A/N: Hey yall. Sorry for the long wait but I had a few things to take care of. Thanks to all who stuck with this fic and I hope this new chapter will add excitement to it.
A Bitter Farewell
Shinji pressed his back against the wall, his hand gripping the handle of his pistol with trembling fingers. He could hear the hiss of several more teargas canisters hitting the floor and he could also could make out the voice of soldiers entering the lab. Then it finally hit him. Fear had finally caught up with him. All this time he felt he was growing the valor he once forsaken but now it seemed as if his courage had left him. When he was darting toward the seaplane back in Brazil he didn't feel fear. He didn't feel the pressure that hit his stomach. He didn't feel as if he had to hurl. He didn't feel alone. But now. It was different. He was in a room in the back of a laboratory with only one entry point with no way of escaping. The seeping teargas flowed dangerously into the doorway and it would only be a matter of time before it would engulf the room. He began to breathe hard.
Carla caught sight of the boy who was now leaning against his knees in attempt to hold himself up. He began to pant and hold his chest, dropping his weapon.
"Shinji? Are you alright?" she asked putting down her rifle. He shook his head and soon his hand traveled to his chest. He fell to his knees and the rest of his weight forced his body to hit against the wall.
"Shinji!" she called. He was now sweating profusely, panting and holding his chest. She eyed him quickly and said, "Shinji, try to calm down, you're having a panic attack."
She placed her palm on his chest and counted the beats, her eyes widened. She quickly grabbed his hand and held it while placing him on the floor. She quickly glanced out the doorway and could see the fog of teargas creeping towards them. She looked back towards Shinji who was now panting uncontrollably, his eyes wide and darting from one corner of the room to another in rapid succession. She closed his eyes with her hand and held her palm against his cheek.
"Shinji, listen to me. I need you to relax. Listen to my voice, alright? Breathe in and out deeply." she whispered to him. He tried but he could feel his chest ache from his heart forcefully hitting against his ribs and when he tried to take in a deep breath it was like a lightning bolt in his body. He gasped for air. Carla picked his head up and held him to her chest using her body in a rocking motion. One hand caressed his chin and one hand rested on his chest to monitor his heartbeat. She continued to rock him, her own face looking up at the ceiling, droplets of water brimming at her eyes.
"Shush, relax." she whispered, her voice breaking, "You'll be alright. Wait it out. Think of an ocean."
She could remember when her own mother used to do this to her. She could remember having constant anxiety attacks. She remembered when the doctor told her that she had PTSD. Post traumatic stress disorder. She remembered thinking about how her father was killed by mercenaries right before her eyes and soon after that she would suffer constant attacks.
She could feel his chest slowly ease and his panting subsided somewhat. She looked down and she could see Shinji's face fall into a serene state. Sweat falling from his brow.
"Thank... you..." he breathed.
She hugged him.
He opened his eyes and the first thing that trickled into his vision was the white fog that had was now at his feet. He lazily tapped Carla and she too spotted the potentially dangerous fog that approached. She took the band of her rifle and wrapped it around her shoulder, she placed an arm around Shinji's waste and began to crawl to a corner of the room with him in tow. She couldn't afford him to go into another attack if they were engulfed in the teargas. Anxiety attacks are not usually lethal but when combined with an agent that caused limited breathing she knew there was a change of him dying from asphyxiation. She leaned up against a corner and brought Shinji to her chest. She cocked the rifle and held it out before him aiming at the doorway. She may have been weak before but her resolve became clear. Her whole family had been killed by mercenaries and all she had was her mother. She watched her father be killed and she could do nothing about it. If she could just save one life then she could forgive herself. A secret conflict she could only admit to herself.
The teargas was halfway into the room. Shinji's gun faded into white.
A figure appeared behind the gas, the sound of rustling equipment automatically gave away the figure's identity. She lifted the rifle but to keep it elevated was difficult due to its weight. She struggled to keep it up but then a pair of hands lifted, one held the barrel and the other wrapped around her trigger finger.
"I'll... help you... Asuka..." he breathed.
Carla's eyes furrowed.
Before she could say a word she could feel Shinji's hand force her finger to pull the trigger. The soldier behind the fog screamed in pain but with another shot he fell to the floor like a puppet with severed strings. Then like clockwork more figures appeared.
Carla again lifted the rifle to squeeze off another round but it would prove to be unnecessary. Several bodies ejected from the fog and slammed against a nearby wall leaving a severe dent. Carla felt her breath leave her as she watched the bodies fall to the floor, a mangled mess of blood and gore. What in the world? The teargas began to retreat. An eerie glow began to permeate the opaque air.
"You... Asuka?" Carla whispered. The red headed girl stood at the doorway leaning against the frame, her hair down and red like substance falling down her cheeks. Carla looked down and she could the gun Shinji had dropped trembling. The fog that had begun to retreat was now flowing freely around Asuka's feet like a planet revolving around the sun.
"What's happening to me?" Asuka whispered, her voice hoarse.
"You took my drug?" Carla asked. Asuka lifted her head exposing her eyes making Carla gasp, "H-how much d-did you t-take?"
Asuka coughed and then withdrew an empty syringe from her back pocket. She lifted it so that the blond girl could see it and then threw it against the floor, shattering it. Carla swallowed hard. Asuka then lifted her hand and swiped behind her forcing the teargas from the entire room to disperse and fade into nothing and as if nothing happened she buried her face within her hands and sighed.
"I... feel weird." she said.
"Asuka. I can't lie to you. I have no idea what's going to happen to you. I mean. There's no telling what it can do with so much concentration. You could die for all I know. There's really no telling what it will do to you besides its basic function." said Carla.
Gunshots erupted from the main entrance of the lab. Asuka turned and found about thirty soldiers standing at the entrance.
"How many of you are there?" she whispered.
"Asuka, get in here, get away from doorway!" called Carla. Shinji had regained his energy and was now watching the scene unfold unable to say or do anything. Asuka ignored the girl's words and walked into the lab flicking her hair behind her exposing her face.
"What?! What the hell is she?" yelled out a soldier.
"Doesn't matter! Kill her!"
Bullets began to soar. Shinji darted upward and towards Asuka.
Asuka felt herself being pushed into a lab table where she fell over it and landed on the opposite side with a grunt. She heard a heart wrenching sound. She quickly got to her feet where her eyes met a body of a boy lying motionless on the floor. Several bullet wounds scattered along his back, blood oozing from it. The sudden realization that Shinji had taken the shots weighed incredibly on her heat. It was such a sudden blow to her that something clicked. Something clicked. Her mind clicked.
Baka!
Idiot!
Stop saying you're sorry!
You're just a wimp!
Why don't you grow some already?
Why do you always pity yourself?
Shinji?
Don't leave me...
Shinji?
Get up...
Please Shinji?
Don't go...
Shinji, answer me?
Don't... leave... me...
"Hey, Asuka."
"What do you want, dork?"
"Nothing..."
"Spit it out!"
"It's nothing,"
"Oh come on, don't be a twit."
"Alright alright. You wanna go for a walk...?'
"With you?"
"Uh huh."
"I guess it couldn't hurt. I know you wouldn't try anything."
Shinji...
Heartbeat. Da dum. Da dum. Da dum.
No more sound.
Da dum.
Just a heartbeat.
Da dum.
Red electricity.
Da dum.
No more failure.
Da dum.
Love.
Da dum.
Gunshots. They miss. The fury of a divine being reigns down. More gunshots. They are useless. Blood. Torrents of blood. Tears of blood. Shouts. Yelling. Screaming.
Da dum.
Da dum.
Da dum.
The heartbeat fades...
I can't feel any pain. I can't feel anything. I only see red. Was this the reason I was placed here? To cause more pain? Did I change my future again? Shit... I wasn't thinking. I don't know if this has happened before. I don't care anymore. Their blood stings my skin. I can't tell if I'm bleeding too. There's so much of it. Did I really do this? My hands... they're red... like me. What's wrong with me? My body feels heavy. I can't hear anything. Am I deaf? It's so hot in here. It must be the blood. I think I can feel the steam from it radiating off the ground.
Carla stood, scared, not wanting to look out into the lab. She heard so many screams. She heard the sound of some kind of liquid hitting the ground as if someone had dropped buckets of water onto the floor. The air smelled bad. She couldn't figure out what kind of smell it was but it wasn't pleasant. She took in a breath and peered out, she quickly retreated back into the room, she began to retch uncontrollably.
"My... God..." she managed to say. Blood. Blood soaked the floor. Steam rose from the puddles of red. She could see Asuka kneeling. Pulses of red electricity hovered over the pools of blood. Arms, legs, intestines littered the ground. Asuka was bathed in blood. Her red hair thick with the red fluid. Carla gathered her strength and proceeded into the carnage careful to avoid the puddles of human remains. She took another step forward but actually hit an invisible wall. A grid like pattern forming before her.
"Asuka... is this your A.T. Field?" she whispered.
She looked over to where Asuka was, the girl did not move from her spot.
"Asuka? Asuka, can you hear me?" she asked. The red head made no sign of acknowledging her call. She pressed her hands against the transparent wall, "Is this... is this what I've created?
Asuka lifted her head.
"Hurry up and destroy this place." she hissed. Carla nodded and headed over to a spare computer on the far side of the lab. Asuka peered down at Shinji who was resting peacefully on her lap. His chest rising and falling softly. He must be dreaming, she thought. She managed to save him. How she managed to save him she didn't know but to know the fact that she did was satisfying. Was it possible that the drug had given her the ability to mesh her A.T. Field with his? That she mended his wounds using her A.T. Field? She couldn't explain it, she felt incredibly powerful, almost divine.
Carla finally placed the final code into the computer and a warning bell began to sound. She turned to Asuka who was now lying on her back, convulsing. She rushed over to where she was and in the process realizing the invisible wall that was once blocking her had dissipated.
"Asuka!"
The red haired girl was violently trembling, her back arching and her fist slamming against the sticky puddle of blood around her. Carla looked up and she could see orange grid walls appearing and disappearing as if they were struggling to stay up. Then suddenly the walls disappeared for good and Asuka was staring blankly at the ceiling.
"You alright?" the blond asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine."
"Are you sure?"
"I said yes already dammit. I just have a headache and what is all this stuff?" she asked pointing at herself.
"Don't you remember what you did?"
"Of course not."
" I see, can you stand?"
"Yeah, I think so. What happened to him? What the hell? What the hell happened here?"
"Don't mind that now... Shinji? Asuka see if you can get him up."
"Oh brother, how come he's all clean and I'm... what the f-... why am I covered in blood? Oh hell what day is it? It's not Thursday is it? I knew I should have asked Misato before she left if she had some extra--"
"Will you shut up?"
"What did you say?"
"Nothing. Just get him up and stand over there towards that wall. We managed to buy some time. I think we have enough time to get out of here."
Asuka agreed but not without swearing angrily realizing she was unable to remember what was going on. She decided it wasn't important as she dragged the sleeping Shinji. Carla dashed over to the computer and typed in a few more commands. But something was wrong. She wouldn't be able to make the lab self-destruct automatically like she thought. Someone would have to stay and confirm the destruction manually. Someone would have to stay.
"Over there!" called a man. Carla looked up and was stunned to see even more soldiers entering through the entrance brandishing even more firepower and making their aim towards both Shinji and Asuka. Seeing this happen she felt a sense of this scenario happening before. She stepped away and yelled out to the soldiers, "Hey! Over here!"
The soldiers turned to her and she pulled out the gun Shinji had dropped and aimed it at them. However before she could shoot the soldiers they shot her. She felt the front of her body being ripped apart. She felt the bullets pierce her chest knocking her down onto the floor. Asuka could only stare in disbelief. She was dead. The soldiers then aimed at her and Shinji, she shoved Shinji (who by the way was still knocked out) underneath a table allowing her to slide behind another. Gunfire ricocheted off the metal table tops. The gunfire stopped and she could hear the soldiers moving in for the kill. She could hear the footsteps approaching. She was now crying out of fear but she pressed her palms against her mouth to suppress her distressed gasps. Despite her strong demeanor the fear of death was still there and to be put down like a dog was the worst of her fears.
Suddenly and abruptly the wall that she had just stood by opened exposing a long dark corridor.
"What the hell?" questioned a soldier. Asuka looked over and was stunned to see Carla sitting with her back leaning up against a computer, a keyboard on her lap. The blond girl looked exhausted and once the two girls made eye contact the American girl lifted three fingers into the air. Asuka did the same.
3
Carla cocked her gun.
2
Asuka knelt, prepared to run.
1
The click of a keyboard echoed into the room.
Carla emerged from behind a desk and began to fire blindly at the soldiers. Asuka managed to grab Shinji and made a break for the open wall. It felt like time slowed for that moment. As Asuka rushed Shinji into the dark unknown she looked behind her. The wall began to close but she still could see Carla but she was no longer firing her gun. She only stood and dropped the gun. Then her forehead erupted from a gunshot and she fell... the wall sealing the image.
I know a bit graphic but tell me what you think.