-*-
"Oh fuck!"
Asuka slugged Touji's shoulder. "Will you STOP
saying that!"
"The old guy just got sucked down Goo River, we
ain't got weapons, and we don't know which way our Evas
are!" Touji yelled back.
The Children ran down the corridor, lead silently by
Rei. She seemed to be the only one among them that knew the
base, and it didn't hurt that she'd demonstrated some
serious fighting ability either.
"Are we there yet?" asked Shinji.
She shook her head silently.
They reached the end of the corridor, arriving at an
intersection with solid ground instead of grating. It was
something far more comforting to them, seemingly less
vulnerable.
They took a left turn there, through a fairly narrow
steel passage which ended in a bulkhead. They struggled for
a moment, all four of them pulling at the wheel that opened
the door. On the other side was a familiar sight: the lower
elevator chamber that they normally would have gone through
if the power was on. A little further down, beyond a sliding
metal gate door, were the Evas and the gantries that
surrounded them.
As they entered the room, Touji eyed the air vents
warily.
"Did you see something there?" asked Shinji.
"Naw," he replied. "But y'know how it always goes
in them horror movies... the nasty sonovabitch always pops
outta the air vents."
Shinji eyed the air vents nervously. "Oh... right."
Rei suddenly tensed, looking around them. "It's
here," she said quietly.
From somewhere nearby came the roar of twisting
metal, close enough to set the ground beneath them
vibrating.
"Oooooh fuck," muttered Touji.
"Guys!" yelled Asuka. "We need to get this gate
open NOW!"
Rei responded first, putting both hands to the
center and pulling outwards. Before anyone else could join,
however, something huge landed with a heavy thud on the
other side. Rei barely took a step back before it lunged
through the gate with its massive arms, grabbing Rei by the
shoulders, pulling her through.
The other Children cried out her name, even as she
was lifted high and slammed head-first into the ground
repeatedly before she could even act. There was a sickening
crunch, and Rei went limp in its hands.
The Children stared in shock, Shinji especially so,
staring at the limp body of their comrade even as the
hulking, headless monstrosity turned towards them.
"REI! screamed Shinji.
The Violator turned on him next, tossing Rei aside
like a rag doll. With a backhanded swipe it struck Shinji,
slamming him into a steel wall.
"Shinji!" yelled Asuka. "NO!"
She felt something within rise, power surging
through her blood, and then by instinct she let it free.
The Violator suddenly found itself encased in a
thick layer of ice. It roared defiantly and smashed its way
out. Asuka was struck hard by a flying chunk of ice, giving
the Violator a momentary reprieve, only to be struck by
bolts of flame as Touji sent them flying from his hands.
"EAT HOT SHIT, ASSHOLE!" He yelled bravely. Touji
hadn't a clue how he was doing it, the power just seemed to
come from _somewhere_ within, and he wasn't about to look a
gift horse in the mouth.
It was a valiant try, but not enough to stop the
Violator from punching him into the next room and into sweet
oblivion.
The Violator growled angrily, then turned to Eva00,
but was stopped when it suddenly found itself seized by
tentacles.
Gritting her teeth, sweat rolling down her face,
Asuka willed herself to control the massive tentacles that
had exploded from her back. Vague memories of ancient times
and blood-tinted ceremonies swirled in her head, but she
pushed them aside and focused on the here and now. With
another push of will, she set her tentacles to drain its
power, and gasped at the sudden and intense feelings flowing
to her, agony and ecstasy, pain and pleasure, it was hard to
tell where one ended and the other began.
The Violator, though weakened, still managed to spin
about hard, yanking Asuka into the air, tentacles flailing,
and falling into the depths of the LCL.
And then it stopped suddenly, shocked at the sudden
impact of a fist that slammed through its center from
behind. It slumped forward, falling to its knees, its still
beating heart held in Rei's hand.
A moment later, she crushed it.
Rei looked down at the creature known as Y'Golnac as
it shriveled away, and her eyes widened at its final
transformation.
She looked at a face not unlike her own, and eyes
that were indeed her eyes, but with a sadness that she'd
never known.
What was left of Yui turned to her side, black ooze
bleeding out from her gaping wound. She coughed, and that
too yielded black sludge.
Feeling some compulsion she couldn't explain, Rei
reached out to her, cupping the side of Yui's face in her
hand.
Tears began to fall from Yui's eyes, and those too
were tainted black.
Rei stared at her, blankly, and asked, "Why?"
"I just... didn't want to be... a... alo..."
A moment later, Yui's form deteriorated into an
unrecognizable black husk.
Rei stared in silence.
And then its power was released in a surge, filling
the room, sending the children into epileptic seizures as a
millennia of memories and another taste of eldrich power
surged through them.
And then it was gone.
-*-
"Shinji..."
A distant memory, in black and white.
"Shinji..."
A gentle touch, a mother's touch.
"Shinji... wake up..."
"Nnng..."
As always, a shadowy form, but the details were
always beyond him.
"Shinji, can you stand?"
"M... mom?"
"No."
His eyes snapped open suddenly, and he found himself
staring directly into familiar crimson eyes.
"Rei!"
The nearly albino girl blinked in confusion as she
found herself embraced by a sobbing Shinji.
"Why?" she asked.
"Wha... what?" asked Shinji, letting go and wiping
away the tears.
"Why do you cry?"
Shinji tried not to laugh, even though the tears
were still falling. It was such a Rei-ish question.
"Because I'm glad you're okay," he finally said.
"I thought... I thought you'd died."
"A-hem."
Both of them looked up at Asuka, who, for some
reason that escaped Shinji, had massive holes in the back of
her plugsuit. "If, er, you guys are done, we still gotta
find Commander Fuyutsuki."
Rei nodded. "I can find him."
"Somehow, First Child," remarked Asuka dryly, "I
knew you would."
For some reason, Shinji felt... good. He wasn't
sure why, but he just felt... satisfied. That wasn't quite
the word either, but he was feeling a lot better than he
should have been, considering the dent in the metal wall was
made with his head.
He shrugged it off as One Of Those Things. It made
life simpler that way.
At that moment, Touji stumbled into the room.
"Jeez... I got one hell of a headache, guys, but I gotta
tell ya, I kinda feel good."
The other Children stared at him.
"Um, Touji?" asked Shinji.
Touji fanned himself. "Is it hot in here or is it
just me?"
"Touji, why's your hand on fire?"
"It what? WHOA!"
A moment later, with no flaming appendages, the
Children went forth and found their commander, and returned
to the bridge in triumph, but secretly wondered how much of
their humanity they were losing.
Except Shinji, who missed everything.
And Rei, who already knew the answers.
-*-
The bridge crew was almost ready to go when
Fuyutsuki returned from directing cleanup crews. "Twenty
dead so far," he said. "Inspector Kaji is definitely dead.
I'm sorry, Katsuragi-san. I know he was important to you."
She nodded dumbly, and collapsed into her chair.
Makoto hovered near her, wanting to offer comfort, but not
knowing how best to do so. Finally, he put a hand on her
shoulder, and she reached up and clasped it with a desperate
grip.
"What about Ikari?" Ritsuko asked. "Did you find
him in that room? What was living there?"
"We haven't found him yet," Fuyutsuki said. "But I
do know how the Angel entered the base."
"Haven't found him? Unless it ate him or hid the
body, I'm pretty sure he was too hurt to move," Ritsuko
said.
Fuyutsuki held up a small book. "Someone gave this
to the DAGON subject which was living there. It contained
the Defiler's name, which somehow opened her to possession
by it, similar to what happened with Baraquiel controlling
the Aida boy."
"How could reading a being's name do that?" Fuu
asked.
"It's part of the traditional lore about the
Defiler," he said. "But it's dead now. The Children slew
it." It had better be dead, he thought.
"Without their EVAs," Ritsuko said. "I'm not sure
if that's good or bad."
"Both, perhaps," Fuyutsuki said. "Major
Katsuragi...never mind, I'll organize the search for
Commander Ikari myself."
-*-
Makoto and Misato stared at the body lying on the
table. Misato was shaking on the verge of tears, while
Makoto was simply somber. "Don't hold it in," he said.
"Do you want me to leave you alone with him for a little
bit?" It cut at his gut to see her like this.
"No, don't go," she said faintly. "If you left me
alone, I might decide to join him, wherever he is."
For a long time, they simply stood in silence,
staring at the body. Finally, Misato bent down and kissed
his mangled cheek. His blood had dried already, but a few
flecks stayed on her lips when she rose. "I loved you," she
said. "I didn't let myself love anyone after Father died.
Father wouldn't let me love him when he was alive, but after
he died, I didn't think I'd ever care about anyone."
Makoto glanced over at her, and tried to decide if
he should go. This isn't my business, he thought.
"I tried to keep you away. I needed you
desperately, but I didn't want to need anyone. Because it
could only lead to pain. Damn you, why did you have to die?
WHY?" Her voice was rising, and she pounded his chest with a
fist. "Why? I finally let myself really love you, and you
had to get yourself killed! I never should have let you go
with Ritsuko instead of me! You wouldn't be dead if I'd
gone. You wouldn't have died! DAMN YOU!"
Makoto grabbed her and pulled her away from his body
before she could pummel it any more. "He's dead. He can't
answer you."
"Say something, dammit! SAY SOMETHING!" Then she
looked up at the ceiling. "You bastard! Why? Why do you
keep taking away everyone I care about! WHY?"
Makoto did the only thing he could think of; he
slapped her.
She suddenly wiggled out of his grip and flipped him
into the wall. What followed was the most thorough beating
he'd ever gotten; he'd rarely watched Misato do unarmed
combat, so it caught him completely by surprise. A few
seconds later, he was down on the ground with her about to
stomp on his throat. And then she stopped, and she stared
at him, and then a look of horror washed over her face.
"Makoto! I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, you don't deserve
that, oh shit, what the hell was I doing???"
"Kicking my ass," he mumbled, somewhat dazed.
She helped him up, then said, "Hit me."
"What?"
She spread her arms out. "I just beat the shit out
of you for no good reason. Hit me."
"I can't hit you. I could be court-martialed," he
said weakly.
"I just beat the crap out of you for no reason
except that I needed to hit something," she said grimly.
"I deserve to be beat up. I beat you up when you risked
your life trying to save Kaji while I sat on my ass and
didn't do shit."
"They needed you to coordinate the EVAs. You're
valuable. I'm not so valuable."
"The Children killed him without me. I could have
been dead myself, and they'd have done just fine. They
don't need me anymore, and I couldn't even save Kaji. I let
him die." She stared morosely at the floor. "Please, at
least let me make it up to you."
"Katsuragi-san, I would never hit you."
She punched his arm. "Don't be so formal. I'm not
being the commander right now, so don't treat me like that."
"Misato, if you really want to make it up to me, you
could take me somewhere nice to eat some time or something."
She nodded, and then started to cry again. "I know
a place where... I know a good restaurant." She calmed
herself a little and looked over at Kaji. "His father hates
me. He's not going to take it well when I tell him about
Kaji's death."
"Do you want me to write the letter for you?"
"No, this is my job," she said faintly. "I'll do it
when I...I don't want to go home."
"You can't stay here," he said.
"I don't want to be alone." Her voice had a
pleading tone to it, and for a moment, he was tempted to
press his luck. But his conscience rose up and he
restrained himself.
"You won't be. You have Shinji and Asuka living
with you. And they both care about you. Maybe you should
get Asuka to sleep in your room with you. I know
she...cared about Kaji too."
Misato nodded. "They're going to need me to be
strong for them." Her voice made it clear she wasn't going
to be much use in that department.
"And Shinji may have lost his father," Makoto said,
as it suddenly sank in.
"Oh shit, I didn't even think about that," she said.
"I'd half forgotten they're related. It's like Shinji's my
own..." She trailed off, staring at Kaji. "I never thought
I could like...having kids."
"He's going to need you," Makoto said. "The
Commander probably isn't really dead; I'm sure we'd have
found his body by now. But Shinji will be worried that he
is."
She nodded, calming. He wondered if she really felt
better or if she was acting for his benefit. I wish I could
do more for her, he thought.
"Misato, you did the best you could," she said.
"Maybe if we'd all gone with him..."
"Maybe we'd all be dead. But Ritsuko lived."
Misato brightened a little. "He probably died
saving her life."
"That's what she said to me," Makoto replied. "He
didn't just die for nothing."
"I have to talk to her later," she said, "And find
out what they learned. Fuyutsuki's hiding something. He
knows more than he told us. And I'm going to find a way to
get it out of him." Her fists clenched. "One way or
another."
-*-
Gendo, you fool, Fuyutsuki thought as he sat in his
office and paged through several tomes. I told you keeping
her was a mistake.
Still, we never could have anticipated that
Y'golonac would get to her, he thought. Possessing me or
Gendo...we had to risk that. But it possessing someone so
sheltered? Only if you read or heard his name could he
possess you, and even then not for long unless you were
willing.
He looked again at the book he'd found in her room.
She was exposed by this, he thought. Perhaps Ubbo-Sathla's
blood ran stronger in her than we ever realized. She
certainly made an ideal body for Y'golonac...already a
shapechanger and half-inhuman.
I had half-hoped you would remain imprisoned behind
that wall forever, he thought, looking at a woodcut printing
of Y'golonac's flabby, mouthed hands fruitlessly prying at a
brick wall, as if he was the victim in that Poe story. The
prophecies weren't clear on whether you would appear, and
thankfully, your cults tended to be so degenerate, there was
little danger they could help you.
What bothered him most, however, was that the
Children had slain Y'golonac directly. Their growth in
power unnerved him, but more, he was worried about the
effects which this could have on them. They would have
absorbed his power directly, and given how much of a
perverted freak Y'golonac was, this would likely accelerate
the process of their...in this case, he could only call it
devolution. It was not for nothing that he was called the
Defiler or the Violator.
We may have to try the Peace of Nargai on all the
Children, he thought, regardless of the consequences, much
as I would rather not. For now, I'll just set some men to
keep an eye on them and activate the monitoring devices in
their apartments. We need to make sure they don't snap.
And then I have to decide what to do about Gendo,
Fuyutsuki thought. And how to explain it.
-*-
"Blood pressure is okay, heart beat is normal," Maya
reported.
Ritsuko wrote it down, then looked up at Touji, who
was gagging. "Problem?"
He pulled the thermometer out of his mouth. "Ain't
there some way to take my temperature without me having to
choke on some huge ass thing like this?"
"Well, we could use the rectal thermometer," Ritsuko
said.
Asuka began to laugh, and Shinji winced.
"Shaddap, Langeley!" Touji barked. "It ain't
funny!"
"You must have a hard time at the dentist," Maya
said. "If you have trouble just keeping that in your
mouth."
"I gag easy, okay?" he said, feeling mildly
humiliated. He waved the thermometer about. "I just don't
like these..." And then it was gone. He started. "What
the hell?"
Ritsuko sighed. "I give up. You're all in good
health, as far as I can tell with all this antiquated junk.
Until the base is properly up and running again, I can't run
the tests I really need to. Just go home, and I'll call you
in tomorrow."
"But my back..." Asuka said faintly, partly because
she didn't really want to think about it.
"Is back to normal," Ritsuko said. "So far as all
this old equipment can tell. I took an X-ray and your bone
structure is completely normal at the moment. I'm also
trying to figure out where you got the extra body mass to
make tentacles...or wings for that matter. But right now, I
think you all need some rest. I can keep sticking
thermometers in you and checking your blood pressure until
we all die of old age, but I don't think I'll learn anything
new until we're back to normal here."
"Just try not to think about tentacles and wings,"
Maya suggested.
Oh, yes, there's useful advice, Asuka thought
irritatedly.
"I guess we should go change, then," Shinji said.
"Into our clothing," Touji added.
"Uh, yeah," Shinji replied.
"Look, are we gonna turn into rampaging mutant
freaks or not?" Touji demanded. "That's what we need to
know."
"Not if I can help it," Ritsuko replied. "I have
been working on something which might help, but it's not
ready for testing yet. I will let you know when it's ready.
Now, go home and get some rest. Do homework, go to the sock
hop or whatever."
"The what?" Touji asked.
"Nothing, never mind, go home, go home, go home.
Just watch TV and think about other things."
Shinji nodded and got up. "Let's go home, Asuka."
Rei frowned and idly scratched her palms.
Misato swept in, looking gloomy. "Can I borrow Asuka and Shinji?"
"They're free to go," Ritsuko said.
"We're ready to go home," Asuka said.
"I have more work to do before I can go," Misato said. "But I need
to talk to you two in private."
"We're, uh, not in trouble, are we?" Shinji asked faintly.
"Can I go home?" Touji asked.
"Go home, Touji. You too, Rei," she said to Rei.
They both headed out. Touji paused at the door and said, "See ya
later, Shinji."
"See you," he replied.
Misato led them off to her office, by which time Shinji was feeling
pretty nervous. She sat down hard in her chair and gestured for them to
sit. She turned first to Shinji. "Your father is missing. We think he
is probably dead, but we're not sure, because there was no corpse where
he was last seen. It's possible that the Defiler ate him completely,
but Fuyutsuki says that's unlikely. Unlike the rest of us, he seems
sure your father lived, somehow."
Shinji felt his stomach curdle. "He...I never thought he could
die. I mean...I don't know what I mean."
Asuka put a hand on his shoulder. "He's too much of a mean bastard
to die. I'm sure he's alive, Shinji."
"He just...I mean..."
"Well, there is room to hope," Misato said. "We should know within
the next few days, and probably by tomorrow." She turned to Asuka.
"Kaji is definitely dead. Do you want me to take you to...to say
goodbye to him?"
Asuka nodded somberly. "Yes, I do."
"I'll come too," Shinji said.
Misato got up and came over and hugged each of them with one arm.
"We have to be strong."
Asuka nodded, taking comfort from the hug. "We will."
"I'll try," Shinji said.
"Let's go and say goodbye. And then you two had better go home."
"Are you going to be okay?" Asuka asked. "I mean, I know you and
Kaji were, umm...close."
"We were lovers," she said. "I loved him, and I don't know what
I'll do without him." The good cheer she'd forced on herself cracked,
and now she looked gloomy. "But I've done my screaming and crying, and
now...now we have to go on. Because the war isn't over yet."
"Will it ever be over?" Shinji asked in frustration. "How are we
ever going to beat these things once and for all?"
"I don't know," Misato said. "But you beat this one without even
needing your EVAs. Soon, you'll probably be strong enough to just snap
your fingers and kill them."
Asuka wasn't so sure if that was a good thing.
-*-
Asuka fanned herself with her homework. "Dammit,
this apartment needs better air conditioning," she said.
She resolutely did her best to not think about everything
that had happened today.
Shinji watched sweat drip onto his math homework.
"Well, NERV was so frigid when we were leaving, it probably
just made this...okay, it's hot."
Asuka nodded somberly, then grabbed the bottom of her
shirt and shook it, trying to get it to stop clinging to her
due to her sweat. Then she had to scratch her stomach which
was itching again. This reminded her palms to itch, so she
had to scratch those. By this time, her shirt had glued
itself to her again. "There's a fan somewhere, right?" she
asked, becoming irritated.
"The closet, I think," Shinji said, erasing half of
what he had just done and starting over. He couldn't concen-
trate, between the heat, the itching, and worrying about his
father.
While she was gone, he quickly scratched his
stomach; Shinji didn't like scratching when people were
watching.
Asuka soon returned, and set up the fan, which
promptly blew her and Shinji's homework all over the room.
"DAMMMIT!!!!" She picked up a pencil and snapped it.
"This is really starting to piss me off!"
He began scampering about, trying to collect his
papers while she tried to move the fan somewhere it would
give them cool air without laying waste to their work.
"This itching is driving me crazy," she said, as she paused
to scratch her stomach again. "And the heat, and..."
"Me too," Shinji said, scratching his palms
furtively. He put his papers back up on the table. "I
can't focus. I think I did the same problem three times."
Asuka paced back and forth in front of the fan,
soaking up the cooler air. "I know what you mean."
Kaji kept surfacing in her mind; she'd thought she was
over him, but now she couldn't stop thinking about him,
except when her body decided to annoy her.
"It wasn't that hot coming over here," Shinji said.
"Yeah." She frowned. "I think I'm gonna take a
walk." Maybe I can clear my mind, she thought.
"And I'm going to take a shower," he said. "Or a
bath or something."
"Hmm, that's a good idea," she said. "We could take
a bath."
"We?" Shinji asked weakly.
Asuka suddenly realized she'd been contemplating
exactly that for a few seconds, and blushed. "No, no, I
mean, you take a bath, and I'll take a walk, and then...you
can take a walk, and I'll take a bath. Not, like,
together." She bolted out the door.
"Wait..." Shinji said, but she was gone. He shook
his head. For a moment, he'd been enjoying the idea, but
now he tried to get it out of his mind. "Bath time."
Pen-Pen waddled after him as he headed for the
bathroom.
"I'm not taking a bath with you either, Pen-Pen," he
said.
"Wark," Pen-Pen slumped and waddled off to go to his
room in the refrigerator.
For a moment, Shinji wished he could go stay in the
fridge himself. He shook the thought off, then headed for
the bathroom, trying to shove aside a variety of bizarre
mental images which kept trying to surface in his brain.
-*-
Rei sat alone in her room, sitting upright on her
bed, staring at the wall across from her.
She scratched her palms.
In the dimness of her room, the slight glow of her
red eyes could be seen. At the moment, they were narrow
red eyes, expressing irritation on Rei's face. Her
breathing was strangely loud, sometimes almost gasping.
She stood up, walked towards the door, then
stopped herself.
She turned back to her bed, stopped, then settled
for pacing the room restlessly.
At last, she stopped and faced the mirror in the
room.
"Security Measure A."
Metal shutters slammed down over the windows, and
the bulkhead that acted as her front door whirred as extra
mechanisms emerged to seal the door in place.
She paced the room again, scratching her palms.
-*-
Touji wandered downtown aimlessly, a blank
expression on his face. He walked in circles around the
buildings, with no particular place to go, having no
particular desire to be anywhere... not after what
happened with Hikari.
The right side of Touji's face was still stinging,
a reminder of how hard Hikari could slap. Reviewing the
events in his mind, he really wasn't sure how things got
so out of control. He just went to visit her, just felt a
need to see her, and swung by her apartment.
He went there to... to talk with her...
And it kinda got hazy after that point.
They talked, he remembered that, but at some point
the talking stopped and the kissing started.
And then...
And then what?
The next thing he knew, he was on top of her, on
her bed, feeling the sting of her slap on his face.
"What the hell was I doing?" he muttered.
Touji stopped at a sidewalk bench and slumped into
it, staring around restlessly. Every now and then he
scratched his palms.
And what the hell was with this damn palm itch
anyway?
Plus, he had the feeling someone was following him.
He looked around and saw two men in dark suits watching him
from a distance. Damn NERV security, he thought. I wanna
be alone right now.
He scowled, rose, and turned around the corner.
And the day didn't get any better.
"Aw crap, _you_."
Asuka matched his scowl. "Eat shit and di.. i...e?"
Their gazes locked, and suddenly time seemed to
stop. His heart pounded heavily, blood rushing to his
ears. He looked at her and she looked at him and things
raced through his head, things he wanted to do with her,
do to her, make her scream with pain and pleasure, oh,
the things he wanted to-
Holy shit, a part of him raged, this is ASUKA
you're looking at. And she's lookin' at you the same
way.
"AAAGH!" both of them yelled, at the same time,
taking a large step away from each other. A half-second
later, they ran away from each other as fast as they
possibly could. Two pairs of black clad men ran after each
unnoticed by either of them.
-*-
Misato blinked at the two guards standing duty in front
of her apartment. "What's going on?"
"Orders from Commander Fuyutsuki to keep an eye on the
Children's movements, Captain."
Made sense given their condition, she thought. "Are
they both home?"
"Two of us are following Langely, Captain."
"And Shinji's here?"
"Yes, sir."
"Carry on," she said, and went inside.
She didn't like the idea of having to have people
follow them around, but given what they'd just fought, it
was probably not a good idea to leave them alone.
Misato walked in through the door. "I'm home!" she
shouted. No one answered, but she heard running water. Shinji
must be taking a bath, she thought.
She went and got herself a Fresca, sitting down in
front of the fan. Feels nice, she thought. If a little
chilly. It's not that hot in here, is it, to need this?
After she finished half her Fresca, Pen-Pen came and
lightly whacked her leg to get her attention. "Wark!"
"Is something wrong?" she asked.
Pen-Pen led her to the bathroom door. "Wark!!!"
There was a faint moaning coming through the door.
It sounded like Shinji.
"That's you, isn't it, Shinji?"
"Yes, it's me," he said, sounding a little pained or
out of breath.
"Are you okay?" she asked. "You don't sound so
good."
"I'm. Just. Fine!" he squeaked.
Something funny is going on, she thought.
"Wark!!!! Wark!!!"
"You sure you're okay? Asuka isn't in there with
you, is she?" she teased, knowing Asuka couldn't be in
there.
"No! I'm all alone!" he shouted frantically. "And
I'm not doing anything! And DON'T COME IN!"
She stepped back from the door at that. "Shinji,
are you..."
"No!"
Yes, he must be, she thought. Well, he's a teenage
boy. Nothing to be worried about, she thought. Although,
given what they just fought...
She frowned at the thought. Then again, what harm
can he do with what he's doing? "Just clean up when you're
done," she said. "I'll be in the kitchen making
dinner."
The moaning started again instead of a reply.
Then she went back to her Fresca to brood. Her mood
had lightened when she got home, anticipating her...her
children would be there and hoping they would cheer her up.
She'd been able to use her work to put off thinking too much
about what had happened with Kaji, but now it all came
crashing in on her, and gloom settled over her.
Part of her wanted to get drunk and forget, but she
fought it off. The other half was trying to talk itself into
seducing Makoto, to enable her to forget. Or some other guy
who could take her mind off matters. The tiny sane part in
the middle simply sat and brooded and guzzled Fresca.
About a half-hour later, she got up and started
making dinner. I can't believe Shinji is STILL in the
bathroom, she thought. I guess what happened to him has
given him a really...let's not think about that. And
where's Asuka run off to, anyway?
-*-
Maya stared at Rei's door, a sinking feeling
settling in.
She had begun to make it a habit to look in on Rei
once in a while, since she lived so close to her. Often Rei
would be just fine, reading books or just watching
television in that eerily blank way of hers.
Today she wasn't home.
In fact, it seemed like she violently escaped from
it. The doorway bulkhead had been torn through, _clawed_
through, from the inside. There were two unconscious men in
black suits in front of the place; both were badly beaten,
one clawed at but thankfully nothing severe, while the other
one had a very visible footprint on his forehead. She tried
to shake them awake, but they stayed knocked out.
"R-Rei?" she called out timidly.
From within the dimly lit apartment there was no
reply. She carefully stepped inside, noting all the
scratches and dents there were on the steel-enforced walls.
What on earth happened here?
After a moment more of looking, she pulled out
her phone. "Hello? This is Ibuki. I think we've got a
situation."
-*-
It was sunset now, and most of the population of
Tokyo-3 had gone home, leaving the downtown sectors even
more desolated than usual. Even the trains were mostly
empty, though there was one cabin on one train with two
bored looking men in black watching one very agitated
passenger mulling her situation. She also occasionally
scratched her palms.
The situation, thought Asuka, really sucked.
The horror of what had just happened earlier was
finally sinking in.
She'd actually lusted for... for...
TOUJI.
"Someone shoot me."
The two men watching her didn't take her up on the
offer. She tried to ignore them. They were making her feel
uncomfortable in a way she really couldn't define.
This was no good.
She scratched her palms briefly.
First of all, she hated him. Second of all, he
was Hikari's boyfriend. Third, she really hated him,
enough so to count it twice. No way on earth would she,
could she, should she ever even THINK about getting naked
with Touji, grinding against him all hot and sweaty,
biting on his-
WHOA.
She took a moment to headbutt a nearby pole.
It went CLANG. Very loudly.
One of the NERV men looked at Asuka curiously, then
turned away.
Asuka felt a mental test was in order.
She thought about Kaji, and some interesting
visions of him in a thong came to mind. That wasn't
unusual, though, since she had those thoughts since the day
they all went to the beach. Hard to use that as a
measuring standard. Then the knowledge that he was dead
hit her again, causing her to drop that line of thought
entirely.
For a while, it put her off thinking about the whole
Touji incident, but eventually her curiousity and worries
about how she could have possibly ever lusted after Touji
under any circumstances kicked in, causing her to resume
her thought experiments.
She thought of a few male classmates at random, and
it started feeling a little warm in the train. She idly
scratched her palms. She thought of Shinji and wild rough
sex in chains and making him scream until-
Hold it, wait, whoa.
She took a deep breath and tried to shake off the
blush that had taken over her face.
Okay, she thought to herself, I think we see a
pattern. Now, what would be the cause...
The Angel they defeated, they called it the
Violator. Odd, that, since they usually assigned angelic
code names to them. That in itself was also odd, but
another mystery for another time. For now, she was worrying
about exactly what kind of Angel the Violator was. As
they'd proven in defeating it, the Children, not just the
EVAs, absorbed the power of the Angels they defeated. In
defeating the Violator, the Children obviously gained its
abilities and traits, more directly than they'd gained any
other power before, and Asuka was getting a nasty suspicion
why it was codenamed Violator.
This was no good. How long was she going to stay
like this? Would it get worse?
She shuddered at the thought and really wished that
the NERV security officers weren't there.
Headquarters had to be notified.
But then, they'd lock her and the others away.
But still...
She looked out the window, across the city. The
train was passing by the newer developments now, by Ibuki
and Ayanami's apartments.
Hm.
She thought briefly of Ayanami.
A moment later she headbutted another pole. The two
men watching her glanced at each other nervously.
That was the last straw, she was going to call
headquarters. Before she could reach for her phone,
however, she suddenly _sensed_ something nearby, getting
closer. Her heartbeat began to quicken, just like when
she ran into Touji, but this wasn't Touji because she
_sensed_ it wasn't Touji.
It was...
Oh no.
She pulled away from the window as a blur in
white and blue crashed through it. Asuka felt a solid
impact knock the wind out of her, then the feel of cold
hard steel as the back of her head hit the subway train
wall. Her vision faded to black as she rolled over,
seeing a pair of glowing red eyes staring down at hers.
She heard the two men shout, and then they went silent,
and everything was silent and dark.
-*-
Anna stared out the window again, watching the ocean
roll by far below. At the same time, she continued her
cellphone conversation with Frau Himmelfarb. "No, I'm
fine," she said. "Just tired. I want to sleep, but it's
broad daylight out here."
"You should try to sleep anyway."
"I can't sleep when there's this much light," she
replied. "You know how insomniac I am."
"Unfortunately. But you won't do them any good if
you show up exhausted."
"I suppose. I'll try to sleep."
"Well, I'd best not keep you up. Goodnight, Anna."
"Goodnight." She hung up, then spent a while trying
to nap. Unfortunately, the sun cunningly maneuvered itself
to shine right in her face.
After a while, she decided to try calling Asuka
again. Unfortunately, Asuka didn't answer this time, either.
WHAT is she up to? Anna asked herself. She hasn't
answered her phone every time I've tried to call her on this
trip.
-*-
The sound of her cellphone ringing roused Asuka
from unconsciousness. The lingering remains of a headache
echoed in her head and she definitely felt a lot hotter
than she should.
She tried to rise to answer the phone, but found
herself bound to the floor, spread-eagle, ankles and wrists
encased by... something. Parts of it felt almost smooth as
silk, while others felt damp and sticky. A few hard pulls
at her bonds convinced her that they were more solid than
they seemed to be, plenty solid enough to keep her pinned
down.
A quick look at her surroundings made her even more
worried about her situation. It was apparently an
abandoned apartment, long abandoned by the looks of it.
The roof was gone, the only illumination available coming
from the stars and moon above. The walls were stained and
crumbling, and the floor littered with debris.
She saw her backpack strewn on the floor, its
contents spilled out sloppily. The cellphone was still
there, and ringing yet again.
A dark and slim shadow dropped in from the sky,
crushing the phone instantly. Two glowing red eyes glanced
in her direction briefly, then turned away.
Asuka's heart beat faster and she felt the blood
pounding in her ears, but she fought it. And by the way
Rei was hunched over, facing away, she knew Rei was
fighting it too.
"Rei," she said softly, but firmly. "Rei, can you
hear me?"
Rei turned her head, slightly. The slight hint of
a glowing red was visible from her eyes.
"Rei, you have to get away from here. You're not
feeling well... we're all not feeling well... it's because
we killed that thing-"
"I know," Rei replied, her voice a ragged whisper.
"So please, go! Call NERV, let them know what's
happening!"
"I... I can't."
"Rei!"
The First Child shuddered, turning towards Asuka.
"It is hard," she whispered hoarsely, "to fight
this."
''so very hard,'' whispered a tiny voice.
''very very hard,'' whispered another.
Slowly, Rei crawled towards Asuka.
"Rei! C'mon, snap out of it! Rei!"
Asuka struggled at her bonds again, to no
avail. Slowly, Rei crawled over her, their faces inches
apart. Asuka turned her face away as Rei lowered hers,
feeling Rei's hot breath on her ear.
"Rei! Stop it! Stop!"
"I... I can't," she whispered.
And suddenly Asuka felt something twist and turn on
her palms. She curled a finger to touch her palm, then
felt horror wash over her as she felt teeth, lips, and a
tongue.
Rei's right hand took hold of Asuka's face
violently, and in her palm a tiny mouth nibbled and licked
at Asuka's cheek.
"Blood calls to blood, yours sings to mine."
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!"
-*-
"Asuka? Asuka, can you hear me?"
Groggily, she opened her eyes. "Wha... ah... Dr.
Akagi?"
Ritsuko nodded. "How are you feeling, Asuka?"
"Tired," she mumbled. "Sore. Wha... what
happened?"
Ritsuko's expression clouded over. "We'll... we'll
talk about that later. Just focus on getting better,
okay?"
Asuka nodded slowly, then settled into bed as
Ritsuko left the room.
Something was wrong.
This wasn't her room.
This wasn't even the infirmary.
Padded walls surrounded her, and a small window of
very thick plexiglass was at the wall opposite of her. Far
above, behind a plexiglass half-globe, a camera watched
her.
What was happening? Why was she here?
She tried to stand up, but found herself incredibly
sore.... sore in all the wrong places.
A flicker of a memory danced before her mind's eye.
"No..."
She raised a hand to her face and stared at her
palm. Nothing there. But up and down her arm were little
bite marks...
"No no no no..."
And then the memories came, and all Asuka could do
was curl into a ball and cry.
-*-
Misato's heart ached as she watched the monitor
bank. The Children didn't deserve this, not after all
they'd gone through, especially not Asuka.
And Rei... what were they going to do with Rei?
She was even more subdued than usual when they found
her, and she hadn't said a word since. Even now, in her
own cell, she merely stared back at the camera. She was
thankful that Rei hadn't killed any of the guards, though
they were going to be in the hospital for a while.
But what she did to Asuka...
Misato prayed that it was just the power surge from
the Violator, and that it'd never happen again. Even so,
the damage had been done.
Innocence lost.
-*-
Meanwhile, in Gendo's office, a meeting between the
Commander and his Sub-Commander was taking place, though
the topic and the atmosphere was quite different than past
meetings. Fuyutsuki was standing before Gendo's desk,
glaring down at his superior with unmasked anger.
Gendo wilted under Fuyutsuki's gaze. "I didn't know
she had been..."
"All of our plans nearly came to naught because you
couldn't keep your pants shut. No, you just HAD to use the
poor girl as your sex toy!"
"She wasn't just a..." Gendo began.
"Did you REALLY think she was Yui?" he asked.
"Well, she..."
"And if she had been, would she have been content to
live in a room like that?"
"I..."
"Bullshit," Fuyutsuki said angrily. "We nearly both
died because you decided to keep a 'doll' for yourself."
Gendo frowned and tried to tilt the conversation in
another direction. "There's another Angel coming."
"There's always another Angel coming. Planning to
sleep with this one too?"
"I DID NOT KNOW WHAT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN!" Gendo
shouted.
"You should have known better."
"We're not all ascetics like you. I can only deny
my flesh so far."
"I should have left you as I found you." Fuyutsuki
glared at Gendo, wondering if that would have been best.
"You couldn't afford to. We have to stand together
or hang separately," Gendo observed. "Yes, I made a big
mistake. I admit it. Can we move on to dealing with the
business at hand?" He paused. "And...thank you for making
sure I didn't stay that way."
"You're welcome," Fuyutsuki said. "We don't just
have an Angel to worry about, however."
"What do you mean?"
"There's been... an incident with the Children."
"Delightful." Gendo didn't miss Fuyutsuki's glare
as it rose up a notch. "Because of the Violator?"
"Exactly."
"Have them brought in and isolated."
"Taken care of," said Fuyutsuki.
Gendo nodded. "Good, good. The Fifth Child is
arriving soon, I think it would be best to keep her away
from them until we're sure they're stable." He frowned
intensely. "This is a further complication we do not
need."
"The Burrower Beneath seems to have a good sense of
timing, anyway," Fuyutsuki said.
"Unfortunately."
- end -