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"Dialogues"
- Thoughts -
"Radio Talk"
"Self talk."
Liability Note:
Evangelion, its characters and setting are the property of Hideaki Anno. Any brands, movies and series mentioned in this Fanfic are the property of their creators.
(*)
Chapter 02.
Shinji opened his eyes, looking disdainfully at the ceiling, frowning as he couldn't remember going to sleep, turning his head to the side he realized he was in a room, simple with everything that was the basics.
Turning his head to the side so that he could locate himself, Shinji gave a long sigh, but soon his state of calm had been broken when he tried to raise his arm.
Looking down at his hands in a confused manner, Shinji noted that his wrists were bound with handcuffs, feeling his anxiety increase considerably, shaking his hands in hopes of getting free, but his attempts being in vain, he wasn't going anywhere.
"You're not going anywhere." A female voice emerged in the darkness, Shinji began to search frantically for its owner.
With a sound of footsteps, Shinji's eyes widened as he saw a pair of black boots approaching, with each step echoing off the walls, but his attention was not on his feet, but on his face.
"Misato-san?" Shinji soon recognized the occupant of the room, feeling his anxiety begin to rise with each step Misato took toward him.
"Did you think you would go far?" Misato spoke indifferently as she stopped a few feet from the foot of the bed.
Shinji could feel as if his heart was going to burst out of his chest with the intensity in which it was beating.
"I was captured?"
Misato gave a sarcastic laugh, crossing her arms over her chest as she laughed. "Of course you did. Did you really think a being like you could escape WILLE? A useless brat?"
Shinji lowered his eyes to the bed, feeling that emotions were wanting to take over his body, but he was trying at all costs to control himself.
Misato continued to watch Shinji's agonized form on the bed, giving a sadistic smile she continued. "You know your place is in a cell, rotting, alone and when you die I will finally get to smile."
Shinji closed his eyes tightly, trying to keep the tears under control. "Lie ... Lie! ... You don't think so!"
Misato was still standing still maintaining her cool and professional manner. "Yes I think, and not just me."
At this moment the lights of the room opened, revealing Asuka to with her hands inside her jacket, she was staring at him with hatred, beside her were Mari and Sakura, both were with a smile on their faces.
Ritsuko and the entire NERV crew were behind the girls, everyone was enjoying the show. Shinji was looking into everyone's eyes, wandering from person to person.
"Do you really think your plan will work?" Sakura spoke coldly as she began to approach the bed, she had a small suitcase in her hands. "You took everything from me Ikari, my brother Toji was one of them." Sakura noted smiling as she saw Shinji's posture slump at the mention of Toji, sadistically continuing.
"His best friend."
Shinji at this point watched as she opened the case and took out some medical equipment, which consisted of a syringe with two bottles of medicine, beginning to gasp heavily at the knowledge that things were not going well.
"Sakura, I didn't know." Shinji began to speak hurriedly as he watched the girl fill two syringes with the medicines.
Sakura didn't bother to raise her gaze to Shinji, having all her attention on the task in front of her.
"No use brat." Asuka removed her hands from her jacket and approached the bed and with her two hands she pinned him in place, Shinji observed the venomous look he was getting from her.
"No please." Shinji tried to get off the bed, but soon more pairs of arms held him, they being those of Hyuga, Shigeru and Maya, feeling his movements being limited, the boy began to gasp heavily.
"Please listen to me."
"It's no use Ikari." Ritsuko spoke as she joined the group while gently watching the access on Shinji's arm. "That is your destiny Ikari, all monsters must die."
Shinji's eyes widened, knowing why they were doing this, feeling panic taking over his body, but he was unable to move due to the strong grip he was receiving. "Please I didn't know this was going to happen!"
"Always like this, never taking responsibility for anything." Asuka spoke venomously as she strengthened her grip on Shinji. "Don't you remember what I said? Nobody cares if you die."
"Asuka please." Shinji pleaded as he felt the tears roll down his face, moving his head around the smiling faces of everyone, having his vision lock on Misato who was still standing there watching everything with a satisfied look on her face.
"Misato please!" Shinji pleaded.
Misato started walking toward the bed still keeping a cold posture, but with a smile on his face. "I have to do this, only then will we have peace."
Shinji watched as Misato received one of Sakura's syringes, watching his former guardian prepare to inject the solution into the access. "Please don't."
"It's really nice to see him begging." Mari spoke smiling as she watched everything, Misato smilingly attached the syringe and began injecting the solution.
Feeling the life begin to drain from his body, Shinji only got the strength to say his last words, "No, please."
With laughter from everyone in the room, Shinji felt his body relax and soon black blurs began to take over his vision.
(*)
"No!" Shinji shouted as he woke up gasping heavily, it was still night and the fire had just gone out, but its embers were still hot.
Raising his hand to his face and feeling the sweat that was pouring down, Shinji soon began to take deep breaths to calm his tired body, feeling his clothes catch because of the sweat.
Feeling his body calming down, Shinji turned around and grabbed a bottle of water, taking a generous sip to complete his relaxation, feeling calmer, the man looked around at the red horizon.
"Fuck." Shinji growled as he got up and picked up his backpack, having his sleep destroyed by nightmares, the man decided to continue his journey, with his thoughts as company.
Trying to walk for weeks, he was now in some city in Europe, his body was already beaten from the distance traveled, it was easier to say that part of his body did not hurt.
"It was just a bad dream." Shinji repeated himself as he recalled the images while walking ignoring the pain in his feet.
"May I know the reason for the concern?" His conscience spoke.
"It's none of your business." Shinji growled to himself.
"Afraid to die?" The voice spoke mockingly.
"I'm not afraid to die, I just don't want it to be by their hands." Shinji replied by counting the line of thought.
After a few hours of walking, the day was already beginning when Shinji decided to take out his red notebook that he carried in the pocket of his jacket.
Rereading each paragraph he had written, memorizing each name written, Shinji used this to rehearse what he would do, each step, each movement, flipping through each page until he reached the last writing, a single page summed up.
"Plan E." Shinji whispered as he read the little lines that this stage was summed up in, closing his eyes for when the day finally came, his debt to humanity would finally have come to an end.
"It will be my gift to the world." Shinji spoke smiling as he placed the notebook back into his inner pocket, shaking his head in determination, the man continued his journey through the red earth, knowing he had to find one of the colonies quickly, for at his destination, the first step was to be taken, the first name was to be found.
Looking around at all the infinity gaps that passed by, Shinji soon tried to close his eyes to the memories, remembering his days with Asuka and Rei after the Fourth Impact battle.
He shook his head strongly to stop himself from remembering, but as always, his mind could do things that even he couldn't, like stopping memories, feelings, and all that could entail.
(*)
Flash Back
Shinji had his head down as he walked through the red earth, his mind focused on the moment when the exploding choker exploded Kaworu's neck.
Looking down at his hands in guilt, Shinji still couldn't believe everything that was happening, having lost twelve years of his life by being trapped inside the EVA.
"What have I done?" Shinji whispered as he recalled all the moments that led up to this point, turning his head and casting a discreet glance at Rei who was walking a few steps away.
"Mom." Shinji whispered as he saw the features of Rei's face, having seen the photo Fuyutsuki had shown him in his days at NERV, staring at every detail of Rei's now older face, having the physical form almost identical to Yui's, except for the color of her hair and her eyes, it was like looking into a mirror of the photograph.
"My God Dad, what have you done?" Shinji spoke as he looked down and stared at the red soil where his feet touched.
Asuka was pacing looking forward, shaking her head repeating the events that just happened, "Stupid brat." Asuka didn't bother to say in a low voice, knowing that Shinji could easily overhear her monologue, closing the fists of her hands in anger.
Shinji raised his head because he knew that the last sentence Asuka said was directed at him, but he didn't care because he knew it was true, he was a brat.
Lifting his head slightly, Shinji tried to argue. "Asuka."
Seeing the redhead stopping her path, but not turning around. "What do you want?" replied Asuka annoyed, venom could be felt in her voice.
Shinji was without the courage to speak, taking a few deep breaths he began to stutter. "I'm sorry."
Watching Asuka's back go rigid and her fists clench, Shinji watched as she turned and faced him with a fierce, cold stare. "You brat."
With steady steps going towards Shinji, he could only hope, seeing Asuka's fist going towards his face, falling to the ground with the violence of her blow, Shinji watched as Asuka was soon on top of him.
Seeing Shinji fallen still unresponsive after the punch he took, Asuka growled in annoyance. "So that's it, you piece of trash?"
Shinji closed his eyes at Asuka's words, but still remained silent.
Seeing that Shinji was still silent, Asuka became even more angry. "You're no good, you're just in the way." Turning around and returning to her trajectory.
Shinji could hear Asuka's footsteps moving away, but he was speechless, slowly putting his arms on the ground to gain support, Shinji then noticed a hand approaching.
Lifting his gaze to see the person who was offering him help, taking Rei's delicate hand that helped him up, looking at his expressionless face and shyly thanking him. "Thank you Ayanami."
Rei only observed her face, seeing a small cut on her lower lip, the blue haired girl did not know how she should proceed. "Are you hurt Ikari?"
Shinji lifted his head and looked back at her, still unable to bear the image of Rei after knowing her origin, feeling the taste of iron in his mouth from the punch he took from Asuka.
"No Ayanami, I'm fine." Shinji replied dejectedly as he walked back, feeling Rei's gaze on his back at all times.
Bringing his hand to his face, Shinji felt the tears wanting to come out, knowing that he could not fight them, small rows of tears cut his face, small sniffles could be heard.
Asuka was walking still feeling her blood boil, "I'm sorry." Asuka spoke imitating Shinji's voice, shaking her head, but soon her thoughts were cut off as the sounds of crying stopped, she turned and saw Shinji holding her arms in a desperate attempt for some comfort.
"You've got to be kidding me." Asuka growled as she turned back toward Shinji, as she approached and held the broken man by the collar, Asuka looked Shinji straight in the eye.
"Brat, do you realize what you've done?!" Asuka shouted into the face of Shinji who only cringed.
"I'm sorry Asuka." Shinji cried as he felt Asuka's grip grow stronger.
"You really are useless, you should be dead right now!" Asuka shouted as she pushed Shinji away, watching his form stagger. "You are worthless, you can cry all you want, but it won't change the fact that you are a monster! "
"Please Asuka, I didn't know." Shinji spoke as he raised his head and faced the German woman's fury.
"Didn't you know?!". Asuka shouted as she approached Shinji again, seeing that he was not moving away, stopping in front of her again. "You murderer. Your attempt to play the hero has cost the lives of nearly three billion people!".
Rei watched as Asuka screamed at Shinji, and the blue-haired girl felt a sensation in her chest that she couldn't tell which feeling it was, but she knew she didn't like.
"But I didn't know that could happen." Shinji tried to argue, but he was soon cut off by Asuka's cold words.
"It doesn't matter what your intentions were, but you did." Asuka spoke annoyed, still keeping her fierce gaze on Shinji. "I never thought you could do such a dumb thing, really you are just like your father, a monster."
Shinji was paralyzed in place, having Asuka's words pierce his soul hard. "A monster." Shinji whispered into nothingness.
"I'm glad we agree on something." Asuka spoke as she turned and walked back to her walk.
"A monster." Shinji again whispered into nothingness, taking weak steps following Asuka. "A monster."
End of flashback
(*)
Shinji shook his head as he remembered Asuka's words, knowing them to be true, clearing the memory from his head, Shinji started walking towards them again, but soon the tranquility of the ruins of Tokyo 3 was broken with the sound of an approaching vehicle.
Running to hide behind a rock, Shinji observed a small truck approaching, taking his binoculars he promptly put them to his eyes, his body twitched as he managed to identify the flag on the vehicle, it was red with the SEELE symbol.
"Shit." Shinji spoke as he lowered his binoculars and began to walk away, running into a cluster of abandoned buildings, hoping he hadn't been seen, looking discreetly into a window, he could see the vehicle getting closer and closer.
Outside, four men were in the vehicle, they were part of the SEELE sympathizers cult, it was formed after the almost third impact, with a lot of information being released to the public generating many sympathizers.
"I saw a person running into the buildings." One of the men spoke to the driver.
"I saw it, it could be WILLE's." Answered the driver.
"I hope so, I'm up for a kill today." The man in the passenger responded with a smile as he removed his hunting knife from his leg.
Stopping the vehicle close to where Shinji was, the three men got out, armed with knives, only one had a firearm, resources were a bit scarce and very expensive, he would stay in the guard car.
"Look at the footprints." One of the men spoke as he showed a set of footprints going toward one of the buildings.
(*)
"Shit." Shinji whispered anxious to see that his hiding place had been discovered, getting up and starting to look for anything that would serve as a weapon, walking to the kitchen, the could find a knife. "Not the best, but it'll do."
Turning his head as he heard footsteps coming up the stairs, Shinji leaned against the kitchen wall and waited, trying his best to control his breathing, hoping he wouldn't have to fight, because he wouldn't want any more deaths on his conscience.
"For one who has killed three billion, four more will be no problem." His mind spoke determinedly.
Shaking his head to clear his mind, he could hear more footsteps approaching.
"Look at all the doors, a WILLE soldier is like gold." Shinji listened to one of the men speaking, closing his eyes and waiting.
"He's close, there's dirt here." The second man joined in as they entered the small apartment, both were armed with hunting knives, pointing the object at the marks on the floor.
Looking down at the floor, one of the SEELE sympathizers made his way to the kitchen, signaling to his companion the place where the man might be. "You can leave defunct, there's nowhere to run."
Giving a sigh, Shinji tried not to move, but soon the footsteps of the invaders reached him, looking the man in the eyes, Shinji watched his smile begin to grow as he was recognized.
"Look what we have here, the guy on TV, the killer who ended the world. " The man spoke as he pointed the knife in the direction of Shinji who was wary, watching the second man approach and speak confidently. "The reward for freaks is high."
Shinji at this moment froze in place, feeling his heart begin to beat harder in his chest, looking the man in the eyes and feeling his breathing begin to increase as he began to laugh, the two attackers looked at each other in a confused manner.
"Brat."
"You can die I wouldn't even care."
"You just fuck up."
"From now on, you will do nothing more."
"Murderer."
Shinji stopped his laughter gave an arrogant smile, he was feeling calm, but resolves seeing to use the situation to his advantage. "It will be difficult, as I don't intend to go back there."
The smile of one of the men disappeared with the answer, raising his knife and speaking menacingly. "The reward is dead or alive, I don't care."
Shinji faced his attacker and spoke arrogantly. "So what are you waiting for?" Finally raising his own defense.
With a growl, the older man attacked, trying to cut some part of Shinji with his knife, who promptly deflected and landed a punch on the side of his attacker's head, who fell to the ground disoriented.
Seeing the first one lying on the ground, Shinji raised his head just in time to see his henchman running trying the same move, only raising the knife to try to hit his ribs, jumping and dodging by inches the blow that would cause serious damage, Shinji tried to disarm his opponent by holding his now outstretched arm, but was soon hit by an elbow to the side of the head.
"Ouch." Staggering backwards, Shinji only got time to dodge the second strike, blocking a punch with his elbow as he walked backwards, Shinji watched as the first man got up and was already recovered, but the same man ignored his fallen knife.
"Shit." Shinji whispered, he could only hope, glancing quickly to the window at a possible exit, but soon remembered he was on the third floor and couldn't jump without hurting himself.
"Shit, Shit!"
"There is no point in escaping, today you die." The older henchman ran towards Shinji turning the knife so that its tip was facing downwards, with a quick movement, Shinji blocked the attack by raising his arms and holding the attack and with one hand he landed a strong punch on the abdomen of his attacker, finally managing to remove the knife from his hands.
Seeing that he was going to be attacked from behind, Shinji tried to turn around and dodge the punch that the second aggressor was trying to throw at his kidneys, holding his arm, Shinji with his free hand started throwing a few punches at the man's face.
Managing to land a good series of punches, Shinji again looked at the window, pushing his now disoriented opponent, with one swift movement, Shinji lifted the man's body directing him towards his target, breaking the window with his body and pushing him away, watching the man fall.
Seeing that he had managed to push one of the men out, Shinji quickly turned around and faced the only remaining opponent in the apartment, with a loud thudding sound, Shinji could hear that the person he had just thrown hit the ground.
"You'll pay for that animal!" With a growl, the one opponent ran towards Shinji with his arms outstretched, hugging him and lifting him onto the floor and with a loud thud Shinji felt the air leave his lungs as he collided with a small table in the center of the room, destroying it on impact.
"You're going to die!" The man shouted as he began to deliver powerful blows, Shinji tried to defend himself as best he could, managing to block some punches, but was hit by others.
Roaring in determination, Shinji managed to grab one of his opponent's arms, twisting his body to lock him in an arm wrench, feeling that his grip was temporary, Shinji looked around for any weapons and saw the knife lying on the ground.
"Let go of me!." The man yelled as he shook himself, feeling Shinji's grip loosening, Shinji raised his free arm and tried to reach for the knife, feeling the cold metal of the blade rubbing against his fingers.
"Come on damn it." Shinji roared knowing he was losing his grip, feeling that time was running out, he had to get the knife or he would be in trouble.
Feeling that he was beginning to regain control, the man managed to free one of his arms, delivering powerful punches to Shinji's ribs.
"Ha!" Frowning in pain as he was hit in the ribs, Shinji finally could grip the handle of the knife, holding it steady and taking courage to do what had to be done to save his life.
Seeing that his opponent had broken free, the man stood up and glared at Shinji, seeing the pure hatred in his eyes, Shinji had only one option to emerge victorious.
"I'm sorry about that!." Shinji shouted as he directed the blade at the attacker's neck, seeing the blade penetrate and go completely through the attacker's neck, and with a strong pull removed it.
Shinji seeing that his blow had caused it, looked up in horror as the man got off him and fell on his back holding his neck, feeling his hands shaking as he saw how desperately he was trying to stop the blood from continuing to come out.
Swallowing dryly, Shinji watched as the man's movements began to slow until they stopped completely, becoming completely silent again, looking at the knife in his hands and the amount of blood that was around the now lifeless body of one of his attackers.
"Dimitri what..." The driver finally managed to locate his companions, looking at his friend's now lifeless body on the ground, soon his eyes fell on Shinji who was staring at him with the knife in his hand.
"Son of a bitch!. " The man pulled his pistol from his waistband and cocked it, knowing that his companions were now dead and it was the fault of this man in front of him.
Shinji, seeing this, quickly ran towards the armed man, acting out of pure survival instinct, with the knife in hand and roaring in determination, feeling the tip of the blade penetrate the armed man's chest.
"Die!, Die!, Die!" Shinji shouted with tears in his eyes as he removed the knife and sank it back into his enemy's chest.
Stopping when he saw that it was no longer moving, Shinji glanced at the scene in front of him, dropping the knife and bringing his hands to his face, finally realizing what he had done, holding his head and gasping heavily. "I'm a monster."
"It was self-defense, it was them or you." The voice spoke in his head trying to ease his guilt.
"Oh my God." Shinji spoke in desperation as he turned around so he wouldn't have to look at the bodies. Taking a deep breath to calm himself and with his eyes closed he spoke agitatedly. "That could happen, it was you or them."
After a few minutes leaning on the wall, Shinji reopened his eyes, knowing that there was no turning back, looking again at the bodies and controlling his bowels so as not to vomit, Shinji tried to think rationally.
"Now you have a vehicle, you won't have to walk anymore." His conscience spoke. "And now you have a gun."
Shinji stopped as he looked at the gun that was still in his attacker's hand, it was a Beretta 9mm, nodding to his own thoughts, wiping the sweat that was running down his forehead.
Cautiously walking over to the driver's body, Shinji began groping around for anything that might help, and managed to retrieve two ammunition pins and the keys to the vehicle.
Shaking his head in determination, he repeated the process on the second body and went outside, looking at the corpse lying on the ground, seeing its legs and neck bent at angles that were not meant for it. "I am a monster."
Shinji then got into the vehicle and started it, looking around for anything that could help at this moment, opening the glove compartment and finding a map with the location of colonies, then knowing where to go, Shinji set the vehicle in motion, having a little difficulty at first, but soon thanked that it was automatic when changing gears.
As he drove down the dirt road, Shinji replayed the events of a few hours ago, knowing that he was in a difficult situation.
"You knew this could happen." His mind began to speak. "To realize your plans you would have to go through this."
"I know, but..." Shinji answered himself as he looked down, still unable to get the image of the man holding his throat out of his head. "I'm a monster."
(*)
Wunder
Misato was in her office inside Wunder, in front of her was a computer screen with WILLE's high command and the UN director, Misato's mind was in the clouds, she was not particularly interested in this meeting.
"So this is the situation, the colonies in northern Europe are holding their resources at acceptable levels." The UN director ended his speech.
"Thank you very much Director Thomas, now let's get to the damage status of the EVAS Units." The Director General of the WILLE High Command locked his gaze on Misato, frowning as he saw that his colonel and current Wunder commander was not paying attention.
"Colonel Katsuragi! " The current WILLE commander, General Yamamoto spoke in a firm voice.
Misato blinked at hearing her name, quickly adjusting herself in her chair, she waited, looking at the faces of everyone in the room staring at her, swallowing dryly knowing that they had probably asked her a question.
With a tired and bored sigh, General Yamamoto repeated his question. "Colonel Katsuragi, how are the statuses of the EVAS at Wunder?"
Misato nodded slightly, taking a deep breath to begin answering the question. "Unit 08 has heavy damage to its arms, the technicians are working hard to repair it as soon as possible, Unit 02 is only having its torso and one arm restored."
Everyone at the video conference whispered some inaudible words, Misato knew that this was not the best news she could give, but it was the truth.
"Gentlemen?" Misato caught his eye as he got an idea, seeing Wunder's current location over Europe.
Everyone in the virtual meeting room stopped their conversations and gave their attention, Misato seeing that the room went silent. "We are near the old city of Paris, there is an old branch of NERV at this location, we can stop there and pick up supplies for the EVAS."
Again everyone in the room started talking hurriedly, some agreeing with the idea and others finding it absurd.
"Silence!" General Yamamoto spoke to silence his subordinates, he was a strict man, he liked discipline, again all eyes locked on Misato.
"Sir with all due respect, why don't we use Unit 01 which is in the New Italy district?" One of the colonels spoke his idea, the group was silent, talking about Unit 01 was a touchy subject.
"Hahaha, are you listening to yourself Colonel Sanches?" One of the occupants of the meeting spoke sarcastically. "Are you really suggesting we use the unit that caused all this?"
"And why not Colonel? From Colonel Katsuragi's reports Unit 02 will still take several months to recover and be at the minimum level of utilization." Colonel Sanches rebutted his colleague. "Unit 08 is missing its arms. We have to use our only operational EVA unit."
A large number of voices began to speak, but one stood out. "Even if this delusional plan of yours were possible, we know that Unit 01 only answers to a single pilot, who is currently on the run." Colonel Nikolai spoke somberly from his seat, speaking for the first time in this meeting, everyone in the room looked at their Russian colleague.
"I hate to agree with my Russian colleague, but he's right." American Colonel Anderson spoke. "If the guy hadn't run away we could make a deal."
Misato was watching everything attentively, not wanting to meddle in the bureaucratic war that was in front of her, her focus was on locating Shinji before he made a fool of himself, but hearing the word "deal" aroused her interest.
"Hahaha, it even looks like we're going to make a deal with the new Hitler." Colonel Nikolai retorted boredly to his American colleague.
"And you have a better idea?! Your genius plan is to put a pilot inside Unit 01 and hope to work?!" Colonel Anderson shouted annoyed.
"Use the damn clone! That's what it's for! " Colonel Nikolai mistakenly suggested.
"Gentlemen! This is not a bar!" General Yamamoto growled as he silenced everyone in the room with a loud slap on his desk, after a few seconds of silence, he began to speak strongly.
"Let's locate the fugitive and then we'll resolve whether to make a deal or not." General Yamamoto ordered putting an end to the discussion. "Colonel Katsuragi."
Misato lifted her gaze and looked at her superior. "Sir?"
"Go to Paris, get all the equipment you can." General Yamamoto gave his final order as he turned off his video, one by one, everyone in the room began to leave.
Turning off her video, Misato gave a sigh of relief at having the meeting adjourned, raising her hands and burying her face to have some moment of peace, but her thoughts again falling on Shinji, especially now that the council mentioned the words "Deal."
"Shinji, why did you run away?"
DOOR SLAM
Misato with a sigh raised her head, not wanting to be interrupted at times like this, "Come in."
Ritsuko opened the door slowly, in her arms were a stack of papers, walking right behind is Rei.
After Shinji's trial, Rei was assigned to be Ritsuko's personal assistant, and was tried and the court decided that she was unaware of her actions due to her background.
Ritsuko didn't like the idea, as she didn't like Rei, even in her NERV days, knowing her origin and purpose, but the council thought it more appropriate for her to remain in Wunder's custody for maintenance.
"Rei!" Ritsuko spoke as she turned and faced the blue-haired woman, having her full attention. "Coffee, now!"
"Yes ma'am." Rei spoke delicately as she turned and left the room.
Misato cast a disapproving glance at the fake blonde. "You don't have to treat her like that."
Ritsuko gave her a disdainful look as she picked up a cigarette and lit it, taking a long drag. "With pity?"
Misato's gaze fortified, her anger for Ayanami had long since passed, having plenty of time to think and judging that the poor woman was not to blame for being raised by a genocide like Gendo Ikari.
"Yes, she may not have come into the world in the traditional way, but she is still a person."
"Person? She was created to end the world!" Ritsuko spoke annoyed.
"And you always knew and never said anything! You knew about everything, Gendo, Unit 01 and you always kept quiet!". Misato retorted as she stood up from her desk and faced Ritsuko strongly.
Ritsuko stared at her for a few seconds, but her posture eventually gave way, feeling her body calm down, removing the stack of arm papers and handing them to Misato who took them.
"What's that?" Misato asked as she began to leaf through the documents.
"These are the repair statuses of Unit 02 and 08, at this rate we won't get Unit 08 to have arms until we get to Paris." Ritsuko spoke professionally as she took another drag on her cigarette.
"Options?" Misato spoke still without raising her head.
"We can make mechanical arms, they won't be as efficient, but it will be useful." Ritsuko pointed to one of the pages where it showed schematics for building metal structures with machine guns.
With a sarcastic laugh, Misato shook her head. "Mari will love that."
Rei was returning with a steaming mug of coffee, having been ignored by everyone around her, as no one wanted to be in the front line of Ritsuko's wrath, walking politely through the halls.
"Why am I here?" Rei thought confusedly, not yet understanding her purpose in life. "Why do I feel so empty?"
"Hello Rei." Mari gestured cheerfully as she blocked Rei's path.
"Hello pilot Makinami." Rei spoke monotonously, turning her head meeting Asuka's gaze. "Pilot Shikinami."
Asuka was staring Rei down with a deadly stare, still not understanding why she was aboard the Wunder, preferring it to be Shinji instead of Gendo's doll.
"Hey doll." Asuka retorted Rei's length sarcastically and with venom in her voice.
Rei stared at her with her intense red eyes, but was unaffected by Asuka's attempted insult, responding categorically.
"I am not a doll."
Asuka gave a snort as she returned the stare down with intensity. "Of course she is, she does exactly what the others tell her to do." Finishing her dialogues by staring at her coffee mug.
Rei lowered her eyes to the object in question. "I don't understand the reason, that was the order given by Subcommander Akagi."
Asuka felt her anger rising even more at Rei's lack of reaction. "Look here you..."
"So Rei, do you want to have lunch with us?" Mari asked smiling to break the ice of the situation, it was no secret that Asuka had a strong dislike for Rei because of Shinji, always feeling threatened by the red-eyed girl.
Asuka turned her head and watched Mari's smiling face with bewilderment, she hadn't expected her to invite her to lunch, "Really that four eyes?"
"Yeah, so?" Mari replied with a smile, unlike Asuka, the girl who loved pink liked to meet people, and after two years together she judged that Rei needed friends.
Rei just stood there watching everything, not really understanding people's social interactions, but her mind soon fell on the invitation she had received from Mari.
- How should I proceed? - Rei thought confused as she didn't know how to react. - What would Ikari say at this point? -
"He would probably tell you to follow your heart." Rei's inner voice spoke quietly.
- I want to be friends with this girl? - Rei asked herself as she looked at Mari and Asuka. - She was always good to me, like that other Suzuhara girl. -
After pondering for a few seconds, Rei looked at Mari and answered her question. "If Subcommander Akagi allows me I will go."
Mari was arguing with Asuka about her reasons for wanting to invite Rei to lunch together, looking again between Rei and Asuka and with a winning smile at Asuka who only shook her head.
(*)
"You may begin construction." Misato spoke as she signed the construction documents for the temporary arms of Unit 08.
"So, what did they say about him?" Ritsuko asked as she arranged the paperwork on Misato's desk.
"The usual, we have to recapture it before NERV." Misato spoke wearily.
"Do you think they can catch him?" Ritsuko argued.
"With SEELE sympathizers out there, anything is possible." Misato replied dejectedly, knowing that now Shinji was somewhere.
"We have received news that a group from SEELE have been found dead." Ritsuko spoke dismissively.
"So what?" Misato retorted grumpily, knowing about the death of terrorists that was not something of importance to her.
"They were killed with knife blows and one thrown out the window." Ritsuko spoke as she remembered the news. "Very violent."
Misato gave a tilt with her head, still trying to understand Ritsuko's point, "You think he did it?"
"Who knows, the prison he escaped from is in the radius of where the bodies were, and you said yourself that he was trying some extreme ideas." Ritsuko spoke somberly as she returned Misato's gaze.
"Would he be able to?" Misato replied incredulously as she imagined Shinji acting violently, not that she cared about killing SEELE sympathizers.
"I don't know, the psychological profile doesn't match." Ritsuko spoke as she let out a cloud of smoke. "But."
Misato was not liking the line this conversation was going along not wanting to imagine Shinji acting this way, but a part of her mind was already knowing about the messes he had gotten himself into in prison, but never had they gone so far as to get people killed.
KNOCK ON THE DOOR.
"Come in." Misato ordered thankfully as Rei was returning with Ritsuko's coffee, breaking the mental image of Shinji brutally killing three people.
"Your coffee ma'am." Rei spoke delicately as she handed the mug to Ritsuko who promptly took it.
Misato watched Ritsuko take a sip of her hot drink, feeling a little angry that her colleague didn't at least say thank you, but an idea popped into her mind, a sound coming from the other side of the door was bothering Misato.
With a snort and getting up, Misato walked to the source of the noise, opening the door and looking confusedly at Mari and Asuka who were on the other side, Mari as always was smiling.
"What do you want?" Misato asked grumpily, this day was being very tiring.
Mari stared at her for a few seconds before she began to speak. "Well, I was waiting for your meeting to end to ask Subcommander Akagi something."
Misato was looking at Mari in a confused way, but her curiosity spoke louder. "And what would that be?"
Mari observed Misato's professional gaze upon her. "Well, that's about one thing. I was going to ask if she could release Rei to join us for lunch." Mari concluded smiling.
Misato blinked in surprise, but thought it was a good idea, knowing that the woman who was being Ritsuko's personal slave these two years she had stayed at Wunder. "I approve."
Rei softly widened her eyes, she hadn't expected this, Ritsuko was staring in shock at Misato's back. "Misato! I'm going to need her."
Misato turned around and gave a fake, arrogant smile to Ritsuko, "As far as I know, you have to build arms for Unit 08 and you won't need Rei."
Mari blinked in confusion, but soon her posture returned to its natural. "My Unit is getting mechanical arms? Cool!" Mari shouted excitedly, making Asuka and Misato feel sorry for her ears.
With one swift movement, Mari grabbed one of Rei's arms and dragged her out of Misato's office, chattering all the while about trivial things.
Closing her door, Misato was still receiving a shocked look from Ritsuko, "Why did you do that?"
Misato returned the look with the same intensity. "She is not your personal slave, if you want Rei, you will have to give her a real function." Misato spoke strongly, something she had cultivated these fourteen years. "Or I will relocate her with Ibuki."
Ritsuko knew I couldn't against Misato's authority, Wunder was hers. "Okay."
"Good." Misato spoke as she sat down at the table, her eyes falling on Ritsuko again, "I'll have Maya do a test on Rei."
"And why?" Ritsuko asked keeping her cool posture, but internally she was perplexed.
"She's an EVA pilot." Misato spoke determinedly. "And we're going to have to need everything we have."
"Even Ikari?" Ritsuko asked as she searched for her cigarettes, still trying to figure out where she could put Rei.
"Even Shinji." Misato confirmed the fake blonde's reasoning.
(*)
"So Rei is it." Mari had finally stopped talking.
"Still with that shit, four-eyed? Who cares what Maya washed with soap?" Asuka growled at Mari, having no more patience for the attempts to guess her personal riddle.
Rei was walking beside Mari, walking in a relaxed manner, she was still getting strange looks, but most were watching her with curiosity due to her origin, but Rei didn't care about that.
"So Rei, what do you think Maya washed with soap?" Mari asked smiling as she turned and faced Rei.
Rei returned the look and thought about his answer. "I don't know." Asuka gave a snort, not being surprised. "I think something dirty, that needed a good cleaning."
Mari giggled at the answer, she liked Rei being straight to the point. "That's what we're going to find out Rei."
With that the group arrived at the cafeteria, the place was crowded due to the time of day, with hundreds of crew members chatting away.
"Hi doc." Mari spoke as she stopped next to Sakura in line to get her food.
"Hi Mari." Sakura replied as she watched the cook throw a pile of potatoes and what would be processed meat onto her plate, giving her meal a suspicious look.
Rei watched as it was preparing another round that was bound for her plate, but before she could say anything, Mari took over.
"She's a vegetarian." Mari spoke as she stopped the movement of the cook, who didn't like being interrupted, with an annoyed sigh.
Rei watched as a portion of cooked vegetables had been dumped on his plate, having a suspicious smell, but Rei was not one to complain, having a flash of thought enter his head, it was a memory, one that Rei did not remember experiencing.
(*)
Flash Back
"I don't eat meat." Rei spoke to Shinji, but his body image was strange, he looked younger and everyone was surrounded by strange people, one of them was a grown man with a beard to do, next to him was Asuka who was saying something about animals eating other animals and on the other was Shinji, with two other boys of the same age, a boy with glasses and another with a sports cap.
"How about some soup?" Smiling Shinji spoke as he approached with a pot containing a vegetable soup.
Rei watched as Shinji poured the contents into a small pot, and felt the aroma of the meal flood his senses, bringing water to his mouth.
Rei's eyes widened when the perfectly seasoned mixture activated all the sensory functions inside her mouth, with a small smile on her face she spoke looking at the soup. "It's yummy." Earning a smile from Shinji, Rei didn't know why, but seeing Shinji smiling made her happy inside.
With the group giggling and chatting, Rei didn't notice the deadly stare he was getting from Asuka, much less hear her whisper. "Bitch."
End of Flash Back.
(*)
"Rei? Is everything okay?" Mari spoke as she placed a hand on his shoulder, having seen the red-eyed girl's vague, distant look.
Rei came out of his mental reverie and returned Mari's gaze, seeing that Mari was looking worried. "Yes I'm fine."
With that, Mari exchanged a quick glance with Sakura who was watching everything. "OK then, let's go find a table."
(*)
Somewhere on earth.
In a large black room, Keel Lorenz was sitting staring into nothingness, but his mind was working at full throttle, the only sound that could be heard was of the medical equipment attached to his already weakened body.
Like the sound of wind, one by one all seven monoliths came to life, raising tired eyes to the SEELE committee meeting.
"Gentlemen." Keel greeted his long-time companions.
"What is the reason for this meeting President Lorenz?" The monolithic SEELE 03 asked, one could feel a strong British accent in his voice. "Shouldn't we be quiet after what Ikari did?"
"Yes, but bigger issues have come up to be discussed." Keel replied in his cool, controlled voice.
"What subjects would those be?" SEELE monolith 02 asked.
"You should all know about the younger Ikari's escape by now." Keel spoke as he adjusted himself in his chair.
"The brat is not a concern." SEELE 05 retorted with arrogance in his Russian-origin voice.
"We have to proceed with caution, the whole WILLE is looking for him." SEELE 04 spoke to the group in his North American accent.
At this point Keel lowered his eyes, no one could see due to his glasses that covered them completely. "He is already causing trouble, I have information that he was the cause of the death of our supporters in the ruins a few days ago."
"The psychological profile doesn't match, he was broken when he was sent to prison." SEELE 07 replied professionally. "The boy would not be capable of killing with such coldness."
"People change." SEELE 02 replied to his companion. "He was involved in a lot of fights in his time in prison."
"But still, two years is not enough for a person to change in this way." SEELE 05 rebutted as he entered the discussion.
"Whether he did it or not is irrelevant, we have to follow the scenario." Keel spoke up to break the discussion about Shinji. "Ikari believes he can stop us with Unit 13's early awakening."
"He's too arrogant, we have to act." SEELE 02 spoke determinedly and angrily. "How many times will we have to put up with him doing as he pleases? He broke our connection with NERV."
"True, he's been acting out of control for quite some time, spending our resources and we're sitting on our hands." SEELE 03 gave strength to his companion's argument. "And without the boy and unit 01 we can't do anything."
"Gentlemen, let's remain calm and cautious, we cannot act without thinking, let's let Ikari think he is in control." Keel spoke again, a hush prevailed in the meeting as he began to speak. "And regarding young Ikari, Colonel Katsuragi will see to it that he is found, we have nothing to fear."
With that said, one by one of all the SEELE monoliths disappeared, leaving only Keel in his living room thinking about his plans, knowing that fate would one way or another realize the Human instrumentality project.
Author's Notes: Please review, your critiques (Good or bad) are very important to me, you know that I take a lot into consideration what is said and it also gives me strength to continue this translation project.
Well folks, I hope the translation is good, this is really hard for me, English is not my mother tongue and my proofreaders are on vacation, for sure there will still be errors (hopefully few), but with time the chapter will be updated and improved.
Don't forget to also like the Facebook page, search for "Calborghete" and locate a picture of Shinji and Asuka, on this page I will post updates and it will also be easier for you to contact me.
Well, see you next time.