Hello everyone, Calborghete here, how are you all? Here's another chapter for you.

Don't forget to like the page on Facebook, the direct link can be found on my Fanfiction profile page, or if you prefer, search for "Calborghete" and find an image of Shinji and Asuka. On this page I will post updates and it will also be easier for you to contact me.

So without further ado, read on.

"Dialogues"

- Thoughts -

"Radio Talk

"Self-talk."

Responsibility note:

Evangelion, its characters and setting are the property of Hideaki Anno. Any brands, films and series mentioned in this fanfic are the property of their creators.

(*)

Chapter 12

Kaworu sat on the bed with a downcast look on his face, not because of how he ended up there, or the looks he received from everyone, but because he had let Shinji down, had failed to make him happy as he had promised himself.

His room was basically a big red room, with restraining poles everywhere, he didn't mind that, nothing seemed to bother him, but knowing that he hadn't managed to control himself, even though he didn't care about his death, he thought about how it would affect Shinji.

"Damn."

(*)

Misato was at her desk, she was gasping at what had just happened, two angels in a few hours, she put her gun on the table as she took a deep breath, she could feel her hands shaking as she came face to face with one of the beings she hated most in this world.

Entering her room without even knocking on the door, Ritsuko was smoking her cigarette, and she could see that Misato was at her wits' end when she saw her state.

"What are we going to do?" She says calmly, but she has managed to keep her emotions under control.

"I don't know." Misato spoke honestly with her head still buried in her hands, slowly looking up to see her oldest friend.

"I really don't know."

"Can I give you my honest opinion?" Ritsuko spoke fearfully about her idea, but learning about Misato's past made her afraid.

"What's wrong?" Misato said tiredly, not knowing what to do at the moment, but she was open to hearing what her friend wanted to say.

"That might not be a bad thing." The doctor began as she spoke calmly, Misato looking at her suspiciously.

"Nagisa has always shown himself to be mixing with us, he hasn't caused any harm to Shinji or the other girls, he did it to defend these people, I don't think he means any harm."

Misato finally understood her colleague's point, feeling anger take over her body for all the pain the angels had caused her.

"You're talking as if he were one of us! He's a freak like your kind!"

"I know, but we never understand what they're really like, Nagisa may be a rare case."

The blonde tried to think of her scientific side, it would be good to have an angel to study.

"Rare case? It's just waiting to act! We must kill this thing now!" Misato screamed in hatred as the door to her office opened to reveal Shinji with the marks of the attack he had received, she still couldn't believe he knew Kaworu was an angel, she felt a sense of betrayal in her body, how had he trusted this thing? He knew what the angels had done to her, he felt his hands shaking at the sight of Shinji.

"What are you doing here?"

(*)

A FEW MINUTES EARLIER.

Shinji was in the infirmary while Sakura dealt with his injuries, she looked into his shocked eyes, almost the same as when he woke up in the Wunder, calmly she cleaned the wound.

Asuka and Mari looked at Shinji on the other stretcher Rei was resting after the blow to the head he had received, still thinking about what they had seen, Kaworu was an angel and that had never been noticed before, Mari looked at Asuka as she spoke calmly.

"The snowball is an angel... that's crazy." She said as she felt her arms hurting, but nothing she couldn't handle before, then her mind flashed back to her research at Wunder, the SEELE committee was experimenting with angel parts, could they have had any success? That she didn't know.

"The enemy was with us the whole time." Asuka says, annoyed that she had been so close to the enemy.

"Is that what the brat knew?"

"Surely you didn't see how he acted before the angel blew up those people? Surely he knew." Mari spoke calmly as she adjusted herself in the chair, she could see Asuka shifting from side to side uncomfortably.

"That irresponsible bastard!"

"Asuka's not so good, Kaworu seems like a good person." Mari says as she thinks about everything she's learned from Kaworu, he's never shown anything bad from their side, except for this little episode.

"Good person? Good person Mari!?" Asuka said angrily. "He killed those people without even blinking!" Concluded the redhead as she grew anxious, but Mari had a good point in her next sentence.

"But he never did anything against us Asuka, he walked beside us as one of us, that's not something we can forget, I bet he did what any of us would do if we had the gifts for it." Mari spoke as her chest ached from the kicks she had received.

"If you'd had a gun, wouldn't you have shot those guys?" The brunette asked as she finished her point.

"But I'm not an angel." Asuka tried to say, but deep down she knew it was true.

Sakura stopped cleaning the wound on Shinji's head, looking at his face she spoke calmly and reassuringly, she had been sad when she had been summoned to treat the victims of the attack, she had never thought that Midori would do something like this to Shinji, especially after he had reversed what he had accidentally done in the past.

"How are you?"

Shinji looked at her sadly and in shock, he could still see Misato pointing the barrel of the gun at Kaworu, blinking to return to the real world he thought of his friend who had managed to save his life.

"I'm worried about him, Kaworu's not a bad person."

Sakura had heard what had happened through the gossip in the corridors, the fact that he was an angel had started to spread quickly, she didn't know what to do at the moment, she thought about what she had learned at college.

"I... I don't think they're going to do anything to him, let's focus on you now, okay?" She said with her best smile, but Shinji was still shaking with the fear of losing Kaworu, the only person who had valued him in the lost world.

"Shinji-kun! Where are you going?" Sakura looked at Shinji as he got up and ran away, she felt confused as she didn't know what to do.

Asuka and Mari listened to Sakura's pleas, frowning when they saw him leave. Asuka went outside with Mari right behind her, she knew they were both going to Misato's office.

"Shinji come back here!" Sakura tried to look intimidating, but Shinji didn't even bother listening to her, and with determination he walked towards Misato's office.

Sakura was walking a few meters away from Shinji when she saw Asuka and Mari walking right behind her. Finally giving up, she slapped her hands on her hips, knowing that this would surely cause her to be punished.

Shinji walked through the corridors of WILLE to Misato's office, he didn't even bother to look back when he saw Mari and Asuka in the background, he just wanted to know what Misato was going to do with Kaworu.

"Pilot Ikari?" says the secretary when she sees Shinji walking past her without even caring, the same as Mari and Asuka.

Shinji could see Misato's deadly gaze on him, but he had to save Kaworu's life, just as he had saved his own.

"What are you doing here!" Misato's aggressive voice flooded the room, Asuka and Mari entered the room just behind, but Misato was looking at Shinji with anger and betrayal.

"Misato-san please don't kill Kaworu!" Shinji pleaded as he saw Misato's angry gaze on him, already knowing about his troubled past.

"He's a freak, Shinji! And you cooperated with him!" Misato spoke angrily from across the table, Asuka and Mari were quiet just behind.

"He's not a bad person Misato! Kaworu only protected us!" Shinji pleaded again, Misato let out an annoyed snort as she leaned on the wooden table in her living room, looking at Shinji with a strong intensity she exploded.

"HE'S A FUCKING ANGEL!"

"An angel who saved my life!" Shinji shouted, then the room fell silent, Misato breathed heavily as she heard this, she knew it was about the past that haunted her.

"Saved your life? He didn't get you out of space seven years ago, we did!"

"So what? I know they didn't pick me up, but Unit 01 did! Then he helped me reverse that shit! We could have ended it all, but he still helped me restore it!" Shinji says as he starts to feel the old feelings coming back.

"You knew he was an angel and you kept quiet." Misato spoke as she became a little calmer, but she was still upset.

"I didn't tell you because that would happen!" Shinji replied angrily, he never thought it would be a problem if the angelic part remained a secret. After a long silence in the room, Misato lowered her gaze to inhale deeply, she slowly began to calm down.

"Shinji, he's our enemy."

"No Misato, he's not." Shinji spoke calmer, but still anxious.

"Kaworu was never a danger, please trust me."

"Shinji... how can I?" Misato spoke dejectedly, Shinji felt a pang of sadness in his heart with that sentence, but he still had to save Kaworu. Misato realized this, but she didn't trust the angel.

"You asked me to trust you when you brought me back to WILLE, you asked me to trust your leadership and I never asked for anything in return, nothing!" Shinji spoke pleadingly, he looked Misato in the eye every moment, then a long silence filled the room again.

Asuka looked at Shinji again, and could see that the two of them were at an impasse. Calmly, she thought about how she could help. Part of her soul wanted to scream at him to kill that thing he called a friend, but part of her still cared about Shinji, and if that was what it took to defend that freak, then to hell with it.

"Misato look, I think the brat's right, Ka... Nagisa was never violent or anything, I think it might be good to have an angel on our side." Asuka said as she felt Misato's eyes on her, feeling small again.

"That's not the point Shikinami! And I don't remember asking your opinion!" Misato spoke with strong authority.

"Asuka, I think we'd better keep quiet." Mari said fearfully.

"Listen to your fellow pilot." Misato said as she turned her attention to Shinji.

"Misato, I know this bothers you, but try to look at it from a rational point of view." Ritsuko spoke calmly, but choosing her words carefully.

"We can control him if it helps."

"You're not putting that damn collar on him." Shinji spoke aggressively as he looked at the doctor, he could still feel her on his neck.

"He may be your friend Shinji, but he's still an angel and we have to be careful." Ritsuko retorted, thinking she had a point.

"Have you ever worn a bomb collar, doctor?" Shinji speaks ironically, being able to see her without even caring, for him Kaworu was just going to be another experiment for her.

"I already have, it's no good and you're not going to dissect it."

"Shinji, that's not my intention, yes I want to study him, but I have nothing against the angel or Kaworu, but you know we have to take precautions.

Finally feeling calm flood her body Misato could think more rationally, this really was a golden opportunity to learn more about the enemy.

"I'll let him live, but he'll never set foot in an EVA again, I'll assign Rei to unit 13 as soon as possible." Shinji let out a sigh as he listened to this, more calmly he waited knowing that it wouldn't end there.

"He'll be in maximum security detention and he'll be wearing a DSS choker and that's non-negotiable." She concluded as she looked at Shinji, even though she knew that this was something that would hurt him, but it was necessary.

Shinji looked down when he heard about the choker, but at least Kaworu would be alive, he would have time to prove that the angel was not a threat to the new world, turning to leave the room, Misato spoke again.

"Shinji stay, everyone out." Misato ordered as she saw people starting to leave the room with an intimidated look on their faces, but Shinji stayed in the room as requested, and once they were alone she spoke in a softer voice.

"Look, Shinji, I know how sensitive this is for you, but I want you to understand my side."

"Misato, please don't hurt him." Shinji speaks again, pleading.

Misato took a deep breath as she heard this, her heart aching at the sight of Shinji pleading for Kaworu's life, she saw him again as that fragile, shy boy who had once come to live in her apartment. Kaworu had never really shown that he was dangerous, but he was an angel, the enemy of humans.

"I don't want that Shinji, I really don't."

"Then please trust me when I say that Kaworu is not a danger." Shinji speaks calmly, but still scared.

"I'll try Shinji, let's see how it goes." Misato spoke calmly as she sat down, running a hand over her face.

"Go home Shinji, get some rest and then we'll talk more."

"I see." Shinji says as he turns back to the door.

"Thank you Misato, thank you for sparing his life."

With that said, he left, and outside Mari and Asuka were waiting for him, especially the redhead who wanted some answers from him.

"Puppy? Is everything all right?" Mari tried to ask, she could see that he was bothered by it all.

"I just want to go home." Shinji spoke as he passed them, his posture was passive and his head was down, his mind screaming at him to find a way to get Kaworu and both of them to run far away, but that was impossible now, Asuka clenched her hands when she saw him like this, angrily she asked.

"Why?" Asuka spoke angrily, knowing that he hadn't told anyone, even with his turbulent past he should have trusted her with it. Shinji stopped his pacing and spoke as he turned around, he was at his limit, clasping his hands together he spoke angrily.

"Why? Are you still asking?"

Asuka felt the anger welling up in her mind, Mari leaned against the wall as she closed her eyes, she knew there was nothing that could stop it now.

"You'd rather trust that thing than us!"

"Why should I trust you? Kaworu was the one who helped me change this so why should I trust you!" Shinji says as he turns and stares Asuka down.

"Damn it, Shinji! Do you think I'm a stranger? You got closer to him than to me when we were together!" Asuka shouts forcefully as she points her finger at him. Shinji looks at her sadly and angrily retorts.

"Do you know why I don't trust you? Because you tried to kill me Asuka!" Shinji spoke angrily, slowly the two fell silent, then Shinji spoke.

"Remember our fight on the central dogma? I remember, I begged you to help me change it but no! You tried to kill me and you still think I can trust you!" Shinji spoke with restrained anger, he hated to think it, but it was a reality.

"We didn't know we could turn that fucking world around, we thought you were being manipulated into finishing what your father would have started." Asuka retorted undeterred, but she felt anxious.

"Do you think we never thought it could be reversed? But we were afraid it would go wrong, you didn't even think about it when you followed that thing like a damn doormat, we didn't want anything to happen to you, but you didn't give us a chance." Asuka says annoyed.

"Chance? I wake up with guns in my face, an explosive collar and you think I'm going to sit back and wait to be killed? No, of course I ran away, Kaworu didn't lie to me when he explained what had happened in the third impact that explained to me exactly what we had to do." Shinji speaks as he remembers the times he spent with Kaworu, Asuka falling silent at this point.

"You have to understand, I don't want to be like this, I don't want to lose what we had! I don't want my family to hate me, but it seems that's what the world wants." Sadly Shinji looked at Asuka as she spoke even sadder.

"They didn't even bother to think they could, I remember when I woke up everyone wanted me dead and I thought... I thought if I changed that things could go back to the way they were, but no." Shinji spoke as he turned and left the corridor, leaving Asuka silent, Mari took a breath knowing that this was inevitable, looking at her and to her surprise, slowly a small solitary tear trickled down the redhead's cheek, she felt sad to see how rare moments like this were.

"Fucking secrets."

"Secrets? Do you think you have that right? I don't even know if I know you!" Asuka said angrily as she looked at Mari, and seeing that this was still a subject she wasn't going to reveal made her even angrier. Wiping her face and making a sound of disgust, she began to walk away, Mari touching her face as she thought about what she was going to do.

Feeling her emotions wanting to come out, she went home and thought, it felt like her life was falling apart again, scared she thought about how she could help, but only one thing came to mind and she started to feel panicky about it.

Turning and running for the nearest exit, she wanted to be alone in an environment she could control, WILLE didn't seem like such a place, she picked up her phone and called Kaji, one of the few people she really trusted.

"Mari?" Kaji spoke on the other line, she knew things were bad after the bombing, calmly he waited for Mari.

"Kaji, things are bad here." Mari says with sadness in her voice, Kaji sighs as he hears this.

"I know, I never imagined something like this, but... I can understand how tense you are." Kaji said tiredly as he heard what had happened inside Misato's room, while next to him Kensuke was struggling to stop rumors from leaking out of WILLE.

"I think Asuka is right, these secrets are going to ruin us." Mari says tiredly as she puts her hand to her face, feeling as if her mind is going to explode.

"Look Mari, you know what I think about this, I don't think she's ready to know about you and the past, I think it's too risky." Kaji spoke calmly, but he knew that one day these things would happen, even someone like him knew that one day it would happen.

"I know, but you know, Asuka is losing her trust in me... I have to do something." Mari says dejectedly.

"I hope everything goes well, do you want me to be with you?" Kaji spoke paternally to Mari, he would always be there to help her after everything she had been through in the past.

Mari thought about it, she could feel her hand trembling with the anxiety of what her mind was thinking of doing, but she had to do it alone.

"No, I have to do it myself... but thanks anyway." Mari said, smiling as she thought about how Kaji would always be there to help with anything.

"You know you can always count on me, and don't forget to be careful, use the device." Kaji spoke seriously, but Mari gave him a fake laugh.

"Do you think I'm an amateur?" She said laughing as she hung up the line, calmly taking a deep breath as she walked towards the nearest exit, surely Asuka would be home by now.

The road was long, but Mari didn't care, she wanted to delay this outcome for as long as necessary. Finally standing in front of her door, she looked at Shinji's door and wondered if she should invite him to this revelation, but decided to leave it for another time.

"This is it." She said as she entered her house, looking around for any sign of her red-haired roommate, but she couldn't find her. Calmly, she went into her room and picked up her mysterious box and grabbed a glass of water as she sat down at the kitchen table.

Opening the box she took out Kaji's small device, with a small beep she turned it on and waited, knowing that now she would have proper privacy she walked towards Asuka's room, slowly opening a small crack she could see Asuka playing.

"Asuka..."

"What do you want?" Asuka spoke harshly without even shifting her focus from the game she was playing, but her mind was thinking about Shinji's words.

"Can you come into the kitchen, please?" Mari spoke tiredly and calmly, she was anxious at the moment.

Asuka lowered her game and spoke still angrily as she turned around, I could see her eyes downcast and tense, but now she just wanted to be alone, her mind now screaming to end all secrets.

"Mari! I want to be alone!"

"I know, but please... come." She said, her voice still soft and dejected, Asuka had rarely seen her like this, and calmly sat down on the bed.

Mari, seeing the look on Asuka's face, smiled falsely and said even more.

"It'll interest you, I guarantee it." Mari said as she turned and left, leaving Asuka alone in her room. With slow steps, the redhead headed towards her bedroom door, looking confusedly down the corridor, walking until she reached the kitchen, Asuka observed Mari sitting with the box open.

"What's that?" Asuka asked confused at seeing Mari's greatest secrets there so easily accessible.

"That's exactly what it sounds like, you said at WILLE that the secrets are killing everyone, so I... I think you want to know what's in the box, so today's the day." Mari says tiredly as she sips her water.

Asuka took a step towards the table, her mind screaming to know what was inside the box, but before she could pick it up, Mari grabbed her arm, looking at her with a serious look on her face.

"But I'll tell you something, get ready... you won't like knowing what's inside, or you will, I don't know."

Asuka looked at Mari with fear, but she wasn't going to let her fear show to everyone. Calmly she picked up the box and looked at its contents on the table, seeing several photos and notebooks falling out, picking up one photo in particular, she knew it was the one Mari saw very often.

Opening her eyes wide when she saw the content of this photo, she looked at Mari with fear, this didn't seem like something Mari would joke about, focusing her gaze on the photo where there were three women smiling, Mari and two other women, one of whom looked a lot like her and Ayanami.

"What the fuck is that?" The redhead asked, afraid of what her eyes were seeing, her hand shaking with it, but when she didn't receive an answer, turning the picture over, Asuka read it.

-Mari, Yui and Kyoko... Kyoto University 1998 - .

"Mari... what the fuck?" Shouted Asuka with wide eyes, Mari looked down as she thought about how she was going to start her story, taking a deep breath she spoke.

"What would you think if I told you I wasn't from that time?" Mari says sadly, Asuka frowns as she hears this and angrily slams her hand down on the wooden table.

"MARI! SPEAK AT ONCE!"

"That's it Asuka, I... I can't explain it!" Mari said as she started to tear up, Asuka could see that she was thinking about how to explain these things, Asuka quickly grabbed some more photos where there were more smiles from Yui and Kyoko, she desperately wanted to read what was in the notebooks, but her body was stuck in place.

"Who are those women?" Asuka asks calmly as she points to the two women next to Mari, wiping her face she waited.

"The brunette is Yui Ikari, Shinji's mother, and the other..." Mari stopped as she looked at Asuka, who was beginning to lose patience.

"The redhead is Kyoko, Kyoko Shikinami... your mother." Asuka's eyes widened when she heard that, she had never known that and all she knew was that she had been produced in a laboratory, a being with no family or parents.

"No... no that's impossible, I don't have a family." Asuka spoke as she began to feel her eyes widen at this information, looking at Kyoko's photo again, even though the photo was worn out she could see the beautiful blonde hair her mother had when it was cut at chin height, a bit rebellious for her taste.

Feeling her hands shaking even more, Asuka sat back in her chair, but her eyes were wide. Mari calmly began to explain things better when she saw Asuka staring at the photo.

"Yui and Kyoko were the most brilliant minds I've ever met, they were the ones who started the EVA project, unit 01 and 02 were the ones who designed and built it." Mari spoke as she remembered those times, Asuka looked up as she thought of a family that had been taken from her.

"But if what you say is true, you should be a lot older, like... 40 now." Asuka speaks in a skeptical voice, her only technique for not freaking out.

"Well that's true, but when I had an accident in the first core contact experiment that ended with more deaths than it seems, it went wrong." Mari says as she remembers that time in particular, Asuka in awe as she looks at other photos showing Mari next to Yui with her little baby, soon followed by a smiling Kyoko holding baby Asuka.

"I don't know how but, I remember waking up in a bubble of goo, I was wearing my test clothes and everything, Kaji helped me deal with all these changes."

"Kaji? Of intelligence?" Asuka spoke without removing her eyes from the photo, she was thinking about the life that had been taken from her.

"Yes, but let's leave that out, please." Mari said as she picked up one of the photos and thought back to the old days. Asuka let go of the photo as she thought about how crazy it all was.

"I... I had a mother?"

"Yes... Kyoko wanted a daughter so she had artificial insemination, I remember her smile when she found out she was pregnant, it was shortly after Yui." Mari smiled as she felt a small tear run down her cheek. Asuka looked at her not knowing what to say, Mari was being sincere judging by her emotions.

"What happened to you, to them? And why did the brat come back older and you didn't?"

"As I said before, it was the first contact experiment, the committee sponsoring the project wanted me to test to see if the connection would work, but the synchronization went too far, so I was absorbed... what I know about Yui and Kyoko is what Kaji told me." Mari said dejectedly as she thought about it, she didn't want to remember, but Asuka deserved to know.

"Yui had tried to redo the experiment years later, Shinji was about two or three years old when it happened, Yui thought she had managed to control the synchronization factor, but in the end she had a fate just like mine, too bad the puppy had to watch... His mother... Kyoko was devastated by it all, we were very close."

"And your second question, I don't know that, really we all don't know, even I was surprised to see him as an adult, I swore I'd see the fourteen-year-old Shinji but, when we opened the entry plug, there he was, that's a mystery." Mari speaks without knowing.

"I appreciate that at least, it would be weird if he was a teenager, you'd be arrested for sure." Mari speaks humorously, but it quickly dies with her.

Asuka looked at her angrily for making such bad jokes at a time like this, but then she thought about what Mari had told her.

"The brat... Shinji... did he see his mother die?" Asuka asked shocked, Mari nodded giving her the answer.

Asuka looked at her as she pictured the scene in her mind, Mari kept her eyes closed as she did the same, calmly continuing the story she knew.

"She studied hard, but... the test didn't suck her body dry like we did, but it made her very ill, I heard that she committed suicide after a while in hospital, we never knew what really happened to her."

"Why... why did she kill herself?" Asuka said to herself as her body trembled at the feeling that she had lost an important part of her life, shaking her head sideways she still didn't want to believe it was true.

"No... no... Shinji and I would remember that happening, it shouldn't be possible!"

"It may sound like something from a movie, but... they kind of changed your memories, they wanted you to focus only on the EVAS, nothing else." Mari said, feeling stupid, but that was the truth.

"That's what Kaji told me."

"Who manipulated my memories?" Asuka was annoyed to feel her eye burning, a strong blue glow taking over the kitchen, she wanted to dispute it, but she had seen too many things to know that what Mari was saying was logical.

"The SEELE committee, they did it." Mari said sadly. Asuka blinked as she heard this, feeling her hands ache with the force she was squeezing them.

"We've been dolls all our lives!" She growled as she slammed her hand on the table, Mari blinked as she agreed, she herself thought that the EVA project would change the world, but not in the way that it actually did.

"Does the brat know that?"

"No... I don't know." Mari said honestly.

"I don't think so, but he has the memories, from the reports Misato made before he suffered from strong nightmares, so I think somehow he knows." Mari added.

"No wonder he's the way he is." Asuka spoke as she touched her face in sadness, Mari nodded at this, then Asuka spoke again as she picked up the photo again, focusing on Yui's face, feeling a strong resemblance to Rei.

"So the little brat and the perfect girl are brother and sister? It's just that she stayed with Daddy and the idiot didn't."

"Yes and no, Rei is kind of a clone of Yui..." Mari saw Asuka's confused look. "Yes, the madman tried to clone his own wife and today we have Rei, so we can say she might be his aunt or it's easier just a sister."

"That guy's retarded." Asuka said as she shuddered at the thought, but she smiled wryly as she realized that she had always been jealous of a person who had never been her rival.

"So that's basically it, you know what's in my pandora's box." Mari smiled as she gestured with her hands, "I bet you'll want to read these notebooks and watch the videos, but only on one condition." Asuka looked at her as she waited for the request, she was right, she would want to know everything.

"Please, never... never open the files on a computer connected to any kind of network, never... this can't be leaked, Asuka, I'm serious!" Mari spoke seriously, more seriously than ever at the moment, Asuka nodded as she had already thought of this.

"And if you're going to read or watch something..." She says as she takes the device from Kaji and shows it to him. "Always use it with this, it will prevent any eavesdroppers from knowing."

"That's easy." Asuka says as she puts some things away in the box, with a smile she asks.

"What was the password? I could never figure it out."

"My birthday... times the value of pi." Mari smiled, Asuka would never find out, the redhead had thought exactly that when she nodded, and calmly closed the box leaving only one photo outside, the one where all the girls were.

"Please be careful, this photo is very important to me."

"I will." Asuka speaks confidently as she locks the box again, she looks away as she takes a deep breath.

"Do you think Misato and everyone else knows? At least about me?"

"I don't know Asuka, I really don't know, I do a lot of research but... I never get the answers, I'm stuck." Mari shrugged, looking away she thought of Shinji.

"Your life sucks." She says with false humor, then looks at Asuka, still staring at the photo.

"But I swore to them that I would protect you." Asuka looked at her when she heard that, Mari had never given up on her or Shinji, Mari smiled when she saw a small smile on Asuka's face.

"Satisfied?"

"Yes, it's still hard to believe but... you're a trustworthy person." Mari laughed as she heard this, she was genuinely surprised that Asuka was taking all this so easily.

"Coming from you, that's a nice compliment." Mari says as she feels relieved, then in a moment, she says what had happened that day.

"This day is promising." Asuka says tiredly.

"First the angel among us, then his revelation."

"Asuka, you know what I think about this, that guy, the snowball... he may be an angel but he never did anything that could justify him being a monster, he protected everyone in that attack." Mari said thoughtfully.

"But he's an angel, our enemies since forever!" Asuka said angrily at the thought, but Mari quickly spoke up.

"So what? It's not as if human history hasn't been different, USA against USSR, now they're more or less friends, Japan and China, Brazil and Paraguay, all killing each other throughout history and now partners." Mari said as she shrugged.

"What I mean is, there could be at least one among them who doesn't want war and this Kaworu guy could be that one."

"I don't know yet, but... you could be right." Asuka spoke ashamed that she was losing all the arguments and she hated it, with thoughts of Shinji she quickly turned and headed for the door.

"Where are you going?" Mari asked awkwardly as she saw Asuka heading for the door.

"I'm going to talk to the brat, I want to put a stop to a few things." Asuka said angrily, there was a lot going through her mind and she wanted to know some things.

" I ... I don't think it's right for him to be alone now."

"Oh! She's stressed and wants to have crazy sex with her puppy! That's erotic princess." Mari laughed as she saw Asuka stop without turning around, I could see that she blushed heavily when she heard that, slamming her feet down hard she started walking again, but not before screaming in shame.

"YOU'RE AN OLD PERVERT!"

"I really am, what I do now is nowhere near what I used to do with Yui and Kyoko." Mari smiled back, she felt like a long weight had come off her back, she calmly picked up the box as she took it back to her room, she stopped when she saw her desk empty, smiling she said to herself.

"Yui, Kyoko... would you be happy?"

(*)

"That old perverted four-eyed idiot!" Asuka growled with a flushed face, she thought about Mari's words, she had a family that was taken away from her, she wanted revenge for that, but now wasn't the time to think about that, she still wanted to talk to Shinji.

Slowly she touched the button that signaled her presence, she hoped Shinji would answer, she really wanted him to know that she had always cared for him, nothing less, she had always thought of him at Wunder, always remembered the happy times they had spent together, she wanted that back.

Ringing the doorbell again, she began to lose patience as she knocked on the door, she didn't want to be ignored.

Author's Notes: Hello Calborghete people here, we finally have chapter 12, I hope everyone liked it, as always be sure to follow it and save it in your favorites so you don't miss any more future updates.

Please review, your criticisms (good or bad) are very important to me, you know that I take what is said very seriously and it also gives me the strength to continue.

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