Neon Genesis Evangelion Fan Fiction ❯ Heaven and Hell ❯ When Children Spread Angel Wings II ( Chapter 19 )

Manga - Addicts Presents:
Heaven and Hell
Revelations 1:9 - When Children Spread Angel Wings II

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 1:9 - When Children Spread Angel Wings II

SECOND CHILDREN: ASUKA LANGLEY SORYU

"now you hate me," Asuka said in a dead voice as she lay on top of him. Shinji didn't answer as he stared blankly at the ceiling. "please don't hate me," she pleaded as she kissed his sweat drenched chest.

Asuka felt his chest muscles tense and then came the sound of metal snapping. Before she could move, Asuka felt his arms encircle her naked form, pinning her soft, trembling body against him. He buried his face in her hair as he cried.

"I'm so sorry Shinji..." Asuka held on to him as if her life depended on it.

And then the white light came.

IN ASUKA LANGLEY SORYU'S HEART

Asuka blinked away the motes of light and rubbed her eyes against the sleeves of her NERV jacket. Slowly, the young woman regained her sight. She gasped as she noticed the person sitting opposite her in the train car filled with amber light.

Chief Pilot Asuka Langley Soryu had a shocked look in her eyes as she stared at a younger version of herself. An angry child with red hair hugging a stuffed monkey doll.

The little girl glared at her older self, and she said one word that struck Asuka hard : "Slut."

000

A blue flame in the sea of life within the throne of souls.

With a roar, Unit 14 awakened. The Evangelion of the Children called Rei Ayanami.

The fighting soldiers within the expansive underground forested park froze as a wave of absolute terror swept the area. The NERV soldiers would have cheered but they did the more practical response: they pulled out of the battle and began an almost orderly retreat away from the EVAs.

Shitou and the other boy looked on impassively as they stood inside the Chapel.

"I think she's angry," the other boy said as he pushed his gray hair out of his eyes.

Unit 14 pulled itself into a ball, light distorted around it as its AT Field was pulled into itself. The EVA gave off a sense of malicious glee as it released its AT Field. Trees went down as if blown by a hurricane. The men caught in the wave simply disintegrated into a fine spray of orange liquid. NERV or Sword of God - in the end, they all suffered.

Shitou just smiled.

000

Shinji pressed the button on the wrist of his plugsuit. The plastic fabric clung to his skin with the hiss of the vacuum pump.

Black moon.

White EVAs circling.

Red Earth.

Lilith.

Rei.

Lilith.

Rei.

The young man frowned at the almost forgotten dreams of so long ago. He would not fail them again.

As he stood before his locker, the pilot wondered if he needed a weapon. He decided he didn't need one. Besides, even if he could find a gun, he couldn't use one effectively anyway or bring himself to kill another person even in self-defense. He left the locker door open.

Shinji's footsteps rang as he walked on the metal walkways of the EVA hangar. The young man sniffed the air, smelling the acrid smell of gunsmoke, the fishy stench of blood and LCL.

He paused as he came to the first body. A NERV technician lay before him, sprawled and bleeding along the catwalk before Unit 01. He knelt to check but he already knew the man was already past rescuing. The young man's eyes followed the trail of bodies - defenseless technicians and engineers slaughtered by the enemy.

The enemy!

Enemy fighters looked up from where they were trying to cut into a sealed door with laser torches.

"It's a demon-child!" one of the fighters cried out as he brought up his weapon. Sparks flew from where bullets struck the handrail near Shinji, causing the young man to throw up his arms to shield his face.

Enemy in front, a long narrow passageway behind. With nowhere to run to, the pilot threw himself off the catwalk and into the cooling pool of his EVA. He landed with a splash. The enemy soldiers stood on the catwalk and fired downwards into the pool.

Bullets streaked in the liquid, trailing bubble tails. Shinji screamed as a stray bullet tore past his upper arm, blood colored the LCL around him.

A rumble shook the hangar.

Unit 01's eyes blazed into life.

The soldiers on the catwalk froze in terror.

With a roar, Unit 01 tore off the restraint on its arm and swept the screaming soldiers from the catwalk with one powerful swipe. They were dead before they hit the LCL.

Shinji held his torn arm as he floated down in the LCL. `Mother...'

000

Lt. Yamazaki carefully edged towards the ruined door. It had been almost an hour since the last enemy charge and Col. Katsuragi had sent him to find out what was taking them so long. He looked back at the bridge area where everyone had their weapons pointed in his direction. He hoped no one will accidentally (or intentionally) shoot him. Takashi looked at the pistol in his hand and had a momentary sense of insecurity. He nervously looked away from the dead around his feet.

Takashi took a deep breath and then charged into the corridor outside the control theater. The NERV soldiers in the corpse-littered corridor froze for just a second before firing on him. Takashi screamed as he jumped back into the safety of the control theater.

Back in the corridor, an officer was shouting for the others to cease firing.

Takashi lay on his back on the blood drenched floor and gave his usual fox smile - the relief force had arrived.

000

"Here," Allen grunted as he laid Juno on her bed. The girl had become docile after crying herself tired. "You have to rest y'know. No more early morning smokes, you hear."

"Since when did you became my mother?" the girl sullenly replied.

The boy was taken aback by her harsh comment. "Look, I'm just worried about you! You're the only friend I have left - if you can't understand that -- well, FINE!!"

He turned to leave but Juno caught his wrist in a strong grip.

"Hey!?"

The girl looked away from him, unable to meet his eyes. "Please... don't leave me..."

"That was a bit harsh," the gray haired boy remarked. "You shouldn't have made her remember that."

"I told you I would release her and I kept my word. You feel too much for the Lilim," Shitou replied. "They capture you, use you, corrupt you, make a mockery of you, and yet you sympathize with them."

"So do you." The gray haired boy smiled.

Shitou smiled in return, "Ah, yes. But at least in my case, it is my nature. Go, take her before I change my mind."

000

Unit 14 stood vigil over its silent siblings. In the entry plug, Rei Ayanami waited with saintly calm, the demonic rage of earlier no longer evident. She cannot fight the enemy this time. For this time, her true self will not allow it. The young woman was paralyzed.

`it is all for the best. they shall prevail. or be destroyed.'

Rei leaned back on her seat and released the tears in her eyes.

000

"Correct me if I'm wrong," Misato said as she led the surviving NERV personnel to the backup control room. There was no hurry as reports indicate that their soldiers were winning - and there was nothing they can do about the Angel except to trust the Children. "The Dead Sea Scrolls foretold of another Messiah if the first one fails, and this Messiah will not fail?"

"Correct, the Messiah of Joshua will not fail, because if it does and Humanity does not ascend, Humanity will be destroyed - judged unworthy of existence." Col. Makoto Hyuga pressed a bloody rag to his forehead - Misato had knocked him out in order to save him from doing something heroic - or stupid. "This final Angel will release enough energy to start Third Impact, it will be up to the Messiah to use the released energy to force Instrumentality or Complementation."

Misato turned to face Makoto. "Evolution or Rebirth. But both will end with the destruction of the world as we know it."

"That is so." Everybody froze. Ritsuko stood in front of the closed doors of the backup control room. "But Humanity's greatest strength is to find another way."

An uncomfortable silence. Misato paled at the lack of hostility from the friend she had betrayed. Several NERV soldiers nervously fingered the triggers of their weapons. Only a blessed few knew nothing.

Ritsuko smiled as if pleased at the discomfort her presence had inspired. "Welcome home."

The door behind her slid open.

000

"During the Eighteenth Incident, after Section Two destroyed itself, I took it upon myself to find the field command center and destroy it." Santiago calmly looked at the boy who stood opposite him, the wide commander's table separated them. "I really didn't expect your mother to be commanding from the field. She should have commanded from the Beijing Branch. She was naïve to believe in exposing herself to the dangers her people were facing. She refused to surrender."

"So you killed her," Allen remarked coldly.

Santiago remained silent.

"Not only did you abandon us... you also took her from me..."

Santiago stood up.

Allen fired the gun in his hand.

WHY DIDN'T YOU KILL HIM

"BECAUSE! Because he's my father..." In the middle of almost total darkness, Allen sat on a folding chair in the middle of a circle of light. He wore his NERV pilot's uniform. The boy's hands gripped the seat of the folding chair, his nails dug into the hard wood.

WAS HE?

"YES!! I know it!"

HE DIDN'T TREAT YOU LIKE A SON

"... he's still my father..."

YOU HAVE FAILED YOUR MOTHER

Allen sobbed.

As the boy's tears dropped onto his white trousers, an Angel stood behind him and watched in sympathy. Shitou didn't feel any satisfaction in what he just did.

Or what he was about to do.

000

Juno cried to herself, her long red tresses were in disarray. Red welts were visible on her neck and arms. The young ten year-old girl had been beaten, her heart crying out to anyone who would hear.

But there was no one to hear the plea of the child.

No mother.

No father.

No God.

No guardian angel.

"Juno..." The young girl looked up at a gray haired young man who had called her name. He had red, compassionate eyes. "Juno, it's only a dream. Everything's fine now."

"Are you my guardian angel?" the little girl whispered through her ragged bangs which hid her face.

"Yes." The young man extended a hand to Juno.

"Henri, it's you isn't it? You've changed but I still know you."

The young man nodded. It was one of the names the Lilim had given him. Juno looked at Henri. He was taken aback by the fire of anger in Juno's eyes. He cried out in pain as a red line of blood was drawn across his chest by the kitchen knife in Juno's hand.

"As a guardian angel, you're a fuck-up!" Juno spat out as a mad glint came to her eyes. "I just remembered something. Something so fucking hideous that they had to brainwash me. You see, I don't have an aunt." An insane grin on Juno's pretty face - the familiar face of the fourteen year old tomboy with short red hair was twisted by unfamiliar madness. "Not anymore. It was so much fucking fun, cutting her up into itsy bitsy little bitch pieces. It was a fucking turn on to hear her scream!"

Henri took a step back but came up against a wall of energy. His brow knitted in consternation.

"Now back to business, you little twerp of a guardian angel. You see, I've been a very bad girl," Juno cackled. "It's all because of you. Yes, you. You weren't there to look over my shoulder and tell me to be a good little angel." Juno clucked her tongue and wagged her finger at Henri. "I've killed several more people since you went away. And I've even had my brains fucked out by our good little soldier boy!" The girl made a happy pirouette. "Gee, I never thought it could be so much fun! I should have done it sooner!"

Henri looked sadly at Juno.

"Aw, don't be disappointed in me, my dear Henri. It's your fault I'm like this." Tears began streaming down the teenaged Juno's face. "You chose to save Allen first. So He got to me. He did stuff to me. Opening doors in my mind I wished were never there."

Henri nearly let his guard down.

"The Juno you knew is no more," Juno glared. "It's now time to show you how displeased I am."

000

Yuri sat alone under the tree. Tears streaked down her cheeks. She was crying, but she didn't know why.

000

In the chapel, Shitou sat with his head bowed, his hands clasped in prayer.

000

Asuka blinked awake at the recorded tune of the garbage truck.

She rubbed the sleep from her eyes as she sat up on the queen-sized bed. "That was one weird dream..."

"MOOMMMEEEE!!"

Asuka had no time to scream as a small bundle of energy knocked her off the bed and onto the floor in a tangle of sheets and limbs.

She looked up into the face of a little girl with deep blue eyes and a fiery mane of red hair. The little girl giggled as she brought up a stuffed monkey doll to Asuka's face. "Good morning, Mommy! Saru-chan's hungry!"

Asuka frowned at the little girl. "Kyoko! How many times have I told you not to jump on the bed? You have to be punished!" Kyoko trembled and tried to run away but Asuka quickly grabbed her and started to tickle the little girl silly.

A fully grown woman now, Asuka carried her giggling little girl in her arms and gently sang to the child as they took a bath together. The little girl was deeply devoted to her mother, a devotion second to none except for one other.

Later as Kyoko ate and Asuka flipped pancakes, the little girl suddenly froze and cocked her head to a side - intense concentration on her face.

Asuka looked at her child in expectation, "Is it Daddy?"

Then Asuka heard it - the roar of a powerful motorcycle engine. She grimaced.

"Nope, it's Auntie Rei!!" Kyoko replied happily as she jumped off her seat to open the door even before the doorbell rang.

"Good morning!" Rei exclaimed as she entered the foyer and laid her helmet on a table with her left hand and then used the same arm to hug the child to her.

"Morning, Rei," Asuka greeted her guest who looked the very definition of what was commonly called a 'yankee' or a member of a biker gang. Tight pants, boots, and a leather flight jacket. Asuka knew the woman had been rather wild during high school and was rather thankful that this was Rei's recreational outfit rather than her professional one.

"Is that all? Gee, you could have added a little more pep y'know," Rei remarked dryly. She handed Asuka a bottle of champagne. "He's coming back today, so I thought the two of you could use something. Brings back memories I'd say." Rei's eyes twinkled mischievously.

"T-thanks," Asuka mumbled as she blushed. Rei may think it was because of embarrassment but rather it was shame.

"Hey, do I smell pancakes?!" Rei asked and thus breaking the tension that was starting to build up.

"Yes! Me and Mommy made them!" Kyoko proclaimed as she raised up her monkey doll. "Saru-chan also helped!"

Rei stood by the doorway, Kyoko sat in the sidecar of Rei's motorcycle, the child's head was encased by a helmet too large for her. She wore her father's flight jacket and had her arms wrapped around her monkey - all in all too cute for words. The little girl turned to face her mother and waved a tiny hand. Asuka waved back.

"Don't worry, I'll get her back to you in one piece after one week," Rei grinned.

Asuka watched Rei ride off with her darling daughter.

Asuka sighed as she leaned back against her closed front door. She felt selfish for sending away her daughter so she could spend some quality time alone with her husband.

Selfish. Yes, that word suited her well. She wondered if she would be so insecure of his affection if she hadn't gotten him drunk and then seduced him right after graduating from high school.

Maybe she didn't deserve him.

She had to trick him into being with her, she used his sense of honor and responsibility against him. She had been so afraid that all he saw in her was a bestfriend and not a girlfriend. It was a matter of control, a way of twisting him to her wishes. She had been adamant almost obsessed with having him under her control ever since they were children.

She didn't really plan on being married so early, just to cement their bond - to have something over him. Then she got pregnant. Everybody had been disappointed in Shinji. No one had blamed her. She saw how much it pained him and she wanted to cry out that it was all her fault - but Shinji stopped her, ordering her that it was better this way. Asuka felt unable to challenge him.

She was married to him because they did not want their child to be ostracized for being a bastard. Their daughter had been raised in a loving environment. Asuka had no doubt that Shinji loved and treasured the child.

But what about her?

Did he really love her? Did he just return to the house to see his daughter? What did he do during the frequent out of town trips? What if...

Asuka didn't notice when she started crying, just the realization that the wetness on her cheeks were tears.

She raised a hand to brush away the sadness.

The doorbell rang.

000

Asuka sat on a folding chair in the middle of a circle of light. She was in the middle of her old middle school's gymnasium. She wore her old white and green uniform. Her eyes contained shock. "What was that?!"

"A vision. A dream. A possible future without EVA. A thing to show us that we could live without our so-called salvation."

Asuka looked over her shoulder. Shinji stood behind her in his plugsuit.

"It's time to come back Asuka."

"Come back to what?"

"To reality. Our reality of EVAs and Angels."

Asuka clenched her fists in her lap. "I can't come back."

"Why?"

"Because I'm unclean, I'm a slut, I'm a bitch. Toji was right - I'm a demon! I can't go back because everyone hates me and I hate everyone! No one loves me!" Asuka sobbed. "...not even you. You just used me and went away. If you loved me, you would have stayed. But you ran away... you ran away..."

"I couldn't stay because it hurt so much to see you after what I did," Shinji bowed his head in shame. "Do you hate me, Asuka?"

Asuka didn't answer. Shinji reached out to touch her shoulder but the girl flinched away. The boy bit his lower lip and withdrew his hand.

"I hated myself. For a very long time I hated myself. It hurt being away from others. Especially you. I tried to tell myself that I didn't want to come back. But I was lying to myself. I wanted to come back even if it was just to catch a glimpse of you. But I couldn't even gain the courage to do it. I was afraid!"

"You've got nothing to be afraid of or sorry about. We're even now. Just leave me alone."

"NO!!" Asuka flinched at the tortured cry. "I ran away more than once. Never again. I want you - all of you. But I can't have you - I'm not worthy of you. I can't leave you and I won't. It's pure torture being away from you but it also hurts to be so near. But as long as you're the one doing the hurting..." Shinji swallowed the lump in his throat. He formed the words that he had so much difficulty saying two years ago. "I - I love you Asuka!"

Unbearable silence.

Then.

Asuka's shoulders trembled. Shinji heard the giggle that she had been suppressing.

"Asuka?" Worry tinged his voice. Madness had already overcome her once...

Asuka stood and walked towards Shinji. She sniffled and wiped the tears from her eyes with the heel of her palm. "Stupid Shinji. One of the things I love about you is that you bring a smile to my face."

As they came face to face, Shinji was acutely aware that she was nearly an inch taller than he was.

"I am yours," her hands gently caressed his cheeks. "If you are mine..."

He was going to ask her what she meant but her lips covered his.

000

"Ah! It's nearly over," Shitou remarked in amusement as he sat on his side of the train car. The familiar amber light of the afternoon filtered through the windows.

Toji sat morosely opposite the Angel. "I'm tired," Toji stated flatly as he leaned back till his head rested on the window pane.

"I know," Shitou answered simply. Did he feel regret? Surely, he couldn't.

"She's gone isn't she?"

"Yes. I'm sorry." And he truly was. Because it was his nature.

"It's all right. I know she's also tired."

"Then, you won't go back?" Shitou asked with a sad smile on his face.

"We were going to name her Hikaru," Toji whispered as a tear slid down his cheek. Shitou watched as the glistening teardrop fell like a star to the floor of the train car.

000

"No!" Rei gasped as she felt a stab in her heart. She turned her head to look at Toji's EVA.

With a shrill scream, Toji's Unit 20's organic parts began to liquefy and seep through the seams of the armor. Like a wax model melting under the hot sun - the EVA began to crumble. In moments, the empty shell caved into itself.

Another had fallen.

With a roar, like a child ripped from the comfort of the womb into the harshness of the cruel world, Yuri was reunited with her EVA. The girl wailed at the emptiness she felt in her heart. But now she knew why she was crying.

Rei blinked the tears from her eyes. "We must finish it."

000

"Final connection!" Chief Engineer Sara McDougal reported as she taped together the exposed cables from the MAGI Caspar and the data feed for the secondary command center. Not something she would ordinarily do by herself. But she was short-handed - especially since her beloved Engineering department had only one survivor: her. She wiped the tears from her eyes with the back of her gloved hand.

She gave Dr. Ritsuko Akagi the thumbs up.

Ritsuko nodded from where she sat on a crate in a corner of the hidden storage facility. "AT Field sensors online in three... two... one..."

000

"Angel located! Target is in the Main EVA Hangar!" Lt. Kano reported from her new seat in the Secondary Command Center. Everyone felt relief that they had moved several levels below the Main EVA Hangar. "It's in Unit 30! S2 engine detected!" Relief turned to distress.

"OH, MY GOD!!" Lt. Miyuki screamed over the muffled roar that shook the whole geofront. "Angel is eating Unit 32!"

"Status of other Evangelions?" Misato commanded.

000

“Yuriko, prepare for battle.” Rei's image on the screen was worried. She could not begin to imagine the pain the young girl was going through, but something important was about to happen.

Yuriko continued sobbing, her tears indistinguishable from the LCL.

The geofront's roof bulged down before disintegrating in a wave of fire that cascaded into the forested park. The pyramid became scorched, its edges melted, but the structure held and did not collapse into itself.

The two Evangelions stood in the middle of the inferno. The clear blue sky above them - two demons in the pits of Hell looking up at the forbidden Heaven.

And then the hail of missiles came.

000

Warmth.

Comforting warmth.

She had felt the numbing coldness of loneliness.

She had thought she was content with having the things he had left behind. His shirt. His bed. His locker. His old, broken-down SDAT player. Snippets from surveillance videos. She even had one of his old plugsuits.

Like him, she had been afraid.

She could have easily chased after him but she had hidden behind her duty. She could have had the real thing instead of artificial replacements.

She regretted the time wasted with running away from each other.

But now, she had him.

She will never let go.

Asuka gasped as she came to inside an EVA. It wasn't hers and for some odd reason, it smelled like Shinji. "Unit 01..." She noticed that her plugsuit-clad body was cradled against that of another.

"Yes," the young man replied, a frown on his face. His strong arms protectively embraced the young woman on his lap.

Asuka wondered why Shinji's voice was so cold - hadn't they just shared a tender moment? And then she saw the thing that faced Unit 01. The thing that was awash with the blood and ruin of Unit 32.

A small screen came to life before them.

“Tell me, Ikari,” their enemy looked at them with cold, calculating eyes. Ebony eyes which locked upon azure eyes. “Can you take my life?”

A contest of wills which Shinji must lose. The pilot avoided the enemy's eyes, knowing fully well that he cannot commit murder upon the other.

And Juno smiled in triumph.

To Be Continued

In the Next Episode of Heaven and Hell:
Shitou: In the heart of Tokyo-3 the Truth shall be revealed. Is this reality or a dream within a dream? Heaven and Hell 2:0 - Air.

Original Author's Notes:
Sorry for the long delay. The next episode is 95percent finished and it's already at 30pages of plain text. /Shudder/ I'll probably finish it by mid September.