SLAM.
"Asuka, I can't believe you punched Doctor Ikari! What the Hell got into you?!"
"He deserved it! He stuffed his own son into an Eva!"
"Well, you don't seem to complain!"
"That's because I've been training for nine years! It's a miracle he even got that thing to walk!"
She opens eyes, her resting period abruptly ended by the arrival of her two house-mates. She gets out of bed, painfully slowly, and walks into the living room to find Asuka and the Commander arguing, both visibly livid. The subject is of a new pilot. Considering they are all still alive, the pilot must have been capable.
The two stop arguing when they see her.
"Oh, hello Rei," Commander Sohryu says, "Are you feeling alright? They said you should rest."
"I am not feeling ill," Rei Ayanami responds, and turns to her fellow pilot, "Asuka, did you punch Doctor Ikari?"
"Damned straight I did," Asuka responds, and glares at her father, "And I'm of half a mind to do the same to you! What the Hell were you thinking?!"
"Hey, you're not too old for me to ground."
"I'd like to see you try! I'm the only pilot who-"
"Weren't you just praising Shinji's skills?"
"...all right. You win this round."
Rei raises her hand. Well, her good hand, considering the other one is in a cast.
"Considering we are all still alive," she says, "I suggest that the pilot is not incompetent."
"I never said he was incompetent," Asuka says, rubbing the bridge of her nose, "He never heard of an Eva before today. He had no training and still Ikari came up with the brilliant idea of shoving him into it and tossing him out into the battle."
"So we will be training him."
"Damned right we will."
"Understood. I will go back to resting."
She turns on her heel and walks back to wards her and Asuka's bedroom. Sighing, the Commander rubs the bridge of his nose as he plops down onto the living room's single couch, putting his feet up on one of the easy chairs.
"I'd say prevention of an extinction-level event is cause for ordering in, wouldn't you?"
"Ja, ja. What about the Third Child? Is he staying with us, to?"
"Nope."
"Is he staying with the good Doctor?"
"Asuka, he's my third in command. He's not as crazy as you think he is."
"Answer the question."
"No, he's not. He showed no interest in staying with his father, and besides, Gendo's apartment is barely big enough for one person. Katsuragi offered to take him in."
Rei peaks her head out of the bedroom.
"Commander, is it wise to have a pilot stay in a brothel?"
"Rei, where'd you get the idea he was staying in a brothel?"
"I assumed Major Katsuragi's apartment is a brothel as Asuka consistently refers to her as a whore."
Sohryu levels his gaze at his daughter.
"I'll go order dinner," Asuka says, and uses the opportunity to make a quick exit to the kitchen.
The doors to Cage 3 open, and Kozou Fuyutsuki walks onto the catwalk. He sees the other figure, the sole other figure save for the odd technician several stories below, leaning against the railing and staring at Unit 01.
His lab coat is discarded, and he is still in his beige uniform with his glasses folded in his pocket, and well-scarred hands folded so he can rest his chin on it. Everyone assumes he is insane-not dangerously insane; more like lucidly insane in that he makes amazing leaps of logic but at the same time is not someone who can be classified as normal.
Fuyutsuki knows him better than that. He's seen him through his worst tragedies and greatest triumphs. He argued the most for him to be put in charge of NERV, and when that failed argued for the position he has now. Sighing, he places a hand on his ally's shoulder.
"Is this in your grand plan, Ikari?"
Gendo grins.
"No, Sensei. This is where it begins."
"So..."
"Yes. She became aware. That wasn't Shinji. That was her."
"So...you were right. In the end, you were right."
"I tend to be, Sensei. Now we wait, and we see."
Her dress changed for a tank top and shorts, Misato Katsuragi sits back in her chair at the kitchen table and pops open her fourth beer for the night. Shinji is heading to the bath and dinner is done. Sometime this week she'll remember to clean the place, but that's neither here nor there.
Her reverie is broken by the sudden knocking on the door.
"It's unlocked," she yells.
The front door slides open, and she turns to the sounds of light footsteps. Standing in the doorway of her kitchen is now a 14 year old girl with short black hair and in one of the local middle school's school uniforms.
"Hi, Miss Katsuragi," she says with a wide smile, "Did you just get back?"
"Yep. They just let you out of the shelters, Sakura?"
"Yeah. I got a ride with one of the neighbors. Any chance you can tell me if one of those rumors I heard about is right?"
"Which one?"
"The one about the new pilot."
Misato stares at her neighbor, and sighing, rubs the bridge of her nose.
"You know that I can't just-"
Squawking, a warm-water penguin rushes past, flapping its stubby wings as it runs in stark terror. And a moment later, a buck-naked Shinji bursts out of the bathroom entrance.
"Misato! There's a..."
Her life having gone as it has, Misato Katsuragi has kept some optimistic notions. She still believes in true love, she still believes, to an extent, in the innocence of youth. So she watches as the two teens come face to face for the first time, and in some part, deep down in the cockles of her heart, hopes for the best.
And when she drags the unconscious Shinji into his bedroom a few minutes later, decides to find a better way to introduce them, next time.
The lights to the small apartment turn on as the door closes, and the girl walks in. Scratching the back of her neck, she drops a piece of white stone in a beaker of water by the door, the substance dissolving quickly.
"What a day," Sakura groans, "What a day. Can't believe that happened again."
She walks across the Spartan living room, containing only a single chair, a color television, and a table with a fishbowl. Inside the bowl, the two inhabitants react to her presence, climbing to the surface of the water and staring at her.
"I'm going to take a break," she says, "So...which one of you wants to be next?"
"Child."
She turns, sighing heavily at the light now manifesting in the center of the living room.
"Hello, mother."
"It is good to see you are not dead. It is good to see this world is still alive. Was the outcome the same?"
"Yes...it was. There is a new pilot."
"I see. Continue as you have. Let the next come. The Cycle continues, and we must be ready for the great conflict's beginning."
"I...thought what was happening now was the conflict," Sakura says, brow knitting in confusion, "The Trials were supposed to bring about..."
"No. The trials are just the beginning. The end shall come soon, so heed my warning."
"Yes, mother?"
"The Fourth Child. Be wary of him, for he is not what he seems. He will be the key and he will be the last line before the end. You will know him when you see him, and as tempted as you may be, do not harm him. Encourage him. Make him stray from his course."
Sakura nods, folding her hands in front of her and bowing to the apparition.
"As you wish, Mother. May I ask one question?"
"You may."
"How will it end?"
There is a pause, the voice silent as it ponders the question. And when it speaks, the voice is no longer warm.
"In your death."
And then, the light is gone.