Chapter 29
To Asuka's complete lack of surprise, her mother's interest in her daughter's date the previous night was just as bad as Misato's interest, if not worse. Near the end she was beginning to think that her mother was interrogating her rather than merely asking questions.
Unfortunately for Shinji, he had also been subjected to the same treatment. Luring him away from Asuka with queries about cooking, Kyoko had apparently questioned the poor boy on their date for nearly fifteen solid minutes once they had been out of earshot of her.
But Asuka remembered the ten year gap in their relationship, and she decided that she could forgive any overzealousness her mother displayed. After all, there was a lot of catching up to do.
It was now a couple days after her date with Shinji. Now that Kyoko Zeppelin-Soryu was back among the living, and definitely here to stay, Asuka realised she had one more reason for what she was currently doing.
"I knew it wouldn't take long for you to get back up to speed."
The redhead looked up to her partner in their current activity. Shinji Ikari sat in a chair a few feet away from her in the lounge room, his cello held loosely against his body as he watched Asuka finish working the rust off of her violin skills. She smirked and gave the response she knew he was expecting.
"Of course it didn't! I'm the Great Asuka Langley-Soryu!"
In fact, even as she said it, Asuka caught Shinji mouthing along with the words. Before she could continue their little game by pretending to get angry, somebody deliberately cleared their throat behind her.
"I do hope you're not making fun of my daughter already, Mister Ikari."
Asuka hadn't noticed her mother had snuck into the apartment. And she had been the one to ask Misato for another spare key to give to the woman, stating that Kyoko should be free to come and go as she pleased, considering Asuka wasn't living with her.
And now her boyfriend was about to stammer out an apology to her mother.
"It's fine, Mama," she said just as Shinji opened his mouth. "He's not doing it as an insult, Shinji's just that in tune with me that we can do things like that to each other."
Kyoko came around the couch and sat down next to Asuka. "Oh really?" she asked. "Only a month or so as boyfriend and girlfriend and you're already reading each other's minds?"
"No, ma'am," Shinji nervously replied. "One of the Angels we faced last year required perfectly synchronised teamwork to kill it. Asuka and I had to train together for a whole week in order to be able to predict how we would act." He brought a hand up to rub the back of his head. "There were some... side effects to the training," he added with a chuckle.
"It doesn't happen all the time," Asuka clarified. "Usually only when we're focusing together on something like cooking. The training just sort of... takes over and we work like one person with four arms."
Kyoko's eyes lit up. "Oh, so that's what I saw on my first night here. I thought it was a bit odd that you two did all that work without saying a word to each other." She leaned forward and stared curiously at Shinji. "What was this training?"
The two teenagers glanced at each other, neither exactly happy to speak about that week and the trouble they had gone through just to kill an Angel. The woman looked between the two of them.
"You know, I could just go and ask Misato," she warned them. "I'm sure she'd be more than happy to chat about it."
Shinji and Asuka shuddered simultaneously at the thought of that conversation. It seemed that either way, there was going to be embarrassment in their future.
So Asuka decided to jump on the grenade.
"To defeat the Angel, we had to learn to dance. N-not with each other or anything!" she hastily added when her mother gave her a look. "Like... um... backup dancers I suppose. There was a routine we had to do in perfect time with each other."
"And we had to do it in horrible costumes too," Shinji mumbled.
"Please do not bring those up again," Asuka groaned, repressing another shudder. At the time it had been funny to see Shinji in such an embarrassing getup, but having to wear the same thing herself meant that the humour had been ruined.
"Dancing together." Kyoko stared at nothing for a moment before shrugging. "Alright, hopefully that battle was recorded, because I really want to see for myself how dancing resulted in a dead Angel. But I don't believe for a minute that that was enough to instil what almost amounts to telepathy in you two."
Once again, Shinji and Asuka glanced at each other. This time, however, Asuka could see a glint of mischief in his eyes, and she knew exactly what the Third Child was thinking.
Because she was thinking it too.
The two teenagers got up and stood next to each other, facing Kyoko, who was now looking worriedly between them. Together, they both took a deep breath and spoke.
"It wasn't just dancing," Shinji and Asuka said at the exact same time. "We had to do everything together. Eating, drinking, brushing our teeth, sleeping... About the only things we didn't have to do together was wash and go to the bathroom."
"Wait, you slept together last year?!" Kyoko exclaimed, the moment she got her voice back after the strange display by the two pilots.
"No, not like that," they said, blushing simultaneously. "Two separate futons next to each other, with Misato sleeping in the same room."
"Okay." The poor woman raised her hands in surrender. "Please stop doing that now."
"Doing what?" they asked, barely containing their grins.
Kyoko glared at them, before an evil look crossed her face. The next words out of her mouth were in German. "Ihr wisst genau, wovon ich rede. Jetzt hört sofort auf damit!"
"Na gut."
"O-okay?"
Asuka turned to Shinji, who had both taken a crucial moment longer to respond, and had said something different. "Damn, she got us," she said.
"Sorry," Shinji sheepishly replied.
"Guess I really am going to have to continue our lessons. You're still a bit slow on responding, I assume because you take just a little too long to translate in your head."
"Yeah, I gue-" The boy blinked and looked past the Soryus. "Rei? How long have you been standing there for?"
The two redheads turned to look at where Rei was standing, by the archway between the lounge room and kitchen, holding an open school book in one hand.
"You stopped playing," she said, sounding somewhat disappointed. "I was enjoying listening to your music."
"That's probably my fault," Kyoko admitted, before turning back to Shinji and Asuka. "I suppose I should get back to my apartment. I can't even remember why I came in here now, after the way you two messed with my head. See you at dinner time."
With a lazy wave Kyoko left, leaving the three teenagers alone in the Katsuragi apartment.
"So..." Asuka began once the front door closed. "You enjoy listening to us, huh?"
Rei nodded. "Yes. I have listened to you two play while doing my homework these past few days. While I did notice some slight errors in your playing, Asuka, that did not concern me at all. The 'rust' you claimed to have is now gone."
"Yep. I'm back on my feet!" The redhead picked up her violin and bow and looked at Shinji. "Think we're ready for a duo piece yet?"
Out of the corner of her eye, Asuka noticed Rei's shoulders slump slightly and turn away from them, and her ears caught what was most likely a sigh.
Shinji was there first with the question, however. "What's the matter, Rei?"
Rei glanced over her shoulder. "It is nothing," she replied.
"Can't lie to us that easily, Wondergirl," said Asuka, having heard the hint of sadness in her fellow pilot's voice.
"Please tell us what's wrong," Shinji pleaded as he set aside his cello. He then stood up and walked over to his sister, concern clearly etched on his face.
"I can't. It would be... rude of me to say," Rei quietly replied.
"After everything you've been through," said Asuka as she joined them. "I think you've earned the right to be a little rude. We both promise that we won't hold whatever you're about to say against you."
At an encouraging nod from Shinji, Rei took a breath and slowly said, "The problem is... you two." She immediately flinched, as if anticipating an angry reaction.
But Asuka and Shinji simply stared in confusion at each other.
"Did... we do something to upset her?" Asuka wondered.
"I would remember if we had. She is my sister," Shinji replied. "Rei, what do you mean by that?"
Perhaps reassured by their still-calm attitudes, the bluenette clarified. "You two have spent so much time with each other. Even before you awakened, brother, Asuka was always with you."
"Well I was the only one that he'd respond to," the redhead stated.
"I know. I still cannot thank you enough for what you did for Shinji. And yet..." Rei sighed and her head drooped. "When I see you two together now, I feel... left out."
Asuka's eyes widened in realisation. "Mein Gott. You're feeling jealous!"
Rei looked up at the redhead. "Is that what this feeling is? Like I should be angry at you, Asuka?"
"Jealousy can make you angry, so yes. Just don't slap me or something."
"Do not worry." She gave Asuka a small smile. "I would not hurt you for something so petty."
"You know you could have just talked to us earlier, Rei," said Shinji. "We're not intentionally ignoring you."
"I know, brother," Rei replied. "But seeing you two together, and happy..."
The First Child was worried about coming between them, Asuka realised, and possibly damaging their relationship through what the poor girl probably thought was a petty desire. She almost voiced how stupid the idea was, before remembering just who it was in front of her.
A girl who had been mentally and chemically compromised for most of her existence, to the point where she had been almost blindsided by her own emotions once she had returned from Instrumentality in what amounted to a clean body and mind.
No, the only thing that was stupid about this situation was that it was impossible to enact retribution on the man responsible.
And to be fair, Asuka had been rather... monopolising Shinji.
"Look, Wondergirl," said Asuka, before pausing upon noticing that she had just gestured towards the girl with a hand still holding her violin bow. An idea formed. "Hey Rei," she began again, idly waving the bow in front of her eyes. "...I have an idea for how you can spend some time with Shinji."
Rei was incredibly receptive to Asuka's suggestion, but it took a little convincing to get Shinji on board with the idea, mostly because he believed he was utterly incapable of teaching somebody. Asuka countered by saying that he wouldn't be involved with teaching Rei so much as simply lending support.
After school the next week, the three pilots waved goodbye to their friends and headed for the mall. If the old store owner was surprised to see Shinji and Asuka again so soon, he didn't show it.
"Masami, I'm sure you can guess who this is," said Asuka after exchanging greetings.
"Another Evangelion pilot," Masami replied with a smile. "Thank you for your efforts in protecting us."
Rei blushed slightly at the praise.
"Rei's feeling a bit left out after listening to Shinji and I practise. I suggested that she should learn a musical instrument, but so far she doesn't know what she wants. Since you were able to pick the right bow for Shinji just by asking me some questions, I thought you could help her out too."
"It would be my pleasure." Masami made a sweeping gesture towards the instrument section of his store. "Miss Rei, if you would please come with me..."
Rei and Masami walked off, the man already beginning his quizzing.
"What do you think she'll pick?" Asuka inquired as she turned to Shinji, who put a hand to his chin in thought.
"I'm still not sure. Until today, the only interest Rei's really ever shown in music is listening to me play."
"Maybe she'll pick a cello then. Follow in her brother's footsteps."
"I hope not." Shinji paused for a moment as he realised what he just said, and hastily added, "I mean, she should do her own thing, not simply copy someone else."
Asuka knew right away what he was thinking about. "You're right," she said. "Wondergirl's spent her entire life being a copy. This may just be something minor in the grand scheme of things, but if she can choose her own path..."
Shinji nodded. "Then she's well on her way to becoming her own person."
"Exactly."
The couple fell silent as they watched Masami and Rei move among the instruments. Several times they would stop as Masami pointed the bluenette towards a possible option, only for her to spend a minute staring at it before shaking her head.
In the end, it took nearly half an hour for Rei to make a decision. For a moment Asuka believed that it was a violin, before noticing that it was rather larger than her own instrument.
"A viola, huh?" she remarked as Rei gingerly placed it on the store counter.
"Yes," the First Child replied. "I wanted something that would back your instruments well, but at the same time I did not want to copy you two outright." She looked down at her choice and smiled. "It ended up being either this or the double bass, and that seemed a bit too much for me."
Shinji and Asuka glanced at each other and grinned. They both reached for their wallets, and their NERV cards, at the same time.
"I'm gonna stop any argument we're about to have right here," said Asuka. "We'll split the cost."
"Agreed," Shinji replied.
"Wait," Rei cut in. "It is alright. I will be playing the instrument, so I should pay for it."
"Consider this a late birthday present then," Asuka stated. "Or... an early one." She paused for a moment. "Hang on... when is your birthday?"
The only response the bluenette gave was to glance quickly in Masami's direction before turning away from them.
Asuka buried her face in her hands. "Oh. Scheiße."
"I have made a decision."
Shinji and Asuka stopped walking and turned around. Rei was standing a couple of meters away, looking down at her new acquisition.
The three Evangelion pilots had remained quiet on their way home until the First Child had just spoken up, a few minutes after they got off the bus and were walking back to the apartment.
"Decision? What do you mean?" queried Shinji.
"About my birthday," Rei replied.
Asuka hissed. "I shouldn't have brought it up. It was just... for a moment I'd forgotten about your... circumstances."
The bluenette smiled. "The fact that you forgot I was once not fully human is nothing to apologise for. It makes me happy that you thought of me as just another person." Her eyes jumped between her fellow pilots. "The day that will be my birthday is the day I returned from Instrumentality. The day I... became human."
"Damn," Asuka remarked, a grin softening the harshness of the word. "Guess we won't be having a birthday party for you for a while."
"It is alright. I am patient enough to wait." Rei looked back down at her viola. "And patient enough to learn how to play this. It will take quite a while before I am able to match your skill, brother."
"Does our school still have a music club?" Shinji wondered. "They might be able to help you improve."
"Perhaps, but I should first concentrate on becoming proficient."
"If we weren't pilots, we could have probably arranged for a tutor right away," Asuka remarked. "But they would have to go through a ton of security checks just to be considered."
"I am confident you will do well in teaching me what you can, Asuka."
Since violas were very similar to violins, Asuka had offered herself as something of a mentor. Shinji was now carrying a bag of lesson books that he had bought for Rei, once again refusing to let her pay. The trio resumed walking.
"We need to mark your birthday on a calendar, Rei," Shinji spoke up. "What was the date of your return?"
"Sixth of March," Asuka replied instantly. "Same day the First Revenant attacked."
"Oh... I see..."
A sober mood came over the teenagers with the mention of the Revenants.
"There are only three left," Rei sombrely said. "But the last two attacked at the same time."
"It'd really suck if we had to face all three of them." Asuka immediately slapped her face once she realised what she had just said. "I just jinxed us, didn't I?"
"Um... I hope not."
"It matters not how they attack us," Rei stated. "We must defeat them, therefore we shall."
Asuka thought for a moment. "What would actually happen if we lost? Not that I'm saying we don't need to fight, but... We're not protecting something that can end the world if the enemy reaches it anymore." She stared hard at Rei. "Why does Adam want to win? What would that gain him?"
The First Child looked away pensively. "Adam... already has what he needs. He is simply doing this out of a sense of fair play."
"Fair play my ass," Asuka retorted. "What's to stop Adam from doing... whatever he's planning once he loses?"
Rei had no answer for her, and that sent a chill running down the spines of all three teenagers.
The redhead sighed. "Just as I thought. Well, since you know what he needs, can you at least tell us what he's planning?"
For that question, there was an answer. Adam was planning to follow the original directive of the Angels, who had been drawn towards Tokyo-3 by Lilith. They were driven by the desire to merge with their progenitor, but Adam and Lilith were similar enough beings that the 'signal' given off by the imprisoned mother of humanity fooled them.
But only one Angel made it to Terminal Dogma and discovered the truth.
Shinji brought a hand up to his mouth to stifle a gasp. "Kaworu... when he reached Terminal Dogma, he was shocked by what was there and then let me kill him." He winced, evidently recalling that memory. After a moment he added, "If it had been Adam there... would he have done the same thing?"
"Only one person could answer that, brother," Rei replied. "The question is irrelevant now anyway. He could still have initiated an Impact by coming into contact with Lilith, but chose not to."
Asuka blinked. "What would have happened if an Angel merged with Lilith?"
"I am... not sure. An Angel that merged with Adam would have spawned more of its type, but-"
She couldn't help herself. Asuka interrupted the girl with, "So if Adam had been around, there was a chance that Earth would have ended up inhabited by gigantic flying laser polyhedra?"
"...Perhaps," said Rei, before resuming what she had been trying to say. "But I do not know what an Angel/Lilith fusion would create. Fusing Adam with Lilith only resulted in-" She stopped and looked guiltily at Shinji, before mumbling an apology and continuing down the street.
Asuka grasped Shinji's hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. He looked at her and gave a weak but brave smile. As the two followed Rei, Asuka said to nobody in particular, "Well... let's just hope we're not around to see whatever Adam has planned."
It seemed as if Rei had inherited the same gift for music as Shinji. A week passed, full of school work and tests at NERV, but the girl had proven to be a very quick study, blowing through the lesson books so fast she almost left scorch marks on them.
Asuka tried to spend as much time as possible playing duo pieces with Shinji, when Rei was either not home or simply not playing. During those occasions when Rei wasn't practising, she still paid close attention to her fellow pilots even while finishing homework. It seemed that no matter what song they played, Asuka and Shinji were always in perfect time; never going too fast or too slow.
Rei spent the entire Sunday of that week studying the more advanced lesson books, to the point where it took the combined efforts of the other two pilots just to convince the driven girl to take a break for food. The next day at school, Rei was accepted into the music club.
Asuka breathed a tiny sigh of relief upon hearing the news, as it meant she would get a bit more time to 'make beautiful music with Shinji', as Misato stubbornly insisted on calling it. Privately, Asuka was a bit happy that the woman was so busy, as she didn't think she could survive the amount of teasing possible from a stay-at-home... former guardian. But she would weather an eternity of salacious comments as long as Shinji was there to take them with her.
Even at NERV, Misato would find a way to subtly dig at Asuka or Shinji during their tests, while still maintaining her professional attitude. And all Asuka could do was glare at the woman.
Just like she was doing right now.
"Asuka, your score is slipping a bit," Ritsuko warned.
Breaking the glare off with a huff, the Second Child went back to concentrating on the test. Despite the passing of over a month since the last Revenant attack, NERV was remaining alert for the next incursion. Training had been stepped up yet again, and the pilots were constantly encouraged to keep improving their scores during the sync tests.
The testing soon came to an end. Asuka and Rei were at 74% and 72% respectively, while Shinji was rapidly closing the gap, ending the test at 67%.
It still felt a little strange for Asuka that she was consistently the top pilot, yet she was more concerned with how the previous holder of that title was doing. Only a year ago she would have been shoving her superiority in the poor boy's face for hours after each test, despite how little the tests truly mattered when it came to actual combat; there was a big difference between fighting to stay alive and just sitting in a tin can trying not to fall asleep.
With no more to do at NERV for the time being, the three pilots headed home courtesy of a Section Two vehicle. As soon as they entered the apartment, they were accosted by an angrily gesticulating penguin holding a phone.
"Wark!"
"Whoa, down boy!" said Asuka as she stepped over Pen-pen.
Shinji patted the air in a reassuring gesture. "C-calm down, I'm sure we can sort out whatever's wrong," he added as he too got past the penguin, whose flailing and squawking increased at the apparent dismissal of his problem.
Instead of merely following suit, Rei got down on one knee to put her face level with Pen-pen's and said, "It is alright, I shall help you."
The penguin huffed and glared over his shoulder at the other two teenagers. Asuka suddenly felt like she was being accused of a heinous crime, until Pen-pen sullenly broke eye contact and waddled into the lounge room followed by Rei.
"What the hell was that all about?" asked Asuka in a low voice, deciding not to antagonise their strange housemate any further.
"I'm not really sure," Shinji admitted. "I can't understand Pen-pen well enough, especially when he talks that fast. I caught something about somebody being a... moron?"
Asuka folded her arms and stared sceptically at him."You mean to say that you can actually speak Penguin, but still have trouble with German?"
The Third Child hesitantly scratched the back of his head. "Um... it's more like I've just picked up a few obvious things, like when he's hungry. Speaking of which..." He moved to the fridge and began to prepare lunch.
Her own stomach growling at the thought of a meal after a sync test, Asuka dismissed the strange event with a wave of a hand in the direction of Pen-pen's exit before sitting down at the table and watching Shinji work his culinary magic.
And then a memory kicked her in the back of the head.
Shinji, nervously handing her a bento box as if he was afraid she would smack him with it, then turning and attempting to flee out of the classroom, before tripping over and hitting the ground face first.
A bento box that, when emptied of its unique meal, she'd kept in her desk for the rest of that year as a reminder, and was now lurking somewhere in her room after its retrieval.
"Shinji?"
Now seemed as good a time as any to finally lay the mystery to rest.
"Yeah?" The boy glanced over his shoulder for a second before returning his eyes to the cutting board.
"How did you do that one lunch you gave me last year?"
"Um, which one? I did our lunches pretty much every day."
Asuka narrowed her eyes at Shinji's back. "I'll make it easy for you. The German one."
He paused in his preparations and twisted his upper body to look at her with a worried expression. "Wasn't... that the one you threw out?"
Just as she'd thought, Shinji believed that Asuka hadn't eaten the one special meal he'd created especially for her. She sighed.
"I ate the whole thing. Practically licked the box clean."
"R-really?!" The boy spun fully around with wide-eyed astonishment.
"Yes. But what I wanna know is how you got the idea for that meal."
Shinji looked away thoughtfully. "I... don't really know. I thought about making you a German meal one day, bought some suitable ingredients, and just... had a go at it."
"'Had a go at it'." Asuka jumped out of her seat and moved around the table to stand directly in front of Shinji with her arms crossed. "That meal was one of my fondest childhood memories. My mother made it for me."
She leaned forward into his personal space, and he leaned back as best as he could while stuck against the kitchen counter. Her voice went low and dangerous. "I spent ages trying to find somewhere I could get that meal done how I remembered it, and you come along and get it perfect just like that?!"
Shinji raised his hands in an attempt at appeasement. "I-I-I don't k-know what you w-want me to say, Asuka!"
"Then say nothing."
Asuka's arms unfolded and her hands shot out, gripping tightly onto Shinji's own hands and interlacing their fingers. She forced their arms out and away from between their bodies, struggling only slightly with his prosthetic arm, and leaned so close their noses bumped into each other.
"Because I want to say something..."
She kissed him; a feather-light touch of their lips.
"...Thank you, Shinji."
With those words, or perhaps with that kiss, Asuka felt the rising tension fade out of Shinji's body and grinned. "Had you going for a sec there, didn't I?"
"K-kind of," the boy sheepishly admitted, before clearing his throat and continuing. "But when you got really close to me, I saw that look in your eyes. The one that says you're enjoying this way too much."
Asuka blinked innocently. "Oh? Didn't know we'd spent so much time staring into each other's eyes already."
Shinji chuckled and turned his head to look at the kitchen counter. Seeing that he wanted to get back to his food preparation, Asuka released her grip on his hands and went back to her seat.
"You know," she remarked as soon as she sat down, "I'm going to have to get you to make that meal again. Not just for me, but for my mother as well." She hesitated for a moment. "And... the others, I guess."
Shinji hummed in agreement. "I just hope I can remember what I did."
"Oh, don't worry. Mama and I will soon tell you if you got it wrong."
At that point, Rei returned to the kitchen to put the cordless phone back on the hook, while a much more sedate Pen-pen went into his fridge with a newspaper.
"So... what was that all about?" Asuka asked of Rei.
"Apparently one of the companies he orders fish from had replaced their phone staff," the bluenette explained. "As a result, nobody could understand him and thought it was a prank call."
"But you can understand him just fine."
Rei nodded. "Of course."
"But... how?!" The redhead threw her arms up in disbelief. "All he says is 'wark'! That could mean anything from 'I'm hungry' to 'Who crashed a ship into my iceberg?'!"
Pen-pen's fridge opened, and a beady eye peeked around the edge to glance at Asuka before retreating back inside. Though the bird didn't exactly have eyebrows, Asuka could swear that one was raised anyway. When she looked back at Rei, she was surprised to see that the girl was attempting to stifle a giggle.
"Asuka, you just called yourself... something rather unflattering."
With a groan, Asuka let her head thump onto the dining table. "Do I want to know what I said?" she muttered.
"...It would perhaps be best for you to remain ignorant."
It didn't take long for Kyoko to find out about the young upstart apparently attempting to knock her off her German cooking throne. The next day after school, Shinji was almost traumatised by another interrogation before being challenged to a cook-off.
Since Shinji would have had something of an advantage thanks to Rei's birthday present, it was decided that both he and Kyoko would use the same kitchen. But because they were each going to be cooking for five people, they wouldn't be able to use it at the same time; instead they would be taking it in turns.
The two 'contestants' hadn't even gone out for ingredients before poor Asuka began to feel divided about her loyalties. Shinji had proven time and again that he could practically create works of culinary art, and 'winning' would certainly give him a much-needed boost of confidence... but there was a reason phrases such as 'just like mum used to make' existed. And in this case she hadn't had any of mum's cooking in a decade.
Kyoko knew her daughter well though, and at least partially solved the problem by bringing the other members of the Katsuragi household in as extra judges. Misato readily agreed to it after arranging for a couple of early nights off from her busy schedule. The offer also extended to Pen-pen, who felt brave enough to accept since Misato the Culinary Catastrophe wasn't involved in any part of the cooking process.
Rei diplomatically left that last part out of the translation.
Tuesday came around, and Kyoko took her turn that night. Everybody was shooed out of the kitchen except Asuka, who was kept back so that the two redheads could chat about Shinji. Unlike last time, the conversation was much more relaxed, as Kyoko began gently inquiring about the boy's condition after Third Impact. As Asuka began telling the story, it dawned on her just how far back she had really begun to fall for the Third Child.
Before Third Impact, it was at best a bit of infatuation mixed with simply trying to get Shinji to pay attention to her. Anybody looking at their interactions back then would have considered it a love-hate relationship, and Asuka would have hastily clarified that as 'I love to hate him'. She still occasionally felt guilty about her actions back then, and she said as much to her mother, but Kyoko simply smiled and said that it sounded like the girl had more than made up for her past behaviour.
Their conversation came to an end at almost the same time the food preparation did. Asuka brought out the dishes and cutlery while Kyoko applied the finishing touches, and the Katsuragi household was soon sitting around the table.
Misato was surprisingly the last person to finish their meal. It had been agreed beforehand, or more precisely Asuka had decided and everybody else acquiesced, that rather than immediately saying what they thought, the judges would hold all comments until after Shinji's turn.
But despite her efforts to keep Shinji's spirits up for his attempt, Asuka caught the look of trepidation on his face when they got into bed that night.
"Hey, you'll do great," she reassured Shinji as she slipped an arm around him.
Shinji hummed absently, before looking into Asuka's eyes and smiling. "Yeah. I don't think I'll be able to beat a native, but I can at least do my best."
"That's what I want to hear!"
The next evening after school, the Katsuragi apartment's kitchen was almost an exact duplicate of the day before, only with Shinji in Kyoko's place as they talked about her mother. Knowing the boy like she did, Asuka could easily detect the occasional flicker of darkness on his face, presumably caused by Shinji remembering his own mother.
The mother who had consciously chosen to essentially kill herself in front of her own child for some insane reason.
The topic of conversation was swiftly changed to something much lighter, and a smile was back on Shinji's face by the time the food was ready. Once again, everybody crowded around the dining table and dug in. This time, Asuka was last to finish.
"Alright," said Misato once the dishes were cleared away. "We've had two wonderful meals over two nights, and now it's time for us to decide who did it better. I'll go first, if there are no objections?"
"Can I say something first?" asked Shinji. Misato nodded, and he addressed the entire table. "I won't be unhappy if you liked Ms. Soryu's dishes more than mine. Asuka has said several times that I give apologies when one isn't needed, and there isn't a need for one tonight. After all, it's just dinner."
Silence reigned for a few moments, before Misato cleared her throat. "I know you guys tend to think my taste buds have been killed off, but I believe that ever since he came into my life, Shinji's meals have done a good job of resurrecting them. He cooks from the heart and that shows; there hasn't been a single meal of his that I didn't like."
She nervously scratched at the side of her mouth. "That being said... on this occasion I'm afraid I have to say that my vote goes to Kyoko. It's hard to compete with someone who grew up with foreign cuisine, but you gave it your best shot and came a very close second, Shinji."
The boy nodded and smiled as Misato took her seat, not a hint of unhappiness on his face.
Rei was next. While she didn't have as much experience with Shinji's cooking as Misato, she still cast her vote for her brother.
"Wark."
Pen-Pen expressed his regret that he couldn't tell the difference between either chef's cooking. Somehow, it took Rei close to half a minute to fully translate, and Asuka couldn't help but question that.
"Wait, you got all that from one 'wark'?!"
Three people at the table stared at her in confusion. Asuka blinked, before letting out a huge sigh and slapping a hand over her face. "Alright, what did I just say?"
"You said 'How's your granny off for soap?'," Misato replied. "Penguin is an... interesting language. All about inflection and tone."
Asuka muttered something in German, but unfortunately for her most of the people in the room understood it, and she got a warning look from Kyoko.
With nothing left to delay the inevitable, Asuka now had to make a decision. With Pen-Pen's non-vote, it was now a tie and she was back to having to question her loyalties again. But... this was a relatively minor event. It wasn't as if either Kyoko or Shinji would gain anything besides a bit of recognition or bragging rights... as if Shinji were the type to boast.
Time to bite the bullet.
"Shinji, you did a wonderful job again," she began. "Even without my help, you turned out a stunning German meal." Asuka turned to her mother. "Mama, it's been so long since I last ate anything you made for me, but your skill has obviously not declined during... your time away."
Her view shifted to rest somewhere between the two contestants. "You both gave it your all, and I'm sad that I can only pick one of you." Her blue eyes moved to look into Shinji's cobalt gaze, before moving again to stare into the sapphires that she had inherited.
"...I know you said not to, but I'm sorry Shinji," she said with a sigh. "Maybe it's just the years of separation talking, but I enjoyed Mama's meal just a little bit better than yours."
To her relief, there was no sign of hurt or betrayal on Shinji's face, just a simple smile full of understanding and acceptance.
And with that the first Soryu/Ikari Cook-Off, as Misato later called it, came to an end.
But even though the contest was over, Kyoko wasn't done. Just as Shinji was about to retire to the lounge, he was once again dragged away by the woman right out the door. Nervous looks crossed the faces of most of the spectators, but Asuka remained confident that nothing bad was going to happen to Shinji.
Or at the very least, nothing permanent.
It took nearly two hours for Shinji and Kyoko to return, and when they did the surprise that the boy brought with him ended up putting Misato into a food coma. The rest of the Black Forest cake disappeared almost as fast into the stomachs of everybody else.
Being a school night, Kyoko departed not long after guiding Misato to her room, and the teenagers soon made their way to their own beds.
"So, what did my mum want to talk to you about this time?" Asuka inquired once she and Shinji were in her bed.
"Your mother said I had promise, and took me through a couple of her German recipes," he replied. "I'm not really sure why though..."
The girl chuckled and rolled her eyes, unseen in the dark. "You dummy," she whispered, throwing an arm over his chest.
They both soon fell asleep, but it was only a few hours before Asuka was pulled from her slumber by the quivering of the boy next to her. She swiftly sat up and began to gently shake him by the shoulders, calling his name in an attempt to wake him up. It took a few seconds before Shinji's eyes shot open and began casting about the room as if searching for something. Asuka gingerly placed a hand on his cheek.
"Shinji, what's wrong? A nightmare?" She did her best to disguise her nervousness. The biggest reason for them sleeping together was to help the other fight off the demons that attacked in their sleep. If that was starting to not work anymore for him...
"No, not a nightmare," Shinji mumbled as his body ceased its shivering. "More like... a bad memory."
Asuka breathed a tiny sigh of relief. "Well since I'm awake too, you want to talk about it?"
The boy turned his head away to gaze out through the gap in the curtains. He took several long, slow, and deep breaths before speaking. "I remembered... when you showed up on the beach."
The redhead stiffened for a moment, before relaxing and placing a hand on Shinji's chest. She murmured, "That's in the past, it-"
"Doesn't matter now, I know," Shinji interrupted. "But... I feel like I should tell you."
Asuka sighed. "I'd be lying if I said that I never cared about what happened back then," she admitted. "At one point I was completely ready to try and slap you out of your catatonia to try and get an answer out of you."
Shinji chuckled humourlessly. "Wonder if that would have worked..."
"Just remember, you don't have to say a word about it now. I know now that you had just gone through a terrible experience. You probably didn't even know what you were doing to me."
"I did."
The flat and sudden response was like a broken rail in front of Asuka's train of thought. "W-what?"
"I knew exactly what I was doing," Shinji reiterated, his voice a dull monotone. "I saw you on the beach, with no way of knowing how you even got there. I thought my mind was just playing tricks on me, taunting me with your image. I remember thinking over and over again, 'she's just a doll'. But then you touched my face, and I suddenly realised that you were real."
As if mirroring that far off event, Asuka laid a hand against his cheek and smiled sadly. "It was the only thing I could do at the time to apologise for my rancid behaviour towards you. There was so much pain and confusion back then."
Shinji brought up a hand to cup the one on his cheek, but then the smile starting to grow on his face was cut off. "But then... you said something... horrible."
Asuka frowned, trying to remember what she had said. All she could recall was feeling...
"You called me 'disgusting'."
'Ugh, I feel so...' Asuka's eyes widened in shock. "Oh Gott," she whispered. Now she knew just why Shinji had fled from her at the beach. At possibly his most vulnerable moment she had, purely by accident, crushed the small glimmer of hope that he had begun to build. "Oh god, I'm so sorry, Shinji!"
It was probably the tightest hug Asuka had ever given Shinji as she choked out her explanation of that moment on the beach, that the pain due to her injuries and somebody sitting on her stomach had made her feel 'disgusting'.
A hand placed itself on her back and began to stiffly caress it. She wiped away the tears that had sprung forth and looked at Shinji, who was staring upwards at the ceiling.
"Evangelions seem to bring a rather nasty curse with them," he remarked after a few minutes, smiling brittlely. "They make anybody connected with them incapable of communicating like rational people. One word had me hiding from you for days, and it turns out that you weren't even talking about me!"
"That... couldn't have been it though, surely," Asuka hesitantly replied.
Shinji's voice turned sarcastic. "Oh, of course not. My mind decided the best thing to do, instead of working out what had happened, would be to traumatise me with your image telling me just how pathetic I was." He sighed. "I tried to shut it out, but it's impossible to get away from a voice that's inside your own head. You may as well try to stop breathing."
"So when you saw me in the pharmacy, you thought I was just another trick."
The boy nodded. "Yeah. And I thought I had just gotten away from one only to run into another."
Asuka rolled onto her back, dragging Shinji with her so that his head was resting on her shoulder. "And then I didn't see you until I found you unconscious near the Geofront crater."
Shinji shifted his head slightly in order to speak clearly. "I... don't think I remember anything about that bit."
"No surprise, you had a pretty nasty head wound and a broken hand. A doctor later said that you'd obviously punched something."
"...No, still don't recall anything," Shinji said after a moment of hard thought.
"And it doesn't matter now anyway," Asuka declared. "Screw the past, think about the future, Shinji."
Shinji burrowed into her shoulder. The room was quiet for a while before he quietly said, "The future holds more Revenants, you know."
"...Okay screw that too, for now. Think about the present instead."
Asuka could literally feel the smile forming on his face.
"The present feels... warm..."
"And comfortable."
"'n' comf't'ble..."
This time, when the two teens fell asleep, their slumber remained uninterrupted until morning.
...When the Angel alarm rudely brought them back to reality.
Asuka managed to keep her cursing to a minimum this time, possibly due to the presence of her mother in the front passenger seat, but Kyoko was muttering enough German expletives for the both of them after requesting to join Misato and the pilots on their way to NERV.
And deep inside, the Second Child was just a little giddy at the fact that she was about to defeat a Revenant while her mother was watching.
The moment Misato's car came to a final halt inside NERV, the pilots were out and running to the changing rooms. There was apparently still half an hour before the target came ashore, but that was no reason to dawdle. In a combat situation like this, any wasted time could mean the difference between victory and defeat.
But as Asuka and Rei headed out of the female change room, there was no sign of Shinji, who normally was the fastest to get into a plugsuit. After waving the other girl off, Asuka moved over to the door leading to the male change room. She knocked and called the boy's name, and when there was no response she sneaked in once the corridor was empty.
Inside, Shinji was slumped on a bench. His plugsuit was only half on, the top half bunched up at the waist as he stared absently at his right hand. Asuka sat down next to him and cleared her throat.
"We're fighting another one, huh?" Shinji mumbled before she could speak, not looking away from his hand.
"...One or more," Asuka replied. "There's only three left, and two of them attacked last time."
"Since the universe hates us, it'll be all three. I'd put money on it if the fate of the world wasn't at stake."
"And I wouldn't take that bet anyway. Now come on." Asuka got to her feet and held a hand out to Shinji. "Misato's expecting us."
Shinji's eyes shifted slightly, looking past his hand to the carefully manicured one in front of him. His hand flopped to his side as he sighed and leaned back, bumping his head against the locker he was leaning against.
"Hope I don't lose anything this time," he sardonically remarked.
"You're not gonna even get a scratch," Asuka declared, forming her outstretched hand into a fist. "Wondergirl and I will eviscerate anything that threatens you. And if you do get hurt again I'm gonna dive into the ocean, go find Adam and rip his Angelic balls off. Nobody hurts my boyfriend."
The corner of Shinji's mouth quirked upwards. "Nobody except you at least."
"No, not even me," the redhead corrected. "We're past hurting each other. Let's go hurt something that actually threatens us."
The other corner of Shinji's mouth joined its twin, and he reached out with his right hand to latch onto Asuka's fist. With only a little effort she jerked him up to his feet and the two smiled at each other.
And then Shinji's unsecured plugsuit began to slip down his body.
Shinji let out a rather girlish shriek and his hands dove down to grab the suit. Asuka's eyes were drawn downward by the movement before her brain could process what was happening, but it only took a fraction of a second for her face to set itself on fire once it caught up. She immediately whirled around and become intensely interested in an invisible spot on the wall in front of her.
Behind her, Asuka heard the shuffling of a rubber suit, followed by the tell-tale hiss of air as the plugsuit conformed to its wearer's body. She didn't turn back around until she heard Shinji begin to walk towards the door.
There was nothing that could be done for the twin looks of embarrassment on their faces.
"Alright," Misato said as she addressed the pilots through the view-screen. "You know the drill by now. Engage and destroy the target or targets. We don't have the Lance we 'liberated' earlier anymore, but our engineers have managed to put something together."
Ritsuko took over. "We may not have the Lance, but we haven't let its remains go to waste. Asuka, your launcher now has spikes tipped with the shards we recovered after the last battle. We don't know if they'll have completely the same effect, but the launching system has been overclocked to fire them much faster.
"Rei, since we have two front-line Evas this time, you'll be deployed as a sniper for this op. There's a Positron Rifle waiting for you topside, but you'll also have a railgun modified to fire Lance shards. Both of them have their own power cables and are already plugged in, so you can switch as needed."
The scientist looked apologetically towards the Third Child's screen. "Sorry, Shinji, but the best we managed for you was several magazines of Lance-tipped ammo for your Pallet Rifle. There weren't enough large pieces to give you something nice too."
"It's okay," Shinji replied. "Asuka and Rei can use them better than I could anyway."
Asuka cut in. "Leave the heavy lifting to us, watch our backs, and we'll keep you covered, Shinji."
The boy nodded, but one of the technicians interrupted what he was about to say.
"Commander, sensors are detecting an incredibly strong AT-Field emanating from the target," Maya reported. "Much more powerful than any of the previous Revenants."
"I believe we're facing multiple targets again," Ritsuko mused, before reaching past her protégé and typing out a query to the MAGI. A moment later, she got the response she wasn't looking forward to. "Looks like the MAGI agree..."
The Commander of NERV frowned. "How long until it, or they, arrive?"
"Nine minutes," Makoto announced.
"No time to waste then," Misato remarked. "Pilots, prepare to face multiple enemies. Launch Evas."
Three launch catapults fired, sending three behemoths hurtling towards the surface. The moment the journey ended, all three Evangelions detached from the catapults and headed for their designated co-ordinates. Unit-02 halted behind a defense building, crouching and putting the building between it and the shore, while Unit-01 kneeled in the shadow of another building nearby and carefully aimed its rifle towards the beach.
Unit-00 was a couple of kilometres further back, on the same hill it had used for sniping previously. Two massive weapons were positioned on the hill, with power cables leading to enormous trucks that acted as batteries for them. Rei checked and readied the railgun, before shifting her Evangelion over to the Positron Rifle and doing the same. She settled for the Positron Rifle for the time being, but the other weapon was close enough that it would only take a few seconds to switch.
"Asuka," Kyoko said into the comm panel. "Know that I am already proud of you. Always proud of you. Nothing that happens today will change that. Don't feel that you have to show off just because I'm here. All I want is for you to come back safe."
Asuka smiled warmly at her mother, before giving a hard nod and turning her attention back to the upcoming battle.
At the five minute mark, Misato queried Lieutenant Ibuki on the target.
"It appears to be picking up speed," Maya reported.
A short minute passed. On the holographic map projected in front of the officers, the single orange signal wavered as it drew closer and NERV's sensors got a better read on it. Suddenly, only a few hundred meters from the shoreline, the signal separated.
...Into three distinct targets, each apparently as strong as the original signal.
Misato and Ritsuko cursed in unison.
"One minute," Aoba reported unnecessarily.
There was no pause when the Revenants came ashore. The moment the corrupted, orange-clad Evangelions came ashore, each carrying a false Lance of Longinus, and locked eyes on their multi-coloured counterparts, they surged towards the defenders of Tokyo-3 and all of humanity. The static defenses all around the city opened fire at once, peppering the incoming enemies with cannons and missiles, but the Revenants, as one, raised the hand not holding a Lance and projected an AT-Field around them, each covering a third of the area around them.
Asuka was gracious enough to let the first attack go to Rei, who fired upon the lead Revenant as it charged forward. A roiling stream of positrons blew past Unit-02, close enough that the red machine was buffeted a little by the shockwave, and slammed into the AT-Field of the lead Revenant, the former Unit-05.
It did nothing to slow the advance of the Revenants. Rei managed to fire twice more before the Positron Rifle needed to cool down, with neither shot even fazing them. She detached the shoulder-mounted weapon and let it fall to the ground, as she rolled her blue Evangelion to the left and positioned it behind the railgun.
The moment the air was clear again, Shinji was leaning out from behind his cover and firing in short bursts at Unit-05. But despite being tipped with fragments of a weapon that was designed to pierce AT-Fields, the bullets only managed to penetrate a few inches into the barrier before losing their momentum.
Only a couple of kilometres separated the Evangelions and the Revenants now. On a single word from Rei, Shinji pulled Unit-01 back into cover, clearing her line of sight. There was no time for a precise shot, so she put the reticle over Unit-05's centre of mass and pulled the trigger.
A five kilogram sharpened chunk of the stolen Lance, propelled by electromagnetic forces, exited the barrel of the railgun at just over three kilometres per second. In the space of a heart beat, the round crossed the distance between Unit-00 and the lead target, impacting the AT-Field with a force that belied its size and weight. The ensuing explosion sent a cloud of smoke and debris billowing out and around the Revenants.
Even at her distance from the target, Rei could make out the discordant note of a broken AT-Field. The cloud quickly dissipated in the stiff breeze blowing about the city, but the railgun was not yet ready to fire again. On the map in her heads up display, she could see that the Revenants had halted.
The First Child gave the smallest of smiles and adjusted her aim, ready to make a more accurate shot now that the enemy's first line of defense had...
There was still an AT-Field up between her and the target.
"The other two Revenants have shifted their AT-Fields," Maya soberly announced. "They are now projecting towards Unit-00's position and..." She paused as more data scrolled past her screen, and her heart sank. "...They appear to have merged their AT-Fields. The barrier is now more than twice as powerful as the one Rei just destroyed."
Ritsuko frowned darkly as she read over the young woman's shoulder. "And if Unit-05 manages to recover and add its own barrier, I don't believe anything created by man would be able to punch through."
"How long until the railgun recharges?" Misato asked, arms crossed and staring at the holographic screen.
"Forty-five seconds," Makoto replied.
"Rei, get back on the Positron Rifle for now," the Commander ordered. "Just keep firing. The moment the railgun is ready, take another shot."
"Acknowledged," came the terse reply.
"Shinji, circle around and hit them from the side. We need to try and keep them from focusing their defense in one direction. If you can tick one off and get it to chase you, even better."
"On it." The blip representing Unit-01 began to move.
"Asuka?"
"If you say anything but 'full frontal assault', we're gonna have words when this is over." There was no disguising the anticipation in the redhead's voice, even through the comm.
"How about 'charge'?" Misato replied with a small grin.
"That works too."
"Asuka?"
She glanced at the comm window, now showing a concerned Shinji.
"I know; I'll be careful," she replied, having expecting him to voice such a comment, but the boy shook his head and smiled a little.
"Asuka?" he said again, before pointing an index finger towards the comm window. "...Smash."
She laughed, and Unit-02 stepped out from behind its cover in full view of the Revenants, flourishing its axe a couple of times before bringing it up to grip the haft in both hands.
"Can't exactly jump like the green guy, but I'll make do," Asuka said before closing the connection. Much as it pained her to do such a thing, she was going to need every ounce of concentration for what was about to come.
"Right then," she whispered with glee. "Time to end this stupid game. Let's hope Adam isn't a sore loser." She tightened her grip on the controls, and Unit-02's hands mirrored the movement.
"Weil ich Euch in mundgerechten Happen zu ihm zurückschicke!" Because I'm about to send him back to you in bite-sized chunks!
The German words turned into a feral battle cry as Asuka sent Unit-02 charging forward. The Revenants simply stood and stared as the giant red machine closed the gap between them. When there was only a few hundred metres separating them, all three brought their Lances up into a ready stance.
Asuka was expecting to first have to contend with the enemy's empowered barrier, but her own AT-Field, extended in front of her, encountered no resistance. And then she was suddenly amongst the demons that had once plagued her dreams, immediately dodging away from their opening strike. A Lance came in from the right, and she parried it with ease before blocking another thrust from her left.
The Second Child smirked. Her mother was watching, her boyfriend was helping while staying safe, and she was right where she belonged.
To an outsider it might have seemed like she was already surrounded, but to her it simply meant that she could attack in every direction. She had fought this enemy often enough to have a good understanding of their tactics. They weren't able to fight like she and Shinji now could. Just like any group that had not been extensively trained in close quarters team fighting, the Revenants had to avoid each other as well as her. At most, two of them could attack at once while the third held back.
The pylon on Unit-02's right shoulder opened up, and after another attack of Unit-10's was closely dodged, several Lance-tipped spikes shot out in quick succession and lodged themselves into the eyeless face of the perpetrator. The Revenant recoiled and a hand shot up to grasp at its injuries, but it quickly returned its full attention to Unit-02.
Asuka heard the impact of another Positron Rifle shot as it connected with the back of one of the Revenants. With one AT-Field down, and Unit-01 flanking them, there was a large gap that Rei could fire through. Two more shots soon followed, but it seemed as if the Revenants had no care for anything but her. Even Shinji's mission to draw one off seemed doomed to failure, as they simply refused to separate.
A few seconds after the last energy burst faded, Asuka caught the now-familiar sound of a railgun firing. There was no explosion this time, but one of the Revenants staggered backwards away from her, missing an arm. The round had simply sheared right through the limb and continued onward out to sea. Asuka took that moment to carve another deep gouge into the orange armour of Unit-13 before firing another volley of spikes into the rent she had just created.
As the last spike exited the launcher, a sort of sixth sense shouted at Asuka about an enemy behind her. She tried to twist about to face the threat, but her entire right arm from the shoulder down suddenly went cold, then numb before Unit-02 could fully come about.
And then Asuka saw the tip of a Lance sticking out of her Evangelion's shoulder.
Just because they weren't all attacking at once didn't mean they couldn't. And just because one of them had lost an arm didn't mean it was going to back off to recover.
She attempted to violently turn around, to try and rip the weapon out of its owner's grasp, but Unit-02 felt like it was moving through a tar pit. With a great effort Asuka managed to get her axe into her Evangelion's left hand, and swung it at the approaching Unit-05. The Revenant casually avoided the sluggish attack before ramming its Lance into the red Evangelion's left shoulder.
Her whole body felt numb now, and she couldn't keep hold of the axe. It dropped from nerveless fingers as the Revenants gathered around her, all three giving the impression of staring into her face despite the lack of eyes. Strangely, they seemed to be... solemn. She had expected that disgusting grin, perhaps a lick of the lips, but they were acting more like they were... unhappy with what was transpiring.
People were screaming in her ear, a certain brown-haired boy loudest of all. There was a comm window open, showing the boy almost standing up in his entry plug to get closer to the view screen.
"Shinji..." Asuka said, or tried to say. She couldn't tell if words were actually making it out of her mouth, but she continued anyway. "Don't worry about me, I'll be f-"
The final Lance pierced Unit-02's core.
Her vision turned white.
"A-A-A... Asuka...?"
The command centre was deathly silent, save for the choked off words of Shinji. Kyoko had both hands clapped over her mouth, distraughtly mumbling in German and doing nothing to hide the tears leaking from her eyes. Both Misato and Ritsuko's mouths dropped open at what they had just witnessed.
Asuka, arching her back as the Lance struck, and then her entire body disintegrating and the plugsuit slowly sinking through the LCL to rest gently on the pilot chair.
"...Asuka?"
On the screen, two of the Revenants slowly pulled their weapons out of Unit-02's shoulders, the third holding onto the Evangelion as they were removed before gently lowering it to the ground. As one, the Revenants turned and began stalking towards Unit-01, as frozen as its pilot.
An explosion signalled the impact of another railgun round on the AT-Field, with no appreciable effect on the barrier. With one threat eliminated and another suddenly incapacitated, there was nothing stopping them from focusing their defense in one direction.
"Shinji!" Misato finally managed to shout, her mouth as dry as a desert. "Shinji, they're coming for you!"
"Asuka..."
"Should I make preparations for another N2 strike, Commander?" Ritsuko dully asked.
"No!" Misato angrily replied. "Because Shinji's going to kill them first! Shinji!" The last word was hurled at the screen. The Revenants were closing fast, but Shinji seemed entirely unaware of their presence, eyes still fixated on the comm window showing Asuka's empty plugsuit.
Finally, the boy's expression began to shift, morphing from shock into anger. His eyes squeezed shut as tightly as his fists.
"Commander..." Makoto's voice pulled Misato's attention away from the screen. "Unit-01... it's beginning to berserk," he said in a low voice.
Hope bloomed in the woman's chest as Unit-01 began to move, hunching in on itself slightly before throwing back its head and roaring to the heavens.
Right as a Lance impaled it through the chest.
In an instant, that hope disappeared as Shinji's body did the same, leaving behind another empty plugsuit. The light went out in Unit-01's eyes as it slumped over backwards in a manner eerily reminiscent of its last battle.
Now it was Misato's turn to whisper a loved one's name in horror.
Fear tried to make itself known as an iceberg in Rei's stomach, but she ignored it as she entered a command on her console. Her two fellow pilots were down, but she could still fight. Humanity could still triumph.
The command overcharged her two weapons, sucking up every single ounce of energy from the power trucks. It was not a recommended solution, as the excessive power drain would severely damage components and put the support staff near the trucks at risk, but it was necessary. An extreme amount of power was needed to break through the Revenants' reinforced AT-Field, and Rei prayed that what she had was enough.
The targets in question had already turned towards her and were advancing quickly. Unit-00 moved from a prone position to balance on one knee, wielding both the railgun and the Positron Rifle at once. The long barrel of the railgun wavered without anything to hold it steady, but Rei soon managed to get the targeting crosshairs to line up for just long enough.
She pulled the triggers.
The railgun round hit first, exploding and obscuring the Revenants in a cloud of dust. To the bluenette's dismay, there was no discordant sound of a breaking barrier, even when the particle beam hit a mere second later. She entered another command, dialling down the power needed for a railgun shot in order to fire more rapidly, before firing again, and again. The Positron Rifle was drained first, and Rei let it slide off of her Evangelion's shoulder, giving her full attention to the railgun.
For some reason she felt like screaming defiance with her next shot, and as the First Child gave in to that urge and pulled the trigger with a wordless yell, the sound she had been expecting finally made itself heard. The railgun was dialled back up as high as she could set it. She exhaled, steadied her aim, and fired once again.
The last shard of the stolen Lance flew from the barrel and pierced the chest of Unit-05, as the power trucks behind Unit-00 shorted out and caught fire. The injured Revenant halted in its tracks, clutching at the hole driven straight through its torso. Behind it, an explosion signified the stopping point of the railgun round in the ground due to the slight downward angle of the shot.
She had evidently missed the core by mere centimetres. There was no time for Rei to lament her misfortune, as she spotted the remaining Lance being thrown at her. The railgun was dropped to the ground and Unit-00 took a mighty leap sideways to dodge the attack.
The Lance's trajectory curved to follow the Evangelion.
In a last-ditch effort to protect herself, Rei did the only thing left. She raised Unit-00's arms and projected the strongest AT-Field she could. For a brief instant, she recalled a memory of the Second Child trying to stop a Heavy Spear in its tracks with her AT-Field, only to be foiled by it morph-
The last thing Rei saw before her vision turned white was the Lance sticking out of Unit-00's chest.
