Disclaimer: Gainax OWNS Neon Genesis Evangelion

Empathy. It is similar to seeing the world in another person's point of view. -lrkun

Morning

Rei wakes up in a pool of blood. Her eyes widen in horror. Shinji, her beloved, lay dead in lap, and his eyes, though dead, looks directly at her. He was smiling.

The stage fades to black. Rei sees nothing. She hears nothing. She feels nothing, except the sound of her beating heart. She pushes herself away from Shinji and back to a wall. She looks around, it's her home. Yui, with tears in her eyes motions in defeat. History, again, repeats itself. It is inevitable. Rei, screams. Her hair returns to brown and falls asleep.

Another Shinji silently walks towards her sleeping self. He smiles at Yui who smiles in return. It seems the second died again. Yui nods. Shinji carries Rei to her room. He places her in a futton and covers her with blanket.

I need to clean this mess says Yui. She brings out her Nerv monitor and commands via the word a time table be set and that this memory be erased from the Rei's mind. She will remember of course, but not now. And the war against the world will begin.

Maya looks at the mess and begins to soak her cloth with Shinji's blood. Ritsuko, smoking her cigarette, shakes her head.

Noon

Rei awakens abruptly. She felt cold and tired. She held herself and looked around. Something was not right, according to her intuition. She throws the blanket and searches for her journal. Everything's as she remembers. Dinner last night, a fight with Shinji, and her mom's cooking tasted funny.

She breathes in deeply and brings out her eva monitor. Eva monitor? ... She wills herself to remember what that is. A sinister image of a girl in blue with wings spread into the sky and claws dripping with blood comes to mind. She laughs it off. It's something worth writing as a manga.

Focusing herself, she looks at the mirror. Her brown hair's a little messy. Her hair flows down to her shoulders. She remembers that her hair was short.

Knock knock knock. That's Yui, Rei thinks. Mom. It's open she says Rei. Yui entered. Yui smiles at Rei and tells her it's time to eat breakfast. Where's Shinji asks Rei. Yui says he's gone to school early, as he part of the flag ceremony commity. He, Touji, and Marie were in charge. Rei nods and rushes to the table. Eggplant? Mom, I see nothing but an eggplant in front of me says Rei. Yui frowns, as she remembers that the ref got blown to pieces last night, but she shakes the memory away. I'll shop for something later. Okay.

Rei noms the eggplant. She then went to the bathroom to prepare. (Do not imagine a nude pre-teen taking a bath)

Rei got her stuff read for school. Yui waited for her in front of their home. Another day at Tokyo middle.

School

Shinji raised the flag. Touji gave him the look. Not feeling well new guy? Shinji sighed. Touji looks at his teacher. Marie shook says she doesn't know. You'll always be weird Shinji. Shinji smiled, but Touji didn't see.

The students, in a line, sang their national anthem. They said their morning prayers, though individually based on their religions.

Hikari rushed to Touji's side and held his hand. Touji, slightly blushing, held it too.

Rei and Yui arrived a few minutes after the event. Both ran, as the gate almost closed. Safe! Kaji gave Yui the look. She gave him a what?

Angel attack

Yui lectured about morals. The following questions, to her, are enlightening: i. What do you want to do? ii. Why do you do it? iii. How do you improve?

Shinji sat silently. Rei steals a glance every now and then.

Rei felt her head going numb. Something painful pierced her mind. It's like a migrane, but more painful. She tried to stand, but stumbled. Yui, worried, asked Shinji to bring her to the nurses office. Shinji nods. Rei, curled like a ball, was carried by Shinji.

Time stops. Shinji and Rei, in a time loop, stood still. An angel walks the hallway. It's fangs barred, and claws sharp as a samurai sword hang loosely as it's tiny feet had difficulty pulling it's massive body forward. *(reality isn't affected by something spiritual in this episode)

Rei looks up and sees the monster. Time stopped for her. Shinji, unaware, was locked in reality. Rei, holding her head, tries to stand. Migrane, she things, or fails to think.

The beast lunges at her, but she managed to jump down towards the stairs and out to the field. She wonders why it didn't hurt. But she's happy that nothing seems to be broken or that the thing doesn't seem to affect her school. She runs to the center and screams for the beast to come at her. The beast, it's head outside of Tokyo middle, searches for her. It sees her and roars. With a swipe of it's massive hands it catches her. Rei, surprised, began to scream. The beast began to squish her, slowly, as if toying with her.

Rei cries. She screams. She triest to move, but the grip is too strong. The beast, now fully outside, stood five stories tall. It's a mystery how it fit in a very small hallway. It raises Rei into the sky, likened to a trophy, and brings her down to the ground, crushing her into the makeshift reality that we call earth. Rei's body felt numbness. Her body broken, and her consciousness fading. She closes her eyes and sees an angel bright as the sun smiling at her. It was Shinji.