Disclaimer: Same as Chapter 1.
Chapter 3: John 3:16
A/N: Here's chapter 3-- Sorry i'm going so slow, but I'm trying to do my best to make sure I stay true to the essence of the characters. Thanks to everyone for reviewing the first couple chapters-- any feedback can only help and give me an idea of how to improve or stay the course! And now, our feature presentation...
Unit-00 was writhing on the ground, gripping its head as though suffering from a splinter in its mind. Shinji tried to look away, but the sporadic whimpers of pain from Rei were making it hard to sit still. He had to do something-- it was like watching Asuka all over again...
"Father! Please! Let me go!" Shinji yelled at the stoic Commander Ikari, barely able to keep his prepubescent voice from cracking under the stress. "I have to help her! Let me fight!"
Gendo was silent for a moment, considering the situation as it lay before him. If Rei were to die, it could lead to problems with his scenario... "Katsuragi!"
Misato turned to face the Commander.
"I want Evangelion Unit-01 taken out of quarantine-- launch it immediately!"
She stared at Gendo, a surprised look on her face. "But sir, the S2 engine-- if Unit-01 makes contact with an Angel now, we don't know what could happen!"
"I don't care. Do it!"
Misato knew that between Rei and Shinji, she was more worried about his safety...but as she looked at the pilot of Unit-01, she saw the impatience and desperation in his face, and knew that he didn't care, either.
"...Yes, sir."
A moment later, the lift brought Unit-01 to the surface, and Shinji grabbed the rifle docked near him.
Ayanami-- wait for me...Please... he prayed silently to whatever universal power could hear him.
"Shinji-- we know the rifle can't kill the Angel, so just try to distract it...That might be able to buy enough time for Rei to get away, understand!"
"Right!" Shinji gripped the controls of the Eva in determination, and in a flash his AT Field was up.
The Angel stopped invading Rei, sensing such a tremendous force of energy that it turned to acknowledge it. Rei couldn't see him from where she was, but she could sense the AT Field through the Angel still attached to her.
"...Ikari?" she whispered in shock, before she could stop herself.
Ahh...I thought he would come, the Angel spoke into her mind as clearly as if it was talking right next to her. The lilim who occupies all of your thoughts. If you will not surrender, perhaps he shall...
Shinji barely had time to move as the Angel burst through the trees. It nearly grazed Unit-01's faceplate but smashed into the just-emptied Eva lift, sending schrapnel and twisted steel flying in all directions, tearing holes in the ground and reducing some of the nearby foliage to splinters. He used the opportunity to shoot at the stream of energy, but as fast as it had attacked the Angel curved through the trees, uprooting those in its path and managed to make contact with Unit-01's left arm.
Shinji groaned as he felt veins spidering their way up his arm starting at his wrist, causing it to seize up. He dropped the rifle in his right hand and instinctively reached for the prog knife on the Eva's left shoulder. It has to work... he flipped the knife upside-down and prepared to drive it into the Angel when a familiar voice drifted into his mind.
"...No, Ikari. Please...Please don't hurt me." Shinji hesitated as he blinked and in the Angel's place was Rei-- Rei crying...
Shinji felt his resolve slowly leave him as he stared at the apparition of Rei, holding onto the Eva's arm (where the Angel had been a second previously) and looking up at him, tears rolling down 'her' face as 'she' pleaded for him to not harm her. Shinji tried to convince himself that it wasn't really Ayanami, that it was just a trick of the eye, but he couldn't bring himself to lower the knife into the form of the girl he knew. He slowly felt himself drift as 'Rei's' tears slowly dried, and she favored him with a smile.
Misato's voice snapped him back to reality. "Shinji, what are you doing? Use the progressive knife!"
The boy suddenly realized that the veins on his arm had slowly spread to his chest and were progressing to the rest of his body. He gripped the knife, shut his eyes and forced the blade into the Angel. It let out a scream that could crack glass as yellowish blood spurted from its new wound, the ghost of Rei fading from its body. Yet it did not release its grip on Shinji. In fact, it pulled its attention away from Rei and slowly started to leave her Eva to bring its full wrath against the new agressor.
Rei knew she should have been relieved, but her worries were now for her fellow pilot, the veins on Unit-01 becoming more pronounced. Shinji... Rei prayed that this would go away, and simply be just a nightmare, but the Angel regarded her as it prepared to leave her body.
Consider this a stay of execution... and payment for your betrayal of your brothers and sisters.
"...What?..."
...One life for another, the Angel stated simply. ...Although to merely take his life would not satisfy me entirely...
Rei was frozen in shock as comprehension dawned on her. She stared as she heard Shinji's screams fill the intercom now. Then her eyes narrowed, and before the Angel could exit her entirely she grabbed the being, and it paused in surprise.
"...No."
Suddenly the Angelwas drawn back to Unit-00; a force stronger than itself, coupled with the Eva's own strength, overwhelmed it. Rei forced the being inside Unit-00, in the fashion of a samurai committing ritual suicide, pulling it away from Shinji. She heard him gasp for air as though he had been underwater, and knew that at least the Angel didn't have him anymore.
Back at the command center, Maya stared at Unit-00's statistics in shock. "Major! Unit-00's reversed it's AT Field!"
"What?"
"Is that even possible?" Ritsuko looked over her assistant's shoulder at the screen and saw that it was true. "She's pulling the Angel into herself!"
"New signals--" Hyuga spoke in a tone of utter surprise. "...She's activating her Drive-D!"
Misato gaped at the technican's words, then tuned the radio desperately to Rei's frequency. "No, Rei! Eject! Get as far away as you can!"
"...I can't," came the reply from the radio's other end.
Within the entry plug of Unit-00, Rei had managed to climb to the top of her cockpit's seat, and by entering some numbers into the small keypad, a pair of levers slid out of the thick metal.
"If I leave, the AT Field will cease to be," a note of cold determination entered her voice-- "I will not allow that to happen." She pulled the first lever, causing the cockpit to flash red and alarms to blare.
WARNING...SELF-DESTRUCT ACTIVATED. FIRST SAFETY LOCK OVERRIDDEN. EVACUATE AND MOVE AS FAR FROM CURRENT LOCATION AS POSSIBLE. WAITING FOR CONFIRMATION OF FINAL SAFETY LOCK TO ACTIVATE...
The Commander's voice, so deeply ingrained into her thoughts, crackled over the intercom. "Rei. Deactivate the self-destruct and evacuate immediately."
The girl listened to his order, but instead of obeying, she found herself replying negatively.
"But Commander... Unit-01's pilot--"
"...Is of no consequence." Gendo ignored the disgusted looks of his subordinates and continued to speak calmly into the reciever. "This is an order, Rei. Evacuate at once."
Rei hesitated, her palm hovering over the second lever. Suddenly, she heard a voice inside her head, repeating:
I don't want to die
I don't want to die
I don't want to die
I don't want to die
I don't want to die...
Are these my thoughts...or the Angel's? The border between her mind and the being fused to her Eva was getting blurry again. Rei felt the tears slowly welling up in her eyes, uncertain of what to do. She wanted to run-- anything to escape the fate she had placed apon herself.
"Rei, no!" the girl looked into the video feed coming from Eva-01...Shinji. She stared as she looked into the face of the boy-- his face was like it was after the 4th Angel-- desperate, crying with abandon. "You have to get out of there! I'll help you-- just wait a little more!"
Rei simply looked at him from her end of the video monitor. Then, as if out of nowhere, voice came through, although she turned her eyes away.
"Don't worry about me. I'll be fine."
Shinji faltered, her words cutting through the din of the alarms, to his very soul. "Ayanami, wait-- there has to be something else that we can do! Don't worry about the Eva; just get out! PLEASE, REI!"
She didn't respond as she slowly lowered her hand to rest above the final lever, she closed her eyes, as though praying for strength. She then took what she thought would be her last look at Shinji-- her eyes, red as blood, taking in the one person who had treated her like she mattered.
In spite of everything, she smiled.
And it was not a patronizing smile, like the Angel had mocked her with, nor was it the barely perceptible grin that she occasionally favored the Commander with. It was a look of pure and utter peace, a reflection of the tranquility she had found and had believed, so many years ago, she was never meant to savor in her life.
"...Goodbye, Shinji." In one smooth motion, she pushed the lever in.
And at that moment there was only light.