Hey guys, I'm back.
It's been a long wait huh? I moved, got a new job, have real insurance for once, and life called me away.
I'm really excited to bring about the last arc. It's probably not what you're expecting, but I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.
Here's chapter 43, "The Beginning of the End."
"In the beginning of the Eva Program, I had imagined the end differently. Before I knew the true game being played.
Before I had seen what my Other had needed me to see with my own eyes. In reality, the war against the Angels was only the beginning of the real conflict.
Life is strange. No matter what plans you make, how many factors you take into consideration, life has a way of throwing them into disarray.
I made her a promise. I intend to keep it."
- Shinji Ikari.
Years ago.
Several months after Shinji Ikari was placed in a mental ward.
The boy struggled with the pain in his head. He sat in the cafeteria, head held in his hands, plate of food forgotten.
"Breathe… just breathe," the child whispered to himself, eyes closed tight. He remembered to stop grabbing his hair, the nurses had told him to stop. They had warned him that he might rip the hair from his scalp.
The thing in his head stirred, fading. Almost like it was actively trying to pull away from him.
Little Shinji calmed, panting as the pain fled from him. He opened his weary, sleep-deprived eyes, and wheezed.
The food in front of him lay untouched. The lonely child glanced over the tray and its lifeless content, the cold nutrition before him, and turned away.
He sat there, lost in his own little world, scared and alone amid the white halls. White, everything was in white. From his clothes, to the walls. Other patients, a handful or so, milled about in the rest of the cafeteria. Separate from him, leaving the boy in his own cold reality.
"And how are you today?" a voice called.
The child looked up to see Dr. Page looming over him. A perfectly artificial smile planted on her face as she peered down at him, clipboard in hand.
"… I'm fine," the boy mumbled. He avoided her gaze and found his eyes glued to his shoes.
"More nightmares?"
The boy nodded slowly. Please… no more… I don't want to draw. I take my medicine.
"Hmm. Trouble sleeping? I see. Perhaps we need to change the dosage again. I'll take it up with the pharmacists," Page told him sweetly.
The boy only shrunk, trying to slip away from the sterile walls and fake sentiments.
"Come now, Shinji," Page said. The woman leaned over putting a hand to his shoulder in a reassuring manner.
It was perfectly practiced, and Shinji wished she would stop.
"All of this is for you. We all want what's best for you. Don't you want to get better? Wouldn't you like to leave the ward? To see your father again?" Page said softly.
"… yes," the boy mumbled. He had learned it was better to answer questions than try to wait out the adults here.
Page nodded and released his shoulder.
"Come with me. You have a visitor."
Little Shinji stumbled on those words, he looked up at her in complete shock. "A visitor?"
"Yes. He came all this way to see you," Page told him.
"Is it… is it my dad?" the boy asked hesitantly. His voice cracked, a small piece of him, something fragile and warn down, woke to the idea. Family. That simple thing. Thought forgotten since his mother had…. Since mother had…
The words came back to him, not the thing in his head stirring once again, no… a memory from his first meeting with Dr. Page. The words from the voice and his madness: Mother is dead. She's gone and she won't come back.
Dad… I still have a dad, the boy thought. He forced the memories away, latching onto anything he could to avoid remembering the incident, the moment where he had stood on the edge between consciousness and seizure. The terror of falling into the madness, the insanity that plagued him along with the voice, and the Woman in the Dark.
"No. Gendo is not here," Page answered him matter-of-factly.
The boy flinched and rubbed something from his eyes. He stared at his hands, thinking that he was stupid.
"Come now, Little Shinji. He's waiting for you. We've cleared your schedule for today. A reward for your good behavior," Page told him.
She held out her hand to him.
The lonely child took the hand and let himself be pulled along. They left the cafeteria and Shinji's eyes widened when they left the building.
Page didn't speak as they walked the ward grounds and found themselves coming to a stop in the courtyard, the slice of green amid the harsh greys and whites.
Shinji stared up at the trees and the sky above, soaking in the colors before they'd be gone again.
Page nudged him politely and he stumbled.
A lone man was sitting calmly on a table in the center of the courtyard. He was dressed in a business coat, with a cane hung on the edge, a colored box in front of him. The man was old.
The man wore a strange device on his face. A visor, a single piece of tinted glass framed by sleek looking black metal that covered his eyes.
Shinji looked to his doctor. The woman smiled that fake smile of hers, and shoved him gently forward, her hand pressing on his back ever so softly.
The child approached the table, small and sullen with his eyes downcast.
"Ah," he gasped. Like the snap of a whip, the thing in his head stirred, and the boy fell to his knees.
Little Shinji clutched his head, he felt tears in his eyes. The thing in his head shot up, moving from underneath his skull. Going haywire, before it calmed. A single moment of utter shock for both him and his illness.
As quickly as it had appeared, the feeling faded. The madness dwindled down to almost nothing. The thing in his head lingered, he felt it latch onto his body and run through his veins. Like a figure was standing over him, no, with him. Watching. It was watching him.
Page was coming for him, a hand reaching for the spare bottle of pills she carried with her. The man at the table raised a hand and the doctor stopped.
Little Shinji got to his feet. "I'm sorry… I'm sick… I have… incidents," he mumbled.
The man at the table said nothing.
What am I supposed to do? The boy thought.
"Sit with me," the man said.
The boy did as he was told, moving his little body into the seat across from his visitor.
"Hello," he said meekly. The thing in his head didn't leave. It was still there, with him. Hanging on by as little as possible. The boy felt it moving quietly underneath his skull.
"Hello there. I've heard a lot about you, Shinji Ikari."
The man didn't smile, but his face lightened ever so slightly, the wrinkles in his skin shifting from the movement. It had the effect of making him look younger.
"… okay," he mumbled.
"Why so sad? I've brought a gift for you," the old man said calmly. His voice was steady and rich, calm and patient, a man who did things at his own pace.
"A gift?" Shinji asked slowly.
The colored box was slid over to him, and Little Shinji blinked. He opened the box and found chocolates and all manner of sweets packaged neatly inside.
"Wow," the lonely boy whispered. He looked to the man who nodded at him.
Little Shinji took a single candy from the richly decorated box and took a bite. He savored the treat for what it was, tasting the chocolate and letting it linger in his mouth.
Before he knew it, the chocolate was all gone. He frowned and glanced back down at the box of treats.
"It's for you. Have as much as you like," the visitor told him.
Little Shinji's eyes widened. Hesitantly, he reached inside the box and took another candy. No one stopped him and he smiled, a sad little thing, as he unwrapped another piece of chocolate.
"Who are you?" the boy asked between bites of the candy.
"My name is Keel Lorenz. I own this ward. I'm a friend of your father's, and after what happened to your poor mother, I did what I could. I offered to help. Both of you."
Shinji paused mid-bite. The memories of his mother made him sad. He missed her even now, and he thought he always would.
"You own the ward?" Little Shinji asked, wanting to change the subject.
Keel nodded, leaning back and observing the courtyard, the ward, and the entire surrounding area. From the facility grounds to the roads and the buildings visible in the outskirts.
"All of this is mine. Your father and I, we wanted to help you, my boy."
Little Shinji nodded slowly.
"Did my father send you? To… to check up on me?"
"Oh no. Gendo doesn't know I'm here. He is a busy man. So am I, but I was in the area and I wanted to see for myself. Anything for the child of Yui Ikari," Keel said gesturing lightly with his hands.
"You knew my mom too?"
Keel nodded saying, "yes I did. She was beautiful. The smartest woman, no- the smarted person I ever knew. Intelligent, bold, and kind. You were blessed to have had her as your mother, however short."
Then Keel bowed his head low continuing, "I am truly sorry. For you to have lost her at such a young age… I can't begin to imagine your pain. I want you to know that however hard the ward might seem, I am personally devoted to seeing you healthy one day."
Little Shinji blinked not entirely sure what was happening. "Thank you," the boy said. And he meant it.
Keel smiled at him. A real one, not the rehearsed things that Dr. Page and the others showered him with to keep him calm.
"May I?" Keel asked, gesturing to the box of candies.
"Oh. Sure," the little boy said, shoving the box back for his visitor.
"I prefer the red ones. They're from Switzerland and as a boy they were my favorite," Keel said, his voice pleasant and soft. Gingerly, the old man took a candy as if he were just another child. It made Little Shinji laugh.
Keel chuckled at him. The man pulled another chocolate from Switzerland and handed it over to Shinji.
"Go on, try it."
Young Shinji took the candy, unpeeled the wrapper, and began to eat. It was delicious, rich and sweet and he found himself smiling ever so slightly.
He's so easy to talk to, the boy thought.
Stop that. This man is not your friend.
The voice came suddenly, a quiet breeze in his mind that rattled him to his core. It stole the mood from the world and brought it cold. Little Shinji dropped the chocolate and shivered, his hand twitched, and he had to fight the urge to grab onto his head.
Angrily, the little boy took another piece of chocolate and forced himself to think of nothing in particular.
"Take your time. There's no rush," Keel told him softly.
Little Shinji breathed, calming down, and together the two sat there eating candy. It was… nice.
"I'm afraid I can't stay for the whole day. But before I go, I was hoping you could help me with something. Would you do that for me? Can you help me?" Keel said casually, taking a glance at his watch.
Little Shinji looked up from the candy. "Um… sure. If I can. I'm not… I'm not very good at most things," the boy said softly.
"Nonsense. I think you're the perfect person to help me," Keel said.
Little Shinji nodded, and Keel began pulling an item from his coat.
A folder was placed onto the table and inside it were drawings. Dozens of them, crude things that depicted scenes and imagery that the artist had trouble portraying. They were Shinji's… the drawings that Page had collected from him.
Scenes from the boy's madness, impossible things:
Monsters. Giants that towered over buildings.
A pale being crucified to a red cross.
The moon itself with a scar upon its surface.
A Spear.
Things that even the boy himself had no words for and did his best to forget.
"Ms. Page has told me about your progress. Shinji, my boy, what can you tell me about your drawings? What are they? Do you still dream of them?"
…
That was the first meeting between Shinji Ikari and Keel Lorenz. They wouldn't speak again for years.
The Present.
3:15 a.m.
Nerv.
Gendo Ikari stood watching over the machinery operate over his latest creation. The third version of his trigger for the human instrumentality project, a pale teenage girl with red eyes floating in a tank. The previous incarnation had been unstable and failed to obey orders.
He scowled silently; eyes obscured by tinted glasses. He was alone with his creation; his subordinates were busy dealing with the aftermath of the 'cleansing'.
Gendo reached into his coat pocket and pulled free the illustrations drawn by the previous copy. His hands shook at the sight of them. They were far more detailed and complex than even what the 'freak' that had been the Third Child produced. Where Shinji's drawings had been crude and childlike, Rei's had been as detailed as possible with what must have taken hours of effort to create.
Where Shinji had been forced to draw, to recreate the images from his dreams, Rei had willingly illustrated hers. The difference was a stark contrast.
The Director of Nerv brought together the remnants of a particular illustration that he had ripped in two the night before. The image of an old man, the same man from another drawing, a person bearing features that resembled his own. An adult Shinji Ikari? The lone figure stood before a kneeling Evangelion Unit, and at the man's side was a second figure.
A Woman in the Dark, a hauntingly beautiful creature that resembled Yui.
Gendo shivered at the sight of it. An image flashed in his mind, a memory of the drawings that his own son had made. One in particular… a crude depiction of a woman reaching out to him in a sea of black.
It was the same woman. Drawn by both Shinji and Rei. The Woman in the Dark.
Shinji… what did you do to my soldier?! What did you fill her head with?!
Gendo felt his hands ball into fists. How dare that 'freak', that abomination of a boy, sabotage his greatest asset in the days to come. The future that he had worked too hard for threatened… if the boy had not been birth by Yui herself-
His thoughts were interrupted by an alert in his work phone. He put the torn drawings away and cursed inwardly at the message. A system-wide alert. An emergency status had been confirmed.
An Angel had appeared. Adam's Last Child had arrived. It seemed that fate was accelerating his plans at the worst possible moment.
Moments later, the city-wide alarms began blaring. It was time to wake his latest creation, his trigger, Rei Ayanami III.
…
Somewhere in the city.
Kaji heard the alarms going off minutes after the warning emerged on the prepaid burner. The phone had been a recent tool, given to him by Ritsuko of all people.
Damn. The kid knew the Angel was here before anyone else, Kaji noted. Shinji Ikari truly was something else.
The spy looked at the boy's message and knew that for better or worse, the time was coming. He rose from his humble sleeping space in the hideout and began gathering his things.
He had to be mobile, and that meant staying away from the bunkers. Traffic, both automobile and on foot, would be a madhouse with the panic that would come from the Angel alerts, a perfect situation for him to do what he needed to do.
Kaji packed his gun, double-checking the amount of ammo he had. Hopefully, he wouldn't need it in the days to come.
Hope you know what you're doing, kid, the spy thought.
…
Hospital.
The alarms woke her up along with everyone else.
Nurses, doctors, and patients alike listened as the alarm bellowed long and hard throughout the city. An Angel had appeared.
Mari sat up in her hospital bed, glancing out at the window to see the city itself coming alive in a hectic motion. Lights turned on in a wave that traveled through the night, cars began moving, and buildings began spilling their population out into the newborn traffic.
Shinji… the girl thought. She looked to her window for the Angel threat but found none. Whatever it was, she would have no part to play.
"Evacuate the patients!" a doctor called.
Mari's face fell, her expression stone-like as all around her the staff began prepping the patients for a move to the bunkers.
…
Misato's apartment.
Shinji was the first one up, not unusual in and of itself, but what surprised her was the state of the boy.
Misato scowled when she heard the door to her room slide open, followed immediately by the city-wide alarms. Another Angel had appeared.
Then it hit her, it was time. Adam's Last Child had arrived. Years that had led to the Evangelion Program's end.
She rose from her bed, shaking herself awake as the alarms blared in the distance.
"We gotta go!" Shinji was saying.
The boy turned the lights on, and Misato winced at the light. Then she took in the sight of the boy, he was sweating, and he had gaunt tired eyes. He looked like he had woken from some terrible nightmare.
"Shinji-" she began, but the boy moved on. He left her room and she heard him rushing down to Asuka's room.
He was already dressed… how did he know? Misato thought.
She hurriedly changed out of her nightclothes and emerged into the living room to find Shinji hurrying Asuka along too. The boy was panicked, his expression worried, and she saw something in him that made her pause.
Fear. Cold, unadulterated terror.
The boy handed her the car keys and began ushering all of them out of the apartment. Nerv would have called ahead, and local city forces would be diverting traffic for them, entire lanes and highways closed off to get them back to headquarters in a timely manner.
Misato glanced at Shinji as they boarded the car and took off. The boy wasn't in good condition, and it was starting to scare her.
"Hey, are you okay?" She asked as she drove them onward, ignoring the speed limit.
The boy took a moment to respond. Even Asuka was listening in from the backseat.
"… fine. Just need to get ready. Rei… I need to see Rei," Shinji answered, all the while shifting uncomfortably in his seat.
…
Nerv.
Lower levels.
Ritsuko Akagi stood eyes wide at the scene before her. Kozo Fuyutsuki stood beside her, shaking. The machinery around them hummed solemnly, the only sound that had lingered since the incident.
The disposal of the bodies continued on in silence. Neither the scientist nor the former professor had spoken as they had loaded the corpses to be shredded and mixed into the rest of the bio-waste from the Eva Program's recycling facilities.
"… it's wrong," Ritsuko whispered finally. She had lost the ability to shed tears.
"… everything will be alright in the end," Fuyutsuki muttered in response.
She turned to him and found an old tired man, shrunken and withered, glazing over the scene in front of him.
"For the greater good. Yes, it had to be done," the elderly man slurred.
His hands were still shaking.
"… why did you join him… what brought you here?" Ritsuko asked him quietly, her voice barely a whisper.
Fuyutsuki's eyes stirred at the question. He opened his mouth to say something, but then caught himself.
Their phones went off at the same time, an emergency alert. Numbly, as if someone else was controlling her body, Ritsuko checked her work-phone.
Angel alert.
Later.
Shinji Ikari stormed his way into the men's locker room and changed into his plugsuit in record time. He exited and entered the hallway leading to the hangar.
Where is she?!
She'll be close. Whatever has happened, Nerv needs Eva Team Zero.
Can't you do something? Reach out and 'feel' for her?
No. I don't sense them anymore. Lilith has always been buried too deep underground for me to reach.
He was brought out of his thoughts when he spotted Asuka waiting for him near the entrance to the hangar. And another figure standing beside her, dressed in a white plugsuit.
Rei… she's there. She's there!
Asuka was speaking to the pale girl, a frown on her face.
Shinji hurried forward.
"Pilot Sohryu, move. I am needed for piloting duties," Rei said.
Her voice was all wrong. Flat. Devoid of any expression or emotion. As Shinji grew near, he saw a glaze over her eyes, a distance. A wall that separated the pale girl from the rest of the world, a detachment to everyone and everything.
"… Rei… are you… what happened?" Shinji asked, stopping before the two girls.
Asuka frowned at him, a worried expression on her face. The German tried to hide it, but she was unsettled. A shiver visibly ran down her spine.
"Pilot Ikari… you are my partner. We are expected shortly," Rei said softly.
Her eyes didn't meet him. The glaze never faded, and her head wobbled, shifting from side to side.
"His name is Shinji," Asuka whispered.
Rei paused at that, her attention focused on them before it fell away altogether.
"Shinji? I see? Have we met before? Once or twice…" the pale girl muttered quietly.
Asuka looked to Shinji, but he had no answers.
"… yes… yes, that is right. We… we met once," the pale girl whispered slowly. She sounded far off, not here in the present with them at all. Rather, in a dream that she had not fully woken from.
Shinji felt his knees buckle. He felt like he had aged another twenty years, a weight upon his limbs.
Asuka opened her mouth, trying to think of something to say to that.
"Hey… wondergirl… this isn't funny. We're your friends and you're freaking us out," Asuka stammered.
Rei did not respond, she stared ahead. Not at them but rather past them altogether. Deep in thought but slowed, halted. A machine processing a runtime error.
The Broken Man flared within Shinji and the boy winced, unable to stop it even if he wanted to.
"What did he do to you?"
The Broken Man reached out and took Rei's hands in his own, the fabric of the plugsuits gripping each other tightly.
Rei didn't seem to hear him. She looked down at their hands.
"Rei… what did he do?" the Broken Man pleaded. The boy's eyes started to water. The Shinji(s) tugged on the girl's hand tighter.
The pale girl blinked, and her eyes narrowed. Rei snatched her hand back and nearly flung herself into the wall as she retreated on edge.
Shinji stepped back. "Rei?"
"Whoa?" Asuka said, stepping forward with a hand raised to calm the girl.
SMACK.
Rei slapped the hand away, hard.
Asuka flinched.
The three teenagers stood frozen in the hallway. It was all wrong… an eeriness settled in the air around them. It filled into their lungs and grabbed them by the heart.
"Do not touch me," Rei rasped.
The words came out low and dangerous. A hint of harsh action behind them, with wild cold eyes that peered ahead at nothing and everything at the same time.
Shinji and Asuka stared.
Rei wobbled, reaching a hand to the back of her head. Feeling for blood that wasn't there. Searching for a wound that had belonged to another.
The intercom chimed overhead, loudly and abruptly, "attention. Eva Team Zero is to report to the hangar immediately."
Rei snapped out of it, returning to the stiff girl from before. She turned and left Shinji and Asuka standing in her wake as she headed for the hangar.
"… what the-" Asuka began.
Shinji turned to her interrupting, "what happened? When you saw her first?"
Asuka took a moment to gather herself. "I stopped by to wish the two of you good luck, and then… she didn't know who I was."
"What?"
"I had to tell her I was the Second Child," Asuka explained, barely believing it herself.
Her memories were scrambled.
The words hit Shinji like a blow to the chest point-blank. I… how? How is something like that even possible? You can't just take apart someone and-
Because this isn't the Rei from last night. This one is a newborn… and the old one is dead. He killed her, boy… he killed her…
The Broken Man sounded so lost and feeble in that moment.
Why?! Why would he do that?
"We need to tell Misato and the others," Asuka said suddenly. Her words brought the Shinji(s) out of their own head.
"I'll let her know. You too. Please, Asuka, it'll be better coming from both of us," Shinji said slowly.
Asuka looked like she wanted to say more, that same look of concern that she had had for Rei reappeared. She was about to speak but then the intercom sounded off again calling for Eva Team Zero.
He headed for the entrance to the hangar and Evangelion Unit 01. Every step felt weightier than the next. He walked forward with a numb face and a heavy heart.
Rei… oh, Rei… I'm so sorry. I failed you.
He felt it, the maelstrom in the network that connected all the Angels. He felt the threads, the bonds between Adam and Lilith and everything in-between, bending and twisting.
The 14-year-old boy walked the length of the hangar, approaching his Eva, and then stopped as he felt bitter-cold eyes upon him.
He looked up to see his father staring down at him from above.
Gendo Ikari loomed above, peering down from his place of power in the upper levels of the hangar. The leader of Nerv surveying his domain, with a gaze that pierced the Third Child below. The man stood still as the dead, his gloved hands crossed behind his back, tinted glasses concealing barren eyes.
Father and son met each other's stare. A moment passed between them.
It stirred again in the boy, the hatred that he could never have imagined as a child. Cold hate for the man who had caused so much suffering for so many people including his own son, and now Rei.
Gendo's gaze held only suspicion and contempt.
Fucking monster.
Shinji turned away with his hands shaking. Gendo's eyes never left him, he felt the gaze travel with him.
…
Command Center.
Misato stood watching the display, wondering where Ritsuko, Fuyutsuki, and Kaji were.
The satellite imagery showed three Angels in total. One was a strange rapidly revolving ring of light, a shapeshifter of curious design. The other two were the anomaly, the unexplained 'Beast' Angel that had reappeared many times now.
They're missing skin, Misato mused at the images. Gaps in the armored flesh of the Beast Angels.
She glanced around again finding no sight of her friend.
"Commander Ikari. Dr. Akagi isn't reporting in-" Misato began into the comm.
"Dr. Akagi was acting on my orders before the attack. I apologize for her lateness. Continue the mission without her until further notice," Gendo answered into the private comm channel.
"Sir, this is vital. She isn't answering her comm. May I ask what orders she-"
"No, you may not. Continue the mission," Gendo cut in, before closing the connection.
Misato scowled. Maya and the others glanced her way, but she shook her head at them.
She turned to the observation window, watching Eva Units 00 and 01 towering over them in their launchpads. Whatever else, Eva Team Zero needed her.
Misato switched the comm to a channel for Shinji and Rei.
"Be careful you two. They've taken formation outside the city. The JSSDF fired warning shots to see what they would do. The Angels created AT Fields to protect themselves, but they don't leave. The Angels are not engaging in any hostile behavior. Nor have they attempted to lure out the Evas by attacking civilian bunkers."
Frowning, Misato continued, "listen… it's a trap. It just has to be."
The words made everyone in the command center pause. The news that Angels had once again changed tactic was starting to take hold. The uncertainty that grew in the staff's eyes. Strange Angel behavior, and Ritsuko was missing.
"Understood," Shinji's voice called into the comm channel.
Misato shook her head. The boy was being distant, off-put somehow. This was serious, the last Angel had appeared.
"Shinji. If there's something wrong you need to tell me right now," Misato said, her voice growing stern.
"Don't worry about me," the boy cut in.
How can I not worry about you?
"Check on Rei. Please…"
Misato paused. And then her phone started vibrating. She ignored it, but then it came again. Someone was texting her repeatedly.
She switched the comm to speak with Rei privately and pulled out her phone and read the text.
Something wrong with Rei. – Asuka.
That only deepened her suspicion.
"Rei. How you feeling?" Misato asked into the comm.
There was no response.
"Rei. Rei? This is serious. I need to know if you're okay," Misato called.
"… I am fine, Captain…" the pale girl answered back. The words came back cold, eerie, and as if reading from a script.
Misato switched the comm channel back to Commander Ikari. "Sir, I'm requesting an exchange. Let's change out Rei for Asuka, she's already proven she can pilot again. I am also requesting a medical checkup-"
"It will be fine. Launch them now," Gendo cut in.
Misato narrowed her eyes. What the hell is going on?
"… Eva Team Zero. Launch," Misato called, her usual shout diminished to a distant order.
With a harsh scream, a shower of sparks, Evangelion Unit 00 shot upward from its launchpad. The bulky titan of human engineering left the compound behind for the surface.
Unit 01 stayed within its pad.
She whirled to the others, the group of mixed scientists and technicians were hurriedly checking their computers.
"Hold position. Do not engage without backup. I repeat, stay where you are and do not engage," Misato called, switching to Rei's comm channel.
There was no response. She turned to the main display and saw to her relief that Rei hadn't pressed onward. Whatever was going on, at least the pale girl could follow orders.
"What's the problem?" Misato asked the others. She wished Ritsuko was here.
"It's the boy's sync rate. It's not reading any. The computer's safety system won't allow an Evangelion to deploy without an operational sync," Aoba called hurriedly.
The comm chimed in her ear, and Shinji's voice emerged.
"There's a problem with my interface helmet. I think Ritsuko should take a look at it."
She pursed her lips. "She's not here. The Commander gave her orders and she hasn't returned." Neither has Fuyutsuki.
"We'll send Maya and-" Misato continued.
A new voice emerged on the comm.
"I'm here. Sorry. Shinji, I'm heading to you. Leave the Eva and I'll see what I can do," Ritsuko called into the channel.
Misato blinked. Where had Ritsuko been? She turned to the observation window and watched as her old friend appeared heading for Eva Unit 01.
Unit 01 held its vigil in the launchpad as the Entry Plug was released once again, the metal tube descended to the ground and opened.
Shinji Ikari sat strapped into the plug and waited as Ritsuko came into view, stepping inside the cockpit and looking utterly exhausted. She turned off her comm the moment she joined him in the privacy of the metal tube.
"I held the sync back so we could talk," the Broken Man explained.
Ritsuko's eyebrows rose at that statement. Whatever remained of the naive scientist she had been months before hadn't known he could do that. Once, the questions would have sent her mind reeling for answers but today it was mere details.
"You saw?" the doctor whispered.
The Shinji(s) nodded. "What happened… Ritsuko… why did Gendo do it?"
Ritsuko put a hand to her mouth, struggling to get the words out.
"I don't know," the doctor wheezed, on the verge of vomiting. There was trauma there, tears that she had tried to hide hours before left their mark on her face.
"He didn't just kill her… he killed all the Rei(s). He said he only needed one… so the others could be disposed of. He… he ordered us to get rid of the bodies," Ritsuko stammered.
She couldn't meet the Shinji(s)'s face, the words came out in harsh barely controlled breaths.
Shinji hung his head low and his expression darkened. The boy felt so old at that moment. "My father, he messed with her memories. Didn't he?"
Ritsuko nodded.
…
The Other Place.
Shinji Ikari stood solemnly in the void. He watched as the Broken Man paced stiffly around the endless white, the man's mangled hands were curled into fists.
"Bastard. There's a piece we're missing… the reason 'why' he did it. And Rei… that damage can't be undone."
The Broken Man ignored the boy, his face stone-like and grave, cold and dangerous.
Young Shinji held up a hand and reached to his elder.
A wild glint showed in the Broken Man's eyes as the boy grabbed him gently. A flicker of Adam's might, the anger of the Original Shinji that he had only truly witnessed once. It was terrifying to behold, the power that this one person could wield. It rippled through his scarred body along with the rags he wore.
"… I'm sorry… I'm so sorry… it's my fault. I-"
"Yes. This time, it is."
The two stood in the void and neither moved. The Broken Man turned his gaze from the boy, and the glow, the power of the First Angel, faded.
"… there's nothing we can do… isn't there? The Rei iterations, they were always a problem. I know you wanted to join them, to unify Rei but now… now the others are gone. Ripped away," Young Shinji said, his voice hollow and weighted with regret.
The Broken Man regarded him coldly.
"It wasn't supposed to be this way. I could have saved her. All of her. But only at the end. It could have only ever been done then, never before. Now… I failed her again," the Broken Man croaked. He withered before the boy's gaze, sullen and old.
Young Shinji felt a tear in his eye. For him, for Rei, for his Other, for everyone that his father had ever hurt.
"I hate this. We're having to use Rei has a pawn too… she has to be the trigger. There's no way around it. You told me that. We can't save her until the end. If only… if only… I don't know… if only I was better. If we hadn't had fought so much and everything with Mari," the boy said, voice low and sober.
What happened… why did Gendo do it? Why?!
Shinji shook his head. However bad he felt, he knew it was worse for his Other.
He reached out a hand to comfort the old man, but the Elder denied him.
The Broken Man pulled himself back from the brink, leaving the despair behind no matter how much it hurt him to do so. To put aside his failures and rage.
"We don't have time to be angry or sad. It hurts, but we have to move forward. The plan is too close, and we don't have time to change it."
The Broken Man's voice shook as he spoke, slowly finding its ground as he continued.
The boy wiped the tears from his eye.
"He's gonna pay. My father will pay for what he has done," Young Shinji said. The cool anger stirred within him once more, the hate for the man who had given him life, and he pushed it aside too.
The Broken Man nodded.
I promised that I'd find you. I promised that when the day came, I would save you, the boy thought.
…
Shinji wiped his eyes, it seemed he had shed tears even in the real world.
"We have to keep going. Rei… we still have to save her. She's the key. Gendo will make his play soon, and SEELE will make theirs. Until then Adam's Last Child needs to be dealt with," Young Shinji said. The words left his mouth as if someone else was saying them, not even his Other, but rather the soldier that he had become.
"I couldn't stop him. I tried but I… he had already killed the previous version and he decided then and there. The bodies… oh… the bodies," Ritsuko rasped, her eyes fragile and watery.
The Broken Man reached a hand to hers and held it firm.
"This is not over. Remember your part. Play it well."
Ritsuko looked up at him, at the boy and the old man that shared a body from time to time. So many emotions played across her face. From guilt, to sorrow, to hope, and everything in-between. The bittersweet reality of what the three of them had become.
"Good luck," Ritsuko Akagi whispered to him, gripping his hand tight.
"This will be the hardest thing you have ever done. The days ahead will get worse before they get better. And if it all goes well then we will not meet for some time."
Ritsuko nodded, her hands shaking before growing steady.
The words went unsaid. If things fail, then you and Kaji must continue without me.
Shinji let her hand go and gestured to the Eva, a simple tilt of the head. The sync rate rose to a steady 88% in an instant.
"Ritsuko, stay safe," the boy said.
The doctor offered him an uncertain and pained smile and then turned to go. "You too," she whispered and left the Entry Plug. Quite possibly their last meeting.
He heard Ritsuko speaking on the comm channel, telling the others that she had fixed the problem as the bay doors closed shut. Shinji reengaged the plug, and they were reinserted into his Eva.
"Unit 01, launch!" Misato's voice called moments later.
Shinji and the Eva shot upward in a shower of sparks.
Surface.
Rei and Unit 00 were waiting for him when he emerged onto the city.
Shinji wished he knew what to say. What to do. But there was nothing that could be done in this moment. He stared ahead on his display at Eva Unit 00 and imagined the lost and confused girl sitting in her Entry Plug.
Overhead, he felt the maelstrom twisting and turning all around them. The network, the bonds that connected all Angels, stirred. The invisible threads coiled and turned, spanning the entire city, from what lay ahead, to Eva Team Zero, and to the Geofront itself.
Everything is wrong. So very wrong.
Armisael is waiting for us. Be very careful. He's not like the other Children of Adam. Whatever happens, do not let him touch Rei or her Eva.
"Alright. Shinji, take point. Your Eva doesn't need a power cable. Rei, watch his back and keep close," Misato's voice called.
"Roger," Shinji answered.
He moved Unit 01 forward, rifle raised, and headed out for the marked spot on his map. Stiffly, Unit 00 followed him with its rifle raised too.
Together, Eva Team Zero moved through the outskirts of the city. They left the infrastructure and defenses of Tokyo-03 behind. The midnight blue sky of the early morning casting them in ghostly silhouettes.
"Rei… stay close to me. Don't get drawn in," Shinji said. The first words he had spoken to her since their incident in the hallway.
There was no answer on the comm.
Unit 01 stopped walking and a moment later Unit 00 did the same. The two Evangelions stood at the edge of the city.
He could hear steady low breathing on the comm channel. Rei was there, she could hear him, but she didn't respond.
The boy's face fell again.
"Just trust me. Don't get too close. We have to keep our distance this time," Shinji said.
"… yes," Rei's detached whisper replied. That was it, no other words. A silence that lingered so long that Misato's voice came into the comm.
"What happened? Report. Are you two-" Misato's worried voice chimed in.
Shinji switched the channel back to his guardian's saying, "nothing. We're moving on." The words came out flat and hard.
He heard Misato's inward scowl; the worrying breath that screamed her unease at the whole situation. "Go," she called.
The boy's face hardened, and he pressed forward. The trailing footsteps of Unit 00 followed closely behind him.
Shinji was the first to see it. A luminous cocoon that formed around three Angels outside the city. An AT Fortress forged by the enemy of mankind.
He peered through the last remnants of the city's defensive pillars before leaving them behind and gazing at the sight before him.
Residue from warning shots fired by the JSSDF lay on the ground, shrapnel and dark burn marks littered the place. The Angels had formed three different AT Fields and then wrapped them together, interlocking the shields.
Armisael stood in the center, with two Beast Angels at his side.
"Those two, they're missing skin. Gaps in their armor," Shinji muttered. He surveyed the Beast Angels and spotted bits of exposed muscle.
Incomplete. The Beast Angels were incomplete. As strong as before but less durable.
He's reached his limit even with Adam's help. The Beasts are not truly Children of Adam. No, they are Grandchildren.
Armisael can make Angels?!
Nowhere near the level of his father. But yes. He can only create the Beasts. Everything has a cost. He's at his limit. This is all he can muster for our battle.
You caused this. Your presence scared them. The Angels feared you. The anomalies, it started with Armisael. Then Adam started helping them in this world. He woke earlier.
Yes. Now go, we need to remove one player from the board.
Shinji and his Eva pressed forward. He looked at the Angels and noticed that Armisael was smaller in this timeline. Adam's Last Child had sacrificed much in order to create his bodyguards.
The enemy of mankind did not react as Eva Team Zero grew closer.
Shinji heard himself breathing harder as he approached.
The maelstrom of activity in the Angel network stirred, the chaos had never truly gone away, but now he felt it stirring wildly. The Shinji(s) glanced behind them at Unit 00 and Rei, feeling the invisible weaves, the bonds between their kind, stirring around her too. That was bad.
Suddenly, the bonds shifted. Activity bent the network and the boy gasped.
They called to him.
Voices… not from his other but from the Angels. The Broken Man stirred, moving to protect the boy and his mind. Shinji braced for an attack that never came.
No mental strike. No second Nightmare come to rip into his soul or mind. Instead, a voice. Inhuman and foreign, the tongue of the Angels. Pure thought. Translation made irrelevant in the face of the language of the mind.
"Abomination. Hear me." – Armisael said.
Shinji froze and felt a chill run down his spine. The enemy had never once tried to talk to him before.
The Angels, all three of them, turned their gazes to him and Unit 01. Two pairs of deep red eyes and the tilting of a creature without a face peered deep into his very being. Their entire attention tore into him, the AT Fortress painted them in a reddish tint.
"What's going on? Be careful. It has to be a trap," Misato called on the comm.
He heard footsteps thundering behind him, and he brought the Eva's hand up. Rei stopped in her tracks, and he moved to cover her with 01's body.
"Abomination… Abomination… boy… man…"
Three voices echoed in his mind, hauntingly. Angels.
A mental projection of the Broken Man appeared beside him in the cockpit, and Young Shinji watched as he answered the call.
"Come and face us. Let it end."– the Broken Man spoke.
"Truce. Peace."– Armisael spoke. The 'words' came out shrilled and hauntingly, echoing across their minds.
Young Shinji hissed and shook his head. "What the hell is this? That never happened before," he said.
Rei was raising her rifle, and he brought a hand behind to stop her. Whatever was going on, they needed to be careful.
"Give us Father. Return him. Return Lilith. We go… you stay."– Armisael spoke.
Rei's breathing sounded off in his ear, the comm channel was still open. He glanced back at her on his display feeling small against an indifferent and unfamiliar world.
The Broken Man nodded for him to keep an eye on his partner.
"Okay. Someone needs to start talking. What's going on?! The Angels are there and they're not moving. Report. Shinji… report-" Misato's voice sounded off.
Static interrupted the channel. Deep from within the AT Fortress, the cocoon of interlocked AT Fields, Armisael shimmered. Communication technology went haywire.
Misato's voice was drowned out in a heap of static feedback.
Shinji cursed and tried to switch to Rei's channel. He found the same thing.
Communication was down for all of them. Eva Team Zero. Nerv. Everyone was on their own.
Young Shinji 'felt' a reassuring hand on his shoulder. The mental projection of his Other. He breathed, calming down.
"There is no peace. Your father will never allow it. I have seen his work once. Never again," the Broken Man spoke.
"Traveler… evil… Abomination… forbidden" – the three Angels called together.
Young Shinji winced. The twisted song, the alien tongue of the Angels unnerved him.
We don't have time for this, the Broken Man said to him and Shinji nodded.
"Return to us the Progenitors. Give us Adam and Lilith. We go… you stay." – Armisael spoke.
BANG.
That one moment changed everything. A bullet rushed past Shinji and his Eva, the round clashing head-on against the AT Fortress and the Angels barricaded within.
Shinji whirled to his display and saw Rei and Unit 00 with its pistol raised. He had been so focused on covering her and keeping her rifle down that he'd missed it.
BANG.
BANG.
BANG.
On and on Rei Ayanami fired her pistol at the gathered Angels. The rounds met the AT Fortress with no effect.
Ah! The comm is still down! Young Shinji thought as he tried to radio his partner.
The Angels began to move. Slow deliberate steps forward and the AT Fortress went with them. A moving shell that protected them.
"We have to keep our distance!" Shinji yelled stupidly. He knew Rei couldn't hear him but he did it anyway.
He moved his Eva to cover hers and tried to force her back, his rifle raised.
The boy gasped as Rei moved out from under his cover and switched to her rifle. Sharp and precise, the pale girl unloaded a full clip into the enemy.
BANG. BANG. BANG.
The sound came in rapid succession, blurring together into a single rumble. Unit 00 fired for the heads of the Beast Angels and the center of Armisael's twisting body. The shots were perfect, marksmen like, and not a single one made it past the fortress.
Armisael shimmered for a second time, the strange shapeshifting flesh coiling and expanding before shrinking. The AT Fortress, the combined shields from three different Angels, began to brighten.
The purple glow shined and cast the world in a foreign tint. Brighter and brighter, the Angels and their fortress began to drown out their displays.
Another clip was emptied into the AT Fortress and once again Rei's bullets bounced off. The light burned brighter in response.
"Rei!" Shinji shouted. His heart was pounding in his chest as the pale girl ran forward leaving him behind to face the Angels alone.
Unit 00 lowered the rifle, dropped the pistol, and brought forth an AT Field in its freehand. Rei wielded the shield like a battering-ram and charged for Armisael.
Shinji ran after her and grabbed her Eva by the arm in an iron-clad grip. Unit 01 pulled with him as he mustered all his strength to haul Rei and Unit 00 back with him.
Rei resisted, fighting him. Shinji fired a warning shot at the Angels with his rifle one-handed.
Armisael and the Beast Angels came forward all the same. A miniature sun moved with them in a blinding multi-colored haze that flared and flared on.
The boy tried to raise his comm and cursed as static answered.
Rei resisted him, trying to pull away and charge the enemy. All in silence the Eva partners struggled as the enemy grew near.
"Protect yourselves. Now!" the Broken Man shouted to him. The mental projection vanished, and he felt his Other moving along with him, aiding him.
Young Shinji grunted from the effort as he used all his strength, calling upon his Other to help, and his sync rate rose beyond 100%. He hauled Rei and Unit 00 back by force and threw her behind him.
Without wasting a single moment, the Shinji(s) brought forth a massive AT Field of their own. Larger and stronger than Rei's had been. They brought their shield up a second and a half before it hit them.
The Angel's AT Fortress erupted like a newborn star. A pulse that lashed out and blinded them in an infernal of light. The blast sent them reeling.
CLANG.
Shinji's AT Field shattered, and Unit 01 was sent sliding backward. The Evangelion's boots left trails of upturned ground in its wake. In the distance, all the way into the outskirts of Tokyo-03, glass was torn from their window frames.
Unit 01 stumbled to its knees in the wake of the explosion. Shinji panted from within the cockpit, feeling his muscles ache from the blowback.
"On your feet. They're out there," the Broken Man called.
Dazed and moving on unsteady legs, Shinji hauled the Eva up with the rifle raised. The boy scanned the area seeing only clouds of debris, as well as scorched earth and ash surrounding him in all directions.
Rei! Where are you?!
The smoke was clearing, slices of the world around them bleeding through the clouds of grey.
Unit 00 was rising to its feet, the white Evangelion emerging into the low visibility of the blast's aftermath. Something happened, Rei raised her rifle and began firing at a target that Shinji couldn't see through the smoke.
He made to run after her, to help, when he heard a sound through the Eva's phantom sensations.
Shinji whirled and moving with the wisdom of a man, with the memories bled into him from his Other, and the help of the Elder himself, he slammed the butt of his rifle into the oncoming Angel.
One of the Beast Angels stumbled from the blow but charged on through tackling him. The rifle fell from his grasp.
Shinji held his ground, planting the Eva's feet. He stood as the Beast wrapped him in a deadly embrace with its fangs bared.
The boy reached his Eva's hand down and grasped the pistol from its slot. He fired from the hip, shooting the Beast Angel in the belly. LCL like fluid gushed out from the Beast as it bled and howled.
A moment later the shadows beneath him shifted and the Shinji(s) tried to move, to leap back or roll, but their foe held them close despite its belly wounds. The second Beast Angel emerged above them having leaped from afar.
The second Beast landed atop Eva Unit 01. The creature wrapped its muscular arms around 01's neck and pulled down.
Young Shinji cried out from the strain as he was hauled backward, the Eva's head straining against the rest of its body. They were trying to rip his head off.
The two Beast Angels, strange pale things with skin missing along their muscular frames, dog-piled him, biting and pulling him apart as they held him down.
Yet Unit 01 did not fall, the Broken Man was with him. The Shinji(s) held 01 up by its knees, refusing to be brought to the ground, resisting the two creatures that had pinned them.
Slowly, Young Shinji raised his head up and gasped at his display. In a singular horrifying moment, he saw it. A heartbeat that stretched into an eternity. A single breath where he saw everything he needed to know.
Rei… she had been shooting at Armisael and now the twisted shapeshifter had caught her.
Eva Unit 00 stumbled backward as a whirling massive of flesh came upon it like a wave. White tendrils that crisscrossed like a double helix exploded from the Angel. Dozens of them.
The tendrils struck Unit 00 between the armor plating and pierced underneath the Eva's skin.
Shinji imagined the sheer cries of agony that Rei must have uttered as her Eva thrashed in horror. Armisael was infecting both the Eva and its pilot.
The maelstrom within the networked that connected all Angels went haywire. The Shinji(s) felt it. All around them the invisible threads twisted and pulled together, forming around the eye of the storm… Rei Ayanami and Unit 00.
Using their Angel senses, the Shinji(s) witnessed the horror growing before their eyes.
Armisael's flesh ran through Evangelion Unit 00, gorging on the marvel of engineering and its pilot, feasting on their souls to power its greatest weapon… resurrection.
Pale lights hovered around the mass of flesh that was Armisael, twisting and pulling, as the defeated Children of Adam began to reform. Lost souls that lacked a body or mind, Armisael summoned them from the beyond.
Sachiel, Shamshel, Ramiel, Gaghiel, Israfel, Sandalphon, Matarael, Sahaquiel, Ireul, Zeruel, Leliel, Bardiel, but no Arael. The Broken Man had destroyed Arael with the true death and there was no escaping that.
Every single remaining Angel they had faced before were coming back.
"Rei!" both of the Shinji(s) shouted.
Rei Ayanami III struggled to breathe. Her skin was burning her, and her veins were rippling before her eyes. Her body was under attack from within the cockpit of the Entry Plug.
Blood slid down her eyes and trailed down her face.
Rei stabbed the prog knife into the whirling mass of flesh around the Eva again and again. No matter how much of the alien flesh she cut, more took its place.
Her heartbeat slowed and the power drained from her limbs. Her skin grew paler and she slumped down into the cockpit.
…
Far away.
The lowest level of the Geofront.
Cold unforgiving red eyes narrowed.
The Prisoner of Nerv stirred. The red cross that held back the Second Angel herself strained as the titan pulled against her restraints.
Power gathered before Lilith. Underneath her faceplate, gargantuan eyes hardened, and the titan turned her head towards the maelstrom.
She spoke. A single word in the tongue of the Angels.
The first utterance of her power in decades since she had been imprisoned by mankind. Since she had been mutilated and had her flesh torn from her body. Since her blood had been drained from what remained of her mangled torso.
A whisper that shook the world and the heavens above.
"No."
…
Rei Ayanami knelt on her knees in the cockpit, her eyes closing and the world turning black as her skin rippled from the sickness. The infection running through her veins and the Eva itself took everything from her.
Then her arm moved of its own accord.
A force surged inside her, blazing through the infection that was spreading throughout her body, and building up from within. She felt the surge deep down as it swelled and came flooding through her veins ripping through the intruder.
Her eyes shot open and her arm was pulled along like a guided puppet, a force that was neither her own nor the Angel Armisael brought her to her feet. Hauling her up by the arm.
Her arm made a slashing motion high into the air, her hand held out like she was slicing through a thread.
Rei inhaled; her eyes grew wide as the infection fled from her. Her veins and skin stopped burning and the Eva rose to its feet with her.
Her wounds healed. Not completely but more than enough.
Rei stood panting at what had happened. She stared at her hand… the hand that something… that she had used to stop the infection.
The Eva's Sync rate went off the charts, surpassing 100% and reaching higher and higher for that single brief moment.
Armiseal was sent reeling back. Rei Ayanami III watched on the display as the Angel that had tried to infect her shrieked in agony.
The Angel's skin was burning. The twisted shapeshifter's tendrils were smoking, and the creature pulled away from her, parts of its flesh turning to ash.
Rei wiped the blood from her face and narrowed cold eyes at the enemy of Nerv. Evangelion Unit 00 exhaled… the mouth of the man-made titan moved underneath the faceplate, and its wounds healed completely.
Rei raised her rifle and fired into the retreating Armisael. She never even blinked.
Young Shinji grunted from the effort, his sync rate raising as the Eva's strength grew, and he rose with the two Beast Angels clinging onto him.
"Ah!" the boy screamed. He threw both Angels off of him.
Now. End them quickly, the Broken Man called.
Eva Unit 01 raised a hand and Young Shinji reached for the power that his Other had shared with him. The AT Blade, a weapon of solid white light materialized.
Moving with the wisdom of a man, the boy turned the Blade of the First Angel on the Beasts. He cut off the head of one before it got up, and then stabbed the other through the heart. The strike hit the Angel core just as the Beast found its footing.
Both Angels fell to their deaths.
Shinji spun and was shocked to see what had happened whilst he had battled the Beasts.
Armisael had released Rei and Unit 00. The shapeshifter was burning, and Rei was chasing the creature down emptying clip after clip of her rifle into the mass of Angel flesh.
The resurrection had failed. The infection had been repelled.
How?
CLICK.
Rei had run out of bullets. Unit 00 reached for its prog knife and pressed on, cold and relentless she pursued the Angel.
Armisael was fleeing, retreating from the pale girl in a frenzy.
The Shinji(s) charged forward, moving to end the battle once and for all.
Armisael, wounded and burned deeply, whirled shifting its flesh and launching itself for Shinji and Unit 01.
White tendrils that had been damaged shot out for him, moving to infect him and his Eva the way it had with Rei.
Shinji brought up an AT Field and the tendrils bounced off. He brought the AT Blade down on the tendrils as he ran forward, cutting strange double helix-shaped limbs off.
In an instant, a single tendril cut into his Eva's thigh. A lone survivor from the failed assault.
The Broken Man stirred. Armisael's tendril fell from Unit 01.
So long as my Other is with me, I can't be infected. Shinji thought through gritted teeth.
The boy didn't bother with the shield anymore. He let it drop and charged forward with all of the Eva's speed. AT Blade raised high for a killing strike.
Armisael fled from the Evangelion Units. Its skin was burning even now, the injury had spread along its skin and deep into its body. No matter how it tried to shift its form the burns remained and lingered.
The attack had been a precise and intelligent strike. A single blow that had crippled it and sent it fleeing.
It had failed to find a sacrifice, to bring back its siblings. It had failed to find the Progenitors.
The Abomination was coming for it wielding a sword made from the power of its Father.
Armisael coiled in on itself, shifting its form one final time. A desperate attempt to lash out like a bomb and overwhelm its foe, to infect the boy inside of the Eva. To reach out and get past the Abomination's defenses.
A voice sounded off and Armisael stopped.
"CHILD" – Adam spoke.
"Father… Lilith betrays us again. Her sorcery burns me. I am weakened." Armisael answered. Hearing the voice of its creator pleased it.
Adam was a poor shadow of his former glory and yet there remained a quiet strength.
"DO NOT DESPAIR. YOUR EFFORTS ARE NOT IN VEIN. LOSE THE BATTLE." Adam spoke.
"Father?"
"LOSE THE BATTLE."
"Yes…"
Armisael stopped resisting. It held its form and let its remaining and burnt flesh stand as the Abomination came for it.
Unit 01 brought the AT Blade down slicing through the Angel core.
Armisael knew no more.
Shinji and his Eva stood over the corpse of Adam's Last Child. His strike had destroyed the Angel core, and he breathed a sigh of relief letting the AT Blade fade into nothing.
The grounds around them were scorched and burnt. Black marks lay scattered around the battlefield, remnants from the explosion. The smoke and clouds of debris had cleared casting the world in a pale haze.
He turned and looked over his display to see Unit 00 standing nearby, prog knife still in hand.
Rei was silent as ever. Her Eva watching the corpse at his feet.
How did she get free? How did she escape Armisael? Young Shinji thought.
It wasn't me. I felt a surge. Powerful. Old. I suspect… Lilith. The Broken Man answered him.
… Lilith? Your teacher-
No. My teacher is dead. This Lilith is different. I can't predict how she would be. I don't understand… that should be impossible. I've never been able to reach her. She's been underground and imprisoned, shielded by Nerv and SEELE from the other Angels… and weak. Very weak.
… I think Rei heard us earlier.
What?
The Broken Man paused. Honestly surprised at that and it made Shinji uneasy. He thought it over and explained.
"Whatever Armisael was doing, a ploy or a trap, when he spoke… Rei heard him. I'm sure of it. That's why she attacked. She heard the other Angels," Shinji said frowning.
That shouldn't be possible. Even I can't hear everything.
"Gendo and Nerv never truly understood what they made when they created Rei..." Young Shinji whispered, quoting the Woman in the Dark. The Original Lilith and the Broken Man's teacher.
He felt his Other looking through his eyes, staring at the white Evangelion Unit on their display. Emotions that were his and not his bled inside him, and the boy wished he knew what to do. That he could end this all right here and now… but just as before… he couldn't.
Shinji turned the comm back on and found that it worked with Armisael dead.
"Rei. Come in. Can you hear me? Are you okay?"
He bit his lip as she took several seconds to respond.
"I hear you. I am fine," Rei answered into the comm. Her was voice was dreamlike and detached, but calm and collected. More focused than before. Bittersweet.
Her Eva shifted, pocketing the prog knife, and staring at her hand.
The wounds have healed, Shinji thought. He saw no lingering damaged from where Armisael had tried to infect her Eva and devour her soul and body from within.
The comm channel shot to life and Misato's panic-stricken voice sounded off in their ears.
"Come in! Eva Team Zero! What happened? Report. Shinji! Rei!"
Shinji answered.
"It's a long story. The Angels are dead. There are no more Children of Adam."
Misato breathed a sigh of relief. Her voice was hoarse and tired. She panted audibly into the comm and directed them to come back to base.
Cleanup crews would handle the Angel remains, and city officials would decide how to deal with the damaged grounds outside the city later.
Without so much as hesitating, Rei gathered her fallen gear and then walked off with her Eva heading back to Nerv.
Shinji followed after. A horrible feeling in his gut. This wasn't over, the war was never going to end with the defeat of the Angels, but now things were different. Forces were making moves that neither he nor the Broken Man had expected.
Nerv.
The Evangelion Units placed themselves back in their launchpads. The Entry Plugs were released and both Shinji and Rei found themselves walking the hangar.
Applause was rippling through the crowds of Nerv employees. Staff from the science division, to the technicians, to the engineers, to the higher-ups in command, Misato and Ritsuko and their teams, clapped for them.
Shinji barely noticed, and Rei ignored it all. The pale girl walked onward, absorbed in her own world. She kept glancing at her hand.
"Rei," he called in barely a whisper.
She tilted her head to him, walking the hangar with him to the crowds that awaited them.
"I know things are difficult. I know that… this is all confusing. That you don't understand everything that's happened. But I want you to know something," the boy said.
Rei walked onward but something changed. She turned her attention to him, her eyes moving to meet his.
"Why do you wear those?" Rei asked him slowly.
"… I don't understand-" the boy began.
"Contact lenses. Your eyes are red. Like mine. Why do you hide them?" Rei said to him as if in a dream.
"… It's not important. Do you… do you remember that? Do you remember me? When I came back with different eyes?"
Rei tilted her head again. Lost in thought.
"Sometimes. It comes and it goes," Rei said slowly. Red eyes shifted back and forth, threatening to get lost.
"Rei," Shinji pleaded, his voice growing hoarse. She blinked at him.
He wanted to reach out and grab her. To hold her hand and embrace her, to tell her that he was so sorry. To undo the damage that his bastard of a father had done. But he knew he couldn't. She was hurt inside, and she didn't want to be touched.
"When the day comes, I'll find you. I promise."
The words left his mouth and she stared at him. Her eyes focused on him for a brief moment, a single instant of pure lucidity, where he was the complete center of her attention. She stared at him unblinkingly, a half-forgotten dream racing across her mind.
Then she blinked, and the moment was over. She turned from him and walked on stiff and distant.
The crowd embraced them, people cheering the news of the Angel War's end. Rei ignored them all and slipped away.
Shinji did his best to keep up appearances. Letting the adults and people at Nerv clap him on the back and congratulate him. On and on, a sea of faces.
He looked up to the upper levels and saw that Gendo wasn't there. The Director of Nerv hadn't joined in.
Misato and Asuka found him.
"I'm kinda tired. Can we go home?" Shinji asked in greeting.
Misato frowned at him but then shook her head. She was relieved to see him come back. His guardian called out to everyone.
"Alright. Alright, we can celebrate tomorrow. For now, let's get the kids home so they can sleep," Misato said.
There was a murmur of agreement and the crowd began to disperse.
"Knew you could do it," Asuka said watching him carefully. She could tell something was bothering him, and if Shinji was honest, Misato probably could too.
"Yeah. Thanks," Shinji said. He wanted to get out of here as fast as possible.
Misato gave him a knowing look, and the relief washed off her face.
"I'm putting a request in for Rei. She'll get a medical checkup. I haven't forgotten. Now you go and change. You need your rest. We have to figure out how we're going to re-enroll you into school," Misato said.
She gestured for him to head for the locker rooms.
Shinji nodded and walked off.
…
Misato and Asuka watched the boy head for the locker room, disappearing from the former crowd.
He's doing that again. He's not telling me everything, Misato thought.
She glanced around and spotted Ritsuko hovering in the back of the hangar and talking quietly with Rei. The pale girl listened stiffly before walking off, only instead of heading to the locker rooms, she was sent to the upper levels.
Does Gendo need her for something?
Misato crossed her arms.
"It doesn't feel right. I thought this was supposed to be the end. But it's… it's wrong. Don't know why," Asuka said suddenly.
Misato turned to the German teenager. She hated to admit it but the girl had a point. There was tension in the air. A lingering sense of dread that she didn't like.
"You worry too much. Enjoy the moment. You're back to being a teenager again," Misato said trying to reassure the girl.
Asuka shook her head. "Humph. I wasn't just a teenager. I was a prodigy."
Misato rolled her eyes. But it was off. Even there, that hint of levity felt wrong. Forced. Like everyone was trying to reassure themselves that it was going to be okay.
"I'll be right back. Don't go anywhere we're still gonna take Shinji home," Misato said.
Asuka shrugged.
Misato turned and headed for her old friend.
Ritsuko leaned against a wall of the hangar. The doctor was smoking a cigarette, looking exhausted and utterly drained. Her hand shook slightly though she tried to hide it.
The woman looked up at her as she approached.
"Misato," Ritsuko said in greeting.
"The two of us are gonna have a talk later. About what you and everyone else isn't telling me. What happened to Kaji, what's wrong with Rei, all of it," Misato said suddenly.
She was in no mood for bullshit. She stared her old friend straight in the eye and minced no words.
Ritsuko took another whiff of her cigarette.
"I'm sorry. I don't know what you're talking about. I have work to do," Ritsuko said.
Oh no. You don't get to brush this off. If Shinji didn't need his sleep then we'd settle this right here and now.
Misato scowled and Ritsuko apologized before leaving too.
Later in the morning.
7:30 a.m.
Gendo Ikari sat in his office, his attention torn between the footage playing across his computer screen and the files in front of him. The video played records of Eva Unit 01 throughout the entire Angel War, from its first piloting run until its last. At his desk lay the printed scans of Shinji Ikari's drawings as well as the remains of Rei Ayanami's set of paintings.
Tinted glasses obscured his face as he looked over the two sets of illustrations.
A knock on the door pulled him from his thoughts.
"Come in," he said.
The door opened and the head of Nerv's Department of Security Intelligence, Section 2 for short, stepped in. A cold man dressed in the signature black suit of his men.
"Sir. The Third Child is confirmed to be at his guardian's place of residence. The hangar has been cleared. We are ready to begin," the man said.
Gendo nodded, folding his gloved hands under his chin.
"Dr. Akagi will oversee the first stage of the operation. You will handle the second," Gendo said calmly.
The Director of Nerv took a deep breath. What came next would require precision and SEELE would be making their move soon.
"Evangelion Unit 01 must be imprisoned. Send a team for the boy. Exercise extreme caution. The site is prepared for him?" Gendo said.
The head of Section 2 nodded saying, "the site has been prepped for him. I foresee no difficulties in the transport."
"Begin at once," Gendo ordered.
In the empty hangar of Nerv, the Evangelion Units stood in their launchpads. The area had been cleared of all personnel except for Ritsuko and the carefully selected team of engineers.
With quiet efficiency, the men entered the hangar carrying equipment of all kinds. Ritsuko oversaw them, providing them access to the levels required to reach all of their target.
Massive canisters of a dura-bakelite gel were deployed and sprayed over the enormous area that was Eva Unit 01. The gel would encompass the Evangelion and within an hour the substance would harden and imprison the mighty titan.
It was the same material that had been used to imprison Adam for decades. Deployed on an enormous scale when its pilot was far away.
The engineers worked quickly under Ritsuko's watch. They had heard the stories and seen footage of the mysterious machine, the titan that had spoken fully formed words during the First Breach of Nerv, that had an unlimited source of power in its body and was no longer hindered by the restrictions of a power cable, of the machine that had reached the highest ever recorded sync rate with a pilot.
It was unsettling work, and the men swore that they felt the enigmatic soulless eyes of Eva Unit 01 watching them as they imprisoned it.
...
Elsewhere.
Misato's apartment.
Shinji Ikari sat in the living room staring ahead at the tv. He barely noticed it.
The news was playing, declaring an end to the Angel battle and rumors of the end of the war.
Misato stood in the kitchen doing the dishes. She had let Asuka and Shinji rest before making them a simple western-style breakfast. They had eaten together, sharing a meal, and trying to be happy at the supposed end of the Eva Programs.
Shinji had played his part, pretending along with the others. Somehow, he thought neither Asuka nor Misato believed him.
"It feels strange. Doesn't it?" Asuka asked.
He snapped up from his thoughts and noticed the German girl hovering hesitantly by the couch.
"I guess," Shinji said, gesturing for her to join him.
Asuka sat beside him, almost awkward. They'd both been through so much over these last few months. A relationship that changed and evolved in ways none of them had expected.
"I thought there'd be more. A battle with all four of us out there and the world watching. Instead, it came in the middle of the night. The early morning actually… and it was over just like that," Asuka said.
"Life's not a movie," Shinji said calmly. His mind wandering.
He breathed softly, looking down at his hands. Waiting, that was all there was to do. Wait for them to come. It made him anxious and nervous. That was his part to play, and everyone had their roles.
"Are you going to see Mari soon? Let her know that everything went okay?" Asuka asked, looking for something to talk about.
"Not yet. I left her a message, but I want her to focus on her own health," he answered simply.
Asuka frowned, she could tell he was avoiding conversation.
"Look… you helped me a lot, you know. I just- I just want you to know that whatever's going on. It'll be okay. I… I have your back okay," Asuka said finally.
"I know. That's why you're my sister, right?" Shinji said, and he smiled at her. A genuine warm smile. It only made Asuka frown more.
"I'm not good at this. What's bothering you? You haven't been the same since the attack. You're nervous," Asuka said, folding her arms and looking cross.
She was concerned about him.
He heard the silence in the kitchen. Misato was listening. The tv blared on and on and no one watched. All the attention in the apartment was on him.
When Shinji didn't answer, Asuka pressed him.
"Is it Rei?"
"Yes and no. It's complicated."
Asuka fumed. "Then what? What happened out there with the last Angel? No one knows. There's no footage or records. It did something and-"
The conversation was halted by a knock on the front door.
They're here.
It's time.
A voice called out for them from the other side of the front door.
"Nerv Department of Security Intelligence. Open up."
Everyone froze. Asuka looked to the door utterly confused. They heard Misato's footsteps approaching from the kitchen. Shinji rose from the couch. The boy's face fell, hardening for the briefest of moments, then he adopted a mask of calm curiosity for his roommates' sake.
Before he could get to the door, Misato beat him to it. She found two men dressed in black suits waiting outside. Dark sunglasses covered their stony expressions and they carried an air of grim absolute business.
"What's going on?" Misato asked, her arms crossed.
"Shinji Ikari's presence is required at Nerv. We will be escorting him immediately," one of the men in black said.
Misato held up a hand, stopping the men from entering her apartment.
"What for?" Misato asked.
"That's classified. We were not told," was the response.
Misato glanced back at her two charges, at the two teenagers at her couch.
"Let me grab my jacket. Asuka, take care of the place while we're gone-"
"Your presence is not needed. This operation is for the child alone," the other man in black cut in.
Shinji watched as Misato looked at the men in disbelief. "What does Section 2 want with him? I'm his guardian. And an official of Nerv. I go where he goes."
"Ma'am. The boy will travel with us by the direct orders of Commander Ikari himself. You will stay here."
Misato put her foot down, refusing to budge.
The men tried to force their way in. Grown men began pushing forward and moving to shove Misato aside.
Asuka rose to her feet barely believing it.
"It's okay, Misato. I'll call you when I get there. No worries," Shinji cut in before things escalated in the apartment.
The men in black stopped. Misato turned to him slowly and disbelievingly.
"Are you sure?" his guardian asked hesitantly.
Shinji nodded.
The boy turned and suddenly embraced Asuka in a gentle hug, pulling her close. The German girl was startled and almost gasped when he whispered into her ear.
"Don't react. You can't trust Nerv anymore," the boy whispered to her.
Asuka blinked and almost shouted in surprise but Shinji let her go. Their eyes met briefly. She was scared, that was something she had little experience in.
He patted her on the shoulder reassuringly and turned to go.
Misato was watching him and the men in black stepped back as he approached the front door.
He stopped to hug Misato too and she grasped him back. He could feel the concern and anxiety radiating off her. She wanted to hold him and never let go, to keep him from these men and the mysterious orders.
"Thanks, Misato."
"For what?" she asked him, concern audible.
Shinji smiled. "For being the closest thing to a mother I ever had."
The boy let his guardian go and before she could protest or get into a fight and demand answers, he left her and joined the men in black.
One of the men closed the apartment door with a thud.
Shinji Ikari followed the men as they escorted him through the apartment complex and into the parking lot.
These men… they're armed, the boy thought.
Pistols. In their coat pockets, the Broken Man informed him.
Shinji let out a deep breath and he felt his Other stirring from within him.
Stay calm. I'm here. I'm with you.
The boy inhaled and exhaled slowly, walking with the armed men at either side of him. His heart was pounding in his chest and his vision hyperfocused into crystal clarity. He was just a boy, a teenager, forced into a role that would break adults.
He was led to a single black car in the parking lot. The door opened for him, and Shinji stepped inside with the men in black following closely behind.
The car drove on taking him with it.
The pieces are in place. Ritsuko and Kaji have their roles. If we should fail, then they can continue without us – the Shinji(s) thought.
Long chapter I know. I didn't want to split it.
There's a lot of moving parts this time, and it made the pacing hard for me to get right. We're seeing plot threads come together after 40 plus chapters and things set in motion.
What did you think of the flashback with Keel meeting Young Shinji?
Rei and Lilith?
The final scene?
Thanks for Reading and please Review!