Record That

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN EVANGELION, NOR ANY OF THE SONGS! DON'T SUE ME!

Chapter 8: Empathy

Once he was out of sight, Gendo stumbled into one of the nearby bathrooms. He couldn't be seen like this, but his stomach disagreed with him. As soon as the door closed, the man fell to his knees next to the toilet and upchucked. Not since his childhood had he ended up like this, but the nightmare vision of the future was still fresh in his mind.

As the last bit of vomit drained from his mouth. Gendo flushed the toilet, stood up, turned to the sink, and began to freshen up. Fortunately, he didn't get any of it on his clothes. Though the color had yet to fully return to his face. For the first time in a long, long while, Gendo looked uncomfortable. It was by a stroke of luck that he managed to hold out for this long.

Last time, he wasn't so lucky. As he stared in the mirror, he remembered the first time he went sick like this. He ended up in a nearby bathroom, just like now, looking in the mirror and contemplating the future. Except, there wasn't much for a child to contemplate on. Their view of the future is as far as tomorrow. Yet at the age of seven, Gendo was forced to mature, in the face of a God.

"Isn't it beautiful, Gendo?" His father asked.

The child looked up at the crucified white giant. It was leaking a strange orange substance from its bleeding palms. The head slumped and looking down, with the mask of seven eyes staring at the two of them. Poor Gendo was still in his school uniform, while his father was in a long trench coat and a military uniform.

He didn't know who to be more intimidated by, the dead God or the soulless father. So, he responded the best he could.

"It's…nice." Gendo said nervously.

"How so?" The father asked.

He was putting his child on the spot. Pressuring him to navigate his father's psyche to properly please not only him, but the higher ups secretly watching them.

"Um…uh, it's nice in a…way of sight." He didn't exactly know what he was saying.

"You mean nice from a certain perspective?"

"Yes." Gendo responded immediately, not knowing what he just agreed to.

He found out the hard way, when his father slapped him across the face. The boy cried, but immediately stopped when he looked into the eyes of his father. The color didn't seem to be there anymore. All those lenses were now, were black holes of judgeful spite.

"There is no other perspective, Gendo. This is a matter of fact, this is the source of all life on the planet. The world truly revolves around this. And you say that it's only beautiful when you look at it a certain way?"

Gendo wanted to cry again, but he feared he might receive another slap if he did. When all the child could do was stay silent, his father answered it for him.

"It's beautiful, whether you like it or not. Now, let's prove that you've acknowledged that beauty."

The father turned to one of the nearby pools of orange fluid. From under his coat, he pulled out a small cup. He then filled it with liquid, toasted to the giant, then drank from it. Once he was done, he filled it again and brought it over to the scared child.

Gendo was forced to take the cup, for the eyes were watching him. With a shaking hand, he did the same gesture and slowly brought it to his lips. At first, he took just a sip, the liquid tasted rich, thick, and salty. The boy was disgusted by it and wanted to be done drinking it. Yet, his father kept watching him.

Expectations were set on him, and if he failed them, he would be punished. All he had to do was drink from the cup. So, he forced it down, gulping all of it in one swallow. Then, as he nearly teared up at the disgusting taste. The boy looked to his father for approval. Which he did not find, only a static stare and stone faced expression.

Was he happy? Was he disappointed? Gendo couldn't tell. Eventually, the boy couldn't take it and ran away. He didn't care if there were others watching. His insides felt like they wanted to be on the outside. Once away from the giant, he found a bathroom and barely made it to the toilet in time.

There, he puked up the orange liquid he just drank. He cried as he did so, thinking that he was now alone. The boy wanted a drink of water, so he stumbled over to the sink. There in the mirror, he saw himself, covered in the fluid. He looked scared, he looked weak, and he didn't want to be that way anymore.

The boy stared at himself in the mirror for a long while, confused, mouth slightly agape. Just taking in the mess that he was. Eventually, his father found him. The man was disappointed in what he saw. Shaking his head and putting his hand up to the bridge of his nose.

"If you can not drink the blood of our lord. You shall not be worthy." The man said.

"That wasn't blood." Gendo responded, not even looking his father in the eyes.

"It is blood, it is the blood of the Gods and all of that which is human."

"That wasn't blood. Blood is red."

The father then came over and spun his son to face him.

"Blood can be whatever the Gods want it to be!" The father shouted at him.

Gendo wasn't phased by it. When he looked at his father, all he saw was yet another mirror. Another version of him, another weak and scared boy.

"Blood is blood, father. Nothing will change that."

He couldn't remember much after that, but the last thing he could see before he blacked out was being on the ground. Where he saw red everywhere. Now, he felt comfortable, the boy knew what this was. Gendo welcomed the redness to overtake him.

"At least this tastes like it should."

As the memory faded, Gendo coughed a little. Though instead of a little flem coming out of his throat. Blood stained the sink and mirror. Was this an illusion? Or was he now incredibly sick? He couldn't tell, and he didn't care. The man cleaned up the blood, drank some water and took a long deep breath.

He then practically stormed out of the bathroom, making his way to the Central Dogma as fast as he could. Gendo arrived in around a minute or so, just in time to see the EVA being fully prepped. With Shinji inside it, as well as consciousness. The women seemed to have pulled off the impossible.

As Gendo approached, Kozo and the three bridge personnel took notice.

"What the Hell is going on!? I just saw the footage!" Kozo practically yelled.

"Everything is under control. Now what's the status of our pilot and the EVA."

Gendo's calmness did bring the feeling of tenseness down in the room. Though the questions still kept coming even after a couple of updates.

"Vitals are fine, and Shinji even managed to move over the synch limit to around forty percent!" Maya said. "Do…do you think it has something to do with the clone of him?"

Her nervousness was understandable, but unwelcome in the face of Gendo's disapproval. Though even that didn't stop the two other men from asking questions of their own.

"We couldn't even find its energy readings on the censors. Is it even related to the Angels? It does seem to be hostile to us." Makoto speculated.

"No, it has to be something else. Something beyond this world. Though what it is, I can not even fathom. It's like something out of a novel. What we should really be asking is what it wants?" Shigeru added on.

"What it wants is to toy with us." Gendo said, catching the attention of everyone. "If you could not tell this from how it approached and tortured, yet didn't kill our main pilot. Then I suggest that you seriously consider the positions we have given you. Focus on what needs to be done now, which is dealing with the Angel that threatens our existence. We shall deal with this juvenile deity that refuses to actually pose any real threat later."

His speech, tone, and appearance set everyone straight. As long as he seemed to be calm, then they should follow suit. The three bridge personnel who had possessed those questions, made sure to apologize to the ever watchful and disappointed Gendo. They then turned back to their screens and gave continuing updates on the EVA.

Kozo gave Gendo a humble look, as he wondered if the man had completely given up on his humanity. For the sake of guiding everyone into what they had all agreed was a better future.

"I made sure to cut out the footage of you stumbling into the bathroom." Kozo told Gendo softly, as to not draw attention.

"As well as my talk with Shinji near the escalators?" Gendo asked.

"Of course."

"Good, I will catch you up on everything that happened later."

"Aside from what the thing showed you, Doctor Akagi and Major Katsuragi. I believe I already have an idea of what's going on."

"No, you don't. It's much more…tortuous, than you could ever understand."

Kozo got goosebumps, but made sure to keep his face as flat as possible. If this thing, whatever it was, managed to strike fear into Gendo. Then it was something that he prayed to not face alone. Soon, Misato and Ritsuko came in, both looked very tired.

A FEW MINUTES EARLIER

After Shinji was loaded into the entry plug, Misato and Ritsuko quickly made their way up to the Central Dogma. Though along the way, the doctor didn't hesitate at telling her friend what she saw.

"Misato, I saw my mother's death back there."

The Major kept walking, though did give a sympathetic reaction.

"The reflection showed me Kaji's death, and me being the cause of it."

Ritsuko stopped dead in her tracks. Causing Misato to do the same, but in somewhat confusion. As difficult as it was, they had a job to do, and Shinji needed their help up at central command. Though Ritsuko stood still, giving a look that she was piecing everything together.

"I'm sorry to ask this of you, but….how did you cause his death?"

Misato took a slight bit of offense at that, but started to understand as well. Though she continued to let Ritsuko take the lead on this one.

"It…It was a bit hazy, but….I pushed him away again. Like the last time, I just couldn't accept his love for me. He reminded me too much of my father. Because of that, I think, he let himself get shot. By whom, I couldn't tell you."

She didn't intend to say that much, but once she got started it seemed to just poor out of her. Like turning on a faucet that had been turned off for a while. Meanwhile, Ritsuko continued to think.

"I saw my mother's death. I watched her as she hit the second floor of the central dogma, breaking her neck. Except…except…..when I looked closer at her body, it was me instead. Or at least, I thought it was me, the thing took away my blonde hair for some damn reason. Without it, I'm almost a one for one physical copy of her. And because of that, I thought it was her who was being shot by Commander Gendo, but no. That can't be right."

Ritsuko was rambling and looking at the floor with her fingers up to her chin. Because of that, Misato was a bit lost at her thought process. So she took the initiative, and began walking again.

"Come on, Rits. Walk and think."

Ritsuko did as she asked. Though she didn't say anything until they finally reached an elevator. Once in there, she fully formed the idea.

"It's showing us the future." She finally said.

There was a bit of silence, until Misato went over and stopped the elevator with the emergency stop button. Catching Ritsuko off guard for a second. When the doctor looked up from thinking again, she was being looked at by the Major's stern serious business face that she only wore for situations like this.

"So," Misato said, her voice stern. "What do you suggest we do?"

Ritsuko stumbled on her words for a minute. Muttering out gibberish and looking like she was about to have a mental breakdown.

"Rits!" Misato shouted, putting her hands on her friend's shoulders. "Focus."

The doctor took a deep breath in response. Gestured for Misato to put her hands down. Then, she looked down to the floor.

"I don't know. This information is far too vague for us to start changing things." Ritsuko said.

"Bullshit!" Misato responded, shocking her friend. "I know now what happens if I push Kaji away again! And I am NOT going to let that happen! This thing, whatever it is, good or evil, it's giving us a chance! A way to change our future! I just wish it didn't have to torture Shinji in order to do it."

Misato went back to the elevator control panel, then turned around.

"I have the information I need. You have your info as well. If you need help, just ask, but don't hide anything. No more of this top secret, for higher ups only stuff. I can't help you if I don't know the full picture."

Misato then hit the button to let the elevator start moving again.

"Got it." Ritsuko sighed. "Gendo also had a vision of the future. One where the Angels won, though I doubt it will change his ways."

"That's understandable." Misato responded.

"After this battle, invite me over to your place. Or you come to mine, and make sure to bring Shinji."

Misato gave Ritsuko a concerned look.

"I know, but there's something I have to ask him. And if he says what I think he's going to say. Then he deserves to know this too, after all, it's his father that kills me." Ritsuko said.

They shared an understanding glance between them. Causing them both to slightly relax, both now leaning against the wall.

"The bet is still on. You can order me a pizza." Misato said, jovially.

Ritsuko smirked.

"I might as well. Because I think we both lost." Ritsuko responded.

"What do you mean?" Misato asked.

"If it's showing us the future in such precise detail." The elevator doors opened. "Well, you do the math." Ritsuko then walked out of them.

Misato followed after her, taking in what she just said. Making her feel even more concerned about Shinji's fate. The two eventually arrived in the Central Dogma, where the bridge crew and the two commanders verbally greeted them or simply nodded. Maya in particular was quick to talk to Ritsuko.

"Sensi, oh no, he really did take out your blonde hair."

Before someone could scold her for being emotional in a time of seriousness. Ritsuko simply put her hand on her shoulder and smiled.

"Don't worry, it's just my hair. I'm sure I look passable without it."

She didn't intend to make Maya blush with that, but she did find it charming. Misato so desperately wanted to say 'Oh, get a room, you two.' But she made sure to remain professional. Asking for a status report from Makoto.

He informed her that Shinji's synchronization was effective. And that the EVA was about ready for launch, all they needed was to fill the entry plug.

"Patch us in." Misato commanded.

Shinji was getting dizzy, he was constantly squeezing the controls over and over. Trying to keep himself level inside the pilot seat. While his visions of the future included going out to battle. They didn't include the controls for the robot. This naturally made him very nervous, but his dazed state made him look calmer than he really was. This helped when the screen showed everyone in a control center looking at him.

"Are you alright, Shinji?" Misato asked.

"No, but thanks for asking." Shinji said halfheartedly.

He didn't know how cool this made him sound, thanks to the nauseousness making his voice sound deeper. Misato laughed a little, and gave the order to start filling the tank with LCL. Shinji heard the sound of liquid filling the entry plug, at first he was scared, but then he realized that, if this was it. If they had just lured him here only to kill him. Why not just accept it?

The people in the Central Dogma told him to stay calm and just let the fluid fill his lungs. Shinji didn't even listen, he even stuck his head in as it filled the tank. He inhaled the liquid, expecting his vision to start blurring as the lack of oxygen would've surely done. His expression was calm and collected.

Then, he was a bit confused when he realized that he wasn't dying. He could still breath, move his body and hear the bridge crew questioning him.

"Shinji! Are you alright!?" Misato asked.

"Yeah," Shinji said, disappointed. "What the Hell is this stuff?"

"LCL, a liquid to help you synchronize with the EVA. You'll still be able to breathe, just let the liquid do its thing." Ritsuko explained.

"Alright, whatever." Shinji said, at this point feeling like he was going to pass out.

"Don't give us that shit, Shinji!" Misato yelled at him, waking him up. "You're about to go into battle, so focus! You're a man now, right!?"

A smirk came to her face. Shinji smiled in return.

"Fine, then stop talking and launch me."

The Central Dogma staff gave the orders to start moving the EVA into position. Shinji realized this was like something out of a video game. Which would've been cool, if he actually played those. Plus, he didn't think that video games included the same g-force and motion sickness that this thing was giving him.

Soon, the EVA was propped up onto the launching platform. The ceiling hatches all opened and the launching unit revved up.

"Evangelion Unit-01 is ready to launch!" Shigeru said.

With that, Misato turned to Gendo.

"Do I have command on this one?" She asked.

"Of course, we must stop the Angels." He responded.

Shinji heard this and sighed. He looked at the screen to his father. The two shared a cold glare at each other, showing no real emotion. Like father, like son. Shinji then whispered something, no one could hear him, but his lips did move. Gendo could tell what he said, reading lips was an important skill of his.

"I'm sorry." Shinji whispered.

"LAUNCH!" Misato shouted.

Nurse Hanako did one final test on Rei's vitals to see that she was alright. After confirming one last time that she wasn't going into a coma. She left the young girl alone to rest. Passing by the security guards stationed at her door. The nurse gave them a nod to indicate that everything was alright and that no one was to enter.

The footsteps of the nurse walking down the hall echoed through the hospital. Until eventually silence filled the building once again. Though not entirely, there was always the slight sound of breathing from the guards. Or even an odd noise due to the building settling or an object dropping. These small noises are things we take for granted, and expect to awaken too.

Except, Rei didn't awaken to these sounds, she awakened to total and complete silence. No one knows the fear of silence, until they hear a complete and utter lack of sound in every direction. Leading to the only thing being audible is the sound of your breath and heartbeat. If one were to hear this, they'd slowly go insane.

Rei Ayanami on the other hand, simply kept her eyes shut when she sensed that something was out of place. She stayed completely still, and noticed the faint scent of staleness in the air. As if the air had barely moved at all. Rei then tried to sense the presence of other people. She indeed found them, there were multiple guards stationed by, but they weren't breathing. Not only that, she could detect even the slightest bit of motion on people sometimes. The guards weren't moving at all, as if they had been petrified.

Time had truly stopped around her, and she knew why. So, she kept her eyes closed and waited. Ready for when it may appear, so that she may be able to observe it properly. Instead of allowing it to be right next to her, as if out of nowhere. Doing things to her mental form, a shape she could take to view everything as it was through time. This thing had walked up and kissed her in that form, along with other things she never wanted to feel.

Needless to say, Rei wasn't going to deal with this malicious entity's bullshit. She was going to watch him silently from the shadows, scan for a weakness, and deal with it personally. As she deemed it was a great threat to the scenario. So, when she felt the reflection making its way towards her body. Rei hid her true presence and moved into a corner of the room. She was fully invisible, she had even tested this out on sensors and other people for possible future use.

Nothing could detect her in this form. As she waited for the reflection to appear, she used her abilities to peer through time. Through this she watched as it tortured those it came across. This made her tense, as the reflection of Shinji finally appeared and made its way towards her body. She was behind it, she scanned its body, and found that it was pure energy. A pure, concentrated, and even sentient walking AT field. Holding in very small trace bits of LCL.

Though, something didn't feel right. It felt as if this wasn't even close to its true form. Though she couldn't really focus on that, because she was too busy focusing on what the reflection was doing to her body. At first, all it did was stroke her face and hair, rather gently. Then, ran it's finger over her eye patch, where it snickered a bit.

"You know, it's funny. The first girl I met when I first came here, at least the one who is around my age. Is injured and wearing an eyepatch. Then, at the end of it all, the last girl I'm left with. Is also wearing an eye patch, and her arm is injured as well, go figure."

It was so relaxed when explaining this, pointing to the parts of her that he was elaborating on. Though its voice was surprisingly very raspy. As if it was hard for it to talk, which seemed very odd. As well as this last girl that was spoken of very vaguely. Rei had an idea of who they could be, but she didn't need to wait long in order to confirm it.

"You two even have the same color set. Red and blue, I never realized that until now. Hmph, until now….."

The reflection looked down and away from Rei. Its face was that of contemplation and sadness. This drew Rei's astral projection in, wondering exactly what he's feeling. She felt like she could do this, she's invisible and completely devoid of any life signs in this form. She's safe, she wont be detected. That's what she told herself, that's why it was so scary when the reflection turned to her new form. Not even in the general direction of where she was, he was looking her directly in the eyes.

She gasped and backed away, but then she bumped into something. That was impossible, she was completely intangible in this form. How could she bump into something? It was like before when the reflection groped her. Though this time, she was looking at it. The reflection was in front of her. What exactly was behind her?

Rei turned quickly, to see nothing. She then reached out, and felt a strange barrier in her way. Not even a yellow shaded AT field. The color of it was white, and it rippled at the point where she had bumped into it. Rei then turned around quickly to the reflection, who now was right up next to her. Looking at her with that same cocky smile.

The girl felt short of breath, she felt as if she was going to pass out. Again, in a form that shouldn't even have these weaknesses. It was as if the reflection was making her form more human. She backed up against the barrier, trying to gain some distance between them. The reflection watched her and laughed.

"It truly does amuse me with how scared you are. I assumed that the minute I appeared, you'd be frothing at the mouth for me to take you right here and now."

Rei was disgusted by what he was saying.

"Why should I? I can sense what you truly are. You're a brute, mad with power, and taking it out on those who can't even fight back." Said she.

"So I'm a true God?" It asked, with a snicker.

"Silence, if you had any sense of decency and compassion for the human race. You would simply influence us from the shadows, and guide us down the right path."

Rei was surprised at what she was saying. Where were these emotions coming from? The reflection frowned at her with that comment. Then slowly made its way up to her, soon he was so close he could kiss her. She was tense, wondering why it had suddenly got personal with her on this subject.

"I've already tried that."

Silence, a long silence, as the two stared at each other. Rei didn't know what to feel being in a position like this. She wanted this to stop, but….she also felt something else. A new feeling that she could not explain, due to how illogical it felt. She didn't want this new feeling, she hated him, she was sure of it. The girl wanted to push him away. Though before she could act on it, the reflection pulled itself away just a bit.

"There are trillions upon trillions of possibilities for how the history of humanity will turn out. Yet, with almost everything I've tried. Everything!" It shouted, sounding like its windpipe was about to break. "It always ends badly in some sort of way. Always…."

It leaned in to whisper in her ear.

"Always."

The reflection was truly an unpredictable creature, one moment it would be calm and collected. Then, it would be angry and wrathful, seemingly at the flip of a coin. It was strange, yet absolutely fascinating at the same time. Rei's heart started pounding faster and faster. She wanted it to stop so badly, she should not be feeling this. These feelings were not right for any kind of scenario. The reflection pulled itself back a bit to look her in the eyes again.

"So I decided, why not have a little fun." It's smile returned. "Tell me, have you been focusing on what I have been saying? Or are you focusing on something else?"

Rei nervously nodded, but then elaborated.

"You….you've tried to help us, yet you keep failing. Why? Why do you keep doing this then?"

She thought the question and the answer the reflection would give her, would help as a distraction.

"Because why not? I've got nothing better to do? And if I truly sat on the sidelines and enjoyed all the pleasantries the Earth has to offer. Then it would get boring very quickly."

The reflection's cocky attitude and strange answers were absolutely fascinating. She didn't have any answers on what it was, but she at least had something on what it wanted. What it wanted, was it what she wanted as well?

"Then, why not be gentiler? We could be receptive, we could listen to what you have to say."

"No, you wouldn't." It responded, with a tiny bit of malice. "Humans are stubborn, and unpredictable creatures. They do and feel whatever they want. No matter how much influence you put on them. Like right now, I didn't make you feel attracted to me. You've just never been this close to a boy before, especially one that you find attractive."

Rei reddened up like a tomato, but she wasn't going to be caught off guard by that comment.

"That's a lie." She said as sternly as she could. "It's your aura, this presence that I've felt before when you're around."

"That's just who I am. You have the same thing." The reflection leaned in closer. "You're cold and not very expressive, but you're fair with people. You treat them all the same. Like a doll, in all its best ways. It also helps that you're very beautiful."

It stopped its mouth just a few inches away from her lips.

"People around you find you gorgeous, but out of reach. It makes people intimidated, and put on edge. A doll has very lifeless eyes after all, but do you know what we do with dolls to make them more human?"

Its whispering, raspy, deep voice made Rei shiver in anticipation.

"What?" She asked.

"You take care of them." It responded.

It layed a kiss on her lips. They felt soft and moist. The kiss caused Rei to focus on the reflection's presence yet again. It was as she expected, it had changed. The body of the reflection had turned into something more human, or at least resembling human. Then, she couldn't focus at all, as she felt those same lips that had been making out with her. Making their way down to her neck.

Rei's eyes fluttered, as she moaned in unexpected satisfaction.

It's getting hot in here, so take off all your clothes! I'll be honest, I didn't expect that last bit to get that saucy. I always had it written down that the reflection would seduce Rei, but it would be forceful. I was uncomfortable with the idea at first, but it would make sense with the character.

Though I like this version much better. I hope you did as well. Thanks for all the reviews, make sure you leave more if you want. I appreciate any and all kinds of criticism. Also, WheeZapp, if you're reading this. You've given me something to think about.

Anyway, have a nice day. I hope this story made your day a little bit brighter.