Author's note: this chapter is planned out, but difficult to write for some reason.  This is the first half of the chapter, dubbed Chapter 1.0.  It may seem a little empty for now, and thus feedback upon where more information could be needed would be appreciated.  Some scenes were purposely left dwindling, but I wonder if that sentiment has spread to the rest of the chapter somehow...  1.5 will have more plot than 1.0, which can't stand on its own very well.  Also, feedback on the feel and tone of this chapter would be appreciated.

Impact: a Piece of Neon Genesis Evangelion Fanfiction
    By Jonathan Wang

Chapter 1.0: Overtime



With a light snort, Ritsuko Akagi turned around and marched away, leaving behind a dark-clad man and a pale white girl.  The former stared down at the latter, and spoke softly, but not without force.
    �Rei, are you coming?�
    She stared at nothing, into nothing.  Somewhere in the back of her mind, there was resistance.  It was odd, since she had never felt this compunction, any compunction, to have to think about an answer for such an obvious question.
    �Rei.�  The voice was louder and, more importantly, deeper.
    Why shouldn�t she leave this place?  There was nothing.  There was nothing to look forward to, to remember, to think about.  Why, then, couldn�t she answer?
    �Rei.�  Commanding now.
    Hope?
    The commander walked a few steps closer, until he was staring almost at the top of her head, waiting for her to look up to him.
    That she did not.  Instead, she spoke softly, and said: �I don�t know.�

�

He sat in the classroom in solitude.  It was pretty empty nowadays, since the only people remaining were the Children and the unfortunate.  As fortune would have it, the same old man was droning on and off about the Second Impact as if nothing had happened before or after the event.
    His cheek resting in the palm of his hand, his eyes wandered to his right and he shifted his position slightly.  Asuka sat in her chair glumly. She had both of her cheeks in both her hands, and her line of sight pointed directly unto the desk.  Was she as friendless as he was now, too?
    Turning his view back to the teacher, he tried his best to pay attention in class, and not have to worry about her.



School had ended, and Shinji Ikari, Third Child, savior of the world (or so he was told), walked up the lonely street with a mind full of things that normally would have been drowned by the sounds of his portable SDAT player.
    But no, I mustn�t run away.
    Shinji slowed his pace at the peak of the road�s hilly form.  Looking down, he was determined to gather his thoughts, and make at least one solid goal by the end of his trek.  He was tired of sleeping through his time, of muddling about his surroundings.  Just one promise.
    His thoughts ran to his roommate Asuka Soryu Langley, who was not walking home with him today.  Asuka, he thought, Soryu � Langley.  I wonder what she�s doing right now.
    At this, he glanced behind himself and realized that instead of seeing a school, he saw the road � he had begun to walk again.

�

I am not small, thought Asuka.  No, I am not.  I do not want to be small.
    �What do you want to be?�
    I want to be great, the greatest.
    �What does that mean?�
    �I want to be the best.�  Soryu sat at her desk, her head resting in the palms of her hands.  Or rather, her fingers were clawing at her face into a contorted and ugly mask.  Staring out the window, her face was in an expression of a horrid and frustrated fright.
    �The best at what?�
    Everything!
    �Why?�
    She began to cry, the tears descending unto the desktop.  �I don�t want to be alone.�  Had she been speaking aloud, her voice would have been choked.
    But you are still alone.
    �Shut up!�  With this, she gripped at her hair, and grit her teeth in anger, anger at herself.

�

Ayanami Rei, First Child, a lost and often ignored pale girl, approached the peak of the same road.  Halting her rhythmic stride, her eyes fell upon the figure of Shinji Ikari.  His head hung wearily, but his stance seemed firm.  She watched him walk out of her view, and then began to head down the road once more.

�

�They�ve gone into hiding, Ikari.�
    �Yes,� the commander agreed.
    Silence regained its steel grip in the office.  The men sat with their backs nearly turned against one another as both sat in a sideways position in their respective seats.
    �I don�t think I should have to ask�� the aging professor began.
    �I do not know,� Gendo replied.  �Simply, I do not know what to do.  I never expected to fail, and assumed that if I did I�d be dead, or worse.�
    Kouzou turned over to eye his student.  In time, Ikari also swiveled his seat over and rested in his custom, faceless position.
    �First, I will stay with NERV and keep it legal in their eyes.�  Both men saw the realistic logic in that course of action � NERV might still be useful.  �After that��
    �I see,� Fuyutsuki murmured.  �I wish I could go with you, Mr. Ikari.�

�

�NERV has become useless,� spoke a voice among the shadows.
    �Yes, we must rid ourselves of it,� another agreed.
    �There is only that for now,� one said with a weak determination, and at that the voices disappeared, except one.
    This last one waited a second before outwardly speaking its thoughts.  �We have failed.�

�

He reached the peak of the road, and after a slight halt, continued his course.  It was a rather chipper day, crisp and clear.  It was too bad that his mind and thinking did not match that description.  Instead, it was full of thoughts.
    As he slowly walked by and by, his wandering and wondering brought him upon the topic of other people, specifically his friends.  Would they come back soon?  Would they ever?
    And what about Rei?  He found he would hesitate to ever refer to that girl by her last name.  It just wasn�t her.  He believed he had made amends, but he had to wonder if there was even more to the girl than he even now knew.

�

Ritsuko Akagi was at her desk, contemplating.  The area was a mess, papers tossed aside here and there, and more importantly, bottles of beer lying about.  The doctor was obviously drunk, as she lay on her seat rather than sat on it, for the chair had tipped over and fallen.  The lights were not lit, other than those that seemed to be on indefinitely in the facility.
    Ritsuko stared at the ceiling, her squinting slightly at nothing.  Her breathing was toughening, as it seemed to take her two seconds to take in air, a tenth of that time to exhale, and another second before she would repeat the process.  Her jaw hung to the side, and though her demeanor was brittle, her mind was wandering into a thousand doors she had never seen before.
    Ikari Gendo � you�re just using me again, aren�t you?  That�s why you�re letting me walk around, because you think you can just recycle me.
    Ristuko coughed to her side before resuming her train of thought.
    Who�s next after me?  Misato?  Ayanami Rei?
    At this, Ritsuko started.  Ayanami Rei, asked to go to Germany along with herself and the commander.  If Gendo succeeded, Rei would be tossed aside as Ritsuko knew she herself would be.  If he didn�t�
    Either way, it wasn�t right, and without wondering why she suddenly cared for that fact, Ritsuko hoisted herself up with considerable effort and picked up the phone.

�

I�ll be working late again today.  Don�t wait up.
    Misato�s words as she left for work in the morning replayed itself in Shinji�s mind, and he sighed.  And then, taking in a deeper breath, he knocked on the door of Asuka�s room.
    �What?�
    �It�s � what would you like to eat for dinner?� Shinji asked hesitantly.  The door slid open, and he took a half-step back in response � not out of fright, not anymore.
    Asuka stood tiredly in a simple T-shirt, which was all Shinji would dare acknowledge as he willed himself to stare only at her face.  He then noticed that she had one hand lazily rested at the doorpost and the other at the door, as if she were ready to shut the door in his face.  She did not, and dropped her hands at her sides.
    �Anything�s good, I guess,� she said, rubbing an eye with the back of her hand.
    Shinji stood frozen in place for a short time, marveling these rare times when Asuka seemed calm and quiet, even innocent.
    She began to yawn, but halfway through she noticed the blush that Shinji himself did not know he was developing, and suddenly she felt a strange tinge � no, a shock � run through her spine and she hurriedly slid the door shut.  It was a second later that she realized the abruptness of her actions and called out, �Arigato.�
    Outside, Shinji Ikari, who to millions of people around the world was the bravest child in the world, shivered for a split second before he shook his head and went to prepare dinner.



�What was that?� she whispered under her breath.  Asuka held her head in her hands and tried to make sense of the situation.
    Whatever that was, it certainly wasn�t here yesterday.



Dinner was a mindless task for Shinji by now, and thus it gave him time to think.
    Chop, chop, chop�
    She is pretty � pretty, so I guess it was normal, he told himself.
    Chop, chop, chop�
    So, how come it hasn�t felt like that before?
    Chop, chop, chop.  And he halted his menial labor for a second to think.  Since no clear conclusion could reach his mind, he turned towards the window and stared outside at the violet-red sky for guidance.  Of course, all that really did was disorganize his thoughts even further.
    �Shinji no baka!�  Oh good, something to bring him back to his wits.  �Hurry up!  I�m starving!�
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