Within a few days of leaving the mountain fortress the plan was put in to motion, and I eventually found myself on a plane headed towards Tokyo-3. Initially SEELE had put me back into the same medical clinic that I had awoke in three months earlier, only now the nursing staff were all people I didn't recognize from that first time (and I sort of wondered what happened to them after SEELE picked me up earlier). We basically played it out just like earlier this year: I woke up in the hospital and then the staff tried to reach my father via NERV , only this time contacting the Japan NERV agency directly. Within the space of a few hours a black-suited agent arrived at the clinic and from him I was subjected to a battery of questions, during which I kept up the role of a distraught daughter asking about where my father was and what had happened to my home at Second Branch. Apparently satisfied that I was the actual Erin Forrestal I was promptly taken by the agent from the clinic and then put onto an unmarked private jet at a nearby airfield. It was only then when I realized the clinic was located in West Virginia.

Despite my pleading the agent and those with him didn't answer any of my questions regarding my father or NERV-2. I kept up the charade however, as by my continual asking I had to made sure it looked like I really didn't just wake up until now and knew nothing of what had transpired. It was like rewinding my life for the last three months, only this time I knew how it would go. The whole thing made me extremely nervous, and I suppose that probably helped me in being more convincing.

The flight to Japan took all night, and I crashed out on the airplane seat as it flew. In the morning when I awoke the agent said there would be someone to take care of me at Tokyo-3, and that they'd answer all of my questions. They also said that they'd provide me with fresh clothes and personal items, as when I left the hospital all I had on was a t-shirt, a pair of jeans, and a pair of running shoes all provided by the clinic.

My mission instructions were once in Tokyo-3 and alone I would be contacted by SEELE's other agents that were hidden inside the GeoFront, the massive underground fortress where NERV kept the Evangelions. They would contact me at the first appropriate time and give me further instructions. I was not to try and contact anyone else while I was there, and instead just play the part of a forlorn girl cut off from her home and family. Well, I could do that I figured.

Still, the message I received from Piotr just before I left SEELE-2 really bothered me. "RUN AWAY" it had said. Did I want to run away right now? Yeah, I sort of did, but then where would I go? There was no home left for me now, no reason to exist other than getting my EVA back. I didn't really feel all that great about those guys at SEELE but there really wasn't anything else for me and besides, the people who destroyed my home and family had payback coming. I flushed the note in the toilet before I left the airplane.

When we landed in Japan it was in mid-morning, and as I got out of the airplane there was a small contingent waiting for me at the bottom of the ramp, including a young woman wearing camouflage and two imposing black-clad security guards with sunglasses. The woman came up to me when I got down from the last step.

"Erin Forrestal?"

"Yes?"
"Please come with me." Without saying much else she led me to a car and the four of us went from the airfield to an opening into the Geofront complex.

Whatever anyone had ever said to me earlier about Tokyo-3 didn't do it justice, as the GeoFront was truly massive. Basically we drove around the top level of the place in a separate little road that was built into the underground but you could see the area below from the car windows and it was ginormous. The open space must have stretched for over several miles, and down below on the grounds you could see grass and fields and even a lake among the buildings that were on the ground floor. Sunlight came through the massive opening at the top, which was blasted away three months earlier when the Japanese military dropped N2s on the place. There was a black, pyramid-shaped building placed closer to the center that I was told was the current command center and I made a mental note of where it was. There were no signs of the Evangelions themselves just yet.

Our drive took another half an hour until we reached the other end of the edge of the GeoFront, and then the staff people let me out of the car and led me to what looked like a small medical clinic. There they promptly examined me, took my fingerprints and my blood, and then swabbed my mouth for DNA, no doubt trying to ensure that I was me. I was quiet and played along, knowing that there would be much more to come.

The physical exams took maybe an hour and then I was walked down a succession of corridors, again with my escorts, eventually ending up in a large room that was labeled "Interrogation." That sounded ominous but I was prepared for this. I'd be asked questions by NERV about me and where I was, and I needed to be as convincing as I possibly could. The woman officer led me to a single chair in the middle of the room, which itself only had two doors and a large mirror in front, while the ceiling had lights and video projection equipment above. I waited, clutching myself to try and keep warm and keep my nerves from completely busting loose.

Suddenly a man's voice, speaking in an English accent, came over the room's speakers. "Good morning, Miss Forrestal." I was startled by the sound and shook. "Uh, hi!"

"I know this is all very confusing right now but we need to get some things out of the way first. I hope you don't mind."

Okay, it's game on. "Where's my father?" I asked, already knowing the answer but needing to play up the role.

"All in good time," reassured the voice. "Right now we need to verify your identity. Can you answer a few questions for us."

"Alright."

For the next several minutes I was given a simple set of questions about my basic facts, name, birthplace, and what I was doing at Second Branch. The NERV people were already aware that I was an Evangelion pilot and not just living there. Then they asked me about the day of my last test.

"What happened?" the English voice above asked me.

"I don't know, the last thing I remember was we were doing an activation test with the EVA and then I suddenly blacked out. Then I woke up in that hospital."

"Do you remember anything about the test?"

I shook my head. "No. It was just normal and then I suddenly blacked out."

"What did you do when you woke up?"

"I asked to see my dad, but no one there could help me. I was there for about two weeks and they just kept me in my room, and wouldn't let me use a phone or get to the Internet at all. I was finally able to get to a phone and called my Dad's number, and then called the Second Branch number but they were all disconnected. That was when that security guy came to get me at the hospital."

"The investigator from the Alliance."

"That's right. He told me the hospital called him and then he came to pick me up. Then he put me on an airplane and here I am." I then stood up, speaking to the mirror in front of me and trying to sound more desperate. "Um, excuse me but can someone please tell me what's going on? I mean, did something happen to my dad while I was out? Please just tell me!"

There was a long pause and then the speaker had one final question for me: "At NERV Second branch there was a vending machine in the pilot's ready room. Can you tell us anything unusual about it?"

Of course I could, as Vance had ruined the thing. "It had graffiti on it. Vance had scribbled DOUBLE-V WUZ HERE in black marker."

"Thank you."

I then sat there for a while not knowing what would happen next, still clutching myself in the coldness that I felt from being so nervous. Finally someone else came in through the doorway I had entered earlier. She was a petite, short-haired Japanese woman in a uniform who spoke good English. "Hello, Miss Forrestal. I'm Captain Maya Ibiki."

"Uh, Hi."

"I'm sorry for all of this. Please understand that security is very tight here at NERV so there's a need to make sure everything's carefully investigated."

It was time to up my game a little. "I really need to see my father," I said to her as I swallowed hard. "Can someone just tell me what happened?"

Captain Ibiki tried to explain further until I heard a sound and swiveled around in my chair. At the other end of the room, wearing a camouflage uniform, was Admiral Vinson. He was as big and impressive as I remembered him from before, but there was a sort of sadness to his eyes now, and he seemed more weary than when I saw him last.

I tried to play along, but I knew what was coming. "Admiral Vinson!" I greeted him.

"Hello, Erin. It's good to see you again!"

"You're the first familiar face I've seen," I said as I got off the chair and walked over to him. He tried to smile at me but it was forced. "A lot has happened since you've been out of action, Erin," the Admiral told me.

Time to hit it again. "Um, is my dad here?"

"No. I think you better sit down."

Here it comes. "Oh, God!" I cried as I fell back onto the chair while a video projection was shown against one of the walls of the room. The video showed a playback of what had happened in Second Branch, the same video that Chairman Keel showed me a few months earlier.

"There's no easy way to say this," said the Admiral. "About five months ago Second Branch...disappeared."

"Disappeared?!"

"There was an accident with Unit 04," he explained slowly, "while installing an S2 engine. Due to unknown causes what's called a 'Sea of Dirac' or a singularity was generated at the base and it enveloped everything from fifty miles away."

"Oh, no!"

"Truthfully we don't know what happened, although there's the possibility that they were somehow moved within space and time. Your father was among those at the base when this happened."

At that point I let the tears come out. It wasn't hard to do, as all I had to remember was why my life sucked so much. I put my hands to my face and did as they taught me back at SEELE, remembering everything that was good about my home at Second Branch, and about my dad, and my life there. And about how all of that was now gone.

I cried enough that Captain Ibiki came over and put her arm around my shoulder, offering me a handkerchief. I took it and promptly plunged my face into it, crying as much as I could while the Admiral continued. "There's more to it than that," he told me, "and there's been a lot of change within the Evangelion program itself. All things that you'll get to know in good time."

Here came the hardest part for me. "Was...was Vance there too?" I looked up at the Admiral, my eyes blown red from the tears. I knew the answer, because I knew what horrible thing he had done to his own kid. Admiral Vinson's face changed, grimacing but not quite bursting into emotion. "No," he told me. "Vance is dead."

I gasped. "What…what happened?"

"There was an incident here at Tokyo-3 with the EVAs just before the accident at NERV-2," he told me as his voice quivered. "I...I don't want to explain it further quite yet as we were all misled in many ways."

I didn't want to deal with this anymore so I screamed "NO!" at the top of my voice, and plunged my face back into the handkerchief, sobbing as loudly as I could. Everyone was playing their part in this charade and so was I.

"I'm sorry," was all he could manage. "We'll go over the rest later.

Suddenly there was another noise at the doorway and I saw the door to the room swing wide open. "Erin!" shouted a voice, a voice that I knew.

The boy was standing in the room in front of the door. Wearing outdoor clothes, he had messy blond hair and green eyes that matched mine. He looked at me with an intense glance, almost in desperation. The one who had ruined my life, the one who had wiped out everything that I loved, was now only a few feet away. I was angered, enough to make a big mistake and break my cover.

"Get away from me!" I shouted as I looked towards him. The expression on the boy's face turned to shock.

"Patrick!" the Admiral shouted at him. "Get back outside! She's not ready yet!"

Before he could say or do anything another young woman who also appeared Japanese grabbed him and dragged him out of the room, slamming the door behind her. I looked up at the Admiral, hoping that my response didn't give the game away. He was sullen with me, and reached to put a hand on my shoulder. "Sorry about that," he told me. "Captain Ibiki has set up quarters for you up on the top level, you can stay there until we have things worked out." I didn't thank him but at least nodded, and then still acted like a crying mess as Ibiki walked me out of the room a minute later.

It was heart-wrenching, but I had cried and bluffed my way through the first obstacle to getting back my EVA.

The people at NERV had put me into a small bedroom that looked nice enough, like a hotel room. It had a small bed, a desk, and a private bathroom. There was a TV screen on the wall that was turned onto an Information channel about NERV and Tokyo-3, with various scenes of the natural scenery of the surrounding area of where we were, and graphics in both English and Japanese. I had "recovered" myself enough to let Ibiki help me get settled into the room, which included her showing me that they had provided me with a few changes of clothes and some personal care and grooming items. She asked me if I needed anything and I just told her no, my face still flush red with all of the emotions of the morning. Then she left, but not before providing me with an ID card that she said I would need to get around the GeoFront facility.

Before I left I was told by the others at SEELE that any place they would put me would be wired for sound and video, and that I should expect to be under surveillance at all times. That included this place, so I was careful to maintain my "emotional" self while in the room, in case NERV's security was watching. After all that had happened however I didn't mind taking a shower in a bathroom that was much cleaner than anything at SEELE's fortress, so I stripped down and hoped to God they didn't have cameras in there too.

I took a lengthy shower, happy for at least one little pleasure in all of this that I had the opportunity to get very clean for once and I felt a bit better about things once I was done. My orders were to wait until either NERV was convinced that my story was legitimate and they would make me an offer to pilot EVA again, or until NERV possibly saw me as a problem, in which case SEELE was supposed to get me out of their hands as quickly as possible. How they planned to do that they didn't tell me. They also didn't tell me precisely how they were going to contact me once I was inside of NERV, only that someone would.

When I got out of the shower the bathroom was filled with the steam. I quickly wrapped a towel around me and as I turned to the bathroom mirror there was a message written on it.

THEY HAVE BUGGED THE ROOM

Startled, I didn't say anything but quickly turned around to see if anyone was there in the bathroom. There wasn't anyone, but the message on the mirror quickly disappeared and another one took its place.

YOU MUST BE CAREFUL

Somehow my unknown contact from SEELE was able to use the mirror to communicate. Figuring that he could see me, I erased the message on the fogged mirror with my finger and wrote a new one:

WHAT DO I DO NOW?

The message on the mirror then disappeared again and a new one came in reply:

WAIT UNTIL THEY TRUST YOU

I just silently nodded and then the message was erased and that was the last one I received that day.

Given the warning that I was still under surveillance, I wasn't entirely sure what else I could do other than look like the mournful daughter who just lost her father and friends. I knew I had to keep that up no matter what, otherwise they'd possibly see through me. So I spent the rest of that day on the bed in my temporary room at NERV, with no music and no TV turned on. I just lay there and thought about all of the horrible things that brought me to this time and place.

In the later afternoon the doorbell rang in my room. I guessed that someone from NERV would want to check up on me, and maybe we'd go for another interrogation session again as I was told in my training to be questioned multiple times by the enemy. I took my time getting to the door, careful to mess up my hair and look like an emotional wreck. It wasn't far from the truth. I had already changed into a plain red t-shirt and black leggings that were part of the clothes they provided me.

I opened the door and standing in front was a tall Japanese woman with long black hair wearing a uniform along with a red leather jacket. I recognized her as the woman who had pulled out my "twin" from the interrogation room earlier this morning.

"Erin?"

"Um, yeah?"

"My name is Colonel Misato Katsuragi," she said in accented English. "May I come in?"

My pre-mission briefing had told me about Katsuragi, about how she was an expert in both military strategy and child psychology and had used her position as tactical commander of the Evangelion pilots to win over her charges with very clever emotional manipulation. She was however as ruthless as they came. Because of that I was on my guard but I couldn't let her know that, so it was "game on" again.

"Sure, come in."

Misato entered and brought with her a bag filled with boxes, I could smell the aroma of freshly cooked food from inside. "I figured you hadn't eaten much since you came her so I thought you wouldn't mind if I brought you something." There was a small table and two chairs in the room, and she quickly unpacked everything and placed it on the table. It looked like Japanese noodles and barbeque along with canned iced tea. I'll admit that I stared at the food, as nothing I got from SEELE at any time could compare to how good this smelled. Maybe this was a trick to get my confidence but I was still starving despite it all, and this was a feast compared to what had been getting these last few months.

The woman handed me both a silverware set and also chopsticks, and I promptly chose the chopsticks and went after the food nearly as soon as I sat down. If she noticed anything she didn't say but instead joined me in eating for a few moments. I had to really restrain myself to avoid pigging out but still managed to finish most of my meal quickly.

"Beats hospital food, yeah?" Misato asked. I just nodded with a mouthful of noodles.

"I'm sure you're glad to be out of there," she continued, trying to strike up a conversation. I didn't take, instead distracting myself by eating everything in front of me and then finishing off the tea. I burped loudly, blushing bright red in embarrassment as I realized I just made a complete mess of myself and hoped she didn't see through me.

"Was it okay?"

"Yeah," I said, trying to get my voice back to something less than cheerful. "I needed that. I haven't had a good meal in forever."

"I suppose everything is very confusing for you right now," said Misato. "But you're not alone in this. Some of us have had to struggle with the same things you're dealing with now. I know myself how hard it is to lose a parent, and to lose a big chunk of your life all at once."

I got right to the point. "Admiral Vinson said my father possibly wasn't dead. What did he mean by that?"

Misato tried to give me her explanation. "What he meant was that a Sea of Dirac can be something like an interdimensional portal. We've had Evangelion units go in and out of these black holes intact, so there's likely something on the other side. But where and how it's not yet possible to know." She moved closer to me, saying "It's difficult but at the same time don't give up hope. Your own unit went in and out of the Sea of Dirac with the pilot inside and survived, so it's possible that your father and the others at NERV2 are somewhere out there."

"Doesn't help me any," I muttered back.

"I understand, and it's okay to feel that way. In the meantime, we're here to help."

"Then why are you keeping me here locked up?"

"You're not locked up," she said calmly in reply. "You're free to leave your quarters, and you can go around A Deck as you wish. But security is tight especially when it comes to the EVAs and the other pilots, and they just want to be sure your story checks out before we let you go anywhere else." I didn't say anything further and Misato leaned back on her chair slightly. I was being interrogated, I knew, just in a different way.

"Did anyone tell you that you had a twin brother?"

"No."

"Your father never mentioned it?"

I was upset at just the mention of my so-called twin. "If I really had a twin, Dad would have told me. He didn't keep secrets from me."

"I met your father," she said. "An interesting person, although you have to admit he was a bit on the paranoid side."

"We had enemies," I told her sternly. "He did what he could to protect me."

"Well, we're not your enemy, and you're not the only pilot who's come to us orphaned either," Misato told me. "I'd like to think that somehow we can find a way to help you make a new home."

I didn't say anything at first. To me my home was still Second Branch, not somewhere else and certainly not here at Tokyo-3. Misato persisted. "I realize that it may be difficult for you to consider now, but would you like to pilot EVA again?"

Breathing in a deep sigh I tried to consider my options. Getting back with EVA was my whole game plan here, and if this was my chance I had to play along. Yet these people were dangerous, and this could be a trick too. "What would it take to do that?" I asked her.

"First, your story needs to check out, that you were in some sort of coma for months and then came out of it two weeks ago. We had information about you that was different from that, so we want to be sure everything is correct. But, if you pass the tests and you get your clearance, with a little re-adjustment I can have you back in the EVA as soon as you're able."

"Okay," I said. "What do I have to do?"

"Just be honest about yourself and where you were and that's a good start," replied the officer. "I heard that you grew up pretty much alone at NERV-2. I'd think you'd probably like to meet others pilots like yourself, I'd think you'd hit it right off with them."

At this moment my heart began to tug at me. Growing up I had always been alone, and the idea that maybe there were other kids just like me within arms' reach was powerful. This is what I had always wanted. Yet at the same time I knew this was just bait. I was here to get my EVA and get out, any chance I had at a normal life had been blown away with Second Branch long ago.

"I told them everything," I said to Misato. "I just woke up one day and there I was in that clinic, and now I'm here. There's nothing else to say."

"I see, then I'm sure everything will check out." She then got up to leave. "If there's anything you need, or if you need to talk to someone, please let me or Captain Ibiki know. We're here for you."

I got out of the chair and followed her to the doorway. "Thanks."

She turned to leave but then swiveled around again to face me. "I know all of this is still a shock for you but perhaps soon I can arrange to have you meet Patrick. I think you'd find him quite fascinating." I didn't reply but instead just scowled, as the boy was the last person I wanted to see in all of this. "Whatever."

"Very well. Then good night and please get lots of rest." With that she left the room. I waited a moment further to make sure she didn't return and then plopped myself back onto the bed, slamming my fists into the mattress in anger.

I knew what she was doing: she was dangling "the twin" in front of me to see how I would react, and I couldn't help but express my anger. This boy had wiped out everything in life that I loved, but from this I knew somehow the path to recovering the EVA was going to lead right through him.

I woke up the next day, unsure of what I needed to do next. Even though I was "free to go anywhere," NERV was still keeping me away from anything important and especially the EVA. I had no real choice but to be patient and hope that my story was convincing enough for them to let me downstairs.

Feeling anxious and wanting to at least get in some exercise while I was here, I decided to go for some sort of walk around the top level of the GeoFront. Within the clothes they gave me there were some athletic shorts, which I paired with a green t-shirt and then put on the running shoes NERV also provided me. I decided a short jaunt to at least go through my current surroundings would help me in many ways, mostly to help clear my mind for what was going to happen next.

As I opened the door, standing in front of my quarters was another woman in a NERV uniform. She looked like she was in her mid-twenties with darker skin, dark eyes and long black hair but the most startling thing about her appearance was that there was a bizarre ornamental tattoo patterned all over her chin. Once she saw me her eyes brightened up and she greeted me in a cheerful voice that was accented, sounding Australian.

"Good Day, luv!"

Surprised by this stranger standing in front, I nearly jumped backwards. "Um…Good Morning!"

"Sorry to surprise you like that, dearie" she said to me in a cheerful, almost cocky sort of tone. "Lots of people usually get the willies when they see my Ta Moka for the first time."

"Ta Moka?"

"That tattoo on my chin. Anyway, my name's Moira, Moira Wellington. Someone I know would like to talk to you for a bit. Would you mind coming along?"

With nothing else better to do and knowing I still needed to run the gambit of earning NERV's trust I played along, following the officer through several passages on A Deck until we reached a conference room. Standing in the room was an older man with grey, balding hair and a thin moustache, and he was wearing a khaki and green uniform very different from the others at NERV. He had narrow eyes that followed me intently as I entered.

"Hello again, Miss Forrestal," he greeted as I came into the room. "I'm Sir John Sheffield." He offered his hand to me and I gently took it. I couldn't help but notice that he had said "hello again" but hadn't remembered every meeting him until I remembered his voice as the same one that had interrogated me in the isolation room when I first arrived. "Hi," I said, trying to be as sheepish as I thought I should portray myself.

"Thank you for coming." We both sat down at the conference room table as Moria looked on from the doorway, on the lookout for anyone outside of the room.

"Allow me to explain why I've asked you to come see us today. I realize that you've been through a very harrowing and difficult experience," he said. "It's never easy to lose so much of one's family or home and especially to find this out months after the events. I do hope that you're able to cope well."

"It's…it's difficult but I just try to deal with it," I told him, unsure of where this was leading.

"I thought it might be best to help your, 'readjustment' to the new reality as it were," he continued. "Colonel Katsuragi and the others at NERV seem to be suspicious of your story but I believe that you deserve the benefit of the doubt. I couldn't have at all been easy waking up in a hospital bed and finding that your whole world had disappeared."

"It wasn't."

"I know, and I want to help in any way I can. May I ask you a question?"

"Sure."

"Do you have any strange dreams at night?"

"D-d-dreams," I asked nervously. "Dreams about what?" I fought to keep myself in control but I hadn't expected this at all. Sir John relentlessly continued.

"Dreams of a boy in a mountain cabin, having feelings that seem like you're living in someone else's head?"

What do I tell him? My brain ran at full speed trying to think of what to say without giving them any kind of clue to what was going on with me inside. I was afraid that if I did admit to having the dreams they'd know I was vulnerable to whatever that boy was doing, and I didn't want to do that. "Um, no. Nothing like that!"

The older man just smiled at me and after a moment replied. "You tell me 'no' but your eyes very definitely say 'yes.' No matter. How would you like to meet your other half again?"

"What?!"

"I've arranged this morning for you to see your brother, as I think it's about time that the two of you got properly acquainted." I recoiled from the man I as I realized what was happening, and tried to get out of the chair until I was pushed right back down on my shoulders by Wellington, who was now standing behind me.

"I want to go," I protested. "I don't want to see that boy!"

Sir John looked at me with a smirk. "It's not an easy thing to meet yourself as another person, but I think you'll find it all quite interesting. I certainly know that I will." The old man then leaned in closer to my face. "You should also know that whether or not you finally get a security clearance to go downstairs and reunite with your Evangelion ultimately depends on me," he told me, "and if you want that to happen then I suggest you fully cooperate with us. Is that understood, young lady?"

Breathing deeply, upset and angry, I swallowed my fear and went along with it. "Crystal clear."

After Sir John left I saw in the conference room for the next few minutes and waited, horrified at what to expect. My briefing back at SEELE-2 said that Patrick was very skilled at persuasion, and would pull any strings he could to win me over. He had managed to convince Dad no less, and if he could do that then there was no telling what tricks he would pull.

Suddenly he bounded into the room and then found himself a chair at the opposite side of the conference table where I was seated. Dressed in a blue and green NERV service uniform, the boy who called himself my twin was now face to face with me.

"Hi," he said in a cheerful voice. "Thanks for seeing me!"

"It wasn't my idea," I growled back. "They told me I should go through with this, as part of my 'readjustment'"

"Well, you were out of things for a while. I'm sure that was a huge shock," said Patrick. "I went through that myself, you know." I didn't say anything in return except to stare daggers at him.

"Anyway, once they give you a full clearance I can take you down and have you meet the rest of the pilots. I'm sure they'd all like to see you."

"Like I care."

He was persistently upbeat despite my defenses. "I know this sucks for you," said the boy, "I spent three months in…in nowhere locked inside the EVA. When I finally got pulled out, I found out that NERV-2 was totally gone."

That's it. "Yeah, because you blew it to hell!" I shot back, practically shouting it at his face.

Bingo. He recoiled back at the charge I flung at him. "I didn't do that!," he defended.

"You're the only survivor. How did that happen?"

"It happened because EVA wanted it to."

Oh, screw me. "EVA?! You're joking, right? EVA just did that on its own?"

"She did," he said more calmly. "and she didn't kill them."

"Then where the hell is everyone?"

"You got me there. She told me she put them out of harm's way."

His nonchalant attitude about all of those people that I knew and loved just irritated me to hell but what was worse was how he'd talk about my own EVA being the real cause of everything. "So it just talks to you then?"

Patrick leaned forward and lowered his voice. "Erin, do you not remember the last time you were in the EVA?"

This was not a good turn of the conversation. "Of course I do. It was an activation test."

"And then during the test what happened?"

"Nothing," I lied, "I just blacked out and then woke up months later in that hospital."

"And you don't remember something inside the entry plug?"

"No! what are you talking about?"

"Something came to you inside the entry plug," he said to me, practically at a whisper, "and she told you something, said it right to your face."

How did he know that? "I don't remember anything!"

"But it happened! I saw it happen."

"Liar! You weren't there."

"I was," he said, tapping the side of his head. "I dreamed about it after it happened."

I tried to laugh this off but inside I was really worried about what else he knew. "Oh, you dreamed about it! You talk to the EVA and you dream about me talking to ghosts. You are so messed up, there is no possible way I am related to you."

"You told Vance that you had dreams about a boy in the mountains," Patrick continued. "Like you were inside of the boy."

Oh shit, it is him doing this after all. I tried to fight back but now I was scared, enough to where my hands started to tremble. This killer boy was in my head and now he was using it to get deep inside of me.

"I know that because Vance told me about it," he went, "plus I know that because I've got Vance's tablet and he taped you talking about it while you were visit at his house, and I also know that because when I was living up at Big Bear I had dreams all the time about you."

My guard was up as high as I could get it, but the truth was he seemed to know everything about me, and that was terrifying. "If you saw me say anything like that, it was just me being stupid, and I'm pretty sure I didn't dream about you!"

"Then how did you end up at my cabin?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about!"

"You came to our cabin one night and I found you at the door," said Patrick."'What's dead is alive! What's alive is dead!' Isn't that what you said to me?"

Wait, what? Wasn't that part of that weirdness that I felt back at the hospital when I first woke up. "And when did this supposedly happen?"

"Right after your accident."

Seriously? "Okay, then. So I just got out of the hospital and walked across the desert like three hundred miles to Big Bear Mountain from Second Branch, Really?"

"I don't know how you made it there, but you were there."

"You sure it wasn't some other stupid dream you had?"

"I'm not kidding you!" said Patrick, now shouting himself in frustration. "I freaking saw you with my own two eyes! Then dad sent his men and that's when I came to Second Branch."

"Look, I don't know where the hell you got all these ideas but I'm pretty sure I didn't dream about you, or meet up with ghosts inside of the entry plug, or anything else," I said to him in anguish. "Why the hell do you want to do this to me?"

The boy shrugged his shoulders. "If I was your twin wouldn't you want to at least know more?" It was more and more remarks like that which were really ticking me off.

"Let's get this straight right now," I sneered at him. "You are NOT my brother, no possible way!"

Patrick then pointed at his face, the face that I had to admit did look just a bit like my own. "So, any similarity in our appearance is entirely coincidental then?"

"If I had some sort of a twin Dad would have told me."

"Dad was a jerk-ass, Erin."

With that I had about as much as I could take, important mission or not. I stood up from the conference room chair and screamed at him. "DON'T YOU DARE SAY THAT! He loved me! He took care of me after mom died!"

"And just how did mom die? Did he tell you that?"

"It was an accident! It happened…"

"…when you were four," Patrick went on, practically reading my own mind as he spoke, "and then soon afterward he told you that you were going to be a pilot."

"So? That's not your business!"

The boy got up from his own chair and came right next to me, putting his own face just inches from my own. I didn't back down, and this time I was ready for a fight between the two of us. "Just who was it you saw in the plug then?" he said to me slowly.

"I told you, I didn't see anything!"

"Dad just used you: he sets you up and keeps me hidden away as a spare in case something happened, which it did. Then he pushes people around like chess pieces until he can make his move."

"That's not true at all!"

The boy was now interrogating me like a prisoner, and I felt helpless as he seemed to know exactly what I was thinking. "Did he ever leave you alone at the base?"

"Yes, sometimes."

"Where did he go?"

"He went to see people in Washington or other places, he had an important job!"

"Yeah, he went to go check on me in the mountains."
"No he didn't! If you were actually my real brother he would have told me!"

He then switched the topic. "Erin, if fighting Angels were so important why was Dad only training you to fight other EVAs?"

I started to shoot back but then held my mouth for a moment. After spending months training at Second Branch to fight Angels, the thought that nearly every simulation I was in involved shooting Evangelions instead just occurred to me. "EVAs are just Angels, right?" I excused myself. "Copies of them. That's what they told us!"

"Dad was training you to attack NERV with Unit 04. He just used everyone so that he could bring on Third Impact himself."

No way. "Why would he do that?! What would be the point?"

"Because he hated the world and everything in it after Mom...Mom..." Patrick faltered, his own deep emotions coming out. "Mom was lost to the EVA."

Don't you dare talk about my mom, you asshole! "My mother has nothing to do with the EVA! She's just…just gone, that's all! And who are you to talk about her like that?"

"Because I saw her inside of it!"

Outside of me I wanted to put up a fight against this monster in the room, but inside of me my heart and brain were fighting a raging battle. When I had always been with the EVA before, I couldn't help but noticed the familiar and safe feeling I had. Even the smell of the EVA was somehow comforting. I remember when I first started to pilot and called the unit a "she." I didn't know why I did that, but I just did. But deep down, there was some part of me touched by the EVA, why was I so connected to her? Why would I do practically anything to be re-united with her. Why was she so important to me? That was the first that I really had any inkling of what was really going on with the Evangelion and I became frightened right down to my core.

"NO!" I screamed at the top of my lungs.

Patrick, himself now worked up into his own rage, shouted right back at me. "It's true and you know it, Dad just manipulated everyone. You, me, NERV, Second Branch, the Alliance, SEELE, everyone. After you freaked out he grabbed me out of the mountains, put me in Unit 04 and then send both Vance and I to Japan to set a trap for NERV, only I didn't know what was going on. He tells me all of this after Vance dies and he flew me back to Nevada, and then throws me in a cell for two weeks until he needs me again."

I tried to fight back but I couldn't. I couldn't even move, instead I was just trembling as tears came down my face. The boy could see the effect his words were having on me, and he slowed down just to be sure I understood what he was now saying.

"He didn't give a rat's ass about anyone, he just wanted the world to end."

My father always had that dark side, the side that seemed to drag him downward even in the happiest of times. "The world doesn't deserve to live," he said to me once. But no, I couldn't let this boy win, no matter what he said.

"It's not true! It's not, it's not..."

"He killed Vance, Erin." Patrick said softly. "Dad..."

That was too much for me to take. With all of my strength I raised my right hand and swung it right across that bastard's face.

"DON'T YOU EVER SAY THAT!" I screamed "Don't you ever say that! He would never do that! NEVER!"

"Erin," Patrick said in a sad tone as he felt the wound I just gave him. "I'm so sorry."

Fortunately for me I knew who the real murderer was, and pointed my finger right at the boy in front of me. "I know who really killed Vance, alright?" I screamed at Patrick. "You, you, NEVER speak to me again, you just leave me alone!" I then moved to run out of the conference room, but Patrick grabbed my arm and tried to hold me back. I violently shook him off and darted out, running at top speed to get out of there as fast as I could.

Not looking back I ran and ran as far as I could in this strange place, eventually finding my way back to my quarters. I burst through the front door and then plunged myself into the bed, burying my face in the pillows of the bed. How could he? How could he do that to me? I felt like I had been murdered myself, the boy had penetrated himself deep inside and dragged out everything that I knew and feared, then paraded it right in front of me. I had sworn before that I wouldn't ever cry again but I couldn't help it. Dad! Vance! Why? Why can you save me now, when I need you the most? Why did you let him kill you?

I didn't go out of my room for the rest of the day, but instead stayed inside the guest quarters where I was and sulked. When I did finally go out that evening, it was to do one thing: find out if I really was restricted to the top level of the GeoFront or find out if I could go down. Like everyone here I was given an identification/key card on arrival, and told to use it when I needed to go around the base. I tried it on the elevators and found out it wouldn't permit me to do downstairs, where NERV operations and the EVAs were. For now I was stuck here.

It felt like this wasn't at all going to plan as I was despite the nice words of my new captors still a prisoner, albeit one on a long leash. I was told I'd get assistance from agents that SEELE had also put inside of NERV's operation, but besides the unknown messenger who communicated with me through my bathroom mirror no one had contacted me at all.

Captain Ibiki came to the room again later that night to drop off dinner and again try to start up a conversation. This time I didn't budge much, still upset over the altercation with Evil Twin Boy earlier that day. Seeing I wasn't willing to talk much, she then left me alone for the night.

Before bed I took a shower and as I came out, there was a new message on my fogged-up mirror.

THEY SUSPECT YOU

Not good, not good at all. Maybe it was my over-reaction regarding Evil Twin Boy, but somewhere I had messed up. Nervous again, I wiped out the message and wrote my reply.

WHAT SHOULD I DO?

After a minute a new message appeared.

USE YOUR TWIN TO GET TO THE EVA

It was the last thing I wanted to see that night.

Welcome back to the latest in the Blue Rose stories, as we now start the second half of The Other Side of Me. I took a six-month break, due to a large amount of converging events (daughter going overseas to medical school, in-laws for extended visit, aggressive company sales campaign, losing one dog and gaining another, and other events in my real life). Hopefully I can maintain a two-week post schedule, and as of this writing have three chapters lined up, with hopes to finish the story at no more than 20 chapters.

I did a fair amount of reading and research while on break, and among the things I did was see the hit Japanese anime Your Name. If you've seen Your Name the whole idea of body-swapping comes to mind and while we don't really do that with Patrick and Erin, there are some interesting similarities in how the swap process allows each of them to see the other's life and get to know each other better. I liked Your Name, certainly it's aesthetically gorgeous and has a clever storyline, I was happy to at least see one Makoto Shinkai work which doesn't end in bittersweetness.

In this chapter we get our first real interactions between Erin and the "classic" EVA characters, as she meets with Misato and Maya while being interrogated. We will start to see a few more familiar faces as Erin spends time in Tokyo-3. Please stay tuned for the next part as our roller-coaster is reaching the crest and about to go screaming downhill.