Merry Christmas Part 2

I know some won't like the direction this story took, but for me at least writing about the Eva kids living in the Hell that is Guts' world is more engaging. Because of this, some of the stuff I may have tried to set up in the beginning might be ignored. I'll try my best to tie up loose ends, however, and this most likely won't be the last you'll see of the Evangelion world.

I do not own Evangelion or Berserk.

Chapter 8

When Guts awoke, he felt the cool, damp earth pressing against his back. His head throbbed, and he moved his hand to nurse the pain.

"Ugh, shit...what happened?" he quietly asked himself. Guts' vision was a blurred mess when he first opened his eyes, but they slowly adjusted themselves, revealing a pink-tinted sky with clouds that were streaked with orange. Crickets chirped all around him, and the rank smell of blood invaded his nose.

Wait—blood?

Guts flung himself up into a sitting position. His head painfully protested, but he blocked it out; there were far more pressing matters at hand.

The Black Swordsman surveyed his surroundings. He was currently in the middle of a clearing, with trees encircling him on all sides. That wasn't anything unusual, but what was unusual were the pools of blood and piles of guts littering the ground. Off to the side, the corpse of a shriveled old man lay rotting, his innards picked at and strewn about by buzzards. The scene looked awfully familiar to Guts…

Then it hit him. The other world, the Evangelions, Mount Asma, the Angel, they all came hurtling back into his brain. The overflow of information increased Guts' migraine tenfold, but instead of grimacing he broke out into a fit of manic laughter.

It worked! It actually worked! Guts reached into his shirt and pulled out the Behelit. Its expression looked as dormant as ever, but Guts knew what it had just done. He turned it over in his hand, still chuckling softly.

'I'll have to be careful with this thing from now on,' the swordsman thought, 'I don't want to be sent to some other crazy land every time I kill one of those bastards.' He threw the Behelit into his bag and stood up, dusting himself off and making sure all his gear had successfully traveled with him back to Midland. Guts was still wearing the bulky diving suit he was issued for Mount Asma, which he quickly stripped out of and threw off to the side in a heap.

'Now, after I killed this asshole I think I was going to Koka to—'

The sound of someone groaning tore Guts out of his thoughts. Slowly, he craned his neck to look behind him, and for the first time in a long while the Black Swordsman felt panic rising inside of him.

'What the fuck are they doing here?'

On the ground, only a couple meters away from where Guts stood, were Shinji and Asuka. They were both still in their plugsuits, and while Shinji was still out cold Asuka slowly began to stir.

Guts weighed his decisions. Should he abandon them? They would do nothing but slow him down, and within the next day they would fall prey to either a group of bandits or wild animals. There would be no blood on his hands, and he could continue his quest without hindrance.

Even though he told himself it was the logical thing to do, the swordsman remained in the clearing. He stood there, simply waiting for the two Eva pilots to regain their senses.

"Ow, oh my God my head," Asuka muttered, hands pressed against her forehead as she writhed on the ground. She did this for a few moments, until eventually her body decided to pity her enough to dial it back just enough so the redhead could get her bearings. Asuka flopped on her back, eyes squinted as she stared up at the sky.

"What stinks?" she asked, still in a daze.

Guts pointed to the carcass. "That," he said.

Asuka nodded, as if that were the most sound answer in the world. Realization slowly began to dawn on her, however, and with a look of horror the Second Child bolted onto her feet, looking around like a frightened animal.

"Aagh!" she screamed, her vision going spotty as her head pounded violently. Still, Asuka remained on her feet, and as the pain slowly ebbed away she turned to face Guts.

"Where the hell are we?" she asked, demanded of the swordsman through gritted teeth. "Oh God, it smells so bad…"

"We're in Midland," Guts answered.

"Midland…" Asuka wracked her mind, knowing she had heard that name somewhere. "Wait, you mean your Midland!? As in, the world you're from!?"

"Yeah."

"What the fuck!? Why are we in fucking Midland!? I thought we were at Mount Asma!"

"I'm in Midland because it's my home," Guts told Asuka. "The question I should be asking is what are you doing here?"

Asuka paused, recollecting the events that transpired before somehow winding up in an alternate universe. "We were on standby outside the volcano, and then the Angel hatched, your comms went dark, and then Shinji—" The redhead whipped around. "Shinji! Where is that bastard!? He tried to play superhero again by running in and rescuing your ass!"

'He jumped into the volcano to help me?' Guts thought. If that was the case, then that would explain everything that happened. And since nobody else except him and Asuka were here, that meant the redhead had also gone into the volcano. The swordsman nodded his chin in the direction of the boy. "He's over there."

Honing in on her target, Asuka marched over to Shinji's still comatose body and squatted near his face. "You asshole! What were you thinking, jumping into a freaking volcano with no gear!? Are you trying to be such a kiss-ass to Misato and the Commander!?" Getting no response, Asuka scoffed and kicked dust in his face.

"Hey," Guts said, getting tired of Asuka's perpetual yelling, "shut up. He's unconscious. He can't hear your yapping even if he wanted to."

"Fuck off," Asuka snapped, "if it weren't for him I wouldn't be in this mess!"

Guts raised an eyebrow. "Who told you you had to follow him?"

Asuka stared at the Black Swordsman. Her current predicament was beginning to crash down on her, and with an anguished cry she fell on her rear and sobbed into her knees.

"Oh god, oh god! I'm in a completely different world! A complete different fucking world! Eva, Kaji, Hikari, they're all gone! What am I going to do!?"

Guts said nothing. He decided it was best to let her be like this, to let her scream out her frustrations before deciding what to do next.

That, and consoling a distressed, already emotionally unstable teenage girl was something Guts was woefully underqualified for.

In the midst of Asuka's crisis, Shinji opened his eyes. Like the other two, his head felt like it was split open, and the Third Child was sent into sensory overload. He eventually was brought back to reality, and the second he inhaled through his nose Shinji puked up his lunch.

"Ugh, what's that horrible smell?" he asked, wiping his mouth. The intestines within arms-reach answered his question soon enough, and once again bile came spewing out of the brown-haired teen.

"Wh-where are we?" Shinji asked, looking around on his hands and knees. "I thought we were at Mount Asma."

"We were," Asuka bit at him, "but now we're in Guts' world!"

Shinji stared wide-eyed at Asuka, then at Guts. "W-what? What do y-you mean we're in Guts' world? T-there's no way…"

"She's telling the truth," Guts said. "This is exactly where I was before I was sent to your world. It happened right after I killed that guy over there."

There was a long period of silence. Shinji stared at the ground, his mind still processing what had just happened to him. Asuka peered into the forest ahead, her gaze distant and unfocused. They were both in states of total shock.

Guts glanced at the sky nervously. It was close to dusk, and that meant the spirits would be rousing themselves soon. The swordsman usually wasn't too disturbed by them these days, but with the extra baggage of two shell-shocked children a dark forest was the last place he wanted to be.

"Hey," Asuka's voice caught Guts' attention, "how did you bring all your stuff back with you? All I have is my plugsuit, so that means we only traveled with whatever was on our bodies at the time. Unless…" The redhead's eyes narrowed. "DId you bring all of it with you before the mission because you planned this the whole time?"

Guts crossed his arms. "Yeah, I did."

Asuka's face contorted in rage. "You fucking asshole!" She picked up a nearby rock and lobbed it at Guts, who easily dodged it. "So you were just going to abandon us!? Or, was it your plan all along to bring me with you? Do you have some sick, fucked up use for me? Torture!? Rape!?"

The Black Swordsman had had enough. "Shut the hell up!" His words cut through the air, and a deafening silence settled around them. The Second and Third Children stared at him dumbfoundedly.

"Listen," he began to explain, "how the hell was I supposed to know you were going to come into the volcano with me? This was my idea alone, and I had no intentions of bringing anyone back with me. All you'd do is get in my way, anyways." Guts dug through his bag, taking out the Behelit and holding it out in his hand. "This thing is the reason I came into your world, and it's the reason you came into mine. I don't know exactly how or why it works, but if you kill an Apostle with it nearby it'll send you into a different world...I think."

Shinji spoke up. "S-so, all we need to do is k-kill one of these Apostle things and we can go h-home?"

"Yeah, most likely," Guts said, "but it's not going to be that—" A noise in the forest cut him off, and the swordsman grabbed the hilt of the Dragonslayer in preparation. He held a finger to his lips to silence Asuka, who was about to question him.

"Someone's coming," he warned.

"Who the hell is wandering around a forest at this time?" Asuka asked in a hushed tone.

"Bandits, most likely. They like to camp out here at night and then ambush travelers along the roads during the day."

Shinji went pale at the thought of running into bandits. "S-s-should we run?" Asuka didn't want to admit it, but she was also having the same feelings as her fellow pilot. It was too late to make the decision, however, because the bandits were already standing in the clearing.

There were six of them, five male and one female. The girl looked exceptionally roughed up, and she stood at the front of the pack, so Guts had to assume she was their leader. She eyed them with a cocky grin, exposing her rotted out teeth.

"Looky what we found, boys! Fresh meat! And here I thought we were about to retire for the day!" Her compatriots cheered in agreement behind her, and the bandit leader drew her sword and beckoned at Guts with a finger.

"Come now, dearie. Hand over what ya got and nobody's gonna get hurt." She eyed up Shinji and Asuka, taking notice of their unusual outfits. "Say, those are some flashy clothes ya got there! Why don't you give 'em to us and we won't skin ya alive!"

"Sorry," Guts said, a menacing grin splitting his face, "but that ain't gonna happen." He moved to stand between the two teenagers and the bandits.

"Aww, playing hard to get, are we?" The leader pointed her sword at her targets. "Let's get 'em, boys!"

Shinji let out a shriek of terror. "Guts! What do we do!?" Guts said nothing, standing stock still as the bandits let out a battle cry and continued to advance closer and closer.

"Guts!" Asuka's voice was shaky, "do something!" The bandits were only a few meters away now, and they drew their swords back in preparation to attack.

The Black Swordsman planted his feet firmly into the dirt. He unsheathed the Dragonslayer in one swift movement, swinging it in a wide arc in front of him so fast nobody could tell if he had done anything at all. A haze of red filled the area as five of the bandits' bodies were sliced in two, their torsos sent flying into the air. Their corpses made meaty thuds as they impacted the ground.

The bandit leader stood in shock at what she just witnessed. She was in good company, too, as Shinji and Asuka were staring at Guts with equal expressions of awe and fear.

"W-w-what kind of sword is that!?" She cried. Guts gave her no answer and slowly began to walk towards her.

"No!" The leader stumbled and fell backwards, kicking her feet wildly to try and get away. "Please! Spare me! I'll never rob anyone ever again!"

Guts paused for a second, as if he was actually considering her words. He rubbed his chin in thought, giving the woman a glimmer of hope.

"Nah," he said, and with a raise of his prosthetic arm he popped open his repeating crossbow and fired an arrow through her throat.

'This actually turned out to be pretty convenient,' the swordsman thought, crouching next to the deceased bandit leader's body. He sifted through her bag, finding nothing more than a few loose coins and some stale food. 'Some bandit troop you were.'

The Second and Third Children remained frozen in place. Neither of them had ever actually seen Guts fight before, and cleaving five men in two was not something an ordinary human should be able to do. His brutality and lack of mercy was also a terrifying force to behold.

"T-t-t-they're d-d-dead," Shinji shook. A twisted, agonized face of one of the bandits stared lifelessly at the boy, and Shinji fought the urge to throw up his stomach contents for a third time.

"Yeah, they are." Guts didn't look up—he was busy stripping the woman of her clothes. "You better get used to it, because when I'm around it's a pretty common thing." Guts balled the bandit leader's clothes up and tossed them at Asuka. They landed in a dirty pile in front of the redhead, who looked at the clothes and then back at him with a blank expression. Guts sighed.

"Put them on," the Black Swordsman instructed. "Those suits of yours will draw too much attention."

Asuka nodded robotically and did what she was told, slipping the ragged, brown outfit over her flashy red plugsuit.

"W-what s-should I w-wear?" Shinji asked. The boy looked around at the other bandits, but all their clothes were left bloodied and tattered thanks to Guts.

'Shit, I should have been a little more careful,' Guts thought. The swordsman shrugged his cloak off his shoulders and handed it to the Third Child. "Make sure you cover everything," he instructed. "I'll buy some stuff for us in the next town we go to."

"W-where are we going?"

"A town called Koka. I've got some business there."

"Business?" Asuka muttered, clutching her rags, "what, are you some kind of diplomat or something?" Guts ignored the Second Child's dry sarcasm.

"No, it's not that kind of business," he told her. Double checking to make sure all his gear was in order, the Black Swordsman sauntered out of the clearing and into the woods. Feeling a lack of presence behind him, Guts looked back and saw the two Children remained where they stood.

"Are you going to kill someone?" Asuka asked.

"Come on," Guts called out, ignoring Asuka and beckoning them with a wave of his arm. Shinji and Asuka both looked at each other hesitantly, but they got up on shaky legs and followed the swordsman into the treeline.

"This is bullshit," Asuka whispered to Shinji, her eyes locked on Guts' back. The two teens were trailing him a few paces behind. "I should be taking a hot bath right now, celebrating my victory, but no! Instead, I'm wandering through the woods with you and a psychotic murderer while wearing a dead woman's clothes." She scratched her sides vigorously. "They're so damn itchy, too!"

Shinji gripped Guts' cloak tightly, grimacing. "W-we don't have much of a choice, though. If what Guts said is true, we have to stay with him until we find another one of those Apostles he was talking about."

"About these 'Apostles'," Asuka raised her voice, making sure Guts could hear her. "What are they, anyways? Where we're from they're known as the disciples of Jesus, but judging by the way you've been talking about them they don't seem very Christian-like to me."

"I don't know who this 'Jesus' guy is," Guts said, continuing to walk forward without looking back, "but in my world they're demons; selfish, worthless sacks of shit who prey on humans. That body back there, or at least what's left of it, was once an Apostle."

"That shriveled old man?" Asuka asked, bewildered. "He looked perfectly human to me! Hell, he looked like he couldn't even harm a fly!"

"They were all humans at one point," Guts explained, a dark edge creeping into his voice, "but using a Behelit they sacrificed something—or someone—close to them in order to 'ascend'."

"So you're telling me that creepy-ass thing can actually turn me into a demon as well? I thought you were just bullshitting when you said that! How the hell am I supposed to trust it to teleport me and not...do...that!?" Asuka's hopes of returning home were quickly escaping her vision.

"Calm down," Guts said. "The only way you can become an Apostle is if you will it to happen yourself...you can't just accidentally turn into one."

"S-still," Shinji spoke up, "i-if they all look like humans, how are we supposed to know which ones are the Apostles."

Guts rubbed his neck. "Trust me, I'll know."

The small party fell into an awkward silence, making no sound except for the occasional crunch and snap as one of them would step on a leaf or twig. It was growing dark quickly, and Shinji and Asuka were starting to have a hard time navigating through the woods. An exposed tree root caught Asuka's foot, and with a startled yelp the redhead tumbled onto the forest floor. The Second Child clutched her ankle, groaning in pain quietly.

"A-Asuka! A-are y-you okay?" Shinji asked alarmingly, kneeling down and extending an arm to help her up. Guts stopped and turned to watch from a short distance away.

Asuka batted the Third Child's hand away. "Yeah, I don't need your help. I'm fine." She made an effort to stand, but collapsed as soon as she put weight on her bad ankle. "Shit, I think I sprained it…"

Guts groaned inwardly. An injured travelling companion was the last thing he needed right now. The swordsman pointed at Shinji. "We don't have time for this. Help her walk and I'll make a splint when we get to Koka."

Shinji stared at Guts' silhouette in the darkness for a second before a blush spread across his face. As much as he didn't want to do it, the young pilot knew there was no other choice. "O-o-okay," he agreed meekly. Shinji grabbed Asuka's arm gingerly, wrapping it around his shoulders as he slowly stood up. He could hear Asuka muttering strings of curses, but the Third Child did his best to ignore them.

They continued their trek, albeit at a slower pace. Guts was carrying himself in a seemingly casual manner, but his senses were on high alert. Nighttime had fully blanketed Midland, and with every passing second the Black Swordsman grew more antsy. His ears twitched with every little sound he heard, and every slight movement from his peripheral vision sent his eyes darting.

It was a lucky night for Guts, however, because he escaped the forest with minimal trouble aside from Asuka's fall. 'Damn things must have slept in,' he thought. A dirt road stretched and wound its way around the hills before them, and off in the distance the shimmering glow of Koka could be seen.

Guts spared a look at Shinji and Asuka. Shinji appeared normal enough, at least as normal as one could look given the recent series of events, but it was obvious that Asuka was less-than-pleased at needing to be hauled around by the other Eva pilot. The Second Child hadn't spoken a single word for almost an hour, and her eyes were locked onto the ground in front of her. Asuka's once immaculate red hair was now a dirty, matted mess that hung over her face.

'Welcome to Midland, princess,' Guts thought. 'You haven't seen anything yet.'

The trio crossed over onto the road and followed it to the entrance of Koka. To Shinji, it looked like an average medieval town you'd find in a book. They passed through the gates, the stone archway looming overhead. The Third Child glanced at one of the guards, but quickly snapped his gaze back to his feet when he saw the gruff man's look of disdain towards him.

A horse-drawn cart trotted past, its contents covered by a leather tarp. Shinji looked back at it out of curiosity, and looking back at him was a group of caged children no older than six or seven.

"G-Guts," Shinji shakily spoke to the Black Swordsman, "I think that cart his child slaves in it."

Guts didn't react at all. "So? What do you want me to do about it?" Shinji tried to retort, but the words died on his tongue. He decided it was best to just keep quiet.

There was an inn along the side of the road, across the street from a bar. Guts stopped outside the inn, digging through his bag. Shinji stared at him quizzically. "What are you looking for?" he asked.

The swordsman pulled out a tiny bag of money, weighing it in his hand for a second before tossing it at the Third Child. "That should be enough for a room," he said. "Stay in there until I come back."

Shinji was about to ask Guts where he was going, but Asuka decided her time of silence was now over.

"Oh hell no!" she hissed, glaring daggers at Guts. "You're not going to just dump us at this shitty hotel and go running off to God-knows-where. I refuse to let you out of my sight until I can go back to my world!"

Guts wrinkled his brow in frustration. "Look, I understand you don't trust me, but I do not feel like babysitting you two right now. I'm going to the bar right across the street over here, and I'll be back in a couple minutes."

"No."

The temptation to cleave the redhead in half right then and there was tempting, but Guts decided it would draw too much attention if he did it in the middle of the road. Instead, the swordsman turned on his heels and walked towards the bar.

"Hey, wait you asshole!" Asuka shouted. Still hanging off of Shinji, the redhead turned her murderous gaze on him. "Follow him, Third."

Shinji's eyes shifted nervously between Guts and Asuka. "I-I don't k-know, Asuka...he made it sound like it'll be dangerous if we go in—"

"I don't give a fuck," she said. "For all we know he's going to dip out the backdoor and ditch us in this shithole. Follow. Him."

Not wanting to deal with Asuka's wrath, Shinji complied and shuffled towards the bar with Asuka in-tow. The Third Child opened the door slowly, and both children peeked their heads in at the exact moment Guts fired arrows through a group of men's skulls.

"What the fuck are you doing!?" Asuka shrieked. Shinji stumbled as he felt Asuka shift her weight, busting the door open and leaving the two pilots in a heap on the floor. Thankfully, the Children were paid little attention as the rest of the bar's patrons were too engulfed with the brawl happening on the other side.

Guts slammed one man's head on a table, an arrow lodged through his nose. "Are you one of the scum from Koka Castle?"

"I-I-I d-don't k-know w-what y-y-you mea—aaarrrgh!" The man screamed in pain as Guts yanked on the arrow.

"Answer me," Guts commanded.

"Y-yes, sir…"

"Good. I want you to deliver a message for me: tell your boss, 'The Black Swordsman has come.'"

The man looked up at Guts in fear. "The Black Swordsman…"

"Behind you!" someone called out. Another man attempted to rush Guts, but before he even knew what had happened he was cleaved in half. The Dragonslayer crashed into the wooden planks of the bar's floor, shooting splinters of wood and bone across the room.

"Don't forget," Guts said, shooting a final look at the man with an arrow in his nose before walking out of the bar. Nobody said a word as they watched him leave.

"Stop ignoring us you dick!" Asuka shouted at the swordsman's back from the floor. "Stand up, idiot," she ordered Shinji. Shinji huffed as he got to his feet with Asuka. The two teenagers followed Guts down the road and into a back alley, where he finally stopped and turned around to look at them. "Why aren't you at the inn?" he asked.

"Fuck you," Asuka spat. "Why are you doing this? Was it really necessary to murder those people like that?"

"Yes," Guts answered plainly. "The monster they work for is worse than scum. I have no sympathy for anyone who pledges their allegiance to an asshole like him."

"Who are you talking about?" Shinji asked.

Guts was about to answer, but a new voice suddenly intruded upon the conversation. "Hey! When you save someone, don't just leave them tied up like that!" it called out. The voice was high-pitched, almost childlike in nature.

The two pilots glanced around, looking for the source of the voice. From behind Guts, a small, glowing person with wings appeared, hovering around his head. "Wow! That's quite the sword you have there! Where'd ya get it?" The Black Swordsman acted like the tiny human didn't exist, while Shinji and Asuka stared at him in amazement.

"What the hell is that!?" Asuka yelled, pointing a finger brazenly.

"What? Haven't you ever seen an elf before?" The elf sounded almost insulted by Asuka's words. "Oh yeah, I'm Puck, by the way. Nice to meet you!" he perked up.

"Come on, let's go," Guts said, walking back to the inn.

"Woah! Where are you going? Don't just ignore me like that!" Puck called out, landing on Guts' shoulder. The moment he did, however, the swordsman's hand swatted him away violently. "The hell was that for!?" Puck cried.

"Don't touch me, I'll squash you," Guts coldly stated.

"What is it with you!? A person goes out of their way to show a little bit of gratitude, and this is how you repay them!?"

Suddenly, the alleyway flooded with soldiers, boxing in the small group on all sides. 'Shit. Guess I made a little too much noise back there,' Guts thought.

"Welp, gotta go!" and with that Puck flew up and over the rooftops. Guts gritted his teeth in annoyance as he watched him flee.

"What should we do with him, captain?" one of the soldiers asked.

The captain raised his visor, eyeing Guts up. "Take him to the dungeon for torture and interrogation. The Lord Mayor will decide what his fate will be from there." The soldiers nodded, moving in to disarm and restrain the Black Swordsman.

Off to the side, Shinji and Asuka watched Guts get taken into custody. Another soldier was staring at them, motioning for the captain with a wave of his arm. "What about those two over there? The bartender said there was a boy and a girl who looked like they were accompanying him."

The captain scratched his chin. "Take them in as well. The big one doesn't look like he'll do much talking, but these two will probably squeal after just a few lashes."

The Second and Third Children went white as sheets. From his position on the ground, Guts looked at them with a devilish smirk. "I told you not follow me."