Shinji reached into the wardrobe and pulled out one of the plain white shirts within before slipping it on and buttoning it up. He shut the wardrobe door and glanced at himself in the mirror. It was the first time in quite a while he had properly looked at himself. One of the first things he noticed was that he needed a haircut.

Whilst his hair hadn't grown too much in terms of length it was a little bit thicker and longer than he was used to. The second thing that he noticed was that he didn't look nervous about today. There was no paleness in his cheeks like their might have been some time ago. There were no bags under his eyes or trembling in his hands. He didn't even feel nervous.

Perhaps that was because of how they had all been welcomed back yesterday. Perhaps it was because he now knew he no longer had to be afraid of Misato. He knew the truth that Misato did care for him and that she didn't hate him like he once thought.

Shinji wondered for a moment if maybe this was just a temporary feeling. At the moment he was safe in Asuka's quarters where no one could hurt him. Perhaps as they got closer to the meeting with Misato and the others then nerves would start to kick in.

He admittedly wasn't too sure what to expect from this meeting today. Yesterday had been a fairly quick and easy affair. All he had to do yesterday was be welcomed back and reply to questions about how the two of them were.

There had been no discussion of the events of the past month or the time leading up to it. Just light conversation and lots of hugs from Misato. It had barely lasted an hour before they had been taken to their quarters to get some well-earned rest.

Shinji wasn't quite sure if what had happened yesterday was an order from MIsato, to allow Shinji and Asuka time to return and rest before anything heavy happened. Maybe it was a conscious effort on the parts of everyone to not speak of Eva's, Angels or the tower.

At one point Rei had come up to him and thanked him for his advice regarding Mari. At first Shinji had been unable to remember giving Rei any particular advice but, with Asuka in earshot, Rei had reminded him of the nature of her advice. A moment that had caused him great embarrassment and Asuka some amusement. Regardless of his embarrassment it made him very happy to see Rei and Mari were still together and in love.

Towards the end of the reunion both he and Asuka had been pulled aside by Misato. She apologized to the two of them for what happened and made a request that they both meet with her and others the next day. She had promised they would get answers.

'I don't even know where to start with the questions... I want to know what happened during Third Impact and in the years I wasn't here. I want to know the truth about it all for both myself and Asuka. I just... what do I ask?'

Shinji took a step away from the mirror just as the door to their bedroom opened. Asuka stepped through wearing a WILLE Uniform that Shinji had not seen before. Unlike others on the ship this was not a one piece suit but had instead been separated in a number of parts.

There was a pair of black dress trousers, not dissimilar to the ones he regularly wore, next was a red undershirt that matched the colour of Asuka's plugsuit. Over that was a white formal military jacket that she currently had unfastened. He could see the logo of WILLE emblazoned on the top right of the jacket and along the shoulders were two rectangular markings similar to the ones on the regular WILLE uniforms. Only these, much like the undershirt were also the same red as Asuka's plugsuit.

Shinji's mouth dropped open a little bit as he took in the sight of his girlfriend wearing this clothing. He had never seen her in formal wear like this before. He had of course seen her in a school uniform but that was vastly different, outside of that he had seen her wear casual summer dresses, her plugsuit or just plain jeans and t-shirts.

Asuka glanced at herself in the mirror and frowned before fidgeting with and tugging at the collar of the shirt. She fastened up the jacket before turning to look at Shinji. She gave him a nod of acknowledgement and a quick smile.

"Asuka you..." Shinji started to speak, "You look... amazing."

For a moment she frowned at him before letting out a small chuckle.

"You really think so? Personally I can't stand the thing."

Shinji shook his head, "I think you look beautiful Asuka."

Shinji positioned himself behind her and started to wrap his arms around her only for her to turn and playfully push him away. He approached again this time placing a kiss on her neck and a hand on her hips. She turned and pushed him away.

"Wow, this thing really does it for you huh? Never figured you for being a uniform guy." She laughed, "When we're done meeting with them you can have as much fun with it as you want. In fact I'll be happy to let you tear the damn thing off of me."

Shinji felt himself blush but he shot her a smile and nodded, "You really hate it that much?"

She shrugged, "It's tight around my neck, it's hot and I can't pilot in it. It's just for show, something to wear when important people are around. I am happy that you like it though, maybe I'll wear it privately for you."

She ran a finger along his cheek, "One condition though..."

Asuka disappearing into the other room for a few moments and returned clutching a dark blue undershirt and similar looking jacket to what she was wearing only with dark blue patches instead of the red.

"You let me do the exact same to you."

Shinji nodded enthusiastically as he took the items from her, "Where did you get this?"

"We... had this made for you a long time ago." Asuka said with a somewhat sombre tone, "When WILLE formed and they developed their uniforms me and Misato... requested one for you. We had it put away for when you returned and joined us."

"Asuka... I..."

"Never really had a reason to tell you about it until now. This meeting with Misato and the others, it's important. They requested we wear this stuff, I don't know why but it seems... something big happened whilst we were away. Something in WILLE and they need to be all proper."

"So Misato won't be the only one there? I thought this was about us getting answers."

Asuka shrugged, "I don't know Shinji but it doesn't matter. Whether she is the only one there or not we are going to get answers. We aren't leaving until we do."

XXX

As the two of them made their way through the vast corridors of the Wunder Shinji had become aware of the stares the pair were getting from the ship's crew. He had grown accustomed to getting stares from people on the ship, usually they were looks of fear or distrust. This felt very different though, there was no fear or distrust on the faces of the crew.

Instead it was a look akin to sympathy and even admiration. Not one of them ignored the pair as they walked through the ship. It would have been hard to ignore them as it was with the contrast their dress uniforms provided against the standard WILLE issue uniform. Shinji did however recognize these looks, it was a look not dissimilar to one he might have gotten back at NERV so many years ago.

Shinji caught up to Asuka and whispered, "Asuka… people are looking at us."

Asuka nodded and grinned a bit, "Of course they are, in these uniforms how can they not stare at us. I must look like a beacon or something."

Shinji laughed, "It's weird they… don't seem to be scared of me anymore like they used to be."

"Hmm, Misato must have informed them about the Third Impact. Maybe they've seen the footage you saw now."

"What do you think she told them?"

She shrugged, "How should I know? We haven't exactly been around to find out what, if anything, they've uncovered about it. It's clearly better than before though, you're probably the great hero Shinji again to these people or whatever."

Shinji shook his head, "I… don't really feel like a hero Asuka. I still made a mistake back them. If I hadn't have been stopped by that spear…"

"Look just don't think about that right now. Ignore the people looking at you and keep walking." She shot back with a slight hint of irritation as they turned into another corridor. The two were immediately greeted by a very familiar face. Asuka couldn't help but raise a curious eyebrow to see that this person was not along but instead was accompanied by a silver haired girl in a wheelchair."

Asuka wondered who this person was. She contemplated the girl for a moment taking in her unique features. Her silver hair and red eyes, for a moment she wondered if maybe they had taken on board another Ayanami type somehow but of course Ayanami had blue hair and was rarely smiling like this girl was.

"Asu- Captain Shikinami! Shinji! You've both returned."

Asuka nodded towards her, "Lieutenant Suzuhara, it's nice to see you."

Shinji on the other hand had decided to not be as formal in his greeting. He moved towards Sakura with a wide smile on his face, "Sakura! I'm glad you're alright!"

Sakura grinned back, "Same for the two of you! We were really worried when you both had to leave like that. Things have been… Well I can't really talk about it but it's good to see you both back safely. I suppose you're going to see Captain Katsuragi now?"

Shinji gave a nod, "Yeah… She wanted to see the two of us. We're going to discuss a few things."

"Well when you're both done make sure you come and visit. I've missed you."

"Yeah, we will!"

"Shinji Ikari?" Shinji around at sound of the sudden exclamation. He looked past Sakura to see the girl she had been pushing in the wheelchair sitting there looking at both he and Asuka with a smile on her face. She wheeled herself forwards before extending a hand towards them both.

"We…" She cut herself off, "I've heard a lot about you both. I'm Erika Pearson, I'm pleased to finally meet you both."

Shinji first shook the girls hand and stepped aside to let Asuka do the same. He let Asuka speak, "We're pleased to meet you too. I don't recall seeing you here before."

Erika shook her head, "I'm a recent addition. It's something of a long story though, I would be happy to tell you both it when you're free. I'm sure you'll hear parts of it from your captain."

Asuka nodded, "I'm sure we will. We have to get going now though. It was nice to see you."

Sakura looked on as both Asuka and Shinji said their goodbyes to Erika and went on their way down the corridor towards Misato's office. She smiled at Erika and her smile only widened to see how much Erika's eyes had lit up. She couldn't help but be reminded of her own reaction when seeing the Eva pilots when she herself was a child.

"So… That's Shinji Ikari huh?" Erika said.

Sakura gave a nod, "Yup, that's him."

"It is strange…" Erika said, "Although I have never met him I feel… a peculiar form of familiarity when I look at him and shake his hand. It felt as though we had met once before a long time ago but… I also felt… apologetic I guess although I don't know what for."

XXX

Gendo Ikari was not a happy man. That much was certain to Kozo Fuyutsuki as he observed Gendo stood at the window of the craft looking out over the wastelands of the world silently. At that same time Kozo wondered if Gendo had ever been a happy man.

'Maybe once... a long time ago when she was here...' Fuyutsuki thought to himself as he continued to watch Gendo.

There had not been a moment of genuine happiness for Gendo since she had been lost though. Yet Fuyutsuki could tell that this was beyond how Gendo usually acted. He was never one to let his emotions show but Fuyutsuki had picked up on the subtle change of demeanour within Gendo. It had changed when the news had come through of Makoto's failure to acquire the new Ayanami type.

'Of course... Ikari is not used to being out manoeuvred by others. Makoto's failure is not just a blow to Gendo it signals a loss. It's hurt him and his pride, until now you haven't been challenged.'

Over the years Gendo had become used to being the one to set the stage. He had become used to holding the cards and predicting the actions of others. He had become used to moving the pieces into place just as he wished. Up until now he had been successful, his greatest victory coming with the elimination of SEELE and their agent, Kaworu Nagisa.

Katsuragi and the others were not SEELE though, they were actively working against Gendo and were under no illusions of the sort of man Gendo was. As much as Gendo might have liked to boast that all was going according to how he wanted it there was really no way he could predict everything. Katsuragi and the others had been able to outwit him. Perhaps this was the proof that there was still some hope left in the world.

Fuyutsuki slowly approached him and cleared his throat, "We should be arriving at the tower in a couple of hours Ikari."

"Very good." Gendo replied, "Have we had any word from our agents?"

Fuyutsuki nodded, "As we expected once the Wunder was able to destroy that lead machine the rest of the Nemesis Series dropped their attack on the other human colonies. The Wunder did have to make use of NAUTILUS though."

"So, Unit 01 has awakened again. What of WILLE?"

"It has been reported that they are in something of a state of panic at the moment. Most of the directors are wondering just how Barclay was able to do what he did and get you into Neo-London without any one of them knowing. It seems finding someone to blame is their priority right now."

"The blame lies with all of them and yet not a one of them will be able to accept that. Instead they will opt to stab one another in the back in hope of saving themselves. It is quite pitiful in a way, the way that their politics will prevent them from seeing the threat to their establishment. Yet..."

Fuyutsuki raised an eyebrow, "What is it?"

"Pirani... She will no doubt attempt to bypass their politics. Contact any of our people within Neo-London and have them watch her closely. There is little she can do but after what happened at Golgotha we cannot be too careful."

Fuyutsuki nodded and then there was a brief moment of hesitation from him. He was uncertain as to whether he should ask Gendo anything further wondering how he might react.

"Ikari, what of the Wunder itself? They still have Rei... Will this be a problem?"

He watched for any sort of reaction from Gendo. There was a brief moment where Gendo's shoulders seemed to drop ever so slightly. Perhaps a hint of disappointment, of sadness. After all despite what Rei had become through the Ayanami series Fuyutsuki knew what Rei represented to Gendo and what she had meant to him at one point.

'You've not just been outwitted by them but you've also lost her haven't you... she was your one remaining connection to Yui...'

After a time Gendo spoke again, "Losing Rei in that fashion was unexpected. There were many things we could have done to prevent it, maybe we should have acted quicker or not entrusted that man to do the job. Regardless it is something that has happened and it will not deter us from our goal. Little changes, if we are unable to use Rei to perform the rituals then we will just need a substitute instead."

"You mean... you can't possible mean to use him?" Fuyutsuki said quite shocked at Gendo's proclamation, "We've discussed this before Ikari. He... is capable but how would you get him to agree to it? Unlike Ayanami we can't..."

Gendo finally turned around with a smirk that sent chills down Fuyutsuki's spine, "Control him? We don't need to control him, we just need to give him a reason to make that choice."

"What reason could he possibly have?" Fuyutsuki asked, terrified of what the answer might be.

"Simple, the same reason I am doing this, to reclaim that which he has lost."

XXX

Shinji had started to feel those little pangs of nervousness in his stomach at they finally came to the door for Misato's office. Asuka stopped a metre away from the door and turned to face him. It was so easy for her to see her boyfriend was nervous and she couldn't blame him really. He still hadn't had the opportunity to adjust to life in this world yet. It seemed her could barely go a week or two without something new interfering and confusing him even more.

At the centre of his thoughts had to have been Misato. She knew how important Misato was to Shinji. Misato was the one who took him in so many years ago and showed him some sort of kindness. She had not been a perfect guardian to him, she hadn't been a perfect guardian to her either but she had been there. Misato had made a lot of mistakes, to some she maybe wouldn't be worthy of forgiveness but this wasn't a normal situation.

Things were of course further complicated by Asuka's current feelings towards Misato. Asuka didn't hate the woman by any stretch of the imagination but she felt angry and betrayed by Misato. The third impact had created a unique bond between Misato, Asuka and Mari. The three of them were together in it and supposed to tell each other everything and progress together. Misato had broken that promise, she had deliberately hid things from Asuka.

Yet for Shinji's sake Asuka was going to remain calm. She was going to keep herself under control and make sure he was alright. She took his hand and gave him a reassuring smile.

"You're nervous aren't you?"

Shinji nodded, "Yeah… Pretty stupid huh? After yesterday when we were welcomed back by them all too…"

Asuka shook her head, "Not at all. Just remember, this isn't your only chance to speak to her. Don't think you have to cover everything today but Shinji…"

Asuka's expression turned serious for a moment, "Don't be afraid of asking her tough questions. Those things that happened to you, why they happened to you and just what is going on here. We need those answers, don't be afraid of hurting her and don't be afraid of being hurt. I'm here for you."

She stepped forward and kissed him softly but firmly on his lips. She pushed him away playfully when she saw him start to put his arms around her and try to move a little bit closer.

"Not now Shinji, after we get this over and done with."

Shinji nodded again, "Okay."

With their hands intertwined Asuka led him through the door into Misato's office. Once inside fully they were greeted by the sight of Misato sat behind her desk. The woman rose from her seat, she too also wearing a similar dress uniform to the two of them. At first there was a brief look of fear on her face as her gaze turned towards Shinji but she quickly masked this with a warm and welcoming smile.

"Asuka, Shinji… Thank you both for coming." Misato said surprisingly using both of their first names. Shinji had expected Asuka to have been addressed by rank.

Both of them made their way to the desk and Misato's smile faded, she took off the hat and placed it down.

"We… Have a lot to discuss don't we?"

"Yeah… We do." Asuka replied somewhat bluntly.

Asuka and Shinji sat themselves down on the seats positioned in front of Misato's desk, "My schedule for the entire afternoon is free. First I should let you both know, the reason I asked you to come in the dress uniforms is because we are expecting Director Pirani at some point. It will not interfere with what we are doing here, I want to make that clear but after what has happened I felt it best to welcome her formally. Is that a problem?"

Shinji shook his head, "N-No…"

Asuka followed suit, "Not that I can think of."

"Thank you." Misato sat herself down and continued, "As for this afternoon you are free to ask me whatever you wish to. I will attempt to answer as best I can and if I am unable to do so then I will make every effort to find someone who can. I have made a promise to the crew of this ship that there will be no more lies or secrets. I intend to keep that promise. I know it doesn't sound like much given what has happened but you two are very important to me, I want you to… trust me again."

There was a brief moment of silence as awkward looks were exchanged between the three occupants of the room. Asuka was tempted to say something, there were a few things going through her head but she kept quiet for Shinji's sake. She could wait for him to find out what he wanted to and then ask her own questions.

She wondered if maybe she should prompt him or give him a gentle nudge but after some time he finally broke the silence, "Misato I… I don't really know what I should say or ask.

"It's alright… take your time Shinji." Misato responded.

"I guess… I want to know what happened during Third Impact and afterwards. What did I miss?"

Misato glanced at him for a moment before shaking her head, "The Near-Third Impact… We're still not completely sure to be honest."

"We know what Shinji definitely wasn't to blame for it though don't we?" Asuka asked.

Misato gave a small nod, "Yes that is correct, Shinji was not to blame."

Shinji cut in, "But… I don't understand. You say I'm not to blame but who is? I saw the footage of it and… I know exactly what I did or at least what I nearly did. If I hadn't have been stopped then what would have happened and if I was stopped then, who did cause it to happen?"

Misato seemed slightly hesitant in forming an answer to Shinji's questions. Maybe through fear or hurting him, dredging up bad memories or not having a full answer to give him. Finally she let out a sigh, "It's true that if you hadn't have been stopped then what you started would have continued and put simply it would have… been devastating but you were stopped. We don't know who it was exactly nor do we know why not a one of us can remember it happening but we at least have proof that you were stopped. The pilot of the Mark 06 and their spear saw to it."

"So… if I was stopped what was the Near Third Impact? Who was the pilot of the Mark 06?"

She shook her head, "It seems that in the time between you being stopped and the Mark 06 appearing something else was triggered the devastated the immediate area but it did set into motion a process that would change the world. As far as the pilots' identity goes we never saw them for ourselves but… we think we know who it was now."

"Who?" Asuka asked.

"He's called Kaworu Nagisa."

Shinji felt his entire body freeze up on hearing Kaworu's name spoken like that. His eyes grew wider and he could feel his chest tighten. He wanted to ask Misato to say the name again just in case there was a chance he had misheard her somehow but he knew he didn't need to do that.

All he could do now was sit open mouthed in shock. He wanted to say something, anything in reply to Misato but no words were coming out. Shinji had still never really come to terms with what had happened to Kaworu. He and Asuka might have spoken about it a couple of times if Shinji had had one of his nightmares but it was usually a brief and undetailed conversation.

The only other time he had really come up in conversation was when Asuka had mentioned seeing him in WILLE many years ago. Shinji knew that there were a number of mysteries surrounding Kaworu, one look at the boy could have told you that but when he encountered Kaworu at NERV he never wanted to ask Kaworu about it.

After all when he had woken up in this strange new world to face a world that he thought hated him, Kaworu had been the first and only one to offer him friendship, he had been the first to offer him love and support and Shinji did not want to risk losing that.

Now Shinji realized that he really did know so very little about who Kaworu was or even what Kaworu was. All he knew what that Kaworu had been there for him and then Kaworu had died because of Shinji's actions. He felt the sting of tears in his eyes but sniffed and quickly tried to wipe any trace of them away. He took a deep breath to steady himself and looked up to see the concerned stare from Misato.

"Shinji, are you alright?"

Shinji finally nodded and was able to get his words out again, "I'm… Kaworu is a tough subject for me."

Misato gave a nod, "I… only know a few details. I am sorry if mentioning him upset you."

Shinji forced a small smile, "No! I wanted to know the truth about everything. It's just… when I was at NERV Kaworu was… he was my friend and…"

Shinji felt the warmth of Asuka's hand around his as he paused again as he struggled to get his words out. Asuka's hand tightened as she gave him a comforting smile. He didn't want to recall any of these memories but in the interest of learning the truth he had to. No matter how painful they might be.

"Kaworu was... there at NERV when I was. He ended up being killed because of my actions. The collar that... was meant to be on me. Kaworu was able to remove it and put it on himself. When we were down there with those lances he... told me to stop but I didn't... I couldn't because I had believed in him so much when he said pulling those lances would set things right that when... when he said it was all wrong and to stop I couldn't believe him."

"Shinji... I..." Misato started to speak but thought it would be best to not say anything. She had heard very little about what had happened at NERV. Asuka and Mari had given her a brief report of things but she knew little from Shinji's side of things. How could she? It wasn't like she had stopped to ask him.

"After I pulled the spears the collar... it activated. Kaworu mentioned something about my father and him being cast down as an Angel. I didn't really understand it but Kaworu... he..." Shinji let out a sob as the vivid and horrific memories of what had happened on that day flashed through his mind, "...Kaworu... the collar... it..."

Shinji couldn't speak anymore as he sobbed loudly, tears streamed down his face as Misato suddenly stood up and made her way to him. She pulled him towards her and hugged the boy as he sobbed into her shoulder. She didn't need him to continue speaking to know what had happened next. She knew just what that collar was made for and what would happen if it had been activated. She couldn't even begin to imagine the sheer horror that Shinji must have witnessed.

"Shinji... I'm so sorry. That collar it... it's horrific I know... You should never have witnessed that. It should never have been used."

"And yet it was you who ordered it to be put on Shinji not once but twice..." Asuka spoke not even trying to hide the anger in her voice.

Misato kept her arms around the sobbing boy and dared not meet the gaze of Asuka, "I know Asuka and an apology isn't enough to make up for that. I am sorry, it was never meant... I didn't want to activate it ever, I put it on you because I..."

Shinji pulled away from her for a moment, with tears still running down his face he looked up at her, "Kaworu was my friend Misato... I... I cared for him but I also killed him."

Shinji buried his head into her shoulder once again and she held him tightly, gently rubbing his back in a comforting manner. She did her best to ignore the piercing glare that Asuka was giving her. She felt worse than awful right now, she felt like she had no right to be holding Shinji like this considering what he was talking about was her fault.

"Asuka..."

Asuka shook her head and cut her off, "Don't..."

"I..." Misato lowered her gaze as Shinji finally seemed to compose himself once again. He pulled away from Misato who handed him a tissue from her desk to wipe his eyes with. Quietly he sat himself back down next to Asuka who put her hand into his.

Shinji shook his head, "I... I'm sorry."

"No, you have nothing to be sorry for Shinji. You've been through so much and... If you feel you can't continue we can resume this later."

"No, I want to continue but I'll let Asuka talk for a bit if that's okay?"

Asuka didn't take long to ask Misato anything, "Nagisa... Who exactly was he, I saw him in WILLE didn't I?"

Misato took a moment to get her thoughts in order, "Nagisa was SEELEs chosen pilot. He never appeared on any list of candidates I had access to. Beyond that I know nothing about him. I don't know his date of birth, where he was born, who his parents were or his education. He is, or at least was a complete blank slate."

"SEELEs pilot?"

Misato nodded, "We didn't know this at first, not really a way to know it. Kaworu appeared to us not too long after the incident. I thought it was suspicious a new Eva pilot suddenly being found like that but everything was backed up. Of course now I know differently. Kaworu stayed with us for a short amount of time before and after WILLE was set up. Suddenly he was recalled back home and we never heard of or from him again."

"Never heard from him again, isn't that a bit strange?"

"N-No, when you leave NERV everything is erased right? So it'd have been the same for him." Shinji added, his voice still shaky, "When I left... they were going to do the same to me."

"I see." Asuka said, "So he was there when WILLE was being set up! That explains why I saw him."

Misato nodded, "He was there for the early stages of your recovery but by the time you were speaking again he had been recalled."

"If you only saw him for that amount of time how do you know he was the pilot of the Mark 06?" Asuka asked.

"Back then we didn't know what he was supposed to have been the pilot of and even now we can't be certain. The only reason we think it now is because we've been provided a number of leaked documents by the same anonymous source who provided Pirani with the lost footage of the Third Impact. These documents show sync test scores and core data linking Nagisa to the Mark 06."

"And the link to SEELE?"

"We were able to match the location to a SEELE run facility."

"I see." Asuka turned to look at Shinji who had remained silent and was clearly troubled by what he was hearing. She knew just what Kaworu had meant to Shinji and how difficult a subject this would be but she also wanted to hear more.

"Kaworu was my friend Misato. He wasn't a bad person. He just wanted to fix things like I wanted to and he thought he could help me. He wanted to make people happy, I know he wouldn't hurt anyone."

"Shinji I..." Misato trailed off quite unsure of what exactly to say to him. She had only spoken to Kaworu on a handful of occasions, the boy had seemed nice enough but he generally kept to himself. He would often be found performing on a piano in one of the rec rooms. Misato remembered being impressed by how good he was, he would always draw a crowd of onlookers.

It was clear to her that Shinji had an attachment to the boy that clearly went beyond simple friendship. It was this that made her wonder if maybe Shinji was right about the boy being a good person. It might be true that Kaworu was not everything he appeared to be but perhaps that didn't make him a bad person either.

"I wish I had more to tell you about him Shinji. I wish I could tell you more about who he was or even what he was. I don't doubt that he was a good person but there were things he hid from you and..."

"It's fine." Shinji suddenly interrupted her, "Kaworu must have had a reason for it. If you don't know when we should just move on."

"Are you sure Shinji?" Misato asked.

He nodded, "I'm sure."

He frowned as he continued, "I can only think of one person who would know more and... he isn't here to ask and he probably wouldn't give me an answer anyway."

"We will find him Shinji and we will stop him and then you can ask him anything you want. I promise you that." Misato said sternly.

"No. I don't want to have anything to do with him. I don't want to see him ever again, not after... not after everything he had done."

"I understand." She said, "Should we move on?"

"Yeah" Shinji paused to gather his thoughts, "So after I... was stopped what happened? Asuka and the others have told me parts of it they can remember but you were there for the entire thing."

"After we woke up we saw that it had been a few hours since things had been triggered. We were safe in the Geofront but Tokyo-3 and NERV headquarters had been all but decimated. The battle with the tenth Angel had saw to most of that anyway." She watched for any sort of reaction from Shinji, he shifted in his seat but said nothing as she went on, "By some sort of miracle we had survived and the shelters nearby had also managed to remain intact. Also… Unit 01 and the Angel had completely vanished."

"Unit 01 had vanished?" Shinji asked.

Misato gave a nod, "Yes. I can… It was a big shock at the time but we didn't have too much time to think about it. Our priority was the people in those shelters. The survivors who hadn't fled from the city by that time were rounded up and taken into what liveable space there was within NERV whilst we waited for help."

"What about him, was he still there?"

Misato shook her head, "No, he and Fuyutsuki had vanished as well. We assumed they had simply fled at the start of the battle or simply perished. No one was too heartbroken about it but we did send a search party to look for them. We found no trace of them and our own survival took priority. Unfortunately this was only a brief moment of peace for us, the real problems would begin afterwards."

"What do you mean?"

"Put simply NERV had failed in its task. Word quickly spread throughout the governments of the world that a Third Impact had been triggered and although it had been stopped before any serious damage could be done it was clear to them that NERV was not fit for purpose. Even worse they learned that it had been an Evangelion that had nearly done it, the very weapon created to prevent it from happening."

Shinji glanced down at the ground, "I'm sorry…"

"Shinji…" Asuka growled.

Misato knew she shouldn't but she couldn't help but chuckle at the little exchange, "Despite the Third Impact being aborted and not causing much damage at first it was obviously still a big event. The world had witnessed it and soon was on the brink of throwing itself into chaos once again. NERV had failed, that of course meant someone else must take up the mantle but if not NERV than who? Over the course of those initial few weeks and months countries began to question the very agreements and treaties they had signed up to, this questioning led to minor disagreements, the minor disagreements led to major arguments and of course the major arguments would lead to war."

"It was around that time that I woke up wasn't it?" Asuka asked, "I can't remember much but I remember hearing people talk about some sort of war happening?"

Misato nodded, "Yes it was. We were still working within NERV at that time. We had managed to repair most of the damage to the building, equipment and Eva's in case we needed them. Fortunately no Angels appeared, we thought maybe that was it, they were all gone."

"Who was in charge?" Shinji asked.

"Myself, Ritsuko and Kaji were leading 'NERV' at the time but we all knew NERVs days were numbered and we couldn't stay in that area. Strange things were starting to happen, we were seeing bizarre anomalies in the area, impossible formations growing out of the ground and the ground turning a blood red. We thought it would be best to get out of there, leave NERV and start fresh."

She paused to sip from a cup of coffee on her desk, "Around that time we finally uncovered some information on the group known as SEELE. Kaji had been looking into them for some time and along with that we discovered solid proof of the links between SEELE and your father. Unfortunately someone leaked this to the media, along with evidence of Unit 01 and the Third Impact. So we had to make a move."

"So what happened?" Shinji asked.

"Most of the civilians with NERV had already been evacuated and rehomed by that point. We were little more than a skeleton crew of people devoted to the truth at that point. So the UN staged a raid within NERV. They made it public knowledge and said their goal was to uncover the location of Gendo Ikari and SEELE. We took the opportunity to renounce NERV and what it stood for and join a new UN organization called WILLE."

"WILLE… this is who you are now."

"Correct, as the years have gone on our role has changed. Initially our goal was to seek out NERV and SEELE and stop them. By the time we were up and running the world had changed, the changes that had started in the centre of Tokyo-3 had spread and the UN was no longer able to operate as it used to. WILLE was what was left of the UN, around that time Espèrer was born as well and other factions have sprung up over the years. There was tension but we were all working hard for peace."

"Did it work?"

"Yes but only just. People were terrified of what had happened to the world, the transformations that were taking place to the squabbles between people and threats of war were retracted. Although we split into different factions we all tried to go forward as one species and save this world."

Shinji looked up, "I… There is so much I didn't know."

"There is so much to tell you Shinji, more than I can really go into right now. Even I don't know all of it."

"I understand." Shinji smiled, "I think… I've heard enough of what I wanted to. Asuka, you should… speak now."

Asuka looked at him in surprise and raised a curious eyebrow, "Are you sure?"

"Yeah… It's important. This isn't just about me."

Misato turned to face Asuka and couldn't help but feel slightly nervous as she looked down at the girl that she had failed so badly. Asuka fixed her with a sharp stare before nodding, "Okay fine. I want you to be honest with me Misato."

Misato nodded, "I will be."

"The Angel, what did it do to me? Why did you and Akagi hide it from me and… what is inside my Evangelion?"

XXX

Mari let out a loud and somewhat exaggerated yawn as she pulled the covers up around her and sleepily draped an arm over her girlfriends warm. She looked into Rei's eyes and watched as the blue haired girl gave one of her small and subtle smiles before turning to run a hand through Mari's soft hair. Mari responded by purring and snuggling her head into Rei's shoulder as the two basked in the afterglow of their love.

Rei lay back and pulled the girl on top of her and continued to let her snuggle into her body. She had never really stopped to contemplate the nature of things such as luck in the past but at this precise moment in time and in her exact situation she felt what she was an extremely lucky person.

It was only a few months ago that she was barely anything in this world. She was just a shell of a human living out a solitary existence and waiting for her next set of orders. She didn't care whether she lived or died, after all if she died a replacement would be right around the corner. At that point in time she had nothing, she had no friends, no family, no meaning and no one that loved her.

In a short space of time that had all changed. Rei had managed to attain those very things that she had lacked. She had friends now, she had family now and she had someone to love in the form of the grinning nude girl lying in her arms. Rei Ayanami felt lucky and truly happy.

"Mmm... They should be meeting with Katsuragi right now right?" Mari asked.

"Yes." Rei replied, "I hope that they are able to obtain the answers they desire."

"I'm sure Katsuragi will tell them everything she can. She felt awful about everything that happened..." Mari paused, "As she should I guess but she wants to make things right. I just wonder how the Puppy and the Princess will take it."

"Should we go along there in case they need our support?" Rei asked.

Mari gave a glance towards the bedroom door before shaking her head, "Nah! We don't know how long they'll be and besides, I'm rather enjoying myself here. We've not been able to spend a day like this before."

"Should we really be staying in bed like this all day? Is that possible?"

"Well I'm sure we'll probably have to get up to go to the bathroom and also eat at some point but I'm certainly game to give it a go if you are?" Mari giggled before propping herself up over Rei and dotting little kisses onto Rei's cheeks and along both of her shoulders, "You know how much I enjoy a challenge."

Rei felt her smile widen as she wrapped her arms around Mari and loving stroked down along the girls back and sides. The two of them lay like this for a time and once more Rei's thoughts turned towards Shinji and what he must be going through right now.

'I hope that you can get the answers you need Shinji, you deserve that happiness.'

XXX

As soon as Asuka had asked her question Misato knew it was not going to be an easy one to answer. The simple truth was that Misato didn't quite know those answers herself but she did know someone who would be able to shed some light on it. She had therefore summoned Ritsuko, only to find the woman had been otherwise pre-occupied at the time of calling. This left the three of them to sit in a slightly awkward silence as they waited for her second in command to arrive.

Asuka was sitting with a scowl on her face, her arms folded and not taking her eyes off of Misato. Shinji on the other hand kept on looking between Asuka and Misato as he went over the things he had heard over the course of the morning.

Some more light had been shed for him on the events surrounding Third Impact. Whilst it had answered a few questions he had and also eased his mind in understanding he wasn't entirely to blame for the state of the world he still had more questions. Unfortunately they were questions that couldn't be answered at this time. What exactly was his father doing and why? Also who exactly was Kaworu Nagisa?

Despite those questions still lingering he was thankful for what he had learned. More importantly he felt that he could maybe start to let go of some of the guilt and baggage of his past.

He hoped that this would be the case for Asuka as well. It was his hope that maybe Ritsuko would provide what Asuka needed and help to ease her mind. He could only imagine some of what Asuka must be feeling right now. Certainly the feelings of guilt and horror at what she had nearly done within Unit 02 were feelings he had experienced as well.

Perhaps not so relatable was the confusion she must be feeling right now. The revelations about what might be inside Unit 02 and also the fear about what that Angel might have done to her so many years ago were playing on her mind. Misato and Ritsuko had not helped these matters, not telling her the things she needed to and had a right to know. Shinji could understand why she was so angry.

Despite her anger at their former guardian Shinji also knew that Asuka cared for Misato, much like he himself did. It was part of why dealing with this was so painful. Those bonds they had forged many years ago were still there. They could be repaired but it would not be easy.

Finally after more moments of silence the door to the office opened and Ritsuko stepped inside, her cheeks were red, she seemed out of breath and her hair was messier compared to normal. Shinji could see her jacket had just been thrown on and he got the impression that the woman had literally just gotten out of bed, thrown on her clothes and ran her. It was a state that Shinji did not think her would ever see, the normally professional looking, Ritsuko Akagi in. He turned towards Misato who was smirking with raised eyebrows at Ritsuko.

"My apologies for being late." Ritsuko said as she stepped into the room and did her best to avoid Misato's gaze.

"I understand, we've all had busy nights from time to time." Misato replied still smirking, "As long as both you and Maya were able to get whatever it was you were working on finished."

Ritsuko's cheeks seemed to glow ever so redder at Misato's teasing comment. She did her best to ignore it as she adjusted her jacket, "I understand that there are certain things I'm needed to explain?"

"Well that is, if you're not in the middle of something important. You can always go and fini-"

"I am perfectly fine!" Ritsuko cut her off sharply. It was quite a strange sight to see Misato acting in such a teasing fashion towards someone again, especially someone like Ritsuko. He had gotten so used to seeing the stoic Misato of the past few months that he had all but forgotten what she could actually be like.

At the same time seeing a flustered Ritsuko was also a source of amusement. He laughed and turned towards Asuka. She was still frowning and clearly was not amused by the display between Ritsuko and Misato.

Recognizing this Misato cleared her throat and realized that it was probably best to move back to the subject at hand. Given the seriousness of the situation perhaps it was a little bit inappropriate to be making jokes in front of the two of them. She nodded at Ritsuko, "We are… talking about a few of the things that have happened here both recently and in the past. I've been trying to… put things right."

Ritsuko looked towards the two of them and then down at the floor, "I understand. I should… probably do the same."

She looked towards Shinji, "Shinji I… owe you an apology."

'Damn right you do!' Asuka thought to herself as she sat there quietly just staring a hole through Ritsuko.

"For many things actually but first of all for your treatment when you first woke up from your prison. I… cannot be forgiven for what I recommended and I am sorry. As for you Asuka, I… also owe you an apology."

"I don't want an apology, I want answers." Asuka stated flatly, "What happened to me fifteen years ago? What did that Angel do my body?"

Ritsuko brought up a screen and aimed it towards the two of them, she took a little bit of time to log into the system before pulling up a folder with a number of reports in them. A number of images flashed up on screen before settling on a picture of Unit 03 before the attack. Asuka felt a shudder run down her spine and this time it was Shinji who put his hand in hers for comfort.

"Asuka this is going to be tough and I know you've told people many times already but can you tell me what you remember of that day. Leading up to and during the attack?"

Asuka frowned again and nodded, "I remember every little thing as if it were yesterday. I can remember being on my way down to Unit 03, I had to wear that god awful plugsuit. I had just got done talking to Misato on the phone and then before I knew it I was at Unit 03. It didn't seem too different from Unit 03, maybe a little bit colder but like that mattered. I got into the entry plug as normal and I waited for the activation to begin. Suddenly…"

Asuka trailed off, recalling that day was clearly tougher for her than she had let on. Shinji could feel her hands trembling as she glanced down at the ground to compose herself. He gently ran his thumbs over her hand in a comforting gesture and squeezed her hand softly.

"Everything went wrong. The world just… dropped away from me and all I could feel was this cold emptiness around me. I'd… never been as cold as that before. A moment later all I could feel was pain like something was trying to drill into my head. It was… It… Look you've heard me talk about this before, I just… what happened?"

"I know this is tough." Ritsuko replied, "What happened at that point was the Angel making itself known. It coincided with Unit 03 being activated. The first thing the Angel did was to make contact with you inside the entry plug. We think that it might have tried to use you as some sort of host in order to control the Eva but… you resisted it."

She brought up another screen now which shown a cutaway diagram of an entry plug. Marked next to it was a scale from 0 to 100.

"After you were able to resist it the Angel took the next option it had. It sent the entry plug towards the core of the Angel and rendered you unconscious. When it was within the core it started to spread and tried to take over the Eva that way."

"It tried to… use me as a host?" Asuka asked.

Ritsuko nodded, "Yes but as said you were able to resist it. We think that its aim might have been to use you and blend in. When you resisted it settled on plan B, to take over the Eva itself. It was messier but effective."

Ritsuko pointed towards the 100 on the diagram, "As you both know the deeper the entry plug towards the core the more power and control you have over your Evangelion but this comes at a cost. Injuries sustained to the Eva manifest on the pilot and beyond that you can risk being absorbed into the core and losing your humanity. Worst case scenario is the Eva can be awakened."

"So… I was absorbed into the core?"

Ritsuko shook her head, "Not quite. At first we feared that might have happened and we would never recover you. Fortunately we did recover you but your injuries were very severe and we were afraid at first that the Angel might have infected you."

"And had it?"

Ritsuko shook her head, "We could find no trace of it at the time but there was definitely something strange going on that we couldn't figure out. You see when you were recovered you were put into a chamber not dissimilar to the one we used for Rei's recovery when she boarded the Wunder. Your injuries were that severe, considering the damage that the dummy plug did to Unit 03 we were surprised to even recover a body."

Shinji cringed at hearing Ritsuko say those words. It was like a dagger through his heart to think of how close Asuka had been to death at that point. He knew she had been hurt badly but never knew the extent of it. He had never been given the opportunity to see her afterwards and the next time he would see her would be fourteen years later.

"Shinji, it wasn't your fault. The dummy plug… your father refused to shut it off even when the battle was won." Misato said to him, trying to ease his discomfort.

"I know that Misato but… it hurts."

"So I was put into the tank, what next? You feared contamination whilst I was recovering right?" Asuka asked.

"Yes, we started to… notice a few things when you were in there. Sometimes you would produce an A.T. Field randomly or there would be a glow from your eye. We could never find any concrete evidence that the Angel was present though."

"And have you now?"

Ritsuko nodded, "We are… aware of what happened."

"So what happened?"

"The chamber wasn't new technology back then, it had actually been developed years prior by a scientist in Germany. Your mother to be precise, she wanted to test the healing powers of LCL and tissue from an Adam or Lilith based lifeform but she never got the opportunity to test it."

Asuka could feel her lips tremble in response to Ritsuko's words. She bit down and nodded silently.

"We used it on you, the lifeform we used as a base was Unit 02. It was Misato's idea and it seemed appropriate at the time."

Asuka nodded again, "And?"

"Against all odds your body did start to heal, it was much faster than we ever imagined possible. Every part of you except of course for your eye. As miraculous as your recover was it was also… impossible…"

"So you suspected contamination?"

"Exactly, we couldn't find anything but we knew it was a risk and we kept a close eye on you. As the years went on you showed no signed of anything negative so our theory was it was the chamber causing the anomalies. Eva based technology was and is experimental, there are always going to be random elements to it as you both now."

"So you thought it had gone away until recently?"

It was Misato who spoke this time, "Yes, when we recovered Shinji to be precise, we detected it then. A few times afterwards we noticed anomalous readings. I… made the call to monitor but not tell you about it. We didn't want to… No wait that's not it. I didn't want to disrupt the mission, I thought…"

"You thought you could use me to get to the tower and then tell me right? That if you just held on all would be okay?" Asuka said bitterly.

"Yes."

Ritsuko ignored the two of them and continued, "We… studied your readings and data carefully but again we couldn't actually find anything linking it and the Angel together. It was… an anonymous source, the same one who gave us the footage that confirmed the truth."

"So what is the truth?"

"It is not because of an Angel you are able to do those things inside of your Eva. There is no risk too you or anyone else in that regard." Ritsuko explained, "But those things you experienced, the reason you can push the Eva so far is because the thing inside your Eva is allowing you to."

Asuka readied herself for the answer. She took a sharp intake of breath and waited for Ritsuko to give her that confirmation, to say what she and Shinji already suspected. Time seemed to slow down and her stomach churned with anticipation.

"Your mothers' soul is alive inside Evangelion Unit 02. That is why you can do those things." Ritsuko turned to Shinji, "The same is true for Unit 01 as well."

All Asuka could do was sit and stare straight ahead, finally she let out a reply her voice low, "How long have you known?"

"Not very long Asuka, maybe a day or two before you and Shinji went away." Misato replied.

"I… did suspect something strange for a long time with the Eva's." Ritsuko admitted, "Unit 01 would… act strangely back in Tokyo-3 and knowing how both your mothers died it seemed… strange but I never… knew."

"So this source… they confirmed it?"

Misato nodded, "The same one that has helped us a few times already. They even tipped us off about Makoto."

Shinji looked up in confusion, "Makoto? What does he have to do with any of this?"

"Makoto was… a traitor. He was working with your father Shinji." Ritsuko replied.

"We don't know anything about this source but…" Misato looked up, "We suspect that they are high up somewhere and your father probably trusts them in some capacity. There are probably a vast number of people who fit that description, your father has many people working for him around the world. Regardless of who it is it has helped us."

Shinji was about to say something else when Asuka suddenly rose up from her seat, "I have to go, please… excuse me."

Shinji also rose and turned to see his girlfriend had gone very pale. He reached out to stroke her cheek but she quickly pushed his hand away.

"I-I don't… Please just leave me for a few moments Shinji…"

"A-Asuka are you alright?" Shinji said trying to not show he was upset at her actions.

She shook her head and forced a small smile onto her lips, "I will… be alright. I just need to be alone for a few moments. I need to get out of here and take a walk or something. Please don't worry about me, just stay here and talk to Misato. Ask about… whatever… Misato tell him the story about me getting drunk for the first time and throwing up in the potted plant you always liked that one I just… I have to go."

Misato rose up too and started to make her way towards Asuka, "Asuka are you alright, do you need Sakura or something?"

"Please just… leave me alone!" Asuka snapped back, "I just… What I just found out I… I need to get out of here!"

Asuka didn't wait for anyone to say anything else, she turned and bolted out of the room. Shinji called after her and went to follow but felt Misato's hand rest on his shoulder and pull him back. He turned to look up at her.

"No, let her be alone for a moment. What we just told her, it'll be a lot to take in. I'll… send someone who can help her."