.hack/EVA: Catharsis: Avenging Revenant
Disclaimer: In this universe in the quantum foam, I do not own or in any way shape or form hold a claim to the .hack series or Neon Genesis Evangelion (or of course, any other copyrighted works I might reference here).
" " denotes speech
'italics' denotes thought
'bold' denotes location names
'bold italics' denotes skill use
NERV Medical
"Ugh…I feel sick…" the Second Child groaned upon coming to for the first time in months, her body sore from lack of movement, even if a great battle had raged on in her mind for that entire length of time. As she shifted her gaze about the place she had awakened, she was surprised to find herself being watched by an oddly familiar brown-haired boy. "Especially at the sight of you, baka."
Harsh words, given that the two had not seen each other in quite a while, though the hostility in these was belied by her gentle, almost affectionate, tone.
"Heh…nice to see you awake at last, Asuka," the Third Child spoke softly, sounding almost relieved. "It's been a while…"
"Maybe for you, dumbkopf," the German redhead muttered weakly, a hint of a smile on her face. "Unfortunately for me, I've had to deal with your baka hentai self stalking me into my dreams, posing as a hero even in—"
She broke off her feeble diatribe to take a breath, focusing her attention squarely on the usually mild-mannered boy before her, all too aware of her many sins and weaknesses, as well as the evils she had unleashed upon The World.
"…Look…I'm not used to saying this, but thanks," Asuka forced her lips to shape the unfamiliar sequence of words, though she found the effort was worth it from the flummoxed look on the Third's face.
"Are you sure you're ok?" Shinji asked, knowing how AIDA could alter people's personalities and mentalities, considering that he had been on the frontlines of the battle against the Shadow (and was in a way an AIDA-PC himself, having used AIDA against AIDA). 'I thought I eliminated the infection with Data Drain…'
"You're asking me that after what you did to me in the Arena, Third? Do you know how painful it was to relive every crime I ever committed, every wrong in my life…every wrong I've ever done?" the redhead groused, shaking her head painfully. "Of course I'm not ok…I remember how I was used by the Fourth…that damn—"
Another pause, a swallow, and then a deep, shuddering breath.
"How's Reimeiki?" Asuka inquired of the Third, only for the other's face to sag. "Ah… look…for what it's worth…I'm sorry."
"She…she's still a Lost One, Asuka," Shinji said quietly, closing his eyes. "Just like the others you PKed…like Rei. I know that you infected by AIDA during most of that time, and so its not entirely your fault but…"
To her credit, Asuka rejected at the weak attempts to diffuse her responsibility for what she had done.
"For the record, I didn't PK Rei…others, yes…but not her. Even when AIDA released the binds of reason, I never did manage to PK her," she said after a moment. "In the end, I believe Siarl must have beaten me to it all those months ago, back when I was a major bitch. Even those idiot perverts used to call me the Red Devil…"
She stopped herself as another figure emerged in the doorway, her eyes widening at the sight of the pig-tailed form of Class Representative Hikari Horaki, dressed in a red plugsuit marked with 02.
"Tomoyami…this is…" the Second Child began, only to trail off, narrowing her eyes at the Fifth Child. "Why are you in one of my plugsuits?"
'Don't tell me she's…'
"Because I am the Fifth Child, the designated pilot of…well, Unit-00 now," Hikari replied bitterly, as there were a great many things she wanted to say Asuka that might be unwise. "Though until now, I've been piloting Unit-02, as your replacement, Pilot Soryu."
"Horaki, I didn't wake up to fight with you, not after everything I've already done…"
"Oh?" the brunette questioned dangerously, crossing her arms, not quite convinced of Asuka's sincerity. It was understandable, as the redhead had put the dothackers through quite a lot of pain, directly or indirectly, even if had been as a puppet of Siarl. "Then what are you going to do about the people you've hurt. You've taken lives, so take responsibility for them."
"…taken lives? What do you mean taken lives?"
Asuka knew that she had done terrible things in her time, breaking the minds of others, sending innocent victims into comas, destroying hope—but had she really taken lives?
"Touji's dead, Asuka," Hikari whispered, words that both of them found hard to accept. "He died after becoming twisted into an AIDA-Angel by the one called Siarl—"
"Or Kaworu Nagisa, verdammen angel boy," the Second Child spat, at the thought of the grey-haired boy, the damn puppetmaster who had dared to use her as part of a game. If she would manage it, the Fourth Child would pay. "I'm going to kill him that bastard if it's the last thing I do."
"You can't just yet," Shinji broke in, with a trace of exasperation. "He's in a coma, Asuka, and his mind is in…the place where we fought. To bring back the Lost Ones, he has to be defeated…and frankly, I'm not sure whether or not I can trust you to fight by my side. I'm not even sure if your character still exists within The World."
"I understand, Skari, Tomoyami," the redhead noted, looking at each of them in turn. "Whatever else happens, recognize this, I'm not asking for your forgiveness, or even for your acceptance, because I know that no one can forgive me for what I've done. Hell, even I can't. I just want a shot at the bastard who jerked me around like a puppet, because you know what they say, right, Horaki? Hell—"
"—hath no fury like a woman scorned."
'We're coming for you, Siarl...and this time, you will know your end...'
The Creator's Room
After finishing her mission in the world of the shadowed ones, the Child of Dawn had returned the place where she was born, going to the Creator's Room to contemplate the meanings and emotions she had gleaned from existing in two worlds at once. It was one thing to have emotions and fragments of memory shuffled in through the black box, to observe how people interacted in The World—quite another to walk among them, even having been granted the privilege of entering another's mental world.
'But the love of a mother is the same in both worlds…as is love in general. A rich and complex emotion that promotes evolution, drawing souls together in its own way—and in their own world, the Shadowed Ones can taste and touch and smell, unlike in their visitations here, where they are more limited. Just a look into another's eyes, the faintest hint of touch or smell can make one's heart race—though I rather think that what I was feeling was the instinct in the mind of Rei Ayanami.'
Emotion…how strange to think it was emotion that had helped to create the Gods of The World, adding that bit of irrationality to their inherent logic, giving them complexity needed to form true consciousness, allowing them to self-evolve according to their own desires instead of some overarching algorithm.
"And yet, not content with their nature, they attempt to render themselves into gods," Zefie mused aloud, surveying the holy place of the black box, where lay all the divine stories and all the wisdom of The World. "SEELE is foolish, in creating the instrument of their destruction, or at least believing that they can control something that is so far beyond them."
From this place, the spirits of The World (the AIs) were born, and it was to here they returned when they died, their lives written down as part of the endless repository of knowledge here—a repository damaged, marred by debris, by the violence of the first of the AIDA-PCs.
'And yet, is AIDA so very different from what we are in nature?' the saffron-haired girl asked herself, turning her gaze to the great white isle, upon which rested the figure of a dreaming girl upon a rocking chair. 'Like us, it seeks to learn, to grow and co-exist with beings in The World…but it made the choice to become malevolent…why, I wonder.'
Footfall sounding from behind caused her to whirl and take two steps backward, a move that probably saved her life, as she narrowly dodged a razor-sharp tentacle of shadow aimed at her heart, a tentacle hurled forth from…
"No…it can't be…" Zefie whispered in shock and anger, raising a barrier of light around her in defense. "You…"
Before her stood two corrupted figures out of nightmares, forms twisted by AIDA until they were only vaguely recognizable. One was of course, the black and silver robed Macabre Dancer called Siarl of the Seven Eyes, and the other was an AIDA infected remnant of a child who had only ever wanted to laugh, only ever wanted to live…the Child of Twilight twisted towards Dusk.
It was not Siarl who had attempted the killing blow, but an AIDA infected Lycoris, a Child bound with coruscating ribbons of shadow and black light, garbed in a black and red gothic Lolita dress like the colors of blood. Her pale skin too was marred by intricate designs, a mandala of command binding her to the one named Tabris.
"But it can, dear Child of Dawn…and what better way to counter a goddess than with the power of another?" the silver-haired boy quipped with an arrogant smirk, dark laughter emanating from his lips. "I see that your instincts are as good as always, and I admit that I underestimated you in the other world. But come now, daughter of Aura, now you shall see just how futile your struggle is. You overcame me once before, but can you overcome the one who is the basis for your existence? Dawn cannot overcome Twilight…for now, I announce the end of the New Gods, and the rise of—."
"Shut the hell up, Angel of Free Will!" Zefie grit her teeth in anger, hurling a blast of light at Siarl, only for the light to be deflected by a mirroring wave of shadow, slashing in from behind the AIDA-Lycoris and towards her neck. "Guh!"
The Child of Dawn jerked back violently, reeling back as the shadows carved a furrow in her cheek.
"What are you going to do, oppose this AIDA Goddess?" Siarl sneered, the smirk never leaving his face. There was no human emotion in his arrogance, nothing that had ever considered the opinions of others. "Attempt to draw on her memories? It's helpless…you see, that was one of the few pieces I was unable to recover of dear, dear Lycoris…how convenient, because it means that her power is mine! So why don't you just give up now? You cannot hope to overcome both a goddess awakened to destruction as well as I, Child of Dawn. And while my attention is focused on you, you cannot escape…daughter of Aura, at last you have met your end!"
Laughing softly to himself, Siarl stretched out his hand, shadows building in power all around him, hurtling out to lance toward her chest, shoulder, legs, and gut, a blow to finish and corrupt this pest once and for—Clang!
Zefie found herself surprised, as shadows rushed past from behind her to deflect shadow—with a tall steam gunner dressed in mostly in blue and white leaping forward to shield her, a gunblade in one hand, an AIDA blade in the other, and a huge claw of AIDA extending from his back.
"Stop," the azure haired Epitaph User said calmly, as he faced down the Angel of Free Will. "I'm afraid I cannot let you have your way just yet."
In contrast to his surroundings, the mysterious figure had a eerily calm smile on his face, seeming as calm and unconcerned as if he were merely walking along in a root town instead of confronting a deadly foe. Light glinted off his orange sunglasses as he looked over the silver-haired youth as well as the AIDA-infected sister of the Goddess, and he readies his blades for action.
"Step aside Ovan," Siarl commanded in his silky, smooth tones that reeked of power, haughty and merciless. "You have no reason to oppose me…we are both beings of AIDA, beings of absolute destruction. Why deny your destiny, dear Lilim? Did you not say that there was no more time? Or…don't tell me, you fight for that pointless construct the Lilim call love. Why bother, you cannot save anyone…you are already doomed, as is the one you—"
Spears of shadowy power shot forth from the figure of Ovan towards the Siarl and the AIDA-infected Lycoris, the first AIDA-PC testing his power against an AIDA-Angel and a Goddess of The World, as shadow met shadow in a space filled with sparks, a killing zone created from thrust, parry, riposte, remise, where anything entering would be cut to pieces.
"Daughter of Aura, get Aina out of here!" the Steam Gunner ordered, while attacking the enemy with all his might. "I don't know how long I can stall them!"
Though determined, it seemed that Ovan's voice was filled with an inconsolable desperation, calling upon will and desolation to bless him one last time, as azure bolts of light tear through the darkness, and Ovan whirls and leaps and charges without hesitation, slashing his gunblade with the full power of Tri-Edge.
One blow, two, three, four—! Each time, his attacks lance out, they are deflected, and a blinding light is released.
"I tire of this game, enough playing around…swear fealty to me, Ovan, and perhaps I shall spare you," Siarl whispered in a voice that somehow cut through the sounds of battle. "You amuse me, Tri-Edge, first of the AIDA to turn against humanity, first of the AIDA to have found such a powerful host. Out of deference to an elder, I will allow you to serve me if you surrender now. Admit it, you cannot defeat me."
But Ovan's resolve never wavered, as his eyes flashed and he spoke three fateful words into the air:
"Come…the Rebirth!"
A pattern of azure eyes and lines formed around him, as the first form of Avatar Corbenik was summoned into existence, a robed warrior of blue and white, with the massive claw of Tri-Edge apparent.
"Devil's Verdict!"
With those words, Corbenik charged towards the Macabre Dancer and AIDA Goddess, as Zefie took advantage of the opportunity to grab onto the girl in the rocking chair and warp out, sending a message to the denizens of the Slums as well as Aura's Knights, to prepare for an onslaught.
'I have to warn Net Slum and summon the Azure Knights…the final battle is nigh…'
Human Instrumentality Committee
He stood alone before a Committee of beings who had long given up their humanity as their servant, a mad revenant who had died long ago, engaging in an act of useless folly. When Yui was absorbed into EVA-01, becoming lost to him, he was given the world to protect, but without his soul, without all that was important to him, what use was there in protecting the world? He was in truth, a hollow man, unable to find happiness after loss, with the only way of life he now knew that of manipulation and destruction.
He was a man who wore a mask of stone, who directed the actions of friends and foe alike, scheming to betray them both at the last, a living corpse whose actions served his own ends and none other, no matter what he allowed his masters to believe. Not that his masters (at least in name) were human either, as the cabal known as SEELE was the force that claimed to have existed since ancient times, manipulating the course of human evolution, appearing as black monoliths that had discarded the last traces of their humanity out of a desire to become the divine.
It was by their desire and by their whim that Gendo Ikari stood in a pitch black room, the only illumination coming from the holographic monoliths surrounding him, each black with red lettering, numbered 01 through 12, accompanied by the words "SEELE" and "Audio Only." Neither party was extremely happy at the moment, as their scenarios were being twisted beyond what they could bear.
"It is impossible for us to retrieve Lancea Longini," rumbled one of the dark obelisks, in a tone that indicated extreme displeasure.
"Why did you use it, Ikari?" another asked sharply, focusing the full of his ire upon the Commander of NERV.
"And about the Eva series, we don't have all of them scheduled yet," a third monolith lied baldly, given that both parties knew otherwise, but couldn't let on that they knew, if only for the sake of formalities.
"The annihilation of the Angel was more important," stated Gendo Ikari, justifying his actions before his "masters." "There was no other way to defeat it."
To which the response was (understandably) a healthy dose of skepticism. If the Committee and Ikari had an understanding with one another, it was that trust was—in a word—overrated. Betrayal and concealment of betrayal were as much options as obedience, and often times the preferred one.
"No other way?" a monolith repeated dryly, "No other way, Ikari? Your excuses should be more persuasive."
"The things you have done recently—or have failed to do—are too bold, Ikari," agreed another. "The awakening of Unit-01, the use of the Lancea Longini, failing to protect the Fourth Child from being attacked and rendered comatose—"
A tone sounded, and Gendo Ikari paused the conference for a moment to listen to the words of one of his subordinates.
"An Angel is approaching," he said brusquely, thankful for the excuse to leave the presence of the old men. "We will finish this discussion at the next opportunity."
As his hologram faded away, the last words he managed to catch were: "If your chair remains."
In the silence following his departure, one of the monoliths voiced the thoughts of the committee into the darkness.
"Ikari, are you going to betray SEELE?"