To say that Asuka was upset, would be a massive understatement. Her mind had fallen apart. The attack by the fifteenth angel, Arael, had ruined her the days following her failure to synch with Unit 02, she had abandoned her home, run off to hide in the ruins of Tokyo-3. And here she lay, naked, lying in what her diseased mind believed to be bubbling, hot water. The dirty, brown sludge had covered her, tangling her unkempt hair. But she couldn't give a damn. She was waiting for the end, allowing the lack of sustenance to gradually whittle down her strength. If that couldn't do the job fast enough, she had 'accidentally' cut her wrists on the wreckage to speed up her demise. Somewhere, deep down, she knew Section 2 would find her. She hoped they were right on time... that is to say, just as she died.
She became aware of someone in the house with her. Section 2 had found her. Damn und blast! Why couldn't they leave her to die? Her blurred vision became brighter to one side. The unwelcome visitor was standing over her. They were dressed in white. Unusual for Section 2, if that's who they were. They sighed deeply. It wasn't burdened sigh, rather sympathetic, almost comforting. She felt a hand on her cheek, the strangers thumb gentley carressing her cheek. Why were they doing this? Weren't they going to raise the alarm? Call for help? Chances were, they had already done so.
The hand moved to her hair, ruffling it, before stroking Asuka's grimy locks. The visitor chuckled softly, giving away his sex.
He leaned down, his lips right next to her ear,
"There is always light in the darkness, Asuka. We will meet again." With that, he planted a soft kiss on her forehead. With her frazzled mind, it felt like pins and needles. He pulled away, dissappearing in a flash of white light. Seconds later, the barricade to the door was broken down. Footsteps sounded and this time, Asuka knew who it was.
Following Third Impact, Asuka always felt like she was being watched. Perhaps it was the intimacy of Instrumentality still affecting her, or perhaps the many souls who had yet to come back. Or it could've just been her developing relationship with Shinji or the fact that Rei had also managed to return.
Sometimes, her forehead stung. It would create a strong wave of emotion and heightened awareness. For reasons she couldn't work out, she felt like she was being watched intensely at these times. She would snap around, just to catch a glimpse of a man in white walking away. Every time. Every damn time.
Two years after Third Impact and Earth was returning to normal. On the site of the Geofront, Tokyo-4 was built. A reconstructed NERV once again watching over the world. Re-named SINN, it had no ties to a higher entity like SEELE. There was no Commander with an agenda of his own, but there was also none of the beings that the former NERV had been created to fight: Angels.
Despite this, SINN had endeavoured to keep an Evangelion force, rather to keep the peace between the nations of Earth. Eva Unit 01 had been recovered from orbit and SINN was now building new EVA's, right back down to 03. New pilots had been recruited. What else was there to say? SINN was going to help protect Earth, properly this time. But against what?
No-one knew the answer, but Asuka knew something bad was coming. How did she know this? A simple meteorite, burning through the night sky. What was so bad about a meteorite. The moment it touched down, her forehead stung. Except it didn't. Her mind filled with images of events she hoped never to see again. Flooding her, the images told a story, but Asuka's mind was too weakened to make sense of it. It would've helped her immensely. But she couldn't grasp it. It knocked her out cold, leaving her prone on the floor of Misato's old apartment.
The pain would be coming back soon. Too soon.