Chapter 21

Shinji followed Kaworu until they arrived to a place he recognized. It was the place he met him for the first time. Kaworu guided him to some half burned chairs.

"Ok. Here nobody is going to listen to us."

Shinji looked around them.

"How do you know?" He asked while sitting down.

Kaworu showed a sad smile. "I've been living here since my arrival to this world. I know this place quite well."

"In these ruins?"

"No identity, no money… But it wasn't such a big deal; I found some interesting things that where in good condition. Like that piano, do you remember it?"

"Like I would forget the first time we met. By the way, talking about your identity…"

"Right! But I think I should start from the beginning."

Shinji forgot about the chair about to break under him and pay attention.

"At the very beginning there was an entity. You could call it…God. That God divided in two. Adam and Lilith. Oh! And the stick."

"Euh?"

"I don't know how you call it. Anyway, Adam had the seed of life and Lilith the seed of knowledge. At the beginning they were together but after some time the differences between them made them to stay in different places. In fact Lilith came to earth while Adam stayed in…Heaven. Unfortunately Lilith provoked the First Impact when she fell into the earth and the enormous creatures that lived there were destroyed. Well, that's another story. As they felt alone they created living things. Adam created the Angels, entities of eternal life; and Lilith created the Lilims, the humanity, entities of whole knowledge. Before, I was Tabris, the Angel of free will."

"So, that's your true name…"

"No. I'm not an Angel anymore. I transformed my self into a lilim the best I could, but I did something wrong. I forgot the… I don't know how you name it; it's what gives colour to the skin, eyes and hair."

"I understand."

"I'm still able to generate AT Fields, but I'm losing the common consciousness. That's what we use to communicate or transfer information fast. It's also a way of thinking altogether."

Shinji jumped from his seat. "Of course! That's how they know more about us each time!"

"That's how I knew there was an Angel in Nerv the day I found you in the lake. Sadly, I don't think I'll be able to sense them anymore."

Shinji had a confused face. "They told us it was a failure of the main computer system."

Kaworu chuckled. "Wait, wait! I've advanced too quickly on the story. Please, sit again."

Shinji agreed with him.

"Where was I? Oh yes! Lilims. Well, Lilith made some humans wiser and they could see a bit of the future. Prophets you'd call them. Those men knew that one day Adam will come to fuse with Lilith again and become a…God, or something alike. That union would involve Angels and lilims too. Some years ago some lilims got those prophecies and wanted to use it to control the process of union and become gods."

Shinji was speechless. "But if you already knew…"

"Ok, it's true. But we didn't think they could do anything about it. Unfortunately something went wrong and when Adam came they made something that enraged him, provoking The Second Impact and we lost his connection. We waited him 15 years but then, some of my… ex-family decided to punish humanity for keeping him here. The others didn't want to do anything and I tried to convince the angry ones to think it better, but no use."

Shinji took his hand and smiled. "Thank you!" But was still a bit confused. "I don't understand why nobody knows anything about Lilith and all the angels know Adam so well."

"Easy, we were there from the beginning. Lilims are born and die. After thousands of years the story is changed."

"So, H-how old are you?"

Kaworu blushed.

"60…Millions. Quite a bit, isn't it?"

"My god!"

"But as human I don't have even a month of age."

"I suppose that compensates a little… So, how many of them were furious about the Second Impact?"

"14."

"Uh-oh"

"Six had already gone to earth before I did myself."

Shinji started to count with his fingers.

"The mosquito-face, the pink with whips, the octahedron with the beam… and the fish one… and… who else?"

"Those were Sachiel, Shamshel, Ramiel and Gaghiel. But Shandalphon went very early and slept in the volcano before doing anything."

"Oh! The lava one… there's still one more."

"Yes, Bardiel must be around here."

"Why hasn't he attacked yet?"

"I don't know. He possesses living entities."

Shinji freaked out. "He could be anybody!"

He negated with the head. "Lilims, I mean humans, disgusts him. Maybe an animal…" Kaworu was thinking aloud. "So If I'm correct since my arrival have fallen 6 more, apart from the first four."

"The dual, the lava, the spider, the kamikaze and the shadow. They are only 5."

"I bet my neck the attack to the computer system was because of Iruel. There are still 4 to go. I'm sorry to tell you this but they'll be the most difficult of all. So…"

"So, What?"

"…So I'm going to tell Misato about all this. This way you'll be more ready against them."

Then Shinji jumped again from his chair (breaking it) and hold him by the shoulders.

"Are you crazy? You can't tell her anything about that! I'll not allow them to treat you as some kind of freak or test rat! Understood?!"

Kaworu was shocked. "You still want to protect me after knowing…?"

"Of course I do! I don't care if you are an Angel, an alien or whatever. You're the greatest thing ever happened to me."

The next thing he saw was Kaworu embracing him. It was the first time he saw him crying.

"I don't deserve you, Shinji. I love you so much."

Then to Kaworu's surprise Shinji opened his heart.

"I love you too."

And they did what they had wanted to do for so long, but hadn't decided to… until that moment. That was their first kiss.