Since someone asked: I keep having Naoko in Unit 00 because I like the idea and I'm writing AUs anyway, so I can do narratively shiny things if I want to.
It's hard for me to get into the heads of characters I dislike, but I need to make the effort more.
Part of this verse is that SEELE actually bothered to try to ensure that Tabris actually shared their beliefs, since they were aware that he would be exposed to outside influences they couldn't control and such. Cults are good at that kind of programming, which is why this version of Tabris actually has less understanding of the value of human freedom and such than canon. However, that kind of... mental pruning somewhat squicks me, so I have trouble writing it well. Still, I was told I should make the effort.
Even when he was an infant, Tabris never cried.
At first the doctors thought it was simply because his angelic nature protected him from most of the trials of infants, like colic and being woken up from the hours upon hours of sleep a brain seeing the world for the first time needed by gnawing hunger, left simultaneously starving and exhausted.
At first he was silent except for happy sounds, but then it seemed he realized that no, they didn't have the power of angels to know his thoughts and needs, and started waving his hands and legs in the air while making sounds to get their attention, to be fed or changed or simply picked up and carried around for a bit.
Keel avoided the infant angel at this stage, especially after getting a report that one of the doctors had actually let Tabris keep sleeping in his lap while the doctor worked on his reports instead of putting him back in the hermetically sealed enclosure when the angel grasped at his coat (months ahead of when it should have been able to do that) and made a pleading sound, already half asleep from being carried around and rocked. What the angel seemed to have wanted was to fall asleep with company, and when an angel would have so many means of getting what they wanted, including mental influence?
That doctor was labeled too vulnerable and transferred to another project. Afterwards, the others tried to maintain their detachment, but despite how unsettling the infant angel looked at first (and newborn infants weren't a pretty sight to begin with), it was hard for them not to be won over to some degree. Of course, Keel wasn't going to entrust this to anyone who wasn't a loyal member of SEELE, and this was not only a True Successor, born of the white moon instead of the black, but one born from human DNA. Purified with the soul of Adam. A holy being, already almost a god itself.
So if the child seemed too perfect to be true, too well-behaved, too sweet? It was because he was too good to be a Lilim child. It was an example of what humanity could be once purified, once elevated by instrumentality to the level of the divine. Once complementation made it possible to exist without hurting others, without living in constant suspicion and fear of being hurt.
This was confirmation that something greater really could be born from the corrupted Lilim, debased humanity. If this angel succeeded, humanity as it was would be destroyed, but it would be recreated in this image. Immortal, powerful, pure children of the White Moon, and this child would be the equally benevolent god of the new Earth, or so those he was surrounded by believed. Keel wasn't going to risk him discovering the truth, after all.
They would have kept him sheltered away from the corrupting influence of the world until it was time for him to go. For him to be sacrificed, its nature too pure for the Lilim world. Despite its power, it would fall at the hand of Man, unwilling to kill even such base vermin.
It would have been secreted away, no, enshrined until that time came.
Then that fool Gendo let one of the scientists Yui suborned ruin everything.
SEELE could have fled into hiding: they'd done it before, after all. Hiding from witch-hunters, hiding from the Twentieth century's desire to learn the secrets of the occult first to conquer the world (a thousand-year Reich? When the world had less than a century left?) and then seeking cheap and easy enlightenment. They did flee into hiding: they hadn't abandoned a long tradition of making sure they could escape, and take their precious secrets and relics with them so they didn't fall into the hands of unbelievers.
That wouldn't be enough this time, however. Perfect instrumentality and complementation, the union of all souls in paradise and the godhood of humanity required the construction of specialized Eva units. Which required infrastructure, and personnel all in one place instead of scattered all over the world. Now that the world knew the truth, they wouldn't be able to infiltrate or suborn governments, build more Evas under the pretext of building those countries or the UN war machines to fight each other or the angels. So they would need a facility of their own.
What was to keep the UN from destroying that facility? From crushing it with armies or bombarding it from orbit? How would they defend their Eva production site from the world?
That was when the Council recalled that angelic child and the light of his soul. The power surpassed by no other angel on this planet save for broken Adam. He could serve as their unbreakable shield.
Their unbreakable shield, but not their unstoppable weapon. Not with that compassion, that lack of awareness of why any being would want to hurt others in the first place. If they forced the angel to kill he would ask why, and SEELE couldn't afford that. If even an angel doubted them, it would undermine the morale of their members. It would outright destroy it if a Son of Adam declared that Second Impact was unforgiveable, and the False Successors of the Black Moon did not deserve to rise above their base natures, could never be purified, never deserve godhood.
So, Keel knew, looking at the antique timepiece on the desk he didn't need, buried deep in the mountains, he would have to expose himself to the angel after all, and before it was old enough that he could count on it having learned that it was 'wrong' to listen to the thoughts of Lilim. Every word the old man said would have to be the honest truth, just in case.
That didn't mean he couldn't lie, but he didn't intend to lie. SEELE's doctrine was the truth and the only truth, the only way for mankind to survive and realize its destiny. To become more than worms crawling upon a rotting world, doomed to die. He just needed to make sure that the UN couldn't suborn the young angel, use its compassion and innocent drive to reach out to others against SEELE.
What the angel had learned and observed after leaving the lab would only be to Keel's advantage, he knew. He'd ordered its guardians to answer its questions about what was happening to SEELE honestly, despite their reluctance and the reports he'd received from them. Hearing about humanity's brutality, the lynchings and burnings had shocked and dismayed a being who did not know hatred. The children of the White Seed would take their turns seeking Adam even when all but the winner would be annihilated, because did not the most worthy race deserve to become the next god to rule this world? A god whose children would hopefully thrive, unlike the Lilim who were unable to evolve any further?
Surely they would wish each other luck, if not for the fact that it did not need to be said at all. Each angel in turn would pass all it had learned in its struggle on to the others as it died, hoping for their success instead of envying their survival.
So very, very unlike humans, who were even willing to kill billions of their own in order to survive.
Second Impact, he thought, touching the design of the sephiroth inlaid into the table. That was the first hurdle to be cleared. The angel could not imagine murdering others, not as it was now. Yet the prophecies stated that it would allow itself to be killed willingly. Obviously that was the way to make it accept the necessity of Second Impact: phrase it as billions of the Lilim sacrificing themselves so their kindred could live.
The fact that the inhabitants of the Southern hemisphere hadn't agreed to it and probably wouldn't have if asked wouldn't occur to the child, not when it would surely agree to die for the sake of others. Keel was certain he could make it see Second Impact as a tragedy, yes, but there was a world of difference between an unavoidable tragedy and mass murder. Between willing and unwilling human sacrifice.
A UN representative with the brains to try to approach the abomination instead of assuming it was evil and would not listen could point out that the Lilim hadn't chosen death, but if Keel insured ahead of time that the child thought that death was the right choice, the one any moral being would make (laying the groundwork for its defeat in time), then it would think that the enemy of SEELE was insulting the dead Lilim, implying that they would have wanted the whole world of seven billion people to die of their selfishness.
That was unlikely, though. When Fuyutsuki had shared so much information derived from the Eva project and research on Adam and then the media compounded it by distributing the most disturbing images of Tabris possible, the world had already seized on it as a symbol of Second Impact. The combination of Adam, the power that destroyed half the human world and would have sought to destroy all their souls if allowed to wake up on its own, and SEELE, the 'evil cult' that had supposedly brought doomsday closer instead of trading certain doom for the hope of instrumentality.
The old man snorted, the sound harsh and abrupt in the deep room, quiet save for the ticking of the clock. If they insisted that Tabris was evil, when the child barely grasped evil but already knew he wasn't it, not when one of the criteria for evil was the desire to harm others, they would establish themselves right away as not knowing what on earth or in heaven they were talking about.
No, the angel would feel sorry for those rendered irrational by grief and hatred. Yes, he should comfort the boy, or pretend to. Phrase it that way. Say no, it wasn't the Lilim's fault, they were just in pain because of their losses, and lashing out at everything around them.
If they only listened to Tabris, then they would know he wasn't evil. Likewise, if they only listened to the facts without hatred clouding their judgment, of course they would long for instrumentality and complementation. It was the only sane thing to desire, was it not? What sane person would want a short lifetime full of suffering followed by death when instead they could create a heaven on earth and become a god of it?
A good little angel would forgive them, would ignore all the cruel and hurtful things they said in their grieving madness instead of paying attention to them.
As Tabris protected SEELE, the ignorant masses would only grow to hate the little abomination more and more, until anyone who suggested making contact with it, much less letting it live, would be fired if they were lucky on suspicion of being a SEELE agent or having SEELE sympathies.
Which many did, after Fuyutsuki's information had spread. The doomsday prophecies that were the least secret part of the Secret Dead Sea Scrolls, since they spelled out why the Ascension of Man was necessary. When they were discovered, they had filled all of SEELE with terrible fear and terrible hope. Fear, because they faced a great trial, and if they failed even humanity's immortal souls, tainted and sinful as they were, would come to an end, just like in the End Times prophesized in the Book of Revelation. Oh, according to that prophet, the virtuous would be spared, but who on Earth was virtuous? No one, not one person. Even Jesus admitted he was not without sin: one could not be human without being a sinner.
Not one person until now, the child born from the White Seed after it was fertilized by humanity's tainted blood, that blood purified and incarnated in a new, pure soul. A soul whose light had deflected Adam's, shielding Earth from most of the blast as the enraged True Successor awoke, wounded and furious, and went out of control.
A good little angel would protect the people of SEELE for the sake of the other Lilim as well, so they could one day know complementation and never have to be hateful and alone anymore. So they could be purified of the hatred that was clouding their judgment and life forever in happiness.
Keel remembered learning the beliefs of his ancestors, of the faith that became SEELE after the discovery of the Secret Dead Sea scrolls, at his own father's knee.
"Give me a child until he is seven, and I will give you the man," was the maxim of the Jesuits who had hunted down many of Keel's tradition, although fortunately they had focused on the more recent heresies, the ones that spread aggressively instead of hiding and waiting for the Promised Day. For the day when what they needed to do to reach the Promised Day would be revealed to them.
Influence a child when he is forming his first impressions of the world and how it operates, and one will be able to make the lens he views the world through for the rest of his life. At first, SEELE had assumed an angel would be utterly uninterested in the debased Lilim and their world. Unrecognized and unchanneled, Tabris' curiosity might have influenced it in unexpected ways, perhaps even making it turn against them. The one benefit of allowing it out into the world was discovering that the world appealed to it. Forewarned was forearmed: the danger could now be prevented from coming to fruition with careful influence. As full of hubris as it was for a Lilim to think it could influence the mind of an angel, SEELE's goal was to defeat the angels and keep this world for themselves. No, not only that, but for the Lilim to become the equal of any angel!
For now, he would take advantage of its innate kindness and purity. Make sure the UN remained incomprehensible to it, and the common people's witch hunt for SEELE supporters even more so. Normal children were born selfish and had to have compassion for others beaten into them. Who among the UN would recognize the inverse of that in this child? Believe that it possessed innate goodness (the weakness that would kill it in the end) and SEELE was correct instead of mocking them? Except, of course, those who wanted to believe in SEELE, wanted to believe there was hope for humanity's future, that they weren't chained to dying bodies in a dying world.
Tell the angel child that of course it was their hatred making them ignore the truth that made them hate Tabris and the heaven of complementation. If they were only willing to look at the facts, or if they had the chance to experience it themselves, of course they would like the little angel and want complementation. Why would any sane person choose a short life full of pain? Why should Tabris listen to the arguments of people who were clearly insane?
The disguise attempt had born fruit, even though at first it was only to let them smuggle the angel from place to place more easily. If Tabris could learn to act properly enough to speak to crowds, appear in broadcasts, the angel might make a useful figurehead. A symbol, a rallying point for all those who wanted something more than the lonely death they were consigned to at birth.
This power, this purity, and humanity could possess it. Humanity could surpass it. SEELE had a benevolent angel watching over them: they'd created a benevolent angel. Their methods had worked and would work, provided they were able to construct the necessary Evas.
Yes: he'd have to see what his own tailor could do with the boy.
But as for what he could do with him?
The door finally opened, the boy ushered in by one of his men and Lorenz Keel smiled, pushing himself back from his desk. "Come here, Tabris. Did you enjoy your trip?" If the angel wanted to be picked up, better to do it himself first before it could occur to the angel to try to make him, but Lorenz rather doubted, in retrospect, that it had occurred to the angel that he would need to make anyone show 'human' kindness.
Tabris nodded, completely relaxed by the question and the smile despite how serious the man who escorted him here had been about this. Too innocent for his own good. Too trusting to be human, as he came around the desk and reached for Keel's hand, lifting himself up as Keel pulled since he was eager and didn't want the old Lilim to strain himself. He settled in Keel's lap easily and happily. "I saw so many things, and… Lorenz, do I have to go back to the lab?"
"No, my boy. We'll need to run tests, of course, to make sure that you're healthy," Keel said, patting pale grey hair. "Tell me, would you like to help us with a few things? We don't need your help quite yet, but training would keep you far too busy to spend much time in the lab."
Help? That brilliant smile said that he would clearly love to, and he snuggled up to Keel's chest. "Thank you, sir."
"There's no need for that, my boy. You're very dear to all of us." Yes: so very easy to take advantage of his trust and willingness to become close to others. Lorenz would need to take advantage of it now, first, before someone else managed to see what was right in front of their noses. Tried to lure SEELE's trump card to abandon them. "You can call me Lorenz, you know." The little angel smiled up at him, red eyes delighted as they were almost always.
As long as he wasn't too lonely, Tabris shouldn't be tempted to use its ability to encroach into others to read Keel, and thus the angel wouldn't know that his development and thoughts regarding other Lilim were being… guided. Or any of a number of other inconvenient truths. Like the one about raising this baby angel for the slaughter.
Trying to get Tabris to see everyone who argued for the other side as unreasonable and badly in need of a hug aside, the angel automatically invoked fear (after all, did not angels have to warn humans to, "Fear not," when they appeared to them) and this angel, between its form and its innate purity, also invoked love. The combination of the two was respect. While SEELE had always been a small, secret group, right now they could use more followers…
A gullible angel shining with inner kindness who wanted to reach out to Lilim to cheer them up and help them was a blessing indeed. Keel would still have preferred not needing to use Tabris thus, but hadn't he already proved that he would do whatever was necessary to attain instrumentality?