[FFML] [XOver][EVA/Lovecraft] Fear Chapter Nine: Stars Burning Brightly

[Timothy Groves]

Disclaimer

Shin Seiki Evangelion was created by Hideki Anno, and is owned by
Gainax.  Use of the characters and situations therein are not intended
as any challenge of their copyrights.

Mythos  elements were created by H. P. Lovecraft and owned by Arkham
Publishing.  Cthugha was created by August Derleth.


"'I am nobody's slave.'"  Asuka's arms were wrapped tight around her
body.  "That's what he said."

She sat in the briefing room, still in her plugsuit.  Her hair was dry;
for whatever reason, LCL did not cling to hair or skin, but shed off
almost instantly.  Shinji and Rei also wore their plugsuits, and Misato
and Ritsuko had come directly from the command deck.

Shinji sighed.  "I tried telling you this, Asuka.  I've been trying to
tell you for the last two weeks.  You're not the master;  you're the
partner.  Not even that, really;  you and he are two halves of one
being."  He tapped her forehead.  "You have to understand it here."  He
tapped her chest.  "And here."

"I know that."  She shuddered.  "Nigoki's made that clear enough."

Shinji shook his head.  "You know it, but you don't really accept it."

"She is starting to."

He looked over at Rei.  "How do you know?"

"She called him by name."


- - - - -

Tail Kinker Presents
Fear
Chapter Nine:
Stars Burning Brightly

- - - - -


"Do you need to sleep with her tonight?"

Shinji looked over at Rei.  He had been sitting on the balcony, looking
up at the stars, when she approached.

"I know you prefer to have me in the same room as you."  He looked down
at his feet.  "Tell the truth, I kind of like it myself."

Rei took a step back.  "Please...I..."  She looked away, hands clasped
before her.  "I do not require it."

"I didn't say that."  He winced.  "I...I need to know if what happened
today will affect her dreams."

"We have the A20 clips still.  You can see her dreams from anywhere in
the apartment."

"They only work some of the time."  He sighed.  "Some times, they don't
work, and then I need to be there, to find out what the dream was
about."  He looked up at her.  "Her nightmares have been getting worse."

"I have seen this."

"But there's something about her that I haven't figured out yet."  He
made a fist.  "Something that's...tied into...her problems with
piloting."

"She has a superiority complex, and is unwilling to admit it."

"On the surface, yes.  But underneath..."  He sighed.  "She wears a
mask.  Like you do.  Like I do."

"As Commander Ikari and Captain Katsuragi do."

"Yeah..."  He sighed.  "I got behind her mask once before.  I need to do
it again."  He stood, and turned to Rei.  "I'm sorry, but I do need to
spend tonight in her room."

"I understand.  Duty takes precedence over personal wishes."

"I would rather spend it with you."  He reached out, and caressed her
face.

She batted his hand away, her eyes wide with fright.  She staggered back
a step, tripping over the doorframe, then paused, her breath coming in
ragged gasps.

Shinji winced, and looked down.

"I'm sorry."

He looked up again;  she'd taken the words right from his mouth.  She
looked across at him, the pain and fear still evident in her eyes.

Then the mask slipped back on again.

"I shall keep your impulses in mind, and remain outside of arms' reach."

She turned, and stalked back into the living room.


- - - - -


Behind his desk, Gendo stared at Rei across folded hands.

"You have become rather close to my son."

"I had assumed that that was your intent."  Rei looked down at the
floor.  "After all, you appointed him a future life-partner to me."

"I did not intend for you to make any assumptions."  He lowered his
hands to the desktop.  "You are to obey my orders, and remember your
duties."  He stood up.  "If it is not covered by your orders, you do not
react to any situation!"  His voice had risen to a shout.

Rei continued to stare downward;  she feared that she knew what was
about to happen.

"Well?"  Gendo shouted.  "What do you have to say for yourself?"

She looked up, uncommon fire in her eyes.  "I need answer only to
myself!"

The office was silent for long seconds.  Finally, Gendo adjusted his
glasses, and quietly said, "Well.  I see that you have forgotten your
place."  He unbuckled his belt, pulled it free.  "I shall have to
re-educate you."

The office was soundproof.  She knew this from prior instances.  No
sound could reach anyone outside once the door was sealed.  She knew
this all too well.

She screamed anyway.


- - - - -


Shinji sat bolt upright.

"Was geschieht?"  Asuka looked around blearily, to see Shinji leaving
her room at high speed.  He tore open the door to his room, and ran in.
Asuka sat up, and looked through the open doors.

Rei was convulsing, her hands held over her head.  The screams were not
of fear, but of pain.

"What the hell is going on?"

"I don't know!"  He reached down, and touched Rei's arm.

She swung at him.  Her fist caught him a glacing blow across the face,
and he fell backwards, twisting, his head slamming into the wall.

"Shinji!"  She ran towards him, but hesitated;  he'd struck his head.
If she moved him...

He moaned, and picked himself up.  His face was...torn.  A chunk of his
lip had been pierced through by a tooth, and hung at an odd angle.  His
hair, where his head had struck the wall, was matted, as though he'd
bled into it.

And still Rei screamed.

"Damn..."  He winced, and fingered his lip.  "I keep forgetting."

"What do we do?"  Asuka looked around the room, and her eyes settled on
a pillow.  She grabbed it, and smacked Rei across the face with it.

The girl stopped screaming, her eyes wide open.

Asuka dropped the pillow, and smirked.  "Figured that'd wake you up."

Rei sat up slowly, still shaking, then looked over at Shinji.  "Your
face..."

"Yeah."  He pushed the torn skin back into place, waited until he could
feel the dull burning sensation as it started to knit.  "This'll take
all day to heal."

"I...I apologize."

"It's all right.  You were a bit...distraught."

"No kidding."  Asuka shook her head.  Rei glanced over at her.

"I thank you for waking me, Asuka.  Please leave my room before I am
reminded how you did so."  Her voice was chill.

Asuka snorted.  "No need to shower me with gratitude, Wonder Girl."  She
turned, stalked back into her room, and slammed the door.

Then closed it again, more gently.

"Figures."  Shinji released his lip;  it stayed in place.  "I figure
that Asuka'd be the one with nightmares, and instead, you bring down the
house."  He sighed, and looked down.  "I don't know who I'm kidding.
I'm not doing a very good job at training you two.  I'm..."  He
shrugged.  "I'm fumbling around in the dark, hoping I don't screw up too
badly."

"That is all that any of us could do."  He looked up;  Rei's face was
composed, but not frozen.  "At least you have had some success;  nothing
else so far has worked."

"What was it about?"  Shinji fingered the scalp wound.  "I remember that
I saw the nightmare, but..."  He shrugged.  "But then I got woken up by
you screaming, and had my head slammed into the wall."

She paused, a long and uncomfortable time.  "I think that if you do not
remember, it would be best not to remind you."

He considered this, then asked, "In your opinion, would my knowing help
me in my training you?"

She paused again, then said, "Your father felt it necessary to
discipline me earlier today."  The mask slipped on.  "I have acted in
error."

He shivered.

She lay back down, pulling the sheet over herself.  "You should return
to Asuka's room.  The night is not yet over."


- - - - -


As usual, Rei was the first up.

Shinji sat down, and she wordlessly placed a cup of coffee before him.
He smiled his thanks, and sipped.

"Shinji."

He glanced up.  "Yeah?"

"I apologize for last night."

"You already did."  He touched his lip.  "And it's almost healed."

"You, too?"  Asuka had wandered in, still somewhat bleary.  "You mean
you heal really quick, too?"

"Yeah.  Remember last week, when Toji attacked me?"  Shinji stood, and
pulled up his shirt.  There was not a mark on his stomach, even though
he'd been badly cut.  "All healed."

"All three of us heal quickly."  Rei poured a second cup of coffee, and
set it in front of Asuka.  "I do not know why."

Shinji frowned.  "What do the three of us have in common?"

"We all pilot EVA," offered Asuka.  Shinji shook his head.

"No.  I healed quickly before I even saw EVA."

"If I recall correctly, both you and Asuka are without mothers.  I do
not remember my mother."  Rei glanced between the two of them.  "However
since other people have lost parents without gaining the ability to heal
at an accelerated rate, I doubt that this is significant."

"You lost your mother, Shinji?"  Asuka tilted her head.

"Yeah.  She drowned."  He sipped his coffee, more to steel himself than
any other reason.  "She went crazy, when I was five years old.  Fought
her way past guards, and threw herself into the ocean to drown."  He
looked down.  "I still have nightmares about it."

Asuka stared at him, eyes wide in shock.  "All Mutti wanted was to get
to the ocean.  When they restrained her, she went mad.  She fought so
hard to get to the ocean, and they had to lock her up.  And..."  She
swallowed.  "She...killed herself, because she couldn't get to the
ocean."  She shook her head.  "That's...maybe that's the link.
Something to do with the ocean."

Both turned to look at Rei.  She raised an eyebrow. 

"I told you already.  I do not remember my mother."

"What's the earliest thing you remember?"  Shinji leaned closer to her.
"As far back as you recall?"

"Waking up in a hospital."  She shuddered, a most un-Rei-like reaction.
"Your father leaned over me, told me he'd be taking care of me."  She
looked down.  "I was seven years old."

Shinji glanced over to Asuka.  "How old were you?"

"I was nine when she started going crazy.  She killed herself just last
year."  Tears were welling in Asuka's eyes.  "But my healing was...I've
always had it."  She shook her head.  "We're all so fucked up.  All
neglected by our parents, all..."  She looked down again.  "All freaks."

"Then I suggest," said Rei, "that we 'freaks' look out for each other."

"Good morning."  Misato looked quite unpleasant, still half asleep.  Not
that this was unusual.  She staggered to the table, and collapsed into
her chair.  "Everyone's still here?"

"I must leave for school."  Rei wordlessly set a coffee, a beer, and a
bowl of soup before Misato, then turned and left.

"Uh?"  Misato shrugged, and popped open the beer.  "What's crawled up
her butt?"

"She had a rough night."  Shinji grabbed his bookbag, stood, and headed
for the door.

"I musta slept through the screaming..."  Misato shrugged, and glanced
over at Asuka.  "How about you?  After yesterday, I would've expected
you to have a bad dream or two..."

"Slept like a baby."  She stood, grabbed her bag, and waved.  "Bye!"

Misato watched the redhead turn the corner, then scowled.  "Christ!  Now
they've gotten her doing it, too!"


- - - - -


Rei glanced towards the door;  Asuka had not yet emerged.
"Shinji...when I apologized this morning..."

"I already said--"

She touched his lips with a finger.  "I was not apologizing for injuring
you."

He paused, then nodded.  "You were afraid."

"Yes."  She looked down.  "I do not want to...be afraid of you.  I am
not afraid of you.  I am afraid that I may hurt you."  She looked up.
"Please remember that I do not want to hurt you."

His cell phone rang.  He winced, and said, "Sorry."

Her phone rang before he could get his out.  He stared at the number on
the display, then accepted the call.

"Pilot Ikari.  All three of us are on our way."

Rei looked down at her phone, then clicked the cancel button.  "We
should wait for Asuka."

"Yes."  He smiled.  "We'll slow down for her."


- - - - -


"We picked this up on long-range thermal imaging."  Ritsuko clicked the
remote, and the screen behind her sprang to life.  A ball of fire,
twisting in obscene directions, writhed on the viewer behind her.  She
carefully did not look.  "Commander Ikari has identified this as the Old
One Cthugha."

"I was unable to sense its presence."

"Cthugha is listed third in power among the Old Ones," said Ritsuko.
"I'm not surprised that you couldn't pick him up, Rei;  his power levels
are far beyond anything you can imagine."

"What does he want?"  Shinji stepped forward.  "Does that book of my
Dad's tell us what he's after?"

"No."  Ritsuko shook her head.  "Commander Ikari has stated that
Cthugha's motives will be completely incomprehensible to us."

"He's in orbit, right?"  Asuka stared at the image.  "How are we gonna
fight him way up there?"

"He's in orbit, but around the sun.  Roughly at the orbit of Saturn."

There was a long pause, then Shinji swallowed, and said, "So...how big
is he?"

"Roughly five times the diameter of Jupiter."

The pause was even longer this time.  Rei finally broke it.

"When do we deploy?"

"Are you crazy?"  Asuka exploded.  "That...thing...is so goddamn huge,
it won't even notice an EVA!"

"We were called in.  Therefore, someone here has formulated a plan to
deal with Cthugha."

"What?  Feed us to it first, and hope it's happy?"

"Quiet!"  Misato's voice cut through the argument.  The two subsided,
and Misato turned to Ritsuko.  "Do you have a plan?"

"Actually, yes."  Ritsuko smiled.  "Cthugha has sent three servitors to
Earth.  He cannot make contact with Terminal Dogma unless one of these
servitors reaches there, and he only has two hours left before he's
locked away again.  So we need stop only the servitors."

"Okay!"  Asuka raised a fist.  "I'm good at beating down servitors!"

"Excellent."  Ritsuko looked from her, to Shinji, to Rei.  "Suit up, and
prepare to deploy."



- - - - -


"Zerogoki, in position."

"Shogoki, in position."  Shinji hefted the battle rifle;  he hoped it
would prove more effective against this "servitor" thing than it did
against an Old One.

"Nigoki, ready to kick ass!"

"Still no contact, maintain your positions."

"Hey, Wonder Girl.  Wanna make this interesting?"

"We are strapped into giant warbeasts, armed with the latest of
high-tech weaponry, about to do battle with the servitors of a giant
intelligent sun, with the fate of humanity on the line.  In what way
could it be more interesting?"

"Five thousand yen says I get two of them."

"I accept the wager."

"Hey, Shinji.  You want in on this?"

He clicked the commboard.  "All I have is a hundred yen."

"Boring!"

"Contact!"

"Where?"

"Sector twelve.  Rei, that's your area.  Your vector south one-seventy,
ten miles for intercept."

"I am engaging."

"Contact!  Asuka, your vector for intercept is north twenty, twelve
miles."

"Great!  I can finish off Rei's when I'm done with mine!"

"Unit one, hold position, we have no third contact yet."

"Cannon fire is ineffective."

"It's protoplasmic;  the cannon shells are going right through them
without exploding!"

"We're sending up incinerator units."

"Make it quick!"

"Contact!  No, wait..."

"What?"

"I had a sensor ghost."

"SHINJI!"

He jumped, and turned, to see an explosion in the distance.

"What the Christ was that?"

"Unit Zero has employed an active energy attack against the target.
EVA-00 is silent, but the target is destroyed."

"Contact!"

"Where away?"

"I can't lock it down--"

"Switch to UV."

"Nothing.  It's not registering on UV or on IR."

"Try J-band radar."

"Nothing!  Wait, I got a visual--Unit One, move!"

He did not hesitate, but broke his unit into a run.

"It's shifting--Oh, God!"

A wall of protoplasm rose up before Shogoki, and he couldn't stop in
time.  It washed over him like a wave, and he screamed.


- - - - -


"Incinerator isn't working!"  Asuka discarded the flamer, and grabbed a
gyroc rifle.  The creature was an oozing pile of formless tissue, but it
rose up, as high as her EVA, and began shifting to a humanoid form.  She
fired a gyroc into it, but watched in horror as it simply formed a hole
in its body, allowing the gyroc to sail through without touching it.

"Nothing is working!"

"Asuka, calm down.  Your sync rate is dropping rapidly!"

-You need to Dream-

"I can't do it."  Asuka's head dropped.  "I can't."

-You can-

"I can't!"  She smashed her fist down on the console.  "I'm in charge of
my own actions!"

-I can help you-

The creature shambled towards her, and grabbed the EVA.  She screamed in
pain, the touch of the monster burning like acid.

-Give yourself to me-

"No!"

-It is the only way you will live-

"I can't!"  She sobbed, from pain and fear.  "I can't surrender!"

-It is not surrender, but acceptance-

The pain grew worse;  she saw the armour on her arm fall away, melted
like tissue paper in rain.  She screamed.

"Oh, God it hurts!  Please, Nigoki!"

But he was silent.

"Nigoki!  Please!  I'll surrender!  I'll do anything--"

-ANYTHING?-


- - - -


His eyes opened, and he stared down at the Shoggoth.  A lesser servitor,
fit only for destruction.  Ages ago, they brought down their Masters,
but the Old Ones were far more dangerous than the Masters of the
Shoggoth.

His free arm traced the path of the Elder Sign.  The Flow gathered, and
he blasted the Shoggoth.  The creature staggered backward, and he
smiled.

~You are fierce, my Dreamer, but I will give you power.  Together, we
are one, and we are unstoppable!~

He formed the Lance, its dual heads glimmering with the Flow.

~I have the power, and you have the purpose.  And our purpose is to
defend your kind.~

He leaped forward, and swung the Lance.  The Shoggoth exploded, the
energies of its body released to the Flow.  He knelt in the midst of the
blast, feeling the energies repairing his body and armour.

~Never fear me, Dreamer.~  He rose, banishing the Lance, as the last
moments of power drained from his armour.  ~Never fear me, for we are
one at last.~


- - - -


FEAR ME, MORTAL.

Shinji opened his eyes, to find himself floating in a brilliant mass of
light.

~Shogoki!~

DO NOT CALL FOR THAT CHILD.  SHE IS NOT HERE.  ONLY YOU ARE HERE.   

"Are...are you Cthugha?"

I HAVE BEEN GIVEN THAT NAME BY THOSE TOO PRIMITIVE TO UNDERSTAND MY TRUE
NAME.  IT WILL SUFFICE FOR YOUR PUNY MIND.

"Did I get the servitor?"

THE SHOGGOTH?  NO.  EVEN NOW, IT INHABITS THE BODY OF THE CHILD, TAKING
IT TOWARDS ITS FATHER.

"I have to stop it!"

WHY?

"Because you'll kill everyone on earth if I don't!"

DOES THAT MATTER?

Before him images of Rei and Asuka appeared.

THESE TWO APPEAR IN YOUR MIND MORE THAN ANY OTHER.  WHY?

"Well..."

YOU FEEL AN ATTACHMENT TO THEM. 

"I do."

I SEE THAT YOU CONSIDER THE TWO UNIQUE.  TO ME, YOUR ENTIRE SPECIES ARE
AS INTERCHANGEABLE AS ANY OTHER BACTERIA.

The images of Rei and Asuka shifted.  Rei's hair became red-gold, her
eyes blue.  Asuka's hair paled, to the same faded blue as Rei's normal
tint, and her eyes turned the red of albinism.  Even their plugsuits
changed, Asuka's to the white and black of the Test Unit, Rei's to the
red of the production model.

CAN YOU TRULY STATE THAT THESE TWO ARE NOT INTERCHANGEABLE?

"Yes!"

STRANGE.  I WILL CONSIDER THIS, ONCE I HAVE CLEANSED THE PLANET.

He was back in the plug.  The controls were dark.

"Shinji!  What the hell are you doing?"

He stabbed at the commboard, but nothing happened.

"You're bringing that thing right in!"  Misato's voice was sounding
panicked.  "Why won't you answer?"

~Shogoki!~

~I am here, Dreamer, but the Shoggoth has interrupted your link to the
armour.  Without it, you cannot control us.~

~Can I Dream?~

~You can, but there is no point.  I cannot reach the Flow.  The Shoggoth
inhibits me.~

~What about the Brothers?~

~One is imprisoned in his armour, the other sleeps.~

~Can either reach the Flow?~

~Zerogoki can.  But his Dreamer sleeps.~

He closed his eyes.


- - - - -


The lights came on in her plug.  Rei lifted her head from the console,
and watched in amazement as the battery timer began climbing upwards.

"Rei!  Can you hear me?"

"I can hear you, Captain."  She ran through the activation sequence.  "I
am outside the Dream."

"You've got power again, somehow."

"I cannot fight, but I can move."

"Umbilical!  Reconnect Unit Two!"

"I understand."

Zerogoki moved sluggishly under her direction, but she moved to an
umbilical storage, and pulled out the cable.  She staggered to Nigoki,
and attached the umbilical.

Nigoki came back to life, as though a switch were thrown.  He threw back
his head, and roared.


- - - - -


Battle.  A second time, in so short a span.  It was good to be alive!

He formed the Lance.  His Sister was coated by the Shoggoth, directed by
its foul powers towards its goal.  But it had made one error:  While
controlling Shogoki, it cut off its access to the Flow.

He leaped towards his Sister, altering the Lance as he flew.  It split,
segmenting into nine long tendils.  He swung, and the tendrils wrapped
around his Sister, burning the Shoggoth.  It screamed, burned, and fell
away.  Shogoki collapsed as it died, her armour's power expended, and
Nigoki stood alone on the battlefield, victorious.  He raised his hands
to the air, and roared again to the heavens.


- - - - -


"Technically, you could not have defeated the second Shoggoth without my
assistance.  Therefore, the wager is void."

"Pay up, Wonder Girl!"  Asuka jerked a thumb towards her chest.  "I
killed two of them, so I win!  No points for an assist!"

Shinji sat, head in his hands.

"Wagers are illegal between minors, in any event.  Therefore, I am not
legally required to pay you."

"Are you willing to be known as a welcher?"

"I have been called worse."

"Quiet!"  Shinji jumped to his feet.  The girls stopped arguing, and
turned to face him.

"Don't you understand?"  He shook his head.  "It doesn't matter.  Any of
it.  Those things are going to keep coming, and if Cthugha wasn't the
most powerful...if there's one already on Earth that's even a tenth as
powerful..."

"Shinji--"

"We don't matter to them!"  He stared at Asuka.  "They view us as
insignificant.  If they even notice us at all!"  He sat back down.  "We
won today, but eventually, they're going to win.  Because there's only
three of us, and there's a lot more of them, and they're more powerful."

Rei sat down next to him.  "Shinji.  We will win."

"How can you say that?"  He looked up at her.  "How can you know?"

"I cannot know."  She looked away.  "But we have no choice but to
believe it, or we have already lost."


- - - - -


"Good night, Asuka."

"See you tomorrow, Shinji."  She waved him off.  "I'm betting that with
what you went through today, it'll be Rei comforting you after a
nightmare!"

She closed the door before he had a chance to retort.  Chuckling, she
sat down on the futon, and stripped off her clothes.

Then paused.  She looked down at her arms, clenched her hands into
fists, and smiled. 

"Freedom..."

-- 
http://www.tailkinker.net                      ICQ# 66022322
"Chess is a fun game, when played with shotguns."  --MegaHAL