Disclaimer: No ownership over any concepts or plots expressed in this work of fiction is stated or implied. The author intends no financial gain from the distribution of this material and makes no claim of copyright or trademark.
S
Ritsuko awoke with a start, so attuned to the buzzing of her silenced phone that she felt it through the bed. She'd simply collapsed there, not even bothering to fold the sheets down, in her clothes, her labcoat piled at her feet. She let the phone ring and started to drift back off to sleep, so tired that the effort of keeping her eyes open alone was enough to make her yawn. Just when she was drifting out of consciousness, it start buzzing again.
Without rising, she put it to her ear. "What."
"Ritsuko," Misato said, her voice high and strained. "It's me, listen, I need you to come over."
"Why?" she groaned, slapping her hand over her eyes.
"I can't say over the phone. It's really important. Please."
Ritsuko lifted her head from the pillow. It felt li her skull was full of cement. "Huh?"
"Please," Misato said again, and hung up.
With great effort, she got up on her elbows, blew out a breath, and fell back down again. She ran her fingers through her close-cropped hair, and it felt like she'd smeared Crisco in it before going to sleep. She managed to sort of half-roll to the side of the bed, her legs slid off the edge, and the jolt was enough to wake her up sufficiently to get on her feet, albeit shakily. She leaned on the wall for a minute and glanced at the clock by the bed. She'd been asleep for less than two hours.
"Damn it," she muttered.
Whatever Misato wanted, it sounded important, and she was already dressed, so she skipped the shower. She swirled some mouthwash, spat it in the kitchen sink, and headed out the door in a pair of slippers, not trusting herself on heels. She downed a can of coffee to wake herself up as she jogged down the stairs. When she stepped outside into the warm evening air, she felt a distinct chill that turned into a prickle on the back of her neck, as from being watched. She looked around, saw no one, and slid into her car.
She had to keep her head off the headrest, or the sinking feeling of near slumber would overwhelm her and drag her eyelids down. The streets were still mostly deserted following the lockdown, so it was a quick trip across town to Misato's building. She pulled into the lot, threw her door open, and stood up, still feeling out of sorts. She happened to glance up at Misato's balcony, and a shiver ran up her spine. It looked like there was blood on the door. The glass parted, and Asuka ran out, leaning over the balcony, and waved at her. When Ritsuko got to the door, it buzzed open and she pushed the button for the elevator, thought better of it, and headed for the stairs.
Asuka was standing in the hallway when Ritsuko hit the landing. The chill she felt became a creeping sense of unease, twisting at her shoulders. The girl looked like she'd been crying. Her eyes were red and bloodshot and her cheeks were raw, and she was biting her lower lip furiously. She looked around and rubbed her arms, as if against a chill.
"What's wrong?"
Asuka didn't respond. She grabbed Ritsuko's hand and half-dragged her into the apartment. In her dulled state, brought on by fatigue and the after effects of eight hours of stress and caffeine binging, it took her a moment to process what she was seeing. It was him.
She pulled out of Asuka's grasp and ran around to the side of the couch, crouching beside the boy's neck. She checked his pulse first. It was weak, but it was there. His breathing was shallow, and even though unconscious, he seemed to wince every few breaths as he struggled to take in a deeper gasp of air. Livid bruises had formed around his eyes, and his hands were raw. He had a dozen small cuts across his chest and sides, and from the tenderness, he probably had a broken rib.
"Why did he come here?" said Ritsuko.
Misato, trembling at the foot of the couch, looked down. Ritsuko followed her gaze until she saw the pair of glasses that had dropped out of his left hand.
"He… Shinji is Superman?"
Misato just worked her mouth silently. She was shaking, hugging herself, and her cheeks glittered with tears.
"Misato, get a grip," said Ritsuko. "I need to get him off the couch. We need to lay him out flat. You have to help me."
Misato nodded and stood up. Ritsuko worked her arms under his shoulders, carefully supporting his head against her own, while Misato took his legs. Together, they brought him to rest on a sheet spread out on the carpet. Misato darted off and came back with a pillow, and slid it under his head. He mumbled something, but didn't open his eyes. Ritsuko gently probed his side. He definitely had a broken rib.
"Help me get his pants off. I need to see if he has any other injuries. Do you have a first aid kit?"
Silently, Misato ran to the bathroom and came back with a white box and a pair of scissors. Ritsuko took the scissors, worked them under the fabric of his uniform, and tried to cut, but the blades simply slid against the fabric. She grunted and pulled on it until it was a bit further from his skin, and suddenly it cut easily, dividing simply from being pulled.
"What the hell?" said Misato.
"He must generate some kind of protective field around his body," Ritsuko said, absently.
Once the separation started, it was easy to get him stripped to his underwear. She went over his legs carefully. He was bruised, but he didn't seem to have any broken bones. Now that he was lying flat, he seemed to breathe a little easier. He shook his head slightly and whispered something.
"Shinji?" said Ritsuko. "Can you hear me?"
He didn't respond.
"He might have a concussion, or worse."
"What do we do?" said Misato, her voice high and tight like a little girl's. "Should we go to a hospital?"
Ritsuko frowned. "Probably not. He's not human. I'm probably the only doctor in the world that knows anything about his physiology. "
Misato didn't ask how, thankfully. "What do we do?"
"Grab the sides of the sheet and help me get him as close to the window as possible. He needs sunlight."
Misato looked at her in confusion, but didn't argue. Together, they moved him to where the last fading patch of sunlight fell on the carpet. He shifted slightly, but still didn't wake, and his eyes were too swollen to open, anyway. Misato sat down beside him and ran her fingers through his hair.
"I still can't believe it?"
"That it was him all this time?"
"That I didn't see it before."
Ritsuko sighed. "We need to disinfect and bandage these cuts. His immune system should be incredible, but I don't want to take any risks. We could use a third pair of hands."
"Asuka," Misato called, "Asuka, come… here…"
"Shit," Ritsuko said under her breath.
Asuka ran.
The pavement stung her bare feet, but she ran anyway, arms flailing at her sides, her eyes stinging and blurred so that she feared she might fall. She didn't even know where she was running, only that she had to get away, to get out, to escape that stifling apartment where icy fear seized her and hot rage boiled in her stomach by turns. As fast as she ran, the inescapable thought was just behind her, peering over her shoulder, daring her to go faster. It boomed in her head and thundered in her veins with every pulse of her heart, like an electric fire in her chest that spread to her fingertips.
He lied to me.
When she finally stopped, she leaned against the wall of a flower shop and looked around. The city was still mostly deserted, the great exodus from the shelters still underway. She glanced at the street sign and took a moment to get her bearings, and then started running for the residential district near the school. Her feet were bundles of agony but she pressed on, swinging her arms in wild arcs as if the momentum would keep her moving.
Hikari's house was a small thing, an artifact of the post-Impact world where space was no longer at a premium. She ran up the sidewalk and around the back steps, to the door that led into the kitchen, and hit it so hard she almost fell back down. She pounded on the door with her balled fists, in between wiping at her face with the back of her arm, making her skin sticky with sweat, tears, and snot.
"Hikari!" she screamed, yanking on the doorknob. "Hikari, answer me!"
Of course, she wasn't home yet. The house was dark and silent as a grave. She trotted down the steps and turned around in Hikari's little back yard, transfixed by the little sand pit where her sister played and the quintet of bicycles bound to the fence. All around her were empty houses like mausoleums in an ancient lichyard, and between them silence rolled like thunder announcing a hard rain, and in the silence, a tiny voice whispered.
Die with me, Asuka
She started running again, without direction, running just for the sake of it, so the jarring pounding of her feet against the pavement and the wind rushing in her ears and her own pulse throbbing in her throat would ease the silence and chase the voices back into oblivion where they belonged, and yet still they chased her, the falling weight of it dragging on her shoulders and making her stumble.
She stopped in the middle of the street and a sob, white hot and thick, erupted from her throat. Tears stung her cheeks like the strike of a whip, and she let out a long, blubbering wail for Shinji and the promise he broke and the promises she was breaking right now. She scrubbed her face cleaned and ground her teeth and willed herself to stop crying, but the tears flowed on until they dripped from her chin and patted softly on the front of her dress.
She got up and she kept moving, though she had to walk, now. Her chest burned and she was shivering despite the evening heat. She veered from the road back up onto the sidewalk. On the hill above, she saw the school, and started walking there.
Hikari. She needed to find Hikari. Hikari was kind. She would know what to do.
As Kaji keyed the door to his small flat, his phone rang. He pushed the door open, checked the screen, and put it to is ear.
"Katsuragi? What-"
"It's Asuka," Ritsuko said sharply, "She's missing."
"What? Why?"
"I can't say over the phone. She… look, something happened. It's complicated. We need to find her and we need to find her now. Nerv can't know about this."
"What happened?"
Ritsuko sucked in a breath. "It's… something happened to Shinji."
Kaji hung up and darted into the apartment, pushing the door behind him closed with his foot. He ran to the closet, threw the door back, and shoved aside a rack of dress shirts. He felt along the back wall until he found the niche, worked his fingers into it, and pulled. The wall came loose with a low thump, and he pulled it free and set it up against the closet door. From within the compartment, he drew a long, low metal case secured with a series of latches, and opened it out onto the floor.
His shirt came off, and he drew out the black compression polypropylene shirt from the case and pulled it on. The rest of his gear was on a heavy belt supported by shoulder straps. He shrugged into it and clipped it around his waist, then pulled the shirt back on, letting it hang loosely around him like a jacket. He picked up the silenced pistol he kept in the case, loaded it, checked the safety, and stuck it in a waistband holster at the small of his back, and artlessly shoved the case back into the cubbyhole and ran out the door, fumbling to lock it behind him while he buttoned his dress shirt back up with his other hand.
He took the steps down to the parking lot two at a time, ran across the asphalt, and jumped in the car. As fired up the Lotus and backed out of his space, he dialed Misato's number, set the phone to speaker, and threw it on the seat beside him.
It rang twice, and Ritsuko answered. "You hung up on me-"
"Be mad later," said Kaji. "Tell me where she would go."
"I have no idea," Ritsuko growled, "Look, we're in trouble here, I-"
"Put Katsuragi on."
"I'm not sure that's a good idea."
"Do it, damn it."
He heard a muffled conversation and Misato came on. "What," she said, thickly.
"Katsuragi, I need to know where Asuka would go if she ran away."
"I don't know," Misato wailed, "I don't know what to do. I can't, I-"
"Shut up," Kaji said, sharply. "You can handle an angel falling out of the sky, you can handle this. Tell me where she would go."
"Her friend, maybe," said Misato, after clearing her throat roughly. "Hikari… Horaki, I think it is, I-"
"Good," said Kaji, "I'll check there first."
"But you don't-"
He hit the button to end the call, reached over, and pulled down the glove box. Inside, he flicked the switch on his cobbled together computer system, tapped the voice search icon, and recited the girl's name. The computer spat back out an address and started giving him directions.
Fuyutsuki buttoned his coat, slid the drawer containing his bottle of whisky closed, and headed for the door of his office. As he stepped outside, he was nearly bowled over by Goro Yoshida. The big man started to nudge him out of the way before Fuyutsuki clapped a hand on his shoulder.
"What's going on?"
"Not your concern," said Yoshida, shrugging out of his grip.
"I am the second in command of this organization. It is my concern. Has there been a security breach?"
Yoshida stopped in the hallway without turning around. "The Second Child slipped her security detail and has gone missing. I'm going over to that worthless Katsuragi woman's apartment and find out what happened."
"You will do no such thing," Fuyutsuki said quietly.
"I have my orders."
"Your orders are to dedicate all your efforts to the search. Pointing fingers will only waste time. I will take care of the situation at the apartment myself."
Yoshida eyed him. "Whatever," he waved a hand, and stormed down the hall.
Fuyutsuki wanted desperately to slump against the wall. Instead, he pushed back into his office, kicked the door shut with his heel, and opened his drawer, feeling the underside for the secret compartment. Not long after he'd cast away his old .45, he realized what a mistake he may have made and quietly took a sleek modern pistol from the armory and started keeping it in his office. He pulled it out, checked it, and slipped it in his pocket. Among its many virtues was a polymer frame that made it easier to carry on his person. He made sure his drawers were locked and quickly headed out from his office.
The halls of Nerv were surprisingly deserted. After the intensity of the combat action, the world had gone quiet, and a skeleton crew now oversaw the operations of the base while most of the day crew was sleeping off the excitement. No one stopped the elevator, and he was in the parking garage in a few minutes. He walked past the row of staff cars, dismissing the drivers with a wave of his hand, and took one of the smaller, more discreet vehicles for himself, taking the key from a pegboard hanging near the exit.
Thankfully, the streets were mostly deserted. He took shortcuts, cut corners, and drove up a few one-way streets until Katsuragi's block was in sight. No one seemed to notice him pulling into the lot, and he looked around carefully as he exited the car, awkwardly slipping his hand in his pocket to grasp his gun. He rushed to the door, moved to buzz the apartment, and thought better of it. Instead, he entered his personal override, and the door popped open.
His knees protested as he took the stairs, disdaining the elevator. The hallway was deathly quiet, as it would be; Katsuragi had the entire floor to herself. He knocked on the door, waited, and knocked again. It slid open just a touch, and the Captain regarded him with a bloodshot eye.
"Sir?" she said. "Can I, um, help you?"
"I'm here to see Shinji."
She blinked. "Uh, he's not here, he's… out…"
Fuyutsuki sighed and raised his hands in a gesture of surrender. "How badly is he hurt?"
Katsuragi trembled. Gently, Fuyutsuki slid the door open himself and stepped inside, respectfully slipping out of his shoes. To his surprise, Akagi was there, leaning over the boy. He was heavily bandaged and she'd wrapped his ribs. His eyes were swollen shut and he was just lying there, breathing heavily. Akagi looked up at him, opened her mouth, and then closed it silently again without speaking.
"How long has he been out?"
"He said something to Asuka when we got home," said Misato.
"He's been unresponsive since then," said Akagi. "I don't know what I'm doing here. He's burning up."
Fuyutsuki knelt and touched Shinji's forehead with the back of his hand. He was indeed quite warm. "What's his temperature?"
"It was a hundred and one for a while, but it went down. I check it every fifteen minutes. If it goes over one-oh-one, we're taking him to a hospital."
Fuyutsuki nodded. "He hasn't responded at all."
"I didn't want to check his pupils with his eyes like that. This is beyond me. We should take him somewhere."
"We can't," said Katsuragi, half-falling onto the couch. "They'll experiment on him or dissect him or something."
Fuyutsuki and Akagi both stared at her. Akagi sighed and sat down on the floor.
"You know, she's right. We can't risk letting Seele get their hands on him," said Akagi.
"Who?" said Misato.
Fuyutsuki sighed and sat down beside her. "It isn't safe to talk here."
"This apartment isn't bugged," said Akagi. "I'd know."
Fuyutsuki shook his head. "I wouldn't risk it."
"Will you stay here?" said Katsuragi. "I have to go out and look for her."
"Watch out for Yoshida and his men," said Fuyutsuki. "They know she's missing and they're out looking for her."
Katsuragi headed for the door. "I have to find her first."
The school groaned.
Asuka could see why. There was a great gouge in the earth, a low place where the angel pad passed underground and the soil above had collapsed into it. The shelter was demolished, the wall open and moaning in the high winds. There was a storm in the distance now, like a layer of gray stone hanging in the sky. The entire building creaked and groaned, and the section built over the shelter had simply fallen in.
She headed inside. The doors were unlocked, and swung open easily. The cold tile floor stung her feet, and made her quicken her pace. She walked down the hall and took the turn to the classroom she shared with Rei and Hikari and Toji and his goofus friend, and Shinji. She stopped at the door, put her hand on the door frame, and stared inside. The room was gone. She was standing on the edge of the rubble where the building had collapsed into the shelter. She leaned against the frame and just stood there for a while, staring out into the graying night.
She turned and walked out of the school. It was dark and she stood on the front steps, feet bleeding, wild-haired, tears running down her red cheeks like some ancient banshee. She almost stumbled a few times as she descended the steps, and finally sat down at the bottom, sniffing and hugging herself. It was rapidly getting dark, and there were no lights around the school. The power was probably out.
"Asuka?"
She looked up to find Toji and Kensuke standing near the foot of the steps, staring at her. She shifted away from them, hugging her arms around her shoulders.
"What do you want?"
"Are you okay?" said Toji. "What are you doing out here?"
Asuka said nothing. She turned her gaze to the cracked sidewalk and willed them to go away.
"Just leave me alone," she mumbled, leaning on her knees.
Toji squared himself up. "We can't do that. Superman would-"
"Superman?" Asuka screamed. "Let me tell you about Superman. Superman is a showboating, lying, self-centered jackass! I hate Superman! He ruins everything! Do you hear me? He ruins everything!"
Toji's jaw dropped. She didn't want for him to reply. She got up, and she ran, pumping her legs as hard as she could without looking back. She heard them half-heartedly run after him, then trot to a stop. Of course they would, they didn't care about her. No one really cared about her at all.
Kaji pulled up to the Horaki house in a screech, his Lotus bucking forward on its front tires as he pushed the brake pedal to the floor and yanked the emergency brake into place. He jumped out of the car and ran up to the front door of the house, leaving the car door yawning after him. He darted up the front steps and pounded on the door with his fist.
A heavyset man opened the door, looking bewildered behind round glasses. "Who are you?"
Kaji flashed his identification badge. "Is this the Horaki residence?"
"Inspector?" the man said, peering at the badge. "Is there some kind of a problem?"
"Is this the Horaki residence?" Kaji repeated, clenching his jaw.
"Yes, what do you-"
"Is Hikari here?"
"Yes, of course, we just came home from the evacuation, and-"
"I need to see her. Now."
The man, her father, presumably, blinked, and called for her. The girl trotted down the stairs in, believe it or not, pink footie pajamas covered with unicorns. She came up to the door, looking at Kaji in confusion through the screen. Kaji put his hands on his hips.
"Are you Mister Kaji?" said the girl. "Asuka talked about you, she-"
"Have you seen her?"
Hikari shook her head. "Wouldn't she be at Nerv or something?"
Kaji sighed. "Look, she's gone missing. I need you to call me right away if she comes here, even if she asks you not to. Can you do that for me?"
Hikari nodded, and he handed her his business card as she opened the screen door.
"Will she be okay?"
"If I have anything to do with it," said Kaji, turning to run back down the path to his car.
As he reached the sidewalk, he saw a caravan of Nerv SUVs rounding the corner, emergency lights flashing, and cursed himself. Asuka's relationship with Horaki must have been noted in her profile. He turned and half jogged up the steps.
"Hikari," he shouted at her, "Tell them the truth. Don't try to hide anything, they'll arrest you."
Her father reappeared at the door. "What's going on? Why is this happening to us?"
"I'm sorry," said Kaji. "I'll do everything I can for you, but I have to find her first."
Yoshida, the Nerv security chief, personally lumbered out of the first of the vans and started barreling towards Kaji as he made for his car. He undid the last two buttons of his shirt as the big man approached, just to be sure.
Yoshida loomed over him. "You're not going anywhere. You're under arrest."
Kaji looked him right in the eye. "I'm not under your jurisdiction."
Yoshida grabbed his arm. "You're coming with me."
"That's one," said Kaji, shrugging out of his grasp. He turned to leave.
Yoshida yanked his collar and turned him around. "I think I'll bring you up on charges for that concealed weapon."
Kaji brushed Yoshida's hand away. "That's two."
"You listen here, you little shit," Yoshida grabbed his collar. "I-"
"Three," said Kaji.
He swept his arms up between Yoshida's as he executed a small jump, giving himself some momentum. He brought his knee up into Yoshida's broad gut and flicked his calf out, hitting the bigger man's knee with a shin kick that knocked his feet out from under him. Yoshida scrambled forward, half falling, trying to grab at Kaji's arms, but he whirled out of the way and let him fall.
"Don't get up," said Kaji, and ducked into his car.
He started the engine and threw the car into gear, then roared into the street, rapidly working the shifter. He yanked the e-brake to scream around the first curve, dropped into a lower gear, and floored it. One of the clumsy SUVs was lumbering after him, but by the second turn, he lost it. He glanced at his phone, and saw a missing text.
It was from Hikari, and there was one word. School.
"It's been too long," said Fuyutsuki.
Akagi put a cloth soaked in cool water on Shinji's forehead. He didn't seem to notice. He was feverish, mumbling, his head moving from side to side. Neither of them could make out what he was saying, only that he seemed agitated.
"He should be waking up," said Akagi. "I don't understand this."
"There's that, but I meant the girl."
"Oh," said Akagi. "I know. This is bad, isn't it?"
"When Gendo gets wind of this, there will be trouble."
"Is there anything you can do?"
"I have about as much authority as my stapler," Fuyutsuki said quietly. "No, there's nothing I can do for her, or Katsuragi. I wish there was."
"Asuka," Shinji groaned, his chest jerking.
Akagi craned over him, touching his neck for his pulse. "I think he might be coming around. I don't know."
"We need to find her before he wakes up," said Fuyutsuki. "Is there anything you can do?"
"I could do? What could I do?"
"There must be something," Fuyutsuki pressed. "A favor you could call in, a resource you're not exploiting. Can we remotely access the MAGI from here?"
Akagi blinked. "No," she said, quietly. "But I know someone who can."
She stood up and walked to the other side of the room, pulling her phone from her pocket. Fuyutsuki slid off the couch, cursing his old knees, and sat down beside the boy. He was twitching, now, silently mouthing words, and Fuyutsuki suddenly realized he was afraid. If Shinji went into some kind of fugue and started tearing the building apart, there would be nothing he could do to stop him.
Akagi hung up and walked back over, and sat down beside him.
"I did everything I could," said Akagi. "I just hope I'm not making a terrible mistake."
Rei sat before her computers. She put her phone down, moved the three mice to bring them all to a waking state, and took in a breath. One by one, she opened the MAGI terminal on each one, connecting her to the three individual minds that made up the system. She carefully ensure that her connection was encrypted and her location obfuscated by the proxy servers she had set up, but once she was logged into the system, it would no longer matter.
She started to type. Her hands her flew from keyboard to keyboard, her fingers danced over the keys, and the system spoke to her. The interface was clumsy and slow, and annoyed her. As her fingers moved faster and faster, the screens flashed as they accepted her commands. After a time, she could no longer tell where the screens ended and her eyes began, as if the exchange of information was taking place inside her mind. The system agreed with her and began dividing up the video feeds from around the city. She flicked through them one by one, looking for Asuka. When she did not immediately appear, she began playing back the feeds, first one, then three, then ten, then all of them.
She realized she was no longer touching the keys. Curious.
The feeling of her body began to fade. She felt like a passenger as she stood up, slipped into her shoes, and walked out the door. She stopped before she reached the bottom floor where her security detail waited to begin trailing her, aware of their movements from the cameras in the apartment they occupied. Instead, she turned and pushed open the door to one of the empty apartments on the second floor, walked to the balcony, and began climbing down the fire escape. She dropped the last few feet and landed neatly in a gymnast's dismount, and began walking.
The cameras lost her at the school. She watched the playback in her mind's eye. Toji and Kensuke had spoken to her, but she ran away. The microphones on the cameras were not sensitive enough to hear what she said. Rei stopped in her tracks. She watched the taller boy take out his cell phone, and make a call. She felt a sort of dizziness as she heard the boy speaking in agitated tones to Hikari, telling her what he'd seen.
She closed her eyes, and the recording from the school camera erased, along with all records of the cell phone call. There was another, a text message. She traced that, eyes closed, her vision filled with a luminous network of connections and meaning. It was intoxicating. She could see Mister Kaji in his car, looking up at him from where his phone rested on the passenger's seat.
"Excuse me," said Rei.
Kaji jerked, and she heard the car swerve and the tires squeal. He picked up the phone and stared at it. "What the hell?"
"This is Ayanami," said Rei. "You will meet me and pick me up. I will help you find her."
"How are you accessing my phone? I don't have video chat-"
"Irrelevant. Pick me up. Now."
She closed the connection, and willed open a similar one to Misato.
"Captain?"
Misato pulled her phone out of her pocket, yelped, and nearly dropped it. "Rei? What? How are you-"
"Listen carefully," said Rei, "I must give you directions. There are not enough seats in Kaji's car."
Asuka sat down on the curb. Her feet hurt too much to go on. She didn't know where she was, only that it was dark and deserted and that suited her just fine. She was in some kind of construction zone- the building she was sitting in front of was just a skeleton, a great lurking collection of struts and shadows that felt like it wanted lean over and crush her. She looked up at it and wished it would. They'd find her, soon, she was leaving bloody footprints on the road. What would happen then?
Where would she go?
She heard footsteps, and looked up. She reeled back with a start, falling onto her hands. The pavement stung them. Ghostly pale and glowing in the street lamps, Rei approached her in silence, then sat down beside her, primly folding her hands in her lap.
"Are you hurt?"
Asuka opened her mouth and worked her jaws silently, but no sound come out. She felt her stomach clench. She wouldn't start blubbering in front of Rei, she wouldn't do that. She sat up, crossed her arms, and stared into the pavement.
"Leave me alone."
"I am sorry, but no."
Asuka glared at her. "What do you want?"
"I am concerned for your safety."
She snorted.
Rei didn't look at her. "I have directed Kaji and Misato here. They will arrive soon."
"What do they want with me?"
"They have been searching for you. They are also concerned for your safety."
"No they aren't," said Asuka, sniffling. "They're afraid I won't pilot their stupid machine anymore."
"You are upset," said Rei.
"No shit," said Asuka. "How did you come to that brilliant conclusion?"
Rei didn't rise to her challenge. "Why are you upset? You were not like this after the battle."
"Well," said Asuka, "Things change."
"I see," said Rei.
"No you don't," Asuka snapped, "You don't understand at all."
"You have discovered that Shinji is Superman. Is he hurt? Doctor Akagi did not mention-"
"What?" Asuka shrieked, "How did you know? He did he tell you? He told you and not me?"
"No," Rei said. "He did not tell me. I deduced it."
"Oh," said Asuka, "so I'm just an idiot now. I get it, the super-smart wondergirl robot figured it out while stupid airheaded Asuka couldn't. Well, fine, you can have him. I'm leaving."
Asuka jumped to her feet and started walking away, wincing. She could no longer run. To her dismay, Rei stood up and started following her, keeping pace with her and walking by her side. Asuka eyed her but said nothing, and the one good thing about Rei was that she kept her mouth shut without prompting.
"Why are you following me?"
Rei looked around. "This area is dangerous."
"So what? What are you going to do, stare them to death?"
Rei shook her head. "I will ensure your safety. You are unique. If I die, I can be replaced."
Bile rose in Asuka's throat, and before she knew what she was doing, she slapped Rei, screaming incoherently. The girl just took it, just stood there while Asuka grabbed her shoulders and shook her violently.
"Don't say that!" she screamed, "Don't ever say that! Don't talk about dying! Don't talk about dying!"
She sank to her knees. Shock blew the breath from her lungs as Rei followed her to the ground and feebly, awkwardly embraced her, folding her pale arms around Asuka's shoulders. The tears came again, unbidden, and unwanted. Asuka shook and shuddered and trying to hold in the sobs only made them louder.
"I don't want to," Asuka moaned into Rei's shoulder, "I don't want to."
"Do not want to what?" Rei whispered.
"I don't want to hate him," she moaned, "He's going to die and I'm not going to be there and I'll never see him again and he didn't get my message! He didn't answer the phone! Why didn't he answer his fucking phone?"
Rei's grip tightened. "He was busy."
"Too busy for me," Asuka moaned. "Nobody wants me," she sobbed, not knowing why she was dumping this on Rei's shoulder, and not caring. "I should just die."
"That is not true," said Rei. "They began looking for you as soon as you left. Mister Kaji and Misato are both looking for you. Toji called Hikari to tell her where you were and she helped Mister Kaji by telling him. Doctor Akagi was so worried about you she called me and asked for my help. We are all concerned for you."
Pale light pooled around her, and the light from car headlights twinkled in her tears. She pressed her eyes tightly shut, listening to Rei's soft breathing. She heard a car door creak open, and the soft sounds of footsteps. She opened her as Kaji knelt down beside her. He touched her shoulder and ran his fingers through her hair, and winced when he saw her feet.
"Asuka," he whispered, "We're going to take you home now. Is that okay?"
She nodded vigorously. Kaji tensed as another car rounded the corner and pulled up behind him, and reached around to the back of his waistband until Misato emerged from the car and ran over, barefoot herself. Together they helped Asuka stand, and Asuka leaned on Rei's shoulder as she limped over to Misato's car. Rei helped her sit down.
"I'm sorry I hit you," Asuka sniffed.
"Do not be concerned," said Rei. "I will take my vengeance at a later time."
Asuka stared at her.
"That was a joke."
"Oh."
"Come on," said Misato, touching her shoulder. "We need to get home, and fast."
"They're looking for me," said Kaji, crouching by Misato's window. "I'll run a distraction for you."
"Looking for you?" said Misato. "Why?"
"I sort of beat the shit out of Yoshida. He was in my way."
"Huh," said Misato. "Thank you."
"Anytime," said Kaji.
They stared at each other for a moment. Asuka watched them, turning in the seat to lean into the headrest, and closed her eyes. Despite the sting of her feet and the drawing fatigue in her muscles and the pounding pain in her head, sleep fell on her almost instantly, and she dreamed that Misato took Kaji by the collar and gave him a chaste kiss on the lips.
Ritsuko remained with Shinji while Fuyutsuki rushed down the stairs as Misato returned, parking right in front of the door. He held the door for her as she walked the girl up, her feet covered in a pair of bloody socks. She stopped at the door, blinking in confusion at Fuyutsuki. He could see she'd been crying, probably harder than she had since her mother died. She looked at him.
"What are you doing here?"
"We'll talk upstairs," he said, pulling the door closed behind him. He looked around the parking lot again, and then followed the pair into the elevator.
The girl said nothing as they walked from the elevator and into the apartment, until she saw Shinji lying on the floor. She broke down, crushing herself against Misato, so shaky that the woman had to hold her up until they almost fell onto the couch. Fuyutsuki closed the door, and locked it. He walked to the couch, glanced out the window, and saw the first raindrops hitting the balcony. The bloody mark on the door smeared.
"What do we do now?" said Misato. "Should I call in and tell them we found her?"
Akagi stood up. "How did they know she was missing? Neither of us called it…"
Her eyes went wide. She ran to the couch, yanked Asuka's hair clips free, and ran to the balcony door. Before Asuka could stop her, Akagi wound up and threw them out into the air, and slammed the door shut. She stood there, panting.
"That son of a bitch," she growled, beating her fist against the wall.
"Why did you do that?" said Misato.
"They're bugged, the fucking things are bugged. Do you have any more?"
Asuka shook her head. "That was my spare set."
"Don't wear them unless you're piloting," said Akagi, dropping down by Shinji's side.
She worked a thermometer into his mouth, pushed the button, and waited. A tense silence fell over the room. Akagi pulled it free, checked it, and breathed out, hard, as she fell onto her back. Her eyes drifted closed.
"Normal," she said. "98.6."
Fuyutsuki put his hand on the couch to stop from falling. His knees felt like jelly. He sat down on the arm and breathed deeply, and looked to the ceiling to whisper a silent thanks. Misato carefully detached herself from Asuka, letting her fall sideways against the back of the couch, and prodded the doctor with her foot.
"Rits, wake up," said Misato. "Wake up."
"Go 'way," Akagi moaned, "I need sleep."
Sighing, Misato stood up, grabbed Akagi by the shoulders, and started dragging her out of the living room. "You can sleep in my room. I need to patch Asuka up."
"Why don't you get some rest yourself, Captain?" said Fuyutsuki. "I still remember first aid."
As Katsuragi dragged the semi-conscious doctor into her bedroom, Fuyutsuki found the first aid kit they'd used to bandage Shinji's wounds, and moved to kneel before the girl, taking her ankles gently to stretch out her legs.
"Go ahead and lie down," he said, taking out a roll of bandages, some sterile pads, and anti-microbial wipes. "I'll fix you right up."
Asuka put her head on the arm of the couch. Fuyutsuki spotted Shinji's glasses, picked them up, and handed them to her. She held them by the earpieces, turning them around and around and studying them, but said nothing He pulled the socks off her feet and winced when he saw the bleeding. She had a few bad cuts, but nothing that would require stitches, thankfully. She was mostly blistered and raw from running around barefoot. She winced as he started cleaning the cuts.
"Do you know where he got those?"
She shook her head.
"They belonged to his mother."
She looked at him, but said nothing.
"Do you know why he wears a costume?"
She didn't answer him, but folded the glasses and rested them on her chest. With the cuts clean, he started putting on the bandages, with the sterile pads first. She continued to wince at his touch, biting her lip as he worked.
"You think he was hiding himself from you, I know," said Fuyutsuki, puttering over her wounds. "But he wasn't. He was hiding from everyone else."
"Huh?" she said, and he smiled quietly to himself.
"Well," he said, "Why do you wear your nerve clips when you're not piloting?"
"So people know I'm a pilot," she said, absently.
"So why does he wear the suit?"
She shrugged. "He wants people to know who he is. I guess."
"Maybe," said Fuyutsuki, "but I think there's more to it than that. Can you imagine being totally alone?"
"Yes," she whispered.
"Then you must know how it would feel. I suppose he never told you where he comes from."
She shook her head.
"We found a rocket in the Antarctic, around Second Impact. We struggled to open it for years, until one day Shinji's mother was working on it, and it opened for her. You see, it needed a pregnant female to activate it."
"What did it do to her?"
"It changed her, and him. It grafted an alien genetic sequence into his DNA, made him a kind of hybrid. We were afraid, before he was born, that he would be some sort of monstrosity. You should have seen the look on his mother's face when she was handed a bright smiling baby boy, perfectly normal."
"So?" said Asuka. "If he's like everyone else, how is he alone?"
"Because he isn't like everyone else. I don't think he even needs to sleep, or eat. He could do whatever he wanted, if it came to his mind. Do you know what other men would do with the sort of power he has? They'd make themselves princes. He risks his life to help people and doesn't even ask for anything in return. Do you know why he does that?"
She shook her head. "So people will like him?"
He finished the last of her bandages, and placed his hands on his knees. "If that's true, why does he take the suit off? He could be Superman all the time, if he wanted to. He doesn't have to live here, cook your meals, do your laundry. He does all of these things because he chooses to. Why do you think that is?"
"He doesn't want to be alone," said Asuka.
Fuyutsuki nodded. "There are some things that for all his power, he doesn't have, that only you and Misato, his family, could give him. He kept his secret from you because he was afraid you'd look at him and you wouldn't see Shinji anymore."
She turned away, rolling into the back of the couch. As he stood up, he rested a hand on your shoulder. "It's okay to be upset with him," said Fuyutsuki, "but remember what you were ready to say to him when you thought you might not be coming back."
She looked over her shoulder at him. "What? Misato said no one could hear-"
Fuyutsuki chuckled softly to himself. "I didn't need to."
The door buzzed, and Fuyutsuki got up, wearily. Asuka turned away from him, not in indignation or sadness, but simply to sleep. She closed her eyes and squirmed until she was comfortable, and he could swear she was snoring by the time he reached the buzzer. He pushed the button.
"Katsuragi!" Yoshida growled, "Open the door. I'm coming up there."
Fuyutsuki walked out of the apartment and closed the door behind him. He took the elevator, taking his time, and walked to the front door of the complex. He touched the button next to the speaker as Yoshida leaned on the door, fogging the glass with his breath.
"I don't know what's going on, old man," said Yoshida, "but you had better open this door. I'm coming either way, and a tactical team is coming with me if I have to break the door down."
Fuyutsuki smiled warmly. "Why, Mister Yoshida, I don't understand. Is there some kind of a problem?"
"Don't play coy with me," said Yoshida. "The Second Child is in there, and I want to know what the hell is going on."
"Yes, she's in there," said Fuyutsuki, "She has been the entire time. I've just finished eating dinner with the Captain and her friend Akagi. The Ikari boy prepared a lovely supper in honor of our victory."
Yoshida eyed him. "Bullshit. The locator-"
"What locator is that?" said Fuyutsuki.
Yoshida eyed him. Fuyutsuki buzzed the door open and pushed his way out, letting it shut behind him. He looked around, or mimed it anyway, until he spotted the broken crimson remnants of the nerve clips Ritsuko had tossed out the window. He walked briskly to them, picked them up, and held them out for Yoshida to see.
"My my," said Fuyutsuki, "This must all be a misunderstanding. She must have dropped her clips out here. It looks like they broke. No doubt this cause the errant tracking signal you referred to. It's a shame we went to all this trouble, isn't it?"
Yoshida folded his arms.
"I suppose you'll be going now."
Yoshida motioned for his men, and Fuyutsuki watched, satisfied, as they loaded up in their black vans. As they rumbled to the edge of the parking lot, Kaji appeared in his white Lotus, and rolled down his window. He peered up at Yoshida.
"Meep meep," he shouted, and pulled into the lot.
Kaji got out of the car and faced him.
"So," he said.
"So," said Fuyutsuki.
"You're the other one," said Kaji.
"I suppose I am. Everyone got home alright?"
Fuyutsuki nodded. "It took Yoshida a while to track them back here. I wonder what happened."
"I'd say someone in a white Lotus led them on a merry chase," said Kaji, putting a cigarette between his lips. "Couldn't have been me, I've been home all night."
"I have a feeling the MAGI system will corroborate everything you say," said Fuyutsuki.
"I guess we should be getting on, then," said Kaji. "I'll keep an eye on them for a while."
Fuyutsuki nodded.
Kaji turned at the top of the steps. "Where do we go from here?"
Fuyutsuki looked back at him over the door of his car. "I think we should look into saving the world."
Asuka awoke to discover that she had somehow moved from the couch to the floor, and that she had somehow been covered in a blanket, and that, somehow, Shinji was curled up against her. She watched him for a while, as he breathed in and out, slowly. The bruises around his eyes were gone. The sun was rising, and it turned everything in the room a deep red. He stirred in his sleep and she gently brushed the hair back from his eyes. She threw her arm over his neck, and touched her forehead to his, and let herself drift back to sleep.
When she woke up again, he was watching her. Neither one of them spoke.
"I got your message," he said at last, "but I think I broke my phone."
She sighed.
"Are you mad at me?"
She nodded.
"Do you… do you hate me?"
She didn't answer for a while, and then said, "What are you, stupid?"
"I'm sorry."
He grunted a little as he sat up. Asuka sat up next to him, pulling the blanket over her chest, and put her head on his shoulder as he looked out the window. The sun was over the rooftops now, and gold pooled in all the places where glass or water would catch the light. Shinji looked down at his feet.
"I'm so sorry," he said. "I tried to tell you but I was…"
"Afraid," said Asuka. "I know."
She reached down beside her and picked up his glasses, unfolded them, and slipped him into his face. "There," she said, "that's better."
"I had a bad dream," he whispered, "I was in a dark place, and I knew you were there but I couldn't find you. I called your name, but you wouldn't answer me."
She ran her fingers through his hair and put her arms around him.
"There's more," he said. "There was something chasing me."
"What was it?"
"Aliens," he whispered, "yellow aliens."
"Don't worry about that now," she said, "I want you to tell me everything."
He scrubbed his hands through his hair and lowered himself back to the floor. She curled herself against him, closing her eyes as she set her head to rest on his shoulder. He drew in a deep breath, lifting her effortlessly, and put his arm around her waist.
"There was a planet called Krypton," he said.
Kaworu drummed his fingers along with the music. The fugue fascinated him, drew him in with its complexity as it turned back on itself. It surprised him that a lilin could produce something so masterful with such limitations. He closed his eyes and leaned back into his seat and let the warmth of the sun spill over him. Already he could feel the tugging in his chest, the allure of his next brother rising from his resting place.
His phone rang, and ruined it.
He lifted the device and tapped in his access code, and waited for the encrypted connection to be made. It placed it on the table before him and the holographic image of Keel appeared above it, flickering and translucent. Kaworu lifted the remote control and silenced the stereo as Keel leaned forward on his desk, the mechanical contraption that held him upright whirring and grinding against itself.
"My son."
"Father," said Kaworu.
"The path is in ruins. The children come unbidden, without regard to the proper signs."
"Yes," said Kaworu, "I feel them, they grow restless. The alien frightens them. He does not belong here."
"Yet, all proceeds as I have foreseen. The Second will break and she will bring about the desolation. Though the pain of death lies the glory of resurrection, and you, my son, will be the new God."
"Yes," said Kaworu, touching his chin with a slender finger. "I have tasted her sorrow. That one's pain runs deep."
"As we intended. Her annoying mother made a most fortuitous sacrifice."
"I want her."
"All will be one with you, my son. Yours is the glory."
Kaworu smiled. "I want her now."
"No, she must be broken first. The Angel of Haze will begin the downward spiral."
"She will survive anything if Ikari is with her," said Kaworu, closing his eyes. "He must die."
"Indeed," said Keel. "He will be struck down by the Arm of God, and when he lies broken she will come to you willingly and embrace the sweet oblivion you bring."
"If he should survive it?"
Keel shrugged. "Kill him."
"Nothing would please me more," said Kaworu.
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Last Child of Krypton: Redux
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Chapter 12: The Conversation