Neon Genesis Evangelion Fan Fiction ❯ The Nephilim Complex ❯ The End of Israfel ( Chapter 3 )

Chapter Three: The End of Israfel

Shinji never actually got to sleep again on the cold floor. He did remain curled up on the ground for quite some time, until he heard Asuka started to mumble from the other side of the room. He closed his eyes tightly, trying to forget about everything that had happened last night, trying to convince himself that none of it had happened.

That thought went right out the window when he felt a swift kick to his back. He cried out as he rolled to avoid hitting the wall, and was left staring up at a very angry Asuka. "Just what was I doing with your blanket, baka Shinji?" she demanded, holding it up in front of her.

"I..." Shinji started, but she cut him off before he could actually say more than one word.

"Because I don't need your sympathy, and I don't need your help!" she added, throwing the blanket on him. "I'm not sure what the hell I was doing on the floor, but at least you didn't put me back on the couch! Perversling..." she muttered, turning away from him.

"And here I was all set to make a good breakfast..." Shinji said to the empty room once Asuka had stormed into the bathroom. He pulled the blanket off his head where it had landed, and sighed. 'Guess I got off easy, all things considered...'

He entered the silent kitchen and looked opened a cupboard under the sink. After looking around to make sure Asuka hadn't emerged yet and Penpen was still in his fridge, he ducked down and pulled the rations he had taped to the underside of the sick free, tossing the still cool ice pack into the freezer again.

Standing up again, he closed the cupboard door and set about making breakfast. Although it wasn't German, it wasn't exactly Japanese either, so he figured that Asuka couldn't really complain too much.

Of course, he should have known he was wrong. "Eggs? What kind of a German breakfast is that?" she demanded, stopping on the inside of the kitchen before she sat down. "We had a deal, erinnerst du dich?" Her hair was still dripping wet, but - Shinji thanked himself quietly - she was dressed in a normal outfit. She was wearing a red blouse and matching skirt. After the previous night, he was extremely glad that she wasn't wearing her tube top she had tricked him with earlier. "And stop staring at me!" she added, throwing her empty glass at him.

He caught it deftly and put it in the sink as he turned quickly away from her. "Sorry," he muttered. "I haven't had much of a chance to go get any ingredients..."

"So you admit that you lost the challenge, do you?" she said with a triumphant look on her face. When he nodded without turning to face her again, she let out a cheer. "Ausgezeichnet! As soon as we've dealt with that Angel, I expect a full course German breakfast, got it?"

"For a week," Shinji added under his breath.

"Verdammt richtig!"

"And a guten morgen to you too," Shinji said quietly as he walked from the kitchen, leaving his uneaten eggs on the table as Asuka sat down.

She sat at the table and ate her eggs quickly, pleased with the change but not about to admit it to the baka in the other room. Once she had finished, she added her plate and cutlery to the pile in the sink and went to the living room.

She was surprised not to find Shinji sitting there waiting for her. Confused, she continued down the hall and found the door to his room open ajar. Peering inside, she saw him moving his bed aside, looking underneath it.

"You're not still looking for it, are you?" she asked, sliding the door open.

He looked up quickly, obviously not expecting her quite so soon. "Uh..." She waited for his answer, and he settled on his usual reply. "Sorry."

"And just what is sorry going to do about it?" Asuka asked angrily. "Look, baka, saying all the sorries in the world isn't going to bring her back, right?"

"You don't know me," Shinji replied quietly. "So stop judging me."

"Great time to grow a spine, Shinji. Just before we have to work together. Perfect," she said, turning and storming from the room. He sank to his bed and looked at his hands, trying to comprehend what had happened to the dress. Also at the forefront of his mind was Asuka's last words to him.

"She said the same thing..." he whispered. "She didn't want me to..." he stopped, shaking his head. "And I couldn't even keep a hold of her dress for her..."

Asuka tiptoed away from his room when he fell silent again, and then called for him to get into the living room for practice. When he finally entered, she stood with her hands on her hips. "About time. I hope you slept better than you let on," she added. "And you had better still be willing to work."

Shinji nodded, but said nothing. Again, Asuka pushed him hard. By noon, however, she changed things a bit. Pushing the pads out of the way, she turned on a stereo that played soft, soothing music. The kind that she knew played from his SDAT player.

"Now, I don't think Misato's plan was much good. We have to work together. Do you know anything about dancing with someone?" she asked. When he shook his head, she sighed. "I should have known. Alright, I'll lead the first set..."

She took a hold of one of his hands, and then put the other on her hip. He looked into her eyes, a scared look on his face. "If you even so much as think of lowering that hand, then I'll tear it off, got it?" she warned him. He nodded quickly, and moved it up just a little to be on the safe side.

As the two started to dance around the room, Asuka pulled Shinji just a little closer. "I don't want to know about the dream," she said quietly, causing him to stiffen up. She kicked his shin, encouraging him to keep going anyway. Once they had the rhythm again, she went on. "But you should know... I don't think she is truly gone."

"What?" he asked, stopping again.

"If you can't keep moving, then we aren't going to talk about this right now," she said harshly. "The Angel attack is in two days, and we aren't nearly ready."

Shinji nodded quickly and put his hand on her hip again. Once he had her other hand, he started following her lead again. "Could you please explain?" he whispered after a moment. "If she is still alive somewhere, then you know I have to find her..."

"I don't know where she would be," she said softly in return. "But I think I saw her when I woke up after fighting with Israfel," she explained. "But then she was gone again. She had red hair, didn't she?"

"Yeah," Shinji whispered, stopping again.

"Baka!" Asuka said loudly, slapping him. He turned with the slap, but simply stood there afterwards, not even recovering to where he had been. "I didn't tell you so you could get depressed. I thought it would help! Where else do you think that dress went?" she demanded.

"You... you really think she has it again?" Shinji asked her.

"Nothing else makes sense," she said simply, forcing him into position again. "Now, if you step on my feet one more time..." she left the warning hanging.

After almost two hours of dancing, Asuka pulled him a little closer, and suddenly stood on her tiptoes. The combination of these two actions caused Shinji's hand to slip down to cup her ass almost perfectly. On instinct, her held her a bit closer before he noticed her expression.

As fast as it had happened, he found himself on the ground with several hand prints on the side of his face. "Consider yourself lucky I didn't cut your verdammen hand off!" she yelled at him, standing over him.

Shinji bowed his head to her. "Sor..."

"Shut up," she said before he could finish. "Just stow it. Get the dance pads out again," she ordered, stepping back to force him to do all the work.

Once he had everything set up to her satisfaction, she turned the machine on to the most difficult setting. It took one run through before Shinji realized what had happened, and then he collapsed onto the ground, staring at the percentage that was flashing.

"I told you dancing would help," Asuka said, smiling her satisfaction.

Shinji didn't stand right away. "You know what you said earlier..." he said slowly.

"I said a lot of things earlier, baka," she replied, a touch of ice in her words.

"About how long we have until Israfel is moving again," he explained. When she nodded, he shook his head. "I don't think we have that long."

"If you knew she was alive, and you forced me to be considerate for most of the morning..." she started.

"You call that considerate?" he demanded in shock. "Kicking me to wake me up? Yelling at my different meal? I went out of my way to get those eggs! And then..."

"Did you know?" she said harshly.

Shinji shook his head. "I don't think she is still..." he couldn't say the words, but before Asuka could say anything, he went on. "But Israfel will be ready later today, not in two more days time, as the prediction from the Magi state."

"Today?" she demanded. "When did you learn that?"

"Just after you left yesterday," he explained. "She told me. Spoke in my mind, anyway. That's when I learned Israfel's name."

"Then it's just as well I was struck with my brilliant inspiration," Asuka said with a flourish. Penpen suddenly waddled into the room and started pecking at Shinji's knee.

"Stupid bird," Shinji muttered, standing to go put some fish in the bowl. Misato had been right - it was nearly impossible to forget about feeding the warm water penguin. When he returned to the living room, he found Asuka sitting on the couch, her legs kicked up to prevent him from joining her. "So, Misato should be back sometime today, I guess."

"Kaji, too!" Asuka said with a grin.

"What is with you and him, anyway?" Shinji asked, shaking his head.

Asuka was about to answer, but the sound of the siren interrupted her. She leapt to her feet quickly, and looked to Shinji. They both said it at the same time.

"Plug suits."

They emerged from their rooms at almost the same time, and pushed the buttons on their wrists that caused the suits to go skin tight, and made it to the door together as it was thrown open. Before either knew what was going on, Misato had them in the car and was speeding down the street towards NERV.

"Damn it to hell!" Misato said, slamming her fists against the steering wheel as she came to a stop on the platform that would lower her car. "Of all the times for the Magi to miscalculate... of all the times that we needed more time!" She looked to the two in the back seat who had remained silent. "You desperately needed the practice. Thank god you returned, at least, Asuka..."

"She came back with me just after you left," Shinji said quietly before Asuka could yell back at his guardian. Misato would have replied, but the platform suddenly came to a halt and both pilots were out the doors of the blue car almost at once, racing down the corridor towards the Evangelion cages.

They were sitting in their entry plugs, their heads bowed the next time Misato saw them on the screen. "What is the status?" she demanded as she returned to the bridge.

"The Seventh Angel has made it halfway to the city. We are out of options to slow it down," Maya said from her desk, looking up at Misato with a worried look on her face.

"Our hopes lie with the pilots, then," Ritsuko said from beside Misato. "And I guess your job could, too," she added in a quiet whisper. "At least, if the commander finds out about the earlier battle and this one fails, too."

"They won't fail," Kaji said as he walked onto the bridge.

"Alright," Misato said quickly before anyone could greet the unshaven man. "You two know the plan?" she asked, looking back and forth between the two skills.

Asuka lifted her head and stared into the screen. "We have it covered, Misato. We'll launch with AT Field fully deployed, and go in at full power."

"The battle will be over in less than 63 seconds," Shinji said, his voice almost flat. "Leaving us 13 seconds of operation at full strength."

"Where did that confidence come from?" Misato asked, looking to the closest person in surprise. When she saw that that happened to be Kaji, she looked to Ritsuko instead.

"You are their guardian," she replied with a shrug. "You tell us."

"Purge external power plugs!" Misato demanded before anymore conversation could take place. "Launch!" she added in a commanding tone.

Both pilots sat back in their seats as the g-force gripped them tightly. When the natural light from the sun hit them, they both blinked rapidly, getting used to it again as quickly as possible. They had only been inside since arriving at NERV, and those lights were not much.

As soon as the supports had been removed, both launched forward in an immediate attack. The horned Angels both stepped to the side, waiting for the two massive opponents to slide passed them. As the Evangelions turned, the Angels opened fire with a strange purple beam.

With a mighty crash, the purple Unit-01 dove to the side at the same time at the red Unit-02 dove in the opposite direction. Reaching into weapon buildings that suddenly opened next to both, the two Units came up firing shots from their massive artillery.

An orange hexagonal grid stopped the bullets, but as the smoke cleared, neither robot was still in sight. "Where did they go?" Maya asked in surprise, sitting forward in her chair.

"There!" Misato said at once, pointing to the screen. As she spoke, the sun flashed off the metal of the Evas as they shot down from the sky. The Angels flipped backwards to avoid the attack, but the pilots seemed to be ready for the move.

With amazing speed, the red Unit-02 grabbed the horns of the closest Angel, lifting it high into the air. At the same moment, the purple Unit-01 caught hold of the other Angel and threw it skyward as well.

With a spin, the first Angel was launched into the air and the red Eva knelt to the ground to regain its balance. As it did so, the two Angels crashed together and fell to the ground again.

The Evas stepped to the side as the Angels crashed down, and both drew their progressive knives at the same time, holding them ready for the first sign of the Angels rising through the dust.

Neither had time to react, however, as purple beams of energy shot from the dust towards both, striking them fully in the chest. The shots blew passed the Evas, too, forming a massive cross of destruction throughout the town.

When the energy finally faded, two crashes were immediately apparent, and Misato slammed her hands into the railing along the bridge. "What are the pilot's status?" she demanded.

"They're both stable," Maya replied at once. "The Units have taken 15% damage thus far, according to the Magi."

"The Magi also say that the chances of success in this battle are only 3%," Ritsuko said quietly. "For once, I would not rely on mother's interpretation of things."

Voices suddenly flared to life over the intercom. "Asuka?" Shinji said in a pained cry. "You alright?" he asked.

"Worry about yourself, baka!" Asuka said through obviously gritted teeth. The next moment both units were on their feet again, and it became a staring match between the Evangelions and the two halves of Israfel.

Asuka didn't say anything, nor did Shinji, but both acted at the same time anyway. The internal batteries told them that they only had 23 seconds left to fight before their energy was completely drained, and then they would be sitting ducks.

Racing forward, they met in the middle of the two Angels, and then both turned and darted out from between the two. As they turned to face their enemy on a common front again, more purple energy shot forward.

The sight of two forty feet robots doing back flips down the city was not one that anyone in the control room ever really wanted to see again. Both landed in a kneeling position, and it looked like they might have been waiting for something.

"Major!" Maya said suddenly from her panel. Everyone on the bridge looked away from the large screens that showed the battle, and saw Maya pointing excitedly at her own screen. "Their AT Fields... they're off the chart!"

"Have they surpassed the level that Shinji set during the battle with the fifth Angel?" Misato asked in amazement. It had risen higher than ever before documents during that battle, which Misato was still sure she had seen him glowing for.

"Together they have nearly tripled it!"

"What are they planning?" Ritsuko asked in awe. "If they drain their batteries by building their AT Fields, then they will be sitting ducks out there."

Almost as though the two heard her comment, Units 01 and 02 suddenly shot forward from their crouched position, leaving a trail of smoke behind them as they went. The Angels turned towards each other and then beyond as the two shot passed them and then leapt into the air again, turning around as they did so.

There was a shimmering of orange above them, and it looked like the two pushed off each other's Fields to propel themselves downwards at the Angels at high speed. There was a mighty cry from both of them as the Evangelion feet came in contact with both S2 engines at the same time, and a powerful explosion wiped the screens of those watching the battle from NERV temporarily.

When the cameras came back on, the smoke was still clearing, but Maya looked up. "The target has been destroyed," she said meekly. The cheering on the bridge died down as the dust settled, revealing the two Evangelions in a heap on the middle of the screen, neither able to move thanks to their depleted energy.

"You had to go and blow the landing, didn't you?" Asuka's voice came over the intercom after a moment of silence.

"We never really went over the ending of anything, did we?" Shinji's tired voice replied. "Besides, what does it matter? We did it, didn't we?"

Asuka's face on the monitor in Shinji's entry plug was oddly passive as it looked like she was considering something. "Fine. I'll forgive you, this time. But only because you didn't sleep or eat in two days. Next time..." she left the threat hanging when she saw on her own screen that Shinji was no longer conscious - sleep had finally taken him.

--------------------

"That ceiling is still unfamiliar," Shinji mumbled to himself as he opened his eyes. He knew at once that he was in a hospital room within NERV headquarters again, and also knew that he should have come to expect to wake up under the pale white after fighting an Angel. He did almost every other time, anyway.

"I am sorry to hear that, Ikari," Rei's voice startled him, and he sat up quickly to find her sitting next to his bed. "But I am glad that you have awakened at last. It has been two days."

"Two days?" Shinji asked in surprise. "I was out for two days?"

"It appears that Pilot Soryu was correct when she said that you had forgone any substance or rest during your last two days of consciousness. I hope you are feeling better at this stage," she said in her monotonous voice.

Shinji looked at her with an odd expression on his face. "How long have you been sitting there, Ayanami?" he asked after a moment.

"I have been sitting in this room for the past two days," she explained easily. "Although for some of that time I was asleep or eating nourishment that the Commander provided for me."

"My father came here?" Shinji didn't quite believe what he had heard. "To check on my recovery?" he asked.

Rei shook her head. "I believe his sole purpose of visitation was to deliver me food," she explained. "I apologize for giving you the wrong impression."

"Have you really been there for two days?" Shinji didn't really believe her, but he couldn't just say she was lying to him.

"I have been," she replied easily. "Although I have not always been alone. Pilot Soryu, the Major Katsuragi, Mr. Kaji, and Dr. Ritsuko Akagi have all been in this room at one stage or another. Tell me, Ikari, why did you not utilize my suggestion?"

"What suggestion?"

"I left a note requesting notification from you if Pilot Soryu injured or abused you in any way over the past two days. Am I given to believe that you chose not to eat or sleep, rather than her forcing you?" Shinji was surprised that her voice actually changed somewhat during her last phrase, almost as though the idea upset her in some way.

"I didn't see any note like that," Shinji replied. "But I chose not to eat. As for sleep... sometimes it is not up to anyone whether we can sleep or not."

"I do not understand," Rei said simply.

Shinji sighed. "Sometimes bad dreams, or nightmares, keep us awake when we would rather be asleep," he explained. "And I'm not sure how else I can tell you that I did not see the note."

"I left it for you on the dance pad that you were using before the Major, Mr. Kaji, and myself left your premises," she told him after a moment. "I am not sure why you wouldn't have noticed it."

Shinji stood from his bed and stretched. "It wasn't there, Ayanami," he answered. "Sorry," he added, noticing the confused look on her face.

"I do not believe it to be any fault of yours, Ikari," she replied. "However, that is not why I am confused at this time."

"Then why?" he asked, confused himself now.

"I am having a strange sensation," she explained. "It is a feeling of lifting, as though I am lighter somehow, but that is illogical."

"I think you mean relief," Shinji said with a grin. "Something you were hoping happened or didn't happen went the way you were hoping it to," he added.

"As in, I was hoping you would recover," she said. When he nodded, she almost grinned, a move that caught Shinji completely off guard. He was not used to a Rei with some types of feelings. "And the fact that I thought you simply did not wish for my assurances of your worth?" she added.

"What?" Shinji asked in surprise. Before he had the full word out of his mouth, he was forced to stop as Rei was suddenly squeezing him hard. As she started to release him, she pressed her lips against his cheek.

"Was that correct?" she asked, stepping away from him again with her hands at her side once more.

"Was... was what correct?" Shinji stammered.

"The kiss," Rei answered, her voice flat again.

"I... I... I guess... I mean..." Shinji faltered when she smiled to him again. Twice in one day... he had only ever seen her smile once before, and that was when he had shown concern for her after defeating Ramiel.

"Thank you," Rei said with a small nod before moving to the door.

"Uh..." Shinji's voice stopped her, and she turned. "First, I don't think I've ever heard you say that before. And second, I think I'm supposed to be the one thanking you..."

"I apologize," she said with a curt nod before opening the door and stepping out of the room, leaving a very confused Shinji standing in the otherwise empty room.

He sat down after a moment, holding his stomach. It had just growled, reminding him of how bad an idea it had been to skip so many meals in a row. Before he could do anything about it, though, an apple hit him in the side of the head. Looking up, he was shocked to see Kaji standing in the doorway, holding a plate and a can of juice. The plate was piled with food.

"Sorry about that, Shinji, slipped out of my hand," he explained easily as he stepped into the room and swung the door shut again. "Misato's a tad busy right now, and I thought you might like a bite to eat," he added at Shinji's surprised look.

"Thanks," Shinji said after a moment, taking the plate that was being held before him and starting in on the food right away. He motioned to the chair that Rei had been sitting in earlier, and the man sat down almost right away.

"Thought you'd never ask. I've been meaning to have a talk with you for quite some time anyway, Shinji. I guess this gives us as good a chance as any, right?" Kaji said with a smile.

Shinji swallowed the food he had in his mouth and nodded. "What did you want to talk with me about?" he asked.

"Well, first of all, I think you need to hear a lot more people tell you how you are doing an excellent thing, fighting the angels. I am always amazed every time you get into an Evangelion, knowing how much you hate doing it. Thank you," he said with a broad smile and a nod.

Shinji shook his head. "It's not like I have much choice in the matter, is it?" he asked.

"Of course you do!" Kaji countered. "You could just go out and get yourself killed, couldn't you? If you needed a fast way to do it, all you would have to do would be to pull the self-destruct switch, right? No pain, just poof!" He clapped his hands together. "And no more life, right? No more sorrow, no more sadness..." He noticed Shinji nodding in agreement, and he continued. "No more happiness, or things to be thankful for. Just the end."

"I know," Shinji admitted. "But sometimes the end sounds a lot better than the present," he added, not looking up from his food as he said so.

"Which is why I'm proud of you, Shinji." Kaji's comment made the boy look up quickly. "You haven't taken the easy way out, have you? Given all the times you've risked your life, you've come through every time."

"I guess."

"That's the spirit!" Kaji said, clapping him on the back, almost making him choke. Once he took a drink, Kaji smiled to him again. "Now, I have something I want to ask you about. Just for listening, consider the fact that I owe you something that no one else can give, alright?"

"Like what?" Shinji asked, curious.

"Information. If I know about something, and you ask me when we are in private, I will answer, without hesitation. Sound fair?" When Shinji nodded, not entirely sure what the man meant, Kaji nodded in return. "What are the names of the Angels you have faced?"

Shinji was confused for a moment, but answered anyway. "I fought Sachiel, Shamshel, Ramiel, Gaghiel, and Israfel," he replied. "The third through seventh Angels respectively."

"Ever wonder what happened to the first two?" Kaji asked after only a slight pause.

"Adam and Lilith?" Shinji replied to the question with an answer. "Not really. I was never really told, and never thought of it at a time when I could have asked."

"Who told you in the first place, then?" he asked gently.

The mood darkened almost immediately as Shinji put his chopsticks down at the side of the plate, even though he wasn't finished eating. "I've had enough to eat now," he said quietly. "Thank you for bringing it to me," he added, standing up from the bed again and walking towards the door.

"Shinji," Kaji's calm voice caused him to pause, his hand on the door. "You don't have to tell me. Just promise me that you will never stop. Never stop looking for the truth."

"The truth?" Shinji asked without turning around.

"Yes."

Shinji said nothing as he opened the door and started to walk down the hall to the left. Kaji reached over and picked up the half empty plate and stood from the chair. He didn't even get one step, however, when Asuka slipped into the room and closed the door behind her.

"Asuka, I really don't have..." Kaji started to say, trying to avoid having the girl latch onto him again. He wanted to go see Misato, and ask her about Shinji, but he had to deal with the leftover food first.

"I know how he knows," Asuka interrupted him.

"What?" he asked.

"I said that I know how Shinji knows the names of the Angels," she repeated. "And I know how he could predict their arrival, and when they would attack," she added at his blank stare.

When he recovered from his shock, he sat down again and motioned to the bed to give her a space to sit. He was carefully holding the plate of food in his lap so she couldn't jump up to sit with him in the chair. Once she was sitting, he looked at her, waiting for her to continue.

"Well?" she asked after a moment. "Aren't you going to ask how I know?"

"The thought did cross my mind," Kaji admitted.

"I convinced him to open up to me," she explained. "He told me his deepest secret, because I made him believe that he could trust me!"

"He told you in confidence, and now you are telling me?" Kaji asked in surprise.

"You wanted to know, didn't you?" Asuka pointed out. "And now I do. It is all because of his sister."

Kaji was about to interrupt to stop her, but that comment caught him off guard. "Shinji never had a sister, Asuka. I think he must have been pulling..."

"That's what I thought at first, too!" she interrupted him again. "But it is just a word, he said. She called him her brother, and he called her his sister, that's all. They weren't related, though. But he was the only one who could see her!"

"I don't think you should..." Kaji started to interrupt her train of thought before she could continue and reveal too much more that Shinji had tried to keep locked up.

"It was Nephilim!" she explained excitedly. "He told me that she would warn him of the Angels' approach, but would always call them by name. I hit her by mistake when I first met him, and I was trying to slap him." She didn't give him a chance to ask any questions or make her stop before she dove in again. "She didn't survive that battle, which would explain what he's been so depressed about..."

"Asuka!" Kaji said suddenly, a lot harsher than she had expected.

"What?" she asked, surprised by his outburst.

He stood quickly, his face harder than she had remembered seeing it before. "He took you into his confidence and trusted you when he needed it the most, and now you just throw that in his face?" he demanded. "Even when the person he cared for is now dead?"

As he slammed the door behind him, Asuka slumped down. She hadn't meant it quite that way. She had just wanted Kaji to notice her again, and to tell her that he was proud of her, too. She hadn't meant to upset him. And now he was probably going to go and tell Misato how she had hurt the Third Child or something. She growled to herself and stood to leave quickly. As she slammed the door shut behind her, she was almost positive that she had seen brown hair ducking around the corner at the end of the hall, but when she arrived there, there was no one there.

--------------------

"How could she?" Shinji said a lot louder than he had intended. "How could she do it to me? How could she just throw my heart around like that?"

He was inside a very dirty apartment, standing in front of a bed. Rei Ayanami was sitting on the bed, watching him rant about the room. She had let him in a few minutes earlier, but had not yet said a single word to him.

Once he finally sat down by her bed and held his head, she sat forward. "What did Pilot Soryu do to you, Ikari?" she asked in as calm a voice as she could muster. The fluctuation that would have been considered normal to most people felt foreign to her, but she ignored it.

"She betrayed me," he whispered into his hands.

"I do not believe you are giving me enough information to make sense of the problem," she said slowly, wished she had a better way of asking for clarification.

"You could have just said come again you know," Shinji said softly.

"Come again?" Rei asked in surprise, repeating the words.

"Yeah," he replied from behind his hands. "Asking for more information if someone didn't give you enough the first time."

"That phrase seems so informal, and almost rude, Ikari," she said, shaking her head.

"Informal, maybe," Shinji countered. "But I am not a superior officer, am I?"

"I believe you would be one I consider to be a friend," she replied.

"I'm glad to hear it," he said softly. "As to your question, she betrayed me. I told her something in secret, and the first chance she had, she threw that trust right out the window."

"Could you be more specific?" she asked him.

"I'd rather not get into details, Ayanami," he replied after a moment. "I think two people knowing about it aside form myself is too much as it is."

"Very well, Ikari. When you are feeling up to trusting my silence, then I will be here to listen," she explained. "For now, what can I do to lift the sorrow from your shoulders?" she asked. When he remained silent, she leaned toward him. "Would a situation like this require more than a simple hug?"

"I don't think a thousand hugs from a thousand caring people can heal broken trust," he said softly. "Only time can do that."

"I can not give you time," she said flatly. "I can only offer what I can give freely of myself," she added after a moment. She leaned forward and wrapped her arms around him briefly before pulling back again. "But I am not very good at expressing emotions."

"I think you are doing a good job," Shinji sniffed, looking up with a faint smile on his face. "Your voice sounds, sometimes anyway, more alive, and you are showing through your actions that you care." He closed his eyes for a moment, and when he opened them again, he smiled to her more broadly. "Thank you, Rei."

"I will do whatever I can to come to your aide, Ikari," she said with a smile of her own to match his. The use of her first name had come as a shock to her, but she chose not to mention it at the current time. Somehow it didn't feel right. "Now and in the future."

"This time, I think just listening was enough," Shinji said as he stood and wiped the remains of the tears from his eyes. "I can't thank you enough."

"I was simply doing what I wished to do," she replied. "I require no thanks."

"Well tough," Shinji said with a small grin, trying to make sure she understood what he was saying. "Because you are getting them anyway."

"I think I understand."

"Good." He then looked around the apartment. "Do you want help clean up in here?" he asked after a moment.

Rei looked at him blankly, and then looked around the small room. "If you wish to help me, I would accept," she replied. "Though I do not think a repeat of your last visit here is in order this time around."

Shinji blushed immediately when she mentioned that incident. "I'm so sorry for that, Rei," he said quickly. "I didn't mean to fall on you like that, or grab you ther..."

"It is alright," Rei interrupted him, colouring a little herself, a feeling which she found surprising and a little unpleasant. "It was not a bad thing. I just do not wish to repeat it right now. It does not seem to be a fitting time." Shinji stared at her in amazement as she walked over to her dresser and picked up the glasses that were sitting there. She turned around after a moment and held them out to him. "These were your father's," she explained. "I do not wish to keep them here any longer. The sight of them sickens me. Do you wish to take them?"

When Shinji shook his head, she dropped them on the floor and stepped on them. The rest of the day was spent cleaning the small apartment up. First they took the garbage out, and then Shinji got a bucket of hot, soapy water and started to scrub down the entire apartment from top to bottom. Rei fell asleep on her bed partway through, and so he let himself out as night fell silent, not wanting to wake her.

He did not return home that night. The next day at school, Asuka entered the classroom, expecting to find him there so she could yell at him for not holding up his end of the bargain that they had, but found he wasn't at school, either.

What she was greeted with instead, however, was a slap from Rei in front of the class. Dead silence reigns immediately, and all eyes are on the two pilots at the front of the room. The teacher, who had been at the door about to enter, took a step back and closed the door in front of him.

"Verdammt!" Asuka said harshly, touching a hand to her cheek. "What was that for, Wondergirl?" she demanded, tossing her bag to the side to stand fully before the blue haired girl.

"Do not violate Ikari's trust again," Rei said in a firm, steady voice. Asuka had never seen someone's eyes flash with anger before, and had never counted on the emotionless Rei to be the first to show her what it looked like.

"What?" she asked in surprise, though not backing down. "What would you know about it?" she said harshly, trying to block out the thoughts that were suddenly in her mind. Kaji had been really upset with her about it... could he have found Shinji and warned him? But then, why would Rei know about it?

"I spoke with him yesterday, when he appeared in my apartment," she said in a flat tone again. Her words caused the class that was watching to collectively hold their breaths, at which point Asuka turned on them.

"Go watch something else!" she demanded before turning back to Rei. "What would Shinji be doing at your apartment, anyway? I doubt he's ever even been there before!"

"He has been there once before," Rei countered at once. "He came to bring me my papers from class, and a new swipe card as mine had expired. He caught me at a poor time, but he did visit. And he came yesterday as well, after overhearing a conversation that you held with someone else." She paused then. "He did not mention who it was with, though."

If it had just been the two of them in the empty corridors at NERV, Asuka might have backed down a bit to ask her a question. As not, and given that they were in front of the entire class, she stood fuming for a moment before replying. "He probably was as perverted there as he is at home anyway! Tried to sneak into bed with you, didn't he?"

"Ikari did not spend the night with me, Pilot Soryu," she replied. There was a pregnant pause before she spoke again. "It is obvious at this time that he did not return to his residence last night, either, given that I have been informed that you are now staying at the Katsuragi residence full time, as Mr. Kaji has refused to give you lodgings." Before Asuka could respond, Rei walked passed her to the door. "It is apparent that Ikari requires the aide of someone who does not wish to see him harm. I will attempt to locate him before returning," she announced. Asuka turned to reply, but the albino girl was already out of the class and down the hall.

Asuka ran into the teacher, who was standing just outside. She stepped back into the classroom and looked to the students, who immediately looked away from her, whistling or pretending to be talking with their classmates.

"Are you going to go look for him?" Hikari hissed to Asuka.

"Look for that baka?" Asuka laughed. "Hardly." She then paused, and looked to the class again. "But I think I will find Wondergirl. She has an appointment with five of my friends..." she said, folding one of her hands into a fist and clenching it tightly. She pushed passed the teacher as he walked in, and heard Hikari make her usual commands before she was too far away from the class to hear anything else.

She stalked home almost immediately, after determining that no one was watching her, muttering curses in both Japanese and German all the way. "How could that zicke have done that to me?" she shouted as she slammed the door. She knew that no one was home, as Misato was at work and Shinji was nowhere to be found. "What gave her the all-mighty right?"

"That would have been you," a quiet voice said from the living room. Asuka spun around in the kitchen to see who was there, but all she saw was the red hair on the back of the couch. Coming around in front, the German girl could only stare for a moment before regaining her composure.

"You..." she started, faltering again.

The girl on the couch was the same young girl who had spoken to her before she had awakened after the accident that she had shared with Shinji. Instead of being nude this time, however, she was wearing a white dress. A dress that Asuka recognized instantly, even though it now appeared to be glowing slightly.

When the girl said nothing else, Asuka finally managed to get a full sentence out, once her shock had worn off. "I thought you were dead."

"Ah, so you do know who I am," she said in a calming voice. Asuka could feel the anger melting from her, despite her attempts to hold onto it as tightly as possible.

"But you can't be Nephilim," Asuka objected. "She died."

"I believe we have covered that already."

"Would you start explaining yourself, or do I have to force it out of you?" Asuka demanded angrily.

"I find it difficult to believe that you would strike a child on purpose," she said. The girl then sighed. "Though, after what you did to my brother, I suppose it wouldn't be that far a stretch, would it?"

"What would you know about it?" Asuka asked, trying to keep her anger up as a mask, but failing before the young Nephilim.

"He told you about me," she whispered. "He told you something he did not want to share with anyone else. Why do you think he would do that?"

Asuka didn't reply right away. She wanted to, but something about the girl's voice was forcing her to think her answer through a bit more carefully than she had been planning. "Because he was lost, and I was there." When Nephilim shook her head, Asuka bit her lip. "Fine. You going to tell me, then, or do you want me to keep guessing?"

"He saw in you a friend, Soryu Asuka Langley," the child whispered. "And right now, I don't know if he was wrong or not. Do you?"

"What do you mean?" Asuka demanded. "What are you doing here, anyway? Shouldn't you be out finding Shinji?"

Nephilim burst into tears at the mention of his name, and Asuka sat back in alarm, clearly not having expected such a response. Before she could say anything to the child, she was shaking her head vigorously. "He can't see me again! He can't! It would tear him apart!"

"Why?" Asuka asked despite herself. "He misses you, and has been extremely depressed recently, or maybe you have been too busy watching me to realize this..."

"I have been watching my brother," she sniffled, wiping her nose with the back of her hand. "And I know that you have brought him great comfort. So has Ayanami Rei," she added after a moment. "He needs friends right now. Toji and Kensuke are friends, but not the kind he can speak to. He can't relate to them. Only to other pilots."

"Then he's a baka," Asuka muttered.

"I am going to show you something," Nephilim said after a moment. When she held out her hand, Asuka saw that she was holding Shinji's SDAT Player out to her. Not entirely sure what was going on, she took it gingerly and put in one of the earphones, while Nephilim put in the other. "Now listen, and watch," the child's soothing voice came to her ears. She tried to fight the feeling off, but Asuka suddenly had a great sinking feeling, and then she could no longer move. The living room swirled in front of her, and when the room stopped spinning, she found herself sitting on the couch in the middle of the road.

She tried to dive to the side when she saw Misato's car coming barrelling down towards her. Nephilim's hand was on her leg, though, and she found herself stuck in place. The car swerved to a stop in front of them anyway. Asuka tried to apologize to Misato, but it quickly became apparent that they couldn't even see her, the couch, or Nephilim.

It was then that she noticed the other passengers in the car. Shinji was in the front seat, and in the back, between stacks of beer cases, was another Nephilim. Misato was looking at something through a set of binoculars. Asuka found herself forced to look in the same direction, and would have gasped if she could have.

The third Angel, the one she had heard Shinji refer to as Sachiel, was standing in the middle of Toyko-3, with dozens of military planes around it, attacking it. They suddenly cleared aside, and she looked back as she heard Misato gasp.

"What is it?" Shinji asked the question that Asuka was thinking, looking back at the creature again as several tanks were wiped out in a single attack from it.

"They're going to use an N2 mine!" Misato cried in response.

"A Non-Nuclear mine?" Asuka heard the second Nephilim asked from the back seat. Before Shinji could say anything in response to her, the girl had unbuckled her seat belt and shot out the open window closest to the angel.

A moment later, Misato dove at Shinji, covering him with her body this time as he had done for Nephilim earlier. Before Asuka could worry about herself or the Nephilim sitting next to her, there was a sudden flash of light, followed by an enormous eruption of energy and heat. It washed passed the car, and the couch shook in the street, but otherwise didn't move as the shock wave passed by them, wiping out trees, rocks, and even the road on either side of them. The car itself looked to be fine as well.

Shinji looked around Misato at the same time that Asuka looked up to see the young girl standing before the car with her arms spread out, as though she had just protected the vehicle from harm. Before he could ask her if she was alright, she crawled back into the window and collapsed in the back seat.

"Are you alright?" Asuka heard him ask, concerned.

"Yeah," Misato replied, obviously assuming that he was talking to her as Nephilim groaned and rolled over.

"I'm okay..." Nephilim replied at the same time. "Just tired."

Misato slowly climbed off the younger boy and got out of the car. "Would you look at that?" she asked as Shinji clamoured out as well on his side. It looked like the blast had been split down the middle, and the two waves had crashed around the car that had been parked in the street. "I guess someone up there likes me," she said with a chuckle, looking to Shinji for his reaction.

Shinji didn't say anything, but he did look back to the back seat, seeing Nephilim calmly asleep as though nothing had happened. "I guess," he replied eventually. "Did... did Sachiel get destroyed by that?"

"Why do you keep calling the Angel that?" Misato asked, freezing before she got into the car again and staring at him with her dark green eyes. "Is that a name or something?"

Before Asuka could hear the response, the world spun around her again. "What is this?" she asked as everything melted together.

"I am showing you a couple of things," Nephilim said calmly from her place on the couch next to the Second Child. "I feel it will help you."

"How would..." Asuka began, but stopped as the world stopping spinning, and they found themselves at the side of the large Evangelion chamber.

She noticed at once that her Unit-02 was not present, nor was Unit-00. Unit-01, however, was sitting in the centre of the room, only its head above the red cooling bakelite liquid. Asuka tried to ask Nephilim what was going on, but found she couldn't move at all. Those in the room seemed not to even notice them.

"Doctor," a cold voice said from behind her. Automatically, though she didn't try to move, she looked behind the couch and found Commander Ikari, Shinji's father, standing there. He walked through the couch, making it obvious that it wasn't even there, and stopped at the ledge.

"Yes, Commander?" Ritsuko's voice came from beneath the bridge. Looking more carefully, Asuka saw that the doctor was strapped in, repairing something quickly.

"Misato has finally returned. Would you bring her and the boy she has with her in here." He said the question like an order, and it was obvious that it was to be taken as such. Ritsuko nodded and pulled herself up.

The Commander disappeared up a staircase at the side at the same time that Ritsuko passed through the couch and out the door behind Asuka and Nephilim. There was only the sound of mechanics moving about the large room form quite some time before anything changed.

The lights suddenly went out, which startled Asuka. She heard movement behind them, and turned to see in the dim light of the hall Misato and Ritsuko. Behind them was a worried, almost sickly looking Shinji. At his side was another copy of Nephilim.

"They can not see either of us," the Nephilim on the couch said, as though she could sense the question that Asuka wanted to ask, but couldn't.

Asuka didn't reply, as she couldn't, but she heard Shinji's voice the next moment. "Where are all the lights?" Shinji asked, concerned, only to be echoed by the Nephilim at his side. He sounded almost more spineless than Asuka had thought beforehand.

"Don't be scared," the Nephilim with Shinji said suddenly as she stopped fidgeting in the darkness and gripped at his hand tighter than before.

Before Shinji, Asuka, or the second Nephilim could question this comment, the lights suddenly came on again, revealing the fact that Shinji was standing before the giant purple head with a massive horn sticking out of the Evangelion Unit-01. He cried out in surprise and fell backwards. "What the hell is that?" he asked in a loud voice.

He looked back to his book as Shinji's Nephilim released his hand, walking forward to touch the huge creation before them. "You won't find anything about that in there," Ritsuko said calmly. "This is man's ultimate humanoid fighting machine. It is a synthetic life form known as the Evangelion. Built in secret, this is Unit 01, and is mankind's last hope."

"So this is what my father was working on," Shinji said coldly. Asuka was startled by the intensity in his voice. She had never heard him speak with such malice before.

"Correct," a sharp voice said from higher up. Shinji looked up quickly, even as Asuka did likewise, and saw a tall man silhouette against the lights in a tunnel higher up in the wall, above the head of the Evangelion. "It's been a while," he added. Asuka knew it to be his father at once, and she wondered if he caught on as well.

Shinji stared at his father for a moment, and Misato and Ritsuko looked between the two of them quickly, not sure what they should do. "Why did you call me here?" Shinji asked his father after a moment's silence. The fact that he was yelling at his father, and speaking back to the high Commander of NERV impressed Asuka. Even if she didn't want to admit it.

Before the older man could answer, there was a crash from higher up. A siren started to blare within the base, and a voice came over the intercom. "The Angel has revived and is attacking the Geo-Front directly with it's positron weapon."

"Katsuragi, Akagi," Gendo Ikari said coldly. Both snapped to attention, and then Misato looked to Shinji quickly before looking back. "Prepare Unit 01."

"What?" Misato demanded, taking a step forward. "What about Unit 00? Is it still in stasis? We don't even have a pilot for this thing!" she pointed out.

"One has just been delivered," Ritsuko said with a cold voice that almost matched the Commander's. Her hand clamped onto Shinji's shoulder, and he looked up to her in surprise. "You will pilot it, Shinji."

"What?" he demanded in shock.

"Don't worry," Nephilim said quickly, trying to get her words in before anyone else started to speak. "I'll come with you."

"He only had that much warning?" Asuka whispered to Nephilim, surprised by her ability to move suddenly. Nephilim nodded, and the German girl was frozen in place again, watching the scene unfold before them once again.

"It took Rei seven months to synchronize with her EVA enough to even attempt to move it! He just got here!" Misato objected.

"Repelling the Angel takes top priority, Misato. He has a chance, better than anyone else. Why do you think he was sent for? We have to do this, otherwise it will be too late," Ritsuko replied. "He just has to sit in the seat. No one expects more than that. He has a chance. You understand, don't you, Caption Katsuragi?"

Shinji looked from his father to his Nephilim and back again. Nephilim walked forward and grabbed his hand again. "It'll be alright," she said.

"You called me for this?" Shinji asked in surprise. "To pilot this thing? Against the Angel up there? You want me to fight in a life and death battle for you?"

"Not for me," Gendo replied, his voice cold enough to bend steel. "For mankind. I called you here because I had a use for you."

"This must be a joke," Shinji muttered. "Why does it have to be me?" he asked in a louder voice. "You want me to throw my life away?" Again, he was talking back. Why hadn't he ever shown this type of spine to her?

"Not if you follow my orders," Gendo replied.

"Even I have my limits, father!" Shinji cried. "This just isn't something I can do! I can't pilot it!"

"If you are going to pilot it, do it now, and quickly. If not, then leave!"

Shinji froze. He was obviously thinking about something, but he said nothing in response. Misato leaned next to him, and though she spoke softly, her words carried through the large chamber easily.

"Get into it," Misato said softly. Shinji looked to her in surprise. "Why did you come here?" she asked, almost as though she knew what he would have been thinking about. "You must confront your father, and you must confront yourself."

"I know! But I just can't! Not like this..."

"Call for Rei," the Commander said calmly, turning his back on Shinji and the others. "Our spare is useless. She will have to do it."

There was another explosion above, and there was a sound behind Asuka and Nephilim. Through the door rolled a gurney with a girl lying down on it. There was an IV bag hanging next to the bed, and three orderlies were helping push the bed towards the three standing before the giant head. Asuka knew it to be Rei at once, though she had never seen such severe injuries. The girl had her head wrapped in bandages, and one eye was covered. There was gauze and bandages wrapped about her chest, and one of her arms was in a sling.

Shinji could only stare at the girl, along with Asuka. It was obvious, however, that the first thing he noticed wasn't the bandages. It was the opposite reaction that Asuka had had when she first saw Nephilim. Rei's eyes looked almost identical to the young girl's.

Shinji looked to Nephilim quickly, and then back to the girl. There was another explosion, and part of the ceiling caved in above them. The gurney suddenly tipped, sending the girl sprawling. He dove to try and catch her, and barely managed. Asuka was surprised by the sudden speed he had. He then braced himself for impact, as he had seen the rock falling from above. Asuka tried to cry out and dodge herself, but the rock simply crashed through her and Nephilim.

There was a strange metallic clang which brought her attention back to Shinji at once, and then there was silence. It didn't last for long though, before the shouting started.

"It broke free of its arm restraints!"

"How could it do that without power?"

"How could that happen without a pilot?"

"What is going on around here?"

"Did it protect Shinji?" Misato asked Ritsuko quietly over the din.

"I... don't know," she admitted after a moment.

Shinji looked down at the First Child as she moaned and grimaced in pain. She looked at him for a moment before Asuka saw that she was bleeding from a wound in her back, and the blood was dripping onto the floor. When Shinji removed his hand from her back, he found it covered in crimson.

"Let me do it. Just tell me how to get in," he said softly, standing tall after he put Rei back into the righted gurney. As the scene faded before her eyes, Asuka was sure that she had never seen Shinji looking so brave.

The world spun again before Asuka could say anything, and then the living room came into focus again. Asuka stood from the couch quickly before things could take another spin. She stood breathing heavily, looking at Nephilim, who was looking back calmly.

"What the hell was all that about?" she demanded.

"As I said, I wanted to show you more of my brother. There is a lot you do not know about him. And a lot he does not know about himself," Nephilim replied.

"Why me, though?"

"Did you know that he took care of me when I was sick?" the girl answered the question with one of her own. Without waiting for an answer, she went on. "It was terrible. He said I had a fever of close to 115 degrees, and was throwing up almost constantly. Of course, I barely remember any of it."

"How did he take care of you?" Asuka asked. She was amazed that he had been able to, for with a fever of that high, it was rare that the patient could be saved, and she knew it.

"He convinced Misato to let him stay home from school, claiming to be sick himself. He fought with her for most of the morning, at which point she finally allowed it, provided he would agree to take over all her chores when he recovered," Nephilim replied. "He bathed me in cold water, washing my back, which I remember felt really nice. He even held my hair out of the way when I had to throw up. He was constantly changing the ice packs that he had put under the mattress of his bed, which he was letting me sleep in. I don't think he stopped moving until I was feeling better."

"Why didn't he get sick, too, then?" Asuka asked.

"It was not an illness that humans are prone to," Nephilim replied slowly.

"Not an illness..." Asuka trailed off before she turned on the child again. "Then just what are you? A Dämon?"

"I did not tell my brother, and I will not tell you. It is enough that you know that I am not an enemy of man," she explained. "But it was the illness that lead to my death."

"What?"

"It eroded my AT Field until I could no longer keep my form," Nephilim explained. "Even now, I am just a projection. You could pass your hand through me, and I would not feel it."

"Then how did you hold his SDAT Player?"

"It took great concentration."

Asuka sat down on the couch again after a moment and sighed. "Can I tell you something, Nephilim?" she asked. "If you promise not to tell anyone else, that is..."

"I will keep my word better than you did," the girl replied.

Asuka winced at the barb, but knew it to be true anyway. "I didn't mean to hurt him. Really, I didn't," she explained. "It was just... Kaji had to know, you know? It wasn't that I was betraying his trust, I was just..." she trailed off when she saw Nephilim shaking her head. "Fine. I did. Happy? I hurt him, I lied to him and cheated him, and now I feel bad? Happy now?"

"No," Nephilim replied, standing as well. "I do not want anyone feeling bad," she added. "What do you want me to do about it, though?"

"I want his trust again. I don't know why, but I do. I just know that it is not something that I can get. I threw it away..." Asuka sighed, sitting back on the couch. Even though she didn't want to admit it, there was something about the girl next to her that was forcing her to admit her deepest feelings. She looked up when Nephilim stepped in front of her, holding out a hand that was clenched tightly around something. A golden chain was dangling beneath her hand.

"Take this. Wear it until he says something about it," she said in a steady tone. The hand opened, spilling a strange necklace into Asuka's outstretched hands. "Then I want you to take it off and put it around his neck without a word, and then leave the room."

"How would that help?" Asuka asked, looking at the necklace finally. It was a golden cross, with a sapphire at the tips. In the centre of the cross was a diamond that sparkled in the fluorescent lighting.

"It will not be an instant fix," Nephilim admitted. "But it will be enough to make him start trying to trust you again." She then stiffened. "If you break his trust again, I am afraid that you will break him, as well. Let me see your heart now."

Asuka sat back in the couch quickly, covering herself with her hands. "What?" she demanded, shocked by the sudden command. She didn't want to open her heart to anyone, especially not someone she didn't even know.

Nephilim said nothing as she held a hand up to Asuka. There was an odd white glow, and Asuka felt something pulling at her heartstrings. Looking down, she saw the glow was over her left breast as well. When the hand fell back, Nephilim smiled. "You do feel bad," she said softly. "Bitte sei nett zu meinem Bruder," she whispered. "Don't break his trust."

When Asuka looked up again, the young, quiet redhead was gone. She pulled the necklace over her head, and tucked it into her blouse. After taking a deep breath, she stood and walked over to the balcony to look outside.

"But what if he breaks mine?" Asuka whispered to herself. She sighed and leaned against the railing. "Is he with Wondergirl right now?"

---------------------