Chapter 22: Bindings Broken
The first great disease of such colonialism is to take advantage of a tragic situation, such as an environmental disaster or the aftermath of a war. Our situation, one of a downward spiral after the horrors of Second Impact, the depredations of Brazil and the DRC and Pakistan, and most recently the two battles in Japan, is one where we are breathtakingly vulnerable. And now, this seeming 'savior', Mr. Theisman, has offered us as a golden apple to a 'Reality' perhaps even more terrifying than what our world has experienced thus far. Can we truly trust these outsiders, and the organizations that sympathize with them, to protect us from what is out there, when we haven't even figured out our own problems?
- 'To Stand Apart', taken from Post 4
Infinity Box, September 11th, 2016, 0826 Hours
In a space removed from the main area which Dhamadren and Kyoko Zeppelin-Soryu occupied, Misato, Ritsuko, Daniel, and the Children looked intently at a rectangular holographic table that took a commanding position in the center of the room. A few centimeters above it, a map of an area of Japan, the portion covered in the crimson crystals of Corite, slowly spun as labels, denoting the locations of the MP-Evas, the Units of the Numberless Children, and Lilith itself floated above the center of the circle of blood-red gemstones.
"The targets are all clustered here in the center of Tokyo-3, right inside the former Geofront." Ritsuko began. "That makes things fairly easy. What complicates things is that whoever goes has to make a 25-kilometer trek there and back again, whilst carrying whatever we can out of there under the interference of the active Corite."
"Our drone scans, what little we could get from having to avoid the gravitational waves and other forms of interference, both physical and Pneumaic, show that Lilith has grown to about 2.5 times its previous size." Daniel said as the holotable zoomed in to show the somewhat fuzzy picture of the massive white form of Lilith, surrounded by the comparative white stars of the MP-Evas and the far more colorful Units the Numberless Children piloted.
"You could have mentioned the several kilometers deep hole in the center of the city we'll have to get in and out of." Asuka interjected, looking into the now open Geofront to peer at their targets. "Does that go all the way to Terminal Dogma?"
"That it does." Misato replied with a sympathetic grimace. "All 3 kilometers that you, and your cargo, will have to get back out of before you start heading for home."
"And what, exactly, will we be extricating from these depths, Commander?" Kaworu asked.
"The priorities are Eleanor and Rei, and the Evangelions designated Unit-05, Unit-06, and Unit-07." Misato replied. "We don't have the time or the bodies to move the MP-Evas, and I doubt that SEELE will be more able than we are to go and extract them anytime soon, what with the interference. As for Unit-03 and Unit-04, if you can somehow find them, good. If not, then it's a regrettable loss."
"SEELE's out of the game anyways. They blew their shot with the Numberless kids and the rest of the MP-Evas." Toji said with a shrug. "Why are we still worrying about the guys?"
"Because when 12 men can mobilize the armies of two nations to attack an allied third and call in an N2 strike in the center of the city, you stop worrying once they're either captured or dead." Ritsuko said in a serious tone.
"But that's not what we're worrying about right now." Daniel said after a moment's uncomfortable silence. "The Evas and Titans that are going on this mission are Eva Unit-01 and the two FT Units. They're our only functioning Units, after all, and we only have to worry about shouldering three other Eva-scale loads."
"How is Eva Unit-01 supposed to carry a Unit?" Shinji asked, a puzzled look on his face.
"The engineering teams at Matsushiro have been working almost nonstop to remove Eva Unit-01's shoulder pylons so that you can accommodate another Unit thrown over your shoulder." Daniel replied. "They're off now, and shouldn't be an issue anymore. The only great loss will be your Prog knives, but we likely won't need them for this mission."
"And I'm sure we're at least somewhat guaranteed that Mrs. Ikari won't fly off the handle without a very good reason." Misato interjected with a slight grin in Shinji's direction.
Shinji smiled slightly. "I'm sure I can convince Mother to stay calm while we're doing our job." he said wryly.
A quiet chuckle rippled through the room, lightening the mood for a moment before it died down. As it did, a particularly grim look settled on Misato's face.
Hikari was the first to pick up on this rather dramatic change in mood. "What is it, Ms. Misato?" she asked tentatively.
It was silent for a moment as the tense atmosphere of before returned in force. Then, Misato sighed. "Well, kids…" she began, then paused again. "After we've completed this mission today, NERV will no longer exist."
The eyes of all the Children widened as the adults in the room grew sorrowful looks of one degree or another. "What?" Shinji said almost numbly. "How? Why?"
"I had a… rather bracing talk with the head of the UN and members of the Japanese government yesterday." Misato began. "Basically, what it boils down to is the fact that public backlash against NERV has built to such a degree that NERV-2 in Germany got shut down only a few weeks ago. We were on the chopping block too, before I convinced them to let us have this one last hurrah."
"But who will keep an eye on SEELE, then?" Hikari piped up. "As Doctor Akagi stated, they're still nominally at large. And that doesn't even account for anything else that might decide to… to barge in on our world that's bigger than any military unit can handle on their own."
Misato put up a hand to forestall the other Children's protestations. "I know. It's been a subject of a lot of thought over the past day. You're entirely right, there does need to be someone to act as a shield against massive-scale threats. We've had the Angels, We have SEELE and who knows how many other tricks up their sleeves, and we have anyone who might barge in on us from beyond our universe."
Misato smiled slightly as she continued. "NERV won't be there. But something else will be."
The Children stilled, their eyes widening again. "You mean…" Asuka said slowly.
"Yes." Misato replied, that sure smile that everyone knew growing on her face. "I'm planning on creating a new organization. Free from the baggage that NERV carries, ready for the future. The only thing is, in order to make it fly with the UN and the other nations…" she paused as her smile shrunk somewhat. "We'll need to make a devil's bargain."
"Oh?" Toji asked with an arched eyebrow. "And what would that be? Cause the way you phrased it doesn't sound good at all."
"Currently, we are the only people in the world that are able to do anything on an Eva scale." Misato began. "The other nations of the world will always fear someone with that sort of monopoly. So, what we'll do is-"
"Release the schematics for the Frame Titans to the other nations." Kaworu surmised with an arched eyebrow. "A bold move. But they will need LCL to create the Frame Titans. Which, again, only we have, and in limited amounts."
"Part of that trade is the schematics for synthetic LCL that I, Maya, and Izalith worked on." Ritsuko interjected. "And we have enough merchants waiting at the doorstep of this Echo, or so Daniel tells us, that finding the necessary components to begin production, a list of which we'll also provide, will be almost trivially easy."
The room was quiet for a moment as the Children processed this silently. Then, Asuka puffed her cheeks for a moment. "That's… ballsy, Misato. I'll give you that. But if it works…" a grin tugged at a corner of her mouth as she scoffed softly. "It'll keep us busy, that's for sure."
The others nodded, then Shinji's confused expression began to return. "So, how are we going to get Eleanor and Rei out, then? Are they going to ride in one of the Frame Plugs?"
Daniel nodded. "Got it in one, Shinji. I'll transport them, seeing as I can expand the space within my Plug, and I don't have to worry about the extra riders mucking up my synch score."
He paused for a moment. "With that in mind, I can take one more passenger before things get a little cramped. Would one of you who aren't going to be piloting like to come along with me?"
He scanned the room, and his gaze eventually landed on Asuka, who nodded slowly. "As long as you can promise to not make it boring." she said with a small grin.
A grin of Daniel's own appeared. "I can't promise, but I can try."
Misato nodded. "Alright then. The Units are ready and waiting for us at Matsushiro. Let's move out."
"Yes, ma'am." the Children replied, and the group made its way out with all due haste.
. . .
Within Lilith
It had been a long week since Eleanor and Rei had become interned within Lilith. Being incorporeal souls, they had little need for sustenance, though they still pined for the cooking of those they loved on a fairly regular basis. Suriel had become somewhat enamored with their descriptions of Japanese cuisine, and overawed by the truths Eleanor had to tell her about the rest of Reality.
But such explanations could only last so long. And after they had been spoken, attention turned towards other, more presently interesting things.
Eleanor had begun to look into the workings of the vessel of Lilith, spending hours, if not days, trawling the Pneumaic spaces that made the Vessel work. Rei, while somewhat interested by Eleanor's findings and Suriel's scattered recollections concerning them, was more interested in the souls that seemed to fill the massive space within.
After a day of Eleanor and Suriel searching for and finding the access… well, mechanism was the generally accepted term, she had found herself spending more than a little time wandering from soul to soul, peering in for a brief moment to see what their fondest wishes might be.
Far too many of them were simply having an endless amount of sex with who she assumed were some sort of celebrities, but every so often, she found a constructed reality that held her attention for a time.
A man sitting in a warm, comfortable shop, calmly and patiently whittling and sanding at blocks of bright and dark wood, turning them into a variety of catching, inspiring pieces. A woman in a massive kitchen, continuously baking to her heart's content, filling the air with a delicious aroma. Mothers and fathers spending time with their families in a variety of breathtaking locations. Explorers and daredevils pushing the limits of the human frontier.
It was breathtaking, seeing these places, these people, living their dreams and seeming to be truly happy. But, a quiet, sad part of her said, this was only really an illusion. None of these families or groups of friends were truly together. This was an escape. Little more.
She had asked Suriel where all of these souls had come from after one day spent mostly wandering around. She'd replied that a great many of them came relatively recently before the Lance was embedded into Lilith, which Eleanor deduced meant sometime before or during the Impact Wars, or perhaps from the Battle of Tokyo-3. When exactly they came, though, had become a rather trifling thing.
It was during one day which had begun to blend into the rest that she found herself watching a beautiful night sky with a single hiker, providing the woman silent, unseen company.
As she took in the sight, she felt a familiar presence, and the excitement behind the link it established, and couldn't help but find her interest piqued. "Rei," Eleanor said, "come find me. You're going to want to come see this."
Rei's curiosity sufficiently stirred, she departed from the hilly woodland that the woman occupied, finding herself, after a moment's concentration, back in the vast blue ocean depths.
She followed the link to its source, drifting towards Eleanor as her excitement began to build in turn with her adoptive mother's.
Finally, after a few minutes of floating, she came to a stop in front of what Eleanor called the "main access pillar", Eleanor herself floating gently in front of it with her hands placed on its surface, her eyes opening as she turned to Rei with an excited gleam in her eyes, beckoning her with a hand that she took from the pillar. "Here, take a look."
Rei took the proffered hand, and her vision tunneled into darkness for a moment, Frames rushing past the edges of her vision before it became a view of the outside world, and they peered from a crystal on a hillside. Eleanor had found a way to use the transitory crystals as lenses, allowing them to peer out into the world all the way to the boundary of the field of crystals. Most times, the view was a uniform glinting red or empty fields and towns, which had swiftly become boring.
Now, however, a different, far more hope-stirring sight, strode past the hill. Two Titans and an Eva walked calmly through the field of transitory crystals, largely unaffected by the atmosphere and LCL breakdown effects of the crimson gems.
"They're coming." Eleanor said, excitement and hope laced in every word she spoke.
"Yes." Rei replied, sharing that hope. "They are coming indeed." she paused for a moment. "We are able to see them. Are we able to contact them in some way?"
"Not that I've seen thus far." Eleanor admitted. "But there might be some way to make their journey easier. Those gravitic updrafts that have started kicking around are at least annoying and getting in the way, I'm sure. Let's see if we can do something about that."
. . .
Daniel looked at the expanse of almost uniform red crystals as they passed through what must have been a town. They'd wanted to avoid it, try and preserve what was trapped underneath the layer of Corite, but massive gravitic anomalies on either side of the town funneled them through. So now, they tried to walk through carefully, stepping over as many houses as they could, slightly wincing at the rest that they crushed.
He glanced, not for the first time, at a monitor that he'd kept up since he'd activated the Frame Titan and began their march into the metaphorical desert. His synch score sat, steady as a rock, at 105%. Still a little above normal, but far better than it had been before the battle.
As Asuka looked out the viewscreen to her left from the depression that Daniel had made, and maintained with Nynrya's assistance, she noted in the distance one of the anomalies, chunks of Corite suspended in it. "Wonder where that gravity wave picked up that Corite." she said aloud idly.
"Wouldn't be surprised if it picked up some of what we made when we left last week." Daniel replied, looking out to where Asuka gazed for a moment as they finally cleared the town's limits.
It was many minutes longer, having left the town behind with no small amount of relief, before Asuka sighed quietly. "As much as I'd hate to be stereotypical, how much longer do we have to go till we get there?"
"Well, we should be there at just about noon." Daniel replied. "We-"
Suddenly, the world tilted madly to the left, Asuka slamming into the wall of the Frame Plug, then sliding towards the back as the Plug shuddered.
As the Plug went still, Asuka sat up, rubbing at the back of her head. "Ow. Was zur…" she shook her head, looking up to the pilot's seat. "Daniel? Am I dreaming, or did you actually trip on something?"
When no answer came, Asuka's brow furrowed in concern, as two bands of metal appeared, flowing down either side of her spine, and she gently lifted into the air. "Daniel? Are you okay?"
As she reached Daniel, noting the rumbling of the other two Units coming closer and stopping out of sight, she came to float next to Daniel. His eyes were wide, almost bulging, and his mouth opened and shut without a sound coming out.
"Asuka." he said through a sudden link between their souls. "I can't speak. I'm pinned by something massive. Get to the comms and see if Shinji and Kaworu can drag me out."
Asuka's eyes widened for a moment, then became set in determination as she found the console that Daniel directed her to.
"Shinji! Kaworu! See if you can pull Daniel out! We're trapped, probably in the gravitic anomaly's much heavier cousin." she nearly shouted, desperately trying to keep the desperation in her voice from showing.
In Eva Unit-01, Shinji's eyes widened as he took in the sight of FT Unit-00 flat on its back and heard Asuka's words. He and Kaworu had heard the crash that marked FT Unit-00's tumble, turned and saw as the rippling field of… something passed over FT Unit-00, causing him and Kaworu to step back. "Ms. Ritsuko, can you see what's going on?" he said into his link with their headquarters.
Ritsuko looked down at the display that Maya watched, which showed a visual link enhanced by the hastily manufactured and fitted sensor backpack Eva Unit-01 wore, with wide eyes. "The field that Daniel's trapped in appears to be completely covering Unit-00. You likely won't be able to pull him out physically. Use your Interfacing!"
Shinji and Kaworu nodded wordlessly, their Units stepping forward and stretching out their hands as prismatic outlines of their arms began to float towards the anomaly. As they reached the border of the tall dome, now outlined in both the Unit's sights as a purple outline, the Frames slammed to the ground as well, coming down on top of and around FT Unit-00's feet and legs.
"It influences our Frames, too?" Shinji asked incredulously. "Hold on."
After a moment's concentration, the Frame that Shinji had created that had missed Unit-00's leg entirely began to slide across the ground as the one that landed on Unit-00's left leg gripped at it. Kaworu soon followed Shinji's lead, and after a moment, both Units had a grip on FT Unit-00. "Alright," Shinji said to Kaworu, "pull!"
Eva Unit-01 and FT Unit-01 leaned back, struggling with effort as their heels dug into the ground. But FT Unit-00 didn't budge, and alarm grew like a rising flame in Shinji's chest. "It's not working!" Shinji said through gritted teeth. "Pull harder!"
. . .
Within Lilith, Rei and Eleanor watched the situation unfold with growing alarm. "Did you make that anomaly, mother?" Rei asked as Eleanor furrowed her brow in concentration.
"No." Eleanor replied offhandedly. "That must be a recent development. I may not be able to dispel it, but I might be able to… move it…"
With that, Eleanor trailed off and focused, her eyes seeming to dart from one unseen thing to the next with a speed that almost dizzied Rei. Through their connection, she perceived Frames racing past Eleanor's soul, studied for only the briefest of moments before being noted and passed on. "Come on." Eleanor muttered. "Give me something."
Rei watched on uneasily as Eva Unit-01 and FT Unit-01 pulled as hard as they could on FT Unit-00's legs, to seemingly no avail, and as Daniel's Unit began to see its armor slowly denting. "Eleanor…"
"I'm close, I can feel it." Eleanor said. "Let me focus, and…"
It was another silent moment before Eleanor nearly shouted in triumph. "Got it!" she said, as the now glowing anomaly began to move slowly off of FT Unit-00.
As the anomaly passed, and FT Unit-00 began to stand after a moment, Eleanor and Rei both breathed a sigh of relief. "That, I think, was far closer than I would like to admit." Eleanor said as they watched the Units begin to move off again.
Rei nodded wordlessly. "Is there anything else that you might be able to do?" she asked after a moment.
Eleanor thought for a moment. "Well, there might have been something that I passed by in my mad rush to find something to help Daniel with. Let me see."
Rei watched as Eleanor went back through the Frames that she had brushed past, taking more time to inspect them and what they did. Most she passed by, as she had before, but after many minutes, Rei saw Eleanor arch an eyebrow as she stopped and studied a cluster of Frames after a few minutes. "What have you found?" Rei asked quietly.
"Something that'll make our surroundings a little easier to traverse." Eleanor replied. "From what it seems, the atmosphere within the boundary of these transitory crystals has had its oxygen replaced with carbon monoxide. But if I focus on designating a particular area and activate these Frames in sequence…"
Rei watched as the Frames that Eleanor noted flashed in a particular sequence before glowing dimly. "I can change the atmospheric makeup." Eleanor finished with a note of pride. As she furrowed her brow and got to work, she muttered to herself softly. "Now, what was the chemical balance again…"
. . .
On the move again, Daniel took another deep, appreciated breath as he glanced again at the map of the Corite zone and the clock in turn. Last he checked, it was 11:23, and they were approaching the city limits of Tokyo-3.
It felt strange, to enter the city he had lived in, fought and bled for, not as a savior, but merely as an intruder, taking the sort of path that he remembered the Angels taking to come towards them. The streets were still familiar, wide and flanked by low buildings, steadily getting taller as they moved further into the city.
As they walked slowly, almost reverently, through the city, Eva Unit-01 came to a stop in front of a familiarly shaped building, covered in glittering crimson. After a moment to survey his surroundings, Shinji opened up a link to the other Units as they came to a somewhat confused stop beside him. "Guys…" he said, melancholy in his voice. "We're home."
"I'm somewhat surprised it even survived what happened that night." Kaworu said wonderingly. "That means…"
"There's a chance we can come home." Daniel said. "Someday."
They all simply stood there for a moment afterwards, looking down at a home that was so close, and yet seemed impossibly far away.
"Someday, pilots." Misato said. "But not today. Let's keep going. And don't crush my car, if you can avoid it."
A chuckle rippled through the commlink as they moved on, carefully skirting around the parking lot of their apartment. As they moved closer and closer to the center of the city, they saw what appeared to be the surface of the Geofront, peeled up in four triangular sections and reaching into the sky easily four or five times their height as they approached one of the gaps.
They reached the edge of the Geofront, and looked down into the depths, the air below a certain point tinged slightly blue, as they spotted Lilith easily, the other Units only taking a little longer to find scattered about. As they paused, Rutsuko's voice cut in. "Shinji, your sensor package is picking up another atmosphere down there. Preliminary reports say that there's oxygen down there, but you'll have to climb down to make sure of it."
As Daniel heard this, he smiled slightly. "Eleanor." he said softly. "Thank you for making this a little easier, baby."
"Alright." Shinji replied as he stepped into thin air, wings and a harness of glowing solidified sound forming around Eva Unit-01's body. "Descending now."
One by one, the Units fell gently into the depths of what had been the last line of defense against the Angels. As they watched them float down, passing through the ephemeral barrier, Ritsuko and Maya intently studied the readouts from Shinji's sensor suite. The new atmosphere they had entered was a little heavy on the oxygen and a little light on nitrogen, but it was nominally breathable.
Finally, after minutes of descent, the trio touched down on a thick layer of Corite that covered the lake of LCL. As they surveyed the situation, finding Lilith lying beside 4 of the MP-Evas and the three Units they had come for, Daniel had an idea. "Ritsuko," he said casually, "how deep is the LCL lake in Terminal Dogma?"
"Past the crucifix we had Lilith on?" Ritsuko replied. "At least a few kilometers deeper. You could probably fit several Units on each other's shoulders in it and still not reach the top. Why do you ask?"
"If there was a way to safely extract it from here, put it into the tanks at Matsushiro…" Daniel said, trailing off suggestively.
"We'd have enough LCL for dozens of Frame Titans." Ritsuko finished. "A very good idea. But one for another time. Put a pin in it, and we'll come back to it. And for the other cores."
"Will do." Daniel replied, a quirked eyebrow the only sign that he was waiting for an explanation that never came, walking to the artificial shore as FT Unit-01 put his hand over the prone form of Lilith and Eva Unit-01 gently picked up Unit-06. FT Unit-00 stretched out a hand, and Daniel activated his Interfacing, a pillar of bright blue fading into a deep cerulean growing from the ground to about the height of the Unit's knee. Then, Daniel activated the crystal, and the deep red Corite began to slowly dissolve away, leaving a circle about 40 meters in diameter of clear white floor.
"There we go." Daniel said after a moment with no small amount of satisfaction. "We have a jumping-off point in case we want to come back."
Before Ritsuko could reply, Kaworu appeared on a panel to Daniel's right, and gave a pointed cough. "I'm ready for you to enter Lilith whenever you are." he said, a ghost of a smile on his face.
Daniel nodded as FT Unit-00 turned and walked over to Lilith, taking care as he walked onto the Corite even though it had proven itself capable of standing up to their weight on it. As he came to a stop, he pressed a few buttons on his console, the arms that encircled him on either side sliding into the control bank as he lifted it off him to rest at an angle, stepping out of the seat and looking at the area that now was outlined by a prismatic glow.
He took a deep breath. "Alright. Here goes nothing." he muttered as he reached out a hand, focussing on an Expression as a line of interlinked stars came into existence, one by one, over his hand, the process mirrored many meters below inside the perimeter and beside where he stood on the wall of the Frame Plug.
After the Expression had been completed to his satisfaction, he placed a finger on top of the Control Surface in his hand, and pressed down gently, the line of stars becoming two lines, then an oval portal, as the oval beside him opened up into the perimeter outside.
He looked over at Asuka with a questioning glance. "Do you want to come?"
Asuka nodded. "Uh, yeah." she said as she stepped over the piloting chair. "That's the whole reason I came along in the first place."
Daniel nodded slowly as he looked around the Frame Plug. "Alright then. Let's see…" after a moment of looking around, he chose a spot on top of the headrest, and set the Control Surface down on it. "Let me just link it up to the Frame Plug, and… done."
Daniel then stepped through the portal onto the porcelain skin of Lilith, then turned and stretched a hand back through the portal. "Shall we, my dear Jünger?" he said with a wry smile.
Asuka took the hand daintily and stepped over the threshold. "Why of course, good Bruder." she replied as she rolled her eyes and smiled slightly.
Daniel chuckled, then his smile dimmed. "Alright, we'll be going in by transforming into Metos and infiltrating past the Doors of Guf that way." he said seriously.
Asuka snorted as Daniel closed his eyes and concentrated. "Doors of Guf." she said derisively. "That still cra-"
The rest of her sentence wasn't heard aloud, as the pair dissolved into a constellation that slowly sank into the skin of Lilith, past the physical realm it occupied and into the Pneumaic realm it contained.
"-cks me up." Asuka finished, then blinked as she looked around the vast blue ocean with a white sand floor. "Wow. This feels… weird."
A memory of the show forcing its way up into her mind as she let go of Daniel's hand, she looked down to ensure that she was not, in fact, naked. She found herself quite relieved to see that she was still wearing her t-shirt and jeans, and looked over to see Daniel in his plugsuit, now a mirror image of the starfield that played across the armor of FT Unit-00. "Oh, good. We didn't get disrobed this time." she said, not quite able to keep the relief from her voice.
Daniel chuckled. "No, thank goodness." he replied. "Now, if what Rei told us about this place is true, then the most likely place to go is straight back."
"Well, then," Asuka said as she began to march forward, not caring to wait for Daniel, "let's not waste any more time then."
. . .
Eleanor and Rei rose from the main access pillar, looking at each other with radiant hope and joy.
"Alright then, let's go." Eleanor said with a smile on her face as she took Rei's hand. Rei simply nodded as she smiled as well, and they turned to the horizon in front of the pillar.
As they turned, Rei looked over at Suriel, who stood only a little ways away, and her smile faltered. She could see in Suriel's eyes open, utter envy.
"Someone has come for you." she said quietly, her voice tinged in sadness. "I guess… this is farewell."
Eleanor looked over as well, then released Rei's hand as she walked calmly over to Suriel. "Suriel," she said, equally quiet, "this doesn't have to be goodbye. You can come with us."
Suriel looked down and to the side. "And face the consequences of my actions?" she whispered. "See the world I made, that I trampled on with no consideration for Kadmonel?"
Eleanor sighed patiently. "Perhaps you'll see that. But you'll also see a beautiful place, full of light and joy as much as it is full of strife and sorrow. A world that we cherish, all because you gave humanity the chance to experience it."
She paused for a moment. "Did you enter Lilith with your body intact?"
Suriel nodded. "Such is the function of the transitory crystals, should I will it." she admitted.
Eleanor nodded as a smile, smaller than before, reappeared, and she took Suriel's hand. "Then come and at least meet my husband. If there's anyone who can understand what you're feeling, it's him."
"How can anyone understand what I've done, save for Rei?" Suriel asked somewhat incredulously.
Eleanor shook her head, a sad, knowing look in her eyes. "Trust me. He'll understand."
It was a silent moment longer, then Suriel slowly nodded. "Very well." she said, as she looked around the deep blue water and white sands as though she were leaving for the last time. "I'll come along."
Eleanor's smile brightened slightly as she let go of Suriel's hand, and looked over at Rei. "Then let's not waste any more time, shall we?"
And so, the trio walked away from the beginning of the world, back towards the future. It was a calm, contemplative walk, with little in the way of conversation. They simply took in the sights around them, drinking in what some of them hoped would be their last sight of the place.
Then, in the distance, two dots appeared. As they grew closer, one of them sped up. Rei's eyes widened and a smile grew on her face as she saw the dot resolve into a familiar head of fairy hair, bright blue eyes wide in excitement and relief. "Rei!"
"Asuka!" Rei replied, beginning to run herself, and after a moment, the two girls collided into a hug, spinning a few times, taking each other in as they stopped.
"It's good to see my Wondergirl again." Asuka said softly after a moment, tears in her eyes.
"It's good to see you too, Asuka." Rei replied, and they squeezed each other tight again.
Eleanor and Daniel took their time reaching each other, but when they finally met, Eleanor swept Daniel into a deep kiss, one that seemed to stop time for a moment for the two of them, as they linked their souls together and felt the almost dizzying joy and love and relief they both felt.
As their lips parted, Eleanor smiled slightly. "I knew you wouldn't give up." she whispered.
"Me?" Daniel chuckled. "No one gave up on either of you. Not for a moment."
As they parted from their embrace, Daniel looked over at Suriel. "And who might you be, ma'am?" he said quietly, already knowing the answer through Eleanor.
"I am Suriel." she said quietly, her grey eyes hazy with hesitation as they glanced down and to the side.
Daniel nodded as he stepped over to her. "I see. Rei told me about her first encounter with you."
As he stopped in front of her, he studied her for a moment before extending a hand. "I'm Daniel Theisman. I'm sure my wife has told you at least a little about me. I look forward to getting to know you more fully."
Suriel looked up at him, no small amount of surprise at Daniel's serene expression in her own, then slowly took his hand and shook it. "And I you." she replied slowly.
As the handshake dropped, Asuka, hand in hand with Rei, made her way over to Daniel's side, and looked up at Suriel for a moment, then at Rei. "You know," she said after a moment with a small smile, "I can see where you got some of your face. That nose looks really familiar."
Rei rolled her eyes as she smiled. "Thank you for noticing, Asuka." she said, a hint of sarcasm tinging her voice.
A quiet chuckle rippled through the group, and Daniel shook his head slightly. "Alright. Let's not keep the others waiting."
. . .
Shinji and Kaworu intently watched the spot where Daniel and Asuka had entered, still outlined by the glow of FT Unit-01's raised AT Field. It had been almost a half-hour now, and they had to be getting close.
Within Lilith, as they approached the barrier between the inner realm of the Vessel and the physical world, Daniel turned to look at all of them. "Alright, I'll take us out of here then, if you'll all link hands." he said, as he took Eleanor and Rei's hands.
They stood in a circle as they took each other's hands, and Daniel looked at all of them one by one as he linked his soul to their Frames. As he looked at Eleanor, he smirked slightly. "Now, we'll all sing Kumbaya and the prayer circle will begin." he said through their link, a deadpan tone to his voice.
"Get us out of here, and then you and I can sing all you want later." Eleanor replied, and Daniel nodded slightly as he looked out over the rest of the group one more time.
"Alright. Get ready." he said as he closed his eyes and his brow furrowed in concentration. Then, he became a being of starlight, a constellation spreading and converting the others into the same form, then the ring of pale fire rose up, slowing for a moment as it reached the Doors of Guf, then passing through, leaving behind a vast, empty blue sea.
In the physical world, they emerged and reformed near the portal into Daniel's Frame Plug, Suriel looking around herself with wide eyes. "Are these… the Evangelion?" she said, looking at FT Unit-01 with no small amount of awe.
"Well, one of them is." Asuka replied, waving at Eva Unit-01, who had Eva Unit-06. "Hello, Shinji! We're back!"
After a moment, Eva Unit-01 waved back. "Hello, everyone!" Shinji's voice echoed over the loudspeakers. "I'm glad you all made it back!"
Daniel chuckled as he stepped towards the portal. "Alright, let's get a move on, then. No need to waste any more time here." he swept a hand towards the portal. "Ladies, your carriage awaits. Two to a side, please, and if the ladies that will be on my left would like to step in first, I can get things set up."
Asuka pulled Rei towards the portal. "Alright. We'll go first then."
They made their way over the seat, kneeling down as Daniel stepped in and sat in the pilot's chair, pulling the control rig down and locking it in place, the arms extending from the sides of the console once again to form a loop around him as Eleanor and Suriel stepped in.
The portal disappeared, and the floor that Eleanor and Suriel stood on lowered as they kneeled, clearing the view for Daniel as he connected to the soul that he had left within the Frame Plug. "Thank you for keeping an eye on this for me, Nynrya." he said.
"I'm glad to be able to help more fully." Nynrya replied. "Perhaps you might introduce me to these people that you have had me accommodate for soon."
"Soon, Nynrya." Daniel replied as FT Unit-00 turned and walked towards Eva Unit-07. "Soon."
As FT Unit-01 picked up Eva Unit-07, they all slowly began to ascend out of the depths of Terminal Dogma on wings of starlight and sound and ink, the lifeless Units secured as best they could be by their AT Fields.
As they rose, Rei looked at a screen showing Kaworu's face, a sable split horn mirroring his Unit's not barring the look of utter love in his eyes. "I've missed you so much." he said simply. "I can't wait to kiss you again."
"Neither can I, Kaworu." Rei replied, equally simply.
As they crested the lip of the pit and the Unit's feet all touched solid ground, Daniel glanced around the Plug. "Do any of you mind if I put on some music?" he asked with a slight smile. "I expressly won't promise not to sing along."
Eleanor, Asuka and Rei chuckled, while Suriel seemed confused. "Is this… normal?" she asked Eleanor.
Eleanor smiled. "Oh, yes. For Daniel, at least." she looked over at Daniel. "I don't think we'll hear any complaints from us."
With a grin, Daniel tapped on a display on one of the arms, and after a moment, a twinkling, synthy beat began to play. And as the vocals began, Daniel began to sing with them. His voice was dripping with triumph and relief, seeming to be on top of the mountains in the sky that the song mentioned flying to.
As he sang, Asuka looked over at Rei. "He's been saving this one for you guys." she said in a conspiratorial whisper. "I can figure you know he's had a good day when he starts singing some Kansas."
Rei nodded. "Indeed. I've even learned the words to this one as well. I enjoy that freedom the song suggests and... waxes lyrical about, as it were."
Asuka chuckled softly. "Typical Wondergirl." she said, no bite behind the word as she smiled. She listened for a second before continuing. "The chorus is coming up again. Want to join in?"
Rei's smile widened. "I see no reason not to." she said, excitement and jollity creeping into her voice.
And as the chorus began again, three voices rang through the Frame Plug as the Units marched for home.
"Sail on! Sail on! I will rise each day to meet the dawn. So high, so high. I've climbed the mountains of the sky. Without my wings, you know, I'd surely die. I found my freedom flying high. I've climbed the mountains of the sky!"
. . .
Aboard the Val, September 11th, 1920 Hours
Mariah Marlowe stepped off the platform of the transporter with wide eyes that drank in everything she could find, Mana and Mayumi doing much the same.
She was on a spaceship. A real spaceship! It was the experience of a lifetime, and she wanted to bolt off in a direction and explore, trusting her own senses to lead her to something interesting.
She did, however, keep a cap on such emotions as Daniel led them to the waiting medbay. That didn't mean that she went quietly, however.
"Is there, like, a ship's computer that I can ask? Computer! What about weapons? Does this thing have phasers, or cannons, or something even weirder? What sort of bathrooms does it have, like regular ones or something weird?"
These questions and more she threw to Daniel in a barrage that hardly let him get a word in edgewise, though he did the best he could to answer her questions as they came. Eventually, though, they stepped into the clean white room that was the medbay, and a woman turned around from talking with another woman next to some big tube. She was a pretty sort, reddish hair, green eyes, and freckles, and the woman she talked to was pale, somewhat severe with long black hair and piercing black eyes. Ritsuko and Maya she recognized, who both talked to another girl her age. Had she seen her before? Maybe.
"Hello, Daniel." the one with the green eyes said as she stepped forward and quickly kissed him.
"Hello, love." Daniel replied with a smile on his face as he turned to regard the three Numberless Children.
"This is Eleanor, my wife." he said as he put a hand on her shoulder. "She's our resident Mender, a fixer-upper of machines and people. She'll be overseeing your operation today."
Eleanor waved as she stepped forward and extended a hand. "Nice to meet you. Daniel told me a little about you three on the way back from Tokyo-3. I'll get you back to the way you nominally should be as fast as I can."
Mariah shook the proffered hand firmly. "This isn't going to involve a deep conversation about our feelings, is it? I'm not exactly the best when it comes to dealing with those sorts of things."
Eleanor chuckled as she shook Mana and Mayumi's hands. "No, none of that just yet. Right now, we're going to make sure that those Flux Caps on your Frames come off, and then we'll go from there. Now, if you'll come with me."
As the children walked towards the beds, and Daniel thanked who was apparently called Quelaag, Mariah looked between the tube thing and the new girl. "Two quick questions." she said as she laid down. "What's the tube, and who's the new girl? I don't know if I've seen her before."
Eleanor put a hand on the girl's shoulder. "This is Hikari. She's one of the Pilots and a Mender in training."
Hikari waved as she smiled softly. "Hello. A pleasure to meet you all. Thank you for placing your trust in us." she said quietly.
"And as for the machine," Eleanor continued, "that is a Reconstituter Tank. It uses a special sort of substance to help a soul grow a new body. Very handy. The ship didn't have one, so Daniel is having a few installed just in case."
Mariah nodded as Eleanor walked to her side. "Gotcha." she said, as she felt a cap placed snugly on her head. "What's this, then?"
"This allows me to get into your head and mess around, acting as a sort of lens." Eleanor replied. "Professionally mess around, at least. Heaven knows looking at this they were at amateur level with you, at best. To say nothing of the others."
"So, uh…" Mariah said as she felt… was that the right word? Perceived something in her head as Eleanor began to whisper to Hikari. "Can I watch? If it's possible, of course."
"Sure." Eleanor replied. "One moment."
Then, as she stared up at the ceiling without her glasses, a panel that looked like a computer screen slid into view, hanging impossibly in the air. On the screen was her head, but at the distance the screen was at, it was somewhat blurry.
"Uh, if you might move it a little closer, doc?" she said as she squinted slightly. "As fetching as my glasses are, they aren't just for show."
"Oh, sure." Eleanor replied, and a hand reached out, pulling it closer to her. "There you go."
As the screen stopped moving, Mariah's eyes widened. "Woah…"
She saw herself, obviously. But where the apparently clear cap had been placed on her head, she saw… branches of light, glowing and pulsing and with little motes of color racing back and forth as she thought and saw and wondered.
And, as Eleanor pointed out to Hikari, she could see the dull bulbs that looked almost like tumors of dark shifting color, places where these Frame things were thinner or choppier than the others. And the worst part was… she didn't remember how any of this happened. 'What did they make me?' she thought, her eyes losing focus. 'Am I a… a monster? A freak? What if they can't make this better? What am I really supposed to be?'
She twitched slightly as Eleanor put a hand on her shoulder. "Hey." she said gently. "It's going to be alright. I promise. Everybody I've seen go through this has the sort of thoughts that you're probably thinking right now."
"Can you-" Mariah said before pausing and chuckling. "Well, I guess you can read my mind, in a sense."
Eleanor chuckled softly. "It's a rare privilege." she admitted. "But helping those that need it is always worth it."
As the operations continued, Daniel watched from the door of the medbay for a moment. 'My, but we've broken more than a few chains today, haven't we?' he mused silently. And with how they were going, there would be bigger chains to break too. The chains that SEELE still had on the world, for one.
'And with more pilots, especially ones this excited?' Daniel thought with a chuckle. 'If they didn't stand a chance before, SEELE's toast now.'