"I've verified them all myself. There isn't a single member of SEELE still breathing."

Commander Ikari's office was draped in its usual darkness, a scant amount of red light flooding in to illuminate Sub-Commander Fuyutsuki, their guest, and the Commander himself. Upon the singular desk within the office was a stack of various photographs, all of them showing the faces of SEELE. Some, such as the members of the Instrumentality Committee, were easy enough for the Commander to recognize. Others posed a bit more of a problem, even if they were well known public figures throughout the post-Second Impact world.

"As you can see, most appear to have been stabbed by some form of high-energy lance. Chairmen Lorenz himself, however, appears to have suffered a complete cybernetic breakdown shortly after the destruction of the seventeenth angel. Even I am not sure how so much high-profile death was kept from the media."

"The eyes can only find what they look at, Agent. I am certain you, more than anyone, should be aware of this." The Commander's voice was smooth and mellow. If there were any concerns nestled deep within his mind, neither his voice nor his demeanor was able to betray it. Fuyutsuki, however, was not as successful.

"With the committee out of the picture, how will we be able to secure our funding? I'm not certain there are many others that will be as easily swayed within the UN to support our discretionary funds."

"That is not a matter to be discussed at this time, Sub-Commander. Rest assured, preparations have been made."

"But how?"

A dismissive hand motion from the Commander was enough to silence Fuyutsuki. "Now then, Agent…" the Commander's voice hung for a moment on the foreign name "Tod, is that all you have for us?" The agent gave a curt nod in agreement. "Very well, you are dismissed."

The crew-cut brunette removed his wire-frame spectacles. "Sir, if I may, on a more personal matter. Are the rumors regarding Asuka true?"

"You gave up any semblance of parental rights towards her some time ago, Agent." Gendo's cold voice never wavered. "Now, I believe you were dismissed."

Chapter 3

Snippets of Power

And in those days, the Soul of the World shall be torn asunder. The giants shall once again roam the Earth, as in the days of antiquity. And the Sons of God shall stand against the Daughters of…

Only translatable elements of Dead Sea Scroll 12QRev18-19

"Then, the lost scrolls were not a mere hoax?" Fuyutsuki asked once their guest was finally out of the office.

"Our entire plan hinged upon the assumption that we had access to prophecy that the old fools were unaware of. Or have you forgotten, Sub-Commander?"

"No sir. It is merely a relief to know we have no wavered as far off course as I had come to fear," Kozo said with an obvious sigh of relief.

"Good, because we have much to do and a very limited time in which to do so. Contact Bethany Base and have them prepare to move Evangelion 05 and the Sixth Child here. Also, activate the Seventh."

"But his Evangelion-"

"Will be here when the time comes."

"Yes sir."

=/\= =\/= =/\= =\/= =/\=

Shinji awoke the next morning to find himself alone once more. Sometime during the early morning hours, Asuka must have slipped back to her own room. And, for some reason, it left Shinji feeling even more empty than usual. He hadn't really expected her to be there. Of course, he also hadn't expected her to come to him in the middle of the night either.

Subconsciously, he began to slowly flex his hand while he thought back to his words last night. For a fleeting moment, he recalled hearing Kaworu's words repeated in his mind. And in a rash moment, he'd made that promise. Even if only for a night, he promised to protect her. And she had seemed… happy?

That had been the most confusing part. The Great Asuka Soryu Langley, the self-proclaimed "Greatest Eva Pilot in the World", who would never ask for or seem to want help, actually seemed to be content to have someone else, even a weakling like himself, promise to protect her.

The sound of a door opening broke his line of thought for a moment. He knew it was Asuka's door given the proximity. He started to get up to ask her about what happened. But the sudden wrenching sound from the bathroom was enough to tell him that she wasn't up for much talking at the moment.

"But maybe…" he said softly to his SDAT player on his nightstand.

A part of him thought that there was a chance things would be different between the two of them. It was worth a chance, wasn't it? Without much more thought, Shinji got out of bed and quickly made his way to their shared bathroom. With a slight shake in his hands, he pulled her crimson locks back from her face.

"Ugh… I'll never get use to this…" she grumbled weakly. "Thank you, Misato."

"You're welcome, Asuka. But it's me. Shinji."

"Wha? SHINJI?!" A hint of red started to seep into Asuka's pale cheeks. She threw a weak elbow into his stomach. "OUT! PERVERT! ECCHI! HENTAI! OUT! GET OUT!" The sudden outburst punctuated by another bout of vomiting.

Winded and doubled over, Shinji made his way out of the bathroom.

"Not quite what you were expecting?" his purple-haired roommate teased.

"Not at all…"

=/\= =\/= =/\= =\/= =/\=

The rest of the morning was fairly uneventful. In a way, it seemed as though nothing unusual had happened the previous night. Asuka, once she was done having a conversation over the porcelain phone, was back to her slightly abrasive and self-centered personality. Misato took to teasing her two charges whenever she had a chance, though she'd laid off the 'Newlyweds' type jokes somewhat.

After breakfast, they had agreed that it would be best for Shinji to return to school in order to pick up their paperwork. Asuka, on the other hand, was to accompany Misato to NERV for a second opinion from Ritsuko. It wasn't that Misato doubted the original report, as unbelievable as it was, but he had no way of being certain how such a pregnancy would affect Asuka's ability to sync with her Eva.

=/\= =\/= =/\= =\/= =/\=

"Shin-man! How ya been? We missed ya yesterday." Toji leaned heavily on his crutch to flag his friend down with his only good arm. Even though he'd been released from the hospital a little over a month ago, it still unnerved Shinji to see one of his closest friends with two prosthetic limbs because of his own inaction. And so, he simply waved back shyly before heading to his seat.

"Yeah, Shinji," started Kensuke. "You've not been all week. What, did the Red Devil's obligatory chocolate send you to the hospital?"

The two stooges started to laugh. Shinji, on the other hand, could feel anger starting to well up inside him. But, instead of the usual habit of his flight instinct kicking in, his urge to fight clicked into place. "Cut it!" he snapped. Both his friends laugh, shocked that the usually quiet Ikari would snap. To their credit, the look on Shinji's face pretty much announced to the whole world that he was just as surprised.

"OK, we're cool," responded Toji, clapping Shinji between his shoulder blades with a well-meaning slap. "Damn, looks like living with the Red Devil has finally started to give out little Shin-man a backbone. Where is she, anyways?"

"NERV," Shinji said quickly. "They're running some extra tests on her. Didn't really want to ask what about." He gave a forced chuckle, before adding, "You can't imagine how touchy she can be about that sort of thing."

Toji just gave his mocking sage nod, like he understood exactly what Shinji hadn't said.

"Which reminds me," he continued, standing up and heading to the front of the room before class started. "Class Rep?"

"Yes Ikari?"

"Would you mind giving Asuka a call after class today? I have a feeling she might need someone to talk to."

"But, couldn't you..."

Shinji just shook his head. "I could, but I think she'd rather speak with someone she considers a true friend."

"OK Shinji. I'll call her." Just then, their teacher walked in and Hikari snapped into full class rep mode. "Rise! Bow! Sit!"

=/\= =\/= =/\= =\/= =/\=

Meanwhile, at NERV, things weren't going quite as smoothly, as a single, feminine voice broke could suddenly be heard in every corner of the Geofront.

"OH HELL NO!"

A/N: Bit of a cliff-hanger for you there. Should keep y'all interested until the next chapter. Which brings me to my first point. Remember how I said I was going to try to update this every Wednesday and Saturday? Yeah, not happening. I'm going to shoot for a goal of "at least" once a week. I'll keep posting as quickly as I comfortably can, but I want to keep myself to a minimum of one post per week before Saturday morning. If I can write more, I can write more. I just want to give everyone an idea of my new plan for posting.

Shinji's spine seems to be growing. Sure, it's not a "Oh, you mean Asuka's pregnant, time to awake The Sleeper!" type growth we saw back in the original story. But, hopefully, it keeps somewhat closer to his anime personality. Also, now you readers should be able to have an idea of why there wasn't an attempt at Third Impact made by SEELE. Kind of hard to order an all-out assault when you're dead, after all. If anything is unclear, hopefully it will be cleared up as time progresses. Feel free to leave a comment about what you're unsure of in the reviews, or just send me a private message. Depending on the comment, I'll either answer it directly, or use it to hammer the point out later on in the story. Until next time!

JaceSterne