Chapter 69: Tiny

A/N- Sorry it took me so long to post this new chapter, but now that I'm writing two stories, I'm not going nearly as fast as before. Let me rephrase my request for reviews; when I get five or more reviews, I will post the chapter as soon as I can. Sorry again, now here's the chapter you've all been waiting for!

A/A/N- This chapter has been proof-read by Frost-Eva-00. Thanks for the help Frost!

NERV Command Center

We were just dropping off Dietlinde with Ritsuko before we got into our Evas. Unfortunately, we haven't changed into our plug suits yet.

"Asuka… how about you wear that only around Shinji, huh?" I look over to see that Asuka was still in the silk night-dress. Why did we always start off battled either embarrassed or simply unable to fight?

"Shut up! Now take Dietlinde," Asuka hands Ritsuko the child and we both jet off to go get changed. Gahiji's Eva was still being repaired, so it was only me, Asuka and Sam fighting whatever was coming at us. Within two minutes, we were in out Evas and ready to fight.

"All Evas, launch!" in an instant, we were jettisoned to the surface, "Okay kids, you're in luck! The MAGI had actually pinpointed where the threat is, the bad news is that there's about twenty thousand of them," my comm. must be busted, did she just say twenty thousand?

"What! How the hell are we going to fight off that many!" Akagi laughs a little, "What the hell is so funny? I don't see you out here!"

"They are only about a yard long each, just use these," just then, three guns shot from the ground, "Hope you like fire!" knowing Akagi, she wasn't joking. We each pick one of the huge – even for an Eva – guns.

"So, what does this baby do, huh?" Asuka now had a wide smile on… which kind of made me scared.

"Well, it's basically a flame thrower. Say hello to the newest addition to NERV!" a flame thrower? That even made me excited! That is until I see Sam holding one… then I think of what could happen! I don't care how aware she is, there is no way she was going to be able to handle this.

"I think I'll just leave this one alone," almost like she read my mind, Sam put the weapon back.

"Evas approaching!" just as she said that, I see a huge white cloud comes into view over the horizon. The cloud gracefully floated from side to side, almost like it was part of the wind.

"Come on… just a little closer…" Asuka mumbled over the comm. The white cloud finally got within a few hundred yards, and Asuka went all out, "Die you bugs!" when she pulled the trigger, it looked like a volcano erupting from the gun. A stream of flames shot out far past where the Evas were and actually melted part of a bridge.

"Asuka! That's enough! The MAGI thinks there dead," there was no way that it was that easy. The hundreds of crisp insects littered the ground, "and so do I…" Akagi spoke over the comm.

"That was too easy! No wonder they need new designs! Did they honestly think a bunch of bugs could-" her screen went to static.

"Asuka? Are you alright?" still nothing but the sound of static, "Asuka, answer!" Ritsuko was yelling over the comm. Just as soon as it went to static, her screen came back up.

"Yeah, I'm alright, why?" I let out a soft sigh of relief, "Akagi? I… think there's a hole in my entry plug… what the hell is that?" a hole? How was that even possible? I thought these things were made out of titanium!

"Asuka! Eject! Get out of there!" Now Akagi was yelling again, then an ear piercing scream came from Asuka.

"What the hell are these! Shit! Get off!" I look over at her to see that she was covered with what looked like white grasshoppers, "Ah! Crap that hurts! Get me out of here!" The Evas weren't dead yet!

"Shinji, pull her plug out! We can't eject her!" of course they can't! Are they good for anything! I jet over to her Eva and rip out the plug, and once again, her comm. screen went to static, "Okay, we can take it from here, just set her down," reluctantly, I put her plug down. Within seconds, I see about ten ambulances and countless NERV technicians surrounded her plug.

"What's taking so long? Get her out of there!" I was really starting to get worried; those things looked like… they were eating her.

"We can't! The plug is still too hot!" their joking… right? I've opened that thing with my bare hands before! I was sick of waiting, so I eject my plug on my own, and within a few minutes, I was out and running to hers.

"Get out of the way! She needs help!" I push my way through and finally get to her steaming entry plug, "Damn it I hate this part!" I grab onto the two handles and pull. Steam starts to rise from my hands and the handles separate further and further. Finally, the hatch pops open, and thousands of those bugs crawl out and fall to the floor along with gallons of LCL, "Holy shit!" everyone takes more then a few steps back, leaving me standing there, "Oh yeah, you guys are a real help, assholes! I dig at the little Evas until I find Asuka, seemingly untouched, but unconscious. I pull her out of the plug and run her over to some clear ground.

"Will you people please do your jobs! See if she's okay!" Akagi was yelling at everyone as she ran towards me, "Shinji, is she breathing?"

"Yeah, but she's not awake. What the hell happened in there?" Akagi checks her pulse and gives a content sigh.

"She's fine, just a few bites. We should get her to the-" Ritsuko was cut off by an ear piercing scream. I look over to see a woman being engulfed in those creatures.

"Get these things off me!" her face was then covered by them. Now all that stood there was a huge pile of the Evas. After a few seconds, they scatter, leaving nothing left.

"Oh my God, Sam! Shinji, we have to get rid of those things!" Well duh!

"Great… how?" one of the bugs crawled over to her, and with a quick stomp, she crushed it.

"How do you get rid of normal bugs? It may be desperate, but it's all we got! Everyone, stomp on the little fuckers!" no one moved for a few seconds, "Did you hear me! NOW!" with that, each person, whether it be a NERV employee or a paramedic, began to crush them.

"You do know that this will take forever… right?" she laughs a little.

"Not with all of these people helping, we should be done pretty soon." And she was right. The 'threat' was killed by shoes in about ten minutes. Sure, they could eat people, but we had the advanced technology of foot-wear! SEELE was becoming desperate, huh?

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NERV Hospital – One Hour Later

Asuka was still unconscious from her attack and in the hospital. Akagi said that she was fine, just shaken up. Who the hell wouldn't be shaken up after that? That was by far the most revolting thing I have ever seen; all of those things falling to the ground and onto my feet was just nasty.

"Has she woken up yet?" I turn to see Sam standing in the doorway.

"No, not yet, no one around here has any idea when she will wake up either. I guess all we can do is wait for now," she walks over and takes a seat next to me.

"Do you mind if I stay for awhile?" that was new. Normally Sam would steer clear of any conflict.

"No, thanks," I felt like I had to thank her for staying with Asuka right now. Sam reaches out and takes Asuka's hand with the engagement ring on it.

"You really love her, don't you?" she rubbed the diamond with one finger.

"You have no idea, no one does. I don't know why, but our relationship is a special one. For over a year we lived together, and both of us hated every second of it. I really have no idea how we ended up together, in truth, I think it was a miracle on my part," she looked over at me with an annoyed face.

"Oh cut the crap Shinji. It was no miracle; she loves you just the same. I don't care what either of you say about living together, you obviously loved it. If you didn't, then explain to me how you became so close," she was right. Maybe we did like that time, but I was still unsure about it.

"Mmmm…" a soft moan came from Asuka, "Shin… ji…" I think she was coming too, "Diet… linde…" even in her dreams she would think of her family.

"See what I mean? She never stops thinking about you! Now that she brought it up, where is Dietlinde? I thought Akagi had her, but she's been walking around all day," good point. For the first time, I was actually afraid of her safety. I knew that she was fine, but just the fact that I didn't know where she was drove me insane.

"Do you mind staying here? I'm going to find her," without waiting for an answer, I left. The first place I went to was Ritsuko's office, hoping that she knew where Dietlinde was. She wasn't in her office, so now I had to search for her. After about ten minutes of searching, my heart was pounding. I needed to know that Dietlinde was okay, that she was in good hands. I finally turn the corner to see Akagi with her back to me. "Hey Ritsuko, Where's Dietlinde?" she turns to show her wearing a harness with Dietlinde in it. Was she… carrying Dietlinde around? That was cute and creepy at the same time!

"Yeah, I think I've got her right here," she chuckles a little, "Sorry if I worried you, but I needed to get some work done. Here, you can take her back now," She unbuckles the harness and hands my child to me, "Good thing I had this lying around, huh?"

"Yeah… thanks… I gotta go," I didn't want her to see me so freaked out, so I took Dietlinde and left. I failed to notice that her face had lit up when she saw me, but when I finally calmed down and looked at her, she had a huge smile plastered on her face, "You want to go sleep?" I just didn't want her to see Asuka like that, it might make her uneasy. Just as she always has, she answered my question by loosing the smile and staring at me. I couldn't take that face… maybe a few minutes with Asuka would be fine. Hell, she WAS her mother; the state that Asuka was in shouldn't have any affect. I carry her to the room to see Sam talking to Asuka.

"Oh, you're back. Asuka woke up right after you left, did you find Dietlinde?" I go and sit down next to her.

"Yeah, how do you feel Asuka?" she laughs a little.

"I've been worse off, trust me," Dietlinde was staring at her blankly, "And how is my little girl doing?" Dietlinde instantly gets a smile on her face.

"You want to be with mom, huh?" I hand her to Asuka, where she instantly took her place in Asuka's chest. It was just like that one night when I tried to put the crib together; Dietlinde had her head resting on Asuka's breasts while Asuka gently rubbed her back. Dietlinde's eyes were soon shut and I think she was sleeping.

"So how long was I out?" Asuka whispered to me and Sam.

"Not that long, only about an hour. What happened in there Asuka? How did so many of those things get inside?" her averted her eyes back to Dietlinde sleeping.

"I have no idea, at first there was only four or five, but they… split, I think. I could have sworn I saw them splitting in half and multiplying. When they got on me, it literally felt as if I was being eaten, I'm surprised that I don't have any bite marks," so was I; I saw that woman being eaten, yet not a drop of blood was spilled.

"I'm surprised you are alive. A woman was eaten by those things within a few seconds; why didn't they hurt you?" she just shrugged.

"Hey, I didn't say that they didn't hurt, I said I'm okay. I have no idea why they didn't do worse, I guess I'm just lucky," story of our lives. Me and Asuka had always been lucky; lucky to end up together, lucky that she hadn't gotten pregnant from that man, lucky that I'm not dead from either being stabbed, shot, or beaten, and lucky that the birth went okay. Nothing in our lives didn't have anything to do with luck… except for the love Dietlinde has for us. That was all on our own.

A/N- Kind of odd to stop the chapter here, but I ran out of ideas. I hate to say it, but in the next chapter, someone will be leaving, possibly for good. Who will it be? Why are they leaving? Find out in the next chapter; Father, until then, keep on keepin' on!