"Hmm, interesting,” Dr. Akagi Ritsuko murmured as she glanced at a draft of Misato’s report to NERV HQ.  They were currently both at the portside café near Pier 15, as they awaited the custody transfer of the sixth Angel from American to NERV authority, sipping on a couple of cups of tea.  “So they both reached 200 on the index, ne?"

"You make it sound like no surprise," Misato said.  Her tone belied confusion at what had occurred, as well as a concern for Shinji.

Ritsuko gave her friend a response in what she hoped was a comforting tone.  “Well, they’re both fine, right?  No damage, no mental trauma, and Ship’s Medical cleared them, right?”

“Ummm...yeah, I guess,” Misato said, verbally clutching at straws.

"Well, at least they didn't reach 400 percent."

Misato nearly dropped her tea in shock.  "You mean it can get higher?"

Ritsuko cursed at the way she forgot herself. "Ah, yes.   It’s, um, theoretical, mind you, but it’s not considered to be a good thing."

"Oh?” A violet brow arched in either curiosity or smoldering concern.  “What would happen if a pilot reached 400%?"

Ritsuko, realizing she said too much already, added, "That's classified."

"Oh really?  How do you know this supposed threshold isn’t lower?”  Looking out the window, she noted both Shinji and Asuka chatting with a couple of the non-rates from one of the destroyers.  Shinji was talking and gesturing in a rather animated fashion for him, but Asuka stood there, silent and serene.  It’s almost as though they’ve switched personalities, Misato thought.  Turning her attention back to Misato, she said, “Well, I'm calling the school tomorrow, and let them know that they won't be attending.  I’d like you to do some tests on them, ‘cause I think whatever's happened had an effect on them."

Now it was Ritsuko’s turn to look at Misato with an arched brow. "What kind of effect?"

"I don't know,” Misato said, her voice more the tone of a worried parent than a military officer.  She looked out the window and noted that Shinji and Asuka had completed their conversation, and were now headed towards one of the NERV Humvees for the ride back to Tokyo-3.  She noted that they walked in perfect step and arm sway, like a pair of wind-up toy soldiers.  As the two climbed into the backseat of the vehicle, Misato continued, “They just seem...different."

Shinji laid on his futon looking up at the ceiling. It was a little after one in the morning, but there was no easy rest for him.  He couldn’t sleep, his mind a raging maelstrom of emotions and senses boiling, threatening to break the bonds of the subconscious.  He kept thinking of the battle and what had happened to him and Asuka.  But the battle wasn’t the only thing that disturbed him.  No, it was also the images in his mind, those nightmarish scenes that had migrated from Unit 02 and into the deepest recesses of his soul:

The images of Asuka's mother.

Asuka’s mother going insane and hanging herself.

Her father abandoning her to marry another woman.

Her loneliness jacketed underneath a steely persona, a persona now as transparent to Shinji as glass--perhaps more so.

Shinji hadn’t known that Asuka had a life just as bad as his, he never would have suspected it.  When he first met her, he would have pictured her as a spoiled, silver-spoon-in-the-mouth brat.  He knew better now, knew why she hid herself under the Girl of Steel.

He then heard a knock at the apartment door.  He got up to answer it, Misato having gotten herself drunk and probably not hearing it; and of course Pen-pen had not been trained to answer the door.  Opening the door, he both at once surprised and relieved to see Asuka in shorts and a T-shirt, as though she’d thrown them on as an afterthought.   Her hair was mussed, and her eyes were ringed with the dark circles of one who was requiring sleep, but couldn’t find the energy or the motivation to.

She looked at him nervously, as though she was violating a personal tenet, a line that should never be crossed.  "S-Shinji...I...I couldn't...."  She looked into his eyes, and noted, with the slightest bit of relief, that he had the same problem.  “Y-you, too?”

Shinji merely nodded his head, moving aside and allowing her into the darkened apartment.  He could have mentioned about the loose floorboard, about the sharp turn into his room, about the pile of beer cans that Misato left from the other day.  He could have mentioned anything about all of it, but the truth was, he didn’t need to.  She already knew, though she’d never stepped in this apartment before, though they’d never talked about it.

Laying down on his futon, he laid down, with her soon following after.  After a couple of seconds of maneuvering, they managed to get into some level of comfort--this was quite obviously the first time that either had done something of this manner, and while they knew this was the only way to get some peace, it was still a jarring factor.  Finally, after a half-hour of tension, they managed to come to grips with it, and upon that revelation, both quickly went to sleep.

The next morning, Misato scrambled half-drunken out of bed, as was the norm for her.  Tripping over a beer can, she managed to stumble into the shower, getting ready for the day at hand.  A few minutes later, feeling a little more human if not at optimum, she stepped out of her room, ready for a nice, simple breakfast, cooking by dear Shinji...

...who was, inexplicably, not awake yet.  Pen-pen sat there, with the look of “who’s going to feed me” that only a penguin could have.  Both sat there for a minute or two, assuming that Shinji was running perhaps a bit late, and would be coming out any second now.  When that didn’t occur, Misato had to hold back an ironic grin; life with her was obviously rubbing off on him, and he had apparently picked up her habit of oversleeping.

However, as much as she would like to have been in bed herself, both of them had to go to NERV HQ and have Ritsuko run those tests.  As it was, they also had to swing by Asuka’s place and pick her up before they got to NERV.  Figuring that she’d have to skip breakfast this morning or at least pick up a bento at the corner store, she walked into his room, and received the shock of her her life...at least the first of them, anyway.

There, sleeping on Shinji’s futon, rested like a pair of twin babes in slumber, so innocent at rest.  Misato looked at the two sleeping children, shaking her fist out of some attempt at control as she stared at the two with a jaundiced eye.  It didn't matter that they still had their clothes on--in fact, had they had their clothes off, she could have somewhat excused it--the fact remained that Asuka was sleeping with Shinji in the same futon, clothes on, and both looking like nothing had happened, meant something was bizarre to say the very least.

Taking a deep breath Misato yelled, "WAKE UP!" as she assumed a role she was much unaccustomed to: disgruntled would-be guardian.

As if it were a perfectly normal situation, both Shinji and Asuka opened their eyes. Sitting up, they blinked at the angry Misato more from adjusting to the sun coming through the window than from the older woman’s harsh tones.

"Well, do you two have an explanation for this?" Misato demanded.

"We couldn't sleep," replied the pair, voices in perfect unison.

"Will you two stop that!" Misato snarled, their stereo replies beginning to get her.  “Do you two realize how creepy that is?”

"Stop what?" they replied again in tandem, not giving it a second thought.

Misato put her hand to her face, trying to count to ten in a vain attempt at warding off frustration.  "Nevermind.  Asuka, into the kitchen, now.  Shinji, get dressed--you’re not going to school today.  In fact, neither of you are until we get to the bottom of this!”

“Where t--“ the pair began before they were silenced with a grim stare from Misato.  With what apparently was some effort on the part of both of them, Shinji managed to speak alone.  “Where to, Misato?”

“Headquarters.  I’m going to have Ritsuko take a look at you two.”  Grabbing Asuka by the shoulders and steering her towards the door, she said, “Get dressed--and move it!”

Asuka looked at Shinji for a moment before getting up and walking to the kitchen; in that time, something again had passed between them, a sort of connection from one lobe of a brain to another, from a part of one’s self to the other.  At the limits of her confusion and frustration, Misato ignored the glance and instead followed Asuka out of the room, leaving Shinji to get dressed.

Meanwhile, as both entered the kitchen, Asuka plopped into her chair as much as Shinji would have.  Misato instead calmly sat down in her usual chair, and looking the redhead in the eyes, Misato asked, "Asuka, what is going on with you and Shinji?  Mind you, what you two do is your own business, but aren’t you two a little too young?  And you moved pretty fast, too, considering how shy Shinji is and that you two only met yesterday...."

Asuka looked at her superior officer, astonished.  “You think that I...?  With him?  Are you insane?!??!?!”  Just as Misato relaxed, in relief that Asuka was beginning to return to her normal self, Hyde subsumed Jekyll once more: “He is nice, but, no, that’s not it, Misato.  He and I...it’s more than that, now.”  Asuka sighed, something quite out of place for her.

A bit confused by the girl’s words and by the complete flip-flop in behavior, Misato asked, “Can you explain?  I don’t understand.”

"Well, when we were underwater fighting, something happened to us, something both wonderful to behold, and terrible beyond imagining.  Something that will effect us for the rest of our lives.”

Ignoring the fact that it sounded like something out of a bad science fiction anime, Misato pressed on.  “Asuka, you’re not making any sense.  What does that mean?”

Flinching from what had to have been a painful experience, Asuka began to explain.  “When we were fighting down there, when the angel bit Unit 02, we blacked out.  During that time, Shinji and I, we....”  Asuka paused for a minute, not looking at Misato, but at a spot just beyond her, as though trying to confine the infinite, to define the inexplicable.  Just as Misato thought that something was wrong with the girl, “While we were in that state, we...merged."

"Merged?"

Asuka nodded, shivering.  Misato went over to comfort the girl, but when she saw the look in Asuka’s eyes, she was stunned.  It was a mixture of pleasure and pain, of rapture and agony, and somewhere in there--a mixture of the two teens.  "I saw all of Shinji's memories and he saw mine. I felt all his pains, his fears, his joys and hopes. He felt mine, too--everything that I am, everything that I have ever been and want to be."

"Are you saying you saw all of his memories?"

"Yes.  I saw how his father abandoned him.  I saw how the bastard used Rei to blackmail Shinji into piloting Unit 01. I saw that punk Toji beat Shinji up--and he and I are going to have words about that, I promise you.”  She paused for a second, as if searching for further proof.  An impish gleam suddenly filled her eyes as she deadpanned, “I saw how last Wednesday you got so drunk that you threw up and pissed all over your--"

Misato flushed.  "I get the point!"  Trying to compose herself, she then stated, “Still, that doesn’t explain what was with last night, Asuka.”

The redhead fixed her eyes straight at Misato’s as she stammered something that was clearly frightening for her:  “I-I need Shinji now.  I need to feel him close to me, just as he needs me now.  That's why I came here.  I couldn't sleep separated from him and neither could he."  Hazel eyes glazed over in pain as she said, “Do you understand what that’s like?  Can you?  I have to live with him--as a part of me--for the rest of my life!  And I don’t even like him!  Or at least, I didn’t.  Now, I have no choice, really.  No choice at all.”

A silence settled after the end of her words, a thunderous disquiet that weighted down on Misato’s shoulders.  She had no idea what to say, how to react.  Was it true?  She didn’t know.  “Are you so sure about this, Asuka?  Maybe this is only temporary.  And besides, it’s not like Shinji’s a bad person--you said so yourself.  How does he feel about all of this?”

Asuka’s only answer to that was to look over at the kitchen entrance, murmuring, "Shinji's ready now."  The minute she uttered her words, Shinji stepped from the room, fully dressed and ready to roll.  He looked different, somehow.  Maybe it was the T-shirt and jeans he was wearing.  Maybe it was the fact that he stood straighter.  Most likely it was the strong look in his eyes and the calculating visage on his face.  But it was very much the look of Sohryu Asuka Langley on the face of Ikari Shinji.

Before she could ask, Shinji cut her off with a, “Don’t bother asking Misato.  Just don’t.”  Turning to Asuka, he snarled, “This isn’t any easier on me, you know.”

For a second, her countenance grew dark, as though she was going to launch into one of her classic tantrums.  Instead, she turned away and sorrowfully said, “I’m...sorry, Shinji.”  Shinji’s response was to go up to her, hug the redhead and swear that everything would be alright, that they’d find a way through, and that he would be there for her if needed.

Looking at the two, Misato sighed.  None of this made any sense, and yet, it was the only thing that did.  And that was the scariest part of it all.  "Let’s go, you two.  Maybe Ritsuko can shine some light on this.”

A few hours later, the duo was in their EVA units, ready and working on their synchronization techniques.  After an initial medical check on both of them by Ritsuko’s medical staff, they were cleared as fine, healthy, and in perfect condition, with no physical or physiological effects.  So, everything would have been perfect for the rest of the day, right?

Wrong.

"I don't get it,” Ritsuko commented, completely perplexed. “Their synch ratios should be much higher than this," she moaned as she looked at the status display on the monitor, which showed a dismal 30% and 28%, respectively for the pair.  Toggling the comm switch, she said, “Asuka, Shinji, concentrate on what you’re doing!  You two are barely above redline, just enough to make the Units move, much less get them to do what you need them to.”

//We're trying!//  both pilots at the same time, their voices sounding a bit perturbed at the less-than-stellar performance themselves.  //If we knew what to do, we would.//

“Well, look at Rei.  She’s holding at 94.3%, and staying steady.  If anything, emulate her.”

The response Misato got back was a twin curse of //...Goddamn Wonder Girl....// before the line went silent again.

A second later, Ritsuko hit the switch and moaned, "If they don't get better, we're going to need some new EVA pilots."

Misato looked at her friend with a concerned glance.  “Maybe that would be for the best.”

“What do you mean by that?” Ritsuko replied.  “Do you realize how much time we spent in training these two?”

“Do you realize what they must be going through?” Misato countered.  “I saw them this morning.  What they’re going through, it’s neither easy nor what they wanted.  They need to work this out between them!  Who knows how long this effect is?  Maybe even forever!  How would you feel if you had to endure such a thing tomorrow, or the next day?”

“And if they don’t shape up, and the Angels destroy mankind, there isn’t going to be a tomorrow or the next day!” Ritsuko snapped.  Misato’s reply was a dark stare, and the pair stared down each other as the control room grew quiet.

Right on cue, La Ruotta Della Fortuna turned once more.  Clearing his throat, Shinji cued his comm link and voiced, //Umm, Misato, could you let us out for a moment?//

//We want to try something,// Asuka chimed in, seeing instantly what he intended.

Ritsuko looked at Misato, who just shrugged. "All right,” the blonde nodded.  “Raise the plugs."

Once the test plugs were raised out of the LCL, Asuka climbed out of hers. She then went over to Shinji's and climbed into the small space behind the pilot’s seat, just as he had done the day before in hers.

From the comfort of the Unit 00 plug, Rei looked at the sequence of events with a marked curiosity.  She felt a curious emotion rising in her, something she’d never felt before.  am i jealous?  Unfamiliar with the emotion, she was unsure, but she didn’t feel very disposed towards Asuka at the moment, as well as a disappointment in Shinji for some reason.  odd....  maybe i am....

A second or two went by as Asuka got herself comfortable in Unit 01.  //OK we're ready to try again.//

"Lower the plugs again," Ritsuko ordered into the comm mike.  The plugs slid mechanically into the EVAs, living spinal taps into the biomechanical imitations of man that were to save its creators from demonic creatures named after the epitome of good.  Once firmly established in place, the EVAs were powered up again, ready for another round of synch testing.

"Beginning test,” Maya commented from her control station.  “Kuso...synch ratio at 60% and rising!  70%...80%...90%...100%...synch level holding at 112.8%!" she replied, completely astonished.  Ritsuko whistled in astonishment, while Misato had an appreciative, vindicated look on her own face.

At his terminal, Hyuga did a double take at his readings.  "Doctor, you better have a look at this."

"What is it?"

"Their life signs--they're all the same.  Exactly the same.   Breathing, heart rate, brain impulses--the works. They're all the same and they're in perfect synch with each other, like I dunno, twins in the same mother’s womb or something.  But the fact is, they’re both in synchronicity, and functioning like two sides of the same coin.”

"I guess Asuka was right; they really do need each other.”  Misato had an odd look on her face, one that seemed bemused.  “Well, it’s going to be odd living alone again.”

“What do you mean by that?” Ritsuko asked.

Misato had a wistful look on her face.  “Someday, that closeness will bring them together, mark my words.  But, the only way for them to sort it out would be for live on their own.”  Misato actually braved a sigh in that room.  “And to think that I was growing to enjoy having Shinji around the apartment.”

“If you’re going to miss him that much,” Maia commented,  “Why not have Asuka move in with you two?  He’d still be around, and you could catch the warning signs before they happen.”

“Um, ‘warning signs?’”

“Well, if you are right, and they are getting closer, sooner or later something’s going to happen,” Ritsuko commented with a catty tone.  “May I remind you that pregnant people don’t fit well in plug suits, nor do they make the best of pilots.”

“Hey, great idea!”  Misato seemed to brighten at that comment.  “But, to get back to the issue at hand: we're going to need a tandem cockpit for them,” she said, “and we're going to need a new pilot, anyway."

“Break out the operations files, and let’s see who we have who’s qualified for the job.”

Four hours later, Commander Ikari spoke with the lead staff.  “So,” he said, knitting his fingers together, “have you narrowed it down to a select number of candidates?”

Misato spoke up.  “Yes, sir.  We have two candidates available at the high school, with theoretical operations indexes of 89.3% and 86.4%.  At Branch 2, there are four students who meet the qualifications, with 97.9% average indexes.  And at Branch 3 in Munich, there is one student who barely meets the criteria, at 75.2%.”  My recommendation is that although the American pilots are adept, there isn't time to retrain them for our systems.  There isn’t any time, because we don’t know when the next Angel will strike.”

Gendo agreed.  “Okay.  Select the better local student as the Fourth Child.”

Misato bowed.  “Yes, sir.”

A week later, Shinji and Asuka stood on the gantryway, in front of Unit 01.  Both were ready to enter the tandem plug--what the engineers had jokingly termed the “Double Trouble Bubble”--for the first time.  The plug had been set for Unit 01, along with a few other modifications to the unit made it far more advanced than either of the two EVAs to its side.  With the decision for the Second and Third Children to pilot Unit 01 made, it seemed that things were settling into a state of normalcy around the military complex.

However, that decision came after the most riotous week in Tokyo-3.  Initially, Asuka had moved into Misato’s house, but instantly “the happy couple” had begun arguing about such trivialities as who was going to sleep on which side of the futon, house chores, and the like.  The battle intensified with Shinji’s announcement that they were going to be piloting Unit 01 together, to which Asuka told him that he could go do something to himself that was pretty much anatomically impossible, and that they were going to pilot Unit 02.  The Battle of Who Could Care Less, as the workers of Branch-1 came to call it, ended a week later when Commander Ikari stepped into the midst of the one of their arguments, and when informing the Second and Third Children that they were “acting like brats”, he was rewarded with a double-barrel shotgun’s worth of Japanese, English, and German curses directed at him from the two.  Despite that, it had the unintended success of making the two realize exactly how immature they had been acting.

The weekend had been spent with Asuka and Shinji moving into the apartment next to Misato.  While Misato had no intention of having a “worse than married” couple living under her roof--the constant arguing at 3 a.m. was proof enough of that--she had no intention of letting the pair discover the benefits of the Kama Sutra, at least not without some sort of adult advice.  With the exception of sleeping arrangements, they pretty much lived at Misato’s, and in the end, she found out that it was, in a sense, something that she enjoyed.  They had pretty much meshed into a family of sorts, and maybe Misato could steer these two into a life that made a little more sense than that of her own.

During this time, the Fourth Child had made his debut.  Scheduled to operate Unit 02, his talents started off shaky, but soon picked up speed.  Between the training that he received and the extra time spent with him by the NERV specialists, the one-week crash catch-up course worked like a charm, and he was now averaging a respectable 92.3%.  Today would be the first day that he not only would step into the EVA for the first time, but also operate in tandem with the three other children.  As he came up the gantryway, headed towards Unit 02, he felt a pride as he walked in his black and gray plug suit, seating himself as normal into the plug, and making himself comfortable.

Once all four children were snug in their seats, the “spinal tap” occurred again as the four EVAs were slowly powered up.

“Unit 01, since you two are trying the new tandem plug for the first time, we start with you.  You’re both reading at 132.7% on the index and doing fine.  01A, report.”

//01A reporting fine at the combat controls.  Systems are reading nominal.  Control still feels a little bit sticky, though; It’ll probably pass.//  With Shinji in the primary pilot’s seat, things were all as normal.  Switching nominal control to--//

//--01B,//  Asuka said as she took over the co-pilot’s controls.  //My controls are fine, but the HUD displays need to be worked on a little.  Also, the control switch from Shinji to me felt a little slow--on the mechanical side, of course.//  Asuka smiled as she said, //But otherwise than that, we’re ready to rock ‘n’ roll.//

“Okay then.  Unit 00, you’re reading at 95.6.  That’s higher than usual for you, Rei.  Good job.”

//thank you,// Rei said with a tone that would have been demure on another person.  //so far, everything seems in its place.//

“Good to know then,” Misato commented.  “Now, let’s hear from the last one.  Unit 02, how are you adjusting to it? You’re a little lower than usual, at 90.3%, but we can chalk that up to this being your first time actually in the EVA.”

//Well, the actual experience of being in one of these is different,// Toji admitted, //but I’m adjusting to it.  I suppose that it could be worse, I could be in the bubble with the Newlyweds....//

//WHAT?// both Shinji and Asuka screamed at once.

On the screen, Toji merely held an enigmatic smile.

Next:
Part Three: Resonance