Chapter 7

A/N: Sorry for taking so long to update. I didn't forget about this fic; after all it was my first and you never forget your first… never mind that sounds wrong. Nothing else to say except I don't own Neon Genesis Evangelion or any other highly acclaimed works of fiction (sigh!)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Shinji ran out of his room, worry for his guardian etched on his face. He bolted from the hallway to the living room. When he emerged from the hallway he noticed Misato lying on the floor face up. The concerned adolescent kneeled beside the fallen woman not sure what to do. "Misato, are you okay?" Shinji got no response.

"Is she alright?"

"Eeek!" Shinji let a loud, emasculating scream loose from his mouth before turning around. "Asuka, you scared me!" Asuka was standing behind Shinji, the same worry on her face that was on his. She was looking at him, as if looking for comfort or a solution in him. Shinji picked up on this, and tried to put up a brave front. "Uh, I don't know, I just got here. "

"What should we do? She could be seriously hurt."

Shinji's first instinct was to put some beer under Misato's nose. He shook is head, trying to think seriously. Asuka might be right, she could be hurt. He thought of people who knew a lot about medicine. Only one person came to mind immediately.

"Asuka, get Misato's cell phone, we need to call Dr. Akagi."

Asuka left to retrieve the phone from Misato's room, leaving Shinji alone with Misato again. Shinji lowered his head imagining his life without Misato.

"Please Misato, please be okay," Shinji said in a choked up voice with tears beginning to form in the corners of his eyes.

"Shinji, I'm touched."

Shinji looked up, and Misato was staring at him. "Ah! Misato, you're awake!" In a brief moment, Shinji bent over and hugged the fallen Major. Shinji being the socially inept kid he was, made the hug a little too long and Misato saw a chance to tease her charge.

She whispered in his ear, "Shinji, if you really want me like this, you should at least get me in the privacy of a bedroom first."

Shinji bolted upright, blushing profusely. "Misato! We were worried! Asuka and I thought you were seriously hurt. She's trying to call Dr Akagi now."

Misato, still on the floor, rubbed her head and said, "That's not a bad idea, I just remembered what we were talking about before I passed out."

Shinji gave Misato a puzzled look and asked, "What were you talking about? I heard you yelling something, was it about me? Did she find something in the tests I took earlier today?"

"Shinji… I think its best if Ritsuko told you herself."

"Told him what?" Asuka had returned with Misato's cell phone in her hand.

"Asuka this doesn't concern you."

"Yes it does Misato, if something is wrong with Shinji, I want to know."

Misato looked at Asuka for a moment, saying nothing before sighing and replying, "Alright, you can come with us, but if the Doctor says you can't listen in, then you won't; you understand?"

"Yes Misato."

"Come on then, we're leaving."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

One quiet and uneventful car ride later, Shinji and company were walking the halls of NERV. It was late at night and the already sparsely populated facility was nearly deserted. Shinji was walking silently behind Misato, with Asuka in the rear. No one spoke a word, the tension was thick in the air. Shinji and Asuka were in the dark, they had no idea what Ritsuko would have to tell them. Shinji was thinking of only the most negative things possible; what if he had cancer? What if his brain was damaged beyond repair? What if…

Shinji did what so many clumsy people do when they are lost in thought and walking at the same time; he tripped over thin air. He stumbled to the ground. He immediately cursed himself for being so klutzy. Then a second later, he felt a bump on his now spread legs. What came next was a shriek and then something heavy falling on top of him. Asuka Langley Soyru was now in a compromising position on top of Shinji Ikari.

"Asuka! I'm sorry…"

No, Shinji it's my fault…"

No really, it was my…"

"Gott, why I am so clumsy…"

"Asuka I was the one who tripped…"

Misato by now had turned around, rolled her eyes, and was now watching this episode of awkwardness. "Would you two get a room."

Shinji had been too preoccupied in apologizing to Asuka to realize the embarrassment he should be feeling, which was now flooding his consciousness. By Asuka's sudden reaction, she had made the same realization. Both of them jumped off each other and rose quickly.

"Geez, you two," Misato paused, sighed and continued, "Never mind, let's get going.

After a few more minutes of silent walking they reached Ritsuko's office. When they stepped inside, Ritsuko was at her desk starting at a computer monitor. Without even looking up she greeted them, "Hello Misato."

Misato gave the office and the empty beer cans littering it a disgusting look and said, "Ritsuko, now's not the time, we have more important things to discuss; but we're going to have a little chat about your choice of beverages as well as your salary later on."

Ritsuko looked up at this, her face whitening, "Oh, I forgot about those, heh heh! Whoops!" She shifted her gaze from Misato to the pair of pilots standing next to her. "I know I said Shinji should be here, but what about her?"

Misato looked at Asuka then back to Ritsuko replying, "What can I say, she insisted. Is it a problem?"

"Not really, as long as she can keep what I tell you a secret, can you Asuka?"

Asuka nodded her head.

"Okay where to start; actually you might want to sit down first."

Shinji looked around, seeing nothing to sit on. Ritsuko seemed to notice this too.

"Hmm, maybe we should move to the mess hall, it should be deserted at this time of night."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After arriving at the mess hall, and Ritsuko insisting on getting a late night dinner for herself, they all sat down in at a table in the far corner.

"Oh I know you think the food here stinks, Misato; but I have to say the night shift really knows its stuff…"

Misato gave a look that could kill to Ritsuko.

"Uh, right, why you all are here. Really it concerns you Shinji. This all started from the tests I had you take today. Several things stood out. Your personality tests from your induction to NERV and today's were completely at odds with each other. I would say almost opposite results. Going along with that, I compared your brain activity pattern scans from your induction to NERV with the one I took earlier today. While experiences since your induction should of changed the patterns slightly, again the scans showed completely different patterns."

"Then there was your "amnesia." According to you Shinji, your father abandoned you at a young age. Official records show you lived with him until you were 12, with the two of you separating when his duties necessitated he move to Tokyo-3. The official reason for you staying behind was at your own insistence. Then there was that "interesting" story you told me during the interview.; the empty space of whiteness, the alleged spotting of a second Unit 01."

Shinji noticed Misato and Asuka look at him with worry. He felt guilty for not telling them about this himself, but he didn't have the courage at the time to tell them. Ritsuko continued on.

"I would have attributed these accounts to delirium associated with contact with the angel if not for the physical scans I gave you. Before the results from them, I was ready to commit you to the psych ward for counseling. But when I tried to read the scans I gave you, I had trouble interpreting what they meant. First the MRI didn't show any abnormalities in the brain, which there should have been to explain your altered behavior. But the nail that sealed the coffin was the PET scan."

Misato gave Ritsuko a puzzled look. Ritsuko sighed; realizing neither Misato nor the children knew what a PET scan was, "A PET scan involves injecting radioactively tainted glucose into the blood and measuring where it goes in the brain. But the radioactive particles never showed up, leading me to believe something altered the physical structure of the particles. A hunch told me to look at a blood sample taken from Shinji during his latest stay at the hospital. Immediately something was odd. The glass vial looked like it had been corroded slightly. From what I examined the when a cell from Shinji's blood came in contact with any other substance, atomically it would change. Upon further examination, the atoms of Shinji's blood were behaving in ways not physically possible."

"What do you mean Ritsuko? Behaving in ways not physically possible."

"Well Misato, objects, including atoms and sub-atomic particles have to move and interact in certain ways, such are the laws of this universe. The atoms from Shinji's blood sample, and I would hypothesize from Shinji himself, seem to "break" these unbreakable laws. This should be impossible in every way; nothing in this universe can break the laws of the universe. But from what we know from the latest Angel, with its ability to form a Sea of Dirac, a possible alternate universe, as well as your accounts Shinji, the only possible explanation is that, you Shinji are not of this universe."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Shinji awoke, lying on the ground. It seemed he had fallen out of his chair. The faces of Ritsuko and Asuka were above him, staring at him with worry. Shinji noticed Misato was missing. He groggily asked, "Where is Misato?"

But before he could get a response, he got his answer from a splash of cold water to his face. "Oh Shinji, I didn't see that you were awake; I'm sorry."

Shinji sighed before rising to a sitting position and wiping his wet hair off his face. He suddenly remembered why he was on the ground and apprehension filled his stomach. He was almost too afraid to ask, but he had to, "Dr. Akagi, did you really mean what you said?"

As Misato helped Shinji back into his seat, Ritsuko answered his question, "I'm afraid so Shinji. It's the only way to explain the scan results as well as the discrepancy in your personality tests and memories."

The entire group sat in silence for minutes. Misato finally broke the quiet, "Ritsuko, how is this possible?"

"Well if I fully explained it to you, most of what I say would go over your heads. I'll try to explain it in layman's terms." Ritsuko pulled a coin from her pocket and flipped in the air, catching it as it fell. "Heads or tails?"

Misato spoke out, "Heads."

"Heads it is. There was a 50 chance it could have gone the other way. Essentially if the result was tails instead of heads, while seemingly insignificant, it would affect future events differently. So another universe is created from that fork in decision. But because there are so many possibilities of what could happen from one event; something as small as me coughing to something as large as an asteroid striking the Earth killing us all, an infinite number of universes are created at every moment in time. So there are literally an infinite number of alternate realities to this one. So if the Shinji from this universe and you Shinji were happened to be fighting the same angel at the same time, and you were both pulled into a Sea of Dirac, it is possible for you two to have switched places."

Shinji, while feeling frightened from this turn of events suddenly felt a wave of relief. He wasn't crazy, the experiences of his life had really happened; they weren't delusions of a fractured mind. The people he had grown to care about had not suddenly changed. But with this thought came a wave of despair. "Dr. Akagi, is there any way I can get back, to my universe that is? Not to sound rude, I think you all are fine, but I miss the people I know."

"Well Shinji I sympathize, I really do. But this is all new stuff to me. Before today, the multiverse was just a theory. There have been no ways hypothesized even in bridging the gap between two universes. The only way I could see in getting you back to your universe would be to have another Dirac Sea take you." Shinji's face fell into a look of depression that could darken the mood of the happiest man on Earth. "Oh but Shinji, that doesn't mean I won't try to get you back. It just might take awhile."

Misato interrupted, "Ritsuko, what about our Shinji? How are we going to get him back?" She looked over to the Shinji sitting next to her, "Not that we want to get rid of you, it's just I think we need to restore things back to the way they were."

"Unfortunately Misato, there is nothing we can do concerning our Shinji."

"What! We're just going to leave him stranded!"

"We can't do anything. We're going to have to trust in our counterparts from this Shinji's universe." She gave Shinji a nervous look before asking, "Our counterparts are competent, aren't they?"

Shinji felt slightly annoyed, as if the Doctor were insulting his universe, "Yes Dr. Akagi, I believe they are." He added in his own thoughts, "The question is, are you?"

"Even still, we might have to face the fact, that returning both Shinji's to where they belong might prove impossible…"

Ritsuko was interrupted by the sound of Asuka's chair being slid back. The red head had gotten up and was dashing away. Shinji noticed tears coming from her eyes as she ran. Misato called out to her, "Asuka wait!" But to no avail, she slammed through the mess hall doors and entered the maze-like hallways of NERV. Misato turned to Shinji, "I think you should go after her."

"What!?"

"I don't think Asuka wants to hear anything from me or Ritsuko. So I think it would be best for you to talk to her."

"Misato, I don't know what to say. I don't even know what I want said to me, how can I help?"

"Just go, I doubt you'll make her feel any worse."

"But…"

"No arguments; go!"

Defeatedly, Shinji rose from his seat. As he jogged in search of Asuka, he heard the Doctor tell Misato, "I think I'm going to have to tell the commanders about this…"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Shinji had been walking for a while now, losing himself in the hallways of NERV. He had no idea what he was going to say to Asuka, let alone where she was. She wasn't even the Asuka he knew. That was what was blowing his mind at the moment; the people who he had been interacting with for the past two days weren't the same people he had spent months getting to know. He didn't know what to think; never in the months of fighting giant monsters and piloting a purple biomechanical robot did he think he would ever end up in another universe. He was just about to give up in searching when he heard crying coming from a women's restroom.

He knocked on the door and said, "Asuka, is that you?"

Immediately the crying stopped. Instead Shinji heard a sniffle and then, "Go away!"

Shinji sighed before replying, "Asuka please come out."

"I don't want to talk."

"But I do." This of course was a lie; Shinji was scared to death and there was nothing he wanted to do less than have a heart to heart with this Asuka look alike.

A moment later Shinji was greeted by the door opening and Asuka's slightly red and swollen face. Shinji instinctively took a step back as she exited the bathroom. Even though he realized this wasn't the red headed fireball he knew, he was still expecting to be yelled at or hit. But instead she broke the silence of the hallways, "So, you said you wanted to talk?"

Shinji hadn't thought this far a head; he was still drawing a blank on what to say. Misato had practically ordered him to go to see the distraught pilot. "Uh yeah, I did say that. So, alternate universe, kind of weird don't you think?" The thought "Stupid!" repeated itself over and over through Shinji's head immediately after speaking.

"Uh, yeah it is." There was a pause in the conversation, Asuka sat down on the floor before she continued, "I miss him."

Without thinking, Shinji answered as he sat down as well, "Who?"

A look that clearly said "Are you that stupid?" for a moment replaced the sadness on Asuka's face, "Shinji; not you, I mean the Shinji from this universe."

"Oh." There was a pause as Shinji debated on whether to say what was on his mind, "From the way everyone's been treating me and what they've been saying about "me," I don't see why you would." Asuka gave a puzzled look, so Shinji decided to elaborate, "Well he doesn't seem like a nice person."

Asuka bristled at these words, "He might be rough around the edges, but he isn't that bad. He's incredibly brave and when it counts he thinks about others before himself. He dove into a volcano to save me."

"Oh really?"

Asuka seemed indignant now, "What was that? He really did! Don't you believe me?"

"I'm sorry, I believe you. It's just I did the same thing; during the battle with the 8th Angel, right?"

"Oh… yeah it was."

There was another long pause that interrupted the two, but again Asuka broke the silence.

"Do you think he misses me?"

Shinji's first reaction was to think, "You would know better than me, why ask?" Knowing that she didn't want to hear that, he instead answered with something a little more tactful, "I really don't know." Asuka seemed to deflate in sorrow, so Shinji continued, "But I know I miss Asuka, the Asuka from my universe that is. So my guess would be yes he does."

Asuka cracked a small smile and blushed, "Thanks, I hope he does."

Shinji didn't know what to say so he left it at that. He checked his watch and was shocked to see that it was already after midnight. His stomach let an audible growl loose, signaling he was hungry after the mediocre takeout he had for dinner.

"Hungry Shinji?"

Shinji blushed and replied, "Oh sorry; yes I am."

Asuka got up and said, "Well I am too, lets go back to the cafeteria, maybe we can get some desert

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Those two broads said to wait for them if you came back, they had to go some where." The scruffy man working the nightshift handed the two pilots a packaged ice cream each, "Here you go, enjoy."

Asuka took hers without question; Shinji took his too but commented, "Sorry for bothering you sir."

The aging man replied with a smile, "Oh no problem young man, to be honest I don't get many people in here this late. It's nice to break the monotony of these long nights. Now you two enjoy your date."

Shinji was halfway turning around before what the man said registered completely, "What!?" The old man gave him a wink and shooed him away. Shinji shrugged and joined Asuka at a table. He started to eat his ice cream quietly but was interrupted by a question.

"So what is it like, your universe?"

"What?"

"Where you come from, what's it like."

"Oh, I don't know, it's very similar to this one I guess. That's why I couldn't distinguish this one."

"Well, there have to be some differences."

Shinji thought for a second before answering, "I guess the only difference is the people. Almost everyone I know acts differently then the people you know."

"How so?"

Shinji actually chuckled a little, to which Asuka asked, "Why are you laughing?"

"Oh, its just Ayanami asked me the same thing earlier today."

"So what did you tell her?"

"Oh just that the Ayanami I know is very reserved; she doesn't show any emotion."

"Wow."

"That's nothing, Misato is still a good guardian, but she is a total slob and she drinks too much."

"That sounds like Ritsuko"

"Ritsuko isn't a neat freak, but she is at least professional where I come from. My friends at school weren't bullies, everybody is different (oddly enough except Kensuke)."

"What about me?"

Shinji gulped, he had hoped Asuka wouldn't ask about her counterpart in his universe, "Uh, she's definitely different… umm… definitely interesting."

"Interesting?" Asuka asked.

Shinji gulped again, "She's strong willed and very brave. She can be a little "harsh" but she has her moments."

"What do you mean "she has her moments."

Shinji hadn't been expecting Asuka to inquire further. He was thinking of one of his best memories with Asuka, but at the same time one of the most confusing. He didn't find divulging this memory to this Asuka too pleasing, he had never told anyone about this. But she continued to persist.

"Come on, please! Tell me."

Shinji saw that familiar persistence he knew in his Asuka, and knew it was useless to resist, so he sighed and continued, "Well one night Asuka had come early from a date and caught me playing the cello…"

Asuka cut Shinji off before he could continue, "You play strings?"

"Yeah, I do."

"It's just that I play the violin."

"Oh really, that's interesting, the Asuka I know plays the violin too."

Asuka rolled her eyes, "The Shinji I know thinks he can play bass guitar."

"Thinks?"

"Yeah, he thinks he can play well; the reality is he stinks, but no one can tell him. It was relieving to get a decent sleep the last couple of nights."

Shinji laughed for a second with Asuka before she said, "I'm sorry I interrupted you."

"Its okay," Shinji had been hoping she would forget about their conversation and continue to go on the tangent of music, but to no prevail, "she had come home and changed, and then later that night she … she … kissed me."

"What!? You'll have to go into more detail than that."

"Why!?"

"Just do it!"

Shinji was taken aback, this sounded even more like the Asuka he knew. "I don't want to; why do you want to know."

Asuka replied, a little less forcefully, "Tell me and I'll tell you why I want to know."

Shinji rolled his eyes, slouched over, and sighed in defeat before continuing, "Well she said she was bored, dared me to do it, and pinched my nose so my breath wouldn't tickle her. Happy?" He looked up to her, his face blushing furiously. But instead of looking amused, Asuka looked shocked as she brought her hand to her mouth. Now it was Shinji's turn to be inquisitive. "What? What's wrong? Why did you want to know so badly?"

Asuka didn't speak for a second, leaving her hand at her mouth. She looked down for a second, apparently in deep thought, then her attention snapped back up; as if she just remembered she was in the middle of a conversation. Her face became as red as Shinji's as she answered him. "One evening, weeks after the 11th Angel, Shinji had been out; I don't know what he had been doing but he came home a lot earlier than usual, so early that I was still practicing my violin."

A shiver went down Shinji's spine as this story started to sound familiar. She continued, "Time went by, and later that night he was teasing me about never kissing anyone. I actually stood up to him this time around and said he probably hadn't either. I don't know why, but he admitted to it. Then, again I don't know why, I said he was too afraid to kiss me. He said he wasn't but asked why he should. I said because there was nothing else to do. So we got real close and as he was closing in, his breath tickled me, so I pinched his nose. And then we did it, not too long because he couldn't breathe. It was lucky actually because Mr. Kaji had just dropped off Misato. I think she suspected something, but she didn't say anything."

Shinji thought over what he heard. While there were some obvious differences, his and Asuka's stories were eerily similar. "What does it mean?" was all he could say before he was interrupted by a shout from across the mess hall.

"Oh good you're both here! I didn't want to look for you both." Misato had come back. She was walking alone, without Ritsuko. Misato seemed to notice the questioning looks on the two pilots faces, "Ritsuko and I had to talk with the Commanders about this situation," she looked meaningfully towards Shinji, "Actually Ritsuko is still with them. She said there wasn't any need to detain you Shinji as long as I kept an eye on you. Even though you aren't from around "here", you're still a human being with rights, and that means you still need to go to school. So off we go, it's late."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A/N: So there it is, my longest single chapter, as well as the most difficult one to write. Not only did I find the Shinji/Asuka dialogue challenging to write, I'm not too sure Shinji is completely in character all the time. My only defense would be he knows now that these aren't the same people he's used to, so he can act differently around them, doing and saying certain things he wouldn't normally. The reason I obsess over correct characterization is because the number one thing I look for in a story here is if the characters stay true (for the most part) to their counterparts from the series.

So this chapter was less about comedy and more about what Asuka B and Shinji B's relationship was like, as well as finally revealing to everyone (especially Shinji) that he's in a different universe (It was getting kind of tiring every time he got surprised when he met someone, am I right?). I'm not sure how long (chapter wise) I want to make this. It/s still up in the air this point.

And again, I'm sorry it took so long to update. I got distracted with a oneshot turned multichapter as well as school, work and life outside Eva. Feel free to leave a review, whether it be constructive or not.

Well, until next time, Peace!