Northern Raven Studios presents:
Eurydice
An Evangelion Fanfiction by Athos
'Don't look back, or you'll loose her.'
2004 AD: Gehirn research facilities under NeoTokyo 3, Japan. It was his fault. There were no doubts about that.
The man looked at the purple giant trapped in the red crystal, frozen in the middle of a roar.
Such an accident fell into the possible, but not probable things that could happen in an activation test; less of a 0.00002% of possibilities. The direct strike of a meteor over the city was more probable than that, but it had happenned.
Gendo Ikari started to cry silently, his face leant against the crystal of the laboratory. Yui was trapped -maybe forever- inside of that purple nightmare. All the attempts to recover her had failed. All had failed, and Yui was still vanished. What a bitter prize for copying the art of God.
Finally, Gendo raised his head and dried his tears.
"Never again," he said, frowning, and looked again at the Evangelion. "Don't worry, Yui. I'll bring you back. Even if..." He paused, and shook the head, "...I'll bring you back."
He turned away and left the laboratory, without looking back.
"Where have you been all the week?" Fuyutsuki complained. "I know that this is hard, but you should try to forget your personal issues. Our responsibility is great."
Gendo looked at Fuyutsuki, frowning behind his new glasses. "I'm aware of that. But I've been developing a new schedule, Lorentz and the Council agreed with me."
"Are we going to..."
"Yes. We're going to indeed reach God, like nobody did before. The next step in Mankind's evolution. The Third Impact."
"May God have mercy of us," muttered Fuyutsuki.
"God hasn't anything to do with this," replied Gendo coldly.
Nerv's Headquarters - Eleven years later.
Ritsuko sighed tiredly and looked at her assistant.
"Well, I guess that we couldn't ask for anything better, could we? So the Magi only give us a chance of 14%?"
"Yes, ma'am," nodded Maya. "Do you want me to run another simulation?"
"No, Maya. We're going to do it with this results. Let's start."
Maya watched how the crew abandoned the hangar of the Eva-01 and tipped the activation code. In the neck of the purple Evangelion, a partially inserted entry plug was surrounded by two rings, waiting the signal to send a electromagnetic shock to the plug that contained the dissolved body and soul of Shinji.
"Tracking wave pattern," she said.
Misato entered the observation pods.
"So you've started," she muttered without looking at Ritsuko.
"Yes," replied the blonde scientist. "Don't worry, Misato. We'll bring your boy back," she smiled.
"Better if you do," frowned Misato. "For your own good."
"Wave pattern locked," informed Maya. "Doctor Akagi, there's a discordance. The wave doesn't match totally the Third Child's one."
"Hmm? Don't worry. It must be a interference of the own pattern of the Eva. "Lock it and continue."
"Yes, Doctor," she nodded. "Pattern locked. Loading EM charge."
"What happens, Ritsuko?" asked Misato coldly.
"Nothing, don't worry," she shrugged.
"EM Pulse loaded and ready."
"Cross your fingers, Misato," said Ritsuko, touching Maya in her shoulder. "Now, Maya."
Maya nodded and touched a button. From the cage of the Eva-01 came a barren sound, which ceased in a few seconds.
"We're receiving the signal, ma'am! He's alive, although dismayed," informed Maya.
Not knowing if cry or laugh, Misato ran out of the room heading for the Evangelion cages. Somehow, she managed to arrive before the medical team. When the LCL finished its flood, Misato forced the entry and looked inside from the door.
Then she fainted.
"Then who the hell is?" yelled Ritsuko angrily.
"We don't know, ma'am. By the way, she's wearing some kind of... plugsuit," replied the officer from the plug.
"A technician," Ritsuko groaned, "with a plugsuit? Somebody is going to have problems once awake. I thought that the deck had been evacuated before the starting of the test."
In the screen, the paramedic shrugged.
"Well, carry her to the infirmary. Maya, run a query in the Magi. I want to know who's the responsible of this mess."
Maya nodded. After a few seconds, the Magi gave their answer.
"What the..." damned Ritsuko. In the entire Complex, only Ikari, Fuyutsuki and herself had a SAC Alpha. Shrugging, she introduced her password and waited. The screen changed again, revealing the profile of the technician. Ritsuko gulped and looked at Maya, who had dropped her jaw to the floor.
"The Commander should know this. Now."
Gendo was in his office. Alone, as always he was, with the hands crossed in front of his face and his gaze lost in the Tree of Life drawn in the ceiling. The phone had to ring twice before he blinked, surprised, and answer it.
"Ikari," he said flatly.
"It's me, Akagi, sir."
"I see. Have you finished the operation?"
"Yes sir, but..." answered Ritsuko, hesitant.
"But? Has it failed?"
"Not exactly."
"Explain. Doctor, I'm starting to lose my patient."
Ritsuko cleared her throat, "All has worked, but we haven't recovered Shinji."
"Then it failed."
"You don't understand, sir," she replied, annoyed. "We have recovered somebody, but she's not the Third Child." She could heard Gendo gulp, at the another end of the line.
"She?" asked Gendo, barely controlling his voice.
"Sir, Magi system identifies her as... Yui Ikari, Commander."
The silent answered her. Ritsuko thought then that the line would be down, because Gendo's answer was delayed for a whole minute.
"Where?" he whispered, his voice cracked.
"At the infirmary. Room 402... sir."
Gendo cut abruptly. Ritsuko hang the phone bitterly, with a bit of jealousies in the back of her mind bothering her. Gendo's voice had never been so enveloped by tenderness when he talked with her. Shaking her head, she turned to Maya and smiled.
"Well, time to start again. I hope the next one be Shinji."
Maya smiled back to her.
Gendo ran towards the infirmary, forgetting the dignity that he, as Nerv's Commander, was supposed to behave with, and surprising several dozens of members of the personnel in his way. He had ran like that only once in his whole life. And because of the same person. Breathing hard -he wasn't used to physical exercise-, he reached the room.
He stood in the door, and rubbed his eyes. When he opened them again, his brain received the same image; in the bed was laying asleep a brown haired woman. Her eyes, that Gendo knew very well were dark green, were closed; and stood closed while Gendo walked slowly to the bed, hoping against hope that that weren't a dream.
It wasn't. When Gendo touched her cheek, Yui opened her eyes. She blinked, twice, and grabbed his hand on her cheek.
"Hi," whispered Gendo. She incorpored in the bed and looked at him with her sad eyes. Without say anything, Yui started to cry silently, her tears falling softly over the white sheets. Gendo dried them and leant over her.
"It's all over, now. Don't worry," he said, hugging her.
"I... Gendo, is it really you? Where... where am I?" she whispered, sobbing.
"You're safe, now. I'm with you," he said, tilting his head and kissing her.
After a second, she grabbed his head with both hands and kissed him back fiercely.
"I've missed you so much, Yui..." whispered Gendo, his lips still touching hers. "I love you."
"Don't leave me alone again, Gendo," she breathed, burying her head in his chest.
"I won't. I promise," replied Gendo, passing his hand trough her hair. He closed his eyes, his heart soaring.
Finally she had come back.
Finally he was in her arms again.
Finally.
Finally I've revised this first chapter. Not much else to say; go read the second one!
See you!
Athos