BEFORE
0100 HOURS AFTER SUBJECT BM03's EXTRACTION FROM UNIT 13, POST-APOTHEOSIS
Pocketing the L Barrier device, she sighed.
Goddamn concentration is still too high. Going to have to haul ass a few more miles to find a decent spot to exfil.
She turned to other others who were with her, the Rei iteration silently following, and Shinji a few paces behind, shuffling along.
His face was down, and his shoulders were hunched in. It had been almost an hour and he had not said a word.
Her rage flared up looking at him once again, and she could not stop herself from stomping over, grabbing him by the collar and forcing him to look at her.
"You fucking idiot, don't you ever think before you act?"
He opened his mouth to respond, closing it before looking back down. He mumbled something, barely audible to her.
"I'm sorry."
She grabbed his face, turning his neck so that he was forced to gaze at the wasteland he had created.
"Sorry isn't good enough! Look what you did you fucking brat!"
He remained silent, tears streaming down his face.
"Pathetic."
She let go of him, letting him stagger back as she turned back around to continue moving. Before she could take another step, his meek voice spoke.
"I-I, I didn't know, I just, I just wanted to save Rei."
"At what cost?"
"I didn't- I didn't know this would happen." The sentence was stuttered, broken up by sniffles and hiccups as he cried. Clenching her fists, Asuka made a decision.
SMACK
The force sent him to the ground, a large handprint across his face, surprise on his face.
"You don't get to cry. Not after what you've done." She gestured to the land around her.
"This is all here because you wanted to play the hero. Now stop crying and get up, or I'll do more than smack you."
Wordlessly, he stood up, wiping away the tears and snot, once again silently standing.
"Good. Now, here is what will happen. We are going to go back to the Wunder, and you are going to own up to what you have done. You will spend the rest of your miserable existence in a cell, which is far more generous than what you deserve. Do I make myself clear?" A shaky nod was given as confirmation.
"Now move. Don't make me repeat myself." The venom in her voice was more than enough of a motivator for him. She gave a final comment before they began moving again, anger having loosened her lips.
"If It was my choice, I would have had you killed long ago."
The trek continued in silence, eventually stopping once they reached a hill, where the L concentration was low enough for her to radio in an extract.
Ten minutes later, a VTOL arrived, where the First and Third child were both promptly handcuffed and fitted with explosive collars before being shoved in, rifles trained on them the entire flight. Neither said a word.
Once the flight touched down, armed guards awaited them, roughly pulling out the two ex-pilots.
Leaving the ship only a moment later, she spotted the two leaving the hangar, a pair of guards with rifles aimed at their backs escorting them.
Her mission was complete. The third was going to pay for his crimes, and the threat of an impact was almost nonexistent with him imprisoned.
She had gotten what she wanted, after so many years of waiting.
So why was she still not happy?
PRESENT
"Hey."
Extricating her head from her hands, the form of Mari stood across, a wry smile on her face. Asuka promptly ignored her, placing her head back within her hands.
"Go away."
She heard shuffling as the chair across was moved, confirming her suspicion about the other ignoring her.
"No can do, princess." A soft clink was heard, a bottle filled with an amber liquid placed on the table, along with two glasses.
"Here. Not supposed to really have this, but I'm sure we both could really use this right about now."
Pouring a generous amount, the glass was slid over to the other, who wordlessly accepted it, downing half of it within a single go. She poured herself one, and took a sip.
A moment of silence passed as both quietly let the liquor dull their senses.
Placing her glass back down, Mari decided to break the quiet.
"So. The Puppy's loose again?"
"Mhm."
"Can't really say I blame him after seeing those papers."
"Mhm."
She let a familiar sly grin creep onto her face as a thought crossed her mind.
"Shame, I would have liked to visit him sometime, maybe have a little bit of 'fun' with him. I mean, did you look at the videos? He's a lot bigger now. Probably a lot bigger in another place, too."
"Mhm."
Mari frowned, her familiar tease that would have normally elicited a response of anger from the other, completely ignored. A tactic she had used to help the redhead get out of funks in the past.
Seemed like she was going to have to do this the hard way.
"Princess, I know you miss him." The other's head shifted, raising up just for an angry, bloodshot gaze, to peer out above her hands.
The glare was held for a moment, before eventually being covered once again by her hands.
"No, I don't."
"Yes, you do. Otherwise, you wouldn't be sulking alone in your room like this. You obviously still care for him."
No response.
"You do realize it's okay to miss people, right? Living in denial won't get you anywhere."
Abruptly, the redhead stood up, her gaze cold to the other.
"I'm not doing this right now." She began to walk towards the door, hoping to get away from the other. She couldn't handle this right now.
A hand on her arm halted any further movement by her.
"We are doing this." Her grip tightened as the other began to try and pull away.
"I know you miss him. Stop acting like you don't care about him, because you do. It's okay to feel bad once in a while. I know you said some nasty shit to him."
"I'm fine. Let me go." She pulled harder.
"No."
"Let me go!" Her pitch raised as she turned away, fruitlessly trying to escape the others grip.
Mari said nothing, only letting her continue to pull.
"Let me go, I don't care about him, I don't, I- just let me go, please, just let me go!" Her pitch turned frantic, her breathing raised as she began to hyperventilate, tears beginning to pool despite her efforts.
"Why would I care about that idiot, why w-would I c-care?"
Her struggling slowed as she stopped, letting her arm fall back to her side. She began to sink to her knees as emotions long repressed flooded out.
Tears flowed down her cheeks as the onslaught of guilt came back, the feeling like she had been stabbed in the chest.
After a short moment, she muttered the question that had been eating away at her.
"W-why? What the Hell did they d-do to him? And w-why do I still care?"
So occupied with her conflicting feelings, she almost didn't notice when the arms of her fellow pilot wrapped around her. Her body once again seemingly betraying her, she broke down on the other shoulder, body convulsing with sobs.
Mari said nothing, and only continued hugging the other. Her shoulder was wet with tears.
She wanted to berate the other, remembering the downright horrible things Asuka had said to the other in anger years ago, but not right now.
She knew what regret did to a person. The shadow it created, the way it changed people, almost always for the worse.
She already had Katsuragi as a prime example of that.
She remained in that position for nearly an hour, letting the redhead drop her mask, and for the first time in years, show the scared little girl underneath.