Ch. 10 He Said "Don't Carry The World Upon Your Shoulders"


It was a gloomy day in Tokyo-3. The rain was pouring overhead in a torrential downpour that had gone on relentlessly for the past few days.

Despite both already knowing this beforehand, two boys trekked onwards through the wet and windswept streets, each having forgotten their umbrella at home.

"It's your turn to bring an umbrella Toji! You were supposed to bring yours you big lunk! I even texted you!"

"Whatever dude, my phone got wet! It's not my fault it never rains here. I didn't expect it!"

"Always be prepared! You'd make a terrible boy scout!"

"Yeah because I'm not a boy I'm a man! Besides, I'm a much better barbarian than a scout."

"How do you know what a barbarian is?"

"What? You've never seen Conan? That movie kicks ass dude!"

Kensuke let out a loud sigh before continuing. "Okay big man, we're close to Shinji's place, let's go there to dry off before we get completely soaked and catch pneumonia or something.."

"Good idea, I know a shortcut! Follow me!"

Toji led his wet and whiny friend through a side alley, weaving and dodging through the various bins weaving through the slippery sidewalk. After about 15 minutes or so of this they arrived at the imposing looking apartment complex. Entering the glass door quickly he slapped the elevator button as his equally drenched friend followed behind him.

"Shortcuts are supposed to take less time!"

"Do you always have to be complaining? We're here aren't we?"

"And we're soaked!"

"Then let's go dry off." Toji quickly entered the elevator and quickly pressed the close door button as many times as he could.

"Hey! Wait up! You better no-" He didn't hear the rest as the door quickly slid shut. Toji held his sides and enjoyed a hearty laugh at his friend's expense. Imagining his buddy fuming and dripping his way up the stairs behind him.

He exited the elevator and quickly marched over to the only door he remembered in the complex. Looking over at the stairwell he saw a pair of brown eyes angrily glaring at him through a pair of glasses.

"Not funny."

"Agree to disagree."

Toji pressed the doorbell and waited. After a few moments he was greeted by a familiar mop of poorly combed brown hair nervously peering up at him.

"Hey guys, what's up? What are you doing here?"

"Someone forgot their umbrella and we got caught out in the rain, mind if we dry off inside until the weather clears up a bit?"

"You're still on that? That's practically ancient history at this point."

"It was 5 minutes ago!"

"Guys, Guys please, of course you can come inside, Misato's still asleep inside, try to be a little quieter."

Upon hearing this he and Kensuke immediately stopped bickering and entered into a traditional apologetic stance to make up for their carelessness.

"Our deepest apologies, we'll be quieter than Oda's warriors at the battle of Okehazama."

"Yea, what he said."

"You don't have to do all that, just don't yell? Please?"

Walking in the door they were both quickly handed a towel each and began to dry off, making extra careful not to disturb any of the other residents of the house.

Toji cupped his hands over his mouth to direct the sound and leaned over towards Shinji, afraid to even take another step. "Does this house still suffer from demonic possession?"

"What are you talking about?"

"He's asking if Asuka's here."

"Kensuke you fool! You've spoken the devil's name and now we'll all suffer the consequences."

"Hey! What's the married couple doing here!? Shouldn't you two be out getting matching tuxes for the ceremony?!"

"What!? We're not married! We like girls!" In a rare moment of coordination the pair spoke in near perfect unison to the shockingly insulting accusation.

"They're just drying off from the rain." Shinji stood in between the arguing teens with his hands outstretched in an attempt to break up the squabble. Nobody paid attention to his efforts.

"Sure you do. You're just two straight guys attached at the hip, who spend all their time together going out to different places. Not to mention the 'training' in the woods with barely any clothes on. You guys are right, what was I thinking?"

"How does she know about that!? Toji!?"

Toji held up his hand and made a gesture to quickly silence the boy, giving him a look that made it clear he would handle this.

"That's the one fact you stooges need to get in your thick skulls, I know everything,and I mean everything!"

"Oh really? You know everything?" Toji has a rule about hitting girls, that doesn't mean he didn't want to, he just doesn't act on impulse. Luckily for him he had an ace up his sleeve

"Yeah!" The girl seemed unphased by his attempts to glare at her.

"Everything?" Toji had a smug grin that he couldn't remove if he wanted to, which he didn't.

"Are you deaf and stupid? If so, that's tragic."

Toji took the ace out of his sleeve and placed it on the table. "Well if me and Kensuke are married, then why am I going to the school dance with Hikari!?" To his smug satisfaction the words did manage to put the girl on the backfoot.

"You are!?" Toji was met with 3 different sets of eyes, each gazing at him with disbelief. Suddenly he felt incredibly insecure, not something he was familiar with. He puffed out his chest and smiled widely, soaking in their shocked stares, finishing with a small bow.

"That's gotta be a lie! I'm calling Hikari!"

"When did this happen!?" Kensuke seemed the most surprised of the three, gaping up at the larger boy next to him like a drowning fish.

"Earlier this week, we were hanging out after school, the topic came up and we decided to go as friends since we didn't have anyone else to go with."

"Who goes to a dance as friends!? That's ridiculous"

"What!? Are you the mayor from Footloose now!? Have you even gotten a date yet?"

"You know I don't, but if you're going as 'friends' you don't have a 'date' either."

"You can use all the words you want but I'll still be the one dancing with a cute girl."

"So she's cute now? What happened to calling her the tyrant of class 2-A?." Toji could feel his cheeks begin to flush at his friend's teasing. He darted his eyes around the room to look for a diversion. His eyes landed on Shinji nervously peeking down towards the end of the hallway.

"Do you have a date to the dance Shin-man?"

"No, I'm not going." Toji could easily spot the discomfort this question sparked in the boy, he decided to leave the topic be for his friends sake.

"Why not? I've seen all those letters the girls leave in your locker. You've got plenty of offers, why not take one of them up?" Toji glared at Kensuke but couldn't catch his eye and was ignored.

"I don't wanna go, I can't dance, I'd just make myself look like an idiot if I went."

He could tell from his friends' body language and literal language that he was in need of a patented Suzuhara pep talk to brighten his spirits.

"Don't say that Shin-man! Didn't you do like a whole week of ballet training to defeat an Angel? For guys at this school you've probably got more experience than all of them combined." He ended with a friendly pat on the back that made his friend flinch before realizing he wasn't trying to hit him. Toji knew who'd put that fear in him.

"It wasn't Ballet, it was synchronized dance training."

"Isn't that basically what ballet is?"

"I really don't think they're the same at all."

"Why are you going to the dance with that human Neanderthal of all people!?" The shrill noise coming through the walls reminded the boys of the presence of a now enraged redhead in the other room.

"He is NOT 'cute' and you'd get better conversation with a brick wall!"

"Hey! That's your opinion and it's wrong!"

"Quit Snooping! And who asked you anything!? Why don't you three stooges get back to the set? The directors are probably looking for you!"

"Nobody gets your weird references, Gaijin! You quit yelling you're gonna wake up Misato! We're trying to be respectfully quiet!"

"Like I care about that!" Asuka pressed the phone up to her girl and tried her very best to slam the curtain behind her as she stomped off.

"I appreciate the concern guys but I was already up. Also if that was you kids trying to be quiet, I'm afraid to see what you trying to be loud is."

"Ms. Misato! Our deepest apologies! That red headed witch provoked us! We swear!"

"I'll show you a witch!" Toji froze like a deer in headlights as the girl leapt from behind the curtain, luckily for him Misato interceded and caught her before she could attack him.

"It's really not a big deal, don't stress yourself over it and please, you don't need the miss. Shinji! Asuka! You've got a harmonics test later this evening at 5, don't forget."

"We won't!" To his dismay it was the two pilots this time who spoke in sync. Creepily accurate, unlike the garbled mess that was their attempt at simultaneous speaking.

"Congratulations on your promotion, Misato."

"Promotion? What are you talking about Ken?"

"Thank you, Aida. I appreciate it."

"Congratulations!"

"Thanks Suzuhara, I've got to go to work, try not to kill each other while I'm out kids." With a quick wave the women exited the door to the apartment. Returning the apartment to it's previous state of a near stand off. He looked around to see what objects would be useful in defending himself in case the red-head tried to follow up her attack.

"Misato was promoted?"

"Yeah, didn't you see her badge? it has two stripes now, that means she's a major now."

"I had no idea, she never said anything about it."

"I guess they're just handing out promotions to anyone now. "

"Hey you take that back!"

"Make me Monkey Boy!"

Toji moved to make good on his words, not willing to have this harpy disrespect a working class pseudo mother in front of him. He felt a surprisingly strong grip on his arm and looked to see Shinji shaking his head slowly.

"Have neither of you ungrateful children thought to take a moment to think about that poor hard working women! It can't be easy taking care of you two kids at her age."

"I guess it's a good thing some of us still have a little human compassion."


Ritsuko Akagi doesn't get mad, she gets annoyed and maybe a little frustrated from time to time. The passionate fires that would inspire such righteous indignation having long since faded from the doctor. More than often she was just tired, and annoyed.

One of her biggest annoyances was dealing with children. She had never been good with them growing up and little has changed since then. Of course, most of the research for project E required her to test the pilots some way or another so she had little choice but to interact with them.

"Lower the plug depth for all the pilots by another meter."

"Yes Ma'am." Her loyal right hand Maya quickly typed in the command, almost as fast as she could enter it.

"These readings don't make any sense."

"What makes you say that?"

"Rei's sync ratio has stayed the same since Unit-00 was activated and now it's gone up by a whole 6 points. Shinji's sync ratio was down in the last test and now it's jumped up to the highest we've recorded. My equipment can't be the problem, we've run nearly every check we can on it."

"What's he stablized at?"

"95%, Asuka's gone up a couple points but nothing close to this"

"Do you have any idea what could've caused such a sudden spike?"

"His psychograph was all over the place, normally that would interfere with his ability to connect his mind to the Eva. For some reason Unit-01 seems to be molding itself to his mental state and correcting for the difference."

"So it's the Eva itself that's causing it. Should that even be possible?"

"Maybe, It's just a running theory, with so many different things going on I don't really have time to look into it more thoroughly right now."

"What about the new girl?"

"Nothing to note there really, since it's her first test we're just establishing a baseline. Mid sixties is pretty good, about what we'd expect from someone with prior training."

"Did you know she was coming?"

"I was only told Unit-04 was ahead of schedule, I didn't think they'd actually send it this quickly but I guess people outside NERV don't have that much faith in our abilities to deal with the enemy."

"If they don't believe in us, why trust us with so many unstoppable killing machines like the Eva's? That seems ridiculous."

"Because no one else can do what we do, no one else wants to either, they just want their problems to go away, therefore we exist." A tense silence broke over the pair, both contemplating the truth behind her words.

Eventually the smaller woman broke the silence. "Should we inform the pilots of their scores now or wait until the test is finished?"

"Let's wait until we're finished, I need some time to prepare myself for Asuka's screeching when she gets the news."

Maya giggled at this, bringing a small smile to the doctor's face. "Those kids really are special, aren't they?"

"I guess you could say that."

"Cmon Ms Ritsuko they're not that bad, I think we were all a little annoying at their age." Maya always had an uncanny ability to know what she was thinking based on the tiniest inflection in her voice. She should probably look into that sometime.

"A little?" She couldn't help giggling along with her favorite subordinate before they were both interrupted by the communication link in front of them.

"Hurry up! I have better things to do than sit in here acting like I'm constipated for 3 hours!"

"Should we start to wrap things up?"

"Not after that, I think I'm gonna go get a coffee, do you want one?"

"But what about the-"

"Coffee, yes or no."

"Yes." The younger girl's mouth quickly mouthed a reply then snapped shut, eyes turning into hazel saucers looking into her very essence.

"Then I'll be back in about ehh, let's say 15 minutes." She gestured her hand noncommittally before leaving.

"Can I walk there with you?"

"Of course, let's go."


'I understand you have no reason to trust me, but you must not attempt to contact your mother inside Unit-01, it would not be in either of our best interests.'

'I still don't understand why it would be such a bad idea.'

"Your synchronization to the Eva is based on the connection between the soul inside the beast itself and the pilot, if you strengthen that connection by directly contacting Yui. You'll drastically increase the danger of the Eva going out of control or it absorbing you altogether'

'What? Absorbed? You mean like-'

'Yes.'

Shinji felt a cold sweat break out on his skin at this news. His fest clenched reflexively as he headed for the entry plug. The short walk he had taken dozens of times before suddenly seeming much longer and dreadful.

As the LCL filled the small chamber he tried his best to clear his mind and stay as calm as he could manage. Taking slow steady breaths within the murky liquid as he adjusted to the uncomfortable seat beneath him.

Lights flashed on around him and he felt the familiar presence attempt to connect itself to him, as soon as it did, Shinji realized a fact about the human brain.

Trying NOT to think about something through effort is practically impossible, made more difficult when you are constantly reminded of said thing. The storm of poorly suppressed emotions and racing thoughts formed together into one word that slipped through his poorly devised mental protections.

'Mother?'

It was enough. The Eva immediately responded, at first the warm LCL around him cooled rapidly and it seemed to recoil from him. After a few moments the heat returned to an almost uncomfortable level

'I ask ONE thing of you'

"I'm sorry! I really tried!"

"You have nothing to apologize for Shinji, quite the opposite actually, whatever it is you're doing, keep it up."

"Oh, okay, sorry."

"Is that a tick!? Are you some sort of psycho with tourette's?"

Shinji winced at the loud and harsh words booming over his radio, he had forgotten communications during tests were all on an open channel, he hated that.

"No it's not, I don't think them having tourette's makes someone a psycho."

"You're right, but it would explain why you're one."

The coldness with which she delivered the last insult succeeded in getting underneath his skin. "What's that supposed to mean!?"

"You tried to take advantage of me!"

Shinji's jaw slacked open. He was shocked by both the fact that she'd bring it up now of all times and that was the story she was deciding to go with.

"You kissed me first!"

"Shut up! No I didn't! That was all your fault!"

"How was that my fault!?"

"Ugh, Is this seriously the one time you're not gonna blame yourself for something!? You're impossible."

"I'm impossible!?"

"Alright children that's enough, as entertaining as it is to watch you two scream at each other we do have work to do, cut the chatter for the rest of the test."

"Awwww, but it was just getting to the good part."

"Mind your own business rookie!"

"I can promise you Mari, that won't be the last time you see something like that."

"Oooh I love the sound of it, can I bring popcorn to the next test?"

"If you can manage to eat anything while fully submerged in LCL, in my mind you've earned it. The smell alone makes me feel sick to my stomach."

"I actually love the smell of LCL."

"Great, the new girl is a weirdo AND a pervert."

"Love you too Princess." Shinji couldn't help chuckling as the girl made a small kissing noise at the red head through the comms, setting her off further.

Stop calling me that! It's weird and I don't like it."

"Asuka, you do know I can mute your comms right? Or everyone's if I feel like it."

"What!? She started it!"

"And I'm ending it, we've only just started so let's try to get this done quickly, I don't want to be here all day.

"Finally something I can agree with!"

Shinji relaxed in his chair and breathed a sigh of relief as things finally calmed back down. Then tensed immediately back as he remembered where he was, and who he was with more specifically.

Pandora's box has already been opened, you'll have to be careful during combat now otherwise you could lose control. Remember this, the connection to the Eva goes both ways, when you sync deeper with the Eva it syncs itself deeper with you.'

'So I can talk to her now?'

'Yes, you can talk to her now, though I have no idea of how successful you'll be. I should remind you the audio devices in the entry plug are recording'

He tried to project his thoughts to the Eva, it was a strange sensation but a familiar one, like there was more than one person in his head.

'Mother, can you understand me?'

It didn't speak to him but he could feel that it understood him, it was like it was coming from both his own subconscious and the Eva itself.

'I missed you.'

The heat of the LCL was so intense he felt like it should be burning him, instead it comforted him immensely. Consoling him without words in a way he hadn't ever known he'd been waiting to experience again.

'Why?" He choked back a sob, taking deep lungfuls of LCL to maintain his composure. 'Why did you have to leave?'

The silence in the entry plug was now deafening. When he realized he could never get a real answer to his question he broke down, softly sobbing to himself as salty tears floated to the top of the LCL. Shinji took a few minutes to c

'I'm sorry, Shinji.'


Misato hated feeling old and being forced to walk around with a cane certainly didn't help that feeling. Even if it's black and polished with a varnish wood handle, it could be made of solid gold and it'd still be a cane. She wasn't even thirty for gods sake!

She'd try going without it of course, there were about three of the damn things chucked into the back of her closet and abandoned. Everytime she returned to work though, her 'best friend' chastised her for being stubborn and forced me to start using another one. How many of these damn things did she make anyways!?

It did make her walk a lot faster than without it, where her best effort amounted to gait that was little more than a pained hobble. She was too embarrassed to be seen walking around the more populous areas of the base so it took her longer to get where she needed to be, making the difference meaningless in her mind.

Taking her alternate routes had caused her to miss todays' sync test, she didn't have to be there but she felt it was her duty to support the pilots whenever she could. She'd hadn't even had time to check the results, arriving shortly before the pilots themselves. Not that it was ever that important, outside of occasional slight boosts it was mostly a formality to ensure nobody's score had gone down. Or that was what she had been told anyways.

"Hurry up goldilocks, I swear you're making these tests longer each time on purpose."

"Asuka please I'm a professional, I'd never be so petty." Misato thought Asuka's eyes were gonna pop from the force she used to roll them in reply to the lie obvious to even her.

"How are the prettiest girls in Tokyo-3 doing on this beautiful day?" Her blonde friend looked up from her work to give her a knowing smirk.

"You've been seeing him again, haven't you?"

"What are you talking about!? I haven't seen that idiot Kaji in over a week."

"Misato?"

"What is it Rits?"

"I never said Kaji."

Misato kicked herself for blowing her cover so easily. "Damn, how'd you find out?"

"You start to sound like him when you're sleeping with him"

"I do NOT!" Misato stamped her foot on the ground as she felt her face tingle with shame.

"So you're not trying to hide it anymore? It's probably for the best that only one of you is good at keeping secrets."

"I can keep secrets!"

"Oh really? Name one."

Misato almost fell for that, not that she'd admit that to anyone, ever. "Har Har, Don't you have a job to do?"

"Sadly Misato, you are right, Rei your score has improved by a whole 6 points since the last test, good work."

"That is unprecedented."

"You bet it is!"

Misato shot Asuka a look but Ritsuko seemed unphased. "Yes it is, if you feel any changes in yourself or the Eva you need to tell me right away."

"I will."

"Good, Makinami you were stabilized at a steady 64%, pretty good, about what we'd expect."

Misato suppressed a chuckle as she watched the girl pretend to lift an imaginary dress before taking a theatrical bow. "I live to serve oh beautiful and wise worker of miracles."

"Kiss ass."

"What? It's not my fault our direct superiors are babes. I have a thing for strong women."

"You're hopeless."

"Asuka, you've been improving very nicely, your score has gone up by another 3 points since the last test bringing you up to 75%."

"Did you really expect anything less! Now let's get to what we're really waiting for! Were you a theater kid or something? Quit with the fanfare and tell me the idiots score so I know who's at the top."

"Your patience and understanding are my favorite qualities of yours Asuka."

"I'll be patient when you get the simulators hooked up to run with more than one person you lazy bum!

'Lazy!? You little brat! How dare you!" Seeing that the girl's insults had actually succeeded in getting under her friend's skin for once she stepped in to try and make peace.

"Can't you two just get along? You're practically the same person." In hindsight, redirecting the anger of the two temperamental women at her by inviting the comparison wasn't the best idea she's had lately.

"We are not!" The girls pivoted their feet and turned to yell indignantly, each placing a hand on their hip and striking an arrogant pose.

"Sorry, Sorry, forget I said anything, what about Shinji's results?" She held up her free hand defensively and went for the best distraction she could to save her skin.

"Right, the big announcement, Shinji, your score jumped up all the way to 95%, it's honestly incredible, we've never seen someone this able to connect themselves to any Eva."

"95%!? He's gotta be cheating! That's absurd!"

"Unlikely but it's entirely within the realm of possibility. We haven't seen anything like this before though. What I said to Rei applies to you too, anything feels off about you or the Eva itself you tell me right away."

Misato finally took a good look at Shinji, he seemed even more downcast than usual. Not moving his eyes up from the floor and only shaking his head at the women's instructions. She clacked her cane across the floor and began to gently rub a hand on his back.

"Feeling alright Shinji?"

"I'm fine." She could easily tell he was lying but he looked so beaten down in his current state she couldn't make herself push it further. She could feel a pair of eyes burning into the both of them and looked up to meet Asuka's look of utter disgust directed at the two of them.

"This isn't over Third Child! I'll be the first one to reach a hundred, mark my words! Then all of you will know your rightful place!"

"Asuka, I'm sorry I-"

"Save it! Whatever it is, I don't want to hear it. If we're done here then I'm going to the simulators to do some more elite training."

"You won't be able to, the simulators are down for the next couple of days."

"Well why the hell is that?"

"Why do you think? My 'lazy' team and I are finishing the final touches for the renovations so we can have all our Eva's in the simulation at the same time."

"About time! You tell me as soon as it's done, a chance to spar will finally allow me to show my superiority as a warrior."

"We're working on developing some coordinated training drills but until we have those ready we can let you 'spar'.

"I can't wait." Misato snorted at her other ward's words. Noticing the not so subtle improvement in his dreary demeanor after watching the fiery redhead prance around and proclaim her greatness.

"That mouth of yours is gonna get you in a lot of trouble pretty soon, Third Child." Misato patted the now terrified boy on the back for support.

"Who knows princess, the puppy might be into girls who are able to kick his ass."

"Like I'd care about that! I'll take you on too Four-eyes, I'll even poke out a couple of my Eva's eyes so it's a fair fight."

"I would never be so foolhardy as to think myself above the Great Asuka Langley Soryu, Queen of battle and Princess of Tokyo-3."

"What is it with you and the weird nicknames!?"

"Part of the wonders that make me me, It's both a blessing and a curse."

"I don't know why I asked, I don't care, I'm walking home, don't wait up." Misato frowned at the quickly walking form of the girl. She'd have to talk to her soon

"I'm in danger aren't I Misato?"

"You could always say no when she asks you to spar, you don't have to go along with what she wants."

"You say that like I really have a choice." This concerned Misato, she was always worried that the more assertive Asuka would end up pushing Shinji around.

"You could always kick her butt instead! Girl's like Asuka respect strength, so if you do fight her, you better not hold back or she'll be really pissed."

"Hah, yeah, like that'll ever happen."

"Aww, don't be like that, You're the invincible Shinji. I've watched you fight those Angel's, if I were Asuka, I'd be the one who's scared.

In her mind there was no better teacher than life itself. Shinji was either gonna sink or swim in her mind. She'd try her best to keep his head above water, she owed him that much at least.

"Do you know how to swim Shinji?"

The boy stopped his brooding and raised his eyebrows and gave her a strange look before answering. "No, last time I tried I nearly drowned at a lake near my uncles, why do you ask?"

"Oh, Uh, No reason, just curious I guess."


After using a variety of cleaning products to conduct a holy war against the LCL on her skin and in her hair, she was enjoying some well earned beauty rest. Sleeping for short amounts throughout the day intermittently was proving much less stressful than just relying on falling asleep at night. She needed plenty of rest for her high powered brain to function after all.

Of course nothing good can last, the only other occupant in the quiet apartment had to turn into a vertebrate just to ruin a good nap. This put her in an admittedly foul mood, already compacted by her recent intense annoyance with the boy.

He had been apologizing for breaking the synchronization record of all things. God, he was so insufferable, if you're gonna professionally humiliate someone, at least do it properly! Not that it mattered now, with the simulators finally updated she'd thrash anyone who'd dare take her rightful spot at the top. He may have higher numbers but she was a true warrior, not something you can get by so-called 'talent'. No one would be saying anything about stupid numbers when she and her Eva were standing over a Unit-01 eating dirt

"No way! If you and your stooge friends want to throw a party for that drunk go ahead! I'm not going!"

"It's not just for Misato, it's also to celebrate you two leaving the hospital."

"We're soldiers, that's stupid! We get out of the hospital on a near bi-weekly basis, that's nothing worth celebrating."

"But we're alive aren't we? Isn't that a good thing?"

Asuka rolled her eyes at this. "You're really losing it aren't you? Gonna throw a party every year just to celebrate being alive?"

"Isn't that what a birthday party is?"

She briefly considered slapping the boy for his impertinence but decided to allow it, narrowing her eyes at him instead. "Smartass."

"Cmon Asuka, it could be fun. I kinda also already told Kensuke he could use our place."

She made sure to roll her eyes as hard as she could without rolling her head at the boy's continued spinelessness. "Here, I'll make you a deal. I get to invite Hikari and Kaji and you buy all of the snacks I like since it's MY party also. I suppose if those demands are both met. I could consider allowing this celebration to happen and if you're really lucky I may even be gracing it with my presence."

"Oh, but I already did both of those things."

"You did!?"

"I'm sorry?"

The look she gave him must've been nasty because he immediately reacted like he had been physically struck by it.

"I'm not sorry?"

"You'll learn eventually, Third Child."

"I will?"

"I sure hope so." Asuka left the confused boy standing there with a familiar luck of dumbstruck awe and confusion. Leaving her stuck with a dizzying array of emotions and feelings she didn't have the time nor inclination to try and understand further.


Hikari liked feeling included. She was surprised when Shinji had called her out of the blue, mostly because she had totally forgotten giving the boy his number. She never got invited to parties for obvious reasons relating to her chosen role at the school. She was glad she was right about Shinji, it was sweet of him to invite her so Asuka would have someone to talk to her.

Now if that moron Toji would stop gawking at Misato's top like it was about to suddenly vanish at any moment her partying experience would be perfect.

"Congratulations!"

"Really thank you guys, this is nice, having everyone together like this. Thank you Suzuhara for planning this."

"As much as I'd like to take credit, this was actually Kensuke's idea, you should thank him."

"Well thank you very much Mr. Aida."

"Aww it's really nothing, not a big deal at all, don't even mention it."

"I didn't think Hikari would be here."

"Oh, I invited her."

"Really? Why?"

"Because she's my friend dummkopf!" The two shared a look and a strange female warcry he had never heard before came from the two young girls.

"Did you invite Rei or the new pilot?"

"Rei wasn't answering her phone when I called her and I don't have Mari's cell."

"Finally! at least something can go my way today and I don't have to deal with those two freaks, now if Kaji would show up on time for once my night would be complete."

"Kaji? Is he that weird looking guy who never shaves?"

"He does not look weird! He looks weird!" Hikari frowned at her friend as she pointed to her fellow pilot, meekly staring at the table and looking like

"Hey! Be nice to Shinji! He struggles in social situations like this, and you're not helping!"

"How do you even know that? Better point, why should I care what you think monkey boy?"

"I have eyes! If you don't, I can make you care."

"Oh you can now? Can you? Come over here and try it then, it's been too long since I've put one of you perverted boys in their place."

"There is nothing in this world that would make me happier than finally shutting you up."

"Suzuhara! You can't hit a girl!" She really didn't like Asuka being this rude to someone she considered a friend. She also knew better now than to try and get between Asuka and someone she had a problem with. All she could do was try and prevent a fight from breaking out and talk to Asuka later.

"She never shuts up about being a soldier! She clearly knows how to defend herself, but I'll go a little easy on her to prove chivalry's not dead."

"No, he's right Hikari. Since it'll be so easy for the great and mighty Toji Suzuhara to defeat the frail and pathetic maiden Asuka, I'll let you get in the first punch, the first one's always free."

Hikari began to panic at the prospect of a fight actually breaking out. Looking to the only adult in the room didn't help. She was cooly watching the events and chugging a beer like it was filled with water.

"Guys, please don't fight, Toji, it's not a big deal, I just wanna hang out with you guys and have fun, can we do that? Please?"

"Dang, those are some nuclear grade puppy dog eyes, man. Ugh, fine!"

"Aww, listen to your third wheel stooge, I'd hate to get your stench all over my nice clothes."

"Hey I smell great, thank you very much! I use western cologne, maybe you've heard of it. A little thing called Old Spice."

"That's what that is!? I'd rather you just smell like B.O. than a walking chemical spill!"

"Then it's a good thing I don't do a damn thing because you approve, I'm my own man."

"A man, hah, Kaji's a real man! You're just a boy with pretensions above his station."

Hikari was about to step in to prevent further escalation but luckily the room's occupants attention was diverted to the now opening door.

"Ooh, He's here." Hikari had to blink a few times to make sure she was looking at the same girl. The change in expression was night and day then right back to night as the door opened and revealed an attractive blonde woman tailing in behind him.

"I came right from headquarters, we just happened to meet along the way."

"A likely story." Hikari had to suppress a giggle at the identical scornful looks each of the women were throwing at the man.

"You're not jealous are you?"

"Of course not."

Hikari was too polite to ever bring it up to one of the people involved but a part of her mind burned with intense curiosity at the potential sordid love triangle going on at NERV HQ. Based on Asuka's own feelings she'd probably never find out, not that it didn't stop the mind from wandering.

"My sincerest congratulations, Major Katsuragi, I suppose I'll have to start being polite to you now."

"And just what does THAT mean?"

"Well both of NERV's commanders have never left Japan at the same time until now, it must mean they've put a lot of faith in you."

"My father's left Japan?"

"That's right, he's in the south pole right now."


Despite being still relatively new to it, Asuka had come to a sort of peace with her newfound habit. She wasn't an idiot, she didn't think it looked cool or hot to be a smoker. Although she totally did. Her whole life had been decided for her by other people. Joining NERV at age 6 and spending ten years training to be the best Eva pilot.

It was bad for her, it was killing her slowly, and it was her choice to do so, nobody could take it away from her. She never really thought about herself being old; she'll probably honor her Nordic ancestry and die a warrior's death before getting old and gross.

She'd found a nice spot to do it at least, it was a quiet and secluded spot close to one of the maintenance entrances. Giving her a wide view over the underground lake and a picturesque view of the flora.

Hearing footsteps behind her she quickly stowed the still lit cherry behind the tree she was standing next to, turning to face her least favorite artificial blonde.

"Did you come out here just to harass me? Can't a girl get five minutes to herself in this cursed place?"

"Funny, I was about to say the same thing, I suspect I'm out here for the same reason as you."

Asuka pulled out the still burning cancer stick, tapping the cherry against the tree and taking a long drag before speaking again. She almost didn't cough this time.

"Yeah." An awkward silence fell over the two women, each looking out over the landscape stretching around them.

"It's a nice spot though, isn't it? Nobody ever comes over here and there are definitely worse places to go for a break."

"It is pretty looking, that's for sure, used to be quiet too, that was nice."

"Yeah, Yeah, well it was my spot first."

"Dibs." Her words were met with a raised eyebrow, she realized that the phrase probably didn't translate well into japanese.

"Where I come from, if you want something and other people want it, you call dibs, whoever calls dibs has the right to whatever the thing is."

"That sounds dumb."

"Eh. A lot of things are." Asuka just shrugged her shoulders at the women, not really agreeing or disagreeing with the statement.

"Well I'm still here, I'm not leaving, So I don't think it works very well."

"That's because you people have no respect for foreign cultures."

To her annoyance Ritsuko broke out into uncontrolled laughter at her attempted jab. "It's honestly inspiring that you can say things like that with a completely straight face."

Asuka could feel the doctor attempting to set her off intentionally, not really caring what the woman thought. She opted for breaking the silence by talking about their only mutual interest. "Whatever, you're sure nothing was wrong with the tests today and you had better make sure that idiot didn't cheat to get his score that high."

"Yes, those were confirmed results, we wouldn't have shared them with you otherwise. You should know better than anyone it's not possible to cheat on a sync test, if there was I'm sure you'd have done it a long time ago."

"I would not!"

"Really? If you found some backdoor entry code that artificially inflates your sync ratio, you wouldn't use it to try and humiliate the Third Child and 'prove your superiority'.

"Okay, Maybe, but only because he humiliated me first! Eye for an eye."

"We're talking about the same boy right? I don't care for the Third Child but there's no way he did this intentionally, it's just bad timing I guess."

"He's just pretending to be like that! I bet underneath that facade he thinks he's better than all of us, he's just too afraid to say it to our faces."

"Really? You really think that? I once saw him hold open the door for you and apologize for it afterwards. He should star in movies after this is all over if that's the case."

"I don't think I'd expect someone like you to understand the intricacies of people. If my laptop starts freezing up then I might ask you for some advice."

"You realize I have a degree in Psychology right?"

"Ooh, did you minor in Acupuncture? Or did you do a double major with something really useful like Homeopathy."

"Asuka you've been to college, Are you trying to tell me that every Psychologist you've talked to at NERV or outside of it is a quack?"

"I'm sure there are some people who need stuff like that, I'm not one of them, I'm stronger than that."

"Yeah, you're a real mental Supergirl."

"Hell yeah I am! And some stupid piece of paper written by some overpaid lackey won't change that!"

"Cool, I'm not getting into all that while I'm on a smoke break. I already work 7 days a week most weeks."

"Oh no, What ever shall I do without the knowledge of the great and powerful Akagi, excuse me while I weep."

"You know, most boy's don't like sarcasm, you'll be hard pressed to find a date to the dance if you don't fix up that attitude of yours."

"How the hell did you find out about that!?"

"Misato, she had me look over all the paperwork so we could be prepared for the night of, I suggested we treat it the same as the school trip but we'll just have section 2 on standby to rush you over in case of an Angel attack."

"You might as well have, cause I'm not going."

I was only kidding, I bet even with your star studded personality you could take anyone you wanted with you, so why don't you?"

"Of course I can, those idiot boys are putty in my hands. I'm not going, school dances are stupid and actually taking one of those drooling Neanderthals with me would make it ten times worse."

"Are you sure you're a teenage girl? Don't you all love getting dressed up and dragging around unwilling boys to awkwardly slow dance to some crappy song?"

"Sorry, Doctor, things have changed a little since the 1970s, now we have little computers in our pockets that flip open and close."

The older woman's eyes narrowed dangerously and for once Asuka was on the receiving end of a fearsome glare.

"Do you know the real reason I'm letting you fight with Shinji in the simulations as soon as they're open?"

"I obviously don't, get to the point."

"Because he is gonna kick your ass."


"Did I ever tell you why I joined NERV Shinji, why I really joined?"

"Uh, No, I don't think so at least."

"It all started with my father, or to be more specific my fathers work. It was always about his ambitions, his goals, his next big breakthrough, never about HIS family. He abandoned me and my mom because of that, I've never forgiven him for it, I don't think I ever will either.

"That sounds familiar."

Misato didn't seem to notice his comment, her eyes seemed distant and her fingers were fidgeting with the cross around her neck absentmindedly.

"I'd always heard he was one of those bleeding heart scientists, always showing his emotions and vulnerabilities, coming across as a fragile man on the edge, but I knew the truth. He was just a weak man and afraid. Too cowardly to even face the family he left behind for his scientific expeditions across the globe. Instead running away from everything and everyone around him until it finally caught up with him."

Shinji joined Misato in looking out over the city. Her words carried a certainty and truth to them and the similarities were too striking to ignore.

"When my mother told me they were getting a divorce, I was actually happy, I laughed at my dad for getting upset, told him it serves him right, that he can go to hell. I thought he got what he deserved, then he forced me to go along with him on a trip to the south pole. After that, he sacrificed his life to save mine from the second impact."

"You mean….You were really right there? Right where the second impact happened?"

Misato's presence of mind seemed to have returned somewhat as she nodded her head solemnly at the boy's questions.

"I used to hate him, I think I still do, if I'm being honest. It's a weight you always carry with you. Hate and love are very similar emotions, I think, you can feel both burning intensely through your whole body and dully aching over long stretches of time. I've had a lot of time to think, right after it all happened that was all I did. I was a mute trapped inside my own head. My only company was my thoughts and the memories of that day." Shinji could tell that this was difficult for her to say. He didn't know what to do in situations like this so he opted for awkwardly patting her on the back a few times. It seemed to be enough, surprisingly

"The only thing I've really figured out is that I need to kill the Angels that started the second impact. So I can finally be free from my father. I don't know if I'm avenging him or clearing my family's legacy but I do know it's what I have to do."

That was why Misato fought. Why she was determined to join NERV and defeat the enemy sent to destroy them, revenge or something close to it. Why was he here? Was he just doing what his father said? Was he scared of the consequences of failing? Did he have anywhere else to go? His uncle's house was a cold place, nobody wanted him there and he didn't wanna be there either. If he stopped piloting Eva then he'd be useless to his father, he'd be sent away.

He could do it first, leave before he's the one left all alone. He'd gotten pretty skilled at parsing out which of the unassuming strangers around him were actually Section-2 keeping an eye on him. They always wore the same suits, it wasn't really that difficult with practice.

He'd make it pretty far if he tried, maybe they'd find him eventually or maybe he'd get out of the country. Where to then? NERV was an international organization, there was almost nowhere he could go where there wouldn;t be squads of goons looking for him. He'd heard that Korea was known internationally for its disdain of the Japan based organization. There was one problem, specifically it was the man constantly in his head both metaphorically and literally.

It's not that type of issue you can go to a doctor about, especially if you mention that you know it's not a hallucination because they can't tell you about the future. He wasn't entirely sure about this since he wasn't an expert but he imagined hallucinations were more kind than what he got stuck with.

The knowledge he had gotten had come with a price, he knew the world would be in his hands, whether he liked it or not running away wasn't an option. In the time it'd take him to flee NERV's clutches an Angel would show up and wherever he was he'd suffer the price of his failure. Everyone else would too.

There did exist a brightside, as he had slowly come to see it. Despite the previous and continued difficulty he's found in getting along with his father, they have gotten along better than ever. That wasn't saying much but it was something. He hoped that the experience in talking to his father would make him better equipped to talk and maybe even connect to the man outside his head. Despite his nerve wracking encounter before he'd hardly even seen the man, let alone gotten a chance to talk to him one on one.

If he could at least say he understood his father, that would be enough, probably, maybe. He knew more about him than ever, but to say he understood it was a bit of an overstatement. Asking questions was a good place to start, but so far that had only left him with more than he started with.

He could ask about the other things he was curious about, sure not everyday you got to talk to a time traveler. For Shinji it wasn't everyday he got to talk to the man half responsible for his existence. If he learned about his father's past, maybe he'd know why he'd left, that was the real question he wanted to ask. Even thinking it to himself caused his whole body to tense up. It wasn't the question that scared him, it was the answer. If he didn't know, it could be whatever he imagined it to be, but once he knew, he would never be ignorant of it again.

He'd find out eventually though, whether he was ready to or not, he knew that for sure.


Misato felt a cold pit of hatred in her chest as she watched the rapidly descending form of the Angel from the command center. Its body was cloaked in flames as it entered, it was much longer than anything else, with a gnarled and spiky appendage sticking out for probably hundreds of meters behind it. All the Angels looked weird but she couldn't even tell what was what on this creature. Based on just looking at it there was no discernible features besides a comically small mask on it's mismatched, tiny face.

"It kind of looks like a flower."

"Yeah, a rose actually."

"For Every Rose, A Thorn."

"That was so corny Hyuga."

"Yeah what the hell was that dude?"

Misato turned her attention away from her bickering subordinates and back onto the viewscreen in front of her.

"It's massive."

"That's one way of putting it." She barely registered her friends words as the large fleshy bulb pointed right at the earth shot off a small chunk of itself towards the earth. Then with a flash of light, the feed cut out.

"What was that!?"

"Based on our analysis the Angel is composed of smaller pieces working in perfect harmony with one another, functionally it is one creature but it can detach and reshape its bodily structure at will. Right now it seems to be launching pieces of itself at us, so far it's only hit the ocean but its aim is improving."

"Any change in its velocity?"

"Nope, the Magi estimates a 99.8% chance that it will attempt to impact itself directly with Headquarters."

"Great, so if it falls on us we'll be standing in the Third Ashinoko lake."

"Actually, this entire area will become part of the Pacific Ocean."

"Any success in reaching the commander?"

"No, the Angel's jamming is still too powerful."

"Issue a D-17 declaration and get the pilot's to the cages as soon as possible, I have a plan."

"That fast? I guess that's why you're the one they put in charge."

"You're damn right! I'll fill you in along the way."

"The way? Where are we going?"

"I have to go to the bathroom."

"And I'm so proud of you for it."

"Rits, we've been over this, we go in pairs, always. Remember, the female buddy system?"

"We're at work, that's tedious."

"I don't care, they're social norms, I didn't make the rules and neither did you, now c'mon." Despite her cane drastically limiting her agility and mobility she managed to slink her arm around her friends and drag the reluctant blonde along with her.

"Do you know how annoying you can be sometimes?."


Mari stood in a line with her fellow pilots, fighting a losing battle to look at the Major's eyes and not down her shirt as she explained the plan. Her exaggerated movements and constant shifting and pivoting on the small wooden cane made her efforts in vain.

"You're just trying to get me killed at this point, aren't you?"

"Asuka please don't say that, I feel bad enough already, this is the only way we can do this, defeat isn't an option."

"So your solution is a suicide mission!? You're insane!"

"But what if it doesn't land where you think it will?"

"You can guess that Shinji, there'll be a slight boom."

"What if the Eva's can't handle the strain!?"

"There will also be a little boom then Asuka, the same that'll happen if we don't do anything."

"What are our chances?"

"It's better if you don't know."

"Scheisse! It'll take an act of god for this psychotic 'plan' to work."

"Acts of man are better than acts of god Asuka. There is a very low probability of success on this mission. I wouldn't ask any of you kids to put your life on the line if you weren't willing, if you want out, you're out, no questions asked."

"I'll do it." Mari decided to be the first one into the fire; she could tell from the woman's haggard face that she'd been up all night thinking of a way to defeat the Angel.

"Like hell I'm letting some rookie show me up! I'll do it."

"Me too, not about the rookie thing, I mean I'll do it too."

"I will also participate in the mission."

"Ayanami, are you sure? What abo-"

"What is the purpose in possessing a life if you do not use it to fight for a better world?"

Mari chuckled at the boy's paralyzed expression as he tried to process the question. She was also surprised by the sudden question and the intensity with which the words came out of the bluenettes mouth.

"NERV policy dictates that all of you have to fill out a will in case of being K.I.A. Have any of you done that yet?"

"I don't need to, because I'm not going to die just yet."

"That's the spirit! Neither will I!"

"Yeah, me neither."

"I also do not require one."

"Alright, kids then I'll see you after this is all over."

Mari admired all of them. They hadn't been training all their lives for this. Asuka partially but she wasn't a soldier, she didn't have the heart for it, or the lack of one to be brutally honest. Even if they didn't succeed, there were worse ways to die than trying to save the world.

"If they make statues of us they better get my cup size right, I want future generations to know I was hot."

"We could all die today and you want your last words to be some pervy crap like that?"

"We're not dying Princess, I still haven't seen you and the puppy kiss again."

"Again!? You shut your mouth! I'd never kiss that idiot!"

Despite her protest she got the desired reaction from both the other pilots. Each turning a different shade of crimson as they stole a quick glance at the other before looking back at her.

"If you'd just tell me the story my imagination wouldn't be left to wander and 'fill in the gaps'"

"Go read a magazine if you want gossip, I'm not here for your entertainment, nothing happened."

"That's not what I heard from the puppy when you were arguing during the sync test."

"Quit calling him puppy! His name is Shinji! Why do you keep calling him that!?"

I dunno, he's cute, he's got big ears, he looks sad most of the time, they just come to me, I don't choose the nickname, it chooses me as its vessel."

"I have big ears?" Mari decided to leave the question unanswered, her attention focused elsewhere at the moment.

"He is not that cute! Use normal names like a normal person."

"I'll pass, but if he's not that cute, how cute is he? I'm dying to hear your thoughts since you admitted you think he's at least a little."

"Can we just go and get blown to pieces by the Angel? Pretty please Misato?" Mari pouted at the girl's deflection of her teasing. She decided to let it rest for now, so that her guard went back down for next time.

"I was gonna let you finish but fine, I got a nice bonus from my promotion so I'm taking all you kids out on an all expenses paid trip to the hotsprings for a weekend of relaxation after all this is over."

"Oh boy." Mari looked over and chuckled internally at the wooden smile from the boy as he badly acted like he was enthusiastic about the major's plan.

"Whatever, let's go do this thing, my Angel tally is looking pretty lonely by itself, I think it needs a friend."

She looked respectfully for a few moments at the majors backside as she hobbled out of the room before looking back to her fellow pilots, sharing a disbelieving look.

"Are hot springs really supposed to impress us? Wow, what a marvelous Japanese invention, a bath but bigger and less clean. Clearly the nation of tomorrow."

"People do it more for the social experience than to actually bathe themselves."

"Since when have you socialized anywhere!? Let alone in a hot and sticky room full of naked people!"

"Well most places make you wear a towel…."

"Still weird, who the hell wants to have a friendly chat while they're cleaning their unmentionables? It's absurd."

Mari grew impatient watching the two bicker and gave in to her near constant compulsion to 'stir the pot' as it were. Variety was the spice of life and when you were around a bunch of easy to tease over active teenagers you got plenty of it.

"I hope it's a COED place, I wonder what color the puppy would turn if he saw all 3 of us in just a couple towels."

"I,Er,I,Um,Uh,I'm-" Mari could barely make out most of what was attempting to be sentences coming out of the boy's mouth. She grinned widely as her words created the mental image and made him blush ever brighter than before.

"I have never been to a hotsprings before."

"Really? You've lived here your whole life and you never even tried it once, that's what I'd expect from you I guess."

"Pilot Soryu?"

"What!?"

"Can I ask you a question?"

"You just did dummkopf."

"I see, may I ask you two more questions then?"

"If it'll make you leave me alone, sure."

"Would you like to be my friend?"


'Are you sure there's nothing that could help me during this? It might land in a similar place.'

'I was not present during this time, so my knowledge is very limited. My only advice would be to monitor the sky for changes in the atmosphere, an object of that size, moving at that speed will be causing massive disturbances."

"What kind of disturbances?"

"I don't know exactly, look for lightning and clouds moving unnaturally, try and listen for the sound of thunder."

"The falling Angel has been sighted, all Eva's get on your marks!" Shinji crouched his mechanical titan into a traditional running stance as he prepared himself for what was to come.

'I mustn't run away.' Shinji spoke the words to himself, knowing he had to do this, there were people counting on him. He was well past the point of no return.

"Begin the operation!"

"Let's go!" Shinji threw himself forward with all his might onto the control sticks, sprinting at incredible speeds as he scanned the sky for the approaching Angel. He wouldn't have to look for long, based on his vague memory of their positioning; it was on the outer edge of their perimeter. He'd be the only one able to reach it and even then it'd be a stretch, longer still for the other Eva's to back him up.

He could feel the air around him heating up and warping around him as he picked up speed, the landscape zoomed by him as he entered onto an extendable ramp created by NERV, allowing him to bypass the city's larger buildings. With a final leap he soared through the air towards his target, dragging his feet through the terrain and creating massive gashes in the earth as he eased his momentum.

"AT FIELD MAXIMUM!" He used every muscle in his body to strain and try and force his Unit-01's AT field as large and strong as he possibly could. Sensing his hands coming into contact with a hard surface he looked up to see his hands pressing up on the Angel's glowing hexagonal field.

With every second he could feel more of the Angel's massive bulk press onto him and push him further into the dirt. It felt like his bones were being pressed together and he could feel his arms and back twinging from their deep connection to the Evangelion. Suddenly the pain changed to a sharp stabbing in his wrists, to his shock a winged humanoid had formed itself above him, its limbs shaped like jagged lighting bolts made of white bone. Its head looked like a deformed human skull mask crudely welded to its face, a glowing red core gaped in its chest that seemed to be looking at him with pure hatred.

He frantically looked around and didn't see any of the other Unit's even close. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, concentrating on staying conscious and maintaining his footing. It still wasn't enough, with every second, more and more red liquid poured out of his Unit's wrists and the joints in his arms and legs came closer and closer to breaking from the strain.

The Angel began to drag his arms apart, he pulled with all his might, letting out a primal animalistic growl that came without warning as he thrashed and bucked at the butterfly controls.

First his right leg gave out, putting him into a kneeling stance, his dominant left leg being the only thing keeping him on his feet as the titanic bulk of Angel rested itself on his shoulders. He felt the back of his head pressed up against the solid wall slowly descending onto him, his arms splayed either side of it trying desperately to keep it and himself upright.

"SOMEBODY! KILL THIS THING NOW! I CAN'T HOLD IT MUCH LONGER!". Every part of him burned and ached, he was so tired, it felt like he had been holding up this stupid big Angel for his entire life.

"Quit your Crying, The Cavalry's here!" Shinji felt like crying tears of joy as he saw a scarlet Evangelion flying in with its legs pointed right at the Angel preparing to deliver a devastating kick. If he did they would've turned into tears of despair as the only result of the flying kick was a large crack in the Angel's AT Field, not nearly enough to finish it.

Suddenly he felt like the weight pulling him down had lessened considerably, he turned around and had never been more glad to see Unit-00 behind him. The shorter Eva quickly maneuvered itself to support his efforts, not removing it entirely but enough to let him catch his breath.

He watched with a mixture of awe and impatience as the Red Eva hacked and slashed at the solid wall of light with graceful precision, each blow flowing into the next, looking more like a dance than actual combat. With a sound like flesh being torn the Angel's field snapped apart, the opening quickly exploited as a progressive knife was quickly driven into the exposed red sphere.

It was taking too long, even with Unit-00's help they were both beginning to buckle underneath the enormous weight of the Angel pressing down on them.

"Asuka! Hurry!"

"I'm hurrying! Break! Damn you!"

"Prepare for trouble! And make it double!" In a near perfect imitation of Asuka's previous stance a white Evangelion came flying seemingly out of thin air. Delivering a powerful kick to the already embedded knife and driving it straight through the Angel's core. With a crack and a resounding boom the Angel's core shattered into tiny fragments.

The weight was lifted, and for a moment a calm stillness fell over the battlefield, the Angel's body rapidly exploded into LCL, most of its mass being high above them, creating a torrential downpour right above them.

He felt a wide grin break out on his face, the pain in his hands dulled to a numb tingling. Then he looked up and realized how much LCL the dead Angel had created above them. He let his aching legs rest and stared up at the now partially obscured skies.

"Now that's what I call teamwork! Hell yeah!" The white Eva sauntered up to the red one beside it, hands outstretched into an attempted high five that was dodged with considerable grace by the other behemoth.

"Guys, look up."

It started out as a sprinkle, little droplets splattering all across his massive metal body, his connection making it feel like he was the one standing in the rain. They all could see the wall of liquid about to fall on them and prepared to be drenched in the foul smelling liquid.

"Oh, this is totally gonna suck."


"Shark fin Ramen! And supersize it!"

"Spicy ramen! Supersize mine too!"

"Pork ramen, please." Rei's original plan had been foiled with Shinji and Misato both getting pork, she'd only been planning on copying someone else's order but she hated meat.

"That sounds good, I'll have the pork too."

"I'll have the Miso soup."

"This is our celebration dinner First Child! We just saved the world, again, and all you're having is veggies in watery broth. Get something exciting like shark fin."

"I would rather not."

"What, you're too good for this lowly ramen stand?"

"No, I dislike, eating meat."

"Of course, I'm friends with a vegetarian, lucky me." Rei looked up from her food into the eyes of the Second, confused on whether she'd heard the girl's statement correctly.

"We are friends? Shinji told me that friendship had to be mutual, I assumed your previous denial ended that possibility."

"I didn't deny you, exactly."

"Princess, you said you'd never be friends with her in a million years and told her to go watch paint dry for a few years to understand what it feels like to talk to her for five seconds."

"What are you!? My stenographer!? I wasn't talking to you then and I certainly am not now, so back off Foureyes."

"Really, Foureyes? Asuka you went to college, you can insult me better than that."

"I'll insult you however I feel like, now buzz off." Rei observed the girl turn her head towards the bowl and loudly slurping at her food, ignoring the glare from the impetous redhead before her gaze returned to her. She looked up from her food to meet the intensity of the eyes blue as her hair.

"If you're serious about joining the elite clique of Asuka Langley Soryu's friends there will be conditions, you'll have to accept them if you want in."

"May I know of these conditions?"

"No, I was just gonna make you guess, of course I'm telling you, there's 3, 1. No stealing my Angel kills or getting in my way during combat. 2. Do what I say or else 3 No jokes at my expense, ever. "

"I have a question."

"Then just ask it, I'll make a fourth rule just for you number 4 quit asking permission for every little thing."

"Does Shinji follow these rules?"

"Hell no he doesn't! I know that!"

"Has he been informed of their existence?"

"Well, they're somewhat new, I wouldn't expect someone like him to be hip with it."

"That means she just made them up right now, Sweetie." Rei smiled warmly at the bruenette, finding her carefree nature enjoyable especially in situations like this after a stressful battle.

"Shut up Foureyes! Why doesn't she get a weird nickname huh!? Playing favorites are we?"

"You'll always be my favorite, don't worry Princess, like I've been telling you I don't choose the names, they choose me, when it comes it'll come, no sooner or later." Rei marvelled at the coolness with which the girl handled the Second Child. No matter how much the girl yelled or threatened violence, she only smiled more, clearly enjoying teasing the girl more than anything else.

"Whatever freakazoid, Well First Child, do you accept? Are you willing to humble yourself to become one amongst the gods?" Rei was confused by the girl's choice of words but still agreed with the sentiment.

"I do not see any of these conditions as unacceptable, I would like to add a condition to my friendship also."

"You're making demands!? How dare you! I'm already being too generous for you here."

"When I didn't know what a friend was, Shinji was the one who filled me in on the concept, he said he had enjoyed your company and hoped you two were friends. I believe all of us pilots should become friends. I have found fighting to protect your 'friends' useful in combat situations like the one we were in during the last Angel attack."

"Ayanami I trusted you!" She cocked her head quizzically at the blushing boy.

"Shut it Third, No one likes people who are nosy."

"Oh, I had assumed that Asuka already knew that you enjoyed her company. I did not see this as a breach of trust and will attempt to do better in the future."

"Can you just stop bringing it up? Please Ayanami, It's embarrassing."

"I apologize I will not bring up your like of Asuka in the future."

"I-I d-don't like her, that's a really funny joke Ayanami"

"Oh so it's funny now? Funny how?"

"Well, I mean, Well you know. It's funny."

"Why would I know? You're the one who said it, and I'm the one who is asking you, funny how?"

"It's just that it's absurd, you know, not very likely to happen."

"No I don't know. So what you're saying is that I'm a joke to you? I amuse you? I make you laugh? I'm like a circus clown on a tricycle to you? That's what you're telling me right now."

"What? No? You're just you know, you, and I'm just like, me, you know. That's not very likely to happen."

"If you use the words 'you' and 'know' together ever again in a sentence in my presence I'm removing your ability to speak."

"I'm sorry."

"Oh now you're just trying to piss me off." Rei placed a hand on the girl's shoulder, causing her to abruptly turn around and scowl at her while she shook her head at her.

"My one condition is that you must treat Shinji better than you do now, even if you do not feel the same about him as he does about you, do you accept?"

"Fine, I'll put on my kid gloves to protect your little boyfriend. Don't expect me to be happy about it. Also, know this only makes your probation time even longer. Welcome to the club First Child, you're now a cut above the usual stock around here."

"Asuka, we're not like that."

"Oh really? You mean you've been having secret meetings with a girl platonically? I think that makes you look worse."

"I really really don't see her in that way at all." Rei was surprised at how rapidly this accusation had changed the boy's voice. His denial caused his voice to drop noticeably a few decibels conveying his conviction. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be rude Ayanami I just-"

Asuka was the first one to break out into laughter, first starting out as a derisive snort then devolving into an uncontrolled fit with Mari joining in shortly afterwards.

The red head's laughter was as infectious as it was rare and Ayanami felt a smile tugging at her lips despite the situation. Observing both Mari and the Major along with Shinji breaking out into fits of laughter at the girl's antics. She warmly smiled and observed the group, savoring the sensations of the moment. It would be one worth treasuring.


'Did he really mean it? What he said during the debriefing.' Shinji couldn't help himself from sounding a little childish when he posed the question, part of him knew the answer. Another part desperately wanted to be proven wrong.

'In a sense, he did. A more truthful answer would be both yes and no'

This was not the answer he had wanted to hear and his previously glowing mood dimmed as he realized there was hidden layers to getting the praise he had always craved and wanted.

'He was no doubt impressed by your actions and proud of them but there is a purpose to him saying that now. He's equally privy to the medical records and must've known how painful the experience was, they must be getting worried that you'll quit Eva entirely if the pain becomes unbearable.'

'But I can't, so why does it matter to them? If I run away they'll just drag me back here.'

'And when they do that, how can they rely on you to pilot the most advanced and dangerous weapon of war ever created?'

'Good point, so what you're saying is, the praise is genuine, but it's being used to keep me here?'

'Correct.'

'So it's not about caring for me or not, it's about maintaining control over me.'

'More or less.'

'Why?'

'He has not yet figured out the uselessness of the dummy plug system, you are the only person who can make Unit-01 function. Without Unit-01, the scenario fails.'

'I'm just another tool to him!?'

'I wouldn't call you a tool exactly, you're the catalyst and Rei is the trigger.'

'You mentioned that before, what's Rei's role in all this?'

'To fulfill the purpose she was created to fulfill, accept Adam into her body and fuse with Lillith, forming the union of the fruit of knowledge and life.'

'I have to talk to her! She can't want that! Rei is a good person, she pilots the Eva to save other people, she would never do something like that.'

'DO NOT, under any circumstances mention a word of this to her, she's perhaps the closest person besides the sub-commander himself to the commander, doing that would be risking everything for nothing.'

"Doesn't he already suspect me? You just told me he needs me, what's the worst he's really gonna do to me even if he does find out what I know.'

'No one is completely irreplaceable, It would be better for all of us if the commander didn't start going into any of the contingencies that don't rely on you.'

Shinji felt his blood run cold as his imagination ran wild with possibilities of what those contingencies could entail, deciding it was better not to know he left the question unasked.

'You are correct though, he does suspect you, and he'll suspect you even more when you tell him about the futility of further pursing development of the dummy plugs.'

"I'm gonna do what now?! How!?"

'The same way you did before, offer information, give your demands, reap the rewards afterwards.'

'Oh yeah, it was a real cake walk last time, I can't wait to do that all over again, and make even more demands of the most powerful man in the world.'

'There are definitely people more powerful than the commander, regardless I understand your trepidation but this is the only way forward. The commander will refuse to help you if there is nothing in it for him, you have to 'sweeten the pot' as it were.'

"This sucks."


Shinji was walking down a boardwalk in a place he'd never been to before, there was a store beside him but it looked abandoned. For some reason he could read the western characters on the sign and knew it was a place that at one time had sold saltwater taffy.

He kept walking, turning his eyes out over the open ocean out before him, it didn't look like he remembered, with murky blue waters adding to the aged and decrepit feeling the whole scenery gave him.

After he made it further down the boardwalk, though never seeming to make any actual progress in growing forward, it started to snow. First in little flakes falling down occasionally before eventually turning his surroundings cold and snuffing out most of the natural light he had been using to see.

He was headed somewhere or at least he thought he was, the longer he kept walking the foggier his mind became about why exactly he was here.

As suddenly as it appeared the snow vanished around him and the sun came out in blinding rays forcing him to cover his eyes and halt his tracks. As he looked around all he could see were abandoned shops in various states of decay and disuse.

He felt eyes watching him and caught a glimpse of a bearded man with glasses watching him from a broken window above him. As soon as his eyes locked on the man he vanished, drawing his attention to the unbearable squeaky noise his shoes were making with every step. The noise was incredibly grating and continually made him more and more irrationally angry.

Despite his annoyance, and the heat from the sun burning him up, he kept walking, now with renewed vigor to get wherever he was going.

"Where you going?"

The voice reverberated out from nowhere sounding like it was coming from above him and like no one he had ever spoken to before but he still knew he had to answer them.

"I don't know."

"What are you looking for?"

"Somebody's looking for me." He shook his head along with the words, finding the certainty he had been lacking before as he said them.

"Who?"

Then just like that the fog resettled on his mind, he had no idea and all the confidence he'd had before worked in reverse for him now.

"I don't know."

He kept walking, eventually seeing another familiar figure off the side of the pier casually standing and looking out over the sea.

It was Kensuke, he had different glasses then he remembered, they were dangling around his chest by a novelty chain wrapped around his neck. His hair was slicked back and his face was stuck in a new expression that looked to be equal parts scowl and grimace. The boy was dressed in nicer clothes than he had ever seen with a stylish red sweater overtop a white button up with a jet black tie.

"Our true enemy, has yet, to reveal himself."

Shinji kept walking, a sudden burst of joy overtaking him as he again remembered why he was here. He joyfully sauntered over to the pay-to-use magnifiers and looked out across the sea, peaking directly into a large train station completely empty except for two people sitting at a table.

It was him and his father, he couldn't see that clearly but he knew the two of them were playing chess. His last pawn had marched across nearly the entire board unmolested as the game reached its twilight, one more move and his father would be in check and he'd win the game. He didn't know when the game started or what he got for winning. He just knew he absolutely could not lose, it was very important.

Two of the pieces on the board were wrong though, next to the black king there was a white queen and vice versa, each player seemed aware of the swap and didn't care. He could see both men's eyes constantly drawn to the small piece across from him, coordinating their moves around them and never touching the pieces.

When it was his turn and the game was practically over both players abruptly stopped playing. He watched himself slowly get up from the table and pull something out of his waistband while his father coolly watched, white gloved fingers interlocked with each other. What the boy had retrieved was a gun, neither one of them reacted as the younger Ikari aimed the pistol at the man's head and squeezed the trigger. The force of the shot sent the older man's body tumbling off his chair and onto the floor.

He watched as the other Shinji tossed the pistol onto the ground and reached across the table to pluck up the mismatched white piece. Then without warning, he broke out into a dead sprint heading out of the station.

Shinji pulled himself away from the telescope, turning around and speed walking over to the car that had been waiting for him for quite awhile. He wasn't sure how he got lost in the middle of a parking lot this huge but he was glad Misato was here to pick him up.

He had to get to the job.