(This is set before death to light and sorry all those who read death to light and were confused this short story should set things right. And as for spelling and grammar blame it on my shitty proof reader! (Annoying sisters, where can we sell them when we want to get rid of them?) Got a new one now so should be no mistakes.)
(Beach side of Tokyo-3)
"Aww shit, my head." Said one Shinji Ikari.
"Where am I." He said.
Shinji was lying on the ground in his black pants and white shirt. He was looking at the sky; it was dark and silent except for the sounds of the crashing waves.
"Eva, mother, father, Rei, Asuka." He thought
He slowly got up, his head pounding as he started to recollect everything that happened before and in 3rd impact.
He sat up and started to look around for anything that could help, or needed help. As he scanned the area his eyes fell on unconscious figure, lying on the floor.
He started to make out her features. "Red hair, smooth frame, foreign face, Asuka."
He willed his body to move; he tried to stand but failed so he resorted to crawling. As he got nearer Asuka, he saw that she had bandages around right her arm and left eye.
"Asuka" He said mostly to himself.
However, she responded with a moan of pain and discomfort. Her Eyes started to roll open. Her eyes first landed on the sky in a dreamed state, and then she turned her face towards Shinji. Her face contorted into a scowl, showing distaste and disgust.
"Disgusting" She said with venom.
At these words he recoiled, shocked at what she said. He quickly shook his head and started to reach out to her.
"Asuka…"
"Don't touch me!" She raged, jerking her arm back to herself.
Shinji gave a confused expression at how she acted towards him.
"Asu-"
"Shut up, stay away from me!" She demanded, using all her uninjured limbs to pull herself away from the boy.
Shinji watched her go back and then slumped back. He was about to speak again until a shout came in.
"HEY!" Someone yelled.
Asuka and Shinji turned to the owner of the voice. It was a man in his late twenties to early thirties.
"Do you need some help?" He asked them.
Asuka turned to Shinji, and gave a glare to him before turning back to the man and waving her hand at him. The man came over with what looked like a make shift stretcher. It appeared to be made out of folded chairs and a bed sheet.
He came over and kneeled down by Asuka. Nodding to himself over her injuries, he raised his hand to someone in the distances. The signaled person came over and then they both carefully put Asuka on the makeshift stretcher.
They started to lift her up, but then the first one who called out to them asked...
"What about you?" He asked
Shinji was about to reply, but Asuka cut him off
"Leave him. He's a liability. He can't take care of himself, and besides, he'll just slow us down." She answered for him.
He looked at her before looking to the floor in shame, of what he didn't know he felt he should. The man asked Shinji again. But he shook his head, still looking at the floor.
The men hesitated before Asuka gave a moan of pain on purpose or naturally was unclear, but it edged them to go.
They got up and started to walk away with Asuka on the stretcher. He turned around and said to him...
"Just in case, there is a shelter not to far from here. Just head left and keep walking. It's a big campsite so you can't miss it. Well, see ya and good luck." He said before walking off with Asuka, who had fallen asleep.
He listened as there footsteps left his ears. He sat there in his own self depression. He was trying not to cry over her reaction and what she just said to him.
At first he though Asuka was just mad at someone else, or hopefully the MP Eva's. But he did not expect it would be on him.
…Well…except the odd berating, but not…fear...
"…Asuka…" He said with sadness.
"Come here…"
"Huh?"
He turned towards the sea and could see something in the distances. The Giant Rei disappeared ages ago, not even the LCL wasn't there.
He squinted his eyes in the direction. For some unknown reason, he could not fathom. He started to walk in the supposed direction of the…voice.
He started to move into the water, his eyes fixed on the large figure. He kept going till he was shoulder deep in the water.
He slowed to a stop. His eyes stayed on it knowing what it was as soon as he entered the water.
"…Eva…"
It was Eva-01 with its eight golden wings. Still its mouth was loose and seemed to be non-active.
Shinji stared at it for a while, and then said…
"…Did…did you call me?" He asked.
No response.
He floated there for ages.
He sighed, and then turned around to swim away
"Come to me…"
He whirled round staring at Eva-01 for awhile. He then started to swim up close to the Eva, but not to close.
"Hello?" He called.
"Pilot me…"
He looked around, confirming no one else was there.
"How?" He asked.
"Synch with me…"
He stared at Eva, still trying to convince himself he still wasn't in Instrumentality.
"But I'm not in the plug."
"So, try and focus the way you do normally…"
He debated whether to trust the voice or not, but after some thought he shrugged. He could feel a mental pull towards the Eva like a gateway to Synch with the Eva.
He tried to feel what the Eva felt. It was not as strong as being in the Eva itself, but it was still there. Instead of feeling wet shoulders, he felt wetness from the waist down. He could feel something, almost like extra limbs coming out of his back.
"Lift yourself on to me…"
He took his focus on the feeling of wings to his hand, willing the left hand to move. He closed his eyes, willing himself to see what the Eva sees. He could see himself in the water. He willed the Eva's left arm to move and pick him up, and place him on the Eva's right shoulder.
"Good…"
He walked to the hatch where the plug was. He grabbed a handle that was pushed into the Eva, pulled it out, turned it 180 degrees and pushed it back into the integrated handle-dent.
With a hiss, a compartment opened up and slid out the entry-plug. Going on pure impulse Shinji entered the Eva and closed the plug. Once inside, LCL started to flood in. Once it was up to his neck, he expelled out all the air in his lungs. Once the LCL was past his forehead he breathed in the angel blood and held it for a couple of seconds before slowly letting it out.
The start up sequence soon began. Once finished, Shinji decided to get to the bottom of this voice. He tried to talk mentally.
"Hello?"
"Yes…"
"Are you Eva?"
"Yes, however I prefer you call me by my real name…"
"…which is?"
"Tezum!"
"…Ten-some?"
"TEZUM!"
"Damn your loud!"
It gave low growl at his comment. He could feel the vibration through the plug.
"So I'm guessing you're not my mother, right? So do you know where she is, or went to or…is she even alive?"
"Well, I know she left here long ago when she forced herself to co-exists together with me, much to my aggravation! But as to where she is…well… she's sort of the manager of the reunion…"
"Reunion?"
"Purgatory cleansing fantasy instrumentality, or whatever you people call it. She sorts of…supervises it so to speak…"
"…I see…"
Shinji thought what Tezum said over in his head for awhile, grasping the fact that there was still an Instrumentality still going on.
"Why can't I see the red orb in the sky anymore?"
"It's there, you just can't see it. Humans can't see it. Only angels and Barron's can see it…"
"Barron's? You mean Eva?"
"Yes…Eva. Speaking of which there are some other Barron's around here…"
"You mean the UM Eva's?"
The Eva growled in disgust.
"Those mock ups of a Barron, kyuta no…"
"…Kyuta?"
"Uh, Barron swearing heh..".
"Oh, so is it like 00 and 02?"
"Yeah, if you want to call them that…".
"Well, what's their names?"
"Azreil, the red one. The blue one is Zikia."
(NERV)
"Huh?"
A figure started to stir from its leaning position, by an elevator door. It was definitely female, with purple hair, a red jacket, and a black skirt. It was Misato Katsuragi. She straightened her position against the wall, and brought her hand to her head.
She stayed in that position, sorting out her thoughts.
She thought she was dead. She then quickly reached for her side. Nothing was there. No bullet wound. Nothing.
Misato soon heard groans from her side. She looked up to JSSDF soldiers along with NERV personnel as well.
Once everyone's wits got back to them, they stared at each other with fear, and resolution.
Sensing the tension in the halls, she got up and went to a side panel, then pressing her finger on the comms.
"This is Major Katsuragi of NERV. We request an immediate ceasefire," She said over the speakers.
Silence stood for awhile. Then, a JSSDF solider grabbed the radio hanging from his chest pocket, and signaled in, spreading the word to cease fire and pull out. The soldiers started to pull out and Misato started to make her way to the command center.
Upon reaching the command bridge, she saw that the place was pretty much undamaged. She made her way to the three bridge bunnies, and Maya was the first to address her.
"Misato, what should we do? Both commanders are missing along with Ritsuko." She said, panicking.
"Maya, calm down." Misato said, and then turned to the other two.
"Try and reestablish communications with all personnel, get an update on the situation out there. Also, once stability is sort-of restored, send a search party to find the commanders and Ritsuko." She commanded them.
The two males nodded and went to their terminals, and Maya hesitated before going to hers.
Misato sighed before picking up an over turned chair and sitting on it. She sat there, contemplating on what happened before she awoke. She mauled this over for what seemed like an eternity. However, Maya soon pulled her out of her thoughts.
"Major, Eva 01 is active." She stated.
"Give me a link to the Eva." She commanded.
A few seconds later, a screen came up with Shinji in the middle. He glanced at the screen, then down then realization appeared on his face, and looked back up to the screen with a smile.
"Hey Misato!" He exclaimed in joy, thankful that his guardian was not dead.
"Hey Shinji…um…what's the status over there?" She asked.
Shinji looked around giving some thought to her question before answering.
"Well, I'm fine. And in the Eva…um, the other Eva's, unit 00 and 02 are close by. My Eva has wings…um I'm in the ocean…unit 02 seems fully repaired along with 00. And…the Eva can talk"
There was a long pause of silence in the control room.
"What?" Misato asked, wondering if she heard him right.
"Well…it can talk to me mentally anyway, through synchronization and no it's not my mother." He answered.
"Ooookkaay…well are the other pilots in the Eva's?"
"Um…, well Asuka was injured and was taken to a medical center. However, I'm not to sure if Rei is in hers" He said.
"Okay. Well try to get link to her if you can, and then move 02 to an open hangar or by NERV." Misato said to him.
Shinji sighed before flicking off.
"It's hard to be in command…"