A day after Kaji's departure

Seated in a small garden inside the Geo-front were the four children. They had just finished school and Shinji had suggested that they took a break to relax from the stress of life.

Shinji was siting under a tree, enjoying himself in the peaceful environment. He was especially happy because of several things. He wasn't having painful headaches. He hasn't had anymore episodes lately. And his other co-pilots had managed to not start up any conflict for quite a while now. He closed his eyes, barely conscious that Asuka was droning on about something. He didn't care… He was at peace. A small smile sneaked its way onto his face before he slowly drifted off to sleep.

Asuka was siting on the edge of a small fountain not too far from where Shinji was. She still couldn't believe what Misato had told her yesterday after she got back from NERV. Kaji had left!! She said he had some urgent business out of the country and that he would be away indefinitely. How dare him! Leave with out saying goodbye! How could he leave her here with Shinji and wonder girl? In reality it wasn't actually the fact that he didn't say goodbye that got to her. It was the fact that he left. Just like everyone else in her life. But he would be back for her, she was sure of it. He would, right? And why did she agree to come here with those two? She must be getting soft. But, in a way, she felt that it was the right thing, it felt good to be out and about. It felt good to be amongst friends. Friends? Since when did she start calling Rei a friend? Or even Touji for that matter. She couldn't remember. It didn't matter any ways. Even if they were insignificant bugs in contrast her mighty presence. It was nice to know whom you could trust.

She felt a hint of jealousy towards Shinji and Rei. Which wasn't something out of the ordinary, in fact she felt that she should be even more aggressive towards them. But with that has been going on recently, she was starting to think that they had their fair share of problems too. However, she still hated the way Shinji made it look so easy to beat the Angels. She hate the way Rei was such a doll when it came to people ordering her around. She knew that her sync-ratio was not what it used to be, and that Shinji's was constantly on the rise. But she'd had a dreaded feeling lately. That something was going to take them away from her. What happened to Shinji in the cafeteria did not help calm her nerves.

Rei on the other hand found herself intrigued with the prospect of 'hanging out' with her fellow pilots. She was seated on a bench facing the small fountain Asuka was sitting at. Carefully, she brushed a small strand of hair, which was getting in her sight. Ever since she had been overwhelmed by the presence, several days ago, she had been able to sense emotions radiating from various sources. The emotions weren't hers. Instead, they were of others, but she found herself able to explore them, the fluidity of human feelings. The waves of ever changing perceptions.

Sadness. Joy. Anger. Despair. Hatred. Love. She sensed them all, she was currently still learning to identify them all. That didn't change how she acted or lived her everyday life though, by much. She did however actually started to realize that she never knew what she wanted on her own whim because she had never been able to interpret her own feelings as clearly as she did now. She found herself able to cope more with the 'high and mighty' attitude of second child. Though she didn't know why. The words 'empathic' obviously have yet to find it's way into her thoughts. Being able to sense someone else's emotions would do that to you. To the others though, she was the same old Rei.

At the same time, she had begun to question the reason of this sudden ability. And being that she had already so much time to think, Rei realized that there were some obvious connections with the arrival of the fellow student known as Conrad Lervino. Still, she could not know what to make of the evidence, which pointed his way. Certainly, there was nothing to accuse him of, for he had done nothing. So she resorted to what she does best; observe. She would keep an eye on him, as she did with many things nowadays.

Touji on the other hand was laying flat on the grass with his eyes closed. Of the four he was the only pilot without an Eva. He sort of felt left out under the circumstances. He joined because he wanted to guarantee the best medical treatment for his sister, but then he realized that he was also doing it because he wanted to help Shinji, Rei and even Asuka. He knew what kind of pain Eva had brought to Shinji, but he also knew its value in the war against the Angels. Plus, with the Angels getting stronger and smarter, they would need all the help they could get, even though both Rei and Asuka would probably not admit it. Now he could only sit around as a reserve pilot. Although there were still parts of Unit-03 left after Unit-01 had gone through with it, they did not wish to risk regenerating it with the treat of contamination. The expense of screening out all traces of the Angel was just too much, the Henflick limit had been reached and thus all remaining parts were to be destroyed. At this point Touji didn't know whether to dread or wish for the completion of another Eva unit for him to pilot.

Exhaling softly he finally opened his eyes, and turned his head to face the other three. He was puzzled at how they could spend time like this without tearing each other apart. Whilst at other times their argument could be heard on the other side of the city. He was also beginning to realize what kind of relationship Shinji had with his father. Shinji was not the type to easily hate other people, but his father certainly inspired it. It however, wasn't simply in Shinji's nature. Even now, although he had expressed how he despised the Commander, Touji knew that deep down Shinji still longed for acceptance. He wondered if one of these days, the Commander would go too far, and bring upon himself the wrath and Shinji and Unit-01. If he did so, Touji was sure no one would be able to save him.

 

Currently in Shinji's dream

Shinji was standing in a circle of light. He could see nothing around him but for pitch darkness. Suddenly, a screen appeared in front of him, much like a holo-display seen in the entry plugs. He felt apprehensive at what was happening, for he was conscious that he was dreaming and he feared that it would result in the same effect as the previous one. The screen showed an image of Unit-02, it stood stationary, head and arms were missing. Shinji's heart leaped, he was in shock. Then something else came into view. He realized then that it was an Angel.

Voice: That is what will happen.

Shinji gasped in surprise at the sound of the voice. It was a familiar voice, but he was still unable to recognize it. Then he realized that it was the same one from the balcony.

Shinji: Who are you?

But the voice ignored him.

Voice: When the time comes, you will know what to do.

Shinji: But this is a dream! How can I be seeing the future?

Voice: This is past.

Shinji: What?!?

Before he could do anything else, Shinji disappeared from the dream world. The screen vanished back into the darkness and silence engulfed the room. Then, from the shadows, the figure of Conrad Lervino stepped out into the circle of light.

Conrad: Good luck, Shinji.

Back in the real world, Shinji woke with a gasp. He was disoriented and woozy. He grasped his head as he tried to understand what he had just dreamt. Then he became aware of something else, a ringing in his ear. It was the sirens.

An Angel.

 

In came from out of nowhere, thus there was little time to prepare for it. Zeruel, the latest Angel smashed through Tokyo-3's defenses like they weren't even there. Nothing could even slow it down. And anything that got in its way was totally annihilated. With another shot from it's eyes, Zeruel finally ripped it's way into the Geo-front, the multiple layers of armor but a mere nescience to it. As it descended into the underground facility, it was to be met by three fully prepared Eva units. But was that enough?

Misato's voice could be heard shouting, as always through the Comm-lines.

Misato: There it is! Get ready!

Asuka: Yeah! Yeah! We're not blind Misato!

Misato: Just watch it Ok? This one's not going to be easy.

Shinji: Understood Misato.

Touji: Right on Shinji! Sock 'm once for me Ok?

Touji, who was standing behind the Major in the Command center, receive a nasty glare from the aforementioned. The Major was making a silent statement towards him, that he was only here to observe as a reserve pilot and not as a cheering squad.

Touji ( sweating under her glaring ): Ok…. I'll shut up now…

Asuka: Hrmp! I'll take care of the Angel myself. Shinji won't even get a chance at it.

Shinji: Please, Asuka, just this once, be careful…

Asuka: And what's that suppose to mean?! I'm always careful! It's you who should be watching your steps 3rd Child!

Rei: It's here.

The explosion rocked the ground as several building collapsed from the force. The Angel calmly hovered down it was met by the combined volley of several Palette rifles and Rocket launchers. But even the combined assault was not enough to penetrate it's AT-field.

Asuka flinched as she realized that this was not looking good already. No, this time she couldn't loose. She couldn't be beaten like she was last time. Shinji would not outclass her again. Asuka continued to fire a rain of rockets on the Angel, anger blinding her to the fact that she wasn't even slowing it down.

Shinji, could not believe his eyes, it was the Angel. The one saw in his dream. He could tell. But there was something missing… He couldn't quite put a finger on it… But he didn't have time for that right now. It was impossible, but yet it was there. He could not help but to assume that the dream had revealed him what was going to happen. Would he be able to change it? Could it be change at all? It didn't matter. He had to at try at least to protect his friends.

The Angel landed on the grounds of the Geo-front with a heavy thud. The earth shock as the massive beast crushed trees and pavements underneath its body. Zeruel seemed to stare at the Evas with nothing but mild annoyance. It soon turned its attention firstly to Asuka, where it kept facing her until it's eyes suddenly flared.

Asuka: Shiest!

Asuka lost no time in discarding her Rocket launchers and diving out of the way just before the massive beam of energy scorched hundreds of meters of land where she was previously standing on. Trees and plants were incinerated, while water was instantly evaporated. As she turned around, Asuka also noted it had turned her weapons into nothing but molten slag.

Shinji: Asuka! Are you alright?!

Asuka ( responding angrily ): Of course! It would take more than that to take me out!

Shinji: Asuka! Watch out for the…!

Asuka turned to face the Angel just in time to see it had unfolded its arms into what seemed like thin sheets. In fact, they were lined with mono-molecular edges, thus able to cut through the thickest and toughest of materials with incredible ease. Before she could do anything, she found that the Angel had already lashed out the arms straight towards her.

 

Kensuke: How do you think they're doing?

At that very moment, Kensuke, Conrad and Hikari were seated within the relative safety of the shelters. They were playing a game of cards seeing that there wasn't much you could do at times like that.

Conrad: Who knows? With all the information withholding they have around here, I'm be surprised they would even inform us if we were dead…

Hikari: Oh don't be such a pessimist! I'm sure they're beating the crap out of that Angel right now.

Kensuke: Class rep! Such language!

She frowned in embarrassment as she realized what had just come out of her mouth.

Hikari: Sorry… I must have been hanging around too much with Asuka lately.

Kensuke: Ah… That explains it.

At that moment a massive explosion shock the whole shelter, causing people to fall over and their playing cards to fly all over the place.

Kensuke: I don't like how things are going! It sounded very close!

Hikari: I'm sure we'll be alright. These shelters were made to protect us… and I'm sure our friends would protect us…

However, Kensuke could tell by the sound of her voice that she was trying to convince them with her words, just as she was to trying to reassure herself. He then noticed that Conrad was strangely looking very distracted, he was looking up to a corner of the room, staring at something unseen by Kensuke.

Kensuke: Conrad, what's wrong?

Still, Conrad seemed to not hear a word. Hikari noticed it too.

Hikari: Conrad? Are you ok?

Conrad: No.

Kensuke: ???

Hikari: No?

Conrad: We have to get out of here…

Hikari: This is no time to panic… just stay calm and everything will be fine.

Conrad: No.

Before she could protest, Conrad grab both Hikari's and Kensuke's arm. He begun dragging them both to the door. Hikari was surprised, as hard as she tried, she could not pry Conrad's grip off her arm. She could see that Kensuke was similarly attempting to dislodge his hold as she was but also failing miserably. He must have been much stronger than she had originally thought to be able to hold on to both of them or very stubborn. More likely the second one.

Conrad: Hikari, tell everyone to get out of here…

Hikari: But why? They're safe here…

Conrad ( digging his fingers in her forearm ): Damn it! Tell them!

Hikari: Ouch! Stop that Conrad! You're hurting me!

Conrad: I'm sorry, but we don't have time for this. Please you just have to trust me…

Kensuke: Class rep, I think you better do what he said, he was right about the Unit-03 incident.

Hikari: Alright… I'll trust your word… is it alright we move to D-2?

He gave her a quick nod.

She turn around to face the rest of the people inside the shelter, Conrad still kept a firm grip on her.

Hikari: Ermm… Everyone excuse me… I've just been informed that it might not be safe to stay in this shelter anymore. I would like everyone from our school to move to D-2 and recommend that everyone else do the same.

Their classmates quickly followed Hikari's instructions and began to gather their stuff and leave. Most of the other adults also followed, but some decided to remain there.

Woman: It's too dangerous to go out there! It's safer to stay put.

Conrad: Please, you have to come with us!

Woman: Dammit no kid! You can go, we're staying here!

Conrad: Very well… Goodbye…

He exited the shelter and met up with Hikari and Kensuke who were waiting for him.

Hikari: What of the others?

Conrad: Leave them, they will not follow us. It's too late for them.

The trio had stayed until everyone who was going had gotten out and then begun to leave. They didn't even manage hundred meters when they were thrown forth by the force of an explosion. Hikari and Kensuke both picked themselves up and stared wide-eyed at the devastation they had left behind them. Shelter D-3, which they had been in, had been hit by a stray shot from the 14th Angel. Raging flames flickered in anger as the rubble and dust settled. It was obvious that no one inside could have survived.

 

That was it! He realized what was missing from the Angel when he saw it. The arms. It's arms were missing from when he had seen it in the dream. He hastened towards Asuka's side as the Angel advanced menacingly towards her. Then he remembered Unit-02 in the dream, armless and headless. He then put two and two together and understood what was going to happen.

Shinji: Asuka! Watch out for the…!

Too late, the Angel's mono-molecular arms sliced cleanly through Unit-02's shoulders, taking of its arms cleanly. Shinji's ears rung as he heard Asuka's screams of pain and agony from the emphatic wounds.

Touji: Holy shi…!!

Misato: Cut the connections now!

Maya: We can't Major! There's a fault in the system!

Aoba: Attempting a bypass, but it will take some time!

Ritsuko: Not now! Shinji! If she gets hit again like that again with the connections still on, she could suffer from serious nerve damage or even die!

Shinji ( angrily ): Understood Misato!

Rei: Major! Unit-02 is charging!

Misato: What?!? Asuka! What are you doing!?

Asuka: I won't be defeated again! I won't!!!

Shinji: Asuka!!!

He saw it then; the Angel prepared itself to lash out at Unit-02 again. This time he was sure it would be going for her neck. Suddenly, he knew what had to be done. He didn't know where the idea came from, nor did he care. Palette rifles couldn't do jack squat to the Angel and was too far way to attack it in close combat. On the other hand he was also too far away from Asuka to restrain her and couldn't risk ( though he was tempted ) to knock her out of the way with the rifles. So he did neither.

Maya: Ma'am! Shinji's sync ration just jumped twenty points and raising!!

Ritsuko: What!!

Shinji: Rei! Get to Asuka and hold her! I'll deal with the Angel!

Rei: Affirmative.

Misato: What are you doing Shinji? You can't take that thing on alone!

Shinji: I know what I'm doing Misato. Now please, we don't have much time, release the locks on the city block Thirteen-B.

Misato: What!?

Shinji: It's vacant right?

Misato: Yes… everyone's been evacuated from the city blocks to the Shelters already… but I don't know what you hope to accomplish…

Shinji: Trust me Misato and do it…

Gendo ( out of nowhere ): Why?

Shinji ( thinking ): Damn it! We're wasting time!

Shinji: Because… I need it done… Commander…

The older Ikari paused for a moment, apparently considering his son's strange request.

Gendo: Request granted.

Maya: Locks to city block Thirteen-B has been removed Sir!

Shinji: Good!

Misato: ?

At this point everyone turned their attention back to the actual fight, just in time to watch in horror as the Angel was about to lashed its arms out towards Unit-02 again.

Suddenly, Unit-01 turned to face where block Thirteen-B was and aimed both its Palette rifles at it. He fired. The explosive rounds tore through the concrete and metal structure.

Misato: Shinji! What the hell are you doing!?!

Eventually, the rounds found their mark, the machinery that elevated the block to the surface were quickly blown apart. It's destruction meant that the whole block was now without anything to support it's massive weight, so it begun to slide down and fell towards the Geo-front's floor…

… just in time to intercept Zeruel's arms as they sailed across to decapitate the frenzied Unit-02. Block Thirteen-B was directly in the path between the Angel and Unit-02. The arms stopped short of Unit-02's neck by but mere meters. But it was still enough to stop Asuka dead on her tracks. Thus allowing Rei to reach her and pin her down before she did anything else liable to get her seriously injured or even killed.

In the Command center, everyone was silent. Even Gendo was surprised by the bold tactical ploy conceived by his son. It was something which even he would never had thought up. The result was a two-fold effect, firstly it enabled Shinji to save pilot Sohryu from getting herself foolishly decapitated for nothing, and at the same time, the Angel had been pinned. Even Zeruel was having problems removing its arms from underneath the demolished ruins of block Thirteen-B.

Misato: How the hell did you manage to think that up?!

Shinji: No time for that now. Terminate Asuka's connection as soon as possible and tell Rei to come and help me when she's free.

Asuka: NOOOO!! Don't you dare!!!!! I will kill you after this Shinji! You hear me?!!!

Shinji: Please Asuka, forgive me…

Misato: You heard the man Ritsuko.

Ritsuko: I'm on to it.

Unit-01 dropped the now empty Palette rifles and drew its Progressive knife. There was only one option at this point, which was to engage the Angel at close quarters. Shinji pushed the Eva to it limits as he charged the Angel who was attempting to free itself. It turned to face him when he got fairly close and fired it's cross flare at him. Shinji managed to dodge just in time and headed towards the Angel's side. Behind him a stray shot struck Shelter D-3 and erupted into a massive fiery blast.

Wasting no more time, Shinji spun up and drove his knife into the Angel's flank. The blade was however stopped by it's AT-field, which Shinji was having trouble neutralizing.

Shinji: Damn you!!

Unit-01 rolled towards it's right as the Angel fired again, reducing the grounds where Shinji was previously on to a smoking crater.

Rei: Ikari! I'm here, what should I do?

Shinji looked up to find Unit-00 standing several hundred meters behind the Angel.

Shinji: Come on! We have to neutralize it's AT-field! I can't do it on my own!

Rei: Understood.

Unit-01 made an act of attacking the Angel to distract it, whilst allowing Rei to get into place. Rei quickly positioned herself nearby and concentrated. Her own AT-field flared suddenly and overwhelmed Zeruel's already weakened field. The Angel clearly didn't appreciate this and turned to face her. It fired again. Rei tried to dodge the incoming beam but was struck on the leg. The whole section below her knee was blown to shreds completely. Unit-00 fell backward onto the ground, having had its foot literally blown up from underneath it. Shinji's anger rose to dangerous levels as he heard Rei's cries through the Comm.

Shinji: Rei!!

He turned to face the Angel now. With its field down, he had a standing chance of beating it on one to one.

Shinji: It's you and me now you bastard!

He leaped onto the Angel and struck the Prog knife deeply into its flank. The Angel roared in anger and pain as it trashed about in an attempt to dislodge Unit-01 off its back.

Misato: Shinji! Watch out it's getting free!

Zeruel had managed to pull one of its arms out from underneath the rubble and had managed to reach out to grab a hold on Unit-01. The beast lifted Unit-01 up and threw it with incredible force towards the pyramid structure that was NERV headquarters. Misato was thrown off her feet as the ground shook from the force of the Eva slamming into the side of the building. Ritsuko fell on her knees and toppled over dangerously close to the level's side. Incredibly, Shinji wasted no time and raised itself again to attack the Angel. Shinji was channeling his hatred towards all that would harm his friends in an outburst of pure bloodlust.

The Angel launched its free arm towards Unit-01, snaking its way in the air towards the Eva's neck. However, Shinji acted faster, he sidestepped the arm and grabbed a hold of it. Though the edges were possibly the sharpest things in the world, the thin arms easily crumpled under the Eva's grip. Shinji jerked on the arm, pulling the massive creature straight into a full on punch. By doing this, Shinji had unwittingly freed Zeruel's other arm as well, but by now, he was beyond the point of caring. Inside the Entry plug, he was like a man possessed.

Touji: Alright! Give him a right and a left and there! Kick 'm where it hurts! Yeah! I taught him that you know…? Huh…?

The same glaring as before, but this time from quite a few more people and twice the intensity.

Touji: Erm… Errrr….

 

Lieutenant Maya Ibuki shivered as she saw the sinister grin that was worn on Shinji's face on the side screen. She never would have thought that the boy could have looked so intimidating until this moment. What have they done to him? She was sure that he would never have become like this if he'd ever come to Tokyo-3. Then again, they might have been all dead already if he hadn't. She felt a slight chill, which caused her to turn around. Never had she felt such fear as she did there and then when she saw that the Commander was wearing the same grin as Shinji was.

Rei watch in silence inside her plug as Shinji pounded the Angel into the ground. She felt uneasy from the way that Shinji was fighting, it was more like an attack of some savage primitive predator than anything else. And the Angel was its prey. She watched helplessly as the Angel fired another flare at Unit-01 at point-blank range. The blast tore the Eva's entire right shoulder off to shreds. Bits and pieces of debris showered the area. The flare went on to strike HQ, this time throwing of their feet everyone who hadn't already fallen on the ground and threatening to cutting out the power. The entire flank of the building was showered with blood and gore, painting it red from top to bottom. Rei stare in mute silence as Unit-01 shrugged off the loss of a limb as simply as a slight setback.

Unit-01 went on to strike the Angel with a heavy left hook, followed by a low kick, which sent the Angel sprawling onto the ground. Shinji leaped onto the fallen beast and begun to beat it with his Eva's fists. But Zeruel responded by cunningly warping its arm around Unit-01 and pulling its feet from under it. Seeing it's chance, Zeruel didn't hesitate in firing a flare directly into Unit-01's umbilical plug. The explosion ripped into Unit-01's spine and triggered a secondary explosion as most of the internal batteries too detonated, threatening to tear the Eva in two.

Aoba: We've lost 70% of the sensor nodes! Internal batteries have sustained severe damage!

Maya: Pulse reversing! Pilot life-signs are unstable!

Hyuga: All primary lower torso circuit clusters are out! Backup clusters are failing to come on-line!

Aoba: Entry plug armour and midway clusters are holding but heat levels are dangerously high!

Maya: Sync frequencies are hyper-fluctuating at critical levels!

Ritsuko: Reroute circuits B64 to D41! Engage internal coolant! Lower the neural feedback regulator!

Hyuga: Attempting to reroute connections, B64 to D33 have succeeded but D34 to D41 circuits have completely crashed!

Maya: Feedback regulator is not responding! We can't reduce the feedback!

Aoba: Coolant released, temperature returning to acceptable levels… what the..!!!?

The already damaged power supply finally failed, shutting everything in the whole command center down. Save from the emergency lights.

Ritsuko: Dear god no!

Inside the Entry plug Shinji screamed as mind-numbing pain tore into his back as the immense feedback overwhelmed his senses. He felt as if he was being ripped apart from inside out. Physically he was also being knocked around as the blast had dangerously reached close to the plug. No matter how much he tried he knew was falling on the verge of unconsciousness. But he couldn't let it win. He couldn't fail. Too much was at stake here. He wasn't fighting anymore because he felt the shame from running away. He was fighting because he wanted to protect his friends.

Zeruel looked down triumphantly at Unit-01, who was still attempting to get up. A massive chunk of the Eva's back was missing and gore covered components were exposed. There wasn't much active time left neither as the blast had also critically damaged the remaining batteries, leaving the Unit-01 with less than thirty seconds. By now, Misato and the rest of the bridge crew came rushing out of Command HQ. Her heart fell when she saw what had befallen Shinji. Commander Ikari was there too; he frowned, mildly displeased with the turn of events.

Maya ( who had brought out her laptop ): Ma'am! Unit-01's got 5 seconds of active time left… 3… 2… 1… batteries have been purged…. It's over…

Misato: Damn it! He was so close!

Ritsuko: Well… guess it's over then…

 

Back inside the Entry plug of Unit-01, Shinji had passed out cold. However… in is mind… something was stirring…

Shinji was floating in a faint haze of blue light. He glanced around, finding nothing but emptiness for as far as he could see. When he turned back in front of him was a flicking image of a white flame. His first instinct was to jerk away from it, but he soon realized it wasn't making any hostile movements towards him. It was simply floating there. He felt a strange tingling sensation radiating from the flame. The same warmth of which he had felt was missing until recently. The warm feeling of being loved… but this was more specific… it had a feeling of family…

Shinji: W…who… W… what are you?

An image flashed by of Unit-01 rampaging across the city to get to Sachiel, the third Angel.

Another of Unit-01 tearing it's way out of the black globe that was Leliel, the twelfth.

Shinji: That was you…?

The flame seemed to nod… though Shinji didn't really know how a flame could nod. It seemed to him fairly obvious what the flame was expressing now, even though there was no way he could do that in reality.

Another image appeared… showing Unit-01 tearing apart Zeruel.

Shinji: No…

The flame looked questioningly towards him.

Shinji: I can do it… I just need to be able to move for a few seconds more…

The flame seemed a little hesitant to agree with him, but then seemed to concede.

Shinji smiled as he slowly faded from the scene, he was returning to finish off his job.

When he vanished completely, the white flame disappeared, replaced by the form of a young woman.

Yui: Good… he's learning…

 

Back in the real world, Misato could not help but look away as Zeruel lined itself up for a perfect clean shot to finish off Unit-01 one. Everyone wore a disappointed look on his or her faces, believing that this could only be the end.

By now, Asuka had climb out of her plug as furious as hell for that stunt that bitch Rei and that fucking prick Shinji did to her. She froze when she saw the limp bloodied form of Unit-01 along with the fourteenth Angel hovering above it. She looked around and saw Unit-00, attempting in vain, to crawl it's way to aid it's purple counter-part. She turned back to Unit-01, where she saw the Angel charging up for it's finishing shot.

Asuka: No…

She watched as the Angel preparing to deliver its final blow. Regretting everything she'd previously thought about Rei and Shinji.

Maya: Ma'am! Unit-01 is reactivating! Shinji's sync is over three hundred!!!

Ritsuko: That impossible! Is it going over four hundred!?

Maya: Negative! It's stable at three hundred and twenty nine!

Misato: What's the hell is that idiot doing!?!

Asuka gasped as Unit-01 suddenly rose from the ground and rammed the fingers of its remaining arm into Zeruel's eyes. The flare went off immediately after with Zeruel's face being ground zero. The blast vaporized Unit-01's remaining arm and proceeded to backfire into the Angel's own face, causing the massive creature to erupted in a giant blast. Asuka was forced to cover her face with her arm, the brightness of the explosion blinding her temporally. Chunks of the creature were blown apart in every direction, as the whole upper body was ripped apart by the immense force. Shrapnel comprising of bone and armour shards were thrown across the Geo-front creating a barrage of deadly projectiles. Whilst everyone else tried to take cover, Asuka ignored it all. A massive piece larger than her passed by over her head, it embedded itself a few hundred meters behind her in the ground.

She didn't even finch.

 

After she had recovered from the blinding light, he could see the heavily damaged Unit-01 slumping onto the ground, the Angel's lifeless lower body simultaneously falling away from it. Shocked beyond belief, she could not believe in her own mind that Shinji would have dared to do such a thing. It reminded her of the way he defeated the fourth Angel. He had gambled everything on a single act and had turned out victorious. And now, he did it again. Her eyes lingered on the inert unit. She remained that way till the recovery team came to finally pick her up.

 

Misato: So… how is he?

Ritsuko: He sustained serious nerve damage through the neural feedback. He's in a coma right now but he'll be fine if we can regenerate the damaged brain cells. I'm surprised that he even survived the feedback since his sync ratio was over three hundred percent.

Misato: WHEN we regenerate the damaged cells… when…

Ritsuko: Right… when…

Misato: How long?

Ritsuko: I'm not too sure, depending on how the cells react, I'd give it a week or so…

Misato: He'll be in a coma for a… week…?

Ritsuko: Yes. That means that you and Asuka will have to all your own house chores for once.

Misato: Hey! How could you kid around at a time like this?! That's not funny!

Ritsuko: Remember… think positive.

Misato: Right… positive…

Ritsuko: I must tell you however that, although I must agree with you that he will be able to recover from the coma, I must also mention the very real danger that he might have problems with his senses.

Misato: You mean…

Ritsuko: The feedback he receive from the Eva was beyond anything the human body was designed to cope with, it is very likely he will retain permanent damage in his nervous system or even his brain.

Misato: …

Ritsuko: We can now only fix what can be fixed and hope for the best…

Misato: Ritsuko…

Ritsuko: Yes…?

Misato: … thanks…

Ritsuko: …

 

Asuka walked slowly across the devastated landscape of the Geo-front in silence. She was now in her school uniform, having changed and rinsed off that stench of LCL. She didn't know what she was doing, she didn't know why she was out there. It felt as though she was seeking something.

They hadn't bothered to tell her of Shinji's conditions, but then again, she didn't ask. Asuka found herself wondering what must have driven him to pilot Eva this time. Sure, he had mentioned that he did it for his father's praise, but she wasn't so sure of that being the case any more. Asuka didn't like contemplating her own reasons very often, this is because most of the times she realizes that they aren't very good ones. But what could she do? She wanted to stop lying to herself, but at the same time she couldn't. The truth was still too hard to grasp, maybe some other time… All she could do at this point was to continue… living…

She turned around a burnt out tree and was about to make her way back when she came across the ruins of shelter D-3, the shelter where her class mates where assigned to.

Asuka: …

Hikari, even those idiots Kensuke and Conrad… they would have been here during the battle… that means… no… but it can't be… no…

She fell to her knees on the singed grass, attempting in vain to block out the tears… She should have been about to protect them, she should have be there to stop the Angel's flare… Instead, her pride, stupid aggressiveness and shear stubbornness clouded her judgment. And now Shinji's in probably god knows what kind of situation and even Rei had tried to help him when she had her leg blown off. She, however, had to be restrained because she was a danger to others and herself… How pathetic, how low a level had she reached. How could she go on, knowing this…? If only they'd have a second chance at it.

Hikari: Asuka?

Asuka looked up from the floor, her face covered with tears. In front of her stood Hikari, in the flesh, as alive as anyone could be…

Asuka: H…Hi.. Hikari! You're alive!!

Hikari: Asuka! What's wrong! Why are you crying?

Asuka ( indicating the shelter ): H…how?! You would have been in there when it when up! No one could have survived!!

Hikari: Well… we would have been if Conrad didn't suddenly have an anxiety attack in the middle of the battle! For some reason he didn't feel safe about staying in there… he was so serious about it he was literally dragging me out by force until I agreed to evacuate everyone out to D-2. Look… you can still see the bruise on my arm…

Asuka ( instantly forgetting her tears and her anger flaring ): That lowly maggot! How dare he hurt you! I beat him senseless for that!!

Hikari: No… don't worry about it… If he hadn't done it I probably wouldn't have listened to him and we'd all have been still in there…

Asuka: …

Hikari ( looking back towards shelter D-3 ): Anyway, I convinced everyone in our whole class to move to D-2, and almost everyone else too. But some… refused to come… so… they're… still… in there…

Asuka: So... where's Kensuke and Conrad now?

Hikari: Oh, they're still visiting Shinji in the hospital, I just came from there… You didn't visit him did you?

Asuka ( feeling terribly guilty ): …no… not yet…

Hikari: Oh! Come on Asuka! You can't do this. He 's in a coma! Touji told me what happened, what Shinji had to do to save us. Simply visiting him is the least you could do…

Asuka: I… I can't… that idiot humiliated me…

Hikari: Damn it Asuka! Would you rather be dead? And don't even try to answer that! He wouldn't have had to do that if you hadn't gone and charged the Angel without any arms!! Anyway, do you have any idea how much he must have suffered?

Asuka: What do you mean…?

Hikari: I am not totally ignorant Asuka. I may not know how the Evangelions fully work, but from what I do know from what you had once told me, is that you can feel the pain from any injuries inflicted to your Evas. How much of it you feel of it, is proportional to well you can control your Eva. Touji told me Shinji's Sync was over three hundred at the end of the battle. I'm sure you can imagine what that means?

Asuka: T… that I'll never beat him now?

Hikari took a moment to glare at Asuka, as if she'd committed some unspeakable sin. Which in Hikari's mind, she wasn't for from it.

Hikari: Asuka. For such a smart girl, you must be really thick… is being the best all you ever think about?! I don't even want to know how having your arms shredded to pieces amplified three times over would feel like. That's what it means Asuka, he felt everything amplified three times over, all the pain. And you know what? For some reason, I don't think he fought this battle for his own satisfaction, I think that he did it to save us… When he first came here he would have cared less… He didn't have to stay. He didn't have to suffer; you just don't realize how much he actually gives… rather than take. He cooks, he cleans, he even washes your clothes… and what does he do it for? He's certainly not getting paid to be your servant! I have to do what he did, but it's for my sisters! My family! And don't try to deny it Asuka, I've been around you enough to know that you've let him do all the work, and it's not that you can't do it, it's just that you've convinced yourself that you can't or that you don't have to!

For the first time since she known her, Hikari was scolding Asuka. To make matters worse, everything Hikari was bringing up was hitting home. Stunned beyond any comprehensible response, Asuka could do nothing but stand there and take the brunt.

Hikari: You know what? I might be actually wrong there… I think… that maybe to Shinji, you and the Major are family, who knows? Maybe you are even more to him than that. But you just can't see that, can you? You don't want to see it… I can tell that you've been hurt before, but it doesn't mean that you have to go and hurt others who try to be there for you. I've always found your ways were a little bit too selfish but I was willing to withstand it because deep down… I know you are a good person. But this time you've gone to far Asuka, you must realize that he could never wake up again! That you may never get a chance to repay him for all the things he's done for you… I know you don't like owning anyone anything, but that's the way things are, and the only decent thing for you to do is acknowledge that… please listen to what someone else tells you to do for once in you life. Please… listen to yourself…

Asuka sniffed hard as she contemplated what Hikari had brought to her attention. She knew that it was the truth and that she was wrong. Honestly, from the very end of the battle, she wanted to running to Shinji and tell him how much she really cared for him and admit how much of a bitch she'd been. But she didn't allow herself to do that, she had remain frozen on the spot because she was unable to do anything else but to keep herself from running to him. She was wrong to do that. She should have gone. She should listen to herself and do what she knows is right. However, old habits die hard.

Asuka: Al… alright… I will go and visit him…

Hikari ( exhaling in defeat ): Oh well, it's a start…

Asuka: …

Hikari: …

Asuka ( managing to crack a small smile ): Thanks Hikari… since when did you become so wise?

Hikari: Me? Wise? Naaa… I'm just telling you what you already know…

The two girls stayed exactly as they were for a while. Then, both stood up from their kneeing position, both, now knowing what was the right thing to do.

Conrad: Never thought I'd see you cry over us…

The girls spun around to see Conrad standing on a nearby path with his arms crossed. He wore a smug face, having see the all-powerful Asuka in a vulnerable position for once. Unfortunately for him, that turned out to not be very wise action, as Asuka wasted no time in flipping him for all this troubles.

Asuka carefully cleared her eyes and begun to walk away with Hikari whilst waving a finger at Conrad.

Asuka: Just because you effectively saved Hikari's and other people's lives because of your cowardice I'll go easy on you for now. But if you dare tell anyone about this, next time you'll find yourself needing some new body parts.

Conrad ( still on his back and smiling softly as they walked away ): Hmmm…. So… now you've finally realized you've got a better for piloting reason too… but will it help?

Finally he got up and begun to dust his pants off. All of a sudden he turned to face a group of trees not too far away, the dimming light of the fading day had cast thick shadows underneath the foliage. From someone in his point of view, Conrad could have not seen anything within those shadows, but still, it seemed that he could detect a presence. A smile had crept onto his face. Then, he silently turned and walked off into the distance.

From the hidden shadows beneath the trees, a certain red-eyed, blue-haired girl had studied the scene with meticulous detail. From her point of view, things were starting to get interesting indeed.

Rei: Who are you? What… are you?

 

Somewhere in Europe

Two figures were in a car, inside a large elevator much like the one used by NERV to transport vehicles into the Geo-front. They stayed motionless as they descended into the depth of the ground. After he'd been sent to Canada, the woman he was now seated next to met him there. She called herself Danielle and was with OMBRA. A petit brunette, he guessed of around twenty-five. She'd been with him ever since, directing him to another flight and guiding him through the streets of Bern, Switzerland after they'd landed. He'd been blindfolded then, and after a strenuous two hours drive he found himself in this elevator.

Danielle: Mr. Rouji Kaji. Welcome to Antrum-4 or what those who live here call 'The hole'.

Kaji: Wow… that's… one big hole…

The elevator exited the tunnel and brought them into the OMBRA installation. Kaji surveyed the massive underground cavern. It was not as large as the Tokyo-3 Geo-front, but it was still of considerable size. Within it was what seemed like a large military complex. But in fact, surrounding it was magnificent parkland, as in the Geo-front.

Danielle: This is one of several bases that OMBRA possesses across the globe. We modeled them in a similar fashion to the NERV's Geo-front, but instead of being primed against Angel attacks, they are designed primarily to keep any hostile human incursions at bay indefinitely. We are so deep underground, that even if they dropped an N2 directly on top of us, we would barely feel it.

Kaji: But why? Why do these bases exist and what are OMBRA's aims?

Danielle smiled at Kaji's questions, he was like a child staring out of the car at the wonders that they had achieved hidden away from the eyes of even SEELE and NERV, two of the most secret and powerful organizations in the world. Organizations which effectively wanted him to feed the worms.

Danielle: OMBRA originated as a strictly research and development arm of the organization you know as SEELE. These bases were actually built originally as secondary alternatives as locations for us, since our first base was actually in Greece, that, for obvious reasons was called Antrum-1. This was all but solid rock eleven years ago…

Kaji: You mean this whole place and all the others were dug by hand from solid rock only 11 years ago!!

Danielle: Well… not by hand I can assure you, but I know what you mean, our bases did not utilize an existing cavern like the Geo-front did, we had to make use of the latest mining equipment developed in the last decade. Most of it was dug up using a device which amplified sonic waves, in fact, I believe that's what eventually led to the development of the Progressive knives the Evangelions use.

Kaji: Why do they want me anyway? Surely you must have betters sources of information on SEELE or NERV than me…

Danielle: You assume correctly Mr. Rouji, you know much more than you even realize. No, we want you for your skills Mr. Rouji, we have many agents, all trained in the arts of warfare and intelligence, but we recognize a potential recruit when we see one.

Kaji: You want me to join you and take an active role?! But I'm an Intel agent, what good is an Intel agent when everyone knows who he is.

Danielle: Oh… well, that's true but we intend to re-train you in other 'fields', plus there's also the small detail that there's someone who'd like to see you.

Kaji: …?

Danielle: You'll see…

 
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