Words from the Author:

Alright, I'm finally back into writing more or less to the pace I was before. Okay, maybe not EXACTLY, but I'm doing pretty good. I'm going to continue on from where I left off in the last episode because I left you all with a bit of a cliffhanger, which if I may say again is a very common thing in an Evangelion story. I really don't see any action for this episode, so I will be doing my best not to make it too long, but some things can't be helped. Here's the famous reminder... Neon Genesis Evangelion belongs to Anno and Gainax. No one should ever delude themselves into thinking otherwise. Enjoy, everyone.

Episode 26: Within One's Heart

The episode starts off with Kaworu and Rei on the balcony of the apartment as the words that Kaworu had just spoken to Rei ring through her head. Rei maintains her distance from Kaworu while lightly leaning her back against the sliding door that leads back into the apartment with her hands behind her back. At the same time, she displays an uneasy expression as she remembers the first time those words came out of Kaworu's mouth.

Kaworu continues to have his body facing away from Rei as he's gazing at her out of the corner of his eyes with his head turned to the left while pleasantly smiling. "You do remember, correct?"

Rei breathes heavily a little as she relaxes herself and says with a composed tone, "Indeed, and I now understand exactly why you said that long ago, however..." She removes her back from the sliding door as seriousness resonates from within her eyes. "I have changed. I am no longer bound by Lilith's soul after 3rd Impact."

Kaworu calmly responds. "I did not say you have not changed." He then turns around to face Rei, rests his back against the rails and folds his arms. "You have very much changed... But that does not mean you and I are not still the same."

Rei sharply retorts with a hint of disdain showing. "And what evidence do you have of this? This is the first time we have spoken since that day we met."

Kaworu turns his head to the right to look away from Rei while maintaining his smile. "Nero told me everything that he had witnessed here."

Rei displays a bit of surprise and jumps a little. "He told you about everyone? Not just Asuka?"

Kaworu returns his gaze to Rei without turning his head. "Of course " He then turns his head to properly look at Rei. "You all mean a lot to him apart from what he desperately tried to make you believe."

Rei smiles as she's quite pleased by Kaworu's statement. She then shows some concern and takes a few steps towards Kaworu. "Tell me what he told you about me."

Kaworu asks in a teasing way, "Why so interested, Ayanami?"

Rei quickly answers with a harsh tone. "Because you are making your judgment of us being the same by what he told you, right?"

Kaworu chuckles. "Indeed, you are correct. I like how you caught onto what I was implying."

Rei shows a bland look with her head tilted to the left. "Tell me."

Kaworu shuts his eyes while lowering his head. "He told me that you have changed. You are more social, that you have developed better relationships with the others, that you have gained qualities you lacked before..." He lifts his head up to look at Rei. "For example, your sense of humor and the value of life."

With that said, Kaworu pushes himself off the railings, unfolds his arms while taking a few steps towards Rei to have himself mere inches away from her and says with sincerity gleaming from his eyes, "You may have tried once to give up your life since 3rd Impact, but you did it with pure thought of protecting others. Not because you thought that you could be replaced."

Hearing that from Kaworu causes Rei to rapidly blink out of astonishment for a moment as she's stunned a little. She then regains a bit of her composure while displaying some concern. "Wait... How could he have told you that?"

Kaworu simply says with a slightly amused tone, "He did not. I just tricked you into admitting it."

Rei's immediately surprised by what Kaworu just said and then turns away from him with annoyance arising as her right hand is on the center of her chest due to a small increase of her heart rate. "That was not right. Manipulating me like that."

Kaworu makes a sad smile while cocking his head to the right. "I apologize. I just wanted to prove that I still understand the way you are because I am the same way."

Rei hurriedly turns back around to face Kaworu while having put her hand down as a hint of curiosity can be noted on her face. "What do you mean?"

Kaworu loses his smile while taking a few steps backwards to lean against the rails again and puts his hands into his pockets with his head down. "I have given my life for another person before." He then pauses for a brief moment as he smirks with sadness brimming. "All you can think about is that if sacrificing yourself will protect the person you love, then you would gladly do that." Kaworu peers at Rei with his head still down. "Do you not agree, Ayanami?"

Rei's stunned once again while her body uncontrollably shakes as she thinks, "He... Really is like me. He understands how I think and knows very well the feeling of being me."

Kaworu lifts his head up while staring at Rei for a while and then displays a content expression. "You know... I thought the only person that could ever have my heart was Shinji, but... Now I understand what Nero meant."

Rei instantly becomes confused while taking a step towards Kaworu. "What?"

Kaworu laughs softly to himself while lowering his head for a little bit with his eyes shut. He then removes himself from the rails again and gazes at Rei with a pure look on his face. "I will explain. Before I left America, Nero had asked me for a favor. He had asked me to watch over everyone until he returns, but he also told me that I needed to make sure that three people in specific are safe no matter what."

Having said that, Kaworu pulls his right hand out of his pocket and lifts it up in front of himself and Rei while pointing upward with his index finger. "One obviously being Shinji, the other being Asuka and the final person being..." He then lowers his index finger to point at Rei. "You."

Rei's completely surprised by Kaworu's words. "Me?! But why?!"

Kaworu smiles with sincerity taking over as he lowers his hand. "Because Nero sees you as his sister, Ayanami."

Rei's even more surprised as her eyes widen. "He does...?"

Kaworu nods without hesitation. "Yes, he does. You have Yui Ikari's DNA and were created from her. Nero says that is good enough for him."

Rei can't help but to be filled with happiness as she smirks while her eyes glisten. Kaworu then gets closer to Rei with a confident expression while his lips are almost in contact with Rei's. "He also believes that you and I are suitable for each other."

That statement shocks Rei as she quickly pulls away from Kaworu due to her knowing how close their lips were to touching. She lightly slams her back against the sliding door and then yells out while being quite upset, "How could he say that?! He knows that I'm with Kensuke!"

Kaworu calmly smiles while maintaining a cool composure. "I agree. He knows very well that you are with Aida and he also knows that I still love Shinji. And yet, Nero found a way to say that to me with pure confidence and sincerity."

Rei gives Kaworu a stern glare and sharply nods. "Yes, even though Shinji is with Mari now, you cannot quickly change how you feel about someone."

Kaworu responds while placing his right hand on his neck and slanting his head to the left. "You are speaking out of experience since you were in love with Shinji as well."

Rei briefly pauses as she looks down at the floor with some sadness showing while remembering all the feelings she once had for Shinji. She then returns her focus to Kaworu with confidence taking over as she says with a stern tone, "I may be speaking out of experience, and I do not regret those feelings. However, I have Kensuke now and he has Mari."

After saying that, Rei's eyes gleam as she smiles with her head turned towards the left so she can look away from Kaworu. "Anyway, I owe Kensuke so much. He has helped me become the person I am now and leave behind the emotionless, doll that I was before."

Kaworu's eyes slightly widen out of surprise. "That is what Asuka once called you, correct?"

Rei nods without looking at Kaworu. "And she was right. Though I did not want to admit it, I was indeed a doll. I did not care for my own life at all." The 1st Child turns her head to look at Kaworu as she continues to smile. "But I have changed thanks to everyone... Including Kensuke."

Kaworu relaxes his composure after hearing Rei's words as he becomes quiet for a moment while cocking his head back to look up. He then smirks due to remembering something that Nero said to him and lowers his head to gaze at Rei. "Do you love Aida?"

Rei's dumbfounded by the complete randomness of that question and then pushes her back even more into the sliding door with her head lowered once again while thinking, "Do I... Love Kensuke...? I have never once thought about putting my feelings into such a concept."

Kaworu places his right hand behind his head while closing his eyes and putting his head down a bit. "If you have not put any actual thought into it, then how could you be so sure about your feelings for him?"

Rei snaps her head up to look at Kaworu with a shocked expression and thinks, "How did he know what I was thinking?!"

Kaworu slowly opens his eyes to gaze at Rei again, but with his head still down and his hand behind his head. "Ayanami... Can you say that you love him without any doubt of your feelings?" He then lowers his right hand and puts it in his pocket while straightening his posture. "Can you love him like you loved Shinji?"

Rei hesitates while trying to say something, but has a hard time as she reverts her attention back to the floor, stares at it for several seconds with her body trembling a bit due to some uncertainty dwelling within her being. Afterwards, the blue-haired beauty slowly returns her gaze back to Kaworu with very little confidence. "I believe that I could..."

Kaworu casually walks up to Rei, places himself to have his face dangerously close to hers again with an arrogant smile now taking form on the grey-haired boy's face and whispers, "Though you do not right now."

Rei's in shock for an instance while her eyes have widen quite a bit until realizing that once again Kaworu's lips are very close to touching her lips, but this time has no real space to back away as she thinks with anxiety being noted, "What does he want from me? This is the second time he is this close." Rei takes a small gulp due to the concern and anxiety that tortures her while thinking, "Could he possibly want to kiss me... but I have not even-"

Kaworu interrupts Rei's thought while pulling himself away from Rei a little as he seems to be quite surprised for some reason. "So, it is true."

Rei displays a bit of confusion as she tilts her head to the left. "What are you talking about?"

Kaworu smiles while pulling out his left hand from his pocket and places it on his waist with a cool demeanor. "Ayanami... You have never kissed anyone, have you?"

Rei's expression freezes out of complete surprise and disbelief while thinking to herself, "How does he...?"

Before Rei could finish her thought, Kaworu swiftly leans towards her, puts both hands on the sliding door's glass while having them next to Rei's cheeks and softly says, "The entire time he was here, Nero never once witnessed you and Kensuke kiss. Because of that, he was even more confident about us being together."

Rei quietly stares at Kaworu for a moment and then moves her arms from behind herself to extend them out towards her sides while saying with a defiant tone, "That proves nothing!" She lowers her arms with a serious look on her face. "He cannot be making any assumptions like that when I have feelings for Kensuke!"

Sadness overtakes Kaworu's person as his smile disappears. "However, Ayanami... You have never once thought of kissing him."

Rei's jaw slightly drops as she's stunned by that final statement from Kaworu. Rei then drops her head down while her body slouches a little as numerous thoughts flood through her mind. Meanwhile, Kaworu cocks his head to the right with sadness showing as his eyes stay locked onto Rei for several seconds. He then slides the door open without Rei losing her balance since she was still up against it, puts his hands back into his pockets and walks pass her right with his eyes shut.

But before he could reach his room, Kaworu suddenly stops himself in the middle of the living room while quickly opening his eyes, grabs onto his chest and shows a small amount of pain on his face. Right after that, Kaworu looks down at his hand and chest with concern brimming. He then brushes the pain away, closes his eyes again and continues walking to his room.

As Kaworu disappears into his room that's on the same side of the house that the 1st Child's room is located, Rei slowly raises her hands up, place one on top of the other and rest them on the center of her chest. She immediately feels that her heart is racing and this worries her as she whispers to herself, "What is this...? This is the same feeling that has been bothering me since his return..." Rei closes her eyes while tightly clenching her dress. "It is not distrust..." She then opens her eyes and desperately tries her best not to let her emotions get the best of her. "But what I am feeling is not good... I should not be feeling this."

The scene fades out from that point as the following day comes. School has been put on hold for the children considering that much of the city has been reduced to rubble from the last two battles that have occurred within the past 2 weeks. For this very reason, many preparations are being made with the pilots going through their usual tests, but this time, Hikari and Touji aren't present. This is due to there not being any need for them even as back-up pilots, so the two of them are with their families while hoping for the best for their friends and NERV.

While the children go through their routine sync tests, Misato stands to the left of Ritsuko with her arms folded as they both watch the plugs that the children are in from the viewing room. "So, what's the full status on the Evas?"

Ritsuko calmly looks at Misato out of the corner of her eyes while having her hands in her lab coat's pockets. "They're all in perfect condition in case of another sudden attack like yesterday." She then returns her attention to the test plugs and smirks. "And it's good that Shinji is achieving his usual synchronization again. Yesterday was quite a scare for us, especially when he passed out."

Misato nods in agreement as she maintains her focus on the test plugs with a firm look. "No doubt. That was really scary." She then contentedly smiles while turning her gaze to Ritsuko without moving her head. "But at least he came out of it, and now he's synchronizing again."

Ritsuko turns away from Misato to walk towards the left to go to Maya, who's sitting at her post for the viewing room, and says to Misato without looking at her, "It sure is a relief that he got out of that funk."

Once she reached Maya, Ritsuko looks onto her screen from Maya's right and sees the individual pilots' images. The children's synchronization and brain activity can be also seen as Ritsuko focus on Kaworu's synchronization, which is on par with Shinji's sync ratio. Ritsuko then gets a bit of an uneasy feeling as she pulls her hands out of her pockets to cross her arms and displays a hint of concern on her face. "Are you positive that we can actually trust him?"

Misato stares at Ritsuko's back with a blank expression. "You mean Nagisa, right?"

Ritsuko swiftly swings her body to the right so that she faces Misato and nods at her with a serious expression. "Yeah... How could we be so easy to trust him after what he did? Sure, he helped us defeat the Evas piloted by SEELE members, however, it could be an elaborate ruse to make us drop our guard. He's deceived us before, and he can certainly try to do it again."

Misato tilts her head to the right and gives Ritsuko a skeptical look while having her left eyebrow raised. "Do you actually believe Keel would willingly give up the lives of his fellow members to trick us?"

Ritsuko sharply retorts while uncrossing her arms and lowering them. "Definitely. Keel is a monster like that. He wouldn't hesitate to trade the lives of the whole world just to achieve his ambition."

Misato lets out a depressing sigh with her eyes shut and her head down a little. "You have a point there." She then lifts her head back up to look at Ritsuko with a light smile. "But people deserve a second chance. Let's give him the benefit of the doubt." Misato turns her attention back towards the plugs. "Anyway, the other children seem not to mind his return that much and are willing to give him a chance."

Ritsuko doesn't try to hide the annoyance that suddenly arises from within her as she responds to Misato's statement. "Which kind of astounds me since Shinji was deeply affected by Nagisa's previous betrayal but he was even quick to accepting him back once Nagisa told him what happened with Nero." She then softly laughs out of nowhere while slightly turning her head to the left with her eyes still on Misato. "Not all of them are willing to give him a chance though. Aida seems to have an issue with Nagisa being here."

Misato shows a bit of discontent while putting both hands on her hips. "I know... And I understand why he doesn't like Kaworu being here. He's afraid that he's going to lose his spot to Kaworu like Touji had lost his to Nero."

Ritsuko narrows her eyes with some irritation being displayed while putting her hands back into her coat's pockets. "You see the irony here, don't you?"

Misato quickly turns her eyes to Ritsuko while being a little curious. "You mean the fact that both Nero and Kaworu have a reputation in betraying us, and yet we still can't deny that they're the better pilots in comparison to our first two choices, right?"

Ritsuko nods as a sad smile had formed on her face. "Yup." She sighs softly with her eyes closed and her head tilted backwards. Ritsuko then slowly opens her eyes and stares at the ceiling. "It's quite problematic. Even though we should be weary of another betrayal, we have no other choice other than to just ignore that bad feeling and hope that we can actually trust Nagisa."

Misato happily smirks, lifts her left hand up to place it behind her head and slants her head to the left. "I really don't see the need to worry about him. He has the seal of approval from Nero after all." She then giggles with her eyes shut. "That should be good enough, don't you think?"

Ritsuko gawks at Misato a bit while slouching her body down and thinks, "Did she just forget that he also betrayed us?" She straightens her posture and turns her head towards Maya to look away from Misato while thinking, "I know very well that he made up for it substantially with destroying SEELE's previous base, and everyone has forgiven him, however, I really think he should be held accountable for his actions towards us." Ritsuko drops her head down with a disappointed look taking over and says softly to herself, "But I doubt that'll happen."

Misato notices Ritsuko's demeanor and this causes her to lower her left hand while straightening her head with concern emitting from her person. "You okay, Ritsu?"

Ritsuko snaps her head up with urgency being noted, looks at Misato and then calms her expression while giving her friend a reassuring smile. "I'm fine. I was just thinking about something minor. Nothing really to worry about."

Misato's quickly relieved by her friend's words and contentedly smiles. "Okay. So..." She calmly turns her head towards the test plugs while still having her body facing towards Ritsuko. "Anything else about the Evas or pilots that we need to go over?"

Ritsuko suddenly realizes something after hearing Misato's question, pulls her right hand out of her coat's pocket and lightly smacks her forehead with it. "That reminds me..." She then pleasantly smiles at Misato and returns her right hand into her pocket. "I actually have a little surprise to show you after the test."

Confusion instantly appears on the face of Misato as she slightly raises her left eyebrow and thinks, "A surprise?"

As Misato thinks about what could possibly be the surprise, Kaworu calmly sits within the relatively dark plug that once belonged to the Extra Eva, but now is used for Kaworu's sync test. This is so that all of the pilots can take the test at once unlike when Nero had to wait for Touji to finish before he had officially replaced him.

Kaworu's head is lowered as he's focused on his synchronization with a smirk on his face. Then, out of complete randomness, the gray-haired boy shows discomfort on his face while hurriedly placing his right hand over his chest where his heart would be located with his body bent forward. After that, Kaworu slightly opens his eyes to look at his hand and chest while thinking, "This pain... It has been disturbing me since last night..." He rests his back up against the seat with his head lying on it as well and stares at the ceiling with a dull expression while muttering, "However, this pain is not bad. It does not hurt really... It is actually fairly pleasant and familiar."

Having said that, Kaworu suddenly smiles with a profound amount of happiness as he closes his hand into a fist while still having it over his chest. "I felt this with Shinji, however, this one is different. More intense. More demanding of the feeling that I get when she is near." He then removes his right hand from his chest, grabs onto the controls again by leaning forward a little, shuts his eyes while maintaining his smile and thinks, "It is wonderful to feel this again."

With that, Kaworu and the other children continue with their test as the focus instantly goes to a gigantic room that's only being mildly illuminated by a purple glow. This means that the majority of the room is quite dark. In this room lies an Eva that is levitating upside-down with both arms extended out in a crucifix posture while it can be seen that what's creating the purple glow is an immensely, large halo that's slowly rotating above the Eva's head. The Eva's color can't be certain at the moment due to the purple glow of the halo, but it can be noted that this Eva has a blade on top of its head that's pointed up and is shaped like a javelin/spear. Also, an upside down, arrow-shaped visor is installed onto its face where the eyes would be located as the arrow is glowing the same shade of purple that the halo's emitting. *This Eva's based on the Unit 08 that was in the preview at the end of Rebuild 2.0. So you all should have a good idea of what it looks like and the design features on the Eva's body if you take a close look at the image of it*

Zahn currently resides within Unit 08's entry plug as he's calmly synchronizing with the Eva with his eyes closed and his arms crossed. At the same time, the white-haired boy's standing on the same style of a platform just like Unit 06 now has while being upside down, which he can do this thanks to the magnetic implants that are on the bottom of his plugsuit's feet. Zahn can't be seen too well because of the lights of the entry plug being greatly dimmed to near darkness though he can be barely seen with the help of the many monitors that surround him that read out his vitals.

Suddenly, the lights for the immense room turn on and reveals the gold color of Unit 08 while Keel is right in front of the Eva's arrow-shaped visor as the humongous halo above the Eva's head is no longer visible. He stands on the bridge that allowed Zahn to enter his Eva with his hands in his pocket, eyes showing off a menacing stare since he no longer chooses to hide them and smirks at the golden Eva while being very composed. "How do you feel, my son?"

Zahn opens his eyes to look at the screen that had just appeared in front of him that displays Keel's image, promptly makes Unit 08 gracefully turn itself right-side up with no effort at all and plants its feet onto the floor while still facing towards Keel. After doing that, the white-haired boy chuckles as he continues to be within the dim-lighting of the entry plug and replies while trying to withhold his amusement, "Lord Keel... You're right in front of me. You don't have to avoid saying my name."

Keel promptly laughs in a crazed-like manner with his head cocked back and his eyes closed. He then returns his attention to Unit 08 with amusement brimming from his person. "But I gave you life, so you are my child. Now... How are you? Is your body holding up well?"

Zahn responds with a composed tone. "Everything's fine. The True Evangelion is fully operational and accepting me with no problems at all. My body isn't giving me any problems either."

Keel contentedly smiles. "I'm glad to hear that." He then turns his head towards the left to look away from Unit 08. "Time is ticking away. The day I've been waiting for is drawing nearer and nearer."

Zahn quickly licks his bottom lip out of pure excitement. "I just wish that time would go a bit faster." He then uncrosses his arms, lifts them up in front of himself and tilts his head up as his yellow eyes lightly gleam from the light of the screens. "Not only will I enjoy killing Nero, I will feel pure ecstasy from initiating Instrumentality and annihilating the infestation that is the Lilin race!" Zahn gives out a loud, arrogant laugh.

Keel focuses his attention back to Unit 08 with seriousness taking over as he interrupts Zahn's laughter. "Zahn, listen well. To fully achieve my goal, I will need to be specifically involved with Instrumentality. Not like last time that I left it in the hands of Ikari's foolish son."

Zahn looks at Keel with his arms now lowered to be placed on his waist and slants his head to his right while asking with some curiosity in his voice, "And how exactly will you get involved, Lord Keel?"

Keel smiles in a sinister way as he slightly puts his head down while keeping his eyes locked on the gold Eva. "By becoming one with the True Evangelion."

Zahn jumps a little out of surprise after hearing what Keel had just said while removing his hands from his waist to put them down and gasping softly at the same time. Not too long after that, the white-haired boy regains some of his composure while taking a step towards the screen. "But Lord Keel... How would you do that?" He immediately realizes something and then relaxes himself with confidence now dwelling inside of his being. "I get it. You plan on becoming a cybernetic-being again, aren't you?"

Having been very pleased by Zahn's words, Keel chuckles while taking his hands out of his pockets and lightly clapping with them in front of himself. "As always, you are quick to figure things out, my son." He then returns his hands back into his pockets while displaying a calm demeanor. "I may have regained my body thanks to Ikari's worthless son, however, I have no need for it... All I want is to be able to dictate Instrumentality and have my will be done."

Zahn brushes his hair with his right hand and responds with a bit of hesitation in his voice. "Well... I didn't expect you wanting to be so involved." He then folds his arms and happily says, "But I can manage having you as this Eva's soul." Zahn turns his head towards the right while maintaining his eyes on Keel. "It will actually be quite enjoyable."

In response, Keel turns to his right without taking his eyes off Unit 08. "Indeed. I will have complete pleasure in taking direct part in the destruction of Ikari and all the sinners of this world."

As that scene ends, the children of NERV have just finished their sync test and have gone to their respective changing rooms. Though, before heading to the changing room, Ritsuko had stopped both Asuka and Mari to tell them not to change out of their plugsuits yet. This is because they will soon be going through a field-test involving the surprise that Ritsuko had mentioned earlier to Misato. At this moment, the main focus is on the girl's changing room as Rei is the only one taking off her plugsuit while being in front of her locker, which is on the right side of the room. In the meantime, Asuka and Mari are sitting on the bench that's in the middle of the room while facing towards Rei.

Asuka has her head tilted back to stare at the ceiling with a bland look on her face while having her hands mounted on the bench for leverage so she can lean backwards a little. "I really don't get why we have to wait in here when they could have just injected our plugs into the Evas straight away."

Mari gives Asuka a carefree smile by turning her head towards the left as her posture is slightly bent forward due to her having her right elbow planted on her right thigh to hold her head up. "I think it's because it would take a while to get what we will be testing out ready." She then turns her gaze to Rei while maintaining the same posture. "What do you think, Rei?"

Rei faces her fellow pilots while hugging her plugsuit in front of her body since she's naked at the moment and has become more understanding about how important it is to not let others see her nude. A concept that she should have learned a long time ago, but after talking extensively with Asuka, Mari, Hikari and even Misato, she now knows what's appropriate and what isn't. "I believe you are correct, Mari. Dr. Akagi and the engineers most likely are assembling the necessary procedures to have whatever you two will be testing fully functional. It would be for the best that they do not miss anything important when establishing the new equipment and are completely sure that-"

Asuka turns her head to the left while not looking at the 1st Child with a hint of aggravation on her face and waves her right hand at Rei to interrupt her. "Alright, alright, we get it." She looks at Rei while nonchalantly swinging her legs up and down as she places her right hand back on the bench. "You don't have to give us your deep opinion and explanation. You agreeing with Mari was good enough." Asuka then giggles with her eyes shut and head slanted to the right.

Rei just looks at Asuka for a moment with a dumbfounded expression. She then blushes slightly due to feeling a little embarrassed by what Asuka had said with her head lowered to look down while thinking, "She has a point. I do not need to go in-depth so much with my thoughts when it comes to simply agreeing with someone unless I am asked to give my entire opinion." Rei lifts her head back up to return her gaze to Asuka, who is now smiling at Rei with her eyes open and winks in a playful manner.

That action causes Rei to lightly giggle while covering her mouth with her right hand as she maintains a firm hold on her plugsuit with her left arm. Then, out of nowhere, Rei's expression changes to show mild discomfort while hurriedly removing her right hand from her mouth and grasps onto her chest through the plugsuit.

Asuka sees this and stops swinging her feet as she displays a hint of curiosity with concern being present also. "Is something wrong Rei?"

Having heard Asuka's question, Mari looks at Rei as well with a bit of interest arising while Rei peers at Asuka with discomfort still on her face. She then turns her head to the right to veer off her sight of Asuka while hesitantly saying, "I... I have this strange feeling resounding in my chest." Rei pauses for a moment as she quickly glances at Asuka without moving her head and then stares at the floor. "It has been quite troublesome since yesterday."

Mari narrows her eyes as a smile immediately appears on her person due to a perverted thought crossing her mind. At the same time, the 6th Child removes her hand from her cheek, lowers it to rest on her lap and says in a teasing way, "Could it be that you and Kensuke have been doing something naughty and the thought of it is making you feel that way?" She giggles a little.

Asuka snaps her head to Mari while her jaw had dropped as it can be noted that she's very shocked by the 6th Child's words. After that, the red-head suddenly throws her head back with her eyes closed and starts laughing uncontrollably while shouting out with a skeptical tone, "Yeah, right! As if Rei and that stooge would be doing anything like that!" She continues to laugh as she now has her head lowered and posture bent forward a bit.

Mari looks at Asuka out of the corner of her eyes with a sly smirk. "Then why isn't she denying it?"

Asuka rapidly blinks a little after having opening her eyes while being a bit confused for a moment and then turns her attention to Rei. She promptly sees the blank expression on Rei's face as she's looking right back at Asuka without any change to her composure. This makes Asuka become quite concerned while she says with a tone of disbelief, "Rei, did you and Kensuke actually do something?!"

Rei simply replies to Asuka's question with an innocent look. "To be honest, I do not fully understand what Mari is implying with what she is saying."

Both Asuka and Mari instantly fall over to their sides as they had made an exasperated groaning sound due to not having expecting that response. Afterwards, Asuka sits back up and takes a deep breath with her head slightly down and her eyes briefly closed. She then looks at Rei with a hint of aggravation showing as she placed her left hand behind her head and runs her fingers through her hair. "I forgot that you're still really dense about certain things."

Asuka moves her hand away from her head and folds both her arms together with a calm demeanor. "What Mari's trying to ask is if you and Kensuke have done anything sexual."

Rei immediately blushes as she jumps slightly due to being caught off guard and then desperately shakes her head. "No! Kensuke and I would not do such things as we are still very young!" She drops her head down to gaze down at her chest while her right hand continues to be placed on top of it. "There is just this odd feeling being emitted from my heart since Nagisa's arrival."

Mari and Asuka's eyes widen out of complete surprise. They then lean towards Rei while coming into contact with each other by Asuka having her right cheek against Mari's left cheek and yell out in unison, "What?!"

Being fairly astonished by her fellow pilot's reaction, Rei gives them a dumbfounded look and asks with curiosity in her voice, "Is there something wrong?"

Asuka quickly gets on her feet and stands so close to Rei that their nose are about to touch while it can be clearly noted that Asuka has a tense expression. "Of course there's something wrong! Don't you see that you're putting your relationship with Kensuke in jeopardy!"

Confusion appears on Rei's face as her head is tilted to the left. "What do you mean?"

Mari stands up and places her left hand on Asuka's right shoulder to lightly motion her to give Rei some space, which Asuka does. Mari then stands next to the 2nd Child with her left hand on her hip and a compassionate gleam in her eyes. "Rei... Is the feeling you get from your chest coming from your heart racing?"

Rei nods with innocence brimming as she tightens her grip on her plugsuit and chest. After seeing that, Mari and Asuka share a quick glance with one another while making a sad smile. They then return their focus onto Rei as Mari responds with a lot of care so that she won't upset Rei too much by what she's going to tell her. "Rei, that feeling is painful, isn't it?"

All Rei can do in response to that question is simply nod as she shivers slightly due to her being concerned by the purpose of these questions. Asuka then lets out a loud, irritated sigh with her head down, which gets the attention of both Mari and Rei. After doing that, Asuka lifts her head back up to look into Rei's eyes with a firm look taking over. "This isn't good, Rei." She turns her gaze to Mari. "It's weird too considering that this crap is happening out of nowhere."

Mari crosses her arms while turning to face Asuka. "Yup, but it happens."

Rei looks back and forth between the two girls with confusion returning. "You both continue to neglect explaining to me what is going on." She specifically focuses on Asuka. "What is it that I am doing that will endanger my relationship with Kensuke?"

Before Asuka has the chance to answer Rei's question, Maya's voice comes through the intercom and says with a stern tone, "Both the 2nd and 6th Child... Please go to your Evas immediately. The preparations for the field-test have been completed. I repeat, your Evas are ready for the field-test. Please hurry to them at once."

Asuka and Mari are both looking up at the ceiling after hearing Maya's announcement for a moment. They then turn their attention to Rei once again as Asuka says with sadness emitting from her person, "Sorry, Rei. We'll tell you later. It would suck to tell you and run without really explaining why."

Mari nods in agreement to what Asuka had said and turns away to run out the exit, which is to her right. Asuka then gives Rei another sad smile and runs off to catch up to Mari while thinking, "Shit... Things keep on getting complicated for no damn good reason!"

After seeing her fellow pilots leave, Rei makes a somber expression, lowers her head and thinks while staring at her right hand that's no longer placed over her chest, "What I am feeling... Will it ever stop?"

While Mari and Asuka hurry to the Evas' Cage, the focal point goes to Misato and Ritsuko during the same time-frame that Rei, Asuka and Mari had been talking to each other in the changing room. The colonel and doctor are currently in Central Dogma as Maya, Hyuga and Aoba monitor the preparations that are being made for the field-test that Units 02 and 05 will be undergoing. Both Misato and Ritsuko stand at the spot that Misato usually stands as their eyes are on the main screen since its displaying the set-up of what will be tested.

Misato watches on with a stunned look on her face and her mouth slightly opened. She then does a quick double-take between Ritsuko, who's to her right, and the main screen. "I-Is that?!"

Ritsuko confidently smirks at Misato with her eyes on the main screen. "Yeah... It's exactly what it looks like."

The main screen suddenly splits in half to show two separate, different images of a large engine being hoisted up by multiple crane cables so that one can be installed into the torso of Unit 02 and the other to Unit 05. Misato then returns her attention to Ritsuko with disbelief and a hint of joy. "Those are S2 engines?! But how did you-?!"

Before Misato could finish her question, Ritsuko cuts her off while putting her right hand into her coat pocket as her gaze is now on Misato. "We were able to salvage some parts from the Evas that we defeated and successfully made two complete S2 engines. We were also able to fully repair the damaged S2 Engine of Unit 01 with the remaining parts, but it did take us a while to do that."

Misato's eyes slightly widen due to remembering the fact of Unit 01's S2 Engine having been damaged while cocking her head backwards to stare at the ceiling with her arms now folded. "That's right... I completely forgot that it was damaged in the fight with Unit 03." She returns her attention back to Ritsuko by turning her eyes to the left while keeping her head cocked back and displays a calm expression. "So I'm guessing that this test is just to see how well the S2 Engines operate, right?"

Ritsuko gazes at the main screen once again and responds with no real emotion showing. "More or less. Not only will we activate them, but we'll send both Evas out for a field-run that way there aren't any issues with the engines while the Evas are moving in high-speed." She briefly glances at Misato with a light smile. "We don't want anything to go wrong in a real battle, now do we?"

Exasperation can be seen on Misato's face as she rolls her eyes to look away from Ritsuko. "That's for sure. The last thing we need is for something stupid to put our pilots' lives at even greater risk."

Maya politely interrupts the two women with her chair turned to the right so that she can look at them while her left hand is on the keys on her screen. "Dr. Akagi, both Evas are just about ready. Should I call the pilots now?"

Ritsuko turns her head to the left and nods at Maya with a firm look. "Go ahead. The sooner, the better."

Maya nods back to Ritsuko while smiling a little and then turns herself to face her screen. After that, Misato veers her attention to Ritsuko once again with a hint of worry arising. "I'm not too sure how this test is going to turn out considering it's Asuka and Mari we're talking about. Those two may have gotten used to each other and now are friends, but they still have that competitive personality that can turn this simple field-test into a war." She gives Ritsuko a sad smirk.

Ritsuko rubs the back of her head with her left hand while raising her right eyebrow and softly laughs in a concerned way. "You might have a point there." She turns her head to Misato and then shuts her eyes. "We'll just have to pray they don't get too into it."

Misato's in shock by what she just heard come out of Ritsuko's mouth, gives her a look of astonishment while slanting her head to the left and thinks, "Is she for real?! I didn't expect that kind of response from her!" She then calms herself, straightens her head's posture and happily smiles. "This is a part of Ritsu that I've missed for a LONG time." Misato closes her eyes and giggles.

The conversation ends right there as Asuka and Mari make their way to the Evas' cage. Once they reached their destination, they get into the Evas while Shinji, Kaworu and Kensuke have joined Misato in Central Dogma to watch the launch. Shinji is to the right of Misato while Kaworu is next to him and Kensuke is at the end. Not too long after the boys have arrived, Rei comes in and stands to the right of Ritsuko since she's still standing next to Misato's right. It can plainly be noted that Rei's wearing the same dress she had worn the previous night during her confrontation with Kaworu.

Shinji, who's oddly wearing his school uniform due to him having forgot that there is no school for a while and didn't care to change, notices that Rei's wearing the same outfit and shows some concern, but then quickly brushes it off since it wasn't such a big deal.

Kaworu on the other hand finds it amusing that she's still wearing that outfit as it can be noted that he's wearing a black, unbuttoned shirt with a white tank-top underneath and light grey, khaki pants. He then thinks with a smile on his face while having his hands in his pockets, "She woke up late today. That is why she is still wearing that dress." Kaworu pauses and gazes at the main screen while thinking, "She does look very beautiful in it too."

Meanwhile, Kensuke, who's wearing a military-style outfit, intently watches Rei with some concern and thinks to himself while his hands are placed behind his head, "I wonder if Rei's alright. She woke up really late and that's weird coming from her." He lowers his head to look at the floor and continues to think. "She was acting a bit strange too. We've been very close ever since we got together, but today she's being distant with me for some reason, and every time we see each other, she looks away." Kensuke then returns his attention to Rei with sadness in his eyes and softly says underneath his breath, "What's going on with her?"

Ritsuko suddenly asks Maya with a firm tone as both hands are in her coat pockets and her eyes are set on the main screen that's now displaying both Evas in the Cage, "Alright, all the preparations are completed and the Evas are ready, right?" She then quickly glances at Maya out of the corner of her eyes.

Maya immediately knows that Ritsuko's talking to her without diverting her eyes from the screen that's in front of her and nods. "Yes, Doctor! The pilots are in their Evas and are ready to launch!"

Misato takes notice of Maya's words with her eyes locked onto the main screen while her arms are still folded and yells out with a stern tone, "Then let's go! Launching Evas 02 and 05, now!"

On command, both Evas are launched, and in no time at all, reach the surface of Tokyo-03, which has retracted its building for the test to give the two female pilots plenty of room to fully see how far they can get. Unit 02 slowly gets off the platform that it had been standing on and takes a few steps forward as Unit 05 is to its right. The four-legged Eva then follows suit with Unit 02's movement and gradually gets off its platform. It doesn't take long for Asuka and Mari to analyze their surroundings and know that they are right in the middle of the city.

Asuka stares down at the metal ground, and out off random desire, makes Unit 02 tap the tip of its feet with the ground, as if trying to be certain that it will hold what Asuka is going to do next. "Seems sturdy enough." She giggles and then bends forward to push the controls. This action forces the Red Eva to lower its posture, rests its hands on the ground and takes a pose that's similar to the one a person would take in a track race.

Having witnessed that, Mari gives Unit 02 a dumbfounded look for a moment and then suddenly smiles with content now radiating from her. "Hey, Asuka! Can I take that as a challenge to see who's faster?!"

Misato's eyes widen out of worry while watching the main screen, which now is displaying both the Evas with the city's limits, and thinks to herself, "Crap... This is what I was afraid of." She then calms down while smiling and thinks, "Oh well... Let them have their fun."

In the meantime, Asuka looks at Unit 05 out of the corner of her eyes while confidently smirking. "You can take it however you want, Four-Eyes."

Mari quickly cocks her head to the right with a hint of confusion showing. "Four-Eyes? Since when did you decide to call me that?"

Asuka simply responds with her focus now in front of her as she tenses up to be ready to have her Eva do a quick dash when she feels like it. "Don't take it the wrong way. I've always given people a nickname on a certain detail about them, but I just hadn't done it or even called anyone by them in a while. Anyway, think of it as me fully accepting you as a friend. You should be honored." She shuts her eyes with her head down a little and softly laughs.

After hearing what Asuka said, Kaworu slants his head to the left with a slight smile on his face as his eyes are on the main screen. "So that is why she calls me Angel-boy. How interesting."

Shinji turns his gaze to Kaworu with a light, sad smile and thinks, "Yeah, but she stopped right when me and her got together... And now that we aren't, she started doing it again." He then returns his focus to the main screen while thinking with his smile no longer present, "Did I really make her feel like she couldn't be herself when she was with me?"

While Shinji contemplates that thought, Asuka firmly tightens her grip on the controls as excitement overflows. "Now, Four-Eyes...!" She glances at Unit 05 again. "Get ready to eat my dust!"

A vacant look appears on Mari's face for a second as she continues to look at Asuka's Eva until suddenly smiling with pure happiness brimming and confidently nods, "We'll see about that, Princess!"

Asuka raises her right eyebrow with a bit of skepticism. "So that's the name you're giving me?" The 2nd Child then veers her attention back in front of herself while contentedly smiling. "It's perfect!"

Mari giggles while looking in front of herself as well. "I'm glad you like it. Now, let's go!" She forcefully pushes the controls forward and makes Unit 05 quickly speed ahead.

Surprise can be seen on Asuka's expression while watching Unit 05's head-start and rage takes over as she yells out, "That's messed up, Four-Eyes!" Asuka then has her Eva dash and chases after Unit 05 with impressive speed. "Don't think just because you got a head-start means you're going to beat me!"

Mari looks behind herself by turning her head to the left and arrogantly smiles. "Yeah, yeah... Whatever you say, Princess."

*Scene Cuts To Black*

To Be Continued...

Brief Statement:

Sweet! I found a way to make it short! Well... My definition of short at least. Hopefully I didn't bore anyone with the drama because there was a lot of it, and once again, look forward to the next episode because there's only a small number of them left.

That's it. Talk to you all later.