Just a note: EvaMess was the prototype name. I am *so* open to suggestions.
N/A Productions have, due to popular demand, decided to exclude the generic disclaimer. Word is, Gainax don't care anyway.
Prelude: Regret and the Beginning of the End
I'm sitting backed up against the wall of a desolated building. Around me, the world is in its final state of collapse – the sky is devoid of light and the oceans run red with the blood of the innocent.
What can I say? My intentions were good, from the very start, but somehow along the way what I intended and the actual result diverged unexpectedly. I cannot absolve myself of the deed, nor can I claim full responsibility for what has happened.
Perhaps it would be better for me to start at the beginning, rather than to weight you down now with statements for which you will have little understanding. It has always revolved around the question, or questions that have haunted me these past few years.
--
"Hold one minute, please." stated the operator on the other end of the line.
'It's weird' Shinji thought, 'that they don't ask for identification or anything - anyone could-"
"What?" came an annoyed and coldly familiar voice from the speaker. Having been wrapped up in his own thoughts, Shinji had heard no indication of a transfer over to his father, and he found himself lost for words.
"I'm supposed.. to tell my parent that, that an interview, for ,uhm, 'advanced vocational education' is.. is going to be held, at school.. I wondered-" But again he found himself cut off by the dismissing tone.
"I've delegated all of that to Katsuragi. You will not bother me with such nonsense in future - I have no time for such trivial concerns. Don't call this number again unless there's an.."
And then the phone went dead, leaving Shinji wondering whether his father had intentionally ended the call, or whether a problem had arisen at Nerv. He would find out soon enough.
--
At around the same time in Central Dogma, decisions were being made whose consequences form the beginnings of our tale.
"Divert all remaining power to maintain the Magi and Central Dogma. Do it! The Magi must be kept functional!" boomed Fuyutsuki to the bridge crews hastily rerouting what circuits remained functional.
Now, while the Magi remained functional as per orders, it must be said that the extent of their computational abilities were severely hampered by the power outage, the radar range of tracking systems, specifically those for the tracking of high-energy signals such as those produced by the Angels, were practically blinded.
So it was that two signals escaped the detection of the Magi's sensor feeds - the Angel, and another sudden surge of energy in one of the abandoned districts to the west of the city centre. So it was the their arrival escaped detection entirely. Or almost.
--
Rei paused mid-step on the second flight of stairs down from her apartment. She was certain that Ikari and Sohryu would be passing by within a few moments, and that they would require her assistance in some capacity. Ikari in particular seemed incapable of maintaining himself sufficiently, and he occasionally required a probe in the right direction. But a feeling, the word itself entirely alien to her, was nagging at the corner of her mind - that something of equal importance was in progress, and that she should know what, though for the life of her she did not. Eventually, the feeling subsided, and resolutely memorising the sensation and dismissing it from her active mind, she hurried to intercept her fellow pilots.
--
The pilots secured in their plugs, and them in turn inserted into their respective Evas, Gendo strode from the command deck to an elevator whose power was being sustained by a large portion of the emergency reserves. Fuyutsuki watched him leave, and hesitated before walking purposely in the Commander's office to glance again at the message a small receiving station within Tokyo-3 had transmitted moments before through Nerv's one remaining communications line.
Readouts printed incessantly from the busied terminal, and the line remained firmly blocked by the unceasing influx of information.
'There will be no alerting Seele of our predicament this time,' mused the sub-commander resignedly, 'a further grudge they will hold against us' - another black mark on their chart of Nerv's increasingly disobedient behaviour.
"But this, this was not entirely expected. The Scrolls spoke of such an occurrence, but even they are subject to error, it was assumed..' But the irony would continue past Ikari's earlier comment.
"Mankind's greatest enemy is man himself" mumbled Fuyutsuki, unconsciously echoing his former pupil. "So it's only right that as the eighteenth angel, it should be members of our own species that will prophetically end the Evangelion project - one way or another. And if the reports are to be believed, they just arrived."
To Be Continued
