The pinkish orange light that came through the cracks and holes in the ceiling bathed the old battered corridor, showing the decades of wear and tear. The exposed panels and the corrosion on the walls, was giving the area a general sense of decay. Yet what distressed Kozo Fuyutsuki the most as he walked down it were the memories. Memories of people walking up and down the corridor reading files for their work or heading to their workstation, three technicians sharing a joke among themselves, even a few cases of flirting between the sexes. These images of memory felt so real to him in his mind's eye, they might as well be ghosts.
The experience brought up one large fact for him. This place used to be alive. What is it now, he thought to himself as he made his way down that corridor, a tomb? If so, a tomb to what? One man's ambitions, or to humanity itself? He shook those thoughts out of his head as headed into a large chamber where he found Gendo looking up at something. Fuyutsuki shifted his eyes to see what he was looking at for a brief second before approaching him.
It's confirmed," he said to Gendo. "She's dead."
"That was to be expected, given the situation she was in," Gendo replied. "Do we know what was the extant of her engagement of Wille?"
"Only a couple of firm details," Fuyutsuki began. "We can confirm that there was some damage to the facility, though we cannot determine the extant of it at this time. We can also confirm that she did not achieve her primary objective."
"So those two Evas are still in their hands," Gendo said.
"Indeed," Fuyutsuki nodded. "There is one more piece of information that I know of, and to be honest, I find it…disturbing.
"Go on," Gendo said.
"We now know the identity of the person who killed her," Fuyutsuki stated.
"And how is that relevent to the situation at hand?" Gendo asked.
"It was Shinji that did it." The visor that Gendo wore at pretty much all hours of the day betrayed nothing that could be read from the man's eyes, and Fuyutsuki could find no signs of emotion on his face.
"This changes things, you must realize that," he added.
"Only in the fact that we now have to consider New Constantinople more of a danger to our plans at this point than Katsuragi and her group," Gendo countered. "From the moment I met him, I knew Roji Kagji was a dangerous man. Yet this changes nothing." Fuyutsuki remained silent on that last point, but he couldn't help feeling uncertain about it. Gendo had to have been blind sighted by this development as much as he was. Are there some things that you can no longer predict, he mused.
"We have to plan our next steps carefully," Gendo replied. "There might even be potential to turn this knowledge against them. Besides, there are other avenues to our plan that we can proceed with regardless." The two looked up and gazed upon Unit 13, which was in a squatting position, it's four arms shackled to a circular frame. Above it, a series of tubes extended down, entering the Eva's eyes, nose and mouth.
"We are about to begin the final stages," Gendo continued. "It is my hope that you could see it with me until the end." Fuyutsuki remained silent, but he couldn't help figuring that Gendo was just saying that to placate him. He remembered when they had to escape from Nerv all those years ago, climbing mountains on foot to reach safety. To this day, he always thought that the mule they used to help them carry supplies was a better companion than Gendo ever was.
"I will," he then told him. However, he did not mention that it was not for his sake, or for even his own. Before this point, he would say that it was to see Yui again, and he had to admit he still did, but there was something else now. He wanted to see Shinji as well. He was certain that their plans would have him meet them again. He wanted to see how the boy had changed since he has last seen him. Could it be enough to change the scenario? He couldn't answer that now. I suppose you want to see him again too Yui, he thought as he took his leave from Gendo.
The VTOL craft flew over the night cloaked city, the flashing lights on the vessel joining the lightened buildings in the cityscape as it passed the skyscrapers in the interior rings. The vehicle made its way toward the center where, unlike the rest of the city, there were very few lights in the Tower and surrounding buildings. The one exception to this were the lights that emanated from the Wunder, which was still floating above the city. The aircraft glided to the warship, and landed on the helopad. The door on the vessel opened, and Kaji stepped out and looked around. Hyuga, who had been waiting on the pad, approached him.
"Welcome to the Wunder Commander," he said to Kaji over the machine's engines. "The Captain instructed me to escort you to she ship's conference room."
"Very well," Kaji said to him. "Lead the way." The two made their way, and when they arrived, they saw that the room was filled with people from both the Wunder and the base. He noticed Burke leaning back on a chair, eyes closed, looking exhausted. His clothes looked disheveled, stains on his shirt from sweat and his jacket and tie laying across his lap. Misato, who was seating at the head of the conference table, looked up from the paper she had, and caught sight of him.
"I see you're here," she said in a professional manner. "Please have a seat."
"Thank you," Kaji said as he took a seat at the other end, so he was facing her.
"I believe everyone is now here," Misato said. "We should begin the meeting." Everyone who was there settled in their seats. Burke opened his eyes, and straightened up in his seat. He took notice of Kaji and nodded to him in greeting.
"Commander, I'm sure you've been briefed on the events that happened today," Misato began.
"I read through the most recent one as the plane was landing," Kaji replied. "I want to thank you and your crew for coming to our aid."
"You're welcome," Misato replied. "I'm afraid that we didn't contribute as much as we could have towards the defeat of the Ayanami type."
"The fact that you were up there did give us moral support, and that helped greatly," Kaji said. "But what I need to know right now is the status of the restoration efforts." He eyed Burke, who brought out his tablet.
"We'll have full restoration of our computer systems in about two hours or so," he said. "With that, we should be able to restore power to all sections in short order afterwards."
"And what was the extant of the damage?" Kaji asked him. Burke tapped a few more buttons.
"230 confirmed dead with another 150 wounded. We have major damage to several sections of the base, some of them to the point of unusuability. Computer Room 3 is as good as destroyed as well as minor damage to the Eva cages. And that's just the the top of the list."
"When can we expect to be back to normal?"
"It's pretty early, but I have to estimate around 3-4 weeks to where we're back to full operational status. You should have a rough outline that I included with the latest briefing." Kaji leaned back in his chair.
"Now this is the big question. Forget about the base, how did she even get into the city?"
"We can't say for certain, but Lieutenant Matsu has a very likely theory." Burke gestured to the Lieutenant, who stood up and activated the room's main screen.
"Since it was obvious that the Ayanami type had to come from outside the city walls, we had to determine if there had to be any sightings or reports of her before this morning. With the help of Commander Hyuga and the Wunder's systems, we were able to analyze the city records and come to a surprising conclusion." The screen then showed a still image of a city street late at night. It was a little fuzzy, they could make out a figure passing under a street light in the distance that did look like the Ayanami.
"This was taken around four days ago, on the tenth ring near the wall. And this," the screen switched again to another picture of a forested area, again showing a figure matching the Ayanami. "This was taken the next day in the 6th forest ring. There are multiple images and videos of her walking around, taken by both public and private security systems." The screen then showed a collage of still and moving images all showing the same figure, either in part or in full.
"The most interesting sighting occurred last night in the Red Light District when three guys tried to hit on her," Matsu continued. "She ended up sending all of them to the hospital. Apparently according to the police, they are suspects in a string of sexual assaults in the area."
"We also discovered that there anomalous sensor readings throughout a particular section of the main city wall," Hyuga added. These readings include doors opening and closing, pressure and tempurture differences in sensitive areas. These anomalies lasted about two days. It gives the suggestion that she was figuring her way around the wall's interior trying to find the best way out and into the city."
"Why didn't we hear about these incidents earlier," Aida asked. "If we knew about these sightings, we might have been able to stop her before she even got close to the base."
"The problem is that there was no way to connect these incidents to each other, as there had to be a known pattern in the first place. She couldn't be positively indentified, so how would they know how to look out for her?" Hyuga said.
"We at least could have known about what was happening at the wall," Aida said.
"What's done is done Colonel," Kaji stated. "Is there anything else Lieutenant?"
"There is," Matsu replied. "When we colated the places and times for all these sightings, we believe we found where she came from." The screen then showed a map of city. A single dot then superimposed a spot on the edge to the base.
"This is where she first began her attack on the base, and these…" the screen began showing more dots on the map, "are the various sightings over the past week." The dots formed a line that extended back through the city right to the wall and past it. The people in the room remained silent as they could see that on the other side of the wall was the repair base that the Wunder was docked at until several hours ago.
"Are you going on the assumption that the Ayanami came from the Wunder?" Kaji asked.
"The evidence given makes it the most likely theory sir," Matsu replied. "Even Commander Hyuga supports the conclusion."
"It would make sense," Ritsuko said. "Several of the Mark 04 drones had come within thirty meters of the Wunder's hull. With her abilities, she could make that jump without difficulty. She could then hide in the wreckage until she had the opportunity to leave once we were docked. I did think it was kind of easy to get to the city here. Almost as if we were allowed to make it to this city." Kaji, along with several others, then noticed Misato gripping the edge of her table with her hands, as if she was trying to break a piece of it off.
"150," some of them heard her mutter before she spoke again at a normal volume. "150 of my crew died in that engagement and we were nothing more than a diversion?" They all felt her words tear into the air.
"That's just how Gendo Ikari works," was all that Kaji could answer her with.
"I've always thought of it like this," Burke said. "When he has an objective, no matter what it is, he takes multiple approaches to achieve it at the same time. If one avenue fails, he has other avenues to pursue. Even with his failures, he uses that to set up an eventual success."
"So, it is like in Return of the Jedi when Luke and the others rescued Han from Jabba's palace?" Aida asked. Burke leaned back in his chair for a few moments to ponder the man's words.
"You know, that's a pretty good analogy there," he said. The others just looked at Aida with either confusion, derision, or a combination of the two.
"There have been over the years many conversations by many people over how that man thinks. We're not really adding anything new here," Kaji said while looking at Aida.
"My apologies sir," Aida said.
"And now," Kaji took a deep breath before continuing, "we come to what I feel is the most concerning part of the attack." The room then settled in an uncomfortable stillness.
"Aida," Kaji said. "How the hell did Shinji get access to a gun?"
"One of the Varagarians said that during the retreat, he saw one of technicians hand him it," he replied. "He didn't think anything of it as they needed all the help they could get at that moment."
"How was he even able to kill her in the first place?" Hyuga asked. "I know she sustained serious injuries before she died, but she could still produce an AT Field. Why didn't she?"
"Well, Shinji didn't really want to talk about it afterwards, and I don't blame him," Aida said, "but I did get two pieces of information off of him, as I was leading him away. One of them was that it looked like she was about to deploy her AT Field, but then she froze. He told me that it seemed to him that she saw something. She didn't look away, but it was as if it was right in front of him. He then opened fire without thinking."
"So in the end, he saved us all," Burke stated.
"How many more times must he be forced to be the hero?" Misato wondered, not addressing anyone in the room, but still loud enough for all of them to hear.
"There is another thing he told me," Aida said. "I believe I put it in my preliminary report to you sir." Kaji nodded in reply.
"What is it?" Misato asked him.
"It is that the Ayanami type told him that he was a secondary objective in the attack. To me, this implies that if she discovered him, she had orders to end his life." Both Kaji and Burke noticed that Misato again was gripping the edge of the table.
"We she should be grateful that the Ayanami that is in our custody got there when she did," Aida continued.
"Where is she now?" Burke asked.
"She is currently at the city hospital getting a checkup, though it will be our own medical personnel that will be handling her. The same goes for Shinji as well. Lieutenant Suzuhara is also being treated there." Misato nodded in thanks.
"Why did she even leave when we ordered her not too?" Burke asked.
"I'm not sure," Aida replied. "I haven't gotten around to questioning her about that yet."
"Do so in the next 24 hours," Burke said. He then turned to Kaji, who looked to be lost in thought. "You seem to be quiet there Commander."
"I've just been thinking," Kaji replied. "About Shinji being a secondary target."
"What about it?" Burke asked.
"It could mean that it is safe to assume that Eva Units 10 and 11 were the primary targets."
"I believe it is also safe to assume that not only does Nerv no longer need Shinji in their plans, but that he, in some way, represents some sort of danger to them," Misato said.
"I...suppose that's a valid point," Kaji said. "What are you getting at?"
"For Shinji's safety, I believe that he should be brought on board the Wunder. We would be in the best position to protect him from any further attacks."
"What?" Burke shot forward in his chair. Kaji, in turn, straightened up in his own seat, a stern look appearing on his face.
"And how did you come to that conclusion?" he asked her.
"Our mobility would allow us to keep him safe," Misato answered. "While the fact that, if you're right, Nerv is going after Units 10 and 11, they're not going to stop after one failed attack. Not just he, but all of you will be in constant danger."
"Which would be greater if he was on board, or perhaps you don't remember the last attack on your ship," Burke countered. "You guys are always where the action is. You can't guarantee his safety any better."
"But if Nerv is going to be focusing on this city, he would be away from the danger. If they don't know he's on board, they can't target him, making it highly likely that we'll avoid any large scale attacks."
"We can defend this city," Aida declared. "Our main weapons were undamaged in the attacks-"
"Because they were bypassed, therefore unused," Ritsuko added. "You should know by now that not all enemies are giant monstrosities." Kaji raised his hand, bringing the argument to a halt.
"Katsuragi, I understand that you want to keep Shinji from harm, especially after what happened, but I will only allow him to live on the Wunder under two circumstances. One is if I receive orders from the higher ups to transfer him. The second is if Shinji agrees to voluntarily. If you are thinking about asking him, just keep in mind that he does have friends and support networks here. I believe that if you have him move, you'll be stripping him of those things. It would be doing more harm than good, and I know you don't want to do that." Misato let out a short breath.
"I…see your point, but I will be bringing up this topic with you again."
"I look forward to it," Kaji said. "What are your immediate plans now Captain?"
"Barring any unforeseen developments, this ship will remain in its present position until 0400 hours, then we'll return to the docks where we'll finish up repairs. Ritz how many hours of work remain on them?"
"About 12 hours, I believe," she said as she brought up the information on her tablet to confirm.
"Thank you. I believe it is prudent, considering what we have discussed here, that once we launch again, that we remain within 500 kilometers of the city for the immediate future, unless there is a distress call or if a specific misson has us needing to go farther away," Misato added.
"I agree," Kaji said. "While I do appreciate Colonel Aida's confidence in the city's defense systems, I feel we could use all the help we can get."
"Thank you," Misato replied. "Is there anything else Commander?"
"Not that I can think of," Kaji then turned to the others. "Is there any other matter that should be brought up?" Everyone remained silent. "Very well. Thank you Captain for letting us have the meeting here." Kaji and the other NewCon personnel stood up from their chairs and began to leave the room, leaving Misato, Ritsuko, and Hyuga in their seats.
"Hyuga, could you please leave us?" Misato asked.
"Uh, sure Captain," He replied as he stood up. "I'll be on the bridge." After Hyuga left, Ritsuko swung her chair and faced her friend and Captain.
"What do you want to do?" she asked her.
"About what?" Misato countered.
"You know what I mean," Ritsuko said. Misato sighed and leaned back in her chair.
"I'm not sure," Misato replied. "Shinji told me just yesterday he doesn't want to go with us. And Kaji's right too. He has friends and people who care for him here, and he'll need them now."
"But we can't let things stay like this," Ritsuko said. "If we don't so something, Shinji could end up suffering even worse, which could lead to bad results for all of us."
"I know that, I really do," Misato stated, "but don't you think that people messing with the kid's life has given us some of our troubles?"
"Tell that to Kaji," Ritsuko retorted. She leaned back in her chair and took a breath. "I swear, if we knew Shinji was out of the building, we could have opened fire. We had Burke's order recorded on file, and it would have been easy to claim computer or human error." Those words made Misato almost do a double take on her subordinate.
"They're our comrades," she said, stressing the last word. "We can't allow it to go that far. Something like that would only benefit Nerv in the end. We are better than that."
"But of it turns out they are no better than Nerv, wouldn't that make them an enemy as well?" Ritsuko asked.
"From what I can tell, Shinji is living a much happier life here than he was back then," Misato replied. "So for the moment, they are better. He is better than them. He has to be."
"He?" Ritsuko asked. Misato spoke again, but did not answer her question.
"We'll need to open some lines of communication with the brass. Make some inquiries, call in some favors. If it is apparent that Shinji needs to be moved, we'll need to make sure there are orders from above." Ritsuko then began to chuckle.
"I don't believe it, the great strategist Katsuragi is playing politics," she said. "And they say there is nothing new under the sun."
"I just think of it as another type of battle," Misato countered as she stood up from her chair. "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to make a phone call to my daughter, tell her I'm going to be home late."
"What the hell is her problem?" Aida fumed as they walked down the corridor. "Why would she call for Shinji to be transfered like that?"
"Calm down Aida," Kaji replied. "None of us are going to let him go unless he wants to go." The Colonel took a few deep breaths before he spoke again.
"I know that sir, it's just that we all know he has suffered. I've seen some of it myself. I don't want anymore bad things to happen to him."
"We feel the same way," Kaji said.
"Do you think that Katsuragi will try to go over our heads?" Burke asked.
"Maybe," Kaji answered. "I'll make some calls, try to get ahead of the situation if that is indeed what she plans to do."
"But we don't need these kind of divisions," Aida added. "Aren't we all on the same side?" The three then heard from behind a pair of footsteps coming towards them. They turned to see Matsu running towards them.
"Colonel Aida, you have a message coming through from General Swanson," Matsu said. "I'll take you to a communication's terminal."
"Very well," he turned to the other two.
"We'll wait for you guys on the flight deck," Kaji said.
"Thank you sir," Aida said before following Matsu. Kaji and Burke continued their walk.
"You look like hell," Kaji remarked.
"I've been through it," Burke replied. "In the end, it...it felt like I did nothing out there."
"That can't be true," Kaji said.
"When she was running unopposed throughout the base, I was in the Command Center, unable to do anything," Burke said. "Aida went out there to try and fight her, Sam was trying to get our systems back on line, and Shinji…well, the less said, the better. Some Vice-Commander I am." Kaji then dug out from a folder he was carrying a set of papers.
"Look, I saw this repair outline you sent to me. It usually takes several hours to have that written up. You got it to me in an hour."
"It's incomplete," Burke said. "I haven't gotten a final report on the extant of the damage, so you need to consider that a preliminary draft."
"That's not the point," Kaji said. "What I'm trying to say is that you're the type of person who keeps things organized for everyone's benefit. You let Hood and Aida do their jobs, and do them better. That's your strength."
"It may be true, but it certainly doesn't feel that way," Burke answered. The two stepped out onto the flight deck, the cold wind cutting into them.
"I…read the other parts of the report that did not concern the attack," Kaji said.
"I was in the middle of reading through some of the data that we got from the Wunder's computer cores we replaced when it occurred," Burke said.
"So they know about Arbitor," Kaji said.
"Its existence at least," Burke added. "This is bad."
"But they didn't confront us either at the meeting or in private," Kaji said. "That suggests they don't know all the details."
"Well as soon as everything is relatively back to normal, I'll go back to the analysis, see how much they do know." Burke paused for a moment before speaking again. "What do we do now?"
"Depends on what your analysis brings up," Kaji answered. "Otherwise, the ball is in Katsuragi's court, and she can be fierce in a fight."
"Yeesh, I can't believe you two were an item at one time," Burke said.
"That's ancient history," Kaji said, the memory putting a small smile on his face. The tower then lit up, its lights joining the rest of the cityscape like the last piece of a jigsaw puzzle. Burke made a silent clap while Kaji looked on the sight in approval.
"Ahead of schedule," he added.
"I know," Burke said. He paused for a moment before he spoke again. "I wonder if Aida was right about what he said?"
"Right? About what?" Kaji asked.
"That we're all supposed to be on the same side," Burke replied.
"We are on the same side," Kaji said. "But at the same time, there is more than one path to victory. If Katsuragi can do it, then we won't be needed."
"True," Burke replied. "I just hoped that if it does come down to a fight between her and us, no matter who wins, it isn't Shinji who loses."
Shinji slouched back in the waiting room chair, looking up in the ceiling. Joanna, who was sitting upright in the chair next to him, looked over.
"What did the doctor say?" she asked him.
"I haven't heard anything yet," he replied. "I hope that it isn't too serious."
"I'm not talking about Lieutenant Suzuhara," Joanna said. "I'm asking about you."
"Oh, they said I was fine," Shinji said. "They recommended that I take it easy for a couple of days."
"I see," Joanna said. "I-I was just asking because you seemed out of it. Did…Did something happen? I know that you saw that Ayanami, but I don't know too much else."
"Yeah, I…I was the one who killed her," he said. Joanna covered her mouth to keep herself from crying out.
"It…It just seems so unreal, that I can do something like that, you know?" Joanna didn't say anything, choosing instead to give him a hug. Shinji, taken aback by her sudden action, was wide-eyed for a couple of seconds before he returned the hug, taking care not to do so too tight.
"Wow, she's making her move already. You're quite the bold one." The two of them turned to see both Mari, who had said those words, and Asuka standing at the waiting room entrance. In less than a second, Joanna broke the hug and sat back in her chair with a yelp. Shinji stood there with a deer in the headlights look on his face. The two ladies walked over to them, Asuka sitting next to Shinji, while Mari sat next to Joanna.
"Did you contact Hikari by any chance?" Asuka asked.
"I tried a couple of times, but I couldn't get through," Shunji replied.
"I'll try then. She should know," Asuka said. She then paused for several seconds, at one point opening her mouth to speak and closing it again, before she found her words.
"I…heard about what happened," she began. "How are you holding up?" Shinji shrugged in reply.
"I was just telling Joanna before you came in that it feels so unreal. I mean, it wasn't as if she and I were friends or that we knew each other for years. And yet, it feels…wrong in some way. I know she's the enemy, and she tried to kill me, but it still feels wrong to me. You'll probably call me an idiot for feeling that way, but that's the way I feel." To Shinji's surprise, Asuka gave a slight smile."
"After hearing that, I'm glad," she then said.
"Glad? I'm not sure what you mean." Shinji said.
"It means that since you feel that it was wrong, but you know that it was the right thing to do, that you are going to be okay," she said. "If you felt nothing or even good about it, then I'd be worried. It isn't like killing an Angel or drones. This is not something I want you to get used to. It isn't wrong to feel the way you're feeling, but at the same time, I can assure you that you did the right thing. I know it'll be difficult to see things that way right now, but in time, I think that you can put this behind you."
Shinji reflected on her words, was about to reply when the four took notice of their Ayanami walking into the waiting room escorted by a nurse.
"Hey, how's it going there?" Mari said to her with a wave.
"I am undamaged," the Ayanami replied. She then went over and sat down right next to Shinji and Asuka.
"How are you?" she then asked him.
"I'm…I'm doing okay," he replied.
"I see…" she trailed off and looked down at the floor.
"I'm sorry," Shinji said. "I didn't want to kill her, but…but I didn't have a choice."
"No," Ayanami said. "It should be I apologizing to you."
"Let me guess, you're apologizing because she was like you and you're feeling guilty for what she did," Asuka declared. "Jeez, what's with this whole collective responsibility crap?" She huffed out.
"It is not that," Ayanami said. "I tried to convince her to stop. I thought that I could save her like how I was saved, but I couldn't. I failed her, and I failed you as well."
"I don't think you failed," Shinji said. "I saw her struggle with what you were offering to her. But in the end, she made her choice. After talking to Asuka, I now think that her choice might have made it easier to make mine." Asuka put her hand on his shoulder and rubbed it a little.
"I understand," Ayanami said.
"Think about it this way," Mari said. "She may be have an advanced model, but you're the smarter one in the end."
"If you say so," Ayanami said. "And yet, I am still unhappy with the way things turned out."
"We all do," Asuka said.
"There is one more thing I got to know," Shinji turned to Asuka. "That stuff you were saying earlier, I got the feeling that you knew something about it. Does that mean—" Asuka put up her hand to make him stop.
"Please...just please, don't ask me that question," she said to him.
"Okay, okay, enough of this," Mari then said. "Let's talk about something less heavy." She then turned to Joanna.
"So," Mari spoke to her, "getting any?" Joanna only returned a blank stare at her in reply. Before anyone else can say or do anything, a doctor came into the room.
"Are you Shinji?" he asked him.
"Uh, yeah," he replied.
"Lieutenant Suzuhara wants to see you for a few minutes. Is that all right with you?
"Yeah, sure," Shinji answered before turning to the others. "Is that all right with you guys."
"Fine by us," Asuka replied. "We'll wait for you."
"What'll we do in the meantime?" Joanna asked.
"I'm sure there's a rec area on the ground floor of this place," Mari said. "I think we went past it when we came in."
"Oh really?"
"Yeah, they have stuff like foosball, pinball machines, and I think there's a pool table too."
"Pool?" Mari could see Joanna's eyes light up when she asked that question.
"They sure do. How about we play a game? I can show you how to do it like a pro," Mari puffed.
"Uh…yeah, I would love to see you play," Joanna said.
"Great," Mari said. "You can head over there Shinji, we can keep ourselves busy."
"Okay," he said "I'll see you there after I'm done." He followed the doctor out of the waiting room and down a hallway.
"How is she doing?" Shinji asked.
"Very good," the Doctor replied. She has several cracked robs, but is otherwise fine. Considering the way she was injured, I"m amazed her injuries weren't even worse."
"That's good to hear," Shinji said. The two reached the door of her room. The Doctor then turned to him.
"I should tell you that he had give the Lieutenant some painkillers to help her deal with her injuries, so she's going to be acting a little loopy. You understand?" Shinji nodded. "I'll give you about five minutes or so." The Doctor left, and Shinji knocked on the door a couple of times before he opened it, sticking his head through the entryway. He saw Sakura laying in a bed wearing a hospital gown and covered in a blanket partways up her body. He entered the room and walked over to the bed. He saw that she was awake, and her eyes shifted towards him, a smile forming on her face at the sight of him.
"Hey Shinji, you're here." Her voice sounded disconnected with everything.
"Hey," he replied as he sat in a chair next to the bed. "Feeling all right?"
"I'm fine," she answered. "I was just staring up at the ceiling. You know, there is something weird about looking up at a ceiling you've never seen before." Shinji looked up at the ceiling as well.
"I know exactly what you mean," he said. "Now, you wanted to see me?"
"Yeah. It's because I wanted to thank you," she replied.
"Thank me?" Shinji asked.
"For saving my life," she answered. "I know that it was something that you didn't want to do, but I'm glad that you did it, really glad."
"I…see," Shinji said.
"It's amazing," she continued. "You saved my life two times now." Shinji cocked his head a little in confusion.
"Two times? Wait, you can't mean that the first time was when I piloted Unit 01 when you were a kid. If anything, I hurt you back then."
"I do," she said. "But as I told Toji, you saved all of us fighting the Angel. It's just the same when you fought the Ayanami."
"Really?" Shinji said. Sakura nodded.
"If you think about it, that hospital stay years ago inspired me to go into medicine myself. You could stay that your actions led me to this path."
"W-Well, if you say so," Shinji blushed.
"Do you want to hear something else?" she then asked him, a silly smile forming on her face.
"Yeah, what?" Shinji leaned a little towards her.
"Back when I was a kid, I thought about what you did later on, when Toji visited me in the hospital, and he told me all those stories, I kind of developed a crush on you, thought we'd be married someday. Stupid, huh?" Shinji chuckled a little before he spoke.
"You were just a kid. I get it."
"Well, the thing is, even after all these years, I somewhat still feel that way. Now isn't that funny?" She then laughed for a few seconds. Shinji didn't reply. He sat in the chair wide-eyed, repeating the words she had said in his mind over again, looking for any other interpretation besides the obvious. He tried several times to speak, but no words came out of his mouth. He then heard a knock at the door, and when he turned to it, saw the Doctor come in.
"Shinji, it's time to go," he half-whispered. After saying his goodbye to her, Shinji stood up and followed him out of the room. He thanked the Doctor, and began to make his way towards the exit at a slow pace and in complete dumbfoundment. As he got close to the rec room, he heard an unusual noise, which knocked him out of his daze. It sounded like laughter. After hearing it some more, what surprised him was that not only was it laughter, but it was Asuka laughing. Hard.
"It's not that funny Princess," he then heard Mari shout. "Rack them again." Even though he still had what she said on his mind, he had to chuckle a little once he figured out what happened. He then went towards the rec room.
