Disclaimer: Neon Genesis Evangelion and all characters herein are the rightful property of GAINAX. So don't send in the hounds just yet.
Ο Θεός είναι στον ουρανό. Όλος είναι σωστός στον κόσμο.
Just a few miles outside of Tokyo 3, the Sixteenth Angel, Armisael hovered in midair, its double-helix-like body rotating idly in a halo overhead. Having not moved for the last two hours since its arrival, NERV was being very apprehensive about facing this new threat… perhaps, a little too apprehensive, thought Rei Ayanami.
Clad in her white, skintight plug-suit, the First Child was sitting in the command couch of her Eva, concentrating on the task at hand. At present, the Sixteenth was circling above Ohwakudani valley a few clicks south of Tokyo 3, where it had been restlessly abound since its sudden appearance.
Rei had been assigned to the frontline this time, for Unit 01 was currently in cryo-stasis, and had been deemed far too risky to be used against the remaining Angels. At present, Unit 00 was observing the Angel while ducked behind a large knoll that offered some feasible protection in case the target decided to strike.
"Rei, you will scout the Sixteenth Angel's location, and await further orders."
Those were the instructions given to her by the Commander himself, and she would obey without question.
However, something about the mission though seemed… off. She could sense it… Like a splinter in her mind, a just feeling of anxiety coiling in Rei's stomach that she couldn't quite place.
Every encounter the crimson-eyed girl had had with the Angels before was always the same; nothing more than an adolescent fear that she pushed back into some dark and forgotten corner of her conscience. But this time…
"Ayanami," the entry plug's internal speakers hissed, "Your synch ratio is fluctuating. Are you alright?"
The sudden voice of Lt. Ibuki shook Rei from her wayward reverie. It hadn't even dawned on her that her synch score was being monitored, for she was too lost in her own thoughts to notice. She blinked, once, twice, until settling back into her emotionless resolve.
"Yes," the blue-haired beauty declared, monotonous as always. "I am fine."
No sooner had the words left her mouth, did the half-Angel realize something: she had just given false information, omitted her fears---or in lack of a better description, lied.
Maya's voice came back, soothingly. "Okay, Rei. If something happens, Asuka will be there to help."
There was a brief pause, followed by what Rei could only discern as… relief in the technician's voice.
"Rei… be careful."
The comm. channel went quiet, indicating that the bridge bunny had ended the connection. Alone with her thoughts once again, the crimson-eyed girl parted her lips in a small manner, confusion registering on her angelic face.
"A lie…?" Rei whispered puzzlingly. "Why did I just lie…?"
-----
Within NERV's secondary command center, Ritsuko Akagi leaned over Maya's shoulder to regard the technician's bio-readouts, "Problems?"
Maya focused on the screen in front of her, ignoring the odd tingling sensation she got from Ritsuko's proximity. "Rei's synch score jumped from 40 percent up to 53 only a few moments ago, but then it declined back to 39 once I addressed the pilot of her performance," stated the raven-haired woman.
The scientist's eyes narrowed, "That's strange. Rei almost never has a synch ratio higher than that of 42, and that was her best yet."
Doctor Akagi looked up at the viewscreen detailing the Sixteenth Angel, its clockwise gait unchanged all this time. "So what's causing the change then…?"
Maya twisted around in her seat to look at the older blonde, "Do you think it could be the Angel?"
"Not likely," said Ritsuko, propping her chin with one palm. "Unless the Angel is in direct contact with the Eva or the pilot, there should be no significant changes…" she was interrupted as a purple-haired figure came running onto the bridge, panting heavily.
Akagi scowled. Misato had been late… again.
"Where the hell, have you been?" she growled.
"I'm sorry! No excuse." Misato yelled apologetically. She turned to regard one of the bridge bunnies. "What's the situation?"
"It looks like we're in a persistent deadlock, Major," Aoba reported.
"He's right." Hyuga added. "The target's field pattern keeps cycling from blue to orange!"
Misato felt a headache coming on; too much science jargon for her to take at once, "What does that mean?" she demanded.
"The Magi are unable to confirm as of yet." Maya replied.
Ritsuko turned away from her counterpart, Ibuki's station. "We just don't have enough information right now. But I'm sure that what we're seeing is not the Angel's only form."
Misato didn't like this, not even a little bit. They were up against an unknown enemy, with what appeared to be no visible weaknesses of any kind.
"So, what you're saying is that there's no way for us to attack first, right?" the purple-haired Major frowned.
"-Basically," Rtisuko answered curtly.
'Damn…' Misato fumed. 'I hate it when I'm right.'
-----
Fuyutski leaned over his student's shoulder at his position on the command deck, the commander's calm and collected demeanor poised behind folded hands and dark-tinged glasses.
"Ikari, he addressed somewhat anxiously, "You do realize the implications of this Angel, do you not?"
"-Quite," He replied.
"And yet, you still sent Rei out alone?"
"Yes."
The middle-aged sub-commander spoke more softly in his ear, so as not to arouse suspicion from the others below. "I've never doubted your exploits of the Dead Sea Scrolls before Ikari, but this is a risk that we may not be able to afford. The 11th Angel…-"
"-Was an oversight on out part." Gendo stated. "Rei has been debriefed over this… problem already. If anything unexpected should occur..."
"Then she will rectify the situation," finished Fuyutski. The old man resumed his stance at Gendo's side, just as he had done countless times previously.
"For your sake, I hope that such an event never comes to pass…"
Unbeknownst to Fuyutski, Gendo had formulated a similar thought as well.
'As do I old friend. As do I…'
-----
Shifting her weight in the command chair, Rei fidgeted slightly to loosen up the muscles in her slender legs, to help ease the stiffness in her joints. If Asuka had been the one called out to investigate the Angel, she likely would not have hesitated for so long. But the blue-haired beauty had the patience of a Buddhist master; fatigue and impatience were not in her dictionary.
Plus, the Second Child was currently as a backup only… as per her faltering synch scores. The red-eyed half-angel eyed the expensive piece of military hardware cradled in her Eva's hands conspicuously; a self-propelled, high caliber rifle. Besides, if the fiery German pilot were to utilize such a dangerous weapon in her current state of handicap, it could have disastrous results for NERV.
It had already happened prior with the Fifteenth Angel, where much of the city had been obliterated with the high-grade orbital cannon Asuka had been entrusted with for that mission. They did not want a repeat of that scenario again…
Rei danced her fingers along the rubber grips of the butterfly controls. Unless she was ordered to from the Commander, Major Katsuragi ...or the bottle-blonde Ritsuko, she would remain where she was until further notice.
A small window opened up on the albino's screen, and Shinji's anxious face appeared. "Ayanami-san…" he started, bashful as always. "You okay?"
"Yes, Ikari-kun." she stated, her voice clipped as usual. "I am doing alright."
There was a slight tenderness in her voice that only he would have been able to pick up on; they had become rather close over the last few months.
"Listen…… Rei-chan…"
Rei regarded her fellow pilot with inert red eyes, her delicate features softening imperceptibly.
"If something happens… don't try to be a hero… not like last time…"
Rei knew that 'last time' was referring to her and Ikari's battle with the Fifth Angel, the one that had nearly taken his life… as well as her own. It was her duty, no. Her responsibility to look out for others, and although it put her right in the path of danger… she would have gladly done it for them time and time again…
…Even if it meant her own death.
She had no doubt that at the time, the AT blast directed at Unit 01 would have surely killed him, had it not been for her steadfast resolve and quick thinking, there wouldn't have been anything left of the Third Child for even a proper burial.
The very thought sent a shiver down the red-eyed Nephilim's spine.
"Please, Rei…" he murmured, his eyes forlorn and empathetic, "I… I don't want to see you getting hurt… not for me…"
Rei met the blue-eyed boy's gaze, her mouth agape in an oddly emotional way; for her at least. "…Ikari……I-"
Before she could utter a reply, Misato's calm, stony face appeared beside Shinji on the holographic win-frame.
"Cut the chatter you two," she ordered, cutting their conversation off. Shinji looked slightly displeased… as did the First Child for that matter. But before she got a chance to answer him, his screen disappeared from view shortly after.
Not from his control either.
Rei frowned ever so slightly. 'Why must they pry…?" she thought irritated. 'Do they not want me communicating with Ikari-kun?'
"Rei," the major's voice brought her back from her inner thoughts. "You'll keep watch on the Angel and study it for the time being."
A sudden premonition fell over Rei, the hairs on her neck standing upright, a light chill washing down her back. The blue-haired beauty's Angel instincts were warning her of the impending danger that was about to come…
And she knew not to doubt her instincts.
"No, it's moving."
As if on cue, the rotation of the Angel stopped, making a rather odd noise as it wound down. Had the crimson-eyed pilot ever had the chance to play video games, the sound would have resembled that of some old NES game from the pre-Second Impact era.
Boo-Boo-Boo-Boo-Boo…
The helix pattern collapsed into a single band of light, just as the Angel came to a complete stop. For a moment it resembled a giant halo… making the Angel seem unthreatening and serene.
It was merely a tool of misdirection, however…
Armisael's body became detached at one end, a strange din of sound like fabric being removed greeting Rei's ears.
And… like a snake, it lashed out at Unit 00, spiraling in for the kill.
Rei! Take evasive action! Misato ordered.
But it was too late, Rei knew that there was hardly any time to do so; the Angel was unbelievably fast. The only thing the blue-haired beauty could do was brace herself; leaning back into the command seat in order to deaden the impact.
The "head" of Armisael collided with her Eva's abdomen, almost knocking it down.
"Ahh!" she grunted, nearly falling out of her chair. A dull thud resounded throughout the interior of the entry plug, like a cherry bomb exploding from within the Eva. The crimson-eyed girl's mecha staggered back a step under the brunt of the Angel's attack.
Regaining her composure, Rei furrowed her brows in concentration, and gripped the thread-like body of the Angel in an iron vice, firing the high-caliber sniper rifle point- blank range.
Its body went jagged from the heavy shell… but failed to penetrate.
'…How can this be?'
She pumped round after round into Armisael's serpentine form, though with little to no effect whatsoever. Rei narrowed her eyes in frustration as each subsequent shot did almost the same damage as the last.
Whether from irritation, or annoyance, Armisael fiercely whipped its tail at Unit 00, effectively disintegrating Rei's artillery rifle into bits and pieces of twisted and shattered metal. Her crimson orbs shined wide, and a small gasp escaped her lips.
For the first time in a long time, Rei actually showed fear.
'…No…… not again…'
Then… the Angel began to impart its body into her Eva, and that's when things made the turn for worse…
"-Hh-haaah…," Rei gasped aloud, her breath coming out in stuttering bursts. A vague sense of nostalgia swept over her, a feeling bordering close to semi-conscious state of bliss and ecstasy. The blue-haired, half-Angel shivered at the sense of it all, unsure as to why the place within her abdomen was unusually warm…
It was short lived, unfortunately.
A wave of intensified pain and dread washed over Rei, a feeling that she was all too familiar with. It was the same as when Bardiel, the Thirteenth Angel, attempted to join with her; the forbidden fusion between her soul and Adam's.
The fair-skinned pilot shuddered at the alien matter fusing itself into her body, and looked down to see thick veins branching out over her tummy like spider vines. Rei grimaced, her skin burning from the inside-out as the Sixteenth began to forcibly merge with the blue-haired beauty.
"Nnnh…"
Her face suffused with pink as they crept up over her pert breasts, the pleasurable sensations making her feel violated while at the same time at ease. Rei moaned softly, the Lilith part of her attempting to merge with the Angel's soul.
Rei! Misato's terrified voice was distorted over the comm. link. …old on… '-skua is… c-co-ing…! Re…-/ crrrk crrrrrrrrkkkk…………
The radio feed eventually died out into screeching static and birdies, leaving Rei with only her labored gasps and the strange rumbling within Unit 00 as the only comfort she had left. The crimson-eyed girl arched her back in her seat as the veins covered her entire body head-to-toe, choking back cries of pain as it enveloped her.
"… Please…" a soft voice pleaded in her mind. "Let me inside…" it said in honeyed tones.
Rei knew that she could not give in to the Angel, even if it was sorely tempting to; the consequences would be most dire. But even so, her soul… Lilith's soul… was not willing to relinquish to her will just yet.
'Who is this…?' Rei thought, eyes squeezed shut. Her fingers dug into the armrests of her entry plug, a stifled grunt of pain escaping her lips. 'Who's inside my mind…?'
There was a brief moment in which Rei suddenly felt nothing. No pain, no fear, absolute nothing. The world around her ceased to be, and all was silent. Unconsciously, she slumped forward into her chair like a marionette with its strings cut, her blue hair falling about her face.
Unbeknownst to her, or anyone else for that matter, her entry plug began to glow in an iridescent light, bathing the blue-haired beauty in a ghostly white miasma that reduced everything inside to pure energy.
Rei would come to a decision… that would change the fate of the world forever.
-----
"-You," An abyss of dark water rippled with the voice in Rei's mind, a droplet jumping within the center.
"Ah," Rei gasped, her crimson eyes opened once more.
She was still seated in her Eva's command couch, though now her surroundings were covered in darkness. A strong floodlight bathed her plug-suited form in a moon-like glow, giving Rei the odd feeling that she was being interrogated.
'Is there something inside the Eva…?'
Synaptic flashes--Random thoughts and images of herself in different aspects of her past life.
'Is there someone else here beside myself…?'
Another set of stroboscopic pulses—A vague moment of Rei being strangled to death by an unknown assailant…
The setting had changed once again. Rei was now standing over a vast lake of LCL, the sky burning a fiery red. She noted that her feet were not touching the liquid, and that she was being suspended somehow.
Her observant alizarin eyes met with a lone female figure, clad in a white plugsuit, half-submerged up to her upper thighs in LCL. With her head hung low, and their arms drooped idly at their sides, she vaguely resembled a monk in silent prayer, especially the way her azure hair…
Rei suddenly recognized the resemblance between herself and the girl--they were the exact same.
Was this the way of the Angels communicating, she wondered? Did they not have their own bodies for them to replicate into a conscious state of humanistic form? Or… were they purposefully mimicking humans in order to establish a basis of understanding between one another…?
The only logical way that Rei could think of gaining knowledge and insight, was the most obvious.
She asked.
"An Angel…?" Rei said aloud. "Are you one of the beings we call, the Angels?"
The "Rei" twin from across the way made no move in acknowledging her presence or her question. However… she did speak.
"Don't you want to become one with me?" the doppelganger asked sweetly. Her voice had an ominous strength behind it, laced with sultry undertones of someone possibly older than herself.
Rei stared back, unflinching, "No. I am me, not you."
"Hmm…" the opposite Rei hummed. "But you shall."
The veins appeared on Rei's body again, though this time, the pain was almost surreal.
"It's too late," she replied eerily. "The wheels of time are already turning."
Ayanami found her body shaking of its own volition, the spasms of muscles protesting beyond their reach. It felt so… so cold. Almost like someone was injecting sub-zero liquid steel and molten lava into her body via a hypodermic needle all at once, on every point on her body….
"I will share a part of my mind with you." said Armisael, her head still hung low. "Let me share with you these emotions."
The blue-haired beauty shivered as the Angel's mind connected with hers, the alien entity invading her psyche. It was like a window to her thoughts had been opened up for all to see. Rei had no doubt that some of her more… treasured secrets, were being sifted throughout by the Angel's hacking presence.
She could feel it in her veins, her organs, her mind… everywhere; churning, swirling, and slithering around inside.
Armisael lifted her head up, a beautiful smile painted onto her mirrored visage. "This is pain," she said sweetly. "-Can you feel it, deep inside?"
"-This pain…? Rei inquired. "No… it's different." She furrowed her brow in concentration, trying to discern pain from… what was this feeling? It was deeper than wounds, deeper than muscle or bone; a hollow darkness that embedded itself within her heart… her soul.
"It feels like…" Rei couldn't help but shiver at the coldness seeping through her body. The feeling between her and the Angel was mutual, one that she was too familiar with…
"…Loneliness."
"Yes." Rei iterated, "Loneliness."
"Loneliness…?" Armisael asked quizzically. "I don't understand."
"You don't want to be by yourself, correct? We are many, but you are alone. You hate it… don't you?"
Armisael pondered on this. This is what it was to be lonely, yes? Then why did this... Lilim choose to open the door to its own feelings? Did she not want to cut the life of the full angel's own kin that dare to set foot on God's green earth?
"That is what it feels to be, lonely." Rei's features softened at her own admittance of grief, crimson eyes reflecting the buried sadness within.
The young half-Angel regarded the doppelganger suspiciously. If the pain in her heart was the same as the Angel's, then why… why would it want to be... alone?
"Your soul is filled with such sweet sorrow," the Angel smiled sadly. "It makes mine ache to hear your heart cry for salvation…" She had an almost begging glint in her crimson eyes, like she was expecting an answer she already knew.
The Sixteenth Angel waded through the sea of LCL towards Rei, her face set into a deep longing for the blue-haired beauty. "You and I are the same," she said, the ripples of orange liquid leaving a continuous wake behind her. "We were made to be one with another. ...Tell me that you wish this as much as do I?"
The closer the Angel came to Rei, the more lightheaded she became. There was this strange tingly feeling pulsating within her belly that she could not understand. It felt… pleasant.
"………Y-Yes…" she shuddered.
Rei didn't quite understand why she was agreeing to this subterfuge, but at the same time she felt this indescribable pull towards the Angel. The soul within her was breaking her down. "I… I dislike this feeling, this pain of being alone."
Rei's feet lowered into the vast lake of LCL, the orange liquid undulating placidly out over the infinite horizon as she was steeped up to her hips in blood.
"I can end this pain that torments you." the opposite Rei took a small step forward, an expectant look gracing her youthful features, "Pleasure, desire, love—everything that you've always wanted, but have been so wrongfully denied awaits you." another step, the rippling of LCL, "Our souls are fragmented, but united, we can become something more."
Eyes dilating slightly, the First Child felt powerless to the wonderful feelings radiating throughout her body. She knew what it was that made her breath deepen, her stomach tightening in the way that it did: Lilith.
The pain all but bled away from her as the Sixteenth drew herself up before Rei, her senses swooning in a drunken haze.
"No more despair…" the Angel said softer. She raised a hand slowly to Rei's distressful, angelic countenance, and cupped her cheek in her ivory palm. "No more suffering."
Rei's eyes became heavy. As much as she enjoyed this touch, to give in would be the end of all things in the world. "I-I… I cannot... ahh."
The Angel paused in stroking the girl's cheek, a forlorn expression engraving itself onto her pretty face. "Do you not wish to obtain happiness…?" she asked, her voice beginning to deepen into a sob.
The crimson eyes that were so soft and yielding before had now become filled with unfathomable innocence and sorrow, her jewel-like orbs holding the very universe in their depths. "Will… will you not love me as I do you…?"
For a moment, the Angel struggled with her tears, which were threatening to overtake the pale-skinned twin. It knew what Rei was; her opposite, her other self. But the words… the symbols of her kind's deepest connection with one another, they needed to be said.
Even if… they were forbidden.
"AeReH…" she said, her voice tingling. It rolled off her human tongue like a prayer, a whisper to a lover if spoken any softer.
"Ahh…"
Rei was startled by the sudden pleasures that stole upon her body, a small gasp escaping her throat. Gentle warmth like a candle flame flared up inside her, deep within as a low-burning ember.
Lust…
It felt like the Angels words were touching her very soul, caressing while at the same time profound.
Such wonderful sensations…
Armisael slid her other hand around Rei's back, her fingers gliding across the smooth material of her plugsuit to clasp firmly at the small of her waist… where she pulled Rei in so that their thighs were rubbing smoothly against one another's…
"Please, AeReH…" she breathed, her warm breath fanning across the half-Angel's face. Rei exhaled sharply as pale lips hovered precariously close, soft and luscious. "I have waited for this moment, for so long…"
The Angel laced her fingers in Rei's blue hair…, where she pulled the red-eyed beauty into her first kiss.
"Mmmm…" Rei murmured. The girl's lips were so delightfully soft, almost like silk. A soft tingling danced upon her lips as the Angel pressed hers firmly unto the Nephilim's own.
A small moan was solicited from Rei as Lilith's soul from within her reeled. The blue-haired beauty's true self was demanding to be awoken, so that both she and the vessel of gentle curves and soft flesh it occupied could seek fulfillment.
"Please, my child…" it begged in the most feminine, sensual tone Rei had ever heard. "Release your AT Field. Dash away the bindings that have kept me from you for so long."
Rei shivered as the presence of The Mother seemed to enhance her aura of bliss threefold, much to the delight of the Angel. She couldn't keep her eyes open anymore… and unconsciously leaned forward, right into the waiting embrace of her twin.
"Mmmph…"
Armisael pulled the frightened young girl flush with her own slender body; deepening the kiss by slipping her tongue into Rei's parting mouth. She was no longer fighting, no longer resisting. The walls of the First Child's will were crumbling.
"You long to be loved by the one that is your equal." Armisael said within her mind, "The one that prays for you with kindness in his heart…"
Deep within the reaches of Rei's heart, she knew of the one that the Angel so rightfully spoke of, and whimpered his name softly between lips.
She felt the twin smile into the kiss. "Then… I have your blessing."
And with that act, Armisael and Rei… merged into one.
-----
Adam and Lilith, two souls in one body, the embodiment of God now bestowed upon her. Rei lifted her back and smiled. She could feel the unimaginable power radiating from within her soul as it flooded every centimeter of her being, intoxicating the now snow-haired girl with infinitely forbidden influence over the very particles of the universe itself.
She was the most overpowering, irresistible, awe-inspiring, insanely beautiful creature that had ever existed, her divine aura permeating the souls of all living things.
What was once lost, had now been found.Peace…
-----
In what could be called a pre-First Impact explosion, a massive ball of flames and energy erupted outward with violent force, spreading across a large section of land.
Minutes traversed like hours to Shinji, the navy-blue sky turned angry scarlet by the destruction of the Eva's core, the angry glow painting itself on the Third Child's face as he looked on with absolute horror. The rumblings could still be felt for miles on end as far away as the southern prefecture of Japan.
"Unit 00... has been destroyed." Hyuga reported.
"And the Angel?" Misato asked, a tremor in her voice.
"Blue pattern is negative; not even trace particles."
Misato hesitated, "...The mission is accomplished... Send out recovery teams to the loc-"
Shinji lost interest in the conversation long ago, his youthful countenance frozen with disbelief. The blinding red light from the explosion seemed to be scarred into his mind. Where Unit 00 once stood, there was a crater as wide as half of Tokyo three, and nearly fifteen meters deep.
There was nothing left of her... nothing at all.
He'd lost Rei... his only true friend.
"Rei..." Shinji hadn't even realized he was crying, nor had he known that his message had just been sent out to everyone at NERV command. "Rei... no..."
"Ikari…" said a girl, her voice shaky and soft.
Collective gasps could be heard from Shinji, Misato, everyone around NERV command center. Even Gendo himself was at a loss.
It couldn't be. It shouldn't be. And yet it was.
Misato confirmed everyone's suspicions first.
"Rei…...?"
-----
Even in the cockpit of Unit 01, Shinji felt as if Rei were right there with him, her ghostly voice caressing his ears in a very haunting way. How… how could she be…-?
"Ikari……… a-are you there…?"
He responded in his own terrified voice, "…R-Rei? …Is that you…?"
Silence… not even a whisper came through the other channel.
Shinji started to fear the worst. There was no way Rei could have survived, not without serious injury.
"Rei… you…"
Small sobbing began to emanate all throughout the command bases' loudspeakers, making all who were present at NERV stop dead in their tracks.
Re's voice dropped to a note he'd never heard before, one that no one had heard before:
Desperation
"Ikari……… (sniff…hif-hif…) Please……"
The sounds of the First Child crying drove a harder blow to a person's heart than any blade ever could. No one had ever heard Rei weeping… ever.
"Shinji-kun……Please…Help… me."
Shinji felt his blood run cold.
Those last two words kept repeating inside his head, even after Rei's weeping continued to assault his ears.
"Help me…"
PS: I'm going through writer's block right now, so I don't know when I'll be able to update my other Eva fic: Evac,. I might be able to update this one sooner though; it all depends on everyone's reaction to this story. Also, you should notice a little word that pays homage to Random1337's: Touch' fanfic. :) Thanks for reading, and I hope that this doesn't suck...