Broken Wings [NGE]

[Teen Spirit]

Shinji walked into Asuka's office, a defeated and distraught look upon his face. He slumped in a chair, staring at the ceiling.

"So… How did it go?" Asuka said. Her voice was joking in an attempt to soothe what was to come.

"Bad," Shinji replied.

"How bad?"

"Very bad," he sighed.

Well admittedly she had expected that. Learning your future self was part of the reason the world was so screwed up, even if there were some incredible mitigating factors, would be hard for anyone to take, let alone someone as fragile as the younger Shinji.

Asuka looked at the clock. "How long did you talk with him? That meeting let out less than thirty minutes ago."

"Admittedly, I screwed up." Shinji looked like he wanted to punch something. "I was trying to explain where I was emotionally beforehand. But I realized that meant explaining everything going on with Rei. Toji being crippled by Unit-01, how everyone had left by that point. The sexual advances Misato made towards me because of Rei and Kaji's death. The kiss she gave me at the end that I thought for sure would be the last time I would see her. The fact that the last Angel was for a time the only friend I had, to the point where I developed some incredibly confused feelings about him. And then I had to kill him, horrifically. And that would only scratch the surface of the problems I had going into Third Impact."

"Wait, Misato tried to have sex with you?" Asuka said as she tried desperately to force the image from her mind.

"Yeah, she apologized for that quite some time ago. We both just try to pretend it didn't happen," Shinji explained.

"So you were concerned that explaining why it happened would screw him up more than actually telling him what happened. And you ended up telling him not enough of the 'why'?" Asuka asked.

Shinji nodded. "Pretty much. I only explained Kaworu, what happened with your final fight and that I had been through far more than I can handle leading up to the fight. I thought it would be enough. Boy, was I wrong. He called me a coward and a monster. He said he would have rather died than do what I did. He asked how I could stand to live with myself living such a lie when all those people out there treated us like some sort of god. I tried to explain but he wasn't exactly in the mood to listen. Then he stormed off and told me never to speak to him again."

Asuka was stunned. "That's shockingly harsh coming from him."

No one was harder on Shinji Ikari than Shinji Ikari.

To Asuka's surprise, he didn't seem that torn up about it. Upset for sure, but far from devastated like she'd feared.

Shinji seemed to catch what she was thinking.

"I don't think he would have been okay with it even if I told him the full truth. And I don't pretend I'm not feeling incredibly guilty about what happened right now, but as I was talking to him, thinking of how screwed up things had become, the more I realized you were right; I didn't have control there."

Finally, Asuka thought.

"So do you feel better?" she asked.

He shook his head. "No, I just don't think I feel any worse than when I told you. Which was pretty good."

"Well I think that counts as progress," she said, managing a small smile.

Shinji remained grim. "Yeah, though I'm pretty sure the pilots hate me now, so that's...something."

/

"Hey Ria, it's Misato. Would you mind coming in?" Misato said, holding the phone in one hand as she pored over the notes for the new weapons.

"Sure. Kodama doesn't actually want to do anything," Ria replied, her voice sounding confused. "May I ask why?"

"Someone overheard the Shinji's shouting at each other in the hallway, so something bad probably happened. I'm busy right now and the younger two seem to get along with you. So I figured you could talk to them, if they need someone to talk to."

"I'm guessing dad told Shinji…" She sighed deeply. "Yeah I'll be there."

"Hey, since I have you on the phone... can I talk to you about something else? It's a bit personal."

Misato knew she was an idiot for even bringing this up. And at the same time, she would be a bigger idiot for not even addressing the issue.

"Sure, sure. What do want to talk about?" Ria asked.

"You know I've never judged you on your personal life. But considering the situation, the threats we face... You might want to put things with Mari on hold, maybe even consider finding a girl who came out of Instrumentality. You know, someone your age, but who was born before Third impact. Someone you know can't be another...well, you know."

There was a long pause on the other end. The silence filled Misato will greater dread.

"She's not an Angel," Ria insisted. Her tone was firm, but not angry or upset.

"You don't know that," Misato replied. "I don't want to see you hurt again."

Ria sighed. "We're never going to escape Okito are we?"

They wouldn't. What pissed Misato off more than everything, save for how close it had gotten to Shinji and Asuka, was that it tricked her. She knew it for years, not well but she'd been to it's birthday parties and such. And she had been completely fooled, an Angel had tricked her, again.

"Look, Misato," Ria said evenly, "I understand where you're coming from. Believe me, I want Okito dead as much as you. But I can't push away people I care about. I hope you understand."

"I do," Misato admitted, "and I'm sorry, I shouldn't involve you in this. There are just so few people I trust these days. I'll talk to you later."

"Yeah, talk to you later."

Misato hung up the phone.

"Really, over the phone?" a voice chastised her.

Misato about fell over in shock.

She turned to see Major Kirishima standing behind her, somehow having snuck up on her without Misato ever hearing her walk up.

"It's nothing personal against your daughter," Misato explained defensively.

Mana shrugged it off. "I tried to give the same speech to Mari last night about Ria. So I don't really fault you there."

Part of Misato was irked by her considering that Ria might be an Angel but she ignored it.

Mana went on. "Anyways, I thought you should know. The Army has officially begun construction on a new T-RIDEN-T, they've also started screening prospective pilots. They want me to train my replacement, and of course I'm their first choice for backup should they be unable to find a new pilot qualified enough for the job, yay."

Her voice was as thick as jelly with sarcasm.

"That's awfully quick," Misato noted. Even something like the T-RIDEN-T wasn't an easy undertaking. Them starting so quickly was troubling.

"The government never actually decommissioned the facility used for of construction the first models. And from what I gather there are a few people in the General Staff who never quite stopped tinkering with the idea," Mana explained.

"That's awfully honest of you, Major," Misato replied.

"General, I lost a friend to this project, and you're the only group with people who have actually won against the Angels. The Prime Minister can play his games. I just want to make sure my daughter and I are alive when this is all over."

The was deep, bitter pain behind her words.

"I can respect that," Misato said.

/

Asuka was furious.

No that wasn't right. 'Furious' was too small, too weak to capture the emotions she was feeling right now.

It wasn't that she had issues with their relationship... Actually no, that was a lie. A dirty, dirty lie. One of the worst lies she had told herself in quite some time.

The idea of her other self and the older Shinji dating was disgusting, abhorrent, and just plain weird. Sure, something good had come out of their unfortunate first relationship. But they were old, not quite Misato-old but still, they had reached an age where a woman should have certain standards. She could be doing so much better.

Probably, the men of this time had been less than appealing. If only Kaji were here.

Though Kaji would be rather old by this point, to be fair.

Whatever her feelings about the actual relationship, of which she had many, that wasn't the main issue at hand here. What really bugged her, what really was grinding at her gears, was how she found out.

Through a text message?! Her older self was such an Arschgeige that she told her she was restarting her relationship with Shinji through a text message on her phone?!

Who did that? What kind of person would send such an impersonal, informal, and unprofessional message about something that big? Sub-Commander Asuka Langley Soryu, that's who.

Was she too scared to tell her directly? Too lazy? Too apathetic?

Whatever, Asuka huffed, It didn't really matter. She can keep her sad sack boyfriend. It doesn't bug me one bit!

Shinji, the Shinji she came here with, burst into the room. Asuka prepared a snarky comment to inform him of this... thing.

Then she froze at the sight of his face.

It was singularly disturbing. Asuka had never seen him look like that before and hoped she never would again.

He was angry, angry on level that seemed physically unhealthy. His face was flushed and red, sweat pouring down his cheeks on his collar.

He was also crying, hard and ugly, tiny rivers flowing down his cheeks.

"Are you okay?" Asuka asked, lacking anything else to say.

"It's all his fault!!" Shinji screamed.

"Ehh?" she questioned.

"Third impact, Instrumentality! The reason why millions and millions are in the freaking ocean, the reason everything is so screwed up! He..I..Shi...IKARI caused all of it!" he declared.

Asuka stared at him, hearing the words but her mind not quite processing them. That didn't sound possible, that didn't even make sense.

He stood in corner, halfway between bawling and screaming.

Asuka raised her hands. "Okay, explain. Why would you say he did that, how could he have done it?"
He had just been a boy. SEELE sounded like a vastly powerful organization with the means to do just about anything. How would Shinji be able to do it?"

"Lilith contacted him or something and he told her 'Nobody cares whether I live or die. Nothing will change, so they can all just die.' And she did exactly that. He says he regretted it immediately, he went on and on about terrible he was emotionally but how can anything...how can anyone justify that?!" he asked.

Well that was...that was a lot to take in. Asuka wasn't sure what to make it. What she heard of Third Impact was horrible, not quite as bad as Second Impact was in the long term but still terrible. They were lucky to be living in Japan. A lot of the world wasn't so well off these days. Millions had died directly and indirectly because of Third Impact. The idea that Shinji of all people could have caused it was almost too much to believe.

"And they lie about to the world! And he lets them! He lets them ignore the atrocity he committed, he let's all those insane people worship him as some sort of god! He ruined the world and...he just somehow moved on with his life! How could he just move on...How could I..I ever become that?!" He spat the last word.

Shinji about collapsed, overcome with despair.

Asuka grabbed him, hugging him tightly from behind.

Shinji's breath caught in surprise. His sniffing stopped and his shaking ended.

"It wasn't you," she assured him. "It isn't your fault."

She would kill him if he ever told anyone about this moment. But she had made a promise, they would be there for each other. And he needed her more now than ever.

/

Asuka slammed open the door to Soryu's office some ten minutes later.

"Hey, only two minutes later than I expected," her older self remarked casually.

She ignored her and stared angrily at the older Ikari.

"Why?!" she demanded simply.

"I can explain…" Shinji began.

"Of course you can explain, idiot," she snapped. "You're not dead and you're not insane so clearly there's a few steps between 'I was feeling pretty down that day' and 'So I decided to end the world' that Shinji missed out on!"

"Oh." He was stunned. "I mean, you're right."

"Of course I'm right," she sneered. "That's besides the point. Why on Earth did you tell him, Du Dummkopf ? He doesn't need that hanging over his head!"

"I was just trying to make sure he didn't end up like me."

"Well, congratulations," she said, her voice full of mockery. "No chance of that happening now! He hates you and is absolutely terrified of ever becoming anything like you."

Shinji didn't know what to say.

Asuka glared at her older self, letting out an annoyed grunt before storming out of the room.

/

The sun was low over Kyoto. The baking heat finally started to ease off slightly.

The city of course was far too big and important for sundown to slow down anything of note. Traffic was congested from the new National Diet Building to the southern ward of Yamashina-ku. Construction snarled traffic near WILLE, grinding it to a painful halt. The evening streets were packed with shoppers, school children coming home from school, businessmen traveling to bars and restaurants to unwind from a day that had begun long ago. This was in all respects, turning out to be a fairly normal day, a rarity in these uncertain times.

It was into this calm a glowing orb of orange energy appeared, hovering just above street level.

Unlike last time, everyone knew what this meant. They had seen the first attack and footage of Seoul. They ran screaming.

Out of the chaotic orb a shape emerged. A giant... an Angel.

It's lilac-colored body was long and glistened in the dying light, more eel- than snake-like. It's pink, dagger like head shielded it's massive Core from anything above it. Two thin, glowing energy-tentacles erupted out of it's small, angular limbs. They lashed out wildly at the buildings below, quickly slicing them into so much rubble.

The Fourth Angel, Shamshel, turned towards the glass pyramid of WILLE. It's Core directly facing the building. It raised a limb high in the air, and then smashed one of its tentacles into the ground before it. Craving through road and building alike.

This was more than just an attack, this was a challenge.

 

[Teen Spirit]

It occurred to Misato that if the Angels wanted to, they could have destroyed the Evas at any time, when they were exposed, the defenses ultimately trivial. There had been the bombing attempt but that was small, a half-effort at best. In a few weeks they would be protected again and yet the Angels had made no real attempt against them. Even now, as Asuka and Shinji were hurried in cars towards their Evas, Shamshel did nothing. It didn't attack, it didn't move. It just floated there, waiting, watching.

She could only begin to speculate why. It wasn't a matter of honor, it's attack on them in the parking garage was proof enough. So what was it? Lack of Interest? Did they fear what Japan might do if the Evas were destroyed outside of combat? Or was it that they simply didn't see the Evangelions themselves as much of a threat, and it was the kids they feared above anything else?

The Tactical Command Room was far less chaotic this time. They had time to prepare, and the Angels had run out of things to surprise them with. Soryu, Akagi, Ibuki, Aoba, and everyone else were at their stations, ready for the battle ahead. Kirishima had proven shockingly helpful in coordinating with the military.

They had far more equipment this time. They could actually monitor the Pilots' status, synch ratio, and the general states of the Evangelions. No more improvising in the dark over radio.

She stared at the screen in front of her. 'Blood Type: Pattern Blue. 4th Angel. Designated: Shamshel.'

At least they were still the same pattern. She had half expected some new sort of blood pattern.

This time there would be no surprises, Misato told herself. This time an Angel would die.

/

"I really should not have said anything," Shinji muttered as he paced up and down the room.

Misato had stuck Ria and him in a secure room next to Tactical for the fight, a monitor displaying the battle as it unfolded set up for them. They could turn it off if they wanted but neither wanted to be taken surprise at what was about to happen.

He told his other self his worst secret right before battle, because clearly what the other Ikari needed was to know right before battle was how horribly he could screw things up. Because that totally wouldn't distract him.

Idiot! You're a goddamn idiot.

"You couldn't have known," Ria assured him.

"I still shouldn't have told him. It was my burden," he replied.

"Better he find out now than later," she said. "What are they trying at? Shamshel's outnumbered, she has to know that."

Ria's attention was fully on the monitor. Her eyes focused on the Angel, her hands gripping the arms of her chair tightly.

Shinji could see the anger in her. She tried to hide it, but it was boiling just beneath surface.
He shifted his attention.

"Hey, relax. Shamshel isn't exactly the toughest Angel. They got this, even with my screw up," he tried to reassure her.

"I know." She sighed. "Just something's... off about this."

/

"You knew?" Shinji asked, one hand pressing the cell phone against his ear as the other pulled nervously at his plug suit.

He was in a car being driven towards Unit-01, Asuka was in another one. His driver was barreling down the road like Misato on a bad day, forcing their way through what traffic remained on the street.

On any other day, he would have been terrified. But Shinji was rather distracted at the moment.

"Yes," the older Asuka said at the other end of the line, her voice low and soft.

"How... how could you just accept that and move on?" Shinji demanded.

Part of him wanted to scream and run away, ensure that he could never do what his other self had done. But he knew that was just the coward in him talking. If he ran away they would just get the older Shinji to be the Pilot and that would be terrifying.

"You don't understand what we went through towards the end. It broke him, it broke me... What happened was terrible, but honestly it was out his control. And considering the situation, it was the least horrible outcome. SEELE, your father, they all had worse things planned," she replied.

The knowledge that it could have been worse was cold comfort to Shinji. Father was gone, SEELE was gone. Yet his other self was still here. His crimes unanswered for.

"But why lie to the world?" he asked, his voice shaking. "Why do you let people go on worshipping him like that?"

"Because the truth would just cause more pain," Asuka said. "It wouldn't help anything, it would just make things worse. Sometimes you have to lie to protect people. Sometimes it's the only thing you can do."

And how many more lies have they told to 'protect' us? he wondered.

"Try to put what he said out of your mind," she urged. "You need to focus on the battle ahead."

/

The Evangelions had each been outfitted with two new weapons. The first was fairly simple: A long black spear, with a blade on each end. The spear could broken into two swords.

The second was the Super-Electromagnetic Crossbow MM-144. Misato said it was a replacement for the old pallet rifle. She said the bolts should actually be able to penetrate an AT-field, a claim Asuka viewed skeptically.

She grabbed the crossbow. It automatically unlocked and extended into combat mode at Unit-02's touch. Her spear was already stored in the shoulder pylons.

Shinji grabbed his. The two of them eyed the Angel. It was still standing in the same spot, though it's attention was turned towards them. Like it was watching, waiting for them.

"Are you ready?" Asuka asked.

She was nervous. Shinji had been wrecked by that idiot. She didn't want to have to worry about Shinji freaking out on her and the Angel at the same time.

"I won't run away," Shinji assured her.

"Good," she replied.

"Alright here's the plan," her older self announced. "Shamshel is dangerous in close combat but has no long range attacks. So Shinji, I need you to keep Shamshel occupied with the spear, keep her at a distance, don't let her get close. That said, if you see an opportunity to get stab her in the Core, go for it. Asuka and the defense network will fire at the Shamshel from afar. The combined firepower should be enough to take down the Angel, or at least give Shinji a shot at the Core. Understood?"

"Understood," Asuka acknowledged.

"Understood," Shinji replied.

"Oh, and don't worry if you step on any buildings," Sub-Director Soryu went on. "Evacuation has cleared out everything between you and the Angel."

"Alright then," Asuka said proudly. "It's time for a little payback."

Shinji rushed towards the Angel as Asuka ran off to the right of him, preparing to circle the Angel.

Finally, a battle. A true battle, she thought.

Asuka was confident, Shinji had already defeated this Angel once before and Asuka had gone over the footage several times before she came to Japan. They knew how to fight it, they knew how to kill it, and they had it beat two to one. This would be a slaughter.

In the space between Asuka and Shinji, the air suddenly became filled with dark orange light, and an all too familiar ball of energy appeared right next to a skyscraper. Lighting flashing off it struck half a dozen nearby buildings.

From the energy emerged the Third Angel, Sachiel, once more.

/

The roomed tensed up. Misato about wanted to scream. Many eyes found themselves glancing at Toji, who had been watching the door until that moment.

Toji Suzuhara just stared at the sight of the Angel with a pained expression on his face. Somewhere deep in the core of that monster was his son.

"Two of them at once," Misato groaned. "Bastards are getting clever."

"Ma'am," Maya called out in distress. "We're picking something else up!"

"What is it?" Misato asked. If there was another Angel about to attack she would scream.

"I don't know," Maya replied, now confused. "It just vanished as soon as it appeared. It was almost like another Pattern Blue."

"Worry about it later," Misato ordered. They had far bigger problems right now.

/

"Okito, you fucking coward!" Ria shouted. Her eyes for the briefest of moments turning crimson before turning back to blue.

Shinji was very grateful the room had no cameras.

/

Thankfully, they had been out of the city on visiting her sister when the Angel attacked. Hikari only heard about when Nozomi turned on the radio.

They listened intently, trying to make sense of the battle as announcer explained what was happening, his voice filled with fear. Then a second Angel appeared, an Angel Hikari was all too familiar with.

Kodama ran outside, screaming in rage.

Hikari collapsed in a chair, her face buried in her hand.

"Okito," she sighed in pain. "What are you doing?"

/

Asuka jumped to the side, avoiding the lasers Sachiel shot from its hollow eyes.

What was once a small bar was crushed beneath Unit-02's foot.

Unit-01 stopped, turning his attention towards the new threat.

"Worry about the other one," Asuka barked. "Leave this bastard to me."

Sorry, Hikari, Asuka mentally added.

Shinji resumed his attack on Shamshel.

Unit-02 fired several shots. Pitch black bolts, nearly invisible in the dim light of night, screeched towards Sachiel.

They collided with its AT-Field, prismatic light briefly lighting up the dark sky. Two of the bolts deflected, embedding themselves in the road. One struck true, its shot cracking the AT-Field before falling away.

It wasn't a large crack, but it was something. A few more shots might do the trick.

Sachiel fired another shot. Asuka ducked, the lasers sailed over Kyoto, striking the distant mountainside with a furious ball of fire.

"Geh zum Teufel, Okito!" Asuka shouted, firing more shots at the Angel.

The AT-Field Shattered, one of the bolts striking Sachiel's leg.

Sachiel charged, smashing through buildings as it rushed towards her. Asuka dropped the crossbow and pulled the two halves of the spear from her pylons.

Claw met blade. Okito was tougher, and stronger, but he was also clumsy, fighting like some thug in a back alley. Asuka had a skill that came from years of practice and Unit-02 was far more agile. In moments, Sachiel's arms were lined with cuts, blood pouring from them.

She deflected the spears of light that burst from his palms, ducking as he tried to claw at her, making sure to never give him a clean shot at her umbilical cable.

It was a struggle. One wrong move and this Angel could grab hold of her. And she couldn't get a strike at its Core. Still, she had the upper hand for the moment.

/

"Why aren't cannons firing?!" Misato shouted.

They had three cannons with a clear shot at the angels. Combined they had wounded Sachiel the last time. Just one of them could provide the edge they need.

"Something's wrong with them!" Asuka answered, distressed. "They're refusing to fire."

"What?" Misato exclaimed.

"Something's wrong with their targeting program," Maya explained. "It's seeing all targets as Evangelions and refusing to fire."

Misato gritted her teeth. A bad time for a glitch like that. Or worse, it could have been someone compromising the defense network. The implications were horrifying.

"Dr.Akagi! Run a full scan of the Kyoto Defense Network. See if we've been compromised!"

"Right away," Dr.Akagi replied.

"Fighter-bomber squads are inbound," Maya announced.

"How long?" Misato asked. They would be little more the pinpricks against the Angels, but at this point every little bit counted.

"Two Minutes."

"Two minutes," Misato repeated. Hopefully the Pilots could last until then.

/

Shamshel attacked like a wild animal, its whip-arms thrashing about madly. Shinji tried to strike but he found himself on the defensive, being pushed back again and again.

He was terrified, his mind plagued by doubts. He shouldn't be here, he was just as much of a threat as the Angel.
He saw an opening, a chance to hit the Core. He lunged.

Shamshel caught the spear in one it's purple whips, slicing it in half with trivial ease.

The other limb stabbed itself through Unit-01's shoulder.

Shinji grabbed his own as white-hot sympathetic pain ripped through him.

Distantly he heard Misato screaming at him.

For a brief second he considered letting it kill him. That perhaps it would have been safer if he had died in the parking garage. No chance of him repeating his other self's mistake.

He thought back to garage, he could almost feel the fingers on his throat again. The angel barking questions at him, Asuka screaming at it.

Asuka. Revelation struck Shinji. It wasn't just him that had been threatened. Shamshel had been after Asuka as well. If he fell here it would attack Asuka next.

His mind went back to his first fight with Shamshel, how close Toji and Kensuke had come to being killed. It wasn't just him, it was everyone. This Angel had threatened or come close killing so many of the people he cared about.

Rage boiled inside Shinji. He screamed madly.

Still impaled, he tackled the Angel to the ground, crushing the street beneath them.

The Angel thrashed about, trying to escape from Shinji. But he would have none of it.

He grabbed what remained of the spear and drove it into the arm that impaled him, cutting it off at the shoulder.

For a moment the limb thrashed around like a wounded fish, then it dissolved into so much red goo.

Blood dripped from Unit-01's wound.

The Angel's remaining limb struck Unit-01's back over and over again, removing bits of armor but doing little real damage.

Shinji raised the the broken spear, aiming it directly at the dark red core of Shamshel. One more strike, one more attack and this would be over, this monster would be dead.

Brilliant, blinding light filled his vision. Shinji recoiled in pain, his eyes burning.

The Angel knocked away the spear.

For a moment Shinji could see nothing, then his vision returned, distorted and filled with pulsing polka dots of every color. His head pounding like a drum.

That did little to distract him from the sight before him. Looming above them was a monster almost the size of a Eva. It was vaguely human shaped, though lacking any head. Only a boney three holed mask in it's chest. It's arms and legs were a metallic grey, it's body was black flesh similar to Sachiel. In the center of it's body was a small red Core that glowed brightly.

Shinji had seen this figure once before. It was the Seventh Angel, Israfel. The two pilots now found themselves under attack by three Angels.

 

[Teen Spirit]

Rage filled her, a rage she had not known in this life until now. The fury of a god long thought dead. Anger directed at scions that had fallen so far.

Ria had thought them mad fools before, but this, this was just pathetic. This was the act of cowards and snakes too weak to secure victory for themselves.

Pragmatically attacking in numbers made sense, but that was not how they fought. They fought to prove themselves worthy, each battle had been about proving themselves worthy of reuniting with Adam as much as it had been about actually completing their task. What she witnessed now was unworthy of everything they once were.

Ria bolted out of her chair, marching towards the door.

"Where are you going?" Shinji asked, his worried expression making it perfectly clear he knew exactly where she was going.

"They're going to die without help!" Ria stated.

Shinji grabbed her arm, holding it in an iron grip.

"If you go out there, Misato will find out and she will kill you," he said, his voice hard.

She knew he was right. WILLE was locked down. Leaving would be noticed, and it wouldn't take much time to figure out where she had gone. Misato might spare her, considering the situation, but Ria doubted it. Still…

Ria stared at him. "Who would I be if I just sat here and did nothing?"

They had disgrace everything they once stood for. They were hurting her family. And if the Pilots fell, WILLE would be their next target. She had a duty to stop them.

"You would be alive." He was all but begging now. "What if more of them appear?"

"Then I'll kill them all!" Ria shouted. "I got far further than any of them in our original lives through sheer force of will! They will break!"

It was Zeruel talking now, rage and fury clouding her mind. Shinji looked frightened and alarmed, but she cared little. She want death, she wanted justice.

"So you figured out how to transform?" Shinji questioned.

"I…" Ria paused, thrown off by the question. "I'll figure it out."

How Okito had returned to his original form was a mystery that plagued her, but if he could figure it, surely she could as well.

"What if you can't?" Shinji pressed.

Her anger was sapped, replaced by a flood of doubt. What if she couldn't? Zeruel's strength would have been enough to stop any of them. But what she had now...was it enough?

"I'll figure it out," she replied.

"Will you?" he questioned. "If you're so sure, why haven't you left?"

She looked down at his hand, still gripping her wrist tightly. She could have broken free easily and yet...here she was?

Ria sighed, both depressed and defeated.

"If both of us thought you could actually save them," Shinji said wearily, despair filling his voice, "we would be having a different conversation. One I don't think I would win. But what you're trying to do now would just get you killed for nothing."

He was right.

Ria slumped back into her chair, watching the battle unfold from deep beneath WILLE, praying for a miracle.

/

"Come on, give me something," Misato begged. It was now three Angels against two Evas, possibly four considering what had become of the turrets. Shamshel was wounded but that was a cold comfort at the moment. They were divided, Asuka barely holding her own against Sachiel and Shinji was just trying to stay alive. Israfel having forced him off of Shamshel before dividing in half.

The missiles had proven little more than pinpricks against the Angels. The cannons were useless and anything that might help at this point would level most of the city, something the military wouldn't agree to unless the Evas fell.

That would not happen. Misato refused for even a moment to consider the Angels might win. She would burn Kyoto to the ground before she allowed that.

She cursed her lack of resources, the pain of not having the main systems of Tokyo-3. She thought she was prepared, but the lack of facilities was painfully apparent.

"Asuka, rejoin Shinji," she ordered.

"I'm trying!" The German barked.

/

Asuka grunted in annoyance. Sachiel was not giving her a moment's pause. The last thing she needed was Misato reminding her to do what she was trying to do already.

Sachiel was relentless, either clawing at her or firing at her whenever she moved away. Whole sections of the city behind her where in flames. Smoke filled the night air.

Sachiel charged her again, running at shockingly fast speeds.

Asuka pulled away at the last moment, the black claws of of Sachiel missing Unit-02 by less than a meter.

It took Sachiel a moment to stop, smashing ungracefully into a skyscraper. Broken glass and twisted steel fell onto the street below.

Asuka seized the moment, driving one of her swords deep into his back. The sword hit the back of the Core. she pressed the sword hard, screaming in fury.

Come on, break! Break and let me skewer this idiot!

"Asuka, look out!" her other self screamed.

Asuka turned to see the silver half of Israfel fire a beam of energy at her. She dashed to the side, narrowly dodging the beam.

The other half was still by Shinji, who was a fairly long distance away. The two halves seemed to operating independently of each other.

Sachiel wasted no time, leaping away with the sword still lodged in it's back, landing meters away from Shinji.

Asuka groaned in frustration. She had a chance at actually killing one of these things and it slipped by her.

The silver half of Israfel stood in between Asuka and the fight. Bizarrely, it ducked, one of it's arms outstretched with the other held close to it's chest.

Is it bowing? Asuka wondered It is. Holy shit, it is.

"Well you're an odd one." Asuka commented as the Angel rose from it's bow. She dropped her remaining sword. The blade was chipped and dulled from battle with Sachiel. Her crossbow had run out of bolts. She pulled out the last weapon she had left, a Progressive Knife.

"Shall we dance?" she asked, knife in hand.

/

Okito kicked up a cloud of dust as he landed. Leaving Shinji now surrounded on three sides by Angels.

Okito. The name rang in Shinji's head oddly, that behind all of that was someone he had met. Someone his family had trusted.

"She trusted you!" Shinji shouted as he pulled Unit-01 to it's feet. "They all trusted you! Hikari, Touji, they were your family, they loved you! How could you do that to them?"

Sachiel grabbed a chunk of fallen concrete and metal the size of one of Unit-01's finger and tossed it at him, colliding harmlessly with the Evangelion's head.

The gill's on Sachiel's legs rapidly opened and closed, in what Shinji was positive was an act of mockery.

If he weren't surrounded by two other Angels he would have charged it right then and there.

The gold-colored Israfel ripped Asuka's sword out of the back of Sachiel. It's claws gingerly gripped the black weapon as blood poured from Sachiel's wound. For a moment Shinji thought it intended to use the weapon on him as some grand form of irony.

Instead the Angel simply tossed it at Shinji's feet.

Sachiel simply stared at Israfel. Was it in disbelief, anger, agreement, shock? Shinji couldn't be certain and he dare not try and figure out what possible motives the angel could have had.

Shamshel collapsed into a broken heap, the purple glow from its remaining whip disappearing. It's core cracked opened, a shadowy figure running from the remains, disappearing in the smoke the surrounded them.

It seems Maria's part in the fight was over

He grabbed the sword, rushing towards Sachiel before the Angel could attack.

The sword struck the Angel's AT-field. The field flared brightly.

The blade cut into the field, giving Shinji just enough room to try and force it open. He stuck his free hand into the gap, grunting and screaming as he tried to force it open

Beams erupted from Israfel, far too close to dodge.

The side of Unit-01's head exploded, sending the Eva reeling.

Shinji howled in pain, clutching the side of his head. His whole right side of his face felt like it had just been held against a fire.

Israfel grabbed the cable, cutting it.

The clock started ticking down, five minutes.

He rolled out of the way of Sachiel's attack. In that moment, Shinji saw an opening, a path back to Asuka. A chance to even the odds.

He took off, running towards Asuka.

/

"No no no nonono!" Sub-Commander Soryu shouted rapidly, furiously typing at her keyboard. "Defense network has targeted Unit-01. Refusing all shutdown commands."

The already angry and desperate mood inside of the Tactical room reached a fever pitch.

Misato screamed for Shinji to brace himself.

She turned to Ristuko, who looked at her with utter defeat.

"I'm trying!" Ristuko said before Misato could utter a word. "It's off WILLE's network, I don't have access! There's only so much I can do."

Misato braced herself for the worst.

/

The Kyoto Self-defense Network rerouted all power available to it towards the three Positron turrets that were the cornerstone of its power, causing much of the city to plunge into darkness. Then all safety limiters were turned off, power beyond the turret's capacitors ability to handle flows into the massive weapons. The insides of the machines rapidly grow boiling hot.

They fired, their shots wrecking the turrets as they do. One exploded in a great fireball moments after, raining metal over the surrounding neighborhoods. None of them would be fit to fire again anytime soon.

It was cold comfort to WILLE and the Pilots. The shots streaked over Kyoto in an instant, hitting Unit-01 as it ran towards Unit-02.

Even overcharged as they were, as wounded as Unit-01 was, it wasn't enough to serious damage the Evangelion. Still, the damage inflicted was enough to send Unit-01 hurtling ungracefully to the ground, it's still smoking head smashing into the road.

The strike left Shinji wounded and dazed, barely awake as he struggled to Bring Unit-01 back onto it's feet. Exhaustion slowed him even further. Rage and fear were the only things keeping him in this fight at the moment.

Misato barked orders for Asuka to protect him, but it was futile. The silver half of Israfel was losing ground against her, and had lost an arm in the fight. Still, it was keeping her detained, never giving her a chance to slip away and help Shinji.

Sachiel was upon him like a jackal. Grabbing Unit-01 by the head as tightly as possible and raising him into the air much like he had done decades before.

WILLE looked on in horror, Shinji cried out in pain, Ria screamed until she her throat was too raw to speak; and deep with Unit-01, something was beginning to stir.

All of this came to halt though, as another light appeared a short distance away from Sachiel and Unit-01.

/

Ria doubled over, sudden pain catching her by surprise.

She grabbed on to the chair. A strange and unpleasant sensation danced across the back of her head, the taste of iron filled her mouth. For a moment she stood there, confused and frightened.

Then it dawned on her, the one other time she had felt this sensation before.

She turned towards her father, an uncertain expression, half smile, half grimace appeared on her face.

"It's happened again," she uttered.

/

"Was zur Hölle?!" Asuka exclaimed. "AGAIN! You're bringing in another one, you cheap bastards!?"

This was just cheap bullshit. They had brought three Angels, four if you counted the one hacking the turrets, five if you counted Israfel as two, into this battle. Now they were bringing another one?!

They were pathetic cowards and if she could just put down this part of Israfel she could finish what she started with Okito.

The damn dancing Angel had proven too evasive for her to get more than a few hits in. Her knife simply not giving her the reach she needed

She prepared herself for another lunge when she froze. The light was not like the ones the Angels created when they appeared. This was devoid of color and it was growing far larger.

Rapidly it grew until it was a massive pillar of light consuming an entire city block. Gale winds blew ferociously away from it, buffeting Unit-02 with debris. The temperature gauges monitoring the outside temps jumped up and down fifty degrees in either direction in a matter of moments. Fires at the base of the light were either snuffed out in an instant or become towering, roaring infernos.

Unseen by Asuka, Sachiel and both parts of Israfel were staring at the tower of light, frozen at the sight.

The tower disappeared in a thunderclap, lightning dancing across the night sky.

In its wake, a shape appeared in the ruined street. It was massive, though debris and clouds of ash obscured it from proper view.

A hand appeared out of the ash, grabbing at nearby building. It was grey, clearly biomechanical in nature.

The finally it stepped out into view. Every theory Asuka had begun to form was dashed in an instant. Her mind struggling to process what was before her.

It was unmistakably an Evangelion, and its single eye was hauntingly familiar. But the rest of it was...off.

The proportions didn't quite fit, and the color scheme was entirely off. There was more white and grey then there should have been, and what should have a fairly average blue was instead a golden yellow. One of it's arms and the opposite leg both had massive bandages wrapped around them. Signs of a very rapid and incomplete repair work.

It was carrying a missile in one arm, the thing was massive, easily as long as the Eva was tall.

It stood there, seemingly staring directly at Unit-02.

"Rei?" she asked.
/
There may have been...other reasons I haven't touched Rebuild Wings in a while.

 

[Teen Spirit]

Chapter 10: The Ballad of Ayanami

Silence filled the Tactical Control Room. Before them was unmistakably Unit-00 and yet…

"It hasn't had that color scheme since before the refit," Misato muttered. "And yet it has the shoulder pylons."

"It never had that color scheme. Not like that," Akagi corrected.

And there was the missile. The repair work on Unit-00 was almost exactly like the same as what it had during her failed attack on the Fourteenth Angel. But it had been carrying an N2 mine back then, not a missile.

Just when she thought she understood a fraction of what was happening, reality threw Misato another curve ball.

The room snapped back to attention, again becoming filled with the sounds of frantic shouting and furious typing.

The battle outside had frozen, the Angels transfixed on the sight of Unit-00.

"Contact established with Unit-00," Maya said hesitantly.

The line was voice-only.

"Rei?" Misato said hesitantly.

"Colonel Katsuragi," The soft voice was unmistakably Rei's. "I do not understand what is going on. This is not Tokyo-3."

"I'll explain later," Misato replied. "Right now Shinji and Asuka need your help. Drop the missile and engage the Third Angel."

"Understood," Rei replied. "But Shikinami is not the one piloting Unit-02."

Misato glanced at Ristuko in confusion. Akagi could only shrug in response.

"Shikinami?" Soryu questioned.

/

For a long lingering moment, Sachiel stared at Unit-00 as it prepared to engage the Angel. Then the golden Eva took one single step forward.

Unceremoniously, Sachiel dropped Unit-01, letting it fall to the ground.

A fraction of a second later, a spear of light emerged from its clawed hand.

At first it looked like it was preparing to attack Unit-00, but then it angled the spear towards it's own Core.

"No!" Asuka screamed futilely, realizing just what it was about to do. "Not again, you goddamn coward!"

Sachiel drove the spear through it's own Core collapsing to the ground.

The two halves of Israfel briefly looked at each other, the gold half shaking it's upper body before both launched themselves into the air. Going limp right as each reached the apex of their jump, they fell to the ground in a boneless mass.

Just like that, he battle was over. The Angels had retreated. Yet Asuka still felt defeated.

She eyed Unit-00 wearily as it approached Shinji. Whatever that was, that was not the Wondergirl she knew.

Unit-01 struggled to it's knees. The damage to it was extensive. Armor was missing from much of it's head and the left side of it's torso, exposing the flesh of the Eva to the outside world.

"Are you okay?" Asuka asked over the comms. He was still moving, a good sign.

"Rei?" he said weakly.

She looked at the false Unit-00.

"I know," she replied, for lack of anything else to say.

"Shinji," Wondergirl's voice came over the speaker.

"Ayanami!" Shinji replied, mustering every ounce of strength he had left. "It is you, you're here!"

Despite herself, Asuka was almost glad to hear Rei's voice again.

"Shinji," she replied, "Why are you Piloting again?"

Silence greeted her. Ikari had passed out from the pain.

/

A docking bay was a strange place to meet someone, but considering the situation it was the only option open to them. Rei and Shinji were on their way back to WILLE.

Shinji had been injured, not badly, but he was unconscious when medics found him, and would need medical attention as soon as possible.

As for Rei…

Rei. Sub-Director Soryu was having a hard time processing it.

Rei was here, Rei Ayanami was back in the world. That was something she had never even considered. She had never been kind to Rei, not really. She had reminded Asuka too much of a doll and she hated her for that sometimes. Maybe this would be a chance to make things right.

The differences in Unit-00 were raising a lot of questions, but everything they had heard so far made it clear that Rei was Rei. Though some of what she told the WILLE personnel sent to get her was a bit... confusing.

Whatever force was behind the younger Asuka and Shinji being here had sent Rei as well. And just in the knick of time too. They had been losing. Misato would never admit it but Asuka knew the odds were against them at the end. The Pilots had been outnumbered, the defenses had been compromised and turned against them, and the Angels had caught them off guard. Multiple Angels attacking at once had just seemed like an impossibility. It simply had never been done before.

They were incredibly fortunate that the appearance of Rei caused Okito to turn tail and run.

Though Asuka found herself wondering; what or who sent Rei and the young Pilots? Lilith? Kaworu? Another Angel? Leliel had claimed ignorance of it but the word of an Angel was suspect at best, with one exception.

She looked around. Ria was nowhere to be seen. The room had only a few people in it, almost all of them were here for herself and Shinji, who seemed content to hang as far away from entry door as he could and still remain in the room. Ristuko and Maya were by the entrance, waiting for the car with a small amount of medical equipment just in case. Ritsuko looked decidedly uneasy. Toji and a squad of black armored security agents were standing next to Dr.Akagi.

The younger Soryu was walking around, having just arrived a few minutes ago. Her plugsuit still smelled of LCL. Pilot Asuka was making a very pointed effort to ignore her older self and Shinji.

Asuka decided it was best to do the same. If her younger counterpart was still mad over what Shinji told Ikari, well there was really nothing she could do about it?

The notable absence was Misato, who along with Toji's sister had jumped on the first Ambulance heading towards Unit-01.

"So where's Ria?" Asuka asked.

"Hiding in the break room," Shinji replied quietly. "Well, according to her she's resting but she was incredibly nervous."

Asuka suspected she knew why. Unit-00 had been pulled out of battle with Zeruel. The bandages and N2 weapon, even if it was a missile instead of a mine, made that clear.

Was Ria feeling guilty? Out of all the pilots she had probably done the least to Rei, just enduring her attack and moving on, so that couldn't be it. Besides Ria's own feelings on Zeruel's actions were a bit nebulous. Shinji had told her she admitted she didn't even know if she felt guilty about Zeruel's actions in general. Which Asuka found troubling but that was a subject for later.

Maybe she was scared? None of the Angels previously had shown fear of Rei. Then again there was something incredibly off about this whole situation. And she had to watch Okito be an absolute monster, again

"How did she handle it?" she asked, this time more concerned.

Shinji shook his head, his frustration apparent. "We'll talk about it later. Let's just say she was upset."

'Upset' was clearly putting it mildly. Ria had her father's anger issues mixed with something frightening lurking beneath the surface. That was something they would have to reign in one of these days.

He eyed everyone nearby, making sure no one was eavesdropping. He sighed, half in relief, half annoyed at having to be paranoid.

"No one is going to connect Rei to the big giant head, right?" Shinji asked, a new worry suddenly gripping him.

"That thing decayed before anyone but us could get a really good look at it." Asuka assured him.

Thankfully most people's memories of what they saw right before Instrumentality was a blur, a memory drowned out by months and years of forced togetherness. Asuka suspected that if it wasn't, more than a few people would have a rather... strong reaction to Rei's reappearance.

A black car with tinted windows pulled into the bay, drawing everyone's attention. The group pulled as close as they could without actually crowding the car.

The door opened. Out of it stepped two members of security... and Rei.

Asuka had forgotten how inhuman Rei had looked; her incredibly pale skin, her light blue hair that just barely reached her neck, and her red eyes.

Asuka blinked, her mind going back to Okito appearing at her door. He had the same eyes as Rei.

Shinji stiffened at her side, his mind probably awash in old memories of Third Impact.

Rei stared at the group, her face an unreadable mask. She would have been given a preliminary debriefing on the ride over but Asuka doubted that would have been enough to prepare her.

She turned towards the younger Soryu.

"Pilot Shikinami, it is good to see you have…" She paused, looking somewhat confused. "You are not Shikinami."

There was that name again.

"Who the hell is 'Shikinami'?" the younger Asuka questioned.

Before Rei could answer an ambulance pulled up next to the car. Misato about burst out the back, Sakura Suzuhara right behind her, pulling a stretcher. A small cadre of doctors and nurses following her.

The younger Ikari was on the stretcher, bandages covered part of his head and most of his left side. Asuka winced. Seeing the boy like that was hard to bear.

They rushed past, Misato barely pausing to look at Rei.

"Wait!" the younger Shinji shouted. His stretcher suddenly grinding to a halt. He sat up straight, staring at Rei.

For a moment the two simply looked at each other.

"Rei..." he began.

Rei rushed quickly to his side and grabbed him tightly in a hug, a smile of relief across her face.

Shinji froze, unsure of how to react, confusion all over his face.

Asuka stared in disbelief, as did her younger self, who was all but slack jawed at the sight. This was incredibly unusual considering all she knew of Rei. It wasn't that Rei didn't care for Shinji, but this was more expressive than Asuka had ever seen her.

What was going on here?

/

Rei's debriefing only further confused things. She remembered Angels that no one else had ever heard of, while several of the Angels they had fought were unknown to her. And the details of the battles they had fought seemed off. She said that the Pilot of Unit-02 was Asuka Shikinami Langley instead of Asuka Langley Soryu. And she spoke of something called the Vatican Treaty. How she described Second Impact was somehow far more devastating than the already near-apocalyptic event had ever been. Leaving the seas near lifeless and rendering much of the Southern Hemisphere uninhabitable.

Some thought that being sent here had made her mad or scrambled her thoughts. But when they considered how different Unit-00 is, only one conclusion, as absurd as it sounded, made any sort of sense.

Rei, this Rei Ayanami, was from another universe.

They had the other Pilots gathered in Shinji's hospital room. Asuka sat to the right of shinji. The older Soryu and Misato stood in front of them, trying their best to explain the situation.

"But she's still Rei?" Shinji asked.

"Yes," Misato replied, "but she's not quite the Rei we knew."

"Imagine a world where history was a bit different," Asuka explained. "Second Impact never occurred, where Germany won the first world war, where Toyotomi Hideyoshi successfully conquered Korea, and so on and so forth. From what Rei has told us her world was similar to ours but a bit different. The first three Angels were largely the same, though a bit different in appearance and some a bit stronger. But at the same time the Asuka of her universe had different parents or at least a different mother."

Effectively that made this Shikinami person a completely separate individual. Though from what Rei had told her, physically the only difference between the Soryus and Shikinami was a slightly different hair color.

"So could this mean we're from an alternative universe too, instead of time travel?" the younger Asuka questioned.

"Possibly," her counterpart admitted. "Though it's hard to tell. Near as we can tell everything you went through until you were taken here was what we went through. Your Evas are identical to what our Evas were. If there are differences they are too small to notice."

If the two younger Pilots were from another universe, it was really a distinction without much of a difference. Nothing would change one way or another. At best it meant sending them home would be just that much harder.

She looked at the two Pilots. Shinji, bandaged and injured as he was, was troubled. Both overjoyed at Rei appearing and confused by her not being the Rei he knew. To say nothing of the hug.

That hug, that was really unexpected for Rei. It was far more open than she had ever been.

The younger Asuka was putting on a great act of indifference, but she could tell she was worried.

"Rei is alone," Misato stated. "More than you two are. And barring a miracle she's stuck here. So try to be there for her. She needs all the help she can get."

They were not Gendo, whatever Rei was, they would treat her far better than he ever did.

Shinji nodded.

"Wondergirl is still Wondergirl," Asuka added, seemingly in agreement.

/

Shinji found himself waiting outside as Rei was put through another briefing. He hadn't spoken to her yet.

He tried not to think of the last time he had seen her, after she had merged with Lilith and the cloning tanks full of empty copies of her. He tried to think of her as she had been.

"You're the older Ikari, correct?"

Shinji turned to see her standing behind him, still in her white plugsuit. A small plastic bag in her one of her hands.

"Y-yeah," he replied, trying not to swallow his words. "How did the briefing go?"

"It went well," Rei replied in her soft tone. "Though I find the nature of the current conflict rather disturbing."

"I'm sorry you got caught up in this," Shinji said.

She shook her head. "It is no trouble."

Rei reached into her bag. "Here. I was holding onto this but it belongs to you."

She handed him an old SDAT player. His old SDAT. No, no not quite, it was a bit greyer than his.

He stared at it for a moment, unsure of what to say.

"Keep it," he insisted. That thing was tied up in a lot of old bitter memories.

"The battle, how did it go?" she asked.

"Pardon?"

"I was in battle with the Angel they call Zeruel before I was taken here. It was just myself and an unknown girl piloting Unit-02. They explained that it wasn't the same battle but you experienced a similar battle with the Angel."

"Yeah," Shinji replied. "It was close but I was able to defeat it in the end."

It felt like he was talking to a ghost.

She frowned. "I'm sorry, I had hoped you would never need to pilot again."

"Oh…" He wasn't sure how to feel about that. "It's alright. I survived."

Where as she didn't, not really. She become something more, and something less. Comparable to a god but where was she now? Where was the Rei he had known?

"Are you happy at least?" she questioned.

Was he? He had Asuka again, he rebuilt things with Ria after so long. But his other self hated him now, and the Angels were lurking around every corner. And yet despite that…

"Yes, I think I am," Shinji replied.

To his surprise, Rei smiled. It was a small one, but sincere. Devoid of any awkwardness nor was it forced. It looked strange on her face, but it was a welcome sight nonetheless.

"I'm glad," she said.

 

[Teen Spirit]

I will probably explain it poorly. But here we go. Rebuild of Evangelion (or Evangelion: New Theatrical Edition) In brief.

Rebuild 1.11: Pretty much just The Start of the Series through the Ramiel battle, just with nicer graphics and Ramiel turning into a whole bunch of shapes. Notable differences include Misato showing Lilith to Shinji, and Lilith has a angel mask for some reason. Also Rei's smile is implied to be more Genuine when Shinji opens her entry plug after Operation Yashima. I think.

Rebuild 2.22: This is where stuff goes off the rails. Apparently this movie was influenced a bit by one of the staff being a strong Shinji/Rei shipper but I don't know how true that is. Rebuild 2.22 Covers Introduction of Asuka until the battle with Zeruel. Asuka is introduced fighting something between a Clock and one of those drinking bird toys. Also introduces Mari Makinami Illustrious, not to be confused with the Mari of this fic. I won't get into too much detail, but there's strong suggestion that something's very strange going on with her. (She's a teenager in current day yet The Evangelion Manga shows she was Yui's roommate) All she does in this is defeat an angel in the Yugo of Evas, parachutes onto Shinji, and fights Zeruel in Unit-02.

Rei is pretty much what Strypgia said, a lot more emotive and the whole movie in general is pretty strongly S/R. Asuka Shikinami is a vastly different person than Soryu, disappointing lacking both her tendency to go into German and her crush on Kaji, both things her English VA found a bit disappointing. Her whole personalty is generally more Caustic loner than what Asuka was in canon. She has no interest in being friends with Hikari and pretty much just spends her time playing video games and talking to her hand puppet/doll thing. She eventually warms up and even agrees to pilot Unit-03 so Rei can host her dinner party that she's throwing to try and rebuild the bonds between Gendo and Shinji. Even though Unit-00 is the Damaged Evangelion and in Rebuild you can only have three active Evas but whatever. This goes completely to pot when Bardiel shows up.

The movie also implies Gendo is somewhat less of a dick than in canon though that kind of goes against him being an ultra-dick in the next one. Shinji , follows somewhat of a similar course to how was in canon, outside of his stuff with Rei and being incredibly pissed after the Bardiel incident. He is a lot more proactive at the end, trying hard to save Ayanami (Who got eaten by Zeruel) to the point where he kind of accidentally nearly causes third impact through sheer hotbloodedness, freaking whoops. Then Kaworu (Who had previously been half naked on the moon) saves the world by impaling Unit-01 with a spear.

Rebuild 3.33: Not important at this time, if ever to this fic. I have incredibly mixed feelings about this movie. I like it's Ideas, I don't like how it executed them. It feels like there's a movie between 2.22 and it that we missed. Basic Jist. 14 years have passed, world's almost dead. Shinji's in space. WILLE (NERV minus Gendo) save him from space, But they don't like him much for the whole Third Impact thing, Misato becomes a really unlikable person and tells Shinji absolutely nothing, Rei is trapped in Unit-01, Asuka and Mari haven't aged because of the Evangelions. Q!Rei Steals Shinji and Shinji let's her because he's fed up with Misato's BS. Q!Rei takes him to NERV where he basically has a rebound relationship with Kaworu, has a Massive BSOD when he realizes he screwed up the world, Gendo tricks him and Kaworu (Though Kaworu catches on) into Starting Fourth Impact, Kaworu get's his head blown off, Fourth Impact is averted. It ends with Shinji, in the middle of a massive BSOD, being led by Shikinami and Q!Rei through a red desert. Being Shinji in this movie is to suffer.

Rebuild 3.0+1.0: Not out yet, got massively delayed by Anno working on Shin Godzilla.

 

[Teen Spirit]

"These are all the medications they had you on?" Ritsuko asked as she reviewed the list of medicine Rei had provided her.

"Yes," Rei replied, lying on the thinly padded bed.

The room was not what Ritsuko would have wanted; A computer, a desk, a bed, and some equipment to monitor Rei's vitals. It would have been suitable enough for a regular Pilot, but with Ayanami...

The list was mostly a mix of medication Ritsuko had expected and was familiar with, mainly hormonal stabilizers that kept the abnormalities of her hybrid body in check, preventing it from rejecting itself. A few she was unfamiliar but proved to be commonly available immune system boosters. And some that Ritsuko discovered did not actually exist in this universe but Rei said were nothing more than sleep aids.

What disturbed Ritsuko was what she didn't find. They were using nothing to suppress her emotions, nothing to keep her docile and compliant. The hormonal stabilizers would have the effect of emotionally numbing her slightly, but not nearly as much the battery of medication she and Commander Ikari had kept her on. In this regard at least, the other Ritsuko and Commander Ikari had far less of a leash on her than she had once had with their Rei.

Ritsuko had died during Third Impact, shot through the head by Commander Ikari as Mother betrayed her, but she had died so close to Instrumentality that she was taken into it as well. Restored to life when she forced herself free. She had used her second chance to reflect on what she had done for Gendo, where her career had led her.

Admitting her mistakes had been hard, and incredibly painful. She had betrayed her friend, done countless horrible things for a man who had not and never would love her. And it had all amounted to nothing.

But worst of all had been her treatment of Rei. Being here now, overseeing her treatment, shame filled her. If Misato had anyone, anyone who could have overseen this physical, Ristuko would have begged her to send that person instead. But there was no one else alive who really understood how Rei worked.

"You understand that we have no clones, no means of backing up your memories? That if you die, there is no replacement?" Ritsuko asked.

"I understand," Rei said solemnly.

Ritsuko wasn't positive if they would do good or bad things to her mentally but she deserved to know.

"A question, if I may, Dr. Akagi?" Rei said as Ritsuko prepared another round of tests.

"Go ahead."

"What happened to the Gendo Ikari of this world?" she asked.

Rotting in hell hopefully.

"Unknown," Ritsuko replied curtly. "He disappeared after Third Impact."

Rei seemed somewhat dejected at the news. "Did I... did the Rei Ayanami of this world ever get the chance to hold her dinner party?"

Ritsuko stared at her blankly for a moment, half worried she had just had a stroke.

"Dinner party?" Ritsuko repeated, assuming she had misheard.

"Yes," Rei said. "I had planned a dinner party. Everyone was going to bring a dish. It was suppose to be a surprise for Shinji. Commander Ikari had even agreed to come. But the Ninth Angel attacked right before it was to start."

She looked distraught and disappointed, wondering what might have been.

In that moment, Ritsuko Akagi was more confused than she had been in decades. Rei, Rei Ayanami had been planning to throw a party, a party she managed to convince Gendo Ikari to attend for the sake of Shinji. Such a thing would have been laughable here, and yet she was talking about so calmly.

Who was this girl? What kind of a woman was the Ritsuko Akagi of her world?

/

Kyoto was in near ruins. The battle had gone poorly and an Angel that everyone had seen die again had appeared for the third time.

Misato was quite grateful the appearance of Unit-00 would distract most people. A Third Eva would raise spirits immensely and hopefully news about the alternate universe would distract the media and most people.

Though the question of how to spin Rei's appearance was a troubling one.

Over the course of a few weeks, three Evangelions had seemingly materialized out of thin air. They had no explanation, they couldn't attempt to even begin to form one. What could they tell people? That it was an act of god? No, no, that would send the Church of Lilith into a fit or worse.

An Angel wouldn't be behind this, probably. Evangelions were the one thing that could stop most of them.

Frankly Misato would rather not know who was behind them being here. Without the Pilots they would be screwed, but that didn't change the fact they were forced here without anyone asking them or even explaining what was happening. To say nothing of what became of their times and universes. Their protection came at the cost of two other universes suffering. No matter how much Misato tried to avoid thinking about it, the guilt was still there.

Still she had a job to do though.

Before her was a plan, admittedly was an old plan that had recently been updated, one that until now she would have balked at considering. It was called Kyoto-2. It was no less than the complete overhaul of the city, renovating it from bottom to top, turning it into a fortress. It wouldn't quite be at the level of Tokyo-3, but it would be close. The city would be stronger, more heavily protected, easier to evacuate and perhaps most importantly, far more monitored. That all came at a high cost, though.

"You're talking about the destruction of the city's heritage. Hundreds of years of history wiped away," the Prime minister protested. His tired face filling the screen in front of them.

"We lost hundreds of people in that last attack. We would have lost thousands if the Fourth Angel hadn't just sat there waiting for us to start. Much of the city is in ruins as it is and the defense network was comprised," Misato snapped.

"Then perhaps we should reconsider relocating WILLE-" the Prime Minister began.

Misato slammed her fist on the table. "That would only put us in more danger. We can't relocate. The fight will be in this city. It would be better for us if we fought with more of the measures we had in Tokyo-3 than the current situation. Because quite frankly, sir, if we keeping fighting how we are, very quickly there won't be much of Kyoto left to defend."

The Prime Minister sighed in defeat. "Very well, I will see your proposal brought to the Empress's desk. Anything else?"

"We need top level access to the Kyoto Security Network." Misato replied.

"That outside your department," the Prime Minister replied harshly. "You can use it for defense, but it is not yours."

"It was compromised by an Angel and nearly killed the Pilot of Unit-01!" Misato retorted.

"And we will do everything we can to prevent that from happening again," the Prime minister tried to assure her.

"We have the only people alive who understand on any level what that Angel is," she growled. "They're also the people who killed it the last time. The longer you delay the more we risk the Angel becoming further entrenched in the thing and subverting more systems."

"Very well," his voice was rather small. "I'll shall have clearance give to Dr. Akagi within the week. Is that all?"

"Yes." Misato replied. "That is all for now."

The screen went black.

Misato found herself far more worried than when started. That had been far far too easy, the man had caved almost immediately. Something was up. Something was being kept from her.

/

"Reports are preliminary right now, but WILLE is insisting that is possible to kill the Third Angel and that they are working on a explanation for it and the other Angel's Revenant-like behavior," the dour sounding man rattled on.

Asuka switched off the radio. The last thing she needed to hear right now was whatever spin public relations was feeding the world.

She was alone in her her office. Her face buried in her computer. Pouring over hours of security footage. Hoping to catch a glimpse of the Angels in the moments before they transformed. Perhaps figure out how they turn into their old selves or maybe even catch a glimpse of Israfel's human self. Selves?

She had over a dozen people going through hours of footage from various security cameras around Kyoto's streets. Most stores that might have anywhere close to their transformations were leveled but thankfully the public cameras mounted across various street corners throughout Kyoto uploaded their footage to servers that were undamaged and uncompromised by Iruel.

Currently she was starting at the street corner near where Shamshel had first appeared, going through hours leading up to their appearance, seeing perhaps if they had required some sort of groundwork to transform. While it appeared to be an instantaneous event, for all they knew such a thing could have taken hours of prep work. After all, it was not an innate thing for them considering Ria's complete ignorance of how Okito achieved it.

So far she had seen nothing, just a busy street and people eating at cafe. This proving to be a waste of time, no sign of the angels anywhere... Wait, what? Asuka paused the playback.

There, on the footage, over twelve hours before the attack began, was Okito Suzuhara.

Next to him was probably Shamshel, it was hard to tell. Her hair was different than the profile picture she had seen, but the face matched.

Sadly there was no sound but the camera she was on gave Asuka a pretty good view of the two. They walked over to someone sitting at the cafe, Shamshel taking a seat next to them. The two talked with this figure for a while, the figure's attention more focused on their newspaper then the conversation. Then a short time later, the figure left, Shamshel and Okito leaving a few moments later.

She zoomed in on the figure they were talking to. She was a younger woman, twenty years old at max. She was dark skinned with dark brown or black hair, and she had a leather jacket on.

She thought back to what Ria had told her after Gaghiel approached her. The description did fit, and considering two Angels were talking to her, it was worth looking into, as flimsy as the evidence was.

/

"Does this woman look like Gaghiel?" Asuka asked as she handed Ria a picture of the woman.

She had found Ria in the main break room, buried in her laptop, trying and failing to get back into writing.

"I believe so," Ria replied as she studied the photo.

"I found her having a conversation with Okito and what I believe is Shamshel, some twelve hours before the attack."

Ria looked like she had just swallowed something vile.

"How...did you find footage of it?" she asked, anger starting to boil within her.

"I was reviewing footage of the area near where Shamshel appeared. That cafe was directly below where Shamshel manifested."

Ria turned and stared at her mother disbelief.

"That is breathtakingly stupid of her," she replied.

"Or an attempt to expose Gaghiel. You did mention she was working with Leliel after all."

"True but..." Ria began, an even greater look of disgust across her face "If they're so willing to sell out Gaghiel over passing info, why am I still safe?"

That was an incredibly good question. Okito had made it clear when he first revealed what Ria was to them that he had mountain of evidence that could expose who she was to everyone, and yet he was just sitting on it. So why would they go after Gaghiel? Perhaps the time to talk with Leliel was sooner rather than later.

"I'm pretty sure that was just Shamshel being a massive idiot," Ria insisted. "Her garage attack wasn't exactly a work of brilliance after all."

"True enough," Asuka admitted.

The door to the break room opened, a member of security stepped in.

"You can wait in here while they prepare the next tests, Ms. Ayanami," he said.

Rei stepped inside, the guard closing the door behind her.

In an instant, Ria's expression changed, her eyes grew fearful and she almost bolted out of her chair to hide behind Asuka.

"It's death, come to take me!" Ria whispered fearfully.

"Relax," Asuka assured her. She almost understood where Ria was coming from but the girl was overblowing things, there is no way Rei would be able to tell what she is.

Rei approached them.

"Hello," she said. "You must be Sub-Director Soryu. It's nice to meet you."

Asuka offered her hand. For a moment Rei looked surprised but took it.

"I know this isn't quite accurate, but it's great to see you again Rei," Asuka replied.

Rei looked somewhat shocked that. Shikinami had probably been as hostile as she had been to Rei in her youth.

She forced her daughter out from behind her. Ria stared at the First Child, trying desperately to hide how utterly terrified she was of her.

"This my daughter, Ria Soryu," Asuka introduced her.

"Hello..." Rei began, her expression suddenly turning cold as she stared at and around Ria.

Ria recoiled, her fear growing with each second.

Rei turned towards Asuka. "Your daughter is the vessel of the Angel known as Zeruel."

 

[Teen Spirit]

So I'm taking a small break from the main story to do a multi-part omake that's been bouncing around my head for a while. This entirely non-canonical, do not assume any part of it will be in canon.
/
The light vanished, in its place were... another Unit-01 and Unit-02?

No. No, these Evangelions were different, more advanced looking.

Unit-01 had the purple in its paint scheme switched out for a matte black. It looked sleeker somehow. Instead of the normal pylons, it had a jetpack mounted to its shoulders and back, with short black wings extending out of its sides. In its hands was a massive sniper rifle.

Unit-02, in contrast, had thick armor covering most of the torso and limbs, making it look far bigger and grander than its original self. In its left hand it carried a massive shield almost as tall as the Eva itself. In its left was a large axe, the blade edge glowing a soft blue in the dark night.

For a moment, the Tactical Control Room of WILLE was silent, as they, the Pilots, and even the Angels stared at the new Evas, trying to make sense of what they were seeing. There were now two Unit-01s and Unit-02s standing in Kyoto.

"General," Maya said after a moment, "the... um, other Unit-02 is trying to contact us."

"Put them through," Misato replied, barely able to pull herself out of the confusion.

"Was zur Hölle is going on?!" The voice was Asuka's, the older one. And yet it wasn't.

The Sub-Director blinked hard. "What."

"WHAT?!" came the voice of Pilot Soryu.

The mysterious third Asuka spoke again "Wait a minute, this is the second battle! This is the goddamn second battle! Sohn einer Hündin! We got sent back! I got sent back!"

"Wait, who got sent back? Who are you exactly?" Misato questioned desperately.

"I'll explain later," the other other Asuka replied. "Kyoko, waste him."

Sub-Commander Asuka's head about spun around towards Misato at the name.

"Roger, Aunt Asuka," a new, excited voice called out.

"I...what?" the Sub-Director said, her confusion growing even further.

"Time Travelers," Ritsuko almost hissed.

The black Unit-01 leveled it's sniper rifle, aiming directly at Sachiel.

Before the Angel could so much as move, it fired. A brilliant pale beam of energy shot out from the rifle, a moment later Sachiel's head was consumed by a massive fireball.

The Angel staggered back, dropping Shinji to the ground.

When the smoke cleared, everything between the Angel's shoulders and above its Core was now gone.

The headless Angel stood there limply, swaying as if caught in a breeze.

"Damnit!" the mysterious fourth Pilot shouted, "the shot went high!"

"No matter," the third Asuka said as her Unit-02 readied its weapons, "We'll just settle this the old-fashioned way."

/

Were it not for the fact that she was fairly positive all of the Angels had managed to survive and escape the battle, the beatdown the new Unit-01 and -02 gave to both Sachiel and Israfel would probably be one of the best things Asuka had ever witnessed.

Unit-02 slammed into Sachiel, slicing the Angel in half with one swing of it's mighty axe. The other Unit-01 had both halves of Israfel doing a terrified dance around the city as each shot took out massive chunks of the Angel. The two Angels went limp moments before the new Evas completely destroyed them. This mysterious new version of herself had actually taken a few swings at Okito as he ran through the city, but the axe just barely missed him.

An hour later, the young Shinji was safely resting in a critical care unit, Sakura Suzhara seeing to his treatment. The older Shinji, Misato, Ria, Ritsuko, Maya, Mana, and both Asukas were gathered in the Tactical Room, all of them staring at the new pilots.

The first one was, well... herself. She was Asuka. She was even the same age as her. And yet she was subtly different, a scar on the chin, more muscles on her arms and legs, her hair kept much the same as her younger self, just cut to her neck.This third Asuka's face was almost a mirror of the Sub-Director, only it had worn different, time doing different things to this Asuka than it had to her. Her plugsuit was red but bore little resemblance to the one Asuka was familiar with.

The pilot besides her was a mystery. No more than sixteen at max. Her reddish-brown hair was short, barely reaching to the middle of her neck, save for a bit of hair on the left of her face which was tied up with a hair tie, that stretched all the way to her collarbone. The girl's plugsuit was odd. Both it and the Interface Headsets on her head were nearly solid black, save for some red around the collar and some bits of dark gray on her inner arms. The girl's blue eyes looked at the room mischievously.

"So, let me get this straight," Misato said, looking at once relieved and incredibly confused. "You're from twenty years in the future?"

"Correct," the third Asuka replied.

"So, forty years from my time?" the younger version muttered. "Ugh."

"So, you're not a future version of Sub-Director Soryu?" Ritsuko stated.

"No, she's fifty-some years old now. I am her." The third Soryu pointed to her pilot-self. "So I've managed to both come forward twenty years to this time, and I have now been sent twenty years back to almost the exact same time I was sent forward to. Because apparently being completely screwed over by time is my lot in life."

Pilot Asuka looked at her older self, groaning in annoyance and frustration. Clearly she didn't like this older version of herself much more than she had liked Sub-Director Soryu. The other Asuka returned her glare, mockingly smirking at her.

"So wait, you're the future version of past Asuka?" Ritsuko asked.

"Yes," she replied, annoyed.

Ritsuko buried her head in her hand. "I just... I don't even have words for how moronic this sounds."

If nothing else it would make things incredibly confusing. Sure the Sub-Director could just stick to Soryu and the younger pilot could just go by Asuka, but what would the older pilot go by? Asuka Soryu? Asuka Langely Soryu? Langely? No that last one would be stupid, no Asuka would want to be stuck with that name.

Maybe her newest other self could be Asuka Drei. Keep things simple. Or maybe she could be Asuka-Alpha, or Prime Asuka?

Misato turned towards Unit-01's pilot. "And who are you, exactly?"

"I'm glad you asked, Ma'am!" the young woman said eagerly.

She snapped a quick salute.

"I am the Eighth Child and pilot of Unit-01!" she declared proudly. "The first of the third generation, with two confirmed solo kills to my name. I am Kyoko Kirishima-Soryu, daughter of Major Ria Soryu and Mari Kirishima!"

Almost all of the heads in the room turned towards Ria.

"Ehh?" Was all the incredibly confused Ria could muster.

Somehow, for Asuka, finding out that she was now a technically grandmother was one of the less confusing things that happened in the last few hours.

 

[Teen Spirit]

So Maybe less of a break and more "I'm gonna be doing both."
/
Fear was something Ria was familiar with, but it had never been of any particular one person. It was always fear of events that might happen. Fear of the Angels attacking her parents, fear of being discovered by Misato or the younger Shinji, fear of losing Mari or Kodama, fear of her parents ever learning about what she nearly did all those years ago. But she couldn't honestly name anyone she was afraid of anymore, until now.

She was terrified of Rei, completely and utterly terrified.

Objectively, Ria understood that Rei, in her current form, was of little physical threat. She was not complete, her soul sundered. Still, Ria felt like the eyes of Lilith were upon her, judging her for her defilement of her creation. But surely her reincarnation was something agreed to by both Adam and Lilith, And Ria had been good. She had not gone against the will of either, surely Lilith could see that?

Maybe she did and didn't care. Judging Ria for the sins of her spiritual siblings. The fear within Ria grew with each passing moment.

"Yeah," her mother said, shockingly casual. "I've known for a while now."

Rei stared at her quizzically. "General Katsuragi said all the reincarnated Angels were committed to our complete destruction and are inherently hostile once exposed."

"Ria protected me and Shinji when the Third Angel attacked our apartment. She's probably the only reason we're both alive right now," Asuka explained.

"We lost," Ria said meekly. "I accepted that loss."

"But the General made no mention of this-" Rei began.

"Because she doesn't know," Asuka sighed. "She... hates Angels too much for us to tell her yet. The only ones who know right now are us and Shinji, my Shinji."

"Not even the Pilots?"

"No," Asuka replied, shame in her words. "The Third Angel... he was trusted, and he betrayed us all, Ria included. He ruined pretty much any chance of an Angel being trusted, even Ria, even after what she's done."

"But you trust her," Rei observed.

"I do," Asuka nodded.

"More than you trust your other selves and Misato?"

Asuka flinched as if struck by her words.

"I will tell them when the time is right," she assured Rei. "But right now it would cause too much pain. You understand that, right?"

"I... yes," Rei agreed.

She turned her attention to Ria. Her expression was decidedly neutral, no anger or rage.

The fact that Rei had yet to brutally murder her, and her mother's defense of her gave Ria a small measure of confidence back.

"You hurt Shinji, you forced him back into piloting," Rei stated.

"And I apologized to him for that," Ria replied shakily. "But I was a Warrior of Adam, lacking anything resembling free will. I couldn't do anything else. I could conceive of nothing else. I am far changed from Zeruel. Adam is gone, my original purpose is gone as well. Even if I wanted to fight, there would be no point."

"Why do the other Angels fight then?" Rei questioned.

"They are fools chasing some impossible dream. They are loyal to nothing," Ria made her disgust apparent.

"And what are you loyal to?" the blue-haired girl asked.

"My parents." 'Humanity' might have been a better answer, but it wouldn't have been an honest one. Loyalty to a group containing over a billion people you had no connection to was meaningless.

"Why?"

"Because they are precious to me," Ria said, her voice small.

Rei stared at her in surprise.

Asuka patted her on the shoulder. Something Ria greatly appreciated.

The answer satisfied Rei. "I will keep your secret, for now."

"Thank you, Rei," Asuka said, half bowing.

Rei simply looked at Ria. Her cold red eyes making it perfectly clear what Rei would do if she thought for a moment that Ria had turned against them.

Ria nodded and left quietly.

/

"So what can you tell me about this Unit-00?" Misato asked as Maya Ibuki stood in front of her.

"Well it's certainly more advanced than ours in terms it's computers, a good twelve years more advanced than anything we had originally. We're talking three fourths of a petabyte in memory storage alone. We're currently trying to decrypt it now, carefully though. We have no idea what sort of nasty surprises this other NERV might have left us. Most of it is thankfully relatively straightforward so far. Though some of it would take the full strength of the MAGI just to brute force it open," Maya explained.

Interesting, and certainly something that could prove useful long term.

"Is it stronger than the other two? What about repairs?" Misato questioned.

Maya flipped through her notes. "Still too early to tell if it's any better or worse than the other two. As for repairs..."

Maya let out a strange, befuddled sigh. "Honestly the repairs are fairly simple. Really it just seems like they were lacking for parts when it came to repairing Unit-00. Having new parts made, or worse having Bethany Base or even New England send us old parts would be enough to get it fully operational, for the most part. This is one slight complication to that though. None of the stuff fits."

"That sounds like more than just a slight complication," Misato observed.

"It actually isn't," Ibuki replied. "For now. The issue is, Unit-00 is just enough off to screw with almost everything. We had to rework the sensors just to get MAGI to accept it was Evangelion. Everything mechanically is either just a bit too small or too large and we keep finding subsystems we never expected, there are numerous sensors just for monitoring plug depth of all things. The operating system is just flat out bizarre. We can keep it running for now, we'd just have to resize all the equipment, and most of the weapons for Unit-00. But we wouldn't be able to properly monitor it during combat. At best we could keep track of vitals and battery life. And if it ever suffers serious damage it's probably beyond our means to repair it entirely."

Well that was disappointing. Not entirely unexpected but still deeply disappointing. Having three Evas at full operational strength would be a major boon if the Angels ever pulled something like earlier, again.

"Could we do a refit? At least find some way to adjust it to better fit our systems?" the General asked.

Maya gave a half shrug. "I can't even begin to give a solid estimate on how long that would take, but probably months. And require more upgrades to the Vault. It would be entirely inoperational for most of it."

So it was leave them down an Evangelion for months, after the Angels had just shown them that they could overwhelm two of them, or have Rei go in an Eva they could barely arm, repair, or even support. Neither option was particularly pleasant.

"Once the upgrades to the Vault are complete, refit and upgrade everything you can while still having it at least somewhat operational."

A compromise would have to do for now.

Maya bowed. "Understood, General. I'll have all the data we were able to retrieve from it so far sent to you within the hour."

"Thank you." Misato nodded. "You're dismissed."

Maya departed, leaving Misato alone with her thoughts for a while.

Five minutes later, Ritsuko entered, looking quite distressed.

"What's wrong?" Misato raised an eyebrow at the unsettled look in Ritsuko's eye.

"Rei, that Rei. I don't actually know how to put it into words..." Ritsuko said.

"Is it bad?" Misato grew increasingly concerned.

"No, not in any real sense." Ritsuko buried her head in her hands. "The girl was going to hold a dinner party."

"Ehh?" the General uttered in surprise.

Ritsuko did her best to explain it. "Rei Ayanami had, apparently on her own, planned a dinner party. A party she was hoping might reconcile things between the Shinji and Gendo Ikari of her world. She had sent out invitations and even asked everyone to bring a dish. And here's perhaps the most shocking part of it all: Commander Ikari had agreed to come. It seems though Bardiel attacked right as the party was about to occur."

"Wow, that's...wow." Misato was at a loss for words.

"I mean an infinite number of alternate universes and all, but still..." Ritsuko leaned back in her chair.

"I think I'm actually starting to miss the days when the biggest concern we had was how much Commander Ikari was lying to us."

"No you don't," Ritsuko replied.

"No I don't," Misato agreed. "Though now that I think about it, that dinner party doesn't sound like a bad idea."

/

Asuka found Rei alone in the break room. She wanted to talk with the First Child, though she wasn't entirely sure why. Her feelings for Rei were at best 'barely tolerate'.

She was admittedly curious about this "Shikinami" She spoke of, and there was... that hug.

That Hug…

Wondergirl would never have done anything like that. The one she knew, anyway. And yet she did, without hesitation, and in front of everyone.

Asuka didn't know what to make of it. It had taken her by surprise certainly. But it wasn't like she really cared. It was good thing actually, showed this Rei was less of a doll. And it wasn't like she actually had feelings for Shinji, no way she was capable of it.

And even Rei did have feelings for Shinji, so what? Asuka wasn't the Sub-Director. She didn't need a dork of a man in her life.

"Hello, Pilot Soryu," Rei said, her tone as flat as it ever was.

Asuka was struck, despite being from an entirely universe, this Rei was identical in pretty much every regard to the Wondergirl she had known.

"Hi," Asuka replied unevenly. "You don't actually know me, do you?"

"No," she stated. "The pilot of Unit-02 in my universe was Asuka Shikinami Langley."

Something annoyed Asuka deeply about the fact that the Asuka of Rei's universe took Langley as her last name. Her mother had been an accomplished, brilliant scientist, among the brightest of her generation. Her father was a cheating bastard whose only accomplishment of note was helping to make her. Even old Shinji had turned out to be a better parent than him. The Langley of her universe might have been a better father than the one she knew, sure. But it still irked her.

It was strange, imagining someone who was her but so vastly different at the same time. Sure she had the older Soryu, but they had over a decade of common history. That wasn't the case with this Shikinami.

"What was she like?" Asuka asked, curiosity getting the better of her.

"She called me Wondergirl," Rei replied.

Asuka smirked. "So we have that in common."

"She was... distant," Rei went on. "She kept to herself for the most part, at first it seemed like she didn't care about anyone, and wanted nothing from them. But she showed eventually that she was kind."

The small smile that appeared on Rei's face shocked Asuka. As did the sorrow that rapidly replaced it.

"After the Ninth Angel she was put in critical care. I do not know what became of her. I hope she is okay."

"I'm sure she's fine," Asuka said hesitantly.

Rei nodded

"How is Ikari?" she asked. "All they've told me is he's stable."

There was concern in her Ayanami's voice.

"He's fine," Asuka assured her. "I'm curious though, what's your opinion on the Third Child? You clearly had a strong reaction to him."

"It's funny, Shikinami asked me a similar question once," Rei noted.

"Is that so?"

Rei nodded. "I'm not sure I'm anymore certain of my answer now. He makes me feel warm inside and I want him to feel the same way. I want him to be happy, to be free of having to pilot Unit-01. He is... precious to me."

Asuka recoiled.

She likes him, she likes Shinji! Asuka realized.

Anger and jealousy stirred within Asuka. This blue haired doll had just arrived here, what right did she have to go around and try and claim Shinji?

Before she could say anything, Asuka stopped herself. After all, what right did she have to be offended? She had made it clear to Shinji they were just friends. And she had meant it, despite his stupidity, she did consider him a friend. But did she want more than that?

No. No, she wasn't the Sub-Director, she didn't need Shinji in her life like that. If Rei wanted to go after Shinji that wasn't her business.

"Tell me, is the Ikari of this world much like the one I knew?" Rei asked, her expression turning slightly dour.

"I don't know," Asuka admitted. "You'd have to talk to him to see for sure."

/

Shinji awoke to see Rei sitting besides his bed.

"Hello," she said, smiling slightly.

"Rei," he said sleepily, pulling himself up.

He stared at her, tears starting to form in corners of his eyes.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," he assured her. "I just never thought I would see you again."

It had only been a month but seeing her after everything that had happened, made him realize just how much he had missed Ayanami.

Rei turned away, looking ashamed. "I'm sorry, I'm not the Ayanami you knew."

"I don't care." Shinji declared, Rei turned towards him, looking shocked. "You're still Rei."

She blushed, the red in her cheeks standing in sharp contrast to the rest of her pale skin.

"Thank you." she replied, her smile returning.

 

[Teen Spirit]

Ria sat in Asuka's office, not exactly hiding but trying her best to stay out of the way. She was sullen for the most part, generally keeping to herself as Asuka went through the small mountain of work she had to do.

Though as she worked Asuka couldn't help but notice that she was unintentionally glancing up every few minutes to check on Ria. Not out of concern so much as to make sure nothing was going to... escalate.

A small notice appeared at the corner of her screen. Misato wanted her to look at some the images and footage recovered from the new Unit-00 and give her assessment.

Well, this should be interesting.

She opened an emailed file. It contained numerous videos and pictures, all organized by subject matter. One folder was labelled simply 'Tokyo-3'. Another 'NERV', others 'Unit-01' and 'Unit-02', the rest were the Angels Unit-00 had seen; Ramiel, the Seventh Angel, Sahaquiel, and… Zeruel.

Unit-01 looked more or less the same, maybe a bit more green trim, but otherwise almost identical.

Unit-02 was…

"What the Hell?" Asuka muttered in disgust and confusion.

The differences were small but noticeable. The eyes were bigger, the shoulder pylons were painted black and red, most of the paint scheme was slightly different in general, and the top of it's forehead had a small orange, insect-like crown.

She hated it. It was wrong, it wasn't Unit-02.

"What?" Ria asked.

Asuka motioned for her daughter to come look at what was on her computer.

Ria stared at it, shrugging in indifference.

She quickly moved on to the Angels. First was a video of Ramiel. It was distant footage of the giant diamond, hanging in the night sky just above Tokyo-3.

"Well, at least that's the same," Asuka commented.

It suddenly twisted into a variety of geometric shapes, it's Core exposed to the world.

"...Or not," she corrected.

Unit-00 was only barely able to capture footage of Ramiel's death, having been damaged in the attack. The Angel expanded rapidly, becoming almost the sze of Tokyo-3 itself before bursting. Blood poured from it for a moment, before it collapsed and dissolved, the deluge of blood spilling out over the city.

Asuka stared at the sight. It was curiously similar to how the Angel's regrown bodies behaved once they left.

The same would hold true for the next two Angels, dissolving moments after being killed.

There was one Angel left to look at; Zeruel.

Asuka turned towards Ria.

"You don't have to look at this if you don't want to" Asuka stated.

Ria looked at her. "It's fine."

"Are you sure?" Asuka questioned. "I mean, I know neither of us is really at the point where we're comfortable with... this whole situation."

"I'm curious, okay? Let me see it, please," Ria sighed.

"Okay," Asuka relented.

She pulled up the picture.

"What the Hell?" Ria said, wincing at the sight.

It was certainly different than what Asuka remembered. Larger for sure. It wasn't even vaguely humanoid like Zeruel had been, it's body reduced to nothing more than a set of exposed ribs covering a massive Core. Most of it's body was massive mane of black, paper like tentacles that gently swayed as it floated in the air. Two of them stretched far further than the rest, giving it the appearance of arms. The face was the same, a toothless parody of a human skull, its hollow eyes staring at her.

For a moment, Asuka could picture the memories in her mind. Screaming in futility as she poured bullets and rockets onto the massive beast, to no effect. Her chance to finally prove herself slipping away. Then the pain, the searing pain of her arms being cut away, her connection to Unit-02 was so strong she could feel every moment of it, then her last, pathetic charge.

She realized she was staring at Ria. For split second she saw Zeruel's mask in place of her face. A cold shiver ran through her. She blinked and the image vanished. Ria was too engrossed in the video to notice her reaction.

"Well... okay, that's far weirder than I expected." Ria struggled to find words as she turned away from the screen, looking incredibly awkward and uncomfortable at the sight of the other Zeruel.

"I'm with you there," Asuka agreed.

"I, um...I think I'm going to go check up on Shinji, see how he's doing." Ria quickly made her way out the door, not quite fleeing in confusion.

/

Ria wasn't entirely sure what had unnerved her so much about the other Zeruel. The concept of an alternate universe at first had not really troubled her. But seeing the other Zeruel, seeing what she might have been in another universe, disturbed her. How many other universes where there out there with other Zeruels, other Rias? Had these Zeruels and Rias made the same choices she made? Had they stayed strong, or had they faltered like Okito?

The idea of herself, any version of herself, failing like that unnerved her. Until today she had consider the idea impossible, and yet surely there must be some version of herself in the grand multiverse who made that choice.

What kind of person would that Ria be? What sort of life did they have? If she sat down and listened to what arguments that Ria had, would she agree with her?

Whoever was behind this, who knew what limits there were on who or what they could send. With two actions they had brought, two, possible three separate universes together. How many more where out there? How much more could they send?

In that moment Ria understood Okito's fear. He was still an absolute fool and madman, but she understood why he had panicked.

Ria found the younger Asuka pacing in a hallway not too far from Shinji's room, drawing her out of her thoughts.

Asuka was walking in a circle, a rather bizarrely uncertain expression on her face.

She suddenly paused, realizing Ria was there.

"I wasn't waiting," she explained defensively.

"Ookay…" Ria replied, deeply confused.

"Rei's in there with Shinji, I just don't want to disturb them." Asuka's voice was gaining that loud obnoxious tone she used when she was annoyed or being egotistical.

Ria's stomach turned cold at the mention Ayanami.

Maybe I should see Dad first, that would be safer.

Ria was just about to turn when Asuka spoke up again.

"Hey can I ask you a question?" she asked. "I wouldn't normally ask this but you're pretty much the only person here I can get actual honest answer out of."

"Okay, hit me with it."

For a moment Asuka looked like she changed her mind, but she pressed forward.

"Do you think Rei is attractive?"

One of Ria's eyebrows arched in surprise.

"Do you want to ride that blue filly or something?" Ria asked, amusement winning out over her sheer fear of the First Child.

"What?!" Asuka shouted in disbelief. "No! It's nothing like that!"

"I mean, don't get me wrong, I get the appeal." Ria seized the moment, grinning. "The unique looks, the stoic, mysterious silent type, the chance to be the one they finally open up to, to know you're the only one who could see that side of them? If Rei was a man she would have girls swooning over her constantly."

"So, should I take that as a 'yes'?" Asuka replied, looking profoundly annoyed.

Ria shrugged. "Not really. Personally, I've recently discovered I'm more of a fan of the shy, bookish nerd types. I prefer someone I can have a conversation with."

"I asked if you thought if she was attractive, not if you wanted to date her," Asuka growled.

"I think most women are attractive to some degree, so that's not really a good metric," Ria replied. "And you didn't answer my question."

Asuka turned her nose up. "Of course not! She's an ugly emotionless doll! Why would I even consider her?"

"You're the one asking if she's pretty or not," Ria pointed out.

Asuka groaned in frustration, then quickly checked to make sure no one was coming.

"I hope you appreciate how much I trust you when I tell you this," Asuka began.

Oh good, more guilt.

"Rei, that Rei... she has rather strong feelings for Shinji."

Ria blinked. That was quite a bit of a shock. She wasn't sure what to think of it. Hopefully Ayanami wouldn't tell Shinji about their earlier conversation. And what would she think of what her father did?

"And how do you feel about this?" Ria Soryu asked.

"I'm fine." Asuka snapped. "Why would I care? I mean, Shinji's my friend and if Wondergirl makes him happy, that's great, I'm happy for them! I don't understand what either of them sees in the other though."

"Uh huh." Ria was skeptical.

Right. That's why you're pacing outside his hospital room, because you're happy for him. Sure.

The glare Asuka gave her was one of the most impressive Ria had seen in quite some time.

"I'm not your mother," Asuka said defensively.

"That's arguable on several levels."

The Second Child ignored that. "I don't need Shinji in my life like that. I don't want Shinji in my life like that. I can't even begin to understand why the Sub-Director does."

"Okay," Ria tried to hide her annoyance. "No one is saying you have to. I don't really care who you end up with as long as you're happy. And I know my parents feel the same way."

"Wait, really?" Now it was Asuka's turn to be skeptical.

"Well, I wasn't wiped out by a time paradox or anything, so yeah, I don't really care who you and Shinji each end up with as long as it works out for you," Ria said earnestly.

"Huh," Asuka replied. "Well...thanks, I appreciate that."

Ria nodded.

The door to Shinji's room opened. Rei Ayanami walked out escorted by a member of WILLE's staff.

Ria froze, realizing that loitering outside of Shinji's room, pretty close to all of the Pilots with no parents in sight, might seem like suspicious behavior for an Angel clad in human skin.

Ayanami stared at her evenly but said nothing as she walked away going down the other end of the hall.

Mentally, Ria sighed in relief.

"So I imagine you want to talk with Shinji?" Asuka asked.

"Yeah, I came to see how he's reacting to what Dad told him," she replied.

Asuka rolled her eyes. "He was an idiot for even bringing it up to Shinji."

"Don't entirely disagree with you there, Asuka."

/

Shinji stepped into Asuka's office. Asuka was buried in whatever she was working on.

"So where's Ria?" he asked.

"She went to see how Shinji was doing," Asuka explained.

Well, that should end poorly, Shinji mused. Hoping his other self wouldn't think Ria had lied to him about that.

Asuka looked up from her work. "So... Rei knows the truth about Ria."

Lovely.

"May I ask how?"

Asuka shrugged. "I don't know. She stared at Ria and then told me she was the Vessel of Zeruel's soul."

Part of Shinji started to panic and yet Asuka was just sitting there at her computer.

"So should we be worried or something?" he asked.

Asuka shook her head. "No. I convinced her not to say anything for now. Though I suspect she's going to want to talk to you about it soon."

Well, that's a relief. Though a strange one. Rei had barely been here a few hours and already knew his family's deepest secret?

"How did the two get along?"

"Well, Ria was terrified and spent most of the encounter hiding behind me. And Ayanami was upset that Zeruel forced you back into piloting, so not well," Asuka explained.

Unfortunate, but not unexpected. Considering what they both were, though Shinji wasn't entirely sure what Ria was, it was lucky they weren't trying to murder each other.

"So, considering what happened with Rei, I think we should contact Leliel sooner rather than later," Asuka suggested.

"You think Leliel is behind it?" he asked.

Asuka nodded. "They knew about Ramiel and Okito's plan before this all began. Whoever sent Rei sent her when we were about to lose. This isn't just random chance. They were sent to disturb the Angels' plan. Leliel either knows who's behind it or did it themselves."

"What about Adam or Lilith?" Shinji argued. "Maybe they're behind this."

Asuka disagreed. "The only hint we've had either them still exists in any meaningful way is your dreams. If they could send the Pilots, why wouldn't they take more drastic action against Ramiel and the others? Whoever did it has vast power, but not so vast as to be able to end this fight in an instant."

That did make sense, as much as anything in this increasingly insane situation could make sense.

"So if it is Leliel behind this, that means they're helping us, but they also lied to us as well." Shinji observed.

"Even more reason to get in contact with them," Asuka said firmly. "We can't go to Misato with that letter, but we might be able to go to her with a phone call."

Shinji sighed. "Okay, so when should we make the call?"

"Tomorrow."

/

The conversation with Rei had been great for the most part.

She and Shinji had caught up on the moments they had in common. Then she told him about the ocean reclamation facility she went to with Kensuke, Toji, Shikinami, Pen-Pen, and the Shinji of her universe.

She was more emotional than Shinji ever remembered her being, smiling much more often for one thing. But she was still Rei.

They had also talked about some of the harder things, his struggles to adapt to this time, and what his other self had done. Rei had been unreadable during that part of the conversation, but she had listened.

As horrible as the day had been, seeing Ayanami had done a lot to improve his mood.

Ria walked in, flashing him a friendly smile. She was wearing a white collared shirt with a red tie and soft yellow sleeveless vest over it, the arms and neck trimmed with green. Her pants were slate grey in color.

For some reason Shinji found himself missing the beret she used to wear.

"So, how are you?" she asked.

"Sakura says I should be out of here in a day or two," Shinji assured her, "though I'm going to be bandaged up for the next few weeks. But she's saying I'll make a full recovery."

Shinji gingerly touched the patch covering his right eye.

"Well, that' something at least," Ria nodded.

"Have you talked to Ayanami yet?" Shinji asked. He hoped she and Ria would get along.

"My mom and I actually ran into her not to long ago. She seems like a nice lady. Didn't actually talk much though," Ria replied with a smile.

It was something at least.

"You're mom doesn't still call her Wondergirl, right?"

Ria let out a small laugh. "Of course not, she's not a thirteen year old, after all."

Right, right. That made sense.

Ria's face suddenly went serious. Shinji knew in an instant what she was about to say.

"So, I hear my dad told you about a certain event that occurred during Third Impact."

"You knew?" Shinji was aghast. She knew and she still was so kind to him?

"For a bit," Ria admitted. "Okito's attack on the apartment got him thinking about certain things a lot more."

"How could you possibly be okay with what he did?! It was monstrous, it ruined the world!" Shinji yelled, torn between disbelief and outrage.

Ria shrugged dismissively. "'Okay' isn't the word I'd use. I don't feel I have the right to judge him for what he did. Did he make a terrible decision at a bad time? Sure. But he wasn't the one who had the power to actually enact instrumentality. He didn't place himself in that position by choice."

She started rubbing her head,looking deeply lost in thought for a moment.

"You remember our first real conversation, when I took you down to the Museum, and the exhibit I showed you?"

"Yeah, the battle against Zeruel." Considering how brave she had made her father out to be it was all the more shocking he would do something so horrible and cowardly.

"Well, the reason you, er... my father wasn't at NERV at the start was he had left, flat out running away. The only reason Everyone at NERV didn't die was because he ran all the way back during the fight."

"I-he ran away?" Shinji gasped.

So I am a coward after all.

"I would note that Misato, my mother, everyone at WILLE who was around for the attack? None of them blame him for running, and they're all grateful he came back."

"Why?" Shinji questioned. "He abandoned them! The Angel got into NERV because he wasn't there!"

"Because they understand now why he fled. Because things had gone so horribly with the last Angel, he had been used horribly by the Commander and people had been hurt."

"Who?" Shinji asked, his despair growing deeper.

Ria was firm. "Not my business to tell you. They haven't told you, they don't blame my father, and both of those are their decision."

Shinji wasn't entirely sure what to make of that. At least whoever was hurt was still around.

Touji does have that leg, he realized with horror.

But Touji had never made reference to ever having been an Eva Pilot.

"My point is," she went on, "he had good reason to run and yet he still came back. That's what mattered to everyone in the end."

"But that was just running from a battle, that's nothing compared to what he caused during Third Impact!" Shinji angrily replied.

"And yet the situation was similar. You judge him now, when you're secure, surrounded by people who care for you, people who hate that you have to be a Pilot. He didn't have that luxury. He went through Hell in a way I pray you never do. I don't claim to know all of what he went through, but I know it was bad."

Shinji couldn't help but wonder what had gone on that was so horrible. And who else has been lying to him.

Ria looked down at her hands for a moment.

"It isn't fair to judge a person for a rash decision, particularly when that decision was made under great distress. What's really important is how they handle the aftermath of that decision. My father rushed back into the fight, he tried to undo Instrumentality from almost the moment it happened. However much you hate him for his mistakes I guarantee you, he hates himself more and he tried to do the right thing."

"And yet he allows them to lie about what happened to the world," Shinji replied bitterly.

Ria nodded. "Because the world needs that lie. The truth would only hurt more."

"Why do you defend him so much?" Shinji asked. "He abandoned you for years."

Ria sighed, a regretful look on her face. "Yes, and for the longest time I hated him for it."

That caught Shinji off guard. Ria had never given the slightest implication she bore her father any resentment.

Ria noticed. "Yes, shockingly there was a time in my life when I hated and feared my father. I thought he abandoned us, I thought he didn't care. I actually started to listen to what those Lilith cults were preaching, only instead of religious awe I found myself terrified of him, thinking him some sort of monster. But he wasn't. He isn't. He's a person, a person with a lot of flaws to be sure, but... he left because he knew it would hurt all of us if he stayed, and he still tried to be a parent. He did a horrible thing during Third Impact, because a dozen things completely out of his control drove him to the point, and he still came to regret it immediately."

She looked up at the ceiling. "I'm not asking you to forgive him. Hell, you can still hate him for all I care. But don't act like he's a monster on par with your father or SEELE. Can you do that for me?"

Shinji considered for a moment, "I'll try but... I'm not sure I can."

Ria nodded "At least you're willing to try."

 

[Teen Spirit]

The battle had gone far better than he predicted at first. What had been a desperate gamble to throw WILLE off their tail had turned into an actual chance of victory. And then, in a blazing light, it slipped away from him.

Okito knew he was a coward for running away, and yet it had been the only option open to him. Was Unit-00 clearly damaged? Yes, but at the same time the mere existence of it meant what happened with the first two pilots was no fluke, it could happen again. Whoever was after them could send as many Evas as they wished.

The retreat from the fight had been chaotic and barbaric. Mad hunger from extended fighting forcing them to do things even Okito found loathsome. Worse, it would leave a trail. Probably not one that would lead back to them, Okito was too careful for that. But it would bring WILLE far closer than he would have liked. No doubt Misato and dad would be on the warpath.

Okito paused, feeling a twinge in his stomach. He wasn't sure of what to make of it. Was he guilty? No, no not quite. Did he have regrets? Almost certainly. This had never been the plan, they were suppose to be older when this happened, far older. Hopefully old enough that the original Pilots would have been out of the picture, there would have been time to prepare, time to convince the others, convince Ria that this was the right path for them, the only path for them. Instead the Pilots appeared, and he had been forced to rush the schedule by decades. And what did he have to show for it?

He looked at the hideout, the back of a freaking video game store, cramped and stuffy. Both he and Shamshel were soaked in blood. Shamshel had been quiet since the battle ended. Sitting in a corner. Israfel, in her singular form, was watching TV, her dress and white & pink hair completely clean. Every so often she looked at Okito, sneering. He wasn't even quite sure where Iruel had gone to.

Okito stood up. "I'm done."

"With what?" Shamshel asked.

"With the plan, with everything." He sighed. "Everything I've done I did to help our kind, but I'm not helping anyone."

"You just now realized that?" Israfel replied.

Okito almost bit but decided to ignore the remark. "Tell Ramiel that the plan is off, I'm going to find somewhere remote and far away from here. Then we'll gather every Angel we can and hide out until they forget about us and grow soft. Then we'll begin again."

The other two did not take it well.

"But we nearly won!" Shamshel shouted. Israfel just glared at him.

"And right as we were about to win, they sent another abomination," Okito snapped. "What if it happens again and again, every victory snatched away from us? I'm not sending us into a slaughter we can't win."

"Ramiel has plans," Israfel insisted.

"And those plans will lead to us being slaughtered before he even comes close to being ready to enact them!" he yelled back.

Shamshel only grew angrier. "You started this fight! You created the need for us to have victories!"

"I know!" Okito protested. "I fucking know! But that was because I thought whoever was behind the Pilots could be found but they can't!"

"What do you think I was trying to do with the distraction?" Shamshel blurted out, her face instantly twisting in regret.

Okito stared at her in abject confusion. "How would the distraction led us to whoever is behind this?"

Shamshel went silent.

"Because the distraction will lead WILLE to Gaghiel and hopefully Gaghiel will lead both them and us to whoever is behind this," Israfel explained, ignoring the dirty looks Shamshel gave her.

Okito was horrified. "How would that? Why would you do that?"

"I awakened above the coffee shop where we spoke with Gaghiel. WILLE will review any surviving security footage of where we first appeared, notice who we talked to, and search for her in ways we simply cannot." Shamshel reluctantly explained.

"She approached Zeruel without fear," Israfel added. "Either she's insane or has access to something or someone that she feels puts her beyond the threat Zeruel posed to her. We corner her, we find exactly what that someone or something is."

"But you're putting Gaghiel in horrible danger! You're putting one of us directly in WILLE's sights!" Okito protested.

How could they be that careless? That sloppy?

"She's a traitor," Shamshel was defiant. "If she could, she would sell us all out to Katasurgi in exchange for immunity. We owe her nothing."

Sachiel slammed Shamshel against the wall in a feat of blind anger. His hands locked tightly around her throat. She stared back at him with red hateful eyes.

"SHE IS ONE OF US!" he howled. "We're a species that numbers barely more than a baker's dozen and you sold one of us out!"

He let go, walking away in disgust.

"What do you think Zeruel will do if we win?" Israfel questioned, a cruel smile across her face. "Do you think anything we could give her would prevent her from killing us all? Some of us are going to die. That is unavoidable. What's important is that the right ones die."

This couldn't be happening. This wasn't his dream, this wasn't what spent years planning, this wasn't what he gave up his friendship for.

But what option did he have? If he stayed, Angels would die. None of them seemed interesting in fleeing with him and he couldn't just sit by and do nothing? What could he do? What should he do?

Iruel walked in, most his fat having burned off since the last time Okito had seen him. Leaving his thin frame covered in a layer of loose skin that hung on him. In his hand was a phone.

"Do you have something?" Shamshel asked.

"Was looking through footage around the site where the light had appeared," he explained in a monotone voice "Found this."

The other angels, Okito included gathered around his phone and Iruel brought up a picture. It was an image of two people meeting at a street corner. One of them was unmistakably Gaghiel, the other…

"Is that Leliel?" Shamshel asked.

"No, I've met Leliel, that isn't her," Okito replied.

She was about his age, maybe a little younger, she had long black hair that reached to her back and wide rimmed glasses. She was wearing a school uniform, but the dark green and white color scheme was unfamiliar to Okito.

He never seen this girl before in his life.

"I wasn't able to pull the footage but after the meeting, Gaghiel retreated into one of the nearby buildings. There was no footage of her leaving and I searched the place top to bottom. She isn't there." Iruel explained

"...So she vanished when the light appeared?" Shamshel asked

Iruel nodded.

"We need to find the woman that Gaghiel is talking to," Okito said with renewed fire. "We need to find her, now."

/

Mercifully, things had been fairly peaceful after Rei's arrival. After about a dozen meetings and as many medical check-ups, WILLE had seen fit to release her, giving her the apartment next to Misato's. No one wanted Rei alone again but they weren't sure if she could handle living with the Pilots yet. Having her next door seemed like the safest option for the moment.

The peace held the day following Rei's arrival as well. It had been probably the laziest day Shinji had had in awhile. He stayed at the hotel with Ria while Asuka went to work. He spent most of the time practicing the cello while Ria stayed in her room. It had been the most peaceful day either of the two had had since Shamshel's attack in the garage. For a brief few hours, things were normal. They even had a nice family dinner when Asuka came home late that evening, something Shinji hadn't had in a very long time.

Things weren't perfect; his other self's hatred of him lingered over Shinji's thoughts for most of the day. He wanted to fix the mistake he had made but he knew there was no chance of that. Whatever relationship he had with his other self was gone and it would be weeks, if ever, before the younger Asuka would be willing to talk with him again. Thankfully the revelation had done little to Ria's bond with the two.

As the night grew dark, Asuka and Shinji decided, against Ria's misgivings, to try and contact Leliel. They left a red shirt in the window as requested.

For three hours they waited, but no phone call came. By then it was late, and both of them had grown tired. Frustrated and annoyed, the two retired to bed.

Shinji awoke with a start, Asuka's arm still draped around him.

The bedroom was dark and quiet. The only sounds were the distant noises of Kyoto itself, muffled by thick glass. And yet, something had woken him up. He found himself deeply disquieted.

"Hmm?" Asuka woke up, half asleep and confused.

"Something's wrong," Shinji whispered.

He looked around, seeing nothing. Less than he should have really, it was somehow too dark in the room, he could barely see past the bed.

"Someone's here!" Asuka yelped.

Shinji grabbed a gun from from his nightstand and pointed it towards where Asuka had been looking. His finger well away from the trigger.

"Who's there?" Shinji growled.

A figure stepped out of the darkness surrounding the closet, holding their hands up in a non-threatening manner.

The figure was short, about as tall as his younger self. Most of their body, from their head down to their ankles,was hidden beneath a large black jacket that seemed a size too large for the figure.They wore dark leather gloves, and yet their feet were clad in tennis shoes. Their head was hidden by the large hood of the jacket.

"Apologies," the figure said, the voice unmistakably female. "I had hoped for a more pleasant introduction but these are uncertain times. Rest assured, I mean you no harm. Quite the opposite, in fact."

She craned her head up, revealing a mask. The mask was devoid of any features save for alternating curved bands of black and white going across it horizontally. The pattern was painfully familiar to Shinji.

"You!" he exclaimed.

She nodded. "Hello again, Mr. Ikari. I am Leliel. I have a proposition for you."