Disclaimer: Same as Chapter 1.
Chapter 48: Apocalypse
Misato gaped at the sight before her. Having just absorbed Adam, the pale Angel began to shudder and move. She fired a few rounds at the Angel, if only as an act of defiance, but the bullets unsurprisingly had no effect on the behemoth.
Slowly, Lilith began to pull itself free from the bolts tying it to the massive crucifix as its metal faceplate oozed off and crashed into the crimson ground beneath it. Knowing that the end was nigh, the Major prepared to run for the exit when she saw the Angel shudder again, a humanoid form molding itself out of Lilith's flesh and fall to the ground. She didn't know what made her run around to the concrete bridge and cross the lake of LCL, but once she was at the platform before Lilith, Misato picked up the body of the person who'd come out of the Angel. It only took her a moment staring at that light blue hair before she realized whose nude body she was supporting.
"Rei?"
As Shinji screamed helplessly into the void, Unit-01 let out its own roar, one which shook the ground below its feet and made the last MP cower in surprise at the sudden appearance of another adversary. Suddenly the Unit-01's armor shattered to reveal the sinewy flesh lying just beneath, freeing the beast within once again.
Maya stared at the small screen in shock, not entirely recovered from watching Asuka brutally slain before her very eyes.
"...Unit-01!"
"What's that?" Aoba yelled over the continuing gunfire as the JSSDF got ever closer to their position.
"...It's breaking free of it's restraints--pilot synchronization is approaching critical limits!" Before they could react to this new development, the sirens above them began to blare. The bridge trio and Fuyutsuki looked up at the twirling red lights, but the soldiers below them didn't seem to notice.
"A high energy reading's coming from inside Terminal Dogma!" Maya managed to say, unable to believe what she was seeing.
"...It can't be..." Hyuga muttered under his breath. "...An Angel?" The short-haired girl tapped a few keys before the screen flashed in protest.
"I...I don't know! It's not displaying a Blue pattern! In fact, it almost looks..." she was too bewildered to utter the last word, 'human,' aloud. Without warning, the JSSDF soldiers suddenly stopped firing, and what little was visible of their faces displayed utter disbelief. The bridge trio, from their higher elevation, didn't understand why until a second later, when Maya let out a shuddering yelp.
Aoba twisted his head around to see a gigantic, ghostly head passing through the young woman. She was unharmed but scuttled out of the ectoplasmic being's warpath as the rest of its body began to rise into the air, passing through the bridge as if it wasn't there. Unconciously, Maya glanced at her laptop, then blinked at the screen.
"...It can't be...these energy readings...there the same ones from fifteen years ago..." her voice trailed off into silence as her eyes remained glued to the computer, but the three men surrounding her didn't need her to finish the sentence. Instictually, they had already realized what was happening.
Third Impact had begun.
In his fury, Shinji ran at the MP as Unit-01 let out another powerful roar, the humanoid monstrosity thirsty for blood. It threw aside its Prog knife, wanting the sadistic pleasure of killing the enemy with its own hands. Before Unit-01 could come within half a kilometer of the MP, however, it froze in place as the pale Eva stopped it with a wall of solid air, warping as the violet beast struggled against it. Shinji tried to make Unit-01 break free by using his own AT barrier, but it was instantly negated the second it made contact with the MP's Field. The pilot of Unit-01 groaned in protest as he felt the Eva's limbs being frozen in place as though on a cross. The MP began to float skyward, dragging the rouge Eva with it.
How could Rei have come from INSIDE that thing? Misato wondered as she lifted up the inert body of Unit-00's former pilot, looking no different than she had before her death. The Major glanced up at the feet of Lilith, now slowly drifting through the roof, and decided that such questions were for a safer time.
"Rei! Rei, speak to me!" she bellowed at the girl, but she refused to move, instead remaining in her comatose state. "Rei, wake up, we have to get out of here!"
Shinji had given up resisting; he sat on the Entry Plug seat with his head in his hands. Through his fingers he could see Earth hanging just below him, the ground still visible through the swirling clouds surrounding him and his captor. Suddenly something caught his attention, just enough to make him widen the gap in his fingers to see the glowing pale form that filled up his range of vision.
What the...
There, standing before him with hands cupped around Unit-01 and giving him a benevolent, passive expression was the gigantic form of...
"...KAWORU?"
He screamed his lungs out, his mind refusing to accept the impossibility that stood directly before him. In his desperation, he fervently began praying.
Help me...someone...anyone...please!
"...Shinji?"
Misato gasped as Rei's crimson eyes suddenly flew open, life returning to the pale girl's features as the name of Unit-01's pilot sounded gently on her lips.
"...Rei! Are you alright?" Misato shook her slightly when Rei didn't answer. "Rei, can you stand? Let's go--I'll get you to a safe place!" The Major helped her subordinate to her slightly wobbling feet, but when she started to walk Rei freed herself from the woman's grasp.
"...Shinji..." she uttered again, transfixed to the high ceiling as her feet remained planted to where she now stood. Misato stared at the girl, wondering what she was doing.
"Rei, what about Shinji?" Once again, Rei didn't answer her question, which irritated the worried Major. "...Is he in danger? ANSWER ME!" Rei only turned her head slightly so that she made eye contact with Misato.
"...I must go to him." Misato blinked before renewing her frantic yelling.
"What are you talking about? If you go out there, you don't know what could happen!"
"...If I don't," Rei whispered calmly, "...then all will be lost in the destruction of Instrumentality." To Misato's surprise the corners of Rei's mouth turned upward slightly before she spoke again. "I...do not wish for this world to be lost to nothingness. Not anymore. After all...this is the place where I found Shinji...and where he found me." With that, the pale girl closed her eyes and concentrated. The air around her warped slightly as she disappeared from sight, then returned to normal. Misato let out a sigh once Rei was gone, then instead of trying to run from the inevitable, simply stood where she was.
Rei...bring Shinji back for me.
"Please..." Shinji pleaded into his palms, "...go away. I don't want to see this...Oh God, please help me..."
...Is this better?
Shinji blinked at the sound of a familiar, sweet voice speaking directly into his mind. He lifted his head to see, in Kaworu's place, the gentle features of Rei smiling at him. Shinji felt his fear instantly melt away. He was aware that it was still the same giant, just in a different shape, but he found himself unable to hide the joy he felt at seeing her face once again.
"...Rei..."
Yes, Shinji, Lilith said in the pale girl's voice. I'm here.
"Rei...it hurts...I...I missed you so much...when you were gone..."
I know, my dear. But I can fix it. I can make it so you'll never have to be in pain again.
"...How...?"
All you have to do...is forget. Forget the rest of the world. Wish for mankind to be returned to the cradle of its Creator's arms. Then...there will be nothing that will bring you sadness again.
Shinji blissfully shut his eyes, surrendering to the will of Lilith as he unconciously began to direct the course of Instrumentality.
Misato felt a presence near her and turned around. A few feet from her stood none other than Kaworu. She blinked, but suddenly the silver-haired boy was no longer there. In his place stood a tall man with unshaven stubble and long hair tied lazily into a ponytail at the back, who pulled the helpless Misato into 'his' arms. She gazed into the man's brown eyes, radiating warmth as he held her tighter, the Major scarcely able to believe it.
"K...Kaji...?"
Without a single word the apparition of Misato's lover cradled her face in his hand and pulled her into a passionate kiss. It only took the violet-haired woman a moment to surrender, returning his kiss with as much pent-up longing and joy that she could muster. She felt as though her heart was going to explode, then a moment of complete bliss...then nothing as her body suddenly 'popped' into a puddle of LCL.
In the bridge, Hyuga looked down at the chaos reigning below the bridge trio's platform. JSSDF soldiers, along with NERV personnel, were in various states of bizarre activity, almost like they were facing ghosts. Some were embracing the air, others were shooting wildly at nothing, but all were one by one turning into puddles of orange-red liquid. The smell of blood was steadily filling the air as the coagulation of the LCL only continued to grow. Suddenly he felt a pair of hands on his face. He turned his head and his eyes nearly popped out of his face at the sight of his violet-haired commanding officer fawning over him, her eyes filled with blind love.
Misato...?
He could only manage to think her name as the facsimile of Misato pulled herself close to him, resting her lips on his own before Hyuga disappeared in a spray of LCL.
Maya cringed helplessly under the desk. Aoba had disappeared and she had just seen Hyuga go; it was only a matter of time before the same fate befell her. She looked up to see her sempai kneeling there, still much taller than the short-haired girl.
"D-Doctor Akagi?"
The scientist's cold and professional demeanor had disappeared, she looked at Maya as though she was the most beautiful thing in the world before pulling her into her arms. Joyful tears formed silently in the young woman's eyes as she threw her arms around the object of her affection, her heart overflowing as she whispered the name she'd longed to utter for so many years.
"...Ritsuko..."
"Ikari...did you see Yui as well, I wonder?" Fuyutsuki said with a smile as the form of Yui Ikari reached out from overhead and gently carressed his worn and tired face before he followed suit and vanished.
Thousands of miles overhead on the surface of the moon, the true Lance of Longinus shuddered and, pulled by a mysterious force, shot away from the cratered-covered satellite and toward Unit-01.
All across the world, millions of tiny lights, each one representing a single human soul, twinkled into brilliant existence and lit up the surface of the blue planet. They slowly drifted around Lilith, awaiting the final key that would bring about the end of mankind. Shinji felt himself start to fade away under the loving gaze of the titanic Rei that held him suspended in the vacuum of space. Slowly, a tiny flash of red appeared in the distance as the Lance drew closer to Unit-01's core.
...All I want now, Shinji thought quietly, ...is for this all to end. I'm tired of living in this world with my horrible father and my mother gone... No one really cares about me, so they can all die. I don't care anymore.
The Lance was now only a few seconds from Unit-01's core. Its pilot closed his eyes once again, welcoming death.
"NO."
Shinji blinked and snapped out of his trance to see a small, pale girl that had materialized just in front of Unit-01. A girl with sky-blue hair...
...It can't be...
She had her hands held out in front of her as the Lance of Longinus rocketed towards towards herself and Unit-01. But instead of going through her, the slender weapon stopped in midflight, the flashing of an AT Field blocking the Lance from its final destination.
"...Rei?"
Considering her insignificant size compared to the gigantic weapon, that Rei could even hold off the Lance of Longinus was a testament to the strength of her AT Field. But she was showing signs of strain as the Lance continued to drive itself further in, threatening to crack the barrier despite that it was the strongest it had ever come in contact with. Rei glared at the weapon, pushing harder with her mind as her Field sparked from the friction against the Lance. In desperation she tried the only remaining option. She dropped her AT Field just enough for it to come shooting straight toward her.
"REI, NO!" Shinji screamed as reality came crashing back to him, though he still could not move. He was silenced as Rei re-directed her barrier and, using it as a buffer, caught the tip of the Lance in her hands.
On contact with Rei, both she and the Lance became illuminated, shining a blinding light that enveloped everything within its brilliance.