Disclaimer: I do not own Evangelion.
Chapter 40: Soul and Heart
The EVA testing chamber was unusually hushed, considering the significance of the sync test that was taking place that day – Unit 02 had been mostly repaired, save for parts of its frontal chest armor plates where the last Angel hit the hardest.
"Alright. Begin the test." Dr. Akagi ordered. Maya started to type the series of commands into the terminal with a steady and no hurry pace, as if the test was nothing more than a normal scheduled sync test.
"…A-10 connections established," Maya reported. "Pilot Soryu's sync rate is stabilizing."
Dr. Ritsuko Akagi walked over next to Maya and looked at the screen showing Asuka's sync rate. "Whoa. A whole twenty percent dive from the last sync test."
"It's understandable." Misato, who was standing at the far corner of the observation room, spoke up. "I mean, she's been through a lot recently, not to mention that Shinji's…Damn it, we still can't get Shinji back!" Misato growled in frustration. The last few days' rescue attempts were futile while Asuka's mentality continued to deteriorate to the extent Misato was seriously considering ordering a suicide watch on her. "If he's here, he will know what to do. They are practically glued together."
Dr. Akagi shrugged. In fact, she wasn't really trying her best to get him out, instead she put collecting data and testing theories on the top of her priority list. The smack in the face by seeing the Commander caring about Shinji still stung. "But if her sync rate keeps dropping, in two weeks she won't be able to activate her EVA."
"Just like the old times, eh?" Misato let out a short laugh, opening a comm channel to Unit 02's entry plug. "Asuka, try focus harder." However, she didn't really get a reply from her. Frowning, Misato pulled up the video feed to inside the entry plug.
From the screen, she could see the Second Child glaring at something at her front left intently, her expression unreadable. Following her gaze, Misato walked to the windows and looked at the front left side of Unit 02 – on the catwalk, the silver-haired Fifth Child stood there with a smirk on his face.
Misato shook her head, unable to make sense of his actions. "Asuka, do you think we need to stop the test for today?"
"No." This time she replied instantly, though her voice was hollow enough to make Misato shiver.
Inside Unit 02's entry plug, Asuka narrowed her eyes on the Fifth Child as he kept his smile at her. It should be impossible for people outside of the EVA to see what's going on inside, however she still felt Kaworu's gaze was directed at her soul, not just the general direction.
Though it wouldn't matter for long.
Asuka closed her right eye and focused.
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"…alright, that's enough for today. End the test." Dr. Akagi put down the notepad.
"Roger," Maya replied. "Shut-" She trailed off, her eyes went wide as the readings went crazy. "Wait! Pilot Soryu's sync rate! It's spiking! Eighty, nighty, still hasn't stopped!"
"What the hell is happening?!" Ritsuko rushed over to the terminal. "Send force shut down code!"
"I can't!" Maya shouted. "The signal won't receive!"
"Is it the Angel?!" Misato asked with a dreading voice.
"No! There's no pattern blue! It's the pilot!"
"Asuka!"
The whole observation room shook, windows shattered as Unit 02 let out a bone-chilling roar, breaking away from the restraints without so much as struggle. With a forceful punch on the separation wall, the heavy metal armor broke apart, leaving a huge hole on the wall.
"…Hello Asuka, this is Shinji speaking. If you're listening to this recording, it most likely means I'm gone. (Sigh) Well, perhaps not dead, but definitely not available. Well, first and foremost I'd like to say sorry. I'm sorry for bringing you so much trouble and pain…"
Asuka went mouth agape as the words of her lover flowed into her ears. Trouble? Pain? What the hell was Shinji talking about? And the voice he used…so sad and lonely, she'd never heard him speaking in that tone ever before.
"…And I'd like to thank you for the ray of light you brought into my life. (Chuckle) Really, I don't know how I am going to even live without you anymore…"
Asuka's grip on the SDAT tightened. Fighting back the tears, Asuka smiled a sad smile and listened in.
"…Though there's something I need to tell you right now. You need to be prepared for what I'm about to say. Do you trust me, Asuka?"
"Yes, I do. Absolutely." Her reply came without the slightest amount of delay.
As if Shinji had been expecting her saying this when he did the recording, his voice continued right after Asuka's response.
"…The Fifth Child, Kaworu Nagisa, is the last Angel…"
Under normal circumstances, she would've jumped in exuberance that her suspicion was correct, though right now, the mood was so heavy she only took the information.
"… Don't think after the last Angel is defeated, everything will go back to normal. SEELE…well, the evil people behind NERV, are planning to end the world with their scenario. I know you must have so many questions, but just trust me right now. They will launch an invasion against NERV, so stay at HQ and maintain combat readiness…"
"…The capabilities of the MP EVAs…"
Asuka, though under shell shock, still managed to take some notes of the information.
"…After everything settles…if I'm still not back, open track 27. You will have all of your answers on that track. Again, I'm sorry Asuka. I love you. If we can meet again…trust me, I will explain everything…the next time I see you. Goodbye."
Beep.
It was only after 3 minutes of utter silence Asuka remembered that she was still gripping on the SDAT so hard that her hand started to turn purple. "Stupid Shinji…" Slowly, she rose from Shinji's futon and put the SDAT back on the table.
She had a lot of questions. But for now, she knew she needed to trust him.
On the catwalk, standing in front of the giant fist that punched toward him, Kaworu Nagisa let a sorrowful smile cross his face.
Asuka shrieked as Unit 02's left fist punched through the wall and reached Kaworu's position. Having a firm grip on the boy, Unit 02 brought him into the air, close to its ferocious face.
"Asuka! What the heck are you doing?!" Misato shouted into the microphone, her ears still hurting from the rumbling roar. "Put him down!"
"Your words aren't gonna work, Major." It was a miracle that Dr. Akagi still maintained a somewhat calm semblance of composure under the situation. "I think… she's finally lost it."
"Got any last words, Angel boy?!" A distorted cry echoed from the testing chamber to the observation room, eliciting raised eyebrows from nearly everyone, Gendo Ikari not excluding.
"What are you talking about, Asuka?!" Despite the sharp tone she was using, Misato didn't try to do anything to stop her. For all she knew there was undoubtedly some fishiness around the Fifth Child – though being an Angel wasn't exactly the first thing she would've guessed, it was close enough.
"So I see this is the answer you've got, Asu-Pilot Soryu," Kaworu shook his head slightly, keeping the smirk on his face and seemingly not perturbed by the fact he was held by a giant metallic hand that could end his life in an instant. "I'm sorry, but I don't have time for this right now."
"Aren't you missing something here?" Asuka sneered. "Time is at my side. Not yours." With that, the cold-blooded Second Child willed her EVA to squeeze its hand.
Though she soon found herself unable to squeeze tighter as if she was crushing a solid stone instead of a piece of flesh. "What the fuck?"
"Pattern Blue! It's an Angel!" Makoto's sudden announcement drew everyone's attention. People in the observation room watched in horror as an orange octangular box appeared around the Fifth Child and expanded, quickly helping the boy get rid of Unit 02's grasp. The seventeenth Angel floated in the air, smirking at the camera that connected with the main screen of the observation room.
"Damn it… he's actually an Angel!"
"What? No!"
With an explosive uncurl, Kaworu's AT-Field crushed and tumbled the metal wall separating Unit 02 and Unit 03 while sending a shocked Unit 02 stumble back and crashed against the wall. "Let's go, Unit 03. The alter ego of Adam, servant of the Lilim. Now it's your time to awaken!"
The black slits around Unit 03's eyes began to glow with a brilliant red light that forced people in the observation room to cover their eyes as it let out a bellowing roar that shook the entire testing chamber.
Closing her eyes and covering her ears, Asuka tried to endure the incredible noise, but found it rumbling her entire body as if she was right next to an explosion despite the cushion provided by her EVA. The roar continued for another few seconds before beginning to fade away, allowing for the redhead was able to open her eyes and move her hands from over her ears. She quickly looked up and down the cages, but found that Kaworu and Unit 03 were gone, leaving only her with Unit 02 and the sleeping Units 01 and Unit 00.
Being the most militarily experienced person in the whole room, Major Katsuragi was the first one to recover from the ordeal. "Asuka! Go after him!" She shouted before turning to Maya. "Where is Rei? I don't want Asuka fighting him and Unit 03 alone!"
"The equipment in the room is all broken! We need to go back to the command deck!" Maya reported, ignoring the cut on her hands produced by shattered glass.
Asuka shook her head, trying to clear her foggy brain. "I'm on it." She said, controlling Unit 02 jump down into the hole Unit 03 had just disappeared into.
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As Kaworu and the black EVA Unit 03 continued their descent toward the deepest level of Central Dogma, the boy made a smirk as he thought about what awaited him at the end of his journey.
Once he was again one with Adam, the disgusting race that was Lilim would be no more, and he was more than happy to help. He had thought that the Lilim species was redeemable after his talk with Shinji, the person who he thought could represent the whole race. Though he soon found out that he was just too naïve after the scene that the Second Child had just pulled up against him.
After all, Lilim was mainly manipulative and untrustworthy.
Perhaps that was why he felt a tinge of anger in his chest when he heard the blood lusted screams of Unit 02's pilot as the crimson Evangelion shot downwards towards him and Unit 03, its progressive knife in hand.
"Angel boy, you bastard!" Asuka screamed, lurching her EVA forward to reach out to the black EVA, holding the progressive knife at hand. The black Unit 03 quickly came in front of Kaworu in a position to defend him.
"Pilot Soryu, this isn't going to work." The Angel spoke, hovering off to the side of the two EVAs as not to get in their way of fighting.
With a roar of rage, Asuka lunged her knife forward to pierce through his small and frail body. She cursed as the tip of the blade was blocked by a semi-transparent octangular wall just before it was about to make contact. "Damn it, why is this stupid AT-Field so hard to breach!"
"Is that what you Lilim call it?" Kaworu smirked, looking up at the red EVA that towered over him. "An AT-Field...is the light of your soul. All living creatures have one, though only the Angels and Evangelions are able to generate ones so strong."
"I don't know what you're talking about, but I know I'm gonna kill you!" Screaming, Asuka brought the prog knife down again, just to be blocked by Unit 03 again with its own knife.
"Why are you so persistent?" Kaworu said. "What is it that you want, Pilot Soryu? My offer should be more than enough for you."
"I. Want. Shinji. BACK!" Asuka screamed as she willed Unit 02 sprang off the wall using its legs and leap towards the enemy. However, Unit 03 seemed to be calmer than Asuka who was in an agitated state. The black EVA Unit delivered a sidekick just at the right time, sending Unit 02 to the side and smacked on the wall.
"Is that all you want? Lilim are indeed unfathomable." He shook his head. "Such a fragile, yet strong heart…"
Kaworu exhaled as he watched the fight continue. As they approached lower levels of Central Dogma, the feeling of the presence of his kin grew stronger as well.
As the two EVAs reached the end of their descent, Kaworu looked around to see that the Central Dogma was covered in a strange white substance that he could very well recognize as the condensation of LCL. This likely meant that he was getting very close to his kin.
Smashing hard into the bottom level of Central Dogma, Unit 02 and 03 forced themselves back to their feet from their imbalanced state. Through the monitors, Asuka could see that she was still hanging onto her prog knife. Unfortunately, Unit 03 still had its own knife as well. As she lifted the crimson EVA onto its feet, she could see the Angel floating away from the EVAs and making his way further into Central Dogma.
Asuka cried a battle cry and willed her EVA dash forward, just to be toppled over by the black Unit 03. Utilizing the moment of its imbalance state, Unit 03 brought both of its knives down onto the back of the crimson EVA.
Utilizing her moment of distraction, Unit 03 lunged at Unit 02 and tackled it down to the ground.
"Ahhh!" Asuka screamed in pain, her sync rate was too high to mediate the sensations. Unit 03 wasted no time and began a series of vicious attacks. Asuka tried her best to dodge the potentially lethal attacks, though she knew she couldn't last longer – not to mention Kaworu was getting away from her as well.
Muttering all of her strength, Asuka screamed in desperation.
"STUPID-SHINJI! DO SOMETHING! ANYTHING!"
Inside the Evangelion chamber, Unit 01's eyes glowed.
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Farther into the depths of Central Dogma, Kaworu approached the final gate separating him from Adam. "Hello, Adam." He said as he came close to the giant white, masked humanoid before him. "I have finally retur-" He stopped in his tracks as he carefully examined the giant creature. The field of presence that the creature was radiating was indeed Angelic, however, it was different from Adam - in fact, it could be said as polar opposite. "Lilith?"
Suddenly it all came together as he gazed at the giant figure mounted to the blood-red cross. He had thought that he was the one manipulating SEELE by agreeing to their plans and so on, so that ultimately he could reunite with Adam with minimum resistance. Now it seemed like he was actually the one being manipulated this entire time, and sent into a deathtrap for whatever reasons SEELE had.
He had thought the Lilim were easy to manipulate. Now it seemed like nearly everyone he had met was manipulating him.
The smirk on his face faded, replaced by a distorted scowl.
Slowly, Kaworu floated back to the battlefield of Unit 02 and Unit 03. Looking down at the severely damaged form of Unit 02, the Angel of Free Will cracked an evil grin. "Hello, Second Child." Speaking, Kaworu made Unit 03 stopped its attacks with a snap of fingers. Seeing the odd scene, Asuka hastily stood back to her feet and entered a combat stance. "I think I've finally reached a conclusion about you Lilim."
"I want you to shut up!" Asuka cried, lurching at the floating boy again with the knife in her hand. Though to no avail as she still couldn't neutralize his AT-Field.
"Save your breaths, Second Child. I just want you to know that…" His grin widened. "That you Lilim are irredeemable, ugly creatures. I shall purge your kind from the face of the planet."
"Over my dead body!" Asuka shrieked.
"Your suggestion is accepted." Kaworu replied. Asuka raised an eyebrow in surprise – perhaps it was because of the matter-of-fact tone he was using, or maybe it was his intensely glowing red eyes.
Scowling slightly, Kaworu mustered all of the strength to expand his AT-Field. The entire chamber shook as a brilliant white light exploded, after that, everything went dark.
"Major Katsuragi!" Makoto called out in a panicked voice as his screen turned completely black. "The Angel has just generated the strongest AT-Field I've ever seen! It has blocked out everything and shut down our facilities!"
"Damn it!" Misato stomped her boot onto the ground, gritting her teeth. "Initiate self-destruct sequence! There's nothing we can do right now!"
"I can't!" The technician replied frantically. "The electricity is out as well!"
Misato let out a gasp, feeling her heart had just skipped a beat. "Then that means it's all up to Asuka now. There's nothing we can do."
Soon the redhead found herself restraint on the ground with her back downward, unable to move an inch despite the incredible power the Evangelions possessed. Looking up at the last Angel, Asuka gritted her teeth. No matter how hard it was for her to admit, she stood no chance of winning against him, not to mention the motionless Unit 03 standing beside her could reactivate at any time.
"Now, I'll start from you…" Kaworu raised his hand and started applying more pressure. Asuka felt her whole body being crushed to a thin sheet as Unit 02 struggled against the powerful AT-Filed, its armor denting and creaking.
Asuka closed her eyes.
"Kaworu!" A voice echoed from above. Wide-eyed, the Angel rose his eyes up and watched as another Evangelion dove towards him, releasing the pressure on the AT-Field. "Shinji?"
"Get your damned hands off her!" Shinji intervened as Unit 01 made an impactful landing on the ground. "Let her go!"
Kaworu narrowed his eyes; with a wave of the hand, Unit 03 was reactivated. "I'm sorry, Shinji. But all born from Adam must return to Adam. If the only way to achieve so is to wipe out the entire humanity, I have no choice but to proceed."
Shinji didn't even try to argue. He knew anything would be in vain at this stage. "Asuka? Asuka are you alright?!"
"Why does she mean so much to you? Are all Lilim so-"
He was cut off as Unit 02's fist sent him flying away across the Central Dogma.
"Ouch."
"Ha! Eat THAT!" Came the excited redheaded exclaim. "I'm fine, Shinji! Let's just get this over with!" Even though she thought she should be jumping in exuberance that Shinji somehow came back, Asuka knew the priority was to take out the Angel right now.
"I'm tired of these games," Kaworu growled, expanding his AT-Field again. Unit 01 uncurled its own field as well, clashing against Kaworu's and Unit 03's.
"Asuka! Can you hold off Unit 03?" Shinji shouted into the microphone. "I'll deal with Kaworu!"
"I'll do my best!"
"Stop wasting your time and accept fate." Kaworu returned floating in the air. "I'll just-Huh?" He trailed off as he felt another powerful AT-Field clashing against him. Following the direction of the source and raising his head to look at the ceiling, Kaworu's grin disappeared as he recognized the source of the invader. "First Child."
Though the presence of Rei Ayanami went unnoticed by the Second Child; Shinji stopped himself from calling out her name, seeing that Asuka wasn't aware of her as she focused on fighting Unit 03.
With Kaworu distracted, Unit 03's attacks went powerless and its speed slowed down. Asuka took the chance and delivered a lethal attack on its shining core, shattering it with all of her might.
"Congratulations, Second and the Third Child." The Angel's voice muttered from the speakers, coming out in static as they started to short circuit. "You've beaten me."
Asuka willed her EVA rushing forward and coming up in front of the final Angel. "Now I've got you!" She exclaimed, grabbing the Angel with her hand again.
Kaworu let out a resigned sigh. He still had something to say. Maybe he could play a mind game with her, considering-
CRUSH
"The seventeenth Angel is neutralized," Asuka watched the bloody pulp on her EVA's hand with loath, feeling the fleshy sensation through the neural connections.
"…Asuka! Thank God! The communication system was jammed, and Unit 01 suddenly went berserk. Shinji came out of nowhere as well. we thought…" Misato's worried voice came through the speakers. "…Anyway, I'm just glad that both of you are okay. Now, can you head back to the EVA cages by yourselves?"
"Yeah, we'll be there in a minute," Asuka said before shutting off the comm channel to the command deck and opening an encrypted channel to Unit 01. "Shinji."
"Asuka…"
"Shinji…I'm so happy that you came back to me. I don't know what happened to you when you're inside Unit 01, but it's your presence that matters. But...I need an answer. I really do. Please be honest with me, alright?"
"Okay," Shinji replied. "Let's go home first, alright?"
…
Several hours later, a loud BANG of door slamming could be heard from hundreds of yards of distance away from the Katsuragi residence.
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AN: Special Thanks to SheriffJohnStone, skyf0x, BeyondtheDarkside101, ripvanvincl, calborghete, fonte20nit, bandiras2, huginho48, and two Guests' reviews!