(A/N Once again, the story that refuses to die no matter how much you ignore it, it's EtLomS. Now, bak again for my next insallment, I thank the continued support of my most faithful readers. This chapter gets back on track with more Shinji and less of the SPARTANS, which I feel I've neglected Shinji for some time. In case you haven't noticed, this story has been split into two seperate arcs for some time. But in just a few more chapters, there worlds will collide with full force and the results will not dissapoint. There will be love, action, drama, betrayel, and surprises of all kinds in the future. But enough about me, lets get on with the character's problems)

Disclaimer: I don't own NGE, Ace Combat, or Halo. I do own them in other foms, but not the franchises. But soon, my armies will rise again and conquer that pesky Gainax and their Anno. (Not rly, but you get the point.)

Chapter 13

The Summer of Eva

(POV –Unknown- 'Blaze' –Unknown-)

Within slumber…comes conflict…

…And fear…

Memories past burn our present ambitions. In order to escape the pain of time itself, we must look forward burying all that we have seen in its wake. In essence, to survive, one must bury their memories but never forget the lessons gained from them. Kill the pain and reap the strength, moving forward with each step of time. This is the truth of…

'Oh stop it! Quit trying to justify yourself and face reality!'

Life, but a small ember of existence, is extinguished by the masses everyday. It is but an inevitable part of existence, a reality that cannot be changed no matter how much we weep or swoon, lost in the forbidden darkness by the light that destroyed it. The flames burn out one another, fire against fire, until all is consumed and naught is left but waste and ash.

'Humans are resilient in their attempts to survive, do not belittle them for surviving until now. We may not understand each other, but that's just life. Learn to accept what makes us different!'

The dividers: Gender, Race, Culture…all create barriers between the others. Standing alone, they will fall. Standing together, they await oblivion from amongst the stars. Stuck on a set track through space, they hurtle at the mercy of the universe and all its inhabitants. Shear luck and lack of time have prevented total destruction, but the dividers remain.

'Mankind will survive. So long as their minds point to the stars and their hearts accept one another, their will and determination beckons them onto a future most golden.'

From within self, man cannot trust. Voices in the dark, he listens only to lose himself, the voices now control him. Only through himself, from no other, can one truly survive. Solitude is the key, loneliness its price, but one paid for those seeking utopia on this Earth, free from it bindings and tolerant of its people.

'Only with a partner is happiness achieved and a sense of being fulfilled. With another, a sense of purpose given in exchange for the protection you must be willing to give. The loss may be great sometimes, but if you have the will, than you will not have to fear the downfall of yourself. When you find this answer…you will finally…find…'

'PEACE'

(POV Kouzou Fuyutsuki)

"So, how does your first Sync test feel. Anything seem…out of place?" Ritsuko Akagi, former head of technological development, peers over the individual readings of the SPARTANS, all sitting in their entry plugs awaiting their results.

"Nothing here Commander" Snow, the tough man, rightful pilot of the heavy mecha S-Unit 3, sits back in his control seat and allows us to run the tests.

"Are these tests always this long?" Grimm, the youngest of their group, curious but on a thin rope, rustles impatiently along the control yokes.

Silence passes, which is surprising. Although Nagase had opted out on the tests, due to her previous injury (or rather, we forced her out much to her dismay), we fail to receive a reply from Blaze. His punctuality has never failed to impress me, but I worry that it's taking its toll on himself and his comrades. He's speaking a lot less and his compliments are fewer and further in-between. There's a bitter rift growing inside him and what it may manifest itself into may very well cost his soul more than it can cash.

"Commander, you need to take a look at this." Sub-Commander Akagi gives a worried look as she points to a monitor that needs my attention.

"Just what am I looking at?" I glance between the screen and Akagi, waiting for an explanation of the result on screen which I have failed to see.

"It's Blaze's Harmonics! They're unstable…and breaking up at a frightening rate." She points to lack of overlap between synchronization points. An obvious gap lies between Blaze's mental patterns and the Eva's feedback, shown by the difference in the graph along both coordinate planes.

"Any idea why it's happening to him? It looks like the other 2 are just fine. And we've never had any problems with Ms. Nagase."

"I'm sorry Kouzou, I wish I had an explanation, but for the moment, I have no solid evidence to make a claim with."

"This could mean trouble. Do you think this will affect his piloting ability, because you know that…"

"Yes I know, but you act like that's the only thing that matters. No, it shouldn't affect him at the moment, but it may mean that exposure to the Eva has affected him." Akagi walks me over to a live video feed of Blaze's plug, displaying him leaning over the controls. Beyond the shielding of his armor, beneath a helmet and a veil of secrecy through which we cannot see, lies the face of Blaze. No signs of struggle are given through his actions, but it sounds like he's…grunting? No, he's mumbling something!

"Any explanations Doctor?"

She pauses. "No, sir. Not one explanation. Only theories…bland, empty theories." She stops, looking back at the video screen, before sighing and strolling away, putting her focus onto yet another screen. Thumbing through its contents, she clicks on something and brings up a new window before waving me over to what she has to show.

"You see this? This is the reading of an Eva to Pilot reaction from the core of one of our Evas." She points to a figure across a graph that looks very much like a Sine-Wave; its curves flow smoothly up and down in uniform motion. "And this is what Blaze's looks like." She brings up another window; the lines on this graph are no longer straight and differential, but rigid and ecstatic, pointing up and down in sharp peaks and plummets of red coloring.

"That's insane. Why hadn't we rooted this problem sooner?" I look disappointingly at Akagi, but I know that she will have her reason in just a moment.

"There's no way we could've dug up something like this unless we ran a comprehensive Sync Test. It's a good thing we got the equipment set up as soon as we did, or we may have never found this."

"Any ideas on how we can fix it?"

"I haven't even found if it's really the problem. I just need to run a few more tests and see what happens. Give me about two weeks and I should have enough evidence to back my theories."

"So we just wait and see what happens, right?"

She gives me a stern look, furrowing her eyebrows, as if she knows what I plan to do. "Don't take him off the combat roster yet, or you may just escalate the problem. We have to handle this calmly and discretely. The less he knows the better."

"Point well taken…I just hope it doesn't affect him too greatly."

"It's already started to affect him. We just need to see how it plays out!"

I slip my hands together and place them behind my back before strutting up to the edge of the small command center. Outside the window lay the three Eva's all sitting aligned, side-by-side, their pilots being tested for our purposes. From beyond the glass windows sit three brave souls, their fates entwined in a destiny of human misery.

'May God have mercy on their souls.'

(POV Shinji Ikari)

"Hey Shinji, could you help me with this box? It's a little heavy." Misato's cry comes from over the pre-packed mountains of junk, a part of me surprised the call wasn't a desperate cry for help.

"Coming Misato." I sigh and begin maneuvering my feet across the boxes and stuff scattered all across the floor, trying so hard as not to step on anything, especially stuff that belongs to my 'other' roommate.

"Ack! Scheise!" The cry from said roommate is closely followed with the rumble of boxes, collapsing upon the voice's point of origin, no doubt adding to her frustration.

"Asuka, be careful or you might break something valuable." Misato calls to the pile of freshly fallen boxes.

"In this pile of junk? I rather doubt it!" Asuka retorts quickly, the venom quickly returning to her fangs.

Such is another day of packing for the return trip to Neo-Tokyo 3. Before we left the graces of Commander Fuyutsuki, we were happily told that Misato's apartment had survived the destructive phase of Third Impact. That being said, Misato has been more than eager to return to her old dwelling, and because of such, we have been packing and carrying box after box of crap to the rental moving truck sitting outside. And we've been at it since the day we got back home, because Misato just couldn't wait. I think it's finally taking its toll, because I've become more irritable. I lay awake at night wondering why I'm acting this way, but I guess it's just from the stress and worrying I've been doing.

"Ready? 1…2…3…lift!!!" My hands placed under the new box, the combined force of mine and Misato's arms hoist the weight up off the floor and we begin to scuttle out towards the door.

Making our way through, we make it to the end of the driveway and hoist the box up onto the truck, its suspension creaks as it sinks a little lower to the ground.

"Jeez Misato, that was heavy. Just what was in that thing anyway?" I ask as we step back onto the front porch, me rubbing my back in relief from the recent load.

"Nothing special, just my beer keg from the good old college days." I screech to a halt at the doorway, realizing what she had just said…which part of me can't believe she just did. And yet, she said it with a straight face and she's still walking. "I'm gonna go take a break now, probably lie on the couch and take a nap. I suggest you do something of the same Shinji-kun, because there's plenty more where that came from."

Waving her hand, walking away, Misato continues through the boxes, leaving me in my solid state of shock.

From beneath a pile of boxes, Asuka suddenly rises from beneath. She takes a few steps over and waves her hands in front of my face before snapping her fingers, bringing me back to my senses.

"Did Misato tease you again?" She asks realizing that I've come back to this plain of existence.

"Not really, just a little shock is all…" My voice drifts off as I whisper to myself, "The sooner we get done, the better."

"Yeah, no kidding!" Asuka apparently heard what I had said, but than again, she can hear her mentioning through solid concrete or lead so it's no surprise. "Say, Misato's taking a break right?"

"Uh-huh!" I nod in reply.

Asuka turns and takes a few steps away, humming an unfamiliar tune before abruptly turning back to face me with a smile.

"I just got an idea!" She exclaims to which I cringe, 'oh no, not another 'idea'.' "Why don't you and I go to the beach while senile old Misato takes her nap?"

"What! Are you crazy, if we get caught…"

"She'll what? Ground us? She's not our parent, or what are you afraid?" Oh that did it alright, if that's what she thinks of me I'll show her.

"Fine, I'll call us a cab. But if she finds out…"

"Don't worry, I'll take the blow. I promise." She gives me one of her 'genuine' smiles, her hands hidden behind her back. As I walk off to the phone, I imagine her, in the back of my mind, crossing her fingers and sticking her tongue out at me, which probably isn't far from the truth.

Looking through the phonebook, I finger the number of choice and input it into the dialer. After about 2 and a half rings, a man picks up. 'Am I sure I want to do this?'

"Hey third child, what's taking so long? You too nervous to pick up the phone, let's get rolling!"

'Oh yeah, we're going…and maybe she'll learn a lesson!'

"Yeah, I'd like to hire a taxi for the day." And than another realization comes to mind…how am I going to pay for all of this? 'Oh, my wallet won't survive this day.' Kind of late for that though.

(POV Shinji Ikari continued)

'Jesus, 170,000 yen to hire a taxi for the day? At his rate, I'll be lucky if I have enough left over to buy a piece of taffy.' Asuka and I roll out of the car, or rather she leaps from the car and I roll out, feeling a little nauseous from the long car ride. However, the salty smell of the ocean helps out a lot.

The sun is settled over peaceful scene. The waves beat across the beach as happy beach goers go about there business for the day. A pair of surfers dive head first into the water before swimming there way out to the surf. A young couple strolls down the beach, hand in hand, smiling serenely at each other before breaking out in laughter. A little boy is playing in the water, splashing in content and exploring his new found playground, only to be knocked to the ground by an unexpected wave. His mother, or at least mother by assumption, picks him up and starts cooing him, putting her finger to his nose, which gets a giggle out of him, before putting him back down and letting him waddle off.

'It's scenes like these that make me glad I'm alive, and that I made the right choice. I really do want to see people again because only they can give me this feeling…this…euphoria.'

"Hey Third, are you gonna just stand there gawking at the bikinis or are you actually going to step on the beach?" Asuka's voice pulls me from my mode of observance, and she half walks, half drags me down the steps, along a rock face, to the beach level.

My foot lands on the sandy beach, the grains slide through the gaps in my tows, and Asuka finally releases my wrist as she begins running down towards the water-front, all her supplies hopping in a rhythmic pattern as they bounce up and down from her shoulder. Finally catching up to her, I walk in just in time to find her claim a spot close to the beach, laying down a beach towel and placing an umbrella just off to the side. She adjusts it just enough to get the right amount of shade placed over the spread.

"Glad you could finally make it, Shinji. Now isn't this great or what? Better than if we had stayed, right?" Asuka looks at me, waiting as if looking for an honest answer from me, but when all I do is smile, she just sighs and…oh my God is she doing what I think she's doing?

And off it comes, I look away from the horror for fear of being pummeled as the summer dress falls to the sand and when I finally do look, I'm met with the site of…

The dreaded red and white striped bikini. Oh of all the…

"Is…is that why you wanted to come here? To show off…that!!?" Typical, she had me shell out a huge sum of money and come at the risk of death by guardian, just so she could sit on the beach, sunbathing and having guys oggle all over her.

"This old thing? No! If I wanted to come and show off, I would have gotten something more…exotic." She twirls around, showing off the full suit, waving her hair around her neck. My mind freezes for a second with the thought of 'exotic', but I quickly regain control.

"So than why did you drag me all this way?" Curious, she's actually talking with me, and I haven't been insulted yet…well, no more so than usual anyway.

"I just wanted to get out of that stuffy little house and go somewhere new for a change. Is that so wrong or should I be arrested?" Her voice begins to rise and a scowl is forming on her face.

"Okay, okay, settle down. Point is, we're here, now what?" Yeah, I'm a little lost when it comes to the beach situation. I've never really been to one with all of my past experience. Truth be told, when the school trip to Okinawa had past by, I was relieved I didn't have to go…because of one minor problem I have.

"I have an idea, let's go jump in the water! Or we could go rent some surfboards and hang out with those guys over there!" She points to the surfer guys who I had seen earlier, now riding along a crashing wave trying to escape the tube shaped collapsing center.

Oh, and that little problem I have…I can't swim. The sudden remembrance grips me at my ankles, locking them in place and keeping me straight upright without even moving. It's as if the thought of swimming has tripped a nerve or something.

"You know, how about we just lay here on the beach…you know? And just relax." I suggest, desperately trying to back out.

"Aw, you're no fun…" She pauses, as if waiting for a response before suddenly throwing up her arms. "Fine, be that way! If you don't want to have fun, than you can just sit here and waist away in the sun." She storms off, I reach out to try and turn her, explain the situation, but than my better side gets to me telling me to just stop.

"Dumkopf!"

She storms down off the beach, leaving me in her wake of anger. Watching, I see her walk up to one of the surfers who had just landed back out of the ocean and started to talk and act all cute. I just sigh, let the tension release, and crawl down under the umbrella Asuka had set up, laying my back against the towel and closing my eyes. A little nap and than Asuka will probably be back to her 'good' old self.

(POV Shinji Ikari Continued Again)

'The sky…it's orange now.'

What a day it's been. Starting after my nap, it became quite a hectic day. Asuka came back from the surfer group, apparently done toying with them, so it was my turn to give her attention. She dragged me down to the boardwalk nearby for some lunch and later an ice cream. Than we came back and she dove into the ocean while I sat watching from the beach. She kept trying to tempt me into the water, but her efforts were in vain. The conflict was more convincing than the prize. The day eventually wound down and we ended up here, sitting on separate towels, silent to one another.

"What time is it?" Yeah, a nice strike at a conversation

"See for yourself." She points off to the sun; the crimson orb is just barely touching the horizon and had begun its decent. "We need to talk…there's something I need to say to you."

She drifts, allowing for a long pause to ensue over the fresh new conversation, but just before I can speak, she raises her hand to stop me and takes a deep breath.

"The reason I brought you out here was to talk with you, so you can understand some things. I know you probably have a lot of questions from a few weeks ago, but you need to hear me out first." She stops and looks at me, and I nod my head in agreement, eager for her to continue.

"When you found me at my father's house, I wasn't the same person who you see here. I was cold, scared, frightened, and alone. I wanted to end it so badly but when you showed up, you threw my world for a loop. It's not that I don't appreciate what you did for me but…"

Here it comes…

"…you should stay out of this. My father is MY fight. I don't need anyone else to interfere." She starts to pick up her voice, angering in tone and deepening in meaning. "So next time Shinji, next time my father shows up. The next time we meet, stay out of it. The last thing I need right now is for you to fight my battles. Not Misato, not those other pilots, and most certainly not you. For the love of god just stay away!"

"I don't understand Asuka, why don't you want me to help. Why won't you let anyone help?"

"It's none of your business, and besides, what is there to understand. This has NOTHING to do with you. You should just get out of this while you still can. In fact, why not quit piloting? I know you don't want to do it, so why go through it again when you're just gonna run…?"

Okay, I'm not going to let this come back on me! "HEY! I'm done with that. I'm in this for the long run, so don't you go telling me what I'm going to do!"

She stands up, to which I repeat and we both begin to stare each other down, a fight for the most intimidating glare, and I think I lost from the start.

"Shinji, do you even know what you've gotten yourself into? We're going to be fighting PEOPLE now, not angels. Have you ever killed another human being…do you even know what its like?"

"How can you go about preaching to ME about how to kill someone? Last I checked, you killed just as many as me, so what gives you the right to tell me whether I can pilot!" She's really starting to push her luck. I'm not going to let this get out of hand like in previous fights.

She stops, pausing as she catches a phrase on the tip of her tongue, and pulls it back, retreating to safety behind her lips. I can safely assume that I've won this bout…or there's something she never brought out into play. If so, than what?

"Just take me home!"

"Asu..."

"NOW!!!" I think that's the last I'm going to get out of her. Fuming to the tip, I vent out down the beach back up towards the ridge. We'll take the taxi home and than its straight to bed…to hell with Misato's punishment, that's the least of my worries now…

…just what is Asuka hiding?

(A/N And thus ends the next chapter. I hope this chapter set the mood for some of you, and set the stage for some brilliant story just down the road. Until my next untitled chapter, I will see you again. THIS STORY REFUSES TO DIE! (Coming soon though, will Shinji be able to break his human innocence and join the battle? Or is he doomed to fail, leaving his comrades to their fate? Find out in a later chapter [Not the next one!)