Within a darkened room, a single man sat about a steel desk, gazing tranquilly towards a great monolith hovering not ten feet away. Between the light shed upon the two, they provided the fire that rendered the emptiness about them weak and enervated.
"SEELE believes you're moving far too slowly, Ikari. Far too slowly." The block sighed, his voice old and weary.
"I'm entirely aware of that. The old men of the council go to every pain to express their…irritation. Regardless of what they believe, everything is on schedule." Replied the man, his cunning eyes glaring back from behind a set of darkened lenses
"Although…I really can't help but wonder whose priorities you have in mind, Ikari, SEELE's, the councils, or mine."
"Human Instrumentality will occur, as you wish, but I have a few modifications to add in before the plan can be put into motion. Even with the loss of the Lance of Longinus, we have our own way of accomplishing everything that must be accomplished."
"Working through a loophole, I see. So…You have no intention of actually opening it.?"
"Oh? And what would 'it' be?"
"The only thing that truly matters to the old bags of SEELE, the final gate into their constructed heaven. Their advent-garde realm…the place they call Kingdom Hearts."
"Sounds like a charity organization. Senility isn't beyond them yet, is it?"
"They're already suffering from a dementia of sorts."
"…"
"Ikari, I really must be leaving. I have my own experiments to tend to. Unlike you and your people, I hold love in my heart for all of my toys, whether they can return it or not."
"I have apathy and that allows them to achieve my minimal hopes. The rest is upon them."
"I truly pity those who love you, I really do. My contact will be arriving shortly, until then, keep Shinji from slipping away, if not for him, nothing will be completed."
"Yes, DiZ, I know that.
The monolith faded away, and once again all that remained was the man, Gendo Ikari, and all of the blackened dreams that circled his mind. Nudging his glasses farther up his face, he grimaced and muttered, "Everyone I know is dead to me. You'll need something better to scare me, fool."
Mayo Ibuki stared sadly out towards Shinji's test cockpit. The LCL stirred listlessly about it, as though some invisible force was blowing upon the frail liquid. His synchronization rates were far higher than they had ever been, up to 120, almost larger than what Rei Ayanami and Asuka Langley Soryu's combined percentage had peaked to at their last routine testing. Alas, now the frail, blue haired child was nothing more than a remnant of her former self, her other half, the unstable and yet often times serene Unit-0 having sacrificed itself as the 16th Angel pressed upon the pilot's psyche. Even Asuka, the bold and outgoing red head, had faded away into a mere shell of her once rebellious self, sealing her mind within a wall of fractured ego and broken dreams of glory.
Rapping her fingers slowly over one of the many keyboards that helped orchestrate the MAGI's operations. That was what the new leaders of Japan were known as, three supercomputers that assisted in world government and dictated all the occurred within the suffering nation. However, like all politicians, they could easily be manipulated into acting as the organization Ibuki served in, NERV, wished. It was almost pathetic. The destruction and chaos that the Angels had wrought had seeped into every little crevice of the world's existence, rotting it down to its core and planting their seeds as well, it seemed. Even after this final beast is gone, will Earth ever be the same, she couldn't help but lament.
"Shinji seems…upset, Lieutenant. Are his sync ratios dropping?" Misato leaned in to stare at her subordinate's work, brushing her hair from her eyes as she did so.
Shaking her head, Ibuki replied drearily, "No, it's the exact opposite, even. Where Rei and Asuka, even Toji failed, he seems dedicated to succeed." Rubbing her eyes, she sighed and rested her chin on her palm.
"At what cost, though?" The Major mused aloud, glancing up at the test pod.
"Well...It almost seems like he's developing a manic-depression case…and it's helping him, I guess. Except for when Unit-1…lost control, this is the highest connection he's ever had with the technology."
The two of them stood next to each other, breathing heavily. Everything was nearing it's end, and all of it depended upon this child. After all that life had endured, the fate of everything rested upon the shoulders of mere kids, no older than the two had been when their prime concern was surviving the Second Impact…even that paled in comparison to Shinji's burdon.
"I wish…I wish that someone could help him. I wish…I wish he wasn't so sad." Misato murmured, more of a prayer than anything else.
"You shouldn't concern yourself, Major. Help has arrived, our final ace in the hole." Kozo Fyutsuki announced, seemingly stepping out of Misato's thoughts and into reality itself. His wrinkled face was still a vessel for the constant scowl that always coated it, though now a bit of light shone through the years of pain. "Both the 5th and 6th Child have appeared, delivered here by SEELE themselves. Kaworu Nagisa and Sora Ikari."