two men. "Looks like we'd better get going boys." He turned back to Shinji and nodded slightly. "It was nice to meet ya kid. See ya around." His eyes flicked up to the lift behind Shinji. "Oh, uh, they were shifting some large machinery into the lift when we left earlier so that'll be why it'll take so long to get here. Should be another few minutes. See ya." With a series of quick waves the three turned and set off for the milling mass of techs four cages away.
Shinji heard Derbus speak again.
"So when are you two gonna announce it?"
"What?" Maze seemed to know this was going nowhere he would like.
"Your engagement. I saw the way you two were holding hands! There was some real love." Derbus faked a sniffle.
"Oh, it was so romantic! The way he just came out and proposed! It was-" After Leon had begun to add his little touch to the story Maze had dropped back a step or two, before swinging his left arm around in a crescent arc slapping first Derbus, then Leon in the back of their heads, knocking them off their feet. The sweatdrops that had never really left doubled in size.
"He's just shy! He loves me really, I know it!" Shinji was torn away from the sight of Maze determinedly kicking Leon repeatedly in the crotch by the sound of the elevator doors opening behind him. Tearing his eyes away he was met with a view of three labourers crammed around a large piece of machinery that Shinji couldn't identify. And in front of it all, pressed up against the mesh of the elevator was Misato Katsuragi, looking like a fly pinned to the wall. As the secondary wire mesh doors slid open, disgorging it's load Shinji barely had time to squeak before he was met with the insurmountable force of his guardian and nominal commanding officer's bosom.
Turning slowly red as Misato gave him a bone crushing hug Shinji feebly tried to escape, hearing muttered comments about how some guys got all the luck from the workers as they hauled the machinery past the two.
"Shinji! I was so worried!" Abruptly Misato released him, shoving him away so she could get a better appraisal of his condition, the force of the movement nearly giving Shinji whiplash. "Are you ok? Are you hurt anywhere? Tell me!" In her panic she started shaking him back and forth making his vision a smear of colour as the blood in his body was forced to go ways it didn't want to go. Eventually, noticing her ward frothing at the mouth gently she stopped.
"I'm fine Misato." Shinji's head was spinning, chibi Unit 01's dancing around him, doing the Foxtrot in disturbing synchronicity. Soon enough he was back in the back breaking hug, avidly listening for the first vertebrae to snap, as Misato's relief was released. Eventually letting the stunned boy go, Misato dragged him into the elevator behind them. Pressing the button for the command deck, Misato turned to look at Shinji. Now that she was assured of his well being she intended to ask a few questions.
"What happened down there? The first I heard was that Unit 01 used it's A.T. field to sever both connecting bridges and that you were trapped there meditating." Shinji shrugged, uncomfortable with the prospect of lying to Misato, not least because he was incredibly bad at it.
"That's pretty much what happened Misato." His voice was soft and hesitant. "I went there for a while, and decided to meditate for a bit. Next thing I knew the bridges were gone."
"You've never meditated at the apartment. Why did you decide to start now?" The mauve haired woman's voice was a mixture of genuine curiosity, with undertones of suspicion. She could tell something was wrong with the picture that Shinji was presenting her. She refrained from asking what he was doing in the cage in the first place. She could hazard guesses at that quite easily.
Shinji watched the ticker flick quietly through the floors as the lift rose.
"I used to do it at my teachers, but I wasn't very good. It's been a long time but I thought it was something to try." The question hung between them of exactly why he had felt the need to try in an Eva cage rather than his home, but Misato decided to let it go. It wasn't as if Shinji's decision to meditate had an effect on the Eva. If Shinji wanted to keep some matters to himself that was his right. She may be his commanding officer but if it didn't affect the boy adversely or the mission, she had long ago decided to leave him his secrets. Teasing was one thing, but prying was another.
Shinji watched his guardian out of the corner of his eye, seeing her looking blankly towards the door, her mind obviously elsewhere.
"Do you think she bought it?" Shamshel hissed into his ear. The two incorporeal girls had gone on ahead into the lift during Shinji's back-breaking greeting and had waited for the toe house mates to join them. Shamshel was stood next to Shinji, while Eve stood between the two physical presences in the lift, darting wide eyed looks between Shinji and Misato.
-Why are you whispering? She can't hear you no matter how loud you are.- Shamshel froze for a second then sweatdropped.
"Oh, yeah. Well, do you think she bought it?" The girl continued in a more normal tone of voice, leaning back and flicking her mane of bronze hair over her shoulder.
-Probably not. But if she'd not asking questions does it really matter?- Shamshel shrugged briefly, before the door opened ahead of them.
"How did your examination with Ritsuko go?" Misato's tone of voice made it clear she had less than pleasant thoughts about her college friend. Shinji walked beside her as they both stepped out of the lift and walked towards the command centre, only a few junctions away.
"It went ok. She and I... talked." Misato shot him a glance unsure whether to pursue that one or not. Sensing that his guardian might be curious about his encounter with the blonde scientist Shinji spoke again. "Um, why are we going to the bridge Misato?" Successfully distracted the Major groaned quietly.
"Do you know how much paperwork an Evangelion waking up, slicing up Nerv property then going back to sleep again creates?" Shinji shook his head dumbly. "A lot. I'm going to talk to Sub-Commander Fuyutsuki then we're going home so I can drown myself in beer and paperwork." A quiet sob escaped.
"Oh. Ok." Shinji mumbled meekly and continued alongside her. He didn't really want to go with her to the bridge; he felt it likely that the sub-commander would want to talk to him about what had happened. But he couldn't think of a reason for him not to go. Continuing past the last intersection they turned a final corner and moved through the automatic door onto the bridge. As always the bright light of the holographic representation of Japan's topography made him squint until he could get used to the relatively low lighting of the rest of the bridge.
Soon enough however his sight sharpened and he became accustomed to the dim light. He noticed Eve and Shamshel had moved forward and that Eve was staring around the room with childish wonder on her face. Shamshel was less impressed, having been there before. Trying not to look at the two girls, something that to others would look like staring at an empty patch of space, Shinji followed Misato into the command centre. The bridge staff turned to watch the new entrants to the room, their eyes fixated on Shinji.
Feeling a little disturbed by their reactions Shinji nearly tripped over his own feet before hurrying to catch up with Misato. He paused briefly when he saw the former pilot of Eva Unit 00 sitting in Makoto's chair, which she had swivelled around in to observe the two newcomers the same as the rest of the crew. His eyes were quickly drawn to a fallen grate lying next to her foot and he frowned. looking up he realised that a ventilation shaft ran overhead and the grate had fallen from there. Abruptly he remembered Maze's rage fuelled tirade at Leon.
"I've nearly fallen into the LCL twice and the last time we fell out we nearly crushed Miss Ayanami! And she was on the bridge at the time!" Shinji's eyebrow twitched briefly as he mused that Leon must be to navigation what Misato was to driving. Pushing that thought away he moved to a set of seats and sat down waiting for Misato to finish with Sub-Commander Fuyutsuki and Dr Akagi, both of whom were talking to her now.
"Hey Shinji, you ok?" Shinji looked up from his perusal of the floor and saw Shigeru grinning at him. Smiling weakly in return he raised a hand in a weak wave.
"Y-Yeah, I'm fine."
"Good to hear. Can't have you back in the infirmary again!" Maya turned to scowl at the long haired man at his words.
"Shigeru! Don't say such dumb things!" The guitar loving bridge bunny just grinned at her. Rei remained silent. Shinji smiled weakly again and returned his gaze to the floor. A handful of seconds later he saw a shadow appear in front of him. Looking up he saw a smiling Makoto Hyuga offering him a cold drink. He had a selection of others in the crook of his arm and looked like he'd just been on a run to the vending machine in the corridor beyond the command post.
Taking the drink and thanking the spectacled tech, Shinji watched him smile and move towards the others. He handed a couple up to Maya and Shigeru, before offering one to Rei, who accepted the drink hesitantly and spent a few seconds examining the can silently before quietly popping the lid and taking a sip of the beverage. The lack of expression on her face made it difficult to tell whether she liked or disliked the drink, but her continuing to sip now and then made Shinji think she might have liked it.
'What's she doing here though? And why is Hyuga sitting all the way over there?' Shinji mused on these new developments half-heartedly, in reality watching Eve and Shamshel stroll about the room. Shamshel noticed his attention on them and grinned slyly. Shinji tried not to sweat in agitation. Shamshel smirking like that would mean nothing good.
The dark skinned girl moved around the room towards the ever-stoic Rei and crouched before the girl, quietly drinking from her can. She then proceeded to make faces at the girl and dance about in front of her. Shinji nearly choked on his drink as Shamshel danced around the quiet albino, trying not to laugh and call attention to himself. Eve was giggling at the view.
Trying to avoid looking at the view in front of him, Shinji turned to look at the triumvirate of Fuyutsuki, Misato and Ritsuko, who were huddled together and conferring quietly.
'I wonder what's taking them so long?' His eye strayed back to the continuing mostly invisible antics in the centre of the bridge. Unable to help himself he snorted some of his drink through his nose at the sight of Shamshel wearing a huge grin and wiggling her backside in Rei's unseeing face, blushing as some of the nearer crew members turned to stare at him.
'Damn invisible girls.'
Misato stalked across the command deck towards the blonde scientist and the grey Sub-Commander, having left Shinji to sit by the wall and wait. She was understandably displeased though she had gone to lengths to hide this fact from the young boy. She had tonnes of paperwork to plough through, all because of an event that should not be possible and now she had to deal with additional worries. As soon as she had arrived at Nerv she had been contacted by Fuyutsuki, informing her that the Third Child was safe and that as soon as she could retrieve him she was to report to the bridge.
Both Ritsuko and Fuyutsuki were in conference over a panel, which from what she could see was showing a more complicated version of a sync graph. Misato sighed. She hated those things. She always ended up asking Ritsuko or Maya what scores the children had ended up with rather than trying to decipher the gibberish herself. Saved time and brain cells that way. Approaching them she made her presence known.
"Sub-Commander Fuyutsuki, Doctor Akagi." She nodded to each, though it was clear that it was only formality when it came to the latter of the two. "Reporting as ordered." Fuyutsuki turned towards her, face without expression and greeted her.
"Ah, Major Katsuragi. You managed to retrieve Shinji without incident?" His worn face relaxed into a slight smile as he asked.
"Yes sir. It seems the crew had already broken through when I arrived. Shinji was waiting to meet me at the elevator."
"Good, good..." The old man trailed off, darting a glance at Ritsuko who had stood behind him silent thus far. The blonde stepped forward.
"Misato, we've found some disturbing readings concerning Shinji and Eva Unit 01." The mauve haired Major flicked her gaze towards the other woman, worried by the Sub-Commander's silence. Her eyes narrowed.
"What kind of readings?" Ritsuko sighed and gestured towards the readouts behind her half-heartedly, knowing that in all likelihood Misato would be unable to decipher them.
"Readings that indicate that the Third Child is capable of syncing with Unit 01 without being in the entry plug." Misato gaped.
"But that's impossible!" She whispered harshly. "No one can sync if their not in the plug! You said that to me yourself!" Ritsuko sighed tiredly and shrugged.
"I don't know Misato. Ordinarily I would say the same but these readings... They spike when Unit 01 became active earlier today and rise into the ares that indicate synchronisation." Unconsciously Misato had joined the huddle the other two had previously made up.
"So? Why do you think it's Shinji? It could be someone else, if the readings are accurate at all." Ritsuko shook her head.
"The graph reflects Shinji's brain waves almost perfectly. No-one else could fake such a feat. As for the readings being wrong... All the incidents coinciding at one time makes this more than coincidence. Besides..." She trailed off and looked away.
"We already have precedent." Misato spun toward Fuyutsuki, shocked at his words.
"What? Who!" She found it hard to believe either Rei or Asuka had managed to sync with their Eva's from outside the plug. Rei's sync ratios were too low and Asuka, well it just didn't seem like something Asuka could do. She had to admit if there was one of the pilots that could achieve such a thing, she would have thought it would be Shinji.
"The Fifth Child." The blonde scientist's voice was soft.
"Then that means..."
"Yes. Shinji Ikari could be an Angel."
Shinji had been sat silently for nearly ten minutes and needless to say the floor was becoming even more boring to look at then it originally had been. However it was the only respite he had left. Every time he looked up Shamshel began to wiggle her backside in Rei's face again. For whatever reason the blue haired girl had not turned back around once her drink had been handed to her and now the golden maned Angel had seemingly set up permanent camp right in front of Rei, ready to start her antics again any time Shinji looked up.
It was truly absurd but Shinji couldn't help but laugh every time she did it. It didn't help that she had somehow roped Eve into her antics as well. An unwelcome vision of both Angelic girls dancing in front of Rei's unseeing eyes, grinning hugely, forced Shinji to wrestle a snort of laughter under control. People were going to start thinking he was unstable at this rate.
Suddenly he heard harsh footsteps echoing on the steel plated floors and momentarily forgetting himself looked up. Immediately both girls started gyrating madly. Biting the inside of his cheek madly Shinji turned to see Misato approaching a vision of fake cheer slapped across her face. Standing to meet her, he was surprised to see a hint of tears in her eyes.
"Misato..."
"Shinji, this could take longer than I thought. Why don't you head down to the lounge and grab a drink or something? As soon as I'm done here I'll come down and grab you, ok?" Shinji nodded slowly, glad to be away from the crowd in the command centre no matter how well meaning they were, but still concerned about Misato's seeming changed mood.
"Misato a-are you ok?" His guardian nodded her head hurriedly, scrubbing at her eyes.
"Yeah, just got something in my eyes... I'll see you in a few ok?" Barely waiting for Shinji to nod again she turned away and hurried back to Ritsuko and Fuyutsuki, who stood with their back to Shinji avidly studying some readout or another. Still worried, Shinji slowly made his way out of the command centre, collecting both girls on the way. He was so absorbed in thought that he did not notice Rei watching him as he left the cavernous room.
The trip in the elevator was brief. It seemed that no one had used it since he and Misato so it was still on the top floor which meant he didn't have to wait for it to arrive.
-Are you two always gonna be doing things like that?- Eve giggled and Shamshel smirked, looking disturbingly reminiscent of Asuka.
"Damn right!" Shinji barely heard her answer. He was wrapped up in thoughts of his fellow pilot.
'Not any more.' He thought sadly remembering her inability to sync with the Eva after the battle with the 15th, and her subsequent breakdown. He remembered her last words to him, the way she had looked so broken and defensive, like a wild animal trying to cover it's wounds. He sighed. The lift doors opened and he stepped out, the two girls keeping pace with him. Absently he noted that Shamshel was playing and joking with Eve, both of them laughing lightly.
The employee lounge was situated a level above the Evangelion holding areas and large panels of the walls were taken up by large plexi-glass panels that looked out over the cages. Shinji realised dully that it must have been one of these windows that his father had looked down at him from when he had first arrived in Tokyo-3. He found the thought curiously unsettling. Sighing and making his way over to a drinks machine he slipped a few yen coins in and selected a can of tea. Turning he watched Eve dart through the rows of seating facing both inwards and outwards, scrambling to avoid a mildly enraged Shamshel. Shinji wasn't sure what Shamshel intended to do if or when she caught the little girl but Eve seemed unconcerned her high sweet laugh echoing in the long seated corridor, audible to only three sets of ears.
His eyes traced the two of them as Eve slipped from one isle to another, narrowly avoiding capture by the elder girl. Shamshel, who had committed herself to much to her lunge ended up diving through mid air and skidding along the floor on her stomach. Growling she launched herself back to her feet, crouching and ready to spring, before launching herself over the rows of seats, lithe as a cat, and pounced on Eve who had stopped running to watch what the dark skinned girl would do. The tiny girl barely managed to 'eep' as Shamshel bared her to the ground.
Shinji's view of the events was now hidden by a row of seats. Sipping his newly purchased drink he wandered closer and nearly fell over backwards in surprise when Shamshel suddenly reared to her feet, holding Eve by her arms in front of her. Shinji noted that her eyes had narrowed and a vein was bulging slightly in her forehead.
"Now then Eve... what did I say about pulling my hair? Hmm?" Her voice was deceptively soft, but the twitch in her eye was a bit of a give away. Eve grinned and tried to stifle her laughter. "Perhaps you don't remember? Well let me say it again then." She started to shake the girl in time with her words until Eve was just a giggling blur. "Don't - pull - my - hair. Ok?" Shinji didn't hear anything but Shamshel apparently took on of Eve's blurred gurgles to be agreement. Sighing she placed the smaller girl down and tried to force her eye to stop twitching. Shinji laughed as Eve stumbled around, obviously unbalanced from her high speed lecture.
Shamshel's head snapped towards him, eyes narrow, killing his laughter immediately and making him sweat. He swore he could see little flames in her eyes, burning with righteous anger.
"You find this amusing perhaps, Shinji?" Trying to plaster a grin across his features he shook his head hurriedly. Her fire based glare disappeared in an instant, replaced with a sweet smile, making Shinji twitch in agitation. Just as suddenly her glare exploded tenfold and the veins bulged a new. Leaning to the side slightly, Shinji saw a smiling Eve with her hands in Shamshel's hair, giving a gently tug. He turned his head back to Shamshel's face and blinked, noting the foam at the mouth and sudden appearance of tiny curved horns, poking through her hair just above her forehead. As far as horns went they looked almost cute. Eve backed away still giggling as Shamshel's head rotated 180 degrees to glare at her, slightly nauseating Shinji.
Breaking for cover the girl sprinted down the length of the employee lounge, Shamshel hot on her tail. Shinji remained where he was, still shell-shocked.
'Must you... keep changing moods... so quickly...?' Shaking his head abruptly he followed the two girls further down the corridor at a more sedate pace. Moving into the next compartment the idea occurred to him. Quickly moving towards the large viewing window, he peeked over the edge so as not to alert the milling workers below unduly. The huge and imposing crimson head of Eva Unit 02 sat beneath the window, it's four dull eyes staring away from Shinji.
Settling into a seat among the row nearest to the window, Shinji sipped his drink contemplatively.
'Basically I'm sort of syncing with the Eva without being in the plug... but I've only synced with Unit 02 once and Asuka was with me then. Will it work now?' He shrugged slightly, unfortunately aware of the fact that there were probably camera's scattered throughout the hallway. Eve ran past him and leapt onto the seat next to where he sat, trying to hide behind him as much as possible, still giggling. Shinji looked up and started seeing a seething Shamshel looming over him. The room suddenly seemed much darker as Shamshel leaned closer to the cowering pair.
'Why the hell am I afraid? She can't even hurt me!' Shinji made an attempt to sit up straighter in his chair, but thought better of it when he caught sight of the girl's glowing red eyes. He was suitably disturbed.
"GRASSSHHH..." The girl hissed, eyes firmly locked on the tiny bundle of girl perched next to Shinji.
"Y-Yeah about that..." Shinji shook his head quickly, trying to dispel thoughts of endless torture and the wrath of Gods. "Erm, c-can I talk to the Eva if I'm this close to it?" The darkness suddenly receded and the fires of hell disappeared from Shamshel's eyes, their unnatural scarlet hue abruptly returning to their usual burnished golden gleam. She looked down at him quizzically, her head cocked slightly to the side apparently not understanding what he meant. Silently Shinji gestured to the window behind her, still a little weirded out by the titanic mood swings the girl seemed capable of.
'Celestial PMS... OhGodOhGodOhGodOhGodOhGodOhGod...' Whilst the boy silently prayed to the heavens for a reprieve of some kind and pointed out that if such a reprieve took the form of a well placed lightning bolt it was fine with him really, the Angelic girl wandered over to the window, the smaller girl at her side with her earlier concerns apparently forgotten. Looking out over the railing she saw a swarm of workers scrambling over the cat walks and gantrys that surrounded Unit 02. To the far left she could see the doorway leading to the cage housing the purple behemoth and the workers flocking to and from. As she watched a dark suited figure emerged from the throng and started to walk determinedly towards the far exit that would lead him to the elevator. He seemed to be talking on his phone animatedly.
Hearing her little companion's 'wow' of awe, she turned back to Shinji, slightly unnerved to find him ferverantly praying to any higher beings that would listen.
"Er, Shin?" One eye opened. "What the hell are you doing?" Shinji grinned nervously and relaxed in his chair trying to avoid the question. Shamshel shook her head quickly and returned to the matter at hand. "I think you're close enough to try, yeah." She sat next to him, leaving Eve to watch the commotion and turmoil below. "Are you gonna give it a go?" Shinji nodded slightly tucking his legs under himself in his sloppy lotus position once again, resigning himself to cutting off the circulation in his lower body.
-Yeah. We don't know how long Misato's going to be and we don't know how long it'll be before we get a chance like this. Either way it can't hurt to try.- Shamshel nodded thoughtfully as Shinji closed his eyes. Suddenly his eyes opened again and he looked at her with a puzzled frown on his face.
-Wait a minute. How did you do those things back there? The horns and the way you rotated your head?- Shamshel looked at him cluelessly.
"Shin... what are you talking about?" The boy stared at her briefly before narrowing his eyes and glaring slightly. Turning away his eyes closed again. Slightly freaked out Shamshel turned her attention back to Eve. "What the hell was that about?" She mumbled.
'I'm going insane. That must be it.' Shinji thought ruefully as he closed his eyes. Sighing he set himself to his task, searching for the connection to the red Evangelion. He found the connection easily, before he realised that it was the connection to Unit 01 he was feeling, strong and vibrant. 'Anywhere in the world...' Moving away from that connection, he sought another. It should be there. After all he had once synced with Unit 02 and that would have left a connection with them both no matter how faint. He felt his eyes screw up as he concentrated, searching for any hint of a connection.
"This would be so much easier if he could touch it." Shamshel muttered as she watched him.
Forcibly relaxing himself he settled back, sinking into himself as he imagined he was within a sync plug rather than a chair. Relaxing his mind he prepared to sync, memories calling forth sights and sounds and smells of his Eva's plug, but he pushed them away focusing on another memory. He remembered when he had fought the 6th Angel with the redheaded girl, remembered his discomfort as he perched on the plug behind her and recalled the intimidating red glow of the plug as it activated. He remembered thinking that even in the LCL the plug smelled like jasmine, a scent he could only imagine came from the girls long red hair.
Thinking back now he sensed that the plug was in so many ways like the girl who sat in it. New, unknown and foreign in ways that had nothing to do with nationality. Unconsciously he mumbled her name, feeling his thoughts shift to her more than focusing on the Eva below him
"Asuka..." His memories of the girl were predominated by the more recent painful ones, interspersed with the sharp banter they had filled their early days with, the times they had both sighed and complained together about their guardians cooking skills, the times they had zoned out in front of some boring soap opera, the time they had spent together with their friends.
'Asuka...'
He, her, Kensuke, Touji and Hikari. A small smile tugged at his lips. Hikari and Touji would try to avoid making eye contact and Kensuke would record anything of passing interest, mostly girls. Then Asuka would notice and accuse him of being a pervert. Touji would back up his friend and the two would sling insults at each other before Hikari interrupted.
'Asuka...'
"Asuka?" A woman's voice called. His eyes snapped open in surprise before the world exploded in white.
Shinji found himself in a darkness, somewhat like the darkness that had greeted him in his visit to the heart of Unit 01. However whereas that darkness had welcomed him this one made it abundantly clear that he was not welcome. And unlike that first time this time he was not alone.
Shamshel and Eve stood close by, holding hands to ward off the darkness. Noticing Shinji's questioning look, Shamshel shrugged lightly.
"I remembered what happened last time you tried this." She shuddered slightly and Shinji winced when he remembered the pain she had gone through due to his absence. "I don't know if that was because you were absorbed or not but I didn't want to risk it, so I grabbed Eve and slipped back inside you." Shinji nodded, turning his attention back to the malevolent darkness around them. He noticed that they had strayed closer to him, seeking safety in numbers. He sighed morosely.
'It's not like I could do anything to help them anyway. Even with the arm blades or whatever the hell they are, I wouldn't be able to save us if something attacked.'
Still tense and sweating slightly Shinji moved into the darkness, picking a direction at random. As they moved they noticed that the darkness was not as formless as it appeared. It was fog that wrapped around them cooly as they moved, it's coils moving like a current. It also became quickly apparent that obsidian fog before them was not in fact black, but a dark red, like dried blood. The colour became lighter the further they moved, it's ruby embrace clinging to them and trailing in their wakes. Eve squeezed his hand and whimpered. He had not noticed her take his hand, but none the less he squeezed back, silently wishing that he could do more.
Soon the sound of sobbing was audible, echoing in the near distance, from within the crimson mist. Swallowing loudly Shinji edged forwards, scared stiff. The two girls followed him. Stepping forward and finding himself clear of the fog, Shinji saw the woman immediately. Sat in the centre of a circular clearing in the mist, she had her arms wrapped around her knees and was clutching something in both hands. Her long waist length hair trailed down her back, knotted and unkempt and the sobs wracked her tiny frame. Shinji heard Eve gasp and turned to find her hiding behind Shamshel, shaking in terror.
Sweating freely Shinji moved a step closer, trying to keep his footfalls as silent as possible. On closer inspection the woman seemed painfully thin, almost emaciated. In her clenched fingers she held a small rag doll with vibrant red hair. She held it so tightly the seams had burst a little and the stuffing was leaking out in small tufts. The woman brought her head up, startling Shinji and stared emptily at something to the near left of the boy. He relaxed when he saw that she was not looking at him. In fact she never looked at any of the three people in the clearing with her. Her eyes were red and puffy and the pale tracks streaking from her eyes showed where her tears had fallen. Shinji stood and watched as she brought the doll up to her eyes with shaking hands and stared at it a little, before folding herself around the child's toy and weeping anew.
"She can't see you. She can't see anything anymore except that doll." Shinji whipped around at the sound of the voice coming from the far side of the clearing. A young boy had emerged from the cloying smog and stood, watching the woman uncertainly. His bright red hair was shorter than Shinji's and it's ruffled and untidy nature emphasised his boyish features. When he turned his attention to the group before him Shinji saw that his eyes were a vibrant blue. His colouring was the twin of the woman's. He looked to be about Eve's age, though he was taller by a few inches. He looked nervous, regretting his choice to speak.
"W-Who are you all?" Before Shinji could speak, or even begin to imagine how to answer the question, Eve stepped out from behind Shamshel and spoke in a timid voice.
"E-Evandiel? Is that you?" The boy stiffened at her words and stepped back, half obscuring himself in the fog.
"How do you know my name? Who are you?" Eve stepped forward a little, away from the girl behind her.
"It's me. Eve." The last was almost a question, asking if he remembered her. The boy, apparently Evandiel, stopped.
"Eve?" Hesitantly, keeping his eyes on Shinji and Shamshel, making it clear that he would flee quickly if he felt threatened he edged forward towards the small girl. "Is it really you Eve?" The girl nodded.
"Uh huh. Don't you recognize my voice?" The boy twitched his head to the side, before reluctantly nodding resolutely.
"Why are you here? And who are they?" He hadn't relaxed much.
"They're my friends. That's Shinji and that's Shamshel." She indicated each in turn. "They helped me. It's ok, they're really nice people!" Shamshel grinned and scratched the back of her head at the comment, while Shinji tried not to blush at the complement. Evandiel seemed to consider this answer carefully. Finally he responded.
"If you're friends of Eve's than you're friends of mine! My name's Evandiel." He paused and shot a look at the woman, who had descended into silent sobs. "She used to call me Evan."
"Who is she?" Shamshel asked gently and stepped forward, looking at the huddled female. Evandiel's face scrunched slightly as if he were trying to remember something difficult.
"...Kyoko Zeppelin Sohryu!" He pronounced the name in a sing-song tone which made it clear that he had learnt it off by rote rather than actually understanding what the words meant. Shinji shuddered. He had heard that name from Misato once before, but even had he not only one woman trapped inside an Eva was likely to be named 'Sohryu'. Asuka's mother. He kept staring at the woman while Eve ran over to Evandiel and started talking animatedly. Shamshel came up to stand beside him.
"...Do you know her?"
"W-What?" Shinji started, surprised by her question and turned to face her.
"You look at her like you know her, that's all. Now that I think about it you couldn't really, but... well y'know." Shinji shook his head slightly and glanced at the wreak of a woman again.
"No, I never knew her. But I kinda wish I'd had the chance." he trailed off quietly. The bronze girl looked at him quizzically and he continued. "She's the mother of a... friend. I don't know much but I thought she'd died when Asuka was young."
"Asuka?"
"My friend. I-I suppose it makes sense for her to be in here if mom was trapped in Unit 01." Evandiel and Eve had both moved closer to the older pair. Shinji turned to the younger boy. "Do you know what happened to her?" His voice was steady and firm with none of the usual hesitation that marked his speech. 'Another person lost to the Eva's... how many more are there?'
Evandiel shook his head.
"She was like this after we were hurt. Something hurt us and we saw images. They were weird... like I was remembering them. But the things in them never happened to me. After it stopped hurting she was like that. I tried talking to her but she could see me. At least that's what I think." The boy's face had turned morose and he looked small and alone, an expression Shinji easily recognised.
Shamshel crouched next to him and enveloped him in one armed hug.
"What did you see?" Evandiel turned to her, having to look up a bit seeing as even crouched she was a bit taller than he. His face scrunched up at the memories, a trait that seemed to crop up every time he thought about something.
"It was weird. It was like I was remembering her," he pointed to the weeping woman, "talking to the doll. A little girl kept trying to talk to her but she kept talking to the doll." As the boy spoke Shinji could feel a sick horror welling up inside him as his brain leapt to conclusions. "Then she was hanging from the ceiling and the little girl walked in. I didn't understand it, but K-Kyoko," he stumbled over the name and it made Shinji wonder what he had usually called her for him to have trouble with her name, "started crying. I tried to help her, t-to ask what was w-wrong, but she..." The boy stopped and angrily scrubbed at his eyes, clearly trying not to cry. Shamshel hugged him tighter silently.
'Of course. What else would he call her... but 'mother'?' Shinji suddenly felt tired. He had long believed that no one who came in contact with Nerv escaped unharmed. Seeing what may have passed for proof he was right was no less sickening. 'You found your dead mother Asuka...' Shinji struggle to imagine the scope of the damage that alone must have done to the girl. Shaking his head he turned to Evandiel, who was staring at him, eyes dry but the watery tracks of tears showing that some had indeed been shed.
"W-What is it?" Evandiel looked at the floor and fidgeted.
"Eve... Eve says that you can take me with you... w-will you?" Shinji nearly smiled.
'So like you Asuka, to want something but not know how to ask for it without feeling like you're being weak.'
"If that's what you want, then yes." Evandiel's eyes lit up before he could stifle the emotion.
"Well I don't know... I mean..." Eve gasped next to him, clearly showing that she wanted him with them.
"You don't have to if you don't want to," Shinji stated softly. "but I think Eve would like you to come." The boy turned to the girl who nodded hurriedly. Swallowing a little Evandiel turned back to Shinji and nodded, before being glomped by Eve and struggling to pry her off him without the aid of a crowbar. Shinji watched cracking a slight smile for their happiness, despite Evandiel's ferverant denials and loud claims that he was only coming for Eve's sake.
"You'd make a good father, you know." Shinji turned to find Shamshel next to him, speaking so lowly that the youngest two of the group could not hear her. Shinji remembered his own family history.
"No. I wouldn't." He turned away and approached Kyoko Zeppelin Sohryu, leaving a confused Shamshel behind. Approaching slowly, he knelt in front of the redheaded woman, whose gaze was still locked on the stuffed toy.
For a few seconds he remained silent, the lack of sound from behind him telling him that the others had fallen silent to watch him.
"I don't know if you can hear me, but I'm a friend of Asuka's." The woman twitched at the name. "I-I can take you to her i-if you want, but... that's all I can do." The woman looked up, and Shinji saw that her's eyes were the same colour as her daughter's. The same shade, the same hue, but lacking the vibrancy of Asuka's. The three of them, Asuka, Kyoko and Evandiel, all had the same eyes. Her voice was cracked and weary from her crying.
"You... You can take me to my daughter?" Shinji nodded silently. A watery smile skimmed across the woman's face, there so briefly that Shinji hardly believed it. "Thank you. T-Tell Evan that... I'm... sorry."
Crimson light enveloped the woman, obscuring her features and blinding Shinji, making his eyes ache even though he had closed them. The light faded and dimmed, shrinking into itself. Soon all that was left was a small orb of scarlet, like a drop of blood suspended in Shinji's outstretched hand. Closing his fingers around it, the remaining light dimmed, leaving the orb dull and lifeless. Standing, Shinji stared at it, feeling the other gathering around him.
'This is it. A soul. The life of a human, all their hopes and dreams, trapped inside this small sphere. I will take you to your daughter, even if that's all I can do.'
"What happened to her?" Shinji turned to Evandiel, who was tugging on his shirt.
"She's coming with us. She asked me to take her to her daughter, so that's what I'll do." Evandiel looked at the tiny sphere.
"That's her, right?" Shinji nodded.
"Yeah. That's her." He paused. "She wanted me to tell you something." The boy looked up suddenly, face avid with interest.
"What did she say?" Shinji paused.
"She said... 'Tell Evan I love him'." The boy looked away, but not far enough that Shinji couldn't see his tears.
'Even if that's not what she said... I think it's what she meant.' Everyone moved closer to him, Shamshel placing her hand gently on Evandiel's shoulder and Shinji slipping the orb into his pocket. The last few seconds before he withdrew from the Eva were filled with Shamshel's whispered voice.
"I was wrong. You'd make a great father."
Shinji blinked trying to get his eyes accustomed to the sudden return to light. The long grey barrel of the automatic rifle aimed at his head quickly came into focus. Shinji recoiled back in shock prompting the kevlar armoured man to step forward slightly, keeping his weapon at the same distance from the boy at all times. Glancing around hurriedly showed a ring of armed men around him, each one training a weapon on his head. Shinji swallowed, his breathing become shallow.
"Twice an Evangelion has become active within your presence, pilot. Twice it's AT field has activated and twice it has deactivated without major incident." Shinji's eyes twitched past the first balaclava clad man to the viewing window, where great rents had been torn in the plexi-glass. It seemed the Eva had done some damage then. "What explanation do you have to offer, pilot?"
Shinji swallowed again.
Well that's the next chapter. God this is turning out to be longer than I had thought. I tried to introduce a bit more humour into this one. Not sure if it worked or not, but I can't keep it permanently serious, it's just not my style. Besides the anime had funny bit's early in too. And that's my iron clad justification. Anyway please review, and i hope you enjoyed. More next time. Don't worry people. The action hot's up in a chapter or two.