Neon Genesis: EVANGELION Eva Wasn't Built in A Day. v1.0 (final 'net release) By Jared Waddell : rick_spiff@yahoo.com Disclaimer: I own none of the characters in this work except for Goku Takagi and James Rahn. This story takes place post-episode 18. ******* WARNING WARNING WARNING WARNING WARNING WARNING ******* This fanfic contains S P O I L E R S ! ! ! This fanfic contains material that may be offensive to some readers, including material of a type never covered in the Eva series. This is not a nice story; it's Eva material, so if you didn't like some of the issues present in the series, don't even think about reading this! ******* WARNING WARNING WARNING WARNING WARNING WARNING ******* Chapter 7: --- The red rage that had clouded her vision finally lifted and Asuka found herself standing in the smoldering crater in the middle of the Angel's remains. For a moment, Asuka's mind was unwilling to recall any recent events. In her mind's eye, Asuka saw the first time she met Toji and Kensuke and Shinji and Misato. Then she saw the Angel attacking the UN fleet. Finding out her new home was with Misato and Shinji. Pen Pen's antics one fine Saturday morning. Image after image flashed in her mind, some of the best and many of the worst, recounting everything from her first meeting Shinji up to meeting (Goku) that engineer for the first time. What was (Goku Takagi) his name? She gazed about the Angel-blood strewn battlefield. _Must've been some fight._ Asuka thought. She looked down in her Eva's hand, which felt oddly heavy. In it, she clasped her spear, (Pain) and suddenly (kill) everything came back all at once. (kill KILL KILL!!!) They were unable to neutralize it's AT-Field no matter what they did. No time to attack effectively. A power drain lowered the field the instant it attacked. She was right there (Dead, Asuka.) when the Angel turned to her, ready to fire, Unit-03 rising from the ground like an ascending God, then everything went black - or white. (He's dead.) And she came to and grabbed her weapon, (gone. He's gone forever.) cursing all the world for it's unfairness. Cursing all the world for pain she had been put through, (Revenge!) for taking away Goku, (REVENGE!) for taking away her mother. (KILL!!!) And she knew. She remembered. The Angel was charging up for another shot. The AT-Field lowered when it prepared to fire. Asuka was ready to attack, Goku was unarmed. It was aiming for her. It was aiming for her, and for them all. Then Goku took his stand, already having saved Rei, he stepped into the line of fire. Preparing to use Unit-03 as a shield. Preparing to save Tokyo-3. Preparing to save her, despite all she had done to him. Selflessly, without shame or recourse. Taking her chance to kill the Angel? Just saving her hide? The Angel fired. Ka-Boom. The Angel (DIE!!!) fired and she blacked out. She came to, grabbed her spear, and ordered Rei to neutralize it's remaining AT-Field so she could (KILL!!!) kill it. It was injured, helpless, ready to go, but not without a bang. She remembered asking headquarters what had happened to Unit-03 while she helped Rei put down the Angel's field. (It killed him!) Headquarters radioed back to say that Unit-03 was gone. (Bastard!) Completely, totally, gone. Eva, Unit-03 had been vaporized by the Angel's blast. (I'll get you!!!) Goku was dead. (KILL!!!) Then all hell broke loose. Most of the Angel was missing as the blast had removed a rather large portion of it. It's core lay exposed in the sun that penetrated the dust cloud around them. She lost it then. Screaming like a banshee, Asuka launched herself through the non-existent AT-Field, and slashed the core neatly in two. Not content to just see it die, Asuka wanted the Angel gone. Gone worse than Goku. Wiped completely from existence. She would not rest until there was nothing left of that... that... that abomination. (Goku... how could you?) After nearly hundred slashes of her spear, Asuka snapped out of her blind rage to see what she had done. The Angel was dead. Totally dead. Deader than anything else... (Except for...) The remaining pieces of the Angel - very small pieces - lay strewn about the almost lunar landscape as Asuka remembered - no, heard those word's Goku had spoken to her only a few days ago... (Holding it in doesn't help it go away... sometimes you just have to let go...) And he was right. She didn't hold it in this time. Right now she didn't feel like she could hold anything in. Then Asuka Langly Sohryu did something strange. Asuka Langly Sohryu did something she promised herself she would never do again. Asuka Langly Sohryu cried. She heard Rei weeping too, so quietly across the radio. She was so drained. A weak 'Shut up' was all she could manage. --- End. 2/17/00 Neon Genesis: Evangelion Eva Wasn't Built in A Day. v0.9 by Jared Waddell : rick_spiff@yahoo.com Disclaimer: (I hate doing this, but it is for good, not evil) characters and such are copyright Gainix/EVA. And no, the Goku in this story is NOT Goku from DBZ, it's just an easy name to remember. Here things are finally laid to rest, questions silenced forever. *WARNING:Not much. If you've survived so far, this should be a piece of cake. But then again, it is sooo EVA right now...* And please, please, don't kill me... Chapter 7: Kamikazi?/We Bury Our Dead... --- Misato looked out the window of the main command vehicle, eyeing the wreckage that was once a stretch of peaceful forest at the edge of Tokyo-3. From the explosion's center, a massive crater had been formed in the ground, one large enough to almost be a small lake (like NERV needed another one of those). Strangely enough, apart from that mess and a certain missing portion of Mt. Fuji, nothing else was damaged. Good on one hand, because damage was a bad thing unless it happened exclusively to the Angels, bad on the other hand because Units 02 and 00 had sustained no damage. Zero. Nada. Nothing. Not one scratch. Oh, there was minor wear and tear from landing on the ground repeatedly, and Asuka's power cable had been severed just before... before the explosion. But even though Unit-03 had been all but totally vaporized, there weren't even scorch marks on the other two Evas. Good, because Rei and Asuka were okay, physically. But bad, because Goku was not okay. Misato's had tightened on chair she was leaning against, her knuckles turning white from the strain of trying to tear the cushion out while forcing back her tears. First Shinji had come so close to this, then Toji had barely survived being crushed in the entry plug of the very same black Evangelion. Now... Now they had a dead pilot. That was the odd thing. Despite all that the pilots had been through, they were okay - in some sense. Goku Takagi would forever be marked as their first loss. And what a loss. Against the most powerful Angel they had faced thus far, he had made the ultimate sacrifice for victory, laying down his own life to save Asuka and grace her with the opening necessary to finish off the Angel. _Why?_ _Why did this have to happen?_ _Commander Ikari will have an explanation. The bastard always does._ Misato continued staring out the window, no emotion on her face, as she let her thoughts flow unhindered for a moment. Considering the possibilities... _Did he know this was going to happen?_ _And where the hell is Shinji?_ _Commander..._ Her eyes started the glisten with the wetness of emotions long kept at bay, the stark fear of losing another friend, the dull thud of another comrade going to far, the painful ping of another soul lost in the fight. She had to keep telling herself it wasn't senseless. Wasn't senseless. Had to save the world. Had to save the world. Had to. Didn't have any other choice. _Why?_ _Why must these children do it?_ _Why must those so young bear the greatest burden?_ The roasted plains gave no answer. --- Asuka slid Unit-02 back into its containment cage with a small sigh. Things were quiet around her, too quiet. Her Unit-02 had hardly sustained any damage at all, and the Angel had been completely defeated, but she felt empty inside. It was the only thing she _could_ feel that made any sense. Was this death? An image of non-being, only thought observing action? Nothing seemed real, it all just ran together like water colors. The red of Unit-02, the red of her plugsuit. The off-orange of LCL and matching jumpsuits of the technical crew. All just colors without meaning, sliding and skimming around her, liquid on liquid, only flashes of light in her spirit. Was she sad? Was she truly upset at what had happened? He was dead, and all she could feel was a blank nothingness, like someone had thrown a switch and turned reality into a colorless, pointless play were nothing anyone did made any sense. She pressed the disengage button for the cockpit door after the plug came to a spot and paused to cough up the LCL that lay resident in her lungs. When she brought her reddened eyes up, she saw Rei standing on the catwalk, staring at her. Red eyes, blue hair, staring. Blue plugsuit, pale skin, staring. Emotionless face, expressionless, not angry and not serene, staring. Red eyes without color, staring. Eyes without emotion, without caring. Staring and staring and staring and staring and staring. Did she even care? Did she even care about what happened? Did she? _Do you care, you doll? Do you understand what happened to him? He's gone! Don't you understand?! Do you?!! DO YOU?!!_ Before she knew what was happening, her slender hands were wrapped around Rei's throat, her blood thundering in her ears with her voice screaming madness. The words roared against her uncaring ears, with Rei just staring back serenely, her chin held delicately over Asuka's strangling hands, wrapped around her neck. "YOU BITCH!!! THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT! HE'S GONE! HE'S GONE AND HE'S NEVER COMING BACK! DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND YOU WORTHLESS _DOLL_?!!" "Asuka." "He's _DEAD_! HE'S DEAD! HE'S DEEEAAAD!!! HE'S NOT COMING BACK AND HE'S DEAD AND GONE AND GONE AND DEAD FOREVER AND NEVER COMING BACK AND-" "Asuka." Wrong. Rei didn't call her Asuka. Never talked to her like a friend. Never talked to anyone like a friend. Always aloof and like a doll, uncaring. Rei didn't look happy or sad or angry. And didn't have friends, did she? Rei also never cried. Never opened her eyes and stared back, looking for forgiveness. Never looked sad. Asuka let go suddenly, as if her hands might suddenly catch fire from an unseen source, an anger so great it was hidden perfectly from Rei's face as the vast ocean hides death right in front of man's face. Perfect, perfect Red eyes locked on blue. "You're heavy." Asuka jumped up, a blush hinting her face, her breathing returning to normal bit by bit. Around them, the technicians who did... well, all sorts of important stuff, were going about their business as though nothing unusual had happened. Asuka felt embarrassed about that emotional display, especially in public, and against Rei, just staring at her, helpless- _Helpless?_ Asuka blinked. Her mind was, for the moment, firmly locked away from any realization that Goku was gone, and she stopped to concentrate on what it was that she sensed from Rei. After all, if she could feel it, it had to be important. Rei wasn't easy to read. Hell, she'd give a stone Buddha a run for its money. _She is helpless? Strong, stoic wondergirl who's so perfect and pure and protected the commander and practically all of NERV? She's helpless and afraid?_ And lo, among the steel plating of the Eva cages, still wet with LCL, cold from the evaporating fluid and shaking from adrenaline shock, the only two remaining Eva pilots found a common ground. They knew they were afraid. With Goku dead, it could happen to anyone now. Furthermore, they were all expendable. All of them. Even the precious little doll. "I'm going to clean off. Coming, Wondergirl?" Rei nodded. Whatever Asuka had seen was now burned into her mind. Pretending it never happened wouldn't help anything, so she left it there, for a day when she could look back on it and make sense. A picture given words. --- A young boy stood at the deck of the Tokyo-3 rail, looking up at the electronic signs that pointed out what box of metal was going where. He remembered a time not so long in the past when he stood here for the first time, in wonder, in fear, watching the vacant platform like a wounded animal and wondering what was to become of him. Time had passed, and Shinji had admitted that time had indeed changed him. Perhaps it had changed him even more than he was admitting, but he couldn't draw the strength to argue with himself. Goku Takagi. Unit-03. _Why is there so much death here?_ A lone bird made a noise in the distance. Not a song, but a cry of sound barely heard over the moving bodies on the busy train platform. Shinji stood in mute salute to the sad, waning cry. _Why did I come back?_ And with a slump of his shoulders, Shinji Ikari turned and headed back into the heart of a town he once called home. Tokyo-3. --- The Commander put down the phone as Dr. Akagi walked into his office, the voice at the other end lost in a silent electronic click. "Yes?" "The pilot of Unit-03 left these in his apartment." She held aloft a this sheaf of plain looking documents. She was back in her lab coat after 42 hours of non-stop work trying to find a trace of Unit-03 under the huge amount of Angel bits spread over the countryside. Her eyes were ringed with dark circles from lack of sleep, burning like a pair of hot embers as she gazed at the commander. "What are they?" "A Will and a personal request relating to funeral arrangements." She came forward with the clicking high-heeled shoes and dropped the papers at Ikari's desk formally. He poured over them for a minute, not even mindful of the scientist nearly falling asleep on her feet. "I take it you came to request clearance for this?" "It was asked of me, Sir." "Very well, have Fuyutsuki check them off. The service will be held tomorrow. I will be in New Yokosuka harbor tomorrow." "Understood." The doctor left quickly, with the papers bound for Kozouu's signature. Ikari picked up the phone again. "That's bullshit." Came the voice from the other end. "Are you going to send an android in your place?" "Appearance being what they are, have to kept up." The commander replied smoothly. "So it seems. I'll be at the funeral." There was a final click. The commander never figured out how the hell that man monopolized the electronics of the base like he was dealing with three-year-olds, but he did help plug security leaks. At least he was useful for now, as NERV's most secretive officer, a man not even SEELE had the full scoop on. A necessary evil. --- The weather had chilled for the day, under a light cloud cover. Under his black suit and combat armor and necessary weapons, James Rahn thought it was rather pleasant. Only a handful of NERV personnel had shown up for the funeral, not even the media knowing the exact details of the service. It was American, but an oddity that could be granted, given the circumstances. Such as the pilot being vaporized while protecting his friends and the rest of the world. He stood at the back, hidden behind a brutally short haircut and a set of mirror-reflective shooter's sunglasses. He fit the part of an expensive bodyguard to perfection, though he was not hired to protect the gathering people from assassin's bullets. He was just watching, partially for his own amusement, partially because something deep inside told him that it would important for to witness this. Just as it was important to see his son off the continent. Whatever was going to happen had finally been set in motion by the death of one fourteen year old boy. But Gendo Ikari was holding all the keys to this mystery. James intended to find out just what the hell was going on, as he felt he was being left in the dark (again). Only the Reverend spoke, rendering Japanese words that James knew like the back of his hand and had heard far too many times. As the silence settled in around the small crowd, James took a moment to reflect on what had brought him here, the path he had walked and fought down for most of his life. At the age of 43, the purpose of such a life still evaded him and here he was playing secret agent out in the middle of the world's third largest graveyard. Paying his respects to a boy he hardly knew. A Goku Takagi. An engineer, once like he was. _Time to stop running, James. Time to stop hiding. Maybe, just maybe, this is the last time._ Maybe. "Amen." The group chorused. _Isn't that the truth._ --- End. The end? REALLY? Yes, this is the end of Eva Wasn't Built in A Day. Feel it's a cliffhanger? That's because it is, in a way. A sequel is in the works, an even more demeaning and violent look at the world of Evangelion - this time during the end days. This whole story will be undergoing a very detailed re-write in a year or so, about the time its sequel is released. Until then, enjoy this work, feel free to distribut free of charge in all electronic formats, and watch making hardcopies, it's pretty long. Of course, all characters save for Goku Takagi and James Rahn are copyrighted by Gainix studio and no copyright infringement is intended. James Rahn is from the novel-in-progress, Sidestep, copyright Jared Waddell. Oh, and happy new mellenium.