Haibane Renmei Fan Fiction / Neon Genesis Evangelion Fan Fiction ❯ Rei-Bane ❯ Chapter 6: Second Summer / Nemu's Day / Quartet ( Chapter 6 )

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Nemu sat on the guest room terrace, enjoying a cool drink in the light summer breeze of a lazy Sunday afternoon.  She looked down into the courtyard where some of the Little Feathers were playing with Rei watching over them.

"Nemu!" one of them called out to her.  "Come down and play with us!"  Several others then joined in with the same request.

"Okay, I’ll be down in a bit.  Just let me enjoy a little peace and quiet first."

As she watched the children return to their games, her gaze eventually fell on Rei.

‘No longer a New Feather,’ she thought as she recalled the small celebration that had been held two weeks earlier on the first anniversary of Rei’s arrival. 

"Brother Ikari once asked me if I was happy here," she remembered Rei saying that night.  "At the time I did not know how to answer him, but now I know, deep inside me, that being here with my sisters does make me happy.  I also know that this has been a by far better year than I ever had in my previous life, and for that I must thank all of you."

Rakka, Hikari and their special guest Sumika had all been so touched that they had cried.  Even Kana had been misty eyed.

‘She’s come so far so fast and, yet, in some ways she hasn’t changed at all.’

Nemu surmised that if someone were to ask the Haibane of Old Home to describe Rei in one word they would probably all say "resilient."  From being born in a Haibane’s strange way into their strange world, to having trouble with some of the townspeople, to being restricted in her movements by the Renmei, they all seemed to have been like water off a duck’s back to Rei.  Even personal issues like her cocoon dream didn’t seem to have much of an effect on how she went about her life day to day.

But what impressed Nemu the most was the way Rei had learned to care for the Little Feathers.

When, upon arriving back at Old Home after her judgment, Rei had informed Nemu and the Housemother of her new duties, they both had been sure that having Rei help with the youngsters would be a disaster because of her lack of empathy.  And while that had been something of a problem at first, her unflappable nature had turned out to be a distinct benefit right from the outset.  No matter what commotion raged Rei was always the calm in the eye of the storm.

And while Rei’s general ability to empathize with the children had grown rapidly over time, Nemu had noticed right away that she could certainly identify with a wounded child.  If there was a bumped head or a scraped knee Rei was always right there to expertly tend to it.

From things like this it had become clear to Nemu that Rei knew a lot about injury and pain, and this saddened her.  She sometimes wondered what Rei’s previous life must have been like to mold her into the girl that had emerged from that cocoon the previous summer.  She thought that it must have been a life of terrible emotional emptiness and great physical stress or even danger.  She even wondered if Rei’s seeming resilience was simply due to the fact that her current life’s difficulties paled in comparison to those of her past one.  In the end she had concluded that, of all the Haibane she had known during her eleven years in Glie, Rei’s prior life had almost certainly been the most traumatic.

‘Her body doesn’t show them, but the scars are easy to see once you bother to look.’

On one of her rare trips into town Nemu had even mentioned this to her old friend Sumika when she had stopped by the library to say hello.

"Yes, I’m afraid I have to agree with you," the librarian had said.  "Rei definitely strikes me as someone who has suffered a lot of abuse, both physically and mentally."

Now, looking at her, Nemu just had to smile.  Rei was sitting in the courtyard and one of the Little Feather girls was trying, not very successfully, to teach her to play patty cake.  Behind her, Hana, one of the older girls, was trying to braid some of her fine blue hair.

Nemu chuckled.  Like Rakka, Rei had succumbed to Hikari’s constant insisting that she should let her hair grow out.  And while Rakka now usually kept her hair in pigtails, Rei either left hers loose, like today, or tied back in a simple ponytail, just as Reki had done.  Sitting in the sun with her hair cascading around her shoulders Nemu noted that she could hardly have looked any less like the "freak"  the delinquents in town had called her.  Given her seeming naïveté and general social cluelessness, Nemu concluded it was perhaps fortunate that Rei was kept from being seen by the young men of Glie.

‘If Rei’s ever allowed back into town we’ll have to send Kana with her as an escort,’ she mused lightheartedly.

No sooner had Nemu thought of the Haibane tomboy than her voice was heard in the courtyard.  "We’re back!" Kana shouted as Rakka, Hikari and she came through the south gate.

"How was your shopping?" Nemu called down to them.

"Good," said Rakka.

Hikari shook her head in disagreement.  "I tried to get these two to come with me to the used clothes shop but they refused to go!  And I just wanted to get their opinions on something I spotted for Rei."

Nemu laughed.  If it wasn’t for Rei’s steadfast reliance on Reki’s wardrobe, the other Haibane were all convinced that Hikari would try to turn her into her personal clotheshorse.  Whenever Hikari asked about getting her some outfits Rei would just say that Reki’s clothes were more than adequate, and that having her sisters have to bring her things from town was already too much of a burden on them.  However, Nemu suspected, as did everyone else, that Rei simply didn’t like Hikari’s taste in clothes.

"You know that Rei won’t wear those short skirts that you so adore!" Kana teased as if on cue.

"No, I do not think that publicly displaying my underwear in such a manner is appropriate," Rei said with complete seriousness.

Rakka and Kana laughed so hard they were on the verge of tears.

Nemu shook her head and smiled.  It pleased her to see how well her four sisters got along together, even though they were all so different from one another.  Even now, though, Nemu noticed, they had broken up into their usual pairings.  For whatever reason each of them seemed closest to the girl born just a year apart from them - the feminine Hikari and boyish Kana, and the emotional Rakka and impassive Rei.

Kana and Hikari had been close ever since Kana’s arrival at Old Home, just as Reki and Nemu had been drawn together by their similar age.  Rakka and Rei were different.  Though Rei was probably still closer to Nemu than she was to anyone else, Rakka clearly enjoyed vying for her attention.

‘Perhaps she sees something of Reki in Rei,’ Nemu surmised as she thought back to Rakka’s strong attachment to her departed friend.  Like Reki, Rei was composed and resourceful, but there was where the similarities seemed to end.  As far as anyone could tell Rei had none of Reki’s inner fire.

Nemu then thought about how the younger Haibane each in some way resembled her departed sisters.  Rei had Kuramori’s calm level headedness; Rakka had Reki’s boundless compassion; Hikari had Kuu’s joie de vivre, and Kana had Reki’s independent spirit. 

"I wish I could tell Reki about how much they’ve all grown," she said to herself.  "She’d be so proud of them."

‘They hardly need me here anymore,’ Nemu thought.  She sat back somewhat shocked.  The idea had hit her like an epiphany.  She smiled wistfully. 

"Reki…  Kuramori…  Kuu…"

"Hey, people!" Kana then shouted.  "Time for the weekly cocoon hunt!"

Several of the Little Feathers clapped their hands.  They enjoyed tagging along with their elders on their hunts. 

Ever since Rakka’s cocoon went unnoticed until it was virtually ready to hatch, Kana had pushed for a regular sweep of Old Home to check for new cocoons.  No one had bothered to do anything, however, until the last two Little Feathers had arrived a year and a half earlier.  Since Rakka had only stumbled on their cocoons by accident everyone had finally agreed that Kana’s idea needed to be put into practice.

Rei stood and stretched.  At that moment she glanced at Nemu getting up on the balcony and thought she saw her sister’s halo fade away briefly.

She discounted it as a trick of the light.

The next day Sumika was busy at her usual station at the library desk when Nemu came through the door.

"Well, this is a pleasant surprise!" she said.

"I just had a few things I needed to take care of in town and I thought I’d stop by to see you," Nemu replied.

The two old friends quickly lost themselves in conversation.

"There is one more thing," Nemu eventually said.  "I just wanted to thank you again for taking on Rei here at the library.  I know most of the staff were against having her."

"Yes, well, she didn’t exactly come across as a people person when they met her.  But she did have your backing, and she did do a wonderful job here!  I wish she could come back.  The four or five books she does a week for us now aren’t nearly enough."

"I wouldn’t get my hopes up about that."

"Why not?  The Haibane Renmei can’t ban her from Glie forever, can they?"

"No, it’s just that I think she’ll be starting to work full time with the Little Feathers soon."

"Do you really need her to?"

"Yes.  You see…  I’ve decided to move on and do something else.  She’ll probably be taking over for me."

"Oh, really?  What are you going to do?"

"I don’t know yet.  We’ll see."

With that Nemu pulled Sumika into a hug.  "Goodbye."

Beside the fountain in the central square of Glie, Ikari got up to return to the music shop after finishing his lunch.  Today, as he did two or three times each week, he had gotten together with a couple of the other boys from the Factory.

"You really should spend more time at the Factory," one of them, named Dai, had once again said to him.  "It’s stupid and wrong for you to live somewhere else."

"Tell that to Midori," had been his stock answer.

"Stop letting her get to you.  If you stood up for yourself around her she’d leave you alone!"

Ikari hadn’t replied that he thought he deserved everything she dished out.

‘They wouldn’t understand,’ he thought as he started back to the shop.

He had walked a couple blocks when he saw another Haibane coming down the street towards him.

"Hello," she said to him.

"H-Hi.  You must be Nemu."

She smiled.  "That’s right.  And you must be Ikari."

He nodded.  "Rei told me a lot about you."

"Did she now?"

"How is she?"

"She’s doing very well, but she misses you."

Ikari hung his head.  "The Communicator told me I couldn’t see her."

"I know."

Nemu started to walk away.  "You know, Ikari, some rules are meant to be broken."

"What do you mean?" he called after her.

She just looked back at him, smiled again, and then went on her way.

That night Rei had a visitor as she slept:

Like Shinji she found herself standing in a shallow pool of LCL.

"How are you, my daughter?" her doppelganger asked.

"Why have you brought me back here?"

"Hee hee…  This is but a dream."

"We both know better than that."

"So, you are not as easily confused as Shinji.  But then, you are much more my daughter than he is my son."

Rei once more disregarded the insinuation.  "I ask again – why have you brought me here?"

"Blunt and to the point as always, I see.  I just wanted to talk," her double said with a sly smile.  "Mother to daughter."

"I have nothing to say to you," Rei answered, her voice filled with as much hatred as she could muster.  "You are an Angel.  You are my enemy."

Lilith laughed.  "Would your enemy have given you the chance to be happy that I have given you?"

Rei was taken aback.  "What do you mean?"

"Who do you think sent to you to Glie?"

"It was not Shinji?"

"Of course not.  Glie is not a world of his making."

Rei was speechless.

Lilith laughed at her again.  "Not what you expected me to say, now, was it?"  She walked right up to Rei and looked her in the eyes.  "Now, let’s talk about dear Shinji, shall we?"

Rei stepped back defensively.  "W-What about him," she asked, unable to hide her apprehension.

"You've told the other Haibane at Old Home about how you ‘miss’ him, but we know there’s more to it than that, don’t we?"

"I-I do not want to talk about Shinji any further."

"And why is that?"

"I… I am afraid… afraid that I might say something that will cause you to hurt him."

Lilith chuckled malevolently.  "I do not have the power to harm him.  You saw to that."

"Yes,"  Rei answered with renewed defiance at hearing this news.  "I suppose I did." 

"Don’t take that tone with me, daughter," Lilith scolded sharply and then smiled again.  "Now, let’s get back to Shinji."

Rei sighed in resignation.  "As you wish."

"You more than ‘miss’ him, don’t you?"

Rei held her tongue.

"You’re no different than your Second."

"It is true that in Glie I feel that Shinji holds the key to my understanding what I have been made to forget when I am there.  But, apparently, that is because of your meddling, nothing more."

Lilith laughed heartily.  "Not bad, my child, not bad.  But we both know you’re lying."

Lilith approached Rei once again.  "I know what’s in here, in your heart," she said, putting a finger gently to Rei’s chest just below the 00 on her plugsuit.  "You even went so far as to say it out loud."

Knowing she had no reply, Rei turned her gaze away.

"You told me that you want to be one with him,"  Lilith said with finality.  "You love him.  Even in Glie you know that."

"Yes," Rei admitted.  "I have known that I loved him in my previous life since I saw him that day in the music shop last winter."

"But in Glie you don’t know why you felt that way and it confounds you."  Lilith’s look became one of sympathy.  "I wish I could do something for you so that you could remember when you are there, but I cannot."

"Why?  Why would you wish to do that for me?"

"Because you are my daughter."

In her bed at Old Home Rei’s eyes fluttered open.  Slowly she got up, went to her window and looked out into the moonlight filled courtyard.

"Ikari…"

"Rei!  Rei!" one of the Little Feathers called to her late in the afternoon two days later.

"What is it, Hana?"

"Come here and look out the window!"

Rei went over to see what had gotten the girl so excited.  She expected it to be a rabbit or some other small animal but what she saw stunned her.

A beautiful thin shaft of bright golden light was coming out of the woods to the west of Old Home and heading straight up into the overcast sky.  As Rei watched smaller shafts of light split off from it and spun around it like a group of small searchlights.

"What is it?" asked one of the other children who had now come to the window.

"I-I do not know," Rei admitted.  "I have never seen anything like it before."  Nor could she explain to herself why the sight so unnerved her.

"It’s pretty!" exclaimed Hana.

The display lasted less than a minute and then quickly faded.

Up in the Clock Tower of Glie, Kana had also seen the light.

She immediately hurtled down the many stairs and headed for her scooter.

"Hey!  Where’d you think you’re going?" her boss gruffly called to her as she was halfway out the back door.

"Gotta go!  Haibane business!"

He nodded and waved.  "Oh, alright.  See you tomorrow then."

She leapt onto her scooter and raced over to the bakery where Hikari worked.  Relieved to see her sister laboring in the back as usual, Kana grabbed the startled blonde by the hand, tossed her onto the back seat she had added to the scooter and took off for Old Home as fast as she could.

On their way they came upon Rakka hurrying home from the Temple.

"You saw it too?" Kana asked.

"I didn’t, but one of the Renmei did!" said Rakka as she tried to find a way to climb aboard the scooter.  Eventually she succeeded and the little overloaded cycle trundled on its way.

Rakka was the first to jump off the scooter when they arrived at Old Home.  She ran to the gate and looked at the rows of nametags.

"Rei’s here…  But Nemu isn’t!"

"Nemu?" asked Hikari fearfully.

"I’ll go start the bell in the tower ringing!" said Kana as she rushed past.

"It’ll probably be dark before we get back," observed Hikari.  "I’ll go get the flashlights."

By now Rei had heard them and had come out to the south gate.  "What is happening?" she asked.

"We’re going to the Western Woods," Rakka told her.

"But you told me that Haibane should not go into the Woods because it is easy to get lost and the effects of the Wall are very strong there."

"Yes, I know," answered Rakka peevishly.  Then, in her racing mind, she remembered how young Rei was.  This was all new to her. 

"Did you see the light?" Rakka asked.

Rei nodded.  "Yes."

"It means someone’s Day of Flight has come."

Rei’s eyes grew wide.  ‘The Day of Flight!’

"Who cou…" Rei started to ask.  Then it came to her.  "Nemu."

"Probably," said Rakka sadly.  "She’s by far the oldest Haibane."

"But she said she was only going for a walk while the smaller Feathers napped."

"That’s just the sort of thing she’d say if it’s her Day of Flight.  The tradition is that no one is supposed to see you leave."

At that moment the bell of the broken down clock in the East Tower began to peal.

"That’s to make sure we don’t get lost," Rakka explained.  "With that going we’ll always know which way is home."

A moment later Hikari arrived with the flashlights.

"Ready?" asked Kana as she came running up to the group.  Both Rakka and Hikari nodded.  "Okay, then.  Let’s go."

"Are you coming, Rei?" Hikari asked.

"I should not leave the Housemother alone with the Little Feathers," Rei answered.  "But… Nemu is my sister… my… friend…  I should come with you."  Rei debated what to do in her mind for a moment and then said, "Wait for me while I tell the Housemother I am leaving."

Soon afterwards, the four Haibane set out for the Western Woods with Kana leading the way.

"I thought Nemu had been acting a little odd the last few days," Kana said as they made their way into the forest.

"I didn’t notice anything strange about her," Hikari countered.

"Maybe it wasn’t Nemu at all!" Rakka said hopefully.  "Maybe she’s just decided to go to town or something, and it was Midori or someone else from the Factory."

"That clown Hyouko’s been here longer than Midori," said Kana.  "So if it was someone from the Factory it would probably be him."

"We’ll be able to tell when we get there," said Rakka.

"And where is there?" asked Rei.

"There’s a ruin of an ancient temple in the woods.  When a Haibane’s Day of Flight comes they feel drawn to it."

"And how will we be able to tell who has left?"

"When Kuu and Reki ‘left the Nest’ for a little while you could sort of feel a remnant, I don’t know, ‘impression’ of them, I guess you’d call it, at the temple."

"Rei, you spend the most time with Nemu," said Kana.  "Did you notice anything different about her recently?"

"No, not really…  Except…"

"Except what?"

"At the time I thought it was just an illusion, but on Sunday I thought I saw her halo fade away for a moment in the sunshine."

"What?" cried Hikari.

"That settles it," said Rakka gloomily.  "It’s Nemu who’s gone."

Hikari began to cry bitterly.  "I can’t believe it."

"I do not understand," Rei said.

"When a Haibane realizes it’s time to leave the Nest their halo starts to fade in and out like that," Rakka explained.

They continued to trudge on in silence until they came to the ruins, where Kana brought the group to a halt with a raised hand.

Rei saw that Nemu was nowhere to be seen.  Her sister’s absence confused her.  "We are not very near the Wall.  So where is Nemu?  How could she leave Glie from here?"

"Nobody has ever seen what happens to one of us on their Day of Flight," Rakka told her quietly.  "As best we can tell a Haibane comes here and simply disappears."

"Disappears?" Rei asked, shocked.  "How?  To where?"

"No one knows."

"Shhh!" said Kana abruptly.  "Can you feel it?" she whispered.

Rakka and Hikari both closed their eyes and, after a few seconds, nodded.

Rei then closed her eyes.  She soon felt a warm, comfortable feeling inside.  Then several images of Nemu flashed into her mind, the last being of her trying to calm Rei’s fears on the day of her arrival.

‘Your name… will be Rei.’

At that moment Rei felt tears start running down her cheeks.  ‘I am crying again…  Are these tears for Nemu or for myself now that I am without her?’

The Haibane all stood there for a while, each of them lost in their own thoughts in the growing darkness, with the only sound being the bell of Old Home ringing in the distance.  Eventually Rakka walked into the ruins to a collection of stones that formed something of a podium.  The others slowly followed.

Rakka stepped up onto the plinth and reached down to pick something up.  She held it out for the others to see.  It looked like a dull ring of metal.

"What is it?" Rei asked.

"It’s Nemu’s halo," Kana answered.

Hikari began to weep despondently again.

As they began the trip back to Old Home, Rei stopped and turned around for one final look at the ruins.  Concerned, Rakka walked back to her sister.

"Come on!" Kana called to them.

"We’ll catch up to you in a minute!" Rakka responded.  She then turned to Rei.  "Are you okay?"

"I do not know," Rei said evenly as fresh tears ran down her face.  "I feel… conflicted."

Rakka hugged Rei and was surprised by the almost crushing vehemence with which she returned it.  She thought Rei might even be trembling.

"It's okay.  We all feel that way," Rakka then said.  "We’re happy and sad at the same time."

"Yes…  That is how I feel.  I am happy for Nemu but… at this moment that feeling is overwhelmed by my misery at losing her."

"You’ll always sort of feel that way.  Even now I sometimes feel really sad about Reki and Kuu being gone.  But I'm still happy for them.  They were able to move on, and now so has Nemu."

"I understand."

"You were close to Nemu, so I know that losing her is hurting you a lot.  But don’t forget that Kana, Hikari and I are still here for you."

Rei smiled slightly at Rakka as she wiped some of her tears away.  "Thank you."

Rakka linked one of her arms with Rei’s.  "Come on.  Let’s go home."

As they turned from the temple the two of them could still hear Hikari crying in the distance.

"Hikari is very distraught," Rei observed.

"I think she’s really sad and frightened."

"Frightened?"

"She lived with Nemu a long time, so she’s sad, of course.  But she’s also the oldest of us now.  I think that scares her."

"Because she is most likely to be the next to leave?"

"That’s probably a big part of it.  But I sort of feel scared too.  For the first time we’re alone without Reki or Nemu to guide us.  We’re finally on our own.  I suppose that, being the oldest, Hikari feels that more than the rest of us."

"I see.  I must admit I do not feel that way, but then, I am the youngest."

"Well, one day, probably sooner rather than later, we’ll have younger Haibanes who will look to us the way we looked to Reki and Nemu."

"I believe that will be challenging.  Nemu was… special."

Rakka nodded.  "So was Reki...  That’s one reason why the Communicator always reminds us to be good Haibane.  We have to set an example for those who come after us."

"The Little Feathers will be very sad," Rei then noted.

"I guess that will be your first challenge then."

"I believe you are right.  I do not know if I will be as up to meeting it as Nemu would have been."

Rakka squeezed Rei’s arm.  "Of course you will be!  You’re the best!"

It was well after dark by the time the remaining Haibane reached Old Home.

"I’ll go turn off the bell," Kana said tiredly.

"Don’t go just yet," Rakka said as she held out Nemu’s halo again.

"Oh, yeah."

Rei was puzzled as she followed the others into a corner of the courtyard she had never given much attention to before now.  There she found a small stone shrine had been set up.  Rakka placed Nemu’s halo there next to two others.

Rei did not have to ask to whom they belonged.

She followed along as the others all bowed their heads for a moment.

"I’ll go get dinner started," Rakka eventually said.  "Can you give me a hand, Rei?"

"Of course."

The two of them began walking towards the West Wing.

"Oh, wait," said Rakka.  "There’s one more thing we need to do before I forget."

Rei followed her back to the south gate, where Rakka took Nemu’s well-worn nametag down from the wall.

"This has to go back to the Renmei along with Nemu’s notebook," she said.  "They’re the final proof to them that she’s gone."

"What will be done with them?"

"I think they burn them and then scatter the ashes to the wind.  That way they can leave Glie too."

"That is fitting."

The next morning after breakfast Rakka headed over to the East Tower.

Rei heard her and came out of her room to see what was happening.

"What are you doing?" she asked as Rakka went into Nemu's room.

"Getting her notebook."

"Oh, of course."

Rei looked in and saw that Nemu had placed her notebook in a prominent spot on her dresser where no one could miss it.

"She knew we'd come looking for it," she concluded.

"Yep, she did.  Nemu was always thoughtful.  We had to hunt high and low in Reki's room for hers."

Rei's expression became downcast.

"What's wrong?" Rakka asked.

"I believe it will take a while for me to get used to talking about Nemu in the past tense."

Rakka looked at Rei with concern as she closed the door to Nemu's room.  "Are you sure you'll be alright?  I can stay and help you with the Little Feathers today if you want."

"No.  They are my challenge, remember?  You have your own duties."

"Okay.  Good luck."

In Glie, Kana took a small detour from her usual commute to drop Hikari off at the library.

One look at Hikari's puffy red eyes as she came through the door was enough to tell Sumika something was very wrong.

"It's Nemu," she said.

Hikari nodded.  "She's left the Nest."

Sumika sighed sadly.  "I thought as much.  When she said 'goodbye' to me on Monday it sounded awfully final."

Sumika came around from behind her desk to hug Hikari as she started to cry once again.

Rakka arrived at the Temple to find the Communicator standing in the middle of the garden as if he was waiting for her.

She bowed her head to him and held out Nemu's nametag and notebook.

"Feather Nemu was a shining example of what a Haibane should be," he said as he took them.  "Remind all your brothers and sisters of that."

"I will," Rakka answered.  "There is one thing I don't understand, though, Washi."

"What is that?"

"When Reki left I thought that Nemu would follow right after her, but she didn't.  I don't understand why."

The Communicator nodded.  "Your insight into these matters is keen.  Just as she stayed in Glie to help Reki, Nemu then decided to stay to help the other Haibanes of Old Home."

"So I guess she thought we were finally ready to be on our own."

"Do not disappoint her."

Rakka bowed her head again.  "We will all try our best not to."

"The four of you are all good Haibanes.  I have every confidence in you."

Rakka turned to head down to her work but then turned back.

"Oh, Washi, there is one more thing.  Hikari has been beside herself since yesterday.  It worries me."

"Her grief is very palpable at the moment, as is her fear of the future.  Though she will soon be her old self again, she is not the one you should look to for guidance from now on."

"I don't understand."

"The Haibanes of Old Home have again lost their leader.  It remains to be seen who will take her place."

"But you don't think it will be Hikari?"

The Communicator shook his head.

"Kana then?"

"I do not think she has either the temperament or the inclination...  I believe that it will either be Feather Rei or you who the others will come to look to for guidance."

"But we're so young!"

"The two of you have been Feathers for about as long as Reki and Nemu had been when they lost Feather Kuramori.  They proved to be up to the task given them.  Look to their example for inspiration and you will as well."

Rakka bowed one last time.

"We will try."

Rakka left the garden and proceeded deep down into the Temple to the niche where what she liked to call her "armor" was kept.  She hurriedly slipped the stiff brown hooded garment over her head and then continued on her way into the heart of the Temple.

Rakka knew that, like talismans, the glyphs written on the robe were the only things protecting her as she arrived at the Inner Temple deep within the Wall itself.

The Inner Temple was a long hall carved out of the Wall through which the stream that then went past the outside of the Temple ran.  Across the stream from Rakka, along the far wall, was a long line of small shrines.  Each of these shrines glowed with a pale green from glyphs written on them in the same exotic material that Haibane haloes were made out of.

Soon after she had started working at the Temple, Rakka had realized that the glyphs were nothing more than a written version of the sign language that the Communicator used with the Toga and the rest of the Renmei.  In no time at all she had become the only person in Glie besides the Renmei who could read them.

Rakka hopped down into a small skiff and began to push her way along the hall with a long stick like a gondolier until she arrived at what she guessed would be the right place.

She climbed out of the boat and looked at the row of shrines.  Sure enough, as she expected, there, next to Reki's, a new shrine had appeared with the glyphs for N-E-M-U glowing gently on it.

'Right where it belongs.'

Tears of joy ran down Rakka's face when she saw the evidence that Nemu's Flight had been successful.  Tonight, she knew, everyone else at Old Home would welcome the news.

That evening at dinner even Hikari had been cheered by what Rakka told them she had seen.

"So how did things go with the Little Feathers?" Rakka asked Rei after they had finished eating.

"There was a great deal of crying," she answered.  "Fortunately, most of them remember when Sister Reki left, and I think that lessened the trauma somewhat."

Rei sighed wearily.  "It was a long day."

Rakka got up behind Rei and began to massage her shoulders.

"I'm sure you did fine," Hikari said.  "You make me feel sort of lucky.  The bread I baked today didn't cry.  And it actually felt good to be back to normal at work."

"Nemu wouldn't have left if she didn't think you were up to it, Rei," added Rakka.

"I hope you are right," said Rei as she smiled at Rakka's ministrations.

"Did you hear something?" Kana suddenly asked.  "It sounded like a voice."

"What?" asked Rakka.

"There it was again.  I think it came from outside."

Kana went out onto the balcony.  She looked down into the courtyard and saw…

"Ikari."

Author’s Notes:

"Your Second", of course, refers to Rei II, not to Asuka.

Why does Lilith refer to Shinji as her son?  Remember that one of her other names is "the All-Mother".  All of humanity are her children.  Rei, though, of course, is her own flesh and blood.

And what's up with Rakka's feelings for Rei?  As she said in chapter 5, Rakka thinks Rei is "strong."  It was one of the things about Reki she liked.  Rakka, after all, is a very emotional, self-doubting girl.  Some people think that Rakka's feelings for Reki were highly shoujo ai.  I don't know about that.  I also don't know if that's how her feelings for Rei will end up either.

I just know that Rei's heart is already spoken for.

Will there be any new Haibane in this story?  I don't know yet.  I'd like there to be but I'm not sure how to fit them into the plotline.  I also doubt that if I do have a new Haibane come to Old Home that it will be an NGE character, but you never know.

Version 1.1:  Clean up and one important change to Rei's 'dream'.
Version 1.2:  Some more clean up.