The Blue Rose: The Other Side of Me

by SPDudley

Erin Forrestal has kept a dark secret most of her childhood: she is the pilot of Evangelion Unit 04. After years of training in isolation she is finally fulfilling the role she's been prepared for yet she's haunted by strange dreams of a mysterious boy. This is the Blue Rose saga, from the other side of the mirror.

15. Into the Fire

Once we felt ourselves falling I ordered the EVA to grab onto anything that we could, rapidly sliding the actuators far forward. We managed to get a handful of protruded rock, but then that let loose and again I scrambled to dig the EVA's fingers into the side of the cliff to try and slow down our descent. About half-way down we got lucky and managed to slam into a protrusion of rock sticking out from the cliff. I grabbed onto it, and then both Patrick and I put our combined mental strength together as we struggled to lift ourselves on top of the rock outcropping and keep from falling further into the lava river below. As we struggled to upgright the EVA we could feel the heat from outside of the unit as alarms sounded all over the entry plug and flashed on the video display.

With every little last bit of strength I again shoved the actuators forward and then pulled back, getting Unit 04 to finally lift her way up and on top of the rock outcropping. After bobbling around a bit I found firm ground and then leaned into the rock wall. I was panting and drenched with sweat.

I was not happy with my brother. "Patrick!" I said to him in an irritated tone while still trying to catch my breath. "The next time…you pull something like that…please tell me first!"

"Sorry," he told me, also catching his breath. "It sort of came to me…all at once." It took us both a long moment to finally get settled down and once I was calmer I started checking our display to see just where we were and how the EVA was. From one of the displays I saw a massive wound in Unit 04's chest, the results of the shots from Unit 07's pallet rifle.

"How bad off are we?" Patrick asked from behind me.

"I guess the good news is that we're still alive, but your girlfriend punched three holes in us up there," I told him. "Between that and the outside heat the EVA's not in good shape at all."

"S2 will regenerate that," Patrick suggested.

"Well, right now we're in no shape for fighting." At the very least, the video display told me that EVA could still move and as Patrick said, the damage to the center of the EVA's chest was slowly starting to stabilize and heal. So that was good: we could still carry out the mission and get to the chairman. But now that we were at the bottom of the mountain, where was he? I switched the display to the visual outside the EVA and got nothing but smoke and hot plumbs of lava, but when I switched the sensors to radar I could make out something about half a mile away in the distance further down from where the lava river flowed.

Using the sensors I focused on what looked like a pattern of some sort in the distance. On top of a bridge that spanned the lava river was what looked like a stone temple. "What the hell is that?" I said aloud while I tweaked the vision controls to get a better view. What I saw past the smoke made my jaw drop.

At the end of the bridge was a set of stone obelisks about twenty or thirty feet in height, all protected by a frame of plexiglass walls framed by steel struts. Inside of the temple complex were these towers, thirteen in all, that surrounded a larger tower that rose maybe more than sixty feet. All of these things looked ancient, maybe hundreds if not thousands of years old, and were decorated with strange and bizarre carvings that included gargoyles and other beasts in twisted forms.

Patrick saw the temple as well. "Looked like the Chairman hired Satan's architect," he joked.

"That's got to be it," I replied, now knowing where we needed to go. "Where else would you go if you wanted to end the world?"

"Do you think we can get there from here?" Patrick asked me. Using the radar to judge the distance, I knew that we could but not in a single leap. The good thing about the cliffside we were against was that there were lots of jettys and outcroppings between us and the bridge, which meant that with a dozen or so carefully managed jumps this was doable. For a girl who spent her childhood dreaming about doing vaults, flying between parallel bars and flipping over balance beams now to have all of these obstacles before us, I realized that my whole life had been leading up to this moment. I couldn't fail.

"I got this," I told Patrick confidently. "Let me concentrate on piloting this stretch, okay? Help me keep an eye on things and I'll get us there in one piece.'

"Right," he replied from behind, and I felt him grab onto my waist. With my missing piece now found and right behind me, everything else was snapping into place. I focused on the screen and mentally worked out the leaps I needed to do, and then cracked my knuckles and grabbed the actuators.

"Okay. First jump to the left side," I called out. "All of those gymnastics classes are about to pay off. Ready?"

Patrick patted me on the back twice. "Ready!"

"And…GO!" I pulled back the actuators and moved the EVA forward and off the jetty. The first jump was a long one and I nearly didn't make it, having to scramble to balance ourselves once I landed and grabbing onto more rock to keep us from sliding downward.

"That was close," Patrick said.

"We're just getting started." I didn't have time to think about that prior jump as I was mentally focused on what was ahead. "Again to the left, about thirty meters and down. Ready?"

Another pat to my shoulder. "Go!"

I made the leap again, this one longer than the first jump but my landing was firm with no wobbles. "Great!" I called out to Patrick. "Let's keep this up."

It took me about another ten or so leaps to make it to where the rock wall met the bridge, and with each jump I got more and more confident that I'd reach the end in one piece. Despite her injuries Unit 04 was quick and responsive, just like the old days at NERV-2 during training.

As I jumped from ledge to ledge while making sure we didn't plunge into the smoldering river of lava below us, I asked Patrick to explain exactly what the hell he was thinking on the cliff's edge with NERV's Evangelions.

"So anyway, brother dear," I started out in a sort of playfully mocking tone, "please tell me why on Earth did you try to kill your girlfriend up there?"

"I wasn't trying to kill her," Patrick's voice again came from behind me. "I was trying to give her the Spear."

"You know you could have just handed it to her."

"I thought about that. But then Asuka would think she was in on it with us and attack her too."

I wasn't quite getting this. "So instead you threw the spear at her."

"I intended to miss," he tried to explain, "but I had to make it look like I was trying to hit her."

"Congratulations, I think she was pretty convinced."

"That's why I brought up the whole Romeo and Juliet thing," he said. "Why did Romeo and Juliet die?"

I knew the story well, having read it several times. "They died of irony."

"No, seriously," said Patrick, "why did they kill themselves?"

"Well, they couldn't live without the other and were convinced that the other was dead already."

"Right, well Rei never liked that story. She thought they were stupid because they're supposedly so much in love but it turns out they're totally out of sync with each other. If they really knew each other and loved each other they'd have guessed that one or both of them would fake their deaths and figure it out. Instead they're both so broken-hearted that they go and kill themselves instead."

"Okay, so?"

"So…I brought it up so that she'll try to guess what I'm actually thinking, because what I was actually thinking was that I'm trying to make it look like I'm attacking her so that she'll shoot back instead of Asuka attacking us. That way she makes it look like we're down and we go over the cliff and out of sight, and then on our way to the Chairman."

It only took me about five seconds to give my careful opinion on this. "That is the most stupid plan I have ever heard!" I told him.

"Hey, we're here," Patrick defended.

"No thanks to you!"

By now we were very close to where the stone temple or whatever it was crossed over the lava river, and I needed to get us off of the cliffside and down somewhere that the EVA would be safe at. "Got one more leap to go," I told my co-pilot.

I studied the video display to search for a landing place, then Patrick pointed out a smooth patch of rock that looked like it was about a hundred yards from the temple itself, on the shore of the lava river and surrounded by boulders. "There," he said. "About sixty meters down."

Sixty meters was the longest of any of my leaps, and one bobble or mishap would toss us into the lava river. Worse, with the small rock ledge we were on right now there was not space to run, and little else I could do to pick up speed and get us there on a big jump. I closed my eyes and envisioned the last leap, imaging it as a flying dismount off the balance beam. It was going to be close.

"Alright, one more time. Ready?"

"Ready!"

"Go," I shouted and went for it, launching the EVA into the air and flipping it before coming down. I got feet on the flat rock but we came in too fast and I found myself sliding off and then plunging down the cliffiside until I found another spot and dove for it. We tumbled forward and finally ended up on two feet. Another few yards and we would have ended up in the lava. That was close!

"Dismount! Finally made it!" I wiped my forehead, which was now layered with a coat of sweat.

"Good job!" praised Patrick. Letting myself have a little smile, I replied back to him "Not exactly gold medal material but it'll do."

Both of us got back to the job at hand, searching through the video display to see if anyone was inside the stone devil temple that was in front of us. "Can you see inside of there?" Patrick asked. I adjusted the video magnification and sensors to get a better look and did in fact see two people: one man pushing a wheelchair with someone else inside.

"That's the chairman! He's here!"

"Do you see Uncle?" asked Patrick.

I took a more careful look and saw that it was Piotr, the Chariman's old manservant and the one who had slipped me the note saying "RUN AWAY" who was pushing Kiel through the temple. "No," I told Patrick behind me. "There's just that guy who pushes the Chairman around. Should we go ahead?"

"No," decided Patrick, "we wait for uncle to show up first. I'm pretty sure that's going to be necessary for what he had in mind. Can you hide us?"

I could and maneuvered the EVA to hide behind the waves of smoke clouds that came from the lava river, turning down all of our running lights in the process. Within a few seconds we were silent and motionless as we hid behind thick smoke and we waited.

For the next couple of minutes we watched as a drama unfolded inside of the temple. Old Piotr wheeled Chairman Kiel to the middle of the temple, where the largest obelisk was standing. Piotr then left him there and as the chairman's back was turned to him he pulled out a pistol from a pocket at held it at the Chairman's head.

Convenient, I thought. Maybe someone will take care of this problem for us.

Piotr didn't fire at first, and the Chairman struggled to get up out of the wheelchair and face him. While we couldn't hear what they were saying, it was pretty clear that Piotr intended to kill Kiel. Suddenly there was a flash from the pistol, but just as quickly there was a energy field that came from Kiel himself, a field that glowed in hexagonal patterns. Piotr's first and then second shot ricochet off the energy field. Before Piotr could get another shot off a steel pike shot out from the Chairman's wheel chair and plunged right into Piotr's chest. I gasped with shock as the old man collapsed onto the ground, the pistol still in his hand.

"That field around him..." Patrick said from behind me.

"It's an AT Field!" I recognized it almost immediately, and now the reason why we needed to be here became clear: Chairman Kiel wasn't quite human at all. "That explains why uncle said we would need the EVA to kill the Chairman!"

"Look, someone's coming," Patrick pointed out, and we then saw another man walk into the temple from the shadows.

My uncle stopped to see Piotr's body, bending over to do something but we couldn't tell what. Piotr was dead, that much we knew, and I could only guess from the way Uncle carefully dwelt over his body that he also knew him well.

Uncle then slowly approached Kiel, speaking with him as he did so. The Chairman turned to see who came, holding some sort of object in his hands. While he couldn't walk much, Kiel had enough strength to remain standing as Uncle continued moving closer to him. Whatever was going to happen was going to happen soon.

"Erin?" my brother asked me.

"Yeah?"

"Are you ready?"

I admit I was still scared out of my mind. At the same time I knew everything had been leading up to this. Everything with EVA, with Mom and Dad, with Vance, and everyone at NERV-2, and now with Patrick. Everything in my whole life from gymnastics to computers and finally to Evangelion was intertwined with what I was now doing. The old man in front of me had once made my life as miserable as it could be, he had lied and he had done horrible things to the people I loved. And he had also done horrible things to billions of other people too. So was I ready to do something about it?

Yeah, I was ready.

Uncle stopped just a few feet away, forcing Kiel to pivot towards him and face the outside of the temple. As they did so I slowly moved our EVA out from the smokescreen, carefully maneuvering closer to the rocky shore of the lava river. They were almost within our reach now.

The last thing I saw was uncle turning his head and looking directly at us: he knew we were there. It was time.

Oh, no, I thought. Kiel's wheelchair has that spike weapon. If uncle gets too close….

I thought to move forward but before I could react Kiel activated the chair and again the spear shot out, plunging right into Uncle Victor's chest.

"Uncle!" I screamed, and Patrick screamed right along with me.

"Oh, no!" I cried. We were too late to save him. But we were right on time to avenge him.

Patrick grabbed the actuators, and I put my hands right on top of his. In unison we both shouted "LET'S FINISH THIS!" and then we moved forward with everything we had.

We jumped the EVA into the lava river. It was shallow, and allowed us to run towards the edge of the temple. The temperature display rose up dramatically but I ignored it, instead pushing the EVA towards the temple itself.

I could see a thick plexiglass wall covering the temple, put up to protect it against the pillars of fire coming from the lava river. Right in front of me was the Chairman, looking out towards us as we approached. With one effort I commanded the EVA to make a fist and we punched the plexiglass wall, shattering it. My fist kept moving and took out a few of the giant stone pillars until it was stopped.

On the video display I saw Chairman Kiel close up. His vision enhancer was now off, and I could see his eyes. They were bright red, just like Kaworu or like Rei. I knew his secret now, and I knew how to defeat him.

Our EVA's fist had been stopped by the AT-Field that the Chairman had generated, and I could see a wall of glowing hexagons floating in mid-air. "AT-Field!" I shouted to Patrick.

"We got one of them too," he shouted from behind me. "Punch through!"

I concentrated on our EVA's AT Field and for a few seconds I could feel the friction from the contact with the Chairman's field. There were sparks and colored bolts flying in all directions as we made contact, but I kept up the effort. I could feel myself straining to move forward, like pressing against an invisible wall in front of me. Behind me I heard Patrick's laboring breath and I knew that he too was giving it every ounce of effort he could.

Finally I felt a breakthrough and the EVA's fist moved forward. The Chairman's AT-Field had been penetrated. Quickly I grabbed him with both hands.

"I've got him!" I shouted to Patrick behind me.

"Then do it! DO IT NOW!"

Because we were standing in the lava river the surface temperature of the EVA continued to rise, and I could feel the LCL we were in nearly boiling from the heat. The video display flashed DANGER EXTREME EXTERIOR SURFACE TEMPERATURE and I wanted to just jump out of the lava river now but I couldn't. Not until I had taken care of the Chairman himself.

My fear came to a boil but we had to do this. I gulped down every emotion that I felt and then plunged both of our EVA's hands right into the lava river. I could feel something like explosions buffeting the EVA's hands and then the pain transmitting from the burning of the EVA's skin from the hot lava got to me. Still I felt something moving in my grasp, Kiel or whatever he was struggled to live and escape. I closed my eyes and screamed and then plunged the EVA's hands further into the lava river.

I held him down underneath the lava river for as long as I could. At one point the pain in my hands got unbearable, even though it wasn't actually my hands burning I could feel the feedback from the EVA's hands through our sync and I knew the pain she felt as flesh burned off her hands. Finally the pain became too intense and even though I wasn't sure if I had finally done it but unable to take any more, I let go and jumped the EVA out of the lava river and back onto the rocky shoreline.

The EVA landed on her back and the warning klaxons were still going off inside our entry plug, but we were out of the lava. I looked at the video monitor to see if there was any sign of Kiel.

For just a few seconds I could see something metal floating on the surface. Was that him? Or maybe what was left of him. But then the steel parts sank into the lava river, diving as a plumb of steam jetted out in their place. I kept searching for anything left over, breathing hard as I tried to recover from what had just happened. It took a few more moments but I saw nothing come back up from the lava river itself. Kiel was dead.

With the video I searched through the temple trying to find out what happened to Uncle, but I couldn't see him there at all. The only body was that of Piotr. Was Uncle still alive? I couldn't tell.

"No sign of anyone," I told Patrick behind me. "I don't see Uncle anywhere around here. Do you see him?" But Patrick didn't say anything.

"Patrick?" I asked but there was still no reply. Then he leaned forward and slumped against my right shoulder.

Instinctively I turned around and as I did so he fell back against the back seat of the throne. His face was gone, literally gone. The pale skin that was once his face was now replaced with a red, gooey substance. I gasped and then screamed "PATRICK!" What had happened to him?

During the entire time from when we fell off the cliff above after being shot by Rei's EVA until now I had not actually seen Patrick. I had only heard his voice from behind me, and while he seemed stressed it didn't really seem cause for alarm, considering what else we were doing. Despite his face being a horrible red mask, he was still breathing and alive if just barely.

"Oh my God! What happened to you?"

Patrick's voice came out weakly. "Need…medicine…"

"Okay, the plug's got a med-kit! We'll use that!"

"Not…there," he said in a graveley voice. "LCL…Stabilizer. Die…without it."

"Where is it then?"

"Kaji…looking for it. Rei…I need Rei!"

"Didn't she just shoot you a little while ago?" I asked. Patrick gurgled and tried to get the words out. "Rei…stabilizer."

"Will she have it?"

"Maybe…gotta get back…to her…"

I pivoted to the display and looked back towards the pathway we had come. To get back to where the NERV EVAs were we'd have to make all of the same jumps I did before, only now our EVA was heavily damaged. Her hands and feet were scarred and burned from the lava and while I knew the S2 engine was regenerating them it wasn't nearly as fast as it needed to be. But I didn't' have a choice. Fortunately I knew the way back.

"It's a tough climb back, the EVA's really in bad shape right now, " I said to Patrick as I grabbed the actuators and started to move us off the shoreline. "But I'll get you there!"

The EVA stood up, bobbling a bit from the lack of balance but I immediately put her into a run and started the jumps. I took another look at Patrick and I knew I didn't have much time at all. Most of all I was scared of what was actually happening to Patrick, as he didn't mention anything about needing medication before. He did say earlier that NERV had "saved his face" but I had no idea it was like this.

"When did this happen to you?" I asked him as I jumped the EVA back the way we came. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Target…important," he gurgled. "Nothing else matters…"

"Well you matter, dammit!" I replied back, wiping the tears from my eyes. "I just found you, I'm not going to lose you now!"

Truthfully everything I did to get us back to the others was a blur, I still don't remember how I did it all. At the end of the jumps I climbed the cliffside we had fallen off earlier, only now it was horribly painful as the EVA's hands were still not recovered from the burns. Knowing I couldn't fail, I just gritted and bore the pain and lifted us back and over the top. In my mind I prayed, I thought "Oh God I'll never do another bad thing ever again but just please save my brother," and I kept repeating that as I jumped. Things had gotten together for me now only to fall apart again. But I had to make sure Patrick lived, no matter what was in my way.

By the time we got to the top of the cliff the strain of everything we had endured finally got to the EVA herself and I felt her gave way. I tried to walk her forward but her knees buckled and we went tumbling face first into the ground. I held on tight as we violently crashed while Patrick, barely conscious, shoved up against me.

The entry plug lights went dark and the main video display died, followed by the sudden illumination of red emergency lighting. EVA was on minimal power, and I couldn't get her to get up again despite sliding the actuators a few times and trying to coax her. I turned back to Patrick and he looked worse. Where the others here? Would they attack us now that we showed up again? I had to take a chance and popped open the control panel on my left actuator, and then activated the emergency audio.

"Somebody help us!" I shouted into the audio feed. "Patrick…he's dying!" There was silence for a moment, but then a voice came back.

"What's happening?" The voice was faint, and was that of a boy speaking in accented English. EVA was still able to pick up audio outside and broadcast it over the entry plug speakers.

"He needs medicine!" I shouted back. "Um, something with LCL!"

A few seconds later came another reply. "She's coming! Can you open your entry plug door?"

Leaving Patrick on the throne I jumped out of the seat and ran back to behind the throne itself. There was a latch there, labeled EMERGENCY PLUG RELEASE colored in black and yellow tape. I lifted up the latch and held on with both hands, pulling towards me. Suddenly the entry plug shifted as compressed air shot us partly out of the EVA's back. The jolt of movement nearly took me off my feet, but as soon as we stopped I rushed back and went to the hatch door. I struggled to spin the lock wheel and after some strain and effort I was able to loosen it, and push it forward. LCL came streaming out of the entry plug as the door opened, and as I popped my head outside I saw a lone figure on the ground running towards the EVA.

There was an emergency rope ladder packed into a side panel next to the door, and I opened it and tossed it outwards and down. Within a few seconds I could see someone grab onto the ladder and start upwards.

I looked towards the entry plug and didn't see Patrick moving at all, and I feared for the worst. I bolted back, wading through the remaining LCL in the plug to reach him. His eyeslids were shut, and I couldn't tell if he was even breathing.

Someone entered through the open door and I looked towards them. It was Rei herself. Strangely she was completely naked.

"She's here," I told Patrick, hopeful that the arrival of Rei could give him enough hope to hang on.

Rei bounded over to the throne and where we were. Patrick moved just a nudge, groaning. "Rei," he said, barely able to make the words out. "Is that you?"

"I'm here," she said in a whisper-like voice. In her hands was a syringe.

"I can't see you," said Patrick.

Rei gently held his head in her hand, while taking off the syringe cover with the other. "Darling, I'm right in front of you." Apparently all sins were forgiven between both of them.

She got on top of Patrick and then pushed the needle of the syringe right into his neck vein, pushing in all of a glowing orange medicine into his body. After injecting him she tossed the empty syringe and then held his head with both of her hands, looking desperately for any sign that the medicine was working.

"Will he be okay?" I asked her in desperation. She didn't say anything but kept looking at him, watching for anything.

Patrick moved his head slightly, and tried to take deeper breaths but had trouble getting his voice out. He struggled to speak, saying "Finally…finally got the two of you together…"

Oh God, Patrick, no not like this…

"Last…piece in place…" Patrick gasped out, "just way…to finish."

"Patrick, please don't say that!" I cried as I held his hand. I looked over to Rei, desperate for anything. "Is there anything else you can do for him?"

At first it looked like she didn't show any response, her face frozen in a stoic glance. But then I could see her eyes quiver, and her small mouth start to tremble. She was just as afraid as I was that we'd lose him. She looked at Patrick, caressing his bloody head with both of her hands and told him "Forri…I…" she struggled to get the words out. "I…love…" Rei's eyes were streaming tears, just like mine were.

Patrick's head leaned back against the throne, and Rei immediately embraced him. I jumped up and did the same, holding onto my brother as tightly as I could, not knowing if it would help but wanting to do whatever else I could, to at least let him know I loved him even in his final moments.

There was a long pause as both and Rei and I squeezed Patrick, finally interrupted when we heard a voice over the audio speakers. "Rei? Rei?"

Rei perked her head up, knowing the voice. "Misato-san."

The voice on the speakers belonged to Colonel Katsuragi, the woman who had tried to recruit me for NERV while I was at Tokyo-3. She was here also, and she was bringing help. Her and Rei conversed in Japanese on the speakers while I still held onto Patrick's hand. He was still hanging in there, breathing with difficulty but still going.

Their conversation ended and I asked Rei what was going on. Rei replied to me 'Misato-san is coming with a medical team. They will take Forri-kun back to Japan."

I didn't quite know what to do except stay there with Patrick, and we both waited for the help to arrive. Neither one of us spoke to the other, as I wasn't sure what to even say to Rei and I'm sure she was just as stuck. I did think of one thing, and I quickly bounded to where the EVA entry plug medical kit was. Pulling it out, I found and unfurled the silver foil emergency blanket. Considering that Rei was just standing there completely naked, it was the least I could do for her.

I gave her the blanket. "Um, here you go!" I said, offering it to her. She didn't say anything in return, but took it and wrapped it around herself, and then both of us got back to waiting with Patrick between us and hoping that time hadn't run out.

Misato must have been close by because within another minute she dropped into the entry plug from outside. "Rei!" she said, quite glad to see her. "Are you alright?" she spoke in accented English.

"It's Forri-kun," Rei told her, and Misato went straight to the throne, not even seeming to notice me standing there besides Patrick.

"Oh, my God," said Misato, who then looked back to Rei. "Did you give him the stabilizer?"

"I just did. 30ccs."

"Let's hope it works. I've got a Thunderchief waiting downstairs for him and the others." Misato called over to the hatch and then two other men in camouflage uniforms dropped down, carrying a stretcher between then. Only after they started to carefully take Patrick off the control throne did Misato finally turn to me.

"Hello, Erin," she said. I didn't quite know what to say in return, I felt not only embarrassed but shamed by what happened back in Tokyo-3. If Misato wanted to just blow me away right now she'd be entitled to.

"Um, hi," I answered with a horribly sheepish grin.

"She brought him back to us," Rei said to Misato. The colonel herself took a deep breath and gave the situation a moment of thought.

"I got a lot going on right now, and we need to deal with what happened but not just yet," she told me. "For now we need to get you out of here, so do you mind coming with us?"

"Of course," I said. Misato nodded and then motioned to the empty hatch of the entry plug. I followed the men who lowered Patrick down to the ground.

When I had rushed back up the cliff in order to get help I didn't really notice what had happened after we had left. Now as I stepped away from my EVA I could see more clearly and it was a horrible mess, the result of a battle that had been fought here. Body parts from at least two different Evangelions were strewn all around the cave floor, and much of the ground was covered in a thick, oozy and horrible smelling coat of LCL. A third EVA, the purple-colored Unit 01, was sitting with her back to the cavern wall, seemingly sleeping. Parked on the ground just under the tunnel opening was an Alliance aircraft with medical markings, and I could see one of the NERV pilots, Shinji Ikari, standing close to another stretcher as it was being loaded into the aircraft. He was dressed in a blue and white plug suit. I realized that it must have been him that I had spoken to after my cry for help.

The crew hurried Patrick into the aircraft, and I saw a third medical stretcher also already inside. Misato motioned to Rei to get on board and I also started to follow but then Misato held me back with her hand on my arm.

"Sorry," she told me. "You can't go on that one."

"But Patrick," I protested.

"He'll be alright," she told me. "But we need to talk to you about what happened, and hopefully you can give us some answers to a lot of questions we have about what you've seen."

"Sure," I said to her, "Anything you need." As I spoke to Misato two other soldiers approached, walking from another Thunderbird aircraft that had just landed nearby. She nodded at the two men and then spoke to me again. "Please go with these two gentlemen. Boys," she spoke to the two soldiers, "Be gentle with this one. She's important."

"Yes, colonel," replied one of them. With that Misato didn't say goodbye but just smiled faintly at me and then turned to go towards the medical evacuation aircraft. One of the men gently nudged me on the arm and I started to follow them, not having much choice to do anything else. But just before we got going Rei came up to me. Still wrapped in nothing but the emergency blanket I had given her earlier, she looked at me for a moment silently. I wanted to say something but couldn't think of what it would be, until she finally spoke out.

"Thank you," she said in a soft voice. I could see just a hint of emotion in her eyes.

"I hope he's gonna be okay," I said to her as I looked to the other aircraft, the one that Patrick was now on. Rei didn't reply, but just nodded her head.

"Rei!" Misato's voice called out to her from the aircraft. "Hurry! We've got to go now!"

"Sayonara," was the last thing she said to me as she turned to go, and then she hurried through the open hatch door of the aircraft. I watched as the aircraft lifted off the ground and then hovered towards the deep shaft with its vertical jets, only interrupted when one of the men guarding me said "Miss, let's get going." I trundled along with them to our own waiting aircraft, readying to take me to God knows where. I was finally free of SEELE but still a prisoner, and by now I was resigned to my own fate.

Finally got this done and posted, and it feels good. You'd think it would be easy writing chapters of material that you've already written elsewhere, but strangely this has been the most difficult part of doing this book as you have to re-trace everything completely and then work it in without deviating too much.

Fortunately now we can veer off into completely new material, and will push onto the next few chapters. We're now about 75% done with the story, and I'll do my level best to complete this as soon as I can.