Chapter 8

Misato was apologetic about not having an ice pack, but Ritsuko Akagi was merely grateful she could finally sit down and take the weight off her twisted ankle. Maya fussed around her, trying to make the doctor as comfortable as possible, and Ritsuko apparently didn't have the heart to tell her to stop.

Makoto Hyuga and Shigeru Aoba came through the door a few minutes later carrying a couple of bags of food each. Maya explained that the group hadn't been sure that Misato had returned yet, but decided that the apartment block was as good a place as any to stay. The plan had originally been to take up residence in the building and wait for Misato's return. It was only when they heard gunshots and saw the empty cans on the road that they realised the major had beaten them back.

"Hang on, didn't you see the grave markers?" Asuka asked from her position on the floor. "Misato's name was on one of them. I really thought she was dead for several days."

Three of them shook their head, but Shigeru spoke up. "I saw something on the beach in the distance, but didn't have time to look. The others were already heading off and I didn't want to get left behind." Asuka determined that they must have washed up in a slightly different area than her and Shinji.

"How did you know the gunshots were us though?" Misato inquired as she brought a tray of drinks into the lounge room.

"You and the pilots are practically the only residents in this building," Ritsuko tiredly explained. "And I'm pretty sure you're the only one mad enough to eat that horrible curry stuff you call food. One of your cans nearly hit poor Maya in the head!"

That empty can was what had convinced Ritsuko that it was the major on the roof. Shigeru and Makoto had offered to help her up the seven flights of stairs, but Maya had surprised the doctor by refusing to relinquish her place as Ritsuko's support. She had practically ordered her two co-workers to get some food so that they weren't mooching off Misato, and the two men had run off as if it were Commander Ikari giving the order.

As Misato exchanged stories with the newcomers, the volume in the room gradually increased. When the news of the Seventeenth Angel's mysterious appearance came up and the shouting started, Asuka finally had to interrupt them.

"Quiet down, damnit!" she hissed. "Shinji's finally getting some real sleep and you're all making too much noise!" With that said, she stormed out of the lounge room. The adults looked sheepishly at each other, and Ritsuko raised an eyebrow at the girl's behaviour. In a lower tone of voice, they continued their conversation as Misato hurriedly filled them in on what happened with Shinji just before their arrival.

A couple of hours later, Maya noticed Ritsuko's head starting to droop while the doctor was speaking of their trek through the city.

"Um, senpai, maybe we should pick this up again tomorrow," she suggested. "You've been on your feet all day and you could use some sleep."

"Maya, what did I say earlier?" the blonde doctor replied testily.

"That... I should call you by your name, Ritsuko-senpai?"

Ritsuko sighed and gave up. She had twisted her ankle only an hour after leaving the beach where all four of them had arrived, heels not being appropriate footwear for navigating rubble, and they were all tired after walking across the ruined city. She began to stand up, but Maya gently pushed her back down.

Misato left to bring out a spare futon, and after some more fussing Ritsuko curled up under the blanket, slowly nodding off. Makoto and Shigeru left the apartment, dragging a reluctant Maya with them, to bed down next door. Misato promised the female technician to keep an eye on Ritsuko.

When the door was dragged closed behind the trio, Asuka stuck her head out from her room. After checking to make sure that Shinji had not woken up because of the noise, she had gone back to her room and quickly fallen asleep. But something had disturbed her slumber.

The major waved goodnight to her as she went to bed, and Asuka slowly returned to her own bed. It was not the noise of the departing NERV personnel that had awoken her, but rather what had been waiting for her when she had closed her eyes.

The nightmares were starting to return.

They had been temporarily driven off several times before in the young girl's life, but they always came back just as she was starting to think they were gone for good. And now, because of the events of the Angel War and Third Impact, there was new material for her dreams to use against her.

Just a few minutes ago, it had been the mission against the Angel found inside Mount Asama. All had gone as it had before, but when her cable snapped, there was nobody hanging from the other end to grab her. No Unit-01, no Third Child diving after her without protection; she had simply sunk deeper into the volcano until her Evangelion imploded and she had woken up drenched in sweat.

Asuka had always avoided speaking of her bad dreams, believing that it would be a sign of weakness. Instead she simply tried to bury them in the back of her mind and pretend she was just grouchy over getting up early.

After an hour spent tossing and turning, Asuka finally got up to get a drink of water. She walked back to her own room, but the sound of her own name being muttered almost physically dragged her into Shinji's room, where the boy was twitching and moaning in his sleep.

She was obviously not the only one being chased by demons in her dreams.

"Gott," she whispered. "I'll bet even your nightmares are stronger than mine..."

Shinji was now reaching out for something in front of him, and Asuka found her eyes focusing on the feebly waving hand, the memory of last night resurfacing. Her right hand snapped out and grabbed his, and it was almost crushed in Shinji's grip. The boy's twitches settled down immediately, and Asuka felt something surprisingly familiar in their physical contact.

It was the same feeling that had washed over her when Shinji had rescued her from the volcano. Even through the communications window, Asuka had found something shocking in those blue eyes: determination.

Shinji would not let her fall.

Asuka didn't know how long it took, but Shinji finally relaxed his grip enough for the girl to slip her now-aching hand out. She felt a little regretful at the sudden loss of contact, but her drooping eyes convinced her to return to her own bed.

She finally fell asleep once more, and was assaulted by the same dream. This time however, a massive purple fist shot out of the red murk and latched onto her flailing hand with what was now an incredibly familiar sensation. Through her mental link to Unit-02, she felt the bones in her hand creak under the pressure of Shinji's iron grip.

The redhead smiled in her sleep, clenching her right fist to her chest as if it were holding something precious.

In the room across the hall, Shinji perfectly mirrored her gesture.


The morning saw Asuka rudely awoken once more, this time by voices loudly raised in argument. When she finally rubbed the sleep from her eyes and sat up, she started to make out what was being said.

"-dangerous with Shinji in this state! How are we going to get him down a ladder?"

"We'll have to think of something. I don't have a chance of treating him up here. The general hospital is a pile of rubble, so we need the medical facilities in the Geofront. Our only other option is to travel to Tokyo-2 and hope their power generator is still working and that they have the right equipment."

That was definitely Misato and Doctor Akagi speaking. Asuka wondered what was so wrong with Shinji that they needed the highly advanced NERV medical ward for as she got out of bed and started getting dressed.

"What makes you think NERV's generators are functioning?"

"The fusion generators are hardened against physical damage almost as much as the MAGI."

The clock beside her bed told Asuka that it was nearly ten-thirty. The two women seemed to have been debating for a while. She walked out into the hallway and almost into Misato and Ritsuko, who were standing right outside her door. The blonde woman was upright, but obviously favouring one side over the other.

"Even with everything that happened to the Geofront during Third Impact, I can guarantee the- oh, good morning Asuka."

"Mornin'," Asuka muttered in reply. "What were you just talking about? Does it have something to do with the fact that there's an immense hole in the ground where there should only be one about a kilometre wide?"

Ritsuko paused for a moment as she stared at the girl. "...Ah, yes," she finally said. "You two weren't... alive when Third Impact started. Long story incredibly short, the entire Geofront was pulled out of the ground and used by Lilith. If you weren't simply imagining things and the Geofront is back where it used to be, then the infrastructure should still be mostly intact."

"I really doubt that both of us imagined the exact same thing. The Geofront is there... and we have a great deal to talk about, Rits," Misato glared at her friend. "There were too many secrets kept from us that we needed to know."

"And with good reason. For now though, we should work out what to do with Shinji."

Asuka perked up at the mention of her fellow pilot. "Don't tell me there's something else wrong with him now!" she exclaimed.

Instead of replying, Ritsuko merely tilted her head in the direction of the Third Child's bedroom and limped back into the lounge. Misato threw an apologetic look at Asuka before following her.

Asuka had woken up feeling better than she had in years after the nightmare had been banished, but now a feeling of dread was settling over her like a heavy cloak. Crossing the threshold into his room felt like one of the toughest things Asuka had ever done. She had to force herself through the doorway. The girl had woken up expecting Shinji to be awake as well, and as she reached the bed she saw that she had at least been partially right.

Shinji was certainly awake, his open eyes were a clear sign. He was staring unblinkingly upwards, however, and even the appearance of Asuka next to his bed seemed to go unnoticed. A hand waved in front of his eyes elicited no reaction, not even a reflexive flutter of eyelids.

His eyes were just as empty as they had been on the beach, if not more so. The dead stare bored straight through Asuka as she leaned over him. Asuka groaned in dismay and rubbed her face as she stood back up.

"Alright, Doctor Genius, what's wrong with the idiot?" she demanded as she stepped into the lounge room. The technicians had arrived while she was in Shinji's room, and the adults were now eating breakfast and debating how to get into the Geofront.

"Until I have access to medical equipment," Ritsuko replied, "the best I can determine is that Shinji is in a form of catatonia. I'll need to examine his head injury as well as his brain waves to get a better idea."

"Scheiße, and here I was hoping he'd be fine after last night," Asuka grumbled to herself. She spoke a little too loud however, and Misato blinked at her.

"Last night? What happened last night? You didn't climb into bed with him did you?" she asked with a smirk.

"Misato!" Asuka and Ritsuko both yelled at the same time, causing the major to start cackling. Ritsuko continued. "That's incredibly inappropriate for children their age! Especially with the state Shinji is in!"

Her cheeks now starting to redden, Asuka glared daggers at Misato. "It was nothing like that, you old pervert! I was just getting some water when I heard him having a nightmare." She explained what happened last night, leaving out the part about having a nightmare herself, which made Misato shut up.

"Is it anything like... like what happened to me after Second Impact?" Misato asked with a small shudder. She could only hope that Shinji would recover far quicker than the two years it had taken her.

"Worse, I'm afraid," Ritsuko shook her head. "You were simply mute and withdrawn, but you still responded somewhat to outside stimuli. Shinji, on the other hand, isn't reacting to anything." The doctor turned to Asuka. "We can't even get him to stand up. Shinji simply collapses like a puppet that had its strings cut."

That explained the argument that woke her up. Asuka furrowed her brow in thought. "So we need to carry him. Could we find or make a harness?" she asked.

Ritsuko raised an eyebrow and glanced at the technicians. They talked amongst themselves, discussing the emergency entrances. Makoto finally spoke up.

"It's certainly possible," he answered. "The passages are certainly big enough, to accommodate people carrying wounded. While there would still be ladders in case of power loss, there should also be equipment for carrying people up and down large drops. Including rope and harnesses."

"Then we head to one of those entrances," Misato declared. "Where's the nearest one?"

"All of the shelters should have them, to evacuate anyone severely injured during an Angel attack."

Maya spoke up. "Senpai, isn't there a shelter under the high school?"

Ritsuko snapped her fingers and forgot to admonish the young woman for her slip. "There is. The school is approximately fifteen minutes away so it should have survived the assault mostly intact, and the shelter would be fine this far away from the epicentre."

Shigeru raised a hand. "Uh, what about the tunnels? What are we going to do if they're blocked by debris?"

All the women in the room turned to stare at the male technicians, who shrank under their collective gaze before sighing in defeat. Asuka smirked at their response before running back to Shinji's room.

The bandage on his forehead made Asuka pray that it wasn't a permanent brain injury causing Shinji's current state. It looked as if something, possibly falling rubble, had smacked the boy in the head shortly before he had been found. The injury to his hand was just as mysterious. The swelling had died down a little, but the bones were still clearly out of place.

'Looks like I'll be carrying you some more, Dummkopf,' Asuka mused. 'You're going to owe me so many German dinners after all this.' The trip to the Geofront would likely be more taxing to the redhead than their trip home from the crater, but she wasn't going to hand the task off to anybody else, not even Misato. For the life of her, she couldn't work out why she should be the only one to haul him around.

"Alright, Shinji," she said, speaking more to herself than the prone figure as she spread her arms and prepared to pick him up. "Get up, it's time to go."

Asuka squawked in alarm and jerked backwards as Shinji suddenly sat up and got out of bed, halting in front of the surprised girl.

"Everything okay down there, Asuka?" Maya called down the hallway.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine," Asuka stuttered as she stared at Shinji, who was standing as he always used to. Slightly hunched over, looking downward slightly as if afraid to catch anyone's eye. The same pose that always made Asuka grimace at how passive he looked. If the boy actually straightened up, he might have been slightly taller than Asuka. Instead, he always seemed to be just slightly shorter than her, like he was afraid of his own physical presence drawing attention away from her.

Putting aside the fact that she would have to stand on tip-toes to be at eye level with him if he ever actually kept his back straight, Asuka looked into Shinji's eyes, hoping for a glint of life. The thousand-yard stare told her that nothing had changed in that department yet.

"Shinji?"

There was no response. Asuka huffed, unsurprised. She snapped her fingers in front of his face to no effect. An idea occurred, but she shook her head to dislodge it. Nothing else came to mind after several minutes, so Asuka did the only thing she could think of.

"Shinji, raise your arm."

His right arm slowly rose up, stopping when it was level with his shoulders. Asuka swore to herself.

"I don't know what's worse, you being unconscious or you being a freakingrobot. A doll," she spat. "Put your arm down, you look stupid. Then again that's nothing new..."

Shinji lowered his arm, but had nothing to say on the matter. Asuka spun on her heel and returned to the lounge. Maya was checking her mentor's ankle while the doctor tried ineffectually to shoo her away. Misato and the two male technicians were out on the balcony talking quietly about something Asuka couldn't hear, but she saw Makoto gently squeeze Misato's shoulder as the major started shaking.

"Hey, doctor. How soon do you want to move Shinji?" she asked, crossing her arms and staring at Ritsuko. The woman noticed her posture and grimaced. She knew the reason for the Second Child's animosity towards her, and in the aftermath of Third Impact she felt the guilt of her own actions in bringing it about.

"As soon as possible. Are you ready to carry him?"

Asuka shook her head. "That won't be necessary." Without bothering to explain herself, she exited the lounge, returning quickly and dragging Shinji. She had yanked on his arm without giving an order, but that seemed to be enough to propel the boy after her. As soon as the force on his arm ceased, Shinji returned to his hunched state. Ritsuko got to her feet in surprise, to Maya's dismay, and limped over to Shinji.

"Amazing, he's actually mobile! Asuka, what did you do?!" Ritsuko exclaimed.

Asuka rolled her eyes. "I talked to him."

"I did that as well, but he wouldn't respond."

"Well I don't know what you were doing wrong, but I told him to get up and he did. He's turned into a robot."

Ritsuko walked around Shinji, examining his head from every angle. "Interesting. He responds to basic commands but not to familiar voices simply trying to get his attention." The doctor ran her hands through the boy's hair, searching for any more head wounds, but there were none to be found. She walked back in front of Shinji and cleared her throat.

"Shinji," she commanded. "Raise your hand."

Nothing happened, until Asuka sighed and repeated the order. The boy's hand flew up as if he were signalling for attention from a school teacher. Ritsuko rubbed her chin as she watched him.

"Strange. He's only responding to you, Asuka. Well, this solves the problem of transporting him at least, but-"

"Shinji, slap her."

Ritsuko reeled back as the open palm connected with her cheek, her head turned sideways with the force of the blow. Asuka heard Maya gasp behind her and the balcony door open, but paid no attention. She was focused fully on Ritsuko, who was now holding a hand to her cheek and glaring back at the girl.

"That," Asuka hissed dangerously. "was from both of us."

The anger faded from Ritsuko's face as the words sunk in. She nodded glumly as Asuka left, dragging Shinji behind her as the Children exited the apartment.

Misato finally broke out of her shock and exclaimed, "What the hell was that about?!"

Ritsuko rubbed her cheek, the heat almost burning her hand. "It's... nothing Misato" she replied as she turned away. "But I'm starting to get what I deserve."

Nobody spoke as they loaded up supplies for the journey.


The major caught up to the two former pilots at the bottom of the stairs. Asuka was sitting against a wall muttering to herself and occasionally glancing sidelong at Shinji, who was staring blankly at the same wall. It had been a little tricky for Asuka to get him to safely descend, as the boy originally ignored the steps completely. Only Asuka's quick reflexes had prevented Shinji from tumbling down the stairwell.

"So... Shinji's mobile, sort of," Misato remarked as she sat down beside the Second Child.

Asuka grunted in response. "Mmm."

"And one of the first things you did was make him slap Doctor Akagi."

"Mmm."

Misato sighed. "Do you want to talk about why you made him do that?"

"Not right now..." Asuka mumbled. "She knows what she did anyway."

The sound of footsteps echoing in the stairwell ended their conversation. Makoto and Shigeru reached the ground floor first, followed shortly after by Ritsuko and Maya. The scientist had, figuratively, put her foot down about using Maya as a crutch any longer. While her ankle still ached, Ritsuko pronounced herself fit enough to make the journey under her own power.

"Let's go. We can't afford to waste any more time," Ritsuko declared. Asuka got to her feet and brushed herself off, before gripping Shinji's arm and tugging him along after her as the group set off for the school.

The trip was made in almost complete silence. Everyone was either staring directly ahead or downcast while the oppressive quiet of a dead city seemed to press in on the group. Nobody felt like making any more noise than absolutely necessary, not even a quiet clearing of the throat.

It was only when they reached the Tokyo-3 First Municipal High School and stepped inside the main entrance that the silence was quietly broken. Because the school was the only one for the entire city, it was much larger than it would have needed to be elsewhere. Misato took charge, splitting them into three groups to search for the entrance to the emergency shelter.

Despite her assignment, Asuka wandered up to the second floor of the school. Shinji seemed to have little trouble traversing stairs, so Asuka was able to move much quicker and was soon in front of the entrance to Class 2-A.

Asuka let go of Shinji's arm and slowly walked to her desk, collapsing into the school chair. The room was almost exactly as it looked the last time the Children had been to school. Only a large crack in one of the windows gave any indication of what had happened to the rest of the city. She let her mind drift backwards through time to a point where the class was full.

'Funny... I complained all the time about not needing to go to school, and yet if I had gotten my way, I wouldn't have become friends with Hikari. Mayako was a nice girl too, but hanging around that stuck-up bitch Chihiro wasn't doing her any favours...'

She raised her head and looked towards where Shinji once sat, only to find him actually sitting there. While Asuka couldn't see his face from her angle, he was sitting in the same pose he always used to while at school. Leaning on the desk, head resting on an upraised hand and staring either out the window or at the back of Ayanami's head.

It was a mystery to her why Shinji always did that. He was the one that needed an education most, yet he seemed to spend an abnormal amount of time staring at nothing. At least he never missed out on his homework though, unless piloting got in the way, but even then Shinji found a way to quickly catch up. It must have been why he spent so much time in his room.

"Asuka."

Asuka nearly jumped out of her skin at the sudden voice intruding on her thoughts. Her eyes darted around the room for a moment, before she realised that it came from from her radio. She patted herself for a moment before locating the radio and bringing it up to her mouth.

"I'm here, Misato. Did you find the entrance?"

"Affirmative. We're going to take a lunch break in the canteen before we go underground. We need to see if we can get Shinji to eat something. You dragged him out of the house before we could try and give him some breakfast."

"Oh... whoops. Alright, I'm on my way."

Asuka clipped the radio back onto her pants as she rose to her feet. She slung her bag back on her shoulder and walked to the front of Shinji's desk, bending over to look into his eyes. They were still blank, but moving slightly.

"Daydreaming as well, huh? Hope it's something nice this time," she said, half to herself. "Well no time for that, let's go have lunch."

She gently pulled Shinji out of his seat and towards the door. As she reached the entrance, Asuka stopped for a moment and looked back at her desk. After telling him to wait, the girl ran back to her desk and lifted the lid. A small box was retrieved from within and was cradled in her hands for a moment as she smiled slightly at the back of Shinji's head. It was then stuffed into the bottom of her pack, and Asuka once more took hold of Shinji's arm and led him towards the cafeteria.

When she arrived, the rest of the group looked up and nodded a greeting to her. The redhead guided Shinji to a spot next to Misato, before sitting down on the other side of him. Lunch was produced from Shigeru's bag and handed out, and the rest of them tucked in while Asuka stared at Shinji's portion, trying to work out how best to actually feed him.

Before leaving the apartment, Maya had gone through their small stockpile of food and found a large amount of dried soup mix. This had been quickly cooked up and doled out into bento boxes.

'Well, can't hurt to try,' she thought before placing it in front of him and saying, "Shinji, eat this."

For a moment it looked like Shinji had not heard her, but then his head tilted down towards the bento. Instead of picking up the spoon next to it, he simply dunked his fingers into the warm broth. Asuka had to yank Shinji's hand out of the soup, lightly spattering her own face with the liquid. Someone handed her a tissue, which she used to wipe her face and his fingers before she shoved the spoon into Shinji's hand.

This time, the boy seemed to know what to do, and slowly brought a spoonful of soup up to his mouth. Asuka watched him closely for a moment, then turned to her own lunch, satisfied that he was now eating.

"Keep an eye on him," Ritsuko warned. "If he hasn't eaten anything in a long time, his stomach will have shrunk. Don't let him have too much at once."

The warning was mostly unnecessary. Shinji ceased his robotic arm movement after only consuming about two-thirds of his meal. A little while later, everyone had finished their meals and packed up. Maya retrieved Shinji's bento and sealed it, before taking a close look at his face.

"He may not have eaten a lot, but he's already looking much better," she remarked happily.

Asuka glanced sideways at him as they left the canteen, and silently agreed with the young woman. Colour was slowly seeping into Shinji's face, which had been rather pale ever since his rescue.

They headed towards the steel doors barring the entrance to the school's emergency shelter and stopped in front of them. While Shigeru and Makoto got to work pulling the doors open, Ritsuko turned to face the group.

"I hope you haven't left anything behind, we might not be coming back up here for a while," she said. "If we're out of luck, it's going be a long trip from here to NERV's medical wing."

Asuka patted her backpack where the box from her desk was now stashed. She had everything she needed for now. The doors finally opened, accompanied by the sound of protesting mechanisms. Misato flicked on her flashlight and took the lead into the darkness beyond.


Locating the entrance to the tunnel was no easy feat. When asked why it was so difficult to find, Ritsuko claimed that it was a layer of security to prevent civilians attempting to sneak into the Geofront. Normally the only way it could be opened was from a terminal inside NERV but it was possible, though difficult, to open it manually. The light rail in the tunnel had been created to quickly transport the Children to NERV in case of a sudden Angel attack during school hours that rendered surface travel dangerous.

"You could have told us about it before we had to traipse through the tunnels when the Ninth Angel attacked," Asuka grumbled as she walked into the dark passage.

"It would have done you no good anyway, Asuka," Ritsuko said.

"Why the hell not?"

"Do you want the short version or the boring version?"

"Short, please."

"Bureaucracy," Ritsuko sighed. "Funding got prioritised elsewhere during the final stages of construction, because none of the Angels up to that point had presented the appropriate risk to warrant completion."

That attitude had changed afterthe Ninth Angel attack and the shock that had come with the entire city being reliant on a single power source that had so easily been subverted. The Japanese government had complained loudly and pointedly enough about NERV's 'failure' that plans were made to construct redundant power systems to prevent such an occurrence again.

The railcar standing in front of them was a product of one of the systems. Originally the emergency light rail would have been powered by NERV's generators like everything else, but as Shigeru and Makoto inspected the car, they showed Asuka what they were suddenly so happy about when she came over to look. The internal battery for the car was still partially charged, hopefully enough to get them to the Geofront.

"We'll have to take it easy though," Makoto warned, shutting the panel and standing up. "I don't think we would make it all the way if we pushed this thing to its maximum speed, especially with all of us on board."

Misato stepped into the car and sat down. "Then we'll just have to travel at a scenic pace. We'll still get there much faster than walking, and at least we won't be worn out when we get there."

With the rest of the group inside the small tram, space was rather limited. By unspoken agreement, the two Children got to sit down while the male technicians remained standing.

Makoto initiated the car's startup sequence, and the entire tram held its breath as nothing happened for a moment. After several anxious seconds the lights in the compartment came on, and everyone let out a sigh of relief as the car started rolling along the track.

"Kill the lights, even the headlamp," Ritsuko ordered. "We'll rely on our own to see ahead. Don't take us above ten kilometres an hour. There is likely to be damaged track close to the Geofront, and we don't want to derail."

A heavy duty torch was placed on the console pointing out the front windscreen. While it wasn't nearly as powerful as the railcar's headlamp, it lit the tunnel sufficiently to allow Makoto to watch ahead for any hazards on the track at their slow speed.

He announced that the journey would take approximately an hour, and Asuka replied with a yawn.

"Fine, I'm going to have a nap," she said. "Wake me when there's something interesting to look at."

With that, she wriggled around on the back seat of the tram, attempting to get comfortable. Shinji was almost sitting in her lap with the little space available. Eventually she found a position that was at least tolerable and closed her eyes.

Ten minutes later, Misato glanced over at her and stifled a giggle. She tapped Maya on the shoulder and pointed towards Asuka. The technician took one look and had to cover her mouth as well.

"There's something interesting to look at," Misato whispered. "Should we wake her up?"

Maya playfully slapped at Misato to get her to be quiet. The two of them spent a few minutes looking at the sight at the other end of the tram, and Misato silently wished that she still had her camera.

The motion of the railcar had jostled Asuka, and her head was now on Shinji's shoulder. It had also apparently lulled the boy to sleep as well, and his head was resting on Asuka's.


The Third Child had been acting strangely the last couple of days. Asuka had spotted him attempting to sneak into the apartment with a bag of groceries, despite the fact that the fridge was nearly full. When questioned, Shinji had spouted nonsense for a minute before retreating to his room after putting the food in the fridge. Asuka had merely rolled her eyes and returned to her video game.

This morning, the rather unusual stench of burnt eggs forced Asuka out of her slumber, and not just because of the smell. Shinji never messed up while cooking, it was practically an unwritten law of the house. Misato drank like a fish, Asuka took her time in the shower, Pen-Pen... was Pen-Pen, and Shinji never burnt food.

The rude awakening had Asuka storming out of her bedroom to confront him on this blunder.

"That better not have been my breakfast, Dummkopf!" she snarled as she came to a stop in front of the startled boy.

"Um... n-no, it wasn't," Shinji eventually managed to stammer out, shrinking back from the angry German's gaze. "Y-yours is already on the table, I was about to wake you up."

"Hmph. Well your cooking certainly accomplished that, even if it wasn't in your usual manner."

The boy had nothing to say to that, and turned back to the frying pan and the charred mess it contained. He sighed and dumped the contents in the trash before starting a fresh batch of eggs. As he did so, Asuka noticed a bandage around his palm.

"So you burned yourself as well as your breakfast, huh?"

Shinji looked down at his hand after cracking the eggs, and nodded. "Y-yeah, Pen-Pen woke up and was rather... insistent on being fed." Shinji's left foot began to rub his right shin, where the bird had obviously gotten in a rather nasty peck. "I got distracted and touched the frying pan. That's the reason my eggs burned, I was in the bathroom."

He began to laugh nervously, and Asuka took that as a cue to sit down and ignore him while eating her breakfast. She therefore missed the small sigh of relief from the direction of the stove.


Once again the teacher was droning on about Second Impact. The old man never seemed to realise that he repeated himself constantly, but not even the class representative seemed inclined to bring it to his attention. Shinji was in his usual seat nearby, staring aimlessly out the window. Or perhaps he was staring at the First Child again, it was hard to tell sometimes.

It was just another slow, hot, lazy day to Asuka. She had still learnt absolutely nothing new while at school in Tokyo-3, and spent most of the time either trying to nap or chatting to the other girls in the class through her laptop. This time however, her usual chat-mates were either trying to sleep themselves, or actually doing work. Asuka was bored out of her mind, but didn't feel like joining them in either activity. She looked back towards the left side of the room, then opened a new chat window and typed out a quick message before hitting 'enter'.

Just ahead of her, Shinji nearly jumped out of his seat when the message alert quietly pinged at him. A tiny smirk grew on Asuka's face at his reaction, but she quickly blanked her face and looked intently at her screen as Shinji turned around in his chair to glance at the redhead. After a few seconds he turned back to his laptop and slowly typed a reply.

A_Soryu: Hey idiot, what are you staring at, the sun or Wondergirl?

S_Ikari: Both, I guess. Rei stares out the window every day, and she always looks so... depressed, I suppose. I wonder if she's actually looking at something.

A_Soryu: She probably just switches her brain off until it's time to go. Not like she bothers using it while we're at school. Or ever.

S_Ikari: Asuka, that's not very nice.

Asuka muttered in German under her breath as the Third Child once again leapt to defend Rei. His evasive manner in the last few days also seemed to be affecting his typing speed. It was taking him nearly a minute to respond each time. She could see out of the corner of her eye that Shinji would tap away on the keyboard, then hurriedly delete whatever he had written several times. The last comment had arrived almost instantly though.

A_Soryu: Wondergirl wouldn't give a damn if I said that right to her face. Whatever. Hey, what are you making for dinner tonight? It better not be yet another rice dish, I'm getting really sick of them.

S_Ikari: Well, I was going to make donburi, but I guess I could do chicken teriyaki instead if you're okay with that.

A_Soryu: Fine, but if I see even a hint of rice you'll be wearing it.

S_Ikari: Yes, Asuka. There won't be any rice tonight.

Neither of them had anything more to say to each other, so they closed the chatroom. Asuka yawned and let her head drop to her desk with a faint thud. Before she knew it, the lunch bell was ringing.

The class began to file out of the room. Asuka strode over to Shinji's desk and put her hands on her hips.

"It's lunchtime, idiot, so where's mine?" she demanded.

Shinji fumbled around inside his bag as he stood up, avoiding eye contact with the hungry German girl. His hand shakily produced a bento box and placed it on his desk. Before Asuka could swipe it, Shinji was running for the door when he tripped over a chair and fell down. He hit the ground hard, but quickly got up and resumed his escape.

"Asuka, what did you say to him this time?" Hikari asked as she walked up besides the stunned girl.

"W-what? Me?! All I did was ask for my lunch!"

"...Oh." The class representative looked towards the door. "He ran out of here like there was an Angel attack, but I didn't hear your phones ring."

Asuka shook her head exasperatedly. "They didn't. The idiot face-planted for no reason."

Hikari walked towards the door, but stopped at the fallen chair. She picked it back up, and gasped at a small bloodstain on the ground. A line of tiny red droplets went out the door. Asuka halted next to her and rolled her eyes as she too spotted the trail. "Ouch. He'll be feeling that for a while."

A tardy student was stopped by Hikari and ordered to clean up the mess before someone else got hurt. The boy grumbled his displeasure as the two girls left the classroom.

The canteen was a riot of noise as usual. Asuka and Hikari picked their way through the crowded room to a table where a couple of their friends were already seated. They greeted each other, and placed their bentos on the table.

"So what did Shinji make for you today, Asuka?" Hikari asked. "I'm tempted to ask him for some tips one of these days. I'm not ashamed to admit that I could learn something from him when it comes to cooking."

Asuka looked down at her bento and frowned. "No idea, he already made them before I got up this morning. I swear, if it's rice again I'll-"

She opened it as she spoke and the heavenly, familiar aroma that filled her nostrils froze the words in her mouth.


A gentle shaking of her shoulder woke Asuka. She jerked up, instantly alert, but relaxed when the calm face of Maya manifested in her vision. She rubbed her head, smoothing out her hair slightly at the same time, and looked around. The car was stopped, and empty apart from the Children and Maya.

"We've arrived... mostly," the technician said by way of explanation before exiting the car.

Ahead, the bright glow at the end of the tunnel was almost blinding to Asuka eyes. When her eyes adjusted, she managed to make out a twisted jumble of metal and earth partially blocking the exit. The other adults were standing in front of it, talking to each other in low voices.

Asuka blearily wiped the sleep out of her eyes, and her hand encountered some wetness on her chin. She wiped it away with her sleeve and stood up. The seat had not remained comfortable for long, and the aches in her back made themselves known as the girl stretched in the limited space.

Shinji was still asleep, now almost falling over as his headrest had moved. Asuka tried to ignore the dark stain on his shoulder as she carefully picked him up and made her way out of the tram towards the tunnel exit.