I
never really care what really happened to me. Maybe a bus
would hit me. Maybe a train would kill me. Maybe I
would die by some terminal disease. I just didn't care
anymore. I was never really taught the meaning of Death,
correctly. I just never was. Maybe I'll learn today,
as this chamber smells like blood and that monster roars throughout
the city of Tokyo-3. I have never smelt so much blood like this. It
was like I was in a slaughterhouse. Again though, I do not know the
meaning of death, of true pain probably. When my father left me, I
stood strong and hateful. I was apathetic. Just recently have I
realized what he truly done to me and that was just leave me there,
on the corner of a Tokyo-2 street, just look back at him, with
apathy, like he left me with apathy. However, I seen true
pain… And that was in those steel crimson eyes.
"Huh?" She turned back, opening her eyes again, like she just woke up from sleeping. She was doing that again, mulling in her thoughts.
"I said follow me to the cockpit." Ritsuko almost rolled her eyes at this. Talking was so troublesome at times, like in these kinds of situations, these kinds of states of panic. Any second, the Angel could strike down to NERV and destroy them all. "If you want to fight, come with me."
Rei remembered. She remembered how her legs betrayed her and she went to dive to that boy, saving him from falling debris like that. She couldn't understand what, how and why that happened. Why did she do that? Was her mind playing tricks?
She didn't bother now. She instead followed the blond doctor to wherever they were going.
Ritsuko lead Rei straight to the chamber of the Eva and simply waved her hand into the direction of the cockpit. Now, this was up to Rei.
The
White Moon Project Arc 1: Genesis
"Rei's bio-signatures are well. Her heart rate is stable and her alpha-beta waves are stable as well." One of the personnel, Maya Ibuki, informed.
"And her synch-rate is?"
"It's surprising. Her synchronization rate is 56%!" Another male personnel said at his station.
Ritsuko herself was amazed. 'That's even greater than the Second Child's or Shinji's… This will work.'"Will this work?" Kaji said, almost rhetorically.
"Of course. Everything is up us now." Gendo spoke, with a frigid edge, holding determination.
Kaji nodded and turned back to Rei, smiling gently. "How's it's going, Rei?"
"Okay, so far." Rei said, silently.
"Admitting Link Connect Liquid into cockpit." Maya said, hitting a single key.
"Huh?" Rei said and then, she saw orange-red liquid flooding into the chamber. "What the hell?!" She panicked at the liquid, reaching to her chin. She quickly held her breath in, her cheeks puffing out exaggerating. Finally, when she couldn't hold in anymore, she let go of her breath, submitting to her inevitable de-
'Wait, I can breathe?' She was confused. 'Isn't overflowing your lungs with liquid like this suppose to be extremely harmful?'
Kaji finally broke out in a wild laugh, looking at Rei's fearful state turn to a confused perplexed one.
Ritsuko cleared her throat. "Relax, Rei. The liquid just helps your lungs out receive oxygen much better. Given the closed space, oxygen cannot be brought in constantly. Also, the Link Connect Liquid can cushion blows inflicted on you."
"Now you understand?" Kaji said, stopping his chuckling. "Alright, how you feel now?"
"It… taste strange. It taste like… blood." She said, sniffing the chamber and then crumpling her nose in disgust. "It even smells like blood."
Ritsuko frowned and said, "Just ignore it, Rei. Right now, concentrate on feeling the Eva."
"Feeling the Eva?" Rei was even more confused. "How do I do that?"
"The Evangelion is a bio-mechanical weapon that is built on your movements." Kaji offered an explanation based on his (limited at best) knowledge on the robot. "The more your synchronization rate goes up, the more you can feel the Eva. See those handles in the cockpit? Those handles help you move also but the most powerful 'handles' is your mind. If you concentrate on a thought, you practically can do anything. Got it, Rei?"
Ritsuko grinned. "Nice explanation, Mr. Ryouji."
Kaji smirked back, impressed himself at what he said.
"Ah." Rei's most intelligent comment rang out through the chamber after Kaji's little explanation, as the LCL came to her knees. 'So, if I walk, it walks, right?'
"Rei, we're going to launch you out to the battlefield now. Prepare yourself." Ritsuko said, nodding to the personnel controlling the launch.
"Launch commencing in 3…"
Rei stared up; she unconsciously made the Eva's head do the same.
"Launch commencing in 2…"
Rei held onto the handles tightly. Kaji himself had anxiousness on his face, with sweat dripping down his skull.
"Launch commencing in 1…"
Rei closed her eyes and prepared herself.
"Everything's a-go!" The man said, behind the computer.
"Launch!" Kaji yelled.
And the elevator went up, flying at high speeds with blue sparks flying from its tracked rails. Rei felt herself move up and up, releasing that breath from her lungs.
She was now going to fight that monster.
---
When she approached the surface, night shimmered through the skies, with the tall buildings hiding stars. Rei's Eva stood, looking straightforward at the streets and the Angel's rampage in the background. Rei looked, looking at the screen which she heard Kaji's and Ritsuko's voices pour out. "What do I do now?"
"Try to walk. Remember, concentrate." Ritsuko asked, stressing the word but being as gentle as she could, even though it was evident of that anxiousness and fear climbing in her throat.
The Angel was unpredictable and they hardly knew what it was capable of.
"Okay." Rei said, trying to think on walking.
Rei smiled greatly when a foot rose and she moved about an inch. However, the Eva clumsily fell down at that, crushing a few cars and trees along the way. Rei's smile was quickly wiped off her face when she felt an uncomfortable pain rise in her belly. She grunted. 'So, I feel what the Eva feels? I guess the downside of it was pain.' However, like real-life falling, the pain wasn't too presentable or even ceaselessly. She got up, after concentrating on it.
However, when she fell down, it raised the interest and then panic in the Angel. The Angel stalked behind a building, 180-ing to the Eva. Rei looked back at the Angel and gasped as the Angel jumped at her. She unconsciously ripped her hands from the controls and thought about putting her hands up to protect herself.
It worked.
When Rei realized this, when the Angel bounce off her, she quickly thought about kicking the Angel (and retaining her balance at that). She almost smiled grimly when the leg did go up and kick at the Angel.
The males and females in the Command were amazed at that. "And to think, Shinji couldn't even do that." Kaji said, subconsciously to himself. However, Ritsuko heard it and dumbly nodded herself.
Behind his perched, folded hands, Gendo Ikari smiled and said, "Perfect…"
The older man behind him, Kozo Fuyutsuki, nodded also.
"Sir!" A technician addressed Kaji. "Rei's synchronization just jumped 10 points. She's at 60% now."
Kaji grinned. 'She's even better at this than Shinji was in his training. Go Rei!'
Rei looked back at the stunned Angel, like it wasn't anticipating that Rei would do that, like Rei could do that. Rei quickly caught onto to this and ran at the Angel, crying a war cry out. The Angel realized it too late and was head-butted into a nearby building, being gorged by the horned head of the Eva. A bluish fluid, looking like blood to Rei, came out the newly wounded Angel and it cried in anguish.
Rei raised a fist at the downed Angel but gasped as she felt the Angel jump up and grabbed her arm.
The Angel took it and added pressure to it. Realizing what the Angel was trying to do, Rei wrestled back but to no success as the Angel's grip seem to get stronger. Finally, she felt pain, bloody pain. It was so much pain, that she could cry.
And so she did.
When they heard Rei's holler, they all flinched, all except one. Kaji yelled back, "Rei, calm down, it's not real pain!"
'You fucking liar! You said whatever the Eva feels, I feel! Well, that monster just broke Eva's arm usually when you break somebody's arm, that somebody would feel PAIN!! GUESS WHAT I'M FEELING NOW?!!'
Rei's head swelled as she felt her arm. It didn't look like her arm was broken but it was.
"Damage critical on arm!" Maya screamed out.
Rei tried raising herself, despite the pain, but she couldn't. The Angel twisted its lithe but immensely strong right arm onto Eva's head and lifted Rei. She felt herself dangle now and screamed more in pain, as pressure was added to her head. The Angel, almost smirked, finally let go, to let her feel the harshness of an uppercut, smacking her in the chin.
Rei was thrown into a crushing three-flipped fall until falling down on Unit 01's cheek. Rei's whole face throbbed violently as she landed on the ground, face first.
"Damage severe!" Somebody said out the screen in the cockpit of the Eva. She couldn't hear who exactly said it. It could have been Ritsuko, Kaji or any other personnel but Rei was too busy trying to pick herself up. When she successfully did, she almost fell back because of the pain that was almost everywhere. Her legs, her head, her left arm, they were burning and that pain reached throughout the body somehow, reaching into her torso and her other arm.
She moved and it proved to be a bad mistake.
The Angel's eyes glimmered, flickering brightly and out came the hollowness that was its "eyes", came an orangey blast of heat, almost… nuclear, Kaji noticed. Suddenly, his eyes watered in shock and remembered quickly how to talk. "Rei, watch out!"
Rei took another step and a blast came out its eyes, running across the ground and finally hitting its target: Unit 01.
Rei could only hear the shouts and cries of her name when she went down.
---
She woke up, looking around in the white room. She quickly sat up and clutched herself in pain. Quick motion, but she didn't remember that a pain went inside her. She didn't cry this time, she didn't cry.
Rei Ikari fell back to her bed and just looked up. "Unfamiliar ceiling."
---
"So, how's she doing?" Kaji said, almost bleakly at Ritsuko, as he stood himself up at the wall, one leg on the ground.
"You know, that the third time you asked me that, Kaji." She said, at her desk, now finding the computer more interesting than answer him. She sipped at her coffee, enjoying the bitterness of it.
"Just tell me, already." Kaji sighed.
"She's fine. The doctors said she's recovering fast. For someone who endured pain like that, she's recovering quickly. Perhaps LCL is still in her system." She joked lightly.
Kaji seemed satisfied with the answer and no longer spoke on the subject, until Ritsuko integrated it again. "You know, I never seen you worry over a woman, not even over all the girlfriends you had over the time or Misato."
Kaji had the decency to blush at that. "H-Hey, it ain't like that. I mean… I feel kind of guilty letting her get into the Eva, you know?"
"Listen don't be. If anything, you should be proud. She fought and she survived. She helped us."
"But she didn't even have training. Shinji did and he got defeated easily." Kaji said, almost frustrated. "I don't get it. Her synch-rate was higher than I would think and she performed better than I thought. "
"Yes, it's a mystery but you really think anybody would care?" Ritsuko said, not bother to look into Kaji's perplexed eyes.
"Yeah," He conceded. "You're right. Those sheep down there wouldn't give a flying damn, especially the Commander." He said, whispering the last part.
Ritsuko nodded accordingly. "Just go visit her, Kaji."
"Hmm," He thought of it. "I will… As soon as I'm done with that insufferable paperwork."
"Stop using that paperwork as an excuse. Go. Visit her." She turned to him and offered a smile. 'I'll cover for your ass, again."
Kaji grinned. "Just like in college."
"Just like in college." She repeated, grinning also.
Kaji made his way to the door. "Hey Rits?"
"Yeah?" She said, still staring at his back.
"Thanks."
"No problem, Kaji."
He left without hearing her say, "Any time, Kaji-kun."
---
Rei looked, almost bored as she sat in the room. It's been two days and she hasn't seen anyone familiar. Those doctors came in, smiling friendly and then left with haste. She thought about the battle and how she feared that she had indeed lost to that monster.
So, her bravado was all talk and no action, huh?
She sighed. "They probably don't want me. My father probably thinks I'm useless." She thought, bitterly, of her father. "I think I can't wait until I leave."
"Yep, you will, kiddo."
And Rei, looking up, stared back at Kaji's unshaven face. "Did ya miss me?"
Although he was two days late, she smiled greatly.
---
"How's the arm?" He said, as he walked beside the girl.
She nodded at his question. "It's fine, getting better. There still pain but nothing too big."
He nodded and smiled, rubbing her hair. "You did good."
"Huh? I did?"
"You don't remember, do you?"
"…No." She admitted easily.
Kaji smiled. "You defeated the Angel."
"I don't remember that." She said truthfully.
"Well, you did." Kaji said, finality climbing in his throat.
She accepted this, although she was still confused at it. "…Do you have my bag?"
"Your duffle bag?" He vaguely remembered the mustard-y colored bag. "No, I don't. I think Dr. Akagi has it. I'll check with her."
"Could you get it now?" She asked.
"Well, you did just get checked out. Maybe we could drop there. But first, I want to show you something."
"Okay?" Rei said, confusion coming back, again. "What?"
Kaji winked. "It's a secret, kid. I ain't going to tell you until we get there."
"Fine." She said, almost like she was pouting.
Kaji grinned and took her out to his car. "Let's go."
---
"I can see what you wanted to show me now." Rei said, staring at what he wanted to show her.
They were on a hill, on the surface of battle-scarred Tokyo-3, looking at the orangey-skies as the sun danced its last dance in the clouds and in the skies. The wind tickled her amicably and for once, she stood with a genuine smile, looking at the placid beauty of a war-torn city.
"It gets better." Kaji smiled. "Any second now."
And with Kaji's prediction, building came up out the
ground, taking away the ripped and destroyed buildings and putting up
new and improved ones.
"Oh wow!" was Rei's comment on
this.
"Yep. This is Tokyo-3, the city you saved."
Kaji talked with such confidence in his mouth. However, Rei frowned and said inwardly, 'No… I didn't save this place. Somebody else did and I know it's not me.'
---
Ritsuko looked at him with a crooked eyebrow as they both walked through the walls of NERV. "You took her in?"
"Yep." He said simply, not a expression much on his face. "Hey, you want some coffee?"
Ritsuko ignored his question and repeated hers. "You took her in?"
"Uh yeah? I really don't see the problem here, Rits."
"Kaji… that's not really appropriate." She said, dryly. "Oh and yes please, let's get some coffee."
"Why isn't it appropria – what kind?"
"Black, no sugar, just a little bit of milk." She said. "And of course it isn't appropriate! You're a grown-ass man and that's a little-ass girl!"
"Ritsuko… please." Kaji said, with a frown deep on his face. "I'm no ephebophile now. I already have woman troubles."
"Probably because of your immense flirting." Ritsuko muttered.
Kaji smiled. "You have no problem when I flirt with you."
"T-That never happens!" Ritsuko yelled at his stupidity
Kaji laughed as he reached for the coffee stand. "Oh my god! Are you blushing like a schoolgirl? I thought we're adults here, not children anymore."
"You sure as hell act like it, even when we were in Intermediate school together." She said, sneering at his direction as he finished making his coffee.
Kaji pouted but still, he went on to pass her coffee and drink his drink. "Listen, if it so much of a problem of Rei living with me now, you can…come live with us!!" Kaji suggested.
Ritsuko glared. "Shut up."
"Come on! We can be roomies again, like in the old days – in our college days!" Kaji said, sipping at his drink. "You know you can't resist."
"Thanks but no thanks. I think I like it back in my apartment." Ritsuko said dully at him.
"Aw well, suit yourself. It must be fascinating living with cats anyway." He said, trying to sound jealous at the cats that lived in Ritsuko's apartment.
"It is." Ritsuko played into his game, sounding serious.
"You never show me any love anymore!" He sounded, almost sobbing. "You rather play with your cats instead of me!"
"Kaji, stop it already." She rubbed her temples. "God, you're worst than Misato."
"Well, at least I don't show up drunk to work, half-naked like she was." Kaji grumbled. "That girl seriously took on too many guys looking at her."
"Jealous?" Ritsuko smirked.
Kaji's face lit up a little red but he succumbed it. "Shut up."
Ritsuko finally laughed at his expense.
Kaji sighed. "You know, it was a simply task of retrieving that damn duffle bag from your office and what we get to? Me being teased of once having a drunkard of a girlfriend."
"Hey, you suggested the coffee." Ritsuko held up her foam cup as her proof.
---
End.
A/N: The end was a little funny omake-like thing to light up the tense in Evangelion. This chapter was obviously NOT perfect. Nothing is as good as the first chapter but to all who bared it, thanks. This chapter really wasn't really focused on the fight with Sachiel. It's because I'm not good at making fighting scenes long, so I added Ritsuko and Kaji's little talks. They are fun to do, because I think it would be interesting seeing the two of them interact. They don't do much of that in the Anime or Manga. Heck, I might input a minor pairing of them or put a triangle between Ritsuko, Kaji and Misato.
Still, some of the things that Shinji did it the Anime will be exactly what Rei does and some of them won't be exactly what Rei does. Unlike in the anime/manga, I know Shinji couldn't even do the things Rei does in this chapter against Sachiel but I decided that Rei is a little more determined that Shinji was.
Anyway, up next is Rei's first day in school and it might not turn out as she might think it would be.
Don't forget to review now!!