Author's Notes: This is the final chapter.

11. Side A - Immersion
On the middle dais in Central Dogma, Doctor Ritsuko Akagi muttered something obscene under her breath as she read a terse email from the Commander. Then she took a few deep breaths, and had Maya Ibuki patch in the security team that was looking for the Third Child.

"This is Doctor Akagi, acting on behalf of the Lieutenant in her absence," Ritsuko began, "the situation has changed. Upon locating the Third Child, you are to take him to the Middle Sector launch bay, then assist him in deployment. I am the only technical support you will have, all the technicians were under lockdown before this situation arose. Not a word until you find the Third."

The doctor motioned to Maya, who then cut the feed.

"What's the status of the target?" Ritsuko addressed Hyuga.

"Only 100 meters outside the cryo-stasis chamber, ma'am. At its current rate of ascent, it will reach the lower region of the Outer Sector in thirty minutes. It will breach the Middle Sector in forty five."

"How is the evacuation coming?" she addressed Shigeru now, the remaining member of the middle dais crew.

"Reporting 10 capacity on outbound maglev, ma'am. The evacuation codes are not being observed. Computer models predict we can only evacuate 73 of the population. Jersey and Manhattan UN shelters have agreed the observe common carrier treaties, so we should have little problem getting those people on the maglevs to our secondary location. The UN…"

Shigeru paused for a moment, and then typed something in to the computer.

"The UN has just broadcast a video feed, what should I do ma'am?"

Ritsuko looked at the upper dais with a mixture of longing and resentment. The Commander should be dealing with this sort of thing.

"Patch it to my station," she said, resigned.

Ritsuko hurried to her station at the back of the bridge, a soundproof inset in the wall about the size of a telephone booth. It was to be used when she was serving in her capacity as science advisor during Eva deployment.

Ritsuko entered the enclosure and sealed herself inside. She took a deep breath, and tapped in the code to connect her to the UNs representative. The wide face of UN Vice-General Gerald Shamus appeared on her monitor.

The Vice-General was in charge of UN intelligence, which meant that every time Ritsuko feinted with an intruder in NERV's computer network, he was the man behind it. Being civil was going to be somewhat difficult.

"Ah, Miss… Ritsuko, yes?" the man spoke in a brough that contained no regional dialect, something the people around him found mystifying. "We have received word that you are experiencing difficulties in Arkham. I wonder, is there some capacity in which we might assist you?"

Oh yes, indeed, thought Ritsuko. I'm going to let you bring armed men on to NERV property. Men who smile and don't leave, and when they do, the Geo-Front will be festooned with more spy equipment then we'd ever be able to disable, sort of triggering an EMP. Oh yes, help us, please.

"We are conducting an extended evacuation drill," Ritsuko began. "Though I must confide in the Vice-General that our civilian population has been performing, shall we say, less then exemplary."

If the Vice-General detected Ritsuko's caricature of his speech, he gave no sign.

"Miss Ritsuko. Let us be frank. This is neither the time nor the place to be playing games. We face a mutual enemy, without recognizable enmity, but that is utterly implacable. Your organization has effectively sundered humanity into two factions, at a time when we must stand united. I know something of the nature of the thing we face, as do you. Is this truly something you wish to face on your own?"

"While I agree with the Vice-General, that humanity should work together, I must also observe that the UN has yet to accept or offer assistance from or to NERV without making the rather unreasonable demand of full disclosure of our research. We are conducting an extended evacuation drill, this is all." She cut the signal.

Goddamn bastard is probably already readying a strike team to come and pick up the pieces, Ritsuko thought as she opened the cubicle door.

"Maya, any luck with an auxiliary solution?"

"I'm afraid the circuits were totally isolated, ma'am. Unit One will have to transverse the shafts manually in order to reach the Middle Sector."

"If he ever gets there!" Ritsuko hissed under her breath.

"Ma'am," Shigeru said. "They've located the Third Child and one civilian!"

"Maya!" Ritsuko stabbed a finger at Ibuki, who patched the security team through.

"Report!" the scientist barked.

The man in commando black yanked his earpiece away, and Shinji could hear someone yelling on the other end.

"Lady wants to talk to you, kid," the man muttered, opening a pouch on his vest and pulling out an earpiece, which he then adjusted and handed to Shinji. The Third Child pressed the device against his ear.

"Miss… Doctor Akagi?"

"Where the hell were you?"

"We were coming back from the training yard," Shinji replied, his voice distant.

"Why the hell… why did you go there?"

"I wanted to see if Major Greene was dead yet."

At this, the security team he was with stopped and, to a man, turned to stare at him. Ritsuko, too, was quiet. Shinji glanced around self-consciously, then explained, "we went there because I figured Asuka would go after him after she…" alertness sprang into Shinji's eyes. "We just tried to get into the Middle Sector, but through ground was moving around and the entrance was blocked, is Rei okay?"

"Rei… has… hold on." Silence, then: "Rei was evacuated from the hospital. She is being evacuated to NERV's secondary HQ. Now, how do you know that Major Greene is dead?"

Relief colored Shinji's voice, despite his news. "We went there, we saw him. Hikari, she saw Asuka while we were there, but…"

The soldiers around him were muttering under their breath.

"Shinji," Ritsuko stopped him. "Did you look at the manual I gave to you?"

"Yeah… but I'm not sure I get…"

"Asuka infiltrated the cryo-stasis chamber where we store Evangelions in times of crisis. She activated Unit Two and will reach the surface in under… forty minutes. This is a private channel, don't let on what you've just heard. General questions only."

Shinji didn't speak for a moment. He glanced at Hikari, walking beside him. She was looking at him, worried.

"Doctor Akagi, what do you think I can do?" Shinji glanced at the soldiers around him, who seemed to be listening more attentively then before, though they were again herding the Third Child and his friend towards some destination.

"The only thing that we have that can stop Unit Two is your Evangelion, Shinji, and you are the only one who has been able to pilot it."

"Asuka… she had way more experience then I do," Shinji said.

"General questions, I said! We don't have any choice. Rei is incapacitated, and her Eva was stored along with Unit Two anyway. We stored Unit One in a different, off-site facility against this eventuality. However, damage caused by Unit Two's actions has disabled the rail system that would transport you to the Middle Sector, so…"
"Wait a… why would I be going…" Shinji began.

"Quiet! The Middle Sector is the only area where we can engage Unit Two on equal footing. Remember where my office is? You'll emerge from the pool in that building. We sent the signal to drain the bakelite, but cannot confirm that it was received. Don't worry about it, bakelite shouldn't slow you down that much."

"I do not… I haven't been inside it since the last time." Shinji worded this carefully.

"It doesn't really matter, kid. Look, the entry plug separated the Eva's brain and nervous system. The entry plug controls tell the Eva's body what to do, they… the body is tricked into doing what the entry plug wants, right? Well, your brainwaves can do the same thing, depending on your sync ratio. Don't ask about that now, knowing won't help you any. The point is, eventually the controls will become superfluous."

"Super… what?"

"You won't need them anymore."

"That sounds like it might not help me very much at all."

"Listen, there isn't any more time. I'd rather you had a few months of education before putting you in this situation, but the Second Child has forced our hand. And Shinji? If you fail, everyone around you is going to die."

After a series of winding tunnels, gray-metal rather then the blinding white of the Outer Sector, the security team exited into a large rectangular tunnel. Shinji had not spoke since his discussion with that doctor, but Hikari noticed that his hands were shaking. She tried to hold his hand, something she felt she needed as much as he did. He looked at her when she did this and tried, very hard, to smile. Then he slid from her, and the contact was lost.

She leaned next to him anyway, this boy she barely knew.

The tunnel ended. Shinji glanced at his watch and tried to figure how much time he had. The number he came up with was too small, and he stopped thinking about it.

"This is where we leave you," the Ensign was saying to him. "We can operate the restraints from here, but this," he gestured behind him, to a dark room recessed into the tunnel wall, "isn't tied in to the primary power grid, so we can't utilize the rails. Central Dogma has to do that, and their control system is already kaput."

The Ensign now pointed to one of several features at the end of the tunnel. "That door will take you to a hanger. If memory serves, you'll have to walk one hundred feet forward, and then use the lift. I'm giving you these distances because I'm not sure if the lighting is tied in to the main grid or the N2 reactor we're using here. Do you understand everything I've told you."

"Yes."

"Good. Now, at the top of the lift, you'll see… oh, right, is your chrono still working?"

Shinji inspected his chrono, pressed the backlight button. "It's working. Sir."

"Okay, now there's a control system up there, I don't know it, Malroy does." The Ensign gestured to a female soldier with blonde hair. "You get up there, press the button on the side of your headset and she'll guide you from there. Do you understand?"

"Yes."

The soldier unsnapped another pocket on his combat vest and withdrew a flashlight. "You might need this to operate the controls."

Then Ensign pointed to the door, and Shinji started for it.

"Sir?" Shinji did not stop walking. "Please keep Miss Horaki safe."

The Third Child turned his head just enough to see the Ensign salute him. "That's our job, son. Now go do yours."

Vice-General Shamus had called again, and commented on the most curious radio chatter they were getting from the evacuating maglevs. The common carrier treaties allowed the UN to intercept any broadcast that went through their shelters, including those from NERV's transports. The reverse applied, of course. This meant that, in addition to loading too few people onto the evacuating transports before shooting them off, the goddamn civilians had forgot to engage synchronous encryption before entering UN broadcast range. Or maybe they had neglected to do it altogether. Either way, Ritsuko intended to make each and every resident of the Geo-Front that was absent when this whole debacle was brought to its conclusion as miserable as her authority would allow. Assuming she survived.

"Ma'am?" Maya called Ritsuko from her opened cubicle. "We've got a signal, can't tell if it is Unit One or Two."

Ritsuko glared at the large screen suspended in the middle of Central Dogma. According to Hyuga's model, Unit Two was still three hundred feet below breaching the Middle Sector. Given all the steel and concrete, and the complete failure of their radio receivers throughout the length of the shaft, Unit One seemed more likely.

"Got it… Unit Two!"

"Send a full shutdown code, eject the entry plug, and seal the armor!" Ritsuko ordered.

The bridge was quiet but for the tapping of keys. Below and above them, Central Dogma was empty. Gendou had never shown up, which meant he either trusted Ritsuko, or he couldn't be bothered. Even the Vice-Commander Fuyutsuki was absent. Ritsuko had a momentary daydream that both were shooting down the rails in a maglev, sipping champagne and calling her a fool. She shook the image from her mind. Gendou Ikari was not a coward. If he wasn't here, he was facing this on his own terms.

"Ma'am… entry plug has failed to eject. Its generator is no longer functioning, however. The armor has reported a lock-up, but is fracturing apart…" Maya put a representation of an Eva in mid-climb on the big screen. On the image the knees and elbows began to color from black to red. "This is the data we got from the armor, ma'am. I don't think it will hold."

"Send that data over here, Miss Ibuki" Hyuga called.

Ritsuko's cubicle chimed. The UN bastard was back. She hissed in frustration and went back to her cubicle.

"Ma'am!" Hyuga turned in his seat and looked at the Doctor. "Three minutes, we've got three more minutes until the armor is compromised and Unit Two resumes ascension!"

Ritsuko nodded, and sealed the booth.

The face that appeared on her screen was not Shamus' broad and innately offensive features, but the narrow face of Lieutenant Misato Katsuragi, who appeared to be hunched over in a darkened area. At the corner of the screen, the word "ENCRYPTED" appeared in red.

"Are you sure it's safe to talk?" Ritsuko asked before the other woman had a chance to say anything.

"Of course, dear Ritsu. This spy stuff is cake." The woman was far too cheery to know what was going on, Ritsuko realized.

"I heard something about an evacuation drill?" the raven-haired woman continued.

"There isn't a drill. The Second Child has taken Unit Two and is attempting to breach the Middle Sector via the cryo-stasis access route."

Misato's face went blank. "Oh," she said. "Oh."

"This is no longer your concern Lieutenant, I have the situation…" under control, well in hand, resolved "I'm doing everything I can."

"Shinji?" Misato was leaning closer to the screen now, worry, hopefully for NERV in general, etched in the lines under her eyes. "You're using Shinji?"

"Yes." Ritsuko said curtly, then terminated the connection.

Shinji pressed his hand against the outline of a hand on the door. Something inside the wall chimed, and the door swooshed open. Beyond was blackness, and mechanical humming. Shinji strode forward, and the door shut, sealing him in. He turned on the flashlight and shone it around, not hurrying forward.

The chamber could have been as vast as the last; the flashlight did not give him the full dimensions of the place. What he could see was a lift. Shinji ran to this, and pressed his hand against another hand-shaped outline. The door opened, and the biggest piece of weaponry Shinji had every seen unfolded from the wall and pointed itself at him. He froze, and would've certainly been killed had the sentry cannon decided he was not supposed to be there. Instead of turning him into a stain, the cannon's single light beeped from red to green, then folded itself into the side of the lift.

Shinji got in the lift, and it rose.

His plugsuit was waiting for him at the top. The blue and white and black outfit had been draped over the console the Ensign had told him to stop and use the headset at. He quickly undressed and tugged the plugsuit on, zipping it up the front and then pressing the green button on his wrist to seal the front and back in place around his neck. The feel of the suit was reassuring. He pressed the headset button.

"I'm here, what do I do?" He set the flashlight sideways at the edge of the console, so light played over all the keys. The buttons were covered in the letters of the alphabet, and several were covered in symbols he did not understand.

"okay," the signal was surprisingly weak, the voice was unfamiliar. "you need to type in the following code: S as in sigma, c as in cat, y as in yellow, t as in tree." Shinji did all this. "Done."

"Okay, now press the button with a rectangle on it."

Shinji pressed it, and the lights came on. Evangelion Unit One was shown in profile before him, facing back down the tunnel. Shinji tried not to get caught up in just how big it was. It was the first time he could recall seeing it totally un-submerged, and it had an effect on him he couldn't afford.

"Okay, lights are on, now what?"

"guess lights were tied into the Eva system. okay" there was a burst of static "and get in."

"I couldn't hear that." Shinji said.

"dam- faraday -ge. Press star but- and get…"

Shinji pressed the button with an asterisk on it. The Eva appeared to hunch over, its head moving down and forward while its back came up. Armor unfolded like a strange flower, and an entry plug shot out, a panel in its surface hissing open. It was positioned right next to a catwalk that ran the width of the chamber.

"Got it." He spoke into the headset as he ran to the entry plug. "Get ready to open the doors."

"can't. same power source as the rails. just go through it."

One more thing to worry about, Shinji thought, and jumped the gap between the catwalk and the entry plug.

Inside, Shinji's headpiece gave him nothing but static, so he discarded it. Then he initiated the Eva's startup sequence, part of the manual he had thankfully remembered.

Scintillating light, deep and near, shone before him, and then the video took over and he was suspended high above the chamber.

"Please work," Shinji muttered, and pressed both control yokes forward.

Metal screeched as the restraints hold the Eva in place disengaged as it started forward. Shinji depressed the upper outmost buttons on either yoke, then pulled them back. Still going forward, the Eva's hands pulled back. Just before the Eva hit the barrier between him and the shaft that led to the Middle Sector, he rammed both yokes forward.

The Eva hit the chamber doors fingers splayed, because Shinji had forgotten how to ball them into fists. The metal bulged inward, and as the Eva continued forward, parted in the middle and bent outward. Shinji pressed the inside uppermost buttons on the left control yoke, and the Eva stopped moving forward and kicked through the heavy metal before it. Shinji felt a ghost of pressure on his own leg.

Maneuvering through the mostly-demolished barrier, he started walking down the corridor, careful of the large rails that would throw him off-balance, were he to tread on them.

He gradually became aware of the pressure on his feet that came with each step. He moved the Eva into a sprint. The massive creature rushed forward, hands pumping from side to side. It took Shinji a moment to realize that he hadn't told the Eva to pump its arms back and forth, or lean forward, as it was now. He pulled the Eva to a stop. He lifted his own hand. The Eva was unresponsive.

Shinji tried moving his feet, encased in the pilot chair, and found he couldn't. So he visualized himself walking and…

The Eva walked forward.

Moving your feet without moving your feet. Moving your arm without moving your arm. Shinji spent a minute practicing, flexing each digit of his hands, making the Eva do a little hop. It wasn't easy, it wasn't like he was walking or flexing his own fingers, not exactly. There was something else, too, there was a thickness in the air Shinji could not taste. Then his nose started to bleed.

Shit!

He focused on a point in the screen and blinked his left eye. A context menu came up, and he focused on "Circulate LCL". He'd forgotten something so basic, and he had used all his oxygen up. Stupid!

The liquid spilled into the chamber, and Shinji slow his breathing and gripped the control yokes. The Evangelion clasped both its hands together. The air will just get wetter, Shinji told himself. I'm not breathing in liquid, just wet air.

The liquid was quickly over the top of his head. He took a deep breath, felt himself fight the urge to panic, or drink… and then he relaxed. The small fire that had been building in his lungs stopped. From the context menu, he selected "Synchronize Video Systems", and the light in the chamber adjusted, so everything around him was no longer tinged with the yellow hue of LCL.

Drops of blood from his nose floated in front of him.

Shinji called up the clock. He had five minutes.

Don't think about it, Shinji told himself. Just… go.

And he went.

11. Side B - Deliverance?

Moving blackness, flashes of light. It took Shinji a moment to become aware of himself, waking with his eyes already open.

The light flashed again. Shinji felt closed and tired and sore. The air around him was cool and flowed weakly.

Details came to him as his eyes adjusted. The soft green glow of a cardiac monitor pulsed next to him. Again, light flared in blackness, and Shinji saw that the light was coming in from a window.

He was in a train with a long exterior window. Shinji raised his hand and held it before the dark window. Light flashed.

His hand was pink and shined with moisture that was almost slime. It looked human, and this relieved Shinji.

Then he wondered why.

He backed up until he hit the wall opposite the window. Light flashed. He saw three beds, raised off the ground. He saw one, white or at least light-colored sheets, splotched with something dark.

Lowering himself to the ground, back to wall, Shinji tried to gather his thoughts. There were threads floating around in his head he just couldn't connect to. It was like forgetting a dream, but it was more important then that, surely. He had been inside Eva, breathing in the LCL and feeling the phantom pressure on the pads of his feet as he guided it down the corridor to the Middle Sector. And then... the strobing lights of the tunnel, this room.

The slickness on his skin was beginning to dry in the cold, circulated air. It was only then that Shinji realized exactly how much of his flesh was exposed.

He edged away from the wall and leaned against the raised bed's stand opposite, so his nude body would not be shown in the moments of light.

Naked, wet, confused in a dark room. Shinji spent a few flashes of light examining his surroundings. The beds were arranged against the exterior wall, one after another, so he could not see in them. The wall opposite had a door, a mirror along with what looked like a faucet in a recessed area of the wall, and several horizontal and vertical intersecting lines cut into the wall. Drawers.

First waiting between strobes, then deciding it was a waste of time, Shinji hurried over to the drawers and opened them, starting at the top. At first he had some trouble, as there were no obvious indentations or handles to open the drawers, but then he pressed in on one, and it slid out smoothly.

Though there were two columns of drawers, those on the top slid out together. A light inside the drawer came on, bright enough to make Shinji's eyes water. Inside, things were moving around. It took the Third Child a moment to figure that there wasn't some living thing in the drawer. The movement was fluid, and at first glance did not seem mechanical at all.

There were packets of blood in the drawer, being slowly rolled around by the mechanical plates each rested on. Shinji saw each of the three packets had the name "G. Ikari" written on them in black ink. He closed the drawer, felt the motion of the plates through the metal panel.

Why would...

He opened the next-lowest drawer. These came open together as well. Inside were many bars of what was probably soap, wrapped in thin paper, and small containers of shampoo and something called "conditioner" of the "Hilton" brand, which SHinji had never encountered before.

The third set of drawers came open separately, and contained several pairs of drawstring pants and button-up shirts. Shinji removed one of each and hurriedly pulled both on, tying a knot on the pants that secured them to his waist, and buttoning the shirt up to the collar. Then he shut both drawers and opened the lowest set.

The final drawers contained some very brief shifts that were meant to tie all up the back. There were also several pairs of blue cloth slippers, one of which Shinji put on. Then he closed the final drawer, waited for the next strobe, and went for the light switch.

Hard florescent lights flickered on. Shinji squinted against the light.

Rei stared at him from one of the beds.

/You...died/ she murmured.

Shinji hurried over to her, stopped, backed up, faced away from her, bit his tongue and clenched his fists, then turned back to her.

Rei's face still bore the deep injuries the thing in Asuka had inflicted on her. His mind had glazed over the particulars of her wounds when he had first found her in that strange room that stank of blood and incantation, but now each injury was before him, and each made him feel angry and stupid and powerless.

It had all happened scant feet away, and he had slept through it.

Twin cuts ran from her chin to her eyes, where the lids were split. Long horizontal slashes ran across her upper face, cutting through her nose, and on her forehead something that looked like language had been carved. On her lower face and down her neck, flesh had been removed in a hooked kind of pattern.

Shinji hunched over the sink recessed into the interior wall, and tried not to throw up.

/You died/ the voice came from behind him /and then you came back/.

The Third Child stopped mid-retch. Don't open your mouth, he thought. You can't apologize for what happened, if you do, you'll never stop. Don't think about it. Don't think about it.

/Where... are we/ Shinji finally croaked out, his voice surprisingly rough. He turned to face Rei. /How did I.../ his brow furrowed, and he carefully studied Rei's earlier words. /I...died/

Rei rose from the bed, the covers at her neck sliding down. She pointed to the bed at her feet.

/They brought you in with the Second Child, they put you in that bed. They gave you blood and bandaged your wounds. They ran out of blood, and the Commander came and gave some of his./

As Rei talked, Shinji walked over to the middle bed. Drawing back the covers, he found bandages and some blood and an IV drip that was seeping yellow liquid on to the sheets. The bandages were un-torn, just collapsed - as though he had simply slipped out of them. Several pads connected to wires lay in the bed. The cardiac monitor on the bedside showed a flat line.

/They stopped trying/ Rei continued. /They said your head was leaking. They said you would die or were as good as dead./

Shinji looked, finally, to the third bed. The figure on it was completely bandaged. He padded over to Asuka and saw the jagged lines on her heart monitor, the insane scribbles on a second screen labelled "Psychograph". Then he went back to Rei.

/Asuka... did I... I mean/ Shinji swallowed. /Is. She. Okay? Now/ Because if she isn't, I don't know what I'll do. No... I know exactly what I'd do.

Shinji clenched his fists and shuddered. Rei was studying him, then looked down the room to Asuka.

/You do not remember. I see. This is not unexpected./ At the last, Shinji twitched. To think anyone could have anticipated any of this...

/They brought you in together/ Rei repeated. /Lueitenant Katsuragi was partially debriefed here by Doctor Akagi. She said that both Evangelion units suffered extreme damage. She also said that both Pilot Ikari... that you and Pilot Sohryu were recovered from Unit One's entry plug./

As she spoke, Shinji scooped the bandages off his bed and put them under it. He tied a knot in the IV line and let it hang off the side of the bed. As Rei finished speaking, he crawled into the soiled bed and lay down.He closed his eyes and tried to block out the feeling of the damp yet crusty sheets he was lying on.

/How is that possible/ he muttered.

Rei was shifting in her bed, and Shinji imagined her disfigured face, the rest of her body. He was sweating now, and was waiting for ever strange thing that had occurred in the last several minutes to catch up with him and start to make sense.

/Ikari./ Rei's voice was right next to his ear. /Why is your hair that color? Ikari.../ her voice was different now /open your eyes./

Shinji opened his eyes. Rei was upside down, looking at him with a quiet intensity. All the breath went out of him, and he turned away and stared out the paned window.

/My appearance... it bothers you./

There was silence. Light strobed past.

/Ikari. Your hair is now brown. Your eyes are now blue. You died, then you came back... and now you look as I saw you in my dream./

Shinji ran a hand through his hair. It did feel oddly soft.

Movement above him. He looked at Rei again, looked out of shame and wonder. She was smiling at him. Then she leaned forward on one elbow, covered her face with her other splayed hand and...

Something strange, her wounds seemed to be bulging outward.

Motes of bulging pale flesh emerged from Rei's raw neck, and along the lines cut into her face. These grew until they were small globes of flesh, and then they popped like soap bubbles.

Shinji's mouth fell open. He squirmed to the middle of the bed and then leaned against the pane window watching Rei, her face now perfect and uninjured, focus on something far away. He watched her shoulders and chest, what parts were visible over the low bed partition, buldge outward unevenly, then adopt a normal form. The sound of knots of flesh popping made him grit his teeth.

When the noise stopped, Rei seemed diminished, but whole. She looked at Shinji, and crawled over the small partition. Dully, the Third Child noticed the lowered hem of her medical shift, saw the pale valley of flesh hanging there. He saw, as she crawled forward, the exposed line of flesh that ran down her back where the shift was loosely tied. The line of pale flesh wrapped around the curve of one of her buttocks. He saw all this and felt a stirring, which in turn gave way to relief. He was beginning to come to grips with this type of feeling and it was familiar. Just enough of the familiar to convince him that he wasn't going crazy.

Rei sat opposite him and adopted a position like his, shoulder against the cool glass, one leg propped up, the other folded under the raised leg. This showed a remarkable amount of smooth, pale thigh, and Shinji was once again convinced that he was not insane.

/I used to be convinced that my own existence was meaningless/ Rei said, looking out the window. /My dreams, the one I told you about, I never believed in it. It was.../ here she seemed to struggle for the right words. /It was an... ideal. Something that could never be, but was worth experiencing, if only as a distraction./

She squinted against a strobe of light.

/I had another dream, one I did believe was real, or would be real. In it, everyone I knew was dead and gone, their entire existence unwritten, and I was left alone, surrounded by enemies that could not harm me, but would not relent in surrounding and suffocating my being until I forgot myself, and became nothing but a hollow shell./

Shinji once again closed his eyes. The image she described was all too easy to imagine. Some old memory stirred, but failed to surface in Shinji's mind, just as the events of the last few hours or days had failed to appear.

When he opened his eyes, Rei was leaning forward, looking not into his eyes, but at them, at his hair. She reached out and touched his chest, palm pressed over his heart. Then she pulled the hand back.

/You are real. You died, you came back./ This appeared to please her immensely, there was a ghost of a smile on her lips.

/Now, nothing is certain./