The True Angel
Disclaimer/Author's Notes:
Action takes place after the Human Complement Program successfully finishes, i. e. already after all 26 episodes of anime. Though I didn't try to manage taking End of Evangelion as the beginning of the action-it's too complicated. But as this fanfic successfully passes, I can try further. Of course, the characters are not mine and Hideaki Anno/Yoshiyuki Sadamoto/Gainax &Co may not worry about their money and let you read. Have a nice reading.
©Ayanami Rei, 2001
***Prologue***
Year 2016 A. D., Japan, Tokyo-4.
Ruins of NERV Geo-Front.
Song plays quietly in the background:
Cool breeze and autumn leaves
Slow motion daylight
A lone pair of watchful eyes
Oversee the living
Feel a presence all around
A tortured soul, a wound unhealing
No regrets or promises, the past is gone
But you can still be free
If time will set you free...
[from "You Can Still Be Free", CD "Affirmation" by Savage Garden]
Today she ran away from her school for the first time. They were having great fun during the break when something called her here. She even didn't know that this place existed.
She climbed at the huge piece of white plastic and looked around. The ruins were magnificent. Deep underground she could see the remains of what once had been a special UN agency and had saved her world from the terrible Angels.
She shuddered. No one talked about Angels now. The terrified people tried to forget about them as quickly as possible.
But it actually were not Angels that made her come here. Something has called her. And she was curious to see that something.
She jumped off her 'watching point" and began making her way through blocks of steel and plastic underground. After some time spent in fighting with terrible headache she cut her leg with a sharp piece of iron lying on the ground. The pain made her loose her balance and she fell down, rolling over again and again, having nothing to hold on, going deeper and deeper.
When the falling finally stopped she managed to open her eyes and look around. Her fall has led her to what once had been the Terminal Dogma of Geo-Front, the lowest point of the magnificent underground building. But she, of course, didn't know all that.
Slowly she tried to stand up. The pain in the cut leg almost made her fall down again, she bent down, but then managed standing up at last.
She was standing in the big puddle of some warm ohre liquid. "A strange sort of water"-she thought putting her finger in it and then trying to guess what it smells like. Having no results, she tasted it.
-Baka! What a terrible taste! It's not water!-she spit down and made a face-Why did they need it? I don't think they used it for drinking... Ouch!
She bent on her knees again, for it was a severe headache that reminded her of what she came for.
Slowly she stood up and made her way through the liquid and ruins. Then came a surprise.
-If it's a lowest level, then why it wasn't destroyed by a giantic weight of what lies at the top?-she asked to herself.
-Because We didn't want to die,-answered the echo in her head.
The answer was so sudden, that she stopped immediately, astonished and looked around again. Right in front of her lied the remains of the former outer wall of the building. It was so huge even now, and it wouldn't let her go further. No living creature did she see.
-Who are you?-she asked carefully.
-We are the one and We are the every. We are the beginning and We are the end. We are those who created this world and we are those to destroy it-came the answer.
She opened her mouth but didn't manage to say anything.
-Why are you keeping silence? You can hear Us, don't you? You came here because of that-said the voices in her head.
-Uh...What do you mean you created this world?-she asked finally.
-Exactly what you heard. Come and see us. Behind the wall.
-But I can't move it. It's too heavy!
-You don't have to. Dive. Just dive, and you'll find your way.
She stared at the liquid, which was at the level of her waist. The level was rising and near the wall it would reach her neck.
-You don't mean I'll have to...-she said, hesitating.
-Yes, you'll HAVE to!
And again headache made her suffocate. She sighed and carefully bent down.
She didn't close her eyes, so she could see, that there really was a hole in the wall right in front of her.
She began moving. Everything seemed so weird, painted in ohre. She didn't even think about what could be if she opened her mouth and tasted that terrible liquid again.
-What's the matter? Don't like the LCL fluid?-she was suddenly asked.
The question was again so sudden that it almost made her drown. She calmed herself and answered in her mind:
-Don't be so sudden, please, if you don't want me to die.
-Oh, poor girl, you think you can?
She stopped and thought that she misunderstood something.
-What?
-No, nothing. Keep moving, dear. You are almost in the right place. Don't you like the LCL Fluid?
-LCL?-She tried to understand-Ah, the liquid...No, of course not! What use can it be of?
The voices seemed to laugh.
-Strange. You spent half of your life in it, and you don't remember?
She grinned.
-Half of my life? Doubt.
Then she felt she needed more air to breathe. She looked up and freezed. The wall was almost 100 meters long, she wouldn't manage to reach the end of it in time.
-I think I'm suffocating-she said, horrified-Help me!
The voices laughed louder.
-Oh, dear, don't you remember _anything_? Just breathe! Breathe, it's the sort of liquid oxygen for you.
She looked hesitant and was going to return back, when some strong force made her stop and inhale the liquid.
She thought she was dying. She thought it was the end. Now she would die and the liquid will keep her corpse deeply underground and noone will find her...
And nothing of that happened. She really was breathing! In the liquid!
Surprised, she smiled and continued moving, still too amazed to believe in the miracle.
-How did you know?
-We know everything. You know that too.
-Really? I don't...
-We'll help you remember. Come here.
She finally reached the end of the wall and stood up, completely wet and anxious.
She was standing at the big hall, so big that she could hardly see its walls. She again wondered if anyone preserved the Terminal Dogma for purpose. And then she felt her mouth opening wide and she screamed.
For in the middle of the lake of LCL Fluid she saw a giantic seven-eyed white creature nailed to the cross.