The following is an IOC original based on material belonging to Gainax

The Instrument of Creation presents:

Revealing Red Requiem

The color of blood, the color of innocence, the color of sorrow: Red waves thrusting gently against white sand beneath the black blanket of midnight; the fragrance of child birth in the air; starlight dancing in the pupil of a fallen God called Lilith...

With the red ocean rising over their ankles, stone statues that once lived assumed shapes of salvation while watching the hands of a hero grip the wasteland between body and mind—the wasteland of a child, pale as the sand on which she lay.

A moment before clear tears fell like comets on the child's crease-less cheek, her slender fingers traced the face of the being that would soon bear them; a simple gesture that was her saving grace.

The hero's hands relaxed, abandoning murderous intentions and allowing air to pass through the wasteland, filling caverns beyond only to reemerge a moment later between moist mountains:

"How disgusting…"

O-X-O-X-O-X-O

Shinji rubbed his face on his sleeve, drying his tears, before removing his limp hands from Asuka's throat, climbing off of her, and sitting in the sand with his knees pulled up in front of him. He gazed past the petrified Eva units standing in red water towards the gigantic, decomposing, ghostly white head of Lilith in the distance; staring back was the eye of Rei Ayanami—the eye of Yui Ikari.

Asuka remained beside him on her back with one eye on the stars and the other beneath bloody bandages. Eventually, she sat up and pulled her knees in front of her, just like Shinji.

The two sat in silence. Foreign images flashed through their minds as the emotions of other people swelled within their chests; instrumentality, the merging of humanity into one sentient being, had left its mark on their souls.

"…Do you wanna' kiss me?" Asuka said in a hollow voice.

Shinji's body tensed; his mouth moistened; his throat tightened. "I guess so…I mean…maybe not…"

Looking over at Asuka, Shinji saw tears silently flowing from her eye.

"…Do you wanna' fuck me?"

Shinji's heart rate increased; his stomach sank; his eyes widened. "Would you let me…?"

Asuka hugged her knees tighter, burying her face. "Would it matter…?"

Breathing heavily, Shinji tried to control the flood of thoughts Asuka's question invoked: Everyone's dead, so really, no, it wouldn't matter; even if she resisted, she wouldn't be able to stop me. Shinji looked at his hand, closing it into a fist that he imagined slamming into Asuka's face as he ripped off her plug suit. But what if the others return; wash out of the sea just like I did? Shinji opened his hand, imagining holding it out in protest to whomever happened to catch him raping his fellow pilot. What if I'm tired of hurting people? ...What if she actually wants me?

"It would matter," Shinji said at last. "Right now, I don't know if anything would matter more…"

Asuka was still crying softly with her head down, but Shinji was sure she'd heard him.

"I don't care, anymore," Asuka said unevenly. "The world is over…Everyone's dead…"

"They can come back if they want to," Shinji said soothingly, "just like you and me." Reflecting on what he'd just said, Shinji uncertainly added, "You wanted to come back…"

Sniffing loudly, lifting her eye to the Heavens, Asuka asked, "Why would I have wanted to come back to this…?"

Shinji stared at Asuka, but didn't reply. The silence was filled with the sound of the blood red ocean waves flowing back and forth. A breeze drifted by.

"Because there was a time when this was good," Shinji said in a half joyful, half desperate way. "It can be good again…" Shinji started nervously scouting closer to Asuka. "We can help each other if you want…We don't have to fight, or be afraid, or worried…"

Asuka looked over at Shinji, who by that point was less than a foot away from her.

"Right now, we're the only ones here." After laughing in an overwhelmed way, Shinji added, "We're the only ones on the entire planet!" Then, he looked into Asuka's eye and quietly concluded, "We can make this world whatever we want it to be…Right here, right now, you and me…We're not alone."

The breeze returned, the waves continued their endless sway, and after a moment or two, Asuka slowly reached out and grabbed Shinji's hand.