Disclaimer: I do not own Evangelion…
All right, time to clear some stuff up. I know that the angel crucified in central dogma is in fact Lilith instead of Adam, but in the manga, Kaji does NOT know that it is Lilith and not Adam, thus, Shinji and Misato don't know and anyone else that would know won't refer to it as Adam simply because they do not want others knowing. Kapeesh? Also, the simple reason for Rei showing emotion is that Shinji is the only one who has made her feel what she has and the only one who would have those same feelings to her. It's Rei/Shinji and it NEEDS to be OOCC sometimes, okay? It's fan fiction, I'm following the whole Evangelion story but I do NOT have to make it the exact same, then it wouldn't be fan fiction. Right? It wouldn't be worth reading if it were just the written version of what happened in the show. Anyway, I'm done babbling. This story is rated R.
Story Title: Masochistic
Author: Mosher-24
Chapter Fifteen: Parting is such sweet sorrow…
*~*~*~*~*~*
The doctors had let him out of the infirmary after five days of psychological treatment for the angel's mind rape. He was visited by Rei only twice during the night, and she was only there for a few minutes.
She made very few replies to Shinji's questions about where she had been and the only answer she gave was, "I was busy."
That made Shinji somewhat angry, but he let it pass, because he could guess that his father had something to do with it, which made him angrier with his father then he had ever been in the past.
Now that Shinji was out of the infirmary, he chose to go straight to the Tokyo-3 Mental Institution. The way there was uneventful and almost devoid of people, since many were moving out of Tokyo-3 due to the Angel crisis.
The institution came into view after ten minutes of walking. It was a red brick building, three stories tall with windows everywhere and gardens lining the front lawn. Fences surrounded the perimeter and a couple security guards where lazily moving about the gardens.
A large sign welcomed a visitor in Japanese. It read, "Welcome to the Tokyo-3 Mental Institution. Please sign in at front desk and enjoy your visit." Shinji scoffed a little at the white sign and walked through the front gate, which the guards opened upon seeing his NERV card, which he flashed at them nervously.
The walk into the institution was almost as long as the walk to Asuka's cell. After getting a special visitors card, he went down a right hallway towards a high security room.
The hall was white, with white walls and white marble stone floor. The ceiling was white with several fluorescent lights lining it.
Asuka was in room 102 on the first floor, because she would have attempted to jump out of a window if it were on a higher floor. Shinji had heard certain things about her from the infirmary from some of the friendlier doctors.
Asuka supposedly had become dangerous and quite insane after her encounter with the mind-raping angel. Shinji had to see for himself though, not willing to believe that Asuka had finally been bested.
When Shinji reached the door, he looked long and hard at it. It was white, as the rest of the place was. The room read, "102, Asuka Langley Soryu." Shinji knocked on the door and was soon looking at a middle-aged security guard. He had a black mustache under his crooked nose and a thin mouth with a scar down the middle, where it had somehow split.
His green eyes stared at Shinji a while before he said anything, "yes?" he asked irritably. Shinji looked at him for a while and blinked, still startled by the man's sudden appearance.
"I've come to see Asuka… I'm a fellow pilot," Shinji said, looking over the man's shoulders and trying to see in the room. The man was large though, and prevented Shinji from seeing anything but the ceiling.
"What is your name, boy?" he asked, narrowing his eyes.
"Shinji Ikari, sir," the third replied, looking back to the man's face.
"Ikari, eh? Well, you have clearance to be in here. I want to warn you though, she's a bit loopy," the guard said, finally lightening up and getting a friendlier tone. Shinji read that his name was Mr. Long, from his nametag and badge number, which was 420.
Nothing, in his entire fifteen years of life, could have prepared him for the sight that greeted him when he walked into the room. There were mirrors on the right and left of the room, no doubt observation ports. The room was blank except for a tea table and a girl sitting in the middle with auburn hair and ice blue eyes.
Asuka was wearing a white gown labeled 'Patient 34666D'. He immediately got tears in his eyes when he looked at her. She was paler than Rei, her eyes droopy and bloodshot. She had bruises were they had to give her shots to calm her down, or where she had hit herself in a fit. A little bit of drool had been dribbling from her mouth and her lips were dry and cracked.
"Hello friend," she said brightly to him, looking up and waving. Shinji waved back, unable to speak.
"What brings you here? No, it's not that, shut up. What? No, he hasn't come to hurt us! He's a friend, right mister?" Asuka said, appearing to have a conversation with someone Shinji couldn't see.
Her hand was shaking and she appeared to be mumbling when Shinji didn't reply. He stared in disbelief as she grabbed a teacup from the tea table and drank the invisible liquid.
"Want some tea?" she asked sweetly. Her shaking hand offered him the cup. The third child took it and couldn't help but let the tear roll down his cheek.
"Why aren't you drinking! Shhh! You'll scare the poor boy away!" Asuka said to herself after the outburst. The cup dropped from Shinji's hand so he could wipe away the tears that had come.
"Asuka, why do you have to be like this? This isn't you… You're strong, remember?" he said softly, looking at her face. Her expression softened and she stared at him with something close to compassion, then it contorted with anger and she screamed.
"My name's not Asuka! Who are you! What do you want?" she yelled, getting to her feet. Shinji backed off, but that apparently was the wrong thing to do, because Asuka charged and gripped her hands around his neck.
"What the fuck do you want? Go away!" she screamed, squeezing around his trachea and pushing him to the ground with a malicious angry look on her once beautiful face. The guard ran up and tried to force her off, but she pushed him back and kicked him in the groin.
Shinji tried to breathe, but all he got was a burning where he knew his lungs should be. His vision was going purple and he groped at everything he could reach, which ended up being Asuka.
Blood began to drip from Shinji's left ear before Asuka finally left go, sobbing. Shinji gasped and breathed, lying on the floor. His vision took on the regular hue, but he took five minutes to catch his breath.
"I'm sorry Shinji… I'm a prisoner… Shut up!" she screamed. The guard got up and injected her with a clear fluid and she slumped over, foaming at the mouth.
The young Ikari passed out from the lack of air and felt a warm flying sensation.
Shinji opened his eyes to see himself at Misato's apartment. He felt that he had been given a few painkillers, which would explain the strange feelings he was experiencing. He was on the couch, the TV to his left.
Sounds from the kitchen meant someone was there, cooking. He hoped it wasn't Misato, for she had always been a lousy cook. Shinji tried to yell for Misato, but had forgotten how to speak.
"Mmmngph," came out of his mouth. The painkillers must have been really powerful to numb all his muscles. Pen-Pen waddled up and positioned himself on Shinji's stomach, staring into his eyes.
"Wark," he said knowingly, nodding. Shinji smiled and mumbled some nonsense noise.
"Shinji?" Misato said, coming from her room. Shinji nodded and made another noise.
"Hahaha. That's the morphine I managed to get from Ritsuko," Misato said, patting Shinji on the head.
"You'll get better in a couple minutes. It's been working for a long time already, so it'll be wearing off and you'll have a headache. Rei's in the kitchen cooking you some breakfast. It's a sunny Saturday morning!" Misato said cheerfully.
Shinji concentrated on talking, and in a few minutes he could complete full sentences, though he still felt a little numb.
"Rei's here?" he asked eagerly. Misato nodded and smiled as Rei walked into the room. She was carrying a plate of steak and eggs, which Shinji happily accepted. He forced himself to sit up and eat the food.
When he was done, he looked up at his lover with a large, goofy grin. She smiled back softly, haunted by the thought of what the Commander would do when he found out. Little did she know that he would do nothing, for her fate was about to be fulfilled, only a few days from then.
"I'll leave you two alone. I've heard that you haven't had a chance to… talk… er… because of the Commander," Misato said. She left without another word and Rei moved over next to Shinji.
He put his arm around her and hugged her tightly.
"Oh, Shinji. I was so scared when I heard about Asuka. I'm so glad you are okay," she said. The young Ikari kissed her deeply and assured her that he was okay, and that he would always be with her.
He had grown accustomed to the way he could always tell where to touch her, or tell what other people were feeling. He found a new gratification spot on Rei every time he saw her, and this time was no exception.
Misato just shut her door and drank her Yebisu with Pen-Pen, who was on his second already.
Kaji moved swiftly through the silence of NERV's lower bowels. It was dark, thick, so Kaji cut through it like a knife. He had his glock nine out and was looking around, even though he couldn't see anything. Terminal Dogma was extensive and Kaji was having trouble finding his way through.
Earlier, he had passed the crucified angel Adam. He had to look away after a while, the thing's pain too intense for him to think of. Its blood was still running off into a little pool on the floor, which Kaji had to avoid.
His thoughts were consumed with the wealth of information he was going to find. Then it went to Misato, who was now openly ready to date him, so they had dabbled a little her and there, but NERV was keeping both of them quite busy.
They still had nightcaps though, and Kaji often left before dawn, leaving Misato to worry about him. He hadn't seen Misato for a few days, but was already planning on giving her the ring in his pocket, which was exactly her size.
Kaji loved Misato, really and truly. He didn't always show it, because of his nature, but he would give anything for Misato, which showed when he made ultimate sacrifices for her or brought tears to her eyes with sudden sweetness.
His reminiscing smile soon faded when it became apparent that there was a high security door ahead of him. He easily accessed it with the stolen card he had required.
The inside chamber was gigantic, easily seven or eight feet above his head. It was pitch black, but there appeared to be tubes lining the walls.
"Hello Kaji, I see you've come a little bit too far for your own good," said a male's voice. It was Commander Gendo Ikari, who was somewhere in the room, Kaji could not tell where. His voice had echoed over the immense chamber, making it impossible to reckon its origin.
"What do you mean?" Kaji asked with a grin. The Commander had let him wander around, why should this be any different?
"I mean that you have stumbled into more than you should have. Is there anything you want to know before I kill you?" Gendo asked carelessly.
"Yea, what's that Angel for?" Kaji asked, still not taking the Commander seriously.
"Lilith? Oh, she is for LCL," Gendo replied, referring to the angel being crucified.
"Lilith? No, that angel is Adam," Kaji replied, confused.
"No, it's not. You're sources had false information. Adam is surgically placed into my palm. That crucified Angel is Lilith, the mother of all. Her blood is transformed into the liquid LCL, thus its blood like smell," Gendo said evenly.
"That's sick!" Kaji said.
Though Kaji could not see it, the Commander was smiling sadistically.
"Anything else you want to know?" he asked, loading the chamber on his 9mm, which was in his right hand.
"Yea, what's the meaning of the universe?" Kaji asked.
"Sorry, I can't reveal my secrets," Gendo said, firing the gun at Kaji.
"But…" Kaji said, felling blood fall from his mouth and the wound in his side. A pain shot through him, an all-consuming pain driving all thought from his mind and filling it with red.
The double agent fell to the ground and Gendo smiled and walked out, leaving Kaji to bleed out.
Rei and Shinji were holding each other on the couch, the sun now setting. Misato was drunk, wandering out after she knew he coast was clear. She smiled over them, briefly wandering whether she was being a good parent, but dismissing it because she was making them happy, since the Commander could not.
She was preparing some coffee when the phone rang, loud and annoying. She picked it up immediately, since it was only a few feet to her left.
"Hello?" she said with a slight drunken slur. She listened for a few minutes.
"What?" she yelled.
Shinji and Rei looked up from the couch, rubbing their eyes and squinting in the darkened apartment.
"You're kidding!" she screamed, hearing a hidden sob in her voice.
She listened a bit more before hanging up the phone and sobbing everything she had held since her fathers death. She cried so much her eyes hurt, and cried more. Her throat was soar from being open, but she didn't care. Her everything was gone and she cried it away, as much as she wished she could bleed it away and join him.
"What's wrong Misato?" Shinji asked, sitting next to her and putting his hand on her shoulder. She had instantly sobered up, totally void of the effects of the many beers she had downed.
"K-Kaji is dead!" she said between sobs, which were often. It took Shinji several minutes to digest this information before he rubbed Misato's back.
"I'm sorry Misato," he said consolingly. Rei looked at him questioningly, but he could tell what she had asked, and nodded. She left silently, mouthing, 'I love you' and shutting the door behind her.
"Go lay on the couch, I'll finish your coffee," Shinji said softly. She nodded and stood, walking to the couch like a zombie with nothing to eat. The third child fixed her some chicken soup and coffee and brought it to her. She thanked him between sobs and blew her nose before starting on her food.
"T-thank you Shinji," she sniffled, her sobs now gone completely. When she was finished, she looked at Shinji with all the pain that she felt in the depths of her heart.
"Please don't leave me," she said, sobs now coming on fresh. She leaned against Shinji shoulder and cried her heart out into it. The Ikari put his arms around his guardian and let her cry herself to sleep.
When she was fast asleep, Shinji laid her out on the couch and covered her with a blanket. It was late and Shinji went to his bed and fell asleep on top of the covers.
In the morning, Misato apologized for crying and left the residence, apparently to go to NERV. The apartment was quiet, sullen, and dark, as if the very gloom of Kaji's death lingered in the air, as if off of Misato's breath.
Shinji looked around and tried to decide what to do. He called Rei's place, but there was no answer. The third child was somewhat worried about her, but this was not uncommon, so he didn't worry too much.
Pen-Pen again was looking at him, and then waddling away to get a beer, then back again to look at him. Shinji held a small conversation with the penguin, who seemed to understand every word and "Wark," when it was appropriate. Shinji grinned and gave the penguin a fish, who was extremely happy and waddled away with a satisfied look on his face.
Ikari stood and dressed into a freshly washed school uniform and headed out the door, locking it behind him. With no sign of Rei, his next option was Toji and Kensuke, who had surprisingly remained in Tokyo-3 with their parents.
Toji's house, which was most likely where both of them were, was only a few blocks away from Misato's apartment, so it was a short, refreshing walk. The weather was great, sunny, cool, and slightly breezy. The sky had scattered, dark gray clouds.
The wind seemed to warp around him, forming a small dust swirl around him. He didn't know what caused this strange event, but he liked it. The coal black of his hair was flying around, and it was cool and dry against his face.
"Hey, what're you doing ya twit!" called a familiar voice. It was the voice of his favorite jock, Toji Suzuhara. He was standing there with a prosthetic leg and a big smile, despite his visible inability.
"Hey you big lug. How're you doing?" Shinji asked, walking next to his friend, who was making his way back to his house.
"Ah, my leg's been giving me shit, but I'm going to get a better one, NERV promised so. Otherwise, bored as hell. You know, the usual," Toji said, smiling his broad smile. Shinji still felt a pang of guilt over Toji's leg, which had to be amputated because Shinji had refused to engage unit 03 and instead had to watch the dummy plug system take control.
"Where's the voyeur?" Shinji asked, referring to Kensuke, who was never seen without some form of camera, whether video or photo.
"Uh… he moved yesterday, back to Tokyo-2. They're rebuilding it, you know?" Toji said lightly, looking over at Shinji.
"Yea… I know. That's a bummer though; it's too bad he left. At least you didn't," Shinji said, laughing and looking over at his friend. The mirth left him as he saw the look on Toji's face, which was apologetic.
"I'm… moving too. That's one of the conditions for the new leg," Toji said sadly, indicating to his prosthetic.
"No way! Damn, this is gonna suck without you guys! You'll come back after the angel's are through, right?" Shinji asked, feeling the pain inside immediately, but trying to hide it.
"Yea, don't worry buddy, we'll see each other again! I'm moving tomorrow, and you guys only have two more angels before it's over, eh? That'll take you no time, you good for nothing pilot!" Toji said, giving Shinji a noogie. Shinji laughed and walked into Toji's house with him.
After a couple hours of talking and laughing Toji said it was time to leave, because he had to pack and get a lot of sleep for the trip. Shinji nodded sullenly and walked out the door, and started down the street.
"Hey hotshit! Head down to Jesse's Embers!" Toji yelled from his window, before closing it to Shinji's reply. The third stared at the window for a while before turning and making his way down the street and to the right, through several back alleys, and down another busy street.
At the end, in front of an intersection was a small restaurant named "Jesse's Embers". It appeared as though it wasn't very busy, only a few people inside.
The building was painted white with wooden shudders and red doors in the back. The hinges creaked when Shinji pushed them open.
The atmosphere inside was pleasant, dimmer than outside, but still lit to see the entire room. The walls were wood, highly polished and beautiful. The grain was in a vertical direction. The floor was covered with hardwood, which had a horizontal grain.
There was a bar in the back right, tables next to a dance floor, which had speakers around the corners. There was an aquarium full of turtles in the back left corner, next to the kitchen entrance.
There were only four people in the restaurant, one of them was Rei. She stood up to meet him and Shinji stopped short, trying to find the breath to fill his lungs, but not able to inhale.
She was wearing a purple dress with bluish mesh like material over it with Celtic like designs. Most of her upper body was revealed through the mesh, except for her stomach and breasts.
"Hi," she said with an angelic smile. Shinji tried to reply, but remembered he couldn't breathe. He grasped his chest, with tears forming in his eyes.
"Hi," He replied after a few minutes. He wiped his eyes and hugged her.
"You look amazing," he said, still too stunned to form too large a sentence. She poked his nose and grinned, leading him back to the table. He sat down, his food already there. Rei was having a delicious looking salad with a side of soup and Shinji had a filet mignon and seasoned potatoes with a gravy he couldn't recognize.
"I haven't seen you for the past couple days," Shinji said, hoping she'd give him an explanation without further prodding. She nodded and looked thoughtful before taking a couple bites of her salad. Shinji chewed on some of his filet and waited for her to answer.
"I have just been busy with NERV. The Commander has been giving me a lot of extra work," she lied. Shinji knew she was lying, and she knew that he knew, but neither cared because they knew the REAL reason.
After a few minutes of silenced eating, Rei looked up at her boyfriend with something close to sadness in her eyes. She had been showed the secret that her father had been keeping in the darkest layers of Terminal Dogma. She had seen the real truth about her.
"Shinji?" she asked softly, watching his eyes closely. He looked into hers and nodded to let her know he was listening. Shinji could sense that she had something she had been hiding from him and it was bothering her, whatever it was, so he knew that she'd want to talk.
"Will… will you promise to love me no matter what?" she asked even more softly than before. Her voice was barely above a whisper, and it was scaring Shinji.
"Yes, yes I will," he said firmly. She stared into his eyes for a few more moments before looking away and wiping a tear from her eye. Shinji dropped his fork and gave his full attention to his girlfriend, who was obviously having a hard time.
"There is a lot about me and my past that you do not know… and I do not wish to tell you, but I know one day soon you'll find out, and please don't hold it against me," she asked, getting choked up again. Shinji nodded vigorously and promised her that he wouldn't.
"I love you Shinji," she said, standing up. Shinji stood too and took her into his arms. He gave her a long hug until 'Fly me to the moon,' came over the speakers.
Shinji grinned and led Rei to the dance floor. She looked slightly bewildered, but didn't resist. He put his arms around her and they began to slow dance. Everyone else seemed to disappear and they spent the rest of the song dancing and holding each other.
Fly me to the moon
Let me sing among those stars
Let me see what spring is like
On Jupiter and Mars
In other words, hold my hand
In other words, baby kiss me
Fill my heart with song
Let me sing forever more
You are all I long for
All I worship and adore
In other words, please be true
In other words, I love you
After they left the restaurant, they went to Rei's place, which was dimly lit except for a few candles.
"Damn, you had this all planned out, didn't you?" Shinji asked with a small smile. She nodded and walked over to him, putting her arms around his neck. The third child could feel the excitement radiating off her as he put his hands on her hips. They kissed deeply and slowly removed the other's cloths.
Shinji laid her out on the bed and climbed on top of her, kissing his way up her chest and to her lips.
"I love you," she whispered.
In the Commander's office, Gendo prepared for the final touches on the Commencement phase, which would be put into full effect in ten hours, at the arrival of the 16th angel.
"Are you sure you're going to go through with this… with what it'll do to Rei?" the Sub-Commander Fuyutsuki asked.
"It won't be the first time it happened, so yes I am sure," Gendo replied, smiling. His glasses had a glare on them that made him look just as evil as he really was.
Shinji started as he heard the all too familiar alarm. It was a sign he had been dreading. The 16th angel was here, which meant that he and Rei would have to go up against yet another battle.
Rei was awake too, and had been for the past couple hours, crying. She stood, wiped her eyes and signaled for Shinji to follow her. They got dressed and ran to the nearest NERV entrance.
Shinji was more worried about her than he had ever been, and when he asked, she only replied that it had been a bad dream about the upcoming angel fight.
Once inside NERV, they headed as fast as they could to the locker room and changed into the skintight plug suits.
"Shinji, hold me and tell me you love me," she said softly, putting her arms around her lover. He did so and held her tight, and then they went to the EVA cages and got into their plug suits.
Ritsuko was monitoring the EVAs progress. The 16th angel was a few kilometers away from them, a large ring of energy.
"Unit 00 and 01, approach with caution. 00, you have point," she ordered. Since Gendo was gone, she could send the little blue haired bitch in first. Maybe now she'd get hurt.
Shinji opened a private comm. link with Rei.
"Are you alright?" he asked worriedly. She nodded and smiled.
"Sorry. I just had a really bad dream last night about this fight. I'm fine now. Let's just finish this thing okay?" Rei said. Shinji smiled and nodded and closed the channel.
He willed his EVA to follow behind Rei, with slightly slower speed. They were closing in on the angel and it seemed to be condensing.
"Get back!" Misato yelled to them. It was too late. The angel latched onto Rei with newly formed tentacles and attached its self to her. She let out a small whimper of pain as it dug into the back of her EVA and began to infiltrate her mind.
"Hey you big ass mucus fucker! Let her GO!" Shinji yelled, willing 01 to charge and jump onto the angel. Rei let out a scream of pain as Shinji slashed the angel with his progressive knife. The angel threw him off with razor sharp blades and slashed open 01's chest.
This encounter was different than all the others, because now Shinji could feel the angel's weakness, and what would destroy it. The only thing that didn't make sense, however, was that the weakness was 00…
"Don't hurt the angel, Shinji! It'll only hurt Rei!" Misato yelled, reading the new information from the control room.
"Well what the hell can I do then!?" he screamed, slamming his fists into the chair in the entry plug. The LCL swirled around his hands.
"Stand by," Misato replied.
Inside unit 00, Rei's veins were popping out even farther then they had from the machine. She felt the angel coursing through them, trying to infiltrate her.
'You are not pure. You have that human filth in you,' it said to her. She felt a pain in her stomach. Nausea from the pain caused her to vomit into the LCL and she began to cry.
"A… tear?" Ritsuko said, utterly bewildered. She never knew that Rei could cry.
"No… please stop," Rei begged the angel.
'Weak,' it replied, sending more jolts of pain through her every nerve.
Tears were falling like rain from her eyes, the pain threatening to make her give in and pass out.
Her vision began to go white and she half expected to see the gates of heaven, but instead she was in a park.
The trees were a lush green, the Tojyo-3 breeze swaying the branches softly. The grass was deep green too, about an inch tall. There were a couple park benches and a pool, by which were three people, none of them were familiar.
But upon closer inspection, she knew them all too well.
It was Shinji, her, and their daughter. The baby girl was no older than two and she had brown hair the color of Shinji's, but red eyes like Rei's.
Shinji was much older, in his early twenties, as was Rei. They were holding each other, occasionally telling the girl not to eat the grass. Her name was Jade.
Rei felt the tears come with a new fervor, looking into her future. It changed and she saw Shinji down on his knee, with a ring out, held out to Rei. They were inside at Christmas, a tree in the corner, its colored lights brightly lighting the room. Rei's eyes were teary as she accepted Shinji's ring and became his fiancé.
"Rei!" Shinji screamed. She was brought back to reality and realized she was still in the cockpit of the EVA and was at the mercy of the angel. A pain shot through her again and she vomited for the third time.
"What can I do!" Shinji screamed, circling the angel, his teeth gritted.
For the first time in her life, Ritsuko didn't know what to do. She watched, helpless, hoping someone else would come up with a plan.
Little did they know, the plan was already forming in Rei's mind.
"Shinji, I need you to move back a few feet," Rei said to him with difficulty.
"What? Why?" he asked, amazed she could speak through the agony.
"Do not worry, I have a plan," she replied, trying to sound calm. A scream that followed shattered any illusion that she was fine.
Despite wanting to help her, he moved back as she said.
"Shinji, please never forget that I love you," she said solemnly. Shinji tensed up as her A.T. field activated.
"Rei! WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?" Shinji screamed. She only cried in response, a video feed of her was coming through Shinji's visual. She looked awful, her veins popping out and her eyes red and blood shot.
"Please, remember I love you," she pleaded. Her tears now got in the way of her talking, and she was sobbing uncontrollably.
"No, Rei please no…" Shinji sobbed, already feeling what she was going to do.
"I love you," she whispered. She pressed the red button under her seat that they all had been told not to touch. A counter appeared on her screen.
"Ten seconds till self destruct," said Ritsuko.
"What!?" Misato screamed. The other bridge bunnies gasped and stared at the screen.
"I love you too!" Shinji tried to say, but the explosion cut him off. Rei's A.T. field contained it, but it was still huge. The fire rose a hundred feet into the air, smoke billowing up even farther.
Shinji sat staring at the spot.
"Please let her be alive… If there is a God, she'll be alive," he whispered to himself, knowing the horrible truth before his eyes confirmed it.
When the smoke cleared, there was nothing there.
"Blue pattern dissolved… Unit-00 completely destroyed… Rei's dead…" Maya said sadly.
"I love you too…" Shinji whispered, his tears coming now, bitter and hard. He sobbed and cried in his entry plug for an hour before they could get him out. When he got out, he didn't talk to anyone, or anything.
Continued……………………
Author's Notes: Hey… sorry… I had to do it. It does happen, you know. For those who don't know what's going to happen, please just stick around. It'll get better, I promise.