Her friend had showed up at her doorstep unannounced, asking to spend the night. It had caught Hikari flat-footed, but she had hurried to try and make Asuka as comfortable as possible, nonetheless, keeping her questions about why she was there to herself. As far as Hikari was aware, Asuka was essentially confined to the Geofront until further notice, but one look at the redhead's eyes told her everything she needed to know.
As a result of their unexpected guest, dinner had been an awkward affair in the Horaki household, not even the rare presence of their father managing to distract them from the pit of negativity that came from Asuka's side of the table. The redhead spoke in monosyllables for the most part, physically with them but otherwise very, very far away. Her family had eventually begun to mostly ignore her, and Hikari honestly couldn't blame them. It was impossible to carry out a conversation when the other party just wasn't… there.
Since then, Asuka had been glued to Hikari's game system, and the brunette had been unable to figure out what to do or say for the better part of half an hour. It was clear that something awful was eating away at her friend, though.
"You're moving away, aren't you?" Asuka suddenly spoke up, turning to look behind her. "I saw the boxes."
Hikari nodded her head with a small wince, and Asuka mentally kicked herself at the gesture. That had come out far more accusatory than she had intended. "…Yeah. An evacuation order came out shortly after the last battle. The residents are being moved to a few camps in the Ibaraki area, but our family is going to move in with some relatives in Nagano, instead."
"So the entire eastern section is being kicked out of the city?" Asuka grunted. "I should have pushed the Angel a few clicks further out, I guess."
"Not just the eastern section. The order was for the entire city."
Asuka put down her controller and frowned at Hikari's correction. 'A full evacuation? Why? It's not like this is the first time the city has taken this much damage.'
"…Let's go to sleep."
"Ah… Y-Yeah!"
Hikari hurried to prepare the bed when Asuka suddenly switched the console off without warning, readying everything up by the time she stepped to her bedside. Lying on the side of the bed closer to the wall, Hikari invited Asuka to the other side of the bed, the redhead accepting without a single word. A flick of the light switch, and all was dark.
To no surprise, sleep was the very last thing on Hikari's mind at the time. For the longest time, the brunette just stared at the ceiling of her room, a hundred worries crossing her mind one after another. Asuka lay with her back to her, making it impossible to tell what she was doing, but Hikari suspected that sleep was even further away for her friend than it was for her.
"I finally beat an Angel by myself."
Asuka's sudden declaration confirmed her suspicions. By her cold tone, however, Hikari very much suspected that a 'Congratulations' was the very last thing Asuka wanted to hear at the moment, so she remained silent instead.
"Ever since I set foot in this damn city, that's what I wanted to happen. I wanted to fight one of those monsters one on one and defeat it, with no room for argument. I wanted everyone in the world to see what I could do, I wanted them to know that they need me.
"And I finally did it, I finally won. No one will doubt my abilities again, so I should feel happy about that. But I just… can't."
Hikari turned towards Asuka and nudged her on the shoulder, asking her to turn around. The redhead complied, but kept her head down and hiding her eyes, likely debating if she should continue.
"I told Misato I'm not going to pilot Unit-02 again."
"Why?"
"…You won't believe me."
"Try me."
Asuka peeked through her bangs to find Hikari's eyes unflinchingly looking at her, a first for the usually gentle-mannered brunette, she realised. And so, with a sigh, Asuka decided to humour her. She was unlikely to fall asleep tonight, anyway.
The first time Asuka had explained her situation to Misato, she had tried to make it as brief as possible and abstained from going into too much detail. At Hikari's urging, she didn't do the same this second time, and quickly found that it felt surprisingly cathartic to tell the extended story, to let someone she trusted know about everything that she had experienced these past few weeks: the good, the bad and the silly.
Through most of it, Hikari kept a serious face, asking questions at certain points to reassure Asuka that she was paying attention. The façade only broke for a second when Asuka spoke of her first 'meeting' with Shinji, Hikari remarking that the bizarre experience sounded similar to a manga she had once read, the comparison actually managing to get a chuckle out of her friend.
But before long, Asuka arrived at the retelling of the last battle and everything that came out of it: first with Rei's infection, then with the Fifth's betrayal, and finally with Shinji's silence. The brief cheer became grief and tight sobs, despite Asuka's attempts to hold them in, and Hikari slowly threw her arms around her. In a display that would have been unthinkable mere weeks ago, the Second Child didn't even attempt to escape the hold, reciprocating it as if it were a lifeline.
"…Hey, 'Kari?" Asuka eventually spoke, when the worst of her sobbing died down. "Sorry for making you listen to all this stuff. I bet you're still worried about Suzuhara, and here I am giving you even more crap to handle. Some friend I am."
"Stop that. This is what friends are for," Hikari reassured her, hugging a little bit tighter for emphasis. "Honestly, I'm a little mad that you didn't tell me about this earlier."
"What good would it have done? It's not like you could have done anything to help."
"Is that so?" Hikari protested, punctuating her words with a tighter squeeze. "What about what I'm doing right now? Is it not helping?"
"…I guess," Asuka conceded, looking away. "A little bit."
"Hey, Asuka. Look at me." Hikari continued, looking into her friend's blue eyes that had become red and swollen during end of her tale. "None of what happened is your fault. Shinji-kun will be alright. You will be alright."
A small, shaky smile adorned Asuka's face at the encouragement, before she buried her face on Hikari's shoulder once again.
"…Thanks, 'Kari."
'…If only I could believe that.'
-O]|[O-
Hikari awoke the next morning to find that Asuka had left at some point during the night, where to she didn't know. A part of her wanted to leave her family to the packing and go find her friend for a final talk, but the reality was that even if she knew where to look, everything that needed to be said had probably been said already. It was unbearably frustrating, but the only thing Hikari could do now was hope that Asuka would be able to push through and that she would meet her friend again in the future.
Her sister Kodama's voice broke Hikari out of her musings, demanding she put the box she was carrying inside the van, and at that moment Hikari heard the sound of approaching footsteps. She followed Kodama's gaze to find a familiar woman in a black dress and red jacket, and the box Hikari was carrying swiftly met the ground.
"Good morning, Horaki-san. I hope you-"
The slap echoed across the small courtyard of the Horaki household, to Kodama's utter shock. The elder sister of the family quickly moved to admonish her sibling when Misato raised a hand in the girl's direction, stopping her.
"Don't worry, I deserved that," Misato moved the hand to her cheek with a wince. It was probably going to swell. "I suppose she told you everything?"
"Yes," Hikari tightly replied, checking the surroundings. "The other one's not with you?"
"No. And I don't know where Makinami is, so I'm afraid that slap will have to wait." Misato warily replied, as if she were twenty years younger. "…How was she?"
"She was a wreck. I spent half the night consoling her, and even then I don't think it did much good."
"I'm sorry you had to do that."
"You think that's the part I'm angry about?!" Hikari angrily stepped forward, grabbing on to the older woman's jacket. "Where were you for the past month?! How could you allow what happened to Asuka, to Shinji and to Ayanami?! Aren't you supposed to be their guardian?!"
"I understand you being angry at me, Horaki-san, but the reality of our situation isn't so cut and dry, especially right now." Misato evenly replied, putting her hands on top of Hikari's. "It may sound like an excuse to you, hell, it sounds like an excuse to me a lot of the time, but I did everything I could. I only learned about Asuka's situation yesterday evening, myself, and I simply can't act on what I don't know."
"She's fourteen, for crying out loud! And maybe she would have spoken to you about it if you weren't sending her and the others to die every other week! It's a miracle that Toji's accident was the only tragedy for so long!"
"Forgive me, Horaki-san, but I'm on two hours of sleep myself and I don't want to argue with someone who doesn't know even half of what's going on," the Major firmly stated, gently prying Hikari's hands away from her jacket. Even if she didn't have a pounding headache at the time, there was no use in continuing this conversation when the girl was clearly unwilling to listen. Not that Misato could blame her. "Just know that if you think this is any easier for me than it is for you, you're dead wrong. I didn't come here to speak about Asuka, anyway."
"Why are you here, then?" Hikari demanded, her mouth a thin line.
"I managed to badger some information on the Suzuhara situation out of my… current superiors, I guess. I thought you'd want to know," Hikari's ears quickly perked up at the name, and Misato took that as her cue to continue. "He's safe at the JSADF airbase at Matsushima, but I have no idea what he's actually doing there. I've heard of some prototype testing being done in the place some years back, but that's everything I know. Sorry I can't be more help."
"Thank you, Katsuragi-san. Don't worry about it," Hikari replied, her frown softening just a little bit. "Knowing Toji is safe is good enough for now."
"…Also, there is a favour I wanted to ask of you." Misato continued, and the return of the girl's full-blown glare reminded the Major of the many times she had angered her teachers back in her college days. "As you know, the entire city is being evacuated, which means that with all services being unavailable topside I'm going to spend most of my time cooped up in the Geofront and away from my apartment, so-"
"You want me to take Pen-Pen with us." Hikari cut in, making Misato wince and look away sheepishly. "Katsuragi-san? I'll gladly take care of Pen-Pen, but there's something I want to ask you for in return."
"Sure, go ahead."
"When this is all over, I want to see Asuka again." Hikari demanded. "And I'm not talking about the pilot of Unit-02. I want to see my friend again. Can you promise me that?"
Misato resolutely nodded her head. "I can promise you that I will be dead before I allow anything else to happen to Asuka."
"…Good enough." Hikari bowed respectfully to the older woman and walked back to her now fully gathered family, without another look. "We will pick up Pen-Pen on our way out of the city. Goodbye, Katsuragi-san. Stay safe."
-O]|[O-
Just as soon as he made it to Tokyo-3, Kaworu's feet carried him to the spot where he had first met him all that time ago, only to find it more or less intact. There was no massive gouge on the earth caused by the self-destruction of an Evangelion unit, as was usually the case, but the young man didn't let that fact deter him. The signs of battle often changed places between cycles, but the person he was looking for was almost certain to follow those changes, as well, so with that in mind Kaworu continued further east until he came upon a massive hole in the ground.
With a smile and a newfound spring to his step, Kaworu circled the massive hole while keeping an eye out for the person he wanted to meet, eagerly looking forward to their reunion. Before long, the young man noticed a lone figure sitting in the distance and quickened his steps, but he also found his expectations dashed not too long after.
After all, Shinji Ikari wasn't the one he found sitting at the crater's edge.
"Who the hell are you?" a familiar redheaded Lilim demanded when he approached, wary but calm. Her security detachment had done nothing to stop this guy, so it was unlikely that he was a threat.
Kaworu Nagisa, for his part, barely managed to keep a grimace from showing on his face.
His interactions with the Second Child, while never a guaranteed event, were more often than not brief and markedly unpleasant. Even during the few past instances when the Second Child had not been depressed and aggressive for one reason or another and his stay at Tokyo-3 had been extended, Kaworu had found their respective personalities to be absolutely incompatible: the female Lilim's loud and brash declarations grated on his nerves, and his calm and often sarcastic rebuttals only served to incense her further, creating a disastrous feedback loop between the both of them.
Simply put, the both of them didn't mix, but that was fine by Kaworu. Frankly speaking, he had never held much of an interest in the Second Child even at the best of times, beyond the fact that she was usually close to Shinji Ikari, in one way or another.
"So you're my replacement, then?" the female Lilim used his silence to quickly reach her own conclusions. "I guess I shouldn't be surprised that it was this quick. Akagi did mention that she was ready to replace me back then and the glasses-bitch turned out to be a fraud. It makes sense that the legitimate backup Pilot would be ready to sortie at a moment's notice."
It would appear that the Second Child had lost her Pilot status in this cycle, as well, but Kaworu was glad to at least see her walking around the city rather than lying comatose in bed. That likely spoke of a more positive upturn of her circumstances, which he approved of. Kaworu didn't particularly like this Lilim, but he didn't wish harm upon her, either.
Her hastily reached conclusions, however, while on point for most cycles, were completely wrong on this occasion.
"Excuse me, but I'm afraid you're mis-"
"Drop the act, moron. I don't care," the Lilim rudely cut him off, waving him away with her hand. "You don't need to spare any feelings, so have fun with my EVA and kill the rest of the Angels or whatever. Just leave me the hell alone."
Kaworu was struck silent by the female Lilim's words. The Second Child was usually tied to her Evangelion unit to the point of obsession, so the fact that she was being so dismissive of it on this occasion was a definite change of pace.
"I insist. I just arrived on this city, but I'm not an Evangelion pilot."
"…Right. You realise that you arrived at the exact same time the entirety of the city is scheduled for evacuation, mister not-Pilot guy? Do I have to spell out what makes it obvious for you?"
"Obvious or not, it doesn't change the fact that you're mistaken. I have business at NERV, true, but it doesn't involve piloting any Evangelions." Kaworu continued, taking a seat on the crater's edge for himself. "In fact, my stay here will be far too brief for any of that."
"…I see," the Second Child replied, realising but not acknowledging her mistake, as per usual. "Well, don't let me stop you then. I'm sure you're very busy."
"You're not keeping me, I assure you. This is simply a spot I like to visit."
She narrowed her eyes at him. "…You like to stare at craters?"
"Not exactly. But even if that were the case, I don't believe I'm the only one in that group as of this moment."
The Lilim held her gaze for a few moments, obviously debating whether the verbal jab was worthy of a retort. Eventually, she turned back to the crater with a scoff. "…Whatever."
Kaworu raised an eyebrow at yet another one of his assumptions quickly being challenged. Despite her overall hostile demeanour, the Second Child was being remarkably subdued during their conversation, a rarity in most cycles Kaworu could recall. Pairing that with her apparent disregard for her position as a Pilot made this situation even more peculiar, easily something that the young man couldn't have experienced more than a handful of times, if even that.
There was also that mention of a 'glasses-bitch' that was unfamiliar to him. The First Child had worn glasses on rare occasions, but Kaworu doubted that she was the one the Second Child was referring to. The terms 'doll', 'freak' or 'Wondergirl' were the ones usually reserved for Lilith's avatar.
The extent of this deviation made Kaworu more curious than he would usually have been, and so he carefully studied the female Lilim a few steps away from him. Once again, the results shocked him, and he noticed something markedly different about her very being, a slight and almost imperceptible shift he had never witnessed before. And yet those tiny traces he perceived felt strikingly familiar, somehow.
"Take a picture, it will last longer."
The Second Child's angry muttering shook him out of his trance, but didn't deter him. This situation demanded further investigation, the young man quickly decided.
"I'm sorry for staring. I was just thinking that you looked troubled."
"And let me guess, you're more than willing to hear all about my troubles and tell me everything I need to hear, right?" she growled back. "I've heard better pick-up lines, not-Pilot guy, and I'm not interested."
"Neither am I. I'm just making conversation and trying to help at the same time. Think about it, does it matter if a stranger that you're never going to meet again knows about your worries? If it eases your mind even the smallest bit, I'd say that you only stand to gain."
The Lilim continued to glare at him for a few moments, likely a second or two away from verbally berating him and storming away in anger. Kaworu had resigned himself to that outcome when the Second Child's features suddenly softened, and she turned back to the crater with a shrug.
"…I guess. Eh, what the hell. What's one more time?"
Kaworu was certain that his shock at the success of that approach must have shown, but he wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth.
His conversation with the Second Child proved very insightful and confirmed that this cycle deviated far more than he could have ever expected: for one, Shinji Ikari was the one comatose in the NERV cranial ward and a military takeover of NERV had somehow occurred without SEELE's knowledge. Kaworu was certain that the latter was a development that his benefactors would have been dying to know about, but since status reports were not among his obligations in this cycle he was more than happy to leave them in the dark.
Shinji's situation weighed in his mind a lot more, on the other hand. The Second Child had been vague in her retelling, never going into further detail than a 'teammate' being hospitalised in the aftermath of the Fifteenth. The fact that the First Child continued to appear in her story and that the whole situation seemed to majorly bother her made the identity of said teammate obvious, however. Some sort of feud had also recently developed between the Second Child and Shinji Ikari's backup (the mysterious glasses-bitch, if Kaworu had to guess), but the female Lilim didn't go into detail there, either. It must have been major for her to be so furious about it, though.
Then again, Kaworu had known the Second Child to be irrational at times. Or fairly often, rather.
In any case, Kaworu allowed himself some satisfaction at helping to abate the turmoil within the Second Child a bit, even though an explanation for the small changes he continued to sense in her still eluded him. He was unlikely to get a straight answer out of her during an extended chat, however, assuming that the Lilim was even aware of the change, so Kaworu decided that he had learned everything that he needed to: if Shinji Ikari was to be found at NERV, his business here was done. He muttered a half-hearted farewell to the Second Child and walked away from the crater, with NERV HQ as his new destination.
He had barely made it to ten steps when her voice stopped him once more.
"Hey, not-Pilot guy! You said you're heading to NERV, right?"
Kaworu turned back towards the Second Child. Her arms were on her hips and anger burned in her eyes, but that anger was not directed at him.
"That's right, yes."
"Well, if you happen to meet a girl about my age wearing red glasses while you're in there, will you give her a nice smack in the face for me? I'd do it myself, but I'm not in a hurry to go back down there."
Kaworu blinked at the strange demand for aggression, spoken as casually as a chat about the weather.
"…And why would I do that? This person has done nothing to me."
"Come on! I just spent the last ten minutes playing along with all your questions! Don't you owe me a favour or two?"
'And the repayment of a self-allotted favour warrants wanton violence for you, Second Child? The more things change, the more they stay the same, I suppose.'
"…Alright, fine. I will do as you ask, if the chance arises." Kaworu agreed, deciding it was the quickest way to his final objective. He had no desire for a delaying confrontation of his own with the Second Child.
"Great! That's a promise, not-Pilot guy! Have a nice day and all that." The female Lilim began to wave him away before she stopped and quickly turned towards him again. "Oh, right! Remember to go for the cheek, okay?"
Kaworu raised an eyebrow at the peculiar advice but promptly pushed it out of his mind as the Second Child proceeded to ignore him and sit next to the crater again. NERV was massive, so the chances of bumping into that specific person she had described during his brief stay were astronomically low, anyway. Knowing that didn't stop a sigh from escaping him, however.
'…What a troublesome Lilim.'
-O]|[O-
Cranial ward room 303 had not seen visitors in quite some time, Kaworu quickly deduced. The lights had been dimmed when he had first entered, a thin layer of dust rested atop most of the furniture in the room and the flowers he had just replaced had also seen better days. The life-support machinery beeped at a constant rhythm and a figure rested in the bed, but if not for those two factors this room could have easily been mistaken for one of the many empty hospital rooms within NERV HQ. Lingering remnants of at least six other Lilim could be sensed in the room, but most of them felt at least a week old, maybe older.
The thought that his dear friend could have been left all but forgotten in this corner of the world filled Kaworu with anger, but he fought the feeling down. Instead, he focused his attention on the slumbering young man, quickly finding to his surprise that there was little to focus on. The body on the bed was almost an empty husk but still very much alive, with few traces of the soul he had come to know and care for remaining in it. It was something that Kaworu was grateful for, but also something that shouldn't have been possible: a Lilim body couldn't survive with its partnered soul missing, after all.
It was then that the familiar traces he had found in the unlikeliest of sources promptly came to his mind.
"…So that's what it was." Kaworu spoke and barely refrained from smacking his forehead, much of what had bothered him about this cycle quickly clicking together. "Arael must have truly been a trying time for you to find yourself in this strange situation, my friend."
Despite the novelty of the situation, Kaworu couldn't say that he was truly surprised. After all, the three Angels that usually preceded his arrival proved a great test to Shinji and the others, more often than not. Sacrifices were made and hardships endured in almost every cycle, the aftermath of many Angel attacks proving bizarre in many occasions, but this iteration's development proved truly unique, so far. Kaworu couldn't claim that he had ever witnessed Shinji and the Second Child, or anyone else, apparently cohabitating in a single body. Such a strange development made him wish he could see how the following events would play out.
A pity that he was fated never to witness any of those possibilities.
"…I wish there was something I could do for you, other than make my duty as unobtrusive as possible and hope for your swift recovery. It does fill me with sadness that I won't be able to speak with you on this occasion, though." Kaworu admitted, a deep melancholy clouding his eyes for a short second. "But perhaps that's for the best. It would have been a painfully brief affair, anyway, so it might be better for the current you not to know me at all. What do you say?"
The constant beeping of the machinery in the room was all the answer his question received.
"I will take that as a sign of your agreement, my friend." Kaworu smiled, affectionately resting his hand on the sleeping young man's forehead. The silver haired being remained motionless for a long moment, savouring the sensation, before he pulled back with a resolute nod. "…I wish the very best for you, Shinji-kun. Farewell."
Kaworu turned and made for the door, but found it opened on its own before he could reach out for it. On the other side of the threshold stood a female Lilim in a standard NERV uniform, just as surprised as he was, although he suspected the source of their shock to be completely different: she was likely surprised to see someone else in this room, while Kaworu was amazed at the fact that he didn't know this Lilim.
Kaworu could identify every single Lilim with the potential to be in NERV HQ within this timeframe, a long list of candidates that had not changed at all in far too many cycles to keep track of.
Until now.
The Lilim's blue eyes quickly shifted to the main occupant of the room, a hint of panic in them. Those same blue eyes were framed by a pair of striking red glasses, and allowed him to quickly put two and two together.
Kaworu Nagisa prided himself in being both a good listener and a 'man' of his word. And so, despite his reservations, he made certain to go for the cheek.
-O]|[O-
She wasn't sure what she had done to piss that guy off, but the fact that the punch he had thrown had succeeded at knocking her off her feet was enough to put Mari on full alert. She jumped back to her feet and turned the nearest corner, putting distance between them to plan her future course of attack. Mari quickly noticed that he didn't try to follow, and promptly decided to fall back and strengthen herself with additional weapons; the offensive means on her person were limited in various ways and there was no way that skinny-looking guy was a regular human.
Who was he, then? A SEELE agent, augmented like she was? None of the intel they had on the organisation implied they were big on cybernetics, outside of maybe Kihl Lorentz himself, but that didn't necessarily prevent the existence of an agent or two. If the guy was SEELE and they had caught wind of their presence in NERV, that wouldn't be good at all. On the other hand, maybe a different party had stalked them the same way they had stalked SEELE, and were just now revealing themselves. That would be a potential improvement to a loose SEELE agent, but not by much.
Or perhaps he was a human-shaped Angel that had infiltrated HQ. The bastards had a history of creative infiltration and contact tactics, so Mari really wouldn't put it past them, and from the glimpse she had managed to catch his eyes had looked remarkably similar to Ayanami's. That third option would probably be the worst case scenario, all things considered.
"Arthur, this is Morgan! We have a situation, come in! Arthur! Come in!" Mari yelled at the hundreds of security cameras all over HQ while she ordered doctors and nurses back into their rooms, but received no answer at all from the new Commander. "Dammit! The comms are down? When did that happen?!"
She tried several different frequencies with her own personal comm-link but found no success at raising either Arthur or any of her other comrades. Sprinting down the hallways, Mari ducked into an armoury room and grabbed a combat vest and a submachinegun, stuffing some extra magazines and a grenade into the pockets before grabbing a high-calibre handgun for good measure and running out again with a specific destination in mind.
If the guy was an infiltrator, Mari could trust the rest of the operatives at HQ to eventually find and neutralise him once they figured out the communications issues, if they hadn't already. With that in mind, Mari focused on the more dangerous option that was looking more and more likely by the second, knowing that if the silver-haired man was really an Angel, there were only two places he could be heading.
Her instincts proved correct, and she found the infiltrator in the EVA gantries, staring up at the Evangelions. Mari quickly trained the submachinegun's sights on him, noticing with relief that the robots appeared unharmed. "FREEZE!"
The silver-haired man's eyes turned to her for a moment, and Mari heard the door shut closed behind her. At almost the same time, the door on the far side of the gantry opened to reveal a squad of fully armed operatives, no doubt sent to scout the area on the same grounds she had.
"Morgan! We're here to-!"
The young man flicked his gaze towards the other door and it shut closed again, the furious banging that followed indicating that it had also been securely locked, somehow. Figuring that her own door had also been locked, Mari clicked her tongue in annoyance at finding herself alone with a very likely Angel. She ran some distance calculations in her head while the silver-haired man turned to fully regard her with a smile, concluding that while she could fire from here, her submachinegun would much prefer to be closer.
"Who are you?" she demanded, keeping her sights trained on the figure and slowly stepping forward. He didn't appear to mind either action. "Are you an Angel?"
"I am Tabris, though you will likely identify me as the Seventeenth Angel, indeed," the young man politely confirmed her fears. "It is my duty to reach the deepest pit of your fortress and commune with the one you hold prisoner there, so that we may wipe you usurpers off this planet and make way for its legitimate caretakers."
The few cycles in which Kaworu had decided to go to Adam's actual location had not ended well for most Lilim involved. As a result, he had since resigned himself to the inevitability of certain parts of his role, like the need to go down to Terminal Dogma, and this short and well-practised speech had proven good enough at spurring all parties into motion since the cycle Tabris had started using it. On this occasion, however, the young Lilim behind the weapon stared back with a mixed look of surprise and confusion on her face.
"Is something the matter?"
"Talking Angel aside, I was just thinking that you sounded awfully bored for someone that just threatened us with genocide on a planetary scale."
Kaworu wondered if his surprise showed on his face. It was true that the novelty of playing the supervillain had worn off after the first thousand or so cycles, and that he strongly suspected his recent speeches had not been nearly as powerful or intimidating as they had once been, but this was the first time someone had actually confirmed it for him. Most Lilim tended to regard the threat to their existence as far more important than the way it was conveyed, after all.
"Anyway," Mari continued, slowly inching closer. "Since we are talking for the moment, I suppose there is no way I could convince you to peacefully back down, mister Tabris?"
She even asked for a peaceful resolution to the conflict, despite being armed to the teeth. It was an obvious ploy for time, of course, but Kaworu could still detect some sincerity behind the Lilim's words. Similar situations had only happened with Shinji before, and only during cycles in which they spent more time together. This girl was a very curious Lilim, indeed.
For a second, Kaworu wondered how she would react if he actually agreed to her request. He suspected that her face would be worthy of a picture, but even in a best case scenario the olive-branch would ultimately prove pointless. After all, even if Kaworu resolved to delay it as much as possible, it would only be a matter of time before his urges pushed him towards his fate.
"That is indeed impossible, I'm afraid." He rejected the offer with a heavy heart.
"I thought as much, just my luck. But diplomacy is always worth a shot."
The Lilim wasted no time in opening fire with her weapon, the bullets harmlessly bouncing off Kaworu's AT-Field. He kept the hexagonal barrier focused to his front and tried to make it as efficient as possible, for even if it were true that the light of his soul could rival that of his most devastating brothers', the same couldn't be said for the strain that would put on his artificial Lilim body. A full strength AT-Field covering the entire area would barely last a few seconds before Kaworu's body literally fell to pieces.
'Not that handguns will prove enough of a threat to require that. I'll just let her unload for a bit and move on with…' Kaworu stopped his laid-back musings, noticing that the Lilim had taken a large item out of a pocket and pulled a pin with her teeth, never letting go of the trigger. '…Is that a grenade?'
Kaworu tried to jump back and extend the short distance between them the moment he recognised the weapon, but it was too late, the grenade landing square at his feet and forcing him to strengthen his barrier for a second. Smoke, noise and shrapnel enveloped him, but Kaworu's worries weren't focused on what would prove yet another ineffective attack.
'What's she thinking?! There is no way she wasn't caught in the blast!'
Kaworu quickly focused his senses on any nearby signs of life, and breathed a sigh of relief when he detected the female Lilim amidst the clearing smoke, still alive. In his relief, however, he failed to notice that those same signs were still active and rushing towards him until the Lilim emerged from the smoke, firing an oversized pistol at his head and looking like a beast out of hell.
He managed to put up a barrier at the last second, deflecting the bullets to the side and preparing to block the left hook the Lilim was throwing with his right arm. Kaworu noticed large pieces of shrapnel stuck to the girl's forearms and torso but, much to his surprise, the Lilim seemed easily able to ignore what should have been agonising pain. The reason why became clear when a black blade popped out of the girl's left arm and ripped the skin away, revealing a metallic sheen beneath.
Kaworu barely had time to put up a barrier for the harmless punch that had suddenly turned into a deadly stab to his neck. A roundhouse kick followed, another blade popping out of the Lilim's calves and aimed at his torso. Kaworu tried to step back but that only served to force him into deflecting two more bullets before the Lilim was back in his face again, punching and kicking and prodding him from every angle imaginable in her search for an opening.
She was relentless, and Kaworu was endlessly thankful to the narrow catwalk for limiting this Lilim's movements. Had it not been for that disadvantage, and given enough time, Kaworu strongly suspected that the strange girl might have been eventually able to overpower this limited Lilim vessel of his. She was already making good time towards that, as it were.
But it was not Kaworu's time to die. Not yet.
"ENOUGH!" he shouted, extending his AT-Field to its strongest and knocking the Lilim back to the other end of the catwalk, next to the door she had used to enter. She easily landed on her feet and wasted no time in reloading her weapons, keeping a wary eye on him as he tried to get his breathing back under control. He had extended his full strength for barely a fraction of a second, but that was still enough to take a toll on his body.
'What was that?!' Kaworu's mind was in overdrive as he looked at the Lilim's arms and legs in quick succession, failing to make sense of what his eyes were telling him. 'Not only have I never seen her, she's some sort of… mechanical hybrid? Shinji-kun's situation was strange enough, but this? What is going on in this cycle?!'
"Hey, why aren't you fighting back?" the Lilim demanded, narrowing her eyes at him and breaking him out of his thoughts.
"Would you… go out of your way to kill a fly when swatting it away will do?" Kaworu mumbled, still too frazzled to get his mind out of supervillain mode. The half-girl's dissecting gaze turned flat in turn, her eyes saying 'I was absolutely kicking your ass until a moment ago, you know?' without requiring any words.
"That's kinda harsh. Couldn't you make me a bee, at least? I've got my stingers and everything." The Lilim kept on with the conversation, extending an arm-blade to illustrate her point. She then pointed at her right cheek with an amused look. "Also, all that talk about swatting doesn't hold when you've already punched me, you know?"
"My apologies." Kaworu bowed his head a bit, looking genuinely ashamed. "I was… coerced into doing that, you could say. It wasn't personal."
"Coerced, huh?" the Lilim echoed, gripping her handgun tighter. "The one who 'coerced' you better be alright."
"Don't worry, the Second Child is in perfect health. So is Ikari-kun, before you ask."
Mari locked her eyes on the silver-haired man before her, scrutinising him for details and finding his trademark soft smile surprisingly honest. She let out a momentary sigh of relief at its admission, but quickly realigned her submachinegun and pierced the Angel with her gaze again.
"…Why?"
"Why what?"
"Why are they okay? Why haven't you hurt me? I know you can," Mari demanded. "You are an Angel, and you clearly know we are the pilots of the only things that can stop you. Why not neutralise us when given the chance?"
Kaworu seemed to wonder something to himself as he held the girl's stare, but ultimately shook his head with yet another pretty-boy smile. Mari was quickly beginning to find that smile extremely infuriating.
"That is for me to know, I'm afraid. For now, however, I believe it's time that you stop being a fly. Surely you have realised that as well, haven't you?" Kaworu turned away from her, staring at the gigantic frame of Unit-02. "Allow me to give you a hint, for safe measure."
Kaworu focused his attention on the crimson titan and commanded it to bend to his will as he had done countless times in the past. To his surprise, however, he felt a presence pushing back against his will, fragmented but familiar. As a result, nothing happened, Evangelion Unit-02 failing to activate under his orders. A rare occurrence, but one not completely unknown to him.
"…Hmm? It seems your soul is awake enough to refuse me entrance," Kaworu murmured to himself, turning to the still damaged Unit-00 instead. "The backup it is, then."
There were no setbacks on his second try, the weakened soul within Unit-00's feeble attempts to fight back being squashed by the strength of his will. The blue-titan's single eye flared to life and its muscles activated, and Kaworu's ears caught a shocked gasp that came from the other end of the catwalk.
"Lilim-made puppets from the Father's flesh are vulnerable to my control if sufficiently weakened." Kaworu stated without being prompted, hopping onto the railing and jumping off the catwalk. The young man floated to Unit-00's shoulder and looked at the back wall of the gantry, the blue titan obeying the silent command by breaking free of its restraints and stomping to the designated area. Kaworu then turned back to the awestruck Lilim one more time while Unit-00 made short work of the reinforced wall. "But enough talk, I must go now. You should make haste, yourself."
The wall collapsed, and Evangelion and Angel both quickly escaped through under Mari's shell-shocked gaze, her mind struggling to assess what she had just witnessed. It wasn't until a massive purple hand grabbed hold of the catwalk that Mari broke off her trance, turning to find Unit-01 already active and intensely looking at her.
"…Right, sorry. I'm still here." Mari shook her head and abandoned her combat vest and weapons on the catwalk, quickly jumping on Unit-01's extended hand and clambering up to the Entry Plug. She settled in place and ran through the manual start-up sequence, a comm-link reaching her as soon as she established synchronisation.
"Agent Morgan. I require a status update."
"It's an Angel, Arthur. It just hijacked Unit-00 and ripped open a hole out of the gantry. It's heading to the Terminal Dogma shaft and I'm on pursuit," Mari briefed, ripping out the EVA's restraints and hurrying through the open hole. "Where's Sohryu?"
"I'm afraid that the Second Child has doggedly refused all demands for her to take part in this operation," Arthur stated, creating a link to HQ's defensive sensors past whatever jamming the Angel had managed to set up. To her annoyance, Mari quickly found that it had already entered the main shaft. "We have unfortunately been forced to detain and escort her back to HQ, but judging by the situation you described she will almost certainly prove unable to provide support in time."
'That's assuming she would even climb into Unit-02 to begin with,' Mari mentally grumbled, passing a hand over her eyes. '…Goddammit, Asuka.'
Pushing the thought away, Mari willed Unit-01 into following Unit-00's path of destruction, making it to the Terminal Dogma shaft in barely a few seconds. She looked down the massive tunnel and spotted Unit-00 in the distance, before she magnified the image and found the Angel expectantly looking up at her with that damnable smile on its face. Evangelion and Angel both were languidly floating down the shaft, as if they were taking a placid stroll through the park.
"Alright, we get one pass before we have to wait for them at the bottom," Mari muttered to herself, launching Unit-01 off the edge with prog-knife in hand. "We better make it count!"
Unit-01 accelerated sharply as it dived down the shaft and aimed the knife's edge at the human-sized Angel, but Unit-00 blocked its way at the last second. Their AT-Fields clashed and Mari found herself being pushed back by a force far stronger than anything Ayanami had ever managed to put up, Unit-00 easily throwing her Evangelion against the wall despite her best efforts. Much to her surprise, however, Mari noticed that Unit-01 wasn't plummeting down to the bottom of the shaft as she had expected, staying level with Unit-00 and the Angel, instead.
'Is it keeping me afloat, too? Whatever, this works for me.'
"Why didn't you hurt them?!" she demanded again, charging the Angel only to find Unit-00 in her path again and locking hands with it. The young man only smiled at the question again. "Don't smirk at me! I'm going to keep badgering you until you tell me, and you have no idea how stubborn I can be!"
"As you wish. It appears that we have some privacy again, after all," Mari blinked, noting with a quick glance that she had lost contact with HQ once more. The Angel's words promptly brought her back to the matter at hand, however. "Would you believe me if I told you that I have lived through these events before? Many, many times, in fact?"
Unit-01 stopped grappling with Unit-00 via a well-timed kick to the abdomen that sent it crashing backwards. Mari the locked gazes with the Angel, and if Unit-01 could have shown any surprise in its face, it would have. "What? As in, time travel?"
"No, there are differences within my cycles, so not a simple time jump, as I understand it. I believe it to be more similar to 'universe hopping', a concept many of your literary writers seem enamoured by."
"Multiverse theory? Bah, ridiculous!" Yui scoffed almost instantly. "It's relegated to science-fiction for a reason!"
'…Says the expert on Metaphysical Biology.'
"Metaphysical Biology has had practical and undeniable applications in our lives, and I'll remind you that you are piloting one of them," Yui indignantly bit back. "In contrast, every multiverse 'theory' that we have come up with has been nothing but a bunch of ridiculous notions that attempt to explain a philosophical quandary! Terribly, I might add! Not only that, but…"
Mari tuned Yui out as the scientist continued her rant, catching something about gas clouds in the Andromeda galaxy and one hundred unobservable pink elephants around Vega. It did sound ridiculous, Mari would give her that, but it couldn't hurt to prod the Angel for more answers, anyway.
Unit-01 dodged out of the way of a prog-knife slash and countered with one of its own, scoring a glancing blow on the blue titan's extended forearm that failed to penetrate the armour. "Excuse me if I find that more than a little implausible, but do go on. Why don't you tell me about some examples?"
"Of course. I have been through many differing cycles, but I can think of some where Ikari-kun and the Second or First Children, sometimes both, first met far in advance than 2015, for example. Some others presented you Lilim with a more global invasion, instead of focusing all combat around Tokyo-3," Kaworu locked gazes with Mari once more, but the words clearly proved to not be aimed at her. "There were even some cycles in which the good Doctor Ikari managed to complete Unit-01 without jailing herself within it, sometimes saving Doctor Sohryu from her own grisly demise as well."
Mari felt a twinge of turmoil from Yui's end of the connection, but the doctor offered no words in return. The Angel had definitely hit home, in any case.
"Sounds like a good time, that last one." Mari muttered, trying for a stab to Unit-00's neck but receiving a counter hit to the side of the head for her troubles. Mari was struggling to find an opening in the other Evangelion's defences, which lead some credence to the Angel's multiverse claims in hindsight. After all, if the Angel was remotely controlling the Evangelion as it appeared to be, it was clear that it had a lot of prior experience in their operation.
'I bet this guy would give Sohryu some trouble, too, and she's way better at this than I am.'
"Not necessarily," the Angel continued, balancing their conversation and the fight with no apparent effort. "What may initially sound like a net positive outcome may lead to tragedies in other areas. Something that your literary authors are keen to explore, and that I have found fascinating over the cycles, myself."
"I'm so glad that you're finding your trip that interesting!" Unit-01 finally found an opening and head-butted the blue titan, scoring a proper prog-knife hit on its chest plate shortly after. The blade left a deep gash before Unit-00 could push her away, Mari looking in satisfaction at what she hoped was the first step towards the end of the fight. "How did you end up like that, anyway? Did you experiment too much with a fancy remote, like in Sliders?"
"I'm afraid not, but I'll remember that title for future reference," Kaworu replied with his ever-present annoying smile. "As to your question, I don't know why or how I was thrown into this. Perhaps there is something I must accomplish to earn my freedom, maybe it was just happenstance or some universal godlike entity finds my conundrum amusing." The young man shrugged his shoulders, and Unit-00 threw a lightning-fast punch that Mari barely managed to avoid. "In any case, the reality is that I have done this countless times, and that in every iteration I must eventually go down to your 'Terminal Dogma' and lose my life there. That is the inescapable fact that unfailingly leads me to the next cycle."
The first quick punch was followed by another, then a high kick and an attempt at a grab, Mari barely managing to block and avoid each of them due to the split-second delay her synch-rate burdened her with. Grabbing hold of Unit-00's leg as it sped above her, Unit-01 spun the other Evangelion around and threw it against the floating Angel, the blue robot loudly slamming against its AT-Field.
"You asked me why I didn't hurt Ikari-kun and the other Children, and the fact that I'm already familiar with them is my reason," Kaworu continued over the chaos of the fight, completely unfazed. "Ever since I first met him, I have made it my life's purpose to be together with Ikari-kun, free from the shackles of my own fate. I would never hurt him, nor would I ever hurt those close to him, for it would only hurt him in turn."
'So not only do both of his fellow pilots have it bad for him, now there's a damn Angel professing love that transcends time and space?' Mari thought as she rushed in and deepened the holes in Unit-00 with her prog-knife. The other Evangelion retaliated and quickly managed to push her back, locking hands with Unit-01 once more. 'What's so damn special about that Ikari kid?!'
"Of course there's plenty special about him! He is my son!"
'That was a rhetorical question, doctor, for my brain only! Let's leave the motherly pride for after the battle, okay?'
"What about me, then?" Mari demanded. "I don't know Ikari personally, so I shouldn't be part of that little group!"
"You are an unknown to me. A Lilim that has never been part of this scenario in the multitude of times I have been to NERV," Kaworu explained, locking eyes with her. "You made me curious."
"What do you mean I've never been part of this? Where am I supposed to be then?"
"I don't have the answer to that." Unit-00 roughly pushed Mari away, but hung back next to Kaworu instead of pressing the attack. "Maybe you lost your life at some point before, or it simply took a different turn. You piloting Unit-01 in this very moment could be the anomaly among your own cycles. Perhaps you never even existed to begin with, until now. The possibilities are quite literally endless."
Mari's first reaction was to quickly dismiss the Angel's words. He was obviously trying to mess with her mind, using that multiverse thing and his stupid smile to make her lower her guard for a decisive blow. The growing pit in her stomach disagreed with that notion, however, especially because the Angel didn't show any signs of wanting to go on the offensive.
'Why go for mind-games now when he's had plenty of opportunity to fight me the normal way, anyway? That doesn't make any sense,' the more Mari thought about the Angel's words, the more the possibility wormed its way into her mind and the feeling in the pit of her stomach worsened. "…Shit, what if he's right? What if surviving the plane crash was that 'anomaly' he's talking about? Or what if I was supposed to die together with Saya all those years ago? How many people have cheated death twice like that?! Am I meant to be de-?!'
"Stop that line of thought this instant, girl!"the unusual force behind doctor Ikari's words put a hasty stop to Mari's speculations. "Assuming that the Angel is being honest with you and that this… 'multiverse' that you are not part of actually exists, the fact that you exist, here and now, is the only truth that should matter to you."
…
That… made a lot of sense. Mari quickly rearranged her thoughts around the counter-point doctor Ikari offered, putting a wall between her and the possibilities the Angel had brought up. She felt herself steadily calming down.
'Thank you, doctor. I… almost lost myself there.'
"That's alright. I don't blame you for being shaken, Lovecraft was quite accurate about the damaging effect that cosmic truths could have on the unprepared mind, after all," Yui reassured her, before continuing in a smaller voice. "…Even if I personally believe that this story is closer to bollocks than eldritch reality."
Mari smirked at Yui's insistence, then banished the unwanted thoughts with a rough shake of her head. She launched a quick attack against Unit-00 straight after, scoring a deep hit on its left arm before the blue robot could put its guard up. "Who stops you if I'm not supposed to be here, then?"
"Ikari-kun is usually the one to face me. I have also faced the Second Child sometimes, and even both of them together on occasion."
"And you put them through this every single time? Why make Ikari fight you if you like him so much?"
"Because, as I said, this is something that must happen. My own feelings on the matter aside, I will kill all of you Lilim sooner or later if I'm not stopped, for that is the burden of the Call." Unit-00 lunged and swerved around Unit-01's counter in time with Kaworu's words, embedding its prog-knife deep into the purple giant's left shoulder, Mari's teeth clenching in pain. "Although to be completely honest, I also have an interest of my own for fighting seriously this one time."
"Lucky me. Care to elaborate?"
"It's quite simple: if you, as the entirety of NERV's current combat ability, are unable to best me, there is simply no way that SEELE's plans will be stopped. That being the case, it would be better for Ikari-kun to perish at my hand than for him to fall prey to the designs of SEELE."
Mari wanted to offer something witty in return, but found that the Angel had a point. If even half of the intel they had on SEELE's plans turned to be accurate, she wasn't looking forward to her existence (or non-existence, really) in the event that they were victorious.
Mari pushed those thoughts aside and locked weapons with Unit-00 instead, sparks flying everywhere. Despite the last hit on Unit-01's shoulder proving quite painful to fight with, she could see that all the injuries inflicted on the other Evangelion were starting to give her the upper hand. One or two more good hits were all she needed now.
"Speaking of, you wouldn't happen to have any good insights on SEELE that you might be willing to share? Like, when are they going to be coming for us, for example? Seen that in any of your alternate realities?"
"Unfortunately, no. I am fated to die here without fail, so the coming events remain a mystery to me. I would expect SEELE to make a move very soon after my death, however," Kaworu replied with a shrug. "But allow me to ask a few questions of my own: who are you, and what is your connection to NERV?"
No words were spoken for a few seconds, the purple and blue Evangelions trading blow for blow, instead. Steadily, Unit-01 kept on gaining the upper hand, ultimately managing to feint below an incoming punch and stab the prog-knife into Unit-00's elbow joint. The blue Evangelion struggled to break free but Mari kept it in place, digging the blade deeper and deeper into the flesh.
"No direct connection to NERV, outside of my mission! As for the other part…" the prog-knife sliced through the bone and tissue with a sickening sound and Mari watched in satisfaction as Unit-00's arm went limp. "…I'm someone that's probably supposed to be dead, like you said."
"Intriguing, although I do hope my conjecture didn't cause you any undue stress. In any case, is that why I sense an air of sombreness around you?" Kaworu ordered Unit-00 into a last-ditch effort but the attack completely failed, Mari grabbing hold of Unit-00's remaining arm and breaking the elbow joint with a powerful punch. "Self-doubt and melancholy heavily drag on your soul, and appear to have done so for quite a long time. Does the Second Child's anger somehow factor into that?"
"Partly, but it's much more complex than that!"
"Far too complex for our limited time, I would think. A shame." Kaworu looked on as Unit-01 raised its prog-knife high, before it finally brought the blade down into Unit-00's exposed neck. The knife easily ripped through armour, muscle and bone, Unit-01 pushing it deeper and deeper until the blue Evangelion went completely limp, its head hanging from a sliver of tissue as it went down crashing against the bottom of the shaft. Kaworu followed its journey with pity in his eyes before he turned back to Mari. "Congratulations on besting me."
"…Thanks, you weren't half bad," Mari commented between ragged breaths as Unit-01 touched down on the bottom, next to its fallen comrade. "But I learned from the best."
"So it appears." Kaworu shifted his eyes towards the massive gate to Terminal Dogma and it unlocked open without protest. Mari wondered for a moment that everyone in the bridge was probably in a massive panic at that very moment, before she noticed Kaworu lazily floating towards the open gate. She readied her prog-knife but the Angel simply beckoned her over with his hand and continued on. "Come with me."
As soon as he entered the chamber, Kaworu could feel another AT-Field clash against his and effortlessly dispel it. Defenceless, he looked up and spotted a pair of cold, crimson eyes staring down at him from a platform. Kaworu offered a smile in return.
"It is time," he declared to the Lilim behind him. "Finish it."
Kaworu had died in plenty of different and gruesome manners to keep track of, but through experience he had quickly learnt that as long as he relaxed himself and made a conscious effort not to stare death in the face, his demise was usually a fairly tolerable affair.
He had also learned that his killers would sometimes need a bit of assistance to help him on his way, however. And considering that he still breathed, this occasion appeared to be one of those times.
"You seem conflicted." Kaworu mentioned, turning around to face the immobile Unit-01.
"…It feels like hurting people who don't deserve it is everything I do lately. Maybe everything I've done all my life, really," Mari wearily replied. "I guess this is one of those times when I wonder why I'm doing what I'm doing."
"Oh, I can relate to that. Because of my circumstances, I also have thought about the apparent futility of my actions on occasion. But when I feel doubt creeping in, I make sure to remember the words of wisdom of a certain Lilim. One that I rarely meet, as they've usually already passed on in most cycles," Kaworu raised his finger, passing the knowledge on to his own pupil. "'It isn't about how hard you hit. It's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward.'"
…
'Wait a minute, isn't that from 'Rocky'? It's a good quote and all, but not what I was expecting. Who would go for that when trying to sound deep and inspirational?' Mari thought to herself in surprise before she asked aloud. "Who gave you that nugget?"
"Those were the words of one Ryoji Kaji."
Mari was struck silent. That was the last name she had expected to hear.
Then a snort escaped her, followed by chuckles before she broke down in full laughter. Kaworu stared at Unit-01 all throughout, and if Mari could have managed to keep her eyes open he would have spotted a rare look of bewilderment on the young man's face.
"…Yeah, that does sound like something he would choose to try and sound serious," Mari admitted when she managed to get her laughing under control. To be fair, the quote had managed to inspire her a little bit, although that had likely more to do with the original speaker than with the content itself. "Thanks, I'll take those words to heart. Ready to go, then?"
"As ready as I'll ever be."
"You sounded a bit resigned there."
"On the contrary, I choose to believe that this meeting of ours is a positive sign of things to come, so I eagerly anticipate the next cycle," Kaworu looked up at her and gave her another smile. It was as irritating as ever, despite that likely not being the young man's intention. "Don't feel saddened for my sake. Look forward to your own future, instead. Get hit and keep moving forward."
"You really have a punchable face, you know that? Better fix that if you want to snag yourself a Shinji of your own," Mari raised Unit-01's arm with a deep sigh, pointing the knife's blade straight at Kaworu. "…I hope you find your way, someday."
"Thank you. May I ask your name?"
"Mari Makinami. Remember it well for next time."
"Kaworu Nagisa," the young man reciprocated, closing his eyes and looking completely at peace. "I look forward to meeting you again, at some point in my future. Farewell."
The prog-knife arced through the air and reached the end of its movement without any resistance. It left in its wake a small pool of blood and a human body cleanly sliced in two. As the two parts fell to the ground, Mari sent a silent prayer to whatever gods that could hear her, hoping that the gesture would help the young man on his travels. When she was finished, she willed Unit-01 around and headed back up the Terminal Dogma shaft without a glance back.
The Seventeenth Angel was dead. And SEELE would soon follow.
A/N: And so the Seventeenth Angel falls. Kaworu's presence in this story was probably a lot shorter than many of you were hoping for, but his was a necessary sacrifice considering the enormous length of the story, already. I also honestly never really liked him (unlike Mari, Kaworu never grew on me), and I'm pretty awful at writing him, so... those are my excuses.
A lot of you might feel like Kaworu got really screwed, though, so here's a little extra for you guys. I don't usually do these, but by the end I felt bad for the guy, too, so there you go. Consider it canon if you want.
Omake!
Kaworu Nagisa blearily awoke to the ringing of a mobile phone. He stabbed the damnable object with his eyes, noticing at the same time that he felt considerably more tired than he usually did when he began a new cycle. He rolled onto his back and seriously considered ignoring the phone and going back to sleep, when something caught his attention.
'…Unfamiliar ceiling,' he mused, before he ultimately reached out for the beeping device and brought it up to his ear.
"Gooood morning, Sparkles~!" a cheery voice greeted from the other end before he had the chance to speak. "How's your winter holiday going?"
Kaworu quickly sat down on the edge of the bed, his fatigue all but forgotten. It wasn't the sheer energy of the greeting that woke him, or the weird moniker that the girl at the other end of the line had bestowed upon him, but rather the voice itself.
After all, he had heard this same voice mere moments ago.
"You okay there, Nagisa-kun? It's weird if I'm just talking to myself, you know? Did you come down with something?"
"…Is that you, Makinami?" he asked, now realising that it wasn't just the ceiling that was unfamiliar, but the entire room. Kaworu wasn't in any SEELE apartment that he remembered.
"Yes? I was the last time I looked into a mirror, at least. Has it been that long since we last talked?" Mari asked, more to herself than to him. "Oooh! You must be one of those people who are really slow to wake up!" the sound of someone slapping their forehead reached Kaworu's ears. "I'm sorry about calling you so early, Nagisa-kun!"
Well, that confirmed it. She didn't sound exactly like the Mari Makinami he had just met (the cheer in her voice sounded far more honest, for one), but it was clear that she was the same Lilim, or a variant thereof. Their second meeting had arrived far sooner than Kaworu had been expecting.
"No, it's… not a problem." He reassured her, checking around the room he was in: he spotted a variety of posters, some magazines and a TV. A piano against the wall brought a sense of familiarity, and next to it Kaworu noticed art supplies and a calendar on the wall. He quickly stepped towards the latter. "What did you want, Makinami?"
"Oh, right! I called because there's this tiiiny little favour I want to ask of you…" Kaworu half-listened to Mari's sing-song explanation while he checked the date: late December 2015. Not a surprise on that front. What did catch Kaworu's attention, though, was the deep layer of snow he could see outside the window. "…Shinji-kun is involved."
"What do you need?" Kaworu blurted out as soon as he heard the name, his interest in this cycle increased tenfold. He could feel Mari grinning on the other side of the line.
"So… are you free on Christmas? I might need your help for a little operation I'm planning…"
And that's everything from me for now. A sizable chunk of the next update is already done, so it shouldn't take another year to come out. I'll see you then! ;)