02:17 – Isolation
Disclaimer: I do not own Evangelion or any of the characters they are the property of their respective creators. Please be aware that no profit is being made from this work of fan fiction.
It would seem that despite my efforts to prevent it, she has finally confessed her feelings and he has chosen her over me. However, this by no means is the end of my plans, it simply means that adjustments will have to be made. Up until now I have been attempting to avoid Pilot Soryu's demise because I am unsure of the effects it will have on Ikari. As things are now I have no other choice, I will simply have to 'take my chances' regarding any permanent damage to his psyche.
I am sufficiently confident in my abilities, based on my reading, that I would be able to make him forget about her once she is out of the way. Turning to leave the cages before I was noticed, I stopped when I heard a voice calling to me, the strangest part being that rather than hearing it with my ears I was hearing it inside my head.
Daughter of Lilith, hear me.
"Who are you?"
I am your other self, the one bound in the form you know as Evangelion Unit-01.
"Why have you contacted me in this way?"
Because, there are things we need to discuss.
"Continue."
There is something, or rather someone who we both desire, someone whose heart belongs to another.
"Ikari."
Yes.
"Why?"
He is the key.
Sensing I would obtain no further explanation on this matter I switched topics.
"You say that we both desire him, yet we are separate. How is it possible that he might be shared?"
Within me there is a place, one where no one else may come, a place where you can be together forever, even as I will be with him through you.
"The price?"
That you are able to bring him within me once more along with yourself. Alone, I cannot stop the other one who dwells within from protecting him.
"I understand…but, how am I to get him away from her?"
Soon, the fifteenth messenger will arrive. When it comes I will lye dormant, forcing them to send another in my place. When that time comes allow them to send her, let her face judgment instead. The punishment for her failure will remove the problem.
"If it is allowed to act in this way…will this not affect the scenario?"
No. This one too will be destroyed; all shall fall before the gates because they lack the means to open them.
Once again I find myself feeling unsettled by it's answer, there is more to this than I am being told. However, I do not believe I care any longer. All that matters now is that he and I will be together, forever.
I returned to my apartment soon after, taking great pains to avoid encountering anyone on my departure from the cages. It would not do for anyone to report my strange behavior, the Commander must not suspect lest he replace me with one of the others in order to protect his scenario. The next few days were spent going through my normal routine, making every effort to avoid suspicion as I waited for the angel to arrive.
I showered briefly and retired to my bed, to my surprise sleep did not come immediately as I found my thoughts drifting back to it's words, in particular its repeated references to Ikari as 'The Key'. This inference is not consistent with what I know of the scenario; supposedly the sleeping Adam is the key to starting Third Impact. Not only that but it seems to be confident that the angels will fail, regardless of whether we are there to prevent them or not.
Once again I am forced to question truth of it's words, surely someone would have realized this by now and adjusted their plans accordingly? One way or another I plan to find out…I have unrestricted access to the Magi, it is time that I put my privileges to work, I will examine the records regarding the Dead Sea scrolls. Then we shall see if its words hold even the slightest grain of truth.
The following morning I started the day with my usual routine, getting up and taking a cold shower before returning to the main room to get dressed once again. As I pulled on my underwear my mind drifted back to that time when Ikari had arrived here, unannounced. I had just come out of the shower to find him standing by my bed, wearing the pair of glasses from the Commander I had kept long ago.
For the first time in my life I had felt angry, angry at the way he seemed to be mocking me, looking at me through those cracked lenses, tracing the curves of my body with his father's eyes. I closed on him, intent on removing them from his face only to tip him off balance and land on the floor. He had been on top of me then, his hand pressed firmly against my breast. I can still remember the shock that had coursed through me at the feel of his warm flesh against my own, for an instant I had hesitated, before at last composing myself enough to ask him to get off me.
After that I simply acted as if he were not there, dressing as normal, not caring that he had seen me naked. Had it been the second in my place no doubt she would have caused him physical harm for seeing her naked but at that time, to me, such things were unimportant. It is odd how quickly things change, that I would now give almost anything for that to happen again even while the Second had no doubt taken him to her bed, she would most likely injure him now if he were not to look at her while naked.
Feeling a stabbing pain in my hand I look down, seeing that the glass I held has shattered in my grip, shards of it cutting into my hand. Anger is a new emotion to me, as is jealousy, I am still finding great difficulty in controlling it. Knowing this must be dealt with quickly I walked into the kitchen, placing my bleeding hand under the tap and allowing the water to clean away the blood and glass. The wounds were not deep, only a few small cuts, these I bandaged carefully before returning to the bedroom and finishing getting dressed.
Despite the fact that I am dressed in my uniform I have no intention of going to school, thankfully my regular absences will take care of any questions that might have otherwise been asked. The only important fact is that I must not allow myself to be seen by anyone who might report my actions to the Commander, as before, it will not do for him to learn of the changes in my behavior. I have noticed his behavior has been somewhat…different, in the past few weeks.
During the time Ikari was trapped inside Unit-01, he would travel top the cages on a regular basis, often late in the evening when the command staff had gone off shift. I watched him staring silently up at the unmoving Eva, his expression unreadable, even to me. When a single drop of water hit the walkway below his face I was confused until I realized what it was that was happening, he was shedding a tear for his son.
Shaking myself free of such thoughts I passed through the familiar entranceway into Nerv. What I needed now was a terminal with access to the Magi, one which could not be easily traced; somewhere no one would not disturb me. Three places came to mind at once, the first of course being the Commander's own office. From there I could do everything I required and there would be no record, however, the risk of encountering either the Commander himself or the sub commander is too great.
The second place that comes to mind is the office of Major Katsuragi. The problem is despite her usual absences of late she has been in her office much of the time, a lot of paperwork has accumulated and she has been spending her time working through it although I do not believe that is the real reason…she wanted a way to escape the situation with Ikari and that was the route she chose.
That only left one more option, the office of one Ryoji Kaji. As far as I am aware the terminal in his office in the only other one with a direct link to the magi system, the other are either located in communal or secured areas. His office should allow me the privacy I require for my task and given his notable absence of late, there is a reasonable chance that he will not be there at the moment.
I found Mr. Kaji office empty, exactly as I had hoped. I slipped inside, shutting the door and moving over to the desk, covered in paperwork. In some ways it initially reminded me of Major Katsuragi's but as I looked more closely I realized that this mess was not simply random but rather very well planned to give the impression of absolute chaos and inefficiency. Intrigued by this development I considered digging further but quickly dismissed that thought, my primary goal was far more important.
I took a seat in front of the terminal, depressing the power switch and watching as the screen flared into life. At first it went through the boot sequence I had been expecting but once it reached the main login screen something seemed to be a little odd…there were a number of program there that I did not recognize at first, upon clicking onto them I was presented with a screen that demanded an authentication of some kind.
Unfortunately, my knowledge of such things is limited and I was unable to break the encryption. However, I was able to ascertain that this program was accessing the secure areas of the MAGI, ones that that majority of the staff at Nerv were not supposed to be aware of. That Mr. Kaji knows they exist are cause for concern, I will keep this in mind for future although I do not think that telling the Commander would be wise lest he question how it was I came to be using that computer.
Pushing such thoughts aside I turned my attention back to the task at hand, tapping into the classified files held relating to the Dead Sea scrolls and their translation. As I skimmed down the words on the screen I spotted something odd, a single passage standing apart from the others in the rest of the prophecy. Intrigued I turned my attention to this lone passage, reading it intently.
Seventeen shall some and go, none able to defeat the chosen of the mother. They shall return to their rest, awaiting the emergence of the key, born from the flesh of the eighteenth, they shall at last open the gates of heaven and lead all things into the paradise beyond.
I do not fully understand these references; they seem to refer to Ikari in some way although the meaning of 'the eighteenth' eludes me. From all that I have been told and have seen there are only seventeen messengers. How can it be that there is an eighteenth and how can it be that the chosen shall be born from it's flesh? No closer to an answer, I shut the computer down and make my way to the door.
It opened as I reached for the handle and I found myself meeting the bemused expression of Mr. Kaji.
"Miss Ayanami? What are you doing here?"
"I was in need of a terminal, and yours had the access I required."
"But why didn't you use one of the main terminals? Surely it was nothing you couldn't have done elsewhere…"
"They were things that I did not wish for the Commander to learn of…in the same way that you would not wish for him to learn of your other activities."
"Uh…I…alright. So, you scratch my back and I scratch yours, huh? He taught you far too well."
"Then we have an understanding."
"Yes."
"Good."
I took my leave then, pondering many things as I went, most of all the continuing issue of how to return Ikari to me.
It was only a couple of days later after that incident that the next angel made it's presence known. As ever, we were called to Nerv immediately but for once we were ushered into a briefing room after we changed rather than the plugs. Already the Commander, Sub Commander, Dr. Akagi, the Major, and Mr. Kaji were present, looking at a large display screen currently showing an image of the Angel. Once we were seated the major walked up to the front and began the briefing.
"At present the angel is in a geostationary orbit above us, at a point approximately one hundred miles outside the atmosphere, outside the effective range of the majority of our weapons. At present it has taken no offensive action but we do not plan to take any chances, it must be dealt with before it attempts to launch an attack."
As the major continued on, describing the strategies to be used in the coming battle, my attention was elsewhere. Beside me, the second was sitting very close to Ikari, her hand wrapped around his. From the way they were acting it did not seem as if they had explored the things that I had studied in my research, the signs were not entirely evident, but none the less I could not be sure.
My attention was hauled away from them when we were dismissed abruptly and sent to the Eva cages. As it was Unit-01 was kept on lock down, after what had happened it seemed that the Commander was reluctant to use it at all. As it was it seemed unlikely that the scenario could be brought about, for now however it seemed that the Second would be taken care of without my help.
She had been chosen to take the first rifle and engage the Angel, this would mean she would be the one to feel it's wrath, rather than Ikari. Once she is dealt with, I can comfort Shinji in his grief and subject him to my will and then we can enact the final stage of our agreement…once again my attention flicked back to the task at hand, to the secondary positron rifle clutched in my Eva's hands.
As the operation commenced the air was soon filled with the cries of the Second as the Angel invaded her mind seeking what would never be found. I faintly heard the order to fire being given, complying, knowing it would do no harm as the Angel's AT field deflected my fire. It was then a new order came through, an instruction to obtain the lance. This was unexpected and might prove a problem, were the Angel to be beaten too soon, the Second would survive…
Once I reached the surface, lance in hand, I hesitated, uncertain if it was too soon. When the order came I ignored it, lost in my thoughts. It was not until I heard a scream over the comm. did I finally react.
"SHINJI! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING! GET BACK HERE!"
The Major was screaming at the top of her lungs even as I heard others talking in the background, charting his progress. It seemed that he had exited the plug of Unit-01 and was making his way to her side. Already, he was at the surface, running towards the tortured Unit-02. There was no time left, I threw the lance with all my might, I could not allow the chance of his being hurt or killed.
The lance's flight was true, tearing apart the 15th angel and ending the torment of the Second Child. I could already hear the messages from the rescue teams, she was out of the Eva now. Despite the warnings Shinji had taken her from her Eva and cradled her in his arms. It would seem this plan has failed…but it is not the end by far. We will try again and next time I will not fail.
AN: And so chapter 17 arrives with a bang. Seven more after this, at least according to my current plans, then No and the other will continue finally. However, given the current work situation don't expect them to come all at once, updates will be irregular as usual.
As an aside apologies for the last chapter, it should have been MRI or CT but for some reason I couldn't remember what it was really called. Hopefully this still works, as it's into the future we can assume that it was a revised form of those techniques.
Till next time,
Hououza
Chapter preread by That Other Guy