Author's Notes: Just an FYI, my Love Hina inspiration came back (glee!), and that takes priority. I'll continue this, but chapter-length may vary.

Pyro – Eh, sorry, they can't all be wacked out ;-) everything changes, it's a part of... life? I'll try to keep the same writing style and feel, but no promises. It's impossible to keep the craziness climbing indefinitely anyways, it would hit the wall at some point, and just get so ridiculous that it would make no sense whatsoever... or something.

In any case, I'll do my best.

Chapter 13

Shinji woke up on a very familiar beach. The night stars were bright, crucified mass-production Evas were scattered around, and the ruins of Tokyo-3 stood off in the distance. He sat up and looked over at his companion, whose white dress was fairly glowing in the moon-light. She stirred, and sat up groggily.

"Sh... Shinji?" She coughed, regaining control of her voice. "Why're you staring at me like that?" She smiled in relief. Back in the mall she had been afraid that she had met up with the boy only to lose him again.

"...ahh," The boy's mind was pretty frayed at the moment. "Hahah... the last time I woke up in a place like this, I was strangling someone."

Mana wasn't quite sure how to take that, but then she wasn't quite sure how to explain her surroundings either. Is he crazy? She looked around at the gloom and destruction. ...ick, I feel a little out of it myself.

"I'm a time-traveller," Shinji said solemnly, also looking around. "...by the way. Just thought you'd like to know."

"Oh no, that makes perfect sense! Haha...!" she edged away from him slightly. Actually, compared to where they were, anything the boy said would have made sense.

"No, here, I'll prove it!" he closed his eyes, then after several moments of frustration, opened them. "I guess I'm not a time-traveler after all."

"I... see." Mana picked up her white wide-brimmed hat, shaking the dampness out of it. "Don't you have to have some kind of machine or something to be a time traveler? Like a Delorean?" The silence really was uncomfortable, and she was desperate for any kind of conversation, even a crazy one.

"Oh, no!" Shinji said with a smile, scratching the back of his head. "I just think, and it happens! And I can bring other people with me if I kiss them in a magic cir...cle. This sounds crazy doesn't it?"

He just realized it? She waved the comment off. "hahaha-nooo, crazy? Crazy is waking up in the middle of a freakin warzone with a guy who yammers on about being a time traveler who kisses girls in magic circles!!" She panted for a few moments after the spiel, and this time it was Shinji who edged away.

The two survivors-of-mysterious-circumstance wandered the ruins of the once great Tokyo-3. Shinji put his hands in his pockets, looking around at the wrecked buildings. He felt something in his pockets.

"Ah!" he exclaimed, pulling out the bundle of cards. "Proof I'm a time traveler!"

Mana sighed. Not this again.

"No, no," he waved his arms excitedly. "Really! Wait here."

She waited, listening to the pat of his feet against the ground as he ran off. She looked around. Suddenly she was standing in front of the boy. "AAH! ...um, what just happened?"

"I summoned you!" he exclaimed, showing her the Tarot card. The picture looked just like her, and the words 'Mana Kirishima' were at the bottom, but...

"I don't own a guitar," she pointed out. "More to the point, we've never kissed in a magic circle."

I can't believe I just said that.

Mana walked carefully down the rubble-strewn make-shift path into the shattered Geofront. Her head was still spinning from Shinji's story, and his denial of any memory of her own life. Hard as it was to believe, this was not the Shinji she had met, which raised all sorts of horrible little existential questions.

Oh well, atleast things can't get any worse.

This thought of hers was actually what saved them. It was Fate's job to punish those who made such dangerously naïve statements, and when Mana had this thought, it clued Fate in on their location in time and space. There was an abbreviated 'pop' and then Shinji felt a warm body collide with his.

"Oh thank goodness I found you!" Fate/Mana near-sobbed.

"Body-snatcher!" the real Mana exclaimed, pointing a shaking finger at the newcomer.