Authors note: This chapters going to be like the last one, that being it's mainly just to steer the story into the direction I have planned. A direction I hope doesnt ruin the story for you, but its the only way I could think to end it the way I want. Also I want to say that this is already about halfway through the story, as I don't think I can really make this story longer than I have planned, you see I had always intended for this story to not be very short but not exactly long, anyways, onto the chapter.
Disclaimer: Wait um, No, Nope, still dont own NGE
The impromptu group followed as Dr Akagi let them into Terminal Dogma, all walking in silence. Misato was behind her friend, keeping a steady pace, Kaji walking beside the purple headed woman. Shinji and Rei kept up in the back, Shinji holding her hand, as she firmly grasped it. The gray halls seemingly became darker the further they they reached a large set of metal door with no handles. On the side of it was a card scanner with a small red light above.
Ritsuko pulled out her keycard and swiped it through the scanner, causing the light to flash green. The doors then slid open to reveal a platform in a larger chamber. Walking in they all saw the contents of it. In the middle of the chamber, situated above an enormous lake of orange liquid where a battle ship floated, was a large red structure in the shape of a cross. On it was a giant white figure slumped against it as its hands were nailed into the cross, its legs were missing, and in its place flowed a stream of orange liquid, on its head was a purple mask with a triangle and seven eyes. A large red rod that twisted along its handle was protruding from its chest.
"This is Lilith, the heart of the Geofront,'' Dr Akagi announced as she gestured to it. Misato looked at the giant, the image of another giant that was made of light flashing through her mind. Kaji looked on at the figure, he had seen it before, but he had only taken a moment before he fled the scene, this time he noted the mask and its similarities to the symbol of another group. Rei took a glance and looked away from the being, holding on tightly to her lover's hand, while Shinji stood in bewilderment at the sheer size of it, it being larger than the eva's.
"This is the only known source of LCL, making it invaluable to us… Come on, there's more" She then pointed out a catwalk that ran along the wall. They continued to follow her as she led them across it, a few of them taking occasional second glances at Lilith as it stood ominously and unmoving.
There was another metal door, which Dr Akagi wasted no time in unlocking, opening it into another dark hallway. They walked through it as their guide then went ahead through a door frame, revealing another catwalk, overlooking a deep dark pit. As they all entered, the Dr went to a lever and flipped, causing a set of lights to flash, revealing the bottom of the pit.
A pile of giant skeletons, none of them resembling anything human.
"What is-" Misato started, but Ritsuko cut her off.
"The Evangelion graveyard," She said nonchalantly.
"But why are there actual skeletons?" Kaji asked as he peered into the pit.
"The Evangelion is a multitool cyborg, a cyborg being an organism that is composed of both organic and biomechanical material. It took years before we were able to actually create an Evangelion, this is where all the organic material of the failures went…" She told them, no hint of emotion in her voice.
Rei stood close to Shinji as they looked at the grave pile, her discomfort only growing.
"I do not like it here, Shinji" She wispered to him
"I know Rei, but lets just get this over with, I'll be with you along the way" He wispered back before giving her hand a reassuring squeeze.
"Something wrong Rei?" Misato asked as she saw Rei looking uncomfortable.
"I do not like this place" She told the woman
"Me either" She reponded.
Dr Akagi wordlessly continued onward, prompting the rest of them to follow her as they left the room undisturbed.
The next room they entered was a large laboratory, seeming unused for a while, as there was dust on some of the equipment and grime on carrying counters.
"This is the original lab that they used back before Nerv was established, when it was Gehirn. Even then, Seele was pulling the strings, they are the reason this was all able to happen, because they wanted it too'' the other looked around the room, seeing notes and such scattered across tables, various diagrams, numbers, and other technobabble. Some of which Kaji picked up and skimmed through, before raising an eyebrow at the Doctor.
"This is where they found out how they could create a weapon capable of combating the angels. As at the time, only the angels were able to create an Absolute Terror field. So how did they make a cyborg that was also able to create an A.T field to combat them? Simple, they cloned the DNA of Adam, and used it to create the Eva's" She explained as she started walking through the lab grabbing a small rectangular object from one of the tables.
"It was so successful in cloning that some scientist started to wonder if they could do the same for humans" Rei's grip on Shinji tightened, "But nobody had ever actually considered trying, until one day when the newly instated commander of Nerv decided to do so"
At that Kaji and Misato had become more intrigued, while Rei grew more uncomfortable. Shinji trying to comfort her.
"You see, with the death of his wife Yui Ikari in a contact experiment with unit 01, the man in his grief became desperate, turning to the best scientist he had on hand, they tried to clone her. Unfortunately there wasn't enough of her DNA left to successfully do so. So they tried using a substitute of angel dna" Both the other adults eyes widened as they understood what she was saying.
"Rather than use Adam's DNA, they decided to use another angel, one whose DNA resembled that of a human, Lilith. They did this in hopes they would be able to work together and create a body. But problems arose when the angels DNA started to replicate into Yui's, effectively destroying it and turning it into the angels. Overall the clone had so little of the original human DNA, that they had to use some from other donors, hardly a clone. Even if it was a perfect cloned body, it would only be that, a body, no mind or memories. Something that enraged the Commander. However, they didn't account for this creation being able to have it's own sentience" Now their jaws were agape.
"You mean to tell us…" Kaji began, to which Ritsuko nodded.
"Yes, they had created a living angel in a human body, this is where it was made and kept" She said as they then entered a room, which resembled a poor apartment, the only thing in it being a metal frame bed with various machines surrounding it. Rei started to tremble, causing Shinji to wrap his arms around her.
Both Kaji and Misato thought it was deplorable for anything to have lived here in conditions like these.
"What did they do with it?" Misato asked as she considered what an angel hybrid would be used for.
"When Seele heard of it, they decided that since the original experiment was a failure, they would use it for another purpose. This project was headed by one Dr. Naoko Akagi" She told them, to which Misato gasped.
"Isn't that-"
"My mother…" Ritsuko finished, Misato vaguely remembered meeting the woman once, she looked exactly like her daughter, only she had fluffy brown hair, she recalls that she very much did not like the drunkard woman.
She then continued through the final door, behind it was a pitch black room. An eerily soft hum of electronics could be heard emanated from in the room.
"The project's goal was to use this angel and weaponize it. They went about this by trying to create the perfect Eva pilot, one that was unfeeling and only followed orders, they titled it, Project Ayanami" She pulled out the device she picked up earlier, showing it to be a remote and pressed a button on it.
The room lit up, showing off the contents. The far wall was made of glass to reveal a tank. It was filled with orange liquid, and floating inside of it was dozens upon dozens of nude bodies, each one resembling Rei. Unlike the real one though, they had feral-like expressions as their eyes turned to look at the people in the room.
Kaji and Misato had both gasped and took a step back as they tried to understand what they were seeing. Misato turned to look at Shinji, who was comforting Rei by holding her into his chest as she trembled.
"What are these?" Kaji was the first to ask.
"Clones of course, why would they risk losing their perfect little pilot, this way it doesn't matter whether she's killed or not, they can always just replace her" She replied, getting a glare from Shinji at the way she spoke of Rei.
"W-why are they looking at us like that?" Misato asked, slightly nervous as she saw the way the clone's eyes followed her.
"They aren't activated per se, so they don't have sentience or anything other than survival instincts. What they see in you is prey" She explained causing her friend to grimace.
"Prey?"
"If you were to say, fall into that tank, they would most likely tear your flesh from your body" She told her casually.
"O-oh. So you mean to say Rei isn't…" Misato trailed off as she looked at Shinji who was holding Rei as she buried her head into his chest, trembling nearly on the verge of tears.
"No, she isn't human, at least not really," She continued.
"And why does that matter?" Shinji spoke up as he looked at them.
"So what if she's an angel, it's not like she has tried to kill anyone like the other ones, and she isn't unfeeling either... She's still a peron" He spoke with clear conviction, defending the person he loved.
"Shinji, it truly doesn't bother you that she is made of Lilith's DNA, some random donor, and the rest is your own mothers? By most people's standards, she would be considered a freak, a monster" Dr Akagi told him, only for the boy to scowl.
"Well she isn't Lilith, and she isn't Yui Ikari either, she's Rei Ayanami, and as far as i'm concerned, the only monsters here are the ones who did all this" He said without missing a beat. The scene alone made Misato think that maybe despite her not being a full human, Rei is still a person through and through, no matter how uncomfortable she felt about it, but whether she could truster her... Kaji meanwhile watched with a little admiration for Shinji, though he didn't think Rei should be exactly spurned, he welt more wary than he had been. But he also didn't realise that Shinji seemed to have matured more since the last time they talked, he couldn't see the old Shinji ever speaking with such assured confidence, even if Rei wasn't really human, he couldn't deny that Shinji was right. Or at least he hoped so.
"Your absolutely correct Shinji, the people responsible for this are nothing but monsters" Ritsuko said with a sad smile, then looked at the tank of clones, 'Like me'
"You know...I could destroy all of these puppets right now if I wanted to..." She told them.
"Why don't you" Misato asked, as she wouldn't mind if they were destroyed, seeing as how they looked at her like a piece of meat.
"Despite how badly I want to do that, it would do nothing to help us. The Commander would find out if the clones all fell apart into piles of flesh... no we can't do that right now" 'At least not yet' Dr Akagi thought, the urge to turn off the life support and watch them all crumble away nagging at her.
"Besides, we need to think of what our next move is going to be" She continued, changing the subject.
"What do you mean 'our next move'" Misato questioned.
"Your in to deep now. If the Commander catches wind of you learning all this, so will Seele. It wont be hard for them to find out that I've been telling secrets to you, the pilots, and their little spy. No, you four are all stuck with me in this, whether you want to or not, Now we can either try and find a way out and try to live for as ong as we can, or lie around and wait for them to realise what we've done and condemn us" She said with a grim tone as she pulled out a cigarette and lit it.
Silence fell over them again for a while. So much had just happened today, and now they were stuck between a rock and a hardplace.
"Misato, I was thinking of taking Rei out of the geofront for a walk to calm down" Shinji eventually spoke, knowing it would be best to get Rei away from all this, at least for a while.
"Yeah... maybe you two should go while we try to think of something," The woman replied, though she looked at Rei slightly wary.
"Here, take that hallway, there's an elevator that should take you near my office, you should know your way from there" Ritsuko stated as she blew out some smoke.
"Why didn't we take that down here in the first place?" Kaji asked as he shot the faux blond a questioning look.
"Dramatic effect" was the only answer given.
The two teens mostly ignored that as they accompanied Misato down the aforementioned hall. The woman seemed to be slightly uncomfortable as she walked besides them. There was indeed an elevator there. Rei got in first and waited for Shinji as he turned to talk to his current guardian.
"Misato… Im... Im really sorry… about everything, I should've listened to you... and now were in this mess... I'm sorry" he apologised just for her to sigh.
She then walked up to him and pulled him into a hug.
"Shinji this isnt your fault, its probably better that we know the truth now any ways, and as for you and Rei, I get it, you're young and you werent thinking of the consequence... but the important thing is that you're at least trying to make things right" She then smiled.
"Just why did you have to make me a grandma right now, I'm too young to be one" Misato teased, feigning to be upset. Shinji flushed.
"You know, I'm just teasing Shinji," She assured him, as she felt the mood could be lightened just a little bit.
"Yeah, I know," he replied
"But seriously Shinji," She said in a quieter tone.
"With Rei being... you know... do you really believe we should trust her..." Misato continued, slightly shocking the boy.
"Of course I do Misato, I trust Rei completely, and well, you should too" He told her.
"I know Shinji, but well, I just find it hard to do that right now... with knowing what I know now... but if you really trust her..." To which Shinji quickly nodded, "Then... I guess I'll also try to do the same,"
"Okay Misato, but Rei... she wouldn't do anything like you think she would" he said, which caused the woman to hesitate, but nod.
"Well, I guess I'll be here with them for a while" She said while pointing back to the others.
Shinji nodded before joining Rei in the elevator, pressing a button, causing the doors to close as it made its ascent. Misato walked back to the other two adults to discuss what they should do next.
Rei and Shinji were now currently sitting next to each other on the Nerv subway train as it made its way out of the Geofront through a tunnel.
He held her hand as she took deep breaths, trying to calm herself.
"Shinji…" She quietly spoke.
"Yes Rei?" He asked as he turned to her, giving his full attention.
"Did you… did you really me what you said… back there" She asked as she looked at him with shiny eyes.
"Every word…" He told her while gently caressing her face.
"Thank you Shinji" she said as she snuggled into him.
"Of cours Rei, I love you"
"Even though I'm really an angel?" She asked.
"Yes Rei, I've told you before that I don't care about that, I care about you" He then got a grin, "Beside, even if you weren't really one, you would still always be an angel to me" he told her, causing her to shake her head and give a small smile.
"Oh Shinji…" She said with a small laugh.
There was a brief silence.
"How do you feel?" Re looked at him, then thought for a moment.
"Somewhat relieved, but I am also getting hungry" Shinji chuckled at that answer before growing more solemn.
"Rei, I mean, are you scared..." He asked her, causing her to look at him with a tilt of the head.
"Of what?" She asked.
"Well, of everythings thats happened... like finding out your pregnant, and then how Seele and... father are trying to cause the third impact, and I mean, Im scared, so much is happening so fast and I don't know what I can do?" Shinji said, his voice cracking slightly.
"I am worried about us, and the baby, but I believe that everything will turn out for the better in the end Shinji. I'm sure that the others will figure something to do, I know that I will do anything I can to be with you" She told him, offering a small hopeful smile. The fact she sounded so confident, put Shinji's mind at ease, if only a little bit.
"Lets not think about that right now Shinji, I'm sure there's plenty of other things we can do to distract ourselves" She continued.
"Okay, like what?" He said, taking a deep breath.
"What else is on your mind?" She suggested
"Well, I've been thinking a lot, and when this is all over, I was wondering, would you… want to… get married?" He asked her, causing her to look at him with mild surprise.
"But… we're not old enough to get married," She told him.
"Well yeah, I know that, but I mean we're not exactly old enough to be having a baby, and I meant in a few years after everything has calmed down, and when we are old enough, would you want to get married?" He asked with a small blush. Rei gave him a warm smile.
"Of course, I would love to be your wife someday" She then wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him on the lips. They stayed like that for a minute before pulling away, smiling at each other.
"Shinji, would you consider moving in with me?" Rei asked him as her red eyes looked into his red ones.
"Huh? Well I thought that was the plan, I mean, I want to be there with you to make sure everythings alright with you and the baby" He said as he looked at her stomach and put his palm on it.
"That would be ideal," She agreed.
"Do you think it will be a boy, or do you think it's going to be a girl?" He asked her.
"I don't know, but I don't mind, either one would be nice" Rei said, to which Shinji nodded
"Yeah…" He murmured. The transit then came to a stop as the reached the above ground platform.
"Looks like we're here" Shinji mumbled, "Do you wanna go walk around the park for a bit?"
"Yes, I would like that, but if you don't mind, could we stop somewhere to eat first?" She asked.
"Sure" They both stood up and walked out of the train, grabbing each other's hands as they walked off, there minds distanced from the chaos that has been occuring.
Authors Note: Another exposition heavy chapter, but I wanted to get all the important plot stuff out of the way, I'd like it if you told me what you think of the story so far, anyway, thanks for reading.