"Six months."
"Huh?"
"Rei always wondered how long it would take for the blood to diffuse so the oceans would stop being red. Well, it looks like the answer is six months."
"Geez, you sure know how to ruin a perfectly good sunset, don't you?!"
---Excerpt from Conversations With Asuka, published circa post Third Impact, after society returned to normal, or at least as normal as a society can get after briefly becoming a mass-consciousness.
Chapter 7 – Misunderstanding
Preread by Fanf1cFan
Deep inside the embattled city of Tokyo-3, past the retracted buildings and the the multiple layers of hardened armor, inside a small room a group of adults and one Child watched the display intently as it replayed the final moments of the battle that had just taken place. On the screen Unit-01 could be seen, held from behind by one half of Israfel. The other half of the menacing Angel was off-screen somewhere torturing Unit-00. Or at least that is what one would surmise judging from the screams. In the background were reports of an N2 strike on its way. At this point the back of Unit-01 exploded, sending the Angel flying backwards. The Eva was a blur of movement as it headed for Rei's position. The view followed as best it could, before it was washed out by the expanding purple-white sphere of the exploding N2 munition.
"A daring maneuver," Fuyutski murmured, as much to himself as for the others' benefit.
"It left his back completely exposed!" argued Misato, unwilling to add a semi-positive note the the boy's reckless action. "It'll take twice as long to repair!"
"But how did he separate the ejection sequence into its two parts? Obviously his plug never left the Eva, so..." Maya's question died away, and from the looks of her face, wheels were turning.
"Hmph!" Asuka's scowl belied her grudging acceptance of her fellow pilot's unusual maneuver. "Well, even a stopped clock is right twice a day...!"
"What do you mean?" Ritsuko asked, turning to face Asuka. "He lost...."
"Well of course he lost!" Asuka put her hands on her hips, her smirk widening. "You didn't honestly expect those two to win, did you? It's a wonder they even survived!" The smug redhead turned to face the screen again. "I consider it a win for them to even walk away with their lives!" Ritsuko's eyes lingered for a moment before she turned away, ignoring the girl's antics. "Hey!" Asuka yelled, crossing her arms. "Just because your precious super-computers didn't predict this doesn't mean you can just ignore me! I want a little respect! You're talking to the last hope of defeating that thing out there..."
"They know, Asuka..." Misato's quiet voice to her side startled her.
"Whuh...?" Asuka jerked around, calming down a moment later.
"Think about it from their point of view, and try not to rub it in, okay?" Misato's face bore not a little chagrin. "...and you need them as much as they need you..."
The girl seemed to consider this for a moment before responding.
"Where is he?" Asuka acted as if she hadn't heard Misato even as she took the woman's advice. It was about as much compromise as she was willing to make.
"You mean Shinji?"
"-of course I mean Shinji! Who else would I be talking about?!"
"He's in room 307, but-" Asuka had already turned to leave, and Misato was too tired to argue further.
As she marched down the hall, Asuka considered how satisfying the past day had been. Shinji and Rei had been put in their place, and now the MAGI had the data they needed to construct a battle plan for when she fought alongside Shinji. And all of it had been accomplished without her being humiliated. Everything would be perfect were it not for the blatant favoritism that had gone on right before her eyes. Shinji had only just awoken from a concussion, and Rei was recovering from a partially dislocated shoulder. No one would chew out Rei, because she was the Commander's favorite, and they all tiptoed around Shinji for fear of hurting his precious sync-score, which was still recovering from its previous drop. It was enough to make her retch, considering the chewing-out she had suffered when she and Shinji had been defeated so long ago. She burst through the hospital door, startling Shinji awake. A cursory glance told her that Rei was not present.
"Your wife's not here taking care of you?" Asuka's words dripped with sarcasm, and Shinji responded, even knowing he was behaving exactly as she wanted.
"She's not my wife," he said tiredly.
"What, getting a divorce already?" she taunted.
"...um, shouldn't we be focused on getting along?" he asked warily. "We have a battle in-"
"Oh, don't you worry about that," she replied, looking down at him dismissively. "If you make us fail, I'll just have to keep killing you until we get it right!"
"Shouldn't you be watching what you say?" he murmured in an undertone. "There might be listening devices-"
"You just leave all that counterespionage stuff to me!" Asuka declared haughtily. "I've forgotten more about that than you'll ever know..."
Shinji tuned her out. It wasn't like she mattered, anyway. Like she said, he would die until they got it right. Or until they were discovered. More importantly, what about Rei? His last conversation with the girl had been right before her final battery of tests before she would be allowed to leave the hospital. He still remembered her cool reply as to whether they should reset.
"No. We cannot beat it in our current state, and I do not wish to keep trying. Only in a second battle, with the MAGI's help, would we have a chance, and my Eva will not be repaired in time. Simply retrying that first battle over and over will bring no results."
He had managed to protect her by interposing his AT-field just before the N2 mine had exploded, saving her mangled Eva from the worst of the blast effects, but she was still wounded. She had been behaving more coldly to him ever since they both had been informed that he would have to move in with Misato and Asuka to begin training for the next battle against the disabled Angel. His mental musings were interrupted by Asuka grabbing hold of his cheeks, squeezing them together so he looked like a fish.
"Hey!" she exclaimed. "Don't you zone out on me! Every word that comes out of this perfect mouth is important...!"
"You know, becoming immortal sure hasn't helped your attitude," he grumbled.
"Fine, be that way!" she dropped his head back onto the pillow and turned abruptly, her hair swishing as she walked to the door. She turned back, sparing him a glance. "Just try not to embarrass me too much, 'kay?"
He closed his eyes, inwardly smiling at her attitude, then briefly wondered at his own reaction to the return of the old Asuka. If this had been his old life, he would have been feeling embarrassed and put-out, and would be trying to figure out some way to get back into her good graces.
Normalcy, he decided. This is normal. This was the Asuka he knew. Her shield of brashness was back up, which probably meant her pride had recovered. It was something familiar amidst the sea of strange in which he found himself. It was good that she had recovered some of her old haughtiness. At least someone was getting something good out of the present circumstances.
Emotion tightened his throat as he stepped over the threshold of what had, at one time, been home for him. It would be his home once again, at least for the near future.
"Well, roomie, this is it!" Misato flounced down into a chair in the living room, her beer can hissing as she deftly opened it one-handed. "That room there is Asuka's," she gestured with the can towards a closed door with the familiar "Asuka's Lair" sign on it. "-and that one's yours!"
He eyed the door warily, as if a sudden memory might jump out. She had already tacked a piece of paper to to it with the expected wording on it. He pushed open the door to "Shin-chan's Lovely Suite" and set down the cardboard box that held all his worldly belongings. Stepping back to the door of his room, he cast a critical eye over the apartment. She had reduced the clutter to a livable level, at least.
"Well, there's only one more thing to do before you're a full member of Misato's Crib," the woman said, burping delicately. "Distribution of chores!" she exclaimed, punching both fists into the air, crushing the empty Yebisu can in one of them. "Now, just shimmy over here and we'll-"
"Misato."
"-huh?"
"I'll cook, and I'll keep my own room clean, but that's it."
The woman's crestfallen expression was only momentary.
"You can cook??" One could practically hear the little hearts at the beginning and end of the question.
"We need to go to the store," he noted.
"Hey!" Misato exclaimed. "What's wrong with what we got?"
"Okay..." Shinji gave her the benefit of the doubt and walked over to the refrigerator, pulling it open. "It's all instant," he observed, trying to sound surprised. "Like I said," he repeated, looking back up with a bit of a grin. "We need to go to the store."
"-hehe!" She covered her mouth as she opened another can. "Good thing you didn't open the other one."
I'll bet, Shinji thought but did not say. Is this is all my foreknowledge is good for? Picking the right refrigerator? He suppressed a chuckle.
"What's funny?"
Apparently not well enough.
"Believe me, you don't want to know."
After the two returned from their shopping trip, it did not take Asuka long at all to sashay her way through the kitchen ostensibly to get something to drink. As she walked by where Shinji was standing by the counter, she glanced over, almost as an afterthought. He continued calmly cutting whatever it was he was cutting on the counter. Not getting a response, she dropped the subtleness and poked her nose over his shoulder. Still no response.
"What's that?" The trademark "don't care" in her voice didn't quite cover her curiosity. She had seen him make Japanese noodles enough to know that this wasn't that. In fact, what he was doing was maddeningly familiar, but she couldn't quite place it.
"Dinner."
"Well of course it's dinner, I know that...! Oh never mind..." She left the room in a huff, wondering where his level-headedness had come from. It wasn't just that he stuttered less, or that he actually answered questions without meekly backing down. Normally she could have weaseled any information she wanted out of him, but now he seemed more collected. Certain buttons that she used to be able to push weren't there any more.
Not until half an hour later did she finally puzzle out what he was making. The door to Asuka's Lair slid open, she having judged from the aroma that supper was nearly ready. She had been eating out far more often than she had liked the past months, just because actually eating Misato's cooking was a sure death sentence. She glanced over at the stove before sitting down. A pot full of boiling lentils, another pot of boiling water in which Shinji was carefully cooking the noodles, and a frying pan with a very specific kind of sausage sizzling on it.
"Spatzle!" She tried to cover up the hopefulness in the exclamation with as much accusation as she could muster. "When the hell did you learn how to make that?"
Shinji didn't answer as he brought her plate and set it before her. Misato was sprawled in her chair, the aroma of the food (along with some unknown number of Yebisus) having reduced her to a glazed expression with a string of drool hanging from her lip. Asuka considered the mound of German-style home-made noodles covered with lentils, and the bratwurst balanced on the edge of the plate.
"This... isn't the right kind of sausage," she finally got out. It was acceptable, but that was beside the point. Never mind that the perfect sausage for this dish probably wasn't sold in Japan. "You should have taken me with you to the store."
"Weren't you asleep when Misato and I got here?" Shinji set Misato's plate down, snapping the woman out of her stupor. She fell on the plate with a rabid glee that any cook would enjoy watching. Apparently the woman had picked up a taste for German food during her tour of duty in that country.
"You could have woken me up!" Asuka spoke around a mouthful of what had to be the best food she had eaten since she had arrived in Japan. The lentils had a very mild seasoning, leaving her to savor the meat, and how its pungent flavor mixed with the otherwise bland noodle dish. Shinji returned with his plate and carefully began to eat, paying no obvious attention to the effects his cooking had on his room-mates.
"That usually never ends well," he said with a sigh. Asuka eventually gave up trying to hide how good the food tasted.
Throughout the meal, Shinji couldn't help but notice that Asuka seemed to be on edge. She had seemed more normal the past day following his and Rei's defeat, but he hadn't expected it to last. After Misato had fully retreated to her room to get some extra rest before her next night-shift, Asuka stood. She eyed the woman's door warily, but it stayed shut. Shinji paused, several dirty dishes in his hands as he wondered where this was going.
"-um, what..."
"I'm going for a walk," she declared with her usual flourish. He turned to continue the clean-up. She made it to the door before finally turning in annoyance. "Well?" she questioned him with a touch of exasperation. "You coming or not?"
"...ah, sure, I guess." He put the last of the dishes next to the sink, turning to find Asuka halfway across the room and closing fast.
"Oh, come on, do you always have to be so indecisive?"
She grabbed his arm and dragged him out the door.
Thankfully she stopped dragging him almost immediately, and he had time to enjoy the scenery. And get a good look at his fellow pilot. Has she gained weight? This thought went unexpressed. Naïve Shinji might have been, but even he knew better than to comment about a female's weight. Nevertheless, it made him wonder. Stress maybe? She was going through some serious stuff near the end, and my thoughtlessness didn't help things. He wished yet again that he had tried calling her.
He noticed that she had started to glance furtively around, and he looked as well. No Section Two, they only follow Rei, and us when we go to school. What else would she be looking for? She suddenly grabbed his arm and pulled him into an alley.
"Asuka, what-" She cut him off in a way he had not expected. She put her right hand on his cheek, and for just a moment her expression softened. That moment was burned indelibly in his mind, the subtle wave of her hair, her eyes locked onto his, the breeze slightly moving her yellow sun-dress. The haunting memory of the last time she had similarly touched him intruded suddenly into his mind, bringing with it the fractured memories of that time. Then she brought her other hand up and snapped his neck.
He sat up, coughing reflexively. The white granular sand stretched into the distance, towards the ruined city on one side, and the bloody water on the other.
"You'll remember that point in time, right?"
He looked over at his companion, whose eyes were once again veiled with the armor of the spirit he knew so well.
"Yeah," he admitted, almost breathlessly. He almost asked her how she knew about that particular facet of his control of things, but she was already explaining.
"Wondergirl told me basically how it works, even if she did clam up afterwards. So now that we're safely out of reach of anybody who might be against us, I want you to tell me everything." She grabbed his eyes with hers before he could fall into his normal routine. "I mean everything, Shinji."
"-alright." He was amazed that his voice wasn't shaking. He had never heard her speak so seriously.
"By the way, where is the First? Isn't she supposed to be here too? Not that we need her here right now..."
"I really don't want to face her right now," Shinji admitted, looking off into the darkness. The moon overhead was reminder enough of how he had failed. After a few moments Asuka posed a logical question with deeper significance.
"So did you exclude her consciously, do you think? Or was it unconscious..." He could hear the importance she placed on the question, even though she asked it casually, yet he could not fathom what point she was trying to make.
"I really don't know," he answered honestly. "Unconsciously, I think. I mean, I realized it when we arrived here and she didn't, but that's it. I didn't plan on it, or say to myself, 'next time I die, I don't want to see Rei.'" Asuka nodded, accepting his words, and then he figured it out. Asuka had not shown up in this place until he had found out she was also in the resets. She was asking him if he had purposefully excluded her. He spoke carefully. "I was so focused on what was going on in front of me, I didn't even once think that you might be in this thing with us," he said, and she cast an appraising eye towards him. "I'm sorry."
She didn't snap at him, this time.
"For once," she said, "I think you mean that. You're not just trying to dodge blame."
He blushed. After a few moments of embarrassed silence, he began to explain what he knew about what was happening.
When he finished, and she had exhausted her questions, he closed his eyes and sent them back. Their consciousnesses returned to the alley, at the exact point they had left. Her hand slid from his face and she turned to go. He stood there, still a bit stunned by her interrogation, and her touch. She turned, outlined by the sunlight spilling into the alleyway they had inhabited for thirty subjective minutes crammed into a split second.
"You coming?" she asked, the usual cheer back in her voice.
"Sure." He found himself in motion, propelled by her beckoning voice. She turned and continued walking, now assured that he was in tow.
"So," she said in a dangerously light voice. "What's for supper? You've set the bar pretty high, you know."
"-ah," at this he began to sweat, for he had not told her his plans. He had not expected for her to even care. The last time they had met, the animosity between them had been obvious. It had surprised him that she could put their problems aside, if only temporarily, to take care of what needed to be taken care of. "Actually I'm going out to eat with Akira. I don't know if you know her-"
"Of course I know her!" Asuka proclaimed testily. "I know every girl in the class! Just 'cause I spend the most time with Hikari doesn't mean she's my only friend..."
"I know," Shinji said hurriedly, falling back into old habits. "That's not what I meant..." Asuka gave a disgusted huff.
"You know she only noticed you because you're an Eva pilot, right?" He ignored the pseudo insult, as he had been trained to do by long association with her.
"She's not that shallow, Asuka," he said tiredly.
"You don't know anything about her!" she yelled suddenly.
"I know she likes to cook." The two of them were nearly back to the apartment by now.
"Hmph." The swirl of mixed feelings that Asuka felt at this sudden revelation was not comfortable. On the one hand he was being more outgoing, but on the other, it wasn't with her. Not that she'd willingly return any overt affection, obviously. She eyed him surreptitiously. Well, it's true he needs a bit more experience before I'd even consider... She wondered exactly what is was she was considering. Well, anything, really. "So while you're on your date, what will I be eating?" she snapped.
"I made enough lunch specifically so there would be leftovers," he explained, happy enough that she hadn't gone off the deep end altogether. "-but I don't think it's really a date, she's more like a friend than anything else..." It was the wrong thing to say.
"You're so naïve." Asuka shook her head slowly. "Well, go on then." She gave him a little shove. "You're probably going in that, aren't you?" In fact he had indeed been planning to go in his school uniform.
"-geez, you and Rei both," he muttered. "What's wrong with what I'm wearing?"
Asuka made a dismissive gesture. "Well, you're a guy, so it's to be expected." She turned to enter Misato's apartment building.
Akira's abode retreated slowly behind them, or rather they walked away towards the restaurant she had chosen.
"God, I thought we'd never get away from there," Akira said breathlessly as their pace slowed, now that they were relatively safe from the girl's rather protective and sharp-witted parents. He still remembered being taken aside soon after arriving at the upscale apartment complex where she and her parents lived. Her father had put his arm around Shinji's shoulders and given him a rather stern talking-to. Or at least stern considering his usual jovial personality.
"Now listen, I know you two are pretty close, but I don't want any funny business." The man's joking tone was just barely present, and Shinji had decided the safest thing was to simply smile and agree. "She's the apple of my eye, and I don't want to see her hurt just because you can't keep yourself under control. I know she's quite attractive, but, well, hohoho!" At this point the man must have begun feeling embarrassed, and his usual booming laugh erupted as he gave Shinji a little push towards where Akira's mother was fussing and fretting over her daughter's hair and dress. For her part, Akira was trying desperately to get away with the minimum of fuss, even while doing her best to humor her parents, who she knew were trying to make the night special.
Shinji surreptitiously took a look at his companion. The sleeves of her brightly colored furisode kimono almost brushed the ground as they walked. She felt his stare and turned pink, bringing her hands to her face.
"This is embarrassing, I'm so overdressed..."
"Uh," he scratched the back of his head. "No, I'm the one who should feel embarrassed, I knew I shouldn't have come in my school uniform." A white lie, but oh well. "It looks good on you," he admitted a little softly, taking a longer look now that he had been discovered. Her face turned a bright red and she clung to his arm while trying to hide her face with her sleeve.
"Please, you're making me blush," she wailed. "Everyone's looking at me..."
He couldn't help chuckling at her antics.
"The streets are practically deserted," he said, trying to calm her down. His words distracted her, but in the wrong direction.
"Is it really okay for us to go out like this?" she asked, loosening her grip. Smoke rose in the distance where the Angel languished.
"Sure, it's okay," he reassured her quickly. "Misato and Ritsuko are still working on my training schedule, so..." He looked around as his train of thought died away. "It's okay," he repeated. It wasn't okay, but not for those reasons. Against his will, the only thing he could think about after seeing Akira in a kimono was what Rei would look like if he could ever convince her to wear one. He knew it wasn't fair to Akira for him to think like that, but mere knowledge did not help in this case. They made almost meaningless small talk until they got to the restaurant, yet another thing that was different from any of his relationships so far. He and Rei were usually just comfortable in each other's presence, and while he and Asuka sometimes talked, or rather had talked in his previous life, she always got bored pretty quickly with his choice of conversation topics. But with Akira, for some reason, he could just talk with her. It was one of the things that had led him to get closer to her.
Why am I still comparing her to Rei and Asuka? He dragged his unwilling mind back to the present as the waiter led them to an empty table. As expected, the restaurant was nearly empty, even though it was near time for the dinner rush. This along with his and Akira's age (and her showy kimono) led the restaurant's staff treat them with the utmost attention and care.
"This place is famous for its soba," Akira said, picking up her menu and scanning down through the selections. "I've been in the mood for some good soba for the last few days. Thanks for inviting me..." She lifted her eyes from the menu for a moment, smiling warmly.
"It's no problem," he said, thankfully without stuttering, though his heart sped up a little. "I never properly thanked you for inviting me to eat at your house, so... you know."
A different waiter came to take their order. This amused Akira to no end, since apparently all the waiters were taking turns waiting on them.
"Bet you it's the tall brown-haired one next," she whispered behind a raised sleeve, as she looked surreptitiously towards where a cluster of restaurant staff were talking and giving the couple amused glances every so often. As yet another waiter, who indeed happened to be the tall brown-haired one, brought their soup and noodles, Akira switched back to expounding on her ever-doting parents. Shinji couldn't help but become a little morose at her comments.
"You're really lucky to still have both parents," he said in what he hoped was not a judgmental tone when she finally stopped to pick up a clump of noodles with her chopsticks. She eyed him curiously, with what he thought might be a bit of a sad expression.
"Dad remarried pretty quickly after we lost mom," she said in a more subdued voice, and Shinji could feel the foot he had so quickly shoved in his mouth. With an effort Akira shook off the glum mood. "But you know, dad really would be lost without a woman around," she said a bit too airily, and Shinji felt about as tall as an insect.
"I'm..." He fought down the urge to bolt. "I'm sorry," he finally got out. "That was really stupid of me," he muttered. "I didn't mean to-" he stopped abruptly when she put her hand over his.
"Don't worry about it," she said matter-of-factly, holding his eyes with her own until she was sure he understood. "You didn't know."
"I should've," he said in a more firm voice. "I mean, pretty much everyone in 2-A has lost someone. Touji, Kensuke, Asuka..." Shinji cut off his babbling as Akira's expression deteriorated further. "Damn it, I'm sorry," he spoke dejectedly, resting his head on a hand, elbow propped on the table as he tried to think of a way to salvage the terrible mood he had brought to what was supposed to be a nice meal together.
"Don't," Akira said, her eyebrows drawn down. "Don't blame yourself so much. Everything's not always your fault."
He smiled wanly, and went back to eating his soba before it got cold.
"I guess you're right," he admitted with a sigh. "You're not the first person to tell me that." He viciously suppressed his glum feelings, intent on not ruining the rest of the meal. Akira felt the lingering mood, and tried once more to bring him out of it.
"You know, you're not eating that right," she commented, pointing her chopsticks at his half-empty soup bowl, and the half-empty plate of long stringy noodles. "Eat more enthusiastically, like the Japanese person you are." She picked up a rather long bunch of noodles, dipped them in the soup, and bent down, suddenly slurping them up rather violently, not mindful of the droplets of broth which splashed nearly onto Shinji's lap. He couldn't help chuckling as he brought up a hand reflexively to shield his face. "See, I knew you could smile," she said, continuing to eat.
"So, you're saying I should eat like this..." He picked up a cluster of noodles and mimed Akira's motion, though his actions caused rather more of his broth to travel across the table.
"Aah!" She shied away, trying to protect her expensive clothing. "You're not supposed to actually try to splash the other person!" Her eyes twinkled as she threw a balled up napkin at his head. "Jerk!"
"-oh, s-sorry," he had not even thought of her clothing when he had impulsively copied her motions.
"Stop it, Shinji, it's okay, I can always wash this," she hurried to reassure him, hopeful she had not stifled his attempt to meet her halfway. The bad mood had already lifted, however, and the two continued talking as they ate.
After paying for their meal, Shinji walked her home. He had relaxed so completely, and had been having such a good time that he had not even considered how her arm was threaded through his, at least not until they were walking past one of the small parks scattered through the city. Night had just fallen, and even though it was still early, the slim crescent of the moon was clearly visible in the sky.
His wandering eyes followed the small groups of people that were out enjoying the evening as he made small talk with his companion, but his eyes froze at a moving tuft of blue hair in the distance. The small group of people that had been inadvertently hiding her changed direction, and she also noticed his presence. Their eyes locked, and he saw the gym bag she had been carrying fall from her limp fingers. The faint sheen of perspiration meant she must have just finished a training session. Her mouth was partially open, and he had never seen such a shocked look on her normally placid face. He nearly tripped, and Akira's grip on his arm tightened as she gave him a worried look.
"Are you okay?"
No.
But... it wasn't like he could talk to her about it. His voice was as frozen as Rei still was. He couldn't speak. Akira followed his gaze to where Rei was standing. Had been standing, he realized. The girl had shouldered her gym bag and was calmly walking away. He could no longer see her face, and while he was glad in a way, he desperately wanted to see her expression. Had she gone back to the blank mask he knew when he had first met her? Or was she crying, something he had so rarely seen her do?
"So she's the one you like so much." Akira's tone was quiet and matter-of-fact, as if she had been expecting this, while at the same time dreading such a meeting. "I-I knew there had to be someone, I just, I don't..." She was looking down, her expression forlorn, and there was nothing he could do. He couldn't comfort her, he needed comforting just as much as she. He couldn't reassure her that Rei was in the past, because she wasn't.
The remainder of the walk home was quiet.
"Don't..." she looked over at him for a moment, then looked away, trying to gather her thoughts. She finally turned her whole body to face him. "Don't look so sad," she insisted. "Let's at least look happy for my parents' sake. They'd be upset if we came home like this." He could do no more than nod, not trusting his voice.
As they approached the apartment building, he could see her parents standing side by side, grinning widely. He and Akira stopped at a discrete distance, just within earshot of them. She leaned in, placing her lips softly on the side of his cheek.
"Thanks for a great evening," she said simply, and when she pulled away, he saw tears at the edges of her eyes. She turned to walk away, and moments later, so did he.
Shinji made it home without further incident, but emotionally drained. After a quick shower, he slipped into bed and closed his eyes, expecting to have to chase sleep for a good long time before finally finding it. As the lights went out in his world, he had no idea of his fellow pilot's trials.
Heat pulsed through her thermal-protective suit, a constant reminder of just how hot it was in her current environment. There was enough heat to radiate through multiple layers of protective armor, that itself was protected by a specially designed suit through which an obscene amount of coolant was pumped every minute.
This is a dream.
She knew this with a clarity that was usually foreign in her nightmares. She looked around, astounded by the details that stood out to her. It was amazing that the brain could produce worlds of such depth, that had no basis in reality apart from a distant memory. She tightened her hands around the pistol-grip controls to her sides, wondering at the tactile response that was normally absent in her dreams. The usual dual-vision stood before her eyes, one of the inside of the entry plug, the other overlaid on top, what the Eva saw. What she saw, since she was synchronized.
I can't confide in Shinji about this. But she felt a sudden urge, a need to talk. Maybe Misato, if she could catch the woman when she wasn't drunk. It was interesting that she had enough mental clarity to think of such complex thoughts inside a dream. She had been through college, she knew of lucid dreams, even if she had never before had one herself. The sea of orange in which she floated began to darken, then ripple. A shadow passed by her face.
The Angel, she realized. For some reason she felt no fear. She wondered what would happen if she drew her prog-knife, or if it would even work in the dream. Not that it matters, she told her stubborn subconscious. Nothing in a dream could hurt her, at least not physically. The shadow passed by again, more slowly this time. It turned, and she could almost make out the details of the Angel's shape, it opened its mouth once, then turned, drifting before her almost playfully. She reached out a hand, and Eva's gauntleted hand also reached out. A strange sensation played against her fingertips as she brushed the thing's skin, or what passed for skin.
Mama.
Fear curdled her gut as the word passed through her mind like a whisper.
Mama...
The creature's mouth moved this time, as the word was spoken, and her fear blossomed into near-terror.
"What are you?" she whispered, her voice strangely muted. Fractured memories assaulted her mind, of a dark beach, and of Shinji on top of her. He wasn't choking her, he was doing something more personal, more intimate. And she was responding animalistically, returning his primal emotions. They were moving together, against each other, doing what she swore she would never do with a man.
Pressure suddenly expanded in her abdomen, and she gasped, putting her hand over her stomach. There was a noticeable bulge, more pronounced than in real life. Fear swirled around inside her as she considered something far worse than mere weight-gain. For her to be putting on weight was bad enough, but to even consider the other possibility...
She awoke in a sweat, on her side, her hand on her belly, which was thankfully back to the size she remembered. Which was still larger than it should have been. She rolled over onto her stomach to get to a more comfortable position and gasped at the sudden pain in her chest. She sat up, a hand on her still tingling breasts.
What's happening to me? Her thoughts were still in turmoil, partly from the realism of the dream, and partly from her last thoughts before waking up. It can't be... Nausea crawled its way up her throat, and she pushed her legs together, contracting her whole body around her rebelling stomach. She closed her eyes, clamping a hand over her mouth as she breathed in rapid pants, swallowing repeatedly as she fought the sick feeling of the food Shinji had so carefully prepared for her trying to force its way up her throat. She tried to push herself to her feet, but her legs gave way, and she fell weakly to her knees. The sudden motion interrupted her concentration, and her stomach heaved, causing her to retch onto the carpet. Nearly choking, she shuddered as she tried to regain her breath and her strength. She was still coughing when Misato slid aside the door to her dark room with a bang, worry in her expression.
"Asuka, what's wrong?" she asked breathlessly. The girl coughed, grimacing as she swallowed. Misato ran out of the room, only to return moments later with a glass of water. After the girl rinsed her mouth out, spitting onto the floor, she managed to gasp out two words.
"I'm pregnant."
Misato's eyes bulged.
"That's..." she regained her voice, which had started to squeak. "That's not possible! You haven't..." 'slept with someone,' was what Misato wanted to say, but couldn't. She glanced at Asuka's stomach, which was a bit larger than normal, and at the vomit on the floor, and tried once again. "Just because you've gained some weight and got a little sick..."
"I've missed my period by over a month and a half." Asuka's voice was nearly trembling. She couldn't tell Misato that it was because of Shinji's antics with time that she had lost track of when she had last mensed. Her emotions were in a turmoil, and the logical side of her brain told her that it was yet another sign she was pregnant. She knew from college classes that pregnancy caused mood swings. The emotional side of her responded to this logic by wailing inconsolably. She barely managed to avoid bursting into tears.
"-wh-who?" Misato asked. Asuka glanced up at Shinji, who had appeared at the door to her room. Misato followed her gaze, and her eyes bored holes through Shinji's head. "Did," she regained control of her anger. "-did you do this to her?" Misato asked of Shinji, who had been unfortunate enough to have been present when Asuka gasped out that she was pregnant. He was standing there, his expression almost rivaling the shock that had been on Rei's face earlier that night. It wasn't like he could argue, since he had indeed had sexual relations with his fellow pilot. Never mind that it was after they had both awoken from the end of everything, alone and frightened in an empty world. Never mind that it had been in the future, compared to where they were now positioned in time. Never mind that even if he had impregnated her there, in the future, it could not have carried over to now, which was the past. Yet so many strange things had happened to Shinji that he did not question the present circumstances at all. Instead, he did what had at one time been habitual, and was now a somewhat more rare occurrence. He turned and ran.
As for Misato, if she had not been muddled by sleep and by Asuka's symptoms right before her eyes, she would have considered that Shinji and Asuka would have had to do the deed while on board Over The Rainbow for it to be showing now. By the time she had finished tending to Asuka, Shinji had thrown clothes into his backpack and was out the door.