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 16: ReTurn
L-o-g-a-n-i
It came from so far away.
L-o-g-a-n-i
It seemed so very far away.
L-o-g-a-n-i
'Is this death?' he asked himself as he floated in nothingness. Dimly he remembered conquering Death. 'Where am I then?' he barely thought.
L-o-g-a-n-i
'I know that voice,' he thought. "Leslen," he croaked out in a barely audible voice, "Leslen is that you, sister?"
L-o-g-a-n-i
He closed his eyes and tried to remember how he had gotten back here. He started at conception.
Somehow it seemed hard even to remember his mother's face. It had been over two-thousand years since he'd seen her but it had never mattered before.
Had it?
L-o-g-a-n-i
His train of thought boarded and started going. He passed meeting his father in a hurry. Soon he was leading the Tabri. Soon he was weeping for his father. Soon he was leaving the Tabri in their hour of need. Soon he was abandoning them outright.
Soon he was captured by his brothers. He groaned as he thought back to the greatest betrayal of them all. 'Father did this to me,' he thought, 'Father put me here.'
L-o-g-a-n-i
"What?" he shouted into the continuous light.
W-a-k-e u-p
His mind shuddered back into operation. He opened his eyes and tried to sit up. Pain coursed through him in ways he'd never imagined. In his mind the image of his Father allowing the slaughter of his siblings played over and over again. His body was assaulted by wave after wave of pain. He had at least seventeen broken bones, ten of them ribs. His soul eluded his capture; he could not reach his AT-field.
L-o-g-a-n-i
His shifted in the pile of rubble. He found himself blinded for more then a few seconds. The being in front of him was completely light, even his vision could not accept this. He tried to cover his eyes with his arm but the light seemed to go through his very skin. He could not block it.
He found himself with his arm down, the being of light now darkened. He could just make out an outline now, the shape one he knew well. "Leslen," his voice cracked. He was parched now, he felt as if he'd been lying there for days.
"Hello brother," she said with just a ghost of a smile.
"You died," he croaked.
"Yes," she said calmly, "And my soul passed on to were I told it to go."
Logani managed a nod. He waited for her to evaluate in vain. Finally he hazard a guess, "Shinji."
"Yes dear brother. I passed on to young Ikari," she said calmly.
"And now…" he said tiredly.
"Now you have promises to keep," she said as she turned around. She began floating down the hallway at a measured gate.
Logani pulled himself to his feet. No AT-field meant no healing. He'd make it anyway though. Leslen would not just lead him anywhere, he had to follow her.
Each step he took seemed to burn his leg off again and again. Occasionally he would lurch towards a wall and have to catch himself with his fingers. He could hear them snap audibly.
Finally he could go on no more. He leaned his back against a wall and barely managed to stay standing. "Sister! What promises must I keep now!" he shouted into the dark hallways of NERV.
"You must keep your promise to return the Messengers to sleep should they ever awaken. You must save Shinji's life," her voice echoed down the hall.
"Ikari died beneath me with the others," he said into the tunnels, "Taken over by Sachiel as I was taken over by Ireul."
"Yet Shinji's soul lives on," Leslen's voice was growing farther away, "As does mine. How else would I speak to you now?"
"Insanity," he said darkly. He pushed himself back to his feet and began walking once more. He gathered energy from every cell in his body to keep walking. He pushed his mind as well; he tried to find his AT-field in the dark caverns. It continued to elude him, just barely.
Finally he reached were Leslen had stopped. He found himself in what had once been a lab. Now…
"One of Michel's torture chambers," he spat angrily, "He'll pay for this."
"Michel is gone," Leslen spoke gravely, "He is with father now."
Looking around the chamber Logani could not find why Leslen had brought him there. In the dim light he began to lose hope.
But she did not let him stray long. "You must take flesh here," she said calmly.
Logani looked at the stripped and beaten corpses. The flesh here was worn and withered. He did not want it. "I will heal later," he gasped, "Now, as you said, we must save Shinji."
"Not flesh for yourself," she said, "But for him. His body has been broken badly. Should you wish to return him to it you must bring him sufficient material to heal."
Logani didn't waste another word. If it would save Shinji he'd carry a full body. He did.
Carrying the corpse with its arm over his opposite shoulder he pulled himself to the entrance to the main geo-front. He followed Leslen's shadow for what seemed like forever. Finally he reached the Control Chamber for the Eva Monitoring Area.
The first thing he noticed was they were nearly empty. Only Unit 02 and Unit 04 remained in their positions. "Were did they go?" he gasped quietly.
"The Messengers took them. That is, besides Unit 01. They fight it even now in Central Dogma," Leslen reported.
"Where is he?" Logani asked.
Leslen pointed down into the main chamber were Shinji's body could just be made out. Logani began dragging the body to Shinji as fast as he could. As he got closer it became apparent that the bakelite that had secured Units 01 and 05-15 had washed over the entire floor. Shinji was practically submerged in it.
Logani pulled him out of the now hardening substance. He looked his body over and found were the most damage was. Shinji had landed on his back and skidded for at least twenty feet before coming to rest. His back was in shreds.
Logani peeled pieces of the dead body's' skin off and began placing them on Shinji's back. Finally his AT-field came within his grasp and grasp it he did. He began slowly melding the skin into Shinji. It loosened at his AT-fields touch; it even eventually took the texture of Shinji's skin.
Logani checked for a pulse, found it, and attempted to awaken Shinji. He did not wake. "Leslen!" he shouted, "He isn't waking up."
"Of course not," she said from over Logani's shoulder.
He turned to look at her, "Why not?" he asked mechanically.
"His soul has left his body," she said simply.
"You said he could be brought back!" Logani shouted at her.
"And he can be," she said coolly, "You just have to return his soul to his body."
Logani cooled visibly, "Well, where is it?" he asked.
Leslen held out her hand. In it four bright lights circled. They were perfectly attuned so as not to come any closer to, or farther away from, each other. They traveled lazily. One was red, another light blue, another dark brown, and finally a white one. Logani reached for the white one.
Leslen brought her hand back slightly. She looked Logani in the eyes, "If you return one you return them all."
Logani understood. He quickly began searching for were Bardiel, Armisael, and Gaghiel had left their former bodies.
He found Touji on the walkway to Unit 03, Rei on the walkway to Unit 00, and Asuka thrown through a wall. Thankfully they were all alive and breathing. None awoke.
He put them in a circle, with their head on the inside. Finally he turned to Leslen. "What about the others?Gendo and Misato?" he asked.
Leslen shook her head softly, "I could not save them. I only had a chance to grab these four."
Logani nodded mutely before he reached for the souls. His hand touched one and they all jumped away from his touch. He reached out again only to find them gone now.
Each traveled to its body as a mouse is drawn to cheese. Fast and cautionless. They entered not at the throat, but at the chest. They passed right through organ and bone alike to rejoin with their body.
They awoke.
S-h-i-n-j-i
It seemed so far away.
S-h-i-n-j-i
It seemed so very far away
"Shinji!" Logani shouted in his ear. Shinji brought his hand up to his ear to try to protect them from the damage.
"Ow…" he said as he rolled onto his side, "That hurt." He stressed the word hurt out.
"Glad to see you're awake," Logani said with a sigh of relief. He glanced around at the other three. Rei sat cross-legged on the ground. She looked a little lost. Past her Asuka rubbed sleep out of her eyes and sat up slowly. Touji rolled over and began snoring.
Logani sighed. Lazy and sleepy that they may be it was good to have them back. Thinking back he realized the reason he hadn't been able to reach his AT-field was because he was afraid. He hadn't admitted it to himself but he had been afraid. What a rookie mistake.
"Come on," he said, "Get up. We have to get going now."
Shinji blinked and then seemed to realize what had just happened to them, "Hey! What happened to the angels?" he demanded.
Logani simply pointed at the empty Eva pens before kicking Touji. Touji jumped up in an amazingly alert situation. He looked around, recognized everyone and sat down. He rubbed his ribs and head. "What happened?" he asked.
"Angels took you over, took over some of the Evas, and left you. Leslen gave me your souls to return to your bodies," he said jerking his thumb at were Leslen had stood.
"Who?" asked Asuka.
Logani turned around to stare into open air. He turned back to face the children. "Dead sister, long story. Time to go, now," he said pulling Shinji and Asuka up to their feet. Rei stood tentatively. She seemed to be looking for someone. Logani paused for a moment. 'Gendo,' he thought, 'neither her nor Shinji will take it well.' Nevertheless he had to tell them. "He's gone Rei," he said soothingly.
It dawned on Rei slowly. She lifted up her hands slowly, looking them over. "Then are we dead too?" she asked, confused.
"No," he explained slowly, "but we will be if we don't get out of here." To prove his point a great rumbling struck the geo-front.
"Yikes," said Touji, standing now, "Lets get out of here."
"Follow me," Logani said, "Rei, take the back."
Rei nodded, still lost a little in the confusion of not having Gendo to stand next too. It felt good to take orders from someone, even Logani.
"Wait!" shouted Asuka when they were half-way out of the chamber, "What about Unit 02?"
Logani turned to look at the red giant. "Leave it," he said, "for now at least. If we have too we can come back for it."
They continued upwards on stairs. This made the trip take a very long time. NERV HQ was huge, easily a thousand levels from Terminal Dogma to Central Dogma and at least a thousand more to the surface.
It took them nearly three hours to reach Central Dogma at their casual pace. As they got higher and higher everyone couldn't help but notice the sounds of heavy footsteps. At first they thought it was someone following them. But when they eventually reachedCentral Dogmathey realized what it really was.
Evangelion and Angel combat.
Eva 01 and the Angels were still at it. Logani poked his head out of the doorway leading to Central Dogma to see them fighting. It was titanic. Unit 01 flipped around in great arcs, dodging from one side of the geofront to the other. So far it had managed to evade the traps the Angels placed but it was getting tired. Even giant muscles become exhausted with time, and Eva 01 had been fighting for hours.
As Logani watched it went down. Ramiel nailed it in the chest with its beam weapon and Zeruel wrapped its arms up with its blades. Unit 01 heaved and disappeared from Logani's vision behind the pyramid of NERV command. But from the great light thrown up from the Messenger's beam attacks he could see its shadow being shredded.
High above the floor the shadow writhed from attacks. Unit 01 was being ripped to shreds. Logani turned back to facing the kids. They wouldn't like what he had to say. "Back down," he said quietly. They all groaned.
It was much easier descending then it was ascending. They did in an hour what had taken them three to do going up. They finally collapsed on the launch bridge for Unit 02. The kids went to sleep rather fast. Logani decided to wander over to Unit 04 for awhile.
He got halfway there before deciding he was too tired. He went back to the others and went to sleep. He knew he'd be first to wake.
It was ten hours before anyone awoke. They'd all been through hell in the last few weeks and desperately needed sleep. Now they got it.
Asuka was the first to wake up. She looked up at Unit 02 and thought about piloting. She remembered the dream she'd had and the increase in her synch score back to normal. 'I wonder,' she thought.
She stood up and was nearly to the entry plug when Shinji woke up. He looked around at the sleeping forms and realized Asuka was not there. His head whipped around in a full 360 degree turn. Finally he saw Asuka on Unit 02's back bridge. She was beginning to climb into the Entry Plug. Not wanting to wake the others Shinji had to whisper, " Asuka! What are you doing?"
Miraculously Asuka heard him. She leaned to her left so she could see Shinji around Unit 02's head. She stuck out her tong at him and returned to the other side of her unit. She threw Shinji his old plug suit she had found. Surprisingly, he caught it. He looked it over doubtfully. "Bad memories," he said calmly. Asuka snorted.
Touji yawned and sat up. Asuka threw another plug suit at him. It landed on his head and he pulled it off. It wasn't his original, but it was his spare. He shivered. "You're telling me yours brings back bad memories," he said with a menacing look at Asuka.
Asuka shrugged and sat down. She smirked and said, "What's wrong Touji? Afraid of clothing now?"
He shot her an angry glance. Then suddenly he sobered. "Guys," he began, "we got brought back. But…where's Hikari and Kenuske?"
"And Misato," said Asuka without any hit of a flare.
"And even my father," Shinji said in a heartfelt tone.
All three sat quietly for a moment. Then Asuka raised her fist angrily, "We'll bring them back."
Shinji and Touji looked at her dubiously. "Bring them back?" asked Shinji.
"Yep," Asuka said optimistically, "just like we got brought back."
Logani sat up abruptly. "That'll be hard to do," he said.
Asuka leaned back onto one of the metal railings of the bridge, "So?"
Logani snorted. "Well, first things first we gotta make the world habitable for them," he said.
"What do you mean?" Shinji, Asuka, and Touji all asked.
"The Messengers are going to bring back Adam and start Third Impact," Logani told them, "and if they succeed there won't be any humanity left for you to return them to."
"Adam?" Shinji asked.
Logani nodded. "The first of the Messengers. Causer of Second Impact and this whole war. He's the Messengers father and therefore," he paused for a moment, "my paternal grandfather."
"Jeez," Shinji said quietly.
Rei sat up, "Commander Ikari had Adam implanted in his right hand-"
"And when Arael took Gendo's body he found it," Logani interrupted, "And now they've gone to the South Pole to resurrect Adam and erase Humanity."
"Well what are we waiting for!" demanded Asuka, "Let's go kick some Angel ass!"
"You really think that all four of you could beatfifteen of them at once?" Logani asked.
"Of course!" Asuka shouted, "We beat them once and we can beat them again!"
"But not all at once," Shinji cast doubt on her plan, "we usually outnumbered them."
"Zip it Third Child," Asuka demanded, "I won't take any of that pessimistic bullshit from you. We can beat them…and god dammit you'll kill more of them then all the rest of us again!"
Everyone was quiet for a moment. "It doesn't matter," Touji said, "We only have two Evas remember? Unit 01 got destroyed and there never was one for me."
"Maybe not," Logani said slowly. Everyone turned to look at him.
Look for 17 very soon. Like tomorrow. Or even tonight. Unfortunately this chapter could not be proofread be AnimeFan64. r&R.