"What? What is it?"
        "Get out of my sight."  The words were said in such a harsh,
clipped tone that Misato had trouble believing that they came from Asuka.
        "What did you say?"
        "Get out of my sight.  I don't want to see you again."  Misato
finally put the pieces of the puzzle together, and, swallowing her pride
and joy, replied tonelessly:
        "I had no choice.  I had my orders to do nothing."
        "Then why did you help him?!" Asuka demanded.
        "We had no choice.  If we didn't, we would've lost both him and
you.  That couldn't be allowed."  The pain of her words was starting to
take it's toll on Misato, but she knew that this conversation would've
happend anyway, so she knew that it was unavoidable.  It didn't make it any
easier, though.  "Look, Asuka, he-"
        "He was there for me and you weren't!" Asuka yelled right into
Misato's face and pointing an accusing finger.  But she wasn't finished
there.  "You disgust me.  Get out of my sight," she whispered, but no less
wraithfully than before.
        Misato, the tears finally coming with nothing to stop them, nodded
twice and left quickly, almost running out of the room.  When she did get
outside, she collapsed against the wall, crying her heart out and feeling
the weight of the world slam down on her chest like ton of bricks.  She
lost Shinji in that fight, and just got Asuka back, but lost her again.
And, with Kaji dead, she was all alone in this cold, dark world.
        To the nurse and doctor, Asuka ordered, "He stays.  Try to move him
and I'll kill you," and it was said with such a tone that neither had any
illusions that this was a bluff.
        "Interesting," Commander Ikari said after the doctor finished her
report an hour later.  "Any ideas about the sudden shift in personality and
attitude?  The last time she was awake..." he trailed off as they both knew
what he was refering to.
        "Best guess?  Transferance.  Once her subconsious finally
understood what the Angel did to her, she reacted in the only way she knew
how: she got angry.  In her mind, everyone here had a hand in helping that
thing rape her mind.  I suspect that this trauma will follow her for
years."
        "Is that what it did to her?  Rape her mind?" Fuyutsuki asked from
his place beside the Commander's desk.
        "In layman's terms?  Yes."
        "And what can we expect her reactions to be in the future?"
Commander Ikari asked.
        "Probably the same as any physical rape.  First she'll begin to
withdraw from everyone around her.  Then she'll start have fits of
paranoia, believing the Angel to be returning for her, to rape her mind
over again.  She'll be jumping at shadows, strange noises, and things that
go bump in the night.  The speed of this change may be long or short,
depending on strong she is."
        "What happened when both of the pilots were removed from their
Evas?  Why did they do what they did?" Fuyutsuki asked, hoping to change
the subject.
        "They reacted to the rescue crews as they did to the Angel.  Asuka
was battered, beaten, and raped by the Angel, and reacted accordingly.
Shinji was activly fighting the Angel, and fought the crew, still trying to
protect Asuka."
        "Will both pilots still be viable to fight?" the Commander asked.
        "I can't tell you that, yet.  Give me some more time, and then I'll
be able to say."  The Commander dismissed her with a nod of his head.  When
she was gone, Fuyustuki turned to him, a question on the tip of his tounge.
        "We still don't have enough information to make any sort of
decision," Commander Ikari said, as if reading Fuyutsuki's mind.  "We are
going to have to wait and see what develops from these conclusions."
        "But Seele grows more and more impatient with each passing day.  We
can't keep stalling them forever.  They demanded an explanation that we
have yet to give them.  What are we going to do?"
        "Nothing for the moment.  We need more time to see what develops of
this."
        "What are we going to do about the Second Child and Major Katsuragi?"
        "Nothing.  That's a problem that doesn't concern us and one that
won't occur for some time."
        "What do you mean 'won't occur'?  It's already happened.  You've
seen the security tapes as well as I have.  Where will we house the Second
Child?"
        "The hospital ward."
        "What about after?" Fuyutsuki asked, trying not to let the
impatience he was now feeling from entering his voice.  "What will we do
when she's released?"
        "The problem may have solved itself by then."
        "That's no solution.  We must have plans."
        "Later.  We have to decide what to tell Seele to buy some time."
        Asuka, now that she was awake, was back to her old self.  Mostly.
Even though Toji, Kensuke, and Hikari came to visit her several times, she
outright refused to move at all, except to get some food or other basic
needs.  When she was strong enough to move, she got a chair and moved it to
Shinji's bedside.  When her friends heard about this, they were wary of
believing it because of her actions and attitudes toward the young man
before that last fight.  When they did finally get around to asking her
about it, and why she was doing it, she told them, "He was there for me
when I needed it; I'm simply returning the favour."  When her friends
weren't around, or the doctor was talking to her, Asuka took the
oppurtunity to brush up on her Japanese; to finish studing the kanji and
some of the more obscure terms and words.
        Though she tried sleeping, her dreams were filled with images of
her past, the ones the Angel had ripped from her mind and forced her to
remember.  She always ended up jerking awake, feeling more tired than ever,
but too scared to go back to sleep.  She was now starting to try to stay
awake as much as possible to avoid going back to that torture.  It was
almost as painful as the original invasion.
        Sometimes when she was alone, when she felt that it was safe enough
to drop the masks she'd hid behind when there were others around and let
the full reign of her grief and pain make itself known to her.  At those
times, she let the tears come freely and made no effort to stop them.
Sometimes she wept so much that the salty liquid slid off her face and
stained her books.
        It was during one of these crying sessions that Shinji awoke from
his coma.  Asuka was leaning heavily on his bed, her arms splayed out in
front of her, her body racked with sobs.  When she felt a twitch of muscle
underneath her, she first dismissed it as her imagination.  So many times
over that past few days she'd imagined him waking up; and a few of those
times were very convincing.
        The second time she felt it though, she dared to hope.
        The third time, she was beginning to believe.
        What happened after that, though, erased all doubt.
        "Stop that," was whispered softly by someone other than herself.
She looked down at him, only to see his eyes open, though just barely.
Reflexivly, she jumped to her feet, grabbing his hand and holding it for
all she was worth.
        "Shinji?!" she asked.
        "Who else would it be?" he answered, startling her; but she really
didn't care at the moment.  What mattered was that he was awake and
talking.  After a few moments of tense silence, Asuka just couldn't stop
herself from asking the question that'd been on her mind for the last
couple of days.
        "Why, Shinji?  Why'd you do it?"  He looked like he was struggling
for words and screwing up his courage at the same time.  He closed his
eyes, and for a brief moment Asuka a scared that he'd lapsed back into his
coma.  She started shaking him, but then he opened his eyes and managed a
small smile while he spoke.
        "I couldn't let my partner down, now could I?"
        "Partner?" Asuka asked, dumbfounded and shocked.  This was a whole
new Shinji, but one that was awake and that was good enough for her.  Then
his eyes flashed as he realized something.
        "That is, assuming you want the job," he said.  Asuka waited only
the barest of moments before answering.
        "Partners," she agreed, holding his hand even tighter as his eyes
slowly closed and he fell into a deep sleep.  Asuka could tell it was sleep
by the slight snore that was coming from him.
        And, for the first time in many nights, Asuka fell asleep, without
the horrible memories haunting her dreams.

end

Thanks to: KaraOhki, Derek Sherman, Phillip Masters, Anand Rao, Erin Ellis,
Al-I-Bus, Zero-XIII, Izcer4, Rex Algarme, DB Sommer, and The Rams (whew!)
For those of those interested, Izcer4 took me up on my offer before to
write his own continuation of "Power of Pain".  He's currently posting them
on RAAC.  I don't know if he intends on posting them here, though.

Cory Holmes
gholmes@rodeo.sd27.bc.ca