No matter how much Shinji looked around the school that afternoon, he couldn't find the source of that strange sensation. The sheer agony he felt beneath him was simply unnatural, yet not a single sign was visible to him. As much as he wanted to keep looking, he decided to go back home and, after much thought, made up a list of objectives he needed to keep in mind for tomorrow. Plus he still had schoolwork to finish. Schoolwork wouldn't complete itself after all.

It was strange, he pondered that evening, how much he cared more for his life here in Daten City in comparison to Tokyo-3. In this strange city filled to the brim with paranormal activity, Shinji felt particularly normal save for being a bit lonely at the current moment. Corset, Scanty, and Kneesocks were still on their trip after all. It reminded him of the early days when he would be home alone at Misato's apartment. Filled to the brim with messes he had to clean to preserve some sort of sanity for himself. The silly banter he had with his guardian. Even Asuka, despite how cruel she generally would be at him, sometimes spoke to him as a person. As a friend even. It was that social interaction that he missed the most about his time in Tokyo-3.

Yet, despite reminiscing about Tokyo-3, he could not deny how much of a poison it was to him. The influence of his father. The legacy of his mother. The machinations of SEELE. There were moments he still thought of The End. The day that only he would remember, and it terrified him. Being away from Tokyo-3 made him realize that, despite the craziness of Daten City, things felt natural here. People were rather blunt and true to themselves instead of hiding behind a veil of lies or objectives. Despite having to be wary of every sound and every person t a degree, there was a simplicity to their honesty he could appreciate. To him, it was the complete opposite of Tokyo-3. Normal and mundane at front, only for the layers past the surface to be complex with selfishness and domination of other's lives.

Except for the paranormal. He accepted that, at this point, it must be an Ikari thing.

A sigh escaped him as he cleaned his dishes for that evening. The homework didn't take too long to finish, dinner was a simple affair, and he maintained the cleanliness of the home for the day. Which left only one thing left to do before bed.

The objectives for Barby.

Students, according to the principal, were missing; however, something was amiss. There weren't any major absences in mind. The school seemed to still be lively as ever. Morale was, up until Shinji and the Anarchy Angels had their lunchroom confrontation, at an all time high for everyone. The football team was geared up for the big game this week. Cheerleaders were engaging with the student body to support their school pride. What exactly was different between what Shinji could see versus what the principal had data wise?

'Maybe that will come to the attendance records Barby can acquire tomorrow.' What signs could he think about without that data. The school teams were bustling with members. The delinquency was at an all time low. The opposite of the positive surge of morale within the school.

"You blind yourself." Lilith's words, sharp as ever, made him pause as he laid in bed. On his chest was the notebook with a pen in hand for what he wanted to keep in mind for the list of objectives. A few minor ideas were written, yet nothing he felt confident in.

"How so?"

"You focus so much on the culture shock and the awe of the land you walk that you do not see how similar things are." Within a blink of his eyes Shinji no longer laid on his bed. Instead, he stood on top of red water. Naked to the water beneath his feet. The sky were pristine and sky blue without a single cloud in sight. The only thing to focus on was Lilith, tall and mighty with its purple mask. Over time, the Angel had changed back from its fused state with Rei into its true form. Its many eyes all focused on him with an intensity that, over time, had been growing since coming to Daten City. What was it seeing that he could not, he wondered.

With no warning, skyscrapers shot from the water. The all too familiar air horns of Tokyo-3 blared as he looked around him. Were these buildings from Tokyo-3 then? Or were they from Daten? Bird-like Shadows danced across his vision as he shifted his attention towards whatever made it. A shimmer of A.T. Field caught his attention before he found himself quickly dragged underwater. He gasped, kicking at whatever had grabbed him. A black and yellow blob with its eyes focused solely on him before his body suddenly went still. Confused, he looked around and, with no explanation, found himself standing back on top of the water. Yet this time there was no Lilith in sight.

"You focus on being normal. Being someone who has abilities to eliminate threats to society yet seek to keep yourself shackled in fog. Are you truly mankind's savior?" What was once the water Shinji stood on became Lilith's purple mask. Its eyes focused on him, creating a stir of discomfort within him.

"I don't understand." It was the truth. He was going beyond to help the citizens of Daten City by killing stray Ghosts. Yes, he wanted to live as much of a normal life as he could. Was that not what everyone wanted to do? Was that not what he was allowed to do by Lilith herself? Being given this second chance to live?

"Are you human? Are you humanity's savior? Are you an Angel?" Lilith's face sunk beneath him, allowing for blackness to take its place. A shimmer of light caught his attention, causing him to turn around and see Rei, naked like him, standing close to him. He felt his face burn in embarrassment and was about to speak when she placed a finger over his lips. Her lips, soft and perfect, took the shape of a gentle smile.

"Close your eyes. Close them and listen to the blindness." Shinji blinked.

"Come again?" He muffled out. Instead of replying, Rei pulled her hand away from his mouth and closed her eyes. He mimicked her, finding himself in comfortable darkness. His heartbeat, consistent, was the first thing he heard.

zzzzzzzzz

A light, nearly whimsical sound caught his attention. Its soft sound, though nice, was out of place at the moment. What was making it?

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

The sound suddenly became loud and painful. He felt his eyes flicker for a moment. He tried to open his eyes, yet they remained shut. The deafening sound made it hard for him to focus on anything else at the moment. What would make that strange, sharp sound?

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

It became louder. Practically dancing along his skin. It trickled across his very being and made him feel foreign to his own body. Was it coming from him, or something away from him? He tried to focus on his senses. Extending his senses to listen to the white noise that numbed him to everything else.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

The pressure became so intense that he found his eyes pried open from Rei's hands. He could feel her hands cradling his head as he realized that they stood on top of the mayor's estate. Though it was night and the bright lights from the city should have been the brightest thing around, Shinji saw millions of blazing, buzzing, bugs flying across the night sky. Black and red cores were held by these bugs, delivering these cores to something hidden beyond a wall of these bugs.

"Just focus." Was that Rei's voice, or Lilith's? It was so hard to tell between the white noise that overshadowed everything. He looked at the center of the wall. It pulsed with activity, yet remained unchanged. The pressure on his head became worse. Was it from the noise or from the hands that held him up? "FOCUS!" With a yell he widened his eyes to the point his skull felt strangled by the pain. His world suddenly became a dull gray save for a figure beyond the wall of bugs. A humanoid of black and yellow with two red blurs beside it. Between the three was a purple sphere that pulsed with an all too familiar feeling. A feeling that made him forget everything else for but a moment.

Agony.

It was an item made of pure agony.

The sight of whatever it was made him angry. It reminded him of his father and what that man was willing to put him through for his own selfish desires. Within seconds he found himself transformed, flying through the air with the Longinus slicing through the bugs with ease. He flew towards the wall with every intention of getting through the obstacle and seeing beyond it. To stop whoever was creating the issues at hand, and destroying the source of agony.

But then he fell out of his bed. A dull throb of his head hitting the floor made him realize that he slept on his pen, which left a small, yet phallic imprint on his right cheek. The very idea brought an awkward chuckle from him. That would be the type of humor that would appeal to Panty he bet. As he stood up and checked the time, he found himself not quite feeling as aimless in his thoughts. All of his questions. His hesitations. His uncertainties. Everything would be answered if he focused.

At least, he hoped so after he got a few more hours of sleep. It was three in the morning after all.


"You should not have helped him." Within Shinji's core were two figures. The first was Lilith, tall and imposing to all beneath it. The second was Rei. Much smaller, yet equally imposing to all unknown to her. She looked at the city that Shinji sought to keep safe. The city was unlike Tokyo-3 in many ways. She could see why Shinji would enjoy being here. A fresh start in a place much more honest with itself than the residents of Tokyo-3.

Yet, unlike Shinji, she had no reason to compare the two struggling cities. Each had their own benefits and drawbacks. Its own issues like every one an every thing. Cause and effect. The cycle of life. However you phrase it, everything continued on. Shinji, in his own way, was honest and poetic with how he saw the world.

She saw things as factual to a degree. With hesitation yet grounded to the cruelties hiding.

"You seek for him to grow yet stunt his growth with being vague." Rei stated. "If he is to be ready, then we need to help him more."

"We've done more than we should have!" Lilith's voice boomed from the air itself. Its arms became crossed as it looked down at Daten City with a scoff. "I help him cycle through LCL and keep his awareness active for any unusual activities. You keep his body aware during the night and shift through his memories for any oddities I might overlook."

"Yet you refuse to tell him why you cycle through the LCL he is supposed to be doing on his own. You are keeping the truth from him and the potential of his decisions." Rei, with a swipe of her left hand, changed the cityscape to that of an egg. A black and red egg as long as a football field floating in an abyss with a dozen others. "May it happen in ten, fifty, or even a hundred years, you are failing to honor your end to train and get him prepared for what is to come. Do you want him to struggle and suffer like your kind has done to him already?"

"He asked for a normal life! A life that I'm trying-"

"Trying? More like criticizing for him doing what is exactly in his character to do. To help people who did not ask to be put in harm's way." Rei turned back to Lilith, who now stood at Rei's height, and placed a hand upon its chest. Their flesh seemed to conjoin for a moment before her hand was rejected. "Its faster now." Lilith placed both of its hands on the spot. The pose made it seem as if it was praying. Was it hoping for an answer?

"Then you understand why it is better to just do things without explaining it to him and getting him to do certain parts on his own! To get him to take steps without being told directly!"

"Exactly like his father." The intensity with the air dissipated. The image of the black and red eggs shifted to the familiar sea of red with white sand. The purple sky, beautiful to her, reminded Rei so much of Eva Unit-01. "I will not lie to Shinji." Rei stated before matching her eyes with Lilith. "I will give you time to educate him and help him become the best person he can be. Not the best copy of you or what you want him to be. Otherwise-"

"I brought you with, and I can erase you at a whim!" Lilith grabbed hold of Rei's neck and raised her off the ground. The anger in the being's eyes said enough to her. Then she found herself free as the very hands that grabbed Rei's neck melted off Lilith's arms. Flickering like the lights in her old apartment, the limbs barely held themselves together by their A.T. Field. She could feel the conflict of emotions within Lilith. Fear. Anger. Dread. Nervousness. She felt more human than most of the humans Rei ever met in her life. Rei did not seek to put Lilith down or to stop her from accomplishing her goal. No, Rei knew that The End was yet to come.

Rei pulled Lilith into a hug. A soft, gentle hug.

"We still have time to help Shinji adjust to what is to come."

Instead, Rei hoped to make Lilith understand how Shinji operated instead of what she needed him to be.

Everything relied on him after all.