Fate / Lost World
Chapter Ten: For your sake
"Are we there yet?"
"Never expected to hear that sentence from you of all people, class rep. You sound like an impatient, little child", commented the boy instead of answering her question.
"What do you expect? I'm so tired I could fall asleep right here and now." A short glance in her direction was enough to confirm she was telling the truth. Every other second her eyelids shut close for a few seconds before opening again while stumbling ahead one step at a time, almost as if she was drunk.
"I told you to get some sleep on the train."
"I was just too worried about Ayanami", the girl wearing pigtails answered yawning. Walking along the pedestrian path beside the road, the two students slowly made their way to the northern part of Fuyuki. As it was still pretty early in the morning when the sun had just begun to rise, the air was still chilly. The boy had hoped this walk might be enough to clear the class rep's head from the drowsiness.
Unfortunately, the lack of sleep seemed to be more of an issue than he had thought.
At the very least it had helped the boy to wake up, so at least one of them was of sound mind.
"That's why I said taking the night train is a bad idea. Doesn't matter if we save time if you're dead tired when we get off."
"You were right. I'm sorry."
"Just a little further is a hotel where you can rest", the boy answered after the girl's apology while adjusting his backpack and the girl's bag he was carrying for her. Knowing the girl as long as he had, he knew she was sincere in her apology despite the drowsiness in her voice. After all, she was also the type of person to sincerely worry about a girl she was only acquainted with, at best. Even going so far as to travel half the country to bring her back home.
He could see why his best friend had fallen for her as hard as he did.
"I'm sorry, Aida. Even though it was me who suggested to take… that train…" The embarrassment in her words was loud and clear to hear even though her voice was barely more than a whisper.
"Don't worry, class rep. I already thought this might happen." Her being out of commission for some time wasn't that much of a deal anyway. It would give Aida plenty of time to gather information on their target.
A minute of silence passed before her quiet voice asked another question:
"What if… Ayanami leaves Fuyuki before we can catch up to… her?"
It was the second time since leaving the station she had asked this question.
"I'm checking the GPS signal every five minutes but it hasn't moved since yesterday. Looks like she found a place to stay, or at least somewhere to store her stuff. It's pretty close to the hotel where we're going."
"If it's close by… we should just… go to Ayanami… right away…"
"Not until you've got some rest. You can barely walk in a straight line. No way can you talk some sense into her like that."
"Hmm but-"
"We're here." Aida's sudden interruption stopped the girl's words as well as her steps. Slowly her eyes moved on from the ground before her until she could see the front of the building. The boy, anticipating her reaction, had already covered his ears while waiting for the information her eyes provided to finally being processed by her brain.
When there was no reaction after more than 30 seconds Aida was about to open his mouth to explain when-
"ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?!" There it was.
Suddenly all of the girl's exhaustion seemed to be completely blown away from her face. Instead, it had flared up in a bright red colour. Whether it stemmed from extreme embarrassment or pure fury, Aida couldn't tell. Though it most likely was a combination of both, if he had to guess.
After all they were standing in front of a love hotel.
"I want an explanation, Aida! Why are we here?!"
"Did that wake you up?" Surprisingly, despite having earned the ire of his classmate the boy had shown barely any reaction to her outburst. A most unusual reaction from someone who had never once before stuck around to receive one of her outbursts head on.
"What?" It was probably more his uncharacteristic behaviour than his words which made the girl stop and ask.
"As if I would bring you to one of those hotels. I know you would never even take a single step inside them." Which didn't mean he hadn't considered them as an option. They were pretty cheap and only charged per hour which would have helped to save money. But alas his companion was way too strait-laced to ever consider such an accommodation.
Not to mention that his best friend would 100% beat him up for bringing her to such a place.
"Then why…" Seemingly at a loss for words the girl furrowed her brows while trying to wrap her head around the boy's actions. Even though her face didn't show her exhaustion at the moment, it certainly hadn't completely vanished when she couldn't even figure out something simple like that.
"For your sake and mine", Kensuke began and started walking again, "The real place where we're staying is just around the corner but the room is on the fifth floor, and there's no elevator. I'm already carrying your bag, no way I'm also gonna carry you sleepyhead up the stairs to the fifth floor.
Toji would kill me."
"Huh! What does Suzuhara have to do with that?"
The glasses wearing boy knew he had opened a can of worms with that last comment of his. But at least it would keep the class rep busy and awake until they made it up to their room.
"Good morning, everyone."
"Good morning, Vice-Commander." When entering the Central Dogma Maya Ibuki greeted him with her usual cheerful attitude. It was somewhat reassuring to see the woman act no different than usual despite the difficulties of the past few days. Following her lead both of her male co-workers, Hyuga and Aoba, also greeted him. They were nowhere near as cheerful but the two other Lieutenants also seemed to be in good shape all things considering.
"Good morning, Vice-Commander. Did something happen?", asked Dr. Akagi who was standing right next to the female Lieutenant holding a cup of coffee in her hand as usual.
"No, I was only passing by to see how you are doing. The last few days were quite eventful after all." His words weren't exactly a lie, though Kouzo did neglect to mention how Ikari had not very subtly nudged him to pay the Central Dogma a visit this morning.
"Ha! Eventful is one way to put it", said Lieutenant Aoba laughing his words off.
"Can't argue with that. I can't wait for things to go back to normal", added Lieutenant Hyuga more serious than his co-worker.
"Hopefully Major Katsuragi will find Rei quickly."
"You don't need to worry about that, Maya. Tracking down people is something Misato's very good at. She had a lot of practice with Kaji when they were dating. Tracking down a teenager is nothing compared to a slippery guy like him", replied Dr. Akagi taking a sip from her coffee.
"Too bad, Kaji-san was relocated to another NERV branch. If he was good at eloping, we might have been able to find Rei a lot faster with his input." At Lieutenant Aoba's words Kouzo wondered if it had really been the right decision to eliminate the spy when they had. Considering their current situation, the man might have still proven useful after all.
However, that man was too close to discover the Marduk Institute's true identity.
Would his help in tracking down and retrieving one of their pilots have balanced out the risk of having him learn that piece of information? No. Giving him any more days or even hours to spread what he had learned would inevitably have led to countless complications down the road with.
In the end Kouzo's pondering didn't even matter. It was already too late to wonder about any 'what-if scenarios' when the person at the core of those scenarios wasn't among the living anymore. But the old man couldn't help but wonder if there had been better alternatives to the actions they had taken.
"We're receiving a call from Major Katsuragi'!", Lieutenant Hyuga reported.
"Speak of the devil. Did she already find her?", wondered Lieutenant Aoba out loud.
"Put her on speaker."
"Yes, Vice-Commander. The line is connected."
"Good morning, Major. Were you able to locate the First Child?", asked Kouzo right away.
"Fuyutsuki-san… I see. This is convenient", answered a voice that certainly didn't belong to the woman called Misato Katsuragi, "My name is Rei Ayanami. I hereby resign from my position of First Child according to section 366 subsection 2 of the 'E-Project contract' between NERV and the United Nations."
The Central Dogma fell into silence.
Not a single person present had expected to hear the voice of the very person they were looking for from Misato Katsuragi's phone. Neither could have anyone anticipated the kind of words the First Child had spoken.
Or rather former First Child if her words were to be taken seriously.
The first to find their bearings was Dr. Akagi who immediately signalled Lieutenant Ibuki to track the call. Kouzo was the second, deciding to aid the woman by buying as much time as possible for the tracking to succeed. He also wanted some answers for the countless question the girl had raised over the past few days:
"Is that really you Rei? Where are you?"
"Somewhere close to Fuyuki City. Which you are already aware of. After all, Katsuragi was sent here to retrieve me."
"What happened to the Major? Are both of you safe?"
"Yes. I am standing in front of Katsuragi. Neither of us in any immediate danger."
"That is good to hear. Can you hand the phone to Major Katsuragi for a moment? I would like to ask her something." The Vice-Commander could already guess the current situation but it was always better to make sure before impetuously jumping to conclusions.
"Her hands are tied at the moment."
"I assume that is not a metaphor."
"Your assumption is correct, Fuyutsuki-san."
"I see. You really did betray NERV then. That is regrettable", the man sighed before asking, "Would you mind telling me your reason? Why are you doing this?"
"My priorities have changed."
"Your priorities?"
"This is about Shinji-kun, isn't it Rei?" While he did his best to carefully uncover whatever had made Rei act the way she did while also buying as much time as possible, Dr. Akagi had instead chosen to just barge in seemingly without a care in the world. She might have been in charge of the First Child physical and mental wellbeing but in the current situation, Kouzo couldn't help but disagree with her chosen method.
His look of disapproval was noticed by the false blonde but also completely ignored.
"It is." The girl's answer was spoken surprisingly calm. Considering the topic he had expected the girl to either deny it or to be more flustered. Though perhaps it was a little too much to expect an average girl's reaction from Rei of all people.
"After the failed salvage operation, you asked me three times whether it is possible to somehow bring him back. I told you each time that it is impossible."
"You did."
"So? What did you discover that made you go to Fuyuki?", Dr. Akagi asked, a small hint of curiosity in her voice, "There has to be something. Otherwise, you wouldn't run away and travel half the country."
"There is no point in telling you. NERV would never consider my current approach."
"That's why you gave up on us and decided to do it yourself", concluded Kouzo in the Doctor's stead.
Looking at Lieutenant Ibuki's monitors to see how far the tracking of the call had proceeded, it looked like the origin came from the general area of Fuyuki. An information they were already aware of. However, it also meant every second from this moment forward would bring them closer to the First Child's location within the city.
They needed to keep Rei talk for just a little longer.
"If that's your reasoning, your actions thus far do make some sense… except one thing." The woman paused for a few seconds. Whether it was to give the girl a chance to answer, to buy just a little bit more time or whether it was to build some suspense, it didn't matter to Kouzo. After all these few extra seconds also brought them closer to her locating her. "Why are you calling?"
"I called to officially resign from NERV."
"Why? There is no point in doing this. Whether you officially resign or not, doesn't change anything for you. You still evaded your surveillance, left without permission and considering what you've said earlier, you not only refuse to work but you also hold Major Katsuragi captive. We won't stop looking for you and your punishment won't be reduced either just because you call and let us know."
"From NERV's perspective, it does not change anything."
For someone else her affiliation with NERV was of concern, it seemed. The possible implications accompanying the girl's unspoken words were most troubling.
Pushing aside his thoughts about all the possible worst-case scenarios for now, Kouzo's eyes wandered over to the monitor in hopes that the tracking would finally be completed soon. The map displayed on it kept zooming in further and further. Until it stopped. "Tracking complete" were the words which appeared above a small red dot marking a certain location.
"Immediately send every agent in Fuyuki to retrieve Rei. However, once they get close, they are to proceed with caution. It's likely Rei's not alone", the Vice-Commander ordered in an urging whisper as to not alert their target. The three Lieutenants followed right away and started to contact every single agent sent to Fuyuki City.
"You really surprised me, Rei. I could've never imagined you of all people would turn your back to NERV and Commander Ikari." It looked like Dr. Akagi had no intention of cutting their conversation short, changing the topic to keep it going.
Even though the tracking had been successful, their agents still needed time to get to the girl's location after all.
"… there was no reason to stay", Rei answered.
He didn't like the unusually long pause before the girl had answered. Perhaps the girl was lying and there were still reasons for her to stay, meaning her decision to leave wasn't made as easily as she wanted them to believe.
Or was there perhaps another reason for her pause…?
"But… but what about the Angels? If we don't defeat them, they're going to wipe out all of mankind! Isn't that enough reason to stay and pilot, Rei?" Lieutenant Ibuki spoke up suddenly. Kouzo could her a mix of confusion and indignation in her question. Considering the woman's personality, she probably couldn't even begin to understand what was going on in the girl's head to just go and abandon all of mankind.
Right on time for the pilot's answer, either Lieutenant Hyuga or Lieutenant Aoba had found a video feed close to Rei's location they could access. Of course, they immediately put it on a big screen, for everyone in the Central Dogma to watch.
The accessed camera was from a train station. That much was obvious when the screen displayed a platform framed on both sides by rails. Except a vending machine, a couple of chairs and a couple of people the platform was completely empty. A very unusual sight. Considering it was early on a Monday morning the station should have been full of people on their way to work or school.
Their eyes were immediately drawn to the four people waiting on the platform.
Two adults in black suits and a woman in a black dress and red jacket were sitting on three of the steel chairs attached to platform, as if waiting for the next train to arrive. All of them were slumped forward seemingly asleep. Right behind them, there was another row of three chairs still empty. Yet, the fourth person present hadn't taken the opportunity to sit down.
Instead, the girl with short black-dyed hair was standing a few metres away staring straight into the camera with her blood red eyes while answering the Lieutenant's question:
"It was never of concern to me whether humanity persists or not. As such it has never been a reason for me to pilot."
"Wha- what are you saying? Do you know what that means, Rei? If the Angels cause a Third Impact then-!"
"Maya", Dr. Akagi admonish the brunette woman. Leaning forward to press a button on the keyboard, the false blonde continued in a less admonishing but no less serious voice, "Immediately start taking stock of our armoury. Anything a human can potentially use; weapons, armour, explosives, anything."
"Huh? But that was done just last month. Everything is where it's supposed to be", the brunette woman replied confused from the sudden change of topic.
"Was. Don't you recognize what Rei is wearing?" Turning back to the girl on the screen, it took a few seconds before the face of the Lieutenants turned pale with a matching shocked expression. "Now get to it, Maya. I want a list of everything this girl made off with. Asap."
"Yes! I'm on it!"
Hearing the woman run out of the Central Dogma, Kouzo Fuyutsuki couldn't help but message his temples. It was already bad enough a pilot had been able to slip through their security net which was supposed to monitor them 24/7. But discovering that this same pilot not only successfully got out of Tokyo-3 but on top of that had also stolen at least one prototype combat suit they were developing for military use, caused the Vice-Commander another headache.
They really needed to revise their security detail as soon as possible.
"Rei, what did you take?"
"What are you talking about, Akagi?"
"Stop playing dumb and answer my question."
"Why this sudden change of topic? Did someone notice something missing? Or did you finally access the camera at the station?"
"Rei!"
"There is no reason for me to answer. Ibuki will give you a full report later anyway. Considering there is no further input from her, you should have already sent her to take stock."
"How did you get those things out of the headquarters without anyone noticing?"
"Tell Ibuki to ask the researchers. They should be able to provide most of the answers. If I had to explain all of my actions, we would be here for a few hours. Time I would rather spend on other things."
"Running away from NERV is one thing, but why did you steal the suit? Didn't such an action just increase the chances of you being discovered? Why did you take such an unnecessary risk?", asked the Vice-Commander.
"It was one of the precautions for the time after leaving Neo Tokyo-3. Once NERV is aware of me being unwilling to return, the risk of being injured or killed increases drastically. I needed the means to protect myself."
Usually this would be the time for Major Katsuragi or Lieutenant Ibuki to disagree and to try to persuade her that NERV would never resort to such drastic means to bring her back. However, as neither of them were present at the moment, the Central Dogma fell silent. It seemed everybody present silently agreed that resorting to violence was indeed a real possibility.
It was only thanks to this silence that the Vice-Commander was able to pick up on a pair of footsteps rapidly approaching the Central Dogma before the person had made themself known.
"I am going to assume your silence confirms my-"
"FIIIIIRRRRST!" Suddenly the voice of a certain redhead filled the room, answering Kouzo's yet unspoken question of who those approaching footsteps belonged to. A few seconds later a panting girl emerged from the corridor behind Kouzo. She didn't even seem to register the Vice-Commander's presence and just ran right to his side.
Her eyes just glared ahead right at the live video feed.
"…" The former First Child didn't reply. Instead, the girl could be seen lowering her head and shoulders. It almost looked like she had led out a silent sigh when hearing her former co-pilots voice.
"What the hell are you doing?! Answer me!"
"What is Soryu doing in the Central Dogma, Fuyutsuki-san?"
"I am sorry but I do not know either. Why don't you ask her directly, Rei?" His reply might have come across as petty-minded, but the Vice-Commander genuinely didn't know why the Second Child had come to the Central Dogma. As far as he knew there weren't any tests scheduled.
"I ran into Maya. She told me what's going on!", replied the Second Child not losing any of her abrasiveness, "Now answer!"
"Answer what, exactly? You need to be more precise when-"
"Verdammt nochmal! Did you seriously run away just because of that idiot?! Is that really the only reason?! Have you even considered the consequences?! Or are you actually that obsessed about bringing him back you didn't even think about them?!"
This time the former First Child let out a small but audible sigh.
"Why are you furious? Did you not tell me off during our last conversation saying "I don't care! If you want to save that idiot, go ahead and try but keep me out of it!" I did not involve you, just like you asked."
"Like hell you didn't! First you leave Neo Tokyo-3 without telling anyone, now you want to quit being a pilot! Your stupid idea may not involve me but it sure affects me when I have to fight the remaining Angels all by myself!"
"Soryu-san, I may not have any experience in battle yet but I'm still a pilot, you know", remarked the albino boy who had entered the Central Dogma shortly after the Second Child. He stood a few steps behind her; not hiding but neither did he draw much attention to himself.
Neither of the girls acknowledged his objection.
"Just stop being stupid and come back to NERV. You know as well as I do that there's no way to bring that idiot back. NERV has the best scientists on earth. If they say there's no way to bring him back, then it's impossible." The Second Child's words had become unexpectedly calm. Her anger was still very much visible in her eyes, but at least she managed to keep it under control.
Kouzo hadn't expected the redhead of all people to hold herself back while trying to convince Rei. He knew how bad their relationship had been since the Second Child's arrival. In the wake of the failed salvage operation, it hadn't become any better. There had even been a rather big fight lately, as he had heard from various sources.
Yet, instead of letting her emotions get the better of her, the second Child was trying to reason with Rei. Perhaps this ordeal had caused at least one positive change in one of their pilots.
"I found a method with a chance of success."
"Then why didn't you tell us, verdammt?! If this miraculous method of yours can bring back that idiot, you should've just told us!"
"'NERV would never consider her approach' is what Rei said before you came in. I wonder how you came to that conclusion", Dr. Akagi said. Considering her serious expression, it was obvious that the scientist had already crafted a theory. "Considering NERV did everything to execute the salvage operation which only had a small chance of success, we would have at least considered any somewhat realistic proposition you would have made."
The girl on the screen didn't say anything. She just stood there as expressionless as always staring into the camera, not giving away a single one of her thoughts on the matter.
"The only reason I can think of is that whatever method you found, isn't realistic at all."
"What do you mean by that, Doctor?", Kouzo asked.
"Whatever she found has no scientific basis at all. It has its origin in the occult. That's why NERV would never consider it."
This answer left Kouzo completely speechless.
Occultism was so far removed from everything Rei should have learned during her rather short life the man would have never even considered it. Though, this answer didn't convince him either. While Dr. Akagi's deduction was a possibility, once again, Kouzo just couldn't believe Rei would fall for this kind of falsehood.
He simply couldn't imagine Rei running away just to pursue such an unrealistic approach. That wasn't like her at all. Even if the girl had become more impulsive over the course of the past few months, she wasn't the kind of person to just ignore reality.
No matter how dire their battles had been; no matter how close she had grown to Shinji-kun; in the end this girl wouldn't just ignore the facts in front of her. Even at times when she clearly wanted to jump in to save Ikari's son, she held herself back because she knew her actions would not aid in his rescue.
So, why would she then go ahead and pursue some unrealistic idea grounded in occultism? Had her feelings for Shinji-kun become strong enough to override her ability to judge objectively?
"Are you kidding me?! Did you really run away just to chase after some delusion!? Have you actually lost it!?", the Second Child yelled angry as all of her previous composure was gone in an instant.
"You are free to refute it if my deduction is wrong, Rei."
"I will neither confirm nor deny your deduction."
"I swear, First, if all of this is just you going nuts, then-"
"Then what, Soryu? Are you going to insult me? Are you going to hurt me? Are you going to kill me? You have never put your threats into practice. So why should I fear anything you say?" It was a little surprising to hear Rei counter Asuka without missing a beat. After all, it was the first time the people present had heard the former First Child respond this way to the redhead's provocations.
"You-"
"There is no reason to listen to you any further. Please remain quiet while I finish my business with Fuyutsuki-san."
"Quit that high and mighty attitude of yours! Do you seriously believe that you're not getting dragged back here once Section 2 finds you? Do you think you can take on a dozen agents by yourself? So don't worry, once you're back we'll have plenty of time for me to put things into action." Of course, the Second Child had to mention Section 2. Why was she only smart enough to deduce that they were buying time for their agents to arrive but couldn't stay calm enough to keep her mouth shut about them?
"Of course, I cannot do much against a coordinated attack from multiple agents. But my associate can handle any number of agents." Now that answer got a couple of raised eyebrows. For one thing, their target didn't seem surprised at the mention of Section 2, for another thing, her claim was rather… outlandish.
"Your associate?", repeated Kouzo. Not exactly to confirm the word he had heard but rather if she perhaps had misspoken and used the singular instead of the plural.
"Speaking of, they are already done." That response sadly didn't answer his question but just raised another.
"Done with what? And who's that associate you're talking about", demanded the German girl angrily, "Stop acting so cryptic and answer our questions!"
"The identity of my associate does not matter to you or NERV. What does matter is the fact that they have taken out 26 Section 2 agents while we were talking", Rei calmly answered. Then she nodded to someone off screen.
Kouzo wasn't sure what was more surprising; the girl's claim of having taken care of all of their agents in Fuyuki within a few minutes or the motionless bodies of those very same agents that were suddenly thrown before the girl's feet.
"Where is the rest?", Dr. Akagi asked immediately. Not Rei but the Lieutenants in the Central Dogma. The number of bodies on screen was only four. She might have still had hope that this was a bluff from the teenage girl. Kouzo, however, wasn't feeling optimistic enough to cling to that small ray of hope.
"All 29 signals, including Major Katsuragi's, are at Rei's location", reported Aoba surprised.
"How did she bring agents from 13 different locations to her in just a matter of minutes?", wondered Hyuga dumbfounded.
Even the raging redhead had fallen silent at the verification of the sight on screen.
"It looks like Ayanami has indeed found a very capable associate." Once again, the words of the albino boy weren't acknowledged by the anyone present.
"Based on the continued silence on my end, it seems you verified that these are indeed the agents you sent to Fuyuki City and that the rest of them is also at this station", Rei said, bringing the attention of the Central Dogma back to the girl, "Do you believe me, or do you require further visual proof of their location?"
"What's the point of doing this, Rei?"
"To demonstrate that you are not going to retrieve me without causalities. As I am not interested in starting a war with NERV, we will be sending these agents back to Neo Tokyo-3 with the next train as a gesture of good will. But this will be the only time.
Consider it a warning. The next time we run into anyone associated with NERV, not all of them will return alive.
I also advise against investigating Fuyuki or any trails I may leave behind from now on. Chances are anyone who starts to investigate them is going to go missing."
"You've known Commander Ikari long enough to know he's not someone who's just going to go along with your demands."
"He can either go along with these demands or waste precious human resources trying to retrieve me. Considering you have spares it is more efficient to leave me to my own devices", Rei said while taking out a gun from her jacket and added a silencer to it.
"Why are you taking out a gun, Rei?", asked Fuyutsuki quickly, not wanting to give the Lieutenants or Children present a chance to question the girl about her last statement.
"I allowed you to watch for the purpose of verifying the agent's identities. But as our talk is finished, there is no reason to show you any more", the girl explained, then pointed her gun right at the camera, "Farewell. I sincerely hope this is going to be the last time you see me. For your sake."
There was a flash of light and a bang, followed by a black screen.
It looked like Rei had shot the camera.
At the same time, she had also ended the call.
"Well, that didn't go as planned. Like at all", commented Lieutenant Aoba in a casual tone that was more than just a little inappropriate considering the situation, "How do we proceed from here?"
"We're not going to back down because a fourteen-year-old girl threatened us", replied Dr. Akagi, clearly in a foul mood, "Contact units Gamma and Delta, they are to immediately-"
"No, you won't."
"Vice-Commander?"
"Considering what Rei just showed us and what we could verify, we cannot act thoughtlessly.
I am going to report to Commander Ikari and discuss with him the best course of action. Meanwhile gather everything you can find about what happened to our agents and anything that might be a trace to the identity of Rei's mysterious associate."
"Understood", Lieutenant Hyuga and Aoba replied.
"In that case I'll accompany you."
"No. You should follow Lieutenant Ibuki and find out what exactly Rei has taken with her. Considering she has at least gotten her hands on that prototype and a gun, we need to know exactly what we're up against before taking action against her."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes. I will call you once we require your input." Turning around, the Vice-Commander swiftly left the Central Dogma.
Once all his subordinates could see was his back, his usual calm and professional face came undone. It was replaced with a grimace full of worry.
"Soryu-san, we should leave as well. I don't think there's anything left for us to do here." The words of the boy next to her pulled her back to reality.
She had no idea how long she had just stood there. But it had at least been long enough for Ritsuko and the Vice-Commander to vanish from the Central Dogma.
"Shut it, Fifth! I didn't ask for your opinion. And stop following me like a lost puppy!", the Second Child shouted at the albino boy, turned around and made her way out of the Central Dogma. Why had he even followed her there?
"Don't be like that, Soryu-san. We're both pilots, so let's get along", the white-haired boy, Kaworu Nagisa, said wearing that friendly smile he had always plastered on his face. Asuka knew his expression was supposed to be calming and friendly, but seeing it just pissed her off. Either that, or it were his weirdly familiar words, she might have spoken herself once.
To the girl who had cut ties with NERV a few minutes ago no less…
"This is so irritating", mumbled the girl angrily before replying, "There's no reason why we would need to get along. You're a damn rookie who hasn't even fought once. We can talk about 'getting along' after you had your first deployment. That's if you don't die, get maimed, or turn traitor; like everyone else." It seemed her reply had made it through his thick skull for once as the boy actually stopped following her.
Usually, the redhead would have loved to celebrate the occasion but even her small victory, couldn't lift her mood.
Her thoughts had been a mess since she had talked to Maya and learned what had happened to the First. It didn't help in the slightest that she had already been pissed off from the new hire who, for some reason, had decided to stick to her like a limpet and talk her ears off every chance he got.
Perhaps both of those things combined had been the reason why her first reaction to hearing the other girl's voice was to yell at her.
When Ayanami suddenly disappeared, Asuka had actually been worried about her.
Sure, they had never really been on friendly terms. For the half-German girl their relationship was just barely good enough to somehow work together. There was no friendly chatting, no curiosity about what was going on in the other's life, or really anything other than work-related themes.
Well, there was one thing they talked about other than work.
However, as every talk when that specific topic came up had turned into actual fights between the girls, chances that these two would ever become more than co-worker seemed to be virtually impossible at this point.
"For once I actually got worried for that doll but of course she just ran off to chase her damn delusions. I should have known. There's no reason why anyone would even kidnap her. Her piloting is average at best, not to mention her cardboard personality. I feel so stupid. Worrying about other people is really just a waste of time."
The redhead herself was surprised by how much this situation had actually affected her. To learn that there was no third party involved but that all of this had been planned and executed by the First herself felt downright humiliating. Apparently, she had fallen for the girl's ploy just like everyone else.
Moreover, she had not only tricked everyone from NERV but somehow also found accomplices who were able to take out Section 2 agents and were willing to help her with whatever insane ideas she had come up with to bring that idiot back.
Asuka began to wonder if-
"Nope, that's it. Whatever First is up to got nothing to do with me. Ritsuko and the others will bring her back anyway. I'm not gonna repeat that damn mistake."
Sighing heavily, Asuka took out her phone: "I really need some distraction from all of this shit. Guess I'll call Hikari." However, just as she was about to type in the number of her friend, the redhead remembered, "Right, it's Monday morning. Even if I call now, miss class rep would never skip lessons just for me to kill time. What now…"
The Second Child continued on, thinking about anything that could work as a distraction. Within the NERV headquarters, of course. Not like she was allowed to go outside when she was the only experienced pilot left.
All thanks to those two idiots doing whatever they wanted.
If they were still there, Asuka wouldn't have such a hard time to search for something to do...
Out of nowhere the other pilot who was still at NERV headquarters popped into her mind.
The one without that annoying smile.
"Yeah, no. Not even if he was the last person on earth."
"Ikari. You promised me answers." As soon as the door had closed behind him, the former professor started talking in an unusually harsh tone. It didn't surprise Gendo, considering what had just transpired in the Central Dogma. While he didn't know the specifics of how the call from the Rei had gone, he already knew enough to have foreseen the bad mood of his second in command.
After all this call had been one of his conditions to Rei for accepting her proposition.
Letting her admit to have left of her own volition would make things with the committee at least a little easier.
"I did", the man answered calmly. He opened a drawer of his desk and retrieved a bottle of sake and two small, white bowls. Then he proceeded to pour the clear liquid in one of the bowls. "You might want to sit down and drink."
"Sake? Really? Now is not the time, Ikari."
"On the contrary, my old friend. It's for your sake. Considering what I'm about to tell you, you're going to need this." He was afraid this sake might even be too weak for this occasion.
Having one's worldview shattered and accepting a new one wasn't something the human mind could handle easily after all.
"What could be so bad for you to tell me to get drunk early in the morning?"
"I suppose a demonstration would speed this up." Right after these words had left Gendo's mouth, he carefully picked up the empty sake bowls. He then slowly closed his hand around the white ceramic; and finally crushed it in his gloved right hand.
When the man opened his palm, he let the remains slowly fall down on his desk.
"Why did you-"
The next words had barely made it out of the Vice-Commander's mouth when the broken pieces on the desk started glowing. Just that alone was already a shock to the old man but when they started to move by themselves, the Fuyutsuki even opened his mouth in disbelieve.
His eyes were fixed on all the small pieces seemingly reassembling themselves into the small sake bowl they had originally been.
Once all the parts were back together, even the cracks vanished without a trace.
For the final proof of what had just transpired, Gendo poured some sake into the reassembled bowl. Despite what Fuyutsuki had witnessed mere seconds ago, the bowl didn't let even one drop of the liquid escape from inside it.
"The full explanation is going to take some time, so I suppose I should preface it with the most important but also most unbelievable points.
First of all, the scientific rules humanity researched for hundreds of years is not the only set of rules in this world. To put it bluntly, what humanity calls magic does actually exist.
Second of all, the people who use this magic are called magi; and I am one of them."
A few seconds passed by.
Both men locked eyes, trying to figure out what the one across from them was thinking.
Finally, one of the men moved.
Taking one of the small sake bowls, Fuyutsuki downed the liquid in one go.
"I should have just gone back to my life as a professor at a university when I still had the chance."
Author's note
Chapter ten took quite some time but it's finally here!
I'm sorry for the really late update but a bunch of things happened and I just wasn't satisfied with how things came out, so I had to redo this chapter a few times.
It was pretty short but now Asuka also had her first appearance. She was definitely the hardest character to write for me so far. While I do like her character, I can't really relate to her at all. Which makes finding fitting reactions from her to certain events quite difficult. Trying to stay true to her original character while hinting that she might feel a little closer to Shinji and Rei than she had led on in canon, which made the discovery of Rei's betrayal hit that much harder; was what I intended to show.
I would have liked to let the two girls argue some more, but it simply was neither the time or place for that; and at least Rei knew that. Perhaps, down the line, there might be another chance for them to go at it. For now though, the both of them have to fight different battles.
And that's all from me for now.
The next chapter should be out until the end of next month.
Until then, have a nice day!
-LuckySeven