A Long Time Coming
By Fool's Gold
Disclaimer:
Neon Genesis Evangelion is the property of Studio Gainax.
The original dialogue and the fight belong to Blizzard Entertainment.
No profit has been made from this fic.
The Evangelion advanced slowly through the ruins of the Geofront, picking its way through the rubble with each lumbering step. The flames danced in mockery, their crackling laughter bursting throughout the streets even as the institution named NERV lay broken and low in destruction's wake.
Within the entry plug of the Evangelion, a small, frail figure sat unmoving, mentally guiding the great beast through its steps as she approached her quarry. It was here – the final prize, the one thing that she needed for the completion of her duties. And soon, the Lilim would be disciplined.
The years had not been kind to Lilith. In the past fifteen years, she had seen nothing but her gradual betrayal and torture at the hands of the fools she once called "children": ungrateful whelps! They had trapped her soul in the body of an impotent little girl and milked her body for its lifeblood, letting her watch every day as they drained her like ravenous leeches, knowing full well that she was unable to do anything to stop them – the light of her soul was dimmed, useless for anything other than holding herself together. And they had not relented when the Lance had been driven cruelly into her breast, sending her into what had seemed like an eternity of endless pain. All the years of dormancy were but a moment compared to the agony she had suffered, wasting away on her cross, each second transformed into an aeon of pain.
The tables had turned now. The object of her torture was now firmly gripped in the hands of the Evangelion – the clone of Adam which the humans had used to defeat his own seed. With their defeat, she had awoken even as her children continued to bicker among themselves, ensuring that they, too, fell by their own hands. And now, she would finally complete the plan that they had laboured and plotted over for years… and they would return to her, willingly or not. At last, she would reach her goal.
And even as she silently exulted in her victory, there echoed from before her a ghastly roar, terrible in its anger and unbridled violence, seeming to come from the wounded city itself. The earth shuddered with its sound, and the shattered towers trembled; the skeleton of a burned-out structure suddenly crumbled to the ground as if from fear. And from the smoke and the flames in the distance, another giant appeared, its body painted a fiery red, but not with paint alone. The blood of Evangelions drenched it, smothering the crimson paint under a layer of gore. In its hands, it bore the spoils of war: twin blades, sleek and metallic, their bodies giving off a glossy sheen in the light of the fires that blazed beyond them. And the battered body emanated a familiar aura – an unholy aura of unparalleled anger that even now washed over Lilith like a welcoming flood.
Who was this? The rage, the image, the beast that stood before her, crimson and vengeful… it was a familiar sight, but one that belonged to her past memories, swallowed up in a personality that she no longer claimed. Yet she remembered it all too well.
Evangelion Unit 02, Production Type. Pilot: Asuka Souryu Langley.
So, the human had survived, in spite of everything. Let her come, Lilith thought. After all, what can she do? Broken, useless fool that she is, she will not suffer long. But first… I shall see what she has to say.
The red monster howled in the wreckage of the Geofront, its rage a clear mimic of the pain that coursed through its pilot's veins. Grievous wounds criss-crossed its battered surface, the fresh grooves and open gashes forming perverse, intricate patterns that cut through the armour, biting deep into the flesh of the beast. Blinded it stood, pierced through the head by a lance's blow, yet its remaining eyes were sufficient to guide it towards its enemy, stumbling through the wreckage in its anger.
But the pilot knew it not. All that remained of Asuka Souryu Langley was a broken shell, lost somewhere within the avatar of vengeance that she had become.
Vengeance upon the betrayal that she had received, even as the tools of her employers were turned against her, even as the nine had swarmed and savaged the Evangelion that she had piloted. Vengeance upon the faithless, the coward who had fallen away and never returned to her aid, the oath-breaker who had reneged on the promise to support her. Vengeance upon the ones who had caused all this, upon every single one of those who had engineered the downfall of all those involved in the project, upon both the Angels and the scientists.
Through the rage that enveloped her mind and devoured it, her failing consciousness had focused her desire for revenge upon the one edifice that remained, the last symbol of all the misery that had befallen her. It stood before her even now – the doll, the usurper, the one who had robbed her of everything.
The last vestiges of her pain-wracked mind faded into the background, swallowed up by the unceasing bloodlust, and the Evangelion screamed once more.
An answer came forth, cutting through the mist and the hatred. A single clear voice resounded in the void that had once been the pilot's mind. It was a soft, emotionless voice, carefully reconstructed to call forth the worst of memories from the darkness, its nuances and subtleties all hinting towards the presence of a person who had once been her mortal enemy.
And it whispered, Terminal Dogma is mine, human. Step aside.
The pilot heard none of the words that were spoken, lost as she was in the roiling tides of her madness. But she sensed their import; her enemy mocked her, taunting her even as the prize beckoned. Their roles had changed – she was the puppet now, and the Angel that commanded the other Evangelion was the puppet-master. She would not allow it.
In her fury, she willed the Evangelion to rise up and attack the vile creature that stood before her. But Unit 02 did not move. It had failed her once; now, it failed her again.
Asuka screamed in a frenzy, an insane cry of frustration as she repeatedly hammered at the controls. And in response, the beast itself let out a roar: a denial, a stubborn refusal to comply. But there was a darker undercurrent that lurked beneath the desperate roar – she could sense it even through the multi-layered lunacy that enveloped the tattered remains of her mind.
She sensed the fear.
Pathetic, thought Lilith. Did the human actually dream of challenging her, when she could not even control her Evangelion or even her own sanity?
For a moment, another memory returned from the time of her humanity. She remembered the wretched creature she had seen, the girl who hid cowering behind the armoured façade of arrogance that shielded her even as she poured her scorn and vituperation upon the misplaced object of her hatred. The piteous creature; there was no honour in striking down a broken foe.
She decided to give this fool a final chance. It would be far easier on the human, to let her rest on her soiled victories and to spend her final moments in the illusion of triumph, rather than to be cut down like a cur, buried in the wreck of a million dreams. And so, Lilith projected a final thought.
Leave this place, and never return, she offered. If you do, I'll be waiting.
There was a faint response from Asuka's mind, a slight rumbling that slowly increased in intensity, building up and straining at its bonds until it was finally let loose, a futile warcry that threw the offer back in Lilith's face.
…destroy…
There was no hope for this human, Lilith resolved. There would have been nothing for her to return to, not even the womb. Her soul was beyond salvage on this plane – all that remained was to release it from this body.
She raised the Lance and aimed for the neck of the Evangelion, preparing to take down slave and master in one decisive blow.
Asuka failed to see the approaching strike, lost as she was in her despair. But the Evangelion did. And as the baser instincts of survival took over, it finally moved.
There was a sudden clash of metal against foreign metal, and the tremendous impact sent Unit 00 rattling, its entire frame jolted by the force of the counter. She looked out to see Unit 02 brought low by the attack, forced down onto one titanic knee. But it remained undefeated, alive and desperate in its struggle to survive. The Lance had been halted in its downward stroke by the plundered weapon of the mass-produced Evangelions, the raised blade interposed between its tip and the red giant's neck. And the Evangelion's roar changed from a whimper of fear into a monstrous bellow, the enraged challenge of two furies responding as one.
The fight was on, and Lilith realised that this enemy would not be easy prey.
From the corner of Unit 00's view, she saw the second blade rising towards its midsection, and she raised her AT-field to block its progress. But even as she moved, the blade twisted itself into twin prongs, its shape almost a perfect imitation of the Lance that rested in the hands of her own Evangelion. It cut through the brilliant shield that had been raised, the edge sundering the wall as though it had never even existed, and only her frantic commands prevented the blow from cutting her Evangelion in twain. She steered Unit 00 away, desperately evading strike after strike from the berserker, which approached with unrestrained fury. Every attack from the false Lances came closer and closer to dealing a mortal wound, only barely dodged on account of Lilith's frantic piloting. But she had to yield ground; every blow forced her farther and farther away from her goal. There was no more time for games – the other pilot fought in deadly earnest.
Another command was issued to the Evangelion, willing it to hold its ground even as the shaft of the Lance was raised to parry the next attack. And she waited, bracing herself for the oncoming blow.
The overhand strike sent the blue beast shuddering backwards, the cracked ground shifting beneath its feet. But the assault had been halted. It was time to turn the fight around. Emboldened by the successful manoeuvre, Lilith swept Unit 02's weapon to the side and aimed for its torso with a violent thrust. It was the red giant's turn to twist aside as the prongs narrowly missed its core, brushing past it by the narrowest of margins. In response, it unleashed a pair of sweeping blows at mid-level, both of which were deflected by the Lance, wielded in the grasp of one who was all too familiar with it.
And suddenly, Lilith was left watching in amazement as the beast soared into the air. From the back of Unit 02, a great pair of brilliant wings unfurled, lifting it high above the ground. It was magnificent to behold – the shimmering marks danced across those ethereal projections, constantly moving, creating chaotic patterns that shifted and melded into an ever-changing montage. But she saw them for what they were, and was instantly repulsed: the swirling energies were but the visible manifestation of the disturbed soul that summoned them. And there was no source capable of producing an AT-field so powerful, save the one which only they possessed…
The thought rushed past her fleetingly. Could this be the one who would set the final union in motion, the one human who would seize the opportunity and draw all the others back into a collective consciousness? She could not allow that. They were her children, disobedient as they were, and she would be the one to take control of the reunion, not some foolish Lilim with an egotistical plan. But there was only one way to find out.
And as her Evangelion cocked back its arm, a final memory drifted past. It had not been too long ago that she had done the very same thing: she remembered a birdlike being of light, soaring high in orbit above them – and down below, the pilot who was savaged by the beam that engulfed her Evangelion. It had been that attack that had sent her down the path of madness; now the victim had become the aggressor.
But it had been done once, and it would be done again.
The Lance was flung high into the air, a dark shaft hurtling at its target, its flight heralded only by a hollow whistle that sang of doom. And even as it transfixed its target, piercing its core through and through, Lilith waited for a reckoning. If she had gambled correctly, Complementation would be hers. If not… she would be at the mercy of the Lilim once again, lost in the dead world that those madmen had desired.
Unit 02 hung in the air for a split second. Then, as the power drained from its eyes and its wings vanished like glorious illusions, it plummeted to the ground. It had all been a sham. The one she had fought was no promised key – only another fallen angel among all the bodies.
The Lance remained embedded in the Evangelion's breast, still intact despite the fall. Lilith left it there. It was no longer needed – the true prize lay behind the gates of Terminal Dogma. Now the path was clear, and nothing stood between her and the prize that she sought.
Adam awaited.
Notes: Warcraft III fans should recognise the scene as that of the final showdown between Illidan and Arthas.
Don't be surprised by the OOC. It's not Rei VS Asuka, it's Lilith VS Berserker EVA-02. Of course, Lilith is probably OOC anyway – whoever heard of Angels thinking? In addition, I have taken liberties with the Evangelion mythos, especially the mechanics of Third Impact and Lilith's personality.
Credit goes to Mosher-24 for the pre-read.
And now…
"Wark!"
"Come on, talk, you stupid animal…"
"Wark!"
"Kodama, stop poking the poor penguin! What are you trying to do to it?"
"Nozomi, I swear I heard it talk just now."
"Don't be stupid. Penguins can't talk…"
"WAAARRRRRK!"
KABOOM!
"And I suppose they aren't supposed to explode either?"