**a yet untitled fanfic about life after third impact**

Chapter One: yes, this is untitled too :P
by Dark Shadow (baughj@rpi.edu)



	"I feel sick..."

	Shinji dropped his hands to his side.  He still could not believe what he had almost done.  For that one second, the only thing he could think about was killing Asuka, and ending all the pain.

	For a long while, there was nothing but silence.  A silence that chilled both of the Children to their bones.  It was a deathly, penetrating silence - a silence that covered the entire Earth in its umbrage.

	Shinji sat back on Asuka's legs and thought.   He was speechless.  The events that had just occured were too much for him, and his mind was still trying to sort out the details...

	*Misato is dead.*

	The thought came to him suddenly, painfully, as he saw the events played over again...Misato kissing him and filling his mouth with her blood...

	*We'll finish when you get back, Shinji....*

	*Ritsuko is dead.  Father is dead.  Rei is dead.  Misato is dead.  They are all dead.*

	*Asuka, help me.  Asuka, help me.  Asuka, help me.*

	It surprised him that he actually cared that his father was dead. 

	Tears started to flow as Shinji broke down and sobbed.

	Asuka reached up and touched Shinji's face, slowly reaching his chin.

	"Baka..." she said, softly, and hugged Shinji.  

	Asuka slowly started to cry as well, and it wasn't long before they were both sobbing.  

	"Asuka...."

	"Yes, Shinji-kun?"

	"Asuka...I..I love you."

	"I love you too, Shinji-kun..I always have.."

	Both of them started to cry again.



	Meanwhile, an emotionless Rei watched them from a nearby beach head.  Gendo stood behind her, looking equally emotionless.

	"What do you think of me now, Gendo?"

	"I'm amazed...I didn't think you had it in you to defy me.  But the end result was the same...the completion of the Instrumentality Project."

	"You never did tell me why."

	"Yui."

	"You destroyed the world for one woman?"

	"Is it destroyed, Rei?  Can mankind ever be truly destroyed?  Even in death, we live on."

	"Look around you, Gendo.  This world is dead."

	Gendo did just that.  He turned around and stared into the sky, which was alive with the souls of mankind.  It glowed an eerie red, and a faint moaning could be heard in the distance.  

	"This world may be dead, but we live on.  We live on in the true being."

	"I don't like it there..too many voices.  Everyone's always talking at once.."

	"It doesn't matter.  Nothing matters to me...nothing but Yui."

	"Even when you were in the arms of another woman?"

	Gendo stared into the sky again.

	"I did what I had to do.  I have no regrets."

	"I wonder if Yui would agree with you."

	Gendo sighed.

<to be continued>