Words from the Author:

Aftermath time! Enjoy the episode, everyone! I give credit to all those who have rights to NGE and everything else in its universe!

Episode 18: What It Means To Be Wanted

Following the disappearance of Unit 03 and Nero, NERV's recovery team gathered up the injured children as all of them, except Asuka, are currently unconscious. Simultaneously, the ones infected by Bardiel's contamination are receiving treatment while Misato waits until the teens have regained consciousness so that she and the pilots can confront Gendo about Nero. During that timeframe, Touji resides in the clinic room that Hikari has been placed after she was rid of the contamination, possessing it all to herself. Everyday, the lad sits by his girlfriend's bed, eagerly waiting for her to awaken.

In Asuka's case, she would go to check on everybody, starting off with Hikari. Then, the 2nd Child visits the room both Rei and Kensuke are kept in together, and finally, spend a lot of time in Shinji's since she still deeply cares for him. Additionally, Asuka would check on Mari, compliments of the 6th Child being situated there as well, though obviously in a separate bed that's divided by a white curtain.

The day concludes in Japan while, in a certain part of the world, night has yet to fall. The scene's main focus is upon an isolated area that the twelve Monoliths of SEELE reside. They presently surround Nero as their conversation with him is on the verge of commencing. At the moment, the brown-eyed character's wearing a white, short-sleeved, button shirt and black jeans. It can be noted that there are multiple bruises ailing his face in addition to several parts of his constitution where his flesh is visible, this coming from his confrontation with Lucas and Shinji.

Keel *SEELE 01* sternly speaks, stationed right ahead of Nero. "It's good to have you back, Nero. Did you enjoy your time with Ikari and the 3rd Child?"

A hint of irritation displays itself onto Nero amidst rolling his eyes prior to watching Keel's Monolith. "Your sarcasm is blatant, so quit it." He grows callous. "Can we just get on with the main subject?"

SEELE 04 retorts out of agitation. "Oh really?! What's wrong, Nero?! Is there somewhere you must be?!"

Nero navigates his vision towards the upper right to depict SEELE 04 via a cold stare. "I'm not going to justify that with an answer." He steers his attention back to Keel's Monolith. "By the way, why was it necessary for me to give you my confirmation so soon?" Nero tilts his head westward slightly. "I thought I had unlimited time to think about when to deliver it."

Keel bluntly responds. "You did, but some of the members were becoming impatient. I thought it would be best to move forward with our plan."

SEELE 09 shouts from frustration, "It wasn't only that! The real reason was that we believed waiting for some snot-nose brat's confirmation was pointless! I personally don't care if you are supposed to be one of the smartest people in the world! You're merely a kid, and a pain in the ass!"

SEELE 02 nonchalantly rebuttals to SEELE 09's outburst. "Calm down. You're getting too worked up for nothing." He then utters to Nero, "Listen, Akaya..."

Nero harshly cuts SEELE 02 off, his head lowered to view the floor with it poised vertically. "Ikari. If you'll refer me by a last name, it will be my real one. No need in keeping my identity a secret anymore."

SEELE 06 comments with a curious tone, "Is that because you told NERV who you are? But I assumed you didn't like that name regardless."

Nero glances at SEELE 06, who's Monolith is towards his right, amidst grinning. "I gave up my name so that I could live a separate life without connections to my father and brother. It's connected to them now though. The last name 'Akaya' isn't necessary any longer. I'm Nero Ikari. It's as simple as that."

SEELE 03 chuckles before remarking, "So even Nero Aka-, I mean... Ikari has attachments to his family. I originally thought you hated them, however, I guess I was incorrect."

Nero gazes at SEELE 03, stationed towards the right of SEELE 04. "No. You were actually right, although I figured that hatred is a terrible source of strength. Like rage and anything that's negative. To live in this world with negativity is the primary factor that caused the Lilin to continuously make mistakes throughout all the years they've existed. There's no point for me to follow that same path."

Keel promptly thinks in a concern manner, "He referred mankind as Lilin, leaving himself out of that category. It seems he still shows some disdain for the world." He alters his personality to think optimistically, "This assures me that he can be trusted, however, I must be entirely certain." Keel firmly says to Nero, "Answer me something and then we will advance to the main topic."

Nero observes Keel's Monolith, mild intrigue arising. "Go ahead. Ask whatever you wish to know."

Keel replies without delay. "Why didn't you finish NERV off? You already defeated all their Evas except Unit 02, but with the capabilities of the awakened Bardiel, you would have easily taken it down. Even if its pilot used the Beast Mode as a last ditch effort."

SEELE 08 fiercely adds, "He's right! It did strike me as pretty odd that you claim victory over your brother, yet, you chose not to continue your attack and bring us Unit 01 with its pilot! Explain that to us!"

Nero shifts his sight southward. "Alright. This is actually a very easy question, Keel." The 7th Child lifts his head, stoically looking at Keel's Monolith. "After using Unit 03's full potential and having condensing its A.T. Field into that ball, I was on the verge of losing my ego."

SEELE 12 inquires in confusion, "Ego? Do you mean your ego border?"

Nero gazes at SEELE 12, poised to the right of Keel's Monolith, while nodding. Following that, the young individual deviates his concentration to Keel once more. "There was no possible way I could retrieve Unit 01 and Shinji in that condition. I was lucky that the cargo plane you had the Dummy Plug Evas transported in remained nearby or I would've been screwed." He smirks, finding humor in his recent statement.

Keel briefly contemplates over the information he received. "Hmmm... I'll accept it. Anyway, we did decide on moving ahead of schedule, although we don't require to push it that much. With the damage that NERV's Evas have sustained, they're sole line of defense is Unit 02. If we launch phase one of our main objective within the next few days, we will be capable of eliminating NERV without trouble."

Nero's consumed by sadness, diverting his attention from Keel's Monolith via turning his head to the lower left, as he thinks, "That won't be good for Shinji and the others I wounded. I highly doubt their Evas will be fixed by then."

SEELE 11 politely interrupts Nero's thought process, interest apparent. "Something on your mind, Nero?"

Nero leisurely veers his body westward to confront SEELE 11. "Not really." He navigates his head eastward to witness Keel's Monolith, which is now towards Nero's right. "So, is there anything else which demands discussing?"

Keel quickly informs Nero, "No. As I stated, we will launch the next stage of our plan in a few days. We might even wait for Unit 03 to be repaired before initiating that. It shouldn't take our tech team more than a week, considering Unit 03 regenerated a fair amount of its damage when you unleashed its true potential."

Nero nods prior to turning his person towards the exit, situated behind SEELE 07's Monolith, and starts to walk that way. "I'll be going now in that case." He abruptly detains himself ahead of the exit, talking with his posterior to SEELE. "Oh yeah... This is out of curiosity, but why did you send Lucas to fight me with the intention of killing me? Or even die trying?"

Keel answers undeterred. "I told Lucas to avoid fighting you, and you can even confirm that with Evan. But... I had a feeling a confrontation between the two of you was inevitable. That's why I gave him that message to give you."

Nero steers his head vaguely towards the right to watch Keel's Monolith out of the corner of his eyes. "What about the fact Lucas mentioned I would only receive the message if I defeated him? He even declared that the only way I could beat him is if I killed him, and if I didn't, he would kill me."

SEELE 10 expels a short laugh as his Monolith is to the east of SEELE 11, ultimately commenting in an arrogant voice, "Why are you asking such stupid questions?! What happened to that incredible intellect of yours?! It's obvious we wanted you to get rid of Lucas! He was the weakest out of all our pilots! Keeping him around would have merely caused us unnecessary problems!" He laughs in a maniacal method.

SEELE 05 blandly joins into the conversation, located westward from SEELE 04. "Additionally, we never instructed Lucas to kill you. His own personal grudge was what motivated his actions."

Nero coldly glimpses at the SEELE members, switches his attention back towards the exit and then asks in a somber tone, "Is that true, Keel?"

Keel temporarily stays quiet until callously stating, "Yes. You most likely already knew when you first realized it was Lucas in that Dummy Plug Eva. We don't require any dead-weight like Lucas Valley holding us back from achieving our goal."

Nero closes his eyes while hanging his head a tad before smiling. "That's all I needed to hear." He then properly views the exit's door as it automatically opens up before leaving.

After witnessing the door shut behind Nero, SEELE 07 inquires worryingly while his Monolith is to the right of SEELE 08, "Keel... Do you think he believed us?"

Keel replies with seriousness portrayed. "I'm not too sure. I always have difficulty reading what Nero is thinking. Either way, he must remain ignorant of my order to kill him, even though I already expected such an occurrence since Lucas always desired to defeat Nero."

SEELE 06 suddenly asks out of intrigue, his Monolith directly across from Keel's, "Why did you command Lucas to do that? I thought Nero was our ace in the hole."

Keel calmly states, "He is indeed, however, I lost a lot of faith in him after his actions at the 2nd Branch. The message represents that fairly well. I needed to know if he was still to be trusted, and betray NERV precisely as I wanted him to do with the 2nd Branch."

SEELE 03 skeptically utters, "If I'm correct, Lucas wasn't too excited about that command." He chuckles. "Kill Nero or die trying. Had Lucas survived, but not kill Nero, death was waiting for him one way or the other."

SEELE 11 sternly expresses, "By our hands, right? If he was afraid of dying, why not align himself with NERV? That was his perfect opportunity to do such a thing."

Keel plainly adds in. "Indeed, but his personal feelings for someone kept him from doing that. In conclusion, he couldn't refuse and fought Nero with everything he had."

SEELE 04 comments arrogantly, "That's another reason why it was beneficial that Nero ended him. His motivations for piloting were childish. He wasn't looking at the bigger picture. All he cared about was gaining the approval of others and to be recognized by his fellow pilots as somebody important. We practically sent him to die. Nero would never lose." He emits an evil laugh.

Keel firmly says, "That's enough. It's time to become attentive of our next step. We will certainly launch our next attack sometime soon. Now that I've determined Nero's allegiance to us, there's nothing else to fret over."

SEELE 07 questions in a somewhat worried voice, "What about Unit 06 and its pilot? Will we be utilizing them for the following assault?"

Keel responds with no real emotion. "I don't believe either will be required for that. They're supposed to go out on a test run in a week. Also, there's something in specific that the pilot must retrieve during that and wields greater importance. I'll ask if he wishes to include his involvement upon finishing his mission."

That having been announced, the focus alters to Nero walking down a long hallway within the facility SEELE and the 7th Child are currently stationed in. As he continues his journey, the fellow's hands are placed atop his head with his eyes locked onto the ceiling, thinking amidst spacing out a bit, "Keel shouldn't underestimate me. Even his own members pointed out how smart I am. He should know better. I can always figure out when he's lying." He smirks, dropping his head to stare at the floor, thinking, "It's actually kind of sad he can't tell when I'm being deceitful or withholding a secret."

With Nero's thought completed, a boy haphazardly appears behind him while contentedly remarking in Japanese, "Look who I found."

Nero gawks onward as he mutters in a perplexed tone, "Japanese?" He steadily hangs his appendages at their respective side amidst commandeering his head westward to gaze behind him and instantly demonstrates an alarmed behavior, exclaiming, "Evan?!"

Evan smiles at Nero from amusement, his arms folded together. He is endowed in a brown t-shirt with the word "Demon" on the front part, possessing the color dark green, while wearing blue jeans. "Surprised to see me, huh?"

Nero confronts Evan, grinning with his head cocked eastward. "I'm surprised to hear you speak Japanese. I remember that you, Lucas, Vanessa and Casey didn't know much."

Evan laughs with his eyes temporarily shut, his head tilted back, prior to directly viewing Nero again. "Well... Lucas being a retard never tried to learn Japanese. On the other hand, the rest of us thought it'd benefit. I prefer talking in English though, but I'll be really nice to talk in Japanese for you."

Nero skeptically raises his right eyebrow as he straightened his head's posture. "Is that so? Well thanks, I guess." He smirks, taking a few steps towards Evan. "So, how have you been?"

Evan diverts his sight from Nero, a smug demeanor summoned. "I'm just fantastic!" He reverts his concentration to Nero. "I'm the pilot of Unit 07. That's the Eva that retard was going to pilot, but thanks to how much of a pain in the ass he was, SEELE wisely decided it's better I pilot it."

Nero grows stoic while peering at the ceiling. "Please stop calling him that. Show him some respect."

Evan's bewildered, shouting, "Really?! What's with the random defense?! You kill the guy and now you feel bad?!" The young male grins, leans towards Nero with his right hand on his waist while the other is lowered and arrogantly comments, "I didn't anticipate that from you."

Nero's engulfed by annoyance, navigating his attention to Evan again, and inquires in a somber manner, "What's that suppose to mean?"

Evan chuckles, pompously rebutting a second later, "Think about it! You're Chairmen Keel's main dog! He says jump and you do it with no hesitation or regret! You knew he wanted you to kill Lucas because he's worthless!"

Nero narrows his eyes, issuing Evan a look of disdain. "What happened to you, Evan? You were never like that. The worst thing that ever came out of your mouth was you calling Lucas a retard everyday. But this time, you're going too far with what you're spewing."

Evan closes his eyes as he turns his head away from Nero and shrugs with a snobbish smile portrayed. "Guess you don't know me very well in actuality." He then depicts Nero out of the corner of his eyes. "This is who I truly am. If it bothers you, then tough luck." Evan laughs while veering his head back to Nero.

Nero callously replies while faintly slanting his head west. "I guess so. Just answer me something."

Curiosity quickly appears upon Evan. "Go for it."

Nero straightens his head, contorting forward a bit, as he embeds both hands in his pockets. "What do you expect to gain from working for SEELE? You never answered that question when I first asked you. Lucas wished for recognition from people, Vanessa and Casey do it because they have been brainwashed by SEELE into thinking that this world is doomed and they're the only ones who can change it." He pauses briefly while fixing his stance. "What is it that you want out of this?"

Evan gazes down at the floor for a moment and then slowly starts to laugh in a crazed manner, his head thrown backwards while his eyes are shut. After doing that for several seconds, the blonde gradually stops before setting his sights onto Nero with a cynical grin as he shouts via a maniacal tone, "Isn't it obvious?!" He lifts his hands in front of him and does a psychotic gesture with his fingers. "I want to be the most powerful person in the world!"

Nero's quite surprised with his eyes wide open until quickly composing himself to give Evan a cold look. "Really...? How do you expect to gain that?"

Evan puts his arms down, laughing a little bit again. "Simple! I'll prove to SEELE that I'm much better than you and that stupid brother of yours! Then they will realize I'm the only person who can pilot the True Evangelion and release its full potential! With it under my control, nobody can ever stop me!"

Nero delivers a serious glare. "How do you know about the True Evangelion?" He slowly shakes his head without warning after hanging it a tad while closing his eyes. "You know what, never mind. It doesn't matter." Nero locks his eyes onto Evan with an emotionless expression. "What you desire is one of the stupidest things I've ever heard." Nero promptly turns around, commencing to walk away from Evan.

Evan's in shock prior to exclaiming with an infuriated attitude, "Look who's talking! The thing you want is to return the world to the way it was! The only way to do that is to eliminate mankind! You aren't better than me! You're just as bad! You're willing to kill your own brother for that ridiculous desire!"

Nero abruptly halts amidst focusing on what's in front of him while callously retorting. "You really disappoint me, Evan." He veers his attention eastward to observe Evan out of the corner of his eyes with a smirk. "By the way, even though Lucas never beat you in fencing or in synchronization scores, he's actually better than you. If you and I were to fight, you'd never be able to hurt me like Lucas did." Nero reverts his concentration onwards to continue his departure.

Evan grits his teeth as he's consumed by rage and thinks, "What the hell is he talking about?! I'm far above that retard! And I know I'm the best there is!"

With Evan's final thought, the main focus remains on Nero, traversing the facility. The boy isn't too familiar with it since he has been absent for a while. Finally, Nero finds himself in a cafeteria as he's dumbfounded upon witnessing that Vanessa and Casey are both sitting at a long cafeteria table, eating lunch together.

Casey's sitting towards the left side of the table while Vanessa's poised across from her. The former is endowed in a pink dress that's just like the one Asuka wore atop the German Naval ship when she first joined Tokyo-03. In Vanessa's case, she's wearing a black blouse that significantly shows off the upper part of her chest and has on yellow short shorts.

Nero smiles at the sight of the two girls with his hands in his pockets, thinking, "It seems they haven't noticed me yet." He proceeds to happily chime, "Guess who's back."

Casey and Vanessa are instantly overcome by surprise before gawking at each other as they drop their sandwiches at the same time. Following that, the pair hastily snap their heads towards Nero, which is towards Casey's right and Vanessa's left. Once they register it really is him, both yell in unison, "Nero!"

That reaction incites a content chuckle from Nero.

Casey, with tremendous joy causing her heart to race, rapidly gets up on top of the cafeteria's bench to run towards Nero while extending her arms towards him. The instance she reaches the edge of the bench, the dame jumps off to come into contact with the lad.

Nero's immediately startled prior to Casey successfully wrapping her arms around the 7th Child's neck with her momentum making herself and Nero spin around as she's in the air. Throughout this occurrence, the girl laughs while sincerely exclaiming, "I missed you so much!"

Nero manages to detain his rotation, holding onto Casey by her waist via both hands. After doing that, the fellow makes her stand atop the floor amidst locking his eyes onto hers to wholeheartedly reciprocate, "I missed you too." Mild nervousness  appears on Nero as he comments with his eyes closed. "But next time, warn me before you hop on me like that." He briefly laughs and gazes at Casey again.

Casey excitedly nods until the petite girl brings her head against Nero's chest, joyfully hugging him. "I'm just so happy that you're back!"

Nero nods as well, a somber behavior forged. "I know. I'm glad to see you're doing well."

Meanwhile, Vanessa walks up to Nero and swiftly grabs him by the collar of his shirt so she can pull him towards her.

In conclusion, Nero lets go of the chick he was embracing to confront Vanessa while Casey is temporarily baffled as she straightens her posture to watch Vanessa. 

Right after, Casey issues an upset demeanor and harshly shouts, "What's the big idea, sis?!"

Nero's a bit nervous while being face to face with Vanessa and hesitantly says, "Uhh... Hey, Vanessa."

Vanessa stares at Nero, seriousness resonating within her eyes until suddenly grinning out of sincerity as she releases her grip on Nero's collar. This is proceeded by the dame hurriedly hugging him as if in fear that he's going to disappear with her head resting on Nero's left shoulder, her vision deviated from him and whispers, "I missed you too, you know..."

Nero's moderately surprised by Vanessa's abrupt action, but then smirks with his eyes shut while returning her embrace. A couple of seconds later, the black-haired boy whispers in response to the teen's words, "And I missed you." He soon opens his eyes with sadness exhibited, uttering amidst maintaining his voice's volume low, "And I'm sorry about killing Lucas."

Vanessa instantaneously opens her eyes, substantially surprised until smiling. This concludes with her releasing her hold of the 7th Child and distances herself from him somewhat with her full attention now on Nero. "I don't know why you're apologizing. It's not as if I had feelings for him. The only person I really like is you. You already know that."

Casey arrogantly smirks and announces while trying not to laugh, "Who are you kidding?! You can't fool anyone into believing that! We're all aware that you had feelings for him!"

Vanessa glares at Casey with irritation displayed. "Knock it off with that! You've been bothering me with that stupid theory of me liking him ever since we were little! Can't you just quit already?!"

Nero gazes at Vanessa with sincerity gleaming, a vague grin mixed in. "It's alright, Vanessa. You can be smitten with two guys at the same time. There's no shame in finally admitting it."

Vanessa looks at Nero, baffled, prior to dropping her gaze to the floor while clenching her hands into fists. After doing that, the girl pulls her head up while starting to cry and shouts via a distraught tone, "Fine! I admit it!" She then lunges towards Nero and wraps her arms around his neck with her left cheek against Nero's, continually crying. "I loved him! Just like I love you! I hate that he had to die, but he needed to if you were to survive!"

Casey's quite dumbfounded, although eventually alters her personality to reflect sadness as shifting her sight away from both Vanessa and Nero. This is so she can do her best to restrain tears that are desperately trying to escape her eyes.

Nero holds onto Vanessa, sorrow showing, and thinks, "I wish I could get rid of the pain she's going through, but I can't. Lucas was set-up to die either way. It was for the best that I took his life." He closes his eyes while lowering his head a little and thinks, "I know that's what he wanted." Nero reopens his eyes, lets go of Vanessa amidst backing away from her slightly and half-heartedly smiles. "Vanessa."

Vanessa observes Nero with a hint of concern. "What is it, Nero?"

Nero calmly states, "It's good that you're honest with your feelings. And don't worry, you'll see him in heaven. We'll all be together again, just like the good old days." He shuts his eyes once more, slanting his head westward with an earnest conduct established.

Meanwhile, Vanessa was caught off guard, however, is rapidly filled with delight. This leads to the teenager smiling and nodding at Nero with confidence brimming. "You're right! And when I see him, I'll tell him how I truly felt instead of insulting him and spouting that he isn't good enough!"

Nero's visibly happy before suddenly detecting something on his right arm while navigating his attention eastward, curiosity taking shape. He promptly sees that Casey had encompassed his arm with hers, invoking a bit of nervous from him again. "Umm, Casey. Do you mind?"

Casey rebuttals in a pleading manner as she's intently peering at Nero, "Oh come on! Now that I have you all to myself, it's about time we're this close!" She smiles in a teasing way. "And we can do something fun together, if you catch my drift." Casey giggles afterwards while winking at him.

Nero momentarily emanates astonishment, becoming red a little, and thinks, "Is she suggesting what I think she's suggesting?!"

Vanessa demonstrates surprise, although replaces it with annoyance in a matter of seconds as she yells out while pointing at Casey via her right hand, "Wait a minute! What makes you think you'll have him all to yourself?!"

Casey arrogantly narrows her eyes at Vanessa. "Well considering that you love Lucas, you wouldn't dishonor his memory by trying to go out with the guy who killed him, right?" She snickers mischievously.

Vanessa promptly exclaims out of rage upon administering a step towards Casey, "You have to be kidding me?! Don't use that against me! Sure I love Lucas, but I love Nero too! Anyway, Nero had no choice but to kill Lucas! So in no way will it dishonor him if we were to date!"

Casey gives Vanessa a look of determination while releasing her grasp of Nero and situates herself ahead of him to confront her sister. "Oh really! Well, it doesn't matter since Nero would definitely go out with me over you!"

Nero keys onto the ceiling with a hint of aggravation and mumbles to himself, "Not this again..."

Vanessa laughs, leaning towards Casey as she smiles. "Oh really?! Why would he go out with a shrimp like you?!"

Casey turns bright red while gritting her teeth before shouting angrily with her hands on her hips as she's bent towards Vanessa, "It's not my fault I'm the shortest person among everyone in our class!"

Nero plants his right hand atop Casey's head to measure her height, emitting an intrigued behavior. "Oh yeah... You are shorter."

Casey's eyes widen, bewildered, and ultimately faces Nero with concern showing. "Does it matter that I'm shorter, Nero?!"

Nero wholeheartedly smiles at Casey, lowering his posture a little to be at the same height as her. "Of course it doesn't matter to me, but-"

Vanessa straightens her stance with her hands behind her back, arrogantly commenting while interrupting Nero, "It does matter that you're flat chested though." She giggles.

Casey becomes furious, resetting her sight to Vanessa to give off a fierce glare. "Fuck you!" The dame suddenly gets closer to Vanessa amidst grabbing her breasts via both hands, eyeing them in the process. "It's not my fault it takes me longer to develop!" Casey peers at Vanessa while squeezing her breasts. "You think you're so hot just because you have big boobs!"

Nero turns bright red, stunned as he's thinking, "Oh, God..."

Vanessa blushes a tad, shocked until invoking an upset demeanor. "What did I tell you about touching my boobs when you want to make a point?!" She forcefully makes Casey let go of her breasts by grabbing onto her sisters' wrists and pulls them down. At the same time, Vanessa glares at Casey while bent towards her a bit. "Don't do that! Especially when Nero's watching! It's humiliating!"

Casey snaps back, drawing her face near Vanessa's. "Why are you complaining?! You should be happy that your body has already developed so much!" She giggles, a smug attitude exhibited, as she winks with her left eye, "Although... I don't need big tits to make guys want me. Everyday, at school, I see guys checking out my ass and just stare at my infinite beauty."

Vanessa smirks with a hint of skepticism. "Is that for a fact?! They must do that you whenever I'm not around! From what I've noticed, they're all checking me out!" She laughs, confidence overflowing.

Casey portrays a determined expression, inciting the same conduct from Vanessa with neither of them backing down.

In the meantime, Nero had walked around the duo and is now nonchalantly standing at the food counter. After that, the 7th Child hoists his right index finger next to his face amidst plainly uttering to the cafeteria clerk, who's wearing a white uniform, "I need food."

The cafeteria clerk laughs while looking at Nero until directing his attention towards Casey and Vanessa with a hint of concern. "Don't you think you need to stop them?"

Nero shuts his eyes, waving his right hand at the clerk. "Don't worry too much about it." He smirks amidst turning around to confront Casey and Vanessa with his back resting against the counter. "I actually missed hearing them argue." Nero's suddenly consumed by sadness as he drops his head to stare at the floor, thinking, "I just wish I could convince them that the world isn't as bad as they think. Then maybe, I'd keep them from sacrificing their lives for SEELE's ambition. I don't want to see them get hurt, but I know it's hopeless in trying to change their mind." He looks up at Casey and Vanessa with a sad smile, whispering to himself, "I'm going to really miss them."

The scene ends right there as a couple of days transgress and all the injured children have regained consciousness. There was a substantial commotion at first though, compliments of Shinji being upset about Nero's actions while throwing a familiar tantrum. It took both Asuka and Mari a bit to calm him down, mostly thanks to the former speeding up the process by literally kicking his rear via the sole of her right shoe. Once Shinji was subdued, barely managing to avoid an unceremonious meeting with the floor despite his condition, Misato notified all of the children that they were going to get some answers from Gendo involving Nero. Shinji was looking forward to this since he was mad at the fact that his father kept Nero's existence a secret.

Both Misato and the children are now in Gendo's office while Kaji had left the day before in search of SEELE. They're face to face with Gendo as he's sitting behind his desk while in his usual pose and Fuyutsuki's standing next to him like always. *Side Note: Misato and the rest are stand in the following order from left to right; Misato, Shinji, Mari, Asuka, Rei, Kensuke, Touji and Hikari. This order is based on Fuyutsuki and Gendo's point of view. Now in reference to what they are wearing, Misato, Fuyutsuki and Gendo are wearing what they normally wear in NERV while the teens have their school uniform on due to it being what they commonly wear sometimes when they aren't in their apartment*

Misato watches Gendo with seriousness brimming and firmly utters, "Alright, it's time for you to explain! And don't give us any half-ass bullshit like you did last time! We deserve to know the truth!"

Gendo nods at Misato prior to viewing all of the children, eventually specifying his sight onto Shinji with minimal emotion portrayed. "To start with, I wish to apologize to you, Shinji. I shouldn't have hidden Nero from you."

Shinji exhibits a furious demeanor as he takes a step forth. "It's too late for that! Why didn't you tell me that I have a twin brother, father?! And don't say it was some promise! That's not good enough!"

Gendo plainly responds. "I actually wanted to tell you, Shinji. When he informed me of his desire to join us, I thought it was perfect that you two were going to be reunited." He gives off a somber attitude amidst veering away his attention from Shinji. "Unfortunately, he revealed that he had no intention of staying with us. In actuality, he wanted to kill all of us."

Hikari steps in with determination established. "I don't believe that to be true, sir!"

That declaration astonishes everybody else before Misato asks from concern, "What makes you think that?"

Hikari gazes at Misato and states with a hint of confidence in her voice, "He said something odd when I fought him. He made it sound like he didn't want to hurt me, or even fight us."

Asuka urgently turns to Misato. "He pretty much did the same thing with me! Right as he was ready to throw that ball of condensed A.T. Field energy! He warned me to get away!"

Confusion sets upon Touji as he views both Asuka and Hikari. "But he said in the beginnin' that he doesn't care 'bout any of us! What's the point then?!"

Rei joins in while notably confused. "Do you think he was trying to trick us into believing that?"

Shinji exclaims with intensity as he observes Rei, "No! He wanted us dead! There's no denying it!"

Mari mounts her vision onto Shinji, worry demonstrated until placing her right hand on his left shoulder to comfort him. "Chill out, Shinji. Wouldn't it be better that he didn't want that?"

Shinji turns his attention towards Mari and rebuttals via a distraught tone. "Of course! I didn't want to fight him! Not just because he's my brother, but because he was our friend!" The boy slightly stammers prior to continuing his speech. "But he betrayed us, Mari! Even if he didn't want to, he still did it! He almost killed us! That's why he has to pay! The next time I see him, I'll have to-"

Asuka unexpectedly stands in front of Shinji while infuriated and slaps him in the face via her right hand. This baffles Misato and the other children as their eyes are glued to Shinji and Asuka.

Shinji's temporarily stunned as his head is shifted eastward from the hit until snapping it towards Asuka with anger forming as he puts his left hand on his left cheek to favor the afflicted area. "That's twice you've hit me! What was that one for?!"

Asuka sharply retorts, "Stupid Shinji! Don't you think?! He had the perfect chance to take us all down permanently, but he didn't! What's that tell you?!"

Shinji's immediately in shock as his jaw drops a little.

Concurrently, Asuka switches her concentration to Gendo and emanates a solemn conduct while situated in a formal manner. "Commander Ikari... Please tell us everything we need to know about Nero. It's best we try to understand who he really is. From there, we can properly make the judgment if he's the enemy or not."

Misato's instantly amazed amidst thinking, "Asuka... Did Nero really leave that much of an impression that you're willing to defend him after all of this?" She grins without ceasing her thought process. "Seems like you're falling over heels fast." The Colonel promptly deviates her vision towards Gendo, sternly saying, "I agree with Asuka, Commander. Tell us everything about Nero Ikari."

Asuka immediately depicts Misato while a little surprised that she took her side, smiles after contentedly nodding and steers her gaze back to Gendo.

Meanwhile, Gendo administers his sights onto Misato and Asuka for a moment while silently contemplating. Not long after, the Commander makes a decision as he announces, "If that's what you want." He briefly pauses to clear his throat, his head lowered, and then comments while reverting his attention to all of them, "Nero was an infant when I had him sent away to the institution that I mentioned during the battle. The scientist there had determined his IQ to be well over 200, though they weren't certain of how smart he really is." Gendo looks at Shinji with a cold expression. "Shinji. You notice the physical differences between you and Nero, right?"

Shinji calmly nods at Gendo. "Yes, father. His eyes and hair color are different."

Gendo nods at Shinji and says with a composed tone, "Indeed, but although your physical differences are little, the difference in personality and capabilities are vast. Nero's a college graduate."

Touji cuts in while saying with a skeptical tone, "So what? Asuka graduated from college too. What makes him so special?"

Gendo looks at Touji without turning his head. "He has two Master's degrees; One in Political Economics and another in Bio-Engineering. He also has a Ph.D. in Marine Biology."

Misato's significantly bewildered, "That's how he was able to cut off our control of Unit 03!" The dame quickly composes herself while emitting a serious behavior. "He must have specifically studied everything about Eva so that getting a Master's degree in Bio-Engineering would be a piece of cake!"

Gendo nods while looking at Misato. "Exactly. That was the only reason he took Bio-Engineering. He also studied Political Economics out of the benefits of knowing how the government system works. The only thing he cared about was-"

Asuka interrupts Gendo to complete his sentence with a hint of sadness, "Marine Biology. Nothing else he studied mattered to him in a personal way, right?"

Gendo locks eyes with Asuka. "You are correct. When he was little, he would always look at old pictures of the ocean. It became his goal to return it to its former glory. I actually had hoped for him to achieve great things with his intelligence." He alters his focus to Shinji again. "That's what I thought before your mother died."

Shinji's consumed by sorrow as he diverts his attention from his father.

Gendo soon adds in a somewhat earnest voice, "Shinji. Your mother mentioned to me that you are a frail child. That you needed a strong, older brother to protect you. But after your mother's death, I ignored her wish. I sent Nero back to the institution on the same day he had come back to Tokyo-03. I wanted to use him."

Shinji portrays a dumbfounded demeanor while gawking at Gendo as the others mimicked the boy's reaction.

Afterwards, Gendo's expression becomes stoic. "I am a terrible father. All I cared about was getting Yui back. As a result, I ended up abandoning both of my sons." The adult vaguely adjusts his attitude to reflect sincerity. "But understand something, Shinji. You weren't alone in suffering. Nero ran away from the institution at the age of four and was barely surviving in the outside world for six months. He was near death until Chairmen Keel found him and made a deal with him."

Shinji yells out, immensely upset, "And why didn't you go and get him?! Why did you let Keel get a hold on him, father?!"

Gendo coldly replies. "Because all I cared about was being with your mother. He made the decision to run away, and for that period of time, you two were more alike than ever.  His depression didn't weigh him down, however. He used his intelligence and created a goal for himself. Nero may hate the world and the way it has turned out, but has yet to lose his desire to make it beautiful again." Gendo looks downward. "I think he still wants that."

Asuka confidently states via a firm posture, "He does! I'm sure of it!"

With curiosity mildly displayed, Gendo gazes at Asuka. "To what degree, Soryu?"

Asuka proudly smiles. "100%!" She plants her right hand upon her chest. "And I believe that Nero does care about us!" Asuka moves her hand from her person and swiftly extends it towards her right. "If he didn't, that means he's one hell of an actor!"

Hikari giggles while Kensuke applies a skeptical conduct, "It's weird that you're standing up for Nero so much, Asuka. Is there a certain reason why?" The glasses-wearing boy chuckles knowingly.

Asuka rapidly drops her hand, turning bright red out of shock. Afterwards, the teenager snaps her head westward to view Kensuke while   exasperated amidst shouting, "I have no clue what you're talking about! We're just friends, nothing else!"

Shinji's momentarily surprised as his eyes are keyed onto Asuka. Eventually, the pilot grins while contentedly thinking, "I was right. She does have feelings for him." Shinji lowers his attention to the floor with minor intrigue arising as he thinks, "I wonder how Nero feels about her."

Mari abruptly gets close to Shinji, faintly peering at him from concern. "What's on your mind, Shinji?"

Shinji's startled a tad, however, ultimately smirks at Mari with a sincere expression and thinks, "That's right. I still haven't been completely honest with Mari, like I should have been. Well, there's one good way to show her how I feel. A way I learned from Asuka." The teenager suddenly leans towards Mari, closing his eyes, and kisses her on the lips.

That causes Mari to be momentarily stunned with her eyes wide open prior to contentedly smiling amidst passionately reciprocating Shinji's action while quickly embracing him.

Touji's the first to notice the pair, releasing an astonished outburst as he points his right hand at them, "Shinji and Mari are making-out!"

The others hurriedly gawk at Shinji and Mari while Asuka can't helping growing a bit jealous at first since there remains some lingering feelings for Shinji. Fortunately, the redhead brushes it off with a grin summoned and thinks, "Whatever. As if I care to do anything about it after breaking up with him. I hope they're happy together."

Gendo inadvertently allows himself to smirk due to seeing Shinji's delight, although rushes to mask it while clearing his throat to compose himself with his head hanging a little.

Fuyutsuki realizes what Gendo is implying, glancing at him. Right after that, the Sub-Commander turns his attention towards everyone and sternly remarks, "I hate to interrupt this special moment, but Commander Ikari has not finished yet."

Misato and the others quickly return their focus onto Gendo. This includes Shinji and Mari, whom have stopped their intimacy to give their undivided attention while trying to be quite serious, but are having a bit of a hard time thanks to the happiness they both are experiencing.

Gendo soon gazes onward, blandly questioning, "I would like to know. How many of you believe that Nero is still the enemy?"

The group briefly make eye contact with one another while some of them are not too sure of what to say.

Asuka swiftly takes a step forward, determination radiating. "I don't think he is! And he'll definitely come back to us!"

Gendo delivers a curious look towards Asuka. "What makes you think that?"

Shinji walks up right next to Asuka, tenacity established. "Because he's still our friend, and I know he cares about us. Asuka had put it perfectly. We should be dead if that's what Nero actually wanted."

Asuka quickly navigates her vision towards Shinji with a content smile emanating, thinking, "Way to go, Shinji."

Gendo temporarily observes Shinji until depicting the others. "Does anybody beg to differ?"

Kensuke morbidly rebuttals while eluding eye contact. "I'm not too sure. I don't think we should drop our guard with him."

Touji sharply nods, glimpsing between each of his companions. "Kensuke's right. He broke his promise. That's somethin' I ain't forgivin' that fast."

Hikari keys onto Touji, brimming a wholehearted behavior. "I'm sorry, Suzuhara. I have to disagree with you. I feel it in my heart that Nero was essentially being forced against his will."

Touji's surprised, his concentration implemented upon Hikari, before regaining his composure and says via a somber tone, "Well, I won't argue with ya, Hikari." He sheepishly smirks.

Hikari smiles while gleefully nodding. "Thank you, Suzuhara."

Rei stares at her friends for a few seconds and then resets her gaze to Gendo with a caring expression. "The last thing I want is to kill Nero. Not only is he Shinji's brother and your son, he is also our friend. I would never willingly accept him being an adversary as an option."

Kensuke sighs as he drops his head mildly and plainly states, "I guess if Rei wants to believe in Nero, then I will too." He lifts his head to show everyone he means it.

Mari casually positions herself next to Shinji, gently grabs onto his hands with both of her's and declares in a hyped up tone as her face is pretty close to his, "Of course! Nero's one of us! Let's give him a break for hurting us! Everyone deserves a second chance!" She laughs softly with her eyes shut.

Shinji contentedly nods at Mari. "Mh-hmm."

Misato watches all of the children, quite pleased by their words until becoming attentive of Gendo amidst speaking. "There you go, Commander. It's unanimous. The next time we see Nero, we'll have faith that he'll return to us."

Gendo nods at Misato. "If that's what you all desire, so be it. However, we must be cautious with confronting him in the case he chooses not to. Understand?"

The group release a determined nod, compelling Gendo to grin as he thinks, "There may be hope after all, Yui. We can be together if he makes the right decision."

*Scene Cuts To Black*

To Be Continued...

Ending Statement:

I hope you all enjoyed the episode. I made it pretty funny with the argument between Casey and Vanessa. I will give you their description again since they have grown quite a bit. This episode was majorly focused on the topic of Nero, but what did you expect? He is the character I created. Anyway, look forward to the next episode.

Character Description:

Casey Crest - age 14, half American and half British. She has light skin, weighs 110 pounds and possesses a slim body. Her long, wavy hair is light brown while her eyes are hazel colored and she's 5'0". The following is for the perverts. Like Casey stated earlier, she has a nice ass, but her tits are only size 34B. She was complaining about her tits, considering them lacking in development due to how big her sister's tits are compatibly. Also, her birthday is July 19, 2001, hence why she's still 14 since her birthday hasn't passed yet.

Vanessa Crest - age 15, half American and half Japanese. She has light skin as well, weighs 117 pounds, thin body, her hair is light brown, straight and short while she likes to keep the back part tied up. Her eyes are hazel too while standing at 5'6". Once again, for the perverts, she has a nice ass while her breasts are size 38C, equalling Mari's. I hope that helps your imagination. Also, her birthday is April 11, 2001, which this is why she's 15 since her birthday has already passed. Now I'm going to say this before any of you want to call me an idiot because you must be thinking how the hell is Casey and Vanessa sisters if they were born in the same year while a bit over two months apart. Easy, they have the same dad, but different moms. That obviously means their dad is a sleazy bastard! Enough said.

That's it. Talk to you all later.