Hi guys, Calborghete here, how are you all?
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So now without further ado, enjoy your reading.
"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 03.
It had been a few months since Shinji had met with the SEELE fanatics, his head filled with guilt for what he had done, but deep down he knew this could happen, all for plan E, his gift to the world.
Looking around as he entered a small town, watching people circulating and going about their life tasks, looking intently at each face that crossed his path.
Wearing a cap and sunglasses, Shinji was hoping not to be recognized, because whenever he looked at the media, his face was shown, revealing WILLE's efforts to track him down.
"Your head is worth a lot." His conscience spoke as he came across an advertisement offering a large amount of money for the person who gave information of his location.
- Of course, I am a criminal. - Shinji thought annoyed, having researched a lot about the possible location of SEELE members, but his searches were leading nowhere.
"You know that you will have to talk to the fanatics to get this information." His mind spoke determinedly.
Shaking his head in determination, Shinji knew that he would never be able to locate the whereabouts of SEELE's important people, but he had a place where he could start. Getting into the car he had stolen from the SEELE group, with his goal in mind.
After a few hours driving out of the village watching the red dust rising from the ground, Shinji arrived at a secluded spot, picking up a small bag with a few supplies, these supplies were not for him, but for the person who was trapped in the basement of the abandoned house he was temporarily calling home.
Opening the door to his "home", Shinji looked back at the deplorable state the room was in, the floor was cracked and years without maintenance, few parts of the ceiling were intact and the walls needed a paint job.
Coughing as he entered, Shinji let out a sigh as he pulled himself together from the coughing session and made his way to the basement entrance of the estate, opening the door and seeing the stairs leading to the underground floor, putting on a mask that covered his identity. Descending the stairs with tired steps, Shinji was not paying attention to his surroundings.
"Do you know who I am?!" A man with a big French accent shouted from where he was tied up. "You don't know what you've gotten yourself into, brat! "
"I know who you are." Shinji spoke indifferently as he placed the bag on a table and observed the contents inside.
"You are Bernar Delácu, or for the intimate SEELE 06."
At this moment the man froze in place, with this information his discovery should not be possible, looking at the back of Shinji who was removing the supplies from the bag.
Dry swallowing what little saliva was in his mouth, the man was thirsty for water, but the shock of having his identity discovered was hard to swallow.
"Who are you?" With a fake laugh, Shinji turned around and with a delicate movement removed the mask and revealed his face to the man.
"You." The man's eyes widened when he could finally see the face of his captor.
"And let it be revealed." Shinji laughed as he raised his arms into the air and gave a fake bow, with shocked eyes, SEELE 06 was watching Shinji's whole show, watching him hold and chair and place it close making them both a few inches apart.
"Then let's go." Shinji spoke arrogantly as he picked up a small stack of papers, on them had photographs and bank details, placing the sheets on SEELE 06's legs.
"His real name is Bernar Delácu, a banker, one of the richest and most powerful men in ancient France." Shinji started talking all the information he could, SEELE 06 was watching everything still shocked.
"But ... But ... I'm not that SEELE 06, I don't know what you're talking about." The nervous man stammered his answer, Shinji widened his smile as he thought he would be naive enough to believe this lie.
"Hahaha, you think I'm dumb?" Shinji spoke as he placed a picture on the legs of SEELE 06, in this picture he was meeting with one of the most influential people of SEELE supporters. "I know you help so they get the resources they need for their dumb cause."
"That's a lie, I was talking to him to come to an agreement so that the medicine convoys..." SEELE 06 began to formulate his lie, but had been cut off by Shinji.
"Man, how dumb you powerful people are." Shinji spoke as he stood up, maintaining a cool and calculated posture. "That's just one of the images, I have the video recording of this day, you danced."
"What do you want?" finally changing his posture, putting his bureaucratic facade aside, SEELE 06 finally exposed himself.
"I want everything you know, names, data, locations, I want everything." Shinji spoke as he leaned on the wall and crossed his arms.
"Hahaha, you think I'm going to give it to you? I'm not that dumb." SEELE 06 spoke arrogantly as he let out a laugh.
Shinji at this moment lowered his head with a sarcastic smile. "If you don't give me this information, I'm going to dump you here and search for myself." Threatened Shinji as he ducked down and stood at the same level as SEELE 06's gaze, not once flinching. "We are in the middle of the red earth, no one will find you."
At this point SEELE 06 frowned at the knowledge that he was at a disadvantage, looking briefly at his heavily clasped hands, knowing that he could never get out of his captivity. " Très bien. (Very good.), but what are my guarantees that you will not kill me? "
Shinji looked the older man in the eye and spoke firmly. "I am a man of my word, I will let you loose out there to your own devices."
After a few seconds of silence, SEELE 06 began to speak. "We are cautious, after your father awakened Unit 01 ahead of time, damn Ikari."
"He usually does things like that." Shinji spoke still without looking away. "Well?"
SEELE 06 looked down at his legs. "We are waiting to retrieve Unit 01 and you."
Shinji nodded and spoke coldly. "For your idiotic plan to become a god?"
"Yes, we are wanting to evolve the human race, to do away with weaknesses." The man spoke annoyed at having his plans insulted by Shinji.
"Man, it's gone." Shinji spoke with a smile. "I'm not going to cooperate with you guys."
"But, look around boy. Everything is destroyed." SEELE 06 spoke hurriedly.
"I want names." Shinji spoke as he changed the tone of his voice, clearly saying that he was not in the patience to keep talking.
SEELE 06 lowered his head and shook it discreetly. "I only know two, the others I've never met."
"Two is better than nothing." Shinji spoke as he stood up and collected the papers he had picked up. "Come on!"
SEEEL 06 gave a little jump at Shinji's tone. "Itachi Yamoto, he's SEELE 03." Shinji swallowed dryly as he was about to reveal one of the most powerful names in the world. "Keel Lorenz, he's SEELE 01."
Shinji at this moment raised his head from recognizing that name, frowning as he thought, "Keel Lorenz, German diplomat?"
"Yes, he is the most influential of the group." SEELE 06 spoke as he felt a bead of sweat trickle down his back, knowing he was now doomed. "I'm going to need protection after all I've talked about."
Shinji at this moment gave a laugh. "Now, where is unit 01? Is she still Wunder's engine?"
Looking at Shinji shocked, SEELE 06 cleared his mind as best he could, "No, with you in prison your engine has been upgraded to an S2 organ of its own."
"Why?" Shinji asked curiously.
"After you were arrested, Unit 01 shut down, nothing was making it work again." SEELE 06 spoke up nervously.
Letting out a sarcastic laugh, Shinji shook his head, remembering Fuyutsuki's words about his mother being the soul at the core of Unit 01.
- Mother of the Year. - Shinji thought sarcastically.
Finally returning to the present, Shinji continued his interrogation. "And where is she now?"
"In the WILLE district in new Italy." SEELE 06 replied still nervously.
"If she's so important, why didn't you guys get her back sooner?" Shinji asked as he took out his 9mm Beretta and held it against his leg, making a menacing effect against the bound man.
"We can't call attention to ourselves, if we caught Unit 01 before the time, it would all be over." SEELE 06 replied as his eyes locked on the gun in Shinji's hands.
With a smile as he realized that his tactics had worked, Shinji continued his interrogation, after hours of intense conversation and thinking it was enough, he walked over to the chair and loosened the restraints.
"Come on!. " Shinji ordered as he pointed his gun at the stairs.
"Where are we going?" SEELE asked apprehensively, still keeping an eye on the gun in Shinji's hand.
"I'll let you go, as promised." Shinji spoke with a smile on his face, a smile that caused SEELE 06 to swallow dry.
Opening the trunk of his car, Shinji ordered the man to get inside, when its occupant was already properly tied up and out of danger, Shinji threw into the compartment a set of envelopes.
"What's that?" SEELE 06 asked alarmed when he realized it was the evidence Shinji had collected against him.
"The evidence." Shinji spoke as if it was the month's groceries as he closed the lid without giving time for answers, walking on and ignoring the sounds coming from the car, Shinji turned and took one last look at the abandoned house he had called home, soon he tried to start the vehicle and head towards the city.
After a few hours of driving, he finally reached one of the colonies, stopping a few meters from a WILLE outpost, Shinji looked sadly at the soldiers, knowing that forever he would be treated as a terrorist, soon images of Asuka, Misato and Rei came to his mind.
Shaking the images of these people out of his head, Shinji quickly tried to get out of the vehicle, leaving only a small sheet of paper stuck to the steering wheel, opening the door and putting the car into first gear, watching it drive away in the direction of WILLE's compound.
With a moderate thud on the wall of the military base, Shinji watched as a group of soldiers approached and examined the interior, with a comical smile on his face as one of the group located his note on the steering wheel.
There is SEELE 06, Bernar Delácu.
He is in the trunk with the evidence, don't make me regret it.
Watching as one of the men opened the trunk and revealed a terrified SEELE 06 tied up, arms in hand, the soldiers quickly took him inside along with the evidence.
"One down." Shinji spoke as he put his glasses back on and turned around, walking with relaxed steps through the colony of a few people, again with his thoughts as company.
(*)
Wunder - A week later.
Misato was in her office looking at some documents, all Wunder was only talking about one thing, the arrest of one of the SEELE group members, finally they could extract some advantage over the secretive group.
KNOCK ON THE DOOR.
"Come in." Misato spoke without lifting her gaze from her desk.
Maya Ibuki entered the room, in her arms was a folder with the results of the synchronization tests she had ordered on Rei, removing the folder of documents from under her arms and handing it to Misato.
"What's that?" Misato asked professionally, but Maya was already used to Misato's new way of talking, many things had changed in the post-third impact events.
"These are the test reports you requested." Maya replied as she watched Misato flip through the pages with the results.
"She has a fifty-eight percent synchronization." Misato only nodded as she still read the information in the report.
Maya shifted uncomfortably in her seat, something that had been noticed by Misato, raising her gaze and watching her subordinate with curiosity, but her posture did not allow this to be noticed.
"What is it Ibuki?" Misato asked with a tired sigh as she adjusted himself in her chair.
"Nothing ma'am." Maya spoke clumsily as she realized she had been discovered.
Deepening the frown on her face, Misato quickly tried to show her annoyance. "Look, if we're going to stay with these childish games you'd better stop, speak up! That's an order."
Maya seeing that she would now have to respond, mentally cursing herself for not having controlled her body and emotions.
"It's a rumor going around Wunder ma'am."
"What rumor?" Misato retorted still maintaining her cool posture.
"The people are saying that SEELE's capture was Ikari's doing." Maya spoke cautiously, everyone knew that Shinji was a touchy subject for Misato, especially for the people who worked with her in the NERV days.
Leaning forward and putting her hands together on her desk, Misato closed her eyes and let out a sigh, knowing that she had many such rumors spreading around her ship. "What else?"
Maya watched everything cautiously, but she was on orders now. "They are saying that he has gone crazy, that somehow he must be stopped. "
Misato upon hearing that last part, raised her gaze and faced Maya with a cold, hard stare, seeing nervousness rising in the poor woman. "What do you think? As a matter of fact we work with him."
Maya thought about her words cautiously. "I think it must be fake, from what I remember of Ikari, he would have no way of doing that."
Misato stared at her subordinate still intensely. "I don't believe it's him, as usual the media is throwing the responsibility on anyone who can hold it."
"Ma'am if I may ... What do you believe is going on with Shinji now?" Maya asked Misato, seeing Misato's gaze drop at the suggestion, Maya knew that her superior still had feelings for the boy.
"I hope he's okay, I want to find him before NERV gets their hands on him." Misato replied as she lowered her gaze to her desk, looking down at her hands knowing that somehow she was to blame for Shinji's current situation.
Maya nodded to her superior, but was not prepared for the next question.
"What about you Ibuki? Do you think he's a monster?" Misato asked still without raising her head, still keeping her gaze on her hands.
"I ... I ... I don't know ma'am." Maya stammered the best answer that came into her mind.
Misato gave an annoyed snort at her subordinate's lack of courage. "My God Maya, have courage for once in your life."
Swallowing dryly at Misato's remark, the short-haired young woman felt her hands tremble. "I don't think, I believe ... He was too young to do what he did."
Misato was looking at Maya's face, still keeping her strong posture.
"I think it was unfair what happened to him, I believe he was just the scapegoat for everything and we ignored the real villain, his father." Maya concluded her thoughts. "But I guess now what I think doesn't matter."
Misato frowned at this last remark from Maya. "What do you mean?"
"Let's say it's true, that Shinji did all that stuff they say, captured the SEELE guy and everything." Maya started to speak, but her voice was getting lowered. "He will still be remembered forever from being the guy who caused the third impact and almost caused the fourth."
Misato lowered her gaze to her subordinate's remarks. "And by the way, he still escaped from prison." Maya continued. "That's one of the points I'm not proud of WILLE."
Assenting in agreement to the young Lieutenant's words, Misato gave a sigh and spoke, her voice betraying her cold, rigid posture. "I hope you are wrong, and I want to find him, at any cost."
Maya nodded with a small smile on her face, opening her mouth to speak, but quickly closing it, as she knew she was already having luck giving her opinion so openly at times like these.
"Well, I'm going back to my post." Maya spoke as she gave a salute to Misato. "Permission to withdraw."
Misato nodded to Maya, returning the greeting and speaking in a despondent voice. "Permission granted."
With that, Misato watched as Maya turned and left her office, looking at the closed door and keeping a faraway look on her face, Misato turned and opened one of her drawers.
Picking up a picture that was folded, as she opened it Misato came across a picture, giving a small smile as she looked at the faces, she ran her eyes through each occupant, looking at the face of herself holding a can of beer, moving on to Asuka who was with a small smile on her face, but her eyes finally stopped on the figure of Shinji, he was wearing a kitchen apron that was printed "Kiss the cook" in bright red.
Running his fingertips over Shinji's figure in the photo, Misato felt a tear run down her cheek as she remembered everything she had done with Shinji since this hell began, his awakening, the look on his face as he came across the Wunder crew, the look of fear as he came across the DSS choker.
Holding the photo tightly to her chest, Misato began to sob more openly, remembering having ordered him to be placed in an isolated cell with no windows around him at Wunder, having justified her attitudes with a simple sentence, "Wunder needed a captain."
Laying her head on the table, Misato choked back her sobs so people wouldn't hear, but did nothing to stop the tears, clutching the photo even harder to her chest.
"I'm sorry Shinji."
(*)
Accommodation - Wunder
Lying on her bed in her quarters that she shared with Mari, Asuka was alone in her room, something she didn't like, being alone was one of the things that bothered the fiery redhead the most.
Giving a sigh to the ceiling, Asuka was getting lost in her thoughts, knowing the news that was circulating around Wunder about the capture of one of the SEELE members, having her mind occupied by a certain person.
Having the image of Shinji always popping up in her head, Asuka was already getting bored, trying at all costs to hate this certain person, but the more she tried, the more it came back.
Putting the pillow over her head and trying to clear her mind as best she could, but always images of Shinji injured somehow came into her mind. "What a piece of crap! He's a nobody! " Asuka spoke annoyed as she couldn't think normally.
"You keep deluding yourself, but that's not how you really think." His mind spoke with a calm tone of voice.
"Yes it is!, I don't know why I care so much about this brat." Asuka spoke annoyed.
"You know the reason, you care about him." Her inner voice began, but Asuka was not in the patience to let herself be carried away by her thoughts.
"I don't care about him." Asuka spoke up pouting.
"My God girl, admit it! If you didn't care, you would have left him to die in the red earth." Her mind retorted in a bored voice.
"He had to answer for his actions." Asuka countered with her standard argument, but deep down the redhead didn't know why she had retrieved Shinji, hammering into her mind the most obvious reason.
"Yes, but we both know that's not why." If her consciousness possessed a face, she would surely be smiling.
"He couldn't fall into NERV's hands again." Asuka spoke determinedly as she stared at the ceiling of her room, but a feeling was rising in her chest and Asuka didn't like to think about it.
"Just admit it once and for all, you care about him." His inner voice spoke in a mocking tone of voice.
"What if I care? It's no use." Asuka finally began to give in.
Asuka lowered her gaze as she finally let her mind be flooded with memories of the old days, feeling her eyes burning with the emotions that were coming up.
"No." Asuka spoke determinedly as she tried to control the urge to cry, but a lone tear managed to escape, wiping it away quickly, but not being able to stop more from being able to flow.
Sobbing shyly, Asuka brought her hands to her face and covered her eyes, trying desperately to control herself. "Why?"
"Why? I can't forget you?" Asuka spoke as she cried on her bed, "Why do you do this to me brat?"
"You know the reason." Her mind spoke in hopes of bringing reason to Asuka's thoughts.
"What reason? He's nothing to me." Asuka spoke as she controlled her tears, but her face was blotchy.
"If he is nothing, why were you so shocked by him asking for the death penalty at the trial?" Her consciousness brought back memories of that moment.
Closing her eyes tightly again to try to keep herself from remembering this specific moment, how shocked she was to hear Shinji's plea and how she thought about the reasons for him wanting something like this.
"Why would you ask for something like that Shinji?" Asuka spoke into nothingness as she stared at the ceiling.
"We know why." His consciousness began. "Let's look at the beginning, the woman he believed to be his surrogate mother abandoned him, the girl who lived with him, the one who could be the mother of his children abandoned him, should I continue?"
Asuka frowned at the thought of being the mother of Shinji's children, not knowing why she thought of such a thing, but soon her mind pulled her back into more important thoughts.
"I didn't abandon anyone, he who dug his own grave." Asuka thought desperately to alleviate her own guilt.
"For someone who thinks he is superior, you are just as selfish as he is." His reason changed his tone of voice, he was now saying things in an annoyed way.
"What did you expect me to do? He had just almost made the fourth impact, was I supposed to hold his hand and say it wasn't his fault?" Asuka retorted annoyed.
"It was the right thing to do, but I didn't have to do what you did." Her reason soon brought back images of the three days she had spent in the red earth with Shinji and Rei, feeling the tears coming back as she began to recall everything she had said to Shinji. "You think you are innocent in this case? All you have done to him is cause him pain."
"No! No! We were going to help him, but he didn't give us the chance." Asuka spoke desperate to control herself, but deep down she knew that the blame for the fourth impact was WILLE's responsibility.
"Ha sure, the boy was happy you were alive and how did you repay his concern? By punching the glass wall, ignoring his pleas, cursing him, taking out all your frustration from the twelve years of fighting you've been through." Her mind attacked mercilessly, throwing the guilt she knew Asuka felt against her.
Staring at the ceiling and keeping her face expressionless, only tears could tell that she was feeling something.
"He caused the third impact." Asuka tried to rebut.
"That's what they said! You were in a coma at the time, waking up a few weeks after the world exploded, at no time did you consider anything else." Her mind retorted dismissing Asuka's weak argument.
Knowing it was true, deep down Asuka knew when she was given the news that Shinji had caused of the third impact, at first the redhead didn't want to believe it, punching in her mind that a boy like Shinji couldn't do such an act.
"I ... I ... I don't know." Asuka spoke in a broken voice. "In times like this we can't have empathy."
"You talk like the textbook, what would your mother think of you?" her mind appealed to one of the most sensitive subjects for Asuka.
Asuka closed her eyes and gave a long sigh, not wanting to remember those moments in her life.
"You accuse him of running away from his responsibilities, but you are doing the same, you know your sister is right, you abandoned him, you did a worse thing than he did, you gave him hope and then withdrew it, well Gendo style. "Her mind accused her mercilessly.
Closing her eyes again and letting out timid sobs, Asuka was thinking desperately about her actions, feeling her breathing increase considerably, feeling her stomach beginning to act strangely.
Getting up from her bed, Asuka ran to the bathroom and emptied the contents of her stomach, stooping down and looking at the floor with wide eyes, gasping heavily at all the experience she had gained from her thoughts, bringing one hand to her head and feeling the tears streaming down her face.
"My God, how can that brat affect me that much?" Asuka spoke between sobs.
"You know the reason Asuka." Her mind replied. "That's called guilt."
"Guilt? But for what?" Asuka replied with her eyes still closed, feeling the pain in her stomach from throwing up her lunch.
If her mind could have sighed, but reason kept its cool. "For all that you have done, you know you have made mistakes, you know that Misato overreacted to putting the choker on Shinji, you know that you overreacted to punching the glass wall, that you overreacted to the central dogma battle, our Asuka, you tried to kill him."
Asuka closed her eyes in shame, knowing that she really had crossed the line, that she had crossed the line. "But I wasn't going to kill him."
"Really, because for me it was different, I remember your emotions very well." Her guilt struck back.
"I could never kill him." Asuka spoke as she stood up and flushed the toilet, taking slow steps to the sink where she would wash her mouth. "If I had won, I would have removed the intake plug."
Throwing water into her mouth, Asuka looked at herself in the mirror, seeing what a pitiful state she was in, and holding the edges of the sink tightly, Asuka stared at herself. "Damn brat, how can you do this to me?"
"Do what?" her mind asked quietly.
Lowering her gaze to the sink, Asuka spoke calmly, but one could hear sadness in her voice. "He stole everything from me, my glory as a pilot, my status as the best ... My heart." Asuka concluded the last part as she closed her eyes and felt tears streaming down her face. "Look what you did to me Shinji."
A silence prevailed in the bathroom, the only sound was the tap wasting water down the drain and the faint sounds of sobbing coming from Asuka.
"Wow." A voice spoke in the background, giving a startled jump, Asuka turned to see who the owner of the voice was, widening her red eyes from crying so hard, the redhead could see the person standing in the bathroom doorway and that person was none other than Mari.
Staring at Mari standing with her arms crossed over the doorframe, she had a serious pose, without her traditional smile on her face, feeling Mari's eyes scanning her.
"You look like crap." Mari spoke as she took a good look at Asuka's appearance, who was wiping her face from the self-pity session she had just had. "Are you okay?"
"It's none of your business four-eyes." Asuka spoke annoyed as she passed Mari.
Turning and following Asuka with her eyes, Mari spoke up. "It is my business yes, Asuka."
Asuka stopped as she heard her name, knowing that Mari only ignored her nicknames when she was serious. "It was like I said, I'm fine Mari."
"Asuka, you are far from well." Mari spoke with genuine concern in her voice.
"What do you expect Mari?" Asuka growled at her roommate, approaching Mari slowly. "Answer!. "
Mari stood still keeping her posture cold, but answered nonetheless, "I hope you're okay, I worry about you."
"You care, you even seem to." Asuka retorted grumpily, but deep down she knew that Mari cared about her, but she was too upset to show it.
Mari huffed, knowing Asuka's mood swings, already knowing how to deal with them. "Yes I care about you, you are my family."
"Family? The only family we share is the blood of a father who couldn't keep his dick in his pants." Asuka hits back, but soon regrets saying that, knowing that it probably must have hurt Mari's feelings.
When Mari heard this, she lowered her gaze and gave a dejected sigh, feeling Asuka's words sink into her head, they had hurt and hurt too much.
"Look Mari, I'm sorry." Asuka spoke as she sat down on Mari's bed, staring at the floor.
Walking over to near the bedpost, nodding to the apology, Mari knew very well that it was hard for Asuka to apologize. "It's the puppy isn't it?"
Asuka was visibly shaken by the mention of Shinji, judging it to be correct as she sat down on the bed next to Asuka, slipping one of her arms around her half-sister's shoulders.
"How can he affect me so much Mari?" Asuka spoke still keeping her gaze on the ground.
"Because you care." Mari replied with a half smile.
"But..." Asuka started to speak, but her voice broke mid-sentence, pulling herself together as best she could. "He is our enemy."
"It doesn't matter." Mari spoke as she strengthened her grip on Asuka. "You think he's the enemy?"
"I don't know, my mind tells me to hate him, that he's a criminal, but I always end up going back to the old days." Asuka spoke as she wiped a tear from her face.
Seeing Asuka's suffering, Mari was happy to know that she trusted her at this point. "We'll find him princess and when we do we'll put the pin in the ís."
Asuka gave a muffled laugh, with a sigh she began to speak. "It won't be like that Mari, they'll want to take him back to prison."
"Maybe not." Mari spoke as she smiled, watching Asuka's head turn and face her in confusion. "I heard a rumor."
"You were probably snooping." Asuka spoke with a fake smile on her face, knowing that Mari would one day get into trouble for meddling where she shouldn't.
"Who knows." Mari spoke with a cocky smile, but soon returned to her train of thought. "I heard that WILLE is thinking about a deal with the cub."
Asuka's eyes widened at the information. "A deal? For what?"
"Princess, look at our situation." Mari began to speak as she let go of Asuka's shoulders and started counting on her fingers.
"First, we're all screwed." Mari spoke mockingly. "Second, our EVAS are all screwed, mine is missing its arms and yours is... " Mari paused as she remembered the conditions of Unit 02.
Asuka also lowered her gaze as she remembered her unit having activated self-destruct to stop the Mark 09 Unit that was infecting Wunder's systems.
"I think they will want to reactivate Unit 01." Mari spoke up to break the ice. "And it only works with one person." Mari concluded gesturing with her eyes.
Asuka raised her head and stared at her with shock. "Are they crazy, they want to put Shinji and Unit 01 back into action? "
"And what about it?" Mari spoke doubtfully. "Don't you trust Shinji?"
Asuka stopped mumbling as she listened to Mari's last question, looking confusedly at Mari's smiling face, her mind was in great doubt regarding Shinji. "I don't know."
Mari gave her best smile, knowing she had hit a nerve. "We'll worry about that when we find him, we have to find the cub first."
Asuka let out a tired sigh and spoke as she remembered the other rumors circulating in Wunder. "Mari."
"What?" Mari spoke as she faced her sister.
"Do you think he did it? Who did all this? " Asuka asked as she stood up.
Mari watched Asuka's back, but thought about her question. "Honestly?"
"Yes." Asuka spoke as she began to adjust her hair.
Mari nodded slightly as she began to speak. "I believe so."
Asuka stopped what she was doing as she turned and faced Mari with a confused and surprised look. "You think the brat did all this? Take one of the SEELE members and play vigilante with the sympathizers? "
"Not one, but two." Mari spoke as she signaled with her hand, seeing Asuka's gaze strengthen. "They broke the news just now, another SEELE member was thrown into a WILLE base, this time it was in old France."
"But ... But ... Shinji wouldn't have the ability to do that." Asuka spoke up in shock. "All he knows how to do is cry and run away from responsibility."
"People change Asuka." Mari spoke as she removed her shirt and pants and entered the bathroom, turning on the hot water in her room and letting the liquid cleanse her body and soul, feeling her body calm down to the point where she began to sing.
Asuka stood still listening to the shower come to life and began to hear Mari's voice singing while she took a shower, but her mind was on the image of Shinji acting like this, not being able to imagine the pure-hearted boy like Shinji acting as a vigilante, knowing that this could lead to more serious things, like him being recaptured by NERV or worse, in Asuka's vision, ending up killing himself.
"You wouldn't do that, would you?" Spoke Asuka somberly as she imagined Shinji acting alone in a dangerous world, but that was not the problem, knowing that the SEELE members were powerful people, a thought came into Asuka's mind and that thought was not a good one.
- We have to find him, and fast. - Asuka thought darkly. - What are you doing Baka Shinji? –
(*)
Somewhere between Italy and France.
"Ow fuck." Shinji groaned as he sat on the ground, looking down at his shoulder injured in one of his raids against a group of SEELE sympathizers.
Slowly removing his shirt and groaning in pain as he had to move his injured arm. "Ouch! Ouch!"
Giving a sigh as he finally managed to remove his shirt, he saw the bloodstain where his left shoulder is, groaning as he stood up, walking with heavy steps to the wall where there was a broken mirror, but he had enough material to analyze.
Frowning at the knife wound, knowing it should be closed and could become infected, and giving a long, tired sigh, Shinji turned to his backpack, picking up a small white plastic box.
He opened it with one hand, and carefully took out medical supplies, but he couldn't help but look more closely in the mirror, seeing the now healed wound marks, purple spots that spread across his ribs.
Lowering his gaze to see the state of his body, Shinji gave a weary and dejected sigh, but soon shook off his thoughts he had a wound to tend.
Wetting a small cloth with water, he began to clean the wound, frowning at a small twinge of pain he felt as he made the material touch the open wound, but this pain was nothing compared to what he already experienced.
Throwing the cloth aside and picking up a needle and thread, knowing he would have to do it again. "You can do it, you've done it before." Shinji spoke to himself as he took a breath to gather courage, with a final sigh, Shinji penetrated the tip of the needle into the skin of his shoulder.
Frowning as he felt the object tear his skin and come out the other side, but the pain was weaker, he has been through this before, repeating the motion until the wound was completely closed.
Giving a sigh as he finished the job, feeling his shoulder throbbing with what he had just done, he closed his eyes for a few seconds to pull himself together.
"Why are you doing this to yourself?" His head asked in a worried voice.
"Because I need to do that." Shinji replied still keeping his eyes closed.
"Do you think they would want that?" Soon his mind brought the image of Misato and Asuka into his mind.
Shaking the image from his head, Shinji quickly tried to open his eyes, feeling a pang of anger at the thought, watching his hand shake at the thought. "I bet they would like it, besides as Asuka once made it clear, 'A monster like her father'."
With this last sentence said, his mind went silent, giving a sigh as he stood up, Shinji tried to get a new shirt, giving a groan of pain as he had to move his injured arm, but managed to put it on.
"When I finish everything I'm doing, I'll finally be able to give my gift to the world, finally achieve Plan E." Shinji spoke with a smile on his face, having planned this carefully in his prison days.
"They won't let you, one hour WILLE will find you, we've seen them come close many times." His mind spoke as he remembered the capture of SEELE 04, how close he came to being arrested again.
"I hope not, but if the day comes, I will have failed again." Shinji spoke dejectedly. "As I have always failed."
"Not really, you have done good things." His mind spoke in hopes of lifting his mood.
"Like what?" Shinji asked challenging himself, seeing the silence of his mind he continued his attacks of self pity. "I only brought pain to everyone, when I finally thought I could do something good I ended the world and then almost did it again."
With that said, Shinji watched the red horizon, seeing the plains that were once full of life, now were a dead thing, with nothing, all a result of his existence, praying that this was all just a nightmare, but the harsh reality was this.
"Will you guys like it?" Shinji thought of Misato and Asuka as he imagined his gift to the world. "Will I finally be able to make you guys smile again?"
Shinji closed his eyes as he pictured the moment in his head, knowing that he would finally be able to make Misato proud of him again, shaking the thought from his head, he couldn't feel that way again, they were enemies now and he couldn't feel empathy for enemies.
But soon memories of his moments at Wunder came into his mind.
"Brat."
"You can die I wouldn't even care."
"You just fuck up."
"From now on, you will do nothing more."
"Murderer."
Feeling his hand shaking with the painful memories, with his heart racing he thought angrily. "But they don't care, as they never have." Thought Shinji somberly as he knew what his next step would be, he had to get Unit 01 back.
Author's Notes: Hello Calborghete folks here, how are you? So chapter three is it, I hope it was to everyone's liking and that I may have been able to get the message across that I wanted to. As always be sure to follow it and save it to your favorites so you don't miss any future updates.
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