The average recovery time of the First Child from injury is about two weeks. The average recovery time of the Third Child is approximately one.

The recovery time of the Second Child, Asuka thinks, does not exist as a statistic. It's more an event that spans the length of Asuka's life, starting from when she was three years old, and which is still continuing.

Today, the LCL feels cold and forbidding. It reminds her of the hospital room where Kyoko was kept. It reminds her of the First Child's voice.

She's been in this entry plug for far too long. Her thoughts circle aimlessly in her head, a twisting whirlpool that drags Asuka down into the parts of her mind she tries not to touch, where bitter memories lie.

"Asuka," someone says. Doctor Akagi. Asuka squeezes her eyes together even though they're already shut. She doesn't want to think of doctors and what they have to say. They never say anything good, not for her. "Your sync rate is down 12 points since the last one. That's a twenty point drop. You can't be thinking of extraneous things-"

"I'm not!" Asuka shouts. Of course, that's a lie. How is she supposed to sit there thinking of nothing when her stepmother called the night before, when Shinji's back and no one needs her any longer?

"That's enough for today," Ritsuko says. "Asuka, you need to improve your score, or you'll be taken off active duty."

"Right," mumbles Asuka. "It's not like you need me around, anyway."

The LCL drains from the plug and the hatch slides open, but Asuka keeps sitting in the control seat until she's certain that Shinji must be gone. She doesn't care if Rei's stayed behind- they'll meet in the locker rooms anyway, and if Rei knows what's good for her, she won't say a word.

But Rei isn't in the locker rooms, nor the restroom, where Asuka goes next. The part of Asuka that's disappointed at this is also the part that wants to avoid Rei, so she won't have to think of apologizing to her for what she'd said in the hospital wing.

They've been avoiding each other since then, or maybe it's Rei who's kindly stayed out of Asuka's way. It seems like something Rei would do, she thinks. Asuka walks out of the restroom in a daze, following the signs that point to the elevator. Something feels different about NERV today. The air is stale and listless, and the elevator sluggish as it works audibly towards Asuka's floor.

The doors open. The elevator isn't empty. Somehow- subconsciously?- she's found Rei, or Rei has found her. One of the two. Asuka walks in and stations herself in the corner opposite Rei, arms folded over her chest, eyes staring resolutely at the blue paint on the walls. If she squints, what Asuka can see of Rei's head blurs and becomes a part of the paint, and it's like Rei isn't there any longer.

The elevator clicks as it advances past floor after floor. Asuka has almost convinced herself that Rei isn't there. They must be halfway to the surface now, or more. Rei shifts her weight, shoes scuffing the floor. For a moment, she registers in Asuka's sight again, and Asuka can't help but look in her direction.

"Have you thought about what I said?" asks Rei. She can't possibly know that Asuka is looking at her; she's still in the same stance she was before, facing the elevator doors. She can't have seen, but somehow she has, just as she knows Asuka has pushed herself off the wall and stands with half-formed fists, hesitating, waiting for anything else Rei might have to say. "You must open yourself to others, Soryu. Open your heart."

"Didn't I tell you to shut up?!" Asuka pounds a fist against the side of the elevator. "What right do you have to talk about me?"

"I know enough," Rei says. "I have seen how you fight the Angels. I have seen what happens afterwards. You have told me yourself." Rei turns around, and Asuka feels her legs grow weak. She wonders what Rei would do if she just fell, suddenly. Rei might catch her, but she might just as easily let Asuka drop.

"You hate that you are neglected by Katsuragi." Rei tilts her head, staring into Asuka's eyes, and Asuka fights to keep breathing normally, like nothing's wrong. "You do not want to be replaced. More than anything, you are afraid."

"I'm not afraid!"

"You are. You fear this." Rei stretches out her hand, and her fingers settle on the side of Asuka's face. "You fear being close to someone." Asuka opens her mouth, but the words she wants to say do not come out. She wants to tell Rei that she's wrong, but Asuka knows what Rei does not, that just moments earlier Asuka had been looking for her.

The elevator slows, stops. The doors open, and Rei backs out between them, never taking her eyes off Asuka. "Please reconsider what I said, Soryu," she whispers. "If you do, I will be here for you."

The doors shut, and Rei is gone. The elevator begins to descend, retreating back into NERV. Asuka staggers against the wall, slowly lifting her hand to touch her cheek where the ghost of Rei's touch lingers, as if with her own hands she might hope to capture that feeling and keep it.


A flicker of light unfolds in the sky as the elevator finally reaches the floor it was called to. There are no sirens this time, just a voice urgently calling all personnel to their battle stations. Asuka takes off running towards the EVA hangars, stopping only briefly in the locker room to change into her plugsuit. Shinji and Rei, she notes with some satisfaction, have already left headquarters, and so she will be the first one in her EVA. Maybe she'll even be able to kill it before Shinji and Rei can launch.

Asuka pelts across the walkways and leaps into Unit-02, the entry plug sliding into the EVA's armor. "Misato!" she shouts. "I'm ready! Send me!"

"I can't, Asuka."

"Why-"

"The Angel is in orbit around Earth, and we can't reach it with any of our weapons." Misato sounds tired and withdrawn; Asuka imagines her standing on the command bridge with her arms folded across her chest, glaring at the screens around her like that alone would kill the Angel. "We'll wait for Rei before we do anything."

"You want her, and not Shinji?"

"We can't rely on Unit-01 all the time. You and Rei will-"

"No! I'm not doing anything with her! I'm going!"

"Asuka!"

Unit-02 shoves the restraints around its shoulders away and slides back onto the launch catapults. "Unit-02, moving out!" Asuka snarls, and the red EVA shoots up towards the city above.

There's water streaming down the screen as Asuka hurtles towards the surface. That's right- today it was supposed to rain. She won't have a clear shot at the Angel- just whatever the telemetry coming from NERV tells her about its location. If she should miss- if she should fail- no, that won't happen. Asuka has trained for data-only missions, and things like these shouldn't be a problem even with a low sync score.

"Sending up the Positron Rifle," she hears Misato say. Misato's resigned herself, then, to Asuka deciding to do this mission by herself. Asuka knows she'll have minutes, maybe a quarter of an hour at best, before Rei comes back and gets into Unit-00. She'll have to kill the Angel with the first shot, then.

"I can do this," Asuka whispers. The street beside her opens up, and the Positron Rifle rockets up from a hole in the pavement. Unit-02 takes it up carefully, aims it toward the clouds. The targeting system rises from the seat behind her, covering her eyes and displaying a simulation of a clear sky, where in the distance the Angel can be seen, shining like a second sun. It's still off-center, just on the edge of the targeting reticule. "I can do this." Asuka shifts Unit-02's hands, bringing the rifle up a little. The Angel slowly begins to fill the center of the sight, and Asuka is ready to fire when there's a flash of light, shattering her concentration and throwing off her aim.

The targeting system sparks and shudders, retracting back into the seat. Unit-02's visual screen turns to static a second later. It was never meant to be. Asuka clamps her eyes shut and yanks back on the control sticks, pulling Unit-02's arms up. "Damn you!" she cries, pulling the sticks even though there's no more track left for them to run. "Just die. Just die already!"

She pulls the trigger again, but Unit-02's arms have already dropped. The shots go wild, exploding in the city and splashing against the distant hills. Unit-02 drops the rifle, emptied, and grabs its head, doubling over at the waist. "It's in my mind!" she shrieks, grabbing her own head as well. "Get it out. Get it out!"

"Asuka?" Misato's voice comes through as a faint buzzing sound, unable to pierce the overlapping whispers that now occupy the whole of Asuka's attention. "Retreat. Do you hear me? That's an order!"

"No!" Asuka lashes out with her feet and kicks at the controls; Unit-02 staggers to the side, its arms sweeping wildly through the structure of a nearby building. I'd rather… I'd rather die than do that!"

"Asuka!" Misato says. Somewhere beneath the static and the whispers and Misato there is another voice, one that Asuka somehow doesn't have to strain to hear.

"Katsuragi. I am ready."

"No! Don't send her!" Asuka doesn't know whether her mouth actually moves or if she's just shouting inside the confines of her mind. The light from before has gone, and all there is now is the blackness on the insides of her eyelids and the harshness of her own breathing. It might be gone, Asuka thinks. Maybe one of her shots had hit the Angel, and now it's dead. No, that can't be it. There's something else, a feeling like one in the past, reminiscent of a headache and building in intensity-

Carefully, Asuka raises her head. In the distance, a light, growing steadily closer. It isn't the Angel; Asuka feels none of the pain that weighed so heavily on her before. The light is approaching faster, and now Asuka can make out the outline of a familiar bed, one that she wishes she didn't recognize.

"Mama," she whispers, and starts running towards it. "Mama?"

"Die with me, Asuka," a voice calls to her. "You'll be a good girl, won't you?"

"Yes!" Asuka screams. "I'll die with you. Just wait for me. Wait for me!" It isn't a bed she's running towards now, but a chair that sits in a single circle of light. "I don't care what I have to do, just don't leave me!"

Asuka staggers into the circle. A body swings above her, clad in a hospital gown. In its hand, a doll. You're a good girl, Asuka.The doll drops from the body's cold, limp hand. Asuka bends to pick it up, torn between throwing it into the darkness surrounding her and holding on to it, the last reminder of her mother's life. We will always be together.

"You left me!" Asuka flings the doll at the body, sending it spinning in a slow circle. "You said you'd never leave me, but you did!" The body completes half a turn, and Asuka staggers back, her feet touching the edges of the circle. Her jaw drops at the figure hanging from the rope, no longer her mother, but the frail form of the First Child. "Wonder Girl…?"

Another step back, and Asuka passes into the darkness. The light vanishes, and with it Rei and the doll and the rope, and Asuka is left by herself again. She'll leave you, you know. This voice isn't Kyoko's or Rei's. It sounds like Asuka did when she was younger, but unfathomably tired.

"No. That's not true. I don't have anyone anymore. There's no one who can leave!"

Do you really think so?

"Soryu."

Asuka spins around. Rei is standing in the darkness, her pale skin seemingly aglow, her face an unmoving mask. "Wonder Girl?" she asks. "Did it get you, too?"

"You must leave," Rei says. They're no longer in an empty expanse, but in one of the many halls of NERV. "You are no longer needed."

"What do you mean by that? I'm a pilot, like you. I'm a better pilot than you. If it's anyone who isn't needed around here, it's you!"

"You have been dismissed." Rei turns away, walking down the corridor and deeper into NERV. "Your presence is unwelcome. Go."

"Who do you are to think you can say that to me, huh?!" Asuka runs after Rei and grabs her arm, jerking her around so that she faces Asuka. "Who gave you authority over me?!"

"You did," Rei says. For a stunned moment, Asuka doesn't react, and now Rei is the one with a hold on both of Asuka's arms, trapping her against the wall. "You wish for affection and love so badly that you will throw yourself at anyone you think can give it to you. How pathetic are you, Asuka Langley Soryu? Second Child? No one will love you. Not even the girl you think you hate."

"What're you talking about? I don't need any of that shit. It's useless to me!"

"Kaji Ryoji. Shinji Ikari. Rei Ayanami. The ones you hoped would love you."

"The First? Why would I fall for someone like her? She's a doll!"

"You say that because you are afraid of admitting to yourself the truth." The Angel- that's what this is that Asuka's seeing; there's no way this is Rei- reaches out and touches the sides of Asuka's face. Asuka's chest tightens, choking out the words she might have replied with. "This is why you will always be alone."

"You're an Angel. You're lying."

"I see your heart, Asuka Langley Soryu, and it is breaking." The Angel in the form of Rei touches Asuka's shoulder, laying her palm on Asuka's chest. "You are hurt enough already. If you continue like this, you will only tear yourself apart."

"I don't need to hear this. You're not real. None of this is real!"

"It is as real as your thoughts."

"It's not real! You're lying! All of this is just a lie!"

In the entry plug, Asuka's nails dig further into her scalp, drawing blood. "Rei," she whispers, and bubbles depart from her mouth to drift in the LCL around her. "Help me, Rei. Shinji. Anyone."

She hears the reply that comes over the radio, but her mind does not register it. "Rei," the Commander says, speaking for the first time in the operation. "Descend to Dogma. Take the Lance."

"Yes."

Asuka doesn't know what was said, or what it might mean. She sits with her head wedged between her knees and her arms folded over her head, crying into the LCL. Within the ruined fortress of her mind, the image of the Second Child sits before the First, who looks down upon her with the same emotionless face as always.


The maintenance tunnels spanning the length and breadth of NERV were made to accommodate EVAs, but still the descent into Terminal Dogma takes an agonizingly long time. Asuka's stopped screaming- she'd done that nearly ten minutes ago- and only now is Rei being sent to get the Lance of Longinus.

Rei sees the giant white body of Lilith before she's come within a safe landing range. Her chest aches as she approaches, but Rei ignores it. Asuka is in need of her aid. The Commander has ordered her to use the Lance. Rei Ayanami will do so.

Rei grips the lance with both hands, tugging it free of the flesh that clings to it so eagerly. As it clears Lilith's body, the stumpy remains of what had once been legs reform, extending into the LCL pool around her and kicking up small waves that beat at Unit-00's feet.

"Lance retrieved," Rei reports. "Now ascending."

"Unit-02's life support is reaching critical," someone else says. The voice is male and calm, sounding completely undisturbed by the events going on. Unit-02's data can be read as numbers and statistics; it might not even occur to whoever's at that station that the Second Child is dangerously close to dying.

"Approaching the surface." Rei emerges and holds the Lance over her head, preparing to throw. She's never trained for anything like this, or even been told she might need to hold the Lance, but she must throw accurately. Should she miss, it might not be only Asuka who is attacked by the Angel.

"Initiate throw sequence. Ten. Nine."

Unit-00 shifts, arms drawing the Lance back until its end scrapes the street. Rei anchors its feet as best as she can, throwing the EVA's weight back, until it seems Unit-00 might fall.

"Two. One."

Unit-00 hurls the Lance into the sky. The clouds dissipate from above the city as it flies, disappearing with a roar not unlike that of Unit-01. A few seconds pass. The light that's kept Unit-02 illuminated slowly begins to fade, though whether it's the sunlight or the death of the Angel, Rei isn't sure, until she hears at last: "Target eliminated."

"Rei." The Commander speaks at once, or maybe he's been trying to get Rei's attention since the Lance was thrown, and has only just now succeeded. "Rei, return to the launch bay."

"Understood," Rei says. "What of Unit-02?"

"Leave it and its pilot. There may be contamination. We will retrieve Unit-02 only when we're certain nothing will happen."

"Yes."

She cuts the line with the Commander and sits back in her EVA as it's slowly drawn back into NERV. The Angel is dead, and the Second Child is not, but there's no way for Rei to feel glad about this. Asuka is waiting above, alone, and she'll be kept that way for at least 24 hours. Rei understands why these things must be done, but it doesn't stop her from worrying as she climbs out of Unit-00 and walks back to the locker rooms.

Asuka's uniform lies across the middle bench, left there in a hurry as Asuka ran to Unit-02. Rei turns her back to it, focusing on changing out of her plugsuit, and doesn't turn around until she's put her uniform back on and played with the details of it so much that her fingers hurt from tying and re-tying her neck bow.

These clothes belong in Asuka's locker, but she doesn't know the combination, and Asuka won't be returning to collect them. Slowly Rei gathers them up, making sure everything is folded neatly before tucking the bundle beneath her arm. She'll return it to Asuka the next time they meet.

Now the room is spotless, and everything is as it should be. Rei shuts her locker and walks toward the door, but finds herself unable to leave it. Outside is Commander Ikari's world, and Unit-02, waiting to be collected. In here, Rei to endure the silence, something she's used to, and the lingering presence of Asuka by her locker and in her clothes. Rei sets the uniform to the side on one of the benches and sits next to it, hands folded in her lap. She's alone, as she knows Asuka is, and somehow through that, Rei feels they are connected.


Asuka had paid no mind to the hands that pulled her from Unit-02; she now sits on a nearby rooftop, the area around her cordoned off by caution tape, staring sightlessly in the direction of still smoking hillside crater. Unit-02 itself has already been taken back into NERV: a statement, if anything, that Asuka has worn out her usefulness, and that EVA can no longer be called 'hers'.

She knows, from the chatter of the workers who collected her, that it's Rei who'd saved her from the Angel. It's an impossible thought, that Rei Ayanami might care for her. Rei was probably just acting on orders, like she always did.

And the Angel- that was some bullshit it had tried to get her to believe. Asuka, in love with Rei? Completely unthinkable. The Angel was simply trying to throw her off- that's it, it has to be. What better way to shatter her than to offer her the hope of love, only to have it torn from her again? Asuka finds herself nodding along to her own thoughts. That's what it must be. The Angel was lying, and that's that.

"Asuka." Shinji is calling to her from behind the caution tape, trying to get her attention. He's saying something- platitudes probably, or maybe I'm glad you're alright and Are you okay. Asuka closes her eyes and tunes him out. The Angel- the first one that had spoken to her- it had been right about everything it said. What if this Angel was, too?

Impossible, Asuka thinks. Rei is competition. Another pilot means more attention diverted away from her, but if Asuka can no longer pilot… She places her head between her hands and clamps them over her ears. She doesn't want to hear Shinji's stupid, happy voice any longer. She hates that Rei has saved her, but now she'd rather have Rei waiting on the other side of that tape than Shinji. At least Rei would know how to shut up.

At last, Shinji takes the hint and wanders away. Asuka uncurls from the ball she's made, gazing at the floor between her feet. The containment team has never taken this long to arrive before- not that time when the Angel took over the simulation bodies, not the time that Shinji had burst out of the Angel in Unit-01. It's just another sign that, to NERV, Asuka is no longer worth considering. Asuka lays her head against one knee, now staring dejectedly at the rails on the roof around her. She could stand, right now, and jump off. There wouldn't be anyone to stop her. Even if there was, they probably wouldn't, anyway.

Misato wouldn't care. Shinji might, but he'd be too weak to stop Asuka, and she'd never allow him to try. That leaves Rei- Rei would try, if only to keep a resource alive, and she would have the capacity to do so. Rei would grab her and haul her back, and even that is more welcome to Asuka than being left here, alone- Oh, god. God, she's fucked up; the Angel must have done this to her, because there's no way in hell that before all this, she would have wanted Rei Ayanami to be with her.


A day in the hospital wing comes and goes, seeming just like any other. Asuka comes and goes without speaking or being spoken to: there's nothing to say. The containment crews wheel her in strapped down to a gurney, and when the 24 hours is up, they release her back into the world. There's no visit from Doctor Akagi this time, no hospital gown in the bathroom, and by the time Asuka's changed and showered to get the dried LCL off her body, it's already nearly the end of the day.

She doesn't want to go back to Misato's. Doing that means seeing Shinji again; more than that, it'll mean having to face Misato, whose orders she defied to try and fight the Angel. Asuka finds herself wandering somewhere near the heart of Tokyo-3, turning random corners and staying away from the places she knows well. If she's lucky, no one will recognize her. She'll be just another girl in a school uniform, since that's what she is. She hasn't been officially discharged yet, but she's sure the day is coming soon. Another sync test, perhaps, and she'll be gone then.

The busy streets become desolate, abandoned wrecks that still show signs of life having once been here. This, Asuka realizes, is where one of the stray rifle blasts landed. No one was killed, but the buildings here are scorched and the ground is dusted with a light cover of ash. Asuka walks on, keeping her eyes forward. She doesn't look away until she's a good two blocks past the area, and then she doesn't look back.

Her luck runs out as she draws closer to the edge of the city. She turns a corner, and someone is there. Of course it would be Rei. Asuka stands frozen with indecision, wondering if she should turn and run, or if she should keep on like Rei isn't there, and doesn't exist at all. Rei seems seized by this same puzzle, or at least something similar to it. She regards Asuka with a tilted head and warm eyes. Asuka wonders if maybe this isn't a coincidence, if maybe Rei followed her, or knew she was going to pass through here, and came here to wait. No- it's a stupid idea, and an even stupider thing to hope for.

The best thing to do is to keep going, as if Rei isn't there. Asuka continues forward, intent on leaving the area and leaving Rei behind. As she passes Rei, a hand wraps around her wrist, warm and firm and patient. Asuka stops walking and jerks her wrist, but Rei doesn't let go. She hangs on tighter, not looking at Asuka, but still keeping her there. Asuka tugs again, and this time it's weaker. Still Rei's hand is there.

Rei begins to move, walking forward, pulling gently on Asuka's arm. Asuka stumbles along behind her, powerless to resist. She doesn't know where Rei is taking her, but there's no urge to run. She'd wanted Rei beside her the day before, and now she has her wish.

Their disjointed chain of two navigates the maze of streets on the outskirts of Tokyo-3. At last they come onto a flat road lined by crumbling apartment buildings. These, Asuka knows, were intended to be lived in, but then the Angels came and people started leaving, and these buildings were left irrelevant and without purpose.

Rei guides them up to the base of one and begins to walk inside. Now Asuka wrests her hand free, standing stoically in the street. You can't live here, she wants to say to Rei. Stop joking, but Rei is not the type to joke around; there's a reason they came here.

Rei lingers just inside the building's lobby, as if she's waiting for Asuka to make up her mind. A moment passes, and it seems like they've come to an understanding. Rei will not go after Asuka if she chooses to leave. They won't speak of this again. If Asuka goes into this place, there's no guarantees of what she'll find, but Rei will be with her.

Asuka steps forward into the lobby, stopping beside Rei. She's waiting for something- for Rei to take her hand, or maybe for the impossible to happen: Rei smiling. Instead Rei begins walking towards a stairwell in the distance, its rails rusty and uncared for, the staircase littered with leaves from the overgrown courtyard and bits of paper and debris.

"Rei?" asks Asuka. She steps around a portion of the stair that's faded and beginning to crumble. "Where are we going?"

Rei doesn't answer. She keeps walking resolutely up the stairs, waiting on every landing for Asuka to catch up. When Rei turns aside and begins walking along one of the halls, Asuka follows her, lingering to occasionally peer over the side and into the courtyard below. "Is this where you live?" she asks. Rei ignores her and pushes open one of the many apartments, walking inside. Asuka notices she hadn't bothered with a key. "Hey, I'm trying to talk to you-"

Asuka arrives in the doorway and falls silent. The room before her is dark and barely lit by the light coming in from a window on the far side. Asuka tries the lights, but they don't work. Her eyes follow Rei into the room and find the floor littered with clothes and bloodstained bandages. Rei is sitting on her bed, just a mattress with a single blanket and pillow held by a disintegrating frame, removing the ribbon from her neck.

"Wait," Asuka says. "You don't live here. This is a joke, right? It has to be."

"I do not joke, Soryu." Rei places the ribbon on the table by her bed. The surface is littered with pills and bottles; the ribbon drapes between them, and Asuka is reminded of the bright color of blood.

"You can't live here. You don't have any electricity. How… how do you live like this? You're the Commander's favorite, aren't you? How can he let you-"

"I am not his favorite," says Rei. "I am here because it is convenient."

"Convenient for you, or for him?"

Rei ignores Asuka's last comment and pats the space beside her on the bed. "Sit down, Soryu," she says.

"I'm not gonna sit down!"

"Why? Is something wrong?"

"Of course something's wrong!" Asuka shouts. Her voice rings off the walls and from the surrounding empty space. "You had to save me. I'm useless. Bringing me here was stupid."

"Why-"

"They're going to replace me, aren't they? They're gonna take Unit-02 from me. I can't pilot anymore. They wouldn't need me, anyway. All anyone ever needs is stupid Shinji, isn't that right?"

"You will not be replaced," Rei says. "You are still capable of piloting, and you are uninjured."

"That shit doesn't matter anymore! My sync ratio is dropping. You've been paying attention the last week, haven't you?" snaps Asuka. "It'll probably go down more after this. Soon I won't be able to connect to Unit-02 at all." Asuka hangs her head, staring at one of the bandages on Rei's floor. "Unit-02 has been with me longer than anything else. If I lose it, I'll be nothing."

"Soryu." Rei rises halfway from her bed, grabbing Asuka's arm and pulling her in. Asuka settles hard against the mattress, sending the frame creaking violently, but Rei ignores this and pulls Asuka against her. "You are alive," she says. "You can still change things. It is not too late for you."

Asuka shakes her head, remaining still in Rei's arms. Rei doesn't know that it's already too late, and has been ever since Asuka began to doubt herself after her defeat against the Fourteenth Angel. Perhaps it was even earlier, and Asuka, blinded by EVA, just hadn't realized it. "Ayanami," she whispers, and Rei's hands grow stiff on her back. "Tell me the truth."

"Soryu?"

"Why are you doing this? You… you don't care about me, right? You're just doing this because I'm a pilot. Once I'm not-"

"It does not matter whether you are a pilot or not." Rei leans forward, pressing her cheek to Asuka's shoulder. "I do care for you. I do not know why, but that is the truth."

Asuka nods, her hair falling from behind her ear and brushing Rei's face. She doesn't speak, but at last her hands come up and wrap around Rei's waist, clinging to the fabric of her uniform shirt. As she lowers her head to rest it upon Rei's, she chokes back what might be a sob that's just beginning to form.

"Soryu," Rei is drawing back now, and Asuka clutches at her, not wanting her to leave. "Katsuragi will be looking for you," she says, reaching down to pry Asuka's hands off her clothes. Asuka latches on to her instead, fingers pressing down on Rei's so hard that they might leave marks behind. "Soryu, this is no place for you to stay."

"I don't wanna go," Asuka whispers. "I don't wanna be alone."

"You will not. You will have Ikari and Katsuragi-"

"They don't care about me. Misato only worries when it's Shinji in trouble, and Shinji doesn't give a damn-"

"You know that is not true."

"Let me stay here."

"I can't." Rei manages to free one hand and reaches for Asuka's head, running her fingers slowly through Asuka's brilliant red hair, working out the tangles. "You must stay with Katsuragi. But if you wish, during the day, you may come here whenever you want."

"You'll be here?"

"If I am not at the Geofront, yes. Even then, I will return."

"Promise me." Asuka grabs at the hand in her hair, holding it tightly. She feels like if she lets go, then this apartment and Rei will be gone, and Asuka will wake up in quarantine having only been living a pleasant dream. "Promise me you won't leave me."

Rei's other hand touches Asuka's. Asuka lets go, fingers sliding limply back into her lap. Rei finishes working through Asuka's hair, then reaches over and and rests a hand on Asuka's knee. "I promise," she says. "I am not going anywhere, Soryu. I will be here until the end."

"Okay." The word leaves Asuka as a whisper, pained and quiet. Asuka begins to stand, but then Rei tugs at her uniform and motions for her to wait.

"Here," says Rei. She walks over to her closet, drawing from it a neatly folded set of clothes. "You left this behind," she says.

"Is that where it went?" Asuka takes the clothes from Rei and holds them in both hands, as if she doesn't know what to do with them, or why Rei is given them to her. "I thought the janitors took it."

"I am sorry if I worried you."

"No. It's fine." Asuka places the clothes under her arm, unknowingly mimicking the same stance Rei had taken before. "Thank you."

Rei smiles up at Asuka and moves to wrap her arms around her one final time. "I will see you shortly," she says, releasing Asuka and backing towards the bed. "Be careful."

"Yes." Asuka nods, then leaves the apartment, retracing Rei's steps down the stairs and out into the city. From here, it's just a simple matter of following the sounds until Asuka encounters the train tracks; she follows those into the main hub of the city, and then she'll be able to find her way home.

As she walks, the sensation of Rei's arms around her does not fade. It persists, following her home, as if a portion of Rei resides in the bundle tucked between her elbow and her body, and won't leave her alone. Somehow, Asuka is alright with this. If anything, it's an echo of the promise Rei has made to her, so Asuka won't easily forget it. As she walks, she passes a portion of the city that's being reworked, where a chunk of debris from the battle had smashed into the pavement and cracked it in two of the four lanes.

The Angel, Asuka thinks. It told her that she loved Rei. It's an impossible thought- Asuka does not love- but the thought of Rei's warmth causes Asuka to smile, and she can no longer muster those angry thoughts that once served to defend her from anything positive she might have wanted to say about Rei.

The Angel can't be right. Asuka squeezes her hands so tight that her nails threaten to puncture her skin. She isn't in love with Rei Ayanami. She doesn't love anyone, because she knows they'll leave, they always do, and Asuka is tired of being left behind.