Neon Genesis Evangelion: Bohemian Rhapsody

Chapter Three

In the midst of her connection with Shinji, the center of her frustrations and affections, Asuka was interrupted by a door opening behind her. Immediately, she took the earbuds out of her and Shinji's ears, and quickly turning around to see who the intruder was. To her disbelief, it was the last person she ever expected to set foot in this room. "Pardon my intrusion, pilot," said Gendo, closing the door behind him slowly, walking over to the other side of Shinji, sitting down next to him.

The redhead was in utter shock that this man would even think of visiting his own son in the hospital, let alone actually doing so. She watched as he sat down next to the comatose boy, not saying another word, and simply staring at him with his head hung low. There was a long period of silence between the two, one that was most uncomfortably long, to the point that it was getting under Asuka's skin. 'Why is he here...? He shouldn't...no...he doesn't have the right to be here...' She thought, frowning a bit. She felt like she needed to say something, but she didn't know what. Before she knew it, however, it would be the older man in the room who would end up breaking the silence.

"I wonder...what caused him to do this...to try to take his own life..." Gendo said, leaning on his hands a bit. "He always seemed to put up with abuse...but he never took it this far...." He leant back in his chair, thinking to himself as Asuka looked down and clenched her fists a bit. "It..." She started to say, her lips quivering a bit. "It was...it was my fault...I wouldn't stop taunting him...saying horrible things...all because of my own stupid pride complex..." She admitted, running her hands through her hair, her voice becoming slightly choked up. "I...feel all these...different things for him, and yet...I ended up hurting him more than I ever thought possible...and when I found him the next morning, I...I-I couldn't help but remember my mother...who killed herself the same way...it's my fault this happened...I just want to tell him how sorry I am...and that I...I...." She tried to continue, but ended up being cut off by her own crying, wiping her tears away. Gendo looked on as she slightly broke down, not being phased by any of this at all, at least on the surface. "I see...if what you're saying is true...then he's much, much weaker than I ever thought he was..." He said, slowly standing up, beginning to walk out of the room. "Even if he comes back...it would be best to just use a dummy plug in Unit-01 from now on...we can't afford to babysit—" Gendo was about to finish before he felt his arm yanked back, followed by a fist reigning down on his forehead and nose, breaking his glasses and causing his nose to bleed.

Asuka had never once thought about attacking someone of higher authority. She always preferred to do what they say, and do it well, in order to win their favor, all for personal gain. But none of that mattered anymore, her façade didn't matter anymore, all that mattered was that the man standing in front of her was saying awful things about the boy she deeply loved, and she wouldn't listen to it anymore. As Gendo fell on the ground out in the hallway, other members of NERV bared witness as Asuka walked out behind him, with rage and sadness in her eyes.

"How...how dare you...how dare you?!!" She shouted, kicking the downed man in the side, hearing him scream in pain. "To think...the old me would've agreed with you...to think I thought how you did...it's disgusting!!" She kicked him again, listening to him groan in pain and discomfort. A few NERV members tried to run over and stop the scene, Gendo put up his hand, not wanting anyone to interfere. Asuka knelt down by his side, grabbing his shirt so she could pull him close to her, so he could hear her well. "It's not just my fault...it's yours...you did this to him...you made him the way he is...you complain about him being useless...that he's weak and not good enough...take a good long look at yourself!!" She shouted, banging his head against the glass window, making sure he was looking at his reflection. "You're the one who abandoned him...after his mother died...you left him alone because you were too much of a coward...he was traumatized and broken...and because of you, because of me, he still is...and yet he's a much better person than either of us could ever be..." She finally let him go, standing up over him, leaving him laying on the floor, panting hard.

Before anyone could react, a siren began to wail all throughout the building. Everyone knew what this meant: an angel had appeared. No one expected the next one to show up so suddenly, but there was no time to think. Everyone in the hallway cleared out to get to their positions, including Gendo, although he had to limp his way off the floor. He looked back at Asuka and said in a monotone voice "Pilot...get to your position...get ready to launch..." before heading off to his station. Asuka turned back to look at Shinji, wishing she could stay with him, especially since the alarm meant he had to be moved, but it took all the willpower within her body to get her to move to her changing room to get into her plugsuit. "Shinji...I'll see you again...stay alive for me...and I'll...I'll stay alive for you...."

To be continued...

(Things are getting a bit intense!! To give a timeframe, there's about 2-3 chapters left, maybe even an epilogue. I plan to finish all of this sooner than later, and I won't leave you guys hanging! I hope you guys are liking the development of this story, and I hope to give a satisfying conclusion to it! Stay tuned!)