DISCLAIMER : None of this belongs to me.  The characters, story, 
universe, lines, etc. of Evangelion belongs to GAINAX and whoever they 
sold the rights to.  The characters/story/etc. in "No Need for Tenchi" 
are not mine, either.

Warning : Be on the lookout for spoilers, coarse language, violence, 
and flagrant rewriting of the Eva storyline.

Foreword : Well, here you are.  This part is significantly longer than 
the first one, but then again, I'm covering a lot of territory, too.  I 
won't give away what happens; where's the fun in that?  I'll just get 
down to business.



" " denotes speech
^ ^ denotes thought
_ _ denotes emphasis (italics)

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

An Unwilling Angel
Author : Ryan Xavier
Part 2 : Battle of the Angels

The sun had not risen yet, but activity had already started in Tokyo-3.  
This included a small beach not far from the city.  A boy walked lazily 
across this dark beach, his hands in his pockets.  He wore the standard 
school uniform - a little out of place now that there was no school 
anymore - and looked as though he didn't have a care in the world.  The 
wind blew softly, rustling his gray hair.

The plane that had brought him was already making preparations to 
leave.  Fortunately, the Tokyo-3 airport had been out of range of the 
tremendous explosion that had ripped through the city just over a week 
earlier.  But instead of going straight to NERV headquarters as he was 
supposed to, he'd come here.

He had a lot on his mind.  He'd come here to replace one of the 
Children, who apparently could no longer control her Eva.  He had 
another order, too, directly from the heads of SEELE.  But, that was 
not supposed to be public knowledge.  In any case, he was not supposed 
to act on _that_ order until he was told to.

But central to his thoughts was a boy, whose presence he could sense in 
the city.  He could feel that the boy was incredibly lonely.  The 
person on the beach was not very familiar with his emotions, but he 
understood that he wanted to see this boy.  To comfort him and let him 
know that he wasn't alone.  He also knew the boy's name.

"Ikari-kun..." he whispered out.  The wind abruptly died at these 
words.

***

Shinji Ikari's eyes opened.  He blinked a little, staring at the once-
unfamiliar-but-now-kind-of-nice ceiling of his room.  He sat up and 
looked around.

He could've sworn he'd just heard someone mumble his name.  He reached 
over and switched on his desk lamp.  The light from the dim bulb was 
enough to reveal most of the room, showing that he was alone.  Unlike 
that incident a few days ago, no one had spent the night on his floor.

He shook his head a little to clear it, and then threw his legs over 
the edge of his bed and stood up.  Shivering a little as the cold night 
air hit his legs, he walked over to his closet.  He started picking 
through the clothes there.  

He'd heard a voice, he was sure.  It might have just been his 
imagination, but in any case, he was awake now.  What was he supposed 
to do while waiting for the sun to come up?  He could lie on his bed 
with his thoughts.  But that was all he ever did.

^Maybe a walk would help,^ he thought, as he took out a school uniform.  
He could clear his mind.  He could go down to the beach, where the 
sound of the waves would calm him down.  He could watch the sun come 
up, to help ease his nerves.

As he stepped out of his room, fully dressed, he was suddenly 
confronted by a set of blood-red eyes.  He drew back a little, 
surprised.

"Good morning, Shinji-kun," whispered a calm female voice from the 
darkness.

"Uh...hello, Rei," he whispered back.  He tried to move past her.  All 
Rei was wearing at the time was a big tee-shirt Misato had loaned her 
to sleep in.  He didn't want to be caught doing something indecent.  
Again.

"Where are you going?" she asked, stepping in front of him to block his 
progress.

"Uh...I couldn't sleep, so I thought I'd...you know, go for a walk."

"Will that help you sleep?"

It was a simple question, but it was enough to make Shinji start to 
doubt himself.  "Uh...no, I just thought I'd start early."

"But it's still dark out, Shinji-kun.  Sleep is important.  You should 
rest while you can."

Shinji suddenly realized that it was kind of silly to leave the 
apartment in the dead of night.  It would take him at least an hour to 
walk to the beach, and it was quite cold out.

"I...just need some time to think," he said, backing off, heading back 
for his room.

"Would you like to talk about it?" Rei asked, following him.

"Uh...no, thanks.  I think you've helped already, Aya...Rei.  I'll try 
getting back to sleep."

"Very well.  Good night, Shinji-kun."

"Good night," Shinji said, stepping back into his room.

After the door to Shinji's room had closed, Rei closed her eyes and 
leaned against the wall.  That had been close.  She'd heard the voice, 
too.  It had filled her with a sense of foreboding.  She didn't know 
what it meant, but it had been enough to wake her up.  Ironically, 
she'd been up trying to clear her mind, just like Shinji had.

And when Shinji had said he was going out, Rei had felt the sense of 
dread grow.  She hadn't wanted him to go.  Otherwise, he might find who 
had spoken.  And that might not...be desirable.

On top of this was her confused state of emotion.  Why was her heart 
beating so fast?  They'd just exchanged a few words in the hallway, 
that was all.  And why did she want to go into his room?  Just to make 
sure he didn't leave?

She stayed there for several minutes.  After a while, she could hear 
Shinji's light snoring coming from his room.  Breathing a sigh of 
relief, she padded back to her room, sliding the door shut behind her.

***

The sun rose slowly, golden light creeping forwards to cover the ocean 
and the beach of Tokyo-3.  The waves fell came and receded slowly, 
whispering their unintelligible language.

The boy was still there on the beach, alone.  This disturbed him, a 
little.  He'd been sure that the boy in the city would have come to 
greet the day with him.  But he shrugged it off.  As the sun crept over 
the beach, he started humming "Ode to Joy."

As the sun came over his pale face, illuminating his red eyes, he kept 
thinking about the boy in the city: Shinji Ikari.  Shinji, the pilot of 
Evangelion Unit-01.  The Eva that had a better combat record than all 
the other Evas combined.

"Ikari-kun..." the boy whispered again.

The boy smiled a little as a picture of Shinji's meek face formed in 
his mind.  He'd wanted to see this boy since before he could remember.  
And he felt they were going to meet soon.  He felt some remorse, 
knowing that his orders from SEELE would prevent any kind of lasting 
relationship.  However, the boy resolved to get to know this Shinji 
Ikari, for the short time he would be here.

And after his work was done...all would be one.

But there was much to do before then.

***

Shinji woke up as the sun hit his eyes.  He rolled out of bed, groggy.  
His mind wasn't functioning correctly, just yet.  He somehow made it 
over to the closet and started looking through clothes, before he 
realized that clothes were already laid out on his chair.  They were 
the clothes he'd put on last night...

He suddenly remembered the events from a few hours previous.  The 
voice...and then Rei...and then he'd gone back to sleep.  All in all, 
it had been a very odd couple of minutes.  Well, he couldn't do 
anything about it, now.  Maybe he'd talk with Rei about it later.

He took the shirt and pants off of his chair, checking to make sure 
they were still presentable before pulling them on.  As he was getting 
dressed, the door to his room slid open.

"Good morning, Shinji-kun.  How did you sleep?"

Had Shinji been living in a manga, a really big 'ACK' would have 
appeared over his head.  But as it was, he just turned his head to face 
the door, already the color of a ripe tomato.

"Rei!" he said, backing off out of view.

The blue-haired girl followed, wondering what was the matter.  "What?" 
she asked.

"C-could you just give me a minute to get dressed?"

"Of course,"  Rei remained said, remaining where she was.

Shinji turned an even deeper red.  "Uh...out in the hallway, please?" 
he asked, trying as best he could to pull his pants on.  "I like my 
privacy."

Rei thought that one over.  She looked as though she was going to say 
something, but then she nodded and left, without saying anything.

Shinji managed to calm down as he pulled his clothes on.  Having Rei as 
a houseguest had been interesting, these past few days.  The albino 
girl was strange enough to work with, but when she could appear at any 
moment...it was unsettling.  Shinji wasn't about to ask her to leave, 
though, given the circumstances.

Right now, he could hear her talking with Misato.  ^Good,^ he thought.  
^At least she's opening up a little.^  He finished getting dressed and 
then walked out of his room, heading for the kitchen/dining room of the 
Katsuragi apartment.

"Good morning," he said, trying to make himself cheerful.

"Good morning, Shin-chan!" Misato called out from her seat at the 
table.  She had obviously had her morning beer, and she already had 
another one in her hand.

Rei had just sat down at the table, a steaming cup of tea sitting in 
front of her.  "Please continue, Katsuragi-san," she said, quietly.  
"I'm afraid I still don't quite understand."

"Oh, yeah," Misato said.  "Well, Rei...you just...aren't supposed to 
walk in on people early in the morning."

"Why?"

"Because usually they still need to get dressed.  And it's not polite 
to look at people half-clothed."

"Shinji-kun is doing so now.  Does that mean he is being impolite?"

Misato looked up at Shinji, who'd been listening.  Then she looked down 
at herself.  She was wearing her normal morning clothes, which were 
enough to give most teenage males significant nosebleeds.  Shinji 
blushed again.

"IthinkI'llmakebreakfast," he said, rushing off to the kitchen.

Misato laughed a little.  Rei cocked her head, trying to understand.  
"Well, I guess I'm the exception," Misato said.  "I'm just used to it."

"Oh," Rei replied.  They sat in silence, listening to Shinji start 
making breakfast in the kitchen.  Then Misato tried to talk again.

"But anyway, Rei, it's not nice for ladies to walk in on men, unless 
they're sleeping together," she said, finishing by raising the beer can 
to her lips.

"I have slept with Shinji-kun."

The sound of a plate breaking could be heard from the kitchen.  It 
synchronized nicely with Misato spitting out a mouthful of beer all 
over the table and the girl seated at it.

Rei calmly picked up a napkin and began to wipe the beer and spittle 
off of her face.  Misato sputtered and tried to find her breath, while 
Shinji didn't move; he just stared at the wall, eyes wide.  In this 
brief time, Pen-Pen came out of his freezer, stared at Shinji for a 
moment, as though deciding whether or not to disturb the boy, then went 
out into the living room with Misato and Rei.

It was several long moments before Shinji blinked and went back to 
making breakfast.  He tried hard not to eavesdrop anymore.

Meanwhile, Misato tried to clarify the issue.  "Uh...(cough) Rei, did 
you (cough) mean sleep in the same _room_?  Or have you (cough) 
really...er..."

"I would have said if we were having sex," Rei said, her voice still 
calm.  She quietly took a sip of her tea.  "If you remember, I spent 
the night in his room several days ago, just after I arrived here."

"O...okay," Misato said, nodding.  She looked into her beer can, trying 
to ascertain how much was left, and if she should get another one.  She 
noticed Pen-pen had come up next to Rei.  The penguin looked at the two 
women, ascertaining if there was any food to be had here.

Rei's eyes flickered down to the bird, then back up to Misato.  "Of 
course, with the Second gone, I no longer have to stay in Shinji-kun's 
room," she said.  "Although I would not be opposed to doing so."

Another plate broke in the kitchen.

"You better clean those up, Shinji!" Misato called out over her 
shoulder.

"Y-yes ma'am!"

Rei took another leisurely sip from her cup.  "Has there been any 
progress in finding the Second?" she asked.

Misato looked back, a little surprised that she was actually having a 
_conversation_ with the girl who used to define "reclusive".  She shook 
it off and answered.  "No," she said, sadly.  "No one's seen Asuka, and 
she hasn't tried to communicate with anyone."

Rei nodded in response.  Several days ago, Asuka had run out of the 
apartment, and had just...disappeared.  They'd all assumed she'd be 
back soon, but it had been nearly a week, now.

Of course, with most of Tokyo-3 in ruins now, the much-vaunted 
surveillance system was worth almost nothing.  Asuka could remain 
hidden for as long as she wanted.  Misato just hoped the girl wouldn't 
do anything she'd regret later.

But, on the upside, it had given Rei a place to sleep.  Misato felt 
bad, giving Asuka's room to someone else, and so soon after she'd left, 
but there were no other bedrooms in the apartment.

Shinji came in a few minutes later, with three plates.  Just toast for 
Misato, noodles for Rei, and eggs for himself.  "So what are we doing 
today, Misato-san?" he asked.  He moved to sit down, but then he 
noticed Pen-pen's hungry look.  Groaning, he turned around to go get 
something for the bird.

He failed to notice Rei's sidelong glance at him, and the slight blush 
creeping over the girl's cheeks.  Misato _did_ notice, however.  She 
glanced between the pair, covering the move by taking another sip of 
beer.

Rei had been acting...strangely around Shinji these past few days.  
Misato hadn't been able to understand it at first.  Then, just 
yesterday, she'd given up looking at Rei as "The Emotionless One" and 
tried looking at her as though she were just another girl.  It had hit 
her like a freight train.  Rei wouldn't...like Shinji, would she?  But 
there were definite signs.  It was too bad that Shinji could be a 
little slow on the uptake, sometimes.  Now if only she had time to push 
him into seeing it.

Misato sighed.  No, today was going to have to be all-work.  She'd have 
to see about swinging some time off for Shinji.  And then finding an 
excuse not to be in the apartment herself.

"Misato-san?" Shinji asked, coming back after leaving some leftovers 
from dinner for Pen-pen.

"Oh!  Sorry, I was just thinking about something else, there," she 
said, laughing it off.  "Uh...right.  We're supposed to meet the Fifth 
Child today, and probably run him through some tests."

Shinji sighed and then nodded somberly, looking at the floor.  "How 
much longer does this have to go on?" he asked himself.

"Do not worry, Shinji-kun," Rei said, hearing him.  "The Dead Sea 
Scrolls predict only seventeen Angels, which mean only one is left."

Shinji nodded again.  "I guess you're right," he said, opening his 
eyes, but not looking up.  For a split second, Rei actually appeared 
saddened that she couldn't make Shinji feel better.  But if she felt 
that way, she hid it almost immediately.

They finished breakfast in relative silence.  "Right..." Misato said, 
once they were done.  "Well, I should..." she trailed off as the phone 
rang.  "I'll get it," she said, getting up.

Shinji glanced over at the girl next to him.  "So what's your day look 
like, Rei?"

Rei glanced at him questioningly, then shrugged.  "I suppose I will 
find more books to read."

Shinji nodded.  "I'm really sorry you have to stay here while we're 
gone.  You've got to be getting some cabin fever."

"It is all right."

Shinji shook his head.  ^No, it's _not_ all right,^ he thought.  ^A 
girl your age should be able to go talk with her friends, go to the 
movies, and...I don't know, whatever it is girls do.^  But Rei couldn't 
do that.  With a perfect double of the girl working at NERV, it was 
safer for her to stay locked up in here, with no one but a warm water 
penguin for company.  The really tragic part was that the girl didn't 
seem to mind.  Shinji got the feeling Rei was used to being confined in 
a room.

"Will...you be able to stay for a while?" Rei asked, hesitantly.

Shinji paused at the unexpected question, then shrugged.  "I guess," he 
said.  "We don't have any tests until this afternoon."   He looked up 
as he heard Misato's voice become more excited.  Because of this, he 
didn't see Rei smile at what he'd just said.

"I believe Katsuragi-san has several films, which I was considering as 
a way to pass the time," Rei began, hesitantly.  "If you would like to 
watch them with me - "

Rei was cut off as Misato charged back in.  "Shinji!" she called out.  
"They found her!"

"What?" Shinji asked, jumping to his feet.

"They found Asuka!" Misato yelled out, tearing down the hall to her 
room.  "She's just been moved to the medical ward!"

"How is she?" Shinji asked, running to the door and struggling into his 
shoes.

"I don't know, they wouldn't tell me.  But they say we can see her."

Shinji nodded wordlessly.  He was having trouble tying his shoelaces.

There was a flurry of activity, and soon afterwards Misato was at the 
door, fully dressed and with Shinji at her side.  "We'll tell you how 
it goes," she said to Rei, who was still at the table.

"Yeah.  See you this evening, Rei," Shinji said, following Misato out 
the door.  He closed the door quickly.

Rei hadn't moved the whole time.  She'd just been watching the 
activity, trying to understand what was going on.  Her morning had 
actually had an opportunity to spend time with Shinji, and now...

She looked at Pen-pen, who had waddled into the room.  "Would _you_ 
consider joining me in watching some of Major Katsuragi's films?" she 
asked the bird.

***

Asuka lay in the hospital bed, staring at the ceiling.  She'd just 
recently been brought here by NERV representatives.  She could have 
gotten out of bed, but at the moment she saw no point in doing so.

"Why am I even bothering?" she asked the faceless ceiling.

She'd been hiding in the rubble of Tokyo-3 for the past few days.  
She'd seen a few NERV men moving around, but she was always able to 
dodge them before they saw her.  She got the feeling they weren't 
trying very hard to find her, though.  ^Probably already found a 
replacement,^ she thought.

She'd been alone, the one thing she really feared the most.  No one to 
impress with her abilities.  No one to praise her.  And no one to 
distract her from her thoughts.  She'd been left sitting alone with 
memories she could normally push down and concentrate on something 
else.  But there hadn't _been_ anything else to distract her.

Eventually, it had gotten to be too much.  She hadn't wanted to stay 
away any longer.  She would never say it out loud, but she'd missed the 
people at NERV.  Tokyo-3 was no Germany, but it had been her home.  And 
she couldn't run from home forever.  So, she'd just sat down in a 
ruined house, and waited for them to find her.  And now...here she was.

She heard the door to the hospital room open.  Asuka rolled to face 
away from the door, not wanting to anyone to see her the way she was 
now.  Footsteps came up to the side of the bed.  She didn't bother 
looking up; she was sure it would be some NERV official, or a doctor.

"Sohryuu?" came a boy's voice.

Asuka started, rolling over and sitting up.  She looked up at the boy 
who'd come in.  He was not tall, but somehow seemed to dominate the 
room.  His red eyes caught her attention, reminding her of Wondergirl.  
She tried to get angry at the intrusion, but she couldn't summon up the 
motivation for even that.

"Who are you?" she mumbled, suddenly becoming conscious of how 
revealing a hospital gown could be.  She got out of bed and stood up 
straight, wanting to at least face her visitor eye-to-eye.

"Just someone come to visit you," the boy said, putting his hands in 
his pockets.  He slowly started circling the bed, over to the side 
Asuka was standing on.  "I'd heard you had a rough time out there."

Asuka looked at him suspiciously.  "Yeah..." she said, slowly.  "But 
how'd you know I came back?  I only just got here."

"I have my sources," the boy said, stopping at the foot of the bed.  
"Have you even seen a doctor, yet?"

Asuka shook her head.  "I'm just not important enough to check up on," 
she said quietly, crossing her arms and turning away.  In doing so, she 
failed to see the malicious glint appear in the boy's eyes.

Asuka was about to say something else, but stopped as she felt her arm 
going cold.  She tried to lift it up to look at it, but it wouldn't 
move.  Then her legs failed her.  She fell backwards, the boy rushing 
forwards and catching her before she hit her head on the floor.  He 
carefully lifted her up and lay her back down on the bed, ignoring the 
pleading look on her face.  

The boy actually appeared amused as he stood back up.  "Don't worry," 
he said, soothingly.  "I'll let you live.  I only need to get you out of the way for a while."

"You...mother..fuc..." Asuka tried to say.  She didn't finish; 
consciousness left her, and she went limp.  Her eyes were still open... 
but they saw nothing at all.

Kaoru sighed, watching her chest slowly rise and fall.  He turned and 
looked up as he heard footsteps approaching from the outside.

The door opened up, and a slightly overweight doctor, one of the few 
people who'd stayed behind after the city had been destroyed, walked 
in.

"We've only just admitted her, but they said her condition was good," 
the doctor was saying.  "Oh, Nagisa-san, I see you beat us here."

Before Kaoru could reply, a purple-haired woman Kaoru vaguely 
remembered from the NERV staff files pushed past the doctor and into 
the room.  She was followed soon after by none other than Shinji Ikari.

"Asuka!" both Misato and Shinji called out at once.

"Asuka, are you feeling..." Shinji said, trailing off.

"Asuka, how did you..." Misato said at the same time.  Neither of them 
had completed their sentences, since they could both see Asuka was just 
staring blankly at the ceiling.

"Mr. Nayamura says he found her in a bathtub out in the ruins," the 
doctor began, not having seen Asuka yet.  "She's on the edge of 
malnutrition, but she'll..."

"What's wrong with her?" Misato asked, seeing that Asuka still hadn't 
moved.

The doctor peered past her.  "Sohryuu-san?" he asked the comatose girl.  
When Asuka remained silent, he slowly went over to her and checked her 
pulse.  Finding one, he and turned and looked at them helplessly.

"She was fine when we admitted her..." he began.

Misato grabbed him and pushed him against the wall.  Seemingly 
appearing from out of nowhere, her gun was in her hand, and pressed 
into the man's head.  "You're telling me she just spontaneously went 
_comatose?_" she asked.

The doctor looked at the gun pressed into his head and proceeded to wet 
himself.  But he still managed a shaky nod.  "I don't know!" he 
shouted.  "She hasn't seen a doctor yet!"

While Misato tried to get an answer out of the doctor, Shinji walked up 
to Asuka, grabbed her by the shoulders, and shook her.

"Please, Asuka..." he said.  "Don't do this.  I'm sorry I slapped you.  
Don't do this to me.  Wake up!"

"Stop it," Kaoru said, putting one hand on Shinji's shoulder.

Shinji turned, noticed Kaoru, and backed off immediately.  He'd been so 
concerned with how Asuka was doing that he hadn't noticed that there 
was someone already here.  Even though Shinji knew he'd never seen the 
boy before in his life, for some reason the voice sounded familiar...

"You'll only hurt her if you try to move her," Kaoru said, gingerly 
smoothing out Asuka's hair.  "She's still alive; you needn't worry, 
Ikari-Shinji-kun."

Misato turned away from the doctor, who by this point was too scared to 
say anything at all.  "Who are you?" she asked Kaoru.

"And how did you know my name?" Shinji asked, soon after.

Kaoru held up his hands, smiling a little.  He did his best to meet 
both their gazes.  "I'm Kaoru Nagisa," he replied.  "And I'd come to 
visit Sohryuu."

"Why?" Misato asked, her hand twitching on her gun.

"I'd seen a young girl out living on her own among the ruins.  I 
decided I'd check on her after I heard she'd been recovered."

"Was she like this when you came here?" Misato asked, calming down and 
holstering her gun.

"Yes," Kaoru sighed out, meeting her gaze evenly and putting his hands 
in his pockets.  "She was comatose when I arrived.  I can't understand 
why," he said, sympathy filling his voice, as he turned to look back at 
the German girl.

"That does it," Misato said, turning towards the door.  "I'm going to 
get some answers.  Shinji, wait here for me," she added on, as she 
dragged the blubbering doctor out the door.

The two boys remained in silence.  Shinji glanced at Asuka and 
shuddered.  In an effort to think about something else, he looked over 
at Kaoru.   "You still didn't tell me," he said.  "How do you know my 
name?"

"Everyone knows your name," the boy said, turning his head to look at 
Shinji.  "I don't mean to sound rude, but you're rather ignorant of 
your own position."

"My...position?" Shinji asked, hesitantly.

"The pilot of Eva Unit-01," Kaoru said.  He looked back at Asuka.  
"Currently the only viable Eva unit."

Shinji shook his head.  "Why did this have to happen?" he asked 
himself.  They stood there in silence for another moment, before Shinji 
got fed up and walked out.  Kaoru followed him.

Shinji leaned against the wall outside the door.  "Not again..." he 
whispered, sliding down the wall to sit down on the floor.

"What's wrong?" Kaoru asked, sitting down next to the boy.

Shinji glanced over at him.  "It's not your business," he said.  "Why 
should you bother?"

"Because I care about others," Kaoru replied, simply.  "I didn't know 
Sohryuu personally, yet I still came here.  Because I wanted to make 
sure she was all right."

"Not many people left like that..." Shinji said, trailing off.  He 
glanced at Kaoru.  "What are you doing here, anyway, Nagisa-kun?  In 
the city, I mean."

Kaoru shrugged.  "Various reasons.  But...Ikari-kun, what did you 
mean?"

"Ah..." Shinji began.  "It's just...it seems like every time I start to 
get close to someone, something like this happens," he said, looking at 
the floor.  "Just under a year ago, I actually had friends in this 
city.  Two guys, Touji and Kensuke.  They were fun to be around."

"And now they've left, while you've had to stay behind," Kaoru said, 
completing the thought for him.

Shinji nodded, but hesitantly.  "But...before that..." he said, looking 
at his right hand.  In his mind's eye, he could see the possessed Unit-
01 clutching Unit-03's entry plug.  And then, crushing it.

"And you feel you're being hurt again?"

"I _know_ I'm being hurt again.  Asuka was like a sister to me," Shinji 
said.  "She was a brat, but I guess I got used to her.  The apartment 
seems so...quiet, without her around."  He looked up, back over at 
Kaoru.  He smiled a little, to the confusement of the gray-haired boy.

"I don't even know why I'm telling you all this," Shinji said.  "I'm 
just giving you my burdens, Nagisa-kun."

"The Lillum all need someone to rely on," Kaoru replied.  "It is not in 
our nature to live alone."

Shinji shook his head.  "Sure is easier, though."  He rested his head 
against the cold metal wall, eyes closed.

Kaoru frowned.  "Is there more you'd like to say?" he asked, lightly 
touching Shinji's shoulder.  The other boy opened his eyes and looked 
at Kaoru.  

"I will listen, if you want, Ikari-kun," the gray-haired boy finished.

"I don't know," Shinji replied, glancing over at the door.  
"What...what did you mean by 'Lillum'?  What's that?"

"Just a term I use," Kaoru said, taking his hand from Shinji's 
shoulder.  He folded his hands behind his head and leaned against the 
wall.  "Lillith is the mother of all life, and humans are one of her 
children."

"Oh."

Conversation died after that.  They sat there, in silence, until Misato 
came walking back up the hallway.

"Well, the people here aren't being any help," the Major said.  "Are 
you all right, Shinji?"

"I'll live," Shinji said, in a near-monotone.  He stood up.  Misato 
gave him a sympathetic look, but she honestly didn't know what to say.  
Shaking her head, she turned and walked down the hallway, with Shinji 
in tow.  The boy soon noticed that Kaoru had gotten up as well, and was 
walking alongside him.

"I guess here's where we say goodbye, Nagisa-kun," Shinji said, making 
eye contact again and trying to smile.  "Thanks for listening."

"It was my pleasure, Ikari-kun.  And I don't believe we yet have to 
part.  You are headed to NERV, correct?"

"Uh...yeah."

"As am I.  There is a synch test in just a few hours, if I remember 
correctly.  I cannot be late for that."

Shinji stopped walking, feeling the blood drain from his face.  
"You...you're..."

"The Fifth Child?" Kaoru asked.  He stopped walking as well, turning to 
face Shinji.  "Yes," he answered.  "I suppose I'll be tested in Unit-
02."

Shinji was dumbfounded.  This boy...who seemed like a nice enough 
kid...was a _pilot_?

"And call me Kaoru," the boy added on.  "I'd...like to be on more 
familiar terms."

Shinji shook his head to clear it.  "S...sure thing...Kaoru-kun.  I 
guess you can call me Shinji."  ^What am I _doing_?^ he asked himself.  
^Everyone I ever meet gets hurt...why am I trying to make another 
friend?^

"Hey, you two!  Hurry up!" Misato called out, already at the end of the 
hallway.

"C-coming, Misato-san!" Shinji replied.  He jogged off after the woman, 
with Kaoru easily matching stride.  "Do you need a ride, Kaoru-kun?" he 
asked, as they caught up to Misato.

Kaoru smiled.  "Yes, I do, Shinji-kun."

***

Ritsuko took another drink from her coffee, letting the caffeine work 
its magic on her system.  She followed this up with a long drag on her 
cigarette.

In front of her were sevearal monitors.  She'd just accessed the files 
of the NERV video cameras, like she did every week.  She wasn't really 
supposed to be doing this, but if Ikari knew, he wasn't saying 
anything.

Those last files had been interesting.  One of started with Asuka lying 
in her bed, talking to herself.  Then, it had gone to static, clearing 
some minutes later.  After it had cleared, Misato, Shinji, and that new 
boy had been visible.  And, more importantly, Asuka had been in a coma.  
Something was up, and Ritsuko knew it.  If only she could've seen what 
had happened in those few minutes...

A gentle knocking at the door made Ritsuko jump.  She said nothing, but 
she extinguished her cigarette.

"Sempai..." came Maya's voice from outside.  "The Fifth Child will be 
arriving soon.  Don't you want to be there for the test?"

Ritsuko held back a sigh of relief.  If it had been anyone other than 
Maya, she'd probably be under arrest now.  "Already?" she asked.  
"Fine, I'll be out in a few minutes."

"...okay, sempai.  See you there."

Ritsuko shook her head, smiling a little as she heard Maya's footsteps 
echo off down the hallway.  It was adorable, how much the other woman 
looked up to her.  

But she didn't have time for sentimentality.  She only had a few 
minutes left, and there was still something she needed to do.

Her fingers flew across the keyboard she was sitting in front of.  
Taking another sip of her coffee, she watched as one of the views 
shifted, to the real-time view from the Katsuragi apartment.  Ritsuko 
doubted Misato even knew there were video cameras hidden in her home.  
She always _had_ depended on Ritsuko to clean up her messes.

On the screen, she could see Rei sitting on the couch.  The girl was 
resting her elbow on the arm of the couch and resting her chin on her 
hand.  She was watching one of Misato's movies, from the looks of it.  
Pen-pen was sitting with her on the couch, a beer clutched in one of 
his flippers.  Ritsuko couldn't see Rei's face from this angle, but she 
could almost swear the girl looked bored.

She stared at the image for a while.  She felt terrible, inside.  She 
was looking at a living, breathing human being, who just over a week 
ago, she'd been ready to kill.  For no reason other than because Gendo 
had told her to.  ^What have I become?^ she wondered.  ^Have I really 
gotten as bad as my mother?  No, I'm worse; she did what she did out of 
her own free will.  I did it just because I was told to.^

"I'm sorry..." Ritsuko whispered, touching the screen.  If only she 
could apologize to the girl in person.

She had intended to show Misato the truth.  She, if anyone, had a right  
to know who Rei Ayanami was.  But Ritsuko had changed her mind when 
she'd seen Rei at the apartment.  If Misato knew the truth, then she - 
and probably Shinji - would look at the girl _very_ differently.  And 
Rei didn't need to become an outcast, right now.  

Ritsuko shook her head, her logical side fighting with her emotional 
side.  Rei's survival was already complicating things, just because...

^Just because I decided not to sell my soul,^ she thought.

Frowning, she tapped several keys, accessing a back door she'd found 
into Caspar.  After she'd put in a few more codes, she started up a 
program she'd only recently written.  Not even Gendo knew about it; 
she'd taken precautions this time to make sure he didn't find out.  It 
was all she could do for Rei, at this moment.

She looked at the screen as it hazed over for a minute with static.  It 
cleared up a moment later.  Only now, a new image was there.  Multiple 
scenes from past video files had been quickly mixed and matched, 
creating a rather convincing shot of an empty apartment.  This was what 
anyone else viewing the video files would see.

Nodding, Ritsuko shut down the computer terminal and went to go conduct 
the test on the Fifth Child.

***

Misato dropped Shinji and Kaoru off at the front gate, and then drove 
off to park her car.  The two boys went into NERV headquarters.  Shinji 
led the way, having long ago memorized the path they would have to 
take.

He headed for the changing room, where they'd get ready before seeing 
Kaoru do his stuff.  His mind was full of conflicting thoughts.  He'd 
just lost Asuka to some freak coma.  But here next to him was someone 
new.  He didn't like that they'd replaced Asuka so quickly, but what 
could he do about it?  In any case, he knew that Kaoru would be 
important.  Sure, there was just one fight to go, but the Angels had 
been getting progressively tougher.  There was no telling what this 
next one would be like.

He was about to make the turn down the last hallway to the changing 
room when he saw movement out the corner of his eye.  He turned his 
head to look.

He saw Rei...sort of.  Well, someone who looked a heck of a lot like 
Rei.  She was riding the escalator up to this floor.  She had the 
standard emotionless mask on, as well as the school uniform she 
infallibly wore to NERV.

"That is the...First Child, correct?" Kaoru asked, following Shinji's 
gaze.

Shinji hesitated, then nodded.  "Yeah," he said.  "But her Eva's gone."

"Interesting.  Go on ahead, Shinji-kun.  I'd like to meet this First 
Child."

"Good luck," Shinji replied, sarcastically.  "She's not 
very...sociable."  He instantly felt bad for having said that.  He 
quickly thought of the Rei back at the apartment.  Everything he said 
about _this_ Rei, he couldn't help thinking he was also saying it about 
the Rei back home.

Kaoru flashed his smile again, then turned to go meet Rei at the head 
of the elevator.

Confused as to why Kaoru would be so interested, Shinji turned and 
headed for the changing room.  He got there without any trouble.  He 
opened up his locker and got dressed.  It took him a very short time, 
since he'd changed into his plugsuit so many times now he could do it 
without thinking.  A click of a wrist button, and the suit contracted 
around him.

He checked the clock.  He still had a good fifteen minutes before the 
test.  Sighing, he picked up his SDAT player and lay down on the 
nearest available bench.  He knew he should probably be up with the 
Evas, getting ready, but he didn't want to have to spend any more time 
in the entry plug than he had to.

He slid a tape into the SDAT player, and put his headphones on.  In 
moments, soothing music was playing into his ears.  he closed his eyes, 
waiting for someone to tell him to get moving.

"What are you listening to?" came a voice in front of him.  He opened 
his eyes, quickly noticing Kaoru's face in front of him.  It looked 
like he'd said whatever he'd wanted to say to Rei.

"Nothing much," Shinji replied, hesitantly.  "I think it's Bach."

"I love music," the boy said, walking off down the banks of lockers.  
"It's possibly the greatest achievement of human culture."

"Uh...yeah," Shinji said, shutting off the music.  "I guess.  I was 
just passing time."

"Hm," the boy said, finding what appeared to be his locker and opening 
it up.  "Were you waiting for me, Shinji-kun?"

"I...uh...maybe..." Shinji replied, hesitantly.  He tried hard to block 
out Kaoru, but he couldn't help himself.  He liked the forwardness of 
this boy, as well as the hint that he was being totally honest.

^I know I'll just get hurt again,^ he thought, ^but I can't go back to 
living alone, either.  That might actually be worse.^
  
Shinji politely turned his head as Kaoru changed.  He knew Kaoru was a 
guy, but, still...

Unfortunately, turning his head gave him a good view of the curtain 
between him and Rei, who had somehow come down here without him 
noticing.  She was also in the process of pulling off her clothes.  
Shinji blushed and looked back in Kaoru's general direction.

Kaoru changed his clothes methodically, not appearing to care if Shinji 
was looking at him or not.  All the time, he kept that slight smile on 
his face.  He sealed his black-and-red plugsuit just as Rei stepped out 
from behind the curtain, fully clothed.  The girl walked briskly past 
them, not even offering a glance in their general direction.

"I guess we should be going, Kaoru-kun," Shinji said.

"I suppose so," Kaoru replied, his smile widening.  Seeing Kaoru smile 
made Shinji happier, too.  For once, someone in this city was not 
always so depressed.  Something about the boy seemed carefree and 
optimistic, though Shinji couldn't place what.

Shinji sat up and put his SDAT player away.  They started up towards 
the entry plugs.

Shinji couldn't help noticing the striking resemblance between Kaoru 
and the remaining pilot.  As they arrived in the testing room, Shinji 
glanced over at the Rei lookalike, who was waiting calmly for their 
arrival.  She didn't seem to notice that he was looking at her, but 
Shinji knew better from experience.  In any case, he didn't know what 
to make of the resemblance.  Maybe they were distant relatives.

He climbed up into Unit-01's entry plug, assisted by the techs that 
were currently on standby.  As he did this, Shinji kept an eye on 
Kaoru, who appeared to be having no trouble getting into Unit-02's 
entry plug.  Almost as though he did this every day, the other boy slid 
into the plug and closed it, before Shinji had finished getting into 
his own.

Surprised at the boy's speed, Shinji finished getting into the mockup 
for Unit-01's entry plug, and then closed it behind him.

The test began.

***

Rei was sitting on the couch, reading a book.  A manga actually, 
entitled "No Need for Tenchi, Volume 7."  She'd run out of things to 
read days ago, and had gone looking for other things to do.  In her 
search, she'd found a surprisingly extensive manga collection at the 
back of Misato's closet, buried under a bunch of old clothes.  And 
she'd been reading that since then.

Every once in a while, a hint of a smile would cross her lips.  This 
was definitely not fine reading, but it was interesting, nonetheless.  
And the characters seemed kind of familiar, actually.

She was dressed in a blouse and skirt, and for once, her hair had been 
brushed into some semblance of order.  Misato had been able to procure 
a few sets of used girls clothing, from sources she didn't name.  The 
clothes didn't fit very well, but Rei had made the most of what she 
had.  

But then she'd remembered how she'd felt at the possibility of Shinji 
staying a little longer in the morning.  She had been excited, but 
she'd also become self-conscious, a rare emotion for her.  She'd 
actually been worried about how she looked.  After Shinji and Misato 
had left, Rei had wondered if it was time for a change.  

So, she'd made an effort to look nicer.  She'd actually spent time 
considering the way clothes made her look, choosing what her limited 
experience could define as "pretty".  She'd never felt like cleaning 
up, or putting on something nice before, but she was willing to give it 
a shot.  She found herself wishing she had a mirror to try 
straightening out her hair again.

She looked up as she heard the door unlock.  She set the manga on the 
couch cushion and smoothed out her skirt.  She looked up, expecting to 
see Shinji walk in through the door, like he always did.

Instead, Misato came in, breathing hard.

"Rei, quick, you have to leave for a minute," she said all at once.  
Rei was still able to make sense of it, fortunately.

"Why?" Rei asked, getting to her feet.  She headed for her shoes, by 
the door.

"Because Shinji's made a new friend at NERV, and this kid's seen the 
Rei who works there.  Shinji-kun's brought his friend here for a little 
while.  I just need you to lay low for an hour or two."

"Oh," Rei said, disappointment seeping into her voice.  "Very well, 
sir."  She put on her shoes and headed out the door.

"Do you need anything?" Misato asked the girl, as she started down the 
hallway.

"No," Rei said, without turning or slowing down.  She was out of sight 
in moments.

Misato shrugged and looked the other way, just in time to see Shinji 
coming around the corner with Kaoru.  The two boys were chatting as 
though they'd been friends for years.  Misato smiled, looking at them.  
It was nice to see Shinji reaching out, for once.  He and Asuka had 
never really gotten along, but this boy...who knew.  Maybe they could 
really be friends.

The two boys went inside the apartment.  Shinji was currently telling 
Kaoru about his first battle in an Eva.  It was amazing; normally 
Shinji clammed up when Evas were being discussed.

"That was very brave," Kaoru said.  "Were you scared?"

"Well, yeah, but I knew R...Ayanami would die if I didn't do it."

"That was honorable, Shinji.  I doubt many people would have done so."

"Th...thanks."

They got into the living room just as the first raindrops hit Misato's 
windowpanes.

"Well, looks like we got in just in time," Misato said, going to get a 
beer.

"Yeah," Shinji said.  He refrained from looking around for their other 
houseguest; he knew Misato had told Rei to lay low.  He looked over at 
Kaoru, who was staring out the windows.

"Something wrong, Kaoru-kun?"

"Rain," he said, as though he hadn't heard Shinji.  "The planet is 
renewing itself.  Even the Lillum are subject to its mercies, for all 
their advancement."

"Uh...yeah."

"Or perhaps the sky is crying.  Though that is natural, as well.  We 
all need to cry once in a while," he said, turning his head to look at 
Shinji.  "Don't we, Shinji-kun?"

Shinji found himself smiling.  "I guess you're right," he said.  
"Though too much can hurt, just as well."  He looked out the windows, 
too, trying to see what Kaoru could.

But he couldn't concentrate.  He kept worrying about what Rei was going 
to do, now that it was raining.

***

Rei was angry.  Normally, she would have been intrigued by the new 
sensation, but this time, she wasn't.  It just seemed like what was 
natural for her to feel.

She stalked down the hallway.  Although her face was still fairly calm, 
she seemed to irradiate fury.  Had anyone been in the hallway, they 
would have immediately gotten out of the way if they saw the blue-
haired girl.  

^Shinji-kun's made a new friend.  Good for him,^ she thought to 
herself.  ^It's _good_ for him to do that.  With all his other friends 
gone, he must _really_ be lonely.^

She turned and started descending the flights of stairs to the street.  
She didn't know where she was going, but she knew she had to get out 
for a while.  And not just because she'd been ordered to.

^Shinji-kun _knew_ I'd be here,^ she thought.  ^Why'd he have to bring 
someone home?  And I had to try looking nicer _today_.  I'm never going 
to change again.^

She reached the building's lobby and looked outside.  Her shoulders 
sagged as she saw that it had started to rain.  It wasn't very heavy; 
normally she wouldn't have minded walking through it, so long as the 
trip was short.  But she didn't want to mess up the clothes she'd spent 
so much time picking out.

"There's no point in changing," she muttered to herself, giving voice 
to her most recent thought.  "It just makes existence more difficult."

"But you can't avoid it, can you, Rei?"

Rei stopped and whirled around.  She was met with the sight of Ritsuko 
Akagi, who for once was not wearing a lab coat.

"Sorry if I scared you," she said.  "But I followed Misato here.  I 
assume you've got some time to yourself, right now?"

Rei nodded in response, staring into Ritsuko's face.

"Then there's...something I'd like to show you, if you don't mind."

Rei paused, thinking it over.  Then: "Very well, sir."

Ritsuko pushed the door open, and they stepped out into the rain, 
sharing Ritsuko's umbrella.  They walked in silence for several 
minutes.  Ritsuko lit a cigarette, trying to figure out what she'd say.

They stopped in front of Ritsuko's car, which was parked behind 
Misato's building.  They both got in, and Ritsuko started the engine, 
quietly driving off.

"I've seen you on the video surveillance system covering the Katsuragi 
apartment," Ritsuko began.  "I figured you'd come here.  You wouldn't 
know where else to go."

Rei remained silent.

"It was a good choice, anyway.  And don't worry about the surveillance 
system.  I've had a back door into it since it was set up, and I've got 
Caspar doctoring the tapes.  No one will know about you, unless you 
want them to."

Rei still said nothing.  She could feel Akagi had not just come to tell 
her this.

"Rei, I came because you're the only one I can safely talk to."

"Why is that, sir?"

"Because everyone thinks you're dead.  And if you're dead, they can't 
interrogate you."  She left out the part that _she_ had been the one 
who'd nearly killed Rei.  It didn't need to be said, and Ritsuko felt 
guilty enough about it, already.

Rei waited patiently for Akagi to continue.  She stared straight ahead, 
taking in the path they were following.  They appeared to be going to 
NERV.

"I came to tell you what I know about the Seventeenth Angel," Ritsuko 
began.

***

"AAACHOO!"

"That's a nasty sneeze, Nagisa-san," Misato said.  "Do you have a 
cold?"

"No, I believe not," Kaoru said, rubbing at his itchy nose.  Shrugging, 
he turned back to the movie he was watching with Shinji.

***

"I need to warn you to warn you about Shinji's new friend," Akagi said, 
after a moment.  "He's the Fifth Child, Kaoru Nagisa."

"Why do you need to warn me?"

Ritsuko sighed to herself, then glanced back and forth reflexively, 
even though they were still in the car.  "Because _he_ is the 
Seventeenth Angel," she said, finally.  "He is the last one."

Rei was visibly surprised by what Akagi had just revealed.  She turned 
to see if Ritsuko was being honest.  It sure looked that way.

"Is he an artificial Angel, like my third iteration is?" Rei asked.

Ritsuko nodded.  "It didn't take me long to figure it out, with the 
tests we ran today.  I'm trying to drop hints to Misato, but I can't 
tell her outright, or someone will suspect something."

"I guess...I should not be as surprised as I am," Rei said, quietly.  
"I knew the Seventeenth would be different from the others."

"But not this different, I suppose.  You were expecting another 
grotesque monster, then?"

Rei blinked.  "My clone is an Angel," she said.  "Is _she_ a grotesque 
monster, sir?"

Ritsuko looked into Rei's face, seeing actual anger there.  "My 
apologies," she said.  "I didn't think."  Rei seemed to calm down at 
these words.  They sat in silence, speeding through the rain.  After a 
few minutes, the entrance to the Geofront loomed in front of them.

"You really don't know what you are, do you, Rei?" Ritsuko asked, 
easing the car to a stop.

Rei thought about what that could mean, then shook her head no.

"Would you like to know?"

Rei pondered that for only a moment before nodding.  "Is it safe to do 
so?" she asked.

"I've already set up the programs I'll need.  Once I put them in 
motion, we'll have a window of about two hours, during which we won't 
show up on the surveillance system.  But just to make sure...you're 
_sure_ you want to know the truth?"

Rei nodded again.

"All right," Ritsuko said.  She started the car again.  "We'll take the 
express elevator.  I think I'm still cleared for it."

They went around to one particular entrance.  Ritsuko's ID card got 
them through the computerized gate, and onto the car lift beyond.  They 
descended quickly.

Rei had no doubt, so far, that she'd made the right choice.  The truth 
was always better than a lie.

***

Some time later, Rei was sitting on a bed.  It closely resembled the 
bed back at her old apartment.  In fact, the entire _room_ closely 
resembled her old apartment.  She could vaguely remember spending a lot 
of time here, when she was younger.

One of her sleeves was rolled up, allowing Ritsuko to draw out a small 
amount of blood from her shoulder.  Rei was quickly becoming confused.  
Akagi had implied that something terrible was hidden down here.  But 
all she'd seen so far was an Eva dumping ground and this room.

Ritsuko slid the small vial of blood into an old testing machine, and 
powered it up.  The machine vibrated noisily, being activated for the 
first time in years, but it still worked.  Ritsuko pressed a few more 
buttons on the machine and then let it do its work on the blood.

She glanced over at Rei, who'd rolled her sleeve back down and was 
gazing around disinterestedly.  ^Come on, you fool,^ she thought to 
herself.  ^Can't you at least _apologize_ to the poor girl?  She 
deserves at least that much.^

"Rei, I...I'm..."

Rei turned to meet Ritsuko's gaze.  Ritsuko trailed off, then shook her 
head and started towards the next door.  "Come this way," she said.  
Rei didn't reply, but Ritsuko could hear the girl's footsteps behind 
her.

They walked through a maze of tunnels, Ritsuko leading the way.  Every 
few minutes, Ritsuko would check her watch.

"Rei, what can you remember of your early childhood?" Ritsuko asked, 
suddenly.

Rei cocked her head a little at the odd question.  "Very little," she 
responded, finally.  "I can remember a few things, but they're 
very...undefined."

"Yes..."

"But I suppose that is normal.  Few humans can easily remember their 
earliest years."

"Hm.  What's your strongest memory?"

Rei's brow furrowed as she concentrated on a set of fuzzy images in her 
mind.  It wasn't clear at all, but...

"I think I can remember your mother, Dr. Akagi."

"Really?" Ritsuko asked.  Her gait slowed and stopped.  She turned to 
face Rei.  "And...what...can you remember about her?"

Rei thought some more.  "All I can think of is that she had very strong 
hands."

Ritsuko nodded.  "I didn't expect you to remember much," she said, 
turning and continuing her walk.  "You usually lose a lot of definition 
when you transfer a soul."

"Sir?"

"What did your clone tell you?  Do you know there have been three of 
you, counting you and the other one?"

"...yes."

They stepped into a large room with dark walls.  A mass of metal tubing 
dominated it, with a glass tank resembling an entry plug sitting at the 
bottom.

"The whole concept behind you was to make an artificial Angel."

"Yes, I knew that."

Ritsuko nodded hesitantly.  "But...there were so many variables.  Do 
you remember that large white Angel you pulled the Lancea Longinus out 
of?"

Rei nodded.

"It took years," Ritsuko continued, as though she hadn't even noticed 
Rei's response.  She took a minute to light a cigarette.  "But we - my 
mother and I - made a computer program called Conception.  It was able 
to copy that patterns from the soul of one being and put them into a 
cloned body.  So we used the Angel downstairs as a template, and made 
your soul." Ritsuko emphasized this by pointing at the floor, in the 
general direction of the crucified Angel.

Rei just blinked in response.  She was trying to take it all in at 
once, and it was proving to be a little too much.

"But you were so important, we knew we had to hedge our bets, in case 
you had an accident.  We had the ability to take your soul out of one 
body and move it to another in the event of your death..."

"So you made a spare one of me," Rei said.

Ritsuko chuckled.  "A spare _one_?  You're on the right track.  This is 
what I wanted to show you, Rei."  She reached into the pocket of her 
jacket and it a button on her remote control.

The walls lit up.

***

For days afterwards, NERV personnel would be talking about it.  It was 
mostly passed off as rumor, being so farfetched that not even Commander 
Ikari believed in it.  It was passed off as the effect of stress 
getting to some of the workers.

But a few people thought otherwise.

Those people _knew_ that on the day the Fifth Child had arrived, they'd 
heard a young girl scream.

***

Ritsuko leaned against the wall, closing her eyes in agitation.  ^I 
just _had_ to go and give her the hard truth, didn't I.  Stupid, 
stupid, stupid...^

She was standing just outside the bathroom in the mockup of Rei's 
apartment.  Inside the bathroom, the noise of powerful vomiting could 
be heard.

Mentally, Ritsuko made a note that Rei was acting very differently.  
Although she felt guilty for making the girl's life even harder, she 
wouldn't have guessed "Ice Girl" Rei would have reacted this strongly.  
She'd have believed a widening of the eyes, or maybe a mild gasp, 
but...

Rei's scream had nearly deafened Akagi.  She'd tried to calm the girl 
down, but it hadn't been any use.  Rei had just pushed her away, 
covering her eyes with her hands to keep from looking at the walls.  
And then Rei had passed out cold.

So Akagi had carried her back here, after powering down the room again.  
Rei had been stirring by the time they'd gotten back to the apartment-
room.  As soon as she'd come around, she'd run into the bathroom.

Akagi looked up as she heard the blood analysis machine slow down and 
stop.  Doing her best to ignore the noises from the bathroom, she went 
over to the machine and started reading the results.  She quirked an 
eyebrow at what was coming up.

After a few minutes, Rei came back.  She'd cleaned off her face, and 
was wiping the water off of it.

"Feel better?" Akagi asked.

Rei shrugged noncommitally, then coughed and sat down on the bed.  She 
brought her legs up and hugged them against her body.  She stared 
blankly at a spot several meters in front of her.

"We don't have much time left," Akagi said.  "We should get going."

"Yes sir," Rei croaked out, through a sore throat.  She got up and 
followed Akagi, who made sure to leave everything the way it had been.

"Well, the worst is over," Akagi said, as they walked.  "But I'd like 
you to try answering a few questions, if it's all right."

"It is all right," Rei responded, her voice still hoarse.

"...have you registered any changes, Rei?" Ritsuko asked, after reading 
through the blood analysis again.

"Such as?" Rei asked.

"Well, there's your reaction here.  And...I'd say you were jealous, 
back at the apartment."

Rei's eyes widened at the word, but then she nodded.  "Yes, I suppose 
'jealous' is an appropriate description for what I felt."  She took a 
moment to pick out her next words.  "My emotions seem to make more 
sense," she finally said.  "Even though I still don't fully understand 
them."

"It makes sense.  According to this, the Angel part of your genetic 
structure has switched from the dominant part to the recessant part."

Rei nodded, moving one hand down to rub at her stomach.  She could 
still remember her own clone ripping out the core.

"But your DNA as a whole is different.  I shouldn't be getting these 
readings."

"What readings?" Rei said, her throat still sore.

"Well, I should be getting the genetic pattern of Yu...er...the human 
donor, here.  But it looks like the two parts of your DNA aren't 
battling for supremacy, anymore.  This is an original genetic pattern."

"What does that mean?"

Ritsuko looked at the girl, and then smiled.  "It just means you're 
your own person, Rei.  Come on, let's take you home."

"Yes, sir."

They went back the the way they'd come.  As they rode the elevator back 
to the surface, Ritsuko looked down at the blue-haired girl.

"There's one other thing, Rei."

Rei turned, meeting Akagi's eyes.

"Your clone told me how she removed the core from you.  Do you remember 
where she went to pull it out of you?"

"I doubt I will ever forget," Rei said, unconsciously brushing at her 
abdomen.

"Yes, well...this might be a little much for one day, but..."

"It is all right, Dr. Akagi.  You yourself said the worst was over."

Ritsuko smiled sadly.  ^Just apologize, dammit.^  "Well, you see...I've 
seen the records on you.  You were made so you could house an S2 
engine."

"Yes..."

"Well, to do that, we had to make space for it.  So...we genetically 
altered you so you wouldn't grow a uterus."

Rei's brow furrowed at this.

"You can never have children, Rei," Akagi said, bluntly.

"Oh," Rei said, simply.  She thought this over, then proceeded to go 
back to her old, emotionless self.

"I'm afraid I'm not the person to talk to about something like that," 
Akagi continued.  "Maybe you can talk to Misa - "

"Did you tell the Commander of this alteration?" Rei asked, cutting her 
off.

Ritsuko paused before answering.  "He was the one who suggested it," 
she replied.  "He didn't want you getting pregnant, anyway."

Rei didn't respond to this.  Ritsuko took this as a sign to shut up.  
Inside, though, she was still yelling at herself.  ^Just tell her that 
you're sorry.  Tell her that you want to help.  Say _something_.^

But Ritsuko remained as silent as Rei as they made it back to her car, 
and then drove back to the apartment.

***

The car stopped in behind the apartment building, again.  Since it was 
still raining, Ritsuko got out first, letting Rei under her umbrella 
again.  They walked around the block, towards the entrance to the 
building.

"I can call Nagisa-kun out to another test," Ritsuko said.  "That 
should make it safe enough for you to go back to the apartment."

Rei nodded wordlessly.

"There's one other thing," Ritsuko said, as they rounded the last 
corner.  This was the last thing she had to do.  After that, she 
figured her conscience would be satisfied, at least partially.

She reached into a pocket of her jacket and pulled out a creased 
envelope, which she handed over to Rei.

"Do you remember writing this?" she asked the girl.

Rei opened the envelope and skimmed over the letter inside.  "I...I'd 
forgotten.  I forgot about this, in the events after the Sixteenth 
Angel."

"It's all right, Rei," Ritsuko said.  "People forget things all the 
time.  It's normal.  But you should just remember that what happened to 
you didn't change everything in your life."

"..."

^I never was good at human relations,^ Ritsuko thought.  She tried 
another tack.  "I figured you'd be able to make better use of this than 
your clone could."

"..."

^Oh, hell.  Rei's never going to be a talkative type, anyhow.^  "I just 
want to remind you to be careful around the Fifth Child.  And please 
try to protect Shinji.  The Seventeenth Angel is probably going to be 
very dangerous."

"You need not order me, sir.  I _will_ protect Shinji-kun, no matter 
what."

Ritsuko smiled and nodded.  They came up to the door to the building.

"Just remember that change doesn't always bring disaster," Ritsuko 
said, as they reached Misato's building.  "Sometimes it can clear 
things up, and make you realize things you wouldn't have beforehand."

Rei walked in through the door of the building.  "Th...thank you, sir."

"You're welcome, Rei."  Ritsuko turned and walked back out into the 
street, folding up her umbrella as the rain finally stopped.

Rei watched her go.  "Words of thanks...again..." she said to herself.  
"It seems change _is_ unavoidable."  For some reason, this made her 
smile.  She turned to go back up to the apartment.

She didn't go straight to the apartment, though.  She still had to wait 
for Shinji's guest to leave.  Hopefully, Ritsuko would be calling him 
out soon.

After just a few minutes, she heard approaching footsteps.  She hid 
herself and waited for the coast to clear.

***

Kaoru was leaving the apartment soon after Rei had entered the 
building.

"Sorry you have to leave so quickly," Misato said.

"It cannot be helped," Kaoru replied, still wearing a lopsided smile.  
"I suppose I should have expected further tests on my first day."

"Don't let it get to you," Shinji said.  "They can't keep testing you 
all the time."

"I know, Shinji-kun.  I'll see you tomorrow at NERV, then."

"I'll be there."

"Are you sure you don't need a ride, Nagisa-san?" Misato asked.

Kaoru shook his head.  "The rain has stopped," he calmly replied.  "And 
I prefer to walk.  It lets me better see this world."

While Misato was still trying to figure that out, Kaoru turned and 
departed down the hallway.  He still appeared relaxed, with both hands 
in his pockets.  However, the smile on his face fell.  He hadn't wanted 
to be called out so soon.  And he'd been doing so well in getting to 
know Shinji, too.

Well, an order was an order.  He wondered what this test was about.  
Well, he had no trouble taking these tests.  Synchronization with Unit-
02 was child's play, for him.

As he was about to go down the stairs to the street, his pace slowed 
and stopped.  He slowly looked at the door of a closed maintenance 
closet.

"You are not the same as I am," he said to the air.  "But you used to 
be."  He paused.  "For your own safety, I suggest you don't get 
involved.  I only warn you because...you are the reason I exist, aren't 
you?"

No response came; he hadn't expected one.  Smiling again - though this 
was more of a smirk - he walked down the stairs, and out into the 
street.

Several minutes passed, and nothing moved in the hallway.  Finally, the 
broom closet Kaoru had spoken to opened up.  Rei stepped out, trying 
not to trip.  Her mind was filled with questions.  It had been 
frightening, how he'd known she was here.  What was even more 
frightening was that now she knew for certain had happened to that core 
that had been removed from her body.

^Well, I'm supposed to be dead,^ she thought.  ^So I wouldn't need an S2 engine.^

She was quite shaken.  That boy's voice had been edged with steel.  
That had, no doubt, been the only warning he would give.  He wouldn't 
hesistate to kill her, if he thought it would help him.

Quivering a little, she made her down the hall.  She considered running 
away, and putting as much distance between her and this city as she 
could.  But no, she wouldn't do that; Shinji-kun needed her, even if he 
didn't know it.

She made her way towards the apartment, trying not to let fear take her 
over.  Twice, she looked over her shoulder to see if Kaoru was behind 
her.  Breathing hard from the stress, she made it to the Katsuragi 
apartment and knocked on the door.

The door opened quickly, revealing Misato on the other side.  "Hi 
Rei," she said.  "That was good timing.  You just missed Nagisa-kun."

Rei nodded, still a little shaky, and made her way inside.

"Something wrong, Rei?" Misato asked.  The girl shook her head in 
reply, not even bothering to slow down.

She passed by Shinji's room, seeing that the boy was now lying on his 
bed, listening to his SDAT player, again.  Satisfied that he was still 
safe, Rei went into the bathroom.

She looked at herself in the mirror, and immediately wished she hadn't.  
The rain and humidity had destroyed the order she'd painstakingly put 
into her short blue hair.  It was, once again, a tousled mop.  Her 
clothes were also wet and dirty.  All her effort to make herself look 
better had been for naught.

Sighing quietly, she stepped out of the bathroom and headed for her 
room.  Once she was through the door, she peeled off her dirty clothes 
and changed into the more regular clothes she wore around the 
apartment.  ^Back to life as normal,^ she thought.

As she picked up the mass of clothing she'd just taken off, the letter 
Ritsuko had given her fell out of a pocket.  Rei noticed it and put the 
clothes down.  She picked up the letter, looking at it.  It was such a 
silly thing, really.  But it was better than trying to talk; putting 
her feelings to paper had been easier than trying to say them out loud.  
She could put this under Shinji-kun's door, maybe...

But then what?  She wasn't sure.  ^Maybe first I'll ask him about the 
Fifth Child,^ she thought.  ^Yes, that makes sense.^  

Satisfied with this excuse, she put the letter into her dresser, and 
went about stuffing her dirty clothes into a laundry basket.

She stopped before she was done, her hands freezing in the basket.  She 
swallowed loudly, and her teeth clenched as a shiver ran through her 
body.  Images flashed through her mind, as the feelings she'd been 
pushing away finally caught up with her.

Her room.  An Eva graveyard.

^I grew up there...^

The core of the Dummy Plug system.

^I knew there was something odd about that room...^

Red eyes.  Hundreds of red eyes, all looking back at her.

Rei backed off from the laundry basket, curling up on the floor into a 
fetal position.  She shuddered, unable to get those images out of her 
mind.

^I can never have children...^

She saw an image of Shinji's face.  Rei closed her eyes, and wept 
silently.  

***

Misato was in her room, staring at her computer's screen.  Data moved 
by slowly, jumping up each time she clicked the mouse to scroll 
downwards.

Empty beer cans and instant food containers littered the desk, floor, 
and every other horizontal surface in the room.  Misato had been 
sitting here for hours on end, studying the data on her screen.

^Is this what NERV's really up to?^ she wondered, as she saw a plan 
outlined in front of her.  ^SEELE...I thought this sort of thing was 
just in the government conspiracy movies.  So they're behind 
everything...^

She kept reading, knowing that the secret was there, somehow.  Kaji had 
worked so hard to make sure she'd get this, and she wasn't going to let 
him down by just giving up.

Unfortunately, her body had other ideas.  Forced to remain awake day 
and night, she could feel her eyelids starting to droop.  The 
information was definitely interesting, but one can only look at the 
same numbers so many times.

She blacked out for a moment, waking up immediately as her head hit the 
desk.  Misato reeled backwards, clutching her bruised forehead.  "Son 
of a _bitch_..." she muttered to herself.

She knew that she should sleep, but she didn't have time for that, 
right now.  Instead, she got up and went to get another few beers from 
the refrigerator.  She almost tripped over Pen-pen, who squaked at her 
irately before waddling back to his freezer.  Misato sighed; she felt 
better, keeping Pen-pen around.  She'd intended to give him to one of 
the evacuating families, but if Rei was staying here, then she could 
take care of him.

Speaking of Rei...

"Major Katsuragi?"

Misato turned around.  "Mmmmph?" she asked, her voice muffled by the 
package of instant ramen she was holding in her teeth.

"Can I speak with you?"

"Mmph, mst a mnfft."  Translated, this was, "Sure, just a minute."

Misato put down the two six-packs she'd been carrying, before setting 
the ramen down on the kitchen counter.  After a moment's hesitation, 
she popped one of the beers open and took a long drink.  Rei took that 
moment to speak.

"What is it like to bear a child?"

Misato choked on her beer, slamming the can down on the counter and 
coughing violently for a moment.  ^Mental note: must stop drinking 
while Rei is in the room.^

"Uh...why do you ask, Rei?" Misato questioned.

Rei looked around hesitantly, unsure of what to say.  Misato shrugged 
and led the girl to the living room, sitting Rei down on the couch 
while she took a seat in one of the easy chairs.

"So...why the sudden interest?" Misato asked, again.  She knew that she 
should be getting back to work, but it went against her personality to 
abandon someone, especially when they appeared as nervous as Rei did.

"I...learned yesterday that I do not have the capacity to have 
children."

Misato blinked.  "Who told you that?" she asked, quietly.

"Someone who I know was being honest," Rei replied.  She didn't want to 
tell Misato straight out; Dr. Akagi had seemed very nervous yesterday.  
Rei doubted the doctor would appreciate her telling everyone what she 
had done.

"Okay...well, it would be kind of pointless to tell you, but..."

"I wish to know."

"...yeah.  Uh, to tell you the truth, I don't know, myself.  The 
closest I've ever come to having kids is having Shinji and Asuka put 
under my care."

"...oh."

Misato cocked her head.  "Is something wrong, Rei?" she asked.

Rei was quiet for the next several moments.  It looked like she kept 
trying to say something, but every time, the words would die in her 
mouth.  Finally:

"I keep getting...interesting reactions to Shinji-kun."

"Like what?"

"I feel happier when he's around.  I want to smile more often, even if 
I still don't understand why.  Sometimes I feel my cheeks getting hot.  
I try to make him feel better when he's sad, even though I'm not very 
good at it.  I...I don't know what to make of it."

Misato quirked an eyebrow, and decided to chance a small sip of beer.  
Rei didn't say anything, this time, so she managed to swallow without 
incident.  After she put the can down, she looked back at the girl.

"Judging from your tone, I'd say you have _some_ idea of what to make 
of it, Rei."

Rei turned away, doing her best to hide her embarassment.  "I'm afraid 
of what it could mean."

"Why?"

"Because...I don't know what Shinji-kun will think.  And I know that 
most people prefer to have children..."

"Whoa, slow down," Misato said, holding up one hand.  "Rei, you're 
getting _way_ ahead of yourself.  The issue of children isn't 
important, right now.  For now, just admit to yourself that you like 
Shinji."

Rei turned away again, her cheeks going red.  "I...don't know if 
'like' is a strong enough word for it, Katsuragi-san.  I c-can't really 
explain it..."

Misato quirked an eyebrow again.  "Well...ah...we'll see about that 
later, I guess.  But for now, why don't you just try talking to 
Shinji?"

Rei swallowed.  "But I _have_ tried.  He seems to enjoy talking with 
me, but he has so many other concerns, as well.  He is worried about 
the Second Child, and he is spending...much time with the Fifth Child, 
as well."

Misato couldn't hold back a smile.  "You want him all to yourself, 
then?"

Rei blinked several times.  "I...perhaps I do..."

"That's normal, too."

"It is?  I - "

She was cut off as the door to the apartment opened.  Shinji walked in.

"How're things, Shinji-kun?" Misato asked, turning around to face him.

"They're good, actually," Shinji said, going into the kitchen and 
getting a drink of water.  "Kaoru just showed me this great park not 
far off.  I didn't even know it was there, before."

"Oh, that's good," Misato said, while turning back to face Rei.  "Now's 
your chance," she whispered to the girl.  "Just talk to him.  Heck, 
tell him you like him."

Rei's eyes widened.  ^T...tell him?  But I can't...^

Her train of thought stopped as Shinji walked in.  She immediately 
avoided eye contact.

"So what're you up to now?" Misato asked.

"I don't know.  Odds are I'll get called out to another test today, 
but...I'm open, right now."

"Oh.  Well, you could keep Rei company..."

"It's all right, Katsuragi-san," Rei said, getting up and heading off 
to her room.

"Is something wrong, Rei?" Shinji asked.  "Your face is all red."

"It's nothing," Rei said, a little too quickly.  She looked down to 
hide her deepening blush, as she sped down the hallway, trying not to 
break into a run.

^And I thought _Shinji_ had problems with relationships,^ Misato 
thought.  ^Oh, well.  I guess Rei just needs time.^

"Well...I guess I'll just go practice the cello, then," Shinji said, 
turning and heading back to his room.

"All right, Shinji-kun," Misato replied.  "I'll tell you if Ritsu wants 
you for another test."

***

Days later, Ritsuko, Misato, and the three pilots were standing in 
front of an Eva storage bay.

Ritsuko looked bored, waiting for someone to say something.

Misato looked confused.

Kaoru looked intrigued.

Rei III was stone-faced (as though _that's_ a surprise).

Shinji looked like he was going to be sick.

In front of them was an Eva...sort of.  Currently, workers were 
scrambling all over, putting the pieces back together.  Black, armored 
body parts were floating in the shock-resistant fluid the Evas rested 
in.  Eventually, they would reform the ill-fated Unit-03.

"You...you're _rebuilding_ it?" Misato said.

"That's quite obvious, isn't it, Misato?" Ritsuko replied, not even 
bothering to look up from the paper she was reading.

"But...why?"

Ritsuko looked up.  "Well, we currently have three pilots, four if 
Asuka ever wakes up, and only two working Evas.  We'll need to be 
somewhere _close_ to full strength if this last Angel is going to be 
anything like the last few."

Rei III nodded in agreement with this logic, but said nothing.

"I thought Unit-03 was destroyed," Kaoru said.  "Quite thoroughly so."

Shinji backed off, going pale.  "I'll go wait in the testing room," he 
said.  He turned and walked away, trying hard not to look at Unit-03.

With a puzzled, worried look on his face, Kaoru watched Shinji go.  
Ritsuko continued, as though nothing had happened.

"Yes, it was.  It turned out the Thirteenth Angel was a nanomachine-
based one.  It infested this Eva and subdued the pilot.  It crippled 
two of our Evas before being stopped by the first combat operation of 
the Dummy Plug System."  Ritsuko paused, thinking.  "The normal damage 
threshold for Evas had been surpassed," she said, after a moment.  "It 
should have been impossible to repair, but we'd gotten lucky.  It 
turned out the Angel had constructed an S2 organ inside Unit-03."

"Well, it _did_ move without power..." Misato mumbled.

"And so it's possible for Unit-03 to regenerate, just like the Angels 
can," Ritsuko finished.

Kaoru crossed his arms behind his back and looked back at the Eva.  
"Interesting," he and Rei said at the same time.  Kaoru looked at Rei, 
grinning a little.  Rei did not mirror the move.

"The regeneration process should be quicker than this, correct?" Rei 
asked, not turning her head.

Ritsuko nodded slightly.  "We're playing it safe," she said.  "We're 
stimulating the S2, but to less than one percent of its full capacity.  
If we had it at a hundred percent, Unit-03 would be rebuilt in minutes, 
but..."

"You're afraid it might go berserk again," Misato finished for her.

"Exactly."

"Who will pilot this Eva, then?" Kaoru asked, nonchalantly.

"It depends on whether or Asuka comes to.  If she stays gone, then 
we'll keep Unit-03 around as backup.  If we get lucky and she wakes up, 
she'll probably go back to using Unit-02, supposing she can synch with 
it.  Which means either you or Rei would get this one, Nagisa."

Kaoru nodded.  "It makes sense," he said.

"Don't get too excited," Ritsuko said.  "We've got to run every cell of 
this thing through a battery of tests, to make sure the Angel in it 
stays dead.  And we have to finish rearming it."

"Of course," Kaoru replied.

"Rearming it?" Misato asked.  "Ritsu-chan, I hope you're not making a 
pun."

"Definitely not.  We're outfitting Unit-03 with a new Progressive claw, 
in lieu of the standard knife."

"Huh?" Misato asked, confused.

"Imagine five Progressive knives, one for each finger of its right 
hand," Ritsuko replied, flexing her own right hand.  "Given Unit-
03's...other abilities, it should be able to use that claw to grapple 
on to an attacker while maintaining its distance."

"It can still do that stretch thing, huh?" Misato asked, looking back 
to the huge, partially-repaired biohumanoid.

"We think so.  The Angel is thoroughly merged with the Eva we can't get 
rid of it.  And _it_ could use nanomachines to warp Unit-03's body, so 
we should be able to, as well.  Only this time to fight the Angels 
instead of us."

"Great," Misato said, skeptically.  She put her hands on her hips, 
looking at the still-shattered face of Unit-03.  "So I'm the commander 
of three Evas again, huh?"

"Two Evas and three eighths of another one," Ritsuko replied, straight-
faced.

Misato smiled, but said nothing.  "Well, okay," she said after a 
moment.  "Time to get back to work.  Kaoru, you get back in the 
simulator.  Rei, you're with me.  Shinji...where'd he go?"

"He left earlier," Rei replied, evenly.

"Oh...uh...well, c'mon, Nagisa-kun.  We've got to see how well you and 
Shinji-kun can fight in tandem."  

"I'm sure Shinji-kun and I will work fine together," Kaoru said, 
already heading for the simulator.

"We'll see."

***

"So how's life at home, Rei?" Misato asked, as she changed out of her 
work clothes.

"It is normal," Rei's voice came back from the kitchen.  "What do I put 
on the ramen next, Katsuragi-san?"

"I don't know," Misato answered.  "I usually just say enough curry will 
make anything edible."

"Shinji-kun and your penguin do not agree."

Misato muttered to herself about how it was the best she could do.  She 
finished changing into her around-the-house clothes and came out of her 
room.  "Well, I'll see what I can find," she said.  "It's nice of you 
to try making dinner, Rei."

"I am doing my part.  Shinji-kun says that the household tasks were 
divided among you, him, and Sohryuu."

Misato shrugged as she walked into the kitchen.  "Yeah, but if you 
twist his arm enough, he'll do your share, too," she replied, jokingly.  
Rei looked at her, not understanding, before going back to the noodles, 
which were boiling nicely.

"So...how's it going with Shinji?" Misato asked, as she got a beer.  
"Have you tried talking to him?"

"I...try," Rei said.  "But it's difficult.  And he still spends much of 
his time with the Fifth Child."

"Yeah, but he still comes back here," Misato said, looking over the 
girl's shoulder at the noodles.  "I get the feeling he's almost afraid 
of me.  But he keeps coming back home.  He's got to have some reason 
for that," Misato finished, throwing a suggestive glance at Rei, who 
tried not to notice.

"Aaaanyway," Misato continued, checking on the status of the noodles 
again, "I'll go see if Asuka left anything behind.  I think she had 
some recipie for noodles."

Rei didn't respond.  She was busy feeding one of the noodles to Pen-
pen.  The penguin was suspicious at first, but eventually gulped it 
down, happy to be getting _real_ food for once.

"Traitor," Misato muttered to herself, watching the bird.  She stepped 
out of the kitchen and went into Rei's room.

"Now, where would Asuka put anything about food?" Misato asked herself, 
looking around.  

Rei's presence was barely noticeable; the girl didn't even make her bed 
in the morning, and she hadn't thought to change any of the room's 
decor.  The only thing other than the bed which showed any signs of use 
was the dresser, where Misato guessed Rei was storing her diminutive 
wardrobe.

"Maybe she left something in here," Misato wondered aloud, going 
through the dresser.  Nothing on the bottom drawer...or the next 
drawer...or the next...

She kept going, finding nothing but a few drawers with clothes in them 
and the rest empty.  She glanced into the top drawer, not really 
expecting to see anything.  As she'd guessed, it was empty...mostly 
empty, anyway.

Misato looked again, noticing the envelope sitting inside.  Interested, 
she took it out and glanced through its contents.  Her eyes widened.

^Rei...when did you write this?  Clever, though...you don't talk much, 
so you write it out, instead...^

Most people would have politely stopped reading and put it back.  But 
Misato saw this as an opportunity.  Grinning like the cat that had 
caught the mouse, she brought the letter back to her own room.  She'd 
be able to read it in its entirety later on.  

Then, she went back to the kitchen, holding up her hands and saying 
that there was nothing on how to make noodles.

***

Days passed, one after the other.  Shinji could barely distinguish 
between them.  It had been weeks since they'd found Asuka, and there 
had still been no improvement in her condition.  Shinji was just now 
coming back from one of his infrequent visits to her hospital room.  
The image of her on the hospital bed was still fresh in his mind.

It had happened again.  Another person he'd known had been taken away.  
Just like speaking with Touji after Unit-03 had been destroyed, or 
saying goodbye to everyone as they were evacauted from Tokyo-3 after 
Unit-00's destruction.  Eva was, once again, destroying his life.

He was in the Katsuragi apartment, leaning back on the couch with his 
eyes closed.  He was wearing his headphones, listening to, ironically, 
"Ode to Joy."  He'd picked it up after listening to Kaoru hum it long 
enough.  It wasn't helping this time, though.  He couldn't make himself 
happier just by listening to music.

Kaoru.  He'd been a big help in these past few days.  Shinji was 
starting to run seriously short of friends.  But Kaoru was here.  He 
always seemed to understand how Shinji was feeling.  And he would 
always listen, as Shinji poured out his heart.  He didn't seem to mind 
being used as a sounding board.  Every time, Shinji would tell Kaoru 
about what was bothering him, and every time, the boy would come up 
with something to say that made Shinji feel better.

Not to say Kaoru was without flaws.  There was something odd about him; 
he was a little too relaxed, a little too confident for a fifteen-year-
old mecha pilot.  And there was that time in the baths, too...but 
Shinji couldn't afford to be picky at this time.  He'd take what 
friends he could find.

Misato was out, like usual these days.  She was working heavy overtime 
at NERV, trying to get prepared for the inevitable attack of the 
Seventeenth Angel.  Shinji and Kaoru had also been pressed into extra 
training.  Several nights of the last week, Shinji had been tempted to 
just stay at NERV and sleep on the floor.  Tonight he'd lucked out, 
though.  Misato had apparently won out over Ritsuko, and he'd ended up 
with some time off.  But despite the temporary freedom, Shinji was 
happy just sitting here.  He was too tired to do much else.

Yet despite his fatigue, Shinji had come back to this apartment 
whenever he could.  He hated leaving Rei alone in the apartment, with 
no company except for a few books.  She often came to talk with him, 
even if it was just small talk about how their days had gone.  It was 
kind of nice, having something to come home to.

Another thing he could clearly remember was what Rei had said when 
she'd first come here: "I've never known what it's like to be lonely, 
Ikari-ku...Shinji-kun.  But I know that's what I'm feeling now."

Shinji, a veteran at what it was like to be alone with your thoughts, 
knew it was not right to let her feel that way, when he could help.

There was also what she'd done _after_ she'd said that.  Shinji 
absentmindedly brushed his lips where, for a moment, she'd kissed him.  
It hadn't been his first kiss, but it had definitely been better than 
the one Asuka had given him.  At least he'd been able to breathe.

He didn't know what to make of Rei.  Yes, she'd kissed him, but it had 
stopped there.  Maybe she'd just been looking for support.  Well, he 
would try his best to give that.  Shinji would be glad just having her 
for a friend, so long as she stayed alive.  

^And what if there's the chance for something more?^ he asked himself.  
^Then what?^  He shook his head.  ^No, I shouldn't try, not yet.  I've 
got enough problems with losing friends.  I don't know if I could 
handle losing...something more.^

^But you know you like her,^ a voice in his head replied.  ^You're 
running from your own feelings, if you try to deny them.^  Shinji did 
his best to ignore those thoughts.  He tried to focus solely on the 
present situation.

He didn't know where Rei was, now.  Probably in her room reading; she 
did a lot of that.  He wondered if she'd want dinner sometime soon.  Or 
maybe he could go talk to her again.  His conversations with her were 
usually quite pleasant, and relaxing.

He got up and headed for the refrigerator.  Instant food sounded good, 
at the moment.  Shinji didn't feel like going to all the trouble of 
fixing a dinner, and he got the feeling Rei didn't really care what she 
ate, so long as it wasn't meat.

He opened the refrigerator door and looked inside.  He was faced with a 
near-empty set of shelves.  They were even running short of beer; there 
wasn't anywhere to buy more.  

But he couldn't get thoughts of Rei out of his head.  ^If there's the 
chance for love, I should take it.  I might not get another one.  
But...no, it's not worth the risk.  I can survive, just the way I am.^  
Sighing, Shinji turned his head to the side and leaned it against the 
wall.  ^It'd take a miracle for me to get up the courage to try getting 
closer to Rei.^

Miracles happen.

In leaning his head against the wall, he saw something taped to the 
inside of the refrigerator door.  Blinking to clear his eyes, he looked 
again.  It looked like an envelope.  On it, in Misato's unmistakable 
handwriting, was "To Shinji", surrounded by little hearts.

^No harm in checking it, if it's to me.^  He pulled it off of the door 
and closed the refrigerator, his appetite forgotten.  He sat back down 
on the couch and opened it.

Inside was another envelope.  Only this one was noticeably older, with 
many creases and stains from water droplets.  It was otherwise 
unmarked.

^Well, it was inside an envelope addressed to me^, Shinji thought, 
opening it.  Inside was a letter, just as worn as the second envelope.  
He unfolded it and started reading.  After several lines, his brow 
furrowed.  He leaned back on the couch and kept reading.

[Author's note : the letter can be found in the Prologue.]

By the time he'd finished, he was blown out of his mind.  When had Rei 
written this?  She had _known_ she was going to die?  But, what she'd 
said about her feelings surprised him the most.  Shinji soon found he 
was reading the letter again.  He was reading it for a third time when 
he heard a truly bizarre noise.

Unable to believe his ears, a progressively more confused Shinji 
started down the hallway to Rei's room, where the sound was coming 
from.  As quietly as he could, he slid the door open a crack.

Inside, he saw Rei sitting on the bed and reading, just as he'd 
guessed.  It looked like she was reading one of Misato's manga.  He 
also saw the source of the strange noise: 

Rei was laughing.

Shinji's mouth fell open.  He couldn't believe his ears.  But, there 
she was, in front of his eyes, actually _laughing_.  He was so shocked, 
that he didn't move when Rei noticed him watching her.

Rei looked equally surprised, when she saw him.  She clamped one hand 
over her mouth, as though ashamed.  She also slipped the manga under 
her pillow and got off of the bed.

"H...hello, Shinji-kun," Rei said, coming up to the door.  As she 
approached, Shinji snapped out of the shock and backed away, embarassed 
at being caught.

Rei slid the door open and watched him from the doorway.  Shinji's eyes 
met hers, and he suddenly found his voice had left him.  ^What's wrong 
with me?^ he thought.  ^They're just eyes.^  So why was he losing 
himself in them, if they were just eyes?

"Is something the matter?" Rei asked, her same soft voice, but with 
more inflection than she used to use.

"Uh..." Shinji said.  Out of sheer luck, he managed to remember the 
thing that had started all this.  "I f-found this letter t-taped to the 
refrigerator..." he said, pointing back the way he'd come.  
"And...uh..."

Rei blinked once, turned around, and went over to her dresser, leaving 
Shinji at the door.  She opened up the first drawer and looked inside.  
There, right where her letter should be, was a small piece of note 
paper, the words done in Misato's handwriting.  It said, simply, "Nice 
letter.  I did you a favor.  Thank me later."

Rei's eyes widened.  "She wouldn't..." she said to herself.  Then she 
looked back to Shinji, who was still at the door.  The way he was 
looking at her - of seeing something he'd never seen before - spoke 
volumes.  She knew exactly what Shinji had just read; she'd committed 
it to memory during the long days alone in the apartment.

Shinji gulped.

Rei acted quickly.  Without a word, she went up to the door, and slid 
it shut.  Fast.

She was nearly hyperventilating on her side, holding the door shut for 
all she was worth, in case he tried to open it.  "I'm sorry," she said, 
trying to keep the fear and nervousness out of her voice.  "I never 
meant for you to find that."  She paused, thinking.  _Had_ she never 
meant for him to find it?

Shinji was speechless.  They sat in silence for several tense minutes, 
before Shinji finally found the words - and the guts - to speak.

"Were you being serious, Rei?"

Rei, who by then had managed to start breathing normally, swallowed.  
"I..." she swallowed again and took a breath.  "...I saw no reason to 
lie."  There, she'd said it.  Rei closed her eyes, waiting to hear what 
would come next.

"I...I don't know what to say," Shinji finally replied.

"Try," Rei said, before she could stop herself.  She again put one hand 
over her mouth.  Where had _that_ come from?

"Well..." Shinji said, thinking.  He turned around and leaned back 
against the door, sliding down it to sit on the floor.  On the other 
side, Rei relaxed her grip on the door.  It didn't look like he'd force 
an entry if she didn't want it.

For lack of something better to say, Shinji just started voicing his 
thoughts.  "Well, you've always been the strange girl," he began.  Rei 
sat down on the floor and leaned back against the door, as well.

"From day one, I never really knew what to think of you," Shinji 
continued.  "I couldn't understand _why_ you'd want to pilot an Eva, 
not when you were that hurt.  You could barely even sit up, but you 
were still going to do it.  And after that, I kept seeing you in halls 
and at school, but I never said anything to you, because I didn't know 
how to approach you.  You looked like you preferred being alone.

"And you kept getting me more confused.  Around my father, you almost 
looked normal.  But then, when I asked you why you did this, you said 
it was because it was all you had.  And when you said that, all I could 
think was, 'what a strange girl.'"

Rei could feel her throat closing up.  This was it.  He was rejecting 
her.  He was saying how she wasn't his type, or some other classic male 
line.  She could feel her eyes going moist.  Why should it hurt so 
much?  Hadn't he just been a friend?  ^Even _you_ don't believe that,^ 
Rei heard her conscience say.  She rested her forehead on her knees, 
unable to disagree.  

Outside, Shinji kept talking.  He'd found he couldn't stop, now that 
he'd started.

"But underneath it all, I could see something worth saving.  I can't 
describe it, even now.  I couldn't help thinking that maybe, just 
maybe, somewhere in there was a normal girl.  Which I guess is why I 
tried to be your friend.  Because I'd been there.  I knew what it was 
like to be alone, and I couldn't just watch someone else living that 
way.  I know you didn't ask for my help, but...I don't know, I didn't 
want to ignore it.  That'd be running away again."

Rei could feel the tears about to fall.  So he'd really wanted to be a 
friend.  But just a friend.  Now, he probably wouldn't even want to be 
that, knowing what she felt.  She wanted to be anywhere, anywhere but 
here.

"The first time you almost died, I panicked.  I honestly don't even 
remember getting out of the Eva.  All I could think of was getting you 
out, even though it hurt so badly to do so.  And...the second time..."

He paused.  Rei, meanwhile, had looked up, wiping at her eyes.  She 
felt her stomach doing acrobatics inside her.  

"That second time, when you self-destructed your Eva, I couldn't 
believe it.  I was just...too shocked to even think.  I guess I felt 
sad, but I didn't have any tears.  I tried to talk to Misato-san about 
it, but she didn't help."  He swallowed.  This next part was going to 
be tough, but he felt that he _had_ to say it.

"And then...it...it hit me.  That you were gone.  That I'd never see 
you looking out that damn window at school any more.  That you'd never 
be standing in the elevator when I got on.  That I'd...never be able to 
see you smile again.  And I cried.  I went to my room, and I cried my 
eyes out.  I just...couldn't believe it.  I think I knew it then, that 
you'd been more than a friend to me, even if I hadn't known it before."

Rei quietly got to her feet, and slowly turned to face the door.

"That made me cry more," Shinji continued.  "And then...I'd heard you 
survived.  I...I really felt my heart skip a few beats.  I remember I 
ran up three dozen flights of stairs because the elevator was too 
slow."  He laughed a little.  "Misato-san could barely breathe by the 
time she'd caught up to me.  And then...the person I saw...she wasn't 
_you_.  I - "

He was cut off as the door opened.  He leaned forward as he felt the 
door panel move behind him.  He was on his feet quickly, in time to see 
Rei finish opening the door.

Rei was looking at her feet, saying nothing.  Shinji waited.

"You'd better be telling the truth, Shinji," Rei mumbled, after several 
quiet moments had passed.  Shinji noticed that for once, she'd dropped 
the "-kun".

Shinji quietly moved up to her.  Tenderly, he touched her chin and 
lifted her face up, so she was looking at him.  He noticed her eyes 
were wet.

"I wouldn't lie about it," he said.  "I just didn't want to take the 
risk, anymore, because my friends kept getting hurt.  And I never knew 
how you felt, either.  I...guess I should've said this a while ago."

Rei silently stepped forwards, leaning against Shinji, but letting her 
arms hang at her sides.  "I should..." - she swallowed to clear her 
throat - "I should have told you how I felt, too."

Shinji's arms found their way around Rei.  He held her against him, 
feeling the tears finally leaving the girl's eyes and soak his shirt.  
They stood that way for a long time.

"C'mon," he said, once Rei had calmed down.  He tried to sound 
soothing.  He led her to the living room, where they sat down on the 
couch.  Shinji kept one arm around her.  Rei leaned against him, 
putting both her arms around his waist.

"That's the first time I've heard you laugh, Rei," Shinji said after a 
while.

"It was the first time I'd ever laughed."

Either consciously or unconsciously, Shinji held her a little closer.  
"We've had rough lives, huh?  I wonder where we'd be right now, if Eva 
had never been made."

"..."

"Rei?"

"Let's not talk about that right now, Shinji.  What did you think, when 
you heard me laugh?"

"I didn't know what to think.  I'd never heard the sound of you 
laughing before.  But...I think it was kind of nice."

Rei smiled and held him closer.  "I was also surprised.  But...it is 
good to know I can feel happy, too."

"Hm," Shinji said in agreement.  "Rei?"

"Yes?"

"When did this happen?" he asked.  He lightly caressed her cheek with 
the back of his free hand.  "When do you think you...fell for me?"  ^It 
feels so strange to say that,^ he thought to himself.

"I don't know for certain," Rei said, quietly.  She reached up and held 
his hand with one of hers.  "Does it really matter, though?"

"I...guess not."

Shinji rested his head on top of hers, and they stayed there, each 
secure in the others' presence.

"So what do we do now?" Shinji asked.

"...there's something I'd like to do."

"What?"

Rei pulled back a little, and looked up, into his eyes.  Shinji only 
had to take one look at her face before he understood.

He said nothing.  He just leaned down, closing his eyes as Rei closed 
hers.  They turned their heads a little, just before their lips met.

Rei's emotions were a blur inside of her.  Her thoughts were scrambled, 
and her steadfast logic was nowhere to be found.  All she knew at the 
moment was that she liked this.  A lot.

She hesitantly opened her mouth, feeling Shinji do likewise.  She could 
_taste_ him.  She made the kiss even deeper, raising both her hands up 
to hold his face.

After an eternity, she pulled away, breathing hard.  She opened her 
eyes and looked at Shinji.

Shinji's eyes were still closed.  The fatigue had finally caught up 
with him and, in the last moments, he'd fallen asleep.

Rei sighed as she heard him snore.  "We can finish later," she said, 
running her hand through his hair.  "One more Angel, and then...we'll 
have all the time we need."  She put both arms back around him and 
rested her head on his shoulder, closing her eyes.  

^I suppose I should thank the Major.  Perhaps later.^

Listening to the lull of Shinji's breathing, Rei soon fell asleep, as 
well.

***

Rei woke up as she heard the door unlock.  She moaned and tightened her 
grip on Shinji, not wanting to move right now.  She cracked her eyes 
open when she heard footsteps stop in front of the couch.

Her breath caught.

Kaoru Nagisa stood there.  He wasn't looking at her.  Instead, he was 
lightly touching Shinji's face, his head cocked to one side in 
interest.  He turned his attention to Rei almost immediately, though.

"I warned you not to get involved," he said.  He grabbed her roughly 
around the shoulders and, with strength his thin body shouldn't have 
been able to possess, pulled her off the couch and threw her across the 
room.

Rei hit the ground hard, now quite awake.  She cried out in pain.  
Kaoru made it over to her before she could try standing up.  He grabbed 
her armpits and lifted her up off her feet, pressing her against the 
wall.  Rei felt her breath being pushed out of her.

"You should have stayed away from him," Kaoru said, his voice 
frighteningly calm.  "Shinji is _mine_."

"Shinji!" Rei called out.  "Shinji, help!"

"He can't hear you," Kaoru said.  "I made sure he's staying asleep."

"W...why are you doing this?" Rei asked.

"Just living up to a promise.  I warned you to keep your distance, so 
it wouldn't have to come to this," he said, putting one hand over her 
throat.  He began to squeeze.

Rei thought fast, trying to figure out what to say.  She fought down 
the panic that was rising in her gut, along with an inexplicable 
feeling of deja vu.  She forced herself to think clearly.

"And...what will you do next?" she choked out.  "After you...kill me, 
then what?"

"Then I will just wait for my final order," Kaoru said in a low voice.  
"And then all will be one.  So I'm not really killing you, Ayanami.  
You'll be reunified with everyone else after I merge with Adam."

"And...what about...Shinji?" she asked, using the last breath in her 
lungs.

Kaoru remained silent.  Rei felt her vision going dim and her brain 
hazing over.  ^If only I could still make an AT field,^ she thought.  
^Shinji, I'm sorry.  I couldn't protect you.^

Then, the pressure on her throat lessened.  Rei inhaled deeply, feeling 
her mind clear again.  Spots appeared in front of her eyes as oxygen 
got back to her brain.

"I will make this clear before I silence you," Kaoru said, not 
releasing her.  "I will not let anything harm Shinji-kun."

Rei gasped for breath, unable to say anything in response.

"And Third Impact will evolve him to a higher form.  He will be better 
off for my work."

"How...do you know that?" Rei said, fighting the urge to try fighting 
Kaoru.  There was no doubt who would win that fight.  "If Third Impact 
is so desirable, then why is Shinji fighting the Angels?"

Kaoru paused.  Rei felt hope ebbing into her; maybe she could get out 
of this with her neck intact.

"Shinji-kun has just been misled," the boy said, pushing Rei harder 
into the wall.  "I will show him the right way."

"N...Nagisa-san," Rei said, choosing her words carefully.  "How do you 
feel about Shinji?"

"I love him," Kaoru replied, unhesitatingly.

Rei nodded.  "And, if that's how you feel...why do you want to do 
something against his wishes?  You know he will fight you."

"I...I want to keep him from being harmed," Kaoru said, his arms 
relaxing as he thought.  "I can feel the loneliness in him, and it's 
eating me up inside.  If I cause Third Impact, then the AT fields that 
keep his heart from others will go down.  People won't push him away or 
hate him, any longer.  He will be _happy_."

Rei took a breath.  She wanted to run.  She wanted an Eva to come and 
flatten this boy.  But neither were options right now.  She had to 
talk, something she'd never been very good at.

"You...are a coward, Nagisa-san," Rei said, quietly.

"What?"

"Instead of working with the world as it is, you would destroy it and 
start anew?"

Kaoru said nothing.

"Humans enjoy their individuality," Rei said.  "They prefer to know 
themselves, even if it means loneliness."

"And how would you know?" Kaoru shot back.  "How do _you_ of all people 
know what it means to be human?"

Rei's brain worked overtime.  "I may have been part Angel," she said, 
"but I still had eyes and ears.  I could see how others thought and 
acted.  As much as humans enjoy being with others, they prefer to be 
individuals."  She stopped after this, having run out of things to say.  
She could feel her heart hammering in her chest, and she nearly shook 
with fear of the boy in front of her.

"I...have no choice," Kaoru said, after a long silence.

Rei took the opportunity.  "Nagisa-san...you know what you are.  The 
last Angel is the Angel of free will.  You always have the choice."

Kaoru backed off from her, as though Rei had suddenly become very 
frightening to him.  "I..." he tried to say.  But he just shook his 
head and headed for the door.  He gestured at the couch as he left the 
apartment.  By the time the door had closed, Shinji was stirring.  He 
sat up in time to see Rei slide down the wall and sit down on the 
floor, shaking.

"Rei?" he mumbled.  "Rei, what's wrong?"  He got up and crossed over to 
her, kneeling down next to her.  He took one of her hands in both of 
his.  "You feel cold."

"I...the Seventeenth...he was here...Shinji," Rei got out, before 
shifting her weight and throwing her arms around his shoulders.

"What?  Rei, you're not making any sense."

Rei looked up at him.  Shinji was looking back, his eyes concerned and 
a little afraid.  She wanted to tell him.  She wanted to tell him who 
had been here, and what had happened.  She opened her mouth to say it, 
but no words came out.  She couldn't speak.  And she knew why; 
supposing Shinji even _believed_ his best friend was an Angel, then he 
would be hurt by the news.  Badly.  And Rei couldn't bring herself to 
hurt Shinji.  She was supposed to be _protecting_ him.

"I...had a bad dream, Shinji-ku...Shinji.  I was scared."

"Well...I know what it's like to have that happen.  It's over now, 
Rei," Shinji said, hugging her.  "Do you want to tell me about it?"

Rei shook her head.  "I just want to go back to sleep."

Shinji nodded and helped her to her feet.  "Come on," he said, going 
back towards the couch.  Rei instead led him the other way, down the 
hallway and towards the bedrooms.

"Uh...Rei?  Where are you going?"

"I just want to sleep, nothing more," Rei said.  "But I want you to be 
there.  I might have another bad dream."

"Oh," Shinji replied, breathing a sigh of relief.  "Okay.  I can do 
that much, Rei."

She took him to his bedroom, and lay down on his bed, drawing him down 
with her.

"Looks like...you don't mind staying here at all," Shinji commented, 
remembering what Rei had said earlier about her sleeping arrangements.

Rei smiled and put her arms around his shoulders, pulling him closer.  
"Good night, Shinji," she said, closing her eyes.

"Good night...Rei."

Shinji listened to her breathing for a while.  It soon became even and 
regular.  Pulling back a little, he watched her sleeping face.  She 
looked so peaceful and calm.  Not an icy calm, but a contented one.  He 
could see that she was smiling, slightly.  He traced the curve of her 
lips with his finger, just to make sure he wasn't imagining things.

He ran his hand through her hair.  It was tangled and knotted, but 
surprisingly soft.  His hand went down to her face, feeling the smooth 
skin.  Smooth and warm.  Rei felt...nice.  To be holding her here, even 
if it was just to sleep, made him feel happier than he'd been in a long 
while.

Shinji closed his eyes, pulling Rei a little closer and feeling her 
unconsciously snuggle up to him.  He was asleep in a few moments.

The rest of the night passed without incident.

***

Several days later, Shinji was sitting in an observation room, watching 
Eva-02 through some thick glass.  But Kaoru was not there.  He was down 
by the Eva bays.

Asuka was in Unit-02.

"It's really amazing how quickly she came out of her coma," Maya said.  
"Right, sempai?"

Ritsuko, nearby, nodded.

"They weren't even expecting her to wake up," Misato chimed in.  "But 
Nagisa-san goes and visits her, and bingo.  I wish I'd seen the 
doctor's face, when he walked in yesterday and saw her up and about, 
like nothing had happened."

Maya giggled a little.  "So she can't remember what happened?"

"Not a thing," Misato replied.  "She remembers lying down in that bed, 
and then her mind's a blank."

The banter continued, talking about other things.  Shinji, watching 
Unit-02, had an intense look on his face.  He'd been overjoyed to hear 
Asuka had woken up, against the odds.  It had been a little sudden, but 
he was not one to complain.  Now, though, he was just hoping she could 
work the Eva.  He didn't want her to wake up, just in time to get 
depressed again.

^Come on, Asuka,^ he thought.  ^Come on.  Do it.^

"Test commencing," Makoto said, reading data off of his screen.  
"Primary interlocks engaged.  Simulation online.  Critical point 
reached and passed."

The sound of the Eva's powerful engine filled the room.

"Eva active," Shigeru read.  "Synchronization..."

Everyone held their breath.

"Synchronization...eleven point eight-four percent."

Everyone sighed loudly.  

"Well, I wasn't expecting much," Ritsuko said.  "That's barely even 
enough to start the engine," she whispered to Misato.  "Nothing else."

Depression seemed to fill the room, as the test continued.  People 
tried to ignore Asuka's voice coming through the radio, saying that the 
Eva wouldn't move.

***

While the tests on Asuka continued, Kaoru stood in front of Eva Unit-
01, looking at its "face."

"The one Eva not made from the same tissue as I am..." he said, 
quietly.  "Born from Lillith instead of Adam.  How many Angels have you 
killed?" he asked the machine.  "How many times have you broken the 
rules, so that you could protect your pilot?"

Unit-01 didn't venture an answer.  

Kaoru continued staring at the mecha, thinking.  He'd released Asuka 
from that coma.  But why?  Because he'd felt...guilty?  He wasn't 
supposed to feel guilty.  And by releasing her, didn't that make his 
job harder?   He could feel Adam calling to him, deep below the ground.  
Now, when he answered that call, he'd have _two_ pilots against him 
instead of one.

But...listening to what Rei had said a few nights ago had made him 
start thinking.  And he hadn't stopped thinking since.  Did he have the 
choice?  Did he even have the _right_ to choose?

He was still standing there when his cell phone rang, five minutes 
later.  He let it ring for a while, until he could no longer ignore it.  
He knew what this call would be about.  Turning away from Unit-01, he 
pulled the cell phone out, and looked at the display.

No name was shown to identify who was calling.  There wasn't even a 
phone number shown.  As strange as it seemed, this total anonymity made 
it very clear to Kaoru who was calling.  He knew that on the other side 
would be a scrambled voice, ready to give that one last order.

"Damn me," he whispered.  "Damn me to hell."

He kept staring at the phone, which kept ringing.  He wanted it to go 
silent.  But he knew it wouldn't.  The person on the other end would 
wait, because they knew he would have his phone at all times.  Kaoru 
closed his eyes.

He made his choice.

Turning quickly, he threw the phone at Eva Unit-01.  The small device 
arced gracefully through the air, still ringing, before it shattered on 
the solid purple armor, stopping mid-ring.

"Damn me," he said again, falling to his knees and looking at his 
hands.  "_Now_ what do I do?"

He felt the presence of another being.  He looked up, at a catwalk 
above him.  Rei III stood there, looking down at him with a cold look 
in her eyes.

"Will you fight?" she asked, her voice still soft but somehow sounding 
as though she was right next to him.

Kaoru shook his head.  "No," he said.  "I've made my choice."

Rei III nodded and turned away.  "And so the Seventeenth Angel is 
defeated, by its own choice," she whispered to herself.  "And the time 
for Impact is come."

***

Days later, Asuka was in the middle of another test.  Rei III was in 
the Eva bays, alone.  She knew what she had to do.  She was prepared.

She stood in front of the bay housing the broken Eva-03, which was 
still less than half-repaired.  She also carried a briefcase in one 
hand.  She had located the case down in the medical wing; the Commander 
had had it reserved for an operation on his hand.  But that would not 
be necessary, now.

She opened the briefcase, and looked at the egg-like shape inside.  Its 
name was Adam, otherwise known as the First Angel.  It had been encased 
in bakelite previously, but that casing had been chipped away in 
preparation for the Commander's operation.  Rei lifted the unprotected 
egg out of the case and, after gazing at if for a second, pressed it to 
her abdomen.

Nothing happened for a moment.  Then, there was a hissing noise as the 
egg shape burned a hole in her clothing.  It sank through her skin and 
into her body.  Rei winced with the pain, but waited, feeling Adam 
merge with her S2 unit.  Then she turned towards the Eva.

"Bardiel," she whispered, holding out a hand.  "You have been defeated, 
but rise again to my will."

At first, it looked like it was just the way the light was hitting her, 
but then it became obvious : Rei was glowing.

The various parts of mecha began moving back towards each other.  
Severed limbs reattached themselves, and other parts grew back of their 
own accord.  In just a few minutes, the massive form of Eva-03 had been 
fully reconstructed.

Rei took a step forwards, off of the platform she'd been standing on.  
Her feet hit the anti-shock fluid...and stopped.  She walked on the 
surface of the fluid, towards the mecha.  Meanwhile, Eva-03 began to 
move, its eyes glowing with the power inside.  It pulled free of the 
restraints that had been holding it down.

***

Alarms went off everywhere in the Central Dogma, where the tests on 
Asuka were being run.  The bridge crew all looked to their computer 
screens for an explanation.

"Blue pattern detected!" Shigeru shouted out.

"AT field materializing!" Makoto added in, just moments later.  
"It's...it's _here_!  In the Eva bays!"

Misato was at his side in moments.  "Which Eva bay is it?"

"Getting telemetry...Unit-03 is moving!"

"Put it on the screen!"

The giant main screen of the control room lit up with a view of the Eva 
bays.  Sure enough, a healed Unit-03 was in motion, pulling itself out 
of the hangar it had been stored in.  A subscreen opened, showing that 
there was no entry plug in the Eva.

"Impossible..." Maya said to herself.

"Get Asuka out of Unit-02," Misato said, watching it happen.  "And get 
me the other pilots."  Inside, she struggled to keep calm.

"Yes, sir!" Makoto answered.  He got on the comm frequency, bringing 
back his results after several minutes.  "Pilot Ikari is on the way, 
but pilots Nagisa and Ayanami aren't replying to any calls."

"What?" Misato asked incredulously.  "Fine," she bit out.  "Change of 
plans.  Keep Asuka in Unit-02, and get me a radio connection to her.  
Now."  

She looked over at Ritsuko, who had an implacable expression on her 
face.  "We can at least use her Eva to distract the Angel," Misato 
explained.

***

"WHAT?!" Shinji shouted into his Eva's radio.

"It's true, Ikari," came the calm voice of the controller on the other 
end.  "We've got the scans right now."

"B...but...I don't believe it!  NO!  Rei isn't an Angel!  She can't 
be!"

"Look, Ikari, that's the way it is.  And no matter _who_ this is, it's 
the Seventeenth Angel, and you've been ordered to take it down.  So are 
you going to, or not?"

"I...which Rei is it?"

"Huh?"

^Damn, I forgot.  This guy wouldn't know there's two Reis.^

"Forget I said anything," Shinji replied, bitterly.  "Where's Kaoru?"

"We're trying to contact him, but he appears to have vanished."

^Kaoru...^ Shinji thought.  ^Why would you leave _now_ of all times?  I 
need your help.  I can't do this alone.^

He took a breath to steady himself.  He opened his eyes, setting his 
Eva to full power.  The gantry opened, and he headed for the exit to 
Terminal Dogma.  He'd get to the bottom of this.  It _couldn't_ be Rei 
down there.  The girl he'd spent the night with just a few days ago had 
been one of the most human girls he'd ever seen.

He jumped down the large hole Eva-03 had torn open in its quest for 
what lay beneath.

***

Kaoru knocked on the door to the Katsuragi apartment.  When no one 
answered, he closed his eyes and concentrated, feeling the lock open on 
the other side.  He threw the door open and went in.  It didn't take 
him long to find Rei's room.  He barged in without a word.

Rei looked up from the book she'd been reading.  "N...Nagisa-kun?  What 
do you want?"

"I need your help," he said, dragging her off of her bed.  "More 
specifically, Shinji-kun needs your help.  The Seventeenth Angel is 
here."

"But I thought you were - "

"I might be an Angel, but I'm not the problem, right now.  Your double 
is going to try to start Third Impact."

"What?!"

"It's the truth.  Shinji's going to need help from both of us this 
time," he said, as he stood her up.

"Understood," Rei said, nodding.  She set her jaw.  She would help 
Shinji in any way she could.

Kaoru put both his arms around her and pulled her against him.  "Hang 
on," he said.

In moments, they'd vanished, leaving the apartment empty.

***

The battle was engaged.  Unit-01 was fighting Unit-03.  Again.  Only 
this time, one of the Evas had no pilot at all, and the other one was 
without a dummy plug.  The two machines were also floating in midair, 
heading down into the bowels of the NERV installation.

Shinji deployed his Progressive knife.  "Sorry, Touji," he said, 
charging at Unit-03.  The other mecha knocked the blow aside and 
punched Unit-01 in the jaw.  Shinji felt it just as though it was 
really _him_ that had been hit.  Dizzy, but still determined, he tried 
a kick to the Eva's side.  Eva-03 took the hit, but used the momentum 
to carry itself away, out of Shinji's reach.

Shinji was about to charge again when Unit-03's left arm came at him, 
stretching over the distance as though it were made of rubber.  Shinji 
slashed at it with his progressive knife, and was rewarded with a spray 
of blood from a cut.  Unit-03 roared and retracted its limb.

"Rei, stop this!" he called out to the unmistakable form of Rei 
Ayanami, floating alongside the two machines.  "Why are you doing 
this?!"

"I am fulfilling my reason for being, Ikari-kun," she replied, her 
voice somehow coming over his radio.  Shinji tried to say more, but 
Eva-03 had already recovered.  It then flexed its right hand.  Shinji 
watched in horror as five separate knives deployed, one from each 
finger.

"Oh, shit," Shinji said, as Unit-03's fingers elongated, sending each 
knife towards him, metal glinting.  He moved sideways, trying to dodge.  
Two of the knives embedded themselves in the wall.  He blocked another 
one with his own knife, and caught a second with his free hand, but his 
Eva still took one blade in the chest.  Shinji screamed in pain.

He pulled back, yanking the knife out of Unit-01 as he did so.  Unit-03 
pursued him, pressing its advantage.  It retracted its fingers and came 
at him with its clawed hand.  Shinji blocked the first blow, but the 
force pushed his knife to the side...and towards Rei.

The massive blade stopped a meter in front of her, though, blocked an 
unmistakable hexagonal pattern.

"An AT field?!" Shinji shouted.

***

"I-it won't start..."

"DAMN it Asuka!  Try harder!  Shinji can't keep this up!"

"I'm t-trying.  B-but it just won't start..."

Sure enough, Unit-02 was lying motionless in its bay.  Misato pounded 
angrily on the control desk she was sitting at.

"Excuse me, sir, may I try?"

Misato jumped and turned around.  "Rei?!  Where'd you come from?"

"It is a long story, which Nagisa-kun can better explain.  Please just 
let me try talking to her."

Misato backed off, allowing Rei to pick up the microphone.  Maya 
noticed Rei and stared.  Then She looked back to the main screen, where 
there was another Rei.  Then she looked back to the Rei in the control 
room.

"Wh-what - " she tried to begin.

"Just ignore it, Maya," Ritsuko said, putting her hand on the 
technician's shoulder.

"...Y-yes, sempai."

Kaoru had told Rei what she had to do.  She spoke into the microphone.  
"Sohryuu, do you know who this is?"

"..."

"Yes, it's me, Rei Ayanami.  Get out of the Eva, Sohryuu.  I'll be 
piloting it to stop this Angel."

"...what?"

Rei tried to sound more agressive, like Kaoru had told her to be.  "You 
couldn't take it down, anyway.  You know what it is?  It's Unit-03 
again, the Angel that started your losing streak.  You fought it for a 
total of seven seconds last time, before it stopped your Eva cold."

"..."

"You're no use to us if you can't pilot the Eva.  _I_ can at least get 
mine to start every time I sit down in it."

"..."

"I miss my Unit-00, but I guess I'll have to do with Unit-02.  That 
German machine won't be any good against Unit-03, but I can at least 
slow it down.  You can't even do that, _can_ you?"

Misato came up behind her.  "Uh...Rei, you're being a little harsh.  
We're trying to get her confidence _up_, you know?"

Rei held up one hand to silence Misato as the radio crackled with 
Asuka's voice.

"...shut up."

"No," Rei said, simply.  She could feel it working.  "I'm only telling 
the truth.  Every battle you've ever been in has either been a loss or 
an assist from one of us.  You never really _could_ stop an Angel on 
your own, could you?"

"Shut up."

"And so here we are, and you can't even _pilot_, let alone fight.  I 
could pilot that thing better from _here_ than you ever could in your 
life!  Admit it, Sohryuu, I'm the better pilot!"

"SHUT UP!  I CAN PILOT EVA BETTER THAN YOU AND SHINJI COMBINED!"

Rei relaxed and smiled, a little.  "Show me."

"SHOW YOU?!  WATCH THE FIREWORKS, WONDERGIRL!"

A gasp from Maya drew the attention of Rei and Misato.

"I...I don't believe it," Maya said.  "Evangelion Unit-02 has started.  
Synchronization is at thirty percent and climbing!"

Misato cast a grateful glance down at Rei, then put on her businesslike 
attitude again.  "Put it on the screen."

In moments, a shot of Eva-02's bay was on the screen.  The massive red 
machine was in motion.  All four of its eyes ignited, glowing like 
miniature suns.  Its arms tore free of the restraints and it pushed on 
the huge metal wall holding it down, as Asuka's war cry filled the 
radio channels.  The controllers eventually got the idea and opened the 
wall for the determined mecha.  Unit-02 stomped out of its bay, the 
ground shaking with each step.

"Asuka, there's a weapons rack on your right!" Misato radioed to the 
girl.  "Pick up some guns!"

There was no response.  Asuka, with flames almost literally glowing in 
her eyes, reached out and nearly tore the weapons rack off the wall, 
coming away with two pallet guns.

"Synchro level at...it's at _seventy_!" Maya called out.  "And it's 
_still_ going up!"

Misato directed the Eva towards the entry to the tunnel down to 
Terminal Dogma.  "Now let's see what this Angel's got," she said to 
herself.

They were all fighting for balance a moment later, though, as the 
entire command center shook.

"Major!  We've got a problem!" Makoto said.

"What?" Misato asked, whirling on him.

"The strongest AT field ever has just materialized in Terminal Dogma!  
It's blocking out everything!  Light, magnestism, sub-atomic particles!  
We can't monitor anything!"

Misato turned back to the radio.  "Asuka!  Don't...jump."  That last 
word came too late, as Unit-02 had just vanished down the entry hole.

"Do not worry, Misato-san," Rei said, calmly.  "Nagisa-kun came with me 
to NERV."

While everyone tried to figure out what the hell that meant, the 
command center shook again.  The MAGI detected the presence of 
_another_ blue pattern, creating an AT field at least as strong as the 
first one.

***

Kaoru was descending alongside Eva Unit-02, although Asuka couldn't see 
him at the moment.  His skin glowed pure white, and the tune of "Ode to 
Joy" could be heard in the background.

^You made me go to these lengths, Ayanami,^ he thought.  ^Now Shinji 
will know what I am.  Damn you.^

He extended his AT field, pushing it against the one that had 
materialized just moments before Asuka jumped.  The red Eva plumetted 
downwards, tearing through the weakened field as though it were paper.  
Below them, Units 01 and 03 were still fighting, though they had almost 
reached the bottom of the shaft.

***

"Shinji!  Heads up!" came a voice over Shinji's radio.

"What, Misato-san?"

"LOOK OUT!"

Shinji looked up, just in time to see two enormous red feet descending 
towards him.  He bit back a curse and jumped backwards just as he and 
Unit-03 reached the odd underground lake.

Unit-02 crashed down between the other two machines, the impact 
creating a tidal wave of LCL in all directions.  Shinji was so 
concerned with keeping his balance that he failed to notice the glowing 
white form of Kaoru fly by him, towards Terminal Dogma, after Rei.

Screaming out another war cry, Asuka levelled both pallet guns at Unit-
03 and fired.  Bullets fired at the rate of dozens of rounds a 
second, Asuka's Eva vibrating with the recoil.  Unit-03 raised its arms 
to protect is face, as the bullets hit.  The first dozen or so shots 
bounced off of its AT field, but Shinji saw a few bloody wounds on the 
Eva before it was obscured by smoke.

"Takes care of _that_," Asuka said, throwing the empty guns aside.  
"Did you miss me?"

"I..." Shinji tried to say.  He noticed something behind her.  "Asuka!  
Look out!"

Unit-02 turned around just in time to take a punch to the gut.  Sure 
enough, Unit-03 was stepping out of the cloud of gunsmoke, bleeding but 
still moving.  It reached out and snared Unit-01's neck with its 
flexible arm.

"Asuka!  Go stop the Angel!" Shinji shouted out, as he tried to pull 
the fingers off of his Eva's throat.  "This thing won't let go of me!"

"It won't let go of _me_ either, baka!  Holy shit!  Where did those 
claws come from?"

The three Evas fell into an even more heated combat.  Unit-03 yanked 
Shinji off his feet and slung him over its shoulder, where he crashed 
into an iceberg-like obstruction.  It then turned towards Asuka.  Unit-
02 pulled out its Progressive knife and jumped at its opponent, its 
strike blocked by Unit-03's claw.

Shinji got up, somewhat nauseous from the impact, and tried to sneak by 
Unit-03.  But the renegade Eva just stretched its right arm towards him 
and grabbed onto Unit-01's ankle.  Shinji lost his balance and fell 
over again.

Asuka, meanwhile, took advantage of Unit-03's distraction and tackled 
it.  She punched it in the face with her Eva's free hand, then brought 
the knife back for a strike to Unit-03's heart.  The strike never made 
it, though, as Unit-03 grabbed Asuka's Eva around the armpits and 
pushed her away, its arms elongating as it lifted the red Eva into the 
air and dropped it onto Unit-01.

"Watch where you're going, baka!" Asuka shouted.

^Looks like she's fully recovered,^ Shinji thought.  "Asuka, we need to 
take it down quickly!  Rei's getting away!"

"Don't worry, Shinji-kun," came a voice over his radio.  "I can hold 
her at bay."

"Kaoru-kun?" Shinji asked.  "Where are you?"

"I'm here.  I'm right behind Ayanami."

"Kaoru, no!  She's...she's an Angel!" he said, admitting it to himself.  
"She'll kill you!"

"Don't worry about me, Shinji-kun.  I can handle this...problem."

Shinji was still confused, but he didn't have time to try an figure out 
the details.  Asuka had gotten off of him and jumped on top of Unit-
03's back, throwing both arms around the black Eva's neck.  Shinji knew 
he had to handle this problem before he could handle the next one.

***

Rei walked up to the large metal door, the last defense.  She glanced 
at the controls, and they opened, despite the lack of an ID card.

On the other side was a massive white, humanoid figure.  Its face was 
hidden by a mask with seven eyes.  It's hands were stapled to a 
gigantic cross, holding it in place just above a pool of LCL.  Its 
legs, only recently grown, dangled freely.

Rei's feet left the ground as she floated towards the figure, in open 
defiance of the law of gravity.  As she slowly approached it, the mask 
seemed to move, just barely, to look at her.

"I'm home," she said to the figure.

But she stopped immediately after that, as a burning shaft of pure 
energy burst from the LCL in front of her, blocking off her approach to 
the figure and forming the shape of a glowing cross.

Rei turned her head and looked back the way she'd come.  There, 
standing on the surface of the LCL, was the Fifth Child.

"Nagisa-san," she said to him.  "What are you hoping to accomplish?"

The boy shook his head.  "My real name's Tabris.  And I'm here to stop 
you, Ayanami.  You won't get anywhere doing this!  Can't you tell that 
that's not Adam?  It's Lillith!  You can't start Third Impact with 
Lillith."

"Much to the contrary," Rei said, turning around.  "_You_ cannot start 
Third Impact with Lillith, for you are made from Adam.  I am made from 
Lillith, and carry Adam with me," she said, gesturing to her stomach.  
"The time for Impact is now, since you have chosen not to fight."  With 
that, she floated backwards, again towards Lillith.  She stopped, 
though, as a glowing AT field materialized behind her.

"The light of the soul.  Sacred territory where no one should 
intrude," Tabris said.  "You're not the only one who can generate one, 
Ayanami."  With that, he floated into the air, a smile on his face.  

Tabris finally understood.  He hadn't been sent here to cause Third 
Impact.  He'd been sent here to die.  To be the Seventeenth Angel, and 
to be defeated by the Evas, so that Rei could be used to start Third 
Impact.  

With this realization, Tabris no longer wanted to live; his life was 
meaningless, now.  But he also knew that he _had_ to go on living, if 
only for a few more minutes.  Although he wished to die, he knew that 
he did not have the right to end the life of everyone on Earth.  

His eyes hardened with grim determination.  He would fight.  He would 
kill Ayanami, and then...

"This field will not stop me, Tabris," Rei said, extending her own AT 
field and reversing its polarity to negate the first one.  "Third 
Impact cannot be avoided."

"Maybe so, but I made my choice, and I'm going to live by it, 
Ayanami."  Tabris' eyes bored into Rei's.  It became quite obvious that 
his smile wasn't coming anywhere close to touching his eyes, this time.  
"I chose to protect Shinji-kun.  If you want to get through that AT 
field, you'll have to destroy me first."

Rei gave up trying to force her way through, seeing the logic in what 
Tabris had said.  True, she could negate the field, but that would 
leave her undefended, and Tabris would only need a second to destroy 
her.

"Very well," she said.  She flew at him.

Tabris soared upwards, leaving Rei to swoop up, just barely missing the 
LCL.  His eyes narrowed, and a cross-flare erupted out of the ground, 
consuming her.

Rei flew out, unharmed.  ^She's still got _her_ AT field,^ Tabris 
thought.  ^But I've got to be careful with mine, or else she might get 
through to Lillith.^

As he was thinking this, Rei charged at him, white flames appearing in 
an aura around her body.  The boy only just dodged, feeling his hair 
burn as he went in low.  Rei did a one-eighty and hit him shoulder-
first, turning it into a throw that sent him against the far wall.  
Tabris pulled his AT field around himself just in time to dodge the 
worst of the blow.  The field protected him, but left the path to 
Lillith open.  Rei swooped towards the white figure on the cross, only 
to be interrupted as Tabris threw his field over Lillith once more.  
Rei said nothing; she only turned and headed for Tabris, her face calm.

Tabris dodged and then glanced at the LCL pool, causing a wave of the 
fluid that swallowed up Rei like an ant.  The girl emerged unharmed, 
though, the LCL moving out of the way as her AT field pushed it back.  

"You're disappointing me, Ayanami," Tabris said, crossing his arms.  "I 
thought the pinnacle of NERV research would be able to do better than 
this."

Rei showed no response to his verbal barbs.  She held out her hand, 
letting energy gather there before slinging it at Tabris.  The tiny 
bullet of white-hot energy made Tabris dodge high, just in time to be 
caught by Rei as she charged him again.  Rei guided them downwards, her 
hands going around his neck as they went under the surface of the LCL.

Tabris panicked for a moment, letting Rei get a better hold on him.  He 
watched the air bubbles leaving his mouth, wondering if he would drown 
before remembering that LCL was breathable.  He struggled with Rei's 
grip, trying to pry the fingers off of his neck.  He concentrated and 
flew upwards, out of the gooey liquid.  As his vision began to fog from 
lack of air, he spun them around in midair as he gave Rei's arms one 
last tug.  As he'd expected, the force from the turn, in addition to 
his own arm strength, were enough to throw Rei off.

The two teens/Angels flew to opposite sides of the room and squared off 
again, still floating several meters above the ground.  Behind them, 
Lillith watched, waiting patiently to see who won the conflict.

"Where's your power, Ayanami?" Tabris asked.  "From what I've seen, you 
can't even do _this_," he said, causing cross-flares to erupt all 
around Rei.  He watched, agitated, as she again came out unscathed.

Rei took a breath and then let it out slowly.  Closing her eyes, she 
glowed even brighter than before.  As she concentrated all her power 
into her next attack, Tabris felt the connection she'd had with Unit-03 
break.  Which meant that the battle outside would soon be won.  Now he 
just had to dodge this...

Rei's eyes opened, and the largest cross-flare yet blasted out 
horizontally towards Tabris.  The raw power was enough to melt through 
the reinforced metal walls of the bay.  The boy ducked, trying to raise 
his AT field, but still caught the fringe of the blast.  The partially-
raised AT field he'd had up was enough to preserve his life, but it did 
not save him from harm; his skin and clothing were scorched by the 
heat.  He screamed as his left arm was blasted off entirely.  Losing 
his concentration, he fell from the air, and into the LCL.

***

Shinji took a claw in the arm from Unit-03, grinding his teeth as he 
saw blood pouring out of the wounds.  Asuka finally found her opening, 
though, and came in from the side, slashing downwards with her knife.  
It cut right through Unit-03's arm.

Roaring, Unit-03 staggered backwards, its shortened limb bleeding 
profusely.  Asuka didn't give it an inch, as she tackled it, pushing 
Unit-03 to the ground and pushing her knees into its chest.  Unit-02's 
fists came down, again and again, with thunderous force.  Asuka didn't 
even bother to aim for vitals; she was only intent on pummelling the 
living shit out of her enemy.  Shinji could only watch, stunned and 
sickened, as Unit-03 crumpled and broke underneath the assault.

Then, all of a sudden, Unit-03 stopped moving.

"Asuka, stop!  It's dead," Shinji said, watching this.

Asuka's Eva stopped moving, and slumped on top of Unit-03.

"Asuka?  Are you alright?"

"Of _course_ I'm not alright, you baka!  My battery just ran out!"

^Guess it's just me, then,^ Shinji thought, shutting off his radio link 
to Asuka.  He turned just in time to see a massive explosion of energy 
coming from Terminal Dogma.

^Third Impact?^  He waited.  ^No...it's not.  I'm still here.^

"Shinji, get moving!" came a voice over the radio.  "Nagisa can't hold 
her down forever."

"Ritsuko-san?"  Shinji asked, as he started his Eva in motion towards 
Terminal Dogma.  "What do you mean?  How is Kaoru fighting Rei, if he 
doesn't even have an Eva?"

"He's an Angel, too, Shinji," Ritsuko said, quickly.  "He's been 
slowing Rei down, but I don't know how much longer he can last."

Unit-01 stumbled.  "Wh...what?" Shinji asked.

"Just go stop them!"

In a daze, Shinji started his Eva moving again.  Kaoru...an Angel?  No, 
it couldn't be true!

***

Satisfied that Tabris was destroyed, Rei moved towards Lillith.  What 
was left of her opponents' AT field still blocked her progress.  She 
concentrated her own field back onto it, quickly weakening the barrier.  
But her eyes narrowed as she felt the field re-stabilize.

"You think...that...will stop me?" Tabris gasped out.  He was behind 
her, again standing on the surface of the LCL.  His burns were healing 
rapidly.  And, even as Rei watched, what remained of his left arm 
seemed to flow downwards, as though made of clay.  It expanded and grew 
back into an undamaged arm.  Tabris clenched his brand-new fist to make 
sure it still worked.  He flew into the air.  "Shinji-kun is late," he 
said to himself.

Rei was about to join the battle again when the far wall exploded 
inwards.  Unit-01 tore through the rubble, into the LCL lake.  Kaoru 
was first to take advantage of the surprise entry.  He shifted his AT 
field, throwing it around Rei and holding her in place.  The girl 
immediately started tearing through, but she couldn't move fast enough; 
Unit-01's left hand encircled her, leaving just her head poking out.  
The Eva's right hand similarly restrained Kaoru.

"Kaoru-kun!" Shinji's voice called out from the Eva's speakers.  
"Ritsuko-san told me everything.  _You're_ an Angel?"

Tabris nodded as best he could from his position.  "Yes I am, Shinji," 
he replied, with a smile on his face.  "Thank you for coming.  I wanted 
you to stop Unit-03."

"But...Kaoru..._why?_"

"I suppose it was my destiny.  I never meant for you to know.  But I 
wanted to protect the ones I love.  I needed to stop Ayanami, before 
she went too far.  Now, Shinji, I leave the choice in your hands."

"What?!"

"Please...destroy us, Shinji.  We are abominations, pale copies of Adam 
and Lillith.  We don't deserve to live."

"Kaoru, what are you saying?  Everyone has a right to live!"

"Yet humans and Angels cannot co-exist, Shinji.  Only one species can 
survive.  And if I have to choose between your life and my own, I want 
you to be the one who lives."

"K-Kaoru...you can't be serious!"

"I am _very_ serious, Shinji."

"But...you're my friend!"

Tabris did his best to keep down his sad smile.  "That doesn't 
matter."  He glanced over at Unit-01's left hand, where Rei was 
securely held.  He smiled.  "You're worth it," Tabris said, looking 
back at Unit-01's face.

"B-but..."

"You need to kill Ayanami, too, because she's intent on causing Impact 
herself.  You have her now.  If you let her go, she'll just keep trying 
until you kill her."

"Kaoru, it's _Rei!_  I can't kill her!  She means too much to me!"

"Shinji, that's not your Rei."

"How can I tell?  They look the same."

"Shinji, look inside yourself and ask if they really are the same.  
Deep down, behind your wall of the heart, you can tell them apart as 
easily as though they were not clones.  I leave the choice to you."  He 
closed his eyes and awaited his fate.

Shinji paused, looking at the screen in front of him.  He tried to 
ignore the faces.  But he couldn't.  In one hand, a very dear 
friend...who wished to die.  In the other hand, a person who had a 
fifty percent chance of being the girl he'd comforted the other night.

He froze.  He couldn't think.  For an eternity, he looked at the pair.  
He couldn't just kill them!  Then he'd be a murderer.  But, if he let 
them live...then the entire world would be in jeopardy.

"Shinji..." came a faint voice on the radio.  With Unit-01 restraining 
all the other AT fields, the radio signal was finally able to get 
through.  A screen appeared off to Shinji's right.  The staticky 
transmission showed him Rei's face.

"Shinji...please do the right thing," the Rei on the screen said.

Shinji looked closely at the girl on the screen.  He could see care, 
worry, and maybe, just maybe...love.  The love he'd been searching for 
his entire life.  He looked back to the people in his Eva's hands.  The 
blue-haired girl in his left hand showed none of those emotions.  Her 
face was blank, but her eyes carried a hint of anger, and of soulless 
determination.  Over in his right hand, a boy who looked like he'd 
never had a care in the world.  A boy who wished to die, so that his 
best and only friend might live.

Shinji made his decision.

CRUNCH.

***

Shinji got out of the Eva, still kind of numb.  Down below, sprayers 
activated to wash the blood off his Eva.

There were several people waiting at the exit to meet him.  Misato was 
there, of course, as well as Rei.  There was also...Kaoru.

The gray-haired boy didn't understand.  Why hadn't Shinji squeezed the 
_right_ hand, too?  He'd asked to die.  He _still_ wanted to die.  It 
didn't make sense.

As Shinji came up the steps to the gantry they were standing on, Kaoru 
pushed to the front of the group.  He looked at Shinji, about to ask a 
question when - 

CRACK.

Kaoru Nagisa, formerly the Seventeenth Angel, fell limply to the 
ground, his nose broken and bleeding.  Shinji rubbed his sore knuckles, 
then rubbed a tear out of his eyes.  He looked at Kaoru with a 
betrayed, hurt look on his face.

Misato, looking on, praying that those feelings would pass.  Hopefully, 
Shinji and Kaoru were close enough to get around this problem.  She 
didn't want to see Shinji spare his friend's life, just to spurn him 
later.

Shinji walked up to Rei, who began to look afraid as he approached.  
What would he do to _her?_

Shinji stopped just in front of her, and took a breath.  "I'm sorry," 
he said.

Rei paused for a moment, not having expected this.  "For what?" she 
asked.

"For doing that...to the other Rei."

Rei shook her head.  "It's fine," she said.  "You had to do it.  
And...it makes things easier around here," she said, trying to make 
herself smile for him.  "Now you at least know who I am."

Shinji stepped closer.  "What's wrong?" he asked, hearing the fear in 
her voice.

Rei stepped back, looking away.  "I'm not a normal human, Shinji-kun.  
My clone and I were similar in more ways than appearances."  ^I wish 
you didn't have to know.^

"Rei..."

"Humans don't have clones, Shinji-kun.  Especially not ones that are 
Angels."  At this, she turned her back on him, not wanting to see that 
betrayed look on his face again.  It would hurt too much.

She stiffened as she felt his arms encircling her.  However, she 
quickly relaxed as she heard his breathing in her ear.

"I don't care," he said.  "Even though I know about Kaoru, he's still 
my friend.  If he wasn't my friend anymore, I wouldn't have hit him.  I 
don't care what you are, Rei.  You're still...important to me."

Rei didn't move, taking some time to sort out her thoughts.  After a 
while, she turned around to face Shinji.  She nodded, slowly.  "Thank 
you," she said, hugging him.  They stood like that for a long moment.

"Are you okay?" Rei asked him, as she finally stepped away.

Shinji nodded.  "I'm just...tired, Rei.  I want to go home."

Misato watched the pair with a puzzled look on her face.  ^Well, he 
just saved the world, again,^ she thought.  ^He can be weird if he 
wants to.^  In the meantime, she called over a medic to wake up Kaoru 
and maybe patch up that nose.

***

Up on the main platform of the control room, Gendo and Fuyutsuki 
watched the events in the hangar from a video screen.  Gendo was in his 
trademarked position behind his desk.  Although he didn't show it, 
Gendo was disturbed.

"Was this in your scenario?" Fuyutsuki asked.

"...It was a possibility.  But it was so faint, we weren't prepared for 
it.  Get me Akagi on the phone."

"Yes, sir."

Gendo went silent again, thinking about how to handle this.

***

Off in the SEELE conference room, the black obelisks were having 
another of their short conversations.

"Gendo has failed again," one of them said, somberly.

"We shouldn't have put all our faith behind one operative," said 
another.

The rest agreed.  After a brief pause, the pillar marked 01 spoke.

"It is time we took matters into our own hands.  Prepare the Type 5 
Evangelions for battle."

"Yes, sir," the rest chimed in.

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

Endnote: Damn.  I didn't think this thing would be _that_ long.  And 
that was (mostly) just Episode 24.  Part 3 is even longer.  I hope you 
at least have a passing understanding of what happens in the movie End 
of Evangelion.  Of course, I'm going to be twisting that movie around 
to suit my own purposes, but I guess it would help to know what 
happened in the movie.

As for the rest, here're the explanations: Kaoru is da MAN.  And I hate 
those "sacrifice me" scenes that show up WAY too often in anime.  So I 
changed that part.  Finally, most people who've been to my site know 
that I don't think highly of Asuka.  However, I think she got a pretty 
bad deal in the series: she never really gets her time in the 
limelight, at least not during an Eva battle.  So I wrote in her 
fifteen minutes of fame.

And yes, Ritsuko's commentary on Rei's DNA was this fic's answer to the 
"Rei is Shinji's mother" thing.

Finally, I knew that if there was anything that could make Rei laugh, 
it would be "No Need for Tenchi."  So I made Misato a closet (no pun 
intended) manga fan.  What the hell, it's my fic.

Whew.  Anyway, please tell me what you thought.  Even a 2-word e-mail 
saying "you suck" is better than nothing at all.  E-mail me at 
otakusadist@hotmail.com.  While you're at it, check out my web site at: 
http://www.angelfire.com/anime2/shinjirei/index.html

Started : January 5, 2001
Ended : January 13, 2001
Rewrite Ended: February 25, 2001