Blood Red
Episode 2
New Horizons
Chapter 6: Double faced warrior
Suzuhara house, dining room
"I should really modify my suit to be able to remove my boots…
Because walking with two plastic bags taped to my feet is probably one of the most embarrassing things I've ever done."
The Slayer thought as he followed Hikari inside her house.
And as he looked around, he noticed that while the structure itself was just like every other one in the village, the inside was full of small details that separated it from what he had already seen.
All the walls were tinted a light shade of yellow, with white and orange decorations near the edges. The floor was made up of small white tiles with a long red carpet covering the centre of the hallway.
There were photos of Toji and Hikari as kids hung up on the wall, while on a piece of furniture another one with Hikari and her other dead sisters. Next to it there was one with Toji and what he presumed to be his father and his younger sister.
Over them, a painting of the old Tokyo 3 stood, showing how the city opened up in the morning as the sun rose above the horizon.
He lowered his gaze again, noticing that there were two ceramic vases right behind each small picture from below.
"It looks like at least someone still hasn't decided to run away.
Oh, we've arrived."
As he entered the room, he noticed that both Rei and Shinji were already sitting at the very short table, a classic Japanese one, where someone would have to cross their legs to sit down.
In front of them, two cups of tea had been placed, with two more on the other sides of the table.
"Where is Toji?" Hikari asked and Rei replied:
"He went back to the hospital. It seems that captain Shikinami has regained consciousness.
However for now she will remain behind closed doors as he needs to make sure that everything is fine, that is why we are still here."
"That idiot husband of mine! He could have at least told me!"
"Ms. Suzuhara, isn't it disrespectful to call someone you are in a relationship with an 'idiot'?"
"Not at all! It happens all the time! Even if we say things like that, it doesn't mean we actually think they are true."
"Oh… I think I understand...
Ikari, you are a total idiot."
And the boy suddenly buried his palm in his face, making a loud *slap* sound.
"Did I do something wrong Ms. Suzuhara? I do not want Ikari to get hurt because of my actions."
"Hehe, don't worry, you'll know how to do it eventually. Now, let's sit down or that tea will get cold."
The Slayer followed her and a moment later both Hikari and Rei were taking a sip from their cups while the Slayer and Shinji remained still.
Once they were done, they put down the small cups and Hikari asked:
"Did you like it, Rei?"
"I- I never tasted something like this, it was enjoyable. Thank you."
"Aw I'm glad. What about you guys? Is there something wrong or you simply don't want it?"
Shinji was the first to reply:
"Sorry, it's just that… I don't feel like drinking it at the moment."
The boy's mind was in fact being assaulted by thoughts of Asuka and her health. Was she unharmed? Did she have lung damage? If yes, was it permanent? Was it because of his inaction again? Why was he caring and thinking so much about her after what she had done to him?
All of these questions for now didn't have an answer, or at least, not until Toji called them again.
"Oh ok, I understand. What about you Mr. Slayer?"
The man stood still with his arms crossed, looking down at the cup in front of him.
"I guess that it can't hurt to show my face around a bit more…"
As he thought this, he let out a small sigh and moved his hands behind his head again, removing the helmet, but leaving the connection with the fortress active.
Hikari was a bit surprised at his actions, noticing all the small scars that his face carried.
Two under the right eye, a larger one under his chin and another two on his cheeks. These ones were mirrored, almost as if a blade had cut perpendicular to one and into his mouth, exiting on the other side.
She moved to his eyes, which in contrast to how much they were hidden behind the helmet, now shone like small white and brown stars in the dimly lit room.
There was also something else about those eyes that she couldn't describe, but deep down they made her tremble in terror.
The Slayer moved his still armored hand towards the cup, barely managing to hold onto it as he took a couple of sips and then put it down again.
He answered with a thumbs up, feeling his lips and throat relieved and enjoyed the taste the liquid had left.
"I'm glad you like it! But… VEGA why doesn't he talk? Does he have a problem or? Kensuke told me nothing about this so I'm curious."
"He chooses not to, for… personal reasons."
"Oh, but… how can he live without talking to anyone? Like, here in the village if you don't go outside and socialize it's as if you aren't present at all."
"He does not deem that necessary. He just protects people, not caring whether he is liked or not by the general public."
"A bit like Asuka then? I remember her saying something like that once.
But you can't just sit around and pretend to protect everyone from the shadows!"
"I believe that he's perfectly capable of doing that Miss Suzuhara.
If you want I could explain his and our history to you so that you might understand better, after all the pilots have to hear it too."
"That would-" *Drrrring drrrring* "Hold on a second please"
Hikari said as she got up from the table to answer the phone and after a short conversation she put it back and said:
"You can go visit Asuka now! Toji just said that everything's okay with her and that you should stop by.
You can go with them and tell your story there, I have to stay here to take care of Tsubame. Don't worry, my husband will fill me in later."
The group nodded and get up from the table, then as they left the house Hikari said:
"Bye bye! Come back soon!"
Suddenly Rei stopped to ask:
"What does 'bye bye' mean?"
"It's for when you want to salute someone with happiness, hoping to see them again."
"Hm. Thank you."
Both the Slayer and Shinji looked at her for the rest of the journey as she repeatedly quietly whispered the two words.
Hospital, pilots' room
The group entered the room, quickly finding Toji as he was helping Asuka get off her bed.
"Get those hands off of me. I can do it on my own!" The redhead said as she quickly jumped down, standing upright a moment later with no apparent issues.
Until suddenly, she began coughing heavily as small glowing red particles came out of her mouth.
Toji quickly placed a sort of breathing mask device on her mouth and nose and slowly she began to stabilize. Then, when she finally returned to normal he removed the mask and threw away the cylindrical tube over it which had filled with red material.
"W-what the hell happened?!" Asuka asked and Toji replied:
"Hey hey, easy there with your voice.
While the machine was able to get tee LCL dust out of your lungs, it still remained in there enough to do some damage.
So now every time you use your vocal chords too much or basically make air flow too quickly in and out, your lung tissue will be irritated and start bleeding if it's not treated in time with one of these."
He then let her give the plastic mask a closer look as he said:
"What I just used on you is a Mark 3 portable LCL purifier. It filters the air that goes in and out of your system while you breathe and stores all the little particles inside this horizontal cylinder over the nose.
Unfortunately it doesn't have much capacity, as you saw in fact just this little episode made me use up an entire tube.
But it's the best we've got and given that the supply of tubes is also limited, you'll have to limit yourself over the next week."
"An entire week?"
"Exactly, that should be enough time for your lungs to heal completely. Also another thing, given how uncontrollable these incidents are, it's best for you to always have someone next to you to give you the mask, so that you don't have to do it yourself."
"This is bullshit, I can put that stupid mask on by myself at all times."
"Tch Tch. Doctor's orders Shikinami, it's for your health. Plus it's not like you don't have anyone else to help you for that right? I mean look who came right as they knew you woke up."
The man said, pointing to the trio who had listened to the entire conversation. Asuka frowned at this, still unhappy with the idea that she couldn't be left alone.
And after some reflection she said:
"Alright, Ayanami, you'll keep the mask for me."
"Given how much she follows orders, it's going to be easy for me to tell her to just keep silent and-"
"I am afraid that it's not possible Shikinami, for in my pursuit of learning aspects of life I have decided to explore the village and work with the locals. This will allow me to learn more about the world and be able to protect Ikari better."
"You need to protect me, Rei?" the boy asked and she replied:
"It's the last order that I received, and after some careful re-examination I have concluded that I need to obtain as much experience as possible on all aspects of life to protect you from all kinds of dangers."
Shinji stood motionless at her response, not really sure what to make of it as his mind tried to put together what she just said.
"Great… just my luck to have the obedient clone rebel just as I need it's help. Ugh, oh well, at least the Slayer is always free and he doesn't talk at all so he should be fine, right?"
"Alright… Well, what about you, Slayer?"
"Unfortunately, while the Slayer will be free most of the time, we have decided that tonight he will be crossing the desert again to escort a drone carrying a direct connection with my core, as if I was physically coming in here.
I believe that Shinji Ikari will be a suitable substitute for when the Slayer is occupied."
"Do I have to remind you that he tried to strangle me? What if it happens again and I can't react fast enough, hm?
Also didn't your ship have a teleporter in it or what? Why don't you use that to come here?"
"While the machine is in an usable state, it is still far too unstable for long distance operations. And about your safety, well I intend to bring with myself a taser which will immobilize him on the spot by causing his exoskeleton to stop moving.
I'm sure you understand why we are doing this Ikari."
"I do, it's just that it doesn't feel right… to be treated like this."
"Well, I have good news for you. Your skeleton so far has regenerated greatly and by analyzing the data in the incident, I believe that it only has a chance of happening if you lose consciousness or fall asleep.
I advertise changing your sleep schedule to follow these demands."
Suddenly Kaworu told Shinji:
"It's going to be very difficult for you to completely change your behavior, you should ask if there is a better way to do it."
Shinji remained silent for a while before replying:
"I understand your worry, Kaworu, but… There's no other alternative, the options aren't there and who knows, it might be just for tonight, so it's not too hard.
I also have to repay her for bringing me to them before they gave me this skeleton and this is the best way."
Unknown to Shinji, VEGA was talking with the Slayer about the pattern that he was detecting in his brain:
"It almost… looks like a conversation, which Shinji answered right now, along with his adrenaline levels rising.
Let's see what he says."
The Slayer looked back at the boy, just as everyone else was doing and after closing and opening his eyes slowly, Shinji said:
"I will. It might even be just for tonight after all."
"If there are no complications with my trip over the desert which will keep the Slayer occupied, I believe so.
Still, it is a brave decision for you in your condition, I'm pleased to hear that your mental health is improving." VEGA answered.
The boy didn't reply as Kaworu said:
"I'm still not on this one with you Shinji. With your recent record, you're going to hurt her just like you have hurt everyone else if you try to help her."
Shinji didn't feel like answering back, and thankfully Asuka quickly took over the conversation as she said:
"Well, if it's the only option, I guess that it'll have to do for now, but one wrong move baka and I'll make you wish you died during that impact."
Suddenly Ayanami asked:
"Captain Shikinami, have you decided to change Ikari's callsign from Brat to 'Baka'?"
"What?! Of course not! It's just another way I'm going to call him from now on! Nothing else!"
"I understand, Loudvoice."
Only Asuka's still recovering muscles stopped her from grabbing the red eyed girl.
"Oi oi, what did I just say about sudden movements Shikinami?"
"You don't have to tell me twice.
By the way, you still don't have the privilege of changing names, Doll."
"Okay."
Silence fell for a moment as Toji gave to both the Slayer and Shinji a backpack full of tubes and two masks each, then, as they were about to leave, VEGA said:
"Hold on, I believe that this is a good opportunity to let the pilots know about our history and why we arrived here I assume."
The others looked at each other for a moment and then Toji said:
"Well, I'm free for the day if no accidents happen, so sure, let's hear it."
"Okay, sit down if you want and Samuel, you may begin."
"Thank you VEGA, ahem:
First and foremost, we come from another dimension where due to an energy crisis never seen before, I as the leader of the United Aerospace Corporation decided to start extracting a substance called Argent energy from a fracture in the surface of Mars.
Unfortunately, the fracture and Argent energy itself came from hell, so over time one of my colleagues was influenced and allowed the demons to invade the red planet.
Given that this colleague, me and VEGA were the only survivors, I decided to reawaken the Slayer who I had found inside a sarcophagus in a hell temple during an exploration.
He was able to stop the demon invasion, however in doing so he also destroyed the Argent production line, possibly leaving Earth without energy.
I couldn't let that happen, so when he came back from his final mission, I stole from him the artifact that he used to absorb all the Argent in hell, then I sent him away.
Eight months later, after I was able to stabilize the planet, the demons invaded again, this time with the intent of conquering Earth.
Despite humanity's best efforts, we were losing, up until the Slayer reappeared on board of his ship.
He was able to stop the invasion by killing the three hell priests that were keeping it intact, then he faced off against the icon of Sin, destroying it and ending the demon threat for a good while."
Suddenly Asuka asked:
"Icon of Sin? Did you get that name from a comic book or something?"
"Hehe, unfortunately no.
The Icon of Sin was a one hundred meter tall demon augmented by a high tech armor whose sole presence on Earth created dimensional distortions and threatened to have hell engulf the planet entirely."
"Wait… one hundred meters? That's larger than most evangelions!
You're telling me that he was able to face something almost fifty times as tall as him?!"
"Indeed Shikinami."
She didn't show it, but those words had just sent the coldest of shivers down her spine.
"Anyway, as I was saying, the Slayer was able to stop the demonic invasion of Earth and once my body had been repaired from the damage it had received, we traveled to another dimension where we had left VEGA.
After retrieving him, the machine that was creating our portal malfunctioned, probably because of an attempt at an ambush by the demons.
We managed to get inside the portal anyway, but our ship was severely damaged during the trip and so we crash landed here, stopping the fourth impact by crashing into unit 13."
As Samuel stopped his narration, Toji said:
"Well, what a nice little trip you've had in the last few days huh?
Also what's with that 'other dimension' you went to?"
This time VEGA replied:
"It's called Urdak, created after hell. It's people drew their life energy from the creator of such a dimension, but after he disappeared, the second in charge took over and went mad with power, in an attempt to maintain her immortality.
This eventually led her to create an alliance with the Dark Lord, where in exchange for the souls of the civilizations they had allied with, he would give them the Argent energy they so much desired.
During the Slayer's mission, it was the Khan Maykr, leader of the Maykrs and of Urdak who resurrected the Icon, forcing him to kill her and leave me behind to open up a portal to chase the demon back to Earth."
Silence fell between the group as everyone tried to put together everything that Samuel and VEGA just told them, or until they were interrupted by a sudden click coming from the entrance to the operatory room.
"I got both of you on record saying that, thanks guys, the Wunder will love this stuff."
"Kensuke what the hell are you doing here man! You scared me!" Toji said as he greeted his friend.
A moment later he also grabbed Shinji and brought him closer to them before saying to Asuka:
"Look Shikinami! The three stooges are finally back together!"
"You might have changed on the outside, but the level of intellect certainly hasn't gone up by much." She replied, suppressing the urge to grin at them.
"Aw come on! Is my degree in medicine not enough for you?"
"Meh, whatever.
You mentioned the Wunder, right Kensuke?"
"Yes, I've spent the entire morning trying to get a connection working with them and it's done now, I just need to open it.
I came here to tell you about it, but I decided to stop for a while and listen to the story.
Let's get to my house, Toji has probably work to do now anyway."
"Bye bye Suzuhara" Rei said, copying Hikari's moves.
So they left, leaving the doctor back to his duties and a couple of minutes later, he heard the door open, seeing a man on a wheelchair in front of him.
"Oh hey, how may I help you today John?"
Kensuke's house
"So, this is what you use to communicate with others outside the village?" Samuel asked and Kensuke replied:
"Yep, it's pretty basic, just a large antenna, a radio, a monitor and some other equipment here and there.
Crude, but effective.
Now, if I can remember it, the correct frequency was… this one!"
As he said this, he pressed a couple of buttons and moved some switches on his machine before the speaker began emitting some static.
Then it repeated a 'ping' sound two times before the connection was turned on, showing a flat white line on the screen next to them, which seemed to vibrate based on noise coming from the other side of the line.
Then Kensuke got closer to the microphone and said:
"This is Kensuke from Village 2 to Wunder, do you copy?"
A male voice then answered:
"Copy. What is the reason for this transmission?"
"I wanted to inform you that Asuka Shikinami is alive, she's currently here with me."
A short sigh of relief could be heard from the other side of the line, then Kensuke added:
"She isn't alone. With her there is an Ayanami series, Shinji ikari and… someone else."
"Wait, Shinji Ikari! How is he still ali- hm? Captain? What's the matter?
Of course, here's the microphone.
…
…
Ahem, this Captain Katsuragi of the AAA Wunder. Kensuke, who is that other someone you were talking about?"
"Misato… Another person I've let down…" Shinji thought.
"He's one of the three people who rescued them after the impact, they come from that ship that fell from space a while ago which stopped the impact."
"Do you have any way of giving us a visual feed? To confirm your claims."
"Of course, give me a moment."
Some rustling was heard before on the main screen of the Wunder a camera feed appeared, showing them the three pilots in their current status, while the Slayer stood to their left.
Before anyone on the ship could say anything, Kensuke said:
"As you can see Shinji is a bit messed up. After unit 13 was destroyed he took a lot of fall damage and they had to put an exoskeleton on him.
Not only that, but it even got damaged by a recent storm, so now he has to use that crutch.
Even Asuka has a little problem, her lungs got damaged by LCL so she can't tire herself too much or shout."
"Oh, I see." Misato said and as Asuka saw her frown she thought:
"Nononono! Don't be disappointed! I'm still fit for fighting! I can still pilot the Eva Misato! I don't need a replacement!
I can't let that happen!"
Suddenly she walked closer to the microphone and said:
"Don't worry Katsuragi it's only a temporary thing, just a couple of days and I'll be back in shape to-ah… ah-"
"Uhm… Asuka?" Misato asked.
"Achoo! Dam-*cough* stupid dust- *cough* *cough* *cough*"
Immediately the Slayer took out one of the masks and placed it on her face, holding her body silently as the filters did their job.
Once she seemed to have calmed down, he slowly moved it away and removed the now red cylinder, putting it in his suit for later.
The rest of the crew in the Wunder had simply remained shocked at how quickly he had moved to help her, so when Misato asked about him, Kensuke replied:
"He's not very talkative, actually he doesn't talk at all, he-"
Kensuke suddenly stopped, noticing that something strange was going on with the video, so he asked:
"Uhm, is everything alright with the connection? I just saw you tremble Captain."
"It's probably a momentary loss of signal, nothing to worry about." Ritsuko answered, with VEGA secretly telling the Slayer:
"I wouldn't count on that, the signal is stable."
Ritsuko then talked again as she asked:
"Anyway, so he doesn't talk right? But how have you been able to communicate with him until now?"
"Well, because most of the time we talk with the other two that have been left behind on the ship in Tokyo 3, Samuel Hayden and the Ai VEGA."
The two of them introduced themselves a moment later and then Misato asked:
"A nearby village a couple of days ago has sent us a few pictures of your ship while it was ascending in the sky. Were you trying to leave orbit?"
"Yes, but unfortunately the engines were still too damaged to achieve that, so we returned back down and performed a weapons test.
At the moment we are keeping the ship in Tokyo 3 because we are emitting a strong jamming signal to stop any possible retaliation from NERV, however we do intend to leave at an opportune time."
"Wait, what do you mean you're jamming NERV?" Ritsuko asked and Samuel replied:
"To make sure that their original escape from the city was a success, we had to stop Gendo Ikari from remotely controlling the drones to intercept them.
At the moment he is unable to directly manipulate any machine on the entire planet, as our jamming signal has basically formed a bubble in which all of his messages are blocked, even communications."
"He was probably trying to contact someone from the outside or maybe even the entire Federation.
Thanks, that's going to make our mission in Paris much easier." Misato said and Samuel asked:
"Paris? I remember Asuka mentioning that there was a base of sorts there right? Well we did hit you quite badly when we crashed."
"You are correct."
"Anyway, tonight the Slayer is going on a mission to bring a drone controlled by VEGA to the village, which means that you will be able to speak with us without him being present.
Our current objective is to go back through the portal that we came from to fix some top priority issues that we left unresolved, but after that I believe that we will be free to help you in your mission if what we have been told is actually the truth."
"That's… awfully generous of you if I say so myself." Misato replied with a bit of surprise in her voice and VEGA then said:
"Well, we have an inclination towards helping other people… I'm sure that you will understand better once Kensuke sends to you our explanation on what has happened to us and why we are here."
Then the man next to the Slayer showed to the camera the cassette which was holding their conversation and said:
"It's going to take a while to send it over given how bad the signal is and how far you are… actually where are you right now?"
"We are just on the outskirts of Paris, in five minutes our resupply operation will begin." Ritsuko answered.
"Alright, I'll leave you alone then. I don't know how long it will take to send it over, but I say not more than a couple of hours.
See you soon Captain Katsuragi."
"Likewise, take care of Asuka. And keep an eye on Ikari too."
"Don't worry, the last giant robot in the area was eaten by the Matriels a while ago, so we're safe. Until next time."
He then waved away before shutting down the connection and loading the audio file into the system.
Once he was done, he said:
"Alright, don't touch it until it's done and there are going to be no problems.
Now, if I may ask, what's that urgent thing you have to go back to Urdak for?"
And so Samuel replied:
"Since the Slayer killed the Khan Maykr, there is now an imbalance of power and the demons have invaded the realm, threatening to take it over.
We plan on sending both the Slayer and VEGA there so that they can send away the demons and lock the dimension away from their influence for the foreseeable future. But, until our ship is in top condition again, we'll be stuck here."
"Oh,well I guess that you should enjoy yourselves if you stop by here, we got some nice sights and the wildlife is… pretty interesting."
"You mentioned some Matriels earlier, what are they?"
"It's not an official name, but it's how we've decided to call them.
You see, not all of the angels back during the Angel War awakened from their sleep and one of them was Matarael.
This particular angel was originally found still asleep near a chemical production facility, but before anyone could work on it the post impact wars began.
In the crossfire, that facility was destroyed, releasing tons of toxic and radioactive waste inside the lake that the angel was in.
The core of the creature changed to adapt to such radiation and its body along with it.
Due to this, it gained the ability to reproduce by laying eggs and it's from these that the Matriels that I told you about come from.
While in the past it was considered a threat, now it has lost any incentive in completing its original mission and it focuses only on protecting its offspring.
We believe that I can even understand us humans to some degree, but we haven't visited it in a while as the toxicity levels in that area have grown too much.
Since we stopped visiting, the small Matriels have been spotted around the area, concentrating on the wreck of that mark 5 that Asuka destroyed all those years back.
Talking about Asuka… Where is she?"
"Shikinami walked away from here after the communication was shut down, I saw her head towards the path in the forest."
Hearing this VEGA said: "It's better if we go search for her, we need to act fast if she has one of her attacks."
The Slayer nodded and ran in her direction, but as he was about halfway through the path where it branched off towards the cemetery or the small lake, he noticed a trail of small footsteps taking the secondary road.
He followed them, getting an idea by now of where she could have gone.
Graveyard
And his assumptions were confirmed once he saw her sitting by the destroyed sanctuary. He slowed down, eventually stopping a few meters behind her.
She didn't seem to have noticed him, or at least she didn't decide to do anything about it.
So he slowly walked closer until he was right next to her, which is when she said:
"I'd like to be left alone."
And VEGA replied:
"We were worried about your health given your current situation."
"Well as you can see I'm fine, so leave me alone."
The Slayer didn't move an inch.
"I said go away! I don't want to see anyone now."
The wind blowing through the forest was the only sound which followed that sentence.
"Can you hear me? I said go away."
The sun which until then had been keeping their bodies warm was suddenly obscured by a dark cloud, a signal of things to come.
"... I just want to be alone dammit, is it too hard to understand?!"
Thunder can be heard in the distance.
"If you are going to just stay there… Can you at least do me a favor and search for a photograph in those ruins?"
He handed it to her, along with her old clips.
"Wait, why do you ha-... It was you who destroyed this, right?"
"Last night." Samuel replied.
"I should have figured…
Hey, Slayer, can I ask you something?"
She said as she grabbed her knees and brought them to her chin, then she added:
"But I want you to respond, not the other two, I'm tired of this shit."
The Slayer didn't make any movement that could be interpreted as a response, while another thunder was heard in the distance.
"Alright… Can you please tell me why?
Why are you helping me specifically? Why did you send me that message inside the cap and later that video!? Why do you care so much about me without any kind of true reason? Why don't you just go away and let me stay alone like everyone else?!
Just… Why are you doing all of this to me?"
Almost ten entire minutes passed without an answer from him, making Asuka think:
"Congratulations Shikinami, you sent him away too, now you're finally alone again."
That was until he heard him remove his helmet, just as a lightning bolt appeared in the distance.
She didn't have the courage to turn around and look at him as she heard the piece of armor fall to the ground.
"Sorry if I bothered you so much Asuka, it's just that… I was never able to give her the goodbye she deserved and… When you started acting just like her I… couldn't bear it anymore.
God every time you talk to Shinji you remind me of the concentration camp where I met her and my heart simply couldn't resist all the memories that were coming back.
It was a moment of weakness, I know, but I simply wanted to avoid another person like her to suffer as much as she did…"
"W-what do you mean?"
"You're like an open book to me sometimes Asuka, it's as if I've known you for thirty years already. I feel like I traveled back in time actually."
"Am I the only one?... I noticed you act strange around Shinji too."
It took him a while, but then, he replied:
"About Shinji… Do you know… how hard it is, to look at someone like you as they suffer without a way to defend themselves?
"Unfortunately I do."
"Shinji for me is like looking at a broken mirror, but I want to help him in any way I can, so that he never ends up looking just like me.
Who knows, maybe what happened for me and my wife could repeat itself for you two, hm?"
She didn't reply to that and a moment later, he let out a tired sigh as he continued:
"When I entered hell for the third time, way before I met up with Samuel and VEGA, did you know why I did it?"
The air had gotten cold now and the wind was picking up speed.
"I had already lost everything at that time, except for my strength to fight. But I needed a mission, anything that could keep me going forward in that suicidal attempt to try and hold out as much as possible.
And as I stood before that damned portal, it came to me.
I was going to make sure that no one ever suffered like I did ever again, no matter who they were, I was going to protect everyone from the worst pains that this universe had to offer, so that only I could know what they felt like.
And, in doing so I also swore to annihilate anyone who dared to stop me."
It began raining and he put his helmet back on again, finding that Asuka had stood up already.
He remembered one last thing before he began to walk back to Kensuke's house and took out Asuka's hat.
He gave it back to her, feeling his lips move upwards by the smallest amount.
In the fortress a dead silence remained, even if they hadn't heard anything, both Samuel and VEGA knew perfectly what happened.
After the storm, village main square
"Why are we here?" VEGA asked and Kensuke replied:
"I got a message that our monthly resupply train would stop by soon, so I wanted to let you see the unloading process… And also to ask the Slayer if he could please help us.
It's a really enormous train, with over two hundred carriages filled to the brim, so it always takes a while to unload everything,even if it's mostly empty by the time it gets here since we're the last village it goes through."
The Slayer let out a sigh before giving a thumbs up as he thought:
"I protect you, but that doesn't mean I'm free labor dammit.
Hey uhm… I'm not a real expert on trains, but isn't it coming up a bit too fast?"
He shook Kensuke's shoulder to make him notice the anomaly and a moment later his eyes widened, while his hands immediately picked up the radio as he asked:
"Kensuke here to the Control tower, isn't the train coming in too fast? Copy."
"Kensuke, sir! The pilot has been killed! We can see blood in the cabin! Evacuate the area!"
"Shit." He said as he turned off the radio and began shouting at the others nearby to run as far away as they could.
But suddenly his radio came to life again as the man in the control tower said:
"Kensuke, someone is running on the tracks! It's that new guy that you told us about! Does he have a death wish!?"
"Wait the Slayer is where?!" The man replied, noticing the green silhouette just over the tracks in the distance.
Train tracks
"Trains speed and approximate terrain composition have been calculated, if everything goes smoothly there will be no damage to the village.
Stop fifty meters ahead and then wait for impact."
VEGA said as the Slayer immediately slowed down to a complete standstill and lowered his shoulders while putting both of his hands forward.
He could feel the wood and metal shaking under him, but if he wasn't able to stop the vehicle, who knows how much damage it would have caused.
His mind went silent when VEGA announced:
"Ten seconds until impact…
…
Seven seconds
…
Five, four, three, two, one… impact!"
The man looked up and strengthened all of his muscles.
Play:[Fate] Evangelion 2.0 OST
The ground and the tracks began to crack as the Slayer was pushed back by the immense force of the thousands of tonnes of metal and resources that were trying to run him over.
"Five hundred meters to the village.
Two hundred and fifty.
One hundred.
Fifty meters."
But he was going to have none of it.
He stomped one of his feet on the ground, locking himself in place as the entire train collided against an immovable object.
He stood immobile as carriages were flung left and right due to the inertia they carried, while the locomotive itself was starting to fall apart given that the engines were still running at full speed.
He felt the terrain start cracking, knowing that while he could hold the position, the earth under him couldn't.
So, as the corners of his vision turned red, he grabbed the front of the machine and let out a powerful scream of anger then he lifted it up.
He used his strength to launch it into the rest of the train, causing so much damage that the fuel exploded, causing most of the train wagons to fall away and stop.
But other three instead were sent flying right towards the main wall of the village, threatening to smash right through it.
He took out the ballista and sniped one of them, completely annihilating it.
Then he used the meat hook to fly to the closest one and he delivered a powerful blood punch right into its side.
Finally, as he began to fall back down, he saw the last wagon heading right for him and without a second thought, he fired a rocket straight into it.
He felt the explosion surround him, but his armor did its job and he landed shortly after, cracking the ground once more as the chaos died down.
[Music slowly fades away]
He stood up, looking at the enormous wreckage around him.
The tracks were all over the place, with wagons torn open or even ripped in half.
Nothing was left of the locomotive except for some pieces of its hull.
Gone were the giant engines and probably even the corpse of the dead driver.
"May he rest in peace." The Slayer thought as he began getting closer to one of the opened wagons.
"I'm seeing a distinct lack of… supplies in here Slayer." Samuel said and he was right, not even a single of the carriages that had been torn open or destroyed had let out any.
He gestured back to the Control tower, showing them that he was requesting others to come check out the wreck.
Thankfully, Kensuke was already on his way with a couple of engineers, all of them still shocked beyond belief for what that single man had just accomplished.
Together they began to check every wagon and sure enough, they were all empty. The supplies that the village needed for an entire month, gone.
"Everyone come here, I think I found something." A technician said, pointing to a piece of the locomotive's hull that was differently colored from the rest.
On it there was in fact a spray drawn mark of the Human Instrumentality Federation.
Seeing this Kensuke said to the Slayer:
"With this it makes all sense now. That mark, the way it was sprayed on the hull.
It's all the work of a group of pirates that have their base further north, not too far from the train tracks.
We know about them, but we can't do anything about it. Wunder could take them on easily, but they're too busy with their own mission to worry about us.
It's my theory that they raided the train, took everything and then sent it at full speed to crash into us… A lot of people would have died if it wasn't for you Slayer.
Still… We lost a lot of supplies today… I guess that we should start sorting rations for everyone again."
"This isn't the first time that it has happened?" Samuel asked and Kensuke replied:
"No, unfortunately, but as I said, we just can't do anything about it."
With that the conversation died as they all made their way back to the village, not noticing for how long the Slayer stared at the hill that covered the view of the pirate outpost.
That night, Suzuhara house
"It's ready! Everyone please sit down." Hikari said as she brought dinner on the table, followed closely by Tsubame.
She had to prepare a lot more ramen than usual given the three guests, but they were her old classmates so she had no problems with it. There was also the Slayer, but given that soon food would start running low, he opted to not eat this time since he didn't need to.
He was sitting on the couch in the room, seemingly deep in thought as his face was completely obscured.
His entire figure was in perfect contrast with Hikari's house, and herself, but there was one thing that could get the attention of both of them.
The Slayer raised his gaze, noticing that Tsubame was looking at him with a confused face. Once she noticed this, she climbed on his right foot and tried her best to get on top of the couch much to her parent's amusement.
"It seems that she likes you Slayer." Toji said as the man picked up the baby and brought her closer to his face.
The two locked eyes for a moment, before the small girl began giggling and throwing her hands on the glass of his visor.
He moved a finger to stop her, making her grab it with all her baby strength.
No one saw his face at the time, but if they could, they would have seen a bright smile that hadn't shined in far too long.
"It's been so long since I dealt with a baby… I actually forgot how cute these little bastards are.
Let's see if I can make you laugh a bit more."
He moved her on his legs, making her sit down as she looked at him with an open mouth and a confused face.
Then he used one of his hands to start rubbing her belly, making the small child start giggling uncontrollably.
The adults laughed as their child's cry of joy eased their souls a little bit, distracting them from the imminent troubles they would soon face.
Then suddenly, the door opened and an elderly man entered the room.
"Oi Toji, you've got to listen to what happened yesterday night at the shop.
It was the middle of the night wh- What the hell is this maniac doing here! And why is he touching your daughter Hikari!?
Get out of this house now!"
"Father! You're gonna make Tsubame cry!" Hikari shouted and the man replied:
"I'm not letting this monster stay in my house for one second more, so you mister either get out-" He suddenly pulled out the double barrel shotgun he had with him at the shop.
"Or I'm putting two cartridges in that head of yours."
Total silence fell in the room as the Slayer slowly put down the confused baby and stood up, looking directly into Takeshi's eyes, his imposing figure dominating the poor man simply by being in front of him.
Slowly the shotgun began to tremble and in an instant, the Slayer took it from the old man's hands and unloaded the two shells.
Then he began to walk towards the wall, pushing Takeshi into it as he was now sweating in fear. Once he was pinned against it, the Slayer extended the Doom blade, stopping just a couple of centimeters short of his throat.
His eyes flared a deep red as the old man passed out and fell to the ground from the shock.
Behind him Tsubame had already returned to her mother and as he looked at the hour, he let out a sigh before Samuel said:
"It's best if you start going now… We don't want to arrive too late at night."
The Doom blade was retracted into the holster next to his left hand and he waved a short goodbye to everyone in the room.
"Bye bye." Ayanami replied as he walked outside.
Two hours later, Hikari's room
Hikari was gently rocking Tsubame in her arms to make her fall asleep, while she gently sucked some milk from one of her boobs.
Behind her, Ayanami was standing, growing more curious about the baby each second that passed.
Eventually she asked:
"Why is Tsubame much smaller than other humans?"
"Hm? Oh that's because she only has a couple of months, when humans are very young they are as small as her, but then they grow up as they get older."
"I understand. But what are you doing now? Does it not hurt you that she is biting that sensitive area?"
"Not at all, she's getting milk from me because she needs it to grow. Babies can't grow up very well without the milk from their mothers."
Rei looked down at her own breasts, raising them up a bit. Hikari noticed this and said:
"Do you think that you would make a good mother, Rei?"
She blushed at the thought, but the pale girl couldn't understand why at all.
"I- I do not know."
"Come here, I want you to do something."
She obliged and sat on her knees next to Hikari, noticing that Tsubame was now asleep.
"Try rocking her like I was doing a moment ago, okay?"
"I am not sure, I do not know how to do it properly."
"Don't worry, it will come naturally."
After saying this, Ayanami slowly took the baby in her arms and when she tried recreating Hikari's movements, to her surprise she found it extremely easy.
A smile came to her face as she felt a strange sense of warmth arise within her. She looked at the baby in her arms, finding relief in watching it sleep peacefully.
She didn't know where these feelings were coming from, but she didn't want them to stop.
A moment later, a spying redhead fled the scene, walking away with turmoil in her head.
After stopping inside the bathroom, she undressed completely, looking at herself as she thought:
"Is there something more than… being a pilot?… If NERV's doll can be a mother, then what can I be?"
Her mind was blank.
"There has to be something that I can do without the use of the evangelion right? I'm not useless without it!
I can't do any job, I can't be a mother dammit I can't even medicate others all that well!
Is there anything that I can do besides being a pilot!?
…
Wait.
I-I tried doing something else once…
I remember I tried cooking… But why?
It was fourteen years ago… I could have had lots of reasons to-"
Suddenly she noticed the photograph sticking out of her jacket on the ground and her eyes widened at the realization:
"Of course… I was doing it for him… to thank him for that bento that he made that day…
I mean it was just a stupid bento made by a stupid boy… Why is it so stuck in my head?!
Could it be… his smile? His clothes? The surroundings? The way he's giving me the bento? The-...
Everything about him… is stuck in my head.
And for the life of me I can't understand why!"
She was about to punch the glass in front of her when suddenly someone knocked on the door. It was a slow and weak knock and given that the old man had gone asleep, for her it belonged to only one person.
"Baka don't enter!"
She heard him exoskeleton moving behind the door for a moment, then he replied:
"Oh- S-S-sorry Asuka! I didn't think that you were naked."
"Wait who told you that I am naked!?"
She shouted, feeling a sharp pain in her throat as she began falling to the ground.
Shinji heard this and decided that violating her privacy was less important than her life, despite how much Kaworu was trying to subtly stop him.
However, just as he opened the door to help her, he looked at her neck, seeing the DSS choker around it.
And as the images of Kaworu's death flashed in his mind, his stomach gave out, making all the dinner from earlier rise back through his esophagus.
He fell down too, feeling weak as the vomit numbed his mind and muscles, incapable of doing anything as Asuka's cough got worse and worse.
That was until a small spark was lit for a moment inside of him, it's heat taking full control over his heart and brain. It gave him a single, yet simple objective.
To Save Asuka.
He felt his exoskeleton almost move on his own as he grabbed the fallen mask and almost slammed it into her face, holding it there with as much force as was left in his body.
Finally, after what felt to him like an eternity, she stopped coughing, now only trembling from the pain.
And in that moment, Asuka looked Shinji in the eyes, though they looked different from usual.
They were still the cobalt blue oceans her mind couldn't get rid of, but she could see that there was something new behind them, something powerful.
She had never seen someone look at her like that except…
That thought was stopped as Shinji's skin suddenly lost all color and in his last moments before almost losing consciousness, he lunged himself towards the toilet, emptying his dinner there as Asuka watched him silently while sitting behind him.
Once he was done, he laid his head sideways on the toilet seat, that spark now feeling like a distant memory.
After getting some much needed fresh air, he slowly began turning around to look at her. However, to not risk him seeing the choker again, she grabbed the nearest towel and put it on her neck, covering it up.
She didn't care about her nakedness, or at least not at the moment as she helped him back to his feet and washed his face.
Despite the towel, he still wasn't looking at her.
"Because now he knows it's there… Dammit, why does everything go against me every time! Can't I have something good for once? Can't I-"
She suddenly noticed his face regain color, almost as if he had 'woken up' in front of her. With his senses back, Shinji turned completely red once he realized Asuka's state of clothing.
She quickly pushed him out of the bathroom and closed the door by putting her back against it.
Then she slided down to the ground and brought her knees up to her face, where a devilish grin had formed.
"He still reacts to my body, I finally win something! This feels awesome! I want to see that red face of his more often!
Because it signifies a personal victory for me of course. I mean as it's not like I want to show him my body willingly or anything.
I just want him to react to me.
Still, his body did feel warm when I was helping him clean up… "
In the middle of the night, train control station
"Why the hell are we still here? The tracks were destroyed today. It's not as if there are any more trains coming, right?
Oi, are you listening to me or what?"
"Huh? Sorry sorry, I was just reflecting a bit on the history of this place."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, did you know that this village was built upon the ruins of an old evangelion base?"
"What the-... no way."
"It is the truth, and it wasn't any base either. We're standing on what once was territory owned by the Matsushiro NERV base."
"Wait… isn't that the base where that incident happened? The one that got Shikinami almost killed?"
And the older man replied:
"You see that hill over there? Where the tracks turn to the left? And disappear behind it?
… Fourteen years ago, I was a security officer at that base and my station was right here. Looking at that fucking hill over there.
And don't you know it, I was there on the day of the incident, I saw with my own eyes that black monster emerge from behind that hill and then I got a first row seat for the entire battle.
The sounds of that day still ring in my head from time to time, that boy's screams as the purple monstrosity crushed the entry plug keep me up at night.
And sometimes… I get visions of that black evangelion, walking out from behind that hill, staring at me with its red eyes."
"I think that I understand what you're saying. I'm seeing it too."
"Wait what? The hell are you saying?"
"Look, over there, a black silhouette with red eyes has just appeared over the tracks."
"Hold on a second." He said as he grabbed his binoculars to have a closer look.
Then he added:
"That's not unit 03 you idiot,that's the Slayer! It looks like he's back from his trip with the drone we were told about.
Still his armor is a bright green, why is it so hard to see right now?
Let's get on the roof for a moment, there's a lantern we can use."
A moment later
Play:[At Doom's gate] Doom 2016 OST
"Alright let me turn it on… there it's shining on him. So do you see anything unusual?" The young man asked his superior, but he didn't say anything.
"Helloo? Did you fall asleep or what?"
"He's covered in blood….
The drone next to him is clean, but he's full of it… He must be coming from the pirate outpost...Oh God don't tell me that-."
The man began to tremble in fear.
"What were you saying? Come on, spit it out!"
"He has a detonator in his left hand and… Oh my God he's going to activate-"
[Song Drop]
His sentence was cut short as the sky was turned as bright as day, while a gigantic pillar of light rose hundreds of kilometers in the air from behind the further hill.
An N2 mine had just exploded.
Soon after the shockwave hit the village, waking up everyone as the sounds of the explosion everyone was familiar with echoed through the empty valley.
And as it died down, the young man said:
"There's the pirate outpost behind that hill! That was the mine they had stolen months ago!"
"No, you're wrong." The older man replied.
"What!?"
"There was an outpost behind that hill… however I believe that…
No pirate was alive to witness the explosion back there… He had already killed all of them…
Whatever he- that thing is… We just saw what happens to those who are against him."
[Music fades away]
A moment of silence followed, until the young man said while looking at the Slayer with his binoculars:
"He's carrying something with a cable, it looks heavy… could it be that. He's carrying the supplies they stole us! He's pulling a train wagon with that cable!
Hooray our problems are solved!"
"Do you understand how much blood was just shed for those supplies? And you're celebrating?"
"I know what happened a moment ago.
I'm just celebrating because he considers us his allies enough to go to such lengths.
It's just like that old saying went, ``repay your allies ten times more and hurt your enemies a hundred times more``."
"I'm not sure it really said that… but whatever, I'll go open the gate, then go pray to whatever God still exists to thank them for keeping me alive."
"I…
I think that I'll do the same."
TO BE CONTINUED