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Chapter 17: "...There's a sign on the wall, but she wants to be sure…"
Rei Ayanami laid in her room for what had felt like eternity.
It wasn't that this was unusual, she was accustomed to sleepless nights.
This time it wasn't the usual thoughts that plagued her.
Thank you
Words of gratitude
I've never said them to him…
Her eyes moved over to Commander Ikari's glasses, her one possession that she coveted.
She had said those words to the two of them, the father and the son. Why?
The First Child felt the same with both of them… no, that wasn't true.
There was a warmth about the Third Child that wasn't quite the same with his father.
She had only felt this way since the battle with the Sixth Angel.
What had changed?
The Third Child had. That she was sure of, he was not as timid.
"Why were you so concerned?"
He had just responded with a smirk while resting against the side of the entry plug.
She had asked him that after he had hurt himself just as his father had, opening her entry plug.
Why?
His presumed death had changed something about him.
He had only recently been listening to his music player again, she couldn't remember a time after the Sixth Angel when he had done that.
But before that new... old behavior…
Brighter…
Perhaps… yes brighter, more alive certainly.
There was no way for her to be sure, but the Third Child had shown more confidence, especially in regards to the Second Child.
Unit-02's pilot had been aggressive, temperamental, while also being a loner. Much like the Third Child had seemed to be, simply taking the opposite solution to reach the same outcome.
But the Pilot of Unit-01 had not been daunted by her. Rei was sure that he would have never dealt with a person like her before the Sixth Angel, however now?
He seemed to know exactly how to go about dealing with her temperament, while not shrinking away from her verbal assaults.
Sometimes physical assaults too.
He had brought her food, just as he had brought herself food.
That warmth in her chest again.
What did it all mean?
ʡʘʘʢ
Asuka picked at her food.
"Eh, it's not as good today." She grumbled to herself as she chewed a piece of meat.
Looking back towards the Third Child, he just sat there with headphones in.
For the last few days, it was like he never stopped, the only time she didn't see him with it was during dinner.
She also knew he left them behind when he snuck out with those instruments, he'd been bringing home. The German wasn't stupid, Misato might be blackout drunk, but she could still hear him when he snuck out.
It only took a second to peek into his room and see that whatever he brought home was gone and his SDAT player had been left behind.
Where he went? That was still a mystery to her, it wasn't like he could go far.
"Asuka?"
She was brought out of her thoughts by… Hikari? Yeah, that was her name. The girl that had gone with them on Kaji's 'fieldtrip'.
Of course she hadn't got to know the girl much due to the fact she practically clung to Togi the entire time.
"Can I eat with you?" she asked, a small smile on her face.
Asuka narrowed her eyes, "You can, but I'm not sharing my lunch with you…"
The pig-tailed girl just smiled warmly and held up her own lunch. Asuka grumbled to herself in annoyance, ever since she was little she didn't want to eat with others, even when she no longer had to make sure other children didn't swipe her food.
"I noticed you don't usually eat with others."
Asuka just grumbled something as she took another bite of food.
"You seemed pretty fine with it when we went on that trip with Mr. Kaji."
"That was different."
"How so?"
"I didn't have a choice."
"Hmm."
For a few more bites they ate in peace, the Second Child was perfectly fine with that, despite the girl's overly happy face.
"Do you have a partner to the spring dance?"
The redhead rolled her eyes, at the question or the idea that 'Spring' was being used for its' name. It there were no season anymore, so why bother.
The girl certainly knew about her situation, despite her being able to dissuade everyone in the class (save one) from talking to her, she had still found plenty of letters stuffed into her desk and locker once the official date had been announced.
Her annoyance only grew at the idea that the girl in front of her was one of the people responsible for organizing the event.
"No." she said bluntly.
"Oh, c'mon, a Winter Wonderland theme, all night music and dancing, you can't just go by yourself." Hikari practically cried.
"Who said I was even going." The redhead growled back.
The class rep just slunk back into her seat, somehow realizing that she might have bit off more than she could chew.
ʡʘʘʢ
"Commander Ikari."
The two of them said across from each other, at opposite ends of a rather long table.
"Yes," he said looking up from his steak.
"Are meals enjoyable?" the girl asked taking a break from eating the pills provided to her.
"Yes."
"Do you enjoy eating with others?" This feeling inside her stomach…
"Yes."
"Does it make you happy to have food cooked for you?" Was this nervousness?
"Yes."
"Commander Ikari."
"Next time, would you like to have a meal with your son and the others?" That was her question…
.
.
.
"No, I don't have the ti…." The man started, but stopped, the words evaporating into thin air.
That look, the look the bluenette in front of him was giving him.
Superimposing over the girls face, a woman's took its place.
Her face…
"Darling, please take care of Shinji."
She graced him with a soft smile.
Yui…
It was her, asking him again, making him promise her that.
A memory from a lifetime ago.
How could he refuse her?
"Alright, I will."
ʡʘʘʢ
The deafening noise of the server room was an old friend to the man who now sat there, ethernet cables entangled around him.
On his laptop's screen he looked over the progress of his decryption, having access to normal employee files was easy, breaking into even the next tier of security took time.
Lots of time.
The cigarette in his hand had burnt down to the filter, but he hadn't bothered to stick it in his ashtray on the ground next to him quite yet.
He kept his gaze on the screen.
This wasn't his mission.
So why was he looking into this?
A feeling. Did he need anything more?
As a new popup came onto his screen, Kaji's drifting eyes snapped open.
Sifting through files his eyes scanned for what he was looking for.
Ikari, Shinji
Doubling clicking, all documents related to the boy appeared to him. Birth certificate, fingerprints, medical records…
Incident Report…
It was its own file, opening it, Kaji looked over the pictures taken of the pale corpse, the boy had been shortly before being placed in quarantine. It unnerving to see the boy who had been so lively degraded to such a state.
Next, video footage of the kid being practically cooked inside the entry plug played, and the man had to admit, if the audio had been on, he wouldn't have wanted to hear those screams. It was like the boy had been tortured.
No wonder Misato didn't want to talk about it.
Another folder led to Ritsuko's scientific theories on the Third Child's reanimation, ranging from residual LCL in his lungs to some sort of connection with the Evangelion itself.
Kaji's mind wasn't suited for this type of advanced science and engineering, but it didn't matter, this wasn't what he was truly after anyway.
He opened what files had been recorded before the boy had come to NERV, it wasn't much, psychological reports from his 'teacher' that he lived with, all of which seemed to describe a completely different boy. Timid, anti-social, completely isolated from his surrounding world.
Class rankings and grades, despite living with someone who had been an educator, the grades were simply not that outstanding.
Subpar would be the best word.
That was the case until recently.
All this could be circumstantial after all, it wasn't like Section 2 had been trailing the boy his whole life, but Kaji had to admit there was just something disturbing about how little information on the boy there was.
It was as if he were barely a person, a ghost that just hovered through the world, not influencing anything or anyone and having nothing influencing him either.
There was certainly no mention of friends, let alone anyone that may have been close or died.
You'd think that would be in a psychological report?
So far, the boy was a mystery, and Kaji didn't really know if there was an answer.
Like father like son hmm? And who here thought I forgot about Rei? Trust me, we're gonna have a bit of fun (lips sealed). It's a bit short today, but tomorrow you guys get an extra long chapter so that makes up for it, probably another two on Wednesday because I won't be able to upload this weekend and you all need a bit of cheering up judging by the reviews, damn SDAT player…
SHOUTOUTS!
EvaPilotFair – Be nervous or don't be, there's nothing wrong with holding onto hope, it might even be rewarded. I don't hate the middle part of 2.0, Its just annoying to adapt it to writing and add in your on scenes.
Akomis- Thanks!
A Guy- You know I took it seriously until after the chapter was out and I was re-watching 2.0 and remembered the end credits scene and, well *facepalm* "oh", so sorry about that. Yeah, that bit of knowledge isn't the only one that's gonna be backfiring.
KendrixTermina- (Non spoiler explanation from what we know as of Chapter 17) Yes, this is NGE Shinji, it's been a long time since the events of EOE and every life seems to be just one more degree away from normal. This is the first time he's been plopped down into the Rebuild world, though it's not as much a coincidence as it seems, oops I said too much.
Ultraspink of Da USA- It's not bad you need to see your characters 'at rest', it works perfectly well for a movie, but clear cinematic time isn't Evangelions strong suit and there's a bunch of little scenes tied together so you have to choose which is important, which would change, and where to include what you wanted to add.
Calborhete- Thanks! The patience has been rewarded!
Dyinglittelstar – Zeruel? We don't have cool angel names in Rebuild lol. All jokes aside there still one more Angel we have to deal with before we get there…
Until Next Time.