Disclaimer: Obviously I don't own Neon Genesis but if I did I would be filthy rich... and with a pool. Anyway, I had a dream of a story relating to his and I couldn't help but write this. As to everyone waiting for more chapters of my other fics don't worry they're being worked on just give me a little more time. I would love to know what you readers think as this story will have a lot of deep messages. THen again, what story of Evangelion doesn't have a deep plot ;p. Well, enjoy and let me know if I should continue writing this story. I'm not sure about it yet.

Chapter One: Time Fast Forward

The sirens blared signaling the dangerous conflict that was rising throughout the base. Agents of all ranks rushed in and out of corridors. Red lights flashing. At the base of the structure Shinji ran down a corridor using the final reserves of his strength to find Asuka. He could hear distant explosions. The death cries of many fallen employees of the Rightful Order of Selected Evangelions or R.O.S.E echoed unmercifully within his ears. The clashing of metal. The rapid fire of firearms. This was the end of the line, he thought. But the consequences of that would surely follow he didn't acknowledge. His main concern was to find Asuka in all the chaos and hope that she like the rest of the base was already dead. He knew this day would come. He knew his decision to abandon N.E.R.V would ultimately lead him to his downfall. For the first time in his life, he made a decision for himself and look where it got him. He was running for his life. Looking for the girl that detested him just to be next to her when they were both killed for treason. In the back of his mind he knew his father must have been furious or even in a rage. Shinji could understand this. Who wouldn't become enraged by two pilots who went rouge and joined a company that was hellbent on stealing the EVA's and destroying N.E.R.V? He guessed it would annoy anyone if under those circumstances.

Why did he listen to Asuka? She was the one who convinced him to join R.O.S.E. No, that was a lie. She didn't force him. He agreed to do it and he even agreed with a smile on his face. He couldn't blame Asuka for it. He liked the attention R.O.S.E had given him. The things that they promised him but none of that seemed important right now since the organization was about to invaded by N.E.R.V forces and be permanently liquidated.

He turned a corner, passing by several armed R.O.S.E units he entered the barracks. The lights had gone out and now he stood in darkness. He cursed as the siren above him continued to sound. He wouldn't be able to call out for her and since the main electricity had gone out he would have to rely on the red alarms lights to guide him. He strained his eyes and allowed the passing alarm lights to illuminate the floor before him and after several moments he caught sight of a figure sitting on one of the bunks holding something preciously in her hands. Shinji went over and knelt beside the figure and placed his hands over her shoulders and said: "Asuka... snap out of it Asuka! We have to go! There's no time."

He couldn't see her well in the dim lighting but he could feel her eyes looking at him. He peered down and he waited for a stream of light from an alarm siren to pass over them and there he caught sight of a picture frame. His eyes widened. She was giving up. He could tell that it was a picture of her mother. He felt his stomach drop. He thought she would provide him with an answer. He thought she was his answer to make it out alive but here she was sitting in the dark gazing down on a picture not saying a word to him. The once proud and mighty Asuka had lost her will to live leaving Shinji to fend for himself and perhaps to die.

"Asuka, please. Come on, I know if we leave now we can get out of --"

His sentence went silent once the sound of breaking glass hit the ground and the side of his face stung. She had hit him with the frame and shards of glass stuck his face causing him to bleed. He held a hand to his cheek but that wouldn't suffice. He felt his body hit the ground and the weight of a girl's body rested on his waist. At first he couldn't comprehend what was happening but once he felt small droplets of salty water hit his face it all came into focus.

"Ich kann es nicht mehr!" she screamed, more tears fell onto his neck, "I don't care anymore!"

At this moment silence would follow but the sirens overhead continue to chant their distress calls.

"What? What do you mean you 'don't care'?" he shouted back, "We did this together! We decided to leave NERV and now you don't are?"

"Dummkopf! Shut up! JUST SHUT UP!" she screamed.

"What happened to your pride? Are you just like me then?"

"Nein!"

Shinji could feel disgust rise in his throat. How could she of all people be ashamed of her decision? She's the one who wanted this the most. She was the one who signed the contract. She was the one who killed Rei and felt nothing! She single handedly flipped N.E.R.V on its back and she was going to be a wimp? Like him?

"Why did you join?" he asked.

"Nein."

"Answer me, ASUKA!"

"THEY NEEDED ME!" she shouted, "ALRIGHT? THEY NEEDED ME!"

It was true but what that her only reason for doing what she did? Did she do this just so she could feed her pride? No, she did it because NERV didn't want her anymore. She could tell. She couldn't synchronize with her EVA any longer until she came here. She did it because she was offered something N.E.R V couldn't give her. She was given an identity that everyone would look on and envy. She was going to be something no one else could. Everyone would need her. Everyone would adore her. She wouldn't be lonely anymore. Someone would love her.

Shinji felt her ease and once she did he turned causing her to fall under him. He pinned her arms to the floor. She started to thrash about trying to gain her freedom but Shinji told her to be quiet and calm down. It took her a moment before she relented.

"Asuka, I need you!" he said, his voice stammering. He wasn't going to leave her here. He wasn't going to run away and leave. He was going to face death like the countless times he had done with his EVA and do something. He was scared no doubt but he met his resolve and even a pathetic wimp like himself had his moments of clarity.

"What do you mean you need me?" she asked, her voice slightly audible over the sirens.

"I need you to help me get out of here. We can't go back to N.E.R.V. Not after what we did to them. Not after what happened to Rei. We can't worry about why we joined R.O.S.E but now since we are still part of them we have to fight." he said. He bit his lower lip at the sound of his words sounded nothing of what he was thinking. His heart was beating so hard he could hear it ringing in his ears.

"So, you hate N.E.R.V too?" she asked him, "After constantly telling us we're worthless because we couldn't pilot two damn EVA?"

She was right. The way NERV had been treating them was horrid ever since they lost their abilities to synchronize with the EVA's. They were viewed as bratty children and often looked upon as filth just because they couldn't get the damn robots to move.

Even Misato was distant to him. She refused to talk to him, she even ignored him at times. The person that he liked the most who didn't mind him for what he was now turned on him. Maybe this was his way of taking revenge. Maybe this was also his way of getting back at his father. The man who used him to pilot the EVA. The man, for Shinji, that started it all.

"Shinji, get off me." she said. He nodded and pulled her up. The sound of gunfire was coming from down the corridor. NERV forces were coming and they only had little time left.

"Come on, we have to get to one of the underground stations. There must be a E-Vac carrier there." he said into her ear. She nodded but as they faced the darkened outline of another doorway the sound of clattering metal stormed over their heads. They were being fired at. They must have seen them. The two teens ducked as they darted into the unknown. The passing red alarm lights lit there way but in brief intervals. Shinji found Asuka's hand and grabbed it and led her thought the maze of metal corridors. Their hearts raced every time the sound of missed bullets pierced the air nearly hitting them. They sprinted in full force down the darkened corridor, their legs fatigued and their hearts beating squarely against their chests. At the end of the corridor they spotted a thin light which could only mean they were coming close to the sub-level stairwell. Shinji pulled Asuka in front of him using his strength to propel her forward and well in front of him. The stairwell was actually spiral and extended at least two stories below the base to the Evacuation Stations or E-Vacs for short. There was no time to run down all the stairs and Asuka knew this. Once she reached the stairwell doorway she took a sharp turn and jumped over the railing. She landed awkwardly slamming her feet against the bottom floor and sending a cry of pain from her lips. Shinji fell beside her but managed to ease the landing by rolling. He looked up and could hear the NERV operatives shouting orders to one another. Asuka was on her knees struggling to get to her feet but there was no way she could sustain a run. Shinji slung her arm around his neck and hoisted her up. It would be incredibly difficult to run with another person's weight on him but there wasn't any time to complain. He struggled into another hallway but was relieved to find a lone E-Vac carrier. Carrying Asuka he went over to one of the control panels and began fiddling with the switches until the door to the escape carrier opened. He placed in random coordinates and carried her within it placing her on a seat. He heard the machine ask for a confirmation and he quickly went to verify but as he turned his back to press the launch sequence key he heard the cocking of a pistol behind him.

"Don't you dare move." Mistato said, her voice laced with poison. Shinji thought his heart stopped and with that he lifted his arms to convey he had surrendered. He turned slowly and there stared Misato, fury and pain inhabited her eyes. Shinji looked into the barrel of the gun, a bullet resting within the chamber. Shinji could see a wave of special force units standing behind her holding their carbine rifles toward him.

"How could you?" Misato whispered, her hand trembling, her finger hovering the trigger. Shinji stared. His body numb with anger and his head full of questions. How could she ask him such a question? How could he? It was painfully obvious.

"Misato... I did this because I had no choice."

"Like HELL you had no choice! You betrayed me! ME! After I took you and her in!" shouted Misato as she punched the air with the gun. Her finger still trembling on the trigger. Shinji could see tears running down her face.

"Oh like I was supposed to be happy that you treated us like garbage because our synchronization levels not enough to pilot the EVA's? You're like every company in this pathetic world! You toss things aside the moment they cannot support you and expect it to just forget it? We're humans!" Shinji shot back.

"I HAD to do it! We had to get you to realize that without you piloting the EVA's the world isn't safe. I know it was harsh but we had to do it!"

"Telling the scientist to say to us we are worthless and constantly belittling us was part of your plan?!"

"I know it was harsh..."

"You told us we had to sleep on the bare floor. We could only eat once a day..."

"I KNOW it was harsh..."

"How the hell did you think that would help us?"

"It was to make you concentrate more. To force you to push harder, to exceed our needs!" said Misato, "but now what you did cannot be excused. You stole the EVA's and brought them here and Asuka killed Rei. You managed to unravel everything we worked for and for that I cannot allow you to live."

Shinji stared and gently leaned back causing his lower back to hit the confirm switch to the carrier. The doors to the carrier closed and when Shinji looked behind him he could see Asuka's surprised face from the window.

Shinji... was saving her? The pathetic wimp that succumbed to anything she said was the person that was saving her? She placed her hands against the glass window and peered out. She couldn't understand. The carrier began to move into the tunnel but her eyes couldn't avert from him. The boy she detested was now the boy that smiled at her, his hands still up in the air with a gaze that she felt saw into her soul. Even though he said nothing the words "Good bye" ringed within her and tears quickly found their way to her eyes. Then she noticed Misato slowly lifting her gun towards him, her eyes closed and her finger firm on the trigger pointing at Shinji. The next few moments happened slowly as if she wasn't in her body but a spectator looking in. She saw the gun rise and then she saw herself slamming her fists into the plexiglass window shouting out words that she couldn't hear. The scene played out like a movie. Her hair shifting through the air as she frantically punched the window. She wanted him to hear her. She wanted to tell him that she was sorry. Sorry for all those times she verbally abused him and degraded him. She wanted to tell him that she really didn't hate him. That she only tortured him only to feed her insecurities and her own hatred for herself. But now she couldn't. He would never hear her calls, never answer her pleads. If she could she would take it all back because now she can see that someone did care for her. Someone did appreciate her and maybe... just maybe he loved her.

Now with a stream of tears falling from her eyes and blood smearing the window from her bruised fists she screamed to the top of her lungs. She admitted every fault, every apology she could think of. Her sorrows pouring from her lips.

The carrier turned a corner of the tunnel and the last glimpse she had was of the special unit forces raising their own carbine rifles. The carrier continued down and once Shinji came out of sight she could the flashing...

... the flashing of gunfire.

Asuka let out a scream of pain as she fell to her knees, her hands gliding down the window trailing a thick layer of blood. She slumped over resting her sweaty forehead against the cold steel door.

"WARUM NICHT ICH?!" she screamed, "WHY NOT ME?!"

She buried her face within her palms, blood, tears and sweat ensnared along her cheeks and eyes.

"He needed me..." she whispered, "He... needed me..."

Well what did you think? I'm not liking it as well as I thought but maybe it's only the beginning? I dunno, drop a review and tell me about it. Let me know if this story is worth continuing.

.:Soul:.