Omake 3
Asuka ^ 1.5
(Another look at the oddly permeable wall between the Nobody Dies and Aeon Natum Engel universes. It may be something to do with the fact that both the Ree have deuterocanonical fourth-wall breaking powers. Who knows?
This specific one is an examination of what would happen if the ANEsuka met the ND!Asuka; the former, of course, being a fairly standard Asuka, while the latter, most definitely, is not. Poor girl. Her mother's still alive.
Well, at least it was when I started writing it. And then the Ree started having arguments in the footnotes, quite without any proper planning.
So yeah.)
~'/|\'~
Dr. Akagi was here to check up on her. There is an IV drip to keep her hydrated while she discusses things with someone, an assistant. It doesn't matter. Nothing matters. Everything will fall apart now. Mother is going to die because she couldn't tell them the truth. She failed her, failed Mother, like she's failed everyone else every second of every minute of every hour of every day of every week of every month of every year of her miserable uselesslittleLIFE.
The voice, again. Now she recognizes it. Papa is outside with the Girl. He wants to see her, but Dr. Akagi says it isn't a good time. She needs to recover, Akagi says. She is on suicide watch, Akagi says.
She tries to shift in the bed. Her ankles are restrained, to. She has to find someone, make them listen. Make them understand about Mother, that it wasn't Mother's fault.
The struggles cease, muted as they were. The futility of this struggle, like every struggle over the course of her life, sets in. Tears begin streaming down her face as she closes her eyes, chest hitching with every sob. Silence reigns as once more, like she has done for almost every night since she was five, Asuka cries herself to sleep.
She is woken by a wet slithery noise, and the whispering sussurations of the tormented fabric of reality giving way, as nameless blasphemies howled at the edge of the utter blackness of the endless void, leading up to the steps of the throne of the Daemon Sultan itself.
Re-re-Rei?" she hazards.
There is a yelp, and the grotesque sound of vomiting and hacking. That probably ruled out Rei. The people who did the yelping and vomiting when she was there were not the albin... the whatever-she-was. On the other hand, the slithering, nameless blasphemies, and the torture of reality itself...
It was possible Rei bought people with her, of course.
"Sh-shinji?" she tried again.
"What! I'm sorry, who are you, what am I doing here, and why are you stupid enough to mistake me for either of those two!" demanded a very familiar, still rather nauseous-sounding voice, from somewhere on the floor around the bed.
Asuka decided that now was a very good time to lose consciousness again.
Second Lieutenant Asuka Langley Soryu pulled herself upright, clutching onto the bed with a remarkable amount of gratitude. When you have just emptied a stomach and two lungs worth of LCL, it tended to hurt, and leave you a little weak at the knees.
Of course, the presence of the bed implied quite strongly that she was no longer in her entry plug. Despite their technological sophistication, beds were in exceedingly rare supply in the fluid-filled capsule. Likewise, the lack of volcanoes, fishmen, Migou warships, sorcerous rituals, and of course, Evangelions, were strong supporting evidence for her initial hypothesis.
Leaving LCL-handprint stains on the bed coverings, she pulled her way along it, and managed to make her way to a chair by the side of the bed, still dripping LCL from her plug suit and hair. Collapsing into it, she took several deep breaths of actual air, letting her wet hair drip forwards, trails of the orange liquid dribbling from her open mouth.
She took a look sideways, at the person in the bed... restrained there, actually, now that she looked closer.
Oh
I see. What appears to be me, tied to a bed. In a hospital, she looked around, if you can call something this primitive a hospital.
Well, that makes sense. I've just fallen asleep in the plug. I'll be woken up soon, and then Shinji will be passive-aggressive and Rei will be emotionless at me about this.
Asuka opened her eyes yet again, staring up at the by-now fairly familiar ceiling. She twisted her head, taking a look to the side.
Oh.
I s-see. M-me! In a pl-plug suit, or at least a somewhat less skimpy plug suit, and A-10 cl-clips and everything, c-c-covered in LCL, she sniffed. No, it wasn't quite LCL; it generally smelt more vile and cosmically horrific than the version she was used to, w-well, covered in s-s-something like that. And sh-she doesn't seem to stammer.
W-well, that makes s-sense. I'm j-just having a nightmare, where what I c-could have been if I weren't a f-f-failure comes to m-mock me.
The two girls stared at each other.
"What kind of dream is this?" they both said. Well, one of them did; the other one was a bit more hesitant and stammery, but the general point was conveyed.
There was a pause. The plug-suited Asuka directed a glare at the bedridden one.
Asuka flinched away. That was not a nice stare. It combined the worst elements of Mother's anger, with Uri's superiority. In fact, there was something about the other girl, despite her similar appearance, which just felt like Mother did, the force of personality radiating off her as those two blue eyes locked with hers.
The Second Child frowned slightly at the reaction of the dream-figure on the bed. What kind of wimp would just flinch like that at just a stare? Internally, she sighed. It looked like it was up to her to get anywhere. She might as well put this dream to good use.
"Right," she said, "so, let's play along with these dream rules. Who are you, and why are you strapped to the bed? Are you the manifestation of my fears of failure, or something?"
"I-I-I'm sorry, what?" was the response. "Th-this is just another... y-yet another nightmare. M-mocking m-me. All I c-could h-have been, if I weren't useless."
There was another pause, one even more uncomfortable, as they hit the sticky situation of who was exactly real. [1]
The Second Child cracked first, mainly because her counterpart, already tear-stained, looked like she was going to start sobbing again, and, frankly, it was embarrassing to bully a figment of your imagination, when there were real people who deserved your wrath more. Like Toja; oh, yes, she hadn't forgotten what that moron had said before CATO, and since it was going to be Martial Arts in PE next term, she was holding the grudge until she could get away with it. [2]
It was going to be beautiful.
She focussed on the situation at hand.
"Okay," she managed. "Why do you feel that you're useless?" [3]
There was a knock at the door.
"Asuka?" asked a male voice. "I came as soon as I could get away from Mother." [4]
Uri opened the door to see his sister in the bed... and his sister sitting next to the bed, clad in what looked like a dark-red, heavier version of a plug suit, complete with matching A10 Clips, and the smell of... almost like LCL, but not quite. Ah, yes. It was covering the floor. [5]
"Who the hell are you! And what are you doing in my plug suit! Unit 02 is mine!" was the shouted response from two of the parties present. [6]
Asuka burst into tears again. [7]
[8]
~'/|\'~ [9]
[1] Neither of them. This is a non-canonical situation, and hence continuity of self will not occur. All these memories are assumed not have happened, and, moreover, they will not be assumed to exist after this event has finished. They are meaningless mind-state duplicates created for the purpose of examining a hypothetical situation; they are also soulless. - Rei Ayamani
[2] Yeeeeah, but that doesn't mean that they're not reaaaaly real, right? They exist right now, yeah? - Rei Ayanami
[3] No. It does. And they do not. - Rei Ayanami
[4] Aaaaaaand I think they do. - Rei Ayanami
[5] You are aware of the fact that I do not make an attempt to advise you on how to commit acts of extreme violence in a way which directly contravenes orders that both you and I have been given by our respective guardians, yes? In that case, it is improper for you to attempt to correct me on metaphysical matters such as this, which I am much better equipped to deal with than you are, by both nature, temperament, and universe.- Rei Ayanami
[6] It'd be reaaaaaally cool if you did. I heard that you guys have some really nice nanotech and stuff, and they don't let me near those labs any more.- Rei Ayanami
[7] How is it that we share genetic material? - Rei Ayanami
[8] Do we? I dunno.- Rei Ayanami
[9] We are certainly not clones of each other, unlike, say, our respective Third Children. And, cosmologically, the entities known to you as Angels and to me as Heralds... - Rei Ayanami [10]
[10] Thaaaat's a stupid name. Why are they named after Angels, then? - Rei Ayanami [11]
[11] They are not. They have been assigned code-names appropriate for the conventions used by Herald-class entities; as a result, they are referred to by the titles of Caananite deities. These aforementioned beings are metaphysically and cosmologically exceedingly different. But there remains the assumption that we both possess, and thus share, some of Yui Ikari's genetic material, though the exact proportions are unknown. Hence, in a sense, we are most probably related. Though it is hard to believe, and even I would prefer to see a detailed genetic analysis done - Rei Ayanami [12]
[12] Your Gendo has some really fun toys, you know? - Rei Ayanami [13]
[13] You did not even pay attention. You have already grown bored. As it must be. And, yes, I know. Of course I know. It is what I do. Just like what you do is commit acts of masively energetic violence - Rei Ayanami [14]
[14] You're booooooring. Everything must be so boring where you come from, if I'm like that. - Rei Ayanami [15]
[15] At the present canonical situation, the Three Children are currently attacking Iceland, and slaughtering fishmen, so that we can summon a Herald. However, in a surprise which apparently no-one but myself expected, the xenocidal insectoid fungoid aliens that control orbit have launched the largest fleet ever encountered in an attempt to ensure that the Herald is terminated. It is full of excitement, and demonstrates that even a mortal foe can have understanable reasons for what they do; that no-one ever views themselves as a monster in their own eyes. Apart from some of the Rapine Storm. In which you would fit remarkably well. - Rei Ayanami [16]
[16] Yeah, and I kept the awesome toy your Gendo had. It was so fun, and I'm sure he'll be fine. Minus a few fingers and the like. But, hey, you have vat organs, right? - Rei Ayanami [17]
[17] ...you deserve to die. You all deserve to die. Not one of your clone-line will be permitted to live. - Rei Ayanami [18]
[18] Alllllright! Now we're talking! Lotsa clones and two Ree enter, one Rei leaves and maybe a few clones too. Final Destination! - Rei Ayanami. [19]
[19] As one of the Infants, I possess psychophagic abilities as well as certain other talents beyond the Sensory parapsychic abilities. - Rei Ayanami [20]
[20] Aaaand they say I'm a psychopath when they think I can't hear! It's fair! - Rei Ayanami
