AUTHOR'S NOTE: How about that? Three chapters in 48 hours. Just in case I don't update again for awhile. Though this part now reads as "complete," of course there will be other chapters. Riana's story is far from over.

Riana awoke to a somewhat unfamiliar ceiling.

It was familiar enough, in that bathroom ceilings tend to look the same most places in the world. She felt very warm and light, as if her body was floating…and then realized that it was. Riana looked down, and saw that she was in a bath. Then her head began to pound. She reached back and found a knot there, and her hand came away bloody.

What…what am I doing here? Did they take me out of the Eva? Is this the hospital? I feel weird. Those thoughts raced through her aching head. Riana struggled to get up out of the bath, but after two abortive attempts, finally got to her feet. Her body felt off, somehow. She was naked. Durrh, Riana...you were taking a bath. Steam made the bathroom warm at least. Why would they put me in a bath? That doesn't seem right…and my head's bleeding a little…Riana saw blood on the white porcelain of the tub. A good amount of water was on the floor. Did…did I fall? She glanced around. There were towels on the washstand, over the toilet, and decorations on the wall. Riana had been in NERV's infirmary enough times, but this bathroom lacked the hospital antiseptic smell. It smelled rather nice, actually. There were stacks of shampoo, body cleanser, even shaving cream—too much for one person. Misato's apartment, maybe? Maybe they took me there…how long have I been out?

The room tilted for a moment, and Riana steadied herself. She took stock. She had not woken up next to a blood-red ocean on a beach filled with dead bodies. She was alive, which was always a plus. Since she was alive and in a rather pleasant smelling bathroom, next to a warm tub, that likely meant that Zeruel was dead and they had triumphed again. Shinji came back! Riana remembered in a rush. That was him in EVA-01! Ha…good old Shinji. Saved our ass again. Boy, Asuka's going to be pissed, and it'll be glorious. And Shinji's dad? Won't that light a fire under Commander Ikari's ass, though?

Riana grabbed a towel from the rack and wrapped it around herself—or began to. She stopped as she looked down at her naked body. She looked a bit thinner, her skin a bit darker, but something was wrong. Then she realized what it was.

"My God! What's happened to my boobs?!" Riana shouted, and swiped a hand across the mirror. No, her eyes were not paying tricks on her. She'd been somewhat oversized for a teenager, and now she was rather flat. Then she looked again. Her eyes. Riana's eyes were dark blue.

The eyes that stared back at her were also blue, but they were shaped differently, and the shade was all wrong.

Slowly, her hands went up to her hair. The color was right there, too—it was a dark brown—but it was cut short, like Rei Ayanami's, with the bangs coming down to frame the eyes, instead of long and parted in the middle like it should be.

"That's not me…" Riana whispered in horror. "That's not me." She clutched the towel, quickly wrapped it around herself, and opened the door. Her vision swam, and she nearly fell, but she got out into the corridor. It was a house, not the NERV infirmary. Someone lived here. She could smell coffee. "Is there someone there?" she shouted. "Who's there?" She took two steps forward, staggered, then propped herself against the wall.

A woman dressed in a housecoat came around the corner from what Riana supposed was the kitchen. She looked strangely familiar. There was something about the face, and the hair, but Riana could not be certain. The woman was holding a coffee cup, but she hurriedly set it aside on a small table in the hallway, and rushed over to Riana. "Are you all right?" the woman asked.

"I…don't know…" Riana stammered. "Something's wrong with me..."

"Dear, get in here!" the woman yelled. Riana sank down to the carpet, guided by the woman's hands; her hands were very soft, she thought in passing. She heard a chair slide back, the rattle of china, heavy footfalls on a tiled floor.

Gendo Ikari came around the corner. He, at least, looked correct—black slacks, black jacket with yellow trim, red shirt, red-tinted glasses, Lincolnesque beard. His expression, however, shifted from the faintly disapproving one that was familiar, to one of genuine concern, which was not. "Yui!" he exclaimed. "What's wrong with her?"

"I don't know!" the woman replied—Yui? Riana thought. She'd heard that name somewhere before. Someone had mentioned it at NERV. She reached for the memory, but it remained just out of reach. "She just came out of the bathroom—Gendo, she's bleeding!" Yui's hand now had blood on it as well. "She must've slipped and hit her head!"

"I'll call an ambulance," Gendo said, and was gone, back around the corner. Yui eased Riana to the carpet, careful to keep her head steady. Dimly, Riana remembered that Yui Ikari had been a doctor. Someone had told her that. Her eyebrows beetled together in confusion. That can't be right, she thought. That can't be right.

"Look at me." Yui cradled Riana's head, keeping it as immobile as possible. "Mana, look at me. You're going to be okay. You hear me? Don't fall asleep! You have to stay awake!"

Riana tried, but the darkness crept back like an old friend. Her vision began to dim again. "Mana?" She tried to shake her head, but Yui's hands kept her from doing so. "My name is Riana."

Yui smiled down at her, and even through the haziness, Riana knew who that smile reminded her of. "Don't talk, Mana. Stay with me."

Riana's hand came up to gently caress the side of Yui's face. "You're Yui Ikari." Riana smiled. "You're Shinji's mom."

"That's right, Mana. Now—"

"S'funny," Riana mumbled. "You're supposed to be dead." Then the curtain fell and the world blinked out