•1:44 AM

'Am I dead? Have I finally died?'

It's dark here. All around me is…nothing. And yet…

'There are memories…how we got here.'

…it is only when sound and image and light begin to intrude upon the darkness around me that I begin to see it…only as awareness begins to lift the veil from my waking mind.

'Where am I? What has happened to me? How did we arrive here? Where is here? Why is…everything dark again?'

A dread I can't fully begin to understand makes my heart freeze.

'But I have no heart. I have nothing. I AM nothing. Who…am I?'

Who?Shinji Ikari.

…no…no…no…no…

That's…what that…

No. No. No no no no no no no no….

…what that…THING…the thing that was me…and yet…it…

NononononononononononononoNONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONO

'IT…WORE MY FACE! IT WORE MY FACE! IT WORE MY FACE! IT WORE MY FACE!'

Who am I? Shinji Ikari!

WAKE UP! WAKE UP!

'Rei is…Rei…IS…'

The image of her on that screen.

'She can't be…I have to…I HAVE TO…'

…the sightless eyes above her lifelessly gaping mouth…nononononononononono…

'She isn't she isn't she isn't…she's…not…'

…her head lolling grotesquely atop her broken neck…

'AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!'

I feel the blind strangulation of panic fill my senses, feel the air turn solid as I try to gulp it down into lungs that aren't there…eyes that see nothing are rolling and darting frantically about, unable to turn away, helpless to stem the flood of memories…the comprehensions and merciless truths that assail them without respite as the dam between it all breaks…

And with the break…comes a blinding flood of light from the unfamiliar ceiling above, except…it isn't really unfamiliar anymore, not really.

—-

AN: Yeah…so…I'm not dead and neither is Veering Left!

Lordy, it's been a while hasn't it? I'm really sorry it's taking so long between updates.

Also, I'm sure you'll be relieved to know that this very short segment is NOT what took me over a year to write. That would be the next one after it, which I'll post either tomorrow or sometime within the next few days.

If I'm being honest, I banged this one out in about an hour or less, after I'd mostly finished the next chapter, since it just didn't feel right to not have at least a little bit of Shinji's POV upon his awakening.

Anyways, I'll try to get myself working on 9.8 ASAP, and the 3 or so segments remaining in Chapter 9.