Chapter 15 - Kaworu Nagisa and the Scaredy-Cat Polka, Part 1
"Sooooo..." Beetlejuice began to say, "one'a my snitches planted in Lorenz Kihl's home just told me who the 17th Angel is."
Naoko was a bit suprised by one particular part of what he just said. "Who? Not what?" she asked.
"Yep," Beetlejuice answered. "On th' pretense of a 'selection' by th' 'Marduk Institute', the Seventh Child's gonna be designated and sent ta Tokyo-3 ta act as a backup to th' other pilots." He then looked to Rei. "Apparently, he kinda looks like ya, kid, 'cept he's a dude. Ashy hair, deathly shade o' pale, bright red eyes..."
"Sounds like someone from a Twilight-themed K-pop boyband," Rei said in an amused tone. "I'm guessing he's a Nephilim, too?"
"Youbetcha sweet bippy he is," Beetlejuice replied. "Only difference is he supposedly holds the soul of Adam."
Naoko started putting the pieces together. "So, if he managed to get down into Terminal Dogma successfully..."
"He'd be in fer a whole lotta disappointment," Beetlejuice finished.
Rei chuckled. "Still, we ought to give him something of a warm welcome," she said, "and I have a pretty good idea how..." She then got Beetlejuice and Naoko into a huddle as she explained her plan...
NERV HQ, the next day...
The pilots were called in to take care of something that hadn't been done for a while: a cross-sync test, where they'd each try syncing with the other's EVAs. Yui and Kyoko, listening in from the cores of Unit-01 and 02, knew what to expect, and silently promised to behave with whoever tested within their respective entry plugs. Surprising the staff, no one but Rei could get Unit-00 to work. Toji appeared to be well-received within 01 and 02 (since the mothers within the cores knew he was a good friend of their kids). When Shinji and Asuka tested within each other's plugs, it gave them a chance to know the other's mother a bit more. Kyoko, in fact, seemed to take a shine to Shinji. Then came Rei's turn, where for the second time in her piloting career she found herself within Unit-01's plug. The only difference was she'd changed-a LOT-since then. As the links were established, Rei concentrated as she secretly sent a cheery greeting to Yui:
"Hi, mom!"
That greatly surprised Yui, enough that the technicians could've sworn that they saw Unit-01's eyes light up as if it'd been startled.
"M-mom?!" Yui asked the First Child. "But how are you-? How can I be your mother?"
"Well, sometimes when an Angel and a woman love each other very much...just kidding, just kidding," Rei jokingly explained. "When Gendo tried to get you out of the core, it didn't work out as he intended. Half of you got mixed with a bit of Lilith, and presto, he got me."
Yui, if she had a physical body, would've been scratching her head in confusion right now. "Okay, I did NOT see this coming..."
"Don't feel so bad," Rei reassured her. "I can explain."
Explain she did, giving Yui the Cliff Notes version of what she'd told everyone in Terminal Dogma yesterday. It was quite something for Yui to take in: on the one hand, it just proved how much of the man she'd married had gone by the wayside in the wake of her absorption, which made her furious; on the other hand, she now had a daughter in addition to a son, and one who seemed to definitely take after her in terms of her sense of humor (by a heightened degree, it appeared), which actually delighted her.
"If I ever somehow get out of this core," Yui vowed to Rei, "I definitely want to get to know both you and Shinji better."
"Don't worry," Rei said in return, "me, Naoko and our...associate are already working on that. Just sit tight and keep Shinji safe, he's the only brother I've got."
"I will," said a smiling Yui as the link began to fade, signaling to Rei that the test had finished. Once she was out, Ritsuko approached her and asked her to meet her in the infirmary under the pretense of a post-test checkup. After Rei showered off and got dressed, she headed there, and after making sure that the room wasn't bugged, she and Ritsuko went through the motions of her usual checkup routine while they talked.
"So, I did go down into the lab earlier today," she explained. "When I turned on the lights in the tank, sure enough you weren't joking-every single one of your clones was gone, and the logs indicated that the dissolution sequence hadn't been activated. So if the clones weren't destroyed, where are they, and how the hell did you and your 'partner' get them out?"
"Well, I can't exactly tell you where they've gone," Rei replied, "but I can tell you that we got them out the same way we made the Lance of Longinus disappear."
Ritsuko stared at Rei for a minute before speaking. "...Supernaturally, I'm guessing?"
"Mmm-hmm," Rei nodded. "We've got something in mind for the Lance, but that'll come at a later date."
"All right," Ritsuko said, "now for my other big question. No one but you seems to sync with Unit-00 well, and even before all this started, you said it yourself that you had difficulty syncing with it. What changed?"
"THAT I can answer," Rei replied. "The next time I synced with Unit-00, which was after the 11th Angel incident, I concentrated hard enough that I was able to reunite with my missing emotions. I've been 'whole' ever since."
Ritsuko's eyes widened at that revelation. "Then how-how have you been piloting Unit-00 since then?!"
"Ah, that's a bit simpler," Rei started to explain. "With a little coaching from the 'partner', I started tapping into my Angelic abilities. One of which allows me to manipulate Angelic material. So basically, Unit-00's been acting like an actual exo-suit since the 12th Angel."
Ritsuko stood there, dumbstruck, before finally letting out a laugh. "Hoo boy, you actually managed to give us what Jet Alone couldn't! That's hilarious!"
Rei joined in on the laugh, and soon the two of them finished chat and left the infirmary.
"So what're you going to do now?" Rei asked her.
Ritsuko gave it some thought for a moment. "I think it's time I formally broke things off with the Commander. He's so swamped with other...concerns that I doubt he'll have the energy to retaliate against me."
"Good luck," Rei said as she headed in the opposite direction.
Ritsuko soon made her way to Gendo's office, where she'd been expected. Gendo had found out about the disappearance of the clones and was at his wit's end. He tried grilling Ritsuko to see if she'd had any involvement in that, to which she'd denied. Fuming to himself quietly, Gendo knew that she was right-he'd checked the logs beforehand, Ritsuko hadn't been anywhere near Terminal Dogma at the time of the clones' vanishing act. After much discussion over how the Committee was breathing down his neck even closer, Ritsuko finally got her word in and gave it to Gendo straight: she was breaking up with him.
"...I don't understand. What happened?" Gendo asked, his trademark pose doing little to belie his clueless assessment of the situation. "Something must have happened."
"It's not you, it's me," Ritsuko said in turn.
This made Gendo raise an eyebrow. "You're giving me the 'it's not you, it's me' routine?" he wondered, frustration dripping with each word. "I INVENTED 'it's not you, it's me'. Nobody tells me it's them, not me; if it's anybody, it's ME."
"All right, Commander, it's you," Ritsuko 'conceded'.
"You're DAMN RIGHT it's me," Gendo barked.
"I was only trying to-" Ritsuko started to say.
"I KNOW what you were trying to do," Gendo interrupted, "NOBODY does it better than me."
"I'm sure you do it very well," Ritsuko said, 'brown-nosing' him.
"Yes, well, unfortunately, you'll never get the chance to find out," Gendo said. "You're dismissed."
"Thank you, Commander. Good day," Ritsuko said as she turned and exited the office. At that very moment, Gendo got a confused look on his face, as if figuring that what he'd just said a minute ago just didn't sound right. On the other side of the door, as she walked away, Ritsuko smiled in satisfaction at having played Gendo like a fiddle.
Thank you, 'Seinfeldian' reverse-psychology, she thought amusingly to herself as she headed back to the bridge.
Lake's edge near the city, late afternoon...
Shinji and Asuka were out for a stroll amid a beautiful sunset when they decided to step onto the sand and get a good view of it.
"Best view of the day, in my humble opinion," Shinji mused as they looked out towards the water, the sunlight reflecting off it.
"I'd agree, if it weren't for the wreckage on the shore," Asuka said as she held his arm. "Lousy eyesores..."
The two of them were silent for a time, until Shinji posed a question.
"You ever thought about what you'd want to do when it's all over?" he asked.
"Whaddya mean?" Asuka asked in turn.
"I mean, when the fighting's done. No Angels left and all that," Shinji clarified.
Asuka looked up for a moment before she turned to answer him. "...Can I be honest?" Shinji nodded 'yes'. "I...haven't really thought about it." She looked out towards the water as she continued. "Up till now, piloting EVA's been most of my life. I didn't think there'd be anything else. That I could just put that off for later." Her gaze shifted downwards. "Now I'm wondering if I'll find any direction after this. I've got a degree, but still..."
Shinji smiled at her as he spoke up. "You know something?" he asked. "I've been feeling the same way. Once this is all finished...maybe we can try figuring it out together."
Asuka looked back up at him, returning his smile. "...I'd be down for that," she replied.
At that moment, the two of them heard a sound from nearby. It was someone humming, and not just any particular song. Their trained musician's ears recognized it immediately: "Ode to Joy", Beethoven's 9th Symphony. They turned in the direction of the humming and spied a boy about their age, sitting wistfully on a large piece of debris in the water. He had hair colored an almost ashen gray, wore a school uniform like Shinji's, and his skin was unnaturally pale. Almost like Rei's...This was made even more apparent when he turned to them and opened his eyes, revealing them to be red. The two pilots were hesitant at first before speaking to him.
"Ummm..." Shinji muttered.
"Uh...what're you doing?" Asuka asked bluntly.
"Hmm? Just singing, nothing really," the boy replied. "Singing is great. Singing enriches the soul. It's the crowning achievement of the civilization that the Lilim created."
Both pilots just stared at him, perplexed.
"What kind of philosophy book did you pull that out of?" Asuka asked.
"None in particular," he said. "Just something I've always thought. Always felt. Don't you feel the same...Shinji Ikari?"
Now the two pilots were even more confused.
"How-how do you know my name?" Shinji asked.
"Everyone knows your name," the boy said. "Yours as well, Asuka Langley Sohryu. Compared to her, and I don't mean to be rude, I think you should be a little more aware of your position."
"Heh, wouldn't believe how many times I've tried telling him that," Asuka said as she elbowed Shinji lightly. "So, who are you, anyway?"
"My apologies, I did not even introduce myself," the boy said. "I'm Kaworu, Kaworu Nagisa. One of the children that is part of the design, just like you two. I'm the Seventh Child."
"SEVENTH Child?" Shinji wondered.
"Really?" Asuka added. "So the Marduk Institute sent us a backup for the final Angel."
The smile never left Kaworu's face as he answered. "You can just call me Kaworu. If I can call you Shinji and Asuka, that is."
The two pilots looked at each other before turning back to the newcomer. "Uh, sure, Kaworu," Shinji said. "We'll probably see you at school then."
"Y-yeah," Asuka said, "We gotta go now, but catch ya later!" With that she dragged Shinji by the arm hurriedly away. Kaworu stared after them as they got farther and farther in the distance.
"Hmm..." Kaworu mused to himself. "The Third and Second Children seem quite different from what I was given. Interesting..."
The two pilots, long out of earshot of the newcomer, slowed down a bit as they headed home.
"Why'd you drag me away like that?" Shinji asked.
"C'mon, baka, didn't something seem off about that guy?" Asuka asked.
"What do you mean?"
"Hellooo, think about it," Asuka elaborated. "A kid claiming to be the Seventh Child just HAPPENS to show up one day, when the 17th Angel's going to be on our doorstep at some point in the near future. A kid who HAPPENS to be the same eerie shade of pale as your sister (*still wrapping my head around that one*), WITH ruby-red eyes no less."
Shinji scratched his head for a second before Asuka's words started making sense. "Wait, you don't think...?"
"I DO think," Asuka said.
They were silent for a moment before Shinji spoke again.
"Let's not jump to conclusions just yet," he said. "For all we know, he could be just a regular albino kid with little social skills."
Asuka's eyebrow rose for a moment before she gave way to a sigh. "One of these days, sweet baka of mine, your naivete'll get you killed," she said as she shook her head.
NERV HQ, the next day...
Misato, Ritsuko, Maya and Makoto were in the Major's Alpine Renault, having carpooled to work today, and were being lowered on the conveyor down into the Geofront. They were also speaking covertly, knowing the noise of the conveyor would make it impossible for any bugs in the car to pick up any audio.
"So what's the story?" Misato asked.
"The Seventh Child's arrived," Makoto reported. "Name's Kaworu Nagisa."
"From what I've managed to dig up on the digital trail," Maya added, "all his past records have been erased."
"Just like Rei's..." noted Ritsuko.
"One thing we do know is that his 'birthday' coincides with Second Impact's date," Makoto further elaborated.
"That, and the Committee sent him directly to us," Maya said. "Tell me that doesn't sound suspicious."
"I've read the Marduk report," Ritsuko stated. "The matter of the Seventh Child's also been designated confidential. Kaji forwarded something to me from one of his colleagues in the intelligence field, though, so we might be able to glean something."
"And if it doesn't pan out?" Misato asked.
"Then we'll leave it to Rei and whatever it is she and her partner have planned," Ritsuko answered. "Still begs the question of how we should go about the sync test though."
Misato already had an idea in mind. "Let's hold off on the trick questions for now, and get a straight reading on what he's capable of."
Some time later, Shinji, Asuka, and Toji were walking with Kaworu into HQ for his testing. Rei had already left school beforehand, to get to HQ early. Despite being the new kid in town, Kaworu proved to be a chick-magnet almost immediately, with nearly all the girls fawning over him. Rei, for the most part, laughed internally, hinting to the others that the girls would be disappointed if they knew that they weren't exactly Kaworu's 'type'. The whole time they were in class, Kaworu stole glances at Shinji, making the Third Child slightly nervous and making Asuka use all her willpower to not act upon her more...jealous impulses. As the day went on, it became apparent that while he was warm and friendly, he hadn't been brought up to speed on the concept of personal space. He also strangely tended to speak in more universal, rather than personal terms. The fact that he also referred to regular people as 'Lilim' probably set off a couple of red flags in Asuka's mind. Still, for Shinji's sake, she stayed on her best behavior, even as the new kid became more and more friendly with Shinji. Maybe too friendly.
As soon as the four reached the middle of the lobby, they found Rei waiting for them. Kaworu took immediate notice of her.
"You're the First Child, aren't you?" Kaworu wondered. "Rei Ayanami..."
"That's my name, don't wear it out," Rei replied, a knowing grin on her face.
Kaworu didn't seem to get her meaning. "You're the same as me," he stated, the smile never leaving his face.
Rei raised an eyebrow, her own smile staying put. "You mean, aside from blue hair and a different set of chromosomes? Other than that, red eyes and a deathly pallor aren't much to go on. So really, who're you supposed to be?"
Kaworu paid no heed to her sarcasm. "I've been designated the Seventh Child by the Marduk Institute. I am here to serve as a backup pilot for the coming fight against the 17th Angel."
When he said that, Rei couldn't help but giggle, and from there couldn't help but laugh.
"Oh, that's rich, a real good one, Nagisa!" she said between laughs. Her friends were confused, as was Kaworu, though it didn't show because of his smile.
"I...don't understand," he said. "What about my statement do you find humorous?"
"Aheh, heh, it's just that, I hate to rain on your parade," Rei started to explain, motioning to her right, "but the Seventh Child's already here. Just got in earlier this afternoon."
Soon a new face emerged from the hallway behind Rei, which greatly surprised everyone, including Kaworu, whose smile disappeared as his mouth went slightly agape. Looking right back at them was a teenage boy who looked EXACTLY like Kaworu, only with more of a splash of color. His skin was a very light purple, his hair was a greenish yellow, and his eyes were also an odd shade of yellow. On his face was a grin even goofier than Kaworu's. Even his clothes were the same style as Kaworu's, but definitely more colorful: his shirt was pinkish, his slacks were striped black-and-white, and he wore black sneakers on his feet. No one but Rei knew that this 'kid' was actually Beetlejuice in disguise.
"Well, HEY THERE! Izzit me, or am I seein' double?" the new kid wondered in his greeting as he gave Kaworu a very up-close once-over.
"Everyone, meet Jun Byaku, designated Seventh Child by the Marduk Institute," Rei said as she introduced him.
'Jun' then reached out, putting his right hand towards the bewildered Kaworu. "Put'er there, guy!", he offered. Kaworu, confused, reluctantly took his hand, which Jun proceeded to shake very quickly and hard.
"OH-kay, I'm lost," Toji noted. "How can there be two Seventh Children? I thought the Marduk Institute was supposed to be...what's the word?...oh yeah, infallible, or somethin'."
"That makes two of us," Misato added as she and Ritsuko arrived on the scene, also sporting very confused looks on their faces.
"WHOA-HOA, get a load o' these two!" Jun said as he elbowed Kaworu. "No one told me NERV-Central was a total Babe-ylon."
Oh, guh-reat, he's one of THOSE guys, Asuka mentally groaned as she gave herself a face-palm.
"I have Kaworu's Marduk report right here," Ritsuko said, "but I don't recall seeing Jun's."
"I've got it right here, sempai!" said Maya as she ran up to the group with the packet in-hand. "I found it on your desk a few minutes ago."
"Huh, must've overlooked it by mistake," the scientist replied as she gave it a quick glance. "Well, it seems everything's in order here. Though we still have a problem, since there can only be one Seventh Child."
"In that case," Rei started to say, "I've got the perfect solution." She paused for dramatic effect as everyone around her slightly leaned in with anticipation. "SYNC-OFF!"
Now everyone (save Jun) was confused. "What do you mean, 'sync-off'?" Ritsuko asked.
"Exactly what it sounds like," Rei replied. "These two'll undergo their testing while the others watch. Whoever has the better rates and scores, joins us as the Seventh; the one who doesn't heads home with a consolation fruit basket. Simple enough, right?"
Gendo's office, a moment later...
"It seems the Seventh Child-er, one of them-has made contact with Rei," Fuyutsuki reported to Gendo.
Gendo stared at his former professor bewildered. "What do you mean, 'one of them'?" he asked.
"Well, it's all very strange," Fuyutsuki replied as he pulled up security footage. "The Third, Second, and Sixth Children arrived here earlier with the boy sent by SEELE, and met up with Rei in the lobby. Once there, she introduced them to a boy who also supposedly is the Seventh Child. The strangest thing is, coloration and attitudes aside, the two of them are exact doubles. If I didn't know any better, I'd say Rei and this 'Jun Byaku' were toying with the Nagisa boy."
Gendo was stunned by what he'd heard. "I...see..." was all he said.
The testing room, minutes later...
"Fixing graph depth," a female tech reported. Jun and Kaworu were currently in the test plugs while the others watched from the observation deck. Kaworu's plugsuit was black with red trim, while Jun's was a bright neon green with orange trim.
"Try lowering it another point-three," said Fuyutsuki. Like the others (save Rei), he was very perplexed by the sight of two identical (save for coloration) teen boys said to be designated the Seventh Child. Even more perplexing was the readouts he and the others were seeing: Jun scored a pretty decent high rate in all EVAs save for Unit-00, while Kaworu's were astonishingly below 17%.
"Are these data readouts accurate?" Fuyutsuki asked.
"All instrumentation's operating normally, sir," Makoto reported.
"And the MAGI haven't detected any errors in the data either, sir," Maya added.
Fuyutsuki scratched his head at this. "Who would've expected that one could synchronize with all units save 00 without the core being reconfigured, while the other barely makes it up to at least turning the lights on?" he wondered.
No one but Rei knew the true reason for this: BeetleJun was actually 'spoofing' the MAGI while also spoofing the EVAs. Yui and Kyoko, from their places in their respective cores, found themselves a bit unnerved by Jun's presence despite the tenuous connection to the test plugs. While Kaworu tested in the plugs, BeetleJun worked his magic to fool the machinery into not budging, no matter how much Kaworu concentrated. Though he maintained his serene facade as everyone watched him during the test, internally Kaworu was gobsmacked-nothing was responding to his powers at all.
"This should be impossible, given the system," Maya noted.
"Nevertheless, these are the facts in front of us," Ritsuko stated.
"And we have to first accept the facts for what they are," Misato added, "before we investigate the 'why' behind them."
Gendo's office, following the test's conclusion...
"The Magi are currently pouring all their resources into analyzing the data we received from both of the Seventh Child candidates," Fuyutsuki reported, "but even still, I'm at a loss. No one here saw this happening at all."
Gendo looked even more worried than Fuyutsuki as he spoke. "What are the candidates doing right now?" he asked.
"They're currently on break while the results are being tallied and double-checked," Fuyutsuki answered. "Last I heard, they were heading to the bath house."
A NERV HQ hallway, minutes later...
Shinji and Toji were walking to the locker rooms when Kaworu approached them after exiting the elevator. He perked up slightly when he spotted the Third Child.
"Hi, were you waiting for me?" Kaworu asked.
"Uh, no, not really..." Shinji replied.
"We're just killin' time till they finish going over the test results," Toji said. "The girls are doing their own thing in another part of the floor, so I talked Shin-man here into giving the bath house a try."
"Apparently it's pretty refreshing," Shinji added.
"I see," Kaworu replied. "It sounds like a very good thing."
"You think so?" Shinji asked.
Kaworu nodded. "I'd like to talk more with you," he said. "May I come with you?"
Shinji and Toji looked at each other for a moment before they shrugged their shoulders.
"Eh, sure, why not?" Toji replied.
"I mean, it's just us guys," Shinji added. "Nothing wrong with that."
Soon the three of them had changed and were now sitting in one of the pools of the steam-filled bath house. An image of Mount Fuji hung in the background. Shinji sat at one end of the pool, while Toji was at the other. Kaworu sat close next to Shinji, which made the Third Child a little more nervous than when he noticed Kaworu stealing glances at him in class earlier. Kaworu, for the most part, looked relaxed.
"Y'know," Toji started to say, "this kinda makes me think of those shows set in New York where the wiseguys are havin' a meetin' or somethin' in the steam room. Or when some show business guys are tryin' to make a deal."
"Huh, never thought of that," Shinji replied. He was doing his best not to look embarrassed in front of Kaworu.
"I heard some interesting things about you," Kaworu said to Shinji. "You go to such extremes to avoid first contact. Are you afraid of connecting with other people? If you don't get close to others, you'll never be betrayed and you'll never hurt each other. But you'll also never be able to forget your loneliness. Humans can never banish their loneliness for good, because being human means being alone. But humans are able to go on with their lives because they're able to forget it every so often."
Shinji and Toji just stared at Kaworu, perplexed at his statement. "Uh...you think I'm lonely?" Shinji asked.
Kaworu, though still smiling, sensed that it hadn't fazed him. "Well, are you?" he asked in turn.
"You haven't been around much, have ya?" Toji said. "Months ago, that would've fit Shinji, but lately? He's come a long way from the kid I once punched out for hurting my sister by accident."
"Oh?" Kaworu wondered. "How so?"
"Well," Toji began to elaborate. "First Asuka arrived, then Rei started hanging out with us more, then Shinji and Asuka got together." He then looked at the Third Child. "Y'know, I just realized, I haven't heard ya mutter 'I mustn't run away' at all since then."
"Yeah, now that you mention it," Shinji affirmed, "I'd say I've changed a bit. I can't even remember the last time I picked up my SDAT-player. It's probably got a whole layer of dust on my desk at home."
This is most peculiar, Kaworu worriedly thought to himself. Shinji Ikari sounds so unlike the dossier I was presented with. I don't know why, but it doesn't make sense.
At that moment, their reverie was interrupted by the arrival of a new face in the bath house, as Jun plunked himself with a splash into the pool.
"Aaaaahhhh, nuthin' like a hot bath after three hours inna metal tube fulla orange goo," Jun said relaxedly. "Yep, it's pretty good ta let the ol' mid-section breathe."
Shinji and Toji immediately noticed that the expression on Kaworu's face had shifted from serene to annoyed pretty quickly.
"I'm sorry, but do you mind?" Kaworu calmly asked Jun. "We were in the middle of a conversation."
"Hey, don't mind me, it's all good," Jun re-assuredly replied. "We're just four guys, hangin' out inna bath house, chattin' away. No problem at all. Though I gotta warn ya, we're gonna have company soon."
"Company?" Kaworu asked curiously.
Shinji and Toji looked at each other slightly nervously before they turned to Kaworu.
"You weren't briefed on our little ghost problem, were ya?" Toji asked.
"I'd...thought that was only a rumor," Kaworu replied. "Why do you ask?"
At that moment, the door opened and more faces started walking in to settle in the other pools of the bath house. Except for Jun, the eyes of the other three boys widened when they saw the variety of ghosts, demons, and monsters that were chatting away with one another as they soaked themselves. As Toji'd mused earlier, it was like a scene out of a mafia movie, with some of the beings and creatures in fact looking a bit like mobsters. Toji could've sworn that he heard a few of them even discussing the planning behind a hit they were going to pull off.
"Uh, guys...I think we might wanna go right now," Toji warily suggested.
"Same here," Shinji said.
"I agree," added Kaworu.
Soon the three of them got out of the pool, donned their own towels, and headed back to the locker room. Jun waved after them as they left.
"I'll catchup witcha guys later!" he said. "Gonna let my pores scream for a while."
When they reached the locker room, Toji and Shinji looked at one another for a moment as they pondered what they'd just left.
"I wonder how the girls are doing..." Shinji asked.
Over in the women's sauna, said girls were chatting away amid others who were enjoying the perks of a steam bath. Said others even included a couple of blindfolded gorgons. What seemed weirder to Asuka was how they all sounded like the yenta population of an NYC YWCA. But that didn't concern her now; right that minute she was discussing her suspicions about Kaworu with Rei.
"...You really think that's the case?" Asuka asked her friend.
"Totally," Rei answered, "even before my 'reawakening' I'd always been an adamant observer of human behavior. Whether or not Kaworu's who you think he is, I'm keeping mum for now. What I CAN tell you? He's definitely coming on to Shinji."
Asuka looked at her stunned. "Wait, you've got gaydar?"
"OH yeah," Rei replied. "And I knew Nagisa had something of a thing for your boy the minute he walked into class today."
"Oh, brother," Asuka muttered.
"Don't worry," Rei said reassuringly. "Let me tell you what you should tell Shinji, and then how to let Kaworu down gently." With that she began whispering in Asuka's ear, while the redhead paid attention closely, mentally noting every detail.
A meeting of the SEELE council...
The holographic monoliths faced each other as they discussed a specific piece of business that they'd been wracking their brains over for some time.
"Sometimes, it's hard to believe," lamented SEELE-02. "NERV, the organization formed to be SEELE's executive branch..."
"Created to put our script into practice..." added SEELE-07.
"...Has now become an organization in the possession of one individual," finished SEELE-01, Lorenz Kihl. "This cannot stand."
"Precisely," said SEELE-02. "We must take it back."
"Before the promised day," emphasized SEELE-04.
"NERV and the EVA series must be in their true forms," said Kihl. "Ikari, you will bear the responsibility of your malfeasance towards SEELE."
"Uh...you sure about that, Kihl?" SEELE-05 asked. "Frankly, of late Ikari doesn't seem to be in much of a position to be responsible for planning a party, let alone plotting against us."
"I'm inclined to agree," said SEELE-03. "It's getting more and more apparent that Ikari's hanging by his fingernails onto his sanity. The supernatural phenomena must have been gnawing at him ever since it began affecting NERV operations."
"...Good point," Kihl noted.
NERV HQ, the EVA cages, around that same time...
Gendo stood in front of Unit-01, with something of a longing look on his face.
"The time that has been given to us runs short," he said as if speaking to the giant. "But the Lance of Longinus that stood in the way of our desire is...no longer a concern."
Oh, who do you think you're fooling? Yui thought to herself as she watched him from within the core of the EVA. *SIGH* I knew I should've paid those rumors about you when we first met a little more heed. My sister was right, I should've made you 'run the gauntlet' like the other women in our family did with their boyfriends...
"Soon, the final Angel will appear," Gendo continued, a bit of mad laughter creeping into his voice, as he looked at his right palm, "and if we destroy it, our wish will come true, aheheheheheh..."
*UGH* Why couldn't you have just gotten therapy like a normal person, Gendo? Yui asked herself as she face-palmed, shaking her head.
"Just a little longer, Yui..." Gendo said to himself.
Meanwhile, the thing in Gendo's palm looked up at him with a big sweat drop beside its wary eye. Some time before Beetlejuice and co. had started throwing multiple wrenches into Gendo's and SEELE's scenarios, the Commander of NERV had Ritsuko surgically implant the embryonic form of Adam, the First Angel, into his palm, the purpose of which would allow him to trigger and control Third Impact, using Rei as a key. Now though, the embryonic Adam looked at his host, and thought one thing:
What the HELL did I get myself into? This guy's CRAY-CRAY...!
NERV guest barracks, later that night...
Kaworu and Jun didn't have any immediate accommodations set up, so the two were assigned to the same barracks within HQ for the time being. The results were still being analyzed, and it wouldn't be until morning when they'd ultimately find out who came out on top. Unfortunately for Kaworu, Jun turned out to be a less-than-ideal roommate. While the ashen-haired boy tried to get some sleep, the lavender-hued boy was still watching TV.
"Would you PLEASE turn that down? Some of us would like some much-needed rest," Kaworu requested.
"No prob, I'll just slip the headphones on," Jun replied as he did. That did little to satisfy Kaworu, as the TV set was still bright, and Jun was still laughing hard at what he was watching. Kaworu decided to soldier on and just ignored it, until he finally fell asleep.
The outskirts of Tokyo-3, early next morning...
Kaworu was none-too-pleased as he opened the secure channel to communicate with his handlers. The main handler was, of course, SEELE-01 himself.
"What happened to you?" Kihl asked his agent. "You look as if you barely slept."
Kaworu looked back up at the holographic monolith with dark circles under his eyes and, contrary to his usual expression, a scowl.
"Tell me, Herr Kihl," he started to ask, "did you know anything about a second Seventh Child?"
Because of the monolithic avatar, Kaworu couldn't see the confused look that appeared on Kihl's face.
"What are you talking about?" the old cyborg asked in turn. "As far as we're concerned, YOU are the only Seventh Child."
"Then explain to me the presence of one 'Jun Byaku'," Kaworu replied, his tone indicating frustration. "When I arrived at NERV HQ, the First Child introduced me and the other pilots to ANOTHER person who claims to also be the Seventh Child. Not only that, but aside from some color differences as well as personality traits, the boy looked, and I am not joking here, EXACTLY like me."
This gave Kihl pause. "Could you excuse me a moment while I discuss something with the rest of the council?" he asked. Kaworu nodded as the hologram faded out for a moment. Kihl forgot to switch off the audio, however, so Kaworu could hear the slightly-muted chatter as tempers flared among the council over the revelation he'd presented. A few minutes later, Kihl's hologram reappeared.
"This is indeed most troubling," Kihl noted. "What did they do about this unforeseen redundancy?"
"They tested the two of us," Kaworu replied. "It was the First Child's idea actually: the one with the better sync rates would take the position, while the other would be dismissed and sent home. They're revealing the results today."
"Certainly you would pass," Kihl stated, "your abilities would allow you to fool their instruments and the EVAs easily."
"Unfortunately, it was anything BUT easy," Kaworu countered. "No matter how much I concentrated, the only thing I could make any of the EVAs do was merely turn their lights on. From my estimate, Jun did much, much better than I."
The hologram was silent for a moment. Then, Kihl spoke up again.
"Go back to NERV and observe what happens," he ordered. "Report back to us once they've made their decision. Remember, do not forget your true objective. Within NERV's walls is a man who is trying to obtain power equal to that of God."
SEELE-12 then chimed in. "Said man, who is not one of us, is attempting to open Pandora's Box again."
He was then followed by SEELE-04, who warned "Said man is trying to close the Box before the Hope at the bottom appears."
Kaworu let an amused smile return to his face. "Hope? You're saying that is the Lilim's hope?"
"Hope exists in as many forms as there are people," SEELE-09 replied.
"And that is because hope only exists in the hearts of people," SEELE-10 added.
"However, our hope is becoming substantiated," Kihl said.
"That is Lilith," stated SEELE-12, "the progenitor of mankind who are the false successors from the black moon."
"And Adam, the progenitor of the Angels who are the true successors from the lost white moon," added SEELE-02.
"His salvaged soul exists only within you," affirmed SEELE-03.
"However, his resurrected body already exists within Ikari," Kihl mentioned.
Kaworu looked down at that mention. "Shinji's father...unfortunately, it appears he is not entirely the same as me," he muttered to himself. "Gentlemen, if I may, might we continue this conversation in Esperanto? One can never tell who might be listening in."
"Very well," Kihl replied. "[As I was about to say, that is why we entrust you with our wish.]"
"[I know]," Kaworu replied. "[That's why I'm here now, after all.]" The scowl returned to his face as he said that. "[But that doesn't change the fact that everything I've encountered so far has run counter to the dossiers you gave me. Quite frankly, it's distressing. The Third Child is supposed to be a miserable loner, wallowing in self-pity, weighed down by every hardship he's ever encountered in life, with an inability to connect to others. What do I find when I get here? He's actually happier than he's been in his life, and he and the Second Child are closer than previously thought! Even worse is the case of the First Child. I was told she was supposed to be Gendo Ikari's puppet, totally obedient to his will. Instead, I find a Nephilim girl who's more trickster than doll! Explain THAT, why don't you?]"
Far from his position, Kaji and Misato were in the latter's car staking out Kaworu from a hillside overlooking the lake where he was holding his conversation. Said stakeout, unfortunately, wasn't going as well as they'd wanted.
"It's no good," Misato stated. "I can't read his lips with his back to us like that."
"And I'm not picking up much of anything through the listening device," Kaji said. "They switched to the one language not covered in my training."
"I guess we're both regretting not joining that Esperanto club in junior year," Misato said in turn. She then resumed looking through the binoculars. "Still, Nagisa's certainly a shady character, going out for a walk so early in the morning to talk to himself."
"I doubt he's talking to himself, if he's doing what I think he might be doing," Kaji warned.
As Misato kept looking, Kaworu turned as if to face her, the odd smile on his face, startling her.
"He noticed me?!" a bewildered Misato asked.
"No, it's not possible...!" a worried Kaji said.
At that, the two stowed their devices and quickly drove off, as Kaworu looked on.
A bridge entering the city, later that morning...
Misato and Kaji met up with Makoto at the bridge's entrance to compare notes. They'd already filled him in on their stakeout of Kaworu Nagisa earlier.
"How'd it go?" Misato asked the bespectacled tech.
"Any data on him?" Kaji asked in turn.
"Here it is," Makoto replied as he handed them each some papers. "Maya let me know as soon as she had it."
Kaji and Misato soon looked over the papers. What they saw surprised them.
"It's no wonder Maya didn't release this information yet," Makoto said, "it's all theoretically impossible data."
"You're right," Misato said. "It only deepens the mystery."
"I'll say," Kaji added. "To think that Jun can freely set his sync rate with the EVA...and of his own will at that."
"While Kaworu, on the other hand," Makoto elaborated further, "shows signs that he can do the same, but somehow Jun was blocking his ability to do so."
The three colleagues looked at each other warily over this revelation.
"I guess this is, yet again, no time to be worried about appearances," Misato concluded.
A short time later, the three reconvened at NERV HQ and met up with Maya and Ritsuko. Sure enough, the two of them had some info of their own to share.
"What's the word?" Misato asked them.
"Well, we've reached a couple of hypotheses," Maya reported. "Jun is still unknown, as of this time."
"Kaworu, on the other hand," Ritsuko said ominously, "is likely the final messenger."
Her saying that sent a chill down the spines of everyone else.
NERV HQ lobby, a couple of hours later...
Kaworu was sitting alone in the lobby. A couple of hours before, they'd finally announced the results of his and Jun's 'sync-off'. Jun had won by a landslide, while he himself was dead last. Jun teased him a little, before congratulating him for at least making it this far. Kaworu put on his best face as he received a variation of 'good luck with everything else' from some of the others. Then came a short chat he had with Shinji and Asuka just half an hour ago...
"You wanted to speak with me?" Kaworu asked the Third Child.
Shinji looked to Asuka, who nodded her head, and then faced Kaworu again.
"Kaworu, I...I know how you feel about me," Shinji said, doing his best to not be nervous. He'd never formally turned down anyone who showed him a sign of affection before, let alone another boy his age. Thankfully, Asuka's second-hand coaching from Rei helped him be ready for this.
"You...you do?" asked Kaworu, slightly taken aback by Shinji's statement.
"I really appreciate how nice you've been to me," Shinji continued as he held the back of his head with one hand, "and I think you're a good guy. It's just...I'm sorry, it's just that I don't really...'bat left-handed', if you know what I mean. I'm not sure I even bat in an ambidextrous way." Bashfully, Shinji raised both hands up to his chest. "N-not that there's anything wrong with that!"
"No, of course not!" Asuka sheepishly added, trying to back up her boyfriend.
Kaworu seemed surprised at first, but then let his usual beatific expression return to his face. "I see," he said. "I understand."
"I'm glad," Shinji said as he put his hand out. "I hope we can still be friends, though, if that's all right."
Kaworu eyed his hand for a moment, before reaching out and taking it. "Certainly. I would like that a lot." The two then shook, and then parted ways as he headed back to the entrance, where he'd been sitting since then. After mulling it over for a while, Kaworu got up, and started walking towards the EVA cages.
"Perhaps it's indeed like the old Lilim saying goes," he said to himself. "If you want something done right, you'll have to do it yourself. Since subtlety failed, I believe it's time for the more...direct approach." Soon he found himself in the cages, and staring in the face of the one EVA he knew he could use.
"Come on, let's go," Kaworu said to the giant. "Come with me, Adam's alter-ego and servant of the Lilim." With that, the boy turned and walked off the ledge of the walkway and started floating over the Bakelite below. The moment he did, Kaworu Nagisa shed his disguise, and Tabris, the Angel of Free Will, took control of Evangelion Unit-03 as it roared to life. It would be the second time that the black EVA would fall under the sway of an Angel.
END Chapter 15.
**Author's Note(s)**
Here it comes...