Chapter 23 Part 4
- Pronouns
- He/Him
The battle against T-RIDEN-T could hardly be called a battle at all. It was more like a really annoying video game. Asuka found herself frustrated as she, Shinji, and Rei found themselves repeatedly striking at the opposing Mecha only to miss as it ducked, weaved, retreated, and danced through Kyoto. The Mech was surprisingly agile for it's size, she had to admit that.
"What are you doing?!" Shinji shouted into the radio "What does this accomplish?"
"Revenge for the fallen! For those killed by the Evas and NERV!" the enemy pilot protested.
Asuka stopped fighting. Too many fights with Israfel had taught her the pointlessness of constantly going after someone faster than her. She just had to wait for the right moment.
"Don't blame us!" Asuka snapped. "We weren't there for any of that!"
"Fully aware," the pilot replied simply. "You're not my target, after all."
'Oh, so that's your game,' Asuka realized. The pilot was after WILLE itself.
"Shinji, attack from the left," she ordered.
Just as the Mecha paused and its cannons turned towards the glass pyramid of WILLE, Unit-01 lunged at it, forcing the T-RIDEN-T to move forward to get out of the way. Directly into Asuka's line of fire.
She fired off several rounds from her crossbow, the rounds exploding against its left Positron Cannons. The cannons exploded, odd colored smoke pouring from them as the Mech retreated away from the three Evas.
Had this thing been able to launch in a truly surprise attack, had something distracted her and the other two Pilots, she could see the this T-RIDEN-T being a real danger to WILLE. But as it was, it was just a fragile weapons platform that was far too outnumbered to do anything. This would only be a matter of time.
An orange glow appeared in the corner of Asuka's vision.
"What the hell?" the T-RIDEN-T pilot said in confusion.
Cursing under her breath, Asuka turned to see the painfully familiar glow of an Angel appearing in one of the nearby streets.
Out of the glow came a giant, white, glowing worm that rocketed away.
Asuka fired her crossbow at Armisael but the Angel ducked and wove through the air, away from her shots.
Then it made a plunge towards Unit-00. Shinji and Asuka did their best to stop it, but the Angel reached Rei before they could strike. The Angel plunged into Unit-00's torso. The yellow-orange armor was forced aside as it pushed its way in, thick veins appearing across it's stomach. Unit-00 stabbed at it repeatedly to no avail.
"When it rains it fucking pours!" Asuka shouted in frustration.
Two against one mech and one Angel. They could handle that, hopefully.
/
The frustrating part about this for Ria was that her young counterpart might be right. Maybe she could have just used Leliel to find a new home, take her family somewhere nice and quiet and safe and live out the rest of their days happily.
But she knew if she did that, even if it worked, she would be spending the rest of her life looking behind her. Never feeling safe, never comfortable.
She didn't want this, no matter what others would claim. She didn't want to have any part of Ramiel's mad plan for godhood. Yet it was the only thing that gave her what she needed. If there was any other way she felt remotely comfortable taking... Maybe if they had arrived a few weeks, maybe a month earlier. Things would have been different. But no, for the sake of Mari, for their daughter. This was the path she needed to trend.
"Okay ground rule. This is between me and her," she declared to the room. "This is a Ria-only fight, no one else allowed."
"Why the heck should we follow that rule?" Sahaquiel said, eyes glaring at the older Ria.
Ria pulled out a gun from her pocket and fired a false-lance-tipped bullet at the girl. Her left knee cap exploded, driving her to the ground with a howl of pain.
"Because if you don't, I get dirty," Ria declared. "And you really don't want that to happen."
She watched as her younger counterpart charged at her. Was this a feint or an actual full-on attack? If this girl had gone through anything close to what she had up to this point, it would be a feint. She'd move to the left or right then try to slice off one of her limbs.
To her surprise, her younger self halted, stopping her tracks just out of reach of her sword, glaring at her intensely.
The two stared at each other, circling around each other as they did. Each remaining on guard.
It was surreal, fighting someone who was you, or rather a version of you, your past with a few differences. Ria found herself questioning every movement. Would her younger self expect a certain attack? Would striking leave her open to an attack that might see her killed, or would an attack risk hurting the girl more than she intended?
As pissed as Ria was at her younger self, she didn't want to kill her or even maim her. That would be a few steps too far.
"Is your family proud of what you're doing?" Asuka asked. Eyes full of confusion and sadness.
Ria winced visibly, hearing her mother's voice again after so many years. It hurt. It hurt more than she thought it would. But it wasn't her, it wasn't the mother she lost.
"If you're trying to get me to reflect on the monster I've become, that's not going to work," Ria said calmly. "My wife encouraged me to take this path and my daughter fully understands why I'm doing this."
The look Asuka gave hit Ria like a freight train. In a sense the woman was arguably now a grandmother, and she had to learn about in a fight, from a distorted version of her daughter she thought was trying to kill her own.
'Remember the end goal. Remember why you're doing this!' Ria told herself.
Her thoughts were interrupted by Kyoko jumping onto her back, shark-like teeth piercing the back of her neck.
Ria let herself fall to the ground, Kyoko holding onto her tightly, the smaller Angel's teeth dangerously close to Ria's Core.
That was careless, so careless of her. Ria chided herself for the mistake. It had been so long since she had fought another Angel, the rust was starting to show.
"Your family is full of idiots then," her other self declared as she walked towards her. She kicked her sword away and then bent down near her head, an awkward motion in her armor, a hateful smile across her counterpart's face.
"I'm feeling really generous today because despite everything you did manage to kill Ireul," the younger Ria hissed.
'Oh, if only it were that simple,' she thought.
"So I'll make you deal; you tell me everything you know about Ramiel's plans and I'll make sure that family of yours is protected. You don't have to be our enemy."
It was a tempting offer, Ria had to admit.
"You really think I would be doing this if I thought there was any other way to protect them?" Ria replied pointedly.
"Also," she added a moment later, "Gale Force Alpha."
"Wh-" Her counterpart's confused reply was interrupted as 500,000 volts of electricity coursed through the surface of Ria's armor, into Kyoko, and through her into the older Ria.
Years of fighting mobs of soldiers had forced Ria to learn a lot, both in how to fight. And how to improve what you fight with.
It was painful, every muscle in her body tensed up and released in moments.
Kyoko screamed and rolled off, stunned from the shock.
The younger Ria moved to attack, her arm transforming into a paper thin blade. Her older counterpart was not going to give her the chance. Her body may have been stunned, but that doesn't mean she was defenseless.
A massive AT-FIeld flared in front of her, throwing the younger Soryu back and pushing her down to the ground.
Working quickly, Ria forced herself up and grabbed her sword. She turned and plunged it hard into Kyoko's left leg. Ria winced at the young woman's screams as she plunged the sword deeper and deeper, breaking through the floor beneath.
"You bastard!" her other self screamed.
Ria approached her younger counterpart, leaving her sword buried in the ground. It would keep Kyoko pinned. Not forever, but long enough.
She did her best to ignore how Asuka was looking at her as she approached the other Ria. 'That's not my mother. Not her.'
The younger Ria charged at her, her left arm craned back.
She punched, the fist connecting with Ria's face. The pain was extensive. Had she hit a little better it probably would have broken her jaw.
Ria grabbed the arm and held it tightly. Her counterpart glared at her defiantly.
"You know for what it's worth, I am sorry to put you through this," Ria said sympathetically to her counterpart before decking her in the face, making sure to keep firm control of her left arm.
"I mean your best friend lies to you, betrays you, and then gets himself killed."
Another fist connected with her younger self's jaw, bones breaking beneath Ria's hand.
"Your cousin enacts some insane plan to become a god."
Her counterpart tried to fight with her free arm. Ria simply grabbed it as well.
"The closest thing you have to actual grandmother rejects you. You got your mind scrambled. God makes a fool of you."
She crushed the right arm in her grip, forcing her counterpart's arm back at a painful angle. The younger Ria gritted her teeth, staring hard at her older self with bright red eyes.
"You have a sister you never wanted and don't know what to do with, your only remaining friend from before all this hates you. And now me. One those things would be enough to break most people. You deserve credit for having endured all that."
"Your ego is showing," her counterpart snarked through gritted teeth.
Ria had expected her younger self to fight back with every ounce of will she had, fighting until she broke. She was fighting, but weakly. This wasn't her. She was scared, of herself.
"You're scared of becoming me, aren't you?" Ria mocked. "News flash, girl: You already are. Only difference between you and me is age and situation."
"You're a fool who's trying to justify their own rampant stupidity," her counterpart spat. "You're just as stupid as Okito, and can't admit a mistake."
Ria grabbed her around the throat, putting the bare minimum of pressure around her throat, just enough to make a point.
"You think I like this, girl? I don't. But I am doing what we have always done. Protecting our... my family. That's all that mattered, that's all that's ever mattered to us," Ria declared angrily. "We've never believed in Angel superiority. But let's not pretend we were ever big fans of humanity in general. Probably a dozen or less people have ever truly mattered to us. The rest of them, the rest of the Lilin, what do they matter? You're only involved in this war because the people you care about were at risk. You're only against my plan because you hate Ramiel and you're worried your family might be hurt. And of course because our parents would hate it."
The younger Ria's expression turned deeply fearful. She was getting to her, good.
"Let's face it. If it wasn't for how Mom and Dad would have reacted, you would have done so much more to protect them. The PM would have been dead ages ago. You could have overthrown the entire government if you put the effort in, we have the strength. Made yourself a new Shogun, used the military and the Evas to purge every single Angel from these islands. But you would have never done it because if you did, Mom and Dad would have realized you were just as much a monster as the rest of them. That's the only difference between you and me. My family understands that sometimes you have to be a monster to get things done."
"My god, do you ever shut up!?"
Ria turned to see Kyoko standing defiantly despite her wound, Ria's sword firmly in hand.
'Brave girl,' Ria thought. 'Brave but foolish.'
/
Shinji was concerned, perhaps terrified, but he kept control. He did not scream. He'd dealt with this Angel before. It was bad, but he fought her off. And if he could beat this Angel, so could Ayananmi.
"Rei!" he shouted over the radio. Silence greeted him.
Shinji rushed towards her, pushing Unit-01 as fast as he could.
Then he watched as Rei's plug shot out of Unit-00, rocketing through the air back towards WILLE.
She was safe, that was good. Unit-00 doubled over, the light gone out of its one eye.
But only for a moment. The Angel buried itself deeper and deeper and the eye began shining bright red again.
Unit-00 pulled out its swords.
"I am Armisael!" a sneering, monstrous voice boomed over the radio, every word marked by electronic scratches and pings, like a degraded copy of a voice. "And this Eva is Mine!"
/
The world could be over and she would have no idea. Misato paced around her room, walking from one corner to the next.
The alarms had stopped a while ago, but the all clear hadn't been given. Whatever was happening was still going on. And there was nothing she could do to help.
Maybe that was for the best. Almost every step she'd taken since this all began had been a mistake, her every call a bad one, every instinct misleading her. And now…
She looked at her hands. They were clean, unmarked, the declate hands of a twenty year old. They were unnatural, inhuman, wrong.
She couldn't trust herself. She didn't think she would betray WILLE and side with the Angels, not unless there had been far more done to her than she realized, and boy was that a comforting thought.
But couldn't trust her instincts. She had been altered, her physical self changed into something not strictly human. What if her thought process had been changed? What things that now perfectly logical to her would be viewed as outright insanity? A fresh view might do wonders considering her track record, or it might get everyone killed.
She was useless, nay worse than useless, an active drain of the faculty she built.
The door opened and Shinji, the older one, walked in. He looked ragged, exhausted, his eyes distant, somehow he looked five years older than the last time she saw him.
"Shinji-" she began.
"They've lost contact with Asuka, Ria, and Kyoko." Shinji said, his voice drained of emotion. "We're being attacked by a T-RIDEN-T, Armisael has taken over Unit-00, the computers are a mess from some sort hacking attempt, Arael is out on the street in human form brainwashing hordes of people, and oh yeah, Touji and his kids have barricaded themselves in Hikari's room."
Misato stared at him, words utterly leaving her. One of those things would have been a disaster. All of them at once would have been nothing short of pure chaos.
"The bridge is a mess, no one is giving the Pilots instructions. No one can get control of the place. It needs someone to take the reins. They need you, Misato."
/
End Note: Haha, not dead. Boy let me tell you, writing 30+ Pages worth of material for your college classes can sure burn you out from writing. That and everytime I tired to restart for a while I found myself overcome with regrets. Even wrote a whole chapter and so extras for a Sort of Rebuild idea I had, still not sure what to do with that yet. But it's back. It won't come out as quickly as before but it won't be four months between updates.
"What are you doing?!" Shinji shouted into the radio "What does this accomplish?"
"Revenge for the fallen! For those killed by the Evas and NERV!" the enemy pilot protested.
Asuka stopped fighting. Too many fights with Israfel had taught her the pointlessness of constantly going after someone faster than her. She just had to wait for the right moment.
"Don't blame us!" Asuka snapped. "We weren't there for any of that!"
"Fully aware," the pilot replied simply. "You're not my target, after all."
'Oh, so that's your game,' Asuka realized. The pilot was after WILLE itself.
"Shinji, attack from the left," she ordered.
Just as the Mecha paused and its cannons turned towards the glass pyramid of WILLE, Unit-01 lunged at it, forcing the T-RIDEN-T to move forward to get out of the way. Directly into Asuka's line of fire.
She fired off several rounds from her crossbow, the rounds exploding against its left Positron Cannons. The cannons exploded, odd colored smoke pouring from them as the Mech retreated away from the three Evas.
Had this thing been able to launch in a truly surprise attack, had something distracted her and the other two Pilots, she could see the this T-RIDEN-T being a real danger to WILLE. But as it was, it was just a fragile weapons platform that was far too outnumbered to do anything. This would only be a matter of time.
An orange glow appeared in the corner of Asuka's vision.
"What the hell?" the T-RIDEN-T pilot said in confusion.
Cursing under her breath, Asuka turned to see the painfully familiar glow of an Angel appearing in one of the nearby streets.
Out of the glow came a giant, white, glowing worm that rocketed away.
Asuka fired her crossbow at Armisael but the Angel ducked and wove through the air, away from her shots.
Then it made a plunge towards Unit-00. Shinji and Asuka did their best to stop it, but the Angel reached Rei before they could strike. The Angel plunged into Unit-00's torso. The yellow-orange armor was forced aside as it pushed its way in, thick veins appearing across it's stomach. Unit-00 stabbed at it repeatedly to no avail.
"When it rains it fucking pours!" Asuka shouted in frustration.
Two against one mech and one Angel. They could handle that, hopefully.
/
The frustrating part about this for Ria was that her young counterpart might be right. Maybe she could have just used Leliel to find a new home, take her family somewhere nice and quiet and safe and live out the rest of their days happily.
But she knew if she did that, even if it worked, she would be spending the rest of her life looking behind her. Never feeling safe, never comfortable.
She didn't want this, no matter what others would claim. She didn't want to have any part of Ramiel's mad plan for godhood. Yet it was the only thing that gave her what she needed. If there was any other way she felt remotely comfortable taking... Maybe if they had arrived a few weeks, maybe a month earlier. Things would have been different. But no, for the sake of Mari, for their daughter. This was the path she needed to trend.
"Okay ground rule. This is between me and her," she declared to the room. "This is a Ria-only fight, no one else allowed."
"Why the heck should we follow that rule?" Sahaquiel said, eyes glaring at the older Ria.
Ria pulled out a gun from her pocket and fired a false-lance-tipped bullet at the girl. Her left knee cap exploded, driving her to the ground with a howl of pain.
"Because if you don't, I get dirty," Ria declared. "And you really don't want that to happen."
She watched as her younger counterpart charged at her. Was this a feint or an actual full-on attack? If this girl had gone through anything close to what she had up to this point, it would be a feint. She'd move to the left or right then try to slice off one of her limbs.
To her surprise, her younger self halted, stopping her tracks just out of reach of her sword, glaring at her intensely.
The two stared at each other, circling around each other as they did. Each remaining on guard.
It was surreal, fighting someone who was you, or rather a version of you, your past with a few differences. Ria found herself questioning every movement. Would her younger self expect a certain attack? Would striking leave her open to an attack that might see her killed, or would an attack risk hurting the girl more than she intended?
As pissed as Ria was at her younger self, she didn't want to kill her or even maim her. That would be a few steps too far.
"Is your family proud of what you're doing?" Asuka asked. Eyes full of confusion and sadness.
Ria winced visibly, hearing her mother's voice again after so many years. It hurt. It hurt more than she thought it would. But it wasn't her, it wasn't the mother she lost.
"If you're trying to get me to reflect on the monster I've become, that's not going to work," Ria said calmly. "My wife encouraged me to take this path and my daughter fully understands why I'm doing this."
The look Asuka gave hit Ria like a freight train. In a sense the woman was arguably now a grandmother, and she had to learn about in a fight, from a distorted version of her daughter she thought was trying to kill her own.
'Remember the end goal. Remember why you're doing this!' Ria told herself.
Her thoughts were interrupted by Kyoko jumping onto her back, shark-like teeth piercing the back of her neck.
Ria let herself fall to the ground, Kyoko holding onto her tightly, the smaller Angel's teeth dangerously close to Ria's Core.
That was careless, so careless of her. Ria chided herself for the mistake. It had been so long since she had fought another Angel, the rust was starting to show.
"Your family is full of idiots then," her other self declared as she walked towards her. She kicked her sword away and then bent down near her head, an awkward motion in her armor, a hateful smile across her counterpart's face.
"I'm feeling really generous today because despite everything you did manage to kill Ireul," the younger Ria hissed.
'Oh, if only it were that simple,' she thought.
"So I'll make you deal; you tell me everything you know about Ramiel's plans and I'll make sure that family of yours is protected. You don't have to be our enemy."
It was a tempting offer, Ria had to admit.
"You really think I would be doing this if I thought there was any other way to protect them?" Ria replied pointedly.
"Also," she added a moment later, "Gale Force Alpha."
"Wh-" Her counterpart's confused reply was interrupted as 500,000 volts of electricity coursed through the surface of Ria's armor, into Kyoko, and through her into the older Ria.
Years of fighting mobs of soldiers had forced Ria to learn a lot, both in how to fight. And how to improve what you fight with.
It was painful, every muscle in her body tensed up and released in moments.
Kyoko screamed and rolled off, stunned from the shock.
The younger Ria moved to attack, her arm transforming into a paper thin blade. Her older counterpart was not going to give her the chance. Her body may have been stunned, but that doesn't mean she was defenseless.
A massive AT-FIeld flared in front of her, throwing the younger Soryu back and pushing her down to the ground.
Working quickly, Ria forced herself up and grabbed her sword. She turned and plunged it hard into Kyoko's left leg. Ria winced at the young woman's screams as she plunged the sword deeper and deeper, breaking through the floor beneath.
"You bastard!" her other self screamed.
Ria approached her younger counterpart, leaving her sword buried in the ground. It would keep Kyoko pinned. Not forever, but long enough.
She did her best to ignore how Asuka was looking at her as she approached the other Ria. 'That's not my mother. Not her.'
The younger Ria charged at her, her left arm craned back.
She punched, the fist connecting with Ria's face. The pain was extensive. Had she hit a little better it probably would have broken her jaw.
Ria grabbed the arm and held it tightly. Her counterpart glared at her defiantly.
"You know for what it's worth, I am sorry to put you through this," Ria said sympathetically to her counterpart before decking her in the face, making sure to keep firm control of her left arm.
"I mean your best friend lies to you, betrays you, and then gets himself killed."
Another fist connected with her younger self's jaw, bones breaking beneath Ria's hand.
"Your cousin enacts some insane plan to become a god."
Her counterpart tried to fight with her free arm. Ria simply grabbed it as well.
"The closest thing you have to actual grandmother rejects you. You got your mind scrambled. God makes a fool of you."
She crushed the right arm in her grip, forcing her counterpart's arm back at a painful angle. The younger Ria gritted her teeth, staring hard at her older self with bright red eyes.
"You have a sister you never wanted and don't know what to do with, your only remaining friend from before all this hates you. And now me. One those things would be enough to break most people. You deserve credit for having endured all that."
"Your ego is showing," her counterpart snarked through gritted teeth.
Ria had expected her younger self to fight back with every ounce of will she had, fighting until she broke. She was fighting, but weakly. This wasn't her. She was scared, of herself.
"You're scared of becoming me, aren't you?" Ria mocked. "News flash, girl: You already are. Only difference between you and me is age and situation."
"You're a fool who's trying to justify their own rampant stupidity," her counterpart spat. "You're just as stupid as Okito, and can't admit a mistake."
Ria grabbed her around the throat, putting the bare minimum of pressure around her throat, just enough to make a point.
"You think I like this, girl? I don't. But I am doing what we have always done. Protecting our... my family. That's all that mattered, that's all that's ever mattered to us," Ria declared angrily. "We've never believed in Angel superiority. But let's not pretend we were ever big fans of humanity in general. Probably a dozen or less people have ever truly mattered to us. The rest of them, the rest of the Lilin, what do they matter? You're only involved in this war because the people you care about were at risk. You're only against my plan because you hate Ramiel and you're worried your family might be hurt. And of course because our parents would hate it."
The younger Ria's expression turned deeply fearful. She was getting to her, good.
"Let's face it. If it wasn't for how Mom and Dad would have reacted, you would have done so much more to protect them. The PM would have been dead ages ago. You could have overthrown the entire government if you put the effort in, we have the strength. Made yourself a new Shogun, used the military and the Evas to purge every single Angel from these islands. But you would have never done it because if you did, Mom and Dad would have realized you were just as much a monster as the rest of them. That's the only difference between you and me. My family understands that sometimes you have to be a monster to get things done."
"My god, do you ever shut up!?"
Ria turned to see Kyoko standing defiantly despite her wound, Ria's sword firmly in hand.
'Brave girl,' Ria thought. 'Brave but foolish.'
/
Shinji was concerned, perhaps terrified, but he kept control. He did not scream. He'd dealt with this Angel before. It was bad, but he fought her off. And if he could beat this Angel, so could Ayananmi.
"Rei!" he shouted over the radio. Silence greeted him.
Shinji rushed towards her, pushing Unit-01 as fast as he could.
Then he watched as Rei's plug shot out of Unit-00, rocketing through the air back towards WILLE.
She was safe, that was good. Unit-00 doubled over, the light gone out of its one eye.
But only for a moment. The Angel buried itself deeper and deeper and the eye began shining bright red again.
Unit-00 pulled out its swords.
"I am Armisael!" a sneering, monstrous voice boomed over the radio, every word marked by electronic scratches and pings, like a degraded copy of a voice. "And this Eva is Mine!"
/
The world could be over and she would have no idea. Misato paced around her room, walking from one corner to the next.
The alarms had stopped a while ago, but the all clear hadn't been given. Whatever was happening was still going on. And there was nothing she could do to help.
Maybe that was for the best. Almost every step she'd taken since this all began had been a mistake, her every call a bad one, every instinct misleading her. And now…
She looked at her hands. They were clean, unmarked, the declate hands of a twenty year old. They were unnatural, inhuman, wrong.
She couldn't trust herself. She didn't think she would betray WILLE and side with the Angels, not unless there had been far more done to her than she realized, and boy was that a comforting thought.
But couldn't trust her instincts. She had been altered, her physical self changed into something not strictly human. What if her thought process had been changed? What things that now perfectly logical to her would be viewed as outright insanity? A fresh view might do wonders considering her track record, or it might get everyone killed.
She was useless, nay worse than useless, an active drain of the faculty she built.
The door opened and Shinji, the older one, walked in. He looked ragged, exhausted, his eyes distant, somehow he looked five years older than the last time she saw him.
"Shinji-" she began.
"They've lost contact with Asuka, Ria, and Kyoko." Shinji said, his voice drained of emotion. "We're being attacked by a T-RIDEN-T, Armisael has taken over Unit-00, the computers are a mess from some sort hacking attempt, Arael is out on the street in human form brainwashing hordes of people, and oh yeah, Touji and his kids have barricaded themselves in Hikari's room."
Misato stared at him, words utterly leaving her. One of those things would have been a disaster. All of them at once would have been nothing short of pure chaos.
"The bridge is a mess, no one is giving the Pilots instructions. No one can get control of the place. It needs someone to take the reins. They need you, Misato."
/
End Note: Haha, not dead. Boy let me tell you, writing 30+ Pages worth of material for your college classes can sure burn you out from writing. That and everytime I tired to restart for a while I found myself overcome with regrets. Even wrote a whole chapter and so extras for a Sort of Rebuild idea I had, still not sure what to do with that yet. But it's back. It won't come out as quickly as before but it won't be four months between updates.
Last edited: