Disclaimer: I don't own Neon Genesis Evangelion or anything associated with it. Gainax created this world, I just play in it.

This chapter is going up a little early. I'm on vacation this week and won't be around for the day tomorrow so up it goes now.

Transposed

Chapter 11

At the Estate of Lorenz Kiel

The estate was a stereotype. Everything about it, the large manor house at the end of the winding, tree lined lane way. The rolling fields and thick forests that surrounded it. The rich, dark polished wood decor that spoke of tradition and old money. Even the large office done up in dark stained oak, massive bookcases filled with volume after volume of classic literature and texts of the history of the world, every one of them having been read at least once. The aged leather chairs and the massive wooden desk with the antique brass and green glass bankers lamp.

All of it fit what people expected to see of a rich European businessman, a man who had invested early and wisely in numerous profitable ventures and who exercised a certain amount of influence in the upper reaches of society. A man who had worked a lifetime to amass a sizable personal fortune to go with his power and who had retired to his handsome estate to enjoy the fruits of a lifetime of labour.

That was exactly the image that Lorenz Kiel had crafted for the world to see. How better to hide the truth about himself and his aims and goals from the world at large than to layer them under a thick blanket of normalcy. Hide in plain sight by showing people what they expect to see. But that didn't mean that he was not a careful man. Everything he did, every move he made was carefully planned out and executed. Nothing was left to chance. There was too much at stake to be complacent about anything.

But right now the foundations of what he had spent so long building and advancing behind that facade were shaking. One of his most crucial allies had been taken out. He had no illusions that the accident that killed Harold Connelly III was anything but deliberate, he could feel it in his ancient, creaking bones. Predictably, the other members of the organization had begun to panic, but unlike all of the other times something had come along to make them anxious he wasn't able to reason with them or force them back into a calmer state with just the sheer force of his personality.

Connelly was one of the senior members of SEELE and the Instrumentality Committee and his demise at what they all suspected was less than accidental means had hit several of the other members hard. Connelly had been the one that made the wheels turn in SEELE's favour at the UN. When they needed extra funding or to get a watchdog off their back, Connelly was the one to smooth the ruffled feathers, broker the deals and twist the arms to bring things in line.

Without his presence within the UN the opposition they had been fending off might begin to gain a foothold, and the worst of that opposition was the shadowy Special Investigation Service. Thus far they had managed to keep them at arms length and out of any of anything serious. Without the knife that was Connelly at their throats there may well be a few people that would feel the need to clear their consciences of the things they had done to aid SEELE along the way. Nothing that should lead them even close towards the Instrumentality Committee, but enough to instigate some investigations and turn over several stones.

Fortunately they were close enough to the end game that anything that might come from that should have little or no effect. Even so, Connelly's demise had spooked several of his fellow conspirators and at least a couple of them were planning on going to ground and laying low. Fools. If they weren't under suspicion before their actions now would only draw attention that they didn't need. As tempted as he was to have them eliminated that would only sow more panic among the others and bring the whole Committee down. Still, he supposed he could send people out to have a direct face to face with the wayward cowards and push them back into line. They may be close to their goal, and in the end he would truly be glad to be rid of the fools, all of them, but the scenario wasn't complete yet and they needed all hands on deck to make sure things continued to run a smoothly and problem free as possible.

The good news that Unit 01 seemed to be fully functional had helped to a degree, he knew it certainly gave him some relief, but the situation was still delicate. The First Child was still unconscious in a hospital bed while the Second's mind had gone off the rails. Even if it was the infamous Berserker, he didn't know if one unit would be enough to defeat the remaining Angels. If worse came to worst, Ikari would just have to force his little doll awake and into the pilot seat again despite her injuries. He had never had any qualms about doing it before.

He was somewhat concerned by the brainwave readings from the activation test though. It seemed that the resident consciousness of the Eva itself was far more developed that what anyone had considered possible. Had it become aware? Was it capable of intelligent thought? The nature of the unit's resident consciousness was a cloudy subject. Short of direct contact there was no real way to know what it was or how it worked, if it just followed the will of the human soul that was forced together with it or was it capable of adapting itself. Only one person could really shed any light on that subject. Perhaps he would need to speak with Yui Ikari after all. He needed to determine if this posed any danger to the project.

There was still one other recent occurrence that he still didn't know what to do about. Kaji Ryoji and his sudden and hasty flight from Tokyo 3. He still didn't know what was going on there. The people that had been keeping tabs on the spy in both Tokyo 3 and Tokyo 2 had not been heard from or seen in nearly twenty four hours. There was not a trace of them or of the spy himself. It was setting alarm bells off in his head but he had no information to work with. Was it more of the man's triple agent lurking, trying to uncover information he would never find? Had he just decided to run from all parties involved, or had one of his other benefactors gotten tired of him and taken him out and anyone who was seen watching him?

He was at a deficit for intelligence on this issue and he didn't like it. The chances of Kaji finding out anything truly useful were very remote but not impossible. Possible leaks were things he had accounted for in his planning and he had people that specialized in finding them and plugging them. No matter what had transpired with the spy he needed to know and would need to put those people to work. Just as he would have to do a little extra work himself to bring the scurrying chickens of the Committee back into line.

Living for as many centuries as he had on this world, if nothing else, it had reminded him of the value of patience, a deficit of which had made all of this necessary for him. He had planned thoroughly and carefully and everything would fall into place within his hands. Time and the proper application of influence would see him get his way.

Tokyo 3: Misato's Apartment

To say that there was a slight issue with the apartment was like saying an Evangelion was big. The description was true but not terribly precise. To be accurate the apartment looked like an Eva had rampaged through it. There were numerous holes in the walls and broken windows. Furniture was broken and seat cushions ripped open. Cupboard doors were pulled off their hinges, dishes were smashed and dry food goods were strewn about the kitchen. The fridge door was hanging by one hinge and the remaining food in it and strewn around it was starting to go bad. The bathroom shower head was broken, but luckily the water pressure was low enough that the excess was going down the drain and hadn't completely flooded the bathroom. Clothes and linens from all of the bedrooms were strewn around the apartment, some ripped and torn, others just flung about.

It was a disaster area, all courtesy of Hurricane Asuka and it was a sad testament to what her state of mind had been. Fuyutsuki had sent people ahead to check the apartment before Shinji's tests were over, having known Yui's wishes about her living arrangements. After hearing about the condition of the place he had wasted no time in commandeering the bigger, empty apartment on the building's top floor. The rooms were all a little bigger and there was another bedroom, overall it was a much better living space.

Shinji had looked rather lost as he had stood amid the carnage. That apartment had become his home and he had taken a certain amount of pride in looking after it and keeping the place as neat and tidy as he could in spite of his room mates. It didn't help much either that his S-DAT player was among the wreckage, singled out for extra special destruction if its pulverized condition was any indication. Luckily he didn't get a lot of time to dwell on it as he had been pretty much tackled by a panicked and madly squawking PenPen shortly after discovering it. It took a while to calm the bird down.

Thankfully the new apartment already had a fridge, stove, washer and dryer. None of those appliances in the old apartment were usable now. The crew Fuyutsuki had sent moved PenPen's fridge for them, which was largely undamaged, and helped them move a couple of dressers that were usable. Everything else was trashed and they would have to go out in a day or two and purchase new furniture.

It was one o'clock in the morning as Yui silently slid the door to Shinji's room closed and smiled to herself as she walked back to her room. Despite being tired from the tests he had worked tirelessly as they salvaged what they could from the old apartment. He had even made a quick run to the nearest convenience store to get some food and cleaning supplies. Other than a little dust the new place was pretty clean so it didn't take too long, but he insisted on washing all of the clothes and linens they had been able to salvage.

It had given her a spontaneous opportunity to tease him a little during dinner. While her borrowed hospital scrubs were in the wash she had been going through a pile of Misato's clothes. Except for a noticeable difference in the bust, they were both close to the same size. As she was looking she happened to spot something that triggered a memory she had gained from syncing with Shinji. A memory of his first night in Misato's apartment.

When she came to the kitchen wearing a pair of denim cut offs and a short yellow tank top, she thought Shinji's jaw was going to hit the floor. In part it was due to the sense of deja vu, and in part it was because he never expected to see her wearing something like that. Giggling, she hugged him and explained herself, apologizing for teasing him. He even managed to chuckle about it himself in the end, at least until she started teasing him about running out of the shower and giving Misato the full show.

As she detoured and grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge before continuing to her room, she couldn't help but wonder why she had acted that way. It wasn't really in her nature to tease as much as she had, yet she hadn't been able to help it. It had been harmless fun, and Shinji had even been genuinely laughing through his crimson blushing. She also seemed to get angrier much quicker than she used to.

She couldn't help but wonder if it had anything to do with exposure to the minds and memories of others through the Eva, especially in the transition space between the core and the plug where the most unhindered form of mental contact could take place if it wasn't actively blocked. Or, maybe it had something to do with inevitable changes taking place within herself after being locked away inside the core for ten years. That had taken a toll on her in various ways that could possibly lead to different behaviours. She didn't think anything serious would come of it, or at least she hoped so, but it might not hurt if she kept an accounting of her actions for a while just to make sure. There were bound to be other differences and more incidences of changes within her.

Sliding her door shut, she made her way back to her makeshift workstation. A couple of cushions to sit on as she let her back rest against the wall, and a laptop sitting on a cardboard box that served as a desk. Fuyutsuki had given her the computer before he left along with her new NERV security card. He had put a rush on it and under the circumstances it mattered little right now if she had her new civilian ID yet or not. The public authorities could wait their turn and would just have to accept NERV's explanation that her whereabouts for the last ten years were strictly need to know...and they didn't need to know. They would huff and puff about it but they would relent and process her papers.

Just as she was about to return her attention to the computer screen and what she had been doing earlier, she spied something on the dresser that caused her to turn red. She scrambled to her feet and stuffed the item in a drawer and out of sight.

As they had been salvaging things from the old apartment she had come across a certain...adult toy that no doubt belonged to Misato. She had stuffed it in a pile of clothes she was carrying and had managed to stash it in her room before Shinji put the clothes in the laundry. She knew that he was likely aware that Misato had such a thing, but she didn't need to have him see her with it nor did she think that it needed to be left laying about the old apartment until they packed up all the non-salvageable stuff for the trash.

Of course, by the time Shinji had virtually passed out in his bed after dinner and she went to have her bath, that itch she had been having ever since she came back became front and centre again. And with something a little more substantial on hand to scratch it with than just her own fingers or the pulsations of a hand held shower, she made use of the opportunity. A couple of times. Okay three and she had to clench a towel in her teeth each time to keep from screaming loud enough to wake Shinji up. Chalk up another difference in her behaviour.

Well, it had taken the edge off and she felt a lot more relaxed now. The events of the day and her argument with Gendo had stressed her out. She was beginning to wonder if sexual release was becoming her standard way to deal with stress. It had surprised the hell out of her quite frankly when she and Lilith had fallen into that so readily. They had already connected on every other level during their time in their prison, it had been almost inevitable that the loneliness and despair they often felt would lead them to find comfort and pleasure with each other. She didn't regret it in the least either.

"Nor do I," her counterpart's voice echoed in her head. "And your little prank with Shinji was amusing."

"It did get him to open up a little about what he was feeling when he first came here," Yui added. "It's a start, and I hope he gets more comfortable with telling me things. After all this time it will take him a while to get used to having me around."

"Just so long as he doesn't hear you having screaming orgasms in the bath," Lilith teased.

"Shush you," Yui admonished laughingly as she sat back down at her makeshift desk.

The clearances Fuyutsuki had given her allowed her unlimited access to the MAGI's files, just like her old professor, Gendo, and Dr. Akagi had. She had essentially been reinstated to her old job. She had started with sifting through technical reports on the Eva's and finding herself impressed with the work that Dr. Akagi and her staff had done to both maintain and upgrade them.

She then immersed herself in the files for the dummy plug system. Just the memories alone of that incident both made her blood boil and made her feel sick. Activation of the system had caused a disruption in their ability to control the Eva and both she and Lilith had to sit by helplessly and watch as Gendo's will was done, the Fourth Child crippled while Shinji was forced to go along for the ride to bear witness and have yet more damage done to his already fragile soul and psyche.

And then he locked her little boy away in a dark, solitary confinement cell because he dared to try and defy him and threaten him for what he had made him do. If she could have regained control over the Eva at that point she would have made sure that Gendo had been introduced to the underside of Shogoki's foot.

'We will need to do something about the spares,' she commented. "Both to disable the dummy plug project and for Rei's own good." Fuyutsuki had told her that one of the levers Gendo always used against the girl was the threat of replacement. With Gendo's intent still unknown, it wouldn't hurt to take away one of his potential methods of control should he see fit to ever try using it again.

"Those bodies contain the barest traces of my soul," Lilith said. "Not enough to give them a soul of their own, they remain blank slates, but enough for me to sense them easily enough."

"Is there any chance that they could be gaining any level of awareness?" Yui questioned.

"None," Lilithconfirmed. "I can tell from that bare trace in each of them that there is no self awareness whatsoever." Her voice took on an edge. "They are nothing but what he designed them to be. Soulless, mindless blanks."

Yui sighed. "It should be easy enough to take care of at any point. Tougher will be getting into Terminal Dogma for a long enough period of time to extract what we need from your seed body without being seen or interrupted."

"Can Fuyutsuki not run interference?" Lilith asked. "He wouldn't even need to know what you were doing, he would accept even an acknowledged excuse from you and wouldn't question it."

"Maybe so," Yui agreed. "But Gendo keeps a close eye on him and keeps him busy dealing with other matters he'd rather not bore himself with...like dealing with the city council and civilian authorities. Another layer of insulation between us and him would serve our needs better."

"You're still contemplating bringing Dr. Akagi into this." It was more statement than question.

"We might not have a choice," Yui intoned sourly. "I don't really want to bring anyone else into it but Fuyutsuki can only do so much without Gendo being suspicious and interfering. Another set of hands and eyes would be helpful and she could manipulate the MAGI to help keep Gendo in the dark."

"Can we trust her?" Lilith asked the obvious question. "She has been a full participant in his plans since she took up her Mother's position and up until you returned she was still his lover."

"Girl must have been truly lonely and desperate to hope for any love from Gendo," Yui surmised. "I would have to talk to her more to get a better feel for where her motivations lie now, but I think she's had her fill of him and his plans and her part in them. She has a defeated, broken look in her eyes. I think she wants a way out but doesn't know where to find it."

"Her help would be useful," Lilith conceded. "And with her as well as Fuyutsuki on our side that would take away the only allies Gendo really has. Not that it would mean much to him to lose them."

"Maybe not," Yui agreed. "But it would make it a little more difficult for him to move ahead if he decides to continue this madness."

"We need to relieve him of that abomination he has grafted to his hand," Lilith remarked sourly. "Without it, his options are severely limited for initiating Third Impact. Without it or my seed body in existence, there would be nothing to call to the Angels. Nothing to wake them and make them come here. They would remain dormant in their cocoons and we could hunt the remainder down and eliminate them with little risk of them awakening."

Yui sighed. "I hope that we aren't too late. The timetable in the scrolls isn't exact and we don't know if there is a 'point of no return' stage to an Angel's awakening and growth to maturity. If there is and the Angels still awakens, it could appear anywhere."

"The genetic presence of the Eva's may be enough to still draw them here if that is the case," Lilith surmised. "But it shouldn't be enough to trigger their awakening otherwise...possibly only in extremely close proximity if it does."

"I hope we're on the right track," Yui said. "I would really like to stop them so that Shinji doesn't have to fight any more of them, especially now that he may not have much backup to rely on."

"That would be the preferred outcome," Lilith agreed. She cared far too much about Shinji to want to see him continue fighting if he didn't need to, even though she would be there with him as always. "But there is something you once told me about that you referred to as Murphy's Law I believe."

"Anything that can go wrong, will," Yui groaned. "Yes, unfortunately Mr. Murphy has a habit of showing up when he isn't wanted. He's a lot like Gendo actually. He's a real prick."

Morning, NERV Medical ICU, Rei Ayanami's Room

Outwardly, there were no signs of change or movement. Her bruises were perhaps a little darker and she still slept under the effects of a sedative that spared her from feeling the pain of her badly beaten body. But inside, deep inside, it was a different story. Deep inside Rei Ayanami's mind was a vast and infinite stretch of calm water, dominated by a red hued sky full of stars. Everything was still and quiet. No sound to break the silence, no wind to stir the air and water. Yet, the scene didn't seem stifling or oppressive for its lack of sound or motion.

Rei stood in the placid waters. It wasn't very deep, high enough to conceal the wisps of soft blue hair that outlined her womanhood, but not high enough to reach her hips. She had been here in this construct of her subconscious before, both when she was hurt and when she was feeling things she didn't understand or when the events of her life stained her usually stoic features with a hint of stress. It was peaceful and she would swim for miles or just float for a time, letting the peacefulness fill her and let the gentle water calm her. Peace was eluding her now however. Her injuries never carried over into this place but for some reason they had this time. Cuts and bruises, broken bones. Her entire body ached terribly and she could barely stay on her feet.

Competing with it was the internal pain. The feeling of being lost and abandoned and stripped of the only purpose she had ever known. The feeling of having the one person she could call friend be afraid of the truth of what she really was.

"Well now, aren't you a mess," a clear, strong voice spoke.

She looked up to see before her the dark skinned, dark haired, green eyed resident soul of the Berserker standing before her, equally as naked as she was and literally standing on top of the water.

"Lilith," Rei whispered, her voice rough and raspy and tinged with fear.

The woman sank into the water until she was sitting atop it, letting her legs swish back and forth causing small ripples. "You are such a mess that you can't even retreat into the safety of your own mind now without the pain following, can you?"

"How are you here?" Rei asked.

She smirked. "Silly girl, we are the same flesh and the same soul, how could I not be able to be here? Surely you have not forgotten what you are?"

That only seemed to add to her distress. "I am well aware of what it is that I am." she said quietly.

"What you are is a pathetic little thing who would allow a loud mouthed, egotistical child with a superiority complex to try to beat you to death, rather than find a new purpose when the one you were given is no longer valid." The words seemed to hit Rei like a slap and her already unsteady legs nearly gave out.

Lilith sighed. "But then I suppose considering the way Gendo conditioned you, it shouldn't be surprising that something like this happened. He gave you a single focus and a limited future and when things change he doesn't even speak to you, let alone offer you any direction."

"My role in the Commander's scenario was all that was required of me," Rei rasped. "There was no other purpose for me to exist."

"That scenario is dead and nothing he does will revive it in any form," Lilith said firmly. "We will not allow it to ever come to pass now."

"Then...there is no reason for me to continue to exist..."

She never saw Lilith move, but sure enough she felt the hard, stinging slap to the face that had her seeing stars as she fell and ended up underwater. She came back up sputtering and coughing, the hacking causing her already sore body to flare with pain. She couldn't get back to her feet.

"You would rather just give up and die because you can no longer be used like a disposable tool to fulfill a madman's twisted dreams?" Lilith's voice was sharp and hard and her eyes were virtually glowing. "You would rather stop living than find another purpose for yourself, one of your choosing where you can live any way you wish to?"

"I have nothing...I am nothing," Rei wheezed pitifully. "I would not...be missed."

Again, she never saw Lilith move, but in an instant she went from being on her knees in the water to being hoisted above it by her throat and Lilith's right hand. All of the fury of the infamous Berserker burned in her eyes.

"Nothing!?" she roared. "You are not nothing! You are one of the greatest things that can ever be! You are a life! You are Rei Ayanami. You are not a nameless clone in a tank! You are not Gendo's means to an end! You are you, a precious life that now has her freedom within her grasp! The freedom to shape a new life for yourself in any way you see fit!"

She let the clearly terrified girl down until her feet were once again touching the bottom of the endless sea. She placed her hands on her shoulders to keep her upright and looked into her frightened eyes, her own visage much calmer now that she had made her point.

"Do you think that Shinji believes that you are nothing?" she asked calmly. "Do you think that he would not miss you if you were gone?"

Rei nearly slumped out of her grasp. "Ikari fears me now. He fears what I am."

"He doesn't fear you or what you are child," Lilith assured her. "He is simply overwhelmed by everything he has been told and you already know that he has difficulty communicating with people. Especially so with girls and more so with one he is fond of."

"He...is fond of me?" The tone of her voice was incredulous. No one had ever been fond of her. Even the Commander's attentions never came across as containing any such sentiment. Among everyone else she was either tolerated or despised.

"Yes, he is," Lilith confirmed. "You never rebuffed his attempts at friendship and you never used or abused him. And he has always thought that you were pretty and he likes being around you, he just isn't able to articulate such feelings to anyone for fear that he will be shunned or pushed away. It is all he has known in his life since Yui was pulled into the Eva."

"And what of Yui Ikari?" Rei asked. "I was made to look like her, originally made in part with her DNA." Rei was aware of her genetic disposition. She had seen the reports that showed her human DNA had been assimilated and reconfigured by her Angelic genetics. For all intents and purposes her DNA profile marked her as an Angel, not a human or even a hybrid of the two.

"What of her?" Lilith queried. "She has no quarrel with you. You are a victim like so many others in this accursed place. You have nothing to fear from her. She looks forward to meeting and getting to know you. She also wants to apologize to you."

Rei was puzzled. "Why would she feel the need to apologize to me?"

Lilith sighed. "At the time of her contact experiment Yui was a supporter of the Instrumentality Project. It wasn't until she had a great deal of time in the core to reflect on things that she realized how wrong the idea of Instrumentality was. It was driven home to her even more when she first synced with Shinji and discovered the life he had been subjected to. If not for her support of the project, if not for her subsequent plan of letting the Eva assimilate her and Gendo's selfish, obsessive response to losing her, you would not have been subjected to all of the things you have had to suffer through. She wants to help you if she can."

Rei didn't understand. They had every reason to fear or despise her, to want her disposed of for being the abomination that she was. Yet they did not. If anything it was the opposite, they wanted her to live and to have a life lived by her own direction and desires. But how could she do that? She had been disallowed nearly all of the experiences that others had that led to the ability to live an independent life. She had been conditioned to believe that nearly all experiences, all emotions were meaningless and would only serve to distract her. She wasn't supposed to live beyond her designated usefulness so what was the point in learning how to live and act like a normal human being?

"The point is in living itself," Lilith answered, having heard her thoughts. "To live is to experience as much of what life and the world itself has to offer as you can, both good and bad. Those two things are necessary to define one another. You have already experienced more than your share of the bad, but you now have an opportunity to experience so much more than that. Why not give it a try? Your life can only get better."

"I have known nothing else," Rei lamented. "It is frightening to even consider such change."

"Change represents the unknown, and the unknown can be frightening," Lilith said softly. "But you would not be alone. You will have Yui and Shinji and I will be there as well when this is all over." Rei's eyes widened at that. Lilith smiled. "I plan on living outside of my armoured shell. I have experienced little of this world myself so I will be learning how to live in it as well."

She placed a finger under the blue haired girl's chin, raising her head so she could look into her eyes. "You came here to this place inside your soul to find some peace and to clear your mind. Maybe through that you will find the answer to what you want to do." She began to fade away. "If you wish to speak to me, I will hear you," she said before disappearing completely.

With Lilith's departure Rei allowed herself to simply flop over, splashing under the water only to resurface and float a moment later. She felt so tired, both from the beating her body had taken and the weight of her thoughts. A life lived for her own purposes and at her own direction. Could she really live such a life? In recent times she had actually spent some thought on what it might be like to live differently than she did, but she couldn't really grasp the concept. She had lived such a structured, regimented, and regulated life thus far that it was hard to start considering things she had always been told to ignore because they bore no importance upon her purpose.

Would she even be capable now of living a different way after all this time living as she had? Or was she exactly what the Second always accused her of being, a lifeless doll that couldn't do anything without being ordered to do it? She hated it, hated being called a doll but she could not escape the reality of her life. Little more than a doll was exactly what she was. She had been made in a lab rather than created naturally by an act of love. She had been manufactured and programmed like a commodity and she certainly was not unique. A tank full of clones in Terminal Dogma confirmed that fact.

Everything she had been taught and learned, every facet of her life had been dictated by the Commander. He conditioned her to be an emotionless automaton with little ability or need to make decisions about her day to day life. Obey. Die on cue. That was all that was required of her. Then Shinji came along. The scared, mistreated boy who piloted in her stead despite his terror simply so she would not be hurt anymore than she already was. His kindness and attempts at friendship made something within her change. Over time she found herself comfortable in his presence, even if nary a word passed between them. He never mistreated her or was put off by her seemingly cold manner. He never spoke a harsh word to her even after she had slapped him for having no faith in his father, an action she now greatly regretted. He had made her smile and made her begin to feel something other than the cold, utilitarian sterility of her too often pain filled life.

He cared about her when and where no one else ever did. Lilith also seemed to care and if she was being truthful, then so did Yui Ikari and they all wanted to help her discover a new way to live, to live a life that was truly her own. She let her mind focus on that and the small collection of warm and positive feelings she had experienced around Shinji. Eventually a small smile came to her. She didn't know if she could really live that new life, but she wanted to try. So long as Shinji was a part of that life she might even succeed.

As the phantom wounds that had followed her into this inner world began to disappear, she thought back to what Lilith had told her."I believe that I am fond of you as well Ikari," she whispered. And he was visually appealing to her too, but she was only capable of admitting one revelation at a time right now.

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