Since Spacebattles is all privaty and stuff now, I decided to share the love. Keep in mind, I'm beta'ing the fuck out of this before I post it to ff.net, or until I finish Season 5 of ND. So this is still very rough, and also a reason I haven't updated ND lately. Because I'm on vacation from it.
Seriously, I've written ND non stop for two years.
--------
How little they know.
Of worlds.
Of stars.
Of the origins of life.
If there was life on the
world billions of years ago, they would have seen it. They would
have witnessed it, like they did. No one's beheld the face of the
Makers. No one's seen the truth of this endless, pointless war.
A stone. Or something
representing a stone. It skips along the blackness of the great sea,
sending white ripples through it before sinking into the aether.
At the edge of the
black, white crossed sea, there sits a figure. The whos and whys are
not important. The description of the figure, huddled against the
cold though there is no chill, huddled against the world though he is
solitary and all, is of less import. All that matters is that he is
alone.
Fleeting memories still
pass over him, and through him the world. Pain. Anger. Hate.
Abandonment. Fury. All them take shape in this empty world, all of
them take meaning in this empty world.
And then he is not
alone.
White feet walk across
the aether. White ripples over the black sea as she approaches,
skipping across the nothingness. White skin forms a white face,
framed by white hair, clothed in a white school uniform and holding a
white schoolbag on her shoulder. The only color save for the shadows
of definition is her eyes. Red, the color of blood, staring at him
as she tilts her head.
“Are you going to
keep running away?” she asks,
her voice a crystalline whisper.
He
says nothing. She tilts her head, smiles and giggles, and sits down
next to him.
“I
can stay, a while,” she says,
“Because it is time.”
-
-
Rebuild
of
Nobody Dies
-
-
Floating
freely over the large bay, the screen measures a football field
across. Divided up into twenty hexagonal panels, it forms a
honeycomb, images of a body of water outside the city limits passing
in quick time, showing water rippling, followed by the lake parting
to the sea bed in two even walls.
Zooming
out, it displays the first mark of the oncoming threat:
A
cross rising into the sky, light in the color of enflamed flesh. And
from it rises another shape, something neither human nor animal,
surrounded by walls of orange as it begins a silent advance.
Clearing
his throat, the man with white hair, showing each and every one of
his many years, leans against the table on the raised platform above
the main bridge.
“Very
well,” he says, “The Fourth Angel in en route. Set the MAGI to
combat configuration and alert Ikari. Prepare defenses.”
“We're
sorry, but due to emergency situations, no phone lines are available
at this time. Thank you, and please try again later.”
The phone slams back into the receiver, cracking the plastic as the
young man walks away.
AD
2017. +17 years, Second Impact
It
took him hours to get here by train. There were security checks,
there were stops, there were delays. And after every last,
excruciating moment of having to actually come here, he arrives to
find the city completely empty. Muttering
under his breath, he swings his knapsack off, opening it and reaching
into it. Pulling out an envelope, he tears it open, unfolds the
contents, and stares at a letter which is mostly black save for one
word:
Come.
“The Hell,” he mutters. Running a hand through his wild black
hair, the young man, clad in a worn gray sweatshirt and jeans, looks
around the ghost city, wondering at what point he exited his normal,
ordinary life and entered the Twilight Zone, or whatever that weird
show his Aunt watches is called.
“Damn
it,” he mutters, checking his cell phone and finding, once again,
no bars. Figures. He'd call his father's phone again, but he doubts
he's even answering
it, because goodness knows he couldn't actually tell him all this by
phone, he had to send by snail mail.
“I don't believe this,” he whines, dragging his knapsack on the
ground behind him, “I haven't seen him in three years! And all he
does is tell me to come! But no! That's typical of him! No, 'Hi
son, who we shipped off to live with his relatives for no reason we
articulated, how are you doing?'”
He
continues griping, rolling his eyes, looking up at the low buildings
around him as he wonders gee, if this is a city, where are
the skyscrapers
“But
nooooo,” he continues, shrugging his backpack over his shoulder,
“No, they just had to send for me. I swear, if this is all some
elaborate surprise birthday party they are getting such a talking to.
Why did they have to send for me? Why did I have to come here? Why
didn't they tell me why
I'm here?”
Rolling his eyes, he mutters to himself something about whining and
complaining, and continues walking through the empty city. Maybe
it's just this area of the city that's empty, he thinks. It's a big
city, maybe everyone from these few blocks took the day off, or went
on vacation, or died. Or something.
Reaching into his bag, he takes out a can of coffee, holding it for
a moment before he realizes it's warm, and so is the weather.
Spotting a bench near a convenience store, he stomps over as
effectively as a lanky sixteen year old can, slumping down on the
bench and placing his bag and the warm coffee next to him, looking
out and finally seeing the skyline of Tokyo-3.
Silver and steel rising from the center of what was once Hakone, a
spire at the center which he understands is the Tokyo-3 City Center.
Sighing, leaning back on the bench, he wonders, once again, what his
Dad needs him here for.
“Excuse me, Mister, but are you lost?”
He looks down. He would lecture the girl to not stand in the
street, but there haven't been any cars here the entire day. Maybe
there's a big fair on the other side of the city. A ten year old
girl with her dark brown hair in two hastily arranged pigtails is
standing in front of him, holding a bag of groceries.
“Huh?” he asks.
“We're all supposed to go to the shelters, but I thought we'd need
food and stuff for it,” she says, “Didn't you know that?”
He blinks, takes the coffee from next to his bag, popping the top
and sipping the cold coffee. Shelters? Well, that would explain
that. But why would an entire city have some sort of evacuation
drill? What would they evacuate an entire city for? Isn't Tokyo-3
landlocked?
“I'm Nozomi,” the girl says, smiling.
He blinks, and smiles, scratching the back of his head.
“I'm Shinji,” he says, “Uh...Shinji Ikari.”
The girl starts, tilting her head.
“Huh.”
“Huh, what?” he asks.
“Anyway,” Nozomi says, “You really should head to the
shelters, 'cause Mom's bosses said we had to all go there today, and
we don't want to get in any trouble with NERV.”
She walks over, grabbing Shinji by the wrist and pulling him to his
feet. He grabs his knapsack, sighing as he finds himself pulled
along by a bossy 10 year old, which he could think of as the story of
his life.
“So, wait,” he says, “Why are we going to the shelters?”
“'Cause NERV said there's a drill, today.”
“Why is there a drill? What possible reason could anyone have to
have an entire city go into shelters?”
The answer comes from a rumble overhead, and the two look up to see
jet fighters passing overhead, the ground shaking in time with their
supersonic wake. Mouth hanging open, Shinji watches as the jets are
accompanied by a half dozen VTOL craft, not even finishing passing
overhead before their side compartments open and a flurry of rockets
fire off at some object in the distance.
And then a pink lance of light shoots out and one of the VTOLs
explodes, debris raining down on an apartment block.
“Okay,” Shinji says, “That makes sense now. Run!”
Grabbing
the girl by the hand, they run, as the sounds of conflagration and
lasers fill the air, explosions and sonic booms overhead as they run
down the street, away from the fighting. That is important, that
they are not just running, but running away.
“The shelter's this way!” Nozomi yells.
“Good! Shelter's good!”
The explosions die down. He hopes that's a good thing. He really
hopes that's a good thing. Then, the other, dreaded question comes
to the forefront of his mind.
What
were they shooting at?
Something passes overhead, fast enough to make the ground shake and
make them lose their footing. Nozomi and Shinji both hit the ground
with a cry, Shinji looking up as something slams into the main
street, big enough that its motions gouge out chunks of the buildings
around it. He looks up, as the claws, as tall as he is, slams into
the ground in front of them, crushing abandoned cars, sending water
from severed lines spraying into the air. The claw, metallic,
smooth, is one of three on the leathery green foot, that goes up to a
knee at least three times his height, which goes into a gigantic
white shell.
It
towers over the buildings, the shell itself coming to a high dome,
three dull horns of white thrusting out of it. At the front of the
shell there is black, tracing out the shape of a stylized eye, tilted
vertically. Four claws feet gouge the ground and cement, a tail
swinging about behind it, ending in a red crystal sphere which glows
with some kind of inner light or fire. The front of the shell
splits, and a think like a serpent slides out, an eyeless mouth with
two teeth coming over the front of the lip, and two teeth framing the
sides. Swinging through the air, it turns, extending towards Shinji
and Nozomi as they scurry back, too frozen by fear and bewilderment
at the thing
in front of them to run.
The mouth opens, and attached to a long, thin tongue an eye coming
out, hovering in front of them. For a moment, it glances at the
girl, who shakes where she sits, eyes wide and mouth open. Then, it
turns to Shinji. And a slow rumble emits from the mouth of the thing
before him, as Shinji clenches his eyes shut, a noise like static
filling his ears and words forming in a tongue that has no name and
Through license of he who is named “I AM” I have come.
Though my feet must drag upon this Base Earth on this blessed
quest, I have come.
I am the second of the messengers,
Tested against the might of those who profane the glory.
Your might shall be tested,
Measured,
And found wanting before us,
And you shall be washed away like ash against the stream.
I am the Test of God,
Angel of Pride.
I am Iblis.
I have come.
Shinji yells out, grabbing his head, as the mouth rises, jaw
stretching out in front of him. And neither he, nor the monster sees
the figure running across the rooftops, but Nozomi does, pointing
towards the sky and yelling out. And the sky turns orange and the
wind slams down on them all, and the creature, Iblis, looks up just
before the figure leaping over them spins, and brings her arm down on
the creature.
Which the humans realize is not an arm or an extension of the arm,
but actually a rocket launcher which slams into the mouth, driving it
into the ground as a figure lands in front of them.
“Heee~ey there,” a lilting voice says, “Nozomi, your Mom's
really worried 'bout you, so we need to get you to a shelter. 'Kay?”
Nozomi nods, a wide smile on her face.
“You Shinji Ikari?”
Shinji nods, holding his head, shakily standing as Nozomi runs past,
disappearing through a pair of metal doors next to a clothing store.
There is a loud whirr, as the doors slam shut and the doors retract
into the sidewalk itself. And then a hand grabs him by the arm.
“Come with me if you want to live.”
He doesn't have time to actually see the girl's face. No, instead,
he has all the time to get out the first syllable of “Who are you
and what am I doing here?” before he finds himself picked up, by
one arm, and the entire world becomes a blur.
Screaming the entire way, he looks back over his shoulder, and
screams louder. This is because the gigantic monstrous turtle has
begun chasing after them. Him. Well, most likely her, because she
hit it in the face with a rocket.
“Heee~ey,” the girl says, “How're you doin'?”
Shinji screams something unintelligible, as the jaws of the monster
snap closed in front of him, empty buildings crashing apart as the
gigantic demon turtle gallops after them. The girl, however, simply
continues talking.
“Sooo I have Shinji, but we're being chased by the Angel! Yeah,
'cause I hit it in the face with a rocket. So we're trying to
loooose it but we're gonna need distractions. Great!”
The blur becomes faster as they pick up speed, speeding down a
narrow alleyway, twisting and turning as the monster chases after
them, Shinji seeing it in the cracks between buildings. His stomach
relocates into his throat as the alley becomes the street, as they
run vertically up a wall, the street becoming the rooftops of the
city, and the stylized Gamerra that is currently terrorizing it, and
him.
Leaping after them, he only watches as the roofs end, a distant drop
below, Shinji's screams becoming louder and more girly as the drop is
replaced by the another roof, and looks over his shoulder just as
they crash through the window, running through an office as impacts
shake the building. Another crash, and they're out of the building,
leaping through the air, desks and chairs falling out of the broken
window in their wake, and Shinji sees the monster turtle thing
shrieking as hovering, humanoid machines pepper it with rocket fire
and machine guns.
“Hey, are you afraid of heights?”
He whimpers a positive.
“Too bad.”
And they dive down, redirecting themselves in mid and and
accelerating towards the ground. Shinji screams, as it is natural
for him to do so when reaching terminal velocity. Instead of
impacting the concrete below, which seems sensible from his
perspective, the manhole cover swings aside and they descend into a
long tube, Shinji falling into a smooth, soft, frictionless padding
which does nothing to slow his descent, only redirect it.
His screams are matched by the laughter of the girl, who has braced
her hands on the sides and slowed herself down.
He would do that, too. Were he not terrified and possibly wetting
himself.
No, wait. Not possibly.
However, the light at the end of the tunnel has come. Only instead
of being salvation, or a reward, or peace, it is an actual end of the
tunnel, and Shinji's scream comes to an abrupt end as he slams into a
gel pad built into the white metal wall. The gel ripples out, making
a sound like an underwater burp, and he falls off of it and onto the
ground with a groan.
Another yell, not his, and a blue and white blur hits the gel pad,
hanging in the air before backflipping off. Looking up, his vision
still slightly blurred and feeling as if he has lost ten years off
his life, he finally gets a look at the girl who saved his life by
being more hazardous to his health than a house sized evil turtle.
His eyes start on the white, worn sneakers and black socks, going up
pale legs to the plaid skirt, white blouse and blue blazer. Finally,
they settle on a heart shaped face, framed by bright blue hair, and
sharp, deep red eyes. Her arms are up, and she bows, saying
something about a 'Ten point landing.'
“Soooo here you are,” she says, “Welcome to NERV! I'm-”
“REI!”
Slowly, Shinji turns his head to the side, as a woman with brunette
hair and in a blue wet suit and a lab coat runs over, fixing her
glasses and still toweling off her hair. Skidding to a stop,
apparently just noticing the sixteen year old boy on the verge of
passing out, she drops to her knees in front of Shinji and helps him
sit up.
“Shinji?” she says, “I'm Dr. Ritsuko Akagi. I work with your
father at NERV. Do you know why you were called here?”
Shinji shakes his head. Articulation is not his strong point at
present. Instead, Akagi moves his head up, so he is looking at the
girl again, who is now smiling with a mouth full of teeth. Many
teeth.
“This is Rei,” Akagi continues, “She's a Pilot. She's the
Second Child. The monster she saved you from is called an Angel. We
called you here to help deal with it.”
His head is once more turned to her.
“Any questions?”
Shinji's response comes not as a question. Instead, it comes as a
high pitched scream, starting in his stomach and exiting his mouth
with force and tremor. Carried aloft by the shriek, he scrambles to
his feet and runs, past the watching people in beige uniforms,
turning the corner and scrambling on all fours into the men's
bathroom.
Walking up to Ritsuko, who stares at the path that Shinji has taken
to half-heartedly escape, a woman with purple hair and in a beige
pants uniform sips her coffee mug.
“Yeah,” she says, “That went well.”
“Shut up, Misato.”
Rei skips past them, stretching her hands above her head.
“I'll go get'em,” she says, “Someone should tell Dad the
Fourth Child's heee~ere.”
And she skips into the bathroom, humming the entire way.
He locked himself in the handicapped stall and has determined he
will live there.
He found a small paper bag, closed his hand into a fist around the
opening, and sensibly began to hyperventilate. How could he not? It
makes sense. He will lock himself in here, let them transport things
like food and water under the stall door, and wait until there is not
a building-sized monster out there that wants to snack on him. Those
shall be his demands, and people will accept that, if they want him
to do what...
What did they want him to do?
“Heee~ey.”
The bathroom door swings open, and the girl skips in.
“Oh, Shinji? You ready yet? Hope you're not dead, 'cause if you
are we're kinda in trouble.”
Worn white sneakers stop in front of his stall door, lolling back
and forth on the balls of the feet. A hand knocks on the door once,
twice, three times...
And then punches through the stall door all the way to the shoulder,
feeling around the door before turning the lock and swinging open the
door. Rei bends down, a closed lipped smile and eyes closed as
Shinji notices he has stopped hyperventilating, because he has
forgotten to breathe.
“Soooo~oo,” she says, “The Commander, your father, really
needs to see you 'cause it's really important. So, I can show you
where it is, or I could knock you out and carry you.”
She tilts her head, showing teeth.
“'Kay?”
He nods, as she reaches out and pulls away the bag.
“What,” he starts, “What are you?”
“I'm Rei.”
“No,” he says, trying to find words that will not, possibly, get
him eaten, “What are you?”
She giggles.
“Already told you, silly. I'm Rei.”
And she grabs him by the arm and drags him out.
“Oh yeah. This was a great idea. Let's introduce Shinji to NERV
by having him meet Rei. I dunno, I'm pretty sure he finds the
Angel less terrifying.”
“Shut up, Misato.”
The lights flicker on as they enter, illuminating the wide catwalk
and the lake of yellow fluid beneath them. It shifts, ripples with
every footstep, less from the vibrations of the catwalk and more
from...something else. Something they can't accurately measure.
Like the liquid wants to move on its own. Akagi dismisses that idea.
She spends an unseemly amount of time swimming in it, after all, so
she'd hate to believe that somehow the liquid is alive. That would
be...
Bad.
“We need to prep Unit-00, just in case,” Ritsuko says, rubbing
the bridge of her nose as they walk through another arch, an open
doorway as the lights come on underneath them.
“Unit-00 has one arm.”
“Still, if we can't-”
“Is there a problem?”
The lights come on overhead, illuminating a balcony on high. Misato
sucks her teeth. Ritsuko rolls her eyes. Much of the time, this is
the appropriate reaction to the presence above, especially in tense
situations like this.
“The Fourth Child is on base, Ikari,” Ritsuko says, “Problem
is that he was brought onto the base by the Second Child, and is
currently...”
“Freaked out,” Misato finishes, earning a glare from the
brunette, “Last we saw, he locked himself in the bathroom and was
hyperventilating.”
Silence, from on high.
“I see.”
“In any case,” Ritsuko continues, “If we can't get the Fourth
Child-”
“Who's right here!”
The two women turn, and find standing in the doorway is Rei,
followed by Shinji, who's color at this point is starting to match
Rei's. Walking ahead of the albino girl, Shinji looks at the two
women, and then looks up, past them at the silhouetted figure
standing on the glass covered balcony. Stumbling forward, fighting
the odd wind around him, he looks up at the figure. He doesn't need
to see who it is. He knows. He knows exactly who would be there.
“Dad.”
“Shinji. You've come.”
“Yeah.” He looks around. Darkness, except for the illuminated
catwalk and the box his father is standing in. “Why? What do you
need me for? What was that thing outside?”
“An Angel.”
The other side of the catwalk, someone enters. Clad in gray sweats
and a labcoat, her short, messy brown hair showing some signs of
gray, and a face that is a mirror of Shinji's own. His shoulders
relax as she enters, untensing for the first time since he entered
this city.
“Mom?”
Yui Ikari smiles, crossing the catwalk and pulling her son into a
hug.
“Look at you,” she sighs, holding him at arms length, “It's
been three years since I've been in the same room as you. You've
grown.”
He nods, noticing that, at this point, he is actually taller than
the woman in front of him. Reaching up, scratching the back of his
head, he turns to the other people inside the chamber. Underneath, a
bubble pops in the yellow lake.
“Okay,” he says, “Uh...where am I? Why am I here?”
“You're in Project E,” Yui explains, turning him towards his
father, “I had Ritsuko bring you down here because you're needed.”
“E,” Shinji says, screwing his face in confusion, “Project
'E'? That's...an odd name.”
Reaching into her labcoat, she withdraws a large, flat plate,
clicking it and causing a red fig leaf symbol to flash on the front
before becoming the screen of a tablet. Tapping a command on it, the
lights overhead switch on, washing over the chamber with light.
“Project E,” she says, “Means Project Evangelion.”
And Shinji sees it. He comes up, at his full height, roughly to the
lower lip of the things face, with the chin at his feet. Purple,
green lined, the face is an almost demonic mask, a single purple and
green horn rising into the air, two yellow eyes staring back at him.
It is covered in armor, welded in place, a giant in the shape of a
man and yet very, very different. The air shifts around him in front
of the giant face, and in that moment Shinji realizes why.
It's breathing. And so, Shinji speaks the words which he believes
are the best way to address this situation.
“Oh what the fuck.”
Hissing, the monster lashes out, grabbing one of the flying metal
bipeds in its jaw and squeezing. It is rewarded by the sweet taste
of liquid fire as the annoyance explodes, licking the inside of its
mouth, seeing it dissolve in front of its eye with a shriek of
tearing metal.
Spitting out the remains, the tail whips out, the red sphere at the
end glowing as the air around Iblis turns gold. The laws of physics
are rewritten. The air around the hovering, metal creatures turns
thick like molasses, and they drop around the beast, before single
stomps from its feet crush them underfoot. Snaking out his eye,
Iblis stares at them, sniffing the air. No blood. No breath. They
are not living, merely...tools...of the Lilim. The air whines, and
another flock of the Lilim machines appear, the ones long and filled
with Lilim, their weapons less than useless against him.
Stomping past the broken machines, Iblis lets off a shriek in
passing, and continues its march through the Fortress City, rounds
from pursuing VTOLs exploding harmlessly against its bone white
shell.
“You want me to pilot the giant robot?”
Yui nods, arms folded. The ground shakes slightly, the rumbles
overhead catching the echoes of the battle in the Fortress City.
“Yes,” she responds.
“You want me,” Shinji says, pointing to himself, and then
gesturing to the purple giant, “To pilot the giant robot?”
“Yes.”
“You want me to pilot the Giant Robot?”
“Shinji, you asked me that three times,” Yui says, rubbing the
bridge of her nose with a groan, “Why did you ask me that three
times?”
“BECAUSE I WANT A DIFFERENT ANSWER!”
Yui sighs, and walks over to her son, placing her hands on his
shoulders and turning him towards her.
“Shinji,” she says, “Listen to me. This is important. We
sent you to live with your aunt and uncle because of our work, but we
found out we need you here. We sent you away to protect you, but now
we need your help. You're the Fourth Child.”
“Which is...”
“The only person who can pilot the Evangelion,” she responds,
“We will walk you through this. We will make sure you don't get
hurt. But, Shinji, I need you to not argue with me and get in the
giant robot.”
He opens his mouth, closes it. She's using her tone. Not
her disappointed tone, but her stop being snippy tone,
which she would use at least once in their weekly video chats.
Grinding his teeth, he nods, straightening up.
“I'll explain everything later,” she says, “But we just don't
have time. Shinji, will you help us?”
“...fine.”
“Good,” Yui says, and pecks him on the cheek, “Ritsuko! I
need A-10 connectors. Misato, head up to Central Dogma and join
Gendo and Kozou. I'll join you once Unit-01's ready for launch.”
Shinji sighs, already released from his mother's maternal grip, and
turns back to the giant in front of him. Blinking, narrowing his
eyes, he stares at the giant. He's quite sure that the robot's head
had moved a bit since he last looked at it. But that would be
ridiculous.
Wouldn't it?
“Start entry sequence. Set language to default Japanese.
Setting muscular lock settings to open.”
The voice of the woman is more chipper than it has any rights to be,
especially when faced with the possibility of being eaten by a
gigantic demon turtle. Lights turn on, and Shinji glances from side
to side, furrowing his brow and feeling the odd headpiece shifting in
his hair. His sweatshirt discarded, he sits in the comfortable
chair, clad in a black t-shirt and jeans, socks over his feet.
And looks down as the yellow liquid begins filling the room.
“Uh...okay,” he says, “Mom? Is this supposed to be
happening?”
“Yes. Shinji, don't worry, that's called LCL. It's
oxygenated.”
“So I won't drown?”
“No. It's perfectly safe! I use it all the time.”
“Seriously?”
“Yes. I have a tube filled with it I use for intense computer
work. I can explain later, but more importantly, don't panic. Just
breathe it in and you'll be fine.”
Squirming in the seat, he watches as the liquid comes up past his
toes, warm through his socks, soaking through his jeans. The liquid
is warm, room temperature, not chilly like he expected it at all. He
squirms as the liquid goes up past his waist, past his shoulders,
holding his breath as he clears his head. His Mom wouldn't try to
drown him, right?
“Shinji, it's completely safe and it's oxygenated. Just
breathe deeply. It will feel weird for a moment but it's not going
to hurt you.”
Betting his life on Yui Ikari's maternal instincts, he takes a deep
breath, the wrong feeling of liquid in his lungs somehow
familiar, and then he coughs.
“Ah, for...it tastes like blood!”
“Technically, it's the Evangelion's blood. It's part of the
link connection with the Eva.”
“Why does the giant robot have blood?”
“It's technically coolant.”
“Mom, you made sure I had enough of a scientific education to know
that's bullshit. Seriously.”
A snicker over the channel.
“Shut it, Misato. Technically, it's also a hydraulic gel for
your safety. You're in a very large object which moves very fast,
and suspending you in liquid, in addition to the acceleration couch
and the seatbelts, is the best way to keep you safe. Maya?”
“Second Stage start. Setting plug depth to 1.093 and ionizing
LCL.”
Shinji rolls his neck as he feels the hairs on his back prickle,
standing up.
“Stage 3. Synchro Start!”
And Shinji feels the pull on the back of his mind, something yanking
him down but not physically. He feels the stretching, the inside of
the room- the Entry Plug- becoming something more, stretching out
into a tunnel which seems to go on forever. The questions at the
back of his mind come to the forefront unbidden, echoing in his
little world.
Fourth Child. What is the Fourth Child?
First is unknown. Second is Rei. Third is coming.
Fourth is you.
I don't understand. What does that mean? Mom throws around that
word but doesn't tell me.
There's a sound in the background, filling the world. He opens his
eyes and finds himself not in the plug, but sitting in an open field.
He can see something...someone in the distance, watching him from
afar. Something...familiar about this but he isn't sure what.
Do you want to pilot?
“Not really,” he says, “It's not high on my list of
priorities, to be honest.”
But you said yes.
“Because...well, they asked,” he sighs, shaking his head, “I
mean...they needed me to do this. If they needed me to do this, I'll
do it. She wouldn't ask if she didn't need me.”
He can see it clearly, now. More clearly. He can see the figure on
high better, meets its eyes. For a moment, Shinji wonders if he
should be afraid, if he's meeting something that should not be. But
for the life of him, he can't muster any actual fear. All he can do,
when faced with what approaches, is smile. Because somehow, he knows
this is right.
And in the Entry Plug, Shinji's eyes open as the two connectors atop
his head glow blue.
“Fourth Child recognized,” the computerized, feminine
voice says, “Synchronization holding at 47%. Evangelion,
Unit-01:”
And outside the plug, in the Cage, two yellow eyes flash and glow
white.
“Activate.”
The purple haired woman whistles, nodding at the gigantic
screen as the numbers come up next to the hanging still picture of
the pilto. Patting Ritsuko on the back, she gives off a grin.
“Beats Rei's intial score,” Misato says, “We haven't trained
this kid before? At all?”
“No,” Ritsuko responds, pursing her lips, “Okay. Shinji, can
you hear me?”
The giant's head shifts towards one of the speakers in the Cage.
Metal shrieks as the chin of the Evangelion scrapes across catwalks,
tearing the catwalk off the rivets and causing it to hang from the
metal jutting from the giant's mouth.
“Uh...sorry. Uh...how'd I do that?”
“The Evangelion responds to thoughts,” Ritsuko says, resisting
the urge to facepalm, “The controls in the entry right now are all
psychosomatic. There are functional ones that will use later-”
“But that's not important right now,” Misato interrupts,
clamping her hand over Ritsuko's mouth as the brunette glares at her,
“Hyuga! Clear us a path to the D-17 zone! Shigeru, charge the
rails and set the carriage to release mode!”
Above the purple giant, the ceiling opens, revealing a straight path
above, the night sky in the distance. Behind the Evangelion, the
railings crackle with electricity as the catwalks retract, the broken
catwalk on the jaw falling to the floor below.
The doors to Central Dogma open, and Yui enters, fixing her labcoat,
glancing up at the station on high and spotting her husband looking
on with interest.
“Status?” Yui asks.
“Shinji's set a record for first-time synch,” Ritsuko says,
“Angel has been spotted approaching block D-17. We're launching
Unit-01 to intercept.”
Yui nods, walking past them, taking the walkie from the station
manned by the glasses wearing man and bringing it up to her lips.
“Shinji,” she says, “Good luck. We're with you every step of
the way.”
On the screen, Shinji hesitantly nods, closing his eyes and wrapping
his hands around the controls. Turning to Misato, Yui nods.
“Eva launch!” she calls out.
The carriage lurches, and launches skyward. In the entry plug,
Shinji grits his teeth as he's pressed against the acceleration
couch, a muted cry as the green and gunmetal walls of the launch
chute are replaced by the depressed skyline of the fortress city.
“Releasing locks!”
The mecha lurches forward. Gripping the controls, Shinji focuses,
the Evangelion taking a step out of the carriage. This is easy, he
thinks. Very easy. Piloting a robot controlled by his mind ought to
be a lot harder than this.
“Shinji!” Misato yells, “The Angel is right in front
of you!”
Shinji Ikari yelps, a high pitched squeak, and the Eva as a respond
brings up both its fists, shielding its face. Slowly, the fists
lower. And the Eva cranes its neck in responds to Shinji doing the
same, looking from side to side.
“Uh...where?”
And the Evangelion looks down. It comes up, roughly to the
Evangelion's waist. The highest peak of its bone white shell hovers
at equal height to the pelvis of the Evangelion, the black stylized
eye at its zenith apparently staring at the mecha's crotch. Looking
down, he sees the mouth snaking out of the shell, teeth hungrily
bared at the Eva.
And several teeth go flying when the Evangelion, unbidden, kicks it
in the face.
“Hey! Did I-”
“Thought controlled.”
“Huh,” Shinji says, as the Angel shrieks and hisses,
“It's...well, it's kind of small. How tall is this thing?”
“The Evangelion is 60 meters tall, approximately,”
Ritsuko says, a screen appearing hovering in front of him, as his
mother, behind her, covers her mouth to keep from laughing, “The
Angel is...ah. Twenty five meters tall. And 20 centimeters.”
“That's hilarious,” Shinji says, “What do I do now?”
“Get it out of the city!” Misato orders.
And the Evangelion rears back, braces itself, and kicks the Angel as
hard as it can. Windows around the Eva shatter, the street rumbles,
and Iblis shrieks as it goes flying through the air, spinning end
over end, teeth and bone raining down on the evacuated city before it
impacts outside the Tokyo-3 city limits.
The floating screen shows the remainder. As Unit-01 advances on the
gigantic turtle. As the Eva draws its progressive knife from its
left shoulder fin. As Iblis flips onto its front and swings out the
red sphere on the end of the tail.
“Observe,” the older man says, standing in front of the desk, in
front of Yui and Gendo, “At this point, Iblis fights back. Notice
the cascade of beams from the pseudo eyes on its shell. Notable
damage on Unit-01's torso shows signs of both freezing and burning.
Unit-01 defends itself by hiding behind the skyscraper. Which then,
as a result of Iblis' barrage and Unit-01's weight, falls on Iblis.”
He clicks the remote in his hand. The video fast forwards.
“Notice how, in a remarkable improvisation, Unit-01 uses elements
from the reinforced steel structure to leverage open the shell of the
Angel. The sounds made by Iblis are, presumably, sounds of pain.
Notice the blood. It was shortly after that that the Angel began to
beat Unit-01 with its own tail. However, the tail contained the
Core, which broke on Unit-01's horn. Thus, the Angel died.”
The screen clicks off. Behind him, Gendo's hands are folded into a
bridge over his mouth, and Yui's hands folded behind her. A small
smile is on her face.
Twelve monoliths float around them, illuminating the darkness in
red.
“Your damage estimates are...exceptional, Professor Fuyutsuki,”
the one labeled 05 says, “This was incurred by an Angel so
easily dispatched?”
“It took time for us to receive the pilot for Unit-01 and gain
clearance from the JSSDF to deploy Unit-01,” Kozou Fuyutsuki
responds, narrowing eyes at the monolith, “It is the hope of NERV
that the JSSDF will be less hesitant to deploy the only weapon
capable of neutralizing the Angelic threat, should the later ones be
more difficult to kill than Iblis.”
“You sound so sure they will be harder to kill,” the one
labeled 07 asks.
An unpleasant look passes over the old man's face. Folding his
hands behind him, he levels his gaze on the monolith. Behind him,
Gendo's face is unreadable, save for the barely perceptible nod.
“We should have acted earlier,” Kozou says, “This was written
down in the Scrolls. It has been seventeen years since Impact and we
have known they were coming, and we were still caught unaware.”
“I remind the Committee-” 07 starts, but goes silent as
Fuyutsuki continues.
“We have merely delayed them,” he continues, “We have weakened
ourselves with pointless wars. Because no one wanted to believe they
even existed. And when the truth finally dawned, it dawned in fire.”
He clicks the remote again. It shows outside of Tokyo-3, a line of
tanks and artillery, flattened. Of the crater where the Angel took a
direct hit from an N2 mine. Of the wreckage of the city in a
straight line, to the row of shattered windows where it faced the
Evangelion.
“This won't happen again,” Yui says, a hand on Kozou's shoulder,
“The Angels have come. NERV must take priority. Project E's
primary work begins now. Chairman?”
Silence as the other monoliths blink out, one by one, until only the
one labeled 01 remains.
“You will have your funding, Dr. Ikari,” the monolith
says, “Always a pleasure, Professor Fuyutsuki, Commander Ikari.
This meeting is adjourned.”
And the last monolith blinks out. And there is only darkness.
End Chapter 1.
Seriously, I've written ND non stop for two years.
--------
How little they know.
Of worlds.
Of stars.
Of the origins of life.
If there was life on the
world billions of years ago, they would have seen it. They would
have witnessed it, like they did. No one's beheld the face of the
Makers. No one's seen the truth of this endless, pointless war.
A stone. Or something
representing a stone. It skips along the blackness of the great sea,
sending white ripples through it before sinking into the aether.
At the edge of the
black, white crossed sea, there sits a figure. The whos and whys are
not important. The description of the figure, huddled against the
cold though there is no chill, huddled against the world though he is
solitary and all, is of less import. All that matters is that he is
alone.
Fleeting memories still
pass over him, and through him the world. Pain. Anger. Hate.
Abandonment. Fury. All them take shape in this empty world, all of
them take meaning in this empty world.
And then he is not
alone.
White feet walk across
the aether. White ripples over the black sea as she approaches,
skipping across the nothingness. White skin forms a white face,
framed by white hair, clothed in a white school uniform and holding a
white schoolbag on her shoulder. The only color save for the shadows
of definition is her eyes. Red, the color of blood, staring at him
as she tilts her head.
“Are you going to
keep running away?” she asks,
her voice a crystalline whisper.
He
says nothing. She tilts her head, smiles and giggles, and sits down
next to him.
“I
can stay, a while,” she says,
“Because it is time.”
-
-
Rebuild
of
Nobody Dies
-
-
Floating
freely over the large bay, the screen measures a football field
across. Divided up into twenty hexagonal panels, it forms a
honeycomb, images of a body of water outside the city limits passing
in quick time, showing water rippling, followed by the lake parting
to the sea bed in two even walls.
Zooming
out, it displays the first mark of the oncoming threat:
A
cross rising into the sky, light in the color of enflamed flesh. And
from it rises another shape, something neither human nor animal,
surrounded by walls of orange as it begins a silent advance.
Clearing
his throat, the man with white hair, showing each and every one of
his many years, leans against the table on the raised platform above
the main bridge.
“Very
well,” he says, “The Fourth Angel in en route. Set the MAGI to
combat configuration and alert Ikari. Prepare defenses.”
“We're
sorry, but due to emergency situations, no phone lines are available
at this time. Thank you, and please try again later.”
The phone slams back into the receiver, cracking the plastic as the
young man walks away.
AD
2017. +17 years, Second Impact
It
took him hours to get here by train. There were security checks,
there were stops, there were delays. And after every last,
excruciating moment of having to actually come here, he arrives to
find the city completely empty. Muttering
under his breath, he swings his knapsack off, opening it and reaching
into it. Pulling out an envelope, he tears it open, unfolds the
contents, and stares at a letter which is mostly black save for one
word:
Come.
“The Hell,” he mutters. Running a hand through his wild black
hair, the young man, clad in a worn gray sweatshirt and jeans, looks
around the ghost city, wondering at what point he exited his normal,
ordinary life and entered the Twilight Zone, or whatever that weird
show his Aunt watches is called.
“Damn
it,” he mutters, checking his cell phone and finding, once again,
no bars. Figures. He'd call his father's phone again, but he doubts
he's even answering
it, because goodness knows he couldn't actually tell him all this by
phone, he had to send by snail mail.
“I don't believe this,” he whines, dragging his knapsack on the
ground behind him, “I haven't seen him in three years! And all he
does is tell me to come! But no! That's typical of him! No, 'Hi
son, who we shipped off to live with his relatives for no reason we
articulated, how are you doing?'”
He
continues griping, rolling his eyes, looking up at the low buildings
around him as he wonders gee, if this is a city, where are
the skyscrapers
“But
nooooo,” he continues, shrugging his backpack over his shoulder,
“No, they just had to send for me. I swear, if this is all some
elaborate surprise birthday party they are getting such a talking to.
Why did they have to send for me? Why did I have to come here? Why
didn't they tell me why
I'm here?”
Rolling his eyes, he mutters to himself something about whining and
complaining, and continues walking through the empty city. Maybe
it's just this area of the city that's empty, he thinks. It's a big
city, maybe everyone from these few blocks took the day off, or went
on vacation, or died. Or something.
Reaching into his bag, he takes out a can of coffee, holding it for
a moment before he realizes it's warm, and so is the weather.
Spotting a bench near a convenience store, he stomps over as
effectively as a lanky sixteen year old can, slumping down on the
bench and placing his bag and the warm coffee next to him, looking
out and finally seeing the skyline of Tokyo-3.
Silver and steel rising from the center of what was once Hakone, a
spire at the center which he understands is the Tokyo-3 City Center.
Sighing, leaning back on the bench, he wonders, once again, what his
Dad needs him here for.
“Excuse me, Mister, but are you lost?”
He looks down. He would lecture the girl to not stand in the
street, but there haven't been any cars here the entire day. Maybe
there's a big fair on the other side of the city. A ten year old
girl with her dark brown hair in two hastily arranged pigtails is
standing in front of him, holding a bag of groceries.
“Huh?” he asks.
“We're all supposed to go to the shelters, but I thought we'd need
food and stuff for it,” she says, “Didn't you know that?”
He blinks, takes the coffee from next to his bag, popping the top
and sipping the cold coffee. Shelters? Well, that would explain
that. But why would an entire city have some sort of evacuation
drill? What would they evacuate an entire city for? Isn't Tokyo-3
landlocked?
“I'm Nozomi,” the girl says, smiling.
He blinks, and smiles, scratching the back of his head.
“I'm Shinji,” he says, “Uh...Shinji Ikari.”
The girl starts, tilting her head.
“Huh.”
“Huh, what?” he asks.
“Anyway,” Nozomi says, “You really should head to the
shelters, 'cause Mom's bosses said we had to all go there today, and
we don't want to get in any trouble with NERV.”
She walks over, grabbing Shinji by the wrist and pulling him to his
feet. He grabs his knapsack, sighing as he finds himself pulled
along by a bossy 10 year old, which he could think of as the story of
his life.
“So, wait,” he says, “Why are we going to the shelters?”
“'Cause NERV said there's a drill, today.”
“Why is there a drill? What possible reason could anyone have to
have an entire city go into shelters?”
The answer comes from a rumble overhead, and the two look up to see
jet fighters passing overhead, the ground shaking in time with their
supersonic wake. Mouth hanging open, Shinji watches as the jets are
accompanied by a half dozen VTOL craft, not even finishing passing
overhead before their side compartments open and a flurry of rockets
fire off at some object in the distance.
And then a pink lance of light shoots out and one of the VTOLs
explodes, debris raining down on an apartment block.
“Okay,” Shinji says, “That makes sense now. Run!”
Grabbing
the girl by the hand, they run, as the sounds of conflagration and
lasers fill the air, explosions and sonic booms overhead as they run
down the street, away from the fighting. That is important, that
they are not just running, but running away.
“The shelter's this way!” Nozomi yells.
“Good! Shelter's good!”
The explosions die down. He hopes that's a good thing. He really
hopes that's a good thing. Then, the other, dreaded question comes
to the forefront of his mind.
What
were they shooting at?
Something passes overhead, fast enough to make the ground shake and
make them lose their footing. Nozomi and Shinji both hit the ground
with a cry, Shinji looking up as something slams into the main
street, big enough that its motions gouge out chunks of the buildings
around it. He looks up, as the claws, as tall as he is, slams into
the ground in front of them, crushing abandoned cars, sending water
from severed lines spraying into the air. The claw, metallic,
smooth, is one of three on the leathery green foot, that goes up to a
knee at least three times his height, which goes into a gigantic
white shell.
It
towers over the buildings, the shell itself coming to a high dome,
three dull horns of white thrusting out of it. At the front of the
shell there is black, tracing out the shape of a stylized eye, tilted
vertically. Four claws feet gouge the ground and cement, a tail
swinging about behind it, ending in a red crystal sphere which glows
with some kind of inner light or fire. The front of the shell
splits, and a think like a serpent slides out, an eyeless mouth with
two teeth coming over the front of the lip, and two teeth framing the
sides. Swinging through the air, it turns, extending towards Shinji
and Nozomi as they scurry back, too frozen by fear and bewilderment
at the thing
in front of them to run.
The mouth opens, and attached to a long, thin tongue an eye coming
out, hovering in front of them. For a moment, it glances at the
girl, who shakes where she sits, eyes wide and mouth open. Then, it
turns to Shinji. And a slow rumble emits from the mouth of the thing
before him, as Shinji clenches his eyes shut, a noise like static
filling his ears and words forming in a tongue that has no name and
Through license of he who is named “I AM” I have come.
Though my feet must drag upon this Base Earth on this blessed
quest, I have come.
I am the second of the messengers,
Tested against the might of those who profane the glory.
Your might shall be tested,
Measured,
And found wanting before us,
And you shall be washed away like ash against the stream.
I am the Test of God,
Angel of Pride.
I am Iblis.
I have come.
Shinji yells out, grabbing his head, as the mouth rises, jaw
stretching out in front of him. And neither he, nor the monster sees
the figure running across the rooftops, but Nozomi does, pointing
towards the sky and yelling out. And the sky turns orange and the
wind slams down on them all, and the creature, Iblis, looks up just
before the figure leaping over them spins, and brings her arm down on
the creature.
Which the humans realize is not an arm or an extension of the arm,
but actually a rocket launcher which slams into the mouth, driving it
into the ground as a figure lands in front of them.
“Heee~ey there,” a lilting voice says, “Nozomi, your Mom's
really worried 'bout you, so we need to get you to a shelter. 'Kay?”
Nozomi nods, a wide smile on her face.
“You Shinji Ikari?”
Shinji nods, holding his head, shakily standing as Nozomi runs past,
disappearing through a pair of metal doors next to a clothing store.
There is a loud whirr, as the doors slam shut and the doors retract
into the sidewalk itself. And then a hand grabs him by the arm.
“Come with me if you want to live.”
He doesn't have time to actually see the girl's face. No, instead,
he has all the time to get out the first syllable of “Who are you
and what am I doing here?” before he finds himself picked up, by
one arm, and the entire world becomes a blur.
Screaming the entire way, he looks back over his shoulder, and
screams louder. This is because the gigantic monstrous turtle has
begun chasing after them. Him. Well, most likely her, because she
hit it in the face with a rocket.
“Heee~ey,” the girl says, “How're you doin'?”
Shinji screams something unintelligible, as the jaws of the monster
snap closed in front of him, empty buildings crashing apart as the
gigantic demon turtle gallops after them. The girl, however, simply
continues talking.
“Sooo I have Shinji, but we're being chased by the Angel! Yeah,
'cause I hit it in the face with a rocket. So we're trying to
loooose it but we're gonna need distractions. Great!”
The blur becomes faster as they pick up speed, speeding down a
narrow alleyway, twisting and turning as the monster chases after
them, Shinji seeing it in the cracks between buildings. His stomach
relocates into his throat as the alley becomes the street, as they
run vertically up a wall, the street becoming the rooftops of the
city, and the stylized Gamerra that is currently terrorizing it, and
him.
Leaping after them, he only watches as the roofs end, a distant drop
below, Shinji's screams becoming louder and more girly as the drop is
replaced by the another roof, and looks over his shoulder just as
they crash through the window, running through an office as impacts
shake the building. Another crash, and they're out of the building,
leaping through the air, desks and chairs falling out of the broken
window in their wake, and Shinji sees the monster turtle thing
shrieking as hovering, humanoid machines pepper it with rocket fire
and machine guns.
“Hey, are you afraid of heights?”
He whimpers a positive.
“Too bad.”
And they dive down, redirecting themselves in mid and and
accelerating towards the ground. Shinji screams, as it is natural
for him to do so when reaching terminal velocity. Instead of
impacting the concrete below, which seems sensible from his
perspective, the manhole cover swings aside and they descend into a
long tube, Shinji falling into a smooth, soft, frictionless padding
which does nothing to slow his descent, only redirect it.
His screams are matched by the laughter of the girl, who has braced
her hands on the sides and slowed herself down.
He would do that, too. Were he not terrified and possibly wetting
himself.
No, wait. Not possibly.
However, the light at the end of the tunnel has come. Only instead
of being salvation, or a reward, or peace, it is an actual end of the
tunnel, and Shinji's scream comes to an abrupt end as he slams into a
gel pad built into the white metal wall. The gel ripples out, making
a sound like an underwater burp, and he falls off of it and onto the
ground with a groan.
Another yell, not his, and a blue and white blur hits the gel pad,
hanging in the air before backflipping off. Looking up, his vision
still slightly blurred and feeling as if he has lost ten years off
his life, he finally gets a look at the girl who saved his life by
being more hazardous to his health than a house sized evil turtle.
His eyes start on the white, worn sneakers and black socks, going up
pale legs to the plaid skirt, white blouse and blue blazer. Finally,
they settle on a heart shaped face, framed by bright blue hair, and
sharp, deep red eyes. Her arms are up, and she bows, saying
something about a 'Ten point landing.'
“Soooo here you are,” she says, “Welcome to NERV! I'm-”
“REI!”
Slowly, Shinji turns his head to the side, as a woman with brunette
hair and in a blue wet suit and a lab coat runs over, fixing her
glasses and still toweling off her hair. Skidding to a stop,
apparently just noticing the sixteen year old boy on the verge of
passing out, she drops to her knees in front of Shinji and helps him
sit up.
“Shinji?” she says, “I'm Dr. Ritsuko Akagi. I work with your
father at NERV. Do you know why you were called here?”
Shinji shakes his head. Articulation is not his strong point at
present. Instead, Akagi moves his head up, so he is looking at the
girl again, who is now smiling with a mouth full of teeth. Many
teeth.
“This is Rei,” Akagi continues, “She's a Pilot. She's the
Second Child. The monster she saved you from is called an Angel. We
called you here to help deal with it.”
His head is once more turned to her.
“Any questions?”
Shinji's response comes not as a question. Instead, it comes as a
high pitched scream, starting in his stomach and exiting his mouth
with force and tremor. Carried aloft by the shriek, he scrambles to
his feet and runs, past the watching people in beige uniforms,
turning the corner and scrambling on all fours into the men's
bathroom.
Walking up to Ritsuko, who stares at the path that Shinji has taken
to half-heartedly escape, a woman with purple hair and in a beige
pants uniform sips her coffee mug.
“Yeah,” she says, “That went well.”
“Shut up, Misato.”
Rei skips past them, stretching her hands above her head.
“I'll go get'em,” she says, “Someone should tell Dad the
Fourth Child's heee~ere.”
And she skips into the bathroom, humming the entire way.
He locked himself in the handicapped stall and has determined he
will live there.
He found a small paper bag, closed his hand into a fist around the
opening, and sensibly began to hyperventilate. How could he not? It
makes sense. He will lock himself in here, let them transport things
like food and water under the stall door, and wait until there is not
a building-sized monster out there that wants to snack on him. Those
shall be his demands, and people will accept that, if they want him
to do what...
What did they want him to do?
“Heee~ey.”
The bathroom door swings open, and the girl skips in.
“Oh, Shinji? You ready yet? Hope you're not dead, 'cause if you
are we're kinda in trouble.”
Worn white sneakers stop in front of his stall door, lolling back
and forth on the balls of the feet. A hand knocks on the door once,
twice, three times...
And then punches through the stall door all the way to the shoulder,
feeling around the door before turning the lock and swinging open the
door. Rei bends down, a closed lipped smile and eyes closed as
Shinji notices he has stopped hyperventilating, because he has
forgotten to breathe.
“Soooo~oo,” she says, “The Commander, your father, really
needs to see you 'cause it's really important. So, I can show you
where it is, or I could knock you out and carry you.”
She tilts her head, showing teeth.
“'Kay?”
He nods, as she reaches out and pulls away the bag.
“What,” he starts, “What are you?”
“I'm Rei.”
“No,” he says, trying to find words that will not, possibly, get
him eaten, “What are you?”
She giggles.
“Already told you, silly. I'm Rei.”
And she grabs him by the arm and drags him out.
“Oh yeah. This was a great idea. Let's introduce Shinji to NERV
by having him meet Rei. I dunno, I'm pretty sure he finds the
Angel less terrifying.”
“Shut up, Misato.”
The lights flicker on as they enter, illuminating the wide catwalk
and the lake of yellow fluid beneath them. It shifts, ripples with
every footstep, less from the vibrations of the catwalk and more
from...something else. Something they can't accurately measure.
Like the liquid wants to move on its own. Akagi dismisses that idea.
She spends an unseemly amount of time swimming in it, after all, so
she'd hate to believe that somehow the liquid is alive. That would
be...
Bad.
“We need to prep Unit-00, just in case,” Ritsuko says, rubbing
the bridge of her nose as they walk through another arch, an open
doorway as the lights come on underneath them.
“Unit-00 has one arm.”
“Still, if we can't-”
“Is there a problem?”
The lights come on overhead, illuminating a balcony on high. Misato
sucks her teeth. Ritsuko rolls her eyes. Much of the time, this is
the appropriate reaction to the presence above, especially in tense
situations like this.
“The Fourth Child is on base, Ikari,” Ritsuko says, “Problem
is that he was brought onto the base by the Second Child, and is
currently...”
“Freaked out,” Misato finishes, earning a glare from the
brunette, “Last we saw, he locked himself in the bathroom and was
hyperventilating.”
Silence, from on high.
“I see.”
“In any case,” Ritsuko continues, “If we can't get the Fourth
Child-”
“Who's right here!”
The two women turn, and find standing in the doorway is Rei,
followed by Shinji, who's color at this point is starting to match
Rei's. Walking ahead of the albino girl, Shinji looks at the two
women, and then looks up, past them at the silhouetted figure
standing on the glass covered balcony. Stumbling forward, fighting
the odd wind around him, he looks up at the figure. He doesn't need
to see who it is. He knows. He knows exactly who would be there.
“Dad.”
“Shinji. You've come.”
“Yeah.” He looks around. Darkness, except for the illuminated
catwalk and the box his father is standing in. “Why? What do you
need me for? What was that thing outside?”
“An Angel.”
The other side of the catwalk, someone enters. Clad in gray sweats
and a labcoat, her short, messy brown hair showing some signs of
gray, and a face that is a mirror of Shinji's own. His shoulders
relax as she enters, untensing for the first time since he entered
this city.
“Mom?”
Yui Ikari smiles, crossing the catwalk and pulling her son into a
hug.
“Look at you,” she sighs, holding him at arms length, “It's
been three years since I've been in the same room as you. You've
grown.”
He nods, noticing that, at this point, he is actually taller than
the woman in front of him. Reaching up, scratching the back of his
head, he turns to the other people inside the chamber. Underneath, a
bubble pops in the yellow lake.
“Okay,” he says, “Uh...where am I? Why am I here?”
“You're in Project E,” Yui explains, turning him towards his
father, “I had Ritsuko bring you down here because you're needed.”
“E,” Shinji says, screwing his face in confusion, “Project
'E'? That's...an odd name.”
Reaching into her labcoat, she withdraws a large, flat plate,
clicking it and causing a red fig leaf symbol to flash on the front
before becoming the screen of a tablet. Tapping a command on it, the
lights overhead switch on, washing over the chamber with light.
“Project E,” she says, “Means Project Evangelion.”
And Shinji sees it. He comes up, at his full height, roughly to the
lower lip of the things face, with the chin at his feet. Purple,
green lined, the face is an almost demonic mask, a single purple and
green horn rising into the air, two yellow eyes staring back at him.
It is covered in armor, welded in place, a giant in the shape of a
man and yet very, very different. The air shifts around him in front
of the giant face, and in that moment Shinji realizes why.
It's breathing. And so, Shinji speaks the words which he believes
are the best way to address this situation.
“Oh what the fuck.”
Hissing, the monster lashes out, grabbing one of the flying metal
bipeds in its jaw and squeezing. It is rewarded by the sweet taste
of liquid fire as the annoyance explodes, licking the inside of its
mouth, seeing it dissolve in front of its eye with a shriek of
tearing metal.
Spitting out the remains, the tail whips out, the red sphere at the
end glowing as the air around Iblis turns gold. The laws of physics
are rewritten. The air around the hovering, metal creatures turns
thick like molasses, and they drop around the beast, before single
stomps from its feet crush them underfoot. Snaking out his eye,
Iblis stares at them, sniffing the air. No blood. No breath. They
are not living, merely...tools...of the Lilim. The air whines, and
another flock of the Lilim machines appear, the ones long and filled
with Lilim, their weapons less than useless against him.
Stomping past the broken machines, Iblis lets off a shriek in
passing, and continues its march through the Fortress City, rounds
from pursuing VTOLs exploding harmlessly against its bone white
shell.
“You want me to pilot the giant robot?”
Yui nods, arms folded. The ground shakes slightly, the rumbles
overhead catching the echoes of the battle in the Fortress City.
“Yes,” she responds.
“You want me,” Shinji says, pointing to himself, and then
gesturing to the purple giant, “To pilot the giant robot?”
“Yes.”
“You want me to pilot the Giant Robot?”
“Shinji, you asked me that three times,” Yui says, rubbing the
bridge of her nose with a groan, “Why did you ask me that three
times?”
“BECAUSE I WANT A DIFFERENT ANSWER!”
Yui sighs, and walks over to her son, placing her hands on his
shoulders and turning him towards her.
“Shinji,” she says, “Listen to me. This is important. We
sent you to live with your aunt and uncle because of our work, but we
found out we need you here. We sent you away to protect you, but now
we need your help. You're the Fourth Child.”
“Which is...”
“The only person who can pilot the Evangelion,” she responds,
“We will walk you through this. We will make sure you don't get
hurt. But, Shinji, I need you to not argue with me and get in the
giant robot.”
He opens his mouth, closes it. She's using her tone. Not
her disappointed tone, but her stop being snippy tone,
which she would use at least once in their weekly video chats.
Grinding his teeth, he nods, straightening up.
“I'll explain everything later,” she says, “But we just don't
have time. Shinji, will you help us?”
“...fine.”
“Good,” Yui says, and pecks him on the cheek, “Ritsuko! I
need A-10 connectors. Misato, head up to Central Dogma and join
Gendo and Kozou. I'll join you once Unit-01's ready for launch.”
Shinji sighs, already released from his mother's maternal grip, and
turns back to the giant in front of him. Blinking, narrowing his
eyes, he stares at the giant. He's quite sure that the robot's head
had moved a bit since he last looked at it. But that would be
ridiculous.
Wouldn't it?
“Start entry sequence. Set language to default Japanese.
Setting muscular lock settings to open.”
The voice of the woman is more chipper than it has any rights to be,
especially when faced with the possibility of being eaten by a
gigantic demon turtle. Lights turn on, and Shinji glances from side
to side, furrowing his brow and feeling the odd headpiece shifting in
his hair. His sweatshirt discarded, he sits in the comfortable
chair, clad in a black t-shirt and jeans, socks over his feet.
And looks down as the yellow liquid begins filling the room.
“Uh...okay,” he says, “Mom? Is this supposed to be
happening?”
“Yes. Shinji, don't worry, that's called LCL. It's
oxygenated.”
“So I won't drown?”
“No. It's perfectly safe! I use it all the time.”
“Seriously?”
“Yes. I have a tube filled with it I use for intense computer
work. I can explain later, but more importantly, don't panic. Just
breathe it in and you'll be fine.”
Squirming in the seat, he watches as the liquid comes up past his
toes, warm through his socks, soaking through his jeans. The liquid
is warm, room temperature, not chilly like he expected it at all. He
squirms as the liquid goes up past his waist, past his shoulders,
holding his breath as he clears his head. His Mom wouldn't try to
drown him, right?
“Shinji, it's completely safe and it's oxygenated. Just
breathe deeply. It will feel weird for a moment but it's not going
to hurt you.”
Betting his life on Yui Ikari's maternal instincts, he takes a deep
breath, the wrong feeling of liquid in his lungs somehow
familiar, and then he coughs.
“Ah, for...it tastes like blood!”
“Technically, it's the Evangelion's blood. It's part of the
link connection with the Eva.”
“Why does the giant robot have blood?”
“It's technically coolant.”
“Mom, you made sure I had enough of a scientific education to know
that's bullshit. Seriously.”
A snicker over the channel.
“Shut it, Misato. Technically, it's also a hydraulic gel for
your safety. You're in a very large object which moves very fast,
and suspending you in liquid, in addition to the acceleration couch
and the seatbelts, is the best way to keep you safe. Maya?”
“Second Stage start. Setting plug depth to 1.093 and ionizing
LCL.”
Shinji rolls his neck as he feels the hairs on his back prickle,
standing up.
“Stage 3. Synchro Start!”
And Shinji feels the pull on the back of his mind, something yanking
him down but not physically. He feels the stretching, the inside of
the room- the Entry Plug- becoming something more, stretching out
into a tunnel which seems to go on forever. The questions at the
back of his mind come to the forefront unbidden, echoing in his
little world.
Fourth Child. What is the Fourth Child?
First is unknown. Second is Rei. Third is coming.
Fourth is you.
I don't understand. What does that mean? Mom throws around that
word but doesn't tell me.
There's a sound in the background, filling the world. He opens his
eyes and finds himself not in the plug, but sitting in an open field.
He can see something...someone in the distance, watching him from
afar. Something...familiar about this but he isn't sure what.
Do you want to pilot?
“Not really,” he says, “It's not high on my list of
priorities, to be honest.”
But you said yes.
“Because...well, they asked,” he sighs, shaking his head, “I
mean...they needed me to do this. If they needed me to do this, I'll
do it. She wouldn't ask if she didn't need me.”
He can see it clearly, now. More clearly. He can see the figure on
high better, meets its eyes. For a moment, Shinji wonders if he
should be afraid, if he's meeting something that should not be. But
for the life of him, he can't muster any actual fear. All he can do,
when faced with what approaches, is smile. Because somehow, he knows
this is right.
And in the Entry Plug, Shinji's eyes open as the two connectors atop
his head glow blue.
“Fourth Child recognized,” the computerized, feminine
voice says, “Synchronization holding at 47%. Evangelion,
Unit-01:”
And outside the plug, in the Cage, two yellow eyes flash and glow
white.
“Activate.”
The purple haired woman whistles, nodding at the gigantic
screen as the numbers come up next to the hanging still picture of
the pilto. Patting Ritsuko on the back, she gives off a grin.
“Beats Rei's intial score,” Misato says, “We haven't trained
this kid before? At all?”
“No,” Ritsuko responds, pursing her lips, “Okay. Shinji, can
you hear me?”
The giant's head shifts towards one of the speakers in the Cage.
Metal shrieks as the chin of the Evangelion scrapes across catwalks,
tearing the catwalk off the rivets and causing it to hang from the
metal jutting from the giant's mouth.
“Uh...sorry. Uh...how'd I do that?”
“The Evangelion responds to thoughts,” Ritsuko says, resisting
the urge to facepalm, “The controls in the entry right now are all
psychosomatic. There are functional ones that will use later-”
“But that's not important right now,” Misato interrupts,
clamping her hand over Ritsuko's mouth as the brunette glares at her,
“Hyuga! Clear us a path to the D-17 zone! Shigeru, charge the
rails and set the carriage to release mode!”
Above the purple giant, the ceiling opens, revealing a straight path
above, the night sky in the distance. Behind the Evangelion, the
railings crackle with electricity as the catwalks retract, the broken
catwalk on the jaw falling to the floor below.
The doors to Central Dogma open, and Yui enters, fixing her labcoat,
glancing up at the station on high and spotting her husband looking
on with interest.
“Status?” Yui asks.
“Shinji's set a record for first-time synch,” Ritsuko says,
“Angel has been spotted approaching block D-17. We're launching
Unit-01 to intercept.”
Yui nods, walking past them, taking the walkie from the station
manned by the glasses wearing man and bringing it up to her lips.
“Shinji,” she says, “Good luck. We're with you every step of
the way.”
On the screen, Shinji hesitantly nods, closing his eyes and wrapping
his hands around the controls. Turning to Misato, Yui nods.
“Eva launch!” she calls out.
The carriage lurches, and launches skyward. In the entry plug,
Shinji grits his teeth as he's pressed against the acceleration
couch, a muted cry as the green and gunmetal walls of the launch
chute are replaced by the depressed skyline of the fortress city.
“Releasing locks!”
The mecha lurches forward. Gripping the controls, Shinji focuses,
the Evangelion taking a step out of the carriage. This is easy, he
thinks. Very easy. Piloting a robot controlled by his mind ought to
be a lot harder than this.
“Shinji!” Misato yells, “The Angel is right in front
of you!”
Shinji Ikari yelps, a high pitched squeak, and the Eva as a respond
brings up both its fists, shielding its face. Slowly, the fists
lower. And the Eva cranes its neck in responds to Shinji doing the
same, looking from side to side.
“Uh...where?”
And the Evangelion looks down. It comes up, roughly to the
Evangelion's waist. The highest peak of its bone white shell hovers
at equal height to the pelvis of the Evangelion, the black stylized
eye at its zenith apparently staring at the mecha's crotch. Looking
down, he sees the mouth snaking out of the shell, teeth hungrily
bared at the Eva.
And several teeth go flying when the Evangelion, unbidden, kicks it
in the face.
“Hey! Did I-”
“Thought controlled.”
“Huh,” Shinji says, as the Angel shrieks and hisses,
“It's...well, it's kind of small. How tall is this thing?”
“The Evangelion is 60 meters tall, approximately,”
Ritsuko says, a screen appearing hovering in front of him, as his
mother, behind her, covers her mouth to keep from laughing, “The
Angel is...ah. Twenty five meters tall. And 20 centimeters.”
“That's hilarious,” Shinji says, “What do I do now?”
“Get it out of the city!” Misato orders.
And the Evangelion rears back, braces itself, and kicks the Angel as
hard as it can. Windows around the Eva shatter, the street rumbles,
and Iblis shrieks as it goes flying through the air, spinning end
over end, teeth and bone raining down on the evacuated city before it
impacts outside the Tokyo-3 city limits.
The floating screen shows the remainder. As Unit-01 advances on the
gigantic turtle. As the Eva draws its progressive knife from its
left shoulder fin. As Iblis flips onto its front and swings out the
red sphere on the end of the tail.
“Observe,” the older man says, standing in front of the desk, in
front of Yui and Gendo, “At this point, Iblis fights back. Notice
the cascade of beams from the pseudo eyes on its shell. Notable
damage on Unit-01's torso shows signs of both freezing and burning.
Unit-01 defends itself by hiding behind the skyscraper. Which then,
as a result of Iblis' barrage and Unit-01's weight, falls on Iblis.”
He clicks the remote in his hand. The video fast forwards.
“Notice how, in a remarkable improvisation, Unit-01 uses elements
from the reinforced steel structure to leverage open the shell of the
Angel. The sounds made by Iblis are, presumably, sounds of pain.
Notice the blood. It was shortly after that that the Angel began to
beat Unit-01 with its own tail. However, the tail contained the
Core, which broke on Unit-01's horn. Thus, the Angel died.”
The screen clicks off. Behind him, Gendo's hands are folded into a
bridge over his mouth, and Yui's hands folded behind her. A small
smile is on her face.
Twelve monoliths float around them, illuminating the darkness in
red.
“Your damage estimates are...exceptional, Professor Fuyutsuki,”
the one labeled 05 says, “This was incurred by an Angel so
easily dispatched?”
“It took time for us to receive the pilot for Unit-01 and gain
clearance from the JSSDF to deploy Unit-01,” Kozou Fuyutsuki
responds, narrowing eyes at the monolith, “It is the hope of NERV
that the JSSDF will be less hesitant to deploy the only weapon
capable of neutralizing the Angelic threat, should the later ones be
more difficult to kill than Iblis.”
“You sound so sure they will be harder to kill,” the one
labeled 07 asks.
An unpleasant look passes over the old man's face. Folding his
hands behind him, he levels his gaze on the monolith. Behind him,
Gendo's face is unreadable, save for the barely perceptible nod.
“We should have acted earlier,” Kozou says, “This was written
down in the Scrolls. It has been seventeen years since Impact and we
have known they were coming, and we were still caught unaware.”
“I remind the Committee-” 07 starts, but goes silent as
Fuyutsuki continues.
“We have merely delayed them,” he continues, “We have weakened
ourselves with pointless wars. Because no one wanted to believe they
even existed. And when the truth finally dawned, it dawned in fire.”
He clicks the remote again. It shows outside of Tokyo-3, a line of
tanks and artillery, flattened. Of the crater where the Angel took a
direct hit from an N2 mine. Of the wreckage of the city in a
straight line, to the row of shattered windows where it faced the
Evangelion.
“This won't happen again,” Yui says, a hand on Kozou's shoulder,
“The Angels have come. NERV must take priority. Project E's
primary work begins now. Chairman?”
Silence as the other monoliths blink out, one by one, until only the
one labeled 01 remains.
“You will have your funding, Dr. Ikari,” the monolith
says, “Always a pleasure, Professor Fuyutsuki, Commander Ikari.
This meeting is adjourned.”
And the last monolith blinks out. And there is only darkness.
End Chapter 1.
