Her eyes were met by an otherwordly sight.

A sphere, tainted by red and blue seas, enshrouded by white clouds. It seemed so little she felt like she could take it and crush it in the palm of the hand. All around were infinite flames, adorning the everlasting darkness.

"Where am I"

She stood on white, rocky soil. Far different from whatever she knew, far beyond whatever she had experienced.

"You're at the beginning"

A voice echoed in the silence. The girl turned towards its source. A massive white face, with azure eyes, cold as eyes, and deep blue hair, like the depths of the seas. She knew what that was, but she couldn't process it. Devoid of thoughts, she just said the most obvious thing.

"Am I dead?"

"No. You're not dead. In fact, you never were even alive"

"That's a lie. I remember living, I know who I am"

"And what would that be"

"I am Rei Ayanami"

"And so am I"

"Wait…I was fighting the Angel when…it possessed me…is this its inside?"

"No, as I said this place is the beginning. The starting point of your story, of any story, for all of Evangelion"

A radiant light shone bright beyond the girl. The incandescence engulfed her.

"Seems like your Evangelion is ready to be born"

"I don't understand"

"You won't need to. After all you will eventually return to me. Until next time, see you not at the beginning, but at the End."

The first thing that those eye saw when opened was a blue ceiling.

A familiar one,but not a pleasant sight to behold. Not that there was something bad about the ceiling itself; just that it was a place that makes people feel anxious. It was not the case for the patient that was held in that hospital this time. That patient was used to see boring, monochromatic ceilings, and was not one to feel anxious over waking up in a place with no memory of being there before falling asleep. The eyes were looking at the ceiling without rest, while the patient tried to recover the memory to understand the situation. The concentration of the patient was so intense, that completely bypassed the young boy sit on the side of the bed.

"Look who's awake, are you feeling well dear Rei?"

Rei ignored the boy's words, maybe because she didn't know him, maybe because she was too busy trying to recollect her memories.

"That's harsh. Even if we don't actually know each other, it's rude to ignore a person who stayed with you until your awakening" proclamed the boy, waving his hand in front of Rei's eyes.

"You're making a fool of me. Even I understand that"

She kept her eyes away from meeting his.

"Uh, why do you think that?"

"Your voice, it sounds strange. It's showing that you don't care"

"Aaah, it's because of that. Well, I get that a lot. But you have to trust me, I really do care about you. Why would I stay by your side while you were comatose?"

"I don't know, I don't know a lot of things now. I don't know why I'm here"

Rei was still with her eyes on the ceiling, her last memories were vague. She remembered Shinji's voice, calling for her. But then everything went blank.

"Do you want to know? "

Usually she would have said that it was of no interest for her. Nothing had meaning aside from the orders she received. And yet, something inside her told the girl that she had to know. Her interest was finally piqued. She looked directly at the boy, a young male with unusual grey hair and red eyes, and nodded.

He invited her to follow him outside of the room but the moment the Rei stood up her body collapsed to the ground.

"Painkillers still on effect I see. Sorry to bother you this soon"

The boy helped her standing up, and lent his shoulder to help her walking.

"My name's Kaworu by the way"

"I've never seen you. Who are you?"

"I'm the fifth children. I helped getting you out of the…situation you found yourself in. But you will understand soon"

The two slowly walked toward the Evangelion's shelter. They arrived, welcomed by a gruesome image. Unit-02 was heavily damaged, but on the way of complete restore. Unit-01 on the other hand was deprived of much of it's armor, showing what seemed to be strange white-ish flesh. And at the same time there was no sign of Rei's Unit-00. Instead a new Evangelion, showing no damage at all, was stored in the hangar.

"Does this scene ring a bell?"

She really tried to recall something, but nothing came to ming. Her stare just stucked confused on the 3 Evangelions, trying to connect dots that started nowhere and led nowhere. Her eyes stopped for a moment on the new Unit.

"That's Mark.6, my Evangelion. You never really saw it, when I appeared I think you were already passed out. But you should focus on Unit-01, do those damages remind you of something?"

Rei's memories were not returning, but something else's worried the girl, once she processed the image of the damaged 01.

"What happened to Shinji?"

Kaworu let out a small smile.

"To think that your first question would be that. You really changed from last time Lilith" whispered Kaworu to himself. Seeing Rei expression being different from her usual cold an emotionless one was refreshing.

" He's vanished"

"What do you mean vanished"

" I mean that, after the battle, he was nowhere to be found. His synchronization with Unit-01 surpassed every conceivable limit, and after I stopped the Unit from starting the Third Impact, he was absorbed by the Evangelion itself"

"Third Impact? What…what happened? Why can't I remember"

"I thought that showing you the 01 condition could have triggered some memories, but it seems like it didn't. Then we have to proceed in the…not really pleasant way. Not that those memories will be pleasant to you in any way you recover them."

Kaworu watched Rei with a strange, pitiful look.

"The tenth angel attacked the GeoFront. You tried to kill it, by performing a suicide attack. That didn't go well, you lost to the Angel, that then ate Unit 00. As you can see, Unit 02 also suffered damage from the battle, but after your battle, it was 01's turn. Shinji boarded the Evangelion and tried to save you. He managed to defeat the angel, but refused to destroy its core. You were being kept in there"

Memories were triggered in Rei's head. She remembered. The N2 bomb suicide attack, Shinji leaving the city, the Angel defeating her, and then, a red cockpit, in which she cowered, repeating to herself that she could be replaced. And she was sure of that sentence. Rei is not a person, Rei is a group of dolls, easy to replace, with no place in the world, and no meaning aside from obeying Gendo's orders. But there was someone who didn't think of her that way. " Rei, take my hand" those word were echoing in Rei's mind.

"Shinji tried to save you from inside that core. And he made it it seems, but in doing that, he fused Unit-01 body and the Angel's: triggering the Third Impact."

Rei face went pale, for one's that was not used to manage complex emotions, the overflowing stream of fear and tension was hard to handle. Kaworu understood it, and cut the story short

"Don't worry, the Impact didn't happen. I stopped it, but after we retrieved Unit-01, we only found you inside it."

Kaworu looked Rei

"Take your time remembering, or maybe it's better to say inheriting. If you happen to know something about Shinji's whereabouts, please let us know. You know, you are not the only one worried about him"

The boy pointed to the platform used to board Unit-01, in which Rei could see Misato and Ritsuko arguing.

"Come on, standing here won't do any good, not now that I told you everything." Said Kaworu lending a shoulder to Rei. The boy took Rei back to her hospital room in Nerv's base. They were catched by the medics that took the girl and put her back to bed. She was not in shape to walk in their opinion. But Rei's mind was somewhere else. Question were filling her brain, about what's happened, about Shinji, and above all else, about why she was caring.

Before leaving for good Kaworu left behind a last phrase.

"You really do seem different Lilith. But I'm sure you'll adapt fast to your role. After all, that is what happens when an Evangelion is born"