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Episode 4: Sick and Alone

: Begin Transmission:

"This is just great," Rei groaned. "How did I manage to get detention?" She sighed, hitting her head against her desk in aggravation. Outside the sun was slowly beginning to set, the majority of the students having already gone home.

"Well well ain't dis' a pleasant surprise," a gruff voice spoke. Rei looked up noticing Toji starring down at her with a demented grin on his face.

"Now how did miss goody goody end up in detention?" He questioned leaning down inches from her face, his grin growing wider.

"How should I know, I'm just here," she replied looking out the window. 'Why won't this guy go away?'

"Hey, look at me when I'm talkin' ta ya!" He snapped, grabbing her head and forcing her to look at him. "Stand up!"

"What?"

"You heard me, I said stand up!" She pushed her chair back and stood, looking the boy in the face. She shivered slightly as she felt his eyes roam over her body. He stepped forward his grin morphing into a sardonic smile. Rei moved away from him backing herself into the wall.

"Ain't no where ta go bitch," he snarled advancing even closer. Rei's eyes darted around searching desperatly for a way to escape Panicking, Rei swung out her fist in an attempt to fend the boy off. The jock caught the attack with ease, slamming her hand against the wall. She winced in pain, her other hand receiving the same fate effectively pinning her to the wall. Rei kicked out catching him in the stomach, but he ignored the blow. Leaning forward he crushed his lips against her's. She gaged in revulsion as he forced his tongue into her mouth. With a satisfied smirk he pulled back, caressing the side of the frightened girls face. Toji reached up and grabbed the collar of Rei's shirt, tearing off the front of her uniform and exposing her naked chest.

"No!" She cried, squirming in his grip unable to break free. She watched in horror as he eyed her breasts hungrily.

"Rei!" She heard a voice call out to her. "Rei wake up!" Rei's eyes snapped open franticly scanning the room. Her gaze landed on Nicholai who starred at her in concern. Rei screamed in terror and swung her hand out caching him in the eye and sending him crashing to the ground.

"Oh, god, Nicholai are you alright?" She questioned, realizing what she had done.

"I'm fine, but this is really getting out of hand," he answered from his position on the ground holding his eye. "Get dressed; we're going to go see Dr. Akagi."

-------"Nice shiner." Nicholai turned, watching as Misato approached him. "Coffee?" He took the cup offered to him and turned back to glass window.

"So how is she?"

"Not sure," he answered, watching with heavy eyes as Dr. Akagi tested Rei in the next room. "But her nightmares are getting even worse."

"What do you think is causing them?"

"I don't know, that's why we're here, but I'm sure you chewing her out yesterday didn't help."

"Well what was I supposed to do?" She questioned defensively, thinking back to the argument she had with the girl after the Angel battle. "She disobeyed a direct order and let two unauthorized civilians in the Entry Plug."

"You can't really blame her you know, she was only doing what she thought was right." The two fell silent, the doctor continuing her examination in the stark white room beyond the window.

"I need your advice on something," Nicholai spoke suddenly.

"What?"

"Rei's been acting really weird lately, she's angry about almost everything, and every time I try to help she either clams up or just pushes me farther away," he explained.

"A lot of teenaged girls go through this phase; it's their way of accepting you."

"I know how teenaged girls act, but this is a lot different, she found the report I wrote and now she's got it in her head that I don't care about her."

"I see," Misato paused. "Hedgehogs Dilemma."

"What?"

"The Hedgehogs Dilemma," the captain reiterated. "A Hedgehog is covered in spines, but they're incredibly social, when they mate their spines go deeper into each other the closer they get."

"Rei's a Hedgehog?"

"In a way, she's been hurt so much before in the past that she's afraid of getting close to people because they might hurt her again," She explained.

"So by me attempting to understand her, I'm only managing to push her away even further?"

"Yes, so my advice is to keep it slow, let her get closer to you instead of the other way around." Ritsuko walked out of the door into the hallway, ending the conversation.

"So what's the verdict?" Nicholai inquired.

"She exhibits all the symptoms of an abandonment disorder, she's so afraid of people hurting her she pretty much acts on autopilot, never allowing herself to get close to anybody." Misato looked over at Nicholai with an 'I told you so' look.

"What about her nightmares though? They're getting worse."

"I did an MRI on her after the last battle," the doctor said handing Nicholai a folder. He took it and began flipping through the images within.

"Do you see these two hemispheres right here?" He nodded. "That's known as the A10 region, they're the parts of the brain responsible for dreams, look how active they are."

"What are you saying?"

"The average person's subconscious only functions at barely half that when sleeping and this is when she's awake!"

"So her brain is on over drive, but what's causing it?"

"The A10 region of the brain is what enables the pilot's to synchronize with the Evangelions." Nicholai starred at the doctor in surprise.

"The Eva's causing them?" Misato asked.

"It appears so; apparently the synchronization with Unit-1 has had an unforeseen side effect, a permanent connection with the Eva."

"Wait, so she's synch with the Eva right now?"

"That's what the scan showed."

"So the dreams are the Eva contacting her?" Nicholai questioned incredulously.

"How could the Eva talk to her? I thought the Eva's didn't have minds of their own." Misato interjected.

"The Eva's generate AT fields and to be able to do that they require a soul, all things with a soul essentially have a mind of their own," Ritsuko explained. Nicholai leaned against the wall letting the doctor's words sink in.

"Can you reverse it?"
"Not with out permanently damaging her brain."

"I'm going to go talk to her," he said, opening the door. Rei looked up tiredly as Nicholai walked in and sat down across from her.

"Hey, how are you doing?"

"Alright considering I got dragged in here at two in the morning," she replied.

"Touché."

"Did you figure out why I keep having these nightmares?"

"Dr. Akagi believes it has something to do with synchronizing with the Eva, there's some kind of permanent connection between you and it."

"Oh, god the Eva's in my head?" She moaned.

"Afraid so." Rei looked up at him truly frightened.

"Get it out, please, I don't want that thing anywhere near my mind," she pleaded.

"I'm afraid that isn't possible, not without permanent damage." Tears began to well up in her crimson eyes making them shimmer sadly.

"Fucking Eva," she choked out between sobs. "First mom runs off to build the damn thing and now it's making me go crazy!" Nicholai looked on pitying the girl before him.

"Let me ask you this Rei, do you want to pilot the Evangelion?"

"You're not going to yell at me about it like Misato did are you?" She asked, wiping her eyes on her sleeves.

"No, you've already had enough of that, now do you?"

"Does it matter? Even if I didn't want to it wouldn't change a thing."

"You didn't answer my question."

"No, I don't want to pilot it, but you need all the pilots you can get, it wouldn't realalistic putting all the responsibility on Michael," Rei replied. "If I left everyone would be in trouble."

"Yes, but you're the one in trouble now, we forced you into the Eva without any prior experience when it's obvious you can't handle it."

"What do you mean I can't handle it!" She snapped defensively.

"You passed out in your first battle, you had a nervous breakdown after the last one, and if these nightmares keep up you're going to end up in mental institute before you hurt your self or someone else," Nicholai explained pointing to his black eye. Rei opened her mouth to speak, but closed it, adverting her gaze to the floor.

"I'm going to send you back to your uncle's house," the Russian stated flatly. Rei looked up at him in surprise.

"Why?"

"It's for your own good, at this rate you'll only end up dead."

"But," she protested.

"It's going to hurt losing you of course, I guess we'll just have to rewrite Unit-1's parameters for Michael," he said standing and walked over towards the door. "Just forget about the Eva alright? Forget about all of us and go back to your own life."

"Nicholai, wait!" Rei called, her voice wavering.

"Good-bye Rei," he bade with a sad smile and closed the door behind him.

"Nicholai?" He leaned against the outside of the door looking sadly up at his friends.

"Was that the best decision?" Asked Misato. He looked back into the room at the now sobbing girl.

"It was for her."

-------

"The Third Child will be departing Tokyo-3 tomorrow afternoon," Dr. Akagi reported to Yui, the two walking along a corridor deep in the bowels of Central Dogma with Michael following several steps behind them.

"Very well."

"Are you sure about this? I mean the Marduk Institute hasn't found a Fourth Child yet. We don't have a replacement pilot for Unit-1."

"It is one of the scenarios we have predicted," Yui explained. "It easy to foresee what a particular person will do when they're cornered."

"In a worse case scenario we could brainwash her, but then there'd be no telling how difficult it would be for her to synchronize with the Eva after that."

"In that case we'll just have to rewrite Unit-1's data for Michael."

"Yes, ma'am."

-------

"I wonder how she's doin'," Toji pondered out loud, starring out the window next to his desk.

"Who?" Kensuke questioned, looking up from his model VTOL at his friend.

"The new girl, she ain't been in school since da fight. I was wonderin' where she is."

"Why, are you worried about her?"

"Who said I was worried about 'er? I just wanted ta know where she was dat's all!"

"Isn't that the same thing?" Kensuke inquired, adjusting his glasses.

"I guess you got a point," Toji said, flopping heavily into the seat next to his friend.

"If it's bothering you so much why don't you ask Genevieve?" Michael looked up at from his computer at the mention of his name.

"No way, hey scares the hell out of me."

"Me too." Toji sat in silence for several minutes, an expression of boredom was plastered on his face.

"Gaah! Don't scare me like that man!" Kensuke yelled as Toji shot strait up.

"I'm outta here, I'll catch ya later."

"Where you going?"

"To Ikari's place, I want to talk ta her a minute," he stated.

"Do you even know where she lives?"

"I have no fuckin' clue."

-------

"Rei walked sullenly out of the NERV complex flanked on both sides by a pair of Section 2 agents. She looked up in surprise as she noticed Ritsuko standing against the opposite wall.

"Dr. Akagi?"

"I have a message for you from your mother," she said. "She appreciates all your efforts on our behalf and humanity's."

"She couldn't have come out here to tell me that herself?"

"I'm afraid the Commander is a very busy woman."

"So that's it then?"

"Yes," Ritsuko replied walking away.

"Wait!" Rei called after her. The doctor stopped and turned around to face her. "What about Nicholai and Misato? Where are they, aren't they going to good-bye?"

"You're no longer part of NERV, Rei. I cannot tell you anything. I'm truly sorry, but those are the rules." The doctor answered and left. "Good-bye Rei." Rei watched the retreating back of the scientist glaring at her in anger.

-------
Nicholai looked up from his glass of Vodka at Wolf who was currently devouring a Palma granite. He sighed and downed the rest of the Alcohol. 'I guess I should get to work, I'm late as is,' he thought standing. 'Its better this way I guess. If all piloting the Eva did was bringing her pain then Rei's better off back where she came from.'

"Well I guess I'm off," he stated petting the flying fox on the head. "I'll be back later." Grabbing his keys and cell phone he headed towards the door just as the bell rang.

"Yeah?" He asked opening the door to see Toji and Kensuke standing there.

"I can't believe Ikari's living in this cool warehouse," Kensuke exclaimed as he looked down at the space below from the platform.

"Can I help you?" Nicholai interrupted.

"My name is Toji Suzuhara and this is Kensuke, we're from Ikari's class, we were wondering if we could talk to her."

"Oh, right, you're the two she let in the entry plug."

"Yes sir, we're really sorry about the whole affair," the two said in unison. "We had concerns about her, seein' as how she hasn't been in school the last few days so we came by to see her, is she home?"

"You guys are a little too late for that, she's left."

"What do you mean she left?" Kensuke inquired in surprise.

"I haven't reported it to the school yet, but she should actually be getting on her train right now."

"Did she get fired for disobeyin' orders or somethin'?"

"No, the stress was getting too much for her," Nicholai answered.

"So the job got to 'er then?"

"Ikari was acting pretty weird during the battle," Kensuke said. Toji starred at his friend in confusion.

"When she was at school she acted like nothing bothered her," he continued. "Even when Toji roughed her up, but for her to act like to at the way she did, it was like she was purposely disobeying your orders, like a spoiled little kid." Nicholai starred off mulling over what Kensuke had just said. "She's been hurt so much before in the past that she's afraid of getting close to people because they might hurt her again," Misato's voice echoed in his mind. Toji and Kensuke starred in confusion as the Russian took off.

"Mr. Hebb, where are you going?"

"I'm going to see Rei off!" He called over his shoulder, running down the stairs and jumping into his car.

"Hey, wait, what about us?" Toji shouted as the car raced out of the warehouse and down the street.

-------
"Train now arriving on track, please stand behind the white line," the monotone of the recording droned over the intercom. Rei stood, bag at her side, waiting for the train to stop, the Section 2 agents standing menacingly behind her.

"What's wrong?" One of the agents asked when Rei refused to move. "Get in the train."

"Rei!" She spun around to see Nicholai standing behind her breathing heavily as if he had run a marathon.

"Nicholai, what are you doing here?"

"I'm sorry, but you guys can go now, I'll take it from here," he spoke addressing the black suited men. They nodded and walked off.

"I wanted to tell you something before you left," he said turning back to Rei. She looked at her former guardian with raised eyebrows.

"Do you want to know the real reason why I wanted you to live with me?"

"Because you and Misato thought that I wouldn't be able to handle living by myself."

"I did feel sorry for you, that much is true, but it was also something else," Nicholai paused looking for the right words. "Ever since my parents died I've lived by my self. I've always thought it would be nice to have someone who'd be at home waiting for me when I got back from work. I thought it would be good to have a family of my own." Rei looked at the man in confusion.

'What's he trying to say, does he want me to be a part of his life?' She wondered.

"Now I'm not the kind of guy who's got it together well enough to be able to take care of someone because I was ordered to, but if you'll let me I want to try and take care of you Rei, I'm sorry I pushed you away like I did."

"Nicholai..." She trailed off, her voice wavering and her shoulders shaking with suppressed sobs.

"I-I don't want to go back to where I was before," Rei choked out before throwing her arms around the man and burying her face in his chest.

"Government Special now leaving for Astugi from Track 2, please stand clear of the doors."

"No, we was too late!" Toji moaned as the two watched the train pull away from the station. The two teens starred in shock as the last car disappeared revealing the embracing pair.

"Geez, don't dey got no shame?" Nicholai pulled away, looking the girl in the face.

"Let's go back to our family, our home, alright?" Rei looked up at him smiling.

"...Yeah."

: End Transmission:

TO BE CONTINUED-

A/N: The following is a preview for one of my up coming stories. If anyone has any ideas or suggestions leave them in your reviews. Remember the more reviews I get, the faster these stories get updated. Untill next update, so long and good night.

What if you were given the chance to decide humanity's fate?

"Alright, what do I have to do?" He asked Lilith.

"You must make a decision," the Angel disguised as his friend answered.

"What kind of decision?"

"Death or Rebirth," Noah stated.

What choices would you make?

"Choose Rebirth and humanity will be reborn into the world as it should have been, life will start anew."

"And if I choose death?"

"Then the world as you knew it will die. Everyone will perish and their souls will merge into one singular godhead," Lilith responded.

How would you live your life?

"Then what happened?"

"I woke up."

"Hmmm, that does seem pretty odd, not as notiable as some of the dreams you've had but still," Asuka said. "So you chose Rebirth hunh? Even in your dreams you're looking out for humanity, my hero." Shinji laughed and shook his head.

"You know if this keeps up I might have to retire earliy, this job is starting to get to me."

"Good, that means I can stop worrying about you getting killed out there and you can spend more time at home with me and your daughter." Shinji glanced down at the clock on the nightstand beside the bed and sighed.

"Might as well get up," He said throwing the covers off him. "Shift starts in and hour and I need to pick up Noah." Asuak pouted in annoyance as her husband grabbed his clothes and disappeared into the bathroom.

What if the life you chose was just as demented?

"Hey, Kensuke come look at this," Toji called his partner over to the wall he was looking at. "What do you make of that?"

"Not sure, I've never seen a symbol like that before." Before them on the wall was a circle with two slanted L's connecting it to another circle inside of it drawn in the victims' blood.

"The past is irrecoverable, the future is unknowable, the present is irrefutable. Between the three The Door of Heaven lies Bounded by the crosses five. Pray ye to Samuel and he shall guide your fate. The past is safe, the future is dead, the present is hopeless. Abandon hope, all ye who enter," Toji spoke reading the words written in latin below the symbol.

"Sounds like something from Dante's inferno," Sgt. Aida observed.

"Well either way I can't make heads or tails of it, this Occult bullshit is Sohryu and Ayanami's speciality."

Could the choices you made have been the wrong ones?

"What did I do?" Noah questioned looking up at Lilith in shame. "Should I have ever interfered?" The half angel placed a hand on her lover's shoulder.

"The choices we make are what define us, that is the purpose of free will. What we decide whether good or bad leads us closer to our destiny."

"Save me the philosphy, I don't need it!" He snarled before burying his head in his hands. Lilith knelt down pulling Noah's hands apart forcing him to look her in the face.

"You're not a bad person Noah, just a little misguided, do not worry we will fix this together."

This fall, get ready to witness the rebirth of a new world.

Special Agent Shinji Ikari Sohryu grimced in disgust as he looked over the report on the desk before him.

"What the hell has this world come to?" He questioned the sky, photo's of the gruesome scene held tightly in his hands.

New Genesis Gospel

"You made the right choice, Shinji, are you ready?"

"Yes, but just one more question, who are you, really?"

"Me? Redeemption."

Coming soon to a computer screen near you.