The author of this fan fiction makes no claim to the ownership of any aspect of the Evangelion franchise, or the ability to finish a fan fiction in reasonable time.
Rating: Teen - my language gets a little nasty at times.
Chapter 25: Singularity
"REI!" Dr. Ritsuko Akagi yelled down to the red sea that sat at the root of Nerv. She had discarded her overcoat while running through the corridors, elevators and barred doorways that led to this place. At Heaven's Door, she had played her last MAGI joker to open the electronic lock and now stood, caked in sweat, her glasses crooked and her hair in dissarray, looking down on her objective. The blue-haired girl, half a mile away, looked up from the ocean of red, clad still in her white plugsuit. She appeared as small and fragile as a toothpick in the quaint little white wooden boat that she was paddling with a long wooden oar.
"Doctor."
"Rei! Yes, it's me."
"You have come to make a request." Rei commented in her usual voice, making no effort to raise it so that Akagi could hear. Somehow, in the dead silence observed by the crucified giant, they could hear each other perfectly.
"That's right, Rei. Tell me, how much do you know about your mother?"
Rei stopped paddling. "My mother? Are you referring to Yui Ikari?"
Taking a moment to wipe the sweat from her brow, Dr. Akagi shook her head. "No, I mean Unit Zero. I mean the Angel above you and below me." she gestured at the white, bemasked being.
"Unit Zero? Ah, I see. It makes sense now."
Nodding, Akagi gestured again. "Yes. She wants to kill you."
"Yes. Of course."
"Are you going to let her?"
The teenager tilted her head. "She is your mother too."
With an unbalanced cackle, Ritsuko nodded. "Yes, it gets a little confusing sometimes. Do I have one mother, or three, or five?"
"Are you...mocking me?"
With a smirk, Ritsuko shrugged. "I suppose I am. But not just you, Rei. At this time, I look at all of Project-E, and all I can do is laugh. All of the work, the lives, the hearts and the souls that have been consumed by this thing called Eva. And here we are."
The First Child sighed. "I cannot say I am amused. This was all done for a purpose, to follow a vision for your kind. Our kind."
Ritsuko scowled. "Yui Ikari's vision. That bitch."
"It was the Commander's vision as well. It was a vision they shared. It belonged to them both."
"Bullshit!"
"You know it was so. He could not have achieved it otherwise."
"Liar!"
"And so, are you sure you want what you will ask me for?"
The doctor wavered uncertainly. "You're saying...I might not like what I will find out when it is done?"
"Yes. It may not be so wonderful as you imagine."
The scientist nodded gently. "I am prepared for the fact that I may not have Gendo to myself." Then her expression hardened. Glaring, she asked, "Why do you care, anyway?"
The albino's red eyes pierced the distance to stare her right in the eye. "I don't know. But I care."
Shinji's face, projected onto the Nerv's tactical display, is downcast as the boy averts his eyes from the camera pickup. (Misato...please open the elevator.)
"Shinji...I can't do that...not even for..."
Back on the bridge, Misato was shivering. She had thought that the rescue mission and narrowly avoiding death at the talons of the MP Eva had been all she could take. Fate had other ideas, it seemed.
Somehow, the fact that Shinji wasn't begging, yelling or crying made it even harder to change her order. Even the bridge crew's respectful silence seemed damning.
(Is there a problem, Ms. Katsuragi?) Keele inquired magnaminously.
Fuyutsuki leaned forward, gripping the railing of the command deck. "Keele." he barked.
(Ah, Fuyutsuki-kun. Would you be so kind?)
The Sensei straightened the grimace that graced his drawn features. "So be it. Sub-Commander, you will allow the Evangelions access to Terminal Dogma."
Misato whirled around to look up in shock at her commanding officer. "Sir...! You can't be serious..."
Looking pale, Fuyutsuki nonetheless maintained his stoic demeanor. "I'm afraid we will have to depend on our guardian angels to see us through from here."
The Nerv Evangelion and the foreigner stood by the large equipment access tunnel cover, a holdover from the days when Nerv was being assembled and large pieces of equipment were delivered to the lower levels. A potential weakness, the architects had design the tunnels so that they provided no direct route down or structural weakness, and were among the most heavily fortified and strengthened elements under the remains of the fortress city.
And now the Commander had ordered them to open wide to their final enemy.
Unit 01 straightened as the hatch creaked and began its lengthy opening procedure below them.
(Relax, young Ikari. Our long trial is nearly at an end.)
Shinji tried not to stare at the fragile tube the Triglav was holding like a baton. Torn free of the Unit 02, parts of the A-10 link system, leads and organic material hung from the entry plug. The internal batteries could keep the plug livable for hours, but the communications system was inactive. Shinji hoped that it was due to damage, and nothing to do with Asuka herself.
(Come. Walk with me.)
Dr. Ritsuko Akagi watched from afar as Rei rowed toward Lillith. 'She will probably use a semi-inverted AT field to raise herself to the Angel's level...' she mused, ever the scientist.
The LCL lake seemed to move. Ristuko frowned, but ignored it.
Then she felt a rumble. Looking down again, she could see the surface of the lake ebb and flow, ever so slightly over the length of Dogma.
"Keele..." she muttered to herself. Taking her computer pad from the pocket of her slacks, she activated the voice link. "What's happening?"
(Sempai! Unit 01 and Keele are on their way. He's holding Asuka hostage in her entry plug.) Maya answered succinctly. The time for gripes was over.
"Thanks." Putting the padd away, Ritsuko cupped her hands to call out. "The Triglav is coming. Keele is holding Asuka hostage!"
The ceiling of the Dark Egg split open in an explosion of light. Akagi strained against the blast wave, falling to her knees and shielding her eyes. She then regretted having thrown off her lab coat. A wave of LCL hit the platform she was kneeling on and splashed over the top, nearly pulling her down to the lake as it flowed back to the waters below.
Clinging to the guard rail, eyes closed under the watery surface, she hung onto hope. 'Rei...you have to get to Lillith before Keele gets any closer! He's too powerful, even for you.' she thought desperately.
Pulling herself up and daring to open her eyes as the LCL subsided, Ritsuko's hopes sunk. The Triglav stood knee-deep in LCL, barring Rei's path. It stood imperiously, entry-plug in hand and Unit 01 standing submissively aside.
Rei's eyes flared red as she stared at the giant armoured palm before her. Surrounded by an ethereal glow, she stood defiantly still even as the boat rocked and swayed nervously on the turbulent lake's surface.
"You seek to interfere here." she stated, her voice and intonation back to the Rei of old.
(That is so, Ms. Ayanami.) boomed the amplified voice from the Evangelion towering above.
"Then you must be eliminated." An orange-red flare lit the Dark Egg up like day, and the giant hand was batted away. Rei moved to float forward, her mighty AT field standing defiant at tall, seperating her from the Evangelions.
(I'm afraid not.) the voice boomed again. Another familiar clear pseudo-hexagonal plane sprang into being before the Nephilim, but instead of orange it's colour was purple-blue. Tilting her head, Rei raised a hand and moved to push through the new AT field.
And bounced.
Surprised, the girl fell backwards into the little wooden boat. She glared up at the pearlescent silver Evangelion.
(My dear, you should not be so hasty. One does well in life to know what they are up against before challenging it.)
Shaking her head as if recovering from a slap, Rei raised an eyebrow. "And what is it that I face?"
The voice chortled from afar. (Ah, just the opening I have been waiting for. Thank you, my dear Ms. Ayanami.)
The Evangelion not of Nerv bowed slightly, holding the arm holding Unit 02's entry plug to it's chest in a courteous gesture. (I am the Holy Trinity. I, the Father, the Son is with me, and within this Evangelion's soul resides the one and only Holy Ghost. A straight flush, if one were playing poker.)
Rei continued to glare defiantly, then stood up and raised a hand again. Her AT field flared, but was defeated in a brilliant flash of white light. Simmering, she said "Why are you here?".
(Well, my dear. Suppose one were to become immortal.)
"Like an Angel."
(Indeed, like an Angel. Now, what is able to defeat an Angel?)
"A power equal to an Angel. Evangelion."
(Yes...okay, suppose said immortal were also above all other Evangelions and Angels alike?)
"Adam."
(Very well. What single thing could dispel such an immortal?)
"...I see. Complementation."
(Precisely.) The Triglav straigtened up, staring down at Rei. (And so it is, that I must destroy those things that can be used to enact the ritual. Including, I'm afraid, yourself.)
An armoured hand once again approached Rei, but this time pushed past the remnants of her Absolute Terror to encase her in its grip. Wide-eyed, Rei let out a girlish gasp as it approached and met the shimmering sphere of light that was her final defence. Crackles of energy were released as the hand crushed down slowly on the sphere. Eyes closed in concentration, Rei grit her teeth with the effort of maintaining her AT field. "You...shall not...extinguish the light...of my soul..."
(Your soul? But which one is that?) Mocked Keele as he continued to beat her field down until it barely contained the volume of Rei's body.
Unit 01 stood by, it's stance increasingly tense as Shinji was forced to impotently witness Rei's subjugation at the hands of the Triglav. "Ayanami..." he whispered, a desperate prayer to the Universe in general. Still Keele held Asuka's life in his hand, even as he moved to Crush Rei's.
Suddenly, the face of the Triglav was lit with the fiery light of the Entry Plug's rocket motor. Teetering from the thrust, Keele instinctively let go of the plug and moved his other hand to shield his Eva's face. The Triglav fell gracelessly into the LCL as Asuka's plug angled itself upward and shot into the Dark Moon's sky.
"ASUKA!" Shinji cried in shock, whether in triumph or fear he was never certain. His moment of hesitation over, Evangelion Unit 01 let out a deep growl and he set upon the Triglav below in fury. The demonic purple Eva grasped at it's opponent with a wild savagery. Pulling the progressive knife from his shoulder, he swung his bladed fist down at it's face.
And was stopped by the shimmering blue, high-energy AT field that had stopped Rei.
Growling, the silver Eva kicked Unit 01 away. Shinji felt the wind being sucked from his lungs as the force shoved his Eva several meters into the air. The Triglav stood, shoulders hunched and eyes aglow, sighting the Test Type like a creature about to take the life of a rival.
(Why, Mr. Ikari...) Keele seethed in barely concealed fury over the comms.
A pure white light silhouetted the Triglav and Shinji raised a hand to shield his eyes.
(Oh, what now...?) Keele groaned disgustedly. He turned his Unit to see a naked, pure-white Rei towering over his Evangelion. He stared in surprise as she stepped from the giant cross toward him and gently placed a hand on the Triglav's shoulder.
"Be at peace." she whispered. The Triglav froze solid. With a gentle tap, the giant Rei let the Evangelion collapse onto itself, white shards and granules of salt crumbling from under the armour and dissolving into the lake. At the center of the fallen armour, a collection of flesh and cybernetics remained undissolved as it fell too into the LCL.
Shinji stepped back, Unit 01's hand raised in dread. "Rei..."
She smiled at him, and gently pushed Unit 01 aside and moved past him. Standing before the platform, she held out a hand to the tiny form of Ritsuko Akagi.
"Yes..." wept the Doctor, tears strewn and her eyes red. "Yes, please Rei. I'm ready. Take me to him."
With a small nod, the giant took the weeping Doctor into her palm.
The skies above had grown dark, red-tinged as when a fire rages through scrublands afar. Alone on the plane that once was the Geo-Front, a lone MP-Evangelion scrabbles and knaws at the access cover that Keele and Shinji had taken to Dogma. It can sense Heaven's Door, but is completely unable to get to it.
The tunnel beneath rumbles and bellows. Feeling the quaking beneath it's feet, the Eva jumps off the cover and backs away a few paces. Something is coming, it knows. Something grand.
In a flash the cover is gone, and rising from it is Rei's massive form. She ignores the Eva, looking instead to the sky.
Inspecting the giant, head tilted, the Evangelion bared it's teeth and hissed. It launched itself at Rei's midsection.
With the Eva attached to her, Rei tilted her head down and absently swatted the creature away. It crumbled in mid-air, shards of powdery salt falling to the earth while the armour collapsed like snake skin. The giant continued her ascent skyward, looking up with a serene gaze.
[And so it is that the Lillim are chosen as the inheritors of Creation.]
[You did it Gendo! We did it!]
[Rei did it. I merely gave her the template.]
[And yet, she has fulfilled it in her own way.]
[Yes, dearest.]
[Ah, Mrs. Ikari...]
[It's Yui dear. Sweet little Ritsuko, so it was you who was looking after Gendo over these longs years alone.]
[Ahem. Some of them, at least.]
[Yes, well. Yui, then. Uhm. Err...]
[Wasn't the ideal of Complementation to avoid awkward moments like this?]
"Wait wait wait." Misato clutched at her forehead. "You mean Unit 01 just...dissapeared?"
Hyuuga frowned over his desk. "None of our sensors anywhere can locate Unit 01."
Maya looked up. "Lots of the MAGI's sensor network was damaged or destroyed in the battle." she pointed out. "Most of it, really."
"But it's pretty hard to lose a forty-foot robot done up in tasteful purple-and-green." Shigeru noted.
"And where the sensors are destroyed, there really isn't much left for an Evangelion to stand on."
"Wait..." Hyuuga leant further into his desk display. "I've got a satellite link...but..."
"What?" Misato came over and stood over his shoulder.
"Uhm, its, uh...heading away from the Earth."
"WHAT?"
"Oh my god..." Maya wailed.
Fuyutsuki stepped forward. "But what about the pilot?"
Maya's fingers pecked at her keyboard rapidly in response to his query. "Pilot of Unit 01 located. He's here! He is in Mess Room Three, unconcious and...the Second Child is with him!"
Misato dashed over to the younger woman and hugged her enthusiastically. "Thank God! I'd better go get them..."
Fuyutsuki took the center of the bridge as Misato dashed to the elevator, heedless of her duties. "So. Just who, if anyone, is in Unit 01?"
[So...we're just going to float in space for the next few billion years?]
[Indeed.]
[When I was still alive, I calculated that the atoms in Unit 01 should restrain themselves from entropic decay for at least the next three trillion years. Or so.]
[Oh. Okay then.]
[All is going according to the Scenario.]
[Bullshit.]
Author's Rant
Thank you for reading! It took a little longer than I would like, but here we are. Perhaps there will be one more chapter to wrap things up.
And to those who wrote reviews and most especially to those who proof-read for me (for most of the chapters until I went AWOL), your contribution is greatly appreciated. Rahhel & Pyramid Girl, this one is for you.
And now for some fun!
OMAKE - Keele-doll for Christmas
Keele felt a hand on his Evangelion's shoulder. A very large hand, even by Eva standards. He turned.
Before him stood a giant Rei Ayanami, with a grin that was quite impossibly wide. "DOLLY!" she exclaimed.
"Ah, Dr. Akagi? What happened to Rei?"
"Well Shinji, it seems...somehow she's reverted to her physical age. Which is either millions of years old, or three."
"I thought she was at least seven or something?"
"Well, it depends on how you count it. In any case, she looks like she's acting like a three-year-old to me."
(Come with me Mr. Chair-Man. We're going to go for a picnic!)
Misato gulped, watching the tactical display with a new kind of horror in her belly. "Is my imagination over-active, or do I see inedible food in Keele's future?"
Shigeru nodded. "I wouldn't want to be in that Eva right now."
"Me either." Maya agreed. "The Evas aren't equipped with an anus."
(But wait Mr. Chair-Man. First it's potty time!)
"Oh dear. This isn't going to be pretty."
OMAKE - Stay Puft, Rei
The ghostbusters looked up from the top of a high-rise, ultra-modern Tokyo-3 tower into the red sky above.
"Ohmigod..." Dr. Ray Stantz stared. "And I thought Stay-Puft was disturbing."
Dr. Egon Spengler pushed his glasses up. "Peter, is there something you should tell us about?"
"What?" Dr. Venkman sputtered. "A giant, naked teenaged girl appears in the sky, and you automatically assume I had something to do with it."
Ray smirked. "And where exactly is the flaw in that logic?"
Peter sighed. "So when Goza raides your imagination, it comes up with a marshmallow man. Hence you decide that when it's my imagination, this is the result? I'm insulted. I happen to have rather refined, mature tastes. And I prefer my ladies tanned."
Ray rolled his eyes. "Oh, just get on with it."
"Yeah c'mon Peter." Winston smiled. "Do your usual lady-trick thing. The way I see it, you'll either get her on-side, or get turned into paste. Considering the alternatives, I reckon that's a pretty good option right now.
Dr. Venkman held his arms out imploringly. "Don't you guys think I get into enough trouble with the law as it is, without inviting statutory rape?"
"Somehow I don't think there is a jury in the land who would convict you under these circumstances." said Egon.
"Well, we are in Japan." Winston supplied.
"C'mon slugger." Ray slapped Peter on the shoulder. "I'd feel better about this than firing a proton stream at her."
Winston nodded. "Yeah, something does not feel right about using a nuclear-power weapon against a teenaged girl. With no clothes on."
Egon also nodded. "I concur. Peter, you have our blessing."
"C'mon guys...!"
Now we know where Rei's smile came from...
OMAKE - together, forever
[So, Dr. Akagi. You arranged for Rei to be rescued using an ingenious combination of the Simulation Bodies, the upgraded rifles and a souped-up truck with Misato at the wheel.]
[Oh my!] (Yui is clearly like Kasumi from Ranma.)
[The original plan had Kaji rescuing Rei in the truck.]
[And yet Unit 06, in which my soul was trapped at the time, was left broken and pilotless to fend for itself.]
[Oh my!]
[Well, it wasn't part of the plan...]
[Where it was eaten. By a wild animal shaped like a deranged albino porpoise.]
[Oh dear!]
[Gendo, I...!]
[Can I go and bake a cake, and leave you two to it?]
[Yes dear.]
- fin