.hack/EVA: Catharsis: Actuality Awakening

Disclaimer: In this universe in the quantum foam, I do not own or in any way shape or form hold a claim to the .hack series or Neon Genesis Evangelion.

" " denotes speech

'italics' denotes thought

'bold' denotes location names

'bold italics' denotes skill use

Bridge, NERV Headquarters, Tokyo 3

'Night shift at NERV was always a somewhat quiet time, especially between Angel attacks,' reflected Captain Misato Katsuragi, who had taken the extra duty rotation to clear her head after an encounter with a certain half-German redhead. Said redhead had come to her apartment in the evening and had attempted to persuade her to allow the Children to go on the school trip to Okinawa.

Needless to say, it had not gone particularly well.

(Begin Flashback)

"Did you just say that I can't go on the trip?" cried the rather excitable teenager. Not Shinji, of course, for he was out for a night on the town with Lycoris, or Rei, for the word "excitable" never had or would be a great descriptor for her, but the Second Child, Asuka Langley Soryu.

To which Misato had replied with a simple "Yep", crossing her arms and leaning against a wall.

"Well, why not?" the redhead had whined, trying the old tactic of a temper tantrum. It had worked reasonably well when her mother was still around, after all, and Asuka knew that Misato had a desire to fill the void in her heart with a surrogate child.

Of course, resisting attempts at coercion was standard training for any military operative, and Captain Katsuragi had after all, graduated at the top of her class…

"It's part of your job," she responded simply, watching with amusement as the situation finally sunk in, with Asuka's mouth falling open in shock.

"You mean I'm on permanent standby?" the redhead asked incredulously. "What idiot decided that?"

The older woman's eyebrow twitched ever so slightly, any trace of humor flashing away in an instant with the insult from a former ward.

"This one of course," she said, pointing at herself and smirking slightly. "The Operations Director."

Now, Asuka was not by nature very tactful, but then Misato did know how to placate her to an extent, as stroking her ego generally tended to work. She blinked slowly and took in a breath before facing her former ward again.

"Look, Asuka," she said calmly, not wishing to set off the explosion of Mt. Soryu. "I know how you must feel, but there's just no other way. There's always the possibility that an Angel might attack while you're away...and as our best pilot, we need you here."

Unfortunately for her, said effort at keeping the peace was too little, too late, as the Second Child's face twisted into a fierce snarl and she began to advance on her superior, an air of menace in each step. Indeed, if it were possible to replicate how the temperature in the room was plunging into the sub-arctic region at will, there would never be a need for air conditioning ever again.

"So…" Asuka began, each word drawn out in a sibilant hiss. "I get stuck here on standby status while everyone else is having fun! Why is it that we always have to be ready to defend against the Angels! Any good officer knows that the best defense is a good offense, so why can't we find them and kill them all first?"

Her tone was more than a little disrespectful towards the end, and among the things that Misato did not appreciate was a questioning of her competence (others being her age, driving, lifestyle…or any number of other things, really—she was almost like Shinji in that respect).

"Look, Pilot Soryu, if we could do that, we would have done it already,"Captain Katsuragi responded in kind, pointedly using the Second Child's rank to emphasize the differences between them. Then her lips drew wide into a wicked grin as she looked right at the redhead. "Besides, think of this as an opportunity to get ahead for a change, since you can catch up on your studies while the rest of your classmates are on the trip. Or did you think I hadn't seen your report cards?"

The purple haired Operations Director then proceeded to pull out an envelope from her jacket, the sight of which halted Asuka in her tracks, preventing her rampage from going any further.

"I guess you thought that I wouldn't know about your test scores yet," she crowed quietly, waving the paper in Asuka's face. "Well, all of your grades are forwarded directly to my terminal, and I have been very disappointed in you! And before you start whining again, aren't you a college graduate?"

The Teutonic girl looked around the apartment, trying to see if anyone was there to support her point of view, but to no avail. It wasn't as if she could claim that the topics covered were irrelevant, or that the grading scale for exams was pointless, since the coursework was being evaluated in the manner of a college course.

Her shoulders sagging, the Second Child turned to go, muttering "This Sucks!" under her breath.

(End Flashback)

At least in the here and now, her friend Ritsuko was somewhat supportive, if more than a little amused by the circumstances involved.

"A school excursion? While the threat of an Angel looms near?" the faux blond had asked in her usual sardonic tone. "People relax too much in times like this…at least Pilot Ikari knows his duty."

Misato only sighed and looked off into the distance, shaking her head as she took in the murmurs of the bridge bunnies in the background. They were mentioning something about Mt. Asama, unconfirmed anomalies, and technical details concerning the results of their data analyses.

"That's because in times like this, who knows when there might be another chance?"

Δ Server, Eternal City Mac Anu

Twas not yet light in the root town of Mac Anu, though the night was almost to an end. The gloom was receding quickly before the relentless approach of the sun, though here and there it lingered on in patches given shelter by pooled shadows from the spires of the industrial city. It was the blue hour, the time of transition between the hours of daylight and darkness, when the smell of flowers was strongest and photographs (or screenshots in this case) were particularly beautiful.

In this time of liminality, a certain blue-haired Adept Rogue found himself wandering the city, unable to sleep after returning from his 'date' with someone who was rapidly becoming the world to him.

'Both worlds, in fact, since it is because of her that I have found a new strength,' he thought to himself, remembering times spent with the girl called Lycoris, times which had finally broken him out of his shell. 'She cares—she cares about me for some odd reason. And I don't quite understand why, but—I'm happy when I'm with her.'

A moment later, Skari found his cheeks tinged with pink, an uncharacteristic smile on his face as memories of the night before blossomed full strong in his mind. He hummed a simple ode to joy as he strode through the city, taking in his surroundings with a sense of contentment not unlike the first time he walked The World. Now, while this would be a fatal mistake on a battlefield, Mac Anu (not being Ω Warring City State Lumina Cloth, home of the Arena) was far from being such, and so there was nothing that could harm him—though he did pay attention to where the river was, seeing as he couldn't—

—Oomph!—

With a look of incredulity, Skari found himself launched through the air with ahard shove from behind sending him flying off the ledge towards—

—Splash!—

—the river.

'I can't swim!' was the first thought that came to mind, just before 'I'm doomed, I'm doomed, I'm doomed, I'm doomed!' caught up to it.

His previous feelings of happiness scattered to the winds, as he thrashed and flailed about, trying to keep his head above water, even as his character's robes quickly took in surrounding moisture to become soaked and heavy, slowing his movements and dragging him down, down down with the current.

'Its realistic. Too realistic…no...what if my character dies here? I can't die here, I have too much to do, too much to live for-but I can't swim!'

Still, like an insect struggling against a spider's web, the Adept Rouge fought on against the current, trying to break through the calling of the raving water and each the ever distant bank. But it was hopeless—he couldn't swim. He couldn't even float, believing that humans weren't meant to.

'I am the Slayer of Angels, defeater of PKs, an Adept Rogue who evolved by Job Extend, and…and I can't even pull myself out of this situation.'

If he was in his Eva, fighting against an Angel, or on the battlefield against a monster, this might well be the moment when he went berserk, but even that trump card was futile here. All the strength in The World could not defeat a foe with no face, an implacable force of nature. So his body shook and thrashed and quivered, his struggles growing weaker with time, the futility of his efforts registering as he was tossed and turned by the churning waters, the current carrying his broken form downriver.

The last things he heard before he closed his eyes in resignation were dark laughter and these words, off in the distance:

"Looks like I found a way to kill you after all, you thrice-damned bluenette. Who could have guessed you would really be this pathetic, to die in a non-combat area?"

And then all of a sudden, his eyes snapped open with surprise as something—no, someone dove into the water and seized him about his waist, pulling him towards the shore with simple, efficient strokes.

'I'm not d-d-dead?' his mind sputtered, frantically trying to reboot itself as it took in the unexpected shift in the situation. It was hard for him to fathom that anyone would go through the trouble of saving him, after all. 'Who could my savior be…hmm…a Macabre Dancer in midnight blue, with an azure mop of hair and…red eyes? Ayanami?'

The next moment, the Adept Rogue (who wasn't quite so adept in water) found himself dropped unceremoniously on dry land once more, at which he breathed a sigh of relief. In the distance, he thought he heard the words:

"VERDAMMEN! SKADI, YOU INTERVENING BLUENETTE BITCH! NEXT TIME WE MEET, YOU DIE!"

But he paid them no mind, his attention drawn to the one leaning over him with what seemed like a touch of concern, the one who had saved him, and who not too long ago he had saved in another world. 'Ayanami…you came…to save me?'

"Thank you, Aya—Skadi," he corrected himself shakily. In his lingering panic, he had nearly called her by her real name, a faux pas in the virtual world. A lone tear, then another, and another—building into bright shining rivulets, the cool watery droplets glistening in the dawn. For all his training and strength, for all his determination to overcome odds, could it be that he was so helpless, as he had been in the fight against the 5th Angel? 'Even then, she protected me…'

Confused, the Macabre Dancer knelt down beside him, an open hand cupping his cheek.

"Why are you crying?" she asked "Are you sad that you are alive?"

"…No, S-Skadi, I'm crying because I'm happy," he said, reaching up to embrace her, reveling in the solidity of her, even if it was merely an avatar. In her arms he felt comfortable, and this time, the blue haired girl did not stiffen—or at least, not as much, as she recalled how he had held her once, when she smiled for him, under the moon. "T-Thank you for saving me."

"Do not thank me, Skari. You were in distress, but never in any real danger," she replied, simply allowing herself to be held.

"B-but I could have drowned!" he replied incredulously. "And you—"

"But one cannot drown in The World," she replied evenly, catching the reaction in his eyes. "I see, you do not know how to swim."

"No," he sighed, turning away and looking down at the cobbles of Mac Anu. "I'm sorry to be a burden."

Another gentle brush of skin, and the Skadi touched the Adept Rogue's cheek once more, turning his face towards hers. Skari found himself unable to look away as he caught a glimpse of a beautiful smile, one he had not seen in what seemed an age. It was a warm smile that somehow drove away fledgling fear and panic.

"Skari?" the dripping wet Macabre Dancer murmured, pulling back and looking at him with those bright, beautiful eyes that pierced him to his very soul, turning his cheeks to tomato paste red once again. "If you cannot swim, I will teach you."

They held each other for a time, the one comforting another, till daylight broke, and they walked to the Chaos Gate, logging out from The World.

Swimming Pool, NERV Headquarters, Tokyo 3

After several twists and turns around the base that would make Misato look like a navigational genius, Shinji Ikari finally found the Olympic-sized swimming pool deep within the bowels of NERV. Though the mere thought of being immersed in water nearly sent him into a panic, he took hold of his emotions this time, mentally chanting his battle mantra. 'I mustn't run away, I mustn't run away, I mustn't run away…'

With a grim determination similar to the resolve he showed before going into battle against the Angels, he changed into appropriate attire for his training. He gathered his resolve into a tight ball within him, and stepped out to confront his greatest fear—only for a certain redhead to sneak up behind him and slap him on the back.

Shinji nearly jumped out of his skin at the unexpected contact, and whirled, eyes full of…something…to see who had struck him.

"Hey baka! What's with the face? It's a vacation, loosen up already!" commented self proclaimed "great" Asuka Langley Soryu, the Second Child and all around show-off. "Geez, you're just as uptight as that blue-haired Wondergirl over there."

Were this an anime, Shinji would likely have face-faulted, but as it was, he managed to keep enough composure to reply.

"And you're reckless as ever, Asuka…" he began, trailing off as his eyes moved from her face to her supple form, hidden from his eyes by a bikini that only barely covered the essentials. With the mane of fiery red hair streaming down her back, and her attitude, he could almost picture her as another he knew. 'There's something very familiar about—'

"Pervert! Baka Hentai! I didn't mean loosen up by staring at my body. Now you'll have to pay the price!"

His thoughts were interrupted, however, by the battlecry of an angry Second Child, who grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and pitched him into the pool, disregarding his vehement protests about not liking the water.

"No, Asuka! I can't sw—!"

—Splash!—

Shinji's second impact of the day was accompanied by the usual ruckus he made upon being tossed into a life or death situation unexpectedly, but this time, he quieted almost immediately upon feeling a pair of slender arms wrap around his waist.

'Aya-Ayanami?' he momentarily froze, the warmth of her causing him to cease struggling against he inevitable.

"Ikari-kun," she whispered into his ear, her breath evoking a tingling from deep within. "Calm yourself, it is time to learn to swim."

"But—"

Shinji fell silent, but his furious full body blush betrayed his thoughts. While water did panic him, just being so close to Ayanami was thrilling and frightening all at once, so much so that his arms in turn clasped her, and a little lower, something was beginning to rise.

'Oh god, Ayanami is going to think I'm a pervert for sure—'

Luckily (or not, since this is Shinji we write of), his silence let him pick up Asuka's half-muttered words.

"Verdammen thrice-damned idiot perverts and bluenettes—"

'ERIS? Asuka is—'

He was almost reduced to gibbering in shock when he felt Ayanami's arms tighten around him ever so slightly, as rather more insistently, the First Child pulled the Third towards the shallow end, one eyebrow raised in what seemed almost like amusement.

"Ikari-kun, I believe the saying goes: 'Resistance is futile.'"

Net Slum Tartarga, Sea of Data

Within the limits of Net Slum Tartarga, the town built on the back of the great tortoise of The World, the Queen of the Dark awaited the arrival of...a guest. Her Obsidian Knights had confirmed contact with and destruction of a Helen-class AIDA at the Balbol Museum, as well as the presence of the Adept Rogue Gendor, he who sought information on the Epitaph.

The sorcerer queen sighed, remembering how much of a pain the man could be with his unwanted come-ons in the other world, with that ridiculous ponytail and unshaven chin of his. Though of course, this time, their positions were reversed. This time, it would be her wearing the smirk, as she knew exactly who he was, and he would likely have no idea as to her identity.

A above middle C—the expected chime sounded.

Four orbs – three of smoky light and one gold – materialized, accompanying a characteristically unshaven man with fair skin and black hair bound up in a ponytail, a man wearing orange sunglasses, a blood red tunic, black trousers, and a flowing black overcoat. Around him emerged Melchior, Balthasar, and Caspar, the three Obsidian Knights, and their commander, the Harvest Cleric Rumor.

It was the last who spoke first.

"Rumor has it that we retrieved Gendor as you have commanded, my Queen."

"Excellent work, Rumor, my Knights. Leave us, if you will."

Four presences bowed and vanished in a flash, leaving Tsukinoki standing before a man who looked like a cross between a certain spy and the Bastard King. In her white and purple gown, holding the staff "8 Wise Men", she truly had the stature of a queen.

"The glasses don't suit you, Ryoji," she said with a smirk, her eyes hidden behind her red and gold visor. "Though I suppose they suit the name of your character well enough."

"You know who I am then?" the spy inquired boldly. "Well then, that is much as I expected from the Queen of the Dark—or should I say, Ritsuko?"

The response was a mere chuckle, without shock or surprise.

"A clever guess, Special Investigator, but ultimately incorrect. Yes, I am the Queen of the Dark, but I am not Ritsuko Akagi," replied the Mistress of Net Slum Tartarga. "I suppose I can understand your thoughts, due to the names of my Knights, but I expected you to be cleverer than the Third Child."

Gendor was actually relieved to be wrong, as had the Queen of the Dark turned out to be Ritsuko Akagi, his quest to find a master hacker to work with him would have been over before it began. Still—

"You know of the Third?"

"But of course," affirmed the Queen of the Dark. "He is rather famous, is he not? The Third Child who piloted Eva in combat without training, and defeated 3 Angels—a skilled Adept Rogue within The World."

"Then it seems you have me at a disadvantage."

"So it does. Tell me, Ryoji, what is it that you desire of me, seeker of the truth?"

"An ally."

"Oh?" she inquired, mouth quirking up slightly. "And what would one whose loyalties are split between NERV, the Japanese Ministry of the Interior, and SEELE need an ally for?"

"If you know of my past, then you know what I seek, and why my loyalties are so divided."

'You would know that I merely seek the truth, to redeem myself for—'

"Yes, I know of your past as well as your present. And I know that your future looks bleak if you continue to search, perhaps as bleak as a barren wasteland in an LCL Sea."

"—What?"

"Very well, then. I suppose we can be…allies in this, if you will assist me in gathering information in The World. For the Angels and the Human Instrumentality Project are not the only threats to the survival of man. Tell me…what do you know of AIDA?"

Swimming Pool, NERV Headquarters, Tokyo 3

After several hours of Ayanami's swimming lessons, Shinji Ikari found that he was rather tired, and so excused himself for a short time, purportedly for the purpose of doing homework. Yet in the last ten minutes, he had not managed to make a bit of progress on one of the journal entries that had been assigned—possibly because his eyes kept glancing over at the blue-haired girl doing laps in the pool, cutting through the water with her lissome form, her strokes simple and efficient. She looked almost…at home.

'But why am I looking at Ayanami? Didn't I just tell Reimeiki that I loved her just last night? So why?'

There was no good reason for it, really. No reason he should be so intimidated and thrilled by her touch, why her manner intrigued him so, why the sound of her voice made his heart beat that much faster—why her smile—

Mercifully, he was interrupted from his reverie by Asuka, of all people, who suddenly popped her head into his field of view.

"What'cha doin'?" she asked half-suspiciously, half-playfully looking between Shinji, the untouched notebook, and Ayanami, who with machine-like precision, was still doing laps. "Ooh, I see. You're busy being a per—"

"-formance happy student," Shinji broke in with a nervous smile. "I-I'm studying science!"

"Really now? Aren't you a dull boy—we're on vacation!" the Second Child said, staring at him as if to bore a hole in his skull. "Besides, I thought our homework was something related to The World?"

"Ah—there was a puzzle given to me by an NPC while I was on a quest, and I need to solve it," he replied, hoping that that response would suffice.

"You mean you actually do C.C. Corp's quests?" she commented with distaste, wondering why anyone would bother with such tedious affairs. "Well fine, maybe I can help. After all, I'm the great Asuka Langley Soryu, who graduated from university last year!"

"…the great and modest Asuka Langley Soryu?" Shinji shot back, causing Asuka to huff and turn away.

"Shut up, baka! Look, since I can't go scuba diving at Okinawa, I'll dive here. But first, I guess I can help you out a bit."

'Thank god I didn't write down anything about today's incident in The World today, or she would have killed me. I can't let her find out who I am.'

"Ah, this one's pretty easy, it's just a problem of Thermal Expansion," said Asuka, with a sly look in her eyes.

"Thermal Expansion?" Shinji asked blankly, quite happy that Asuka's attention had been diverted from anything too dangerous.

"You don't know?" the red haired university graduate gasped. "How childish! In short, things swell and get bigger when warmed, and shrink and get smaller when cooled, you know..."

The girl looked between Third and the First one more time, and began to smirk, cupping her breasts in her hands and moving closer to him, almost to the point of shoving them in his face.

"Now what do you think?" she whispered sensually, getting very very close to him. "Do you think my breasts will get bigger if you warm them up?"

Shinji flushed as violently as a nova, but was saved from replying by someone he did not expect.

"The temperature required to induce a noticeable change in size would be prohibitive, Pilot Soryu. Under those circumstances, your body would have already melted," came a quiet reply from the water.

Hearing that, the Second Child snapped to her feet.

"Who asked you, Wondergirl?" she snarled, "Or are you just upset that someone besides you gets to tease the baka hen…PERVERT! DUMMKOPF!"

Unfortunately for Shinji, Asuka had just noticed that another organ in the human body also grew larger with the application of heat(ed thoughts). Livid and blushing all over, she wrenched him from his seat, grabbed him by the neck and tossed him into the pool once more.

But this time, he didn't even have time to panic before he felt a pair of arms encircle his waist again, which certainly did not do anything to alleviate the violent full body blush he was undergoing.

"Ayanami—I'm not drowning this time," he managed to get out, body burning with a strange heat.

"Good…then relax, Ikari-kun."

He relented, and though still beet red, followed the instructions he was given. Here and there, he thought he felt Ayanami's arms release him, her touch taking away the knots of tension in his body, until at last he felt at peace, floating on his back. And out of the corner of his eye, he could have sworn that he saw the blue haired girl smiling once more—

—just as an Angel Alert interrupted his hard won serenity and sent him sputtering into the depths once more.

Briefing Room, NERV Headquarters, Tokyo 3

"That's…an Angel?" the Second and Third Children chorused, looking at the strange apparition displayed on the screen before them. To Shinji, this particular creature didn't look threatening at all, unlike the Third, Fourth, Sixth, or Seventh Angels. Surely a powerful foe should at least look the part?

'Then again, the Fifth had also looked rather unimposing, and it almost killed me and Ayanami,' he thought, glancing over at her just as she glanced at him. 'Caught once again…what am I thinking?'

"Yes, this is an Angel," explained Dr. Ritsuko Akagi, head of Project E. "It's something like a chrysalis stage before adulthood. The top priority for this operation is to trap the Angel, capturing it alive and preserving its original condition as much as possible."

"And if we screw up?" asked Asuka, rather bluntly, since tact wasn't one of her strong points.

"Annihilate it as quickly as you can!" Dr. Akagi replied. "Is that clear?"

"Yes, ma'am," the three chorused together, a sound that if it had not been expected, would have been slightly creepy.

"And which of you will carry out the mission?" inquired the good doctor.

"Me, of course!" declared Asuka. "I'll dive!"

"But…" Shinji began to protest, since he was usually the one chosen to these missions, but was cut off before he could continue.

"Yes, Asuka, you'll carry out the mission in Unit Two. Shinji, you will be her backup."

"Yes!" the Second Child grinned, hand extended in a 'V' for victory. "This should be easy!"

Another voice spoke then, quiet and serene as most knew it to be.

"…and what will I do?"

"As prototype Unit Zero does not conform to the standards required by the special equipment, I order Rei and Unit Zero to remain at Headquarters," explained Dr. Akagi.

"Understood."

"It's such a shame that you can't go to the hot springs with us," Asuka said to Rei, hoping to tease a reaction from her, though to most discerning eyes, she failed.

Mount Asama

After a brief tussle involving Asuka realizing that the anti-heat plug suit made her look…extremely bloated, and that the Type-D Equipment for Unit 02 made it look more like the Michelin man than a powerful assault mecha, Evangelion Units One and Two arrived on position. Preparations for the operation were going as planned, when Shinji noticed a glint of light in the sky.

"What's that?" he asked, curious as to what the presence could be.

"The UN Air Force is watching, waiting above us until the end of this operation," Dr. Akagi replied coolly. "If we fail, they will finish things."

"What do you mean?" Shinji further inquired. "How will they finish things?"

"Oh, they'll bomb both us and the Angel with an N2 mine," said Dr. Akagi, as if it was something she said every day.

"What? Those bastards! Who would order such a thing?" Asuka interjected, gritting her teeth to keep herself from yelling.

"Commander Ikari."

This time, both of the Children spoke as one.

"Bastard."

…

A few minutes, later, the operation began, with Unit 02 being lowered slowly into the lava, and Asuka trying to show off as usual. This was to be her first solo operation, so naturally, the glory would be hers, and only hers. 'No Third Child to share the glory with, no First to interfere. Soon they will recognize me as the greatest of the pilots.'

Concentrating on her mission, she quickly reported her status.

"Present depth 170, speed of descent 20. All systems nominal. Visibility is zero-I can't see a thing. Switching to CT monitor, but I'm still limited to 120..."

This went on for some time, and though there were some tense moments involving EVA-02 being lowered below optimal maximum depth and losing its progressive knife, things proceeded smoothly—that is, until the electromagnetic cage was deployed, and Asuka jinxed herself.

"Phew!" she said with a smile. "Capture operation complete. Now ascending!"

"Are you all right, Asuka?" Shinji asked in concern, as the suit and device were both deeper than even Type-D protective equipment was designed for.

"Of course, this was easy!" the Second Child quipped. "Even if this is more of a sauna suit than a plug suit—I want to go to the hot springs now!"

Poor Asuka made the mistake of tempting Fate. Perhaps this deserves a bit of explanation. One may remember the old legends of how Lady Luck would flee if so much as said her name. One may also remember the multiple instances when a character in fiction says something like: "That was too easy", "Its quiet, too quiet", or worst of all "I am invincible!" (The last of which results in instant death). Asuka's particular quip wasn't quite as bad as that, but—it somehow woke up the captured Angel.

"Oh no, the Angel's begun to emerge earlier than expected—the cage, it can't withstand it," shouted Ritsuko, losing her cool for the first time that day.

"Abort the capture. Drop the cage!" ordered Misato, now more concerned about preventing another Second Impact than anything else.

"No!" protested Asuka, who didn't want all her work so far to be in vain.

Misato only harrumped under her breath.

"We're changing the operation. Annihilation of Angel is the number one priority. Unit Two, withdraw and prepare for battle."

Had anyone been looking at Asuka's face at the moment, they would probably have been slightly disturbed by the maniacal grin that distorted her features.

"All right! I've been waiting for this!" 'Time to show why I'm the best EVA Pilot!'

And then she remembered something that made her curse.

"Oh, sheiße, I dropped the knife!"

"Asuka, Unit One will drop its knife. Catch it!" Misato ordered

"You launched Shinji?" Asuka growled, not really expecting an answer. 'I don't need rescuing from him…I don't—'

"40 to the knife's arrival. Angel approaching rapidly!" said one of the operations center personnel.

"No, don't come! Hurry with the knife! ARRGH!"

The Angel opened its mouth and lanced towards the EVA, which, without the ability to evade, took the blow.

"What the hell?"

"Right leg damaged. Coolant flow is compromised."

Finally the prog knife came. Asuka commanded EVA 02 to snatch it and hurled her unit bodily at the Angel, hoping to finish the creature with one strike—only for the knife to glance off the exoskeleton of the creature.

"High temperature and high pressure- the target can withstand those critical attacks. The Prog knife is ineffective!" reported Ritsuko, quickly trying to think of a strategy with which to combat this particular Angel. 'We should never have ordered an A-17.'

Of course, the Angel wasn't about to wait around while the NERV staff figured out a way to destroy it, so it continued its attacks, needle like teeth gnashing and tearing at the protective suit, while Asuka could only flail out helplessly.

"AHH! No…no…maybe the needle pack! Firing!"

This time, as the Angel approached, it was intercepted by a stream of high-impact flechettes, only to shrug them off much like pinpricks.

'No…it can't end like this. I can't let myself be humiliated in front of the Third Child. Can't let my record be beaten by some Invincible Shinji! He needed my help to win against those last two Angels—I…I…WILL NOT DIE HERE!'

Something dark stirred within the recesses of her mind, an overwhelming desire to dominate unlike anything she had ever felt before. It rattled at the cage of sanity, a presence lurking, yearning to be recognized—to escape!

"Psychograph is displaying abnormalities…"

"You can't defeat me!" she hissed, throwing back her head and laughing maniacally. "You think you've won, little Angel? You think you've killed me? You're wrong-I won't die. Asuka Langley Soryu will never die! Hah, ha ha. ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha..."

Somewhere in the hazy distance, she thought she could hear the Operations Center panicking from an unexpected occurance.

"Synchrograph has reversed. Pulses are flowing backwards."

"What? But that's the production model, its supposed to be more stable-cut the circuits!"

"No use! The signal is being refused!"

"No response from the monitoring system. Life or death unknown!"

"Berserker…"

Mount Asama shook with an Evangelion's primal roar of fury, the sonic shock wave throwing the angel off for just long enough for the unit to strike it—not with a knife, or with a needle pack, but with all the coolant tubes together, supercooling it enough to turn its hardened shell brittle—before shattering the flash-cooled Angel with series of fisticuffs.

For Asuka everything was a mix of reds and black, blood and shadow and flame, reveling in the destruction the wrought. Glimpses of her past, of abandonment, of death, of pain, lashed out at her, and she screamed—half in anguish, half in rage.

It grabbed the safety line and quickly ascended, faster than one would think possible for a mecha of such size and weight, as if things like heat, pressure, gravity meant nothing. Surpassing all preconceived limits, EVA Unit 02 tensed its form and leapt the final few meters out of the volcano.

To any onlooker, it was amazing how the mecha could continue to operate, what with armor and flesh remained left half melted and smoking by the heat of the lava. Only tattered bits remained of the Type-D equipment now, as the four green eyes of EVA Unit 02 glared daggers at its surroundings, daring something-anything-to oppose it—daring something to challenge it so that the unit could rip it to shreds—and then, as if a switch had turned somewhere, the EVA collapsed, ejecting the entry plug.

For Asuka, everything went black.

Hot Springs Resort

Many hours later, the EVA Units had been recovered, and Asuka herself had been retrieved, and treated for her wounds. To the shock of all, she had sustained merely mild burns across most of her body, the result of which made her look rather like she was having a continuous full body blush (not unlike Shinji). Some thought the EVA must have protected her when it went berserk. Some thought that she was simply lucky that her sync ratio wasn't higher. (Touji and Kensuke would have called this proof that the Second was a devil and thus unable to take damage from heat, but that's besides the point).

Most were also surprised with the vehemence with which the girl insisted on going to the hot springs, as her "richly earned reward," but they didn't have the heart to refuse her, especially after that last battle, which had come close to taking her life.

So the pilots (and Misato) found themselves at a nearby hot springs resort, where Asuka and Misato had rushed off to the springs almost immediately. Shinji, being somewhat more tired from the several near death experiences he had had (as well as seeing what a berserker unit looked like from the outside—a truly terrifying experience), remained outside, sitting on the steps of the resort.

'So much has happened today, and this was supposed to be a vacation?' he thought with a wry twist of his lips. Near drownings, an 'Angel Attack', and a plethora of confusing thoughts did not make for a very relaxing experience, to say the least.

The Third Child sighed, looking down at the ground and shaking slightly, trying to sort out the confusion in his mind.

'Asuka…is Eris. I am Skari. Eris hates Skari, and wants to kill him. Asuka doesn't know I am Skari. What will happen if she finds out?'

Lost in his pondering, he didn't notice a shadow padding past him with a crate, the all too familiar "wark wark!" of a hot-springs penguin delivered by special courier, or the fact that someone sat down next to him—at least until he felt a hand on one of his, and the warmth startled him back to reality.

He casually glanced over to the side, and instantly found himself transfixed by what he saw. Rei Ayanami, dressed in a midnight blue yukata, almost glowing in the moonlight.

"Good evening, Ikari-kun," she murmured, meeting his gaze, crimson to azure.

'I mustn't run away, I mustn't run away, I mustn't run away.'

"Good evening, Ayanami-san," he whispered in return, his voice catching in his throat. "Thank you…for today. For saving me, and teaching me how to swim. You make me…happy."

The First child looked away for a moment, and Shinji's eyes widened almost imperceptibly at seeing a tinge of pink on alabaster cheeks.

"...smile."

"Hmm, Ayanami-san? I didn't catch what you just said."

A long silence, as the half-Angel only looked at him, her lips almost twitching into a—there!

"If you are happy, you should smile," she repeated, prompting him with one of those slight movements that always took his breath away. Somehow, all he could hear was the thump-thump-thump of his heart pounding in his chest, his senses blown away by the beauty of her smile.

When his mind recovered from the shock, he smiled at her in turn.

"Like this?" he teased, remembering the first time he had seen such a beautiful sight, the night after Operation Yashima.

"Like that," she said, fingers idly intertwining with his.

For a time, the two just sat together in companionable silence, enjoying each other's presence, in one of those quiet times that seem to linger forever in the moonlight.