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"Dialogues"

- Thoughts -

"Radio Talk"


Liability Note:

Evangelion, its characters and setting are the property of Hideaki Anno. Any brands, movies and series mentioned in this Fanfic are the property of their creators.


(*)

Chapter 25.

The mighty Wunder was sailing through the skies of Europe, the defeat they suffered at the hands of NERV's new EVA unit brought morale down to the worst levels.

On the command bridge everyone was doing their job as best they could, Koji Takao was at his post looking at the values of information on his screen, but his focus was on the conversation Hideki Tama was having with Midori Kitakami and Sumire Nagara.

"Man, we took a colossal beating." Tama spoke as he lowered his head and blew his coffee.

"Spanking? It was more like a spanking." Sumire spoke with a forced laugh.

Kitakami was looking down at this moment, she still hadn't said anything since the beginning of the conversation.

"What is it?" Tama asked his co-worker as he sipped his coffee.

Kitakami raised her gaze and spoke despondently.

"It's nothing."

The truth was that she herself was feeling guilty, everyone already knew about the attempt on Shinji and after the battle they all fought, Kitakami was having serious doubts about Shinji and his character and hearing his cries of pain during the battle made her head close to exploding.

Sumire and Tama exchanged glances, taking a long breath, and Tama stepped forward.

"Come on Midori, open the game." Tama asked encouraging her to speak.

At this point, Koji stopped what he was doing and joined the group, greeting his colleagues, he waited to hear Midori's response.

"It's the boy." Midori replied as she looked at the ground.

"What do you mean?" Koji asked as he saw the look on his colleagues' faces.

"Something is not right." Midori spoke feeling her anxiety rising.

"He doesn't look like the killer monster I thought he was, moreover... really thinking back to that time when he first came here, I guess he was right after all."

Koji gave a smile to his co-worker, in fact he needed courage to reveal that he was wrong.

Tama and Nagara were watching with doubt, listening attentively to everything the group waited for Midori to continue.

"I always believed he helped your father, but someone doing everything he's doing, just to prove that he's not the same, I'm starting to think it was all just a big accident." Midori concluded as she lowered her gaze.

"But he ran away when we caught him." Tama spoke to disguise his own doubts.

"Tama, didn't you listen to Suzuhara when she told you what happened in the interrogation room?" Nagara replied with a wry smile.

She received only a nod from her co-worker.

Seeing the looks of the younger people in front of him, Koji decided to speak. "Guys, if you are having so many doubts it means you are thinking." Everyone was looking at Koji at this moment, giving him their full attention.

"When the boy and everyone has recovered, talk to him."

With that Koji walked away and returned to his post, the point he wanted to prove was already made, watching his colleague walking away, the group exchanged glances among themselves, saying nothing more and each returned to his place.


Room in the ambulatory - Wunder.

"May I know the reason Shinji?" Asuka asked Shinji who's face was marked by tears.

Shinji looked at her, his eyes only conveying sadness, speaking between tears.

"For hurting you, you'd better stay away from me, I only cause misfortune for the people around me."

Asuka held back the urge to slap Shinji, but managed to hold back and listen to her boyfriend.

"I couldn't do anything, I'm useless." Shinji spoke as he lowered his gaze and looked down at his hands that were shaking. Asuka seeing everything in front of her, raising her own hands and holding Shinji's hands to convey some reassurance and comfort to him.

Feeling this small gesture of affection, Shinji lost himself in the warm feeling that this small act transmitted, closing his eyes to concentrate only on this.

Asuka took a long breath, pulling the covers off the bed, gently moved to Shinji's side, when they were both lying down, Asuka grabbed Shinji's body and pulled him as close as she could, hugging him tightly, Asuka hoped this would give her some comfort.

The act seemed to have helped, as Asuka could feel Shinji stop shaking and felt her body relax with the warmth they both shared.

"I'm sorry Asuka." Shinji spoke with his back to his girlfriend.

Asuka could feel her anger rising, she hated Shinji apologizing for things that were not his fault, giving his arm a hard pinch, Asuka spoke annoyed.

"Stop it Shinji, it wasn't your fault."

"How could you not? If we weren't together, you never would have gotten hurt." Shinji spoke looking off into nothingness.

"I would have been in your EVA in the battle."

Feeling Asuka's hand holding his shoulder, Shinji turned around and was now facing Asuka, looking into her eyes Asuka spoke strongly.

"Shinji, I knew what I was getting myself into when I chose to stay with you." Asuka began to speak, she could see that Shinji was listening to everything.

"And I will always stand by you, will I need to repeat every speech I made in your room?"

Shinji knew that the love Asuka felt for him was true, her words helped him a little, shaking his head slightly in response, Asuka seeing this continued.

"And about the battle, unfortunately we are in a war and things like that will happen."

Shinji looked her in the eye and let it all sink in, his rational part told him to listen, for she had been at it for over fourteen years and probably WILLE had lost some battles but her emotional part was wanting to collapse even more.

"But Asuka, the city..." Shinji started to speak, Asuka stopped him by putting a finger on his lips stopping him from speaking.

"If it was unfortunately, use the anger and sadness to make you stronger, use that next time, use it against NERV." Asuka spoke confidently as she looked into Shinji's eyes.

Shinji was lost with the vision, he was listening to everything Asuka was saying attentively, seeing all the confidence Asuka was giving him and listening to her words, his pain gradually subsided, after all she was right.

"But what about the crew, they already hate me, now then... " Shinji spoke as he lowered his gaze, but this proved to be a bad idea as Asuka was wearing a simple hospital outfit and the position they were both in made her cleavage stand out more than revealing.

Asuka saw Shinji blushing and looking away, frowning and looking down she saw the reason, Asuka gave a small laugh and spoke with fake annoyance.

"Pervert." Asuka spoke as she weakly punched Shinji in the arm, she was having fun with Shinji stuttering an excuse at her, he only stopped when he saw her laughing.

"But answering your question, the four eyes told me that no one is blaming you."

At this moment Shinji looked at her strongly.

"No one?"

Asuka maintained eye contact and spoke.

"Well, I can't vouch for anyone, but a large part no, everyone saw the battle but me."

Shinji started to giggle a little, he still had a lot to deal with, but Asuka was right, they were in a war and were eventually defeated, he thought about her words and was going to use that pain to his advantage.

Asuka was looking at Shinji's thoughtful face, she was hoping that her words would help him, looking at his face intently, Asuka started at his chin, seeing the scars and a small cut, going up to look at his mouth and cheeks until she reached his eyes, getting lost in their dark blue color, Asuka started to think how close she came to losing Shinji, raising her hand and stroking the scar on his cheek with affection.

Shinji looked his girlfriend in the eyes and felt the comfort, giving a contented sigh, Shinji was lost, he felt Asuka's hand move from his cheek to the back of his neck and pull him gently, Shinji knew what Asuka wanted.

Slowly the two got closer and kissed, the kiss was simple and tender, but something inside both of them awoke and the will to go further was stronger, repeating the kiss and increasing the intensity, Shinji caressed his girlfriend's back while kissing her with passion and desire.

Asuka did the same, letting her body make the decisions, Asuka with her free hand, pushed Shinji's body slightly until he was lying completely straight on the bed and riding on her hip, Asuka broke the kiss and looked into Shinji's eyes, she could see that he was with a mixture of desire and fear, the same happened to her, but something in her head said that this was right.

Shinji could feel Asuka sitting on top of him and with her hand on his cheek, hugging his girlfriend's back, Shinji tried to be as confident as he could, receiving another kiss from Asuka, the two of them don't know how long they stayed in this position, pulling away gently, Shinji could feel Asuka's breath on his face, knowing the way they were going, Shinji asked nervously.

"Asuka, aren't we going a little too fast?"

Asuka looked at Shinji in confusion, feeling the fear of rejection Asuka hit back with an equally nervous question, the fear of being pressuring Shinji popped into her head.

"Don't you want to make love to me?"

Shinji felt his nervousness increase dramatically, he was making a huge effort to keep a certain part of his anatomy under control, but seeing the look in his girlfriend's eyes, he responded by stammering heavily.

"No ... I mean yes ... I just don't want you to think I'm taking advantage of you and doing something we might regret tomorrow." Shinji was surprised that he managed to finish speaking that sentence, he was worried if he got the right message across, looking Asuka in the eye he waited.

Asuka was looking at Shinji's face and digesting everything he had said, she thought it was cute that he was concerned about her honor, thinking about Shinji's words, she knew deep down she wanted to make love to Shinji, lowering her face and kissing her boyfriend again, Asuka replied.

"Baka." Asuka spoke smiling, speaking seductively into his ear.

"I'm sure I won't regret it."

- The shit. - Shinji thought as his mental battle was lost with the way Asuka spoke those words, awakening a certain part of his anatomy, Shinji looked away embarrassed and blushing.

Asuka sensing something, began to laugh and spoke.

"I guess that answers my question." Kissing Shinji again, they were both able to show all the love they felt for each other, connecting their souls and their bodies, they were able to make their problems go away, knowing that they could always count on the other.


Mari was in Asuka's room next to Rei, she was starting to get worried about Asuka's delay in returning, hearing a faint sound coming from next door, Mari took the glass and placed it on the wall to listen better, knowing what these sounds were, Mari gave a smile as she bit her tongue.

Rei seeing Mari's look, approached his girlfriend, and asked curiously. "What is it?"

Mari took the glass off the wall and spoke mischievously as she approached where Rei was sitting. "Let's just say the princess is 'busy' right now."

Rei turned his head in confusion, his mind was working to be able to decipher Mari's sentence, remembering Mari's sexual jokes with the others, Rei decided to risk an answer.

"Are you implying that Asuka and Shinji are having sex?" Rei asked directly and innocently.

"Bingo!" Mari exclaimed as she flapped her hands in the air, reaching over and hugging Rei lightly by the shoulders and giving her a soft kiss on her cheek, seeing Rei blushing at the tell, Mari spoke contentedly.

"I can see we are on the right track."


Detention Center - Wunder

The four attackers were sitting next to each other, all had a look of fear on their faces, for they knew they were in serious trouble, seeing the door opening and two armed guards entering, the group shuddered to see Colonel Katsuragi entering with a heavy frown on her face, looking down in shame the group waited.

Misato approached the group and stopped at two arms distance, speaking strongly. Misato asked, her patience was exhausted, she was angry with the group for trying to kill Shinji in the hallways and making Asuka end up in the hospital, she knew that Shinji was not concentrating on the battle as he was worried about Asuka, that the poor boy was now blaming himself for being defeated and the blame for everything was on these four people in front of him.

"I'm going to ask just once, who is the leader?" Misato asked strongly, she was making a great effort not to rip the heads off the four of them.

Receiving silence as an answer, Misato repeated the question, hearing a whisper, Misato turned and went to the guard who was holding a lost battle report, taking it and showing a picture of what was left of the city to the group, Misato asked again.

"WHO ... IS ... THE LEADER?"

Speaking nervously, the leader revealed himself, Misato looked at the man the way a hunter would when finding his prey, grabbing him by the collar of his uniform, Misato threw him into the corner of the room, the man shuddered with fear at the sight.

"What were you thinking!?" Misato shouted annoyed at the terrified man.

SLAP.

"Speak!" Misato spoke as he slapped the man hard across the face who quickly began to tremble with fear.

SLAP.

"Speak!"

SLAP.

"Speak!"

SLAP.

"Where were you!?"

"I don't know, we just wanted to teach the brat a lesson." The man spoke with wide eyes.

Misato at this point became even more angry, slapping the man again and holding his collar with one hand and with the other pointing a finger in his face.

"The fuck! A lesson is the fuck!" Misato yelled as she slapped the man in the face again. "Your 'lesson' cost an entire city!"

Misato gasped closed her fist very angrily, she was at her highest level, she pulled away to breathe, but still maintaining the annoyed and fierce level.

"Sorry ma'am." The man spoke as he tried to ease his situation.

Misato punched the man in the nose and spoke annoyed. "Sorry!? You traitor! You piece of shit!"

Hearing the voice of one of his guards, Misato turned his head to listen better to the person who was in the way.

"Madam, I believe that's good enough, leave it to the court martial, don't stain your hands with the traitors." The guard spoke calmly, but wisely.

Misato thought about his subordinate's words, knowing he was right Misato stood up and walked away from the terrified man on the ground, pausing to breathe, Misato turned to the others in the group and spoke strongly as he adjusted his uniform.

"You ... I hope the court martial will show no mercy." Misato spoke strongly as she left the cell, followed by her men, Misato was relieved, still feeling upset and wanting to rip the heads off the men who hurt Shinji and Asuka, looking at her red and sore palm and bruised joints Misato thought as she walked back to the hospital wing to see her former protégés.

- It paid off. -

Misato cooled her head when she arrived at the ward, she was already feeling calmer, feeling relieved to let go of the tension she was holding all the time, she entered Mari's room and found it empty, already knowing about her relationship with Rei, Misato tried Rei's room and found it empty again, huffing and trying Asuka's room, Misato found Mari and Rei lying together on the couch, both were hugging and chatting happily.

Mari noticing Misato's presence, spoke cheerfully. "Hi boss."

"Ma'am." Rei spoke professionally, she wanted to get up to greet Misato, but was restrained by Mari's arms.

Misato seeing everything decided to speak, her mind was still trying to understand where Asuka was. "Hello girls, Rei we have been together for a while now, you can call me Misato."

Receiving a nod from Rei, Misato picked up a glass of water and asked as she drank. "What are you guys doing here? Haven't you been discharged already?"

"We're waiting for Asuka, let's have lunch when she's done playing horseback riding with her puppy." Mari spoke as she gave a mischievous smile to Misato who only stared at her with a confused look on her face, but quickly understood Mari's reference, but before she spoke, Rei spoke first.

"They are having sex." Rei was straight to the point, she had not yet managed to develop the mischievousness of conversation.

Misato stared at her with a perplexed look on her face, starting to laugh, Misato was happy that she had plenty of teasing material, giving a mischievous smile as she saw the confirmation on Mari's face that she was having the same thoughts.

"Oh my god, they could have gone to their room by themselves." Misato spoke as she laughed, she had completely forgotten about her attackers, thanking the heavens that she had lived to be able to enjoy this moment and it calmed her down enough.

"Misato, what happened to your hand?" Rei asked curiously and with a bit of concern, Misato looked at her hand that was throbbing a bit.

"Nothing Rei, that was with the guys who hurt Shinji and Asuka." Misato spoke as he remembered moments ago in the cells.

"But thanks for the concern."

Rei nodded while Mari had a smile on her face. "When will I get my chance?"

Misato was about to answer when the bedroom door opened, revealing Asuka entering holding hands with Shinji, Asuka's hair was a mess and Shinji was a little embarrassed, both of them hoping they hadn't drawn attention for the act they had done in the next room.

Asuka looked at the occupants of the room and soon noticed the mischievous grin on the occupants' faces, feeling a shiver run down her spine, Asuka asked.

"What is it?"

"Nothing cowgirl." Mari replied keeping a mischievous look on her face.

Seeing Asuka blush almost rivaling the color of her hair and Shinji wanting to stick his head in a hole, Asuka decided to try to attack.

"What do you guys think we did?"

"It doesn't take much, first you guys look like a tomato, second, Asuka you are too loud." Mari retorted and got the reaction she wanted, making Asuka blush even more, Misato decided to intervene.

"Okay, you've all been discharged, it's lunchtime now, and our couple will need food to replenish their energy after the party they had." Misato spoke with a mischievous, mischievous smile.

"In a hospital room, I didn't expect such naughtiness from you Asuka."

"Misato!" Asuka spoke in anguish as everyone else laughed, Shinji was petrified with embarrassment, but they both had no regrets about what they had done.


The group sat down at one of the tables in the mess hall, Shinji was looking down as he poked at his food, he wasn't noticing, but the group was getting looks from the other crew members, but unlike the other times, the crew was looking at everyone with a look that varied from person to person, but all boiled down to pity, regret, doubt and admiration.

Asuka looked at Shinji and saw his depressed figure holding one of his hands, Shinji looked up and received a small smile from Asuka, something that was returned by Shinji.

Mari was sitting facing Rei, looking at the scene next to her, Mari decided to speak.

"Did you guys know that you can lose up to 450 calories by having sex?"

With her goal achieved and hearing Shinji's spoon drop onto the tray, Mari gave a victorious smile as she ate her paste, receiving an elbow from Asuka, Mari kept her smug look on her face.

"You're going to torment me with that aren't you?" Asuka growled at Mari who was standing next to her, receiving a nod from Mari in response, Asuka huffed and went back to eating.

"Hi people." Sakura spoke cheerfully as she sat down at the table, receiving a greeting from everyone. As lunch went by, the group was playing small talk and enjoying themselves as best they could.

"How are you Shinji?" Sakura asked when she saw that Shinji was quieter than usual, she already knew the reason, but her medical experience knew that it was better for Shinji to let off steam.

"Living." Shinji spoke looking at the empty tray, raising a gaze to Asuka's face and speaking again.

"That's not going to be easy to get over."

"I know, but you will make it." Sakura spoke confidently and with a smile on her face received a nod from Shinji.

After lunch was over, all the pilots were called to go to Wunder's bridge, Ritsuko wanted to talk to Rei about the new memories she had received.

Holding Rei's hand, Mari gave Rei a reassuring smile. "Don't worry blue."

Rei gave a small smile, deep down she was still afraid of being seen the wrong way, squeezing Mari's hand gently, Rei returned the smile and everyone began their walk towards the Wunder bridge.

Upon arrival, the bridge was quiet, after the battle, the mighty ship was sailing through the skies at a medium speed so they could do all the repairs on the EVAS and any damage they heard.

Seeing the pilots enter the bridge, the group of technicians exchanged a few glances, they were getting up the courage to be able to talk to Shinji about some things that were on their minds.

Shinji looked around and again the memories came, Shinji again stood in the same place where Sakura had taken when she woke up, standing at a window, Shinji remembered seeing Unit 02 passing by, his happiness to know that Asuka was alive, but soon his smile disappeared.

Asuka walked over to Shinji who was looking out of Wunder's round window, stopping beside him, Asuka asked quietly.

"Everything okay?"

Shinji turned and gave a brittle smile, but soon lowered his gaze, giving a tired sigh, Shinji spoke slowly as he turned to face the large window again.

"It was through that window that I found out you were alive. "

Shinji again turned around and continued to speak.

"I was watching all the movement, I asked to go outside and help you, that's when Misato first spoke to me."

Asuka just stood there listening, her mind trying to recreate the events, it can't have been easy for Shinji to return and have to face everything he faced, Asuka was brought out of her thoughts with Shinji's next sentence.

"Ikari Shinji-Kun, from now on, you won't be doing anything."

Shinji repeated the first sentence he will hear from Misato on his return, he was looking at the top pallet of the bridge where Misato was that day, Asuka said nothing as she watched Shinji's downcast look as she remembered.

"She was so cold to me that..." Shinji stopped talking as he lowered his gaze and gave a long sigh.

Asuka looked over to where Misato was supposed to be, soon she began to understand why Shinji was withdrawn, putting her hand on his shoulder.

"Don't you feel welcome?"

Shinji looked at her again and spoke with a small smile, "I have good days and bad days, I know she doesn't feel that way and we are fine, but unfortunately the memories stay."

Mari and Rei were in the background listening to everything, Mari saw Rei bow her head in guilt, for in her mind she blamed herself for everything, at that time Rei knew she was replaceable, her mind was struggling to keep herself under control, seeing Mari's gaze on her, Rei spoke downcast.

"I am sad that I caused Shinji so much pain."

"What do you mean blue?" Mari asked seeing her companion's distress.

"If he hadn't saved me, he wouldn't have had to go through this, I was replaceable, he could have made another one." Rei started to speak, but soon felt Mari's arms pulling her into a warm, protective embrace.

"Don't blame yourself blue, he saved you because he loved you, by the way you are the sister of the invincible Shinji. If he had let you die, you would never have met me." Mari concluded with a smile on her face.

Rei watched Mari's smile and soon her spirits were lifted, Rei was very grateful to have met Mari, she was one of the few people who treated her like normal, Rei could count on her fingers the people who cared about her and Mari and Shinji were at the top of the list, returning the smile.

"You are very important to me, I would hate to have never met you." With melting heart, Mari again hugged Rei.

Asuka was feeling bad for experiencing some of Shinji's memories, but feeling Shinji intertwine his fingers with theirs, she allowed herself to smile and soon their gazes met, exchanging smiles, the couple didn't realize that the crew members could hear everything, they didn't see the downcast and guilty look everyone exchanged.

"We're lucky he still wants to look at our faces after all." Hyuga spoke from her seat, speaking low so only her colleague could hear.

"True, if that happens to me, I would never want to look anyone in the face again." Shigeru spoke as he typed on his console, receiving a look from his colleague, he continued.

"Man, think about it, imagine everyone you thought cared about you is now against you, all the blame for this shit being thrown on your back, would they be okay with a simple excuse? The guys coming in and patting you on the shoulder saying they tried to kill you for having a rough day at the office?"

Hyuga lowered his gaze, listening to his colleague, he knew the answer, Shinji had been very nice to everyone at Wunder giving them a second chance after everything, the duo stopped talking when they heard the pilots' footsteps approaching, watching out of the corner of his eye as the quartet headed towards Misato's office, but never getting the day of Shinji's return out of their minds.


Hearing a knock at the door, Misato lifted his head from the reports he was reading, Ritsuko was in her room waiting for the group, with all her equipment, Ritsuko was waiting anxiously to continue her conversations with Rei, seeing that Misato gave everyone permission to enter.

"Hey guys, let's go to the conference room." Misato spoke as he stood up and led the group into a larger room.

Inside the room, everyone sat down and waited, Ritsuko pulled out a chair to sit in front of Rei, she took a drag on her cigarette and started talking.

"So Ayanami, you may begin, what do you remember?" Ritsuko spoke as she began typing on her tablet.

"I remember everything." Rei spoke gently.

"I remember being a child, I remember being killed."

When Rei spoke this, all the occupants looked at her.

"What do you mean Rei?" Misato asked keeping her shock under control.

Rei lowered his gaze and spoke sadly.

"I remember being in the NERV control room, a woman in her forties was there, on her badge it said Akagi."

Everyone looked at Ritsuko, she took a drag on her cigarette as if nothing had happened. "Was that woman's name Naoko? Ritsuko asked.

Rei lowered his gaze if he concentrated, but he couldn't be sure. "I don't know."

"No problem Rei." Ritsuko spoke professionally.

"I remember talking to this woman, she seemed to have disliked something I said..." Rei stopped as she placed a hand on his neck and shuddered at the sensation.

"She squeezed my neck with her hands the reminder ends with a snap." Everyone in the room shuddered at the description, it was strange for a person to remember and detail death.

"Rei, after that incident, what else do you remember?" Ritsuko asked, always keeping her voice professional, but deep down she was looking forward to the things Rei might reveal.

"I remember waking up in an LCL cylinder, Commander Ikari was standing next to Sub-Commander Fuyutsuki and you were standing next to Gendo Ikari." Rei spoke looking down, she couldn't tell when all eyes passed to Ritsuko, Misato stared at her long time friend, biting her tongue. Ritsuko kept her outward form, but was clearly anxious.

Rei described the moments she spent in the synchronization tests, the events at school, Shinji's arrival and her inclusion in his class of friends, the battles they both faced together, Rei described the moment Shinji asked her to smile.

Rei was downcast at the arrival of the battle against Zeruel, the how she had managed to collect an N2 missile and went to meet the angel in hopes of destroying it and making Shinji no longer have to fly an EVA, Rei couldn't see it, but Shinji gave Rei's back a small smile of gratitude.

Mari at this moment was sitting next to Rei, this was the first time Rei had spoken to her, Mari gave a small smile as she remembered her thanking him and asking him to step aside, but soon her smile sank as she remembered the following events.

Rei spoke of the moments inside the angel, and how she herself heard Shinji calling for her, the moment she realized he had come back to help her, Rei described the moment to everyone, the way Shinji reached out to hold her and pull her out of the angel's core, holding her in a warm white light.

Everyone in the room looked down, this was Rei's account of the day of the third impact, they had no knowledge of the pilots' part of that day, Ritsuko turned to Shinji and asked.

"Was it like that for you too?" Receiving a nod from Shinji, she listened to him briefly describing the moment from his point of view, Shinji was clearly uncomfortable.

Rei continued to explain the fourteen years she lived in NERV, nothing important was passed on, she only stayed alone in her makeshift room waiting for orders and the small conversations she had with Kaworu, Rei explained the reason for capturing Shinji, Gendo's explanation of the capture.

"He ordered me to kill him if capture was not possible." Rei spoke as she heard small gasps of shock, she turned her head briefly and saw Shinji's downcast look.

Ritsuko and Misato were exchanging glances, both were wondering about Gendo's motive for wanting Shinji dead if his capture was not possible. Turning again to Rei, she listened as Rei explained the first time they had seen each other.

"She had appeared when I was on an LCL cylinder, she told me that she would show me the truth, become one person, the real Rei Ayanami."

Rei described the conversations she had with herself, the pains she felt, the places she was, everything she could remember.

"When we were in central dogma, I had been ordered to kill Shinji after he and Kaworu awakened Unit 13, their role would already be completed." Rei spoke dejectedly.

Shinji was feeling increasingly bad, but soon felt Asuka's hand on his and reminding himself to use his pain as motivation to continue.

"Why didn't you do it? After the awakening, you could have completed your mission? " Misato asked from his seat.

"I was having doubts, something in Shinji aroused in me the desire to protect him and not cause harm, in the middle of the battle, pilot Shikinami told me to do what I wanted, to think for myself, that's when I triggered the ejection." Asuka gave a small smile upon hearing this.

Rei detailed the days he spent in the red earth with Shinji and Asuka, the doubts he was having with everything.

"Do you know anything about Gendo or his plan?" Ritsuko asked as she smoked another cigarette.

"He always told me to be ready for the scenario, he always told me that I had to be ready to join Lilith and be able to reunite with Yui again." Rei spoke gently.

"Wait a minute, that son of a bitch wants to end the world to bring his wife back?" Misato spoke as she listened to Rei, receiving a nod from Rei, Misato huffed in disbelief.

"I don't believe that."

Ritsuko had a look of betrayal on her face, after all she had been Gendo's lover, and knowing that he was only using her to bring back his dead wife. Everyone in the room shook their heads in disbelief, finally they had something to be able to understand Gendo's motivations, but they were soon cut off by Rei. "Sorry."

"For what?" Misato asked as he faced Rei.

"So he created me for his setting." Rei spoke sadly as she bowed her head, she could feel Mari's hand on her shoulder.

"It's not your fault Rei, he's a lunatic." Misato spoke as he approached Rei.

- Poor girl. - Misato thought sadly as he put his hand on Rei's other shoulder.

"I think it's family to apologize for something that's not your fault." Asuka spoke to try to break the ice that remained in the room.

"Alright, I think that's good, tomorrow Rei, come by my office for your routine exams." Ritsuko spoke as she got up to leave, Misato looked at her friend's back and wondered what else she was hiding.

As they were leaving the room, the group was heading outside when they heard the voice of one of the bridge technicians.

"Ikari." Shinji raised his head to a male voice calling to him, seeing that it was a group of four people, Koji, Tama, Sumire and Midori standing still, Shinji quickly remembered his arrival at Wunder, he remembered the looks these people were giving him. Mari and Asuka exchanged a quick glance, both were prepared to intervene.

After a few seconds of silence, Koji spoke with his arms crossed. "But they're a bunch of slackers anyway, just say it, kid." Giving Tama a small slap on the shoulder.

Tama swallowed dryly and began to speak. "So, we are here to ... Apologize."

Shinji was feeling confused now, his mind was racing a thousand per hour, exchanging glances with Asuka and Mari who were in front of him, Shinji turned back to the group.

"For what?"

The group looked at Shinji in shock, they all had the same thought.

"For everything, after the battle we lost, we concluded that we were unfair to you, in short we were a bunch of assholes."

Shinji raised an eyebrow, he didn't expect to receive an apology, besides, it was his fault one way or another, he saw everyone's gaze on him and seeing Tama offering his hand to Shinji who gladly accepted. "Thank you."

"I am Tama, Hideki Tama." Shinji nodded. "Midori Kitakami." "Sumire Nagara" "And you already know me, but again. Koji Takao."

Shinji greeted everyone with a small smile on his face, deep down receiving the apology helped ease the weight on his shoulders, the group didn't see it, but Misato was watching everything from above, she had a small satisfied smile on her face, turning to Ritsuko. "So, when were you going to tell me about your involvement in the Ayanami types?"

"I didn't think it was necessary." Ritsuko spoke coldly as she looked at the data on her screen, she didn't notice the cold look Misato was giving her back, preparing to give a speech, Misato received an alert that WILLE's command was requesting her.

Entering his office, Misato sat down at his desk and turned on the conference screen, seeing Kaji's image appearing and smiling Misato hoped for the worst.

"Hi Katsuragi, how are you?" Kaji asked smiling.

"Fine." That was Misato's simple response.

"How are the children?" Kaji asked with genuine concern, he cared a lot about Shinji and everyone.

"Going well, Shinji had a relapse, but Asuka 'helped' him." Misato had a mischievous smile on her face that was quickly understood by Kaji who also smiled.

"Well, that's good. But I hate to spoil the moment. " Kaji began to speak, his change in posture was clear.

"The council has formulated a plan of attack."


NERV

Gendo was standing looking at the motionless form of Unit 13, beside him was Kozo as his faithful companion.

"Ikari, are you sure this will work?" Fuyutsuki asked worriedly, they had been too far away for anything to go wrong now.

"Yes, nothing will change the scenario." Gendo spoke like a statue.

"But repeating the counting experiment is too risky, we are not sure that you will be able to control the EVA." Kozo continued his speech.

"That's why we have Nebuchadnezzar's key, it will help us in complementing the souls and give me full access to EVA." Gendo spoke coldly without looking away from the giant impaled by Longinus' spears, his eyes covered by the glasses that completely covered them

Fuyutsuki only let out a tired sigh, they had too much at stake now.

Without realizing in the background, Sebastian was watching and listening to everything the group was talking about, giving a satisfied smile, he cautiously turned away and went back to thinking about Seele's scenario, mistakenly believing that he had not been seen by Gendo.


Author's Notes: Please review, your critiques (Good or bad) are very important to me, you know that I take a lot into consideration what is said and it also gives me strength to continue this translation project, of course the translation will have problems, but hopefully it will be at satisfactory levels.

Don't forget to also like the Facebook page, search for "Calborghete" and locate a picture of Shinji and Asuka, on this page I will post updates and it will also be easier for you to contact me.

Well, see you next time.