DISCLAIMER, YO

I do not own Neon Genesis Evangelion; Gainax and Hideaki Anno do. I'm just a 16-year-old fanboy from Alaska.

Please read and review. Thanks. – C.o.W.

Chapter 1 – Awakening

Shinji Ikari awoke in a dark hospital room. It feels like night, he reckoned. He had no idea where he was. How long had he been asleep? The last thing he remembered was falling to the ground in his EVA. Third Impact must have failed, he thought. He tried to sit up, but his muscles were too weak. I can't even open my mouth! He was becoming very nervous. Was I in a coma? He needed answers to his questions. How long would he have to wait before they came? Although he couldn't move around much, he felt different. I had to have been in a coma. Suddenly he realized that his hair, which he usually maintained, was now very long. It was below his shoulders. It was scratching against his back; he felt very uncomfortable. It must have been years, he thought. With that thought, the memories of the last day began to return. What hit him hardest was the memory of the death of Misato Katsuragi, the closest thing he had ever had to a parent since his mother died. Immediately, tears welled up in his eyes. They fell down his face, but he was unable to lift his hand to stop them. Who else is dead? he wondered. Ritsuko-san? Rei? Asuka?

Across the hall from Shinji's room was the room in which the comatose Asuka Langley Soryu lay. Dr. Akagi had speculated that both pilots might awake around at the same time, since Shinji fell to Earth at about the point that Asuka had escaped from her entry plug and collapsed on the shore of the lake outside the main NERV building.

Shinji was discovered to be conscious six hours after he awoke. At that point, the morning sun streamed through his window, washing his face in cool light. Dr. Akagi herself came to give him a morning check-up. She looked almost unchanged after four years, except for a few more lines stress around her eyes. Her life had been surprisingly uneventful after the Geo-Front was abandoned. She had been interviewed extensively by the United Nations for their reports on everything that had happened underneath and around Tokyo-3 in 2015. She found these conversations much more pleasant than the one she'd had in front of the monolithic SEELE speakers. Afterwards, she had moved to the capital, Tokyo-2, and gone to work for a large city hospital there. Ritsuko's personal life was more of the same as well. She'd bought a large apartment and lived with a cat that she had named Misato, after her late best friend. Relationships with people had been… failures. She only wished she was more of a "people person". All of these depressed thoughts sat in the back of her mind as she opened the door to the boy's room and he, upon hearing the sound, turned to her. She gasped and ran to his bedside.

"Doctor," Shinji said softly.

"Shinji! I'm so glad to see you," Ritsuko replied happily. "How are you?" She knew exactly how he was. She was his doctor. His muscles had begun to atrophy after four years in a bed, but the situation would have been much more serious if he had not had such extensive physical training at NERV.

"I am very weak, Ritsuko-san, and hungry, too. I feel very dizzy."

"I understand, Shinji. First, however, you will need a couple of shots."

"Shots?" It's not that Shinji was afraid of needles or anything; he was just hoping to leave the hospital soon.

"Yes, your muscles haven't had to do much in a long time. I am just going to administer some stimulants," the blonde doctor explained. Carefully, she inserted a needle into each of Shinji's arms. He looked at her, but didn't really acknowledge her. He's scared and confused, Ritsuko thought. I expected this.

Slowly, Shinji felt strength return to his arms; it made them somewhat warm. It was a pleasant feeling. Dr. Akagi's last response touched his curiosity.

"Doctor, just how long has it been?"

Her face which was watching his caringly suddenly fell to her lap. She breathed in and out heavily. It was clear that she couldn't snow him. Without looking at Shinji, she spoke.

"Four years, Shinji Ikari. It's 2019."

The silence that ensued was maddening. He stared away from his doctor out the window again. She stared at the floor. It was not the wrong thing to do, she told herself. It was the only to do.

Shinji was shocked. He knew he had been comatose, but he hadn't prepared himself for the fact that he had lost four years of his life. I'm 18 years old now. I've missed four years of school, friends, and love.

"Where is everybody?"

Ritsuko had expected this question would come soon enough.

"Misato is, as you know, dead. She died during the Japanese invasion of NERV, of course. Your father is dead; he was murdered before he had a chance to combine Rei and Adam, of whom he had a piece implanted in his hand. Speaking of Rei, she is dead as well."

Shinji's eyes widened and his breathing became quick and scared. "Was she m-murdered, too?"

"No. Her physical body broke down. It was simply a shortcoming of the imperfect cloning of your mother, Shinji. Rei was already dying when Gendo Ikari tried to initiate Third Impact. She died three months after him… to the day."

"Were you there?"

"Unfortunately not; I was in New York, being interviewed by the United Nations. Maya Ibuki was at Rei's bedside. She told me that Rei felt little pain and left our world in great peace. You shouldn't talk to her about it, though. She always cries when anything about Rei is mentioned."

"Wh-what about A-Asuka-san?"

In her mind, Ritsuko smirked at the use of the honorific. On the outside, she ignored it.

"She is indeed alive, but comatose, as you were. In fact, she is in the hospital room across from this very one. I should think you might want to see her later."

This hit Shinji quite hard. Asuka was in a hospital again. It brought back the single memory of the lowest, most vile thing he had ever done in the presence of another person. He hung his head in true guilt. I have to do something to make it up to Asuka, he believed. I shall… win her heart. It was a noble goal, in the least.

"Other than that," Dr. Akagi said as she stood up, "Everyone else is still alive: Fuyutsuki, Ibuki, Hyuuga, and Aoba. Your former classmates are all okay, but they are scattered throughout the countryside. I talk to Mr. Suzuhara occasionally, because he was once a pilot and I have some important medical records on him. I can give you his number if you would like."

Shinji was mulling over everything he had heard so far. Ritsuko looked down at the boy. He's got a lot to think about, poor thing. She went to a corner of the room and called over to him.

"Would you like to leave bed now, Shinji?"

This snapped him out of his thoughts. "Yes, Doctor," he asserted. He went to swing his legs over the side of the bed, but found that his legs were all but functional. He cried out in shock.

"My legs don't work!"

"That's why you'll need this," Ritsuko said, bringing something over to his bedside. It was a wheelchair.

"Can't I walk?"

"Not without this," she replied, indicating the electric wheelchair.

"Can't I have some stimulants for my legs?" He was unaware of the fact that he was sounding like his old whiney self again.

"Sure, but if you tried to stand, you'd collapse under your own weight," the doctor said apologetically. Shinji sighed. I guess this is my only option, he thought dejectedly. He dragged himself backwards until he was ready to just plop into the wheelchair. Instead, he missed the wheelchair, hitting the front of it and falling straight to the floor with the wheelchair on top of him. He let out a weak groan. Ritsuko had seen the tumble and rolled her eyes before hoisting Shinji up and into the chair herself. Gah, he's heavy! I need a smoke, she complained to herself.

In a few minutes, Shinji had mastered the joystick of his wheelchair and was scooting around the room, somewhat pleased with himself. He was beginning to forget his bad memories, until he realized this, and promptly remembered them. He sulked as he waited in front of the door. Rei's dead. We could have been… friends, he pondered. He turned around to look at Dr. Akagi, who was turned away from him, writing furiously.

"Um, Ritsuko-san, I'm ready to leave."

"Yes, alright, I'll be right there, Shinji."

Shinji considered that this might be a few minutes, so he glanced over the rest of his room. His eyes fell upon the nightstand, where there was a pile of his personal belongings. He scooted over to the stand to examine everything. His well-worn SDAT player lay on top of everything. He lovingly picked it up to examine it. First, the batteries were long dead. Secondly, the tapes had been lost. Searching around, he couldn't find any of his tapes. Sadly, he sighed. It's going to be even harder to buy more tapes, after four years of technology. Maybe I should buy a CD player instead. He looked at the dented, rattling piece of equipment again. Yep, I need to listen to something new, he decided. He suddenly noticed something unfamiliar on the nightstand. Picking it up, he realized it was a get-well card. On the cover was a happy chibi-boy holding a green balloon. There was no text. Shinji opened the card, which read "We Miss You! Get Well Soon!" in ornate Japanese characters on the left-hand side of the card's interior. There were a number of signatures: Kouzou, Maya, Ritsuko, Toji, Kensuke, Hikari, Asuka, and Rei. The last two were the most intriguing. Asuka had written in small letters at the top of the space "You are NOT going to die before me, baka! Wake up!" Rei's first name was written it the middle of the right-hand side in perfect script. Tears again began to form in Shinji's eyes. They care about me, he thought.

Shinji turned around slowly. Ritsuko was standing over him, waiting patiently.

"Rei signed it before she died. I was surprised she could still write." Shinji knew that the doctor didn't mean this in a sarcastic way; he nodded.

"What about Asuka? Didn't we go into comas at around the same time?"

"There was a week between you and her becoming comatose. I had her sign this right away. It took a while to get the other signatures."

"I want to go now."

"Sure thing," Ritsuko said softly. She opened the door for him and he scooted out into the wide hallway. He was facing the door to Asuka's room.

"May I?" he asked quietly.

"Yes. Just be quiet." She opened Asuka's door for him. He drifted to her bedside. She lay on her back, her eyes closed, breathing softly. Her dark crimson hair was longer than ever. It framed her shoulders. Her neural interface clips were gone, giving her face a more rounded look. She looks perfect, Shinji thought. Unaware of his surroundings, he lifted a hand off of his wheelchair and stroked the young woman's chin. Ritsuko, a bit shocked at Shinji's blatant affection pretended not to see him.

A moment later, Shinji asked an unexpected question.

"Do you have a pen, Ritsuko-san?"

"Why, yes, Shinji-kun. Here you go." She handed him the pen, unsure of his intentions. Shinji took the pen and turned to Asuka's nightstand, where a similar card lay. In it were the same group of signatures, except for his and hers. Shakily, he added his name. Below it he wrote "I miss you" as he whispered it to himself for reassurance. Ritsuko realized what he had done, and she smiled lovingly. What a nice boy.

He turned to the blonde doctor and indicated that he was ready to leave. The two left Asuka's room silently. Before he exited the room, he turned back to the supine girl. He smiled. Then, he turned and left. Ritsuko also gazed at the young girl as she closed the door. You, Asuka Langley Soryu, she thought as if she was speaking, are loved very much. Don't screw this up.

The door closed, and Asuka's eyes opened. She had woken up shortly before the two had entered. She had heard them come in. She had felt Shinji's hand caress her face. She had wanted to get up and yell at him, but she couldn't mentally bring herself to do it. Finally, she had heard Shinji whisper "I miss you."

Asuka Langley Soryu cried silently as the city of Tokyo-2 woke up around her.