Because I once again forgot to make an announcement, I'm telling you now that you have read over 200 pages. That is, if you read all of the chapters instead of skipping. Anyway, I should have told you this two chapters ago.

Layra-chan: For once it was not my fault. *Pout*

DreyonLegacy: I thought you would have been happy that I screwed up on my own without your help.

Layra-chan: No! It should always be my fault. That way I annoy you more.

DreyonLegacy: ?

BTW: this chapter will not be about the people in Tokyo 4, or those weird three who are looking for Unit 17. This will be about the hopefully not forgotten dysfunctional trio of Ariline, Dai-syo and Samantha.

Samantha: Why is my name last?!

DreyonLegacy: Alphabetical order. Blame the Ancient Greeks.

Disclaimer: Most of the characters in this story are original and thus mine. The series that this fic is based off of is not mine.

Fourth Impact

Chapter 44: Friends

"Samantha?" Ariline slowly walked up to the girl, who was sitting on their bed holding her head in her hands. Her messy green hair was tangled and mussed, and a small puddle was forming on the floor. Ariline fought the urge to run away. Samantha had slept restlessly the previous several nights, and became increasingly depressed each day. Ariline didn't usually help people with emotional problems, given the number of times she had been rejected in the past, but she felt a need to comfort her roommate, to return some favors owed. "Is something the matter?"

"Don't talk to me." Samantha spat.

"Samantha, if it's something I did, I'm sorry." Ariline told her. She sat down next to Samantha. "Tell me, what did I do?"

"It's not your fault. Just leave me alone." Came the muffled reply. Samantha turned away from the blonde girl, unwilling to let her see the tears tricking out. Why her? Why did he have to fall for her? Samantha clenched her eyes, trying to keep her sorrow from the girl beside her. Anyone else, I would have had a chance.

Ariline cautiously put an arm around Samantha's shoulders, but Samantha pulled away. "Samantha—"

"Please, I want you to leave me alone!" she exclaimed. She slid over, away from the blonde. "It hurts…" she whispered, not knowing that Ariline could hear her. "Every time he looks at you instead of me, it hurts."

Ariline stared at the floor, unsure of what to say. She had had no clue that Dai-syo felt that way about her. It had taken her long enough to figure out that Samantha felt something for the Chinese boy.

She sighed. The poor girl was in love, and he was in love with someone else. Ariline smiled ruefully. It was all very ironic, because she could never love Dai-syo back. Not the way that he wanted.

"Samantha?" She asked softly. "Can I ask you a personal question?"

"I'm too upset right now to stop you." she replied.

"Are you in love with Dai-syo?"

"Don't say that word!" Samantha flared shooting to her feet. "Don't say that damn word to me, ever! I hate hearing that stupid, wretched word!" she spun away from Ariline. "You don't know what it means. Love is nothing but pain. Pain, and misery, and jealousy!"

Ariline cowered back from her. The green-haired American stormed to the other side of the room, starting to pace back and forth. "I hate it when people use that word when they have never felt so-called love themselves. They don't know what they are talking about, and think that it really describes what happens!" She shot a glare at Ariline. For a moment Ariline feared that Samantha would summon her AT powers and kill her, but Samantha simply snarled once and shook herself. "Just…don't use that word." She said, breaking out of her rage. "Please." She sat down next to Ariline again, the tears falling freely.

"Sorry." Samantha said softly. "Sorry for yelling at you."

"It's alright." Ariline told her.

"No it's not alright." Samantha said firmly. "People hate you because you are so perfect. I should know better. I'm sorry."

"Why do people hate me if I am supposedly perfect?" Ariline asked, confused.

"Envy. Jealousy. We all feel it. We don't understand loyalty, or forgiveness, or mercy, all we humans know is betrayal and revenge and cruelty. You, you know loyalty, and mercy, and forgiveness. You understand all these virtues and more, things that we cannot comprehend. And that's why people hate you. Because you are so much better than the rest of us." She burst into sobs. Ariline hesitantly put her arms around the weeping girl, letting the tears fall onto her shoulder. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry…" Samantha whimpered.

Ariline could only sit there rocking the girl, shocked by the sudden display of emotion. "Apology accepted. We all have our own problems to deal with."

A while later Samantha composed herself again. "Sorry for making such a scene." She said.

Ariline smiled and held out a hand. "Friends?" she asked. Samantha stared at her hand, then slowly clasped it.

"Friends." Samantha gave Ariline a peck on the cheek. "Thank you."

Ariline giggled. "Be careful, Samantha. I really like you, and you shouldn't be giving me ideas." Samantha stared at her in horror. Ariline giggled. "Sorry. Just giving you a taste of your own medicine. Don't worry."

(AN: Wouldn't that be an interesting scenario? Ariline would like Samantha, who likes Dai-syo, who likes Ariline, but not the other way around. A threesome doesn't work because the affections are not two-way, but…It would be a real love-triangle, not one of those badly named v-shaped relationships.)

They talked late into the night, neither of them moving much. Samantha did most of the talking, but Ariline felt compelled to speak whenever she could, more than happy to discuss anything with her new, and possibly first, friend.

"…If we destroyed Adam, we wouldn't have these problems." Samantha told her. "If Fourth Impact occurred, we could transcend these bodies, which keep us from understanding each other."

"I can't." Ariline replied. "I can't help you. I care for you, I really do, but…Unit 16 wouldn't survive Fourth Impact, not if Adam dies. I care for her too."

Samantha nodded slowly. "Yes, I guess I understand. I killed a few of my friends before, never want to do it again. But…how can you feel that way about a robot?"

"She's not a robot." Ariline retorted, unaware of her use of the feminine pronoun. "She's a sentient person. And she protected me."

"Ariline, Unit 16 absorbed you." Samantha told her. "It took your body, tore it apart, and pulled your consciousness into wherever an Eva sticks extra minds."

"That wasn't her fault." Ariline protested. "She did that to protect me from the people at NERV, who were trying to turn me into an experiment. And she kept me alive when she could easily have destroyed me and gone free."

"Evas never cause people anything but pain. It's a monster—"

"Stop that." Ariline suddenly exclaimed. "She's not a monster. Just because she's not human doesn't mean that she's not a person too."

"Then what is Unit 16, if it's not human? Is it some kind of animal?"

"No!" Ariline cried. "What do you all have against her?"

"It is part of Adam, our enemy!" Samantha replied fiercely. "It is one of very creatures that Dai-syo and I are trying to destroy, to free us!" she paused. "Speaking of which, where is Dai-syo?"

Suddenly an explosion lit the night sky. They both hurried to the window.

"They're fighting!" Ariline rushed over to the door, slipping her shoes on and running out into the night, Samantha close behind her.

They found Dai-syo and Unit 16 squaring off in a large clearing. "Stop!" Ariline cried, jumping in front of the combatants. Too shocked to respond properly, both Unit 16 and Dai-syo let off bolts of power at her. Ariline shrieked at light came at her from either side, blinding her…

She opened her eyes, staring at the orange glow around her. Samantha stood before her, arms outstretched, a wan smile on her face. "Are you all right?" she asked.

"I'm fine." Ariline answered. "Thank you." She watched as both Dai-syo and Unit 16 calmed, then nodded to Samantha, who lowered her AT field.

"What do you two think you're doing?" she demanded. Unit 16 reared back, roaring, and Dai-syo glared at the Eva. "Look at me." she ordered. "What do you think you are doing? You could have killed each other!"

"We were just having a friendly spar." Dai-syo told her. He looked shocked, and Samantha didn't blame him. None of them had ever seen her this upset. "Nothing major."

"Nothing major?" Ariline flared. "Nothing major? You almost brought down the SSDF on us!" Samantha watched as Ariline berated the two, waving her arms and nearly shrieking. Though she knew she would have felt differently if she were the one being yelled at, Samantha couldn't help but chuckle. That innocent little blonde had both of them absolutely wrapped around her finger. And was that…guilt on Dai-syo's face?

She sighed. "If only she wasn't so perfect."

AN: I really need to be more careful when dealing with these three. I almost gave the 'surprise' conclusion to their story away. I almost gave the entire story away! Fortunately, I managed to twist their words sufficiently. If anyone can guess how things end up with this group, send me a review and I will mention your name somewhere, hopefully in a flattering way if I remember to.

An observation: I have killed more individuals than almost any other story that I've read. Not people; I've read, and written, stories in which entire countries are obliterated. But those people aren't individuals, they don't have names, they don't have personality (defects.) But with Lillith's Chosen, I've created a very large group of people, who all have individual, semi-well formed personalities, and who all have to die. I'm not sure if this is good or bad, considering the series that I'm working in.