No: 2 - Goodbye

Disclaimer: I do not own Evangelion or any of the characters they are the property of their respective creators. Please be aware that no profit is being made from this work of fan fiction.

Asuka lay beside his silent form. She had wept until the tears would no longer come, her fists pounding silently against his chest as she called out for him, begging him not to leave her all alone again. The bullet had gone straight through his heart, death had been near instantaneous. He had been dead before he reached the ground, her cries falling only on the deaf ears of his corpse. When the tears had ended she had steeled her resolve and lifted the pistol from his cold, dead grasp before placing it against her chest as Shinji had done only moments before.

"Soon…"

She whispered the single word as her eyes slid closed and as her finger gently pulled back the trigger…only the sound of Asuka's body striking the cold, damp earth broke the silence that followed. The gun was empty, the only bullet being the one that now lay inside his heart…now both physically and emotionally exhausted she fell into a troubled sleep.

She awoke breathing heavily, shaken by her nightmare. Third Impact had come and only she and Shinji remained; then, even he had been taken away from her and she was truly alone in that broken world…as her eyes slid open and vision began to focus on the blood red sky above she knew it was not a dream. Once again, the tears came as she wept for all that she had lost…

A figure watched the crying girl silently. He stood floating just above the surface of the red sea, short grey hair blowing in the gentle breeze as his red eyes traced the two figures that lay upon the beach. After a little while the girl's tears subsided and she raised her head to gaze out at the ocean. When she saw the figure there her eyes widened, filled with a mixture of panic and fear she desperately tried to move away from him, hands clawing at the soft sand, trying to escape that gaze that mirrored back her guilt.

Ignoring her reaction he began to float forwards. As he reached the waters edge he floated down so that his feet pressed gently into the soft sand. He walked forwards, now moving towards the second figure, the lifeless form of the one who had once been his friend.

"Shinji…"

His voice was filled with an insurmountable sadness as his eyes swept over the silent form of what had been the third child. Once he had given up his life so that the boy could live and now he had returned to life while the other laid in deaths cold embrace…the irony of this was not lost on him.

"Now I understand…what it is to be human."

He stood there in silence for a moment longer before turning his attention back to the girl. She had not moved all this time, her hands still grasping at the sand blindly yet no longer was she moving away. Her expression had changed now, the look of blind terror that had consumed her eyes now replaced with a mixture of guilt and uncertainty with only traces of fear evident. He knew she had been the cause of Shinji's untimely death, it had been her actions that had driven the boy to the depths of despair such that he took his own life; yet, he bore her no malice. As her soul opened up to him, he finally understood…the reason why they had been drawn together and why she was now drawn to him, her soul was the same as Shinji's…

"Asuka Langley Soryu. That is your name is it not? Shinji often though of you."

Her eyes shifted their focus onto his as her lips parted slightly to let out a whispered reply.

"Who are you?"

"Some people know me as Tabris, the seventeenth Angel. To Shinji I was simply Kaworu, the Fifth Child and his friend."

Asuka's mind began working double time. During Third Impact, as all the memories of all of humanity were shared, she had seen what appeared to be one of Shinji's memories. This boy…this Angel…had been held in the palm of Unit-01. He had gone to Central Dogma to initiate Third Impact by joining with Adam. Shinji, the only remaining pilot, had been sent to stop him. She could remember his emotions as if they had been her own, the swirling conflict within him as he was torn between his duty and his friend. She could feel the pain that had coursed through him as Kaworu had asked him to end his life so that humanity might be spared. The guilt and sadness that had torn his heart when the great armoured fist of Unit-01 had finally closed…

"…He killed you…"

"Yes, it is true that Shinji was forced to destroy my physical body. Yet, my soul remained."

A brief speck of hope ignited in her heart. Perhaps he could…

"…Can Shinji?"

The silver haired boy shook his head sadly, a terrible sadness evident on his face.

"No. His soul was weak after separating himself from instrumentality and bringing you both back. When he died his soul shattered…"

Once more Asuka could feel the tears overwhelming her; by her actions she had driven him to his breaking point, she had caused him to take his life and now because of her he was gone forever. She fell to the ground weeping heavily, her fists pounding against the soft sand as she silently cried out his name over and over as despair overcame her once more.

Kaworu looked down at the girl. Once more he was reminded of how alike the two were. In that brief moment he came to a decision; he knew what he must do…

"Asuka."

Her head rose slightly at the sound of her name. Her eyes were red once again as tears continued to stream down her face caressing its curves as they fell silently away and were absorbed into the sand.

"There may be no way to bring Shinji back now but there might be a way to bring you to him."

Once more the embers of hope that had burned so briefly flared once more; in that moment Asuka knew she would do anything to be by his side once more, no matter the cost…

"I can send your soul back, back to before all this came to be."

"Please…"

She was going to plead with him but a simple gesture moved her to silence; he was not yet done in his explanation.

"There is great risk in this, I cannot guarantee to what time you will be returned. You may arrive to late or too early, that is something I have no control over thus you may go further back than you would wish."

For a brief moment an image of finding her mother hanging from the ceiling holding the doll that was supposed to be her flashed in her mind. There was a chance that she would be forced to relive that moment, the one that had driven her to close herself of and ultimately her abuse of Shinji and his eventual suicide. She shook her head trying to force away the memory; it didn't matter anymore, she would face anything no matter how terrible just to feel his embrace once again.

"Please…I am ready."

The boy nodded in affirmation; his whole body beginning to glow and soon Asuka was enveloped in light. Slowly she could feel her physical self falling away as her soul was drawn outwards. Once the separation was complete she began to feel something tugging at her, pulling her backwards into the rift. She turned her gaze down at Shinji's body once more, looking upon her love for what would be the last time in this world.

'Soon…'

Then she could think no more as a great wave of pain crashed over her as she was finally pulled wholly into the rift and cast adrift into the seas of time and space.

As the light faded, Kaworu dropped to his knees, blood now flowing from his eyes, ears, nose and mouth. He looked one last time at the body of his only love, whispering to him with his final breath.

"Goodbye Shinji."

Finally the seventeenth Angel fell face first onto the sand as his body began to decay. Skin and bone dissolving like liquid into the sand now that the light of his soul had been extinguished.

Chapter preread by That Other Guy