Reign of the Tabri
"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us."- "God"
Chapter 14: ReParasite
As they came closer and closer to where they had originally come from they had time to think.
Shinji thought of how this all was his fault. His depression was at an all time high. Or would that be a new low?
Rei thought of her sisters. She thought of her mortality and how she had wasted so much of her life standing next to Commander Ikari.
Misato thought of Kaji. She thought of how she would soon see him again in the afterlife she believed in.
Gendo thought of all his plans. He thought of how they had all come crashing down around him.
Logani thought of his brothers and sisters. He thought of ways to free the children.
All expected to join their lost ones soon.
Asuka didn't think. All she felt was anger. As she rushed closer and closer to her last home the anger increased.
Vernide brought them in just as planned. Right before they entered the city they landed. From the South came a parade in the form of the party.
At the front was Vernide, showing of her fresh captures. Behind her marched Shinji, followed by Rei, Asuka, Gendo, and Misato. The rest of the recently deployed soldiers marched along the sides as guards.
All the Tabri from across the globe had come to Tokyo-3. They had come to see what was to be done to the most unholy of all unholies. They wanted to see what Michel would do to Shinji Ikari.
They packed the parade route. Hundreds of Tabri watched from skyscrapers while others looked on from the streets. They waved fists, they cheered, and they spat at the prisoners.
Through it all they simply trudged on, simply too afraid to stop.
Finally it came to an end. The prisoners finally entered an entrance to the geo-front near the center of the city. Every living Tabri had now laid eyes on these prisoners. Not one of them would've missed it for the world.
They reached the bottom of the elevator and were unceremoniously pushed out by their guards. They found themselves at a level that they had last visited on the eve of defeat. The silent battleship remained but the water had all been removed. "Terminal Dogma," Gendo whispered, "Looks like they did some remodeling while we were gone."
The remark earned him a shove to the back. "Very quaint Ikari," said a voice they'd all heard at least once before. Michel entered the cavern from were Lilith was kept. He wore a red cape that matched his eyes perfectly. Similarly, his clothes were completely white like his hair. "Finally we meet again," he turned to Shinji and leaned in so their faces were nearly touching, "And Mr. Ikari I must say it is good to see you once more." Shinji flinched back and Michel laughed. Michel turned back to Gendo and whispered something in his ear. Gendo straightened and gritted his teeth angrily.
He opened his mouth to say something but found he could not talk. Michel laughed, "An AT-field will do that to you," he said. Then he turned to Vernide, "Tie them up for the show," he turned to face the bowled cavern, "This will be a show that no one will soon forget!"
In the back of the prisoner group Asuka hung her head and whispered muted curses.
Vernide ordered them secured to wooden posts, hands chained behind their backs. She made sure Shinji's were extra tight, "Don't run off now," she smirked when Shinji groaned in pain.
Then the Tabri began filling the chamber. They lowered down from the elevator shaft; they all wanted to see this. They all knew they'd remember this until they died.
Tabri packed Terminal Dogma. Over three thousand of them fit into the cavern. Some created seats, some floated on their AT-fields, and some sat on the ground. Closer to the center was blocked off for Michel's save few. They would be the ones to crush any escape attempt with brutal power. Michel would of course stand at the center and address the conclave.
The prisoners were chained to wooden posts in a circle but with one hole in it. Shinji was opposite the hole with Rei and Asuka to his left and right. To Asuka's right were four blank posts. To Rei's left Commander Ikari and Misato were chained. Beyond Misato were five more blank posts.
Any wondering about the extra posts was stopped when more prisoners were brought in. First were three people Misato didn't recognize. The next one though, that one she did know. "Hyuga!" she gasped out in disbelief. This earned her and Makato kicks in the back. Makato was chained across from Misato so she could not communicate with him. Because she was facing outwards she couldn't even remotely look at him. She still gaped a little though.
Makato had never made it out of Tokyo-3. 'He's been their prisoner this whole time,' Misato reasoned. She could not imagine what must have been done to him.
Shinji recognized the next two prisoners first. "Kensuke," he whispered so as not to draw attention to himself, "Hikari."
Sure enough the next two prisoners were none other then Kensuke Aida and Hikari Horaki. Shinji was not glad to see them. He hung his head as he thought, "No…not them too. They didn't even fight the angels." Shinji returned to his moping that had begun here so long ago.
Another pair of unnoticed prisoner filed in and was locked down further to Asuka's right. Asuka had kept her head up through all of this, even thought her face was covered in her hair. She barely seemed to react to Hikari and Kensuke entering. It was the last prisoner, the one who would be chained next to her, that she reacted to.
Asuka opened her mouth to yell but thought better of it at the last moment. Touji had his hands handcuffed in front of him. He was lowered down from above like the others but he kept his head up. He actually hadn't given up yet. Asuka smirked at his defiant attitude. A Tabri kicked him forward and towards the last wooden post.
Touji leaned back against the post as a Tabri removed his handcuffs in order to chain him to the post. His head turned first to the right and then to the left. Asuka looked at him and gave him her meanest looking smile. "Nice to see you too bitch," muttered Touji. Then he was chained to his post.
The former NERV heroes waited in their preferred styles. Rei starred unblinkingly at everything. Shinji hung his head and cursed himself for getting innocents involved in this, never considering that he too was innocent. Touji faced his executioner in a way that said "Hey. Get it over with already I don't have all day." Hikari continued to look for an escape route when their clearly was not one. Kensuke used his probable last moments on Earth to look around in awe at the depths of NERV. Misato wished she were drunk. Gendo contemplated the number of prisoners. Asuka looked off into space.
Or at least she appeared to. In actuality she stared straight at Michel. It was his head that would solve this, at least in the reflection of her eyes.
Michel started it off simple, "Brothers and Sisters!" he shouted at the conclave. They cheered at his word. They quieted at his signal. "Brothers and Sisters! We have found them!"
Cheering erupted once more. Michel gave himself a moment to bask in it. Then he raised his hands again. The Tabri allowed him to continue, "Now! Right now! We will avenge our father!"
Cheering and then calming. "How will we avenge him brothers and sisters!" Michel shouted.
"With his blood!" the assembled mass roared. Michel shook his head. Misunderstanding the Tabri shouted again louder, "With his blood!"
"No!" Michel's word rang around the amphitheater. The Tabri quieted absolutely, confused. The prisoners raised their heads in surprise. Were they to be saved?
"I have a fate much better for them!" Michel shouted. The Tabri screamed in delight. The prisoners returned to their silent contemplation once more.
"Behold," Michel shouted, "I have gazed into the abyss long brothers and sisters. And the abyss has gazed into me! I have seen what can be undone!" The amphitheater was absolutely quiet. "I," shouted Michel, "can bring back Father!"
A collective gasp filled the room. "His soul exists on! As do all of the seventeen! They live on," Michel pointed at Shinji, Asuka, and Rei before he continued, "inside their destroyers!" The Tabri roared with delight. They would be a family once more.
Shinji was looking up now. His eyes were the size of saucers, "Y-you can bring Kowaru back?" he said. Asuka turned her head to look at him. Shinji repeated what he had said again, this time louder. "Y-you can bring Kowaru back!"
The Tabri all turned to look at him. It was like someone looking at a cockroach. Michel snickered. "Yes," he slurred, "I can bring your precious Kowaru back."
Shinji's smile nearly split his head. "But I won't," Michel said. Shinji's face collapsed. "I," shouted Michel "will bring back Tabris!"
The Tabri were beyond measurements of happiness. "Do it! Do it now!" they cheered, "We can not wait another moment! You must give us Father back Michel!"
"In a moment!" Michel said all sympathetic like, "As I have said, I can bring back all the messengers! And as my grand finale I will bring back Father!"
Asuka opened her mouth to say something but was stopped when Michel whipped around to face her. She gritted his teeth and prepared to speak to her tormentor. But before he could Michel shot out his arm and with it his AT-field. It struck Asuka in the forehead.
Asuka's head hung limp for a moment. The Tabri all stared straight at Asuka. Hikari let out a soft squeak of fear for her friend. Shinji turned to look at Michel, rage freeing itself inside of him. Then Asuka's head came back up. There was no smile, just a look straight at Michel.
Michel had his eyelids barely cracked. His grin was ferial. This just pissed Asuka off more.
"This," spoke Asuka in a voice not entirely hers, "is where the abyss is closed."
Michel straightened a little in confusion. He took a step back.
Asuka ripped her arms free from the post and to her sides. While the broken chains were still in mid-air she brought out her AT-field.
Well, truth be told it wasn't really hers.
Logani emerged from what had been Asuka. His AT-field rapped around the post he'd been secured too and ripped it free. He broke it apart into toothpick sized pieces and then lifted his hand. They shot out in all directions at lightning speeds. Propelled by his AT-field they passed through Tabri AT-fields that were already raised.
The shards of wood impaled nearby Tabri and left them momentarily stopped. Logani whipped his AT-field around at the prisoners. He aimed to free them with one swipe.
He didn't quite make it.
Hundreds of AT-fields grabbed onto him and lifted him free from the center of Central Dogma. He found himself hundreds of feet above the ground in a matter of seconds. His arms were pressed to his sides, his feet locked together, and his head aligned so he could not look down. Or up for that matter.
Michel recovered rather quickly from his impalement. He shook himself to get wooden shards out of his body. Then he laughed his darkest laugh. "Logani!" he shouted when he was done laughing, "You have come back to us!"
Those few Tabri who had not recognized their brother on site let out a sharp blow of air. Few did it.
Screams of "Traitor!" and "Deserter!" assaulted Logani like whips he could not escape from. His sibling's words seemed to sting him more then their AT-fields that held him.
"I knew someone had infiltrated us," shouted Michel from the ground floor, "I just could not figure out whom. I must confess you were low on my list though."
Logani tried to spit, only to have it shoved back up his throat by an AT-field. Michel laughed more, the Tabri laughed as well.
Shinji stopped listening after he got the gist of Michel's shouts. Logani had sneaked in as Asuka and Michel had known it. 'But where's Asuka?' thought Shinji, 'And how did Michel know it wasn't really Asuka?'
Shinji thought and thought. He had a long time because Michel seemed to be amazingly long winded. He shouted for nearly an hour, something that would make even a politician hoarse.
Finally Michel winded up, "And now we not only have the four children but our fearless leader as well!"
Logani tried to say something from high above the crowd but it was blocked out by an AT-field in his mouth. Gendo decided he knew what Logani had said. "You're wrong!" he said. Every eye in the cave turned to Gendo, except for Logani who could not move his.
"You don't have Asuka!" Gendo continued with a grin on his face, "You can't bring them all back!"
Michel laughed for what seemed to be the hundredth time. "And before door number one," he said flicking his wrist to one of the unrecognized prisoners. The skin of the prisoner fell off in under a second to reveal Asuka. "We have the second child!" shouted Michel like some kind of circus ringmaster. The Tabri cheered.
Shinji gaped at Asuka. "Why didn't you say something!" he demanded.
Asuka attempted to open her mouth to have it closed by an AT-field. 'These Tabri aren't very original are they?' Shinji asked himself.
Finally, Michel decided to continue with the freeing of the Angels. He turned and set himself so his weight was on his back leg. He raised his hand, one finger pointed at Touji. Touji opened his mouth to give one last defiant comment but instead slumped over unconscious.
Hikari started to scream but didn't make it past the second breath. She passed out from the strain of seeing her crush apparently killed.
Shinji tried to turn so he could look at Touji. From were he was chained he could just see Touji starting to move again. "Hey! Hikari! He's not dead!" he shouted unknowing that she was unconscious.
He lifted his head fully now. His eyes drank in the light around him. When he finally spoke it was in a voice unbelievable deeper then his normal tone, "It is good to see again."
Shinji blinked in astonishment. 'Did Touji say that?' he thought. His train of thought reeled. Deep inside of his head something clicked. "N-no," he said quietly, "It can't be…."
Shinji looked down at his shoes. 'Touji can't be,' he thought, 'he never even killed an angel.'
He broke the chains without a second thought. He took a step forward and looked at Shinji. He gave a small snort. "Tied up fits you," he said.
Shinji lifted his head to look at Touji. 'No, not Touji anymore,' he thought. "Bardiel," he said out loud. Touji nodded.
"Very perceptive," Bardiel said, "I'm sure one of my brothers will be very happy to have your body once they're freed."
"You're going to use our bodies!" shouted Shinji, growing surprisingly angry, "To resurrect the Angels!"
"Why, yes," Michel intruded, "Didn't my dear brother care to tell you that?"
Shinji's head instinctively looked up to Logani. When he gave no reaction Shinji turned to his father. "Y-You knew about this!" he demanded.
Gendo nodded before leaning his head back onto the pole. "For a little while, just since Ireul attacked us. He said some things he probable shouldn't have. About the return of the Angels," Gendo explained.
Bardiel sneered, "Pathetic. He always was bad with secrets. All well, he's gone now."
Shinji turned back to look at Bardiel, "How can you say that! He was your brother!" he shouted.
"Ireul was a boy?" asked Bardiel, "I always put it as an it."
That threw Shinji for a loop. Bardiel turned to Michel. He grabbed him around the collar and whispered so only Michel and the closer prisoners could hear, "I've waited long enough. Bring back my siblings now."
Michel nodded with fear in his eyes. He knew not to mess with a Messenger. At least, not yet.
Michel settled back into the same stance as before and this time aimed at Rei. She collapsed forward. Shinji turned to look at her, "Rei!" he shouted.
Unlike with Touji Rei was not the only one to go down this time. Gendo and one of the unnamed prisoners blacked out along with her. Right before it happened Gendo had tensed as if he'd known it was coming.
All three of them raised their heads at once. They broke the chains within milliseconds of one another. Shinji watched on in horror as Rei walked over to Bardiel and hugged him.
"It is good to see you once more Armisael," Bardiel said when they met. He nodded towards Gendo and said, "Arael," then he turned to the last person and said, "Ramiel."
"It is good to be free once more brother," Ramiel/Rei said before turning back to look at Shinji. She smiled a secretive smile. Shinji blinked in surprise.
"Hurry it up," Arael/Gendo pushed Michel towards Asuka. He stumbled forward quickly and assumed his stance for the third time. Asuka stuck out her tongue before she passed out. One of the other persons tied in the circle crumpled as well.
When they awoke there were three of them, Asuka, Hikari, and the unnamed. They too broke the chains as one and crossed to their siblings. This time the hugs took much longer.
Finally Asuka took her place at Bardiel's left shoulder, with Rei at the right. Their siblings lined up so as to make a wedge shape. Shinji, hoarse from his earlier shouting, barely managed to speak, "A-Asuka?"
She smiled and shook her head, "Not Asuka anymore," Shinji shrunk, "Now Gaghiel." She jerked her head towards Hikari and said, "Sandalphon," then towards the unnamed and said, "Israfel."
Shinji hung his head. The end was here for sure now. He'd had to watch all his friends lose their bodies. Now the only person he cared about who was left was Misato. He turned to look at her. She had a face that spoke cold hard determination. Shinji's face cracked as he realized that when he was targeted she would go with him.
He looked around at the remaining prisoners. 'Misato, Hyuga, Kensuke and two prisoners,' he thought. "Did I really only kill six?" he said out loud, "It seemed like so many more."
"Not quite," said Michel from his crouched position once more. Shinji looked up and their eyes met. Michel let his AT-field go.
It hit Shinji square in the forehead. He passed out into unconsciousness. As he had predicted all the remaining prisoners lost consciousness with him.
Shinji didn't wake up.
Sachiel opened the eyes of his new body. He flexed and broke the chains. He took a step forward and turned to look at his brothers and sisters.
In Misato's old body he recognized Sahaqiel. In Kensuke's former body Shamshel. The expendables were worn by Leliel and Matariel. That left one brother missing…
Sachiel faced forward to hug Michel, who was now truly Tabris. Now they were a family once more. If only Lilith and Ireul could be here it would be a complete sibling return.
Ow well. They were free now to wreak their havoc on the universe.
It was time for a family huddle. Sachiel called them in to discuss what must be done. Being the oldest he was undoubtedly the leader of all of them.
Shinji had been very lucky to beat him.
Zacherial could not stand to watch the possessions take place. He was all for justice and such but he could not stand to see the young feel so pathetic. He'd stepped out of the cavern for a moment.
For some reason Andinesial decided to follow him. "What do you want?" he demanded as he turned. To his disbelief Andinesial was crying. "What?" he said, "Did something happen?"
"No," choked Andinesial, "Not yet. It's just that sometimes I start randomly crying."
"Ow," let out Zacherial before turning away. He paused, "What do you think about… you know…that thing in there."
Andinesial started to wipe his face clean with a scrap of his clothing. He answered slowly, "Interesting, I guess. A little random, and that's coming from me." He bit back a laugh.
Zacherial nodded and turned to face him once more. "And what about him returning after so long?" he asked.
Zacherial thought about it for a moment. He leaned back on his heals and put his hands onto the thick black hair on his head. "A bad move on his part. He should've run away once he left. Never came back," Andinesial answered in a mixture of German, English, Chinese, and Japanese. He did that when he talked for a long time.
Four other Tabri pocked their heads into the tunnel Zacherial and Andinesial were hiding in. "Hey! Keep it down in there," they demanded.
The end is getting closer. Or is it? Aiming for 25-30 chapters at this point. Despite the dismal amount of reviews I'm really enjoying writing this. Chapters 15 and 16 are finished but being kicked around. They should be up soon though. Sadly, AnimeFan64 could not proofread this one. Does it show? As always r&R. Especially if you haven't already. You owe me one by now.