Evangelion: Continuum Chapter 12, an evangelion fanfic

Evangelion: Continuum

By Daetor

Chapter 12: Battle of the titans

AN: Sorry for the late update, explanations and apologies at the end.

Disclaimer: Don't tell me that you STILL don't get it...

Asuka was the first to notice what had happened and decided to act, as far as she was able to look at things, there was only one real course of action in this situation. They had to keep the Evas away from Shinji do that he could fight with that thing that came out of the ship. In other words he would need time and space for maneuvers, therefore they had to make sure that the Evas weren't going anywhere from where they were right now. She also knew that it was unlikely that Misato would realize this in time, or anyone else for that matter since she was the only one who was capable of this kind of high speed thinking at the moment.

"Listen up everyone!" She practically yelled in the com. "Shinji just joined the fight, he's up there fighting, we have to keep these damn Evas away from him, so everyone stop staring and start fighting!"

As if her voice broke some sort of spell, the battle resumed, the Evas seemed to be just as eager to keep them from aiding Shinji in his battle, which was all fine and dandy as far as Asuka was concerned. She wasn't sure about what those four were capable of, but she knew that Shinji wouldn't let himself be defeated easily. There was another reason for which she wasn't really worried at the moment, Shinji seemed to be angrier than she was able to imagine. It wasn't the typical blind anger either, he had that type of anger that was directed, that made you focus on the enemy with all your senses and everything else fades, when only that particular enemy was what mattered, everything else was in your way.

So, Asuka hoped that he could handle the challenge and then return to her. All she could do was make sure that nothing else got in his way, with the aid of the Sanctuary forces. Now that the clones weren't a factor, they could pull back and fight the Evas without any other interventions from ground level. That was a good thing for the mechs as well as for the ships since it meant that they didn't have to dodge or absorb any extra hits.

That was no concern for Asuka, she charged at the closest Eva, fully intending to take them all apart as quickly as possible so that she could go and help Shinji against SEELE. She didn't know how much she could help, but she assumed that if she landed a few hits in their backs while they were fighting they would be distracted enough for Shinji to charge in and knock them out or kill them, depending on what his plans were. Though, Asuka doubted that

Shinji would ever want to kill anyone, even as angry as he was now. She would be able to do the job since she had trained as a soldier far longer than he did, but she also knew that he wouldn't want her to stain her hands with the blood of another human being. Even if in these four cases, you had to wonder if they were still human after all they did.

In a way Asuka was surprised about how detached she was in this whole situation, it was as if the battle was going on around her and her avatar worked while she was just watching and could simply spend her time thinking. The sensation only seemed to become stronger as time passed and the battle was progressing and she calmly noted that she was moving faster and faster and that it took a lot less effort to take down each individual Eva as the fight worn on. It was almost as if their enemy was becoming weaker, but the knew the truth instantly, they weren't getting weaker, she was getting stronger.

It was then that in her mind a vision formed, the vision was that of the small sphere of energy that Lilith gave to her seemingly so long ago. It seemed out of her reach, but Asuka struggled to take it in her hands, to grasp it and use it, instinctively knowing that it was the way her mind processed her attempt to take hold of the full power that she possessed right now. She made the lunge towards the sphere…

Toji's first reaction when he heard Asuka's voice was to pull back, his mech was seriously damaged and there was no way that he was going to be able to keep up fighting in these conditions. He also became aware of the fact that one of their team mates was declared dead and that the ships computers were already reorganizing the teams to compensate for the drops in numbers.

Back on the Old Earth, a lot of things were automated when regarding combat, of course, the technology surrounding computers during those times was also mixed with tricks developed through the usage of AT fields, making computers far more resilient than they had ever been or what they were in these times. You could incapacitate a ship completely, make sure that it had all of its weapons stripped clean of its hull, punch several holes from one side to the other and irradiate it so hard that any human would die in a matter of moments if exposed to that kind of amount and the computers would still function at full capacity. The ships were designed to depend on their human crews to ensure that certain functions could ever work, but a ship without a crew was pretty much useless anyway.

Toji knew these facts like all the soldiers that were trained to serve in the Sanctuary army, he probably knew more than he should know for the period of time he had been taught, but the fact that these people transferred knowledge directly in your mind allowed you to learn a lot of things in a much shorter time than it was normally possible. He also knew that he could rely on the computer to provide him some good options in case of an emergency and that when it said retreat, it was a good idea to do so.

As he landed in one of the ships he couldn't help but wonder if everything would be alright, could Shinji really handle the fight with those four all by himself. He felt like shit, he hated being helpless while his friends were forced to fight just so that he could survive. People were out there fighting, dying for this cause so to speak and he was forced once more to stand down to watch from the side lines. At least now he knew that he had tried, it wasn't much consolation, but it was better than what he had done during the angel wars, which was to cower away in a shelter while everything went to hell around him.

Misato was another one of those people that was snapped out of her stupor when Asuka yelled over the com for everyone to get their ass in gear. She knew that as a commanding officer she had her own role to perform during all of this. The tactical situation had changed, new tactics were needed since their objectives were now very different from what they were before. Now they had to keep the enemy Evas from leaving the area and interfering in Shinji's fight with the members of SEELE.

So she gave new orders, reorganizing the ships to form a defensive perimeter and to make sure that they were out of the clones range, they didn't need any more problems than what they already had to face, the Evas were enough. The cloak chips were ordered to cover retreating mechs from the front line while she also changed the tatics of their support ships which were now meant to ensure that every mech that could be repaired would be, they needed to keep as many of the machines up and running for now to make sure that the Evas were taken out safely without receiving unnecessary damage to the ships. If even one Eva managed to cling itself to one of the ships, that ship was royally screwed.

Misato thanked any and all deities that might be listening for Shinji's incredibly well timed intervention, even if she didn't exactly believe in any gods herself. She had no idea what had happened, but she was glad that it did and she wasn't about to look the gift horse in the mouth. The only question she had was how did it happen? Coincidences or not, the odds of Shinji appearing right in front of that ship like that and stopping it seemed impossible.

Then again, that kid seemed to have impossible written all over his life, especially when dealing with Evas. 'I hope you can handle the challenge Shinji, we'll make sure that you have fair fight, hold on up there and we'll try to come and help you.' Misato thought.

Meanwhile, even before the fight restarted itself bellow, the two warriors seemed to study one another, without making a move. That was when Unit-01 spoke, its voice carrying through the void as if space and time itself allowed it to cross, despite the laws of physics, it was a very strange voice, the voice of a teenager overlapped by the voice of a monster, the combined effect being quite fearsome. Both voices were angry, both voices were determined, one being frightening because of the power it seemed to hold, the other because of its nature of an unleashed monster that promised to bring pain and suffering to all that listened to it.

"So, it's come to this, you four are all that's left."

The four decided to leave Keel to handle this and he was forced to broadcast his thoughts as he was unable to perform the same trick that Unit-01 or Shinji Ikari seemed to use, the distinction seemed rather difficult at the moment. As much as the four would have wanted to be unafraid, the fact was that they were terrified by the monster before them, but they weren't the type of people who would simply roll over and die.

"It's true then, you have finally unleashed the power of our former mentor, it's all yours to command…" Keel said. "That's quite impressive, now you know what it is to have true power. You should be able to understand now why we want to finish our plans, aside from the power we would have obtained, surely you realized that the more power you have, the more you can achieve."

"Don't waste your time trying to convince me that the foul plan which Adam started so long ago actually has any value." Unit-01/Shinji replied. "The only reason why I didn't attack you from the moment you escaped from that doomed ship is the fact that I want to give you one last chance to surrender peacefully, I never wanted to fight, I'll never want to fight, so I want to give you this chance to get out of this without unnecessary struggles between us. Didn't this war last for long enough?"

"You really don't understand do you child? You're trying to stop us from bringing humanity to perfection!" Keel roared back, though compared to how Shinji sounded, he seemed to be a weak whisper. "There would be no more suffering or death for all eternity! We would all live forever in our own heaven as gods! Why can't you understand that you stupid child?!"

"You're the one that's stupid!" Shinji/Unit-01 roared, causing SEELE's construct to flinch and move back a little. "There is no end to evolution, there is no end for the struggle in this life! What you'd bring would be a life devoid of not only suffering but also individuality and any real form of happiness. It would be a waste of time and it would be only a matter of time until that existence too would be over and then ALL of humanity would die. After that, there would be no more humans and humankind would be finished forever. Can you understand you heartless monster?"

"You are wrong you foolish child!" Keel replied. "Surrender that power to us and we will show you the truth!"

Unit-01's eyes narrowed, it's aura of radiating power seemed to become even more intense as it drew its weapon from its back. The weapon once knows as the Lance of Longinus was still in its sword form with its two blades, but there was a difference now to it, a large blue sphere was merged with it where the two blades split off from the handle. The crystal, similar to an Evangelion's core began to glow brightly and the twin blades were covered in charged blue flames that radiated power. Unit-01 held the massive sword with one hand as its left hand seemed to develop fierce claws at the tips of its fingers that soon seemed to be formed out of energy.

"I would have wanted to avoid this, but you leave me no choice!" Shinji/Unit-01 said. "You want my power you cowards? Come and get it! I'll give you more than you bargained for!"

"You'll pay for your insolence you brat!" Keel screamed as their monstrous construct charged forward.

Shinji doesn't reply to that, instead he swings the sword which in turn releases a wave of energy towards the charging monster. Keel was in control, the others were keeping their eyes open and providing power, so he was the one that was actually fighting in this battle. He wasn't arrogant enough to underestimate his young opponent, so he changed the direction of his charge and maneuvered downwards. Normally, that maneuver would have rendered the SEELE construct open to attack, simply because they would be unable to see what was going on for a few moments. Still the extra eyes were designed specifically for that purpose.

The end result was that Keel managed to see Unit-01 charging at him with the sword leading the attack. So he parried the attack with the left claw, but immediately he discovered that he needed both of his left arms to support the claw, otherwise the boy would push it right in their body and break it or the armor. On the other side, they clashed their right claw with his left arm. Still, Shinji did something rather unexpected, instead of deflecting the blow in some way, he let the claw pierce Unit-01's palm and the bladed mantis like claw went trough the palm all the way to the its joint.

What happened next Keel never expected, Unit-01 clenched its left fist before he could even thing and the claws it formed earlier at its finger tips severed the larger claw at the joint. Shinji then pulled back the fist with the claw still stuck in it and attempted to punch his adversary, but Keel managed to block with both of the beasts right arms. That was when the remaining SEELE members noticed that they had a slight problem, Unit-01, even in these conditions was threatening to overpower them with its left fist. Adding more troubles for them, it was using their absorbing the severed claw. Not to mention that the radiated energy was slowly but surely grinding their own defenses. In other words, this kind of close quarters combat would only lead to their defeat.

Keel pulled their construct back all the while releasing several smaller blasts of energy to distract their adversary hopefully buying enough time to come up with a different plan of action. It was soon obvious that Shinji had no intention to do such a thing and while creating a suitably shaped AT field to block the weak attack, he absorbed the claw that was initially stuck in his left hand and transformed it into an organic blade. All the while the chest plate on Unit-01 seemed to open like some sort of gates revealing the flesh beneath. The core was glowing, obviously working at full strength, but that wasn't the only thing that Keel saw.

The flesh bubbled and formed some strange spike like growths, only when they were launched towards them a great speed did Keel realize that those things weren't spikes but organic missiles. He raised an AT field to stop the volley of projectiles then channeled energy through the beasts eyes and released a beam of concentrated energy towards Unit-01. Shinji used the blade of his massive sword to deflect the hit without wasting energy with an AT field as he began to charge towards the SEELE construct. Keel waited until Unit-01 was in a certain range before releasing an energy lance from each of the four arms of the monster.

Though Shinji did have an AT field, the things were barely slowed down and slightly deviated from their initial targets. The ones that came from the constructs right arms struck Unit-01 in the left shoulder and left thigh, the ones from the left hit differently, the upper one grazed Unit-01's right cheek bone while the one from the lower hand hit the avatar in the right hip. The ones that hit went all the way through to the other side of the angry avatar.

Keel was shocked when the attack didn't even slow down Unit-01, it actually accelerated towards them and attacked with the sword. They attempted to dodge, but they were hit in the left shoulder in addition to loosing the left bladed arm. Still, Keel managed to pull back and the two opponents were once more sizing each other up from a safe distance. They were both regenerating but it was obvious that Shinji had the upper hand in that area due to Adam's powers. It seemed like they couldn't go for a long fight, they needed to win swiftly since the former Third Child had more raw power than the four of them combined.

At first they would have hoped that their experience would even things out or even give them the upper hand, but for some reason it looked like the he had received some sort of training or gained some sort of knowledge that allowed him to manipulate those powers as if he was born with them and used them for years. The four of them conversed in the relative safety of their construct, taking advantage of the fact that they could have any length of conversation in mere moments due to the fact that their minds were directly linked to one another.

'This is not going as expected…' Keel said to the others, what seemed like worry seeped through the transmitted thoughts. 'He's far more capable than we have anticipated, both because of his powers and his knowledge about how to use them. Something is amiss here.'

'Indeed, he also seems to be aware of our weakness, he's trying to make us waste energy, he must know that he can keep going longer than we can.' 03 said, analyzing the current situation, like all the others trying to find a way to turn things in their favor. 'Another fact that is bothersome is the fact that despite our initial form, he still has the upper hand in close quarters combat. The only solution would be to take him down from afar, but so far it seems like he's willing to take hits just to injure us. One more close call like that and the injury might be far more severe than loosing a bladed arm and a moderate shoulder injury.'

'We need to land a decisive blow on him, something that will cause a severe enough injury to make him reconsider his attempts to come close to us.' 04 said thoughtfully. 'Especially since so far our injuries are more severe and harder to heal than his are. If we were able to severe one of his arms of or something like that we might be able to get some advantage, not even he can re-grow his limbs that fast without getting some matter from another source like in the battle with the 14th.'

'We might be able to do just that…' Keel thought to the others, his thoughts creating the same effect as a self-assured smirk.

Shinji was having his own thoughts on the matter, he knew what their options were, it was quite simple to realize that they would aim for a serious injury. So, he had to make sure that the injury was not only less severe than what it would look like, but he also had to find a way to make sure that he gave back as well as he got. He had more time than they did, he could just as well stall them until the Sanctuary forces were done with the Evas and came to his aid, though he didn't really want to involve more people than he had to in this situation.

That was when Keel made his move, it seemed like it was the same energy lance move that they pulled before, but Shinji wasn't that naïve these days to think that they were trying the same trick twice like the angels did. He used the sword to deflect the ones that came towards his right side and dodged the lower one on the left side. Shinji allowed the one that was going to the upper left to strike him in the same spot as the first did in his left shoulder, going through the same hole and thus not causing any new injury.

The difference in the attack was shown then as the other three energy lances disappeared instantly, Keel redirected the energy to the single lance that struck something and detonated the energy lance, severing the left shoulder of completely, blood dissipating quickly before the wounds on both ends sealed, or in the case of the arm it looked like it ran out of blood to spurt.

Shinji grinned inside Unit-01, but he was careful to prevent the monster from copying his action, he didn't want the SEELE bastards to realize that he had a plan regarding what they did. Like in that fight with John so long ago, his arm was still usable due to the S2 engines in it. It was a dormant trap of which SEELE knew nothing. There was one difference from the fight though, this time Shinji allowed his arm to be severed on purpose, unlike his leg at that time. It was all part of the trap after all, things like this are necessary and easy to accomplish to those that know that certain personal sacrifices are necessary sometimes to achieve victory.

Keel charged, intending to take advantage of the fact that Unit-01 was now open on its left side, even if it would take three fists to block the sword, he would still have the fourth free to pummel and tear at his adversary and hopefully win this fight in a swift stroke. Shinji was pulling back though and Keel went on, not even noticing when the passed the severed arm. Said arm became active after gathering some energy and answered Shinji's summons, colliding with the back of the SEELE construct.

Keel stopped when something hit them in the back with quite a bit of strength, partly piercing the armor, that was when things went nuts. The arm didn't just strike at them, but it began a similar process to what the 16th did to Unit-00 during the angel wars, it began to contaminate the SEELE construct and because it started with the monster's spine, it began playing merry hell with the nerves in it, sending jolts of pain and senseless commands all over the place. The beast began twitching and contorting in agony as the foreign flesh spread in its own body, all of the SEELE members feeling the pain in their entire body.

Back at the battlefield with the SEELE Evas, something changed, or more like someone. Unit-02 stopped in mid air all of a sudden. Just as in her mind Asuka reached the sphere of red fire, the avatar began radiating power all around it. Two Evas that were too close when this happened were instantly turned into LCL, others that were a little farther away simply stopped acting and began crashing down, their soulless minds being crushed by the shock released by Asuka and her awakening powers. All the others began to react at a slower rate as their mind was affected by the shockwave of power.

Unfortunately for them, this was just the beginning. Unit-02's eyes began to glow with a power never seen before in the monstrous creature as it opened its mouth for the first time and let loose a fearsome roar. Along with the roar several whips of energy were released, the spread quickly and began slashing through the Evas like they weren't even there.

In a matter of moments, the number of Evas on the battlefield dropped to half the numbers they had before Asuka set loose her powers on them. Still, she didn't waste any more time with them and simply took off, she had every intention of joining Shinji up in space to fight or at the very least finish of those bastards. She could feel that Shinji felt her awakening and he seemed oddly satisfied for some reason or another, almost as if he was expecting it. That was when he really made contact with her, speaking for the first time in what seemed like ages.

'Asuka… It's good to see you again…' Shinji said in her mind, these words were accompanied by feelings, stronger than any words could ever express. 'I'd love to talk more, but we have to finish this first. I was hoping that you'd manage to awaken your powers for this battle. I'll need you to follow my lead, it's the best way to end things.'

Thoughts flooded Asuka's mind through the connection, knowledge about her powers and knowledge about his and what they could do together. Also, she received knowledge about what he wanted to do and she realized that despite the fact that the knowledge was more or less his, it came from somewhere else, but from where she didn't know. It didn't matter though, because she was soon fully aware of Shinji's plan and what he wanted to accomplish with it.

'Are you sure this is what you want Shinji? Wouldn't it be easier to kill them?' Asuka asked, slightly concerned about his plan. 'I know that you don't want to kill, but, you know I can.'

'No Asuka, I wouldn't want another human's blood on your hands either, even if they are so cruel and possibly evil.' Shinji replied sadly. 'Plus, this is the only way we can give them too a chance, since as my mother would say, all life is precious. Plus, this is the perfect punishment considering what they wanted to achieve.'

'I'll agree with that.' Asuka sent with a chuckle in the real world. 'Ok, I'll help you with this, I want to end this already and go back home.'

'Then let's do this.' Shinji replied with a strange amount of determination.

The two avatars positioned themselves on the sides of the SEELE construct as Shinji let go of the so called Lance of Longinus, that weapon had been designed by Adam a long time ago, it was meant to be a multi-purpose weapon, the lance form was it's most basic form and since only Adam could get it to change its shape SEELE used another biblical name for it. Even though you'd have to be a real idiot to believe that a weapon that large could actually be the real Lance of Longinus, especially since it was known that its tip was long since in a museum.

The weapon floated in front of the SEELE avatar as it was being immobilized in a field created by Shinji and Asuka with the aid of their combined powers. Each one of them had more raw power than the four men combined, but together they were literally invincible for the four rotten old men. They sat helplessly in their construct as they felt the power that swirled around them, yet they had no idea what the two Children wanted to do to them.

Adam's weapon floated above the core of the immobilized monster, then, each avatar, Unit-01 and Unit-02 raised their right hands and touched the blue core. Said core began to glow brightly and emit energy. SEELE's Eva began to convulse and all four men felt something very familiar, something which they never thought they would feel again, the same thing they felt before Third Impact, then, in an instant, they dissolved into LCL and their souls were drawn into the sword's core.

Outside the construct began to disintegrate and the Evas and clones that fought bellow ceased their activity as their masters were no longer able to command them in any way. All the Evas crashed to the ground and the clones simply stopped moving, simply standing around with vacant expressions on their faces. It looked like the fight was over.

Keel came to his senses, but he soon realized that he was literally nowhere and so were his other trusted companions. He didn't understand what was going on, especially since he realized that he wasn't in his body anymore and that where ever here was, he had no powers. His confusion only became greater when he saw who was standing before them, Shinji Ikari and Asuka Langley Sohryu, behind them stood their respective avatars surrounded by the light of their powers.

The two Children were the same as before, but at the same time different, he could see it, in Shinji's case the blue flames in his eyes were harder to notice because of his natural blue eye color, only the fact that they emanated light made you realized that something was odd. In Asuka's case, her new power was as obvious in her eyes as the sun is visible in the sky during the day, her irises being surrounded by red fire that also emanated light. The two of them stood before the confused old man as his companions also awakened and got to their feet.

"What's the meaning of this?!" Keel shouted in a demanding tone. Both Shinji and Asuka were visibly unimpressed by his outburst.

"Keel, you're hardly in a position from which you can make demands…" Shinji said with a tone and manner that reminded everyone of his father, he managed to bring out the same distaste and cold attitude the man had for the council, which further enraged Keel. "I'd be very careful in your position… Now… what do you want again?"

Keel had to force himself not to explode and shout at the insolent brat as he thought of the boy, but he was aware of two obvious facts. One, he was powerless and he was pretty sure that so were his companions, two, the two avatars behind the two children seemed real enough to crush them if the children wanted it to happen.

"I can assure you that we don't need them if we want to hurt you." Shinji said in the same unnerving manner.

"Yup, we can crush you like the worthless bugs that you are with a snap of our fingers here." Asuka added with her typical arrogant smirk. "You're literally forced to do anything we want or else, so be nice little bugs and ask your questions nicely."

"What is here?" The man usually hidden after the name SEELE 02 asked, knowing that Keel needed time to calm down. Both teens looked at him and gave all of them some eerie smiles.

"This is a version of what you four wanted." Shinji said, imitating his father's smirk, the one he used when things "went according to the scenario". "This is Instrumentality, brought about by me and Asuka. Since we have the powers of both Adam and Lilith, plus the so called Lance of Longinus, we could have caused the Fourth Impact at any time we wanted."

"Still, we've been through the Third Impact and we know that it brings many things, but not what you people think it would. I would better say that it's a big pile of crap and you four are bunch of retarded monkeys for wasting so much time and effort trying to both create it and then control it." Asuka said in her ranting voice. "Even Adam and Lilith, the ones we gained these powers from, realized that an Impact is NOT a good idea…"

"Of course, there's a little glitch that your four never thought about." Shinji said, still smirking. "We can use our powers to bring about the whole Instrumentality thing on a local level, or even specifically on certain individuals that we want to affect. In this particular case… you four."

The four stood there with shocked expressions, finally understanding what had happened to them, their souls had been sucked out of their body in the most brutal method by literally destroying their body and now they were about to be unified in the same way as Third Impact would have done, only that it would be just the four of them by the look of things. Keel was the first to realize that, by the look the two of them had, the two teens weren't done yet and there was more yet to this situation.

"You're right Keel, and yes, we can both read your thoughts perfectly here." Shinji said. "Here, you can have no secrets, you can wear no masks, there is only the undeniable truth. You are all scared beyond belief by this development."

"I bet they'd pee in their pants if they had real bodies right now." Asuka said with a snicker, Shinji also chuckled a bit.

"You four will become one, like you always wanted and you'll live in your own personal world." Shinji said, his smile becoming devilish this time, his avatar was grinning behind him, making the four men feel as if Death was smiling at them. "You'll exist in a hell of your own making instead of a heaven, of course, in this world, pain is just as fake as happiness so I doubt you have much to worry about. Also, instead of gaining powers, you'll loose all the power that you had, it's being drained as we speak. Just like you would have stolen our powers, we're taking yours, spreading them equally amongst ourselves, leaving you just as powerless as you were when you were born, or should I say like any normal men on this "New Earth"?"

The four were speechless, this was more or less the reversal of what they had always wished for, they were being damned to an eternal punishment. Keel fell to his knees in shock, no one else moving or doing anything. This was literally the end of all hope as far as he was concerned, they had failed beyond belief.

"Actually Shinji's not that cruel as to leave you guys without hope." Asuka said with a sigh. "If it were up to me, you would all be dead. I would have broken your personal AT fields and trashed your bodies, then I would have ensured some sort of terrible tortures until you were completely broken and then had you killed. Instead, you get this, not only that, but if you are able to truly change, then you will be released from your imprisonment."

"Though, I'm warning you." Shinji said switching to a grave tone, showing that he was deadly serious. "You have to really change, you have to change in your hearts in such a way that if you were in the real world, you'd never attempt to do what you did before no matter what. You'll come out without your powers, but young and able to choose new paths in your lives. This is the chance I am giving to you, the chance to change and make amends, a chance no one else will give you, the chance for redemption."

Keel nodded and got to his feet, wondering exactly what they had to do to escape from their prison and get revenge. Though, the look on the former Third Child's face seemed to say that there was no escape except for atoning for their sins. He was wondering about one thing though, something that didn't make any sense… How did the two learn to use their powers in such a manner as to create a small version of Instrumentality on their own in so little time?

"You'll have to earn your release for that one." Shinji replied before Keel could voice his question. "If you ever get out of here and we meet again, then I'll tell you, not a moment sooner. I honestly hope that all four of you find it in your hands to change and earn your release from this prison, in other words I hope that we will all meet again under better circumstances…"

"I'm not him, for all I care, you should all burn in Hell for all eternity." Asuka said as angrily as possible, her avatar roaring behind her. "I hope you never get out of here, I and many others will never forgive you, so you should thank Shinji for the rest of your worthless lives for this chance, because he's the only reason you have it…."

With that said, the four SEELE members were engulfed in bright white light and lost all sense of self, time and space, being taken in their own private version of Instrumentality with no choice whatsoever in the matter. All of them had their own thoughts on the matters, but the general theme was the same one, they were wondering how it could have gone so wrong, where did they make their mistakes.

In the real world, the monstrosity created by the four finished disintegrating as the souls were merged as one in the core of the sword. That would be their prison for as long as they needed to change the way they were, or until it was destroyed and they were released in death, this was the only way they would ever be free from their fate. If anything, the punishment fit the crime, an irony to what their goals were, since they have managed to complete Instrumentality, just not as they wanted too.

Unit-01 reattached its arm and then retrieved its weapon, the angry flames of its powers dissipated as their master calmed with the completion of his goals. The only thing that remained were the twelve wings that kept it stable in space. Before it Unit-02 simply floated, also extinguishing the flames of its own powers, its mistress being satisfied with the result, that and she didn't have anymore enemies to fight against. The battle was over, the war had been won and the final warriors from the Great War of the Old Earth had been taken care of.

Shinji and Asuka noticed that the Sanctuary fleet was heading for their position, having nothing left to fight after their stunt against SEELE. It wasn't long before they were both contacted and the face of a visibly relieved Misato Katsuragi greeted them both.

"Shinji, Asuka, finally…" Was all she was able to say, not knowing what else she could say in this situation. "It's good to see you again Shinji, you had us all worried back home."

"I'm glad to be back Misato…"Shinji replied in a tired voice. "If it's not too much trouble, I'd like to get on one of those ships, I've been stuck in this thing for a long time and I want out."

"Sure, both of you connect to the flagship here and get your butts out of those things." Misato said happily. "It's finally over right? We definitely have to get a party going!"

Shinji chuckled while Asuka rolled her eyes at their guardian's reaction to the events that just occurred. It wasn't as if she didn't think that they didn't have to celebrate after an event like this, hell, she loved parties just as much as Misato did. Still, she knew that it wasn't the time yet, she had a feeling that there were still some things that had to be solved before they could celebrate properly.

"Misato, let's wait a bit before we start partying ok?" Asuka said in a low voice, looking at her boyfriend's tired expression, she could feel how tired he was over their connection. She wasn't feeling that full of energy herself after all that happened.

"I understand." Misato said with a soft smile. "You two just get in the ship and we'll deal with things from there."

As soon as he got out of Unit-01, the first thing that Shinji did was run off to Asuka. He ran towards her and before she could even say anything he took her in his arms and kissed her until she was barely capable of thinking. As they kept kissing, since their S2 organs pretty much made sure that the normal problem of running out of air was no longer a problem, the door from which Shinji arrived opened again, revealing Misato, Kaji, The Black Knight, Toji and Kensuke.

"Man, not even five minutes passed and they're already at it…" Kensuke said with an annoyed tone.

"No matter how many times I see it, that spectacle is horrible, I'll have scars for life!" Toji said with as much disgust as he could muster.

"I think we should come back later…" Kaji said to Misato with a smile, she simply nodded and the tow of them left, dragging Kensuke and Toji with them before they left. The Black Knight had left as soon as he saw what was going on.

The two kissing teens didn't even notice the entrance and departure of their friends or their guardians, they were lost in their own world where no one else existed except for them. It had been a trying time for both of them, but they had survived, they had succeeded and in the end, they managed to rise to the challenge. When they did break the contact between their lips, Asuka felt light headed and she knew that Shinji was no better, she was wondering how come they were still standing. The answer was pretty simple, they weren't, somehow they had started floating sometime during the kiss.

"I take it that you missed me." Asuka said, her voice conveying the fact that the feeling was mutual, not that Shinji wouldn't have realized it from the fact that she was holding him with enough strength to actually crack his armor.

"You have no idea Asuka, these last few days have been hell and I literally didn't get any rest since the battle back in Berlin." Shinji replied, unable to keep the smile from his face. "Still, it was worth it, in the end, we won."

"We did, didn't we?" Asuka said. "It's finally over and we can do what the hell we want with our lives."

"I'm afraid that everything isn't exactly over yet." Shinji said in a serious tone. "We have to return to Sanctuary where I have to… deliver a message so to speak to Sarah. I have to take care of John's final wishes regarding that place…"

"What do you mean Shinji, how could you know what John wanted to happen to Sanctuary?" Asuka asked as they finally landed, still, they didn't let go of each other.

"He came to me, what was left of him anyway, his soul I think." Shinji said with a sad voice. "He talked to me and helped me to get over what happened to me in the battle. After that, he gave me two more gifts so to speak. One was from his memories, it's a lot of it in my head right now and I don't know if I'll ever sort out everything from it. He lived a long life and most of it was not so good, especially the beginning, it's one way to hear him tell that story and quite another to see it from his eyes… The other gift was that core in Adam's weapon, he helped me create it specifically for that purpose, since he knew that I wouldn't be able to kill them and that I wouldn't have wanted you to kill them either."

"So, that's what happened to you…" She said quietly. "By the way, how did you manage to return like that, just in time?"

"I heard you call." Shinji said briefly.

"But… I didn't call you…" Asuka said, confused about what he meant.

"You did, when you were angry, that anger was directed at those four. You were so angry that you sent me the entire thing as you perceived it through your senses. That's how I knew where to appear." Shinji replied, he was visibly rolling the facts through his mind. "I guess, things like that are normal for people like us, when they love each other."

"I suppose so, but I didn't hear about any couple that was able to keep their connection over such distances like the two of us can." Asuka said, wondering about the fact. "I'm pretty sure that we would have heard about it if it was something common."

"Well, we either love each other more than anyone else in Sanctuary, or it's related to the fact that we have more power than anyone else. I don't see a problem either way." Shinji said with a grin and leaned back to kiss her again. Asuka had no problems with that course of action so she went with it.

Several hours later, the fleet was regrouping in orbit, they had to count their losses and make sure that there was no danger to travel via Dirac Sea for any of the ships because of the damage sustained in battle. Plus, they had yet to decide if they were going to do anything about what was left of the fallen Evas and the clones in the remnants of the SEELE base. They couldn't simply leave them out there and have the risk of someone getting their hands on them and doing who knows what with them. Humanity, at least the part that was on the planet had proven that they were not prepared to deal with this kind of power, especially if you came to consider the fact that only five of the former SEELE council really knew what was going on or what they were dealing with.

A meeting was held in the flagship, though it was nowhere near as serious as the ones held before. The ones present and really needed were Shinji, Asuka, Misato and the Black Knight. Also present were Toji and Kensuke as Shinji's friends and Kaji for Misato more than anything else. It was as much a meeting to take some decisions as well as a reunion of sorts. They had postponed it until now to allow Shinji and Asuka to get some rest and to make sure that the fleet was in a safe position, once more cloaked in orbit.

"So, what happens now?" Toji asked before anyone could really say anything.

"Now we decide what we do with what's left of SEELE's forces." Misato said while pondering the idea herself, she was wondering what was the right course of action regarding those things.

"It's really simple, we destroy them!" Asuka said with her usual determination but without the arrogant attitude. "I doubt Sanctuary needs them and it's a bad idea to leave them here."

"Well, she does have a point…" Misato said, not quite as certain as Asuka about the whole thing.

"I wonder what John would have chosen…" The Black Knight said. "Personally I agree with Asuka, the best thing we could do is make sure that no one uses those things ever again. Not only should we make sure that what was left after the battle bellow us is destroyed, but we should also make sure that all materials regarding the Evas and any Old Earth weapons are also destroyed. So, we should make sure that all of the other SEELE secret bases are wasted as well as the NERV bases."

"Can we really enforce something like that?" Kaji wondered. "I mean, I agree that no one's ready for those kind of things and Sanctuary doesn't have the resources to take care of Earth and push it in rapid evolution, but do we have the right to do something like that? Assuming that we do agree to do it, can we pull it off?"

"I can take care of the information part." Asuka said quickly. "I still have all of the other MAGI under my control if I want to use them, they've already hacked into any other super-computers available and I can practically control all the computers in the world if they're connected somehow to the MAGI. So if we go through with this, it will be easy for me to erase all the files regarding the angels and any research that has been done on them."

"I can take care of the Evas and the clones." Shinji added in a quiet voice. "They're made from Adam and with his powers I can control their bodies, because unlike our Evas, these things never had any souls. So I'll just reactivate them and have them fly up, huddle together and the simultaneously self-destruct. I doubt that there's going to be anything left after that."

"Ok, that settles that, but what do we do about what's left of the SEELE bases and any materials that are left in other places?" Misato asked.

"The secret SEELE bases that were hidden away from civilization and are now empty can be bombed from orbit, it's a simple solution. We can simply turn their location into scorched earth, it's the best way to make sure that nothing's left there." The Black Knight replied. "Also, if Asuka can access all of that information, she can also find out where any materials are being held. It would be a simple thing for us to deploy small strike forces to all of the locations simultaneously and take care of it."

"Can it be done without killing anyone?" Shinji asked seriously.

"Are you kidding? They don't have any weapons that could hurt our soldiers, even Toji could waltz in one of their bases and take whatever he would want and his AT field is average at best." The Black Knight replied, everyone suspected that they'd see a smirk on his face if they could see it. "The whole thing would probably be more time consuming than anything else. If Asuka provides us with the information we need, I'm sure I could have what's left of our mechs ready in one hour and the operation completed two hours after that."

"Well, then I think that we should do this." Misato said. "It's the best way to ensure that they don't find a way to re-create an impact by themselves somehow. We can all agree that the two that happened because humans were stupid were enough. We should do whatever it takes to make sure that another one doesn't happen."

"Then I should get that data right?" Asuka said as she took a PDA in her hand. These things weren't the same things you'd normally expect, they had very powerful wireless connections and could handle large amounts of data, at the same time they worked differently in the sense that they worked, like all technology from Old Earth, with the aid of humanity's more special gifts. They weren't designed with a normal interface, instead, you literally controlled them with your thoughts. Since they were capable of recognizing users based on thought patterns, they had far better security options than any password based program.

It didn't take more than a few moments for Asuka to transfer the data they needed from the computers on the planet to the flagship's database. It was all a matter of locating the information then passing it through the MAGI computers spread out in the world to the ships via satellite connection.

"Ok, you have your information on the computer." Asuka said. "You can get it whenever you want. So, what do we do now?"

"Well, I think that you should postpone the erasing of the data regarding all this until the ground operation starts." Misato said. "After that, Shinji can take care of the Evas and the clones and the fleet will start the bombardments, that way we'll take care of everything quickly and efficiently. I'll take care of the fleet operations, you can handle the ground operation." The last part was directed at the Black Knight who simply nodded.

"Ok, then, I take it that the meeting is over right?" Kensuke said.

"Yes, you all know what needs to be done and when, those of you that actually have anything to do that is." Misato said with a slight chuckle which was mostly directed at Kaji. "Let's get this over with."

As promised, it took only one hour for the Black Knight to get their forces ready. The deployment was swift and it pretty much caused chaos to erupt all over the Earth when the Sanctuary troops stormed in bases all over the world destroying any trace of angel related material. It was pretty normal considering that all of the soldiers had very unusual weapons, some that seemed to come from the middle ages while others seemed to come from the distant future, but the thing that toped everything off was the fact that they had AT fields and that they were seemingly invincible when confronted with any sort of conventional weapons.

The confusion was even greater when it became obvious that these invaders wanted to avoid hurting anyone as much as possible, not even once did they fire their weapons against the soldiers that used all available weapons to stop them. The fact that all of the computers in the world began erasing any and all information regarding the same materials that the soldiers were destroying caused even more confusion to those that were aware of these events. It didn't seem to make any sense, the questions were along the lines of "who were these people?" and "what could they gain from these actions?".

The confusion grew tenfold when the ships that were first sighted in Germany were detected in low orbit and were filmed while discharging their weapons from several positions all over the globe. It was obvious that they destroyed something, but the places that were destroyed were barren and devoid of any human presence. There was nothing worth destroying in those places as far as the public at large knew, it was the same with many officials as well. All in all, the world knew that something big had happened, but what and why, no one could imagine.

The Sanctuary fleet didn't have any problems in bombarding the locations of the deserted SEELE bases. Their weapons were designed for fighting opponents that could project AT fields or have some sort of energy field as protection, so their energy weapons had no problems with their targets. What happened could easily be considered overkill if you looked at it.

After that, it didn't take Shinji long to command what was left of the SEELE's forces to group together and self-destruct as the plan went. Then, the fleet discharged their weapons once more at the location of the last SEELE base that still existed, this time they fired with such an intensity that the ocean began to boil as they wanted to make sure that no usable samples were left in the area from the remains of the Evas and clones that were destroyed without Shinji's intervention during the battle.

With those actions completed, the war was finally over and the Sanctuary fleet and its soldiers could return to their home and start recovering. Though Sanctuary was never directly affected by the war, soldiers were killed and not everyone had fully recovered after John's death back in Berlin even after this time. It was now finally time to truly mourn, rest and recover, then live on with their lives…

A/N: Ok so 1) apologies 2)things related to what's left of this story or not.

1)Well, I have been busy and for the most part I still am. Writing fanfics won't pay the bills I'm afraid and I can't fill my stomach with reviews ( which aren't that many anyway). Still, I always keep any promises I honestly make, so one way or the others this thing will be brought to its conclusion.

2) Now, the fact is that I've more or less covered everything that I wanted to cover with this story, so I could have this as the last chapter. Still, I could potentially churn out another chapter detailing a bit of what happened after the battle in the next few weeks of recovery/celebration that are obviously expected + a separate or not epilogue, but I have no idea when I'd get them out... I'm content either way, this story has already exceeded my expectations lengthwise, I didn't think that getting it to this point would make it so long yet still make it look rushed in my eyes with some chapters.

So, I'll leave it to you readers. You have three options, end it here, just an epilogue, or chapter + separate or not epilogue. Send your replies with the reviews or PMs and know that I won't choose based on the number of votes but depending on which option gets the best justification.

Until next time. ;)