Neon Genesis Evangelion Fan Fiction ❯ Heaven and Hell ❯ Weaving a Story: A Flash of Life ( Chapter 14 )

Manga - Addicts Presents:
Heaven and Hell
Revelations 1:4 - Weaving a Story: A Flash of Life

HTML version 16 May 2008

Neon Genesis Evangelion created by, registered, and copyrighted to GAINAX, Project EVA, Movic, and any other company and/or division associated with the creation and/or production of Neon Genesis Evangelion. A.D.Vision holds the copyrights to the English version of Neon Genesis Evangelion.

This work of fiction is not intended for any commercial purposes but was created for the entertainment of the Author and Fans of Neon Genesis Evangelion.

No copyright infringement was in any way intended.

Heaven and Hell written by Jino Turtlegod

M Rating. For mature readers only. Some scenes, themes, language, and situations are not suitable for younger readers. Reader discretion is advised.

Revelations 1:4 - Weaving a Story: A Flash of Life

NERV-9
THE SECOND BEFORE

The Battle for NERV-9 raged. The blood of naïve Children and of those blinded by faith mixed upon the tortured earth. Overhead, the sky was tinged blood red by the infernal holocaust in the shattered fortress city.

Within the heart of the former stronghold, two demons fought for supremacy and survival.

From above, a grey and black EVA swooped down from its perch atop the ruined shell of a skyscraper.

Below, a silver, one-armed EVA waited with a gigantic knife in its hand, its body covered in blood from the tremendous wound that took its right arm.

Kensuke's Unit 15 reached for the folded lance stored on the rack on its back.

The enemy EVA braced its legs and readied the knife to a stabbing position.

It was less than a second.

000

In the middle of almost total darkness, Kensuke sat on a folding chair in the middle of a circle of light. He wore his NERV pilot's uniform.

He sighed and allowed his shoulders to sag. His glasses slid down his nose and he pushed them up with his index and middle fingers.

"It didn't begin there," he said to the darkness.

000

WHAT HAS GONE BEFORE

2015AD

It was Spring. I was in the Eight grade, Middle High School. I've known about the EVA Project for about several months by the time I met the Third Children.

THE THIRD CHILDREN: SHINJI IKARI

Shinji Ikari. He wasn't much to look at. Looked like a wimp if you ask me. I should know. I mean, before he came I was the most pathetic boy in the grade and if I weren't friends with Toji, the other boys would have probably bullied me.

Anyway, it was about a week since the first attack. What was called the Third Incident for reasons that I only knew about months later. As most people knew, Shinji and Toji didn't hit it off right off the bat. And I thought he was a sissy for letting Toji hit him. Twice. I mean he was a pilot of a kick-ass robot, he should be able to stand his ground in any fight. That ruined my image of a top secret mecha pilot.

Needless to say, I was really glad that Shinji's a great guy. He could've left us to die the time he fought the Fifth Angel and save his own skin. He saved us and we became his friends. Not because we felt that we owed him or anything, no... during the time in the entry plug, when we saw and felt Shinji fight... it was like we found someone similar to us.

SIMILAR

What? We are similar. We all don't have mothers. We have absentee fathers. And at that moment, we all felt the fear and the loneliness. I guess that's what scared Toji about that battle, because we all shared our thoughts.

I don't think I could really put what I feel into words. No wait- I guess I can honestly say, that these two guys were like my brothers.

I guess I bonded with him when he ran away and I met him at my camp out. Looking back, I'm seriously embarrassed about my behavior. Damn, I was a geek. Good thing that they didn't send Shinji away for real. Not only would I have lost a good friend, I don't think the human race would have survived.

THE FIRST CHILDREN: REI AYANAMI

She used to scare me. God, have you looked into her eyes? She has this way of looking at you as if she was judging your Soul. You can't help but feel that in some way, you've failed to make the cut. I really didn't know much about her, I even tried looking into her records but it had more holes than a sieve. I would have ordinarily been curious but for some reason I didn't want to know. All I know was that Shinji felt she was important to him, Heck, we even teased him about it. But I knew that what they felt for each other wasn't what Hikari felt for Toji... Yes, I knew all about that even before the jock knew about it. I may have looked like a military otaku but that doesn't mean that I didn't notice everything that happened around me.

I was sort of scared for Rei because she's someone important to Shinji. She seemed to have no care for anything unrelated to EVA. It was as if her only purpose in life was EVA. And like Asuka, I also thought that if ordered to, she would have killed herself. Thank God that she's still alive.

THE FOURTH CHILDREN: HIKARI HORAKI

Hikari. The class rep's a great girl, she reminds me of my Mom. If I had a sister I wish she would be like Hikari. Sure she acts tough and bossy but we knew she really cared about every student under her, not just because it was her responsibility but because she also misses her mother. By treating us as her mother treated Hikari and her sisters, Hikari was keeping her mother's memory alive.

THE SECOND CHILDREN: ASUKA LANGLEY SORYU

Asuka. Now she's a hard one to figure out. Heck, I actually had a crush on her the first time I saw her. Of course, that crush lasted until she slapped Toji, Shinji, and me. God, what a bitch! She must have been retarded to wear a billowing skirt on an aircraft carrier!

I couldn't help but laugh at all the boys that had a crush on her during high school. I meant they weren't able to see past the face she put on, the one she puts on to attract attention and praise.

But I guess that was also where Toji and I made our mistake. We didn't see past the face she didn't know she had put on. I guess the only one who saw through Asuka is Shinji, but he was too timid and overwhelmed to reach out to her.

COLONEL MISATO KATSURAGI

Misato. A great woman. Toji and I were really infatuated with her for a time. She's tough, beautiful, and smart. We really envied Shinji because he could always be with her. But then, deep down we were also scared of her. We knew that what she shows us is just the mask she shows people. Where we were too angry and annoyed at Asuka to care enough to look behind the faces she put on, I was afraid to look deeper at Misato, I was afraid of the face behind the mask.

WHAT HAS GONE BEFORE

2015. The First Wave. Fourteen Angels descended to attack Tokyo-3. At least to public knowledge. Only a handful of people know about the other four Angels. The public knew of the giant robots that fought against them. And throughout the war, the fate of the human race rested on the shoulders of three teenagers and the few select people chosen to support them.

2015. I still find it hard to talk about that year. Of course there were also good times, but more often than not there were a lot of bad times. The rationing, the evacuation drills, sleeping in fear that you'll never wake up because of a night attack. It was a crazy time to live in. I was really crazy to want to become a pilot. I mean the only reason I wanted to be a pilot was so that I could handle military hardware and be closer to my Dad.

And then it happened. I couldn't believe Toji was picked instead of me. I was really jealous of him when I figured it out.

I couldn't believe how stupid I was.

How immature.

I forgot that war wasn't a game.

Toji almost died because of something I dreamed of having.

000

NERV-9
FIVE MINUTES BEFORE

"Kensuke, are you all right?" Asuka opened up a frequency to her teammate.

"A little scared though," Kensuke answered truthfully. Asuka's image on the mini-screen was calm and confident. `Damnit! How can she be so calm?! She's faced them before!'

"You'll forget that fear once we're in." Asuka replied smugly.

"Really?" Kensuke could have sworn he heard his voice break.

"Yeah. You'll be too busy staying alive."

Kensuke gave a lopsided grin. `Same old Asuka...'

Their EVAs were on a ridge over the base and each EVA was about a kilometer apart. Their battery counters were already at the twelve minute mark. All EVAs were armed with positron cannons and lances.

Below them was the blazing inferno that used to be man's attempt to bring back order to the devastated continent of South America. NERV-9, the fortified capital of the United Nations Administrative Region of South America, was no more. All that was left to do was to clear out the pockets of resistance.

Kensuke couldn't help but shudder at the massacre, at the thought that the fortress city used to be home to close to a million people. In order to save the city, they had to destroy it.

"All right, listen up! Keep close to me, follow my commands, and keep your heads low! And maybe, just maybe, you'll live through this!" Asuka sent to all her team members. She had no illusions that they would. She and Kensuke were the only ones getting out alive.

"Damnit! Would they call us in already," a boy on Asuka's team whined on the open link. Beneath them, the base erupted once more in a shower of explosions as bombers and missile launching tanks strafed it. Earlier, the white light of an N2 explosion lighted the night like day, covering the movement of the EVAs from the forward camps towards their attack positions.

"Eager to die aren't you," another pilot retorted.

Kensuke was also thinking along the same lines. That boy must really be stupid.

"Ah, screw you," the boy replied.

"We've got red light!" A pilot yelled. Simultaneously a red light signaling ready went on in every EVA.

"GREEN, GO!" Asuka yelled as the light changed to green.

Kensuke felt the butterflies in his stomach. He pulled the trigger on his control stick as he sent his EVA over the ridge and into Hell.

000

In the middle of almost total darkness, Kensuke sat on a folding chair in the middle of a circle of light. He wore his NERV pilot's uniform.

"Hell. Every time I went there it was never the same."

WHAT HAS GONE BEFORE
2016AD

It was Spring. The Eighteenth Incident. Dad sent me to Tokyo-2, he had a safe house there. He said things were going to be a bit hectic and he didn't want to worry about me. Damn it. He was my Dad, I knew him, the way he said it, he had no illusion that we would be seeing each other again.

There wasn't much left of the city but a large crater after Unit 00 exploded. But there was a lot of rubble to hide in so I was able to sneak back into Tokyo-3. I hacked into one of the more secret entryways and got in just as the first attack came in. Being at ground zero was much more scarier than I thought.

My Dad's office was in the geofront, Level 17, Area 27. NERV Public Security and Intelligence Bureau. The dreaded Section Two. I don't think he knew I knew exactly where he worked. He always told me he was with the Audit section. Right. I guess my Dad didn't know me as well as he should.

It wasn't easy but I got there without being seen or shot at. I guess being a military fan-boy finally paid off for me.

When I arrived at the office, there was blood everywhere, agents were lying all around, their weapons still smoking. They had all fought against one another even before the UN Special Forces got to them.

A lot of people thought Commander Santiago joined NERV after the Eighteenth Incident. They were wrong. He used to be Section Two Director. He knelt by my wounded father when I got there. He told me to get Dad out of there, he gave me Dad's gun and then he ran off somewhere.

Dad said something about Santiago being a good man, but I didn't see it. He left his friend to die while he saved his skin.

Me and Dad didn't meet anyone on the way back up. Dad kept saying it was just a flesh wound, but I could hear the rattle every time he exhaled. He had blood in his lungs. I knew he was going to die if I didn't get him to a hospital.

I thought I was lucky that no one had seen us.

My luck ran out when we reached the surface. Asuka's Unit 02 smashed a hoverjet which crashed several meters away from me. The explosion tore a gash in my arm and knocked me unconscious. When I came to, my Dad told me his last words as I saw ten rings of light fly into the sky. I blacked out after that.

000

NERV-9
THREE MINUTES BEFORE

Children screamed as they died. Kensuke trailed after Asuka as they went to destroy the EVA assigned to their team. The target had already killed two of their teammates, the other one had his EVA heavily damaged. The boy was alive but the feedback had damaged his brain. They could hear the panicked screams of Children from the other teams.

"There!" Kensuke cried out as he fired at the silver EVA. Asuka followed suit as the target back-flipped away with the exploding positron shells masking its retreat.

Kensuke watched in fascination as the enemy's movement seemed familiar. There was no time to think as he followed Asuka into a valley made up of ruined buildings. NERV-9 was a fortress city, and now the enemy was using its defensive layout to full use.

"Kensuke! Go up and cover me from the rooftops!" Asuka cried out as she paused in the middle of the valley of ruins. Kensuke's EVA leapt into the air and landed on the ruins of an armored building twice the height of his EVA.

He went into a defensive posture as he watched Asuka's Unit 02 carefully enter the kill zone.

And then it all became clear.

000

In the middle of almost total darkness, Kensuke sat on a folding chair in the middle of a circle of light. He wore his NERV pilot's uniform.

"I'd rather not speak of the War. A lot of bad things happened. A lot of good people got killed. And I killed a lot of them... let's leave it at that."

WHAT HAS GONE BEFORE
2018AD

It was Spring. The season of rebirth.

THE CHILDREN OF EVA

THE SECOND CHILDREN: ASUKA LANGLEY SORYU

Asuka had recovered fully from the First Wave and became our Chief Pilot during the Winter of 2017. She's still a raging demon on duty and I've heard a lot of people call her names behind her back. Same old, same old. She's fine except for a bit of obsession with anything Shinji. I knew they had a love-hate relationship but I was really against her when Shinji came to school with bruises. Of course that was after the Fifteenth Incident, so I guess I could forgive her. I remember when she once came to my apartment drunk and asked if I had any video disks with Shinji in them. When I told her they were all destroyed during the War she just broke down right there. She really missed him. Of course in the morning she couldn't remember that she cried in front of me and I'm not stupid enough to contradict her.

THE FIRST CHILDREN: REI AYANAMI

Rei no longer scares me. She's like a sister or a cousin to me. She seems a bit more curious and... happy. It's as if for the past few years she finally accepted the fact that there was life outside of EVA and that she was drinking it up like a dry sponge. I'm thankful that they didn't send her into any of the battles during the War. Killing people would have ruined her.

FOURTH CHILDREN: HIKARI HORAKI

Hikari. Poor Hikari. I don't think anyone really believed her when she said that she'll join if NERV didn't draft her sisters. But of course she gave the precedent that only one pilot will be taken from each family. I don't think she actually regrets signing up, but I think she would have been a lot more happier. Gone is the old Hikari, the happy girl whose only problem was whether the class was listening or not. It was as if she wasn't so innocent and carefree anymore. At least she has Toji.

FOURTH CHILDREN: TOJI SUZUHARA

Toji. Good old Toji. He sprang back to his old macho self because of Hikari and Yuri. He trained hard so that his new limbs won't slow him down, heck it's as if he wasn't disabled. The prosthetic limbs are actually great and unless you knew what they were you'd think they were the real deal. But I guess the real reason that one wouldn't know about them is because Toji doesn't mind them. He said to me that if he's bothered about them then Hikari would worry, and he hates having her worried.

SEVENTH CHILDREN: YURIKO SUZUHARA

Yuriko is Toji's kid sister. The youngest of the rookies and yet the best amongst the lot. She has a drive within her that reminds me of Asuka, the kid's determined to be the very best. It's really scary actually.

SIXTH CHILDREN: JUNO HURST

Juno is a British pilot. The kid is smart but has a dirty mouth. Heard she was raised in a very strict household. Is that all those years of repression getting out?

FIFTH CHILDREN: HENRI MONTBLANC

Henri was a good kid. Meaning to say I don't really know that much about him. Seems too happy, never seen the kid frown. Is he on drugs or something? Probably raised on Barney and Teletubbies. Weird fact, he's the only Children I know with a mother. I kind of envy him.

SIXTH CHILDREN: ALLEN ALLEYN

Allen. Now, there's a kid I would have probably envied when I was still in my military otaku mode. The kid is a real Army brat. His mom was the Commander of the Beijing Branch and he grew up with real guns and military hardware for toys. Anyway, something's screwed up wrong with him. Sometimes I would see him look at us older pilots as if he was sizing us up. It's as if he wants to know if he could take us in a fight. Fat chance though. He's the worst pilot I know. But outside an EVA...

WHAT HAS GONE BEFORE

During the Spring of 2018, NERV is the foremost and most important part of the United Nations Peace Keeping Forces. It had thirteen branches scattered throughout the world. Each branch reported directly to the UN General Committee for Security. There were one hundred and four Evangelions in active service. Enough money was spent on them that could have been used to better the lives of everyone on all six continents.

WHAT HAS GONE BEFORE

And I was about to kill myself when the Second Wave came.

000

NERV-9
TEN SECONDS BEFORE

"ASUKA!!" Kensuke cried out as he saw the ball of light rush towards the red Unit 02.

"CHEAT!!" Asuka screamed in pain and fury as she felt her EVA's left side disintegrate. It was a trap! Another enemy EVA had been waiting for them from one of the rooftops while the other EVA distracted them with a frontal assault. Asuka felt bitter - the enemy had taken the very same tactic she had just used. She screamed as she fired her cannon while her EVA fell down amongst the rubble. One of Asuka's shots hit the charging enemy EVA on the right shoulder and spun it backwards and away from her. Asuka fell unconscious.

It was all up to Kensuke.

000

In the middle of almost total darkness, Kensuke sat on a folding chair in the middle of a circle of light. He wore his NERV pilot's uniform.

"In the Spring of 2018, the Angels returned."

Kensuke looked up, the light reflected off his glasses.

"But that's another story..."

Kensuke smiled.

000

Combined Operations Command
NERV-1

"ASUKA!!" Misato cried out as Asuka's EVA took a hit.

"Unidentified aircraft over combat zone!" Lt. Antoinette St. Croix reported. Everyone looked at the blip on the main monitor's overlay map.

"It's an EVA transport!" Lt. Hayes replied after a quick scan. "It's being warned off by UN fighters!"

"Incoming transmission from the EVA transport!" Lt. Antoinette cried out, the communications officer was surprised at why the unauthorized aircraft contacted them.

Over the NERV communications frequency came the familiar voice with the unexpected words from across the ocean: "Prepare to sortie Unit 01."

The whole theater fell silent at hearing the voice of their vice-commander. In confusion the technicians looked at their Commander for guidance.

"Prepare for combat control and monitor routines for Unit 01," Santiago calmly ordered from behind his ice cold mask.

000

In the middle of almost total darkness, Kensuke sat on a folding chair in the middle of a circle of light. He wore his NERV pilot's uniform.

The sound of a door opening in the darkness. A rectangular patch of light was carved from the inky blackness. A feminine silhouette within the new pocket of light.

"Kensuke," a female voice casually called out.

Kensuke turned in his chair and smiled at the woman.

"Mother."

000

NOW

Kensuke felt a wave of rage overcome him. His EVA's eyes flashed white and the sealed armored jaw of its head sprouted cracks. His EVA brought up its cannon and shredded the cover the enemy was using. The sniper EVA jumped away from its hiding place and was destroyed in mid flight as a warning beep told Kensuke his cannon was empty.

Kensuke gave a whoop of joy which was cut short when he noticed that Asuka's attacker had drawn out its progressive knife to finish off Asuka.

Kensuke cried out a battlecry as he made his EVA leap from the top of the building right at the enemy EVA.

The enemy's right side was damaged, its right arm sheared off at the shoulder, yet as long as it still carried its progressive knife in its left hand, the damaged enemy was still dangerous.

Kensuke's Unit 15 reached for the folded lance stored on a rack on its back.

The enemy EVA braced its legs and readied the knife to a stabbing position.

Red blood splattered on the burned walls of the ruins. Something roared its rage into the burning sky.

000

In the middle of a total darkness, in a circle of light cast by an overhead light, a folding chair stood.

From the darkness, the sound of a door closing.

With a snap, the light was extinguished.

To Be Continued

In the Next Episode of Heaven and Hell:
Misato: The tide of destiny has turned. And the UN reels from defeat. Death stalks the Children in this time of darkness. Man is again fighting himself. Heaven and Hell 1:5 - If I Can't be Yours.