Broken Wings [NGE]

[Teen Spirit]

"Sub-Director. I need to talk with you."

Asuka turned to see Ristuko standing in the hallway.

"I'll have my recommendations for tactics to you by Tuesday," Asuka replied. "I need to dig through the archives right now."

"No, it's not about that…" Ritsuko hesitated.

"Are you okay?" She'd never seen Ritsuko act in this manner. Not that she gave Dr. Akagi much attention most days.

"No," Ritsuko replied. "Everything I know about Evangelions, Angels, and several fields of science is being questioned. But that's beside the point. I... did terrible things twenty years ago, in general but to Ayanami most of all."

"Yeah, you were pardoned, and Misato forgave you." Personally Asuka would have just locked her in prison, but that wasn't her call.

"Now, I find myself questioning... The pilots are children. Is it really right of us to send them out to face an enemy we know will hurt them, break them both physically and mentally?" Ritsuko asked.

"Well, what other option do we…" Asuka paused, realizing just what Dr.Akagi was getting at. "No."

Part of Asuka wanted to deck the woman for even suggesting it.

"You have experience, maturity, and you've endured and grown past the hardships they will face," Ristuko explained.

"I haven't been in an Eva in twenty years!" Asuka exclaimed.

"I know, I know. But our only alternatives are a thirteen year old and a fourteen year old with severe psychological issues. You and Shinji are our best bet."

On a purely logical level, she and even Shinji would be better choices to pilot. But no, she couldn't consider this.

"Let's assume for a moment I can still pilot, that twenty years and a bit of time travel haven't left me utterly incompatible with Unit-02. I still have a job here, a most important job that consumes fifty to seventy hours of my week, meaning either you're going to have to find a new Sub-Director or I'll have no time for training. Training I will need, considering how long it's been since I've piloted. Then you have the task of telling my younger self, a girl who at the moment defines herself by her elite pilot status, that she just isn't good enough to pilot her Evangelion and is being replaced. That's not even getting into the multitudes of problems that our Shinji piloting again would cause."

Asuka stopped, she had more reasons but what was the point?

"IF something horrible happens and the other Asuka is unable to pilot, I'll do it," Soryu said with a sigh. "But not a moment before, same goes for Shinji."

Ristuko nodded, obviously disappointed but she kept her expression even. "Of course, Sub-Director, just thought I'd ask."

/

"What happened to Touji's leg?" Shinji asked.

Asuka stared at him. "What?"

"His left leg, it's artificial." Shinji noted.

"The whole thing?"

"Yeah."

Asuka wondered just how she overlooked that. It was an entire leg, how did she miss something like that?

"Well what did he say?" she asked.

"Said it was an old injury," Shinji replied.

The elevator chimed, announcing they had finally arrived on their level. The debriefing had been what Asuka expected, i.e.: 'None of us know what the hell just happened but props on surviving.'

The fight left a bitter taste in her mouth. No victory, no satisfying ending. Just confusing nonsense.

Still... Shinji's reaction to her saving him was rather surprising. She hadn't expected gratitude from the idiot. Between that and what Ria told her, she was really having to reevaluate her perception of him.

Maybe he was an idiot, and a perv, but there were far worse than him around. He was kinder than most men she'd known. And he understood better than most, not just about piloting.

They walked towards the break room. Misato had sectioned it off for them and their other selves. So Asuka wasn't surprised when she opened the door to find Ria in there, pacing around the room.

Ria's confidence was gone. She was slumped over, and had a nervous look in her eye. Fear was worn into her face.

This wasn't just a part of life for her, like it had been for everyone back in Tokyo-3. This was fresh, unexpected, and utterly terrifying.

"Are you okay?" Shinji asked.

"Fine," Ria said wearily. "I mean I pretty much expected something like this since the day you two arrived. I had just really, really hoped I was wrong."

"I wouldn't worry," Asuka said trying to reassure her. "That Angel caught us completely unprepared and I still kicked it's ass."

"True enough." Ria smiled a bit. "So, I suppose this is back to normal for you. Well, as 'normal' as you can get considering the situation."

Asuka was pretty sure that any situation that involved talking to her other self's daughter, who was three years older than her would never truly be normal.

They sat on some nearby chairs, trying their best to make themselves comfortable.

"So, Ria, what's it like seeing your mother actually pilot?" Asuka asked.

"Oh, so now you're my mom?" Ria smirked.

"Well...I...well I mean strictly speaking from a biological standpoint..." Asuka sputtered.

She froze, unsure of what to stay. She knew Ria didn't expect her to actually fill that role, no need. But something about accepting that name made her feel deeply uncomfortable.

"You're family, one way or another," Shinji said.

For a moment, Ria stared at him. Then she flashed a wide smile and grabbed him in a tight hug.

"Yeah," Asuka agreed,"you are."

/

The office of WILLE's Sub-Director was about what Shinji expected. About half as large as Misato's, with only one window and a couple of plants, and the furniture was the typical black fake-wood that dominated much of WILLE.

Some of Asuka's personal touches surprised him though. There were pictures naturally, one of Ria's first day of high school and another of his visit some nine years ago for Asuka's birthday, back when Ria had wanted pretty much nothing to do with her father. Then there was Asuka's degrees, awards, a few medals. There was a red piece of metal roughly the size of his fist right next to the computer: A chunk of Unit-02's armor. Finally and most surprisingly, mounted on the wall behind Asuka's desk, was a spear, fashioned from a pool cue and a jagged piece of street sign, stained brown with old blood.

"Why on Earth did you keep it?" Shinji asked.

The spear originated in the week after Third Impact, when it seemed like it might just be the two of them left alive. They had little success finding supplies that were usable in the wreckage of Tokyo-3. In desperation, the two of them, still half-mad from the events of Instrumentality and Third Impact, began hunting.

"When you killed that rabbit that was the first time I actually thought we would make it," she explained.

"Even after I turned it into charcoal?" he asked.

She nodded. "Even then."

Well, the sentiment was nice at least.

She leaned back in her seat, exhausted and frustrated.

"So I have to ask, how badly are you taking this?" she asked cautiously.

Shinji sighed, hours of stress and panic welling up inside of him.

"Honestly, more confused than anything," he said.

"Same here."

Outside of Misato, she was the only one he could really trust with this right now. If he was going to tell someone, he had to say something now.

"I have something to tell you, it's going to sound insane, though," he said quietly.

"So, normal for today," Asuka said glibly.

"I'm serious."

Asuka grabbed his hand, gently holding it. "I know you are."

"I think Kaworu is trying to contact me in my dreams."

Asuka paused, staring at Shinji with concern as she took a big drink from her cup of coffee.

"I was not prepared for today," she whispered.

"No one was," Shinji replied.

"So... what has he said?" she asked.

"I... don't know. Like I said, trying to contact me. Two weeks ago I had a vision of him trying to speak to me but... The night the pilots arrived I had a dream about him, but the dream it felt... different, more real."

Asuka leaned over, her eyes telling him she believed him, but she didn't know what to make of this.

"Was there anything special about the vision?" she asked.

"It…" Shinji hesitated. "It involved a very particular memory of Third Impact, a memory of something that didn't happen."

Asuka raised an eyebrow.

"The one with the folding chair and everyone telling me 'Congratulations!'" he explained.

"Oh... right," Asuka said, still fairly confused. "And this vision, it felt different than a dream?"

Shinji nodded "It felt disturbingly real, it felt like Kaworu was trying to reach me...trying to warn me."

Was he? Shinji wondered. What else could he be doing?

Asuka sighed. "If these keep up, tell Misato, and Dr.Akagi. For now though, I'd guess it's one of two things. Either they're just dreams and..."

"I'm going crazy," Shinji finished.

"I didn't say that," Asuka's voice was firm but kind. "You're not crazy. You're saner than any man has the right to be considering what you've been through."

"What's the second option?" he asked.

"That Kaworu did try to warn you."

Asuka chewed on a finger as she thought "From what I saw of SEELE's files, Kaworu had Adam's soul, making him Adam to a degree. Which means a God was warning you about his own creations. Meaning he has abandoned them, or they have abandoned him. That's...deeply troubling."

Shinji wasn't sure which possibility was worse.

 

[Teen Spirit]

Chapter 5: Why Are You Here?

The arrival of the Third Angel had many effects. One of the more private ones was an admission most had seen coming since the first night: The Pilots would not be returning home any time soon. More than likely, they were stuck here. They couldn't afford to let them leave until they were certain beyond the shadow of a doubt that the Angels were well and truly dead. Besides that WILLE didn't have the resources to focus on anything besides the Angels.

The Pilots took it pretty well. In truth, even with the return of the Angels, Shinji seemed happier here, though he wouldn't quite admit it. Asuka was disappointed. This world meant no Kaji, and having to deal with the shadow of her other self. Still, she understood the need to stay and seemed to relish the chance to outdo her older self.

Speaking of which, said older self was dealing with one of the more mundane issues arising from their stay: School. Specifically, convincing them to actually go.

"I have a college degree!" Asuka protested as she sat at the kitchen table.

"And if you want a mediocre job as a Salaryman when this is over that degree might be enough," her older self countered.

"Aren't there security concerns?" Ria said sullenly, as she put a fresh stack of pancakes on her father's plate.

While Ria had taken the arrival of the Angel poorly, she wasn't panicked anymore. But her mood had considerably darkened, barely cracking a smile in the three days since the attack. She had spent most of those days locked in her room, brooding, which was rather unusual for her.

Asuka had done all she could to comfort her. Seeing her friends again would probably help a good deal.

"Misato has security at the school and the principal will probably throw anyone who so much as lays a hair on any of their heads out on their ass," she countered.

Shinji, the younger one, spoke up. "Shouldn't we wait a bit? I mean what if the Angel attacks while we're in class?"

"Didn't stop us from going to school the first time around," Asuka pointed out.

"Look," the older Ikari said. "You two need something of a normal life. If you put this off today, you'll probably put it off next week, next month, soon it will be a year from now and you haven't had anything resembling a social life outside of this apartment. And that's more than a little depressing."

That seemed to convince Asuka, but Shinji's younger self was still hesistant.

"Plus Asuka has to leave for work, so that means it's just you guys and me for the next six hours until we have to go see the therapists, and frankly, none of us want that."

Asuka and Shinji reluctantly agreed. Ria groaned in annoyance.

"Oh come on, it will be fine," her mother insisted as Ria grabbed her backpack. "Well...okay it won't be fine, but it will be endurable."

Hopefully.

/

"Okay so we share classes until third period," Ria said as they walked through the hallways of her high school. "That's when you have your Adapting to the Modern World class. Until then just follow my lead."

"You do realize we're teenagers, not thawed cave people right?" Asuka asked pointedly. "We can manage ourselves."

"Right, right. Sorry," Ria muttered.

Shinji found Ria's school to be surprisingly similar to the one back in Tokyo-3. Sure, the girl's uniforms were a dark blue and black instead of white and teal, and there were numerous flat screen monitors and other pieces of high tech equipment that he would have never seen before. But fundamentally, it still felt the same. With one notable exception.

"People are staring at us," he whispered.

A few openly gawked at them. Most were just quickly catching glances. Still, Shinji couldn't shake the feeling that all eyes were looking at Asuka and him.

"Just ignore them," Asuka said, smug grin on her face. "They're just realizing the two most important people in the world are walking in their midst."

That only served to make Shinji more self conscious. Most of these people weren't born the last time he was in school, some of them probably even had parents that were technically younger than him.

One of this days, this would all be normal for him. But that day was far ahead of him.

"I have to go to the bathroom," Ria said suddenly. "I'll catch up with you in homeroom."

She dashed off, disappearing behind a small group of boys chatting near the lockers.

"Is she embarrassed by us?" Asuka asked.

"Would you be embarrassed if you had to go school with a teenage version of Misato?"

Asuka rolled her eyes. "From what I hear she'd be more well behaved than the Misato we knew."

Shinji said nothing as they walked into the homeroom.

It was pretty much every classroom he had ever been in: Rows of desks, one wall dominated by windows. Only the chalkboard was replaced with some sort of fancy computer screen and there were two laptops marking where Asuka and his seats were.

A hoarse female laugh echoed through the classroom. Shinji, Asuka and the few people in the classroom turned to see a girl laughing so hard she was on the verge of falling out her chair.

She was Toji's daughter. Kurama...Kukiko...Kodama, Kodama that was it.

Asuka approached her, glaring daggers at the girl in annoyance.

"Something funny, kid?" she said, her voice grinding with annoyance.

"You mean besides the fact a thirteen year old call me kid?" Kodama teased. "I'm just honestly surprised you showed up, poor Ria having to go to school with her parents."

"Would have thought Hikari would have thought her kid more manners," Asuka sneered.

"Oh, she did, I just didn't listen," Kodama fired back.

Another girl walked into the room, she was tall, with short red hair and sketchpad firmly grasped in her hands. At the sight of Kodama she immediately ran towards her.

"Kodama, good I was hoping to speak to you before Ria arrived," she said, completely unaware Asuka was even standing there.

"I...Uh, you know about the little project we have going?"she asked.

"The light novel thing?" Kodama replied.

"Yes, that. Well, I have my sketch of one of the characters finished and I was hoping to get your thoughts on it before I showed it to Ria. You know, so I avoid embarrassing myself."

"Well that ship has sailed," Kodama said, pointing to Asuka.

The girl followed Kodama's finger. "Hmm? What are you talking... Oh no."

She rapidly retreated away from Asuka.

"Asuka Langley Soryu, may I introduce you to Mari Kirishima. Be nice, she and Ria are very close."

It was clear from her tone that Kodama was getting quite the kick out of this.

Mari looked like a deer caught in a den of tigers.

Asuka looked at her very judgingly.

Mari approached nervously. Her hand briefly extending before snapping back to her side.

"Hello,I'm Mari. I-it's an honor to meet you two.Your daughter is a very charming and lovely woman. I uhh, actually have a gift for you two."

Mari pulled a sheet of paper from her sketchbook and quickly handed it to Asuka, nearly shoving it into her hands.

Asuka looked over it quizzically before motioning Shinji over to look at it.

It was a sketching of Unit-01 and Unit-02. Actually quite good, the lines were very solid, the proportions were accurate. Shinji wasn't a judge of art but it looked well done.

"It's...nice," Asuka said, clearly unsure how to react.

"Thank you." Mari nodded. "Art's always been my passion. It's actually how I met Ria: We were assigned together a project in art class, and well, one thing led to another."

"And then I caught you two making it out in a closet," Kodama interrupted.

Mari turned bright red, and Shinji found himself deeply wishing he was somewhere else.

"Why?!" Mari about screamed at the sitting Kodama.

"Oh please, you should see the grief I give Okito's girlfriends," she replied.

Asuka stood there, unsure if she should be more annoyed at Kodama, Mari, or her older self for forcing her to go to school.

Mari bowed. "I apologize for Kodama. I've not known her long but she appears to suffer from some debilitating condition where she thinks being an asshole is funny."

"You realize I'm not her actual mother," Asuka said sternly.

"Yes, yes, of course," Mari replied.

"So stop trying to to play kiss-ass," Asuka huffed before going to her seat.

A boy sat behind Kodama. It took Shinji a moment to realize it was her brother, Okito.

"Kodama, the heck are you doing?" he asked.

"Being very rude," Mari complained as she walked away.

"Oh, so same old, same old," he said before turning his attention towards Asuka.

"What?" Asuka said, clearly fed up.

"Caught a glimpse of the fight. You were most impressive out there. I never knew a giant biomechanical behemoth could fight with such... agility," he said.

"Oh…"Asuka was almost stunned. "Well, thank you. I mean, I knew that but it's nice to hear it from an outside source."

"Where were you, anyway?" Kodama asked. "You kind of vanished right before the fight."

"I was shopping." Okito explained "You know how hard it is to find good dress shoes in my size? And you're one to talk, Mom was looking for you for hours after the fight."

Kodama puffed her cheeks in annoyance. "I was on a date, if you must know."

"Anyways," Okito shifted his attention to Shinji. "Word of advice, avoid the people sitting there and there."

He pointed to an empty desk far in the front and one more towards the middle all the way to the right.

"Why?" Shinji asked.

"Cultists, see you and Miss Langley over here as some sort of gods."

Shinji swallowed hard and Asuka made a bizarre strangled noise.

"Please tell me you're joking?" she asked.

"Unfortunately, no. Church of Lilith. The end result of having an apocalyptic event shortly after a war involving things named after servants of God. People start reading way too much into the symbolism. They're mostly harmless, especially after Ria's encounter with Shirou."

Okito snickered a bit.

"What did Ria do?" Shinji asked.

"Oh, nothing much," Ria said as she approached the group. "I politely, but firmly asked him to respect my family's personal space."

"And then he ran home, crying," Kodama commented.

"And transferred schools the next day," Okito added.

Ria ignored them and grabbed Mari in a massive hug, surprising the girl as she briefly lifted her off the ground.

"You have no idea how good it is to see you today," Ria said warmly.

"Likewise," Mari blushed. "I...there's some drawings I want to show you."

"For the novel? Show them to me after school. I'm taking you out to dinner, my treat, I insist," Ria said, smiling at Mari as she went to sit down.

Mari nodded and walked off.

"Well somebody's mood improved," Asuka noted.

Ria shrugged it off.

/
Before the arrival of the pilots, WILLE had a diverse research and development team, producing everything from medicine to missiles. This was mainly to keep the other operations afloat, as keeping the Vault functioning was a huge drain on resources. This had the advantage of giving Ritsuko Akagi access to just about every medical and chemical test she could think of.

An orange semi-gelatinous liquid was all that remained of the Angel. It was hoped that studying it could reveal its origins, if it was in any way natural, or if it was somehow man-made. Which made the actual results all the more frustrating.

"It's blood?" Misato said, staring at the results printout in shock.

"Human blood, according to the genetics test, or close to it. Plus elements of cobalt, fluorine, and agar of all things. " Ritsuko replied, trying very hard to hide her frustration.

The DNA results weren't shocking. Despite the vast differences between them, Adam based life forms and Lilim were fundamentally almost identical genetically, closer than even chimps.

"The DNA decayed before we could run any additional tests," Ritsuko explained. "The remaining samples are dissolving as we speak. I'm having more tests run but the-"

"It's like it barely exists," Misato whispered, interrupting.

Ristuko stared at her.

"The thing was melting when we got to it," Misato explained. "All of it, bone, Core, flesh, it all melted like ice cream before turning into blood. Now the blood itself is falling apart. It's a cheap imitation of the real thing, breaking apart the moment it dies."

Misato pounded her hand on the desk.

"Is that what it's sending at us. Fakes and copies?" she said, gritting her teeth.

"History repeats. Itself first as tragedy, then as farce," Ritsuko quoted.

Misato looked at her, complete hopelessness in her eyes. She was terrified and uncertain, as where they all.

"If this is a joke, I'm not laughing," she said solemnly.

 

[Teen Spirit]

Adapting to the Modern World was a distinctly different class from the rest of the school. For starters, it was in it's own separate building on the other side of the Gym, a good distance away from the rest of school. The classroom itself was smaller than normal, it's desks were arranged in a semi-circle facing the front of the room, and a row of computers lined the back. Various posters marked the walls, including one that showing how the national borders of the world had changed.

They had changed a lot, most of North America was labelled simply as "Uncontrolled" for example, as were parts of India and Africa. Guilt hit Shinji for a moment but he forced it down. He had no role in that.

"Why are we even here?" Asuka asked as they sat down towards the left edge of the semicircle near the windows. "We didn't go through this Instrumentality nonsense."

"We're close enough," Shinji argued "Few months difference, and we're going through a lot of the same problems they are. I mean, we have more, but it's nice to have people to talk to."

Asuka scoffed. "Bad enough Misato is making us see a damn therapist."

More kids filled in, most looking annoyed or indifferent about being here. A few looked like they were frightened and uneasy. Most gave Asuka and Shinji a glance. A few stared longer than he would have liked, but none of them tried to talk with him. One boy looked vaguely familiar. He paused, tilting his head as he looked at Shinji.

"Do I know you?" Shinji asked

"Homeroom, Tokyo-3. 2-A, Nebukawa-sensei," he replied.

"You sat in the front, near the door," Shinji said, piecing together vague months old memories.

"Thought you looked familiar," Asuka said dryily.

Shinji shook his hand. It wasn't Kensuke, but seeing someone from back then still this age, even if it was someone he didn't even know, was refreshing.

"Kyon Shinohara," he introduced himself.

"So, question," Asuka said as she leaned towards Shinohara. "You were there in the months after the 10th Angel attack, right?"

"Until most of the city evacuated, yeah," Shinohara replied.

Shinji looked at Asuka.

"Asuka," he said with annoyance.

He knew what she was getting at and he didn't like it.

She ignored him. "So what were we, well the other versions of us like during that time?"

Shinohara gave a sort of half shrug. "Honestly, we didn't see much of you and the blue haired lady. You would vanish for weeks or in one case for well over a month. You guys stopped going altogether a few weeks before most of the city was evacuated."

"That's it?" Asuka replied, hoping for more.

"Well, both of you did seem considerably more stressed out towards the end, but that's not surprising considering the situation," he said.

He figured that much. Their counterparts had told them the general gist of what happened. He highly doubted there were any major surprises left, let alone one that could be revealed by casual conversation with a classmate.

The teacher walked in. He looked, well pretty much like every young male teacher did. Short black hair, casually professional outfit, glasses that made him look somewhere between a nerd and a serial killer, and an awkward, dorky smile on his face.

Shinji looked around, the class was small, beside him and Asuka there were only six others in the class.

"Welcome class, to Adapting to the Modern World. You can call me Professor Umino. Now, before I get started, I'd like to note this is quite a bit different from your other classes. Due to the rather irregular nature of how people come back from Instrumentality each week of this course is effectively it's own lesson, completely separated from every other week. People are often coming and going, but this week is rather unique. All of your are here on your first week. That might not seem a lot, but six people in one school in a city not directly on the coast? That's rather unusual. The government says the rate of people recovering from instrumentality is now the highest it's been in fifteen years."

Some part of Shinji couldn't help but wonder if he was responsible for that.

The teacher went on. "Now let me start by asking all of you a simple question. Who do you live with? You don't have to answer if you're uncomfortable. Please raise your hands."

Four hands went up.

"My parents." A boy explained.

"My older sister," Shinohara said.

"My kid brother."

"My daughter."

Several eyes turned towards the girl. Some bewildered, some judging.

"What? Oh come on, I've seen her daughter," The girl said defensively.

"That's different," Asuka said flippantly. "Also, I live with an alternate version of myself if you must know."

"Easy people, we don't judge here," Umino said, gesturing for people to calm down.

"Now," he said. "Barring age, what's the most changed about them or your living situation?"

Five hands went up, including Asuka's.

"They've become much kinder."

"She's host of a weekday morning show."

"He got really tall."

"She…"Asuka hesitated. "She's a kinder person."

/

The biggest challenge with the Evangelions currently was how exposed they were. They were standing in a park, exposed to the world. If another Angel appeared in the city like that, if appeared close to here, there wouldn't be enough time to stop it from destroying both of them.

Misato could only imagine the horrors the Angel would inflict after that.

Defenses were being put in place, a perhaps futile gesture considering how well such things did against Angels in the past, but it brought Kyoto some piece of mind.

Trees that had been here for hundreds of years were ripped up to make way for steel and concrete barriers and gun emplacements. Pink cherry blossoms littered the grass.

She was destroying history, destroying living things that had been around for hundreds of years. Even if they restored this park after this was over it would never be the same.

Then again, that was true of most of Japan. Tokyo-2 was a ruin, Tokyo-3 was a giant hole in the ground, they had rebuilt on top of the original, but that city could never be called Tokyo. How much would this war cost, Kyoto? Osaka? Would Hokkaido be the only thing left of Japan when this was all over? Would there be anything left, period?

The clouds broke, sun bouncing off the armor of Unit-01. Misato shielded her eyes, moving to the shade of one of the few remaining trees.

She looked up at the giant. Scaffolding surrounding it to protect the most sensitive areas from the elements. It head was tilted just slightly downwards, from here it almost looked like it was leering at her.

Misato scowled "You probably know what's going on, don't you?"

The Eva was of course silent.

Misato had never actually given her a whole lot of thought. She been in college when Yui Ikari disappeared. Gendo, she had dealt with him for years, she knew exactly how she felt about that bastard. But thinking about it now she realized something.

She hated Yui Ikari.

There were the obvious reason, abandoning Shinji at such a young age. Leaving him to a monster of a father, an indifferent family, a cold Sensei and finally a guardian who simply wasn't mature enough for the job. Asuka's mother didn't fully understand what she was getting into, but from what Misato could tell, Yui Ikari knew exactly what she was doing the day she was absorbed into Unit-01.

But more than that, right now, she couldn't help but feel distrustful of Unit-01. Knowing what their Yui Ikari had done, her involvement in Instrumentality, the amount of control she had over the Eva the space born monument she turned it into. Part of Misato couldn't help but wonder what this Yui would do.

Lilith was gone, the only remnant left was Unit-01, and it was controlled by a woman who might very well be mad.

Misato turned her attention back to the construction, eager to take her mind off the Eva.

/

"Well that was a waste of time," Asuka muttered as she walked out of class.

"I thought it was informative, at least," Shinji said.

"It was a glorified therapy session," she complained. "We already have to deal with that this afternoon.

Asuka entered a code into her locker, a green light flashed and the lock popped.

She opened it, only for a small flood of white envelopes to come flooding out of the locker onto the floor.

"What the hell?" she exclaimed.

She picked one up to a see a scarlet heart sticker used to seal the envelope. She through the envelope back on the floor and stomped on the whole lot angrily.

Twenty years and she was still getting this stupid crap.

Shinji cried out in distress, She turned just in time to see him about buried in an avalanche of white paper.

He stood there, like a tiny snow covered mountain, unsure of what had just happened.

Asuka laughed at the sight.

She turned to see a small group of boys and girls staring at them from a doorway.

"What are you looking at, you little pervs?" she shouted, sending the girls and boys skittering away.

Stupid perverts. What made them think they were good enough for either of them?

~~~

Lunch proved to be a far more frustrating experience. The lunch room was packed with students, Asuka had been lucky enough to snag a free table in the corner. Unfortunately everyone and their cousin thought this presented an opportunity.

"No," Asuka said to the fifteenth person who approached the table.

"But I..."The boy started to argue.

"Leave," She said firmly.

The boy walked off, tail between his legs.

"Should we be worried about those letters?" Shinji asked

"No," Asuka replied in between sips of her fruit punch. "There just desperate horny teenagers. Really desperate."

Mari and Ria approached. Ria was carrying a decent stack of letters beneath her tray of food.

"So they went after you too?" Shinji said, stating the obvious.

"Yep," Ria said as she and her girlfriend sat down. "Seems some people are trying to get through to you through me."

"Why did they even send letters?" Asuka asked. "It's the 2030s for crying out loud."

"The school network is monitored and emails can be blocked," Mari pointed out.

Ria opened one of the letters and looked it over, putting it to the side a moment later.

"Guy," she declared, opening another one. "Guy, guy, guy pretending to be his sister, straight girl, straight girl, I don't even think this person goes to this school, Ex, guy."

Asuka and Shinji stared at her, dumbfounded.

"W-what are you doing?" Asuka asked.

"Just seeing who's interested," Ria said calmly. "Guy, one for the 'maybe' pile."

She handed one letter to Mari who looked it over before putting it to the side with a dismissive shake of her head.

"Guy, guy, maybe...no, no way, too desperate."

"But you have a girlfriend?!" Asuka said.

What was this girl doing? Did she have no standards.

"...That's why I'm having her look them over," Ria said casually as if her apparent attempt at a threesome was the most natural thing in the world.

"My god is everyone in this school thirsty?" Asuka complained.

"I wouldn't say that," Okito said as he sat down across from Shinji. "Well, okay Ria here is."

"Just trying to get my mind off things," Ria muttered.

"Quite a few of them are probably just that desperate. Most of these guys though, you don't understand what you are to these people."

"What, does everyone think we're gods?" Asuka said.

She looked around, more than a few eyes were upon her and Shinji. She wanted to gouge them all out. Was she not due a bit of privacy?

"No no, it's more than that. To them, you're not exactly real. You're famous and powerful in a way no one else can be. They want to be a part of that." Okito explained

"So they're just seeking fame and attention," Asuka scoffed. It figured.

"Well, yeah, most of them are," Okito shrugged. "I've seen plenty of that with Ria over the years."

"I'm not," Mari said defensively.

Ria grabbed her by the shoulder, pulling her in slightly. "I know you're not, sweetie."

"But some of them, some of them see the Angel attack as some sort of story brought to life, and they want to be the hero's girlfriend, or boyfriend. They don't per se want the attention, they just want to be involved in the story."

Okito paused. "Or maybe I'm just making this all up and they are all just perverted attention whores. What do I know?"

/

The phone rang twice before Shinji answered.

"Hello?" he answered, sitting on his couch, trying to find something besides the news that was at least halfway interesting.

A nervous woman's voice came over the phone"Hello. This uh…Tsukiko Yamagishi, I'm working on-"

"I'm going to stop you right there," Shinji interrupted. "I don't do interviews."

"I know, I know! I'm sorry! I just... Please don't hang up!" she about begged.

Shinji, against his better judgement, stayed on the line.

"I'm not a reporter. I'm just writing a book," Yamagishi said, her voice shaking like she was in an earthquake.

"You know how many books there are about me and Asuka?" Shinji asked.

He'd seen dozens of books about him, some kissing the ground he walked on, others bashing him with such fervor he wondered if the authors had some kind of personal grudge against him.

"It's not about you," she clarified. "It's about your father."

"Oh," Shinji replied. Now that was unexpected.

"I don't think I could add much beyond what people have said," he stated.

"I know, I know," she said, every word filled with anxiety. "I just figured any look at the man would be incomplete without your input."

"Most of the Files on SEELE are public," Shinji countered. "What he did and the kind of man he was is pretty clear in most of those files."

"I know," she repeated. "I'm not trying to redeem his image or anything. I just want to understand who he was as a human being. Too often we call the worst of criminals monsters. What they did was monstrous, but people aren't monsters. Calling them monsters makes it seem like a normal person isn't capable of doing what they did. Stalin, Hitler, Keel Lorenz, they were all humans."

"Okay, okay," Shinji huffed. "Spare me the college sociology lecture."

He sighed, part of his brain was screaming at him to just hang up the phone, and yet…

"Let's say for a moment that maybe I'm interested in helping you. What would you want from me?" he asked.

"Oh, not much," she said, trying very hard to sound casual. "Just a simple interview. No longer than an hour, you pick the place and what we can and can't talk about."

"That...sounds reasonable," Shinji said hesitantly.

"Would four this afternoon work with you?" she pressed. "I know it's sudden, but I actually do have college classes and my free time is limited."

"Sorry, I have something else at that time."

"Oh…" There was a long pause. "I, not to be forward. But is there anyway I could convince you to reschedule it?.

Part of him wanted to say yes, but it was his therapist. If he rescheduled now he would just keep on rescheduling until he was fifty.

"Sorry, no."

"I understand," her voice was small and meek, "I'll call you back when I find the time, if you're still interested then, of course."

"Sorry for wasting your time," he replied.

"And Mr.Ikari…"

"Yes?"

"I'm sorry, for everything."

The line went dead.

 

[Teen Spirit]

Was in the the mood to write yesterday.
____
Kodama watched as the sleek silver car pulled away, carrying Shinji Ikari and Asuka Langley Soryu away to whatever their afternoon plans were. Confusingly, the car had also been driven by the older Shinji Ikari, making a seemingly normal scene outright surreal.

"And you live with both of sets of them?" Kodama asked, giving voice to her confusion.

"Yep," Ria said flatly.

"I can't even imagine how weird that must be," she said sympathetically.

"You have no idea."

The day was a bit cooler than normal so most kids were choosing to walk home today. Leaving the school as pairs, packs, and individuals. Kodama, her brother, Ria, and Mari were sitting on a nearby bench, watching the other students go by.

"So I have to say," Kodama said playfully, "Ikari, the younger, one is pretty cute. He's single right?"

All eyes turned towards Kodama, Ria looked someone had just slapped her across the face for no reason.

"Was that a joke?" she asked incredulously.

"What? It's not like he's your actual dad. You said Asuka was rather sickened by your parents relationship. So that means he's free, right?"

Shinji wasn't her normal type but Kodama was starting to discover her type was frankly, boring. At the very least Shinji seemed like the kind of guy who could actually hold an intelligent conversation, once she broke him out of that shell of his.

Ria and Okito continued to stare at her like a pineapple was growing out of her forehead.

"You do realize dad would start screaming and NEVER STOP if you did that?" Okito complained.

"Asuka would kill you," Ria said simply.

"But you said she wasn't interested," Kodama replied.

"She would still kill you."

"Honestly you guys are blowing this way out of proportion."

"He's my dad, you twit," Ria said, burying her head in her hand.

"Not really."

"Close enough!" she suddenly shouted.

"Hey you wanted to ask out our Aunt Nozomi last year." Kodama said defensively.

"I…" Ria paused, thinking. "Okay that's a fair point."

"Let's just agree family is off limits for dating. Time travelling or otherwise." Okito suggested.

Ria nodded in agreement.

"Oh, fine," Kodama said, exhaling deeply for effect.

Okito looked at his phone "Speaking of which, we need to leave. We're going out to dinner with Aunt Kodama. We're celebrating her new job."

"So how's your Aunt adjusting?" Ria asked.

"Well she teased my mom for hours about Kodama's name," he replied, "but I think she's having a hard time adjusting to the fact that she's not the oldest sibling anymore."

Kodama liked her namesake. She wasn't as bossy as mom was, for starters. But she had to agree with her brother, the woman was lost, trying to adjust to a world that had passed her by.

"Give her time," Ria said sympathetically. She and Mari stood up, Ria hoisting her heavy backpack over her shoulder. "Well, we have to get going. See you tomorrow."

"See you tomorrow." Kodama and Okito replied in unison.

/

"I have an idea," Maya said as she entered Soryu's office. "It's related to one of the theories about the Angel."

Asuka almost laughed "Which one? The Time Traveling Angels theory, the Ghost Theory, the Artificial Theory, the Second White Moon theory…"

"The Artificial one," Ibuki interrupted.

Sad thing was is Asuka was barely halfway through the list of semi-plausible explanations. At this point if someone claimed it was a plot by real estate agents to increase the amount of cheap land for sale in Kyoto, quite a few people in WILLE might actually believe them.

"So I figure if someone made this or at least was controlling them, there would have to be some sort of device or at least a radio frequency involved. Near as I can tell there were no unusual frequencies at the time. No special chemicals lacing the air either. Which means if there was something controlling it, it would have to be attached to the Angel or implanted within it," Maya explained.

"But we didn't recover anything like that at the scene," Asuka pointed out.

"Yes, but there was a thirty minute window between the Angel's death and the first WILLE agent on the scene. Plenty of time for someone nearby to retrieve it. If someone did do such a thing, there might be video evidence on the various nearby store security systems."

Asuka pondered, leaning back in her chair as she thought it over. It wasn't a terrible idea... okay, it was. Lacking any evidence or even a plausible hypothesis but common sense had gone out the door at this point. Any possible lead was a good one.

"Okay, I'll all for it," Asuka replied. "But we have to have the police grab the footage for us."

Maya stared at her in confusion. "Why?"

"Do you want the media to report that we think this Angel was made by man?" Soryu asked.

"But i'm not saying that." Maya replied. "I'm just eliminating the possibility."

"They won't see it that way," she pointed out. "The public knows we don't have a good answer for what's happening, that's bad. It'd be worse if they think we have an answer when we don't. Because then they're going to demand results we can't give."

"Or when we have new evidence pointing in a different direction, they're think we're idiots. I get it, I get. I'll make sure WILLE's not directly connected," Maya said with a sigh.

The last thing they needed in a crisis like this was more uncertainty.

"You know it's funny," Maya slightly smirked. "Two months ago I thought about quitting. Now look where we are."

"Why?" Asuka asked.

"I felt like my job was pointless, like I was just keeping a memory alive. I didn't want to spend the rest of my life wallowing in the past."

"Yeah, yeah, I hear you there," Asuka agreed. "I was personally thinking of going back to college myself. Get a new degree."

Truth be told, until recently, WILLE had been a relic, it had been a relic from the beginning. A relic shrine to Humanity's survival.

It was funny in a way, if this had all happened a few years later, they probably would be considerably worse off than they were now.

/

"What about Elemental Symphony of Vogelchevalier?" Mari suggested.

"No, already saw the anime..." Ria said, not looking up from her own section.

Bookstores like this had quickly become Ria and Mari's go-to hang out place. They both loved reading, Mari loved seeing what manga artists could do, and Ria was always eager to check out the history section.

"Code/Babylon? No, wait, I remember that being terrible," Mari said to herself.

Ria grabbed a book on Mongolian history.

"What about Infinite Divine Machine?" Mari asked.

"Can't really do Mecha stuff. Little too close to home."

"Oh, right, sorry," Mari said sheepishly.

Ria leaned against a bookshelf, a concerned look on her face.

"So I have to ask? Where you okay with me looking through those letters earlier?" she asked

"We already talked about this," Mari said. "We agreed it was okay as long as I approved of them."

"I know, I know," Ria rubbed her forehead. "I just don't want you to think you're not good enough. Or that I'm a pervert who's going to cheat on you. Because I like you, quite a bit."

Mari blushed.

"It's fine," she reassured her. "Frankly your boldness is rather thrilling."

Ria rubbed the back of her shoulder. "Thanks. I just... it's... you're probably the first girl I've been with who actually enjoys going to bookstore with me. I mean, don't get me wrong I've been trying to have two girlfriends at once for years now, been sort of a dream of mine. But... ugh I shouldn't have said that."Ria trailed off, cursing herself.

Mari grabbed her by the shoulders. "I said it's okay."

"It's a fantasy. This right here is real, I like it, I like you. I like being with you. It's the brightest part of my life since the Angels arrived."

Mari grabbed her head and kissed her softly on the cheek.

Mari never thought she would be in this position. The school wasn't very accepting of people with her particular interests. Ria got away with it because no one would dare be homophobic to her face. But there were whispers, oh there were many whispers.

Not that Ria cared. They couldn't harm her and she knew it. Part of what made being with her so thrilling, they could be together openly and no one dared say anything directly, not even to her. So what if she occasionally leered at other girls or wanted to add someone to the mix?

Ria blushed hard, turning nearly solid red.

"You're sweet," Mari said.

"Thanks," Ria said, staring at her feet. "Also sorry you had to met Shinji and Asuka like that."

"Asuka scares me." Mari admitted.

"She scares a lot of people," Ria agreed.

Mari turned her attention back to the manga section.

"What about Alisteria of the Scarlet?" she suggested.

"Heard good things about it," Ria said.

"And the girl on the cover actually has decent armor," Mari noted.

If there was one thing Mari hated as an artist, it was boob plate.

"So are we good?" Ria asked.

"Yeah," Mari grabbed the manga. "We are."

They walked towards the register.

"So where's this cafe you're taking me too?" she asked.

"Oh, I think you'll love it."

/

There was something indescribably awkward about driving in a car with your past self in the back. Of course pretty much any encounter Shinji had with Shinji was in some way indescribably awkward. Staring at yourself from across the breakfast table was surreal, particularly when both of you ended up having the exact same thing.

"Are we there yet?"

Asuka being here did not help matters.

He sympathized, somewhat. Going to a therapist was never easy. It was hard not to see it as a defeat, and Asuka could not accept defeat.

"I don't understand why we're even going. I'm fine," she said, as if to further emphasis his point.

"No one's saying you're not. Misato just wants to make sure you stay fine."

She wasn't fine. Shinji and Asuka, the adult one, both knew the raging cauldron of issues the young German had just beneath the surface. Her mother's death, her defining her self worth by her piloting, her father, not mention any new problems time travelling might have caused. But it was certainly not his place to say anything.

"We've been doing fine so far," she countered.

Fine being an incredibly relative term.

Shinji pulled the car into the parking garage, driving the car further and further up the concrete labyrinth.

"You know why I'm driving you?" he said, his voice firm but not angry. "Because we didn't get the help we needed when we were you two. And it caused more problems than I care to count. And now I'm probably going to be going..."

He could see his past self's concerned expression through the rear view mirror.

"Look," Shinji said evenly. "I know the shit you two have been through already. Asuka knows. Ria knows. We're as sympathetic as we can be, but we're not therapists. We can't help you. A therapist can."

"What about Ms. Soryu?" his younger self asked. "Does she need to go?"

"No," he said. "Because she got help far earlier than I did." And she isn't sitting on a mountain of guilt for nearly ending the world.

Asuka said nothing but he could tell he won.

"So, changing subject," he said, trying to improve the mood, "how was school?"

Yeah, that, that made Shinji feel old.

"That entire school is full of perverts," Asuka said in dismay.

"It's a high school." Shinji replied. "That kind of goes without saying."

"And Hikari's daughter is an ass." Asuka went on.

"She wasn't very nice to Ria's girlfriend." Shinji added.

That was a shame to hear. Hopefully they encountered her on a bad day. Shinji hadn't met Ria's friends but he knew Touji and Hikari enough to know they wouldn't raise a horrible person. And Ria wouldn't associate herself with the girl if she was that insufferable.

Well there was Asuka, but she was an exception. And even Ria had seem strained to the breaking point early on.

"We're here," Shinji announced as they parked.

They got out, only to find a woman in a dark suit waiting for them by one of the nearby cars.

What was WILLE security doing here?

"Apologies, Mr. Ikari," the woman said. "Considering recent events Misato felt it best if someone escorted you to and from the doctor's."

Running into a cultist would be terrible. He'd had more than one deranged madman pull a knife on him trying to prove he was god over the years. He dreaded to think how they'd react to three Pilots.

"Were you following us?" Asuka questioned.

"Yes," the security agent replied bluntly.

With a groan of annoyance from Asuka, they walked towards the exit. It was quiet, none of them really in the mood for conversation.

There was a woman waiting by the door. She had long voluminous blond hair, a dark leather jacket, and a choker around her neck with a thin silver cross.

Her interest peaked at the sight of him.

"Mr. Ikari?" She said as she reached into her jacket pocket "Maria Vincennes. You spoke to my friend on the phone earlier.

"Oh, right," Shinji replied. "As I told her, I'm far too busy for that today."

And how the hell did you find me here?

The Security guard tensed up

"Oh, I know," she said calmly as she pulled out a pistol. It was a big thing, the size of his arm. With a fat silencer on the end of it.

Shinji froze. The agent grabbed the woman's arm a split second later. Her shot going uselessly up in the air.

A loud bang filled the parking garage. Asuka bolted for cover behind a nearby van. Shinji, both of them, froze, terrified by the attack.

The guard worked quickly, forcing her to the ground and locking her arms behind her back.

Then to Shinji's horror, this Maria woman began laughing, deeply.

With comical ease Maria threw off the woman, sending her flying into the door. Maria rose, her hair covering her face.

"Actually no. That's not a proper reintroduction," she pulled her blonde hair away from her face, revealing her eyes, eyes that now glowed bright brilliant red. Eyes that he hadn't seen since Rei and Kaworu.

No no no, this couldn't be happening. This was impossible.

"The name's Shamshel."

Before Shinji could even think she was upon him, knocking him aside as if he were nothing. He rolled on the ground. Concrete scraped his exposed arms.

He watched in horror as the woman grabbed his counterpart and with one arm, lifted him by his shirt into the air. His legs kicking useless.

Her other arm bulged, boiling. Huge bubbles appearing across it's surface before popping, melting away. Revealing bone, and something else. Her arm became whip made of purple colored bone and bright pink light, easily twice as thick as his thumb.

This couldn't be possible. This simply was not possible.

Tears of terror rolled down his other self's face. Asuka looked on with horror and unmasked confusion at the sight before them.

"Now before I kill you and smeer you across these walls. Let me ask you a question, boy."

Her voice was cruel, and shook with raw hatred.

"Why Are You Here?"

 

[Teen Spirit]

Chapter 6: Ballad of the Fourth and Third

"Well?" she said furiously, "Answer the question!"

Before Shinji stood a woman, no, an Angel in human form. In her grasp was his younger self, utterly terrified out of his mind.

Parts of her skin were turning violet. Her free arm was a flailing whip of energy and bone.

The older Shinji was paralyzed with fear. His knees shaking beneath him.

His nightmare had proved far worse than he could have imagined.

"I... I don't know," his counterpart said weakly.

The woman's red eyes bulged.

"LIAR!" she shrieked. "You know, you both know! This was no accident!"

"I don't," he pleaded.

"Let him go!" Asuka shouted.

The Angel's whip lashed out, striking a car near Asuka. The whip cut a blazing line through concrete, metal, plastic and glass. The car itself was sliced in half, it's windows broken and melted.

Asuka let out a terrified cry and dashed towards another car.

The Angel ignored her. It's eyes were glued to the younger Ikari.

"I want the truth!" she demanded. "How did you come here?! What are you planning?!"

A shot rang out and the Angel's knee exploded in a shower of blood, driving it to the ground. It let go of the younger Shinji, who rapidly retreated.

Shinji turned to see the Security agent, propping herself up against the door, pistol in hand.

"This is Agent Reed! We have a priority one situation at my location! All three are in immediate and critical danger! Send... everything," she said into her suit collar.

She fired off two more shots, aimed dead at the Angel's chest.

Only for them to run right into an AT-Field.

"Oh, crap!" Agent Reed exclaimed.

Shamshel rose to her feet, bone and skin seemingly knitting themselves together within her knee, thick steam rising from the healing wound.

The younger Ikari ran as fast as he could, only to stumble and fall, rolling down the garage ramp.

She... It was going to kill his younger self, then Asuka, and then himself.

He couldn't let that happen. He was doomed, but maybe if he distracted it for a few minutes...

"Hey!" he shouted. "I'm the one who killed you!"

The Angel turned, a large, predatory smile spreading across its face.

Shinji about collapsed in terror.

The Angel walked towards him with casual grace, cracking its whip through another car.

"Mister Ikari!" Reed shouted.

Shinji said nothing, simply motioning her to go after the other two. The Agent pulled herself up and went towards Asuka as fast as her damaged body would allow.

"Oh, if only you knew how much I've been looking forward to this." The rage seemingly melted from the Angel's voice, replaced with amusement.

She looked at him like a child might look at an expensive toy.

"What are you?" Shinji demanded.

"Like I said, I am Shamshel, the Sun of God," it said casually. "Surely you must remember me, considering you stabbed me through the Core!"

"You died. You all died!" Shinji screamed. "How are you here?"

The angel laughed, its unchanged hand brushing against Shinji's face. He shuddered.

He wanted to reach out and strangle this abomination.

"You have no idea how long I've waited to see you. The number of times I've pictured what my hands around your throat would look like. What your body would look like with the life drained from it." Brief bits of fury leaked out from her calm demeanor.

Her hand reached for his throat, stopping just as the fingertips touched him.

"But you should rest easy. Sachiel has demanded you and the other true Pilot live. You aren't the problem. It's those abominations you harbor."

Shinji struggled to understand what it was saying. It didn't make sense. Why would any of the Angels, let alone the Third want him and Asuka alive?

Agent Reed silently appeared behind the Angel.

Shamshel let out a strangled cry of surprise, its body going completely rigid before collapsing to the ground. Two metal wires led from its back to a stun gun in Reed's hand.

"Get back, Mister Ikari!" she shouted, pulling out her handgun.

Shinji ran as she unloaded round after round into the Angel's chest. His ears rang from the noise.

The shots fell silent after the third. The sharp scraping sound of something slicing through metal replaced it. A second later something slammed hard into the front window of a nearby sedan, sending bits of shattered glass everywhere.

Shinji looked, forcing himself to look away a moment later when he caught sight of the blood-soaked brown hair.

He froze, terror consuming his thoughts. He turned to see Shamshel throw Reed's now headless body, landing in a mangled heap a few feet in front of him.

Blood was pouring from the the center of the Angel's ruined chest. She stared at him, an unmistakable look of glee in her red eyes.

The floor of the garage started to rumble, tires screeching below them. The backup Reed sent for had arrived.

Shamshel's expression turned sour.

"Wasted my time," it said, before leaping into the air, disappearing into one of the upper levels.

He heard Asuka shout in relief.

Shinji collapsed to his knees. The Angel's retreat brought him no joy, only guilt and terror over what was to come.

/
The news of the attack hit WILLE like a tsunami. One of the best members of security dead, the Pilots and Shinji put in mortal danger.

An Angel in human form.

The Angel had set an ambush. It knew where Shinji and the Pilots would be. Only the Angel's confusing retreat spared them.

The implications of any one of those facts was troubling. Combined it was frankly surprising that Asuka hadn't a heart attack.

She paced as Dr. Sakura Suzuhara checked Shinji's vitals. Physically he seemed fine beyond a few scrapes and bruises. The hollow, desperate look in his eye told Asuka everything she need to know about his emotional state.

"Well you're going to be sore for a couple of days, but otherwise you're going to be okay." Sakura assured him.

"Thank you," Shinji muttered.

Sakura departed.

Asuka crouched so she was at eye level with the sitting Shinji, placing her hand on his leg.

"Listen, I know what you're thinking. You're wrong, this is not your fault at all," she insisted.

Tears trickled down his face.

"A woman is dead," his voice shook with every word. "A woman is dead because she protected me."

"It's not your fault!" Asuka insisted. "And our other selves would have died had you not distracted the Angel."

Shinji shuddered. "I know, I know. Goddamnit, I know! I just... every good I did, we did, it's coming undone. All that's left is my mistakes."

Asuka grabbed his hand. "You saved the world. However badly you screwed up, whatever these Angels are doing does not change that. You have to believe that."

Shinji said nothing, weeping quietly.

"Promise me," Asuka insisted.

"...I promise," he said.

Asuka grabbed him in a hug, as much for herself as for him.

"I'm here for you," she said.

She was on the verge of breaking down herself, this was more than any of them could handle.

Shinji nodded.

"There's more. The Angel, she... she said Sachiel demanded we live. That its war was only with the other two Pilots," he explained.

"And you believed it?" Asuka questioned.

That didn't make sense. Surely if the Angels had some sort of vendetta it would be against the two of them, the people who actually killed them. Why on earth would one of them insist on sparing the two of them?

"It had me dead to rights," he pointed out "It could have killed, but it didn't. It didn't even attempt to. Why?"

Asuka had no answer for that.

/

"Do we believe it?" Ibuki asked.

"Does it matter?" Ritsuko countered.

Misato paced around the conference room, half listening to what everyone is saying.

They had attacked them, they had attacked them when they were completely defenseless.

They weren't just monsters anymore, they had become like the last one, the one that had toyed with Shinji. Monsters wearing a human mask.

It made a certain amount of sense, that the Third Angel had dissolved so quickly, left so little. That's because that wasn't really the Third at all, it was a shell.

"The Third Angel, Sachiel," Misato said suddenly. "If it's anything like this one, it must have fled the scene. What are we doing to track it?"

"I was having people look over the nearby security footage as it was," Maya explained. "Beyond that there's not a lot we can do at this point."

Well, it was something.

" Considering what we know of Metaphysical Biology, I believe we can narrow this down to one of two possibilities," Ritsuko said. "Either the souls of the Angels, through either natural or artificial means, have been reincarnated into human vessels... or these otherwise normal people have been possessed by the Angels."

"Which is worse?" Misato asked.

"Possession by a mile," Asuka jumped in. "Reincarnation means we can no longer trust anyone under twenty, possession means we can't trust anyone, period. Not even ourselves."

"Reincarnation does seem the more likely option in general," Ritsuko added. "Only a few Angels were able infect living and nonliving things. To say nothing of her human-like behavior before the attack."

"It," Misato corrected.

Ritsuko looked at her, puzzled.

"It's not a 'her'. It's an 'it'. There is no need to anthropomorphize these things. They were the enemy, a force that should not exist on this planet anymore."

"Of course, General."

"Shinji's testimony revealed a great deal, assuming the Angel wasn't completely lying," Asuka said.

Thankfully, Shinji remembered what the Angel said vividly.

She went on, "Most important bit of info is the Angel's apparent confusion when it comes to the past Pilots. It was angry, disgusted, and it seemed at a total loss for why they were in this time. It wasted a critical amount of time demanding answers from the younger Shinji that he could not give."

The fact that they were alive only due to the mistakes on the part of the Angel left a bitter taste in Misato's mouth. There was no victory, only blood and loss.

"Which means either the Angels' return is a completely separate event from the pilot's time travelling, or they're connected but not even the Angels know how."

Judging by the sullen faces in the room, no one liked either option.

Maya spoke up, "Our biggest priority needs to be keeping this a secret. We should release a report saying Shinji and the pilots were attacked by Church of Lilith fanatics."

"Why?" Misato questioned. "If we pretend everything is normal that only puts the Pilots at further risk."

"They haven't attacked all at once and Shamshel retreated. If they wanted to just kill the Pilots when they were on their way to school, they could have done so already. They attacked the Pilots when the only other person around was a WILLE agent and fled when more arrived. They want to keep out of the public eye. We can't afford to have them in the public eye." Maya explained.

"Telling the public that everyone born after Third Impact might have the soul of a monster that tried to wipe out all of mankind. Yeah, that would go over poorly," Asuka agreed.

That would be bad. Actually it would be worse than bad. Widespread panic was all but certain. That would bring Japan to it's knees in a single night. Thousands might die.

But letting them go out there, when anyone could be an Angel... that was putting them in danger, each and every day.

Misato yet out a frustrated groan. There really only was one option here.

"Tell the media that the Shinjis and Asuka were attacked by a fanatical branch of the Church of Lilith, resulting in the death of one officer," Misato ordered.

"Now," she went on, "What do we know about this 'Maria Vincennes' and 'Tsukiko Yamagishi'?"

Shinji had mentioned the rather suspect phone call he received shortly before the attack. The evidence was thin but the timing and strange nature of the call, not to mention the Angel's claim of association. It made Misato certain this person was an Angel.

Asuka brought up a picture of the Angel on screen. She looked entirely human. It was even smiling happily in the picture, making Misato all the more livid.

Asuka looked at her notes "Maria Vincennes, age nineteen. Daughter of Sasha and Eric Vincennes. American ex-pat. Moved to Japan seven years ago after the collapse of the New California Republic. Was going to Kyoto University of Art and Design, but stopped showing up a week ago. No signs of unusual behavior."

"What about her, er, its parents?" Maya asked.

Misato wondered. Were the parents aware? Did they spend nearly twenty years living with a monster and not know? How many families were out there right now, carrying for and supporting inhuman monsters without even knowing?

The thought was enraging as much as it was terrifying.

"Went on a trip to the UK a week ago, where they disappeared," Asuka explained. "So probably dead."

Unfortunate but not unexpected.

"As for Yamagishi... Well, for starters there are dozens of families with that name. The only Tsukiko I could find in Kyoto in our age bracket was nine when third impact happened," Asuka said.

So probably a fake name, lovely.

"Our top priority remains getting the Vault upgraded to handle Unit-01 and Unit-02," Misato announced. "But we have to expand our efforts. We need more security, both for WILLE and the Pilots. What happened in the garage cannot happen again. We need to find these Angels, figure out how to weed out those who haven't revealed themselves yet, and track down the ones that have already attacked us. I want a name and face on Sachiel. I want to drop a missile on the bastard's head before it can attack us again."

Everyone looked grim, terrified and uncertain.

"Look," Misato sighed, "I won't pretend this isn't pretty much the worst case situation. The enemy is wearing a human face. They can be anyone and anywhere. Even people we know. But the enemy has blundered twice, and those blunders have given us a chance to beat them. There is no SEELE to worry about. The only enemy we have are the Angels. Fourth Impact is impossible. There is no Adam. Whatever plans the Angels have, they will fail. On that I give you my word."

 

[Teen Spirit]

Asuka slammed her fist against the the vending machine, knocking loose a bag of chips that had become stuck.

This wasn't right, this wasn't how Angels were supposed to work. They were giant monsters she destroyed with her Evangelion. How could she fight against something like that, especially when they attack her like that?

She had been completely powerless, unable to even try and stop the Angel. She was a Pilot goddamnit, if she couldn't stop an Angel what was the point of it?

What was the point of anything?

"Are you okay?" Shinji asked, full of concern.

"I'm fine," she muttered. Of course the Angel had paid attention to the brave hero Shinji and completely ignored her.

No... that was stupid. The Angel had attacked her as well. It just went after Shinji because he was closest, and had been the one to kill it the first time around. Had it not retreated it probably would have killed the both of them.

She looked at Shinji. There was a noticeably distracted look in his eyes.

"Are you okay?" she repeated.

For someone who had nearly been killed a few hours ago, Shinji was awfully calm.

"I...uh, well it's just...the Angel, she had red eyes when she attacked," he said.

"Yeah?"

"Ayanami had red eyes."

That she did. Wonder Girl had looked distinctly inhuman. Red eyes, pale blue hair, skin that looked like it had barely seen the sun... to say nothing of her near lack of emotion.

"I think they would have mentioned if she was an Angel," Asuka tried to assure him.

Would they though? Doubt entered her mind. They had been incredibly silent about Wonder Girl since they arrived. She was in the sea like millions of others. But Asuka found herself doubting that. Perhaps Misato didn't know and Instrumentality was their best guess, or her trying to reassure Shinji.

Shinji nodded, seemingly reassured by what she said.

Asuka sat on the chair. They were both stuck at WILLE until tomorrow at least: Angelic assassins made Misato a little nervous it turned out. Of course, their older counterparts were free to go. The Angel had specifically said they were not being targeted, after all.

And that raised so many questions right there.

Why did the Angels want them dead and not their counterparts, the ones who actually killed most of them?

Even in terms of being a threat, their counterparts could still Pilot the Evas if push came to shove. Not as well certainly, but they could do the job. And they knew just as much as she and Shinji did about how they came here, i.e. absolutely nothing.

And it wasn't like those were just words either. Asuka had watched the Angel come within inches of the older Shinji. And she didn't even try to harm him.

So what possible reason could the Angels have to spare them? What made them different?

No answers came to Asuka, only a distinctly uncomfortable feeling and nagging doubt.

/

What should they tell Ria?

That was the questioning lingering on Shinji's mind as he waited for Asuka.

Shinji hated lying. His father had lied to him, NERV had lied to him, Kaworu had lied to him... and he had lied to everyone about Instrumentality.

He wanted to be as honest as he could, particularly with his daughter.

But this, how could he tell her that there were Angels running around, looking like people? That people she'd known for years, her friends, her girlfriend, anyone might be enemies of humanity?

At least he had Asuka to back him up. He didn't know what he would do without her here.

"Should have come back years ago," he muttered to himself.

Touji approached wearing his black and grey dress uniform.

"Leaving?" he asked as he approached.

"Yeah, just waiting for Asuka," Shinji replied. "Thought you had the day off?"

"The General called in everyone in Security to brief us on Agent Reed's death and Shamshel's attack."

Touji looked sorrowed, trying to put on a brave face but failing.

"Did you know her?" Shinji asked.

Touji shook his head. "Not well. She was part of the General's personal detail. I'm just Base Security. Maybe said hello once or twice but nothing beyond that. Still, it's a hard loss."

"I just wish I could have thanked her." Shinji said.

"I'm sure she knows," Touji tried to reassure him.

"So what are you doing now?" Shinji asked.

"Going home, trying to catch a few hours of sleep before I'm back here for fifteen hours," Touji replied wearily.

"Though how the heck am I supposed to sleep knowing this?" he asked.

"Believe me I know how you feel," Shinji agreed.

Just the thought of all those Angels lurking out in the city was giving him chills.

"Though I won't lie, I really want to a shot at the Angel who crippled me," Touji admitted. "You think it remembers me?"

"Probably. Shamshel seemed to remember me pretty well."

"And yet it still tried to attack you," Touji teased. "You would think death would make these things a little more cautious."

Touji yawned, trying to shake off his exhaustion. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go home and pretend none of this happened for the next six hours."

/

The woman known as Maria tossed her bloodstained clothes into a dumpster. She poured lighter fluid over the mess before tossing a lit match onto the pile.

She walked away, freshly dressed, her face utterly calm.

She pulled out her cellphone as she as she walked down the street, passing dozens of people.

She typed a message.

'They know nothing,' it read.

Moments later a reply came back.

'Well, fuck.'

Maria quickly replied back.

'We're exposed. You should flee.'

'No, I need more time,' the reply came.

Maria frowned.

'It's not going to work, Third.'

'It has a better chance of working than anything you've done.'

"Harsh, but not inaccurate."

Maria turned to see a teenage boy standing on the corner. He was heavyset, with thick black rimmed glasses covering his fish-like eyes. Greasy brown hair covered his head. He was flanked by two young girls with identical features. One had long hair pale as snow, the other bright pink hair tied in a ponytail. Both were finely dressed, more suited for dance than a night out on the town, with utterly sincere smiles plastered on their faces.

Maria shuddered at the sight.

The boy motioned for her to come inside the video game shop he was standing in front of. She followed.

The store was crammed with video games of every stripe, new and old, foreign and homegrown. The walls were lined with playable consoles. At the moment it was empty, save for the four of them.

"They don't know how they came here," Maria admitted.

The boy sat behind the counter as the girls rushed off to play one of the consoles, giggling all the while.

"Not entirely unexpected," the boy replied.

"It was for me," Maria admitted. "I thought they would confess the moment I laid my hands on them. Foolish, I know."

The boy stared at her with a look of disdain.

"Shut up," she muttered.

"So, what are you going to do now?" he asked.

Maria laid her head on the counter, drumming the fake wood with a finger.

"Lay low, wait for Ramiel. You?"

"Not sure yet, I suppose it depends on if Sachiel's plan works out."

"It's not going to," Maria said firmly.

The boy shrugged. "Probably, but if it does, the war is over before dawn breaks."

/

Asuka and Shinji stood at the door to her apartment, staring at it with uncertainty.

News of the attack wouldn't break until tomorrow. Asuka had called Ria and urged her to come home, saying they would explain when they got there.

Now she was home, and she didn't know what to say.

Deep down she wanted to just lie, to feed her the story about it being a cultist attack and leave it at that. This wasn't Ria's fight. She didn't need to be part of it. It wasn't fair for them to drag her into this. Once they told her they knew it would mean years of restless nights, wondering if everyone they met was Angel, doubting if she could ever trust anyone her age again. They would be robbing her of whatever peace she had left.

Misato was already working to bar anyone born after Third Impact from all but the lower levels of WILLE. As far as Misato concerned, Ria, due to her constant exposure to the past Pilots over the past few weeks, was the only person in the entire demographic who could be trusted.

Asuka prayed they were right about it being reincarnation and not infection. If it was infection, Misato would probably kill herself in a fit of paranoia.

She looked at Shinji.

"You know we have to do this," he said.

Asuka sighed as she grabbed the doorknob. "I know."

They opened the door.

Ria was waiting, still dressed in her school uniform. She stood up from the couch, her expression was calm but worried. She knew something bad had happened.

"So, what's up?" she said, looking behind them. "And where are the mini-me's?"

"You're going to want to sit down for this," Shinji urged.

Ria grabbed a seat in the kitchen, her expression becoming increasingly worried.

It pained Asuka to see her like this.

"The other Asuka and Shinji are fine. They're staying at WILLE tonight," she explained.

"There was an attack earlier today," Shinji went on, "as we were preparing to go to therapy. None of us were injured, but a Security Agent was killed. The media is being told it was an attack by extremists from the Church of Lilith. That's what you're going to tell anyone who asks."

"But that's not what happened," Ria said gaining an edge to her voice.

Asuka shook her head. "No. What attacked Shinji was an Angel... An Angel that looked like a human woman. We don't know how this happened but…"

Ria bolted up, her eyes alive with terror.

"Oh no, no no no no no," she said as she began pacing around the table.

Asuka tried to calm her down. "Listen, I know this is bad, but we need to remain calm."

"But I thought the Angels came along with the Pilots," Ria said, desperate for it not to be true.

Asuka shook her head. "Unfortunately that's not the case. If anything it seems like all the Pilots did was stir up the Angels that were already here."

Ria was hyperventilating, breathing so quickly and so hard it was amazing she hadn't passed out.

"Ria! You need to calm down!" Asuka grabbed her by the shoulders.

"We need to leave!" Ria shouted suddenly. "You're both in terrible danger! We need to get far away, far far away!"

"You're probably right," Shinji admitted. "But that would probably cause more problems than anything."

Ria stared at him, bewildered.

"The Angel who attacked, Shamshel, she said quite specifically that Sachiel wanted Asuka and I spared. I don't know why."

For a second Ria stared, her eyes wide. Then she screamed. Loudly.

Louder than Asuka had ever heard, so loud her ears rung. It was a nasty scream full of anger and pain.

Shinji covered his ears.

Ria grabbed a chair and raised it above her head, only to collapse, bursting into tears.

She sat on the floor, grabbing her knees.

Asuka stood there, too bewildered to say anything.

"What was that?" Shinji muttered.

"They lied to me. From the first, they lied to me..." Ria said in between sobs.

"What?" Asuka asked. "Who... who lied to you?"

What the hell was she talking about?

Ria looked at her but said nothing.

/

It was roughly nine p.m. when Maya rushed into Misato's office.

She was panting, out of breath, clearly having run all the way there.

"Ma'am, we have a possible ID on the Third Angel!" she blurted out.

Well that was shocking fast. Finally some good news.

"Do you have a name?" Misato asked.

"You... you should see the footage first, to confirm," Maya said quietly.

"...Why?" Misato asked.

"Because we really, really don't want to be wrong about this one."

Maya brought up the footage on Misato's computer.

The image was at an odd angle and showed a store that had been wrecked by the attack: Displays knocked over, food and various products scattered over the floor. A dead body lay across one of the remaining counters: One of the employees who had been working there when a support beam impaled them through the back.

"Why did we know about this sooner?" Misato asked.

"The store had been completely ruined," Maya explained. "The company was just going to write it off until the police checked the tapes.

The footage started, showing the camera trying, and failing to pan across the room. After a few seconds a figure stepped into view. It was a small, slender person, probably no older than a teenager, a brown hoodie covering their features. The figure was soaked, bits of goo falling off of it. It looked just the liquid the Angel had dissolved into.

The figure approached the dead body, examining it carefully before grabbing the arm and…

"Oh my God! What the Hell?" Misato muttered in disgust, turning away as the sound of teeth ripping through skin and flesh and crunching bones came out of her computer.

The figure paused, looking at something off screen. The figure dashed out. Sounds of a struggle and then a man screaming came from somewhere off-screen.

The figure dragged a middle aged man back into view, forcing him to the ground.

The figure raised one arm in the air, and a moment later a spear of light erupted from its wrist. A miniature version of the one Sachiel had displayed during the fight.

Misato and Maya watched in horror as the Angel plunged the spear directly into the man's skull. His body twitched for a moment, then went limp. The Angel threw the body aside, causing its hood to fall off its head for a just a moment before it quickly pulled it back up, but not before its face appeared on screen for a second.

Maya paused the video, rewinding to the Angel's face. It's distinct and clear, almost completely facing the camera.

"Neither of the bodies were there when people were checking for survivors," Maya explained. "No one has found a trace of either."

Misato stares at the image, trying to make absolutely sure she's not mistaken. Her stomach turned to ice. She knew this face, she'd seen this person before.

Her hands began to shake.

She grabbed for her phone, freezing as she prepared to dial.

"Ma'am, maybe we should wait," Maya urged. "Try to find better confirmation."

"If we wait, people will die," Misato said. "It probably already knows we're on to it."

Misato inhaled deeply, and began dialing.

/

The phone rang three times before someone picked up.

"Hello, this is the Suzuhara Residence. Hikari speaking."

 

[Teen Spirit]

Chapter 7: An Angry Night

"So what do you think?" Okito asked, referring to his new, far shorter haircut.

"It looks good, but why?" Kodama asked, leaning against the bathroom door frame.

It was good but Okito had prided himself on his hair, why cut it now, and by himself no less?

He shrugged. "Thought it was time for a change."

"Well, I think it makes you look like a gentlemen," Aunt Kodama interjected.

The phone rang.

"Hello, this is the Suzuhara Residence. Hikari speaking."

"So you think Ria's going to be in school tomorrow?" Okito asked.

Their dad had told them about the cult attack in the parking garage. It was some scary stuff. Kodama was privately grateful her dad was not well known as a Pilot. The cult people had never really paid attention to any of them.

"Probably not," Kodama admitted. "Which is a shame, had something I wanted to talk to her about."

"Yes, we put ourselves on that list," their mother said. "Wait...what?"

Kodama peeked out into the kitchen. Mom looked very surprised all of the sudden.

"Something interesting is happening," Kodama said.

Okito and their Aunt followed her out into the Kitchen.

"Can we speak to him?" their mother asked in an excited manner. "Oh? Oh, okay, I understand. I'll call you in the morning."

She hung up the phone.

"Honey!" she shouted. "Come here! You're never going to believe this! They found Kensuke!"

Well, that was unexpected.

Their father dashed into the room, still half asleep.

"Seriously? Kensuke?! They found Kensuke?" he said, excited and very happy.

"But I'm right here?"

Their little brother Kenny walked up, still dressed in his polka dot pajamas, his hair a curly brown mess.

Kodama laughed.

"Not you," Okito said. "Mom and Dad's old friend."

He quickly hurried their brother back to bed.

"Your parents really need to work on their originality when it comes to names," her aunt whispered.

She had a point.

"They found him washed ashore near Nagasaki," her mother explained. "He's in the hospital for dehydration but he's recovering fine. We were apparently the only ones on his list they could actually contact."

Dad sat down, overcome with emotion.

"Holy cow, Kensuke...Oh man he's gonna be a kid. He's going to think we're so old," he said, twinging with regret.

"I think he'll be more upset you married the 'Pigtailed Dictator'," Mom teased.

Oh, of course their mother would have had a nickname like that.

"So I guess this means you're going to have go down to Nagasaki?" Okito asked.

"Yeah... well, no actually I can't," Father said with a frown. "The General has ordered all hands on deck for the time being. I don't have the time."

"I'm sure Shinji would be more than willing to help," Mother reassured him.

Two family members, well, one family member and a friend who dad had talked about like he was family, coming back less than a month apart. That had to be some sort of record.

The phone rang again.

"I got it." Dad said, grabbing the phone.

"Hello this is the Suzuhara...Oh, hello Ma'am. What can I…"

He turned, looking at both Kodama and Okito with confusion

"Yeah, they're here, why?" he asked.

He stared to pace, any joy draining from his face.

"Ma'am... you're not making any sense. Well, no, they were out at the time, so I don't know where exactly they were during the attack but you can't possibly think."

"Why are you talking about our kids with Misato?" Mom asked, worried.

Dad didn't reply, his attention focused entirely on the phone, his expression turning deeply angry.

"Yeah, that's bad, but Ma'am, both of us know video evidence can be faked. No, I don't know why someone would try to implicate one of my kids but it's certainly a more sound explanation than what you're-"

The conversation came to a sudden and destructive end as Okito shoved his hand through the wall, pulling out the phone line and chunks of drywall.

The room was silent for a minute, everyone too stunned and confused to say anything. Then Okito turned around, revealing his irises had suddenly turned bright red.

Kodama took a step back in terror, as did most of the family.

Dad remained frozen, his face twisting in despair

"No..." he whimpered. "Not you, please, not you."

Okito's face was shockingly calm. He cracked his neck.

"Well, it's been fun," he said casually. "But I have business to take care of, so I'm going to be out for a while and will miss curfew."

"What the hell are you?" Aunt Kodama whispered.

"It was you, wasn't it?" Dad said, his voice shaking with every word. "You attacked the Evas. You're the Third Angel. Sachiel."

Okito cracked a smirk.

"What are you talking about?!" their mother said in near hysterics.

"The attack on Shinji and the time travelers," Father explained. "It wasn't by a cultist. It was by an Angel, an Angel that looked like a young woman."

No, no. That couldn't be possible. Okito was her twin, Kodama would have known if he was something like this. She would have been able to tell.

Mother broke down in tears overcome with grief and fear.

"I'm not letting you leave here," Father declared.

Okito raised a hand, to everyone's horror. It cracked open, the Fingers fusing together, forming three sharp claws, skin melting away, replaced with blackened bone. More bone jutted out of his shoulder.

Kodama thought she might be sick from the sight.

"You can't stop me," Okito said. "You'll just leave Kenny and Kodama without a father, and none of us want that."

Dad looked towards one of the kitchen knives, then back to Okito. For a brief second Kodama though he was going to attack her brother. Then he stepped aside.

"The Pilots will be in their Evas before you reach them," he said simply.

Okito nodded and walked towards the door, not looking at anyone. No one said anything, too shocked and horrified to.

He reached the door.

"Wait!" Kodama screamed. "Please wait!"

She rushed towards him, only to be slapped to the ground.

Mom screamed in terror.

Okito paused.

"Don't be a fool, you have so much to live for," he said quietly before departing.

/

"Touji called. We have confirmation, the Third Angel is Okito Suzuhara. It's on the move!" Maya called out

Son of a bitch. Misato had hoped she was wrong. Someone that close had been an Angel. Someone with access to both sets of pilots had been a traitor from the start.

This was bad. If a Suzuhara was an Angel, who else could be?

She didn't have time for those thoughts. She had a lot to do and no time to do it.

"Get Asuka to her Eva ASAP," she ordered. "And have Shinji prepared and ready to leave at a moment's notice. Send every spare Agent we can afford to the Soryu residence! Call the Army, I want infantry stationed here within the hour."

"Um, ma'am. Shouldn't we recall the other two back here?" Ristuko questioned.

"No, If they're here and the Third hits us, we're all dead. And we can't afford to have too many of them on the road, there's only so many decoys we can run and the road leaves them exposed. At least if we keep them split up, there's a better shot at someone surviving. Besides, Shamshel didn't attack Shinji."

Placing her faith in the word of an Angel was insane, but as of right now, Misato didn't see any other option.

/

"Okay, I understand. We'll sit tight," Asuka said, hanging up the phone.

She checked her pistol. The magazine was full and everything appeared to be in working order. She shoved it into a holster at her waist.

Okito freaking Suzuhara was the Third Angel. She had helped Hikari with his and his sister's birthday parties year after year. She'd let him sleep over on numerous occasions. She had slept within feet of an Angel. How many times had it thought about killing her? How close had she come to death?

She turned towards Shinji and Ria who were sitting at the kitchen table. Ria had her head buried in her hands.

"We're staying here and until they can track down the Angel," Asuka declared.

Shinji nodded.

"Now, Ria," Asuka said, voice firm but not angry. "How did you know he was an Angel?"

Her daughter's reaction had made it clear she knew he was an Angel. But how the Hell she knew that raised a lot of questions.

"He told me it wasn't him. He swore to me it wasn't him," Ria muttered.

Shinji motioned Asuka to speak with him in private. They walked towards the hallway.

"The Angel said Sachiel wanted us alive," Shinji said. " I think Okito did it because of Ria."

"But why?" she questioned "Why would he tell her what he was, why would she not tell us?"

"She's not an Angel," Shinji insisted.

"I know that," Asuka said angrily. "We'd be dead if she was."

Still, the fact she apparently knew about Okito and said nothing to any of them, even after the attack. Dammit Ria, you are smarter than this.

"You didn't know Kaworu," Shinji pointed out."I did. He wasn't a bad person, despite everything. I could understand how it would happen, the two had been friends since they were kids. They must have trusted each other completely."

"Well, not anymore."

The doorbell rang.

"I got it," Asuka said.

She went and grabbed the door.

The door slammed open the moment she turned the knob. Okito was standing on the other side, his hands soaked with blood.

Asuka pulled out her gun, only for the Angel to rip it out of her hands, dropping it to the floor.
She backed away, fear shaking her.

Ria bolted up right and Shinji stared at the Angel.

"Oh, will you two calm down," he said, chastising. "I had to work hard to convince the others not to kill you two so I'm not going to just gut you."

Shinji went for the phone, freezing when he realized Sachiel saw what he was doing.

"Oh no, go ahead. Call them," The Angel said mockingly "Iruel's currently blocking the phone lines and relaying false messages through the radio back to WILLE, leaving them utterly convinced you're safe. But if it makes you feel better, call, I'm not going to stop you."

Okito walked into the apartment, Asuka found herself retreating every time he took a step. She was powerless, helpless to stop him.

"Now I'm sure you're wondering why I'm making this late night social call," he said nonchalantly.

"Why do you want me alive?" Shinji asked.

Okito paused, looking at him, grinding his teeth as he did so.

"I personally don't," Okito admitted, anger in his voice. "I have absolutely nothing against Ms. Soryu here, but you, ever since you've come back I've thought about nothing but my revenge, repaying you for my humiliation."

The anger in his voice was unnerving.

"But," his voice returned to calm, "I realized there were far more important things than revenge. Like my friends."

"I have nothing to say to you, monster," Ria said, suddenly beside her.

Okito actually looked hurt by her words.

"I know, I know, you're upset. I lied to you in a rather big fashion," he admitted.

"From the start, everything you've ever said to me is a lie!" The rage built in Ria's voice.

"No that's not-" he began.

"I trusted you!" Ria shouted. "I trusted you and you used me!"

"I protected you!" The Angel insisted.

What? What could he have protected her from?

"Get out! Get out of here you son of a bitch!" Ria snarled.

"I can't do that." Okito was calm but distressed. "Our hands are forced. I need you, we need you."

Ria backed up, fear suddenly filling her eyes.

"I..I don't know what you're talking about." she said, shaking.

"You can't pretend any longer," Okito insisted. "This is too important. We are all in incredible danger. We have been since they arrived. I know how you feel but none of us can afford to just sit this out."

"She's not an Angel," Shinji said firmly. "I don't know why you're trying to play that mindgame with us but it isn't going to work."

"I'm not playing mind games," Okito replied. "I'm trying to protect my kind from the danger you are so willing to harbor."

The fear only seemed to build further in Ria.

"I am not your kind! I am nothing like you!" she lashed out, desperation filling her words.

"You didn't tell them?" Okito questioned. "Sixteen years and you never told them? I mean, true, I never told my parents sure but you, you live with our killers."

Oh no, no no no no.

"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!" Ria screamed.

Okito pulled out his phone.

"I'm sorry, but you've forced my hand."

He pressed a couple of buttons on the phone and then a message played.

"Hello?" Okito's voice came through the phone.

"You Hosenscheisser! I'm going to fucking kill you!" Ria's voice screamed over the phone.

It was unmistakably her.

"Calm down, it's not what you think!" the recorded Okito insisted.

"That was your stupid bony ass that was attacking them!"

"It wasn't, I swear! I swear on my life it was not me! Have I ever lied to you?"

"No... no you haven't," the recording of Ria admitted. "So what was it?"

"I... I don't know," Okito lied. "Maybe it followed the Pilots."

"That would make sense."

"Yeah, listen. Some of the others want to have a meeting, they're really freaked out over this. Could I convince you to come?

"No," Ria said flatly.

"Are you sure.?" Okito about begged. "I think Zeruel finally talking with them would do a lot to reassure the others."

"Well you can tell them Zeruel doesn't want anything to do with any of them. That part of my life is done," Ria said.

Something twisted in Asuka's stomach. Her gaze immediately shot towards her daughter. Ria turned away, refusing to meet her gaze.

"I have five more recordings that can back my claim," Okito said, his voice devoid of amusement. "It's ironic really, Ria Soryu, daughter of the only two real remaining Pilots and yet for sixteen years neither of them knew what she really was ."

"Ria," Shinji said, "tell me that wasn't true, tell me he faked it."

Then Ria let out one of the most terrifying sounds Asuka had ever heard: She laughed. It wasn't a mocking laugh, or a joyful one. It was a twisted, fearful one full of pain, and relief. Asuka found herself backing up as Ria doubled over, laughing as hard as she could.

This wasn't happening, this could not be happening. Ria was not, she wasn't... She was not a monster.

"I didn't want to hurt you like this," Okito said softly. "But we need you, Zeruel. You could end this tonight if you wanted to."

"Sachiel," she said, her voice devoid of emotion.

He smiled. "Yes?"

She pulled her face up, her eyes now glowing bright crimson red.

"Burn!"

Two blinding beams of light erupted from Ria's eyes, striking Okito dead on.

 

[Teen Spirit]

I was honestly expecting Ria to be Ariel. You know because it's Eva.

Zeruel was a monstrous physical force, but outside of being the one that Yui nommed on, it really wasn't all that special outside of being super strong. Ariel on the other hand is known as the Angel of Mind Rape for a very good reason and completely destroyed Asuka.

Click to shrink...

Thought about Arael and Armisael, but I ultimately decided on Zeruel for one reason. Zeruel hurt everyone.

I freely admit Strypgia will probably explain this better but I'm going to try.

Zeruel, along with Sachiel and Ramiel, is among the strongest of the angels in terms of pure power. But it probably inflicted the most damage to NERV, physically, emotionally, and mentally to NERV outside of Arael and Armisael.

Shinji had to witness all the destruction it caused as he was rushing back to NERV, which caused him a fair amount of guilt. The battle also caused him to be stuck in Unit-01 for a month, which caused a number of additional issues.

With Misato. Well for starters it's clear that Zeruel had a sadistic streak. Generally the angels only target the Evas or things that attack it. Zeruel went out of it's way to target the Command Center, for no other reason then it really wanted to kill the monkey people. And it nearly did, coming seconds away from wiping out Misato, Ristuko, and a number of bridge bunnies. Plus Misato had to spend a month worrying about Shinji due to him reaching 400% scyn with Unit-01 and being dissolved inside it. So not only did it specifically target her, it also deeply hurt one of her kids.

Then there's Asuka. Zeruel humiliated Asuka. Rei got a heroic sacrifice. Shinji got to be the big damn hero who saved the day. Asuka? Asuka was just defeated in an incredibly painful and embarrassing way, not even so much as scratching the Angel. She was completely useless in the fight and she knew it. To make it worse this was her time to shine, Shinji was gone, Rei's Eva was too damaged. This would be her chance to prove she was the greatest of the pilots, and she failed utterly. Though why anyone thought Guns would work on anything other than a pathetic spider is beyond me. Plus, judging by notes in Advice and Trust, Shinji being stuck in Unit-01 meant she ended up spending her birthday completely alone. These two combined led to her being very rash at the start of the fight with Arael, which bit her hard.

Zeruel's also the point where stuff just went to pot. The Next battle saw Asuka get mind raped, The battle after that Saw Unit-00's destruction and the death of Rei II, and after that was Tabris, and all the sorrow he ended up causing.

Zeruel's a brute, but it's a brute that caused a lot of damage. Something everyone, particularly Ria, is painfully aware of.

 

[Teen Spirit]

They are three.

Hikari and Touji had just moved to Kyoto and Asuka, by now largely recovered from her nervous breakdown, was eager to reconnect with her friend.

Okito is wearing an orange shirt and brown pants. Kodama is wearing a polka dotted cream dress she is most unhappy with. Ria is wearing a simple red dress.

At first none of them say anything, Okito hiding behind his mother.

Eventually, at their parents' insistence. They introduce themselves. Within ten minutes Ria is playfully chasing Okito around the apartment, Kodama following the both of them.

Neither Ria or Okito is aware of what the other is yet.

~~~~~
They are seven.

Ria and Okito are walking to school together, Kodama is home sick.

Okito approaches Ria.

"I know what you are," he whispers.

Ria pauses, a suspicious expression that most adults would find unnerving on someone so young appearing on her face.

Okito laughs in a friendly manner. "Relax. I am Sachiel."

Ria's eyes go wide. Okito is the first of her kind she has ever met.

"Zeruel," she reintroduces herself. "I didn't know any others had been reborn."

"Same here."

She reaches out and touches his face.

She quickly retracts it, suddenly now quite fearful.

"Wait, you're not going to hurt my family, are you?" she asks nervously. "I know they hurt us, but they're my family now."

Okito smiles. "Don't worry, the war is over."

Ria smiles broadly. For the first time ever she feels truly at ease.

~~~~~
They are thirteen.

They are in Ria's room, playing video games. Kodama had stepped out for the moment.

"You'll never guess who I ran into yesterday," Okito says out of the blue. "Ramiel."

Ria pauses, her mind twisting as she's forced to think about parts of her she had almost ignored for years.

"And?" she replies, faking disinterest.

"Bit cold, but pretty pleasant. He's trying to contact all the others, figure out where everyone is. See if anyone hasn't been born yet. He's interested in meeting you naturally. He's-"

"No," Ria says, bluntly.

Okito stares at her, surprised.

"The nightmares have gone away. I can look at my dad without wanting to rip off his head. The pain is gone, being around the others... might bring it back. Besides, I'm not sure I could trust them."

"What do you mean?"

Ria glares at him. "Would you trust Bardiel near your family?"

"Good point," he admits.

They say nothing more on the subject.

~~~~~
They are fifteen.

The two are sitting in the cafeteria. Kodama is in the middle of a heated argument with some girl.

"Soo, how do you feel about being set up on a date?" Okito asks. "Because my girlfriend's sister has similar interests to you."

"I don't know, half the fun of dating is the build up," Ria says.

Okito smirks. "You mean 'flirting shamelessly with any girl who so much as even glances at you'?"

"Well...yeah," Ria admits.

"I swear if you were a guy you would have been slapped by half of the girls in this school," Okito sighed.

"If I was a guy and I would probably have three girlfriends and a kid already. Chicks dig giant robots and anyone connected to said robots."

Kodama kicks a boy in the groin, sending him crashing to the ground, his girlfriend rushing to his defense.

"Oh, Hell," Ria mutters.

~~~~~
They are Sixteen.

Neither wants to admit it, but they're scared. Both had been shaken by the sudden arrival of the pilots the day before. They're on the phone now. Ria is stuck at WILLE while Okito is at home.

"How are you holding up?" Ria asks.

"Fine," Okito says tentatively. "Really glad we weren't near the other one when it appeared. That would literally be right out of my nightmares."

"I hear you," Ria agrees. "It was pretty surreal seeing these Pilots up close."

There's a pause, neither quite knows what to say.

"So I have to ask," Ria says eventually. "None of the others are planning any sort of revenge act, right?"

"No of course not," Okito replies. "What would be the point?"

/

The beams cut deeply into Okito, sending him stumbling backwards. Two massive, burning holes opened in his now ruined chest, blood and smoke pouring freely from them.

Ria let out deep roar. Wordless, more something one would hear from an animal than a person, but the rage in it was unmistakable.

Her arms and back bulged and writhed with new muscle growth. Her teeth forcibly moulded themselves into fangs.

Then she was upon him, her fist smashing into Okito's jaw, forcing him back against the wall.

Ria snarled as she grabbed him, forcing him to the ground in flurry of kicks and punches. In desperation Okito bit into her arm. Ria sank her teeth into his shoulder, causing him to howl in pain.

Okito forced himself free of Ria's grip, losing a big chunk of his shoulder in the process. He ran down the hallway as fast as he could, forcing Shinji and Asuka to beat a hasty retreat.

Okito stopped in the living room, steam pouring from his numerous wounds. His AT-field flared for a brief moment.

Shinji turned to look at his daughter. He quickly regretted his decision.

Her eyes were now black, save for the irises which still glowed burning red.

Bits of bone were jutted out from various parts of her face. The skin on her arms was turning pale, milky white.

Worst of all was the expression on her face. Rage, rage on a level he was uncomfortably familiar with.

She approached slowly, her eyes never leaving him as she considered her options.

Okito stared at her in terror.

"We are all in danger!" he pleaded.

"Because you put us there!" Ria snarled. "They would have never even known about us if you hadn't attacked them!"

Okito grew more desperate. "They would have found us eventually! Someone sent them here to kill us!"

Ria wasn't listening. She charged him. For a moment, her AT-Field collided with his, bathing the room in orange light.

Then Sachiel's field buckled, then broke. He threw two clawed hands up to defend himself.

Ria drove her foot in his left leg, bending it backwards. It let out a sickening wet snap as it shattered.

He fell. Ria forced him onto his stomach. She slammed her foot down on his back as she pulled hard on his arms. She visibly wanted him to suffer.

"You betrayed me!" she said. "You betrayed Kodama! You lied to me for over a decade! you put my family in danger! And in one grand act of stupidity you ruined EVERYTHING I spent the past sixteen years building!"

"I had to!"

Ria pulled harder, Sachiel's ribs cracking under her foot.

"I was happy! We were happy! None of this had to happen!"

She paused, a cruel smile appearing on her face.

"I am going to break you, Okito. I am going to pull you apart limb from limb like the insect you are. You will beg for death long before I grant it. Then I'm going to find Shamshel, Iruel, and anyone else involved in this madness and beat them until there is nothing left but a red smear across a wall!"

"Stop!" Asuka cried out.

Ria let go of Okito, seemingly forgetting about him as she turned towards her parents. Her expression now one of fear and desperation.

"He's... He's more useful to Misato alive," Asuka explained, her fear and confusion obvious.

"Yes, and what is dear old Grandma going to do when she realizes you nearly killed her twenty years ago?"

Okito picked himself up off the ground, wheezing and spitting up blood.

"I'll give you a hint: It won't be pretty."

Ria growled, prepared to strike.

"Go ahead, kill me. It won't save you. The whole world sees you the same way it sees me, and nothing you can do will change that. The people you loved will turn on you, cast you out, try to kill you. Our only chance is-"

Ria didn't give him the chance to finish. She drove her arm through his stomach, her gore-soaked hand bursting out through his back.

Okito backed away, clutching at his stomach.

"We're all in this together. Iruel, Ramiel, Leliel, they all stand behind me. If you fight me, you're fighting all of us."

"I don't believe you," Ria said. "And even if I did, I don't care."

Okito's eyes bulged.

"Adam's dead. All we have is each other! We're the only family we have."

"My family is right here!" she said, pointing towards Shinji and Asuka. "I am as loyal to them as I was to Adam. I will not waste his gift with this insane revenge!"

Something inside Okito snapped. He roared. Grabbing Ria by the shoulders, he tossed her through the nearby wall, sending a cloud of debris into the air.

His gaze turned towards Asuka and Shinji.

"You!" he bellowed. "You knew, didn't you? You knew and corrupted her! You took her from us like you took Adam. You made them weak!"

"Weak?!" Ria pulled herself out her now quite wrecked room.

"We did our duty," Okito said, bone suddenly jutting out from his cheeks "We did everything he ever wanted! And he fails us in the end. He failed us and he forces us to hide what we are, pretend to be our own enemy? I'm done with him, my loyalty is to my kin and nothing else!"

"Traitor!" Ria shouted.

"Betrayer!" Okito replied.

Beams blasted from Okito's eyes. Ria ducked out of their way. A split second later they detonated something in the back room, sending a puff of ash out of the Ria-sized hole in the wall.

Shinji ran back towards the door.

Ria launched herself at Okito, tackling him to the ground, punching him in the head over and over again as his clawed hands tried to wrench her off him.

They were both starting to breathe heavily, exhaustion taking it's toll.

The smell of smoke and fire began to fill the air.

Okito pulled himself free.

A shot rang out, striking Okito in the chest.

Ria turned to see her father standing there, gun in hand.

Okito seized the momentary distraction and skewered Ria from shoulder to shoulder with a spear of light.

She collapsed, howling in pain. Okito stood over her, proud of his victory.

All doubt and fear fled from Shinji's mind. In that moment, all he felt was anger and rage.

"Get away from her!" he shouted as he charged Okito, slamming him against the wall.

His hands wrapped around Okito's neck, squeezing the life from the revealed Angel with every ounce of strength he had.

"Leave my family ALONE!"

Okito was terrified, desperately trying to force his onetime killer off of him.

Okito forced away one Shinji's hands, his claw wrapping around it.

A second later Shinji screamed in pain as another spear impaled his hand.

Ria roared, striking Okito's left arm with her fist, ripping it off at the elbow.

Okito barely noticed though, hastily retreating as fast as he could, panic filling his eyes. In desperation he threw himself through the glass doors to the patio and then jumped to the city below.

Asuka rushed to Shinji's side.

Smoke began bellowing out of the hallway, licks of flame dancing along the walls.

Ria was nearly enveloped in steam as her wounds healed, her features slowly forcing themselves back to normal.

Through ragged, exhausted breaths she gingerly picked her father up, nervously glancing at her mother, before helping him out of the apartment.

/

Misato arrived to find smoke still pouring from the apartment complex.

She had failed her charges. Five security agents were dead. Shinji was injured. Guilt and sorrow plagued her. She couldn't protect them, not with the means she had now. If the Angels were really trying, they could slaughter all of them and there was nothing she could do to stop it.

Worst was it had been someone she knew, someone she had met on multiple occasions. Someone that until today she would have considered trustworthy.

The apartment building had been emptied of everyone else living there and every medic and firefighter on the scene had been vetted by WILLE. If there was another attack, at least she would see it coming.

She got out of her car and raced towards the apartment. Shinji, Asuka, and Ria were in the Lobby.

Shinji was on a stretcher, fully alert and awake as the EMTs tended to his injury. Thankfully ,there was very little blood. Asuka was talking with one of the firefighters while Ria sat in a chair, blanket draped over her shoulders. All three of them had this hollow look in their eyes that crushed Misato's heart.

She rushed to Shinji's side, kneeling so they were at eye level.

He smiled weakly. "Trying to strangle an Angel was not the smartest thing I've ever done in my life."

She chuckled half-heartedly.

"I'm sorry," she said, tears in her eye.

He shook his head. "It's fine. Actually, I think I came away better than the last time I fought it."

"Misato," Asuka spoke up. "There's something we need to tell you."

Ria and Shinji's attention turned towards her.

"What did the Angel say?" Misato asked.

Asuka shook her head. "It's not that, well, admittedly they did say things but... there was a second Angel there, fighting Ok-... Sachiel."

That was incredibly unexpected. And possibly the first break they've had. Not that she suspected this Angel was on her side. Even if it was, Misato would rather kill it. But infighting might thin the herd before they became more of a threat.

"Did you get a good look at this second Angel?" Misato asked feverishly.

Asuka shook her head. "No. It was wearing a black hoodie. And it's face was hidden behind a mask. Couldn't even tell if it was male or female."

"The mask did look like it was made of bone," Ria spoke up.

Shinji said nothing, just nodding in agreement with what they said.

Not a lot to go on, but it was something. Frankly all Misato cared about right now was keeping these three safe.

She hugged Asuka tightly.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," she repeated.

"Stop apologizing. You're starting to sound like Shinji," Asuka replied.

Misato sighed."Let's get you guys back to WILLE. You've had a hard enough night as it is."
/

 

[Teen Spirit]

Asuka watched as Sakura Suzuhara stitched up the wound on Ria's shoulder. Thankfully, the wound had healed to the point where it passed as a simple cut by the time Dr. Suzuhara got to see it. Ria stared ahead, her face unreadable.

Shinji was in a nearby room, doctors working to save what remained of his left hand. He was going to lose a few fingers at least: Okito had pretty much destroyed the center part of his hand.

Misato was currently having Okito's sister interviewed. She didn't even want to think what this situation was doing to Hikari.

The events of the last few hours played over and over again in Asuka's mind. Ria...her daughter was an Angel. Underneath everything she had ever known was something monstrous and terrifying.

And yet she was still her daughter. Between the shock and grief, Asuka had listened to what she was saying during the fight. Ria was loyal to her and Shinji, almost frighteningly so. Okito had pressed things too far for it to just be an act. An act would make no sense at this point unless she was completely mad. Which she quite clearly wasn't.

Still, Asuka remembered her fight with Zeruel. The utter brutal stomping it gave her. The pain and humiliation it caused her. The damage it had inflicted on NERV. Shinji being trapped in Unit-01 for a month.

The thing that did that was her daughter now. That was going to take quite a while to really process.

She was her daughter, she was loyal. Whatever misgivings Asuka had about her, rejecting her would be stupid. Pushing her away would just aid whatever stupid plan Okito had. And the pain this situation was causing would only rise.

Asuka hated how cold and pragmatic her thoughts were towards her own daughter. She was starting to think like Akagi.

"Shouldn't you be with your family right now?" Asuka asked, trying to take her mind off things.

Sakura finished the last of the stitches

"If I did that I would just be sitting on a chair the entire night while Toji yelled at Misato and Hikari tried to comfort Kenny while trying not have an emotional breakdown herself. All while trying to process the fact that my nephew, who once told me that he wanted to be a doctor growing up because of me, was an enemy of mankind who killed five people in cold blood."

She sighed. "At least this way I can keep my hands busy."

She finished cleaning the stitches and left the room.

Leaving Asuka and Ria completely alone.

Ria's gaze went to the floor, tapping her finger on the bed.

She didn't say anything, couldn't even bring herself to look at Asuka

"You know there's no camera or microphone in here. We can talk," Asuka said evenly.

Ria looked up, an exhausted look in her eyes.

"I don't suppose we could just pretend tonight never happened?" Ria said, attempting to smile.

"No," Asuka replied. "I'd like to, but no."

Ria stood up.

A brief surge of fear hit Asuka, she ignored the shameful feeling.

"I..I-" Ria began, her voicing shaking "I'm so sorry."

Asuka stood up.

"You lied to me, for sixteen years."

"I know." Tears poured down Ria's face.

"Your... other self hurt a lot of people, including me."

"I know."

Asuka grabbed her, wrapping her tightly in a hug. Ria gasped, standing there limply.

"We still have a lot to talk about. And it's going to take a while for us to come to terms with what happened. But you're still my daughter. And I love you. Whatever you are, that hasn't changed."

Ria sniffed, tears following from her face. She quickly returned the hug, squeezing Asuka tightly as she cried into her shoulder.

Asuka smiled as tears began forming in her own eyes.

"I'm sorry, I'msosorry. IwantedtotellyoubutI...I, I was so scared!" Ria bawled. "I didn't want to lose you!"

"It's okay, It's okay," Asuka tried to reassure her, which only made Ria cry harder.

"Thank you!" Ria said in between tears. "Thank you so much."

/

Kodama always assumed an interrogation room would be dark. This one wasn't. It was brightly lit with white painted walls. It was as sparse as she expected though, only a metal desk and two matching chairs.

She sat in one, hugging her legs. Some brown haired lady sat in the other, a laptop in front of her.

They thought she was an Angel. They didn't say it, but she knew that's what they were thinking. It made perfect sense after all, her brother was one.

Okito.

She wanted to scream. He was a monster, her brother was a monster.

Her brother, who had defended her from bullies and crazy ex-boyfriends. The brother who taught her how to play guitar. The brother who always told her jokes any time she was sad. He was an enemy of mankind, not even a person. A thing that wanted to wipe out all humanity.

He had attacked Ria. He had hurt their best friend. He had threatened dad.

Sixteen years she'd known him, sixteen years of lies!

Every moment with him, every birthday, every trip to the movies, every visit to the arcade, all of it lies.

Her entire life had been spent living with a monster. And she never knew. How could she not have known? Their must have been signs. No one could put on an act for sixteen years and not slip up from time to time.

She searched her thoughts, nothing stuck out. Okito was by no means a perfect brother, but he had been better than most. He had been a friend.

How could he just throw all that away?

"What are you going to do to him?" she asked finally.

"Pardon?" the woman replied.

"The Angel, what do you plan to do with him?"

"Capture for study and interrogation, if possible," the woman said clinically, "Kill if that proves unfeasible."

"Good," Kodama replied, hate filling her voice.

/

Ria ached.

Her bones felt like they were burning, every muscle like had been pushed to its limit and far beyond. Her eyes felt like white hot rusty daggers had been shoved into them. And her stomach…

She bit into her fifth protein bar, hunger still gnawing at her like she had not eaten since she was five years old.

Recovering from awakening hurt on a level she had never imagined. Still Ria was smiling as she looked out at the moonlight city.

She had accepted her. Mom had seen what she really was, and she stood by her. Shinji had defended her. Her worst fears had come to life, and she still had a home, a family.

She had never dared hoped such a thing could be possible. She would not undo her duty to Adam.

She was the Strength of God, no death could change that. She understood why her actions would be beyond forgiveness.

And yet here she was.

She looked out at the city. In the distance she saw Unit-01, its purple head lit up by spotlights. Its horn cast a long shadow over the city.

Despite the situation, she smirked.

Well, look who won in the end, you crazy old hag.

Not her most mature thought, particularly since this Yui hadn't fought her yet when she was taken. Still, it felt like a victory to her. A victory that had only cost her best friend.

Okito. The name felt like a curse now. He had abandoned everything for madness, and what's worse is he thought she would agree to join him.

Okito, what were you thinking? she wondered.

He knew where she stood, he knew she had no interest in fighting again. She told him they were just trying to find a way to send them back home. His actions kept them here.

He threw away everything, EVERYTHING they had worked for, and for what? Even if they killed the Pilots, which they wouldn't, WILLE or someone else would still hunt them down. Anyone who fought was doomed. There had to be something more to this? They wouldn't just drop everything for the sake of revenge and madness. If they had just wanted revenge they would have gone after her parents years ago.

Or maybe they are all just mad and I'm the only one who hasn't faltered.

The thought terrified Ria, she had wanted little to do with the others. But she had assumed, she had hoped they were a lot like herself.

If Okito was right, and the others had all joined his cause, why was she here? What made her so different from the others?

It didn't matter either way really. She had trusted Okito, loved him like he was a brother. And he was able to blindside her with his betrayal. If he couldn't be trusted. None of them could be trusted. She couldn't take that risk again. Not with her parents.

"So I hear your best friend turned out to be an Angel."

Ria turned to see the younger Asuka standing behind her.

"That's rough," she finished.

"Shouldn't you be resting?" Ria asked.

There was something... odd about being in the presence of the Pilots. Something unplaceable, on the edge of her senses. A phantom scent she could never quite put her finger on.

Still, being slightly off didn't justify anything the other Angels had done.

"After what happened tonight? How could I possibly sleep?" Asuka said.

She was worried. She didn't say it, but it was clear.

"So…" Asuka said awkwardly. "Any requests when I kill him? Special message, kick to the groin, beat him to death with his own face?"

The last one was very tempting.

"Just make sure he dies," Ria told her.

Asuka nodded.

"So, um, look," Asuka said. "I don't really know how to do family bonding, like at all. But you look like you need a shoulder to rest on tonight. We have a TV set up in Shinji's room. Want to watch movies with us?"

Ria nodded "Yeah, that sounds pretty good right about now."

/

"You don't think very much do you?"

Sachiel opened his eyes to see both halves of Israfel staring at him. He groaned in frustration and pain.

The agony of healing from his rather numerous wounds left Sachiel barely able to move, forcing him to lay on a couch. If anyone at WILLE discovered this apartment within the next day he would be completely at their mercy.

This was not how he expected tonight to go.

"So wait..." Shamshel said as she sat on a nearby couch. "Zeruel's a girl now? I thought we got stuck with bodies that matched our original gender."

"I don't know how this works," Sachiel moaned.

"Why did you think Zeruel would betray the original Pilots?" Israfel asked in unison.

"I didn't. I was quite clear that they would be spared."

The white haired one spoke. "It would still be a betrayal. They would never join us."

"If Zeruel were to join us," The pink half went on. "They only way she would keep hold of them is by physical restraint. The originals would be most upset with this and would not forgive Zeruel for such actions. For someone who cares that deeply about their parents, this would not be an acceptable outcome for Zeruel. You knew this, and yet you still tried."

Okito said nothing.

"You thought you were more important to her than her parents," the white one said.

"I'm not listening," he groaned.

"You thought you were her true family," The pink one added.

"Be quiet!"

"And because of that you turned Zeruel against us all," they said in unison.

"I know," Sachiel replied.

"Do you even have a brain?"

"Please, just leave me alone," he moaned. "I'm trying to regrow an arm here."

"So, does this mean the originals are on the table again?" Shamshel asked.

Okito bolted up, hacking up blood and gore as he did so.

"No!" he snarled. "That won't help. We kill them and the Lilim will never yield. What need to do now is find who sent these abominations. It wasn't anyone at WILLE and it wasn't the Pilots, that much is obvious now."

"Ramiel has other plans," Israfel said.

"Well good freaking luck to them. They are certainly going to need it," Sachiel replied as he collapsed back onto the couch.

/

Asuka entered the room quietly, taking a seat near his bed.

Shinji turned the TV off and put the remote down. Watching how the news was spinning the Third Angel's attack lost its novelty very quickly.

"So how bad is it?" she asked.

Shinji raised his bandaged hand, revealing a lack of any digits besides his thumb and pinky.

Asuka sucked air through her teeth hard. "That's... that's unfortunate."

"Good news is Misato is having a prosthetic replacement delivered tomorrow. With any luck I'll have functionality restored within the week," Shinji explained.

"That's fast." Asuka was surprised.

"Yeah, it's some sort of military prototype from what I understand. Apparently Misato called in a bunch of favors. I figured it's best not to ask too many questions. She did promise me it will be good enough I can still play my cello. Cutting edge."

Hopefully the thing didn't have built in knives or something.

Asuka sighed. Shinji sensed the massive elephant in the room was about to be poked.

"So I talked with Ria a bit ago," she announced.

"And?"

"Well, we both ended up crying, but otherwise I think I stabilized things for the time being. But we're going to need to have a far longer conversation with her and soon."

Shinji found himself surprisingly not shocked by the fact Ria was an Angel. After all that had gone down in the past few weeks, finding out his daughter was an Angel rather seemed pretty par for the course.

He was not particularly happy with which Angel she turned out to be: Zeruel was a recurring subject of his nightmares. What it would have inflicted had he not arrived in time, what it did to him, what he did to it...

Oh god, Mother ate her, Shinji realized with sudden dread. No wonder she was so scared of him for so long. She probably thought he had been the one behind that.

Still, a few things nagged hard at him.

"She lied to us. And now we're lying to Misato."

"How the fuck could she have told us?" Asuka exclaimed. "Let's face, if we had found out in any way that wasn't a life or death struggle, we probably would have taken it way worse. I mean look at how freaking Okito acted and that these things have been here for twenty years and no one noticed. They're a pack of lying fiends. We're just lucky we got the lying fiend who wasn't a brain dead cannibalistic psychopath."

Admittedly, Shinji couldn't picture any conversation that began with "Hey mom and dad, I'm an Angel!" ending well.

"I still think we should have told Misato the truth. She is Ria's grandmother after all," Shinji replied

"And she would have tried to kill her," Asuka insisted. "You know Misato, she hates Angels. I mean beyond normal human levels of hate. Part of the reason she's so good as a commander is she can't stand the thought of them winning."

"I know, it's just-" Shinji began.

"Besides, Ria is the one Angel who directly tried to attack Misato. She has a personal grudge against Zeruel."

"I'M SICK OF LYING!" Shinji shouted.

Asuka paused in shock.

"I'm sorry," Shinji said meekly. "I'm just sick of the lies. Father lied to me, Kaworu lied to me, I lie to everyone and pretend Instrumentality wasn't my fault-"

"And we're lying to our counterparts about the true nature of the Evas and what happened to Rei," Asuka finished.

Oh, that's right, Shinji realized. He had been lying to himself most of all.

And didn't that make him feel like a piece of shit? Everything he complained about father and Kaworu doing, and yet here he was being just as dishonest to his younger self.

"I want to protect Ria," Shinji reassured her.

Asuka grabbed his good hand.

"I do too," she replied. "But you and I know the only way to do that is by not telling Misato the truth."

She was right, as much as he hated it, which was quite a lot. She was right.

"Fine. I don't like it but, I understand why we're doing it," he said.

"Thank you."

Shinji sighed. "So how soon should we have our conversation with Ria?"

Asuka shifted uncomfortably in her seat "Give it a few more hours. I need time to prepare myself for this."​