Dream analysis had started long ago, when a famous psychologist thought that dreams were a peak into the unconscious mind. These dreams could show us things that our instincts or our deeper thoughts truly wanted, and our conscious mind could not accept or would not allow. It could also be something that the person fears most. The ability to fly, to experience death without death, or to simply tell someone that you felt, that every fiber of your being, that they were the one you are destined to be with.
Asuka shoots up out of bed, sweating and out of breath. Her eyes darted around the room as she shoved the hair away from her face. What the hell was that? She thought to herself. After tying back her hair, she began looking herself over. Nothing looks broken, and nothing appears to be out of place… then… what the… why?
A bad dream. She told herself that as she shot up from bed and out the door. She had been moved to NERV HQ in an apartment there to more easily reach her if another angel were to make its way to Earth. All of her stuff had been carefully moved, but it seemed some things just could not make it. "Stupid. How could they forget that gown? I loved that thing." She stretched a little, and ran her eyes over the living room. No one was awake yet. All of the Children had been put in the same place, and luckily, all had gotten their own rooms. Asuka moved to the couch and flopped down onto it, turning on the television to see if anything was going on. Her mind was still swirling from the dream she had, or the nightmare. It slowly began to fade just as Shinji walked in. "Hey Shinji, are you making breakfast?" She asked politely as possible, her mind beginning to race again with the dream.
"Yeah, I can. Why? Do you want something special instead of just toast, eggs, and bacon?" He replied, puzzled. He had made breakfast for the three of them for the past few days. Each day was almost the same. He changed the meat every so often or added a little cheese to the eggs.
"Just eggs for me. And some fish if we have any," She replied after a pause.
"I'll see what I can do Asuka."
"Thanks."
Silence followed soon after. The two had never gotten along well, but now they at least spoke to each other civilly. The dream could be a part of why Asuka was being so nice as well. It all began to come back to her now.
She sat in a room, with cold tiled floors and no windows. The single light flickered in strange patterns. She was naked. A single door stared back at her with a grate of sorts for a viewing port. She had a bed, a sheet, and one pillow. The mattress smelled… strange. Something like her mother and father's when they were both around. A smell of… closeness; sex. That's what it was; unbridled, passionate, animalistic and hedonistic sex. She didn't like it to say the least. There was also a small blood trail, from the bed, to the door, a small pool of it on the bottom side of the pillow.
Terrified already, she checked herself. She had scrapes, cuts, and even some large scar tissue all over her body. Her breasts were bruised somehow. Her chest hurt, and she could taste blood. Her throat was dry, and she felt very hungry; hungry and scared.
The room was an eerie kind of quiet; the kind that feels as if someone is watching you, constantly going over every small detail of your entirety; the kind of stare and feeling of dread that is a foreshadowing to something much worse. Her breathing and the flicker of light were the only sound emanating from the room. Then, a knock at the door sounded.
It rasped three times, and each time, it shook Asuka to the bone. Her heart raced and felt as if it would explode in her chest if she did not do what this knock wanted. The door cracked, and in walked someone of considerable power; someone whom she despised for different reasons in this dream entirely than in reality; someone who had filled her world with despair, hate, anguish, regret, and pain in this dream; Shinji Ikari.
He moved slowly, as if he knew that there was no escape for Asuka; as if toying with her. He had a broad smile on his face. A look that said he knew what was going on and he knew he would enjoy himself, no matter what was going to happen. He got to the bed, and looked down at it, flipping the pillow over. He glared at the blood splotching on the pillow, the sheet, and on the floor.
"Asuka," his voice felt like a ten ton weight on her shoulders. "What is this?"
Without thinking, she spoke. "Blood."
Shinji rushed her. A swift left hook caught her face and she went down. The pain came fast. Red head filled her cheek as she felt the taste of blood and bits of her cheek in her teeth.
"I know that. Where did the blood come from?" He replied, checking his hand to see if he damaged himself in the swing.
"It came from… me." Meekly this time. Asuka was not one to accept defeat… But this felt as if she were owned by him, like a slave.
"YOU BLED!?" The scream resonated in the tiled room. It echoed and bounced around in Asuka's head. She couldn't stand it. She pushed herself up off of the ground, and tried to run for the door. Shinji was fast on her, but she made it just out the door, until it came crashing in on her body. That was the moment she woke up.
"How do you want the eggs Asuka?" Shinji said again for the third time.
"Oh… just… sunny side up. Just blacken the fish if you have to. I can eat that." She replied after clearing her throat.
"Gotcha."
Time passed as the television blared on about the state of Earth and Tokyo-3. The angels seemed to have ceased their attacks, but as the three Children knew, they were still coming. Slowly but surely, they were coming. Rei stepped into the room, a pair of glasses adorning her face lopsidedly. She gave a small yawn and settled with her legs curled up to her chest in a chair next to the table in the kitchen. "Good morning Asuka," She said in the same dry, quiet tone.
"Morning Ayanami."
That girl. She thought to herself. Why is he so interested in her? She's just… Her brain was occupied by too many things. She couldn't come up with an insult harsh enough in her mind at the moment. "Anyone heard anything from Misato?" Or Kaji for that matter?
"Not me," Shinji replied, dumping the sunny eggs on a plate along with some seared fish that smelled quite delicious. "You're foods ready Asuka."
"Neither have I," Rei replied, sitting at the table still, looking over the food prepared for her; scrambled eggs, a dash of pepper, and a small bowl of rice.
"Figures. I wonder what happened? Misato normally checks up on us pretty often, either by phone or whatever. Last time I saw her it was when we all moved in. She had some box of stuff and put it in that one room."
The room she referred to was something they could not investigate. Misato had the only key. When they had checked it out beforehand, it simply looked like a normal room. Walls, floor, a door, lights, a window; it was bare of anything out of the ordinary. They moved in on Monday, and now, it being Thursday, they were beginning to worry. Or at least some of them were.
"Could there have been an Angel?" Shinji said with a small gasp or fear.
"We would have been notified and sent into battle if that were the case. There is no need to worry." Rei replied, fixing her crooked glasses and fiddling with her food. Asuka rose from her seat and moved over to the table. "Thanks for the food Shinji," She said before they all began to dig in. "Yeah. Misato would have said something if there were an angel. I doubt it is that."
"Did NERV get attacked by something else then? Like a terrorist group or something?"
"Would you wake up? No one would do that. Not here anyway. Look at the world Shinji. It's in shambles. We're their last hope so to speak. Unless they have some stupid idea on how to kill Angel's better than us, they aren't going to be hurting us anytime soon." Asuka replied; her face now filled with fish.
The rest of breakfast goes by slowly. The school that they attended had been shut down due to damages, so they did not have much to do throughout their day. Asuka sat outside on the balcony reading, while Rei kept to herself in her room. Shinji spent his time inside cooking, cleaning, or watching television. The day drug by in-between meals, but now, at nightfall, it was time for them to all part and sleep once more.
"Goodnight Asuka, Shinji," Rei said, as she began walking to her room.
They both spouted their own good nights before retreating into their own rooms for the night. Soon, snoring from Shinji's room could be heard.
Asuka on the other hand was wide awake. Whispering to herself, she was still reading to keep herself awake. "No way am I having that dream again. I can't go two days without good rest. That's absurd!" She shook her head. An hour passed as her digital clock displayed the coming of midnight, and chimed a little. "Alright. Guess I'll head to bed. I just… I hope that dream doesn't happen again."
Hidden, the darkness draped over like a cowl of midnight and silence, the figure moved through the room slowly. Depositing heels by the door, the figure moved slowly into the living room. Good. It thought to itself. They are asleep. Time to get to work. Moving ever so slowly as to not wake the Children, the figure unlocked the door to a single room at the end of the large apartment. Inside, a huge setup was ready to be turned on. Monitors surrounded the tiny seat in the floor, where a keyboard was ready for any input. A large machine of sorts with a few dials and knobs displayed a soft orange light, indicating a sleep cycle or passive mode was active. "Good. They haven't broken in yet," It said to itself in a whisper. The voice was feminine, and very seductive for no real reason. It felt authoritative, and stern, but had a gentle edge, with a rough exterior to sound a bit tough. The woman flipped a switch on the device, turned on the monitors, and sat down in the chair, letting the soft pale blue light wash over her.
Ginger gazed at the device, waiting for it to finish booting up. It hardly made any noise at all, besides a nearly extinct hum in the expanse of noiselessness. A soft buzz came over her earpiece, "How's the data look?" said a familiar male voice. A detective of sorts it sounded like, complete with the sound of cigarettes, whiskey, and a hardworking, but easy demeanor. "Rei showing any signs of development? How's Asuka? That dream probably sent her for a loop."
"No shit," she said quietly, "You made her have a miscarriage. No sixteen year old girl should go through that shit. Dream or not."
"Well it's all a dream to them right?" Vick said, with a large sigh.
"It's pretty fucking real to them. Shit. You know how hard it was to make Rei believe she was a clone? The nth numbered one too!? So many memory wipes. So many. Seriously. I am sure we messed her up for good." Ginger replied, getting louder as she went.
"SHHH! Quiet! Don't wanna wake 'em! How much of the formula is left in the machine?"
"The readings are showing it still has about 3 days left. I hope you guys are almost done in the lab with all those 'renovations'."
"What's that supposed to mean? That should be good for then. They are finishing up everything at the lab tonight."
"They better be. Keeping these kids delusional is harder than it seems. Also, why the FUCK do I have to wear such a short skirt? Why did you guys make that Misato girl so… so…."
"Sexual? Cause why not? Shinji already has mommy and daddy issues. Why not get him attracted to older women too?"
"Like that is working, the tests show he is more into Rei. A blank slate person. Creepy."
"Yeah. Those readings are… strange to say the least. What kind of fucked up shit did they do to him in the lab? What memories was he implanted with? I mean, I know the dying mom thing, and the dad never being around thing, but can that really screw someone up that much? So much that they are more interested in a person that is…. Not a person?"
"Don't ask me man. We'll check in on him tomorrow, right now, I need to wipe Rei's memory again. She put her glasses on today."
"Shit. How the fuck does that stay with you? I guess it is a morning routine. I mean, everyone brushes their teeth when they wake up still right? You know the code for it?"
"For her room? Yeah, I helped set this shit up before it came in. I know what I am doing."
"Alright, I'll hop off here and let you get to work. Don't make too much noise. We don't want our experiments waking up." Another buzz and Vick is gone.
"Figures he would forget," Ginger said, typing away quickly on the keyboard. "Damn that Vick. Why'd he model that girl after me? I mean… it's flattering, but dammit! And then he goes and models that Kaji character after him! What an ego he has. Jeez," She takes a sip of coffee from a thermos. "Gotta get this done. The memory wipe shouldn't take too long. Once that is done, I'll be able to get outta here and back outside. I got a date in a few hours." She typed away quickly at the keyboard, the Misato look alike acting much like the Misato that the Children know.
I hear typing. Asuka shot up out of bed. What is that smell!? I can taste it even! She shook her head and covered her mouth and nose with her thick blanket. "God," She said under thick cloth. She fumbled around for something that NERV HQ always told them to keep handy; their first aid kit. She found it by her bed, and rifled through it, finding the small respirator mask. She activated it easily, and slipped it on. The smell dissipated as she took long and slow breaths. Once calmed, she took in her surroundings. It was dark in her room, and she could barely make out the noise now due to the hiss of the gas coming in from somewhere. There were terrorists! That idiot was right! She thought to herself as she made her way to the door. The hallway was not much better. The kitchen was bare, and the television was not on. Outside it was quite dark except for the pale moonlight. She went over to flip the light switch, but stumbled on something. A pair of heels?
"What the hell!? Misato is here!?" She said, muffled by the mask. She got up and flipped the light on. Everything looked normal, except the light coming from the locked room. She moved slowly over to it, the gas still pouring into her room with its nearly silent hissing. She cracked the door slightly, and there before her, was Misato, listening to something on a headset and typing away at a keyboard. "What the hell is going on!?" She thought and said at the same time. Misato turned around, gasped, threw her headphones off, and rushed to the door. "Is everything alright Asuka? You must be having a bad dream," She said hastily as she tried to push the door closed. Asuka pushed back, keeping it open. "Now I think it's time you wake up from this weird dream. There's no need to worry alright? Just… close… the door…" She was straining now. She fumbled with something in her bag Asuka could see. She put on a gasmask of some kind, and then hit a button on Asuka's. Asuka's mask ejected a different gas into her airways. Her eyes felt heavy, and her body felt numb. She slumped to the ground and could barely keep herself conscious. The last thing she heard was Misato over some radio, "Vick, we got a breach. I need Evac and Medical on Subject 3 and I."