Nothing Will Ever Change That

Chapter 118: Nothing Will Ever Change That

A/N – I know that this chapter should be in Shinji's point of view, but it kinda HAD to be in Asuka's. I tried to add a chapter before this one as a filler, but it only turned out to be a page and a half. If I would have stretched it out anymore it would have been stupid. Sorry.

Baby Room – 1:00 PM – The Next Day

"You think we should 'introduce' Asuka and Dietlinde?" up to now, they haven't even seen each other. Dietlinde was woken up last night by Asuka crying, but that's about all the exposure they've had.

"Yeah… do you think they're ready? I mean… I don't know, whatever you think is best…" that is so like him!

"Well, both of them are awake, and since that's kinda rare, I think we should… might as well try it, what's the worse that could happen?" I reach down into Asuka's crib and pick her up gently. Handling a baby this small again is odd, I have to admit. I didn't know that Dietlinde grew so much in the past year! "Here we go…" with Dietlinde watching my every move, I slowly lower Asuka into Dietlinde's crib. At first, they just stared at each other – with Asuka lying down and Dietlinde sitting up by herself – with the cutest confused faces.

"Um… what now…?" just as Shinji said that, Dietlinde began to slowly reach over to her sister, almost as if to examine her.

"Be gentle honey," she looked up at me, then back to her sibling. When Dietlinde's hand made contact with Asuka's forehead, Asuka seemed to perk up quite a bit for someone her age. Dietlinde began to gently stroke Asuka's hair… did she get that from me? "That's your sister…" Dietlinde once again looked up at me with a confused face.

"I think she's handling it pretty well…" Shinji whispered in my ear.

"Yeah, maybe this won't be as hard as we-" just then, Asuka began to cry… ah damnit! They were doing so good too! It's not that Dietlinde did anything wrong, I think that seeing her sister was just too much excitement for her. Since Asuka was crying, that of course set off Dietlinde… ah crap…

"You get Asuka and I'll get Dietlinde…" Shinji reaches in and picks up Dietlinde, then continues to walk out of the room to calm her down. I of course pick up Asuka, who's cry is MUCH higher then Dietlinde's… seriously, it's like needles in my ears!

"Shhh, it's okay Asuka," I begin to slowly rock her back and forth… okay, I'm an idiot! I know why she's crying! She's only eaten once since she's been home! Well, there's some good and bad news; good news that she's not afraid of Dietlinde and bad news for me… "At least you don't have teeth yet…" a few minutes later, she was calmly suckling and her tears had gone away. From the sound of it, Dietlinde had also stopped crying… that didn't take too long! About five minutes later, Shinji walks back into the room with Dietlinde – face still red from crying.

"Was that why she was crying? She was hungry?" I pull Asuka away and button up my shirt.

"Yeah, apparently," slowly, I set Asuka back into her crib, "I wish we would have known that before, this would have been WAY easier!" I get up and peck Shinji on the lips, "How about we go watch some TV? They could use some time alone anyway," he wraps his arm around my hips as we walk back into the living room.

"So, tell me, was it ANY easier this time around?" we fall back onto the sofa and turn on the TV, though neither of us watched it.

"Oh HELL NO! If anything, this one was worse because I started the contractions at home!" he lets out a little chuckle, "Oh yeah, you wouldn't be laughing if you had to do it!"

"Hey, I give you credit at every turn! I think that it's amazing that you go through that!" that's better… "Do… you hear a car pulling up outside?" why would that matter?

"Yeah, an… oh crap!" we both rush towards the door, trying to beat whoever was there to the doorbell, "Don't ring the doorbell, don't ring the doorbell…" I whip open the door to see Ritsuko with her finger on the button, "Akagi!"

"Oh, hi Asuka!" I put my finger over my lips, telling her to shut the hell up, "Oh… sorry… can I come in?" I open the door and welcome her in, "I heard that you gave birth a couple days ago, I came as soon as I could. Sorry I wasn't there for the delivery, but my car was in for repair and I was stuck at my house. How'd it go?" out of instinct, we walk towards the baby room.

"Pretty good," liar, "It wasn't that bad," liar, "It was actually a cake walk compared to Dietlinde!" liar.

"Oh really? Glad to hear it! Can I see the little darling?" did Akagi just say 'little darling'? Okay, she just proved how old she is! I may call my babies honey, but I never said anything corny like that!

"Sure, I just got done feeding her," I guide her to the edge of Asuka's crib and look down at the semi-active baby, "Any idea why she was born prematurely? I mean, is there something wrong with my body? Both of my babies have turned out premature…"

"I don't think that one's body has anything to do with it… what were you doing when your water broke?"

"Nothing really, I was just taking a bath," Akagi starts to chuckle, "What?"

"There's your problem, that can send a woman into labor easily," you've got to be friggen kidding me! I mean, I know that I would have had to give birth eventually, but still! I would have liked to wait a little!

"Ah damnit… well, as long as Asuka's okay…" I reach in and gently stroke her hair, "She's beautiful, isn't she?"

"Yeah…"

"Mommy!" I look over at Dietlinde to see her with out-stretched arms towards me and a look of what seemed to be anger that I've never seen in her before, "Up!" what's gotten into her? She's never been so demanding!
"Okay Dietlinde," I reach in and pick up my first-born. She turns her head towards Asuka's crib and – from what it looked like – glared at her sister… okay, this was getting odd…

"Wow… looks like there's already some sibling rivalry…" so she saw it too…

"Dietlinde," I turn her head, making her look up at me, "Are you angry at Asuka?" her eyes drift towards the floor and the look of anger fails to leave her face, "Listen honey, I will always love you, you'll just have to share me with your sister," she looks back up at me and lets out what seems to be a smile, "There's my Dietlinde…" after pecking her on the forehead, I lower her back into her crib and guide Akagi back out of the room and into the living room, where Shinji was sitting on the chair.

"You're pretty good with her… anyway, where's Cass? I needed to speak with him about something," okay, what'd he break now?

"He's out with Sam and Blaze shopping for a few supplies," she raises an eyebrow in confusion… oh yeah, she doesn't know yet! "Well, long story short, Sam came back with Cass's baby – named Blaze. They're back together now though," she closed her eyes and let out a small chuckle.

"Wow… just… wow… you know, Sam just got calling me a little while back asking all about delivery…" she once again laughs.

"Oh was she? Hm… I think I might talk to her about that! In the mean time, can I get something for you? Some food maybe?" she sits down on a chair and I sit next to Shinji on the sofa.

"No, it's okay, but thanks. So, I've been meaning to ask you two about something…" she smirks a little before she speaks, "Are you… are you two aware of the fact that we're short one angel?" now what the hell is she talking about?

"Huh? Short one angel?" I see Shinji go pale, so apparently he got it… I'm still in the dark though!

"Yeah, I was going over a few artifacts out of boredom, and I came across something that perked my interest about the angels. It described each of them in exact detail and – after a few more hours of studying them – I found that each angel has a meaning related to the rest of the world. That's another story though; my point is that there's one more angel then what we thought… and I have a theory…" her face began to droop.

"And that is…?" I was still the only one involved in this conversation.

"The last angel was supposed to reflect the kindness in humans; which is quite odd seeing as the rest of the angels were negative emotions or actions. The description was extremely vague, but I did manage to gather that it 'would be born of miraculous circumstances'. The physical description was also vague, but it did say that she – and for once it actually gave a gender, it's a she – would mature extremely quickly… think of who that reminds you of," what is this, twenty questions?

"I'd rather not play a guessing game right now Ritsuko…" Shinji finally speaks up.

"Don't get upset with me, but I believe that it's Dietlinde. She was crawling actually smiling at what, less then a month old? Don't you find that the least bit odd? And, 'born of miraculous circumstances'… she was born extremely prematurely, to the point of most babies dying, and lasted through her first night… which, may I point out she only had a five percent chance of doing," you've got to be fucking kidding me with this!

"Okay, joke's over Rits," I glare at her slightly.

"I'm not joking here! I mean, show me one counterexample to my theory!" I launch up and glare down at her.

"For one, she's a fucking human being, not some monster! Dietlinde is our daughter, not what you say she is!" Ritsuko stands up to meet me at eye level and gives me back the same glare.

"You know damn well that I love that child, but if she's an angel-"

"You'll do what?" Shinji cuts in with his pale face. Ritsuko's face droops even more – if that's possible.

"We'll have to… I don't know…" did she almost say what I think she said?

"Akagi…? What were you about to say…?" I clench my hand into a fist as I talk and I feel my teeth grinding, "What the fuck were you about to say?" I swear to God, I'm about two seconds away from tacking her.

"We'll… have to deal with her…" I couldn't help it, I really couldn't, "Asuka! Calm down!" Shinji grabs my shoulders to keep me from attacking her again. I glare down at her, now on the floor.

"You ever say something like that again and I swear to God I'll fucking kill you!" I try to thrash away from Shinji, but he had a tight grip on my shoulders, "She's our fucking child! I wouldn't care if she's an angel or not!"

"Ritsuko, I recommend that you leave… now…" Shinji mutters through my yelling and Asuka crying. Akagi struggles to her feet and races out of the house, "Asuka, you need to calm down…"

"How the fuck can I calm down?! She was just talking about killing our baby Shinji!" she forces me to sit down on the sofa and looks down at me.

"I understand your frustration, but you need to calm down, you're just upsetting Asuka at this point," why the hell was he being so calm?

"Okay…" I take a deep breath, "You go ahead and calm down Asuka… I need to sit here for a second…" without a word, he walks into the baby room. How the hell could she say something like that? Even if Dietlinde WAS and angel, I wouldn't care! "Shinji…"

"Yeah?" the crying isn't as harsh, but still present.

"I'm going down to NERV for a little bit, I want to see these so called artifacts," I get up and pick up my keys, "Just watch after Dietlinde and Asuka," before he could respond, I was outside and walking towards the car, "She better be able to show me these artifacts…" why was Shinji so calm? I mean sure, he was trying to keep Asuka calm, but still! I start up the car and try to watch my speed – I did go a little over the speed limit though – as I go down the entwining streets.

"Two teens were shot today at a local high school due to gang rivalry. One boy – named Kensu-" I turn off the radio, not wanting to hear anymore bad news. After a few minutes, I pull into the parking lot of NERV.

"Now let's see if I can still find my way around here…" either out of pure luck or remembrance, I do end up finding Akagi's office, "Okay… I'm going to stay calm… I won't get upset…" promising myself something that I know I'll easily beak, I open the door to see her at her desk silently working on something, "Ritsuko," her head pops up.

"Asuka!" her leaps to her feet, "I don't want to have to call security, but I will if I have to," okay, maybe I did lose my temper…

"I'm sorry for hitting you, okay? You still had no right to say that though," with a sigh, she sits back down, "Can I sit down?" sure don't offer it to me! I take my seat in front of her desk to see what looked like open scrolls on her desk.

"I just have the well-being of the country in mind. I was just about to analyze some of her old blood from when she was born… do you want to stay around for the test results?" so she really did believe this…

"Okay… just hurry up…" she walks out of the room with a small clipboard, signaling me to stay put, "There' no way Dietlinde's an angel… there's just no way…" how can I be debating this? She was MY baby! I'm a human! "It's impossible… she's just… such a sweet baby…" I feel my eyes start to water up, "Don't fucking cry… Akagi's wrong… she has to be…"

---

Ten Minutes Later – Same Place

"Asuka?" I turn my head to see Shinji in the doorway. The past ten minutes have been spent silently crying waiting for Akagi to come back with the 'results'. Yes, this crying may be my messed up hormones still fixing themselves, but I really couldn't hold back my tears, "Are you okay?" I sits next to me and wraps his arms around my shoulders.

"Dietlinde can't be an angel… she can't…" I turn my head and cry into his shoulder.

"Asuka… we have to consider that this might be true… Akagi's right, Dietlinde WAS crawling before most babies could even show emotion. No, I'm not supporting her theory, I'm just trying to keep an open mind," how could he be saying that? Before I could respond, I was cut off by Akagi walking back into the room.

"Asuka… oh, hi Shinji, I'm glad you're here… I've got some bad news…" please don't let her say that… "I just got done looking at some of Dietlinde's white blood cells, and… wow… she shouldn't even be alive. Her white blood cell count is ninety percent below normal, with that amount she should die from a single virus. Now for the bad news…" that wasn't fucking bad news?! "All samples of angel blood had extremely low levels of white blood cells as well. Every attribute of her cells represents that of an angel," this can't be possible…

"But… she's just a baby… she can't be…" I'm not going to lose her again! "She's not! I don't believe you!" by now, I'm sobbing like a child.

"Asuka… I'm going to have to take Dietlinde for a little while," fuck no!

"You can fuck off!" I leap up and stare down at her, "You're not going to take my baby!" I feel a hand land on my shoulder.

"Asuka… I think we should follow what Rits says… she might be able to help Dietlinde…"

"How can you say that Shinji? She's our fucking daughter!" both of them simply stare at me, "You're… you have to be joking… I won't let you take her! She's not an angel!" to my surprise, Shinji grabs a hold of my shoulders and stares me in the eyes.

"Asuka! If we don't get help for Dietlinde she could end up dead! I realize that she's our daughter, and I realize that this is unfair to her, but the facts are right in front of us! We don't have a choice right now!" He can't be serious! "Listen…" he takes a deep breath and lets go of me, "You think I want to give Dietlinde up? Hell no I don't, but I want to see if there's even a possibility of her getting better, and I'll take any chance that presents itself."

"But… Shinji…" he takes me into a hug and I begin to sob into his chest, "This can't be true…"

"It's okay Asuka, just let it out," I barely even heard what he said over my own sobbing.

---

Two Hours Later – 3:15 – NERV Lab

"I don't think I can do this Shinji…" as I held Dietlinde in my arms in this white, bland room, my heart begins to race, thinking of how scared Dietlinde will be without us, "I don't think I can just leave Dietlinde here…"

"I know how you feel, but we don't have much of a choice in the matter. Ritsuko said that this won't take more then a week, so it's okay," Dietlinde looked up at both of us with such a confused face, simply asking where she is and why, "If you want, I can ask if we're able to stay in here with her at night."

"I… would like that…" I peck Dietlinde on the forehead once again.

"Okay Asuka, I don't mean to rip you away from her, but I should start as soon as possible. Don't worry, absolutely none of this will hurt her, I'll barely be touching her. All of this will be CAT scans and simply researching her anatomy. If she gets upset, I'll stop and call you in here, okay?" with shaking hands, I hand my baby to Akagi.

"O-Okay…"

"Mommy!" she outreaches her arms towards me, asking to be taken back. I put my hand on her head and gently stroke her hair.

"Mommy will be here, no matter what, I promise," she put down her arms and looked up at Akagi with what looked like approval, "There you go, that's my strong little girl," for one last time, I peck her on the forehead.

"Dr. Akagi!" a woman comes rushing into the room with a terrified look on her face, "We've got a big problem here! The MAGI says that there's another angel off the East coast!" half of me wanted to outstretch my finger, point it in Akagi's face and yell 'HA! I told you!' but the other half of me said 'Oh shit!'

"You're kidding me!" Shinji takes Dietlinde as Akagi yells, "But… I… I'm so sorry Asuka!" she rushes out of the room and towards the bridge.

"Well… what now…? I'm the only one that can pilot… ah shit…" damnit, I don't want to pilot right now!

"Like hell you're going to pilot! I'll just have the army go after it, how bad could it be?" Shinji of all people knows that the army can't take on an angel!

"Don't worry, I'll be fine. Listen, I want you to call Cass and tell him to take Dietlinde back home with him. You can stay here if you want though, I'm going to get changed," before he could respond, I run off towards the locker room. For some reason, I was really excited that I get to pilot again, it really has been awhile since I've even seen my Eva. As I strip down and crawl into the rubber plug suit, I realize that I actually could get hurt… nah, I won't! I'm the second best pilot NERV has! I finish getting changed and walk out of the locker room to see Shinji with empty arms.

"Cass picked up Dietlinde a few minutes ago, he's on his way home right now… I can't let you pilot Asuka!" I just laugh and kiss him deeply, "I'm just so scared Asuka…"

"Don't you worry about it. There's a reason why this angel waited so long to expose itself – it's weak!" I wait a little bit in the silence before speaking, "Aren't you going to say anything?"

"I… love you Asuka…"

"And nothing will ever change that… now, why don't you watch my performance?" I drag my finger across his chest as I walk away. This'll be a good workout, I really do need to drop those extra pounds from Asuka!

"Asuka?" I hear Akagi come over the intercom when I get to the Eva cages, "What are you doing? I haven't given you clearance to pilot yet!" she would have told me to get in here eventually anyway!

"Oh come on, someone needs to kick that angel's ass!" I crawl into the entry plug and Shinji's face appears on a side screen.

"Asuka! This has gone far enough! Get out of there now!" I just laugh as I press the 'Launch' button, "ASUKA! If you think that I can't get you to stop you're wrong!" well no duh he can get me to stop!

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know, just raise the LCL pressure and it'll knock me out, but you wouldn't do that," and he knew he wouldn't! "Now, where's this angel?" Akagi's face appears next to Shinji's, "Okay, if you're going to try and talk me out of it, forget it. Just tell me where it is so I can hurry up and get back home!"

"Damnit… Shinji, what's your word on this?" he closes his eyes and rubs them.

"Go ahead and pilot… but if there turns out to be even the slightest bit of trouble, I'm going to eject you from your Eva, got it?" jeez, he acts like I'm four!
"Okay, gotcha. Now, where is this angel?" Shinji's screen disappears and in its place, a small map with a bright red dot on it, "Right there. It's about two minutes away from where you are, but for some reason it doesn't seem like it's in a rush," she was right, the dot was barely moving at all.

"Well then, I guess I'll have to just hunt it down!" I start to jet down the city at full speed, taking in all of the g-forces.

"Asuka, this might be a bad time, but just as an update you currently have sync ratio of ninety-five percent. Try not to get it too high, remember, if you hit one hundred you'll feel everything that the Eva feels," I stop dead in my tracks and start to laugh.

"Yeah, but it also makes me stronger!" after a few seconds of concentrating, Akagi comes up on the screen once again.

"Do you LIKE to give Shinji heart attacks? Damnit… you're at ninety-nine… just try and take it easy, okay?" without saying a word, I charge towards the East shore… son of a bitch…

"Shinji? Shinji! We've got a problem!" he pops up on the screen fast as hell.

"What?!" his face…

"Never mind… false alarm…" his face was… terrified… I can't tell him.

"Don't freak me out like that Asuka!" I come in range of the angel, but I still fail to see it, "You there?"

"Yeah, sorry about that. Hey, put Akagi on, I can't see the angel anywhere," I have to be really careful… I can't let that angel damage our house, "I mean, I'm in range, but nothing's he-" suddenly, my body was flung a couple thousand feet by an outside force, "Damnit!" I struggle to my feet to see a small, scrawny looking angel, "Don't you know what a sucker punch is?!" this thing was what hit me? It's scrawny! This thing can't be more then half the size of my Eva! It had a fairly simple design; solid purple with red eyes and ears that pointed straight up. It's 'arms' looked more like hanging cloth then anything, they even blew in the wind! "This should be easy enough!" I charge at the angel and run right past it, grabbing one of its arms as I went. As it was ripped back, I was fairly surprised that its arm didn't rip off.

"Don't over do it Asuka!" Shinji – once again – shows up on my comm. link screen.

"Oh calm down!" I throw the angel into the air, "It's not like this thing is dangerous! Now, just sit back and watch me at work!" I shut off the link and continue to volley the tiny angel in the air, "Jesus, this thing is weak!" as I punch it into the air for the fifth time, it wraps its arm around my arm and throws me over its head, all before landing on the ground, "Damn!" I look up to see the angel with a wide smile and jumping into the air, obviously celebrating his one and only hit, "Yeah, you better be happy, that's all you're going to get!" I charge at it once again, but with that creepy smile still present, it flipped me over its head.

"HAHAHAHAAA!!!" by now it's laughing – which, by the way, sounds like a friggen fast forward film. As it was jumping, it accidentally knocked over an old abandoned house, which caught its interest. After a few seconds of staring at the wreckage, it got that smile back and once again began to laugh. As it was still laughing, it kicked down another building, and then let out that horrid laugh again, "AGAIN!" It raised one of those cloth-looking arms and looked at our house.

"FUCK!" I leaped in front of our house just as he sent that arm out, thus catching my shoulder, "You're not going to hurt my family!" I grab the arm and – while it was still holding tight onto my arm – swung it around and threw it as far as possible.

"No!" it literally stopped in mid air after I threw it and tightened up its arm. After a few seconds, I feel it's grip tighten to the point of pain, and then a hard thrust downwards.

"AHHHH!!!" I try not to fall to the floor as blood fills the entry plug. Out of either instinct or pure luck, I manage to stumble away from our house.

"Asuka! I'm ejecting you, we're coming to help!" Shinji's face once again appears on the screen and I slam my remaining fist against it.

"No… you're not! This son of a bitch will kill everyone if I give in!" how the hell I expect to take on this thing with one arm, I don't know, but I have to at least try, "Shinji! Filter the LCL as I fight, I can't see!" I could see enough though! I run up and punt the angel into the air, sending it flying towards the mountains.

"Like hell I'm going to let you fight! I'm not going to let you die!" my vision starts to become blurry from lose of blood.

"If you don't then everyone dies!" he just kept silent, "I… can do this…" I look to my left thigh and damn near vomit. It was just lying there, my wedding ring still sporting my ring finger, "I… won't let you hurt my family!" I charge at the dust-covered mountains and just as I enter the cloud of dust, I feel a tight pressure around my waist.

"Bye-bye!" I see two red eyes glowing through the dust and soon a body appears. I couldn't even budge from its hold, let alone get away. I grab its arms and – without any use – pull at them.

"Let go of me!" the arms start to vein out to the rest of my body, and within a few seconds they were covering my entire chest and legs, "Damnit!"

"That's it, I'm ejecting you!" I press the over-ride button on my controls and go back to struggling.

"Like… hell… you are!" I eventually get close enough to grab the little demon, and that's exactly what I do. I wrap my fingers around its scrawny neck, but that barely seemed to scathe it.

"You kill, I go boom!" it managed to mutter through my threshold.

"And if you don't let go of me I'll kill you," a look of worry crossed its face, "Are you afraid to die?" I manage a small smirk as it nods, "Well I'm not…" I lift up my leg and kick it square in the chest, leaving a huge dent and a steady stream of blood begins to pour from it.

"ASUKA! Get away from it!" I swear, if he doesn't shut the hell up!

"NO! I need to finish it off… and I can only do it one way," I lock the controls so I don't lose my grip on it and begin to type in an old code that I never thought I'd be using, "Shinji, I don't have much time here, so listen," I finish with the typing and lay back in the seat, "Not too sure what to say here…" I can barely see anything right now, and I'm hovering a few inches from unconsciousness, "But… goodbye Shinji… I love you…"

"No! Just eject Asuka! Don't do this!" I let out a small chuckle, causing me to let out a few hard coughs.

"You know I have to, now quit with the dramatics…" I see tears start to run down his face, "You're not going to say anything?"

"I… don't want to lose you…"

"Take care of Dietlinde and Asuka, okay?" he slowly nods, "Okay… I… have to go…" tears fill my eyes as I close the comm. link and lay back in my chair, waiting for the countdown to finish.

5

"Asuka…" his face once again pops up on the screen, his eyes red with tears.

4

"I love you… so much…" he's so close to sobbing right now, but he holds it back.

3

"You too Shinji… I love you…" we both smile at each other one last time.

2

"I love you…" we both say in unison.

1

"And nothing will ever change that…"

0

Shinji Ikari, you're the most amazing man that I've ever met, how you ever came to like me I'll never know. You gave me two incredible gifts that I'll never forget, I'm just sorry that I'm leaving them. I know you'll be an amazing father though, just don't forget about me, okay? I know I'll never forget my Shinji! Now, I'm sure by now you're sobbing your eyes out, but it's okay. I had the best possible life a woman could have, and it was all thanks to a very special man that made my life worth living. I'll see you eventually, but don't be in any rush, I can wait. You've saved my life multiple times, now it's time to return the favor.

All I want right now is to kiss you one last time, or at least inhale your scent… but I can't. I'm going to miss you so much, it's actually starting to hurt already, as I know it's hurting for you. Please don't let it effect your life to the point of you not being able to function, there are still two girls that need you.

I love you Shinji Ikari, nothing will ever change that… ever.

A/N- Well… that's it. This is the end of Nothing Will Ever Change That. There is an epilogue, so stick around for that. Thanks for reading up to here you all, I really appreciate all your reviews and comments. This story has improved my writing skills to something that I never thought it would be. Thanks for driving me on, I'll be back with the epilogue soon. Keep on keepin' on!