With this, chapter 10 comes to a close, and You Are (Not) at Fault has somehow managed to reach nearly 55k words. Holy crap. How did something that was practically a one-shot get this big? I hope I haven't bitten off more than I can chew.
The last few days have been strangely productive. Lately all I've felt like doing is writing. I've already started on chapter 11 and got over 2000 words for it.
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Chapter 10.3
Misato was glad that the examination room had a window. It gave her something to look at besides her boy on a hospital bed yet again. Although she was perfectly capable of administering first aid in the field, there was currently nothing she could to help Shinji besides stay out of the way.
The few wild animals Misato could see appeared to be utterly unconcerned about the addition of several hundred tons of metal scrap to their habitat. Misato watched as a large bird landed on the tip of a turret before cleaning itself and taking off again.
Asuka, however, refused to move from her place by Shinji's side, to the exasperation of Ritsuko. The angry, distrustful looks were starting to annoy the doctor, but she held her tongue.
On the bed, Shinji stared blankly upward at the ceiling. His complete lack of response to Ritsuko's poking and prodding were unnerving to say the least.
"Alright, my physical examination is complete," she eventually said "Shinji is malnourished, but we've already started to remedy that. The fingers on his right hand are broken in several places, and since they were apparently broken well before you found him, without support they have begun to heal badly. This may be problematic, as I'm not an orthopaedic doctor, but I'll do what I can. Hopefully some people with more specialised medical expertise than me will... return soon."
She brushed some of Shinji's unkempt hair away from his face. "As for the head wound, his current state is not because of any physical damage there. There are signs of blunt force trauma but the skull is undamaged. Was there any loose rubble nearby when you found Shinji? Something that could have knocked him out by falling on him?"
"No, nothing of the sort," Asuka said, batting Ritsuko's hand away. The wound had almost completely healed by this point. Only a ragged scar remained. "So if it's not a head injury, what the hell is causing his... catatonia or whatever?"
"I haven't given up on figuring that out yet," Ritsuko replied as she stepped away from the bed. "We'll need to run some scans to see if there's anything wrong with his brain that we can't see from the outside."
Asuka sarcastically waved an arm towards the door. "Fine, then lead the way herr doktor."
A swift shake of the head from Misato as she turned away from the window was all that stopped Ritsuko from snapping back at the German redhead. Instead she sighed and walked out into the hallway, leading them to another room, but stopped in front of the door.
"This will take a couple of hours at least. The tests I am about to perform are extremely delicate," she announced. "For that reason, I must ask you both to remain outside. I cannot afford any interruptions."
Misato was fast, clamping a hand over Asuka's mouth before the girl could even begin to protest. "Alright, we'll go to the cafeteria and have something to eat. I'm starting to get a little hungry again anyway."
"But-" Asuka tried to speak, but Misato's glare silenced her.
"We are going to the cafeteria, Asuka."
Asuka managed to shoot one final plaintive look at Shinji's expressionless face. The last thing she heard was Ritsuko saying, "Go inside and lay on the bed," before she was dragged out of the medical wing. Misato didn't let go until they reached the cafeteria, dropping the struggling girl into a chair before sitting in front of her.
"How the hell can you trust her so easily?!" Asuka immediately shouted. "She's part of the reason why Shinji's like that!"
Misato cupped her face in her hands. "I trust her because I have to. There's nobody else that we can turn to. I want Shinji back just as badly as you, but I can't do nearly as much as Rits can. I also trust her because I know she wants to make up for what she did. If you can't trust her, Asuka, then trust me."
There was a soft thud when Asuka's head made contact with the table. She sighed and said, "Alright. If you can still have faith in that schweinhund after what she's done, then I'll trust you. But if she hurts Shinji any more than she already has..."
"You'll have to beat me to the punch, Asuka. Ritsuko may be my friend, but Shinji..." Misato stopped and took her hands away from her face, revealing a sad smile. "I practically consider him my... my son now."
Asuka made a muffled snorting sound before sitting back upright. "With the way you act, you're more like a big, drunken sister than a mother."
"Hey now, I haven't touched a drop of alcohol in ages!" Misato lost the smile and mock-glared at Asuka.
"Only because Shinji threw away that swill you call beer."
The grumbling of their stomachs reminded them of why they had come here. With their mood lifted somewhat, Misato and Asuka began checking the kitchen stores. As expected, there was nothing edible. There was most likely a storeroom somewhere filled with preserved food, but between the maze-like layout of NERV and the Bakelite, it would be difficult for Misato and Asuka to quickly find.
"Guess we'll have to rely on what we brought with us for now," Misato sighed as they sat back down. "Good thing we brought enough for a couple of days."
Asuka nodded and began unpacking her bag. A few cans and water bottles were produced, along with the bento box from her desk. With power restored, it would now be much easier to heat their food up in the kitchen rather than relying on a primitive camp fire.
Seeing as Asuka didn't want Misato anywhere near a stove, she decided to cook the meals herself. When she returned to the table with two steaming bowls of soup, she noticed Misato examining the bento box.
"I guess Shinji managed to make that meal after all," Misato remarked as she started eating. She looked up and smirked as Asuka started choking on her own mouthful.
"Y-you knew about that?!" Asuka said as soon as she stopped coughing.
"Oh yes, in fact Shinji came to me for some advice."
"I find that hard to believe, considering it actually came out perfectly."
Misato slurped up another spoonful of soup before continuing. "Oh, he didn't ask for help on how to cook it. I really shouldn't say anything. Shinji swore me to secrecy and I've already blabbed too much. How did it go anyway?"
Asuka growled, and didn't respond for a minute, instead focusing on her meal. The story of that day eventually came out to Misato's nod of approval, but she had to mildly rebuke the girl for not thanking Shinji, to which Asuka merely gave a small nod. Suddenly Misato sat upright in her seat and pushed the bento box towards Asuka.
At Asuka's questioning stare, Misato said, "Shinji told me what he was doing for your meal, and there's something missing from what you said. You didn't throw anything out did you?"
"Of course not, I ate everything!" Asuka opened the bento box. "There was sausage and potato salad in one section, and pickled cabbage and beets in the other. What could be-"
A strange look passed over Asuka's face as she stopped while holding the lid. She weighed it thoughtfully in her hand for a moment, and then turned it over while ignoring the growing smirk on Misato's face as the woman leaned on her clasped hands.
On the other side, a large piece of tape secured something to the inside of the lid. Asuka pulled the square object out and held it up. The aroma coming from it was enticingly familiar.
"Well?" Misato prodded. "Go on, see what it is."
She needn't have bothered speaking. Asuka was tearing the wrapper apart before Misato had gotten two words out of her mouth. The sweet smell of chocolate pervaded the air around them, to the point that Misato almost began drooling.
Meanwhile, Asuka was staring in awe at the confection in her hand. Once more the Third Child had managed to leave her completely speechless with such a seemingly simple gesture. While it was just a small piece of chocolate, Asuka wouldn't have traded it for the largest block of anything else.
"Mein gott," she whispered. "How the hell does he do this?"
Somehow, Shinji had known exactly what Belgian chocolate Asuka's mother had given her whenever she was feeling down.
Despite its size, the piece lasted almost half an hour as the redhead savoured every last bite. She attempted to offer a bit to Misato, but the outstretched hand was gently pushed back towards her with a shake of Misato's head.
Like all good things, the chocolate eventually came to an end. Asuka slouched back in her chair, radiating an aura of pure contentedness.
"Watching you enjoy that that was almost as good as eating it myself," remarked Misato. "Now I really want a beer."
"Did somebody say beer?" said a voice from the cafeteria entrance. "Wish I could have a cold one right about now."
The two male technicians came in and sat down at their table.
"Everything okay with the generators?" asked Misato.
Shigeru leaned back and put his hands behind his head. "Yep, we finished the diagnostics, and called it in to Dr. Akagi. She told us to come down here and have a break."
"But where's Maya?" The young woman hadn't entered with them. Makoto looked sheepish as he glanced towards the door.
"We, um... kinda lost track of her shortly after we left," he said. "There's nothing to worry about though. A lot of the fighting was concentrated near entrances. There shouldn't be much this deep in NERV to upset her."
******
Maya screamed.
She placed a hand on her chest to try and still her rapidly beating heart, but the visage remained where it was. She had come in here for... what? Some strange urge had propelled her here while the other two headed towards the cafeteria, and now she was staring at something horrifying.
Within seconds she was out of that area and running.
Maya never really had much trouble navigating the labyrinth that was NERV HQ. Even the Bakelite proved only a minor hindrance as she sprinted towards the medical wing. The thought never occurred to Maya to simply call her mentor and tell the scientist what she saw.
When Maya eventually burst into the room, Ritsuko's reproach died on her lips as she saw the horrified look on her protégé's face. When Maya finally managed to stammer out an explanation, the colour drained from Ritsuko's face.
She almost leapt across the room to the communication panel and opened a channel to the group in the cafeteria. It only took them a few minutes to arrive at a dead run, with Asuka leading the charge.
"What's wrong with him?!" she demanded to know as she stopped in the doorway.
Ritsuko bit back a retort at Asuka's automatic assumption. "It's nothing to do with Shinji. Something else has come up and I need to go see for myself to confirm it."
"What is it, Rits? Something bad?" inquired Misato. The grim look Ritsuko turned her way was enough to answer the question. "I'm coming with you then."
"I expected as much, but I need someone to- oh who am I kidding... Asuka, you'll obviously be staying here." The girl nodded emphatically. "Right. Don't touch anything. I don't care if you've already graduated college, this is delicate and complicated work and it will take a little while longer to produce results."
Asuka took one look at Shinji on the table before turning back to Ritsuko. "Okay, but if I even think he's in trouble, I'll do whatever I can to shut this thing down, and to hell with your results."
"There's an emergency shut-off on the console. Use that instead of brute force, please."
With that, the adults ran out of the room. leaving Asuka to do nothing but watch the scanning waldos swing around Shinji's head as he lay quiescent on the bed in the middle of the room. She thanked whatever deity still remained that invasive probes weren't involved in this procedure. Having to see Shinji in hospital once again was bad enough, after all.
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Misato was really starting to feel out of shape now. She was barely keeping up with Ritsuko and Maya, and they were running as if there were an Angel right outside the base. At least she was starting to recognise where they were now. They had just passed what she believed to be the way to the bridge. A sick feeling entered her stomach as she wondered what had gotten the other two women so worried.
"Believe me, senpai." Maya was saying. "I wouldn't be reacting like this if I thought I was imagining things.
"Maya..."
"Sorry... Ritsuko."
The group slid to a stop in front of a very familiar door as they caught their breath. The churning in Misato's gut intensified when she realised where they were. Any possible doubt was destroyed by the words on the sign above the door.
[EVANGELION CAGES]
"For all our sakes, Maya," she quietly said. "I really hope it was your imagination..."
The door opened and the automatic lights came on, revealing what lay beyond.
