Tom This is "Walls of our own making," the first fanfic that I've gone public with. It's set just outside of the Evangelion timeframe... read it twice to get the full effect. While not required, you'll probably understand it better if you've seem episodes 24-26. There's no major spoilers, though. Enjoy, and send me feedback. Tom ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Neon Genesis Evangelion 1.5 Walls of our own making. Neon Genesis Evangelion is copyright Gainax/Project Eva. "...we came in." In his desk at school, Shinji was in the middle of yet another debriefing. This time, though, it wasn't NERV personnel debriefing him, but his friend Kensuke. "Of course, stupid Shinji," said Asuka from across the room as she turned to face Hikari, who had just entered the classroom. "Then what?" asked Kensuke, the military otaku. Much to his displeasure, he had been stuck in a shelter as the Evangelion had fought the Angel. "Asuka split it into parts. The military weapons were able to hold off the Angel's other segments long enough for us to defeat them one at a time." While the actual combat hadn't gone as well as the slightly edited version he gave to Kensuke, it still had gone well. This battle didn't even involve any N2 mines. "I wish I was there..." said Kensuke. "You wish you were in the command center." interjected Touji, the third member of the clique. "Yes..." "So you could be with Mi-Sa-To.!" Touji was practically jumping out over the desk, as Kensuke tried to appear nonchalant. It was going to be another one of those days, thought Shinji. ---------- Shinji idly wondered what subject this was. The lecture, as usual, was on the Second Impact, and how it affected Japan and the rest of the world. This lecture had something to do with the fall of the old national power systems and the rise of the United Nations. This could be the history class, Shinji thought, but it could also be math. He didn't quite understand what caused the second impact, but he did know that this lecture was wrong. It seemed like nobody was paying any attention to this rerun of the lecture. Touji and Kensuke were apparently playing some game on their laptops, Asuka was apparently trying to signal Hikari about something, and Rei... Well, she was staring off into space. Shinji sighed, and looked at the clock. Only thirty minutes left. They would feel like thirty hours, he thought, as he hoped that something would come and interrupt the monotony. At that moment three cellular phones rang. ---------- It's amazing how, within a few minutes of the sounding of an alert siren, NERV can go from a place that is in a state of perpetual waiting to one that is ready for action. Many things happen: people man their posts, getting them ready. Manuals, magazines, and manga are all shoved into various draws, and out of sight no longer command the attention of the staff. Crews work to ready the giant Evangelion, each member using a checklist, the items in which combined number into the thousands. A waiting van drove the pilots the short distance between the school and the nearest entrance to the geofront. All these things and many more happened each time NERV readied itself for battle. ---------- "We have reason to believe that this Angel can separate into three parts. So, be careful." Ritsuko concluded her portion of the briefing, and stepped back from the podium. The screen had been showing a picture of the Angel, with its three circular "leaves" connected by a circular joint in the center. Large "eyes" were on each of the "leaves" of the Angel, and in the lower left a status indicator read "Live - Space". As Maya left the stage, the image switched to the red on black NERV logo. Misato took the podium. "Your Evangelion will emerge from these points." The logo was replaced with a map, with three points highlighted. "The weapons depots surround your launch positions." A dozen points lit up on the map. "The angel is in the atmosphere, and will be over the target area in just under an hour. The operation will begin then." ---------- The elevator rose to the launching complex, above the geofront. Shinji felt the slow wave of fear wash over him, as the elevator rose higher. "How do you handle... that this may be our last day alive?" "Stupid! Don't talk like that! Not while I'm around!" "Rei?" "We won't die. I will protect you." "I wish I could share your confidence." The elevator rose into the Eva cage. ---------- "Begin the operation." In the latest in a series of strategies, NERV launchers fired a barrage of rockets at the Angel, to blind it while the Evangelion emerged from the launch positions. The three "robots" readied their various rifles, bringing them to bear on the slowly descending Angel. For a split second, there was a noticeable distortion as the AT fields deployed. ---------- "I'll attack first." offered Asuka, even as her finger clenched on the trigger. Her rifle let loose a spray of bullets. All of which missed the angel as it drastically increased the rate of its descent and changed its course, heading straight for Unit One. "Damn!" cried Asuka, seeing that she had failed to inflict any damage on the angel, which was now dangerously close to Shinji's eva. Shinji fired next, the rounds of his rifle bouncing off the Angel's AT field. The central joint segment of the angel was just above Unit One when the three leaves suddenly snapped together, trapping Unit One in the center. "Ikari!" shouted Rei. ---------- "Life signs unstable! The pilot is unconscious!" "Shinji!" Misato shouted, as if her voice alone would awaken him. ---------- Shinji awoke in the NERV hospital. Looking up, he saw a ceiling that was no longer unfamiliar to him. After testing his limbs, he decided that, while they were a little sore, he could walk and move about. A quick walk down the hall informed him that none of the other pilots were injured. Outside the door to his room, he saw a note labeled "Discharge" and a packet containing his clothes. He didn't question it, as he never liked hospitals. He was waiting outside for transportation when Misato's car drove past. Asuka was in the front, Rei and Pen-Pen were in the back. The care stopped in front of him for a moment, then pulled away. He took the train back to Misato's apartment, the only one in the car. He watched a few hours of uninspired television. He later decided to go to sleep, the others not having returned home. In moments his mind faded into a blackness devoid of dreams. ---------- Shinji didn't need an alarm clock. While he usually would be the first in the household up, if he overslept Misato or Asuka would wake him. But, today was different. He had overslept by almost three hours, and none of the other resident had awakened him. He quickly dressed, and left for the school, wondering what the repercussions would be. ---------- The school was empty, save for Rei and Asuka. Both girls were looking at their laptops, ignoring the fact that no lecture was going on. He waited for someone else to show for what seemed like ages. Finally he stood, and walked back to talk to the girls. "Where is everyone?" Rei and Asuka still stared intently at the laptops. "Did you hear me?" "Are you all right?" Shinji stood next to Asuka's desk. He folded shut her laptop. She stared intently at the space where the screen had been. "What's wrong?" "Why are you ignoring me? Is it something I did? Why won't you respond to me? I need you to tell me what's wrong!" Rei turned to face him. "If you need us..." Asuka looked at Shinji. "Then why do you try to wall us off?" The room began fading as Shinji responded. "Wall you off?" "Yes." Rei looked at him. "you separate yourself from us." "Stupid Shinji, you try to protect yourself." The room and all that was in it was gone by the time Asuka next spoke. "and yet, you isolate those who wish to be with you." "you stop us," said Rei, who was now, like Asuka, clad in a plugsuit. "you." ---------- One wall of NERV command was tiled in red hexagons labeled with the word "Emergency." Various screens displayed information, mostly related to the damage that Unit One was taking. "The attacks have no effect." reported Makoto, the tactical controller. "The angel seems to be using Unit One's AT field to block the rifle shots." "We can nullify the angel's AT field, but the Evangelion cannot nullify each other's fields," Ritsuko elaborated. "The patterns are too similar. While Shinji has his AT field up, Rei and Asuka can't hurt the angel. But if he lowers it, Unit One will instantly be destroyed by the Angel." "So he's stuck!" Misato lowered her head into her hands. "Shinji's life signs are stabilizing! He'll be waking up!" Shigeru shouted. Misato looked back up at the screen. Maybe now there would be some hope of saving Shinji. ---------- "I stop you?" asked Shinji. "yes. we wish to be with you, to help you, but we cannot." said Rei. "there is a wall that you build between you and us, and with it in place there is nothing we can do." Asuka began becoming less defined as she said this, her form fading. "wait! what can I do!" Rei turned away and said, "you must let us through the wall." With this, the two faded from existence, leaving Shinji alone in the darkness. ---------- In the entry plug of Unit One, Shinji turned to see the monitors. While clouded with static, he could see the other Evangelion, and knew what he had to do. ---------- "I'm out of ammo!" Asuka shouted. She disposed of the useless rifle, and deployed her Prog knife. As she turned, she felt a strange sensation. Rei felt it too. It was like what they felt when they deployed the AT field, yet different. There was another thing, too. She had felt it when she had entered Unit One. It was like Shinji. ---------- Maya was stunned by what she was seeing. "Eva One is neutralizing the phase space... correction, it's equalizing it with that of the others! The other units are responding... the fields are merging!" ---------- Rei fired at the angel with the last of her ammo, distracting it enough that Asuka was able to slash at the joint of it with her knife. Without an AT field in the way, the knife was easily able to cut into the Angel. The joint exploded in a shower of green blood, and the Angel broke into three parts. The battle, while not yet over, was won. ---------- "Shinji! Wake up! We're late!" Asuka shouted, waking Shinji up. As his wits came to him he realized that he would have overslept if it hadn't been for Asuka. "Stupid Shinji! Get dressed! We're going to be late!" The two ran the distance to school. ---------- As Shinji entered his classroom he was greeted by his friends Touji and Kensuke. "Tell us about your great victory, Oh Captain Eva!" Touji said as he mock bowed to Shinji. "Yeah, tell us about the battle," Kensuke prodded. "Well, the angel had three main parts to it... and it was detected by the UN, who shot at it first." Shinji began another debriefing. "The missiles didn't really do..." "Tell him about us!" Asuka interjected, wanting to steal the spotlight. "I was just getting there," a slightly annoyed Shinji said. "After all, isn't this where..." 1.5 22-26 July 1997 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Your comments are welcome. Please send them to tom-cnc@tr.ml.org.