Disclaimer: Still don't own anything don't ask.

Author's Note: Sorry this took so long I had to rewrite it twice due to disk problems. Anyways if your wondering what happened in the intro with how everyone got to where they are it is because I meant to write it that way. (And honestly I don't know myself) This is going to begin kind a slow in an effort to keep it along the lines of the show with the ups and downs of the action. Well anyways here is the first chapter enjoy and please review.

"Dialogue" 'Thoughts' Written

Chapter One The River

Within Nerv's maze of halls and rooms there lies a boy by the name of Shinji Ikari. A heart monitor beeps next to him to verify that he is still alive. When the recovery team first found his plug in the mountains they were confused. You see he wasn't hurt or damaged instead he was asleep. Not unconscious, not dead, or even brain dead just asleep. But he has been asleep for 2 months now and still no change. From the confines of his office a father watches his son's condition with a look that would say heartless. Gendo Ikari the commander of NERV sat in his chair with his normal mask looking over the status of his son and of the Eva repair process. Professor Futusuki entered the office with news of both.

" What is our status?"

" Our defense systems are at 100% minus the Evas. We have full personnel and repairs are nearly complete to Unit-02. Unit-01 however is more difficult due to its .unique characteristics but work on Unit-00 is under way and is on schedule"

" And what of the pilots?"

" Pilot Ikari's condition has not changed. Pilot Sohryu is doing well she is not up to her former glory but with some time she will be. And Rei ..has went through some changes and is well.different" The professor handed Gendo a set of documents to illustrate his point.

'Interesting' Gendo thought without betraying anything to his old friend. "Are these accurate?"

" Dr. Akagi is performing some tests on Rei as we speak"

"." Dr. Ritsuko Akagi was studying over pages upon pages of data in the infirmary of NERV. Rei clad in a hospital gown sat patiently behind her on an examination table.waiting.

'...'

'...'

'....'

'....'

'.....'

'.....' "HEY RITSUKO!!!!!!"

"AHH!!" Ritsuko screamed nearly falling over clutching her heart. She looked back at the smiling Major Misato Katsuragi. " What?"

"Oh nothing just wanted to see what your were doing"

"I'm reviewing the test results for Rei"

"Oh" Misato said with a realization that Rei was also in the room " I actually came to see how Shinji was doing"

" No change" came the almost immediate answer.

'...' Misato was at a lost, she had been ever since they found him. Before he always woke up but this was going on for far too long. A little saddened she turned to leave when she was met by the stare of two red eyes. Misato just stared she didn't know what else to do. Rei just stared into her eyes with a look devoid of emotion studying the major's with the intent of reading her thoughts. Misato had been avoiding the First for some time now. She didn't want to handle thinking of what Rei is or was or whatever she didn't care she just didn't want to be near her and now face-to-face she was scarred of Rei. Rei was an unknown element and man was afraid of the unknown it was natural. But here Misato couldn't break the gaze. Ritsuko turned and noticed the look on Misato's face.

" Misato?" Nothing "Misato!" this time she shook her shoulder.

"Huh wha?"

"You ok?"

"Umm... ya I'm fine sorry... I'll see you later k" And with that Misato left trying to avoid Rei's stare.

" Huh weird... oh Rei you can go now"

"Thank you" came the soft reply. Rei then put her school uniform back on and left.

' This is indeed interesting... however it going to cause a problem for her' Ritsuko thought as she prepared to leave herself.

Asuka stood in the doorway of her class looking bored as usual. Hikari bounced over to see what was the matter. " Hey Asuka what's wrong?"

"Oh hey Hikari it's just that I'm so bored"

"And that's a bad thing?"

" No but I want something to happen" she gave a bored huff and stared at the ceiling.

"Oh... is Shinji alright?"

"Who cares about little Mr. Save-the-day-as-usual anyway?"

"It's just that he's our friend and he..." her voice trailed off when she saw the look of anger across Asuka's face.

"Humph" Asuka huffed when she returned to her classroom.

Toji looked at the scene with disappointment " Man I can't believe how much a bitch she is" Aida was busy staring into his computer screen. "Well she is still making me money" he said with a smirk. Toji turned back to his long time friend.

" Yea but Shinji hasn't been to school now for two months and she acts as if she doesn't care"

" Probably because she doesn't know how to act"

" That's a load of bull. People like her only care about their own worth."

Aida sat staring at his friend before he spoke " this really pisses you off doesn't it?"

" Of course it does" the chimes signifying lunch sounded. " Well can't be pissed on a empty stomach lets go eat"

Hikari sat there watching the two boys leave. Here mind was dwelling on what they had just said about Asuka. She frowned, decided to forget about it, and went to join Asuka for lunch.

On the outskirts of town on the shores of a lake sat Rei. She was told to go back to school but for some reason she didn't want to. She was feeling ill . again. She had been getting cramps and feeling sick. Rei had mentioned this to Dr. Akagi a few days prior and was rewarded with 3 days of tests. She was confused she had been ever since she "woke up". Two months ago she awoke in her apartment alone, but she thought she self- destructed her Eva to save the Third. When she went to Nerv to find the answers she was met by stares of confusion. Apparently a lot had happened since she destroyed unit-00, but she can't remember any of it. Then she found out about Pilot Ikari's condition, when she heard she felt a growing weight in the bottom of her stomach. When she tried to ask Major Katsuragi about it the major simply said " Excuse me" and left, since then the major had been avoiding her. 'But why?' She had so many questions that needed answering and maybe the Third Child knew them. 'But he is asleep and hasn't woken. The commander . scares me. The major is avoiding me, and the Second hates me. hmm the major, why is she avoiding me. She looked frightened today, frightened of me, why? What happened to my memory? Yes Ikari-kun must now I must speak with him, I must know.'

"That he is alright?"

Her head whipped around to see who spoke but saw no one. Now it was her turn to be afraid. 'I need to see Ikari-kun'

Futusuki sat in the break lounge drinking his coffee and reading his paper. ' I can't remember the last time I did this' he sighed with content. He really couldn't, not because of what happened but cause of the fact that he always took it for granted. Now he didn't take anything for granted he stopped and savored every moment. until.

"Professor how's it going" came a cocky voice.

'CRAP!' " Kaji good morning" Futusuki sighed.

"And what a beautiful morning it is" Kaji beamed.

'God in heaven strike me down .. now please.' Futusuki just went back to his paper

" And how is the rather useless Nerv headquarters doing?"

" Fine"

" Oh come now. Are you not in the mood for a light chat?" 'No go away' "I just felt like some piece and quiet'

"Alright then I'll go bug the commander"

" You do that"

Kaji gave a victorious smirk and began to walk down the hall. ' Finally' thought the professor. Just then a voice came over the intercom " will the sub-commander, professor Futusuki please report to the command deck ASAP" 'CRAP!!' Down the hall Kaji was silently laughing to himself.

In the infirmary Rei made her way to Shinji's room. She entered and sat down in a chair next to him. 'That feeling's returned' Now she felt safe for some reason, however sad. She leaned back into the chair and let sleep take her again.

Chimes. A train, she was on the train again. 'This is Ikari-kun's place' Rei stood up from her seat and looked up and down the car, but there was no Shinji.

" Who are you looking for?" Again Rei turned to see who spoke and she saw a boy who she never met. Kaoru stood with his hands in his pockets smiling at Rei. that disturbed her.

"Who are you?"

"Kaoru"

" The final Angel

"Yes"

"Where is Ikari-kun?"

"Well your more worried then I thought"

"Where is Ikari-kun?" this time with a little more force.

"I don't know. I guess you expected to find him here. Well I'm sorry he is not but don't worry he will be fine, just have patience." When he finished he was gone. Rei looked around once more and sat down again to ponder on this confrontation. Her sadness only grew.

From his office Gendo Ikari watched as Rei slept next to his son. With reports that repairs to Unit-02 complete and the reinstatement of its pilot it seems NERV will soon be at full capability, but only if the other two pilots recover. Rei's synch ratio has not been up to her standard; the cause he suspected was Shinji and with what he has just witnessed seemed to confirm his suspicion. This was unacceptable he needed both pilots ready and soon. Someone entering into his office however interrupted his thoughts. There stood Futusuki with news.

"Yes"-said Gendo with a tone of annoyance.

" It seems that something we lost had found its way back"

" Unit-01?" expectantly

" No the second branch. It had appeared seven hours ago. The U.S government has already dispatched a investigating team"

" Was the Eva located?"

" Reports say no, it's gone"

Gendo leaned back in his chair pondering this news. 'It seems that the world is trying to return to a state prior to the angels. interesting'

The wind was blowing through a forest besieged by snow. The artic air seems to silence everything in a death like peace that can only be found in tombs. The peace was interrupted by the sounds of a convoy approaching from the south. Nine vehicles trudge along a snow caked road that hadn't been used for years. The middle and most heavily guarded flatbed carried something that seemed of great interest. The wind picks up as if it had a feeling of curiosity to see what was under the tarp. The tarp raised and a hand was exposed, an Eva hand, large, monstrous, and black as Death himself. The convoy continued its trek toward its destination, one that is for sure hidden to public eyes.

Author: I rewrote this chapter in hopes to speed the story up a bit. After trying to write the 2nd chapter I kept having problems with the file becoming corrupted so this story is going to take a bit of time to write. Still not happy with it. I'm probably going to make Rei cry in this next one no matter how cliché it is. If you haven't guessed by now everyone has been having a sort of selective memory loss that is why Rei can't remember anything after her self-destruction. I figured that if Shinji can choose the world he could choose the people to be the way he fondly remembers them. or wants them. Hence Ritsuko not being a psycho doctor and Rei ... I'll let you find out but you should guess by now. Cheers