APRIL 24th, 2015

MOUNT KATSUYAMA

1:37am:

The view of the city was eerie. With the power having been completely shut off, very little of the once magnificent view of Matsuyama could be seen. Not even the stars could reveal anything, the smog was too great for any light to pass through.

Only the moon was visible in the night sky. And even then, the pollution filtered its light into a blood red color. It was haunting. The view was nothing more than a pitch black void. Shinji didn't really understand why he was sitting on the railing at the overlook, as there was nothing to see. But something about the vast nothingness in front of him drew him. He thought maybe it was an attempt to tire himself out.

The chirp of the cicadas were not present, as expected. Night brought on the crickets, and a slew of other strange noises. Every once in a while, he'd hear some twigs and leaves be crunched up, probably by some wild animal running through the bushes. He heard it again come behind him, choosing to ignore it once more.

"You aren't gonna jump, are you?" Asked Asuka's voice behind him. He turned around immediately, surprised (and partly scared) that she was talking to him.

"N-No... I'm not." He replied nervously. He didn't know what she could possibly be up to. She looked calm around him once again, so he was glad that she wasn't scared like she had been before. But of course, the possibility of her taking some sort of revenge was on his mind. She walked up to him and sat next to him on the railing. He was uneasy, while she was totally calm.

"I'm not gonna hurt you, idiot." She said. "I'm just here to have that talk you wanted. Y'know, before you-"

"Yeah yeah, no need to remind me." He said to her. Though she was annoyed at being interrupted, she didn't scold him for it as she usually would. She had other things on her mind that night.

"As your Lieutenant, I feel like I have a right to. What you did was fucked up, Ikari. Do you know what a panic attack feels like?" She asked, staring him down as she did. He shook his head, looking all the more guilty.

"I felt like I was gonna die. Didn't help that you were yelling at me like a madman. Your raised fist made me think that you were gonna knock my teeth out." She detailed.

While it was all to normal for her to scold him (or anyone in her unit, for that matter) like this, she wasn't raising her voice or even being that aggressive. At first, he thought she was just being mindful of their sleeping teammates. But she was surprisingly calm, which in turn made Shinji feel relieved.

"The reason I bring all of this up, is because I wonder..." She added.

"Wonder what?" Shinji asked her.

"...I wonder why you didn't show that fierceness towards our enemy. And why you went from that little weakling I was always irritated by, to some killing machine over a girl." Her sentence sent chills down Shinji's spine. He didn't really know how to explain himself at all.

"I- I don't know why..." He answered honestly. Asuka was still skeptical.

"So you're scared of firing rounds at the enemy we were all sent out here to eliminate, but you have no trouble going psycho over some girl that I insulted?" She asked.

"I don't know! I seriously have no idea what came over me, I've never raged like that before! It's not like I have no regret over what I di-"

"Shh! Quiet down, you'll wake everyone up!" She said in a whisper. "Look, I'm not here to give you any more shit for what you did. I'm here because I now see the fighter in you, Ikari." That was the last thing Shinji expected to hear from her.

"The fighter in me?" He asked.

"Yeah. That bullshit you pulled on me aside, that's the kind of troop I want in my unit! Just uh, direct it towards the Angels, idiot. You're lucky I talked Hikari out of getting our higher-ups to sue your ass. We'll definitely need you by our side, now!" She said, slightly smirking. Shinji looked lost.

"Ugh, you're not at all that bright, are you? I'm trying to make amends here! I didn't think I needed to spell it out for you..." Asuka said to him, sounding a little more like herself again.

It took him a few seconds to process it, but she was actually just doing what he had attempted to do before he went off at her; trying to form an actual friendship. Of course, it was the weirdest of ways to make a new friend, but he couldn't complain. She stuck her hand out to offer him a handshake. He returned the gesture.

"I'm glad we could have this talk, Soryu." He said to her as she stood up to walk back to her foxhole. She turned around and gave him a look of disgust.

"Don't make this sappy, Shinji." She told him.

"Back to the first name basis, eh?" He asked, feeling rather happy about how things had been turning out.

"Yeah sure, just call me Asuka." She said back to him. Her use of his first name, however, reminded her of when she first allowed him to use her first name. It was the night she drunkenly decided to offer him sex. The memory of their awkward make out session embarrassed her to no end.

"Also, you better not have told any of your friends about... y'know, the other night." Asuka said with narrowed eyes directed at Shinji.

"Trust me, they'd accuse me of mutiny for such a thing." He joked, earning a chuckle from Asuka. She nodded and headed back to her foxhole.

'The kid can be funny. He ain't too bad after all.' She mused.

Shinji looked back out at the pitch black void that was the overlook at night. Suddenly, the view intimidated him. He too stood up and went back to his foxhole. He found his hole and proceeded to lay down on it, stretching his legs in preparation for sleep. Beside his foxhole, Rei in hers already asleep. He was reminded again of how otherworldly she looked.

After all the emotional turmoil Shinji had been going through, she wanted to be there for him as much as she could. After she hugged him, she insisted on digging her foxhole next to Shinji's. Out of all the neighboring holes, theirs were by far the closest to each others. He knew his friends wouldn't let him forget about this.

'Things aren't too bad right now.' He thought. 'I wonder how long that'll last, though...'

7:06am:

Shinji's eyes opened to the sight of the tree branches high above the ground. He was surprised to see that he was the only one awake in his unit. The other units of the company had a few soldiers up and about, but there were very few. As usual, the cicadas had already begun the singing of their song. As if it was some form of celebration for the sun that had reared its head that morning.

'Oh, to be a cicada chirping away without a worry in the world.' He thought. 'They all sound so unified, together; in harmony. That's what I long for...'

The sound of passing jets almost overpowered the cicadas' song, but it was still enough to get Shinji's attention. He looked at the overview he had sat by in the previous night, wanting to study the situation.

At first, he could see nothing. He figured it was just some passing jets about to drop an air strike on some Angels. As he was about to turn back around to get some more rest, he spotted three aircraft flying near each other. It definitely was an airstrike.

But the vehicles themselves looked unfamiliar. Maybe it was the distance, but he had never seen jets like those before. He wondered if something was up. He sat up a little higher to further observe them, and saw them drop down quite a bit. They were flying directly above a province he knew NERV had taken control of. As they passed by, Shinji witnessed a huge plume of dust and concrete fly up in the air. He didn't hear anything, as the sound was delayed due to how far he was.

A loud and sharp boom had erupted from the very spot Shinji had witnessed the airstrike occur at. Everyone in Eagle Company shot up, their training having taught them to do so whenever some explosion or gunfire was heard. Everyone was a little disoriented at first, not understanding what had just happened.

"Captain!" Shinji yelled over to Shiro, as he ran right past Rei who was looking around in a lost manner.

"What was that, Private?" Shiro asked Shinji, knowing he must've seen something by his immediate reaction.

"Airstrike, over by the Ishite River!" He exclaimed. This was enough to alarm Shiro. Most of the land surrounding the Ishite River had been secured by NERV in just the past week. The explosion couldn't have possibly came from their side. He looked around in his utility pouch for his binoculars, eventually finding them.

He walked over to the overview and proceeded to take a gander at the situation himself. Though the smog made it kind of hard to see the fine details, the giant plume of dust that covered the area confirmed his suspicions.

"Do you have an idea of where the jets that did this are?" Shiro asked Shinji.

"Right over there, sir. Those three unusual aircraft flying in unison." Replied Shinji. Shiro looked over at their direction, trying to gauge exactly how far off they might be. They weren't flying away. They were coming closer and closer. He put his binoculars down.

"They're headed over here..." He said in shock.

"Sir?" Asked Shinji as he watched the Captain run over to the rest of the company.

"Eagle Company, airstrike inbound! Brace for impact!" He yelled at the top of his lungs. Everyone quickly loaded their gear and placed their helmets on their heads, bracing for the potentially fatal drop.

Shinji ran over to his foxhole, but before he geared up, he assisted Rei as much as he could.

"Shinji, please protect yourself." She said to him, worried about his lack of self-care.

"In a bit, Rei. You all set?" He asked. She nodded, now fully geared up for the attack.

"Good." He replied, finally gearing up himself. The sound of jet engines got louder and louder as the company all dropped their heads and covered them. Shiro took a bit of a risk by trying to study what kind of aircraft was doing the attack. He was shocked by what he saw. Before ducking, he quietly uttered to himself;

"VTOLs?"

The three attack jets flew by like a blur, managing to make a hit that wasn't all too accurate. But the damage was still immense and deadly. Almost immediately after the bombs went off, the trees, dirt, and big chunks of rock flew everywhere. To Unit-01's luck, the explosion didn't hit the trail they were in, only the hill above them. All they had to worry about was not being crushed to death.

Units 08 and 19 weren't as lucky; 2 soldiers from Unit-08 were killed on the spot, and most of Unit-19 were vaporized in the explosion. Only one of the bombs had landed perfectly on the trail, and Unit-19 was unlucky enough to be at that very spot.

Minutes after the explosion went off, debris was still flying all over the place. So much dirt had been kicked up, it had provided a lot of the surviving and uninjured troops a struggle to get out of their foxholes. At most, their feet had been almost completely buried.

All of their ears rang from the deafening explosion as they tried to gain some sense of what to do now. Shinji's first instinct was to check on Rei, who he found was looking to check on him too.

"Rei, are you hurt?" Shinji asked her.

"Not much. Some debris has impacted my body, but they will only leave a bruise." She explained. "How about yourself? Are you injured?"

"I'm fine. I'm glad you're okay... Come on, we have to make sure everyone else is fine." He said to her. The two looked around, finding that although the place was full of smoke and debris consisting of branches and rocks, most of Unit-01 appeared to be fine for the most part.

"Shinji, Ayanami, you two still alive?" They heard Toji's voice yell from a short distance. Since they were all momentarily deafened by the explosions, they felt as if they needed to yell at each other to be able to hear anything. Even if they were just a few feet apart.

"We're fine! Where's Kensuke?" Shinji asked.

"Right here!" Kensuke yelled back, struggling to get his feet up off from the dirt that partially buried him.

As Shinji went over to help Toji out with digging the excess dirt off from Kensuke's feet, they began to hear distant screams. They finished helping Kensuke and looked over at the rest of the company. They saw a lot of Unit-01's troops rushing over to assist the injured, the screams becoming louder and more intense as they regained their hearing.

"Unit-01, assist units 08 and 19 immediately!" Ordered Asuka. Shinji and his friends were now assisting the other units as well, running over to where the smoke still engulfed the already-polluted air.

At first, the injuries weren't too bad. One soldier had shrapnel slice part of his leg, but the cut wasn't too deep and he'd be back in action in about a week. The other injury was that of a female, she had been pushed back a couple feet by the blast and broke her ankle. This kind of injury was that of pure luck in a war like this one.

It was when they got to units 08 and 19 that the carnage started to show. One troop lost his leg, and another had her back on fire from the fuel that set off the explosion. Asuka quickly reached into her pouch for her towel, asking Shinji and Rei to do the same.

"We need to choke the fire on her back! On my mark, we do it quickly, got it?" She said to them. They nodded as they hurriedly grabbed their towels from their pouches. They were all set to go.

"1, 2, 3, GO!" She yelled, prompting the three to push the girl down and extinguish the fire that had nearly spread to the front part of her body. She was screaming in agonizing pain.

"OH GOD! I'M GONNA DIE! PLEASE, GOD HELP ME!" She repeated as the flames were fully doused.

"MEDIC! We need a fucking medic here!" Asuka yelled around her, hoping there were still some medics around to assist them.

The girl suddenly grabbed Shinji's collar with full force. Shinji was startled at first, but quickly realized she just wanted some sensation of safety.

"PLEASE HELP, I'M DYING! PLEEEAASE!" She continued to yell, her shrieks of terror now a mixture of pain and crying.

"You're not gonna die! You're fine! We're gonna get someone to help you, you're gonna be okay!" He tried assuring her, not really knowing if she would be fine.

"We need a medic, god damn it!" Asuka yelled louder this time, losing her patience. She was not about to let the Angels take more lives than they had to. She wished one was right in front of her, just so she could personally choke the life out of them.

No medics came to their aide. They were either all busy assisting other injured troops, or had perished in the bombing. They had to treat this troop themselves.

"Listen, we're gonna treat the burns okay? You need to promise me-"

"PLEASE HELP MEEE!" The burned girl continued to yell as she waved her arms and kicked her feet violently in reaction to the pain.

"We're trying! You need to stay still, okay? Otherwise we can't treat the burns! Shinji! Get Suzuhara and Aida to help us out!" She ordered.

"Toji! Ken! Get over here!" He yelled out to his friends, who were quick to run over to them.

"What's up?" Toji asked.

"Suzuhara, Aida, help hold her down. Shinji, reach into my pouch and get wound dressings and some gauze! We need to disinfect the burns so she doesn't get a serious infection, so hurry up!" She ordered. Toji and Kensuke helped hold the girl's arms down so she could stop fidgeting.

Asuka held one leg, and Rei held the other. Shinji was looking desperately through her pouch for the medical supplies she asked for. Asuka tried staying still herself so that he could look through her pouch with no trouble.

He made sure to grab as much as he could, not knowing for sure the exact amount they'd end up needing to use. He figured three packets of wound dressings and two rolls of gauze would do the trick.

He handed them to Asuka, who began work on the troop immediately. She carefully removed each of the towels they had placed on her back to choke the fire that had been spreading on her backside.

Some of the blood had dried, so she had to delicately peel it off to avoid putting the already severely injured soldier through any more pain. It was only when she peeled the second towel off that they saw the intensity of the burns.

The burns were of the third degree, so they had to act fast if they wanted to prevent an infection. The girl continued to scream in pain, but they did their work anyway.

"Pay attention Shinji, just in case you have to do this on your own!" Asuka ordered.

She pulled out her canteen and opened it up, pouring water on the bloodiest parts of her body. As the blood washed away, everyone was able to see the fine details of each burn mark on her body. Kensuke had to turn around when he realized he was going to vomit. He made sure to keep a firm hold on the troop's arm as he hurled to the side. Nobody really reacted, since the sight of troops puking on the battlefield was rather normal.

"Dressing." Asuka said to Shinji, holding her hand out for him to give it to her. He did was he was ordered. She ripped the packet open and poured its contents out. A white powder landed on the wounds, stinging the extremely tender nerves on her back.

"AAHHH!" The troop screamed, gripping the dirt on the ground and digging her fingers into it in reaction to the pain.

"What's that doing to her?!" Shinji asked in a panic.

"It's providing an artificial scab so the wound won't be as exposed! Pass me the gauze, that'll protect the wound better!" She ordered. Shinji unpeeled some of the gauze so Asuka would be able to pull long strips off of it.

She waited for the powder to solidify and encase the burns with the 'artificial scab' Asuka talked about. It took a mere few seconds, and the scabs hardened. Asuka stretched and placed the gauze over the most burned ski tissue. Over time, the girl calmed down and fidgeted less. Her body had grown used to the pain, so she was able to breathe in and take the situation in.

"Suzuhara, Aida, carry her very carefully to where the smoke's more cleared up! We can't have her breathing this shit right now." She ordered the two of them to do.

"Yes ma'am! They replied, carrying the girl in a manner that wouldn't stress her damaged nerves. Shinji, Asuka and Rei turned to look for more people to help, but it looked like it wouldn't have done much help anyway. A lot of the troops that had been severely wounded, had died by now. They'd continue to look, not wanting to give up on the company just yet.

As they walked closer to the blast zone, Shinji kept finding what looked like black mush that had been burnt to a near crisp. He had no idea what it might've been, since it didn't look like anything the forest could have naturally produced. All he knew, was that it smelled real foul.

"What the hell is this stuff?" He asked as he jabbed one of the several pieces of mush with his boot.

"Those are bodies." Asuka said to him, looking away as she did. "All bodies."

Shinji immediately removed his boot from it, feeling like he was going to collapse into the ground from pure shock. Those things looked unrecognizable, nothing like human bodies. And yet this mass of burnt, melted corpse used to have a soul. Used to breathe, and had been alive and well just some few minutes ago.

The thought haunted him, but he had to learn to deal with it.

"Come on, Shinji! Don't let it get to you right now!" Asuka yelled at him. Shinji was in a state of shock, never witnessing such a thing. He began to tear up, and felt his breathing get heavier and heavier.

"I-I can't! I'm too scared!" He said to her honestly, feeling his body paralyze as he came to the realization that he had passed by multiple mutilated bodies without even realizing it. Asuka walked over to him and slapped him in the face, grabbing him by the chin to stare him down intensely.

"Look at me! We're not gonna cry over dead people! We're gonna drag our asses to save the ones who are in need of us! That's what we do in moments like these!"

Shinji had listened to her, and within a few seconds had visibly calmed down a lot. Her reasoning had snapped him out of it, making him realize that standing around just crying about it really wasn't going to get anything done.

"Yes ma'am." He said back to her, still feeling the pain but ready to do his duty.

"Good! Now move out!" Said the Lieutenant. With that, Shinji and Rei moved out to assist their fallen soldiers. Shinji forgot about himself and every one of his worries at that very moment. He was still horrified, but was distracted by the only thing that rang in his head;

'Save the ones who are in need.'

For the next hour or so, the surviving portion of Eagle Company worked to save and treat each other in the aftermath of this horrible blow.

NERV HQ, VR MEET ROOM

1:15pm:

"I see you refuse to stop this 'upping of your game', Keel." Gendo said flatly but with anger.

"You sound surprised, Ikari. Doesn't feel good to be a victim of your own games, now does it?" Keel said, the voice emanating from the large monolith marked 'SEELE 01'.

"I'm just curious, did you steal those VTOLs from the U.N or did you somehow manage to gain those funds on your own?" Gendo asked.

"Where we get our vehicles is none of your business, Ikari. You withhold information from us often, why should we willingly spell everything out for you?" 04 asked bitterly.

"Again, I was just curious. But you should know this; if you really are being funded and/or supported by the U.N, we can and will use this to our advantage against you." He said to them. The monoliths stayed quiet for a little while.

"Only the U.N has access to VTOLs, not NERV and before today, not SEELE. You think I wasn't aware of that?" He asked.

"You can keep your empty threats coming, Ikari. We have our suspicions about you as well." 01 stated.

"Well what is it exactly that you suspect, Keel?" Gendo asked him, having a feeling that he knew what it was Keel was talking about.

"Based on how long you've been putting it off, and your habit of turning your back on the deals we've made, we suspect you plan on initiating Instrumentality on your own terms." Keel asked him.

"Of course not. I'd have no way to do such a thing, anyway." He said in his defense.

"We're not stupid, Ikari. You took Adam from us. What other use would you have with it, other than to take control of Instrumentality for yourself?" 04 asked.

"Instrumentality is not possible without Lilith. You all know that." Gendo replied.

"Lilith's whereabouts are currently unknown, yes. But we fear you might be in search for it. We cannot risk that." Said monolith 07.

"We will infiltrate the Geo Front if need be, Ikari. You have taken our means for Instrumentality, so we will do what we must." Keel threatened. Gendo remained stoic, never one to show fear towards anyone.

"Fine then. I'll have attack jets on standby near SEELE HQ, then. If Tokyo-3 is even approached by your troops, you will experience the wrath of the N² Mine the head of science here at NERV has been developing. Your choice."

The SEELE councilmen had nothing left to say to him.

"We'll be talking again real soon, Ikari." Keel said as the meeting ended abruptly. Gendo knew he had fended them off temporarily, only now he needed to get as much of his work done as soon as possible.

'We're running out of time.' He thought. 'I must act quick. Soon, Yui. We will see each other real soon...'

He left the VR Meet room and headed back to his office, where Fuyutsuki had been patiently waiting the whole time.

"I apologize for the delay, Sub-Commander. What is it that you needed to tell me?" He asked, having had to put off their talk because of his meeting with the councilmen of SEELE.

"Public opinion of this war has just dropped to an all-time low, sir. It's safe to say that less than 50% of the country has lost faith in NERV's efforts." He stated. "News outlets are questioning us more and more... some have even taken to protesting in the streets."

"No war is ever looked upon as favorable, but we are doing as we must." He told Fuyutsuki, walking over to a safe he had located near his desk. He entered the code and unlocked it. From within the safe, he pulled out Adam. The first human.

"Sir?" Fuyutsuki asked, wondering why he had pulled it out.

"It seems our time is running short. The men over at SEELE won't back down on their fierce attacks. The ambush they pulled today is enough proof of that. We must be getting ready to pull this off." Gendo said, taking Adam from the glass case it was in. Fuyutsuki knew what he was about to do.

"You mean the 'promised time', sir?" He asked. Gendo nodded.

He watched as his Commander raised his head, brought Adam up to his mouth, and swallowed him whole. He found the sight repulsive, but it was the only way Gendo would ever be able to fuse with it. He said nothing about it.

"And what about Eagle Company? They've lost nearly a third of their troops, what will become of them for now?" He asked.

"They will remain in Matsuyama, but will not be front-line for the time being. Because of this, they no longer need to be conjoined as a company anymore. Units 01 and 09 will split, and guard the sectors we have secured over at the city."

Fuyutsuki nodded.

"Yes sir." He said.

Fuyutsuki looked at his watch and realized lunchtime had passed. He and everyone else at NERV had been so caught up with making sense of the large scale ambush that SEELE had pulled on the battlefield that they had skipped lunch.

"I'm going to grab some food for me to eat, Commander. Would you like me to bring you anything on my way back?" He asked.

"I'll have food of my own ordered up here. Thank you for the offer, Sub-Commander." Gendo said.

Fuyutsuki nodded as he headed for the elevator. As the doors closed, he had time to think about everything that had been going on. The world as he, and everyone else knew it, was rapidly changing for the worst. The death count of their troops had been piling up more and more, causing not only some of NERV's personnel but most of the country to lose faith in Gendo's command.

The ambush earlier that day was carefully coordinated and extremely deadly. Eagle Company was one of many companies that witnessed it first-hand. Attacks and airstrikes occurred all over the city, taking nearly 200 lives in a matter of minutes.

'Most of them are just teenagers. If we win this war, they'll go back home more damaged than ever.' He mused. 'Nearly a whole generation of traumatized veterans, and at such a young age too... If we win, I hope Ikari initiates this plan soon.'

He finally reached the floor that lead him to the cafeteria, finding himself getting quickly stressed at the situation down there. Personnel running everywhere in a chaotic manner, bumping into each other at times. The ambush had really caught them off-guard.

Most of the workers down there were rushing because of the arrival of wounded troops, and the dead ones. This saddened Fuyutsuki deeply.

'And to think that this affects me the least.' He thought. 'I can't imagine what the troops' parents must be going through...'