Author: Harley Jameson | Banner: Vincent Rodger

Sluggishly sitting up, Asuka reached over to check the time on her phone and sighed through her nose. It was just after six in the morning. She glanced down at the still sleeping Rei next to her and carefully wormed her way out of bed and re-adjusted the covers so the other girl could stay sleeping a little while longer. It’s not as if she was an early riser even on good days, she thought to herself.

Still, it gave her uninterrupted time to get herself ready for the day and make breakfast for the both of them. Thanks to how long she showered to maintain her hair, by the time she was dried off, dressed, and making breakfast Rei would hopefully be up by then. If not…. well, there were always leftovers and re-heating, she supposed.

Stepping out of the shower and sitting down on the rim of the tub, her phone buzzed and she reached over to see who it was and turned on the video call and set her phone somewhere where the recipient couldn’t see all of her. “Hey loser.” She smiled good naturedly.

“Morgen, Asuka!” A bright and chipper voice spoke through the other end. It was still odd hearing Shinji sound so happy and carefree but she couldn’t deny the extended vacation he was taking was doing him a world of good. She smiled a bit at the little video screen.

“Ah, endlich in Deutschland angekommen?” She asked him, snickering in amusement as she watched him fumble through a phrasebook and frowning. It was nice to speak her mother tongue again, even if he didn’t really understand her. “You must have just gotten off of the plane, it’s pretty late there isn’t it?” She continued in Japanese.

He nodded a little, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. “Y-Yeah we did. Kaworu’s at the hotel checking us in right now, I just went off with Mari to get something to eat.” A hand stuck into view to wave before disappearing. “I’ll have to ask for good recommendations from you later, right now we’re just getting something cheap and easy.” Quietly, she always wondered how on earth Shinji managed to pull both of them but she never had the guts to ask.

“Don’t worry, I’ll make sure you know all of the best foods to eat,” She waved at him lazily. “Just don’t overindulge on the beer alright? We know how to drink.” She snorted, even though she herself had never actually gotten to drink back in her home country. She hadn’t been back since…

Well, since she was a teenager and had been recruited to the Japanese branch of NERV. It made her chest feel somewhat tighter knowing that she had been away for so long. Already an adult – hell she was nearly 30 now – and still sticking in Japan.

At least the work wasn’t boring, she mused to herself. Ever since the whole fiasco with the tenth angel (or was it fourteenth? She lost track of how many of the damn things there were anymore) and having to basically rebuild NERV from scratch while Shinji took a long overdue vacation after things had finally settled down, a global tour! With all of the backpay they were given when they turned 18, none of them really needed to worry about money ever again.

Her beloved Eva 02 was one of the few still fully operational at the time and as such she had been working night and day with whatever they had needed. It was actually pretty nice, using her powerful machine to help with construction or other tasks that would require it. And then the angels had either stopped or slowed down significantly. Asuka only half-listened as Shinji detailed some of his plans for their time in Germany.

“I’ll let you get some sleep, Shinji.” She said after a while. “Tell Mari I say hi, and tell Kaworu to use some freaking sunscreen next time.” The picture he had sent her while they were on the cruise ship of Kaworu’s pale features being a bright red still made her cackle from time to time.

“Tell Rei I’ll call later when we’re up, alright?” She nodded absently and turned the phone off before checking the time and slipping her eyepatch back on before getting dressed and into the little kitchen space. After some minor debate, she decided on a healthy European breakfast this time. Eggs, bacon, sausages, the works. Working two pans on the stove, Asuka couldn’t help but laugh a little at how domestic she had really become over the years, but years of therapy had worked wonders. Now she was able to keep that legendary temper of hers in check or directed in the right direction. Most of the time. Her therapist had recommended that she keep a mental or physical checklist of stuff that made her happy to counterbalance what made her angry and it worked wonders.

Asuka took a deep breath as the rich scent of bacon, eggs, and sausage being fried filled the little home she and Rei had bought for themselves. She cooked the bacon with the sausage, one of the few things she remembered clearly about her mother before her health took a nosedive.

Two slender, pale arms wrapped around her waist and she felt Rei’s hot breath against her neck as she nuzzled against her hair. “Smells good.” The other pilot murmured against her skin.

Asuka gave a little laugh, swirling around the grease in the bacon and sausage pan. “Do you mean the food or me, Schatzi?”

“Both.” Rei hugged Asuka tighter for a few moments before reluctantly pulling herself away. “I should go shower.”

“Breakfast will likely be ready by the time you’re out.” Asuka agreed, scooting some of the eggs with her spatula. “What do you want to drink with the food?”

“Anything will do.” Came the somewhat detached, flat tone. Out of the corner of her eye, Asuka watched Rei disappear back upstairs and sighed to herself.

What had been eating at her partner lately? Ever since Eva 00’s repairs were finally finished and was deemed field worthy, Rei had seemed so… off somehow. Asuka hadn’t been able to pinpoint what was going on, only noticing that she was slipping further and further back into habits that she used to have when they were in high school. She remembered was Rei was like in high school, and the thought of her treasure backsliding into that lifeless husk again scared her more than she wanted to admit.

Her phone rang out again to break her out of her stupor, the ringtone she set for Misato was as loud and obnoxious as the now head of NERV often was when off duty. Picking up the phone, she set it on speaker. “Mornin’ boss.”

“Morning Asuka!” Misato sounded far too chipper for the hour even if it wasn’t that early yet. “I know that you and Rei have the day off but as soon as you can I need you to come down to Terminal Dogma and get ready to suit up.”

Asuka frowned a little at that as she flipped the bacon and made sure the sausage got in with the fat. “What for? It’s not an angel is it?” Suddenly she felt her shoulders tense at the possibility.

“No! No no. Trust me if it was an Angel then things would be way more hectic. It’s just… well it’s kind of hard to explain over the phone. It’ll be easier to brief you both in person. But there’s not a big rush! Just finish up breakfast and come down. See you in a bit!”

Well, so much for her plans for the day. Rei, having rechanged into her pajamas, gave her a kiss on the cheek in thanks before sitting down. Then she cocked her head at Asuka. “What’s the matter? You look annoyed.”

The German scoffed as she munched on her bacon. “Misato just called us in. Said that after we’re finished eating we have to go down to Terminal Dogma to suit up. Didn’t want to tell me over the phone why though.”

Rei hesitated as she brought a forkful of egg and some bacon to her mouth and a tiny frown creased her forehead. Her tone was still flat, but Asuka could detect some anxiety in it. “…It’s not an angel, is it?”

She reached over to grab Rei’s free hand and squeezed it gently, running her thumb over the back of her hand. “No, liebe, it’s not. Whatever it is, it doesn’t seem to be that important.” Rei nodded, squeezing Asuka’s fingers briefly before pulling away to keep eating.

Asuka was happy to note down in her mental checklist that Rei had indeed eaten the entire meal as they made their way to work. That was another thing to add on the happy checklist for the day, she decided. The idea of going to work. It felt so… normal, in a way. She liked having a life that wasn’t constantly surrounded by chaos and esoteric alien bullshit.

Changing into the plugsuits, Asuka let out a low whistle when she saw Rei. “Looking good Rei.”

She rolled her eyes fondly. “You always say that.”

Grinning cheekily, she walked over to her partner and bumped their hips together. “And I always mean it. You looked good in it when we were teenagers and you’ll look just as good when we’re old crones.”

Instead of the desired result of getting her to smile, Rei instead grimaced a bit. “Mmm, yeah.” She immediately forced herself to smile a little though, and nudged Asuka’s hips back gently. “You look even better in yours though.”

Deciding to let it slide for now, Asuka hummed thoughtfully. “I think it’s just the red. I don’t think white suits you very much.” She looked Rei up and down, frowning. “What about getting a paint scheme to match your Eva? The blue would look great on you. Or you could try orange.” She smiled at her teasingly.

Rei’s nose wrinkled at that as they kept walking towards the briefing room. “The orange looked awful on 00.” Then she looked down at her plain white suit and pursed her lips. “…You think the blue would look good on me?”

“We can go clothes shopping once work is done and I’ll show you what I mean. But Rei…” Sitting down, Asuka pulled Rei close and whispered softly in her ear. “You look good in anything.” Then she released her, watching with a smug satisfaction the way Rei’s face lit up crimson.

Some more soldiers and scientists shuffled into the briefing room, giving both women some hellos before Misato walked into the room and cleared her throat. “Thank you everyone for coming at short notice, especially our two Eva pilots.” She chuckled a little, rubbing the back of her head. “I realize this briefing is rather sudden but I’m afraid it is urgent.”

It was always amazing to watch Misato go from the happy-go-lucky all smiles boss to the hardened, serious military leader so quickly. “Lights!” The whole room went dim and a giant holographic display of Old Tokyo was formed in front of everyone present.

“As some of you may be aware, recently there has been a construction effort to drain more of the water submerging Old Tokyo to make room for an expanded landfill.” The display shifted to show the estimated size of the increased landfill. “It was during the process that some unknown cocoon or chrysalis was discovered.” A huge, egg-shaped mark was plopped in on the display. “After an initial investigation, we were able to determine that it is not an Angel. However, whatever this strange cocoon is, it is clearly alive and housing some kind of creature. With that in mind, the Japanese government has asked NERV to investigate this strange entity.”

“Why ask us to investigate? If it’s not an angel, it’s not in our jurisdiction.”

“You’re absolutely right. However, after the incident with Jet Alone along with the recent approval for Evangelion Unit 00 to return to active field duty, the fact is that the Evangelions are the only machines capable of dealing with any potential problem that may arise. As it happens, this strange entity is emitting an EMP pulse at regular intervals which under normal circumstances would render any electronic equipment completely unusable. However…”

The display updated again, this time showing the EMP pulses surrounding the cocoon. “The Evangelions are capable of running without power if needed, as well as both of our Evas having been modified to be able to withstand EMPs more readily after having to launch them manually after dealing with the Eleventh Angel. The battery packs have been brought out of storage for this mission specifically.”

Asuka briefly shivered at the memory of that incident. In the middle of reconstruction after the 10th Angel’s attack, the 11th Angel had shown up. She could still remember those unblinking, haunting eyes staring down at her as they executed the plan to kill it with what minimal resources they had left.

The projection scaled back a little to show where NERV forces and the two Evangelion units would be positioned. “As we’re unaware of what this entity is capable of, Unit 00 will be positioned above the ground with the rest of the troops while Unit 02 will lead the investigation underwater. Asuka, while you should be safe inside the plug, you’re going to be given some diving equipment before you sortie just in case. Are there any questions so far?”

Asuka glanced over at Rei, noticing how her hands were balled into fists. She couldn’t really blame her, Rei seemed to be getting more anxious every time they went on missions. It started to remind her of Shinji and how nervous he would always get. It was kinda cute, knowing Rei was so worried about her safety. She scooted over, whispering softly. “I’ll be okay.”

Rei’s eyes flickered to Asuka, lingering on her eyepatch for longer than was probably necessary. Asuka frowned, squeezing her thigh. “I’ll be fine, Rei. I’ll be careful.” Rei didn’t respond, instead focusing her attention back to Misato.

“What do we do if the entity is hostile?” She asked.

Misato hummed a little at Rei’s question. “That unfortunately, will be difficult to determine. We won’t be going in as equipped for combat as I would like to be and there’s some other organization in the UN preventing us from doing so. I don’t remember the name off the top of my head, but our official orders are that we’re to determine if this strange cocoon is close to hatching and if so, if the creature within is a potential threat to the country.”

Asuka folded her arms and scoffed a bit. “What exactly constitutes a threat in this situation?”

Misato shrugged at that, but there was a dangerous gleam in her eye. “That is something we get to determine for ourselves. And I don’t know about any of you, but I for one am not willing to take any chances. If something even remotely resembling a threat or a problem happens, we’re to treat it as if it were an Angel attack and use all of our available resources to take it down. Is that clear?”

There was a chorus of agreements and Misato clapped her hands together. The holographic projectors cut out and the lights dimmed back on. “Alright everyone, that’ll do it for now. You all have your assignments. Asuka, Rei, I’ll get in contact with you over the comms when you’re in your Evas, okay? Dismissed!”

As everyone filed out of the room, Asuka grabbed Rei’s arm and held her back as they walked towards their respective hangers. “Rei, liebe, are you alright? You seem… more anxious than normal about this.”

Rei didn’t respond for a moment, reaching up to grab Asuka’s hand and squeeze. “I’ll tell you after the mission.” She mumbled, purposefully avoiding looking at her lover as she quickly headed towards Eva 00’s hanger.

Watching her go, Asuka suddenly felt the cold feeling of dread wash over her as she made her way into Eva 02’s hanger. In addition to the plugsuit, she was given a scuba tank and mask in the event something went wrong. Shivering as she was submerged in the plug and injected into the mighty machine, Evangelion Unit 02 hummed to life as she prepared it for sortie. “Give me strength, mother.” She whispered softly.

Something was wrong with Rei, and she was going to find out what it was. Those thoughts kept her distracted as she carefully climbed Eva 02 onto the loading bed of a giant transport truck and knelt it down, sitting back to watch the cityscape of Tokyo-3 disappear into the countryside as they were en route to Old Tokyo.

The silence was getting to her, and she leaned over to flicker on the radio and hail Eva 00. “Rei, I almost forgot. Shinji called while you were still asleep this morning.” She tapped her fingers nervously against one of the controls. “He said he’d call you sometime later tonight. So you get to look forward to telling him all about this little adventure huh?” She laughed a little to fill the dead air, her nerves starting to get the better of her as Rei didn’t say anything back.

Mercifully, Misato’s voice crackled into life to help fill the tension. “Ohh? Glad to hear he’s made it to Germany safe and sound then! Kinda hard to believe he’ll still be gone for a while on his whole World Tour thing. Is he still sending his dad postcards?”

“I think so,” Asuka said, happy to have someone to talk to to take her mind off of the storm she felt brewing. “I know that Kaworu would probably want to send the old bastard some cards to his cell out of spite if nothing else.” Asuka remembered the dramatic and sudden ousting of Gendo Ikari from a position of power during the middle of reconstruction had nearly caused the whole thing to cave in on itself. After old man Fuyutsuki blew the whistle, Gendo was immediately hauled to jail. When asked why, Fuyutsuki simply said that he couldn’t stomach what Gendo had planned anymore.

“Mmm, that sounds like Kaworu. But I think if Shinji’s doing this then maybe he’ll actually go visit Gendo once his vacation’s over. He’s certainly grown into a capable man.” Asuka raised an eyebrow at the almost wistful sigh Misato gave at that. “Hopefully Gendo’s as proud of him as I am.”

Asuka nodded at that. It took her years and lots of therapy for her to actually tell Shinji just how much he meant to her as a friend without backhanding it out like her usual angry self. “I’m kind of jealous of him, actually.” She admitted after a moment. “I haven’t been able to…” She trailed off a little, unsure if she could rightly call Germany ‘home’ after being away for so long. “I haven’t been able to see my father and step-mother for a while.” She settled on.

Reconciling with both her father and step-mother had been the hardest moment of Asuka’s entire life. Rei had been her anchor back in those hectic, early days of adulthood. Not only was she trying to reconnect with her family, she was also coming out as a lesbian to them at around the same time. Asuka couldn’t remember the last time she cried so hard when her father said he still loved her and wanted her and her girlfriend to visit them back at home.

“Maybe after Shinji and his entourage gets back, you can take a vacation back to Germany for a bit?” Misato suggested. “I think getting some time to yourself and Rei would be a great idea, especially after we’re gonna be dealing with this weird situation.”

Asuka’s heart jumped in her throat at that. The idea of going to Germany with Rei on a proper vacation hit her like a rampaging angel. Sure, there were always plans in the back of her mind but for some reason hearing Misato say it so casually made it seem much more real. “Yeah, I think that’d be good for us.” She said quietly.

Misato cleared her throat and her tone was serious again. “Alright, it looks like you’re nearing the target location. You’ll be brought near the water’s edge and then you’ll have to dive in from there. The target isn’t too far down in the water mercifully, but I want you to be careful regardless Asuka. There’s a lot of unknowns going into this.”

She gripped the controls of Eva 02 tightly. “I’ll be careful.” She promised, knowing Rei could still hear them.

Once everyone got into position, Eva 02 stood up to her full height and looked around briefly. There were military and self-defence force personnel stationed on some of the ruined skyscrapers, and there were a few tanks lining the shoreline where the artificial shore had been built back up. Eva 00 stood like a statue, singular green eye glaring at the water.

“This is Unit 02. I’m going in.” Wading into the water, Asuka double checked her sensors to make sure they were all working as she was fully submerged beneath the still water. Very rarely did any of the Evangelion pilots need to put themselves underwater alongside their machines, but all of the Evangelion units had been designed to be somewhat capable of such unusual terrain. She had even been told that the Evangelion units were capable of submerging themselves in lava, but Asuka had always wondered why that sort of thing was even necessary. What kind of angel would be underwater?

As Eva 02’s feet touched the bottom of the flooded city, she switched on the external headlights and double checked her readings one more time. Something was off…she checked the geiger counter and cocked her head. “Misato, wasn’t Old Tokyo bombarded with nuclear missiles after Second Impact?”

“Yes it was, but it’s been so long since the incident that there’s no danger of radiation. Why?”

“Because I should be picking up some trace amounts of radiation from the fallout.” Asuka explained with a frown. “But I’m not picking anything up.”

“It’s possible that the floodwaters that came in after the whole event helped disperse the radiation.” Rei’s voice chimed in, and Asuka shivered at how detached she sounded. “Water is often used in nuclear reactors to help store spent fuel. The water helps shield the radiation.”

Asuka wasn’t entirely sure she bought that, but she felt it was better to humor her treasure in this instance. “Ahh I see, thank you for telling me Mein Schatzi. I’m continuing on towards the target.”

The underwater ruins were an eerie sight to Asuka. Rusted and corroded buildings half submerged in water and blackened by a point blank nuclear strike. There was no sea life around either, and the idea of anything growing in this kind of environment did nothing to calm her nerves.

It didn’t take long for Asuka to find the target and she paused to examine the thing in mild shock. It was as tall as a small building, nearly curling in on top of itself as an eerie, red light pulsed up the organic-looking tissue. She flicked on her radio and flinched when the static hissed through. “Misato, I found the target. It’s… a lot bigger than I thought it was going to be.”

The red lights on the chrysalis grew faster and then dimmed. Eva 02’s screen flickered a little and more static burst through the comms. “I don’t know if you can hear me, but I’m getting closer.” Cautiously, Eva 02 walked closer to the unknown dormant organism. The floodlights on Eva 02 blinked rapidly the closer she got. Just for a split second, she thought she saw movement.

Then a giant, spindly leg crashed out of the cocoon and slammed against Eva 02’s chest. Asuka grunted in pain and pulled back, Eva 02 taking a few steps back as the strange organism broke free of the cocoon and immediately darted for the surface.

“Oh no you don’t!”

Pulling out one of her prog knives, the water began boiling around the rapidly vibrating blade as Eva 02 surged forward, grabbing at the surfacing creature to drag it back down into the water. The creature squealed and writhed in Eva 02’s grasp, the prog knife just barely nicking one of its legs and blood clouded the water.

The creature reared up one of its legs and battered Eva 02 across the head and back to free itself, Asuka blinking rapidly to keep her focus sharp before the creature’s body flashed a sharp blue and… the world went black.

The EMP. Asuka quietly affixed the breathing apparatus she had been forced to bring onto her face as the cockpit shook violently and Eva 02 presumably crashed to the ground after being shoved away. She gripped the controls tightly, tapping her finger until the screen suddenly burst to life and the battery packs kicked in. After a brief check, the radios were still down and soon she was marching back onto dry land.

The closer she got to the surface, the clearer the war above her was. Bullets splashed against the water and she could hear the distant thunder of tank shells firing. There was another bright flash of blue and all of a sudden the screens flickered again as another EMP boomed out. Finally breaking through to the surface, she sucked in an unhappy breath to see Unit 00 grappling around with the strange creature.

Sprinting over, Unit 02 tackled the large creature off of 00 before grabbing Unit 00’s hands and pulling her back to her feet. The two nodded at each other, 02 unsheathing her other prog knife while 00 brought her own out and both turned to face down the strange creature together.

The radio hissed to life and at such close proximity they could finally break through. “What’s the plan?” Rei asked as the two machines edged around the dazed creature.

“If we can pincer attack it, we might stand a chance. It’s big and strong but kind of slow after just… hatching, more or less.” Her eyes unfocused for a moment and she shook her head again. “I probably have a concussion, too, so don’t mirror my movements that closely.”

“Asuka…” Rei’s concern bled through the static radio. “Maybe we should fall back for now and get better equipped, we only have our prog knives…” It wasn’t an awful idea, but Asuka knew why Rei was suggesting it.

“I’ll be fine for a little longer, Rei. Don’t worry. As long as we’re a little careful, we can take this thing down no problem. We’ve dealt with worse. We’re running out of time on the battery packs and we can’t let it escape, let’s move!”

Unit 02 ran forward with surgical precision and leaped over the creature while Unit 00 followed behind her, bearing down her prog knife and getting a decent slash against one of the creature’s many legs. It boomed out in pain and reared up to attack when Unit 02 jumped onto its back and grabbed the two front legs, yanking the creature backwards.

Rei watched as Unit 02 struggled against the creature, being thrown this way and that as she attempted to pin the legs down enough for her to get a clean attack against the creature. “Now, Rei!”

She hesitated. What if the creature moved at just the last second and she stabbed Unit 02? Asuka was already hurt, and what if her injuries got worse? What if Rei herself got hurt too badly? Then everything would-“REI!!” Asuka’s shout had broken her from her stupor and Unit 00 lurched forward on instinct, but it was too late, the creature had broken free and Unit 02 was thrown head over heel. All 00 could do was try to catch her, sending both of them crashing to the ground loudly.

As the two machines began scrambling to their feet, the creature suddenly jerked its head off to the side. Looking back at the two Evas, the creature turned away from them and began stomping off. Eva 00 moved to pursue but Eva 02 held out a hand. “Don’t.” She said quietly. As they watched the creature disappear, Misato’s voice finally burst through the radio.

“Rei! Asuka! Are you two alright? What the hell happened?”

Asuka cut Rei off before she could speak. “Some strange creature hatched from the cocoon and knocked us both out with a powerful EMP blast. It took us both off guard and we scrambled a bit to mount a proper counter-attack. Unfortunately, it escaped before we could really figure out what was going on.”

“Hmm… I see. Well, nothing we can do now. Come back to base and we’ll figure out what to do from here. I for one have to get on the phone with this ‘Monarch’ group or whatever they’re called and wring them for info. See you two in a bit.” The radio clicked off and there was silence as Unit 00 and 02 loaded themselves in the transport vehicles.

“Asuka…” Rei began. There was an uncomfortable silence for a moment, then Asuka sighed.

“Rei, let’s talk when we’re back at base.” She said quietly, before cutting the radio out. It hurt having to do that, but she also knew that it was something both girls had to do face to face and not over the radio. Asuka figured Misato didn’t buy the out she gave Rei but was grateful she took it regardless. Leaning, Asuka folded her arms, closed her eyes, and waited in silence as they journeyed home.

—

There was a small part of Asuka that was surprised that Rei was actually waiting for her outside the changing rooms. Asuka had taken a quick shower and changed back into some more comfortable clothing, and she had a fleeting worry that during that time, Rei would have fled for home to avoid the confrontation that was about to happen.

Asuka opened her mouth, but Rei took her hands and shook her head. “…Come with me.” And then began leading her off deeper in Terminal Dogma and into the elevators to take her down even further underground. As they rode down, Rei pulled Asuka to her in a tight, warm hug and nuzzled against her neck. “I’m sorry.” She breathed, sounding close to tears.

She held Rei back just as tightly, kissing the top of her head. “I just wish I could help you.” Asuka whispered back, and she meant with all of her heart. “I see you suffering and I don’t know why. I see you sliding back into how you used to be and I can’t stop it. You didn’t even use your AT field back there.”

The elevator jolted to a halt and Rei laced her hands with Asuka’s, pulling her out of the elevator. “Don’t tell anyone I brought you down here.” She said as they walked along the dark corridor. Asuka technically never had the clearance to be down here, but Rei at the moment didn’t quite care.

The tanks lining the walls lit up with an eerie orange glow. Pale bodies, some half-shapen, some full, with dead blank eyes and serene smiles on their faces twisted and writhed against one another in the tanks. Rei reached up a hand, fingertips touching the glass softly as she stared at her clones. “…You know I’m a clone.” She started. She felt Asuka’s arms around her waist as her gaze grew more haunted. “I was never meant to live this long.” Rei said quietly.

“I was made…” She frowned at the wording. “I was born for a specific purpose. Then I was to die, replaced by someone else who has my face and my name. I… was expendable.” She took a slow, shaky breath. Tears pricked her eyes. “But I have lived this long. I’ve survived into adulthood and that was never meant to happen. I wasn’t supposed to live, I wasn’t supposed to have friends. I wasn’t supposed to fall in love…” She hiccupped slightly, closing her eyes tightly. “And yet I have. I have so many wonderful people in my life. I have you.” She reached her hand down and squeezed Asuka’s hand.

“I have the one person in my life I cherish above all else. To wake up next to you every morning, to feel your skin against mine… you have given me everything.” Her shoulders shook. “And now I’m afraid of losing all of that now. I’m afraid of dying, everytime I get inside my Evangelion. Because I know that everytime we do, we risk dying. Every time an angel comes, we might not make it home.”

Rei leaned her forehead against the glass, tears staining it as the clones inside floated around lazily. “Will I be replaced if I die?” She asked aloud. “Will a new Rei step out of these tanks, a teenager again? I don’t… I don’t want that to happen to you. To have me gone and see another Rei take my place. To love me and show me what it means to live, only to have it all ripped away.”

“That’s why I hesitated. I was scared I would hurt you.” She sniffed and a few sobs broke out. “I couldn’t handle it by myself, I’m sorry. I don’t want to die and lose you, and you to lose me.” She turned and held Asuka close to her, sobbing against her chest. “I don’t want to be replaced!”

Asuka held Rei as she sobbed, her crying turning uglier as she held onto her lover for dear life. “Rei…” She sighed, stroking her back and kissing the side of her head. “Oh Rei… mein schönes Mädchen. You will never be replaced.” She took her own breath, pulling away so she could wipe Rei’s eyes with her thumbs and cupped her wet, tear-stained cheeks and leaned forward to press their foreheads together. “I love you and only you, Rei. That’s why I’ll do everything I can to protect you. From the angels, from the monsters, even yourself.”

“W-What if… what if you can’t?” Rei choked out. “What if we can’t…”

“We will.” Asuka countered firmly. “Just like you were there for me when I needed you the most, I’ll be here for you. I will be with you always, forever and ever. Even if you die, and even if another you steps out of these tanks… I will always love you.” She emphasized this point by kissing her cheeks. “And I’ll make sure you don’t die, because we haven’t gotten married yet and there’s still a lot to do.”

Rei stiffened in Asuka’s arms and she looked at her with wide, puffy-red eyes. “…You mean that?” She whispered. “You want to get married?”

Asuka hummed a little. “Not how I was intending to propose but… yes. I want to get married. To be bound to you for eternity and back.” She leaned in, her lips hovering over Rei’s. “Rei, will you marry me?”

Gripping Asuka’s shirt tightly, Rei opened her mouth and no words came out. Tears started spilling down her cheeks again. She kept trying to speak, until her vocal chords finally gave her the one word that she was so desperate to say. “Ja.” She leaned in, kissing Asuka roughly and emotionally. She held her beloved there, Asuka kissing her back and holding her close.

Deep down, Rei knew that she would have to seek professional help. As much as her lover did for her, Asuka could only do so much and Rei refused to be a burden on Asuka’s shoulders like that. That, however, could be dealt with later. All Rei wanted to be now is in Asuka’s arms.

“Let’s go home.” Rei murmured, and together they left the clone vats hands interlaced.

After eating dinner, both girls were laying in bed, Rei holding tightly onto Asuka and having her eyes shut. Asuka petted her hair gently, leaning back against the pillows and sighing. “I’ll have to go buy you a ring. I was planning on taking you out to your favorite place and surprising you with it. Oh well, I suppose it’s better this way.” She hoisted Rei up a little to whisper in her ear. “When this is over, and when Shinji gets back… I’ll take you out to Germany. Just you and me, okay?”

Rei nodded, laying her head on Asuka’s chest. “I’d like that, but…” The fear was still there. The fear of the angels, of these creatures. “What if that time never comes?”

Asuka was quiet for a moment, thinking over what to say next until it finally hit her. “Do you remember back when we were still in high school?” She asked, smiling a little when Rei blinked up at her in confusion, not sure what that had to do with their current conversation. Still, she answered. “Around when we got together.”

“A little.” She mumbled into her shoulder.

“I’m not surprised, we had just avoided Third Impact after all.” Asuka sighed and leaned back against the headboard a little. “I remember being worried sick about everyone after waking up in the hospital. I hadn’t even registered that I lost my eye until I could see all of you again.” She stroked Rei’s hair, humming.

“Shinji was in a bad way but stable, Mari and Kaworu were nowhere to be seen. And when I barged into your room…” She sighed a little as the memories came flooding back. “I saw you bandaged up and bruised. Shinji had told me that was how you looked when he was first recruited, but I was so stuck in my own head that I never really thought about it. I thought you were some hyper-competent robot girl. Invincible but emotionless.”

“Then I saw you laying there, sleeping. It was the first time I saw you looking so vulnerable. You almost looked fragile with how pale your skin was. I knew I was being unfair to you and I wanted to make it up somehow. Show my appreciation for you.”

She laughed a little at that, her hand moving up to touch the spot where her eye once was before bringing it back down. “So I sat down with you and helped you with your homework. I hung out with you at school and walked you home after class. To give you a sense of… Of normalcy I guess. After everything we went through, we deserved it. It wasn’t long after that I started seeing my therapist and she helped me realize something.”

Rei had been clinging onto every word her girlfriend was speaking, looking up at her now. “What?”

“That I loved you.” Asuka smiled knowingly at the memories. “I would go on and on about you to her. Talk about how frustrated I was that you never put yourself out there to find someone like Shinji did. Because you were a beautiful, wonderful girl and everyone else was too blind to notice.” She snorted a bit at herself. “That included me. Then she asked me one day out of the blue if I ever liked girls.”

“Naturally, I told her that I was as straight as an arrow, I had a crush on Kanji for the longest time… Then she asked me how I had talked about Kanji in the past. It was so embarrassing, love, to talk about that but she helped me realize my feelings by pointing out that I talked about you that way now.”

Cuddling Rei closer to her, Asuka kissed the top of her head before continuing her recollection. “It took me days of staring at my mirror and thinking over all of the times I thought about your smile, your laugh, your body.. To realize that I really was in love with you.”

Now it was Rei’s turn to smile. “It took me a while to realize my own feelings.” She said quietly. “I had never felt emotions like that before… Well, I should say I never let myself feel like that. I was terrified, I wasn’t sure what to do with myself. But when you confessed your feelings to me, I… I knew then that you were special to me. I just didn’t know how to figure it out.” She kissed her jaw. “You were so patient with me during that time. I was so shy and you were willing to take it slow, no matter how much it frustrated you. I could see it on your face sometimes, but every time I felt guilty I took it to mean my feelings were genuine. It took me a year before I finally had the guts to call you my girlfriend.”

Asuka let out a low, amused laugh. “You kissed me out of the blue during our graduation ceremony. I can’t think of a better gift than that. But you see, that’s why I brought this up. If it took us that long to finally be comfortable with… this.” She made an airy motion with her hand. “Then I don’t care how long it’ll take us to get a vacation. We will get it one day.”

Tilting Rei’s head up, she kissed her on the lips softly. “I made you a promise when you told me you wanted to try dating, Rei. I promised you that I would treat you like you deserved to be treated. And right now, you deserve to be treated like royalty. No Angels, no Evas, and no Monsters. Just you and me, going back home and enjoying ourselves. Okay?”

“Okay.” Rei whispered back, laying her head against Asuka’s chest. She wasn’t entirely sure if she could go to sleep, her anxieties were still raging within her, but now it was mixed with hope. Hope for the future and the two of them.

That was when Asuka carded her hand through Rei’s hair, and began humming softly.

“Ruhe, mein Liebling, schließe deine Augen.
Weine nicht und weine nicht.
Denk nur an unsere Bindungen.
Und lass mich dich in den Schlaf singen.
Die Engel können dir nichts anhaben.
Die Monster werden besiegt.
Und wenn du wegdriftest,
werden deine Träume süß sein.
Ruhe jetzt, mein Liebling.
Ich werde dich diese Nacht beschützen.
Versinke tief in deinen Träumen.
Und morgen heben wir ab…”

Asuka kept her voice soft and gentle. Although she wouldn’t call herself a good singer, Rei was fast asleep in her arms. Satisfied, she nestled down against the pillows and was soon off to sleep alongside her lover. The worries of tomorrow being temporarily forgotten.

—

Asuka was surprised to wake up to breakfast already cooked and set on a tray for her. She raised an eyebrow at Rei who shrugged and offered a little smile. “For yesterday.” She leaned in to peck her on the lips before sitting down on the edge, eating her own much lighter breakfast. “Misato called, said we had to come in as soon as possible. Not a flat out emergency, though.”

The German raised an eyebrow at her girlfriend as she dove into the food. “How long ago did she call?”

Rei’s smile grew a touch more mischievous and her tone lighter. “Before I made breakfast. About half an hour ago. You have plenty of time to eat and get dressed before we head out.” Upon closer inspection, Asuka had noticed that Rei hadn’t even changed out of her own pajamas. “Now please keep eating, we have a long day ahead of us after all.”

With a fond shake of her head, the two girls ate their breakfast and got dressed before heading to work and were greeted by a bemused Misato as they exited into Terminal Dogma. “You two took your time.” She said lightly, arms folded and raising an eyebrow. “Everything good between you two? Things are escalating and I need to make sure that you two are at 100%” She looked directly at Rei.

Rei stiffened slightly, but her eyes were sharp as she nodded. “We’re good.” She said firmly, and walked behind Misato towards the changing rooms. “What did you mean by things escalating?”

“It turns out that the creature you saw was part of a pair. Apparently, the one you fought was the female and the ruins of Tokyo-2 have recently been made into a nesting ground.” Both girls’ eyes widened a little as Misato continued. “I managed to use some connections to strong-arm this Monarch group into revealing the details for us. Naturally, they want to procreate and that’s apparently an apocalypse level scenario.”

“There is something that’s meant to be around to stop this sort of thing, but for whatever reason it’s not waking up and thus we’ve been given full authorization to treat this as an Angel and use any means necessary to stop them before the worst happens.” She held up a piece of paper. “Just got a report that the male stole a nuclear submarine, I don’t think I need to tell you why that’s not good. The male is the one with wings and can fly, so that’ll present another wrinkle to this operation. We’ve made sure to outfit both Evangelions with extra EMP protection after seeing the creature’s main weapon in action.”

Rei’s brow furrowed in thought as the two pilots entered the changing room and got into their plug suits. After putting on the last finishing touches, she walked over to Misato. “I have an idea.” She said, leaning in to whisper the plan.

Misato’s eyebrows rose in surprise. “You sure about that? It’ll put Asuka in a pretty dicey spot until you get what you need.”

“I’m sure. I won’t let her down.”

Slowly, the leader of NERV nodded her head. “Alright, I’ll let Asuka know what the details are en-route. Now go get in your Eva and I’ll make sure you two have all the arms you need.”

Loading themselves into the tubes, Misato resumed her position within the heart of Terminal Dogma and tapped on the radio. “Alright girls, listen up. Here’s what the plan is going to be. Asuka, you’re going to be going in there alone for a little while. I know that sounds crazy, but the goal here is to force the male to fly out into the open so Rei can get a clean shot with her sniper rifle. She’ll also be providing covering fire for you if things really get too hectic, but your priority is making sure she gets that shot off. Once the Male is neutralized, she’ll join the fight properly to assist you with taking down the female. Understood?”

“Understood.” They both replied. Rei spoke up next. “I won’t miss.”

Asuka only smiled. “I know you won’t, Schatzi.”

In the middle of Tokyo-2, two massive unidentified terrestrial objects were in the middle of a complicated mating ritual. The nuclear submarine lay at the heart of their nest, surrounded by dozens if not hundreds of eggs. Without the presence of the Alpha, the two’s brood would swarm the world. They nuzzled against one another, trilling happily.

A loud shot rang out and both MUTOs jerked back in alarm. The male squealed in pain as the large bullet from Eva 02’s pistol smashed into one of his legs. The female immediately bellowed in fury and went on the attack as Evangelion 02 dove to the side and sprinted after the male, firing more shots as the large creature spread his wings and took off into the air.

Raising her gun, Eva 02 instead whipped around and raised up its hands to form its AT Field, the two front forearms of the female smashing down on the barrier of energy as the EMP rippled across it. Immediately dropping the shield, Eva 02 fired a few point blank shots at the creature’s chest, pushing the female back with a squeal of pain and a splatter of blood.

The male swooped in from above, clawing at Eva 02’s shoulders with his claws in an attempt to grab the machine and lift it skywards. Flicking out one of her progknives, she slashed at his legs to force him to let go and aimed her pistol skywards, only to hear the click of an empty magazine. “Damn.” She hissed, throwing the useless pistol at the male. “This is Unit 02, requesting pallet rifle.”

“Pallet Rifle inbound, ETA 2 minutes Unit 02.”

Flicking out her other prog knife, she stabbed at the female who kept backing up, only to slam her claws down onto the ground and send an EMP Wave across the city. Evangelion 02 seized up, the prog knives flickering as their power was disrupted and the female tackled Unit 02 to the ground only to have Unit 02 roll with the attack and monkey-flip the female overhead and send her crashing back onto the ground.

“Good, the extra EMP protections we added are holding up.” Asuka thought to herself. A loud crash as the giant case holding the Pallet Rifle signalled its arrival as it smashed down onto one of the buildings. Ducking underneath the male’s attempts to grab her again, Eva 02 sprinted over and scaled the building as the case popped open and she quickly retrieved and loaded her rifle.

Crouching down, she aimed at the male and fired a neat series of bursts. A few bullets managed to hit home and the male staggered in the air, one bullet even clipping his wing. “That’s it.” She thought, reloading the rifle and firing at the female MUTO to ward her off as she approached the building, forcing her to retreat as the bullets ripped up the concrete.

“Follow me.” With a little grin, she jumped off of the building and latched onto one of the many half-finished skyscrapers, crawling up one-handed as she continually fired at the male MUTO wildly. The male screeched in rage, climbing higher into the sky as he circled the skyscraper and made occasional passes at Eva 02 with his claws.

The female marched up and began smashing the base of the skyscraper, intent on bringing it down as Eva 02 began clinging on for dear life, still firing at the MUTO as the machine kept climbing higher until she reached the apex. “Alright, Mein Engel.” She thought to herself. “It’s now or never.”

A few miles away, Unit 00 sat motionless. The large, heavy-duty sniper rifle nestled against its shoulder. The only movement was the occasional adjustment of the scope, and the slight shifting of the gun itself to account for aim.

It was tempting to fire off warning shots at the MUTOs as she watched the battle rage on through her scope, yet she kept her trigger finger steady and her nerves calm. She couldn’t afford to waste precious bullets or even worse, accidentally lure them to her position.

She trusted Asuka to get the job done, and she would do hers in turn.

Watching Unit 02 climb the skyscraper, Unit 00’s finger pressed itself against the trigger. Rei closed one of her eyes, leaning forward as she stared down the barrel of her mighty rifle and watched as the male MUTO started circling higher and higher out of the concrete jungle of Tokyo-2 and into the more open skies. “Just a little more..” She thought to herself.

Mentally, she went over all of the factors again. Calculating and adjusting her barrel accordingly to try and predict the circling motions the male was doing in the air. Bullet drop, air density, everything she could think of so she could nail that one perfect shot.

Finally, the male MUTO reached the apex of the building and soared around the top. The building was shaking as the female attempted to bring the thing down. The world faded away. Nothing else mattered in that moment than what was happening at that moment.

Now.

The shot exploded out like a thunderclap. In an instant, the bullet smashed through the male MUTO mid-flight and blew his head apart. Silently, the corpse angled downwards before crashing to the ground with a splattering, wet thud.

The female stopped what she was doing and immediately ran over to her mate. She trilled softly, nudging the corpse with one of her claws. As she got no response, she leaned down and nudged him again. No response. The corpse remained lifeless.

She wailed out in despair. A loud, howling wail that quickly turned into frothing, untold anger as she shrieked to the heavens. On some level, both Rei and Asuka could empathize with the creature’s despair. They knew that if the other had died, they would react the same way.

Placing her sniper rifle to the side, Unit 00 stood up. “This is Evangelion Unit 00.” Rei said into the comms. “The Male creature has been downed, now regrouping with Unit 02 to engage with the female. Misato, how long will I last with the battery packs?”

“About 5 minutes, give or take.”

“Good.” Yanking the umbilical cord out of its socket, Unit 00 leaped from her position and sprinted towards Tokyo-2. “I’ll be there shortly.”

The female was on a rampage, smashing everything in her path as she thundered towards Unit 02. Asuka stood calm and raised the AT Field to block the claws smashing down at her head but the female kept battering the forcefield, sending wave after wave of EMP energy in a frothing, desperate attempt to get at her mate’s killer.

Slowly reaching up one of her hands to her pylons, Unit 02 unsheathed one of her prog knives and quickly dropped the AT field, stabbing the female only for the claws to batter down against her head and knock the wind out of her.

Uncaring about the pain that suddenly flared in her chest, the female continued beating Eva 02 with her forelegs and claws, smashing into the machine over and over again and forcing her onto her hands and knees.

Raising her claws again, the female MUTO’s EMP energies sparked dangerously before she suddenly jerked to the side and shrieked in pain. Embedded in her back was a prog knife. Asuka’s vision swam but after shaking her head, she saw Eva 00 cradling her now smoking hand. The two machines looked at one another before they nodded and turned towards the female MUTO.

They circled around her like sharks, blood dripping from her back and her front as the vibrations of the knives racked her body with pain. She tried her best to keep her eyes on her mate’s killers but the blood loss was getting to her. She was going to die soon. Her brood would be unprotected.

She tried to move forward and found herself tripping over her shaky limbs, stumbling onto the ground and breathing raggedly. Blood seeped down onto the concrete below her. The female MUTO watched as the two machines walked over to her. The red one pulled out another knife.

Then there was blackness.

Unit 02 pulled her knife out of the skull of the now dead creature and retrieved the other two knives from the corpse. Once the weapons were safely back in their pylons, Eva 02 held out her hands and the escape hatch popped open.

A tired, sore, and still dizzy Asuka crawled out and sat down onto the palms of her Evangelion. She watched as Unit 00 mirrored her actions and soon Rei was sitting next to her. Her fingers looked burnt and raw.

Asuka clicked her tongue, grabbing Rei’s fingers and kissing the tips gently. “You didn’t need to do that.” She chided softly.

Rei hummed, clearly not caring as she brought Asuka close to her and kissed her head. “And you have a concussion, so I don’t want to hear it.” There was a small, almost smirk on her face as Asuka scoffed and rested her head in her lap. “Medical team will be here soon.” Rei assured her, brushing some hair out of her face.

“What about the submarine?” Asuka mumbled, closing her eyes as the throbbing pain in her head seemed to get worse. She could feel the dull ache behind her eyes.

“The JSDF can handle it,” Rei dismissed, wiggling her burnt fingers a little. “We were injured during the fight, after all.”

Asuka snorted in amusement. “You’re sneaky.”

“I learned from the best.”

They fell into silence as the distant sound of helicopters and tanks could be heard thudding into the city, and Asuka spoke up again. “Shinji’s gonna be unbearable when he next calls.” She groused, keeping her eyes screwed shut to help block out some of the pain. “We find out giant monsters are real and we kill two of ‘em. Sheesh…”

She smiled to herself as Rei burst into uncontrollable, happy laughter. She leaned against Rei as she laughed her head off and mentally began making plans to call her parents about setting up a guest room. The second Shinji got back to Japan, they were going to Germany.

Rei pulled Asuka in close and gave her a firm, delirious kiss on the lips. “I love you.” She whispered to her.

“I love you too.” She whispered back.

Winner: Evangelion Unit-00, Evangelion Unit-02