Disclaimer: Same As Chapter 1.
Chapter 32: Daniel
Shinji walked out of his room slowly, hating himself for letting his argument with Asuka get so far out of hand. He sighed as he walked down the hall to see Rei standing there, staring distractedly off into the distance.
"...What did you want to speak to Asuka about?" Her voice was delicate and slightly sad, which caught the boy's attention.
"Oh, uh, nothing... I... I'm just worried about her, is all." Rei said nothing, she merely nodded. Shinji stared at her face, the melancholy evident on it beginning to bother him.
"Rei, is something wrong?" The girl with sky-blue hair slowly looked at him, then shook her head.
"...No." She lied as her thoughts slipped back to Kaworu.
Misato and Hyuga sat inside the Major's blue sedan as the mechanical locks in the car elevator clicked into place. After a few moments the moving platform began to descend, the cacophony of sliding metal on tracks filling the steel tunnel. This short, 7-minute journey from the surface of Tokyo-3 to the Geofront had only a few cameras on both arrival points and no surveillance in between, so it was the only place where they could speak without any fear of being overheard. The male technician pushed his thick glasses further up the bridge of his nose as he handed Misato a plain yellow dossier.
"...Thanks, Hyuga," the Major said with a smile. "I'm sorry I had to drag you into this." The lieutenant gave his commanding officer a sly grin.
"It's no problem, Major-- to be honest, I've been getting suspicious about this kid myself."
Misato turned her attention to the now open folder and looked through it. It was, usurprisingly, very thin, full of the same sort of minimal data that wasn't much more in depth than what she had discovered for herself-- a birthday on Second Impact, his physical information...
"Hmm...seems like NERV's as much in the dark as I am." Hyuga then pointed to a stapled set of papers further at the end of the stack.
"Here--I kinda 'borrowed' this from Maya."
The Major said nothing but gave her subordinate a look of surprise mixed with admiration. She pulled out the papers and noticed that it was an evaluation of the Fifth Child's synchronization data. Misato read through it once, then again, certain that she had read it incorrectly.
"...This can't be right...How can he set Unit-02's sync ratio to whatever he wants it to!" Hyuga sighed as he stared out the window, down at the glittering lake that lay sprawled out in front of the pyramid that was NERV Headquarters.
"I know. It's hard to believe, but there it is, in black-and-white. It was hard as hell to get this data, too-- personally, I think that this wasn't intended for General Staff review, if you know what I mean."
Misato stared at the printout with a mixture of fury and dread.
"...Who wrote this evaluation?" She didn't have to look far for an answer, though. At the end of the last page was a familiar signature.
THIS EVALUATION WRITTEN AND VERIFIED BY CHIEF SCIENTIST DR. RITSUKO AKAGI.
His sister...
Rei repeated Kaworu's words in her head over and over again as she sat on the couch with Shinji, both absentmindedly watching TV.
What did he mean by that? It had been bothering her all night. She could tell just from looking at Kaworu that they were very similar physically, but his statement had somehow implied at something more.
Does he...know the truth about me?
And if he did, what did that mean about Kaworu? Could he also have Angelic origins? The more she thought about it, the more likely it seemed. But then why hadn't he attacked yet? What was he waiting for?
She looked unconciously over at Shinji, who was watching the flickering screen with glazed-over eyes.
What if...he hurts...
She tried to ignore the fear that had suddenly gripped at her, but it soon consumed her thoughts entirely. Suddenly Shinji turned the idiot box off, giving a yawn as the apartment darkened.
"...Well, it's probably about time to get to b...Rei?" He looked over to see Rei staring at him sadly. Before he could speak again, she leaned forward and hugged him, pinning his own arms to his sides. He flushed on instinct at Rei's closeness, but soon surrendered, allowing her to embrace him.
"...Rei?" he muttered into her shoulder, unable to move.
"Yes?" Shinji took a moment to allow his mind to work properly.
"...What is it?"
"I..." Rei couldn't define what she was feeling at this moment in words-- a combination of fear and uncertainty and sadness that threatened to overwhelm her. "...I don't know." What she did know, however, was that the source of her anxieties was a single young man with silver hair and red eyes.
I won't let you be hurt, Shinji. Not by him or by anyone.
They sat like that together until Rei felt Shinji's breathing become slow and even, then helped him lay safely onto the couch so he could sleep. After watching him for another hour, she walked to Shinji's room and laid down in a vain attempt to slumber. It was the first sleepless night she'd had in a long, long time.
Halfway across the city, Kaworu also lay in bed unable to sleep. An image of Asuka appeared unheeded to him, as if in a desperate attempt to discourage himself from what was coming.
No, he thought as he sadly pushed her away from his mind's eye.
It will happen tomorrow. And there can be no going back.
Ritsuko heard the sound of footsteps stop outside her cell even through the thick steel door. She turned her head away as it slid up, pouring blinding light into the patch of near-total darkness that she sat in. She didn't need to turn around to guess who it was.
"...I've been expecting you, Major Katsuragi."
Misato didn't answer at first. It was uncomfortable for her to see the woman she had once considered a friend looking so completely despondent, yet it wasn't out of sympathy that she had come.
"I need to ask you something, Doctor." Ritsuko allowed a twisted smile to play on her lips as she continued to stare at the opposite wall.
"Our conversation is being monitored, you know."
"I don't care. This is more important than being reprimanded," Misato said a bit more harshly than she intended. "The Fifth Child-- what is he really?" Ritsuko sighed, letting silence fill the room before her answer reverberated through the small cell and the woman who recieved it.
"...He is probably the last Angel."
A/N: Just a little note: Ritsuko's line was a deliberate reference to "Silence of the Lambs." Just in case you missed it :) See you all next chapter!