Celestial Being Chronicles - Chapter 91
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Gundam series, nor any of the various series which are used or referenced in my fic, so please point that damned lawsuit cannon at someone else, also, don't read this if you are not of legal age to read such material. The story contains possibly disturbing content and should not be read by close-minded people (i.e., people who are easily offended.) Everything in the story is fictional. I am also not responsible for any actions taken by people who read this story and society's problems. I do, however, own my original character; Hope Yamato.
"You bitch!" Kira snarled as he ignited the beam sabers on the Divinity Gundam's wrists, legs and feet, all six of the beam blades glowing with a pure white light. He then ignited his wings of light and quickly moved in to attack Lilith directly, but suddenly the angel-winged machine's beam blades deactivated, its eyes going dark as its armor reverted to the dull grey of its powered down state. The amethyst-eyed man could only watch in stunned silence as Lilith effortlessly swatted the Providence and Eternal Legend Gundams from the sky, sending both mobile suits careening into the ground before they finally vanished within a pair of huge explosions.
"The Fruit of Life is possessed by the Angels, and the Fruit of Wisdom is possessed by humans." Fuyutsuki spoke from within the Nerv Command Center, more to himself than anyone else. "Having obtained them both, Evangelion Unit 01 has become like a God. And now the Tree of Life has been restored." He paused for a few seconds before continuing. "Will it become the Ark to save humankind from the nothingness of Third Impact? Or the demon that destroys us all? Our future now lies in the hands of Ikari's son."
"Did...Did we do the right thing?" Maya whimpered, even as she clutched at Aoba's sleeve.
"How the hell should I know!" Aoba answered.
"The anti-AT Field from Lilith...it's expanding further!" Aoba exclaimed. "It's materializing!"
The earth's surface suddenly turned white, spreading outwards as Lilith-Rei emerged.
"Anti-AT Field critical limit exceeded!" Hyuga exclaimed.
"No...! If this continues, individual life-forms will be unable to maintain their separate entities!" Aoba yelled, even as a pair of wings sprouted from Lilith-Rei's back.
"The Hall of Souls has been unsealed." Fuyutsuki said. "Has the door to the world's beginning and end finally opened?"
Throughout all of this, Kira could only watch, since the Divinity Gundam had stopped responding to the inputs of its pilot, leaving the angelic machine to simply hover in front of Lilith's mammoth form. Suddenly, the Divinity's cockpit lit up with a blindingly bright yellow light.
"Divinity, can you move?" Kira asked, and in response the machine's eyes flashed with a bright amethyst light.
"People are surrounded by emptiness." The voice of Rei Ayanami spoke from all around. "And loneliness has filled their hearts."
"I know it's extrememly hard for someone like you, Rei Ayanami." Kira snarled as the Divinity Gundam's MCPS armor reactivated, once more lighting up in vivid white, black and red, even as the angelic machine's eyes flashed with a nearly blindingly bright purple light. "But please, at least try to stop being so damn stupid!" The amethyst-eyed man roared as the Divinity's twin chest-mounted multi-phase cannons fired, the searing blue-red energy beams harmlessly dissipating against Lilith's powerful AT Field. "Unlike you, not everyone is a fucking isolationist!"
Kira's eyes widened in horror as everything unexpectedly came crashing down around him, as his world vanished within an expanding plane of white. He saw the wreckage of the Katsuragi come falling down to the ground. He felt the familiar presences onboard the winged warship vanish, he felt them disappear.
And he saw Lilith, watching the fireball impassively.
His blood boiled. This creature would undoubtedly take everything from him. It had already killed his friends, it was quite possible that it had killed his family as well. Even if it hadn't killed his family, this abomination had taken away his life.
He watched the brightly glowing violet seed, veined with gold, fall through the void in his mind, before reaching out and snatching it, determined to end this once and for all. Kira appeared in a lush meadow in his mind's eye, gently clutching the bright glowing seed in his right hand. After a few seconds, he clenched his hand into a fist and slammed it into the ground. The seed instantly took root and with a flash of light, a brightly glowing purple and gold veined tree sprung from the ground.
In the blink of an eye, the Divinity's rail guns and plasma cannons swung into their firing positions and began to unleash a continuous stream of searing blue-red beam blasts and armor-piercing shells. Kira snarled in anger as the weapons were once again blocked by Lilith's powerful AT Field.
Kira's eyes widened in surprise when he suddenly found himself in a train car, along with Evangelion pilots; Rei Ayanami and Shniji Ikari. The amethyst-eyed man instantly realized that the two Evangelion pilots had somehow obtained telepathic abilities on a level similar to his own.
"Nobody understands me." Shinji spoke.
"You didn't understand anything." Rei replied.
"I thought this was supposed to be a world without unpleasantness...without uncertainity." Shinji said, forcing Kira to stifle a laugh.
"Because you thought that everyone else was like you." Rei answered.
"You betrayed me!" Shinji yelled. "You've betrayed my feelings!"
"You've misunderstood from the start." Rei's emotionless voice droned. "You simply assumed without asking."
"Nobody wants me." Shinji growled, anger becoming apparent in his voice. "So, everybody can just die."
"I can't let you do that, Shinji Ikari." Kira's voice replied.
"It'd be better if I wasn't here either." Shinji continued. "So I should just die, too."
"Then, why are you here?" Rei asked.
"Shut up with the philosophical bullshit." Kira finally cut in, causing the two Evangelion pilots to turn and look at him.
Back in reality, torrents of crimson blood began to gush from Lilith-Rei's neck as she leaned backwards. Shinji and Rei had merged together in the sea of LCL that now covered the planet.
"Where are we?" Shinji's voice asked.
"This is the sea of LCL. The primordial soup of life." Rei answered. "This is a world without AT Fields...without your own shape. An ambiguous world where it is impossible to tell where you end and other people start. A fragile world where you exist everywhere, and yet exist nowhere."
"Have I died?" Shinji asked.
"No, everything has just been joined into one." Rei answered. "This is the world you have been hoping for. This is your world."
"But...this isn't right." Shinji replied. "I don't think this is right."
"If you wish once more for the existence of others, the barriers of the heart will separate everyone once more." Rei replied. "And the fear of other people will begin again."
Shinji had now rejected Human Instrumentality, Lilith-Rei quickly collapsed backwards as her wings vanished, even as Evangelion Unit 01 broke out from her eye, the purple beast growing a pair of massive wings. Lilith-Rei's body quickly disintegrated, releasing torrents of LCL which began to rapidly spread outward, while the now deactivated Eva Series units fell to the surface of the planet.
"Damn, that was like a bad sample of LSD." Kira muttered from the cockpit of the Divinity Gundam as he gently landed his angelic machine on a blood-soaked beach. The amethyst-eyed man sighed quietly as he glanced towards the screen on his left, noticing Shinji Ikari, as he silently lay on the beach, aimlessly staring into the starry night sky. The Evangelion pilot seemed to be completely unaware of the Divinity Gundam, even though the angel-winged mobile suit was standing less than ten meters from him.
Meanwhile, high above the planet, the base Infinite Justice Gundam rumbled as its engines carried it out of the Excalibur's hanger and into battle. Athrun glanced around the cockpit; the Infinite Justice lost much of its weaponry without the Fatum-01 unit, but it still had its rifle, shield, sabers, and beam blades, and without the heavy Fatum unit, at least it had more agility.
"Meyrin, how is it?" He asked.
To his right, inside a violet-colored Blaze ZAKU Warrior, Meyrin Hawke shifted uncomfortably in the cockpit. "It'll do, I guess." She said with an airy sigh. "But it's not the same as my GuAIZ Experimental Firearms Type."
"Of course not. So don't push your luck." Athrun glanced next at the Murasame on his left, in its sleek flight mode, with Shiho Hahnenfuss in the cockpit. "Meyrin, you hang back and provide fire support. The ZAKU just won't be able to keep up."
"Incoming!" Athrun suddenly shouted. "Scatter!"
The three mobile suits darted apart and Athrun opened fire with his beam rifle as a squad of Slaughter Windams came roaring in, rifles blazing, with a dark green and black mobile suit at their lead. It sent out a shining column of beam energy from the cannon on the left-hand side of its back, forcing the three mobile suits to dodge, and plowing straight through a quartet of Celestial Being mobile suits coming up from behind.
The LN-ZGMF-X13A Nix Providence Gundam suddenly screamed in from the blackness, fired out its DRAGOON units and filled the sky with beam blasts, forcing the three mobile suits on the defensive. Athrun quickly leveled off his beam rifle to return fire, but a moment later a shell slammed into the Infinite Justice's face and sent him hurtling back, and with a crash, the LR-GAT-X102 Regen Duel Gundam was there with its beam saber lit to slash the Infinite Justice's rifle in two.
"Don't think you people are going to have it easy this time!" The pilot of the Regen Duel cried. "We are sick of you and your armed interventions, Celestial Being!"
The Blaze ZAKU Warrior darted down with two beam sabers extending off the barrel of its customized rifle and swung them both at the Regen Duel, driving it back. "Hands off, jackass!" Meyrin screamed. "Athrun!"
"Damn!" Athrun growled, and with a flash the Infinite Justice activated its beam wings, drew a saber, and charged back into the fray. "Meyrin, Shiho, stay back."
He threw his saber up to defend and the Infinite Justice shuddered as two huge, serrated swords slammed down into the saber blade. Athrun looked up in surprise, into the glowering face of the LG-GAT-X105 Gale Strike Gundam.
Shiho's Murasame rattled as something clamped onto it, and in front of her appeared the crimson armor and burning blue eyes of the LN-GAT-X207 Nebula Blitz Gundam. "Another one?"
"Can't say I'm too impressed!" The pilot of the Nebula Blitz cackled. "Now I've got you, and I'll never let you go!"
Shiho scowled. "Never, huh?" With a blast of exhaust, the Murasame flipped backwards and swung the Nebula Blitz around. "Never can be a pretty long time! Meyrin!"
A scream broke through the air as Meyrin's ZAKU Warrior came down, now with its axe drawn. The pilot of the Nebula Blitz growled in frustration, released the Murasame, and darted to safety as the ZAKU's axe came down. A moment later the Nix Providence dropped in with a crash to shoulder the Murasame aside and slam its saber down against the ZAKU's left-hand shield.
"Leave the other two to me!" The pilot of the Nix Providence barked. "Focus on the Justice!"
The four Alliance mobile suits rushed back in, and Athrun steeled himself.
The Infinite Justice shook as the Nebula Blitz's saber slammed down onto its beam shield. Athrun scowled, throwing the Nebula Blitz's arm aside and stabbing forward with his own saber. The pilot of the Nebula Blitz deflected Athrun's saber with his own beam shield, even as the Gale Strike Gundam came charging forward, charging up its Multi-phase cannon.
"I've had enough of this!" The pilot of the Regen Duel shouted. "Just die already!"
Athrun somersaulted over the Regen Duel's head as the pilot fired his rail rifle and rail bazooka, the pair of hyper-velocity shells blazing down underneath the Infinite Justice's feet. Athrun whirled around, swinging his saber towards the Regen Duel's back, but the pilot whirled around and stopped the glowing blade with his shield, surging forward and throwing the Infinite Justice back. The Regen Duel switched to its beam rifle, even as the rail bazooka and rail rifle raised to aim towards the Infinite Justice.
Suddenly, an ear-piercing, grating screech filled the area, as the purple form of Evangelion Unit 01 sped onto the battlefield, the thinly scattered molecules beginning to distort as the sound gradually doubled in intensity.
Inside the Infinite Justice's cockpit, Athrun covered his ears as he winced in pain at the shrill shriek which had begun to assault his senses, he couldn't understand how sound was traveling in the vacuum of space, much less why it was so loud.
Finally, the ear-shattering shriek reached its apex, as a bright white light suddenly flashed out from the body of the purple beast. An instant later the Gale Strike, Nebula Blitz, Nix Providence and Regen Duel Gundams lost power, their eyes going dark.