Two months in a row, and we are now in EoE territory.

Poor Shinji...

"M"
========================================
Stage 75: Lacking/Wanting/Deficient/Imperfect Hearts

Cover: Makoto, Shigeru and Maya relaxing with coffee in the Command
Center

Lead-in text: Shinji's anguish continues

Scene: Off-camera, almost as if in abstract or thoughts
Shinji: I was attracted to him/captivated by him.
(close-up of Kaworu)
Shinji: Before I knew it... somewhere deep in my heart...
Shinji: Even though I knew I shouldn't like a guy like that. Even
though I thought I didn't need any more friends.
Shinji: Even though... So why do people become attracted to those
other than themselves?
(The scene shifts and we now see that Shinji and Misato are talking
inside Misato's car, descending on the car-train into the Geofront.
Misato leans forward against the steering wheel)
Misato: Well, because God made people that way.
(Shinji does not respond)
Misato: Put another way, people are imperfect creatures that cannot
live alone. But we have to go on living, even if we are imperfect.
And given that we were born that way, I think there is significance
in seeking each other and even hurting each other.
(Shinji still does not respond and just sits listlessly. Misato
glances over and grabs his shoulder)
Misato (sharply): Pull yourself together! It isn't all over yet! If
anything, the real battle may just be starting!
Shinji: (pause) I don't care.
(Misato stops short and her eyes widen slightly)
Shinji: I don't want to hear that anymore. Even I understand the
'great cause'. And Misato, what you say is always right. But I don't
want to hear it anymore.
(The car-train comes to a stop with a clack)
Shinji (gradually increasing in intensity): I'm the one who fights,
not you, Misato. That's how it's always been, and how it always will
be. All you ever do is just give orders from the other side of the
monitor. You don't understand how I've felt as I've fought this far!
(Misato draws back her hand in anger to strike Shinji, but stops)
Misato (slightly puzzled): Is that really what you think?
Shinji (looking askance at Misato): ... Aren't you going to hit me?
Even though you could. [i.e. Even though you would be justified for
what I said]
Shinji (abruptly): I'm getting out.
(Shinji exits the car and walks toward the door without looking back.
Misato hurriedly gets out of the car)
Misato: Shinji! Wait right there! Shinji!
(Shinji continues through the door, which closes behind him. Misato
stares at the closed door with a troubled expression)
Misato: How could I not understand...
Misato (thinking): And it's because I do understand that it's
painful... to have to give you those orders.
Misato: But we just don't have time to complain, Shinji.
[Note: Misato's thoughts and words are mixed in the last panel.]

Scene: Makoto, Shigeru and Maya sit and talk, drinking coffee in the
darkened Command Center
Maya: A total ban on access to and from Headquarters!?
Makoto: I guess we're still at Level-1 Alert?
Maya: Why? Wasn't that the last Angel? That boy...
Shigeru: That's right... All the Angels should have been destroyed.
Makoto: Isn't there supposed to be peace now?
Maya: Then, what'll happen to NERV? And the Evas? I wish Senpai=Dr.
Akagi was here... [Lit: Even Sempai=Dr. Akagi isn't here now...]
Shigeru: NERV will probably be disbanded, and as for what'll happen
to us... who knows.
Makoto (thinking): We'll just have to stick it out by ourselves...
until the Instrumentality Project starts...

Scene: SEELE monoliths
SEELE ??: Tabrith...
SEELE ??: All was well up to the opening of Heaven's Door,
SEELE ??: But at that final moment did he betray us?
SEELE 08: It would be wrong to blame him. If one were to think that
this was the scenario from the start.
SEELE 03: Indeed.
SEELE 04: That he was the last Angel is true, but nowhere is it
written in the Dead Sea Scrolls that he was the successor of life.
SEELE 01: We will no longer borrow the power of Adam and the Angels.
We must undertake Instrumentality by our own hands. So that gods and
humans and all life may in time be united into one.
SEELE 09: The fate of destruction is also the joy of rebirth.
SEELE 10: And now indeed, that time has come
SEELE 02: But before that, there is a matter that must not be
forgotten. Ikari Gendo. A man who turned his back on us and rejected
destruction. And who schemes for his own Instrumentality.
SEELE ??: We shall have him atone with his death.

Scene: Gendo's office
Fuyutsuki: The old men were too impatient.
Gendo: It's not unexpected. After all, Eva, Adam and Lilith -- all
lie within our hands.
Fuyutsuki: Don't you think Eva-01's pilot did well?
(Gendo does not respond. Fuyutsuki looks at Gendo, and a pan
shot of the office reveals Rei standing a slight distance away from
the two)
Fuyutsuki: Still... with the Lance of Longinus lost, even had that
boy contacted Lilith, Instrumentality would have probably ended
incomplete.
Gendo: The Lance of Longinus... and the most essential part of all
were missing.
(Fuyutsuki looks over his shoulder at Rei)
Fuyutsuki: Lilith's lacking/wanting/deficient/imperfect heart...

Scene: Asuka's sickroom
(Shinji stands and stares at Asuka motionless in bed)
Shinji: Asuka... Wake up, Asuka. How long are you just going to lie
there like that? I'm having a tough time, all by myself. I've even
lost Eva-01, and everyone has died. Ayanami, Nagisa, and even Kaji.
(Asuka shows no response)
Shinji: Asuka! I said wake up!
(Shinji grabs Asuka's arm and raises Asuka's torso partway off the
bed, but there is still no response)
Shinji: This isn't like you, Asuka. Laugh and get angry like before.
(Shinji grabs both shoulders and starts shaking Asuka)
Shinji: Make fun of me! Curse at me! Boss me around! This isn't like
you, Asuka! The Asuka I want to protect isn't this empty shell!!
(Asuka's mouth opens and she emits a terrible scream)
Asuka: KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!
(Before Shinji can recover from his surprise, Asuka rakes her
fingernails across his cheek, and with a ferocious expression pushes
him back and down onto the floor, straddling and choking him)
Shinji: Asu- Stop! I can't brea-!!
Asuka: KYAAAA!! KYAAAA!! KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!
(Two doctors and a nurse burst into the room)
Doctor 1: What are you doing!
Doctor 2: Let go of him, you!
Doctor 1: Restrain her!
(The two doctors pull Asuka off Shinji, and the nurse checks to see
if he is okay)
Nurse: Are... you okay?
Shinji (coughing): Yes...
(Shinji gasps for breath and watches as the doctors restrain Asuka)
Doctor 1: Give her a sedative! Quickly!
Asuka: KIIIII!!!
Doctor 2: Hey! Calm down!
Nurse: Let's get you out of here.
Shinji: But...
Nurse: Just go! Quickly!
(The nurse pushes Shinji out of the room, but Shinji hears Asuka
screaming/shouting)
Asuka: -te! Hate! HATE!! I HATE EVERYONE!!!
(The doctors give Asuka a shot and the door slides closed behind
Shinji, leaving him alone in the silent corridor. Still gasping
slightly, he rubs his cheek with the back of his hand and notices the
blood there.)
Shinji (thinking): Asuka... why...
(Movement down the corridor catches Shinji's eye, and he looks up to
see his father and Rei walking by at an intersection at the end of
the corridor. Rei turns her head and the two's eyes meet, but Rei
shows no recognition or other emotion, and she faces forward again
and continues walking after Gendo. As Rei disappears from Shinji's
view, all that has happened seems to hit Shinji at once, and he
slumps weakly down with his back against Asuka's sickroom door,
cradling his knees, and begins to cry.)
Shinji: *muffled sobbing sounds*

Ending text: Lacking/wanting/deficient/imperfect hearts, and
imperfect creatures...

- End Stage 75