A New Cause

by Traitor of All Traitors

Where the madness ended, a new darkness will begin, one that leads to light…if those that are tasked with leading the way can endure the wrath of those that stand against them…as well as each other. The Angels descend, the dead talk, myths and legends come to life, and judgment comes to more than just Japan. All of the world isn't safe…but is it in any greater danger than before?

11. Evolution

Creation began on 07-07-14

Creation ended on 08-09-14

Neon Genesis Evangelion

A New Cause: Evolution

Mana wasn't sure how to act in front of people that saw the word 'sing' written in blood by the Horseman of Death. While she remained confident that nobody ever saw him within the base, anyone that wanted to question her about any whereabouts of the undead boy would've probably refused to cease asking her about him. What nearly frightened her about the encounter with Death in the hall as she was going to the bathroom was that he seemed devoid of any semblance of a drive, and yet he wanted to hear her sing. He was like a mindless drone…trying to regain what was missing from his consciousness so that he could return to being what he was in his state of purgatory.

Why would he want to hear to hear me sing? She wondered, standing in front of her quarters' bathroom mirror as she brushed her hair. Unless he wasn't here for his brother. He must not even know he's here.

Setting her brush down, she left the bathroom to turn in for the night. She had just shared her singing talent with the majority of NERV, and it tired her a little.

Little did she know that at the second she shut her eyes, the Horseman of Death, who was still within the base, had lost consciousness again.

-x-

Within the water of the lake, Mother Gaia willed her consciousness to drift from her body and enter the celestial dominion of the deities.

The two remaining messengers haven't decided which cities to add to the cause, Mother Gaia, she heard a male voice say to her, informing her that the season of atonement and retribution was still in play for the time being.

I'm not here about the cause, she responded, the sound of woe in her voice. I am here because something is wrong with the Restorative Horseman of Death. He was injured by bullets that used the blood of Lilith, and he was separated from his elder twin. His behavior has become erratic and he might be a danger to both himself and any that either try to help him or stop him. I need some guidance or advice on how to handle him with the Restorative before something worse than what has happened happens to him.

The horseman has recovered from his physical injuries caused by the blood of Lilith, a female voice told her, but his spiritual injuries have worsened. By separating him from his twin, his degraded compass of morality has gone off its maimed setting from northwest or northeast to their southern opposites, creating the instability that he is trying to undo.

He still goes after those that have done wrong and must be punished with death, Mother Gaia realized, but he can't see anybody that wants to be his friend or ally because his eyes have become clouded by the impurity of mankind's negative energies. His brother served as an unknowing guide of light to his damaged soul, guiding him down the path of hope, his anchor in the pool of light surrounded by an ocean of darkness. So, to undo this damage that has been inflicted upon his soul, the twins…need to be reunited with one another.

Yes, the voices of the deities told her.

But fear not, for Death may seek out an angel that isn't one of ours in the mortal coil. A mortal that sought him out once before…and unknowingly calls out to his heart in the darkness. The male deity told Gaia.

-x-

Sometimes, Fuyutsuki wasn't sure why SEELE insisted that Unit-01 remain in NERV's custody if its resident soul had come back from being within the core after more than a decade of absence, but the fact that the purple behemoth was copied from Lilith brought him no comfort. It had to be because every time he looked at it, he was reminded of the little boy that suffered before he died months ago. That little boy that knew nothing about what was going on, that used to smile before the moment came where it seemed that he would never see his mother again, only to see her on the day of his damnation…and leave her for dead because his love for her turned to hatred.

They haven't even procured a replacement core for Unit-00, he thought, since NERV had two Evangelions that were all but useless…and two that had seen service against one of the Angels.

As he turned to leave the cages, beneath the walkway, unknown to everyone within the Geo-Front, the Horseman of Death, mirroring a state similar to being asleep, sunk to the where Unit-01's torso area was, and made contact with the armored behemoth.

-x-

"…Really? Wasn't she tasked with a different project? Well, if that's what has been decided upon… Yes, sir. Understood, sir." The commander sighed, hanging up the phone on his desk.

"The Committee again?" Fuyutsuki questioned him.

"Yes," he answered. "Ever since they found that we didn't get the horseman, but the ghost infant he left, one of their top scientists requested an audience with the ghost."

"Why would one of their scientists want an audience with a ghost child?"

"Are you familiar with a woman named Yui Ikari, Sub-Commander Fuyutsuki?"

The elder paused and turned away from the younger man, looking out the windows at the Geo-Front.

"I haven't seen or heard from her in the following months since she came back from her absence within the Eva," he expressed. "The last I ever saw of her was the day the last of her family imploded on itself in the bowels of NERV."

"The Horseman of Death's mortal incarnation fulfilling his vendetta for revenge?"

"Yes."

"Any idea of why she would want an audience with the ghost?"

"Probably because of wanting to reconcile with at least one of her twins."

"She'll be here within twenty-four hours. I'll leave her…reunion with the infant in your hands."

"You don't like her?"

"Now, what gives you that impression?"

"Not many people understand scientists."

"Some believe it's impossible to connect with anyone who's a scientist, that they make those around them seem inferior to themselves."

"I taught metaphysics back in my college years."

"My specialty major was astronomy. As a child, I loved the stars, loved to believe that life existed beyond this planet…and that people could, eventually, live beyond the Earth and wander the stars."

"Like, what, terraforming other planets?"

"Exactly."

-x-

The hours of sleep in the NERV base were anything but pleasant for the personnel. Due to the blood message found earlier, many of the staff actually feared going to sleep because the horseman could probably sneak into their living quarters, do away with them and then be on his way without any to oppose him.

Of course, Asuka was no such person to fear Death, so she slept peacefully in the night. With the minor hatred of Ms. Asagi still lingering in her mind.

Another such person that was able to sleep well into the night was Misato, who kept her penguin close by as she slept in her quarters.

The fact that a dead guy hadn't been seen anywhere by the security personnel didn't hinder Ryoji Kaji in the slightest degree, who spent his time after the rest of the base was asleep in Terminal Dogma's chamber where Lilith was housed. Ever the one determined to find the truth to everything that has happened in the past before and after Second Impact, he used his personal computer to hack into the MAGI for whatever secrets he could find in one of the only chambers of NERV that guaranteed privacy for the time being.

This is sick, he thought, discovering some obsolete information that the former commander possessed regarding the deceased Third Child.

The information discovered pertained having the boy become the pilot of Evangelion Unit-01 and face the Angels until the day of the so-called and feared-for Third Impact, which was synonymous with the top-secret Human Instrumentality Project that SEELE had such hopes for. Unfortunately, because the boy was deceased and his mother had returned from being absent due to the years spent inside Unit-01's core, the information's attempted goals were ended indefinitely. Along with none of the Angels being killed, which made the spy curious as to how the Instrumentality Project could be carried out by the erstwhile masters behind NERV's financial backing.

This, along with the truth behind the Marduk Institute, should be enough to put an end to NERV and SEELE in due time, he thought, and typed down codes to ensure that this information would be preserved for later usage.

-x-

"…Will you need anything from your horsemen, Mother Gaia?" Conquest asked the Planet Maiden, as she prepared to leave the island for her destination in handling the current situation that was Death's absence and NERV's interference that damaged the horseman.

"Just a distraction," she told the Poison Master, "and a hand from someone that is cruel."

"I think I can find someone that fits the latter requirement," he expressed, an idea forming in his mind.

-x-

The sky was bathed in shades of red, with a mountainside looking like a massacre…and two Evangelions engaged in a battle that wasn't a battle.

"What is this?" Mana wondered, finding herself floating above the ground, observing the scene.

From a distance, she saw Unit-02 laying on the ground with its back assembly removed to reveal that the Entry Plug had been removed…and just nearby was a damaged Evangelion that reminded the girl of a cyclops, but this one had one of its arms missing. The only thing about this would-be dream that made any sense to her was the black Eva that was Unit-03 being fought by a purple Eva that had a horn on its head. And as the battle continued, she saw the purple one being strangled by the black one, which revealed an Entry Plug in its back that was nowhere near in between forced out of the cyborg or inside it to govern any of its actions, covered by strands of unusual material that resembled wet bandages or silky webs.

What's going on here? Mana wondered once more, confused by what was taking place in front of her. I know that NERV said they had two Evas that weren't in service, but what is the purple one doing here?

Stop, she heard the voice of Death close by, but she couldn't see him anywhere. Stop it! You're going to kill him!

Then, she saw the purple Eva turn the tides of the struggle and began to strangle Unit-03…until it broke its neck assembly…along with ripping it to pieces.

"Oh, God," She covered her mouth as her eyes widened to the horror taking place in front of her.

Stop! Stop! You're going to kill him! Death's voice continued to express disgust, fury and the desire for this fight to stop.

Whatever it was that was going on, it was now clear to Mana that the horseman was demanding that the purple Eva cease its violence against the black one, which was now reduced to a stump with no limbs or a head. The worst was yet to come now, as the purple beast now had the Entry Plug of Unit-03 in its hand, which trembled with relentlessness.

"No…" Mana shuddered at the thought of what was going to happen to the plug.

No! He's innocent! Death's voice was raised higher, and Mana realized something she hadn't noticed before: The purple Evangelion was Unit-01, one of the Evas that was not in service by NERV. Don't!

But Unit-01, as if possessed by a streak of violence that was matched only by Asuka Langley Soryu's violent nature, crushed the plug in its hand, spilling out LCL…and a reddish substance that had to be blood…along with a mangled limb that managed to find its way out of the damaged plug. There had been someone inside the plug, probably a boy (as Death insisted that there was an innocent life inside the structure), and they had been snuffed out, just like a roach that had been stepped on by someone's shoe, without any regard towards their life.

NO! She heard the horseman scream before her world went dark.

GASP! She awoke to the world around her, drenched in sweat.

-x-

NO! Death screamed from the sight of watching an innocent life within the plug get crushed to death by the purple behemoth, just as he came to beneath the water-like substance that immersed most of the monstrosity, discovering that he had somehow drifted right next to it. NO!

BURST! He rose out from under, ripped off his cloak, and landed on the walkway as the liquid fell on everything like a light and heavy shower of mist and rain.

Fortunately for the horseman, no one came after such a noise was made, indicating that wherever it was he ended up inside the base, it was very desolate for the time being.

He looked at his hands, which were trembling, and then at the Eva, with an expression of rage. Somehow, he had lost consciousness again, and had drifted from where he had hidden beneath the walkway and made contact with the monstrosity, triggering some sort of hallucination that wasn't as fabricated as most nightmares could've been. It reminded him of what he learned from Mother Gaia and those two women he'd seen every time he drifted from the present and into a realm where predetermined conversations took place, and realized that something had happened somewhere…beyond this realm of existence. But the majority of his memory was still in a haze, making it unclear of what had happened, only that it happened…and he had some undesired role in it.

Then, his rage subsided and his face became blank, but his eyes still possessed the rage that was now directed towards the Eva, just as something flashed in his eyes. It was an image of a world made dead, with no trace of life anywhere, similar to what had been his mental boundaries in the form of a decaying city that fell into a large pile of rubble as his final days came and went, leaving nothing left. Everything from mountains to forests and rivers and settlements were no more, leaving only bits and pieces of what didn't even pass for ruins behind…and in the midst of it all…a lone figure…left alone in this barren world of the damned. It was a boy, identical in every way to the horseman, with the exceptions being his hairstyle and having a pulse, devoid of any hope, deprived of any real future, and left to wander the dead lands for what had to be an eternity…alone.

Blink. The horseman's eyes were lubricated after a short while of not blinking, and then a small, smoldering hole formed beneath him.

Looking at the Eva for a while longer, Death then did the one thing that nobody alive had ever experienced him do as an undead.

"GRAAAAAAAAAAAUURGH!" He screamed at the Eva, but as he did, his voice reverberated across the entire base.

CRACK! Everything made of glass cracked and shattered, alerting the entire personnel along with hearing the scream.

Then…the horseman was gone, leaving no trace of his presence ever being there.

-x-

"What the Hell was that?!" Misato gasped, quickly getting dressed and stepping out of her quarters into the hall with several others that were as jumpy as she was.

"Was somebody screaming?"

"My glasses were shattered!"

"All the glass inside the base seems to have been shattered."

As the base was thrown into a frenzy of needing to know what was going on, the prisoner that was Mako, inside his shatterproof container, was just as curious as to what had happened, as the glass around his container, which had been recently replaced at some point, cracked and shattered, spilling out a large amount of the LCL that kept him in check with the electrical discharges.

Hmm… I've never heard anyone scream like that before, he thought, as the scream had been exactly what he needed to escape a terrible dream he had about two behemoths, one black, the other purple, engaged in a vicious fight where the purple one had mutilated the black one and crushed something that had someone trapped inside it, killing them.

-x-

"…Hmm?" Mother Gaia, having initiated the first phase of the plan to deal with the Horseman of Death situation, responded to a man that was taking her requests at a breakfast restaurant in one of the lesser Japanese settlements.

"Your order's beverage, ma'am?" He asked her again.

"Right. Um, coffee, please," she requested, and was then left alone at her table by the window. That was the screaming soul of one lost in the darkness of otherworldly planes. Something has changed… No…someone has changed.

-x-

Grabbing a handful of parched soil and making a fist as he got up onto his feet, Death found himself in the cemetery he had visited once before in his purgatory only to destroy the tombstone that displayed his past identity. He looked around and found it desolate, just as it had been before he had seen his would-be resting place, and stood in front of the site of the shattered tombstone that was once his, still there and unattended to.

"If he has the will to live, anywhere can be like Heaven," he recalled memories that were as outdated as they were useless, mostly because they were from the woman that had abandoned him before her husband had.

As resentful as he was of such memories (including ones that weren't even his own, but were experienced by different incarnations himself from different lifetimes), they did something to him that was rather helpful: His hazy consciousness was clearing up a little, bringing a measure of stability back into play. Among the actual memories that he collected were the ones where he assaulted Conquest and War, continued to hunt down criminals, and found his way back into NERV HQ without being seen and finding the little girl that came to the city one time just to have an audience with him.

I was there, he thought, referring to his time at NERV, and I didn't try to find him. My brother was likely there, and I didn't try to find him. He gave up his spot in paradise to be with me in Hell, and I left him to be condemned by an enemy I maimed for life. Something needs to change right now before things continue to escalate out of the proper hands of control. The mortals need to be reminded what's really at stake if they continue to let their darkness-driven few run the world.

Neigh! He heard the familiar neighing of his horse as she came to him. Neigh!

Rumi stopped in front of him and let him stroke the left side of her neck as she nuzzled his.

"Come on, girl," he told her, and climbed atop her saddle. Damn these memories gathered from a multitude of different lifetimes that I will never have for myself. I never asked for the disgraceful duty those fools forced upon me in some lives and tried to force upon me in other lives. My responsibility as a Horseman of the Restorative nullifies any obligations I disregarded as a mortal, but these memories of me that suffered every chance the people around him got to make his existence a living Hell… Too many lifetimes that will never be filled with hope or smiles, too many innocent souls that will never know life because of cruel souls that devastated their hopes and dreams. But soon…soon, all the nightmares that exist today…will be nothing more than a memory needing to be forgotten for generations to come.

-x-

Mana was surprised to see people with brooms, dustpans and trashcans being used to clean up the glass that came from the ceiling lights and windows that were seemingly damaged all across the base. It was quite the wake up call that a massive scream was heard, something that everyone was unable to shake off just yet. She was hoping to find something in the book about this later in the day.

My God, she thought, being careful not to trek any glass shards under her shoes. Could Death have truly done this? Just by screaming? But he's never screamed before, at least not that anyone's bothered to mention.

"Hey, Ms. Asagi," she was greeted by Sub-Commander Fuyutsuki, entering the cafeteria, which had been just as devastated by the shattering of glass as the halls were.

"I guess everyone heard the screaming, right?" She asked him, sitting down at one of the tables.

"Yeah, except there was no trace of any megaphones or any hacking through the intercoms or P.A. system. So, what awoke the base was a very loud and vocal scream."

"Based on the fact that most of the glass here was shattered, the voice that produced the scream had to be very…anger-driven…and very powerful, too."

"Do you have any idea on who it might have been, Ms. Asagi?"

"No, sir."

"You know, it's okay to be honest with me. I try not to discriminate."

"I mean, it could've been Death, but he'd probably have to be inside the base, and no one's seen him. Short of a major explosion on the surface of the Geo-Front, nothing and no one could be heard for miles with even a megaphone. And, if it was him, why not come for the ghost child? Why leave him?"

"If it was Death, could he have had a falling out with this ghost child that claims to be his twin?"

"I find that to be highly unlikely."

"Why so?"

"My conversation with the ghost has led me to suspect that, while said ghost is very stable, both mentally and spiritually, the horseman isn't, and may even be reliant upon the ghost as a sort of anchor to what little sense of sanity he may possess."

Before another word could be expressed by either individual, Misato and Kaji had entered the cafeteria and were accompanied by Ritsuko, who looked even more irritable than usual (the increased irritability showed in her natural brown roots showing under her dyed strands and dark circles under her eyes).

Mana shuddered and kept her face turned; lately, Dr. Akagi gave her the same degree of uneasiness as Asuka's hostility toward her did.

This wasn't lost upon Fuyutsuki, who found the woman's current state not at all to his liking, as he found her to be unsettling. The conversation between the ghost child and herself had been recorded, so the Sub-Commander was aware that her motives for wanting to eliminate the horseman was all for revenge over the loss of her ability to walk.

"Um…is there any estimate over how long it could take to replace the glass?" Mana asked Fuyutsuki, wanting to change the subject right now.

"It's most likely bound to be three days," he got the idea and responded to her question. "There was a lot…of shattered glass on the ground."

Mana decided to take one glimpse at Dr. Akagi…and soon wished she hadn't because the sight of her face was sure to frighten anyone that didn't fear live people as they probably feared dead ones.

-x-

As Yui placed on her slip-ons for the day, the television set in her living quarters had announced something very recently obtained.

"…We're now going to an interview between one of our reporters and Hiroko Serizawa, one of the former victims of Nagoya's underground adult industry gone awry that was brought to a vicious end by the alleged horseman known as Death, formerly known as the deceased son of Gendo and Yui Ikari," a Japanese anchorman announced on the news, which caught Yui's attention.

The screen switched from the anchorman to an interview between a short-haired woman and the purple-haired woman that was one of the first known people that was discovered to have been saved by a boy that specialized in murder.

"Missus Serizawa," the reporter went, interviewing the woman, "everyone understands that you've been through an awful ordeal with your daughter and sister, but what's bothering some of the people, and they really want to know…is how did you three react to finding out that you three were saved by deceased son of the Ikari couple?"

The woman, Hiroko, looked like she had recovered well from the sexual assaults she had to endure, but Yui was one to understand that there were some wounds that never truly heal most of the time.

"I will admit that it was a shock for me when he broke down the door and stood in front of everyone. I was still in a state of weariness from what had occurred earlier, so I didn't realize it was him until shortly afterward. Also, I hadn't seen Death's mortal self since the day he had been confirmed to be deceased, so I never put two and two together to suspect that he and the horseman were the same person." Hiroko explained to the woman. "Because he was dead, I put him out of my mind."

"But after he came back, and after he showed up in Nagoya, the thought of him and you in the same room never came to mind?"

"No. When I realized it was him, but going by a different name, I did fear what he was capable of if he decided to do away with everyone that night. He was shot at many times, but he didn't go down, like nothing could get in his way, anymore. Our kidnappers and abusers were scattered into pieces and he made one of them take his own life by jumping out a window in fear of who he was."

"But what about this curiosity that had rumors behind it? There was some talk in the hospital where your family was admitted that the three of you were recovering from early signs of terminated pregnancies. Is this also true?"

"Well, yes, but my daughter, Miki, was harmed the most by our kidnappers and abusers. What Death did, we had considered a gracious mercy."

"So the possibility of him being a baby killer is out of the question, even though he has murdered children before in the past?"

"It's completely out of the question. If Death wanted to kill us that night, he would've done so the moment he saw us. But he didn't…because he had a rule for himself right then: Spare the innocent. And some people have different beliefs on how life begins. Some think it begins at conception, and others believe that it starts when one takes their first breath."

"Any idea what brought him to you three that night?"

"He was just there that night. I'm grateful that he came, I'm grateful that he saved us."

Yui was left at a metaphysical crossroads, hearing Mrs. Serizawa speak positively about the lost soul that used to be the younger one of her boys. She herself could've done more for Shinji that might've prevented his transition from the gentle, sweet, little boy he had been…to the unfeeling psychopath that neglect and abuse turned him into. She could've stayed to watch him grow up, gave him more praise, encouraged Gendo to look after him better. To hear one of probably any number of people that might've felt some higher degree of relief because of his actions against the criminals and crooked police, something her Evangelion couldn't provide.

"…But it doesn't disturb you in the slightest degree that Death has become what the police have identified as a vigilante?" The woman asked the former victim. "An undead outcast of society that takes the law into his own hands and eliminates people by means of murder? Some feel that, if he wanted to, he could side with the criminal underworld rather than to hunt down the people behind it, which would enable him to amass a potential fortune with his abilities."

"If he wanted to, yes, he could. But what would he do, living a life like that? Technically, he doesn't really have a life, anymore. Legally, who he used to be before he died…is not who he is today. The dead don't have any rights beyond what's to happen with their remains after they pass away, the dead can't own property unless it's left to someone that's alive and/or associated in some way with them. Personally, Death doesn't strike me as the type of person that wants what most bad guys would want for the sake of wanting, and they want money, fame, friends in high places and so on. He doesn't want any of that."

"Well, what does he want? Do you know?"

"What nearly everyone that is good wants that would be more desirable, most likely: A home and family, something he really never had growing up. And he probably grew up wanting people that hated him to treat him the way he could've been treated if they gave him a chance."

"Like what, a child prodigy?"

"No. Like a person that needed someone to tell him that he mattered to them, that he wasn't some waste of space or a burden to them. I heard about the kind of man his father was, and he had every right to want him dead. And then, there's his mother. What kind of woman willingly does what she did to him? He might've cared about her once, but he clearly lost those feelings."

"And the fact that the truth behind his incarceration, neglect and abuse was never thoroughly investigated after he died? That his very death, which should've put all of Japan on ease, instead has people talking about his current state?"

Yui sighed over this truth. The majority of everything that revolved around the horseman's mortal incarnation had been swept under the rug by SEELE in order to protect what little of NERV they could. In the end, Shinji Ikari had obtained revenge, but never got justice, which could've brought some greater light to the shadow of shame that covered him as he faced his doom.

"…To go after him when he's just trying to make this insane world a little saner would be the wrong thing to do at a time like this," Hiroko expressed to the woman.

"Yet, he makes foreign and domestic law enforcement groups very uneasy, not to mention the criminals left on the loose are worried that he might come after them should they try to turn themselves in to the police, just because they committed crimes for which there can be no forgiveness," the woman informed her. "He doesn't even make exceptions to past crimes committed. He murdered several working women that didn't follow the safe haven laws to humanely abandon their infant children at safe places like police stations or firehouses. Some of them that followed those laws, he let live, but the ones he didn't were either decapitated or cut up into pieces."

"Well, he's more to the point of merciless toward the people that think they can get away with their crimes. Do you really let a woman go after discovering that she's murdered her children? I can understand that Death, past self and current self, is beyond any measure of bargaining or reasoning by any that have done wrong or believe that justice should be obtained through legal channels, but this isn't a person that can really be bargained or reasoned with by anyone beneath him. If he comes after you for a crime you committed, for lives you've taken or harmed, then he comes after you, regardless. If he doesn't, then that only means that you'll live only to wonder when and if he'll come after you."

And no measure of repentance will save you from the retribution he brings, Yui realized.

-x-

With a clearer adjective and less concern for her own safety, Mother Gaia stood outside the abandoned block filled with buildings in various stages of decrepitude. It was her first time in Tokyo-3, but keeping out of sight was in her best interests due to the criminals still running around. She followed the familiar scent of Death's mortal detachment from everything, leading to an empty apartment where the boy that had once been Shinji hid for a time before he moved around to go after his father. She could feel the echoes of the lost soul's essence around her in the dark room, and it reminded her of how desolate the child that became a Master of Death had been.

His decaying mind was worse than this pitiable place here, she thought.

A small shadow arose behind her from the darkness, taking shape and approaching her, but she was unaware of its presence.

"Gaia," a voice spoke up, and the Planet Maiden was spooked.

"Aaaahh!" She gasped, turning to face the guy that thought he could take advantage of her.

The guy turned out to be none other than her Horseman of Death, bare-chested and looking like he had regained some semblance of the stability that was barely there to begin with.

"Are you an ally to the Restorative…or a rogue enslaved by your conflicted conscious?" She asked him, wanting to be sure that this discarded child she had no trouble with cherishing like one of her own was stable enough to engage in conversation with a deity that wore flesh and gave him new flesh.

Death knelt before her and responded, "For a time, I was lost within a labyrinth of haze, filled with anger toward my mortal past. I viewed any around me as a threat to myself…and an object of my former thirst for revenge. Everything was unclear to me…until an angel had made itself heard."

Mother Gaia knelt down to meet him and held his right arm's uncovered bones and asked him, "Are you…able to do what you do for the innocent…and the Restorative…until we can achieve what we exist to achieve…and until we find and restore to you your twin?"

He bowed his head in a degree of shame as he uttered, "I am stable…for the time being. I don't know for how long, but as long as I can continue to perform as I have been, I will not stop until I obtain what I was promised by you in exchange for my service to you and the Restorative."

"Then rise up, my Horseman of Death, for I still want you involved in our affairs against those that stand between salvation and oblivion for as long as you're willing. Rise up with your invaluable skills. Let the guilty be offered to the masters of Hell…in exchange for the innocent being allowed to thrive."

He rose back up to his full height, and they stepped out of the apartment.

"I don't suppose you have a shirt or coat to wear, do you not?" She asked him.

"I got it covered," he responded. "I just need to do one thing before I handle that requirement."

"Do you care to fill me in?"

"You'll know tonight."

-x-

"…Their scores are less than what they were the last time," Maya told Ritsuko and Misato, showing the synchronization levels that Asuka and Mana had with their Evas.

"I guess being woken up by a strange scream loud enough to shatter glass all around the base was enough to rattle them," Misato suggested.

"And no dealt with horseman's enough to trouble us in excess," went Ritsuko.

Maya shuddered a little as she turned back to her monitor.

Suddenly, Mana's score that was being recorded and monitored went up by eight percent. The monitor showing the girl in her Plugsuit, her eyes closed, but she was humming.

"I guess singing is her coping mechanism," Misato expressed.

-x-

As the sun began to set and the night retook the abandoned city, a few of the criminals tasked with dealing with Death and delivering his remains to NERV in exchange for their freedom were out and about again, trying to lure out the horseman until he came back so they could capture him and put a bullet in his head. The streetlights came on, but the feeling of living in a futuristic environment was absent because it had been stripped clean of a society, a people to live and thrive.

"…And we still got the run of this metropolis until we catch the dead kid," a man imprisoned for arson and rape uttered to himself, spraying graffiti on the walls of a building, letting the city be known that he was there. "I should've put a bullet through his head, maybe that would've stopped him.

He was soon accompanied by two other convicts that had been condemned to a dozen life sentences behind bars for rape and murder, now hoping to get their sentences reduced or eliminated by apprehending the horseman.

"I say we decapitate this guy the next time we see him," the second guy suggested.

"No, no, we butcher him," the third guy disagreed. "You think we'll get paid for disemboweling him?"

Neigh! They stopped walking down the empty street and heard the whining of a horse nearby. Neigh!

"Game time," the first guy expressed, and took out his gun.

From further down the street, the pale horse that was a unicorn appeared from around the corner and its rider that sat upon it was Death. He appeared bare-chested and untroubled by the cold temperature in the air. The horse stopped about eight yards from where they stood, and Death climbed off the saddle, his skeletal arm tightened into a fist as he began the slow and short trek towards the three convicts.

"Tonight, the circulation of retribution comes back in force," he told them, just as a small ball of light formed in his bony limb.

"Oh, yeah?" One of them responded, not letting his fear of the dead boy get the better of him. "Well, eat glass and lead, dead boy!"

BANG! He fired a round at the horseman, but Death, like something out of a slow-motion scene from a movie, dodged the bullet filled with LCL, the primordial blood of Lilith, and avoided being harmed.

The ball of light in his hand then formed into the sickle he used as his weapon of choice.

-x-

"Hold on, what you mean, it's gone?" Ritsuko demanded a thorough explanation concerning the weapon that Death had been deprived of from one of her assistants.

"We were putting it away for the day when it started glowing," a man answered her, showing her the case that the weapon was held in, "and then it disappeared."

"That's when the ghost infant suggested that, despite its impracticality impossibility of being so, the Horseman of Death called for his weapon to return to its master," a female assistant added.

-x-

"Aaaurgh!" The second convict fell in defeat, not seeing the white light that you're supposed to see upon death; he didn't even see any beautiful angels.

With his weapon, Death had mutilated the first guy he got within killing range by carving him right in half, from head to genital region, right in front of his fellow inmates. Then, before any more bullets could be fired at (and evaded by) him, he severed the head of the second guy from his neck, sending it flying towards a sidewalk while the body sprayed blood into the air.

"Ugh!" The third and final criminal gasped.

Flipping his sickle, which had been used upside-down in the second's murder, back upright and putting it back in his right hand, Death approached the final guy, who backed against a wall, scared to the point that he was starting to piss himself.

"You think killing us all is going to change anything?" He asked Death. "You can't stop stop crime. You can't stop rapists, arsonists or serial killers. I raped a little girl's mother right in front of her before I blew her brains out. I burned a building to the ground with an old couple still inside it. What good is killing me going to do?!"

Placing his left hand against the wall beside the man's head, Death leaned in and uttered, "It'll bring closure and justice to the souls of the innocent dead. I am Heaven's executioner, the lost soul that walks between the land of the living and the realm of the damned, tasked with being the judge of the wrongfully condemned. Your hands, just as your soul…are stained by the lives of the innocent…and they demand vengeance. I…am…vengeance."

SLASH! With that said, Death decapitated him, letting his head fall to the ground with his body.

Then, he went and grabbed the left half of the criminal he slit in two, went over to the building across the street, and used the blood to leave a new message for those that remained in the city.

I'll find you, Mako, he thought, feeling the haziness of his instability beating at the skeletal walls around what little sense he had left without his twin beside him. I don't know how long I'll be able to act like I have without your presence, but I can't let our separation keep me from what's required of me in the Restorative. There are still two more of Heaven's messengers due to arrive, two locales to be chosen for the cause, criminals and dirty cops, politicians, diplomats and the like that need to be punished for their sins…and I still have a role to play in this existence that will reward us both.

With the new message complete, he left the streets on Rumi and disappeared, heading to a new location that would provide him with something he needed very much of, and he was just going to take it.

-x-

"…So, Death was able to reclaim what was his to begin with," went Mako to Ritsuko, vocal in divulging some of the truth behind the missing sickle, "and do with it whatever he saw fit. No matter what you do, no matter how hard you try, you can't stop or silence him. You…want to know everything there is to know about him? What makes him so special to be one of the Four Horsemen? What makes him tick? Well, you won't. You can't hope to figure him out. He is Death, and Death is always shrouded in the darkness of incomprehension. He's an enigma. Wrapped in bloody riddles and cloaked in a mysterious conundrum."

"You seem very proud of what your brother did," Ritsuko told him. "Yet he made no effort to find you…if he even tried to at all."

"My brother is younger than myself, consciously speaking in terms of our respective ages, despite being twins, but what he lacks in some aspects, he compensates in other aspects, which aided in his ability to be unpredictable…until he no longer needs to be so, anymore. Should he come after me…and I hope that he does, he'll be both predictable and unpredictable when dealing with any that stand against him."

"And you don't think that he'll learn to move on without you?"

"He moved on without the family that was supposed to take care of him but didn't. He was able to get by without me, yet felt that something, other than a caring number of people, was missing from his damaged life. What's a while away from me going to do to him?"

"You seem to have a misplaced judgment over your faith in your brother."

"My judgment…as well as my faith…are of my own will. I have faith in my brother's abilities to change people, not just harm them, just as I have enough faith in who gave my brother his position as one of the Four Horsemen. What faith do you have, Dr. Akagi? What do you believe in beyond the realms of science?"

Ritsuko, finding the rest of this conversation to be meaningless, turned her wheelchair around and rolled out of the chamber that had yet to be repaired and restocked with LCL. The only thing that she found to be quite better was the lack of dummy Reis that the Third Child dispatched the day he took her legs and killed Gendo Ikari.

"My faith in science is all I need," she uttered to the ghost infant.

"Science can only get you so far…until it can't, anymore," Mako responded.

"And faith is a falsehood," Ritsuko countered.

-x-

"…You look terrible, Mana," went Mordecai to his daughter over the Skype.

"I just finished going through some synchronization tests with the Eva," the tired child explained. "It lasted a couple of hours."

"I hope they're not working you over, otherwise, I'd come get you, regardless of their promise to you."

"I'm fine, Daddy, really. I just…sit in the Eva and think the majority of the time, practically doing nothing while the scientists monitor my brain on their computers."

"Still…it sounds like they're working you over a little bit."

"Honestly, the only person I feel that wants to "work me over" as you so kindly put it is Ms. Soryu."

"That redhead with the sour attitude?"

"Extremely. She must detest me, and I haven't done anything to warrant her dislike beyond declining her any measure of friendship."

"That could be the reason, Mana."

"And you're going to tell me that I should be friends with her?"

"No. You should be friends with whoever you see fit to be friends with. And Ms. Soryu doesn't sound like the type of person that knows what a friend really is."

"Oh, I singed in front of everyone during a talent show of sorts recently."

"Really? Did they applaud you?"

"Loudly."

"You always did have such a grand talent for singing."

"Thank you," she yawned, needing sleep like an addict that couldn't stop using the needle or a bear that needed to hibernate through the winter seasons. "I'm going to go to bed now."

"Okay. Contact me later. I love you."

"I love you, too."

After disconnecting the computer from its power source, Mana turned to her bed and turned off the light, dozing off seconds afterward.

-x-

Time stood still in the night, and this city the Horseman of Death had returned to, built with the most modern of technology ever conceived by mankind, was a standstill in front of him. And as he walked down the streets in only his pants from his initial outfit after reviving as one of the Restorative, he felt the haziness of his instability returning. But he had no time for such hindrances to delay him from accomplishing such necessities and putting the sinners in their places.

A swift breeze came and hit the back of his neck, and he stood in front of a clothing shop that had been closed for the day just a few hours ago. It was filled with articles of a different sort from the ones Death had chosen to wear, and now, due to a change within his decayed conscious, the horseman decided to embrace his status by changing his attire to reflect his name.

"Time to collect," he uttered, reaching for the doorknob with his left hand…and twisting it with enough force that the locking mechanism broke in half, allowing him easy access to the building.

The selections of various clothing was impressive in its own way, and the horseman's flesh-covered left hand enabled him to absorb tactile sensations for his nervous system to work with. He touched a white shirt that was meant for business, and then recalled, albeit reluctantly, several individuals he had either seen or killed that wore similar shirts…and removed his hand from it; he wasn't going to disgrace himself by wearing something that symbolized a part of a world of mortality that he couldn't relate to. That he wouldn't relate to in his lost life, purgatory, and, hopefully, his next lifetime.

Wandering into the back of the shop, he touched several different articles of clothing and stopped upon a coat-like piece of cloth without even a button or zipper on it. There were several other coat-like pieces without buttons or zippers, grayish-black and grayish-blue, along with pants that weren't like what he had on now or wore back when he was mortal.

-x-

Standing atop the lonely hill that overlooked Tokyo-3, Mother Gaia awaited the return of her Horseman of Death to return. The cold air in the breeze made several strands of her hair dance, but the breeze wasn't comforting due to the very city that was too soulless and practically devoid of a natural presence that certain towns and earlier cities possessed.

Maybe this artificial setting was meant for Death to look after, she wondered, assuming the other deities had Death protect the messengers of locations that were…as devoid of life as a graveyard.

Neigh! She heard a horse whine, and the sounds of hooves galloping.

She turned around and saw the pale horse of Death…and her rider.

"Oh," she gasped at the sight of the youngest member of the quartet under the heavens, impressed by his change in wardrobe. "Death, you look marvelous."

Dressed in as traditional Japanese clothing as he could acquire, Death wore a hakama comprised of black pants (which hid all but the bottoms of his boots), a white undershirt and a black coat tied at the waist by two cords. The horseman had dressed in the manner of one attending a funeral, but it was the gauntlet that tied him to the Restorative that kept him from being completely traditional, no matter how well it was hidden by the shirt and coat.

Mother Gaia took another look at Rumi and saw that wherever Death had been, he had packed an additional amount of what had to be what he was wearing right now.

"Thank you," he praised her, and bowed his head to her. "I took a long time just trying to wear pants that would fit me and not hinder my mobility."

"We both know that for your current state of being, time is as much an illusion as it is just a word, used by people to place order in their lives, balancing out the disorder they feel around them."

Death then looked around her and at the city where Sachiel stood, unharmed and unfettered by the presence of the criminals that were still wandering in its buildings.

"It would be too soon to go back to that city," he told her.

"Which is why precision and strategy must be put into effect, along with timing and diversity," she responded back.

-x-

"…How much was taken?"

"…Who would break into a store like this?"

"…The registers were untouched, but the door locks were broken with a lotta force."

"…Several articles of clothing were taken."

The police were investigating the theft of the clothing shop, but didn't expect to find anything to indicate any degree of any criminals trying to pick up some fast cash. At least nobody of the criminal element that they wouldn't find in the city that was left alive that was on the hit list of a dead boy that knew how to kill and have no remorse for those that deserve what they get coming to them.

"This might've been Death that broke in and took some clothes," a female cop suggested.

"Why Death?" A male cop questioned.

"Every time he's seen on tape or by someone fortunate enough to survive an encounter with, he's been dressed differently. Different shirts, coats, and every time he goes after people, he gets riddled with bullets, cut up or singed, meaning he has to replace his clothes every time."

"But this is a funeral clothing shop. Why break in and steal funeral clothes?"

"Well, he is Death itself."

"Hey, over here!" Another cop called out to them, looking at a wall. "That dead kid was here! He left another of his messages to be read!"

On a sparse wall, "Change is a good thing for the damned." was written in blood and by hand.

"Okay," one of the male police realized. "Untouched registers, some missing clothes, no body, a blood message. This is Death's work, alright."

-x-

"OH!" War gasped, brandishing his smoldering sword in front of Death, who was looking like he belonged in an earlier time period like he had long ago. "Enemy or ally?!"

"Both," went Death, unafraid of the burning blade in front of his face, "due to my…instability. But for now, I am in control. If I wanted to, I would rip your arms off and watch you regenerate."

War removed his sword from the fourth member's face and re-sheathed it.

Conquest and Famine kept their distance, not because they feared Death, but because what he told them was true, that he could turn on them again like before, and the fact that he never spoke a word in their previous encounter was a sign that, sooner or later, until his twin was restored to him, they could be risking themselves to a lost soul with flesh once more that would return to that way of behavior again.

Soon enough, Mother Gaia appeared behind Death and directed him to his cave…where something was there for him.

"Is it a wise thing to do, Mother Gaia," went Conquest to her, questioning her judgment over everyone else's, "letting him roam free, despite his current instability?"

"No," she answered him, watching as Death continued further down the tunnel until the darkness made him disappear from perception, "but so long as he wishes to continue being one of you…and as long as he can manage his instability until we get his brother back, I shall entrust him with his right to continue doing what he's done since I brought him back."

"If you replaced the black clothes with white ones, he could almost pass for me," he told her.

"I believe Death's new attire is to reflect his position as the fourth horseman. Since other forms of mortal culture depict him as a skeletal being draped in a dark robe and wielding a scythe, he doesn't strike me as the type to go down that path. A young man dressed for a Japanese funeral, on the other hand, demonstrates creativity and versatility, adaptation. The Horseman of Death has evolved, even if it's only by a small amount, and that's something that human beings, as a whole, cannot quite yet…and mustn't do for several more generations."

Entering his cave, Death, without the haziness he had when he first came to after being injured by those bullets that hindered him, noticed a black trunk by the casual clothes he had discarded after they were ripped and made unwearable from his encounters with the people he sent to Hell. He stood in front of it and examined the surface, seeing that it was valued to the point that it was no different from an antique, a hand-me-down; so long as it still worked, it had its purpose. And then…he kicked it open with his right leg, forcing the top to flip up, revealing within it its precious items.

She knows what works for me, he thought, reaching into the trunk and grabbing the closest piece of steel he could.

-x-

"…Well, he's more to the point of merciless toward the people that think they can get away with their crimes," Mrs. Serizawa said on a recording of her interview made earlier in Hei-Bai's apartment, as said man was trying to add more flavor to his bowl of noodles for the afternoon.

"Heh-heh, her family's still the talk of the city because they were the first people whom Death saved, and are thus the only, possible, reason Death might've decided to go around looking for criminals to send to Hell. It's not so much an obsession as it is a civil duty in a way. Nobody asked him to do this. He made the decision on his own. He should get a medal for being selfless." He uttered to himself, throwing diced ham into his noodles.

RING-RING-RING! His cell phone started ringing, and he sighed as he picked it up.

"Hello, this is Hei-Bai," he greeted, trying to be positive. "Yes, he was my father. Really? Well, for how long? I've been here for over two months now. Another week or two? Okay. Thank you."

He then hung up, feeling some measure of relief after receiving the call.

As soon as that day comes and go, I gotta get outta here, he thought, wanting desperately to leave Japan as soon as possible.

-x-

"…You don't seem excited to know about the date of the will reading, Ikari," a woman's voice said to Yui over her encrypted cell phone.

"That's because I don't expect it to go well," she responded, sitting inside the car that was part of her security detail to NERV HQ to see the ghost baby that was, possibly, her eldest son, Mako. "Hei-Bai will be there, and we don't get along. He hates me, and I don't blame him."

"Well, he's not a success. He hasn't done anything to advance science or medicine. He's not going to be remembered for anything."

"Except perhaps my faults, which continue to make themselves heard."

"Ma'am," went the driver, "we shall be approaching NERV HQ within thirty minutes."

"Thank you," she praised him. "Look, I gotta go now. Keep me informed of their reanimation."

She hung up and looked out the back window at the underground tunnel that lead from Tokyo-2 to Tokyo-3, which would, in turn, take her to the Geo-Front.

-x-

Mana looked through the morning paper, but didn't find anything new about Death beyond what had already been reported, so she went back to her lunch instead.

"Hello, Ms. Asagi," she looked up and saw Sub-Commander Fuyutsuki again.

"Hello, sir," she greeted him.

"I doubt there's any news on him," he told her, referring to the Horseman of Death.

"It's not always about one person, living or deceased. It can always be about the weather or a sports team, some movie stars or a building or buildings getting built, remodeled or demolished. Good news, bad news, crazy news, it's all something to talk about."

"Yes, it is."

Mana then turned around for a second to see if Asuka, who was at least three tables away from her, was looking in her general direction…and sighed at the redhead that never took her eyes off her.

Fuyutsuki saw this and sat down with her.

"It seems like Ms. Soryu is among the most angry people I've encountered since I got here," she told the elder. "And I only know of two of them."

"Her and Dr. Akagi?"

"Bingo. At least, with Dr. Akagi, the anger is caused by a desire for revenge against someone that's dead and won't care at all about her feelings in the matter, but with Ms. Soryu, the anger's completely different…and may not get her anywhere she wants to go…except into trouble."

"And what is the likely reason for her anger?"

"I want to say why, but even that's cruel."

"It's not like you can be looked down any further by any one person. What is the reason?"

"It's her ego."

"Go on."

"My grandfather once told me that people that feel like they're the only ones that matter in the world will do all that they feel is necessary to be seen and heard, even things that are absolutely unnecessary. I looked up some information about being prideful and how it can be a sin, a very grievous sin, to be prideful, and once you go down that road, it's hard to get off it. And Ms. Soryu's is the size of her Eva…and she may seek to increase it to the point that she'll endanger herself as well as potentially endanger the lives of those around her."

Fuyutsuki sighed and couldn't blame the Asagi girl for this assumption of the Soryu girl. There wasn't a single day where he felt that the pilot of Unit-02 should be suspended from active duty or at least sent back to Germany. Unfortunately, the Committee pulled the strings of most of the preselected Eva pilots, so the redhead, despite her…ridiculously, over-inflated and deranged ego, had to stay until the situation regarding the Angels had been resolved, which would probably not be on account of the Four Horsemen of the Restorative.

"What of you, Ms. Asagi?" He asked her. "Don't you have anything to be proud of?"

Mana looked up at him and answered, "Just what I'm grateful for, each and every day. My family, my friends from around the States, my health, both physical and mental, and just wanting to have a future where I can reflect back on my past and tell anyone that'll be in my life, "I took part in that. I made a difference in someone's life, I saved a life that was in danger, and people praised me for doing what I could to help them". I have a very small ego."

"I can see that clearly."

Mana then calmly slid the newspaper over to him, stating that she was done with it and that he could look at it if he wanted to.

"Thank you," he told her.

"Anything new today that isn't in the paper?" She asked him.

"Only that Mrs. Ikari will be by shortly," he explained.

Mana, who was about to put another dumpling in her mouth, paused at the name "Ikari" and responded, "I'm sorry, but…did you just say 'Ikari'?"

"Yes. She's the former head of the program that supports the Evangelions," he explained.

But Mana wasn't entirely convinced. When she last heard of Death's former mother, she had been locked away in the same institute that he had suffered in…and the very same place he went back to in order to punish the people behind it for his mistreatment along with the mistreatment of others that were locked away there, seeking rehabilitation. She guessed it was possible that before or even after Death left the remains of the security guards and business suits, the woman had been relocated to a different facility like so many others that were better suited for the ill-minded and insane…even when the woman's own sanity was questionable.

"Miss Asagi?" Fuyutsuki asked her.

"I'm sorry, but I gotta go now," she apologized and gathered her things, not wanting to discuss the matter any further. "I just remembered that there might be something else in The Book of the Restorative that might help."

As she left out of the cafeteria, Asuka watched her and her frown became colder.

This wasn't lost to the Sub-Commander or Misato, who was also in the cafeteria.

-x-

"…So, this guy is cruel," went Conquest to Mother Gaia, showing the goddess a picture of a German scientist that had a taste for gambling and had a three-year-long history for domestic abuse. "He's also affiliated with that Heaven-challenging agency, NERV's branch over in Germany. One of their most valued minds, with access to the facility's security camera codes, rare resources, fun for a whole family of sick cretins."

"Wow," the goddess expressed. "Good job, Conquest. Could you keep an eye on him with those that watch from the safety of a good distance?"

"I can."

"Thank you. Death wants to try and reclaim his brother on his brother on his own terms and asked for a week to do so before my own plan was implemented. I told him he could, so long as War and Famine kept a close watch over him if he became endangered with his weakness to Lilith's blood."

"How soon will he take to go back to Tokyo-3 to begin?" Conquest asked her.

"He left just an hour ago," she answered him. "I believe he's learned to tap into his horse's hidden potential as a beast of burden."

"How so?"

"Since when does a unicorn have scales on its rear legs?"

-x-

But Mother Gaia had told Death a lot more than what he needed to know in order to help him achieve the goal of regaining his brother from the enemy. Riding Rumi across the open country toward a cliff, the Horseman of Death showed no fear, no hesitation on what he was about to do.

"By tapping into the planet's energy, which grants you additional power, you can do things beyond what mortal men and women alone are capable of," she told him. "All four of you have access to this energy should you ever require it, but you, the Horseman of Death, will find that this energy is as persistent toward you as you are persistent toward criminals."

He didn't understand what she meant by that, but it didn't matter; nothing much did to him right now, except for what he took interest in concerning himself about. The large matters weren't taken likely, though the small concerns were taken seriously by him, such as his forced separation from his twin.

Neigh! Rumi whined as they neared the edge of a cliff.

The horseman leaned forward as the cliff was approached even closer, less than ten seconds from going over it and into the water below.

"Yah!" He howled…and Rumi leapt into the air…and soared down as an artificial breeze was made from their falling.

And then, as if by a miracle of divine intention, the unicorn-like beast of burden sprouted wings from her sides and took her rider up into the air, above the cliff.

"Yah!" Death howled again, as his horse lost her shape and became like a living wad of wet, silvery clay that was now being molded into something else that matched up with the new wings.

Where horse legs once resided, large claws that seemed unassociated to any normal animal were set into place. The tail of the unicorn-like beast was soon replaced by a long, slender tail of a reptilian-based animal, as it was scaly and almost thicker than the tails of other creatures. Where the head used to be, a large, cat-like one replaced it, lacking fur, but now sporting a set of whiskers on either side of its nose as the rest of the creature's body elongated and slenderized, causing the saddle to reshape and accommodate the rider and fit upon the new creature. When the transformation was completed, Death sat atop the creature he had seen before in one of his periods of unconsciousness. It was the dragon that appeared to him, now revealed to his horse in another form.

Growl! Rumi grunted as she flapped her wings harder and soared higher into air, taking Death over the water and at a great speed.

"Should you ever require her to get you to places that are beyond your physical reach, your horse will provide you with the means to get to places you never thought possible," Mother Gaia had also told him, and he tightened his grip on the reins.

Death can now go anywhere he desires and not be grounded, he thought, just as Rumi spun over once, as if she were trying to get a feel for the power that was the gift of flight. Death has wings now. This…is incredible.

As Rumi flew even higher into the air, Death noticed that the sky that was blue as the ocean itself was in the daylight hours had become like the night itself…and looked down that the world below him, seeing that his dragon had taken him up so high that they had almost broken through the planet's atmosphere and entered the ocean of stars that was space.

"Rumi," he uttered to her, unhindered by the lack of oxygen, "you're amazing. Now, let's get to where we need to go."

Rumi roared in her obedience and took a dive back to the world below.

-x-

"…Welcome back, Yui," Fuyutsuki greeted the woman that was to be taken to see the ghost infant that was associated with the Horseman of Death.

"Hello, sensei," Yui responded to the elder, bowing her head, ignoring that there was still glass on the ground and the repairs needed to replace them hadn't been down yet.

As the Sub-Commander escorted the woman down to the depths of Terminal Dogma where Mako was kept, some of the personnel that was present gave her short glances and murmured small words that were nothing short of either disdain or woe.

"Have things changed at all since that day?" Yui asked him once they were inside an elevator.

"Not much has changed," he answered her, "except much of the Committee's scenario since it's been declared by at least some people that the Angels and the cities they invade are off-limits to everyone."

"And…the horseman?"

Fuyutsuki looked at Yui like she was beating around the bush, which would've been a half-truth if it wasn't so obvious of which horseman she was referring to, and responded, "He has, more or less, damaged NERV's reputation, even before he ceased to be who he used to be. We've not encountered him since the last time we attempted to face the Angel in Tokyo-3, which was just to lure him into a trap that, while failing to capture him, succeeded in capturing the infant that was with him."

The elevator stopped and they exited out onto the grounds of Terminal Dogma, passing where Lilith remained crucified and into the chamber where the copies of Rei Ayanami once resided.

"What about you?" He asked her.

"A lot has changed," she explained. "People talk about the things he's done, the people he's killed and saved, how he has made them feel safer by going after the people the law won't touch. There was an interview with one of the lives he saved in Nagoya…and she supports his actions against criminals because of what was done to her sister and daughter."

"Yeah, I've seen that interview, as well. Hiroko Serizawa, one of three lives he saved from some crooked police and men in the film industries and such. Do you think it was wrong of him to do so?"

"I don't know, anymore. He's not Shinji, he just looks and sounds like him."

Entering the chamber that housed Mako, Yui became silent at the sight of the ghost infant in the cylindrical tank full of electrically-charged LCL.

Mako, once he had rotated enough to see his two visitors, looked at Yui and every thought that spun around in his mind became nonexistent because of her presence.

"And I would be told," he soon uttered, surprising the woman that he was capable of speech, "that the prodigal mother would return."

-x-

"…What the Hell happened to these guys?" One of the remaining ex-cons employed by NERV to attract Death questioned, as he and four other men that were locked away from their crimes found the remains of three other ex-cons that were decapitated and cut in half.

"Death came and paid them a visit," a second ex-con uttered, looking at the message written in blood on the wall.

"Death will not be silenced. The end is upon all the guilty. Take what little joy you can in the dwindling time you have left. Loss of life is near." The message read out to the readers.

"We better warn who's left," they all agreed on that.

-x-

In her room, Mana paced around the floor, trying to recall when her family had decided they wanted nothing to do with the Ikari family…or just the adults that went by the name of Gendo and Yui Ikari that received bad gossip, among other forms of negativity. There was one time when she remembered her father saying that her mother was almost considered the Ikari woman's equal…but because of their different views and opinions, he had found her mother more welcoming to people than the woman that faked her death. In addition, the little girl couldn't help but feel discouraged from having any form of interaction with the former mother of the Horseman of Death, like there was something about her that was unworthy of a relationship.

And all we really know about her, other than she married a bad guy and faked her death, she thought, is that she worked for NERV's predecessor organization.

She stopped pacing and sat on her bed, looking down at the Restorative book that she decided to look at again for more information on the horsemen. But instead of finding something new about the quartet in the latest chapter, she found something entirely different that was unrelated-yet-associated to them. It was about a young woman that opposed everyone that got between her and her reason for living, which was to prove her superiority against anyone that she viewed as a threat to herself, and whenever threatened by anyone that made themselves known to her, she could, somehow, summon a giant that was her familiar, fueled by her violence. As strange as it seemed, this woman made Mana think of Asuka, whom Unit-02 could've acted as a familiar to, empowered by her ego.

"…And this woman, a priestess from a foreign land, dubbed a priestess by her complete rejection of any romantic affections for anyone, was identified by those that survived her wrath by her hair and familiar, as both were as scarlet as the blood she spilled over the fertile grounds. The Scarlet-Blood Priestess, an enemy to all and a friend to none." She read in the book, and couldn't help but compare this priestess to Asuka, wondering if the Soryu girl was a priestess in the ancient past…and was just as violent to those around as she was as invasive of their personal space today. It's enough to make a person go crazy, wondering who's who in what life that is lived.

She turned to the next page in the chapter…and saw a detailed description of the Scarlet-Blood Priestess and her familiar. The woman was dressed like a princess, but her skirt or skort was in sharp tatters, with the leggings covered in armor up to the shins. Her upper body was lithe and well endowed for a woman of her physique, with her arms looking strong enough to tear metal sheets in half, and her face, while almost seductive, expressed great disgust against the world, like her beauty was meant to be nothing more than a mask to deceive those around her. The scarlet hair on her head was depicted reaching down past the small of her back, and was adorned by a small tiara that was as red as the rest of her appearance, like she had an affection for the color. Behind her was her familiar, a massive behemoth that was adorned in red armor, sporting a pair of horns and possessing four eyes that could piece into your soul.

"My God," Mana gasped, seeing the comparison between the priestess and her familiar to Asuka and her Unit-02.

-x-

Yui walked around the prison-like container of her dead firstborn's soul, examining him like a scientist would a blood sample under a microscope. She found it impossible for a spirit to exist for this length of time outside of a physical body on the mortal plane, but here was Mako, proving her beliefs about the endurance of the spirit wrong. It was also unusual that, despite his appearance resembling the way he was when he was killed by accident, he seemed somewhat mature, like his time among the dead had left him educated. Maybe not to the same degree as her own education, but he seemed bright enough to understand certain things if spoken to about them.

"It's been a long time since I last saw you," she uttered to him.

"Over fourteen-and-a-half years," Mako responded. "Less than fifteen years, but an eternity, nonetheless. Of course, you would know a thing or two about eternity, the same as Death would."

"You mean your brother?"

"Well, I certainly don't mean the Horseman of Death that came before him."

"I can explain my absence, Mako."

"There's really no need for you to. My time in Heaven left me with a greater clarity than what could be expected of those that still have a pulse and are shackled with the limitations of the flesh, some of whom wish to be free of for unjust reasons."

"I don't believe you know everything. There's a reason to why everything has happened the way they have for years."

"If you're trying to convince me of accepting your beliefs, Mrs. Ikari, I suggest you stop right now. I don't know if you're trying to persuade me to tell you what I know…or appease my would-be restless spiritual energies that have become displaced. Pacifying me wouldn't get you anywhere…because I don't need pacification. I'm not a vengeance-driven soul like my brother was, prior to his transition into the new Horseman of Death."

"What?" Yui was now confused; if Mako wasn't in need of being reasoned with, then why else did he come back from the dead?

"It's not even about what happened to me," the ghost infant told her. "It has never been about me. I was a victim…and then a freed soul…and then a companion to another soul that had been hurt…and now I'm a prisoner of people that don't know their limitations when it comes to facing a force they cannot fully comprehend, that they weren't meant to understand."

"And mankind's inherent curiosity doesn't help in trying to understand?" Fuyutsuki questioned him, standing by the doorway.

"Curiosity isn't what most would consider a sin, but it does get one into trouble when they poke their nose into places that are best left alone," he answered the elder.

"What of…your anger?"

"I have very little anger…and much contempt…and disappointment…towards her (he pointed his hand at Yui) for what she's done."

"I don't understand," he told Mako.

"I forgive her and her husband for my death," he revealed. "I've been forgiven them for my death. It was an accident, unintentional, undesirable and unexpected. I just can't forgive them for what they did to my little brother. Did, not doing. Past tense, since the boy that Death used to be is no more."

"You mean…his separation from them?"

"Call it whatever you will. Separation, neglect, abandonment. It hurt him…more than anything physical ever could, but it took the rejecting words of opinion of her sister…to break him…and spark the firestorm from the small, smoldering pit that had become his maddening cause. You can only cause someone so much pain…until they break from all the emotional and psychological maiming that had been inflicted upon them."

"But I came back that day, hoping that my return would quell his rage," Yui spoke up to Mako.

"You did," he agreed with just her choice to return, "but by the time you did, Death was beyond any mortal's reach. The members of the Ikari family that he was aware of that caused him pain had been marked by him, and he wasn't going to let anything or anyone stop him from getting his closure and justice against them. Your former teacher should know, of course, as he was around that day Death decided to claim your husband's soul and condemn it to the depths of Hell."

Yui looked over at Fuyutsuki, who sadly turned his face away.

"But despite his contempt toward the Ikari family," Mako continued, "he was touched by the elder's sympathy toward him, even when he had nothing to do with his suffering. Even when he had some minute involvement with you and Gendo, my brother never saw the elder as anything negative, so he never even considered him a hindrance or wanted him dead. The elder was just another victim of the cold hands…and hearts of those that want to decide people's fate."

Fuyutsuki turned back toward the infant and couldn't believe what he had heard. Despite everything that befell Shinji Ikari, he never viewed him as a threat or sought his death. To him, he had been another victim. It was…almost heart-touching.

"I was… I was trying to bestow a bright future for everyone," Yui expressed, "where they wouldn't suffer and were content for the rest of their lives."

"Your intentions, while showing a degree of benevolence…were flawed, fundamentally. As light succumbs to darkness and vice versa, there was the potential for malevolence in that benevolence. What was the basic reason for your…Human Instrumentality Project? Human beings, being a legion of flawed, separate organisms that have reached the end of their evolutionary potential and must be forced to evolve in order to lead what's left of mankind into whatever future there is available? You might as well say that you were trying to force all of mankind to evolve backwards, back into a state of existence where there was no such thing as existence. What's worse than that is that, even if it succeeded, there would be no guarantee that it was to benefit everyone. A world in which nobody suffered so much as a cut on their finger or the loss of someone that affected them in some way big or small? A world where everyone was one and the same person? Perfection, mutuality, disorder-free? It can be like a dream come true…or a nightmare with no awakening. None of this…should ever happen. Not even to undo the mistakes that were made by mortal hands, time and again."

Yui turned away from the ghost child, but Mako wasn't done with her.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about, Mrs. Ikari," he told her. "You've seen him, as well. In your nightmares. A stranger molded by madness, wearing the face of familiarity, driven by intense heartache and callousness after being left in a world made lifeless."

Yui turned back to face him, and uttered, "I see Shinji…but he's not the same boy he used to be. He became consumed…and deprived of any hope, left with nothing, not even a moral conscious. Just…a deep-rooted hunger for everything to be no more."

"And we both know whose fault it was he became that way."

Yui sighed…and then walked away from him. He was right, and that in her nightmares, his brother had been alone and maimed beyond any attempt to reach out to him. In her nightmares…the boy that had been driven mad…was her fault.

Mako sighed as he rotated away from their faces. Among the things he learned in his afterlife was the dark side of any revelation: The truth was cruel…but justifiable. But the other downside to this truth he shared with his former mother…was that his twin didn't exhibit any realization to the entire harshness of his mortal life, which meant that Death had no awareness, whatsoever, of the fate that befell him in at least one other life.

Fuyutsuki followed Yui out of the chamber and attempted to converse with her.

-x-

High above the streets of Tokyo-3, invisible to the perceptions of both live people and advanced cameras, Death sat upon Rumi and looked down at the skyscrapers.

"Well, Rumi," he told the horse-turned-dragon, "see you on the ground and out of sight."

He then tilted to the right and slid off the saddle, letting himself fall towards the city below. The windchill of the daylight sweeping past his hair and jacket as he spread his arms out.

It is time to blind, he thought, now performing an aerial somersault as he neared the streets of the city.

Sachiel, as motionless as he had been since the last attack on his life, felt the energy being generated by the horseman's impending arrival back to the city, but gave no indication that he was going to observe whatever was going to happen.

Then, the sight of a glowing sphere came toward the ground…and, with the sole exception of the Angel of Water, the entire city was rattled by its impact. The buildings shook, several of the streetlights fell to the ground, and the windows and streets themselves were shattered. From within the point of the impact, shielded by the large dust cloud, the Horseman of Death rose out from the crater and ran off.

-x-

"What the Hell was that?!" Ritsuko demanded of the the technicians on the bridge in Central Dogma, feeling the minute vibrations that hit the Geo-Front.

"Unknown," went Hyuga. "Something hit the city. Sensors never detected it!"

"All remaining cameras within the city have been destroyed," added Maya.

For NERV HQ, their eyes and ears to Tokyo-3 had been severed, leaving them blind and deaf to all that transpired within the former fortress city.

When Yui and Fuyutsuki arrived on the bridge, the curiosity as to what had just happened only got more prominent to the personnel.

-x-

"…Aaaurgh! Aaaurgh!" Some of the remaining criminals heard the screams of their own down the ruined streets.

Nobody saw anything because of the dust cloud, masking even the streets.

BANG! BANG, BANG, BANG! The sound of gunfire was heard in addition to the cries of people as the sounds of piercing flesh came.

Swat! One guy that wandered around the destroyed city was suddenly struck in his forehead and sent falling to the ground.

"Aaaurgh! Gaaurgh! Urgh!" More screaming came, until there was only one man left, in his early-forties, sentenced to eight life sentences for rape and murder.

He was armed with an Uzi equipped with the special bullets filled with LCL to harm the horseman. He fired in every direction, but didn't suspect any shots hit anything except pavement, the buildings and/or cars that were left laying around.

"Where are you?!" He shouted, frightened.

"Right here," responded the voice of what had to be a young child, but his voice seemed cruel and full of malice toward him.

Turning around, he stood face-to-face with the horseman he was bribed with his potential freedom to capture, dressed differently…and armed with a smoking handgun.

"You're all alone now," Death told him, "but don't worry. Hell has the greatest of company."

"Aaaurgh!" He screamed, raising his Uzi and firing the bullets.

But Death anticipated that these guns were modified to deal with him, and reacted much faster than this sack of blood and bone, grabbed his right arm and held it at bay until he emptied it out.

"Aaaahh…aaaahh…" The man whimpered, unable to look away from the dead boy that looked at him with such lifeless eyes that showed a world deprived of life. "Please… I'm just a man doing a job in exchange for his freedom."

Death was then accompanied by a large, winged dragon that rose from behind him, looking down upon the man that was staring the harbinger of doom in the eyes.

"I'm on the job," he told the ex-con, "but my duty is greater than yours…and freedom is lost to you because you gave it up the moment you decided to commit your acts of degradation against the innocent lives you harmed. Good riddance."

BANG! Death fired a bullet in between his eyes, silencing him for good, and watched him fall backwards onto the ground.

"Unlike you mortals, I possess the capacity to adapt and evolve beyond your comprehension," he told the corpse, "and it's only because I was made aware of this ability."

-x-

"…Oh!" Mana gasped, standing in front of the infamous Yui Ikari, whom was walking down the hall she was heading toward. "Uh…hello, ma'am."

"Hello," Yui greeted her. "You must be…Mana Asagi, right?"

The little girl nodded in the positive.

"You…pilot Unit-03? The black one?"

"Yes. You must've…had an audience with the ghost infant, have you not?"

"More or less."

Mana clutched the medical journal in her arms and wished to every deity in existence that this unintentional conversation just ended. She would rather fear something else entirely than being in the presence of this woman that had abandoned Death, the Endgame. And there was just something about her that made the girl feel uneasy, like there was something…really wrong with being around her.

"I really should be on my way now," she told the woman, walking around her and away, down the hall.

"Your mother," Yui stopped her from leaving, wanting to know just one more thing. "Was she…Himeko Kannazuki "Kana" Asagi?"

Mana's eyes widened as she turned back to face her…and nodded that this was true.

Yui had a sad look on her face, able to see the resemblance between the girl and her late mother (with the sole exception of the blond hair).

"She…was a warm and caring person," she told Mana, and then walked away.

Mana sighed…and resumed her trek toward her destination within the base to the commander's office to inform him of the new discovery she found in the Book of the Restorative.

-x-

With the last of the deceased ex-cons piled up in the street, Death, with a bucket full of the victims' blood, took a match out from the confines of his shirt, lit it, and tossed it onto the large pile of bodies, setting them ablaze. And then, with that task done, the horseman took the bucket of blood and left with his horse (having returned from being a dragon), and looked for the best place in the city to leave a new message that would show to the people living beneath the city in that underground cavern that, despite their attempt to conquer him, to lay waste to him, both in body and will, they had only succeeded in doing what little they could to hurt the embodiment of lifelessness by severing from him the only person that gave his purgatory a little comfort that was like a godsend. This new message would be a new link in the growing chain that would bind him further, deeper to his role in the cause, and if only he could taste the feel of it would he, probably, enjoy his work as one of the few that was making a difference in what he did.

Finding what he accepted as the perfect spot, he dipped his left hand into the blood and smeared it across the side of the building.

"Your efforts are small, and your success is bare like the parched soil. I have transcended in my separation, grown through the damage done to my crippled soul. Death…has evolved." The message read when finished.

A/N: And I'm trying to be very literal when I say that Shinji/Death has evolved. The next chapter is likely to take longer to finish than this one did, but it helped to add what had been described in that teaser story I wrote called Final Struggle. Only Mako and Yui seem to have some awareness of what had occurred in at least one lifetime experienced by Shinji/Death, and know that some things are better left undone and not attempted. What's more, you get some more understanding of the ghost infant's reasons for being with his younger twin; it's not that he holds their former relations in contempt for what happened to himself prior to his demise, but for their misdeeds, their arrogance, against the surviving child that did nothing wrong to deserve the meaningless life he was left with that led to his own end. Anyway, please leave a review and let me know what you think. Peace.