You Can (Not) Forget

The Sound of Silence II

Sahaquiel felt dread stir in her core at the sight of Armaros. Her eyes narrowed as the cracks on its skin flared brightly. She blinked. Armaros was now directly in front of her. She tried to fly backwards, but the black beast already had a firm grip on her left arm, stopping her actions with an effortless tug upon her that jerked her whole body roughly towards her opponent. Fear flooded her brain the same moment she found a fist planted in her stomach. She doubled over with a rattling gasp.

Sahaquiel lifted her head, planning to spit icicles into Armaros's face. there was an explosion and she was flung away, carried off by a yet to dissipate beam of crimson energy. Armaros closed its mouth as she dug her feet into the iced dirt and rubble beneath her, attempting to slow herself down. Armaros growled low in its throat as it dropped onto all fours. The way it eyed her was so much more than unsettling.

"Ye are no kin of mine..." steam poured out of Armaros's mouth at her words and it lurched forward. Sahaquiel's wings beat once.

"Ye are the devil." She said. Armaros roared, lunging faster than she could truly track. It was a good thing, then, that she had been prepared. Her wings carried her into the air, just barely allowing her to avoid her enemy's attack. Her eyes flashed and there was an explosion beneath her, a mushroom cloud that climbed into the sky. A thin layer of ice built up around her mouth as she inhaled. With her exhale a blizzard roared out of her mouth into the cloud.

And then her vision flipped. Sahaquiel found herself tumbling out of the air, no wings on her back to keep her airborne. Above her was the domineering form of Armaros glaring down at her, her bleeding wings firmly in its grasp. An enraged, frustrated scream ripped its way out of her throat and then she found herself in a mushroom cloud as the light died out of Armaros's eyes.

Burned Out ~ The Sound of Silence

Misato and those within the protection of Central Dogma simply had no words. What was there to say? There was no real way to express what they thought of this... massacre going on above them. Central Dogma was silent.

"His sync rate is still rising..." Maya commented.

"Is there any way to patch us into his comms?" asked Misato. She desperately hoped there would be some way to communicate with the boy. Yui's breakdown upon realizing what was happening with her son was nothing to disregard.

"I'll get it done," Maya responded as they all watched Armaros dive bomb into the cloud like a burning warhead, pursuing Sahaquiel. Central shook. And then it shook again at the same time another explosion rocked the city above, more smoke permeating the entire area of the fight. They could still see Armaros. Like an ominous vengeful spirit, its crimson cracked skin burned brightly in the dust cloud, allowing its movements to be visible. In a way, that was more terrifying than it was originally. It was almost as though the humongous creature—for at this point it could be nothing but a creature—was teleporting around the battlefield. Even without blinking it would simply escape their field of view only to appear again elsewhere.

"I'm about to patch us in, Lieutenant Colonel," Maya informed. Misato nodded.

"Do it." A moment later Maya's finger came down on one of her keys and the most disconcerting sound flooded the comms of Central and the pilots. Shinji was screaming. Two Shinji's; their voices overlapped with one another like a demented a cappella. A never-ending roar boomed in the background, sounding lower than the screams but noticeable all the same. And rounding out the horrid noise was singing. It sounded as though angels were singing.