Evangelion and their characters are owned by GAINAX yah di yah di yah... etc, etc...

Anyone else is mine (Duh!)

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CHAPTER ONE: AWAKENINGS

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War… war never changes… whether it be petty disputes amongst countries or a struggle for the very existence of humanity. Heroes are born and sooner or later martyred... The innocent sacrificed… Millions of voices had barely enough time to scream in terror before their souls were stripped from their bodies, willingly or not.

In war, there is no victor… only survivors…

It was a dry and hot day when it occurred, decades after the event known as 3rd Impact. Yet, a remarkably pleasant one if you were to take into account that the end of the world had come… and gone…

The world HAD been temporarily wiped clean… but then something happened… the first vegetation started to re-grow, then animals reappeared and eventually the first human survivors found themselves scattered across the land, with little or no memory of what had occurred.

Something… someone… had willed them back… that little they all knew…

Thus, begun the age of Rebirth… But… despite what people named the new era… things would not recover so easily as by merely wishing it…

Decades went by… Earth, as we knew it, never fully healed from the effects of Third Impact. The massive climate changes, which appeared shortly after Impact, had caused the weather to run amok; scorching hot one day and icy cold the next. As a result, much of the plant and animal life had eventually died out due to the terrible conditions. As things would have it, although many of the weaker individuals died, humanity persevered.

The climate eventually stabilised to a certain degree, but by then much of the planet was either uninhabitable or turned into a harsh wasteland filled with countless dangers. Society had degenerated and was no longer capable of maintaining a check of those who would take advantage of his fellow man. This was quite possibly, the direct result of the high percentage of the Impact survivor being of age 18 or under.

Sure, there were older survivors, but they were few in numbers.

This being the case, much of the knowledge and technology, which allowed modern civilisation to prosper, was lost in time. Though, there were many rudimentary devices still existed and were more than readily manufactured. The most popular of these, in this time of chaos and ever-constant danger was the Gun.

In this time, where law could not be enforced outside of a town's borders, Gangs, Raiders, Slavers… all made a quick reappearance not long after…

For close to twenty years, more and more survivors kept on reappearing, but near the end, many of them found themselves captured and enslaved upon regaining consciousness. After all, the slave trade had already developed by then into a lucrative business.

Why had civility broken down so quickly? Many asked themselves.

Why?

The elders argued that it was a by-product of the harsh environment. Others claimed that it was the sudden breakdown of law and order. Whilst other sombrely point out that maybe it was just human nature… pure and simple.

Whatever the reason, whatever the cause, this was the world they were now living in, and they could the only do what they could do… live on…

78 A.R (After Rebirth)
Exact date in A.D unknown…

Not a cloud was seen for miles, whilst the fresh star-studded skies hung peacefully above a white-sanded beach. The gentle sound of waves washed up against the shore of a lake.

Upon this beach lay two figure; One, a boy, who rather strangely was in his school uniform. The other and even stranger was a young redhead girl in a skin-tight red suit that left little to the imagination. One of her arms and an eye had been bandaged, covering what might have once been severe injuries.

Slowly, the boy begun to stir whilst the girl simply snapped awake, though refrained from making any movements.

The boy slowly turned his head, for a moment seemingly staring at something out in the lake.

Eventually, the boy rose up from his prone position and gazed downwards, not too far away he noticed his partner who remained unmoving.

Without a word, the boy picked himself up and moved over to the girl and for a moment, he silently stood over her.

She was staring up into the night sky, completely ignoring him.

We could say that this angered the boy, though this would actually be only an assumption, for he maintained a completely blank expression as he slowly and methodically lowered himself onto her and promptly started to strangle her.

To someone who had never know these two individuals this would have been a pretty bizarre incident indeed, but those who did, would probably think that she had it coming to her.

For a while, the girl remained expressionless, possibly because of disbelief, stubbornness or even maybe, just maybe… somewhere deep in her conscience, she knew that she deserved it.

Fortunately she was not quite the girl to give up on life so easily, and besides, she could only hold her breath for so long… though she realised that this may call for something considerably subtler that a swift knee in the groin.

Hesitantly, and despite being asphyxiated, she reached up with her hand and tenderly, but quite intentionally, caressed the boy's face.

Almost immediately, his hold over her relaxed as his eyes widened in surprise.

The realisation of what he had almost done struck him and soon he reverted into nothing more than a weeping ball of self-pitying angst.

Tears fell softly on the girl's cheeks, yet she did not flinch.

Her eyes still fixed on the stars she said three words…

And no, although you'd probably like to think so, they were not the words; 'I love you', after all things are _never_ that simple.

As it were, what she had in fact voiced out, was 'I feel sick…'

In the meantime, the boy kept up with the crying and thus the girl concluded that he had in fact not heard her the first time.

"Shinji…" she said, "I feel sick… get your whiny perverted ass off me…"

Shinji looked up from his weeping, clearly puzzled.

"You know… _Sick_ … as in I'm gonna throw up…!"

Shinji, being quite the klutz that he was, took a while to register this information, and came to note that he was in fact practically lying on top of a girl with only his school clothes and a plug suit between the two. Of course this did bring back a bit of Déjà vu, but then again this was Asuka he was crouched on top off and was more than likely going to get in the face for that.

"I'm…I'm sorry…!" he quickly stuttered as he swiftly moved off Asuka.

As soon as he was clear, Asuka took to her feet and rushed away from Shinji.

At first Shinji thought that she was disgusted with him and just wanted to get away, but she stopped not long after, sank to her knees and begun to hurl her guts out behind one of the few trees in the area.

This of course was exactly something Asuka would do, for she hated to show weakness in front of anyone, let alone Shinji. But she was feeling worse than she had expected and threw up until she got to the dry heaves. That when she felt a hand on her back.

Looking up, she found Shinji bent over next to her with a look of concern on his face. It was then that she noticed that there was something different about him. It wasn't as if Shinji wasn't a nice person to start with, but he usually had the habit of avoiding other people's pain like it was the bubonic plague. Yet he was here now, trying to help her even though she had clearly moved away from him in the first place.

'Maybe… I've changed too' she thought to herself.

Feeling the nausea coming back, and an unpleasant feeling raising up her throat, Asuka turned her head back down and could do nothing but heave and cough.

When the sickness finally receded she managed to croak out a simple thank you, but it was so quiet that she wasn't sure whether she was heard or not. Even if he didn't, Asuka soon found Shinji's hand pressed onto her forehead.

"I think you may have a fever… we should get you to a doctor or something…" said Shinji, who wasted no time in helping her up and glancing around, "Of course, that is if there are any living souls anywhere near here in the first place…"

Asuka looked up too, finally registering their surroundings, and understood what Shinji meant. The landscape looked desolate, wild, and almost… alien. Some things looked oddly familiar, yet she could not see any trace of civilisation. That is, save for the remains of multiple 05-Series Evangelion Units that were crucified around the lake. And now that she looked more carefully at it, the water seemed awfully reddish in colour.

"What the hell is this… where are we… where's everyone else…?" Asuka asked to no one in particular.

Shinji just glanced around slowly, sadness written all over his face. "Asuka…" he whisper, "How much to you remember…"

Asuka thought on it for a while, and came to the conclusion that she had in fact no idea of what had happened… since… she died? The 05-Series… they… killed her…

"Oh… god… I think I'm gonna feel sick again…" Asuka hung her head in both horror and confusion, "That's just not possible!!" she exclaimed in frustration.

"Asuka… after you… died… Third Impact occurred…" Shinji tried to explain.

"What?! So… we're both dead? Then… what is this place? Heaven… or Hell?" Asuka was understandably angry at the revelation that she had died and that they had failed in their mission to prevent the annihilation of mankind. But she was too nauseous and shocked by now to have a hissy fit.

"I… We're not dead Asuka… at least not right now… I think…"

"How…?"

"I… I'm not sure of it myself… I think I knew… but I don't remember much any more…"

"Idiot…!! What _do_ you remember then?" she asked him, slightly annoyed.

"Well… I vaguely remember I did… that…" he half-turned, indicating to what seemed like a crudely erected marker, with something hanging on it.

Asuka immediately realised what it was.

"That… that's…"

"Misato's cross" Shinji finished for her.

There was a moment of awkward silence.

Neither children proficient at talking about the death of a loved one.

"I… I see…" Asuka gazed down to her feet, "Is her…?"

"Her… body isn't here… but… I don't think she made it…" Shinji said, again answering her question before she could finish her sentence.

The redheaded girl looked up, a bit surprised at how much Shinji was sounding like he knew what she was going to say. In a way, it reminded her of a certain someone.

"You're starting to sound like…" Asuka was about to point out.

"Asuka…" Shinji suddenly interrupted her, indicating up to a spot over the mountains.

Asuka looked over and saw it too, there was a dim glow, light… possibly from a fire or something.

"We… we have to go and check it out…" she said.

Shinji looked at her, a worried frown on his face, "What if it's dangerous…"

"Idiot…! We have to take that chance, there may be people there…" she said as she strode off by herself even though she was clearly not in the condition to.

"What _kind_ of people… is what I'm worried about…" Shinji shook his head and muttered as he walked off after Asuka.

Another bullet ricocheted off the wall above where a dusty figure was crouched. He calmly reloaded his pump-action shotgun a round at a time, taking no heed to the fight going around him. The blazing fire that consumed half the town lit up the valley almost as if it were daytime.

The skirmish had been going on hard for more than half an hour now. The raiders were a hardened bunch, but dumb. They simply assumed that they could attack, loot, pillage and be off just like that.

But obviously they didn't count on the majority of residents being well armed and also experienced in urban combat.

The figure shifted on his feet, but remained crouched until he heard an opening. Rising up from behind the wall, he levelled the shotgun on his first target, a large and not particularly too intelligent-looking thug. He fired off two bursts, the scattershot shells almost taking the unfortunate thug's head cleanly off. The figure aimed for a second time, this time at a pair of raiders who came running down the street firing their pistols and waving their hunting spears. The next burst struck one of them on the shoulder, throwing him down for the count. His partner, finally realising that he was foolishly standing in the open, made a run for the nearest cover. It was however too late, as he caught the blast in the back, going down with a fine mist of crimson.

Pulling his heavy overcoat tightly around him, the figure reloaded several more rounds into his shotgun before sprinting along the low walls towards the centre of the town.

There weren't going too many of the raiders left by now, of that he was sure. Yet he couldn't help but wonder, who did he know that wouldn't make it to the morning. Attacks such as these rarely ended without at least a few loses. It was just the way things were, so there was no use complaining about it. He suddenly heard a soft noise, a rock being kicked… Immediately, he pressed himself against the wall, the barrel of his shotgun held high.

For half a minute he waited listening intently for any more sounds. Shortly after, he heard whispers, he could not make out what they were saying but they did have a strange accent… one he'd sworn he'd heard somewhere before.

It was the realisation that the unfamiliar voices were getting closer, that he decided to strike first and investigate later. Readying himself he steadied his breath and whipped around the corner.

The first obvious target he saw was the forms of a boy and a girl, both strangely dressed and looking quite shocked as you would too if a big man just jumped out from behind a corner pointing a nasty-looking shotgun in your general direction.

His eye's shifted and narrowed immediately, at the same time directing his shotgun upward at a slight angle. He then pulled the trigger without hesitation.

The tremendous roar rung Shinji's ears painfully, giving more than his usual share of headaches. Yet he was also comforted by it for some odd reason. This reason became obvious when he came to the conclusion that he and Asuka had _not_ been turned into a pile of dead meat and lead.

Opening his eyes he couldn't help himself blush as he found himself lying on top of Asuka, having previously attempted to shield her with his body. Of course Asuka was not quite happy about this, but was still glad to be alive and refrained from making any quick movements, settling with simply fuming in silence.

The two children clambered up onto their knees, regarding suspiciously the man before them.

Then, simultaneously, they turned around to see that the stranger had rather accurately pumped several shots into a nasty-looking thug, who was apparently about to jump on them from an outcrop with an equally sharp and nasty-looking knife.

"…" Both children just stared in mute silence.

"Just who the hell are you two?!!" hissed the man.

Asuka was the first one to snap out of their trance, barely understanding the man's terribly slurred accent. "We're…" she started.

"Forget it! Don't got no time to waste! You armed..?" he interrupted her.

Again, Asuka and Shinji just stared back at him quizzically. Upon seeing this, the man rolled his eyes in annoyance and threw a rusty, but still functional 9mm pistol in Shinji's hand. Shinji caught the gun reluctantly and looked up again to ask the man a question when he saw him turn away and head off.

"Just stay low and don't let anybody see you till I get back! Shhhhee… kids today…"

"Wait…!" but it was too late, the man quick disappeared into the ruins of a building, at the same time more gunfire could be heard in the background. It became apparent at this point, to Shinji and Asuka, that coming here may not have been such a good idea after all.

It would be quite a while still, before the fight for the town had ended, which the two children spent mostly hiding out in a small ruined store. During this time, they ended up making some very interesting discoveries indeed.

One: They were in fact in the ruins of what was once one of the many outlining towns to Toyko-3. This was made obvious by the old and worn up map they found hanging on the wall (with a helpful 'You are here' clearly marked on it).

Two: A long time had passed since the Third Impact actually occurred. This was clearly illustrated by the relative condition of the place. Although there were signs of physical damage caused by an explosive force, most of the decay was entropy-related.

'That would certainly explain all those barbarians running out there shooting each others like maniacs' thought Asuka as she was seated next to Shinji under a broken shelf. Though for a brief moment she disturbed by her own lack of emotions at the sight of death, then again, now that she thought of it, thing get even more disturbing when she remembered that Shinji… didn't so much as flinch before.

Well sure, he was definitely shocked. But it was really more to do with being surprise than the actual sight of death itself…

Thinking back Asuka could faintly remember that fateful day in which the end of the world occurred. She had slaughtered countless JSSDF troops before her nasty encounter with the 05-Series and it only struck her now that all those soldiers were people like her… most of them just following their orders. But it was a case of kill or be killed… she argued to herself, yet it still did not excuse the fact that she had committed the act without hesitation or consideration for human life.

At the same time, Shinji… who always used to whine about trying not to injure people during their fights or even that time he hesitated from facing Unit-03 when he didn't know who was piloting it…

He now seemed… distant from death.

She didn't know whether she was more disturbed by the fact that she could kill without mercy or that Shinji could possibly be the same as her.

'Better not think too much about it right now…' thought Asuka.

Their moment of peace was interrupted by a raider smashing through the window of the room they were hiding in. The raider grunted, and collected himself from the floor, he took a look at the two children crouched under the shelf and with a sinister grin, he pointed his gun at them.

The next two shots made Asuka jump, but to her surprise they did not come from the man before her, instead, they came from the boy seated next to her. The man flopped onto the floor like a ragged doll. Shinji on the other hand had a look of confusion on his face, yet it was him who fired, as suggested by the fact that he was holding a smoking gun in his hands.

For the next few seconds Shinji continued to blink, unsure of what exactly had just occurred, whilst Asuka subconsciously edged away from the boy.

"I…" Shinji tried to speak, "I killed him…"

Asuka's first instinct was to mention that he was pointing out the obvious, whilst at the same time she couldn't help but wonder what would have happened if Shinji hadn't held on to the rusty 9mm the stranger had previously given them. Would she have been able to fire the gun and defend them like Shinji did?

"Shinji… how…" she whispered.

"Centre… target… fire…" Shinji muttered in reply.

'Oh… I see' thought Asuka, 'From our training… we've been more than taught how to use a gun… Sure they were Eva-sized guns but it's still essentially the same… especially if you react to the immediate danger as Shinji did… however this also means… Oww shit…'

Shinji suddenly dropped the gun from his grasp, shaking all over.

He was freaking out.

Asuka quickly moved to face him and placed her hands on his shouldered in an attempt to calm him down as well as she could manage. The last thing she needed was for Shinji to loose his marbles. Despite everything, she did _not_ want to left alone in this unfamiliar world, _even_ if it was Shinji she was with.

"Listen Shinji… calm down… you did the right thing… if you didn't shoot him then we'd be both dead…"

"But… I… I… killed…" stuttered Shinji, almost to the point of tears.

"Shinji… I may be not thinking too well under the circumstances, but you have to see that this place is not like the world we knew anymore… I suspect that you… no… _we_ will have to defend ourselves like this in the future…" Asuka said morbidly.

Shinji looked down into his hands, he couldn't help but feel that they were new tainted… but… it wasn't as bad… it wasn't as bad as when he was forced to kill Kaworu.

Not a long while ago (at least to Shinji's and Asuka' perspectives) if such a thing would have happened, then chances were than Shinji would have ended up feeling like the scum of the earth and mope around for god knows how long.

But too many things have occurred that have permanently scarred him, and yet at the same time made him just that little bit stronger, enough for him to see past his once naïve eyes. Kaworu's death. The fall of NERV. Misato's death. Even… Asuka's death… after all that… this was… nothing in comparison.

Of course he was horrified by the fact that he had killed, but the immediate benefits of such an act were obvious. After all, it was like Asuka said; they would have been both killed if he hadn't fired first.

Basically, an internal war was waged in Shinji's mind.

Unfortunately, in his eyes, both sides were justified.

To follow his respect for life as dictated by the world he once knew…

Or succumb to the possibly 'barbaric' needs of this New World?

If Shinji had been a greater man then he could have possibly found a way to compromise and wield a weapon with a non-lethal policy. A greater man would have made the decision there and then without worrying about future consequences.

But the fact is that Shinji was just… Shinji… an average boy with a not so average life.

After considering these things, it didn't take long for Shinji Ikari to come to his depressing realisation. That, there was no way the old him would be able to survive in such an environment. Even he understood that… but neither would he disregard his own ethics.

It is true though. One does not simply 'change' as they wish it. But neither can one remain the same forever. A glimmer of hope lived on in Shinji, that the world be restored as it was before. An unlikely, but still cherished dream.

'Have hope…
As long as we live… we can find happiness…
Never forget that…' he reminded himself.

Deciding that this place wasn't safe anymore, Asuka and Shinji both removed themselves from the room and went to hide in the basement instead, but not before checking the raider's body for anything useful. Moving location proved to be a smart choice, as they remained undisturbed until the sounds of gunfire in the background ended completely.

Finally, stepping out of the building, Shinji shaded his eyes with his hand, it was already dawn and the morning sun was rising slowly into the sky. At that point, the only sign of the fire that was raging last night were several fading smoke columns in the distance. For the first time, he could clearly see the state of this town… what it had been reduced to, not by the raider's attack, but by the ravages of time.

Of course this wasn't exactly a particularly new sight to him, if you consider the fact that the Post-2nd Impact world readily offered such sights as the ruined cities of old Tokyo or generally any other major coastal cities of the time. What made it different, was the fact that Shinji had known vaguely, what this town was like before 3rd Impact… not through photos or films… but by passing through it once of twice prior to 3rd Impact.

Children never really notice such 'trivial' thing as what their parents went through… until it happens to them that is…

"Hey kid, still alive I see…" came a familiar voice from behind him.

Shinji turned around immediately and recognised the man that saved them the night before.

"Err…"

Now that he saw him in the light, Shinji felt that he was even more intimidating than he was last night. He was a bulky man (mostly muscle no doubt) who wore a big brown overcoat. He carried his shotgun on his shoulder and was taking time in smoking a cigarette.

"Saw the defunct in there… Your work?" he asked Shinji.

"Defunct?" Shinji asked in confusion.

"Defunct… you know… guy with two slugs in 'im" the man explained.

"Oh… yes… I did that…"

"Hmph… seems that you got more guts than I thought… so where's your little girlfriend?"

"I am _not_ his girlfriend!" growled Asuka indignantly as she stepped through the doorway. This time though, she had managed to find a cloak of some sort, wrapping it around her until she could find something that wouldn't attract as much attention as her plug suit would.

"Yeah whatever… listen… pretty obvious that you two ain't from around here, and from what I can see you've both just recently returned so it's better if I take you to the Elders."

"What do you mean 'returned'?" asked Shinji.

"Returned… you know… from the dead…" he answered without any hints that it had been a joke.

"Oh… and you get a lot of people who 'returned'?" Shinji asked in an inquisitive tone.

At times like this, when Shinji sounded more curious than anything, Asuka couldn't help but suspect that her fellow Eva-pilot knew more than he was letting on… but again she dismissed the thought, doubting that Shinji would have to brains and guts to lie to her like that.

Then again… she never expected him to shoot someone before neither…

The man waved his hand nonchalantly, "Naaa… use to though… few decades back so they tell me… haven't seen one meself till you two… anyway, enough talk… Elders will want to see you… they have many questions as you do…" he stood up grinning.

The two former Eva pilots looked at each other and then back at the man, who had already turned his back on them and was walking off. The pair shrugged, realising that they didn't have any better ideas so they quickly caught up with him and pestered him with countless questions, which he promptly ignored.

They were led by the man through the centre of the town, past bodies, which still had to be cleaned up. Shinji and Asuka tried to ignore them best they could, but it was still getting to them how things worked in this post-3rd Impact world.

Eventually, they reached an open space, which was crowded with people. As it turns out, they were all staring at the trio as they appeared. 'It's good to know that the art of gossip is alive and well' mused Asuka, watching as several individuals whisper amongst themselves.

They all seemed like a rough and hardened people. 'They had to be…' assumed Asuka, 'or they would never survive in a world like this…'

Shinji and Asuka were led into a large and heavily fortified building, it had been extensively converted from its original form, but it still reminded Asuka of something. From the decaying logo painted on the tall side of the structure, Asuka imagined it was probably one of NERV's many outposts in the past, but currently acted as the community's seat of power. It was also the ideal bunker from which to defend them in attack such as one that had recently ended.

Upon entering the building, Asuka could immediately see the extent to semi-tribal nature of these people. Simple torches lit the corridors, with ornate wood carving decorating the walls, though surprisingly there were signs of working electronic devices, such as a few lamps and Comm units.

The man, noticing Asuka's interest, spoke up as they walked along, "Fuel cells, recharged regularly by solar panels… Elders were fortunate to find a warehouse with building materials… apparently you guys had to fix things a often in the old days…"

"That was because of the Angels regularly trashing Tokyo-3…" pointed out Asuka.

"Yeah… heard 'bout that… not much of that place left… you people did leave us a hell of an inheritance though… hehehe…" he laughed.

"What do you mean?" asked Shinji, raising an eyebrow.

"Well… may not seem it to you, but this place's pretty heavily defended for a small town… those raiders who attacked us were too stupid to realise this… Our Elders were smart you see… they realised early on that they would need to defend themselves, so they found a place where they could entrench themselves in… and best of all, we got all the ammo we need…"

"Oh shit!" Asuka realised, "Shinji! This is an armaments building…!"

"Huh?" blinked Shinji.

Asuka slapped Shinji of the back of the head, "You are thick aren't you? They're using the Pallet rifle rounds to make conventional ammunition… it's logical really… one of those Pallet rifle rounds have enough gunpowder in them to supply a factory… Not only that, but this place is naturally armoured as were all the other armament buildings, so it could easily be converted into a small fort"

"Heh… Bingo…"

"Ah… I get it… but you didn't have to slap me on the back of the head you know…" complained Shinji.

Asuka just shrugged, going back to eyeing their surrounding for further insight.

Shinji sighed, and turned up to ask the man "By the way… you haven't told us your name yet… I'm Shinji and this is Asuka…"

The man tilted his head, as if pondering something, "Name's Kazuaki… I'm sure I've heard your names somewhere before though…" he said scratching his head.

Asuka was about to go into her standard issue 'Haven't you heard of the legendary Asuka Langley Shoryu' rant-mode when she was interrupted by a voice further down the corridor. "Of course you should have heard of them Kazuaki… Considering how many times I've told you their story…"

The two children glanced up towards the source of the voice, and found the silhouette of woman standing at a doorway, her features hidden by shadows. It was evident however, that the woman spoke differently from Kazuaki, her accent and speech more akin to the one Asuka and Shinji were familiar to.

Kazuaki blinked, and turned to stare wide-eyed at the children, "You have got to be kidding me… these two?!"

Stepping out into the light, the woman proved to be in her late sixties or seventies… she wore a long pale blue garment of hand-woven cotton, her figure in good health despite her age. Her ghostly white hair fell to her shoulders and her face showed that she had aged remarkably well, as it was still obvious that she was quite pretty in her youth.

Asuka narrowed her eyes, trying to think of where she'd seen this elderly woman before. But it was to be Shinji who first realised who they were standing before.

"Hikari…?" he whispered under his breath.

Asuka blinked… she blinked again… felt nauseous and then fainted…

"Dammit! We forgot about the fever!" exclaimed Shinji as he rushed over to her side.

It's a dream… nothing but a dream…

But… this cannot be… a dream…

It's too… real…

Then why is it that I feel incomplete…?

Like part of me is missing?

Something… there's something over there…

What is this?

A mirror? No… just an ornate frame?

Within it… A vision? A vague memory?

A woman laying a hospital bed… cradling a doll…

Who…

Who are you?

Asuka awoke to the warm comfort of a bed. For a moment she fancied herself back in her room in Misato's apartment. Back in the days she didn't have a care in the world. Well… that wasn't exactly true but it was still better than now.

She slowly sat up. A wet cloth fell off her forehead as she did so. She noted that someone had changed her into a shirt several sizes too big for her and had re-bandaged her eye and arm. The air was chilly and humid, but it was probably due to the fact that she was indoors. She had no idea of what the time was, and quickly scanned her immediate surrounding for any sign of life.

She found herself in a room, alone. She soon realised that it was already night time again, the soft moonlight descended through the window next to the bed, her red plug suit discarded carelessly on the floor in a corner.

"You're awake…" said Shinji, who was standing at the door holding a tray with some food.

He carefully walked over to her and sat gently at the foot of the bed, passing the tray to Asuka. The girl looked down upon the 'food', which consisted of semi-burnt meat of questionable origins and a gooey orange paste, which passed itself for soup.

"This is…?" she asked, dreading the answer.

"The meat… you don't want to know from what… but the gooey stuff's turnip soup…" replied Shinji.

Asuka, decided to forgo the meat and went for the soup instead. It tasted a little off, but it was still edible, which was good enough according to her empty stomach. "Hey Shinji… that woman… that was really Hiraki?" she asked quietly between spoons.

Shinji gave her a small smile, "Yeah… she's one of the Elders of this town… together with Touji…"

"Ack… that bonehead's here too?" sighed Asuka, yet was she could not hide the fact that she was relieved to learn that another familiar face was still around. It felt to her like a terribly heavy weight had just been lifted off her shoulders.

"They said they'll come up a visit in a little while, but you should get some rest for now though… or you won't get better…" the boy offered her a mug of cold water, which Asuka received gratefully.

After taking a small sip, the young girl seemed to become distracted by the reflection on the surface of the water in her mug. Shinji's familiar face gazed upon her with nothing but concern and care in his eyes.

"… Shinji…?" Asuka kept her eyes lowered.

"Hmmmm?"

"Thank you…"

"…"

After that, Asuka continued to eat in silence until she finished the soup. Shinji sat on a stool next to the window, staring out to the harsh world they found themselves in. Placing the bowl down, Asuka promptly lay back onto the bed, whilst Shinji stood back up and took the tray with him.

However, just before he left, Asuka spoke up, asking a question which has been plaguing her ever since she'd woken up "What now Shinji…? What do we do…?"

The boy stood at the doorway for a short while, a melancholic frown on his face, then replied "I don't know Asuka… I don't know…"

Across the world, high in the Austrian Mountains, old machines begun to flicker and activate after centuries of dormant sleep. Power surged through massive superconductors as energy poured from a Nuclear reactor into mysterious devices of arcane origin. After several hours of charging up, the seals were finally unlocked.

A massive sphere of pure darkness lay at the centre of the mountain, its size was comparable to that of Tokyo-3's Geofront. Yet within this sphere, there was nothing, utter void. Light was simply sucked in the surface and failed to ever return.

It was an artificial self-sustaining stasis field, a pocket universe which could remain enclosed indefinitely, outside the reach of time and entropy. That is, until the cycle was broken as it was currently about to be. Vibrant blue arcs of energy leaping onto the surface of the stasis field from numerous nodes at separate angles of the sphere, dumping enough power into the field to light up a continent in one go. Instantly, the temporal loop was broken and it's content released back into space-time as if it had never left.

Dust and dirt fell as a pair of heavyset outer doors on the side of the mountain rumbled open. Metal gears screamed in protest, as they were wretched apart after years of idleness and decay. Yet, within these doors, was another armoured portal, one that had just been recently returned to the physical world, it covered with numerous wards and symbols of power. But most importantly, it bore the symbol of the very organisation that had brought mankind to the brink of destruction.

Seven eyes … on a triangular background: SEELE.