Excerpt from "Eva and the Nine"

[lavanya_six]

Here's a VERY rough and unedited scene from the first chapter of "Eva and the Nine". It should give you some idea of the tone of the fic.

 

Misato Katsuragi finds the empty hospital hallway crowded by her thoughts.

The last Angel is dead, she muses to herself, so why is this place so depressing? We should be celebrating. We won. 

Maybe it's all the dead. Dead city. Dead Unit-00. Dead Rei. She shivers at that particular memory. Or maybe because everyone knows on some level that it isn't really over – like with that damn countdown clock. What is the Instrumentality Project? 

Misato pushes away her worries. There will be time for them later. She still has Kaji's chip, after all.

For now there are more immediate concerns to deal with…  

"An AT-Field?" she repeats.

"Yes, ma'am," comes Lt. Ibuki's reply over the phone. "Just for a few seconds. The MAGI gave it a Conditional Positive when asked to affirm the data analysis." 

"Was it a Blue Pattern?"

"It didn't last long enough for Pattern identification," crackles Ibuki's voice. "However, the presence of an AT-Field is not necessarily indicative of an Angel." 

Maya's coded message was clear to Misato. So she decided to (quietly) take Shinji to Unit-01's cage as a precautionary measure. She just needs to find him first. Section-2 reported that he was in the Hospital Wing, visiting Asuka, but Misato doesn't put much stock in their talents. Shinji Ikari, no great spy, slipped away from them once before.

The Major approaches the Second Child's room. The door is closed. Misato tries the knob. The door won't open. "It's locked?" She rattles the resistant doorknob.  

That's odd.

Fortunately, Misato doesn't need to page a nurse to get inside. As the Operations Director and as the Second Child's official guardian, she has a key for Asuka's room. She made many late-night visits to see the Second Child. Sometimes she would read aloud the girl's favorite German language novels for her. The doctors say there is a chance Asuka hears her; that it might help the girl. 

Misato unlocks the door and walks in.

"Shinji?" 

She sees him standing at Asuka's bedside, clenching his right hand, with a look of shock and shame on his face at her sudden arrival. For a moment it doesn't click for Misato about what the Third Child is doing, but only for a moment. 

What happens next is a blur but it ends with Shinji against a wall and her own right hand wrapped around his throat.  

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER?!" she screams point-blank in his face.

The Third Child whimpers.  

Without willing it, her free hand lashes out and slaps Shinji across the face, knocking his limp head to the side. "ANSWER ME, GODDAMNIT!!" 

Instead of speaking, Shinji starts to cry. Misato waits for the boy to pull himself together. It doesn't happen. His hot tears run down his cheeks, gathering at his chin, and drip onto her clenched hand. With a grunt Misato releases her grip on Shinji and the boy slumps against the wall.

Misato walks over to Asuka's bedside, afraid of what details she'll find on closer inspection. The dark-haired woman sighs a rare prayer of thanks when she finds that the catatonic redhead – aside from the filth dribbled across her bare chest – is otherwise unmolested.  

Her panties are still on. And not stained. Thank God.

She reaches down and moves to close Asuka's gown. She pauses as she realizes that the girl needs to be cleaned first. The need to erase what happened fights with Misato's need to preserve Asuka's dignity (what is left of it). In the end she compromises by carefully arranging the gown so that it covers most of what is unsoiled.

"I'm sorry," she whispers to the unresponsive teen, brushing a loose lock of oily hair off Asuka's face.  

She turns and finds Shinji crawling feebly towards the open door. He is making a mess on the floor as he drags one of his hands across the tiles. Misato strides forward and, in one fluid motion, slams the door shut and locks it. The Third Child stops moving.  

"Get up," she brusquely orders him.

He does nothing of the sort. The boy stays there, hunched over on the floor, his head bowed. 

"Get up, Shinji."

"…i…" 

The raging anger in Misato shifts to a cool rage. Like a hawk waiting out a rabbit in its burrow, she waits for the boy to speak.

"…i'm…s-s-sor…" 

Misato clenches her fists. The knuckles in each hand pop as she does so.

Shinji Ikari collapses to the hospital room's floor, staining his school clothes on his own filth, and unreservedly sobs. 

Misato stands and watches and waits.