With a wide swing of its progressive axe, Unit-02 crippled three of the Fourth Angel's smaller clones and prepared to engage another one, pivoting on its foot far enough to clear the destroyed building that barely stood between them. What remained of the ruined apartment complex was a good example of the damage the city had sustained and, to make matters worse, communications with HQ were compromised, resupply points were scarce and long range support was basically nil, a trio of problems that no modern soldier wanted to singularly deal with, let alone suffer all at once.
But the Second Child did not allow any of that to deter her.
Leveraging the axe's momentum into a vertical swing, the crimson robot struck and almost split the next phallic angel in two, the Pilot quickly untangling the weapon from the dead carcass and choosing to devote her attention to looking over her shoulder, rather than inspecting her newest kill: at her back, Unit-01 had sustained some heavy damage to its right arm in a previous skirmish and was still struggling to finish off the mini-Angel it was currently facing. It was much too busy to pay attention to the other two mini-Angels that were converging on its position.
That was roughly the time when Asuka had decided to momentarily forego her side of the battlefield and move to bail Makinami out. Again.
"I told you that a frontal attack was a bad idea…"
Asuka's expression became one of annoyance, the Second Child taking her eyes off the screen for a second to mentally snarl at the young man that had deigned to bless her with his wisdom.
'And what else is new? You think everything that doesn't involve listening to your SDAT is a bad idea, stupid.'
A deep sigh was all the reply Asuka received, but the redhead reined in the urge for a scathing follow-up remark. She had been on shaky ground with the new resident of her mind ever since she had woken up, after all, and considering that there were no signs of the situation being temporary so far, the Second Child had decided that a modicum of temper control was in order until she could figure out the specifics behind the entire thing.
Besides, regardless of how wrong his opinion had been, the fact remained that she could put very little blame to Shinji's name this time, irritatingly enough.
The screen then flickered to a view of Unit-00 manoeuvring over giant pieces of rubble on its own, and Asuka closed her eyes with a sigh. She knew what was coming next: standing on top of a fallen skyscraper and with no cover to speak of, the cyclopean robot appeared to identify a threat in the distance at the worst of times, one that it tried to respond to by quickly reaching towards its back. But before Unit-00 could bring its rifle to bear, a huge cross-shaped explosion tore through its AT-Field and hastily erected resistance with no effort at all. When the dust settled, the blue Evangelion lay a broken wreck a thousand metres away from its last position.
"At least this was all a simulation battle," the Third Child commented once more, relieved but cringing at the sight, nonetheless. "I don't want to think how badly Ayanami might have been hurt by that hit if it had been a real fight."
A completely innocent observation that, unknown to him, caused a loathsome feeling to grow within his host's body.
'...Of course you'd be worried about the damn Doll.' Asuka thought to herself, quickly starting to forget all about her temper control resolutions.
"Huh?"
'Nothing. Just... shut up already, Stupid Shinji!' the redhead finally snapped. 'I don't want to hear you right now, alright?!'
At that point, Asuka had expected the irritating boy to fight back with a snappy comeback of the sort he had recently taken a liking to, or to otherwise break his usually non-confrontational character in some other form, like he had been doing all day. But instead what she heard was just a passably masculine yelp and then... nothing.
Asuka blinked, the main screen shifting back to show the red and purple titans just before a second cross-shaped blast engulfed the area and the two Evangelions inside of it, effortlessly laying waste to the entirety of it. The words 'Operation Failure' then flashed in the screen, Angels, buildings and wrecked Evangelions alike disintegrating into blocks of bluish data as the simulation ended.
But the Second Child had stopped paying attention to the video by that point. She felt... odd. Like something that had been 'there' before suddenly wasn't, leaving a strange-feeling void behind that was incredibly difficult to put into words. Hard descriptions aside, however, figuring out what a major candidate for that 'something' could be, considering the circumstances, didn't exactly require much use of Asuka's frequently vaunted intellect.
'Shinji? Oi, Third!' the Second Child quickly contradicted herself, no small measure of worry seeping into her voice. 'Shinji?!'
But none of Asuka's demands received any answer.
-O]|[O-
"W-WOAH! WOOAAAAAHH!"
With a heavy thud, Shinji Ikari skidded to a halt on his back after experiencing the joys of free-flight for an entire two seconds, the muscles and bones of his body feeling very grateful that he had landed on a grassy patch rather than on the wooden or tiled surfaces that he had also known to exist within Asuka's mind. The impact still hurt quite a bit, of course, but the Third Child would thank his lucky stars for small blessings, nonetheless.
"...What did I say this time?" Shinji wondered as he narrowed his eyes at the grey sky, trying to figure out what it was that had angered Asuka so much to literally spit him out from the strange room he had been in until then. Sure, she had been very crabby and tense ever since he had first decided to talk with her during the test (after taking a well-deserved break for himself, of course), but she had never gone into details as to why.
Shinji heavily suspected that the new girl had something to do with it, though. Makinami-san appeared to have a talent for getting under Asuka's skin, so it was probably just some silly thing that Asuka had blown out of proportion.
As usual.
"...If I ever get out of here, I should ask Makinami-san to teach me her ways." The Third Child grumbled, and it was then that a drop of water hit him on the forehead, followed by many others striking the rest of his body and all the surrounding area.
It looked like the rain was back, so the Asuka of this side was probably going to be a bit disappointed, but Shinji was looking forward to meeting her again, all the same. It was nice to have an Asuka that didn't want to bite his head off for every little thing, after all.
'Why did she have to be the powerless one, seriously?'
With a tired sigh, Shinji sat up and began to plan his next move: clearly, he'd need to get into contact with his Asuka again, since he had not gotten the chance to convince her of letting Doctor Akagi know of his plight. It was likely that he wouldn't be able to do so in the immediate future, however; at least until his host stopped being mad at him.
Or the more likely possibility, became angrier with someone else.
'...Nothing I can do about it right now, anyway, so I should probably try to get back to the farm,' the young man decided. 'Angry Asuka aside, Ace and the others might be worried with how suddenly I disappeared. I should-'
A sudden, heavy rustle caught Shinji's attention and the young man looked to his right, quickly noticing a familiar figure hunched against a tree a few steps away. One whose metallic sheen reflected what scraps of light made it through the cloud cover, and that rested the hilt of a weapon on its shoulder.
A weapon of the needlessly large and bladed sort.
-O]|[O-
'Hey, Stupid Shinji! Stop giving me the silent treatment!'
The lights suddenly turned on in the conference room of NERV HQ and Asuka blinked herself back to attention. The room was a large place that Asuka had only been to once, following the catastrophic first strike against the Seventh Angel that had ended up with her and the Third Child stuck head-first into the ground, and that had turned what should have been her first grand battle in Japan into a humiliating debut. The first of many disappointments to follow.
Needless to say, Asuka had not been thrilled about the idea of setting foot in the room again. Just about as thrilled as she was about the flak that she was expecting to receive within the four walls that had already seen her humbled once. The fact that the possibility she could have expunged Shinji from her mind with a bad choice of words was steadily looking less and less on the absurd side of things didn't help matters, either.
"What we just saw was footage from the last training exercise," Misato put down the remote control for the main screen and looked down on the rows before her from her position at the back of the room. "I don't need to remind you that it ended in failure, but what were the critical junctures that led to such a result, in your eyes?"
"The three deployed Evangelion units were in a significant numerical disadvantage. This disadvantage became even more pronounced when reinforcements arrived for the enemy, in the form of modified versions of previously fought Angels," Rei quietly replied. "The combat scenario's particulars of zero fire support from Tokyo-3's defensive emplacements and the simulation of a failure within the city's Battle Mode conversion systems, as well as several other logistical and tactical complications also contributed towards making the scenario a very unlikely one to succeed in."
"I'm well aware of that. Do you have any other observations to make, First Child?"
The First Child's eyes flickered for an instant towards her crimson clad teammate. She was staring at the ground with a faraway expression.
"…Evangelion Unit-02-"
"At the two minute mark Evangelion Unit-02 charges into a cluster of smaller Angels and engages them in melee, intending to eliminate the enemy before they spread out and make the most out of their numerical advantage. Evangelion Unit-01 follows, and Unit-00 remains behind to provide ranged cover," Asuka unexpectedly continued in a dull tone. "At three minutes and forty-two seconds, and after eliminating most of the enemies on the western side of the operations area, Evangelion Unit-02 moves to support an overwhelmed Unit-01, expecting Unit-00 to watch over the now exposed left flank.
"But unknown to Units 01 and 02, the resulting smoke, various debris and other line-of-sight blockers have made it so that Unit-00 is forced into repositioning to offer any sort of meaningful fire support, a move that is further hindered by logistical issues with the power cables.
"Unit-00 therefore takes longer than initially expected to reach a new position, leaving our entire left flank exposed at the five minutes and twenty-four seconds mark. Without any eyes to run overwatch over that area and no information from the city's early warning system, a full strength copy of the Third Angel sneaks up on and takes out Unit-00 from long range during its transit, eliminating fire support for Units 01 and 02. Already engaged in hand to hand combat and with no way to close the gap against the Third Angel without exposing ourselves to our attackers, Units 01 and 02 are overwhelmed and disabled soon after.
"Is that a good enough recap?" Asuka finished her explanation, not having moved an inch throughout its entirety.
Misato had to keep her right eyebrow from rising above its twin. After all, while she could understand and expect the Second Child being eager to offer explanations for her performance, her doing so in a monotone did not conform to the same expectations quite as much.
"Anything to add, First Child?" Misato questioned, her gaze never leaving Asuka's hunched over form.
"No, Major," Rei replied, her eyes travelling to the Second Child as well with something that could have been taken as surprise. "Pilot Sohryu's analysis was accurate."
"Except for the part where she didn't mention the crippling lack of any sort of coordination between the three EVA units, of course," the Major corrected, her tone denoting that absence of proper organisation had been the biggest blunder, as far as she was concerned. "But I agree that everything else was worthy of a passing grade, yes."
Disappointed as it may have been, though, it wasn't lost to Asuka that Misato's voice lacked the bite that it had had the day of the Seventh Angel's fiasco. Such a small boon didn't make her military persona any less intimidating, though.
"We will be dedicating the next training sessions towards correcting those issues post-haste, understood?"
"…Yes, ma'am."
"Good," satisfied, Misato turned her eyes away from the two Pilots and towards Mari, who had been eagerly following the entire exchange with her ever-present smile. "Fifth Child."
"Hai~!" The twin-tailed girl replied, snapping to attention with a goofy salute that got her zero points with her commanding officer.
"How do you think you did out there?"
"...Sorry, sorry!" Mari scratched at the back of her head and offered an apologetic smile, quickly realising that the Major wasn't up for jokes. "I guess my EVA doesn't like me very much…"
"I'm fully aware of the limitations brought about by your low synch-rate, but your performance was still nothing short of appalling," Misato shot back, chastising tone reinforced by the narrowing of her eyes. "To the point that I'm tempted to say you weren't even trying out there."
"That's... what it looked like, huh? Okay, I'll try harder next session!"
"That's what I expect, and the only reason why I'm letting you off with a warning, this time. Should you fail to take the training sessions seriously a second time, you can be certain that we will take measures to ensure that you do so in the future," Misato's stare tripled in intensity. "Have I made myself clear?"
A fact that the Fifth Child shrugged off with a nonchalant smile.
"Crystal clear, ma'am."
"Make sure that you show it, then. Dismissed," her features softening in half a second flat, Misato then turned to regard the Second Child. "I'll be heading to the cranial ward next, Asuka. I'll wait for you in this floor's cafeteria."
With a nod towards the redhead, Misato picked up her things and left through the door a few moments later, her Section-2 escort following close behind. Then, and in unison, almost as if the Major leaving their line of sight had been a silent starting signal, all the techs, analysts and assorted manpower in the room began to file out as well in an orderly manner.
Mari Makinami made a show of letting out a relieved sigh, as her two teammates began preparations for their own departure, too.
"Ouch, harsh…" she lamented with a grimace, before turning to smile at the Second Child. "Hey, Princess! That was way too harsh, wasn't it?"
Her smile froze in place when Asuka sent her an absolutely incensed look, before turning around with a huff and zero words, heading towards the locker rooms.
"...Oookay. Anger levels might have risen a fair bit above expected parameters. Will need to come up with a proper response," Mari mumbled to herself, watching Asuka charge through the door and past a startled techie. She then put her grin back in place before turning towards the other Pilot. "What about you, Bluebird? You understand me, right?"
But whether the First Child understood or not was quickly condemned to the abyss of unanswered questions, when she promptly walked past the Fifth Child without offering a response, as well. Quickly following on Asuka's footsteps, the bluenette headed straight for the locker rooms, too, her narrowed crimson eyes never leaving the form of the redheaded girl a few steps before her.
Mari watched her go, her mouth twisting into a small pout.
"Jeez... Tough crowd."
It was then that the Fifth Child heard the unmistakable sound of a throat being meaningfully cleared somewhere to her right. Quick investigation revealed that throat as belonging to one Ritsuko Akagi, who was currently giving her an equally meaningful look.
Fully aware of where this was going, Mari's shoulders slumped forward as a deep groan filled the conference room.
"Oh, boy…"
-O]|[O-
The rays of light that came from the hospital window made the young man resting in the room look at peace, almost as if he were taking a nap and about to wake up any second. A fairly large part of Asuka had been wishing for the latter to be the case, in fact, hoping that the way in which she had previously ejected Shinji from her thoughts could have ended up causing him to take up residence in his own body again, somehow. How his essence, soul, cognition or whatever was supposed to make the trip back by itself was something that Asuka had trouble imagining an answer to but, then again, even the weirdest of hypothesis weren't that farfetched considering that she had already talked to her comatose roommate via thoughts.
And had been trying to do so again for the last twenty minutes, with no success.
"…I keep fucking up every chance I get, don't I?" the redhead angrily muttered to herself.
"I'll not mince words: that wasn't a good showing, Asuka. I'll also admit that the scenario I pitted against the three of you wasn't at all fair, but I was expecting a much better performance than what I saw, anyway," a familiar voice responded to her rhetorical question. "All that said, though, it's not just a 'you' problem. I'm sure you already noticed?"
Asuka blinked herself back to attention, having managed to forget that Misato was in the room with her, probably because the older woman had barely said a word ever since they had entered. She had been content to grab a chair for herself and stoically watch over Shinji's sleeping form, instead.
And watch her too, apparently, considering that she had caught her self-deprecating mumbling. Granted, Misato had also completely misunderstood her meaning but, with a sigh, Asuka realised that her last line was still every bit as accurate when spoken in regards to her EVA career.
"…Yeah," Asuka quietly replied after giving Misato's question a second's thought. "We were running around like headless chickens."
"Yes, you were. And while I understood and agreed with what you yourself were trying to do during the fight, the fact remains that you never let your two teammates in on it."
"…I know."
"Then you should start thinking about trying to remedy that," the Major softly, but meaningfully, chastised. "As it stands, you are now at the head of the Pilot corps, Asuka, in both capacity and training. Any future team cohesion efforts live or die with you."
"So now I'm a model to follow?" the Second Child raised a suspicious eyebrow. "Is that what you mean?"
"All I'm saying is that it's a leader's duty to lead, be it by example or in some other manner."
"I don't remember you ever asking Shinji to do any of that," Asuka scoffed, her gaze steeling slightly.
Misato recoiled a bit and threw a surprised look at the redhead for a moment, her mouth starting to form the beginning of a reply before she cut herself short.
"...And you're completely right," Misato accepted, wincing from the accusation. "I was... worried that he could crack under the pressure that would come from a strictly professional chain of command, I suppose. Although I can think of one other person who wouldn't have taken nicely to such an approach, too."
The Second Child crossed her arms and looked away from the Major's meaningful look with another, softer scoff. Admittedly, Misato was completely correct too on her last bit of reasoning, considering that Asuka had ended up getting angry over Shinji giving his opinion not that long ago, even when she had been making an active effort not to. Translating such a situation to a hypothetical in which Shinji was team leader and expected to be followed as such...
...it wouldn't have been pretty on Asuka's side of things, to say the least.
"But that's a moot point now," Misato continued. "The fact remains that the Angels are getting more and more dangerous each time and that a laissez-faire approach to the organisation of the Pilot corps is not going to cut it anymore. We'll need to adapt, and sooner rather than later," her eyes travelled to the sleeping young man, her voice turning mournful. "…I don't want any more of you to end up like Shinji-kun, or worse."
Asuka felt a pang of jealousy strike her heart at the sight of the grief-stricken Misato, but she quickly and mercilessly squashed the sensation and forced it to the back of her mind. That was not the time to question what Misato's expression would have been had the places of the two Children been reversed and, besides, Misato had been undeniably happy to see that she was doing fine before, too.
For a measure of 'fine', anyway.
Asuka's feeling of inadequacy then steadily transformed into one of sadness, watching her normally optimistic and happy guardian on the verge of breaking down in tears. But what made it worse, was knowing that she had words at hand that could make the older woman feel much better: she so badly wanted to tell Misato that Shinji was alive, and that he had somehow ended up taking residence within her mind. That they had been arguing back and forth just like a few weeks ago, and that the Third Child had apparently managed to grow something resembling a spine in the process, to boot, much to Asuka's chagrin.
But the Second Child could not bring herself to speak, no matter how much she wanted to let Misato know, and her misgivings weren't born out of a fear of being doubted, either. After all, and regardless of the few seconds of weird staring she would probably garner, if there were two people in the world right now that Asuka could trust to not immediately believe that she was crazy the very moment she finished explaining herself, those were probably Misato and Hikari.
But there was nothing Hikari could do in this situation, and approaching Misato for something like that came with one, small problem, Asuka realised with a sigh.
'Awesome. The first time in your life that you even consider confiding in Misato, and you can't do it because she has a microphone strapped to her neck. One that will likely get you kicked out of the EVA Program faster than you can say 'Stupid Shinji', at that.'
And when it came to choosing between her EVA and anything else, Asuka wasn't at all surprised to find out what her immediate choice was.
There was a very distinct lack of pride in her decision, though.
"Chin up, Asuka" Misato suddenly spoke in a comforting tone, sensing the redhead's distress but misunderstanding the reason, once again. "You'll do better next time."
"…Right. If an Angel attacks today there won't be a next time," Asuka rolled with the punches and grumbled back, earning herself a frown from Misato. "Humanity is doomed without Invincible Shinji-sama to save us."
"You know that Shinji didn't get most of his kills by himself, Asuka. Not whenever he was in control, anyway. But even then, it's undeniable that without him we're missing a big part of our punch." The Major admitted with a sigh. But when she continued, a small and ill-meaning smile had made its way to her lips. "That's why I'm going to be working the three of you really hard straight away, starting tonight."
"…You're not chaining us to the sims all night, are you?" Asuka warily questioned after a short pause.
"Of course not!" Misato replied back in a tone that was far from comforting. "That would be counterproductive!"
Reassurances aside, however, Misato's expression was anything but encouraging.
"I know that smile," Asuka lamented as she closed her eyes. "It's going to be something embarrassing again, isn't it?"
"Well... Preparations are underway, so you'll find out soon enough~"
"...Gee, I can't wait."
Asuka rolled her eyes at Misato's cryptic smirk, and, for a few minutes, both women fell into what could have been taken as a comfortable silence, each immersed into their own thoughts and only briefly breaking off from said reflections on the surprisingly frequent times in which their eyes met, more often than not over the sleeping body of the room's main occupant. By the fourth time that such an exchange had happened, however, the up until then pleasant silence had turned into an awkward one, full of questions and admissions that neither of the two knew how to tackle. Funny, considering that they had shared the closest and most touching few seconds in all of their history not three hours ago.
'For fuck's sake… I keep putting my foot in my mouth, Wondergirl takes to giving life advice and now Misato of all people is acting awkward!' Asuka inwardly moaned, narrowing her eyes at the sleeping Third Child. 'Gott in Himmel, this is so annoying! And it's all your fault, Stupid-'
"Oh! By the way," Misato spoke all of a sudden, breaking the redhead out of her trance. "Did something happen between you and Rei?"
"Huh?"
"You didn't look at her once during the debriefing. And I know that your relationship isn't stellar to begin with, but…" Misato trailed off with a shrug. "I guess it looked worse than usual."
Asuka blinked, not at all aware that she'd done something like that, although she stopped thinking it strange after a moment's contemplation. After all, she had been plenty busy arguing with Shinji during the debriefing, far too much to put attention towards her immediate surroundings. Her subsequent fuckup hadn't helped matters, either.
'Not that the First wasn't acting incredibly out of character before the mission, herself. Seriously, what was up with all the staring?' Asuka thought to herself, mind going back to the moment in question and failing to keep a frown from appearing on her face. '…In any case, I guess that could be as good an excuse as any.'
"It's nothing. Just that the First kept looking at me like I'd grown a second head before we climbed into our EVAs, for some reason," Asuka explained offhandedly before focusing back on Shinji. "It was creepy and I guess it stuck, but it's no big deal, really. Just Wondergirl being her typical, weird self."
Misato thought about Asuka's response for a few moments, before considering it possible enough with a mental shrug.
"I see. Then if it's not Rei, what is it that's got you thinking so hard?" the Major continued, before the tone of her voice shifted from the professional soldier Asuka rarely heard to the professional slob she heard all too often. "It's not about what the new girl said, is it?"
"What she said?" Asuka echoed, raising an eyebrow.
"Makinami, I mean," Misato smirked as she elaborated, reclining in her seat and turning her eyes towards the ceiling. "You know, the whole 'Princess Charming' deal? It sure felt like I'd missed something."
"...Oh."
"I'm just saying, there's nothing wrong with it," Misato continued, oblivious to Asuka's reaction to her words. "It's completely normal for a teenage boy and a teenage girl that spend a lot of time together for-"
"Misato," the Second Child abruptly growled. "Shut up."
And Misato Katsuragi found herself quickly complying with the request, sitting straight up just a moment later. Just as swiftly, the smile that had adorned her face also fell. There was a strange expression on Asuka's face, far from the innocent embarrassment that she had been aiming for, like so many times before, something further amplified by the cold and strange edge that had been contained within the girl's words.
Her quick wit now succeeding where it had just failed, Misato rapidly realised her blunder: rather than easing the awkwardness with a harmless joke, she had only succeeded in making it even more miserable.
"…Sorry. Low hanging fruit, temptations and all that," Misato promptly apologised, looking entirely like she fully meant every single word. "I… probably shouldn't have opened my big mouth. I mean, I know this is a touchy subject for you, and I still go and try to lighten the mood with it. What an idiot I am."
"…Who said it was a touchy subject?" the Second Child glared back. "You're making it sound as if I like the idiot."
But rather than responding, Misato merely stared at her, long and deliberate. A look that lacked any sort of ill will whatsoever, but one that Asuka quickly found she couldn't match, anyway.
"And that's fine if you don't," Misato ultimately replied, before her expression turned fairly serious. She also looked quite uncomfortable, all of a sudden. "But, in any case, and completely unrelated to that possibility, can I… give you a bit of advice, Asuka?"
The Second Child's brow creased, quickly identifying that whatever she was going to say next, Misato definitely looked a fair bit hesitant about it. A fact that didn't exactly put her at ease, either.
'So not just Wondergirl but now Misato, too? This is a week of firsts, isn't it?'
"Alright," Asuka allowed with a sigh, "What is it?"
"Never… deny your feelings," Misato declared, the unexpected gravity behind her tone and message stunning Asuka into silence. "It might be scary, it might be daunting, but should you ever find yourself attracted to a special someone, just… don't let opportunity pass you by, Asuka, now or in the future.
"Many a time it won't work out. Some others it will work out only to break apart years later. And after many a failure you might find yourself regretting the fact that you even tried, but…"
Misato drew in a deep breath and closed her eyes, taking a moment to think of how to best put her meaning into words. A moment in which Asuka noticed Misato's hand travel to hover over her heart, apparently without her own notice.
"But I can assure you: whatever pain, whatever regret you might get out of reaching out to another, will be nothing compared to the regret that you will live with if you're ever too afraid to reach out to what you hold dear until it is too late."
...
The Second Child didn't need even a fraction of her genius to know who Misato was referencing with her last line.
Kaji was dead. Asuka would never forget the day in which Shinji had let her know and what she had felt at that time, the overwhelming heartache that had appeared impossible to endure, back then. That she still struggled with to this day.
But what Misato was going through was likely a thousand times worse. Watching Misato Katsuragi, NERV's Head of Operations, barely manage to hold back tears was all the confirmation Asuka required to realise that.
"M-Misato…"
"Promise me, Asuka: we will get through this war. And when we do, I want you to grab the reins of your life," Misato continued, her eyes opening and giving way to twin pools of conviction. "No matter what that may mean to you, I want you and Shinji and Rei to be happy. No regrets allowed, alright?"
And it was so that the Second Child found herself at a loss for words, once more. However, the frustration that usually came in hand with the ever increasing frequency at which she was going mute took a backseat in deference of a deeper contemplation of what Misato had just said.
After all, what was 'happiness' supposed to mean for Asuka Langley-Sohryu? For most of her life, the answer to that question had been to pilot EVA, but was such a response something that Asuka could rely on until the day she died?
Asuka was a bit ashamed to realise that she had never given such a silly but important question any further thought than that. After all, the Second Child wasn't naïve enough to believe that the war would last forever, and so did Misato appear to believe, as well. So when the last of the Angels was dead and there was no more need for a cripplingly expensive defence against them, what would become of the Evangelions, then?
What would become of their Pilots? Of the Second Child, when the world had no more need for such a person?
Asuka didn't yet know the answer to that question, and she suspected that it would remain so for a long time to come. But, perhaps, it was time to start considering it.
"I…" the redhead swallowed, barely managing to choke out the words. "I'll try to."
"Thank you, Asuka," Misato replied with a small smile, before her eyes travelled back to the sleeping Third Child. They shone a little bit more than usual, now. "…And yeah, I hope you're ready for a lot of trying. He's… not the brightest on matters of the heart, I think."
"…Tell me about it." Asuka grumbled before she could stop herself.
"What was that~?"
The Second Child jumped in her seat, having forgotten just how good Misato's hearing could be when she was actually paying attention. Crossing her arms, Asuka looked away with a huff and a small pout.
"Nothing."
To which Misato only smiled, wider and more heartily than she had done in a while.
"Well, look at us, being all serious. So serious, so serious! I think that's about as much serious talk as I can stomach for today, don't you agree?" she asked in between chuckles, seamlessly managing to transition back to her usual self. The mood was contagious, though, and Asuka was about to join in her laughing when Misato's phone rang and she checked it in a hurry.
The knowing smirk that came upon the Major's expression promptly took all traces of humour out of Asuka's system.
"Heh, talk about timely! Preparations for the start of your training just completed!"
"Oh, joy of joys..." the redhead sighed, giving a last glance at the room's sleeping occupant before standing up from her seat. "...Alright, let's just get this over with."
"Oh, come on, Asuka-chan!" Misato jokingly intoned, quickly moving beside her. "Aren't you even the slightest bit curious about what it will entail?"
"Will you never call me that again if I ask you?"
Misato replied to Asuka's pointed stare with another teasing smile and a wink.
"…Maaybe."
Her constant joking aside, though, it would have been clear as day to anyone with a pair of functioning eyes that Misato was putting on a brave face and barely succeeding at it. Asuka was one of such people.
She would happily take Misato's horrible humour and teasing attempts over watching her mope, though.
'Goddamn you, Stupid Shinji. If you don't hurry up and wake up already, I swear I'll practice lucid dreaming and find some way of putting you back where you belong myself.'
"…Fine. What's your plan, Misato?"
And with the sigh of defeat that signified the Second Child's agreement, Misato Katsuragi leant down to whisper in the ear of Asuka Langley-Sohryu.
"WHAAAAT?!"
