Once Shinji returned in the morning from Kaworu's, Misato got right up to her guardian-ly duties of teasing the hell out of him. He shuffled in, probably hoping no one was up yet. No such luck as Misato crowed from her seat at the table, "Hey Shinji! How was your night with Kaworu?"

He stopped like a deer frozen in the headlights then relaxed, unaware to her true intentions, "Oh yeah, it was fine. We mostly slept but um...that itself was...nice."

He was obviously playing it safe, hoping his true feelings close to his chest. Misato wondered idly if there was any reason he might hide their relationship from her...then chalked it up to typical teenage embarrassment. She was there once, as a boy-crazy 14-year-old. After pausing to take a long sip from her coffee, she commented casually, ""I just mean I sure hope you didn't do anything I would do."

Confusion flashed across his face before the realization of her implication dawned on him. He whipped around to face the hallway and yelled down it, "Asuka!"

After a few moments of silence, a muffled cry came from her room, "What?"

"You told Misato!"

She emerged from her room, evidently having just woke up by the way her fire-orange hair stuck up everywhere. She blinked owlishly and then, realizing what he was upset about, grumbled, "I might have let it out...accidentally."

He crossed his arms, "You could have been more thoughtful about it."

She grumbled once more and disappeared back into her room. Emerging once more with a brush, she added, "What's the big deal? It would have come out one way or another. Better sooner than later."

Frowning, he didn't reply but internally decided she was right. Better sooner than later.

Once Asuka had tidied herself enough to her standards and Shinji put up his bedding, the pair reconvened in the kitchen with Misato. Shinji got to making an actual breakfast of miso and rice for the three. Misato, unfortunately, didn't have the time to chat and had to scarf hers down before getting ready for work. This left the pair alone short after to finish breakfast alone, something that had become routine as of late.

Asuka apologized, "I'm serious about telling Misato being an accident."

He waved her off, "It's fine. You're right; it would have to come up one way or another."

"I'm actually surprised you didn't invite him in for breakfast," she paused, "Then again, Misato would have teased him too."

Shinji chuckled lightly at the idea, "She didn't have the time to tease me but she would have found it for him. No, I did invite him but he turned me down."

A terrible errant thought crossed her mind so she voiced it, "He isn't avoiding me...is he?"

To her relief, Shinji shook his head, "No, no. I insisted he talk to you today and he agreed that would be for the best."

Asuka relaxed, though she hadn't realized she tensed in the first place. "Good. And thank you," she said quietly.

"You don't need to thank me," Shinji sighed, propping his head on his hand thoughtfully, "He's got to talk to more people than just me."

He knew that if he let Kaworu lean on him, he might end up leaning on just him. He needed someone like Asuka too, who'd make him talk about how he felt. That just wasn't something he had the courage to make him do. He could comfort him and Asuka would make him talk.

Shortly after breakfast, Asuka went over to Kaworu's with a container of rice and a thermos of miso in hand. Breakfast had been Shinji's idea, as he wanted him to get a nice warm breakfast. He could only imagine how he was eating, as depressed as he was. Or if he was eating at all.

Spending the day with Shinji must have loosened him up because she only had to knock once before he came to open the door. Right away, she handed him the food, "Shinji insisted."

"Of course he did," Kaworu accepted it with a warm look.

The pair went inside to the kitchen table to sit down and once they had, Asuka gave him an appraising look. He didn't seem quite as well groomed as he typically was but his hair was brushed and the dark circles under his eyes weren't as stark. So that was an improvement. "How are you doing?" she asked.

"Better, much better," he smiled, his eyes shining genuinely.

"Because of Shinji."

Blushing faintly, he nodded, "I figured I owed it to him to talk to him. And turns out letting people in makes one feel better."

Grinning crookedly, Asuka quipped, "Who woulda guessed, huh?"

His blush only darkened in color and he murmured, "It just seems so hard...at the time. Like no one might understand…"

"If anyone in the whole wide world is going to understand you, it's gonna be Shinji or me or Rei!" Asuka countered.

Kaworu could easily argue that point but that would require letting go of that secret he was holding so close to his heart. He shrugged, "I guess so."

Her expression hardened, "I'm serious, Prettyboy. You're the rock so what's the rest of us gonna do if you end up spiraling?"

"You should give yourself more credit," he countered in turn.

He then scoffed and opened up the container of food, figuring if he began to eat, she couldn't continue to press him.

He must have had some nightmare that night, considering he woke up with Shinji's arm around him and them sharing his SDAT. His presence had done some good because he couldn't really remember most of the details of his dreams. If he thought hard, his mind thought it might have been what felt like the sixth retread of the encounter with Arael. Ever since then, it felt like most of his dreams centered on the visions she showed him so it was a likely guess.

Some others served to taunt him about Kensuke and the other few seemed to warn of his impending fate.

He sent Asuka a glance as she idly looked around his apartment. He still hadn't let her in on that final secret but the idea of telling her made his stomach churn with dread. They had grown to be such good friends but he still had no way to know if telling her his true identity might ruin that.

Of course, if he didn't, she'd still be pretty mad at him when it inevitably came out anyway.

After all, his fate was inevitable; not even that fires of her determination could prevent it.

Maybe then, it didn't matter if he told her or not. It wasn't as if he'd be around much longer after she found out to deal with the fallout.

He was pulled from his thoughts by the sound of Asuka's phone going off. His heart constricted. There was only a handful of reasons anyone could call her; most of her which were not good. She answered it, already scowling before she heard what it was, "Don't tell me."

"Sounds like you've already guessed," Misato told her, "Looks like an Angel has appeared."

"Urgh, typical."

"No rest for the wicked, eh, Asuka?"

"You can say that," and with that, she snapped her phone shut.

She looked back at Kaworu who, by the crestfallen expression on his face, had already guessed at the topic of their call. She groaned, "Guess we'll talk more later. Duty awaits," she added in a sharp, sarcastic tone.

---

"It's impossible for us to retrieve the Lance of Longinus."

"So why did you use it, Ikari?"

"We still don't yet have the planned number of the Eva series."

Just as Gendo expected, SEELE wanted to dress him down for his loss of the Lance against Arael. Even expected, it didn't make it any less infuriating. Sitting in the designated meeting room, he droned coolly at the monoliths, "Destroying the Angel was first priority. It was an unavoidable conclusion."

The committee grumbled among themselves until Keel cut in sharply, silencing them all, "Unavoidable, you say? With how intolerable your actions had been recently, I find your excuses less and less believable. Using Unit 02 twice and now losing the Lance and using your son to do it!"

"I deemed it less a risk than sending Unit 02, which was our only remaining Eva unit, other than 01. It would have been too much of a risk to send it, especially in its current state."

Once more, they began conversing among themselves, like he wasn't there. One murmured, "Unfortunately, he's correct. An Adam-derived Eva equipped with an S2 drive, inert or not, meeting Lilith could lead to a premature Third Impact…we just don't know what could happen..."

Before they could further antagonize him, his phone began to ring. His lip curled. Only one person would bother him, especially right now, and he knew better than to do so. Picking it up, he said, "Fuyutski, we're in the middle of deliberations."

"I'm well aware but an Angel has been spotted. Sortie begins in thirty."

"...I see," he hung up the phone and told the committee, "An Angel is currently drawing near. We will have to continue this at another point."

Keel growled, "If you still have a seat here, that is," and with that the monoliths blinked out, not bothering to give him a chance to respond.

Not that it mattered; it was a bluff like any other.

Gendo rose to leave and, once out into the hallway outside, found Fuyutski waiting for him. The older man asked, "I'd hope there is no trouble?"

"As suspected, they are none too pleased about the loss of the Lance and my son's involvement in losing it," he answered as he continued past at a brisk pace, making his Vice Commander follow.

"Lucky for you, they still need you to destroy the last two Angels."

"Unlucky for us, time is drawing short. It's time for another gambit."

---

Asuka couldn't quite remember what happened last time in as perfect detail. It felt like Armisael had arrived early but with her hazy memories, it was hard to tell. It felt like the time between Angels had been a week or maybe more, not a mere few days. Some part of her feared things were accelerating as they approached the final act.

Though, last time, her mind itself had been locked into a daze after Arael, fighting not to slip back into the nightmare. Then, her shattered state of mind had only worsened when she had been deployed against the Angel, in a vain attempt to save Rei—only to be completely unable to synchronize with Unit Two.

All she could remember of last time was Rei had been the one to fight Armisael but now, with Zero permanently out of commission, the task fell to her or Shinji.

Last time, she had assumed Rei's survival after blowing up Zero had been a miracle. She hadn't really cared what happened to her then—in fact, she might have even been happy if Rei had died, for good that is. That idea made her current self cringe.

With hindsight, she knew now that Rei's survival had been no miracle but merely a failsafe that switched on. But if someone had to die then to put down this Angel, how could they defeat it now?

She led Kaworu by the hand out of the apartment. Immediately after the phone call ended, panic set in. She could tell by the way his eyes unfocused and how his entire body began to shake. Shinji, who must have gotten the news too, was coming down the hallway and took no time to take Kaworu's other hand to further steady him. Together, they went to meet their Section 2 team.

They piled into their van sans Rei. Seeing the other two look quizzically around, Kaworu quietly surmised, "Perhaps they're still trying to make Unit Zero work…"

Asuka rebuffed that idea, "I doubt that. She was probably already there at NERV."

She knew better than to openly speculate as to why, especially in the company of Section 2.

Shinji murmured, "So then it's likely you or me out there…"

In response to that, Kaworu squeezed both of their hands. "I could…" he trailed off.

"No way!" Asuka and Shinji nearly chorused.

Asuka continued, "You've already gone through hell!"

"It's not like its our choice either," Shinji pointed out, "Misato is going to choose me or Asuka. Maybe even both! I know she won't even consider sending you out unless it's like...like a last resort!"

Kaworu shot him a pleading glance but, faced with Shinji's own steeled expression, looked immediately away again. This was not a burden anyone would let him shoulder. So he didn't bother protesting further.

---

In the Command Center, Misato was sizing up their threat. It looked deceptively harmless; a ring of white light, evoking images of DNA strands or even angel's halos. According to their scans, it was flickering between a Blood Type: Blue and a Blood Type: Orange. No one could figure out what exactly this meant for them except that this was most certainly the fifthteenth Angel, who had been labeled Armisael.

It was drifting closer and closer to Tokyo-3 at a leisurely pace. It was still out in the forested hills beyond the city limits which was a small blessing. Tokyo-3 had already taken a beating; it would be great if they could minimize collateral by keeping the battle outside the city proper.

The kids had arrived a few minutes ago and were awaiting in their Evas so she took stock of her resources. Kaworu, maybe surprisingly so, was holding a decent sync ratio; more than enough to get his Eva moving. He could, in theory, fight but she didn't want any more damage to his wounded and sensitive psyche. It was better if he stayed where he was, where he'd be safe. She had two perfectly fine pilot and Eva pairs, after all.

Unit 02 was still on low priority, leaving Unit 01 as the priority in battle. But sending Shinji in against an unknown threat alone made her stomach twist. She said, "Alright, prepare Units 01 and 02 for sortie."

"Belay that order," the Commander said from behind and above her, "Send in Unit 01 by himself."

Misato whirled around to face him, "But sir! We have no idea of what the scope of this threat is. This is the safest way."

"And Unit 02 is still on low priority. Unit 01 should be enough to neutralize the threat."

Misato gnashed her teeth. Send in his own son alone? What was his gambit? Was this because Shinji had seen what was in the basement?

The Commander tilted his head forward and, even with his eyes hidden behind his glasses, she could tell he was staring her down, "Do I make myself clear or do I need to take control of the operation, Major?"

"No, sir," she turned away, knowing a threat when she heard one, "Prepare to send in Unit 01 for sortie."

She was stuck between a rock and a hard place here. There was no way she could ignore his command. With the Commander being here and present, she was helpless but to comply. She would just have to hope Shinji would understand and pin the blame on who really deserved it.

From behind Gendo, Fuyutski murmured, "So this is your next gambit? Going all in on your son?"

"It's not just my son I'm going "all in on"," he grumbled back.

As Unit 01 was moved to launch, a deep dread had settled in Shinji's gut. He had been listening over the comms and while he didn't catch everything, he did catch that Misato had originally wanted to send Asuka in with him, only to change course last second. His instincts told him it hadn't been completely her decision and that there was only one person who would have changed her mind.

But in his current situation, the 'why' didn't matter. The 'what' did and what he didn't know was what to expect out of Armisael. It had never appeared in his home world and he had never made it far enough in another to encounter it. He was flaying blind.

He kicked himself for never considering asking Asuka or Kaworu about it. But he had been more concerned for Kaworu's state of mind that it had slipped his own! And now he feared he was about to pay the price.

"It's going to be alright," Misato soothed over the comms, "Take your rifle and move in slowly. Let's see what this thing is capable of before we engage."

As Unit 01 rocketed up to the surface, Misato turned her attention back to the Angel. It was behaving oddly, just like the last. It appeared and didn't seem to be in a particular hurry to get to them, as if it wanted them to come to it rather than the other way around. They had made first move last time and Kaworu had paid with the stability of his mind. Was this behavior part of a pattern, to lure the Pilots into a trap?

As Unit 01 emerged, Shinji took a good look at the Angel and found himself surprised. Every other Angel was alien in one way or another but this was alien in a whole other way. It was so deceptively simple as it approached him. He approached it in turn, taking each step slowly as trees crunched under 01's massive boots. He began to circle it, looking for a weakness or a hole or anything that might indicate a route of action.

Upon noticing him, it stopped then separated, turning from its ring-like shape to a strand of like, something akin to a snake. It came closer, turning a wide berth around him as it circled him in turn.

Like it was scoping him out, as he was it.

He inhaled sharply, tracking it with his rifle, but refrained from pulling the trigger. Misato's voice came through the comms, "Just like that, Shinji, hold your fire for the moment."

"R-right," came his stammered response.

She turned to the bridge techs, "Are we getting anything new?"

Hyuga was first to speak up and shook his head, "It's still oscillating between blue and orange."

"You said that before so what does it mean?!"

Maya shook her head, "MAGI indicates it can't find a solution."

"And we haven't the data to come to an answer," Aoba added.

"Perhaps it doesn't have a fixed form," Ritsuko concluded, "So, if we can help it, we shouldn't make the first move...as much as it seems to be trying to bait Shinji into it."

"So what? We leave Shinji in a stalemate out there?" Misato countered, "I need to tell him something or he's going to panic!"

Breathing was getting difficult as the seconds ticked by without an attack. Shinji tried to reign in his breathing as he turned into a circle, expecting an attack on any side. The Angel was most certainly studying him, though for what he didn't know. Perhaps an opening in his defenses or just mere curiosity?

Asuka's recollection of Kaworu's words came to him:

"You don't understand. I think...I think she might have understood."

He pushed that idea out of his head for the moment and asked over the comms, "Misato, what...what do I do?"

"I don't know yet! It's not giving us a lot to work with! We've got two options and neither are very good."

Yes, his two options: either wait for the Angel to crack and make the first move or…

His panic won out and he squeezed the trigger with a scream!

Armisael screamed in turn and lunged at him. Eva 01's AT Field shimmered into view, buckling under the assault. Shinji feinted to the left right as his Field shattered and the Angel drilled straight through his Eva's pylon and through most of his umbilical cable. On cue, his cockpit became awash in crimson light as the timer began to count down. "Shinji, you've got five minutes to put it down!" Misato cried.

Behind her, Gendo smiled slightly.

Shinji bit back a snarky response of "I know!" in favor of feinting once more, dodging the Angel's next attack.

He whipped around, readying another squeeze of his trigger. But once more, he was forced to dodge another split-second assault. They continued this dance for another few moments; Shinji dodging an attack and only given time enough to dodge again. This dance had to let up if he wanted any chance to put it down before his Eva ran out of power. So he whipped around, arm shooting out to catch it.

He gasped sharply. The effect of their contact was immediate agony, like molten iron being poured into his veins. Before his eyes, he could see him and Evangelion Unit 01 grew vein-like growths across their hands. In his grip, Armisael thrashed. He gave a strangled cry but held tight onto his rifle, pressing it into the Angel and firing.

It wailed, shuddering as the bullets ripped through its body, unable to shield at such a short distance. It lunged forward, out of his grip and into Unit 01's center mass, as if it could escape into its enemy.

His chest erupted with white-hot pain and he cried sharply, tears beginning to stream down his cheeks whether he liked it or not. The pain was too much to bear and his mind cracked under the violation. He couldn't capture his focus long enough to will Unit 01 to let go of the Angel, to move away, anything!

The only thing that seemed to slow the Angel's advance into Unit 01 was her AT Field but even that wouldn't be forever as Armisael's own was slowly eroding it. And once Unit 01 shut off...it would disappear with it.

Ritsuko breathed, "It's aggressively attempting to make first contact with Unit 01…"

Beside her, Maya confirmed, "It's beginning to invade the Eva's organic parts!"

Misato decided she was having enough of this, "Send out Unit 02 and Asuka to rescue Shinji."

"Belay that order. Unit 02 remains on low priority," the Commander cut in.

She hissed, "Then send in Unit 04! We have to do something!"

"Belay that order too!" the Commander once cut in.

Fuyutski murmured, "This is quite the gambit you're taking, Ikari...risking your son like this…"

"We are out of time and out of opportunities, Fuyutski," Gendo said coolly, "I have faith in her to protect him from any true harm."

Unit 01 shuddering in agony, limbs twisting unnaturally as she writhed in agony, just like her Pilot. She arched her back, giving out a low, pained moan.

Shinji sobbed in pain, "Father, father, why...why do you want me to hurt?"

It felt like he was being tugged under. The LCL tasted like blood. "There's someone there," he murmured.

He gasped and shot up on the white beach at the end of the world with his knees in the sand. He looked up to find, just standing a few feet away was himself, dressed in a familiar jacket—Toji's old jacket from way back then. He stumbled to his feet and murmured, "You're...you're the Angel...you're like the other one."

"Arael...or Leliel?"

"I...I guess both...but why do you look like me? Like that?"

The Angel—Armisael—looked down at its form then back to him, "By looking at just the mere edges of your mind, I found this form. It seemed familiar to you."

Of course, that "form" would linger at the forefront of his mind, like some part of him had never left Village-3. Seeing the Angel adopt it though...it made him uneasy. They had, whether they meant to or not, become a walking talking reminder of his past.

Armisael spoke again, "You were very lonely then. You felt like no one else in the world could understand you, correct?"

He scowled, "Sure, but...that was then. It feels like a lifetime ago now…"

They nodded in agreement, "But you know that feeling? That's my feelings...to be so alone...with no one left. There's no one left for me."

Seeing Shinji begin to protest, the Angel cut him off gently, "Tabris is...well, he doesn't count. Not really. He's always been different from us. I don't resent him...he cannot be anything else than what his nature demands. But if he was here, in your place, I'd make the same request."

Shinji took a step back, the sand crunching under his shoes as he did, "And what's that?"

Stepping a step closer, they smiled, "Would you like to become one with me?"

Become one with it...is that what the Angel was trying to do to him and Unit 01? He cast an anxious glance at his hands, where Armisael's intrusion had climbed up to his forearms. He shook his head, "I can't do that...I want to be me...not you."

"But you wouldn't be me. And I wouldn't be you. We'd be us," Armisael's neutral expression morphed into an uncanny grin, "And together, we could create a place where there is no more loneliness and no more pain."

They punctuated their statement with a wide, sweeping gesture of the sea and, with a sick feeling, Shinji realized what they were implying. A Third Impact...an end of all things. What exactly that entailed Shinji didn't know...but he didn't particularly want to find out. Once again, he shook his head and took a step back. And once more, Armisael advanced, their grin turning to a frown, "Doesn't it hurt to live the way you do? I can see you've opened yourself up to much pain."

He swallowed thickly and took a few more steps back, right at the edge of where the surf met sand, "It does...but what choice do I have! I've got to keep going."

Armisael tilted their head and hooded their eyes, "I'm afraid you don't have much of a choice anymore. Let me share this feeling in my heart with you."

He could feel something in his soul disconnect and knew, even though he couldn't see it, Unit 01 had reached her limit and went silent. The growths on his arms climbed up faster, now that there was no AT Field to slow their progression. He gasped sharply at the ache that ratcheted through his body and then his soul. He couldn't help but hug his arms around himself and retreat further back, the surf lapping at his ankles like a hungry beast. He whimpered, "Don't come any closer…"

In the outside world, Eva 01 slumped over and went limp as her battery ran dry. Armisael continued to worm its way into the Evangelion, slowly as if it felt it had all the time in the world. Its free half curved around, morphing and bubbling into the barest facsimile of a person, androgynous in features. Their eyes were deep black, tiny pinpricks of brilliant blue shining from deep within; the same blue as Shinji's own irises. The rest of her features were fuzzy, as if out of focus.

The armor on Unit 01's back shattered and the bare flesh underneath bubbled and bloated, like some demented tumor. Within it, Misato could discern the features of all the Angels prior. She shook with barely hidden rage, "This can't be happening. Ritsuko...what's happening? What will even happen if the Angel fully integrates with 01?"

She cast a look at the woman in question who didn't even hear her, gaping at what was happening with equal parts terror and awe. So Misato turned to Hyuga, who she was hovering behind, "If this goes on any longer, you know what we may have to do?"

He looked up at her, eyes flicking to glance at the stoic figure of the Commander then back to her, "You think the Commander will allow it?"

"He surely doesn't want a Third Impact...right?" Misato whispered back.

Hyuga nodded in agreement, "Probably not but what exactly he's waiting for...I have no idea..."

Back inside the dream, Armisael ignored Shinji's plea for them to stay away and slowly followed. They asked, "I don't understand...why do you run? I only want to relieve you of your suffering."

"I can't be one with you! I can't leave them behind!" he cried back.

The image of Asuka, Rei, Kaworu, and Misato flashed in his mind's eye.

They murmured, "But it hurts to live. I can see you fear the idea of oneness...why do you fear it? You'd be closer to him."

The image of Kaworu smiling came unbidden to his mind. He shook his head fiercely, "He wouldn't want me to."

The Angel had chased him into the surf and he could feel the lukewarm waves against the shins of his plugsuit. He didn't want to go any deeper, as if the sea would consume him like it must have at some long ago timeline, but he had nowhere to run. Armisael replied, "But you want to, don't you? The temptation to lay down and give up must be there. It's going to be too much sometime so why don't you just give up now and spare yourself the pain?"

Shinji squeezed his eyes shut at the accusation. Even though he condemned himself to his own fate, he couldn't deny every time he woke up on the train, there was a hint of longing for just that. To stop trying so hard.

To just lay down...and give up.

Like his wish to Rei had been a fool's errand, a pipe dream.

But it was remembering what was at sake that got him moving again.

This time, Rei's disappointed face was what flashed across his mind's eye.

With a howl, he lunged at Armisael, "I can't let her down!"

Armisael yelped as he knocked them both over into the surf. For a few moments, they wrestled, each lashing out at the other. The Angel howled as they clawed at him, "You don't understand! I don't want to be lonely! Why...can't...you...just...give up!"

Shinji flinched as they found the soft flesh of his unprotected neck, scratching angry red lines down it. He tried to pull away, to get away and recoordinate but with surprising strength, Armisael grabbed his arm with both hands and yanked him close. Once their faces were but mere breath's apart, they pushed up from under him, flipping him off of them and under the surf.

Instinctively, Shinji gasped then began to cough as his lungs protested the intrusion of water. That wasn't right! Even though in his head he was under the ocean, his body was still in the Entry Plug, surrounded by perfectly breathable LCL. He desperately told himself that what he was seeing wasn't real as his vision began to swim.

Above him, Armisael shrieked as they held his thrashing body under, "It's not fair! Why do I have to be next to last? Why do I have to be lonely? Why did you have to kill Arael?! She understood! Even Tabris gets to be around the Lilin! You're going to be one with me, whether you like it or not! I WON'T BE LONELY ANYMORE!"

Shinji had no idea what was going to happen if he passed out.

Or rather, if he thought back, all the way back...maybe he did…

Through the haze of his brain, starved of oxygen by placebo, he sent a plea out into the Entry Plug. A desperate desire for the Evangelion to do something it had done once before, many lifetimes ago.

The weight of Armisael was ripped off of him and, through the haze of the red sea, he could see someone had yanked them off of him, onto the beach and was strangling them. Brown eyes alight with fury, the woman's face was twisted into a bestial snarl, the Angel's stolen form proving to be no obstacle to her rage.

Just before he passed out, Shinji thought that expression on her face looked so alien.

Within Unit 04, Kaworu had been spending the battle with his own inside his mind. He couldn't bear to see Shinji suffer but had told himself it was still not worth it. Still not worth revealing himself. When Unit 01 went inactive and there was still nothing done, he began to consider intervening. A fight with Armisael would not be the cakewalk Iruel had been. In fact, it was certain he would have to unfold his AT Field to its full strength to put her down. He would be found out.

But he was quickly becoming tempted to say screw it to being found out. He had already accepted his fate was inevitable. What mattered if it came a little early? He couldn't let her take Shinji from him.

He was reaching out to command his Eva to rip itself from it's restraints when—

"Unit 01's reactivating!" Maya's voice rang out, "And it's inverting its AT Field!"

As she said, Unit 01 was stirring. Fast as the viper that struck her, she grabbed Armisael with one hand and then the other. The restraints on her jaw squealed then shattered as she growled savagely. She bent over the Angel, eyes gleaming like a predator. With a sharp cry, the Angel jerked back, trying to escape.

Unit 01 proved stronger, yanking the Angel back like a fisherman with her prey. The Angel shrieked as the Eva forced it into herself, rather than the other way around.

"This is impossible," Ritsuko murmured as she watched the unfolding events, "She's not only containing the Angel...but absorbing it into herself."

"Shinji's rapidly approaching 400% synchronization ratio!" Maya cried.

"What does this all mean?" Misato demanded of the pair.

Ritsuko turned to her, her expression haunting, "It means Unit 01 is awakening."

"Like...like Unit 02?"

She shook her head, "Not like Unit 02. Unit 01...she's different."

She cast an anxious look back at the Commander. To her shock, despite the grave danger his son was in, he didn't betray a hint of emotion. Could it be...he intended this to happen? But if that was the case, how did he know it would? Had he just taken a massive gamble and used his son as the bet?

But behind his hands, his smile had returned. He murmured to his companion, "It's as I hoped."

Unit 01 groaned lowly as she continued to reel Armisael in and, since she was growing more comfortable ascribing emotions to the monsters she saw, Misato thought she looked satisfied.

For one moment, the Angel's womanly features snapped into sharp clarity; she looked like an older woman with short hair cropped close to her face and soft and motherly eyes the color of blood.

Gendo stiffened.

Then, as as fast as it happened, its form collapsed back into its original serpentine form and the tail end of the Angel disappeared into 01's Core. Her Core shone so brightly it appeared as bright as the sun.

The tumor on her back rapidly collapsed and decayed. With a series of cracks, her purple armor began to snap off as she straightened up, threw her head back and howled triumphantly.

"It appears your gambit has paid off," Fuyutski told Gendo, "But what might the price you pay be?"

Gendo shook off his unsettled feelings to smile lightly at the screen, at Unit 01, "No price too high, I assure you Professor."

Misato looked back at the screen, gawking as Unit 01 lowered back down into a regular posture then collapsed, as if it remembered that it was supposed to be out of power. It was hard to see it as anything but an act as she remembered Unit 02's actions some time ago.

But somehow this seemed to pale in comparison to Unit 02's more open brutality, as it tore itself free of Leliel. This felt...calculated.

She cast another side glance at the Commander who was standing to leave, beckoning the Vice Commander to come with.

She got the sense that, even though this had spiraled wildly out of control for them, he never felt like like that. Out of control.

Like everything had gone according to plan.

Once they were out of earshot, she rushed over to Ritsuko and hissed, "Explain. Everything. Now."

Misato noticed how her eyes then flicked to Maya then her then back to the floor before she finally answered, "Not now. Not here. Let's retrieve Unit 01 first."

Was that...a bone being thrown to her? Or even a promise? She stiffened and nodded, "You're right," then turned and began barking out orders.

---

Asuka didn't need to be told what Unit 01's awakening meant for Shinji. Though the circumstances surrounding it had changed, she was willing to bet the outcome remained the same. The fact that no one had said anything definitive on it confirmed things for her. She had come across Misato outside the locker rooms and had asked, just to be sure, if Shinji was alright.

Misato had only commented she didn't know yet and had rushed on by, going towards Unit 01's cage.

The fact she found Kaworu alone at the boys' locker room didn't make things look any better. Seeing his crestfallen expression, she steered him to the nearest lounge room, as to stay underfoot of anyone. And that's where they had been for the last hour.

Asuka had tried to offer him something out of the vending machines but he only told he had no appetite. So they ended up sitting there quietly, waiting for something to happen.

She cast a glance at him as he stared at the floor. She frowned. For a little while there, it had looked her and Shinji might have had a chance to pull him out of his spiral. But now, with Shinji gone, he was most certainly spiraling again. And she didn't know what to say to fix it; she was no good at this kind of thing! Shinji was the one to comfort him.

Before she could try to, Rei entered and she cried, "Rei! Where have you been?"

"I was here on base," she murmured, "The Commander wanted to meet with me but, due to prior obligations and then the Angel attack, that didn't happen."

Asuka asked with a tilt of her head, "That a disappointment or…?"

"I don't mind it," Rei said with a note in her tone that implied she more than didn't mind it; she was happy about it.

And she was. The meeting was no doubt to re-clarify to her the upcoming threats and then her ultimate purpose. All things she knew already and the latter, which she had rejected. She hadn't quite figured out how she was going to dodge her fate but it was something she wanted to do.

"Did you see anything about the Angel battle?" Asuka's next question broke her of her thoughts.

"I saw the footage. It's why I came here, to speak to you."

"Well, if you want to know what's up with Shinji, unfortunately you know as much as we do," Asuka sighed.

"I see," Rei's eyes landed on Kaworu who, during this entire conversation, hadn't looked up from the floor.

She frowned and asked gently, "What is wrong, Kaworu?"

He murmured back, sounding as if in a daze, "No...I'm going to really miss Shinji."

Asuka gave him a concerned grimace and Rei furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, "We don't yet know Shinji's fate. It's not yet time to give into despair."

Kaworu didn't respond, he only continued to stare off into space.

Rei frowned at the pair, somehow getting the sense they were keeping something from her. That sense also told her that Kaworu was correct; something had happened to Shinji and he would be missing for some time.

Suddenly anxious, she turned on her heel and began to leave, calling back as she did, "I'm going to ask Dr. Akagi!"

Asuka watched her go then sighed, sinking down to sit beside Kaworu. He didn't acknowledge her presence but she looped an arm around him anyway. She'd just have to wait with him…

...however long that took.