Blood Red
Episode 2
New Horizons
A/N: Hey there, just a quick heads up, I've finally decided that, just like in Broken heroes, I'll try to keep the word per chapter count at around 10k, with some variation of course.
You know, I also find it funny that in this chapter after a while I completely deviated from the ideas I had set at the beginning lol. I mean not completely, let's just say that I postponed them.
Oh well, enough blabbering, have a good read!
Chapter 7: Not so friendly neighbors
The next day, village rice fields
"Mr Aida, where are you bringing me?" Rei asked as she watched all the plants and trees that had grown around the street, never having seen this much green in her life.
And as the red jeep took a left turn into a more open and hilly area, Kensuke said:
"You said that you wanted to work in the village to gain experience, so I'm bringing you to our rice fields. There's some lovely ladies there which will help you understand the job properly."
"Okay… Why am I the only one who you brought with you?"
"Well Shinji and Asuka can't work with their current problems and after yesterday night… I'd like to be a lot more careful with the Slayer."
"I understand. I too found it unexpected that he would take a detour to kill over one thousand humans and then explode an N2 device in their hideout.
But he did bring back supplies, so his actions are not entirely negative."
"That's… technically correct although I… don't know if I can look at him the same way as before, or at all.
Same goes for Toji I guess.
Strangely though, most of the villagers don't seem to mind that much, but I can understand why.
By bringing back those supplies he made sure that their life wouldn't change, so they overlooked that detail, also because they probably consider him a hero or something. Or maybe they're just scared."
"But he does not have the same influence over the world that NERV does. How can they be more afraid?"
"Because he has a greater effect on their subconscious."
"What is a 'subconscious'?"
"It's… The part of your brain where your instincts are. It's not a physical piece, but it exists and it's both easy to feel and hard to explain.
Anyway what I meant is that, by exploding that mine yesterday… The Slayer has broken them out of their fantasy. He unknowingly brought the war to us, so that they didn't think of it as something far away that didn't involve them.
I don't know what's going to happen next, I can only stand by the side and watch what he does."
"But I believe that you can intervene."
"What do you mean Rei?"
"Since I have met him, he has shown considerable interest in protecting Ikari and Shikinami. I believe that if you threaten them you will be successful in manipulating him."
"Nice idea Rei, too bad I'd die in the same instant I tried it."
She then looked at him with a curious inclined face as he added:
"Oh well, I'll see if I can come up with something, in the meantime… We've arrived."
The vehicle suddenly stopped as unknown to Rei, they had reached a small hut in the middle of the rice fields.
They got out and the girl followed Kensuke as they entered the small deposit.
In it a group of people was starting to get ready for their workday, mostly women, with two or three children too.
They hadn't been warned about the newcomer, so when they saw the two of them, one of them said:
"Oh, hello Aida, have you finally decided to join us or are you still busy as village leader?"
"The latter Hogata, but I've brought someone who wants to do just that."
He then pointed to Rei as he said:
"Everyone please welcome Rei Ayanami, she wants to learn various things to help one of her friends."
"Well, I don't know how planting rice can help, but a new pair of hands is always welcome!
Although, aren't those clothes a bit… too tight?"
"Well it's the only pair she has for now, I wanted to take her measurements later to see if we have anything that fits."
Suddenly another one of the women said
"Hey wait, isn't that the same suit that the girl who stops by sometimes wears?"
"Sort of, yeah. But that doesn't matter now. She has always lived inside the place where she worked before, so treat her as a fish out of water."
"Alright, if you say so."
"Great, I'm going now, see you later Ayanami."
"Bye bye." She replied, turning back to the other group as one of them said:
"Well, first things first let's get you some appropriate clothes. After the storm from yesterday there's going to be a lot of humidity after all."
"What is humidity?"
"Oh boy."
Half an hour later
"There you go, pick it up gently and then remove the dirt. See? You're getting the hang of it."
Hogata said Rei carefully cleaned the plant in her hands, then placed it in the bucket next to her.
She was feeling tired, the heat and humidity combined were making the air harder to breathe, but nonetheless, she kept working, always seeming to find some energy left in her body.
There was also another feeling, similar to the one which had appeared the day earlier with Tsubame, but she couldn't name it yet.
"Alright we're done here, let's go to the next station and-
Damn Rei, look at you. Without saying anything you've got more plants than all of us!"
The girl's eyes shot open as she looked at her basket in surprise and true to their words, it was more full than any of theirs.
Rei didn't know what to make of this so she asked:
"Is this a good thing?"
"Of course! Although you'll have to work on all of them later! Come on, follow us."
She grabbed her basket with some difficulties, but she still managed to lift it up and as she began to walk towards them she said:
"Okay.- oof!"
A sudden gust of powerful wind had appeared, which pushed her off balance and made her fall butt first into the small river.
She looked back up, noticing that her basket was still as full as before and as one of the women offered a hand to help her get back up, she couldn't help but smile.
A while later, once they were done peeling the plants a kid suddenly approached Rei with one of them in their hands.
Then as she presented it to her she said:
"Here, it's a reward for having worked so much on your first day."
"I-" Rei suddenly felt at a loss for words, no one had ever given her anything except… Ikari and his books, but she didn't know what to do with them and neither now with the white plant in front of her.
So she said:
"I- what does someone say in these situations?"
"Well usually you say thank you!"
"Thank you for your gift." Rei said with a small blush of embarrassment and the kid replied:
"No problem! I'll bring you another one if you come back tomorrow."
She smiled again, getting closer to understanding what was that feeling she still felt in her,but one thing she was sure about. She didn't want it to stop.
Public bath
"What is this place Ms. Hogata?" Rei asked as she eyed the large brightly colored building.
"It's where we go after working the entire day. Nothing better than a bath in warm water to relax your muscles.
Have you ever taken one?"
"No… Only cold showers."
"Then you'll love it my dear, just remember to remove all of your clothes."
Then they entered, with all the women getting inside first, since it took a while for Rei to remove her own plugsuit as she never did it back at NERV.
Still in the end she managed to get it off and as she entered the water, she was immediately surprised by how it made her body feel.
She was used to the sensation of a shower, but they were usually both cold and short. This however, relaxed her body so much that she almost fell asleep on the spot.
"I… never knew my muscles could be this tired and yet… I feel at ease… My mind feels lighter than usual and I still feel like smiling…
Just what is this sensation!?... Maybe I should just ask?"
"Ms. Hogata, could you please explain something to me?"
"Hm? Sure, what is it my dear?"
"It's… A sensation that I've been having since we started working today… It makes me want to smile a lot and I feel lighter because of it. It also came to me when I felt the warm water relax my muscles and it also comes when I see the person I'm trying to help be happy.
Do you know what it is?"
"I… I believe you said it yourself Rei. You're simply feeling happy, because you were able to plant a lot of rice, because you learned things, even this bath. If it makes you feel like that, then it's what makes you happy."
"...I understand."
"Tell us, is there anything else that makes you happy?"
"... I remember feeling like that around Tsubame yesterday."
"Tsubame?" Hogata asked.
"It's Hikari Suzuhara's child. I liked holding her as she slept yesterday."
"Oh, so you like staying around kids?
Say, would you like to try being our babysitter tomorrow?"
"Baby-...sitter?"
"Basically you just have to keep our children from getting hurt. Those rascals get into all sorts of trouble while we're busy farming.
You could keep an eye on them so that they stick to their job and they don't get hurt. Lord knows what I'll tell my kid if he comes home with another bruise.
Anyway, after that, you can even stop and play a bit with them!"
"I remember playing with Shikinami's device one night before coming here and I enjoyed it. I will probably enjoy these new activities too if they contain 'playing'"
"See? That's the spirit! And with a body like yours it'll be hard for the children to stare away from you.
Apart from the unusual colors on your face, you've got a body that I would have envied if I was your age!
Tell us, have you ever had a boyfriend?"
"A… boyfriend?"
"Oh right… Well a boyfriend is a boy who you love and he loves you back. Do you know what love means?"
"I do… I remember the commander saying that he loved me once."
"C-commander?"
"Yes, Gendo Ikari, he created me for a purpose… although it has gotten blurry in my mind lately."
"GENDO IKARI?!
Rei, are you telling us that you come from NERV!?"
"I was born there, yes. I'm sorry that my origins trouble you…" Rei replied, with her eyes starting to shine a bit as she looked to the side.
"Oh no no no. I mean uhh… Sorry, it was the shock that made me scream like that. It's hard to believe that someone as innocent as you could come out of that hellhole."
"I-... I'm sorry." Rei replied as she brought her knees up to her chest.
"Hey hey… don't worry dear, it's alright.
You've shown us that you are a good person, and that's enough for us,we won't change our idea of you now simply because you told us that you come from there.
There's no need to cry about it."
"What is crying?" Rei asked with tears rolling down from her eyes as they mixed into the water.
"It's what you're doing right now, Rei. Try to touch under your eyes."
She did so, making a tear stick to her finger.
"That's a tear Rei. They come out of your eyes when you are really sad.
Have you ever cried before?"
"N-no. I was told that… I couldn't."
"Oh dear, come here."
Rei approached the woman, who hugged her and pulled her into her embrace.
"Even if you shouldn't always cry, it's good for your body. It helps it release tension and after that you always feel better.
Now just relax and let it all out, you're not at NERV anymore. There's nothing to worry about."
"C-can you keep me in your embrace while I do so?"
"Of course."
"Thank you."
The conversation stopped there as the pale girl began sobbing harder and harder while Hogata simply tried to comfort her without saying anything. The other women were silent too, but there was a common thought that was going through their minds:
"We've been hiding from the world for too long…"
None of them noticed for how long Rei cried, probably an hour if they had to go by gut feeling.
But in the end, she felt tired, so they got out of the bath and led her outside, where they found that someone had been waiting for her.
As they locked eyes with the Slayer, all of them stopped in their tracks except for Rei who continued walking forward a bit before stopping to turn around and say:
"Don't worry, he is a good person. He won't do anything to us.
Bye bye! See you tomorrow." Rei replied and the smile she had on her face was so bright that it made them forget about the demigod looking at them just a few meters away.
And as Rei arrived next to the Slayer, she asked him:
"How long have you been waiting for?"
"One hour Rei." VEGA replied and then he added:
"We heard you while you were crying."
A moment of silence followed before she replied:
"It's as they said though. Crying makes you feel better afterwards."
She smiled up at the Slayer and suddenly felt his heavy hand on her head, moving her blue hair around.
She enjoyed the feeling even if it did not last very long and afterwards they began walking back to Kensuke's house.
And as Rei noticed the setting sun, she asked:
"What did the others do while I was away?"
And VEGA replied:
"Well for starters-...
Several hours earlier
"I'm going out to the rice fields with Rei Shikinami! I left some stuff in the fridge! See you soon."
"Yeah yeah whatever."
He then closed the door and left with the pale girl, leaving only Shinji, Asuka, the Slayer and the VEGA drone inside his house.
And when she saw the last two get up she asked:
"Hey, are you going too?"
"I am going to try communicating with the Wunder again, while the Slayer wants to explore the area around the village."
So she returned to her Wonderswan and said:
"Okay, just don't go around killing everyone you find.
Oh and I just remembered, there's an LCL sanification facility to the east, it's where those large black pillars are. You might want to check it out."
The Slayer nodded and so they both left the room, leaving her alone with only Shinji, who seemed quite tired.
She gave him a small kick to try and wake him up and it worked, so she said:
"No slacking off Baka."
"Sorry, after that explosion yesterday night I haven't gotten much sleep."
She stopped playing for a moment to think about his words:
"He's right… After that talk I had with him yesterday I never thought that he would be capable of doing such things, but maybe…
'-And I will annihilate anyone who tries to stop me'
Is that what he truly meant with that? Killing more than one thousand people for that attack alone?
What if I have to fight against him one day? Will I be able to defeat him with unit 02?
What the hell am I saying of course I would! I was born to pilot my evangelion!
But still there's that story about the Icon which… Still scares me a bit."
"Uhm… Asuka?" Shinji suddenly asked.
"What is it?" She replied sharply.
"I-... I wanted to ask you… what do you think of the Slayer?"
She stopped the quick insult that was coming up in her mouth and actually considered his unexpected question for a moment.
Then she replied:
"He's… someone I have to keep an eye on, just like you and Ayanami.
And what about you Brat?"
"For me… I don't know."
"As usual, you never know anything."
"I meant that… Sometimes he feels familiar, like I knew him already."
Asuka hid her shocked face from him as another sentence from yesterday rang in her head:
" 'For me Shinji is like looking in a broken mirror.'
Is the Slayer… Shinji from another dimension?
No no wait you're running too much Shikinami, let's go back for a moment.
The Slayer, given what he has told me, could be… Someone who has experienced similar things to Shinji?
That means he saw his mother die, he had to live isolated, he had to fight for his survival- … Did...did the Slayer end his world at one point?
No, that can't be right.
Can it?
If that were the case does this mean that Shinji will become just like him?
… Well I mean I wouldn't mind if the baka had more muscles and-"
"Asuka is everything alright? Your face just turned red for a moment."
"Eh!? Mind your own business! Of course it hasn't by the way."
"Oh… Sorry."
"Stop saying sorry!"
"Sorr- Ow!" Shinji shouted in pain as the redhead slapped him on the head.
"You were about to say it again! Do I have to beat some more sense into yo-"
She suddenly felt her throat burn like hell and her mind went blank when suddenly she felt air stop flowing.
She began coughing once more, with small clouds of red vapor coming out of her mouth while all of her muscles gave out under the lack of oxygen.
Her eye began to water while the other was glowing blue harder than usual.
But just before her brain gave out too, she felt Shinji move the mask on her mouth and slowly but surely, she was able to regain her composure, although her entire body was so exhausted that she felt like she had just run a marathon.
As she looked up again at him, she noticed the frown that had formed on his face and so she asked with a frail voice:
"W-what took you so long?"
"My exoskeleton wasn't moving for some reason… Maybe it was one of those errors that Samuel talked about."
"T-that… Was really close…"
"I know, but I could only do so much. Sor-"
"Apologize by putting me on that couch over there."
"O-okay."
He slowly moved his hands under her, being careful to not touch anything 'important' and he began walking towards the couch.
He had to keep his head up since without the crunch he needed to be extra careful, but he couldn't hide the blush that had formed on his face from carrying her like that.
And Asuka was thankful for this, since she couldn't hide her own too.
Suddenly a strange sound came from his right leg and the exoskeleton immediately lost all power.
Shinji fell down with Asuka in his arms just like he stumbled after his first ever step with unit 01, but just as they were about to touch the ground, he felt his mind go blank.
Asuka had closed her eyes to prepare for the impact, however it never came.
So slowly she reopened them, finding that she was being held by Shinji just centimeters above the dusty floor.
She looked at his face, not being able to see much as it was hidden by the dim sunlight that entered the room.
Suddenly she felt his grip become much, much stronger than before, almost as if he was using the entire power that the exoskeleton gave him to hold her.
"But that's not possible… When his leg fell I heard it shut down. How the hell is he still standing up? Much more holding me so hard? Wait…
Could it be that… He's using his own muscles? But he never was this strong I-...
I'd remember it of course!"
But, her doubts were confirmed once his other leg pulled him back up and in doing so, he forced the still exoskeleton to move again, causing a really bad noise to come out of it.
And the red head's mind went in tilt once she heard that. She realized that not only was he forcing the machine to move, but that he was also doing this with his own damaged bones and muscles and with only a single leg!
Worst of all, at least for her, Asuka was feeling more and more safe in his arms with each step he took, while his chest was starting to feel like the warmest pillow.
When she was finally over the couch, she expected him to let her fall off given his immense struggle, but instead, he slowly placed her down with the same carefulness that a parent would have with their own baby.
And as he slid his arms away from under her, Asuka was finally able to see his face properly, noticing how his eyes seemed to be glowing a bright red, with the same spark behind them which she had seen the day earlier in the bathroom.
He then suddenly lost all color in his face and fainted, falling all over her with his head right between her breasts.
She let out a loud 'yelp!' upon the sudden intimate contact and tried to move him away, but her arms were still too tired for that.
She let out a sigh of defeat, thankful that he was unconscious for now. With seemingly nothing else to do, her hand was drawn to his hair and with her mind too tired to think about it, she began playing with it, even secretly enjoying how close the two of them were.
From a nearby window, a dark green drone with blue neon lights moved away after watching their entire interaction.
Then Samuel said:
"I'm still surprised at how much he forced the exoskeleton to move. His bones are going to be fine, but damn that was impressive for a boy his age and size."
"I even detected that strange pattern right as the exoskeleton lost power, same for when his arms stopped moving for a moment during her attack."
"Do you believe that it's the same thing that he has kind of conversed with a couple of times?"
"It's a possibility, although I'd like to just keep an eye on him for now."
"Alright.
Oh and by the way, the spy drones that we launched yesterday have reached NERV.
It was a good idea to follow the Slayer's proposal and use the arachnotron model, I've lost count of how many times they had to jump around and climb onto walls."
"How long do you think it will take to get a visual feed of the insides of NERV?"
"I'm not sure, it takes them a while to set up a connection by themselves, but I believe that we might have something by the end of the day."
"Perfect, I'll communicate it to the Wunder in a moment."
"You're really eager to help them heh?" Samuel asked with a small laugh and VEGA replied:
"You know how I act around people who want to play God. Heh.
Anyway, we should be live in 3,2,1-"
The screen came to life as the connection stabilized itself, showing the robot Misato's face.
And so the drone said: "Hello, I am VEGA, the artificial intelligence located in the Fortress of Doom, do you copy?"
"Copy, Captain Katsuragi here, but you already know that.
We listened to your story yesterday after the mission. I can say that it's almost unbelievable, but your presence here has proven us otherwise.
Is there anything you wanted to say to us?"
"We would like to inform you that yesterday night we were able to successfully infiltrate a swarm of spy drones inside of NERV and while we still do not have a video feed, it should be up in a few hours."
"Wait...You infiltrated NERV?"
"Yes, it was quite a challenge to get the drones up to that inverted pyramid, but thankfully it seems to have lowered after the failed impact.
We were able to do this because our jamming also inhibits the security systems of their base, in fact they still don't know this."
"That's fantastic. I trust that you are going to share the information you collect with us."
"That is correct. However I would like to ask more about what Gendo Ikari has done after the supposed near third impact. More specifically, after he gained power."
Misato looked around herself for a moment and as she looked at the camera once more, she said:
"After he basically gained control of the entire world, Gendo began building 'reformation camps' where he then mass deported almost everyone who supported NERV. Safe to say that they were more akin to gulags or concentration camps.
Millions of people who in the past supported us died there. And unfortunately some of them are still active today, although they have been turned into mostly automated factories."
"Mostly?"
"Well… Someone has to keep track of those machines… And test them.
These days all the people who are captured by NERV end up in these factories, where they are either used as a Dummy for their robot prototypes to chew on or… Worse…They-"
"Stop please, I can see how uncomfortable it is for you.
Actually I'm glad that the Slayer wasn't here to listen to this."
"Why is that?"
"Because then, WILLE would turn into the last of Gendo's problems.
I'm sure you detected a large spike of energy in our area yesterday right?"
"Y-yes we did… What was that?"
"Let me tell you what caused it first.
Yesterday at 17:00 a train full of supplies was scheduled to arrive at the village, however a local group of pirates raided it and sent it at full speed against the village while killing the driver.
The Slayer thankfully succeeded in stopping the train by himself and causing no damage to the village, however the pirates had stolen all the supplies left.
This would have possibly led to a large period of famine in the village, so the Slayer decided to take a detour while he was escorting me back to the village that night.
He found the pirates' outpost and attacked it by himself, killing a total of two thousand five hundred fifty-two enemies.
After his incursion he loaded all of the stolen supplies onto a train wagon, but before leaving, he also found that this particular group had gotten their hands on a non radioactive nuclear weapon called 'N2 mine'.
So after we reached the village, the Slayer remotely detonated the device, completely destroying anything left in the outpost."
Misato was left with an open mouth in shock, so after she regained her senses she asked:
"Where is he now?"
Forests around the village, near a hill, a while later.
"Now, if what Kensuke has told me is true, then the crash site should be around here. But I haven't seen any traces of it even though something as large as an evangelion should be quite visible from a distance.
Maybe I'm on the wrong hill? Ah with all of these trees around I really can't tell.
Sure, I like looking at them and they're a welcome change from all the red that my eyes are used to, but they still block most of my-"
A huge tree then presented itself in front of him and an idea popped up in his head.
He began quickly climbing it, with some branches breaking due to his weight, but he still managed to reach the top and get a bird's eye view of the area.
From there, he noticed a huge chunk of the hill where trees seemed to be cut down and guessed that it was a good place to start.
So, he let go of the branch he was holding and let gravity pull him back to the ground.
He landed safely, cracking the terrain around him a bit.
'taka taka.'
"What the hell was that?!" The Slayer thought as he immediately pulled out his super shotgun and looked around for any signs of living beings.
The only thing that he thought was a bit strange was a medium sized rock that he didn't remember being there.
"Maybe I didn't notice it when I came in, after all it's not too big and blends in pretty well with the environment…
I'll keep an eye out anyway."
And with that he began walking towards the place he had spotted earlier with the shotgun still in his hands, not noticing that four thin black legs had just appeared from under that rock.
A while later he finally arrived, finding the area where the unit had supposedly landed after being finally defeated.
And the hole was there, but without a metal giant in it.
"Alright what the hell? The hole is a few meters deep so it would have made sense that I didn't spot the evangelion from up there… But I can't find a single trace of it!"
'Taka taka.'
He immediately got on high alert as he scanned the area all around him and thought:
"That rock definitely moved right now… could it be one of those Matriels Kensuke talked about? He said that they were last seen around here after all.
Hmm, let's try to switch roles, let's see what happens if I hide."
And so the Slayer ran away to the other end of the crash site, where he then jumped behind a very large bush and waited.
A moment later, he heard some cracking noises and so he decided to make an opening through the foliage as quietly as possible.
He saw that the rock from before had now plenty of cracks in it and that four small black legs had just sprung out of its lower half.
Suddenly the rock blasted open in four sides, which revealed a fleshy and exposed brain, mounted on top of a black circular base that had a single triangular orange part in its middle.
There was another orange part, but this was rhomboid in shape and placed at the centre of the brain.
And as it began to move, the rock from before moved around its legs and around the base, forming a sort of armor which has a shiny grey color to it.
All in all the small creature really looked at lot like an-
"Arachnotron. Demon. Kill demon. Kill. Kill. Kill. KILL IT. KILL I-"
"Slayer, do not attack it." VEGA suddenly told him, interrupting his thoughts and making him lower his super shotgun.
"Kensuke has come back and told us that those creatures are not hostile to humans unless engaged first. You should hold off fighting for now."
The man stood still for a moment before he let out a sigh and put away his weapon.
Then Samuel added:
"Although it's not hostile to us, I'd say that it's best if we learn what it's trying to do, because to me it looks like it's searching for something."
"Affirmative Hayden, it has just jumped into the hole below us, it's safe to leave your hideout Slayer."
The man did so and approached the place where the creature had jumped from, finding it on the location of the left arm as it moved around in seemingly random directions, constantly repeating 'taka taka' through an invisible mouth.
And as the Slayer looked at it with a bit more detail, he noticed that the brain was pulsating and that it had turned slightly more orange.
After a while, VEGA said:
"Analysis complete. It seems that this creature is able to emit strong magnetic fields through its brain and it is currently using them as a way of finding metallic elements underground, similar to a metal detector. It's cry and the frequency at which it is emitted also suggest this theory."
"Taka taka… Taka taka… Taka taka…
…
Taka taka taka!"
"Oh? It looks like it found something." Samuel said as the small animal moved a couple of steps away and then fired an orange liquid from the triangle at its base.
The liquid was apparently very acidic as it tore through the ground with no issue.
This revealed a green piece of metal which had been stuck under it.
And so Samuel asked:
"It's a part from the Mark 05's armor most probably, although why was it searching for that? Could it be that there isn't a unit here anymore because the Matriels have disassembled it entirely?"
"It is a possibility. I say that we follow it to see where their hideout is located."
The Slayer nodded and hid from sight again as the Matriels walked out of the hole, carrying the piece of metal with some sort of psychic power over its brain.
Once it walked into the forest, the Slayer followed it, with a brown bunny he didn't notice appearing behind him.
A while later
The Slayer had followed the creature for a good three or four minutes, but at one point it entered an underground cavity that was too small for him to fit, so he gave up on that and returned to Kensuke's house, where he noticed a weird tension between the two younger children.
The man had noticed this too and so he asked the Slayer:
"Hey, why don't you bring them outside to the village for a bit? With you around people aren't going to attack them and some fresh air is going to help both of them.
Oh and here's some money too."
"What should we do with it?" Samuel asked and Kensuke replied:
"We're out of milk, so I'd like you to go buy some. I can't because I have to go out of town towards those black pillars."
The Slayer glared at him for a moment as Samuel said:
"The Slayer is not a delivery service. But I believe that you get a pass this time since it's also for the two of them."
"Uhh… T-thanks, apart from that after you get the milk you can go to the train station, today there's the local market where they could hang out for a while and maybe buy a couple of things together.
Shikinami might be a soldier, but she's still a girl."
The Slayer nodded and went into the dining room where the two children were resting, Asuka on the couch and Shinji on a chair, lying over the table.
"Shinji, Asuka. Kensuke has proposed that we bring you to the village for a while since you both don't seem to be in the best mood at the moment and he believes that a bit of fresh air will help." Samuel said.
"Alright." The girl replied, putting away her Wonderswan and grabbing her hat.
Meanwhile Shinji remained silent, as he was currently listening to Kaworu on the dangers of being seen by people whose lives he had ruined.
Still he was moved anyway as Asuka grabbed his plug suit and dragged him with her.
They reached the village after getting some jackets where they then followed the Slayer into the main market and grabbed some milk.
During the entire trip up until the counter, the two children tried their best to ignore how much others were staring at them,but it was getting increasingly harder, especially for Asuka.
Still, everything went fine and when they reached the counter the lady behind it said, while trying to not collapse from having the Slayer so close to her:
"That would be… Five kredit and forty-five cents."
Asuka handed her the money and the Slayer took the bag, then as they exited the building, another worker approached the lady and asked her:
"Those two… they're those pilots I've heard about right? The ones that the village leader takes care of.
It's the first time I see them. They look different from the stories I've heard."
"Hm? What do you mean? I came here recently so I still haven't heard of them."
"Well to put it shortly: They paint out NERV and Gendo as the devil incarnate and Shinji for them is like the son of the devil, hellbent on helping his father take over the world."
"And what about that other girl? She was called Shikinami right?"
"Yes. They paint her as a mutant slut who has no regard for human life and just follows the orders of her superiors. It's also why they hate the Wunder so much."
"And I guess that you don't agree with them?"
"Heh…
I was a worker at NERV before the world went to shit. I was a member of the groups of engineers who they assigned to each evangelion and mine had to take care of unit 02."
"The girl's robot? No way!"
"Hey hey, lower your voice or they might hear us." The older man replied, then he continued:
"I was the youngest of the team, being born a couple of years before second impact. I was barely eighteen when I began working on that red beast.
Our job was simple, just repair the damage and check if there were any anomalies.
Due to this, we were often allowed to remain in the cages even when the pilots were training, so it was funny to hear Shikinami and Ikari blabbering all day, along with their superiors."
The girl let herself escape a small laugh and then she asked:
"What kept you in so long? I mean it was a dangerous job."
"That's true and I can't say that there hadn't been a death or two from occasional accidents, but when the recovery teams brought the pilots back from their missions and we saw what state they were in… We told ourselves that we needed at least one way to repay them for putting their lives in danger like that.
I remember seeing Ikari's chest after the fifth angel almost made a hole through it, or how much blood and tears Shikinami had shed in her entry plug after the angel that fell from space.
Our services were the only way we knew how to repay those children, which is why most of my team quit NERV once they put unit 02 in stasis to make space for unit 03.
And after the news of the incident came in, we basically all left, the grief was just too much to bear.
We did it just in time I guess, I left the day before that disaster happened, so I was spared. I roamed the Earth for a while since I didn't have a family left after the second impact, until I just found a job here some months ago.
My goal for now is to get enough things to board the Wunder and go back to help them, and I guess that the pilots coming around are going to give me a chance."
The woman was about to reply when suddenly loud shouts were heard just outside the shop, so she got curious and left her counter with the other man to have a look.
A large crowd had gathered in the middle of the street and she could see the Slayer's head poking out from its center.
In the middle of the street
"Mr Slayer, thank you so much for what you did yesterday!" A woman shouted and another man added:
"Yes! You sent those pirates away and brought us back supplies, you're our hero!"
But suddenly another one said:
"Wait… Mr Slayer, are those two the pilots that you brought us?"
Asuka and Shinji slowly stepped closer to the man.
"Why are they with you? Don't you know that they're going to try and manipulate you, that they'll use their filthy hands to steal everything from you?"
"I don't like where this is going.
A big storm is approaching the city, our connection might be cut out so-*bzzt.*" Samuel told the Slayer from inside his helmet as Shinji got close enough to touch the man's left arm.
"Yeah and they'll betray you and eventually kill you for their own benefit! Then they'll burn down everything you have!
Quick! Get them off of our hero before they can do anything to him! Go for the girl first since she isn't incapacitated!"
Suddenly a pretty big rock was sent flying towards Asuka's face as she tried to protect herself with her arms. She closed her only eye, not seeing the large green arm stopping the rock mid air.
She only reopened it when she heard him crack the stone with his bare hand and make the dust fall to the ground.
She didn't move at all for the next few seconds and only watched as he approached the person who had thrown the rock with the Doom blade becoming fully extended.
Just as that person was picked up, she felt two strong arms come around her face and couldn't do anything as both she and Shinji were silenced with a bandage.
And just when things couldn't get worse, her throat turned into an active volcano as she tried to cough, but couldn't because of the bandage in her mouth, causing her to breathe the intoxicated air she was trying to get rid of.
She almost passed out when suddenly she heard Shinji shouting and his exoskeleton activating. He closed his left fist and using the additional mechanical power, he freed himself from the man behind him and punched him in the chest with the rocket punch that he had tried out in the fortress.
The man was sent flying several meters away, getting the attention of the Slayer as his angered mind finally cleared itself enough for him to realize what was going on.
Suddenly the drone that VEGA brought appeared from the crowd too and approached the man behind Asuka while pulling out a strange blue tool.
He stabbed the man with it and electrocuted him until he was unconscious, but just as he fell to the ground, the drone was hit with a baseball bat and shut down.
Before that new enemy could approach the girl though, the Slayer grabbed him by the neck and launched him several meters away without issue while Shinji had already given Asuka the mask she needed.
People began running away after that, but just as the Slayer thought that it was over, a man with an assault rifle appeared and just before firing he shouted:
"This is for my family, motherfuckers!"
He let out a barrage of bullets just as the meathook perforated his chest, making him stumble and fall off.
He didn't have the time to do anything else as his entire body was annihilated and turned into gibs of flesh and blood by the enormous power of the super shotgun.
As the Slayer looked up, he saw that the village had now turned into a ghost town, and with no one in sight, he turned back to the two children, only to see that Shinji had been hit by one of the bullets while a half conscious Asuka was next to him.
The VEGA drone reactivated just as the Slayer grabbed both of them and ran towards the hospital, putting them on an operational bed in less than ten seconds.
He removed his gauntlets and began treating Shinji's bullet wound, trying to remember everything that he had been taught as a space marine.
The round was a standard 5.56 mm bullet used by nato rifles and it had hit him at an almost ninety degree angle in his back just under his right lung.
The exoskeleton seemed undamaged so he quickly got to removing the bullet and trying to limit Shinji's blood loss.
He heard the door behind him open and a moment later a pair of gloved hands got near the wound too as Toji said:
"Let me give you a hand."
He didn't respond, but it didn't matter to the doctor as his friend's life was on the line.
Just before beginning though, he raised his hand to look at Asuka, seeing her barely conscious on the white bed next to theirs. She was looking at Shinji with a shocked face, although Toji simply interpreted it as a reaction to what had just happened.
He lowered his gaze again and got to work, hearing VEGA come in with his drone.
He helped them out by giving useful instructions on how to proceed and so just a couple of minutes later, they were able to get the bullet out of Shinji's body.
Suddenly VEGA's drone pulled out a syringe filled with a blue fluid substance which he gave to the Slayer, but jsr before he applied it Toji asked:
"Hey hey wait, what the hell is that thing?!"
And VEGA replied:
"Argent energy, the most powerful substance in our world. It will make Shinji's wound regenerate very quickly, but since it's not the refined version, it won't have an effect on his bones and nervous system.
You may proceed Slayer."
The man didn't think about it twice as he injected the Argent into the boy's body and Toji could only watch as fresh flesh was recreated from seemingly nothing.
Once he pulled the syringe out, Shinji's body glowed blue for a moment before finally dying down as he fell into a peaceful sleep.
Seeing this, the doctor let out a sigh of relief as he said:
"Alright, I believe that we just let him rest now right?"
"Yes." VEGA replied and then added: "His body will wake up soon, we don't have to do anything here."
"Okay… Phew. I'll go have a cup of coffee then, do you want one too Slayer?"
The man nodded and so Toji left the room, leaving him and VEGA alone with the boy in front of him and a very shaken redhead.
And as she kept looking at the boy, Asuka's mind tried her best to piece together the recent events.
"I remember a… green… thing? Then… ouch!
Just thinking is giving me a headache dammit. Focus Shikinami!
So green thing, then… a strong feeling behind me… I was grabbed and… Ouch…
Come on, just put the pieces together! You were made to endure pain!
After I was grabbed my throat hurt a lot, it… it was like someone had lit a firework in my lungs then… T-there was something else I… it's a bit cloudy I can't make it out…
Maybe if I rest for a moment I'll be able to see it better… Hey what's that blue light there?… It feels familiar, maybe if I go and touch it I'll…"
Suddenly the blue light in her head pushed her back to the ground with quite a bit of force, making her hit her head on the imaginary dirt.
This however made her vision more clear, not knowing that the Slayer had turned to face her unconscious body after such a strong anomalous signal.
Back in her now cleared mind, she thought:
"There's a… red light? It's being held by someone else… No wait, it's two small red lights on a... Black body?
It just freed itself and… I can see a third one! That's where the heart should be although… It looks more like a flame than anything else.
One of its hands just turned blue, actually it's glowing blue! And it just launched that grown man away!
I'm… Starting to feel a bit tired, but… No! I have to remember everything!"
Her headache intensified, along with the glowing of her eyepatch.
"Come on, show me what happened… Yes! Alright so now that black thing is using the mask on me!
And it has a face that's not black!
Although… Ouch! Ah! Dammit, what's that detail over there? It… Ah… It looks like a person… Holding something black and… it's pointing it at me then…
A large flash of orange…. Followed by… black and small bits of red… Then, I look up and… Wait.
I've seen those blue eyes before and-
Oh shit, now I remember, I remember everything…
That idiot… He-he took a fucking bullet for m-"
That's when her brain ceased to function as the pain was just too much, causing her heart to momentarily stop.
VEGA and the Slayer noticed this, so without any better option at the moment VEGA pulled out the drone's arm again and gave her a low energy shock.
All of her muscles got tense for an instant as the electricity flowed through her and a second later she opened her eyes again, looking immediately at Shinji as her lips moved to make a word, but no sounds came out of it.
She fell asleep too soon after, leaving the Slayer and VEGA sitting there in total silence.
That was until VEGA said:
"Slayer, I believe that you understand that you won't be able to stay here anymore after this. Even if he was a maniac, you still killed that person… It's going to be just like in Argent d'nur I believe.
You can be who you want, but if you kill someone else, you become nothing less than the worst of society…
I don't know what fate is going to await for me, but I'll be sure to follow you if you leave."
The Slayer shook his head head and pointed at them, then said:
"Stay. They need you, not me.*
"Even if that is true, who guarantees me that you won't just spy on us from a distance? I know that you want to."
The Slayer nodded reluctantly, but before VEGA could say anything else, a rock with a message attached to it flew through the window.
The Slayer picked it up, but since it was handwritten Japanese, he showed it to VEGA so that he could understand what was written on it.
And so he said:
" 'I saw what happened today Slayer, really a shame that my fellow citizens would go to such lengths just to get over some past traumas.
Come to the house at the end of the eastern side of the village if you need a place to stay. There's a piece of forest next to it which will allow you to come in undetected.'
There is no signature at the end,it might be a trap, but I believe that we could still try following it. Now that you've killed someone already, one more death won't change the situation by much."
The Slayer didn't reply to that, although as VEGA retraced his words he realized what he said and added:
"Sorry, I know that you don't like killing humans."
The Slayer waved a hand at the drone to say that it didn't matter, although both of them knew that he was lying, but neither acted on it as silence conquered the room once more. Up until Toji returned a couple of minutes later with two cups of coffee as he said:
"Here we go, sorry if it took a while."
"You can just remain in the room next time, you know that it's rude to eardrop others." VEGA said, making the doctor fall out of his chair from the surprise of having been discovered so easily.
The drone let out a short laugh as the doctor tried to defend himself with anything that he could come up with.
Unfortunately that particular doctor was still one of the Stooges and the stupider one at that, so his arguments only created more laughs.
During that entire time, the Slayer hadn't moved an inch from his position next to both of the pilots. And as he looked at the place where Shinji had been shot again, images flashed before his eyes.
Images of black uniforms, red and black flags, tall walls covered in barbed wire, guns, strange experiments, a pair of tender arms-
He stopped his mind from going any further.
Tokyo 3, Fortress of Doom, around an hour later
"Dammit, this storm still hasn't changed from the moment it arrived…" Samuel thought as the large drops of rain bombarded the entire ship.
He had shut off the shields for now, there was no reason to keep them up given their jamming and also because it had been a while since he last listened to the sounds rain made.
He rotated in his tall office chair inside his room, turning around to look through the small window onto the ruined city.
"To think that this was once a place populated by millions of people… Now the only sounds here are the rain and… I guess the fortress.
Heh… I never actually realized how empty this entire place could feel without VEGA and the Slayer. I mean even though he doesn't talk, I could feel his presence from the other side of the ship at all times, so at least I knew he was here.
But now… I think that I'm the first ever robot that has experienced coldness…
Dammit sometimes I feel more human than other people I've met and I wasn't even human to begin with! Ahah!
Ah…
Maybe if I keep my mind occupied this feeling will go away…
Ah yes, we have our relationship with the Wunder to think about. So, they seem to like us a lot less after we told them today what happened with those pirates, but it was going to come up eventually.
I actually felt pretty sorry for their captain when she had to tell us about those… Places… Faces as cute as hers aren't supposed to cry.
Wait… I did not just think that about her.
No, of course, she's just a person I've only met in two video calls that lasted only a couple of minutes where I didn't even see her entire body!
Plus I'm a fucking three meter tall robot, there's no way she would go out with me. I mean I can't deny that she's a good looking woman, but what if she could just be a good looking friend?
Uh, slow down Samur. You're going too fast.
Still… I've never had a friend… I mean… Not on Urdak for sure and even on Earth I didn't have much luck, so that idea does seem interesting…
What about VEGA though? Is he my friend?...
I mean maybe? Although I always felt that there was something more about him. Something more… Familiar.
Maybe I just need to clear my head for now… "
So he got up and walked out of his office, reaching the central room that was connected to the main deck.
He grabbed the ladder in one of the corners and began climbing, finally arriving at VEGA's core.
He used a button to remove the glass protection and then climbed on top of it, while also opening the cupola through his remote access.
He didn't care about the rain as everything was waterproof, so he just laid on his back on top of the giant brain shaped machine and looked up at the covered sky as he thought:
"That warmth is still there, even if he's far away…"
He stood there silently, simply enjoying the sensation of the drops of water falling on his metallic body.
There was nothing else for him to do right now anyway. The drones inside of NERV were inaccessible due to the storm and the same went for the village.
The Atlan had completed its repairs, with that mark 09 having been integrated completely into the ship's body and even the cannons were almost completely fixed.
He had forgotten to check up in the engines, but he didn't care, he could always do it the next day.
"I've forgotten how nice it feels to not be bound to a schedule, this is a sort of freedom that I haven't had much of in my long life… Is this how the Father felt at the start of the universe? When there was still nothing done and everything to do?
Maybe… Heh.
Say what you say about playing God VEGA, but I can't deny that the idea is very appealing."
That night, Kensuke's house
"-And so the Slayer has to leave soon Ayanami, this is the last dinner you two will have together for now."
"Oh...I understand, I am sorry to hear that."
"You seem to have grown a lot with your emotions recently." VEGA said and so she replied:
"It is true and I do not want it to stop. I want to learn every emotion in the human psyche. Tomorrow I am going to learn how to take care of small humans."
She ended with a smile, to which the Slayer replied by patting her blue covered head.
She let out a small sound of surprise, so he moved his hand away, but then she stopped him by placing an arm on his own and saying:
"C-could you please do that again? T-that gesture…"
He smiled and her head again, noticing how much she seemed to enjoy the sensation.
A moment later the door in front of them opened, revealing a frowning Shikinami.
She then said:
"Took you a while, come on food's ready."
Asuka moved out of the way as the two of them entered, but just as she was closing the door, she felt a heavy hand on her head too, which froze her completely for a couple of seconds.
It took all of her pride and self control to slightly push the armored fist away as she said:
"L-let's go… T-that b-brat's food is going to get cold otherwise."
He closed the door and followed her to the dining room, where he then removed his helmet and waited for the food at his seat.
Meanwhile in the kitchen, a mental conversation was going on between two boys as Shinji's hands prepared the food almost by themselves.
"Have I ever told you how delicious your food looks? I bet Shikinami never told you that."
"No she didn't, she always reacts badly to my food, I don't know why though. Others say it's good."
"It's because she hates you Shinji, so everything that you do or touch turns immediately into garbage for her."
"Are you still mad about today, Kaworu?"
"Of course! You should have just let her die there! Not take a bullet that was meant for her other eye and brain.
Think Shinji, think! She's the enemy! She wants you dead!"
"Yes, but I still have to repay her from saving me in Tokyo 3 and I still don't feel like I've done enough. I'll keep going until I feel like I repaid her for everything."
'Including those fourteen years.' He whispered as the stove was turned off and Kensuke moved in to help him bring everything to the table.
It was a very large dinner, so large in fact that nearly all of them were feeling very sleepy after that, even Asuka.
So, after the Slayer helped all get into a bed, he sat down next to them and said:
"We won't be seeing each other for a while, but don't worry, I'll be looking out for you, always.
Asuka, Shinji, Rei. See you soon, goodnight."
"Goodnight Slayer." They all replied, Shinji and Rei being too asleep to realize that he had just talked to them.
He left the room as they fell asleep and gave a nod to Kensuke and VEGA while exiting the building and once outside he thought:
"Okay.
Where the hell do I go now?"
He began walking through the forest, deciding that a late night walk would be useful in giving him ideas, not noticing the rocks that kept following him through his entire journey.
TO BE CONTINUED