Two Souls – Chapter 7. – Lost and found

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Author's note / content warning: While this chapter is far lighter than the previous one, the religious undertones continue and are likely to continue in future chapters, on the usual NGE levels.

This chapter contains some German. As the meaning is not always inferable, the translation appears in brackets and italics ("like this").

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Silence reigned over the table. Kyoko was staring into a cup of fresh tea, with a serving of a lemon cake in front of her. She was mulling the words she wanted to say, but nothing seemed good enough to improve on the silence. Yui offered tea and cake immediately just after they managed to break the embrace and Yui turned away quickly, her eyes closed.

Kyoko heard something, a sound similar to a voice. It took her a moment to realise the words were directed at her.

"-I lost you", Yui said, her voice just barely above a whisper. "I really thought I lost you."

"Well", Kyoko shook her head and smiled weakly. "I thought I would never get out of this… journey on through the looking glass. There was a lot of things to clean up. Far more than I thought."

Yui took a deep breath and released it slowly. "If I could pull you back, I think I would. This was reckless of me, to send you there" she admitted, her voice still low.

Kyoko shook her head again. "Reckless for us, both of us, if anything, Ikari. I went in it with both my eyes open. And I returned alive", she smiled wider.

Yui smiled. "I'm glad. I… Would you share the tale? I mean, if it's not too personal-" she paused. "Sorry, stupid me. Of course it is personal, it can't get more personal than what you went through. Sorry for asking."

Kyoko raised her hand. "I can… try, not all of it is very personal, and the journey… well, sufficient to say that if we ever get out, I'll have a chapter or two to add to Metaphysical Biology manuals, perhaps even a whole book about using Evas in therapy… if I find a psychiatrist willing to work with it. And with sufficient security clearance, of course" she chuckled, then sighed. "But… I can't promise it'll make sense. It was hard. Very… oneiric."

Yui nodded. "I'd be surprised if it was simple, Soryu. And I would love to hear the tale" she replied after a while, her voice still soft and controlled. "But not right now. Some things happened while you were away and I think you should know. Please tell me just one thing: did it work as we thought it would? Did it… do you… feel changed?"

"I'm not screaming or breaking any windows, am I?" Kyoko chuckled. "So I think the short answer is 'yes'. For the long answer… I will need to sleep on it. But as good as the auto-diagnosis might be, I think I am fixed. Somehow."

"And the… banshee?" Yui asked, her voice concerned. Kyoko closed her eyes for a moment, the distorted visage still fresh in her mind – both in front of her in person, and as her own reflection.

"I can't put my life on the line for it" she started cautiously "but I think she will not trouble either of us anymore. But I'll be certain only after I return to my Eva once more."

Yui scrutinised her for a moment, then nodded. "I see. I trust your judgement" she set the cup on the table and straightened herself in her seat. And for what happened here", she returned to her usual voice, "my widower visited me – I mean, the Cages" she corrected herself, seeing Kyoko quizzing look. "and he monologued. It seems either you raised the bar for quality of social interaction, and considerably so" she smiled at Kyoko "or he has deteriorated in his loneliness and obsession. I hope he knows what he is doing… but my instincts tell me otherwise."

Kyoko frowned. "Is there anything we can do to assist him, or remove him? An accident in the Cages, perhaps?" she asked with a thoughtful look on her face.

Yui blinked in surprise, but contained the reaction quickly, shaking her head. "I don't think that would be practical, or even feasible; we don't want them to know too much, do we? Not to mention, I'm not willing to condemn him yet – I'm just worried he might not be up to the responsibilities he carries. I will watch him, and his decisions, as closely as I can."

Kyoko shook her head. "Of course. I'm sorry, this was stupid, I don't know why I had such an idea. Well, you know him best, and certainly better than I do."

"The word you're looking for is 'intimately'" Yui giggled, disrupting her serious demeanour, and causing Kyoko to blink. "You are correct, still. But this is not the most important thing; the other one… well, let's say I need your eyes on the field."

Kyoko tilted her head. "I assume you don't mean that literally, I've had enough body horror inside my own mind" she shivered just a bit before regaining her composure. "What is this about?"

"Definitely not literally" Yui replied, not picking up on the remark. "I think… we might have a guest."

Kyoko tilt moved to the other side and deepened. "Here? Inside your mind… mindscape?" Her voice matched the reaction.

"Yes. I tried to lure that person out, but the best I did was to feed… it. I think it's curious, but afraid" Yui explained.

"How do you know it is not just some stray creation, an errant thought?" Kyoko's voice was doubtful. "It's not that you crafted every single tree here or that you control every molecule of the water in the stream. Or is it?"

Yui sighed. "Yes… and no. You remember our lessons, right?" she inquired, before letting some worry creep in her voice. "Or was something lost when you were inside your own mind?"

Kyoko shook her head. "I remember it all… I think. Which part exactly you want me to recall?"

"You focus on a goal, not on particulars" Yui elaborated. "I didn't craft every molecule of water; I just made a stream, because I know how a stream should look and sound like. I didn't make every tree, but after I created the forest, I tinkered with it, so in the end, most trees have been touched in this way or another. But this is not important right now" she paused. "It cannot be a stray thought or errant creation, for two basic reasons: there are no living beings here except those that have a soul – even the cicadas are just a sound effect, remember? – and I cannot reach that person. If this was a stray thought, I would be able to call it before me, alter it, or even erase it, just as I collected and erased the broken glass. I can't even sense it, I can only see glimpses of it" she paused again; Kyoko waited patiently. "It's exactly as it is with you: I cannot summon or erase you; I mean, I can call for you when you're in your Evangelion, but I cannot move you against your will, the best I can do is-oh."

Kyoko blinked. "Ikari?"

"Are you familiar with the rubber duck technique?" Yui asked in a suddenly chirpier voice.

"A-what?" Kyoko blinked again; the confusion was obvious on her face.

"It's an engineering thing, but it works for scientists, too. If you're stuck, you try explaining your process, step-by-step, to someone, even to a rubber duck. It helps a lot. And… well, pardon me saying that, but you've just been a very good rubber duck, Soryu."

Kyoko's head has been switching between left and right tilt for the last few minutes. Right now, she was trying to figure out an appropriate response to the sudden change of discussion's direction.

"Squeak? Quack?"

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The two women in Regency-era dresses were walking along the tree line. One of them was trying her best to steady her breathing, the other tried to maintain a serious façade. "I wholeheartedly hope our watchers did not pick up the sudden spike in the vitals, Soryu" Yui spoke up in mock scolding tone. "But I guess I should also have exercised more self-control."

"It's not my fault" Kyoko tried to defend herself, simultaneously trying not to burst out in laughter again "that you found a rather lame and obvious joke that hilarious."

"Context, I guess" Yui shrugged. "It's like all jokes are ten times as funny when you shouldn't laugh. Like the 'Biggus Dickus' scene."

"A what?" Kyoko looked at her, clearly confused.

Yui shook her head. "Never mind, I'll save the explanation for tea-time. We're here."

They stopped at the nearly empty bird feeder. Kyoko eyed it with a realisation. "Hm, I was going to ask you about those. I think I even did, but you said-"

"Let me guess, that I'll explain later?" Yui interjected with a smile.

Kyoko nodded. "We had other things on our minds at the time, if I remember correctly. So… what is it?"

"Well, it's quite simple" Yui started. "I had my suspicions for a long time, actually since before I even met you, and I set those up to… lure out souls. After a fashion. And then I got impatient and started to… well, fish. You, I managed to reach. But I think this bait has finally worked. This, or something found its way on its own and got attracted to the feeders."

Kyoko crossed her arms on her chest. "And you didn't find it prudent to tell me about that?"

Yui took a deep breath. "It was a side project that – pardon the pun – bore no fruit. Not before you went on your… pilgrimage. So, all in all, I didn't think it important, not as important as things we did, like operating Evangelions. But now, once it worked… I'm telling you."

Kyoko did not seem entirely convinced; still, she nodded to that. "Reasonable enough, but for the future: I'd rather know if there are any other… secret projects you're working on, especially if they affect me or our plans."

Yui thought for a moment, then shook her head. "Nothing comes to my mind, as everything else is just about keeping the mindscape working and realistic. Well, aside from thinking up new cake recipes and tea flavours, of course. I'm also adapting one of the rooms into a ballroom, but that's hardly affecting any plans, I think" she admitted with a sheepish smile. "But I'd rather focus on the task at hand while we're out here, if you don't mind" her tone grew firmer.

Kyoko eyed her warily, then decided to delay questions until later. "All right. So, why did you bring me out here, exactly?"

"For assistance. I have a plan."

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Kyoko was not quite sure what was more worrying: the idea itself, or the uncharacteristic grin the woman in front of her was wearing. Thinking of it, it was most likely the combination of the two. "Are you sure this is a good idea?" she asked again; it was the third time in the last ten minutes. All this felt at least a little bit wrong, but she could not point her finger on the reason yet.

"I told you, there is nothing to worry about" Yui reassured her for the third time, her impatience increasingly apparent from underneath the excitement. "I will do the heavy lifting with the bushes; you just throw the net at whomever emerges."

Kyoko nodded and grasped the net in her hands firmer, focusing on the foliage in front of her. Foliage that started to suddenly shrink, lose leaves, and finally turn to dust, revealing something – no, someone – in the process.

It was a figure, no larger than a pre-school kid in Kyoko eyes; she – judging from the tattered dress – was crouching on the ground, currently giving an impression of a surprised, perhaps even stunned animal – despite clearly being human. Kyoko stared; the child was unusual at the very least: blue hair and the red eyes were, last time she checked, not exactly common traits among humans.

Before Kyoko could recover from her hesitation, the girl realised the cover of the bushes was no longer viable. The wide-eyed child wasted no time in taking advantage of Kyoko's indecision – she made a leap into the safety still-standing foliage a few metres away.

"Soryu! You were supposed to catch it!" Yui yelled. "Now we have to start over!"

"It was a child!" Kyoko managed to blurt out.

"So?" Yui blinked.

Kyoko stared at her, confused. "You knew?!"

"I… well, yes, of course, what's the difference?" Yui asked, confused.

"I thought we were chasing some adult, some other… Eva soul, I was…" Kyoko shook her head. "I don't know what I thought. I can't- I just… you should've said that. Explained it" she turned to face Yui.

"I never said it was an adult" Yui protested.

Kyoko blinked, her lips turning thin. A heavy silence descended between them as Kyoko sat down and started fidgeting with the net that was still in her hands. Yui just stood there, looking at her, her posture increasingly uncertain.

"I guess-" she tried to break the silence.

"What else you 'never said'?" Kyoko interrupted in a restrained voice, suddenly raised her eyes at Yui. There was something dark in her eyes, something Yui could not read – but certainly did not like. "What secrets you still keep because I was not perceptive enough to ask? Or perhaps even not paranoid enough to ask?"

Yui just stared back at her in utter confusion.

"You don't see my point, do you?" Kyoko sighed. "On what else did you keep me in the dark?"

"I told you everything I think you needed to know" Yui slowly stated, her voice shaking slightly. "And I never lied to you. Why would I?"

"But you have omitted details that might be important, haven't you?" Kyoko pushed further, her voice growing louder. 'Why I am so angry?'

Yui kept just looking at her, finding no words; a mix of worry and increasing confusion appeared on her face. Kyoko furrowed her brows. 'No, something's wrong here. It's… weird.'

"Soryu…" Yui finally tried, only for Kyoko to raise her hand.

"Stop" she closed her eyes. "Please, Ikari, stop. I…"

Yui's expression of confusion and worry did not change.

"I'm leaving" Kyoko finally stated. Yui looked at her quizzically. "I'll be back, just…" Kyoko trailed off, unsure about her words.

Yui nodded, slowly. "I'll be waiting", she said, smiling weakly.

Kyoko replied with the same smile before slowly rising to her feet, turning away, and taking a path between the trees. She vanished from sight before taking the first turn. Yui's eyes were following her.

And so was a pair of red eyes, staring from the safety of the thick bushes.

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Outside

"Akagi-sempai, the report on the chemical analysis of the wall's remnant came in, I'm forwarding it to you!" an ever-chirpy, ever-happy-to-help voice of Maya Ibuki interrupted Ritsuko's Akagi train of dark thoughts. While the major disruption of her usual routine caused by Commander Ikari's inquisition was a thing of the past, the recent chain of problems was not granting her any reprieve from the stress. The string of incidents peaking at – but not culminating with – an actual Angel invasion of the Geofront were forcing her to remain ever vigilant.

"Thank you, Maya. I will look at them as soon as I am done with the results from tissue tests" she replied with a focused voice. "It seems we're accumulating an increasing backlog of data from the Angels. I really hope we will finish the research and make something useful of it before the next one arrives."

"I believe in you, sempai!" Maya reassured her. "Is there anything else I can do?"

'Overly optimistic, as always, darling' Ritsuko thought. 'And always there for me. To what do I owe this devotion, I wonder?' she sighed, then shook the sentiment off. 'The problem is that data from one Angel might be completely useless for another. Nothing had prepared us for a distributed, infiltrating Angel, and we almost lost. If the next one is not the usual, flesh-and-bone model we have mostly researched, we're going to need a small miracle to survive.'

She shook her head, breaking the train of thought; worrying will bring them nothing, now. "And you're being an immense help, Maya." She paused and sighed heavily. "I don't think I could keep going without you" she smiled as warm as she could; it still came out a little weak. Maya, of course, blushed at that and tried to say something. Ritsuko raised her hand. "But it's late. Go home; your duty shift was over two hours ago and the system is telling me it's been like that or worse for the last two weeks" Ritsuko allowed some sternness to creep into her caring voice.

"But sempai-"

"No objections, please. You're no use to me exhausted, and I've noticed you started to pick up my coffee-drinking habits. It's not exactly healthy, so please – don't overexert yourself."

Maya looked dejected, but nodded, her lips tight. "Yes, sempai" she managed before excusing herself in a hurry. Ritsuko sighed, waited until the door was closed behind the girl and sealed it with a command from her desk. She pulled a medicine bottle from her drawer, fished a single capsule and weighed it in her palm.

'Another night of work, and I should be done with the scripts for data processing. And if I don't… well, perhaps everybody dies. Let's call it a small price, shall we?'

She swallowed the pill, washing it down with a half cup of cold coffee, then stretched and took several deep breaths. It was at least ten minutes before the effects would kick in – just enough time to get some food. The cafeteria would still be serving at this hour; by the order of Commander Ikari, auxiliary departments were now working extended hours. Ritsuko was quite sure that if things kept going as they did so far, soon everyone in NERV HQ will be put on 24/7 duty.

'Let's hope we're the kind of flame that will not burn out too quickly' she mused, walking the dark corridors. She ignored the dark streak of thought; she knew perfectly that in a few minutes, the chemicals her body was processing right now will wash it all away – and she will be as right as rain.

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'I don't know what I expected', Kyoko thought, trying her best to swim up from the waters she found herself surrounded with the moment she entered Unit-02.

'At least the water is warm and I can see' she continued the trail of thought. 'But simply walking into a meadow would definitely be nicer. I guess it's up to me to make it work' she concluded with chagrin, finally reaching the surface. There was a shore in sight – and bright sun over her head.

'Well, could be worse. Could be a gothic horror setting that welcomed me last time' she smiled weakly, emerging on the beach. Her clothes were heavy with the water and there was a salty taste in her mouth. An endless, green meadow was stretching as far as the eye could see, with an odd tree every now and then. 'I guess this is going to be a literal greenfield project' she sighed. 'Where should I start?' she pondered, taking a few steps and immediately feeling her soaked clothing chafing against her. 'Oh, right.'

A few moments of further pondering and a thought later she looked down and smiled. Denim overalls and a chequered red flannel shirt were perhaps not the top of the fashion, but they were surely practical. Heavy boots and a straw hat completed the appearance Kyoko did not wear for a very long time, even considering the perceived time only. A few disjointed memories returned, to her mild surprise without affecting the landscape: her as a child, playing in parents' garden; her as a teenager, helping her mother maintain the garden; her as an adult, watching over little Asuka who was clumsily filling a flower pot with soil. 'How did it go? If it feels stupid, but works, it's not stupid?' she smiled to herself. 'Let's look for a garden. Or better, let's make a garden.'

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Yui Ikari was having one of those bad days – for the lack of a better term, as the passage of time was quite arbitrary in her mindscape. After all, the Cages did not provide a very useful reference except day/night light cycle – but that required constant attention, lest one misses a cycle or ten.

Considering the nature of time took her mind away from the issue at hand for a moment, but not successfully enough to distract her from her current trail of thoughts – and they were not happy. Something went wrong, and horribly so: instead of having a stable and reliable ally – or at least the same ally she had, just without surprises on her part – she had… someone who suddenly became difficult to define. In their relationship – ill-defined as it was – she could be an ally with temporary trouble, a friend after a fight, an enemy who has slipped the façade, or perhaps someone else entirely. Her status, or actually the status of the evil twin, was even more ambiguous: 'she will not trouble either of us anymore' was all far too little, but it was all she shared – and Yui regretfully did not pry on that.

She pondered all the things around her. The forest – now visibly lacking a part she removed to chase out the guest. The tea table – still set but unused. The mansion – now far too empty for her taste. None of those realisations improved her mood.

She sighed. Ignoring all those incomplete pieces, she headed towards the less frequented part of the forest.

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Inside Unit-02, things were anything but ponderous. Kyoko was doing her best trying to form things; copy-pasted spruces, drawn-by-line hedges, simple fences, kitschy decorations she remembered from gardens of her youth – all this surrounded her now.

She sat down at the simple plastic chair and beheld her creation, only to burst into hysterical laughter at how bad it all looked. 'Well, I never really designed a garden, it was all parents' work, I just took care of it sometimes. Maybe I should fashion a gardener?' she thought, then a realisation struck her. 'Why not?' she decided andfocused, imagining a man she often saw in the neighbourhood of her family old countryside house, a man she most associated with the concept of 'the gardener'.

Her thought took form, as easily as trees and bushes did. Suddenly, there was a man in a work clothing, operating pruning shears and working on the hedge. 'This was easier than I thought' Kyoko smiled to herself, content with the result and turning her attention to the other parts of the garden.

'I should fashion something to live in, I suppose' she rose from the chair and surveyed the field.

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After taking a long walk around the freshly-shaped garden, Kyoko realised something felt odd. She took a look around the garden and noticed the gardener, who kept going along the hedge, making the moves as if he was trimming an already perfect bush. When he reached the end, he simply started moving in the other direction, continuously performing the same moves. She approached him, but he ignored her and tried to keep going, shoving her aside. She blinked.

"Stop, please" she insisted. "Stop and look at me."

There was no reaction. She focused and willed him to do obey. That actually worked: the man stopped and turned to look at her.

A cold shiver ran down Kyoko's spine.

The man indeed looked just like Kyoko remembered her elderly neighbour – he had the same heavily tanned face with wrinkles, same grey curly hair, same plain work clothes and a cloth hat. But his eyes were looking beyond her, his stare completely empty; it was more akin to a well-made mannequin or an android than to anything else. 'This is wrong. The old Otto did not look like that.'

She focused on him again in an attempt to fix the eyes.

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Outside

NERV headquarters was relatively dark and silent, manned by the night shift; routine maintenance work was taking place, along with the cleaning work. Of course, there were also people doing overtime.

Ritsuko Akagi was humming to herself, keys clicking under her fingers, new lines of code forming the parts of the most recent model were appearing on the screen. An occasional run returned some results, Ritsuko made adjustments and ran the model again. Step by step, the model that was supposed to simulate Angel's behaviour was improving.

The console on the other side of the room lit up; the monitoring equipment indicated that Unit-02 activity entered the yellow area. The alert was of course accompanied by an icon of a slashed loudspeaker – but Ritsuko learned her lesson on missing alerts.

A message in red font appeared on her console, contrasted with the most recent result lines.

[Sensor alert] [Unit-02] Neural activity above warn lvl

Ritsuko's fingers stopped mid-typing, her flow interrupted. She cursed silently, finished the line of code, and got up. A quick glance over the monitoring station told her that Unit-02 was the only one in the yellow range, with the remaining two Units in green. A quick look at the past readings had shown her that she missed nothing of importance except a recent spike on Unit-00 that nonetheless kept it in green. She made a mental note to check the latter; for Unit-00 even that was unusual.

Then she took a deep breath, trying her best to not clench her teeth. Remembering her last lonely night visit to the Cages quite well, she was not very eager to repeat that experience.

'You are a woman of reason, Ritsuko Akagi. They are monsters, abominations, nightmares – but they are chained and locked now. They are dangerous only when they are unleashed, and this never happens without an order' she breathed in and out. 'And I'm not going to fall asleep there this time.'

With that thought, she locked the stations, retrieved the diagnostics cart from the storage, verified the battery level, and stepped into the elevator that would take her to the Cages.

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Kyoko did not want to open her eyes, fearing what she would see. Her heart was still pounding, and her throat was a bit sore from the scream she released.

When she finally decided to look, she realised the uncanny facsimile of a human was gone, along with the horrifying mess her attempts at 'fixing' him made. Unfortunately, a large part of the garden was gone with him: all that was in front of her and in her peripheral vision turned back into flat grassland.

'This is what I get when I panic', she noticed wryly. 'That explains why Ikari didn't want to talk about servants and orchestra' she took another deep breath, trying to calm down. She closed her eyes. 'So, if I cannot make a convincing garden, and I cannot have a gardener' she shuddered at the thought 'what can I have?'

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The elevator door opened with a whirr befitting their weight. Ritsuko Akagi hesitated just for a moment before stepping into the cold air of the Cages; the cold gave her goose bumps. She stopped and took a deep breath, surveying the usual darkness, punctuated only by the dim directional and warning lights felt almost oppressive.

'Unit-02. Attach the equipment, investigate the problem, record the data, detach the equipment, leave this place. Let's-'

Ritsuko twitched when a strange whirring sound came from behind her; it took her just a second – and a frantic turn – to realise that it was the elevator door closing behind her. 'Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid!' she chastised herself. 'Get a grip of yourself, you stupid old woman. They're not plotting against you, they can't harm you. The monsters are asleep, caged!'

With a determined look on her face, she started pushing the cart on the path towards Unit-02 sector. But no matter her determination, her heart was still pounding.

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Kyoko was walking. The partially ruined garden was still behind her, but she paid it no attention. Minor changes were taking place around her as she was recalling the memories from her childhood travels with her parents: a hill raising, a tree appearing, a stream of water emerging, a bush growing.

She stopped and took a long look around. Something felt wrong. Taking a few steps back, she surveyed the area: the forest, a path that meandered through it, trees, bushes-

She looked up at the bush that was standing next to her path and her hand met her face, realising her error. She remembered them as a child would – larger than her. Embarrassed by such a simple mistake, she reached out to make them smaller, but that was the moment a realisation struck her. She recalled words her minister liked to quote far too often for her taste:

"Als ich in Kind war, redete ich wie ein Kind, dachte wie ein Kind und urteilte wie ein Kind."

He was using them as an argument that his pupils' way of thinking was something they would simply grow out of. But now, it was not the only meaning.

'This is clearly a week of enlightenment for me, for better or worse. Thank you, Herr Heinemann' she thought, her head still spinning from the clarity of thought. 'I don't know whether you reached the Heaven you promised to the good children, the torment you promised those that forgot their homework… or perhaps still spread the Word in the world that needs it more than ever. But the seed you planted has just sprouted.'

She left the path and climbed a hill that suddenly emerged next to her. And with a smile, she started her work, seeing with eyes of an adult.

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Yui Ikari was walking her version of the forest, a little bit more orderly and far less changing. She was peeking into bushes, peering between trees, perusing the high grass. "Come out, come out, wherever you are" she chanted, trying to sound friendly. "I will not harm you, I promise" she added.

There was no response but some distant rustling of leaves.

After a while, she sat on an old, moss-covered bench. "I guess I lost my touch with children" she sighed. "Or perhaps Shinji was less of a… well, he was definitely more social" she sighed, recalling the ever-curious and easygoing kid. With that, her thoughts turned darker. 'Not so much now. When I get out of this and my dear Gendo is still alive, he's going to hear a few kind words about raising children. Shinji, at least, was likely growing somewhere normal, if away from actual parentage. Gods alone know how this odd girl was raised.'

She shook her head.

'Talking about odd, what can I do with the oddity I have here? It responds poorly to being exposed, it feeds surreptitiously so luring with food is not an option… unless I place traps around feeders, but considering how feral it is, I may end up with it hurting itself when captured. Hm. 'It', or 'her'? It was clearly a dress, dirty and ragged as at it was…'

She sighed and rose. 'I'm thinking too much. Hunting blue-haired girls, round two, comm-'

She stopped mid-step. Something was happening in the Cages. She extended her senses; the sounds were relatively minor: this was not a commotion; it was just some minor activity. She risked a peek and noticed a silhouette in white cloak passing her while heading towards another Cage; identifying Dr Akagi from her gait and blonde hair was trivial, especially that few people would be in the Cages at night.

'She's heading to Unit-02. What have you done, Soryu?'

She pondered whether to warn her I-don't-know-who-you-are-now, but decided against it. 'If this some minor disturbance, I may end up exacerbating it; if it is something major, Soryu will know someone is heading towards her anyway.'

She kept watching, noticing with some amusement that the good doctor Akagi was more than twitchy.

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Ritsuko Akagi took a shortcut through the Unit-01 cage; it was the shortest way from that particular elevator and spared her doing a longer route with several turns, some of them with back to Unit-02.

She questioned the wisdom of that choice soon after she entered the presence of Unit-01.

She knew that Evangelions could not normally move in their dormant state. Isolated incidents were just that – incidents, caused by extremely unusual circumstances. Those did not apply now. The monsters were sleeping.

But she could not shake the feeling that Unit-01 moved its head just on the verge of perception as she entered. She could also not shake the irrational feeling that she was being watched.

She rushed past the sleeping giant, her muscles tensing with every step and her skin crawling. The door was opening far too slowly for her taste, and the sound of the door's closing was a melody to her ears. A long creak that followed – something she would normally write off as a normal consequence of metal walls moving after being minutely shaken by the door opening and closing – suddenly sent shivers down her spine.

"Oh for fuck's sake, Ritsuko, get a grip, woman!" she chastised herself loudly. "You're not a kid that hides in the closet from the fear of monsters!" she added and resumed her brisk walk towards Unit-02. Next door opened and she stepped into the correct Cage and beheld the red-armoured monstrosity.

"Be good, and it won't take long" she addressed the Evangelion, aware how stupid it sounded. There was, thankfully, no response, even if she half-expected it. She set the lights down and started the procedure of exposing the Core.

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Kyoko Soryu was standing on a tall hill, making slow, smooth gestures. Every gesture changed something in the landscape: raising a hill, making a lake, creating or removing a forest. Not every move worked out as she intended; the most recent one actually felled the forest and turned it into a post-hurricane landscape instead of just removing it and replacing it with a grassland.

Finally, she surveyed the area and smiled.

'Now, I need a castle' she thought, only to stop herself. 'No. I am not a prince or some knight. I am a woman of science. And who would be a woman of science in the past?' she smiled to herself and stepped into the forest she just shaped. It was quite generic, of course, as she paid no attention to details. As she walked, minor things kept changing around her, adjusting to her concept of a forest.

The sounds and sensations coming from outside her body drowned in the elation of being able to finally shape her reality; they were unimportant in the face of everything around her obeying her commands.

.

Ritsuko Akagi was working as fast as she could without losing the precision of measurements. Knowing the Core architecture and ports by heart certainly helped, as did the motivation that once she is done with it, she will be able to leave the Cages with her conscience clean; well, as clean as it could be after everything she has ever done for Project E. Thus, her work progressed quickly.

The problem is that the readings showed nothing unusual. They were in the green again, and nothing indicated any significant instability in the Core. Unit-02 was perfectly fine.

Ritsuko cursed under her breath. 'Another anomaly, another undebuggable disturbance. Why does it keep happening?' she pondered. 'And what if this happens in combat? Asuka is unstable enough without her mother acting up.'

She began to move the measuring equipment to set up the final stage of the checks. She performed those measurements tens of times before, if not hundreds, thus her movements were routine; this made the glaring red "danger" she suddenly saw on the screen confusing. She blinked in confusion and returned her eyes to the connections. Half a second later she yanked two of them out, her hands shaking. 'Akagi, get a grip. You almost delivered an electric shock to the Core. This was a basic mistake, what is wrong with you?'

She slowly put the connections in order, noticing her hands were still shaking. She bit her lip, forcing herself to focus. Two minutes later the screen indicated a green "ready". She started the sequence and rested her back against Unit-02 armour, taking a deep breath.

Suddenly, there was a loud creak and the Cages began to shake. She jumped up, turned as fast as she could, and saw herself facing two pairs of luminescent green eyes, staring directly at her. The mouth of Unit-02 creaked open and its restrains started to buckle as the monster started its jerky movements.

Ritsuko just stood there, tethered to the ground with fear. 'The beast is unleashed' was her only conscious thought; the rest of her mind was filled with screams she could not let out. She could only stare powerlessly as Unit-02 finally tore one of her hands free and used it to remove the rest of its restrains.

Seconds that felt like hours later, the Eva let out a deafening roar and brought the hand down on Ritsuko's head.

She woke with a start, her heart pounding audibly and painfully in her chest, her breath ragged, her skin covered in cold sweat. She staggered to her feet as quickly as her shaky legs allowed and stared at Unit-02's head.

It was dark as everything else in the Cages; the only lights around her were the always-on emergency lighting – and her equipment, currently giving a green "finished" readout. She was standing there, unmoving, for a whole minute, doing her best to calm herself down.

Finally, not letting the giant red head from her field of view, she yanked out the connectors with shaking hands and closed the Core's shielding. Throwing the equipment haphazardly onto the cart, she rushed out, once more taking the shortcut.

.

After listening for a while and hearing nothing, Yui Ikari returned to wandering the paths carefully and scanning the area – this time without much conviction. But this was soon interrupted by a hiss of the door; Yui reflexively focused her senses outwards.

Dr Ritsuko Akagi was moving across the galley with a speed that was certainly unsafe in a workplace with such disregard towards railings and other safeties as NERV universally presented. It was doubly unsafe as she was pushing a cart full of equipment in front of her.

'What did you do to her, Soryu?' Yui pondered, amused with seeing the haughty doctor in clear distress. 'I hope this was nothing that would get us into trouble' a darker thought clouded the amusement.

She shook it off. 'If it was important, Soryu would not remain silent' she concluded. 'But to be absolutely sure…'

She sat down on a bench and extended her thoughts outwards. It was something she has not done for a while. Not since she found her possible-partner-in-conspiracy, who now was kind-of-estranged-friend.

She felt the familiar mind of Unit-02 immediately, only to realise it sounded somehow different; focusing her senses, she realised it now felt far smoother, far more harmonious. The dissonant tones were almost gone; while it was no symphony, the melody and the aftertaste were certainly far more pleasing. She withdrew quickly; perceiving like this was always confusing at best, exhausting at worst – even if the sensations were positive or even pleasant.

Feeling the need to make sure everything was in order, she turned her attention towards the other mind, the ball of fury, confusion, and anger she rather not touch. It was, of course, still there and still angry – but slightly changed as well. 'I neglected the monitoring. Foolish me.'

She refocused at her new target. It tasted like electricity, its edges ragged and hurting; the melody did not really deserve that label – it was dissonant and painful to hear. But there were rare moments of clarity, rare notes that were harmonious, that tasted like honey in the sea of needles and barbed wire.

She stared into this abyss of confusion and dissonance for a moment, trying to understand the reason for this change. Failing to see any pattern, she started to withdraw.

In that moment, the abyss stared back.

.

Yui Ikari was staring into

something

that was focusing all its attention at her. There were no eyes to speak of, but Yui felt an absolute certainty that she was under close scrutiny. It tasted like lemons, it was cautious, it was untrusting; but there was also an undertone of honey, curiosity, smile.

Her only respite stopping her from panicking was the fact that it felt like facing something scary, but somehow equal – this was not a snake-versus-mouse situation, it felt more akin to two predators accidentally meeting and having a stand-off.

With all her will, she forced herself to withdraw.

.

The air around her smelled familiar. The wet wood of the bench felt good under her hands. The cicadas were singing in the bushes. She was home. Slowly, she opened her eyes.

A pair of red irises were staring at her; the face that framed them was mere centimetres away. The unblinking eyes expressed nothing but intense curiosity.

.

Ritsuko Akagi breathed her breath of relief only once the heavy door of the elevator closed behind her. She mentally cursed the regulations regarding the Cages lighting cycle, regulations she herself set up based on her barely verified hypotheses about Evangelion biology. She was resentful of the Unit-02, angry at the stupid regulations, but first and foremost – furious at herself and her own weakness.

'Surrendering to primal fears, like some caveman, like a pitiful child. What should I do next time, bring food and incense as an offering? Perhaps with some grease or fresh paint to appease them?' she scoffed. 'Perhaps even build an altar with little plastic figurines of Evangelions and put the offerings there?'

The elevator finally stopped at its destination; she rolled the cart into its place and took the data storage unit out.

The relatively short ride did little to calm her heart rate down; it remained high when she entered her office. Once she unlocked the consoles, it spiked up even higher: the readings for Unit-00 was in the low yellow range, while those for Unit-01 were approaching red.

She slammed her hand on the keyboard with enough force to displace a few keys; the pain made her mind slightly clearer. "Fucking monsters" she muttered. "What is it now?"

.

Yui Ikari, completely unaware of the emotions she was causing, had certainly something to take care of.

"Hello, little one" she tried, her voice unsure. "I saw you here before. And…" she hesitated. "And I apologise for being rude. For stripping the bushes."

The girl clearly heard her, but it was not clear whether she understood what was being said. She tilted her head from side to side and kept staring at Yui with unblinking red eyes; eyes that definitely looked too big for her face.

"What is your name?" Yui tried again. "It is Rei, isn't it?"

The girl broke eye contact and before Yui could react, she grabbed her palm with her small hands. She shoved something in it before breaking into a sprint with a speed befitting a cheetah. She disappeared among the rustling leaves, leaving nothing but dust in her wake.

Yui blinked the confusion away with some effort, then looked at the object that was so unexpectedly shoved in her hand.

It was a small string of interwoven daisies.

.

At the same time, Kyoko Soryu was playing around with wood, stone, and mortar. She was working on her dream home without a care in the world.

The foundations of a small cottage were already placed, and the walls were rising. She was giving it far more attention than all the large forest; after all, this was supposed to be her home.

'And if Ikari and I come to terms again, I'd rather have her enjoy the place as well' she admitted to herself. 'Even if it is as far from her vision of home as possible…'

The walls were rising slowly, but surely. Kyoko Soryu was satisfied.

.

Ritsuko Akagi was standing in her office, staring at the slowly dropping readings, trying to find a will to act on it despite fatigue slowly overtaking her. But when the indicators finally dropped to green again, Ritsuko has already decided. 'There's no chance I'm going down there again. Not today. Not to chase ghosts and spectres again.'

Having replaced the keys in the keyboard she damaged, she sat at her console. She found and adjusted the script she wrote to mock the Eva vital readings and started to fabricate the data for the last half an hour for Unit-00 and Unit-01. This time, the moral aspect of what she was doing vanished under the weight of her exhaustion. Those were most likely sensor glitches or inconsequential spikes. They did vanish pretty quickly, after all.

She purged the logs of the incidents, remembering to change control logs as well, and replaced them with the mock readings, interspacing them with ALL NORMAL in all the right places.

'It's true what they say: it gets easier the second time' she noticed with dismay. 'What am I doing with my life…'

Further thoughts on the matter were interrupted by another bout of fatigue washing over her. She took a few deep breaths and forced herself to finish the log forgery, making sure nothing was missing. 'Not that anyone except me and perhaps Maya would be able to detect it. And the girl is not going to talk even if she finds out.'

She ran a manual consistency check on all logs and verified that her forgery was not detectable via automatic means, and finally closed the logging system. The system clock was showing 04:02.

Slumping in her chair, she took a deep breath and closed her eyes just for a moment.

.

"Doctor? Doctor Akagi? Are you all right?"

The voice was familiar, but muffled, as if coming from a distance.

"She's not responding, Hyuga, call the medical team! Now!"

'Maya?'

"I'm-" Ritsuko managed despite her throat feeling like sandpaper. "I'm fine. Don't make a fuss, I just-"

The memories rushed back, causing her to shiver. Night trip to the Cages, the alert, the cover-up. 'I just closed my eyes for a second… what time is it?'

She finally opened her eyes and looked around. The clock was showing 7:57.

"Fuck" she mumbled.

"Sempai?"

Ritsuko shook her head and noticed a slightly cold sensation in her sinuses. She raised her hand to her nose only for it to come down bloodied. 'Wonderful, just wonderful. What's next? Bring it, Universe. Knowing my luck, an Angel will come knocking in 3… 2… 1…'

"Sempai? You're bleeding! Hyuga, I told you to get the medics!"

'Well, I guess an Angel now would be a blessing' she noted wryly and rose from her chair. "I'm fine, Maya. Just tired. Hyuga, don't call anyone, that's an order. I'll just go fix myself."

"But sempai-"

"Maya, you have work to do" Ritsuko brushed the girl off a little harsher than she intended. "There are some data to analyse for you, see the vitals reading from Unit-02 from manuals last night."

"Y-yes, sempai" Maya Ibuki retreated, dejected. A look on her face made Ritsuko feel genuine guilt.

'Sure, Ritsuko, kick the puppy. Kick the only person in the world who does not see you for the fraud you are, literally the last person that still cares for you for some unfathomable reason' she thought bitterly on her way out. 'You even had to send you cat away because you had no time to take care of her, and Maya still clings to you. Yes, kick her, it's not that she's going to resent you or anything.'

Taking a longer, but far emptier path through the side corridors, she finally reached her apartment in the bowels of the NERV HQ. It was quite luxurious by post-Second Impact standards, especially in terms of size and security, but all that luxury was going to waste with Ritsuko spending most of her time at work. It was, in essence, serving as a glorified bedroom for her.

Closing the door behind herself with a soft hiss of the basic environmental seal, she rested her back against them and sighed heavily. The thing that weighed on her shoulders the most was the fact that this was not an end of her day – it was actually the beginning of another.

With a visible effort, she started to move towards the bathroom. 'First things first. I need to hydrate, and then I can get around to present some illusion of being a decent human being. "Not smelling like a pile of compost" is a good start on that path.'

.

Yui Ikari was still sitting on the bench, staring at the strangest gift she has ever received – and that was true even considering that her parents and the man she called 'the teacher' had some strange ideas what an appropriate present for a child was. She still vividly remembered a gift she received for her twelfth birthday: a small book, beautifully calligraphed in letters similar to the Hebrew alphabet, but older and unknown except for scholars like the teacher. A beautiful object for sure, but also an obligation she could not understand at the time. She pushed that thought aside.

The gift she received just a few moments ago was something different, almost opposite. It was a simple string of yellow-white flowers, a bit too short to form a garland – or perhaps not, depending on whose head was it supposed to fit. The daisies connected in a simple, imperfect, and inconsistent manner, but the whole construction was clearly representing an effort – and despite its imperfection, it was holding together just fine. It was also given without ceremony, without reverence, in an almost panicked hurry – and with clear emotion.

'I understood you, little one, or so I thought. I thought you angry, bloodthirsty, mindless. But there's something else… but how to get to it?'

She moved the string of flowers in her fingers. A thought struck her, and she smiled. Shortening the sleeves of her dress with a thought, she wrapped the daisies around her right wrist twice, connecting the endings and turning it into a bracelet. 'If I gave someone a gift, I would love to see them wear it. I think I can assume this true for everybody.'

She rose from the bench.

'Also, as this was not given from any particular occasion, I suppose I would expect a gift in return. The big question is… what is an appropriate present for a feral child? I don't think a colouring book would be right…'

.

Ritsuko Akagi emerged from her bathroom feeling somehow better. Several cycles of hot and cold showers have woken her up and removed some tension. It also reminded her how hungry she was.

Her kitchen was simple, compared to the rest of the place – she had absolutely no need for any fancy cooking equipment, considering her lack of time for such frivolities. Aside from a rather expensive coffee machine, it contained an autocook and a lot of ready-to-go food packages – a technology based on military MREs, slightly adjusted to be more palatable to the field personnel that was accompanying the UN forces in the post-Impact world.

She threw one of the packs into the machine, added water, and started up the coffee maker. Soon after, she was enjoying a meal that tasted like fresh scrambled eggs with bacon but looked like particularly badly made porridge.

She stopped paying attention to such details long ago. It was hot and it tasted fine.

Done with her food, she disposed of the single-use plate and reached to the pharmacy cabinet. She considered the situation for about two seconds, then reached for the medicine bottle identical to one she kept in her desk drawer – except this one was almost full – and fished a pill. Washing it down with a great-tasting and scalding-hot coffee, she took a deep breath knowing that soon the temporary weakness will pass – and she will be ready to face anything.

Perhaps even an Angel.

.

Kyoko Soryu was sitting in a rocking chair, admiring her work. The place was, of course, not even half-finished – the cabin walls were raised, but the roof was absent, letting her stare at the star-filled sky – and the chair was the only furniture present.

"And on the seventh day, He rested" Kyoko quoted loudly and giggled. "Yes, Herr Heinemann, I remember how you yelled at me when I asked: 'why then you teach on the seventh day, instead of resting?' You started to explain that it's about Saturday, and I… I was being a smartass then, wasn't I?" she recalled with a smile.

"Of course, our Lord would have finished the work before resting" she kept musing, idly adjusting the stars to look anything like the sky she remembered. "But I don't think it's a standard I should measure myself with." Finally, she had to accept that she remembered nearly nothing about how the constellations should look like and left it as something that would most likely be titled "Night sky as seen from an Earth-like planet, artist's impression".

'Still beautiful to behold. I hope Ikari would not mind a cup of tea under the starlight' a thought passed through her mind; she too late realised this idea made her sad. 'I wish-'

A sudden rush of sensations interrupted her train of thought.

"Attention all personnel" she registered a focused voice from outside. "Combat activation in progress. All non-essential personnel are to clear the Cages immediately. I repeat. Combat activation in progress."

'And here we go again. I wonder what mess awaits us this time' she sighed. 'Well, that's my work now, anyway, willing or not. On the bright side, I will see Asuka again' Kyoko smiled to herself, bracing herself for the activation.

.

A Cage away, Yui Ikari's pondering was interrupted by the same sensations. 'Well. Mysteries and reciprocity will have to wait. I hope this one will be quick to dispose of and we could return to important things.'

She sighed.

'Well, not 'we', at least not right now.'

She shook that thought off and focused on the activation routine.

.

Major Misato Katsuragi burst into the control room, alarms blaring all around her.

"You're late. Where the hell have you been?" Dr Akagi immediately snapped at her.

"I'm sorry, I don't live here, you know" she barked back without thinking, then immediately turned to the bridge staff, ignoring the angry look from her friend. "What's going on? What about the radar observation centre at Fuji?"

"They didn't detect it" Lt. Aoba reported. "It just suddenly appeared directly above us."

"Pattern Orange. No AT Field detected" Lt. Hyuga added.

"What do you mean?" Dr Akagi interjected angrily. "Are you reading it right? What else can this be?"

"The Magi are withholding judgement" Lt. Ibuki replied with a hint of anxiety. "We… don't know."

"And the Commander is away. Wonderful" Major Katsuragi sighed. "Keep observing it and inform me the second the Pilots arrive" she commanded.

"Yes, ma'am!" the technicians replied in near-unison.

.

Kyoko touched Asuka's mind the moment the girl connected to Unit-02 systems. It was filled with many emotions, as usual, but what was unusual was the lack of excitement; dominant emotion was annoyance so strong it bordered on anger. Right now, it was suppressed by Asuka's professional focus on combat, but it boiled just below that surface. What was even stranger, it was not directed at the Angel.

'What happened, daughter?' she probed carefully. 'Tell me, we have a moment before–'

Asuka twitched. Brief confusion flashed through her mind for a moment; she looked around, tense and suspicious.

'Foolish me, that was too loud, too brazen. She's combat-ready, too aware. Once more, with care…'

Kyoko put a few images in her mind's eye, projecting them at her daughter in sequence, spaced by a few seconds: Misato Katsuragi (positive reaction, some annoyance included), the school (lot of annoyance, lot of frustration, some pride), Unit-01 (not much of a reaction, maybe some anger), face of Shinji (burst of emotions)–

A chaotic series of memories flashed before Kyoko: time spent together, some minor fights, a few kisses with accompanying floods of emotions, more serious but passing conflicts, evenings spent together on the couch… 'Oh my. They've gone further than I thought' she realised, feeling familiar pangs of regret of not being able to be a part of Asuka's life and not learning it the proper way. 'But something went wrong, didn't it? Why are you angry?'

Thoughts were interrupted by the usual bout of nausea during the – mercifully short – launch; the Evangelions have reached the surface. Fortunately for Kyoko, relaying the commands to Unit-02 muscles barely required effort on her part; it actually worked better when she was not thinking about it. Re-focusing on Asuka's mood she realised her daughter has something in mind; her anger was slowly turning into a mean mood, directed at Shinji.

'Uh oh. This cannot be good. What went wrong, daughter?'

"Can you all hear me?" Major Katsuragi's voice came over the comms, interrupting Kyoko's pondering. "I've sent you all the target's data. That's all we know right now. Approach it carefully and observe its reactions, and, if possible, lure it into the airspace outside the city limits. One of you take point and the other two are backup, got that?"

"Ma'am? I think Shinji ought to take point!" Asuka replied in a surprisingly cheerful voice. Kyoko suppressed her surprise; this was not like her.

"What?" Shinji reacted, barely audible over the comms; his face was far more expressive.

"Well, this is a job for the high-scoring, utterly fearless, Number One synch-rate holder, right?" Asuka goaded. "Or don't you feel up to it, Shinji-chan?"

'Now now, daughter' Kyoko directed a thought at her. 'Let me guess, it's not just relationship' she paused to consider how strange this word sounded when thinking about her own daughter 'trouble, is it? You lost to him and now you're bitter? That's not very sporty, is it?'

"Asuka?" Shinji probed carefully. "Are you sure about that?"

"Well, you're the Number One now, shouldn't you act like it?" she kept going. "Besides, a little front-line experience is good for you!"

The Major's wince in response to that statement went unnoticed.

"All right, I'll do it! But no complains later about handing me a free kill, Asuka!" Shinji's voice was determined but somewhat amused.

"Hey, you two…" Major Katsuragi interjected.

"You said it, didn't you? 'You're the Number One'?" Shinji addressed her directly.

"Well that was…" the Major started to protest.

"And Asuka's right, she's already good, and I need more experience!" Shinji's voice was growing enthusiastic by the second.

"That's the spirit, just don't f-mess it up, 'Number One'" Asuka's tone turned mocking in the last words. "Unit-02 will back him up" she declared in more professional tone.

"Unit-00 will back him up as well" Rei stated in her usual, flat voice.

.

The atmosphere in the command centre was rather sombre. "Damn kids, running with it…" Major Katsuragi frowned.

"Let's hope he doesn't kill someone with this cavalier attitude" Doctor Akagi grumbled.

"I'm going to have to chew him out when he gets back. And Asuka as well, for this goading" Major Katsuragi frown deepened.

"Well, sounds like a job for a guardian" Doctor Akagi agreed with a note of annoyance and returned to her readings, ignoring Katsuragi's death glare.

.

The Evangelions were skulking – for the lack of a better word that would fit huge bipedal war-machines hiding behind buildings – around the city, surreptitiously tracking the movements of the levitating sphere.

"Ayanami, Asuka, are you in position yet?" Shinji inquired; his voice was lowered to a whisper for no practical reason.

"Not yet" came from Unit-00.

"Patience, Number One, don't get yourself tied in knots" Asuka replied, her voice somewhat amused. "We have more ground to cover. And I'm out of cable, switching to station twenty-five!"

'I'm never going to get used to this' Kyoko thought to herself when she felt the odd sensation of the power plug ejection and replacement. 'It feels like changing gloves, but also like drinking water' she mused while Asuka was repositioning herself. 'Far more attention should've been given to sensory input conversion… but I guess 'getting it working' and 'making it stronger' was higher on the priority list than the souls' comfort.'

"I am in position" Rei notified after about a minute.

"So am I" Asuka added twenty seconds later. "You know what to do, Third. Let's hope this will work out better than the last time" she added bitterly.

"Hey, what was that supposed to–" Shinji started.

"Asuka, Shinji, you're doing it again! Stop your banter and focus on the combat situation!" a chiding voice came over the comms from the command centre.

"Yes, ma'am!" Shinji snapped back and kept moving.

.

Eight minutes and two power connectors switches later, Lt. Ibuki spoke up: "Ma'am, sempai, there's a problem."

"Yes, Maya?" Doctor Akagi looked at her wearily.

"Despite Pilot Ikari's attempts to circle the target, the sphere is still heading towards the centre of the city. It seems not to react to Evangelions at all, even if Unit-01 was out of cover for several seconds."

"Great. Perhaps we should start some dance routine to get its attention?" Doctor Akagi replied; Lt. Ibuki frowned.

"Sempai?"

"Never mind" Dr Akagi shook her head. "Misato? It's your command, but I'd say we should get its attention."

Major Katsuragi pondered for a moment. "Agreed. Shinji" she opened the comms. "Fire a double on the sphere and be ready for a counterattack; Unit-00, Unit-02, be ready to provide backup."

"Yes, ma'am! Engaging the target!" Shinji declared, leaning out of his cover and aiming his pistol at the levitating sphere. Two seconds later, two shots headed towards the target.

The sphere promptly vanished just before the bullets hit it. A black spot appeared from nowhere under Shinji's Evangelion feet.

"Fuck!" Ritsuko Akagi exclaimed. The command staff exchanged glances – it was uncharacteristic for the doctor to use expletives in the past, but recently this has been slowly changing. There was no time to dwell on that, thought – the Angel Alert lit up, with the accompanying deafening sirens and a surprised "What?" from Major Katsuragi.

"Pattern blue!" Lieutenant Hyuga reported. "Angel confirmed!" he continued. "Directly beneath Unit-01!"

"A shadow?" Shinji panicked and started firing at the black void that was quickly spreading from beneath his feet. The bullets disappeared, leaving only momentary waves in the void. "What is this? It's weird!"

"Shinji, get out of there! Shinji?!" Major Katsuragi half-ordered, half-pleaded.

"Ikari?" joined a worried voice of Rei.

.

'He needs you' Kyoko directed her thoughts at Asuka whose head was swarming with conflicting thoughts.

'That's a messy mix of feelings… hostility, pity, attachment, care… desire?'

Kyoko shook the emotions she was receiving off and focused on the current situation. 'Save him. You can't leave him alone. He saved you, didn't he?' she summoned the emotions felt when Unit-02 was barely saved inside the volcano and directed them at Asuka.

'When this is over, I'm going to kill him' was the only, semi-conscious response. Kyoko felt the familiar determination radiating from her daughter – a fire she recognised all too well.

.

"Miss Misato, what is going on?" panicked voice of Shinji was dominating the comms. The command centre was staring in horror, unable to assist. "Miss Misato? Asuka? Ayanami? Where's the backup? Miss Misato?! Can you hear me? Asuka? Are you there?"

Asuka had already ejected the power connector and was sprinting at full speed towards Unit-01. "Stop screaming, idiot, I'm on my fucking way!" Asuka's angry, but also focused voice cut through the sounds of panic. "Just grab to something and stop yelling, you distract me!"

That voice was enough for Major Katsuragi to recover her faculties. "Eject the plug! Send the signal!" she ordered. "Asuka, stand back!" followed through the comms – and was promptly ignored; Unit-02 was rapidly approaching the growing dark surface, cracking asphalt and shattering glass with the force of displaced air.

Panicked "It's not working! No response!" from Lt. Ibuki made Major Katsuragi just stare at the screens again until she realised Unit-02 was almost atop of Unit-01.

"Asuka, retreat! That's an order!" she yelled.

"I can catch him!" Asuka protested vehemently. "It's just… a… few… more…" she strained – and she was right. Within seconds Unit-02 grabbed Unit-01's hand firmly and pulled. "Ha! Hey idiot, I told you I won't let you down-"

Asuka's triumphant bragging died suddenly, turning into an indistinct yell or surprise. A building beneath her feet gave in and her foot got caught in the blackness. "Ah, Scheisse!"

"Asuka!" Misato abandoned any pretence of composure.

A stream of vile German curses and colourful epithets directed towards the Angel was the only response. Had Misato not been preoccupied with the situation, she would have certainly wondered where did Asuka learn such flowery vocabulary – but she was far too terrified at the moment, as she could only stare helplessly as both Evangelions sank beneath the surface. The impossible sea became still again.

.

The void stretched uniformly in all directions without any detectable object other than Unit-01. 'This feels quite like my falling into the cold waters before… well, before I fixed myself. Except nobody is drowning. Let's be thankful for small blessings.'

She focused on Asuka; the girl was fuming with anger, but in her professional approach she made sure to switch life-support mode and perform an initial scan of the surroundings. Not that the results made any sense.

Sudden onset of the life-support mode felt strangely unpleasant, like suddenly losing control. Kyoko's entire body was slowly powering down. A small blessing was that the Core and electronics were running on normal power; she also noticed with some interest that the recording systems were being deactivated as well.

'I guess this makes sense, this is not exactly a vital system. Sorry, Doctor Akagi. You're not going to learn much about what will transpire here', she chuckled internally. 'Not that we know how to get out from here, anyway…' she realised grimly. 'I wonder how would that feel when the power runs out entirely?'

Channel 8, silent since the last combat situation, cracked to life and interrupted that dark thought.

"What is your status, Soryu?" a focused, but also clearly worried voice of Yui Ikari inquired. "Is everything in working order?"

"I've been better", Kyoko quipped, setting her previous grievances aside in face of their situation. "But I've been far worse, too. No damage worth mentioning, but my daughter is being furious at everyone at once, your son in particular. And so far, the sensor readings are quite useless."

"Same here, any distance-measuring instruments display errors, except when I aim them at you" Yui replied. "So… thank you for dropping in with a welcome company" her voice was tinged with amusement "but I guess we're now both stuck here. Wherever 'here' is, of course" she paused, her tone ponderous. "And my son is feeling guilty… let's comfort and calm both of them down first, shall we? And then we'll discuss what to do. Short-range communication is a low-energy system, so I suggest we stick to it instead… visiting."

"Agreed. I don't think we're going anywhere, so there's time", Kyoko smiled weakly over the line. "Talk to you la-"

"Hold on, one more thing", Yui noticed. "Are you in life-support mode?"

"Yes", Kyoko focused on the sensation. "Asuka made sure of that."

"Roger that. Now, good luck with your daughter", the communication ceased.

Kyoko's focus returned to Asuka. The girl was done with the emergency procedures and her focus was slowly turning into anxiety. The next sensor sweep had only one result: it made her frustration grow. "Great, I was hoping it was sensor malfunction", she grumbled. "But no, I'm the belly of the beast… I wonder which one of us is Jonah and which way is Nineveh?"

Kyoko chuckled. 'I wasn't aware you were paying attention in the Bible class, darling… or was it more about Klassische Literatur? Whichever it was, it is an apt metaphor… but dwelling on it will bring us no good.'

She reached to Asuka carefully.

'It is not done. He still needs you. He's alone out there, but he will not take the first step. You know how he is, daughter…'

Asuka frowned.

"Hey, idiot, you there?" she probed over the comms.

.

Outside

"What is it, Ritsuko?" Major Katsuragi approached Doctor Akagi as she was going over another scan of the target.

"Hell if I–" Dr Akagi burst out loud before reducing her volume to normal as heads in the command centre turned, only to ignore her with trained aside looks. "Hell if I know, Misato. Readings indicate there's nothing out there, literally. This sphere is intangible to anything we scan it with, and the shadow is so perfectly black that it absorbs hundred percent of the radiation; we measure nothing back."

"Ritsuko, for fuck's sake. I remember something from my physics class; even black holes evaporate", Misato challenged.

The doctor raised her eyebrows. "That's the titbit you remembered? First, this is a hypothesis at best. Second, black hole science doesn't apply here. This is something else, if this was a black hole, we'd be dead long ago from gravity and all fun kinds of radiation", she took off her glasses and rubbed her face. "This is something… else."

"I heard that ten seconds ago already. Give me something. Can we, I don't know, throw them batteries? A lifeline?" Major's voice started to sound desperate.

"I. Don't. Know", the doctor stated. "The cabling to Unit-01 was cut clean, we pulled it out. Also, the remnants of the buildings stopped sinking, so either they hit some kind of bottom – which I doubt – or the shadow has some kind of surface tension and Evas were heavy enough to break it. I don't know."

"What do you know?" Misato pressed.

"One thing for sure, if you don't stop pestering me and won't let me work, I'm not going to give you anything useful, Major!" Doctor Akagi blurted out, her volume higher than it should be in private conversation.

Major Katsuragi took a step back, shock on her face. "Of course, Doctor", she finally replied, her voice far colder.

She turned on the spot. "Hyuga, we're taking a closer look, take all the mobile scanning gear you can and meet me on Landing Pad B. Aoba, request a copter for me and clear a flight plan with UN forces air control. Ibuki, keep an open channel to the copter at all times and report any Angel reactions", she barked out commands and marched out of the bridge.

"Yes, ma'am!" shouted in unison followed her.

Doctor Ritsuko Akagi slumped in her chair. 'This could've gone better. I guess.'

.

The conversation between Evangelions was slightly less vitriolic – at least from one side.

"…so, I only blame you for panicking", Asuka was finishing her monologue. "And if you apologise now, I'm going to hit you in your face", she threatened.

'Not what I had in mind, daughter, but at least you are talking…' Kyoko chuckled.

"I'm–" he started.

"Your. Face", came in a near-growl.

"Asuka, you're in life-support. You cannot move your hands", Shinji remarked. Kyoko could hear a smirk in that voice; this was new.

Asuka's eyes narrowed. "Oh, shut the fuck up, smartass, great help you are", she barked. Kyoko noticed without surprise that she actually liked his jab. 'Not that this is the best way to communicate that…'

"I'm so–"

Asuka punched the comm switch so hard that the entire haptic panel display fizzled out. For Kyoko, it felt like a short bout of migraine; she shook it off. Asuka's emotions were boiling under the surface; Kyoko could feel Asuka's frustration as well as her own. 'Definitely not what I had in mind, daughter. I was hoping you were on better terms already, or that you were at least used to his habits…'

Asuka started another sensor cycle just to keep herself busy. Kyoko sighed. 'Long is the road, and hard, isn't it, Asuka?'

Kyoko waited until both her and Asuka's emotions burned out, then carefully tuned into them; she started to carefully probe with images. A few minutes into the process she suddenly retreated, trying her best to mask her surprise and confusion. 'This is the problem? Gott, I hope I was not so… bad with my emotions then…'

She paused and reflected on some choices she made. 'Well, not much better, I guess', she realised. 'Well… this should be relatively easy to fix. Let's–'

"Soryu, do you have a moment?" Channel 8 cracked to life.

'Nice timing, Ikari…' Kyoko suppressed her annoyance. "I was about to… well, try to fix the problem you're likely aware of", she replied in the relatively composed voice.

"If you're talking about what's going on between your daughter and my son, we both need to work on it, yes – but we should wait with that", Yui stated, her voice concerned.

"Do explain, please?" Kyoko frowned.

"This requires some… intervention, and for that, they should not be too conscious, lest they remember too much" Yui elaborated and paused, pondering something for a moment. "At least this is what I think. Your opinion?" she managed, her tone sounding slightly forced.

Kyoko took a deep breath. "What if they rescue us first?"

Yui chuckled. "They won't, I think. They are left with one Unit at the moment, and from what both you and I saw, it is not the best one. This Angel didn't have a visible Core, either, so they have no target", she paused. "All right, to make it short: I believe we need to open the Angel up. From the inside. It actually gave us a tremendous opportunity by swallowing two of us."

Kyoko suddenly felt dizzy; she steadied herself, aware this could not be a physical sensation. "Wait. There's nothing here to grasp on. We're on reserve power. How do you propose we do that?"

"Oh, quite simply", Yui's knowing smile was audible over the comms. "We'll do what a certain man claiming divine parentage did when He encountered something He didn't like."

"I'm… sorry", Kyoko's voice expressed utter confusion. "You got me lost here. Are you suggesting we should defeat the Angel with kindness and 'go forth and sin no more'?"

A giggle responded on the other side. "No. It's more about the 'flipping tables in the Temple' part."

"Oh. That. I don't think I have a whip", Kyoko was unconvinced.

"We don't need one. We'll just get really, really angry", Yui's voice relayed her smile.

Kyoko froze, realisation dawning upon her. "You want us to trigger berserk."

"Yes. You do remember how?"

"Of course. Well, this will solve the power issue. What then?" Kyoko kept expressing her doubts.

"We're inside the Angel. AT Fields exist to stay outside", Yui kept explaining. "Correct me if I'm going the wrong way, but I think this should at least inconvenience the Angel, perhaps even enough to make it, well, vomit us – if you forgive the picture. If we're lucky, it will injure it grievously enough for us to walk out. So, worst-case scenario, we give it indigestion and signal people outside we're still alive. Best-case scenario, we do a neat chest burst and solve the problem."

"That's a… bold plan", Kyoko remarked.

"We don't exactly have many options", Yui countered, her voice firm. "As you noticed, we're running on reserves – and we have our kids to protect."

"This is exactly why I am… worried. This sounds like all-or-nothing – and if we fail, they may die", Kyoko replied.

"Soryu…" Yui started again, this time with a softer but concerned voice. "I know this sounds risky – because it is risky. But the only alternative I see – aside ideas like 'one of self-destructs and the other escapes in the process', which will kill somebody – is to sit tight and wait for the rescue. And while we have a chance of surviving total power loss, they will suffocate", she paused. "And as said before, this is an Angel. The only weapons capable of defeating Angels are Evas. And that's us, and we're literally inside the target. I can't imagine a better attack vector, actually."

Kyoko sighed. "You might be right. But I'd still prefer to wait a while."

"Agreed", Yui replied immediately. "My boy is trying to sleep, and once he succumbs to it, I will try to soothe him. Knowing the fireball that is your daughter, she'll be harder to wait out, but she will tire eventually. And…" she paused. "You are better with Evangelions biology, I believe, tell me, after how long will LCL become dangerous? I don't think we have the full thirteen-fourteen hours the batteries indicators show."

Kyoko pondered for a moment, recalling the technical specifications of the Entry Plug design. "If those were built as I remember them, twelve hours at most, even if the filters and pumps work uninterrupted. It will get unpleasant sooner, though – but that should not be toxic. There's plenty of oxygen in the liquid", she reassured Yui. "But if the machinery gives in sooner, it will cut the remaining time in half, if not worse. The original Plug was designed to operate for no longer than four hours with filtering running at full power; it seems the design has been improved but the volume of LCL is about the same… and you can only do so much with filters."

"I see. Well, we will know something is wrong with them the moment something starts happening. The plugsuits have health sensors, just look into the sensor feeds – there's the 'Pilot' subcategory", Yui informed.

Kyoko followed her directions and nodded. "Roger that. All right… we open the channel when conditions inside any of us get dangerous to kids."

"Yes. But before you go…" Yui trailed off.

"Yes?"

"I… I just want to say I'm sorry, Soryu. And that I miss you", Yui admitted, her voice cracking just a bit. "You were–"

"Ikari", Kyoko interrupted her. "Please. Let's focus on getting everyone out of here alive. Afterwards… afterwards, we will talk. This or another way, all right? For now… I don't hold a grudge or anything. Just some… anger. Bitterness, maybe. But now…"

"Survival. Yes. You're right, Soryu", Yui's voice returned to normal. "Again. I'm sorry for going soft, I'll–"

"We'll talk. And please, don't pick your son's habits", Kyoko's voice gained a note of amusement. "My daughter wants to choke him for apologising all the time, and I don't want to get the same impulse about you."

"All right" Kyoko could swear there was a hint of embarrassment in Yui's voice. "We re-establish contact on the first negative medical signal or any situation change. Until then – Unit-01 out."

The channel went silent.

Kyoko turned her attention back to Asuka and realised the origin of minor bouts of pain she had been experiencing in the last few minutes. She let out a sigh. 'Anger management issues do run in the family, no doubt about that…'

.

Outside

"Doctor, I've got–" Major Katsuragi barged into the improvised workroom just as Ritsuko was about to close the pill bottle. A loud curse cut the air as Ritsuko startled, scattering the contents across the floor. She jumped to collect the pills; Misato, without much thinking, put her papers on the desk and moved to assist.

"Leave it, I've got this", Ritsuko barked, annoyed and borderline panicked. Misato almost obliged before noticing the label on the bottle.

"Rits, what the hell?" she asked in an incredulous voice.

"Give me that!" Ritsuko barked at her and made a motion to grab the bottle.

"Why in God's name are you taking amphetamines?"

Ritsuko's eyes narrowed at her. "Great, now go out and yell it from the top of the Headquarters. Give me the bottle", she reached. "It's just medicine. We have a crisis on our hands, you know? I need to be alert."

"That's a fucking addictive drug, Rits, not a medicine", Misato's voice sounded both angry and concerned. "And not a very light drug, to boot. How long–"

"Get off your fucking high horse, Miss I-Am-Totally-Not-Hungover-Every-Morning. Don't you dare lecture me on substances", Doctor Akagi stared at her, unflinching.

Misato stopped in her tracks, looking as if she was just struck across her face. She dropped the bottle on the floor, stood up, and turned around. Not even looking back at Ritsuko, she pointed to the file she brought. "Report from all the scanners in the area plus anything Hyuga gathered on my flight. Digital version is attached. You know what to do with it, I think, and hurry with it. The briefing is in an hour. Remember, the clock is ticking, I expect you to have some answers."

Ritsuko gritted her teeth but said nothing.

"See you there, Doctor. Try not to have a psychotic episode until then, I heard they happen when you take too many of those", Misato said coldly before closing the tarp behind her. Doctor Akagi just sat there, her head low; moments later, she started collecting the scattered pills again.

.

The girl inside Unit-02 was sleeping.

Kyoko was watching her daughter with a smile; it was the first time she had a chance to remain in contact with her for so long. If the conditions had been better, she would revel in the opportunity. Of course, now she had other things clouding her mind; but it was not enough to take away the joy of watching her daughter in her sleep – something she was unable to do since the girl was four.

She considered peeking into her dreams, ultimately deciding against it. She was just waiting for the girl to regain consciousness, busing herself in the meantime with internal sensor readings.

The health sensors indicated a slow change in the brainwaves.

'Good morning, dear', Kyoko smiled and reached softly.

"Whr am'I…?" Asuka tried to orient herself. "Oh, fuck, still trapped", the girl's mood suddenly changed from "hazed and susceptible" to "alert and annoyed".

Kyoko sighed. 'I shouldn't have hoped that it would be easy…'

Asuka looked morose; Kyoko was aware that sleeping in the Entry Plug was far from comfortable, but that was not the most important issue. Most humans reacted poorly to an inability to influence their situation, but for Asuka, 'poorly' would be an understatement. The girl was simmering with barely contained anger.

"Fucking stupid idiot" Asuka grumbled after ensuring once more that the comms were closed. "He had to play the hero…"

She ran the sensors through another cycle and sunk into her seat. Kyoko was watching her closely.

Suddenly, she punched the Plug's wall. "And I couldn't save him, even if I tried! He saved me, I failed to save him!" she sank back. "Fuck me. I'm useless…"

'You did your part. At least he is not alone here anymore. Talk to him. He's wracked by guilt himself…', Kyoko tried.

Asuka growled. "And why I keep thinking of this idiot?"

She tried to stretch, but the plugsuit made it difficult; movements that were no problem in normal circumstances had lessened effect in the dense environment of the LCL. Asuka sighed. "And I'm stuck in this crap because of him."

'Because you wanted to save him. That was a good thing. A noble thing', Kyoko directed another thought at the annoyed girl.

"Fuck me. Only thing noble about me is the lineage… at best. And I don't even carry that name. I wonder what Graf Zeppelin would say on having a descendant like me", she chuckled bitterly.

'Well, depends on which one, but most of them would be proud of you: the best pilot of the most powerful war machines in the history of mankind. Be proud, Asuka', Kyoko smiled.

Asuka smiled in turn. "Guten Morgen, Graf Zeppelin. Ich bin hier gekommen, um Ihre Feinde zu vernichten", Asuka did a mock curtsy before falling back to the half-prone position and letting out another sigh.

"And that particular lineage will die out on me, because…" she paused and shook her head. "Yay. I'm about to die, what a wonderful time to think about having children."

Kyoko pondered her course of action. This was one of those subjects she wanted to talk to Asuka about… but it was very much secondary in light of the current situation. On the other hand, she already poked Asuka to talk to Shinji several times; doing it again was risking her realising something was influencing her – and clamming up. She decided on another approach.

'Let's put the death aside, it's not that certain. Tell me, what do you want, daughter? What is that you really desire?' she directed another, more inquiring thought at the increasingly chaotic mind of Asuka.

Several images flashed in response, disjointed and – in most cases – very dim. But three images dominated: Asuka standing atop of Unit-02 when people cheered at her; Asuka holding someone against a wall and kissing them; Asuka piloting Unit-02 and tearing some imaginary Angel apart. The details differed between instances, but the ideas were quite clear.

'Fame, love, blood. You are of noble mind, even if you no longer carry the name. With the "old nobility" style, where the position was decided by killing the most enemies', Kyoko chuckled. 'With such desires and your will, you'd make a great Graf… In the times past, you'd have to be a man for that, but now, It can all be yours', she paused, an idea appearing in her mind. 'But for that, you need allies. Listen to me, daughter. Make friends. Find someone you trust', she paused. 'Find someone you love. And you will be unstoppable.'

Asuka frowned. "The fearsome lady of war", she chuckled and an image of an armour-clad, horse-riding adult figure with red hair in a braid and a long lance in her hands appeared in her mind. "Can this be me? No…"

The image was replaced by her current image, inside Unit-02, wearing her usual plugsuit, her hair in the typical, connector-held twin-tails and her hands on the controls. She beheld the battlefield full of wrecked tanks, dead Angels, and even something looking like an eviscerated Evangelion. Approaching her was Unit-01 and Unit-00, both wielding huge swords; the units knelt before her in fealty, resting their gigantic hands on the hilts. She gestured them to rise and stand by her side…

'Well… the lords, ladies, and knights of the new?'

"Would he be my knight? Would she be?" Asuka asked, smiling. "I'm really nuts, those must be death's door visions", she remarked, but a quick check of environmental controls told her that she was far from dying. "No… let me guess, sensory deprivation makes me go crazy?"

'But it would be nice to have that', Asuka thought loud enough for Kyoko to hear, with the image of the feudal homage paid by the other Units as the background.

Asuka tried to take a deep breath, but the LCL was proving too resistant for that. "Damn it. It's getting murky… oh, fuck that. I'm not dying alone."

She poked the communication system. "Hey, idiot, are you there? I want to talk."

"Asuka?" came a hazy reply. "Is that you?"

"No, idiot, it's just you, hallucinating. Were you asleep?"

"I… guess so", he admitted. "I'm so–"

"Let's make a deal", she interrupted him. "You won't apologise, at least for the next few hours, and I won't punch your face if we get out of here. Okay?"

"I… guess?" he reluctantly agreed.

"Good. Now, to the more important things…"

Kyoko smiled as she felt the emotional warmth from Asuka, warmth that was contradicting her unpleasant tone. She turned her attention outside, unwilling to intrude on their privacy. 'I'm no specialist on interdimensional space… but I should remember something from Physics 101. Let's see what this place is…'

.

Outside

"Okay, people. We have little time, so let's count the facts", Major Katsuragi turned to the specialists assembled at the field command centre about a kilometre from the edge of the shadow. Dr Akagi, Lt. Ibuki, Lt. Hyoga, and Lt. Aoba all turned to face her. "The target is intangible, that is clear. Its shadow absorbs all energy thrown at it and swallows everything above certain mass… or actually above certain force on the surface, as high-velocity bullets went in as well. This comes from Doctor Akagi's assessment", the Major noted with only a hint of anger in her voice. "My observations confirm that – what's left on the surface are several stores of buildings, all roughly with the same volume. Further data?"

"The shadow has stopped expanding after reaching about six hundred meters", Lt. Hyuga reported. "UN forces surround it in numbers… I'm not sure why, though."

"They're exerting pressure", Major Katsuragi grumbled.

"The Angel does not seem to be intimidated", Lt. Hyuga quipped absentmindedly. "S-sorry, ma'am", he corrected himself immediately upon the Major's stare.

"On us, Lieutenant", she explained in a tired voice. "Not on the Angel. Don't think about them, they're not important. Nor of any use", she added in a lower voice. "Back to the subject at hand. Do we have anything else?"

"Yes. I believe we do", Doctor Akagi rose from her chair and started pacing. "MAGI are running final analysis to confirm it, but I have a hypothesis. It's going to get technical, so just… bear with me", she requested as the pulled a marker and started scribbling on the whiteboard. "All factors indicate that what we see in the sky is not the Angel… or at least not the most important part of it."

Head tilted. "What do you–" someone started but stopped in their tracks under a cold stare from the Major.

"This is the shadow. The Angel is below. The perfectly black surface – six hundred and eighty metres in diameter and three nanometres thick – is the actual body", she started to draw a three-dimensional coordinate system on the board. "And those three nanometres are well within the measurement error; it can theoretically be about as thin as Planck's length", her words were spoken faster and faster; a disk appeared on the XY surface, joined by a small sphere along the Z-axis. "In layman's terms, the Angel is most probably a four-dimensional entity, with almost its entire body – for lack of a better term, as this is likely not a biological entity at all, certainly not one as we understand it – outside our dimension. By 'almost entire' I mean the mathematical definition of it, everything except the finite amount, except 'finite' may be a misnomer here–"

"Doctor!" Major Katsuragi raised her hand. "Please, I am aware that you could do another PhD describing the physics of this… thing, but most of us don't have the mind to grasp it. How does it help us? How can we rescue the Evas?"

Doctor Akagi took a deep breath, held it for a few seconds, then let it out.

"Simply. We devised a plan to temporarily force the mouth of the beast open", the doctor smiled. "Or, in more precise terms, we want to deliver enough energy to either force the rest of the Angel's body to our dimension, or at least a part of it. Once we do, Unit-00 will exert its AT Field and cut through the, hopefully, less absorbent part of the body. Going back to analogies, we will be forcing the animal from its burrow, so instead of facing the maw, we'll have the soft underbelly to strike at."

Major Katsuragi thought for a moment. "Sounds reasonable. But I am missing one important detail of this plan, Doctor."

"And that is?" Doctor Akagi voice betrayed some nervousness.

"How exactly will you 'deliver enough energy'?"

Doctor Akagi cursed under her breath. "We're working on it", she replied, looking the Major straight in the eye.

Major Katsuragi raised an eyebrow and decided not to press the matter in public.

"If there are no further questions" – Doctor Akagi resumed – "Those of you responsible for the sensor network – you all have sensor maps in your files. Lieutenant Ibuki will coordinate their placements. Rei", she turned to the blue-haired pilot that was standing motionlessly on the side. "You will enter Unit-00 and stand by. Your role is to exert the strongest AT Field you can manage exactly two seconds after the signal. Details on positioning, signal specifics, and likely forces involved are here", she handed Rei a folder.

"Yes, Doctor", Rei confirmed in her emotionless voice, immediately opening the folder and starting to study it intently.

"Those without new assignments", the Doctor resumed, "return to your duties; Operation begins in fifty minutes; delays are not acceptable. Major", she turned to the last person who was sitting, "I need a word with you."

"But of course you do, Doctor", Major Katsuragi muttered under her breath.

.

Inside Unit-01

Deep within the Core, Yui Ikari was smiling with satisfaction as she was listening to her son's thoughts that resulted from his conversation with the Soryu girl. This outcome was not perfect, but close enough for her to be satisfied: he was certainly on the right way. She was quite sure that his intelligence and compassion – coupled with Asuka's wit and will – would resolve all the critical issues and bring them back together.

Just as she needed for the final stage of her plan.

.

Inside Unit-02

The conversation has died down at least a few minutes ago, but the channel was still open. Asuka was in a slightly better mood, but far from happy. Kyoko could not blame her; the isolation was starting to get on her nerves as well.

A series of measurements – mostly attempts to locate something – brought an unexpected result. There clearly was something in the void; the reading was faint but present. What made Kyoko's blood freeze for a second was that as she was tracking that… something, a tracking alert lit up for her; she blessed the fact that she deactivated the pilot sensor feed before trying.

She contained her panic and tried again – with the identical result; she caught a glimpse of something, but the tracking alert, the equivalent of hair standing on their ends from being watched, lit up again.

It took her a third attempt to realise that those events were near-simultaneous.

'No. This is impossible.'

She tried again; the result was identical.

'Let's consult someone with more knowledge…'

Kyoko reattached the sensor grid to the pilot station and shaped the image in her mind: the entangled Evangelions in the void, shining a ray and getting shined on. She carefully pushed it at Asuka.

The tired redhead shook her head. "What…? This is…"

She took a look at the sensors and made the measurement again; the alarm lit up.

"Third, give me a hand here", she requested.

"What? What with?" came a hazy voice from the other Unit.

"Wake up and give me your sensor feed. I have a theory."

.

Outside

"You call this a rescue operation?"

"Retrieval of Unit-01 has the highest priority. The parameters and priorities were set by the Commander long ago and we are bound by his orders."

"What about the pilots? They'll be on reserve, they'll have no AT Fields, the impact, the heat, they'll cook alive!"

"Pilots' life is of no concern. We have reserves", Doctor Akagi stated. Half a second later, her vision turned white and her head turned involuntarily. Once she realised what happened, she was mildly surprised that she felt virtually no pain.

The sound of the slap carried over the command centre, though. As quickly as the heads turned, people averted their eyes; the disputes on the top of their command structure were better left to be resolved by those responsible.

"If they are lost, it is your fault", Doctor Akagi stated calmly and narrowed her eyes, touching the hot skin of her cheek. "It was your command that got them there."

"Why are you and Commander Ikari so worried about Unit-01?" Major Katsuragi grabbed the doctor by the collar. "What the fuck is inside those things?!"

"I gave you all you all the information now, Major", doctor's voice gained an aggressive note. "Let me go."

"You're lying! Those are my kids!" the Major shouted in her face.

"Let. Me. Go." The doctor's voice was still calm – but definitely started to gain insistence.

"Tell me–"

Half a second later Major Katsuragi realised she had lost her balance. Two seconds later, she was laying concrete surface, her bottom and lower back sore from the impact – and her chest hurting from being hit; a hit far too strong for a non-combatant like the doctor. She shook the haze off immediately and jumped back to her feet, her face showing anger mixed with confusion, her body primed to fight.

"I'm taking command of this whole operation", Doctor Akagi stated in a voice calm once more. Misato was glaring at her with narrowed eyes; the Doctor ignored that. "I understand your concerns about the pilots, but I am not changing the priorities", she declared and started to walk away. "And I won't be putting this incident in my reports. I'm sorry, Misato", she lowered her voice. "I'm sorry it had to come to this. We all have our orders, and I cannot have you contradict mine."

A train of thoughts ran through Major Katsuragi's head as she stared on the doctor's back: 'What the hell are the Evas? What are you hiding from me, Ritsuko? And why are you so sure the Commander will back you up on that? Why aren't you afraid I am going to report an assault?"

She shook her head. 'This is a mess. A huge mess. And my kids are in the fucking middle of it. That's Grade A parenting from the Commander, isn't it, give standing orders that would endanger his own son under most circumstances. And I was wondering why Shin-chan doesn't like to talk about his father…'

'No matter. I will have to talk to him once all this is done… if he survives', she winced at the last thought. 'Now, let's go to the command point; Ritsuko may have taken over the operation, but even she won't have the guts to throw me out. Drugged or not', she winced again. 'A royal mess.'

.

"Any questions to my enlightened conclusions?" Asuka asked, her voice prideful, if clearly tired.

The other side of the comm was silent for a while. "I… don't know where to start. You'll have to explain it properly, with paper and notes, and drawings–"

"Yeah… fat chance, about that, Third", Asuka noted grimly, her mood suddenly changed. "Unless they manage to pull us out in the next hour or so, the only way you get to admire my genius is here and now. And if they didn't manage to pull us by now, that means only desperate means are on the table and they wait for better ideas before they employ Plan Z."

"It can't be that–" he tried.

"Oh, shut up", she growled. "You're the born pessimist, the one that is always resigned to his fate, and suddenly you're thinking we're going to live? Be realistic!"

"They didn't give up on us. I'm sure", he declared. "And it's not that I'm always–"

"Stop it", Asuka barked. "Bonus points for not apologising, and maybe you're right", her tone turned wistful. "But I think this is our grave. I hoped I would go in battle, not suffocating, but hey, at least I'm not alone, and you're useful for something", she grinned despite her eyes remaining glum. "I'm leaving the channel open for now – but if you try with the optimism again, I'm cutting it and we both are dying alone. It's for goodbyes and dramatic last words when the time comes, okay?"

"Okay", he agreed; his tone suggested that he was by no means convinced.

The channel went silent; seconds kept ticking by, turning to minutes. Asuka's plugsuit's readings were slowly entering orange range; she was still conscious, but too exhausted to be angry anymore. Kyoko reached and touched her face softly. 'Soon, daughter. Soon.'

"Mama?" Asuka murmured.

Kyoko smiled at her. "Wir werden in Kürze verlassen. Mach dir keine Sorgen", she whispered.

"Ja, Mama…"

Kyoko activated Channel 8, carefully isolating it from the main comm system. "Ikari? It's getting worse here. We should act soon. Are you done?"

"Actually, yes", Yui replied. "He can handle the rest on his own, I'm sure. I assume you did what you could on your side?"

"Yes, and I dearly hope it will be enough. Sensors say there is no risk of any damage yet, but she's mentally fatigued and physically exhausted – and I really don't want to see her sick if I can prevent it", Kyoko elaborated, worry clear in her voice.

"Of course, Soryu. Apparently, your body was made with… lesser safety margins", Yui remarked with noticeable dismay. "It's always like that, the prototypes are spared no expenses, and then suddenly they start cutting corners", she sighed. "Readouts on LCL filtering in my boy's plug are still mostly green, but there's no reason to wait. One thing to check before we do – how are your logs?"

"Recording was dead since life-support mode engaged, I believe", Kyoko checked quickly. "Confirmed. The logs end about a minute after we entered here."

"So, what do you say, Soryu? Shall we then?" Yui asked with her smile audible over the channel.

"After you", Kyoko smiled back.

Six pairs of eyes lit up in the dark.

.

"The last wing is in the air. Twenty minutes to mine drop", Lt. Aoba announced.

Major Katsuragi was still present in the command centre despite having no legal reason to be here, not after Doctor Akagi took over. She was grimly tracing the indicators of dozens of planes, each one of them carrying a lethal cargo, a cargo able to flatten cities.

'One of those bombs once wounded an Angel, forcing its regeneration. What will almost a thousand do to an unprotected Eva? And what will happen if Rei slips? Nothing will be left standing, no Evas, no Tokyo-3, nothing. And you had the gall to call this a rescue operation?'

Voice of Lt. Ibuki dispersed the dark thoughts. "Akagi-sempai, Major, something's happening! The Angel's transmitting wide range of radio waves… microwaves… gamma rays… it's all over the EM spectrum!"

Ritsuko narrowed her eyes at the readings. For some reasons, the emissions – their waveforms, their intensity, their modulation – they looked to her like the Angel was screaming. Screaming in pain. 'I… I may really have a problem. I'm starting to think of them as people–'

Sudden alarms turned all heads in the command centre. The ground began to shake; small red lines appeared on the surface of the hitherto perfectly black impossible Sea.

"Akagi-sempai, something's coming out!" Lt. Ibuki continued. "But it's not from the Sea! It's from the… sphere?"

"Hold the airstrike!" Major Katsuragi commanded. "Tell them to stand by and not attack until we tell them to!"

"Yes, ma'am!" Lt. Aoba acknowledged, not bothering to check for confirmation with current operation commander.

"Doctor? Do you now have any idea what is going on?" the Major turned to the Head of the NERV Science Division.

Ritsuko Akagi did not answer; she was staring at the screen where the blood-coloured distortion was forming.

.

The sphere in the sky had suddenly lost its black-and-white patterning, turning pitch-black; blood-red lines appeared on the opposite sides of it; quickly they grew both in length and width, finally joining to form a lopsided circle. The surface cracked soundlessly.

From opposite sides of the sphere, two pairs of clawed hands emerged, followed by gore-covered heads. Low, growling sounds were becoming louder with their every movement; the gashes were constantly widening and spraying copious amount of blood, along with torn pieces of oddly coloured tissue. Two huge, vaguely humanoid figures began to slowly crawl out from the breaking sphere.

The spectators were overtaken by nausea from the sheer amount of gore; the sounds and the unnatural movements of both Units did not help. They resembled large insects or beasts now, their moves far more primal, far less predictable.

Finally, the blood-and-ichor-dripping Evangelions emerged in their entirety, dropping to the cracked surface of the collapsing and shrinking impossible sea. Standing tall, they threw their heads back in concert, their jaws cracking open. A sudden, skywards roar in unison broke over the body of the dying Angel.

The deafening sound carried across the city and echoed between the mountains, breaking glass, cracking concrete, falling trees; their voice brought blind terror to every human who heard it.

.

Inside the command centre, Ritsuko Akagi kept staring at the screen, her eyes unblinking and wide with fear.

'Gods above, this is what we created. They just casually broke laws of physics, torn a four-dimensional being into pieces, and now they are announcing their victory before all of the Creation. In God's name, what have we unleashed? What will happen next?'

Maya Ibuki was looking at her sempai and secret love with concern. She had little to do: the Units were sending no telemetry at all; any attempt to contact them resulted in a single result all the time: NO SIGNAL. Not being able to understand, to measure, was making her uneasy at best. Coupled with the tension and the recent events, this was making her positively anxious. What she saw in the eyes of the older woman was not helping.

Maya has seen her sempai in several combat situations and over numerous difficult problems. She often saw Doctor Akagi consumed by her work, worried over the results, tired by the endless effort; recently, she could see her exhausted and increasingly aggressive – but she had never seen her terrified. 'What is happening?' was the only thought running through her head. She was looking up to her for guidance, for a reassurance that the situation was under control – but saw only fear.

Fear that was infectious.

.

Inside Unit-02, a few hours later

Kyoko Zeppelin Soryu was carefully scanning surroundings of her body; lack of sight was not helping – but Unit-02's hearing was good enough to determine that the tedious checks, measurements, and decontaminations were finally over. She lost the sense of time as the numerous of people were swarming around her body; not that it was very strong in the first place.

Relishing in the silence that had finally fallen in the Cages, she nonetheless knew that her day was far from over. Sitting at the table in her cottage, she fiddled with a pen; an attempt to organise her thoughts did not go well, as evidenced by a sheet of parchment in front of her, full of scribbled notes, crossed-out items, and a complicated schema – also crossed-out.

She took a deep breath. Most of those lists had something in common: a component that was both urgent and important. And that component had a name.

Kyoko tilted her head back and took another deep breath. 'No time like the present, I guess.'

She activated Channel 8. "Ikari? Are you there?"

"Soryu. Hello", a greeting sounded on the other side. "Yes, I'm here. Is everything in order with you?" Yui's voice sounded concerned.

"Yes. They poked and prodded at me, profoundly disappointed they cannot extract anything but the records from the battle… and perhaps the first few minutes of the Angel-time, partially scrambled", Kyoko replied with amusement. "What about you?"

"Fine. Same treatment, same results", Kyoko's amusement was mirrored in Yui's voice. "The good doctor's frustration was palpable, and the young assistant seemed to have gained a new fear of us."

"Yes… it was a little over the top" Kyoko smiled with some concern. "And I must say, an odd experience I would like to discuss soon. Speaking of that, Ikari, I was thinking… would you like to come over for a small dinner? I was experimenting with the décor here… and I would like to hear your opinion. And maybe… to talk a bit."

There was a stretch of silence on the other side; Kyoko started to doubt whether her message reached her interlocutor. Finally, though, the voice on the other side responded, with something Kyoko could swear sounded like a relief: "Gladly, Soryu. When?"

"Now? Or… well, you know how time is for us. At your convenience", Kyoko shrugged. "I'll be waiting."

"I'll be there in a moment. What's the dress code?"

"I suppose our 'usually elegant' will be quite fine", Kyoko replied with just a hint of surprise in her voice, looking down on her own very simple work dress. "I don't think there would be a problem with changing here if you happen to feel… inappropriate."

"I'll be over in a few minutes, then. See you there. Unit-01 out."

Kyoko opened her eyes and smiled to herself. The composition of the dinner was already planned – several times, counting crossed-out versions – but as Yui had just raised the stakes dress-wise, Kyoko needed to do something with her own attire. 'Let's see what I remember about traditional German dresses…'

.

Yui Ikari was standing in front of a mirror, several stands with various dresses surrounded her. She spent the last few minutes frantically choosing an outfit – mostly to avoid thinking about the meeting itself. She let out a heavy sigh and stared at her own reflection. "It is rude to make someone wait", she chastised herself. Taking a quick look at the small selection she created recently, she quickly decided on a visiting dress, something a step over the attire she usually wore when Kyoko was around.

'It's not a state visit. It's just a… catch up?' she tried to figure out. 'Or maybe a reconciliation… Well, an olive branch has been extended, it would be utterly stupid not to take it.'

She picked up the box with the gift and quickly walked out of the mansion, heading towards the forest. In the corner of her eye, she noticed that the feeder she refilled after returning was almost empty again. 'Right. This is how it started. Me… omitting a detail or two during the hunt for the uninvited guest. Question is, what can I tell her now? If I tell her everything, she will run. If I omit facts again, she will be angry. If I tell her "you're not ready", she'll accuse me of not treating her seriously…'

She sighed heavily. Suddenly, a soft rustle of leaves drew her attention; she stopped on the path between the trees. And slowly turned in the direction of the noise. "Came to see me off, strange guest?" she tried in a soft voice.

As she spoke up, a thought struck her and made her cringe: 'Damn, I forgot about…' she glared at the string of daisies, still adorning her wrist, unaffected by the events of the day and numerous outfits the tried out. 'About the return gift. Well, let's improvise, and think more about it once I'm back. So… what should it be? A doll, perhaps?'

The rustling increased and a face with a pair of curious, vary red eyes appeared between the branches, a few meters away.

'No… something simpler. Good that I don't have to worry about neighbours', Yui smiled to herself and quickly conjured a basketball-sized, rainbow-coloured ball. Placing it on the grass on the side of the path, she took a few steps away – and waited.

The feral girl eyed the ball and Yui alternatively; finally, she carefully stepped out of the cover, approached the ball in a few deliberate steps while keeping her eyes at Yui all the time, then grabbed it and disappeared in the bushes with the speed most cats would be envious of.

Yui watched her uninvited guest with a mix of amusement and exasperation. 'What am I supposed to do with this little blue anomaly, I wonder… no matter, not now', she decided. 'Now, I have a visit to make. An important visit.'

She took a few more steps, then reached towards Unit-02. She took another step and found herself–

–surrounded by a forest.

'Hm, I was sure this was the right way to– oh.'

A quick look around told her she was not in her mansion grounds anymore – the trees were far larger and less ordered, the path was narrower and had branches invading it, the undergrowth was an actual forest undergrowth instead of well-maintained grass. The first word that came to her mind to describe this place, absurd as it may have sounded, was 'Teutonic'.

'Well, Soryu certainly was a diligent student…' she admitted. 'Though I'm quite sure that if I kept walking around, I would regularly find the same trees in various configurations or maybe even walk the same segment of a forest over and over again. A mind can do only so much original work in something that is likely just a background…'

Yui took a few steps on the path, watching her every step; quickly enough noticed something was wrong. The box she had with her was missing – and she herself looked differently. 'Okay, I can understand that something I created just minutes ago without any real connection to me didn't make it through the threshold… but this is not the colour I wore, and this is not the dress I picked. And a dress is something more personal than a traditional gift', she frowned. 'Interestingly enough', she glanced at her wrist, 'the girl's gift survived. Soryu, what are you playing? And is this conscious at all?'

She half-heartedly tried to conjure an object to her hand; as expected, nothing happened. 'Well, let me guess, access denied?' she chuckled, took a deep breath, and called her thoughts to order. 'One thing at a time. Find Soryu, then we talk, then perhaps it will all be clear. And even if this is a vain hope, running in circles won't help anyway.'

.

'Something stirs in the forest', Kyoko realised. The sensors she put there – simple but effective, an equivalent of bells, or even bones on strings – did not provide the identity of the visitor. But considering the circumstances, this could be only one person. Someone knocked at the door; Kyoko straightened the new dress – a traditional black-with-orange-and-green-trimmings Mecklenburgian dress with white undergarments – and called out: "Come in!"

The door opened; her suspicions were confirmed. Yui Ikari, dressed in a definitely more elegant dress from the British Regency Era, stood in the doorway. "Good… morning", she extended a greeting and stopped. "That's a very nice cabin in the woods, I must say."

"Good morning, Ikari", Kyoko replied. "Please, come in. I think I prefer the term 'cottage in the forest'. It's less… ominous."

Yui tilted her head. "I'm not sure I follow – but as you wish. Is this…" she eyed the dress as she entered.

"I'll explain over dinner", Kyoko smiled a cautious smile. "Please, take a seat", she pointed to one of the simple, but comfortable-looking chairs standing next to a heavy wooden table.

Yui sat down and took a long look around; the cabin – the cottage – was quite large, larger than its outside appearance would suggest. It was made entirely of dark wood with the exception of windows – made from some milky glass – and a ceramic-covered stove in the corner. It was surprisingly clean for a country cottage, but Yui knew perfectly that her own mansion was most likely cleaner than the originals ever were. 'We do make idealised images of places we like, places we remember, places we desire… it this her idea of a good life?' she pondered. 'It definitely looks far simpler than mine…'

The various smells of food drew her attention as Kyoko put several plates in front of her.

"Neat place, I must say", she commented. "And you raised it pretty quickly", she added with a hint of praise in her voice.

"It's just one room. Give me the same time you had and there will be a castle" Kyoko smiled in response. "Not that I need a castle… but why stop?"

"Not that I needed a mansion", Yui retorted. "But I had time. A lot of time. Hm, I do recognise most of this", she took a look around the table. "But what is this?" she asked as she eyed the small squares of… something.

"Sauerkrautkuchen", Kyoko unhelpfully explained. "It's an appetiser… I don't remember the exact recipe, but I do remember the taste and texture very well. My mother made them often; father liked the taste… I hope you do, too."

"I am sure it will be perfect", Yui smiled. "Please sit down, you're acting like a fretting host", she requested insistently.

"Well, it's your first visit here… esteemed guest", Kyoko bowed slightly.

Yui bowed her head in return. "Was I like that the first time?", she asked with a small smile.

"Not that I remember", Kyoko admitted. "But… let me be my kind of host?" she smiled apologetically.

"Whatever makes you happy, Soryu", Yui smiled back with a surprisingly sweet smile.

'Oh. I wonder if they are monitoring my body's heart rate', Kyoko realised. 'If they do, they'll come knocking any minute… Unless they became inured to the spikes. Which is quite possible by now. All right, where was I… right.'

"So… please enjoy my creations, Ikari", Kyoko gestured to the table and finally, to Yui's relief, sat down at the other chair.

"Thank you", Yui reached for the articles of food she recognised best. Putting one of them in her mouth, she realised that this was likely going to be an evening of discoveries. "You said you'd explain the dress…?"

"Ah, yes", Kyoko looked down. "There's not much to explain, to be honest. It's a traditional dress from my family lands, worn mostly to festivities by the country people. I saw many women wear it on various occasions and could recreate it from memory… more or less", she paused. "Contrary to the more appropriate nobility clothing I know only from history books. And it fits the cottage theme, I suppose", she finished with a soft shrug.

"Thank you, it did seem rather… odd for a noble dress", Yui nodded. "I hope I am not… underdressed for the occasion?" she asked innocuously.

"Ikari… this is not a state dinner or an opera evening", Kyoko chuckled. "We're here as…" she paused, stumped for the correct words. 'Congratulations, you just painted yourself into a neat corner! Any term is a mine in the wonderful minefield that is this… partnership', she realised; she could feel her palms sweating and her heart, having returned to normal tempo in the meantime, sped up again. The fact that Yui was looking at her expectantly did not help.

"I don't know, actually, I'm sorry", Kyoko smiled sheepishly after a few seconds of uncomfortable silence. "I think I invited you to determine… that. Among other things. But to give you an answer first: I like it, but now I feel underdressed."

Yui raised an eyebrow. "Well, I would be surprised if you didn't like it", she started, her voice carrying an odd undertone. "After all, you chose it for me, didn't you?" she smiled a slightly crooked smile.

Kyoko looked at her with confusion in her eyes. "What do you mean? I just… suggested how you could dress? Over the radio channel?"

Yui's second eyebrow joined the first into the journey towards the top of her head. "It was far more than that… you see, this is not the dress I wore before I stepped through between our… minds. Mine was pastel blue, this is distinctly royal blue. And it's not just the lighting, the whole fashion changed from 'Regency Era dress appropriate for visiting' into, well, 'high noble Victorian' if I remember the fashions correctly. And it happened right as I crossed the threshold", she explained, her tone serious. "So, I have good reason to suspect this is your doing", she concluded.

"If so", Kyoko continued to act confused, "it was entirely unconscious on my part", she stated, rose, and bowed, causing Yui to suddenly feel bad for Kyoko. "And I apologise for interfering with your choices, 'unconscious' does not justify it."

"Soryu. Please, sit. There is no need to apologise, this…", she trailed off, rose, and bowed herself. "I apologise for the presumption."

They straightened back; after a few seconds of awkwardness, Kyoko pointed back to the chairs. "This is confusing, to be honest. What can you say about this as our local expert on Evangelion mental operations? I can only guess what happened – perhaps I'm exerting a strong influence on this place?"

"Thank you, but I'm an expert only by the virtue of having a few years of experience more than you do", Yui protested as she took her place again. "Now, of course you exert strong influence here. This is your mind. I… If I were to guess, this is worked the same way I 'dressed' you when you came to my home first, except then it was conscious on my part", she explained. "You expected me to be overdressed, so I am. I also guess you didn't want me to bring a gift, because it vanished from my hands", she finished with a smile.

"Do… do you want me to try to change you back? Your dress?" Kyoko asked, her voice indicating how awkward she still felt.

Yui shook her head. "No, it's quite comfortable, and… well, I don't mind the colour. But! Thank you for reminding me", she smiled and pointed to the string of daisies. "Remember our guest? The one… well, I tried to capture and we… disagreed over?"

Kyoko nodded and looked curiously at the flowery bracelet.

"This is her handiwork she gave me, in a manner I can only describe as 'gift and run'… and it survived the battle with the Angel, me playing dress-up, and crossing the threshold", Yui continued. "I'm still trying to figure her out, and… and I wouldn't mind your help with that."

"Gladly… I think we will get to that", Kyoko smiled awkwardly again. "Soon. Now, how are the starters?" her voice suddenly returned to 'caring host' mode.

Yui seemed surprised by the sudden change but saw no reason not to follow. 'She's putting the serious talk off; I can live with that. However urgent everything may feel… we have time.'

"They are… different from what I am used to, and honestly, they all taste great", she replied. "I just wonder where the does taste come from – I never ate any of those, I'm quite sure."

Kyoko shrugged with a smile. "And where did the taste of your pound cake or the exotic teas you poured came from? Again, you're the expert, but my guess is 'our memories'. It tastes great to you because it's a taste I liked, remembered, and recalled. We have a unique opportunity here, Ikari – I believe no human was able to show anyone how something tasted to them, ever."

Yui tilted her head. "You… might be right. I never thought of it like this, but you might be right."

"Well, let's try something then that you likely tasted", Kyoko rose and moved a heavy, black pot from the stove to the table, placing it between them. "The main dish. I sincerely hope I remembered the taste correctly", she smiled apologetically as she removed the lid; a strong smell of roasted meat, accentuated by various herbs Yui could not even name, filled the air. "It's been a long time, even not accounting for my time after the change. And I hope you don't mind all the meat, I know you're more used to fish–"

Yui raised her hand. "Soryu. Once more… I'm sure it will be perfect. Please, sit down."

"Just one more thing", the apologetic smile remained in place as Kyoko retrieved a bottle from a shelf, opened it by making the cork vanish with a gesture, and poured the red wine to a suddenly-existing glasses; the aroma added to the pleasant mix of scents permeating the room.

Yui chuckled discreetly at the shortcuts taken. 'If we ever get out, we'll have a lot of re-learning to do about the most mundane of tasks…' she realised as Kyoko finished cutting the roast in perfectly even pieces and handed her the plate.

"Bon appétit", Kyoko smiled at her guest.

"Thank you", Yui smiled back.

They took their time, eating slowly; Yui was not surprised by the fact that the dish tasted quite different from what she remembered – but it was nonetheless definitely pleasant. She just put the thoughts that were swarming in her mind aside and silently enjoyed the food, the wine – and the company.

.

Once they were done, Kyoko cleared the table; the dishes vanished one by one as she put them on the stove and turned away from them. Two new wine glasses appeared on the table, along with some pieces of cake and a new bottle Kyoko uncorked the same way before pouring the wine and taking her seat again.

"To the bright future?" she raised the glass.

"To the bright future", Yui agreed. "And to our victory", she added with a smile.

Kyoko smiled back; there was a moment of silence as they enjoyed the wine. Finally, Kyoko took a deep breath.

"So, Ikari… do you want to tell me what this is all really about?"

...

Author's notes

And here we are, I hope it was worth the wait! This chapter will be followed by an interlude, a sequel to What happened, daughter? - it will start in a few weeks.