XXI: Above the Bitter Sky
Inside EVA-01's Core
When Shinji arrived, he knew something was wrong. Gone was the serene skies, instead a certain darkness was all over everything. The skies were dark with clouds and the occasional bursts of light as lightning struck across the sky. He looked out over an endless ocean of LCL but it was tainted with crimson. The air was cold, the atmosphere foreboding.
"This is my fault," he said aloud.
"No my son," he heard his mother say as she approached from behind. "It is mine."
"Why?" he asked as he turned to her, seeing that her outfit looked ragged.
"I let what happened between you and Leliel take place," she explained. "I could have stopped it."
"Why did you allow it?" he asked, genuinely curious and not mad.
"You needed the power," she replied. "And she was able to teach you the one lesson I could not. No matter how much the mantra is spoken, no matter how much you learn of it, you must know it by your own experience."
"Power corrupts," Shinji answered, filling in the blank.
"And absolute power corrupts absolutely."
"Tough love," Shinji noted. "You have nothing to apologize for. I've come out the better for what happened. Most can't say the same."
"But I have suffered as well you see," she gestured around herself as she spoke. "The corruption within you was reflected here. Your corruption killed your friend."
"Touji… I could have stopped it… I should have."
"No you couldn't," she replied.
"Don't blame yourself mom," Shinji said as he stepped forward and took her arms in his hands. "You couldn't have predicted that outcome. There was no singular event that caused this tragedy, there were many. And like a fractal curve with a chaotic variable, the endpoint could not have been predicted."
"Studying chaos theory?" she asked. "I didn't know they taught that in high school."
"No, I got it from you… just now."
Yui chuckled lightly. It reminded him of his Rei.
"Please Shinji… stay with me for a while. I have seen the future… the end is coming. The moment we have been working towards will soon be here."
"Mom, were you really trying to get to Third Impact?"
"It was our intention to bring Mankind forward in its evolution… Eva was to be the key to that evolution, but no. I did not want to start an Impact. Now… it's inevitable."
"No!" Shinji cut. "Don't say that! We can still prevent it."
Yui smiled sadly. "No my son… you can't. I have used my powers to look into the future to every possible contingency… Third Impact is inevitable."
"I'll beat the odds," he said with resolution. "I won't let it happen."
Yui's smile left for a brief moment before it returned. "That's my little soldier." But she knew differently… she knew it was inevitable, just a sure as she knew Shinji would never accept that until it was upon him.
"Stay with me a while my son," she asked. "Help an old woman recover from her mistakes."
"I won't leave you until I must…" he promised and fell into his mother's embrace.
NERV
Misato was tired… Between trying to get her paperwork caught up and stressing out over the disappearance of her ward, she was strung out to the point of breaking. She also remembered what she was supposed to do for Van Helsing… even more stress would result from this.
As the elevator opened, she saw the last thing she wanted to see today.
Speaking of which…
"Ah Major Katsuragi," Kaji greeted her with his usual, way too happy tone. "I was wondering if I'd run into you today."
Misato briefly considered waiting for another elevator but decided this meeting was inevitable. She stepped in and the elevator continued on its route.
"Inspector Ryoji," she returned, mimicking his use of her title.
"How long has it been?" Kaji asked. "How long since we've had a chance to be alone like this?"
"Not long enough," she countered.
He faked being wounded. "Misato… really…"
"We're not doing this Kaji," she cautioned. "I need information from you anyway."
"Information? I'm not in the middle of any investigations right now…"
"It's not me who wants it… its Van Helsing."
He got quiet for a moment. "I don't know what you're talking…"
"Tell me something Kaji… have the birds flown south?"
Kaji froze… it was his and Van Helsing's personal sign / countersign to tell each other it was safe to talk. If she knew it then….
"They are long gone."
"That is good to hear," she replied. "Van Helsing has processed the information you gave him, but we need more."
"I'm not sure at this point what more I can give?"
"You mentioned SEELE was building something… nine somethings in fact. Are they close to completion? And do you know what they are yet?"
Kaji sighed as he stepped over to the elevator control panel and hit the stop button causing the elevator to freeze in its tracks.
"You're part of the Midnight Order now?"
"In a sense," she replied. "Van Helsing made me an honorary member. I haven't been fully brought into the fold, though I'd be more than willing to take that tonic he talked about."
"I see."
"Still reporting to Blacklight?"
Kaji looked surprised again. "Is there anything about me he hasn't told you?"
"I know you're in over your head," she turned to him now. "As much as I'd like to think I hate your living guts, there's still a small part of me that cares about you Kaji. You're playing a very dangerous game here… you know that."
"Yes, Misa-chan… I know all too well."
"Damn it Kaji," she half-shouted and punched him moderately hard in the chest. "I told you never to call me that! My father called me that, and he's the only one who I'll ever let speak that nick name."
"Sorry, Misato."
"Better," she said, calmer.
"I'm touched that you still care."
Misato sighed. "I need the information Kaji."
"Jeeze you're no fun anymore." He closed the gap between them rather quickly. Misato gasped as she found herself against the wall of the elevator. "Just once, for old times sake." It almost sounded like he was pleading.
"No," she said with finality, but he pushed forward anyway, as if driven on by animalistic lust alone. Misato squeaked in surprise and her body was trying to betray her. Finally, Misato got a hand loose and pushed him back. "I said no!" the last word punctuated by a slap across his unshaven face.
When his head snapped back his eyes were red and he growled like an animal. Misato's eyes widened at that realization, but Kaji quickly looked away and started breathing in such a way as to calm his bloodlust.
"What in the name of…"
"I'm… sorry… I'm so sorry. That shouldn't have happened."
Misato put a hand on his shoulder. "What the hell happened to you?"
"Well, you know how Asuka has an unhealthy obsession with me and she's my ward right?"
"Yeah? What does that have to…"
"Well… after I took her home from the Hospital Wing, I let her rest. Everything seemed okay but she's been having nightmares lately….
36 Hours Ago
Kaji woke up to the sound of muffled crying and realized he wasn't alone in his bed. He looked down to see Asuka lying on top of him wearing only her panties. To say this was a compromising situation was an underestimation in his mind as Kaji only slept in a pair of boxers. Her firm breasts were pushed against his chest, and he felt them move with every weepy sound she made. His body would betray him soon he knew.
"This can't happen," he whispered and he tried to move in such way that she wouldn't wake up but she clung harder to him. "Must be having the nightmare again."
Then he felt a tickle, like a hair in the wrong place on his stomach. He suddenly realized she was halfway changed from human to werewolf form.
"Oh shi-"
In her nightmare she jumped at her attacker. Kaji was not pleased to have pointed canine teeth sink into his shoulder tearing though muscle and flesh with equal fervor. With a grunt of both pain and surprise he threw her off while rolling out the other side of the bed.
He watched as she transformed on all four limbs into her full Lycan form. She was still asleep in a sense but now living out her nightmare in the real world. Kaji quickly retrieved the dart gun he kept in his nightstand for situations such as these and fired a dart into her neck. A canine yelp of pain later and she fell face first to the floor, quickly shrinking and returning to her human form.
Kaji rifled though his nightstand. "Where is it… where is it… where the fuck is it?"
None of his injectors where there… he finally remembered that after Asuka seemed to grow out of her clingy phase, he stopped stocking on the injectors. Each one was filled with concentrated extracts from the Belladonna plant, an extract that is known to neutralize the enzymes in Werewolf salvia that pass on Lycanthropy. But it had to be administered before the first full change of the victim otherwise the Lycanthropy would be permanent. He kept them incase she ever accidentally bit him in her sleep, always a possibility during her turbulent childhood.
And with the damage done to Tokyo-3, delivery vehicles would not come to NERV now, nor could he leave the city. He couldn't get any Belladonna extract for the foreseeable future.
"Fucking beautiful…"
The Elevator, Present
Misato leaned against the side of the elevator as she processed this new information.
"You're not just a mage then… you're a Lycan too?"
"No," he replied. "I'm infected, but I'm not a Lycan yet. I've been able to prevent the change using a special enzyme to counter it backed up with some magic, but it's not a hundred percent effective."
"I can't believe Asuka is a werewolf… but it makes sense now why she and Rei never get along."
Kaji nodded. "Unfortunately, being a carrier of Lycanthropy also makes me more animalistic in other ways… I did think about putting the moves on you, but…"
"That was aggressive, even for you. I've never had to slap you before."
"I'm sorry…" he replied. For a moment they remained silent before he spoke again. "The machines are EVAs."
"What?"
"The Mass Production Series, Evangelions 5 through 14. They'll be finished any time now. I have no information on who's piloting them or why they are even being built."
"It could be part of Instrumentality," Misato noted.
Kaji reactivated the elevator. "They're pulling out all the stops to get them up and running… because there are only three messengers left."
"How do you know that?"
"SEELE has the Dead Sea Scrolls, it outlines the time table for the angel wars. It speaks of 17 messengers. Adam is the first, Lilith is the second. Sachiel who attacked nearly a year ago was the third."
Misato remembered how Gendo had said to record the first angel attack as the third angel, but she never thought to question why the odd skip in numbering.
And there have been 11 angel attacks after Sachiel… 14 down, three to go.
Kaji nodded. "Time is running out… for all of us."
The doors opened and Kaji stepped out of the elevator, leaving Misato with a saddened expression and thoughts that only spelled out impending doom as the doors closed.
Four Days Later
The Fifteenth Angel had arrived… In high orbit over the world, a massive being seemingly constructed of crystal with six massive wings, literally miles long, floated in the silent stillness of space as if daring someone to attempt to dislodge her from her perch.
"This one defies all expectations," Ritsuko thought out loud. "There does not seem to be an AT Field but it was detected anyway, and it's just sitting there in high orbit unmoving." This wasn't the first angel to attack from orbit, but this one didn't make any move to attack yet.
EVA's 02 and 00, both repaired from the battle with the Fourteenth stood in the rain and waited for orders.
"What do you think Wondergirl?" Asuka asked Rei IV.
At her home, Rei was concentrating so she could be there to control the battle and talk to Asuka directly. Her lips moved but no sound came out. At the battle site however…
"I do not know," she replied in deadpan. "It appears closer to the classically accepted visual appearance of angels, but seems currently to lack any offensive abilities."
"Asuka," Misato called over the link. "We're sending up the positron cannon. It's the only thing we have that might reach the angel. You're a better shot with it than Rei, but she'll be there to support you if something goes wrong."
"Understood Major," she said immediately. "You can count on me." The weapon rose from the ground next to her and she put a hand on it getting it ready. Rei watched the sky with an ominous feeling.
"Something isn't right," she whispered.
Asuka hefted the weapon and kneeled down on one knee, steadying the massive bulk of the weapon and letting the targeting computer guide her hands.
"Looks like about a minute till lock," she reported. "Let's hope this thing will punch though her field."
"AT Field detected!" Shigeru reported. "The angel must sense what we're doing."
Suddenly EVA-00 was bathed in a golden light. Rei's eyes zoned out as the glow engulfed her. "What the…" she managed to whisper as she heard a loud chorus singing "Ode to Joy". It was a piece she recognized and actually enjoyed, but now it would forever be marked as something for her to hate.
She felt a presence enter her mind though the link with the clone. Trying to push it out, she actually beckoned it in and her worst feelings and thoughts were bubbling to the surface, dredged up by the power of the Fifteenth Messenger.
Lust
She saw Maya over her ready to lock onto one of her breasts.
Gluttony
She experienced the werewolf kill in front of Shinji where she inhaled almost all of its blood.
Pride
Final threats to the last remaining member of the Gallows End that survived, letting him go because she was feeling… generous...
Wrath
Murdering the Vamps and Lycans under the control of Steel Dawn.
Sloth
Draging her feet as she tried to decide the proper move after she infected the Chamber of Gaf.
Envy
Her secret jealousy of the power at the disposal of her friends.
Greed
She harbored every book on the black arts she could find.
Betrayal
Remembering her time with Maya, and her lustful thoughts of her own sire.
"Stop it!"
This is you… this is who you are…
At her hideout, Rei was curled into a ball as the pain reached a peak she didn't think it could reach.
"Stop it!" she screamed now. "Stop it please! I can't… I can't take it anymore! You're raping my mind!"
Asuka's heart sank as the waited for the crosshairs to line up. "Come on Verdamnt! Line up!" When it finally did, she pulled the trigger.
Densely packed positronic charges surrounded in a magnetic field launched in sequence towards the offending target but they lost momentum as soon as they hit the upper most levels of the atmosphere. They hit the AT Field of the angel and failed to penetrate.
"Help me!" Rei screamed as her EVA fell to its knees.
Gendo in the command center looked on impassively but was in realty both confused and frightened. This was not happening as the scrolls predicted, Rei was never supposed to become a target for this angel.
"Piolt Sohryu," Gendo said over the comm. "Listen to me very carefully… you are about to do something which will require you to witness things that you should not be privy too."
"Finally airing out your dirty laundry Commander?" she asked with obvious anger in her voice. "I don't care what you have down there but if there is a secret weapon in your arsenal that can kill this fucking thing, just tell me where it is and I'll use it!"
Ignoring her insolence he ordered, "Get to elevator 371, its 100 meters behind you."
"371? That doesn't…"
"It does… now move."
Asuka obeyed, and sure enough she saw a lift platform. She got on it and was taken down… and down… and down… when it finally finished its descent she was in a long hallway, EVA sized and lit barely. She ran down the hall towards a massive set of double doors.
"Behind the doors ahead of you is the bait we use to get the angels to come here. In its chest is a weapon of great power. Take it and proceed back to the lift."
"Understood," she said as the doors opened. For a moment she could only stare and gawk at it…
Its legs were gone…
Its arms were crucified…
Its mask had seven eyes…
"An angel…" Asuka whispered.
"Yes… the Second Angel… Lilith. In its chest you will find Lancea Longini."
Asuka saw the spear. If she understood the legends, this weapon could kill anything.
She heard Rei cry in pain again over the comlink, and dashed though the LCL to the Angel. She noted its wounds were bleeding into the LCL below.
"No…" she whispered as realization hit her. "its blood is the source of the LCL." She ripped the spear out of the Angel's chest trying not to think about the fact that she was immersed in and breathing angelic blood. Her friend was in trouble, she had to help her. Within moments she was locked into the catapult. "Send me up!"
The catapult launched her towards the surface. She hoped this spear had the power it was purported to have. As soon as she hit the surface, she actived her targeting computer and prepared herself for the shot. She knew she'd only get one shot at this and it had to count.
You can do this… you can do this…
The Crosshairs lined up showing the throw trajectory. She hefted spear, idly noting the prongs had twisted together into a single shaft and then stepped forward the requisite steps, letting the lance fly.
Asuka couldn't believe how fast the lance flew; it left a shockwave in its wake and opened up the sky over Tokyo-3 with its passing. In orbit, it passed though the angel's AT Field with no resistance and punched though the center mass of the angel. It shattered like glass and spiraled into the shockwave as it passed. Within moments, it was no more.
The light gone, EVA 00 fell face first into the ground. At home, Rei was breathing hard and crying as she tried to come to grips with her mind rape.
"Am… am I really so… evil?"
Rei always thought she was doing the right thing for the right reasons, or at least the wrong things for the right reasons… but she was still a vampire… nosferatu… an unclean bloodsucker… a parasite and a blight upon the world.
Inside the plug, Rei IV was little more than a broken doll. Being forced to act as a conduit for some of the worst thoughts and the focus of the worst case of psychic rape of all time destroyed her mind. Her eyes widened slightly as she breathed in sharply making a frightened sound as she did. A small dot of drool fell from her mouth and floated in the LCL as her mouth finally started to close. She pulled her knees into her chest, wrapped her arms around her legs and silently cried in the darkness of her shut down EVA
Nowhere
It was like a dark room with dark walls. In the middle of it, lay a new arrival. She was on her side, curled up with an arm under her knee. Her long white hair strewn around her as if she were dropped there. She made small sounds of obvious pain as she occasionally twitched. Her not visible right hand was against her chest between her small breasts about where her heart should be… her pain more than evident. She felt a hand on her shoulder and winced again, curling tighter.
"There there," a calming voice said. "It's alright Arael… you're safe now…"
"I… wanted to show her," Arael whispered in mixed pain and sadness. "Why couldn't she see?"
"It's not time yet my sister," said the boy who tried to comfort her, a boy in black slacks and a white button-up shirt. His white hair a chaotic mop upon his head, and his eyes shone a brilliant crimson as he leaned down to help her sit up. He placed his hand under her right to touch the skin over her heart as she arrived naked. "Rei is not ready yet. You should have listened to me."
"I'm sorry Tabris," Arael replied. "I'm so sorry…"
Carpathia
Rei had planned on attacking the heavily fortified fortress of the Black Rose, but she would now never get that opportunity. The walls were ruined by gun fire and explosions. The inside stained with the blood of many men, and deep within the keep, an evil man was about to get his just desserts.
Thane was suspended upside-down over the sacrificial pit of fire known as "The Hell Pit".
"If you only knew," Korgan began as he approached Thane, "how difficult it was to figure out who had my damn Crucible. Well, if you knew that, maybe you'd understand why I went through so much trouble."
"Please! Let me down! You have what you want!"
"You're right, I have what I want. But I'm also a sick, sadistic bastard, so since you decided you would use the Crucible for your own purposes, I think its only fair you become part of it as well." He signaled to his men who began to lower him into the pit.
"No please! Stop! I'll do anything you want! I can get things for you! PLEASE!"
Korgan walked over to the altar, where a young girl was lying. She was naked and obviously had been used in terrible rituals, possibly even raped repeatedly. Korgan thought she was probably around 14 or 15 years old.
"Bring her," he told his men. "I could use another slave." The screams of Thane woke her up but she was far too weak to resist and allowed herself to be taken away.
Thane's ashes were added to the Crucible; the power slave had become a part of the very thing he used to his advantage. Korgan saw that as justice.
End of Chapter 21
Sanguis meus fervidus est,
Sanguis meus avidus est,
Sanguis tuus suavis est,
Sanguis tuus iucundus est
A/N: Time is running out… for all of us….
gunman: Those bullets aren't what you think they are. You see it was already explained that Vampires follow rules closer to Bram Stoker in this world. Vampires can move about in daylight but its not there normal time of day and they're weaker. The bullets serve two purposes. The ultraviolet light acts like sunlight which would weaken them considerably and make them easier to slay. But the fluid is composed of something else entirely… and you'll find out what soon enough.
Belthasar: You're the only person who pointed out the major oops. I didn't even realize it happened until you pointed it out. But you are right. Gendo did want to arrest Ritsuko because he believed she should have been able to tell the difference.
For the benefit of everyone who is now curious as to what actually happened there and what was supposed to happen but was never put into the story due to a massive oversight on my part… here is the explanation.
Ritusko is not just a doctor of course but an engineer. You have to be both to build EVA, so in order to hide the fact that Rei was a Vampire, she managed to overwrite the security footage from the lab. She was lucky Gendo didn't watch it in real time otherwise he would have known sooner that she was a vamp. She forged the date stamp on a copy she did of an earlier exam, and then submitted the falsified report. Ritsuko would have used her knowledge about Vampire mind control techniques to explain how she may have been unable to tell she was a vampire ("I noticed I was feeling a little woozy"). As important as she is to NERV, Gendo would have accepted the information given and exonerated her, though there would always be just a small smidgen of doubt in his mind.
Hope this clears things up.
nobodyreallyimportant: lol! Yeah, shoddy craftsmanship is shoddy.
One chapter until the multi-part finale… and you will learn just how much of a liar I really am.