Disclaimer: See previous chapters

Chap. 40

Shinji panted heavily as he held the lightsaber down over the now scorched flesh of the dead Angel. He remained motionless for a good moment, trying to steady himself. With a sigh, he lifted himself and de-activated his lightsaber. His gaze looked upon Adam and then over...to his father.

He had slashed his father's hand, with the Angel now dead within it.

He looked back at his father, who remained immobile, but a low groan from him indicated that he was alive. Shinji looked him passively and then dropped the lightsaber. It may not have seemed that way, but that in itself took great effort on his part. He could have done it. He could have slew his father and no one would have disagreed. In fact, everyone would have expected or even welcomed it. Everyone, but him. It wasn't an act he couldn't fulfill, despite the reasons for doing so. It wasn't the right thing to do.

After all, he was a Jedi...

'Shinji.'

'Rei. Asuka.' Hearing their call for him, he quickly ran away from the scene and toward the source. After a minute of running, he found them near the LCL lake. Rei and Qui Gon bent on the ground, seeming exhausted and looking upward. Rei turned to him first and then Qui Gon.

"Shinji."

Qui Gon gave him a quick glance, but whatever he was thinking was dispelled by the current chaos. Shinji moved near then and then looked up as well. A light was steadily growing far above and energy sparkled out.

"Is that...Third Impact?"

"No." Rei replied. "Second Impact." At this, both Qui Gon and Shinji blinked in surprise. She finished her explanation. "Joining Adam with Adam will recreate Second Impact."

Qui Gon mused over the full scope of what that meant. Another Second Impact now would completely annihilate Tokyo-3 along with Japan. But that wouldn't be all. The first Second Impact threw the entire planet into chaos, both economically and climate wise as it knocked it off its axis. Another such change would literally destroy the planet and kill everyone on it.

"We must stop it before it's too late."

Shinji looked at his master in wonder and then his face softened. He looked over at Rei again and she nodded as well, understanding what they had to do. Rei closed her eyes, letting her mind reach out to the conflict above.

"There is no emotion; there is peace."

Shinji blinked as he heard Rei whisper those words. But then he mimicked her exactly, closing his eyes and reaching out with his feelings and he spoke the next phrase.

"There is no ignorance; there is knowledge."

Qui Gon followed suit, smiling inwardly at the two Children as they reached out together.

"There is no passion; there is serenity."

With the three together, the Force began to manifest physically, waves of energy that simply hovered and floated around them and then floated up into the sky toward the light.

"There is no death; there is the Force."

Asuka was beginning to succumb to the pain of the expanding light. 'I'm...sorry...Mama...I...tried...so hard...' Slowly, her hands began to move away from the controls, a sign of her defeat. But before her hands could move away, she felt it. A tremendous wave of energy filled her very being. Her eyes were widened as the Force flowed into her like a flooding river.

'Shinji. Wo -Ayanami.'

Asuka didn't know how she knew it was them, but she knew. Looking forward, she saw the Lance that was impaled in her Eva rattling violently, with the MP Eva seeming to struggle to keep it in. Regardless of how, she felt renewed and strong. Strong enough to move her hand back to the control and focus once more.

"All right. Let's do this."

Calming her nerves and opening her senses, Asuka put everything she had left into her Eva. Since the Eva's hands were still holding the lance, she only had one task to perform. Prying it out. The hands tightened around the Lance and began to pull. Asuka strained as the light continued to grow.

Below, the two Children strained as they felt the backlash of energy against their use of the Force. Even the Jedi Master was beginning to buckle from the pressure. But rather than try to counter back, he called to the two youths before him.

"We have to do it."

Shinji began to grit his teeth. "I'm...trying..."

"No, Shinji. Do it." Qui Gon replied.

Shinji a baffled for a moment and then realized his mistake. He had been trying. With the Force, he either did it or didn't. There was no middle ground.

"There is no try." Rei realized at the same time.

With this in mind, the Children became visibly calmer and simply stood still. They were going to get the Lance out. There was no uncertainty about that now.

Meanwhile as Asuka continued to wrestle with the Lance and the pale Eva that was holding it, she felt another wave of energy course through her. It felt different than before...more alive...and certain. Whatever it was, she felt confident about it. 'I can do this. We can do this!' Renewed once again, Asuka let herself go completely to the Force, pressing her hands into the butterfly controls in the process. Outside, the crimson Eva tightened its grip on the Lance and began to pull. The expanding light suddenly stopped and began to restrict instead, going inward. Now it was the MP Eva's turn to struggle againt the new might of its fiery counterpart. At times, the light seemed to go in and out as they continued to fight with the Lance. Asuka had reached a point where she didn't een feel the struggle anymore. There was calmness...and purpose. She could almost see the others in her mind. Shinji and Rei standing with her. It made her smile. And they all smiled in unison with her. Her mind switched back to reality where she saw stunned. The light was gone and the Lance of Longinus was lying in the water. The pale Eva went to reach for it, but its action was halted by Asuka.

"Oh no you don't!"

02 let out a roar and shoved the MP Eva before it could reach it. The pale Eva splashed through the water as it rolled and it managed to jump to its feet. But that proved to be for naught for Eva 02 was already on it, with a lightsaber in hand.

"Rahhhh!"

The MP Eva didn't even realize that it had been slashed in half because Asuka moved so fast. It moved to attack again, only to fall apart in mid-slash and explode before Asuka's eyes. With the last MP Eva destroyed, Asuka let out a great sigh. 'Finally...' Her eyes soon moved over to the fallen Lance and she moved her Eva to it and picked it up. She didn't even give it a second thought as she arched the arm back and flung it up to th sky, where it continued until it was out of her sight.

Then the power cut off...

Asuka had forgotten that she had been pushing her Eva the whole time herself. Well, not by herself. They had helped her. Her mother, Kaoru, Qui Gon, Rei, Shinji...they had all helped her. They had all been there for her at her most desperate moment. And she felt that somehow, especially with the last two, they would always help her.

And she smiled...

In the hallways, Misato trudged painfully around the corner. She was wounded at her shoulder, not as badly as with Kaji, but it was still slowing her down. On top of that, she had twisted her ankle a while back, not to mention that she was exhausted from running and dodging and she had once again lost her only weapon. And the soldiers were still on her tail. She kept running still, but she knew she wouldn't last another minute now. She had used up all her resources and knowledge, but it seemed that they were cutting her off wherever she went. The running footsteps were closing in and her fatigue was getting the best of her now. She nearly collapsed on the wall and looked back with hopelessness.

'I'm sorry...my children...Kaji...'

Lights flickered close and she shut her eyes in acceptance of her fate. Listening only, she heard the approach of the soldiers and the cocking of weapons.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

It took her a second to realize that she wasn't shot and another second to know that they weren't shooting. Without opening her eyes as yet, she ducked down to the ground as the gunfire erupted. After about some time, the bullets stopped and Misato dared to open her eyes to look. Another troop of soldiers had come in, walking over the dead ones that had cornered her in. These soldiers were dressed differently from the others they had just gunned down and from looking over on their soldiers, she saw they were U.S. soldiers. One of them aimed his light at her and she covered her eyes from the light that shone on her.

"Major Katsuragi."

"Who are you?" she asked. Even though she didn't want to seem ungrateful, she had to know what they're purpose was.

"U.S. Special Forces. We're here to rescue you."

Later on, Misato, escorted by a group of the soldiers, reached the Command Room. The place was in shambles, but beyond that, everything seemed to be fine. Maya, Makato and Shigeru along with a few other personnel were all at their stations, although they looked worse for wear. The soldiers soon turned and left as the others looked over at her.

"Major!" Shigeru said a little too happily. In truth, they were all glad to see her now. Misato was equally glad, but she had to find out just what was going on.

"Report."

Maya blinked before quickly answering "Oh... U.S. forces have secured the Geofront from levels 2 through 17. The remaining levels are being brought under control now."

"Okay. Now the big question. Where the hell did they come from?"

"The Sub-Commander sent out a message to them." Makato answered. "Said something about someone owing him a favor."

'Must have been one heck of a favor' Misato thought. It then came to her attention that Fuyutsuki was nowhere to be seen "Where is he?"

"Our transmissions were being jammed, so he went to one of the lower levels to get it through."

"Really?" Considering all the troops and forces she had encountered, she was surprised that he was able to get through at all. 'But it looks like he did it.' Next question. "What about the Evas?"

The three related to Misato what had occurred, from the battle with the MP Evas, Shinji's arrival and dismissal, the arrival of the Lance of Longinus, and finally the near occurrence of Second Impact and Asuka's ultimate victory in stopping it. Needless to say, Misato was stunned.

"And I thought I had a long day. What about 01?"

Maya replied. "01 is being detected in the Dogma. Shinji isn't inside though."

"What? You don't mean...?"

"No." Maya answered quickly, realizing what Misato was beginning to think. "The plug is ejected so that means he left it."

Misato let out a sigh of relief. "Okay." Looking at the screen with the battle ravaged 02. "How about Asuka? Is she alright?"

Shigeru turned to one of the forward screens. "Power is down, but as far as we can tell, she's alright. Her vitals are stable."

'That's two.' "And Rei?"

"Nothing since all this started."

Misato began to despair, but forced it away. "Alright. We have to retrieve the pilots as well as the Evas. I want a team with me to head to the Terminal Dogma to get Shinji while you guys get to Asuka."

"Are you sure you want to go?" Shigeru asked.

"Yeah." she answered. "Compared to what they've been through, I've had it easy."

She waved for a group of remaining personnel to come with her and she left the room. In truth, she wanted to make sure that the two Children were alright. And deep down, she hoped that she would find Kaji.

'Please be alive, all of you.'

Beneath the hulking 01, Shinji returned to find his father still and unmoving. His severed hand, which had the Angel in it, had vaporized into dust. Shinji stood over him for a brief moment before bending down. With a shred of cloth that Qui Gon gave him earlier, Shinji slowly wrapped Gendo's arm. The Commander strained from the pain, but his eyes didn't open, so Shinji continued.

'Father... I...I think I understand you now.' He began to put the cloth in a tie. 'You just missed her, like I did.' He tightened the cloth and it held in place. 'And somewhere along the way, you got lost.' At that moment, Gendo's eyes opened and he looked up at his son. Shinji fought the reflex to back away and finished his work. The Commander said nothing, but Shinji could tell from his eyes that he felt defeated. Shinji simply stood up and briefly looked up at the 01, the vessel that held his mother's essence still. 'Mother...' Shinji felt a twinge of pain and sadness at the tragedy of his parents. But he couldn't let the past affect his future. It would be like trying to swim upstream a rushing river. It was impossible and would only serve in hurt oneself further. With this, he moved away, not bothering to look at his father.

"I'm sorry...Shinji."

It was a low whisper, barely audible, but Shinji heard it clearly. Because his back was turned to Gendo, the surprise on his face was unseen to the Commander as he stopped in his tracks. Shinji didn't know whether Gendo was being sincere or trying to manipulate him again. But given the look in the Commander's eyes, he believed it was the initial. Still, too much had happened. Simply understanding him was not enough to erase all the damage that had been done. That would take time. Still...

"I understand...father."

Shinji continued on, leaving him behind to dwell on all that had happened. As he returned to Rei and Qui Gon, the Jedi Master watched Shinji with a sense of pride. Despite the odds against them and the temptations of the Dark Side, Shinji and the others had managed to come out of this alive. And Shinji, he saw, was now a better person because of it, just as Qui Gon knew he was.

'You will make a great Jedi Knight, Shinji Ikari.'

AN: One more to go, I think.