Asuka didn't mean to sleep in but her nerves had kept her from sleeping most of the night and it was almost morning when she did fall asleep. As far as she could tell, Shinji was in the same predicament. Through the paper-thin walls, she could hear him get up during the night, pace and even wander into the main apartment. As far as she knew, he had done this even after she went to sleep. How he found the space to pace in his glorified closet of a room was beyond her.

Whatever, wasn't like either had a desire to return to school.

BOOM.

The building rattled, snapping Asuka awake out of a dead sleep. She rolled out of bed and onto her feet, the sudden transition from sleep to wakefulness leaving her vaguely nauseous. There was a small part of her brain, the human part, that hadn't quite caught up to the program, wondering what had roused her so quickly.

The ringing of her phone, a series of explosions in the distance and finally, a loud siren brought it up to speed.

"ASUKA! WE HAVE TO GO!"

She was moving before her brain told her body to, racing from her room, into the living room and to the front door. Holding it, as if there was time to be a gentleman, was Shinji. "It's an Angel," she said.

He nodded, confirming it. Once out into the hallway, they raced down it. Ahead and disappearing down the staircase was the silver mop of Kaworu's hair. As they passed Rei's apartment, she emerged, eyes wide as an owl's. Asuka slowed down to hold out her hand and to her genuine surprise, the other girl took it.

Waiting at the front of their apartment was a Section 2 team. A man wearing glasses waved them into a black, featureless van and once they had all piled in, another stomped on the gas, shooting them down the street with little regard to speed limits.

Tokyo-3 had descended into chaos. People were running and screaming down the street, all trying to rush into the shelters while they still had time. Alarm klaxons bounced off every available surface while a pre-recorded voice ordered all residents within the region to proceed calmly (as if!) to their nearest shelter. All the while, explosions went off in the distance.

Shinji shook her shoulder and gestured for her to look out his window.

Far off, past city limits and far enough she couldn't make out its particular features, was Zeruel.

A veritable swarm of planes and bombers were flying around the Angel like mosquitoes. Probably just as effective because it was taking no time to pick them apart with its eye beams. At the very least, they seemed to be slowing down its advance.

All of Asuka's nerves had been chased away and replaced by a cold terror in the pit of her stomach. The memory of her Eva's arms being sheared off came unbidden to her and she couldn't stop from wrapping her arms around herself. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Shinji look at her with a mixture of fear and...guilt?

Rei had steeled herself into a mask of determination and Kaworu held a similar one. But his gaze was unfocused, his mind elsewhere. The memory of that loop had no doubt come to the forefront of his mind.

She leaned over and murmured to him, "Are you alright?"

He laughed softly but there lay no true happiness in it, "As if I have a choice in the matter."

"There's four of us," to her surprise, it was Shinji who spoke up, "With all four of us, we should be able to kill it."

"Your father isn't going to want to send out Unit 02 right away," Asuka told him, "Not at all if he can help it!"

Shinji cast another glance at the far-approaching Angel and murmured darkly, "If he can help it."

---

If Misato believed in a higher power, she might be inclined to believe it hated and loved her in equal amounts. It loved her because it allowed her to already be on base when the next Angel arrived but hated her because that meant her kids were left alone at home. Luckily, it seemed all four Pilots had exercised initiative and been able to meet the Section 2 team that watched over the apartment. They had just arrived into the Geofront and, if she was lucky, would be deploying within the next five minutes.

Which was good, because if Misato felt comfortable ascribing emotions to the Angels, she would say this one had lost its patience. She watched the screen as the feed from one of their aerial cameras cut out. The last footage it had caught was the Angel destroying their air support with a single sweeping laser.

Down at the locker rooms, the kids were finishing up suiting up and emerging once more. Before Shinji could bolt down the hall to Unit 01's loading bay, Asuka practically leapt the distance separating them to stop him. He whipped around to scowl at her, "Asuka! What are you doing?"

"I have a message for you! From Mari!" she cried.

His expression changed from annoyance to confusion, "You know Mari?"

"It's not important. What is is she told me this: that there's a nexus point coming and we all need to hold onto our humanity."

His eyes went wide for a moment before his expression settled into understanding. He nodded, "Understood!" and with that, turned to go to his Eva.

Asuka idly wondered just how much he understood of the warning before she followed suit to Unit 02.

Unfortunately, once she was loaded into her Eva and synchronized, she found all her anxiety returned in full force. Between the memories of what happened before and what Kaworu had told her, any number of ways this could go wrong swirled in her mind. Considering back in her first world they had only won because deus ex machina and back in the one Kaworu had told her, it had resulted in the end of the world...their odds felt long.

"Asuka, I know it's a little much to ask considering the circumstances but you've got to try to get a hold of yourself. Your sync ration is all over the place," Ritsuko chastised her.

"I have a hold of myself!" she screamed back.

She squeezed her eyes shut. Why was she acting like this? She had to get a hold of herself! If she couldn't deploy, then their odds would be even worse.

"I'm low priority as it is, I know you guys don't want to send me out," she added bitterly.

The facility shuddered. She could hear inside the command center that everyone was scrambling to get a battle plan going. Zeruel was beginning its incursion, having taken out a number of the armor plating layers protecting the Geofront. And from the sound of it, it was winding up for another shot.

Ritsuko answered, "I don't believe we have the luxury of not sending you out against this one."

She squeezed her eyes shut and reached her awareness out beyond the plug in a last ditch effort. Quicker than she anticipated, a warm presence met her there. Warm and...determined.

You can do it, Asuka. I'm with you.

"Mama?" she murmured.

"I don't know how you did it but good job, Asuka. You're holding steady," Ritsuko told her.

She shook her head to clear it. She couldn't get caught up in her feelings, not now. She was already lucky enough that Ritsuko wasn't questioning her sudden turnaround, considering the circumstances. Perhaps she might scrutinize it more later...but she had to make it to later before she could worry about that.

Her mother's presence lingered and she could almost imagine her standing over her seat, hands on her shoulders. Together, they would go to war.

Back in the command center, Misato was laying out her battle strategy, "There's no way we can deploy all four, right?" she grumbled to Ritsuko.

The scientist shook her head, "Rei's still down an arm and Asuka's on low-priority. I...have a feeling we're not going to have a choice regarding 02 though."

"Fine," Misato bit back, "Deploy Unit 01 into the Geofront!"

"Belay that," the Commander droned from behind her, "Send Unit 04 out instead."

She whipped around, "But s-sir, why? Kaworu still has no experience."

The facility shuddered again and beside her, Hyuga cried, "There goes another twelve armor plating layers! There's only five before the Angel has breached the Geofront."

"Major Katsuragi, send out Unit 04. Hurry!" the Commander urged, urgency bleeding into his otherwise neutral tone.

She whipped back around, teeth gritted, "You heard him. Launch Unit 04 into the Geofront by the nearest weapons cache."

"Let me g—szzt!" Shinji's voice began to come over the comm but was cut off by a harsh buzz. Misato raised a concerned eyebrow.

"Let me go first!" Shinji yelled over the comm again.

"They can't hear you," a pair of hands came up on over his eyes and a voice teased, "Guess who~?"

"What are you doing here now?!" Shinji snapped, "What did you do!"

Mari peeked around his seat with a scowl on her face, "Is that any way to greet a friend? But to answer your question, your signal is getting jammed," she held up a hand to show him a circular device in the palm of her hand.

"Why are you even here then? If you've got to go to the trouble with bringing something like that so no one knows you're here?" he pressed.

"Oh they know someone's here. They're probably scrambling right now to figure out what to do. This is just so no one knows who it is. But, once again to answer your question, there's no way I'm letting you face this thing alone. Not after what happened after last time I saw you face this."

He squinted at her then whipped around and away from her. He said, "You do know you'll be synchronizing with Unit 01 with me, right?"

"She'll let me synchronize with you both, I'm sure of it."

"That's not what I'm worried about. What if something...," he paused and, unable to word exactly what he feared decided on, "...bad happens?"

"Nothing bad will happen," she rolled her eyes, "After all, Princess and Prettyboy synchronized together with 02 and they turned out fine."

Shifting anxiously in his seat, he murmured, "You know why that might be a concern of mine."

"It's going to be fine, Shinji," she squeezed his shoulder, "After all, it's nothing you haven't seen before, right?"

Back on the bridge, Maya whipped around to face Misato, "Major! There's an unknown person inside Shinji's plug with him!"

"Huh?" she turned to the closest comm and buzzed in, "Shinji, who's with you?"

A harsh buzzing once more greeted her instead of her ward's voice. Hyuga reported, "It's no good. Comm signals are being jammed."

Misato growled. Could this get any worse?! "No matter," she ordered, "Start the synchronization process immediately! We have to prepare to get him out there as soon as we can, interloper or not!"

An electric sensation went through the LCL and Shinji realized that the bridge crew had decided to go ahead with synchronization, even though he had a passenger. He took a deep breath and allowed the feeling to wash over him.

If you asked Shinji what the process of synchronization was like, he'd liken it to a warm shower of water, being washed over him until it completed and he was one with the Eva. But the feeling that came over him was closer to an ocean wave, crashing against him and dragging him under.

The images passed by quick, almost too fast for him to realize what was happening.

The sky was brilliant blue and a girl with a parachute was bearing down on him quick. The world was ending in hues of crimson, orange and violet. He awoke in a sterile white room. Where his partner had once been was now awash with blood. He was staring, stuck by horror, by a puddle of orange, where he knew a human being had been before. He was once again boarding Unit 01, diving into the unknown.

He was at a train station. Being embraced by his father. Rather than being left behind.

He came out of the feeling, gasping for air and feeling vaguely nauseous. Mari squeezed his shoulder and when he faced her, he found her looking just as haggard as he felt. She smiled weakly, "See? Nothing you haven't seen before."

Meanwhile, Kaworu had so deeply wanted to assure Shinji he didn't mind facing down the Angel first but his jammed communications wouldn't allow for it. The second he heard someone was riding along with him, he knew it was Mari. How typical of her to pull such a stunt.

But overall, he was glad she decided to accompany him. She would be able to keep him steady and, even failing that, her presence just might disrupt any Impact event from starting. Not that he knew if such a thing was possible in this world but he wasn't about to chance it.

He knew it was best anyway if he faced Zereul first. If Bardiel was any indication, then his siblings would zero in on him. If he could whittle down him any, make it easier for his friends, then he had to take it.

And he had his own trick up his sleeve to play.

With a lurch, he was launched right into the Geofront, next to a weapons cache, just as promised. From it, he retrieved a pair of rifles, testing their weight.

A large explosion shook the entire chamber and the artificial sky went dark, leaving the world in a half-gloom. Fitting, as his sibling began to lower into the Geofront. It paused, regarding the single obstacle in its path.

THEY SEND YOU AGAINST ME...A LAMB TO SLAUGHTER.

He narrowed his eyes and this time, didn't entertain the urge to respond. He squeezed the triggers on both rifles, peppering Zeruel with shots. The air in front of it distorted and solidified, forming an AT Field. Determined, Kaworu kept going until the rifles were spent and discarded them.

He picked up a pair of rocket launchers this time, each carrying an unholy amount of firepower. He hefted them onto his shoulders and charged. Unfortunately, he would still have to get in close to erode his AT Field.

As he expected, Zeruel's arms unfolded and shot for him! He bolted, the arm narrowly missing him by a mere few feet. He pressed the triggers on one of his rocket launchers, letting loose a volley of munitions.

The explosions washed up against the AT Field, like waves on a cliff, with similar lack of effect.

He hissed in annoyance and discarded the spent launcher. Once more, Zeruel launched another attack and he danced out of the way.

ENOUGH.

Fast as lightning, his other arm shot towards him, right where he landed dodging the first one.

He cried out and threw up his AT Field with moments to spare. Zeruel's arm skidded harmlessly off, unable to find a point to punch through it, as if it was made of glass. The Angel wound up again for another hit but this one bounced off too.

CURIOUS. YOU WERE ALWAYS THE MOST INNOVATIVE.

His sibling approached slowly and Kaworu turned around him in turn. Just as Zeruel was probing him, he was hoping to find a point where he might lunge in. He dropped his remaining gun and withdrew his knife from its holster. As long as his sibling got close enough, he could hopefully erode his Field enough to get through it.

Zeruel approached slowly, moving to the right as he inspected his sibling's crafted AT Field for weaknesses. It was nowhere near as powerful as it could be, most certainly to masquerade as a normal Evangelion's Field. But the way it had been woven made it feel like slick glass and he couldn't find a point to breach it.

Kaworu lunged, driving the point of his Prog Knife into Zeruel's AT Field. It squealed and screeched but he could feel, slowly but surely, he was getting through.

...there. The weakness was tiny but there was a space where its layers of protections thinned, as if he had run out of material for that point. Zeruel shot one arm forward at it and the reaction was instant. The AT Field collapsed explosively and he could perceive a very undignified yelp as his sibling's monster was sent flying into the dirt.

He launched an arm at the monster and Kaworu grabbed it, cringing from the pain of his hands being seared. He yanked his sibling closer, using his other hand to swipe at him with his knife. Once Zeruel was in range, he lurched upwards, stabbing his knife into its neck instead of going for the core. If he could defang Zeruel, it would be easier for the others.

He realized his mistake as his sibling's eyes lit up crimson.

Zeruel launched Unit 04 away from it with an explosive use of its eye lasers. Once more, the Evangelion was thrown away like a doll.

Ever-stubborn, he staggered to his feet, even as Four's blue-black armor crumbled away revealing bare flesh underneath. Misato screamed over the communications, "Kaworu, get down! Without armor—!"

Her cry was cut off as, mercilessly, Zeruel fired off another shot, searing away flesh in seconds. The force threw Four back for good as it tumbled gracelessly partially into the lake. Its head, lying on the shore, went still and its eyes went dark.

"Kaworu!" Shinji wailed, pumping his controls uselessly.

"Prettyboy is going to be fine, as long as he stays down," Mari murmured, "...does he have a damn deathwish or something?"

"He might," Shinji whispered, nearly under his breath. He'd understand if he did.

"Deploy Unit 01!" Misato cried, whipping around to face the rest of the Command Center, "Shinji can't hear us but maybe—"

"No. I will go," Rei murmured gently.

Without outside input, she had used her Unit to reach down to pull a gigantic lever at the bottom of the catapult. An emergency release that, whether on accident or by malicious intent, had gone unknown to most of the pilots. Not Rei, who had lived here so long she knew every detail of the facility.

She appeared on the surface and tightened her grip on her cargo. An N2 Mine.

Watching the feed, Asuka's eyes widened. Not again.

"Rei!" her cry mingled with another in the command center as the Commander leaned forward, crying out for her too.

Asuka began to frantically look around, "How'd she get up there?!"

Rei broke into a sprint. Predictably, the Angel deployed its AT Field, preventing her from attacking. Rei called her own into existence, willing it to its full power. Her arm breached through, the bomb making connection with its core—

Only for the Angel to draw shut a bony cover over it.

Rei's eyes widened and time seemed to slow down. The N2 mine began to glow. She didn't know how she understood but she knew Kaworu had manipulated the properties of his AT Field. She remembered how, back against the eye Angel, her and her friends had used their AT Fields to shield them from the explosion. There was a chance she could wipe it out right here and prevent Asuka and Shinji further anguish. She whipped her own around them, forming an-almost perfect and layered sphere around them right at the bomb went off.

"Rei!" Shinji shrieked, pumping his control yokes out of reflex.

Mari's grip on his shoulder tightened.

The screen in the command center went white, the constrained explosion going off like a supernova. Misato shook, "Ritsuko, Ritsuko...what is...is Rei…?"

The scientist didn't answer, eyes wide and fixed on the main screen.

When the light faded, Unit Zero was collapsed, both arms now gone and its armor blown off in most places. Half of its helmet was gone, leaving half a monster's visage to stare listlessly at the ceiling. Behind her and the Angel, where her AT Field's shaping hadn't been perfect, was a hundreds-feet long fire burning.

Zeruel wasn't doing much better. Most of its mass had been blown off, leaving a chunk of its chest holding its core, an arm and its head. Like a scene from a horror movie, its remaining arm began to move, pushing the Angel into its levitating position. The flesh from around its core bubbled and reshaped into the facsimile of a lower half, leaving two stubby legs there. Then it continued towards the NERV pyramid.

"Not even that put it down," Misato hissed then repeated, "What's the status on Rei?!"

"We don't know," Ritsuko admitted, "That explosion damaged Zero's systems too severely for us for it to transmit back to us. We've lost comms, life support signals, everything!"

Finally, Asuka found what she was looking for: a gigantic red emergency lever at the bottom of the catapult. With more than enough force, she yanked it and sent her Evangelion shooting to the surface.

There was no way Rei had...she had to be okay, she just had to be! She was in Unit Zero, an Evangelion, the safest place in the world!

"Unit 02 has deployed without authorization!" Maya cried.

"Not another one," Misato hissed.

"No matter. Deploy Unit 01 as well. Between the two of them, they should finish it off," Gendo ordered.

The only one to see his posture had grown tense was Fuyutski. He leaned in, "We are quick losing control of this," he murmured.

"Not yet we haven't," the Commander murmured back.

"...I understand what you mean. So you believe your son can put down the Angel?"

"Him or...01 herself."

Unit 01 was sent after Unit 02, facing the severely diminished Angel. Asuka's first action was to try to contact Shinji but a red warning flashed on her viewscreen in response. That's weird, she thought.

She would just have to hope their training from facing the twin Angels was still in their memories. She retrieved Ol' Reliable from the cache; her Progressive Axe. Watching her, Shinji opted for a heavy-duty sniper rifle. They split off, each approaching the Angel from a different side.

It didn't wait, unlike with the previous two. It chose one and began to attack—its target being Unit 02. It's remaining arm shot forward and Asuka rolled out of the way. As she came out of the roll, she swung her axe at its arm as it coiled back. It rebounded off with a sharp metal-on-metal shriek. "No good," she hissed then was forced to leap out of the way of another attack.

Shinji hefted his rifle and took aim. He didn't grab this for its long-distance utility but because it was like a lower grade version of the Positron Rifle. An internal battery didn't give you quite enough piercing power as all of Japan's power grid but hopefully it would help him get through the Angel's AT Field. He let loose a shot which shot straight through its unprotected shoulder.

It turned its attention back to him, whipping its extended arm towards him. He lunged out of the way but its sheer edge lopped off the end of one of his shoulder pylons. Yelling a war cry, Asuka came running behind it, cutting a chunk of its flesh off. Anticipating a counterattack, she ducked right as the arm came swinging back her way.

"I've got it," Mari whispered behind Shinji.

"Wanna clue me in?" he asked.

"I've noticed two things. One is that it must not be able to regenerate that quickly. Notice how it only restructured its body rather than regenerate it completely. I'm willing to bet it traded regenerative capability to sheer, raw force."

"So we will eventually be able to whittle it down?"

"If you and Asuka have the stamina for it. Luckily, I don't think it can focus on both of you. So if you keep attacking when Asuka's got its attention, and vice versa, the hit should land. It's the opposite of the splitting Angels."

Shinji chewed his lip, "...that feels too easy. Like that's not supposed to be how it goes."

"Let's not worry about "how it should go" and kill this bastard!" she grinned viciously.

They continued their dance of death and it was no doubt irritating the Angel. Its eyes burned bright and it loose a beam wildly. Both Evangelions threw themselves to the ground, narrowly avoiding the blast. The shot burned trees then tore a large scar across the NERV pyramid. Asuka murmured, "We gotta put it down quick."

She too had figured out the strategy on her own and ran in with her Axe raised high.

Then the Angel whipped around and point blank blasted her.

She screamed, both in pain and fury. She was thrown onto her back, scrambling to return to her feet when a sudden flash of pain shot through her head. The Angel had reared back with its arm then bashed it against her head. She screamed as pain rattled through her head. It reared its arm back and did it again over her eye, sending another wave of pain through her. She clutched her face.

It's happening again. It's happening again. It's happening again. It's happening again.

"Keep it together, puppy," Mari whispered, squeezing Shinji's shoulder as he shook with barely concealed fury.

It was only her grip keeping him grounded else he would have ran right in without thinking clearly. He took a deep breath, re-steeling himself, and ran in to save Asuka with a clear head.

From Asuka's limited view, Unit 01 appeared from behind the Angel, wrapping one arm around it to grasp at its core and using the other to keep it still. The bony cover shut closed once again—onto the Evangelion's fingers. Shinji bit back a pained cry, wrapped his fingers around the cover and pulled. The Angel made its first noise, a low groan that ratcheted up into a high scream of pain. It whipped its arm around blindly before it hit Unit One's power cable which had miraculously stayed connected up until now.

Unit 01's cockpit was awash in red as the timer began to count down. Mari warned, "Shinji."

"I know what I'm doing."

The Angel continued to whip its arm around as they wrestled, this time burying itself into its opponents side. Shinji gritted his teeth, ignoring the pain, and refused to let go. Finally, Unit One snapped the cover off and tossed it aside. No more barriers, it grabbed the core and squeezed.

With a last desperate reserve of strength, Zeruel lurched to the side, nearly knocking Unit 01 off its feet. But the Evangelion held its ground.

The core splintered then—shattered.

Knowing what was coming, Asuka stumbled to her feet, nearly falling as she did. She found her footing and raced away. When she looked behind her, Unit 01 had not began to run but slumped over as Zeruel's body began to glow.

"Shinji!" she cried as the world went white.

---

When Asuka awoke, she stared at the all too familiar ceiling. She didn't even register that her vision was half what it used to be. Her hand went up to her face slowly, touching the bandages on her eye. Her eyes widened.

Black sky, red sea, white beach, Shinji sitting on her chest with an empty look in his eyes, his hands around her throat, squeezing—

She clapped her hand over her face to stop that train of thought. There was no angry scar tissue there to indicate anything physical had happened.

The memory of the Angel bashing her head in came to her. It must have damaged something internal, she thought dimly.

She did a mental checklist of her condition finding that, other than the loss of vision and a horrible headache she was unhurt.

Shinji! Rei! Kaworu! What about them?!

Her body moved before her mind told it to, scrambling out of bed and nearly falling when the IV in her arm stopped her. She nearly ripped it out and kept going, like she had seen in some medical dramas, but remembered that would surely summon a nurse. She climbed back in bed and grumbled.

Her increased vitals must have summoned someone anyway because Misato soon arrived, a nurse in tow who lingered at the door. Misato smiled in relief, "Oh, Asuka, you're okay."

"As alright as someone can be after that...how are the others?"

"Shinji and Kaworu are hurt...but they're alive."

Seeing Asuka frown at who she left out, she continued, "I don't know about Rei. Last I heard, they were having some real trouble extracting her entry plug. Something about the explosion having melted Zero's armor."

Asuka's heart constricted and she grasped her blanket for purchase. The world was starting to spin wildly around her and she couldn't find her breath. As if from a far distance, she could feel Misato sit on the bed by her, pry her hand away from the blanket and squeeze it.

It took a few minutes but finally Asuka found she could breathe a little easier. She pushed down the resentment at her own reaction and murmured softly, "Rei...she has to be alright, she just has to."

Misato patted her on the shoulder. "Once we know anything, I'll tell you kids, alright?"

Asuka nodded mutely.

She stood again, "I wish I could stay Asuka but I'm lucky I got a second to see you now. Shinji and Kaworu are next door," she gestured to the right then left of her room, "So go see them once you're done with the nurse."

Once Misato left, the nurse came in to take her vitals, give her something for her headache and then, offer her a pill to calm her. After some reluctance, she accepted it, though she resented the notion she needed medicine to function. Like she was some psych ward patient. Once the nurse left her alone, she decided to go visit Shinji first. Between him and Kaworu, he was probably the worst off.

Entering his room, she found that to be correct. He was swathed in bandages and one arm was wrapped in a cast. She stopped at the threshold and commented, "You've looked better."

"No kidding," he smiled gently.

She crossed the room to sit down and asked, "I couldn't get a hold of you during battle."

"We still did pretty good together even without comms, huh?"

"You know that's not why I bring it up."

He gave the ceiling a wide berth before he explained simply, "Someone came into my plug with me with a jammer. But she's gone now."

Mari. Figures that's how she'd pop up. In an unexpected place then disappear without so much of an explanation. That must have been what she meant by helping though Asuka couldn't discern how she had. She wanted to ask Shinji all the details but considering his evasiveness, she doubted he would give them to her.

She grinned slightly, "All that training back then was still good for something, huh?"

"I'd say so."

An awkward silence settled over them like a blanket in summer, oppressive and warm. Finally, Shinji asked, "Any news of Rei?"

Asuka shook her head, "No. Misato says they're working on it and she'll tell us what she can, when she can."

His frown deepened, "...I'm afraid something...terrible happened."

"Rei's gotta be alright, she's just gotta," Asuka repeated.

He looked down at his lap and didn't say anything else. She wondered if there was anything to say. They both hoped Rei would be alright but without any news, there just wasn't any way they could say one way or another if she was. Breaking the silence, he sighed deeply, "How about Kaworu? Have you seen him?"

"Not yet. I was planning to after I was done here."

He smiled weakly, "Good. Tell him I was worried about him. I'd go visit him myself but the doctor said I'm not allowed to leave bed."

He sighed once more, "He really took a beating out there. I'm starting to worry he's got a death wish or something."

Asuka frowned, remembering how he had gotten up not once but twice after being knocked down. Considering how he had behaved between this Angel and the last, that seemed frightfully probable. She scowled, "I'll talk to him about it."

"Would you? Thank you," he murmured.

Feeling obligated, she went to go visit Kaworu right after. He was better off than Shinji but she could see angry red bruising blossoming up his neck from his chest. "Hey," she said as she came in.

He straightened, "Asuka!"

"Good to see you're doing alright," she gave him a weak smile as she stopped beside the bed.

"My chest burns something terribly," he rubbed at it, "But otherwise, yes. I'm alright."

"Shinji's alright. He looks like hell and I think his arm's fractured but he's alive."

"That's what counts," he nodded, "How about you?"

Asuka rubbed the bandages over her eye then explained, "Massive headache and some sympathetic damage to my eye. My vision will come back...or it won't."

"You're taking that surprisingly well."

Asuka wondered when he might have learned about her final desperate standoff against the Eva series—then decided he had either seen something similar before or he had seen through that first Instrumentality. She shrugged, "Having a meltdown won't make me see again."

"Fair. What of Rei?"

"No one knows yet."

Kaworu frowned and looked off into space with an unreadable expression. Softly, he remarked, "I'm sure she'll be fine, one way or another."

Asuka frowned in turn, not quite liking his cryptic statement. If they weren't somewhere like this, she would have pressed him on that. But they weren't so she pressed him on something else, "Shinji seems to think you were pretty reckless."

"I wanted to make things easier for all of you," he sighed, "But I fear my efforts didn't do that much."

"As long as you weren't trying to get yourself killed, you did enough," Asuka shrugged, "Whatever you did with your AT Field was pretty damn impressive."

"Not impressive enough," he murmured gravely.

She let a few moments of silence hang between them before she repeated, "You...don't have a death wish or something...right?"

"Of course not," his expression softened, "I'd like to live as long as I can. I wouldn't leave you alone if I could help it."

She hadn't realized that was what bothered her until he voiced it. If he died, her tether to all this loop nonsense would be severed. She wouldn't know how to go on, if it wasn't for him. If it wasn't for him, she might have started losing hope back when Kensuke...was caught in the crossfire of all this. She offered him a smile, "Alright, Kaworu. I'm...I'm happy to hear."

With that, they said their good nights (as it was already approaching night once more) and she retired to her room, trying to keep her worries of Rei from keeping her from sleeping.

---

Rei woke slowly and groggily, as if some disturbance had woke her straight from the middle of her REM cycle. Her eyes remained closed, as she was unwilling yet to open them. The temptation to let the tug of sleep pull her back under was great, especially when she knew she would not wake again if she did. That'd be nice. There would be no more pain, no more uncertainty, no more purpose. Just blissful unending nothingness.

But she knew she had no choice but to open her eyes. Impressions flickered across her mind; a flash of fire orange, a flicker of lavender silver and a pool of healthy-sea-blue.

She inhaled slowly, focusing on how what felt like LCL pooled into her lungs. Wherever she was, there was LCL, it was warm and she was being rocked by gentle waves.

That urge to just go to sleep returned and, with a spike of rebellion, she opened her eyes.

She gasped sharply.

Floating above her, barely discernible through the haze of red seawater, was herself.

She was much smaller than herself and dressed in a red dress but she still knew this was herself. The other her within the Eva.

She smiled brightly, eyes alight with mischief.

Finally. You woke back up! It's like you've been sleeping forever. Let's be together again.

She drew close to her, like an asteroid caught in orbit. Rei wanted to fight but found herself stuck in place. A wonderful and painful sensation of electricity surged through her body as the pair merged and all she could do was gasp at the sensation. It felt like she was a mold someone was pouring resin into and it was filling her completely, pooling and completing corners of herself she didn't know existed until before then.

And then it was over. The red sea she was floating within snapped into sharp clarity and, beyond, she could see the full moon shining onto her. Once more in control of her body, she righted herself, floating upright as she looked for an end to the sea.

There was no end when she looked around her. Maybe if she swam straight up she could see something when she breached the surface?

She began to to kick at the water, intent on rising—but something grasped her foot.

She gasped once more and looked down, finding yet another her in the depths beyond. She was impossibly large with alabaster skin and blood red eyes. Even though she had come to see the merits in red, this red made her stomach curdle.

"Who are you?" she whispered.

The other her didn't make an attempt to pull her down with it or crush her leg or anything. She merely held her in place. Smiling widely, she answered:

ANOTHER FACET OF YOU.

THE TRUE YOU. HIDDEN INSIDE THE DEEPEST PART OF YOU. WAITING.

A new impression flashed across her memory; a white giant pinned on a red cross. She suddenly felt sick.

Rei found herself whimper. "Let me go," she pleaded, "I don't want to be you."

THERE'S A REQUEST I'VE ASKED OF YOU MANY TIMES BEFORE.

WREST THE FRUIT OF LIFE FROM ADAM'S PEOPLE AND RETURN IT TO ME.

MY CHILDREN ARE IMPERFECT, AS ARE YOU.

DON'T YOU WANT TO BE PERFECT?

A whole new emotion crashed against Rei; indignance! She twisted out of Lilith's grip and kicked once more, swimming a few feet away. She cried, "I'm me! I don't want to be you!"

Looking back, she saw Lilith didn't make another move to recapture her. She watched, eyes half-hooded, as if waiting. Rei frowned deeply and continued, "My purpose...the role I play, I want to decide that! I don't need to be perfect. In the time I have left, I will use my own free will."

Lilith sighed, a torrent of bubbles escaping her lips and rushing past Rei. She didn't seem furious...only resigned. She smiled back at her.

OH WELL.

YOU DO ALWAYS SAY THAT.

WE WILL SEE EACH OTHER AGAIN.

WHETHER YOU WANT TO OR NOT.

FAREWELL FOR NOW, REI AYANAMI.

The sea around her began to fade away and Rei could feel the sensation of someone grabbing her shoulders as she was yanked out of the sea.

She gasped sharply and began hacking up LCL. Dimly, she realized Dr. Akagi was half-holding her up as she collapsed out of a tube of LCL. Through the haze, she could see a familiar face watching this, his expression hidden behind a pair of tinted glasses. Dr. Akagi turned to him and reported, "It's been a success, sir."

"Good. I leave the rest to you. As we went over before."

"...right," Dr. Akagi murmured.

For just a moment, when he looked upon her, she swore he frowned deeply. Then, as quick as it happened, his face once more went neutral and he left.

The tug of sleep once more came over Rei and this time, she surrendered herself to it.