Neon Genesis Evangelion Fan Fiction ❯ Lurking within the soul ❯ The Battle ( Chapter 3 )

As Shinji climbed into the cramped cylinder he began to get a headache. His body felt disconnected and hot, his limbs uncoprative. The feelings began to feel worse as he sat in the pilot’s seat fully. He began to feel sick and feverish. "Shinji," Misato asked, “Are you okay?".

"I am fine." Shinji replied, his voice strained as he ignored the pain and sat upright in the cockpit.

Once he sat up the cockpit began to fill with an orange liquid. “What is this?” Shinji demanded as he held his breath. It rose up around his feet, climbing rapidly as Shinji fought down his panic. “It's LCL” Ritsuko said “ It's a oxygen subsitute. In a few minutes you won't even notice it. Just breathe it in like you would air.”. As Shinji finally inhaled his senses were eroded by the coppery taste of blood.

"Wow, sync ratio up to 70 percent! Is that even possible?" Maya Ibuki asked Ritsuko, her astonishment clear. "I guess he is just our little prodigy." Ritsuko answered her eyes on the screen.

"What is this stuff made out of?" Shinji said to himself as another image of the bruised child flashed in his mind. He was not given to dwell on the matter however as his flashback was cut short by Misato’s voice. “Ready Shinji?” Misato demanded loudly.

“Roger, Captain. Katsuragi!” Shinji responded back with the affirmative despite his inhibitions about piloting this mammoth of a beast.

“EVA LAUNCH!” Misato yelled. With that last command Shinji felt himself being driven upwards with an amazing speed toward the surface. The gravity pulled at his hands, his legs, trying to claw him back to the center of the earth.

Shinji felt his body lurch at the abrupt stop as he was face to face with the Angel. As soon as he saw the Angel his body temperature lunged to an unbearable heat almost instantly. Pure scorching heat bombarded his senses over-riding any attempt to ingore the pain.

“Shinji just try to walk now.” He heard Ritsuko say from someone far away. He tried to focus on the Eva but his body wouldn't let him. His skin felt like it was being cut in a hundred different places at the same time and his mind spiraled as it portrayed flashbacks of fighting and blood. It felt like his body was being taken over by some presence that wasn't his own. It felt wrong. He felt paralyzed, outside his own control, as the Angel grabbed his head and the communications were between him and the bridge were severed.

Emergency! Emergency! flashed throughout the command center on every screen as the bridge bunnies tried to regain some control over the battle or at least figure out was happening on the surface. “The pilot’s sync ratio is way up! Body temperature and heart rate accelerating!” Maya said frantically. Her fingers danced an elborate dance as she monitered the pilot.

"Establishing a connection with the pilot!” Hyuga pounded the keys, frantically trying to reconnect the bridge and the Eva, "Failure to contact! The command was rejected!"

“Well, keep trying!” Misato replied her attempts at staying calm falling apart as the scene on the surface played out across the screen in front off her. No-one could take their eyes off the Angel pounding away at the Eva’s skull.

Shinji saw the light repeatedly pound away at the Eva and he felt the pain roaring through his system but he could do nothing. Whatever presence was taking over his body paralyzed his movements, all of them. Shinji’s mind was being overthrown by two people. Both were trying to gain rule over his movements, his very being. One was a lady with brown hair and green eyes who spoke comforting words to him. The other was a boy who looked just like him except for his blue pupiless eyes and silver hair who spoke of Killing and Murder. As the voices fought in the battlefield his mind had become, Shinji began to mumble their words aloud, "You're in so much pain, let me help you. I can help you." the woman said.

"No one loves you, you feed off of pain! You should let blood rain upon the earth from your enemies!" the boy said savagely. As the Angel began to crack into the skull of the Eva he heard the boy say “You are worthless and you should die". the woman’s voice began to fade and the demon began to take over until it won. Shinji’s eyes began to lose their pupils and began to glow blue (1). His skin felt like it was crawling with a thousand spiders as strange red scars began to appear on his body, like he was being attacked by an invisible enemy.

The Eva grabbed the hand of the Angel before it's shell was fully broken and ripped the arm off. The Eva brought up a force shield that instantly threw the Angel back to a safe distance and made it lose its balance. Shinji and the Eva stood up, moving perfectly. None of the previous clumsiness or the slow movements; the pilot and 90ft tall robot were smoothness and elegance embodied. The Eva ran to the Angel and straddled its waist in what seemed to be a mere second. While restraining the Angel’s legs, Unit-01 tore off the Angels ‘ribs’ and repeatedly rammed the pointed bone into the round ruby orb. The Angel resisted but Unit-01 was relentless, stabbing again and again until the orb cracked and splattered all over the concrete. Unit-01 had killed its first Angel.

The unknown boy’s voice chuckled slowly as Shinji regained control over his body and he returned back to normal. “What the hell was that?” he said out loud to no one in particular.

Suddenly, a little video screen popped up with Misato’s face on it. “Shinji, are you okay?” she said frantically, her eyes wide and her voice shaking.

“Yes” he almost whispered. Shinji’s explanation did not quell Misato’s anxiety as she looked at his eyes. As a matter of fact no one on the bridge was convinced. Shinji’s eyes looked glazed and emotionless but most of all they looked hate filled. He looked utterly exhausted from the fight and nobody could blame him.

However, Misato just said “Okay. We’ll get you out in a minute.” gentle voiced and the screen promptly vanished. Shinji sat alone in the Eva waiting for the crew as he pondered about the two people that had invaded his mind. Slowly he picked up his hand to come in front of his face even though his body was still sore. His hand throbbed from the exertion and his skin felt like it was crawling again.

He remembered the demon child taking over his body and his mind reeled over the images he had seen. He didn’t know how long had passed, it could have been seconds, minutes or even hours, he didn't know.. The blood, the rage and the death it seemed so fresh until he could almost smell the foul stench again.

‘What the hell is happening to me?’ he thought.

1) remember Riddick’s eyes off of The Chronicles of Riddick