WHISPERS IN THE DARK RUINS

Finally, a hotel. We had to walk for ages along the beachline to find one, but we’ve finally found one called Forte Royal. It’s clear now that this might be a British-owned territory, or at least it was once, as everything is in English, which I can just about read. This makes me think that this is either the Falklands or the South Georgia and Sandwich Islands, as both were abandoned when second impact hit; there was nothing to eat due to the red sea, making them uninhabitable for decades.

The Falklands though, were recently made habitable again by Oculus. That was only two years ago, and the native population has been returned while the British help with the rebuild. I know that the other islands were next and it can take Oculus up to seven years to turn the water back to blue.

It’s done by a huge leviathan rig that moves slowly and creates a wall, stopping red water seeping into blue until the point that it’s all blue, then they put the wildlife back into the sea, followed by land. But these islands are harder, because they’re closer to the Antarctic, though second impact had, from what she heard, caused massive changes in weather, making South Georgia hotter and causing all of the ice of its mountains to melt.

She looked up as they went inside the huge, battered, grey, sixties-style hotel, which had a long, brown roof that was crumbling and decaying and covered in red vines. They walked through the huge doors, which creaked open to an old-style lobby that was half rotted away.

Rei could see old chairs that were falling apart and ripped, and the old wooden reservation desk. She moved forward, watching as Asuka followed close behind. She looked at the desk, seeing rotting papers and pamphlets. She picked one up, blowing the dust off it. “Welcome to Forte Royal of South Georgia, the top destination for Antarctic wildlife tours. See seals and King penguins.” She paused, blinking in confusion. “What’s a King penguin?”

Asuka leaned on the bar. “I don’t know what they are, but I heard Oculus is trying to recreate them. They’ve just not been successful.”

She leaned over, banging her hand on the reception bell as she smirked. “Service is really dead around here.”

Rei raised an eyebrow. Clearly Asuka was in one of her dark sense of humour moods, which meant she was in way more pain than she was letting on. “Let’s go and see what’s in the bar and the kitchen; they must have food and drink.”

Asuka followed her, ignoring the pain in her body. “I'd give my goddamned soul for just a glass of beer.”

Rei turned sharply. “Asuka seriously, don’t quote that movie right now.”

Asuka gave her a leering grin. “What, are you afraid this place is haunted or something, and the bartender might offer me one?”

Rei eyed her. “No, I’m afraid you’ll find some and drink it, when I need it for your wounds and bruises and we have next to no water right now.” She breathed in as they walked through the old shattered corridors, heading towards the restaurant and bar. “Do you remember your survival training Asuka?”

Asuka stopped sharply, trying to control the twinge of anger she felt, not at Rei for asking the question, but more herself for what she was about to say next. “No, I don’t.”

Rei turned to look at her. “You don’t remember any of it?”

Asuka eased up her hand. “Look, I didn’t pay attention. I was eighteen and I thought the whole thing was beyond stupid, because I said why would we ever be out of our Evangelions?!”

Rei moved a step closer to her, taking hold of her hand. “It’s okay Asuka, I’m not judging you; I just needed to know.” She turned Asuka’s hand over gently, using her finger to weave a pattern over the palm. “It’s nothing to be ashamed of; it was a long time ago.”

Asuka leaned forward, putting her head against the other woman’s as she took slow breaths, trying to calm herself down. “I just feel so stupid… I just wish I hadn’t been such a verfickte idiot and ignored the whole session.”

Rei gently eased her hand up, running it through Asuka’s long red hair. “Don’t worry Asuka, I remember a lot of it. Just follow my lead. Everything is going to be okay; we just need to work at this together.”

8

I guess that wasn’t so bad. Strangely, I kind of enjoyed it. Having Sakura around is lightening and uplifting; she’s such a sweet, good-natured young girl. You would never think that she’d seen horror such as poverty and living on the streets, but I do see it in her eyes.

She’s older than she appears, as if she’s seen things she shouldn’t, and I know what that’s like. We are now sitting on one of the levels at a café having tea and cake. It’s quiet and relaxing. We did in the end find that store that sold Alebrijes. I bought a fox all in bright colours, as well as a green neck scarf, though I bought that before seeing Toji and Mari.

She took a sip of her coffee. It was clear to her that Sakura had not found what she wanted. “So, did you not find what you wanted?”

Sakura took a sip of her Coke. “No. It’s not that the things weren’t good, they just didn’t suit me.”

Sumire leaned over, slowly easing the green neck scarf out of her bag. “You know, I bought this for me, but I feel it might suit you better.” She felt a smile form as the girl looked at her in shock as she spoke with uncertainty.

“Are you sure, I mean it’s yours?”

Sumire smiled as she opened it, putting it around the young girl’s neck. “Yes, it is mine, but I’d have to say that the colour suits you way better.” She adjusted it gently. “It goes well with your eyes and hair.”

She sat back. “Plus it’s made from Egyptian cotton, which is one of the world’s finest cottons and really soft.” She took a sip of her coffee. “The boys in the Nerv School might like it too.”

Sakura put her hand on the cotton before speaking. “So do you have a boyfriend?”

Sumire turned sharply, suddenly feeling slightly uneasy. “No, not currently; I’m not really looking right now.”

Sakura felt her smile widen. “Oh, well, what would you want in a guy if you were looking for one?”

Sumire finished her coffee. “Just someone who is kind, I guess, and who understands me.”

Sakura took a sip of her drink. Clearly there was much more to this, but she wasn’t going to push or force it out. “I see.”

Sumire looked up as a question entered her mind. “I heard you spend time with Mari. Do you see her as a mother figure?”

Sakura shook her head. “No, she’s more like a big sister to me. Though I realize Asuka is her real step-sister, so to speak, it hasn’t changed anything between us. When I first came here, I had no real idea what girls my age do, as during Toji’s training in China I just had my food and bed at the base barracks in his dorm room. It was cramped, but we both managed.”

Sumire rolled her eyes, remembering the military training over in Nerv Mexico. “I never liked the barracks dorm; you can’t move in those things. Never enjoyed them during my training.” She looked at Sakura. “Not a fun place for a young girl like you.”

Sakura shrugged. “It was okay, just boring at times, but it was nice to get meals and health care and be in a warm place that wasn’t cold, wet, or windy, or sleeping under bridges or in the slum village outside of the city.”

Sumire breathed in deeply. She couldn’t imagine what that would even be like for a child. She had always had a warm bed and a roof over her head, and her father and mother had always loved her and had been very supportive of her transition. She turned back to Sakura. “So when you came here, you had no idea what people your age are meant to do?”

Sakura shook her head “No, I didn’t. I’d spent so much time watching people shop on the streets, but I had no idea what they bought. You see them pass you by with bags of shopping, but you never knew what they bought, and they ignore you and treat you like vermin, and in the slum village you’d see people doing bad or very adult things.”

Sumire caught the pain and sadness in the young girl’s eyes. “Well, in my view, no-one should be treated that way. We are all human after all.”

Sakura looked down sadly. “Yeah, people deserve better, and when I came here I just had no idea how I was meant to dress or behave. Sometimes even now, I feel out of place in the class. They talk about boys and sometimes sex, but they’ve never seen adults do it whereas I did.” She looked down sadly. “They sometimes talk about the bad drugs and guns people carry, but I doubt any of them have ever escaped the barrel of a gun. Me and my brother did once; this angry woman came into the village slum and opened fire on all of us with a machine gun. We had to hide in a huge, dark underground pipe.

We were there for hours, and it really affected my brother; he hates the dark. Later we heard she had been drinking and was going through a messy divorce, but she killed at least twelve people before the authorities stopped her, and she was long gone before myself and my brother came out of the underground pipe.”

Sumire looked at the young girl, realizing the real tragedy of her life and her brother’s. They had both been treated so badly and seen horrible and tragic things. Yet despite it all, they were not bitter or hateful, instead they were kind and compassionate to others. And clearly, she wasn’t the only person who hated the dark, which she found comforting. She took in a deep breath before speaking. “People can be very cruel, and you shouldn’t blame yourself for anything that happened to you; none of it was your fault or your brother’s.” She paused, moving her hand, putting it on Sakura’s. “Treasure the life you have and enjoy every moment of it.”

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

Sakura felt her smile widen. “Thank you.”

“There you both are, are you talking about me?”

Sakura turned sharply, seeing her brother standing over her, giving her a smile. “No, we were just talking.”

Toji pulled up a chair. “What about?”

Sumire leaned forward. “Just about Sakura’s school and such.”

Toji put his hands together. “Thank you for taking care of her. Mari had to go to the rec room to store her things.”

Sumire put her hands together. “It was a pleasure, plus we both got things, so it was all good.”

Toji eyed Sakura’s new green neck scarf. “Yeah, I saw the new scarf; it looks good.”

Sumire eased out her carved figure. “I got this. These are called Alebrijes, and very popular in my home country.”

Toji eyed the light painted wooden carved fox. “That is awesome.”

Sumire put it away. “Thank you.”

She eased up her watch, looking at it. Suddenly realizing that she was going to be late, she stood up slowly. “I’m sorry, but the meeting is ending and I need to be there to help Maya sort the paperwork.”

Toji met her gaze. “I understand. Again, thank you for looking after my little sister.”

Sumire took hold of her bags as she walked away. “I hope we can all do it again sometime.”

Sakura gave her a wave as she left. “Yes, I’d love to do it again Sumire.”

Toji leaned on his elbow, watching as she left. Even knowing what he did now, it didn’t change the way he felt about her. Sakura eyed her brother, who was looking off dreamily as Sumire left. She felt a sly smile form. “I like her.”

Toji breathed in dreamily. “So do I.”

Sakura looked at him, feeling a wide grin form. “You should ask her out.”

Toji turned, staring at her in surprise. “You think so? It’s just I really like her.”

Sakura looked at him for a long moment before speaking. “You always ask me if I like the women you bring home, and I confess I haven’t liked them in the past, but I really like her. She just seems really nice and at the same time a little melancholy and unsure of herself.”

Toji put a hand through his hair. “You noticed that too?”

Sakura nodded. “Yeah, which is all the more reason to ask her out; you might be able to help her.”

8

Ritsuko eyed the holographic scenes image in hers and Gendo’s office which showed Mari’s family tree and her confession. “Well this is extremely fucked up.” Gendo looked at the holographic image. “So, it would appear we have the one child who isn’t a psychopath from the Hyena of Vasai’s family tree.”

Ritsuko raised her cigarette, lighting it. “This explains why Mari was so difficult in the beginning at least; this and her mother’s murder clearly hit her hard, just like Asuka, and caused her to have a very difficult phase, which Maya has assured me that she’s now fixing with medication for the drinking problem and pity sex for the emotional side.”

She breathed out the smoke. “Be interested to see how their whole relationship works out... Since I wouldn’t consider Mari her type.”

Gendo walked over to hologram. “It also means that Geraldina’s instinct wasn’t just about her hatred of Langley being with her daughter Kyoko after all. The man was clearly off, and the trouser-snaking bastard had two kids before Mari, which is Christopher and Achika. They were in the video, and it means Gabriella, or the Hyena of Vasai, is the leader and possibly controller of Ankh, and Christopher was the pilot who has the dead lance of Longinus. He must have a Spine Web Worm like all our pilots do, which explains how he could defeat Asuka in the way he did.” He stroked his beard calmly. “Clearly, our enemies have finally revealed themselves and this is their pathetic play to resurrect the destroyer of worlds.”

Ritsuko raised an eyebrow. “You don’t sound concerned. You know this is what we always feared. It’s what Seele told us about and why they wanted Asuka to be subdued during the program from day one. But their plan failed and she turned it around, because of Bardiel, in a way they didn’t anticipate.”

Gendo eyed the images again. “My dear, I’m not concerned. If there’s one thing I remember about that fool Langley, he always missed the finer details. From reading about his mother, though she was a brutal solider of war, her occupation of Ukraine meant she never obtained power, because despite being a cold, hard killer, she missed things of importance. It’s how Geraldina tracked her down, flanked her, and blew her arm off, and caused her to flee the very war she started. That war lead to a heated civil war, which kept going on for many more years, and this same war affected Kaworu growing up.”

He put his finger on Mari’s image. “Clearly though, she didn’t inherit this lack of attention to detail like her family.”

Ritsuko eyed the Hyena’s image. “Yeah, well, Geraldina is going to be so pissed off when she finds out that, first, she was right about Langley, and second, she didn’t kill the Hyena, since her claim to fame was that she was meant to have killed her.”

Gendo eyed Gabriella’s image. “This though, is why I don’t fear the Hyena. She can’t resurrect a living destroyer of worlds, no more than I can turn sand into gold, and Asuka won’t submit to her since she has my daughter held prisoner. Also if Gabriella is foolish enough to tell her what really happened with Mari I feel it will only add to her anger and hated of them.”

He put his hands behind his back. “Resurrecting an old soul is very dangerous. It takes time and care, and is an art form. Do it wrong, you can suffer for it, and the hyena has none of the qualities that mean she will succeed.” He stepped away from the holographic screen. “Plus, if they were successful we’d know by now.”

Ritsuko breathed in deeply. “I just hope you’re right about this.”

Gendo turned slowly to her. “As I said before, Asuka is an apex predator. She only cares about protecting my daughter, possibly for sexual favours. I don’t see her bending to their whims. I see her doing what she does best, which is destroying in our name.”

8

Asuka leaned over, pulling yet another empty bottle of alcohol out from the cabinet, throwing it over her shoulder, ignoring the sound as it smashed on the other side. Why was there no verfickte alcohol? Like, it was bad enough that this boring torment meant that they were stranded here, but there was nothing here to drink.

She had been looking for a tarp that they could use to collect rainwater, but she’d only found buckets, though she’d found a couple of umbrellas in the guest rooms on the lower floor that didn’t have holes. Now she was trying to find water or other drinks in the vast kitchen, since the bar was completely empty.

She threw another empty bottle, ignoring the red vines, which were everywhere and it was a pain trying to step over them. She eased out a bottle. Realizing it was half full bottle of whisky, she unscrewed the cap, taking a slight drink which wasn’t enjoyable, only for a voice to echo through the old corridor, though it sounded far away and difficult to hear. “You’re so pathetic… you take orders from that little bitch and you tell yourself it’s fine… you disgust me.” Asuka blinked, staring down the corridor in utter confusion. Who the hell had even said that? Maybe this scheisse hole was haunted, which she didn’t want to think about right now.

“Asuka?”

Asuka jumped in spite of herself. She turned sharply, seeing that Rei was standing behind her. The other woman looked at her in confusion as she spoke calmly. “Are you okay?”

Asuka breathed in deeply, letting the next breath out slowly. “It’s nothing. I thought I heard a voice.”

Rei looked at her, seeing this was serious and not a joke. “It’s probably the wind. I was checking the rooms on the second floor; they all have holes, which means you can see outside.” She paused, seeing the open whisky bottle in Asuka’s hand. “Oh, you found some whisky. I can use this on any cuts you have.” She took it from her hand. “All of the medical kits have rusted away. They’re from the old world; they even have the old type syringes, which they replaced with medical guns, and the bandages were rotten.”

Rei eyed the umbrella and buckets. “You found the stuff for water traps; that’s great! I found some as well, and there’s a room we can sleep in upstairs. It’s not as rotted away as the rest. None of the mattresses are any good, but we can sleep in the bathtub in there; it’s big enough for two. I found some blankets in the storage cupboards that have not rotted away, and the room has an old fireplace so we can start a fire.” She eyed the cupboards, seeing the food cans littering the floor. Some had been opened. “Is there anything to eat?”

Asuka breathed in deeply as she sat down, ignoring the pain in her body. “The ones I checked were contaminated and smelt bad.”

Rei picked up an open can. “How did you open these?”

Asuka breathed in deeply. “I used my razor canine teeth to make a hole, and a knife to buckle them, then jar them open.”

Rei picked up a can and spoon from one of the open drawers. “You know, you can use a spoon; it’s much easier.”

Asuka lay back on the floor. “Remind me when we get to civilization to buy a Swiss army knife from Germany so if I ever get stranded on some verfickte island again I have a can opener.”

Rei slowly opened an old can of meat, which didn’t smell bad. “I think this one’s okay, I mean they’re meant to last for years so long as they’re not bent, buckled, or have holes.” She passed it to Asuka. “We just need to find more.”

Asuka stared at the ceiling for a long moment. The broken kitchen windows were letting in some light, which helped since the building electrics no longer worked . “Do you think we are going to get off this place?”

Rei picked up a small spoon, putting it in her hand. “Yes, I do; they’ve probably got bulletins out for us worldwide.” She paused before speaking. “Now I need you to eat something.”

Asuka sat up, picking up the can, unable to keep the sarcasm out of her voice. “Great, canned beef from the year two thousand, I really can’t wait to eat this.”

Rei sifted through the cans, finally finding something that she could eat that wasn’t meat. “What’s rice pudding?”

Asuka eyed the can. “It’s a sweet treat. It’s meant to be nice; I’ve seen Mari ordering cans of it from home.” She watched as Rei opened it, taking a spoonful only for her face to screw up in disgust. “Does it taste that bad?”

Rei eyed the can. “It tastes awful. It’s really sickly sweet, what a weird thing to do to rice.”

Asuka took a bite of the corned beef. “I feel the same way about natto.”

Rei breathed in as she carried on eating, despite that it was not that great. “I guess taste is subjective.” She turned, pulling the whisky bottle over. “Once we are done, I’ll use this one on any cuts you have.”

Asuka eyed her. “You know I think that’s a waste of a perfectly good whisky.”

Rei stood up as she moved to sit next to Asuka. “Are you any good at making fire?”

Asuka turned to her. “Would it surprise you to know I’m really good at that? Since my grandma taught me how it’s done without matches.” She felt a toothy grin form. “We used to do campfires and cook breakfast on an iron pan.” She took in a deep breath. “I would love a German breakfast right now.”

Rei put an arm around her, getting closer. “We just have to wait it out; someone will come.”

Asuka pulled her closer. “Yeah I know I just hate being in this place; it’s already giving me the verfickte creeps.”

Rei looked at the dark, dimly lit room. “Well, at least we are together in this creepy place, and it’s not all pitch black since your left eye is always glowing.”

Asuka felt a warm smile form. “Yeah, there is that. I get to be a human torch for you.”

End of part 32

Silvermoonlight