'It has been almost 8 years since I wrote this story, and I decided I should read it over and see if it was any good. Much to my chagrin, I found that it was riddled with grammatical and punctuation errors, so I have done my best to clean those up. I have no doubt missed some, but just think how bad it was before.

Italics' represents thoughts or flashbacks (ie memories)

There will be numerous flashbacks in this story. Most happen in chronological order, but not all. But since they will all involve battles with specific angels (or the direct consequences there of), you can get a sense of the sequence.

START

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Shinji opened his eyes, 'Another ceiling. Looks familiar,' he thought groggily. 'Am I awake?' He propped himself up in the bed. His entire body felt sore. 'It looks like the NERV hospital. Again.'

As he turned his head, he saw Rei sitting on a chair, facing him. A schoolbook lay on her lap - that was apparently what she had been reading.

'Is this real, or just another hallucination?' Shinji looked intently at Rei. She returned his gaze impassively. 'Rei certainly looks real enough.' "what day is it?" His voice was a croak, and he started to cough. Rei promptly slid off her chair and handed him a glass of water.

"Thank you" Shinji smiled.

"It is Monday. You have been unconscious for two days." Rei replied.

As Shinji cogitated (slowly, given his fatigued state), she added, uncharacteristically, "Major Katsuragi says that you are to rest, and that the school has been informed that you will be out today."

Shinji looked up again at her and smiled, "It's nice to see you again, Rei."

Rei's eyebrows beetled in surprise at Shinji's friendly, almost relaxed, manner. But she simply nodded and turned to leave. "I will inform the nurse that you are awake."

As she opened the door, Shinji caught a glimpse of long red hair and a familiar face.

'Was that Asuka?' Shinji slumped disappointedly back onto the hospital bed 'Then this must be just another figment of my imagination.'

Before Shinji could try to figure out what was going on, he fell asleep again.

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Ritsuko reported to Gendo, "Unit one appears to have taken substantial damage inside the 12th..." The cavernous office always made her uncomfortable. And would it kill the man to turn on the rest of the lights?

"That was not unexpected."

"True, but the damage is... idiosyncratic. It almost looks to have been inflicted by an edged implement of some sort. The chest plating is deeply scored, and the right shoulder pylon was almost completely torn off."

Gendo shrugged, appearing unconcerned "How long will it take to carry out the repairs?"

"At least a week. We are lucky that there was no internal damage" Ritsuko took a deep breath and broached the other topic. "On the subject of internal changes: Unit 01 appears to have developed an S2 organ."

"WHAT!" Gendo for the first time in years, lost his composure, "how did that come to be?"

"I am not certain, sir."

"Very well. Sift through the cockpit recorder, and make every effort to determine what transpired." Gendo settled back into his chair, "What does the pilot report about his experience?"

Rits checked her notes, "He only regained consciousness a few hours ago, and he is still very fatigued by his experience, so I was not able to speak to him for an extended period. He reported that after plunging into the sea of Dirac, he turned off all power except for minimal life support. And after that nothing unusual happened that he can recall. As his life support began to fail, he became delirious, and he has no clear memories of how the Eva re-activated and fought its way free.."

"Give him a week and carry out a follow up interview, on the off chance he remembers something." Gendo scowled, "If you have time, that is. The pilot is not reliable under the best circumstances, so there is a low probability of him remembering anything useful."

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"Shinji," Misato called, rousing the teen from his rest, "The doctor says you can go home now." She held out his cloths to him.

Shinji took them. And then waited, looking at Misato. Misato looked back at Shinji, slightly impatiently.

"Uhm, Misato? Can you step out while I get changed?"

"Oh, yeah!" Misato smiled, "I forgot how sensitive teenagers are about their privacy."

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As they drove home in Misato's preferred weapon of mass destruction, she chatted calmly, "Asuka cooked dinner for you. She will never admit it, but she was really worried." She glanced at the teen who was clutching the seat under him for dear life, "We were all worried." The car screeched around a corner, leaving smoking skid marks, but amazingly, stayed in its lane.

"Y-yeah. I'm fine" Shinji forced through clenched teeth, as he braced for a collision.

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Shinji sat eating. Asuka was going on almost none stop since they had arrived home, "So I decided that now would be the perfect time for me to practice my cooking. I haven't had much chance to do it, but how hard can it be if even you can master it?" She waved airily with a wooden serving spoon at Shinji.

'It must be another hallucination' Shinji stared at Asuka out of the corner of his eye, careful not to be obvious about it, ' If I don't react, maybe it will stop. It just wants a reaction.'

Misato leaned back, content, a can of her favorite Yebisu in hand, and watched Asuka's antics, 'Ah, young love.'

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That night:

"Shinji!"

"What does he think he's doing?"

"Unit 02 depth 1250... 1275... 1300"

"Unit 01's cockpit temperature just hit 80F and is rising swiftly."

"I have her!" Shinji called out as Unit 01 grabbed The red evangelion's hand as it sank in the magma. "I have a solid grip on the cable!" Unit 01's other hand clutched tightly to the cable that had been severed from unit 02 by the Angel.

"Pull him up!"

"Unit 01 cockpit temperature is 95F and still climbing."

"Multiple breaches in unit 01s armor. Magma is starting to penetrate at the joints."

Shinji gritted his teeth in pain and asked, "How's Asuka"

"Unknown - We lost telemetry when the cable snapped."

"800 feet...

"600 feet"

"105 degrees in the cockpit!"

"400 feet"

"Unit 01's hands are fully exposed to the magma."

"Shinji, you ok?"

"Whu? I'm holding. Holding on." Shinji muttered, delirious from the heat and the pain.

"They're out!"

The crane hauled out both Evangelions, with a badly damaged unit 01 supporting Unit 02 in its heat resistant armor.

Misato smiled grimly, thinking: 'That was very brave. Too bad I'm going to have to chew his ass off'.

"Sir! We have telemetry from unit 02! Cockpit temperature is 250F." A tech reported somberly

"What?" Misato snapped out of her reverie.

"There must have been a breach in the torso armor."

"Asuka..."

"She's dead, sir." Was the quiet reply

Shinji sat up abruptly in his bed, barely restraining a scream. It took several minutes to get his heart to stop racing. He reached over to his night stand and gulped the glass of water he had set there.

'I haven't had that nightmare since...' Shinji glanced at the clock '4AM. I doubt I'll be able to fall back asleep before it's time to get up for school' He sighed, resigning himself to another day of fatigue. 'Not that it will make any difference, if this is not real.'

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Shinji walked into the classroom and sat down with a groan. The majority of the students were already there, talking in small groups. Shinji looked around, 'Rei is absent.'

As the rest of the class filtered in Shinji kept looking around anxiously 'Where is she?'

"Hey, Ikari, what are so anxious about?" One of the jocks in the class called out.

Shinji shrugged, forcing himself to sit still. 'Pretend it's not happening and it will be over' But he was filled with a mixture of anxiety and dread. 'What if it IS real?'

The jock went back to his conversation, remembering that:

1) picking on Ikari was no fun because he never reacted.

2) Ikari had access to a weapon of mass destruction. Namely, Asuka.

It was at this point that the afore mentioned red-head strutted into class, casting a quick glance at Shinji.

The Third child was having a hard time not staring at her, trying to find some flaw ' Asuka was more focused. She didn't look around - she just went were she wanted to go and did what she planned.'

Out of the corner of her eye, Asuka observed the boy watching her 'That pervert is still checking me out!' She stood up straighter, which stuck out her cleavage to better effect.

As Touji threw himself into the neighboring chair, Shinji tore himself away from his contemplations of things metaphysical and, well, physical. "Where is Kensuke?"

"Oh, you know that Otaku - some battleship is in port, so he managed to get his father to write out a sick note so that he could play hooky. That boy is seriously ill in the head. There is stuff that's much more important than military hardware!"

"Like girls?" Shinji asked quietly, a knowing smile on his face.

Touji jerked back and blanched, "NO! I meant like sports. And stuff." He then peered at Shinji, "You ok, man? Since when do you talk about girls?" Touji glanced around quickly, to see if any of the girls in the class might have sprouted labels saying 'Shinji's secret crush' while he wasn't looking.

"Nothing wrong with girls." Shinji replied quietly, consciously not looking at any of them.

Touji shrugged silently, uncomfortable with the topic.

"Stand! Bow! Sit!"

As they sat down, Shinji smiled, noticing where Touji's attention was 'He does like them dominant. In a traditional fashion.'

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As class was letting out, Hikari called out, "Touji! Can you please deliver the class notes to the students that were out today?"

"Uh, why me, class rep?"

"Because you are friends with Kensuke, so you know where he lives."

Touji shrugged melodramatically and reached for the papers. As his hand closed on them, Hikari added. "And can you also deliver Ayanami's as well?" She stood waiting expectantly.

Touji clutched the papers tightly, and a cold sweat broke out on his brow, "Uh, I don't know where she lives..." He glanced at Hikari's expectant face 'Uh, if I don't she'll be disappointed in me,' he wheeled around quickly "Hey, Shin-man! You know where Ayanami lives right? Walk with me while I drop off her papers!" He didn't see the look of disappointment on Hikari's face.

Shinji looked confused, "I think I know where she lives." Then comprehension dawned, "Sure, I'll walk with you." 'I bet she's still living at her old place'.

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Shinji frowned. 'It's worse than I remember it being.' He pulled over the trash bin and started picking up the waste bandages.

"Common, man, lets go." Touji said anxiously as he put the papers down, "before she returns"

The pair where in Rei apartment, and it was a mess, with takeout carton mixed with soiled bandages, lying on top of school papers.

Shinji ignored Touji and continued to clean. The larger boy sighed and leaned against the counter in the kitchen area.

Touji looked around for a chair, but was unable to find one, "How can anybody live like this, especially a girl?"

Shinji looked up and smirked, "Not all girls are like Hikari." Before Touji could think of something to say, Shinji turned back to sorting the papers from the floor. The simple, repetitive work relaxed him, and he continued talking, "Rei is depressed. Partly because of who she is, but its partly because she lives in a dump. Living here is not healthy for her." Shinji piled a couple of textbooks onto the bureau, careful not to touch the glasses. 'She still has those?'

Touji, with the experience of a lifelong slacker, saw no need to draw attention to himself & risk being assigned chores.

"What she needs is to move in with some friends. A more cheerful environment will do wonders for her." The monologue flowed easily from him, as his mind was distracted by what his hands were doing.

But that stopped abruptly as Shinji turned, intending to put a pair of shoes over by the door, to find Rei standing in the entrance.

"Uh, oh, hi, Rei. How long have you been here?" Shinji asked embarrassedly as the girl snatched the shoes from his hand. "I'm sorry for intruding. I was just cleaning up a little."

Touji edged for the door, keeping a watchful eye on Rei.

"Rei," Rei eyes narrowed in at Shinji's use of her given name again "I was just telling Touji that it's not good for you to be living way out here, all alone." 'I shouldn't do this. I should just let it be. Don't try to change anything.' "Why don't you move in with Misato? I know space will be tight, but I'm certain Asuka would be willing to share her room with you."

Shinji was interrupted by coughing as Touji almost choked in shock.

Rei's eyes widened slightly as well, an indication that Shinji knew meant she was very surprised. ' I shouldn't do this. I shouldn't react. But I can't let Rei keep living like this' Shinji's internal struggle went unnoticed as he whacked Touji on the back.

"Cut it out!" Touji barked once he regained his breath, blocking Shinji's arm. "You can kill somebody that way if they are choking!"

"Sorry."

Rei finally replied "These quarters are adequate. I see no reason to change them."

'That's right - She only moved in because Misato ordered it.' Shinji hunched his shoulders and nodded 'Maybe I can get her to...NO. I am not going to react. Let this stupid thing run its course.'

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"Oops, sorry. Didn't see you there" Kaji had almost bumped into Shinji as the youth worked furtively at a computer workstation in an unused lab, "You should turn the lights on when you come in - it's better for your eyes." Kaji continued, "Anyway, what are you working on?"

'You didn't turn the lights on when you came in either' Shinji thought as he closed several windows in quick succession. Kaji caught a glimpse - they were different NERV directories and searches, all stating some variation of 'no such person', "I was just checking the weather. Being buried here in the Geofront, I have no idea whether I will need a jacket on my way home."

Kaji smiled and nodded, "Well, leave that search engine up - I got to look up a certain young lady's phone number". He smiled rakishly.

Shinji's mind flashed back to the past:

"Uhm, Kaji?"

"Yeah, kid?"

"How can you tell if a girl likes you?"

"Whoo, boy." Kaji sat down on the cafeteria bench, "You ask the hard ones, don't you?"

Shinji shrugged, "I mean, I think she likes me, but I don't know if she likes me THAT way."

"Well, the easiest way to find out is to ask her out. I am assuming that you like her, right?"

"But what if I'm wrong, and she just wants to be friends?"

"Well, kid, nothing in this life is certain. Maybe she _does_ only want to be friends, but if she gets to know you, she might change her mind. So go on a date. Take it slow. If it doesn't work out, you can swallow your pride and still be friends.

"She just doesn't know it yet." Kaji finished saying something or other, as Shinji's attention returned to the present day.

"Oh, ok. Well, I'll see you" Shinji replied awkwardly and fled.

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"Hey, Baka, don't add so much soy sauce. I don't like it so salty." Asuka said as she passed through the kitchen yet again.

'Why is she like this? Asuka didn't care about the food - she said that all Japanese dishes tasted the same. Though she categorically refused to eat Misato's cooking' Shinji gently tossed the stir-fry about the skillet. 'Though Misato's cooking really does transcend nationalities. I think the UN has a treaty banning it.' Shinji smiled at his own humor.

"What are you smiling at, Baka?"

"Yaah!" Shinji jumped in surprise as Asuka peered over his shoulder. 'She's still here?' He almost dropped the skillet as drops of hot oil landed on his hand.

"You ok?" Asuka asked gently as Shinji placed his burnt hand in his mouth. As Shinji nodded, her voice returned to her previous bossy tone, "You need to place cold water on that. Otherwise the inflammation will make the tissue damage worse."

Asuka pulled his hand out of his mouth and shoved it under the faucet' Does everybody in this world know more household medicine than... This isn't normal.' Shinji retrieved his hand from Asuka's iron grip. "Thank you."

"Just make sure you don't hurt yourself again, Shinji. I won't always be there to save you."

Shinji stared at Asuka. He wasn't certain if she was joking or not.

"Anyway. I will be in the living room, waiting for dinner." Asuka stalked off.

Shinji shook his head, watching her leave ' I also don't recall her wearing jewelry around the apartment.'

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"Are those my earrings?" Misato squinted at Asuka.

"No. I just bought these. I decided to try them on, to see if they are really me, you know, before I wore them out." Asuka replied, looking embarrassed. "Does Shinji seem ... different lately?" Asuka asked quietly, changing the topic.

'He's not the only one.' Misato nodded, and cast a quick glance at the door to the kitchen to see if the topic of conversation was safely out of ear shot. "He's more withdrawn. He had come out of his shell a little, but now he's back to the way he was when he got here. But the odd thing is, when he does say or do something, he's a lot more self assured than before. It doesn't make sense."

"Well, as long as he keeps doing the cooking, I'm not going to complain."

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As the bell rang, announcing the end of school, teens leaped out of their chairs, showing a level of animation that had not been visible since, well, lunchtime.

Shinji quietly collected his books and slipped them into his bag.

"Hey, Shin-man: meet us at the arcade at 4:30 - I got practice" Touji yelled as he headed out the door, followed by Kensuke, who appeared deep in the throws of a monologue.

Soon the room was empty. Shinji was about to follow his peers when he noticed that Rei was still at her desk.

"Hey, you're still here." Rei did not respond to Shinji's stating the obvious. "I take it you have nowhere you need to be?" Shinji continued, unperturbed by her silence.

Rei looked up at Shinji, surprised at his perseverance. "I do not like crowds." She stood up and calmly collected her papers.

"Neither do I." Shinji stood there awkwardly as Rei turned to leave 'This is a bad idea. I shouldn't get involved' "Uhm, Rei? Do you want to go get some ice cream?"

Rei stopped in surprise. "Why have you begun to use my name?"

Shinji shrugged, "We've been working together for months. We have saved each others lives." He paused, feeling embarrassed, "I guess I felt that made us friends."

Rei did not respond for a moment. "Is that why you cleaned my apartment?"

"Yeah, I guess," Shinji answered sheepishly, glancing around to see if anybody was within hearing distance. It was one thing to do it, but somehow having Rei mention it... was embarrassing.

Rei thought for a moment. "I will accompany you to get an ice cream. But you will have to advice me on what flavor to get."

"You like mint." Shinji replied absently.

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'What is keeping the Baka?' Asuka was pretending to get something out of her locker as she kept one eye on the door to the classroom. But most of the students had already left, and she was starting to feel awkward.

'WHAT? Why that no good, two timing bastard!' Asuka barely restrained her fury as Shinji exited with Rei.

'When he gets home...'

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'Why am I doing this. I am getting more and more involved with this dream.' Shinji silently berated himself as he and Rei walked down the street.

"I do not know where we are going, Ika... Shinji" Rei interrupted the silence that had enveloped them from the school.

Shinji started, "Oh, were going to Kyo's. It's a great little ice cream parlor that I used to go to with..." His voice trailed off and his face fell, "I mean that I go to with uh Kensuke and Touji."

Rei looked at him, puzzled.

'I hope she lets it slide', Shinji's stomach clenched. He knew there was no way that the blue haired girl hadn't noticed his slip. 'There is no way I could explain it'. Oddly, Shinji found he cared what this 'dream Rei' thought of him.

"Here it is" Shinji held the door for Rei as they entered a small store on the corner of a side-street. The entire length of the admittedly small store was taken up by the ice cream freezer. There were just a couple of small round tables shoved up into the corners. After taking possession of a table, Shinji ordered ice cream for them both.

Rei's eyebrows beetled as she tasted her ice cream, "It does not taste like mint!" There was a slight accusatory tone to her voice.

Shinji smiled, "But it's good anyway, right?" He took a spoonful of his vanilla and slouched in his chair. 'This feels... normal'

Rei nodded her agreement, as she continued her methodical assault on her dish.

As the two teens sat silently, eating, the door almost slammed open and Asuka stormed in. Once inside she paused, scanning the interior. Once she spotted Shinji and Rei, her eyes narrowed and her nose flared. She pointed turned away from them and went to order an ice cream.

As she stood, waiting for her order to be filled, Shinji waved to her, "I didn't know you were coming here. I would have asked you to come with us."

'What's he so happy about?' Asuka's death glare was interrupted by the arrival of her order.

"Why don't you come sit with us?"

Asuka glared at him. Her ice cream cone melted visibly

'Uhm, maybe this wasn't such a good idea.' Shinji sunk down in his chair. He glanced at Rei for moral support, but the blue haired teen was eating impassively, as if all alone.

"Uhm, I got to get going. I forgot, I have to meet Touji for a study session." Shinji grabbed his ice cream and fled.

Rei quirked an eyebrow at the absurdity of that statement. She remained seated, continuing to eat her ice cream with obvious enjoyment.

"So what were you and the Third talking about?" Asuka stood combatively in front of Rei's table.

Rei looked up, surprised to find that the redhead was still there. "Ice cream" she replied, her mouth quirking into a frown 'The second's presence is unfortunate. It is spoiling what was a very enjoyable interlude.'

Asuka glared at Rei with no effect. Then, with a sigh, the anger drained away. She turned to go, "I'll see you tomorrow, Wondergirl."

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"So, how is Shinji?"

Misato looked up from her computer. "He's doing fine. Why?"

Ritsuko leaned against one of the filing cabinets in Misato's office, "Well, his sync ratio is oscillating wildly. In the last test, it was about three points lower than before the last Angel, putting him lower than Asuka again. Then, half an hour in, it spiked up 20 points and stayed like that for five minutes before dropping down 23 points. I'm worried about him."

"You think he has Post-Traumatic Stress from what happened?"

"It would fit the data. To be honest, I'm surprised that he hasn't shown symptoms of it earlier - he has seen a lot of difficult combat, and he is somewhat delicate, emotionally speaking" 'And we know who's fault THAT is.'

"Maybe I can arrange a vacation."

Ritsuko quirked an eyebrow as she took a sip of her (cold) coffee.

"I know, the commander won't be happy about it, but he will be a lot less happy if one of the Pilots snaps."

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Shinji and Asuka sat at the dinner table, doing their home work, waiting for Misato to come home - she had called to say that she was bringing some American takeout as a special treat.

'HA! I saw him! He's a pervert, just like the other boys. I bet he spends his time in gym class checking out all the girls'. Asuka had caught Shinji glancing at her out of her peripheral vision.

"So what were you and Wondergirl talking about after school."

"Nothing much." Shinji mumbled into his homework.

Asuka pushed back her homework and frowned at the boy.

Shinji glanced up, "I didn't know that you and Rei didn't get along. If I had, I wouldn't have asked you to join us. Gomen."

Asuka gave the boy a confused look before asking "Well, why do you like her so much?"

"I don't, I mean... she's nice, she's just never had any friends, so she doesn't know how to be sociable."

"Well, maybe the reason she doesn't have any friends is because she's such a cold fish!" huffed Asuka.

Shinji put down his pencil and leaned back in irritation. "Have you seen where she lives? She lives all alone in an abandoned building, and the neighborhood is a dump. And the only people she knows are the staff at NERV, who treat her like a machine, like some sort of tool or something. Is it any wonder that she is the way she is? If you were abandoned like that, you would spend all your time being depressed too!"

Asuka sat in silence, surprised at Shinji's vehemence.

Shinji, realizing what he had done, blushed and quickly hunched over, returning to his homework. "Sorry."

"So you DO like her." Asuka said quietly.

"Just as a friend!" Shinji denied quickly.

"I'm home!" Shinji was saved from any further questions by Misato's arrival.

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"Shinji, how would you like to take a day trip up to the hot springs tomorrow?" Shinji looked up from his hamburger, confused.

"Unfortunately, you won't be able to take your girlfriend with you, but I will be there for you." Misato smiled suggestively.

"Girlfriend?" Shinji's eyes widened as he looked up at Misato.

'Darn. He didn't respond. He must be really depressed' Misato waved at Asuka, who's countenance was darkening as she puzzled out where Misato was going with this, "Asuka will have to stay in Tokyo 3, on watch."

Shinji glanced anxiously at Asuka, but strangely, seemed to relax as she ripped into Misato, "Why does Shinji get to go, and I have to stay here?" Before Misato could reply, she added, "Not that I want to go with him, but I don't think it's fair that he gets all the special treatment!"

"I think our Shinji needs a little R&R to take his mind off of the last few weeks." Misato replied airily, "when we get back, I'll ask the commander about letting you go up to the hotsprings next time." 'Not that he will say yes, but this way I'm not the bad guy'

"Oh, ok. But I want to go with Kaji, instead of you."

Misato frowned at the slight, then shrugged 'At least she was easy to mollify this time.'

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"I love the hot springs - they are so rejuvenating!" Misato called from her side of the dividing wall. "And it's really refreshing to be able to just relax with nothing on!"

"I guess so" Shinji replied woodenly.

She and Shinji were at the springs. But instead of relaxing, Shinji had become increasingly tense.

'Poor kid. He's a mess'

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"Suzahara, please report to the principals office" The announcement came as the teens were finishing up lunch.

"What's that all about?" Kensuke asked his friend.

"No idea. I'll tell ya when I get back."

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"Can anybody hear me?" Asuka yelled, writhing in her plug suit, splashing the LCL around the plug, "I can't breath! It's too hot!" She started to tear at her face, trying to get the boiling LCL away from her face "aaagh! Help me! No! Shinji, It's all your fault!"

Shinji tossed and turned in his bed, drenched in sweat as the dream played out.

A massive mecha staggered back as a whip of white light stabbed through it's chest. A girls's voice called out, "Shinji, It's all your fault" just as the mecha exploded.

Rei wracked by convulsions. Hikari hanging from a noose. Misato with her face burnt off. Touji with his intestines hanging out. "It's all your fault."

"No" Shinji gasped as he bolted upright, his heart racing. His sheets were damp from sweat. He glanced at the clock. 4:23. After several minutes, he got up and started to get dressed 'There's no way I'm going to be able to go back to sleep now'. He went out to the kitchen started making breakfast. The visit to the hot springs had brought back the horror of his last visit, after the funeral. He was honestly surprised he remembered anything from that trip, as he thought that he had spent the whole time curled into a ball under his blankets, listening to his SDAT.

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"So from the ferry, you could see the whole thing! The original secondary battery has obviously been replaced by a missile launcher, but the main guns were still there!" Kensuke gushed animatedly about his trip to the docks to watch the fleet returning from maneuvers.

Shinji recalled a similar scene:

"And it was as tall as an Evangelion! But much more massive. I was lucky to get a good look as the truck rolled in. According to this website, it is nuclear powered, and has a pair of particle cannons - that's a lot cooler than what they give you in the Evangelions!"

Kensuke prodded his friend: "Hey, Shinji - Are you ok? You don't look so good."

Shinji jerked back to the present "I didn't sleep well last night. I had nightmares again."

"Oh. Ok." Aida was at a loss as to how to respond to that, so he fell back on his usual, "So, have you heard anything about Unit 3?"

"Wha?"

"You know. Evangelion 04 was destroyed in some sort of accident, so they are transferring unit 03 to NERV Japan!" Kensuke crowed, "I wonder if they still need a pilot for it?"

'Unit 03? What? Oh, no!'

"Where is Touji?"

"I don't know. He said he would be out today."

Just then, Shinji's cell phone went off. "Yes?"

"Report to NERV. An angel has been sighted.