Angel Grace and Lilin Heart

Soul to Soul

"Mmh..."

Shinji curled up beneath his sheets, wishing to fall back asleep. He'd been having a dream, a good one, he knew, even if its details were now trickling from his waking mind like grains of sand.

He was sitting in a meadow, tall grass itching his legs, then a comforting voice, a familiar voice, one warm and loving that he hadn't heard in a long time called out to him.

She appeared before him in a fizzle of watercolor, cloudy and odd, but he knew who it was.

'Mother...' he echoed distantly. He couldn't seem to hear his own voice.

She held out her arms to him and smiled, just in that perfect, heart-melting way he always remembered, ready to take him into an embrace. He ran to her, lips upturned. She was so beautiful, more and more so the closer he got. He wished he could always be near her, always have the right to look at her sweet face. He missed it so much.

He was only inches from her then, springy grass propelling him forward like the ground itself knew how much he longed to see her. How long they'd been apart from each other.

'Here, come here, my darling boy... my sweet Nagisa-chan!"

Shinji slid on the grass and stopped.

Nagisa...

The dream went void and white.

Wait,

What?

Shinji made a face beneath the blankets. Now what the hell was Kaworu doing infesting his dreams like that? The strange, pale boy's name echoed in his mind and Shinji felt himself growing even more confused as his consciousness returned. He wasn't just thinking about Kaworu, he could sense him somehow... was that his scent?

He cracked open his eyes with furrowed brows, only to find himself in a bed he knew he hadn't fallen asleep in.

Seriously... what?

This was Kaworu's room, he knew it. The depressing, slate grey paneled walls were familiar as anything, and again, Kaworu's scent was so prominent, almost overwhelming.

But that couldn't be right... Shinji hadn't visited, much less slept over in Kaworu's room in at least a week. Shinji could remember him pouting about not getting a visit after they finished synchro testing yesterday, so how in the world had he ended up here?

And then another thing... if this was Kaworu's room, then where was Kaworu?

Shinji yawned, letting his eyes fall shut again as he grudgingly pushed himself up into a sitting position, posture hunched.

The very moment he opened his eyes again, he knew something was wrong.

Something grey and messy blurred his vision. He swiped it out of the way stupidly, only for it to fall back into place. He aggressively rubbed his fists into his eyes, but when he looked down, he felt his stomach drop about a mile.

His skin was far too pale.

Dazedly, he held up his hands and spread out his fingers. The hands that were far too big, and the fingers that were far too long to be his own.

"What the-" Shinji interrupted himself with a gasp, covering his mouth. That was not his voice.

He thrashed about, gracelessly catching himself in the sheets and thumping onto the ground. He scrambled up, unbalanced.

Bumbling through the room, he made for the cramped little bathroom on the other side of the wall. He gripped the counter in front of the sink to stop himself slipping and cracking his head open, which was lucky, because if he hadn't been gripping onto something so tightly, he was sure he would've fainted.