Disclaimer: I don't own Evangelion and all rights got to there respective owners. Also all OC's are the creation of JimmyWolk himself.

SPOILER WARNING: This contains spoilers for the fanfic "The 2nd try" by JimmyWolk. So If you haven't read that then you should definitely stop right here and check that out first.

Summary:

Shinji wakes up in the middle of the night from a horrible nightmare.

"Nightmare"

The day was just as bright and sunny as Aki's smile. Shinji and Asuka had decided to make their anual trip to the LCL sea and pay their respects to those that they had lost and hoped that they would someday return.

"Mama! Papa! Look! Look! It's the sea!"

As always Aki got very excited at the sight of the red sea. Unable to contain herself, she pried her hands free of the ones holding her and ran ahead of her parents.

"Hey, not so fast, you little Wirbelwind!" Asuka laughed, before turning to him. "Don't worry, I'll get her," she told him, before bolting off, sprinting through the sand to follow their bundle of energy.

Shinji smiled to himself, watching his wife chasing their daughter, who was happily squealing as she narrowly escaped her mother's hand, just about to reach the waves clashing at the shore.

But his smile faded. Something was off. Oddly, it seemed as though they were moving in slow-motion, their laughter echoing over the beach.

As soon as Shinji saw Aki's foot touched the red sea everything changed in a blink of an eye. The scenery that had just been a bright summers day by the sea suddenly changed to a cold dark night.

And his wife and child had vanished without a trace. Their laughter harshly cut off that only the sound of the clashing waves remained.

Shinji frantically looked for his wife and daughter in every direction but there was still no sign of them and each passing second only fuelled his worries and he began to cry out to them what seemed like forever.

"ASUKA! AKI! WHERE ARE YOU!"

Just when Shinji was beginning to lose hope, he saw them but where he saw them frightened him to the core as well as baffled him. They were far out in the LCL ocean but most importantly they were hovering above the waves,eerily similar to how he last saw Rei after he and Asuka had returned from instrumentality.

Shinji dared not blink in fear that by doing so they would disappear just like Rei had done. Before he could even think of running towards him he noticed that something was emerging from below the waves. It only took him a second to be able to see what it was.

People. After so long, people were coming back, seemingly all at once. But Shinji noticed that something wasn't truly right with them as each of their skin colour wasn't normal but a ghostly white and when Shinji was able to see their faces, he noticed their eyes were not only crimson red but also devoid of any life. They crawled to the shore in inhuman fashion, rising slowly, shuffling towards him, dragging their feet through the sand.

This truly scared him and as the figures began to come closer to him, Shinji took a few steps back and tripped on something, making him fall on his back. Before Shinji could get back up, arms suddenly sprouted out from below the sand and quickly grabbed him, keeping him pinned and preventing him from escaping.

Just as he was struggling to get free, Shinji saw to his horror the figures that came from the sea were now only a few feet away from him and he was able to hear the whispered voices.

"Coward."

"Spineless."

"Weakling."

"Murderer."

"Monster."

Each word was like a stab to his heart and the figures kept repeating those words over and over again even when they were now upon him, each of their hands grabbing each part of his body till Shinji could no long see anything beyond those hands all around him, until suddenly he could feel like he was being ripped apart by those hands that consumed him.

x-x-x-x-x-x

Shinji gasped and bolted up, breathing heavily as he abruptly awoke. At first he was slightly disorientated on where he was but soon was able to remember. He was home, he was safe.

"It was a dream, just a dream." Shinji whispered to himself.

Getting his breathing under control, Shinji gently laid back onto the bed, silently looking up at the familiar ceiling. Turning his head to his right he saw his wife Asuka still sleeping soundly and he was silently thankful that his tossing and turning in bed or his abrupt awakening hadn't stirred her from her slumber.

Seeing that he wasn't going back to sleep anytime soon plus feeling really thirsty, Shinji silently got out of bed to avoid awakening Asuka and began moving out of the bedroom to the darkening hallway. Unfortunately due to the darkness Shinji ended up accidentally hitting his foot on the sideboard, making him curse out in pain for a second.

Now fully and truly awake Shinji finally reached the kitchen where he proceeded to get a cup and fill it with water before sitting down on the chair. Now alone in the dark, Shinji started thinking on what had awoken him.

The nightmare he just had was the worst he had in a long time, adding to it how real it had appeared to him in it. It just reminded him that while he and Asuka had come to terms with everything, it didn't mean that some hurts would ever truly go away with time.

Now and then he would still ask himself why it was only him and Asuka that came back from the LCL. Was it due to instrumentality being such a painless "paradise" that no one wished to return to the real world? Was it due to the Eva's or their mother's helping the two of them? Was it maybe due to his initial wish for everyone to just die before his mother, Rei and Kaworu had made him see that life without pain was life without happiness?

As Shinji grasped his head in both hands while he was hunched slightly over the kitchen chair, he just wished that humanity would return soon so that him, Asuka and their daughter wouldn't have to be alone anymore. The thought of them being the only ones left for the rest of their lives was frightening enough but if anything where to happen to him or Asuka then Aki would be...

"Papa?"

Surprised, Shinji's head sprung up and turned to see his little girl in her reddish pink nightgown, rubbing her eyes with her arm while holding her most treasured doll Kiko in the other.

"Hey honey, what are you doing up at this hour?" Shinji asked while giving her a small smile.

Aki looked up at her father. "Um, I heard a noise, Papa."

Shinji mentally cursed himself as the noise Aki heard had definitely been him bumping his foot on the sideboard in the hallway.

"Oh I'm sorry honey, that was just me," Shinji apologised to his little girl, getting up from his chair before picking her up in his arms. "Papa just accidentally bumped himself on the furniture that's all," Shinji finished saying before sitting back down on the kitchen chair.

Aki who was still very tired was leaning into her father's chest while Shinji was slowly rocking her to sleep and he saw that Aki was now closing her eyes.

For a few minutes Shinji just sat there, holding his sleeping daughter in his arms. Eventually his thoughts went back to the nightmare he just had and the old feelings of self hatred, shame and despair began to creep up on him. Remembering the times where he wished he could have done things differently, been braver when it had mattered and also wishing to take back the horrible things he had said and done.

Just when Shinji was deep in his dark and troubled thoughts, it all stopped when he suddenly felt a small warm hand caressing his cheek. He looked down to see Aki who's eyes were open and looked worried with her arm still stretch out stroking her father face.

"Papa, don't cry." Aki said in a tired but still worried voice. Shinji was confused at first but he soon realised it himself as he felt the slight wetness on his face, that he had shed a few tears during his thoughts.

Giving his daughter a warm smile, Shinji bent slightly down to kiss the top of her head. "It's ok honey, I'm alright now."

"Really?" Aki asked him, wanting to be sure her Papa was ok.

"Really really" Shinji chuckled slightly and it was true that he was alright now. Having Aki here put his fears and regrets to rest for now. "Come on let's put you back into bed. You don't want to be groggy in the morning now, do you?"

"No." Aki giggled slightly before she let out a big yawn.

Shinji got up and while carrying Aki and started making the way to her bedroom but a small mumbled voice from her made Shinji stop.

"Papa, can I sleep with you and Mama tonight?"

Shinji normally would try to be more stern and make Aki sleep in her own room but tonight he decided to make an exception.

"Ok, you can sleep with us tonight."

Nothing more was said as Shinji took Aki into his and Asuka's bedroom. He managed to gently put Aki in the middle of the bed next to her still sleeping mother before getting in himself.

Once in bed, Aki finally fell into a deep slumber and Shinji watched her for a bit. A hand on his shoulder made him look up to see Asuka, eyes open looking at him.

"Hey, is everything alright?" Asuka whispered to him as to not wake Aki up.

Shinji smiled at her, reaching out with his arm to hold her hand in his before answering her.

"Yeah, everything is fine." He whispered back and for awhile he was content just looking at his wife and child before he finally was able to go back to sleep and this time the nightmares didn't hunt him.

End.