Neon Genesis Evangelion
Pilot's Table
By D.A.

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Title: One, Two, Buckle My Shoe
Prompt: n/a
Word Count: 4k+
Rating: T
Summary: Another voice added to the slowly growing group, the Children face the enemies and trials before them as day by day they continue forward.

Disclaimer: I do not own Neon Genesis Evangelion

Notes: Well, this took awhile. And now I'm behind on IN:R. -sigh-

Part 4 of the "Not What You Bargained For" story.

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Rei Ayanami observed her fellow Pilots and their friends from across the street and several meters behind them. They had not seen her yet, and though she stayed close enough to hear what they said if they spoke she had made sure she did not intrude on their awareness. Several things about Asuka and Shinji's actions and interactions over the last month had her puzzled, and she had decided her best course of action was to observe them more closely until an opportunity to approach them and ask directly had presented itself.

She had briefly considered asking the Commander, but decided it was a relatively trivial and that he would either dismiss her concern or possibly order her to drop the matter. Her curiosity had made her choice for her, and she'd justified not telling the Commander on the grounds that it was trivial and would not interfere with her Piloting or Purpose. Harder to justify was not telling him the odd feeling she had when in the presence of the Second Children, but she realized it made little sense to inform him of a "feeling" without more information.

The four of them meandered down the sidewalk, frustratingly quiet this morning after Asuka's dive against Sandolphon the previous day. Asuka held Touji's hand tightly in hers, their shared lunch the day before the mission to Mount Asama had been as good as an announcement that they were dating to the rest of the class.

"Guys!" the feminine voice caught the group's and Rei's attention, and the four turned in mild surprise while Rei watched passively as Hikari dashed up to them not far from school, "Darn, I was hoping to catch you sooner, but I don't know when you leave from home..."

"Hey, Hikari," Asuka greeted the Class Rep, smiling, "What's up?"

"I wanted to talk to you yesterday, but you were absent." the brunette frowned, "What happened? Shinji and Rei were absent too, so it must have been NERV business..."

"We were trying to catch a dormant Angel near Mount Asama." Shinji answered, Hikari moving to walk beside the Third Children and continuing to school, "It woke up, so Asuka had to kill it."

"Really?"

"Yup, but we got it taken care of before they needed to sound the alert." Asuka boast, leading the group through the school gates.

Rei frowned, crossing the street after checking for traffic. Now, she noted, she would have a potentially harder time gaining information. She'd be much closer inside the school, and they may not be as talkative with her obvious presence.

Sighing, she accepted the setback and followed. There would be other chances to learn, and maybe Shinji would speak to her. The Third Children had often interacted with her before, and it was possible she might find an opening to ask him about the odd behavior.

0o0o0o0

"Got the plan?" Asuka watched the faces of the Third and First projected in windows inside her plug, seeing and hearing their affirmative, "Good, lets move out."

Swinging out into the chute, Asuka projected her EVA's AT-Field up, neutralizing Matariel's Field while Rei dropped down to retrieve the rifle and Shinji swung out underneath her. She'd intentionally acted like the first time to ensure events proceeded as they had before, partly for the predictability and partly because she had been caught as surprised as the others. At least her cables had remained relatively intact while she hung in the volcano and Shinji had grabbed the failing crane, she wasn't sure how this might have gone if his EVA had been locked down for repairs from being exposed to the lava unprotected.

What she didn't expect was Matariel launching a beam attack instead of more acid. The blast slammed into her chest, burning and cracking armor that had just been replaced that morning, and she screamed for Rei to hurry as she weathered the unexpected assault. Seeing the Angel powering up another attack, she groaned. No help for it, she thought, at least there aren't any sensors with the power being out.

Reaching deep, she felt for that point of ice and fire in her center. Finding it, she did as she had in another life. Mentally taking hold, she pushed. The fire filled her, the ice flowing through her veins, and she stretched out her own field above her, her eyes shining a brilliant glowing blue above a predatory grin. The rush of power, the feeling of fire and ice gave her a thrill she'd once thought only came from piloting EVA, and she both loved and feared it.

The Angel's next strike slammed into her Field, making it visible as it shimmered under the blast, and Asuka felt Matariel's surprise at the new AT-Field. All-Mother?. Before it could fire again Asuka heard Shinji call out that he had the rifle. Swinging into the tunnel wall and digging in her EVA's feet just in time, Shinji's fire tore passed hr and into the Angel. Matariel reared up and over, its attempt to dodge far too late, and slammed into the road dead before it could self-destruct. She felt its shock as it died, and offered a silent apology.

Pulling her Field back, letting go of the core of power, Asuka noticed a faint tingle from below before it vanished. It held a familiar feeling, but what she couldn't place.

From the bottom of the chute, Rei looked up. She'd felt something, a surge, before she'd tossed Shinji the weapon. It had seemed familiar, almost like Lilith's essence when she would visit Terminal Dogma, and had come from Unit-Two. It had felt similar to, but much more powerful than, when she was near the Second Children.

0o0o0o0

The three Children reclined on the hillside not far from a large tree just beyond Tokyo-3, their EVAs nearby and shutdown. It was refreshingly quiet, Rei noted, the Second Children relaxed with her hands behind her head and eyes closed. Shinji on the other side of the redhead, seeming to enjoy the quiet as much as she did.

While the bluenette was loath to disturb the silence, she also knew she would rarely get such welcome openings for answering her curiosity concerning the unusual girl beside her. And still feeling a residual pulse of that same surge from during tha battle, she decided to try.

"Pilot Sohryu."

"Call me Asuka, Ayanami." Asuka kept her eyes closed, feeling the faint flush of ice that she knew meant they still shone faintly with her power, waiting for the surge from this first use to fade fully, "I'm sure I've told you that before. We're all Pilots, no need to be so formal all the time."

"Then please, call me Rei." she acknowledged the request, choosing to ignore the fact Asuka had not actually spoken such a request before now, then hesitated. How, she wondered, should she phrase her question?

"Alright, Rei," Asuka smirked, curious now, "What's on your mind?"

And with that question, Rei knew how to ask her first question, "Your mind, Asuka."

"Huh?"

"I wish to know why you have behaved as you have." sitting up, she watched the prone form of her fellow Pilot, noting she had tensed, "From your first day here, you have alternated between close interaction with Suzuhara when you perceived no one was watching, and placed distance between you when others observed. Recently, you have changed that behavior."

"What are you talking about Rei?" Shinji asked, forcing himself not to stutter while Asuka remained still, "She wasn't that close to Touji until a couple days ago. So of course Asuka acts closer to Touji now, they're dating."

"You are lying, Shinji-kun." the gentle rebuke was like a slap to the boy, and he snapped his mouth closed in surprise, "Being unobserved is not being unobservant."

"Touche' , Wondergirl." Asuka sighed, no sting in the nickname, frowning slightly as she thought, "Suzuhara and I were pen pals before I came here, we've known each other for a couple years."

"I have already called Shinji on his falsehood," Rei frowned, deciding that revealing a secret may spur the redhead to speak more freely, "I have access to your file, you have had no contact with anyone here until after you arrived."

The comment was met with silence, and she noted Asuka had again tensed knowing she was caught in a lie, that tingle of power feeling like it coiled in on itself. This is most frustrating, she thought, it will not be long until NERV has power again.

"What was it I felt from you during the battle?"

"I don't understand what-"

"False," Rei interrupted, expression visibly annoyed now, and forgetting Shinji for a moment she continued, "You know of what I speak, I know you sensed me as I sensed you."

Eyes snapping open, Asuka sat up and faced Rei, startling the First Children. The Nephilium girl immediately saw the glow in Asuka's eyes, as well as the frustration and something she couldn't place until she thought of the rare times she saw the Commander without his lenses. Age, loss, experience.

"So it was you." the German teen confirmed, Shinji ignored and forgotten behind her, "Are you going to report to the Commander?"

"Only if he asks me directly." Rei compromised, finding her curiosity winning over her loyalty to Gendo, "Are you like I am?"

"No, not exactly."

"Explain."

"Rude," Asuka grunted, looking out over Tokyo-3, "I'm my own person, no purpose beyond living my life as I wish and defeating the Angels."

That comment struck a chord with Rei, but she pressed on, "Are you of Lilith?"

"After a fashion, I believe."

"You believe?"

"Chatty, aren't you... I'm not sure if I am or not. Not like you are."

They sit in silence, Rei startled by the accurate and unnerving comment, observing each other before a third voice startles them both, Asuka jerking and Rei blinking.

"What are you talking about?" Shinji asked, confusion in his voice and on his face.

"Oh..." Asuka blinked, realizing her mistake only now, "I never told any of you..."

"Told us what?" Rei asked, forcing Asuka to acknowledge her as one of those who should be told, and earning a glare.

"I'm an Angel, I think. Possibly even the Eighteenth."

"You mean like last time?"

"Baka-Shinji!"

"Last time?"

Shinji flinched, too late realizing his own mistake, as Asuka yelled at him and Rei asked her question in confusion.

"It would figure." Asuka huffed, closing her eyes and hiding the fading glow as she took a breath and thought, "Look, I'll explain at my place, alright wondergirl? You cannot tell the Commander what you learn. Swear it."

"I-"

"Swear it!"

"As you wish," Rei acquiesced, deciding that if it truly became a threat she would be justified in breaking such a promise, "I will not tell the Commander what you reveal."

"Good. Remember, my place. This evening after seven."

And with that they lapsed into silence once again, waiting for NERV to restore power.

0o0o0o0

"Commander-" Ritsuko began as she walked across the massive room, only to be interrupted by the man behind the desk.

"I've seen the report." he looked away from the holographic display, expression neutral, "A most unforeseen turn of events, wouldn't you say?"

"But Sohryu's girl? I thought the only human-form Angel was going to be the last?" Kozo spoke from behind Ritsuko, startling her as he moved into the room to stand behind Gendo as usual, "What could this do to our and SEELE's plans?"

"Nothing to ours, as she has chosen to remain hidden." Gendo answered, a smirk now on his face, "However, it puts a rather hefty wrench in the plans of the Old Men. And of course this news does not leave this room."

"Of course, Commander." Ritsuko acknowledged, frowning slightly, "Do you think Rei noticed?"

"I doubt it, as she has not mentioned such to me." Gendo waved his hand through the hologram, essentially changing pages, "I will, however, ask during the next download."

"What should we do about the Second?"

"Nothing, for now." Gendo looked to Ritsuko, "But schedule a full physical for after the next Harmonics test. Should you find anything new, reveal nothing to the girl and forward the findings to me."

0o0o0o0

Rei walked up to the apartment door several minutes before seven, her new-found impatience spurring her to arrive early instead of her customary "on-the-dot" promptness. Touching the doorbell, she waited patiently for the occupants to answer.

"Come in!" Shinji's voice echoed from inside. Quirking an eyebrow, Rei hit the door release and stepped in, leaving her shoes beside the other four pairs before continuing down the hall and into the kitchen area.

Seated around the table were the other two Pilots, along with fellow students Suzuhara and Aida.

"Can I assume you both already know Soh- Asuka's secret?"

"Yes, you may, Wondergirl. Ken and Shinji-kun don't know the part you figured out while we fought Mataeriel." Asuka replied smoothly before the two could respond, gesturing to an available seat, "Misato has a late shift, so once we all have a drink I'll begin."

"You knew its name?"

"...yes." Asuka frowned, having already talked to Touji about what she felt from the Angel, "Let me get drinks, then I'll begin."

So Asuka told their story, beginning with the fact it was her and Touji's third go and that they were married in the last life. The only interruption was Rei asking if her marriage was why she had hesitated in writing her last name that first day at school. Touji blinked, only then remembering Rei had been in her usual seat next to the window that day.

"When Tabris brought me to the hanger with Unit-Three, I'd felt the power. I think I'd known since Zeruel that something was up, but I was so set in being Asuka and worrying about Touji I pushed it away." Asuka sighed, the group having moved to the living room, "When he took the EVA, I knew. No way to ignore it that time. I was an Angel, from birth, who grew up among Lilim thinking I was one of them. And I think- no, I know it's the same this time."

"Asuka...?"

Jerking in their seats and turning to face the source of the voice, they stared wide-eyed at Misato as she stood in the entryway back into the kitchen, mouth open and eyes conflicted.

"Oh shi-"

The older woman sat down heavily on the kitchen floor at Asuka's aborted curse, staring at her ward as she tried to process what she'd just heard Asuka say. The young woman she cared about, loved like a daughter, was one of the beings she hated with her whole heart.

"Misato...?" Shinji moved toward his guardian and surrogate mother, easy and gentle like most of his movements had slowly been becoming, "Are you ok?"

"I- I..."

"Please," Asuka allowed some of her worry and fear to leak through, a small part of her she long since conquered raging at the show of weakness, "Please don't hate me."

Misato focused on her, what she was looking for neither woman were sure of. When she weakly gestured Asuka over, the young woman moved, kneeling before the older woman. When Misato reached up, Asuka leaned into her embrace, settling against her inspite of the awkward position.

"I've known you for years, I- I think of you as my daughter, Asuka," Misato whispered into the top of her head, settling the tangled mis of hate and love in her chest with the easily made choice, "I don't think I could ever hate you. Why didn't you tell me before?"

Asuka breathed a laugh, choking back tears as she tightened her hold on the raven-haired woman, "I was afraid, I guess. Last time I couldn't get over what mother had done to make me what I was, I felt like the title was tainted. The only time it felt good was when the kids called for me."

"I'm sorry."

"Why?"

"That I couldn't be there for you more."

"That was never your fault, Misato," Asuka gently pulled back, smiling, "I always knew you did everything you could."

0o0o0o0

Later on, after Rei and Kensuke left, the Otaku stuttering out that he would escort Rei home and the bluenette Nephilim accepting in surprise, Misato told Asuka that Touji could stay if he wanted before disappearing to her room. A quick call home later, saying he was gaming with Shinji and would be home tomorrow, Touji borrowed a set of Shinji's shorts to sleep in and followed his wife to her room.

"Too bad dis can't be the norm." Touji commented, voice muffled as he pulled his t-shirt over his head as he faced away from Asuka while she changed.

"Don't get ahead of yourself, stooge." the redhead grinned, excited and at the same time calmed at having him be here for once, "We aren't married here yet."

"Doesn't change much, red." he grinned back, turning around after swapping his track pants for the borrowed shorts in time to see the young woman smoothing out the fabric of an achingly familiar nightgown, "That's..."

"Just like from before," Asuka smiled shyly, odd for her but endearing to him none the less, "I saw it and found it in my size, so I got it."

Walking over and giving her a lingering kiss, Touji scooped her up, eliciting a startled squeak, depositing her on the bed and sliding in next to her and pulling up the covers.

"I love ya, Asuka Suzuhara."

"I love you too, Touji Suzuhara."

Asuka rolled to face him as Touji pulled her close, eyes closed as they took in each others scent. Asuka with her hint of strawberry from her shampoo mixing with her natural almost-cinnamon scent, and Touji's almost-man musk and faint but sharp tinge of mint from his own shampoo, the two drifting off in moments and content to once again be with each other.

0o0o0o0

Orange light filled the void, featureless and with a sense of far off borders. Red eyes, partially hidden behind silver hair blinked lazily open, momentarily confused at the sight before them. Humming in thought, their head turned one way then the other, eyes curious.

"It is not my turn, and I am not called." the musical voice murmured, a small smile appearing, "Perhaps this is a dream, like the Lilium. Though I had hoped my own dreams would not mirror the Gestalt."

Deciding to wander and see what they could find, the soft echo of their footsteps filled space. The being wandered, glimpsing images that meant nothing to them. Sights of a gleaming city, a crater, a girl in a school uniform with pigtails and a young woman with hair like spun copper. They saw a boy they knew by reputation only, Angel slayer and Berserker, and a young man with steel nerves and heart nearly as shining as the boy's, taint by sorrow and loss.

They wandered further, and now felt a presence they thought lost. Searching, the being soon realized it was not a material presence in this void, but a more ethereal one. Close their eyes and reaching for the presence, they felt it was not who they had at first thought but something different, something that shone brighter than the boy. Brushing it with the edge of their soul, they pulled back shocked.

"I see," the being murmured smiling once more, the expression reaching their eyes, "You are a long way from home, little ones. Perhaps, to spite my master, I should return you? I think I should like to visit the place you knew as home sooner than my appointed time. I sense a wonderful change on the air, should I exercise my nature."

And so saying, they wrapped the pair of souls in the Light of their Soul to both protect them and help the being find them easier the next time they returned to this void, and awoke.

0o0o0o0

"Aww, you're so sweet together. Reminds me of Kaji and I, only more clothes."

The comment woke the two sleeping teens, Asuka coming right awake with Touji drowsily looking around, and both focused on the woman standing next to Asuka's bed.

"G'mornin' Misato." Touji yawned, hand lifted from Asuka's stomach to cover his mouth, politeness instilled in him by the same redhead over the years of their marriage in the last life, "Coffee?"

"Started. Shinji was up before us, as usual." Misato grinned, the expression soft, "Even got me to have a cup instead of my morning beer, the rascal."

"Good." Asuka sat up, tugging her nightgown down slightly out of long habit from before while Touji climbed out of bed and grabbed his clothes from where he'd lain them over Asuka's chair, winking as she said, "We want you around for the grandkids."

Flustered but smiling, Misato left the room without further teasing while Touji and Asuka dressed. It was the start of weekend, and while they knew Asuka would have a Harmonics Test the next day they decided they would enjoy the time available.

Making their way to the kitchen, the couple grinned at the food Shinji had laid out on the small table. The mix of Japanese and Western breakfast items was welcome to the two, Asuka having never quite gotten the hang of Japanese foods while Touji couldn't even manage to make bacon and eggs most mornings without scorching anything. They all sat, and after the traditional word of gratitude they dug in, several minutes going by before Misato broke the silence.

"Kaji invited me to dinner this evening." she started without preamble, not looking at Asuka or Touji, "I agreed."

"That's good to hear." Asuka congratulated, smiling. Which turned to a smirk at the raven-haired woman's next words.

"What, no pining after lost love." she teased.

"I never stood a chance, Misato," the redhead leaned into Touji, "You were always the center of his affections."

"Give it a go," Touji encouraged, recalling what Misato had told them after they'd revealed being more than they appeared, "If we need to we can bring him in on this, and I or Asuka can have a chat with him if he ever needs it."

"Thanks kids, really," the older woman smiled, grateful, standing and preparing for her half day in the office, "I'll be fine, he sounded... serious, for once, and not his lady-killer self."

"Different, wasn't it?" Asuka could recall a handful of times when Ryoji Kaji had been serious, his normal persona being 'lady-killer' around female co-workers, "man of mystery" around the other men, or that of a doting and long-suffering uncle toward Asuka. To this day she was still somewhat mortified by her behavior around the man both in the first life and in the one before she'd Awakened on Over-The-Rainbow.

"Well, behave you two." Misato called over her shoulder as she made her way out of the apartment, "Shinji is still here, no need to scar him with your married activities."

Any reply, scathing or embarrassed, that the two might have made was drowned out by her laughter and cut off by the closing door.

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A/N: I really think the scene with Rei's question on the hillside could have been written better... I hope ya'll like the rest.

As you've no doubt noticed, I've started a side-project in "Collision: Love to Annoy". While I don't think it will truly hinder my updates to NWYBF and IN:R, in fact it helped me with this chapter, I can't promise it won't hinder it either. And I know I said I'd update IN:R in conjunction with this story, but well... -shrug- I've never been good at not posting when I finish a chapter.

Love you all, Dear Readers, and I'll see you in the next update, wherever it may be. And don't worry, faithful reviewer, Ken will get screen time. You know who you are. -grin-