A/N: Okay, you've had enough of the cliffhangers and a lot of you are pretty angry that something bad is going to happen. Well, just so you know, take this piece of advice. Its always darkest before the dawn. From this point on, we will continue to the end of Destiny of One without any interruption. Enjoy. As always thanks to Nic2951, bigdave, Logan, Rich, Jonny, Ari, JoJo, SteamedDumpling, OvrBoost, Dar Sel'La and so many others. Thank you all for reading and review. Your kind words have meant so much and have allowed me to finally get to the end of this book. I HOPE that you enjoy the next few chapters. Nic, I have to say thanks to you most of all. You have been supportive and helpful in so many ways. Incidently, all of you should read Nic's fic too. Its so great. Now, onto the next update straight through to the end with no interruptions! Peace and thanks to you all, J.

Chapter 45

Hope cried out in pain as she reached for her shoulder, a large gash was across her upper arm. It bled profusely and hurt like hell.

She touched her head and above her eye a gash, deep and bleeding down her face. Above that, near her left temple a huge bruise.

She could feel severe pain on the right side of her lower abdomen, and looked. There was blood coming through her red and gray plug suit. She touched her wound and called out in pain as she could feel the worst pain that she ever knew pulsating throughout her body.

She looked at the display in front of her; the white entity was coming closer to her. The read out on the display read.

"MEDICAL EMERGENCY: CONDITION SEVERE. HARMONICS: ZERO SYNC RATIO: ZERO…PILOT OFFLINE. PILOT CONDITON: SEVERE."

Move. She thought to herself as she reached for the controls of the EVA with her good arm and pulled on it. "MOVE!" She yelled out through the pain in her voice. "DAMN YOU! MOVE!"

It would not. It wouldn't respond to anything she said or did.

She looked at the controls. "UNIT 1, CONTROL PANEL!"

Nothing happened.

"GODDAMNIT, UNIT 1! " She yelled out. "CONTROL PANEL!"

Nothing happened.

"Control! Control, do you read me? SAWYER, DO YOU READ ME? CONTROL, DO YOU COPY?"

There was nothing just static.

"MAYDAY! MAYDAY!" Hope called out. "Major Ikari to NERV Central, copy? Unit 1 is down! Eject is offline! Life support failing! Hostile is engaging Unit 1. Please advise! MAYDAY! MAYDAY!"

After a few minutes had passed, she yelled out. "NERV COMMAND, THIS IS A DISTRESS SIGNAL! PLEASE RESPOND OVER."

There was no response only static.

Hope felt powerless. Her strength was gone. Her pain: immeasurable. Her wit and knowledge was non-existent.

She let go of the controls and stared at the blinding, white entity coming towards her.

Within seconds it came at her and Hope shut her eyes bracing for impact.

The Evangelion was thrown clear across the landscape, landing with a large thud. Hope bellowed as she was shaken in the cockpit and screamed as loud as her voice could carry. Her pain caused her to tremble violently and she started coughing.

As she covered her hand with her mouth, she coughed and hacked feeling something warm and sticky come up through her throat. As she pulled her hand away from her mouth, she saw blood on her hand.

Then as she slowly raised her eyes upward, she saw it.

The white entity was over her; a blinding white light.

Hope slumped in the console seat and she shut her eyes as she shook in fear.

I've failed. I did nothing. This thing took me over instantly. Its over. I'm nothing. I deserve nothing but death now. I'm a coward.

"No."

She opened her eyes and looked around, the white light had engulfed her; she could feel her life force slipping away from her. Her eyes hurt from the blinding white light and she squeezed her eyes shut. Her pain was agonizing and she felt the end was near.

I've failed. It's only a matter of time now. She thought to herself. It'll be over soon.

"End it." She said aloud in a raspy painful voice. "End it now."

"No."

Her eyes opened. Yet, she wasn't afraid and she wheezed as she looked around.

Am I going crazy? I didn't think that or say that! Is my brain firing off as I'm dying? What's going on?

"Hope, you won't fail."

It wasn't so much of a voice as it was a feeling. It came from inside of her but it was not she.

She opened her eyes and tried to adjust to the blinding white light. She thought she saw something and wasn't sure what it was. She shut her eyes again because of the pain it caused.

"Hope, use my strength."

Hope could feel the agonizing, horrible pain inside of her. Her shoulder felt like it was broken into a million pieces and she didn't know what to do. She was powerless and without any strength, nothing and no one could save her.

So why was it, in the midst of all the pain, the fear of impending death and the uncertainty of all this that she felt… comforted?

"Hope, look. Look, Hope."

Her eyes opened slowly and she squinted from the harshness of the light.

She looked closely.

Suddenly, she breathed in with a smile as she took her good arm and reached up towards the light.