Stage 60 -- Doll

Cover: Young Asuka with sad expression holding stuffed monkey doll

Scene: Eva-02 transfixed by Arael's light beam
(Command Center)
Misato: Asuka!
(Asuka curled up and covering her face in Eva-02 entry plug)
Asuka (weakly): No... Please... Don't come inside me
(Eva-02 writhes in agony)
Asuka (crying out): Don't look into my heart!!
(Heartbeat, flashback of doll)
Asuka (weakly): It hurts...
(Flashback of Sohryu Kyouko Zeppelin's funeral, crying stepmother
holding Asuka's hand)
Asuka (crying out): It hurts...
(Heartbeat, flashback of Kyouko talking to young Asuka)
Kyouko: Asuka, my darling daughter. (reaches out to cup young Asuka's
face in her hands) You are special -- a specially created, special
child. (faceless girl appears behind young Asuka) So you musn't
disappoint Mama. You mustn't lose to that child. (faceless girl comes
into focus = stepmother's daughter) You mustn't lose -- not to that
child.
Young Asuka (confused): That child...? (man appears behind stepmother
and daughter) Who is "that child"? Mama...
(Asuka suffering in entry plug)
Asuka (shouting): Stop! Please! Don't violate my heart any further!!
(Command Center)
Maya: Psychograph critical!
Ritsuko: The mental circuits are being ripped to shreds! Any further
overload is too dangerous!
Misato: Asuka, come back!
Asuka (frantic): No!
Misato: That's an order! Fall back!!
Asuka: No! Never!! I'd rather die than fall back like this!
Misato: Asuka... (turns to Shigeru) Is the positron rifle ready yet!?
Shigeru: It's in the final stages! Forced focusing unit operation is
underway!
(Eva-00 aiming modified positron rifle)
Operator voice: Earth's rotation and movement error compensation 0.03
Shigeru: Pressure maximum inside the cartridge chamber! All elements in
firing position!
(Rei in Eva-00 entry plug)
Rei: Firing...
(Eva-00 fires a massive bolt of energy which pierces the clouds and
streaks towards Arael in orbit, but at the last second is deflected by
the Angel's A.T.Field.)
Shigeru: Negative! There's just not enough energy to pierce the
A.T.Field at this distance!
Makoto: But that's maximum power! We can't give any more...
Maya: Eva-02 psychograph signal weakening!
Ritsuko: What about the L.C.L. mental buffer?
Maya: Negative! There's no catalytic effect!
Ritsuko: Give priority to life support, and prevent backflow from the
Eva!
Maya: Yes Ma'am!
Ritsuko (thinking): This light seems to be probing for Asuka's mental
wavelength. It can't be... Is an Angel trying to understand a human
heart?
(Asuka suffering in entry plug -- flashback to mother's funeral)
Asuka (thinking): It hurts...
Voice: It's a kind of karma, that the main advocate should become the
test subject...
(Asuka's stepmother holding Asuka's hand and wiping away tears with a
black handkerchief, but behind the glasses her eyes are expressionless
-- the grief is all for show)
Voice: Mental collapse; is that the outcome of those contact
experiments? But to commit suicide and leave behind such a young
daughter; that's pretty harsh.
Voice: No, the word is that was not the sole cause.
Stepmother (still faking grief): Asuka, you needn't worry. We've all
discussed the matter, and it's been decided that I will look after you.
You're a bright girl, Asuka, so you'll get along fine at your aunt's
house.
(flashback to Kyouko in hospital before suicide)
Kyouko (holding doll): Asuka,
(Asuka watching through window from hallway)
Kyouko: Asuka, Mama made you your favorite food today. Come now, open
up. (starts trying to feed the doll) If you're picky, that older girl
over there (referring to Asuka) will laugh at you,
(Doctor and nurse whispering in hallway behind Asuka)
Nurse: She's like that every day; talking to that doll like it's her own
daughter. Why does she do it when her own daughter is right in front of
her?
Doctor: To her now that doll probably seems more her real daughter. She
really wanted to have a child with the husband she loved. She wanted the
child of her husband, but her womb wouldn't grant her wish. Before long
her husband took up with another woman, and they divorced shortly
thereafter. To top it off, he had a child with the mistress and then
married her. It's not an unlikely story, is it? So, she bought some
expensive sperm and managed to create a child, but she couldn't fill the
void in her heart.
Nurse: Shhh! Doctor! The daughter will hear you.
Young Asuka: That doll is Mama's child... then, who am I? (enters
sickroom) Mama, who am I? Mama, look at me. Please (reaches out toward
mother) don't stop being my Mama. Mama!!
(Kyouko turns to look at Asuka with a happy/void expression)
Asuka (in entry plug): Noooooo! Don't make me remember that!!
(Kyouko reaches out and grabs the young Asuka by the neck, and starts to
strangle her)
Asuka (crying in entry plug): Don't dig that up after I had worked so
hard to forget it!
(flashback of young Asuka opening door to darkened sickroom)
Asuka (crying in entry plug): I don't need those bad things!!
(Young Asuka sees her mother's dead hanging body)
Asuka (in entry plug): Stoooooppppp!!!
(Asuka sobs quietly in entry plug)
Asuka: Kaji... I've been soiled... My heart has been soiled. What am I
going to do? I've been soiled.
(View of drooping Eva-02 from Command Center)
Maya/Shigeru/Makoto: Eva-02 has stopped! Trouble with life support!
Pulse feeble! Pilot entering critical range! No change in the target!
Relative distance still unchanged!
Shinji: Asuka...!

- End Stage 60