You Can (Not) Forget

Turn Your Back On Mother Nature ~ The Sound of Silence

Shinji exhaled, his breath clouding in front of him. Sluggishly, he dodged a swipe from Sahaquiel's claws and lumbered into one of the few remaining buildings. It shattered with the sound of cracking ice and diamond dust exploded into the air around Armaros. Shinji groaned as he got back to his feet. His whole body felt stiff. His frosty kin really was like nothing he'd ever fought before. He'd only been doin battle with her for a few minutes now, yet the inside of his plug felt like it was going to solidify into a frozen block of LCL with him inside.

It was ridiculous. No angel had ever affected LCL like this. Sure, he'd felt cold before—like when he was trapped inside Leliel—and the heat of the volcano had been sweltering, but this was entirely different. Nothing had ever forced the LCL around him to change form. He could see it at the very edges of the plug. Solid LCL. More fear coiled around his heart, clenching it like a vice and forcing it to thud in his chest more rapidly than it ever should. As his shaking, hurting fingers tightened around his controls, he tamped the terror down with all of his will. He had to fight.

"But do you really?" asked his inner angel, voice sweet. Its eye however, glowing with malevolent joy. "What good will it do you? You will return to persecution even if you do manage to win. Your end is nigh either way. I can't wait!" It laughed in Asuka's voice and Shinji felt an angry heat rise up his neck into his face as he seethed. He wanted to kill his inner angel so badly right now, it hurt.

"Shut up!" Shinji snapped, no longer caring that he could be heard by the entirety of Nerv. He hated it. He hated it so much. But he couldn't deny it any longer. His inner angel was right. There wasn't going to be anything left for him at Nerv after this battle. Nothing he'd done to keep his friends and family up to this point meant anything. A whisper from Armaros passed through his ears and Shinji gnashed his teeth as he looked to Sahaquiel. All her eyes twitched and writhed to look at him in kind as if she could tell she was being glared at. A rattled breath from her exhaled a small puff of frost.

Shinji jerked his hands on the controls, dragging Armaros out of the path of an icy beam of wind and snow. Frost grew upon Armaros's right arm merely from being nearby. Shinji heard the attack shatter in the distance. Nothing matters anymore... but I still have a choice I can make for myself, Shinji thought. Unbeknownst to him, his inner angel's smile widened into a Cheshire grin that showed its gums. Its eye narrowed in delight, but it only proved to make it look more horrific as they glowed a foul red. 

The ground beneath Armaros splintered apart, shattering into pieces as if it was a broken plate. From beneath the fragmented earth came a jagged, crystalline spike of ice. Ignoring the freezing LCL all around him, Shinji pulled Armaros around the spike with a swiftness Sahaquiel had been unprepared for. She'd thought she'd chilled all the fight out of him, but she was wrong. He lunged forward, Armaros clearing far more distance than anyone thought possible in a single bound.

Shinji slammed Armaros's head into Sahaquiel's A.T. Field. It hardly budged, but he didn't let that deter him. His own field came alive, collapsing and expanding in on itself at the palms of his hands. With an almost inhuman growl he thrust the clawed hands of Armaros into Sahaquiel's field. At first there was nothing. Sahaquiel just looked upon him. An eye twitched and shards of ice formed at her back.

Then her A.T. Field cracked.

Shinji smirked within his plug as his eyes burned crimson.

The shards of ice flew forward as Sahaquiel jumped back. Shinji yelled.

Armaros let loose a silent roar and Sahaquiel's A.T. Field held for but a moment longer before shattering just like the shards of ice that came after it. Shinji guided Armaros forward again, its massive feet pounding into the asphalt, shaking the earth and leaving indents as it stalked towards its prey. Sahaquiel's wings spread out, creating gale force winds that swept through the city and toppled more flash frozen buildings. Then with a single wingbeat she was in the air, climbing high above the clouds. Shinji stayed alert, waiting for her to show herself.