Neon Genesis Evangelion

EVA-R Prime Extension

(c) Alex Voutsis

Writer's Notes:

Credit where credit is due to Gainax, etc etc. Evangelion is someone else's property, etc.

Additional Credits to the creators of EVA-R Illustrated Fan Fiction. Find it at http://www.eva-r.com - it is an absolutely brilliant fan fic and essential reading to understand this story. You should have read EVA-R up to episode 53 PRIME before reading this fan fiction.

The other fan fictions that are a part of this storyline are

Light of the Soul/Contact

Light of the Heart/At Last, a Reason

The Runaway

Stand By Me

Another's Touch

Thanks for Caring

House of Cards

In the Shadows

A Wish for Dreamless Sleep

Pandora's Box

Progeny / Second Child

This fan-fiction is intended to continue the story begun in the above episodes.

Homeostasis / Transistasis

The events in this story follow on directly from "Episode 11", the concurrent Progeny and Second Child.

(This thing has been cold for so long.

Only hours ago this armored shape had been bathed in coolant fluid, icy currents around the silent giant. Now it had been freed from cryostasis, but is instead locked in the restraints that lift it into the body of the flying wing - an Evangelion transport. The creature is still silent, still dormant. There is no mind directing this beast, no intention, and no identity. It is an empty vessel, a useless husk of flesh.

And it is still cold - the chillingly thin air of these high altitudes does nothing to warm it. The wind whips up in the gaps between the transport delta wing and the Evangelion's body, creating a shriek of rushing air that competes with the roar of the engines.

Restraints hold it to the aircraft, latching about its legs and shoulders. Its head is only half-armored, as if its designers had not yet finished forming it. Bare skin and bared teeth glint beneath the gleam of two cold, lifeless eyes.

This thing has the feel of him.

Aoi Tamashii stands on the peak of the dormant Eva's chest, where overlapping plates of armor form a ridge that runs up and over the giant's heart. The girl calmly steps forwards, slowly progressing up the Evangelion's form, approaching the silent giant's face.

She is untouched by the winds that shriek around her, and uncaring of the roar of the engines. The thinness of the air does not affect her.

There is no way that she can be here. That doesn't seem to affect her either.

This thing is called Evangelion - designated Unit 06. Not the short-lived creation that Gendo Ikari had spawned to further his goals, but the Unit 06 that had been part of SEELE's schedule. An Evangelion of the Mass Production series; the Unit that had been fabricated in France, and part of UNSynaps' efforts to follow the lead their masters had provided.

But SEELE had hidden their true intents from their pawns. It can be said that UNSynaps had been betrayed from the moment they had agreed to act as SEELE's hand.

Aoi can feel the mark that Lyn Anouilh has left on this creature. For a short time they had been one, a few cautious tests with an uncertain boy and an unfinished Eva. But it had been enough for something to form - synchronization, two minds following the same path, the same pattern. The pattern of his thoughts, spiderwebs of nerves half-formed in the dormant tissue of the Evangelion's brain.

He had left his mark on this one, an impression of his thoughts. But this impression is unfamiliar - it is not of the Lyn Anouilh that Aoi knows now. Some thoughts, somethings left over.. worry. Confusion. Hope? Would this make up for it? Would father forgive him?

Anger. The Major. Anger at a man in uniform. Anger.. that Lyn does not hold anymore. Anger that Lyn can no longer understand, no longer has space for in his life.

This Lyn.. is different. Another person. The same person, changed. Changed by time, changed by other people. Changed by life.

She can see it, feel it. Touching on the Eva, she can see the boy that has been left behind, a memory stored in frozen patterns in dormant tissue.

He has changed.. as she has. She has been changed by him.

Her own changes have been.. disruptive. A small smile twists on her lips at the thought - "disruptive" is hardly the term. People have died. The balance is changing - the balance of power, the balance that SEELE has spent so long to keep tipped towards themselves.

And herself - the changes within herself..)

Aoi: ..

(Her change - a separation within her. A convenient deception, one that she has created for him.

One part is called Aoi Tamashii - the girl he knows, the girl she can hide as. The girl who can hide in his arms.

The other is the part that is to blame. The other is the one who plays at SEELE's game, the one that caused deaths.

Which is why they must be separated. Aoi Tamashii must not be blamed Aoi Tamashii must not be.. tainted with those things, not in the eyes of Lyn Anouilh. The only way she could stay with him, and not interfere, is to separate herself.)

Aoi: But.. I have interfered. SEELE sees two possibilities, but are mistaken. I had to interfere; it was the only way to show them the third choice.

(There is only so far she can go, only so much she can tell them. The choice must be theirs - Aoi smiles wryly - otherwise, there is no choice at all. The struggle, the search.. the answers cannot be supplied to them, or else they will be worthless.

And so she must leave them; the two children, groping about in their own world, their small Instrumentality, while she watches SEELE's fist strike down on those who had once been their allies.

And meanwhile another part of her, the separated part, does her best to protect the hidden Sixth Child.)

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

(The young anchorman settles the papers down on the desk and watches the operator count down to his cue.

Three, two, one..

On the air.)

French Presenter: Government officials and representatives from the UN are in "damage control" mode this morning after a catastrophic explosion at a military base near Evreux.

(The scene cuts away from the Presenter to a camera shot; the view tips up and down, clearly zoomed to maximum power as the cameraman strains to get a view of the carnage on the horizon. Even so, very little is visible in the great distance - just a rising column of black smoke, and a general haze over what had once been a UN base.

The camera view zooms back, showing more of the immediate location. Soldiers, military vehicles - a roadblock, clearly preventing the camera crew from getting any closer to the scene. While the picture bobs up and down with the view of the shoulder camera, the news reporter drones on in the background..)

French Presenter: French military groups, assisted by the UN, are preventing entry to the base. Commercial flights have been diverted. Initial reports suggest the detonation of a stored nuclear warhead may have been the source of the blast that was seen and heard more than twenty miles away.

(Another scene change, this time to raging crowds outside what appears to be government building. Groups of police - some in riot gear - are visible at the edges of the screen, watching the crowd warily.)

French Presenter: This explanation has failed to satisfy many; demonstrations jammed noon traffic as protestors blocked streets and surrounded government buildings. Groups chanted for an explanation and calls have been made for the resignation of the Minister of Internal Affairs.

(The camera swings wildly now, buffeted by the crowd, eventually rounding on the awesomely expressive face of one of the protestors.)

Protestor: Why? This is all [bleeped out text]! I have family living near that town - they heard tanks and planes before the explosion! Why are they lying to us!?!

(Suddenly the savagery snaps back to calm; this time a clear, still image - a photograph of Tokyo-3..

... and somewhere, far away, Goro Tezuka looks up from the breakfast table to watch the early morning news.

The student's textbooks lie open on the table, surrounding his plate of cereal. Exams are approaching, and this is one kid that doesn't plan to be caught unawares.

The news, however, takes a strange hold on Goro. He raises the volume..)

Japanese Presenter: Fringe groups have forwarded another explanation, claiming that an Angel was the cause of the explosion. This view has been met by extreme skepticism. If the allegation is true, it would be the first attack of its kind to occur on the international stage.

(And as selfish as it is, Goro cannot help expressing his opinions on such matters..)

Goro: It's about time they went somewhere else..!

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

French Presenter: An emergency meeting of the United Nations council continues here in Paris; when a statement was requested from Tokyo-3, government groups stated 'no comment' on the matter.

(A fist slams down onto an oaken tabletop.)

General: No comment? How can they not know what has gone on here?

(The shouts of the protestors are muffled by the building's walls, but can still be heard - if only faintly - from within. Here, in one of the most guarded and secure chambers within the government complex, a number of officials, both military and political, discuss matters in the quiet hush of fear.

Not a few are in ill-fitted or creased suits; several being summoned from awkward situations, or, in the case of those out of the country, directly from their beds. Many of the people "present" are not physically there; in this day and age holographic technology is not just the possession of SEELE, and the faint glow surrounding the images of the representatives is easily visible in the darkened room. These people leave their faces visible, rather than concealed behind featureless monoliths bearing SOUND ONLY messages..)

Politician: NERV does not wish to become involved - especially considering the obvious implications of a mysterious Evangelion attacking a brother organization.

Voice: On the contrary, Sir..

(The various figures - both real and projected - turn towards the speaker-transmitted voice.

It is Jean Phillip Anouilh of UNSynaps - or more accurately, the projection of his head. That is the clearest projection of the director that could be transmitted here - from aboard a fleeing craft heading over the arctic seas the signal is weak, the projection flecked with static and occasionally lapses into transparency.

Anouilh quickly has the attention of the room; among these men and woman it is known that UNSynaps become the inheritor of many of the former branches of NERV outside of Japan. All fall silent at the prospect of a real answer. The disembodied head turns slowly from one side to the other, picking out faces, matching faces to names. He quickly identifies a number of high level French officials and most of their ambassadors in attendance.

There are very few foreigners here today, and with good reason.)

Anouilh: NERV has been extremely co-operative. Upon hearing of our situation, they offered their support.

(At this, the Japanese Ambassador speaks up, his voice tinged with anger - perhaps resentment at being kept "out of the loop".)

Ambassador: Surely the Japanese Government is the deciding party on where UNSynaps can and cannot relocate their personnel in this emergency!

(The UNSynaps director is quick to respond to this, however, his voice harsh..)

Anouilh: On the contrary, both NERV and UNSynaps have always been under the jurisdiction of the United Nations, rather than any one sovereign nation.

Ambassador: (muttering) ...

Anouilh: And given the situation, we are in the process of migrating our resources to Tokyo-3.

Minister: Wait - migrating? Why? We were under the impression that what attacked your facilities was destroyed by the airstrike at Evreux!

Anouilh: (steadily) I cannot tell this council that with certainty.

Minister: You cannot? From the reports, the attacker was hit by fifteen N2 mines!

(Anouilh can say nothing in response to this - the silence stretching out uncomfortably for all present, finally broken by an equally angry tirade from one of the Generals.)

General: Munitions, armor and air force resources were severely depleted during the battle. It's not something I'd want to see a second time!

Politician: What is more relevant is how we deal with this public relations disaster. Have you looked outside? They're screaming in the streets for us to "tell the truth"!

General: Then we tell them the "truth" - that this was an Angel attack.

Anouilh: (interrupting) An Angel attack?

Minister: After all, what else could have caused this devastation?

Anouilh: ...

Minister: An Angel it is, then.

(Of course it would be an Angel, Anouilh reflected - he should have known all along. The government would never pass on their suspicions - and the military have already been very selective about what information was made public. As the director of UNSynaps he knows with certainty that some things will not become public - that the attack was not an Angel but instead an Evangelion; an Evangelion produced and controlled by a hostile and human force.

They would not speak of it; as if to whisper its name might bring its attention, and shortly after, its wrath.

All things considered, Anouilh can not really blame them for this act of political self-defense. He had already met with the Minister earlier this day; now he sees that what had passed between them, despite his private hopes, would remain only between those two. The burden of knowledge - and in Jean Phillipe's case, of guilt - would remain wholly private.)

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

(The meeting over, the projectors shut down. The room and its occupants vanish, leaving Anouilh alone in the small dark cabin that had been rigged up on the transport to act as a projection room.

Public relations had never really been his job; with his position of authority within UNsynaps, Anouilh had tried to avoid the limelight as much as possible. This situation conspired against him however - with such a catastrophe destroying their bases, and a near-complete loss of organization, the easiest way of handling a problem is to direct questions "to the top".. and making any attempt to recovery from the disaster as public as possible.)

Anouilh: ...

(An Angel. It would be an acceptable story - a lie is always so much more believable when you make them work for it.

A knock comes from the featureless door of the small chamber. Standing, the director of UNSynaps wheels and turns the handle, pulling the metal aside to reveal a young man in flight uniform - the transport's communications officer.)

Soldier: Message on the shortwave, Sir, on the BDA.

(BDA - the UN must have finished their battle damage assessment.)

Anouilh: Go ahead.

Officer: The Evreux facility was completely destroyed Sir. There's no sign of any hostile force.

Anouilh: The Evangelion?

Officer: No sign of it - either it was vaporized or it escaped. And the UN liaison said specifically that they didn't want to make any assumptions that might prove costly, sir.

(The director nods and dismisses the man.

Of course the UN wouldn't want to take chances - not with the beating they had taken at Evreux. If there had been any doubts about what an Evangelion could do to a conventional army, that massacre had removed them. Already Anouilh can imagine the UN, scuttling for Ikari's doorstep for protection. His face twists in a dry smile.)

Anouilh: (thinking) Not that we are doing any better..

(Shaking his head, Anouilh exits the tiny chamber and heads forwards into the rest of the plane.

The compartment is one you might find in any large passenger aircraft. Aisles run down between rows of lightly cushioned seats. Windows set in the walls look out into the dark blue of the sky, seen from the upper atmosphere.

The passengers are not as normal. For one thing, they all wear uniforms; some UNSynaps security, some technical staff outfits..

There are many empty seats - there were not enough passengers to fill the craft to capacity. Hastily-gathered equipment sometimes blocks the aisles or occupies empty seats; data discs, cabling, a box of layered printouts, disembodied hard drives.. Most of the UNSynaps personnel are clustered together, a few filled seats in a cabin that is otherwise nearly empty. They talk in low voices, their conversations stilted as they shift from one topic to another, constantly avoiding the most pressing matter at hand.

A few of the personnel do not sit with the others, but have found quiet spaces in the plane to be by themselves. The few that are not occupied in conversations or their own contemplation take the time to give him nods of respect.

Anouilh nods back gravely. He does not like to lie - consciously - to those under his authority. This is why he is not smiling to his people, or telling them that everything will be alright.)

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

(Nothing. No discovery, and no change.

It would take days - weeks, possibly - to properly search the city for the Sixth and Seventh Children. But such a search would be impossible, even if Major Misato Katsuragi hadn't already given up on it. Two security teams, one for either child, had been watching the apartment as Tamashii and Anouilh entered. Neither was seen leaving. Searching the building had found nothing. They were gone - they are gone. And so the report that the security agent had handed Misato a few moments ago leaves her knowing no more than before.

Katsuragi takes a sip from her glass. The water had lost its chill hours ago to the recirculated air of the cage control room.

The chamber hums. Terminals, screens, and the circuitry and cabling behind them are alive with data as they continue their watch over Evangelion Unit 02, and the recovery of its pilot. But again, Misato sees nothing - no visible change in the state of the Second Child.

The symbols on the screens shift and scroll, running through the procedure that Ibuki had programmed. To Misato, most of the technical details are meaningless. The E-project chairperson had explained the theory, but not the specific stages of the recovery operation. While as far as Misato can see there has been no change, Ibuki has retained a quiet confidence during the procedure. So Katsuragi must leave it to her, trusting the younger woman's science..

Her cellular phone buzzes, demanding attention. Katsuragi fishes it out of the depths of her red jacket.)

Misato: It's me.

Hyuga: (phone) Major Katsuragi - you're in backup cage control?

(Misato's eyes flicker briefly across the room almost unconsciously. Arrays of cables feed into terminals and computer systems, replacing the controls that had been shattered in Unit 02's brief moment of movement. Calling the room "backup" is a polite illusion; the room is a mess, but it does the job of overseeing the necessary functions of the Evangelion storage cage.)

Misato: Yeah.. why?

Hyuga: I'm going to patch you through to a UN representative. Data will start coming through the consoles that you have to see.

Misato: Data? Hyuga, what's going on?

Hyuga: There's been an incident - an attack on UN facilities in France. Public relations is all over it; they've had a cover story running for the past hour.

(Misato straightens in her seat and pushes off, sending the wheel-mounted chair rolling towards the console arrays. The plastic wheels bump over cables.)

Misato: What's NERV got to do with this?

Hyuga: The UN representatives say it was an Angel that attacked their facilities.

Misato: (flat) What? Patch me through.

Hyuga: Yes Major.

(A screen, previously dead and black, flickers to life. After a brief moment of static an image appears - the head and shoulders of a man in uniform. Military insignia on his shoulders.)

Misato: This is Major Misato Katsuragi, NERV operations director. What the hell is going on?

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

(The boy walks into view.

The fingers of his left hand press against the neck of a cello, cool strings against skin. His other hand cups the shoulder of the instrument as he lifts it. His steps are slightly shuffled, holding the cello away from his body to avoid kicking it.

The grassy ground he walks on, the greenery of the park around him - these are parts of his world, like the cello, and even the boy's appearance. All part of the world he - they - have created. A convenient place, a familiar thought.. someplace where their minds can be protected, now no longer confined by flesh and blood.

Once again we find the Third Child in his own Instrumentality - but he is not alone.

Now he sees his destination. The ground slopes downwards, the hillside ending with a border of smooth rocks and rough gravel where it meets the stream. Some distance away a chair rests in the long grass, its wood-and-metal frame out of place here.

He sets the cello down carefully, kneeling to reach underneath the instrument's body. After a few seconds adjusting the support pin he settles himself in the chair with the cello before him. The instrument is already tuned; the bow strings are coated with a touch of resin.)

Asuka: Just play it already!

(Her voice is sharp and impatient, annoyed and slightly exasperated. Shinji doesn't seem to react, his face low as he concentrates. But a closer look, around his eyes and around the edges of his mouth, might show something..

Almost to himself, Shinji Ikari smiles.

He begins to play. It is a simple piece, slipping from a leading melody to a supporting note, then back into melody. Sometimes the sound is beautiful, sometimes delicate, and sometimes bland and simple. In the end, the sound is incomplete; it is not music to be played by one instrument alone, but to be played within an orchestra. The cello is just one piece of a greater whole, and the absence of that whole can be heard and felt in the music.

Asuka Langley Sohryu listens and watches. Where she sits in the tall grass she is almost hidden from view; a splash of red rising out from the green around her body. Her eyes follow the movements of Shinji's fingertips as they press another note into the neck of the cello.

Shinji draws the bow off the strings; the last note quivers through the instrument as the incomplete music ceases.)

Shinji: Asuka.. has she..?

(Asuka's gaze shifts over, looking across the greenery.)

Asuka: No.. not yet.

(Her eyes settle on the tree for a brief moment. It could be called a construct of her mind - something about her that had been built in this place, something she had created in this world because it is a part of her.

Corpses hang from the branches - two of them. A mother and..

Her eyes return to Shinji. She had tried to hide this part of herself from him - to block it out, to keep it away from the rest of this world they had made, to protect him from it, to protect her from how he might judge her. But now it is in plain view; Shinji has already made clear that he will not approach it, or her memories of it, without her permission.

Memories can be touched in this place. They have shared memories before, through the contact.

There had been a chain-link fence before, separating the tree from the children, keeping it away. That fenceline had formed the border of their world - and still does, circling the boundaries of this little existence they cling to. Except now the tree is a part of that existence, no longer kept away, a little closer to them - so to speak.

Asuka is waiting.)

Shinji: When do you think she'll come?

Asuka: (sighs) I don't know, okay? I don't know if she'll come at all!

Shinji: ..

Asuka: ..

Shinji: So.. you think that she's tried to.. reach you, before now?

Asuka: ..

(This is a possibility that Asuka had only recently realized. The thought is.. alarming..)

Asuka: ..she might have. It might have been her..

Shinji: ..

Asuka: Or maybe not..

Shinji: ..

Asuka: I don't want to think that she would have hurt me like that.

Shinji: Could she have done it and not known? That would expl-

Asuka: (interrupts, angry) That doesn't change it at all! She still hurt me!

Shinji: ..

Asuka: ..

Shinji: You might have hurt her too..

Asuka: ..

Shinji: .. sorry.

Asuka: No, you're right.

-(flashback)-Voice: Asuka, come be with me..

-(flashback)-Voice: Asuka, come die with me..

-(flashback)-Voice: Die with me, Asuka..

(It seems so long ago, but she remembers. They both remember. Shinji shared some small part of that experience with Asuka through the contact - when their minds had no physical barriers between them, some of those painful memories had slipped over. But many of them didn't; Asuka's own mind had acted as a shield, holding it all back, all away, blinding Shinji from the hardest of the memories.

But Shinji's memories of this are not just the ones he shares with Asuka; he also remembers what it had been like back then, when he could only watch Asuka in her pain, as she struggled with her own demons. Worse, when Shinji had given up trying to reach her, given up trying to help.

That thing, that Angel..

Asuka does not think of it as the Angel. She has tried very a very long time not to think of the Fifteenth as an Angel.

That thing had reached into her, ripped into her memories and found those things that hurt the most. Painful thoughts, horrible memories, things that ate at everything she had built up around herself, all the walls that guarded her against those pains..

But now, after all this time, another possibility has risen; it was not the Angel that was reaching in..

But it was something else that was reaching out.)

Asuka: By keeping her away.. by refusing to even think that she might have been trying to reach me..

Shinji: ..

Asuka: .. then I might have.. hurt her.

(The thought that the voice that had taunted her, pulled at her, tried to rip her from what she thought was her place in the world..

.. was the voice of something lonely, something desperate..

.. something that was still alive, in Eva..

.. in her Unit 02.)

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

(Major Katsuragi tips the glass slightly - a trickle of water slips around in the bottom. Setting it back down, she stares at the now-blank screen as she hears the door behind her slide open.)

Fuyutsuki: Major, I was told you were conferencing with the UN on the new situation.

(Misato turns slightly, looking over at the vice-commander as he steps into the room.)

Misato: What have you heard?

Fuyutsuki: Essentially everything he could have told you about the Angel's attack.

Misato: (abruptly) It wasn't an Angel attack.

Fuyutsuki: I know.

Misato: ..

Fuyutsuki: Three facilities in France were hit in the early morning by an organized ground assault force, assisted by an Evangelion. The bases were storage facilities for the nearly-completed Evangelion mass production series. Whatever could be salvaged is now on-route to Tokyo-3, as are a number passenger transports carrying equipment and personnel..

Misato: And six Evangelions, or so I'm told. They want protection - and we're the only ones that can help, especially if this claim of a hostile Eva holds any weight.

Fuyutsuki: (quietly) I can assure you that it does, Major.

Misato: They're promising us Evangelions in return for protection and amnesty? Why does it take a disaster before the UN lets us have a few more Evas?

Fuyutsuki: You destroy Eva with Eva. The UN needed a fail-safe.

Misato: (tired) Oh that's just great to hear.

(The old man walks over to the consoles, idly looking over the ongoing recovery operation.)

Fuyutsuki: I'm surprised you aren't waving a gun around, trying to get answers..

(Katsuragi's voice is edged with weariness, but still retains a touch of humor.)

Misato: I've been trying to give it up. (looks up) This Evangelion - where the hell did they get it?

Fuyutsuki: I'm not sure of that, but I have a few ideas. It's not as important as who they are.

(Misato reaches for her glass, and stops as she remembers that it is empty.)

Misato: I assume intelligence is already on it?

Fuyutsuki: Of course.

Misato: And the convoy is on-route.. we've got preparations to make.

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

(Hours have passed since the operation has begun. Occasionally the tired face of one technician is replaced by a fresher one, as the next shift slowly takes over from the previous.)

Operator #1: Diagnostic shows the flight system is running at operational specifications. Delivery system confirms greenlight status.

Operator #2: The signal is stable, no feedback errors. Test pattern confirms; there is no sign of the disruptive pattern. (looks up) Seems like you were right, sir.

(The officer grunts; he can get away with a short and unrevealing response this time. He is, after all, the ranking officer. And as the ranking officer, he has found that part of his duty is to stay on duty, as the long shift wears on.

But MARI is flying MARI has fought. The damn thing is actually doing it. Even if he could leave, he would not have slept while knowing that this is happening.

They had expected some sort of retaliation by the time MARI hit the third base; the assaults on Nantes and Aurillac had inevitably alerted UNSynaps. At this point, recovery of the last Mass Production Evangelions is no longer an issue.)

Operator #1: Secondary drive providing sixty-two percent thrust.

Operator #2: Simulations have determined two interception points, Sir. 40 north, 135 east, over the Sea of Japan, and 55 north, 150 east - the Sea of Okhotsk.

Officer: Very good.

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

(The fist of Evangelion Unit 02 had driven through the wall of the cage control chamber. The systems in the room had been shattered beyond any hope of functioning and Yuri Furikawa, who had been on shift in the chamber at the time, had come close to losing her life.

Repairs have not gone far in restoring the smashed systems, and the chamber is still in disarray - the wall between the cage and the control room is still torn open, the surviving sign of Unit 02's brief moment of movement. But the carnage has been salvaged, with a temporary network of jury-rigged cables and data-feeds transferring control of the cage to the backup system that had been pulled together after the "accident".

Cables sprout seemingly at random out of the broken consoles and from ports in the cracked walls. They run in layers across the floor, twist off down corridors.. the emergency systems are a maze that only a few of those who had been involved in the salvage really understand..

..and none would notice if a few cables had been added afterwards.

And so, unknown to Ibuki and the others who had jury-rigged the emergency systems, not all of the cables feed data to the backup control room.

From the dark expanse of his office, Gendo Ikari watches over Evangelion Unit 01.)

Gendo: (typing)

(His fingers flash over the keyboard as he checks through the system. The information he has access to is limited by the jury-rigged system - being in the cage would be preferable. But every available screen, readout, every piece of information confirms what he had hoped.

The boy had seen her - the reactivation of Unit One with the Sixth Child, officially an attempt to keep their numbers of active Evas up, had been purely to see if she would respond. She had. She had been there, she had reached out.

She is ready.

Their efforts finally brought about the reward. The experimental unit that had decayed and died - a catalyst. The AT field experiments that had first brought about the contact. Finally, after all the effort, she is ready.

The wait is almost too much.)

Gendo: (typing)

(But there is too much attention now - with the recovery operation on Unit 02, he would not be able to work on Unit 01 undisturbed..

..and so, for a little while longer, Gendo Ikari waits. It is something that a decade of practice has allowed him to master.)

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

Asuka: What was it like before I appeared?

(The bow runs over the strings of the cello, continuing to hum its incomplete sound. It is a slow melody, something that would run underneath the faster, more expressive violin. The cello makes half a sound, half of the music; the other half is a mystery, digging at the memory, at where one might have heard it before..

The Third Child thinks about the question as he continues his practice. How do you answer a question like that? How do you take the question?

What was your life before you knew me?

Have I changed your life? Have I changed your heart?

Shinji has learned so much about Asuka during this time - too much. Not too much of Asuka, but too much of the things that she might want to keep private. Things she wants to keep secret, to protect herself, hide herself from memories that might hurt. Shinji has learned some of these things - sometimes he had wanted to know, he had reached out.. and regretted not making it her choice.

Now she is asking. She could reach out, as he had, and simply take the memories. But after their experiences in this place they have both chosen not to. She is asking him to tell her willingly, and he struggles to answer as best as he can.)

Shinji: When I first came to Tokyo-3.. I don't know..

Shinji: I guess I came to tell him ..

Shinji: Tell him that I hated him.

(In the sudden, absolute silence, the Second Child can hear Asuka breathing.)

Shinji: My father, I mean. This.. is part of it. Part of me. Part of why I do things, I suppose. I wanted him to want me - to want his son. If he wanted me, then I.. it gave me some power. I could hurt him, by saying no. I.. really wanted to hurt him.

(The fence starts to quiver, the metal wires shivering, as if shook by hands. Shinji ploughs onward, his voice suddenly faster, more urgent.)

Shinji: I wanted to say that I hated him. Just when he said he wanted me I would tell him that I've hated him ever since -

(He cuts himself off - he had almost let the barrier slip. The fence is quiet again; Shinji lowers his head, his voice quiet, his eyes dark.)

Shinji: But then.. I didn't. Maybe I wouldn't have been able to tell him - even if he had given me the chance. Maybe I just would have been happy that somebody wanted me around.. even if it was my father.

Shinji: (quietly) That's why I came when he called, because I thought maybe he wanted me - and thinking that might be true.. made me feel better.

Shinji: But he didn't. He didn't want me. He needed me. NERV needed me to do a job. I was the only one who could do it.. the "Third Child".

Asuka: ..

Shinji: They didn't want me. I was something that had to be put up with - because there was someone I had to be.. and I've hated being that person for a long time. I hated.. being myself.

(The Third Child raises his head, the gloom briefly falling away from him as he smiles weakly.)

Asuka: ..

Shinji: Asuka?

Asuka: Keep playing, Shinji.

(The sound of the cello picks up again, playing its low, slow melody.)

Shinji: When Misato took me in.. and I wanted to know if I was just a part of her job. I wanted to know if she wanted me around. I didn't want to be there because she felt pity for me, or because she had to, but because..

Asuka: ..

Shinji: I'm not sure what reason I was looking for. Something. Anything.

(Anything.

The music continues, note flowing to note.)

Asuka: What about Rei?

(The music stops with a sudden squeal as the bow jars in Shinji's hands.)

Shinji: Uh..

(Something in Shinji's mind - call it his instinct for self-preservation - warns him to be very careful around this topic with Asuka. He tries to shake it off - he ought to know her better by now.

Of course, there are some things he doesn't know..)

Shinji: Are you sure you..

Asuka: (firm) Shinji..

Shinji: ..

Asuka: I'm asking, aren't I?

Shinji: ..

(His fingers flex on the neck of the cello, pressing against the strings.)

Shinji: ..yeah, you are, I guess..

(Now he does not play - he rests the bow on his leg and stares down the strings of the cello towards the bridge of the instrument, half-hunched as he speaks.)

Shinji: I wanted people to want me near. My father, I wanted him to appreciate me. Misato - I didn't want to be living with her because she felt sorry for me, or because it was part of her work at NERV..

Shinji: But Rei didn't want anything. She didn't seem to need anything. No - it was like she had no.. value.

Shinji: No one wanted her. No one would tell her that she was worth more than what she was doing. She was worse than me. She seemed to be.. throwing herself away at every chance. Sacrificing herself. She said she had nothing else. She didn't think she was.. special.

Shinji: I wanted to tell her that she was special.

Asuka: ..

Shinji: I wanted to tell her that she was worth something to me, that she deserved more. I wanted to say..

Asuka: ..

Shinji: I wanted to say I love you. You mean everything to me. Whatever else, there is one person in the world who..

(He closes his eyes as he hears the sound that Asuka makes now - an intake a breath, almost like a gasp, almost like a shudder. But she does not shout, or rage, or hit him.)

Asuka: Shinji..

(Her voice is very quiet, but Shinji hears no anger in it. Just a hesitant, cautious question..)

Asuka: Did you..

Shinji: ..

Asuka: Do you..?

Shinji: Do I.. love her? I.. couldn't say, if I did.. if I knew..

Asuka: ..

Shinji: She just didn't.. want. She didn't have a value for herself. She was living with zero written on her, as if that was all she was worth. Even I could see that all she needed was someone to tell her, and nobody would, so maybe if it was me..

Asuka: ..

Shinji: That's why.. I don't know.. but then, there was the Angel. The Sixteenth, and in the fight Rei -

(The Third Child cuts himself off - he had almost said "died".

He looks over at Asuka; she is still watching and waiting for him to continue. She is only asking for his story, not taking his memories. He doesn't have to tell her everything.

And he realizes that this is not his secret to tell, but Rei's.)

Shinji: She didn't put any value in herself. I thought it's because she doesn't need anyone to care - and maybe that's how it is.

Asuka: ..

Shinji: But that doesn't mean that caring doesn't.. make her happy.

(This is a memory Shinji is willing to share with her. He feels the barrier slip slightly as his mind reaches for Asuka. His eyes question, and the Second Child nods once.)

-(flashback)-

(Hand pressing down on the warm stickiness of blood. Torn tissue, feeling fragile under his hands, as if the pressure to stop the bleeding is hurting her more.

They are in a car - Shinji is aware of others, Misato at the wheel, Asuka's voice..)

Asuka: Oh shit, Misato! She's bleeding everywhere! Can't we go any faster?

(A mass of pale hair cradled in Asuka's arms as she holds the First Child. Something that Shinji had never imagined.

Arguing between Misato and Asuka. Lyn crammed in with them. Rei's skin as white as marble, shock and blood loss. Her eyes open, her hand resting on Shinji's, her face smiling up into his.)

-(flashback)-

(It had been after she had died. After she had been replaced. Until then, Shinji had been.. uncertain about this new Rei. But that one thing had remained the same, constant and comforting. It had felt as if it were the same person he had known from before.

But he keeps this thought from Asuka, keeping it secret.)

Shinji: Someone cared. I cared. And for a minute it mattered. It made a difference to her, and I like to think about that sometimes..

Asuka: ..

Shinji: She never seemed to have anything, and that didn't - doesn't seem fair. It doesn't seem right. People like Misato, or you, or even me can meet people, reach people, but Rei just - didn't. She was always alone. She went where she was told and did what was needed, and that was about all.

(The Third Child bites her lip, taking in all that had been said..)

Asuka: ..

Shinji: When I first saw her with Tenkei.. when I first saw how much they meant to each other, I was.. jealous.

Asuka: ..!

Shinji: But.. I was happy for her. I like to know that she's got something she can.. that she can say mine. I want. Something that makes her happy. Something that's valuable, that makes her feel valuable, that makes her life a happy one.

Shinji: I like knowing that she's happy. I want it to last for her as long as it can.

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

(The plugsuit seals with a hiss, constricting around her body. Rei Ayanami flexes her fingers, checking that the synthetic fabrics are properly set. Her actions are slow, deliberate - she is in no rush. There is no point in hurrying; the enemy is still hours away, as is the launch of EVA-00.

There is another reason for her delay - she knows that he will be waiting for her. She also knows what he will say.)

Rei: ..

(Her preparations here are complete, but she holds back a little while longer. A few more moments are spent silently in the locker room as the First Child gives herself a little more time before she has to face him.

There is a rap on the door, the metal producing a muffled sound. Rei's eyes close.

More rapping on the door - three knocks, light and quick. She had not thought that the boy would be so determined to speak to her about it. More knocking, insistent, impatient, desperate. Whatever he feels, whatever is driving him, is something strong - as strong as the fear that Rei herself feels now.

She is coming. The other.)

-(flashback)- I am Rei Ayanami!

(The other Rei. The other her.

She has felt her in dreams - seen through her eyes, touched through her skin. Seen her world, and felt her need. Her need for contact, her need for Tenkei. She sees those feelings for what they are - a need far stronger, far more desperate than anything this one - the third of many - has ever felt.

She needs what the First Child values the most - what has given her meaning and joy. For Tenkei she had abandoned Tokyo-3 and fled, despite the dangers, despite the uncertainty of losing everything else that she had called her "life" beforehand., despite the absolute terror of stepping outside the boundaries that she had depended on for so long. For Tenkei she had changed herself, changed her life to suit his needs. For Tenkei she had taken on the role of the mother, cared for him, loved him.

And now she is coming to take him, to take what Rei now refuses to give up, what Rei cannot let go of.

More taps against the door.

A press on the access pad opens the door; as Rei expected it is Tenkei who is waiting for her. He had wanted to speak, determined in getting her attention, but now he falters, stepping back as Rei exits the locker room.)

Rei: Yes?

Tenkei: ..

Rei: (flat) You wanted to speak with me?

(Her words seem to sting the boy; suddenly he is struggling with the language he had learnt such a short time ago. Without waiting for him Rei turns and heads down the corridor - Tenkei struggles to keep up as he finally blurts it out.)

Tenkei: I don't want to fight her.

(Rei's steps almost falter. When Rei had first seen the other, she had felt fear. Tenkei had not. He had been happy.)

Tenkei: Rei.. she deserves a chance.

Rei: ..

Tenkei: She deserves what you were given!

(Rei stops, turning to face the child.)

Rei: I want you to go.

Tenkei: ..

Rei: If you will not fight her, then I will not have you with me when she arrives.

Tenkei: (slowly) You are going to-

Rei: (interrupting) Go before Major Katsuragi knows. Leave. You can escape them as you have before.

Tenkei: But you're..

(Rei snaps back into step, making a distance between herself and the boy with quick strides. Tenkei watches as she goes, almost shivering as he realizes..)

Tenkei: (quietly) You're going to kill her?

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

Asuka: You do, huh?

Shinji: .. yeah.. I do.

Asuka: That's.. a nice way of putting it.

(Shinji smiles; Asuka quietly wonders if the smile is from thoughts of Rei, or from the wistful tone she had accidentally let into her voice.

Her thoughts are cut off as she and Shinji both hear the sound.)

Voice: (distant) Asuka..

(A woman's voice. That voice. Asuka is standing before she realizes that she has moved.)

Asuka: I have to go.

Shinji: Are you sure..?

Voice: (distant) Come be with me..

Asuka: Yes, I'm sure.

Shinji: Isn't there any other-

Asuka: No Shinji. I should have realized this before.

(And then she is off at a run, leaving him behind before his words can weaken her resolve.)

Asuka: (thinking) I have to do this.. it could hurt, but I have to do this!

Voice: (closer) Come die with me..

(Louder now, from ahead of her, uphill. Asuka runs, struggling up the terrain.)

Voice: Come die, and be with me!

(Feet lash through the long grass, arms pumping at her sides.)

Voice: I've missed you.. why won't you be with me?

(Louder, closer. She brushes her hair out of her face as the steeper ground slows her pace.)

Voice: Die with me..

(So loud now, from all around her. Still no sight of her. Lungs taking ragged breaths, leg muscles aching.)

Voice: Die with me..

(And the greenery disappears into the halls of her memories.

Running. Happy. Good news that I'll share with you, Mama. The door opens.

Her stepmother, looking away. Uncaring eyes. She had given up trying to reach the child - too much like an adult, utterly refusing her new mother.

The door opens, and the girl halts, taking a deep breath to blurt out the news, her blue eyes wide and a wide smile on her young face.

Kaji's arm stiffens, holding her away as he leaves the apartment. He smells of Misato's perfume. She must have been all over him.

She had been told to keep it a secret, but that couldn't include Mama - they shared everything!

She wasn't anything like Misato.. she's just a kid! A teenager, with weird disgusting stuff happening to her body. Angels. Stupid Third Child.

The door opens and she steps through; for a long moment she doesn't realize what she is seeing.

She can't do anything right. It's everyone else's fault. But she can't keep saying that, she can't keep believing it..)

Child: (small voice) Mama..

(And when it seemed almost within her reach, when things might be better, he couldn't answer her..)

Child: Mama!

(Answeransweransweransweransweransweransweransweransweransweransweranswer-)

Asuka: (screaming) All of you just SHUT UP!!!

(And everything is silent. The grass is motionless, the linked wire fence frozen - even Shinji, far behind, is a statue.

She has reached it - the barrier, the borderline. Asuka's crimson-clad feet slow to a jog - then a walk. Step after step, first one foot, then the other. Her appearance has changed - to face this, she needs protection. And her mind - her world - has provided it.

Wearing her plugsuit as if it were armor, she is Asuka Langley Sohryu, the Second Child. The designated pilot of Evangelion Unit 02. Still the pilot, despite everything that could have taken that away from her. That has to count for something.

It counts as protection, at least, as the figure comes into view.

She stands just beyond the fenceline, not touching the wire, but close. The woman is silent now, watching the Second Child as she approaches.

Asuka's stride is confident, steady. Her expression is blank as she looks at her mother.

And she stops within an arm's reach of the fence.)

Asuka: ..

Kyoko: ..

Asuka: Aren't you going to say something?

Asuka: Aren't you going to tell me you love me?

Asuka: Aren't you going to say you're sorry? Aren't you going to promise to make up for it?

Kyoko: ..

Asuka: Of course not. You don't even know me. I'm not that little girl who needed you so badly.

Asuka: I'm not your daughter - I'm not that little girl anymore.

Asuka: Do you think she would have been able to make it through this? Needing a mother who just.. who..

Asuka: (quietly) Someone who needed you.

Asuka: I'm not that little girl anymore. She wouldn't last ten seconds where I am.

Asuka: I am Asuka Langley Sohryu.

Asuka: I don't need you anymore. I don't want you around me.

Kyoko: ..

Asuka: Aren't you going to say something?

Asuka: 'No, Asuka, it's not like that'? Aren't you?

Kyoko: ..

Asuka: Then why are you still here?

Asuka: Can't you see I don't want you? Can't you see I don't need you?

Asuka: Why don't you just go away?

(Asuka waits for a reply, separated from the woman by the wire fence.

Kyoko Zeppelin Sohryu is still there; her face, so like Asuka's, is shadowed as she dips her head, her eyes downcast.)

Kyoko: Because..

Asuka: ..

Kyoko: You've never let me in.

Kyoko: I've tried to help you, to know you.. but I've only hurt you.

Kyoko: So you don't need me.

(Her eyes shut, and her words quicken.)

Kyoko: Good. It's good that you don't need me. I guess it shows you're strong. At least, I think that's what it means.

(She opens her eyes and looks at the young woman who she can no longer call her daughter.)

Kyoko: You don't need me. But I want to be near you. I want my daughter.

Kyoko: It's my.. weakness. I can't be like you.

(Now her voice cracks; she takes a breath to steady herself.)

Kyoko: You don't want me around, but.. I want you to be with me, if just for a little while.

Kyoko: Please, be strong for me.. let me be near you.. just for a bit..

Kyoko: You used to be my daughter. Please, just let me have that for a little while?

Asuka: ..

(The air is fresh, touched with the smell of greenery and earth. As Asuka shifts slightly on her feet, she can feel the soft ground give slightly under her feet. She looks through the links of the fence at the woman opposite her.)

Asuka: (turning) This way.

(She begins to walk; the woman steps into stride alongside her.

Asuka begins to talk, almost absently running a hand along the links of the fence.)

Asuka: You're dead.

Kyoko: ..

Asuka: I don't want you. I don't need you.

(Her fingers trail across the wires of the fence.)

Asuka: The only thing you could do is hurt me.

Kyoko: ..

Asuka: And you want me to give you a chance to hurt me again.

Kyoko: ..

(Asuka's hand stops suddenly - on the frame of a door, built into the fence. At her touch, it swings open soundlessly.)

Asuka: This is your chance, Mama.

Kyoko: ..

(Kyoko hesitates at the threshold, setting one hand against the frame. Then a step, and another step, and she is inside.)

Asuka: ..

(Inside, in her daughter's world once again. Kyoko opens her mouth to speak-

-and laughs as Asuka flings her arms around her mother in a hug.

Arms squeeze tightly as mother and daughter embrace, spoken words muffled by tears mixed with laughter.)

Asuka: I'm sorry, I'm so sorry Mama, I had to be sure..

(Kyoko smile is all forgiveness, all understanding - unseen by Asuka who is buried in her arms, but it is still a genuine smile.)

Asuka: I had to be sure you wanted me, not a..

(Her voice cuts short, and she squeezes her mother even more tightly, letting everything - her fears, her anger, her uncertainty - flow through, letting it all be burnt up in a moment.

It is a little while later before she lets go. The two women step away from each other; and, unusually, Asuka is at a loss for words. Her mother is a little better off..)

Kyoko: (looks down) Strange choice of clothes for a reunion..

(Asuka glances down at her form-fitting plug suit, for the first time on display for her mother. And for this.. new set of eyes, it seems a little too.. expressive? Asuka blushes, but still smiles. The plug suit's red is abruptly replaced by the yellow of a comfortable dress; the plugsuit - her "armor" - is no longer necessary.)

Kyoko: So you gave me another chance.

Asuka: (smiling, nods)

Kyoko: Do you want to go back?

Asuka: Soon. I'd like a bit more time here, though.

(She reaches out, wrapping her arms around her mother again.)

Asuka: Just a little time to be with you.

(And for a moment, that is enough.)

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

(In another world - the world which Shinji and Asuka were so recently torn from - the recent events in France have been under the most careful scrutiny. Watching over these developments are the men who set it in motion.

Man-made light forms images in the darkness; they form dark shapes, convenient and faceless disguises. The twelve obelisks of SEELE meet in their circle.)

SEELE: It draws closer now.

SEELE: Our allies assure us that their toy will be successful.

SEELE: It performed well enough in France.. but it has a more difficult task ahead of it.

SEELE: A task it must fail. But our sources in Tokyo-3 report that Ikari's preparations are less.. complete, than we had hoped.

Kihl: Ikari will not fail us now. The difficulty that he has been to our work will be a benefit in this situation.

SEELE: Provided that nothing will go wrong. The S2 unit in the hands of the Americans was not acceptable; in the hands of Ikari, unthinkable.

SEELE: But no worse than the power we presently have no choice in allowing him. Even with Unit One his reach is severely limited.

SEELE: The UN will change that. After the dust from this incident has settled, his reach will be their only protection. Their fear will drive them to his side.

SEELE: So much the better. The more they beg and scrape for him, the further his reach will extend, and the more his strength will thin out.

(Throughout the conversation one obelisk is silent - as it has been for some time now. The member who had spoken through the mask of SEELE 03, a man named Chiba Kimio, is dead. His "image" is only portrayed here by a remote projector, to paint a picture of completion whenever they hold an audience.

Of course the circle of SEELE know that Kimio is dead, and are not fooled by this illusion. Since this meeting is simply for the group, they have no need of this deception, but this way is so much more.. familiar.)

SEELE: His Evangelions cannot protect the world. The UN's fear will eventually serve as a weakness, their need for him a liability.

SEELE: And the Americans will provide us with the perfect tool to heighten that fear. An Angel attacking a distant nation is a thing that can be ignored by the governments of the world. An Evangelion attacking their population is a catastrophe that demands a solution.

SEELE: Then the threat of Unit One could be eliminated.

Kihl: Ikari will never allow it out of his sight for exactly that reason.

SEELE: Then Unit One will always be a danger, that will only be neutralized at the very end.

SEELE: Meanwhile, we must balance the power we give our new allies with the control we exert over them. They do not trust us.

SEELE: They need us. Necessity is more certain than trust, need is stronger than want.

SEELE: With the destruction of their prized unit, their need will be heightened by their fear, their actions slowed to follow our schedule.

Kihl: So we lose what may have been a powerful tool.. but gain time to finish the work.

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

(The sirens fade with the end of the evacuation announcement.

The city has been warned of the coming danger. News reports are scanty, as always, but unlike previous attacks there is another source of information - the international press. Of course what they know is limited only to "authorized information", the few facts and more than a few lies that military and UN public relations groups are willing to release.

There have been attacks upon UN installations in Europe. The force responsible is unknown - rumours say another Angel.

The preparations have begun and the population is evacuating to their shelters. The exercise is well rehearsed, with people moving in steady, organized streams. This has happened many times before, and it shows in the order and control of the evacuation, and the lack of panic in the people.

Tenkei does not walk with the crowd; his sneaker-covered feet move against the flow, taking him away from the entrances to the Geo-Front. People blindly step around him, eased out of his way by the same power that renders the city's security grid blind to him.

Another is coming, another of her. Tenkei has felt Rei's fear, Rei's terror at losing him. But whatever she feels, the boy knows that it is nothing compared to what the existence that the other must endure.

She is alone - utterly alone. Defined only in a moment of contact, almost a dream, where she found a name she could grasp for herself..

And the face of a child to which she is reaching..

She must be coming here. And Tenkei will be waiting.)

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

(The fenceline slips behind them as they walk beyond the boundary, out into the other. The greenery and warmth is left behind - Asuka hesitates.

She turns, looking back - the fence is still in reach, still something to cling to. Within its metal grasp is a world, a comfortable world where Shinji is. Where she could be.

Going back is not something she has to do. This is something she has chosen. As their thoughts had merged, something between them had been shared - a specific thought, an understanding of this place. A reason to go back.

Now she chooses to go back; to leave this comfortable world behind. Closing her eyes, Asuka hopes briefly that when she awakens she will remember why she gave it up.

Kyoko's grip on her hand is gentle, not pulling - not trying to force her. Asuka faces forward again, turning her back on the safe world behind her. Her eyes still closed, she takes a step.

She feels a burst of fear as her world vanishes behind her, leaving her in..

.. darkness..

.. absence..

.. void.

There is a void here. Or rather, there used to be something here. Something had been in this space, taking up this matter. This thing had possessed a face, a name. This thing had existed. This thing had been a person.

It still exists - people remember her.

Something she remembers - memories, a distant rush of voices, to many and too faint to make anything out - no, wait.

A woman's voice, transmitted through a communication system, giving orders as the "soldiers" under her command prepare for battle.)

Misato: Units One and Two will mount a co-ordinated attack in a series of waves. In other words, close in and take turns!

(Unit Two. Eva - pilot of Eva. The child of Eva, the child who would protect them. A child who had to do what was necessary.)

Asuka: They attacked us! When someone's attacking you, you can't just sit there and do nothing, right?

(A reason to be who she is?

Appreciated. Special. An Eva pilot. A chosen being. Without it, she was..)

Asuka: What are you, stupid? It's like sound! Or radio. For someone who spends so many hours listening to those headphones of yours you don't-

(Another child. Another who is special? She knows him.)

Asuka: I guess you really are an idiot..

(Maybe too well..

There are others, too..)

Misato: The sixth child is the only person who fits those specifics at the moment.. and since only Shinji can pilot Eva Unit One, we have to improv-

Asuka: (shouting) No!!!

Asuka: Misato! I'm not letting that English tart in my Unit Two!!!

(Eva is value. Eva is her value. Her Unit Two.

No. That's wrong.

She can't lose it. She can't lose being a pilot. Being a pilot means being her. Child of Eva, within Unit Two.

Wait..

Others. A world of others. Other's touch. Other's gaze. What they see of her, how they speak to her.

Shinji: (grins) After all, combat's a man's job!

(The message screen flickers and vanishes, taking away that smiling face and the most convenient target of her anger. What he had done was so annoying..)

Asuka: (annoyed) Ruuuugh... Unit Two will back him up..

(Pilot of Unit One. Shinji. That idiot.)

Rei: (radio) Unit Zero will back up as well.

(And her..

Staring, crimson eyes nearly shadowed in the dim light. She had heard her voice, watched that porcelain face twist with a brief flicker of oh-so-human emotion - concern, fear..

She had said he was still in there. He was in danger. Asuka had tried to push her, to get another response..)

Asuka: (bitingly) Oh, are my comments about Shinji pissing you off Wondergirl?

Rei: I wonder.. do you only pilot an Eva for the praise of others?

(Those two..

Suspicion. Pain, almost. Jealousy? Who the hell is this girl? What is with her?! What is with them?!?

Faces. Voices. Misato. Doctor Akagi, gone now. That girl who replaced her, Ibuki. Maya? Seyoko Okazaki, Lyn's.. what is she? The voices of the Central Dogma crew, their faces seen rarely. The commanders, Shinji's dad and that older man, Fuyutsuki. Hikari in her school uniform. Hikari out of uniform, out of place in a short skirt as they stand in the cinema foyer. Aoi Tamashii. Aoi and Lyn together at school.

School. Places. The entry plug. Home. Her bed. Her room. The lockers in the Geo-Front. Traincars, looking down at the underground expanse. Trees, water. The pyramid. Buildings clinging like concrete stalactites. Images flicker by.

Smells. Blood in the entry plug. Lavender perfume. Shinji. Ayanami. The plastic smell of nylon, stale-lunchbox odors while rummaging in her backpack. The smell of cooked food from Hikari's bag; a lunch to be shared with Touji the stooge. Air conditioning in the Geo-Front. The hot smell of sun-warmed asphalt. The weird smell of mixed instant-meals, a warning from the kitchen that Misato is cooking. Cheap dinners bought at a place down the road from the apartment. Annoying looks from Shinji, as if she should put up with Misato's cooking. Shinji. That idiot.

Touch. Keys on her computer-pad at school. Cool bedsheets at night in the perpetual summer of Tokyo-3. Dull touch felt through the fabric of her plugsuit. His lips in a kiss stolen on his birthday.

Slowly, Asuka Langley Sohryu rediscovers the world that is her life.)

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

Rei: Major?

(This isn't like the other briefings Misato Katsuragi has held. Those times the threat had been certain, clear, analyzed. Misato could tell each pilot what had to be done, and what role they had to play.

This time the threat is not clear. The MAGI's efforts each produced wildly varying information and outcomes; there were too many variables, too many unknowns for the supercomputers to provide answers or strategies.

This time, there is only one pilot.

Rei Ayanami is seated, her hands folded neatly in her lap, her expression as calm and expressionless as ever. For this "briefing" Misato has chosen to sit next to the pilot, speaking to her from a more-or-less equal level.)

Misato: UN facilities in France have been attacked. At those bases, Evangelions produced by the UN were being held in storage.

Rei: ..

Misato: We strongly suspect that whatever it was that attacked the bases was an Evangelion - of course this is secure NERV information, and you can't tell anyone that. It would be too dangerous if it became public knowledge.

Rei: ..

Misato: Rei, this isn't an alert situation - not yet anyway. But there's a risk, so we need to have you on standby for immediate launch.

Rei: Then I will remain in NERV Central.

Misato: Yes..

(Misato continues, choosing her words carefully. As she speaks, the Major tries to attain some sort of eye contact with Rei - but the young woman's gaze is fixed on the opposite wall of the room.)

Misato: You understand that Shinji and Asuka will not be with you.. you'll have to fight it alone (adds quickly) if we do have to launch Unit Zero, that is.

Rei: I understand.

Misato: And if this thing is an Evangelion, then it's being directed by people - that means it won't fight like anything we've faced before. It may know how our systems work, like the power grid, and the weapon delivery systems; we have to assume that it will attack your support systems to make you an easier target.

Rei: Yes.

Misato: But we're all here for you - everything is being done to prepare for this. We're still analyzing the attack in France, getting every scrap of information about this thing that we can.

Rei: ..

Misato: I.. I really should ask you this now rather than later - in case we don't get a chance when, I guess I should say if an attack comes. You won't have any backup - no other Evas, you'll be on your own out there. So..

Rei: ..

Misato: I know that Tenkei is no longer a part of the Eva project, but if there's any time we'll need his help it'll be now. Maya or someone would eventually have to tell you but it's best that I say it now-

Rei: (interrupting) No.

Misato: .. what Rei?

Rei: No. Tenkei will not fight it.

Misato: I know that it's been difficult -

(The young woman interrupts again, her soft voice quiet, but certain.)

Rei: Tenkei will not fight.

(Her crimson gaze turns to lock on Katsuragi.)

Rei: NERV security will protect him in the Geo-Front while I destroy the enemy.

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

(Maya Ibuki shakes her head in disbelief as she walks down the corridors of NERV Central.

She had let Rei run. The former student of Doctor Akagi had told Tenkei of the danger he had been in - the deadline that Commander Ikari had set for some improvement in the Ev.N complement's performance. She had known that Rei would not let go of the boy. She had let the two of them run away, fleeing from the city and NERV.

By some miracle they had returned. There had been no penalties, and no punishment. Tenkei was simply no longer a part of the project - the order of Commander Ikari, who had only a few days before been ready to order Ibuki to prepare "replacements".. and most likely order the original destroyed.

Tenkei was no longer a part of the project; no longer to be put into the entry plug that seemed to frighten and hurt him so much. NERV was willing to be lenient, to let him go.

How rare.)

Maya: (thinking) How quickly we change our minds when something frightens us - we go back to doing what is necessary. I should have given the news to Rei myself, rather than let Major Katsuragi do it..

(So much that has to be done, so many preparations. All made worse by the state that NERV is in; missing pilots, unstable Evangelions..

She breaks off the corridor through a doorway; Ibuki's destination is the backup control room of the cage.)

Maya: Give me an update on Asuka's recovery.

Gendo: I believe Yuri Furikawa has gone to get a coffee.

(Ibuki almost gasps at the Commander's voice. He stands before the terminals with his back to her, his eyes observing the screens through the tint of his glasses.)

Gendo: Twenty-five is underway.

Maya: Uh.. Sir?

Gendo: I read the procedure you submitted to Commander Fuyutsuki. Stage twenty-five is underway.

(Ibuki composes herself, shaking off the surprise of seeing Ikari here. After all, it's not as if she's done anything wrong..)

Maya: Yes Sir. Thank you Sir.

(The Commander turns for the door and leaves, never once looking at the Project-E Chairperson.)

Maya: ..

Maya: ..what was he doing here?

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

Touji: You think Shinji and the others are gettin' ready to fight now?

(The call to evacuate had been made during the work day; for the greatest degree of efficiency, the allocation of shelters in the Geo-Front are not made according to name or family, but location when the evacuation is carried out. It was agreed upon by the city's designers that it would be faster for all the civilians in a location - be it a workplace, schoolyard, or shopping mall - to move as a group rather than go piecemeal from entrance to entrance, shelter to shelter.

Since the call was made during the school day, the class has evacuated as a group to their designated shelter. If the call had been made in other times, then Touji and Kensuke would have been separated - Touji would most likely have been with his sister, who is presently with her class in nearby shelter.)

Kensuke: I don't know.. Misato was pretty down about whatever was wrong with him and Asuka.

Touji: You think those two'r okay?

(The taller boy's eyes shift, finding Hikari Horaki among the people in the shelter. The class representative sits among other girls from the class - voted through class election into the position again, she seems confident in running for a position of more authority, where she could be move involved with school activities and help more students.)

Kensuke: I'm pretty sure that she would have told us if something was really wrong with them.

(Not long ago Touji Suzahara would have said that anything involved with school activities was pretty geeky; 'the sorta thing that'd make all da boys think she's a weirdo or something' is more or less exactly what he would have said, quite possibly to Hikari's face if Asuka Langley Sohryu and her fists didn't live on the same planet. Touji isn't stupid.

He wouldn't say that sort of thing now. Not because it would probably make Hikari not speak to him forever, or even because of the threat of Asuka, but because he no longer believes it. Hikari isn't any sort of geek, she's just.. concerned about people. It's sorta sweet in a way.

Touji can't believe he just thought that.)

Kensuke: You heard about the attack on the news?

Touji: (distracted) That.. France thing, right?

Kensuke: Right - people are saying that it was an Angel that attacked the bases!

Touji: Well, so?

Kensuke: So? That means the enemy is changing their tactics! Something big has changed!

Touji: (disinterested) Right, whatever.. as long as they don't come after us I'm happy..

(What was worse was the noticeboards.

There are noticeboards in hallways and outside classrooms around the school, where school-related announcements are posted. The students also receive newsletters and updates by email, even if they can only access them on the terminals in class. None of this really bothered the former Fourth Child. The greatest moment of Touji Suzahara's existence on the internet was when he discovered how to delete school-related messages without ever reading them. Noticeboards were merely something to try to peel off the wall in extreme boredom emergencies, or a convenient source of bluetack for holding up posters in Touji's bedroom.

They're not meant to be read - not by him, anyway. That's something that the Hikari Horaki's of the world do, not the Touji Suzahara's. But now, every time he walks by a noticeboard, every time he receives an email from a school administration account, there is a horrible temptation to read it.

His newsletters, which would normally be dropped in the bin on the way out of class, or possibly reincarnated as a series of paper planes, now get their corners creased from page turning. He stops in front of notice boards, but not to swipe the bluetack. He hasn't hit the auto-delete option on his terminal for over a month.

He has begun - against all the instincts and habits that have kept him well out of the way of school activities for the past eight years - to watch what was happening in "the school community".

And the very worst part is that Touji Suzahara now knows EXACTLY how to sign up for next year's student representative elections. Somehow the information had managed to insert itself into his head without his knowledge, because he can't remember looking it up.

He was "getting into it". Well, it had sounded good when Hikari had said it.)

Touji: ..

(The former Fourth Child quietly wonders what will become of him.)

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

(Major Katsuragi's eyes scan her report as she reads out the last updates on the defensive status of the city. Active launch routes, weapon stations, defensive batteries, sensory arrays.. all are routinely checked as part of the daily operation of NERV. But today another set checks had been ordered; although NERV is technically under constant alert, this "advanced warning" has everyone on edge.

NERV security is not helping - their perpetually watchful eye for sabotage and infiltration has gone into double-time, with off-duty agents being called on-shift.

Tenkei is gone - not simply had Rei refused to help convince him to pilot with her, but he is missing. The teams that had been set to follow and protect him have reported his disappearance. Ikari takes the news calmly from behind his desk.)

Misato: Although past experience warns us not to rely upon his abilities, the absence of the Ev.N puts us in a tighter situation than before.

Gendo: You will have to make do with what you have, Major.

Misato: Yes Sir. I have a recommendation, Sir - we should attempt to maintain the illusion of strength. Presently we are at lowered capacity, with the Second and Third Children.. ill, and the Sixth and Seventh Children missing, we have only one operational Evangelion. In the event of a confrontation we would be at an enormous disadvantage; a risk we should not take, Sir.

Gendo: Continue, major.

Misato: Presumably whoever created the enemy Eva unit will be aware of the bloodspectrum signatures the Evangelions produce. When the enemy - if it survived the N2 strike at Evreux - approaches the city, it will be able to detect our Evas if they come into proximity with it.

Misato: Unit One can be fitted with a remote RAM feed and launched. Although it will remain effectively inactive and hidden in a platform casing, it is possible to stimulate Unit One remotely, and without the presence of a pilot, to produce an easily identifiable bloodtype signature. In addition to an active Unit Zero, this will create the image of two functioning Evan-

Gendo: (interrupting) Unit One is not to be tampered with.

Misato: I've spoken with the Chairperson and confirmed that this can be done sir. The remote plug is already prepared-

Gendo: Consider the Unit as outside of your authority as Head of Operations. It will not be used.

Misato: ..yes sir.

(Misato Katsuragi finishes her report in an efficient drone, mechanically reading out the tactical reports and updates.

Her mind, meanwhile, is elsewhere. Ikari has given her one more clue.)

Misato: (thinking) This must be it..

Misato: (thinking) Fuyutsuki said this would end soon.. but he isn't the sort to "end" it, not that way. He's not the type.

(A compliment, really - Fuyutsuki is, in many ways, nothing like Gendo Ikari. His compassion has separated him in Misato's mind; he wouldn't arrange Ikari's murder, even if he could.)

Misato: (thinking) It must be Commander Ikari. And Unit One..

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

(The craft descends, the whiteness of the cloud cover finally parting to reveal the Sea of Okhotsk.

The afternoon sun reflects off the distant waters. North of Japan, the sea of Okhotsk is the last leg of their journey; the convoy of fleeing craft are within reach of the safety of Tokyo-3. Ahead of them, preparations have been made for the arrival of the survivors - landing locations and airspace priorities have been transmitted by radio as NERV prepares to accept both arriving personnel and arriving Evangelions.

Jean-Phillip Anouilh shakes his head at the thought - UNSynaps Evas, stored in Tokyo-3. Weapons created to destroy them, now being practically handed over. As he gazes through one of the transport's windows, his earpiece keeps him "connected" to the messages being shuffled from the UNSynaps convoy to NERV's air traffic control.)

Voice: (radio) Descending.. no visual contact, radar is clear.

(The personnel in the passenger section seem relieved - knowing they are close to safety, they seem relieved, relaxed.. some are even catching up on their sleep. But the director of UNSynaps feels the opposite; safety is close, but..)

Voice: (radio) We're reaching the cloud cover.. what're the weather conditions up ahead? What are we dropping into?

(..but there are always doubts. Always the fear that just as the goal grows near, something will go wrong.)

Voice: (radio) Flight? Are you reading me?

(Anouilh rises from his seat, quick strides taking him to the pilot's compartment. By the time the door slides shut behind him, small fears have changed into something larger.)

Pilot: They're gone - no contact with the forward delta-wing, sir. Last radio message was usual reports, no mayday, no sighting..

Voice: (radio) We should give them a few more minutes to regain contact. Until then, keep in radio contact and-

(They see the flash of light through the craft's canopy. The voice on the radio cuts out.)

Pilot: Jesus..

(It is barely visible on the horizon, but it is there. A falling ball of fire, trailing smoke as it dives towards the sea.)

Anouilh: ..

Voice: (radio) What was that?

Anouilh: (to radio) All craft, split up! Drop to low altitude and break the convoy into pieces - put as much distance as you can between yourself and friendly craft! If we make ourselves sparse enough targets, some of us might get around this thing!

(There is a flurry of response over the radio as the convoy break formation. Craft almost drop from the skies, diving from the heights in hopes of escaping the attention of whatever had struck down the other craft. Anouilh steadies himself against the back wall of the cabin as the plane suddenly dips.)

Pilot: Dropping now, keep your eyes open for that thing. Our rate of descent is-

(The cabin glows white hot.

MARI's beam weapon unleashes only a brief pulse; a half second of laser-light that runs along the spine of the craft. The cockpit is struck first and bursts open, blasting out in a flaming flower of debris. Molten metal cools and hardens in the cold air. As the beam slices down the body of the plane the pressured air within spurts out in burning jets. For the personnel on board, the pain is only briefly felt.

A bare second passes, the gaping wound along the aircraft's body trailing flames. Fuel tanks rupture in the sudden heat and the craft becomes another burning wreck, falling from the sky.

MARI's final attack on the convoy has begun.)

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

(The wind that sets the grass to gently sway is silent, soft, unheard against the constant melody of Shinji's cello. His stool surrounded by a waving sea of green, the Third Child plays the bow across the strings, his ear turned towards his hand on the neck of the cello.

Unaffected by the violence and pain of the outside world, unaware of Tenkei's hopes and of Rei's fears, he plays his music. He is not bothered by Asuka's absence, having some small idea of what is happening to her. Nor is he bothered by the question of who is speaking to him.)

Voice: Are you happy?

(The music drops low suddenly, down to a dark, rich note that throbs back and forth across the cello, rumbling out from the wooden frame. A single note that repeats itself once, twice, three times, and sighs into silence, Shinji sighing with it as he listens to the sound die, his eyes closed.)

Shinji: Am I happy?

Voice: Your life, outside here. Are you happy?

Shinji: That's.. hard for me to answer.

(He sets the bow on a higher string, checking the positioning of his fingers.)

Shinji: Does it mean.. what in my life do I like? What in my life do I hate?

(And the bow is moving over the instrument again, drawing from the cello a simple set of notes, gliding from sound to sound. He stops.)

Shinji: I like the music. I like the way it sounds, the way it feels. I like the times when I can just make the music, and the sounds just.. flow. But it isn't all easy. Sometimes I get frustrated, when something doesn't work. I hit a set of notes that my fingers just.. it seems like they can't do them. Or worse, when I can do them but I feel nothing. When it isn't worth it, when it's just a routine.

Shinji: Do good things happening make a bad life worth putting up with? Do bad things happening make a good life unbearable?

Shinji: But that's isn't it, is it? That's not the questions that's really being asked.. You want to understand something that doesn't make sense.

Shinji: You want to know why are we going back.

Shinji: Don't you, mother?

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

(The afternoon sun bathes the landscape in yellow and gold. Long black shadows break the warmth - shadows of the city, of buildings that reach up into the darkening sky.

The shadows retreat, releasing their hold, letting the light fall on the ground again for a little while longer before night falls. The shadows of the city shrink as the buildings descend, lowering themselves into the armored skin of the Geo Front.

It rockets in from the horizon, its engines pushing design specifications. The personnel transport hurtles towards Tokyo-3, dropping altitude violently as it approaches safe haven. Even as the craft finally slows for its landing, another craft becomes visible on the horizon - another transport.)

Hyuga: Both will have landed within two minutes, Major.

Misato: What about the last delta wing?

(In the primary control room of Central Dogma, a situation bordering on emergency is being dealt with by NERV personnel. Major Katsuragi is very aware of how quickly the situation could spill over into a real emergency - another battle in Tokyo-3.)

Hyuga: Estimated time of arrival on the wing transporting Unit Six is another four minutes.

(That one delta wing carries the only Evangelion to have survived the journey.

The others had been destroyed while passing over the Sea of Okhotsk; the convoy had been hit nose-first. The attacker had somehow gotten ahead of them, and ripped through the convoy as they passed. A few had gotten through - the craft splitting up, dropping altitude, some had slipped past its deadly attention and made it to the city.

Three craft, two of them regular personnel transports. Only one carries an Evangelion.)

Misato: Any news on the attacker?

Hyuga: Nothing. All aerial detection systems are coming up blank.

Yuri: The observation system is linked with the geo-stationary, but the satellite images haven't revealed its location either. And another thing.. there's no blood spectrum pattern.

Misato: Nothing?

Yuri: Nothing apart from Unit Zero.

(Katsuragi glances up at the tactical display, where Unit 00 is displayed. The tallest of the city's buildings have sunk, but with the remaining structures, the weapon armory stations, the power cable points and the Eva-scale defensive walls built into the city, the Evangelion has plenty to take cover behind. Unit 00 makes a dark, twisted shape in the fading light. The shoulder-mounted positron cannon is clasped to its shoulder; the right shoulder hardpoint has been removed to make room. The left shoulder hardpoint is still attached, and mounted with the dark rectangle of an external battery.)

Misato: Could its waveform have been hidden somehow? Maya?

Maya: We've never tried to - we've never had to think about concealing the Evas.

Misato: But is it possible?

Maya: At this point, I would have to say yes. Unsupported, but possible.

(Major Katsuragi moves forwards, switching her attention to the Evangelion on the surface.)

Misato: What about Rei and Unit Zero?

Shigeru: Unit Zero is running on external umbilical power. Combining her internal batteries and the external supply on the left shoulder, the Unit should be capable of operation for twenty minutes.

Misato: (to radio) Rei?

Rei: (radio) Yes.

Misato: Revise the locations of the armory stations and resupply points while you still can. We can send you a spare external battery or weaponry whenever you need.

Rei: Yes.

Misato: Keep in contact with us. We'll do our best to get you all the information we can.

Hyuga: Major Katsuragi, the transports have landed. The passengers are joining the other UNSynaps personnel-

Misato: (interrupting) Make sure none of them break away from the rest. Put some security teams on it. UNSynaps must have had their share of moles. If they've brought them along, I don't want them seeing anything or interfering with the city's defenses.

Hyuga: Yes Ma’am.

Shigeru: The delta-wing transport is making its approach with Unit Six. A transport elevator will take the Unit directly to storage.

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

(Gendo Ikari works expressionlessly, the lenses of his glasses reflecting a panorama of the screens before him. He turns slightly, shifting his attention from layout to layout.

Different systems, different data. The jury-rigged system that fed the information to his office was eventually.. insufficient. He had to be here. He had to see for himself if the status of Unit 01 changed. Another screen monitors the progress of Unit 02, the recovery operation. Power levels, neural patterns, video feeds from outside Unit 02 and from within. Another display shows the Central Dogma control room screen - a watchful eye on the people under his authority.

Ikari looks over the screens and abruptly jerks his eyes back to the video display.)

Gendo: ..

(Immediately he turns to the data feed running from Unit 01 - his first thought is to check the system for changes at this newest development. There are none. Unit 01 is stable.

Gendo Ikari smiles, his head sinking as relief floods through him. People often notice how Shinji Ikari resembles his father - something in the eyes, the hair, the shape of his face. Now, as he expels a breath and the tension eases out of him, it is the father that resembles the son - Gendo Ikari wearing Shinji Ikari's expressions.

It hasn't changed her. She's still waiting. He can still go.

He had been nearly sure, but nearly sure is a long way from certain. There had always been a fear, despite everything the facts told him, despite the reassurances that Fuyutsuki gave him. There had been the fear that bringing the Second Child back would break the pattern and disrupt Unit 01.

Asuka Langley Sohryu is visible in the entry plug of Unit 02, her slender form curled up and motionless. But she is there.)

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

Misato: (radio) Rei? We're feeding you data from the city's sensory grid. Watch that incoming transport; the target may attempt to intercept it.

(So she has arrived.

It had begun with that distant touch, a contact from faraway. Tenkei had seemed to know about it even as Rei did - he had been more.. curious. Of course he would be drawn to her - it was the same thing that had drawn him to Rei. He would be drawn to her inevitably.

Then she had awoken. She had become aware, aware of "I". That "I" had been her - Rei Ayanami.

And now she is here.

Rei has felt what the other feels - this feeling she has come to know, this happiness, this sense of value in another's touch - this is something the other wants. This thing she has found within Tenkei.. this thing that Rei has come to claim as her own.

And now she is here. Tenkei has known, and he has rejoiced. He has not shared Rei's fear. Of course - he is not the one who would lose himself, lose his value. He is not the one who has always known about the other, and always feared it coming to light..

Now she is here, and Rei is going to kill her.)

Rei: Yes.

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

Maya: Yuri, get down to the backup cage room and keep me updated.

Yuri: (getting up) Yes Ma’am.

Misato: What's happened?

(Yuri leaves the Central Dogma control room while Ibuki takes her place at the console - her old place, her old workstation. Maya looks over at Misato, a slightly stressed smile on her face - good news, tarnished with the bad situation above..)

Maya: It's Asuka. She's manifested in Unit Two.

(Misato inadvertently takes a step for the door that Furikawa has just left through. She stops herself, and turns to Maya, her eyes wide.)

Misato: You mean she's-

Maya: It's not finished - she isn't conscious. But she's physically present in the plug and the interface is registering her presence!

(Misato feels a grin spreading across her face - which she quickly straightens as Hyuga's voice reports the latest update from the city above..)

Hyuga: Standard VTOL procedure. Craft's altitude is eight hundred.

Misato: Later. We'll deal with Unit Two later.

(A thought rushes into her mind - they might not get a choice. They might have to use Unit 02. She turns to the screen, pushing the idea back.)

Misato: (thinking) Please, can we make it through this without needing Asuka..

(They watch the visual feed on the main screen; the craft descends, its landing engines roaring, winds tearing vainly at the concrete and steel of the city beneath. Lights around the elevator opening flash in the dim evening light. These lights would normally be used to warn personnel that the enormous bay doors were about to open. Now they are used as landing lights, guiding the craft to the surface of the giant elevator, where the craft's cargo is to be dropped. The Evangelion, bone-white in the flashing lights, is slowly lowered in its harnesses as the delta-wing hovers and sways.

A short, vicious gash burns itself open across the wing of the craft, glowing white hot from the laser pulse. Fuel and engine explode, spraying liquid flame over the drop-off point as the restraints holding the Evangelions break. The giant falls, hitting the elevator platform even as the craft above bursts into a fiery ball.)

Misato: It's here! All systems and personnel to battle stations!

(The elevator drops away, the silent Unit 06 sprawled on it. Both vanish into the Geo-Front as the bay doors close above them, sealing the shaft.)

Shigeru: The Unit is heading for storage.

Misato: What about the enemy?

Maya: Nothing on any of the sensory systems - no radar, no thermal, no bloodspectrum. There's nothing there!

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

(The Officer does not speak; not yet. For now, his hard glare says more than enough.

Data streams back, locked in the tightest, most secure encryption that could be provided, bounced from satellite to satellite, hidden among the maze of communication that spans the world. The information flows form their Unit, their Evangelion, as it flies stealthy circles above Tokyo-3. Computers divide the information and store it for later analysis as even more pours back - status of the flight unit, performance of the weapon, synchronization data, and a ocean of tactical information of the layout of Tokyo-3, adding to what they had already been told by their masters.

SEELE had prepared them well for this mission; their assistance had made the assaults on Nantes and Aurillac successful. But they had not prepared them for this order.

The Officer does not speak, but merely stares at the suited executive - the "Suit". To the officer MARI's operation is a military one, but it seems that men like these now decide on strategy. Men like this Suit, and men like those behind the faceless group called SEELE. They have decided MARI's next move, and have given their orders.)

Suit: That is their will.

Officer: (staring) ..

Suit: We both knew they would do this. The parts we recovered with Unit Four were a threat to them, ones they can't allow to leave in our possession.

Officer: And so we throw down the gauntlet? Send MARI against three prepared Evangelions, fighting on home soil? You know it's not configured for that.

Suit: I know. We have made preparations for this event; we can recover.

Officer: We're exposing everything MARI is to them - to NERV, and to the UN. You know what the repercussions of this will be?

Suit: After Evreux? Unavoidable. We must do this and keep SEELE believing in us.

(Men without faces, men who will never to called to answer for their actions. SEELE deciding the strategy for MARI, their unknown ambitions setting the course of what will, according to their orders, become a war.

The Officer does not speak - the words are too bitter. Accepting these orders, and taking one more step away from what they had been ordered by their government to do, is terrible enough. He leaves the room at a brisk pace, returning to the hustle of personnel in the control room.

At his entrance a few faces turn to him - a few who know him better than the rest recognize the signs.)

Officer: We need an assault plan immediately. We are continuing the attack.

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

(The sun lowers; the hills and remaining buildings already block it from view, leaving the city in twilight and the western sky in shades of gold. From the glowing horizon upwards the sky fades, shifting into a dark blue that verges on blackness.

Evangelion Unit 00 raises its armored visage as its pilot stares up into the darkening sky. Somewhere up there, circling above, is the enemy.

Ayanami can hear their voices; NERV personnel in Central Dogma, their words transmitted to the entry plug. Their task is to assist the First Child in hers - to destroy the enemy. It is a simple thought, a single purpose that runs through the mind of Rei Ayanami. Kill it. It is something so much easier to face than what it wants, what it has come for.

Kill it, and Tenkei remains hers.)

Rei: (thinking) Mine..

(Mine. To have, to possess, to hold onto something of value. Something she had not felt so strongly before Tenkei.

A distant explosion signals the beginning of the attack.)

Shigeru: (radio) We've just lost sensory cluster six-four-four.

(Another detonation is heard, and another. Laser blasts pulse down, striking at the defensive structures of Tokyo-3. Unit 00 is oddly ignored, untouched as the assault from above continues..)

Shigeru: (radio) Six more have gone down - it's targeting our sensory systems!

Maya: (radio) Use the infra-red while we still can - we might be able to pick up the thermal spikes when it fires its laser!

(Rei closes her eyes.

The sounds fall back into the distance, pushed away, out of "earshot". Rei's hands slip from the butterfly handles of the entry plug and-

-division, separation. The line where she ends and all else begins. Push, gently push at the barriers..

Memories of exercises, when the Second and Third Child had still been here - the AT field experiments..

The boundary swells out, brushing against others as it expands..

Not a blast, not a shockwave, but a slight, almost gentle caress..

There.)

Rei: ..

(She can feel him, Tenkei, somewhere within the city. Safe from that thing, safe from being taken away from her. Deeper now, she can feel the touch of Unit 02, half-activated, half-aware. Another presence, so vague, almost.. the Second Child. The ever-present touch of Unit 01. She retreats, choosing not to delve any deeper, returning her attention to the surface - turning her attention to the enemy.

Wait - something else, a dull, empty feeling brushed past. Something inactive, something blank and unformed. No - there is something to it, but something so faint that..

Unit 06, sprawled on a descending elevator. Her touch passes over it, rising upwards. There are voices - over the radio, but they go largely unheard by the First Child.)

Voice: It's hitting the power grid! Rei!

Voice: If it can take out the umbilical support systems it can just wait for Unit Zero to shut down..

Voice: Dammit, we need its location now!

(Now she reaches up into the sky, above the city. Searching..

There.

It. The thing. It is not what she had expected - it feels nothing like her. This thing is.. blank. Like the dormant Unit 06, it is unformed, undeveloped. But there is something there, a presence, a thought. So simple, so straightforward, turning from task to task, almost mechanical.

Rei Ayanami's eyes open.)

Rei: Mine.

(Unit 00 steps out into the street, the massive bulk of the positron cannon swinging its barrel up to the sky. Rei doesn't even glance at the entry plug's sensory output - blind to the enemy's cloaked presence, it cannot help her. The weapon reticule display before her shows no target. But she can feel it, its presence pressing against her field like the breath of a stranger standing far too close.

The positron cannon roars. A pulse of high-energy particles tears upwards, white light streaking towards the darkness. And it hits.

There is a flash as the positron blast discharges. The clouds around the blast are illuminated by a sphere of retina-searing light. The sound of the explosion follows a few seconds later, a sharp crack, almost a lightning strike. As the impact point begins to fade, something flaming falls from it, trailing black smoke in a sharp curve that streaks towards the skyline.)

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

Operator #1: Zero response from all systems on the flight unit!

Officer: (leaving over console) What the hell..

Technician: Docking clamps have auto-detached! MARI has bailed the flight unit!

Operator #2: Height is three thousand and dropping..

Suit: Is the Unit damaged?

Operator #1: The flight unit is toast!! MARI is reporting no operational errors.

Operator #2: Height is two thousand nine hundred..

Technician: It must have been their positron weapon! The resulting charge fried all systems outside the field!

Operator #2: Two thousand five hundred..

Officer: (points) Tactical, now! What's the status of the city's remaining sensory systems, and where is the Unit going to land?

Operator #2: Two thousand one hundred..

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

Shigeru: Arrays five-five and five-four are transmitting feeds on the falling craft, Major..

(The operator reports from his post as the images appear on the vast screen before them - simultaneous images of the falling craft, flaming wreckage and trailing smoke, rolling slowly as it hurtles towards the ground.

But Katsuragi pays the images little attention, far more concerned with their one functioning pilot..)

Misato: (to radio, shouting) Rei, what the hell did you do?

Hyuga: We had supplied her with no feeds Ma’am, her targeting computer was not engaged, I don't know how she-

Misato: (to radio) Rei, are you reading this? Rei?

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

(The arc of smoke made by the burning flight unit falls towards the hills outside the city limits.

The First Child's attention is locked on another object, however - something much closer.

Buildings shatters under the impact; in a fraction of a second hundreds of tons of concrete and steel become airborne, smashed off their foundations and sent soaring into neighboring buildings. A heavy cloud rolls out from the obliterated structure, briefly hiding the carnage from view.

But more is yet to come. A bolt of energy screams down the canyon of buildings - streetlights flicker for a fraction of a second as the passing positron charge jolts their filaments to glow and pop. The blast turns the swelling cloud of dust bright white as it impacts with whatever is left of where MARI crashed to the ground. With a roar, the bolt of energy tears through a city block, leaving a wake of scorched and molten concrete.

Two more blasts follow as Rei fires, saturating the area with burning death. With the shots, two more furrows drag themselves through of the city, two burning paths of destruction where the positron blasts struck. Ayanami pauses; Unit 00 freezes, cannon smoking from the shots, still trained on the destruction.

Concrete fragments patter to the ground.

A row of city blocks have been obliterated, a wide swath through Tokyo-3 marking the point where MARI had crashed to the ground. The damage done by the rogue Evangelion's impact was nothing compared to the devastation let loose by Unit 00's positron cannon.)

Rei: ..

(The hydraulic locks that hold the enormous rifle to the Eva's shoulder disengage. Free of the weapon, Unit 00 lowers it to the ground. The positron cannon is not expended, nor is the target destroyed. Nor is Rei concerned with destroying even more of the city.

Rei's hands flex on the butterfly handles as Unit 00's clench into fists. There are voices over the radio - again, Major Katsuragi and the others, wanting to know what has happened. The umbilical cable detaches from the Eva's back, dropping with a flare of impact-deploy rockets.)

Voice: Rei, what are you doing? Rei!

(Unit 00 launches into the air, hurtling over the skyline and into the dust-choked rubble. Grey clouds sweeping past on either side, blackened and smoking ground rushing beneath, the Evangelion ends its incredible jump by smashing into the blue-black form of MARI.

Both giants burst out through the concrete wreckage, driving aside the still molten-remains of buildings as the struggle. MARI moves with the grace of a trained fighter, kicking Unit 00 away for long enough to roll to its feet. A progressive knife, drawn from a concealed socket in its sleek armor, begins to hum as it slides into MARI's hand. With its other hand it clasps the more fragile laser rifle to a port on its back.

The black armored form crouches, hands low, ready to grapple and stab. Unit 00 hauls itself to its feet just as MARI strikes. A quick dart in, blade slashing, ultrasonic field singing with the need to cut.

It never gets close. The blue-and-white Evangelion's fist closes around MARI's wrist in an utterly unbreakable hold.)

Rei: You will not take him away from me.

(MARI responds with the practical and brutal tactics of a street brawler. Its free hand slams into Unit 00's stomach, hits rising into the ribcage. It strikes twice before Rei screams.)

Rei: (shouting) You'll never have him!!

(A sudden, violent twist and MARI is flying. Thrown by the enraged EVA-00, the giant is tossed out of the smoking ruins to smash into another building. Its progressive knife lost in the impact, MARI comes again to its feet in a crouch - only to catch Unit 00's shoulder as it barrels into it.)

Rei: (shouting) He's MINE!!!

(Shattering concrete, tumbling blocks of what had been a building only a second before. Clouds of dust, chokingly thick. MARI rolls sideways, hauling itself out of Unit 00's reach and hauling its rifle up. A pulse of light scorches into the blue giant's chest - Rei leaps to one side as fiery needles seem to rip into the skin of her chest.

Chest plate smoking but intact, the Eva dodges into the streets, ducking low and using the buildings for cover as pulses of laser light burn the concrete.)

Rei: (to radio) I need a weapon.

(Her voice is suddenly calm, despite the rage a bare moment before, despite any pain she might feel from the laser strike.)

Misato: (radio) We're sending you a rifle, four hundred west of your position. Stick to cover and we'll tell you where it's going-

(Unit 00 is already moving. It dives out into the open, darting across the street as MARI raises its rifle, its aim barely missing the lightning-fast Eva. Back into cover behind low-set buildings, Unit 00 breaks into full run and heads for the weapon station.

The rifle is already in place, waiting. Grabbing it, the Eva steps sideways into cover, settling the weapon against its shoulder. Back against the shield of a building, Unit 00 pauses as the pilot closes her eyes.)

Rei: ..

(The Evangelion leans out of cover and fires, a short burst roaring from the weapon, shells streaking down the street. As the blue giant leans back, a pulse of laser light answers her attack, scorching the building she takes cover behind.

The two Evas dart from street to street, cover to cover. A flicker of Unit 00 is visible between buildings - a beam of light flashes after as MARI aims and fires. The black-armored Eva takes cover behind a building and a volley of projectiles smash into the concrete, blasting out chunks and clouds of dust.

Voices over the radio from NERV central constantly feed data on MARI's location as the two Evangelions stalk through the city streets. From building to building, shot for shot, the battle pushes back and forth.

Rei lets loose with a stream of rounds, tracing MARI's path as it dodges and weaves between buildings, chased by a trail of shattered concrete and crater-like impacts.)

Misato: (radio) Rei, your rifle is almost depleted. We'll send another to the station north of you!

(Against the transparent wall of the plug an overhead map of the city appears, overlaid on the dark outlines of the buildings seen through the eyes of the EVA-00. Rei spares the display a glance; flashing icons identify Unit 00, MARI, and the armory stations.

And then Unit 00 is moving again, darting between the buildings, rifle ready, weaving its way towards MARI.)

Misato: (radio) What are you doing - Rei!

(The blue armored Eva collides with MARI as it rounds a corner. A laser burst pulses up into the air as the two struggle in close quarters to keep the other's weapon turned away from their body. Unit 00 digs its feet in as MARI heaves and struggles; the Evangelion's assault rifle fires, ripping up the faces of buildings and the concrete of the road in a wide circle as the two giants turn, wrestling with each other.

Abruptly MARI releases its rifle and smashes a fist into Unit 00's face. It steps back and retaliates, smashing the butt of its now-empty rifle low across the blue-black Evangelion's ribs. MARI catches the next swing, its hands locking around the buttstock of the Evangelion's rifle. Its own weapon half-drags on the ground, suspended by the umbilical cable that links into MARI through a port just under the arm. With a hiss of seals the cable detaches, the rifle falling to the ground - relatively safe from the struggling giants. MARI turns, hauling Unit 00 off its feet and swinging it into a building.

The face of the building breaks into fragments and rains down on the two. Rei gives up on the rifle as a club, the giant fist of her Eva lashing out to connect with MARI's faceplate. As her opponent staggers back from the blow she lunges forward, following with a kick that MARI dodges back from.

In a blur of fast, short blows MARI advances again, landing sharp hits on Unit 00's armor. Rei's answering roundhouse punch is caught by the blue-black Eva; MARI heaves and pulls, trying to draw the Evangelion into an armlock even as Unit 00 locks its free hand around its opponent's neck. Feet grinding into the road for traction, Unit 00 pushes MARI against the crumbling facade of a building already half-smashed by the battle.

Grips shift as the two giants fight to get the best hold on the other. Short blows are struck, brawler's punches at grappling range, MARI's stomach plates warping under multiple hits, Unit 00's faceplate cracking under its cyclopean eye. They haul at each other, a giant, destructive dance as they pivot one another into building after building, crushing a rough path of shattered concrete as they wrestle through the city.

Shocks rippling up her arms, hands numbing from impacts. Memories flash into Rei's mind.)

-(flashback)- A voice raised in a scream, body lunging away from the wall. Restraints, their locks burrowing into her armored forearms, are ripped free of the wall and hurled across the room, twisted and torn. Alarms spinning, tiny figures below running.

-(flashback)- A desperate need, a need for that face she had seen. Yellow eyes, pale hair. The same need she herself had felt, one that had drawn her towards him, drawn him into her life.

-(flashback)- A need to be her, to be Rei Ayanami. Rei Ayanami and Tenkei. To be her, to be near him. A face, a name, a way out. A way to him. To take what should be hers.

Rei: (screaming) ...

(Blurs of the city skyline, flashes of its face suddenly looming in her vision. Showers of concrete fragments, glass fracturing and falling. The dull, distant pain of bruises and blows. The ground underfoot, sometimes uneven, sometimes flat and smooth, sometimes solid, sometimes giving way under the force of their struggle.

And the scream. The constant howl of Unit 00, drowning out every other sound.

Then the path ends abruptly, MARI's backplate hitting a wall of reinforced alloys - the wall of an armory station. Rei jerks back - the howl ceases - and calm returns to her, if just for a moment. Katsuragi's voice fades back into her consciousness, urgent over the radio. The armory station, the rifle they sent for her.

MARI kicks out low, driving Unit 00 back a few steps. Taking advantage of the brief surprise it leaps forward, following up the attack.)

Rei: (shouting) You won't!!

(Rei catches the creature as it tries to advance, slamming it back into the weapon station's side, warping the metal. The darkly-armored Evangelion is now off balance, feet scrabbling underneath it. One hand tries to press against Unit 00's unyielding chest plate, trying to push the Eva away. The other reaches up, fingers trying to touch the blue-armored Eva's external battery. The sight drags Rei's eyes to the time display on the wall of the plug - Unit 00 still has fifteen minutes of operational time, included her internal batteries.)

Rei: (shouting) You can't have what's mine!

(Rei tightens her grip and slams the Eva back against the building. The reaching hand of MARI flops about like the arm of a doll, its head caving in the wall of the weapon station. The stricken Evangelion now reaches down, hands gripping a portion of buckled metal on its thigh. The already weakened alloy gives way; the grip of a pistol protrudes from the weapon port on MARI's leg.

Unit 00 steps back, hauling MARI with it. Tortured metal screeches as the Eva is wrenched out of the deformed wall. With a tremendous heave Rei pivots her Evangelion about, swinging MARI like a sling - and lets go.

The blue-black Evangelion cleaves into the buildings, tearing a kilometer-long path of ruins and debris behind it. As the dust slowly settles, gradually revealing the still-moving form of MARI, Unit 00 turns back towards the armory station. The damaged systems whine, jerkingly opening their armored shutters, revealing a waiting assault rifle.

Unit 00 turns, rifle ready at the shoulder - but MARI is gone.)

Misato: (radio) Rei, the target is heading westwards.

(There is a pause.)

Misato: (radio) It's going to retrieve its rifle! Get after it!

(Rei directs her Eva through the streets, moving at a run. Between dark buildings and over rubble, Unit 00 catches sight of the enemy and raises its rifle. And freezes.

Standing on the road, barely fifty meters from the enemy Eva, is Tenkei.)

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

(The man leans back from his console suddenly.)

Operator: Whoa.. what the hell?

Officer: What is it?

Operator: Feedback errors - I'm getting interference in the plug signal?

Officer: What? Is it external?

(A series of exclamations circulate around the room as whatever it is shows its effect on every system of the Evangelion..)

Operator: The interface isn't taking it sir, the systems are refusing to function!

Officer: Switch to the backups!

Technician: AT field fluctuation - another field!

(The Officer grunts, not really surprised - the arrival of another Evangelion to the fray was only a matter of time.)

Officer: Where is it? Tactical has nothing.

Technician: I'm trying to locate the source of the interference..

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

(There is nothing dramatic about his appearance. His clothes are slightly rumpled as he clambers over some of the rougher debris. Among the broken rubble of buildings and roadways, Tenkei is almost impossible to see. He looks up - now both Evangelions are in view. Unit 00 stands nearly half a kilometer away, rifle ready, but does not fire.)

Don't stop me. Please.

(He feels Rei's response - the surge and rush of the fight covering her fear and anger like a thick cloud, obscuring and confusing, but not hiding it. She doesn't want him to do this - but she cannot stop him. She cannot bring herself to do it.

She won't fire.)

Thank you.

(Another response - a helpless twitch, more anger, more fear. But behind it her feeling, something that rose up almost involuntarily at his thanks. Love. But the fear is still there, a desperate helplessness. He hates doing this to her, putting her through this. But the other deserves a chance.)

Tenkei: ..

(Now he turns his attention back to the black-armored Evangelion - like Unit 00, it is immobile. The boy's field flickers briefly around him as he reaches, slipping past the crude barrier that the Eva has around it, into..

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

(Silence.

She cannot be seen. She cannot be heard, or touched, or reached with any of the senses. Light, sound, human contact - all the mediums are denied here. They cannot exist.

But he can feel the presence in this place. She is here - he knows it.)

Voice: When I spoke to her, she made an error. She, like these humans, holds her world static, and defines all within according to her perceptions. Even if that definition is limited by her.. lack of contact.

(The darkness swirls, a dark ball contracting in space, forming into a shape..)

Voice: And so she saw me as the "intruder", one who enters her world and disrupts it. One who questions who she is.

(Not just a shape. A sound, a smell. The voice is suddenly recognizable - Tenkei retreats in surprise, but holds himself steady - he does not leave this place.)

Aoi: I asked her "who are you?" And she answered with the image that others use to define her - Rei Ayanami, designated pilot of Unit Zero. As I questioned her world, she saw me as the "intruder", an image in her mind of the Seventeenth, the one called Kaworu Nagisa. Her own perceptions blinded her to what I am.

Tenkei: ..you are..

Aoi: Here, to tell you this. You thought you would find her here? You will not. You, too, have made her mistake.

Tenkei: Mistake?

Aoi: You reached out for this Rei, and as you touched upon her you saw her form. You watched her form. As always, you create your world and the people within it..

Tenkei: ..

Aoi: And now you reach again, hoping to find that same touch, that same form. But this is a form that will not change for you.

Tenkei: Where is she?

Aoi: Safe. Safer than you.

(The darkness is filled with light.

City light, dust and rubble. Spotlights washing over buildings and the wreckage of buildings. Unit 00 is still motionless at the end of the road. And opposite is the other Evangelion, dark armor dusty from the fight. The other Evangelion, where he had thought he would find her.

Aoi steps across the rubble, kneeling beside the boy. Tenkei watches with wide eyes as MARI suddenly jerks upright, the pistol that had been held loosely in one hand suddenly leveled at him. He feels the mechanical intent of the creature center on him, its AT field unfolding and directing itself towards him..)

Tenkei: (stepping back) ..

(She catches him as he stumbles on the rubble; her arms gently wrap around him.)

Aoi: (comfortingly) It will be alright..

(The giant pistol fires, artillery-sized muzzle flash flaring among the dust and darkness. There is no sound - the supersonic projectile will reach him before the sound does.)

Aoi: She needs you too much to let you die.

(His hands pass through Aoi's form as everything vanishes in the impact.)

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

(The trigger switch locks down as Rei screams with the horror and pain of her loss.

Explosions of concrete erupt across buildings and streets as MARI runs weaving from side to side, desperately trying to dodge Ayanami's fury. Unit 00 surges forward in pursuit, rifle raised, flashing its fury with each burst. Shells streak across the city, some shattering the backplates in MARI's armor, other burying themselves into buildings.

The weapon empties; Rei simply throws the smoking rifle aside and breaks into a dead run, eyes locked on the elusive form of the enemy, lips peeling away from her teeth as pilot and Evangelion surge forward, howling with rage, hands twisted into claws..)

Misato: (radio) Another rifle coming up at your zero mark - dead ahead!

(It rises barely a hundred meters in front of the fleeing American MARI. The armory station seems to erupt from the ground, rubble and debris from earlier in the fight lifting into the air. The blue-black Eva skids to a halt, using the station to steady itself with one hand and turning to face the chasing Unit 00. MARI drops into a gunman's stance, both hands supporting its pistol. It fires off one shot - which strikes home - before the blue and white Evangelion strikes.

Blood splashes thickly onto buildings and is instantly lost in the madness of steel collision.

The impact knocks MARI clean off its feet, both Evangelions crashing into the armory station and through. Reinforced alloy shutters and struts are torn free, the structure bursting as the two Evas fall heavily into the buildings beyond. The newly supplied rifle sails through the air, landing amongst the rubble.

Blue and black armor rolls over and over - suddenly MARI is thrown clear, regaining its feet with swift grace just in time to catch Unit 00's fist in the side of its head. It stumbles, backing into a building. Another blow drives into its chest and the Eva slams back into the building again. Windows disintegrate as the force of the blow ripples through the structure, enticing a tortured screetch from the superstructure.

MARI's pistol hand rises - Rei grabs it quickly, teeth gritted, struggling to keep its weapon pointed away from her. MARI's free hand comes around in a fist, jackhammering into Unit 00's ribs. Another blow, and Rei answers with a backfist across its face. The Evangelions heave against each other; the darker Eva steps and turns, smashing Unit 00 into the already-shattered building. With a cry of rage Rei swings her opponent around and into the concrete, roles reversed a second time. MARI lashes out with an elbow, catching the blue-armored Eva on the faceplate. Unit 00 jolts back-

-hand releasing, just slightly on the wrist of its enemy-

-turning, weapon twisting down for a free shot.

The shell bursts from the weapon's barrel and cleaves into Unit 00's helmet. Through alloy armor, skull and tissue beneath.. and then further. The bullet emerges from the Eva's neck in an explosion of blood.

Rei screams anew.

Unit 00 stumbles back, hands rising up clutch at its mangled face as MARI takes up a shooting stance. Maybe half a dozen shots, some impacting on the heavy armor of the Eva's breast plate, some punching through the weaker, more flexible plating around its neck. Blood. Pain. Rei spasms in the entry plug as the bullets strike home in sudden explosions of agony.

There is the briefest of pauses in firing as MARI corrects its aim, then carefully places one last shot into Unit 00's face.

The blue giant falls backwards, blood gushing from its wounds, and comes crashing down onto the broken streets of Tokyo-3.)

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

Misato: (shouting) My God! What's Rei's condition?

Shigeru: (shaking head) I've got no data from Eva at all..

Hyuga: Same over here - the damage must have taken out the feeds, or the transmitter. I'm getting no signal!

Maya: (very quietly) We need to get a rescue team out there, as soon as possible.

Misato: Not with the enemy still active. Unless it continues the attack on Zero, we don't move Rei-

Maya: I mean for Tenkei.

(Misato stares up at the screen, at the rubble and wreckage of the city above. Very slowly she turns to Maya.)

Misato: I don't know if that will do any good.

(Katsuragi's gaze hardens as she returns her attention to the problem at hand.)

Misato: The target - what's its position?

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

Operator: Unit Zero has been neutralized..

Officer: (shouting) I don't care! What the hell happened earlier?!

Technician: The system must have struck a logic failure in the defensive protocols and attacked the percieved source! It must have been a target identification error..

Operator: The unit's primary systems are back on-line, sir. Operation seems to be normal-

Officer: (interrupting) Are there any enemy units in the vicinity?

Operator: (hesitating) ...

Officer: Are our enemies neutralized?

Operator: Unit Zero is inactive. Apart from the field spike pattern, there's no sign of Units One or Two..

Officer: Then stop everything.

Technician: Sir?

Officer: Cease function. Halt the unit's orders and stand ground until we can sort out what the hell happened to it!

(Activity returns to the room - the systems of MARI, only so shortly before running haywire from whatever influence that had touched it, seem to be working smoothly now. This does nothing to calm the Officer's fears; he had seen the visual feed from MARI when it had located the source of the interference. He, like the others in the room, had seen the "target".

It was just a kid. He just stood there, so calm as this.. thing towered over him, destroying what must have been his home.

And for an instant, that face half-hidden in the muzzle flash of MARI's pistol, he had thought he saw him crying.)

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

Asuka: ..

(The entry plug. This place is solid now, not just a memory, but reality. She is here.

The smell is there, faint, so faint she could almost think she is imagining it. Blood. Breathe in, breathe out. Ignore the smell. Feel the pressure of the fluid, heavier than air, harder to pump into lungs that have not breathed for so long.

The receptor headband, which had before floated in the fluid, now rests on her head. She can feel the plug seat against her back, her hair flowing around the headrest. Her eyes are closed.

Eva. She can hear the sounds of the entry plug. An almost mechanical sound, a hum, a roar, a growl. Rising and falling. Breathe in, breathe out. That smell..)

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

Suit: They need time.

(The man's dark suit contrasts with the starkly bland concrete of the corridor.)

Suit: They don't need you looking over their shoulders right now.

Officer: I need to know what happened.

Suit: And when you walk back into that room, they'll try to give you an answer. They won't be able to.

Officer: ..

Suit: But I think I can.

Officer: What do you mean?

Suit: The plug they sent us - it must have had some programming that we can't access, that we can't even see.

Officer: Are you saying that what just happened is something that SEELE programmed into it?

Suit: We know they're hiding things from us - like what they want with these. And what they're capable of.

(This is something that the officer finds very plausible; of course they have been hiding things. But whatever they would have needed such a reaction for..)

Officer: You're right.. and we have a situation we have to deal with.

(The man turns back towards the room, where personnel must still be working on unraveling whatever has just happened.)

Officer: MARI is on the surface, and we can't recover it without the flight unit. We should consider it effectively lost, but.. SEELE couldn't have thought that we would make it this far. I know I didn't.

Suit: Neither did I. We were expecting three Evas.

Officer: But we have an opportunity now. We have to take it.

(The suit nods once, and looks towards the control room. The officer turns, ready to take up command again; but the orders are ones that he had not expected that he would give..)

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

Hyuga: The enemy is active again!

Misato: What's it doing?

Hyuga: Bearing eastwards, towards grid number.. I can't get exact co-ordinates.

Misato: What? Why?

Hyuga: There's been too much damage to the sensory systems in the district, Ma’am.

Shigeru: With the laser strikes and the damage done during the battle, our sensor systems only have twenty percent coverage in that sector.

Misato: Huh. So we have next to no idea of what it's doing out there.

Hyuga: Wait, there it is - camera three-seven-seven! Feeding it through the main screen..

(MARI's armor is dented in places, torn in others, and coated in the gray-white of powdered concrete from the fight. Blood is visible, clotted in its wounds, but its movement does not seem impaired by the injuries. The camera view pans to follow.

The creature kneels at what is apparently a random spot in the rubble, its vast hands sifting through the debris. From the wreckage it draws its rifle; earlier the weapon had been discarded, useless in the melee, but now..)

Misato: Keep tracking it. Where's that strike I ordered?

Shigeru: The UN are presently scrambling launch craft. They can have three N2 mines deployed in Tokyo-3 in eight minutes.

Misato: If they hadn't been so busy washing their hands of this mess they'd be ready now.

Maya: This Eva has intercepted aircraft and N2 mines before. An attack might not even work. And.. Rei is still out there.

(Misato hears the brief hesitation, and knows that the woman held back slightly.

Tenkei might still be alive. An N2 mine strike could end that. But..)

Misato: We're running out of options. If this thing continues the attack, we're helpless.

(The Major straightens, her mouth setting in a hard line.)

Misato: Yuri - what's the status of the Second Child?

(She didn't call her Asuka. Misato looks away from Ibuki, not willing to see the look that she knows the woman is directing at her.)

Misato: (thinking) We're almost out of choices..

(Yuri's voice is transmitted from the backup cage control room, where she is posted to watch over Unit 02.)

Yuri: Asuka's manifested, but she's still unconscious. Life signs are stable, brainwaves normal. We've shut down twenty percent of the external stimuli. By the procedure, it'll take another half an hour before-

Misato: Hurry it up. Maya, she'll need you down there soon.

(As Ibuki leaves the Central Dogma control room, the Major turns to the screen, looking up as the view of MARI switches from camera to camera, the damaged sensory systems of the city trying to follow the movements of the blue-black Evangelion.)

Fuyutsuki: I didn't think you would consider launching Unit Two, Major.

(Misato looks back at where the old man stands - on the primary platform in the Central Dogma control room, just like the rest of them. Commander Ikari's platform, where Fuyutsuki would normally be seen in such a situation, is empty.)

Misato: I didn't think it would be necessary, Sir.

Misato: (thinking) Commander Ikari isn't here..

(The thought is interrupted.)

Shigeru: The surface shutter of launch bay four has been breached! The sensors are picking up a buildup of heat!

Misato: What - it's cutting its way in!?

Shigeru: Yes Ma’am. The first shutter is down and the second is being hit now!

Hyuga: Given the number of shutters between bay four and the cage, the enemy will breach NERV in just under eight minutes!

Misato: Damn it! Update the UN launch flight - those N2 mines aren't going to do us any good now.

Shigeru: Yes Ma’am.

Misato: What about launching a platform to bay four, give this thing a high-speed surprise.

Hyuga: Negative, the EM rails have been damaged at the entrance - probably by the target's laser. The circuit is broken, a launch is impossible.

Misato: Yuri! How's Unit Two?

Yuri: (speakers) We're running through the checklist. Asuka is still unresponsive.

Maya: (speakers) Major Katsuragi, I'm in the cage. I'll do what I can to speed things up.

Misato: Do whatever you can. Hyuga, where's the enemy now?

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

(The body is a wreck.

He can feel his senses drawn back to his injuries as they scream for his attention. Pain. Warm, sticky blood. Bone and muscle torn. The feel of the jagged concrete fragments he lies on is an afterthought in the blinding pain of those injuries.

His body is a wreck, and his minds flees it.

Away from the eyes that stare sightlessly upwards, the hands now limp, half-outstretched as they reach for her. Away from the pulse of spilling blood, and the light-headedness of its loss, freeing him from the pain. Soon he would lose consciousness. His body would not sustain him.

A part of him wonders briefly at what will happen then.

His mind flees, seeking other things. They reach, beyond the boundaries of his AT field, towards the feel of the beings around him. Unit 00 - the pain of its injuries, the pulse of the Eva's heartbeat. The giant continues to function, the battery power in its internal reserves supplemented by the heavy external battery on its left shoulder. So many precious minutes of operating time, now just useless seconds, trickling away, like the blood spilling from its wounds.

The feel of the Evangelions in the cage below. Details are lost as he grows lightheaded, merging the two Evangelions below into a single blur of sensation. Flickers of lives. Shinji. Asuka. Their imprints, branded into the Evas. And under them, deeper, older imprints, but all are too difficult to sense clearly now.

And the thing. They called it enemy. He had thought that she would-

Darkness swamps his mind as he nearly passes out. His attention returns to his body, a deep breath forced into tormented organs. Pain returns with his senses.

The thing is descending. What would it do? He couldn't reach her. It would destroy. A thing to destroy other things. Unit 01 and 02. NERV headquarters. The people within, the faces he had begun to know.

Fading again, drifting away from the pain, away from the shattered body. His mind wanders. Maya Ibuki straightens the buttons on his school uniform. Rei hoists him onto her back to ease his aching feet. Shinji watches her intently as the two warm by the fire. His teacher comments at the blue hair of the picture he drew in class. Security personnel watch from a distance as he rises and falls on the swing. Rei's hands on his back, catching him gently, pushing him gently. Rises and falls. Metal links in his hands. Wind against his face.

And he feels it, as his consciousness fades..

.. the Evangelion waking.)

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

(Deep beneath the shattered surface where Tenkei clings to life, the NERV crew struggle to maintain discipline while the situation grows steadily worse..)

Shigeru: I'm reading triple-failures in all shutters up to the last three!

Hyuga: We've got less than a minute before the complex is breached, Major!

Misato: Maya, are you and Furikawa clear?

Maya: (speakers) Wait, we're getting the Evas moving..

Misato: Get out of the cage room! The target is about to reach your position!

Shigeru: Another shutter has failed. Two left.

Hyuga: Units One and Two are being moved to launchpads five and six.

Misato: If we can get them clear of the chamber before it arrives..

(She looks up at the screen, at the view from the cameras in the storage cage. The two Evangelions, held in restraints and harnesses, are slowly being shifted on the rail-bound platforms that would normally carry them from cage to launch. Beside the image from the cage is a display of the destroyed launch tube shutters, showing layer after layer of red - total failure. At the bottom of the display are the two remaining shutters.

Looking from the damage readout and the slowly shifting Evangelions, Misato realizes that they will not be fast enough.)

Fuyutsuki: So it comes down to this..

(Misato throws the man a hard glare; more angry at the absence of Commander Ikari. Where ever the man is right now..

And never an answer. Never an explanation. Never an.. apology. She had thought that what had happened to the children - the grisly results of the AT field experiments - would have deserved an apology. Some remorse, something. For that, and for all the pain they had gone through, the fear and the pressure and the loss.

What she had seen in room 714 had shaken her. Major Katsuragi followed orders. Major Katsuragi did what was necessary for the greater good, the goals of NERV. Pilots were, after all, just people. Just one or two people, to save so many others. But seeing the children - seeing what was left of the children - in room 714 had almost pushed her over the limit.

She had almost tried to kill him. Only the threat of being killed by NERV's security branch had stopped her.

Just an answer. That's all. An explanation. Misato steps over to where Fuyutsuki watches the scene.)

Misato: (quietly) Where is he?

Fuyutsuki: What?

Misato: Commander Ikari - where is he?

Shigeru: Up to the last shutter - temperature increasing!

Fuyutsuki: Commander Ikari is busy.

(His voice is low. He steps back, away from the others to avoid being overheard.)

Misato: What is he doing?

Fuyutsuki: He's with the only thing that's important to him at this point.

Misato: ..

Fuyutsuki: He's in the cage. With Unit One.

(The last shutter fails.)

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

(Heat pours in shimmering waves from the launch tube, blurring the air like the mouth of an open furnace. MARI drops down into the chamber, an shape torn in the distorting waves of heat, and lands in a crouch on the inactive launch pad.

The Evangelion stalks forward, its shape solidifying into sleek lines and hard angles as it steps out of the shimmering, folding air. Its laser rifle glows from near-continuous firing, and molten, smoking metal clings to its armor. Its rifle pans across the room quickly, moving from target to target - Unit 01, Unit 02. The barrel briefly settles on the gaping hole that had once been the cage control room, before Unit 02's invading fist had shattered the chamber. The weapon finds the backup cage room, targeting the plexiglass screen and the tiny figures beyond.

None register as immediate threats. The room is filled with sounds - the low mechanical whine of the transport rails as they slowly move the two inactive Evas to their launch pads, the popping sounds as the half-molten metal plates of the launch tube cool.

The laser rifle threatens to overheat - MARI deactivates it, settling the weapon in the locking port on its back. It draws its pistol; the smaller weapon will have to be sufficient. The blue-black Eva moves forward again, its pistol raised as it sights at its targets.

Aligned with the sights of the weapon is the hulking red form of Evangelion Unit 02 - sliding slowly up to the linear rail for emergency launch. There is no possible way it can move into position in time. Smoothly compensating for the slow crawl of the elevator, MARI takes up the slack on the pistol's trigger..

Suddenly, Unit 00 makes its presence known.

The blue mecha smashes onto the platform behind MARI like a meteor, having thrown itself recklessly down the shaft that MARI had carefully descended. The sound of its impact rings throughout the chamber, tolling like an enormous bell. The Evangelion lurches forwards, out of the residual heat, its fractured and dust-filmed blue armor is crossed with wounds welling dark, clotted blood. MARI spins, bringing its pistol to bear on the Eva as Unit 00 pulls the trigger of its rifle, retrieved from the rubble just moments earlier.

A high-velocity shell cleaves into the black behemoth, ripping out chunks of armor and flesh. The Eva stumbles back, aim knocked askew, pistol firing uselessly into the ceiling of the chamber. EVA-00 advances, keeping its weapon trained on the target as it continues to pull the trigger methodically, firing its rifle in semi-automatic mode. Blood sprays from the repeated impacts, gory explosions across its torso and shoulder as Unit 00 pumps round after round into its enemy, mercilessly advancing. Bone shatters and sinew snaps; a black-armored arm tears free to splatter on the cage floor. MARI collapses backwards, catching itself with its remaining arm, the plates of its torso blown away to reveal red destruction beneath.

The rifle clicks empty - silent and smoking. MARI raises its head, its armored jaw gaping slightly, a bullet having struck it in the face - thick, dark blood runs down its chin like an obscene parody of a beard. The crippled Eva shifts its feet, spreading its balance out as it slowly straightens.

The butt of the rifle smashes across MARI's face, driving the mecha down once more. The weapon swings back, glinting in the halogen light, and cracks once more across the Eva's faceplate and jerking its head to the other side. Unit 00 swings a third time, smashing MARI to the floor of the chamber.

The blue giant flips its rifle, gripping the barrel and swinging the weapon like a club. The rifle comes down again and again, sledge-hammering the Evangelion into the chamber floor. The weapon finally shatters, inner components spraying all over the room. MARI falls with the last blow, moving weakly as Unit 00 contemptuously tosses aside the remnants of the rifle, its red eye gleaming horribly from between the shattered armor plating that was once its face.

There is a sound - scraping, fumbling.. the tortured invader trying to rise, struggling to fight back.

And then.. a new sound - the rising hum of Unit 00's progressive knife.

In the entry plug of Unit 00, Rei grins wildly, falling upon MARI with her dagger. Bloodlust and tears shine brightly in her eyes and stream down her face as she hacks with mindless and unforgiving hatred at the corpse of the thing that had tried to take Tenkei from her.)

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

Yui: The place you live in hurts you, doesn't it?

(Slowly the cello drops, leaning to one side as Shinji carefully lowers it. The glossy wooden shape is almost hidden beneath the long grass as the Third Child straightens.)

Shinji: .. sometimes.

Yui: You don't like being hurt.

Shinji: Of course I don't.. and I don't like watching people get hurt around me..

Yui: So why are you going back?

(She watches him from where she sits; like the cello, she is only partly visible in the grass. Her dark hair is short, rumpled with a familiar carelessness. The shape of her face, the line of her eyes.. Shinji knows them well.

The differences are just as great as the similarities. The distance that Rei keeps around her, the wall that seems to push everything back.. is something that Yui does not have. Rei's paleness, sometimes ghostly and untouchable, other times utterly solid and unchangeable, is nothing like this woman. She looks.. normal. And in her own way, she is a stranger to him.)

Shinji: Before all this, before Eva, I lived.. alone, I guess. People cared for me, but I never tried to.. reach anyone. I didn't want to deal with people. I didn't want to do anything.. I didn't want to change how I was living.

Shinji: I didn't want to be hurt, so I guess I kept people away from me. That's what we do, so we don't get hurt. We put up walls, blocking things out.

Shinji: Here, those walls are.. gone. There's nothing separating people. I can just be with someone.

Yui: What do you mean?

Shinji: When Asuka and I came here, there was a moment when it happened. There was a moment when.. I just didn't need or want anything. I felt.. complete. There was no reason to do anything. I didn't need anything else but to be with her. I didn't want anything else. There was nothing that hurt, nothing that I needed.. no reason to do anything, no reason to be.

Yui: ..

Shinji: I wasn't afraid. I wasn't alone. After everything, it was.. comforting. I was content.

Yui: Were you happy?

(The Third Child looks at the recumbent form of the cello in the grass.)

Shinji: No. Content isn't the same as happy. Happy isn't the right word.

Yui: Why weren't you happy?

Shinji: Because it wasn't.. a choice. It was just like it has always been - we've been forced together. Through Eva, through the contact.. and now..

Yui: So you don't want it because it was forced on you?

Shinji: (shutting eyes) That's not it.

Shinji: If I reach Asuka - in the real world, if you can call it that. If I reach Asuka and we.. understand each other, or at least we try to, then it's because we wanted it. It's because I wanted her.. and she wanted me. But here, it just.. happens.

Yui: You feel that it is more valuable because it's a struggle?

Shinji: No. It's more valuable because it's her.

(And he smiles - no, he grins, his eyes distant with memory.

He remembers what he has done - what he has been. The boy who came to Tokyo-3. Headphones playing their music, his head low, chin against his chest, making a little world for himself where he doesn't need to see or hear anyone else, a world where he doesn't have to deal with other people.

Some things have, after so much time, become clear.)

Shinji: I don't like pain. I hate pain, I'm afraid of it, just like she is. We don't want to hurt ourselves, so we try to keep people at a distance. We try to keep things the same.. I was afraid of people. I just wanted things to stay the way they were, because at least I knew the pain wouldn't get any worse. I wanted things to stay the same.

Shinji: We're afraid of any change, in case it hurts us.

Shinji: It's so easy for us to be hurt, to feel pain.. but life isn't pain. Life is that change - I guess you can see it as a danger, but that's not all it is.

Shinji: No matter how many times you get hurt, how many times people don't understand you, there's always a chance that you can.. reach people. That you can try to reach someone, just as they're reaching back..

Yui: ..

Shinji: And then, in that moment, you can be happy.

Yui: As long as you are alive.

(They are silent for a moment.)

Yui: You.. remembered?

Shinji: We worked it out between us.

(And then she is behind him, wrapping her arms around his shoulders in a warm embrace, her cheek against the top of his head. Shinji's arms reach up around her, an involuntary smile coming to his face. His eyes close, wrapped in the comfort of this moment.)

Yui: You've done so well, Shinji..

Shinji: I don't think so..

(Her arms seem to stiffen, the warmth and love of her embrace dissolving. Shinji slowly pulls back, looking at the image of his mother, who slowly vanishes from his sight.)

Shinji: I.. guess I needed to believe that you were with me. Like how Asuka needed her mother, and reached for her.. imagined her in this place.

(Alone now, Shinji Ikari settles back in the grass. It had only been a few seconds from loving embrace to loneliness.)

Shinji: I couldn't tell myself the truth. How could I.. what about Asuka? I don't want her to get hurt again, and this.. makes it easier on her, gives her something to believe in. I can't tell her.

(It seems so unfair - so horrible. Not just that he had let the lie happen to Asuka, but that one day he might have to tell her. She wouldn't believe him. It had been so perfect. She would only hate him if he destroyed it.)

Shinji: I'm sorry, Asuka.

Hours later

Fuyutsuki: (thinking) Not even a goodbye..

(He had not really been expecting one. In fact, he had not thought about it. It was like so many of life's goals; when fulfilled, one finally realizes that it was not really one's own goal - not what he himself had wanted.

Ikari had smiled over his shoulder and left. His plugsuit - larger, darker than the children's - made him seem so much more like his son. Or maybe it was the smile that did it.

The data disc slots into the drive; the procedure has already been programmed, ready for the systems to follow. His fingers move carefully over the console, executing the necessary file. The program begins scrolling down the screen, running through checklists..

The sound of a safety flicking off. A handgun, somewhere behind him. Fuyutsuki draws a sharp breath, then exhales.)

Fuyutsuki: I thought you weren't going to wave that thing around any more.

Misato: It's a special occasion.

(Fuyutsuki closes his eyes and allows himself a short laugh - indeed, this is a special time. And they had made it perfect for her.

Hours have passed since the attack; on orders of the Commander, all operations to repair the damage done to the cage have been halted due to "personnel shortages". A lie, really. An excuse that weary and shaken NERV personnel had taken eagerly, a chance to go home, a brief break before the real consequences of the attack were realized.

And so the backup cage control room is empty of all the usual faces, as is most of the rooms and corridors in this section of the base. Privacy, to insure that the Commander is not disturbed during the procedure. The MAGI-linked cameras have been deactivated, the security personnel sent to other areas.

Which is precisely why Misato Katsuragi can now stand behind the vice-commander with a loaded Sig Sauer P229.

Fuyutsuki slowly turns and is slightly surprised - the weapon isn't even pointed at him, but still rests in its holster at Misato's side. The Major touches the safety back on and speaks.)

Misato: I suppose I should start by saying what I've figured out so far.

Fuyutsuki: ..

Misato: When you showed me what had.. happened to Shinji and Asuka, down in room 714, you didn't tell me everything. You didn't actually lie to me, but you left a few blanks.. something you held back.

Misato: Whatever that is, it's the reason why the Commander was so "busy" during the battle, keeping a personal eye on Unit One from the cage. It's why he had Lyn do that test run in it - he had to see what would happen. That's why he didn't want anyone to interfere with Unit One.

Misato: Something has changed, hasn't it? Something in Unit One, something that Commander Ikari had wanted to happen. The experiments, that "Unit Seven", the failure, they were all just meant to make the Eva ready for something.

Misato: And this is it, right? This is the "end" you told me and Maya about. (sarcastic) All our problems with Commander Ikari will disappear, authority will pass over to you, and everyone will be happy. Right?

Fuyutsuki: That's about right.

Misato: So are you going to feel in the gaps, or should I start guessing?

Fuyutsuki: Well, I suppose I should start by giving the situation a name..

(The old man turns back to the console, looking over the program as it executes.)

Fuyutsuki: Yui Ikari. A former student of mine, a bio-engineer. And smarter than I am.

Misato: Shinji's mother.

Fuyutsuki: Yes. She was lost in the first test activation of Unit One.

-(flashback)-Shinji: A.. graveyard for Evas...

-(flashback)-Ritsuko: Nothing that elaborate - just a dumping ground. It's also the place where your mother was taken from you. You may not remember it, but you were watching at the very moment when you mother disappeared.. do you remember that Shinji?

Misato: Ritsuko mentioned it - she never really spelt it out, but..

(Katsuragi's reflection appears on the surface of the console, beside Fuyutsuki's.)

Misato: Are you stalling me?

Fuyutsuki: I probably am. There's always a possibility of you feeling some moral indignation and trying to stop the process, ruining everything that's been planned.

Misato: That depends. Do I have something to be indignant at?

Fuyutsuki: Apart from what you already know - what happened to the children. (looks over) How is Asuka doing?

Misato: She passed the physical - she's healthy. Maya thinks she'll be alright to go home - though staying in the infirmary would be safer, in case there's some.. change.

(Misato over, towards the viewscreen - larger readouts are projected, showing familiar data. Harmonics, power levels, synchronization..

Synchronization?)

Misato: He's not..

Fuyutsuki: There's not really that much else to it.

Misato: Commander Ikari thinks that.. she's still in there?

Fuyutsuki: Essentially, yes.

Misato: Is that possible?

Fuyutsuki: I suppose that would depend on how you define a person.

Misato: And now..

Fuyutsuki: Gendo Ikari is going to join her.

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

(He knows immediately that he has arrived.)

Shinji: (eyes closed) ..

(A new touch to this place, a new view.. he can feel the streambed changing slightly, shifting to match his father. He carries his world with him, like everyone else.

And yet.. he can feel him still connected, held back by something. Another barrier, holding his father away..

Shinji recognizes it. Eva. His father is in Unit 01.)

Shinji: ..

(Gendo Ikari is not used to this place. His mind fights against the rules of this place - Shinji can feel his thoughts, trying to analyze, categorize, and understand. Trying to make it suit his world, his view of how things are. The Third Child is struck by a realization; it is like his father's office. The place of his power, the place where everything goes according to his plans, his schedules..

He carries his world with him, like everyone else.

Shinji's awareness drifts after, watching his father as he makes his way through the trees. He can feel thoughts flickering. Trying to remember this place - had Yui been in this place? Is this her memory? Wondering at the grass, at the leaves, at the sound of running water. The streambed; Shinji feels him approaching, searching, looking for her.

The sensation is suddenly like a fist clamping around his heart - the sensation his father feels, the need he feels. He is searching for her, expecting to see her. Gendo's thoughts of her are blinding in their intensity, every shape of her face is memorized as if etched into stone, every intonation of her voice remembered. Her presence, her form, so absolutely clear in his mind.

Shinji's thoughts pull away, out of his father's mind; he had promised to himself not to do such things unless he had permission. He and Asuka had agreed. But by accident, he had nearly been drawn into the thing closest to Gendo Ikari's heart.

He had never thought it to be so strong. His own feelings for his mother are.. nothing like that. For so long it had just been that she died - a wistfulness, a question of what it would have been like if she were still alive.. but not anything like what Gendo Ikari feels. Everything that was Yui is still in his mind, still part of those things he brings with him through life.

To his father she is still alive, still with him, beckoning him towards her.

He thinks she is still alive.

Shinji sighs; it will make it harder.)

Gendo: (confused) .. Shinji..

(The Third Child looks up, seeing something in his father's expression he has not seen before - uncertainty. Hadn't he expected him here?)

Gendo: Where is she?

Shinji: (thinking) No.. he had expected Mother, not me.

Gendo: Where is.. your mother? You must have seen her here.

Shinji: .. Father ..

(The man waits, his battered face turned towards his son, waiting for an answer.)

Shinji: I think I can show you where she is.

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

(They stretch out in all directions, their orderly lines curving to follow the shape of the land. Overhead is blue sky, only lightly touched by clouds; not enough protection to prevent the sun from baking the already dry earth.

Each marker is.. alone. A single edifice, tall and narrow, elegant in simplicity, but revealing nothing of the people buried beneath. The tombstones reveal nothing of faces or memories, simply names and dates.

They are not crosses, but simple upright posts, perhaps chest-high. They have no arms with which to reach out to the other lonely residents of this vast cemetery.

The wind is warm, heated by its passage over this sun-baked field. Shinji turns, looking at the stone they had come to see.)

Yui Ikari

1977 - 2004

Shinji: Mother.. is no longer alive. Unit One isn't my mother. You know that. It doesn't.. hold her, either. She's dead.

(His words vanish into the sea of grave markers.)

Shinji: My mother is dead. She died in Unit One. All that remains of her is.. a recording, an imprint. The mark she left on Unit One when she disappeared. The mark that I've been.. adding to, building on, I guess, when I synchronize.

Gendo: No..

(The single word is quiet, a parched rasp, like the wind over the baked earth of the cemetery.)

Gendo: She's..

Shinji: I kept on finding her because I needed my mother. I needed the comfort, the safety. I needed parents.. I needed to feel that someone would love me, no matter how many times I ran away..

(The young man's eyes settle on his father, understanding forming in his young eyes..)

Shinji: .. no matter what horrible things I did. It's comforting to have things stay the same, forever.. people you love never going away..

Gendo: (interrupting, strained) No.. I can't do that.. she has to be real..

Shinji: ..

Gendo: She can't be just a.. Shinji, she has to be real..

(The Third Child looks sadly at his father, knowing that for so many years the man has been living on a memory.. and that is all he will ever have.)

Shinji: Mother told me something once..

Gendo: ..

Shinji: No, she told you something. She said "As long as he is alive, he has a chance to attain happiness."

Gendo: ..

Shinji: You'll never find her - or that - here.

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

Misato: Join her? Is that possible?!

Fuyutsuki: As I said, it depends how you define a -

(He cuts himself off, his eyes suddenly locked on the console screens.)

Misato: What is it?

(The Major looks over to see that the scrolling readouts have halted abruptly - words and symbols and program commands frozen. Beneath them, flashing in red, is the reason.)

PROGRAM ABORTED

Fuyutsuki: What..?

Misato: Aborted? How?

Fuyutsuki: A command from inside the plug..

(Simultaneously Fuyutsuki and Katsuragi turn to look through the plexiglass panel - they both see Unit 01's armored backplate slide away, and the mechanical retrieval arm automatically lower itself to the cap of the exposed entry plug.

It takes a long minute for the plug to be transported to the gantry.)

Fuyutsuki: Something must have happened..

(Gendo Ikari clambers free of the plug. He had not worn his glasses into the LCL, but hardly seems concerned by the fact. His eyes stare blankly at nothing, his mouth opened slightly, his hair and fabric of his suit dripping with the fluid.

The man takes a few steps along the gantryway, his sightless steps guided more by a numb hand on the rail than by any conscious intent. His feet wander, his walk slows and eventually stops.

The Commander's unseeing stare wanders over the chamber, finally settling on the viewscreen and the faces of the two people behind it. The man shows no surprise at seeing Katsuragi present - but then, he doesn't seem to show anything but simple and horrified denial.

Abruptly, Gendo Ikari's legs give way beneath him and he collapses to the cold metal of the gantry.)

TO BE CONTINUED ..