a neon genesis evangelion fanfic
by materia-blade

-rapture-

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part six – first halo

“How?”

It was a simple question, but the way it was stated made it seem more a demand. A heated one at that, but then, everything the second children did was, heated or full of ferocity or… or… angry in some way or another.

Rei was used to it. Or at least, she remembered it. Much of it. It was strange. She felt new… young. It was as if she was seeing the world through new eyes, though those new eyes told her nothing different about her current antagonist.

Asuka was a strange person. She always was. She always had been, and she likely always would be. At least until she and the commander initiated the impact together. Then, well… then she wouldn’t exist at all. Her strangeness would all be a part of the one.

“How?” The red-haired girl repeated, her tone carrying even more heated fury beneath those hard eyes then it had before.

Rei closed her locker, softly, with a low click and then turned, pulling the plug suit up around her. She pressed the button on her wrist, sucking the thing tight to her skin. It felt comfortable, but something was wrong. Something… strange. Not just with the plug suit either. As if… as if her skin were too small. A strange thing, not unlike the feeling of outgrowing a school uniform. But no matter. A small inconvenience.

“I’m afraid I cannot answer your question until you clarify it, pilot Sohryu.” Rei responded casually, turning away stiffly.

“Look! I saw your Evangelion self destruct! I want to know how you got out!” The hot-headed pilot retorted hatefully. “I… we thought you were dead, and then you just… just… It’s like you’re back from the dead or something, Wondergirl!”

‘Perhaps she’s not so hateful,’ the first children mused. Her eyes were brimming over. Excessive wrinkles around the eyes, quick heart rate, and even her words on some small level, all indicated signs of increased stress; a strong indicator of worry. In her strange way, Asuka was saying that she had worried about her.

Perhaps she had misjudged the second children.

“Should you not be happy that I survived?” Rei questioned.

Asuka shrugged, that strange superiority she always carried emanating off her so strongly that Rei thought it might have been a perfume the girl put on when she awoke in the mornings. The red-head shrugged off the tears and even the thought of worry, as if it had never existed, and Rei felt a twinge of anger.

‘Stupid devil girl… thinks she’s so much better than…!’ Rei shivered. Where did that thought come from? She knew she’d been analyzing the second, as she always did… when this intense burst of… of. She didn’t know what it was. She shook herself. Whatever that sensation was, it was not a good thing. An anomaly. She would have to report this to the commander. He had told her to report strange anomalies in her day to day life. This definitely qualified.

“Hah! I could care less if you—!”

“I have no time to speak with you right now. Our test begins shortly pilot Sohryu.” Rei interrupted, her tone somewhat harsher then she had intended. “It would do you well to hurry.”

The anomaly. That had to be the cause. Perhaps she had caught some strange illness?

No matter. The commander would know what to do.

Asuka’s jaw almost dropped as the first children walked away from her, after having actually interrupted her! And just… walking away like that!? Rei never interrupted anyone! If that wasn’t enough, Asuka was almost certain that the girl was actually being smug about it.

Strange… truly strange…

‘But,’ She supposed, ‘I guess the thought of me and Shinji getting together is even more strange. Maybe she already knows… so that’s why?’ She thought about that for a moment, then shook her head, disregarding it. Sure it was likely that the girl knew about she and Shinji’s relationship. But it was far from likely that Wondergirl would ever actually act on it.

Asuka thought she would see an Evangelion munching on potato chips before she saw Rei Ayanami show jealousy. She giggled furiously at that thought, and then, remembering that she was supposed to be angry, and even was somewhat, she gave a huff, and followed the other girl.

After a short walk, and a veritable heap of indignance that even Asuka had to strive to truly show, she casually greeted Shinji, Misato, and Ritsuko as they all stood in the middle of the cage room, on the ground level.

“Alright, you guys.” Ritsuko said as soon as she and Rei had arrived. “You know the drill.”

Few words were needed before Asuka found herself, for the first time in what seemed ages, sitting in her own Evangelion. She shivered from the cold chill of the LCL as it flooded her cockpit, and tingled at the thought of finally synchronizing with her Evangelion again.

The voice had left her, though that was little comfort. It had told her it was leaving. Told her that it would return when it was needed. She refused to think of the voice as her mother. Refused. Her Evangelion moving on its own must have been a glitch… a malfunction a… a coincidence.

That was the only possibility.

I will speak with you when you are ready to believe. Ready to understand. Okay, Asuka?

The words of her mother… so soft and loving, like sweet tastes in her mind, vibrated throughout her soul and made her want to believe so badly… that… That there really was a voice in her mind. But she remembered what happened the last time she believed.

It was just trying to mess with her. Get her to show off her insanity. She wouldn’t do it.

She shivered as she felt the Evangelion begin to filter into her mind, and she began to meld her own thoughts together in the way that caused the highest synchronization. Melding herself. Exposing herself. For so long, this had been the only way for her to do so. Showing herself as fully as she could to her Evangelion.

This was what she was. This was who she wanted to be. The pilot of Evangelion Unit 02. The best pilot. Shinji’s natural skill didn’t matter. She knew she would be on top, or that the very least, tied with him. And that wouldn’t be so bad. She felt like she was home just by being here.

Mmmm….

Asuka shivered at the voice’s moan. And ignored. Ignore. Ignore, ignore. She had to ignore it. It wasn’t real. Her imagination. Though that was a problem. How could she fully give herself to the Evangelion while trying to ignore the voice, another facet of her despite the insanity of it, in her mind? It was impossible to hide a piece of herself from Unit 02 and still be able to sync with it.

But for some reason… she was able to do so. The voice… and the Evangelion. It seemed that… they were almost one in the same. She was ignoring it and trying to give herself up at the same time.

“Maybe…” Asuka whispered to herself, as she tried her hardest to concentrate.

“Rei. Your ratio is much lower than usual but that’s to be expected. Try to concentrate a bit harder. Unit 03 isn’t much different from Unit 00.” Ritsuko’s voice echoed across the tank. Had Asuka opened her eyes, she likely would have seen a video projection of the doctor’s face, but she, too, was trying to concentrate.

“D.. Doctor, Akagi…? Y, You need to come look at this!” Maya’s voice echoed in over the com, squeaking in shock.

“In a minute, Ibuki-san.” A bit of time passed as Ritsuko strolled from Rei’s terminal to Shinji’s. Light flashed affront Asuka’s closed eyelids. Terminal windows opening and closing. She had to ignore those too. Otherwise her ratio would be low. If Shinji was going to be as good as she was he was going to have to work for it!

“Shinji. Your graph is all over the place! Low of thirty five to a high of seventy eight. You need to focus… try to keep it together okay? It’s like your mind is jumping all over the place!” Ritsuko exclaimed, after watching his graphs for a few moments.

Asuka smirked at the growl that brimmed lowly across the intercoms. Shinji was pissed. God Shinji was fun when he was pissed! A shiver crawled up her spine as she thought about the idea of making Shinji angry while lying naked benea—!

‘Concentrate, Asuka!’ She yelled at herself firmly.

But, to her shock, she found she barely had to. Barely at all. Syncing with her Evangelion was so simple right now that she felt she could do it in her sleep. It was so simple that… it was easy. Syncing with her Evangelion was never easy.

It took effort! It took skill! It took… Concentration… even a moment’s lack of attention could cause her sync rate to drop by thirty… fifty! But… she felt that… she knew that she was syncing so strongly that…

“Ritsuko!” Maya shouted from her terminal. “You… really need to see this!”

Ritsuko strolled at the same casual pace to Maya’s terminal, and with a barked ‘What?” stared down at the screen. Had Asuka’s eyes been open she would have seen Ritsuko’s jaw drop. “M-my… god…! A-Asuka!”

Asuka opened her eyes, and stared at Ritsuko’s shocked face. “Wh-what? What’s wrong?” She asked. She felt frightened. What was happening? Why… why was this… so… easy!?

“Y… You’re synchronizing at… at over a hundred and twenty per-percent…!” Maya gasped in, filling in the open mouthed shock left by the blonde-haired doctor.

Their eyes rose to her… staring at her.

Hah. Hah. So, you do believe. I should have known… you’ve believed all along. Your words… hurt. I should have known not to doubt your heart though. Ich liebe du, Asuka.

“I… I…” Asuka couldn’t say anything. She couldn’t speak. She couldn’t think. A hundred and twenty? A hundred and twenty percent!? The max was supposed to be a hundred! That was the maximum! How… how could she possibly be synchronizing at…?

She stared down… into her open palms. Two red eyes stared back, and to her shock, she saw herself, in all her glory. Yet another two red eyes. Her real eyes, staring down at her.

Instantly, she balled her hands into fists, and the extra vision was gone. Her eyes… she had to calm down! Had to.. to stop synching! Maybe that was it! Stop concentrating… close her mind! She was good at that. She closed her eyes, hoping… praying Ritsuko and Maya had not seen her red irises. Praying that she hadn’t seen them; eyes… in her hands! What in hell was going on!?

“Asuka! Are… are you alright?” That was Shinji. The caring idiot. His concern warmed her as much as it irked her, and she felt herself, slowly slipping away, back to where she was before. Back… back…. To normal… to…

“A…. Asuka? Are you—?”

“I’m fine.” She barked, angrily at the two technicians. “What do you mean a hundred and twenty percent? Your machines must be faulty! I don’t feel any different than usual! It’s… probably somewhere around eighty right? That’s what it feels like.” Asuka responded, her voice cracking only a little, to even her own surprise.

Inside she was terrified. Terrified at what was happening to her. What she was becoming. She couldn’t tell them. Couldn’t let them know.

For all she knew, it might just be another facet of her insanity! But… how could it be…? She saw from her hand! Could insanity do that? For a moment, she hoped it could. At least then… at least if that were the case, then she wasn’t dangerous to anyone. Because the alternative was that she was… becoming… something.

“That must be it, I suppose…” Maya hesitated, holding her words, half believing them, half waiting for her mentor to confirm.

Asuka didn’t dare open her eyes. Didn’t dare. Fearfully, she poked her middle finger into the eye imbedded in her palm and found nothing but skin. Was it over…? Was… that it?

God she hoped so.

I am sorry, Asuka. It will not end. Not now… not ever. Evangelion is becoming part of you. Becoming one with you. And so am I.

‘Get out of my head!’ Asuka screamed in her mind. The presence didn’t even budge. It was as if a tiny ghost were sitting in the back of her skull. A tiny bauble of insanity, petting her brain with apologies and reasoning that only existed for her.

She felt sick.

“Get her out of there. And get ready for a long night Maya. Whatever’s wrong, we have to find it.” Ritsuko said after a long pause. “We never were able to find evidence of someone tampering with the eva, but maybe they weren’t trying to damage the Evangelion itself. It’s possible they were after the pilot. We have to figure this out.”

Asuka shivered. So that was what they thought about the eva. They thought someone had hijacked it. Someone had made it get up and walk across the city on its own. For some reason, the thought had never occurred to Asuka; it made so much sense, too.

It didn’t sooth her frayed nerves at all.

“Asuka… What’s wrong?” Shinji asked suddenly, and almost against her will, Asuka’s eyes popped open to stare at his screen.

“Nothing!” She denied. “I’m doing better than ever, Third! Didn’t you hear? I just got a hundred and twenty percent! Beat that, baka!”

At Shinji’s glare, she shivered, both in delight and in fear. He knew her too well, dammit! A good thing… but right now, a bad thing. They couldn’t know! They couldn’t! Shinji surely wouldn’t tell them… that…? God why did seeing Shinji stand up for himself turn her on so much!? Maybe this was all his fault!

His glare relaxed almost instantly after it had begun and the redhead almost wept in relief. He had all four aces and she had laid down three cards. For some reason, though, Shinji had decided not to call bullshit. She thought she might kiss his screen, had she an ounce less sense; still that tiny glare he had given was a clear indicator that they would be talking about this later.

Her shoulders sagged in joy as she felt the nerve connections cut off; her ability to synchronize with her Unit 02 fluttered away and she never thought she’d been happier to get out of the thing.

She had to figure this out. She had to. Otherwise, there was no telling what would become of her.

Step.

Step.

Step.

Step.

“So… Shinji. Ah, about… about earlier… I ah…” Asuka tried to start dumbly.

Shinji ignored her, walking a few steps ahead of her as both of them continued on their way home. The night brimmed with lights and sounds of people happily going about their lives, though those sounds and lights were heavily dimmed by the location. They walked through the remains of the block that had been decimated by that explosion several weeks ago. A missile error, or so Nerv said. Hell, maybe they were right. She’d almost forgotten about it, having been driven to Nerv the past several times she’d come.

The place gave Asuka the creeps. The knowledge that this lifeless place, filled with the skeletons of trees and buildings might have been caused by her gave her nightmares.

Step.

Step.

Step.

“Look! About earlier, I… thanks a lot for not… you know. For not calling me out. I... know you wanted to.” She trailed off, dimly, her voice fading into the sound of steps on rubble and broken concrete.

Step.

Step.

Step.

Step.

“You aren’t mad at me, are you?” She asked firmly. “You’ve got no right to be, especially after what I let you do last night! Seriously!”

Step.

Step.

Asuka’s brow furrowed in anger. Was he ignoring her!? Who the hell did he think he was!? He had no right whatsoever to ignore her! “Why the hell are you ignoring me, idiot?!”

He stopped, in the darkness. So did she behind him, beneath an orange street lamp.

The wind blew, making his short hair flap wildly. The moon hung low in the sky, hidden behind his frame, causing him to glow with a reverent white aura, giving him what was surely the look of every adolescent girl’s dream. God dammit, why did that idiot have to look so damn cool walking away from her like that!? When did Shinji get to be like this?

“The first time, I thought it was nothing. I thought it was a… a trick of the light. It was right before this happened.” He said, with a gesture to the surrounding area.

Asuka gulped audibly.

“The second time was today, when you kissed me. When you told me you’d been hearing voices. It was… only a second, but I could have sworn I saw…” The boy shook his head as if disappointed in himself. For seeing something he shouldn’t have. Or perhaps, for not seeing it sooner.

Asuka shivered.

“Just earlier, I’m sure I saw it. This time there was no sunset that could’ve caused it. No missile explosion to wave it away. I’m sure I saw. You’re eyes. They turned red. They were blue one second and then… they just changed! Asuka… what’s happening to you?”

Asuka didn’t know what to say, but Shinji turned to face her. Giving her words. Giving her… hope even at the same time as she gasped. “Sh-Shinji. Whatever’s happening to me… it’s happening to you too.” She whispered.

Both pilots stared into the other’s red eyes.

Asuka wanted to cry. She was afraid. Very afraid but maybe, just maybe… she wasn’t insane. Her eyes really had been red. Because… because Shinji’s were too.

She wasn’t alone.

“M-my eyes…?” He asked, his hand quivering as he reached up to touch his face.

She nodded. “They’re… they’re red. ” She said, with a slow step. “Glowing… dim red. I shouldn’t be able to even see them. It’s too dark over there, but…”

Shinji… -an you he… me? –inji-kun! Shinji-kun!

A shiver crawled up Shinji’s spine, as the voice that he thought sounded like his mother screamed in his head. He knew it was a scream… but it was dim as if miles away. Trying to find him. To reach him.

He took his own step towards Asuka, decorating himself with the outer rim of the circle of light given off by the streetlamp. Damaged as it was, it was still more than dim enough to see that her own eyes gave off a sort of dull glow, that shouldn’t be there.

She reached out and touched his face, staring up at him, and at that moment, Shinji was sure that he had to tell her his own secret.

Gingerly, Shinji touch her hand on his face and slid the other around her, hugging her close to him. “Asuka, I don’t know if this has anything to do with our eyes but, there’s something I need to tell you. I… should have told you this afternoon. I… you aren’t the only one whose been hearing voices.”

Asuka’s eyes widened.

Gendo stared dispassionately at the screen before him. Kozo wasn’t surprised at that, though he admitted that he himself was more than human enough to at least raise an eyebrow at the image splayed across the screen.

Gendo though? No… he didn’t even seem surprised.

Though perhaps he was a bit smug. Surely not proud. But smug, perhaps.

“It seems…” the dark haired man began dimly, “that I underestimated my son’s ability to manipulate women.”

Kozo’s eyes narrowed.

“I don’t think that’s manipulation Commander.” Kozo replied. It was rare that he felt such anger as this towards his former student, but what he had just seen on that screen, had not been manipulation.

The commander grinned. “And what do you think it was? Love, perhaps?” Gendo replied bitterly.

“I do.”

The commander’s grin widened even more. “Ah..! But doctor... love is manipulation. The sweetest kind.”

Kozo had nothing to say.

She wasn’t sure, but Asuka thought it was possible that Shinji had fallen asleep. It was hard to tell with the boy. He was as quiet awake as he was asleep. It was comforting either way. She stretched her neck and moved up to lay a kiss on his own, rubbing her breasts along his chest.

Her thoughts drifted everywhere. To how her friends would react to this secret. How the commander might react. How little she cared.

Sweat still lingered on the bed. On her. On him.

The blanket felt kind of heavy on her back but that was okay. It was warm, like his arms around her. Shielding her from her fear. She hoped that she did the same for him in some way or another. It wasn’t as if she had ever really done anything to make him like her. He didn’t really have any reason to. But for some strange reason he did. Was it just the things that had in common? Their mothers? Their… similarities?

Sometimes even when she called him an idiot, even when she meant it, he just laughed. It was as if, ever since the twelfth, he didn’t even care if she insulted him anymore. Oh sure, she could get to him, and had once or twice, but that usually just made him angry. And… well… everyone had their vices. Asuka had found that ‘Shinji angry’ was nicotine to her.

He shuffled, closing his arms tighter around her and then laid his own kiss on her head. With a slight laugh, he made a grope for her breast, turning her to lay on her back atop him.

“What are we doing, Shinji?” She asked. She wasn’t even sure if it was rhetorical.

Some time passed, and Asuka felt Shinji’s arms squeeze tighter around her.

“I… don’t know. Gomen…” He replied.

Asuka wasn’t sure if he was kidding. Surely by now he knew how much she hated it when he apologized like that. She scowled anyway at him. “What kind of answer is that?” She asked angrily.

“A bad one, I guess.” He replied, stoically. “I know it isn’t wrong, at least.”

Asuka wasn’t sure how to feel about that. She agreed though. It wasn’t wrong. She felt safe with him. For the first time… ever really. Here. Lying here. This was where she wanted to be.

“I’m afraid, Asuka.” He told her.

Asuka shivered. Finding the position on her back uncomfortable she turned around, pressing her breasts into his chest, and her lips onto his.

“Me too.” She whispered into his ear.

He kissed her again. It was soft, slow at first, but it grew in passion as it lasted longer. Touches of fear and worry, became gropes. Kisses of love became intermingled with lust.

“I… love you.”

Neither was sure which one said it. Maybe they both had. Maybe neither, and it was only a thought shared between them. Either way, their hearts softened, each unto the other. Both of them didn’t realize that neither had said anything aloud.

Asuka was ranting about Shinji. Again.

Belittling him. Making fun of him.

Again.

And Hikari was angry.

No. Scratch that. Hikari was royally pissed. But she was rational. A rational being. So before she burst in anger, she decided to focus the reasons for her bubbling rage.

First things first. Where the hell did that devil of a red-head get off criticizing her about liking Touji Suzuhara when she herself was off macking with the strangest one of the formally-dubbed ‘stooges’?

It had been a few days that she’d somehow managed to bottle in her emotions concerning Asuka. It wasn’t just that either. The anger about Asuka’s opinions of her prospective love interest had actually quite little to do with her anger. No. Her anger was directed at the fact that somehow, she had been completely left out of this! She, whom Asuka called ‘best friend!’ Hah! What a laugh. Asuka and Shinji probably laughed at the rest of the schools ignorance while they had sex and all sorts of dirty things in that apartment they lived in with that floozy of a guardian!

…

‘Oh my.’ She thought, startled. Perhaps she was actually a bit more angry about all of this then she had thought. For such a degree of anger to rise up in her, even in only her thoughts, meant that she probably felt as if Asuka had betrayed her trust quite a bit more then she’d even openly realized.

Even so, she could wait no more. How could she? More importantly, how could Asuka?

‘I wish Touji would act like that for me...’ She thought grimly, recalling the passion and tension and apprehension and romance wafting off that small lunch time meeting that she had stumbled upon between the two.

It had been beautiful. A thing of wonder. The type of romantic scene that actors barely managed to feign on soap opera dramas and television shows. Simple. Quiet.

A thing of love.

Hikari was desperately jealous, and she knew it too. How could something so passionate, so powerful have grown between the two without her even noticing!?

She noticed now. Every glare Asuka sent back to Shinji during the middle of class. Yes. Glare. The girl had the gall to glare at him! And he would just smile. Smile up at her when he thought nobody was looking, right back into the eyes of her glare. Her glare would soften, a little. Then come back full force and she would snap her head back to the teacher in a wry attempt to pay attention.

Why, oh why hadn’t she seen it before? How could she have missed these small acts? How could she have completely overlooked Asuka and Shinji’s relationship? Asuka complained about him like no tomorrow, just like she always did. She had the nerve to actually, complain about how he was such a wimp and she wished he’d grow a backbone! It took nearly everything Hikari had in her not to bellow out how she knew all about Asuka’s little make-out sessions with Shinji! How close they were! Who did she think she was fooling?

But she was fooling. Everyone. No one knew. No one even noticed. Except her, and she only because she was scrutinizing her friend with the diligence of an international spy. Now there was that little slice of wistfulness bathed into every pore of the red-head’s words, oozing out of her like scent off a flower. She gave little sighs and looks that lingered seconds too long, showing how much she just wanted to throw the ruse to hell and kiss him.

But she didn’t.

Why didn’t Asuka tell her?

The answer to this question had been why she had remained silent. She had to find the answer. But it didn’t come. No. Their trysts remained secret, to all but her. And only now that she knew what to look for was she able to see.

Shinji and Asuka were more closely knit then the threads of her jeans…

“God, he’s such an idiot, Hikari!”

…and she couldn’t stand it anymore.

“I honestly don’t even know why I put up with—!”

“God, will you shut up!?” Hikari exclaimed, her bottled emotions finally exploding, probably a bit louder then she had intended. “I can’t stand it anymore! “He’s an idiot.” “He’s stupid.” “He can’t do anything right.” “I wish he’d grow a spine!” How the heck can you keep saying those things!?”

Asuka was, for lack of a better word, stunned.

Perhaps gobsmacked came a bit closer. Hikari almost smirked at the sight.

Almost.

A few people from the surrounding area, boys or girls all eating their lunches outside on one of the last decently warm days before the coming winter, gave them an odd glance, but little more. They were far enough away that her shouts were little more than muffled words.

“I… Hik-ari?” Asuka toned sheepishly. “I… what are you—?”

“Don’t even try it Asuka. How can you say those things about him? To me? How could you not trust me?” She asked, her voice burdened with a deep mix of anger, empathy, and a deep-seeded need to understand.

“I… Hikari…” Asuka responded weakly, caught more off guard than Hikari had ever seen her.

“You love him! I heard you say it! How can you say those things about him? Why wouldn’t you tell me?” Hikari demanded, staring straight into Asuka’s deep blue eyes, overpowering the other girl’s resolve.

Asuka sputtered. “L-Love him! A…. Are you ins—!”

“Cut the crap, Asuka!” Hikari interrupted once more. “I saw you behind the gym. Four times. Four times, to make sure I wasn’t insane! How could you keep this from me!?”

Hikari shuffled her shoulders away from the other girl. She was hurt. Asuka should have trusted her, but for some reason, they weren’t close enough for that. They weren’t close enough for Asuka to even come close to admitting she might feel and inkling towards the third children without being brow-beaten every step of the way.

It hurt to know that that was how little she meant to the other girl as a best friend. Sure, the red-head would probably think her weak for it, but she didn’t care. That didn’t make it hurt any less.

Time passed; Hikari felt the deafening silence from behind her, but she refused to turn. Refused to look at Asuka until she was given a reason for this.

“I… Look, I’m sorry, okay?” Asuka said after what seemed forever. It was soft, and about as pleading as Hikari had ever heard Asuka speak. It did little to appease her.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Hikari demanded roughly, still refusing to turn to the red-head.

Anger grew in the second children. “What was I supposed to say? “Oh, by the way, you know that idiot I’ve been complaining about ever since we met? Yeah. Forget all that. I love him now.” Huh, Hikari? You think that would have worked?”

“Well… no…” Hikari admitted, finally turning around to the other girl. “But it would have been preferable to hearing you rant about how much you hate him, knowing full well that it was all bullshit!”

Asuka blinked. In all her time knowing Hikari, she didn’t think she’d ever once heard the other girl utter a curse word. Shit. She might be in deeper water then she’d thought. “I… I just wasn’t ready to talk about it okay!? It happened so fast… and… I just sorta...” Asuka trailed off there, and Hikari felt a bit of guilt.

“How long?” Hikari asked simply, filling the silence.

“Since what?” The girl responded. “Since I started to like him? Since we first fucked? What do you need to know, Hikari?”

Hikari blinked.

Processed.

…

Reprocessed.

Her jaw dropped.

It took whole minutes before she could come up with an appropriate response. It didn’t come out very well either. “Th-that… last one…?”

It was all Asuka could do to keep a straight face at the shocked expression her friend was giving her. Hikari was such a prude sometimes.

You were once, little one. Only a few days ago even.

Asuka grimaced, but she no longer feared this voice. It was no longer a symbol of her insanity. No. Now it was a sickness caused by Evangelion. Regardless, she had the reason now to shoot down the voice. To tell it off as she would anyone else in her life. Because now she knew that it actually existed. Thanks to Shinji.

‘You gonna stop me? Or worse, give me ‘the talk’ mom?’ The redhead taunted.

The voice laughed in a way that tweaked Asuka’s nostalgia gland if such a thing existed, lilting and musical in its sonorous tone. Then, thankfully, the presence left, leaving Asuka to return to her conversation, just in time to catch Hikari’s stuttered question.

Asuka grinned in that superior way that she usually carried with her, and Hikari could tell that a wave of nostalgia was passing through the girl. She held the silence, cheshire smirk holding her features as long as she could. “Six nights ago. And every night since.” She finally gave up, with a giggle. The girl shuddered, pleasurably and Hikari thought she would do the same, though for completely different reasons, and not at all pleasurably.

Asuka. Who thought Shinji was a spineless stooge, had just confessed to having sex with that same person.

Since when did pigs fly? Since when was the sky down? As these were surely things that Asuka had claimed would occur before she ever let ‘ante-baka’ Shinji touch her.

Her anger temporarily forgotten, Hikari timidly ventured… “Did it… hurt?”

Silence.

Asuka broke out into giggles. Then, full laughter.

Hikari settled for an indignant pout.

It became more indignant when she realized that somehow, Asuka had diffused all of her anger in an instant… by doing practically nothing.

Damn her!

Shinji stared at Rei, with a strange and abnormal mixture of curiosity and apprehension on his face. For the past two weeks Asuka and he had done their very best to keep their minds off the unusual phenomenon that was coming over the both of them. As it turned out, the absolute best way to forget that for some reason your eyes were turning red?

Sex.

And… well… it was incredibly fun. The way she…

Oh, he blushed just thinking about the things they did.

It turned out that Asuka was more of the pervert she’d always accused him of being then he could ever be.

He didn’t want her any other way either.

But that inevitably led his thoughts back to His and Asuka’s mutual problem.

Rei.

Or more specifically, the unusual similarity between the two of them, and the strangely distant Rei Ayanami. It hadn’t taken much effort on either of their parts to connect their changing eye colors to the already odd eye color of the first children. And ever since… whenever they weren’t together at least… they had agreed to mutually spy on her.

They had found nothing .In retrospect, Shinji decided, it was possibly due to the fact that every time either of them even glanced at each other, all thought of figuring out what the hell was happening to them went directly out the window.

Shinji found that he was almost unable to resist throwing caution to the wind and simply kissing her right in the middle of lunch time.

Rei sat on the bottom stair step of the entrance to the school, eating her lunch as silent as ever. Hikari sat with Asuka at a nearby stone table, while he and Kensuke sat together as well several tables away.

“So Shinji… have you heard anything about Touji? He’s… he’s been missing for a long time now. I was hoping you… might have found something out.” Kensuke asked.

Shinji pondered. What had happened to Touji? Why wouldn’t Doctor Ritsuko or Misato tell him? There had to be a reason behind it… but surely… if he were… if he were dead, they would have… have told him. They would have told him… right?

He shook himself. His thoughts were jumping everywhere. He devoted his full attention to Kensuke to focus on answering the question but he couldn’t help but have much of his attention devoted to the one eye that never left Asuka. Her gorgeous red hair… Her body. Her eyes… both red and blue, they glowed with an exotic beauty that intoxicated him, as if a cloud were lingering in his stomach making him practically float every time he caught of a wiff of her.

Honestly, considering how much they’d hated each other once, it was quite disgusting how close they’d become. If the Asuka and Shinji from five or six months ago had seen what they’d become today? Both of them would have been puking their guts out.

He knew he would at least. He marveled now, at how much he had hated Asuka. Not how much he’d hated her, he realized now. How much he didn’t understand her.

“Shinji…?”

He’d been so…. Ignorant. Now he could see through her as if her skin were mere glass. Every angry word to her classmates. Every name she called him. Every single facet of her personality was a ruse.

And inside was a girl who... who…

Gah… It wasn’t enough to say.

A girl who he loved.

He thought he might even like the outside a bit too.

…

Maybe a bit.

Growing up. First love… I remember mine. It definitely wasn’t your father.

The voice in his head was smirking. Shinji shrugged. ‘I should hope not. I don’t understand what you saw in him.’ Shinji responded in his mind. ‘I… I hate that man.’

Had the voice lips, Shinji was sure it would have smirked. He sighed. He knew he wasn’t insane, and in that regard he felt quite relieved. Where Asuka had dealt with her voice on her own, he had her to help him with it. Whatever was affecting Asuka was affecting him too. Perhaps it was a sickness of some sort but that didn’t matter to him. At worst the voice was irritating.

Could have fooled me with how much you try to impress him.

Shinji growled.

He’d never known his mother. He didn’t remember her like Asuka did. And so he felt no unique attachment to this voice, like she had. Only that it was another adult trying to confuse him with strange mind games. No different from his father, or Ritsuko, or Misato.

…

Of course it wasn’t that simple, but when he thought of the voice that way, it made her seem so. And apparently it worked quite well for Asuka.

Luckily, against this adult, he had the advantage. It was his mind, and this older woman didn’t have an uncannily gorgeous body, added to an alcohol saturated attitude to torment him with.

Or the brains of a supercomputer, for that matter.

“Shinji…! Hey, Shinji!” Kensuke screamed at him.

“Wha… What? What did you say?” Shinji jerked, trying to remember what it was Kensuke had asked him. Touji…. Something about Touji. Oh yeah!

“Oh… sorry. I was—!”

“Thinking?” The military enthusiast interrupted. “Nothing new there. Jeez… you’re more zonked out then Rei lately Shinji. I’m not sure if I should be more worried about you then Touji. What’s been going on with you lately?”

Shinji couldn’t help but blush. “N-Nothing. Gomen…”

Kensuke sighed. “Alright… don’t talk.”

Somewhat angrily he stood up, taking his lunch with him and walked away.

Shinji scratched the back of his head weakly and uttered another gomen, realizing he’d probably just distanced himself from his friend for a few seconds of daydreaming. ‘Smart Shinji.’ He thought, irritated.

“What was that all about, Third?”

Asuka. A shiver slid up his spine as he heard her voice. He turned, finding her and Hikari both standing right behind him, holding their half-eaten lunches and staring at him curiously.

He snapped his vision away from the girl, realizing Hikari was with her, and stuttered, as he normally would have. “None of your business.”

She glared at him, silently, and through his shy peek at her, he tried not to smile.

“Drop it, idiot. We’re busted.”

He blinked and lifted his head, eyes on Hikari. “She knows?”

“From the first day. She saw us behind the gym, and she’s known ever since.” Asuka sighed with a grimace towards her best friend, which Hikari grinned at.

Asuka didn’t expect Shinji’s reaction in the least.

“Thank god!” He exclaimed passionately.

All the time he’d spent hiding who he wanted to be with Asuka had made him resentful of the secret. Admittedly he wasn’t sure what he would do once the school knew. Once his friends knew. But he was sick of hiding his relationship with Asuka.

Not that anyone else was around to view it at the moment except Hikari but Shinji didn’t care.

Without warning he stood, wrapped his right arm around her waist and with his left hand, he cradled her head. Inside he smirked a little as her eyes widened in shock just before he kissed her.

For a few moments, the girl struggled, her eyes narrowing in anger, her hands pushing not nearly as hard as Shinji was sure she could against him, to get him to stop. He did no such thing, and after a few moments he was happy to find the girl melting into his embrace, and beginning to kiss him back in kind.

A character trait of Asuka that he had hardly believed when he’d discovered it. She liked him to take control. She liked him angry. She hadn’t told him that directly, of course, but her body language, her actions, her… moaning; even he could catch a hint that, she just might have been yelling at him, provoking him all this time, solely because she simply enjoyed seeing him angry!

…

God, she was weird!

And her lips tasted like orange juice… her tongue like honey. He felt a shiver run down the girl as her breasts pressed into his chest and her body warmed up to him, syncing with his pull on her back.

“Ehhem...” Hikari cleared her throat.

They both ignored her.

“Hey! Cut it out!” The girl exclaimed, a heavy blush creeping across her face, and a giant well of jealousy brimming within her heart.

They still ignored her.

Two more weeks passed.

Two weeks of almost unending bliss for Shinji and Asuka’s blooming relationship.

Somehow, Misato had yet to even notice that they were up to anything unusual. They had both become very good at acting when she was around. When anyone was around. Even Hikari, but that was more just to annoy her.

Shinji sat idly, fingering the play tab on his SDAT player as he usually did. Asuka was doing homework, which was odd because she usually had hers done before he did.

Deciding to forgo playing through the tape once again, a relative miracle compared to the Shinji of a month ago, he pulled off his earphones and stood up from the couch, silently bumbling over to his girlfriend to look sneakily over her shoulder.

“Trouble reading?” He asked casually, kneeling down on his knees beside her affront the coffee table the girl was hunched over.

She nodded, but said nothing. Her eyes were firmly attached to the assignment before her, and he could tell that it was likely she would still be struggling with the work even if she could read the assignment perfectly. It was Biology. Worse, it was chemical biology: beginner’s level. Significantly, different from her own major of physics, this brand of science was Asuka’s Achilles heel. Give her something that moved. Something that compressed or expanded. Something physical and she could understand every participle of it.

Give her a combination of natural-forming elements… well. She couldn’t make heads or tails.

Oddly enough, where she failed he succeeded.

She glanced up and behind herself and smiled at him, feeling his had lay gently on her back.

Their heavy, almost nightly love-making had calmed somewhat, falling to perhaps… bi-nightly. The lack of present danger had drained their fear for their lives. They both knew that the threat of an attack lingered strongly over their heads but a month gone and angels were slowly becoming a memory.

But… the giddiness… the happiness. The strange emotions that both had felt begin from that day in the twelfth… perhaps even before that, had not faded. They had settled into a calm sort of acceptance of the other. Each knowing so well how the other felt that they probably knew the others feelings better than either one themselves did.

Scenes of silence between the two had become commonplace when they were alone. Comfortable silence. Not even needing to speak, hand gestures, and looks having replacing the need for such mundane actions. That and their lips were usually locked, preventing words.

Right now was… not quite such a time.

Asuka winced in sudden pain as the pencil in her hand suddenly snapped under the force of her grip, furious at the difficulty of a beginner’s level course. ‘Why is this so hard!? Verdammt!’ The girl thought heatedly.

That is the Kanji for class, Asuka. And that is the noble gasses. It should be familiar to you.

Asuka sniffed at her mother’s voice. ‘I knew that!’ She murmured back in her mind. ‘You don’t have to state the obvious!’

Her mother snickered.

Then why have you been staring at it for the past five minutes, thinking about what it is? I am in your head after all little one. Your thoughts are not hiding from me.

Shinji, who Asuka hadn’t even seemed to have noticed tried not to laugh as he watched the girl glare daggers into her textbook. “Need any help?” He asked, while he subtly laid a kiss on her left cheek.

Asuka blinked as Shinji’s lips fell onto her cheek, and she registered the question soon after, her anger fading quickly with his offer.

“Oh! I… no… I’m okay. I wanna get it on my own.” She stressed, indicating that her voice was being particularly nosy. Shinji only grinned.

“Well, if you need anything I—”

Suddenly, the keycard lock rang at the door signaling Misato’s return. Asuka’s eyes jerked to the door as it slid open.

“You idiot! Of course I don’t need some third-rate student’s—! Actually, yeah! You can help me! Go get me a sandwich or something. Baka!”

Shinji scowled, blinking in wonder while trying to figure out how it was that Asuka was now on the opposite side of the table. He hadn’t even seen her move!

Even so, he fell into character quickly. Somewhat bitter, but always a bit submissive to the red-head. He wouldn’t make her the sandwich of course, but he definitely wouldn’t take that without a bit of yelling himself either. That was who he was.

As far as Misato knew…

“Fine! All I wanted to do was help but if that’s how you want to be…!” Shinji shouted, his voice seeped in anger. He stood and stomped off to his room, stopping only to collect his SDAT player on the way.

Asuka only huffed, hunching back over the table, and began scribbling furiously on her notebook.

Misato’s shoulders fell, and she sighed dismally. ‘Will these two ever get along?’

Without warning, an alarm rang.

For a moment, Asuka stared up and blinked, looking at an equally surprised Misato. Momentarily, both had forgotten what that signal, that siren meant. But only a moment. Shinji burst out of his room seconds after the alarm sounded snapping Misato and Asuka out of their stupor.

Misato’s shoulders slumped even more. “Nooo…” The woman wailed piteously. “Tonight was my night off!”

With the siren signaling battle blaring in the background it should have been hard for humor to affect either of the children. It did though. Neither could suppress the slight laugh their ever-lazy guardian had provoked.

A small smile was shared between the three of them. Apprehensive and worried. But… ready.

And then, seriousness took over them all.

They were in the car and moving in seconds.

Asuka smiled. All three of them. It had been the first time all three of them had fought an angel together at one time in quite a while. Well, Shinji was back at the base, serving as back-up of course, but that was only natural. Of course they would send the best pilot out to kill the damn thing, while second best waited as a last resort.

…

Okay. She knew that she was kidding herself. Shinji was… probably as good as her. Maybe. Either way, just knowing he was going to be out here with her comforted her. Nothing could stand in her way now.

Nothing except her damn synch ratio, she supposed. She constantly felt the desire to give more of herself over to Evangelion. To lean closer to it. To synch further. The ease with which the task came to her now was unbelievable. Moving the thing felt like nothing more than moving herself. She almost felt she could take her hands off the console and simply will the Evangelion to do as she wished. But she dared not.

Staring ahead, she could barely make out the frame of Evangelion Unit 03 affront her, through a thick layer of fog. All the idiotic technicians back at the base seemed to know was that there was an angel. A blue pattern. And that it was ‘somewhere in the fog.’

Right. Real helpful.

For all they knew, this creepy fog might itself be the angel.

Now that would be scary. How in the hell would they fight fog?

Focus, Asuka.

The red-head scowled at the voice, but answered by doing. Her eyes scanned in every direction but the thick fog seemed to cover everything.

The screen blipped. “You see anything, Asuka?” Shinji asked quietly.

“No.” She replied. “Just a bunch of fog. Tell me if something shows up over there, though. Shouldn’t take too long to get back if we need to.”

“Okay.” The third children replied, and his screen blipped out of existence.

Asuka realized that her lack of an insult might tip someone off about her and Shinji’s changing relationship, but she had discovered that here, within Evangelion, things like that didn’t matter. And the last thing she wanted to do was die knowing her final words to the person she loved was that he was an idiot.

That would look good in heaven’s ‘in-book,’ she was sure.

If she got into a battle that she didn’t think she could win, the first thing she would do would be to bring that com back up and tell her idiot how much she loved him. The world could go to hell. Her pride could even go to hell.

She was pretty sure the commander already knew anyway. Why no one else seemed to was beyond her.

On a whim, Asuka cocked the gun in her hands. Her eva’s hands. Not hers. Her instincts were telling her that this wasn’t a safe place, and the fog making the world more and more dim by the minute as the fading sun sank below the horizon didn’t help her in the least.

She felt wary and on edge, but that was to be expected. The strangest part was that, unlike all the other times she’d been in Evangelion, she could feel.

The fog had a cold chill to it, like that of mid-fall crisp, that she could feel on the outside of her skin as if the eva’s armor were that same flesh.

“Rei. Do you see anything yet?” She whispered. She didn’t know why, but it seemed like it would be wrong to speak loudly in this dim forested country-land surrounding the city. As if it would alert whatever lurked in the mist.

“Negative, pilot Sohryu.” The girl replied tartly.

Asuka sighed in frustration. “Hey. Are you guys sure something’s out here? We aren’t seeing a thing!” She exclaimed under her breath, heatedly.

“Keep looking.” Came Ritsuko’s harsh order.

Shinji grimaced at Ritsuko’s order, wishing they would just call Rei and Asuka back. Why couldn’t they let the angel come to them!? That fog was ridiculous! Hell, it was pretty bad here in the city where giant beams of light tore through the dense mire like knives, but out there it might as well have been the dead of night. How were they supposed to fight?

“Asuka…” He murmured… staring into his display that showed the status of Unit 02. Apparently, it was he who had the best shot of destroying the angel. He or Asuka. Sending the two out into the fog could divert civilian casualties and millions in repair damages compared to a city battle.

God, he hoped they could handle it.

Abruptly, Rei’s voice raged in his ears; a slight, sharp scream.

“Asuka! Rei! Asuka! Are you two alright!?” Shinji shouted frantically, the sound of metal scraping in his ears, and nothing more.

“Rei! Asuka!” Misato and Ritsuko seemed to echo each other in Shinji’s ears but he barely heard them.

He lifted his eyes to look to where the first and second children resided, eyes wide with horror. A white cross seemed to burst forth from the depths of the distant fog, shining like a blazing beacon through the twilight.

“Asuka… answer me…” He whispered.

Nothing.

“Something’s wrong with Shinji! His… his sync graph is skyrocketing! Eighty five percent! Ninety! Ninety five!” Maya’s voice. “We’ve lost both Units 02 and 03!”

“What about the pilots!? Are they alright?” Misato burst.

“All scans show no response from Unit 03’s right arm and leg. Rei’s unconscious, from blunt cranial damage. All sensory scanners are down for Unit 02! I… Asuka… She was hit in the chest. We’re… we aren’t getting any sign from the pilot.” Shigeru grim voice came in.

Shinji shivered. It couldn’t be. “Asuka…”

He clicked the button to open a com link to Unit 02. A black screen greeted him.

“Asuka… you have to answer…”

His eyes grew wide.

“Answer… god dammit, answer!”

“Sh-Shinji! Shinji! Calm down!” Misato’s voice reach his ears but Shinji could not care.

Deep brown irises blurred to a glowing red.

“Asuka!”

No answer came.

“ASUKA!!”

“Shinji! Stop! Shinji!” Misato screamed at the top of her lungs, but her voice had nothing on the yell bellowing forth from the pilot of Unit 01. The Evangelion was barreling towards the edge of the city faster than it had ever moved.

Misato watched helplessly as Shinji trashed through the fog, through buildings, trees, fences, and anything that stood in his way, bee-lining for his companions.

“Shinji! You can’t—!”

The Evangelion’s umbilical cable snapped, instantly starting the five minute countdown to complete loss of power.

“God dammit, Shinji!” Misato screamed.

Without warning, Shinji’s screaming screeched to a halt. The entire fortress suddenly wobbled with the feel of a distant impact and Misato grasped desperately for the computer screens below her to keep from falling over.

“Shinji?”

She brought her eyes to see what in the world had happened, and the screen above her showed all. Another cross beam rose into the sky, seemingly hundreds of times larger than the one before it.

“What is going on!? We haven’t even seen the angel yet!” Misato exclaimed. “Is Shinji okay?”

Heavy breathing suddenly brimmed in across Nerv’s complex. Shinji’s breathing. Misato sighed in relief.

“Three Minutes, twenty seven seconds to total power failure!” Makoto exclaimed heatedly. “Shinji! You have to get out of there!”

Nothing but his breathing echoing across the bridge was heard for a few seconds. Then…

“I’ll kill you… you son of a bitch…”

The voice was low, almost a hiss. Hateful. Vindictive. Angry. Despairing. But definitely Shinji. Misato’s spine crawled at hearing Shinji speak in a voice like that. So full of hate.

“Was that… Shinji…?” Maya whispered.

Shaking herself out of shock, Misato caught herself. “God dammit, will one of you get me a visual on the pilots! Any of them! Or at least help me see what they see!?”

As one, the three techs began typing like mad at their consoles, desperately seeking a way visually into any of the cockpits of their disabled pilots.

Misato gave a heavy glance back to the seat where the commander resided, and her jaw almost dropped. The man was intently focused on the screens splayed below. Calm as always but it was different. There was… worry, in his eyes. His glasses were off.

And Misato found that the fact that Gendo himself was worried, seemed to scare her more than anything.

‘Shinji… please don’t die.’

“Two minutes, forty nine seconds!”

“Please…” Misato whispered.

Shinji felt as if he was burning. Every cell in his body had been baked alive.

But his rage was stronger. His anger burned hotter than his body ever could. Asuka. His Asuka. She couldn’t be dead. She could not be dead. He would not allow her to be dead. Or even hurt. It would not happen.

He would kill this god forsaken beast and then he would find Asuka, and everything would be okay. They would be together.

There was no other option. He couldn’t go back to being alone. No.

He’d rather die.

So slowly, he stood. Slowly, his Evangelion stood. His eyes brimmed red, and he looked up. Finally, he saw it. A strange, human-like beast with no arms hovered above the ground, the light of its fading beam still blinking in the middle of its tiny head.

He was beyond words. Beyond the thought of words. Beyond himself. Beyond everything. Forward he flew, diving towards the devilish giant.

He saw the white light flashed, but didn’t even think of dodging.

It burst from the angel, the fourteenth, and was at him in an instant. An instant that seemed an eternity. His AT field was there long before the beam even came close to him. A swipe of his hand and he threw the beam away, not caring where it went. There was only the hate. Only the desire to kill this thing that had hurt her.

Revenge.

Feet before reaching the monster Shinji felt his face slam into a brick wall, but adrenaline kept him moving. It was nothing. It was a light slap. Perhaps a weak punch if that.

He reached forward, grabbing the field. As he had done before… somewhere… in his memory. In his dreams. He tore his fingers through. Then pulled out, ripping the AT field to shreds. This thing would die. This thing would die.

He grasped the fourteenth’s tiny head with his left hand, while his right punched into the beasts stomach, grasping its core.

“No one hurts her… No one… My heart. You tear at my heart… so I’ll tear at yours…”

Shinji barely knew what he was saying. He was falling further. Further into a hate that he didn’t understand, and had never known. A hate that was… foreign to him.

As soon as Unit 01 grasped the core of the fourteenth, two strange appendages, flat like paper but hard as steel roped out from the thing’s sides, like two monolithic stretching arms.

One swung high, bashing Shinji in his side. The other lower. That one hurt much more. Suddenly, Shinji found himself without a leg.

Pain erupted in Shinji and he fell to his knees, screaming murder, even as he clutched tighter at the angel’s core. It would not burst. Dammit! Why wouldn’t it break!?

“I’ll kill you…”

I’ll help you.

“You hurt her… I’ll… I’ll kill you!”

Shinji! I’ll help you!

“Kill you… kill you, kill you, kill you… kill you…! Dammit! I’ll kill you!”

You did good Shinji… let me take over now! Listen to me!

Shinji screamed, as he lost his vision. And then, he knew no more.

Asuka was cold. Climbing weakly out of the plug, dripping wet with LCL, she felt sick. She felt like shit. Her head hurt. Her mind hurt, and she was dizzy. But she was alive.

The pod had landed on the side of one of the tree covered mountains, high up where it was the most chilled. Far below, she could see her fallen Evangelion. Damaged, probably more heavily than it had ever been, she barely saw it.

Asuka… are you alright?

“M… mama…” She whispered. “I… how can I…?” Asuka shook herself. A voice in her head couldn’t feel pain. Unless… it wasn’t a voice.

She was terrified by just how damaged her Evangelion was. Burns from the beam seemed to have exposed the sick flesh beneath, burned and scalded by melted armor and cables. It lay still, finger still clutching the trigger of the giant gun it held.

Fear biting at her, she ran a hand through her head and found blood leaking down the side of her face. Shocked, she jerked her hand away and gave herself a once over.

A hole, where the beam had hit her eva in the chest, lay burned right through her plugsuit. Almost perfectly round, it seemed almost as if it was supposed to be there, if not for the blue colored bruise brimming on her skin beneath.

“Damn…” She cursed. Dashing back to the injection plug, she opened a compartment on the side and yanked out one of seven unique first aid kits. Instantly, she opened it and set about bandaging her head.

Fumbling, she jerked in horror at the sound of an unbelievably roar in the distance, covering her ears at the sound, and dropping the gauze wrapping she’d been about to wrap around her head.

It was a roar of pain.

“… Shinji…” She whispered.

“We… have lost…” Ritsuko stated, staring in horror at the screen.

Evangelion Unit 01 stood unmoving, silent as the surroundings, it’s hands frozen around the angel’s core and throat respectively.

“Evangelion Unit 01 has no power.” Maya reported dismally. “I… Shinji… there’s no response from him.”

Ritsuko blinked. “No response…? So… what…? He died in there? The angel hasn’t even attacked him yet!”

Misato stood nearby in the control room, having been silent ever since Shinji refused to listen to her. She was afraid. Very afraid, but she had yet to give up hope. She wouldn’t lose this easily. She wouldn’t. “So Shinji’s… Shinji is disabled. We have no idea what’s happened to Asuka. Rei. What about Rei?”

“H-her eva is operable. The pilot is just unconscious. She’s… she’s suffered second degree burns all along the right side of her body. The Evangelion’s right hand is immobile. Her cable is still attached though. If we can… wake her up then we might have a chance… But she’ll be in pain.” Maya replied.

“Then she’ll have to deal with it. Open a com-link and yell at her. Shock her heart. Something. Just wake her up. She’s… our only chance now.”

“Oh god… Eva… Eva…” The young technician exclaimed, staring in horror at her screen. “It’s… it’s going to…!”

Rei Ayanami had felt the pull of her brother long before the alarms had sounded, and finally she knew that her time of peace here, with Hideku was at an end. Finally, she had to go back. There was no escaping it, now.

Hideku normally went to sleep early. It had been over an hour since he had retired to the confines of his room to rest, both of them having spent most of the day in his greenhouses, thankful for the warmth even in the depths of the cool winter.

The sun now leaking into the bottom of the sky sent beams of red light lancing through the windows and draperies of his comely home, only made Rei wish to stay more. But today was the day. She had felt it since morning. Today was the day she would be forced to leave.

But… that didn’t mean she couldn’t come back… Or so she hoped.

She took the first tentative step down the staircase leading into the living room and inevitably the exit, already missing this small place. Missing the man she thought she might love as a father. Love as she could recall having loved Gendo Ikari once. As a daughter would.

But the alarms, blaring far in the distance, loud enough to be heard the fifteen miles she resided from the heart of Tokyo 3, beckoned her onward.

“You’re leaving… aren’t you?” A voice drifted in from behind the chair in the foyer. Hideku’s voice.

So… he had known. Damn. She’d thought she’d been careful.

“Yes.” She replied silently. “It is time.”

A moment of silence held, where Rei merely balanced herself against the banister of the seventh step down on the staircase, staring at the back of the chair he sat in, and the small top of his mostly grey hair visible above it.

“I could tell. You seemed put off by something all day. As if… you were missing something. Or… maybe something was missing you.” He said grimly. Slowly, he stood, and she realized that he had taken a shower, and cleaned himself. Something he rarely did at night at least.

“I… was. I am.” She replied kindly.

“It’s one of them angels, isn’t it? The things that keep attackin the city?” He asked. “You don’t have to go back to that. You can stay here… with me. If… if you want…”

Rei bit her lower lip, conflicted. It had been… a strange experience living her. A learning one. A good one. Idly, she tugged the straps of the long pair of blue-jean overalls, dirtied by working in the greenhouse for most the day. The white shirt beneath looked little cleaner but she didn’t care. Black boots, adorned her feet and she couldn’t help but stare at them as she thought.

Could she stay? Could she simply… stay…? And forget Evangelion? Forget Gendo? Forget… Shinji… and Touji…? And Asuka?

…

No. She couldn’t. A grim conclusion. She almost wished she could. But she couldn’t. Her mother’s death, lingering over her shoulder and behind her at every corner was proof enough of that. She had to know. She had to know what Gendo’s true intentions were.

Whether he was a good man… or a manipulating bastard.

For his sake… she hoped he wasn’t the latter.

“I’m sorry… Hideku. I… I love it here. I love this place. The gardens. But… there is something I must do. Something I must know. When I’ve found my answer… I promise… I’ll come back. If you’ll have me?” She asked lightly.

He turned to her, and the dim light of the fading sun displayed a small tear on the right side of his face. He wiped it quickly, but Rei was certain she’d seen it. “Sommat in my eye…” He murmured, as he crossed the room to her.

“And you were going to leave without sayin goodbye! Evil lass you are!” He burst once he reached her, and wrapped his arms around her in a mighty hug, even for one as frail as he.

“I would have returned.” She replied, returning the hug in kind.

Moments they stayed like that together, clinging to the hope they’d each found in the other.

“You will come back. Alright? You promised. I ain’t got many years left, so make it soon, ya hear?” He replied, trying to laugh off how badly he felt.

“I will.” She replied, loosening her grip around his shoulders.

She walked down the last three stairs and to the door. Opening it slowly, she turned. “I… goodbye, Hideku. I… I love you.”

“And I you, girl.”

With that, she closed the door behind her, staring out towards the city in the distance.

A red aura sprung to life around her, and she blasted into the sky, flying into the heart of Tokyo, her eyes glowing a beautiful and deadly crimson.

end part six

author's notes:

So again I was not able to quite make it to the cool scene. This chapter is more character development with a bit of action thrown in. Next chapter is going to blow you away. I guarentee it.

I wanted to fit it all in this one, as per the norm, but again it seemed as if it would be rushing or the chapter was streching too long. So I stopped here. Next chapter, you'll have a fun time. Promise.

But I hope you had a good time on this one too! And is encouraging reviews! Only seems logical for you young readers to click the easily accessed review button directly below this little block of text here? Right?

Till Next!

MB