Once again, all characters used in this piece are not my creation, they are the property of

GAINAX and their affiliates, and suing me can only get you my Playstation and Lost In Space

soundtrack...

In my quest to be the first NGE writer to span all NGE genres, this piece fills the requirement

for a darkfic, which takes place before Shinji and Toji fight in the Evas. Did I mention spoilers?

Sorry...





*Fallen - Derek Zischke*



Darkness filled Unit One's entry plug. The world around Shinji suddenly vanished, and all

control of the Eva was removed from him. His view was now replaced with another, the same

but given a red tinge, as if all he could see was coated in blood.

Now all he could do was watch.

He heard Eva One give out a bestial roar, and its arms reached out and wrapped around the

black Eva's neck, cutting off air, digging deep into thick flesh, the sensation of it forcing its way

into Shinji's nerves. The black hands around Shinji's own Eva's neck slowly released, and

eventually swung limply at their owner's sides as he heard the brutal snap of the black Eva's

neck, the feeling in his hands like human flesh. Like the flesh of the unknown pilot.

In the back of Shinji's mind, the part that would remain sane and rational throughout all he

saw, a voice spoke up: _It must be over. It can't fight anymore._

Shinji, who would see what followed many times over in dreams turned to nightmares and

wake screaming, could only watch what happened next.

Unit One knelt over the fallen body and raised its arm. Shinji began to cry out as he realised

what the machine intended to do, as the giant purple fist came down and crushed the black

Eva's head, coating the streets with a wash of viscous fluid. The small part of his mind that

wanted to stay sane and rational was now struggling to do so, because all it could repeat at the

sight of the fallen machine was, "Dear God, that's blood. Not oil, not LCL, not engine fuel, but

the blood of a human. It's blood. It's blood. It's blood."



Underground, in the Geofront, the various technicians stared up at the video monitors, all

sickened but unable to look away. Only two people in the room did not fit this description; Maya

Ibuki, who had placed her hands over eyes that refused to shake the images they had just

witnessed, and Gendo Ikari, who sat unmoved at his desk, despite the fact that his son's

screams echoed all around him.



Shinji could not remember much of what he would now see days later, only the unstoppable

flow of blood as his Eva tore the black Eva's flesh from its body. He knew later that he was

screaming in the entry plug, because his throat was sore for days after, but at the time, he was

only watching in silence. He only heard himself yell at one thing, when he saw what the final

thing his Eva destroyed was.

The entry plug.

The carrier of the pilot, held in a giant purple hand, seeming to tremble, coated in blood, torn

from the back of the black Eva's shattered head. It was held there for a second, and then

shattered, crushed, destroyed. It was then that Shinji's Eva stopped. It had no more purpose;

there was nothing left to kill.



For what seemed like hours Shinji sat in the entry plug, clenched, frozen in grief for the

unknown pilot and hatred for his heartless father, his hands locked around the metallic grips.

The stench of blood on flesh inside the entry plug threatened to drive him insane. He heard

that they had found Misato and Ritsuko in the wreckage of the explosion; two people that one

of these monsters hadn't been able to claim yet. He didn't care; he was only focused on the

wreckage of the black Eva's entry plug. A rescue crew was arriving now, but it wouldn't be

much use. He could hear Misato's voice speaking to him, and he knew he was giving out

perfunctory responses, if he was giving any out at all. The rescue crew were dragging

something out of the entry plug; although badly hurt and coated in his own blood, Shinji could

see clearly who he had fought.



Toji.



Before Shinji snapped, that sane and rational part of his mind flashed a thought in his head,

twisted, bitter, ironic humour: _it must run in the family..._



There was not one person in the Geofront that didn't hear Shinji's scream.





I really dislike doing stuff that's dark, even though that's what a lot of Eva is. This is possibly

one of the darkest parts in the entire series, and it signifies the falling apart of everything in

Nerv. The next thing I write will be nicer, I promise.





-Derek Zischke

[email protected]

"Do you suffer from long-term memory loss? I can't remember..."

-Chumbawhamba