Disclaimer: The story, its original contents and ideas, and any original characters belong to the author and cannot be used or reprinted without the author's permission.  All other characters belong to their respective owners.  Italicized sentences and phrases within italicized quotation marks (“” instead of  “”) indicate telepathic speech.

 

(Author’s notes: First, a short summary.  In the weeks since his arrival, Raiu has become friends with most of the people working for NERV.  Most of the NERV staff know Raiu’s past.  He has redesigned the EVAs greatly.  I apologize for any inconsistencies between my first fic and the Evangelion series.  I have not seen all the episodes, so I had to rely on the episode synopsis’ on various web sites.)

 

Genesis 1.02

Feelings Revealed and Crushed

 

A Tokyo 3 High School, Friday

 

            “Hey, Rei.  Ya wanna go for a ride?”

            Rei looked up to see Raiu standing next to a NERV motorcycle, wearing a black leather jacket in place of his trench coat.  A helmet sat atop the seat of the motorcycle.  Rei glanced at the motorcycle nervously, then back at Raiu.  She stood there, looking at Raiu for almost a minute.

            “Rei?”

            “Gendo wanted me to return to the base immediately.”

            “Why?”

            “He did not say.”

            “Do you always do what he says, Rei?  You are your own person.  Free will, able to make decisions on your own.  Do you want to always be Gendo’s puppet?  Just try it.  So, you wanna go for a ride with me?”

            “Um, sure,” she hesitantly replied as she approached him.

            Raiu smiled and handed her the helmet.  She put it on and sat behind him on the motorcycle.

            “Okay.  Just put your arms around my waist and hang on.”

            Once he was sure Rei had a good grip on him, Raiu started the company bike and took off down the road.  Raiu sped up once they reached the edge of Tokyo 3, where the traffic was almost non-existent.  Rei almost immediately tightened her grip on Raiu and clenched her eyes shut.  Feeling that, Raiu slowed down a little and continued on.

 

NERV HQ, Gendo’s office

 

            “You wanted to talk to me?” Gendo asked.

            “Yes.” Fuyutsuki replied. “I wish to resign.”

            “May I ask why?”

            “I feel unable to keep up with what we are doing anymore.  And I don’t agree with you wishing to bring about a Third Impact just to be with Yui again.”

            “Well then.  It sounds as if you are set in your path.”

            “I am.”

            With that, Fuyutsuki began walking toward the door.  He was stopped by Gendo before he got near it, though.

            “You were wrong about one thing, old friend.”

            “Oh?  And what is that?” Fuyutsuki inquired without turning.

            “I do not wish to instigate the Third Impact just to see Yui again.”

            The confused look on Fuyutsuki’s face disappeared when he turned around and saw that Gendo had opened the chest of his shirt.

            “Dear God!”

            Gendo closed his shirt and pressed a button on the desk before him.  A pair of guards entered the room and stood silently, awaiting orders.

            “Dr. Fuyutsuki has decided to leave us.  Escort him out and make sure he is unable to divulge any of our secrets.”

            “Yes, sir.”

            The two uniformed men grabbed the aging man by the arms and guided the stunned man out.  Gendo sat down again and smiled to himself.

 

NERV Hospital

 

            Shinji walked into the room and sat down in the bedside chair, his eyes never leaving the figure lying in the bed.  He just sat and stared for a few minutes before speaking.

            “Please . . . please, wake up.”

            The young teen held the figure’s hand, hoping for some kind of response.

            “You have to wake up.  NERV needs you.  Everyone needs you.  But, most importantly . . .”

            Shinji paused to trace his knuckles along the side of the figure’s face.

            “ . . . I need you, Asuka.”

 

NERV HQ

 

            “Where the hell are they?!” Gendo raged.

            “Shinji is visiting Asuka.” Misato answered. “As for Rei, she was last seen riding off on a NERV motorcycle with Raiu.”

            “Doesn’t he realize that we need Rei here in case another Angel attacks?!”

            “Sir, if I may.” Maya interrupted. “The chances of that happening are extremely slim.  Probably non-existent.”

            Gendo sighed in defeat and dismissed the two women.

 

Countryside

 

            Raiu stopped the motorcycle and started to get up when he felt that Rei still had a death grip on him.

            “You can let go now, Rei.  I stopped the bike.”

            Rei looked around and blushed as she let go of Raiu.  Rei removed the helmet and set it back on the seat once they stood up.  She looked at the ground, still blushing.  Raiu smiled slightly and lifted her chin, making her look him in the face.

            “There’s nothing to be ashamed about.  Everyone’s got something they’re afraid of.  Don’t worry.  Just stand up to your fears, and you can accomplish anything.  Besides, I’m here to protect you.”

            Rei remained silent even though she was comforted by his words.

            “Look around you,” Raiu suggested after several minutes.

            Rei looked and saw they were in the middle of an orchard.  Pinkish-orange streaks of sunlight shone through gaps between the trees.  The cherry blossoms on the trees were in full bloom.  Rei stared in awe as the breeze turned the pink petals of the blossoms, showing the blood red backs of the petals.  Waves of red and pink rippled through the orchard.

            “It’s so beautiful!” Rei exclaimed, then seemed to catch herself.

            Raiu looked at Rei questioningly as she looked away from him and at the ground.  He walked up and put a hand on her shoulder.

            “What’s wrong?”

            “Nothing,” Rei sighed.

            “Don’t lie to me.  Twice, you’ve shown you were happy, then immediately acted as if that was wrong.  Why?”

            “I . . . I’m not . . . that good with emotions.”

 

Misato’s apartment

 

            “I’m home!  Anyone here?” Misato called out as she opened the door.

            When no one answered, she checked all of the rooms.  Finding nobody aside from Pen Pen, she entered her bedroom and collapsed on the bed, exhausted.  Half an hour later, Shinji came home and checked on Misato.  When he saw that she was asleep, he went to his bedroom and turned on his Discman.

 

Touji’s apartment

 

            Touji opened the door and walked through, heaving a sigh of relief.

            “Man, it’s good to be home.  Finally.”

            Kensuke followed him in, looking around.

            “Jeez, the place looks like a dust factory.”

            “Well, excuse me for having a family that hasn’t been here for several months at the least.”

            “Hey, sorry.  How are those artificial limbs holding up?”

            “Pretty good, actually.” Touji replied, flexing his new arm. “Those doctors did excellent work.”

            “Well, duh!” Kensuke exclaimed. “It’s their job!”

 

Orchard

 

            “What?”

            “I’m not really good at displaying emotions around other people.  I just don’t know what emotion to express when.”

            “Emotions are tricky things.” Raiu stated. “You can’t just choose when to feel them most of the time.  Like love, for example.  You just can’t control who you fall in love with.  I’ve heard of people falling in love with their worst enemy before.”

            “That’s not all.” Rei cut in. “I just don’t know what some emotions really feel like, or how to react when I feel a new emotion.”

            “Well, the feel of emotions I could probably help with, but how to react to new emotions, well . . . that’s a bit tougher.  You just do what you feel is right.”

            “Oh.” Rei whispered, then quickly changed the subject. “You said that everyone has something to be afraid of.  What are you afraid of?”

            Raiu remained silent long enough for Rei to turn and look at him.  She saw a look of pain and sadness engulf his face.

            “I –”

            “Don’t apologize.  You didn’t know.  I’d have to say . . . dying alone.”

            “ . . .?”

            “As in, having no friends or family to acknowledge my death and remember me.  No one to tell them I love them with my last breath.  Without that, it’d be as if I’d never existed.”

            “Oh . . . I’m sorry.”

            “Why?”

            “I didn’t realize you had that much pain in your heart,” Rei whispered, her attempt to look into his eyes blocked by his shades.

            Raiu removed the shades and looked at Rei.  Before he could say anything, the two heard a loud beeping.  Raiu pulled a small cell phone out of his pocket and turned it on.

            “Yeah?” he grumbled.

            “Raiu!” Maya exclaimed on the other end of the line. “Where are you?!”

            “Um, northeast of the city a couple miles in a cherry orchard.”

            “Look to the south.  We’ll expect you here in less than fifteen minutes.”

            Raiu grumbled as the connection was closed and put away the phone.  Still grumbling, he leapt straight up, clearing the treetops.  He landed and ran to the motorcycle.  Raiu grabbed the helmet and tossed it to Rei, who barely managed to catch it and put it on.

            “What’s going on?!” Rei asked.

            “Angel,” Raiu replied as he got on the bike and looked at Rei expectantly.

            Rei ran over and sat behind Raiu again, putting her arms around his waist.

            “Hold on tight, ‘cause we gotta be there quick!”

            Rei barely had time to tighten her grip around Raiu before the motorcycle shot off at almost 60 mph.  Rei adjusted her grip, sliding closer to Raiu in the process.  This time, instead of closing her eyes, Rei kept her head up, allowing the wind to whip at her face.  After several minutes and comfortable in the knowledge she can face her fears, great and small, she laid her head against Raiu’s back, thus protecting her from the wind.  Raiu would have noticed had he not been concentrating on keeping the motorcycle from crashing at over 150 mph.

 

NERV HQ, main entrance

 

            Raiu stopped the motorcycle and waited for Rei to get off.

            “Good luck.”

            “What?  Why aren’t you coming in with me?”

            “I thought I saw some injured people.  I’m gonna go help ‘em.”

            “Wait.  The Angel hasn’t even reached Tokyo 3 yet.  How can there be injured?”

            “It’s got laser beams.  See ya.”

            Without another word, Raiu drove off, leaving Rei to watch him disappear around a corner before heading inside the base.

 

Outside Tokyo 3

 

            When EVA-00 and EVA-01 reached the area the Angel was last sighted in, all they saw was blood and destruction.  Shinji picked up a strange signal on his scanners.  He saw an energy signature that seemed to be growing larger between the two EVAs.  Shinji and Rei looked up to see a large creature falling straight toward them.

            “Get out of the way!!” Misato screamed over the comm.

            The two EVAs dove to the side just before the creature hit.  As the three titans landed, a guttural shriek was heard from above.  The EVAs looked up to see another creature falling straight at them, or more accurately, the creature that had already crashed.  The creature on the ground fired an energy beam at the other, knocking it off course.  Rei and Shinji recognized the creature that had been shot as the dragon they’d met a few weeks earlier.

            The other creature looked just like the dragon, only it was silver and white.  The white dragon stood up and saw the two EVAs.  It quickly grabbed them in headlocks and faced the black dragon.

            “Kurinaka, ni choutie!”

            “Tou chakanahk Shito!” The black dragon snarled. “If you’re going to make threats, at least speak modern Terran so the natives can understand you.”

            “Ynear?  Ah, yes.  I forgot.  Wonderful Terra, how sweet the memories.”

            “Enough of the small talk.  Release the EVAs now.”

            “And why should I?  Right now, all three of you are at my mercy.”

            “Not necessarily,” Black replied, disappearing from sight.

            White grinned and turned around, expecting Black to attack from behind.  He was greatly shocked to feel his back sliced open by Black’s forward blades.  White collapsed to the ground, his spine nearly severed.  The two EVAs backed away quickly, drawing their prog knives in the process.

            “Put those away.” Black snapped. “They won’t even scratch his skin, much less his AT field.”

            As Black finished speaking, White stood up again, his back completely healed.  White faced Black and fired a beam of energy so powerful, the EVAs’ armor was singed from two football field lengths away.  The beam hit an invisible barrier in front of Black.  The dark dragon held the AT field for as long as he could, then let go and dove to the side, breathing a cone of fire at his pale counterpart.

            “Take this, chakana!” Black roared.

            When White’s beam faded, the others could see that the white dragon was ablaze.  Black took advantage of this and charged White, slashing at him with his forward and elbow blades.  White was forced to retreat under the barrage of edges.

 

NERV control room

 

            “Why won’t they attack?!” Gendo yelled.

            “I don’t know about the white,” Hyuga replied, “but so far, the black dragon hasn’t attacked them.  Actually, it’s been helping them.”

            “So did Kaoru before he betrayed us.”

            Gendo picked up a small microphone and yelled into it.

            “Attack them both before they destroy the city!”

 

Outside Tokyo 3

 

            “Tell your commander to shove it!” Black roared.

            “How could he hear that?” Shinji asked aloud.

            White backed up quickly as the flames died and fired another beam at Black, blowing a hole through Black’s unprotected arm.  The dark dragon clutched his arm, a piercing glare locked on his opponent.  The pale dragon began flying at insane speeds, circling his dark opponent.  White fired several more beams, hitting Black in various places.  Soon, Black was kneeling to conserve strength from the loss of blood.  A pool of the orange liquid collected at his feet.  A small sphere of blue flames appeared in front of Black’s open mouth as the wailing of a thousand ambient voices filled the air.

            Shinji and Rei looked around, expecting to see an Angel attack, then realized the sound was coming from Black.  White halted several hundred yards from Black, facing him.  The small flame sphere grew in size until it was as big as Black’s head.  Suddenly, the sphere disappeared and Black fired a blast of energy at White.  The energy punched through White’s stomach and continued on, destroying an empty building that had jammed in place when the city retracted.

            When the blast dissipated, White was holding what was left of his intestines in his hands, blue blood pouring from the wound.

            “You may have injured me, but you won’t be returning to our old home.”

            “What are you talking about?”

            “You ever see what a fusion grenade does to a bata fruit from the inside out?”

            “NOO!”

            “Nuyo cra, yun chara.  Yo nek tiem hou fek, tou chi lonu taiwe tou gren sot yun.”

            Without another word, White teleported away.

 

NERV HQ

 

            The staff in the control room sat in a stunned silence for several moments, then burst out in clamor.  Gendo quickly got everyone under control.

            “Get the positron rifle to Shinji and the rail gun to Rei!  NOW!!  We can’t afford to let another Angel attack us so soon.  Shinji, Rei.  Kill the Angel quickly.”

 

Outside Tokyo 3

 

            The two EVAs grabbed the guns delivered to them and aimed them at Black, who was on his hands and knees, panting from exhaustion.  He looked up at the two armored titans and shook his head.

            “Go on.  Kill me.  Heartless, back-stabbing, shrakas.”

            “We have no reason to kill you yet,” Shinji replied.

            “I’m sorry.” Rei stated, cocking the rail gun. “But we were ordered to do so by Commander Ikari.”

            “Do you always do what Ikari tells you to, Rei?” Black asked in a hauntingly familiar voice.

            Do you always do what he says, Rei?  You are your own person. Raiu’s voice pounded in Rei’s head.

            “How do you know my name?” Rei asked, surprised.

            “How do you think I heard Ikari tell you to attack me the first time?  I can hear any communication frequency within a ten-mile radius.  Now, if the pleasantries are over, either kill me or let me leave.”

            Black tried to stand, but collapsed from the pain.

            “Damn it!” Gendo roared over the comm. “Kill the Angel now!”

            Free will, able to make decisions on your own.  Just try it.

            Can I?

            Your own person.

            My own person?

            Make your own decisions.

            Am I able to?

            “Rei!  What are you waiting for?!”

            Free will.

            Free?

            On your own.

            By myself?  No.  I have friends.  Shinji, Asuka, Misato, the others.

            “Enough waiting, Rei!  Attack now!  While it’s still down!”

            Just try it.

            But Ikari . . .

            Do you want to always be Gendo’s puppet?

            But . . .

            Puppet . . .

            I’m . . .

            Puppet . . .

            I’m . . .

            Puppet . . .

            I’m a . . .

            “Rei?” Shinji questioned worriedly. “What’s wrong?”

            Puppet . . .

            Am I?

            Puppet . . .

            I’m a . . .

            “Rei!” Gendo screamed. “You have to kill the Angel to save Tokyo 3!”

            Puppet . . .

            I’m a puppet?

            “Are you?” a new yet familiar voice asked Rei in her mind.

            “NO!” Rei shouted over the comm., shocking everyone.

            “What did you say to me?” Gendo growled.

            “We have no reason to kill him.” Rei stated with sudden determination. “He saved us when the other tried to kill us.  More importantly, he saved Tokyo 3.  We owe him at least our gratitude, if not more.”

            With that, EVA-00 walked over to the dark dragon and helped him stand.  Rei looked at Shinji through the onboard viewscreens.  Without being asked, Shinji moved EVA-01 over to the other two and helped Rei lift Black, ignoring Gendo’s commands to do otherwise.  The two EVAs carried Black over to the launch tubes.  They set him down on one of the launch pads and stood beside him as it dropped down the tube.

 

EVA docking bay

 

            Almost half an hour later, the two pilots exited their EVAs as Gendo approached them.

            “What the hell is the idea bringing an Angel down here?!” Gendo shouted. “I ordered you to kill it, not bring it back with you!  And you, Shinji.  I thought I ordered you not to help her!”

            “I may have been made by you,” Rei retorted, “and I may pilot an EVA for you, but I am not your puppet anymore.”

            “You insubordinate little –” Gendo snarled.

            Gendo pulled his hand back and backhanded Rei across the face.  Before Rei had even hit the ground, Gendo was staring straight into one of Black’s eyes from mid-air.

            “I ever see you attempt to kill a defenseless female again, I will kill you.”

            “You can’t do anything to me.  I’m the supreme commander of NERV.”

            “What use is rank or title against a being that is more than capable of destroying an army of EVAs?  This is your only warning, Ikari.  You do that again, and I will kill you.  Even if you think there is no way of me knowing, I will find out.  Are you even aware that if I had not caught her, Rei would have fallen to her death?”

            Gendo looked at Black’s other hand to see Rei unsteadily getting up in the creature’s palm.  Black set them both on the catwalk they’d been on and slumped against a wall and closed his eyes.  The first thing anyone noticed was that almost all of his wounds had healed.

            “Your wounds!” Rei exclaimed.

            “I know.  I heal as fast as my counterpart does.  I’m just really drained right now.  My Mega Flare usually does this to me.  A massive loss of blood doesn’t help either.  Once I’ve rested enough, I’ll be leaving.”

            “Not before we run some tests on you,” Gendo stated.

            Upon hearing that, Black opened his eyes and glared at the Commander.

            “As it is right now, I’m plenty pissed at you, Ikari.  Don’t push your luck any further.”

            With that, Black closed his eyes again.

            “Wait!” Rei called, unusually talkative. “What’s your name?”

            “My name?” Black sighed. “It’s been so long since I’ve had need of a name.  Just call me  . . . Ragnarock.  Your kindness will not go unpaid.  I will be here to protect you if the need shall arise.”

            Before anyone could say anything else, Ragnarock had fallen asleep.  Gendo ordered a recovery team to go collect some of the blood left by Ragnarock and the other dragon.  He turned back to Rei and Shinji.

            “You two ever disobey me again, and I will see to it that you never pilot an EVA again.”

 

NERV lab, an hour later

 

            “Sir!” Shigeru exclaimed. “I think you should look at this!”

            Gendo reluctantly walked over to look at a small viewscreen.  Not understanding what the Lieutenant wanted him to see, he started to walk back to the other terminal.

            “Sir!” Shigeru repeated in an impatient voice. “This is a DNA scan of the two dragons.”

            “So?”

            “Unh.” Shigeru sighed. “There are two different anomalies in the white dragon and three in Ragnarock.”

            “And that’s supposed to mean what?”

            “Take a closer look at them,” Shigeru stated.

            “I don’t see anything.”

            “In the white dragon, we can see a normal human DNA strand.  On top of that strand is another DNA strand.  That of an Angel.”

            “So you’re saying that the white dragon is half-human, half-Angel?” Gendou inquired.

            “Not exactly.” Shigeru corrected. “The way I see it, the creature can change shape at will between a human form and an Angel form.”

            “And how did you come to that conclusion?”

            “The Angel DNA was dominant until a few minutes ago, then the human DNA became dominant.”

            “And Ragnarock?” Gendou asked.

            “Well, first off, his blood is LCL.  Which is strange enough on its own.  He also possesses three different DNA strands.  Human, Angel, and – you’re not going to believe this – what looks like what Evangelion DNA would look like.”

            “How is that possible?”

            “I don’t know,” Shigeru replied.

            “Which strand is dominant?”

            “Both the human and Angel strands.  It seems as if the EVA DNA is being repressed by the other two.”

 

NERV lounge

 

            “Just out of curiosity, why’d you defy Gendo?”

            When Rei didn’t respond, Shinji sighed and began picking at a loose chip of plastic on the arm of the chair he was sitting in.  After several long moments, Rei finally spoke.

            “I don’t know why.  It just felt like the right thing to do.”

            “No offense, but since when did you care what the right thing to do was?  I recall you followed Gendo’s every order as if it were a direct command from God.”

            “I had some advice from a friend.”

            “Glad to see you used it,” a voice stated from behind the two pilots.

            They turned around to see Raiu standing in the doorway, his left arm in a makeshift sling.  He walked over and sat in a seat between the two young teens.  They noticed a slight limp in his right leg.

            “So, how was your fight with the Angel?”

            “Actually,” Shinji began, “we didn’t do any fighting whatsoever.”

            “Eh?”

            “A black dragon we’d encountered the day you arrived was already fighting the Angel, if it was even that.  The black dragon defeated the Angel.  Unfortunately, the Angel got away.  The rest – well, I think you should ask Rei about it.  I’ll see you two later.”

            With that, Shinji left.  Raiu looked at Rei, who was gazing out the window away from Raiu.

            “Are you?”

            Rei spun around and stared at Raiu in surprise.  Her mind had been replaying the incident with Ragnarock.  She’d just gotten to the point that the strange voice had said, “Are you?” when Raiu asked her the same question.

            “Am I what?” Rei asked in a quaking voice.

            “Gendo’s puppet.”

            “Not anymore,” Rei sighed.

            “So, after Ragnarock defeated the white dragon, what happened?”

            “How did you know his name and what the other Angel looked like?”

            “Well, duh.  I saw the Angel before you and I came back to base.  And this wasn’t my first stop here.  I went down to the docking bay first.  But, by then, Ragnarock had left.  Another engineer filled me in vaguely about what had happened after you three got back.  But, from the sound of Shinji’s voice, something else happened.”

            “Gendo ordered me to kill Ragnarock.”

            “But, obviously, you didn’t.”

            “I finally decided to live as my own person.”

            Raiu smiled wholeheartedly at that.

            “And you’re talking more.”

            “Yeah.  Thank you.”

            “For?”

            “The advice.  I finally feel . . .”

            “Complete?”

            “No, not yet, just . . . free.” Rei sighed. “What happened to you out there?”

            “Got tagged by some falling debris.  Busted my arm, dislocated my hip, and hyper-extended my knee.  I’m surprised I was even able to walk back after the motorcycle got totaled under a small building.  It’ll be healed in a few hours to a day at the most.  One of the ups of being genetically engineered.  Oh, yeah!  I almost forgot.  The engineer said that Ragnarock spoke to them just before he left.  He said ‘Tell Rei thank you.  She’s the only person to ever show me kindness.’”

 

NERV lab

 

            “Find out all you can about Ragnarock.  Also, if he’s on our side, and can shape shift, I want to know who he is.”

            “Yessir!” Maya, Hyuga, and Shigeru stated in unison.

            With that, the three turned back to their computer consoles and began working.  Gendo walked out of the room, his thoughts travelling along a single track.

            If I can find a way to clone that creature, I can make an army of mindless drones.  I won’t need the EVAs and their insubordinate pilots then.

 

Rei’s apartment, that evening

 

            Rei lay on her bed, thinking about the strange voice that had spoken to her before she defied Gendo.  She looked out the window and watched the sunset as Raiu’s words penetrated her thoughts once again.

            You are your own person.

            Am I now?

            Free will.

            But at what cost?

            Able to make decisions.

            What if I choose wrong though?  Did I make the right decision in defying Commander Ikari?

            On your own.

            By myself?

            Another look of determination crossed Rei’s face again as she asked herself that.

            No.  I have friends.  Shinji, Asuka, Hikari, Misato, the others.

            “Raiu,” the strange voice stated in Rei’s mind.

            Huh?

            “You list your friends, and yet Raiu is absent from that list.”

            I hardly know him.

            “Is he not a friend of yours?  Perhaps your closest friend.”

            My closest friend?

            “You are blind and deaf then.”

            Blind?  And deaf?

            “Yes.  Do you not see how he acts around you?  The emotions in his voice when he speaks of you and to you?”

            I see a person that is a great mystery.  I hear what I guess an old brother would sound like.

            “Well, then.  Either you are blind and deaf, or Raiu does not know how to express himself.”

            Who are you?

            “Someone close to you and Shinji.”

            What is your name?

            “How do you feel about Raiu?”

            I don’t know.  But – who are you?!

            “And here I thought you’d changed.  Became someone that knows who they really are.  Able to tell what they feel for someone.”

            Raiu?

            “No.  Someone else.  You and Raiu will need each other’s strength in the near future.  Know what you feel for people or you may lose them.”

            How do you know all this?  How are you able to speak to me like this?

            When the voice didn’t give a reply, Rei stood up and walked over to the phone.  She dialed the number for Misato’s apartment.  After several rings, the phone is finally answered.

            “Hello?” a female voice asked.

            “M-Major Katsuragi?”

            “Yes?  Who is this?”

            “Ayanami.”

            “Oh, hello, Rei.  How are you?”

            “I’m well.” Rei answered. “Is . . . Raiu there?”

            “No.  Whatever gave you that idea?”

            “I just thought he would be there since –”

            “Since he’s underage and doesn’t have a home, right?”

            “Y-yes.  I apologize.”

            “Don’t.” Misato stated. “It’s understandable.  You might try NERV HQ.  He could still be there.”

            “I will,” Rei replied before hanging up.

            After a few minutes, Rei dialed the number for the NERV control room.  Halfway through the first ring, the line was connected.

            “Yes, what?” an impatient voice snapped.

            “Hello –”

            “Who is this?” Rei recognized the voice as Maya Ibuki, albeit sounding busy.

            “Rei Ayanami.  Is Raiu Kusanagi there?”

            “No.  He left soon after you did.  I’m quite busy and can’t talk right now.  Goodbye.”

            “Wait!” Rei stated quickly. “Doesn’t he stay at NERV at night?”

            “No.  We don’t know where he goes when he’s not here.  Now, I have to go!  Goodbye.”

            Before Rei could say anything else, the line was disconnected.  The young girl had a sudden idea of where he might be.  The only problem was transportation.  Rei dialed Misato’s number again.

 

Orchard

 

            Raiu leapt from treetop to treetop, performing stunts a master acrobat would envy.  Hard as he tried though, his mind would not stay empty of brooding thoughts for long.

            Why was I so worried when I saw that creature holding Rei?  I was worried about Shinji as well, but still.  It was nothing compared to my feelings for Rei.

            His own words began ricocheting back and forth in his head.

            I’m here to protect you.

            But will I always be?

            Just stand up to your fears, and you can accomplish anything.

            How could I say that when I can’t even stand up to my own fears?

            I’ll help you with emotions.

            Bullshit.  How can I tell someone what emotions are when I don’t even know what most of them feel like.

            You just have to do what feels right.

            Some great advice giver I am.  I don’t even know what my feeling toward Rei are.  And here I’m telling her to face her fears and do what she feels is right.

            I’d have to say . . . dying alone.

            When those words echoed in his mind, Raiu shuddered.

            No one to acknowledge my death and remember me.

            It would be as if I never existed.

            No one to tell them I love them with my last breath.

            Oh, God.  What have I done to deserve this?  First, I’m brought here after losing everything I once knew.  Then, I’m not even sure how much longer I’ll be around.

            No one to tell them I love them with my last breath.

            How do I feel about Rei?

            Raiu jumped off the tree and landed mere inches away from something slightly smaller than himself.

            “AAAHH!!!”

            Raiu looked up to see Rei staring at him in fear.  He quickly stood up and stepped back a couple of feet.

            “Rei!  I’m so sorry.  I didn’t realize you were down here!”

            Rei calmed herself before replying.

            “No.  It’s my fault.  I should have tried calling your name.  I apologize.”

            “Alright.  So we were both in the wrong.  Let’s forget about it, eh?”

            “Alright,” Rei stated, smiling slightly.

            “What are you doing out here anyway?”

            “Looking for you.”

            “How’d you know I’d be out here.”

            “I didn’t.  I just had a feeling you would be.”

            Still unsure of what to say, Rei remained silent for several moments.

            “Let’s go sit down by that tree, eh?” Raiu suggested.

            Once the two had sat down, Rei turned to Raiu and started speaking.

            “Raiu, I – I . . .”

            Raiu looked at her questioningly, as if asking her to continue.

            “I, I . . . Ugh, why is this so hard to say?!”

            Rei took several deep breaths then continued, looking straight ahead.

            “Raiu, I – I . . . what I want to say is . . . I have feelings for you.  I, I’m not sure what the feeling is, but I think it is love.”

            Rei looked back at Raiu, only to see a small drop of red liquid running down the same path a tear would.  Raiu bit his lower lip and leaned his head back, taking his shades off in the process.

            “Raiu, wha – what’s wrong?”

            “You have no idea how painful it is to say this, but I – I can’t risk what might happen.”

            “What are you talking about?”

            “I can’t risk what might happen if I say I feel the same way toward you.”

            “What could be wrong with two people loving each other?” Rei asked, dumbfounded.

            Raiu stood up and turned away from her.

            “You don’t understand.  I just can’t.”

            Without speaking, Rei stood and slowly backed away from the older teen.  Soon, she was in an all out run from him until she got back to Misato’s car.  Rei jerked the door open and jumped in.  She shut the door and curled up in a ball on the seat.  Misato looked at Rei curiously, but before she could say anything, Rei cut her off.

            “Just take me home,” the blue haired teen hissed through her tears.

            It took all of Raiu’s willpower just to keep from running after her and telling her how he felt.  He turned back to the tree he’d sat beneath only moments before with a look of pure rage.  With a single kick, Raiu broke the five-foot-thick tree in half.  He then proceeded to demolish the falling tree with a flurry of punches and kicks.  Once he was done, he sat down among the debris and cried for several minutes.

            “Why?” Raiu asked no one in particular. “Why me?!  WHY?!  DAMMIT, WHY?!?!  ALL I WANTED WAS A NORMAL LIFE!  COULDN’T YOU EVEN GIVE ME THAT?!”

            Raiu suddenly remembered something he’d forgotten upon arriving in Japan.  He smiled grimly and stood up.  Raiu turned toward the city and started walking.

            “They will have a fighting chance.”

 

EVA docking bay

 

            “And this is the EVA docking bay,” Maya finished.

            “Impressive.” The pale teen following Maya stated. “Your engineers must be very talented to design armor that good.”

            “You could tell the quality of the armor just by looking at it?!” Hyuga stammered. “You are good.  Actually, it was just one person that designed the armor.  He signed on with us not too long ago.”

            “Would his name happen to be Raiu Kusanagi?” the pale child asked.

            “How’d you know that?” Shigeru asked.

            While the boy paused, Maya took another look at him.  White hair, pale skin, grey outfit, blood red eyes.

            Just the opposite of Raiu, Maya mused to herself.

            “Because.  I’m his brother.”

            “Bullshit.  My brother is dead.”

            The four people looked over to see Raiu walking toward them.

            “If you are my brother, prove it.  When you were dying, what did you say to me?”

            “Live.”

            Raiu sighed and shook his head, then extended his hand.

            “Good to see you again, Kea.”

            The pale youth took Raiu’s hand and shook it.

            “Good to see you as well, Raiu.”

            “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some work to do.”

            “Anything I could help with?” Kea asked.

            “No.  I don’t need help for this.  Besides, you know I prefer to work on my own.”

            I just hope he and I can keep up this charade long enough, Raiu thought to himself.

 

NERV Hospital, the next day

 

            Shinji sat next to Asuka’s bed yet again.  This time however, he said nothing, only stared at her face and gripped her hand.  So intently was he staring at Asuka that he didn’t notice the sounds of two sets of footsteps approached the room.  The two people entered the room and stopped suddenly when they saw Shinji sitting there.

            “Hey, man,” Kensuke stated.

            Shinji looked up, startled, to see Kensuke and Touji watching him.  He quickly released Asuka’s hand and rubbed the back of his head nervously.

            “Hey, guys.  What brings you here?”

            “Not much.” Kensuke replied. “Just checkin’ on Touji’s sister.”

            “How’s she doing?”

            “The same.” Touji coldly answered. “What are you doing here?”

            “Don’t have anything better to do, so, here I am.”

            “Don’t you have any tests to do with the EVAs?” Kensuke inquired.

            “Not since Raiu redesigned the EVAs.” Shinji said. “All we have now is an occasional practice outside city limits to keep from getting rusty.”

            “Hey, wait.” Touji interrupted. “Who’s Raiu?”

            “He’s a new engineer that volunteered to work for us a few weeks ago.  He totally redesigned the pilot-EVA interface, armor, and weaponry of the EVAs.”

            “Good for you,” Touji sneered.

            Kensuke snapped his head up to look back at Touji.

            “What is your problem?!”

            “What problem?”

            “He’s still pissed at me from when EVA-01 destroyed EVA-03,” Shinji stated.

            “Get over it!” Kensuke exclaimed. “Don’t you know Shinji didn’t have a choice in the matter?!”

            “He was piloting EVA-01 at the time.  He could have stopped it.”

            “No.” Shinji sighed. “I couldn’t.  Gendo activated the Dummy Plug and disconnected me from EVA-01.  If you can’t accept that, then this is goodbye.”

            With that, Shinji walked out of the room, ignoring his two friends.

 

NERV HQ

 

            Rei was numbly walking down a hallway when she barely heard a muffled thud come from a nearby room followed by unrecognizable voices.  She crept over and put her ear to the door.  Suddenly, Rei jerked her head up as if she’d just woken up.  She looked around to see that she was lying against the wall.  Rei opened the door to the room she’d heard the sounds come from.  When all she saw was an empty room, she scratched her head in confusion, then continued down the hall, her thoughts akin to a hurricane.

 

EVA docking bay

 

            “What do you mean, ‘he’s in charge’?!” Raiu roared.

            “I meant what I said.” Gendo replied calmly. “Kea is now in charge of EVA upgrading and maintenance.  You will answer to him as you answer to me.”

            “In case you haven’t noticed, you old geezer,” Raiu snarled, “I don’t answer to you.  I bet you don’t even know half of what the EVAs are equipped with.”

            As the two argued, Kea watched in amusement.  Gendo glanced at him before continuing.

            “I don’t care right now.  You can either work under him, or you can leave now and never come back.”

            “Heh.  Well then.  Since you put it that way.  I either continue working on the EVAs by myself, or I can dismantle them all right now.  Leaving you up shit creak without so much as a boat.  Get my drift?”

            “There’s no way you can dismantle an EVA.” Gendo countered. “Besides, my men would shoot you down in an instant if I gave them the order.”

            “I’ll take you up on that bet.  Get one of your best marksmen in here with an M-16 and I’ll prove how futile that would be.”

            Gendo pulled out a walkie-talkie and turned it on.

            “Don’t argue with him, Gendo.” Kea stopped him. “I’ve seen what he can do.  Dodging bullets would be no problem for him.”

            “Fine then.” Gendo growled. “But, Kea will at least work with you on the EVAs.”

            “He works under me and it’ll be fine by me,” Raiu stated.

 

NERV Hospital

 

            Soon after Touji and Kensuke had left, a slight shift in Asuka’s monitoring system could be noticed.  Her slowed heart rate and breathing began to slowly speed up.  Later that night, Shinji came back and sat down in the chair.  Nervous, Shinji fidgeted for several moments, then got up enough courage to walk over to the bed.  He leaned down, staring at Asuka’s face.  He pressed his lips to her cheek and slowly stood up.

            Shinji reluctantly sat down in the chair again and continued watching her.  It wasn’t long before he fell asleep.  Finally, around midnight, Asuka’s vitals were back to normal.  Her eyelids fluttered rapidly as her head began moving side to side and her hands gripped the sheets over her until the knuckles turned white.  Almost half an hour later, Asuka jerked upright and gasped.

            She looked around and saw nothing but shadows.  Asuka’s hand raised to her cheek as if she had and could still feel Shinji’s kiss.  Once her eyes had adjusted to the minimal light, she looked around again.  This time, she was able to see shapes and lights, like the heart monitor, the digital clock that read 12:39, the –

            “What the . . .” Asuka whispered.

            She took a closer look and could barely make out Shinji’s sideways face as it lay on the small table at which the chair sat.  Asuka smiled at the thought of him staying there with her but then thought again.

            Why would he stay here?  And for me of all people?  After all, I have been really mean to him.  Whoa, I’m thinking this?  Could it be that I really . . .

            “No.” Asuka whispered. “Not a chance.”

            Nonetheless, the young red head stayed awake the rest of the night, thinking.

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