Ignis Aurum Probat [Neon Genesis Evangelion]

[shadenight123]

Chapter Thirty: "Carpe Shinji"

Teaching is no different than learning. When you teach, that which you know is known once more, for a student is not the teacher, and by teaching, the teacher learns again things in different ways, with questions asked through different thoughts, and comes to a better understanding of the subject he teaches.

Unfortunately, there are no teachers of love, if one does not count men and women who tied the knot and give their own, flawed, personal experiences on it.

"Hikari was head over heels for me since the day she saw me, love at first sight, man, love at first sight," Toji spoke with a smile, a cold beer in his hand. Shinji, Kensuke and him were sitting by the counter of a simple-looking sushi bar, enjoying the pleasantness of a day off from troubles, problems and duties. Kensuke was a bespectacled man with sharp eyes and a springy body, and even though he was out of service, he still wore his military uniform with bits and pieces of branches and bush leafs attached to it.

Toji had picked a far more civilian ensemble.

"In love you gotta pounce," Kensuke said, pushing his glasses further up his nose. "Pounce, pounce, attack, attack! Give no quarters, no defenses!"

"Kensuke, that's how you get court restraint notices," Toji pointed out, and Kensuke simply laughed it off.

"Says you," Kensuke huffed.

"Says the law," Toji replied, shaking his head and taking a sip of his beer. "Oi, man, send two tunas down this way!"

"Yeah, yeah," the man behind the counter nodded, swiftly moving to the fresh tuna fish by his side. "Coming right up."

"What I'm saying," Kensuke said. "Is that once you're decided on someone, then it's stupid not going at full force for them! What if someone goes by and steals them away from you because you remained indecisive? You can't let that happen! Or well, you can, but only if your backup plan involves a quaint quiet spot in the woods to dump a corpse."

Shinji's smile was now nervously twitching, his body leaning slightly away from the man in question.

Kensuke leaned forward, and whispered with a conspiracy-like tone of voice, "I can show you some nice places where the ground's really soft, Shinji." He then winked, and returned sitting upright.

Toji merely laughed at the joke, but Shinji had the inkling it wasn't a joke.

It was a promise, a promise between men.

Toji's cellphone rang suddenly, and as he moved to pick it up, he winced at the name that appeared on the display. "Yes dear?" he said into the phone, "What time is it? It's barely midnight-yes dear, of course dear, as you say dear, I will return swiftly dear." He flipped the phone to a close. "The wife calls, thus I must go."

"Whipped~" Kensuke sang from Shinji's side.

"It's not bad if you like it," Toji replied with a smirk, making a gun-like gesture towards Kensuke with his fingers as the other man laughed. Shinji waved politely goodbye at the man, who left once he paid for his part.

"So it's just you and me, pilot-guy," Kensuke's glasses shone of a light of their own, a creepy, murderous light that made Shinji swallowed nervously in turn. "Tell me," he continued nonchalantly, "What do you think of the Major?" as he asked that, he split the chopsticks in front of him as the tuna that Toji had ordered arrived.

"The major? Madam Katsuragi?"

"Miss, Shinji, miss Katsuragi," Kensuke corrected him, "If you value your life, never forget that she's a miss." He nodded most wisely.

"I guess...she's good at her job?" Shinji hazarded.

"Ah? Only that?" Kensuke sighed, "Oh well, better for me. I won't have to drug you and dump you in the woods then," he shook his head slightly, and then broke out laughing. "Come on! I was joking-It was just a joke!"

Shinji dearly wished Toji hadn't left. Kensuke wasn't a bad man, but his ideas of jokes and his words did not make for a pleasant time, they made for a horrifying horror-like story to tell children at midnight in order to scare them to death.

After a few more meaningless hours of chatting and drinking, though, Kensuke turned out to be a good man. As they both wobbled their way out of the sushi bar and into the streets of Tokyo-Three, they managed to walk straight only by holding on to each other and putting one leg in front of the other with calm, precise motions that benefited a symbiotic relationship of sorts.

They ended up, just by random chance, in another bar.

By the time the sun dawned over the city, Shinji and Kensuke both managed to bid each other goodbye, and the professor collapsed on the entrance floor of his apartment, asleep and with a tie tied around his head. Considering he had left the apartment without a tie, the fact he now had one meant he had probably either bought it or stolen it from another unlucky drunk worker.

It didn't matter to him as he called upon his earthworm ancestry to slither his way through the ground and into the kitchen, taking deep breaths as he closed his eyes.

The soft patter of muffled steps made him crack an eye open, and as he gazed at the light blue slippers in question, his eyes slowly moved up to a pair of milky white legs, and then a white as snow apron and at the face that stood further up, with red eyes and light blue hair. The face looked displeased. It definitely looked displeased.

"Pilot Ikari," the voice clearly was displeased too, "This is unacceptable behavior," her lips thinned as she slowly bent down to help him up. "We have training in two hours."

"F...Forgot about it," Shinji chuckled, even as Rei helped him sit at the table. He blearily realized he had not given Rei the key to his apartment, but perhaps he had left the door open? He didn't think that, but- "H-H-Why?" he asked in the end.

"Why am I here?" Rei asked, "Because I wished to ensure you were eating a healthy breakfast," she continued without missing a heartbeat. Behind her, on the kitchen stove, pots were in the process of cooking stuff. "You will suffer a considerable headache due to dehydration unless you drink," she said next, turning around and moving to grab a glass, which she then filled with water. As the glass of oxidation stood in front of him -an old joke- he moved his hand to grab it and drink in turn.

"The trick to surviving hangovers is to not go to sleep to begin with," Shinji said cheerfully, "Or so I was told..."

"By the redhead German? Her lifestyle choices are poor just like her behavior," Rei replied calmly, "You shouldn't take her as a role model," she continued, setting the table. "There are better people you can take example of," she finished setting the table, and turned towards the kitchen's stove, starting to hum lightly a nostalgic sound that made Shinji's eyes close.

He didn't know why the humming was nostalgic, just that it was.

"Also, I took the liberty of breaking down the wall separating our terraces," Rei continued. "This way, I can ensure a faster reaction time in case of need."

Shinji did not connect the dots, busy as he was trying not to fall asleep. Rei's back was, after all, a tantalizing thing to observe through half-closed eyes.

Had he connected the dots, perhaps he would not have felt at ease at the sight of Rei's grasp of a nearby knife meant to cut the boiled fish open.

He didn't connect the dots, though.

Thus, all was right in the morning.

 

[shadenight123]

Chapter Thirty-One: "Igne natura renovatur integra"

The stifling heat of Mount Sakruajima was felt even kilometers from it, the once pacific mount now an active volcano since the times of Second Impact. Within it, the Blue Pattern typical of angels had been discovered by the magi in advance, but the images had shown an egg of sorts, an embryo. This...This meant a lot. The Angel had been named Sandalphon, The Brother, by the Magi. Why they had picked that as a name was anyone's guess, but Shinji was sure someone had enjoyed putting a list of potential names into the computers and then left it there as a prank.

"Where there is an egg, there has to be a chicken," Shinji said flatly, gazing at the images. Doctor Ritsuko was nearby, a cigarette lit in her mouth. They were down at the base of the mountain, a mobile camp set as far as possible, and yet as close as needed. The Evas battery packs had been brought along in great quantity, just in case they would need a quick swap. Within a large truck, outfitted with air conditioning and the strongest thing on par with a Magi that could be put inside, both Doctors glanced at the photos with various degrees of interest.

"There has been no previous detection of blue pattern," Ritsuko replied. "It is possible the embryo traveled through the Earth's crust only to emerge here where it was detected."

"The presence of an egg means reproduction," Shinji pointed out. "It means sexual behavior. It means courting rituals. The abandoning of the egg indicates a lack of attachment for their spawn, or perhaps have we only encountered children of alien creatures? Until now we thought the Angels to be alien warlords, but what if they were alien children?" Shinji clasped his fingers together, propping his chin near them as he glanced at the pictures with intensity, as if he had missed a detail of it. "It looks like a human embryo," he continued. "Considering the speed of Israfel's evolution and mutations, is it possible that we are dealing with a singular, highly adaptive species trying to find the perfect war form?"

Ritsuko took a small puff, and then sighed. "All theories are viable when it comes to dealing with the Angels. They possess bodies that sometimes go beyond the three-dimensional, so it becomes hard to understand things we are not wired to understand."

"Like explaining colors to a dog," Shinji said, cracking his knuckles only slightly as he unclasped his fingers. "Even so, some things can be related to a higher intelligence, rather than simple animal-like instinct. Malice, for example, is a key trait that belongs to intelligent beings alone...and dolphins."

"Considering dolphins are the most intelligent species after man," Ritsuko replied, "Then perhaps intelligence and evil are inherently linked."

"Although the saying does go that an act born of stupidity is indifferent from one of malice," Shinji said as he stretched a bit, before standing up. "Morality does not concern itself with biology however," he stared at the picture one last time. "I wonder, will we one day look back at this, and condemn it as the murder of an innocent life?"

"I doubt that would be the case, Doctor Ikari," Ritsuko said. "We are speaking of an Angel."

"Who knows, Doctor Ikari," Shinji replied, his lips twitching in a slightly amused smile. "Science fiction is filled with misunderstandings between different species leading to genocides that are cried upon later on," he began to walk towards the door. "Guess I'll go see how the Evangelion's holding up-" and in that moment, the alarm took the cue to blare loudly.

Two minutes later, Shinji's body hit the insides of the Evangelion Zero-One cockpit as the LCL liquid filled its insides from a nearby tank, the battery pack installed on its back soon working its due as the countdown sequence began to play on the upper right side of Shinji's vision.

Ten minutes. Ten minutes of operation per battery pack.

Rei's face appeared on his left, the young woman concentrating on the task ahead of her. "Remember the training, Shinji," Rei said.

"Wait for the experts to fish him out," Misato's voice came through as the Major spoke from the mobile command base, which was revving away at quite the fast speed together with the rest of the crew. Up in the air, a helicopter unloaded its cargo before hightailing it away in turn, leaving only the two Evas to withstand with their AT-Fields the blast of the N2 mine detonated within the volcano.

The reason for it was simple.

While the Angel had a developed AT-Field, and while it was true that it was difficult to pinpoint its exact location, one thing was sure.

If there's no longer a volcano in the way, then fishing something out becomes a trifling easy thing to do.

The Evangelions had been outfitted with trident-shaped weapons, built to withstand incredible heat and to have their heads thrust forth with jet-powered engines both forward and backward. The bubbling pit of magma was a scene of hell, the mountain literally vaporized from the explosion as well as its surroundings, leaving behind only flat land and the wailing cries of what seemed like a newborn child.

"Rei-Are you hearing this?" Shinji asked, his ears straining to find the source of the noise.

"Ignore it," Rei replied. "Concentrate on-"

The ground quaked and shook as fissures of hot air began to burst from below the Evangelions' feet. Shinji jumped back, as did Rei. The wailing stopped abruptly, tendrils similar to those of large centipedes erupting from the fissures as a massive, scaled figure emerged with a bellowing shriek. Crimson eyes shone upon a short pyramidal head at the far end of a large stocky body. A circular mouth surrounded by feelers screamed loud enough to make Shinji's skin tremble, the LCL bubbling as heat rose in the immediate surroundings of the creature.

The fish-like tail suddenly snapped cleanly in half, forming legs upon which the Angel stood up. Rei hadn't stood by to watch however, and her Trident had already unleashed its rocket head to slam against the tough scales of the monster, sparks sailing in the air on the point of contact.

Shinji screamed as he rushed forth in turn, putting all of his strength behind his blow. The impact against the hardened scale had no effect, even as he pushed the button to unleash the jet-head at point-blank range. With a slow, crude movement Sandalphon backhanded him away, taking his first uneasy steps upon the land beneath it.

"Da...Da..." Sandalphon said, his limbs moving up and down towards Eva-Zero One's fallen form. Shinji's eyes widened as the Angel's mouth opened up, rows upon rows of teeth shining through. "Da...da-"

Rei was in front of the creature within mere instants, the Trident once more formed and thrust, this time straight through the creature's mouth. The flesh ruptured as Rei's evangelion jumped forward, forcing the creature to topple on its back.

"Rei-Rei wait! It's communicating-" Shinji's words fell on deaf ears as Rei screamed from the effort of slamming down against the Angel's mouth the tips of her trident.

"Mama..." the Angel whined as blood sprayed out from its mouth, the weakest point of his body. The powerful limbs tried to grip onto Rei's Evangelion form, but the AT-Field of the Eva held him at bay.

Rei's Evangelion opened its mouth to howl, and with a thunderous crack, the trident tips shattered at the edges, allowing for the now spear-shaped weapon to pierce straight through the Alien's body and hit the back of its head.

There was a brief moment of silence as the Angel seemed to suddenly fill itself up with air, before exploding in a shower of blood and scales.

"The Angel had its core in the back of its mouth," Rei spoke through the audio feeds, but Shinji wasn't listening to her any longer.

The Angel was trying to communicate.

Considering the speed at which he had gone from wails to the first baby words, it could have been capable of speech in a matter of minutes. They were speaking Japanese-Japanese wasn't easy to understand, or learn, but the Angel's speed in adapting and learning-it could have learned. It could have been made to understand-or they could have understood why it was acting that way.

They could have understood why Earth was under attack.

"Shinji, are you all right?" Rei asked, "Respond."

"I'm fine," Shinji said in the end. "The Angel-it was capable of speech...we could have spoken with it-"

"It was a threat," Rei answered. "All Angels are."

And with that answer, there was now one thing that Shinji knew without a doubt.

After mosquitoes, the number one animal that killed the most in the whole world...

Was the Human.

 

[shadenight123]

Chapter Thirty-Two: "Ad Meliora"

Shinji stared at his father, and his fists were clenched tightly. "We could have studied the Angel, Director Ikari," he said flatly. Screaming would just see him dismissed, he knew that. Screaming meant having lost the argument to begin with, so his psychiatrist said, so-so he would not scream. He would hiss, and let out strangled growls, but he would not scream at his father while in his office.

He would be the adult.

"It is irrelevant," Gendo replied. "Our duty as NERV is to kill the Angels, not to query them about their purposes. It has already been determined that they seek the extinction of mankind. Anything else they might say is merely a trick imposed on the weak-willed."

That was truly a good way to go for a backhanded insult, but Shinji was not an adult for nothing.

"It is the folly of old age to cement oneself behind a belief, and unfortunately when that belief is found wrong, then old age is accompanied by foolishness," he smiled. He could play backhand insults all day long. It was the number one game played by professors while handling out marks on papers that would have better suited grade students, rather than University students. It was also a game professors played against one another whenever they felt sufficiently bored or had some theory to discuss which went against another professor's publications.

"It is not old age, but experience, felt on one's skin," Gendo spoke crisply. "Capturing an Angel alive is out of the question, no matter its form. The sooner they are dealt with, the less casualties there are."

Shinji rolled his eyes. "There were no civilians out there, only us, and we were in our Evas."

"And if any of you had ended up a casualty, then the prospects of mankind's future would take a bleak turn," Gendo replied. "Pilot Ayanami did the right thing," he continued. "I expect you to do the same."

"You have another pilot kept under lock and key," Shinji said. "Perhaps getting her upstairs might be better?"

"No," Gendo said flatly. "The discussion on Pilot Makinami is over."

"Saying that a discussion is over doesn't actually end a discussion," Shinji replied. "Unless you are going to play the silent game?"

Gendo did not answer, and Shinji waited a few seconds before breaking the silence. "You are really going to play the silent game?" he asked in disbelief, receiving no answer still. "Very well," Shinji turned, giving his back to his father as he began to walk out. "I'm not going to do things your way, father," he said, turning his head just enough to glance at the man behind the desk. "You do need me, so a compromise is better than a firm refusal. I'll let you think on it."

With those words, Shinji stepped outside, the doors closing behind him with a soft click as he picked the elevator to get out of NERV headquarters. He had better ways of spending his afternoon than staying underground.

The moment the sun hit his eyes, making him bring his right hand up to cover them, a car engine revved itself up. Squinting a bit, he saw the signs of Asuka's sport car parked right on the other side of the road. As he made his way there, the girl grinned at his sight.

"Yoh~ Did you miss me?" she asked with a teasing tone. "Hop in, you look like you could use a break," she added with a smile.

Shinji blinked. "How long have you been waiting out here?"

"Since early this morning," Asuka replied without missing a beat. "Saw you get in, decided to wait you out. I can be really patient when I need to, see?" she smiled like a shark that had smelled blood in the water, which wasn't really something Shinji found endearing, but at the same time...why not? He stepped inside and snapped the safety belt on, Asuka easily leaving the parking and heading straight for the highway.

"Where are we going?" Shinji asked.

"Somewhere nice," Asuka replied with a light hum. "So, is it normal for your colleague to cook you breakfast now?" she asked that lightly, as if making polite meaningless conversation. Shinji felt it was anything but meaningless, or light, but the speed of the sports' car was beyond what a normal human would survive if they threw themselves out.

"She broke the wall between our terraces to get in," Shinji replied. He blinked. "Now that I think about it, that's a bit excessive."

"Don't worry about that. I had someone put in a nice new reinforced concrete wall through the terrace, the connecting walls and I've taken the liberties of changing your door from the default package to a Swiss vault door," she calmly fished out from her pocket a set of new, metallic keys, which she handed over. "You are now safe from the unwanted attentions of your co-pilot, Shinji. Thank me profusely at your leisure."

Shinji stared at the keys for a brief moment, and then blinked. "Why are there twenty-two keys?"

"Because you have twenty-two locks?" Asuka replied as if that explained everything.

"Do you have a copy of the keys?" Shinji asked next.

"Of course not!" Asuka exclaimed, the sports' car taking an exit from the highway, but the speed not dropping for a single second. "Why would I need one copy when I can have two dozens made?" she laughed at that, but Shinji felt it wasn't a joke.

It really didn't feel like a joke.

Asuka stopped the engine of the car on a dirt road overlooking a hill and a lake, a few trees planted to create a nice, peaceful shade. The wind made the branches of the trees move gently back and forth, the leafs rustling tenderly. "Up the hill, under the tree," Asuka said as she opened the trunk of the car, pulling out a picnic basket and a white and red tablecloth. "Go on along, princess, I'll be there shortly."

"L-Let me help," Shinji replied, moving to grab the basket from her and inwardly hissing at how heavy it was. Asuka simply chuckled, and swapped the objects, letting him carry the tablecloth all the way up the hill.

Once the picnic area was set, Asuka stretched gently while sitting on the tablecloth, the basket in-between them. The view was breathtaking, with the sun rendering the lake's surface a glittering diamond of sorts.

"Shinji, everything that you see under the light of the sun," she extended her left hand forward, "is mine."

Shinji blinked. "Construction work really pays well, doesn't it?"

"That it does, Shinji," Asuka nodded wisely. "That it does."

She moved a hand to open the basket, pulling out what looked like costly champagne held in a bucket filled with ice. How it could have fit inside the basket was anyone's guess, but Shinji reckoned that depending on its positioning it might have been possible, theoretically, to get it done.

Asuka filled two glasses, passing one over to Shinji and smiling softly.

"Would you..." she began, hesitating only slightly, "Like to talk?"

Shinji took the offered glass, and glanced at his reflection.

He smiled slightly.

"I'd...like that."

Asuka grinned.

Blood in the water attracts the sharks, and to make a profit in construction work...

...one has to be the king of sharks to begin with.

 

[shadenight123]

Chapter Thirty-Three: "Sub Pluvia"

Shinji stared at his computer screen with bored resignation. Outside, the typical summer rain was pouring down from the heavens, but hopefully it would not last for more than a few minutes.

A few minutes had gone by hours ago, but Shinji wasn't bothered by it. He was checking through his emails, rerouting stupid students who hadn't gotten the message that he had been transferred to their new professor in charge of his coursework, and checking on the latest magazines concerning advancements in the bio-engineering community. It was as he was reading an article about the recreation of synthetic muscles through stem cells and pre-programmed nano-carbon tubes that he heard a knocking.

The knocking in question did not come from the door.

It came from the window.

He was half-tempted to ignore it, but his window was made of glass, and it might shatter if the knocking didn't abate. Thus, he calmly went to the window. Was it Rei, once more wanting to get in? Was it Asuka having decided to surprise him in such a way?

Was it a spindly long and thin black leg that had smoothly knocked on the glass to catch his attention, only to stab through said glass the moment he had been in sight?

The latter.

It was the latter.

Shinji screamed as he threw himself to the side, the black limb in question slamming through the glass, shattering the walls and the concrete floor that caved in as the creature in question took away a good chunk of the apartment complex's facade.

It was an Angel, without a doubt.

It was an Angel that had knocked at his window to catch his attention and then tried to stab him dead.

As he stood in a corner of the ruins of his apartment however, Shinji wasn't just pondering on the show of intelligence of the Angel. He was also wondering how he was going to get out of it, because once the Angel came for another swoop, he would most definitely be dead.

Also, his computer.

The attack had destroyed his computer.

"C-Can't we talk about this!?" he yelled into the rain, even as thunder deafened most of his words. The thing was, even though the Angel had broken the complex of buildings, there had been no sound to it. The rain seemed to increase and decrease depending on some unseen will, dulling the senses. The Angel's body resembled an opilinoid, also known commonly as a Daddy Long Legs type of spider, if not for the eyes that surrounded its main figure.

If the Angels before had been combat-types, or at least something similar, this one was a silent assassin. When water fell over its body, it somewhat hid it from view. It was the only explanation, because how else could it have managed to reach so far into the city without an alarm blaring?

He needed his phone, which was by his computer's side, which was...

In the rubble, a few floors below.

The long spindly spider-like leg came back, thrusting right on the spot where Shinji had found refuge. This-This was how he died? He didn't want to die like this! He hadn't-he hadn't even earned a Nobel prize yet! He was too young to die!

He closed his eyes sharply, bringing his arms up to protect his body. A pair of slender arms grabbed hold of him and pulled him away, the air displacement making him wince and cry out as his eyes opened to the sights of him falling down on the floor below. He closed his eyes once more sharply, the pair of arms holding him tightly as they landed.

"Shinji," Rei's voice came through gently, "Are you all right?"

"A-A-Angel," Shinji whined out, pointing at the spindly black giant spider on the street outside. "T-There's an Angel out of the window!" it was not what an adult would perhaps say, but in that precise instant, Shinji was at a loss for words.

"I have seen it," Rei replied, holding him in her arms like a bride. "Do not worry," she added. "I will see you safe."

She began to run once more, the spot they had been in hit suddenly by the Angel's limbs, shattering more and more of the apartments as the downpour increased in strength. The streets had water that reached the knee, so much had the downpour gone on.

"The Angel appears to have control over the weather," Rei spoke, her mouth inches away from Shinji's ears. Even if the situation did not warrant it, Shinji blushed all the same. "We will need to reach NERV by foot."

"R-Rei, you can put me down," Shinji said, "I can walk-"

"Yes," Rei replied, tightening her hold, "But not as fast as me."

"U-Uh? What do you mean, not as fast as-" Shinji's glance went down, and then back up. He furrowed his brows, and then looked once more. "Rei-You're walking on water."

"Yes," Rei said quite calmly, keeping her speed up.

"You also jumped down a few floors to rescue me," Shinji continued.

"Yes," Rei said once more.

"Rei-Humans don't do that," Shinji said, trying to make sense of it all.

"I am a bio-engineered human," Rei replied. "That is what I am told to say in such circumstances."

"Rei, no amount of bio-engineering would ever allow someone to walk on water!" Shinji cried out even as he held on tighter to Rei, her sudden lunging sideways to avoid one of the Angel's legs crashing down on the street forcing him to tighten his hold, and feel two round mammal glands of sorts pressed against his chest. This kind of situation was-it was strangely-no, no, bad Shinji! Bad! Survive first, think about Rei's curves later!

"But I am walking on water," Rei replied quite calmly, considering they had an assassin-Angel hot on their tails. "And I am not Jesus Christ."

"That's-There has to be an explanation that doesn't involve bio-engineering!" Shinji yelled, but Rei simply did not answer that. She kept on running, carrying Shinji like a bride, all the way to the NERV Headquarters while dodging the Angel.

The one at the doors was Kensuke, who had been boringly playing solitaire by the table inside the lounge. When he saw Rei pass him by in a hurry, after having broken through the main reinforced doors of steel and Kevlar, he did not know what to do.

When he saw the large, black leg of the Angel thrust through the opening to try one last stab at the running duo, he suddenly remembered what he had to do.

The Alarm blared through the entirety of the Geofront in a matter of seconds, as the main doors were sealed and locked with Bakelite faster than one could say There is an Angel knocking at our door sir, he's selling Angel-Scouts cookies.

Deep down, Kensuke knew the day was off to a strange start.

On the plus side, he had been winning at Solitaire.

 

[shadenight123]

Chapter Thirty-Four: "Lacrimae Rerum"

It would be a cold day in hell before Shinji accepted the bullshit of Bio-Engineering as an answer for a woman being capable of walking on water. He knew it had something to do with the Catholic symbolism that was going on in NERV, but even as he entered his Eva, he knew this discussion wasn't over by a long shot. "It's not physically possible to walk on water without a mechanical support of sorts!" he said hotly.

"Doctor...what are you talking about?" Major Misato asked in disbelief, even as the two Eva were being prepped for the launch on the launching platforms.

"The limits of Bio-Engineering," Shinji replied.

"Concentrate on the task at hand," the Major said sharply, "You can go back to thinking about your papers after the current Angel has been defeated."

"Very well," Shinji sighed, and as the ramps opened up to let the Evangelions launch, Rei's screen on the monitor suddenly flickered and disappeared, a cacophony of running water spreading through the audio feeds in a second as over Shinji's head, a column of water descended down to halt the rising of the ramp.

Shinji's eyes squinted as the deafening silence of what felt like the ocean surrounded him. He moved his Eva's fingers to the ladder, the one meant for giant robots that couldn't take the elevator, and as he climbed it slowly, but steadily, he gritted his teeth.

How did one walk on water without any apparent mechanical aid? Lighter bone structure? No, it would not explain Rei's strength or resilience. Perhaps a carbon nanotube mesh? No, an outright organic growth of reinforced bones made from carbon? He had never heard of any research on it, but if it was the kind of shady secret classified research, then it sort-of made sense.

It was still impossible, unless he saw the research and the papers made on it, he refused to believe it. Especially because reinforced bones did not mean reinforced flesh, and even if Rei was light, she should have been swept up by the current, and not been the one to lazily run over the surface of it.

No, she had somehow managed to craft a solid surface to thread on while on the water, perhaps ice, or-

The moment he emerged from the water grave, he heard not a thing, felt not a tremor, but the Angel known as Matarael jumped upon him and slammed him on the street, making the Evangelion slide away from the ramp as its giant black legs pierced down upon the open palms of the giant robot.

Shinji screamed as two more legs slammed into his shins, well, not really his, but those of the Evangelion in question.

"Deploy the AT-Field, Shinji!" the Major yelled. "Deploy it!"

"You make this sound easy!" Shinji yelled as he tried to move the command clutches, the Evangelion's head roaring as it suddenly snapped to the side, throwing its entire body on the right, the Angel following swiftly. As the spindly legs began to recover their balance, Shinji screamed as he closed his fingers around the limbs, before ripping them apart at their tips, orange hexagons forming as the next strike impacted against the Eva's AT-Field.

"Where's Rei!?" Shinji exclaimed, throwing the Angel off his legs, the blood pouring out of the wounds closing up in a matter of seconds.

"Do not worry yourself with Pilot Ayanami, Shinji," Gendo spoke crisply. "Stop the Angel."

Matarael's form seemed to blur as the heavy rain hid his features from sight. Nearby, a weapon launcher threw in Shinji's direction a Pallet Rifle, which he hastily grabbed and held up, trying to make sense of where the Angel could have gone. Shinji opened fire, the bullets whizzing and hitting nearby buildings, but missing the Angel. He did not hear him, he did not see him, he did not sense him. This wasn't a kung-fu movie where closing one's eyes would allow one to stretch his other senses to the utmost limit.

It was as he thought about how screwed he was that he heard a splattering noise that made him sharply turn and open fire, the bullets ricocheting off the AT-Field of the Angel. The splash-the rain was mixed with blood, and while the water didn't make sound when the Angel trudged on it, the blood instead did. In the utmost silence of the downpour, when the Angel hit the blood, it sounded like a cacophony.

One truly difficult to not hear.

Shinji roared as he charged ahead, opening fire on the central body of the Angel, who shrieked and opened its eyes, angry red glows suddenly igniting as greenish ooze poured out in sprays.

Shinji dropped the rifle and jumped back the moment he realized the greenish mist wasn't being brought down by the rain, and the powerful acid had begun to melt his gun without a single second of waste. The buildings nearby caved in, melting on themselves as if made of butter and put over an open flame, the roads following the same route and creating whirlpools that seemed to be draining the water, yet the level never dropped.

Matarael's two broken limbs stood up, and as the tips healed and glinted, sharper than ever, he began to thrust them forward with sharp, mechanical precision. Shinji ducked right and left, backing away as the Angel meanwhile advanced.

"Incoming weapon on the left! It's got a button to give a shock!" Misato yelled, and Shinji's left arm shot out to grab the incoming large shield with the Nerv logo etched upon it. The AT-Field glowed bright orange as Matarael's right limb slammed against the shield, electricity flickering over the shield as Shinji hastily pushed the button on the handle, electrical currents arching over it and towards the Angel, flaring the enemy's AT-Field.

Shinji pushed through, sliding his shield to the side to let the limb pass past him as he closed in. A prog-knife emerged from one of his shoulder pylons, and as he grabbed it with his free hand, he screamed and thrust it forward straight against one of the Angel's eyes.

Yet in that moment, acid poured out and outright melted Shinji's hand and his right limb, making him scream shrilly from the pain. His limb-his hand-his everything-the Evangelion roared as his shield-arm slammed down against the Angel, shattering the eye in question and sending the Angel to crash against a building on the other side of the road. Sharp, moan-filled roars left the giant robot's form as the acid burned its way without encountering resistances of sorts.

"H-Hurts," Shinji whined, clutching his body as he cried, "This hurts-"

"The painkillers aren't working sir-" he heard through the audio feed, "The injection mechanisms are-"

"Shinji, you have to fight!" Misato yelled, "Stand up!"

I want to run away. Shinji bit his lips. I want to run away.

But you can't run away, Shinji. Running away never solves anything. It just makes the problem disappear for a while, but then it comes back, and you must face it. Again, and again, and again-until you can no longer run away from it, and you get crushed by it.

Shinji took a deep breath as he stood back up, the Angel having jumped back up in turn, his broken eye replaced with thick metallic spikes that had grown out of the wound. It trashed right and left, the other eyes spinning wildly to get a view on him.

"It is not that I must not run away," Shinji whispered firmly. "It is that I will not run away," he bent his knees. "I," he rushed forward, "Choose," he screamed, "My," his left arm bent back, "life!" the shield impacted against the acid sprayed forth by the Angel, and as the second limb melted away into nothingness, Shinji roared and slammed his head against the Angel's upper body, making him crash down on the concrete road before stomping on it with his right foot repeatedly, each blow shattering and cracking the monster's skin.

"Die! Die! Die! Die! Die!" Shinji screamed with all of his strength, pummeling into the Angel until his foot finally pushed through the hard chitin, shattering right into the acid reservoir and the Angel's core. Shinji didn't even feel the pain of his foot being melted, but the Angel's dying scream told him he had managed the feat of destroying it, as the body suddenly enlarged, and then exploded in a shower of acid and blood.

Shinji found himself thrown back, most of his Evangelion damaged, and yet-yet still there. His eyes gazed up at the flickering screen, and at the rain that abruptly stopped, to reveal the clear skies above.

It was then that he heard Rei's voice, the connection re-establishing itself.

"No-" Rei whimpered. "No-No-Not the tank-" she was...she was crying? "Let me out-let me out!" she was...screaming?

"Rei-" Shinji croaked out, "Rei?"

"S-Shinji?" Rei replied, her tear-stricken face terrifyingly human and so different from the usual. Even though she was inside the LCL, tears still managed to fall down one's face. Perhaps due to a difference in weight? Whatever the reason, Rei's red eyes weren't just red due to being her natural color. "I-The Angel-"

"Dealt with," Shinji replied, shuddering as he breathed in deeply. "What...about you?"

"I am...fine," Rei said. "I-Was stuck."

Shinji didn't say anything else.

But perhaps...

Perhaps he'd talk with her about her problems.

Everyone has problems, Shinji. While it might feel shameful to ask for help, it is not. If you need help, cry for it, and someone will come. Even if a hundred eyes will shut and a thousand ears will plug themselves, all it takes is one pair of eyes and ears to reach you. But if you do not cry out for help...then they cannot help you.

He would be that pair of eyes and ears.

He owed it to Rei, at least.

 

[shadenight123]

Chapter Thirty-Five: "Fiat Panis."

Shinji took a deep breath, and then he knocked. The door opened one minute later, Rei staring at him with a puzzled expression. "Shinji?" she was wearing a simple white shirt and a dark grey pair of gym trousers, and didn't look at all bothered by his appearance at the door.

"We need to talk, Rei," Shinji replied. He had a plastic bag in hand. "So...c-can I cook you dinner?"

Rei blinked, and then wordlessly stepped aside to let him inside her apartment. It had been rebuilt quite quickly, if he could say so. Even his had been up and ready for use after just a few hours, but Rei's had something that felt off to it. He couldn't put it in words, but-

"The walls are all slightly off," Rei said. "There is not a surface that is symmetrical to another," she added. "It may be disconcerting at first."

Shinji looked at Rei, and then groaned. "Asuka."

"Miss Langley may take her petty revenge in whatever way she pleases," Rei replied without an ounce of heat in her words, "I will not rise to the challenge."

Shinji sighed. "Maybe I could talk to her-"

"It is unimportant," Rei replied as she helped take the ingredients out of the plastic bag, "You bought meat?" she asked as she looked at the minced meat. She looked up. "What are your plans for the dinner course?"

"European culture washed over me," Shinji said with a chuckle, "They have a more meat-centered diet than Japan." He began to open the cupboards, looking for the pans. "I will be making burgers, potato puree and there is a bottle of red wine that will go deliciously with it all. It's nothing fancy, but-"

"It is fine," Rei said. "I will leave you to it." She then took a seat by the kitchen's chair, and simply resorted to telling Shinji where the pans were.

"You only have one pan?" Shinji asked as he stared at the meager cupboard. "And one set of plates? Rei, isn't that a bit..." how did he broach the argument anyway?

"I never have visitors," Rei replied.

"Not even the Major?" Shinji asked as he placed the pan on the fire and began heating it.

"The Major is an invader, not a visitor," Rei most aptly corrected him. "I usually kick her out or don't open the door to begin with."

Shinji winced. "Harsh."

"I let her in once," Rei answered. "I learned from that mistake." She shook her head. "Washing beer off a carpet is a tediously long process, Shinji."

Shinji grinned nervously, and then began to compress the minced meat into burgers, his hands wet with oil, a pinch of salt added to the meat before they were put to fry on the pan itself. The milk was added to the powdered puree, since he wasn't going to take hours to mash the potatoes, then stir them, and what not. "How do you like the puree? Thick, so-so or more liquid? And the meat?"

"We have not yet solved the problem of the single plate," Rei replied from her chair.

"I can eat from the pan," Shinji said. "I did bring the glasses for the wine, so the drinking is solved. And I can use the plastic spoon to cut the meat," he fiddled with said plastic spoon, which he was using to turn the puree. "So, while the food's cooking, how was your day?"

Rei blinked once. "I woke up. I took a shower. Then I read the instruction manual of the Evangelion until you knocked at the door."

Shinji raised an eyebrow in her direction. "Why?"

"Why...not?"

"Don't you have other books?" Shinji asked, flipping the burger in the meantime.

"I do," Rei said with a small nod. "I fail to see the purpose in them however, so I do not read them."

Shinji furrowed his brows. "What kind of books do you have?"

"The Major gifted them to me," Rei said. "Does that answer your question, Shinji?"

Shinji hissed, and then nodded. Yes, indeed it did answer the question. "You could go out and buy some books you like instead."

Rei shook her head, her eyes firmly fixed on him even as she shook her head. "I do not have preferences."

"Then...a movie?" Shinji hazarded, "You have a television screen, don't you?" as he pointed at the television in question upon the opposite side of the kitchen, Rei stared at it in turn.

"I do not enjoy watching humans through a screen," Rei answered. "I can go to the park to do that."

"Then-you like going to the park?" Shinji asked.

"No," Rei replied. "Too much noise. I said I could go, not that I did go," she furrowed her brows. "Why are you so inclined in discovering my preferences?" she inclined her head to the side. "Is this some sort of courting ritual?"

"What? N-No," Shinji shook his head. "Just-it's conversation! We're doing conversation! You know-it's what friends do when they're in the same room!"

"Ah," Rei said with a nod. "So-we are friends?" she chuckled. "I guess Miss Langley will get jealous when she finds out."

"I'd-I'd like it if we could be friends, but we can simply stay as colleagues," Shinji hazarded, flipping the burger once more. "I mean-It's your choice."

Rei smiled gently, "I'd like being your friend, Shinji. Also, I was lying before. I do have other books and I do head to the park routinely. I just wanted to tease you a bit."

Shinji stared at Rei, who in turn simply smiled a bit wider. "That's-" he said, "That's...oh, fine," his shoulders slumped, "I made a mess, didn't I?"

"I reckon you were simply worried about me," Rei said with a nod, somewhat preening herself up with a victorious smirk, "But I'll graciously forgive you for taking my peaceful night away from me. So, Shinji, what is worrying you? Also, the burger-it's going to burn."

Shinji sharply turned and flipped the burger off the pan and into Rei's only plate, before passing it over to her as the puree finished cooking. The second burger was ready by then, and as the wine was uncorked and served, they both sat down at the table to eat.

"Do you...want to talk about the last Angel?" Shinji hazarded.

"No," Rei replied flatly. "I do not."

"Well then," Shinji coughed awkwardly. "If...if you ever do want to talk about it, I'm here."

The rest of the dinner went by quietly.

Well, Shinji had felt awkwardness before, but this was the first time he felt is so tangible he could cut it with a knife.

"Concerning your walking on water-" Shinji hazarded, just to break the ice once more.

"Bio-Engineering," Rei replied flatly, but without heat in her voice.

"Now that's impossible," Shinji harrumphed, lifting his chin. "There is no way for the current technological advances to allow-"

Rei sighed, and then calmly raised her left hand, showing the smooth empty palm. She then grabbed the bottle of wine and turned it upside down, letting it gather into her palm as it formed an invisible glass made of air, not a single drop of wine falling from it. Then, it slowly began to creep back up into the bottle, pushed by an unseen force.

Shinji stared.

"Bio-Engineering," Rei said. "If you want more details, ask the other Doctor Ikari," she huffed as she stood up, grabbing hold of the plate and the pan and bringing them to the sink. "I'll wash the dish and the pan. You can turn on the television if you want."

In answer, Shinji wordlessly filled his glass and drank it in one gulp.

Physics could not be denied like that!

 

[NonSequtur]

warning Arguing over the size of an approximately 14 year old girl's bust is dangerous territory. I suggest you avoid it. Mental age doesn't change physical maturity, nor vice versa. Either one makes a character effectively underage for most Rule 6 purposes.

And Asuka's! She'll be happy to provide equal chance to sample them! She might even insist, once she hears that Rei got some close contact time in...

Click to shrink...

But Asuka still had some figure even at 14, so even if Rei is a bit more grown up in this timeframe, Asuka's not entirely without... assets.

Click to shrink...

While the image you've posted has passed public broadcast standards, the broader conversation that commenced when you decided to bring up her bust in a sexual context does not do it any favours. For initiating and continuing this discussion, you will receive 25 points and will have to speak with some of the executive staff.

@MoroseMobius and @MarshalGraves, specific fixations on animated characters aren't necessarily forbidden territory, but neither the thread nor the manner in which you were discussing it were appropriate. Just a warning.

 

[NonSequtur]

Yeah, I'm wondering how Stryp's comments are different from anything presented in the fic and he's the only one to take heat here, if the only thing that matters on that is physical appearance...

Click to shrink...

Part of it might be that the text itself hasn't been reviewed in depth, only the thread comments.

official staff communication If you believe there have been instances in this work or any other work that have sexualized a character who is underage, please report it.

Mental age does matter in certain contexts - romantic entanglements and oblique references to mostly mental phenomena are given more of a pass - but in most cases if a character is either mentally underage or physically underage, they are underage for the purposes of Rule 6.

If you want more precise answers use the Ask a Private Question forum to ask or run a post by the staff.

In this specific instance, the discussion used references from the original work wherein she wasn't mentally or physically of age, and the original comment was in reference to physical attributes, so defences from mental age are less persuasive.

If you would like further clarification or discussion on this staff action you can use the Ask a Private Question forum, start a conversation with a member of the staff, or make a thread in Forum News and Staff Communication.

 

[shadenight123]

Chapter Thirty-Six: "Sunt pueri pueri, pueri puerilia tractant"

He looked at Doctor Ritsuko pointedly, and the woman looked back at him. Naoko was drawing a picture using colorful crayons, while her mother was sipping from a large mug of hot coffee. Ritsuko's assistant, Maya, was watching over the girl's drawings with a bright smile on her face.

On the screen by the Doctor's side, a set of diagrams passed through with ever so startling clarity.

"So what you are telling me is that you decided to use bits and pieces of aliens we do not understand to craft bio-genetic modifications to implement in a non-approved human test," as soon as he said that, he wondered where he had gone wrong with his life. Perhaps it had all begun with the penguin welcoming him to Tokyo, or perhaps it had been when he had picked up the phone when it showed his father's number on it? "Also, you're telling me this in the same room where Naoko is drawing pictures."

Ritsuko simply shrugged. "She won't remember a word of this in less than a couple of days, which is the benefit of being a child," she turned a hand lazily to the keyboard by her side, and tapped a few commands on it. "It's the adults like us that never forget things like this."

By Shinji's side, the screen flickered with data. The professor's eyes turned towards it, and as he began to read through, he rubbed his eyes a few time trying to make sense of it. "You didn't just insert Angel cells and organisms into her body with a retrovirus-"

"No, that proved to be too destructive for the host body," Ritsuko acquiesced, her fingers clasped together.

"You outright crafted a human retrovirus, turning Angel cells into human-like ones-" Shinji's eyes widened. "That borders on the fantasy level of bullshit I've yet to-"

"Language young man, language," Ritsuko said, clicking her tongue against her teeth. "There's my daughter in the room."

Shinji raised an eyebrow, "Won't she forget everything in a couple of days?"

Ritsuko smiled ruefully, "Somehow, certain words they tend to pick up and remember. If you want your next test to be an Angel smack down, then keep being sassy like that, young man."

Shinji briefly chuckled, and then resumed reading through the lines and complex DNA and RNA strings that seemed to come out of a mixture of fairy-tale and horror movie. "What kind of creature has a four-dimensional DNA chain?" he mumbled in disbelief, "How was it even calculated? How can it even work?"

"The AT-Field must come from somewhere," Ritsuko said. "Since there is no apparent physical gland, we must look to the meta-physical to find it. The Magi's calculations are precise-"

"How can they be precise if they have no basis in reality?" Shinji retorted. "Just because something could be in one place does not immediately preclude it could be in another. And how can it even be mapped? The human genome wasn't mapped until two thousand and three, and took thirteen years to complete! And we are talking about humans, not aliens from outer space," he gazed at the sequences running across the screen. "Unless it was begun way before," his eyes glanced towards Doctor Ritsuko, who had the decency to look away. "Way before second Impact, I mean," he continued, hollowly.

He clenched his fists. "I'm not just a pilot," he said in a whisper. "I'm also a professor and, more importantly, what I hope is a good human being. If this had been rendered of public domain-if the scientists all over the world could have viewed it, then-"

"The best and brightest have already been hired by Nerv," Ritsuko replied.

"But Rei's body...it can't have come only from Angel cells," Shinji murmured. "Otherwise there would be alarms ringing at her presence, unless they've been set to ignore her?"

Ritsuko smiled ruefully. "That is private information that I am not at liberty to divulge," she turned her back on him, spinning on her chair slowly as she allowed her fingers to tap away on the keyboard by her side. Then, she stood up and walked by Naoko's side, glancing down at the drawing and smiling at her daughter's vivid happiness at her attentions.

Shinji stood up and very slowly neared her computer, looking at the personal information of one Rei Ayanami. He knew he shouldn't have, but he was sure that if it was truly a secret information, then Ritsuko wouldn't have let him discover it with such ease. He had but asked, and she had delivered. Perhaps whatever it was-

"Yui Ikari, née Ayanami as primary donor?" Shinji whispered, and then paled. His hands shook as he turned sharply to look at Ritsuko's eyes staring right back at him. The unspoken question on his lips was just as silently answered.

The second unspoken question was just so easily answered, and with that, Shinji stepped outside clenching his fists.

They had taught him that it was impolite to punch a man with glasses. They had taught him that only a hoodlum would beat up an elderly man like his father undoubtedly was. They had taught him that to be a man meant to know when to fold the hand, when to take a deep breath, when to let it be, and in that moment, in that precise instant, Shinji felt justified in what he was going to do.

He was going to reach his father, and then he was going to punch the living shit out of him until he fell on the ground and died, perhaps of brain hemorrhaging if he was lucky enough. They needed him to pilot the Evangelion, but they could easily replace his father with someone else now, couldn't they?

It was with these dark thoughts in his head that he reached for the lift meant to bring him all the way up to his father's office, and as he angrily slid his card through to gain entrance into the elevator, he was surprised when he saw a very familiar red-head come towards him from the far end of the corridor, Major Misato accompanying her much to Asuka's chagrin and palpable anger.

Her anger dissipated the moment her eyes met his, just as easily as his anger left the place to puzzled curiosity.

"Oh, Shinji!" Misato with a cheerful voice, uncaring or perhaps ignoring the glares that Asuka was sending her every now and then. "This here is Miss Sohryu, she has a meeting with the Director just about now-are you involved too? I wasn't told."

"My reason is more personal," Shinji replied through gritted teeth, "But I'll deal with him later."

He curtly walked away as the elevator's doors opened up, leaving both women surprised. Perhaps it was for the best. Perhaps he could deal with his father once he had calmed down enough to-

"I must not run away," he said abruptly, swiftly altering his course and trudging with the fury of an angry professor straight back into the elevator, much to the surprise, once more, of the two women. He crossed his arms in front of his chest and gritted his teeth, his eyes curtly set on the doors that closed with a soft hiss. As it began to ascend, Misato chuckled lightly.

"You just wanted to be alone with two pretty girls for a while, didn't you Shinji?"

"I will be quick," Shinji said.

"I'm sure you will," Misato answered. "You look angry. What did he do? If it's about you and Rei sharing an apartment, that was my proposal-"

"You proposed what?" Asuka's frosty voice came through with the sharpness of a dagger, even as her drawl acquired a sort of German furor that made Misato move slightly away from her.

"The last Angel attack saw a direct attempt on Shinji's life," Misato answered. "Due to Rei's training, she was able to protect him. It's thus natural to think they should be living in the same apartment, sharing the same homely hearth and perhaps who knows," she added with a teasing voice, before whispering in a low murmur, "I've got a bet on you two working out. It's that or maybe the cafeteria lady."

Asuka's glare could have probably melted the metal doors of the elevator by itself, and even Shinji moved aside, trying to avoid the accusing stare that was coming full-force against his back.

"Is that so?" Asuka said, her voice eerily calm. "Fascinating."

As the doors of the elevator opened up with a ding, Shinji stepped out mostly out of fear for Asuka's reaction, rather than anger at his father's desire to play God with the corpse of his mother. Gendo was standing behind his desk, and at his entrance, it was clear he hadn't expected him.

"Shinji, I do not have the time to listen to whatever it is you wish to dispute right now, direct all scientific inquiries to Doctor Ritsuko-"

"You..." Shinji clenched his fists. "You cloned my mother!" he yelled loud enough that only the dead wouldn't have heard him. Well, the dead, and pretty much everyone else except for those present in the room. "You goddamn bastard!"

For a brief instant, it was clear that Gendo Ikari was, for the first time in a long while, at a loss of words. Then that moment finished, and he took a small intake of breath in order to answer his son, "An effort into bringing her back from her dissolved state within the Evangelion Unit Zero One was made. It was theorized that inserting a body within it with the same genetic code could perhaps bring her soul back into it. Unfortunately, it failed," he grimaced. "Rei is the result of it. We are talking about highly classified information, Shinji. The clonation of humans-"

"It is not clonation," Shinji snarled, "Rei's not my mother's clone. You-You just don't get it, do you?" Shinji choked out. "You don't even understand why I'm angry," he took a step forward, bringing a hand to his chest. "I miss mother too!" he yelled, "But that is no reason to use other living beings as disposable tools! Rei's her own person, and you-you would have used her to get mother back? Really? I-I am angry. I am shocked. I am appalled and disgusted in you. But mostly, I'm just," his voice lowered as he shook his head. "I'm just...I understand." The last part, he whispered. "In your place...I guess...I would have tried something similar too. So...because I understand...why didn't you ever tell me?" he looked at Gendo, his vision slightly blurred.

Shinji turned, using the back of his hand to wipe away the dust in his eyes, and then took a deep breath. "But I won't take up anymore of your time, father. If-If you have a night free, then we can talk about mom over a dinner or something. Send me a card when you can, all right?" and with that, he decided to be the better person. He decided to do what was right and-and walk out before he made a fool out of himself even more-

"Tuesday," Gendo said as Shinji simply stepped back into the elevator, "Eight o'clock sharp. In front of Nerv."

"Looking forward to it," Shinji replied with a small, awkward smile as the doors of the elevator closed in front of him with a small ding.

The elevator began to descend.

Just like the tears that no adult worthy of respect would have ever shed in that occasion.

But sometimes, it was good to be childish just a bit.

 

[shadenight123]

Chapter Thirty-Seven: "ab ovo usque ad mala"

Shinji distinctively remembered his apartment to be different. He also remembered it cleaner. Finally, he remembered it being only his apartment. Perhaps another man would have viewed it as some form of heaven. He, on the other hand, saw only hell.

"There was the need to refurbish everything," Asuka said as she held a checklist in the crook of her left arm, her right hand holding on to a pen as she began to cross a few things. "Also, the main walls had to be redone to properly hold all the weight."

Shinji stared at the giant television that covered most of the wall of the living room, even as he aptly ignored Misato, sprawled on the sofa with a can of beer in her right hand, wearing gym shorts and a white tank top. The woman was apparently watching some sort of fashion show, snorting every now and then. Rei was sitting by the table of the living room holding a book in her hands, and glancing every now and then in his direction with an awkward shuffling of feet, or what felt like it.

"I took the liberty of changing your bed to something that could accommodate more than one person," Asuka continued, "I had two bathrooms installed. Unfortunately you and I are going to have to share one-" she spoke, but Shinji wasn't really feeling the displeasure in her voice. "The walls have been reinforced, the alarm is directly linked to Nerv Headquarters, and there is an underground tunnel meant to connect through a bullet train straight to the Evangelion's docking bay." Asuka smiled. "Never again late for your job."

"Isn't it nice, Shinji?" Misato said from the sofa. "I get in on all of this delicious stuff too," she smiled brightly. "It will be like being back in college..." she mumbled next, "When I still got laid."

"I didn't hear that," Shinji said most aptly, coughing in his closed hand and turning to look at Asuka, who beamed him a smile. "So this...was what you and my father talked about?"

"Well, that and something else I'm not allowed to disclose," Asuka said, "But maybe a candlelight dinner later tonight?"

"I will have to be present," Rei said from the table, "I am supposed to be Shinji's bodyguard due to the recent aggression of the Angels."

Asuka said something in German that Shinji could have easily translated, but decided not to. He decided not to because they were quite hefty curses and suggestions for Rei which weren't meant to be repeated in any civilized setting.

"I'm sorry," Rei replied quite calmly. "But I don't speak barbaric baby-talk."

Asuka's eyes narrowed on the blue-haired young woman. "Uh~ Someone just got burned," Misato said, standing up to lazily plop an arm on the sofa, gazing at the cat fight that would probably erupt, unless something was done to calm it down.

"W-Would anyone like something to eat?" Shinji hastily said. "I can cook something up-" as he moved in-between the two, opening the fridge, he realized it was awfully empty. Rather, it was so empty the emptiness of the fridge itself made Shinji feel empty and dead inside, like the desolate barren whiteness of the fridge itself, without even a piece of ice or a lonely forgotten cobweb.

Emptiness had a soul, and it felt lonely, and its name was fridge.

"Supermarket trip it is," Shinji said as he sharply closed the fridge and turned abruptly, moving to leave the house without having even checked his own rooms. Rei stood up, closing her book and starting to follow him.

"I'm coming too!" Asuka exclaimed as she dropped her checklist on a nearby desk, moving to grab her jacket. "We'll go with my car, it will be faster that way-"

"We'll go with my car," Shinji answered in turn, showing off a pair of keys that he had religiously kept into his pockets until then, "It's finally arrived from Europe, so-"

"I call shotgun!" Asuka yelled.

Rei, in answer, slowly opened the cabinet by the entrance and pulled out a shotgun from inside it in order to pass it to a shocked Asuka, who actually stared at the weapon wondering how it had made its way into the house she had built. She was sure she hadn't put it there just as much as she was sure of the hidden cameras in Shinji's bedroom. Which meant nothing, because she clearly hadn't put cameras into Shinji's bedroom. The microphone inside his pillow was simply a way to hear his breathing when he slept. It totally was different from installing cameras, wasn't it?

Shinji's next step did not come as the young man stared at Rei's utterly non-frazzled expression. Misato glanced at them and broke out in laughter, shaking her head at the same time. "N-No! Don't bring the guns out! They're my guns!"

"Then I'm sorry, Langley," Rei said as she placed the shotgun back into the cabinet, closing it, "It appears you may not use the shotgun."

"M-Misato!" Asuka yelled at the older woman, "Since when do you keep weapons!?"

"They're gifts from Kensuke!" Misato retorted, "He's the only one who remembers my birthdays," she added with a sigh, before draining her can, and swiftly moving over to open a second one near her. "Buy me more beer while you're at the supermarket!" she said in the end, waving them goodbye.

Shinji stood in front of his car with a bright, cheerful smile on his face. Asuka did her best to hide her grimace, while Rei simply took the seat by the driver's side without a care in the world.

"It's a Prius," Asuka said, as if the word meant anything.

"She's a hybrid model," Shinji nodded as he took the driver's seat. "Everyone, buckle up."

He didn't understand why Asuka began to claw at the window by her side after he took to the street. Was he going too fast? He reckoned that thirty kilometers per hour was enough in the city center, but perhaps he was to go slower?

"I'm eternally young, but I don't want to spend my eternity inside this car!" Asuka suddenly yelled, "Go faster or let me drive!" as she said that and unbuckled her belt, she pushed herself in the space between the two forward seats. "Tell him something too, Wonder Doll."

"I find this speed pleasant," Rei replied, her eyes on the passing scenery of people walking the streets with all of the normality they could muster, as if not afraid of yet one more sudden Angel attack. Perhaps they had grown used to it. Either one lived in constant fear, or one let it go, accepting that there were events that could not be controlled.

Shinji parked the car in one of the supermarket's parking slots, and gingerly proceeded to grab a shopping cart. When he shopped, he was at peace. There was something cathartic in the act of buying food, but at the same time...he was going to have to cook for everyone else, wasn't he? He inwardly regretted the thought, but as Rei seemed to be looking around vaguely interested in purchasing her own meal, Asuka stuck by his side, humming pleasantly.

"Maybe Ayanami's not so bad," she said suddenly. "Especially because she's like, what, mostly your mother?"

Shinji cringed, and coughed. "Could we please not discuss this here?" Shinji whispered. "And why don't you tell her that?"

"Why should I?" Asuka replied with a shrug. "If she's going to interrupt me, then she can just take the heat. I guess she'll be a horrible mother-in-law, but I'll live with it to make you happy."

Shinji nervously chuckled, "I...I guess?" he glanced away, and then blinked as he realized Rei had meanwhile returned with a plethora of canned food. "Rei?"

"We need to ensure provisions," Rei answered. "Electrical outings are common."

"Not in my house they aren't," Asuka said with her chin raised up in pride, "There are three backup generators, of which one works under sunlight, another with wind power and the last one is a gas model. We're never going to be without electricity. Just like the heating system is a true marvel of engineering, designed to consume as little as possible while ensuring every inch of the house is properly maintained at its best temperature-"

Rei inclined her head to the side, shot Asuka a puzzled look, and then nodded. "I see. Then why was the shower water cold this morning?"

"Must be a problem with the pipes," Asuka said while averting her gaze. "I'll have a look at them."

By the time the shopping was done with, Shinji had understood two things. The first was that Asuka actually liked eating instant food, or prepare sandwiches. The second was that Rei believing in cost-effective food that could last for a long time in order to minimize the amount of trips to the supermarket.

Was he the only one who knew where the fresh produce section was?

The cashier gave a look at the trio, and then grinned. "Shopping with the family?" she asked, much to Shinji's desperate eye widening and silent why are you doing this, unknown cashier?

"Yeah," Shinji replied awkwardly. Rei was his...mother, of sorts. That...he had to talk with her too. He had to talk with her, and then later talk with his father and-and talk with a lot of people, actually. No, more likely, he needed to talk with his therapist. Although he wondered how he was going to phrase that particular sentence. My mother's death traumatized me, but not as much as discovering she's been cloned by my father. Yes doctor, I am not mad, and I did not hallucinate the DNA exams. Oh, yes, I'll follow the nice men in white jacket!

No, perhaps it was best to keep this for himself.

As the bags were filled, the total rattled off and paid with his credit card, he began to push the shopping trolley away. He glanced at Asuka, who remained tranquil and smiling by his side.

"It doesn't bother me," she said, glancing up towards him. "This one wasn't the type to ask how young I was, or how old the other guy was, and she didn't even call the cops secretly, or try to prevent me from buying alcohol even though everything checked in. Oh, also I automatically assumed you meant we were married when you answered yes," Asuka continued with a teasing grin, "I'll get the documents around for you to stamp."

"That's-" Shinji winced, "I'm sorry."

"What for?" Asuka replied with a small shrug. "It's not your fault," she added with a smile. "It's the fault of those that put me inside the Evangelion without even knowing what it would do to me," she continued in a murmur. "But life's too short to waste it moping, or drinking, or vomiting, or doing stuff I'd best not mention. So, let me drive your car, pretty please?"

Shinji knew, against all odds, that he shouldn't have.

He did it all the same, and found God in the prayers sent to ensure he would not die.