Subject: [FFML] [Fanfic][eva]Wings of the Seraph - prologue
From: Christian Rivera
Date: 7/23/1999, 10:48 PM
To: ffml@fanfic.com




_________________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com


-- Listar MIME Decryption --------------
-- Name   : Wings0.txt
-- Desc   : Wings0.txt

Neon Genesis Evangelion : Wings of the Seraph
by Chan Rivera

 Author's note : Neon Genesis Evangelion is solely the property of Gainax and Hideko Anno. I, as a fan, have no other intention of writing this FanFiction but to express my deep respect and admiration for this beautiful Anime series, and not for any personal gain. This is my very first time to write a fanfic, so I hope that anyone who reads 
it could understand all the possible errors it may have. Feel free to mail me C&C's at crosshair25@yahoo.com. Once again, thank
you to all who would read this peice of work.Ja ne!       
  
 
PROLOGUE: 

September 2000 : THE SECOND IMPACT

  A time long remembered.The day when the earth's skies shone a brilliant white from horizon to horizon; when 
 humankind was brought near the brink of extinction.Civilization was in total chaos: people running about wildly in
 city streets,many of them gibbering insanely that the time was at hand; God had come to end the world.  Others 
 merely cowered in fear, huddled within the illusory safety of their homes, praying to whatever or whoever would 
 listen to their pleas for salvation.Some people, however, managed to keep their heads about even during a time 
 like this and decided to open T.V. sets or radios to learn more about the phenomenon that was currently making the 
 evening skies shine as bright as midday.They were only greeted by static, the massive E.M.P.'s generated by the
 blast knocking down almost all forms of long distance communications worldwide.

  The report officially released to the public a few years later said that an unknown object of great mass has 
 entered Earth's atmosphere and smashed into the polar continent of Antartica.The object was suspected to be either
 an asteroid or a small comet.  It was still unknown as to why the object had not been detected by either radar or 
 microwave probings sent to nearby planets.

  Meanwhile, the earthquakes that had come when people first saw the light from the southern skies still wracked 
 the planet, the force of impact from the object nearly sufficient to send the Earth reeling out of its orbit that
 it could be felt.  Places far north from the impact-site such as North America, northern China and Arctica were 
 in no present dangers, save the coastal areas, which were in danger to massive tidal waves.The future, however, 
 was another matter; where drastic changes on weather patterns all over the globe due to the change in direction of
 the Earth's rotation threatened to end any lives that would survive this apocalyptic event.

  The people living below and along the equator, however , were not so lucky. Monstrous tidal waves which could 
 swallow and drown entire island-countries spelled out their situation very clearly: THEY WERE GOING TO DIE.

  On a remote country on the southern hemisphere, one such scenario was taking place.A family stood on a hill, 
 looking out at the face of death embodied by a kilometer-high wall of water.They all stood still, except a boy of
 fourteen  years, who was busy convincing his elders that there was still a way to cheat death.

  " Mom, please!", pleaded the boy, tears in his eyes." Let's go the basement. The water won't be able to get in 
 there!", he reasoned out.

  " Son,", the father replied, looking at the tearstained face of the child, " it won't do any good.We'll be sealed
  under the basement and eventually run out of air.", he pointed out as gently as he could.

  " But there are oxygen tanks..."

  " Which would only stall our deaths for about a few days unless we find a way to get the door open under several 
 thousand tons of water.", a young man of twenty four years interrupted." Besides,", he continued," even if we
 manage to open the door, the water pressure would squash us like tin cans, being under several hundred feet of
 water and all."

  " Well, its better than to sit here and wait for that thing come !!", the boy screamed to his brother." How can 
 any of you stay so damn calm at a situation like this ?!" Finally, unable to restrain himself any longer, the boy
 broke and wept.

  " It's sort of good to die like this.", the mother said comfortingly to her son. She offered a tearful smile and 
 said, " At least we'll all be going to Heaven together."

  " No!! We're not gonna die Mom! ", the boy told his mother tearfully. " Let's go down that basement and we'll all 
 be okay. Please mom!!"

  The Mother merely shook her head and said, " It's too bad that you can't live long enough to learn when to hope 
 and when to give up."

  " There's always hope. We only lose it when we lose our faith in it. " , the boy whispered brokenly.

  " So intellectual for one so young.", the mother said fondly, touching his cheek." It's also too bad that you 
 can't live long enough to learn that experience is a better teacher than any book on philosophy."

  " Bernadette," the father called , " it's here."

  " I didn�t expect that it would reach us this fast.", wondered Bernadette. " I'll be right there Benjie." To her 
 son, she said," Let's go and meet our destiny, son.Let's tell God that we met this trial as one, strong family."

  They all stood on the hill, hand in hand, facing the wave that now looked as high as three kilometers instead of
 one.They heard the deafening roar of its passage as it made it's way towards them, engulfing the city and it's
 populace below.

  Then, something appeared above the tidal wave, dwarfing it in it's immensity.

  " What the hell is that ?!", Benjie asked, though no one could give him an answer.

  " It looks like.." , the young man of twenty four thought out loud.

  " ..Giant, white wings.", the younger brother finished for him.

  Those were the last words of the fourteen year-old boy before the wave crashed against them, tearing his hands 
 from his mother and brother, carrying him in it's titanic currents the way a dried leaf gets caught in a tornado.
 He couldn�t stop the water from entering his nose and mouth, and pretty soon he was choking, coughing out water 
 and swallowing more of it in ragged gasps, causing him to cough again. Panic gripped his very being.He frantically
 tried  to make for the surface,putting every ounce of his strength on arms and legs, panic making every stroke and
 kick more powerful than he could ever do in a normal situation.

  The waters, however, unmercifully dragged the struggling boy back down.

  His lungs burned for air.A thought came unbidden into his mind : " I'M DROWNING !!!", which doubled his efforts 
 to reach the surface. Even that didn�t do any good.

  His strength was draining rapidly, partly because he was exhausted from struggling with all his strength in a 
 futile attempt to reach the surface, and partly because his lungs were now totally filled with water. In a dazed
 stupor he glanced downward where the current was still pulling him to and saw a dark hole about fifteen feet
 across, sucking water and debris alike into its gaping maw.He made a feeble attempt to get clear of the whirpool, 
 terror raking his soul as he was inexorably pulled towards the inky void.

  As he passed through the hole, his ravaged mind miraculously registered the change of sensation his body felt.
 Before the darkness silently covered his sight, his brain voiced a final thought : " HELP !! Mom ! Dad ! Brother !
 Anybody ! Please ! Help me !! I'm falling..."

****

2015, Present day :

  Shinji Ikari, the Third Child and designated pilot for Eva - 01, sat back against his chair and looked at the 
 ceiling of the classroom, stifling a yawn with one hand. Glancing at the wall-clock, he noted that it was almost 
 time for lunch. He fought back a yawn again.*It isn't my fault if the teacher is so boring*, he thought, looking at
 the teacher, a short, balding old man. Shinji observed that the teacher had this unsavory habit of pausing in the
 middle of a lecture to reminisce about the time before and during the Second Impact.He also had the fondness for 
 storytelling, which would have been more appreciated by the class if he would have found a different topic to talk
 about.

  The students' reaction was quite predictable. Shinji glanced around the classroom and found out that his
 classmates have found other diverting ways of passing time than listening to their teacher's narrative. Touji was
 currently imitating his pose a while ago, while Kensuke was busily typing something in his notebook, probably some
 data on some antique military plane or warship. Rei was looking out of the window, as usual, while Asuka was
 staring stupidly at her lap.* Probably still deeply hurt by her failure to sync with her Eva*, Shinji thought.
* Behaved that way ever since the last battle with an angel*, he added.

  The sudden toll of the bell broke him out of his reverie.Led by Hikari, the class stood and bowed to the teacher,
 and immediately went to mingle with friends. Touji and Kensuke immediately went to where he sat.

  " Hey, Shinji,", Touji began, sitting at an empty desk to his right. Even though chosen as the fourth child and 
 designated pilot to the late Eva - 03, and the incident that followed, he hardly changed." heard that the witch
 there can't pilot an Eva anymore.",looking pointedly at Asuka, with Hikari beside her.

  " Is it true Shinji ?", Kensuke asked." It's all pure rumor out here, and my dad's files have nothing on this. 
 We'd like to get a little confirmation."

  " I really don't know.", Shinji answered evasively.He didn�t want to make Asuka upset, especially because of way 
 she was behaving now." They don't tell me anything."

  " I was hoping it was true and get some confirmation from you.", Kensuke said mournfully." If it was then I could 
 ask Misato-san if she would agree to make me the new pilot for Eva - 02 !"

  " I'm sorry, Kensuke, I really don't know anything.", Shinji lied.

  Kensuke sighed." I heard that you are going to test that new engine on the Eva.", he said then."I hacked some of 
 my old man's files. The one that would enable the Eva to move without the umbilical cable,the C,..F,..S.",he
 floundered.

  " The S2 engine.", Shinji prompted.

  " I thought they don't tell you anything ?", Touji said suspiciously.

  " Yeah, you said so !", pressed Kensuke.

  " Well, they told me about it when I got off the Eva after fighting the fourteenth angel.", Shinji explained.

  They continued to stare at him, and gave up when it was apparent that he wouldn�t say anything else about the 
 matter. " Well, isn't that dangerous ?", Kensuke said, switching back to the earlier subject. " I mean, the last 
 time NERV tried to experiment with the S2 - engine, it blew off the entire branch in America,  right?", he added.

  " Don't worry,", Shinji reassured Kensuke." Dr. Akagi told me that she has everything under control.She said that 
 the probable reason why Eva - 04 exploded was that the S2 engine wasn't calibrated properly, which would cause
 power malfunction when activating the unit. Eva -01 took the S2 engine naturally by devouring it, thereby 
 lessening the probability of a power malfunction to a minimum." Shinji still can't imagine what the Eva did
 to the Angel during that time. All he gets after his month-long stay on Eva -01's entry plug are these unbelievable
 stories that the Eva beat the Angel and ate it afterwards.

  " Down to a minimum? Oh, that is so reassuring.", Kensuke drawled.

  " Hey, it ain't my fault !", Shinji protested.

  " Yeah, yeah. Just be careful and don't explode or do anything stupid during the test." Touji said peevishly.

  " I promise I'll be careful.", Shinji said.

  Kensuke and Touji both snorted at that last comment, then talked some more about the testing of Eva - 01's new S2 
 engine.Afterwards, satisfied that all the " Eva Issues " for the day were dealt with, they proceeded to talk about
 more mundane things.


****

  Asuka Langley Soryuu, the Second Child and former designated pilot for Eva - 02, sat dejectedly at her chair, 
 staring at her lap. Her mind refused to acknowledge the droning voice of her teacher; rather, it focused on 
 reminding her how useless she was now. 

  She remembered how she felt when she was informed that she was going to pilot an Eva unit, and believed herself to
 be one of the most elite persons in the world to be given the honor to pilot such a machine in the defense of 
 mankind. She remembered running as fast as she could back to their house,wanting to be the one to tell her mom the
 privilege she was given that day. She remembered smiling to herself as she imagined her mom's reaction to her 
 news.
 
  She remembered opening the door to her mom's room, grinning and bursting with anticiption,and the scene which
 greeted her. The scene which caused the grin to fade from her lips, the scene which drained the color from her 
 face. She remembered as though it had only happened yesterday, for it was the picture that plagued her nightmares 
 since then.

  She remembered promising herself that she would be strong, that she would never lose another person again. She 
 remembered willing herself to grow-up faster, so that she could live alone, so that she would not depend on anyone
 anymore. She remembered the hard training she had undergone before being able to sync with her Eva, and the 
 enormous satisfaction that all that hard work paid off. She remembered vowing to herself to be the best Eva pilot 
 in the world, so that she won't have to be rescued by some other amateur pilot.

  She remembered the first time she heard of the third child, and the famous " Battle of Tokyo - 3 ". She remembered
 scoffing at the news, that the report was probably exaggerated to spread NERV's fame and to gain the peoples trust.

  She simply could not admit that an untrained pilot could defeat an Angel, and even went as far as to think that 
 the only reason the third child was able to sync with an Eva was that since the model was named "test type", then 
 an untrained pilot or anyone for that matter would be able to sync with it.

  She remembered coming to Japan, and her succeeding battles against the Angels. She reveled at the thought that she 
 and her Eva were one; that what she wanted to do was done gracefully and flawlessly by the Eva. She marveled at
 how they moved as one, acted as one, flowed as one. She defeated Angels using only her wits and her skills, and , 
 of course, her co-pilots' unnecessary help.

  Then, only two weeks ago, she remembered fighting THE Angel; the one that raped her mind. Her skills were starting
 to deteriorate before the attack, and by the time the Angel appeared she was totally out-matched, and she knew it.
 She was helpless before the Angel's beam attack, which contaminates the pilot's mind. She felt the Angel probing 
 her brain, scanning and opening doors which, as a child, she had always locked. She begged the Angel to stop, as 
 she knew there was nothing she could do to defeat her enemy. The worst part of it all was that the one who saved 
 her was the First Child.

  * Damn her!!*, Asuka cried silently.* Of all the people who could save me, why did it have to be her ?!*. Asuka 
 had disliked, even hated the girl ever since Rei made a fool out of Asuka by synchronizing with Shinji during their
 synchronization exercises during battle with the 8th Angel.She considered her as a human version of a doll and held
 her in contempt. She wanted to irritate or to goad the other girl to show at least some reaction to her insults, 
 and the fact the Rei totally ignored both her and her comments angered Asuka all the more. She wanted to show 
 everybody that she was better than Rei in all aspects, and the fact that it was Rei who saved her from the Angel 
 made her wish that she would rather have died.

  * She IS better than me now .*, Asuka thought bitterly to herself, tears coming unbiddenly to her eyes.* I can't 
 even sync with my Eva, much less pilot it.* Ever since that fight, her sync ratio gradually dropped. Now, she
 lost the ability to sync with her Eva entirely.* NERV would probably replace me now, since I'm already useless to 
 them.*, she continued dully.* I just hope that when the next angel attack comes, they'll let me die in battle, 
 inside my Eva.*

  A hand shook Asuka slightly, and she looked up at Hikari, her face creased with worry.

  " What's wrong with you, Asuka-chan? ", Hikari asked, sitting beside Asuka.

  " Nothing, Hikari-chan.", Asuka said dully.

  " Nothing.", Hikari repeated.

  Asuka sighed.

  " Asuka-chan,", Hikari began again," you've been absent for one week, and when you finally attended school today, 
 you've been acting like this since morning. What's wrong?", genuine concern clouding her face.

  " I'm useless, Hikari-chan.", Asuka whispered brokenly, tears streaming unnoticed down her face." I can't pilot 
 an Eva. I can't even sync with it anymore. I'm reduced to nothing."

  Hikari's eyes widened.* So it is true *, she thought. Looking at the crying form of her best friend, she embraced 
 her and spoke to her comfortingly. " Don't say that, Asuka-chan. You're not useless. Who knows, it may be the Eva's
 fault that it won't synchronize with you. Who knows, maybe after NERV fixes it, everything would be alright again."

  " I hope an angel attacks right now.", Asuka said, quietly crying on Hikari's shoulder." Maybe they'll let me 
 pilot my Eva one last time, and die in battle."

  Hikari merely held Asuka, continuing to comfort the other girl until her crying subsided into a series of little 
 sobs.


 ****

  Rei Ayanami, the First Child and designated pilot for Eva - 00, leaned forward, laid her elbow on her desk, and 
 stared out of the window towards the morning sky, like she always did. She never found a particular reason why she
 does it, its just that whenever her mind wanders, she always ended up looking out that window. Gazing, she beheld 
 the mountains and her surroundings, constantly questioning the purpose and existence of each. Each question 
 inevitably reflected the question that she always asked to herself, as well as to what her purpose is.

  * Sky, blue sky,*, she thought, * so azure and clear like water's crystal reflection. Water, clean and flowing, 
 tides that cleanse, tides that destroy. Trees, so silent, bending before the wind's direction, so yielding yet 
 able to survive at such great ages. Wind, as old and unchanging as time itself. Time, so wide and all encompassing, 
 yet man changes it into myriad divisions that yet still represent the same, single piece. Man, created by God, or 
 are they? If man gives birth to yet another man, was God the one who created it? Or was it the child's parents? If 
 Man could create other men, then is Man a creation of God? Or is Man creation of Man himself? Cities are a human 
 creation. Eva, a human creation as well. If so, then what am I? Am I a creation of God? Or am I a creation of Man?

  The toll of the bell broke Rei out of her reverie, and she joined her classmates in bowing to the teacher. Sinking
 back to her chair, she observed that each of her classmates had mingled and was now with friends.

  "Friends", was a word Rei couldn�t understand. She can't see the reason why people need to socialize with one 
 another. She doesn�t understand why people enjoy talking to one another. For her, talk was only a way for people 
 not to misunderstand each other, and a way of responding when asked a question. Besides that, she found talk 
 unnecessary. She can't understand why people would want to be near to friends. She finds company unnecessary as 
 well.

  She watched as Touji and Kensuke approached Shinji. She watched as they began to talk, and she thought of the way 
 Shinji talked to her.* Ikari-kun sometimes talks to me about things of no importance.*, she thought.* Is it the 
 same talk that he shares with his friends?*, she asked herself.

  She let her gaze wander and saw Asuka, sitting with Hikari. A few moments later, she suddenly cries, and watched 
 as Hikari comforts her. She saw the tears stream down Asuka's face.* Why does Man cry? *, she wondered to herself.
 * Ikari-kun cried during the third battle with the Angels, and now the pilot of Eva - 02 is crying as well. Do 
 they share the same feeling which forces them to cry?*

  She put both arms on her desk and laid her head on top. Images flashed through her mind as her mind went through 
 all the people she knew, and tried to connect the experiences she had with the faces she saw.

  * Major Katsuragi, Dr. Akagi, Second Child, Ikari-kun, Commander Ikari,..*. Images danced wildly in Rei's mind. 
 * Classmates, others..*. Rei swam against all those memories, trying to find some clues to the question that still
 bothered her despite its simplicity. Faces she knew, in which she sought out the answer to her dilemma. Images 
 which she tried to force into the image that she thought was her. And for as long as she could remember, she once 
 again found herself asking the same question over and over again : " Who am I ? "
 
****

  Major Misato Katsuragi sat back against her chair and looked at the face of her college friend, Dr. Ritsuko Akagi.
 Their relationship had been strained near to the point of breaking during the last few Angel attacks, but now they
 were starting to form their bond again. Misato desperately needed a friend ever since Kaji's death, and Ritsuko was
 showing herself to be the same friend she had during college.

  " What's the news about the test results on Eva - 01's new S2 engine? ", Misato asked Ritsuko.

  " Nothing that we didn�t already know of. ", Ritsuko replied. " The engine is theoretically operational, and since
 Eva - 01 incorporated the S2 engine directly from an Angel, then we can conclude that the engine inside Eva - 01
 is the most perfect model we have right now."

  " You mean that there probably wouldn�t be any repetitions of the Second Branch incident, right? ", Misato said 
 hopefully.

  " Well, you could say that. ", Ritsuko smiled as she saw Misato blow a sigh of relief.

  " Ritsuko,", Misato asked after a while ," what really happened to the Second Branch?"

  " We really can't say for sure.", Ritsuko replied. " All that we could really be sure of was that during the 
 activation of the new Eva - 04, there was a malfunction which caused the Eva to generate an inverted AT field, and 
 sucked the entire Second Branch into that Sea of Dirac."

  " Well, isn�t that a high enough risk to cancel the Test today?", Misato pressed her friend. She wanted to know 
 why the commander was willing to go on with the test despite the danger it poses to the base.

  " The Commander agreed to continue the test.", Ritsuko said coolly.

  * I wonder why?*, Misato thought to herself. She thought better than to ask any further, not wanting to jeopardize
 their newly regained friendship. Instead, she steered away from their current conversation and found a more 
 suitable topic to talk about.

****

  Kazuo Fuyutsuki stared at the face of Gendou Ikari, hiding from behind crossed fingers. Lately, he observed that
 Gendou was becoming more and more closed to him, refusing to share information he felt he should know. He wanted 
 answers, and he wanted them right now.

  " The testing of Eva - 01's S2 engine was not on my scenario.", Fuyutsuki began.

  " Do not worry.", Gendou answered." It's all going as planned."

  " Doesn�t this endanger the base.", the edges of Fuyutsuki's anger touching his voice." What if something goes 
 wrong? Are you willing to jeopardize the Geofront just to find out if the S2 engine works. and end up like the 
 Second Branch ?"

  " Defeating the Angels are our first priority.", Gendou answered coolly. " Anything that would help us in reach 
 that goal is worth any risk."

  " How could we battle Angels if we disappear from the face of the Earth?", Fuyutsuki was almost shouting now.

  " Do not worry.", Gendou responded again. " There is no present danger."

  The way Gendou said it told Fuyutsuki that he knew more than he was letting on. " Why are we not in any present 
 danger? If you know something, tell me!! I'm not a damn spy, you know that!"

  " The matter does not concern you.", Gendou said coldly." Seele has spies everywhere, and I cannot risk that 
 anything I say to you be brought to those old men."

  Fuyutsuki knew that what he said was true, but still resented the thought of being manipulated.* I find it hard to 
 trust you anymore, Ikari.*, Fuyutsuki thought to himself.* There is simply more at stake here than Seele.*

  They spent the rest of the day in silence, each brooding about how far could one trust the other.

**** to be continued ****

Fly me to the moon and let me play, among the stars.
Let me see what spring is like, on Jupiter and Mars.
In other words, hold my hand.
In other, darling kiss me.
Fill my heart with song, and let me sing forever more.
You are all I long for, all I worship and adore.
In other words, please be true.
In other words, I love you.