The first sign that something's wrong at NERV comes the following morning in the form of a little red dot lighting up on the consoles of every computer station in the facility. By the time Doctor Akagi's been summoned and the Commander has been called, the problem is obvious: SEELE has made their move.

Rei, asleep with Asuka in their bed, isn't aware of this until her phone rings, shaking them both awake. When Rei answers, the Commander speaks only a single sentence, one that drains the blood from Rei's face, though Asuka fails to notice any change in the paleness of her skin. Come here nowis what the Commander had said, and so for Asuka's sake, Rei will go.

"What's going on?" Asuka says, watching Rei stand and head towards the door. She hasn't even bothered to change out of her ruffled clothes, the only indication that something is more wrong than usual. "Is it an Angel?"

"I cannot say," Rei says. It takes all her composure not to allow her voice to crack, to run back into Asuka's arms and let herself be held until SEELE's plan is done. For Asuka, she thinks. All of this, for Asuka. "I will be back. Stay here. Stay out of sight."

She expects Asuka to ask more, to demand answers, but instead Asuka just nods and pulls the sheets up, walking across the room to Rei. "Be careful, okay?" she says. She wraps Rei up in a quick hug, then releases her, though she doesn't move away. "Come back soon."

"I will." Rei's lips quiver as she speaks. She longs to kiss Asuka, but knows that if she does, she'll never be able to leave the apartment behind. "I love you."

Rei turns and runs out before Asuka can say anything in reply. She knows what Asuka would've said, and it's just another thing she can't hear. Anything, in fact, would have been enough to make Rei stay behind. She'll be back, Rei thinks, Asuka will be fine, because she'll be in control of Instrumentality at first, and she'll make sure Asuka is safe.

She takes the stairs two at a time and continues to run towards the center of the city, unburdened by the fatigue that would normally overtake her. The part of Lilith in her has realized what's happening, and now works with her to bring her to NERV. For once, they agree; for once, it's not painful for Rei to see the jumbled mesh of souls and buildings as she sprints down the street. The little speck of Asuka's soul has long since faded from sight, but Rei can still feel her, if only faintly. Soon enough, she'll pass out of Lilith's reach, and Rei will no longer have that warmth. For now, it drives her towards NERV, a constant reminder of what must be done, and of what Rei hopes will be waiting for her when she comes home.

Asuka's long since realized there's no way this is an Angel, not with the lack of sirens and the constant buzzing of helicopters overhead. If there are helicopters in the sky, but no tanks moving into the city, then something else is wrong. Something with the EVAs? An Angel in an EVA? That would make sense as to why Rei would've been called. If Unit-01 was compromised- but no, if Rei had been called to pilot, then the EVAs would be fighting in the city already.

High above, the roar of circling planes wafts through the morning stillness, filling the buildings with slow, rolling vibrations. They might be looking for something, or they might be waiting, bellies laden with N2 bombs, pilots hoping they won't have to press that button to let them loose. There's still no sign of an Angel, and now Asuka wonders if this is a drill, albeit a very ill-timed one.

Just as she's thought this, the ground beneath her shifts: nothing too alarming, but distinct enough that Asuka needs to take a step back to steady herself. The helicopters have grown closer; now the beating of their rotors is a pressure on Asuka's ears, and the wind from them thrashes the trees in the courtyard.

Asuka finds herself having left the bed, and she's in the middle of lacing up her shoes when she remembers what Rei's asked her to do. She must trust Rei. If for some reason Rei believes her apartment is the safest place to be, then it must be true. Asuka falls back onto the floor, huddling in the shadow of the bed. So this is what it was like for Hikari and the others, she thinks, just waiting and listening, hoping for a rapid return to a semblance of normalcy.

Suddenly, from nearby, there's the crack of metal slamming into something solid. Asuka looks up at the shadows spilling into Rei's room, ignoring the imagined threshold and forming a half-circle around Asuka. They're clad in dark fatigues, carrying rifles, but there's something jittery about them that tells Asuka they're not Section 2, or even NERV. Regular soldiers, then. They must be here for Rei.

"If you're looking for the First, she's gone," Asuka says. The many barrels pointed at her follow her as she stands, though they're quickly waved down.

"Do you know where she is?" one of the soldiers says.

"Not really. Anyways, if this is a drill, wouldn't telling you defeat the point?"

The man in front, the one with a single bar on his collar, raises his goggles. His eyes narrow, scrutinizing Asuka. "Aren't you the Second?" he says.

"Not anymore. You don't need to-"

The soldier lifts his hand, making a fist. The rifles come back up. The steel bar at the foot of Rei's bed digs into the small of Asuka's back; she hadn't realized she was falling. Instead of the ceiling, there's only darkness, stretching in all directions. Asuka is still sinking. She's being weighed down by the air around her, even the air inside her: she can't breathe, but if she could, she knows she'd shoot right back up to the surface, and Rei's ceiling would be waiting there for her.

Instead, she keeps dropping. It's cold down wherever hereis, and it's faintly reminiscent of Rei. Rei's been here, Asuka realizes. This is where Rei made her home before, in this depthless loneliness. Again, Asuka tries to breathe. She's got something, a stirring in her lungs, when she realizes she doesn't remember which way is up. She might send herself irretrievably down, and if she did, not even Rei, who'd be familiar with this place, might be able to find her. Asuka tries to stop what she's begun, but something is slipping past her lips, cold and lifeless, and she's being drawn in further.

Then, a shift: light, streaming in rivulets around Asuka, but not past her. The lights settle themselves on Asuka's shoulders, coalescing into something solid; before their brief glimmer goes out, plunging Asuka back into nothingness, she recognizes them as a familiar, welcome pair of arms.

The elevator shaft going down to Terminal Dogma is surrounded by layers of concrete and thick steel, but still Rei can feel the explosions above, the explosions by which SEELE hopes to pummel NERV into submission. They'll be too late. Gendo has been allowed to prepare for this moment, and so he's ready; Rei, in spite of having been made for this, knows she'll never be ready. She hasn't said a proper goodbye to Asuka, who she imagines must be waiting, hearing the same things as Rei, but not knowing what they are.

Again, Rei tries to reach for Asuka's warmth, but they're too far apart. Rei lost sight of her a few blocks away from NERV, and there's no way she'll be able to feel Asuka down here. The shaft shudders again, but this time, an announcement accompanies it: "Unit-01 has been deployed into the lake."

So, Shinji's safe. Now Rei wonders if she could've brought Asuka with her, stored her in Unit-00 and sent her to be with Shinji, so at least she'd have the armor of the EVA to protect her. It's another thing Rei will have to apologize for, if she gets to see Asuka again. No, that has to be what'll happen. The Commander's always described Instrumentality as a merging of souls, so Asuka will have to be in there somewhere, and Rei will be able to speak to her.

Finding Asuka will be one thing, but begging her forgiveness will be another. Asuka said she loved her, but love can be fleeting and broken over the smallest of things, and Instrumentality is hardly small.

And after Instrumentality- the Commander never addressed that. His plan ends with finding Yui, and thinks nothing of unraveling everyone's souls. Rei wonders if she might be allowed to do that, if she would even have it in herself to try. Whatever will happen, the world is about to change irreversibly.

Up above, a series of blasts carves a new portion into the nearby lake. The shaft rocks, weathering the shocks and muffled thumps that Rei doesn't hear. She's retreated into herself, knowing the Commander will alert her when they've arrived. No longer is she in the elevator, but in a field of wispy grass that reaches halfway to her knees; Asuka never told her what color the flowers of her homeland were, but Rei imagines they would be red. It'd be summer; she'd be holding hands with Asuka, and the most of their worries would be the classes they'd return to in the fall. In another world, one without SEELE, they might have had this.

The elevator slows, and its doors open. The Commander walks forward, leaving Rei behind. She lingers only a moment, shrugging out of the clothes she'll no longer need, then follows after him. Running never crosses her mind. She's ready; she'll do this, and Asuka will be safe.

"It's time," Gendo says. He pulls his glove from his right hand and extends it, palm forward, displaying the embryo of Adam embedded in it. "You will merge all souls together. You will bring forth Instrumentality. Then, you will take me to Yui's side."

"Yes." It's so easy now, lying to the Commander. When there's no remorse to be felt for lying, the words flow from her like water. The Commander moves toward her, but Rei doesn't feel him touch her. She only feels the burning from before, enveloping her entire body; this time, though she can move, all Rei can do is slump against the arm in front of her, feeling too sick to do anything more. There's no struggle to retain herself this time, only a joyous union of two things never meant to be contained by a mortal body that thrash inside her, seeking an escape. Involuntarily, Rei takes a step back; the Commander's hand slides out from her body, now devoid of Adam, and again the world is made of brightness.

The first thing Rei's eyes fall upon is the Commander, and she tears her eyes away, directing them towards the ceiling. Even the jumbled mess of shifting light above is better than looking at the Commander and the twisted, thorny remnants of his soul, which grate against Rei's eyes, more sickening than even this merge between Lilith and Adam.

As she looks on, Rei notices there are things above she couldn't see before: people moving between rooms, lights flickering out with no warning, just fading from existence. Rei reaches further, past the boundaries of NERV, pushing her consciousness towards the apartment. She ignores the souls she finds along the way, the ones she thinks are civilians, until at last she thinks she's there. The buildings there are all empty, save for one, but there are more souls than one in that room, and Asuka is not among them.

Rei's gone the wrong way, then; that has to be the case. Commander Ikari is speaking now, and Rei can hear him mentioning Yui, but that's of the least concern now. Rei sends her mind further, searching, casting a wide net across the city, yet still failing to find Asuka. The lights above her are going out faster; a coldness extends down from above: the reach of SEELE, indiscriminately taking out whatever obstructs the path of their plan.

Her touch reaches the edges of the city, and still Asuka hasn't been found. The chill touches Rei, creeping slowly down her spine like icy water, numbing her to the truth she refuses to believe. There's no way Asuka can be gone. They were supposed to go to Germany; Rei was supposed to keep her safe. Those souls that Rei can sense, the ones she thought hadn't been in her apartment, must be the ones responsible, and Rei knows they weren't there for Asuka; they'd only just happened to find her. As the light around her fades, the world returning to a mix of orange liquid and metallic grey surroundings, Rei feels herself begin to stagger, slowly, towards the enormous body of Lilith.

The Commander had meant to bring Yui back this way, Rei thinks. She takes another step forward, fighting the vertigo that's seized hold of her, threatening to pull the rest of the world out from under her. If he believed he could bring Yui back, then she should be able to call back Asuka, who's far less gone. The Commander calls to her, his voice sharp, demanding an answer for what Rei is doing. There's something else, too: a hint of desperation, born of the knowledge that Yui is close, tantalizingly so, but now Rei's chosen her own path. There will be nothing Gendo can do about it. He reaches for Rei with his other hand, the one that hadn't contained Adam, but Rei has drifted up from the floor, hovering in midair as she approaches Lilith.

"Rei!" the Commander is shouting. "Come back!"

"No," Rei whispers. Though now she understands what it is he feels, she cannot turn back. Asuka has just gone, and Rei imagines if she could pierce that veil of death, she'd be able to reach through and pull Asuka through it: she'd be that close.

"Rei. Rei!"

Rei moves forward without stopping, advancing fearlessly towards Lilith. Whatever might happen, whatever will come, she'll endure it for Asuka's sake. Below, Commander Ikari has finally stopped shouting, and watches in a stunned stupor as Rei floats up to Lilith's cross. As the pale white of Lilith's belly rises to fill the field of Rei's vision, Rei thinks of Asuka: of their arms wrapped around each other, of the warmth of Asuka's body. Soon, they'll find each other in the merging of souls, and if not, then Rei will wander them for the rest of eternity, always seeking Asuka. Lilith's stomach opens up as Rei draws near, offering to envelop her, to take back the soul that should belong here. Rei enters without hesitating, passing into the Angel's body. There is no thunder to herald this, only a silence that resonates at first within Terminal Dogma, then rapidly spreads to cover the city above, then the entire planet.

The old world has passed away, and now it's up to Rei to find Asuka, and with her begin the journey into the world to come.

Asuka comes to her senses in a hall. The walls are, as they always have been, white and painful to look at; Asuka squints down into the distance, and can't see anything more than a blurry haze.

This portion of hall that she's found herself in is familiar, too. Somehow, she keeps ending up here. How had she gotten here? Rei's apartment, a fall- maybe she'd hit her head. Only- if she'd done that, then she'd be in a room, rather than standing here,

So now, Asuka turns around. There's a chair in front of her. There's a chair because she needs it to be there, because she's no longer short enough that standing will only bring her chin to the bottom ledge of the window in the wall, because she's not strong enough to bear standing there now that she's grown. Asuka sits in it, and now she looks through the window, not sure of what she expects to see. In her dreams, Kyoko is usually a blur of color and tattered memories; sometimes her hair is brown, sometimes it's blonde, but the hospital gown is always bone-white and the rest of the room is always grey.

It's not Kyoko in the bed this time, but a small girl with blue hair that drapes around her neck, just barely touching her shoulders. She's staring at her hands, resting upon the sheets, and there's nothing in them. Unlike Kyoko, Rei doesn't say anything, just sits slumped over with her palms facing the ceiling.

"She doesn't care about you anymore, you know," says a voice from behind Asuka. "She's waiting for you to leave."

"I don't have to listen to you," mutters Asuka. She knows without needing to look exactly what's standing behind her. If she turns back around, there'll be a girl with red hair pulled up in pigtails and a red dress with white frills, and her eyes will be the same dead shade of blue as Asuka's. "You're only trying to hurt me."

"I'm telling you the truth," this younger Asuka says. "I'm part of you. You can't escape me, or shut me out."

"What're you trying to tell me, huh? That staying back in Japan was a mistake?"

"No, nothing like that." Asuka is joined at the window by her younger self, and together they stare in at the motionless shadow of Rei. "The mistake was made long before you were dismissed. The First Child never cared for you. Only her mission mattered. Why do you think she left you to die?"

"Die?" Asuka whispers. "I'm not-"

There was no pain, just the sensation of falling, and the darkness. Now Asuka remembers, and she presses her hands to her torso, feeling for wounds that haven't followed her into this strange dream. She hadn't realized she was dead. If her younger self had to tell her this, if she was right about that, then-

"No." Asuka looks away from the window, focusing the heat of her gaze on her double. "You're lying to me. Rei said she loved me!"

"She doesn't love you. Look at her."

"That isn't her!"

"Lying to yourself won't change anything. She's gone, and you're dead."

"It's not Rei! If that was Rei, she'd find her way back to me. Rei loves me! I'm not going to believe you!"

"Then we'll just have to stay here forever."

"The door," Asuka says. Her head swivels from side to side, searching for the door that should be nearby. "Where is it?"

"You can't go in there." The younger Asuka presses her small hand to the glass. Somehow, it trembles at her touch. "She doesn't want to see you anymore."

"Why wouldn't she?" The fog at the end of the hallway seems to have grown closer. Asuka stands up, towering over herself.

"If your only reason for believing this is because she loves you, you're wrong. Mama said she loved us, didn't she? And she's gone now, too."

"That's different." Asuka feels her head turning, the darkness of the hospital room beyond the window drawing her attention back. She'd hoped somehow that Rei might move, but still she's motionless in her bed, like a doll with her strings cut. "She's alive, isn't she?"

"Being alive doesn't mean she'll come back to you. We waited for Mama to come back. She never did."

"Rei will come back! She promised me!"

"Why do you believe that? A promise is simply words."

"It wasn't just that. Not with her." Asuka looks down at her hands, nails bitten down and palms rough and calloused, and clenches them into fists. "She cared about me. She wanted me to be happy. No one else… ever thought about that."

"So you refuse to move on?"

"If that's what it means, then yes." Asuka sits back down, resting her chin on her elbows, gazing into Rei's room. "Whenever she's ready, I'll be here."

"It's your loss, then." Asuka's younger self begins to walk away, disappearing into the reaches of the ever-closer swirling fog. Asuka doesn't bother to watch her go. The window now has become her world, perhaps her purgatory, but even a future of doing nothing but waiting for Rei to move would be welcome to forgetting her, to never having the hope that they might hold hands again.

The haze of the hall now creeps along the edges of Asuka's vision, lapping at the corners of the window like waves upon sand. It advances, little wisps of silver dodging past and between Asuka's reaching hands, covering the glass with an impassable blanket of white smoke. "Rei?" Asuka tries to get up, but her legs are gone. She's left with her upper body and her arms, which pound on the remaining glass, trying to get a reaction. "Rei! Rei, I'm here!"

The image of Rei fades faster, consumed by the encroaching fog. When Asuka draws her hand back again, she finds it's gone. Now the world itself has disappeared; there are rolling waves of light, but nothing Asuka can distinguish as unique. She barely even feels herself. The name 'Asuka' sounds foreign to her, but Rei- yes, that's familiar, and it doesn't slip so easily from Asuka's mind.

There are shapes forming in the light, now, and a voice drifting through them. "Asuka," it says, and the sound of it stirs a fire in Asuka's chest that she'd thought was forgotten. "I'm here."

"Rei?"

There isn't anything left of Asuka that can stagger forward in hope of being held, but she feels herself being embraced anyway. "It's alright," says Rei. "I'm here."

"Where?"

"Everywhere. I've become what I was supposed to be."

"What is this?"

"This is everything, Asuka. Everyone. All the souls of mankind have been joined together now." Rei grows quieter, her voice thick with remorse. "This is what I was made to do."

"Why?"

"The Commander wished to see someone precious again." Something brushes up against Asuka. Asuka looks down, and now the faint outlines of her hands are visible in the light. "There were other people who wished this fate upon humanity, but for darker purposes. I decided to accept my purpose to protect the world from them, but mostly you."

"But I died."

"Yes. They killed you. They were supposed to kill me." Again, Rei pauses, unable to speak for several moments. "After you were gone, I had someone I wanted to see, too."

"You did this for me?" asks Asuka. "What is 'this'?"

"In order to merge all of humanity together, the world had to be taken apart." As Rei speaks, images flash across Asuka's mind: a sky blotted out by six great white wings; the world riddled with green crosses, its seas turned red; empty streets, where the sudden graves of mankind are marked by clothes and shoes.

"This is my fault?"

"No," Rei says. The panic that had welled up in Asuka subsides, but lingers, waiting for Rei's explanation. "Whether I did this for you or not, the Commander or the others would have done this to the world. This is… one of the better ways it could have happened."

"But everyone's dead."

"They are not dead. They can return to life, as can you. Anyone can reform themselves, as long as they possess the desire to live."

"What happens if I don't go back?"

"Then you'll stay here, with everyone else. You won't be alone, though."

"My mother." The words are sudden, surprising both Asuka and Rei. Asuka steps forward- she's got legs now; Rei's managed to form her body from the light, or maybe she'd always had it, and Asuka couldn't see until she got one, too. "Is she here?"

"Your mother is here," Rei says. "And Shinji, for now."

"For now?"

"He wishes to leave already." Rei smiles, looking fondly off into the distance, where Asuka imagines Shinji must have pulled together a body already. How fitting, she thinks, that the first person to come back to reality would be a pilot, so that somehow they might have a say in how the world will be shaped. "He wants to be himself."

"I'm not letting him beat me out of here," mutters Asuka. "How do I leave?"

"You have already formed yourself," Rei says. "Now you must simply wish to go."

"That's it? What about you? You've got a body, right? You'll come back?"

"I will know when you leave, Asuka, and I promise I will be there for you."

"Will I have to talk to Shinji, if I leave?"

"Not unless you find each other. Not unless you want to."

"Good," mumbles Asuka. She doesn't think she could face Shinji, not any time soon. There would be too much to apologize for, and not even the making of a new world would be enough to heal the wounds from the old one. The improper goodbye between them when Asuka left will continue to be their last, until Shinji finds her, or Rei makes her go looking.

"Are you leaving, then?" asks Rei.

"Not yet. You said my mother was here, right? I'm going to go find her."

"I see." Already Rei has begun to drift off, her body dissolving into little golden motes that float off in every direction. "Asuka?" Her hands are folded in front of her chest, and it looks like she's restraining herself, keeping herself from trying to reach out. "I'm sorry."

"It's alright. I said I'd trust you, didn't I?"

"I'm sorry you had to die."

"It would've happened anyway." Asuka smiles, hoping to provoke something similar in Rei, anything that would take the miserable look off her face. "Don't look so sad," she says. "We made a promise, didn't we?"

Rei nods, and then the rest of her is gone, leaving behind a little spiral of light that soon dissipates. She's still near- Asuka can feel her- but there's someplace else for her to be. Asuka should be going somewhere else, too.

There's no solid ground upon which to walk, so Asuka makes do with floating along, or trying to. She passes through streams of light, some strands like thin hair, others so broad and deep they could be rivers. Still, Asuka continues with single-minded purpose. In here somewhere is her mother, and Asuka won't leave until they've spoken.

Asuka doesn't find Kyoko, so much as Kyoko finds her way to Asuka. They meet in a place where the wisps of light are few: not the outskirts, but the place where the long dead have waited, resting, and are not so inclined to be woken.

Kyoko is waiting for her, though. For some reason, Asuka thinks it might have to do with Rei.

"Asuka," Kyoko says, and it's by her voice that Asuka recognizes her. There wouldn't be any other way: Kyoko's body isn't formed, but she's here, a glimmer of light that dances like fire. Kyoko circles Asuka, and all the things Asuka's wanted to say to her try to spill out at once, clogging her throat. "I've been watching over you, Asuka. You have no idea how proud of you I am."

Asuka shakes her head, her breath tangling along with everything else that's gotten her choked up. One thought fights its way free of the mess, a memory: bright arms and a voice that Asuka thought was her own injured mind's imagination. "You were in Unit-02, weren't you?" she whispers. "You were watching me from there."

"The whole time. I was with you, but I could never reach you. You didn't let the EVA in, so I couldn't talk to you."

"I'm sorry."

"It's alright, Asuka. You've found me. We can catch up on everything-"

"I can't stay, Mama."

Kyoko's light goes still, no longer circling, flickering. "Why not?" she asks.

"There's someone waiting for me. She doesn't have anyone else who'll go with her."

"Who is it?"

"She's another pilot, Mama. She piloted Unit-00."

"Her? I didn't think…" In the silence, a stream of golden specks begins to float in Kyoko's direction. "Do you love her, Asuka?

"Yes. She loves me back."

"Are you sure? You could stay here, instead. Once you leave, you can't return."

"I can't. There are some things this place will never have. There's no flowers, no sunlight. I told her… one day, we'd see those things together."

"You could have them here. There are no limits here, Asuka- just what your mind can create."

"I know, but it isn't the same." Asuka closes her hand, forming a fist, trying to imagine the coolness of grass slipping between her fingers. "It feels less real, here. In time, I think I'd forget, and I don't want to do that."

"I understand." Kyoko's light sparkles briefly, shining with such joy that it's strange to Asuka. She's reminded of Rei, of how elusive emotions were to her, and for a moment it all becomes clear to her. It seems that Kyoko must sense this too; the light shimmers again, and Kyoko says, "Be happy, Asuka. That's all I ever wanted for you."

"I think I'll be fine, Mama."

"I know you will be."

"Will you come with me?"

"I…" The swirling of light stops, shaking in place. "No, not yet. I don't think I'm ready. Maybe in the future though, we'll meet again."

"Mama…"

Asuka wraps her arms around the glowing source of Kyoko's voice, and from it comes a warmth, racing up her arms and spreading throughout her body. "Good luck, my darling," Kyoko says.

"Thank you for protecting me." Asuka steps back, closing her eyes and thinking of the sea that Rei had shown her. The water was red, and the beach pale like Rei's skin. She doesn't remember what color the sky was, but she doesn't think it would matter.

"I love you, my dear. Take care out there."

"Yes," murmurs Asuka. "I love you, too, Mama."

If Kyoko says anything else, it's lost to Asuka. A wind is rushing through her ears; she's being lifted up through the mire of souls and light, and her body burns with either warmth or cold, maybe both. The world again goes white, but this time it's welcoming, ushering Asuka through into the new, formless world that will be made out of the scraps of the old.

It's the same beach that Rei had showed her. Asuka's eyes are already open, staring at the sky- it's purple, strangely enough- and the stars scattered across it. The steady heartbeat of the sea echoes around her, water washing up and down the shore, as if everything is still normal and the sea isn't red, and the world hasn't been deserted.

Asuka sits up, dusting white grains of sand off her arms and from her hair. The beach, aside from her, is empty. It stretches to the horizon both left and right, an unbroken, fluctuating line of white and red. Behind her, the remnants of the city lie, broken buildings reaching like jagged pieces of spine into the air. There's no sign of Rei or Shinji, or even of their passing: it would seem that Asuka's the first one back, after all.

As she stands, legs shaking, Asuka feels the wetness of the sea overtake her, enveloping her ankles and bare feet in cold water. She staggers out of the reach of the waves, leaving a series of prints in the sand. Now the world is marked, but there's no one else to witness what Asuka's laid claim to.

Asuka continues along the shore, leaving behind the place where she'd washed up, mindlessly searching the rest of the beach. If she'd washed up, then surely Rei would do the same. Maybe she's just a little further away, just a little longer down the coast, a chant that Asuka keeps repeating in her head, until even Shinji's appearance would have been welcome, if only for the change that it marked.

Yet there's no sign of Shinji, and Asuka doesn't find Rei. The moon watches from overhead, its pale surface unmarked by the chaos of whatever transpired below. It sees when Asuka's feet grow too tired to take another step, when Asuka falls to her knees, exhausted. It observes, just as Asuka begins to wonder whether those visions which felt like dreams were really just dreams, the little heap of flesh and bone, covered in clothes, that drifts onto the beach nearby.

Asuka looks up- she's noticed, too. As she watches, the white lump she'd thought was sea foam slowly uncurls, and pale limbs push impressions of themselves into the sand. Rei crawls out from the ocean, having been touched by the waves, and yet she's entirely dry. She stands, eyes sweeping the beach, and they fall on Asuka like twin red beacons.

Somehow, Asuka finds her footing, and she's standing again. Rei's eyes have not left hers, not for a second. Asuka takes one step, another, each one draining the paltry remnants of what energy is left in her, and yet Asuka always manages to find more. Rei has started toward her as well, her strides uneven on the sand, but she grows more confident with every step.

As soon as Rei's within reach, Asuka's hands find her cheeks and touch her face, barely daring to caress her skin. Rei stops moving, her arms down at her sides. She still hasn't looked away. I'm here, her gaze says, I promised you I'd be.

Yes,says Asuka's touch. Her fingers curve along Rei's cheek, deliberate and gentle. I know. I'm here because of you.

Suddenly, Rei flings her arms around Asuka's waist, holding her tightly. The painful breath that Asuka's been holding leaves her in a single gasp, and she wraps her arms around Rei's neck, bringing their foreheads together. Her legs give way, and they sink to the sand. Rei's warm breath brushes against Asuka's mouth, and in it Asuka feels the little shudder of Rei's relief. They remain where they are, supplicant, entwined in each other's arms. Both of them refuse to let go. In their own time, they will; for now the world is theirs, and it can wait until they're done.