Authors Notes: Now this chapters a little shorter than i'd hoped but never fear! the next chapter is going to be twice as long and choc full supernatural wonders and romance!...i hope...

As always reviews are welcome

Disclaimer: No matter how many times I watch the opening credits to Neon Genesis Evangelion, I can't seem to see my name in the titles.
That's gotta be a sign.

No I don't own it...

A Moment When Tension Breaks
テンションが切断された時
Chapter 3

The Past...

The year is 2016

Tabris has been dispatched towards his fate

Shinji Ikari will fall into despair

Asuka has lost her will to go on

Rei continues to question her existence and the point of her life

Gendo Ikari's secret agenda is going as planned.

But SEELE will not allow their plans to be unwrought...

The SEELE conference room was active, or at least as active as it could be. In the centre of the room stood a woman, her age and features indeterminable due to the darkness and shadow that enveloped her. The room itself was dark and somewhat musty in scent, or so the woman believed it to be. Surrounding the woman were fifteen large Monoliths with the words Sound Only and the numbers one through fifteen printed on their fronts. The woman herself was becoming impatient; she had been here for three hours listening to them, and it was only making her temper worsen having to listen to them argue and prevaricate. The third Monolith spoke first.

"The Final Messenger has been sent to Ikari and Unit 01 and soon the Human Instrumentality Project will begin, but will he succeed?"

The question itself was answered almost immediately by the Fifth Monolith.

"Tabris will descend to Terminal Dogma and open Heaven's Gate and when he does his fate will be sealed."

Even though the no eyes were visible, the woman became aware that everyone's attention had turned on her.

"The nature of the human race is BY its very nature, erratic and unpredictable." said the First Monolith."Take the predictions of the Dead Sea Scrolls for example."

"Gendo Ikari has subverted this to his own will and because of this, not even we are certain if the Human Instrumentality Project will succeed or even come to pass." said the sixth.

"Because of his agenda, the Eleventh through to the Sixteenth Angel's have attacked sooner than they should have, this has brought setbacks to the creation of the Mass Production Evangelions; we have only nine when we should have twelve." said the Eighth.

"And not only that, we have lost Unit 00 also." said the Ninth."Not to mention that the pilot of Unit 02 is utterly unusable, our hopes rest upon Unit 01 and it's pilot."

"We will not-

The woman, enveloped in shadows, sighed loudly and stretched.

"I do not have all day, you know." she said.

The Monoliths did not take kindly to the interruption, all of them bar the first complaining. When they eventually quieted, the First Monolith spoke.

"Human nature is certainly erratic, we know that your time is precious, but you belong to us and you will wait however long we wish you too." he said."We will not be stopped, but if the predictions of the Dead Sea Scrolls can be subverted then so can the outcome of the Human Instrumentality Project. It is your task, my dear, to ensure that our plans are not unwrought, find the First Heart and wait. If everything turns out not as we or the Dead Sea Scrolls themselves, predicted then your mission is clear."

"I know, and don't worry patience is a particular virtue of mine." replied the woman.

At this, all but the first Monolith disappeared. The woman seemed surprised by this and waited for it to speak.

"Do not fail in this task."

The woman seemed to be offended by this remark, her top lip curling as she spoke.

"When have I ever failed?"

The Present...

The Year is 2016

It had been a week and a day since Shinji and Asuka pulled themselves from the Sea of LCL and Shinji was beginning to wish he hadn't bothered. The once bustling city of Tokyo-3 was now besieged by a new enemy, and in Shinji's opinion, much more annoying that the Angels ever could have been.

Snow

In little over a week of nonstop snow the ruins of the city had been completely blanketed by the snow, and Misato's apartment was no exception. Shinji had spent nearly all of his time shovelling snow from the balcony area of the apartment and making sure that the forecourt was clear so that they could at least leave. There were at least two problems with this.

"I've spent all my time doing this so I haven't even been able to leave Misato's at all and Asuka won't go out because it's too cold." he thought.

Stopping for a moment, Shinji embedded his shovel in the thick snow that lay on the balcony and leaned on the handle of his shovel. Staring in the direction of the doorway to the apartment, Shinji sighed.

"Why do I always get stuck with the manual labour?" he asked himself.

"Because your better suited to it than me and I'm allergic to the cold." shouted Asuka from the direction of the living room.

As Shinji had been stuck with shovelling snow, Asuka, in her infinite wisdom, had decided that it was best for her to stay at the apartment, content to lay in the comfort of the blankets and enjoy the warmth of the various hot water bottles they'd found.

"Yeah and you're allergic to cooking, cleaning and smiling." grumbled Shinji.

Immediately as Shinji finished, something collided with the back of his head causing him to slip and fall over. After a few minutes rubbing his head and trying to overcome the daze it had left him in, Shinji realised that what had hit him was one of those hot water bottles. Smiling wickedly, Shinji picked the hot water bottle up and stood up near the doorway separating the balcony and the living room, awaiting the inevitable.

"Shinji, can you please hand me back the hot water bottle I dropped?" asked Asuka sweetly

Shinji waited a few minutes before deciding to reply.

"I'll think about it." he said, maliciously.

"Ohhhh, Dummkopf, if you don't give me it back now I'll...I'll crush your SDAT player!" she shouted.

"Threats will only make me keep it Asuka, besides my SDAT player doesn't work anymore, the last time I looked it kept saying that there was a 27th track or something and I don't have any batteries for it anyway."

There were a few more moments of silence before the fiery red head finally answered.

"Oh fine, I'm sorry for hitting you, can I please get the hot water bottle back, I'm starting to freeze over!" she wailed.

Smiling, Shinji was about to walk back inside when an idea hit him. Leaning over, Shinji picked up a small amount of snow and made his way into the living room, his hand hidden behind his back.

Upon entering the living room, Shinji smiled at the sight that met him. Sitting on the sofa was Asuka, covered completely from head to foot with blankets, sheets, and several shirts. As Shinji approached, hot water bottle in hand, Asuka lifted her arms from the security and warmth of her blankets and reached out for the hot water bottle. Upon reaching her, Shinji jumped forward and dropped the snow he was holding into Asuka's shirt, causing her to scream in surprise. As Asuka leapt up from her spot on the sofa, Shinji began to laugh hysterically as the young red head danced about, trying to remove the snow from her shirt.

"You...you Baka Shinji!" she yelled.

Shinji simply continued to laugh as Asuka moved off in the direction of the doorway. Wiping tears away from his eyes, Shinji became aware that Asuka was nowhere to be found. Turning around, Shinji was taken unaware by the red head, who lunged at him with a huge amount of snow in her hand and pulled at the front of his trousers and dropped all the snow she had into the teenagers' pants. Shinji, his eyes widening in shock, stood for a few minutes as the cold shock began to permeate his body. As Shinji stared at Asuka dumfounded, the young red head stood with her hands placed upon her hips and a wicked smile playing across her lips.

"What goes around comes around, Baka Shinji." she said.

It was then that everything that had happened caught up with him and Shinji screamed.

The sky was virtually non-existent thanks to the dark snow clouds, the purple hue that lit the area added to the feeling that the shadows and darkness were waiting to envelop any passing life form. The snow continued to fall, though there was no wind, giving the area an odd haunting quality. The haunting quality was only intensified as the solitary, lonely form of a blue haired girl floated gently through the wreckage that Third Impact had left behind.

Rei wandered slowly through the ruins of the city, her expression passive. Even though her exterior showed no emotion, her mind was in turmoil. What the Entity had said was true, her power was beginning to weaken and since their conversation no human had been able to pull themselves from the Sea of LCL. There was something else; however, that Rei felt made everything disturbing.

Because Lilith was the progenitor of the Human Race and the fact that Rei's soul was a part of Lilith, Rei had a link to all of mankind. She could feel their lives, their very souls moving across the world, whether it be swimming in the Sea of LCL or walking on the desolate Earth. From the thumping of their hearts to the steady flow of blood in their veins, Rei could feel the existence of every human on the planet. What made this fact disturbing was that, slowly and one by one or in small groups, the existences that had returned to individual form were being extinguished, and Rei Ayanami could feel it. The horrific pain that many of them were enduring, Rei could feel in her heart, the awful psychological stress the humans were being put under by this nameless killer, Rei could feel in her own mind. The situation was becoming both desperate and frustrating.

"I know...I know that this being is going to abuse Ikari's place in this world as the crux of Instrumentality, I know that it is this ""Avatar"" that the Entity spoke of, who is killing those that have returned but I can do nothing to stop it. There are so many questions to ask and I have no one to talk to who could answer my questions." she said out loud.

Stopping in front of a ruined store, Rei stared uncaring at the muddy and dirt encrusted window, her reflection barely perceivable. Lifting her hands up, Rei stared at them.

"What am I? What am I if I this power I have is so useless and I can do nothing to help." she said, a frustrated expression spreading across her face.

"Come to your home, return to where you began."

The voice seemed to be inside Rei's mind and she was able to clarify that this was not the Entity for two reasons. The Entity did not actually speak to her, but made her aware of what it wanted to say. The second reason was that she recognised the voice.

"Is it you?" she asked."But you...you are dead."

"You must return to Heaven's Gate and find the Crux of Lilith, the place where her power is strongest."

As the voice spoke again, the name it had used resonated with Rei, she knew exactly what it meant and she now knew where to go. The corners of Rei's mouth lifted upwards slightly as lifted her up to look at her reflection once more.

"I must return to Terminal Dogma.

In a forgotten city in a far far away country, a man, about thirty, his clothes shredded to pieces and blood dripping from terrible scars that zig-zagged their way across his body, ran for his life.

His face was a picture of terror, for he had just been forced to watched his older brother die. Running through the desecrated ruins of cars, and rubble, the man stopped, hiding himself behind a nearby wall. Ducking onto his haunches, he listened. The constant slosh and pitter patter of the rain hitting the mud and the sound of his own laboured breathing, for a time, was the only sound he could hear. Exhaling quietly, the man slumped against the wall.

You cannot run, you cannot hide, when you run i am right behind you. When you stop i will devour you.

The man's face, draining of blood quickly, made him look like a ghost. The voice had been right behind him, or was it in front of him? He couldn't tell, but he was certain that he did not want to stay. Standing up the man prepared to run when he felt a sharp pain pierce its way through his chest. Looking towards his chest, the man was shocked to see a hand, grizzled and blackened as if damaged in some kind of fire. The hand, it's back facing upwards, turned slowly around until the palm faced upwards and five long, sharp talons protruded from it's fingertips. Moving with lightening speed, the hand flicked forwards grabbing onto the man's chest and pulling him backwards with ferocious strength.

Are your eyes as pretty as the soft one? Will they light my way, Lilim?

As the intrusive hand was pulled from his chest, the man was turned around by the owner of the said hand. The sight that met him caused the man to convulse violently, blood falling from his mout and chest. As the man was about to scream, the creature wailed ragefully, and tore him in half, the two separate halfs propelling themselves away from each other.

Ugly, Ugly eyes! All red with fear, the natural beauty has been ruined, but they are the window of the soul and your soul is beautiful and will return to where it came.

The creature stared at it's hand intently, as if it was the most fascinating thing in the world. Suddenly tearing it's gaze away, the creature turned it's attention to the sky.

I cannot find the boy or the girl, but what is the difference between a man and a boy, a girl and a woman. I have no concept of this. I will hunt until my hunger is satiated, i will hunt until the Lilim's have returned to the Seed of their own blood.

Dropping it's gaze the creature moved towards the top half of the man's corpse and lifted it up by the head.

Your eyes are ugly, but i shall take them anyway. I simply cannot discard such...curiosities.

Pointing his index finger at the corpses head, the creature curled it slowly. As his finger curled, the mans eye's slowly emerged from his head. Severing the optic nerves with it 's talons, the eyes fell gently onto the creatures, now outstretched hand. Holding the man's eyes in the palm of it's right hand, the creature smiled as the eyes began to slowly merge into his hand. When it was over and the eyes themselves had completely disappeared, the creature faded into the shadows, the only evidence it was ever there being the dismembered corpse of a young man with no eyes.

Shinji lay on his back staring upwards at the ceiling; it had been another boring and difficult day of shovelling snow and cooking western food. The only consolation that he had was that Asuka had been in a pretty good mood by the by and that only made living in the hell that he had created bearable. For the past week or so the two teenagers had been stuck inside Misato's apartment due to the snow and it was becoming obvious to both of them that living in the ruins of Tokyo-3 was no longer a viable option. The temperature had definitely dropped further, even to the point where Asuka had voluntarily admitted that she wanted Shinji to hold her in bed; of course Asuka made it as unbearable as possible for Shinji by suggesting on multiple occasions that he was doing something he shouldn't and smacked him for it.

Turning onto his side Shinji listened to the soft, melodic humming that emanated from the bathroom; Asuka was in there cleaning herself again. The tune was definitely classical though Shinji couldn't remember the name.

"Asuka...what is that you're humming?" he called.

There was a moment of silence before the red head answered.

"Ravel's Bolero."

Shinji smiled as Asuka began to hum once more.

"It's the softer side to her that I love, the side that she doesn't often show. I love the prickly, fiery side too but...the softer Asuka is...cute." He thought

Stretching, Shinji continued to listen as his thoughts began to drift.

"I remember the first time I realised that I liked her, that she and I had something I common."

As the tune of Ravel's Bolero continued to make Shinji feel restful and ever so slightly muggy, his mind drifted back once more into the past.

"No matter what, I'll put both Rei and Misato to shame!" yelled Asuka

They had come to this spot that over looked the city at Shinji suggestion, the idea being that the view might help to calm Asuka's temper after what had happened. After a disastrous double team attack on the most recent angel, the Seventh, both Shinji and Asuka had been forced to live together so as to overcome there differences and learn to work together. Suffice to say, the whole scheme had not been going well. Shinji was finding it hard to get used to the fiery German girls personality and Asuka obviously thought it was beneath her to even breathe the same air as Shinji. Things were only made worse when, after another failed attempt to synchronise via a dance routine, Misato had swapped Rei for Asuka, and she and Shinji had aced it first time around. At this embarrassment, Asuka had fled the apartment and made her way to the local store, hiding her head in one of the refrigerator's that stored juice to make sure that she wouldn't cry.

Looking up at her Shinji couldn't help but feel something he'd never really felt before. Since taking his seat on the bench, he found that he just couldn't take his eyes off of Asuka, he wasn't sure if it was just that she naturally commanded attention or if might've had something to do with her mode of dress. As part of the training, the two teenagers had required to wear the same clothes and so they had been giving specially made outfits. Asuka was clothed in tight fitting spandex outfit with a lose fitting pink shirt, although this did not seem to hinder Shinji's imagination. It didn't help either that Asuka's body language was naturally assertive and confident; this gave rise to moments such as now when her hands would be placed firmly on her hips and she would thrust out her impressive chest.

Deciding to try and concentrate on the conversation, Shinji answered her.

"But still, you don't have to squash them."

Turning to face him, Asuka kept her left hand on her hip as she threw her right arm out behind her. In doing this her pose became even more provocative, but luckily for Shinji he was able to concentrate on the red head's voice.

"You're being too simplistic, even if you are a male, I must avenge myself...for their attack...on my pride." she said, taking a bite out of her sandwich."It's a matter of honour now, can't you understand that?"

As she finished, Asuka gulped the last of the juice from her can and turned back to watching the city. Shinji's gaze however, was still firmly fixed on the attractive red head.

"She's just like me; she's got to prove herself, like I've got to prove myself to my father." He thought, a smile coming over his face.

Shinji continued to stare at Asuka, as he looked at her in a way he hadn't considered before.

The light was waning across the city, it being sunset, and the auburn colour that illuminated and spilled over the area seemed to cause Asuka's hair red hair to glimmer. From his seated position, Shinji could see that the light was causing her sapphire blue eyes to sparkle and he couldn't help but let his smile widen.

"She really is beautiful." he though, taking a swig from his can.

As she continued to stare out across the city, Shinji examined the rest of her body. Everything about her was beautiful; from her shape to her height to the way she moved and they way she talked.

"Maybe I could get to like having her around."

"Why are you staring at me?" came Asuka's voice.

Realising he had fallen into a daze, Shinji made an odd cross between a gulping and yelping sound as he turned his head in the direction of Tokyo-3, a blush spreading across his cheeks.

"I wasn't staring." he said hurriedly." I was just thinking...is all?"

Asuka seemed to consider this for a moment, staring at the boy with a contemplative look.

"Let's just get back to the apartment and get this training over with." she said, eventually.

As they walked back, Shinji couldn't help but take quick glances at the red head as they walked slowly up the street.

"Asuka Langley Soryu..." he thought.

"Baka Shinji, move your fat lazy ass of the sofa!" said Asuka.

For most people, the normal process of awakening tends to be ungraceful at best, especially when sudden. Shinji, however, had no form of grace in him and the sight of Shinji Ikari waking up with a fright was a ridiculous sight. Jumping forward, Shinji made the silliest sound that Asuka had ever heard, something between a yelp and a squeal. Scrambling to his feet, Shinji stood in front of Asuka, his hands placed firmly by his sides and his eyes pointing toward the ceiling.

"Sorry Misato I was only resting my eyes." he said

Whilst the sight she had just seen and Shinji's exclamation were funny, the most Asuka could do at that particular moment was to race her eyebrow, a small smile spreading across her face.

"There's a certain...size difference, shall I say, between me and Misato, Shinji." said Asuka wryly.

Rubbing his face, Shinji responded tiredly.

"What is it Asuka, unlike some people, I've been shovelling endless amounts of snow all day, and why are you still wearing your Entry Plug Hair Clips?"

"Well it's just habit really and what is that meant to imply?" she asked.

"That your lazy." he said pointedly.

Asuka mulled this over for a while, her face betraying a mock expression of consideration. Taking a step forward, Asuka stamped hard on Shinji's foot, a wicked smile revealing her canines.

"What's the point in me doing all the hard labour when you're perfectly suited to it, Baka Shinji." she said sweetly

The two teenagers stood staring at one another for a few minutes, the whistling of the wind outside the only sound. Shinji, whose face betrayed the fact that he was desperately trying not to cry out in pain, decided to try and get his own back on the beautiful red head and pulled his foot out from underneath Asuka's suddenly. Wrapping his arms around Asuka's waist, Shinji pushed her onto the sofa, and after a few minutes of skirmishing, Shinji had manoeuvred Asuka onto his lap and was now tickling the helpless red head mercilessly.

"No-hahaha-stop it-hehehe-stop it you-hehehe-you moron!" cried Asuka.

"I stop if you promise to do some of the shovelling!" said Shinji with a big smile.

"No-hahaha-no way you jerk-hahaha-there wouldn't be any-hehehe-point!" she said.

Stopping quickly, Shinji let go of Asuka, who promptly jumped up when she realised that she was resting in Shinji's lap. Turning around, Asuka's face told Shinji that she was desperately trying hard not to smile, an expression of seriousness trying to form on her attractive features.

"I would have thought that it was obvious, even to one of the three stooges!" she said, her hands making their way to their rightful place on her hips."In the past week, the snow hasn't stopped and the temperature is clearly falling...daily!" she added.

"Oh so you mean that the reason for why we had to share the same bed for two nights in a row wasn't because you li-"

Shinji was cut off by Asuka's hands picking him up by the shirt collar.

"Finish that sentence, Dummkopf, and I'd love to see if you're capable of ducking a terminal knuckle sandwich." she said menacingly.

"Hurk"

Was all Shinji could say.

Dropping him back on to the sofa, Asuka took a seat next to him and sighed heavily. Turning her face towards Shinji, the young teenager realised that she really was being serious.

"We just can't stay here anymore Shinji, I mean even though we haven't been able to go back for the electrical stuff we took from those DIY stores, the apartment's generator is completely mangled, and we'll likely freeze to death with the way the weather is now."

As Shinji listened, his mind wandered back to when they had tried to fix the generator; one of the rare occasions that A) Asuka did something and B) he wasn't shovelling snow. It had also given rise to one point of order that the two teenagers had only thought of when they set eyes on the generator itself.

Neither of them had thought to check the generator before they went looking for parts to see why it had stopped working. This had caused another argument about where the blame lay; Asuka of course won that argument too.

At the time, Asuka had said something about Instrumentality and EMP waves; it was all technological gobbledy gook and bafflegab to him, but he couldn't help but bring it up again.

"What was it you said about EMP waves?"

Bringing her legs up onto the sofa, Asuka pulled her knees up to her chin and rested her head upon them.

"It's just a theory, but what if the act of setting off Instrumentality caused some kind of worldwide electromagnetic wave to spread across the planet, I mean something as strong as that would knock anything and everything electrical."

Shinji's brow furrowed as Asuka explained, a thought coming to him.

"Well that would explain why the powers out across the city, even in the places that were left in the most pristine condition."

"That's what I thought, and that brings me to my next point." she said nonchalantly.

Turning her head side on, Asuka looked at Shinji, her eyes wide. Shinji couldn't help but smile as she looked at him, because in that moment, for some strange reason, she looked vulnerable. Shinji wasn't sure if it was the way she had chosen to sit or the look in her eyes, but all he could do to stop himself from reaching out to her was to speak.

"Go on." he said.

"Well, Nerv Headquarters is situated underneath the ground, so for two reasons, I think it would be a good idea to head over there." she said." Reason number one, thanks to it being underground it won't have snow and also it'll be closer to the earth's core so it'll likely be warmer there. Reason number two, if there really was some kind of worldwide EMP wave, then the HQ would have been protected. Also I don't know about you, but I've got some memories of Fuyutski, Hyuga, Maya and Aoba and I know that before they...they were turned into LCL, the Bridge area was still fully functional, which means the entire Geo-Front should still be functioning."

Shinji noted the trepidation in Asuka's voice when it came to talking about everyone on the bridge becoming LCL; it was hard for Shinji to think about also. Whilst Shinji's return to LCL had been relatively calm, everyone else in the world had litterly splattered apart as Rei touched them, the memories, none of them Shinji's, were creepy and slightly disturbing to say the least.

Returning his mind to the discussion at hand, Shinji had only one fault with Asuka's plan.

"That's a good idea Asuka, but...well when I left the HQ in Unit 01 to help...to come ...well something weird happened to the Evangelion. Unit 01 had wings, and when I lifted off a large portion of the HQ was blown apart. I probably ruined everything." he said lamely.

Asuka, shifting her feet from the sofa, sat with one hand resting on her lap the other resting not too far away from Shinji's hand. As she watched Shinji, she saw the young boy's face fall at the thought that he had ruined their only chance at survival and Asuka's mind began to whirl.

"Even though he's changed, there's still a good amount of pessimism and self-loathing there when he has to think about himself.

"Well, Tokyo-3 was destroyed by Unit 00 self destructing and the JSSDF nuking it with an N2 mine and here we are living in a partially destroyed city, so it's probably likely that the HQ is still there." she said reassuringly.

Turning his head towards her, Shinji smiled and answered her.

"Yeah you're right Asuka."

Smiling, Asuka stood up and moved in the direction of her room. Turning around, Asuka lifted up her right hand and gave Shinji a Victory V sign with a smile and wink.

"Let's get ready then!" she said, enthusiastically, before disappearing into her room.

Sitting on the sofa, Shinji's mind was in turmoil. Even though he had replied to Asuka in the affirmative he was secretly worried about what was waiting for them in the Geo-Front.

"What's gonna be waiting for us there?" he thought."After everything that's happened, seeing Misato and experiencing that...horrible visions in the school, could the Geo-Front be worse?"

Standing up, Shinji decided he needed to do something, anything right now; it was the only way to make sure he wouldn't think too much. Making his way into the kitchen, Shinji began to tidy up the various plates and dishes that were stacked up in the draining board. As it turned out, cleaning up the dishes didn't help.

"What if I see Asuka die again, what if we both have to see that happen? Even though this past week it's been like it used to be, we have fun, we argue, we have fun and so on, but why can't I shake this nagging worry that she might still just hate me for what happened."

After a few minutes of cleaning and returning the dishes back to the cupboards that they belonged in, Shinji closed one of the cupboard doors with clang. Turning around, Shinji's face clearly showed the turmoil his mind was in, as he rested his head against the same cupboard door.

"Ugh, I really am as Baka as Asuka say's I am, even though we're getting on, even though I'm trying to change, I'm still just as pessimistic as I've always been."

Leaving the kitchen, Shinji walked over to his bedroom door. Stopping in the doorway, Shinji turned and stared at Asuka's bedroom door.

"But I've been given the time to change and I'm going to use It." he said, his voice full of confidence.

The LCL lapped gently at both the enormous cross situated in the centre of Central Dogma and at the edge of platform opposite it. The room itself was submerged in darkness and shadow making it so that little else other than the cross could be seen; the cross being illuminated by floodlights place beneath the water.

Rei stood upon the LCL, her eyes closed as if concentrating. Opening her eyes slowly, the blue haired girls face remained impassive, but her eyes spoke volumes as the sparkled ever so slightly with the help of the little light the illuminated the ominous room.

"This is it, because of our proximity to the LCL here, because we were so close to it for so long, I can do anything with it. My essence resides within it."

Turning around, Rei floated gently across the blood red liquid and deposited herself on the platform opposite the cross, her back to the huge crucifix.

"I can resurrect anyone I please, whenever I like." She said, her voice carrying a small sign of triumph as she spoke." And it was thanks to you, I owe you much."

Turning back to face the cross, Rei's face took on a concerned expression as her mind dwelled on the Entity once more.

"I cannot find anything in my mind, or anything in the minds of others to indicate what it is, yet I know that it's strength is growing by the day as my own weakens. I cannot waste anymore time." she whispered.

Moving back onto the blood red liquid, Rei dropped to her knees and looked upwards, toward the heavens. As she opened her hands up, as if in supplication, Rei Ayanami's eye's opened wide as a thought hit her.

"But why is this Entity weak in the first place, what could possibly have weekend it?" She thought.

Continuing to stare towards the sky, Rei found it difficult to concentrate on resurrecting someone; her mind was still on the Entity. As she knelt motionless on the LCL, she spoke, slowly and emotionless-ly as usual, her voice betraying neither shock nor sudden realisation.

"Instrumentality." she whispered.

Smiling, Rei closed her eyes once again and faded into the LCL.

The room, in stark contrast to the situation of Tokyo-3 and Central Dogma, was bathed in light. The interior was simple enough, a desk and chair and a small bed. There were no trappings of familiarity, no pictures adorned the walls nor posters or any other kind of homely furnishings; it came across as a room that was not used very often, and when it was it was only to sleep. An electric fan whirled round at full speed upon the desk, cooling the legs of a young woman, her feet being placed upon said desk.

The woman herself was around fifteen years of age, though her demeanour seemed to portray someone much older. With her hair a slight tinge of red and purple and her eyes blue, the young woman was pretty if nothing else, this was topped off by a seemingly odd choice of garb; the young woman was clothed in the same school girl uniform as Asuka and Rei once had to wear. Sitting with her arms resting behind her head and a confident smile playing on her lips, the young woman suddenly seemed to come to life as her eyes flickered open. Removing her feet from the desk, the young girl stood up, pushing the chair right back, and looked upwards.

" Well, you can always count on Asuka Langley Soryu to survive anything can't you, and here was me starting to think that picking Nerv HQ to stay in was a big mistake." she said."You always land on your feet don't you Langley, just like a cat, it's a shame you don't have the grace of one too."

Making her way over to the doorway, the young woman stopped and just as she was about to turn out the light.

"Looks like it's time to resurrect our old rivalry, even more so with that cute guy you've got with you. Mana Kirishima vs. Asuka Langley Soryu...I always liked the sound of that."

つづく

To Be Continued