Ikari clasped his hands in front of his face and leaned forward. “Ah, Mr. Rioji Kaji. It has been some time.”

Kaji stopped a few feet in front of Ikari’s desk with a light wry smile on his face. “Indeed it has,” he replied in a matching tone.

“I’m curious as to why you’re still here, Mr. Kaji,” Ikari continued calmly. “You’ve found the answers you were looking for, have you not?”

Kaji tipped his head in acknowledgment. “Yes, yes I have. But, as with everything else, the answers only left more questions.”

“I see,” Ikari replied quietly.

“Is that all you summoned me here for?” Kaji asked with a raised eyebrow.

“No. You will be allowed to help during combat once again. The situation, as you know, is much simpler than before.”

“Ah, yes it is.”

“Dismissed,” Ikari ordered calmly.

Kaji gave a loose salute before doing as ordered. Once out of the office his wry smile faded into a very serious expression. He’s hiding something again.

Asuka was floating in the pool of the fitness center in NERV headquarters. She was wearing a single piece bathing suit that was colored deep red as she floated around with closed eyes. It had occurred to her that she could not hear any alarms if they sounded, since her ears were underwater, but she didn’t really care at the moment.

She felt her hair get pushed down onto her had and realized she had floated against the wall. Her eyes opened and she saw Shinji standing directly above her on the pool’s side. She quickly stood up in the water, hiding her rapidly blushing cheeks. “Didn’t you ever learn it’s rude to stare!” she shouted up at him as she calmed her face down.

Shinji had panicked himself and had fallen down on to his backside when her eyes had opened. “…Uh-right! Sorry, I didn’t mean to. I was just wondering why you were here,” he explained quickly.

“What does it look like I’m doing?! I’m relaxing,” she answered her own question calmly with a jerk of her head up and to the left.

“But you don’t normally do that like this,” Shinji pointed out.

“What business is it of yours?” Asuka responded sourly, looking at him with a scowl.

“…I was just kinda worried about you,” Shinji answered sheepishly, looking down at the ground.

“Well don’t! I’m can take care of myself just fine,” Asuka replied firmly, but privately she was surprised at his concern. “…But why were you worried?” she asked finally, hiding her curiosity with another scowl.

Shinji swallowed hard. “…Well… I, um, overheard your and Cirus’ argument in the hall. I wanted to see if you were okay or not,” he explained warily.

Asuka crossed her arms underwater and looked up and to the left again, closing her eyes. “Well I suppose that’s excusable,” she said indignantly. She looked back down and raised an eyebrow at him. “Do you think he’s right?” she asked.

Shinji’s face became bewildered.

Asuka sighed wearily. “Do you think Rei’s got a better personality?” she asked meaningfully.

Shinji abruptly realized what she meant and shook his head. “No, not at all, Asuka… Actually… she…”

“She what?” Asuka asked impatiently.

Shinji looked up at her. “She scares me.”

Asuka eyed him for a moment. “Why?”

“She’s not totally human, and she’s so distant. She’s really disturbing to be around,” Shinji answered.

“When did this start? I thought you liked her,” Asuka continued.

“Well I did… and I guess I still do… but… that’s because she’s saved my life before. She’s just so… cold.”

Asuka’s brow creased at him, but she didn’t say anything for a few moments. “Yeah well, I think she’s just a stuck-up bitch,” she said finally.

Shinji stood up. “…Well… I’m sorry for startling you,” he said slowly.

Asuka shook her head. “Oh stop apologizing, Shinji.” She started to wade toward the stairs and Shinji walked along with her on the side of the pool.

“Well it was still my fault,” Shinji pointed out.

Asuka shook her head as she stepped out of the pool. The water pouring off her body dripping onto the cement ground as she did. “Would you just stop it?” she asked him. “And hand me that towel,” she continued, pointing behind him at a table and chairs.

Shinji turned around and saw a towel draped over one of the chairs. He picked it up and handed it to her. She took it and started to dry her hair off. Shinji caught himself staring at her and turned away abruptly, his face turning red.

“I’ll see you around, I guess, Asuka,” he said quickly and headed for the door.

“Yeah, later, Shinji,” Asuka replied, her voice muffled by the towel. When she heard the door close she pulled the towel down from her head. I bet the little pervert was watching me, she realized sourly, but dismissed it and continued to dry off.

Rei’s eyes opened slowly and took the room in which she was into focus. Her ribs didn’t hurt anymore, which surprised her.

“Feeling alright?” Cirus asked softly.

Her glistening red eyes looked to her right and the young woman let a faint smile play across her lips. It was comforting to see him there. “Yes.”

Cirus smiled back. “I’m glad.”

“The Angel was destroyed?” she asked.

Cirus nodded. “Unit 02 destroyed the target a few hours ago,” he answered more specifically.

“Is your injury healing?” she asked him, her eyes glancing up at the bandage on his head.

Cirus’ hand drifted up to the bandage as if to tell him it was there still. “Yes. It wasn’t serious, just enough to knock me out,” he explained.

Rei sat up in the bed, noticing that her ribs felt no pain at all. It was impossible for them to have completely healed in a few hours, so she looked up at Cirus again and nodded her thanks. His smile broadened softly.

“Any pain?” he asked.

Rei shook her head subtly. She then looked up at Cirus more intently, her eyes curious. “Is Ikari awake?” she asked.

“Shinji Ikari?” Cirus asked back.

Rei nodded.

“Yes, he woke up an hour or so ago,” he explained calmly.

Rei’s brow creased and she looked back down at the bed.

“You want to go find him?” Cirus asked with politely raised eyebrows.

Rei nodded at him again. “I would, yes.”

Cirus stood up from the chair as Rei hopped out of the bed. She stepped over to another chair which had her clothes draped over it neatly.

Cirus turned to the door and walked up to it to give her privacy as she changed back into her clothes. When he heard her step up behind him he turned around and smiled at her as he opened the door, letting her through first before stepping out himself and then walking with her down the hall.

“I’m not sure where to check first,” Cirus admitted honestly.

“Where is Miss Katsuragi at this time?” Rei asked.

“Most likely still in the command center, controlling the clean up,” Cirus answered. “I believe Ikari will be there,” Rei replied.

Cirus nodded and they started toward the command center. Not long after they had rounded the next bend, Kaji could be seen walking toward them. Cirus, and he surmised that Rei could also, noticed that the older man had an abnormally serious air about him as he came closer. When they passed each other, Kaji gave them a quick greeting, but it was rushed, and he quickly proceeded on his way.

Cirus, after having returned the greeting with Rei, raised one eyebrow as he looked ahead again. He needed to look into whatever had disturbed Kaji so much.

“He came from Command Ikari’s office,” Rei said suddenly.

Cirus came out of his thoughtful trance and looked to his right as they walked past Commander Ikari’s office. He also noticed that Rei shrank away from the doors slightly, as if afraid. Cirus quickened his pace so that Rei could quicken hers and get herself away from it.

Commander Ikari, Cirus realized, was the only thing Rei didn’t want to speak with him about. Except for when she hurt her arm. She didn’t want to say how. Or was it an exception? Cirus narrowed his eyes both out of thoughtfulness and suspicion. “…Rei, may I ask you a question?” he asked.

“Yes,” Rei answered calmly.

“Can you tell me how your arm was injured before?” Cirus asked.

Rei looked up with a slightly creased brow. “When?”

“After the Angel that could mimic your attacks. Your arm was worse a night afterwards. May I ask what caused that?” he explained and repeated.

Rei looked down at the ground.

Cirus sighed quietly. “I see. My apologies for asking then.”

Rei shook her head. “No… It…”

Cirus gently reached out and gripped her shoulder. “It’s alright Rei, you don’t have to answer just because I asked,” he told her reassuringly.

She couldn’t see it, but she knew he was smiling at her. He was so kind to her…

Cirus heard Rei gasp softly, and stopped. Turning to her, he got down on his haunches to look up at her. His face softened into a concerned expression. “…Rei, why are you crying?” he asked her.

“…You don’t force me,” she said quietly.

Cirus’ face sunk into a sorrowful expression. “…Is that really so rare for you, Rei?” he asked softly.

She nodded slowly, closing her eyes. Cirus started to reach up to her face, but stopped and let his hand back down. He didn’t know how to comfort her without forcing something on her. He just patiently waited, letting a smile stay on his face, until she opened her eyes. She smiled down at him and nodded. He stood up wordlessly and they continued down the hall.

Cirus looked down at the ground as they did. I had no idea, Rei. I’m so sorry…

Hyuga shook his head as he looked down at his screen. “Major, this will take months to completely repair. The Angel tore up the district down to the foundation and then the battle did massive collateral damage,” he explained wearily.

Misato frowned. “We couldn’t exactly help it, Hyuga,” she said sourly.

“I’m aware of that, I’m just reporting the facts,” Hyuga replied.

“Heh, the power won’t be restored for quite some time. It cut all the power cables and used them for its body,” Ayobi commented.

“In other words, the thirty-seventh district has been completely destroyed,” Ritsuko stated finally. “It would be cheaper to just rip it out completely and rebuild it from scratch,” she added.

Misato raised her hand to her forehead and sighed. “I think I’m starting to get migraines…”

“High-stress environments are proven to produce them, yes,” Ritsuko replied with a badly hidden wry smile.

“Thanks,” Misato replied dryly.

“Recon reports show that the Angel’s remains won’t be enough to repair the district. The explosion either vaporized or melted it all together. We’re going to have to ship new parts in from Tokyo-2,” Maya reported.

Shinji was sitting against the back wall of the command center, just below where his father sat during emergencies. The doorway into the command center opened and he looked up to see who it was.

Rei and Cirus entered and walked up to him, though Cirus hung back slightly.

“Ayanami, I’m glad you’re feeling alright,” Shinji greeted Rei with a smile.

“And you Ikari,” Rei replied calmly with a slight nod before turning and looking up at the main screen.

Cirus narrowed his eyes at the screen in a form of sympathetic wince. “I hadn’t noticed how badly damaged it was,” he commented at the display of the 37th district.

“It’s totally wrecked. They’re going to completely rebuild it, or have to replace most of the building materials completely,” Shinji replied.

“And that will cost a bundle either way,” Cirus added with a slight nod of his head. “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry we caused so much damage, Major,” he added loudly.

Misato lifted her hand up without turning around and waved it dismissively. “Not your guys’ fault. The Angel did most of it itself,” she replied.

When we weren’t being tossed around like rag-dolls, Cirus commented to himself. The thought of the word ‘rag-dolls’ made him wince. It had become a rather sensitive word in his life, despite its innocence. He hid the inner discussion and looked up. “Well, it’s still unfortunate.”

“Very,” Ayobi added, looking up at the screen himself. “This might cost us funding also. Right when we need it the most.”

“Bureaucrats only care about their wallets and saving face, not the cause of disasters,” Cirus replied.

“What about SEELE?” Maya asked quietly, more to herself than anything else.

“SEELE?” Cirus had heard her question anyway. “They care about their wallets, saving face, and their lives, everything else is forfeit,” he answered.

Ritsuko raised her eyebrow as she looked back at the young man. “For someone who works for them directly, you don’t seem to like them very much,” she commented.

“You’d be surprised,” Cirus replied calmly.

“I have no doubt,” Ritsuko said before looking back down at Maya’s screen.

“It’s not like you to wait on something like this, Ikari,” Fuyutsuki commented quietly. He and Ikari were both in his office, as was normal outside of combat.

The Commander was sitting leaned back in his chair, not leaning forward like he usually was. The ambient, dim, yellow light of his office cast a heavy glare across his tinted glasses. “This is more precarious than the original plan. It must be worked out carefully.”

“I agree,” Fuyutsuki replied. In truth he didn’t like this new plan at all. Somehow along the way Ikari had lost his respect for humanity and Fuyutsuki did not want to be part of his dismissal of the species. He was tired of this, in fact. He didn’t want to, or see the point in, forcing Third Impact. And now they were reduced to using back-up plan for pulling it off at that. “Are you really going to use her in spite of everything?” he asked slowly.

“In spite of what?” Ikari asked back.

“You said you saw Yui in her, Ikari, does that mean nothing now?” Fuyutsuki elaborated and asked, eyeing the Commander sidelong.

Ikari narrowed his eyes under his glasses. That thought was the only reason he was truly hesitating. “No.”

“Then why are you doing this to her?” Fuyutsuki continued calmly, turning his head to address Ikari more directly from his seat to the side of the desk.

“It is necessary, Fuyutsuki,” Ikari answered.

Fuyutsuki’s face turned weary. Is it really? he asked himself. This was getting so far from their-or was it just his?-original goals. In the beginning he saw no fault in using Rei, because he didn’t think she was human enough, or had a soul. Now, after watching her more closely since Third Impact’s initial failure, he knew he had been very wrong. They had been using-and abusing-a girl! What excuse was there for that by ‘old men’? There was none. This was not humane, it was not just, and it was not what would move humanity forward.

“Professor Fuyutsuki…” Ikari led off for a moment as he leaned forward. Fuyutsuki looked up calmly.

“Should this attempt fail, I will agree with you that Third Impact was a mistake to try and cause.” Gendo’s hand reached over and pulled a dossier in front of him. “There are reports of children being born in greater numbers in the last two months. The Room of Gauf’s situation may be very different than we feared.”

Koso remained silent for a time, eyeing Ikari gravely. “Is that not a heavily damning statement against Third Impact in and of itself?”

“Some isolated, possibly miss-reported cases should not deter us from the greater picture. Rei, however, may be more than an instrument.”

“… So you have some human compassion after all, Ikari?”

“It would appear so.”

But no where near enough… Fuyutsuki thought despairingly. A single girl against all of NERV, and she had to succeed for Ikari to admit he was wrong? Ikari had the tiles stacked in his favor, and it would take a miracle to remove them.

Asuka was running. Where she was running to she had no idea, just as long as it wasn’t where she had been. She was terrified by something. It was chasing her down the hall, always gaining ground on her, but not quite reaching her. Just enough to keep her running forever and ever.

Words kept drifting into her ears over and over. “Die with me.”

“I don’t want to die!” she screamed back as she ran.

“Die with me,” it repeated, the voice distant, but still managing to get to Asuka’s ears. “Don’t you want to be with me?”

Asuka shook her head violently as she ran, tears streaking out of her eyes. “No! Not like that, Mama! Please don’t kill me!” she begged desperately as she kept running.

Suddenly the hall turned into an infinite darkness in all directions. Asuka kept running, not wanting to risk stopping or even slowing down. But her ankle gave way, and Asuka tumbled to the ground, though she still couldn’t actually see it. She heard the thing chasing her come closer and closer and she screamed, scrambling to her feet and running again. But then she suddenly lurched forward, her head and legs flying forward violently before being snapped back as she was pulled up into the air. Asuka looked down and her eyes widened in horror as she saw a massive white hand lifting her into the air, its grip tightened around her waist.

Asuka looked up and leaned as far away from the terrifying sight as she could. Lifting her into the air was an Eva series mass-production model body, with the head of her mother in the same coloring.

“Don’t you want to die with me… Asuka?” her mother’s booming voice rang out with a thin smile playing over her massive lips.

Asuka screamed again.

“Don’t you Asuka? Asuka?-“

“Asuka?!” Shinji said firmly shaking Asuka by the shoulders in her bed.

Asuka’s eyes flared open and shot bolt up right in the bed, knocking Shinji back as she screamed. Shinji sat back up, his eyes widened in shock.

“Asuka, are you alright? You were having a nightmare and I came to wake you up-“

He was cut off by Asuka grabbing onto him and sobbing into his shoulder. Shinji’s cheeks turned blood-red as he awkwardly put his arms around Asuka in response. He heard footsteps hurry up to the doorway and saw Misato’s shadowy form appear in it. He looked up at her concerned face and shook his head, showing he didn’t understand.

Misato stepped into the room and walked up to the bed, getting down so she could look up into Asuka’s eyes and waiting patiently for the young woman to open them. “Asuka?” she asked quietly and softly. “It’s alright now, it was just a bad dream,” she said soothingly.

Asuka’s arms loosened form Shinji and he let go in response. Misato raised herself up to make her arms more accessible before Asuka started to cry again and hugged her tightly.

Misato patted the back of her head soothingly as she looked up at Shinji and motioned to the door with her other hand. Shinji nodded and quickly left the two women alone. After letting Asuka cry for a few moments Misato pulled the girl away from her slowly and looked down into her eyes. “You want to talk about it?” she asked with a sincere smile. Asuka shook her head as she sniffled.

Misato nodded. “Fair enough. Can I get you anything?”

Asuka swallowed the almost solid lump in her throat and looked up. “C-could I sleep in your room, Misato?” she asked quietly, her voice barely above a whisper.

Misato smiled and nodded. “Of course, come on,” she said as she got up, holding her hand out to the younger woman.

Asuka took Misato’s hand and stood up with her before walking with her into the older woman’s room.

Shinji watched from his room before they disappeared from view. I hope Asuka is alright…