The Characters and concept of Neon Genesis Evangelion are property of Gainax. I created this "scenario" in the spirit of the TV series. I made it in the hope that it would open up people's minds and give something to a series that really touched me. This little series that I have created is a piece of fan fiction thought up by yours truly, so if you are going to copy or distribute this work, please give credit where it is due, k? Now enjoy!

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BACKGROUND: If you happened to miss it (which is unlikely) or it has been a while since you've read from SBTA (shame on you!), here's a little run down on what happened last chapter...

Gendo Ikari, caught in the corridors of his subconscious, was forced to face the demons of his past. Under the constant pressure, the Commander began to lose his sanity, but with the guidance of a curious vision, managed to come back to the world of the living.

In the meantime, Asuka returns home and Shinji runs from his friends' teasing. Outside the city, Shinji met a beautiful, mysterious girl he had never seen before. As it turned out, she was Hikaru Sohma, the Sixth Child.

Back at NERV, Misato finds herself faced with a new arrival, Natasha Karpov, Hikaru companion and Seele's pawn.

Finally, Shinji was kissed for the second time in his life...

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Misato (yawning loudly): Good morning, everyone.

Asuka: Good morning, Misato.

Shinji (stammering): Y-Yes, good morning, Misato.

(Asuka is eating at the kitchen table while Shinji is putting out a plate for the major. He watches disapprovingly as the major walks past the kitchen table and heads right for the refrigerator.)

Shinji: Uh-Misato?

Misato (leaning down and reaching deep inside the refrigerator): What is it, Shinji?

Shinji: I have something for you to drink over here.

(Misato peeks from around the corner of the fridge door.)

Misato (skeptical tone in her voice): And that is?

Shinji (looking around): Well, I was trying out a new recipe for breakfast. I made an American dish of French toast, eggs, and a glass of orange juice.

(Misato is just staring at Shinji.)

Asuka (sipping from her glass): It was really quite good, Misato...

(Shinji stares over at Asuka in shock.)

Asuka (putting the glass down): ...considering that baka Shinji made it.

(Shinji sighs.)

Misato: Juice. For breakfast.

Shinji (looking hopeful): Please, Misato. You'll like it. I'm sure.

Misato (sighing deeply): I'll...try it.

(Ten minutes later, Shinji is clearing the table...along with three beer cans.)

Asuka (smug): So much for that idea.

Shinji (closing his eyes): It was worth a try.

Asuka: So typical of you.

(Shinji looks over at Asuka and finds her watching him closely. His eyes wander to her lips and he looks away quickly, washing a little nervously.)

Shinji: W-What do you mean?

Asuka: I mean, that you are so passive when you try to change something. If you really wanted to force someone to do something your way, you take aggressive action! Why should Misato drink something other than beer in the morning? You are so stupid some times.

Shinji (feeling goaded): If you are so smart, then why don't you think of something?

Asuka (studying her nails of her left hand): Because such things are beneath me. Besides, I could care less if Misato drinks herself into a stupor. Why is it that you care so much?

Shinji (hearing her voice hardening, he turned toward the girl): I-It's just that she's such a...slob around here, yet she is so organized and composed at NERV headquarters. I guess I...would like her to respect our living quarters a little more.

Asuka (staring at Shinji for a moment, then burst into laughter): "Respect our living quarters?!" What the hell do you mean?! You want Misato to start living like you? Give me a break!

Shinji (cheeks hot, turning away from her): Whatever.

(The doorbell rings and the two pilots look toward the door.)

Misato (calling): Can someone get that? I'm not decent...Shinji!

Shinji (already running for the door): I'll get it! I'll get it!

(Asuka is laughing, holding her belly.)

Asuka (wiping a tear from her eye): She's got you wrapped around her finger! And you want to change her?!

Shinji (glaring over his shoulder as he opened the door): Will you shut up?

Hikaru (brightly): Good morning, Ikari Shinji!

(Shinji spins toward the door. He had been expecting to see Touji and Kenseke. Instead, he finds the Sixth Child standing before him, her kind smile beaming.)

Shinji: H-Hikaru!

Asuka (her good mood gone): WHAT?!

(Asuka stomps to the door and pushes Shinji out of the way. There is a moment of complete silence, then-)

Asuka and Hikaru (growling): What are you doing here?!

(After a few seconds, the two girls glare over at Shinji who flinches. When no brilliant explanations come to mind, he does the only thing he could think of.)

Shinji (calling): Uh-Misato!!

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Hikaru (jumping to her feet): What?! Shinji and Asuka are roommates?!

(Misato is sitting at the kitchen table wrapped in a towel with water dripping down on her bare shoulders. She is more than a little annoyed that she has to be playing mediator this early in the morning [it is 8:15 am])

Misato (sighing): It is a long story, Sohma Hikaru.

Hikaru (setting her hands on her hips): This isn't proper, Major.

Asuka (coming to her feet): What does that mean?! That's funny...coming from you!

Misato (banging her beer can loudly on the table): Enough! Both of you! Asuka. Hikaru. Sit down!

(After a tense moment, the girls sit down and Shinji looks cautiously between the two of them.)

Misato: Hikaru, when Shinji came to Tokyo-3, he was all alone-

Hikaru (glaring at Asuka): That's not true. Shinji's father lives in Tokyo-3!

(There is a moment of awkward silent. Shinji bows his head slightly.)

Shinji (softly): I couldn't...live with father.

Hikaru: ...

Misato: In any case, I became his guardian. When Asuka came along, well, circumstances would have it so that it would be...beneficial for them to live close to each other.

Hikaru (shooting a skeptical glance at Asuka): I've read the report. What I'm confused about is the fact that when the danger was over, Shinji didn't get his own apartment. Why is that?

Misato: ...

Asuka: I don't see what business it is of yours, new girl!

Hikaru (growling): You arrogant, simple-minded-

Misato: Will you girls-

(Misato is interrupted again by the doorbell. Shinji is only too eager to get to it, praying that something would stop the oncoming disaster. He opens the door.)

Shinji (almost shouting): Hello!

(Touji, Hikari, and Kenseke lean away.)

Touji: Whoa, Shinji! What's going on?

Hikari (calling): Asuka, are you ready to get going?

Kenseke (whispering): Is Misato here? I would like to talk to her about the new EVA-

Shinji (his eyes shooting wide): Misato! You-You-

Misato (calling): I, what?

Shinji (calling back): Towel, dress, clothes-

Hikaru (looking over at Misato): I think he means that you should get into some clothes.

(The major looks down.)

Misato (sighing): Well, hell...

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Maya: ...

(click)

Maya (sighing): ...it never makes any sense.

Ritsuko: What never makes any sense?

(The younger woman jumps in surprise.)

Maya: Oh, ma'am! I didn't know that you were there!

(They are in an isolated room in Terminal Dogma. Before Maya is a screen that is logged in to the MAGI database.)

Ritsuko (leaning over Maya's shoulder): Ah, the visuals on the Second Impact. You are trying to find meaning to it all?

Maya (leaning back): I know that it is sort of a worthless gesture, but sometimes I think that we might have just missed something.

Ritsuko (grinning slightly): There is always something that is missed in the major events of life. Hell, we miss things with even the insignificant ones.

Maya (sighed): I know...it's just so much has happened because of this. The death of billions, NERV, the EVAs, the Children...everything is effected so much by this single event.

Ritsuko (pulling up a seat): Yeah, one more stain on the human soul. We couldn't leave well enough alone.

Maya (her brows drawn together): Ma'am...I thought it was all triggered by human curiosity...

Ritsuko (thinking): As if something so horrible could be triggered by something as innocent as that.

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(Shinji is contemplating the meaning of friendship. Rather, he is contemplating why he has friends.)

Touji (looking gravely disappointed): I still can't believe you. You get all the babes!

Shinji: It's not like that!

Kenseke: One after another falls for you. It must be the fact that you're an EVA pilot. They get all the women.

Shinji (thinking): Sometimes more than we can deal with.

(The three friends are sitting on the grass besides the running track. At the moment, the girls are getting timed. The guys' turn would be up soon.)

Touji (voice stiff): So...which are you going to pick?

Shinji (confused): Huh?

Touji (turning a cold eye toward his friend): Which are you going to claim, Asuka or Hikaru?

Shinji: ...?

Kenseke: Don't tell me that you are going to keep both!

(The two friends' eyes shot wide at the idea.)

Shinji (drawing away from them): I-I didn't say that! I...I don't really consider either of them..."mine."

Touji: ...

Kenseke (sighing): We should have known...

Touji: Yeah...

Hikaru (calling from her place on the track): Shinji! Hey, don't look so down!

(Shinji looks up and finds the girl waving at him. Touji and Kenseke look at each other.)

Touji and Kenseke: Then again...

(Shinji ignores them and starts to wave back. Just then he spots Asuka stalking toward Hikaru.)

Asuka (snarling): Are you finished flirting with that idiot, Shinji, yet?

Hikaru (turning toward Asuka): You sure have an attitude problem, Second Child.

(Hikaru leans closer to Asuka. The action is so sudden that Asuka doesn't have time to retreat. Hikaru's violet eyes have a strange look in them as the girl stares at something...deep within.)

Asuka (shaken): W-What-

Hikaru (her skin suddenly a shade paler): I...don't believe it. It's incredible, considering how you treat him!

Asuka (shouting): What are you talking about?!

Teacher: Soryu, Asuka! Sohma, Hikaru! You two are up! Stop dragging your feet, ladies!

(The two of them glare at each other for a moment before they went to take their places at the starting blocks.)

Asuka (softly): I won't lose to you, Sixth Child.

Hikaru (a grin on her face): You are too full of yourself, Second Child.

Teacher: On your marks...

Hikaru: Besides, I know some that even you yourself don't want to know.

Asuka (focusing hard on the track ahead of her): What the hell are you babbling about now?

Teacher: ...get set...

Hikaru (softly): You are in love with Shinji Ikari, too.

Asuka (turning her head violently toward the other girl): W-What?!

Teacher: GO!!

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Gendo (hands folded before his face): What have you found?

Ritsuko (referring to her notes): Uh...everything checks out. Preliminary tests show that the Russians have done their homework. They have taken our research on past mistakes and have improved on the EVA. I would say that Unit 04 would be able to trade blows with EVA Unit 02, perhaps even give the pilot a run for her money.

Gendo (softly): I see. What about against Unit 01?

Ritsuko: ...we all know about Unit 01.

Gendo: ...this may be important. It's just like the Committee to send something that we may or may not be able to use.

(Ritsuko doesn't want to talk about this. She has other things on her mind. Things like what Gendo had said when he had first awoken. Did he mean the words...or were they just that, words. She refused to fall for another one of Gendo's plots, but yet, her heart ached whenever she remembered the look in Gendo's eyes when he had said those words. They made her think of...other things.)

Gendo: I want you to personally supervise Unit 04's orientation. There can be no mistakes, Dr. Akagi.

Ritsuko (her eyes turning away): Yes, sir.

Gendo: Then you are dismissed. I know I will not be disappointed.

Ritsuko: ...

(The doctor turns away and walks out of the Supreme Commander's chambers.)

(Outside the doors.)

Ritsuko (thinking): Words...or something else...

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Rei: ...

(Silence)

Rei: ...

(Silence)

Rei: ...how long are you going to do that?

(The two girls on either side of the locker room jump and look over at Ayanami. Rei doesn't look at either of the other pilots as she stands and depresses the vacuum button on her wrist.)

Asuka: What are you talking about, First Child?

Hikaru (surprise on her face): She's the First Child?

(Hikaru, her purple and red plug suit hanging around her takes a step closer to Rei, who blinks in surprise.)

Hikaru (looking at Rei at an angle): I haven't been able to find any records on you. I was curious to see what a person with no past looks like.

Rei: ...now you know.

Asuka (stunned): Whoa, Wonder Girl has an attitude!

Hikaru (confused): "Wonder Girl-"

Asuka (waving the matter away): Yeah, Ayanami is the Commander's favorite. Always cool under fire. Always ready to throw her life away. That's Wonder Girl in a nutshell.

Rei: ...I'm leaving now.

(Asuka and Hikaru watch as Rei silently leaves the locker room.)

Hikaru (looking after Rei): I think you insulted her.

Asuka (pressing her vacuum button): Oh that's not possible. She's out there. She always does what she is ordered to. I bet she would have sex with anyone if you made it an order!

Hikaru (slowly sealing her plug suit): Oh, I don't know. I sense that she's...searching for something.

Asuka (rolling her eyes): Oh, great, another weird one. No one around here is ever normal! NERV is full of weirdos!

Hikaru (her eyes sliding toward the redhead): Present company, included, huh?

Asuka: ...!

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(Shinji shrugs his shoulders so that he can get comfortable. Sometimes, he still gets chafed in the form-fitting plug suit. He exits the men's locker and finds Rei walking toward the harmonics testing area.)

Shinji (calling): Ayanami! Wait!

(The girl stops and waits. Shinji jogs up next to Rei and looks over at her.)

Shinji: Uh...can I walk with you to the test chamber?

Rei: ...as you wish.

(Rei begins walking again and Shinji falls into step beside her.)

(FLASHBACK: Rei...dozens of Rei's. They all turned and looked at him at once, like they all possessed the same mind. Ritsuko was sobbing as she destroyed all of them. Rei III, the last of her sisters.)

Shinji: ...how does it feel?

Rei: ...how does what feel?

Shinji (quietly): To be all alone. They can't bring you back again, Rei.

Rei: ...

Shinji (turning his head away): I'm sorry.

Rei: Why?

Shinji: It's your business. I don't have any right to it.

Rei: You are wrong.

Shinji (turning back to the girl): What?

(The door to the Harmonics Testing Chamber is suddenly before them. It slides open, revealing four entry plugs rigged so that they can be lowered into a deep pool of LCL.)

Rei (her back to Shinji): Shinji Ikari...a name that makes me...

Shinji (his heart pounding): ...makes you...

Rei (very quietly): Makes me...feel...

(The blue-haired pilot then walks toward the plug marked with a double zero, leaving Shinji behind, staring at her back with wide, confused eyes.)

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Misato (leaning over Maya's shoulder): So, how are the Children today?

Maya: They are all doing quite well. Asuka's a little low. Shinji and Rei are about the same as their last test. Hikaru, though, is reading at 78%!

Ritsuko (arms crossed): Well, considering that she has seen no combat and believes this all a big game, that's to be expected.

Misato (looking back at the doctor, quietly): ...Pretty harsh words for a little girl.

Ritsuko (her face grim): When she's waist deep in it, we will test her again. Everything these Children experience, think about, believe, it all effects their performance. Don't let these numbers fool you. When she's scared, resistant, and nervous, those numbers will line up with the other Children's.

Misato: ...is there something else that I should know?

Ritsuko (sighing as she left the chamber): The moment I know, you will know, Major.

(The door closes behind the doctor, cutting off the question that is sure to be coming. Concerned, Misato turns back to the monitors to study Hikaru's calm, pretty face. The door suddenly opens again.)

Misato (without looking back): Found your answers so soon, Ritsuko?

Natasha: No, Major, but life is just full of those unanswered questions.

Misato (glaring over her shoulder): Oh, its...you.

(Natasha rests a hand on her hip as she gazes around the control center. She is wearing a black, form-fitting tank top and a pair of baggy, cargo pants. Her shoulder-length hair is tied back in a ponytail. Her dark eyes are aggressive until she spots Hikaru on the monitoring screen. Misato sees an interesting mix of emotions cycle over the other woman's face. Joy, fear, possessiveness, and pain.)

Misato (thinking): What's this?

Natasha (finally noticing Misato's watchful gaze): How is she doing?

Misato: Rather well, actually. She's up at 78%-

Natasha (smug): Of course. She was trained by Mother Russia's best. She's very good at focusing-

Misato: Focusing in a controlled environment is one thing, Lieutenant. It is completely different when there is nothing but Hell around you.

Natasha (snorting): Humph. My Hikaru could mop the deck with your pathetic pilots. That redheaded one can't even get her ratio over 68%!

Misato (staring coldly at the other woman): Asuka's been...having some problems... You would be wise not to underestimate her. She is one of the strongest women I know.

Natasha (eyes equally cold): I will believe this when I see it.

(There is a moment of silence as the crew in the control center exchange secret looks at each other. The Lieutenant suddenly looks around Misato's shoulders. Once again that strange mix of emotion flashes across Natasha's face.)

Natasha: Is she...okay in there? There is no...danger?

(Misato wants to laugh, but there was some sort of unusual vulnerability on the Russian's face that stops her.)

Misato (glancing over her shoulders): No...these tests are merely to check on a pilot's synchro-ratios. Nothing more. They are not actually connected to their EVAs. This is all simulated.

Natasha: ...this is good. How much longer?

Misato (sighing as she looks at her watch): Another two hours-

Natasha (shouting): Another two hours?!

Misato (firm): Yes. Is there a problem with that?

Natasha (gritting her teeth): No...of course not. I'm sure that Hikaru will exceed your expectations, Major.

(With that, Natasha turns away from Katsuragi and stalks over to an empty chair. She sits down with huff and stands guard over her charge. Misato watches her from the shadows of the chamber. She can't help but wonder at Natasha's relationship with Hikaru. Natasha doesn't seem like the sort of person who waits around for anyone.)

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(Circular)

(Powerful)

(Humming)

(Waiting)

(The surface of the ocean ripples...and it begins...)

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(Gendo Ikari limps slowly towards the entrance to the launch pad. Seele is restless. They need to be calmed, soothed, and deceived. Gendo's grip on the cane is tight.)

Gendo: ...

(The Supreme Commander pauses, his back to the new arrival.)

Gendo: What do you want?

Ritsuko: ...!

(The doctor hadn't thought that he would have noticed her. Professional concern had urged her to follow to the Commander. Something else made her grit her teeth.)

Ritsuko (clearing her throat): Is it wise to go to the Committee in your condition, sir?

(Her voice seems to echo off the cold, isolated walls, making Ritsuko's voice seem...whiny in her own ears.)

Gendo (calm, back turned): Seele demands answers. No matter how pathetic they may be, they still hold the reins. I must...assure them of their dominance.

Ritsuko (her hands balling into fists within her lab-coat): Has occurred to you that you might not come back this time?

Gendo: ...

Ritsuko (sarcastically): ...I see where Rei gets her sense of self-preservation! How can you do this?!

(The woman turns her eyes away, unable to look at the Commander's back any longer.)

Ritsuko (hoarsely): You make me...believe...make me want... It was another scam, wasn't it? I am so much like my mother, I can't even look myself in the mirror anymore!

Gendo (quietly): Don't kill yourself while I am gone, Ritsuko.

(Ritsuko turns wide, tearful eyes back towards him, but he is stepping out the door, closing it very softly behind him.)

Ritsuko: ...

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(Misato moaning)

Misato (dreamily): Oh...Kaji...

Kaji: Sensitive as ever, I see, Katsuragi. What about here...?

Misato (giggling): You know I'm always sensitive there!

(Misato looks up into her lover's eyes and finds herself alone. Not quite understanding what is going on, she turns toward the sound of footsteps. Naked, Misato stands up and sees a man's back facing her.)

Misato: Kaji?

Voice: How many times have I told you not to interrupt me while I'm working, Misato?

Misato (wrapping her arms protectively over her breasts with a gasp): Father?!

(Her father's face is vague as he looks over his shoulder.)

Misato's Father: ...I see that you have moved up in the world.

Misato (backing away, her face burning): F-Father...don't look at me...

Father: So much of your mother in you. I always left wondering who would be keeping her warm at night.

Misato (her eyes furious): You were the one who decided to go away! How dare you make mother suffer!

Kaji: Does that make what she did right? What you did right?

Misato (turning her face away): I'm not my mother! I'm my own woman!

Kaji: So you didn't cry when I was gone.

Misato (her eyes snapping wide): When you...you were gone-

(Gunshot, liquid, thick and red dripping on cold cement. Eyes that would never blink again.)

Misato (grabbing her head): No! I don't want to see this!

Father: Running away from the truth? You could have protected him.

Misato (tears trickling down her cheeks): I...I had my duties...

Kaji (his face tired, but gentle): Will duty allow you to lose another?

Misato (lifting her head from her hands): A-Another?

(Footsteps. Misato turns toward the sound and she sees a slender form walking toward the darkness. It is a boy in a blue and black plug suit. There is something else just beyond him.)

Misato (reaching weakly): S-Shinji?

(The boy pauses and turns toward Misato.)

Shinji (smiling sadly): Goodbye, Misato.

Misato (eyes widening): Shinji?

(A massive purple form appears behind the boy. Its eyes are cruel and its hands are dripping in blood.)

Shinji: I have my duties. I am an EVA pilot. If I don't pilot...many people will die.

(Unit 01 is sneering its Berserker grin. Misato is suddenly filled with fear so profound that she takes a step toward the EVA's blackest shadow.)

Misato (screaming): Shinji! Don't go near that thing!

Shinji (turning toward the EVA): I don't have a choice. No matter what you have said, I was born to pilot EVA...

Misato (hysterical): SHINJI!!

(Unit 01's hand reaches out and wraps around the boy. There is a sickening crunch and blood flows from between the EVA's stained fingers...)

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(Misato comes awake with a sob. The apartment is quiet, but her heart is pounding in her ears. The major wraps her arms around her legs and pulls her knees to her chest.)

Misato: Oh...God...a dream...just a...dream...

(After a few moments, the major wipes her eyes with the back of her hand and gets to her feet. The digital clock on one of her shelves reads 2:03 am. She opens her door quietly and walks softly towards the kitchen. Something makes her stop at Shinji's door. Her heart pounds as she gently reaches out and opens the door.)

Misato: ...

(Shinji is on his side, his back facing her. She listens carefully and she is strangely calmed by the gentle sound of his sleeping breath. After about a moment, she closes the door again and makes her way to the kitchen. Once there, she opens the refrigerator and grabs a beer.)

Misato (thinking): Something to take the edge off...

(A flash of orange within the fridge catches her attention. Misato turns back toward the cooling unit and stares at the glass bottle of orange juice sitting there.)

Misato (laughing a little weakly): Juice...for breakfast. He's so weird sometimes...

(The major gazes at the bottle for a long moment, then puts the beer back. She then picks up the bottle carefully and carries it back to the kitchen table. There was a soft click and she looks over at Pen-Pen who is peeking out at her from his fridge, blurry-eyed.)

Misato (setting the bottle on the table and getting a glass): It's not what you think.

(Pen-Pen cocks his head to the side.)

Misato (pouring herself a glass and taking a sip, sighing): This is for a midnight snack, not breakfast.

(Pen-Pen blinks, not believing a word of it.)

Misato (bracing her cheek on her palm as she swirled the thick, orange liquid around in her glass): I'm set in my ways. I'm a grown woman. A 14 year-old boy can't change me after so many years.

(Pen-Pen shakes his head sadly as he closes his fridge again.)

Misato (gazing deeply into her glass): Yeah...you're right. ...I'm a terrible liar.

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Seele: You have lied to us, Ikari. You have hidden the facts, even though you knew what the consequences for such an action were!

Gendo: ...I have done nothing wrong. Everything is proceeding according to the scenarios depicted in the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Seele: We know all about the little side chapters you have written into the scenarios, Ikari. This was not a part of the plan. First your...companion runs wild and destroys the heart of the Human Instrumentality Project, then the MAGI show signs of continued inhuman influence, and now you are telling us that the most recent attack on NERV never happened! Do you take us for fools, Ikari?!

(Gendo has his hands folded before his face. The light from Seele's icons are reflected in the tinted lenses of his glasses.)

Gendo (calmly): I am merely stating that you have been misinformed. The Human Instrumentality Project is proceeding despite the loss of the Core Samples. The setback is minimal.

Seele: Yet, you let said companion to run free. We have been generous enough to leave the matter in your hands. We expected to you to give a...token of good will in return.

Gendo: Without said companion, we would lose valuable time.

Seele: So...this is your only reason for hesitation?

Gendo: ...Correct.

Seele: What about the charge of covering up an Angel attack, Ikari? Surely you can't deny that Terminal Dogma was invaded-

(If Gendo Ikari is shaken by the sudden change of subjects, he doesn't show it.)

Gendo: We had a...geological problem.

Seele (scoff): "Geological Problem?!"

Gendo (his glasses glowing): Yes. A strange phenomenon that has claimed the lives of fifteen aboard a geological ship in the Pacific Ocean and moved west into Japan. We were most fortunate that the damage was minor. The crew on the ship, however, met a most unfortunate end.

(Silence)

Gendo: The damage to Terminal Dogma has already been repaired and measures against such...damage ever occurring again have been taken.

(Silence, then-)

Seele: Very well, Ikari. You have bought yourself time. However, should you fail...you will not be the only one made to suffer.

Seele: We are watching you very carefully, never forget that!

(The icons vanish in an instant and Commander Ikari was alone. After a moment, Gendo's eyes lift over the rims of his glasses.)

Gendo: And in that is your mistake...

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(Shigeru leans back in his chair, eyes closed, playing his air-guitar. In his mind, he can hear the ringing, soaring tones of his music. There, in his mind, he can hear the roar of an audience and the pulse of a really good drummer. Suddenly, someone's beeper is going off.)

Shigeru (a little annoyed): What the hell is that?

(Suddenly, he comes back to himself.)

Shigeru: Huh? What?

(He reaches out to his command console and calls up the Threat Board, which is about as big as a single story building and floats several hundred meters in front of the towers of the Command Center.)

Shigeru (his eyes wide): What the hell?

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Misato (smoothing her black skirt down her thighs as she hurries into the Command Center.)

Misato (barking): Report!

Tech: I-well, I don't know what I am looking at, ma'am!

Misato (turning her eyes forward): Call up the MAGI projections up on the Threat Board.

Tech: Aye, ma'am!

(A second later a map of the coastline several kilometers away appears. Misato is shaken.)

Misato: W-What is that?

Shigeru: Unknown. We still don't have confirmation that it is an Angel!

Natasha: You don't see things like that everyday. Good morning, Major.

Misato (looking over her shoulder at the other woman): This isn't a time for bravo, Lieutenant. This is serious.

Natasha (looking vaguely at the Threat Board): Really...? Hmmm, it looks like someone spilled a spot of paint on your map of Japan.

Misato (crossing her arms): Well, that...spot of paint is about 9 kilometers wide and it is coming here!

(When Natasha continues to just stare at her, Misato shakes her head.)

Misato (sighing): Never mind...

(Just then, Maya and Hyuga came running in, taking their seats besides Shigeru.)

Maya: What did we miss?

Shigeru: Just the best concert of my life...

Maya: ...?

Shigeru (shaking his head): Forget it, inside joke.

Maya: Huh-

Misato: Maya, can you tell me when we can expect our visitor?

Maya (turning toward her console): Uh-at present speed, I would say it will be about three hours before the object's outer rim hits the city.

Misato (rubbing her lip): I see. Have the EVA pilots been notified?

Natasha (arms crossed): I brought Hikaru with me. She is suiting up as we speak.

Misato (nodding): Good...thinking, Lieutenant. Hyuga, what are the other Children's ETA?

Hyuga (turning his head toward the major): In five minutes, plus suit-up time.

(Misato makes a fist and grins wolfishly.)

Misato: Excellent. Maybe this time we can keep the battle outside city-limits. Maya, get the OSPE* prepared! Shigeru, call the transport hangers and get all four B-969s ready to be launched the moment the EVAs are loaded! Hyuga, I want EVAs 00, 01, 02, and 04 ready to be moved out within the hour!

*[On-Site Power Equipment]

Maya, Shigeru, Hyuga: Yes, ma'am!

(Misato crosses her arms and looks on coldly. Only she and Natasha saw that her hands are tightly balled into fists.)

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

(Shinji sits in the transport car gliding swiftly toward NERV Central. The message from Hyuga had been short and tense.)

Shinji (thinking): Another Angel attack. Once again...we are all going to be in danger.

(The boy looks over at his two companions in the car. Asuka looks grumpy...she hadn't been particularly happy to find him in her room, shaking her awake. In fact, she had screamed several stinging German curses when she recognized him. He wasn't sure but he thought he heard the words "pervert" and "idiot" several times. After he had finally been able to stop Asuka from hitting him, they had made their way for NERV. Rei had met them on the way.)

Shinji (thinking): Asuka...Rei...Will this be the last time that I see them? How many times can we keep repelling these attacks. Each time it seems like the Angels get smarter. If Asuka hadn't been there for the last one...

(The boy looks over at Asuka. She has her chin braced on her palm and she is glaring out at the Geo-Front far below. She must have sensed his gaze on her because she suddenly closes her eyes.)

Asuka: What do you want, dummkopf?

(Shinji flinches and looks down at his folded hands.)

Shinji: Well, uh, I want to say...good luck.

Asuka (looking over at him): What sort of nonsense is this? Luck has nothing to do with anything.

(When Shinji just stares at her, Asuka flexes her free arm.)

Asuka: I'm going to relay on my skills as an EVA pilot!

Shinji (bowing his head): Skills. Yeah, I guess you will be all right then.

Asuka (her eyes suddenly wide): Huh?

Shinji: You are so natural at all this, Asuka. I've always admired that about you.

Asuka (shaken): Uh...well, yeah...

Shinji: I, on the other hand, will probably do more damage to myself than the Angel. Every victory I have ever gotten has been due to sheer luck.

Asuka (huffing): That's a stupid thing to say! As an EVA pilot, you can raise over everyone else! You can do what no one else can do! That's skill, not luck!

Shinji: ...

Rei: ...you worry...

Asuka (snorting): Wimp!

Rei: ...about others...

Asuka: ...

Rei: Why?

Shinji: Because I don't...want any of you hurt.

Rei: Why?

Shinji: Because...

Rei: ...?

Shinji: ...because...

Asuka: ...

Shinji (smiling sadly): ...because you all are important to me...

Asuka (eyes wide): What?

Rei: ...

Shinji (looking towards the Geo-Front): I...once thought that I piloted EVA for my father. I wanted him to praise me, tell me that I was worthy...of him...

Asuka (rolling her eyes): Yeah, yeah, I heard it all bef-

Shinji (quietly): But I realize that isn't true anymore. Maybe it never was true. I don't think of my father when I get into Unit 01.

(Asuka feels her heart begin to beat slow and hard. She doesn't want to hear this, but she can't make Shinji stop. Rei just watches Shinji with eyes that are almost...gentle.)

Shinji: Every time I go up, every time I force myself to face one more of these monsters called Angels...I see...your face, Asuka...

Asuka (cheeks pink): M-Mine?!

Shinji (his eyes turning): And yours Rei...

Rei: ...

Shinji (closing his eyes now): I see Misato, Touji, Kenseke, Hikari, Maya, Shigeru, Hyuga, and many more that I have just seen on the street or inside NERV. That is the reason I do it. That is the reason I am willing to get inside...EVA again...praying that it is for the last time.

(Rei gazes at Shinji, her eyes reflecting the light outside the window. Asuka turns away sharply and stares furiously outside.)

Asuka (thinking): Why?! Why do you have to...be so...

Asuka (softly): You jerk...

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

(The B-969s are four massive silhouettes against the morning sky. Their powerful engines shake the surface and small, human crews rush around them in a desperate effort to get the mighty air-ships ready for take-off. Equally powerful, loader trucks roll the four EVAs toward their transports. Long beams trail behind the "Flying Wing" B-969s, outstretched and ready to receive their precious cargo.)

(Within the EVAs, the Children wait as Misato goes over what little information they have.)

Misato: It is big...almost like the Twelfth...

(Shinji flinches inside his entry plug.)

Hikaru: You mean an entity that may have a visually small or narrow body, but with an incredible amount of mass?

Misato (slowly): The Angels have a talent for making the impossible possible. But don't think that this Angel is a copy of another. Thus far, we have not been able to pick out a decisive characteristic of the Angels...other than their Blood Type. It is for this reason that we are going to take this slow. Shinji, Asuka, this means no heroics, no bravo. You will follow my orders to the letter, understood?

Shinji: Y-Yes, ma'am.

Asuka (folding her arms behind her head): Yeah, yeah, I know the drill, Misato.

Misato: Hikaru, this is going to be your first official sortie. I want you to stay back and provide support.

Hikaru (leaning toward Misato's image): What?! B-But Major-

Misato (stern): No buts, young lady! This is a very delicate situation and, no offense but, you don't have any combat experience...yet.

Asuka (her face flashing up beside Misato's): Yeah, so you stay back and watch some real EVA piloting...Rookie!

Hikaru (scowling): Don't patronize me, Second Child. I know all about your success record!

Asuka (her face going red): What does that mean?!

Misato (shouting): ENOUGH!! Asuka! Hikaru! This is the exact thing that is going to get you two killed! Now, put your egos on the back burner until this is over, understood?

(Shinji is silent inside his entry plug. The restraint clamps of the B-969's cargo tracks shake the inverted EVA as they lock down. An Angel...like the Twelfth...an Angel that almost devoured him alive...)

Rei: ...Pilot Ikari...

Shinji (blinking): Ayanami?

Rei: ...you remember...

(Shinji doesn't ask how the First Child knows. She seems to know a lot without a word ever being said.)

Shinji (softly): ...yes

Rei: Shinji...

Shinji (eyes wide): Yes...Rei?

Rei: ...don't forget yourself again.

(Her image vanishes, leaving Shinji with a bewildered look on his face.)

Shinji: W-Was that her way of saying... be careful?

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

(The B-969s lift into the sky like a flight of armor-plated birds of prey. Their mighty engines roar like caged beasts as they head toward the Disturbance to the west.)

Misato (sighing, trying to get back in control): Now, we are going to keep this simple, okay? Shinji, Asuka, you two are going to take point. This does not mean that you go charging on head...Asuka, I'm looking at you.

Asuka (arms crossed and looked away from Misato's image): I got it the first time, Misato!

Misato: Rei, you will be on lifeguard duty.

Rei: ...?

Asuka (still fuming): She means that you will be watching out for us, Wonder Girl! Geez!

Hikaru: Major, what are my duties?

Misato (firm): You will be taking up position about a kilometer from the estimated point of contact. You are going to be providing cover fire with NERV's Positron Rifle, if it is needed, from the nearby foothills.

Hikaru (groaning): You have to be kidding-

Misato (grim): I never joke on a mission, Pilot Sohma. You would be wise to remember that.

Hikaru (sighing): Yes, ma'am.

Shinji: Major-Misato...

Misato (softening): Yes, Shinji?

Shinji: What are we going to do if it turns out to be an Angel?

Misato: ...as we always do.

Shinji (bowing his head slightly): ...I see.

Asuka: What's this?! Are you such a weakling that you want to get out of a fight before it even starts?!

Shinji: ...I will do what I have to. That is what I have always done.

(His eyes growing hard.)

Shinji: What I will continue to do...until...

Asuka: ...

Hikaru (softly): ...Shinji...

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

(The land looks like any other piece of land on the planet. It has grass, it has trees, it rolls, it twists, it has been worn by the passage of time. But here, here is something else...something with a purpose.)

(In the distance, the white-curtails of the B-969s make lines across the sky. The ground seems to ripple like water and suddenly, It knows.)

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

(VTOL craft surround the Disturbance, insuring that no unauthorized personnel would bear witness to the event that is about to take place. Aboard one of the VTOL crafts, Major Katsuragi gazes down at the land that the Disturbance currently "possessed.")

Misato (thinking): One more...just one more...

Misato (aloud): Commence the operation!

(Far overhead, the EVAs are released from their transports. They drop swiftly, but with a grace that gives Misato the chills. Something about the animation in the mecha always reminds the Major that they never did really know what they are dealing with...on either side of the battle.)

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

(The EVAs come down with pin-point accuracy in their respective locations. Units 01 and 02 land a mere half a kilometer away from the Disturbance. Unit 00 lands near the OSPEs which sit embedded in the ground like giant, antique batteries from the 20th century. Human crews were already powering up the units and their cooling systems. The powerful servomotors howled, shattering the superficial calm of the area. Unit 04 lands in the foothills with a skid and crouches down, ready to receive its umbilical power connection. Hikaru turns her Unit's cameras toward Unit 01's position.)

Hikaru (thinking): Shinji...there was so much pain in your eyes. What have you seen?

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

(Shinji rests inside his entry plug, eyes closed, almost relaxed...except for the flexing hand at his side. The white noise of the crews around him is blocked out. He focuses on one thing...his mission...)

FLASHBACK: Asuka: Are you such a weakling that you want to get out of a fight before it even starts?!

Shinji (thinking): ...no...I can't run away anymore. Bad things happen when I run away. But horrible things happen when I stay. I am always trapped, always twisted and turned by the will of others.

(Silence)

Shinji: But...now...I have something to fight for. Something worth the pain...

(Asuka)

(Rei)

(Misato)

(Touji)

(Kenseke)

(Hikaru)

(Gentle laughter...)

Shinji (blinking): Huh?

(A flash of an image. Outstretched hands. Two forms...no, three. One small. Tiny hands...laughter...)

Shinji: What the hell-?!

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

Hyuga (turning from his laptop on the Major's VTOL craft): Activity!

Misato (pressing her face against the viewing port): Not now! We aren't ready!

(The ground before Units 01 and 02 is rippling violently now, like a puddle in an earthquake. Suddenly, there was a flash of light that narrows into a giant ring. Units 01 and 02 shield their faces. The ring is blinding as it separates itself from the earth and rotates upward so that it is perfectly perpendicular to the surface. The vast space in the center of the ring quivered, then becomes glassy and reflective. The two EVAs find themselves staring at their images in the Disturbance's surface.)

Asuka: What the hell is going on?!

Misato: Be very careful, Asuka! We don't know what we are dealing with here.

Shinji (confused): It looks...like a giant mirror-

Asuka: Thank you for stating the obvious, Third Child!

(Unit 02 stands up from its crouched position and picks up the assault rifle at its side. The EVA aims it at the thing before it.)

Asuka (staring at the Unit 02 opposite of her): This is strange.

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

Gendo: ...so it has appeared.

(Beside the Commander, Fuyutsuki stares out at the passing clouds outside the aircraft.)

Fuyutsuki (slowly): Yes...earlier than expected. I thought you were going to let Rei handle this...like before.

Gendo: ...she will no longer be able to do that without rising suspicion in the ranks. Unit 01 will have to handle it.

Fuyutsuki (closing his eyes): ...He might not have what it takes, Ikari. Is IT worth so much?

Gendo (looking away from the professor): There is no choice now. If we do not act, It will be forever lost to us.

Fuyutsuki: Along with your chances of controlling the Committee.

Gendo: ...yes.

Fuyutsuki (looking back towards the Commander): ...and if he fails.

Gendo: ...then you may get the thing you have been wishing for all these years, professor.

Fuyutsuki: ...?

Gendo (his eyes hidden behind his tinted lenses): But he will not fail us...he is my son, after all. Besides...she is on his side.

Fuyutsuki (quietly): I just hope it doesn't come to that.

Gendo: ...

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

(The burning light of the Disturbance fades away, revealing a thing that indeed looks like a mirror. Only thing is that the parts of the mirror are disconnected, floating in perfect formation. On the right and left side of the "mirror," masks like that seen on the Third Angel appeared. The simple, white disks had a black circle on one side of the mask and a slit on the other. It waits.)

Shinji: Misato...

Misato: I'm thinking, Shinji.

Asuka: So we are just going to sit here?!

Hikaru (her face appearing in Asuka's plug): Running head long into certain death comes easily to you, huh, Second Child?

Asuka: Shut up.

(Shinji is silent inside his EVA. Only the hum of the Evangelion's internal systems can be heard.)

Shinji (thinking): It is almost like it is playing with us...

(The surface of the Disturbance is stirring very slowly, like a brew in a pot. He can almost feel the incredible strength behind the entity.)

Hikaru (softly): Shinji?

Shinji (startled): H-Hikaru!

(The girl's face appears beside the boy's.)

Hikaru: ...are you okay?

Shinji: Sure, why won't I be?

Hikaru: ...Shinji...I have a feeling-

Asuka (her face popping up besides Sohma's): What are you doing?! You flirt! We are in the middle of an operation and all you can think about is putting the moves on Shinji!

Hikaru: Back off, Soryu!

Asuka: Why don't you make me?!

Misato (rubbing her forehead): Why can't those girls ever shut up?

Hyuga (shaking his head): They are children, major.

Misato: Yeah, I know, but you would think they would take-

Hyuga (suddenly leaning forward): Major! Activity-Oh my God-Angel Status confirmed! AT Field generating!

Misato: Shinji! Asuka! On your toes!

(Below)

Asuka (blinking): What-

Shinji (shouting): What's going on?!

Rei (gasping): Shinji! Soryu! Get back!

(The main body of the Angel is changing now. Where it had been silver and perfect, it was now warping and changing color. There was a low growl that seemed to hum through the hills as silver turns to crimson. At the very center of the Angel, a vortex has appeared, spinning and drawing mass in towards itself.)

Misato: Units 01 and 02 retreat!

Asuka (growling): I'm trying, but I'm having problems just holding my position!

Misato: Hikaru!

Hikaru (activating her targeting goggles): Already on it!

(Unit 04 braced itself and lined up its Positron Rifle with the Angel's center and fires. The beam from the rifle zips over the EVAs' heads and strikes the Angel's middle...and deflects. The ground around Unit 02's feet is vaporized by the redirected beam.)

Asuka (screaming): Damn it! You idiot!!

(The EVA loses its footing and begins sliding toward the Angel. Suddenly, its progress stops. Looking up, Asuka finds Unit 01 on its hands and knees with one hand wrapped around Unit 02's wrist.)

Asuka (whispering): Shinji?

Shinji (trembling as he tried to hold both EVAs stationary): ARRGGHH!! My arm is being ripped apart!

Asuka (tears forming in her eyes): Shinji...let go...

Shinji (closing his eyes against the agony): No.

Asuka: Please...

Misato (screaming): Rei!

Rei: ...ten seconds...

(Suddenly, Unit 01's Progressive Knife popped out of the EVA's shoulder harness. Digging the toes of the EVA's feet into the ground, Shinji braced Unit 01 while he reaches for the Blade. The two EVAs begin to be dragged toward the Angel, even with Unit 01's feet planted. And then,)

Shinji (softly): Be well, Asuka.

Asuka (her eyes growing wide): ...Shinji?

(Unit 01 slams the Progressive Knife deep into the ground, forming a handhold. In the same motion, Shinji wraps Unit 02's hand around the hilt of the blade. With that done...he lets go.)

Asuka (wailing): SHINJI!!

(Unit 02 reaches for the other EVA, but misses. Unit 01 fumbles toward the Angel, which is now glowing bright red with power. Shinji trembles inside his entry plug as he stares at the massive vortex rushing up to meet him. The EVA lifts an arm to protect its face when Unit 01's AT Field came in contact with the Angel. There is a flash of power and Shinji's scream seems to echo in Asuka Langley Soryu's ears. She shivers uncontrollably in her pilot's seat as the armor on Unit 01's arm begins to strain and crack.)

Asuka (reaching up and covering her ears): Please, no...not him! Anyone but him!!

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

Voice: ...Shinji...

Shinji (eyes tightly shut, holding his deteriorating arm): arrghh!

Voice: Shinji...

Shinji (whispering hoarsely): ...please...

Voice: ...Shinji...look...

Shinji (slowly opening his eyes): ...

(The entry plug is cracking like glass around him. LCL is leaking and his whole body is on fire. It is the very thing he had feared...)

Voice: Why...Why did you do that?

Shinji: ...?

Voice: Protect that girl...you didn't have to face this...

Shinji (his head bowing): I couldn't let...let Asuka go through with this...

(Crack!!)

Shinji (smiling sadly): I knew...I knew that it might end like this...but...

Voice: But?

Shinji: I...I wanted more time...with them...

Voice: Why?

Shinji: ...

Voice: This is what happens when you live on. This is the end result of wanting to live. Is it worth it?

Shinji (very quietly): ...yes.

(It is then that Unit 01 passes through the surface of the Angel.)

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

(Print-outs are spread out around her. Print-outs that show her life's work. Ritsuko Akagi was in her darkened office, alone.)

Ritsuko (quietly): So much...yet so little.

(Silence)

Ritsuko (laughing softly): What else is new...Mother...Gendo...Kaji...everyone always leaves me behind.

(FLASHBACK: Gendo with his back to her): Don't kill yourself while I'm gone, Ritsuko.)

(Ritsuko put her head in her hands. She should have talked to...someone. Misato. She is gone on the mission now. Gendo. He is gone too, perhaps forever, and she is sure He won't care. Surely he doesn't mean anything personal by his remark...or rather, it would be damned inconvenient for her to die at this stage in the Project.)

Ritsuko (touching the beauty mark under her left eye): ...Kaji was so right...

(FLASHBACK: Young, dark-haired Ritsuko calling for her mother.)

Ritsuko (calling): Mother? Where are you?

(Silence)

Ritsuko (coming out on the highest of the command towers): Mother...? Please, you have been working so hard. It's time to come home!

(It is then that she sees it. A tiny form laying on the floor of the control tower, face turned away. Ritsuko's heart beats hard in her chest as she slowly walks toward the still girl with blue hair.)

Ritsuko (her hands lifting her to mouth in horror): Oh my God...

(Rei, what she now knows is Rei I, lays on the chilled, metal floor with a strange, calm smile on her face... She looks so much like a broken doll left behind by a frustrated child. Ritsuko's eyes grow larger as she sees the livid, red marks on the little girl's neck. Ritsuko's breath is quick and frantic as she slowly moves around the body. There is something. She doesn't want to see, but it is like she isn't in control of her own body anymore.)

Ritsuko: ...

(Over the lip of the control tower, Ritsuko looks down. Blood. Hands outstretched, reaching for...something. Eyes staring. Cement cracked. Mother.)

(Present)

Ritsuko (hands folded, trembling): There is no picture of you now...Mother. Just the MAGI remain...your final legacy. Your own daughter has become nothing more than a...keeper for your great achievement!

(The tears are finally coming, but they are mixed with the self-hatred of the most bitter kind.)

Ritsuko (whispering): I...fell into the same trap...as you...Mom.

(An image flashes in her mind. Gendo, eyes watching her...NEEDING her.)

Ritsuko: Maybe...I wanted what you had... Maybe...I wanted to TAKE something from you!

(The woman bows her head and runs rough fingers through her dyed hair. Without looking up, Ritsuko reaches for the syringe next to her hand on her desk...)

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

(Massive hands move swiftly, surely, making an anchor system that would have to support Unit 00 and 01.)

Rei (thinking): He can't die.

(Unit 00 knots the heavy-duty support cables about the massive OSPE cylinders with a snap. Rei spins the EVA towards the Angel and takes off towards it, activating her AT Field as she zips by the immobile Unit 02.)

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

Hyuga (shouting): 5 seconds until Unit 00 comes in contact with the Angel!

Misato (trembling): Asuka, prepare to pull Unit 00 back if Rei gets in trouble.

(Silence)

Misato (shouting into the mic): Asuka!

Asuka: ...can't...

Misato: What?!

Asuka: He's...gone...

Misato (her eyes a little wild): Rei might-

Asuka (screaming): THERE ISN'T A DAMN THING THAT FUCKING DOLL CAN DO!!

(Silence)

Asuka (quiet): I...never...I-

Hikaru (panting): I'm on-site, Major!

(Misato turns towards the view-port and sees that Unit 04 is now at the OSPEs, grabbing the cables.)

Misato: I thought I told you to stay back.

Hikaru: I-I have to be here. If Shinji's gone...

Misato (closing her eyes): Very well...

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

(He is alone. He can still hear the cracking and crunching of the entry plug, but that seems very far away now.)

Voice: You threw your life away. You are no better than Rei.

Shinji: I threw my life away so that Asuka could live!

Voice: So you are noble.

Shinji: I didn't say that.

Voice: Then how do you explain it?

Shinji (wrapping his arms around himself): Some are better suited to life...I am not one of those.

Voice: Why do you say that?

Shinji: ...Because I don't like pain.

Voice: Yet, you go through pain for ones like that girl. You contradict yourself.

Shinji: Some pain is worse than others.

Voice: ...Why did you kill yourself?

Shinji: ...

Voice: Why?

Shinji: ...

Voice: WHY?

Shinji (grabbing his head): Because it would have been too painful to live without Her!

Voice: ...I see. So this is your way of escaping a pain greater than death.

Shinji: ...yes.

Asuka: Well, that's just dumb!

Shinji: ...!

(The girl glares at him, she is wearing her red plug suit.)

Asuka: So you are still running away! I knew you were a coward, but I had no idea just how much of one you are!

Shinji: Asuka...

Gendo: You are pathetic. When you can't handle situations, you run away. You are not my son.

Shinji (growling): You are the one that abandoned ME, father! Were you afraid of me?!

Misato: Everyone feels fear in their life. Everyone feels pain in their life. It is for us as human beings to deal with it and move on.

Shinji: But-But it hurts so much, Misato.

Rei: Pain is a path to understanding. Pain allows us to see faults and learn that which could not otherwise be recognized.

Shinji: Rei...

Hikaru: You fear pain...do you fear life? Are you afraid of smiling, laughing, and loving?

Shinji: That's different.

Hikaru (setting her hands on her hips): How is that different, Ikari Shinji? You say that you fear life, but you only think about the bad things. Have you learned nothing?

Shinji: I'm sorry-

Asuka: Stop saying that! Do you think that we don't know how sorry you are by now?! What good is that if you are dead?!

Shinji: ...

Misato: It is up to you to decide on your path. We cannot make that choice for you.

Shinji (bowing his head): ...life hurts...

Rei: Always?

Shinji: ...I don't like pain...

Asuka: You can't block it out?

Shinji: ...but...for others...I can...live...

Hikaru: Then what are you doing here?

-----

(The world flashes around him and suddenly, Shinji is aware of the entry plug around him. LCL is escaping through huge, black cracks in the plug. Armor and flesh are whining and twisting within the Angel. Shinji grits his teeth and forces himself to look outside.)

Shinji: ...?

(The EVA is surrounded by walls of spinning, red light, all circling toward an S-2 organ in the distance.)

Shinji (shivering): I...don't want...to die...

(The S-2 organ burns like a small sun, mocking him. Shinji reaches Unit 01's hand for it, but the EVA's arm is far too short and is being crushed even as he watches it. Nothing. He can do nothing.)

Shinji (tears in his eyes): Why...why can't I do-

(Suddenly, he sees something...something that he had thought was lost.)

Shinji: ...?!

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

(Unit 00's arm is thrust into the surface of the Angel. Rei's face is a mask of pain, but she reaches...reaches... Suddenly, she feels something.)

Rei: ...!

(The EVA shifts and Rei is sure. It is a foot.)

Rei (unusually loud voice): Pull me back!

(Unit 04 braces each foot on the hulls of the OSPEs and begins pulling on the rescue cable. The EVA's muscles strain and threaten the shatter the armor containing it. Slowly, but steady, Unit 00 begin to pull back from the violent surface of the Angel.)

Hikaru (her eyes glistening): It's not...his time...yet! I saw...I saw...

(Unit 00's hand suddenly emerges from the boiling Angel and...)

Rei: ...

Asuka: ...!! Oh...God...

(Unit 01's body is smoking and twisted from its time within the Angel's vortex. It is limp against the force of Unit 00 pulling it one way and the Angel pulling it the other.)

(Overhead)

Misato (squinting): W-What is Unit 01...holding?

Hyuga: ...?

Misato (her eyes snapping wide): What the hell?! This is impossible!!

(Below)

Rei: (staring at the object in Unit 01's hand): ...!

(Evangelion Unit 01 is just barely clear of the Angel when it slowly lifts its head. It gazes at the thing that had tried to destroy it and suddenly, slams a hand down, burying its fingers into the earth and stopping its backward progress.)

(Unit 01 moves its other hand so that the long, double-pronged object is held before its face. It seems to be grinning...)

Misato: ...can it be?

(The Angel's surface becomes more violent and its vortex glows with the mass it is dragging into it. The EVA abruptly draws the giant spear back and the mysterious, destructive tool reshapes itself into a longer, single-shafted one. The EVA violently throws the spear...)

(The Lance strikes the Angel dead-center and it shutters.)

(Everything pauses.)

(Then...)

(The Angel stretches its borders well pass its limit, like it is ripping itself apart to get away from something at its center. Suddenly, blood explodes from the other side of the Angel. The pillar of thick liquid reaches back for about a kilometer, bubbling and spraying.)

Asuka (horror written all over her face): Mein Gott...

(The Angel's borders twist and there is a strange, horrible screeching sound, then, it expanded violently-)

Misato (shouting): IT'S GOING TO SELF-DESTRUCT!!

(The small VTOL vehicles around the area flee as fast as their engines could carry them. As the Angel descends toward the earth, its body begins to glow again. The EVAs are silent and still as the creature explodes with enough force to rip up the ground and warp the nearby foothills...)

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

(As the flight from Seele touches down, Fuyutsuki gets off the phone.)

Fuyutsuki (slowly, quietly): It is done. The Lance is back in our hands.

Gendo: ...Excellent. I trust that Major Katsuragi is handling this in a discreet fashion?

Fuyutsuki (crossing his arms and leaning back): The major may be impulsive at times, but she is a military woman...a good one at that.

Gendo: ...

Fuyutsuki: ...it was as you said. Unit 01, despite the damage done to it, managed to destroy the Angel with a single blow.

Gendo: Such is the power of the Lance of Longious...

Fuyutsuki: ...

Gendo: ...what is it?

Fuyutsuki: ...it will be some time before Unit 01 will be fully operational again.

Gendo (eyes hidden): ...I see. And the pilot?

Fuyutsuki (quietly): They are...cutting him out now.

Gendo: ...

Fuyutsuki: ...he is alive though.

Gendo: ...as expected.

(Suddenly a phone built into the arm-rest between the Commander and the Vice-commander rings. Fuyutsuki picks it up.)

Fuyutsuki (into the phone): What is it?

(Silence)

Fuyutsuki: What?!

(Gendo glances over at Fuyutsuki. He just needs to see the look on the Vice Commanders face to understand.)

Fuyutsuki (quietly): S-She-

(Gendo's face shows such rage that the Vice Commander draws back slightly.)

Gendo (as he strides swiftly toward the hatch-door.): I will handle this.

Fuyutsuki (phone still in hand): ...so that's how it is.

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

To Be Continued...

Author's Notes:

I know, I leave you kind of hanging with this one, but that's just how it came out. Ritsuko has always seemed to me like the sort of woman who puts up a strong front, but that is only to cover an internal conflict. You will have to wait until Chapter 4 of SBTA to know what I do with this...sorry.

I'm not really sure how people will react to Hikaru. I'm sure that Asuka fans will want to burn me at the stake, but trust me...everything in this series happens for a reason... Maybe you all will understand someday.

I'm not sure if I will be able to explain everything that happens in SBTA, but then, it was the mystery that made EVA such a masterpiece! It might be annoying at times, but if you are able to figure out some of the secrets of this mini-series on your own, you'll be better for it. Remember...I'm just along for the ride. Some times, things that happen in the story surprised me as much as you when I wrote it!

That's all for now. Chapter 4 is on the horizon, so watch for it! A few teasers...hmmm: a past remembered, a battle of the sexes, and Rei's hidden talent...

As always, any C&C is invaluable to me! Even the most simple comment can go a long way. You all can contact me at gargoyle64@hotmail.com.