17th May 2015

Asuka's Residence – 0930 hours

An unfamiliar ceiling, that was the first thing Shinji thought of when he slowly opened his eyes. Blinking twice, he looked straight up, noticing something else that was strange about this ceiling, it appeared to be spinning, or was it him who was spinning? He brought his hand up towards his head and rubbed it slightly as a sharp pain ran across it.

'Oh god, I feel terrible'

He closed his eyes as the rest of the side effects began to hit him, his head began to pound slightly more and his mouth was incredibly dry. Slowly he turned his head only to feel his stomach churning, he resisted the urge to throw up all other the carpet and sat up slowly groaning slightly.

'This isn't good, what the hell happened?'

He jumped as there was a loud thud from upstairs, this only served to make his headache worse. Shinji slowly began to rub the sides of his head and breathed slowly, trying to ease his stomach. There was another thud followed by a loud shout of pain, once again Shinji jumped at the sound. He looked around the living room he was in, trying to remember what happened and finally realizing where he was.

'Oh yeah… I'm at Asuka's, but what happened?'

There were more noises as he heard someone making their way down the stairs, albeit slowly. He groggily turned his head towards the door as it opened slowly, he watched as Asuka slowly made her way into the living room wearing pajamas and a dressing gown, she too looked incredibly pale and was holding her head. Shinji tried to open his mouth to speak but thought better of it as a wave of nausea swept over him again. Instead he merely nodded towards her. She motioned back at him and made her way over to one of the other seats in the living room, she threw herself down on it, moaning slightly.

"Never again… I don't care what anyone say's, never ever again."

Shinji swallowed hard and opened his mouth to speak.

"What happened last night?"

Asuka gave a muffled reply from where she was lying.

"You mean you don't remember? Some idiot here had the great idea to start drinking last night."

Shinji leaned back on the sofa and closed his eyes, trying to remember. He knew he had met Kaji then went to Asuka's where she slapped him twice for what he done. Then he was invited into her house they talked for a bit and then…

He came to a realization and replied, his voice slightly rose, which didn't help his head one bit.

"It was your idea to start drinking, you thought it'd make me feel better."

"Yes I know, please don't remind me… and stop shouting, my head feels like it's been ran over."

"Sorry."

Shinji lay back down and threw the cover over his head, shutting his eyes as the room fell into silence. The memories of last night coming back to him, he remembers the first drink and then the second and then maybe one more, everything after that was a blur. Shinji was never much of a drinker.

"Oh shit."

Shinji spoke out from beneath the covers.

"What?"

"It's half nine, we're late. Misato is going to kill us."

Shinji threw the covers off of him and opened his eyes.

"Crap…"

Shinji looked over at where Asuka was, she was still lying face down on the sofa. He reached round, his head still swimming, and quickly pulled on the shirt and trousers he had been given. His stomach churned as he stood up, causing him to sit back down for a second.

"There's no time for breakfast, we can get something at lunch if you want, and I'll pay."

Thinking about food was something Shinji immediately regretted, not only because of the effect it had on his body but also because of the look Asuka gave him.

"If you mention food again I'll kill you."

"Sorry."

"Shut up, let's just go."

She stood up and steadily made her way into the kitchen and poured herself a small glass of water. Shinji followed her into the kitchen and did the same, the water hit his mouth easing some of the dryness but not helping his stomach much. Asuka stood over the sink, her head bowed slightly as she sipped from the glass, resisting the urge to immediately throw up whenever she took a drink. She threw the rest of the contents into the sink and turned to Shinji.

"Come on, let's go."

Shinji nodded as they made their way out of house, Asuka stopped to get her car keys and put her shoes on. They stepped out of the house and walked over to the car, however Shinji halted Asuka before they got in.

"Asuka, should you really be going to work like that?"

She looked down noticing she still had on her pajamas and dressing gown, looking up she glared a hole through Shinji.

"You idiot, why didn't you tell me before I stepped outside the house?"

"Sorry."

"I should make you walk for this, give me five minutes."

She threw the car keys at Shinji and stormed back into the house, slamming the door behind her. Shinji laughed quietly to himself as he opened the car door and stepped inside, ready for what was going to be a very long day.

NERV Offices – 1000 hours
Misato wandered into the office, a furious look on her face, she jumped when she saw Rei sitting at one of the desks in the room, typing something into the computer. She wandered over to Rei's desk and looked at the Blue Haired girl curiously. Rei turned and looked up, her cold red eyes staring directly at her.

"Agent Katsuragi, is there something you wanted?"

"Well actually yes, I was just wondering where the hell agents Sohryu and Ikari were today."

"I have not seen them."

They both turned just as the door to the office opened again, Misato glared as both Shinji and Asuka made their way into the room looking pale and moving slowly. A wave of anger flashed through her as she realized just what was wrong with them and waited until they had both sat down to speak, her voice serious.

"Well I'm glad you have both finally shown up, where have you been?"

Shinji looked up and spoke quietly.

"Sorry, we were held up by something."

"I can see that, what is wrong with you both, as if I can't already guess?"

Asuka switched on her computer screen and recoiled back from the sudden flash of light on it. She rubbed her eyes and muttered.

"There's nothing wrong with us, we're just tired."

Rei looked on at the two pilots as they spoke to her, knowing exactly what was wrong with her fellow agent's. It was a concept she found hard to understand, the idea of drinking so much alcohol it made you ill the next day, if it made people feel unpleasant then why would they do it? She turned back to her screen as Misato continued berating the two Agents.

"Tired, yes you both look it. Dry throat, spinning ceilings and a bad headache is often signs of tiredness. Don't talk to me like I'm stupid, what you do in your own time is up to you but you're both NERV Agents, you have an example to set. If you are going to do something like this next time, don't even bother coming in."

They both spoke from behind their desks in unison.

"Yes Misato."

Misato frowned and looked at them both as they sat with their heads on their desk. A wicked smile crept across her face as she found out just the way to punish them, first some light teasing then the final blow.

'There's nothing I can do to punish them, I can't take this to the director but I can still have some fun.'

"So what were you two celebrating in order to get so drunk last night, were you really that happy about Shinji returning safely?"

Asuka lifted her head up off the desk and stared over at Misato, a slight hint of redness burning onto her face.

"No, we just decided to have a drink, nothing more."

She put her head down again as the wicked smile turned into a fully fledged grin.

"So you're sure you didn't do anything you'd both regret, well maybe you'd had enjoyed it. You know some people don't have control of themselves when they're drunk, who knows what you both done."

Now it was Shinji's turn to quickly raise his head and get embarrassed.

"Misato we… we did n-nothing like that, if you must know I slept on the sofa downstairs and Agent Sohryu slept upstairs."

"Oh, so you did stay at hers then?"

He nodded slightly.

"Y-Yes…"

"Excellent."

Asuka quickly shouted back...

"Just what is that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing at all, now who's hungry, I could take you all out for some breakfast."

Asuka and Shinji groaned and put their heads down on the desk, Shinji muttering slightly.

"Please don't mention food."

"Oh now come on, I sure could go for something fried right about now, something like…"

Asuka groaned.

"I think I'm going to be sick."

"Don't be like that, maybe something fried and greasy."

Shinji spoke again.

"No really Misato, stop, I really am about to be sick."

"You'll feel better after this, I know a place that does the greasiest bacon sandwiches, just what you need after…"

"Oh God."

Both Shinji and Asuka leapt up from their desks and ran out of the room their hands clamped over their mouths. Misato couldn't help but laugh at their suffering as she made her way over to Rei again.

'Can't hold their alcohol, oh well.'

Rei turned and looked at Misato again, trying to figure out why Misato found the events that had transpired so funny.

"Agent Katsuragi, why do you find their situation so amusing?"

"Oh that's easy, Asuka and Shinji brought this on themselves. Maybe it's a bit cruel but how else am I going to punish them?"

"Can you not submit a report to the Director or suspend them?"

"I could but coming in with a hangover isn't really bad enough for that sort of thing, besides I need my best agents here and not at home. No, they inflicted it on themselves and besides, they'll be better once they've got it out of their system."

"I see."

Rei turned back to her computer just as Shinji and Asuka reentered the room, holding their stomachs still. She felt her lips curl upwards into a smile as she caught a glimpse of their faces. Shinji had now broken into a sweat and was breathing deeply, he reentered the room, glaring daggers into Misato. Asuka soon followed him, also glaring at Misato, her hair sticking to her face. Rei smiled and turned back to the computer just as she saw Asuka turn to look at her. Before Asuka was able to say anything Misato quickly cut her off.

"Ok, well I've got paperwork to do, so I'll leave you to work, although I want to speak to you Shinji."

Shinji looked up from his desk at Misato, the grin on her face had gone and had been replaced with a concerned look. He looked downwards shamefully as he caught Asuka looking at him as well. The memories of the previous day came back to him as he remembered how Asuka reacted when she got back to her home and how she told him Misato was concerned.

"I understand."


Directors Office – 1100 hours

Kaji stepped forward towards the lone desk in the low lit room, below him the carpet was adorned with a white symbol he didn't recognize. A smile spread across his face as he saw the director looking on at him, his hands folded neatly in front of his face, the lone ceiling light reflecting in the man's glasses.

"I love what you've done with the place, Ikari."

He produced a vial of orange liquid from his pocket and held it up to the light, studying it carefully. The liquid inside gave off a faint glow, Kaji wasn't sure if it was the liquid or the lighting in the room.

"You know if the committee knew I took this and gave it to you they'd not only kill me, they'd kill you and the two agents you've injected with the Serum."

"The committee has other concerns than finding one lost vial, they have the rest of the angels to track and of course the human instrumentality project. Keel and the rest won't miss it."

"That's true, but this vial doesn't contain the same serum that was in the rest of the vials in that laboratory, this one contains something slightly more special.

Gendo smiled and picked the vial up, examining it through the light, he turned back to see Agent Kaji looking at him, expecting some sort of explanation.

"Correct, this is not the Evangelion Serum that we have used on the two Agents, this is one of the main ingredients for the serum of course, heavily unmodified. This vial contains DNA of SEELE's first specimen, the DNA of Adam."

"Very impressive, now I wonder why you would need such a thing."

"My plans are none of your concern, you were just to collect this from the ship and deliver it to me as agreed. You will find your payment in your office."

"Yes sir."

Kaji nodded and began to exit the office, he was just about to reach the door when Gendo stopped him.

"And Agent Kaji, it would be wise for you not to tell my son or Agent Sohryu anymore about me, that includes my role at this organization, am I understood?"

Kaji grinned as he walked out the door.

"I understand."

Kaji exited the room, closing the door behind him only to come face to face with Misato, acting quickly he grabbed hold of her and spun her round. Looking into her eyes and grinning at her.

"Fancy us meeting like this."

Misato shot him a look of disgust and quickly shoved him away.

"Oh god it's you, what the hell are you doing here?"

"Well I was just in the neighborhood and thought I'd nip in and see how you were."

"Well I'm fine, and busy, so leave me alone."

"Oh now don't be like that, we have a lot of catching up to do, maybe you'd like to see my office."

"Pervert… wait a minute, your office, you work here!?"

"Just got transferred in today, we'll be seeing a lot of each other in the future."

"Not if I can help it."

"You're still as cute as ever you know."

"And you're still as pathetic and immature as ever."

Misato turned towards the elevator, Kaji grinned and followed her inside, she sighed and pressed the button to go down to the basement level as he simply stood there grinning.

"What do you think you're doing?"

"I'm going to my office."

"Is this some sort of joke?"

"Would I lie to you?"

"Do you want me to answer that question?"

Misato was about to halt the elevator and storm out just to get away from the man when she remembered what had happened a few days ago. Their eyes met as she spoke.

"How did you know about Shinji's father?"

"Hmm?"

"Gendo Rokubungi… how did you know that was Shinji's father?"

Kaji frowned, the smile from his face had gone as he tried to work out how to answer Misato. He couldn't tell her the truth, she wasn't ready for it, but if he couldn't lie to her, knowing what she had been through in the past, she had a right to know parts of it.

"It comes from when I was in Germany, the girl I looked after, Asuka Langley Sohryu, her mother was friends with Yui Ikari. I later found out she was married to someone called Gendo Ikari, or as he used to be called, Rokubungi."

It wasn't the most convincing of explanations, but in his mind it would do for now, he glanced over at Misato as the elevator came to a halt. He could immediately tell what she was thinking, it had been ten years since they had last seen each other but it felt like it was only yesterday. Their eyes met again as she nodded her head slightly, acknowledging the explanation "

Shinji/Asuka's Office – 1115 hours

Shinji turned his head away from the screen down towards the documents on his desk, they had still been unopened since he had received them from Kaji the previous day. He looked around the room realizing he was the only person in there, Asuka was talking to Misato in her office about making an early return to active duty since the Over The Rainbow incident, and as for Ayanami, well even when she was there it was as if she wasn't.

A strange thought possessed him as he looked over at Ayanami's desk, his eyes scanning the bare surface. He slowly stood up and made his way over towards the desk and began looking around. Her workstation was still on but was locked, instead he slowly opened up one of the drawers. He wasn't sure why he had this urge to check through her stuff but nonetheless there he was. Maybe it was a trust issue, until the Ramiel incident the only time he had seen her was when she was present when he was being attacked by Sachiel and again when he fell ill a few weeks later. Asuka on the other hand, claimed to have been attacked by her.

There was something else there that drove him to look, it was when he thought back to their first proper meeting when, Shinji mentioned the name Gendo Rokubungi, his fathers name, he saw something flash in Ayanami's eyes and just now he had figured out what it was, recognition. She had recognized the name, she knew who he was. He rummaged through the drawer, hoping that she wouldn't return while he was searching. That was when he found it, a small piece of card in the drawer with a photo of a man and what Shinji assumed was a younger Rei Ayanami on it.

'That's him, she does know him but how? Why would my father be in a picture with Agent Ayanami?'

"What are you doing?"

He felt a sense of dread as he heard the words being spoken, this was just what he didn't want to happen. Shinji clutched hold of the photo and looked up slowly only, to be met with the red eyes of Agent Ayanami, he swallowed hard as he stumbled backwards and away from the desk. She looked down at the photo he was clutching and immediately went to grab it, this was the first time Shinji had noticed the girl showing emotion, anger flashed across her face as she tried to grab the photo out of his hand.

"Agent Ayanami calm down, I can explain."

The words did nothing to stop the girl as she still continued to try and grab the photo away from him. For some reason Shinji's mind wouldn't allow him to let go as he struggled to hold on, wanting to try to get some answers from her.

"Wait, what do you know about him?"

Still no effect as she pulled the photo away from him and held onto it tightly, placing it back onto her desk.

"Ayanami…do you know him?"

Silence befell them both as he awaited her response, his heart racing and his mind focused on one thing. After what seemed like an eternity the answer came, Rei spoke much more softly then she had before, it was almost sorrowful.

"Yes."

"How and why? Why didn't you tell me?"

"I…I was ordered not to tell you?"

"By who?"

"I cannot say."

"Why? Has he told you not to tell me?"

"I cannot say."

Shinji sat back down behind his desk and buried his head in his hands, trying to sort out his thoughts. It was too much for him to take, not only had he found out his father was alive and who his father was, but now that his father was somehow involved in his work as well. He looked over at Rei uncomfortably and noticed her looking down at the picture clutched in her hand. She quickly stood up and made her way towards the office door, not even looking at Shinji on the way out.

"Excuse me, I have to go."

Shinji could do nothing but just look blankly at where she had just been, he rested his head on his hand, deep in thought.

'My father… Ayanami… what's their connection?'

Twins Residence – 1215 hours

"Agent Ikari, what are we doing here?"

"Remember that case I told you about yesterday?"

"Yes, the one you said Kaji gave you."

"Well it wasn't so much a case..."

She pulled the car up to the side of the road and glared at him.

"What do you mean it wasn't so much a case?"

"Well it's not official, this hasn't been cleared with Misato."

"So we're not meant to be here, is that what you're saying?"

Shinji grinned slightly and nodded.

"Well we're NERV Agents so we do have the authority to go wherever we want, and besides, we could find something useful. If you don't want to be here just drop me off and I'll walk from here you don't have to get in trouble on account of me. I'm here because Kaji said the people involved knew my father."

Asuka glanced at the folder on the dashboard and then ahead on the road, she could just tell him to get out of the car now and then she could drive back to NERV and not risk her career but she did promise she'd help him out with this.

"Okay, I'll come with you. I did say I owe you one and I'd help you, I guess I don't have a choice."

"Yes you do, you have a future at NERV, you do…"

"I'm not finished, I'll help you with this but promise me you won't turn this into a crusade to find out everything you can about your father. If he's gone to all this trouble to not be found, maybe there's a good reason for it. Maybe some things from your past are better left buried."

He stared at the folder in his hand and contemplated his options.

"Maybe you're right…."

"I usually am."

"Okay, we'll check this out and if I don't find anything then I'll give up."

She sighed and hit her hand off the steering wheel.

"You're an idiot, I didn't mean just give up I meant just don't turn this into a personal crusade."

"I think I understand, I'll make this up to you though."

"Lunch..."

"Huh?"

"You really are dense today, I thought you had gotten rid of your hangover. Buy me lunch."

"What now?"

"No not now, where are you going to get it from here, the tree on that person's front lawn? After we look at this place."

"Ok, sure."

She pulled the car away from the curb and began driving towards their destination again, after a short time driving through the streets they eventually came to the street the house was on. However, the scene that greeted them was not the one that Shinji wanted. They pulled up to where the house would be only to find the house burnt down and abandoned. He quickly got out of the car and moved towards the house, Asuka doing the same. Shinji quickly made his way up to the doorway and slammed his fist off the frame in frustration.

"I don't believe it."

Asuka moved towards him, nervously glancing around.

"What the hell happened here?"

There was no chance for a reply as both of them quickly caught sight of a man in a suit turning round the corner of the house. The man quickly pulled out a gun and fired two shots in the direction of the agents. Without thinking Shinji pushed Asuka out of the way and braced himself for the impact of the bullets. After a moment of waiting nothing happened, he looked up and noticed the man still standing there, what really struck him as strange was the bullets the man had fired were now hovering directly in front of Shinji, blocked by some sort of glowing field.

Asuka noticed this and quickly got to her feet, pulling out her own pistol, she fired two shots at the man, one bullet hitting him in the head, the other in the stomach. She turned to see the two bullets fired at Shinji falling to the ground and Shinji frozen in shock.

"Agent Ikari, come on."

They both made their way over to the body of the man Asuka had shot and looked down at him. Asuka recoiled as she saw both the wounds on the man begin to heal up and his eyes flicker open again. The man quickly grabbed hold of Asuka and threw her to the ground as he made his way up. Shinji went to withdraw his own gun but was stopped as the man grabbed his wrist and delivered a quick blow to his gut. Both of the agents gave chase and the man quickly dashed into the nearby trees, both agents fired off shots at the man, only for them to have no effect.

They kept running only for the forest to progressively get darker, suddenly a strange sensation went through Shinji's body. He stopped where he was only to notice Asuka was no longer behind him.

"Agent Sohyu?"

He called out only to receive no reply, he began to backtrack, only to find he no longer recognized the forest he was in.

'What just happened to me?'

From above he heard a loud rumbling noise, the ground began to shake as he knelt down, looking for the source of the noise. Eventually it appeared, three bright lights making their way slowly over the trees accompanied by a loud rumbling noise. The lights were like those of a search light, they scanned the forest before fixing themselves on Shinji's body. He shielded his eyes and looked up and saw what seemed to be a hatch opening.

'Is this… is this really happening?'

He began to feel a strange sensation in his body as the same field he saw deflect the bullets began to form around him. In the distance the silhouette of a person came into view, they moved towards him. As they did so he immediately recognized the person.

"Ayanami?"

"You must come with me Ikari, you are not ready for this yet."

"What do you mean?"

She grabbed hold of his hand and began to lead him away from the light, as she touched him everything went dead. The lights vanished, the rumbling ceased and the sun began to pour back into the forest again. He looked around confused, his mind trying to comprehend what had just happened. He looked around trying to find any sign of what was just hovering over him only to find himself alone in the clearing with Agent Ayanami looking at him.

"What…what just happened?"

He was met with silence from Ayanami, he repeated the question only to be met with silence and Ayanami's red eyes burrowing into him.

"How…how did you know we were here?"

This time Ayanami did speak.

"Agent Katsuragi noticed you and Sohryu leaving, she sent me to follow you."

"You…you've been following us?"

"Yes."

Shinji knelt down and looked around, noticing Asuka wasn't there.

"Where is Agent Sohryu?"

"She will be here in a minute, we have been looking for you for over an hour."

Shinji stared at her in disbelief, even for him someone who did believe in the paranormal, extraterrestrial and other strange phenomena that was too hard to believe. It had felt like he had been there for just under ten minutes, it was impossible for him to have been there for an hour. He glanced at his watch, it had stopped exactly at the time he and Asuka had arrived at the burnt down house. Lost for something to say, he asked Ayanami the only other question he had on his mind.

"What did you mean when you said I wasn't ready for this?"

"I never said that."

"No you did, just then, in the light, you found me and said it?"

"Perhaps you are still unwell, I do not remember any of what you have just said."

Shinji stood up, unsure of what to think, Ayanami sounded genuine enough but he had been there, he had witnessed her coming towards him and speaking those words. It was Ayanami, he was sure of it, the person looked exactly like her, he tried to remember exactly what the person looked like. The image of her quickly flashed into his mind.

'No, it was her, it had to have been, she looked exactly like Ayanami, she had the same body, the same features, everything.'

"Agent Ikari, are you sure you're alright?"

He looked around, it was only him and Ayanami at this moment, he remembered back to what had happened a few hours previous in the office and glanced at Ayanami sheepishly. She looked at him with the same icy expression she always wore, there was no trace of the emotion he had seen from her earlier that day.

"I'm alright, we'd better get Agent Sohryu and get out of here."

"Agreed."

Both the agents quickly spun round as there was a rustling behind them. Shinji grabbed his pistol and aimed it towards the sound. He held his breath as Asuka suddenly appeared, recoiling slightly when she saw Shinji's gun pointed at her.

"Not quite the greeting I think I deserve."

He lowered the gun, embarrassed.

"Sorry I d…"

"Doesn't matter, you two need to take a look at something."

"What is it?"

She turned back towards where she had just come from as Shinji and Rei followed her back through the trees. Eventually they came towards a small clearing. She pointed towards the center and Shinji noticed what she was pointing at. It was a body, from what Shinji could tell it was a male adult, beyond that however, nothing. He knelt down beside it, looking at it more closely.

"I've never seen anything like this, it's been heavily burnt but it's in some sort of pattern. Who could have done this?"

Asuka shook her head and lowered her voice.

"I don't know, but take a look at the logo on his shirt."

Rei knelt down as well and moved the persons jacket revealing the shirt the man was wearing, all three agents recognized it. An image consisting of a downwards pointing triangle with seven eye's within it.

A/N: Wow chapter 10 already, to be honest I'm not too happy with some parts of this one, it moves the story along but there's something about it I cannot pin point that doesn't work so well. Maybe I'm just being silly, but there's something there I'm not too sure about, I might come back to this one later and try to refine it again. Anyway, hopefully it works for everyone. Thanks for reading so far.