Hello, my name is Shade, and I want to write a fluffy Omake for Strypgia's awesome Fanfic. (actually, I just wanted to write this, and Strypgia gave the go ahead. So...His fault~)
Keep on Dreaming on, you sweet summer child.
It was night. The sound of chirping crickets mixed with the rare car that honked its way through the streets of Neo-Tokyo.
Asuka smiled as she watched the sleeping form of Shinji by her side, gingerly playing with a lock of his hair even as her lover slept peacefully after the much enjoyable performance. It was good to be alive. It was good to be here, in this moment. It was good, and beautiful, and she would fight anyone who dared to take it away.
"Oh...is that so?" a voice spoke, and the voice was calm, it was tranquil, it was a shadow against the corner of the room, a shadow of smoke and ashes, a shadow of crimson eyes and long, dirty hair. "You would fight anyone?" the voice mocked her, the tone childish as the eyes stared right at her like daggers, her body paralyzed from sheer fear, no words leaving her mouth. "You would fight, uh? So...like you fought to get mommy down from the ceiling?" the voice spoke and mocked her, taking her time to savor her fear.
Asuka could not speak, even as the smoke trailed across the floor, a tiny flame flickering to life in the spot where the crimson eyes stood. "Tell me how much you fought, Asuka dear. How much you cried? How much you cried we all know. How much you hurt? We know that too. But if you think you can fight...think again," the figure began to move, slithering more than walking, across the tatami mats. Her eyes followed her, even as her body remained transfixed on the flames that began to burn the corner of the room, jumping right and left like tiny devilish Reis.
A whisper reached her ear, smoky lips touching her earlobe like the tender caress of a seductive demon, but with the aftertaste of ash, of cigarette burns, of disgusting, nauseating medicines. "Your father fucked the nurse in the next room and you heard it all~" the voice whispered, a smoking hand grabbing her shoulder, "Your father loved your mother so much~" the voice hummed and sang, "And then...he left her when she could no longer work properly. When she could no longer talk properly. When she could no longer fuck properly," the voice spoke angrily. "Tell me, little, precious, Asuka. Tell me...do you really believe this story will have a fairy tale ending?"
The fires kept burning. "It is when our hearts are the warmest, that they bleed the most," the voice of smoke and ashes spoke. "You think this is a dream?" the voice laughed, cruelly engulfing her in a tornado of ashes that ripped down her throat and nostrils, making her cry from the pain. "Is this pain not real!? What is it then!? Do you think you are safe? Do you think you will ever be safe? Your love...is but an illusion!" the voice laughed as the smoke dissipated to the remains of a charred room, a lonely doll hanging from the wooden ceiling by a burnt piece of rope.
"W-What do you want?" Asuka grunted out. "W-Who are you!?" she snapped towards the figure.
"Oh, Asuka-chan," the figure said with a click of his tongue. "I..." the ponytails, the dress, the summer heat-it all came back, did it not? Mama-Mama-the pathetic whimpering remains of what was nothing more than a husk of a mother, the smell of smoke in the other room, the cries- "Am an Angel." The Asuka in front of her smiled brightly, her eyes crimson red. "You know, you humans think you are so, so smart, you think you can have everything, fight against everything-" he shook his head, this creature of smoke and crimson eyes. "But...you can't. There are mountains that can never be dug. There are walls that can never be breached. Futilely trying to break through them..."
The creature shook his head. "You can't. Want to know the funny thing?"
He waved a hand, and all was darkness.
"You're in a coma, Asuka. How does it feel!?" the creature spoke with bubbling laughter. Even as the darkness that claimed her was all encompassing.
When will she wake up? This was Shinji's voice. Her Shinji's voice-
We don't know yet-
Will she wake up?
We can't say-
She won't wake up.
"This is a lie!" Asuka yelled, flailing her arms in the darkness. "This is just a lie! Shinji loves me! He loves me because-"
"He would love a rock if a rock had a pair of arms and legs and a hole to dig in!" the monster of shadows roared with enough fury to make Asuka whimper. "He would love a beggar if it told him how good he was. He would love and gleefully stick by his father if he only told him what good work he is doing for him!" the figure hissed and snarled, "He does not love you. He does not care. You were simply the first to grab his hand. This does not mean he loves you...it simply means he's grateful to you." The figure smiled, and extended both arms of willowy smoke.
Asuka...I'm sorry. You didn't come back. The voice was Shinji's, but it was older.
Asuka-It's me...Rei. I'm sorry. There was nothing we could do. I...I will keep him happy in your place.
The voice laughed. The figure of smoke laughed and grinned and belatedly, Asuka realized that he truly loved this. This misery, this agony-the pain that lashed out in her chest were to him delight and pleasure.
"You! That's-I don't believe this! I don't believe any of this! Shinji will rescue me!" Asuka yelled, "And-And Rei too! And...Rei loves us! And We love her! And...and if it's not a lie, then...then I'm happy for-"
"Liar!" the figure's eyes were an inch away from hers, teeth of sharp white splendor snapping curtly in front of her. Asuka screamed and fell backwards, falling down and down a black hole that seemed to have no end as the figure of smoke and sharp fangs flew around her like a curtain of smoke. "You don't want to share him, you don't want to hand him over-you want him all for you! That's what you are, you filthy liar! A needy girl who needs someone to love, otherwise she has no meaning! This girl-This girl has no meaning if she does not love someone!" the Angel laughed and twirled his smoky body a bit more before coming to an abrupt halt as Asuka's back hit the ground.
Asuka...this is Asuka. We...we decided to name her after you-we...
"They are guilty of leaving you behind," the voice spoke softly, enraptured by those words that came in the darkness of the room. "How does it feel? Uhm? You, human, tell me...how does it feel? An Angel such as myself-these things..." he laughed. "Oh, how cute, you are hiding your eyes away from the truth with your arm, crying tears-how very much humane of you," Asuka's eyes burned as she pressed her forearm tightly against her eyes.
"How long are you going to ignore the truth in front of your eyes, uh?" the figure whispered.
Asuka...
"How long are you going to believe in happy endings for the likes of you!?" the figure snarled.
Asuka!
"In the end, you will be abandoned! Just like your mother was! Just you wait and see!"
Asuka wake up!
"So enjoy your happiness," the figure said with a bright smile, the teeth sharp, coiled scales shining of darkness and smokes, "for in the end...even love dies when it hangs himself up..." the figure laughed at his joke. He laughed...and laughed...and laughed.
Asuka! Please! Wake up!
"Bye bye, Asuka-chan, see you next time you go to sleep," the figure said with a bright smile, as her eyes snapped open to Shinji's worried face, to his harsh breathing, to his hands shaking her awake. She stopped flailing around, her eyes on every corner of the room, her thoughts in disarray.
"The nightmares..." Asuka mumbled, "They were supposed to be...gone..." she whimpered and croaked, even as her body pressed against that of Shinji, his arms around hers.
"I'm right here, Asuka..." Shinji whispered gently, rocking her with a lullaby that made her sleepy, that made her reminisce of times long gone of happiness and bedtime stories-of-...
"How do you know that lullaby?" she whispered, her eyes rising up to stare into the glass ones of her deceased mother's rotting corpse.
"Don't you remember my song, Asuka!?" the corpse shrieked as thundering maggots left the rotten mouth, and Asuka screamed in turn, fighting for her dear life as she pushed the monster away and cried, cried, and then crawled into a corner clutching on to her legs and whimpering.
"It's not real!" she screamed to herself. "It's not real!"
"We have all the time in the world to make you forget about that tiny detail, Asuka dear," the voice of smoke and crimson eyes spoke, and with it, the nightmare began anew.
For he was Bardiel, the Angel of the Haze, and within his purpose...
There was only laughter.
*Elsewhere*
"Asuka!" Shinji screamed, "Asuka, please fight this!"
"Activate the Dummy System," Gendo spoke firmly.
Then all was blood and fury, pain and misery.
