Chapter Text

One

A purple giant hovered in the sky below the ground, hands outstretched to the red sphere before it. A moment later a hand pulled away, holding the form of a girl for a moment, before the sphere shattered and the giant began to fall.

Shinji . 

The thought formed in his head, his own name but not in his voice. 

Shinji , it came again, it’s time to take your sister and go.  

The voice, soft and feminine, had barely finished forming the thoughts before he felt the shock of disconnection and the sudden, enormous kick of the entry plug ejecting from the neck of Evangelion Unit 01. He felt them flying through the air and said softly to Rei Ayanami, who was returning to consciousness in his lap, “Hold on, this will probably be bumpy.” He could feel her weakly grip at him and tried his best to hold her still for their inevitable return to the ground.

The entry plug came down hard in a clearing and tumbled, rolling across the terrain until it came to a stop very near the disabled form of Eva Unit 02, whose mysterious, pink clad pilot was already in motion toward the site before they'd even gotten halfway through the flight. 

She reached it just after the automatic venting of the fluid contained inside, and set to work prying the hatch open.

“Why don't… they make these… easier to open?” She paused for breath, panting slightly from the run, before heaving on the handle again. Finally, it wrenched open, and she stuck her head into the hole.

“Anyone alive in here?” she asked brightly.

A groan answered her, and she smiled before climbing further in to help. “Things really do just work out for you, don't they?”

“You,” Shinji replied, a little groggily. “You sound familiar. You were in Unit 02, weren't you?”

“Yep, that's me. I'm Mari, by the way.” She answered him, helping to lift the semi-conscious form of Rei, when a voice called from outside.

“Shinji… Are you okay in there?”

Misato, Shinji thought and glanced at Mari to gauge her reaction before he called out “We're okay.” He noted the blood on the side of her face. “No permanent damage.”

He began to get up, and between the two of them, they started towards the exit with Rei.

“Wait,” he said to Mari. “Hold her for a second.” He slipped out from under Rei's arm and unbuttoned his shirt. After removing it from himself, he carefully pulled Rei's arms through the sleeves and began to do up the buttons, covering her nakedness. 

He was somewhat surprised when their hands met on the buttons, and she looked up at him. “Thank you,” Rei said with a small smile, “but I can do the rest myself.”

Relief washed over him as she spoke for the first time since being separated from Unit 01.

She sounds… better, he thought and smiled back at her, “I'm glad you're okay. 

“Misato,” he called out, “we're coming out now. Please don't shoot the new girl.”

He stepped through the hatch, squinting a little after the gloom of the plug and found a whole group of people waiting for him.

“Uh, hi,” he said, awkwardly. “Anybody know where we are?”

Dr Ritsuko Akagi spoke up then. “Unit 01 is that way,” she pointed at a menacing new Evangelion hovering over the field above where Unit 01 had fallen. “HQ is that way,” she pointed again and an explosion came from the direction she was pointing, shaking the ground and debris around them. 

“What the hell?!” Misato exclaimed. “I didn't think we had that sort of bang lying around.”

“You don't,” Mari chimed in from behind, as she exited the plug. “That was an experimental briefcase N² warhead.”

“And how do you know this?” Misato said, turning to the girl, an eyebrow raised.

“I helped Mr Kaji steal it from Bethany Base.” She shrugged, unphased by Misato's scepticism. “I wonder why the Commander set it off now though…”

Her musing was interrupted by the loudspeakers nearby crackling to life with the Commander’s voice. “Attention all personnel, Code Red, I repeat, Code Red. Begin evacuation immediately, contact countdown is 10 minutes.” 

Dr. Akagi pulled her phone from her pocket, frowning at the announcement. She dialed, and put her phone to ear, her expression becoming more concerned as no-one answered. 

The unit on Mari's wrist beeped. Answering it, she brought it to her own ear. “Right,” she said after listening for a minute, all business. “I'll send the gaggle I've found for J220.” She listened for a moment more. “Be careful,” she said at last before lowering her arm and tapping the unit again. She turned to the crowd. “Mr. Kaji says it's the JSSDF. He's going to try and get them called off, but we should take shelter in the evacuation tunnels.” 

Misato shrugged and turned to the bridge crew. “Alright, evacuation tunnels are that way,” she pointed towards one wall of the geofront. “We'd better start hiking.”

Hearing this Shinji glanced at Rei, wondering if she’d be able to manage such a journey.

“Hold on,” Ritsuko broke in, looking up from her phone, “No one in medical is answering. I’ve called three times.”

“And?” Misato asked.

“ And I'm worried they've started evacuating without the patients… patient.” She corrected herself. 

“They wouldn't dare,” Misato replied darkly. Shinji has never heard this tone from Misato before, and wondered what or who they were talking about.

“Normally I'd agree, but… Code Red” Ritsuko began.

“And it hasn't been long enough for them to prep her to move, and if they were still preparing, they'd answer the phone.” Misato finished the thought for her.

“Exactly, someone should go and check,” Ritsuko added.

Shinji took this opportunity to butt in. “Who are you talking about?” he asked, looking between the two women.

“Asuka.” Misato says simply. “She's in the medical wing, recovering.”

Shinji clenched his fists, anger filling him “And nobody told me?” he practically exploded.

He glared at Misato as she fished around in one of her jacket pockets for a moment before holding something out to him and smiling sadly. “You left this behind. We couldn't have told you.” 

He looked down at the phone in her hand, the anger draining from him and scuffed the ground sheepishly. “Oh, yeah. Sorry.”

He took it from her, then said, “So Asuka might be in danger?” His head spun, elation that he hadn’t killed her warring with a creeping dread that it might not matter.

Shinji didn't wait for an answer. Before he was even aware that he had made the decision, he had taken off at a run. Asuka was in danger. A danger he had put her in. He needed to get to her. This time, he needed to save her. 

He didn't expect anyone else to come with him - this was, indirectly at least, his own mess and he would fix it himself - but when he heard the boots crunching along in his wake, he knew who it would be. He turned his head just far enough to see Misato running behind him, grim determination on her face, she caught his eye and nodded a little. “We'll save her Shinji.”

***

Twenty minutes later

The path to medical had taken them down an elevator, through several twisting passageways, and then out into the bright white halls of Nerv Medical. Along the way they had dodged a patrol and Misato had been forced to kill a lone soldier blocking their way.

“Which way now?” Shinji asked, as he glanced at the stripes on the walls.

“She's in room three zero one,” Misato replied, “around the next corner on the left.”

They both froze as they reached the corner and heard heavy boots echoing towards them. Shinji peeked around the corner, “Soldiers,” he whispered, “two of them, coming this way.”

Misato raised her sidearm. “I can probably get both of them if they're not looking this way.” 

Shinji nodded, “I'll decoy them and duck into Asuka's room.”

“Not what I meant…” Misato began, but he had already made a run for it.

Shouts from the soldiers, followed by a spray of gunfire forced her to stay back from the edge, but a slamming door told her Shinji had made it to safety for now. She risked a peek of her own, seeing the soldiers lining up to storm the room. Urgency fought with her self control, the timing had to be right.

She waited until the first soldier placed his hand against the door to open it, then extended her pistol around the corner, squeezing off shots in rapid succession.

The first two hit the second soldier, both rounds penetrated the visor of the man's helmet and struck him in the face, killing him almost immediately. The following three shots hit the other man, though she had overcorrected for the recoil and the first passed through his arm, the second grazed his throat, and before the third shot could land he had reflexively squeezed the trigger of the submachine gun he carried. The fifth bullet Misato fired hit the soldier in the side of the helmet he wore, passing through the thinner hearing protector, and striking him at the base of the skull. He dropped to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut, the stream of bullets from his gun also abruptly ending. 

In the sudden stillness Misato could hear things still clattering around inside the room, the door had not been armoured, and she dreaded what she would find on the other side.

Asuka Langley Shikinami awoke to the sensation of falling, and she wondered for a moment if she had rolled out of bed, then the ground hit her, driving the wind from her.

Not the ground , she thought too soft, and the ground doesn't heave under me, it's solid. She could feel arms around her and her ears rang like someone had clapped right beside them. She was, she decided, thoroughly confused. 

She fought to breathe for a moment before trying to sit up. The arms tightened around her, and a groan escaped whoever was beneath her. Shinji , she thought, and her eyes snapped open to confirm it. 

There he was, lying beneath her, amidst the scattered sheets and pillows that had made up her bed until moments ago.

“Baka, why are we lying on the floor?” She demanded, struggling out of his grip, she sat up.

Getting no answer from him, she tried again, “Earth to Shinji, are you there?”

He groaned again at this, then opened his eyes. “Asuka, you… you're alright.” He was almost incredulous. 

“Why wouldn't I be?” She snipped, then the recollection hit her. The walls of the entry plug crushing in toward her as something squeezed it from outside. She shuddered at the sudden memory, and pushed the thoughts away. 

Her knee slipped in something. She looked toward it to see a small splash of blood, and followed the trail up to a gash on Shinji's arm. “You're bleeding,” she said, looking around for something to stop the flow with. He looks terrible, she thought, checking him for other wounds, and where is his shirt?

Just then the door slid open, and Asuka turned toward the sound to see Misato standing in the doorway, gun in hand. “Are…” her voice cracked and she swallowed before trying again, “are you both okay?” 

“Shinji's hurt,” Asuka replied, concern in her tone. “Can you find me a first aid kit or something?”

“I'll see if these soldiers have anything, but I don't want to go too far in case there are more out there.”

“Soldiers?” Asuka asked sharply. The JSSDF were their allies, but the way Misato had spoken said that was not the case anymore. “Why are there soldiers in Nerv HQ?”

“Because there was a double-double cross, and Seele are sore losers,” a different voice answered from the corridor beyond the bullet riddled door.

“You would know, wouldn't you Kaji?” Misato said over her shoulder, as she searched the pouches of the soldiers she had killed. 

Kaji stepped into the room, taking it all in.

“Quick thinking Shinji,” he said, handing Asuka the first aid kit he'd picked up somewhere along the way.

“Not quite quick enough,” Shinji replied through gritted teeth, the pain evidently beginning to overwhelm his ability to suppress it.

“Hey,” Kaji said, “the good guys are all still alive, the bad guys are all dead, and you'll have a gnarly new scar. I hear chick's dig scars.” He winked at Shinji, eliciting a chuckle from the boy that turned into a hissed inhalation as Asuka swiped the wound with a disinfectant. 

“Looks like just a graze. You'll be fine,” Asuka said. “Though Mr Kaji is right, it will probably scar.”

“Hey, Katsuragi,” Kaji said as he sat down next to her, one eye still on the door.

She sighed, and sat herself, slumping against the overturned frame of the hospital bed. “Hi Kaji,” she managed at last. “What do you know?”

“The attack has been called off. Seems the Prime Minister saw reason when presented with evidence of the Seele agents duplicity.”

“Great, how bad is it?” 

“No idea, not great, at the least. Section two will have taken a beating trying to hold them off.”

Asuka tuned them out, and focused on bandaging Shinji's arm.

“Hey,” she said softly, “thank you.”

“Why are you thanking me,” Shinji asked, confused, “you're bandaging me up, I should be thanking you.”

“Yeah, you're welcome.” She waved it away. “But how did you get hurt in the first place?”

“I, uh, there was an Angel, then Father said something about Code Red, then Dr Akagi said you were still alive, then there were soldiers in the corridor, then I guess one of them shot me.” He rushed out, entirely out of breath at the end of the sentence. 

“And you got shot, why?” She asked, trying to lead him to the correct answer.

“Be… because they were going to… oh.” He paused, the thought finally occurring to him.

“Yeah. Oh.,” she finished for him, unable to actually admit she had needed rescuing aloud. “So, thank you.”

“You're welcome,” he echoed. “I almost didn't…” he trailed off, apparently unwilling to voice the thought. That's a happy thought, she mused, dwelling on her own mortality as she looked down into his eyes.

“Hey, close your eyes,” she said at last, breaking the heavy silence.

“Um, why?” he asked, confused.

“Because I'm going to get up now, and I’m not wearing anything but this hospital gown.” she explained.

“Oh, sorry.” he said, closing his eyes and sitting up when she got off him.

Asuka looked around the room for anything else to wear. There, on the far wall was her uniform, with a bag of what she assumed were the other things she’d had before the activation test. Well, that's convenient , she thought, stepping over and grabbing the hanging clothes and the bag, before heading into the attached bathroom to change.

Just as Asuka stepped back into the chaotic hospital room when she had finished, the loudspeaker squeaked to life. “All surviving senior personnel and pilots, report to the command centre immediately.”

“I know that means me and the kids, but does that include you, Kaji?” Misato asked, heaving herself to her feet.

“It does,” Kaji answered, also standing up.

Shinji was also on his feet now, and Misato led them out the ruined door as Asuka brought up the rear.

The four walked through the quiet halls of the medical wing, two by two, the adults leading the children down the various corridors toward their destination. They spoke only occasionally, and quietly at that, unwilling to disturb the strange stillness that had befallen HQ in the aftermath of the monumental afternoon of violence and terror.

***

Asuka entered the ruined command centre last, shocked by the devastation. He didn't tell me it had been this close, she thought, looking around to find only Commander Ikari and Sub-commander Fuyutsuki waiting for them.

Misato saluted as she entered. “Reporting as ordered, sir.”

“Thank you Colonel,” Gendo replied. “I will wait for Dr Akagi and the other pilots before briefing you all at once on the next move.”

Other pilots? Asuka thought, struggling to remain impassive. Are we waiting for more than just Wundergirl?

She did not have to wait long as Dr Akagi led the three bridge crew, Ayanami and a girl Asuka didn't recognise wearing a pink plugsuit, into the space a few minutes later.

Asuka barely registered the Commander speaking she was so fixated on the new girl. My replacement? She alternated between rage at having been replaced so quickly and despair at having been replaced at all.

“Father,” Shinji called from beside her, breaking her out of her reverie.

She looked up as the Commander paused while walking away, looking dispassionately over his shoulder at Shinji. 

“Um, good luck,” Shinji said meekly.

The Commander nodded, and resumed his path to the elevator, Fuyutsuki in tow.

“What the hell was that about?” she hissed to Shinji, watching the Commander leave.

“He's, um, going to investigate Unit 01 personally. It's never activated itself before without me being around,” he sounded worried.

As the two men descended from view, Misato wondered aloud, “What is he really up to now?”

“It's… It's my mother,” Shinji said when no one else spoke, frowning deeply in thought.

“Your mother?” Ritsuko asked, shifting uncomfortably, “but I thought…” 

“She died,” Shinji finished. “Yeah… maybe not totally. I heard her voice just before Rei and I were ejected from Unit 01.”

Hearing her name, Ayanami stepped over next to Shinji, holding his shirt out to him. Jealous worry stabbed at Asuka then. Why does she have that? she thought, panicked.

“I found time to dress before we arrived,” she said, “so I don't need this anymore.”

He accepted it, and Asuka stepped behind him to help him put it on, trying to reassert dominance in her feud with Ayanami. “Thanks,” he said to her, as he allowed her to slide the shirt on over his injury.

Why had Ayanami had his shirt? Why had she been undressed? What had happened? Asuka tried to ignore the hollow feeling growing in the pit of her stomach.

Ayanami offered him another object when they were done, but Shinji shook his head at her, “I don't want that anymore Rei. You keep it.”

Asuka peered over his shoulder to see Ayanami holding his SDAT, and her confusion and uncertainty grew. What the hell happened? she thought.