Disclaimer: Neon Genesis Evangelion is Owned by Gainax. Buy the DVD's of
the Series and the Movies from them. I did, and it was worth every dime.
I don't own anything except my DVD's, and this is done for my own
satisfaction.
Episode 2:02 Playing house
Takes place after 1st season, and the End of Evangelion Movie.
Presumed Date is January 8th, 2016
"Okay, what does it say to do now?" Shinji asked, as Asuka stood next to him with a large manual and a flashlight, reading the instructions.
"Following the initialization and priming of the pumps, you should activate the flow control system, to keep from flooding the system with too much water. This is important, due to the fact that an excess of water will cause a delay in the steam being generated in sufficient force to turn the turbines, and instead can cause a dangerous pressure spike that can destroy the water return system," She read.
Shinji nodded. "Okay, flow control system ... activated," he said, throwing several small breakers.
"Convection may not be enough to start the system, in the event the system has been down for more than 24 hours. Activate the pumps, being sure to not exceed 25 psi on the intake. When the pressure on the return line reads exceeds 75 psi, turn the pumps down and close the manual intakes. Wait until pressure exceeds 500 psi and prime the Turbines. When Turbine RPM's reach 2200, open transfer tubes. Turbines will now being normal operation. Breaker 1:3 will trip, disabling manual controls, and normal computer operation will take over. In the event this does not happen, return to step 274 and repeat all," Asuka looked up as Shinji began activating the pumps. His hand flew over the controls, and he started watching the gauges carefully, waiting for the system to respond the way it should.
"Thank god that they had a set of instructions here in German and English. If I'd had to read the Kanji we'd have blown this whole place up. Say there's an idea. If we're the only two people on the planet we can do whatever we want right?"
"Mmm yeah, I guess," Shinji said, priming the turbines, watching this new set of gauges spool up.
"Well I think that you should learn German so we can make that the official language of the Human race. Doesn't that sound like a good idea?" she said pleasantly.
Shinji watched as the Turbines hit speed, and opened the transfer tubes. Almost immediately there was a loud click and a bank of lights over a large switch labeled "Breaker 1:3" went green. There was a loud beep and several computers in the room began to boot up. The fluorescent lights overhead began to flicker, and came on after a moment, burning strongly.
"WE DID IT!" they shouted together.
"Finally, I can take a REAL hot shower," Asuka sighed.
"And I can make something for us to eat that isn't cold or cooked over a fire," Shinji added.
"Now, what were you saying about me learning German, Asuka?" he asked.
"Yeah, you should learn, that way we can stop speaking Japanese, and read and write in a language that isn't so hard. I mean really, there are over 1000 Kanji Shinji, there's lots fewer letters in a normal Alphabet, like German uses."
"Hmm. True, but I don't know if I want to learn German, after all we can both speak Japanese, so I'd rather just keep doing that."
"All right. But no more Kanji, I can't stand that. If you're gonna write anything, it should be in Romanji," she insisted.
"All right Asuka, I'll only write in Romanji. Just for you. Not that I think I'm really going to be writing anything."
Asuka smiled, glad of at least that small victory. As a genius, she found it somewhat humiliating that she still had problems with reading Japanese Kanji.
"So, everything looks stable, now what should we do?" Shinji asked.
"First, I think we should follow your suggestion and have a nice hot meal," Asuka said, putting her hands on her hips. "Do you remember how to get to the Cafeteria and Kitchen from here?"
"I think I do. If not we can always go back to the Command Center, and I can get us there from here," Shinji nodded slowly, gaining confidence as he spoke.
"Alright, Shinji, lead the way," she motioned, and, somewhat uncomfortable, Shinji took the lead.
It took them the better part of half an hour to locate the Cafeteria. It wasn't as large as the one at their old NERV base, but it was very serviceable. And the food in the freezer was still frozen, which was a surprise. The refrigerator... Shinji didn't like to think about that. There were also plenty of canned goods, and dry staples. Beans, Rice, Flour, Sugar, and many other kids of things were all in good supply. The base didn't have gas stoves, instead it was all run by electricity. Because of this, they'd been forced to do their cooking using the emergency stoves they'd found and campfires on the surface.
Shinji had tried to make their last few days worth of meals as tasty and interesting as possible, but there was only so much you could do with the emergency gear they'd found at the base.
They hadn't wanted to stray too far from the NERV base's entrance. They knew that this base was a former JSDF Airbase, and there must be some place around here where they would find better shelter than the emergency quarters they were staying in. But this was a NERV base, and something about that gave them comfort.
'Odd,' thought Shinji, 'I used to be so uncomfortable at NERV, now, it's so familiar, it's almost like home.'
He glanced at Asuka as she got some things out of the freezer for them to make their meal out of, while he was getting the rice.
'And Asuka's an even bigger surprise. Since we woke up that second morning on the beach, she's almost been nice to me. Certainly nicer than she's been since we met.'
"Need anything else?"
"What?" Shinji asked, startled out of his reverie
"I asked do you need anything else?" Asuka asked.
"No, that looks like enough. Was the freezer running?" he asked.
"Yeah. The fans are working and everything. You can hear the compressor motor from here if you listen carefully."
"Well, after we get something to eat, I know it's not something either of us wants to do, but I think we should go through the refrigerator and see what we can salvage, what we need to eat right now, and what's a total loss," he said.
"Ew, Gross!" she exclaimed, scrunching up her nose at the idea.
"I know. I feel the same way, but we've got to do it sooner or later. And it will just get worse," he said.
"Think that trash incinerator is still working?" she asked.
"I think so. If I understand correctly, it runs on electricity, not gas, so it should be back up and running now," Shinji explained.
"Great, then we don't have to haul all this stuff up the stairs and into a garbage dump somewhere."
"We don't have to haul anything upstairs anymore. We can use the Monorail."
"All Right! I totally forgot about that," Asuka cheered.
Shinji smiled. He'd miss walking up and down those stairs. He invariably let Asuka lead the way, and watching her move up the stairs was actually pretty enjoyable.
A small content sigh escaped his lips.
"Tired? Me too, lets get something to eat, and then get some sleep."
"But Asuka, it's barely after noon. I'm not ready to go to bed yet."
"Silly, I'm talking about a power nap. A good meal, a quick nap, and we'll be refreshed and ready to explore some more," she said, tapping the end of his nose.
Shinji's eyes crossed as he looked at her finger. She removed it and laughed at him.
"Well hand me those ingredients, and lets get cooking," he said.
After a hearty meal, which for the first time in almost a week was NOT composed of survival rations, they walked up to the barracks room that they had shared. Neither one of them really felt like sleeping apart from the other, even though there were hundreds of other emergency barracks rooms on this level. Shinji had wondered why Asuka had followed him into the room he'd chosen the first night they'd stayed here, but Asuka had shrugged it off.
He wondered if it was because she was afraid of being alone, despite her protestations that she didn't need anybody. He hardly thought it was worth considering that she might actually want to be close to him.
Now as he lay down on the bed he watched her crawl into the bed across from him.
"Okay, we'll wake up in an hour, and then get some work done," she said, setting the small portable alarm clock she'd found.
"Alright," Shinji said, closing his eyes.
"Shinji."
"Yeah?" he said opening his eyes.
"I know we have lights now, but can you turn them out? I can't sleep with them on," Asuka said.
"Oh, alright," he said, getting up, and shutting off the light, not noticing Asuka watching him intently. Lights off, he crawled back into the bed, and closed his eyes.
"Pleasant dreams Shinji."
"Pleasant dreams Asuka."
After a brief nap, the two of them decided that it was finally time to explore the surface. Shinji wanted to see what they could find, and wanted to do some exploring. He also wanted to be up on the surface when the sun set, to see how much of the surrounding area was being powered by the bases Geothermal generator.
So they went back up to the surface, taking a backpack full of snacks and drinks for each of them, as well as an empty sack. As they encountered the clothing of the former inhabitants of the base, they would go through them, gathering up any keys, wallets, id cards and other bits and pieces. The clothes all got put in one of the storage lockers they'd found near the entrance, and the keys and other personal effects went in the Security control station.
Shinji thought that this way they could get past any locked door with ease, as they'd always have the keys. Although their collection of keys was now several thousand, so it was getting a bit unwieldy. They had taken to recording such things as the place the keys were found, who they belonged to, if ID was found with them, and other relevant notes, such as home address, and any work id.
As they left the underground portion of the NERV base and emerged on the surface, Shinji walked over to the Motorcycle that they'd taken from the diner the week before and put his backpack and bags in the cargo compartment. Asuka did the same, and soon they were riding around the base, exploring and investigating as they went. Shinji was actually kind of disappointed. He'd never been on a real military base before, and wasn't sure what exactly to expect, but it had certainly not been this. The part of the base where the entrance to the NERV facility was was surrounded by security offices, parking garages and other things he'd become familiar with at the main NERV base.
But away from there, there were department stores, called commissaries, and convenience stores, called a PX. There was even a fair sized book store and a movie theatre nearby. There were police stations, for MP's, fire stations, and a hospital They quickly found a couple schools; and a large gym with indoor pools, tennis, basketball, and squash, and more weight equipment than he'd ever seen. But what was most surprising to Shinji was the number of houses. Acres and Acres of houses. All lined up into neat little neighborhoods with neat little houses all looking very much the same.
As they traveled through one neighborhood, Shinji noted that all the houses had the resident officers name and rank painted on the front sidewalk. Sergeants were all in one area, lieutenants in another, Captains in a third, majors in a forth, and the Lieutenant Colonels and Colonels shared one huge area where the streets made three large interconnecting loops. All the houses were on the outside of the loops, and the interior was covered in trees and had a large central park area. At the end of the huge series of triple loops was a large Mansion. The gold embossed sign on the front gate proclaimed this the home of the JSDF Airbases resident commander.
Ironically, there was almost no sign of any real military equipment or weapons in this area. Shinji had to come over a substantial set of hills and into another valley, all of which was still connected within the bases perimeter, according to the map they'd picked up at the Military Checkpoint installed at the entrance to the base. As he crested the rise, he undersood why they hadn't seen any sign of military equipment or weapons in the other areas of the base.
They were all here.
Acres and Acres of runways, hangars, fuel depots, and supply sheds. Building packed with bombs, missiles, and bullets; others containing machineguns, rocket launchers, flame throwers, grenades, and man portable missile systems. There were even Armored Personnel Carriers, Military Transports, and Construction equipment.
"Wow," Shinji said, walking into the last in a series of hangars at the far end of the airfield.
Before him and Asuka sat a squadron of brand new UN F-22 Fighter aircraft.
"That's cool," Shinji said, "I wish Kensuke were here to see these. He'd be going nuts."
"The stooge, yeah, that's just what we need," Asuka said sarcastically.
Shinji sighed and turned the bike around, the sun was about to set and he wanted to get to a good vantage point to watch. He wondered how much of the local area was connected to the NERV facilities power grid. It took the better part of an hour to find exactly what he was looking for, but he finally found it. A park that was on top of a rather tall local hill, or maybe it was a small mountain. Either way, from the parking lot he could see the base and much of the surrounding countryside stretched out for miles around them. He could even see the magenta sea of LCL glowing in the distance.
The sun set was incredible, as the sky proceeded through oranges and golds to reds and purples, and finally the violets and dark blues. Finally true night arrived, and the stars shown down upon them, just as the moon was beginning its slow march across the sky.
Shinji gazed out upon the base as the streetlights glowed. Several of the houses and building were also lit up, and he made a note that he and Asuka should really go around and shut some of the lights off, just in case.
He had finally finished making his survey, deciding that only the base proper was connected to the grid, and not any of the outlying areas, when he turned and saw Asuka.
She had long ago removed her helmet, and her long red hear was cascading down her back. He could only see her left profile, but she had the most beatific smile on her face as she watched the black moon begin to rise over the ocean.
'That's something I hadn't really thought of,' Shinji thought to himself. 'The egg of Lilith, the Guff, is now a new moon, in orbit around the earth. That's cool. Two moon rises for the price of one.'
"Its not alone any more," Asuka whispered.
"What," Shinji said.
"The moon. Or, Luna I guess, since we now have two moons. I always thought that the moon seemed kind of lonely, sitting there in the heavens, orbiting the earth all by itself. It's not alone any more," she said.
Shinji nodded thoughtfully, and looked as the black moon cleared the horizon. They stood there together, watching the two moons ascent into the night sky. The Black moon, surprisingly, had a fairly reflective surface, and was almost glossy, so the night was brighter than Shinji had ever remembered it being.
"Ready to go back?" he asked, pulling on his helmet.
"Yeah, we better get back, I'm starting to get hungry, and I'm tired of sandwiches and power bars," she said, climbing on the bike behind him, and putting on her helmet. As they sped back to the NERV base, she clutched him tightly, and Shinji felt closer to her than he ever had.
'Maybe it's because I'm no longer alone,' he thought to himself.
He pulled the bike into the NERV base, and used the pass card for the commander, which they found in the Command Center, to open the access doors for the monorail. Once They'd parked the bike, he proceeded to press the button for the level where the Cafeteria was.
They enjoyed a leisurely dinner, and a desert made of an instant chocolate pudding that Shinji had found in one of the storage lockers.
Placing their dishes, as well as several other dirty ones they'd cleared off of the other tables, in the large dishwasher, they set the auto run cycle and proceeded back to their quarters. Shinji let Asuka change into her night clothes, which she'd picked up at one of the Commissaries that afternoon. When she gave him the all clear, he came into the room. She was sitting up on the bed, wearing a yellow shirt, almost identical to the one she usually wore around the house, back in Tokyo-3.
He stripped his pants off, too tired to care if Asuka watched, shut off the light, and crawled into his bed. As he lay there in the silence of the room, which was now barely lit by a very soft blue glow coming an small LCD screen set into the wall, he looked at this unfamiliar ceiling.
"Hey Asuka?" he said softly.
"Yeah?" she answered in the same voice.
"Remember how you said you felt the moon was always alone, but now it wasn't because of the black moon?" he continued.
"Yeah." She confirmed.
"Well... I... That is... I just wanted you to know, that that's how I feel too," he finished.
"That the moon isn't alone?" she asked.
"No. That I'm not alone any more. That I have a good friend who will always be there for me," he finished. He closed his eyes and went to sleep.
Asuka stayed awake for almost another hour, just staring at Shinji's sleeping form. She didn't know if she'd have the guts to tell him that she felt the same way, but she knew that she never would have been the first to say it. She lay there for a long time, thinking about what he'd said, and all the things they'd been through together, and any number of other things, before her sleep addled mind finally came to a decision.
Quietly she got up, walked over to his bed, and slid in beside him, trying to disturb him as little as possible. He rolled over, turning his back to her, and she snuggled up against him, hugging him softly in his sleep.
"Me too, Shinji, me too," she whispered, and closed her eyes.
Next on Episode 2:03 of Neon Genesis Evangelion No longer alone, Shinji and Asuka have stopped living in the dark and dank quarters they shared within the NERV facility. Now, their new responsibilities consume most of their days and available energy, but a new chapter in their lives is on the horizon, and the two former EVA Pilots will once again gain that status before enjoying a relaxing night at home.
It's Evangelion Episode 2:03 Another Unfamiliar Ceiling.
Episode 2:02 Playing house
Takes place after 1st season, and the End of Evangelion Movie.
Presumed Date is January 8th, 2016
"Okay, what does it say to do now?" Shinji asked, as Asuka stood next to him with a large manual and a flashlight, reading the instructions.
"Following the initialization and priming of the pumps, you should activate the flow control system, to keep from flooding the system with too much water. This is important, due to the fact that an excess of water will cause a delay in the steam being generated in sufficient force to turn the turbines, and instead can cause a dangerous pressure spike that can destroy the water return system," She read.
Shinji nodded. "Okay, flow control system ... activated," he said, throwing several small breakers.
"Convection may not be enough to start the system, in the event the system has been down for more than 24 hours. Activate the pumps, being sure to not exceed 25 psi on the intake. When the pressure on the return line reads exceeds 75 psi, turn the pumps down and close the manual intakes. Wait until pressure exceeds 500 psi and prime the Turbines. When Turbine RPM's reach 2200, open transfer tubes. Turbines will now being normal operation. Breaker 1:3 will trip, disabling manual controls, and normal computer operation will take over. In the event this does not happen, return to step 274 and repeat all," Asuka looked up as Shinji began activating the pumps. His hand flew over the controls, and he started watching the gauges carefully, waiting for the system to respond the way it should.
"Thank god that they had a set of instructions here in German and English. If I'd had to read the Kanji we'd have blown this whole place up. Say there's an idea. If we're the only two people on the planet we can do whatever we want right?"
"Mmm yeah, I guess," Shinji said, priming the turbines, watching this new set of gauges spool up.
"Well I think that you should learn German so we can make that the official language of the Human race. Doesn't that sound like a good idea?" she said pleasantly.
Shinji watched as the Turbines hit speed, and opened the transfer tubes. Almost immediately there was a loud click and a bank of lights over a large switch labeled "Breaker 1:3" went green. There was a loud beep and several computers in the room began to boot up. The fluorescent lights overhead began to flicker, and came on after a moment, burning strongly.
"WE DID IT!" they shouted together.
"Finally, I can take a REAL hot shower," Asuka sighed.
"And I can make something for us to eat that isn't cold or cooked over a fire," Shinji added.
"Now, what were you saying about me learning German, Asuka?" he asked.
"Yeah, you should learn, that way we can stop speaking Japanese, and read and write in a language that isn't so hard. I mean really, there are over 1000 Kanji Shinji, there's lots fewer letters in a normal Alphabet, like German uses."
"Hmm. True, but I don't know if I want to learn German, after all we can both speak Japanese, so I'd rather just keep doing that."
"All right. But no more Kanji, I can't stand that. If you're gonna write anything, it should be in Romanji," she insisted.
"All right Asuka, I'll only write in Romanji. Just for you. Not that I think I'm really going to be writing anything."
Asuka smiled, glad of at least that small victory. As a genius, she found it somewhat humiliating that she still had problems with reading Japanese Kanji.
"So, everything looks stable, now what should we do?" Shinji asked.
"First, I think we should follow your suggestion and have a nice hot meal," Asuka said, putting her hands on her hips. "Do you remember how to get to the Cafeteria and Kitchen from here?"
"I think I do. If not we can always go back to the Command Center, and I can get us there from here," Shinji nodded slowly, gaining confidence as he spoke.
"Alright, Shinji, lead the way," she motioned, and, somewhat uncomfortable, Shinji took the lead.
It took them the better part of half an hour to locate the Cafeteria. It wasn't as large as the one at their old NERV base, but it was very serviceable. And the food in the freezer was still frozen, which was a surprise. The refrigerator... Shinji didn't like to think about that. There were also plenty of canned goods, and dry staples. Beans, Rice, Flour, Sugar, and many other kids of things were all in good supply. The base didn't have gas stoves, instead it was all run by electricity. Because of this, they'd been forced to do their cooking using the emergency stoves they'd found and campfires on the surface.
Shinji had tried to make their last few days worth of meals as tasty and interesting as possible, but there was only so much you could do with the emergency gear they'd found at the base.
They hadn't wanted to stray too far from the NERV base's entrance. They knew that this base was a former JSDF Airbase, and there must be some place around here where they would find better shelter than the emergency quarters they were staying in. But this was a NERV base, and something about that gave them comfort.
'Odd,' thought Shinji, 'I used to be so uncomfortable at NERV, now, it's so familiar, it's almost like home.'
He glanced at Asuka as she got some things out of the freezer for them to make their meal out of, while he was getting the rice.
'And Asuka's an even bigger surprise. Since we woke up that second morning on the beach, she's almost been nice to me. Certainly nicer than she's been since we met.'
"Need anything else?"
"What?" Shinji asked, startled out of his reverie
"I asked do you need anything else?" Asuka asked.
"No, that looks like enough. Was the freezer running?" he asked.
"Yeah. The fans are working and everything. You can hear the compressor motor from here if you listen carefully."
"Well, after we get something to eat, I know it's not something either of us wants to do, but I think we should go through the refrigerator and see what we can salvage, what we need to eat right now, and what's a total loss," he said.
"Ew, Gross!" she exclaimed, scrunching up her nose at the idea.
"I know. I feel the same way, but we've got to do it sooner or later. And it will just get worse," he said.
"Think that trash incinerator is still working?" she asked.
"I think so. If I understand correctly, it runs on electricity, not gas, so it should be back up and running now," Shinji explained.
"Great, then we don't have to haul all this stuff up the stairs and into a garbage dump somewhere."
"We don't have to haul anything upstairs anymore. We can use the Monorail."
"All Right! I totally forgot about that," Asuka cheered.
Shinji smiled. He'd miss walking up and down those stairs. He invariably let Asuka lead the way, and watching her move up the stairs was actually pretty enjoyable.
A small content sigh escaped his lips.
"Tired? Me too, lets get something to eat, and then get some sleep."
"But Asuka, it's barely after noon. I'm not ready to go to bed yet."
"Silly, I'm talking about a power nap. A good meal, a quick nap, and we'll be refreshed and ready to explore some more," she said, tapping the end of his nose.
Shinji's eyes crossed as he looked at her finger. She removed it and laughed at him.
"Well hand me those ingredients, and lets get cooking," he said.
After a hearty meal, which for the first time in almost a week was NOT composed of survival rations, they walked up to the barracks room that they had shared. Neither one of them really felt like sleeping apart from the other, even though there were hundreds of other emergency barracks rooms on this level. Shinji had wondered why Asuka had followed him into the room he'd chosen the first night they'd stayed here, but Asuka had shrugged it off.
He wondered if it was because she was afraid of being alone, despite her protestations that she didn't need anybody. He hardly thought it was worth considering that she might actually want to be close to him.
Now as he lay down on the bed he watched her crawl into the bed across from him.
"Okay, we'll wake up in an hour, and then get some work done," she said, setting the small portable alarm clock she'd found.
"Alright," Shinji said, closing his eyes.
"Shinji."
"Yeah?" he said opening his eyes.
"I know we have lights now, but can you turn them out? I can't sleep with them on," Asuka said.
"Oh, alright," he said, getting up, and shutting off the light, not noticing Asuka watching him intently. Lights off, he crawled back into the bed, and closed his eyes.
"Pleasant dreams Shinji."
"Pleasant dreams Asuka."
After a brief nap, the two of them decided that it was finally time to explore the surface. Shinji wanted to see what they could find, and wanted to do some exploring. He also wanted to be up on the surface when the sun set, to see how much of the surrounding area was being powered by the bases Geothermal generator.
So they went back up to the surface, taking a backpack full of snacks and drinks for each of them, as well as an empty sack. As they encountered the clothing of the former inhabitants of the base, they would go through them, gathering up any keys, wallets, id cards and other bits and pieces. The clothes all got put in one of the storage lockers they'd found near the entrance, and the keys and other personal effects went in the Security control station.
Shinji thought that this way they could get past any locked door with ease, as they'd always have the keys. Although their collection of keys was now several thousand, so it was getting a bit unwieldy. They had taken to recording such things as the place the keys were found, who they belonged to, if ID was found with them, and other relevant notes, such as home address, and any work id.
As they left the underground portion of the NERV base and emerged on the surface, Shinji walked over to the Motorcycle that they'd taken from the diner the week before and put his backpack and bags in the cargo compartment. Asuka did the same, and soon they were riding around the base, exploring and investigating as they went. Shinji was actually kind of disappointed. He'd never been on a real military base before, and wasn't sure what exactly to expect, but it had certainly not been this. The part of the base where the entrance to the NERV facility was was surrounded by security offices, parking garages and other things he'd become familiar with at the main NERV base.
But away from there, there were department stores, called commissaries, and convenience stores, called a PX. There was even a fair sized book store and a movie theatre nearby. There were police stations, for MP's, fire stations, and a hospital They quickly found a couple schools; and a large gym with indoor pools, tennis, basketball, and squash, and more weight equipment than he'd ever seen. But what was most surprising to Shinji was the number of houses. Acres and Acres of houses. All lined up into neat little neighborhoods with neat little houses all looking very much the same.
As they traveled through one neighborhood, Shinji noted that all the houses had the resident officers name and rank painted on the front sidewalk. Sergeants were all in one area, lieutenants in another, Captains in a third, majors in a forth, and the Lieutenant Colonels and Colonels shared one huge area where the streets made three large interconnecting loops. All the houses were on the outside of the loops, and the interior was covered in trees and had a large central park area. At the end of the huge series of triple loops was a large Mansion. The gold embossed sign on the front gate proclaimed this the home of the JSDF Airbases resident commander.
Ironically, there was almost no sign of any real military equipment or weapons in this area. Shinji had to come over a substantial set of hills and into another valley, all of which was still connected within the bases perimeter, according to the map they'd picked up at the Military Checkpoint installed at the entrance to the base. As he crested the rise, he undersood why they hadn't seen any sign of military equipment or weapons in the other areas of the base.
They were all here.
Acres and Acres of runways, hangars, fuel depots, and supply sheds. Building packed with bombs, missiles, and bullets; others containing machineguns, rocket launchers, flame throwers, grenades, and man portable missile systems. There were even Armored Personnel Carriers, Military Transports, and Construction equipment.
"Wow," Shinji said, walking into the last in a series of hangars at the far end of the airfield.
Before him and Asuka sat a squadron of brand new UN F-22 Fighter aircraft.
"That's cool," Shinji said, "I wish Kensuke were here to see these. He'd be going nuts."
"The stooge, yeah, that's just what we need," Asuka said sarcastically.
Shinji sighed and turned the bike around, the sun was about to set and he wanted to get to a good vantage point to watch. He wondered how much of the local area was connected to the NERV facilities power grid. It took the better part of an hour to find exactly what he was looking for, but he finally found it. A park that was on top of a rather tall local hill, or maybe it was a small mountain. Either way, from the parking lot he could see the base and much of the surrounding countryside stretched out for miles around them. He could even see the magenta sea of LCL glowing in the distance.
The sun set was incredible, as the sky proceeded through oranges and golds to reds and purples, and finally the violets and dark blues. Finally true night arrived, and the stars shown down upon them, just as the moon was beginning its slow march across the sky.
Shinji gazed out upon the base as the streetlights glowed. Several of the houses and building were also lit up, and he made a note that he and Asuka should really go around and shut some of the lights off, just in case.
He had finally finished making his survey, deciding that only the base proper was connected to the grid, and not any of the outlying areas, when he turned and saw Asuka.
She had long ago removed her helmet, and her long red hear was cascading down her back. He could only see her left profile, but she had the most beatific smile on her face as she watched the black moon begin to rise over the ocean.
'That's something I hadn't really thought of,' Shinji thought to himself. 'The egg of Lilith, the Guff, is now a new moon, in orbit around the earth. That's cool. Two moon rises for the price of one.'
"Its not alone any more," Asuka whispered.
"What," Shinji said.
"The moon. Or, Luna I guess, since we now have two moons. I always thought that the moon seemed kind of lonely, sitting there in the heavens, orbiting the earth all by itself. It's not alone any more," she said.
Shinji nodded thoughtfully, and looked as the black moon cleared the horizon. They stood there together, watching the two moons ascent into the night sky. The Black moon, surprisingly, had a fairly reflective surface, and was almost glossy, so the night was brighter than Shinji had ever remembered it being.
"Ready to go back?" he asked, pulling on his helmet.
"Yeah, we better get back, I'm starting to get hungry, and I'm tired of sandwiches and power bars," she said, climbing on the bike behind him, and putting on her helmet. As they sped back to the NERV base, she clutched him tightly, and Shinji felt closer to her than he ever had.
'Maybe it's because I'm no longer alone,' he thought to himself.
He pulled the bike into the NERV base, and used the pass card for the commander, which they found in the Command Center, to open the access doors for the monorail. Once They'd parked the bike, he proceeded to press the button for the level where the Cafeteria was.
They enjoyed a leisurely dinner, and a desert made of an instant chocolate pudding that Shinji had found in one of the storage lockers.
Placing their dishes, as well as several other dirty ones they'd cleared off of the other tables, in the large dishwasher, they set the auto run cycle and proceeded back to their quarters. Shinji let Asuka change into her night clothes, which she'd picked up at one of the Commissaries that afternoon. When she gave him the all clear, he came into the room. She was sitting up on the bed, wearing a yellow shirt, almost identical to the one she usually wore around the house, back in Tokyo-3.
He stripped his pants off, too tired to care if Asuka watched, shut off the light, and crawled into his bed. As he lay there in the silence of the room, which was now barely lit by a very soft blue glow coming an small LCD screen set into the wall, he looked at this unfamiliar ceiling.
"Hey Asuka?" he said softly.
"Yeah?" she answered in the same voice.
"Remember how you said you felt the moon was always alone, but now it wasn't because of the black moon?" he continued.
"Yeah." She confirmed.
"Well... I... That is... I just wanted you to know, that that's how I feel too," he finished.
"That the moon isn't alone?" she asked.
"No. That I'm not alone any more. That I have a good friend who will always be there for me," he finished. He closed his eyes and went to sleep.
Asuka stayed awake for almost another hour, just staring at Shinji's sleeping form. She didn't know if she'd have the guts to tell him that she felt the same way, but she knew that she never would have been the first to say it. She lay there for a long time, thinking about what he'd said, and all the things they'd been through together, and any number of other things, before her sleep addled mind finally came to a decision.
Quietly she got up, walked over to his bed, and slid in beside him, trying to disturb him as little as possible. He rolled over, turning his back to her, and she snuggled up against him, hugging him softly in his sleep.
"Me too, Shinji, me too," she whispered, and closed her eyes.
Next on Episode 2:03 of Neon Genesis Evangelion No longer alone, Shinji and Asuka have stopped living in the dark and dank quarters they shared within the NERV facility. Now, their new responsibilities consume most of their days and available energy, but a new chapter in their lives is on the horizon, and the two former EVA Pilots will once again gain that status before enjoying a relaxing night at home.
It's Evangelion Episode 2:03 Another Unfamiliar Ceiling.