************************************************************************************** Neon Genesis Evangelion: Crimson Resurrection Written By Daryl (my Magnificent Octopus AKA Magnum Opus) lurgee@cyberway.com.sg Edited by: Irene Mar ************************************************************************************** Author's note: I don't know why CR takes so long to come up with new chapters when others are releasing chapters almost every week. I will now offer some excuses for myself... ^_^ 1: School started again for me. I won't have that much time. 2: When I'm home, I'm either surfing the Net or OD'ing on the latest games. Either PC or PlayStation stuff. 3: See reason 2... ^_^ I know some of you are going to hate the first bit. I did. My action writing isn't that good, I know. ARGH! I should've taken that "Writing action bits for fanfics" class over in school when I had the chance... Oh and look out for the new fic! The Blade Runner inspired one... it's NOT, I repeat, NOT a Blade Runner crossover. It's _inspired_ by it. Another one of my crazy devotions to a movie... check out the teaser page: http://www.cyberway.com.sg/~lurgee/manteaser.htm And if you like, check out my new and remodelled homepage as well! It's a page all about myself and my hobbies and such... http://www.cyberway.com.sg/~lurgee/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Neon Genesis Evangelion: Crimson Resurrection Chapter 7: White Light +/+ Opening Theme Song: Radiohead: Nice Dream +/+ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ******************* Ambush Point ******************* 0:0:48:35 He could feel the life slipping from his limbs. As the seconds wore down, he could feel the EVA slowly becoming more sluggish, the controls becoming heavier to the touch. 0:0:45:27 The Angel bore down on his flank and shot out an arm. With a supreme effort of his will, he managed to dodge it. The EVA which would normally respond with the slightest of thoughts was now behaving as if drunk. He could barely feel the interface, as if something was clouding it... 0:0:32:67 It was fast. He slashed with the knife and the Angel simply dodged it, like it was playing with the EVA. 0:0:21:13 Without warning, the Angel charged into Unit 1, pinning it to the hill. 0:0:12:78 The Angel began pounding Unit One's chest plate with its arms. Shinji could only hear the dull metallic crash from inside the plug and winced as the pain came through the nerve endings connecting him with the EVA. 0:0:05:23 The pain was coming through as a dull ache now. He raised his arms to shield himself but only succeeded in lifting the EVA's arms a fraction. The commands were coming with an almost insane intensity now. He could barely make out Misato's voice screaming to eject him from the plug, but his father's voice denying the request. Those words were lost on him and all he could hear was a meaningless stream of chatter. He wanted to get up and fight. To defeat the Angel single handedly and win the love and respect of his father, Misato, Rei, Asuka... 0:0:0:00 The plug suddenly went dark and a sharp, continuous beeping echoed around the plug. The chatter started again. "Battery depleted! Angel going for the core!" "Pilot life-signs stable." "NO! Eject him now!" "Not possible. Remote commands not accepted." "If it reaches the core, then..." "I KNOW!!! JUST DO SOMETHING! GET HIM OUT!" "Negative. You will do no such thing, Major. He is to remain until death." "..." /// They will love me... they won't hate me anymore... \\\ "Power spike! Harmonics spike in Unit One!" "Impossible! There's no power to the EVA!" /// They will love me... they won't hate me anymore... \\\ "First tier nerve connection established!" /// They will love me... they won't hate me anymore... \\\ "Full nerve connections! Synchro established!" "I... I've never seen..." /// They will love me... they won't hate me anymore... \\\ "It has begun... my son..." "150% and climbing!" /// I am one... it is one... \\\ The EVA suddenly rose from its sleep and cannoned into the chest of the Angel, knocking it off its feet. "Synchro 400%!" The EVA worked as if possessed, pounding its fists on the Angel's body and face. The Angel simply lay there, as if resigned to its fate. It stopped for a moment and roared. A single, long, roar not unlike the howl of a wolf. "It... it... Unit One... the S2..." It began ripping open the chest plate of the Angel and began to feed on the Angels entrails. "No! It can't be... Shinji wouldn't..." "Pilot life-signs not detected!" "WHAT?! Is he dead?" "N.. No... it's as if he just... disappeared..." Gendo smiled faintly from behind his desk. ******************* NERV Control Room ******************* The screens showed Unit One lying prone over the Angel, motionless. It was awhile before anybody could speak. It was Misato who broke the eerie silence, and even when she did, her voice was shaky. "Stat... Status..." "Pilot life signs reappeared... he's unconcious, but appears stable." Ritsuko answered her query. Maya appeared too shaken to speak. "Recover the pilot. Gendo's voice boomed from behind them. His voice betraying no sign of emotion. "Yes... Yes sir." Gendo continued in his booming voice which was accented by the cavernous control room. "No mention of this... 'incident' is to be made to the pilot. Anyone who does so is answerable to me and will be punished with accordingly." The room was silent but if he could see far enough, he would have discovered Misato's fist clenched so tightly, the knuckles were turning white. He was disappointed by the lack of response from the NERV personnel. He then felt it necessary to repeat himself. "Is that understood?!" Almost as if possessed of one voice, the staff replied. "YES SIR!" ******************* NERV Hospital ******************* ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ "Shinji..." He was in the middle of a dark room with a spotlight illuminating the space where he stood. Yui suddenly appeared in front of him, smiling gently. "Mother... ?" She nodded. "Shinji... the EVA, it is one... with me..." "But I don't understand, Mother. What are you saying, Mother?" She then turned and walked away. "Mother, please wait... Mother, please wait for me..." He began to run after her but as he got nearer, the scene faded to white. "MOTHER, WAIT!! PLEASE... DON'T LEAVE ME ALONE! MOTHER!!" ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ He woke with a start on the hospital bed he was on. He touched his cheek to discover it was wet. Tears. He looked around and found Rei looking at him with a book in hand. Sunlight was pouring through the half opened curtains. "You're awake. You've been unconscious for two days." She got up and started for the door. "Wait... you were here? All this time?" She replied with her back to him. "I... I was ordered to by Major Katsuragi." His heart fell on hearing it. "Tell me... I... what happened? How did I... get here?" Shinji noticed her looking away on hearing him. Did he say something wrong? He wanted to say something to her. Anything. He didn't know why. "I... I just wanted to say..." "HEY! How's Shin-chan feeling today? Good?!" Misato. Misato strode in first with a package in her hand. "Oh... Hi..." "Major." He greeted her with a more subdued tone of voice. He was still groggy from the medication. Rei greeted her with a small bow. "Tsk! Well, glad you're up Shin-chan! I brought you food!" She began to bustle around looking for plates and utensils with what he observed was more gusto than absolutely necessary. "I'll be leaving now. Goodbye." She turned and quietly padded out of the room. Before he had time to work out a response, the door had already closed behind her. "Oh... See you..." Misato spun around to talk to her, but like Shinji, was too late. "She always disappears so quickly." "..." "You're so lucky, you know that? She was at your bedside ever since you were admitted into hospital..." Shinji's eyes went wide. "But... But didn't you order her?" Misato greeted this with a puzzled expression. "Huh? I never ordered..." Shinji tried to change the subject. However, it was hard to think through the painkillers. "So... uh... where's Asuka?" "I don't think it'd be a good idea to talk to her now. She's still mad at you for -stealing her victory-..." "Misato-san... what happened to me during that last battle?" Shinji observed Misato looking slightly torn. When she spoke, it was as if she was being forced to say the words. She spoke carefully, treading over each syllable. "After you lost consciousness... the... dummy plug took over... it found some reserves of power and defeated the Angel." /// The... dummy plug... Touji... \\\ "I... I see..." Misato cut into his reverie. "Yeah! I found the plates! Let's eat!" Misato then attacked the food. Shinji merely sighed to himself. ******************* Streets of Tokyo-3 ******************* He was discharged fairly quickly. He escaped from the battle almost uninjured. Almost. He gingerly felt his left rib. It was still sore from the beating he received from the Angel. There was still that blank in his memory. After the power ran out, he remembered screaming, but that was it. Everybody tried to avoid giving an answer when he asked them about it. Added to this, there was the question of Rei. Why was she at his bed? What made her stay by his side? Could it just have been concern for a fellow pilot? Or... And Asuka, she was upset according to Misato, but how upset was she? He of all people knew she had varying degrees of anger, ranging from the mild petulant tantrum to white-hot fury. His dreams... were they becoming more prophetic? Was there someone trying to tell him something? Or could it be they were merely as they were, dreams? He thrust his hands deeper into his pockets, feeling cold despite the warm sun beating down on him. As usual, the cicadas were out in force, repeating their call, the sounds carrying into infinity. ******************* Misato's Apartment ******************* He was about to slide his card to open the door when the door slide open suddenly. He started to greet the familiar face with a smile and wave. "Hi Asuka!" She narrowed her eyes and he noticed the blue eyes burn. He'd never seen it before. In all his experiences with her, he'd never seen them burn with such a light before. Automatically, his arm stopped in mid-wave. Asuka's mouth curled in a sneer. She caught his arm and slapped him hard across the face with her free hand. He felt the initial sting and a split second later, felt it burn. Before he even had a moment to react, she grabbed him by the collar and pulled him so close, their noses almost touched. She spoke softly, but the voice had an edge to it. "I _hate_ you. I _hate_ all of you." She continued glaring at him for a while. He merely hung limply in her grip. A teardrop fell from her eye and rolled down her left cheek. With that, she pushed him roughly against the wall and ran out. Only then did Shinji raise his hand to his face to inspect it. He winced a little and felt something wet and sticky on his cheek. He pulled his hand away from his face to look at it. Blood. She'd used her nails. He moved to the sink to wash it off and felt the wound sting as the cold water touched it. He remembered. Ayanami. He had to call her. He diverted his gaze to the phone, the off-white plastic reflecting the light of the late afternoon sun. He began to metally rehearse what he was about to say to her. He went through every detail to make sure it was perfect. He moved slowly towards it, as if it was a coiled snake waiting to strike. With trembling fingers, he reached down for it. He didn't know why he was feeling so nervous. He punched in the numbers for Rei's cel phone and waited for the ringing tone. There was the sound of the line being picked up and his elaborately rehearsed speech fell apart. "Ayanami! I... uh... I..." A cold, pre-recorded message greeted him. "This is Ayanami Rei. I can't be reached now. Leave a message." Shinji noted her message sounding slightly stilted. Like she was unsure of what a message should sound like. There was a short beep prompting him to begin his message. "Erm... this is Shinji. I... I just wanted to say thank you... for being with me... thank you. Uh... call me back once you get this... Bye." He cautiously replaced the handset and began wondering when she would call back. ******************* 402: Ayanami ******************* Rei stepped out of the shower with a towel draped around her shoulders. Water dripped off the ends of her hair. A small trickle of blood started from her injured calf. The rays of the dying sun came in through the window and illuminated a small patch of the room where her dresser stood. Blood-stained bandages were strewn carelessy around, its epicenter being a small cardboard box near her room's door. She moved to the dresser and opened its top drawer, pulling out a fresh roll of bandages. She sat herself on the bed and allowed the towel to fall off. She wound the white cloth around the region of her ribcage and bit her lip as she felt the wound sting. She finished dressing the wound in a few moments and quickly got dressed. The sounds of construction outside stopped abrubptly as the workers began to head home for the day. She picked up her bag and began to unpack it, looking for a new pack of medicine that was given to her. Several loose papers floated around for awhile before settling on the floor. In her search, her cel phone fell with a clatter of plastic. On picking it up, she noticed the flashing display notifying her of a new voice message. Her eyes widened slightly. She then began to dial the number to her voice mailbox and listened to the message with an impassive face. After it ended, she disconnected the call and set the phone down on her bed. /// He... knows... \\\ She felt a twinge in her heart and reflexively, clasped her right hand to her chest. /// What... what is this... ? \\\ ******************* Misato's Apartment ******************* "I'm home!" Misato called from the short hallway as she kicked off her shoes. She saw a light on, but received no response. She found Shinji on the sofa, staring at the silent telephone. "Shinji-kun?" "Oh! Misato-san!" She sensed the emotion behind his eyes. He seemed slightly worried and disappointed. "Anything the matter?" "Uh... No! No... nothing's wrong." She wanted to ask him, she knew there was something bothering him. "Misato-san?" "Yes?" "Did Asuka call?" "No... she didn't... why?" "Oh... uh... it's nothing, just that she went out and never came back." "Well, she's probably over at Hikari's. We should give her some time alone." "I see..." "Well! Enough of the depressing stuff! Let's eat!" Misato almost dashed to the fridge and from the living room, Shinji could hear the sound of a beer can opening. A few big gulps later, Misato's familiar whoop could be heard. ******************* 402: Ayanami ******************* Rei sat on the bed, staring down at the cel phone. It had been a few hours since she listened to Shinji's message. The phone itself lay silently on the bed, a light on it flashed every now and then to indicate it was still switched on. She suddenly reached down for the phone and began to input first few digits for Misato's apartment. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To be continued... End of Chapter Seven +/+ Closing Theme Song: Stone Temple Pilots: Interstate Love Song +/+ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------