The sky was the one part that Third Impact couldn’t change completely. The Wunder had landed in the sea, letting Mari go out on one of the small balconies that dotted the Ship of Hope’s sides– something she was using to full extent.

The moon was massive as always, clouds and grid lines crossing its surface– but there was far more than just it. Points of light winked in the blackness of space, twinkling in the sky. It was very attention-demanding.

Demanding enough that Mari wouldn’t really notice anyone else coming out onto the balcony if they were quiet enough.

     Compared to the quiet of NERV, the Wunder was a very noisy ship. The floors shook with the humming of the engine, a constant reminder- to Ayanami at least- that if the ship should ever fall silent, there was a good chance they were falling out of the sky. She had forgotten that a ship could land.

     She hadn’t known that at first, until she looked out a porthole and saw the hull of the ship resting underwater. Then she’d gone outside to find that they were afloat, resting on the sea she’d heard of, under a sky that she’d also never seen before.