Following winter's little escapade things finally got back to normal for the two of us. What happened in Vegas stayed in Vegas as while I didn't get in any real trouble for switching places with Patrick as the pilot of Unit 04, afterwards I wasn't asked to pilot the EVA again. It was fine with me, I felt like I could finally let it go and focus on what was ahead. And what was ahead was competition.

After nearly seven months of training and preparation Patrick and I found ourselves on the spring floor at Portsmouth Community College's gymnasium, for the all-regional Acrobatic Gymnastics Challenge Cup. It was our first actual competition and while I worked my best to keep my excitement in check I just could not wipe that nervous smile off my face. This is where I had wanted to be for so long, since I was tiny I had imagined something like this and while my actual experience didn't exactly match up to the dreams of a little blonde six-year-old it still completely worked for me.

For the last two days we had competed as a team in the Mixed Pairs group against about a dozen other boy/girl teams from all over New England. From the pace of the competition it was evident that everyone had worked hard to get here, and we went through two rounds of competition with our well-practiced routines, nervous but also anxious to prove ourselves against the others. On the first day we performed in both Balance and Dynamic rounds and to our honest surprise did well in both events, placing within the top three in either of them. Now on the second day, as part of a reduced group of six finalists teams, we were to perform one final routine that would decide the winner of the competition. We weren't on top, but we were within striking distance.

The random selection placed us sixth out of six teams, which depending on how you looked at it could be good or bad. The good was that we could watch the first five pairs complete ahead of us, and know what we were up against in terms of how many points we needed to place or even win. The bad is that we had to wait until the very end to complete, managing to keep warm and limber on the sidelines while hoping the scorers would give us a far shake at the end of a long day.

After nearly an hour of watching other teams go at it with their best, Patrick and I both saw the leaderboard and knew what we had to do. Two groups, both from Cambridge and both made up of experienced teams, had taken #1 and #2 on the leaderboard, but their performances were far from perfect. The "Base" or boy on one of the teams had even dropped the "Flyer" or the girl member on one of the balance stunts, and we knew that the markdown on that mistake would give us the chance we needed. We had to be perfect, but that first place was there and waiting for us.

With a nod to each other, both Patrick and I took off our matching warm-up suits and started making our way on the sidelines after applying a good amount of chalk to our bare feet. Coach Keiko gave us a final word of advice before we went onto the floor.

"Patrick, watch that flying catch," she enjoined. "Nail that and you got this!"

"Will do," he replied.

"And both of you! Don't forget to smile!" Keiko added, then clapped and shouted "Gambatte, ne!" Good Luck.

Marching onto the floor, I took a quick look at the stands to see our cheering section. Maria was there, holding a big banner in her hands as she shouted encouragement. So were a big group of Chamberlin students including not only Arjuna, Jason, and Linda but about twenty others who had decided to follow us on the weekend and give us loud and enthusiastic support from the indoor bleachers. I gave them a quick wave of the hand then kept walking to where our starting point was on the floor.

Working together for several months the two of us had mentally as well as physically made this final routine as polished as we could. Privately we decided that instead of trying to come up with something more artistically classical that gymnasts often used that instead we'd make EVA the "unspoken" theme of our Mixed Routine. The Mixed was to be a two-minute combination of balances and stunts that were both together as partners and in carefully-coordinated parallel with each other, and to us was our best chance at a high score.

As I said, the Mixed "EVA" theme had a few hints in it that to most outsiders probably looked like something vaguely original. For this event we had our outfits custom-made, my leotard was a long-sleeved competition-type that fit tightly but snugly, with a high collar. The color pattern however was in orange with black piping and striping wrapped all around me, and the number "04" was printed just below my neckline. Sounds familiar, huh? Patrick wore a fitted short-sleeved top with the same color pattern, along with patterned gym pants, and he too had a "04" under his collar. When Keiko asked us what the "04" was for, we just told her it was our lucky number, and she replied that it better not be our final ranking in the scores.

The other part of the routine was the music. Earlier as we were first creating our routine and after trying out what must have been a hundred different music pieces for accompaniment Patrick came up with this one short music track that featured two pianos playing in matching concert with each other. When I asked him where he got it from, he told me that it was actually used as a training tool by Shinji and Asuka when then fought Angels and needed to be in tight coordination with each other. Well, that was all of the inspiration that I needed, and while the original music piece was just about a minute long we looped it and stretched it to two minutes to fit our own routine. Of course, no one else knew but us that the music was inspired by EVA, but then that was part of the fun.

At the center of the spring floor Patrick and I made our starting poses, each one of us whispering a silent prayer to win this, or at least don't screw it up. We held in place silently motionless as our names were called by the announcer and the crowd quieted down. For a few seconds I swallowed nervously: this is what I always wanted and now I was actually here. Could I really do this? A electronic beep sounded that was our three-second warning that the music would start, and at the first note of the soundtrack we began.

Our starting point was the two of us standing apart, each one of us dancing and spinning in our own direction. Suddenly we caught a glimpse of each other, and then our movements coordinated. We then each led into a pair of somersaults that placed us right next to each other. Once together, Patrick carefully but gracefully lifted me up on his shoulders and I performed a split stunt, balancing myself on one foot on his right shoulder while arabesqueing first at 90 degrees and then at 180 for a good five seconds. From that I dramatically flipped off his mount, rotating a full 360 in the air and landing on my feet as Patrick gently caught me by the waist.

From our first pair of stunts we again flipped in coordination, this time apart from each other. Both of us went into a high-speed somersaulting run than again put us in parallel with each other, and this time we went into something of a dancer's embrace, his arms around me as I tried to resist him. It was part of the show, and also as part of it he knelt down and I again got onto his shoulders. This time I again balanced, but with my hands, holding myself up for another good five seconds while Patrick changing his post from first a kneeling to then a standing, and then finally a split of his own, from which I came rolling off.

We had practiced this routine so many times it honestly felt like a relief that we'd not have to do it again after this. I could hear the crowd clapping with the music and cheers but I couldn't let myself get distracted, We had a big finish and that needed to be perfect. I looked at my partner and very quickly he gave me a nod, and then we went into another set of speedy flips, this time perfectly in parallel. We again got into a dance embrace from which he swung me around, his hand on my waist as he spun me around himself while I posed gracefully while moving through the air at high speed. I then put my foot into his palm and he then threw me as far up in the air as he could and I went flying airborne.

One of the reasons why Coach Keiko was so excited to become our trainer was because to her we met the perfect demographic of the Acro Gymnast. As a pair, I was petite and light, and a very experienced gymnast already, while Patrick was tall and muscular and didn't shy from getting into action. But on top of that we were twins, and even though we hadn't know each other all of our lives we had bonded and made up for that lost time in the months we spent together in Maine. By now we really were two halves of a unit, and we proved that by knowing and trusting the other, and probably nothing was more important than that when you're throwing a ninety-five pound teenaged girl high up in the air like some sort of frisbee.

I flipped trough the air and landed again on Patrick's shoulders, the gasps from the crowd were audible to me as I swiftly but gracefully placed my hands on his shoulders and then did a handstand, then went into splits on the handstand, holding each position for at least three seconds. It was very strenuous and I nearly gave out, but holding as long as I could I then rolled out and then into a basket catch as my brother grabbed me with both arms. He then swung me around one more time and dove for the floor, and we ended with a final pose, me gracefully on top of him, and both of us finishing with our arms wide open.

Our routine was one that told a story, about a pair of people who discover each other, initially get scared but then unite and work together. It's hard to convey that simply with moves but we gave this our best and I hoped the judges and the crowd would see that story, beyond simply the balance stunts and coordinated flips that we did.

Elated to be done, we walked off the spring floor, waiving to the crowd as we moved to the sidelines. Keiko was waiting for us with towels and water. "How did we do," Patrick asked in complete honesty.

She didn't say anything except to give us a "thumbs up" sign and from that I guess we did alright.

Panting and trying to wipe the sweat that I was covered in, I hugged my brother as he came in close. "Think we got it?" he asked me.

"I don't even care," I told him. "I'm just glad that's done with."

But then the announcer sounded with our names and we watched the scoreboard. For an anxious minute I waited, watching for our scores to be posted on the LED display high above us. First our names flashed up there, then our combined score was posted: 9.55. It took me half a second to do the math.

"OH MY GOD WE DID IT!" I screamed out loud. Screaming with me, Patrick immediately lifted me in the air and swung me around in excitement. Keiko came into our group and hugged us both. "Unbelievable!" she told us. "You guys won your fist match!"

We went another five minutes going crazy on the sidelines, jumping and waiving to our support section in the crowd. Finally we got calmed down enough to make it to the medals platform, where the chief judge gave us both a gold medal and gave me flowers for winning our event. On that medal stand I took a deep breath and prayed another prayer of thanks. I never really thought I deserved this, but through teamwork, effort, and fate had ended up here anyway. It was a moment that I'll never forget.

The cloud we rested on did have one small dark spot: today was also our last day in America. Tomorrow we would be leaving for Japan.

The following morning a nurse came to our house in Maine with another gun-like device, and promptly removed the GPS tracker that I was embedded with when I first came here one year ago. I was also presented with a legal document saying that my sentence was complete, although I'd still have to comply with parole restrictions until I was eighteen, upon which my record would be expunged. But basically I was now, finally, completely free.

I spent the morning packing things, trying to work out how much I really needed to take with me. Finally I got three suitcases completely filled up. I had that much stuff, I wondered, all gathered up in one year. But I was all packed now and so was Patrick. We wore clothes for traveling, me a cream-colored sweater with a long plaid skirt and brown lace-up boots worn with sheer hose, while Patrick wore a khaki sportscoat and slacks over a dark green oxford shirt and brown loafers. NERV was graciously sending us their G6 to fly us to Japan, so at least we'd have a comfortable flight with a bedroom and shower in the plane for the 12-hour trip to Japan. As we pulled our things down the staircase I couldn't help but notice Patrick's attitude as we prepared to leave. He was downright perky.

"Can't wipe that smile off your face, huh?" I asked him.

He smirked at me. "Got someone warm and sweet waiting for me when I get there."

"Well, don't hog her all to yourself. She's my only other friend in Japan right now."

"You'll make a lot of others," he reassured me. "Don't worry."

But I was sort of worried. Japan had been a low point for me, from the horrible things that had happened thirteen months ago. I knew a lot had changed since then, but I still felt I needed to account for it. And I couldn't do that just by staying here in safety in the USA. I had to face the present, and I had to be there for Patrick as his own dreams, put aside for a year on my account, could now set sail too.

We pulled our suitcases outside of the lake house to find a committee waiting to say goodbye to us as we left. Standing in front of our front door were Linda, Arjuna, and Jason, dressed to welcome us in matching blue and red school sweaters. All of them had long looks on their faces, as they were very sorry to see us go. We embraced each of them in turn.

"I can't believe you're leaving already," Arjuna said to me as we held each other. "You only just got here!'

"Yeah," added Linda, who hugged me after Arjuna did. "Can't you guys at least finish out the school year?"

I shrugged. "The Japanese school year starts in April, so it's better if we start the new year at the beginning."

"Well, we're gonna miss both of you guys," replied Linda, who then stepped up to Patrick. "Bet you're glad to be getting back to Japan."

Patrick's smile was still there and all Linda could say in exchange was "so at least have a great time over there and don't be a stranger, that goes for both of you!" LInda offered a hug to Patrick and he gladly accepted.

Jason stood by and I made sure I didn't leave him out. He was a bit shy as always but that didn't stop me from hugging him tightly, and even giving him an affectionate peck on the cheek. "Thanks for being there for me, buddy."

He rubbed his cheek a little in embarrassment. "Yeah, I'm glad I met you. Now that your sentence is over, do they let you go back on the Internet?"

"Legally, yes," I confirmed. "Not that I haven't been doing that already, but don't tell anyone that."

Jason chuckled a little, as my internet surfing was against my sentence instructions, but I had been good enough not to have ever been caught doing it. "Okay, then keep in touch. I want to hear all about Japan."

"We'll be sure to send you all of the schoolgirl panty shots we can find," Patrick quipped. I quickly elbowed him, keeping a smile on as I did so. "Don't mind him. We'll be out there for you guys." Jason just blushed as did Patrick, but for entirely different reasons.

Maria opened up the front door and came out dressed in a navy blue suit, dressed up as she was expecting someone to come by. Maria had already made it clear that this was home for the both of us, and if we went to Japan please to just consider it an extended visit. We would always have a room here at the house by the lake, no matter what.

A large black SUV came driving up to the house and we all watched as it parked right next to us. "Is that our ride to the airfield?" asked Patrick.

"Yes but there's someone else coming," Maria said.

Out of the passenger door came the Admiral, Vance's father had finally returned to the lake house. He wasn't dressed in a military uniform but in a red flannel shirt and blue jeans, and work boots. Maria stood expectantly in front of the house as Mr. Vinson first came to see her.

"So," he said in a nonchalant voice. "I heard there's some new vacancies at the house now."

"There's always room for you," she replied with a slight smile. "How long were you planning on staying for?"

"How about…" the Admiral then grabbed Marina in a tight bear hug. "forever!" There was a look of surprise on her face, surprise and happiness that I hadn't seen Maria in a long while.

"You really mean that?" she asked him, his arms still around her.

"As of now officially retired. My work is done." He then looked at the two of us. "With some thanks to the two of you as well,."

"What did we do?" asked Patrick

He let Maria go and then came and stood in front of us. "You did what you had to. Not what you wanted to, not even what you needed to, but you did what heroes do and saved us all. That's more then all of us could have asked of the both of you."

Vinson approached me, standing just in front. He still seemed like a giant next to my tiny self up against him. "Thanks to you as well," he said to me.

"I'm sorry, though," I told him, "I didn't exactly do things right by you."

"All's well that ends well, young lady, and I know Vance would have been proud of you." He said, offering a hand. I took it and shook it, surprise that his grip wasn't nearly as firm as the first time I met him. I wasn't up to an embrace quite yet, but it felt good to shake his hand again.

"That van is here to take you both to your plane, and then you'll fly back to Japan." Vinson told us. "Everything's been arranged with the Kajis, so nothing to worry about when you get there. Unit 04 will also be sent back, sometime today. "

"Thanks, sir," said Patrick for the both of us, shaking the former Admiral's hand himself firmly. Maria then came to us.

"Thank you so much," she told Patrick and she embraced him tightly. "Via con dios." Patrick just nodded, holding her tight for a few seconds, and then she moved onto me. The two of us got emotional as we held onto each other by the arm.

"Oh God," I said to her, flustered, "I don't even know where to begin?"

"No need at all, my darling," Maria said to me and tightly embraced me. "It's always been my pleasure, mi jita. It will be lonely without you here."

"I'll be back, mi madre" I told her, "and soon."

Maria held my head in her hands and smiled. "I know you will." She then kissed me as a mother would a daughter. From that I took Patrick's hand as he motioned towards the black SUV. "Our ride's waiting," he told me.

"Not yet," I said to him. "I got one more goodbye to make."

"Okay," he said, and let me go.

From the lake house I walked the pathway along the lake. It was late March, and flowers were just starting to come back into bloom along the shoreline. Following the path by the lakeside, I arrived at the quiet patch of clearing that I knew so well. It had been nearly two years since I was at this spot before, and I stood there and closed my eyes, waiting for the breeze to come.

I could feel the warmth of sunlight on my face and I opened up my eyes. Standing in front of me, wearing a simple white shirt and jeans, was Vance.

I smiled at him and he stepped up to me until he was in arms reach. "Hey, Tiger," he said to me in a soft voice.

"Hi, Vee," I said to him.

"So you made it?" he said.

I brushed the hair out of my eyes. "Yup, I made it back here."

"Well, you did good," he told me. There was a moment of silence as we looked into each other's eyes. I could see Vance's image sort of shimmer in the rays of the sunlight. The memory of him was fading for me, but that didn't stop it from still holding my heart.

"Will you be okay?" I asked him.

"It's alright," he told me with a sense of resignation. "In the end everything fits where it belongs, let's just say that. But you've got a long way to go before you finish your puzzle."

"Still wish you were here," I whispered to him, my voice starting to crack as I said it.

Vance stepped up to me just in front of my face. "All of the best parts of me, everything that was ever good about me, is now with you. Anytime you need me, anytime at all, just think of those things and I'll be there," he said. "But Erin, please move forward. Don't look back."

"I won't" I said as I tried to fight the tears. "But I'll never find someone like you."

"You won't need to," He said to me with a smile. "You'll find your way."

The image of Vance started to fade more and reflexively I reached out to him. His hand came up to where mine was and just for a tiny fraction of a second I felt something. But as he started to disappear completely, I said to him "Vance! I still love you!"

He didn't reply, but as he vanished from view his smile became wider and his dark eyes looked into mine, in the way that they did when I knew he wanted to show me that I was loved by him. Vance couldn't say it in the end, but that was just like him. And then he was finally gone.

I took a deep breath and cleared my eyes. It was the end for us, but not the end for me and he was right: It was time to move on. I turned away from the clearing, looking forward and ahead to the life In front of me. I waived to my brother and told him I was on my way, and he smiled.

THE END.

THE BLUE ROSE WILL CONTINUE

Writer's Notes

Why did I write this story? The Other Side of Me is something pretty unusual in fanfiction, as it's a side story of another story with a strong Original Character element. It's written in a way that could either stand on it's own or as a piece of the larger whole, and it's also written in parallel with my other works, as The Other Side of Me takes place completely in tandem with The Blue Rose parts 1, 2 and 3.

It was however, mostly a passion project and not one I wrote to get reviews or follows. I know this is a lonely task at times, as The Blue Rose just doesn't fit into the expectations of the casual fanfic fan, and is tangentially too far away from the core EVA story for many Evangelion fans.

When I was writing the other Blue Rose stories, I spent a fair amount of time crafting the relationship between Patrick and his twin Erin, but in doing that I knew that to maintain the suspense and pacing I wanted she couldn't enter the story too early. Erin is hinted at throughout the series, but doesn't actually show up until the second half of The Awakening. She becomes very important to the story as it reaches the climax, but on completing the writing I had always felt that there was a lot more room for her than what I gave her. At some point I thought it might be interesting, as Patrick and Erin were separated at birth, to work out a parallel storyline for her and that's where the basic idea for The Other Side of Me came from.

Given that this story wasn't a effort to gain popularity I felt like I had more freedom to be creative with the format, so I decided on a couple of important guidelines.

1. First Parson Limited Viewpoint: everything in The Other Side is directly from Erin's POV. That was a challenge as I had never written a First Person POV before, and I wanted to maintain a very strict limitation in the writing: everything in the narrative is exactly based on Erin's own observations.

2. No Outline. That's not to say no structure: there's a definite structure to The Other Side because at times it has to line up to the rest of the Blue Rose, in some places it's the exact same scenes as portrayed in another story. But there wasn't a firm, structured outline when I started writing, which was unusual for me. This story was meant to feel more like an oral history or re-telling than a fast-paced novel, so at times it comes off as Slice-of-Life and that was a feeling that I wanted in the reading. Some writers called this the "Gardening" approach and it's an interesting experience.

Once the ground rules were figured out I wrote the first three-four chapters before publishing anything, in order to see if the format worked and made sense and if there was reader interest. There was strong positive feedback from the Beta readers (thanks James and Patrick for your earlier work on this) and that was the go ahead to move to a full-length story. Originally this was set to fifteen chapters, then extended to twenty-one when I worked out a conclusion that was more action-oriented and more emotionally powerful.

In the writing I realized that Erin, as she was presented in the earlier Blue Rose narrative, had quite a story already: separated from her brother at birth and raised to be a pilot in secret, she suffers an accident in the EVA, ends up in a coma, then gets nabbed by SEELE who then lies to her about event and persuades her to work for them. Once she realizes the truth this falls on her like a wall of bricks, and then we get a change in her viewpoint that's dramatic and I think appealing to the reader. So it makes Erin an interesting character and one that in my viewpoint deserved expanding on. I hope this story does the job.

So where do we go from here? With the Forrestal twins returning to Japan, which is portrayed in the last chapter of The Awakening entitled "Hanami," we now have a complete composite cast. With that in place work is progressing on the next Blue Rose story, entitled "Never Jet Alone," that will have more of a lighter tone although still dangerous for our pilots at times. Hopefully you'll see that story starting up this spring.

Please keep up the feedback, as anything I get from readers is always appreciated and useful. Thanks very much for reading this story and I truly hoped you enjoyed it.