Disclaimer: Its going to stay in the first chapter you know…-_-'
Shinji sat on a stool looking out the window at the post third impact world, the only thing that kept the place from having complete silence was the flicker of the flame and every time wax dripped on the floor.
Mana offered to let him rest on the bed while she slept on the floor, but he said it was just wrong to take the bed, instead of going to sleep and deal with the nightmares, he stayed up and looked out the window.
Normally thinking wasn't a hard thing to do, but every time he tried to, flashes of the torn apart Unit 02 came to mind.
"Asuka…"
Misato had the bright idea of placing Asuka in her Eva, in order to protect her, but when the Eva series arrived, no matter how hard Risuko tried, she didn't get any response from Asuka.
The Eva series took pleasure in tearing Unit 02 apart, when Shinji finally got out, he hoped that she wasn't synched with her Eva. If only he didn't try to drag Misato, or if he didn't try to act like he didn't care, he would have got there in time to help.
The moment he took a step, the Eva series turned their full attention to him.
Shinji almost broke down when he noticed that Unit 08 was still almost happily chewing on Unit 02's neck or what was left of it.
He preyed for the second time in his life, the first being when Rei used herself as a shield.
He preyed that entry plug somewhere else, anywhere but there.
His prays were answered as he seen the entry plug on the ground at a 40 degree angle in the ground, in front of Unit 11, he made a mad dash for the plug, every once in a while avoiding a spear aimed for him.
With the plug in hand, he drew his arm back and prepared to throw the plug into the lake, he quickly brought his arm forward, launching the plug into the air, with that done he got ready for the fight with the Eva series, he was about to draw his prog knife, until he heard the sick crush behind him, Unit 01 slowly turned and met face to face to Unit 07 that had blood all over its mouth, it wasn't until Shinji zoomed in and seen the words Unit 02 on a small piece of metal that he knew what the carnage in its mouth was.
He drew the knife and started to hack at it over and over, forgetting about the others, he concentrated on destroying Unit 07, the other Units would make him pay for this reckless mistake.
And indeed he did pay for his mistake as the lance went through his eye.
Shinji jumped as the wax dripped on the floor ending the flow of memories.
"She didn't deserve it, I should have been in her place…"
Shinji wiped his eye to stop the on coming tears.
He laid his back on the dusty floor and used his school shirt as a makeshift pillow, and he looked up the ceiling.
"Yet another unfamiliar ceiling…"
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"Shinji…be one with me.."
Shinji looked around in the darkness; needless to say he saw nothing, not even his own hands.
"Shinji…be one with me.."
He stepped out of the circle of light, the moment he did the whole place lit up, now he could see everything clearly.
Rei was on the ground with a lance going through her chest, the puddle of blood extended to Shinji's feet. As she tried to reach out to him, he kept stepping backwards until he fell in what seemed to be a pit, it seemed like he feel forever.
After a while he hit the ground, he shook he head to get out of his daze and looked around he noticed that he was surrounded by hundreds upon hundreds of giggling Reis, as the started to come closer Shinji raked his mind to find some sort of escape, they started touching him, kissing him, when Shinji noticed there wasn't any escape he gave up, they suddenly stop and made a path for somebody, Shinji stood there waiting, to his surprise he didn't try to run when he seen the Rei he knew walking towards him, she was dragging what seemed to be a bag or something, he couldn't make it out because she was so far back.
Once again, in a moment that seemed to take forever Rei stood just about a few inches from Shinji, she threw what she was dragging in front of him, and Shinji screamed like he was being stabbed.
There in front of him on the ground were Asuka's bloody remains.
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"Shh..I'm here…its okay Shinji.."
Mana held Shinji whiled he cried in her lap.
"It was so horrible", Shinji sobbed, " So horrible.."
"I'm here for you Shinji…"
And so it stayed like that for hours, Shinji told Mana most of what happen, while she kept quiet and listened. He told her about Misato, he told her about Rei, he told her about Asuka, he told her about his Eva, to sum it all up, he mostly told her everything. He soon fell asleep in her arms, She laid back down on the floor, Shinji was still on top of her in a rather promising position, she decided it was better to let him stay like he was than move and wake him up.
"Sweet Dreams Ikari."
*~*~*
As they both sat at the table eating breakfast, Shinji wanted to ask Mana a few questions, but he really didn't want to pry into her past since she was so kind to him.
Before grabbing the carton of orange juice, Mana looked up and seen the look on Shinji's face.
"Something wrong?"
"Um..Mana would you mind if I asked you some questions?"
She smiled before responding.
"Of course, you didn't have to ask."
"How did you survive, and how did you happen to find me?"
"Haha….you see I don't know how I survived and I was wondering around when I found you."
"Oh."
"I was quite lucky to find a handsome male such as yourself, you know."
Shinji chocked on the toast and blushed a very bright shade of red.
"That reminds me, it's about time for me to change your bandages."
"I guess I don't have much of a choice, do I?"
"Not really, stay right here ill be back."
Shinji kept eating until she came back with the first aid pack.
"Okay, take off your shirt."
Shinji blushed, and unbuttoned his shirt before taking it off.
As his shirt fell to the floor, Mana gasped, she was sure Shinji didn't have this many cuts and scars when she bandaged him up the first time. It looked like somebody took a razor and cut him till they got tired, rested, and did it again.
Shinji sighed, "It's the scars isn't it?"
"What happened to you…?"
"N..Nothing."
"Please Shinji, you'll feel better."
"Most of them are from the Angels, no one was concerned about the pilot, only the Eva."
"Most?"
"One day after school, I stopped at Rei's apartment to drop off her homework, when I got…home Asuka was waiting for me, some how we got into argument about Rei."
"And."
"That night she came into my room, she told me why she was better than Rei and how I could get more from her,..she took off her clothes, and jumped on me."
Mana looked Shinji in the eye, when she didn't find any hint of lust or amusement she signaled for him to continue.
"I didn't want to take advantage of her, so I refused to have sex with her…I didn't mean to hurt her feelings, when she left out the room, I was about to go to sleep when Asuka came back in, she walked to the side of the bed, I started to apologize but she said it was okay, I turned over and tried to get to sleep again, but she got in the bed behind me, I closed my eyes, then I heard a click, then after all I remember was blood, and Asuka saying sorry."
"Shinji..its over 200 cuts on you."
"She did it every time she got mad, but she always said sorry afterwards."
"You let her use you like that!! Why didn't you tell anyone!!"
"She needed me for support, so I gave it to her..It didn't matter how much it hurt."
"Shinji you are to nice for your own good."
That ended the conversation as Mana started to remove the bandages.
After they were all changed, she directed him to the bathroom to take a shower while she went and looked for something for him to wear. She found a dark blue tee shirt and
"The clothes are outside the door Shinji. I'm going to look for some supplies ill be back in a while."
Shinji almost cried out as the cold water splashed on his skin, as he stood there the conversation about the scars came back to mind.
"In the end it really didn't matter…"
