Defect
Chapter 1 : Perfection

"No."

"No. No. No."

"What is this? Look at this and tell me what you see..." A man in a lab oat said as he stood in front of a woman in a lab coat. He seemed robe of higher rank then the woman and was obviously enraged with her. Next to the man was a young black haired girl dressed only in bandages covering her in areas that underwear normally would.

"A Rei clone?" The woman replied quietly, bracing herself for a lecturing.

"Not just any Rei clone" the man started, "A defective one! Look at her! Her hair is black! Black! You've seen Rei right? Her hair is a light blue... Are you color blind?"

The woman began to student confrontation, "I-I'm s-s-sorry about that... I m-must have hit a wrong key when typing in the genetic code... Please don't fire me!"

"Just take care of this problem!"

"Y-you don't mean I have to-"

"I don't care just get rid of her..."

"Yes sir"

The man in the coat walked off as the solid metal slid shut behind him. Leaving the defective Rei clone and the woman in the lab coat alone together in the small genetics lab.

Rei looked over at the woman and said, "what's wrong with me?" In a quiet reserved voice.

The woman didn't really know how to respond to that. Such a deep yet so basic question right off the bat not even taking the time to introduce herself, but that was Rei wasn't it? Never did she fall for the usual pitfalls of common conversations. "There's nothing wrong with you... It's just... You aren't perfect... And Seele needs perfection"

"But the fact that I am not perfect implies that there is indeed something wrong with me..." Rei argued with a saddened expression.

"I'm sorry Rei... I just don't have all the answers for you right now..." The woman said as her face showed how unhappy she was with her response.

"What's going to happen to me? Am I to be terminated? My existence so short..."

"I..." The girl grew speechless.

"It's ok if you do. I haven't really lived so I will not miss life. I will have never even had one of my own by design. My memories are not my own and I can feel that but at the same time... They are mine in a way aren't they? Well it doesn't really matter... No use in asking myself these questions with so little time"

"I can't..."

Now it was Rei who was speechless...

"I can't kill another human being... And not one I created. It doesn't work like that parents don't burry there children. You may not be my child but I still made you I believe the same principle applies here. Wait here I'll find you some clothes and get you to the surface." Then she bolted from the room, her mind set on getting Rei safely out of the geodome and into Tokyo 3.

Once the door closed behind her... Rei fell to her knees. "I'm... Not going to die? But I'm imperfect, therefor I have no purpose... And these memories they aren't even my own. Shinji Ikari. I know you but you do not know me, you've never even met me... Yet at the thought of you I want to smile. Asaka Langly? I... I really want to slap you, but I've never even talked to you. Then there's Kaji, Masato, Gendo, Ritsuko even Penpen... You're all in here yet I've never seen you... I'm not even a day old, yet I have memories from a life time, and on top of questioning everything I'm speaking to myself. I really am a defect" soon tears began to drip down her face and burst on the cold tiled floor she was still kneeling on.

Shinji Ikari... Why do I wish you were here to comfort me?

Rei pushed herself into the corner of the room and sat down, hugging her knees to her chest and then burying her face in them.

Eventually the girl in the lab coat came back with a bag of clothes. She found the girl on the ground and looked at her with sad eyes, "Now isn't the time for tears... Now is the time to be happy. You are going to live and be free"

"My memories are not my own..." Rei said as she looked up with tears in her eyes.

"So make some that are...", she said simply. "Now lets get you dressed".

Rei stood up willingly and rooted through the bag. She found some jeans and a plain black zip up sweatshirt that was a little to big for her. Then she pulled out socks and some plain white shoes and put those on with everything else.

Finally the girl in the lab coat pulled out her wallet. She opened it out and pulled out no small amount of money. "Here... You'll end up needing this more then I will... Ramen is usually the cheapest for your money, remember that."

Rei took the money and examined it. She felt it with her fingers... It felt dirty like money should. Then she slipped it into the pocket on the front of her sweatshirt.

"Alright now we should get going... It's a long walk from here to the surface" the girl said with a slight smile on her face as she tried to get Rei to smile back at her; unsuccessfully of course.

Rei just nodded and followed closely behind the girl in the lab coat. The walked down twisting and confusing hallways seeing other men and women in lab coats mixed in with the few people carrying guns with professional uniforms on. Luckily nobody questioned them on where they were going or why. Eventually they got out of the extremely restricted zone and into the regular restricted zone. They walked through several more hallways until they finally reached an extremely large escalator and they both stepped on. The escalator seemed to take forever... Two minutes later and they only appeared to be half way there...

Then she saw someone...

Not just any someone... Shinji...

He stood there in his school uniform, backpack slung over the shoulder and looking down, lost in his own little world. She remembered him perfectly from those memories that were not hers, and that was definitely him. She couldn't say anything could she? He's right there and the escalator will have them side by side in seconds, but what could she say? He'd never actually met her before and visa versa. It's easy... Just say something ... Anything. But it was already too late... He had already passed her and was gone behind them.

Shinji... He didn't even recognize me... But how could he? Rei would never dress like this, her hair would never look like this... I am not Rei.

After that it seemed to take forever to get up the escalator, seconds feeling like minutes to that Rei clone. Finally they reached the top and found a Nerv personnel only train.

The train pulled into the station as scheduled and right in front of them, the door opened and Rei stepped on.

"Here..." The girl in the lab coat said, "take my cell phone, I'll arrange a place for you to stay then call you on it with the address, it might take me a little while... Even a couple days but the money I gave you should be enough for food and water until then... I'll see you again eventually. Until then, good bye..."

Rei accepted the phone and said, "thank you... Good bye... Mother-"

At the word mother the sliding doors of the train slid closed and the train started moving...