Of love in a time of warfare

by Athos

Two lonely hearts at the end of the War of the Angels.

OF LOVE IN A TIME OF WARFARE
(Sagt Lebewohl)

"Siegel auf! Anker los!
Sagt Lebewohl auf Ewigkeit dem Lande!"

The sun was lowering in the horizon, beyond there where the sky met the sea. A lone figure stood on the warm sand, staring at the falling star. A new night over Humankind at war.

A sundown, that might be the last one of the war

Makoto opened his eyes to find that the pleasant sun dawn he had been watching had been only a dream, that the side of his bed was, as always, empty, that the War of the Angels was being fought and finally, but not least disagreeable, that the alarm of his clock was buzzing angrily. He slammed the clock -carefully enough to make sure that it was still in a piece- and got up yawning like a cavern. Through the windows the faint bright of summer's dawn illuminated vaguely the room, giving the bed and the dresser a ghostly tint.

His footsteps would have echoed in the empty apartment, but it was an unusually cold morning and Makoto had to tiptoe his way to the small bathroom. What he saw under the aseptic light of the fluorescent did not enlighten his day.

Quite the opposite. He was pale and haggard as result of few hours of sleep. He could swear that he had been asleep only for few minutes since he had put his head on the pillow. All the days were the same, and even when he slept ten straight hours, he was still tired. Perhaps he was sick, he thought bitterly, or perhaps the tiredness was not physical at all.

He was tired. Tired of being used like a puppet by Nerv, tired of being in a hopeless love with Misato. Tired of everything. At least, if he were fed up, he might do something; but he was not fed up. Just deeply, awfully tired.

Still, that morning the tiredness had a more logic reason. He had spent all most of the night at the Geofront, trying to spot some light in the enigma that was the upcoming Fifth Child. Makoto'd gone to the train station to pick him from wherever he was coming. While incredible polite and a real charming, the lack of skin pigments and the red eyed color of his strange red eyes made Makoto to distrust instinctively him. One albino was enough in his life.

After a quick shower and a mug of real coffee (and not the feint of coffee that Aoba did at Nerv. How somebody could distill such a booze with an automatic machine was something that would be forever out of his comprehension), things, if not got better, at least focused a bit.

Afterwards a quick conference with Misato, Makoto had quested anything even vaguely related to the Fifth Child in the archives of Nerv. What he had discovered last night -or rather, what he had not discovered- was not agreeable. The lack of personal records of the pale and annoying Fifth Child, as well as his origin -from outside the Marduck Report- hinted that the boy shared more than one connection with Rei Ayanami.

He slammed the door.

***

He parked next to the black car of Maya in one of the subterranean parking of the Geofront. He remembered the first time that he had gone down there. When the train had exited the tunnel of the beginning, his jaw, if it would not have been fixed in place, would have dropped to the floor. Makoto had been told that the main headquarters of Nerv were in a subterranean facility, but he was not thinking in such a huge fortress.

It's said, though, that humans are able to get used to everything, and some truth had to lie in that, because he was any longer surprised by the sight of the Geofront. He walked to the elevators, looking at Misato's blue Renault. She was already down there.

When he entered the Command Center, the purple haired woman spared him a glance, lifting an eyebrow. Makoto nodded quietly, and she pointed with her head to the corridor. Makoto followed her. After being sure that they were alone, she leant over him.

"Well," she whispered. "What have you discovered?"

"The Fifth Child lacks of personal records," Makoto mumbled. "And I've found vague references to something called 'Nagisa Project,' although I do not know what it is referred."

"Kaworu Nagisa."

"Exactly," he nodded. "And now?"

Misato sighed in defeat. That was the point; it was a good thing to know what was happening, but what should be done, now? She did not know, and if she wanted him to point a way of action she might as well grab a seat and wait sitting down, as Makoto had no idea of what should be done at that moment.

"Do you think that he is..." she asked uncertainly.

"I do not know. You might want to ask Akagi."

"No," Misato shook her head. "I might reach her, but she does not talk to anyone, anymore."

"Then?"

"I do not know," she sighed sadly. "I'm sorry."

"Do not worry," he smiled reassuringly. "It's not your fault."

Misato nodded faintly and turned back to keep working. Makoto gulped.

"Misato..." he called softly.

She stared at him from the frame of the door.

"I..." he began, but he was not able to continue. Although she was still keeping a tough expression, her eyes were so sad that Makoto had found himself wishing to be able to do something to repair it, but Misato seemed beyond human touch, alone in a sea of sadness.

He knew that Kaji, the intelligence officer that Misato used to be all the day yelling to in a highly suspicious fashion had disappeared, as well as had done Ritsuko Akagi. The Second Child was comatose in a hospital and Shinji was like absent, hearing from far the rest of the world; Misato seemed to have lost all the people around her in a rush of days and she had closed in herself. Makoto would not dare to follow her, knowing that any comforting thing he might said would be heard with a small, sad smile, followed by an equally sad 'I'm sorry, Makoto.'

He only would add salt to her wounds, if... It was better in that way, although Makoto would not tell to whom it was.

"Never mind," he shrugged. "It's not important."

She smiled softly and disappeared from his sight.

He sighed and leant back against the wall. As unavailable, and, at the same time, as lonely as if she were living on the moon; and perhaps they might fly to there if things went the wrong way, he thought shaking his head. Then Aoba's face popped out of the door.

"Hey, man, wake up! Work's eating us alive, right here."

Makoto growled an affirmative and followed him to his station.

***

Makoto growled again and Aoba seemed to want to slam his head against the desk as the red, angry 'FAILURE' that kept appearing in the screen of all the stations of the supercomputer was driving them more and more frustrated.

Reinstall the data for a new pilot for an Evangelion Unit was supposed to be a light task that could be performed in just five minutes. They had installed, overwritten and reinstalled again Rei and Shinji's information in Unit One and Unit Zero without any major problems and with a simple command. Now, were it because of the new pilot, the biomechanical giant or just because Naoko felt playfully that morning, the fact was that they had spent four hours trying to make that Unit Two accepted Kaworu Nagisa as a pilot. The red Eva just refused to load the data of the pilot, even when it accepted Asuka's information code in milliseconds.

Makoto spared a glance at Maya. The young Lieutenant had been promoted to the direction -temporary- of the section while Ritsuko Akagi were 'absent,' as Subcommander Fuyutsuki had announced without giving any details about why Doctor Akagi was not available.

She seemed lost, biting her lower lip and looking like if she were about to cry, and, at the same time, grab an axe and play with the Magi. It seemed to Makoto that the job was a bit too much for her. She was not made to give orders and organize things, and although she was one of the most brilliant -if not the most- operator of all the agency, she needed a guidance; now that Akagi was out of the game, Maya had obtained more responsibility that she could handle.

It did not help to her the fact that the newly assigned pilot of Unit Two was standing with a politely embarrassed smile behind her. Seemingly gifted with an infinite patient, Nagisa was looking at her like if he knew a very funny secret.

Maya tapped with her fingers on the desk, trying to find what was wrong. She did not know if the problem was the pilot or the Evangelion, and she could not perform tests with Unit One to find it. Maya was perfectly aware that everybody was staring at her, waiting for instructions.

She sighed and ordered a routine check of the neuron motor, something that she knew would not fix the problem but, at least, would give her some time to think. Unit Two was well, and the pilot was... annoyingly well, with the purest pattern she had ever seen from any Children, including Rei.

Fuyutsuki, with his innate ability to appear casually when there were problems entered the cage of Unit Two.

"Any problem, Lieutenant?" he asked gently.

"Yes, sir," Maya mumbled embarrassed. "Unit Two keeps refusing Fifth Child's pattern."

"So it does, doesn't it?" Fuyutsuki asked thoughtful. "Did you checked A-10 nerve connection?"

"Yes, sir," she nodded. "It's still a bit damaged from the overload of the Fourteenth Angel, but I doubt that this be the problem."

"Probably it's not," he said, sparing a glance to the Fifth Child.

So did Makoto. Nagisa was humming a happy tune while he waited, dressed in his green plug suit, for the sync test that was scheduled after the transferring of the pattern and that was supposed to have had place two hours ago. He frowned.

"Mm... Are you working with a fresh pattern sample?"

"Ah, no, sir. We are employing the one that the Third Branch gave us. Why?"

"Very likely, the problem is there. Samples, and material in general, from other branches tend to... not be reliable anymore. Might I suggest you to obtain a new one?"

"Of course, sir," Maya blushed. "I had not thought in that. I would wish, that Doctor Akagi were here," she said purposefully.

"Certainly," Fuyutsuki frowned. "That would be most... helpful. It's a pity."

Without adding anything more, Fuyutsuki exited the room. Maya sighed in defeat and looked again at Kaworu.

"We have to scan a new collection of data from you, I am afraid," she said apologetically. "Would you mind to come with me to the sync lab?"

"At all, Lieutenant Ibuki," he smiled attractively.

"Thank you," she mumbled. "Shigeru, Tomoyo, I would need you to come with me. The rest," she followed tiredly, "why do not you get ready the Unit for the new imprint?"

Makoto nodded, looking how the brunette officer walked out of the gate escorted by the Fifth Child and the two technicians whose help she had requested. He turned to his screen, looking how the red advertisement finally disappeared as the crew removed the corrupted information.

Fuyutsuki seemed to have been expecting that, he mused. Why?

Makoto was starting to realize that not only there were hidden things about Nerv and its objectives. He never had known, or thought about, the Commander and his right hand. Gendo Ikari had always seemed to him like what he probably was, a ruthless and selfish person, but he had thought until a few weeks ago that he was like that because there was not another way to win the war; and while Makoto did not sympathize which what he did, he had to recognize that his actions had often solved more than one delicate situation. Whether if there would have been other ways to solve them it was something that Makoto might -and, more than likely, would- discuss, but the undeniable fact is that they were winning the war.

Or so that seemed, until Misato had spoken to him about fallen Angels in the cellar of Nerv and angelic hybrids as pilots.

One good thing about being a military-trained technician was that he was able to do things without thinking in what he was doing. He kept preparing the red Evangelion for the new sample of the pattern of the pilot, musing about the loads of disagreeable information that the purple haired woman had given to him.

He had soon realized by himself, as everybody else, that the Angels were going to Tokyo Three for some specific, unknown reason. After all, you do not build a trap if the mice are not going to come. In the vague and diffuse debriefing that they had been given once it was mentioned that if an Angel ever reached Heaven's Gate, ironically placed in the lower part of the headquarters, then Mankind would suffer Third Impact and would be wiped away from the face of Earth, so, stopping the Angels, they were saving the world.

Technically it was true, except for the little fact that they were saving the world for the Human Complementation Plan Committee, who wanted to trigger their own very version of the Third Impact.

Makoto wondered idly what the difference among the Impacts would be. He suspected that, very likely, for Makoto Hyuga would not there be any difference.

Maya returned with the new data and began to upload it in the Evangelion while Shigeru stumbled in his seat, next to Makoto.

"Any problems?" the black haired Lieutenant asked.

"Nope," Aoba said, pretty satisfied of himself. "As smooth as silk, but of course, Shigeru Aoba was controlling the operation."

"Then why did it take us all the morning to get here, oh wisest of the wise?"

"Oh, I would have told Maya that, if she would have asked," Aoba said teasingly.

"Do not laugh at her," Makoto mumbled slowly, glancing at the young officer, leant over her screen with expectation. "I would not like to be in her shoes."

"Rather, you would like to get into her panties, isn't it?"

Makoto choked in his coffee, spitting brown liquid all over his screen. He coughed several times, aware that everybody -including Maya- was staring at him.

"Shut up," he sighed once he regained his breath, returning his attention to the uploading procedure.

This time, and perhaps because Sigheru Aoba was busy laughing at Makoto to pay attention to it, the red Evangelion accepted the new pilot's data without problems. The small crew abandoned the room that dominated Unit Two's dock and went to eat a morsel before preparing the sync test -once again with three plugs- that would take place the next day's afternoon.

Makoto, though, thanks to Aoba's joke had to stay there, cleaning with a handkerchief as best as he could the mess that the coffee had produced. The Fifth Child had gone out as well, and he could not tell what made him feel more uneasy: to be in his unnerving presence or that he was out of his sight, where Makoto could not see what he was doing.

He threw the loathsome piece of paper to a basket and walked out slowly, hoping that Shigeru would not have decided to choose his food for him. When he was walking towards the café, he spotted Maya and Fuyutsuki in the side corridor. Without knowing exactly why he spied them, being too much far to hear what they were saying, though.

Still, it was not very difficult to tell what was happening. Fuyutsuki was admonishing Maya, who was standing shrugged the reprimand. Makoto wished that the old Subcommander were not so tough with her; Maya had done her work to the best of her capacity, and no one else would have made it better. Seeming awfully scared, Maya was just nodding each few seconds and looking to the ground, ashamed.

Her attitude softened Fuyutsuki's rebuke, who could not keep being mad at her for much longer. With a final statement which elicited a soft affirmative mumble from Maya, the old man walked away.

Maya sighed and headed, her eyes downcast. She did not see Makoto until she nearly stumbled upon him, as the black haired technician had not moved an inch.

"Hi," Maya smiled awkwardly. She flushed ashamed when she realized that Makoto might have seen the reprimand of Fuyutsuki.

He nodded back vaguely and stared at her for several seconds more, blinking then surprised like if he should not have realized that Maya was there.

"I was," he began uncertainly, "going to the café. Do you want to eat something."

Maya nodded softly; the afternoon had began quite a good time ago, and her stomach, which had spent all the morning trapped in a nervous grip claimed now to be resupplied. Besides, she did not feel like eating alone, and Makoto's company was welcomed.

They sat down in the last empty table of the crowded dining room. A good three-quarters of the day shift was eating, and although the queue had already disappeared -they had arrived quite late due to the problems with Unit Two- that just meant that the remaining food would be the dishes that nobody else liked.

And ramen. There were what seemed an unlimited supply of ramen from Nerv cooks, and Makoto had often wanted to see the bottomless pots where the ramen was cooked.

Ramen was, then, what Makoto brought to the table. Maya's face lightened a bit when the hot bowl descent under her nose, filling the air with a ghostly trace of diffuse steam.

"Thank you," she said happily, beginning to eat quietly her meal.

"You're welcome," he shrugged. "What a morning, isn't it?"

She nodded, swallowing. "It was a mess," she mumbled. "I'm sorry you had to see that."

"You're doing a great work," he waved, trying to cheer her up a bit. "Don't let him to discourage you."

"It was not that," she said, shaking her head. "At all. I had asked him to regain my old job as Magi operator. I did not want to keep being the head of the section..."

"I'm sorry," he said, without knowing exactly what he might add.

"Don't worry," she said, smiling softly. "He agreed, although he was pretty pissed. Fuyutsuki said that he would take the command of the section temporally. I am glad; I would not be more than a burden for everybody."

"Don't say that," he smiled. "You're one of the best operator I've ever seen."

"Oh, shut up," Maya flushed, obviously pleased. "It's not true."

"It is. Only Akagi knows the Magi better than you, and that is because her mother designed it."

The thought of the blonde scientist made sadness return to Maya's face.

"I wish she were here," she said. "She always knows what to do, and she is so smart... but nobody wants to tell me a word about what happened to her."

"Is that so?" Makoto asked vaguely. He supposed that Misato actually knew why and where Ritsuko was jailed, but she had not given any details to him about that. She had not given him any details about anything, now that he thought, except for those things she wanted him to find information about. Perhaps she did not know anything else, he mused, or perhaps she was just using him. Not that he minded in the least, though.

"Yes," Maya nodded sadly. "She is the only person I trusted down here... Sorry, I did not mean..." she mumbled apologetically. Makoto just waved, showing her that he was not offended -he knew what she meant-. "She helped me when I arrived to Tokyo 3, and I guess that she is the closer thing I ever had to a big sister. But... I do not know why I am telling you this. Forgive me."

"Don't worry. Speak helps sometimes."

"I suppose you are right," she smiled faintly. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," he shrugged, munching the last noodles. "But you are awfully wrong. You would not want an elder sister."

"Why not?"

"I have three brothers and two sisters, and I am the younger. I have lost the count of the number of nephews and nieces I have."

"Uncle Makoto," she giggled. "Sounds good."

"I guess it's better than Grandpa Makoto. Do you want a cup of tea?"

"Please," she nodded.

Makoto got up and went to the quest of the drink. Perhaps Makoto was right, she thought, as having spoken with him had somewhat relieved her. Still, she was worried by Ritsuko. She had been acting very strange in the last weeks, and now she had disappeared, although both the Commander and the SubCommander had not given any explanation; they did not seem to have surprised at the absence of the blonde scientist, which made Maya think that they knew where she was.

Of course, asking the Commander was something that even had not occurred to her. Fuyutsuki, even when he was far easier to talk than the ruthless father of Shinji had refused to say her anything, insinuating that it was nothing of her business and that she would make better if she did not push them any further.

Her attention returned to Makoto, waiting patiently in the queue of the café. She realized that he had seemed lately worried by something. She never had thought about asking him what was wrong; everybody in Nerv seemed worried by one or another thing, especially since the last attacks. The Fourteenth and Sixteenth attacks had left a hell of a lot of casualties.

Nobody that she knew deeply but, then again, she did not know well many people. Sigheru and Makoto, Misato, her sempai and one or two technicians were all the people that Maya had achieved to know really in all the time that she had been there. And that was in Nerv; outside, Maya had no friends, as working for Nerv was not something that one might carry out together with a normal life. It was an exclusive master, and Maya arrived to the conclusion that she had no one who would cry truthfully at her funeral, if the First Lieutenant Ibuki Maya, Sec 3, became one more of the victims of the War of the Angels.

"Here you have," Makoto smiled, placing the nearly flooding cups in the table without spilling a single drip, much to his credit. Maya smiled a bit desperately. She had to be wrong.

Had not she?

"What do you think of the new pilot?" Makoto asked casually.

"Kaworu? He is a sweetie," she smiled. "He is so polite and considerate that it's a bit creepy, actually."

"So he is Kaworu, now. I see," Makoto nodded, sipping his tea.

"Yes, but... Pervert! What are you trying to say?" she flushed heavily.

"I'm sorry. You left it so easy..." he laughed quietly. "Talking seriously, what do you think of him?"

"Why, he seems the good twin of Rei, if you want my opinion," she smiled. "He's much more agreeable than Ayanami, but... I do not know, I guess that I was used to quiet albinos, but I would stay with Rei, all things considered. Why?"

"I do not know, I just..." he lied. "When I saw him by the first time at the station, I thought that he had been staring to me even through the walls. Do you know that itchy sensation when somebody's looking at your back?" Maya nodded quietly. "I feel that all the time I am near him."

"I know what you mean," she laughed. "He sure has weird eyes."

Makoto smiled a bit when he saw the happy giggles of Maya.

***

After the lunch, and obviously trying to get rid from her head something by working hard, Misato came with loads of battle plans that needed to be updated to the new conditions of the Evangelion Units and the crew; things they could and could not do.

Makoto was not sure about if there was something that they were not able to do, actually. After seeing Shinji's Eva moving without energy and regenerating an arm from Angel's flesh he would not surprise by anything the giant mechas might do.

Or so he hoped; he had spent his surprise quota of a lifetime during the three years he had worked in the subterranean stronghold beneath the city, but he had the disagreeable impression that he would see more things before the war ended. One thing was sure; Makoto's grandsons, if he ever had some, would hear some surprising tales.

Misato was sadder and sadder each time he saw her, and that broke Makoto's heart in two pieces, as well as the knowledge that he would not be able to do anything to sooth her. Few comforting was the fact that he would not because she would not let him. Makoto did not know if he loved the purple haired woman, but certainly he felt compassion for her.

So that, while she kept building a large wall of sorry around herself that isolated her from the rest of the world Makoto was paying more attention to her than to his work.

While Aoba was running a simulacrum of a battle in the lake in the Magi, Makoto stopped typing and span in his chair to face her. Misato was sat down in an empty station, with her face buried in her hands.

"Major?" he called, uncertainly. He did not know what he wanted to say.

"Hmm?"

"I... Are you okay?"

"Of course," Misato said, stretching herself and sketching a smile that was not mirrored in her eyes. "Just worried by Asuka, that's all. I've been at the infirmary all the night."

Makoto supposed that this was actually true, but it was only the tip of the iceberg. Still, he did not know how to follow on, and Misato would not do anything willingly.

"How is she?"

"I do not know," she shrugged. "She's still comatose, and the doctors do not know why."

He nodded. "I suppose that Shinji is not getting well with that."

"I could not tell you. He barely speaks with me," Misato said sadly.

Makoto saw that it was hurting her. Makoto did not blame him; the boy had suffered more in his fourteen years than many people in a whole lifetime. Still, there was something else that Makoto could not quite spot; everybody had his own secrets, and Misato and Shinji were no different.

"If you ever want to talk, about anything..."

"Thank you," she said slowly, "but I do not think that I could."

"You do know where to find me," Makoto offered.

"Thank you," Misato smiled softly, getting up. "When that simulation ends, give the results to Sayama and both of you may go home."

"Yes, ma'am."

"Good night," she added, walking out of the department.

Makoto just stared at her without daring to say nothing else. He realized that Misato just wanted to be alone with her wounds. She would not cry beside anybody, he mused. Not Misato; not the Major.

Sigheru returned together with Captain Sayama and part of the crew of the night shift, a bunch of insomniac and always haggard technicians. Makoto envied them; Angels always had attacked by the day, always when Makoto was on his station. On the other hand, he was glad of being able to do something during the attacks. The only time he had not been there had been when the spider-shaped Angel had attacked, and it had not been pleasant.

"Sir," nodded Makoto, getting up and standing somewhat firm.

"Good night, Lieutenant Hyuga," the small man saluted politely. "Still here?"

"We were waiting for the results of a simulacrum, Captain. Lieutenant Aoba has them."

"Yes? I see. Are you going to stay any longer?"

"No, sir. Major Katsuragi told us to left it to you."

"Of course, we will revise that. Good night, Lieutenant."

"Good night, sir," both Makoto and Aoba saluted, withdrawing.

A shower and nothing else was what Makoto needed. A long, hot, steamy shower. He felt himself drain under the stream of hot water, being vaguely aware of how Sigheru parted leaving him alone.

He dried himself and began lazily to dress up, feeling relaxed for the first time of the day. He put on his civilian clothes and went out of the dressing room.

Cleaning his glasses from the steam that the hot air of the shower had made appear on them he did not spot Maya -still dressed in her uniform- until he was merely two inches from her.

"Maya!" he said startled. "You scared me!"

"Sorry," she giggled. "You really should not walk around there without glasses."

"You're right, but... what are you doing still here?"

She flushed, turning of a deep shade of red. "I have to report something to the Subcommander, but... " Maya mumbled, "I do not feel like, going home, and I was wondering... would you like to go out and drink something?"

"Oh," he said vaguely. "I thought that all the pubs had blown away."

"No," waved Maya quickly. "There are still a few in the Nagayama district. Will you come?"

"Well, I do not know..." he began, trying to think in a negative. When he saw the barely pleading look of Maya, he shrugged, though. "Why not?"

"Ok. Then wait for me at the third door, will you?" Maya smiled. "I have to give a report to the SubCommander."

"Of course," he nodded. He stared at Maya, scratching his head while she walked away quickly, not quite understanding what had just happened.

***

"Thank you very much," Maya said happily. "I'm sorry for being late."

Makoto mumbled a chain of incoherent variants of 'I do not mind, I had just arrived.' It was difficult to get angry with Maya that night, as her casual black dress, or rather, the body that filled it stole their attention from anything else she might have done.

She smiled shyly to them and followed them along the exit of the Geofront in the Nagayama district, the part of the old city which had not been destroyed in the explosion of Rei's Evangelion. And, since there were still near two hundred of technicians working in each shift at the headquarters, all the little facilities that helped to bear the siege were still opened there.

The Dock of the Bay was one of them. A small and clean den where occasionally there was a singer or a pianist and, always, the better booze of the city. They sat together in the one empty table of the bar.

There was a lot of them, actually, and all the people that were around there belonged in one or another way to Nerv, with only one or two civilians aside from the barkeeper. Makoto did not blame the people that had run away from the city. He would probably have done that himself if it were not for the fact that he was under a military law and he would be considered as a deserter if he did so.

That, and that he was not sure anymore than any other place in the world was going to be more safe than Tokyo 3. At least, here he was where things were happening.

The waiter returned with their drinks. Maya grabbed the glass, filled with an opalescent liquor and drank a tiny sip.

"I do not remember when it had been the last time I had went out to drink something," she mumbled quietly.

Makoto growled vaguely his agreement. He did remember the last time Aoba and he had gone out together in a drinking spree, although he did not remember how he had ended sleeping in a bush.

"A toast," Maya proposed.

"A toast?" Makoto asked.

"A toast," she nodded. "For the end of the war!"

Makoto was the only one that did not drink cheerfully of all the surrounding tables, for he was not sure what the defeat of the last Angel would bring.

"You look depressed," Maya asked gently.

"I'm just tired," he lied smiling, stretching himself to prove it.

Maya stared at him with an unreadable expression for some time, and he blinked unsure, not knowing what to say.

"What?" he muttered finally.

"Nothing," she laughed quietly. "Just... forget it. Tell me, what are you going to do after the war?"

"After the... I do not know. I... just... I've never thought so far. But I doubt that I would follow on in Nerv, if that is what you are asking. And what about you, young lady?"

"Oy, I think I am older than you, young boy!"

"I was complimenting you, Granny. Everybody at Nerv is older than I," Makoto grumbled. "But you have not answered."

"Neither you, I might say," she said, leaning back in the seat and relaxing. "But, since you are being so nice... I want to be a teacher. I like children."

"That seems to fit you."

"Really?"

"Yes," he laughed softly. "You seem one of those young and beautiful teachers whose the pupils always end falling for. You would be a heartbreaker teacher..."

"Oh, silly, shut up," she flushed, sipping a bit of drink.

"What? It's true."

They kept chatting idly, although Maya was the one who carried the weight of the conversation while the amount of empty glasses on the table grew slowly. Makoto only answered with brief sentences, asking here and there a short question. He could not remove from his head the fact that the world seemed to be dancing over the edge of a fine sharpened razor. He felt his head spinning a bit and he decided that it was a good moment as any other else to stop, before he were so drunk that he might do something he would regret later.

"Another toast?" Maya suggested, lifting her glass.

"Another one? Why not?" he chuckled. "For what?"

"What about... for us?" she giggled.

"For us, then."

They brushed their glasses, eliciting a soft bell sound from the cold crystal. Maya took a sip of her drink and watched him for a long time, seemingly judging him. He shook his glass, making the half melt ice stones spin inside the dark brown liquid. Makoto spared a glance to his clock, surprised of how much time had passed.

"I think that it's time to retreat," Maya said, getting up with only the slightest of vacillations.

He nodded.

"I'll walk you home," he said chivalrously.

"Oh, what a gentleman," she teased. "I'd appreciate that."

A soft breeze had started to blow softly, stirring Maya's short hair as they walked slowly by the empty streets of what remained of the city. All things considered, it had been a luck in the sorrow that Ayanami had self-destroyed her Unit where she had, in the middle of a fake neighborhood composed mainly by tramp-buildings. The old part of Tokyo Three - crowded by small houses and blocks of apartments that snuggled together like if they were scared- had not suffered too much with the battles.

Whilst Maya put a rebel tuft of hair beneath her ear, Makoto could not help but note how beautiful she was under the pale bright of the lights of the city.

"What a nice night," Maya said, smiling softly.

Makoto nodded quietly. He was beginning to feel a bit unsure, not knowing what he should -or was expected- to do. He'd had a good time, but Maya, glancing to him from time to time and blushing when he occasionally spotted her, seemed to be waiting for something else. He had a good idea of what it might be, though.

"I wish it rained."

"Why?" asked absently Makoto, with his mind in other things.

"I like water," she smiled. "Besides, when it's raining, you can give a walk without seeing almost anybody else at the street."

"But you end soaked, don't you?" he mumbled vaguely.

"Come on," Maya laughed, pushing him. "Don't tell me that you never went out without an umbrella, just to feel the raindrops falling on your face."

"No, I suppose not," Makoto admitted, shrugging.

They had arrived to the small block of apartments in which lower floor Maya lived. Maya stopped in front of her door and looked at him uncertainly.

"Don't you want to come just... a little bit?" she said seductively.

Makoto looked at her unsure. Probably both had drunk too much, and it would not be a good idea if they ended involved. But then again, why not? Maya sure was a very beautiful girl, and if she really wanted him to be with her...

From the background of his mind Misato stared sadly at him with the hurt look she had been portraying these days.

"I'm sorry," he heard himself mumbling. "But..."

Maya nodded, as sad and lonely as Misato whilst she closed the door behind her.

"Good night."

***

The day after, even when nothing happens, is always an embarrassing time. Makoto did not know if it was him or Maya, or just a matter of that morning job division, but the fact was that both avoided each other carefully during all the day, until the time of the sync test arrived.

It had not been a good night for Makoto. A vague feeling of guilt had chased him through all the night; he had spent what seemed an endless drip of vast seconds just staring to the ceiling of his room. Maya, as well, was a bit pale and had spent all the morning in a quiet mood, only speaking when she was asked. Makoto had surprised her looking at him a couple of times; Maya had flushed deeply and looked away quickly each time.

Although the count had arrived until the Fifth Child, there were yet only three sync plugs operative. It seemed that an awful fate sought the even pilots. Asuka, the Second Child, was comatose in an aseptic room of Nerv's infirmary, and Touji Suzuhara, the Fourth Child, had lost a leg in the attack of the Thirteenth Angel. And that without speaking of the unnumbered pilot that had died in the Second Branch 'incident'.

The three remaining Children had their eyes closed while they tried to concentrate at the fake patterns of their Eva Units. And Makoto, blinking tiredly in front of his station in the sync lab tried in vane to concentrate in his work.

He had supervised what seemed thousands of tests. He could do all that was expected from him mechanically, without thinking in what he was doing. And that, exactly, was what he wanted to avoid. A cold shiver ran down his spine when he looked again at the screen that supervised the status of the three Children. Next to the placid pale face of Rei and the worried expression of Shinji, Kaworu Nagisa was beating all the records of synchronization with a small, sardonic smile.

"Have you seen these numbers?" Maya asked in awe. "I cannot believe it!"

Maya suggested some checks, but the numbers did not change. An insultingly perfect 99.99% appeared in the screen, validated by the more normal 76.65 percent of Shinji and the discreet 58.34 percent of the blue haired girl. While Maya kept amazing at the rate Makoto wondered what would say Maya if he told her that the silver haired boy was perhaps an Angel, and that he was able to synchronize with Unit Two as easily as the young technician coordinated her two hands.

If he typed a certain command, Nagisa's plug would submerge in LCL beyond the lower point where the mind of the pilot was able to keep the sanity. He fought with the temptation, knowing that it would be futile. He did not know so many things... All that he had been able to gather had been vague fragments of information that not always made sense. He did not know even either if get rid of the Fifth Child at that moment would be a good thing in the general scheme of things or not.

He sighed in defeat. Frustrated, that was like he was feeling. A tired frustration was starting to onslaught his will, and a growing desire of sitting down and look lazily how all ended was becoming more and more attractive.

The sync test had arrived to its end, and the three plugs started to spurt LCL to the pool. He looked at his screen to discover that he had been typing a senseless chain of characters in the command line. It was said that automatic writing was a method employed in psychiatric evaluations, as the subconscious was supposed to take control over the writing action, revealing hidden barriers and repressed desires of the individual. He wondered lazily if something might be discovered from the random chain of orange characters on the black screen. That his mind was a mess? He already knew that without a degree in Psychology.

The Children walked to the showers. He frowned as the silver haired boy passed to his side, whistling a happy tune.

"Nagisa," he found himself calling. "May I speak with you?"

"Indeed, Lieutenant," Kaworu smiled warmly. "What can I do for you?"

Makoto sat down in the desk, studying him from near. Nagisa radiated modesty and sincerity, and he seemed the impersonation of the perfect boy scout, all smiles and kindness. And yet, he was an Angel, a sworn enemy of Mankind.

"An impressive sync ratio, I must say."

"For a rookie, Lieutenant?" he finished helpfully.

"Even for the original pilot of Unit Two, Asuka Sohryu."

Makoto hinted a glint of uneasiness in his weird pupil-less eyes as he mentioned the name of the German redheaded girl. He frowned, remembering something that had been said in the Fifth Child's debriefing meeting.

"I'd like to test you with Unit One, Nagisa," he ventured.

Of course, he had no authority to schedule sync tests, but that was something that Nagisa had not why to know, did he? Soon it became obvious that Nagisa indeed did not know that, as the young boy panicked slightly.

"I've been assigned to Unit Two, Lieutenant," he answered calmly, though.

"Of course, Nagisa," Makoto sighed tiredly. "You may go away."

The young Angel turned his head and looked at a spot in the wall with a piercing gaze.

"Ikari is waiting for me? How unexpected," he said enigmatically, nodding to Makoto and walking away.

He frowned at him as he went out of the room. Makoto stumbled in his chair, returning to a world of numbers where everything was under his control and he was the lord of an ordered kingdom.

Without Angels.

***

"Makoto."

The young Lieutenant froze in the corridor when he heard the soft voice of Maya calling his name. He turned slowly, discovering that Maya was standing in the middle of the empty arcade. She had been staring at him, but as soon as he faced her she looked away, blushing.

"Might we talk?" she asked softly, sparing a glance to him.

Makoto nodded quietly. They headed to his office, which was a small room near the vast pool of the sync lab, only decorated by a small poster of a green forest that he had bought time ago to stare at when he had nothing better to do. Makoto had not entered the room in days, as he used it only when he was not required in the Command Center, something rare in the rushed attacks of the last Angels.

Makoto sat down on the table, leaving to her the comfortable, lonely chair behind the desk.

Maya clasped her hands together and sighed, looking at her feet. She was obviously unsure about how to begin.

"Yesterday... I did not want to... I mean..."

"Maya," he said softly. "You do not have to apologize for anything."

She looked up at him with bright eyes. "I wanted to thank you," she said with a forced tone of voice. "I was a bit nervous, and..."

She got up and walked to the photograph, placing a hand carefully on it. She kept speaking, backwards to him.

"I am so alone, Makoto... When Ritsuko was still here, I was useful. I was her assistant, somebody," she mumbled quietly, "somebody important - at least for her, I suppose."

Makoto, feeling that she had more things to say, kept silent.

"Now I am nothing more than another operator," she sighed, tracing with her finger the silhouette of a fallen leaf. "And it scares me," she admitted, turning to face him. "I do not want to be a number, Makoto."

"You're not," he replied calmly, fondling his hands on his chest.

"Thank you," she smiled faintly, looking at her hands and leaning back against the wall. "But... each time somebody calls me Lieutenant Ibuki gives me shivers. I do not want to be Lieutenant Ibuki. Only... Just Maya."

"You always have been Maya, for me," he pointed quietly.

He understood what Maya was trying to said; her sorrow was making him felt a grip in his stomach. He felt a deep compassion for her. It was not just. Maya should not be so sad.

She let out a deep sigh of relief and smiled briefly, thankful. "I know it," she followed hesitant. "And that's why... I... I like you," she said quickly, flushing to a deep shade of red.

Before he might reply anything Maya took advantage of his amazement and gave him a light kiss. Babbling an incoherent excuse, she ran away of the office.

Makoto just stood there for long minutes, flabbergasted. He blinked and touched amazed his own lips, somehow still feeling her fresh caress on them. Finally, he walked out unsure, crossing with several members of the night shift that were beginning to arrive to the Geofront.

He wandered across the corridors. He was confused, not understanding exactly the rush of feelings that was overflowing him. Maya liked him? How unexpected, as the Fifth Child would have said.

Makoto headed for the Command Center, spotting Aoba in his station.

"Do I know where Ibuki is?" Aoba replied surprised. "No, I am not sure. I think she was here five minutes ago, but she left. Why?"

"Never mind," he replied dryly.

"I think that she might have gone home," Aoba added. "I would, but we have to stay to check Unit Two. Something happened with..."

"Would you mind to cover me up?"

"What?"

"Please," Makoto whispered intensely.

"Is it... Oh, I see. Sure, pal. Do not worry for that good ol' Shigeru. I can handle it alone."

"Thank you," he breathed relieved. "I owe you one."

"Of course you do. But tomorrow I will get a very detailed narration as payback, if you know what I mean."

"Sure," Makoto smiled. "Thank you."

"Get out of here," Aoba laughed. "Lucky bastard."

Maya's apartment was quite near of a Geofront access, so Makoto decided to give a small walk; besides, it would give him to prepare something to say. What he would say was something he was unsure about, knowing only that he wanted to see Maya again. What happened from there did not have too much importance, but he wanted to be with her.

Pushed by that sudden desire, the young Lieutenant made his way under a gloomy and dark sky. A faint thunder was resounding far in the mountains. While he walked slowly, it began to rain. And later, it kept raining. Then, after that, it rained some more. The autumn had arrived with the puissance of a cavalry charge, and soon Makoto was soaked to the bone.

Still, in few minutes he found himself standing in front of the small block of apartments, water dripping from his flooded uniform. Blinking unsure, he pressed the bell of the door and stepped back.

Maya showed in the window, dressed in a pair of blue shorts and a sleveless blouse; the reflex of the light in the water of the street gave her an ethereal appearance. She just stared at him, leant against the frame of the window. The rain began to moisten her fringe, pushing it against her face.

They just stared each other for a time that Makoto would not have been able to precise.

"Hello, Maya."

She nodded quietly, folding her arms over her breast whilst the drops of water ran across her features.

"It rains," he pointed finally, without knowing what else to say.

Maya stared at him with an unreadable expression while he waited uncertainly, holding his breath.

He gulped, unsure.

Then, slowly, Maya flashed him with the brightest of the smiles, and he felt his heart skipping a beat as Maya smiled warmly at him. Many things hid behind that smile -relief, affection, a withdrawing solitude- but, above everything else, warmth. A warmth to share, and in sharing, it would not become lesser, but great.

"I know it," she smiled. "Come in."

Leaving wet footprints in the white, glazed tiles, Makoto climbed up slowly the stairs to her apartment. Maya was under the frame of the door, with the traces of the warm smile still fluttering upon her lips.

"You are soaked," she mumbled quietly.

"As you are."

The raven haired officer raised his hand and wiped away one of the raindrops that kept falling from her hair to her forehead. She grabbed his hand softly and guided him inside, closing the door behind her -this time with a sweet smile, though-.

Before he could say anything, Maya walked into a room and came back with a clean towel which she handled to him.

"Here, dry yourself a little."

Makoto nodded and left his jacket on a chair, wrapping the towel over his shoulders. Maya studied him, sitting down on the coach with a soft, amused smile.

"What?"

She waved and got up, walking to the small stereo that she had in the living room, together with a small selection of discs. She placed one inside and glanced at him over her shoulder, both mischievous and embarrassed.

"Would you like to dance with me?" she said embarrassed, her cheeks burning.

Makoto just stared at the beautiful, innocent girl in front of him, and then he stared inwards to what he had knew up to that moment. Maya seemed so innocent, blushing even for such a little thing as dancing... He wished then to be able to protect her from everything, to hug her tenderly until the war ended.

"I'd love to."

Maya sighed relieved -blushing some more- and nodded, toying with the buttons of the stereo until an old melody, sang by some unknown jazz singer of the old century, filled the room with a hugging, sultry voice that made him feel slightly dizzy.

He took her slim hand in his and placed the other on her waist, following involuntarily with his gaze the way her shorts showed her bare legs. He looked away, ashamed.

Maya started to move slowly, encompassing the music with her hesitant dancing. Makoto followed her, and both turned around the room, avoiding the chairs and the table at the rhythm of the music.

The sweet brunette was smiling sheepishly at him, and Makoto found that he was as nervous as he had been in his first date, like a little schoolboy. The music kept hugging them as the voice song about endless loves and broken promises. And, as it uses to happen in such situations, as the song started slowly to fade away Maya tiptoed, Makoto leant over her and both tilted their heads.

Before they kissed, the music stopped, and both blinked several times, their faces merely inches from each other. She was so close that Makoto felt her warm breath on his face. Maya blushed heavily and separated from him a bit, looking down nervously. As their hands were going to split, Maya grabbed his fingers and softly squeezed them.

"Hyuga, I..." she paused. "Makoto."

"Do you want me to stay?" he asked softly, confused. She was so sad... He felt again a soft urge to embrace her tenderly and sooth all her fears as best as he could. This time, he did not fight it.

"All the night," she said, smiling shyly. Another song started, filling the room with a sweet tide that wrapped them up.

He nodded and pulled her until she was again at dancing range. Still with the timid smile fluttering on her lips, she threw her arms over his neck and they waltzed together across the living room.

Heaven...

For a moment Makoto forgot everything but the girl whose waist he was embracing softly.

...I'm in Heaven...

Maya smiled sweetly to him as they danced like an old fashioned couple.

...And my heart beats so that I can hardly speak...

She giggled softly.

"What is so funny?" Makoto asked as he made her turn away, then bringing her back in a stylish motion.

"Nothing!" she gasped as he hugged again her waist, brushing her back with the tips of his fingers. "I... just... Thank you," she said finally.

"What's that?"

...And I seem to find the happiness I seek...

"For dancing with me."

"You're welcome," he smiled warmly.

"Still, I would like to thank you better..."

...when we're out together dancing cheek to cheek.

They kissed lightly. Makoto stared at her bright eyes, a light that made him desire her with a tender passion that he had never felt. Both laughed awkwardly, resting their foreheads together.

"What a pair of fools," she whispered, her voice glimmering with laughter and relief.

"Is that so, ma'am?"

"So it seems, Lieutenant Hyuga," Maya laughed.

Makoto kissed her again, cupping gently her face. They stood embraced in the middle of the living room, the course of the song the only sign that the world was still spinning around; other than that, time seemed to have stopped for the couple as they kissed slowly, without any hurry nor need aside from cuddling tenderly each other faces.

Maya moaned quietly in his mouth, and finally, they broke the kiss, smiling awkwardly to each other. Suddenly, Maya grinned naughtily; she tiptoed and cupped his face, giving him a quick peck and stealing his glasses as her hands roamed up his face.

"Ey!" Makoto gasped surprised while Maya hid his brown glasses behind her back, jumping on her tiptoes like a little girl.

"You're much more good looking without them," she giggled sweetly, leaving the glasses on the dresser and returning to him.

Maya hugged him, resting her face against his chest. Makoto threw his arms around Maya returning the embrace, and she let out a deep sigh of relief. He stroked softly her back through the white fabric of her blouse, feeling the warmth of her body as she pressed against him.

Another kiss spelt them together, and Maya started to fumble with the edge of his black t-shirt, smiling nervously as she removed it. She roamed her hands over his naked torso, melting again with him as their lips touched.

She grabbed his raven hair and heaved deeply as Makoto began to nuzzle the skin that her sleveless shirt left exposed. He kissed and cuddled the tanned skin of her shoulders and cleavage, rubbing her back in broad circles with the tips of his fingers.

Maya purred a bit at the pleasant sensation while his mouth loitered slowly his way down towards her hands. He nuzzled tenderly each very inch of her arms, stroking her shoulders with his fingertips. She let herself get lost in the soft sensations, feeling how Makoto fondled her like if she were made of a rare, precious crystal.

She grabbed his hands and forced him up again to her mouth, rewarding his efforts with a deep kiss. Maya sighed. She wanted to feel his body pressed against her without the brush of fabric to bother it. She reached her back for the zipper of her blouse, but Makoto smiled tenderly and grabbed her hands, kissing them lightly.

"Let me do that," he whispered intensely.

Maya nodded, blushing from head to toe as he made her spin like if they were dancing again and began, maddeningly slow, to unfasten the blouse, caressing with his lips the newly exposed skin. Like all the things in this world, the zipper had a beginning and an end, and Maya gasped as Makoto kissed softly the lower part of her back. Once he arrived to the end he got up again, sliding his hand across her now bare back and hugging her inside the blouse.

He felt how a shiver ran down her as he pressed his chest against her. Maya turned her head, lifting her hands to his face and bringing his mouth to hers. They kissed like that, Makoto hugging Maya from behind and with her fingers roaming through his black hair as he teased mercilessly her swarthy neck and shoulders with feather kisses.

Finally, he grabbed carefully the strips of the loose cloth and looked at her questioningly. Maya smiled softly and gave him a tiny nod, blushing as Makoto made slid the white fabric from her shoulders to the floor. The blouse fell caressing all her body in the descent, making a silky whistle as it reached the wooden surface.

"Let's go to my bedroom," she breathed when Makoto wrapped his arms around her waist.

He nodded and swept Maya off her feet, carrying her to the dim room while she kissed him tenderly.

***

Makoto woke up at half past five in the morning. He blinked several times and finally he remembered where he was and why there was somebody tightly snuggled against him.

He buried his face in her bare shoulder, kissing lightly her slender neck and nuzzling her swarthy skin. She smelled of fever and sweat and, at the same time, like a flower field after a storm, sweet and earthy. For the first time in months Makoto felt in peace, and he wished to stay like that... forever.

Still, the day would come and the moment would end. He kissed lightly Maya's warm lips, feeling how the sweet girl returned idly the kiss.

"Where... am...?" Maya mumbled vaguely.

Makoto realized that she was still dreaming, and he smiled. He stroked her flushed cheek with the back of his free hand. "Swimming," he answered tenderly, nuzzling her ear.

"No," she murmured, frowning slightly. "It's... dark..."

"It's at night," he whispered.

"Ah."

Maya hugged him tighter while she floated peacefully in a vast, dim sea. Makoto felt his heart break in two pieces as Maya breathed evenly on his neck. He would have preferred not to know anything about the Human Complementation Plan, nor Nerv, nor the Angels. Nor anything. At that moment, though, the world seemed to be composed only for Maya and her warmth, and it was a comforting and safe small world. He liked it.

Makoto sighed and tried to sleep again.

***

"Hello there," Maya mumbled when she opened her eyes to find Makoto staring tenderly at her from a very close range.

"Did you sleep well?" he asked quietly, giving her a soft kiss.

"Wonderfully," she giggled, kissing him back.

They began to kiss slowly in the warm room, while the first, shy sun rays of the morning bathed them with a reddish light. One thing led to another, and soon their hands were wandering across each other bodies.

"Wait!" Maya gasped as he slid a hand between her legs.

"Oh, I know, I know," he growled. "Work."

"We have to... mmph..."

Makoto broke the kiss and winked an eye. He got up while Maya regained her breath, watching how Makoto began the hunt for his clothes.

"Why do not you make some coffee while I take a shower?" she smiled, getting up as well.

Makoto stared at her naked silhouette against the light and nodded quietly, going out of the room in quest for his t-shirt. He found it in the living room where Maya had thrown it the last night, lying next to her blouse.

He caressed the smooth fabric in his hand for a moment, remembering how beautiful Maya looked with it and folded the white piece of clothing, putting it on the couch. Makoto headed for the kitchen to make the coffee Maya had asked.

Maya's kitchen was small and clean, with everything she might need ready at hand. Still, evidently she did not eat too much frequently at home; he could sympathize with that. Half of the times, he ended dining at the horrid Nerv café, something that lately was eliciting an ulcer from his complaining stomach.

While the water boiled in the gray Italian coffee pot of the brunette officer Makoto was sitting down at the table, with his chin over his folded arms.

He was trying to understand what was happened the last night. Certainly, he was not complaining, though. Maya was a wonderful girl and he liked to be with her. Why she would want to be with him he did not know.

Probably she had discovered that she was alone. Like he was.

The gurgle of the pot distracted him from his thoughts; he quickly got up and turn off the stove before it flooded away. When he was trying to spot two mugs in the unknown kitchen Maya surprised him with an embrace from behind, resting his still wet head on his shoulder.

"Down to the left," she whispered in his ear.

Makoto turned without breaking the hug and kissed her lightly, wiping with his mouth a drip of water from her forehead.

"Thank you," he smiled.

They sat down at the small table of the kitchen. Makoto stirred his coffee and looked at her; Maya was grabbing the mug with both hands as if she were cold.

"And now?" he asked softly. "I mean..."

"Yes," she nodded nervously. "I... Makoto, I do not like to be alone, but... I am not sure what I want..."

"I like to be with you."

"Me too," smiled Maya shyly. "I do not remember when was the last time I slept so well. I... I like you," she mumbled flushing.

"I like you too," he said, squeezing her hand. "We might... be together for a while, and see what happens from there."

"Sounds good enough for me," she whispered, letting out a tiny sigh of relief and leaving her mug. Sitting down on his lap, she removed his glasses and kissed him softly, the hint of a bright smile fluttering on her lips as Makoto stroked lightly her cheeks.

They kissed long. No more words were needed.

***

"I cannot believe it!" Aoba groaned teasingly. "You abuse of my trust and generosity to end going out with the cutest girl of the whole Geofront. You have to give me details, of course."

"A gentleman never asks," Makoto replied smiling, fastening the upper part of his uniform, "and a lady never tells."

"I bow in behold of your wisdom, Casanova," Aoba said bowing comically. "Still, I am glad for both of you; you needed somebody to warm your bed. But I thought that you were aiming at a certain Major..."

Makoto shrugged. He had not think in Misato since they had gone out of Nerv the last afternoon. His mind had been kind of busy, though, so it was not too much surprising. He left Aoba in search of his jacket and walked to the Command Center.

Only Maya was there, as they had arrived quite early when the night shift had just left; so they were alone in the large room until the rest of technicians arrived. She was giving him a quick peck when Aoba stumbled yawning in the room, surprising them.

Maya flushed and ran to her station, seemingly very busy as she started the routine diagnosis program. Aoba sat down next to Makoto, laughing openly. "Hoo boy!" he sighed finally. "Was not that good?"

"Shut up," Makoto growled.

"I beg your pardon for working here, Milord."

"Dig a hole and starve inside. The world would be most grateful," he mumbled, revising the activity logs. "By the way, how did you do yesterday?"

"Nah," waved Aoba nonchalantly. "Just a breakdown in Unit Two's dock. It's unfrozen, yet stable, now, and it should be fixed by the night."

"What a burden."

Makoto revised the results of the sync test of the last day, frowning as he saw again the numbers of Nagisa. Misato had not been the only thing he had not thought in the last hours.

Unbeknownst to him Maya was glancing to him, and she saw how he frowned deeply. She realized that there was a lot of things she did not know him, and she found herself wishing to know more. What was worrying him? Would he like to talk about it? She sighed and smiled to herself before returning to her work. Always there was time later.

The morning passed slowly with a lot of shy glances between both of them and loads of blushing, specially from Maya's side. Slowly, all the technicians finished their task and began to search ways to spend the time while watching the screens of the Magi system.

Somebody pointed out the arrival of the Children for a sync test that was scheduled for an hour and a half later, and the commentary passed as routine. Misato made her appearance after a long debriefing to Fuyutsuki and she began to review with Aoba and Makoto the availability of the launching gates after the battle with the Sixteenth Angel. Half of them were flooded, broken or lead into the new lake that had appeared at the crate of the explosion.

"So," was saying Misato, "we cannot perform an emergency launching to the Ransaiwa district from any place nearer than gates 24 and-"

Then all the alarms of the MAGI started to yell. Makoto and Aoba stumbled upon their stations and began automatically to provide Misato with all the information the computer had.

"Unit Two's moving, ma'am," Makoto said.

"Who's the pilot?" she asked confused.

"No pilot, the entry plug is not inserted!" Aoba noted, typing furiously. "And the Second Child is still in her room."

"Where is Nagisa? And Rei?" she asked dryly.

"Unknown!"

"Blue pattern detected!" Maya informed. "It's an Angel, next to Unit Two!"

"Nagisa," she hissed. "Label the objective as the Seventeenth Angel. Get ready Unit One and call Shinji!"

All the crew hurried to accomplish Misato's orders while the Commander arrived and sat down in his empty desk.

Makoto looked worried at Misato while she discussed with the Third Child. Shinji seemed to refuse to believe her words, until he saw the floating boy and the orange hexagons of an AT Field stopped his ricocheted knife when it fell to his head.

Makoto did not blame him, though. Everything seemed absolutely unreal, like they were trapped in a nightmare. Misato squeezed his shoulder, and he understood what she wanted.

Slowly, he started the self destruction devices. Only a brief command and the N2 warheads would destroy the whole facilities of Nerv at the Geofront. Including themselves, of course, but that would prevent Third Impact. Was not that the purpose of Nerv?

Would it be better to die rather than face the Impact? He wished he knew.

He spared a glance to Maya, looking how she blinked unbelieving. Of course, since she was the main operator of the Magi system such a request would be notified to her. She turned her head and looked at him with a scared smiled, and then Makoto knew he would not be able to execute the self destruction if needed.

Makoto felt how the floor opened under his feet. He did not want to die. Not yet. Not then.

At the same Shinji arrived to Heaven's Gate still engaged with Unit Two, a new AT Field appeared and they lost the signals, the scanners, everything. Heaven's Gate was now beyond the reach of Mankind.

He looked questioningly to Misato, doubting.

The purple haired woman seemed to have aged years in minutes. She shook her head.

"Give him some time," she whispered. "Shinji will do the right thing."

Makoto frowned while a small interrogative character kept blinking on his screen. He wondered how they would know that Shinji had been defeated. He did not know how the Impact was supposed to happen. Perhaps an explosion, like the Second?

He looked again at Maya. He could see that the young lieutenant was scared although she tried to hide it. He wished to be able to sooth her fear, but there was nothing he could do at that moment, except wait. And hope, hope that a somewhat disturbed fourteen year old boy prone to crisis massacred a friend. They would be lucky if Shinji did not destroy the headquarters afterwards

***

He did not, but Makoto did not like a bit the look in the eyes of the Third Child when he exited the entry plug. The left hand of the Evangelion was bloody; it seemed that the last Angel had not blue blood running up his veins, after all.

Makoto was supervising the recovering and preventive freezing of Unit Two. He looked how the gigantic crane lifted the red mecha through the same way it had descended. It had taken them all the afternoon to move the Evangelion from where it had fallen, covered with fragments of the rocks of the ceiling.

It was surprising how the crew had managed to ignore the white being nailed to the red cross beyond Heaven's Gate; aside from the first surprised glances and a few comments, nobody had looked again at the white giant.

Makoto was glad of being out of the chamber. It was a relief, even if the Angel seemed asleep. He crossed with the Commander and Rei when they walked out of Unit One's cage.

He had not seen Rei during all the battle, but he was too much tired to bother for it. He stumbled into the Command Center, hoping he would manage to get some hours of sleep.

The Command Center was practically empty. One or two technicians were looking over the Magi screens, but everybody else was at Eva's cages. It had seemed that Nagisa had been the last Angel, but the Commander had keeping throwing over them loads and loads of work.

So much that Maya had fallen asleep as soon as she had finished hers. She was snoring softly with the head buried between her crossed arms. Makoto smiled and sat down next to her, just watching her sleep.

He did not know how much time he stood there, just observing the tiny rise and fall of her back as she breathed. Finally, she moaned quietly and rubbed her eyelids, blinking tiredly.

"Behold the Sleeping Beauty!" Makoto said softly.

"What?" she mumbled sleepily. "I'm not... Ah," she smiled. "It's you."

He leant over her and kissed Maya softly.

"Have... have you finished?"

"Thank God, yes. And you?"

"Me too," she nodded, stretching herself. "Want to eat something?"

"I'd like to, really."

They walked slowly to the cafe, and Makoto got two sandwiches while Maya was sitting down in a free table. As soon as he arrived with the food, she took away hers and bit an enormous mouthful of it.

"Ah!" she swallowed noisily. "It's delightful! I so needed that..."

He laughed quietly, attacking his own meal. They ate silently for several minutes until Maya left the remains of his sandwich on the plate, toying with the small fork.

"I..." she began, looking away. "I saw what you were doing before."

"I see," he nodded somberly. "I'm sorry."

"Would you have done it?"

Makoto stared at his hands for a long time. She grabbed one of them and gave it an affectionate squeeze, waiting patiently.

"No," he said slowly, looking up at her. Maya was smiling calmly at him, and he found more relief in her smile than in any feeble excuse she might have suggested.

"Do you want to talk about it?" she asked softly.

"Perhaps later. You look tired."

"You can bet I am," Maya yawned automatically. "I'd wish we might go home."

"We cannot. There is a First Level Alert."

"I know that," she complained. "But I cannot understand it."

"There are..." Makoto began carefully, "other things to consider, as well. People might try to employ the Evangelions for their own interests, and it might end being worse than an Angel."

"And there is nothing we might do, is not it?" she finished, looking how he assented again somberly. "Is that why you were so worried this morning?"

He nodded again, looking down.

"My poor Makoto..." she said, caressing tenderly his cheek. He grabbed her hand and kissed lightly it. "I'd wish that Doctor Akagi were here. She would know what to do..." Maya sighed.

He did not reply anything. Again, he only could hope. Where his hope laid, he would not be able to tell. Gods were trying to destroy Mankind, but Mankind was trying to destroy Mankind as well. He remembered vaguely a Jewish myth about the thirty-three just men that could be found at any moment of the story.

"Tell me about you," he mumbled softly.

"About me?" Maya looked surprised.

"Yes. I... I really do not know so many things about you," he said. "And I would wish to know more."

"Oh. If you want... But tell me when you are bored," she giggled. "I tend to be very verbose."

"I won't be. Do not worry."

Maya started to talk quietly about her childhood in a small village of the mountains, glad of being able to think in another thing.

It never occurred to him that he might be one of them.

***

"Second Lieutenant Hyuga Makoto must present immediately at Subcommander Fuyutsuki's office."

Makoto paled when he heard the speaker's announcement. Of course, he damned himself, if Maya had seen what he was doing, so had the rest of the operators of the Magi and, quite obviously, one -or several- had ended reporting to him.

Maya squeezed his hand reassuringly.

He swore under his mouth.

"I have to go."

"I'm going with you," she said, getting up with him.

"You do not have to come with me."

"Oh, but I want to..." she smiled. "Do not worry."

They walked holding hands to the officer of Fuyutsuki, eliciting one or two surprised glances from the technicians that were eating in the café. Maya blushed deeply, but she did not let out his hands.

Makoto sighed, looking at the small badge in the door of the old man. Maya had not added anything else, but her mere presence was reassuring. He looked at her, and she smiled softly, nodding.

With only a slightly shakily hand, he knocked on the door.

"Come in."

He grabbed the knob of the door and entered, sparing a last desperate glance to the brown haired girl. She waved happily, and Makoto walked into the room feeling a bit annoyed by her nonchalance.

Fuyutsuki's office, unlike Commander's, was small and well illuminated, with a comfortable chair near the desk, ready for the occasional visitor. He stood firmly, though.

"Did you call me, sir?"

"Indeed," Fuyutsuki nodded without look at him, reading a report. "Sit down, Lieutenant."

Fuyutsuki kept reading the report -which Makoto recognized as his- for several minutes, making him feel more and more nervous. Finally, the gray haired man sighed and ordered the papers he had been reading, pounding them softly on the desk. He left them on the table and crossed his fingers, leaning back on the chair.

"I've just read the report of the last battle, Lieutenant Hyuga."

"Yes, sir."

"It's a very well written report, I must say. Yet more, a textbook report."

"Sir."

"But I was wondering... I'm not sure about what I see here," he said, handling him the last sheet. "Would you mind to read me the last sentence?"

Makoto blinked, surprised. The last sentence dealt with the estimated date of repairing of Heaven's Gate. He began slowly to read, his mind making a desperate struggle to understand what was going on.

"In overall, the repairing of the breach in the armored doors will take...."

"Lower, Lieutenant."

Beneath that only appeared his own signature.

"Second Lieutenant Hyuuga Makoto, First Section..." he babbled, confused.

"Exactly. I was fancying, Lieutenant, why that line did not read 'Major Katsuragi Misato, First Section."

"I... I mean... Major Katsuragi..." he coughed, trying to sound truthfully. "She delegated on me the redaction of the battle report, sir."

The truth was that Misato had completely forgotten to write the report, and Makoto'd had no heart to remind her that, so he had redacted himself the official communicate.

"I know it," Fuyutsuki sighed. "That's what worries me, Lieutenant. I do not mind this pointless issue, but you have, lately, being involved it things that are not of your competence at all."

" I cannot see what I might have done wrong, sir?"

"Do not you? I have, for example, reports of certain information requests to the Fourth Branch in Sanghai that are hardly a Lieutenant's task, and I am sure that if we looked over Ibuki's shoulder, we would see many interesting things in Magi's records, all labeled under Makoto, H."

"What are you talking about?" Makoto asked, trying to appear dumbfounded. "Er, sir?"

"Oh, you know it perfectly, Lieutenant. Stop playing dumb with me."

"Am I arrested, sir?"

"No, you are not," Fuyutsuki frowned, "by the moment. You are playing with things you barely understand, young man. Don't press me."

"I am not..."

"I will not warn you anymore. You are dismissed, Hyuga. Try to rest before your shift begins again."

"But sir..."

"Dismissed, Lieutenant. Good night."

He angrily walked out of the office, slamming slightly the door -forcefully enough to leave clear what he thought, but not enough to get the old man angry-. The war had ended, didn't it? And they were supposed to have had won it. Nerv would be dissolved and Seele and the Committee would be free to play with their giant Angel.

And there Fuyutsuki was, God blessed him, talking to him about things that should and should not be known by lesser officers. Still, he mused, he should not have spotted more than the tip of the iceberg, since he was still breathing and with the neck of the uniform still stiffening him. So many things he did not know...

He supposed that he had to be grateful, though.

Then he read the small note, wrapped in small hearts painted in blue ink, hanging between the leafs of the corridor plant in front of Fuyutsuki's office.

"I am at the pool. See you there, Maya," he read, chuckling softly. So typical of Maya. God, he did love that girl...

At least, he was no more angry, yet he was still worried. He headed for Nerv's pool, yawning. There were lots of sleeping quarters, a library, the pool and some more facilities to keep people busy while, like then, an alarm did not let them leave the headquarters.

In despite of that, the pool was empty except for the fluid silhouette of Maya in motion. He watched quietly how she swam, reaching the edge of the pool and diving a bit to turn to make another shrewd.

Maya was wearing a dark blue, one piece swimsuit that -Makoto supposed- probably fit her in a very distracting way. When she was returning, she finally noticed him.

Maya rested her arms on the edge of the pool and looked at him, panting heavily.

"Are you fine?" she asked, spiting a bit of water.

"Yes, I... I thought that they had called me for, you know, what I did just before, but..."

"...they did not know it," she smiled a bit evilly. "Of course they did not, silly. Do you think that I do not have one or two cover-up's in the Magi?"

"Did you? Oh. I see. Thank you, I guess," he chuckled, understanding why she had been so unworried before.

"What did he want, anyway?" she asked, regaining her breath.

"Nothing, just..." he said sadly. "A call to attention. I have to be a good boy from now on, or I will be under arrest."

"I'm sorry."

"It is not your fault. Still, I would have to talk with Misato."

"Do you know where she is?"

"Searching for Shinji. I guess that it has been a hard time for both of them."

"I suppose," she nodded. "When do you think we might be able to get out of here?"

"I do not know," he sighed. "There is really nothing to do, but I had the impression that Fuyutsuki is waiting for something."

"For what? And the Commander?"

"God knows. In any case, we have to stay at the Geofront."

"But not inside the headquarters, right?"

Makoto nodded quietly, and Maya separated herself from the edge of the pool, floating idly in the clean water. "Three legs more and I am done," she announced softly.

"I will wait," Makoto smiled.

Maya took impulse with her feet from the wall and began to swim again. Makoto watched how she dive and rise from the blue cloak that enveloped her, leaving a wave of disturbed waters behind her. The only sound that could be heard in the vast pool was the rhythmic splashing of Maya's hands as she moved through the water.

Fuyutsuki and Ikari were waiting for something, that was evident. They were keeping all Nerv's personnel down there at hand in the subterranean fortress beneath Tokyo 3, almost if they were expecting a siege.

In a perfect world it would have been clear what side was the 'good' one. Tokyo 3 was far from being constructed in a perfect world, though, and Makoto could not be sure if he was fighting in the right side anymore, or, merely, if there was a right side.

He had helped to defeat all the fourteen Angels that had come to the city seeking for fight, only to find that the Impact he thought they were trying to prevent was intended to be triggered by a group of men who had spent too much time reading old manuscripts in bad ventilated rooms.

Then again, what did he know? Would be Third Impact a good thing? What was the difference between an Impact triggered by man or by an Angel?

Maya finally got out of the pool. Makoto handled her a towel that was neatly folded in the floor. "Thank you."

"I'm sorry," Maya said softly, drying herself. Her short brown hair was ruffled around her face, and Makoto raised a hand to put a tuft of hair beyond her ear.

Maya smiled and grabbed his hand, sighing as she felt how Makoto caressed her cheek. She threw her arms around him and kissed him, giggling a bit in sheer delight. Makoto hugged her and buried his face in her wet neck, nuzzling it.

Maya gasped in pleasure but separated from him a bit. "As much as I would like," she giggled, "this is not the place..."

Makoto could not help but smile at the sweet innocence of Maya. But immediately he realized -and he was not sure he liked the thought- that he now had something to lose. Still, the warmth of Maya was far more comforting than anything else he might have dreamt, and he let himself get lost in it as he had done the last night, and as he felt he might be able to do forever if he were let to.

***

His hand was warm and soft as she squeezed it tenderly. They were sitting down together in the side of the small artificial lake that was next to the pyramidal building of the headquarters.

There was no wind inside the Geofront, being a closed space. The only waves that appeared in the lake were the ones caused by the occasional movement of the frigate that was stationed there, although Makoto was unable to spot a more useless destination for a warship. From time to time, the ship drifted from side to side of the lake, silent due to her electric engines.

There was not no sounds in the subterranean fortress, aside from the heavy, regular breath of Makoto. While she had been able to sleep a little bit -rather, she had not been able to avoid it-, Makoto had remained awoke since the end of Fifth Child's incursion. As soon as they had sat down together, Makoto had finally achieved to relax a bit and he had begun to yawn, blinking heavily.

Now he was asleep, with Maya's lap as his pillow. Maya stared at him, looking how peaceful his face seemed, void of all worry and preoccupations. It was better in that way; Makoto was always so worried by everything, caring for all the little details that the rest of the crew left unnoticed. Maya squeezed it affectionately, looking amused how the black haired man drifted in his sleep, mumbling something that Maya could not quite understand.

The last day had been one of the brightest of the last times, even taking in account the incident of the Angel. At least, she was no longer alone; that was enough for her, over any possible questions about the future or the objectives of the war.

She checked her clock and sighed. Outside the Geofront the sun would be rising again, and it was time of returning inside; their shift was about to begin. Playfully, she started to trace his features with her fingers, bothering him slightly.

Soon Makoto began to groan softly, emerging from his slumber. He blinked confused several times, until he remembered where he was. He kissed lightly her hand, smiling up at Maya.

"Behold the Sleepy Ogre!" she giggled softly.

Makoto laughed while he got up and stretched himself, sparing a glance to the whole Geofront.

"Is it the time?" he asked, yawning.

Maya nodded; she got up and embraced his waist, resting her head on his shoulder. "Time to go back to work," she whispered sweetly. "Did you rest something?"

Makoto nodded and caressed her cheek. Holding hands, they returned to the black pyramid.

***

It was surrealistic. The Commander had refused to give reasons about why the alert kept active, but the fact was that nobody had anything to do. Under an alert status, all the maintenance works were automatically cancelled, as all the units and the personnel had to be ready at hand, without doing anything but wait.

"We won the war," Aoba growled softly. "I though that we were owed a parade and medals, and stuff. Not more guard rotations."

"It is the price of victory," Makoto said absently. "If the Angels would have won, all of us would be dead, now."

"I am seriously regretting not having surrendered time ago," he groaned teasingly. "It would spare us all this."

Maya giggled with her contagious laughter.

"I guess that Nerv will be dissolved," she mused. "I wonder when."

"Until we have an executive order," Aoba shrugged, "we can only wait."

"Wait what?" Makoto growled.

Gendo, oblivious to the complains of his subordinates, announced that he had to attend a meeting and he exited the Command Center, followed, as close as his shadow, by Fuyutsuki. When the door closed behind them, a collective sigh of relief resounded all over the huge facility.

Makoto turned to Maya.

"Anything unusual in the system?"

"You are watching what I am," she shrugged. "Nothing."

"I wonder what they are going to do with the Eva series, now that the last Angel has dead," Aoba said thoughtfully.

"God know," Makoto replied truthfully. "They might want use them as a non-conventional weapon, I guess."

"Like a nuclear weapon? A dissuasion method: 'We have more Evangelions than you. Behold our power!'"

"More or less."

"That's horrible," Maya muttered. "Is not there supposed to be peace, now?"

"Supposed is the keyword there, Maya," replied Aoba. "But that makes sense, I'm afraid. Although they are going to have a hard time finding the pilots."

"Go figure. Perhaps they already have them. Jeez, in the Second Branch there was one and nobody know that until they disappeared."

"I did," Maya said very softly. "She was a good girl."

Makoto looked unsure at her but she nodded quietly, reassuring him.

Morning passed slowly; there are nothing as boring as being forced to be sat down in a place without being able to move nor do anything. One after one, seconds slid while the technicians chatted idly about their future lives, of dreams barely sketched for the end of the war.

Then hell opened its gates.

***

"There is an enemy invasion!" the speakers announced. "Magi system under attack!"

The first one to react was Fuyutsuki. The old Subcommander got up quickly and went next to the technicians, starting to yell orders.

"Change to the blue emergency communication system, immediately. Employ the comsat system! What is the situation?"

"No way," Aoba replied nervously. "All outgoing communications have been blocked. They are invading the Magi system!"

"Is it a local invasion?"

"No, sir," Makoto mumbled. "The signals come from all the secondary branches."

"China, Germany, United States... Verified!!"

"Main database locked!"

Fuyutsuki mumbled something under his mouth. Other than that -Makoto noted- he did not seem too much surprised. He had been right, after all. They were waiting for that.

"It has reached the deeper level," Maya informed, speaking finally. She had been typing furiously all the time. She sighed in defeat. "Even the back up system cannot stop them."

Makoto looked at her. It was amazing the change in Maya when she was operating the Magi in such a situation. She passed from being a romantic, somewhat shy girl to an effective and reliable extension of the computer.

The screen changed, showing an advertising that told them what was happening. It was a message from the Japanese government, ordering them through A-801 Special Order to avoid all interference to the invasion procedure. A quick glance to the impassive face of the Commander told him something that he had already supposed. They were not going to surrender.

The voice of Misato in his earphones surprised him. He had not seen her in all the day, although she had insinuated that she was going to try to discover something more.

"What's the situation?"

"Good morning," he said slowly, organizing his ideas. "Just from Tokyo 2: A-801 has taken off."

"Damn!" she swore.

"Yes," Makoto nodded. "Magi is being hacked. So far..." He heard how Maya almost screamed 'Sempai!' in delight, as seemingly Ritsuko was speaking to her. "...it's being controlled," he finished.

"This is Maya," she said finally, her hands beginning to fly over the keyboard. "Dr. Akagi just went to the computer room!"

Makoto stared amazed how the blonde scientist began to counter the invasion, slowly stopping the defense barrier falling. In few minutes, the five twin systems all over the world found the same response: the original Magi was effectively shielded from them.

The screen changed from the angry orange to a much more reassuringly green.

"The Magi invasion has been stopped. B7 defense system enabled. There is no way we can be invaded in the next sixty-two hours," she concluded satisfied, beginning to speak in whisper with Ritsuko, down in the Magi control room.

Makoto smiled and looked at her. She seemed so awash with relief... It was comforting to see her truthfully happy. He wondered how would come the next wave, certain that it would come.

Maya finally spared a glance to him, and she smiled satisfied, winking an eye. Now that Ritsuko was around there, Maya looked like if nothing else might bother her, so was her trust in the blonde scientist.

He found himself wishing to be out of there. Anywhere but down in the Geofront. It was not cowardice nor anything like that. Makoto was overwhelmingly tired, and he just wanted to be with Maya, anywhere but there.

Maya smiled warmly at him, and he sighed, gathering all his courage to smile back at her. A smile was all what he was able to do at that moment, at the eye of the devastating storm that their lives had become.

He knew that the end of the Evangelions, for good or for bad, had arrived.

***

He hugged Maya and pulled of the safety lock of the gun, pointing the barrel to the door. While the sweet and innocent technician sobbed scared on his shoulder, Makoto sighed in defeat.

That was something that he had not expected during the passing of the war. To die by the hand of man, when he had fought to protect Mankind. An old tale about the ungratefulness of snakes popped out to his thoughts, and he smirked bitterly.

The end was there. The feeble defenses of the base would not resist for any longer, especially when the MAGI system had been hacked down.

He blinked tiredly.

Rei was there, looking at him with a soft expression of compassion, the same one she used to portray when she was looking at the Third Child and she thought that nobody saw her. Beside him he heard Aoba scream in panic, but the loud wails seemed to come through a thick veil. He did not turn his head, maintaining Rei's gaze but lowering the gun.

He felt Maya stiffening in his arms. Then the girl gasped softly and let out a sigh of relief.

"Doctor Akagi," she mumbled dreamily.

He dropped the gun to the floor, blinking again.

Rei's shape changed to the most womanly one of Maya in her casual clothes. She smiled softly to him.

And then he understood everything, and he marveled by the spartan complexity of the Human Complementation Plan. All the souls gathered in one. It did not seem such a bad way to finish, now at the end of all things.

Aoba kept screaming until his voice disappeared in a liquid gurgle; Makoto felt a vague stab of sorry for him.

He smiled back lovingly at the ghostly doppleganger of Maya.

***

The sun was growing brighter in the horizon, outside the Geofront. Two lone figures stood holding hands on the warm sand, staring at the rise of the star, which would lead them to a new day.

A new beginning, the renewal of a day of hope with more things beyond Heaven's Gate than they had ever dreamt.

The first day after; a day of peace.

The end of the war.

***

Author's notes

Here you have, my last fic before my temporal retire from writing. Luckily, I will not be here to hear the flames ^^

This is my longest fic, including -by the moment- the ones with chapter. It's waaay longer than I had expected, and it would be more long if I did not have had a pressing deadline. As it, everything looks rushed. I apologize. Originally it was intended to be a dark story; now I do not know what it looks like.

Now, the aknowdlegdements. Thanks goes to Steve Vader, Thunderbob and Bowburn for their comments. I was really stucked, and without their help this would not have seen the light. I have borrowed a scene from Milan Kundera's 'The unbearable lightness of being', as my small tribute to the most beautiful love story ever written.

I hope you liked it. Consider it as my farewell gift ^_^

See you!
Athos