Meant for One Another ch 25
Disclaimer: (XX)
Asuka was missing, so was Misato Katsuragi, Rei was dead, Unit 00 destroyed, Unit 01 under lockdown, and Shinji was locked up in the brig, naturally the many personnel of Nerv were eagerly swapping rumors and stories.
"I heard the First Child is still alive! Kira swears she saw the commander with her in the infirmary."
"Is it true Misato-sama is involved with the Third Child's plans? Is that why she's not here?"
"If she is she had better not come back or the commander will make mincemeat of her!"
"But he hasn't said anything about her! When Ikari, Soryu, and Kaji fled he sent around detailed memos regarding the incident and to be on guard in case they show up, but I've gotten nothing about the Colonel."
"That's true…"
Kaworu Nagisa was walking down a hallway quietly, albeit cheerfully, well at least he was smiling, and humming a tune to himself as he strode through the bland metal hall with his hands in his pockets.
"Here we are…" he stopped and turned to a door, he slid an ID card through a keypad embedded in the wall next to it and it opened.
He headed inside, it was dimly lit, but he could easily see the bright red paint of Eva Unit-02's armor beyond the catwalk he was on, the large machine was standing motionless in its cradle, a certain air of emptiness clung around it, as if something was missing, but one couldn't exactly say what.
Kaworu headed to the center of the catwalk and stared up at it, a look of mild interest or light boredom on his face.
"I suppose…this is it."
He held out his right hand, up towards the Unit's face, and its four eyes glowed to life.
"So compliant…your soul must be dormant right now….who is it…? ……….yes….the mother of….the girl….the girl Shinji-kun loves….hmmm…." Kaworu mused to himself, then shrugged.
"So be it." He leaped gracefully onto the shoulder of the Unit and sat down.
Eva-02 broke out of its docking restraints, and gave a mighty roar, then on Kaworu's instructions, began tearing its way towards the carven below the Nerv building.
"Commander we have a problem!" the officer almost spilled his coffee as he put down his mug and leaped into his console seat and began typing away.
"Report." Gendo said curtly, having just arrived at the command center.
"It's…not an attack…I don't think…it came from inside. A disturbance in Eva Unit-02's holding cage, explosion."
"Sir." Another officer chipped in. "Geometric readings indicates something big is moving towards Terminal Dogma!"
"Unit-02." Fuyutsuki muttered from next to Gendo. "What does this mean?"
"It means we're under attack. The last Angel has come." Gendo said to him, then to the command center at large. "Mobilize all units, we are to treat this as an attack. Unit-02 is classified as in enemy hands, we are code red!"
He turned back to Fuyutsuki.
"Bring me the boy."
Shinji was sitting on the floor of his cement cell, his thoughts on Asuka and Misato's current whereabouts when the clank of his cell door being opened stirred him up.
"Shinji Ikari, the Commander has ordered you to see him." The guard said.
"If he wants to question me or torture me…he can come down here himself." Shinji said blandly, in no mood to humor his father.
"There is an attack, the Commander has ordered you to see him for a reason. Let's go." The guard pulled him to his feet and hustled him out of the cell.
When Shinji stood before his father in the command center, the entire staff was with held breath, the tension between the two was a short fuse bomb, and who could miss the look in each other's eyes, plainly both of them wished the other nothing but ill.
"As you know, we are currently under an Angel attack." Gendo said. "As Unit-00 is gone, Pilot Ayanami is hospitalized, and Unit-02 itself is now an enemy, you and Unit-01 are all that is left."
Normally Shinji would have insulted his father about needing him now, but the fact Rei was indeed alive and Asuka's beloved Unit-02 was in danger made Shinji argue less and agree to sortie immediately.
"Good, intercept the enemy at Terminal Dogma and stop it." Gendo ordered.
When Unit-02 arrived before the huge steel doors that guarded terminal Dogma, it met with heavy resistance from ground Nerv forces, which it easily brushed aside with nothing but its fists and feet.
Kaworu looked up at the door, never even sparing the soldiers a glance as Eva-02 followed his will and destroyed them by itself.
"Heaven's door…at last, Adam, I have returned!"
He started to rise from Eva-02's shoulder, hands in his pockets, feet dangling slightly, he floated off the Eva and moved behind it as he willed it to move to tear down the gates.
Shinji in Eva-01 was in hot pursuit of Eva-02, in near 95 synch with his Eva, and desperately pressured, Shinji guided Eva-01, on all fours like the beast it was, jumping from wall to wall down the tunnel Unit-02 had created.
"Have you ever seen an Eva move that fast or someone control that precisely!?" Makoto Hyuga exclaimed to his fellow operator.
"Shinji's gotten a lot better hasn't he?" Shigeru Aoba said, checking his monitor. "Jesus…look at that! The kid's amazing!"
Shinji could see the bottom getting closer, and with one final leap Eva-01 landed, crouched, in the rocky ground, sinking slightly into it from the force of the leap, and gave a loud roar.
Kaworu turned around, and smiled.
"Unit One, then it's you Shinji-kun?" Kaworu said pleasantly.
"K-Kaworu!?" Shinji gasped. "B-but why!? How!?"
"Have you not guessed yet?" Kaworu closed his eyes and lowered his head as he smiled, then looked up at Shinji directly. "I am Tabris, the seventeenth Angel."
"An Angel…? But…" Shinji was shocked, and devastated, but he didn't know why.
Something about this boy made him feel like a friend he had known all his life, despite having only traded a few sentences with him on one occasion.
"Don't worry Shinji, it's only because of your strong love for her that has opened your eyes a little." Kaworu said, his smile deepened, as if he was very proud of Shinji. "That feeling you perceive, the unexplainable emotions, that groundless and illogical love, it's simply that in your condition, you have gained the ability to look beyond the outer shell, as most people seem unable to do. And see a person deeper than…"
Kaworu chuckled.
"I would so much like to explain more, I enjoy talking with you very much Shinji-kun, but alas, I have something of an assignment to do. However, when it is over, we will all be one regardless, and then we have eternity to talk."
Kaworu started floating towards the opening in the gate Unit-02 had made.
"No! Wait!" Shinji called, and Unit-01 started after him, but Unit-02 blocked his path, knife out, ready to fight.
"No! Kaworu! WAIT!" Shinji called again.
Kaworu looked back at him, for the first time a troubled frown on his lips.
"I am sorry…"
He floated away, and Shinji had to turn his attention to Unit-02 in front of him.
"Asuka's Eva…I can't…I can't hurt it, or she'll kill me…" Shinji grinned slightly at his own little joke.
He charged, and Unit-01's hands wrapped around the wrists of Unit-02, and the match was on, both machines stood immobile, their arms shaking violently as they fought for control.
"I don't have time! Sorry Asuka!" Shinji let go of the hand that didn't hold a knife, and pulled back his own Eva's arm, and sucker punched Unit-02 across the face, as it reeled back, Unit-01 crouched down, and rushed into Unit-02's space, grabbing its knife arm, and twisted around, and hurled the red Eva over its shoulder a la jujitsu style, taking the knife in the process.
Stunned, Unit-02 was trying to orient itself and get back up, but Shinji kicked it down again hard and hurried past Heaven's Gates without wasting more time, and found Kaworu already far ahead of him, in front of something huge and white, crucified on a cross just as large as it was.
"What the..what is this…?" Shinji gasped, but even as he said so he was hurrying his Eva forward.
Kaworu had stopped in front of the giant, and stared up at it, his composure shattered, surprise all over his face.
"Lillith!? But I thought-….where is Adam!?" Kaworu gasped, looking around. "This…could this be…fate?"
Unit-01 was behind him now.
"Kaworu!" Shinji called.
"Shinji-kun…" Kaworu turned around, he looked like a man who was at ease because he had resigned himself to the inevitable.
"Kaworu….I-" Shinji was breathing hard, the adrenalin was over, he was tired, and it was starting to sink in, what he would have to do.
"Shinji, as long as I exist, I am a threat. Today, I am thwarted by fate…and perhaps I am relieved by that….still…you had best do your job." Kaworu smiled.
"I…" Shinji knew what he had to do, he could simply not afford to let an Angel remain.
Unit-01's left hand shot out and grabbed the floating Kaworu, wrapping him up tight in the large fingers up to his silver haired head.
Kaworu simply smiled up at Shinji.
"Go ahead, there's nothing to worry about Shinji-kun, far from being offended, I'd like to think that I'm being freed….and I must say, to die by your hands…I could not ask for more…"
"What's so….why do I feel like I…" Shinji lowered his head in frustration, his hands trembling on the control yolks of his Eva.
"As I have explained Shinji-kun, your feelings of love are strong, as strong as any, and it has allowed you to see the world through it as a sort of filter, you see through me, you see my all encompassing love. Because you can identify with it. Or simply put, by expanding your At-Field to encompass the one you love, you have allowed for it to open up more easily for others as well."
Shinji still wasn't sure what he meant exactly, but Kaworu simply smiled.
"It was a pleasure to meet you Shinji-kun, please never lose that love you have…"
"What's going on down there?" Gendo asked.
"Everything seems to be quiet, but…Angel's signature is still present…Unit-01 is active, Unit-02 is deactivated…I don't see…." Aoba tried to make sense of his readings. "Wait! Angel signature just disappeared!"
"Confirmed, Angel presence as disappeared, it seems Unit-01 was successful!" Mokoto said enthsiasticly.
"That's it! That's the last Angel! We've won!" someone cheered.
Gendo said nothing as people made a fuss and behaved like children celebrating some pointless victory in a game, quietly he retired with his second in command.
"We're close…very close…"
Shinji sat back in his pilot's chair, he looked dazed, his eyes were locked onto the center screen, when Eva-01's hand was raised to its face, and it was completely covered in blood.
Shinji made no movement, his body lay limp on the seat, as his eyes were glazed over as he stared wide-eyed at the hand.
A/N Again, still having trouble with this new ff dot net upload process...it erases all paragraphs and I'm reduced to using those unsightly black boarders to separate them! I apologize. If anyone has any advice on it, it'd be much appreciated thanks! - And oh, good news, I've taken a leaf out of some other writers' books and wrote the ending, and am working towards it. And it's a better system, to have a clear ending point to work towards. Anyway, see you next time.