This little piece of paper says that I have DAD, with a bit of dyslexi-ooh! Butterfly!

Disclaimer: Because I'm feeling generous, I'm going to make an extra long disclaimer today! All because you people insist on me putting one in, I'm going to torture you with an endless string of legal clauses until you all go insane! Mwahahahaha!

Just kidding. I don't own Eva.

Fourth Impact

Chapter 50: Truths (Finally!)

"Oh, great, I'm here again." Misa muttered as the Angels peered at her. "Look, will you go away? I've died so many times that I think I can handle myself."

"You are not dead." Kyoko told her, pushing past Ramiel and Gaghiel. "Adam has taken over your body."

"Again." Misa added. "I want to stay inside my own body! Is that too much to ask for?"

Several Angels started laughing. She glared at them, understanding where Tabris got his personality from. "Stop laughing at me!"

"Mortals. So attached to the physical body…" Arael shook her head. "You put so much emphasis on your corporeal self. How quaint."

"Well, for some of us that's all we have!" Misa flared. "Not all of us are made of solidified light!"

"There is always more." Ramiel said quietly. "You have no idea how much more you have."

"Then show me, if you're all so wise." Misa demanded. "I want to know what makes it all right that I keep dying and getting sent to all sorts of heavens and hells and little pockets of my own mind."

"Then look." A rip appeared in the air before her, opening to reveal a scene beyond imagination. The rip widened, and the greyness that had surrounded her was replaced by the ultimate chaos. "Take a glimpse at Reality."

Before her lay what could only be described as a battlefield, but one so vast that she could not comprehend the struggle at hand. Beings of every type, humans, Angels, animals, even rocks, trees, stars, the air itself, battled in every contest possible, physical, mental, spiritual, emotional, and categories that Misa could not even think of naming. And everything was changing, shifting, moving. The ground became the sky, became the sea, became the fighters themselves, became a tongue of flame on the tip of a candle, the void between stars, a musical note, a mathematical equation scribbled in the air of a dusty classroom. Blood flowed from stone bridges to pass between a pair of running giants, sprinting simultaneously toward and away from a pile of burning icebergs. A tree hanging from the sky uprooted itself and fell, melting into a stream of ants, which ran together to cover the land in clouds.

Yet to call it change was wrong, for everything was occurring at the same time, the uprooting, the ants, and the clouds all happened at once, the running giants reached their destination at the same instant they started, and the shifting terrain was all possibilities at the same time.

Within, beyond, above, around the battle, Misa glimpsed figures hidden from view, who touched each player and moved them about, often interfering with one another. Even those figures were subject to one another, moving each other about with the same ease as they moved the figures on the field.

Before she could take in any more, she was yanked back into the greyness where the Angels waited.

"I don't understand. What was that?" she asked, scared stiff. She had seen something that no one was supposed to see, the images burned into her mind.

"That was Reality, of which all universes are but shadows." Explained Kyoko. "That is the battlefield upon which Adam and Lillith are based, and which they should be on." Misa blinked, uncomprehending. "But they have created a universe of their own to battle in, the one you inhabit. Their confrontations we know as Impacts."

"Which one is the good one? I mean, at first we were fighting you and Adam, but now Lillith is the one attacking us…" asked Misa. Iruel chuckled softly.

"The sides cannot be categorized by such mortal concepts as 'good' and 'evil.' Even the term 'sides' is inaccurate. The amount of 'sides' in this battle change all the time. Sometimes there are only two, sometimes its everyone for themselves."

"So which side are we on?" asked Misa plaintively. Iruel only smiled.

"Again, it cannot be classified as such. We are controlled by different players at different times. Such it the way of things."

Misa shook her head to clear it. "I don't understand, what was happening out there made no sense! It was impossible! You can't plant trees in the sky, or turn ants into clouds…"

"The rules of physics in your universe are nothing more than just rules, created by the masters of Adam and Lillith to put some meaning to their contest." Iruel told her. "Even matter, energy, time and space are just concepts created to delineate their game." Kyoko nodded. "Furthermore, it appeared that way because you are still alive. Your body prevents you from truly understanding what is happening. It is actually the simplest thing in existence, but your mortality and your presence on the corporeal plane prevents you from seeing it as it should be seen. If you were pure souls on the plane of Reality, then you would understand."

"Is there some way to get Adam and Lillith out of our universe and back into Reality?" Misa asked, seizing a glimmer of hope.

"First, one of them must win, and then an Impact must go to completion." Kyoko explained. "Now go, victory is almost at hand for one of them."

"STOP!" he screamed, flinging himself before Samantha. Adam slowed, her AT field dimming. "Please, don't kill her. I surrender."

Adam paused. "You surrender? What about Lillith? What about Mankind's evolution?"

"I don't care." He said bitterly, taking Samantha into his arms. "I never cared, I only wanted to keep my powers. But it isn't worth this girl's life. I like the way I am, and I like the way we are." He watched warily as Adam approached. "I don't care about Mankind's evolution. I just don't want to fight anymore."

She came to standing beside a green-haired girl, who lay unconscious in the arms of an unfamiliar boy. "Who are you?" she asked.

He blinked. "You should know who I am, Adam." He snarled. "You know everything."

Misa blinked. After her glimpse of Reality, she was still unable to comprehend anything at all. Her mind was in turmoil, and she could only staring dumbly at the stranger. Misa. My name is Misa.  "I'm not Adam. I am Ikari Misato. Adam inhabits my body for now." She told him, as her defense systems slowly awoke. She suddenly jumped back. "You're one of Lillith's Chosen, aren't you!" She screamed, falling back until Adamu caught her. "Don't hurt me!"

The boy got to his feet, carrying the girl. "Look, I just want to use your hospital. You almost killed her." Misa looked at the girl he carried. She was bleeding badly, her head hanging at a sickening angle to her neck. Burns covered her skin, and she hung limply.

"Please." Another voice said, and a blond girl stepped forward in a dripping plugsuit. "We surrender. Just let her live."

"Are you…" she spotted the number 16 in black numerals on the plugsuit. "You're the pilot of Unit 16?" the blonde nodded.

"We don't want to fight you, Adam, Misa, whoever you are." She glanced worriedly at the green-haired girl. "We won't fight anymore if you let us save her."

Misa nodded, still terribly confused. Adamu, however, was more alert.

"How do we know you won't attempt to kill us again? Why should we trust you."

A sudden clarity shot through Misa. "I know! I can read them." She gestured for the girl to come forward. Looking into the blonde's pitch black eyes, Misa slowly opened her mind.

Unit 16, I want you to live. I want you to stay with me. I don't want to kill Adam, but I don't want Dai-syo and Samantha to die. And I don't want to be hated anymore…

"She's good. Now, you," she pointed to the boy, who only glared at her. "Come here."

Ariline gasped as her mind was freed and she stared at Misa in a mix of awe and horror. "You…you were in my head." Misa nodded.

"The eyes are windows to the soul. But not everyone can open the blinds." She stepped up to the boy and locked eyes with him.

Must save Samantha, at all costs. I must keep both of them alive, even if it means failure. They are all I have…

No! Stay out of my head…I don't want you seeing my past…

She pushed that thought aside and went a bit deeper. I will not be a slave to Lillith. I am my own person.

"He's fine." Misa reported. Dai-syo blinked several times, his eyes wide with surprise. "Come on, let's see if we can get the girl fixed up." He stood staring at her for a long moment. "Come on, you idiot, she's losing blood fast!" She grabbed Dai-syo's arm and dragged him along.

Samantha woke to find Dai-syo sitting beside her. "So we failed." She said softly. He nodded. She sighed. "So we're dead…"

He blinked in confusion.

A sudden squeal from her other side caught her attention. "You're awake!" Ariline embraced Samantha, kissing her cheek. "We thought we were going to lose you!"

Samantha looked at her curiously. Lose? But they were dead, right? "What?"

"You're not dead." Kaoru walked in, a smirk on his face. "My daughter-in-law got NERV to take care of you."

"Why?" asked Samantha, her eyes full of tears. She had failed, they had failed, and they didn't even get the consolation of heaven. They were trapped in a world where Mankind's problems and failures dominated, where true love was next to impossible.

"Because Dai-syo wanted you to live." He answered. "He wanted you to stay with him and Ariline."

"But heaven awaits…" Samantha protested, and Kaoru's smile turned ironic. Or perhaps it had always been that way.

"Heaven. Such a quaint, mortal term for Reality. If only you knew how lucky you are to not know the truth." He turned to leave. "Enjoy your life here on Earth. It will serve you well."

Samantha began to cry. Everything was going wrong. She had failed. She was still alive. Dai-syo was still in love with Ariline. They were in NERV's clutches. And Adam had won.

She would be lost to the same fate that had taken her parents. Adam would kill them all and take their souls. "No…"

"What's wrong?" asked Dai-syo, his voice soft and concerned.

"You don't understand. No one does. Nothing has gone right at all!"

AN: I don't get it either. My reality doesn't look like that. Now, let's not get in to my personal beliefs. I was just feeling that the story was starting to make too much sense.

As for the rest of the gang, find out what happens next time on Neon Genesis Evangelion, Fourth Impact: Souls of the Evas