Child of Love-End of the Beginning chapter 2 This Chapter/episode is dedicated to the memories of actor DeForest Kelley, a.k.a. Dr. Leonard H. 'Bones' McCoy of the original Star Trek. All Trekkies and/or Trekkers will forever remember his passing. -"Damnit Jim, I'm a doctor, not a magician!" NEON GENESIS EVANGELION Chapter #2:0 Childhood acquaintance, long since forgotten/Haunting Memories Misato/Ikari residence Major Katsuragi Misato, Vice-Commander of NERV, checks herself out in the mirror for one last time. Her new uniform is not fitting as comfortably as it should, but that problem would have to be addressed later. It does however, give her an air of authority like never before. "Misato-san, why are YOU the one who's going?" asked Asuka, for the hundredth time in 3 days. Shinji is standing behind her, holding a sleepy Teri clad in pink baby clothes. It is an early Sunday morning, and they've all woke up early to see Misato off. "Because, Asuka, I am the Vice-Commander. And the Vice-Commander always gets the pointless assignments, so the Commander can take care of the more important ones" came the reply. Commander Fuyutsuki had pointed that fact out bluntly 3 days ago. "Besides, I'll only be gone for 3 days." "It's just that it'll be the first time you're away since when I was pregnant..." Shinji comforted Asuka by leaning closer to her. "Well, we've got a surprise for you!" said Shinji. Right then, the doorbell went off. The door slid open and revealed Hikari, Kensuke, and Touji. "Good morning!", they called out together, "we're here to see Major Katsuragi off." As soon as they finished the sentence, they all rushed to gather around the sleepy baby in Shinji's arms. "Awww...she's sooo cute!" "Thank goodness she looks more like Asuka, eh?" *smack* "Keep your voice down Suzuhara, you're gonna wake her up!" "But she is awak....aaaww my ear!" Misato is quickly forgotten. "Thanks for seeing me...off" she said with a melon size sweat drop on her head. The doorbell ringed again, this time the door opens to reveal Kaji. Who is his good-natured self. "Good morning all!" he said with a smile. "Awww...can't I hold her?" "Kensuke you can't hold anything bigger than a laptop or a BB gun" "WHAAAT? I'm very strong!" "Yeah, and Shinji's a man" "In bed he is probably quite an animal" "How vulgar!" *smack* "Not again!" Kaji was completely ignored. Misato walks past him and grabs his arm. "Let's get out of here..." The two adults left the kids, they are driving down through the city a minute later. The mood in the car is quite different from that of the apartment. "Thanks for the ride, Kaji" said Misato. "Anytime." He replied dryly. "You will check on the kids while I'm gone, right?" she thought for a second. "I can't help but think I forgot to tell them something..." --- Back at the apartment "Hey, Misato didn't say we can't have a party!" said Asuka. And there was much rejoicing. --- Misato suddenly felt cold, but shook the feeling off. "I'll keep an eye on the kids, they'll be fine" Kaji replied dryly. "Have you decided what to tell the Ministry of Interior?" she asked, turning to face him, "If they found out what's going on here from someone else, they might..." He didn't reply. --- Back at the apartment "So be it, we're gonna have a party to welcome Teri-chan into this world!" cheered Asuka, who's cuddling Teri. "Asuka, are you sure about it? What if Misato-san..." Shinji didn't get a chance to finish, a single glance from a certain German stopped him cold. She leaned over to Shinji and whispered, "baka, we can also tell them about our 'plan' for the future". She smiled at Shinji with her lovely blue eyes. "She's just looking for an excuse to have a party" whispered Touji to Kensuke, who nodded in agreement. "What are you saying Suzuhara?" said Hikari with a frown, her hands at her hips, doing the Class Rep Lecture Deadly Attack. "Noth....nothing Hika...I mean class rep..." stuttered Touji. Kensuke shook his head, "suddenly being single doesn't seem all that bad". Suddenly, Pen Pen came into the room, he put a wing on Kensuke's shoulder and nodded, then returned to his fridge. (hey, the bird needs SOME screen time, oh BTW everyone is sitting on the ground that's how Pen Pen can reach Kensuke) --- Special Flight 10 High above the Earth's atmosphere, a metallic bird soared through the blackness of space. Its sleek lines and angular body glistened in space like a star, as it silently traveled over the Pacific Ocean. The single stage to orbit transport is most advanced aircraft to ever take to the sky, but even its technology pales in comparison to what one of its passenger works with. "Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking, our ETA to JFK international airport is 2 1/2 hours" the overhead speakers informed the passengers softly, most of them were already asleep. In the semi-weightlessness of the craft, a young flight attendant was checking on all the passengers. She came across the only waken passenger on the plane. "Excuse me, ma'am, are you done with that?" she asked, pointing to a partially sealed container of red wine. Vice-Commander Katsuragi Misato snapped out of her trance, and looked at the woman. "No, I'm still working on it." The flight attendant nodded and walked off. One of the pros of being Vice-Commander is being able to travel in style, Misato thought. Picking up the container, she examined the red liquid floating inside. She looks out the window, and compared the redness of the wine with that of the Antarctica Ocean. --- John F Kennedy International airport, 2 1/2 hours later The TST came to a halt on the runway, and slowly turned towards the main terminal building. Minutes later, passengers began to exit the plane. Misato was the last person to exit. "Vice-Commander Katsuragi?" a young man in USAF uniform asked as she entered the main terminal. "Yes?" she said, turning to face him, her English flawless. "I'm Captain Payne, your liaison officer" he saluted, and then offered his hand. Misato returned the salute, and then shook his hand. "Major will be fine." "Of course, pleasured to meet you, ma'am" he said, "this way please". He led her outside, towards a large USAF VTOL jet already starting its engines. "Seeing as to the nature of this ceremony, we're really hoping we can get Commander Ika...excuse me, Commander Fuyutsuki to host the memorial" he shouted over the ear piercing noise made by the jets' engines. "After all, over 3000 NERV and US military personnel lost their life in the accident". Misato waited until they were inside the quiet confines of the aircraft before responding. "The Commander is unavailable," she simply said, as the VTOL took to the night sky. --- Elsewhere "Congratulations on your promotions, Fuyutsuki sensei" said the monolith labeled SEELE-01. 12 such monoliths, SEELE-01 through 12, surrounded a large table. Why do they insist on calling me that? The man seated at the table thought. "Thank you Chairman Kihl," Fuyutsuki responded politely. "We called this meeting to discuss the situation at NERV and the progress of the Human Complementation Project, now that Ikari Gendo is removed from his position" continued the monolith. "We have noticed a 'reorganization' of your Security branch," said SEELE-06, "we are quite baffled at to the reason". "They were under qualified" Fuyutsuki simply replied. "But you have replaced almost all your most experienced Security agents" added SEELE-04. "Ok, so there was certification problem with we hired them" replied Fuyutsuki smugly. "We are also alarmed at your unwillingness to turn Ikari Gendo over to our custody," said SEELE-03, tension evident in his voice. "I believe the ex-commander is more useful at NERV headquarter" said Fuyutsuki. SEELE-01 cut off the debate, "those are all trivial subjects, what is important is the progress of the Project" he said. "As one would expect" begin Fuyutsuki, "with the sudden change of command structure, the Project is suffering from minor delays". "These 'minor' delays is being dealt with as we speak, correct?" "Of course, I would not wish to delay the council's timetable" answered Fuyutsuki causally, "it would not benefit anyone's interests". "Very well, Commander, we will not keep you," said SEELE-01, "please continue your excellent work, that will be all". "Thank you" said Fuyutsuki, "I take my leave". "One more thing, Fuyutsuki-sensei," said SEELE-11, "please extends our regards to all involved in the bringing down of Ikari Gendo". Fuyutsuki nodded, then he and the table disappeared. "He has halted the Project," said SEELE-01, the monolith now replaced with Kihl himself. "We have replaced one problem with another," added SEELE-03. "Such is the way the world works," SEELE-08 commented, snorting at his own comment. "It is not important," said Kehl, "the Project is at the point where it needs no further human intervention. It cannot be stopped now". "We need NERV to take care of the Angels, but soon that need will be over" said SEELE-05. "How is the production of the Eva series proceeding?" asked SEELE-10. "The production is on schedule" answered Kehl. "What about the Dummy Plug supply?" inquired SEELE-07. "We have received the first shipment from Tokyo-3, but we cannot expect anymore from them" replied Kehl, "a new production facility will be setup here. If there's nothing else, I call this meeting to adjourn". --- NERV headquarter, Tokyo-3 "They know," said Fuyutsuki, looking out his office window, "the whole meeting was a sham". "What will they do now?" asked Ritsuko, who is standing in front Fuyutsuki's table. "Nothing", Fuyutsuki turned around to face Ritsuko and smiled, "they need us to deal with the Angels." "What happenes after there's no more Angels?" "Something that we need to start preparing for," replied the Commander. --- Former NERV 3rd Branch site, Nevada desert, USA It looked very much like the result of underground nuclear detonation. Warning posts surrounds the massive crater, or sinkhole to be more correct. It was caused by the entire subsurface facility of 3rd Branch vanishing into a Sea of Dirac, causing all the soil above it to sink down and fill the hole. More than 3000 men and women disappeared along with the facility. And one Eva. "We are here today to commemorate the 1st anniversary of the 3rd Branch incident" begin Misato, standing on the open-air podium. Hundreds of people sat before her, listening keenly. "To remember all those who lost their life, in the service of mankind. Their commitment and sacrifice ensure that humanity will survive the attacks by the Angels, and step into a better future". --- Central Dogma, NERV headquarter, Tokyo-3 Makoto, manga in hand, stretched out lazily in his seat and yawned. Maya was in her seat, reading a novel. Shigeru occupies another, with his guitar, pretending to play a tune. The graveyard shift at NERV is always the quietest; Angels usually attack during the day. Even the MAGI Super Computer was not fully occupied; all it is currently doing is exchanging information with the other MAGI's in the world. MAGI Houston and New York were running self-diagnostics; MAGI Hong Kong and Berlin were going over some data from orbiting satellites; MAGI Moscow and Tokyo-3 were testing each other's security protocols. Then suddenly, another joined the conversation. The signal from the newcomer was very weak, but it was definitely from a MAGI mainframe. Which baffled all 6 MAGI's, since there is only 6 of them. The confusion lasted for a nanosecond, as the MAGI's soon recognized the ID code of the newcomer. Alarms started going off. Makoto nearly fell out of his seat. Maya dropped her novel into her drawer, while Shigeru dropped his guitar gently into its case and slide it underneath his console. "MAGI reports possible intrusion attempt!" shouted Makoto. "Confirmed! Intruder is attempting to initiate data link with MAGI using ID code of MAGI 7!" said Maya, typing madly, "beginning trace of intruder!" "Intruder is using USAF communication satellites! Christ, how did they manage that?" cursed Shigeru. "Trace complete, the original of the intruder is..." Maya didn't get to finish her sentence. "Receiving Priority One signal from UN surveillance satellites!" shouted Makoto, interrupting Maya, "high energy reading detected from United States! It's off the scale!" "Confirmed! The origin of the reading...matches with the origin of the intruder...Oh my God!" gasped Shigeru. --- Former NERV 3rd Branch site, Nevada desert, USA It all happened so sudden, no one even had a chance to flinch. Misato had just finished her speech, and was passing the podium to the next speaker, when all hell broke loose. At first, people thought it was an earthquake, but as they looked on in horror, they realize what it was. The dirt filling the sinkhole of what once was 3rd Branch was sinking deeper into the ground and giant cracks & fissures were spreading from the hole. Dust covered the air, reducing visibility to zero, and people could hardly breathe. Everyone was in a mad rush to get clear of the area, trampling over each other to do so. The chaos out lasted the actual event. It took 20 minutes for some sort of order to establish itself. Many were injured in the confusion, but those who weren't looked out in awe at what once was 3rd Branch's resting place, including Misato. Captain Payne struggles through the crowd towards Misato, who's now just staring motionlessly in one direction. "Major! Thank God you're all right! I..." he looks at Misato's expression, "are you injured ma'am? What..." he followed Misato's eyes, and what he saw was forever engraved into his memory. The hole was now empty, empty of dirt to be more exact. What fills the hole now, is a large mass of pipes and blocky structures, all interlocking into one. NERV 3rd Branch, Nevada desert, USA, had returned. --- Ikari/Katsuragi residence Six glasses clinked together, and the cheer was complete. "Welcome to the world, Teri" said Hikari, smiling at Teri. She was in her mother's arm, and she smiled back, waving her little arms. The living room was littered with food wrappers, pop bottles, and decorations. "That's not all this party is for," announced Asuka, she elbows Shinji, "well, Shin-chan?" Shinji stood up from his seat beside Asuka, and cleared his throat, "well...um...me and Asuka have decided...well...um..." He couldn't get the words out of his mouth. Asuka decided to takeover, and stood up, too. She flashed the ring on her finger. "We're engaged!" All of a sudden, Hikari, Kensuke, and Touji's head all got very big as they gasp in shock. Rei just sat there, and Asuka snapped off a triumphant look at her. "You...you've betrayed us..." was all Touji and Kensuke could say, as their hands assumed the standard Deep Shock and Surprise position. "Congratulations! I always knew you two were made for each other!" said Hikari. "We didn't" said Kensuke and Touji, in their minds they can already see Asuka bossing Shinji around, husband and wife style. A few minutes later, Teri suddenly stopped smiling, and looked eastward with a blank expression. Asuka noticed. "What is it, Teri-chan?" asked Asuka, she failed to notice that across the table, Rei was doing the exact same thing. All Teri did was to look at her with the same blank expression. Later that evening The party had finally finished at about 1am, and everyone else had gone home. Shinji and Asuka stayed up a bit later to clean up, while Teri was fast asleep. After a little while, they too went to bed. Hours later, Shinji rolled over in his sleep, and stretched his arm out. The celebration had left him so fatigued that he didn't realize the person he reached for wasn't there. Out on the porch, stood Asuka in the warm night air, looking at the night sky. It is almost sunup. Most of the tears on her cheeks have already dried, and she was slowly regaining her composure. She looked down at the beautiful blue sapphire engagement ring on her finger. "Shin-chan would never leave me," she said to herself, "I would never end up like 'her'." She took one more look at the sky before returning to bed, where her love was still unaware of her absence. --- Nevada desert, a day later "So Makoto, what have you got for me?" Misato asked, while pacing her hotel room with her phone. "Well Vice-Comm...I mean Major (he almost forgot how much she dislikes that title), yesterday at approximately 11:34PM standard Tokyo-3 time, MAGI received a signal claiming to be MAGI #7" he begins. "At first we thought it was an attempt to hack into the MAGI, but the origin of the signal was verified to be authentic." "That sounds about right." "Yes ma'am, at about the same time, UN surveillance satellites picked up strange readings from the same location. Dr Akagi has analyzed the readings and determined it to be a Sea of Dirac" he continued, "whatever took the facility decided it give a back." "Any chance this could be Angel-related?" she asked. "Dr Akagi said it was highly unlikely" answered Makoto, "the Blood type remained orange throughout the event." "So it was Unit-04's doing?" "Apparently so, ma'am" he suddenly remembered something, "by the way Major, the Commander wanted me to tell you that 'it didn't go well'." "Thank you Makoto, keep me posted" said Misato, and hanged up. She frowned, thinking about the Commander's message. Looking down at her watch, "the first team should be entering the facility about now," she said to herself. --- Sub level C, NERV 3rd Branch The group of men moved noiselessly through the empty corridors. They are all wearing full biological and chemical protection suits, plus heavy body armor and night-vision goggles. The point man carefully walked ahead of the rest of the team, his assault rifle at ready. Finally, they came to a set of heavy doors and stop. Just then, their radio sprang to life. "Unit Delta to Unit Alpha, Delta leader here, sub level A-B secured," said a man on the other end, "no sign of any remains". "Alpha leader here, copy that, we also haven't seen any bodies", the US Army Captain looked around the area, "damn, there were over 3000 personnel in this place, where the hell did they all go?" The Captain looked at the pair of heavily armored doors, "anyway, we have reached the primary objective, proceeding to investigate." "Copy that, we are gonna check out sub level D, out" the transmission click to an end. "Alright, let's get the doors open" the Captain said to the other members of his team through his suit's intercom, "you all know the drill." With that, all the men took up firing positions along the wall, pointing their weapons at the doors. A private went up to the door'' control panel, and pulled out a NERV security card. After a brief exchange of words with his CO, the private slides the card through a device on the panel, and the 2 doors slide open sideways in the opposite direction. Needing no further invitation, the soldiers assaulted the room. It was completely empty, and almost totally dark. It was so dark, in fact, the NV goggles couldn't function properly, and the Captain had to order someone to find the light switch. Despite having been inactive for over a year, the light snapped on without problem. What the men saw overcame years of military training. Half the men were simply froze, while the other half screamed or yipped. For before them, was a face of immense proportion and ugliness. Evangelion Unit-04. --- Main test hanger, NERV 3rd Branch, days later Misato stood in the center of the platform overseeing the rest of the hanger, and sighed. All around her, NERV and army personnel rushed around with cartload of equipment or armfuls of files. Captain Payne showed up, with an army Major in tow. "Vice-Commander Katsuragi, this is Major Spencer, US Army" salutes were exchanged "he was in charge of the teams that searched the facility." "Well," begin the Army officer, "it's quite simple, we didn't find any bodies." Misato raised an eyebrow, "not one?" The large man shrugged, "nope, no bodies what so ever, but we did find something else." He mention for them to follow, "this way, please". The trio headed for a part of the platform, where curtains have been setup to obscure parts of the hanger wall and the door that leads to the hanger's control room. 2 soldier guarded the setup; they stood aside and permitted the 3 officers to pass. Major Spencer held the curtain open for Misato and the Captain. What they saw was completely unexpected. The wall in front of them was covered with bullet holes, and a brown stain was smudged across the wall and the floor. Misato bent down to examine the wall closer. "Blood?" she asked. "Yeah," answer Major Spencer, "there's enough here to be sure that who's ever it was died as a result. We're running tests see who it belonged to, and this is not all." They opened a bullet-marked door and went up a flight of bloody stairs to the control room. Inside, there was more bloodstain, bullet marks, shell casings, and smashed instrument panels. Various pistols, rifles and other personal effects were also scattered across the room. Misato was speechless. "We're still going over the security records, but the files are badly garbled," Major Spencer took off his cap and brushed his hair back, "from what we've so far, all this happened during the Unit-04 S2 engine activation test." Misato took a deep breath, and walked to the large observation windows over looking the hanger. She took note that a section of the thick glass has been cracked by several bullet hits, and a bloody handprint has been smudged across another. Taking a deep breath, Misato looks out into the hanger. In the large hanger, stood the ugliest EVA she has ever seen. Evangelion Unit-04 has no distinct facial features, just like Unit-03; it has 2 eyes, just like Unit-01. All EVAs are not what one would call 'pretty' but this one is particularly ugly. The entire EVA is mainly silver/gray, black, and occasional white and red. Not very inspiring color combinations. "I want the Evangelion to be shipped to Tokyo-3 immediately," she said without turning around. "We were hoping to keep it around, just in case the investigation..." begin Major Spencer, but Misato cut him off. "Major, how do you know that Unit-04 won't disappear into another Sea of Dirac?" she turned around and looked him straight in the eyes, "maybe it will swallow the entire state of Nevada this time, who knows?" "Err...it will be on the next available flight to Japan" he sighed. "Good" she said, turning back towards the window. "Now what the hell am I suppose to do with it?" she asked herself. --- SEELE council chamber, emergency session "This wasn't suppose to happen!" boomed SEELE-12. As did SEELE-05 "Unit-04 was to be lost forever!" "Gentlemen, please" pleaded SEELE-01, "calm down, the situation..." "Is unacceptable!" screamed SEELE-12, "Evangelion Unit-04, with an operational S2 engine! Now in NERV hands!" "The power they've gained..." said SEELE-03. "What went wrong?" asked SEELE-09. "Whose fault is this?" demanded SEELE-06. The room soon fell into chaos, as almost all of the members started talking at once. SEELE-01 finally stepped in. "Gentlemen, please!" Kihl said, "listen to what I have to say." The noise died down, and Kihl begin to speak again. "Our production of Unit-05 to 13 is on schedule, and each one of those Eva is more powerful than anything NERV has or will have" he paused for a second, "then, there's the issue with their pilot." "What about it?" demanded SEELE-12. "Currently they only have one pilot available, and let's just say" one can almost see Kihl's smile through his monolith, "he won't be a problem when the time comes." --- NERV airport, outside of Tokyo-3 The large, black, triangular shaped jet slowly touched down on the longest runway available. Attached to the aft of the YB-49 Type F Eva equipment was Evangelion Unit-04. The black jet slowly lumbered to a halt, and a figure in red disembarked from one of its doors. A car ferried her to the main terminal while the jet is quickly led into a large aircraft hanger. NERV security personnel patrolled the entire airport. "Well Major," said Fuyutsuki as Misato entered the conference room "what have you got for us?" "Well sir, how does a brand new Eva sound?" she replied. "But does it work?" he asked, "and what's to say it won't swallow Tokyo-3 with another Sea of Dirac?" "I don't know sir, that's why we're here instead of in headquarter," Ritsuko entered the room as Misato finished her sentence. She was dressed in her usual white lab coat and was carrying a laptop. Misato looked to the woman, "well Ritsuko?" The doctor had just returned from the hanger where Unit-04 was taken, which is in fact a NERV test lab. She placed her laptop on the conference table. "From what I can tell so far, it's safe," she said, "whatever happened, it wasn't the S2 engine's fault. The tests aren't complete yet, but that I'm sure of." The room grew dead silent; Misato turned away, and thought about the bloodstained walls. She returned home later that day, and told Asuka and Shinji about 3rd Branch and Unit-04 reappearing, but nothing else. --- (Commercial break: Mail or wire a large amount of money to the author, and receive your very own Child of Love T-shirt! Offer not available in some countries, and Quebec. *The author wonders if he violated any copyrights with that last comment* Now back to our show... Gotta catch 'em all! Pokem... Oops, wrong show =) --- NERV 4th Branch, Beijing, New Republic of China The boy ran through the corridors of the facility at break neck speed, as NERV personnel quickly dodge out of his way, narrowly missing him. "Sorry!" he called out as he disappears around a corner. He rushes into the waiting room of the 4th Branch's Commander's office. The secretary waved him in. "Thank you," he said, taking a deep breath, he opened the door and entered. The office of the Commander of NERV 4th Branch is nothing like that of NERV headquarters. It is much smaller, with efficiency in mind instead of intimidation. The Commander, a middle aged Chinese General, sat at a large but simple desk. He was shuffling through a large pile of documents when the boy entered and saluted. "4th Child, reporting as ordered, General Liu." he said. The General gave him a little smile. "Takumi, how many times do I have to tell you that you don't have to do that," he said, waving the boy to a seat across his desk. "I'm sorry sir," he said, taking the seat, "I just can't help myself." He smiled at the man, "so uncle Liu, what's up?" The General was a close friend of the boy's father. "Well Takumi," said the General, passing a large envelope to him, "looks like you've finally got your wish." Takumi opened the envelope, and pulled out documents inside. It was orders from Tokyo-3, he is to leave for NERV headquarter immediately and take up the position of pilot for Unit-04. The boy was speechless. "Your father would be proud." "Permission to..." Takumi begin slowly. "Go ahead." "Woohoo!" shouted the boy, jumping out of his chair and around the room. "You mother and sister would be proud, too" he added, then realizes his mistake. The boy's mood changed. "They're not dead," he said, his voice lacking any emotion. "Of course, I'm sorry Takumi," he quickly changed the subject. "Hey, don't you have a friend at Tokyo-3?" "Yeah!" Takumi's mood brightens again, "but I haven't talked to her in years, whenever I try, they'd loose my letter or something." "I'm sure she'd remember someone like you," said the General, he leaned forward, "by the way, what was her name again?" "Uncle, I must have told you a thousand times before." "You did?" the General faked a surprised look, "well, my memories aren't what they use to be. So what's her name?" "Ayanami Rei." --- Vancouver, BC, Canada The author rubs his eyes; they are blood shot from his final exam and the physics and calculus lessons afterwards. Despite his fatigue, he smiles. No more school, he thought to himself. Just those damn physics and calculus lesson every Tuesday and Friday. Better than school, he told himself. Then, to his horror, he realizes he's writing about himself in 3rd person again, and wasting the readers time. "So what? I already warned them about it. Besides, what are THEY gonna do? Actually mail/ICQ me?" --- NERV headquarter, Tokyo-3 Misato sat in what once was Fuyutsuki's office, now her office. It was much bigger than her original office, and better furnished. On this day, the room's lighting is reflecting the mood of its occupant. "The tests have been completed," Ritsuko's voice still echoed in her head, "Unit-04 can be safely operated without hazard of another Sea of Dirac." She put her face into her hands as the rest of the conversation ran through her head. It was hours ago but she's still thinking about it. "What about a pilot?" Misato asked. "We have one that has completed his training with NERV 4th Branch, he's designated the 4th Child. Another one is still in training with training with 2nd Branch and Unit-03 in Germany, he's the 5th" said Ritsuko. (ooo...who can the 5th be? =) "He will be placed under your care, if that is ok" Fuyutsuki said to Misato. "Of course," Ritsuko then handed Misato the boy's files. That is what she has been reading for the past little while. She didn't like what she saw. Satori Takumi, designated 4th Child. Age: 15 Nationality: Japanese She paid particular attention to the family history. Family history: Father, Colonel Satori Keneda, JSDF, deceased. Mother, Dr Tsukino Seyoko, NERV weapons development bureau, last assigned to NERV 3rd Branch, presumed dead. Sister, Dr Satori Kasumi, NERV weapons development bureau, last assigned to NERV 3rd Branch, presumed dead. No living relatives. "Why do all EVA pilots come from broken homes?" she asked out loud, "is it a curse? Or a requirement?" She made a mental note to check the files of the parents and the sister. Well, she thought to herself, at least 2 of the children have made a new life for themselves. Only 2 more to go. --- Ikari/Katsuragi residence, later that night "I'm home!" called out Misato as she entered the house. She noticed several extra pairs of shoes. "Hi Misato-san!" said Kensuke, Touji, Hikari and Asuka. They were sitting in the living room with Teri. Shinji was cooking in the kitchen, his greeting drowned out by noise of kitchen appliances. "Hello Vice-Commander Katsuragi" said Rei, she was there, too. Her greeting of Misato was met with strange looks. "Rei, this is the last time I'm gonna tell you, Major Katsuragi will be fine." "We were just leaving," said Hikari, as everyone got up and walked towards the door. Asuka puts Teri's pacifier down on the living room table and followed, holding Teri. "Rei," said Misato, "can you stay for a little while? I need to talk to you." She looked to the other kids, "NERV business." They nodded, said their good byes and left. Asuka and Teri watched them go, "cya tomorrow!" Teri waved her little hands while sucking on her pacifier. "Hey," said Asuka, "where did you get that? I thought I put it back on the..." "Asuka," interrupted Misato, "can you come here? I need to talk to you, too" Asuka complied. Shinji was just coming out of the kitchen. "Dinner's ready? Hey, is Ayanami staying for dinner?" he asked. "No, the Major requested my presence for something," she replied. "You, too, Shinji," said Misato as she entered the dinning room. The children stood in front of her. "I'll make this quick," she begin, "we're receiving another pilot for Unit-04. We'll also be running the first synch test in while, the day after he gets here." "Really?" asked Shinji. "Who?" asked Asuka. "His name is Satori Takumi." Rei frowned at the mention of the name, as if thinking hard. A strange familiarity to the name, yet... "Rei," said Misato, noticing her expression, "do you know him?" "No," she said and left. Her expression said otherwise. Later that evening The girl gasped, and shot up from her sleep. Her red hair glistened in the moonlight from the window, sweat and tears streaked down her face. "Asuka-chan," said Shinji softly, sitting up also, "are you having nightmares again?" Shinji had finally noticed her strange behavior a few days ago. They both lay back down on the bed, he put his arms around Asuka and kissed her on the forehead. "I'll be fine," said Asuka, wrapping her arms around him, too, "because I'm with you." Across town "Hey Rei," the little boy said, "let's go outside and play!" "Hey Rei," the little boy said, "you're pretty!" "Hey Rei," the little boy said, "I have a present for you!" "Hey Rei," the little boy said, "you're my very best friend." "Hey Rei," the little boy said, "we'll be friends forever." "Hey Rei," the little boy said, "I have to move away." "Hey Rei," the little boy said, "good bye." Rei's eyes snapped open, and she slowly sat up. Her hair matched the shade of the blue moon. She pulled her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around her legs. "Whose memories are these?" [silence...] "I do not remember having them." [silence...] "Are they mine? They seem familiar, yet they are new to me." [silence...] "Anata dare?" [Who are you?] --- NERV airport, outside of Tokyo-3 The large military transport taxied into the terminal. A large blue circle with a white, 12-point sun labeled as a New Republic of China aircraft. Minutes later, its sole acceptant disembarked. Misato was there to meet him. He dropped his bags and saluted her as soon as he saw her. "Satori Takumi," he said crisply, "4th Child, reporting as ordered." Misato waved the salute off, "that's not necessary, I'm Vice-Commander Katsuragi. But you can call me Misato." She smiled, "nice to meet you, Takumi. Follow me, please." She led him to her car, and headed for NERV headquarter. "When will I get to see the other Children?" Misato was surprised that he didn't asked about the EVA first. "The 1st Child will meet us at headquarter, the 2nd and 3rd you will meet later tonight," she said, "you should know that the 2nd and 3rd...have a kid and are engaged. I'm telling you this now so you won't be too surprised later." Misato took a look at Takumi, who's jaw was dropped to so low that it might fall off any second. He took a few minutes to gather himself before talking again. "What about my EVA?" "You'll see that today," she said, "we'll setup a synch test for tomorrow. You should be able to try the actual EVA the day after that." "Cool," he said, "I get to see Rei and my EVA, all in one day!" Misato frowned: why did she say she doesn't know you? She asked herself. --- NERV headquarter, Tokyo-3 Rei rides up the incredibly long escalator, which stretched over a hundred feet long. As she nears the top, she can hear voices. As she arrives on the top, she sees the owners of those voices. "She should be here soon," said Misato, looking down on her watch, "we're early." "Major Katsuragi," said Rei, announcing her presence. She noticed the boy beside Misato. "Ayanami Rei?" said Takumi, completely unprepared at what he saw. It was like a dream. She slowly and graceful walked towards them, as if flowing on air. He hasn't seen Rei since he was 5, and she is most beautiful girl he has ever seen. Her pale, unblemished skin, her blazing red eyes, her fine blue hair... "Yes?" Rei said, her eyes focusing on him. "REI!" he shouted, and wrapped his arms around Rei in a big bear hug. Being slightly taller than her, he was able to pick her up and spin her a couple of time. Misato was amazed at the show of emotions, especially to someone like Rei. "It's so nice to see you again! I missed you so much! Sorry about not keeping in contact, but my family keeps moving. And for some reason, every time I do write, they'd lose my letters. But that's all in the past now, cause I'm here to stay." He realizes he's holding Rei off the ground, and they're pressed tightly against each other. He blushed a deep shade of pink, and put Rei back down. "Anyway... it's so nice to see you again, Rei." He noticed Rei's somewhat blank expression. "What is it Rei?" "Anata dare?" Misato quickly stepped in, "Rei suffered some serious head injuries a while back, doctors say she have a case of minor amnesia." She moves to Rei's side, and secretly nudged Rei in the back. "Right, Rei?" She said nothing. "I'm so sorry Rei," said Takumi, sadness evident in his eyes, "I should have kept in touch." "They say she's gonna be fine, eventually. She's still the same old Rei you knew back when you were kids." Misato forced a smile. Great, she thought, I just had to lie to the 4th, on his first day here, not a good sign or beginning. "So no worries. Why don't you go ahead, Takumi? I need to talk to Rei for a second." The boy looked at Rei, "I hope you get better soon Rei, later." He turns and walks away. Once he was out of an earshot, Misato turns to Rei. "Rei, I thought you said you don't know him. How comes he knows you?" "I do not know," she said, and looked down at the floor. "We really need to have a long talk, soon." --- Main EVA Hanger #3, NERV headquarter "Wow!" gasped Takumi at Unit-04, "it's huge!" He leaned against the railing to get a better look, most of the EVA was submerged in a pink coolant. "So this is mine?" he asked eagerly. "We'll, it's yours to pilot, if that's what you mean." Misato checked her watch for the time. "It's getting late, let's get you settled in." "Where would I be staying?" "You'll have an apartment to yourself, one floor below mine." She answered, "your belongings are already there," and led the way to the parking lot. Misato phoned home on the way back, telling the couple their guest is on the way. --- Ikari/Katsuragi residence "So Asuka," said Shinji, who's watching TV with Teri, "what do you think the new pilot is gonna be like?" "I dunno," she answered, entering the living room after getting some chips, "but the last time a new pilot showed up, you ended up with a fiancee." She smiled, "who knows, maybe this time Wonder Girl will end up with one, too." She laughed hysterically at her own joke, the only person laughing. Then the sound of the door sliding open can be heard. "I'm home!" said Misato. Shinji passed Teri to Asuka, and they went to the door to meet the new pilot. "Hi, I'm Shinji." He shook the boy's hand. "This is Asu..." Asuka elbowed him in the stomach. "Oww...I mean this is my 'lovely' fiancee." "I am the Great Sohryu Asuka Langley," she said proudly, "nice to meet you." "Yes, I've heard many things about you. I always thought that you were, well, shorter." Asuka's face light up with glee at the comment. "And who's this cute baby?" asked Takumi, although he already knew the answer. "This is Teri-chan," she said, and gave Teri a squeeze. "She looks like her mother," he commented. "Damn straight!" said Asuka. "Well," cut in Misato, "let's show you to your apartment." Before you get Asuka going even more, she thought. "Nice meeting you all, cya tomorrow," he said as the door slide close. "I like him," said Asuka, "he's got brains." --- Something residence Misato gave the keycard to Takumi, and let him open the door to his new home. "This is quite nice," he said, "a little small though, but nice." Misato looked at all the moving crates littering the floor, "I hope all your possession got here." Takumi did a quick count of the boxes "They're all here," he said. "Well, I have to leave you now," she said, heading for the door, "you know where to find me." "Of course Misato-san, one floor up." He said with a smile. "Goodnight Takumi," she quickly added before leaving, "the synch test is tomorrow afternoon, don't forget." "No problem!" The door closed, and he was alone. He went to the moving crates littering the floor, and picked out one with a large color marking on it. He pulled out a Swiss army knife and opened the box. From it, he pulled out a large photo frame. It had a young baby and a little girl, and a very happy couple. He smiled at his family, and placed the frame on the table. He then pulled out a smaller frame, with a picture of a little boy and a little blue haired girl. He placed that on the table, too. "I'll never be alone." END of Chapter #2.0 version 3, dated 06/30/99, roll credits with moon and Rei backdrop, cue 'Fly me to the moon' (not the annoying sounding high-pitched version, please) Author's words: Ok folks, I'm sorry that I wasn't able to fit everything I wanted to into this chapter. I made an error in judgement, so anything I promised for chapter 2 but isn't here will be now a part of chapter 3. Thank you for your understanding. By the way, I am still taking prereaders. The position is down to only 1 spot, and some restriction will now apply. Like if there's a guy and a girl fighting over the position, the girl wins. Also, being a prereader DOES NOT MEAN you get to read the story first. It means you get to read the rough draft and then respond with helpful suggestions and comments. If you have any comments, please send them to. My e-mail: damnit@intergate.bc.ca My ICQ: 8155557 Any feedback is welcomed, especially positive ones. Preview of next chapter/episode: Angel attacks! And some other stuff...me thinks. sed for chapter 2 but isn't here will be now a part of chapter 3. Thank you for your understanding. By the way, I am still taking prereaders. The position is down to only 1 spot, and some restriction will now apply. Like if there's a guy and a girl fighting over the position, the girl wins. Also, being a prereader DOES NOT MEAN you get to read the story first. It means you get to read the rough draft and then respond with helpful suggestions and comments. If you have any comments, please send them to. My e-mail: damnit@intergate.bc.ca My ICQ: 8155557 Any feedback is welcomed, especially positive ones. Preview of next chapter/episode: Angel attacks! And some other stuff...me thinks.