31_days fic: Amnesty day fic, one day early
I have two fics for tomorrow's 31_days Amnesty Day, but I thought I would spread out the fun a little...
Title: "I Don't Know When..."
Day/Theme: Sept 10) grow up and blow away
Series: Neon Genesis Evangelion
Character/Pairing:
Rating: PG
Author's Note: Takes place somewhat toward the middle of "Under the Winter Moon", the second part of "Neon Enoch Evangelion", aka the ambitious NGE project, after Gendo has recovered somewhat from the loss of his right hand. Title snagged from a line in Harry Chapin's "Cat's in the Cradle" (and given how much the song makes me think of a gentler version of the Ikaris, father and son, I have a funny feeling this isn't the last time I'll nick from it).
The noon broadcast on the terrace of the hotel: only dead air still continued to come in over the two-way shortwave radio, but the fact that it still transmitted at all gave Fuyutsuki some small hope as well as something to do in between scavenging for necessities in the towns below.
He sat writing in the journal he had started, while Sabia perched on the balustrade of the terrace, reading and keeping watch over the sea below, by way of the field glasses. No doubt her eyesight had turned keen enough that she hardly required them, but he marked it up to another way that she kept herself human.
He was about ready to cut the signal for the day, when Gendo emerged onto the terrace, a winter coat draped about his shoulders, his bandaged arm in a sling. He still looked pale and his face had a pinched, pained look, but some of his strength had clearly returned.
Sabia glanced up from her book. "Ahh, back from the half-life, Ikari?" she asked, mischievously.
"I was not speaking to you," Gendo replied, not even looking at her.
"It was a joke, you're supposed to either laugh or roll your eyes or tell me to cut it out," she replied, annoyed, her reddish eyes still impish.
"I'm not in the habit of trading jokes with the likes of you," Gendo said, turning his back to her as he limped to the balustrade. Eying Fuyutsuki, he said, "Why is this out here with you?"
"She's helping me broadcast in Esperanto, in the event someone responds in kind," Fuyutsuki said. "Ikari, I would appreciate it if you didn't speak about Miss Valiant as if she weren't here."
"If you gents need some private time to talk, I could stand for a walk in the hills," she said.
"Stay close: I might need your assistance if an Esperanto-speaker responds,"
She chuckled. "I can sense your pulse at three hundred meters, Kozo-san, the radio would come in loud and clear." With that, she dropped off the balustrade gracefully.
"You could try being a little kinder toward her since she offered you some of her blood to keep you alive," Fuyutsuki said.
"You could have used a transfusion from Shinji," Gendo said.
"We didn't use one, but it wasn't from lack of trying. He flatly refused, even when Sabia encouraged him."
Gendo took this in silence, then turned away. At length he spoke, "I hardly blame him for choosing against it."
"He still hasn't let go of the pain your actions caused him."
"I did not mean to cause him pain: I was trying to protect him."
"Protect him from you?"
The younger man made no reply for a long moment. "Have I waited too long?" Gendo asked, staring out across the sea of rebirth.
"His mother said it herself: Anyone can make a paradise for themselves, as long as they choose to live," Fuyutsuki said. "You clearly chose to live, Gendo, but if you don't mind my asking, why did you choose this?"
Gendo emitted a harassed sigh. "I chose this life because she wasn't there. She wasn't in that damned sea. Unit 01 rejected my entrance, at least on my terms."
"But did you choose to return for Shinji's sake?"
Gendo said nothing to this, but the look of quiet despair in his dark eyes told volumes.
"So you chose what you percieve to be a hell for your sins of attrition against your son." And against mankind, he thought.
"Shinji was right when he said I didn't deserve Yui. I know his words were the ravings of an angry child, but there is a painful truth to them."
"You heard that? I had you sedated..."
"Perhaps I was meant to hear it. But has he grown up too much for me to make any amends to him? Have I waited too long and been too focused on other things? Has he drifted too far away for him and I to connect in any way?"
At that moment, the radio crackled and a voice spoke over it, "This is Major Abel Kennedy of the UN Peacekeepers, United States division, broadcasting over an open link. If anyone can hear me, I will be keeping this transmission live for two hours between 1300 and 1500 hours, Greenwich Mean Time, plus ten hours."
Gendo turned and stared at the radio. Fuyutsuki rose from his chair and started to approach the table on which the radio stood, but paused and leaned closer to Gendo.
"If we can realize our hope of finding others who have returned from Instrumentality, then there is hope for you and Shinji to also rebuild some semblance of communication," Fuyutsuki said, in a voice low enough not to be picked up on the transmitter.
Title: "I Don't Know When..."
Day/Theme: Sept 10) grow up and blow away
Series: Neon Genesis Evangelion
Character/Pairing:
Rating: PG
Author's Note: Takes place somewhat toward the middle of "Under the Winter Moon", the second part of "Neon Enoch Evangelion", aka the ambitious NGE project, after Gendo has recovered somewhat from the loss of his right hand. Title snagged from a line in Harry Chapin's "Cat's in the Cradle" (and given how much the song makes me think of a gentler version of the Ikaris, father and son, I have a funny feeling this isn't the last time I'll nick from it).
The noon broadcast on the terrace of the hotel: only dead air still continued to come in over the two-way shortwave radio, but the fact that it still transmitted at all gave Fuyutsuki some small hope as well as something to do in between scavenging for necessities in the towns below.
He sat writing in the journal he had started, while Sabia perched on the balustrade of the terrace, reading and keeping watch over the sea below, by way of the field glasses. No doubt her eyesight had turned keen enough that she hardly required them, but he marked it up to another way that she kept herself human.
He was about ready to cut the signal for the day, when Gendo emerged onto the terrace, a winter coat draped about his shoulders, his bandaged arm in a sling. He still looked pale and his face had a pinched, pained look, but some of his strength had clearly returned.
Sabia glanced up from her book. "Ahh, back from the half-life, Ikari?" she asked, mischievously.
"I was not speaking to you," Gendo replied, not even looking at her.
"It was a joke, you're supposed to either laugh or roll your eyes or tell me to cut it out," she replied, annoyed, her reddish eyes still impish.
"I'm not in the habit of trading jokes with the likes of you," Gendo said, turning his back to her as he limped to the balustrade. Eying Fuyutsuki, he said, "Why is this out here with you?"
"She's helping me broadcast in Esperanto, in the event someone responds in kind," Fuyutsuki said. "Ikari, I would appreciate it if you didn't speak about Miss Valiant as if she weren't here."
"If you gents need some private time to talk, I could stand for a walk in the hills," she said.
"Stay close: I might need your assistance if an Esperanto-speaker responds,"
She chuckled. "I can sense your pulse at three hundred meters, Kozo-san, the radio would come in loud and clear." With that, she dropped off the balustrade gracefully.
"You could try being a little kinder toward her since she offered you some of her blood to keep you alive," Fuyutsuki said.
"You could have used a transfusion from Shinji," Gendo said.
"We didn't use one, but it wasn't from lack of trying. He flatly refused, even when Sabia encouraged him."
Gendo took this in silence, then turned away. At length he spoke, "I hardly blame him for choosing against it."
"He still hasn't let go of the pain your actions caused him."
"I did not mean to cause him pain: I was trying to protect him."
"Protect him from you?"
The younger man made no reply for a long moment. "Have I waited too long?" Gendo asked, staring out across the sea of rebirth.
"His mother said it herself: Anyone can make a paradise for themselves, as long as they choose to live," Fuyutsuki said. "You clearly chose to live, Gendo, but if you don't mind my asking, why did you choose this?"
Gendo emitted a harassed sigh. "I chose this life because she wasn't there. She wasn't in that damned sea. Unit 01 rejected my entrance, at least on my terms."
"But did you choose to return for Shinji's sake?"
Gendo said nothing to this, but the look of quiet despair in his dark eyes told volumes.
"So you chose what you percieve to be a hell for your sins of attrition against your son." And against mankind, he thought.
"Shinji was right when he said I didn't deserve Yui. I know his words were the ravings of an angry child, but there is a painful truth to them."
"You heard that? I had you sedated..."
"Perhaps I was meant to hear it. But has he grown up too much for me to make any amends to him? Have I waited too long and been too focused on other things? Has he drifted too far away for him and I to connect in any way?"
At that moment, the radio crackled and a voice spoke over it, "This is Major Abel Kennedy of the UN Peacekeepers, United States division, broadcasting over an open link. If anyone can hear me, I will be keeping this transmission live for two hours between 1300 and 1500 hours, Greenwich Mean Time, plus ten hours."
Gendo turned and stared at the radio. Fuyutsuki rose from his chair and started to approach the table on which the radio stood, but paused and leaned closer to Gendo.
"If we can realize our hope of finding others who have returned from Instrumentality, then there is hope for you and Shinji to also rebuild some semblance of communication," Fuyutsuki said, in a voice low enough not to be picked up on the transmitter.