DISCLAIMER: Evangelion absolutely in no way belongs to me. I wish it did but that isn't the world we live in. This story exists merely for my own personal enjoyment.
Also, I don't know how you could've gotten this far without realizing, but we live in strange times I guess, but this story is in fact a LEMON, so situations of adult nature lie within.
Sorry this took so long, life has been, hectic, recently.
Standard:
"This" is speech.
'This' is thoughts.
"This" is memories
"This" is weird Angel telepathy
Engelsbote und Glasherzen
Onshi-Hakone Park, Tokyo-3: Afternoon
Shinji Ikari, Third Child and designated pilot of Unit-01, wandered aimlessly along a brick path as the stifling heat of Tokyo-3's endless summer beat down upon him. But he paid no mind to the sweat as it flowed down his forehead. That is until the salty excretion burned his eyes and forced them closed. One sense removed his mind focused on the unending buzzing of the cicadas and cawing of crows overhead.
His eyelids opened once more, cobalt irises seeing a bench shaded by a large maple tree nearby. His legs brought him toward it of their own accord, his aching feet finally allowed a respite as Shinji's gaze took in where he was. An unfamiliar plaza, in an unfamiliar park, with a fountain in the middle of brick paths radiating outward. The water gurgling as it flowed from the trumpets the stone cherubs held in their hands.
"I ran away again." Shinji Ikari said to the empty park as his mind replayed the events that had led him here.
"This is all I can do for you." Asuka Langley Sohryu, his comrade, his lover, his life, had said emptily as her left hand covered his, while her right went to the button of his jeans as the midday sun shone through the blinds in his room.
"Don't touch me!" He'd screamed as he recoiled from her hand.
His heart and mind had never left the place they'd left the faux-blonde crying in the ruins of wasted potential. Shinji wasn't sure what had happened to her. He remembered their purple-haired guardian had mumbled something about Ritsuko being in custody but beyond that he didn't know.
Since what had happened in Terminal Dogma, neither of them had gone to school. He wasn't really sure for how long. Misato had covered with some excuse about both of them being ill. But, what Misato couldn't postpone forever was the next synch-test. And as the time approached when Shinji knew he would have to face Toji and Rei once more he became more and more anxious as his soul was drowned in guilt and despair.
How could he look the boy whose mother he killed in the eye? How could he look at Ayanami the same way?
He and the German redhead hadn't been intimate at all since then, had barely even talked, only held each other as they drifted off to sleep through tears. Misato had forbade them sharing a bed when she first had learned of their relationship but in light of her wards most recent trauma had silently acquiesced.
Now though it seemed Asuka was forcing the matter, trying to break the one she loved out of his malaise.
Though in truth she wasn't much better. Asuka's usual fire was gone. Replaced by heavy bags that told of weariness and exhaustion under her eyes as every time she closed them all she saw were dozens of Reis dissolving before her until only the smiles remained, merging and morphing into one horrific visage. Reminiscent of the one she saw on a face she loved as it swayed back and forth from a hospital ceiling. Sometimes in her nightmares she even saw her mother's smile flash before her eyes followed by the image of her hand smashing the dummy plug.
So her limbs were merely and wearily going through the motions as she again reached for the button and zipper on his jeans, while her other tried to get under his blue shirt.
"I said stop Asuka!" He yelled as he got up off the bed and his heart stopped as he saw the look on Asuka's face.
There was no smile or smirk, not even a scowl. Just a blank expression as she reached under the hem of her yellow shirt and tossed it aside, revealing her bare chest to him.
"Don't you want to feel better?" Her voice said without tone as she stood up from the bed and walked toward him and Shinji could swear he saw tears forming in the corners of her cerulean eyes. "Don't you want to be with me?" The German redhead said as her arms went around him, trying to bring him into her embrace.
'Not like this.' His mind thought as he did the one thing he'd promised he'd never do.
Not to her.
He ran away.
Out from his room.
Out the front door.
Out of the apartment building and into the city beyond.
He thought he heard her screaming his name, calling out to him, but he didn't look back, he couldn't look at her right now.
Which brought him to where he was now, on a park bench, alone, his head cradling in his hands as the weight of it all crashed upon him and his mind was adrift in the maelstrom of emotions colliding within.
'Toji, I…I can't… I can't face him…'
'Rei…'
'Asuka…'
'What can I do?' He asked himself desperately. The universe was silent in its answer for a few moments before Shinji's ears picked up something besides the ubiquitous cicada buzz. Beethoven's Symphony No. 9, being hummed by someone.
Shinji picked up his head and looked in the direction the tune was coming from and saw a grey-haired boy in a school uniform sitting on the edge of the fountain, a stone cherub blowing a trumpet on either side of him as he looked to the sky.
"The song is good." The grey-haired boy said as he turned his red eyes to regard Shinji.
"Huh?" The Third Child said befuddled.
"Singing brings joy and revitalizes the human soul. I think that song is the highest achievement of the Lilin culture. Don't you agree? Shinji Ikari." The newcomer continued.
"How do you know my name?" Shinji asked surprised.
"Everyone knows your name. I don't mean to sound rude but you're rather ignorant of your own position." The red-eyed boy answered, causing Shinji Ikari to chuckle in response before he responded.
"I suppose you're right, and who are you then?"
"I'm Kaworu, Kaworu Nagisa."
The Same Park: Twenty Minutes Later
Asuka Langley Sohryu, Second Child, designated pilot of Unit-02, and usually bombastic redhead was worried.
'I really fucked up.' The thought played across her mind for the thousandth time as she took a right turn down a brick path in the park she'd seen her lover go into but had lost track of in the thick branches and trunks.
'I just thought…that maybe if we…that it could all go back to normal.' Her mind raced as it was trying to rationalize the choices that had led her to this moment.
'But that's no way to live Sohryu. That's what you did with Mama. Buried the pain behind walls and tried to pretend everything was fine.' The German redhead's inner voice told her and she shuddered as she thought about how she'd reverted to her same tendencies in the aftermath of seeing that which NERV had sequestered from all.
Asuka's brooding was interrupted however as her ears heard something surreal. Laughter. Shinji's laughter.
She followed the sound down the radial pathway she was on until as she entered the plaza, past the last bush her cerulean eyes caught those cobalt orbs she knew, breath catching in her throat, and her mind barely registering the grey back of the head next to those eyes.
"Asuka!" Shinji cried out, almost immediately, clearly not sharing her trepidation, as he leapt up from the bench he was sitting on and rushed over to her, only a last burst of will kept him from throwing his arms around her in a bear hug that would make Misato proud.
"Verdammter Idiot!" Asuka began as she recovered and cursed in anger that wasn't false, as she wanted to vent her frustration as her fists formed balls at her side: "Just what were you thinking! Why I ought to-!"
"You must be Asuka Langley Sohryu." A new voice interjected into the quarrel "I've heard so much about you, and I'm glad to make your acquaintance."
Asuka paused, her left hand which had been preparing to hit Shinji's shoulder, fingers so taught the whites of her knuckles were visible, relaxed as she turned her face to regard the grey-haired boy dressed in a school uniform before her.
Usually she abhorred men who carried the confident smirk his red-eyed face wore, but for some reason something about him was disarming, soothing almost and had her wits been fully about her Sohryu would have been suspicious of this fact, instead she merely asked:
"And who are you?"
"This is Nagisa, Kaworu Nagisa." Shinji began, a smile on his face and his tone excited.
"I am like you, a pilot for Eva." He added, letting the silence of a moment's pause fill the plaza: "The Fifth Child."
"The Fifth?" Asuka began in astonishment. "But we only have two Evas! Why are they sending us another pilot!"
"I couldn't tell you why, but the fact is they have." Kaworu said, lying through his teeth before continuing: "Regardless I am happy to finally meet you."
"Well naturally." Asuka said as she flipped her hair back confidently and a smile crept onto her face, some the old fire returning. "I hope this baka wasn't boring you." She said with faux-derogation as she pointed her thumb at a sighing Shinji.
"Not at all, in fact I had been looking forward to meeting the both of you." Kaworu said, eyes darting back between the both of them as the three pilots formed a triangle on the bricks of the plaza.
"The both of us?" The secret lovers said in unison, the surprise evident in their tone.
"Yes, the bond you have is quite intriguing." Kaworu continued, his smirk and stance never wavering, as his words sent both Shinji's and Asuka's hearts plunging. Shinji managed to recover first and after a gulp, he spoke, hoping the halting words weren't laced with worry:
"You mean our teamwork in combat right?"
"Of course." Kaworu said as both pilots sighed in relief, and had Kaworu had more understanding of the Lilin, he would have rolled his eyes at the display.
"So when did you get here Fifth Child?" Asuka asked as she regained her composure.
"Just recently. My flight from Germany arrived the day before yesterday." Kaworu began as he shifted his body so he was facing the German redhead before continuing: "Und bitte, nennen Sie mich Kaworu."
Asuka let out a shriek of glee at hearing her native tongue and immediately began to question the red-eyed newcomer about how things were in a land she hadn't seen in months.
Though behind the ear to ear grin she wore there was a nagging sense of unease in the back of her mind as her logic asked why she'd never seen this grey-haired boy at NERV's 3rd Branch in Germany, but that was easily rationalized away as well by Asuka's knowledge that NERV loved its secrets, redundancies, and parallel programs.
It wasn't long before Shinji was completely lost, catching only a word here or there but without any context to get a feel for what they were talking about, though someone did notice his consternation.
"You must feel so left out." Kaworu said as he turned to regard Shinji.
"It's the baka's fault he isn't bilingual!" Asuka interjected, though did switch to Japanese for Shinji's benefit, if it could be called that.
Shinji in response merely laughed and scratched the back of his head. Though as his eyes opened he noticed how long the shadows on the ground had become:
"It's getting late." Shinji began, mulling over in his head what he wanted to say next before deciding to do so: "How'd you like to come over to our apartment for dinner Kaworu."
"I'd like that." Kaworu answered simply before the trio walked off.
They made their way back to the apartment through the failing light of the latest day in Tokyo-3, the smiles and laughter of the secret lovers belying their earlier turmoil as their hearts were put at ease.
Once back the resident chef determined the only thing he could make with the contents of the pantry and fridge, that was appropriate for guests at least, was fried tofu with steamed rice and vegetables. Shinji would have been happy to prepare the meal by himself and let Asuka and Kaworu keep speaking in German, but the two of them had other plans and instead joined him in the kitchen. With three sets of hands the cooking went by swiftly especially since Kaworu appeared so preternaturally adept with a knife that both of them stood in awe as he perfectly julienned carrots and cabbage.
Just as the steaming plates of food were placed on the table the three sets of ears heard the telltale screeching of tires and careening of metal that told at least two of those sets that Misato was home after parking her Alpine in the loosest possible definition of the word.
"I'm home." The NERV Major said wearily as she crossed the threshold with downcast eyes.
"Welcome home Misato!" The secret lovers said in unison from the kitchen, their cheery voices causing their guardian to perk her ears up.
Curiosity drove her feet forward until she reached the kitchen table, food spread out and a cold Yebisu already open at her usual spot.
"Hello Major Katsuragi, I'm Kaworu Nagisa, Nagisa of the seashore, the Fifth Child." A red-eyed, grey haired boy she'd never met said to her.
Her brain gradually processed the words, the grey matter pulling up a flash of the transfer papers that had crossed her desk some days ago:
"This…This isn't how I expected to meet you," Misato began, before a smile crept onto her face after she saw the looks in Shinji and Asuka's eyes. "But I am glad to meet you." The NERV Major said as she sat down.
About three beers later she was caught up fully with how the three of them had become acquainted. She should have been more cautious, but she was too glad her wards were doing better to let the nagging suspicion take root.
"I still can't believe they put you in the Geofront apartments, doesn't sound very homey." Misato said as she put her chopsticks down on an empty plate, her mind remembering the tiny rooms the NERV bureaucrats wanted to stick Shinji when he first arrived.
"Anywhere can be a home, a place to return." Kaworu answered though qualified it a moment later, "But seeing the happiness here in your home makes me think there may be more to it than four walls and a ceiling."
"You better not be thinking about having more pilots live with you Misato!" Asuka interjected "The place is cramped enough with this dummkopf!" She added as she elbowed a seated Shinji with her left elbow. "No offense though." Asuka added with a smile to Kaworu who nodded understandingly.
"Well Rei has room doesn't she?" Shinji suggested as his right foot went over Asuka's left, toes intertwining with each other for the fourth time that evening.
"The commander would never agree to that!" The purple-head said as she nearly choked on her latest Yebisu.
The moment of joy however was soon ended though as mention of the First Child brought forth memories of what the three of them had seen in Terminal Dogma
"Pilot Ayanami?" Kaworu began, either not noticing their dejected expressions or choosing not to acknowledge them as he continued: "I'm quite eager to meet her as well."
"Well you'll see her at the synch test tomorrow for sure." Misato said as she swirled the malty brew in her can.
There was silence for a moment before it was broken by Misato's phone. A curse under her breath as she looked at the number…and then the time:
"It is rather late isn't it." Kaworu said, almost as if he had read Misato's thoughts, which normally would have unnerved the Major had her mind not been pre-occupied with all the various reasons why this number would call.
"Haha, yeah" Misato began as she got up from the table before continuing: "I didn't realize how late it was, Kaworu, I've got to take this but did you want me to call Section 2 for an escort to the Geofront?"
"That won't be necessary Major Katsuragi." The grey haired boy answered simply as he got up as well, "I'll be on my way now."
"Alright, if you're sure." Misato said with uncertainty as she hurried to her room and the privacy it offered.
"Hyuga." Misato said into the speaker once the door was closed and the scrambling encryption Maya had added to her device to prevent eavesdropping by any of NERV's Magi was activated. She still didn't like to use it though, but right now there wasn't much choice.
"I've found where they are keeping Ritsuko." The bespeckled lieutenant said over the line in a hushed tone.
Meanwhile, after helping place the dirty dishes in the sink to be cleaned later Kaworu made his way to the hallway before turning to regard the couple behind him.
"Here you go." Shinji began as he held out a tightly packed plastic bag with Tupperware within: "It's some leftovers from today."
"His cooking's not terrible." Asuka said indifferently before she remembered something: "Oh here!" She exclaimed as her hands produced a small booklet from her shorts' pocket. "I know how difficult Japanese can be so I figure this might be useful." She said as she proffered Kaworu a German-Japanese Pocket Dictionary she'd picked up in Heidelberg. While Kaworu had spoken almost perfect Japanese in their conversations that evening Asuka had noticed that sometimes his word choice was strange, 'Lilin' kept standing out in her mind in that regard. She shrugged and assumed he had merely misremembered.
"Thank you. Both of you." Kaworu said as he took the gifts, looking each of them in the eye before his red orbs looked down at what he held: "Humans can never banish their loneliness for good, because being human means being alone. But the way out of that loneliness is to weave a path to the light together."
The grey-haired boy's mystifying though vaguely familiar words spawned a look of puzzlement on the pilots' faces, followed quickly by smiles.
"Goodbye."
The door hissed shut as their new red-eyed friend began his solitary journey. The secret lovers hands found one another now they were on their own and cobalt and cerulean orbs stared into each other's depths.
"I'm sorry I ran away." Shinji began, his cobalt orbs watery as he held both of Asuka's hands between them. Asuka shook her head animatedly before her halting voice responded:
"I shouldn't have tried…doing what I did."
'Weave a path to the light together.' Kaworu's words sounded in Shinji's mind as he let go of Asuka's hands and took her cheek in his palm. Their faces drawing together, cobalt and cerulean vanishing as their eyes closed, and their lips met in a jolt of lightning. Goosebumps covered both their bodies as they reveled in the catharsis that was this contact they had been missing. The gulf that had grown between them crashing back together with the force of continents colliding. Each drawing strength from the other to face the challenges of tomorrow.
"Let's go to bed." Asuka said as the kiss ended, her hand rubbing up and down Shinji's arm as they made their way to her room and her much more comfortable bed.
As they lay there beneath the blankets, the lovers holding each other in a lose embrace. Neither one noticed but for the first time in a long time their faces wore smiles as their eyelids fluttered and flitted as sleep gradual overtook them as they lay in each other's arms.
The Suzuhara Home: The next day
"That new guy is something else huh?" Toji said to Shinji as he rummaged through his impressive movie collection. Hey, he and Kensuke had to have something in common after all.
"Sure is." Shinji responded laconically in a manner that did not satisfy the Fourth Child in the slightest.
"Better be sure he doesn't steal your girl." Toji's voice teased as his face turned from the shelves and the jock hiked his eyebrows in a suggestive manner.
"Right." Shinji said after a scoff as his eyes turned to the ceiling and his mind replaying the events at NERV earlier that day.
The five pilots had sat in submerged entry plugs attached to simulation bodies. The Fifth Child, Kaworu Nagisa effortlessly scored the highest scores ever recorded outside combat. The particular core seemingly making no difference as the testing staff shuffled through the various cores of the different Eva's to make sure the readings weren't an anomaly or glitch.
Afterwards Asuka had made a big show of being impressed with the new guy that bordered on the flirtatious, though when didn't it with her honestly.
Though that had been the plan all along, Shinji had told his better half he needed to speak with Toji so Asuka figured she might as well put on a show and get some German practice in. Honestly, Shinji hadn't even thought about it; he trusted Asuka absolutely and besides Kaworu didn't seem like the type to try anything. Though he was sure that if he did Asuka would leave him with some broken fingers, like a few of the brave fools who had tried their luck in the weeks after Asuka's arrival.
So, his redheaded lover had left with the grey-haired newcomer to walk around the parkways and paths of the Geofront. Well the ones that hadn't been wrecked by their battle with Zeruel that is.
Which left Shinji walking home with a track-suited jock enthusiastically informing him about all the drama and hijinks he and Sohryu had missed at school and deciding that they should hang out that afternoon.
"Shin-man you wanna watch Bikini Babes vs. Nuclear Zombies 4 or Robo-Titanicus and the Killer Eels" Toji said, bringing Shinji back to the present, as he listed the two B, well really C-tier in the case of the former, movies he'd picked.
"I was actually hoping we could talk, Toji." Shinji said at length. This caused Toji's hands to lower the two 'films' he had been holding up. His tone bereft of humor as he asked:
"Is she pregnant?"
"What!? NO!" Shinji emphatically denied, the sheer brazenness of the question momentarily throwing off his entire train of thought.
"Oh that's a relief!" Toji chuckled before carrying on: "Well that was the worst thing I could think of…Uh!...Not that that would be bad if you guys wanted that! It just is a bit early don't ya think?" Toji blurted out as he tried desperately to recover from putting his foot in his mouth. He gave a disarming chuckle but became unnerved a moment later when he realized Shinji wasn't laughing.
In fact his face wore a stern expression that told Toji this was serious.
"Alright, let's hear it." Toji said, his tone matching Shinji's face as he sat down on the couch next to his friend.
Shinji told Toji everything. Everything he, Asuka, and Misato had found out on their own. Everything he'd seen in Terminal Dogma, and been told by the missing faux-blonde. Toji sat there in silence, absorbing the information as Shinji finally got to the implication of it all. That the late Mrs. Suzuhara's soul must have been within Unit-03, specifically within the red core that Shinji destroyed.
"I've been meaning to tell you for a while but…but…I'm sorry." Shinji said haltingly as his eyes fell to the floor and the tears he'd managed to hold back until now began forming under his tear ducts. As the first sobs began Shinji's voice was caught in his throat as he felt a firm hand on his shoulder. He'd expected shouting, anger, punches and like and fully thought their friendship would be over after making this confession.
"My mother died long ago." Toji stated as Shinji brought his tear-stained eyes up to look at his friend.
"But…what I did is unforgiveable." Shinji's tone filled with incredulity at his friend's words.
"You couldn't have known!" Toji proclaimed as he shook his head: "And if what you're saying is true all the rest of their mothers are trapped there! Kensuke's! Yours! Asuka's…Hikari's…" Toji's voice became low as he said the last name his voice letting out a light sob before continuing: "You've gotta promise me you won't give up! There's no time to wallow in pity! Not if we're going to get them out!"
Shinji saw the determination in his friend's dark eyes and felt the desperation of his grasp as both of Toji's hands that were gripping his shoulders shook as the track-suited jock fought to keep control of the swirling emotions inside him. He looked away and down at his hand, clenching and unclenching.
"It might not even be possible." Shinji began before closing his eyes, letting out a breath, and filling himself with resolve he hadn't had in weeks brought his face up to look Toji in the eye again: "But I promise I won't give up." The usually macho jock brought Shinji into a tight hug as the two of them silently wondered what the future would bring.
Holding Cell: Undisclosed Location, Some Days Later
'God's in His Heaven, All's Right with the World.' NERV's motto sounded in Misato's mind as the blood red emblem shone on the wall. A moment later an overhead light revealed a faux-blonde languidly sitting in an uncomfortable looking wooden chair, her will as broken as her heart.
"It's you again how surprising." Ritsuko Akagi said despondently.
"I have a question for you." Major Katsuragi said guardedly.
"Our conversation is being monitored you know." Ritsuko managed with some of her old snark.
"I wouldn't be so sure about that." The NERV Major said as a twinge of guilt passed through her heart at the danger she'd put her friends, but especially Lieutenant Ibuki, in to accomplish that.
"Oh?" This information got the dour Ritsuko to show some life, "Planning something are we?"
Since Kaji had told her of the plots in the shadows Misato had tried to work within NERV to acquire solid evidence of just what was happening. To try and stop the old men's and Gendo's machinations before whatever they were plotting came to fruition. Their previous experience telling them it was best to work together they set about building up a web of support within the organization. A majority of the bridge crew and engineering departments had already been brought on. They'd especially gotten a boost to their numbers after the elder Suzuharas had discreetly informed many of their colleagues as to just what sort of secrets NERV had been keeping from the rank and file.
But even all this clandestine support was not enough, not even Maya, Ritsuko's protégé had access to the terminals and databases in Terminal Dogma, where if there was any proof of this vast conspiracy it would have to be. Misato could in theory try to be a maverick and hack into it on her own but that carried even more risks than this.
'If only I'd taken something then.' Misato thought as she remembered hurriedly shepherding her stricken wards out of Terminal Dogma in the aftermath of Dr. Akagi's revelations, thinking only of their welfare rather than the bigger picture.
So she had nothing except her own word of what she saw, which was enough for her colleagues and subordinates but not politicians and the public at large. Oh well no point kicking herself for that again.
"We need ironclad proof of what their plans are." Major Katsuragi said, her tone professional before it softened as Misato spoke to her former friend, "We need your codes, surely you have a backdoor into the Magi?"
"He's probably changed them all by now, even those, if I was there I could probably do something, but in here?" Ritsuko gloomily stated as her hands spread wide as if to encompass the dark cell she was in: "You might be able to blind him, but taking me out of this cage is something he would notice."
Misato cursed under her breath, they weren't ready to move that openly yet, so her mind went to a secondary reason she had come, a question she hoped to get an answer for, so all their effort to get this far wouldn't be in vain:
"The Fifth Child, what is he?"
"He's probably the last Angel."
Tokyo-3 First Municipal Junior High School Roof: Lunchtime that same day
Rei Ayanami, the First Child, and former pilot of Evangelion Unit-00, stood, her hands at her side staring at the same sight that occupied most of her attention those precious few days she actually attended school.
Her eyes drank in the drifting clouds, leaved branches swaying in the wind while songbirds chirped among the dense foliage of the grounds.
Her introspective contemplation upon nature however was interrupted as she felt him approach, even before he opened the door that led to the rooftop. She reluctantly turned her gaze to the entrance as the creaky metal parted and revealed grey hair and red eyes.
"You're the First Child, aren't you? Rei Ayanami. So, both of us ended up in the same form as the Lilin while we inhabit this planet." Kaworu Nagisa surmised as he stood some three meters from her, his elbows arched out as his hands remained in his school uniforms pockets.
"Identify yourself?" Rei said. Her eyes narrowing instinctively.
"You are the same as I am." Kaworu answered enigmatically.
"No…I'm not." Rei denied as her hands balled into fists at her side.
"That may be true in a sense I suppose. Your heart is as delicate as the Lilins', so fragile like glass that you, like them, think life is nothing but pain and loneliness." Kaworu responded, had he been more than a facsimile of a Lilin he might have shrugged his shoulders as he spoke. "But if you wish you may call me Kaworu Nagisa, the name the Lilin have given me."
"Why are you here?" Rei said as her stance shifted, legs parting and moving and feet spaced so she could move if needed.
"It is fortunate that the Lilin cannot see AT fields as we do." Kaworu said rather than answering as his eyes looked down at the roof while his less human sense peered through the steel and concrete, finding the two he was looking for before continuing: "Otherwise he would have seen through your ruse, by seeing the worry that deceit has left etched in your soul."
The words made Rei's heart stop as her mind replayed what she had said after her confrontation with Arael:
"Commander, I…I…am functional."
"Very good Rei." Gendo said, looking Rei over once more before giving her her next orders: "Report to Dr. Akagi for further testing."
"Be quiet!" Rei spat at angrily as her mind returned to the present.
"No one is watching us, or listening in, I am sure of that." Kaworu said nonchalantly as he turned his head from side to side.
"Though if you are concerned we can converse like this." Tabris, The Angel of Free Will, spoke into her mind causing Rei to wince and her hands to go to her temples.
She had not yet fully recovered from the mental strain the battle with the 15th Angel had put her mind under, much less the attempted fusion that 16th had tried. So therefore her grey matter protested the strain such telepathic communication entailed.
"I am sorry." Kaworu said as he reverted back to Lilin tongue. "The others were not gentle with you."
Rei was unsure if he was genuine or not in his remorse as she clenched her teeth and forced the throbbing in her head to subside.
"There they are now." The grey haired boy said as his othersight saw the swirling brightness of two AT fields draw together. "Just as vibrant as the one you call Leliel said."
In the drab halls of the level below them two lovers, coming from different directions met and embraced in an empty corridor before holding hands and making the rest of the way together.
Asuka was smiling from ear to ear as she looked at a glinting piece of metal in her other hand as the lovers arrived at a rather worse for wear door.
She knew for a fact the key she held was the only one that would open the door. The clinking of the mechanism telling her the school had yet to change the lock on a door they hadn't had a key for in months. Though given the fact that the student population was much lower than anticipated between residents fleeing the Angels and the ongoing Baby Dearth this floor, and the storeroom she and Shinji now found themselves in was hardly ever used. Making it the perfect spot for what they intended to do.
It also happened to be directly under where Rei was standing on the roof.
"Is this why you chose this spot?" Kaworu asked Rei, though his tone wasn't one of teasing but genuine curiosity.
Rei's cheeks reddened for one of the very few times in her life, the normal barriers she placed around her emotions failing as her haggard mind could not adequately compartmentalize them.
"No." Rei managed meekly though her and Kaworu's sight was still focused on the AT fields of the Lilin beneath them, the swirling intensity increasing in line with the lovers' heartbeats as their lips found each other again and again.
The storeroom was filled with the usual detritus and junk that every educational institution accumulated over its lifetime, but the only part of it of note to the two in it was the dusty table on the north wall.
The German redhead's backside found this piece of furniture for a moment before her lover's arms lifted her up onto it. Asuka's hands went from caressing his face down his chest, feeling his slowly forming pectorals and stomach through his shirt before her fingers found the bulge in his trousers and the zipper that would free it.
Meanwhile, Shinji's own hands began to wander while their lips stayed joined, moving down her shoulders, giving her right breast a firm squeeze as his other hand went up her skirt and pulled down her panties, the striped fabric, damp with Asuka's lust, ending up crumpled around her left ankle.
Their tongues stopped dueling in the other's mouths and both took in panting breaths as their foreheads rested against each other and cobalt orbs met cerulean blues.
Asuka's right hand was wrapped around his warm, throbbing member just as Shinji's stroked the wet folds of her entrance. Wordlessly Shinji brought his body closer, her legs opening to accommodate him.
He brought his right hand away from her most private place and wetted the tips of his fingers with his tongue, saliva and her juices mixing as he daubed them on his swollen cockhead before lining up his rod and plunging himself into her. Asuka's pearly outer lips slowing the shaft for a brief moment as they were dragged along, before releasing Shinji's cock and letting him hilt himself into her so that she could feel the teeth of his zipper on her ass.
It'd been nearly two weeks since Asuka had felt this sense of fullness, of completeness, her arms wrapping around Shinji and bringing him in close as her body shuddered.
Above them two sets of othersight saw Shinji and Asuka's AT fields merging to become one reciprocating the intertwining of their hearts and flesh.
"Then why are you here now?" Kaworu asked at length after Rei's denial.
"Because…" Rei began, but couldn't find the words.
"Because you wish it was you beneath him?" Kaworu's words caused Rei to almost leap in surprise at the suggestion before recovering enough for a reply.
"That's not it…" Rei began.
In the storeroom after the catharsis of the moment had passed, Shinji began his movements inside of her. His member began with slow strokes, easing her warm, wet insides into adjusting to his girth. Asuka's hands had moved under her knees as she lie on her back. Skirt scrunching up as Shinji's thrusts increased in their tempo eliciting moans from his redheaded lover before her teeth found her lip.
"Ikari…he is a kind, gentle soul, I don't want him to be hurt." Rei continued, her voice almost quivering.
"And she would hurt him?" Tabris asked inquisitively as his gaze turned from the spectacle to the blue-haired girl.
"All humans hurt each other sooner or later. Even if they don't realize it." Rei said as she tore her own eyes away from the swirling tempest that the lovers' AT fields had become up to meet Kaworu's piercing red spheres.
"But man, and I suppose woman as well," Kaworu added with a slight nod: "is able to forget from time to time, it's how they go on living." Tabris answered his eyes turning to the heavens as he continued: "Otherwise man would merely exist in his own loneliness."
As Rei fumbled for an answer in the room beneath them Shinji and Asuka neared their crescendo. The German redhead's tight walls pressing around Shinji's rock-hard erection as that aching, burning sensation, built within her belly, though as it was it was Shinji who succumbed first, his panting stopped as his lips covered hers, smothering her in a kiss as deep as his twitching member as he came.
The spurts of hot viscous, liquid, coming in such rapid succession it felt more like a stream as he covered Asuka's insides with his seed, her mouth letting out a muffled moan as the spreading warmth brought Asuka to her own climax.
Their arms brought them together in a tight embrace, lips still linked, the warm, wet breath of life from the other's nostrils condensing and mixing with the sweat on their faces as fingers curled in the ecstasy of the moment, causing wrinkles in their school uniforms.
Though eventually and unfortunately reality returned as their lips parted and words came instead of passion:
"We have a synch-test today." Shinji said before he exited her, pulling some tissues out of his pocket and handing them to her, as he had done after all their 'pencil-sharpening' sessions.
"Yeah, guess we can just arrive early and wash up beforehand." Asuka said as she cleaned herself best as she could before she leapt off the desk and pulled up her panties.
Usually they tried to avoid this kind of bodily fluid exchange around synch-tests. But with Dr. Akagi gone the remaining testing staff had much less expertise in their examinations, not to mention the fact the Fifth Child would likely be far more interesting to them than any anomalies with her readings.
"It should be fine." Shinji said as he patted the dust off the back of her school skirt, grabbing her ass as he was done.
"Pervert." Asuka said, her voice silky as her hands rested on his chest and she drew in for a soft kiss.
"Did you still want to try and talk to Rei today." Shinji asked as he cradled Asuka in his arms.
"Yeah." Asuka said, the smile on her face dampening but still present. "We need to." Shinji nodded in response before pulling her into a tight hug.
As the lovers cleaned up and peered out the storeroom door checking if the coast was clear or not, above them on the roof, Kaworu's eyes suddenly glowered as they turned north to a location 1.6 kilometers away.
"Now there are eyes watching us." He said before heading back to the door he appeared from, leaving Rei alone on the roof again, her eyes returning to the picturesque landscape as the tumult of doubt swirled within her.
The Eva cages: Later that day
Kaworu Nagisa, the Fifth Child, and Tabris the 17th Angel, one and the same stood in front of the imposing form of Evangelion Unit-02.
As his eyes, red as the mechanical behemoth before him, stared into its four his mind pondered why he was here.
His ultimate goal was to reclaim this world for his kind, the Angels, or at least that is the name Lilin tongue had given his race, blessed with the Fruit of Life.
But besides that he had wanted to see those particular Lilins' radiance with his own eyes, to see what it was like for them to exist on this world, a sort of microcosm for the whole species. The gulf between their happiness and the loneliness and sadness of the Firsts soul was another thing that had caught the attention of his late progeny. Or would they be siblings? Tabris wondered as he looked upon his hands. His Lilin hands, behind which resided Adam's soul, or at least the nearest thing.
"Why though? Why this fascination?"
Was it merely to better annihilate the Lilin? Or perhaps to preserve some memorial of them so they might live on in the remembrance of his kin once the slate was wiped clean for the rightful owners of this world.
That endeavor had taken longer than expected.
The old men, convinced in their deception, had been singularly impatient, but he would not be ordered, for he is Tabris, Angel of Free Will.
Now though, in spite of this, the call within his soul could be ignored no longer, so he reached out his hand and bade Unit-02 to follow him as his feet tread upon the surface of the waters. And up above every klaxon pierced the calm and every shutter and bulkhead was sealed in frantic desperation.
But these feeble constructions were no match for an Eva, born from Adam but tethered to Lilin will to do battle. It seemed abhorrent to do so in Tabris's eyes for the Lilin to use something that had nearly destroyed them to be their salvation, as the red monstrosity broke through the Fourth Defensive Layer. Though as these thoughts played through his mind, above him, the only other such machine in the hemisphere activated.
Shinji and Asuka had been in the respective locker rooms of their sex when the alarms had sounded, both already in their plugsuits they ran to the Eva cages. Picking up the gist of what was happening from scattered, hectic comms they had both made their way to Unit-01. The two of them jumping into and inserting the entry plug before the NERV staff could voice an objection. Asuka seated in Shinji's lap as four hands grasped the controls just as they had during their first sortie against the 6th Angel. A reprimand may have come from Central Dogma had Unit-01 not activated a moment later, the dual synch-ratio being higher than either of the pilots individual scores combined with time being an exceedingly limiting factor caused Gendo to acquiesce:
"Under all circumstances the Last Angel must be prevented from entering Terminal Dogma." NERV's Supreme Commander ordered. "You know what failure means Pilot Sohryu." He added afterwards.
"Yes sir." Asuka responded, the image of the white giant she had seen weeks ago flashing before her eyes.
"Shinji, Asuka…" Misato paused, clearly searching for words: "The Last Angel is…is…Kaworu."
"That's a lie!"
"It's not possible!"
The two secret lovers screamed as the truth of the angelic attack was revealed. Asuka's feet and Shinji's hands lashing out in fury and disbelief before Unit-01 began moving to begin its descent down Access Route 2.
"They are late." Tabris said as he looked up, the faint outline of the purple mech appearing as it closed in before his Lilin ears heard words of hurt and anguish.
"We let you in our home!" Asuka spat through anger gritted teeth.
"You betrayed us!" Shinji snarled as his hands gripped the controls so hard his knuckles were white beneath his plugsuit.
"We thought we could trust you!" Both shouted in unison as they reached out Unit-01's arms to grasp the perfidious Angel.
"I've been waiting for you both." Kaworu's voice sounded in the entry plug, though the pilots were unsure how as he had no radio or communication device.
At that moment, Unit-02's hands, which had been poised protectively around Tabris, lunged up and grappled with Unit-01's as the three continued their descent.
Even with their dual synchronization and the power of Unit-01's S2 organ they were too evenly matched to overpower the bulging cloned flesh of the red behemoth. The two pilots shared a look and a nod with each other, Asuka whispering:
"Sorry Mama." As Unit-01 pulled out its progressive knife, though any momentary advantage this might have brought was negated by the four-eyed mech copying their moves and bringing out its own blade. The edges sparking between them as their left arms continued their struggle.
"How are you doing this!?" Shinji asked through gritted teeth, his arm straining sympathetically with Unit-01's as their duel of blades was locked in a stalemate.
"Your Evas and I are composed of the same matter. Born from Adam. I can synchronize with it, as long as there is no dominate soul." Tabris answered.
"But isn't there!" Asuka demanded desperately, her heart sinking in worry as she thought of her mother within her precious Unit-02.
"It is taking quite a bit of effort to suppress the soul within Unit-02." Kaworu admitted, "But since it is merely a fragment, a singular impulse, rather than a complete personality, it is possible with enough will, and the power derived from the S2 organ it consumed."
This response threw Asuka into a fit of rage, her consciousness taking over the driver's seat for the moment. She directed Unit-01's right leg forward with pure fury into Unit-02's abdomen, causing her erstwhile red mech's grip on its progressive knife to loosen. Shinji took advantage of this momentary lapse to parry away his opponent's weapon, the knife burying itself in the wall and quickly passed by.
Both pilots then refocused their combined efforts, lunging their progressive knife past Unit-02's exposed guard towards its head. But the possessed red mech did the unexpected. It released its left hand from the grapple between them and millimeters before the blade would have impacted swatted away the purple mech's right arm with its left. Deflecting the blade straight toward Kaworu. Though rather than skewering the Last Angel, it was instead halted in place by the ominous, familiar form of an orange octagon.
"An AT Field!" The pilots said in unison at the sight.
"That's right. That's what you Lilin call it. The sacred domain where none may trespass. The light of the soul. Don't you Lilin know? That the AT Field is the wall that everyone has in their heart?" Kaworu monologed in response.
Though while Shinji and Asuka were distracted by the dazzling sight in front of them Unit-02 recovered and tackled Unit-01 into the shaft's side. The pilots' backs feeling every fragment of concrete and twisted bit of steel as the purple mech left a trail 200 meters long before they recovered their senses and stabbed their progressive knife, that they somehow managed to keep a grip on, into Unit-02's shoulder before bringing up both their legs to kick away the angelically controlled mech into the shafts other side.
Though Unit-02 was not dazed nearly as much as the pilots had been and charged out of the dust cloud of debris directly at the purple holder of Mankind's hopes.
However, Shinji and Asuka were ready, they directed Unit-01's left hand to block and then grasp the biomechanical arm that had lunged at them before spinning around, so that they held Unit-02's right arm behind its back in a hold. The pilots then again tried to plunge down their progressive knife into the back of the unmanned mech's cranium, but were stopped as a red forearm stopped their attack cold
"Surely there must be a way to coexist!" Shinji asked as Unit-02 was stuck in their grip, not able to attack itself, but also stopping their own strike, leaving the battle once again at an impasse.
"The children of the Fruit of Knowledge and the Fruit of Life cannot live in harmony, they are destined for conflict and strife. It is ingrained in their very natures, as unavoidable as the rising of the sun or receding of the tides." Tabris, stated, his tone carrying a hint of remorse in it as he watched the struggle before him.
"This is bad! We're almost at the bottom!" Asuka said as she looked at the rapidly approaching pool beneath them.
"Damn!" Shinji responded as they wordlessly agreed to try and twist Unit-02 around so that the red mech would break their fall and end the deadlock they were in. But the four eyed behemoth would not budge that easily and as it was the thousands of tons of cloned flesh and armor both reached Terminal Dogma feet first, sending waves outward from the impact that collided with the pillars of salt around them.
Before the foam and spume had even settled the strongest AT Field ever detected rippled out from Kaworu, shutting out every form communications and signals. Even down to the electrons that flowed in the wires from the stations at Central Dogma to the nuclear failsafe that surrounded the White Giant beyond Heaven's Door. Now Major Katsuragi couldn't even use that last resort even if she wanted to.
The crash untangled the two Evas and left the dual-synched pilots stunned for a moment, the progressive knife lost, before their vision cleared to see a grey-haired form moving away from them among pillars of salt.
"You don't have to do this!"
"Stop Kaworu!"
The pilots tried to reason with the Angel of Free Will as he levitated towards the last obstacle in the path of his destiny.
They gritted their teeth and clenched their hands around the controls to give chase, only to feel their movement halted by a weight around their ankle. Unit-02 had recovered and pulled with all its might, sending the purple mech splashing down again into the dead sea. The pilots barely getting Unit-01 to turn over before a red foot crashed into their sternum, rocking their entwined bodies in the entry plug.
Though Shinji and Asuka managed to recover quick enough to bring up their arms and catch the red behemoth's foot before it could land a second blow. Both sets of jaws releasing a battle cry as they harnessed every ounce of power they could from Unit-01's S2 organ and hurled Unit-02 away. The red mech's back colliding with a nearby pillar of salt that, while it cracked at the strain, kept the Eva mostly upright.
The pilots then moved faster than they ever had before, not giving Unit-02 any respite, their right hand formed a fist and collided with the four-eyed face of the puppet Evangelion. The shock of the blow so powerful that the weakened pillar couldn't withstand it, sending the red mech crashing through it and back into the briny sea.
At this same time another AT Field, even stronger than the first that Tabris had forged, penetrated the barrier the Last Angel had made around Terminal Dogma, though was bereft of the blue blood pattern of other Angels, leaving the bridge crew even more confused as they waited helplessly in Central Dogma, seeing only that Heaven's Door had been opened and now nothing stood between the Last Angel and their utter destruction.
"Adam, that from which we come. Must all who were born of Adam return to Adam? Even though it will destroy man?" Kaworu mused before realizing he had been deceived: "No! This is... Lilith? I understand now so that's it, Lilith, the Lilin!"
While the 17th Angel had been contemplating what this means before the light of enlightenment finally broke upon him, Shinji and Asuka hadn't relented. They grabbed the now prone Unit-02 and holding one leg and arm twirled around three times, the centrifugal force launching the vessel of Kyoko Zeppelin Sohryu's maternal love head first at the Eva sized Heaven's Door. The collision, combined with Tabris's befuddlement was enough to break his strings of control, as well as break the hinges of the metal gate. Several thousand tons of metal and armor falling into the pool of LCL that surrounded Lilith.
The purple form of Unit-01 following soon thereafter, reaching out its hand and holding the 17th Angel in its grip.
"Thank you, both of you. Asuka. Shinji. I wanted you to stop Unit 02. Otherwise, I may have survived a lot longer with her." Kaworu said as his AT Field lay shattered and his Lilin form defenseless.
"But why? Kaworu?" The pilots asked synchronously.
"Because it's my destiny to continue to live even if it may result in the destruction of humanity. But I can also die here. Whether I live or die makes no real difference to me. Dying of your own will. That is the one and only absolute freedom there is." Kaworu said, as the nihilism overcame him.
"How can you say that!?" Asuka screamed the question.
"Everyone's life has meaning!" Shinji proclaimed through eyes that began to form tears.
"Then heed my last will and testament. Erase me from this world. If you don't, you will be the ones who are erased. Only one life form will be chosen to survive the time of destruction and be given a future. And you are not the beings who should die. Your people need the future. It's what the two of you live for." Kaworu's eyes drifting up as he tried to convince the two pilots of the necessity of what he asked of them. Eventually his crimson orbs met ruby spheres.
"Thank you."
"You will die here." Rei Ayanami, the avatar of Lilith's soul, Archenemy of the Offspring of Adam responded. Her power having grown exponentially in line with her proximity to her source.
"I see now it is necessary, if not, their radiance and happiness will be extinguished…and I…do not wish that."
"Why?"
"Because in them I see that the wall surrounding all hearts has a gate whose key is love."
"Hate and sadness can flow through it just as easily as love."
"Perhaps that is the price we pay. The future is in your hands."
"I'm glad to have met you." Kaworu Nagisa's last words sounded in a way all he cherished could hear.
Inside the entry plug one set of hands stopped shaking, deep breaths were taken into lungs, resolve stiffening.
"Shinji…let me do it."
"Whaaa-?!"
"You heard him. If we don't…stop him. Everyone will die." Asuka explained, trying to use cold, cruel logic while avoiding saying Kaworu's name as her fingers moved to curl around the controller.
"I…I can't let you be the one to do this." Shinji said haltingly as his own hand stopped her: "To shoulder this burden alone."
Tear stained cobalt blues and cerulean orbs met one another and filled with the dread of inevitability before they closed, unable to bear the sight of what they were about to do.
Two right hands, one of red, one of blue held Unit-01's controls for what seemed like an eternity, until two fingers twitched, followed a moment later by a solitary splash in LCL a shade darker.
A/N: Now Kaworu fans before you get your pitchforks and torches hear me out. I want to keep this fic as close as possible to established lore. And in that there is no way for humans and Angels to coexist. One must die. Sure I could do some hand wave bullshit to get Kaworu to live, I'm the author after all, but I also think that misses the point of Kaworu's character. The fact that Kaworu chooses death, that he willingly sacrifices himself and his kind's future for the sake of Mankind, for Shinji's sake, is the crucial part of his character. It would be like rewriting the Gospels in the Bible so that Jesus doesn't die on the Cross. The death itself, freely given for the salvation of others, is what is important.
And after all, after the Crucifixion comes the Resurrection, no?
There are only two more chapters to go before this story wraps up. They'll be out when they're ready.
Again sorry for the wait, I hope it was worth it, let me know.