EVA Sessions: The Eaters of Sin

[ElMariachi]

So Misato is finally making her move to take control of the situation instead of suffering it and reacting, I like it. The more time pass and the more I think that the split that birthed WILLE in NTE probably looked something like that, just take back Shinji, Rei and EVA-01 and add Mari and Kaworu!

Also like ChaddyManPrime said, I hope that we'll get another mindfuck dream from Shinji, I want to see Obi Wan Shinji again!

[Sicarius VI]

With what NemZ, yea where are Rei and Gendo at this time. I imagine they just put Gendo back into containment after the N2 mine drop, but I forget where Rei is. And knowing what she does in Eps. 24 she could easily break out and get to Lilth.

Granted I still don't understand how she is there in Eps.24, all we know is she creates a massive AT field and disappears from the Magi. Then we she a shot of her floating.

With Asuka and Shinji, I bet Asuka is in Shinji's hospitial room dispite what she said. Shinji will awaken soon.

[Gob Hobblin]

Chapter 16: Mistakes

SPOILER: Show

Asuka lingered next to the door, shuffling in place like a piece of paper caught in a storm drain. She tried to look at the bed, but her eyes could never quite make the jump. She wanted to leave, but that would mean leaving. She wanted to stay, but she didn’t know why.

She was trapped in a tiny eternity, all her own, between her, the door, the bed, and the boy. Forward and backward, side to side like a little girl needing to use the facilities. So useless, so awkward, so ashamed, and why should she be? There was no meaning to it. No point, or purpose. She lingered for no good reason, and she hated it. And she needed it. She swallowed, and her gaze finally, fitfully, fixed on Shinji. He lay on the bed, his Plug suit gone and wearing a hospital gown. He didn’t look like he was peacefully sleeping, or dreaming, or elsewhere but not here…he looked dead.

The girl swallowed and slowly, fitfully, drifted across the room to stand next to the bed. She still wore her Plug suit, and her fingers trembled up her arm, feeling the second-skin sense of the suit against her flesh. She stared at him sideways, physically turning away but locking her eyes on the body. She swallowed, and raised her head up, a sneer of disdain cutting her lips.

“You deserve it, I think,” she mumbled. “Idiot…charging in like that…that’s what happens to idiots.” She closed her eyes, shook her head. Was he an idiot for charging in? Or an idiot because he had no choice? He had no choice. None of them had any choice. “Baka…baka…baka,” she grated. “You just…had to fight…and win. That’s what you do, that’s what you do, and instead you’re here, and I’m all that’s left, and I’m useless, and it’s your fault I don’t know how it is but it is—”

She swallowed, and stared down at the boy. Impulsively, she reached out and picked up his hand. He didn’t respond, and she let it drop to his side. She leaned over, and lifted one of his eyelids with her thumb. She stared at the empty eyeball, rolled up and unfocused in the skull. The blue, almost gray color made it look like a piece of stone. “Look at me,” she grated. There was no reply, and she felt a great sense of loss she couldn’t explain. “Look at me,” she insisted, pushing down on his head as if to force the eye to change direction. To refocus on her. There was no reply, and she felt that hurt and anger. Ignored again, because he probably was dead and the adults just love…lying…to you….

“LOOK AT ME!”

The eyeball slid down in the socket and focused on her with a rapid and terrible intensity. Asuka cried out and jerked back, feeling as though something…else…had looked at her in that moment. She retreated to the foot of the bed, and held her hands up to her face as though to hide. Shinji’s eyes were closed again, and he hadn’t moved.

“Damn you!” she cried out. “You scared me! You scared me, you awful…you….” She swallowed, and waited for a response. Shinji did not reply. Slowly, she crept back up the length of the bed, nervously reaching out and opening his eye again.

The eye continued to focus on her. She froze, as though in stillness she would be unseen. The eye lingered on her for a moment more, and then tilted sharply to the left. Then down, and across, and back. It shivered, and jumped, and then froze. She swallowed, and released his eyelid. When she did, his lips twitched for a moment, as though speaking, but then stopped. Asuka hugged herself, and sat down on the bed. Something was leaving in her. Something was checking out, and leaving behind a whole mess of pain and hurt in its wake. She recognized it as hope when the last little scrap of it was finally gone. She closed her eyes, and slumped on the bed.

“…I don’t want to be alone,” she mumbled, to no one in particular.

-----

Misato stared at the Phone, waiting. She didn’t know what it was, or when it would come, but she waited. She supposed she should try and sleep, but what would it matter? She wanted to be awake and facing it when…it came. Whatever it was.

She checked her watch again. Six hours ago, the General had departed with his little disk, and left his casual threat in his wake. He was right, of course: it didn’t matter. Misato knew that the Fourth would move if they felt they needed to, and there was simply nothing left to stop them. It was simply waiting to see what would come first: the reprieve, or the ax. Strangely, she didn’t feel anxiety anymore. She didn’t even feel fear. She felt bored, if anything. It was as though, by handing that disk over, she had handed a chunk of her burdens over as well. Everything felt light in comparison, even this silent watch. She cracked her fingers, and shifted awkwardly.

…what to do with Rei?

She hadn’t had time to consider that, really. Now was as a good a time as ever. A clone of the Commander’s wife, infused with the soul…or soul stuff, or…something…something from a god. That was the term that Ritsuko used. A god. What god? The Angels were all gods, in the most literal sense of the term. Did that make Rei an Angel, then? A soul from one of the very things they were trying to kill?

That was unnerving. She thought back to that conversation with the Commander…played it through her mind again. She remembered when she accused him of creating Rei.

“Who said I created her?”

“…the Vice-Commander.”

“He said that, did he? Interesting.”

Interesting…why would he find that interesting? She had the memory of filing it away, of making a point to question Fuyutsuki about it…and then the bomb fell…and things got so damned muddled….
…why would he create a clone of his wife if he thought Third Impact was inevitable? He had been insistent on that point, that it was unstoppable. He believed, honestly believed, that there was no stopping it. And, loathe as she was to admit it…Misato seemed to detect that he did not, indeed, want that outcome. He still believed it would happen, though….

So why Rei? Misato traced a circle in her palm with her index finger. Rei was a clone of Gendo’s dead wife…a man who missed her dearly…and was willing to accept the inevitability of an event he disagreed with at a certain level….

…that thing in his hand….

There was a connection here, and Misato didn’t know what it was, or how it all worked together. She would need to ask Gendo, assuming he woke up again. Coming down face first on that table after colliding with the ceiling had, unfortunately, fractured his skull and left him unconscious. It was now a waiting game to see if he woke up, or if his brain was swelling…or if it just switched off altogether. The most wonderful of ambiguous places…not enough to worry, but just enough to be concerned.

She checked her watch. Six hours and twenty-three minutes. She cocked an eyebrow, and sighed. She rubbed her forehead, and tried to grasp that thread of logic again when the Phone rang. She answered it.

“Yes?” she said, her tone tired.

“You frigging moron.” Misato’s eyebrow quirked up. The tone was bland, calm…almost defeated.

“I didn’t catch that.”

“You…stupid…idiotic…jackass. Do you have any idea what you’ve done?”

“At the moment, no. Why don’t you fill me in?”

“The press…is running stories…about Seele.” The Voice scoffed. “It’s everywhere. All over the Internet, every…every channel. All of it. Leaked by the Defense Ministry.”

“That was quick,” Misato sighed, feeling light. Light as a feather. Lighter than air. She felt her lips curling into a grin despite herself. One more day…and another one, and another one, and…sure, why not, let’s add a whole week to that!

“…that was quick.”

“I didn’t think the General would put it out the day of: I just wanted him to hold off on killing us all. That’s better than expected.”

“…can you really be this naive? You…you are, aren’t you?”

“If that’s the direction you’re going, then let’s be frank: you never planned on releasing that information. It was safe for you to sit back and see which way the wind blew. Well, guess what: I’m not a worm on a hook, and I have people I’m responsible for. And in this little waiting game, they’ve been hurt, and in some cases died. We can’t hold of the end forever, and the long Seele was hidden, the more likely it was going to happen. You weren’t holding up you’re end of things, so I did it for you.”

“You honestly have no clue…none whatsoever. We needed to release this at the right time. Do you understand that? This isn’t about the short-game, you idiot, this is about the long-game. We needed to be able to corner Seele, to release that information when it could have the greatest impact. Now? We still have agents of theirs in our government. You attacked them when they sent their Evangelion to the GeoFront, which means we attacked them. We have to defend this action to the UN. While we have to clean out our country. Do you understand what that means?

“Seele may have had suspicions before, but they are confirmed now. You bought yourself a day? Congratulations: if you waited a little longer, you could have bought yourself a year.”

Misato closed her eyes, considering her possible responses. None came to her. She closed the Phone and disconnected the line. After a minute, the Phone rang. Misato picked it up and threw it across the room. It continued to ring from the corner it landed. She sighed, and shifted on the stool.

…Had she made a mistake?

She slumped over the table, running it through her mind. All the variables…could she have made a mistake in releasing that information in the manner she had? She didn’t see how, and assumed the Voice was being petulant. It had been outmaneuvered, outflanked. Whoever it was had lost his grip on Misato, and now Nerv-Tokyo was gaining breathing room.

And yet….

The door opened, and Hyuga stepped in. He was about to say something when he noted the phone ringing in the corner. “I was coming down to tell you that the stuff about Seele is getting splashed across the news…but it sounds like you already know.”

“They called up to let me know what an idiot I was,” Misato said. “I think it’s fair to say we may have burned a bridge.”

“Was that wise to do? They control the New Kantei.”

“And I think the JSSDF may be on our side at the moment. At least the group outside…have they said anything about us?”

“The Fourth held a press conference, released their side of things. They painted a fairly good picture of us. Clinical, but…not inaccurate.”

“…that’ll work.”

“…what’s on your mind, ma’am?”

“I think I made a mistake.”

“How?”

“…It’s irrelevant.” She stood unsteadily, using the table to brace herself as she worked around it towards the door. “What’s done is done. We’ll just have to work through it. In the meantime…I guess I can finally go to Medical.”

“Better late than never, ma’am,” Hyuga said, extending an arm. Misato grabbed for it and clambered onto Hyuga, allowing him to slip an arm around her waist and take most of the weight off of her feet. She leaned heavily into him as they exited the room.

“What’s next, then?” Hyuga asked.

“Hell if I know,” she sighed. “I just want to sleep….” They stepped down the hallway, slowly and with cautious steps. The Phone remained in the conference room, ringing and being ignored. In time, it stopped.

[ChaddyManPrime]

I honestly thought you were going to do a reversal of the hospital scene But I know that's something you'd never do Good Sir because you have a higher standard.

[pwhodges]

Talking to someone in a coma is an established good thing, of course (I've done it myself, at length); but your eyeball thing which was so unnerving, I'm not sure about. It works well enough in context though, I guess.

[Bagheera]

Talking to someone in a coma is an established good thing, of course (I've done it myself, at length); but your eyeball thing which was so unnerving, I'm not sure about. It works well enough in context though, I guess.

I was also confused by that.

[pwhodges]

I'm not clear, in particular, whether it's meant to indicate some vestigial consciousness, or is just a random uncontrolled movement.

[Sicarius VI]

She closed her eyes, and slumped on the bed.

Well if this means that she is laying on top of Shinji, when Shinji awakes he is going to be a little confused.

Why does this chapter feel like a direct response to my question? Misato addresses both Rei and Gendo so we won't forget about them. Also it looks like I was right on Asuka.
Looking foward to Chapter 17.

;)

[Asukaner117]

Again, nice work. Feels more and more like a mature political thriller, I like that.

I have a question: do you have some kind of storyboard or masterplan which you flashed out before and follow from chapter to chapter or do you just start writing whith a idea in your mind and see how it goes?

[ElMariachi]

I'm not clear, in particular, whether it's meant to indicate some vestigial consciousness, or is just a random uncontrolled movement.

After the weird dream in the place of the last scene of EoE and the "Obi Wan Shinji" appearing, personally I think that what just happened isn't even natural at all.

[pwhodges]

As Yui took over the fight with Shinji unconscious, I even wonder if she's now remotely controlling his body!

Or maybe there's some kind of indirect call through to Unit-01's response to Asuka during the recovery operation at the start of Q! (ok, that's beyond stupid, I admit).

[ElMariachi]

Or maybe there's some kind of indirect call through to Unit-01's response to Asuka during the recovery operation at the start of Q! (ok, that's beyond stupid, I admit).

Great now I have the mental image of Shinji unwittingly launching an eyebeam and frying Asuka's face when she opens his eyelids!

[Gob Hobblin]

Why does this chapter feel like a direct response to my question?

Pure coincidence: I was actually chuckling reading your questions, because I had already had the chapter plotted in my head at that point. I'm glad it happened to answer your questions, though!

Asukaner117: I have a general, loose objective in mind that I write towards. It's not something that's purely set in stone, however, and if I don't get it or bypass it completely, it's of no concern to me. I like to let the story go where it feels like going.

[Literary Eagle]

For some reason that whole eyeball thing made me think of Shinji seeing Unit-01's eye in episode 2.

Oh my, did Misato really make a serious mistake here? Guess we'll have to wait and see!

[ElMariachi]

Oh my, did Misato really make a serious mistake here? Guess we'll have to wait and see!

Well to be fair it's not as if the Voice really worked on looking trustful: if he really wanted to wait the right moment to release the info so it would deal a fatal blow to SEELE without letting them any room to counter-maneuver, why he didn't said so from the beginning instead of a laconic "not yet" and "in time", especially since he knows that Misato is on the front line and get the brunt of SEELE's retaliation?

[IronEvangelion]

I'm on the edge of my seat now. Keep up the good work, Gob Hobblin!

[Gob Hobblin]

^^

To be fair, ElMariachi, the Voice did tell her not to worry about it.

^

Many thanks, Iron!

[ElMariachi]

^^

To be fair, ElMariachi, the Voice did tell her not to worry about it.

That doesn't really give Misato any reason to believe him, she's besieged and almost completely cut off from the rest of the world, so it's was to expect that she would try anything to gain some leverage and control over the situation.
The Voice simply miscalculated.

[Gob Hobblin]

Halfway through next chapter. Things have happened. Expect delays.

Will be up soon.

[gorgeousshutin]

Expect delays.

Don't stress yourself, Gob. You've been updating very quickly, especially for a story with such fine plot and character writing. I'm sure everyone would much rather have you take your time with writing out another high-quality chapter than have you rush.