After what felt like half an hour of walking, Shinji and Asuka arrived at the ruins of what used to be known as Tokyo 3. Buildings which used to stand proud, unless knocked over in an angel attack, now broken down and devoid of life. Save for a flock of birds that seemed to have made themselves right at home on the rooftops.

"Huh, looks like the birds are still around… must be doves", Shinji pondered to outloud.

Making their way through the streets, both of them looked up and down, side to side, taking in the sight. Vehicles that had been abandoned, crashed into the stores' windows, and quite a few charred and wrecked from what could be assumed to have been a car accident. Some buildings had faint, dying fires, a few others their windows shattered and had possibly been looted when people began to notice others suddenly violently exploding into LCL.

But what possibly stood out the most were the dozens upon dozens of orange puddles.

"Guess the chaos really kicked once people started disappearing", Asuka thought out loud.

Shinji nodded and noticed a gas station a few buildings down.

"Look over there. It's a gas station, maybe we can find some food."

"Lead the way then, Third."

She didn't need to even think about it, the mere mention of food caused Asuka's stomach to growl angrily. How long had it been since she last ate, she had thought to herself. When she was in a coma at NERV HQ, she was hooked on to an IV drip. Before that, she had sat in a rancid, dirty bathtub in an abandoned house for days. Waiting to die.

She found herself staring at Shinji as they continued getting closer to their destination. Mere feet away from her was a boy who she had grown to have such complex feelings for that she found herself unable to express, yet now it was most likely all but known to him after their experience in Instrumentality. Asuka had been exhausted upon returning, and she was slowly recovering her energy. Her head had started to clear up after who knows how many days, or even weeks, had passed since Third Impact. Which meant, now it was time to ask some questions.

Upon entering the gas station, they both looked around. Electricity seemed to be out in most of the refrigerated sections, save a few. Several bags of chips, bottles of soft drinks and water strewn about, and of course puddles of LCL and clothing here and there.

"Shinji", Asuka said, breaking the silence. Shinji turned to face her.

"What hell happened?"

Those pair of blue, scared puppy eyes immediately looked to the side, then to the LCL stained floor. With every fiber of his being, he hoped she didn't remember too much of what she saw in Instrumentality… and before the Third Impact. Left alone to die a gruesome death at the perpetually grinning maws of the Mass Production Eva series. Before the invasion of NERV HQ happened as she laid on the hospital bed unconscious.

"Hey, idiot, I asked you a question", she said as she closed the distance between them, mere inches away from his face.

"Um… what do you mean?"

"Don't act like you don't know what I mean. Why are we the only ones left? What led to the world being left in such a dump?"

Shinji once again remembered, as Eva Unit 01, no, his mother, lifted him into the entry plug and ascended to the surface, he was quickly subdued by the Eva series and their lances of longinus. Powerless to stop a thing, and powerless as his very ego was crippled beyond repair.

"The Eva series… right when Unit 01 and I made it to the surface, they threw their spears and paralyzed us. Then I saw... Rei, and-"

Of course, he mentions wonder girl first and foremost even when she's nothing but a giant dismembered head, thought Asuka much to her frustration.

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot, you didn't even make it up there fast enough. I had already been ripped to shreds, but of course the first thing you mention is wonder girl", she responded, anger growing in her tone as she inched closer to Shinji's face.

"No! You se-"

"Oh! Wanna talk about 'seeing'? While I was still in that orange soup, I saw what you did when I was at the hospital. I know all about those jerkoff fantasies. And I know all you did was mope your way through NERV with Misato having to drag you by the hand like a petulant child. All you did was sit there, didn't even try to pilot your Eva. You didn't help me."

Asuka stared Shinji down as he looked away, arms flat against his sides. She in fact already knew the reason why the meek boy didn't make it in time, that reason being Unit 01 encased in bakelite, but the horrifying memories were still fresh in her mind. She wanted to let her frustration out on someone, and of course, Shinji was always that someone.

'Remember what you saw in 'there', Asuka", she thought to herself.

"You know what, just forget it, idiot. We should probably look for some food in here", and with that, Shinji weakly walked down the short aisles of the ruined gas station, trying his best not to step in a puddle of the primordial soup.

Although the power was out, the freezers seemed to still be functioning. As Asuka browsed the freezers, she found a scattered and disorganized assortment of microwave chicken tenders and shrimp. With not much left to take, she closed the freezer, walking over to the small aisle Shinji had gone off to, holding the three boxes she found with her.

Shinji looked carefully through the disorganized shelves, trying not to step in the LCL and scattered clothing on the floor. Watching his step, he came across a few boxes of rice, a can of beef, and a packet of seasoning.

"You find anything?", Asuka asked, looking over his shoulder.

"Yeah, it isn't much, but I can make a meal or two out of what we have. Now we just need to find something to cook with."

"Well it's not like this place has any kind of cooking ware, or even something that can heat up a pot. Let's head out and see if we can find that", said Asuka as she made her way out, Shinji following close behind.

Walking out to the middle of the desolate street, the pair remained in silence.

"So, Shinji, I've got another question", said Asuka, turning to the boy.

Looking to Asuka, she was once again met by those eyes which had always been seemingly ready to receive some kind of verbal blow.

"Why did you choke me, when we first came back?"

"I just… wanted to make sure you were real. After everything I saw in 'there', I needed to make sure that this was all real now… and… I'm sor-"

Interrupted by a raise of a bandaged hand and arm, the red head waved off Shinji.

"Enough of the apologizing, will you idiot? I get it. I saw some stuff in there too."

One of those things was Shinji begging her to help him, rejecting him anyways. Leading to the first strangling session that still sent a chill down her spine. Witnessing a face full of anger and betrayal.

Shinji had noticed that Asuka was yet to remove her bandages. He wanted to mention it earlier, but did not want to bring it up too soon. Not catching himself as he stared a little too long at her arm. Asuka shot him a look.

"Asuka, why haven't you taken your bandages off yet? Do you feel any pain?"

"I don't feel like taking them off yet", she replied coldly.

Truly, she just wasn't sure if removing the bandages off her arm would result in the limb splitting into two, and she wouldn't be ready to remove her eye bandage if it meant she still would only see complete darkness from that eye. It terrified her. Even then however, having the Third child by her made her feel a little more at ease as much as she didn't like to admit to herself. Perhaps she had already said a little too much when caressing his face.

"Look, a kitchenware shop", pointed Shinji.

Not too far away stood a decently sized kitchenware store. Windows cracked, a few broken, a few of the lights were still on.

As they closed in on the store, a flock of doves flew off, one of them attempting to carry a silver fork away. The dove eventually gave up.

"In case you didn't know stupid Shinji, some birds are attracted to shiny obj…"

Asuka stopped talking, staring dead straight at the dove attempting to carry away a piece of silverware far too heavy for its small body.

White. Wings. Fork. It bared just enough similarity for her to be reminded of the Eva series and their lances.

Quickly banishing the thought from her mind, she sped past Shinji pushing the doors open, Quickly catching up to her, he hesitated to ask her what had just happened. Would she scream at him? Lash out? Maybe, but there's one thing Shinji knew from this point on.

"I won't run away", he thought to himself.

"Asuka, what happened back there?"

"What do you care, Third? Shouldn't you be looking for some pots or something?"

"Well, at least I tried", he thought.

As he walked down the rows of pots scattered and disorganized, Asuka watched him while he had his back turned. She truly didn't intend to come off harshly like that, but the memories of her destruction by the Eva series was still on her mind and didn't need any reminders of it.

Shinji returned with a cooking pot, knife, stirring spoon, and electrical pot heater for portable cooking.

"I found these should be good enough if we need to stop somewhere and need to eat something", he said as he was now visibly struggling to not only hold the kitchenware, but the food items gathered from the gas station.

"Not so invincible now, huh?", Asuka said with a slight smirk as she took some of the kitchenware into her hands. Suddenly, she realized the plugsuit had grown to become quite uncomfortable as time went on, but a new set of clothing would be taken care of later.

"We should probably try looking for somewhere to stay and get rest. Maybe Misato's place is still around…"

Like a needle jab to the index finger, Shinji reminded himself that she wouldn't be home to greet them, and quite possibly, that would be the case forever.

Asuka noticed the pain in Shinji's eyes at the mere mention of their former parental guardian.

"You know, maybe the apartment is still intact. We should go check", she said.

"Yeah, you're right. Let's go."

"Of course I'm right, I'm the great Asuka Langley Soryu."

"Wait a second… do we even need any of this since everything is probably still at her place?", said Shinji.

"I guess you're right about that, Third. In case the whole building is a wreck, it wouldn't hurt to be prepared. The food there might have gone bad, who knows how long everyone's turned into LCL."

And with that, they exited the store and began their long walk to the apartment.

Yet again, both remained in silence for the remainder of their tread. Fully realizing they wouldn't arrive at the sight of Misato downing cans of yebisu beer.

Upon arrival, Shinji and Asuka looked up at the apartment building. While left mostly intact, only a few chunks of concrete seemed to have chipped off the sides. Both entering the building, they made their way up the stairs, coming closer to the apartment.

Now standing at the front door, Asuka was the one to attempt opening it.

It opened.

"I guess she forgot to lock it before she left", commented Shinji.

They entered the apartment. Electricity seemed to still be running much to their surprise, as was the water and gas. Perhaps not forever, but better than nothing. Everything was as spotless as Shinji last left it, save a few empty cans of beer strewn about by the trash can.

Exhausted after so much walking, Asuka set the kitchenware down on the table, and slumped into a chair. She still was coming to terms with what had transpired in what felt like the last dozen hours, but rest was desperately needed.

Shinji couldn't help but simply stare at the spot where Misato would usually sit.

"I'm feeling a little tired, Asuka. I'm going to get some rest, do you need anything?"

'I'm fine", she said as she headed towards her room.

Shuffling towards her room with whatever stamina she had left, she slid her door open. It felt like opening a time capsule of sorts, everything was exactly the way she left it before she ran away to wither away in an abandoned house. Yet it wasn't the long walk which had the Second child feeling so exhausted, but everything she had to deal with before returning to the real world. Feeling her mother's warmth for the last time in Unit 02 is something she would never forget.

"At least the idiot is here", she whispered to herself, her eyelids feeling heavier as she finally gave into the embrace of sleep.

Shinji made his way to his smaller room, feeling much needed sleep creeping up on him. Sliding the door open, he collapsed onto his bed, a deep slumber overtaking him.

However.

Buried under a few feet of sand, rocks, and rubble, off near the coasts of Japan, slept another. This "other" who had been at rest for more than half a century, left undisturbed. Nothing but bones, gargantuan bones one would note larger than those of the fallen Angels.

An everlasting reminder of one of humanity's arrogance and carelessness, long forgotten after decades of societal advancements, to trivial politics, and eventually, the Second Impact and the war against the Angels. Forgotten and overlooked by even the likes of SEELE and completely unknown by NERV before the Third Impact.

A fallen king.