True Love Waits Chapter 14
Adam Kadmon
Disclaimer: I'm glad I don't own Eva or Radiohead. If I did, I'd have losers like me writing about them all the time. Did I already say that?
"Captain! Captain!"
"Huh?"
She was on her back. Not that strange in itself, but something was amiss. She did not recognize the ceiling. It wasn't her rooms', nor was it any other in her apartment. Odd. Perhaps she was at Shinji's place? But why would he call her captain? Were they role-playing again?
No, no that wasn't it. The ceiling… it was the mobile command center. Yes, that was it. She smiled as she solved the puzzle. It dissolved from her lips as her eyes focused. Why was it so misty in here? Was Ritsuko smoking again? She knew better than that. Stupid woman. She'll get chewed out for this.
"Sssstupidd… Risu… ko…"
Huh. That sounded weird. Well, no matter. She was on her back, after all.Then she gurgled, choking on warm saliva. At least, she thought it was saliva. It was hot and thick. She sputtered as her throat spasmed, spitting something up on her cheek. Red? Red saliva? Had she been drinking a Bloody Mary? It certainly didn't taste like a—
"Stay awake, captain! Stay awake! Don't you go anywhere! Don't you dare!"
Who was this numbskull yelling at her? What the hell was all the commotion? Somebody switch to decaf when nobody was looking? And what was all this talk about staying awake? She was tired, damn it. She worked hard and was entitled to some shuteye. What was wrong with that? She closed her eyes, grumbling to herself.
"Damn it, captain! Wake up!"
A swift slap to the face jolted her eyes open. Who the hell dared to hit her? A dead man, that's who. Some moron angling for a severe ass whooping. She tried to sit up to administer said butt kicking, and found her body rebelling against her orders. She couldn't even lift her head. And what was that? Was that really a fire in the corner? What the hell…?
"Don't move, captain. Relax. Help is on the way."
"Wuh… aat?"
The person yelling at her, the person who dared strike her. It was… who was it? She knew him, but the name… she couldn't quite place the name. She concentrated hard, pouring all her mental power onto the question of who this guy was. He had long brown hair, sharp eyes, and… a huge gash on his forehead? Did he always have that? A sudden thought of guitars passed before her.
"Gii… rrr…"
"Captain," the man said. "Don't talk, don't move. Stay calm. We were hit, hard." He glanced over his shoulder. "Makoto! You alive? Get over here! The captain's down!"
A new man appeared behind the first, his glasses shattered, half his face covered in blood. He shuddered.
"God… captain Katsuragi…"
Katsuragi! That was her name! It had been bugging her, not being able to remember. She'd have to thank the bloody man. Thank you, bloody man, she tried to say. All that came out was more red. Damn Bloody Mary.
"Tilt her head! Makoto! Take your shirt off! Make a bandage, quick! She's bleeding out! We're losing her…!"
Losing her? What were they talking about? Eh, it didn't matter. With her head titled to the side, Bloody Mary spilling out her mouth so fast she couldn't speak and no one to talk to, she opted for the next best option. She closed her eyes, hoping when she woke up the world would return to its former, working self.
She giggled mentally. Who was that touching her legs? Shin-chan? He was here too?
The little devil. Acting so innocent all the time, blushing and stuttering. Okay, Shinji, be quick about it. I'm real tired. Really, really tired.
True Love Waits
Chapter 14
Rei deposited three coins into the pay phone, listening to them clatter down its insides, waiting for the dial tone. She was not, oddly enough, angry at the fact her cell had been confiscated. She punched in a number she had just recently committed to memory, hearing it ring twice.
"Hello?"
"Ikari-san."
"Oh, hello Ayanami. What a nice surprise. Is everything okay?"
"No. Misato has been injured. She is in the military hos—"
"What! Oh my God! Is she okay?"
Rei sighed.
"She is in the military hospital at the edge of the city. Do you know the one?"
"Yes! God! Is she… is she okay, Ayanami?"
"She is alive. Would you come down here, Ikari-san?"
"Y-yes! Yeah, I'm on my way. Oh, God…" On the other end, Shinji sprinted out of his office, nearly falling down a flight of stairs. "Ow. Ayanami, are you okay? You're not hurt, are you?"
"I am unharmed." She glanced behind her, seeing the operation light still lit above the theater. She pushed her fear down. "When will you get here?"
"God… the bus is too slow… I'll take a cab. Ayanami, I'm on my way. Just… just stay calm, okay?" He almost chuckled, remembering who he was talking to. "I'm… stay calm…"
"I will." Rei cradled the receiver gently, closing her eyes. She willed him to speed up, even though he already sounded like he was hyperventilating. "Ikari-san, give your name at the gate. They will take you to me."
"Right. Thanks. God… Ayanami, did you see her? How bad is it?"
"I do not know," she whispered to him. Her eyes refused to open. She gripped the phone in a sudden burst of anxiety. In her ear, Shinji's soft, desperate beckoning of an unseen deity continued, and the clamber of the hospital faded to a gentle buzz.
Hurry. Hurry. Hurry. Please hurry.
"Hey there, missy," a voice broke into her thoughts. "That's some crazy hair you got."
"What?" Rei turned to face a young woman in a military uniform.
"Whoa! Colored contacts, too? You're pretty styling, missy."
Rei went back to the phone.
"Please hurry." She hung up. Feeling the woman's eyes still on her, she tried to glide past her. She failed.
"What's the rush? Are you lost? Need some help?" The woman wore a small smile, trying hard to appear friendly. "What's the matter?"
"Nothing you could help me with." Her eyes drifted back to the surgery door, her thoughts in a jumble.
"Oh…" the woman said, almost a whisper. "You're Katsuragi's kid, aren't you?"
"Who are you to ask?" she snapped.
"It's okay," the woman soothed. "I'm sorry. I'm a friend of hers. We both work for the JSSDF. From what I heard, she seems like a really nice person. I'm sorry this happened."
Rei took a moment to look at her, for the first time, and saw her left arm soaked in dried blood. It hung limply at her side.
"You are injured."
"Oh, it's nothing. Forget it. A bullet grazed me. I'm already stitched up. See?" She flexed her arm, grinning. "Good as new."
"What happened?" Rei asked, her red eyes locking the woman in place.
"Sorry, kiddo. That's classified."
"I have a right to know. Tell me."
"Well, you're certainly straightforward, aren't you? Sorry. I'd be kicked out of this little club if I told you."
"That does not concern me," Rei said. "Tell me."
"Geez… you're a real handful," the woman said, scratching her short hair. "Sorry, I really am. I'm sure she'll tell you when she wakes up. Hang in there." She produced her bravest, warmest smile. A blank half-lidded stare was her reward. She sighed. "Uh, could I get you anything? Coffee? Food?" Something to thaw out that personality of yours?
The albino girl turned on her heel.
"If you will not tell me than I have no use for you."
"Hey, don't be mean. I'm just trying to help." She followed Rei to a bench, thinking the way she pulled out a book and began reading to be a coping mechanism. "Really, I could keep you company until your friend arrives…"
"I would not advise that," Rei stated bluntly. She sighed gently as the woman did not leave. "Who are you?" she asked, her patience at its limit.
"My name?" The woman smiled. "I'm Mana."
"Ayanami!"
Shinji ran down the hall, clearly out of breath. Rei rose from her station on the bench to greet him as he neared.
"Ikari-san, I—"
Rei gasped asShinji wrapped his arms around her, holding her head and back. She rested on his chest, feeling how fast his heart was beating. His body shuddered, choking back sobs. His fingertips flexed and contracted on her. Rei's arms stayed at her sides.
She'd never been hugged, not like this. Not like she was slipping away and he was desperate to capture her. She felt his breath running ragged against her neck, struggling to contain himself. Abruptly, he pulled back, keeping his hands on her shoulders.
"Ayanami, are you okay?" His eyes were hysterical, searching. "Are you alright?"
"I am… I am unharmed." She blinked at him. "Do not worry."
"Thank God." He hugged her again, letting out a sigh. "Thank God."
"… yes," Rei said, looking around. People were beginning to stare. "Are… you alright, Ikari-san?"
He drew back, wiping his eyes. His other hand stayed on her.
"Yeah, I'll be fine." Shinji smiled at her, a rare smile of unshielded emotion.
"Let us… sit. You look… tired."
"Alright."
They sat, and Shinji hung his head, catching his lost breath. He ran a hand through his wet hair.
"I… was notified at school," Rei offered, still tingling from the hugs. "A military car arrived and brought me here. Then I called you." She glanced around them: the woman was nowhere to be seen. Mana. Rei wondered if it was the same woman who—
"Thank you," Shinji said. "Do you know what happened?"
"They were intentionally vague. No one told me specifics." She breathed. "… thank you for coming, Ikari-san."
Shinji blinked.
"Of course I'd come… I care about you and Misato-san a lot, Ayanami." He glanced down at her hand, a pale ball of nerves. He almost took it in his own, but his adrenaline had left him, and rational thought again commanded his actions. He wondered if he crossed a line back there. "Um… just, just remember that, okay? You both… mean so much to me." A single tear slipped from his right eye. "G-geez…"
"Understood." She looked elsewhere, the blue of his eyes suddenly causing her discomfort. "I will remember."
Shinji had no real impression of the doctor who saved Misato's life, or the nurses who tended her. Their faces and voices were nothing but a blurry mess and it was all he could do to keep from screaming aloud, to damn God, to thank God. Shinji and God had never been on the best understanding to begin with.
Even after the doctor stated with certainty that yes, captain Katsuragi Misato, age twenty nine, birthday December eighth, 1976, was alive and would live given time and rest, Shinji's heart would not stop its escape from his chest until he saw her in post op. Still, and soft, and alive.
She looks like an angel, Shinji thought. My angel.
Misato was deep within a dreamless slumber, the hospital bed's sheets covering the injuries she sustained. Only her face and neck were visible, and the nurses had taken the time to clean her up before Rei and Shinji arrived. She was pale, drawn, her hair frazzled and burnt, stubborn flecks of black blood peppered her skin. Shinji thought she never looked more beautiful.
"Please wait here for a moment," a nurse told them. "I'll bring you two some chairs."
"Thank you," Shinji said, bowing.
Rei walked up to the window separating them from Misato and lightly touched the glass.
"She will be okay," the girl stated softly.
Shinji joined her at her side, but couldn't bring himself to speak, even to agree. He tried to summon anger, but all that arose was frustration. He felt helpless. The woman he loved was out risking her life, and all he could do was stand to the side and watch. Powerless. That was how he felt.
"I am glad she is alive," Rei said, retracting her hand.
"So am I," Shinji finally managed.
The nurse returned with two folding chairs, setting them up against the far wall beneath a long window overlooking the military base. It was well past noon, the orange sun sinking into the arms of the cityscape, far away.
"Sorry," she said. She looked exhausted. "These were the only ones I could find. I hope you don't mind too much."
"These are fine, thank you."
"Well, if you have any questions, or need anything, just call." She pointed to a phone mounted on the wall. "We'd be glad to help, but please remember you are here by special order of the commander. Please stay here and out of the way."
Shinji had a faint tickling memory of an old man with grey hair.
"We will. Thank you."
Shinji watched the nurse scuttle back down the hall and turned. He found Rei already in one of the chairs. He collapsed into the other beside her, blowing his breath to the ceiling. The rush here, the emotional drain, it all caught up with him in a hurry, and he felt his eyes flutter closed. The chair was amazingly uncomfortable, and the hall was at a constant level of audible irritation, but his body no longer cared.
"Thank God," he muttered one last time, before slipping his eyes closed to rest.
The noise of the hall became a steady, normal rhythm, a silence all its own. Nurses and patients passing him grew into a cushion for sleep, a peace in the natural way they moved around him, none bothering to stop for more than a glance or an uncomfortably murmured nicety. He wavered in a fitful rest, somewhere between dozing and lucid dreaming.
But when the sharp staccato assault of high heels invaded his ears, and a presence refused to leave after the required time to gawk and feel pity, Shinji cracked his eyes open. The harsh white of the hospital's hall gradually dulled and bled away, replaced with a somber blonde haired woman.
"Dr. Akagi!" he blurted out. Shinji leapt to his feet, blinking rapidly as blood rushed from his head. As his vision cleared he realized how tired and disheveled the scientist looked.
"Ikari," the woman greeted with a grave nod. She turned and saw Misato, and sighed through her nose. "I just heard. I got here as soon as I could." Her voice sounded neither surprised nor shocked, merely old. The weary resignation of a harsh reality.
"I'm sure she'd appreciate it," Shinji offered lamely.
Ritsuko didn't bother asking how she was.
"She was lucky," she said. Her face softened with exhaustion as he didn't follow. "Deep lacerations on her legs and chest, second degree burns, blood loss, concussion… she was lucky."
"Oh." Having gotten the military run around once already when he arrived, Shinji hedged his bets and decided not to ask the blonde what happened. But his reasoning failed to quell his impotent rage. "I suppose she was lucky." His mouth twisted around the words. The sentiment seemed ludicrous to him.
"I should have been there," Ritsuko muttered to herself.
Before Shinji could validate his total lack of comprehension regarding the situation, the prickly dawning of being watched fell over him. He turned, and found a man he did not know staring past him. It struck Shinji he knew those eyes.
"Can I help you, sir?" he asked. He unconsciously moved in front of the observation window.
The man all but pushed Shinji to the side, seeking out Misato. His brow furrowed slightly, as if trying to decide what emotion to display.
"Misato," he breathed.
"Dr. Katsuragi," Rei muttered from her chair, face unreadable. Her red eyes stared straight at the man, not bothering to notice Shinji's utter shock.
"Rei," the doctor said simply.
The albino tucked her book away. She quickly sought out blue eyes.
"I'm surprised you're already here," the man went on. "I suppose Misato would want that."
Adept as ever at human interaction, Rei thought. Where on earth did Misato learn her people skills?
"Who are you?" Katsuragi asked Shinji, noticing him for the first time.
"Her boyfriend," he answered immediately. He didn't quite know what to make of his sudden paling or twitch of his brow. "I'm—"
"I know who you are."
The unrestrained hostility in the words went unmet for a moment. Finally, predictably, Shinji shrank back towards Misato's room until his leg brushed the wall. He glanced back at her.
"I love her," he said awkwardly, increasingly uncomfortable with this whole encounter. This was a fine how do you do. Certainly not how he thought he would meet her father. Or how he would react to him.
Dr. Katsuragi's visage did not soften, but his voice's edge dulled a degree.
"My daughter the humanitarian." He sighed. "I didn't know the JSSDF was still playing matchmaker."
"Now is not the time," Ritsuko whispered. She looked at her companion with a warning in her eyes.
Dr. Katsuragi ran his hand over his face in a gesture of monumental fatigue. He shook his head and gazed at Shinji.
She deserves better than that monster's son.
"Sorry." An apology without apologizing.
Granted, Shinji had never punched someone before, but the blinding urge to try it at that moment was crumbling his meager mental defenses. In an all too familiar action borne of a desperate desire to conform to social decorum and avoid conflict, he swallowed his anger. Just another mouthful to add to the two decades of it inside him. God, was there anyone who didn't know his past at this point?
But Ritsuko, the bastion of common sense, reined his thoughts in. Now really wasn't the time.
"Could I… do you want to sit down?" Shinji asked through his teeth, motioning to his empty seat by Rei.
"I don't have that luxury right now," Katsuragi said with a glance at Ritsuko. "We really should be going."
"Going?" Shinji repeated. He scrunched his eyebrows together. "Where on earth would you—"
"Take care of her, Ikari," Ritsuko cut in softly, trying to defuse the situation. "I'm sorry but we really do have a lot to do." She gestured vaguely to the rest of the hospital, and Shinji was reminded of all the injured soldiers he passed on his way in. He blew out the rest of his argument in a shaky breath.
"Right. Thanks for stopping by. I'll be sure to tell her."
The blonde doctor gave him a brief smile, then turned to catch up with Misato's father. As she reached his side the man stopped in mid stride to face Shinji again.
"Tell her goodbye for me," Dr. Katsuragi said, almost as an afterthought. "I'm leaving the country in a few days and I doubt I'll get back here before then." He nodded briefly as a farewell.
Relationships with parents, adults, even his peers were never Shinji's strength. He never claimed otherwise. And he could begrudgingly realize a kind of brutal logic whenever he found someone burying themselves in work to escape the rest of the world. He was employed in the video game industry after all. But such a blatant show of indifference from a father was more than he could take.
He looked to Rei. The girl wore a face of weary acceptance. This was nothing to be surprised about.
Something about the way Dr. Katsuragi was walking away from them, from his daughter triggered something very deep and very dark within him. Shinji felt his composure flee from him in furious bounds.
"Why can't you tell her?" he asked, feeling genuinely angry with the man for the first time. His frustration bubbled over his lips. "You're her father, right? She was… she was almost killed! Is your own child such an inconvenience for you?"
"Ikari…" Ritsuko soothed.
"No!" Shinji was shaking. "She… don't you know how much she's been suffering since she saw you again? Misato-san's strong but she's not invincible! It's been tearing her up!"
"Humans are not meant to live with each other," Katsuragi said, almost sounding like he was quoting someone important. "Nor are they meant to live alone." He turned to face Shinji. "I am sure you understand this."
"I don't care how you justify it. It still isn't right!"
"No. It isn't." Dr. Katsuragi cursed words for being so woefully inadequate. "Life isn't fair, and that is a fact Misato has made peace with. I imagine Rei has, as well. Why you haven't yet is beyond me."
"I know life isn't fair," Shinji said, straining to make his point clear, "but God! You're her father!"
Ritsuko averted hergaze in discomfort. Rei's half-lidded eyes did not waver from the young man before her.
"You must love my daughter very much," Katsuragi said after a moment. He held a ghost of a smile on his lips. "And if you make her happy… that is the most I can ever hope for her."
Shinji's fury collapsed.
"And if you can keep making her happy… that would surpass all my wishes."
Shinji stared open mouthed. He blinked many times.
Ritsuko turned away.
Still a master manipulator, she thought, wearing a frown.
"We have to get going," the blonde doctor announced. "Seriously. Sorry, Ikari. Rei."
They left without any more words. The left, and the two who remained watched them leave. Shinji watched until they vanished behind a bend in the hall. He stepped back and sank into his chair. The moments lengthened, and he memorized the view inside Misato's room. He shut his eyes and could clearly see the curves of her face, the frizzed hair framing her face, the wires and bedding framing her hair. Shinji kept his eyes closed, and breathed. He opened his eyes and breathed again.
He turned to Rei with a soft, tired, forced smile.
"I've always meant to ask. What are you reading?"
Shinji craned his neck to check his watch. It was exactly seven minutes since he lost all feeling in his right arm. Nine since Rei's head struck his shoulder after she finally nodded off beside him. He had no idea how she managed to fall asleep in her position, but he wasn't holding it against her. He couldn't imagine how much strength it took to keep all her emotions internalized, especially on a day like this, but he knew she must be feeling pretty drained right now. At least now she could rest in relative privacy.
The hall was empty, and they were apparently forgotten. Shinji looked down both paths, nothing but the semi-silence of hospital existence meeting him. The intercom buzzed every so often, and sometimes lights flashed under doors, but no human life was visible. He felt amazingly isolated.
I never did like hospitals anyway.
Shinji was aware at the emotional convenience of the entire situation. Nothing like a little tragedy to send any and all private crises to the backburner. He knew the feeling he held now, the desperate desire to forgive and forget, just as long as she lived to see him again, was nothing but human weakness. It would fade, and pass, and be remembered as nothing but a moment of personal failing.
But he sincerely wished he would always feel this way. It was so easy to let his imagination hold his reason and logic hostage, concocting all sorts of elaborate and damning scenarios where Misato was killed or injured because he refused her apologies. Shinji literally could not live with himself if Misato died and he never told her he forgave her. He just wished he had a few more weeks to feel betrayed.
Shinji extracted his arm from Rei, taking care not to wake her. He never pegged her as a heavy sleeper, but was glad when she simply grumbled something softly and curled away from him.
Shinji walked to the observation window, and smiled down on Misato's slumbering form. Despite his lifelong hesitance regarding physical contact he suddenly felt the overpowering desire to touch her, to at least hold her hand. Somewhere along the way during their relationship physicality became a normal, required aspect of his life. Shinji never excelled in speech, and he discovered small touches, a gentle brushing of fingers over exposed skin could intimate the words that seemed to be always poised on his lips.
"I love you, Misato-san."
Shinji traced lines down the glass. He supposed it must have looked extremely maudlin, but that was the kind of mood he was in.
He listened to the steady, reassuring electric beeps representing her pulse, trying to time it to his own. He stayed there, barely breathing, watching her in the dark. The slight, but undeniable rise and fall of her chest made him feel indescribably wonderful. The fatigue working him over lessened, but only a degree. His body still grumbled at him to go to sleep, but his mind was alert and awake. He turned away from the window, that old desire to scream aloud coming back. Shinji walked down the abandoned hall, giving one last lingering look at Misato, and the digital display showing her progress. The rising bars were almost all green now. Soon she'd wake up.
His eyes fell on Rei. Perhaps she'd like a coffee. He used the justification of pursuing hot beverages to wander the hospital by himself for a few minutes. Shinji knew how to deal with trauma, but it was on his own time, without anyone else's company. That was what he liked to tell himself, anyways.
What a day. That was the only coherent thought he could summon as he stopped by the cafeteria, gazing out over the dark countryside beyond the base. Now and then a car would pass by, headlights stabbing through the night, or a low-flying VTOL swept past, making the windows rattle slightly. There seemed to be an awful lot of activity for such a late hour. He was thankful the hospital had calmed down. The rush of doctors and injured soldiers that had greeted him when he first arrived was gone now, replaced with the soft quiet of a normal night.
It was with a sense of impossibility, of surrealism, that he reviewed the day's events. He had an inkling that Misato's occupation was dangerous, but he never seriously entertained any ideas of her getting injured. It was a reality, but one far removed from his everyday thoughts. But now, it was at the forefront of his musings, and he imagined it would be for the foreseeable future. It just didn't seem fair to him. Shinji was by no means sexist, but he couldn't help but feel slightly emasculated when all he could do was thank people for stopping by. He felt he should be able to do more. Maybe he should enlist.
That idea died before he finished thinking it. He was no soldier, no fighter. Even verbal sparring matches made him fluster. He couldn't imagine how he'd react in a life or death situation. He'd probably wet himself and run away. Shinji sighed. All he could do was wish her job wasn't so hazardous. He had asked her once, why she had joined the military in the first place, and was surprised not to be surprised when she told him. Her father. He was the reason. Shinji instantly understood her more than she knew. Little more was needed on the topic. Feeling sorry for oneself seemed to be epidemic these days. So did desire for approval from a distant parent.
Shinji couldn't help it. Thinking about his father would never be a happy pastime for him. Two dead parents at twenty-two. Tragic, to be sure, and with Shinji's mentality, a near disaster. Another sigh passed his lips.
Goodbye, father, he thought. Goodbye, mother. I hope I can still make you proud. I hope I can live a worthy life. I hope I can make Misato happy. He paused. I hope I can make Rei happy, too.
Maybe it was best to take one thing at a time.
So absorbed within himself, he failed to pick up on the lone figure walking down the hall towards his hunched form. He made for a pitiful sight, leaning on the rail, overlooking the black night. His eyes searched the darkness, a fruitless effort. The figure approaching him grinned, letting herself be transported back to a very distant time and place. She spoke just loudly enough to break his train of thought.
"Hey there, gloomy."
Shinji froze. Every nerve in his body died and came alive in an instant. Air refused to enter his lungs. He tasted sweat on his lips.
"It… it can't be…"
He turned and found Kirishima Mana smiling back at him.
Fuyutsuki entered the seven digit pass code into the palm display, grunting with impatience as the heavy metal doors grinded open. He slipped through before they were completely back, marching down to the next gate. A retinal scan was required this time, and he bent with a fast, angry motion. The laser passed over his eye and the next set of doors swept back.
The final gateway was defended by two armed guards. They saw him coming, and brought their weapons up.
"It's me!" Fuyutsuki shouted at them. "Open the damn doors!"
They hastened to allow him access. A siren wailed as the last door slid up, and the aged commander ducked under it, all but running inside.
Within was a sterile white room, larger than most houses, so bright it was difficult to see where the floor ended and the walls began. In its center stood a wide cell, bars reaching up some twenty feet. Another guard sitting beside the cell stood, saluting Fuyutsuki before quickly scuttling to the side.
"Leave us," the old man growled. The soldier blinked, uncertain, and the commander spun on him. "Get out!"
The door to the hall closed, the siren sounding again. It shut with a dull thud, the shockwave spreading over the floor. Fuyutsuki's fists clenched until the knuckles popped.
"Wake up, you son of a bitch."
The prisoner in the cell sat up in bed, swinging his feet around to meet the floor. He looked at the old man with an inquisitive stare.
"Lab 81," Fuyutsuki bit out. "We just moved on it today. It took us awhile to find its location from the MAGI, but we did. So, did you have your lackeys waiting there for months just to ambush my people?" His words echoed off the white walls, careening around the cavernous room. "Say something!"
"Whatever do you mean, commander?"
Fuyutsuki stormed to the bars, gritting his teeth.
"Lab 81. Another of your little playhouses out near Kyoto. What was your order to those jackals?"
The prisoner tilted his head, considering. He shook his head.
"I have no recollection of issuing orders to the men at 81. Perhaps my employers ordered the attack." He paused. "Have you found them yet?"
"Not yet," Fuyutsuki promised. "God damn it, my people died out there. For God's sake tell me something and save what's left of your soul!"
"There have been losses on both sides. Loss is inevitable in a war."
"We're not at war!" The old man jammed his eyes closed. "Please. For the love of God. For humanity's sake. Damn it, think of your son!"
The prisoner pushed his glasses back up the bridge of his nose.
"I have told you all I know, sensei. The rest is up to you."
"You've disgraced her name. You've damned yourself. Don't damn everyone else."
"How is he? I'm actually a little curious. Has his back healed yet?"
Fuyutsuki shook with rage.
"We should have let you die, you devil." He turned and pounded on the door, demanding exit. It disappeared into the ceiling, siren blaring all the way. Fuyutsuki left without looking back. The guard returned to his post, giving the man in the cell a dark look.
Ikari Gendo considered the words passed between them, grinning softly. He lay back down, placing his hands behind his head, breathing in the harsh recycled air. His eyes closed. All was right with the world.
To be concluded.
Author notes: one more... one more… This probably won't end the way you think it will… or think it should. And fair warning: I plan to leave certain things unresolved. Just like real life. Well, my life.
Thanks to everyone who reviewed. I personally feel you guys are overestimating me, but what the hell do I know, right? Also, thanks to the people who pointed out all the clichés, convenience, poor description, bizarre characterizations and other assorted unbelievable elements. I truly appreciate it.
Ha ha! Character development is done! Time for plot device after plot device! Oh, I can hear the flames from here. About how implausible the ending is, how convoluted and how convenient it all is. About how OOC Misato's actions are in the second half, about how the whole thing just plain sucks. But damn it, this is my fic, and I'll damn well throw out the ideals of believable story structure and character fidelity if I so choose. So there.
And here. OMAKE. You know, I was actually thinking about doing omakes for Witness. Not sure if I'll do one for next time.
Misato: God, my dad is such a dick.
Shinji: (no response)
Misato: Yours is pretty dickish, too.
Shinji: (no response)
Misato: Uh, are you okay, Shin-chan? You look a little… out of it.
Rei: Perhaps his life of perpetual horrors has finally caught up with him. First that deceitful skank Kirishima returns, now his deadbeat dad.
Misato: Um… and how do you know about all that?
Rei: (thinking) Shit.
Shinji: Oh, I'm fine with all that. I'm simply trying to figure out who to kill first. The assholes who attacked Misato-san, my father for being involved with it, or Dr. Katsuragi for abandoning her again.
Rei: Ikari-san, calm down… please.
Misato: No! Keep it up, Shinji! (to Rei) Shut up! Do you have any idea how hard it is to get him really revved up?
Rei: Somehow I was happier not knowing that.
Shinji: Must… restrain… urge to kill…
Misato: Oh, don't you worry about that, Shin-chan. I'm sure you'll get a little death somehow…