AN: Well, here's the chapter. Sorry it took so long, but I got a new job and have been trying to adjust to the new schedule... but more importantly, this chapter kicks off a really big event in the story. When I first thought up You Can (Not) Forget, this upcoming event was the single part of it that I've been looming forward to the most. With that in mind, I wanted to make sure I did this right. I really hope you all enjoy. Well, without further ado…

Let's get on with the show!

XXX

Turn Your Back On Mother Nature ~The Sound of Silence

Shinji exhaled, his breath clouding in front of him. Sluggishly, he dodged a swipe from Sahaquiel's claws and lumbered into one of the few remaining buildings. It shattered with the sound of cracking ice and diamond dust exploded into the air around Armaros. Shinji groaned as he got back to his feet. His whole body felt stiff. His frosty kin really was like nothing he'd ever fought before. He'd only been doin battle with her for a few minutes now, yet the inside of his plug felt like it was going to solidify into a frozen block of LCL with him inside.

It was ridiculous. No angel had ever affected LCL like this. Sure, he'd felt cold before—like when he was trapped inside Leliel—and the heat of the volcano had been sweltering, but this was entirely different. Nothing had ever forced the LCL around him to change form. He could see it at the very edges of the plug. Solid LCL. More fear coiled around his heart, clenching it like a vice and forcing it to thud in his chest more rapidly than it ever should. As his shaking, hurting fingers tightened around his controls, he tamped the terror down with all of his will. He had to fight.

"But do you really?" asked his inner angel, voice sweet. Its eye however, glowing with malevolent joy. "What good will it do you? You will return to persecution even if you do manage to win. Your end is nigh either way. I can't wait!" It laughed in Asuka's voice and Shinji felt an angry heat rise up his neck into his face as he seethed. He wanted to kill his inner angel so badly right now, it hurt.

"Shut up!" Shinji snapped, no longer caring that he could be heard by the entirety of Nerv. He hated it. He hated it so much. But he couldn't deny it any longer. His inner angel was right. There wasn't going to be anything left for him at Nerv after this battle. Nothing he'd done to keep his friends and family up to this point meant anything. A whisper from Armaros passed through his ears and Shinji gnashed his teeth as he looked to Sahaquiel. All her eyes twitched and writhed to look at him in kind as if she could tell she was being glared at. A rattled breath from her exhaled a small puff of frost.

Shinji jerked his hands on the controls, dragging Armaros out of the path of an icy beam of wind and snow. Frost grew upon Armaros's right arm merely from being nearby. Shinji heard the attack shatter in the distance. Nothing matters anymore… but I still have a choice I can make for myself, Shinji thought. Unbeknownst to him, his inner angel's smile widened into a Cheshire grin that showed its gums. Its eye narrowed in delight, but it only proved to make it look more horrific as they glowed a foul red.

The ground beneath Armaros splintered apart, shattering into pieces as if it was a broken plate. From beneath the fragmented earth came a jagged, crystalline spike of ice. Ignoring the freezing LCL all around him, Shinji pulled Armaros around the spike with a swiftness Sahaquiel had been unprepared for. She'd thought she'd chilled all the fight out of him, but she was wrong. He lunged forward, Armaros clearing far more distance than anyone thought possible in a single bound.

Shinji slammed Armaros's head into Sahaquiel's A.T. Field. It hardly budged, but he didn't let that deter him. His own field came alive, collapsing and expanding in on itself at the palms of his hands. With an almost inhuman growl he thrust the clawed hands of Armaros into Sahaquiel's field. At first there was nothing. Sahaquiel just looked upon him. An eye twitched and shards of ice formed at her back.

Then her A.T. Field cracked.

Shinji smirked within his plug as his eyes burned crimson.

The shards of ice flew forward as Sahaquiel jumped back. Shinji yelled.

Armaros let loose a silent roar and Sahaquiel's A.T. Field held for but a moment longer before shattering just like the shards of ice that came after it. Shinji guided Armaros forward again, its massive feet pounding into the asphalt, shaking the earth and leaving indents as it stalked towards its prey. Sahaquiel's wings spread out, creating gale force winds that swept through the city and toppled more flash frozen buildings. Then with a single wingbeat she was in the air, climbing high above the clouds. Shinji stayed alert, waiting for her to show herself.

~X~

Nuriel and Leliel watched from afar. They were floating in the snow clouded sky, kept warm despite the biting chill thanks to Nuriel's own flaming distinction. Her eyes followed the battle impassively as she blew a bubble. Her gum had lost its flavor long ago, but she needed something to do until it was her time. Hands stuffed deep into the pockets of her jacket, Nuriel was successfully hiding her twitchy fingers.

It wasn't time for her and Leliel to intervene yet. She knew that, but damn it all if she didn't want to just turn Sahaquiel into a puddle. Or a lake. She was large enough for that. Her bubble popped. Nuriel wanted to sigh. This was taking too long for her tastes.

"Ye wish to assist our brother, don't ye?"

"Yes," Nuriel grunted in reply. Leliel said nothing and as the silence stretched Nuriel groaned.

"It's not a bad thing," Leliel finally responded. Nuriel rolled her eyes but kept them trained on the battle afar as Sahaquiel broke through the clouds in a conic ripple of force and snow. Their icy kin had broken the sound barrier without doubt. She heard it happen.

Shinji caught her.

Whatever that new Eva he's piloting is, it's damn strong.

"It's not for the reasons you think. I fucking hate him… if anyone's going to kill him, it's going to be me," Nuriel replied.

"Ye know one another too well to hate each other. Not anymore."

"No. we know each other too well to like one another," Nuriel scoffed. Leliel giggled and her sister grimaced.

"Forgive me, thine jest was amusing."

"I'm not joking!"

"Brother Seraphiel is literally dating an alternate version of ye. I've been around her nearly as much as he has. As different as the two of ye are, ye are not so outlandishly dissimilar that he could ever be attracted to one of ye and not the other. No matter what he might say. Whether he believes it himself or not."

"Why are we even discussing this right now!?" Nuriel groaned as the ground shook. The two of them heard it, incapable of experiencing the quaking of the earth below.

"It keeps ye occupied. Besides, I'd like to know why ye told his friends and family what he did to ye… I don't even think he's told his mother that detail and he told her everything," Leliel said. On the battlefield, Shinji was pulling himself out of a crater, white chunks all around him. Leliel couldn't even recognize that place as a city any longer. A small part of her heart sang with joy at watching the manmade structures fall, freeing the earth of the stain that was human work. It was a scar that defiled the nature of the once beautiful planet.

A larger part of her mourned for what the humans had worked so hard to create. She knew that her kin had done far more to ruin the earth than the Lilin had at this point too. Sighing wistfully at the city that would have to be rebuilt, her eyes slid over to Nuriel, wondering why she'd yet to say anything. There was a sour look upon her fiery sister's face. Her mouth was twisted into a lopsided frown and her eyes were narrowed; her nose was crinkled as if she'd smelled something foul as the wind whipped her hair about her face. The only reason her hat remained on her head was due to an A.T. Field. Nuriel spoke.

"It just came out. He pissed me off and we have unfinished business... besides, I hate it when he runs away." Leliel smiled. Maybe there was hope for them yet.

"I'm sure the two of ye will be able to be friends again," Leliel responded. Nuriel just sighed once more.

"Whatever."

~X~

Mari watched the battle going on above ground from inside her Evangelion while her Eva continued to receive repairs. She wished she was out there helping. Even with though Shinji was giving as good as he got, Sahaquiel was slowly, but surely overpowering him. There was hardly anything left of their city. It was more accurate to say they didn't even have a home any longer. She wondered if this could have been avoided if they'd all been out there, but then shook the thought away. No. Sahaquiel would have been able to do this regardless.

And Shinji… well, he was clearly not fairing too well right now. She'd been contemplating turning her comms off so she couldn't hear him anymore. Whatever Armaros was doing to him was… unsettling. When he wasn't screaming at someone to shut up, he was muttering unintelligibly.

She didn't know why he didn't just shut comms off himself. With a sigh, Mari switched off her connection to Armaros and opened up a private line with the others, making sure they'd all still be able to hear any orders from Misato or one of the other adults at Nerv, even though those same adults wouldn't be able to hear them. The silence was soothing for all of the five seconds it lasted.

"He's… really going off out there, huh?" said Toji. And he was right. Shinji was fighting like a man possessed. Her eyes flicked away from the picture of Toji's face and onto another screen just as it showed Armaros sliding beneath a flurry of ice only to dig its feet into the snow and leap upwards towards Sahaquiel. She watched sparks fly off its right arm as a large block of ice grinded against it, scraping away some of the paint upon the black machine.

An icicle shot out of the block and almost as if he'd known it was coming, Armaros jerked its head down, letting it pass over the naps of its neck. It cut into the Eva, drawing out a liquid that definitely seemed more reminiscent of blood than anything else. Shinji didn't even care. He just kept moving forward, his right hand out stretched. In the next moment Armaros gripped Sahaquiel's obscured face, it's claws curling around her hair and cheeks, coating the digits red.

Her wings flapped, attempting to let her pull out of Shinji's grasp, but with strength that made the whole action look effortless, Armaros yanked her out of the air by her head and drove her into the ground. Dust, rubble, and snow leapt up at the impact, swapping positions with Sahaquiel now that she'd been brought low. Mari felt the collision from where she was and felt the ones that followed just the same as Shinji's left arm rose and fell, dropping an A.T. Field encased fist upon his enemy's body in a rapid rhythm. He cocked Armaros's fist again, an icicle protruding through a knuckle and the back of its hand.

Shinji brought the fist down on Sahaquiel's face again regardless.

"He's mauling that thing… does he even need anyone's help? I've never seen him fight like this before… it's almost… inhuman," said Kensuke, the last part more a mumble than anything, yet everyone heard him anyway.

"I do not like what that Evangelion is doing to him," said Rei, her voice soft. It caused another bout of silence over their comms. Despite how assured victory seemed, Mari could admit that watching this felt like they were losing "Shinji the human" somehow. But then… Mari had to wonder if they'd ever had him in that way to begin with.

"He isn't human, Kensuke. He's an Angel. Just like all the others." The others were stunned silent., From within her plug, Mari's eyes grew wide. And from within Rei's she saw the pale girl actually give the most honest expression of anger she'd ever seen. The glare on her face could melt steel.

"Do not say such a thing about my brother ever again, Asuka."

"Or what, wonder girl?" Asuka spat back with such venom Mari worried her LCL would start to bubble.

"Or I will make you regret it." Rei's responding threat was bland in comparison to what anyone could have said in a similar position. But the sheer coldness in her tone was all the hostility and promise anyone would ever need to hear to send a chill down their spine.

"He's just like every. Other. Angel," Asuka replied, each word punctuated by a vocal increase. Her cousin was not screaming, but Mari knew she was close to losing her composure. Mari wanted to intervene, but all she could manage to do was watch awkwardly alongside Toji and Kensuke as this absolute train wreck continued to unfold.

"I do not know what Shinji could possibly see in you. You are an insecure bitch." Rei spat. Mari covered her mouth to stifle a gasp and suddenly wished she had not taught the typically collected girl curse words. Toji and Kensuke were reminiscent of owls, their eyes were so wide. They threatened to pop right out of their skulls. If not for being submerged in LCL, their dropped jaws would have caught a bug or two as well.

And then Mount Asuka exploded.

"He lied to us about everything! Everything! Even when he came clean he didn't give too many details! Oh, but I let it pass because he'd finally come clean and seemed so hurt over what happened to his world. He seemed so! Fucking! Sincere! But he wasn't! He was still hiding things from us. He strangled her to death! Strangled me! And now you want me to trust our angelic, murderous, teammate!? Because he's your family? No! Fuck you! And fuck him! You, him, and your screwed up family can just go fucking die!"

"Asuka!" Shouted Mari, appalled. Yes, she was mad at Shinji too—furious even—but to wish death upon him and his family? Shinji must have hurt her with this even more than Mari had thought. And that's saying something.

"No, Mari! Just because she wants to play night in shining robot to her alien brother doesn't mean I have to!"

"You think I have forgiven Shinji for his lying? That is an incorrect assumption. I am… angry with him. Very much so. At first, I could understand why he kept everything from us, but that does not mean I was willing to do so again so easily a second time. Shinji has a lot to answer for when this mission is completed, but unlike you… I will not ignore what he's done for us," Rei responds, trying to contain a bubbling rage in the pit of her stomach. It sat in her gut like a flaming seed. She wanted so badly to just let it overtake her and lash out, but she held strong. This feeling was uncomfortable. She did not want to express it to anyone. Not even herself.

"What he's done? What he's done!? Shinji's done jack shit! He's an Angel! A murderer! An awful creature that we'd all be better off without!" Asuka yelled, her hair whipping about in her enraged tirade, making her look more like some raging demoness than an angry fourteen year old girl.

"Asuka!" Shouted Kyoko and the younger red head's mouth clicked shut as her eyes darted down to her controls. She'd Accidentally switched off the private channel in her rage. She didn't notice. None of them did. And even though no one could hear the other pilots, they had definitely heard Asuka. Including Shinji. Her eyes flicked to the monitor, only to be greeted by a blinding flash of light. Her Eva shook as she heard the explosion above ground.

"Shinji came to this place when he didn't have to. To try and save all of our lives at the request of an Angel. He's been fighting this entire time to make sure our world does not suffer the same fate as his own… as incomprehensible as it is, my brother affection for you has never been in question… and he just heard you say we'd be better off without him. I do not care if you're angry at him forever. I do not care how long it will take for all of us to resolve our misgivings with him. But you will apologize when he returns. Or I will hurt you." Rei's words were clipped and to Mari's discomfort they sounded far more like a promise than a threat.

Before Asuka could say anything in Ritsuko gave a startled gasp and told Maya to make sure the data was being properly recorded. Misato demanded to know what was wrong.

"He—Shinji—his sync ratio just!" Ritsuko couldn't even properly form her sentence. She just looked down to her computer, her eyes darting from one bit of data to the next so quickly that Misato worried she'd strain something somehow.

"Just tell us what the hell is going on Ritsuko!" Misato snapped, taking a threatening step towards her friend.

"Shinji's sync ratio with Armaros just blew past four hundred percent. It's still climbing…" was Maya's trembled reply.

Yui screamed, all eyes went to her as she dropped to her knees.

"No! Not… no! Not with that thing! He's not supposed to pass ninety percent! He knows! He promised! He—" she broke off into sobs and back within their Eva's, the pilots watched once more as the smoke from the explosion earlier began to clear.

Lumbering out of the smoke was Armaros, its arms swaying unnatural from side to side with every step it took. There were cracks spider-webbing across its entire body, glowing an angry crimson as if the boundless energy within it wanted nothing more than to break free. Its eyes blazed in the same color and the few purple accents on its body slowly, but surely burned to life. The protruding pieces of armor that were upon its back freaked and groaned as they jerked about, red liquid seeping from what few openings its jerking and shifting had made. With a final twitching groan, the armor on its back clanged heavily to the ground and a pair of sleek, crimson cracked, black wings freed themselves. The wings looked almost mechanical, but moved far too fluidly as they stretched out to be mistaken for anything inorganic as the softly shining ring of yellowish light positioned behind Armaros's head seemed to spark and catch fire, transitioning into the same burning crimson as its eyes, doubling in size.

Rei looked away from the transformation, her eyes finding Asuka. She spoke.

"I will hurt you."

In Central Dogma, Yui sobbed out another "no." As she trembled violently in Kyoko's arms on the floor.

Above ground, Armaros came to a sudden stop. Steam poured out of its gaping maw riddled with sharp teeth. A growl built up from the very center of its chest.

And then it threw its head back and roared.

The silence that swept over everything afterwards was deafening.

XXX

And that's the chapter! Hoping this was to everyone's liking. With this, the "mega-chapter" (and arc I guess) known as The Sound of Silence has officially begun. Leave some reviews for me, yeah? I'd love to hear from you all.

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