On Commander Ikari's request I attempted to visit Shinji today to expedite synchronization. Upon arrival I found him crying. I asked if he was in pain. He did not respond.

I will attempt another visit tomorrow.

I applied 3.5 units of antiseptic adhesive to my left leg along with routine evening medications. All other joints are now healing properly.

What little color the world still held had faded away hours ago. Now all that was left was gray. A gray sky above gray trees. Gray rocks sitting on gray soil. And a gray man in gray clothing. His gray eyes staring down at her from a gray face. When he spoke a gray tongue emerged behind gray teeth.

He looked up and opened his mouth. Her hearing was all but gone, but it almost looked like he was calling for help. He did it again. She could feel the vibration in his voice. Yes, he was calling for help. After one last shout he leaned down and placed his gray lips next to her ear.

"Hikari! No...no...come on, come on. Hey, Hikari! Can you hear me?"

Her skin was pale as porcelain, her lips cracked and bleeding. Eyelids fluttering, struggling to stay open as consciousness came and went in waves. She felt no hunger or thirst or pain, only the overwhelming pull of sleep.

"Just stay with me, Hikari. Okay? I'm gonna get an IV in you, start some fluids. Come on, let me see those big brown eyes. Just stay awake with me, okay? We still got places to go."

"...he...he showed me...the way..."

"Yeah? That's good. You tell me about it, okay? Tell me everything on your mind. Just keep with me. Hi—Hikari? No, no damn it. You wake up, right now. Hikari? Wake the hell up!"

5% dextrose solution

0.9% sodium chloride

Petroleum jelly

Doxycycline

Ondansetron

Soy protein isolate

Maltodextrin

The sting of salt on an open wound. Muffled sobs. The pressure of a needle under the skin.

"...ouch…"

Her eyes slowly opened. Another sting.

"...stop...stop it…"

Huddled over Hikari with tears streaming down her face, Mari's heart jumped.

"Hikari?"

She felt a hand lay softly on her head, trembling with exertion.

"Stop...stop crying. Those tears hurt."

Mari pulled back, wiping her eyes. Hikari's lips were still raw and swollen, but her color had started to return.

"Don't scare me like that ever again. Okay?"

Hikari forced a weak smile before fading back to sleep.

The hours stretched on as Mari tended to her. Replacing the IV bag, applying ointment to her remaining sores, organizing a regiment of nutritional supplements, anti-nausea medication and broad spectrum antibiotics. What few medical supplies they had left could not handle another crisis like this.

By the evening she had foraged enough burnable wood for a small fire. The acrid smell of natural smoke filled her nostrils, tinging the back of her throat. Mari watched as the bright orange flames shimmered off the mirrored blanket Hikari slept under. Her breath now deep and rhythmic. The same person who had just days ago watched her almost fall to her death was now the most important thing in Mari's life.

They couldn't keep the fire going for long, but for the moment she was at ease.

She felt a head rest on her shoulder.

"Morning, sunshine."

Dawn was breaking, the weak sun casting a mirrored forest of shadows against the parched, burnt land. In this alien land created by the Third Impact there were no birds left to sing and no squirrels left to chirp. No leaves to left rustle and no rivers left to babble. Only the low moan of desiccated tree trunks resisting a wind which came and went as it pleased.

"How ya feeling?"

"I could go for a burrito."

They both stifled a small laugh as their dry throats spasmed into an involuntary, hoarse cough. Mari passed a half-eaten tin of gruel which Hikari greedly accepted. The hunger felt after a severe bout of dehydration knows no bounds.

"Take it slow with that. Misato sure did make those things sound good though, didn't she? Remember steak? If there's one food I miss it's that. Just a big, rare steak. I always asked for one after training runs. Ooh, and fish and chips smothered in malt vinegar. What about you?"

She handed the canteen to Hikari, motioning for her to drink.

"Omelettes. Stuffed with rice and ketchup on top. It was the one thing I wanted on every birthday. My big sister would make fun of me for it. You can ask for anything and that's it? But eating that, it just felt like home. That...that probably sounds pretty dumb."

Hikari passed the canteen back to Mari. The sun now sat just above the horizon, bringing with it a clear, pale blue sky.

"No, trust me, I get it. That stuff, WILLE's sorry excuse for a ration, that tastes like home to me. When I was a kid there was a year or so between when my dad died and my mom got her offer from NERV when we were really poor. Like, we were already struggling before but that just pulled the rug right from under us. So we ate that for almost every meal. My mom always tried to make the best of it, but I was too young to understand. All I felt was embarrassment when I had to eat it in front of the other kids at school. I...I really resented her for that. For a long time. Stupid…"

She felt Hikari's hands wrap around her own.

"Mari...I-"

"Hey, not that arm. You're gonna mess up your IV."

By noon Hikari had the strength to start moving again. She wasn't sure how, but something inside her said that the quickest way out of this wretched place was due south. Maybe it was the gray man from her dreams.

They moved slowly and stopped often to rest. They didn't speak, but not out of anger or spite. The tension that had hung over the group as their odyssey into these woods began had disappeared. As if some mighty boulder had been lifted from their shoulders. Each now knowing they were not alone.

The sheer brightness of a full moon, almost blinding in contrast to the darkness they had become accustomed to, greeted them on their exit. They had finally reached the outskirts of Tokyo-3, now littered with the crumbled remains of cars, street signs, apartments and office buildings. And far in the distance, hidden deep within a crater that had swallowed up so much of what they both knew, stood Unit 01.