When I finally closed my eyes, surrendering to exhaustion and the strange pressure I felt in my room, I was swallowed by a silent void. There was no bed, no room, no sound. Only a soft, comfortable darkness, like a thick, cold blanket.
And then, slowly, the scene changed.
I was standing in an endless green field, with the sky painted an ethereal blue. In front of me was a porcelain table with floral details, flanked by two elegant chairs.
Sitting there, her hands clasped on the table, was a young woman with long, straight, snow-white hair. She wore a contrasting black dress, which highlighted her pale complexion and her sparkling eyes—curious, intelligent... and dangerous.
She smiled softly, as if she had been waiting for him for a long time.
"Welcome, Subaru Natsuki..." she said, her voice sweet and sharp, like honey dripping through glass. "Would you like some tea?"
I frowned, my eyes still adjusting to the surreal brightness of the place. The sound of the nonexistent wind and the soft glow around me made him uneasy; I'd been to places like this before. Too much, even.
I took a few steps, looking around suspiciously, then looked directly at the girl sitting at the table.
"Tch... This kind of dream again...?" I murmured. "Tell me something... Are you one of those witches, too?"
The girl watched me with a curious glint in her eye. She raised the teacup to her lips, took a small sip elegantly, and then set it gently back on the saucer.
"'One of those witches'...?" she repeated, her tone slightly offended, but not hostile. "Now, Subaru-kun, what a rude way to refer to a lady who just offered you tea."
She smiled more broadly now, her gaze narrowing with contained malice. "But yes... you can call me that if you want. After all, I'm Echidna. The Witch of Greed."
My heart sank.
The name seemed to echo within me, as if something in my subconscious had just remembered. Even though I'd never seen her before... something in me already knew who she was.
"The... Witch of Greed...?" he repeated, in a lower tone.
Echidna rested her chin on her palm, observing him as if he were a rare piece in a display case. "And you... you're the one who keeps dying to move on, aren't you? How about we talk about it?"
She smiled again. "After all... there's a lot I want to learn about you here."
I kept my eyes fixed on Echidna, still suspicious. Her calmness bothered him. I crossed my arms, trying to maintain my composure, even as the knot in my stomach tightened.
"So if you really are a witch…" I began with a firm look, "where are the others? Minerva, Sekhmet… are they here too?"
For a moment, Echidna's smile softened. Her eyes lost some of their curious sparkle and grew slightly colder. She leaned back in her chair, crossing her legs. "Hm… I'm sorry to disappoint you, Subaru-kun… but they won't be showing up anytime soon."
She swirled her teacup lightly on its saucer, as if pondering what she would say next. "This place… Actually… this is something between an echo and a remnant of memory."
She then looked up at him with an expression that mixed admiration and disguised compassion. "You're carrying so many shadows, Subaru-kun. Maybe… even more than before. Even if you don't remember everything."
I swallowed hard.
"So… what are you? What are you two?"
Echidna just smiled. "Maybe I'm all of that. Or maybe... just someone too curious to let you sink alone."
She then leaned slightly across the table, her eyes now fixed and piercing. "So, how have you been?"
The silence that followed was heavy. As if the world around me was holding its breath, waiting for the answer.
I stared at Echidna for a few seconds, trying to decipher that smile that oscillated between sadistic and charming. As much as she seemed in control, there was something in her gaze, a certain weight, an expectation, as if she were testing me with every word.
I closed my eyes for a moment, took a deep breath, and said, "I want to understand. Even if it hurts, even if it destroys me again... I want to know why all this is happening to me."
Echidna watched me silently for a moment. Her smile didn't disappear, but it softened slightly, as if his answer had touched a nerve she herself had hidden.
"Hm... How sincere." she said, leaning back in her chair. "When the time is right, Subaru-kun... I'll tell you. Everything. Every part. For now... enjoy your tea."
She gently pushed the porcelain cup toward him. The soft, fragrant smoke rose in gentle spirals. My hesitation lasted only a few seconds. I lifted the cup to my lips and sipped.
"It's actually quite good..." I murmured, surprised by the slightly floral, warm taste, like diluted honey.
Echidna held my gaze for a few seconds, until, in a light, casual tone, she commented: "Ah... this tea is made with my own bodily fluids, you know?"
I froze.
...
"...W-What?"
"Mmmm," she said excitedly. "It's a special infusion of the Witch of Greed's essence. A tea extracted directly from me. An intimate bond, like a spiritual exchange. Something very... exclusive."
"GAAAAAAAAAAHHHH—!!" I spat out the tea forcefully, nearly tipping my chair back, coughing desperately. "ARE YOU CRAZY?! WHAT KIND OF PSYCHOPATH DOES THIS?!"
Echidna just clapped a hand over her mouth and laughed, her expression satisfied. "You really haven't changed at all, Subaru-kun."
"HOW CAN YOU SAY THAT WITH THAT SMILE ON YOUR FACE?! THAT'S... THAT'S DISGUSTING! BIZARRE! CRAZY!"
She just closed her eyes and sighed. "They call it 'Witch' for a reason, right?"
Reality around me began to unravel again. The blue sky shattered like cracked glass, and the white ground beneath my feet seemed to dissolve into mist.
"Wait! You said you'd tell me!" I screamed, trying to steady myself.
Echidna looked at me one last time, her smile still there… but her eyes a little more serious now. "When you're ready, Subaru-kun… I'll be here. With or without tea."
And then, everything disappeared.
I woke up gasping in my makeshift bed in Shinji's room, my throat dry and the taste of tea still lingering… and a strange feeling that something inside him had changed. Even if I didn't know what.
Hours had passed since the strange "encounter" with Echidna. I woke up in a cold sweat, with the lingering taste of tea still in my mouth, something between honey and... regret. I tried to forget, but the feeling of being watched wouldn't go away.
After wandering around the house for a bit, I was surprised by a loud knock on my bedroom door.
—BAM BAM BAM!
"Get up, idiot! You're coming with me now!" came Asuka's voice, imperative as always.
I opened the door with my hair in disarray and the expression of someone who hadn't yet returned from the world of dreams. "Huh? What now?"
"Put on some decent clothes and hurry up. We're going shopping."
"Shopping...?" I stared with narrowed eyes. "Why do I have to come along?"
Asuka, already with her arms crossed and tapping her foot, looked away with an almost impatient sigh. "Because Kaji doesn't have time for me today, so it's you."
The answer came dryly, but I heard the slight hesitation in her voice. It wasn't anger. It was more like... disappointment disguised as irritation.
I blinked. "Wait a minute... are you dragging me shopping because the 'love of your life' stood you up?"
"Shut up!" Asuka shoved me with her shoulder. "You're just here messing around. You'll be useful for something, like carrying the bags."
"Tch... I knew you had an ulterior motive..." I grumbled, walking behind her with my hands in my pockets.
As they descended the stairs and headed down the street toward downtown, I poked her: "And you think this will make him jealous, is that it?"
"Hmph. If it does, even better."
I laughed lightly, not because I found it funny... but because that kind of Asuka, proud yet frustrated, was strangely... familiar. "Well… at least let me know if you're going to use me as an emotional shield, okay? That way I'll charge by the hour."
She shot me a quick glance, feigning irritation, but couldn't hide the small smile tugging at the corner of her mouth. "Idiot. Hurry up."
And so we went.
Asuka walked ahead with purposeful strides, while I followed with my hands in my pockets, averting my gaze to everything but her, as if every window display or juice advertisement were more interesting than this forced stroll.
After a few stops at convenience stores and a pharmacy she swore she needed to visit, we both entered a large store with blaring air conditioning and background music too cheesy for any decade. I didn't even realize where we were going… until Asuka stopped right in front of the women's swimwear section.
I took a step back instinctively. "Hi, hi, hi… what are we doing here?"
Asuka turned her head over her shoulder, with that impatient little smile of hers. "Shopping, like I said. I need a new bikini."
"And you needed to bring me to this?"
"Yes, I do. You're here, so make yourself useful." She picked up two bikinis, one a more understated black and the other a vibrant red, just like her style, and looked back at me. "Wait a minute. Don't move."
I raised an eyebrow. "As if I could escape…"
A few minutes later, Asuka emerged from the dressing room.
She was wearing the red bikini. It was bold, yet elegant. The fit accentuated her confident posture, her hair tied back in a makeshift ponytail. She stood right in front of me with a neutral expression, as if trying to pretend she didn't care… but her eyes were staring straight at me, waiting for something.
"So…?" she said, crossing her arms. "Do I look good or not?"
I froze for a moment. My brain tried desperately to decide between being honest or avoiding a kick. I looked aside, then to the ceiling, and finally said, "… you know it was ... beautiful ... I didn't even have to ask."
Asuka turned her face quickly, but I managed to see the slight reddish tone on her cheeks.
"Tch, I just wanted to see your stupid face."
She returned to the dressing room before she could answer, I stayed there in silence… With her heart beating a little faster than she should.
And he was still a little astonished, standing in front of the dressing room with his arms crossed and his gaze lost in nothingness. The face still warmed a little for no apparent reason. I grumbled to myself, "Okay ... But why now? Why a new bikini out of nowhere?"
As soon as Asuka left the taster with her red bikini in her hands and wearing her normal clothes again, I stared at her aside, seminar her eyes. "I still don't understand ... Is this all why? Will you post photo to provoke Kaji?"
Asuka let out a sigh and looked over her shoulder with a slightly annoyed look. "Don't be stupid, Barusu."
She turned and pointed with her thumb over her shoulder, as if the answer was written behind her. "It's because of the school tour, remember? The trip to Okinawa."
"Ahh ..." I hit my palm on my forehead. "True… that walk with beach, hot sand and hours of people screaming in the sun. I can't wait."
"Stop complaining ..." she said, pushing a diving outfit against my chest. "You'll need it too."
"There is?" I looked at the black dive costume with blue details. "Me? Diving clothes? Why?"
Asuka rolled her eyes. "We'll have a diving class, Einstein. Part of the tour includes supervised aquatic activity. Do you want to be the only idiot drowning in front of the whole class?"
I sighed deeply and held my clothes, analyzing the costume as if she was mocking me. "If I knew that accepting to come to this ride meant dressing like a submarine power ranger, I would have pretended to be sick."
"Relax, you will survive." Asuka said, taking a costume for her too, much more adjusted, black with red details. "Besides, I want to see if you can accompany me underwater, tch."
"Was that a challenge?"
She looked over her shoulder with a confident smile. "If you want."
I laugh lightly, shaking my head. "Okay, now I'm curious. But if I'm drowning, you who will have to do mouth -to -mouth breathing."
Asuka blushed lightly, looking away quickly. "D-don't talk bullshit, idiot!"
The sun was already starting, dyeing the orange tone room while Asuka and I entered the front door with bags in their hands. I threw one of the bags on the couch with a dramatic sigh. "I carry all these junk, paid with my psychological and physical effort, and I will still have to endure Okinawa's sun. This should be considered abuse."
"Shut up, you didn't even pay anything!" He replied Asuka, dropping his bags much less delicately.
Before he could answer, the voice dragged from Misato Katsuragi echoed from the kitchen: "Hey, you both, the shinji too… come here. Now."
The three looked at each other. I made a grimace. "This is never a good sign."
Shinji appeared from the corridor, already with the tense countenance as always. We joined with the misato at the kitchen table. She had a can of beer in half in her hand, but the expression on her face was serious, enough for everyone to be alert.
"I have a nerve statement." She started directly. "About the school tour to Okinawa."
And and Asuka immediately we look at us.
"Don't tell me that ..." I started waiting for the worst.
Misato shook his head. "It was not canceled. But you three… won't."
Silence.
"...What?" They said the three at the same time.
"The order came from me. You are riders of the Evas. We have evidence of energy distortions that may indicate a new angel appearing at any time. You need to be readily."
Asuka hit his hand on the table. "You can only be kidding!"
"I just bought diving, Misato-san!" I pointed to myself outraged to myself. "I was emotionally coerced to that!"
Misato took another sip of beer, impassive. "Complaining will not change anything. Orders are orders. You have to be available if something happens. And with this unstable climate, it's a matter of time."
Shinji lowered his head. He didn't even seem surprised, just disappointed in a contained way, as who already expected.
Asuka still snorted, furiously. "This is ridiculous! I spend hours piloting that thing, I barely have social life, and now they take me a chance to have fun like a normal teenager?!"
I sighed and threw myself on the couch. "And I think the worst of the trip would be the sun and the provocative bikini… but Misato is right ..."
Misato got up and patted the three of the three as she passed. "They will rest. And be aware. At any time… you can be called."
As Misato's bedroom door closed, silence returned to the living room. The sunset light now seemed colder.
I glanced at Asuka, who had her arms crossed, staring at the floor.
The night wore on quietly in the house.
Misato had already retired, probably asleep with the beer can still in her hand, and Shinji had locked himself in his room without saying much, as he always did. This left only Asuka and I in the living room, sitting on opposite sides of the sofa, enveloped by a dim light and an almost comfortable silence.
The TV was on, but muted. Just images flashing by, ignored by both of us.
Lying with my arms behind my head, I glanced sideways at Asuka, who was fiddling with her phone, frowning. I thought for a few seconds, as if debating whether it was worth ruining this rare moment of calm. But I finally spoke anyway.
"Hey, Asuka."
"Hm?"
"You didn't find it a little... strange?"
She looked up impatiently. "What?"
I turned to the side, resting my elbow on the back of the sofa. "Having a transfer student right now... in the middle of a city constantly being attacked by Angels? Don't you find it strange?"
Asuka narrowed her eyes, dropping her phone onto her lap. "Are you talking about... Mana Kirishima?"
I nodded slowly. "Yeah. She appeared out of nowhere, right in the middle of all this. The moment the Angels started showing signs again, does that sound natural to you?"
Asuka crossed her arms, leaning forward slightly. "...Now that you say it like that... no."
She looked at the floor for a moment, thoughtful. "I found it strange how she was staring at Shinji earlier today. And you. As if... you wanted something. Or were evaluating something."
I snorted. "Yeah. I don't know what it is, but there's something about her that gives me chills. And it's not like with Rei, it's a different kind of feeling. Like she's here for a reason no one wants to tell."
Asuka tilted her head slightly, seriously. "Do you think she could be a NERV spy? Or worse… for something NERV doesn't even know about?"
I didn't answer right away. I just stared at the ceiling, as if waiting for the answer to fall from there. "I don't know. But if there's one thing I've learned… it's that too many coincidences are never just coincidences."
Asuka didn't answer, but she was silent for longer than usual. When she finally spoke, her voice was lower. "Let's keep an eye on her."
"Together?"
She glanced sideways, unsmiling, but her eyes held a certain sparkle.
"Together."
And the TV continued to play silent images. But in that silent room, Asuka and I already knew: something was about to change.
The morning sun had barely risen when I arrived at the school pool, a towel draped over my shoulder and a silver laptop tucked under my arm. While the rest of the school embarked on the trip to Okinawa, Shinji, Asuka, and Rei were confined by NERV orders, a precautionary measure to keep the pilots available in case an Angel made a surprise appearance.
"Did you bring your laptop to the pool?" Asuka asked with a raised eyebrow, already dressed in her red swimsuit. "That's sad, even for you."
"Repeating a year is sad." I grumbled, sitting in the shade of one of the covered bleachers, where I'd set up a small 'study base.' "If I get another failing grade, I'll probably have to study with Hikari during the holidays. And she teaches as well as if she were my mother."
Shinji, neck-deep in the water, looked at me with his typically neutral expression. "You should have done this before the trip was canceled..."
"Thanks for the reminder, Shinji. Very motivating..." I replied without looking, typing quickly on the keyboard.
Rei was sitting by the pool, her feet in the water and her distant gaze up at the sky. As always, she seemed oblivious to the conversations, but her silence was as present as any speech.
"I still can't believe we were left behind." Asuka continued, kicking the water irritably. "And I still have to watch you study. This should be a vacation."
"Maybe it's divine punishment for being so conceited." I muttered without looking up from the screen.
Asuka glared at me. "What did you say?"
"That... you should put on sunscreen. It's a strong sun."
Shinji sighed, while a slight smile escaped Rei, imperceptible, but there.
Even with my eyes focused on the physics graphs flashing on the screen, I still felt the strange tranquility of that moment. The sound of the water, the summer heat, Asuka's grumbling, Rei's silence, and Shinji's constant presence formed a small refuge from the chaos.
For a moment, I forgot the smell of blood, the screams inside my head, and the feeling of returning to death.
I was just another student, studying against the clock, on a random summer morning.
And that was good. Very good.
I was concentrating on a formula in my laptop, my fingers itching with frustration as I slowly typed in the data for the thermal expansion exercise. The spreadsheet jumped from one graph to another, but nothing made much sense.
"Delta L is equal to the initial length times the coefficient times the temperature change..." I muttered to myself, frowning. "But where does this number come from? This doesn't make any sense..."
I sighed deeply and buried my face in my hands.
"You're going to explode if you keep pushing," Asuka said, already out of the pool, dripping wet and holding a towel, her hair tied in a makeshift bun. She came over, squatting beside him. "Give me this."
I handed him the laptop without saying anything, and Asuka began analyzing the data. "Here's the mistake. You forgot to convert centimeters to meters before applying the formula. And you also confused the coefficient of expansion of iron with that of aluminum."
"Tch... seriously?" I slapped my forehead with the palm of my hand. "I've proofread this three times..."
"Well, proofread it a fourth time." She smiled a little arrogantly. "The formula is simple: ΔL = L₀ × α × ΔT. If you get α wrong, you'll calculate the expansion of a train like it's made of chewing gum."
I snorted, but deep down I was grateful. Her explanation was straightforward, and she had a clarity I never found in books. "Geez... How do you know so much and still get a low grade?
"Because I still have a little trouble with some of the ideograms..." Asuka leaned back on the bench next to me and said with a teasing half-smile, "You know... if thermal expansion worked in the human body like it does in metals... in this heat, my breasts would have tripled in size by now."
I froze, blinking several times before looking away, red up to my ears. "W-Why would you... why would anyone say that in the middle of an exercise?"
"Oh, relax. I'm just applying the concept with a practical example," she said, laughing. "I bet you'll never forget what ΔL is now."
"...Definitely not," I muttered, looking back at the screen, this time much more cautiously.
Asuka laughed again and patted my shoulder. "Go on. Finish this, you dumb student." I want to get in the water again."
I grumbled softly, but I couldn't help but smile a little.
Rei sat with her legs still in the water, her body leaning slightly forward, the drops slowly running down her pale skin. Her blue hair clung to her neck, and her eyes seemed fixed on nothing or everything at once. A comfortable silence enveloped the corner of the pool where she was.
I approached silently, awkwardly, my wet flip-flops squeaking. I sat beside her, saying nothing at first. We stayed like that for a few seconds, just listening to the sound of the choppy water in the distance, where Shinji and Asuka were still having fun.
"You swim well..." I commented, breaking the silence with a light tone. "You swam like you've done it a thousand times."
Rei turned her face gently to me, not seeming surprised by my presence. "I swim as part of my fitness routine." It's necessary."
I nodded, trying to interpret that distant look. "Still... it seemed like you enjoyed being in the water. Like... more than usual."
She looked straight ahead again. A pause formed. Then, in a low, almost whispered voice, she replied, "In the water... the silence is clearer. It's easier to listen to myself."
I was silent for a while. I didn't know exactly how to respond to that; it felt profound, yet sad at the same time.
"That sounds... lonely," I murmured.
Rei didn't answer right away. She just tilted her head slightly, as if in thought.
"Being alone isn't the same as being lonely," she said finally.
I looked at her thoughtfully. "And you... prefer it this way?"
"I still don't know," was the simple answer, but with something hidden between the lines.
The sound of Asuka's laughter in the background shattered that bubble of tranquility. I looked up at the clear sky above the pool, then back at Rei.
"Sometimes I don't understand what I'm feeling either..." I admitted. "It's like the world is a puzzle and someone has hidden the pieces that make sense."
Rei didn't say anything, but her eyes slowly turned to him, watching with a gentle intensity. "Maybe... you're just putting it together." the wrong puzzle."
I smirked, surprised by her answer. And for some reason, even though her words were enigmatic, I felt a little lighter.
The tranquility of the moment was abruptly shattered by a loud splash of water. I was startled and blinked several times, wiping my eyes, while Rei just turned her head slowly, as if she'd already expected it.
"Hah! Did you think you guys could just stand there and talk?" Asuka appeared, laughing, her hands still dripping with water, her red hair plastered to her face.
She leaned against the edge of the pool, that provocative glint in her eyes, and then asked the question like throwing a grenade into the group: "Hey, Subaru! Tell me... which bikini is prettier, mine or Ayanami's?"
I froze for a moment, looking from Asuka to Rei and back again. I felt like I'd just walked into a trap.
"I-I... uhm... they're different styles... they're both cool..."
Asuka frowned, leaning closer, with that hooded look she always had when she was about to explode. "'Cool'? Tsk, you can't be greedy like that, you idiot!"
She crossed her arms, her cheeks puffing out impatiently. "It's like Ayanami and I asked you out at the same time, and you said, 'Oh, I'll pick both.' Which would you choose, huh?"
My eyes widened, I coughed dryly, and looked away, blushing up to my ears. "W-what kind of question is that?! That's never... that's not going to happen!"
"Don't beat around the bush!" Asuka snapped. "That's a hypothesis, idiot! And you have to choose! Or are you going to sit on the fence until you die of indecision?"
Ayanami, who had been silent until then, just looked at me calmly, showing no reaction. My silence seemed to make everything even more tense.
I broke out in a cold sweat. "I... I think you're giving me too many philosophical problems for a day at the pool..."
"Coward." Asuka huffed, turning away. "If you keep this up, you won't even have a miracle to understand what goes on in a girl's head."
And with that, she dove back into the pool, stirring up the water as she went.
Rei just stared at the water, as if the question had never been asked. But before she stood up, she said softly, "Sometimes... not choosing is also a choice."
I sighed, defeated. "Why does everything have to be so complicated...?"
Shortly after the peaceful afternoon at the pool, the relaxed atmosphere was abruptly ended. An urgent call from NERV made the four of them leave the school immediately.
At the headquarters, Misato waited for them with a serious expression, arms crossed, and the typical tone somewhere between tiredness and authority.
"You guys took your time..." he grumbled, before turning the monitor in front of him, showing a red and orange thermal image with a pulsating shape in the center. "We have a new problem."
I stared at the screen, trying to understand, my hair still a little damp from the pool.
"Is it an angel?" I asked, my eyes intent. "Is it coming here?"
Misato sighed, nodding.
"Yes and... no." She pointed to the center of the image. "The Angel is right now in its embryonic state, dormant inside an active volcano in the Asama region. It's been there for days, but only now have we been able to confirm its composition and wave pattern."
"Inside a volcano...?" I repeated incredulously. "That's like... the worst possible place for someone to go after it!"
Asuka rolled her eyes. "It's not like we have much of a choice. If it matures there, it could use the geothermal heat for energy. The explosion would be... cataclysmic."
Shinji remained silent, watching the monitor with clenched fists.
Misato continued, "The mission will require a direct insertion into the volcanic core. We're already preparing a unit with special coating and thermal support."
"And guess who's going to do it?" Asuka said, glancing sideways at Subaru with a teasing smile.
"We..." I murmured, feeling a non-thermal shiver run down my spine.
The next day, still in the early hours of the morning, Unit-02 was prepared on a special platform over the sea, near the crater of Mount Asama. The operation was silent, almost ceremonial. Tension hung in the air like the heat rising from the volcano.
I watched from afar, alongside Misato and the NERV technicians, with a knot in my stomach. The screen showed Asuka already positioned inside the Entry Plug, wearing the reinforced cooling suit, a silver model with blue accents that gleamed under the cold lights of the makeshift hangar.
"This thing is cramped..." Asuka murmured over the comm, trying to hide her nervousness. "But elegant. I almost feel like I'm diving into a pool of liquid nitrogen."
"Your synchronization is within expectations," Ritsuko reported from the command center. "The cooling system will keep you stable for a limited time. When you cross the critical heat mark, we'll pull you out. Even if you're not finished."
"Then I better finish before then, right?" Asuka replied with her typical, if tense, confidence.
I clenched my fists.
"She'll be okay, right?" she asked, turning to Misato.
Misato kept her eyes fixed on the screen. "If everything goes as planned... yes. But inside that volcano, no simulation covers everything. It's her against the unknown."
The platform slowly tilted, and Unit-02 began its descent into the volcano. The heat was visible even in the images, an orange blanket that intensified with every meter.
Asuka took a deep breath. "Here goes nothing..."
The mission had begun.
Eva-01 sat motionless on the reinforced crater platform, under a sky shrouded in clouds of sulfurous vapor. The air was thick and hot, even in the cool areas of NERV's base. Inside Unit-01's Entry Plug, Shinji was concentrating on the main controls, and I calmly adjusted myself to the secondary seat. My body remembered the sensation well: the LCL filling my lungs, the slight tingling as I synchronized.
"Everything okay there, Subaru?" Shinji asked, not looking away from the HUD.
"As always, nervous on the inside, calm on the outside..." I replied, trying to ease the tension. "But let's go. If anything goes wrong, we'll pull Asuka back."
Below, Unit-02, equipped with its special refrigeration suit, was plunging into the incandescent magma. The external shielding was already being tested to its limits, sparks and subtle alarms lighting up on the monitors.
"Temperature at operational limit. Descending to 380 meters... 400... 420..." announced Ritsuko's voice over the radio.
The screen projected Asuka's first-person view: a crimson, bubbling cavern, pulsing with heat and danger. Unit-02 advanced like a submerged monster, facing absurd forces to reach its target.
"It's hot as hell in here!" complained Asuka, but her voice was firm.
At the center of the magma chamber, finally, something pulsed deep inside, like a heart surrounded by a reddish membrane, motionless... still.
"Target visual confirmed. Initiating capture maneuver." said Asuka.
"Proceed with caution." warned Misato. "Any change, retreat immediately."
Inside Eva-01, I felt my stomach churn. Even with the A.T. field and sensors shielding them from thermal radiation, there was a tension that went beyond logic. "Shinji... do you also feel like this is too easy?"
Shinji nodded slowly. "Whenever it seems easy, something goes wrong. Always."
And then, as Eva-02's claw closed around the pod...
As Eva-02 slowly descended into the infernal depths of the magma, and the tension at the base of NERV increased with every meter, I found myself immersed in another kind of unease.
Even as I kept my eyes focused on Eva-01's heat readings and reactions, its mind wandered.
It was always like this.
Whenever one of those witches appeared in my dreams, something strange would happen soon after.
I remember the first time I saw the Witch of Sloth in my dark reveries. The next day, a Witch Archbishop attacked without warning. Then Minerva appeared, and another Witch Archbishop appeared, demanding the immediate mobilization of Eva-02.
Now, Echidna, the strangest of them all, appeared, and shortly after, NERV identified an Angel in its embryonic state, hidden inside an active volcano.
"It's no coincidence..." I thought, clenching my fists on the back of the seat.
I glanced sideways at Shinji, who was breathing deeply, trying to remain calm, as he always did.
I sighed, returning my gaze to the screen, where the Angel embryo floated quietly, enveloped in membranes and warmth.
But I knew.
This wouldn't last long.
The silence before the storm always came right after a witch's whisper.
When Asuka finally completed the capture of the Angel embryo, her sensors began to stabilize, and Ritsuko's voice rang out over the comms channel: "Unit-02, good reading. Ascend immediately before the cooling suit reaches its thermal limit."
But the moment she began her ascent, a strange disturbance began to appear on the monitors. The thermal readings flickered, the heat seemed... twisted. It wasn't just the magma. There was something else down there.
"What is this...?" Asuka murmured, frowning.
It was then that, amidst the incandescent darkness of the magma, something moved against the logic of physics.
As if strolling through hell, untouched by the heat, a man appeared before Unit-02.
His eyes were golden. His hair was deathly white.
He didn't introduce himself. He just stood there, with that proud, empty smile, as if everything around him were irrelevant.
Even through the visual distortion caused by the magma, Asuka could see his gaze. It was the gaze of someone unimpressed by nothing.
"Who are you...?" she asked, but he didn't answer.
Unit-02's system began to crackle, as if the man's presence disrupted all known variables.
At NERV base, Ritsuko shouted:
"An unidentified interference is emerging in the magma! There's something... or someone down there with it!"
Inside Unit-01's Entry Plug, I felt a sudden chill. My heart raced.
That presence...
"I know that feeling..." I murmured, my eyes widening. "That's not an Angel..."
It was worse.
It was as if one of the witches had left a living shadow in that world.
And now it manifested itself there... with a face I seemed to know all too well.
Eyes fixed on the anomalous readings on the monitor, he leaned slightly closer to Shinji at the Entry Plug and spoke urgently, almost whispering: "We have to go down... now. This guy... he shouldn't be here. He's worse than any Angel."
Shinji hesitated, feeling the heat of tension enveloping the cockpit. Unit-01's cooling system was already operating at its limit just as the crater approached. Descending into the magma would mean compromising the Eva, perhaps irreversibly. But then he heard Misato's voice over the comm:
"Unit-01, remain in position. Repeat: remain..."
I turned off the transmission microphone and looked Shinji in the eye. "If we leave Asuka down there alone, she'll die."
There was a brief silence.
Shinji gripped the controls tightly. The dilemma burned like the magma below. But then he nodded, even though he was afraid.
"Let's go down."
Then, Unit-01 began its slow descent through the emergency support structure. Alarms began to blare from the base:
"What are you doing?!" Misato screamed.
"They're going down! They're breaking thermal protocol!"
Maya yelled.
Ritsuko, alarmed, remained silent for a moment. She glanced at the screen, and upon seeing the distorted human silhouette in the magma, muttered to herself:
"That... isn't an Angel."
As Unit-01 penetrated the scalding layer, I gritted my teeth.
Below, the being in white still stood, staring at Unit-02, as if waiting for me to arrive.
He knew.
He always knew.
As Eva-01 sank deeper into the magma, shrouded in layers of thermal protection that were already showing signs of failure, Shinji and I finally spotted Eva-02. The mechanical arm still held the capsule containing the Angel embryo, but the priority now was the pilot.
Floating a few meters ahead, the white figure, the man with silver hair and strangely clean clothes even in the extreme environment, slowly moved away, walking as if the magma were warm water. Eva-01's visor couldn't clearly register him. His silhouette wavered, like a mirage.
Shinji held his breath.
"What was that...?"
Eyes wide, he stared at the stranger with a suffocating feeling in his chest. "That guy... he shouldn't be here. He's not an Angel. Not even human. He's a witch's archbishop..."
Before they could react, the figure turned his face for a brief moment, staring directly into Eva-01's camera. A cruel, serene smile played on his lips, without anger, without haste. Just certainty.
And then... he disappeared.
It wasn't an explosion, nor a leap. It was as if he'd disconnected from reality.
"Let's get Asuka and get out of here," he said, his voice trembling.
Eva-01 reached out, firmly holding Eva-02 by the damaged shoulders. Asuka was still conscious, though visibly dizzy and confused, saying something about the heat and a "strange man in the magma."
Together, we ascended.
Eva-02, the captured embryo, and a new question looming over everyone:
Who was that white man walking on the magma as if it were his own floor?
And most importantly…
Why did I recognize him even though I'd never seen him before?
End of Chapter 16