Well, after a long time, here is Part 2.

People have told me that either my chapter are too short, or I take too
long between two of them. So, I'm going to try to write faster. There is
a chance that Part 3 comes out at the beginning of march. Maybe. I'll
try, I swear ^_^.

As always, C&C is craved for, and I really don't care if it's harch.

---


Characters and situation used here ultimately belong to GAINAX.

<> : Thoughts


Neon Genesis Evangelion

HEALER

Part 2

A painful pressure on his temples was Shinji first impression.
Hesitantly, he opened his eyes... And closed them immediately as the
resulting light brought blindness made things so much worse he didn't
even notice the moan escaping from his lips. He waited a few moments,
hoping the pain would abate somewhat. His thought process partly coming
back, he realized he laid on a soft surface.

<A bed? >

Slowly, almost reluctantly it seemed, relief came; only then did he fell
the fresh, featherlike touch on his forehead. Again, he tried to open
his eyes, to see a face he thought he recognized over him.

"Mom?"

The hand instantly withdrew. As he batted his lashes to clear it, his
vision focused on Rei's slightly retreating face. She was wearing some
kind of school uniform which, considering the circumstances last time he
saw her, looked incongruous. Beside a slight sign of startlement, he
couldn't read anything on her light hair framed face. Her crimson eyes
seemed to pierce him to the core.

Maybe to follow the retreating hand, he'd propped himself on his elbow.
That revealed to be too much for his aching head, and he let himself
fall back on the pillow with a sigh.

Feeling awkward, he let his gaze wander down on the bedsheet, and then
up. Anywhere but toward her.

<White, unknown ceiling. Sterilized _white_ room. An hospital room. I
hate those...>

He turned his head toward the window, wincing as he did it.
Absentmindedly, he noticed it was far from being as bright as he'd first
thought; actually, the sun was close to setting and the white hospital
room he was in was colored with warm tones of fire.

<I must have been out for a whole day. It was the beginning of the night
when she... When she fought that thing.>

Blurry memories began to come back to his cotton filled mind. As he
remembered what happened, his eyes snapped back to Rei, a look of horror
on his face.

*****

Slumped against a wall, Shinji watched everything around him with
exhaustion brought detachment. Through the fog blurring his senses, it
all looked like a very far away scene. Everybody was quite controlled
and professional but despite his daze - or was it because of it - he
felt an undercurrent of panic from the people around.

Turning his head toward the display above, he saw the Eva brutally
emerge from the ground. Safety locks were released, and it was free to
move. From were it stood the angel seemed to consider this new thing in
front of it with wonder.

"Come on Rei, move! Don't just stand there. Do something!" Started
Misato.

/"Hai !"/

The Eva left foot moved forward somewhat clumsily then it was the right
foot turn, and the left again, and the Eva was walking toward its
opponent. Facing it the angel waited a few moments before also moving
forward.

Compared to their size, the distance between both giants wasn't much. It
was enough, however, for the Eva to increase its pace until it was
almost running. It rammed into the angel, toppling it but falling down
as well.

"Get up Rei!" Exclaimed Misato, "hurry up!"

Rei didn't have time to comply with the order as her Eva went flying,
shoved back by the angel's legs. Contrary to the building it fell on, it
didn't seem to sustain any damages. It slowly began to prop itself up,
its eyes focussing on the angel again.

Shinji had been watching the fight with a worry that cut through his
daze; but as the Eva was trying to get up, a sudden feeling of dread
washed over him. Everybody in Central Dogma had more or less forgotten
about the boy slumped in a corner. They were brutally reminded of his
existence when he yelled at the top of his lungs.

"REI, NO!"

Two seconds later a bright lance of light came forth from the angel's
right palm and pierced through the Eva shoulder. Had it not moved at the
last moment it would have gone though its head.

Shinji didn't hear Rei's scream of pain. Far more important to him was
the pain itself he felt coming from her. He didn't notice either when he
quietly began to madly rant.

"No, no, no, no..."

In an apparent effortless manner, the angel began to lift its still
pinned adversary and then violently threw it aside on a building.

"No, no, No, No..."

He was still ranting when for a split second he thought he felt
something else than Rei. The angel considered the unmoving Eva, and
somehow seemed to straighten itself.

"NO! SHE CAN'T DIE!"

A light burst from the angel, and a green explosion that made a cross
high in the air washed over the Evangelion.

"REI!" Misato exclamation was one of despair. She had just turned back
from Shinji to see one of her worst nightmare coming true.

"There is a pike in the synchro." That from Maya. She was frantically
typing on the keyboard in front of her.

"The Eva is still on line." Reported Hyuga. "She hasn't sustained any
further damage."

"She did it!" Bursted Ritsuko.

>From the blazing inferno that was the explosion point, a figure with
glowing eyes began to appear.

"She's generating an AT-Field." The Eva jumped, high in the air, to land
directly on the angel, its feet first. Under the assault, the angel fell
down and was pinned beneath its assailant. It raised its arm, the
increasing glow in the shape behind the forearm indicating its readiness
to use its lance like weapon. The Eva caught that arm, and then the
other one. For a few moments, a contest of pure strength took place
between the two opponents, until the angel wrist gave with a sickening
crush.

Then, howling like a mad beast all along, the Eva began to pound
repeatedly on the angel's Koa, breaking the white outside 'ribs' in the
process.

"Readings from the pilot are coming on and off," reported Maya to
Ritsuko.

Thought he had yet to make something out of his son's actions and
behavior, Gendo had regained his composure. But that last report once
again threw him off balance. Fortunately, it wasn't enough to make him
lose control.

<It's him. Again.> "Fuyutsuki, I want to know what has happened to
him..."

After what felt like eons - thought it had probably lasted no more than
half a minute - the fight came to an end with the angel's explosion in a
bright green cross shape rising high in the air. The last thing Shinji
remembered was his relief.

<She's safe. That didn't touch her...>

And then, darkness fell over him.

*****

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," begged Shinji; he didn't dare look at Rei,
and so didn't see her slightly puzzled expression. He didn't pay
attention either, as he suddenly went to a sitting position, that the
deranged sheets didn't quite concealed his nakedness anymore.

"Why?"

"I'm so sorry." He didn't even notice Rei talking. "I should have gone
when they asked me. I shouldn't have let you replace me. I should have
gone..."

"Why should you have done that, Ikari-kun?"

Somehow, her soft voice went through his self-loathing. Slowly looking
up, he met Rei's gaze. Surprisingly, and even though her face was
inexpressive, he saw, he felt her worry and concern. She stood beside
the bed, waiting for him to answer.

"Why should I have..." Saying Shinji was astonished would be an
understatement. "You suffered tremendous pain. I know, I sensed it." His
voice was strained with the souvenir.

"But, Ikari-kun, I am supposed to do this. Protecting humanity is my
role."  Something ine her mood was shifting.

"The only reason they asked you to come," she continued, "was because I
couldn't pilot anymore. But," her face had a disturbing expression now;
"you changed that. You healed me when I was in pain. I hate pain." Her
last words had just been above a whisper.

At first, Shinji didn't know what bothered him in the way Rei looked at
him. It suddenly hit him. It was a gratitude closer to worship than
anything else.

"But... But I had to heal you. You were badly wounded, you suffered..."
His voice trailed off.

"Yes. You heal people. And I protect them." She still was speaking in a
very soft tone, but somehow conveyed a sense of finality that left him
speechless.

For a long time, neither Shinji, sitting in his bed, nor Rei, standing
beside it, said anything as the sunset's light illuminated the with its
last rays. And then, Shinji noticed his attire, or lack thereof...

*****

The dark light in the huge office came from the glass bay, thus lighting
the esoteric diagrams on the floor and the ceiling. The only other light
in the room was on the comparatively small desk sitting in the middle.
In front of it stood two figures and Ikari Gendo was seated behind it,
his hands folded before his mouth. As usual, his eyes were hidden by the
glint that came off his glasses.

"The Eva-01 is mostly fine. We have some damages to repair, but as a
whole, we could have faired much worse." reported Ritsuko.

"How about Rei?" inquired Gendo in his typical low voice.

"There was no problem with the synchro this time..."

"I was talking about her physical state, Akagi-Hakase."

Ritsuko shifted on her feet, clearly uneasy. "She... She is fine. If I
didn't know better, I would believe her injuries are a month old. I'm
not sure of what your s... Of what Shinji has done to her, but it healed
her."

"And the stone?"

"Right after he collapsed in Central Dogma, we took him to the medical
center. He then only showed signs of physical exhaustion," answered
Ritsuko. "But when I took the pouch the stone is in, he entered
frightening convulsions. Frankly, he could very well have died if I
hadn't put it right back on him. As of now, I'm not sure how to study it
without him knowing about it."

"I see..." A slight change of the light reflecting on his glasses was
the only indication Gendo's interest was picked. "Fuyutsuki?"

"Well, Ikari-kun, we seem to have a problem," answered briskly the old
professor.

"How so?"

"In order to know where this stone comes from, we first tried to join
his tutor. He's disappeared. So far, we have been unable to locate him.
Furthermore, any person who reportedly knew your son as more than an
acquaintance has either died or disappeared in the last week. We've yet
to... Interview people who know of Shinji's peculiar abilities."

"And we called him only a two days ago." Muttered Gendo. "What do you
have on his tutor."

Fuyutsuki opened a file he had in his hands and set it on the desk. A
picture was pinned on the first page. It shown a cheerfully smiling man
wearing what seemed to be a classical blue suit. He had an unruly crop
of short dark hair and a slightly dark complexion. Intelligent green
eyes looked out to the world through big, rounded glasses.

"Miwasaki Jean," began Fuyutsuki in a monotonous tone. "Age 37. French
teacher at Fukoban junior high school, Tokyo-2, second district. Was
born to Ida Makoto and Miwasaki Tomotaka. Nothing specific at first
glance. Became Shinji's tutor two years ago, following the death in a
car crash of the first man who had been appointed to the task."

"Jean? That doesn't sound Japanese."

"Yes," answered Fuyutsuki, "His grandfather was French but married a
Japanese woman. He took her name in the process." The knowing look the
old man gave Gendo didn't meet any obvious reaction.

"The first thing Miwasaki did was to take Shinji and have him live in
his house, contrary to what he'd been use to with his first tutor."

"I see." For a few moments, Gendo seemed to digest the data he'd been
given, while the two in front of his desk were left waiting for his
decision. Ritsuko had begun to feel a pain in her back when he spoke
again.

"I want a thorough background check on Miwasaki and his family by the
end of the week. Consider everything we had false. Akagi, do a complete
physical on Rei and Shinji. Especially Shinji. See what he can tell you
about the stone, but I'd advise for caution."

"Understood."

*****

The door of the apartment slid aside, letting in a cheerful Misato.

"Come on, Shinji, this is your new home. You can come in."

Still outside, Shinji lingered a bit. Sure, it was nice to be living
there instead of being alone, as had previously been planned. However,
there were questions he was expecting to come up that he didn't really
want to answer. He didn't have time to think about it, dragged as he had
been by Misato, but now...

"Don't worry about the boxes, I've just moved in myself," added Misato.

<Okay. So we can barely move with all this around,> he thought. <And I
have no idea what I going to tell her if... No, _when_ she'll ask for
explanations.> He was brought back to Earth by Misato's exclamation.

"Come ON, Shinji! You aren't going to stay there all night!"

"Ah. Hum... Sorry," he replied sheepishly. And stepped inside.

*****

A few hours later, alone on his bed, he had doubts about his decision.
Sure, it was nice not to have to live alone like he used to do until two
years ago, but he hadn't expected it to be that way. The incident in the
bath with the so-called 'hot water penguin' hadn't been funny, despite
what Misato seemed to think about it. And she hadn't made one reference,
veiled or otherwise, to what had happened on that bridge.

She was dying to ask him, he just knew it.

A knock on the - No, _his_ room's door - interrupted his thoughts. It
then slid open, letting in light almost to his bed

"Shinji, are you asleep?" Asked Misato.

She waited a moment before talking again. "Shinji, about what happened
yesterday..."

Nervously, his hands shifted to the pouch hanging from his neck, closing
protectively around it. With his back turned to the door, he hoped his
movement hadn't been noticed. His sensei's words were bright and clear
in his mind.

<Shinji, do try to be discreet about what you can do with your
Starstone.>

Talk about discretion. He'd used it in front of he didn't know how many
people, and in front of the father he despised.

<And I've probably been taped doing it.>

"Okay, Shinji. You don't want to talk about it now," she said softly. "I
understand. But at one time or another, you'll have to. When it'll come
to it, remember I'm here."

She waited a moment more, and then closed the door.

*****

end Part 2.

--
Sebastien RENON

http://www.multimania.com/dairen/index.shtml
http://members.tripod.com/~SebastienR/index.html