Neon Genesis Evangelion Fan Fiction ❯ A Spark That Becomes a Flicker, Becomes a Flame ❯ A Spark Chapter 2 ( Chapter 2 )

Title: A Spark that Becomes a Flicker, Becomes a Flame

Author: eva-unit-01

Disclaimer: You've read it the first time, so it goes again. I own neither Eva nor money. Therefore, suing me will help you gain neither.
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Chapter Two: The Wars we Fight Within and Without

Misato Katsuragi, twenty-nine years old had seen and heard many things in her storied life. Yet this fact, the grisly truth that a girl she had known since her years at the NERV branch in Germany had nearly killed the young boy that over the years she had come to know as a younger brother by pushing him down a flight of stairs at school shocked her to her core. She mused over this internally while holding Shinji's sobbing face against her shoulder and rubbing her hands up and down his back. Elsewhere in the room Hikari and Toji sat together, the boy holding her close to him while she cried over both Asuka's actions and the loss of the girl she once counted among her dearest friends. Kensuke and Arihiko sat across from each other, saying nothing to themselves or the people around them. Several minutes later, Toji was the first to speak up.

"So, what do we do now Misato? Wait for Asuka to come home from school or...?" His question was cut off by the sound of the lock turning in the door and everyone's eyes shot toward the noise. The entrance to the apartment swung open and into the apartment walked a bruised and battered Asuka Langley Soryu, accompanied by none other than the undamaged form of First Child Rei Ayanami. Misato narrowed her eyes at Asuka's and Rei's appearances and took in Asuka's disheveled state with a single glance.

"What happened to Asuka?" She directed at Rei who remained impassive and replied in her usual fashion.

"Pilot Soryu fell...several times." At that Shinji could have sworn he saw Rei's forcing back a dark smirk. Misato did not reply but took notice of the shock and hatred in Asuka's face as she finally noticed the surrounding company and with a burst of strength broke free of Rei's grip and charged Shinji hard, bowling Misato over in the process. She was a scant three inches from Shinji in his wheelchair before she was blind sided by Toji, who slammed her to the ground hard also taking Kumakura with her.

"You! You son of a bitch!" Asuka screamed at Shinji. "You had to destroy everything I was! Fucking hero Shinji! Angel killer extraordinaire! I was the best! Number one sync ratio always! Me! Never you, the spineless Third Child! But no, you had to show me up every single goddamned time! Even this fucking doll beats me! I hate you, all of you!" Misato wrapped her arms around Asuka's waist and tried to pull her off of Toji and received an elbow to the chin for her trouble. The screaming and shouting continued until Shinji spoke up.

"You pushed me down the stairs because my angel kill count and sync ration were higher? Is that your real reason?" Shinji sat in his chair, looking at Asuka in shock and sadness.

"Yes dammit, that's why! Because I am the great Asuka Langley Soryu and I must always win! You could never understand! You are nothing compared to me! None of you are!" She bared her teeth and lunged again before she felt a great pain and her world turned black. When everyone looked to see what happened, they saw Class Representative Hikari Horaki holding the sidearm of Major Katsuragi by the barrel while the butt was stained with blood. Hikari's hands were shaking as Misato gently pried the gun away from the rep, who instantly fell against Toji, crying harder than ever. While the group tried to make sense of it all, a low moan emanated from beneath Asuka's limp form and Kumakura emerged with a shattered pair of glasses and definitely looked like he had taken a beating of his own while Asuka had struggled to get free she had kicked and punched him several times while she had ground his lenses into the side of his nose with her knee. He coughed briefly and stood for a few minutes, assisted by Kensuke in order to regain his bearings. Misato spoke up next,

"Everyone ok, relatively anyway?" Kumakura gave a snort and took off his ruined glasses before replying.

"Aside from the glass in my face and the fact that my parents are gonna kick my ass over ruining another pair, I'm peachy." Misato winced and looked apologetically at Arihiko.

"I'll try and get NERV to compensate for those, sorry." She nodded to Hikari and Toji and they took their cue to leave along with Kensuke. She looked around for something and came up with a ruined cell phone. "Um, Rei?" Rei nodded and fished in her bag for her phone and handed it to Misato wordlessly. "Thanks." Misato scrolled through Rei's list of numbers and found the one for Section Two quickly, seeing as how Rei has very few numbers aside from Commander Ikari and Shinji. "Section Two? This is Major Misato Katsuragi, authorization number OD-621 requesting an arrest unit to my apartment. Suspect is currently unconscious." She paused briefly, waiting for a response from the other end of the line as Asuka awoke and jumped up to tackle Misato and knock the gun out of her hands and capture it herself. As the two wrestled about on the ground Asuka gained control of the gun and leveled it at Shinji. As this happened, Rei got to her cell phone and began shouting orders into it at the Section Two officers. Kumakura came out of the bathroom where he had been pulling the glass out of his skin and charged at Asuka, jumping on top of her at the very instant she pulled the trigger, the bullet piercing his flesh and lodging in his heart. Kumakura never felt the impact due to the adrenaline in his blood and continued to rain blows on Asuka who pulled the trigger two more times before Toji and Kensuke came bursting back in after hearing the unmistakable sound of gunfire ringing out from the apartment. Ten seconds later four Section Two officers rushed in, pulling off Kumakura and slamming Asuka face down to the ground and handcuffing her before leading her to their unmarked black sedan and pulling away only to let the ambulance one neighbor called pull up. Shinji rolled his wheelchair frantically to Arihiko, who was valiantly trying to stand, only to fall to his knees.

"Shinji... I'm dying aren't I?" His back was to Shinji and he was leaning on the couch for support. He craned his neck as far back as he could and tears were visibly streaming from his face. "He coughed and pressed his hand to his mouth only to feel something warm coat his palm when he did so. As he pulled his hand back, he saw that it was red with blood. He closed his eyes and yelled out, "I never wanted to die this way! I wanted a family, a chance to become something greater than I am!" He wept uncontrollably now. "Promise me Shinji, that you will become great for me. Be everything that I can't be anymore. Promise me! Or else this means nothing." Shinji cried and nodded his head.

"I promise Arihiko, I promise." Arihiko smiled, nodded, and pressed Shinji's hand to his bloodied chest. With that, Arihiko lost his strength and slipped to the floor, heaving a final breath before passing away.
Almost instantly afterwards, the ambulance crew entered and attempted reviving the dead boy, to no avail. As they bore him away on the stretcher, with a sheet covering him from head to toe, Shinji howled in anguish and despair, Misato was rendered speechless, Hikari, Toji, and Kensuke all wept together, and for the first time in any of her previous lives, Rei felt tears on her face. And even after all their tears had been shed, Shinji did nothing aside from stare at his bloodstained hand as the words of his promise echoed resoundingly in his head for hours before he came to a conclusion. He wheeled himself into his room and found a Swiss Army knife given to him by Kaji as a present. He opened the large blade and grit his teeth against the pain before slicing open the palm stained with Arihiko's blood and letting it flow and mingle with Arihiko's. Shinji clenched his hand into a fist and punched his desk hard enough to bruise his knuckles and once again grit his teeth, except now, they were grit against the future.

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Author's Note: Not quite as long, I realize, and I do apologize for that. And I am sorry for killing off poor Arihiko, but he was only meant to get the story moving. Much darker chapter as well. But I would love to thank all my reviewers! You guys rock! And like I said earlier, without you guys I don't get any better.

Sincerely, eva-unit-01