It had all gone wrong.

Shinji rolled over on his futon, unable to take gazing at the moon any longer, and stared at the opposite wall. His SDAT player was playing in his ears, the familiarity flowing from it and engulfing him. The melancholy strings of Handel (not Beethoven - never Beethoven) provided a sea on which he could float in misery, the captain upon a vessel of his own making.

Idiot.

In the space of three and a half weeks he had managed to not only fail at every attempt to connect with Asuka and get her to be open with him, but to traumatise her with his thoughtless confession and rash decision to grab at her as she withdrew from him. It had been a selfish panic that had run through his veins that night, ruining whatever self-control he had mastered. It had been those eyes, wounded and glowing in the predawn darkness, that had pulled at his heart and sent clangs of alarm into his brain.

Damn idiot! She was always right in calling you that.

Part of him had realised at the time he had been firing too early with being open and truthful. But, even though he had been doing this for so many years now, he was the same boy that faltered when given an opportunity to do so.

Moron!

Despite the progress he had made since his early lives, he still could not bring himself to do anything intimate with Asuka, at least not in a physical way. He had managed over the course of many lives to achieve emotional intimacy with her, learning about all her little quirks and mannerisms, her history, how she hated her mother and despised her father, and all the amazing things that made her the impeccable idol she was. But every time he had tried to breach the physical barrier, he had heard the steady beeping of hospital equipment, or smelt the sickening tang of blood red water at the end of the world, or seen the light go out of her eyes from a thousand avoidable deaths.

No - the only way he could connect with her physically without being sick was through the baptism of Instrumentality. And that was why he had frozen and gone into shock when she had fallen over, revealing again to him everything.

He shuffled again in his bed, turning to look at the ceiling and the slow, useless swing of the fan to keep him cool. Round and round and round it lazily went, not doing anything to reduce the stickiness of his shirt that had ridden up a bit. Shinji didn't care, a small crescendo in the Handel providing the distraction the body needed whilst the mind moved on.

How could he fix this? Was this some cosmic retribution for what he had done? The failures of how many past lives come back to haunt him? It wasn't fair; he had been trying so hard to get everything right -isolating Rei from his father, ensuring Misato was too drunk to get attached to anything, undermining his father's authority at NERV - so why was each moment of weakness and every mistake thrown back in his face tenfold?

And he had missed the first golden opportunity that always came around by saving her in that damned volcano. Mastering the art of that save had been something that he prided himself on, and was something he had built his entire Scenario around. Save the girl, get her to open up, show her he wasn't a weakling – simple.

Now he wouldn't get that chance – not that it mattered, as there was something he was missing.

Something…

Sleep would not – could not – come to him in his current state (not that those nightmares made sleep enjoyable for him anyway), so he stood up, turned off the Handel, and made his way to the balcony at Kaji's apartment. The moon had scurried behind a cloud, and the lights of Tokyo-3 were mostly off at this time. Several lifetimes ago he had discovered that the MAGI, to save power, would cut all but essential electricity across the city between two and three in the morning; this led of course to it being an excellent time to brood.

Not that he was brooding right now. No, he was too upset to be brooding.

Idiot.

He looked down at the street below, darkness turning everything into caricatures of what they were in the day. Long shapes morphed into gargoyles and inviting spikes, calling to him to just lean a little bit further, take that step, re-start the process and get it right again this time…

But he couldn't do that. Once upon a time he would have given into that temptation; those days when he was fresh from Instrumentality and where everything had felt like a surreal nightmare (and where the reality had been the pain and bewilderment in his heart), he had allowed himself to die, and had even once or twice taken his own life. But that time had passed – the ghoulish shadows beneath him, no matter how loudly they jeered at him for his setbacks, could not tempt him to follow through with the faint impulse to jump.

Instead he merely rested on the balcony's edge, and let the silence wash over him. A bit of peace could be helpful after all, especially as he felt he was getting really close to identifying something he had been unaware of up until now-

"Hey Shinji."

Shinji started, and nearly slipped over the edge of the balcony.

"Oh, hey Mr Kaji."

"Just Kaji is fine – we've been living together for a few weeks now." Kaji smiled, sliding over to the balcony ledge, the edges of his body wavering in the darkness.

"I didn't wake you, did I?" Shinji asked, and glanced at the older man. Kaji shook his head and Shinji pretended to look relieved, before turning his face back to the inky blackness below.

Please don't give me more patronising advice – I think I was onto something and really-

"Hey, Misato and I have been worried about you."

As if Misato would be overly worried about me. She's probably just worried the beer boy role I slipped into is gone.

"I know you have been avoiding Asuka-"

"She wouldn't want to see me."

"-and that she has been avoiding you as well. Katsuragi and I initially separated you two so you could calm down and work something out between you, but it's been going on a couple of weeks now, and you haven't made any attempt to reach out to her. What's going on, Shinji?"

How could he possibly explain? How could he make Kaji understand that he owed Asuka so much, that she deserved everything through Instrumentality, but he had ruined time and time again the one beacon of life in his miserable, eternal existence? Shinji did not want to be apart from Asuka – far from it – but he could think of no reason why she would want him around. She kept rejecting him, and frankly he was sick of it: sick of the surly looks and explosive rage, things which were uncharacteristic of Asuka even when things were bad. She had never actively rejected him so harshly before, and it was tiresome and weird and he had just about had enough of her at this stage -

Bad! Don't think of her that way, Shinji.

And even if he could explain, he knew all of Kaji's lines at this point. He knew the morsels of wisdom the man could and would offer with a slice of melon and a cup of tea, giving them in bits and pieces to be digested over several lifetimes. He knew that much of it was still good and useful, even now. But he just didn't want to hear it right now.

So he just stayed silent, and stared back out over the silent city.

"Listen, I know being a young man can be confusing, and when dealing with women it is even more so. But I have to say, obsessing over every little thing all the time, especially when the bad things were just accidents, is not healthy. And, y'know, Asuka was pretty much over it, especially after her success in the volcano. You need to let go of these things, Shinji. Don't let a chance be missed because of your guilt."

Kaji's voice was a syrup in his ears, sweet and sticky as the air around them. The words oozed into his brain,where they soiled and bubbled as they joined the pool of wisdom that had been building for however long in Shinji's mind. Overflowing, the words twisted and morphed as they dripped down from the head to the tongue, turning sour and spiky as Shinji opened his mouth to reply.

"Is that really good advice, considering how you and Miss Misato keep missing each other?"

He regretted the words the second they were out. Kaji momentarily froze, lighter just about to connect to the cigarette, the flame illuminating his chest and jaw and turning everything else into dull shadow. Shinji was once again tempted to throw himself over the balcony. You have better control than that, come on Shinji.

Backpedal, idiot!

"Sorry Mr Kaji – that wasn't called for. I-"

"No need to apologise, Shinji. But I think that clearly we are starting to wear at each other's nerves, so perhaps it's time you went back to stay with Katsuragi in the next day or two." Kaji's voice betrayed no hint of discomfort or hurt, but it was no longer honey to lull him into comfort - rather it was gravel and stones, and could not be any clearer.

"Really Mr Kaji – I didn't mean to say that. And I don't think Asuka-"

Kaji put his unlit cigarette away, and was looking at Shinji, silencing the boy with a look that Shinji couldn't read (very weird - he could usually read Kaji like a book at this point). And then Kaji smiled, and the gravel was replaced with sweetness again, honey mixed with aftershave.

"Shinji, life as an adult is confusing and messy, and you are right about Katsuragi and me. But there is no need for you to be caught up in that sort of drama. You need to learn to let go, and whilst still taking responsibility for your mistakes, don't use them to further bad decisions you have already made. Try and get some sleep – I have some gardening to do tomorrow, and I need an extra set of hands for that, but you will need to go back sooner rather than later. And you'll be surprised by Asuka – there is much more to her than what you think."

Don't I know it, thought Shinji, but he didn't say that. He didn't say anything, just stared blankly at Kaji. The man smiled at him again, all warmth and openness and hidden agendas, before leaving in a small whirl of hair and aftershave (for a guy as grizzled as Kaji, he sure wore a lot of the stuff). Shinji remained on the balcony in the company of the clouds that were starting to pull away from the moon.

He thought again to his latest confrontation with Asuka. Something about it wasn't sitting well – there was some detail he felt he was overlooking somewhere, somehow.

Shinji closed his eyes and breathed out, a gentle meditation to clear the mind so he could focus on the memory of that night. She had been thrashing and calling out in her sleep, and looked as though she had been fighting something. Which had already been unusual (Asuka's nightmares traditionally were about finding something and hiding rather than confrontation), but he had figured she had been having visions about whatever monstrous version of him she had created in her mind. A fact he had all but confirmed when she had called out his name (or at least his title) and started muttering about killing him. That's when he had intervened, because she had looked frightened and angry in her sleep, and his weak heart couldn't bear to see her in pain.

He had caused her more than enough over the years.

Shinji's brow furrowed as he replayed the scene in his mind again, ignoring the alarm bell in his heart. There was something in the words she had been mumbling…

"I'll kill you! I'll kill you! I'll kill you!"

Shinji opened his eyes. A ray of moonlight struggled briefly from behind a cloud before being swallowed again.

Those words. Those were the last words Asuka had said once, a long, long time ago when he had botched Instrumentality. Before that sickness of rage had overcome him – a hangover from Instrumentality, Shinji had decided upon after years of reflection, as he could not think of any other reason why the unnatural weakness of his body had been coupled with an uncontrollable wrath. But those words she had shrieked and gargled at the time…

How had it taken him several weeks to notice them? Had he truly been so caught up in his own bad feelings about that fight that he had not noticed that detail?

Idiot!

An unusually chilled breeze flowed over the balcony, so Shinji tiptoed inside the warm living room to escape it. The breeze brought some needed fresh air to the room, and his shirt no longer stuck so uncomfortably to his skin.

Because those words could be a coincidence. Asuka had said them many times across many lives; had howled them at the various angels as she butchered them (or as they butchered her), or whispered them at very human enemies as she was strung up and shot in front of him by Gendo or Fuyutsuki or the JSSDF or even Misato in some unfortunate lives.

But what if they weren't?

The heat was no longer stifling in the room, and he glanced up at the fan before switching it off. The moon briefly shone through, but went back to being behind a cloud.

What would it mean, if his Asuka was alive and here with him? The original one, left lying on a beach at the end of the world, returned to haunt him. How had she come here? Why had she come back? Was it even possible? Would she remember those moments when she had killed him; his first true "death" and it had been at her hands (and wasn't there something ironic about that? whispered some sinister female voice in his head that sounded eerily like his mother)?

Shinji breathed roughly through his nose and massaged his temples. Then again, he was here - why not her now too?

He began to pace around his room, his footfalls soft on the floor so as not to disturb the sleeping agent in the next room.

He couldn't be sure of course – he needed to determine whether it was a coincidence or not. But her hostility would be explicable if she had somehow returned. Not that Asuka's return would do him any good in the immediate term – considering that particular life had ended in her literally killing him (and, he suspected, him killing her, but he had never been able to determine that). That particular trauma had taken a very long time to overcome, and he would still in horrid nightmares see that sapphire eye turn to ice, the LCL making red tears on her face, and the hatred that had been washed away in Instrumentality coming bounding back. It was partially because of that rage and betrayal that he wanted to redo everything, take away the pains that had turned her into whatever monster she had been at the end, and liberate herself from the Angel Wars at last and into his waiting arms…

Don't be absurd Shinji - you need to let go of this childish desire to control Asuka.

Something in him shifted, and he could almost feel a set of sensations he had not felt for an eon. They skirted around the edges of consciousness, unable to be pinned down, a shadow version of himself that escaped the searchlight of his conscious thoughts.

But that searchlight was fading, and exhaustion was finally claiming him.

Shinji lay back down on the bed, replugged himself into the player, and closed his eyes. The tape clicked over to the next piece – a morose movement from Mozart this time – and he willed his body to try and rest. He would need it to determine what to do next. He didn't notice a tiny drop of LCL that slithered out from the small gap between his earpiece and ear and plop onto his pillow, evaporating into nothing as it did so.

It had all gone wrong.

Gendo paced in his office, his hands and mouth twitching, the nerves under his skin itching like insects.

Delaying Israfel had been supposed to give him a chance to observe the Third Child and identify weaknesses, and to give him more time in isolating Rei from Shinji's sinister influence. A series of N2-headed torpedoes fired over several weeks at the hapless angel had slowed it down enough to allow these observations, as had fobbing off some of the budgeting meetings to Fuyutsuki (who had been mildly surprised at the elevation in responsibility). It was not a tactic he enjoyed indulging in – even after so many lives he could only ever gain so many N2 weapons from people, and he had used up a lot of favours and blackmail material to get it done secretly.

Gendo stopped briefly, looking over into the shadows at the doorway, almost expecting someone (Fuyutsuki, Akagi, some other menial with an update) to materialise there. It remained silent and still instead.

Although he had been disturbed by the fact that Israfel had been so badly damaged – the angel should have been back up at full health well before arriving at the beach (something he could not focus on right now) - his efforts had yielded some very peculiar results. Initially, Shinji had continued being his abrasive self, with the expected exception towards Ayanami, Langley-Sohryu, and Katsuragi. What Shinji knew or intended to do with the key to Instrumentality was an unknown at this point – but considering the likelihood that SEELE was involved, it would not be unwise to assume the worst, and that he knew Rei's origin, purpose, and had a plan of his own.

Gendo paced back and forth again, letting the dark of his office swallow his footsteps, the glint of his glasses that reflected his desk lamp the only indication he was there at all. The itchiness in his veins was insufferable, but he did not scratch - this was an irritation of the mind, not one his body could deal with.

His son's friendly overtures towards the Second Child was clearly due to an infatuation, or at the very least an attempt to build some form of pilot camaraderie. So far the girl's open hostility had sunk those plans – a beneficial result which meant he didn't need to do anything. Gendo's Scenario relied on Shinji being socially secluded, and having Langley-Sohryu reject his son's advances by her own initiative was quite a boon, although the why remained to be seen. In most of Gendo's lives Shinji and Langley-Sohryu had developed at least some form of strong working rapport; often they had some childish romantic relationship, and even in those lives where they didn't and pursued others (the lives where he had been forced to end early after one or both had pursued Rei were unfortunate examples), they had generally gotten along quite well. But periodically, if Shinji was too weak willed and timid to do anything, he would frustrate and irritate the Second Child, who couldn't get past her own personality dysfunctions to bridge the space that Shinji refused to. These last few lives had shown that isolating Shinji from Langley-Sohryu was the most reliable way to make him malleable enough to pilot.

Of course, how a SEELE-controlled Shinji managed to isolate the Second Child on his own was a mystery. Gendo disliked mysteries, having solved all the ones in his life a long time ago. There shouldn't be mysteries any more.

The fact that there had been some form of fight was also a handy development, as it seemed to damage Shinji's resolve to do much of anything. Although the fact he had been reported spending an increasing amount of time near the dubious inspector after this quarrel was concerning, especially as Kaji was a known thorn in everyone's side and would at this stage of the game still send reports back to SEELE.

Gendo ceased his walk in the middle of the vast room, and turned to face the empty chair and the cityscape of paperwork neatly piled up upon it. He slowly floated over to the citadel of ink and documents, eyeballing each structure but not focussing on any particular title - only noticing whether each form had been complete or not. His eyes finally landed on a handwritten note in between towers of bureaucratic twaddle, the neat notation of his second in command clear and concise.

The insects in his nerves continued to buzz.

On top of everything had come Fuyutski's alarm that he had discovered that Shinji's teacher had a connection to SEELE: a cousin of the man had been involved with several SEELE front companies, and, importantly, had visited whilst Shinji had been growing up several times. It was too much of a coincidence to ignore, and it was enough evidence Gendo needed to confirm that Shinji was working against him and for SEELE. That shadowy organisation did not do coincidences.

And how did the Second Child's ham-fisted attempts to build some sort of solidarity with Rei fit into everything? It was all the more laughable because even if he hadn't seen it countless times before, the reports alone on the Second and First Children implied conflict and mutual dislike. Rei was disciplined and introverted, preferring to spend time alone reading (something she shared with Yui – and something that made her easier to isolate from others), whereas Langley-Sohryu was brash and outgoing, using the praise and adoration of those around her to fuel her ego and gain a sense of identity (and the amount of times he had used her pride – her only real defence mechanism against dealing with being abandoned – as a weapon against her and against his son was frankly tiresome). The two girls were a threat to each other, and in only a handful of his lives had he seen anything coming close to some form of communication and understanding – and those lives had been ones where he had deliberately sent Rei to Germany to be trained in NERV Berlin (a mistake he had learned quickly not to indulge in, no matter what benefits there were to a more cohesive team of Pilots).

Gendo breathed through his nose and placed his hands on his temples, the scratching in his nerves cancelling out the migraine that was developing. Was she compromised as well? No, that would be absurd - a SEELE controlled Langley-Sohryu was an impossibility. It was also destroying Shinji's attempts at controlling Rei; so, unless SEELE had somehow collapsed into a civil war, The Second Child was doing this on her own initiative. But why? Who could she possibly be working for?

Gendo breathed out, lowered his hands, and opened his eyes. The metropolis of paperwork seemed more menacing and full of shadows in the gloom. His eyes landed on a form sitting slightly to the side of his desk, a tiny field away from the metropolis that occupied the rest of his space. Dr Akagi had mentioned when she had left him earlier that Katsuragi had asked for Rei to be transferred to her quarters, and this must have been the application.

Whatever the Third or Second Child's motivations were (and he would need to return to Langley-Sohryu another time), Misato's application was a development that needed to be shut down immediately. It was, however, potentially a situation he could use to his advantage – if he moved correctly.

Gendo stared at the form and felt the itchiness in his nerves move around from his hands to his chest. It was a long shot this late in the game, but a slight change in strategy would help counter the vile old men in SEELE as well as help keep Shinji on a leash short enough to be controllable. His son needed to be kept away from Rei, and by the foolhardy deliverance by chance, he had been gifted an opportunity to ensure their contact would remain minimal. But he needed to act now, before he lost control of these remaining pieces.

He reached over a small suburb of files for the black phone on his desk and dialled a number he knew by heart. He knew every number by heart.

"Captain Katsuragi."

"Sir?"

Sleep and confusion clouded her voice. Her likely hangover also hung over the phone - its misery palpable from the receiver in his hand, and Gendo could almost taste the beer in the air. Her drinking had increased to almost concerning levels since Shinji had arrived, far beyond what was normal. He had overlooked the matter as her performance had mostly been unaffected and she had not formed a strong bond with his son, but whatever Shinji was doing to her was clearly dulling her senses around the boy.

It clearly had also given her a chance to empathise with Rei, which could not be tolerated.

"You have put in a request to move Rei to be next to your apartment."

"Oh – yes sir. Asu - Pilot Sohryu believed it would be good for the pilots to be near each other and bond. I thought it would be a good idea as well because-"

"Denied."

"Oh."

The phone line crackled slightly. The whirring of machinery thrummed beneath his feet, the insects in his chest continued to crawl, and he waited her out.

"With all due respect sir, may I ask why? I have looked up Rei's address, and it doesn't seem like the safest place for the girl."

Damn. Shinji had clearly worked on her – he needed to act quickly.

"Your concerns are noted, Captain Katsuragi, but Rei is perfectly secure. Section 2 are watching her and are under orders to intervene in any dangerous situation. I am aware of her status at all times."

The good captain had gone silent again, and Gendo felt the bugs move from his chest into his mouth as he waited for a reaction to use. The silence stretched out, and then…

He heard her take a small intake of air to continue speaking, so he jumped in first; a tactic he had mastered for throwing people off their balance.

"Captain Katsuragi, I wish to commend you on your good work and initiative with the pilots, and for fighting against the angels. The fact that you have reached out shows me that you have NERV's best interests at heart. I have signed the relevant paperwork, but now is as good a time as any to congratulate you on your new promotion, Major Katsuragi."

The line was silent for a few moments before Gendo could make out a faint "Thank you sir."

The first piece was in motion. Hopefully the rest would follow.

"As part of this new responsibility I am asking you to provide me with reports on the two pilots in your care similar to the ones I receive on Rei. These are detailed down to times and movements, and whilst I can assure you that Section 2 can provide assistance in this matter, I would like to know the status of the pilots from someone who can see them real time. And-" he paused for a moment (something that usually got Katsuragi wound up – she disliked unnecessary silences in conversation) "-I would like to know more about how my son is developing as a pilot."

Blatant disregard for Shinji, whilst beneficial in winning over the cool and rational Doctor Akagi, never worked on Katsuragi. A small show of emotion usually helped gain her loyalty - showing similarities and then differences between her father and himself often bridged the space between boss and subordinate, even to the expense of her own maternal feelings that may have developed.

Taking her silence as evidence the plan was working, he continued, letting the words flow out in a small trickle, knowing the threat he was about to hit her with would seal the deal. He placed one hand behind his back as he turned away from the desk, clenching and unclenching his hand ever so slightly. The bugs in his mouth did not prevent the stream of words.

"If these conditions are unsuitable for you, then I can rescind the promotion and continue to receive the reports from Section 2-"

"No! I mean, uh, no, sir. I will be able to complete these additional responsibilities. Thank you again, sir."

"I will send you a copy of the reports that are specially done on Rei as a blueprint. Was there anything else I should be aware of, Major Katsuragi?"

"No, that will be all, sir." The line went dead, and Gendo put the receiver down. He moved back around his desk and sat behind the walls of work. Daylight was still hours away, but the artificial light of his office light glowed red, temporarily blinding him to the crimson signatures on some of the forms. He leaned forward and looked at some of the photos of the Evas (Unit-02 was, similarly to the ink, hard for him to make out, but Unit-01 stared back at him across the polaroid, bright and clear).

It was good the Major had Shinji under her watch, and good that she would report his movements to Gendo. That Shinji had been spending so much time with the Kaji, a known operative for SEELE who was quite happy to sell NERV out (something that happened a third of the time – Gendo had met several unfortunate ends at the hands of the agent, and several more due to his machinations) was concerning. With Shinji most likely being connected to SEELE, he would need to find a way to break those two apart, or at least not spend enough time plotting together. Katsuragi would be a useful ally in that, if for no other reason than she lived under the same roof as Shinji and ostensibly had control over him. The trick was separating the good inspector and Katsuragi.

The promotion alone wouldn't be enough to buy her from her ex-lover, but Gendo also knew that it would be a step in the right direction.

The photo of the Evas was put down, and a series of annotated photos of the Katsuragi expedition replaced them in his hands.

Kaji represented an ideal to Katsuragi – a chance at reaching an understanding of her father through him. He even looked vaguely like the long dead Doctor Katsuragi – Gendo could only remember from pictures (it had been so very, very long), but the facial structure and the alert, piercing eyes were similar enough.

Yet, despite this pedestalisation of the man, Katsuragi had long festering wounds that created a drive to punish herself and her father – and, by proxy, Kaji. Gendo, back when he bothered to care about it, had listened to the woman wailing about her mistake in running away from Kaji when they were still students, and how it had only been because she was scared and because she couldn't stand him even as she loved him and wished to be closer. But Kaji, due to his line of work as much as his own hang-ups, had a habit of disappearing, something Katsuragi felt acutely. It would trigger a switch in her, from amorous adulation to avenging anger, and woe betide the person who got in the way of Katsuragi's wrath. Her fury was rarely explosive – it was sharp and pointed, a knife in the dark or a bullet in the back of the head, not aimless but pointed and destructive.

The trick was flipping that switch in her heart from lust for the body to lust for blood. Or at least enough to be indifferent to Kaji's demise.

"Woman's greatest enemy is Man; and she is capable of destroying him as nothing else can," Gendo mused to himself, the words hanging in the air around him like a toxic vapour. He deliberately ignored looking at the picture of Unit-01, instead putting the photos away under the desk.

Getting that Katsuragi switch to turn at the right moment was a delicate act. Promotions and external, authoritative validation could be useful, but would only on occasion get her to turn against Kaji. It was unusual that she had not bonded very much with Shinji in this life, but then again Shinji was surly and secretive – hardly endearing traits to someone who valued social connections as much as Katsuragi. It would make it easier to get her to his side, but it would not guarantee anything.

Gendo rested his nose on his interlocked fingers. All was not lost. There were ways to avoid failure – he had experienced setbacks before (far too many times), and he had dealt with them all in the past. Centuries of plotting and scheming and understanding the players on the field gave him an edge no-one else had. Even though he was in unfamiliar waters with his son compromised by SEELE, he would not lose hope. He could not lose hope. The Scenario would change, but would not fail.

But his mouth twitched under his fingers, and the buzzing moved to his brain. Whilst the insects in his mind distracted him, Gendo did not notice an LCL droplet appear near his ear, then absorb itself back into his body.

And in Terminal Dogma, underneath the unnatural metals and the concrete city above them, in a chamber with lights like stars and an unnatural red lake, a white colossus pierced with a crimson lance rolled her shoulders. Something scratched underneath Lilith's ivory skin, moving hither and thither, irritating the great goddess until she could stand it no longer. She shifted just enough so that the edge of the Spear of Longinus pierced a new part of her elastic skin. Three droplets of LCL materialised at the edge of her skin and the Lance. One of the spots retreated back into her bloated body, leaving no indication it had been there at all. The other two ebbed out and ran down her otherwise immobile body until they reached the gnarled and bulbous stumps of her severed legs. There they went their separate paths – one meandering through hills and valleys; the other rushing past many of the larger mounds but getting caught up in the odd branch of flesh. But both drops eventually reunited again, then they reached the end of Lilith's crucified form and leapt down, causing tiny ripples in the red lake that disappeared before any computer could register them.

That night, Lilith's presence in the dreams of her chosen children faded and vanished for the rest of the night; a momentary break in a project that had lasted centuries and no time at all.

A/N: Apologies for the delay. Changes in my life (rather drastic ones) stopped me from writing, and my interest in this story waned for a bit. Additionally, I became disheartened after I lost all of my documents in a computer crash several months ago. Thank you all for the feedback - it has been beneficial.

Thanks to MAD_MARTY for beta reading this a while ago - the feedback was much appreciated.