Greg Upchurch Aright v 1.1 - a Neon Genesis Evangelion fanfiction by: Quatragonal Limited Productions Design and planning: Designer-Planner ~ Mien Diem ~ miendiem@hotmail.com Writing: Author ~ Mien Diem Revising / Editing Revisionist ~ Mien Diem Test Readers: (none) Surprised? ________________________________________________________________________ "Yea! I get to try one of these things all by myself. This isn't Argon. This isn't the beginning of the long-awaited Nerv Omake Theatre. This is just something I whipped up in my spare time. We all know who owns the rights to Eva, but I don't think they'll blame me. Still, I don't own these characters, so yes, I am knowingly treading on a copyright infringement against Anno-san, Gainax, and ADVision, who has the rights to release the series in America. Anyway ... I don't know if I want to make this a one-shot deal or make a short series out of it. It'll start with the attack of Zeruel, but things will start differently and proceed differently. Yeah, I know all my fics so far have started with episode 19. I just can't help it. It's a useful starting point. If there are any huge Asuka fans in the audience, you may want to quit on this fic now. If there is anyone in the audience who can't stand someone pushing a Shinji x Rei thing, I know you want to quit on this fic now. Of course, if you're in it just because you like my writing (which would astonish me) you can go right ahead. Other than that, I don't feel the need to warn anyone about the things that will occur in this fic. Que sirrah sirrah. One other thing. This isn't intended to be long like Argon. This is going to be a short. I estimate about five pages, maybe more, maybe less. It's supposed to be a quick read, and not as dark as Argon. Of course ... I won't guarantee that, since I know what's going to happen and you don't. Suffice it to say, though, that the end will be ... not my usual style. [don't worry, I still don't do lemons. No one's asked me to try, and until someone does, I'm not even gonna consider it.] However, until the end will be recognizable as me. If you're incredibly attached to Rei, you may hate me for what I'm going to do in this fic, but that's no longer my concern. Well, let's get going, "cause I'm running out of things to rant about." ~ Mien Diem _______________________________________________________________________ "We have an unidentified intruder in Tokyo-3 airspace, Major," Makoto said calmly. "It just broke the first defense line!" Shigeru yelled. On the screen, the 14th Angel blasted straight through the defense line and kept floating slowly along, edging close to Tokyo-3 with every passing second. "The outer defensive perimeter has been breached," Makoto stated. "Its AT Field is inactive. Present pattern is orange," Maya said. "But our weapons are still having no effect," Shigeru droned. "Where's Asuka?" Misato asked. "She's on her way, as is Rei," Makoto replied. Zeruel blasted away the second and third defensive perimeters with equal ease, and floated over Tokyo-3. Not ten seconds later, the Angel unleashed an energy blast that brought down several buildings and destroyed several layers of armor. "We lost half of our armor in that blast!" Makoto yelled. Zeruel fired again, clearing a path directly into the Geofront. Down in Central Dogma, the Eva cages were a flurry of activity. Asuka had arrived, and was busy suiting up and being loaded into her Eva. Outside, Zeruel floated right on into the exposed Geofront as though it were an old home long-since left. As the Angel touched down inside, Evangelion 02 popped up out of a launch tunnel, rifle in hand. Asuka came up shooting, but the bullets bounced harmlessly off of Zeruel's tough skin. "Passively-projected AT Fields are too strong for projectile weapons," Ritsuko said aloud. Those were the last words Asuka heard in that fight. Her next memory was of the Angel sending its whip-like arms towards her Eva ... "Unit 02 is damaged. Direct hit to the head. It can't continue combat," Makoto yelled. "Is Rei ready to go?" Misato asked. "Unit 01 is refusing the connection," Maya said. "Send Rei out in Unit 00," Gendo commanded. "Reload Unit 01 with a Dummy Plug and prepare to activate." "Too late!" Ritsuko yelled as Central Dogma rattled. "The Angel's inside Central Dogma!" Shigeru called. "Presently descending toward ... oh my God! It's coming _here_!" "Connection made with Evangelion Unit 00," Maya yelled over the confusion. "Rei is ready to go." Suddenly, Zeruel burst through the wall opposite the command center, in a literal attempt at bringing down the house. The Angel floated its way closer to the platform, literally staring the bridge crew in the face. Everyone backed away, except Maya, who was cowering under her chair. Then, just as the Angel's eyes were lighting up above that stone-gray grin, Unit 00 came in from the Angel's right and uppercutted it squarely on the jaw. ********** Shinji, in the midst of the confusion, had headed for the Geofront and Nerv. Unbeknownst to him, the Angel was about to become an almost secondary concern for Nerv. ********** Still in the command center, Zeruel was now looking up at the commander of Nerv, Gendo Ikari. This would not have been at all worrisome except for the fact that the Angel was about to release a blast of energy. Seconds later, everything seemed to freeze. Unit 00 was grappling with the Angel with its one good arm, the bridge crew was scrambling towards the exits, Fuyutsuki was hidden in the recesses of the commander's area, and Gendo was at his table. Well, that is, what was left of Gendo was at four sawed off legs of what used to be a table. The energy blast kept traveling, only to be stopped by the bottom armor plate between the Geofront and Tokyo-3. However, it had seen through its course. Rei continued the battle, her back to the scene which had transpired. Still connected to power, she managed to down the attacking Angel, and proceeded to beat on its S^2 unit with whatever was available, including fallen pieces of infrastructure, and basically everything non-living with the exception of a progressive knife and a few larger weapons. Finally, through nothing more than perseverance, the Angel's S^2 unit blackened and died. ********** There was bad news awaiting Rei when her Eva was caged and the entry plug ejected and the LCL removed. It seemed to her an unusual amount of people to greet her at her exit from the plug, to say nothing of the cross-section of Nerv represented at the gathering. The Third Child(ren), the one called Ikari by her, was there, though hidden in the larger crowd. The normal smattering of Eva technicians was there, not at all unusual, as someone had to oversee maintenance to the Evas after a battle or a drill. However, these were not the people of interest. Standing at the fore were the sub-commander of Nerv, Kozo Fuyutsuki, and Dr. Ritsuko Akagi, chairperson of Project E, Tech. Division 1. Behind them were the main bridge staff, Makoto Hyuuga, Shigeru Aoba, and Maya Ibuki, with Major Misato Katsuragi standing between them. Behind the faces she knew were various other Nerv personnel, all heads hung in an observing silence. "What?" Rei asked, suspicious of all the eyes upon her. "Rei ..." Ritsuko began. "Commander Ikari is d..." Fuyutsuki tried to finish for her, but found he could not. No one brought the final word to their lips. However, it proved not to be necessary. Rei took one look at the faces assembled before her, and knew what their message was. Her `father', the man who had created her, the supreme commander of Nerv, Gendo Ikari, was dead. Without waiting for another word or action on the part of anyone, she walked through their midst, no emotion showing on her face, straight for the pilot's changing area. ********** Shinji could not find anything terribly amiss in Nerv after that announcement. He sat in the Third Cage, staring vacantly at Evangelion Unit 01. "Well, mom ... if you're in there ... you already know what happened," Shinji said softly. He neither saw nor heard as a figure walked up behind him. "Ikari," it hissed. Shinji literally jumped. He whirled about and saw Rei standing behind him, tears having fallen down onto her school uniform. "Ayanami?" he asked, completely unused to seeing Rei exhibit emotion. Her face seemed to say it all to him. She felt that she was responsible for what had happened to his father. In a way, he guessed, she might be right. What came next shocked him, both mentally and physically. "Your fault," Rei said simply, following with a slap that turned Shinji's head. ********** After this transpired, Rei stalked off, and Shinji, too numbed by the experiences of the day, didn't follow. Instead, he sat back on the floor and stared up into the eyes of Eva Sho Gouki in dumb amazement. He knew what Asuka would have to say about all this. "If Wonder Child can exhibit feelings," she would say, "then anything is possible." He began to wonder what unfortunate consequences could abound were she right. Shinji sat and wondered about many things, and finally extracted himself from his sitting position four hours later. Fighting stiff joints, Shinji made his way out of the Eva cage and down the narrow hallway that connected it with the rest of Nerv. For some reason, which he found himself unable to explain, Shinji Ikari found himself drawn towards the command center. He made his way there slowly, questioning why he was doing so every step of the way down the metallic hall. The door to Nerv Command & Control opened with a soft hiss, allowing Shinji access to the main "bridge" of Nerv's operations. He walked in softly, peering around. The place looked to be deserted at first glance, except for the body of the dead Angel lying below the observation deck. However, at the second pass of his eyes over the room, Shinji noticed that something was, indeed, amiss. Standing alone, at the rim of the observation deck, was none other than Rei Ayanami. "Rei?" he asked, unsure. "Stay there," came the soft reply. "But, I ..." Shinji trailed off. He followed Rei's gaze up above the main command center to the area where his father regularly resided. Rather, he looked at what was left of that area. The lip of the upper observatory had been ripped neatly off and atomized, leaving nothing. In the space that remained, Shinji could see the remnants of a desk, and nothing more beyond. "I ..." he started, but found he could form no words. Instead, Shinji found himself thinking of the man that he thought he hated, his father. That man had drug him from a home and `family' that he knew and dumped him in a skyscraper-tall robot to pilot against equally tall and strong beings known only as "Angels". Yet, despite all of this, Shinji found that he could no longer bring himself to hate his father in the same way. Certainly, the man had his own goals in mind, but then, everyone did. And it was just as unfair to him to have his hopes and dreams cut short by death as it was for anyone. Coming to this realization, Shinji found that, perhaps, he and his father did share something. In the end, Eva was all that they had. It was then that another thought struck him. No one else was around. Even for late at night, this was uncommon. However, he had taken it for granted until now ... When he realized why it must be. Rei must have been so insistent that everyone had literally given up and left. While it didn't seem at all normal, it was the only conclusion that Shinji could find that possibly fit the facts of what now _was_. He stood there in the doorway for quite some time, observing the scene along with Rei. However, he knew this would do nothing in the end. So it was up to him to create a plan. One death of someone he knew was _more_ than enough, after all. Finally, pulling on nothing but instinct, Shinji began talking. "What happened here today wasn't your fault, Rei ... and it wasn't mine either," he started, taking a step closer to Rei. For her part, Rei continued looking up at the ruined upper observation deck and seemed not to notice. However, Shinji knew that she heard him, so he continued. "All we can fault for this is bad luck and worse timing. If that Angel hadn't attacked today, or even that soon, none of this would've happened," Shinji added. "How so?" she asked, masking a sob. "Maybe if I'd been here this wouldn't have happened. Maybe I could've beat the Angel all by myself and we never would've let it see inside of Nerv. Maybe I could've even beat it skyside. No one knows. It's all just idle speculation. We can't deal with the `maybe's and the `what if' s any more. All we know is what happened, and it wasn't your fault. You were just doing your job, and something completely out of your control happened. There was no way you could have known, in the heat of battle, that your action would have produced that result," Shinji replied, making his way steadily closer. "You may be right," she agreed slowly, never taking her eyes from the commander's area. "And even if I'm not, you still didn't intend it. You didn't do what you did on purpose. You wouldn't kill him if you could ... not any more than I would. Only in the heat of anger would I think to do that," Shinji continued. "I know," she agreed. "But I still caused this." By this time, Shinji was standing quite close to Rei, keeping silent as she watched the floor above. Then, before she knew what had happened, Shinji caught hold of her and pulled her to the ground by the arm. Rei, caught by surprise, made an immediate attempt to pull away, but Shinji, thinking faster and further ahead, wrapped her up in a wordless embrace, refusing to let go. She pulled against his grip for a good long time, speaking softly, reciting as if a mantra, the words, "I want to die. Let me die. I'll be replaced; I don't want to remember this. If I die, they won't make me remember this. Please ... just let me die." Shinji, for his part, remained wordless, and simply held her fast. After ten minutes or so of active resistance, Rei relented in her attempts to pull away. A surprised and unprepared Shinji quickly found himself seated on the ground with a sobbing Rei Ayanami in his lap. Silently, she reached up and circled her arms around his middle, staying there without a word. Laying a hand in her hair, smoothing it gently, Shinji whispered words of reassurance and hope ... ________________________________________________________________________ "There. I hope everyone was pleased with what I managed to put together on my own. This was a one-night deal, and took me about four hours along with everything else I was doing to put together. In other words, no one else put any revision or otherwise into this piece of Evangelion fiction. I'd love to get comments and stuff on it, to see what changes I could make before I put it up on my page and get it put up on a few other pages I know who would want it. Thanks a lot, and I'll be around." ~ Mien Diem