[EVA] [FANFIC REPOST] Daughter of Elysium Ep 22' [seg. B]

[Vice]

 *

  Misato was turning to warn the Commander of what she thought might
happen if Rei's Eva contacted the white giant in Terminal Dogma,
where she knew the Lance of Longinus to be kept. But Maya interupted.

  "Unit 01 is activating! Synchronisation is commencing!"

  Shigeru said, "The Pilot is maintaining a control block. We cannot
override!"

  "And with the S-tsu Engine..." Ritsuko added.

  In NERV's auditing department there was an anguished, straining
noise, as the huge metal walls of the Cage began buckling. Then with
a mighty shock which sent waves of coolant crashing around, Unit 01's
eyes lit up brilliantly and its arms tore from their harnesses.

  With a determined cry from Shinji, the Eva twisted out of the Cage,
demolishing its main obstacles. Any remaining engineers were running
for their lives as the creature waded up out of the pink lake towards
the launching bays.

  Fuyutsuki began an order: "Lock down all launch pads and switch to
direct--"

  Unit 01's fist drove into the launching bay wall, at the exact 
height of the electrical conduits, with a wail of tearing metal,
severing the Control Center's direct access to all of the elevators
on the Eva's left. Then it turned around, gleaming and still dripping
coolant, and locked into the elevator.

  "Shinji-kun!" Misato called. "Don't go any further! We know it's
too dangerous!"

  "NONE OF YOU CARE!" He cried at them through the radio, with more
passion, more loathing than he had felt since nearly killing his
friend. "None of you know what it's like to be trapped by one of
_Them_! You can do what ever you want, but I'm gonna be trying to
save Asuka!"

  At his mental command, Unit 01 shot up the launch tunnel with a
flash of electromagnetics.

  "Do it again," ordered Ikari in an annoyed tone. "Increase the
LCL pressure to maximum."

  Makoto swung around. "But that would just make him a sitting duck
for the Angel when he reaches the surface."

  "That's a point, Ikari-kun," said Fuyutsuki levelly. "We should
try to regain control of Unit 01 in some safer way."

  "Do it!" the Commander said with perceptible fury.

 *

  Rei in Unit 00 had already reached the bowels of Central Dogma.
She realised that she needed to hurry, since Shinji was now putting
himself in danger. However, such reasoning did not occur to her in 
such a way, and she felt nothing more than the sense of urgency.

  There it was: the main LCL plant. Heaven's Door opened for her Eva,
and it waded into the reddish-orange liquid. In the centre of the
expanse stood the huge red crucifix, and nailed upon it, Adam. The
mask of the seven eyes of God concealed its face. Where its lower
body would be was a multitude of misshapen legs. It bled slowly from
the wound in its chest, and the offending weapon was still there
were Rei had put it.

  The Eva gripped the Lance and pulled hard. It was embedded through
to the cross behind, and resisted, but when it was free, the wound
instantly healed. Unit 00 regarded the being as it briefly spasmed,
then its abdomen bulged out and its legs regrew violently, making
waves in the LCL.

  Unit 00 held the Lance of Longinus free.

 *

  Meanwhile, the elevator arrived at the surface, and Shinji unlocked
the restraints and turned in Asuka's direction even as he felt the
liquid thickening around him. The plug camera feed showed him Asuka
in her Eva, tucked in a foetal ball and very still.

  "Asuka! Are you alright!?" he shouted even as the pressure made
his lungs start to ache violently and he lost his breath. "Asuka!"

  "Shinji-kun!" called Misato from another window. "Please stop it!
The Commander--"

  He glared at her, stopping her short, and barely, yet angrily,
gasped out, "She lived with... us for... months... ...and you..."
His tightly shut eyes twitched; the link broke at his instruction.

  God damn it... god damn it... god damn it!

 *

  "Pilot harmonics are rapidly fluctuating!" said Maya. The purple
Eva on the screen staggered with difficulty, stopping briefly almost
two-hundred metres from its silent red comrade.

  Fuyutsuki said heavily, "Let's hope Rei hurries."

 *

  C... can't breathe... damn machine! One more time, move! It's all
I want! I'll give everything, just do it! Move by youself, do it
without me! It's already too late! If you don't move, again there's
no point to this!

  I don't want her to die! SO MOVE!!!...  ...

  ...Kaasan?

 *

  Gendou opened his mouth to speak but there came a rumble from the
external audio. Upon the screen, Unit 01's form abruptly tensed,
crouched, then sprang forward towards Asuka's machine. Before anyone
could react, it had already entered the light.

  The Commander stood violently and leaned over his desk, but gritted
his teeth and stayed slient.

  The techs began reporting abnormalities in Unit 01's psycho-graph
as warning sounds again rang loudly. The mental contamination
borderline was swiftly passed.

  Misato stared in horror. It was all going hideously wrong. She
tried to think of something which had to be done so she could do it
in an attempt to get back on track. She swung around to the
Commander. "Ikari-shirei! We have to normalise the plug pressure -
give Shinji-kun a chance to fight what's happening."

  The man remained standing, but one side of his lip turned up in
something like a snarl. Fuyutsuki pretended to pay no attention.

  "Shirei, your own son!"

  "I'll have you ejected, Katsuragi!" he bellowed.

  She shut up, but held her glare on him for a second more.

  I never hated him until now.

 *

  "Hey... why do you pilot Eva?"

  "To exhibit my talent to the world of course!... What about you,
Shinji?"

  "I don't know."

  "'I don't know'? Are you stupid?"

  ..."You really are stupid."

  A little child, a boy. Shinji, his nose runny, a travel bag packed
beside him. Crying, deserted.

  Why am I crying? I thought I piloted so my Father would accept me,
but I was wrong. I was stupid! I don't know why I pilot Eva!

  Kaji stood in his watermelon patch, sprinkling with his little can
as artillery blazed futily in the background. "Now, there's something
you ought to do. Like having no regrets."

  "I wasn't going to pilot. I had never felt more sure in any
decision before, after my father told me to leave."

  Kaji continued looking away. "But you were not going to pilot Eva
and fight, because you were afraid to die."

  "But if I didn't fight, the Angel would have destroyed us all
anyway."

  "As I said, that is what is told. That was the explaination given
to you, but compared to the reality of facing Angels, it didn't seem
dangerous. You don't know what they are trying to do, but you could
have died fighting them."

  "So," said the child version of Shinji. "You have no reason to
pilot, but you have a reason not to."

  'Fear. Death.' Oh my God, It's inside me, in my mind!

  "_If I ever see you again, I'll say the words that I couldn't say
eight years ago._" The answering machine clicked and rewound the
tape as Shinji stared at it on the little dresser where it normally
sat.

  Kaji-san knew he wouldn't be here anymore! He still wanted me to
do the right thing, he still wasn't afraid. He knew, but he didn't
run away.

  'Mother. Death. ...Flee.' No! I won't remember that! That time...
it was the time...

  ...Kaasan. I can see you down there!

  "That's why I brought him. I want to show him how bright the
future will be."

  ...Emergency sirens blared around the small, confused boy. Where
had his mother gone?

  "Harmonics are unregistered! The pulses are caught in feedback!"
"Libido is approaching zero!" "Plug ejection has failed!" "The ego
border is degenerating! Pattern sepia!" "No life signs are register-
ing!"

  "Yui!" shouted Gendou in frustration. Everyone in the lab was
frantically trying to regain control. His father, the grey-haired
man and the lady were looking out in shock. Shinji knew something
was wrong, and looked up and around in confusion. 

  "...Why?" Gendou followed, looking more pained. Then his eyes fell
on Shinji, and took another expression.

  He could remember nothing more before running and stumbling,
crying, out of the door.

  No! Tousan killed her! I can't run away!

  Said little Shinji: "You need an excuse to hate your father."

  "Damn it, damn it, damn it! I hate him! Why does he do these
horrible things!?"

  'Father.'

  Shinji stood in his small but adequate room at his teacher's house.
Two small shreds of paper were clutched in shivering fists; the rest
of the letter was strewn over the floor. Shinji was calmer now, and
looked down. On an impulse, he knelt and went about collecting the
pieces. Presently, he had reassembled the message, most of which had
been blacked-out with texta. The only immediate word he could read
was a stark "COME!"

  "Tousan..." He rasped, reaching for the letter again--

  'Mother.'

  "Why did he make her die?"

  No! Kaasan... was smiling.

  'MOTHER.'

  "I don't even remember her face," he said quietly, gazing absently
at the featureless grave-marker.

  "I keep everything in my heart. That's enough," said his father.

  '...Mother.'

  "That's right! Kaasan is with me!" Shinji proclaimed to the back
of Rei's head, in the elevator. "I remember - she always accepted
me."

  The quiet voice. "You can't live with that only."

  "As long as Kaasan is with me, in my heart, I won't feel alone!
I don't need Tousan, I can live without him!"

  Rei turned her head. Her pale hair framed the wrong face - slit
of a mouth, buttons for eyes. The button holes held pupils which 
squinted demonically into him and the light was the colour of blood.
Rei was Tousan's doll and it spoke: "You certainly lie."

  Shinji screamed in horror.

 *

  "How's Shinji!?" Misato called.

  "His signs are being lost," said Maya, "nerve connections are
disrupted and failing."

  "Control access still blocked to all systems," said Makoto.

  "The energy output from the targets beam has increased almost
three-fold," Shigeru reported.

  Misato watches the screen. "Because it has to deal with two Evas
now?" she muttered.

  Makoto said, "Unit 02's pilot's EKG has dropped to 0.06."

  "Unit 02 is past the limits of the life support system," added
Maya. "But Unit 01 is autonomously trying to resist the failure,
despite the plug pressure."

  "Unit 01's plug has been super-pressurised for one minute nineteen
seconds," Makoto spoke quietly.

  Shigeru announced, "Unit 00 is passing through the 2nd Vent. She's
approaching the surface."

  The prototype rose, hunched, from the city floor, and the Lance
came into veiw.

  "That's the Lance of Longinus?" wondered Misato. The spear which
had impaled Adam down in Terminal Dogma. But what _is_ it? It doesn't
look like anything.

  "Unit 00 is in position to throw," continued Shigeru.

  Maya said with worry, "Unit 01's life support has undergone a sub-
system overload and is rapidly approaching the limit!"

  Misato made a decision. "Decrease the plug pressure. Now!"

  Makoto understood, and complied, dreading to hear the Commander's
voice. But if Katsuragi thinks she will take full responsibility for
this, she's wrong, he thought.

  Unit 00 stood in a wide stance as the ground techs announced,
"Target sighted. Error corrections have been made."

  "Countdown starts."

  And inside the plug, to the side, Rei saw Unit 01 stumble, then
straighten up and roar. Its eyes flashed brilliantly. It moved over
to Unit 02 with obvious difficulty, and pushed the other Eva with
considerable yet measured force.

  Unit 02 stumbled a few steps itself then fell and rolled away,
just out of the boundary of the light. Unit 01 remained, and it
turned to look to the heavens as it drew its prog knife. Abruptly,
the light intensified. Unit 01's hand trembled, now clumsily
brandishing the weapon, while the radiance started becoming so bright
that it drowned out all shadow and colour.

  "Ikari-kun!" let slip Rei, as she heard the final seconds of the
countdown, stretched her Eva's arms back, and then launched the
spear.

  As it tore through the heavens, the now tightly coiled Lance
roared. It roared out of the atmosphere, leaving a great wake of
heat and sound. Then it hit the AT Field.

  The Field rippled into visibility again, with the Lance at the
centre. The weapon hung, immobile for a moment, then contracted, the
spiral coils flaring out to reveal a continuous vent which burst
forth with tremendous heat. The Lance accelerated, warping and
tearing the Field and piercing the bright Angel, which instantly
collapsed and vanished in a flash.

 *

  "Target destroyed," Shigeru announced.

  "Unit 01 is also free now," Maya said.

  Fuyutsuki leaned over. "The Lance of Longinus?"

  "It passed escape velocity," answered Makoto. "Its moving into a
lunar orbit." He didn't look back and up at the Sub-commander. He
did not want to risk seeing Ikari's face.

  "The Evas?" Misato barked.

  "Unit 02's psycho-graph has already leveled out, and her signs are
normal." Maya examined the data flowing over her screen. "Unit 01 is
still silent, and the pilot's signs are faint." She glanced anxiously
at Makoto.

  Ritsuko observed, "There was no synchronisation in those final
stages. The pilot is certainly unconscious."

  The Commander watched the proceedings without expression, yet
everyone could feel the tension.

 *

  "Power restored."

  Asuka did not hear the voice, but the visual feed re-engaged
anyway. Unit 02 appeared to have fallen onto its backside, and
against a building. The female pilot looked up belatedly, and saw
the slumped figure of Unit 01 standing where she had been, a prog
knife embedded vertically in the street.

  The pain of her ordeal was overriding everything else, but why was
Shogouki there? It was only as she wondered this that she began to
hear Misato speaking.

  "Asuka! Are you alright?"

  She shivered, holding herself tighter, but said, "Why is Unit 01
there?"

  A pause, then, "Asuka. Shinji-kun tried to save you."

  The first thing that welled up was bitterness and she hissed, "Oh!
The Invincible Shinji-sama risked his--"

  The tone of Misato's voice which interupted was filled with such
frustrated anger that Asuka snapped her mouth shut immediately. "I
CAN'T BELIEVE YOU ASUKA! You refuse to retreat then can't even be
grateful for being rescued!? Shinji-kun might be near death right
now! He had no idea how to fight the Angel, and he will probably be
kicked out again for disobeying orders, and he still tried to save
you! Do you think he wouldn't thank you if YOU risked yourself to
save him!?" The voice paused for breath. Asuka was so shocked that
the Angel's invasion almost seemed distant now. Almost. "You know,
Shinji-kun was always on the receiving end of your acid tongue,
Asuka, but he's too nice to tell you the truth: that you are mean
and selfish! Your Father might not have loved you and your Mother
might have committed suicide, but you have NO excuse to treat others
like dirt! Do you understand!? And especially not Shinji-kun!"

  The radio link abruptly broke, and Asuka was left sitting in her
plug, gazing with wide, shocked eyes at nothing. Then she noticed
Unit 01 move, and as she focussed on it, the purple Eva swayed, then
toppled slowly, almost majestically onto its face, and lay deadly
still.

  Asuka heaved a sob, her eyes squeezed shut as the tears came
afresh.

 *

  The sound which woke Shinji up was that of the room's blinds being
opened. His eyes also opened a bit to see the familiar white ward,
and then Ayanami, who was gazing out into the light. He gasped and
they went wide.

  She began to turn to look at him.

  The memories. Too much. He screamed.

 *

 To Be Continued


_____
catalyst: n. a person or thing that causes a change.

I guess I better tell you something about the new bits, especially
those who haven't seen them. Up until Shinji makes his decision,
the parts you are not familiar with are what Gainax added. Except
for when Rei's positron beam impacts the Field - Gainax didn't bother
fixing that and it still looks crap. I was so annoyed that they
didn't fix it that I did so myself. Then, after the storyline
diverges, the Gainax bits are Lilith regrowing her legs and the
cool new spear/AT Field bit. The rest I made up.
My translation of the new bits' dialogue I did very carefully, but
I cannot guarantee accuracy. The rest of the dialogue, with some
modifications for accuracy's sake, is copyrighted to ADV, I guess.
And Eva is the Product of Gainax and the creation of Anno Hideaki.
I'm not profitting from anyone else's work, so if you try to sue me,
I'll go on a hunger strike.

Tochter aus Elysium - Erishiumu kara no Shoujo - Daughter of Elysium
part 1 of 3. Oska Archer, December 1998. C+C to archer at senet.com.au,
please