Chapter 6 (Much thanks to everyone for encouraging me to continue this! Please keep the C &C coming ~)
'Yo, Agent-san . . . anyone ever called you a meddlesome hero?
'Someone used to call me that, once.
'That was fifteen years ago, back when I was a kid who believed in princes and eternity, and that I could use sincerity to save people from even themselves. I made this decision that some friends – at least I believe they're my friends - had said was foolish. Anyway, that decision cost me everything. But, I ended up saving someone important to me, along with a whole bunch of other people I hadn't counted on helping to begin with, so that turned out to be a pretty good deal-
'Eh? You think it was pointless? Why? Because . . . oh, I see; you really thought that everything simply went to hell at the time, with half the world's population dying and the ecosystem half-dead and that's the end of the story. Arg . . . that's such a shallow way to interpret an apocalyptic global cataclysm!
'Okay, I see you're not listening . . . hey, you're trying to scare me off by tossing me one of your sexual recollections! Damned Collective Consciousness mechanism . . .
'It's no use; I'm no longer that same naïve, thin-skinned child I was fifteen years ago. Besides, we're current still sharing in that same consciousness – there's no longer any 'river' of mental barrier dividing you and I.
'And that's why I know.
'Agent-san, you may wear the mask of a cad, but you're really a meddlesome hero just like me. I know you died seeking the truth behind a world threat – that means you wanted to save the world in danger, right?
'So, being that we're still sharing in the same consciousness, how about if I show you what I know about this one biggest, final threat currently threatening to end what's left of the dying world? Sounds interesting? Good, you keep your mind open now . . .
'This is my recollection of the year 2000, all the way up to September 13, when I went against the threat to save a girl standing at the Ends of the World, and the world along with her . . .'
As a man who lived though dangerous times - who chose to die during one of those – the agent had thought he was forever done with this crippling feeling human beings call fear.
He was wrong.
The moment he pulled himself out of the Collective Conscience, the agent found himself rematerializing at what looked to be some upscale private academy's sizable campus: the buildings were done in grand Byzantine style, the grass and pavements were immaculately maintained, even the stars above the tranquil night sky looked-
. . . the stars above . . .
The agent's eyes widened in awe at noticing the glittery stars above all moving with an unnatural speed akin to those from a planetarium's projected film. Sure, he had seen his share of artificial skies before – many post-Second Impact structures have 'artificial skies' built in as decor. But, something of such immense scope would require nothing less of a GeoFront-like structure. And, unless he somehow time-traveled, neither Adam nor Lilith's Egg should be in tact no more . . .
"Ikari-kun-"
The young boy's urgent voice – more importantly, the name he uttered – drew the agent's attention towards the spotlight shining ahead, illuminating a prepubescent blond child currently calling out to a distant figure immediately recognizable as the Third Child Ikari Shinji. Standing at an open courtyard in front of a stone building, the boy - currently wearing some embroidery-adorned white uniform – eyed the younger kid with apparent wariness. Beside him stood the Second Child, and she -
The agent had to force down his own startled exclamation at what he now saw.
Wearing a red variation of Shinji's uniform – one in the same shade of her plugsuit - Asuka Langley Soryu now had numerous red strings streaming out from various parts of her petite body; visibly taut from holding up the girl's slim frame, these fine strings led up and towards an intricate control bar, one maneuvered by what looked like a tall, shadow-cloaked man wearing an eye-catchingly theatrical prince costume . . . or was that a tall shadow filling the costume like some insubstantial phantom? The girl's face, now unnaturally void of expression, coupled with her thread-held body to complete her current appearance of being a well-crafted puppet doll (that very thing he knew she loathed); her eyes, open and still, appeared glassy to the point of seeming artificial.
" . . . right in the monster's stomach like Jonah from the Bible!" The blond kid persisted on, seemingly oblivious to Asuka's presence. "You've just gotten swallowed up, you've yet to get corroded away by the place's venom! Stay any longer, and you could become integrated into its fresh and blood like these goons, or worse, cursed to eternal stagnation like me! This mustn't happen to you – not when mankind's fate is now in you hands! For God's sake, just flee this so-call-Academy and don't look back-" The shadow in prince's costume raised a free 'hand' in a peculiar gesture (his other one being occupied with the puppet control bar), and the spotlight upon the latter abruptly vanished . . . along with Shinji, 'Asuka' plus 'Shadow Prince', and the entire area around the stone building – now appearing as just some crumbled, longtime ruin.
"Ikari!" Alarmed, the blond child scampered up and towards where the Second and Third Children had been but a moment ago. He ended up tripping on the ruin's debris and falling down hard, before curling up on the ground in a fetal, trembling ball.
By the time the agent had gotten up to the boy, he noted that the latter was audibly crying in utter despair.
" . . .fucking over . . . all over now . . ."
"Are you Tsuwabuki Mitsuru-san?"
Startled by the agent's voice, Tsuwabuki pushed himself painfully back up to face the man.
"You're not from around here," stated the child, now hurriedly wiping off what tears he shred. "Who are you? How'd you know me?"
"You still look the same as she remembered you from fifteen years back," the agent's worldly eyes were soft with empathy as he handed his I.D. card to the guarded youngster. "As for me, well . . . I guess I am something of a 'meddlesome hero'."
"Kaji Ryoji, NERV Special Investigator?" Tsuwabuki's eyes widened at seeing the rose motif ring glittering on the man's hand. "Your ring . . . "
"One Tenjou Utena gave me this Rose Signet so it may led me here," said Kaji, straightening up as he took in a better view of what was currently a ruin, beyond which a tall tower could be seen stabbing up and into the artificial night sky. "To this faux school where her old friends still live entrapped by the monstrosity known as the Ends of the World, who now has devoured even NERV's Children for the sake of taking control of the Collective Consciousness."
"So Tenjou-sempai had survived, after all," muttered Tsuwabuiki to himself, somewhat wistfully, before his young face tightened with solemnity. "Kaji-san, how much do you really know about what you would be up against?"
"Not nearly enough," admitted Kaji, eyeing the tower's top level – currently the only place at the darkened academy with lights turned on – with a perturbed frown. "Everything I've been privy to, I saw from Tenjou's point of view. Unfortunately, the girl she was appeared to be of the oblivious sort who'd miss even blatant clues by the eyeful."
Beyond the stone building's entrance was an ill-lit dark corridor flanked by lines of chairs, all of which carrying a 'pointing hand' cardboard sign signaling for visitors to move forward, towards a door with an occupied sign hanging off its knob. Walking in, the Children found themselves inside a dim elevator, one set up with a mirror, a low seat facing the mirror, and a framed picture to the side. While being ushered onto the seat by Asuka, Shinji noticed that the framed picture showed a distant shot of none other than himself standing on the bridge over the LCL pool, with Unit 01's colossal figure prominent in the background.
"Asuka, what is this place?" he could not help but ask, his heart sinking along with the elevator's downward momentum. "Is it really named after my family? Just what are we doing here?" In return, Asuka gently turned his head by hand, such that he properly faced the mirror on the elevator wall. "Asuka . . ."
"Shinji-kun." The girl's currently dark features, as reflected upon the dark mirror, made her appear more shadowy silhouette than human to the boy's eyes. "Don't you trust me?"
"Asuka! What are you saying?! Of course I-"
"Remember what I told you before, about having learned things during Instrumentality?"
"Urmm . . ." The boy did recall their conversation upon awakening at the beach: something about bringing people back from the Collective Consciousness by finding some strange power or light associated with a witch and her consort. There was talk of a prince somewhere in it . . . or was it just her suddenly starting to refer to him as one (what a change from 'Baka-Shinji')? "Yeah; that's all very . . . urm . . ."
"Unbelievable, right?"
Out of a corner of his eye, Shinji noted a change coming over the framed picture. Turning his head, he saw that it now showed Ikari Yui holding a toddler distinctively recognizable as himself.
"Mother . . .?" started the boy; Asuka again maneuvered him into facing the mirror. "Asuka . . ."
"Shinji-kun, I've learned, from the minds of many, the entire story behind our world. Witches, princes . . . they're all just different names for those same eternal beings in existence since the beginning of time. I know now that an ancient alien race once dominated the universe, and they livened up the many planets by spreading the Seeds of Life throughout the Milky Way."
"Seeds of Life?"
"NERV higher ups call them by the names of Adam and Lilith."
Shinji saw his own eyes widen in the mirror. "Lilith . . . you mean the white giant who fused with Ayanami right before Instrumentality took place?" Asuka's face remained darkly obscured in the reflection.
"Adam and Lilith were the origins behind the angelic race and the humans race, respectively. However, because their two lines of offsprings cannot co-exist on this globe, a member from that ancient alien race descended upon Earth to seal Adam up while guiding the Blood of Lilith towards fruitfulness, thus making creating the ecosystem as you know it.
"Humans who knew of the alien's existence had interpreted it as many different things throughout mankind's long history: a god, a warrior, a hero . . . as history progressed, as men continued in dividing themselves via classes and values, that alien entity came to be known as the Rose Prince, who bore the miraculous power to vanquish every imaginable trouble plaguing mankind, of all times.
"The name of the Rose Prince is Dios, the name of his power is the Light of the World."
"Prince," murmured Shinji, feeling inexplicably disconcerted at hearing the word. Asuka leaned closer against his back.
"A prince is an ideal," she said, "a label for people to put upon those from whom they demand nobility and strength. Back then, the people of the world clamored around Prince Dios, pushing him to fight all their tough battles for them. 'Only you can do it for us', they said to the Prince, 'so you must do it as your destined responsibility.' " Hands on his shoulders, she leaned forward to whisper in Shinji's ears. " 'If you refuse, then you're only a coward who runs away!'" The boy jolted at what she said; the girl continued on. "The people's words acted like a spell, binding the Prince into continuing on with shouldering the world's burden, thus keeping him their glorified, yet ultimately exploited, slave-"
*SLAM!*
It was only after his fist started hurting that Shinji realized he had just slammed it soundly against the wall-mounted table block under the mirror. He also felt Asuka's body turning stone-stiff against his back.
"Ah . . ." Gathering his wits about, the boy fumbled for the right thing to say. "Umm, Asuka . . . that's an amazing story . . . I mean, history you're telling me. It really is! But I don't see how it has got to do with . . ." And the elevator came to a stop, right as the framed picture became one of a visibly pregnant Yui, who was captured beaming radiantly at the camera. The door opened to reveal a dark underground tunnel dimly illuminated by the faint haze visible at its end.
Eyes on that haze, Asuka straightened up and away from his contact. "Let's go."
"Where're we going?" asked the boy, who hurried to follow after the girl now stepping out and into the tunnel; she walked on ahead without turning around.
"To Dio's Grave, where you shall see the missing link connecting Dio's ancient past and the Earth's troubled present. Knowing the whole of the truth, you, the Messianic Epitome of Instrumentality, shall find that right path leading towards humanity's rightful destination.
"And then you shall act, Shinji-kun."
To Be Continued . . . ?