NIGHTMARES NEVER END SO EASILY...

-

AGGGGGHHH! Screamed Ishmael, as Shinji focused all his anger and hate at the non-euclidean Cherub. The creature seemed to spasm, or so Shinji's "senses" told him, and the dream world he was in shattered, returning him to the large blue ball and yellow skies.

"What? What am I doing back here?"

AAAAHAHAHAHAHA! Did you seriously think I would lose to something as simple as that? Please, I've been in your mind since your last fight with Father, I know all there is to know about you.

The air around Shinji shimmered as the nightmares of his friends and family revealed themselves to him again. He tried to keep from looking, but his eyes would not close, and he was surrounded by the "screens."

There was Asuka and Iruel.

Rei fighting Kei, her friends and family corpses in the background.

Kei curled up in a ball amongst the ruins of NERV.

His Father shooting his whole family.

His Mother being eaten by Ichi.

Misato watching ADAM rise, again and again and again.

The ground under Shinji's feet began to morph, forming several large tentacles that grabbed Shinji by the arms and legs, two for each limb, the neck, and around his chest. Ishmael reformed between two of the nightmares, not allowing Shinji to look away from them to focus on him, and reached out again with his appendages towards Shinji's left arm.

Now, where were we...

Shinji started screaming as his fingers were broken at each joint, while knowing that there was more agony coming.

-

Waking World

"Okay, Mari, you understand what to do?" asked Ritsuko over a communicator set in Mari's ear.

"I got it, Doctor Akagi," Mari stood in the entrance way of Misato's apartment, shuddering at the screams and sobs she could hear coming from the bedrooms within. She, as the least inconspicuous Angel fighter they had, was sent to find out what form the Angel that had attacked the Pilots had taken, and to find a way to combat it.

She made her way stealthily through the apartment, first checking on Misato and Asuka. Asuka was crying and screaming in pain and sorrow as marks appeared on her body from the dream she was having, while Misato was curled up in a ball, sobbing silently and shaking. Mari extended her Angelic senses and realized that the Cherub she had come to find was in Shinji's room.

Where the loudest screams echoed from.

Shaking with fear, she approached the room, hearing the sound of breaking bones as she got closer. She stepped inside and found Shinji with his left arm broken in several spots all the way up to his shoulder, and his right arm was quickly going the same way. She glanced at his face, the pain being so great as to make him cry while he screamed.

It was then that she noticed it. There was a softly glowing blue light on his forehead that was almost imperceptible. Cautiously extending her AT-Field, she reached for the light.

It's glow brightened intensely as it shifted into a blue eye.

SLEEP

Mari fought the hypnotic suggestion and broke through with a whispered, "No."

The eye seemed to blink.

You are strong. Yes... I recognize you now. You are the fake Ramiel. There is nothing you can do to save him or any of the others. Leave.

Mari fought another suggestion and shook her head violently. "I will not leave him. And I will destroy you."

You cannot defeat me without killing him. I chose my position well.

"I will find a way."

-

Shinji's Nightmare

As Shinji's bones broke, he suddenly gained a moment of clarity as Ishmael forced him to watch the nightmares of his family.

Iruel's eyes were black, not the blue in Asuka's dream.

Kei was supposed to look exactly like Rei, but her eyes were blue instead of red.

There was a glowing blue stone in a ring on Kei's left hand.

The gun was bluish-silver.

Chibi-Ichi's eyes were also blue instead of the normal green.

He didn't know what Misato's dad looked like but he was pretty sure his eyes weren't the same shade of electric blue as the other things he saw.

Including Ishmael's eyes (when the Angel had them) and the ball he stood on.

Ishmael was in everyone's dreams himself. Not just in Shinji's. He had total control of everyone.