Shinji's POV:

'I beg you…'

She betrayed my trust.

'Please open the door…'

I won't be fooled again.

'I'm sorry…'

She scared me.

'I can't lose you…'

I won't be manipulated again.

'Please…'

Her words replayed themselves again and again as I lay on my bed. I felt spent, but I couldn't sleep. There was a satisfaction in hurting her. I didn't understand why. Maybe I wanted to punish her. There was nothing wrong with me. It was her fault. She should have told me a long time ago, instead of misleading me as she had. It was her fault. There was nothing wrong with me. I didn't do anything wrong.

It had started to rain outside…I wondered if she would be alright…

I didn't care. Why should I care? It was over. I didn't love her anymore, not because it was wrong, but because she, like everybody else, was just using me. Rei was using me as her emotional support. What about me? She didn't care how I felt. The lights from the street outside weakly illuminated my room. I pulled the blanket over my head. Darkness felt more comfortable.

Rei would be sleeping alone tonight…I wondered if she would be alright…

Why was I still thinking about her? Just get out of my head!

I had thought about it long and hard, and I had come to the conclusion that I would be better off without her. No one really cared about me. The best thing to do was to stay away from people. This way, they wouldn't be able to hurt me. I was stupid to even try and get close to Rei. What was I thinking?

Her smile…it lightened me…Her touch…it warmed me…Her kisses…they calmed me…

What was I thinking? What was I thinking? What was I thinking?

Stop thinking…stop thinking…I did the right thing…

No, I didn't do the right thing. The tears in my eyes proved it. Why am I crying? Why?

I don't know…I…darkness…why is it suddenly so dark…

My breathing becomes smooth. It felt so warm.

I looked around. It seemed that I was now standing in a tunnel. There was a light at the end of it. There, that must be the source of warmth. As I walked towards it, the light gradually became bigger and brighter, I could barely take in its brilliance. I could almost feel the sensation course and sooth me while I walked through it. Abruptly the warmth vanished and was replaced by an all consuming void.

Instead, I saw a limp girl hanging in the air by a rope around her neck; her back was facing towards me. There was a flash, and my heart started to pound painfully as she started turning around, and then there was another flash, and another, and another…until she finally stopped when her face was directly in front of me. I screamed, but no sound came out. Rei was dead. There were trails of tears on her face. I felt guilty. Why? I felt so guilty.

The nightmare woke me up. I felt uncomfortable, swear dripping all down my body as I tried to lose the horrid images that came to mind. I got off the bed onto the floor. The tears in my eyes felt painful. The dreadful sensation was still there, but now there was another feeling. There seemed to be something missing. No, not something, someone was missing. This room felt so empty. Someone was missing, and it felt lonely. My heart ached. I felt so lonely without her.

I rubbed my eyes and looked around. Rei's uniform still lay in the corner. I missed her. I foolishly drove her away, but now I missed her so much. Without her, I felt so empty, and life seemed so pointless. There was nothing to look forward to. I longed for her smile, her touch, her kiss…

How could I be so stupid? So what if Rei was half-angel? So what if she was my half-sister? Those were things that I could ignore. Why did I let myself be so troubled by the boundaries? I knew I could cross them. She needed me. I was too cruel. Rei had no one else to turn to and I had turned my back on her once again. And just like last time, I regretted it so much. She was always so forgiving.

I walked over to the corner and picked up her uniform. The scent was still there, but it brought more tears to my eyes. I don't think I care about her identity anymore. Without her, there was no reason to live. The world was always so cold, and only she could give me warmth. I should go back to her and apologise. I just hope she would forgive me, like last time.

Our relationship was always in an agonizing situation. She was…she was abused by my father, and we didn't know what to do, but the time I spent with her had been the happiest days of my life. I didn't want it to end this way.

It was then something fell out from a pocket of her uniform. I bent down and picked it up. As soon as I realised what it was, a chill snaked up my back and sweat started to form. My hands started trembling and my mouth suddenly felt very dry.

It was a plastic bottle. Inside the bottle were little white pills. They were Rei's pills.

'Without the pills, she wouldn't survive a single day.'

Ritsuko's words played in my mind over and over again. I somehow wished that there was a flaw in the sentence, or that she was just lying.

Rei didn't have the cloned bodies anymore…if she died now…it would be over…

Without further hesitance, I ran towards the front door, tripping over a stray cloth on the way and falling down. My legs suddenly became very wobbly, but, despite that, I stood up immediately and rushed out of the apartment with the bottle firmly in my hand. My nose was aching from the fall. It was broken, but I didn't have time to attend to such an insignificant injury. Her life was on the line.

Oh no…when was the last time she took her pill? I hoped she could hold on…If something happened to her now, I would never be able to forgive myself. Why didn't she ask for the pills when I drove her out? Why? Why was she so stupid? Why did I chase her away? Why was I so foolish?

I ran across the streets, nearly knocked down by passing cars several times. Rei's apartment wasn't too far away, I kept telling myself. I should be able to make it in time. It wasn't long before I started feeling the searing pain in my feet. Looking down, I realised that I had forgotten to put on my shoes in my hurry, but I continued on. Time was against me.

Her apartment came into sight shortly after that, but I stopped when I heard the siren rang out suddenly in the city. The invading and piercing nature of the sound sent another traumatizing feeling down my throat. It could only mean one thing. An Angel was attacking at this moment, and when I looked up into the sky, I could see an enormous circular object floating in the air.

What should I do? Return to Nerv headquarters to save the city? Or go to Rei's apartment to save her?

Screw that! In the end, it was an easy decision. I sprinted towards the old building where my one true love resided. There was no point living without her. It was as simple as that.

As soon as I reached her building, I rushed up the stairs up to her apartment, and, once there, I slammed the door open and ran inside. By this time, I was feeling quite breathless. My feet felt wet and painful. The wounds were bleeding, but at least now I could see Rei.

"Rei! Rei!" I shouted, looking around her apartment and checking in her washroom, "Rei! Where are you?! You forgot your medicine!"

But she was no where to be found. It couldn't be…where else would she go? I peeked into her cupboard, half-expecting she would be hiding inside cowering in fear, but Rei wasn't in there either. I even looked under the bed. My heart started to sink again. There was indeed one other place where she would be. It was the meadow plains, but it would take me hours to get there, and I didn't think Rei could hold on much longer.

It was then I suddenly remembered the siren. Rei must have heard it and gone to the Nerv complex. She must have! The alarm had just been activated not too long ago, so she couldn't be too far away from her apartment. If I hurried up, I could still catch up with her. So, without wasting another second, I started running towards Nerv.

As soon as I climbed down the stairs and left the building, I caught a sight which I didn't expect. A black car passed me by, and Rei was sitting in the back staring lifelessly into the space ahead of her. I started shouting her name.

"Rei! Rei! You forgot your medicine!" I yelled and waved my hands in the air, trying to catch her attention, but the car drove away and disappeared into a turn. Rei wouldn't be able to hear me, but judging from the direction they took, I knew where they were headed. Steadying myself and taking in a deep breath, I ran towards the Nerv headquarters.

My feet were burning, and my knees felt cracked. I had a sinking feeling that by the time I reached my destination, my legs would be so damaged that I might not be able to use them ever again. My heart was pounding painfully against my chest, and my lungs felt as if they were flooded with fluid. The sun seemed to be getting brighter…I began to feel dizzy, but I ran on…it suddenly felt very cold…

By the time I arrived at Nerv, the earth began to shake, followed by a booming thunder. I looked up to the sky again. Unit-00 and Unit-02 were already deployed. Please don't let me be too late…

I continued my way to the control centre. It was the only place I could ask for help now. The corridors seemed so long, and it seemed to be taking me ages to go where I wanted. Walking had become so painful. Once I came to the command centre, I saw Misato standing there watching the screen anxiously.

"Mi…Misa…to…" I called out, unable to control my breaths. She turned around and looked at me in shock.

"Shinji! What happened to you? Why are you so late?" Misato said as she came over to support me. Some of the other Nerv members temporarily forgot about their duties and turned their attention towards me.

"Rei…she…she forgot her…her pills…"

Misato's eyes seemed to widen even more. I handed the bottle to her and she stared at it with concern evident on her face. "Oh my god…when was the last time she took it?"

"I…I don't know."

She turned to look at the giant screen showing Unit-00 arming itself with a rifle, and then back at me again.

"Please Misato, let her…let her come back, she needs this…" I added. The sentences were getting easier to come out. My breaths were becoming steady, but my chest still hurt a lot.

With this, Misato turned towards the commander and said, "Commander, there has been a situation. The First Child-"

"The First Child will continue the battle. She will not return until the Angel is destroyed." My father spoke quietly with a commanding voice. The anger inside me boiled over.

"She forgot to take her pills!!!" I shouted. It was loud enough to draw everyone's attention in the command centre. "Rei forgot to take the pills you're forcing her to take!!! Her clones were all destroyed! There is none of them left! Father please…let her come back…"

The room suddenly became filled with murmurs. My father's eyes widened slightly when he heard me, but he returned to his icy self almost instantly.

"Third Child, behave yourself," He said and returned his attention to the screen.

"NO!!! You monster!!! You raped her and now you're sending her to death!!!"

The murmurs died immediately. Everyone was now looking at me and my father. The tension was growing thick. When he still kept silent, I ran over to the control panel and yelled into the speaker, hoping that Rei would hear me and come back.

"Rei! Rei do you hear me? You have to come back! You forgot your pills Rei!"

"She won't be able to hear you, Shinji. The sound system has been damaged earlier…right after the Evas surfaced. We're still not sure how the Angel did it, but the technicians are trying their best to fix the problem." Misato said with fear evident in her voice.

I stared at the screen in horror. My body began to tremble violently. The situation was grim. The Angel had started to attack and it was locked in a struggle with Rei's Eva. Unit-02 was just standing there doing nothing.

"What is Asuka doing?! Misato!!! Why isn't Asuka helping Rei?!?!"

"Hyuuga, check what's going on with the Second Child!" Misato ordered. She sounded as surprised as I was.

A few nail-biting seconds later, the technician turned around from his seat with panic evident on his face. "Major…the…the Second Child is not synchronising with Unit-02!!!"

"What? I-Impossible, she has been doing well in her synch tests!" Misato said. I agreed with her. Asuka had been feeling sick after being defeated by the fifteenth Angel, but she didn't let it affect her synch score…What was going on?

"Misato, let me go. Let me board my Eva. I'll help Rei myself." I said determinedly. There was no other option. Not even the commander himself could bring Rei back if the sound system was broken. Misato and I stared intensely at each other. We both knew the danger of me getting into Unit-01 again. According to the reports, the Eva was still extremely unstable.

"Major!!! The Angel is corrupting Unit-00!!!" Shigeru yelled.

"Misato come on! I beg you!" I pleaded.

"Very well, board your Eva immediately," She said and handed me a black object before adding, "This is a radio transmitter. Keep it with you. We will use this to contact each other while you're inside Unit-01."

"Thank you."

"Shinji…good luck…"

I grabbed the metallic object and sprinted towards the Eva cages, but not before catching a faint smile on my father's face. The man was mad. I knew that much; and I hated him with a burning passion.

There was no time for me to change into a plugsuit. I climbed into the entry plug immediately after I reached the Eva cages. Slowly, I felt it being inserted into Unit-01, and the LCL fluid started flowing in. I quickly attached the Neuro-transmitter and set the water-proof radio beside my seat. Soon, I found myself breathing in the orange fluid, and the screen around me became clear.

"Shinji, are you ready?" I heard Misato calling from the radio.

"Yes, now hurry!"

"Launch Eva Unit-01!!!"

With that, I felt a huge force pulling me as the Eva was shot towards the surface. The battle between Unit-00 and the Angel soon came into sight. It had changed from white circular into a shape that looked like a long tube. Part of it was inserted into the core of Rei's Eva. Unit-02 was still standing there staring blankly into space.

I motioned for Unit-01 to take out the progressive knife. The horror came at that instant.

Nothing happened. I couldn't move my Eva.

I pulled on the handle as hard as I could, but the only thing I could do was stare at Unit-00 being slowly destroyed. My trembling hand reached out to grab the radio Misato had given me.

"Misato!! I can't move my Eva! Why?! What's happening?!"

"What? What do you mean, Shinji?"

"My Eva! Unit-01! I can't move it!!!"

"Hyuuga! Check what's happening to Shinji!"

"Major! The…the Third Child is not synchronising with Unit-01!!!" Makoto shouted.

"Oh my god…Shinji…"

Their words struck me like thunder. I had never had problems synchronising with Unit-01 before, but worst of all, if I couldn't move my Eva, all hope would be lost. Rei was rapidly losing the fight, and she looked like she was in extreme agony.

Move! Move! Move!

I shouted in my mind and started pulling on the handle violently.

Move! If you don't move now, everything will be over!!!

The LCL around the handles began to get reddish. My hands were bleeding.

Move! Move! Move!

Suddenly, a cold icy sharp pain shot through my left arm. I looked at my Eva through the screen. Its left arm had been severed by the Angel. The angry tears in my eyes started to form.

"Major! The AT Fields are merging!! The Angel is becoming one with Unit-00!!!" Maya's shouts could be heard from the radio.

"Wh-what? I-Impossible! Major! Unit-00 self destruct activation is detected!" Shigeru shouted. My heart sank. Unit-01 still wouldn't move.

"Rei…do you wish to die…?" Misato choked.

This is not what I wanted. Things are not supposed to end this way. Rei isn't supposed to die. I have a lot of things I still want to share with her. Why is this happening? Why is this happening? Please move! Move! Move! Move damn it!!!

And then I felt it.

A presence…

Mother…?

I felt it. At first, it was a very warm feeling cruising along the curves of my body. I became relaxed and everything suddenly seemed so peaceful. And then a fire burnt its way up my spine followed by a flow of overwhelming energy. The anger inside me boiled furiously, and I felt a brutal urge to destroy everything. It had begun. I knew it. Unit-01 was alive again.

"E-Eva Unit-01 reactivated…" I could faintly make out Maya's voice from the radio.

"Major!!! Countdown started!!! Ten seconds before Unit-00 self-destructs!!!"

My remaining hand reached out and grabbed the tail of the Angel. It was a firm grip. I began to close my fingers as tightly as I could, trying to pull it away from Unit-00. It gave a fruitless resist before having its tail severed.

Eight…

I ran towards the hill where Unit-00 was struggling with the Angel's head. Reaching for its body, I tried to separate the Angel from Rei, but it had already been stubbornly merged with the Eva. Splitting them had already become impossible.

Five…

Just as I had done after the fight with the fifth Angel, I quickly reached behind the back of Unit-00 and grabbed the hatch before pulling it off. Its AT Field made it slightly harder than before, but I managed to penetrate it. The entry-plug shot out immediately.

Three…

As soon as I surrounded the tube with my hand, the body of the Angel swept forward and knocked me off balance. I dropped the entry-plug and it rolled down the hill. Quickly getting back to my feet, I chased after it.

Two…

I was tripped when the Angel's body curled itself around my ankle. Nevertheless, the strength of my Eva was enough to shake it off and I crawled towards Rei's entry-plug. There was not enough time left for us to escape the explosionI could only put my hand over the white tube, barely covering it with my fingers, and hoping that this could shield her from what was to come next.

One…