Epilogue

Three weeks had passed and things were beginning to return to normal around the Katsuragi apartment. Rei had gone back to being an emotionless person, but Shinji brought a smile or two out of her every once in a while.
 Rei herself was feeling a little better. Dr. Akagi had taken a look at the sword necklace that Tai had made her take from him and the words that were written on it were "I'll come back for this" in an ancient form of hieroglyphic writing. She wore it herself now, never taking it off and it gave her a sense of comfort.
 "Ouch!" Rei yelped as she felt something hot under her shirt.
 "What is it, Rei?" Asuka asked, coming over to her as she dug the necklace out. The thing was glowing and it seemed to produce waves of heat. "Is that doing what I think it's doing?"
 "I don't know," Rei answered, coming out of her emotionless state for once in the last three weeks. Then she suddenly realized what it was. "It's a beacon."
 "He left you a beacon, for what?" Shinji asked.
 "For when he came back!" Rei exclaimed, waking Misato.

Four miles away, a group of people stepped out of a portal on a rooftop and stood there as they overlooked the city. The leader was clad in armor that shown angelically, as well as the rest of her comrades, but one stood off to the side with a darker armor.
 "Rind, you know why I'm here," the darker one said. "That beacon was just to strong to ignore, I can take care of myself."
 "We're just here to make sure you're going to be alright," Urd said, coming up to embrace him. "Just because I found someone else, doesn't mean I don't care for you."
 "Whatever, I just want to find out what's happening here."
 "Then, get going."
 With that, the darker armored figure placed his hands together and glowed for a moment while he recited a spell that he knew all to well. In a second, he was standing there in a pair of jeans and a t-shirt that fit him well, along with a larger and open silk shirt that had flame designs on it. "See you around," he said, and then jumped over the side of the building.
 "I hate it when he does that," Skuld barked. "You're gonna get yourself killed by a demon pulling a stunt like that!" she yelled over the side of the building as she saw him disappear in the fog.
 "Tai can take care of himself," Belldandy assured them, placing a restraining hand on her younger sister. "He does have Valkyrie training."
 "Yes, but we'll have to watch over him all the same," Urd answered, pulling back from the edge. "Let's just hope he doesn't get killed again in this dimension, we pulled him out just in time the last time."

TO BE CONTINUED