31_days fic: Now with 90 percent Grigori
This might seem like a very quiet fic full of desperation, but there is a lot going on, and there are one or two lines which hint at things to come in the eventual third installment in the series (the one I'm so reluctant to start writing since 1.) I'm still setting it up and 2.) it's very different from the rest of the story so far and I'd rather not have some people jump to conclusions over it).
Title: "A Trouble That Can't be Named"
Day/Theme: Sept 20) appealing to emotions I simply do not have
Series: Neon Genesis Evangelion
Character/Pairing: No canon characters physically appear, but several are alluded to, including Gendo Ikari, and Kaworu/Tabris
Rating: PG-13
Author's Note: Another chapter in "Neon Enoch Evangelion", aka the ambitious NGE project. This takes place somewhere in between the end of Episode 24 and the beginning of End of Evangelion (though I'm of the opinion that Episodes 25 and 26 up till the very end fit somewhere during EoE). Also I've found a visual reference for Enniel (I'm still working on finding one for Sabia, but oddly enough, it is tough to find anime/manga-styled shots of a girl who looks like her
It's actually Muraki from "Yami no Matsuei" (aka "Descendants of Darkness"), but it's pretty close; the hair could be longer on the sides and back, plus the eye color is wrong, but that's our shady fellow's general look.
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She walked along the shore of the latest incarnation of Lake Ashinoko most of that afternoon. The warm air hung still about her, the cicadas especially shrill, no doubt because the city lay so quiet that it made their rasping cries more audible.
A sharp breeze arose, startling some birds off a bent telephone pole. A loose insulator broke off and splashed into the water. A shadow fell over her. She turned and raised her eyes find Enniel standing behind her, a white overcoat draped over his shoulders. With the sun slanting backlighting his lean frame, his shadow suggested a hierophant in a hooded robe.
"What are you doing here?" she asked.
"Isn't it obvious? I came to find you. Things being what they are, I had to dispense with conventional means of transportation," he said, stepping closer to her.
"I have a feeling you've been using portals a lot lately," she said.
"It comes in good use when one is circling the wagons, as they say, for that past three days," he said, staring across the lake. He fell silent for several long moments, standing so still he might be a smaller version of the ruinous angelic statue down the shore from them, then he turned and eyed her. "It won't be long now: Tabris, the renegade, met his fate, now only one Angel remains to descend... Unless you're intending to go off the reservation as well."
She glared up at him. "Why would I do that? I don't have any use for all these mind games and power plays that go on: I'm an intellectual, an academic. I came here because my skills were needed and I wanted to help."
Enniel laughed, a dry, humorless chuckle. "You're just like him: no wonder you're so besotted with him. Has he closed the gap between the two of you?"
"No... and it's a little difficult for us to meet as we used to, now that I've been banished."
"And you have yourself to blame for that banishmen, though it helped confirm what you'd suspected all along," Enniel said. "You didn't fail in that regard, for what it's worth, even if the information came a bit late."
Her turn came to emit a dry laugh. "I never thought you'd let that get in your way, Enniel. What happened to the Grigori I knew who'd knock anyone over to get what he wanted?"
"A little thing called a double bind got in the way. I couldn't very well take what we wanted, or else those old men would have started asking questions that they had no right to ask." He shrugged. "If their mad little plan fails, we'll just have to find another vessal for Shemyaza." He narrowed his eyes at her, his pupils elongating and closing to slits.
She resisted the urge to back away from him. "By that look on your face, I hope you don't intend me."
He raised his pale eyebrows, his face relaxing and turning more human. "Now why would I do that to you, though it would almost be a just price for you to pay."
She took a step sideways away from him. "What do you mean by that?"
He shrugged and thrust his hands into the deep pockets of his overcoat. "Nothing for you to know, at least not now, so late in the play."
She knew better than to press him for an explanation. She dropped her gaze and turned her face away, but she felt his crimson eyes on her.
"I may not be pleased with your performance, but rest assured, I am not angry with you. There's still a place for you on the Orion ark, if you wish to join us."
"That's just it: I don't think my place is with them any more," she said.
"Mmmm, you always were closer to the humans than to the rest of your own kin," Enniel said, musing out loud.
She looked up at him; something moved in her mind, but she could not put a name to it, nor did it stay there long enough for her to know what had awakened within her. As soon as she grew aware of it, the sensation faded.
"Something happened when Tabris crossed paths with you," Enniel said.
"He called me by another name. He called me Penemue," she said.
Enniel stared at her, a small pucker forming between his smooth brows. "I would have thought he would have forgotten your name, if he had heard it at all."
"But what does it mean?"
"It means something there isn't time for me to explain enough for you to understand," he said, dodging her question. A smirk crossed his face. "So, are you going to try and meet with your beloved one last time before the center loses hold?"
She looked across the water. "If he sends for me or if he comes looking for me, I hope I will. But if I make a move, there will be trouble of one kind or another."
"You let the light of your soul show too easily," he said, echoing Tabris's words to her.
"It happens without my expecting it or wanting it to happen," she admitted. "And that's what created the rift between him and I, why Ikari ordered me to leave the Geofront and never to return.
He eyed her sideways. "But you admitted yourself, your place isn't exactly with him, either, otherwise you would be there with him and not here on the lakeside." He turned, stepped in front of her and putting his hands on her shoulders, tilted her face up slightly. "You can choose to come with us, or you can stay here and possibly perish with him. There is no in between, Sabia." He moved as if he might lean in and kiss her. No, not you, she thought, and backed away from him without breaking from his touch. He divined her thought and letting her go, held out one long-fingered hand to her, palm upwards. "If you want to step through the portal with me, you have only to take my hand."
She stared at his palm, then looked up at him. For a moment, her right hand twitched as if it wanted to grasp his hand, but she closed her hands at her sides.
He watched this, a frown crossing his face. He parted his lips in a soundless sigh of resignation as he lowered his hand and slid it into the pocket of his overcoat. "Very well: you made your choice and cast your lot. Go to his side, if he will have you or if the ones who have a hand on his collar will allow it." He stepped past her, turning his back to her. "We may never see each other again, not in these forms and not in this world. The door might reopen for you, but once another is opened, it may seal it shut. There are things yet to be that are not written in the scrolls."
He went down on one knee and whispering the words of power, described the outline of a door with his fingertips, rising to trace the lintel above his head. A low-pitched tone resonated from the fabric of the world and he slipped his fingers around the edge of the door, sliding it open and stepping into the light beyond it before reaching back and closing the door behind him.
The door snapped shut. She stood alone, hearing only the cicadas, and gazing across the surface of the lake.
Title: "A Trouble That Can't be Named"
Day/Theme: Sept 20) appealing to emotions I simply do not have
Series: Neon Genesis Evangelion
Character/Pairing: No canon characters physically appear, but several are alluded to, including Gendo Ikari, and Kaworu/Tabris
Rating: PG-13
Author's Note: Another chapter in "Neon Enoch Evangelion", aka the ambitious NGE project. This takes place somewhere in between the end of Episode 24 and the beginning of End of Evangelion (though I'm of the opinion that Episodes 25 and 26 up till the very end fit somewhere during EoE). Also I've found a visual reference for Enniel (I'm still working on finding one for Sabia, but oddly enough, it is tough to find anime/manga-styled shots of a girl who looks like her
It's actually Muraki from "Yami no Matsuei" (aka "Descendants of Darkness"), but it's pretty close; the hair could be longer on the sides and back, plus the eye color is wrong, but that's our shady fellow's general look.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
She walked along the shore of the latest incarnation of Lake Ashinoko most of that afternoon. The warm air hung still about her, the cicadas especially shrill, no doubt because the city lay so quiet that it made their rasping cries more audible.
A sharp breeze arose, startling some birds off a bent telephone pole. A loose insulator broke off and splashed into the water. A shadow fell over her. She turned and raised her eyes find Enniel standing behind her, a white overcoat draped over his shoulders. With the sun slanting backlighting his lean frame, his shadow suggested a hierophant in a hooded robe.
"What are you doing here?" she asked.
"Isn't it obvious? I came to find you. Things being what they are, I had to dispense with conventional means of transportation," he said, stepping closer to her.
"I have a feeling you've been using portals a lot lately," she said.
"It comes in good use when one is circling the wagons, as they say, for that past three days," he said, staring across the lake. He fell silent for several long moments, standing so still he might be a smaller version of the ruinous angelic statue down the shore from them, then he turned and eyed her. "It won't be long now: Tabris, the renegade, met his fate, now only one Angel remains to descend... Unless you're intending to go off the reservation as well."
She glared up at him. "Why would I do that? I don't have any use for all these mind games and power plays that go on: I'm an intellectual, an academic. I came here because my skills were needed and I wanted to help."
Enniel laughed, a dry, humorless chuckle. "You're just like him: no wonder you're so besotted with him. Has he closed the gap between the two of you?"
"No... and it's a little difficult for us to meet as we used to, now that I've been banished."
"And you have yourself to blame for that banishmen, though it helped confirm what you'd suspected all along," Enniel said. "You didn't fail in that regard, for what it's worth, even if the information came a bit late."
Her turn came to emit a dry laugh. "I never thought you'd let that get in your way, Enniel. What happened to the Grigori I knew who'd knock anyone over to get what he wanted?"
"A little thing called a double bind got in the way. I couldn't very well take what we wanted, or else those old men would have started asking questions that they had no right to ask." He shrugged. "If their mad little plan fails, we'll just have to find another vessal for Shemyaza." He narrowed his eyes at her, his pupils elongating and closing to slits.
She resisted the urge to back away from him. "By that look on your face, I hope you don't intend me."
He raised his pale eyebrows, his face relaxing and turning more human. "Now why would I do that to you, though it would almost be a just price for you to pay."
She took a step sideways away from him. "What do you mean by that?"
He shrugged and thrust his hands into the deep pockets of his overcoat. "Nothing for you to know, at least not now, so late in the play."
She knew better than to press him for an explanation. She dropped her gaze and turned her face away, but she felt his crimson eyes on her.
"I may not be pleased with your performance, but rest assured, I am not angry with you. There's still a place for you on the Orion ark, if you wish to join us."
"That's just it: I don't think my place is with them any more," she said.
"Mmmm, you always were closer to the humans than to the rest of your own kin," Enniel said, musing out loud.
She looked up at him; something moved in her mind, but she could not put a name to it, nor did it stay there long enough for her to know what had awakened within her. As soon as she grew aware of it, the sensation faded.
"Something happened when Tabris crossed paths with you," Enniel said.
"He called me by another name. He called me Penemue," she said.
Enniel stared at her, a small pucker forming between his smooth brows. "I would have thought he would have forgotten your name, if he had heard it at all."
"But what does it mean?"
"It means something there isn't time for me to explain enough for you to understand," he said, dodging her question. A smirk crossed his face. "So, are you going to try and meet with your beloved one last time before the center loses hold?"
She looked across the water. "If he sends for me or if he comes looking for me, I hope I will. But if I make a move, there will be trouble of one kind or another."
"You let the light of your soul show too easily," he said, echoing Tabris's words to her.
"It happens without my expecting it or wanting it to happen," she admitted. "And that's what created the rift between him and I, why Ikari ordered me to leave the Geofront and never to return.
He eyed her sideways. "But you admitted yourself, your place isn't exactly with him, either, otherwise you would be there with him and not here on the lakeside." He turned, stepped in front of her and putting his hands on her shoulders, tilted her face up slightly. "You can choose to come with us, or you can stay here and possibly perish with him. There is no in between, Sabia." He moved as if he might lean in and kiss her. No, not you, she thought, and backed away from him without breaking from his touch. He divined her thought and letting her go, held out one long-fingered hand to her, palm upwards. "If you want to step through the portal with me, you have only to take my hand."
She stared at his palm, then looked up at him. For a moment, her right hand twitched as if it wanted to grasp his hand, but she closed her hands at her sides.
He watched this, a frown crossing his face. He parted his lips in a soundless sigh of resignation as he lowered his hand and slid it into the pocket of his overcoat. "Very well: you made your choice and cast your lot. Go to his side, if he will have you or if the ones who have a hand on his collar will allow it." He stepped past her, turning his back to her. "We may never see each other again, not in these forms and not in this world. The door might reopen for you, but once another is opened, it may seal it shut. There are things yet to be that are not written in the scrolls."
He went down on one knee and whispering the words of power, described the outline of a door with his fingertips, rising to trace the lintel above his head. A low-pitched tone resonated from the fabric of the world and he slipped his fingers around the edge of the door, sliding it open and stepping into the light beyond it before reaching back and closing the door behind him.
The door snapped shut. She stood alone, hearing only the cicadas, and gazing across the surface of the lake.