Conversations and Observations Chapter One Part 7 – Dreams of Life.

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Author's Notes:

A short, but hopefully enjoyable, chapter. Feedback is warmly welcome.

Later,
PitViper(pvalpha@yahoo.com)


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Chapter One Part 7: Dreams of Life.

Asuka stared at the young First Child, "Death? Now I know you're crazy."

"Is it so crazy to want an escape – any escape – from eternity?" Rei asked softly. "Immortality incarnate, eternity is not a blessing," She said, venom seeping into her words, "It is a curse."

Asuka still stared, and was about to speak when Rei interrupted.

"Remember what I showed you, Sohryu-san?" Rei said, "Remember the moment that became a week? Imagine that for a lifetime. Then imagine a lifetime without end. That was me, who I was… Anyone would beg for release after a week. They would kill for it after a year. After an eternity?" Rei left the question in the air, then lowered her head, "Any escape – even that of the most extreme pain, is welcome."

Shinji turned away, not wanting to hear her say things like that.

Rei sighed lightly. "I think enough has been done for today." She looked sadly at Sohryu who was now staring at her with something approaching detest. 'More than enough…'

--
Wednesday Evening.

Rei lay silently in her room, listening to the sobs in the distance. She would have gone to comfort her roommate, but Asuka was beyond her care at this moment. "A million tears may fall, but change not the course of the river." She whispered into the night air.

Shinji perked up at that, from his place beside the young girl. "What was that, Rei?"

"A lament…" Rei conceded, "For Sohryu."

Shinji's eyes met hers in the darkness of the room. "Why?"

Rei closed her eyes as she spoke, "Hers is a tale of pain and of sadness."

"Like our own." Shinji said, gently stroking a few stray strands of hair from her face.

Rei brought her hand up to hold Shinji's to her face for a few moments. 'So warm…' She thought, then opened her eyes. "Sohryu needs comfort this evening." Rei inhaled slightly, then breathed out, "Go to her, comfort her so that she may sleep without tears."

"So let me get this straight, you want me to sleep with Asuka?" Shinji asked, the hint of a playful smile on his face.

Rei's eyes narrowed slightly, but there was also the light of playful teasing contained within. "Perhaps Asuka is correct… all males must be perverts."

"You know I'd never do that." Shinji said, again brushing away a few stubborn locks of her blue hair.

"When you touch me…" Rei said, closing her eyes once more. She let the thought trail off in her own mind.

"Yes?"

"I am." Rei finished simply opening her eyes as she finished saying the words. Just as Shinji was about to respond she put her finger up to his lips. "Go to her. Let the Light of your Soul do what mine cannot." She caressed his cheek. "Be her friend, Shinji."

"I will always be that. But to you, I'll be more." Shinji said, lightly kissing Rei on her cheek.

Rei remained silent until Shinji had left the room. She looked sadly to the door, and whispered, "I pray only that I am worthy, beloved mine."

After several minutes, Rei heard Asuka's tears stop. "What marks one's sadness more than the path of tears?" Rei sighed yet again to the cold night air. "The emptiness that falls when the tears have stopped."

With those words released into the night air, Rei contemplated her life, and soon drifted off to sleep.

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The world was hazy. It was as though everything had been placed within a static-fog - one that would jump and swirl and mire and deceive. Rei looked around, until finally the world resolved around her.

"Shinji?" Rei asked softly, looking up into the eyes of her beloved. "How?" She asked weakly.

His face had aged. Aged from stress, from anger, from time. But the lines now creased were of happiness. "Quiet dear Rei, you are exhausted."

Rei spared him a confused look as she stared down at herself… she was… in a hospital gown. Her pelvis and stomach hurt terribly, and her muscles were… tense. But the pain was distant, and her feet were non-existent to her senses. "Am… Am I injured?" Her vision was blurred slightly, and she could not see very far. She squinted to make out Shinji's features.

"No. The spinal block should wear off in a few hours." He admitted, with a smile on his face still. "You had us really worried there… You would think that I was used to this by now… 11 months. And you passed out…"

"But…" Rei said, confused.

"Shush. It was only for a few minutes." Shinji admitted. "They're cleaning up now. And making sure everything is in its place."

"How…" Rei licked her lips, which were suddenly very dry.

"She's fine."

Confusion set in again, "She?"

"You'll see." Shinji said, with an almost devious smirk on his face. "I was thinking perhaps 'Anna'… but as always, you'll pull something out of the ether."

"Always? This has happened before?" Rei mumbled. She certainly didn't like what she was currently feeling… Her chest was heavy for some reason, and sore.

"It must be the drugs." Shinji sighed.

Suddenly the door opened. She heard footsteps approaching, and the sound of a woman muttering in a motherly tone in German. The voice was familiar. Rei tried to turn her head towards the sound, but was unable to focus far.

But that didn't matter, because the source of the voice was soon visible over her head, and the soft German cooing translated into German laced Japanese. "Ah, there we are: Another little 'Wondergirl'." The woman's red locks draped over her white doctor's uniform and smock. There were still traces of blood and other fluids lower on the covering. And she was holding a pink bundle.

Despite the appearance, the changes and the age, Rei recognized the newcomer, "Sohryu-san?"

The redhead blinked indignantly, "I told them not to use any DEPRESSANTS! You haven't 'Sohryu-san'ed me for almost ten years! I didn't tell them to medicate you just to turn you back into 'Wonderdoll'."

Rei made out that although Sohryu was shouting, the bundle she held was protectively curled up in her arms… And soft sounds were coming from the bundle… sounds that were – pleased.

Asuka looked at the bundle quizzically when she realized that the child was cooing in mirth, "Yours are the only ones that do that. I think they're born happy."

Rei looked at the bundle, "Mine?"

Sohryu leaned in with a smile, "Surely you remember this one. How could anyone forget seventy two hours worth of THAT." As she leaned in closer, Rei was able to make out the contents of the bundle. "She has your eyes, Rei." She said softly.

Rei felt more than heard the thought in her head. But it still translated into a name. "Sana…"

Shinji chuckled in the distance, beyond Rei's line of sight. "I was closer this time!"

Rei's eyes focused on the small child, as the bundle was placed in her waiting arms. The small child gurgled in pleasure for a few moments, before falling swiftly to sleep.

Asuka looked at Rei, "Now, I'd normally have you feeding her right away, but I don't want to take the chance that the drugs made their way into your breast milk… luckily we took some before we did the block. So it's from a bottle for the next seventy two hours. You may have to use the machine to relieve the pressure."

"I… don't understand." Rei said.

"That's ok. You've done it before. You'll remember everything…"

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Thursday Morning

Rei woke up in cold sweat, shivering in the lack of bed sheets. She looked around her bed, realizing that she must have kicked off the covers in the night. She sighed, "Just a dream."

As she looked around the room she sighed for a moment, then picked up the sheets. She still had two hours to go before getting up. It was virtually impossible to get a good night's sleep without Shinji's presence, but she would have to make due with out.

As she resituated herself into the bed, she stared up at the ceiling for a few moments. "Sana…" She whispered once, before falling back into a dreamless slumber.

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Asuka woke to Shinji's embrace. He was still clothed, but was hugging her none the less. She had felt safe and protected while he did that. 'What an odd dream I had.' Suddenly Shinji, too, began to stir.

"Asuka?" He whispered.

"Yes." The redhead replied, unusually calm.

"Don't be angry. I just… thought you could use some company tonight."

"I know." She said softly.

A few moments past in silence, then Asuka voiced a statement: "You really love her, don't you?"

Shinji nodded in the dim light of the pre-dawn hours. "Yeah."

"You should be with her. Not with me." Asuka admitted sadly.

"I love you too, you know, Asuka." Shinji countered.

Asuka looked at him, then closed her eyes. "But not in that way."

"Perhaps not… But I love you just the same. If this is what it takes to chase away the tears every once in a while, I'll gladly do it," Shinji responded.

Had Asuka been in any other mood, she would have lashed out at the young boy. "As long as it's for love and not pity…"

"Asuka, I love you."

Asuka grinned slightly, "Well, I had a dream about that. You and Wondergirl were quite the busy bees in it. I don't ever want to have a dream like that again…"

"What happened?"

"Wondergirl gave birth to a baby Wondergirl." Asuka said. "And I HAD TO CLEAN IT!"

Shinji smiled slightly, "That's strange... I had a similar dream…"

"It was so icky." Asuka muttered, "It puked on me."

"It couldn't have been that bad." Shinji surmised, "You were cooing to it in German."

Asuka blinked, "Oh shiest, you mean…"

"Yep. Same dream."

Together they both turned away from each other, and sighed at the same time. They spoke as one, with a disgusted and resigned tone: "Synchronization Training."

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Across town, in a NERV barracks, Karwou rose from his bed.

He looked at the small clock, which revealed to him that it was two forty-two in the morning. He sighed and looked up at his ceiling, allowing himself to fall back to his bed. "Almost. So close, Shinji. You may yet accomplish the Trinity after all. And live to see your daughters be born…"

Tabris looked into the fabric that was eternity, into the manifold choices that could arise… and saw… nothing. 'Hum. A nexus approaches.' This was not unusual. Each Angel attack was like a gathering storm, bringing a nexus of uncertainty where the fabric of space-time was so convoluted that even the most gifted could not see past its violence. "Passion and soul: these combine to form the core of existence, Shinji-kun. Can you rise above the Nexus? To see what is beyond - end this terrible cycle?" Another sigh escaped the young boy's lips, "An end…"

Karwou smiled at the ceiling as he composed himself for sleep once more, "Perhaps that is a good thing after all. Ikari Shinji-kun…" With that, his AT Field released its block on the room's monitoring equipment. After all, what good would it do if he revealed these secrets to SEELE? Or worse: To NERV.

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Author's notes:

Another short chapter. Hopefully I'll be able to throw more out here soon. :D Until then. Read, review, and hopefully enjoy.

Later,
PitViper(pvalpha@yahoo.com)