I'd just like to take a brief moment to thank everyone that has an interest in this story. While I enjoy reviews it still blows my mind that over 60+ people receive emails every time I post a new chapter. Not to mention those story stats can get really high. Arigatoo Gozaimasu Minna!

Anyways much shorter then my last few chapters, only around 6k words. These next chapters are going to be fun to write as some more things about Shinji start to come out in the open. Also I'd figured I'd let everyone that reads this know that I'm splitting my time between this and my Negima story. So I'll right a chapter of this and then right a chapter of Negi and so on and so forth. Not likely that I'll get around to working on this till November now. Anyway enjoy.

Gendo Ikari sat at his desk with a large manilla envelope in front of him. Namely the medical report on Asuka's father which he had received after hearing about the incident. It was early in the morning; a little over five hours since Asuka's father had been admitted to the Nerv hospital, and the artificial light from the Geofront was just starting to lighten up the darkness in Gendo Ikari's office.

Looking down again at the envelop he frowned and wondered if he could use this happenstance to his advantage. While he couldn't say that he approved of Asuka's father, he couldn't help but feel that the man had furthered his designs.

At that moment his friend, Kozo Fuyutsuki stepped into his office.

"So? Did anything happen?"

"...From what Doctor Akagi has sent me, there doesn't seem to be any sign of contamination."

Kozo let out a sigh of relief. After a slight pause he asked, "How is Seele going to interpret this?"

"...They shouldn't have any suspicions. I have made sure of that."

"...I wonder..."

"You doubt me?"

"No. Just that based on what Inspector Kaji has reported, it doesn't exist."

"There was always the possibility of that. The Dead Sea scrolls were written by humans after all, and humans have a habit of making mistakes."

"Seele might looked into him more."

"As I have said I have taken appropriated measures over the years to avoid that. They only look at him and see a disposable pilot."

"Which is valuable to us."

"...Correct."

With a sigh, Kozo left his standing position and walked over to the large windows that barely generated any of the artificial sunlight.

"...Sometimes I wonder if Yui would approve of what we are doing."

After a slight pause, Gendo said, "Yui wished for the future that we are building. Instrumentality will be complete and people shall change."

"But people don't enjoy change. They prefer things to stay the same so that it doesn't interrupt their daily routine. They become used to normality"

"...They wont have a choice in the matter."

"...Do you really think Shinji will agree to this though?"

"...Eventually he will realize the need for Instrumentality. It is impossible for humans to understand each other any other way."

Turning away from the windows, Kozo asked, "What do you plan to do now though? With this latest incident even Shinji must be starting to feel a change in himself."

"...That is true. When Doctor Akagi sent me the medical files related to Asuka's father, she determined that the velocity of Shinji's punch was well above that of a normal humans. She called it abnormal."

"...That explains a lot."

"We will have to start examining his thought patterns. See if there are any differences between his and another humans. We will include them in the synchronization tests. Tell Doctor Akagi that she is to oversee this herself. Let no one else know about it."

"Very well."

"...One more thing Fuyutsuki..."

"Hmmm?" He said as he turned around.

"...Let Doctor Akagi know that we are testing the dummy plugs later."

"Understood."

After Kozo had left the room, Gendo leaned back in his chair and looked at another file that was next to the medical report. Picking it up he leafed through it quickly to the photo he wanted and settled on the picture of Shinji Ikari being held by his mother. No emotion was held in his eyes as he looked down at his so called son.

Shinji wasn't sure if it was the yelling in his ear that had woken him or the pounding headache that he felt, still, both of them felt the same. Squinting his eyes open, he pulled the earbuds out of his ears and rolled over to see Asuka frowning at him while tapping her finger silently against her arm.

"Well?"

Shinji, not in the mood to be toyed around with her this early in the morning stubbornly said back, "Well what?"

"Are you stupid. Breakfast."

"Oh that," Shinji mumbled as he rolled back over.

"Get off the couch already and move. We have school today, remember?"

"Not today you don't."

Asuka, and a rather reluctant Shinji both turned to see Misato standing in the doorway of the living room.

"Why don't we have school?"

"I got a call early this morning that Ritsuko wants you two and Rei to come in for tests."

"Uhhhhh."

"Come on its not that bad Asuka."

"Its not that I'm mad about not going to school...but...because of last night."

"...I tried explaining that to Ritsuko but she said that the order came directly from commander Ikari. So no exceptions."

"Fine, fine. I got it."

Turning back to Shinji, she said, "Here that? No school. Should be glad."

"Yes I'm grateful that instead of sitting in a stuffy classroom I get to sit in a twenty foot capsule that smells like blood."

"...Don't have to get so upset about it."

"Fine, I'm getting up."

"Good. I'm hungry."

"So I've heard."

Falling off the couch, Shinji was surprised when Asuka put out a helping hand to him. Excepting it somewhat hesitantly, he stood up slowly with his hand in Asuka's. It was then that he remembered last night and how he had ended up on the couch. Though it was his decision in the first place. Glancing at Asuka he realized that he was now standing and let go of her hand quickly.

"...What's up? You've got a pained expression on your face."

"...Huh?"

"Yeah, you look like you don't feel too good."

Doing something completely un-Asuka like, she reached up and held her hand against his forehead.

"A-Asuka wh-what are you?"

While having her left hand against Shinji's forehead she put her right hand against her own, checking if there was a difference in temperature.

"...Well you don't seem to have a fever."

"Of course I don't! I just have a minor headache is all."

"Baka. Learn to take better care of yourself."

'How can I when I've been stuck taking care of you ever since you got here?'

As Asuka brought her hand back against Shinji's forehead, Shinji happened to steal a glance at Misato and noticed that she had an eyebrow raised and looked like she was about to explode with laughter.

"What?" He finally managed to say to her.

"...You guys looked like a couple just now."

"..."

"Absolutely not!"

Only Shinji happened to say this.

Upon realizing that Asuka hadn't said anything, Shinji spun around and faced her. Asuka was looking straight at Misato and was frowning slightly as though wondering what she wanted to say.

"...I think Shinji's more of a servant actually."

Shinji seemed to deflate on the spot. Really, what had he expected? Though it seemed Asuka noticed this sudden change in demeanor and said, "What? Did you think that I'd want you as a boyfriend. As if! That wont even happen in your dreams."

Shinji wasn't able to stop himself and said, "Then what was last night all about!"

"Sleepwalking," she said simply.

"Sleepwalking? You think everything that happened last night was because of sleep walking!"

"Why else would I wake up and find myself in your room?"

"You're unbelievable!"

"You're a pervert!"

"We all are going to be in trouble if we don't hurry down to Nerv, right now," murmured Misato while secretly wondering what had happened last night. Her imagination was going overboard.

"...Ah shit."

Hurrying out of the living room, Asuka quickly threw some makeshift clothes on and waited by the door.

"Hurry it up baka."

Hobbling out of his room on one foot, Shinji managed to say back. "Yeah fine. I'm ready."

Nodding, Asuka opened the door and walked out into he open air.

No matter how many times he dawned the plug suit, Shinji could never really get quite used to it. Maybe he was just anxious, though with good reason. He had heard beforehand that his father would be specifically supervising this test, and it made him a little uncomfortable. Why would his father choose now of all times to witness a synchronization test? He had never witnessed it any other times.

As Shinji climbed into Unit 01's entry plug he caught a brief glimpse of his father looking at the three Eva's stationed next to each other. A grimace passed over Shinji's face for a brief instance before he ignored it. His father had become an irrelevant object in his life, one that he could readily do without. Sometimes he wondered what was making him pilot Eva. He had no good reason after all.

'Well...maybe thats not entirely correct,' thought Shinji as he glanced over at Asuka who was climbing the ladder to her entry plug. He supposed that he just wanted to protect everybody that was important to him, and Asuka certainly fell into the category.

"Okay you three, we're gonna start the test. Just perform like you usually do," said Misato from the control room.

"This time you better take us out for dinner," mumbled Asuka.

"Why bother, Shinji's cooking tastes better then anything I could pay for anyway."

Asuka was silent at Misato's words. She didn't want to have to admit it, even though she was likely right.

"Starting the three Eva's...now," said Ritsuko from the other side of the control room.

Shinji felt a familiar sensation of rushing down a tunnel at one hundred miles and hour, only to come out in the bright, open sun. Letting himself become relaxed, he closed his eyes and tried to concentrate. Which was increasingly hard as his headache was starting to throb again.

Up in the control room Ritsuko was monitoring the three pilots closely, though she was monitoring one of them a lot more than the others.

"Any change in heart rate? Brain waves? Breathing?"

"Negative ma'am. ...Wait. Pilot 01's brain waves are slightly shifting."

"Is it controllable?"

"At this infrequency its nothing to worry about."

"Hmmm. Okay watch it closely and let me know if anything happens."

"Hai."

As Ritsuko turned away from the monitor to look out of the clear glass that acted as a barrier incase an Eva went out of control, and a mirror so the research could be given a clear picture, she wondered if the commanders instructions were groundless or if there was something else behind his words. She had always known after all that he was gifted with keeping secrets.

Back inside the entry plug Shinji's headache was starting to increase in pain, but he attempted to push it to the back of him mind. Though it felt like the source of the headache was his mind.

'Looks like somethings has changed with you.'

Shinji heard the familiar voice resounding all around him and had to bite his tongue so as not to start yelling.

'If you don't mind I'm having a tough time concentrating, and you're making it all the more difficult.'

'I've got nothing to do with that headache of yours. Thats because you acted out simply in anger.'

'What are you tal-'

'That girls father, what you did to him.'

'What the hell does that have to do with my headaches? And why do you even know about that?'

'Its not like you were keeping your thoughts hidden or anything. Its like a constant screaming in your head of what happened.'

'Stop damn it!'

Silence for a moment, and then.

'Whats wrong? Starting to question some stuff about yourself? That punch could have rivaled a boxers. Bit unusual for a scrawny fifteen year old kid to incapacitate a full grown man.'

'Shut the fuck up damn it!'

'You should really control that temper. Next time you lash out in anger you just might end of up hurting somebody important to you.'

'Shut the fuck up!'

'Be a tragedy to see that red head of yours loose a few of her limbs because you were so stupid and couldn't control your emotions.'

"I TOLD YOU TO SHUT THE FUCK UP!"

Shinji yelled this directly inside of the entry plug and at the same time several things happened.

Shinji's voice was projected directly into the control room where Misato, Ritsuko, and the others were and it came out shrill and high over the intercom. It sounded like he was screaming a war cry of some sort.

Immediately Misato was at the intercom and started yelling back to Shinji what was wrong. Though all she got was a jumbled string of words tied together that she was unable to decipher.

Ritsuko on the other hand had rushed over to the synchronization monitors and swore loudly as she saw that his brain waves were jumping around frantically. Soon the wave lengths between Shinji and Unit 01 started to part and all but ceased. Unit 01 and Shinji's synchronization abruptly halted.

"Get him out of their now! Seal off Unit's 00 and 02 from 01 incase it goes berserk."

Immediately at Misato words the same glass like barrier that separated the control room from the Eva's split down the middle of the floor, enclosing Unit 01 in its own small area.

"Deactivated Unit 01! Disconnect the umbilical cord, revert all available power to life support systems and send the code to eject the entry plug! Do it manually if you have to."

"Umbilical cord removed successfully, but either Unit 01 or its pilot is rejecting the signal."

"Then have somebody get down there and remove the plug manually!"

"Wait a moment..."

Misato spun around and was surprised to see that Gendo had spoken.

"Commander?"

"Wait for a minute to remove the entry plug."

"...If I may ask...why?"

"...An experiment. Keep a contingency crew prepared though. If Unit 01 goes berserk you have my permission to restrain it by any means. Make the rescue of the Eva the top priority, pilot second."

Misato didn't like what he had ment with experiment, but she couldn't very well say no.

"...Okay...we wait for a minute or so then retrieve the pilot. Ritsuko?"

"Unit 01 has rejected all signals. Life of pilot is unknown at the moment. Unable to get a proper reading on anything."

"...I figured as much. Then we wait."

'Where am I?'

'We're you should be.'

'Where is that?'

'Look around yourself and find out.'

And so Shinji did what the faceless entity in front of him told him what to do.

It was the world...yet it wasn't. It was a world that was empty, non-existent so to speak. Because nothing existed anymore.

Shinji looked around at the wasteland that he was standing on. Was this Earth in some bleak future where the angels have destroyed it?

He looked down at the ground he was standing on and was shocked to see a white sandy substance around him. Then, looking up, he saw blue sky with a cloud in sight. Whats more, there didn't seem to be anything like a sun in the sky. Why was everything so bright then?

Kneeling down he grasped a handful of the sandy substance and let it flow through his open hand. It really did seem like sand.

'That is not sand, as you just wondered. But the remains of the four hundred billions creatures that used to live on this planet.'

'But what is this planet?'

'The name...I suppose you Lilim call it Earth. Its known as something much more tranquil though in our knowledge.'

'Your knowledge?'

'Correct... I am an angel.'

Normally Shinji would have frozen immediately, but this strange formless shape didn't seem to have any harm in itself.

'So what am I doing here?'

'First do you know who you are?'

Shinji thought for a moment and realized that he didn't know what his name was. Shaking his head for a second he frowned at the white shape in front of him. It was then that he realized that the only residual thing he noticed that look at all like a living being was a lopsided mouth that hung at what would be considered a head.

'Well, I suppose you wouldn't know what your name is. Since you don't have one.'

'What about you?'

'My name? Unimportant currently. I'm more interested in yourself. How did you come to be, for you certainly share common characteristics to angels'

'What do you mean?'

'I don't know myself. You certainly are human, but something about you...'

Shinji was silent for a minute as he didn't know how to respond to this. Finally shaking the discomfort off he glanced around at his surroundings again and said, 'What are you doing here?'

'Hmmm? I was waiting for my time to come. I believe it should be soon. My brothers, while powerful shall not survive. I'm supposed to pave the way for the next generation of angels after all.'

'You said this was Earth...'

'It is Earth as we know it. Much different from the lush, green one that the Lilim come from.'

'Lilim?'

'Humans...that is what you call yourself. He originally named you Lilim and that is what we have called you.'

'...I don't even know how I got here, or what my name is.'

'Well, on that account your name would be Ikari Shinji. Though that is your name given by the Lilim. I had forgotten that the Lilim have changed there ways since they first rose out of the ground those many years ago.'

Shinji was silent for a moment before he asked something that had been bothering him. 'How old are you?'

'My age? I have lost count of that nearly a millennium ago. Though I am one of the oldest beings alive in the universe. Of course, angels do not keep track of there age as humans do, because angels are fundamentally immortal.'

'Fundamentally?'

'Only an angel can kill an angel.'

'You say that I'm like you. In what way?'

'...As I said it is difficult to discern about you because I have never met a human that has the aura of an angel about them.'

'Aura?'

'An AT-field so to speak. Of course all humans have an AT-field with some substance, some more than others I suppose. But yours is different. It feels like an angels.'

'...This makes no sense. How come I have this...'

'I'm not sure. For someone as me who thought that knowledge was a fabrication of this world, I must say it makes me think as I have not thought in sometime.'

'...Glad I could help. I think.'

'Everything comes to an end, even knowledge. Because knowledge is impossible to gain unless things exist. Take this world for instance. If you look up, you see blue sky. If you look down, you see what life has turned into after many years. If you would walk further along this line of sand, you would see never ending miles of it. Nothing. There is nothing here. And so, knowledge does not exist.'

'...But you still retain the knowledge you have gathered.'

'True, but with the passage of time, things start to slip away. The Lilim are so redundant that I stopped caring for them after the first few years of there existence. They are an eye sore now.'

'So if I'm a Lilim what are you supposed to do with me?'

The white, shapeless object was silent for a moment as it pondered Shinji's question. Eventually it said, 'You seem to be something that is not wholesomely here. Your mind is wandering while your body lies else where. Your mind is wandering in front of me. If I were to destroy it, your body would become a useless pile of flesh. Harsh, but true. I look at you and think, what should I do regarding the fact that you are both angel and human? I cant judge this situation with out asking for his help. I'll let you go.'

Shinji realized that he had been involuntarily holding his breath in and just released it.

'How much of this will I retain?'

'Good question. My guess is that you were brought here against your own will. I don't know how that would have happened though. You should not remember any of this. I think it would hinder more than anything.'

'Well, I suppose I should thank you for everything that you've told me, whether or not I remember it.'

'Don't let yourself worry about it. I can only hope that I'm able to meet you sometime again, in a peaceful way such as this.'

'...One last thing, how exactly am I supposed to get back?'

'Thats an easy one.'

Shinji opened his mouth to ask what was easy about it when he felt something hook on the back of his navel and drag him backwards. Looking up just in time before he was thrown back into his body he thought he saw a sad smile appear on the shapes face.

'Though I suppose...that my wishful thinking of a peaceful conversation will come to nothing in the end. Ikari Shinji-kun.'

Shinji heard no more.

White. Why is it always white?

As Shinji blinked open his eyes he wondered how many days he had been out. The clock in his body felt completely wrong.

Sitting up he had to wonder if he had spent more time in this room then at Misato's place, but quickly pushed that silly thought away.

Looking to his left he was unsurprised that several chairs had been positioned around his bed. But blinking several times he was surprised that he had missed what was so obvious. Two of the chairs were occupied. One was sleeping with their head resting on the end of his bed while the other was calmly cutting an apple in six equal parts. Shinji thought that Asuka and Rei were the most unlikely pair to be seated at his side.

As though Rei had heard Shinji's thoughts, she looked up briefly during which something tugged at the corners of her mouth. It might have been something akin to a smile.

"Are you feeling better Ikari-kun?"

"...I guess so. I mean...I don't even know what happened."

"Unit 01 went berserk while you were in it."

"...I figured it be something like that. What day is it anyway?"

"Its the same day as the test, though several hours afterwards."

It was then that Shinji realized that no light was coming from outside the large windows in the room. The artificial light in the Geofront had long since dissipated leaving behind a solid darkness.

As Shinji continued to look out the darkened windows he heard a small, "Here," and looked around to see the plate of apples cut neatly in front of him.

Looking at Rei wordlessly he took two of them and popped them into his mouth. It was then that he realized how hungry he had been.

"These are good Ayanami."

"...Ariga-too."

Shinji swallowed hard and glanced back at her. He had never heard Rei say words of thanks before and apparently she had never said it before either as a puzzled expression was on her face. Smiling slightly back at her he decided it was about time to wake someone. If not the smell of the apples was sure to wake her eventually.

Crawling to the end of his bed he frowned down at Asuka. Her hair was a disheveled mess and the skirt and shirt she was wearing was crumpled and frayed at the edges.

Unsure of how to proceed he ended up lightly tapping the side of her cheek with the back of his hand. This was unwise and next moment she shot upwards, smashing the top of her head into Shinji's chin and sending him reeling backwards.

"Baka!"

'First thing up and she already calls me an idiot,' thought Shinji gloomily as he landed on the floor.

As Asuka blinked her eyes open wearily, as though she didn't know where she was, she immediately looked to the bed she was resting on, only to find out that it was empty.

"Shin-"

"Here," said Shinji as he pulled himself back onto the bed and into a sitting position.

Shinji wouldn't have been at all surprised if Asuka had tackled him there and started pounding the shit out of him. Instead she look confusedly back at him before crawling up on the bed and sat directly in front of him.

"Asuka what are you-"

Whack!

Asuka smacked him with all her strength against the side of his head, sending him crashing against the bed frame and thankfully, the pillow which absorbed some of the impact.

Rubbing the side of his cheek he angrily yelled back, "Damn it Asuka! What the hell was that-"

Asuka grabbed the front of his shirt and dragged him in front of her so that their noses were a mere centimeter apart. Throughout all this Rei didn't move a muscle. Maybe she could understand Asuka's rage, even if only a little.

"You idiot! Do you have any idea how worried everyone was! All that screaming and shouting...I..everyone thought that you were dying!"

"...What are you talking-"

"You! You went crazy inside of your Eva. Trying to destroy every damn thing in sight! You almost killed several people."

"...I did what?"

"...You...don't remember?"

"Everything is such a blur that I can barely remember even entering the entry plug."

Asuka looked blankly back at Shinji for a moment before turning towards Rei. If some far corner of her mind thought that Rei was going to help her, she was sorely mistaken. Rei continued sitting there with the same blank expression on her face that she had been wearing for the past few minutes.

Starting to talk more slowly, as though Shinji had some learning disability, Asuka started talking about what happened after Shinji had mentally blacked out.

"Nobody knows how it happened in the first place, but the commander gave the order for us to wait and see if anything changed."

Shinji frowned, he should have guessed that this had something to do with his father.

"I don't know how long I was stuck sitting in that entry plug, but I heard a loud shriek come over the intercom. It was you...but it wasn't you. I mean it was your voice, but...I don't know just something sounded strange about your voice. Sorry if I can't explain it any better than that."

"Anyway, while you were screaming the Eva awoke by itself, with the umbilical cord unattached. Ritsuko later said that you and the Eva weren't even close to having a high enough sync ratio to control the Eva. It awoke by itself I guess and acted of its own accord."

"It broke free of the restraints that was holding it in place, but the odd thing was that it used an AT-field and severed the metallic braces that were attached to it. Afterwards it started going berserk and tried to break the glass barrier. Several times it tried to destroy it with an AT-field."

"...What-"

"Yeah...I thought that I pilot had to concentrate on the generation of an AT-field. After that didn't work though it started pounding on the glass with its arms. I don't think I noticed until later, but your screams intensified then."

"What do you mean you noticed later?"

Asuka was silent for a moment before she said, "...Look at your arms."

Shinji did as he was told and looked at both his arms. They were heavily wrapped in bandages.

"What happ-"

"Ritsuko said that its an anomaly that can occur sometimes, but she said its only supposed to happen if there is a strong sync between the pilot and the Eva. Furthermore it was a rare case. Injury's to the pilots aren't unheard of but yours were different she said.

"How so?"

"...She didn't really say and I didn't press her. I didn't care that much myself."

Shinji was silent for a minute as he wondered what could possibly be underneath his bandages and was tempted to unwrap them, but Asuka would surely yell at him. Deciding on another course of action, he asked, "What happened after that? Did the Eva stop...or something."

"Yeah, except, nobody knows why or how, but it suddenly stopped responding and just stood there while leaning against the glass barrier."

"...You said that I almost killed several people, but I don't see how-"

"...I think that was the part that worried everyone the most. After the commander gave the order to recover the Eva and yourself. Well...when they retrieved the entry plug, you weren't cooperating. That was probably the hardest part. When they managed to get you out you started going into a frenzy, trying to strangle anybody that got near you, all the time screaming. You even punched several people, breaking their noses. Me and Misato were watching the entire thing from the control room. They had to put you in restraints and it was only thanks to Misato that you were let out, after you had calmed down a bit."

"Asuka I-"

"Don't say anything. I don't know what happened to you nor do I care. ...Everyone...including me, is just glad that you're fine."

"But I did something that I had no control over."

"You didn't do anything! You weren't in control. While I hate saying this, I know who you are, and that was definitely not the Shinji that I know inside of the Eva."

Shinji felt oddly touched by Asuka's words. It ment a lot to him that she had said she understood who he was, because he was starting to doubt himself.

"I don't care what Ritsuko or your father says. That was not you, so don't go apologizing for it."

"...Asuka...I..."

"Quit it already! Just think of this as payment for helping myself out over the past few days."

"...No...but anybody would have done that."

Asuka just glared at him and Shinji took that as an end to the conversation. Dragging the talk to something that was less unpleasant, Shinji said something that was sure to get Asuka rilled up.

"I'm surprised that you and Ayanami were able to be in the same room though, and for a long period of time."

"Tch...why do you think I was sleeping? I'd rather waste time sleeping then try to have a conversation with the teachers pet."

Sighing, Shinji said, "I don't know why you're so stubborn. I get on fine with Ayanami."

"Thats your problem, not mine."

Flopping back down onto his blankets, Shinji ignored any further mumbles and sighs from Asuka for a while and looked up at the white ceiling in front of him. White? Why did white feel so familiar all the sudden? As he wracked his brains to try to find an answer he heard Asuka say, "Well you're okay so I suppose I'll go."

Nodding, Shinji said, "Okay I'll go with you...just as soon as I find my-"

Speaking up, Rei said, "Doctor Akagi wishes you to stay here tonight."

Turning towards the sound of Rei's voice Shinji said, "Huh?"

"IvHate to agree with the pet but Ritsuko does want you to stay here tonight, just in case you have a relapse."

"I feel perfectly fine though."

"No arguing!"

"But-"

Completely ignoring Shinji's protests, Asuka stood up, spun herself around, and wordlessly walked out of the room.

Shinji mouthed back at her sudden disappearance before running his hands through his hair. Well, he should be thankful that she had waited by his side for at least seven hours before he woke up. Turning to Rei he said, "She's probably right Ayanami. Even though she didn't want to say anything, she knows that I need to get some rest."

Understanding him perfectly fine, Rei stood up, setting the plate of apples on the table next to Shinji's bed and silently walked to the door. Though just as she was about to pass through the open door she turned and said, "Goodnight, Ikari-kun."

Shinji waited until he could hear her footsteps becoming quieter and quieter before he sprung into action. Carefully grabbing onto a loose edge of the bandages surrounding his arm, he carefully started to unwind them. What was underneath made Shinji feel sick to his stomach.

The skin of his arms looked as though large splinters of wood had been hammered into his arms, only to be pulled back out by the reverse side of the hammer. He had many scars pockmarked across his arms and wondered how in the hell he could have received that from the glass barrier.

...He felt stupid.

Glass is still glass no matter how you look at it. Unit 01 must have managed to split off several pieces in its rage and some of it had been lodged into its armor and in turn Shinji had received these large puncture marks. Though he had to assume that they had been bleeding when he received them, yet here they were, clearly healed as though he had received them two months ago. Yet he always seemed to heal easily, even larger injuries. He remember in the fourth grade when he had broken his arm on the swing set. One week later his arm was fully healed.

"...something about you..."

This sudden thought struck him like a bolt of lightning and he started looking around for the source of this sudden thought. Why did it feel like he had heard these words in the same context.

'I've got to be over thinking this,' he said to himself as he rolled over and tried to close his eyes.

Sleep did not come easily that night