Disclaimer: I do not own Neon Genesis: Evangelion

Beginning Notes: Set after Rei self destructs her Eva. Slight AU warning due to any minor details I might’ve changed pertaining to the episode.

The early morning sun broke over the horizon, shining its golden red light through the window of an apartment onto the form of a sleeping woman. The woman tossed and turned in her sleep. "No..." she mumbled as she tossed again. "Please... don’t..." she began to cry in her sleep, tears slowly streaked down her cheeks. “...Rei!" the woman cried out as she awoke in a cold sweat.

Maya Ibuki sat up in bed and touched her cheeks, then rubbed the tears away. "Another nightmare..." she mumbled as she swung her feet out of bed and onto the floor. Maya stared at the floor for a few moments before looking over to her nightstand: a single picture frame, face down, was on it. She picked the picture up and looked longingly at it; it was a picture of most of the NERV personnel, including Asuka, Rei, and Shinji.

Maya caressed the part of the picture with Rei standing in it. Maya herself was standing behind Rei in the picture, smiling happily. "Why did you have to do it..?" Maya began to cry again. A single tear fell onto the picture before she placed it back onto the nightstand, face down again.

Even though she didn't want to, Maya knew she had to get up and go into NERV. She got up out of bed and headed for her bathroom, looking at herself in the mirror: her eyes were red and puffy from the constant crying, and deep rings were under her eyes. After finishing up in the bathroom, Maya dressed and headed for the door. She hadn’t felt up to eating for days so she just skipped breakfast. Maya exited her apartment and headed to NERV.

Maya dragged herself into Central Dogma. All was peaceful in the normally active battle station, and only the hum of machines and the quiet chatter of bored staff broke the peaceful silence. Maya sat down at her terminal, but only stared blankly at the screen, her thoughts full of images of Rei.

Misato stood watch over Central Dogma. The final Angel could attack at any second and she was on a personal high alert. Misato scanned the room, generally checking on everybody, making sure nobody was goofing off. Her gaze stuck on Maya, who was still sitting idly at her station, staring at her terminal screen. It had only been a few days since Rei had self destructed her Unit 00.

Everybody had been affected by it: Shinji very badly, but Misato could tell who had been affected by it most of all as she gazed at Maya. Misato had seen the way Maya would look at Rei, praise her more than anyone for a job well done, even though all the attention was seemingly ignored by the stoic girl. 'Maya...how could you fall for a high school girl?’ Misato knew it was true, the signs were more than clear. Misato's cell phone ringing startled her out of her thoughts. "Hello?" she answered. "This is she, what do you need?" the response nearly made her drop her phone.

Maya had finally mustered the will to do some work when a hand landed on her shoulder. She turned her head to see who it was: it was Misato. "Captain Katsuragi...I was just about to get to work, I’m sorry for the delay..." Maya said, her voice sounding as bleak as she looked. "Maya, there’s something I need to tell you,”.

A lone blue-haired girl stood in a hallway in the Tokyo-3 hospital, staring out of one of the windows. Maya ran down a hallway, and then another, frantically looking for the Intensive Care Unit. Finally she found it and pushed the doors open - a short distance away was Rei, still staring out the window.

Maya’s heart nearly stopped at the sight, she rubbed her eyes but Rei was still standing there. Rei noticed the presence of another person and turned to look at Maya. They both just looked at each other for a moment before Maya ran to Rei and embraced her. Rei was startled as Maya held her tightly but soon relaxed into the embrace. "I thought you were dead..." Maya said, her voice choked with emotion. She pulled back from the embrace and looked into Rei's eyes, her own brimming with tears. Maya smiled a watery smile and embraced Rei again, holding her even tighter against herself. "I’m so happy you're ok," Maya said quietly as she laid her head on Rei’s shoulder and let the tears fall.

END

Ending Notes: Constructive criticism on the story itself is desired, any other criticism is ok too.