Author's note: Sorry to keep you all waiting. This is going to be a shorter chapter than my usual ones. But I hope the content is worth it.

Once again, apologies for any grammatical and spelling errors that will show up throughout this chapter.

Hope you all enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Evangelion.

DAYS BEFORE THE TENTH ANGEL

Kaworu Nagisa, wearing just long black jeans, sat at the edge of an opened coffin with an endless line of opened coffins on his right and closed coffins on his left. He had his hands over his mouth as if he was lost in thought.

After what felt like an eternity, he stood up and looked up at the red Earth above him. "Shinji, everything has changed. Things are not right. But, I can do it… I can still make sure that you'll find your happiness."

He held his hand out to the planet shining down on him, "This, I promise you. Shinji. No matter what happens to you, I can help you find happiness. No matter how many times it takes." This, he swore he'll accomplish.

Kaworu smiled, all ready to move forward and bring Shinji the happiness that he deserve-

The space around him distorted and statics filled the area where he once stood. He soon disappeared as an empty void of space filled the area he once stood.

"This… is all wrong."

Kaworu was now sitting in another coffin that had dozens, if not almost a hundred, of opened coffins between it and the original coffin he was at. He was sitting at the edge of the recently opened coffin with his hands over his mouth as he did previously.

"Nothing is working. I have to fix this. But how?"

Because no matter how many times he went through this, he could never find the answer to his question. Nothing was changing no matter what he did. There was something missing that he wasn't thinking of, he was sure of it. So maybe the question he needed to be thinking was different.

Perhaps he was asking the wrong question. He needed a different approach than how he was handling this.

Maybe he should be thinking about the 'what' the cause was instead of trying to figure out the 'how' to fix the issue.

After a few minutes of sitting still, lost in his thoughts, something clicked as he opened his eyes.

"I see now…" He looked to the Earth above him through the emptiness of space between the moon he was at and the planet of his destination. "It was you… Both you and she were the cause of this."

Kaworu Nagisa stood up from the coffin while keeping his gaze upon the Earth. "I now know what I must do." He turned to the giant being constructed close by. "Old friend. We shall make this right."

ON THE DAY OF TENTH ANGEL'S ARRIVAL

A loud thundering noise boomed across the Geo Front caused by the two behemoths butting heads against each other. Mark.06's visor glowed against its enemy while Unit 01 growled towards its prey in response. The two were met in a stalemate.

None were able to overpower the other.

So, to finally break the deadlock, Mark.06 quickly slammed its hand against the side of Unit 01's head, pushing it to the side with immense strength and causing another eardrum-breaking noise to echo around them.

Unit 01 was sent rolling across the destroyed grounds of the Geo Front from the attack. After a few seconds, it managed to find its footing to stop and get back up. Its blood-red eyes glowed even brighter in anger as it glared towards the strange EVA.

With a roar, Unit 01 fired a beam of light towards Mark.06 which was blocked by its AT-Field. Its AT-Field seemed almost impenetrable. However, that wasn't going to stop the beast.

Releasing another roar, Unit 01 charged forward to its enemy with immense speed, creating a shockwave from where it started. As expected, Unit 01 crashed against Mark.06's AT-Field, unable to breakthrough.

Unit 01 was not done. It held out its AT-Field reformed left hand. It turned into blocks of AT-Fields before they penetrated through Mark.06's AT-Field and pushed the new Evangelion away.

Mark.06 was flown across the battlefield before it managed to recover and land its feet on the ground. As it finally stopped, it looked up and noticed multiple blocks of AT-Fields, made from Unit 01's other hand, managed to circle the area above it. Mark.06 was surrounded but that didn't seem to faze the EVA.

Instead, its blood-red visor glowed brighter, anticipating the next attacks that were coming to it.

Each one of the AT-Fields started to rain down onto Mark.06. But it was able to gracefully dodge each one.

Step to the left.

Step to the right.

Lean left.

Sidestep to the left.

It was dancing through each one. Its footing moved to the beat of silent music it was listening to in its mind. It grabbed the last one in the air with its one hand and started to crush it as cracks started to form along the surface. Mark.06 didn't, however, notice that Unit 01 had already come close to it. This opening allowed Unit 01 to grab its head with Unit 01's reformed left hand before slamming Mark.06 to the ground.

As Mark.06 tried to get back up, Unit 01 immediately slammed its foot to its head. It repeatedly stomped its foot onto Mark.06's head, causing cracks to form along with its visor. There was a roar from Unit 01 as it hunched down to the fallen EVA. It slammed it's leg onto its enemy's left hand, breaking it before-

"PFFFFT!"

The replay of the battle disappeared, leaving the two figures alone in a blank white was a long blonde-haired woman wearing a lab coat with a red blouse and a black skirt, and a white-haired pale-skinned boy wearing a middle school uniform with a violet T-shirt underneath the white button-down.

The woman was holding her mouth with both her hands to 'try' and hold in her laughter. She was purposely allowing some to escape, destroying the memory of the battle that the two were witnessing.

"I see you find this amusing," the white-haired boy said with a slight frown on his face.

The older woman took a deep breath and ceased her laughter. But there was still a smile on her face as she said, "You have to excuse me. When a strange Angelic boy manages to infiltrate into my own little private jail space, tells me I'm in the wrong and has royally screwed up without any evidence or proof, seeing him getting his ass handed to him like this is quite amusing."

He put his hands into his pocket as his frown deepened. Why does she have to be so difficult? Especially someone of her stature?

"What is the point of showing me this battle anyways?" Her tone turned serious, " Again, you barge in here like it's no one's business, tell me I've ruined Yui's child's chance at happiness, and show me this battle that happened right after I was sent back into Unit 02's core."

Her eyes narrowed as she finished with, "What is your endgame here?"

Kaworu responded, "Kyoko Zeppelin Shikinami, or at least that's what you called yourself after your miraculous involvement in this world, my goal was simple." There was a small smile that appeared on his face, "It was to make Shinji happy."

There was a huff from the woman, "Then our goals are similar, my goal is to make-"

"That's only a part of your goals. And because of your interference with your goals, that happiness for Shinji is no longer in his grasp. And all I can hope to do now is to try to bring a mere smile to Shinji's face."

Kyoko put her hand over her chest while showing visible frustration across her face, "There you go again, pinning the blame onto me without elaborating anything. How did I mess it up? All I ever wanted was to make sure Asuka would be safe. Be there to create a world where Asuka could truly be happy. A world where she can be with the people she loves."

She clenched her hand that was on her chest as she finished with a mumble, "Even if I can't be in it."

Kaworu started to walk towards her, "However, instead, you have caused ruin in this world with the burden to be passed on to another. You proceeded to interfere without truly thinking about the consequences."

He stopped as he looked up and met the deadly glare of Kyoko's looking down on him. She clenched her hand tighter while putting them to her side. She gritted her teeth. She hated how this boy was giving her riddles instead of giving her a direct answer.

So, she pushed forward for more information, "Fine, let's say that I messed up. Tell me what I did so that I can fix it. Tell me what I can do to make things better."

Kaworu shook his head, "To fix this would require drastic measures which will go against your plans. Especially when it involves the destruction of the world to create a false world for her as one of your two major goals."

"It's not a false world if it becomes a reality!" Her hands started to shake in anger. "What is wrong in wanting to create a happier world for her? Tell me, is it a sin for a mother to want a world where her daughter will be able to find happiness with the ones she cares about?"

"The desire for a world for other's happiness is not a sin." Kaworu shook his head and said, "However, if it requires the punishment and torment of one I care about, it is something that I cannot accept. And just because she will be happy in the new world you wish to create does not mean Shinji will be. You don't seem to realize the change of fate that your involvement has caused."

He walked past her as he continued, "Your interference with your Project has dire consequences. This is one of them."

With a wave of his hand, the blank white surrounding them changed, displaying a battlefield with Unit 01 rising up to the skies with all its armor starting to glow red.

Kyoko immediately turned to the EVA in the sky and took a few steps towards it. "Wait… is that…? No. No. No! This was NOT how things should've gone! With Unit 01 also awakening right after Unit 02-... If only I was able to-"

"This was what I wanted to show you. Your interference-"

She interrupted him without turning to face him, "If you would let me just complete my fail-safe, then Unit 01 wouldn't be-"

"Your contingency plan was doomed to fail. The world may restart for you to start over, yes, but if you believe that you would be able to remember, or if you believed that you would've had the chance to even start over… that is a different story."

Kyoko froze and slowly turned to him, "What are you… You can't mean-?"

ROAR

Her attention went to the source of the noise and saw the damaged Mark.06 getting back up.

Its visor was cracked with one arm broken. Mark.06 opened its mouth and revealed its sharp beast-like teeth bloodied from the beating it received. It limped over to the spear latched onto Unit 02, placed its still working hand on the handle while putting its foot on the body to gain leverage, and pulled out the spear. The deactivated Unit 02 fell to the ground.

Mark.06 aimed the spear with its one good arm at Unit 01, arm shaking as it charged its attack. Its broken visor glowed a brighter crimson red with its halo ring above its head enlarging as it released a mighty roar and shot the Spear of Cassius against Unit 01.

The spear managed to easily penetrate through the AT-Field Unit 01 generated and pierced through the side of its chest, deactivating the EVA.

Kyoko watched Unit 01 fall towards the ground as Kaworu said, "If I didn't intervene and stopped both you and Shinji, the end result of two awakened Evangelions starting an Impact at similar times would've been beyond catastrophic. Fortunately, I was able to stop Shinji before the Gulf had reopened and initiated the continuing Impact just after I stopped you."

"But if I had finished it, I would've been able to start over now that I know what I have to…" Kyoko froze when Unit 01 crashed onto the ground, the impact noise seeming to have caused something to click within her.

She put her hand over her mouth as she quietly said to herself, "No… If Unit 01 awakened before I was able to finish utilizing the Impact… Then… It wouldn't have worked, instead, the world would've-..." She gritted her teeth behind her hand, trying to prevent herself from admitting that the boy was right, and this could've been an uncorrectable event if he didn't stop the two EVA Units.

Kaworu turned his back towards her and placed his hands into his pockets and said, "Without all the criteria all being met, you cannot fully utilize a change and the power to do what you desire. So instead, after noticing the drastic change in your plans, you pursued another chance to start over, not knowing the full consequences of that wish. But that was also doomed to fail with the awakening of Unit 01, this is an outcome that will never change."

There was no answer from Kyoko. She remained silent as she continued to focus on the images of the fallen Unit 02 and Unit 01.

He was almost done with what he wished to say to her, "Your Project Shikinami may have been to capture and preserve the soul of the lost Asuka Langley Soryu of this world by using your own methods, instead of the original natural method and process of this world, with the purpose to use her for your own gain."

Kaworu looked up to the skies, "Later, that also changed to also give her a better future on top of your primary goal to return. However, all that led Shinji into making a dire choice that changed everything, which you didn't foresee happening."

Her hands went limp while Kyoko held her head down, "Then what was I supposed to do? As a mother, what was I supposed to do?"

An image of the plans she found hidden in the cabinet of someone's office appeared next to her through a small circular window. The plans were in her bandaged hands, as it was days after the accident with her and the child, with a picture of a younger Asuka in the front of the papers.

Kyoko continued, "Was I supposed to let my Asuka be used as a weapon by someone else? At least by doing what I did, I've made sure she'll have a better childhood life instead of being raised up as a test subject for a weapon! And by the end of all of this, she'll have a happier life!"

He turned his head to her and glared at her with his cold blood-red eyes while her own glare met his. "That was not your original intent. She became important to you later, so this is not your-..."

But, he stopped to think about her words. Kaworu turned his head away from her once more after having the short time to rethink some information, "No… I am wrong here. I do suppose, based on the circumstances, this would be considered 'your' Asuka."

Kaworu started to walk forward, away from her, and said, "And since this is 'your' Asuka, you two will stay away and never interfere again."

Kyoko turned as the battle around them with the small image of the plans from her memories all disappeared and the blank white void surrounded them once more. What did he mean by that? "Where are you going?! I'm not through with you! How do you know all this?" "Especially my 'other' goal to go back? Don't tell me you know about me?"

He ignored her questions and instead said, "While your efforts and parts of your objectives may have been noble, the results speak for themselves. You have failed and led Shinji to suffer because of your interference and failure. He will now be unable to smile the way he once used to."

"And what? You're going to just leave after saying all that? You're just going to tell me that I screwed up and leave? What's your solution to this?"

A door appeared in front of him. He turned as he placed his hand on the doorknob, "Kyoko Zeppelin Soryu, I'm making sure both you and 'your' Asuka no longer interfere with Shinji. The two of you are the cause of his unhappiness and suffering. Without both of you, there's a chance that he'll be able to smile again."

The white space around them started to shake. He continued, "This is my solution, to make sure that you two are out of his life from here onwards."

Kyoko looked around, trying to figure out what was happening. Fear was instilled in her eyes. Was he going to kill-? "Please! You can punish me, but don't hurt my Asuka!"

Kaworu waved his other hand again, showing what was happening from his perspective. It showed him in his repaired Mark.06 looking over a black cross-shaped 3-dimensional black coffin inside a launch hanger.

"Worry not, I am not going to harm either you or 'your' Asuka. While you have interfered and caused Shinji unhappiness, I do understand your desire to make someone close to you happy."

Her eyes widened even more with the realization of what was going to happen to both of them, "You're going to-"

"I will not be doing anything nor can I do anything. I am not involving myself with you any further. I'm letting the natural events take their course for Unit 02 and letting it stay that way. You can thank your old colleague for this contingency plan if things were to not go his way. He prefers to make sure that not all Evangelions fall into the hands of his enemies."

Kaworu opened the door as he continued, "It may be in your best interest for you to continuously put 'your' Asuka in hibernation. Despite everything, this is, after all, the closest thing you'll get to the fake world you wished to make for her. A good compromise, is it not?"

"You're just going to let them launch Unit 02 in space?" She had to change her tactic if she had a chance to get out of this with Asuka.

But how? Explaining her main goal wasn't working. This was also for Yui's child as well, did he not understand that?! "Do you not realize that Shinji will never be happy without Asuka?"

That last comment forced him to stop taking the step out of this dimension.

Kyoko, seeing her chance, continued, "What can you do that will bring a smile to his face? I can help with Asu-"

He turned to her with a stern face, "And what can you and 'your' Asuka do to make him happy? As I have stated before, just because your Asuka will be happy in the new world you wish to create, does not mean Shinji will be."

"Do you not understand what they mean to each other? Think about what would happen if one were to disappear in the other's life!"

"Yet, it was her who caused him tremendous amounts of pain and will continue to do so. And it was you who started this change and caused Shinji to make the unavoidable decision, leading him down to the path of despair. Both of you have caused and will cause him so much more suffering."

He waved his hand showing a vision of Asuka holding onto the SDAT player in Shinji's futon, one of the memories from the days after the Ninth Angel.

Kaworu continued, "And let us not forget that 'your' Asuka's suffering was also the result caused by your interference from the start."

Her eyes widened at the memory of her Asuka. Kyoko's heart broke as she heard her daughter's cries. Was this her… fault? "I can-... Let me fix-"

"You have done enough. Shinji will be sad, yes, but he will eventually be able to move forward and smile without you and 'your' Asuka interfering with his life. Both of you will no longer cause misery in this life by forcing him to make the choices that lead him into further despair."

The image of Asuka disappeared and showed the dream world where she was eating with Shinji, "Though I am not heartless. As I have said before, I understand your desire for 'your' Asuka as I have a similar desire for Shinji. So I shall let 'your' Asuka live in the false dream world that you wish to make a reality for her. Or let her sleep a dreamless sleep for the rest of eternity, it matters little to me."

Kaworu, no longer wanting to hear any more from this woman, walked past the door. He said his farewell to her, "May the eternity in the depths of space bring you to realize the great impact you've caused upon the world and to Shinji."

"You coward! Don't you run away!" The door started to close as Kyoko ran to him, "You don't understand anything! I can make a world where not only my Asuka will be happy, but Yui's child as well! What can you do when you don't truly understand what makes him happy?!" "And I have to return! I have to go back to HER!"

Kaworu ignored her as the door fully closed behind him.

Kaworu, in his plugsuit and back in Mark.06's Entry Plug, opened his eyes as the black coffin launched up into space. "Farewell, Kyoko Zeppelin Shikinami. I will do what I must to finally bring a smile to Shinji's face for I am the only one who truly understands him. And without either of you, this all but assured now."

"Why didn't you do anything to stop it?"

Kaworu's EVA turned to the observation room of the hanger, meeting an injured Kozo Fuyutsuki's wandering gaze that was filled with curiosity. He had one of his hands to the side of his left thigh to put pressure on the bullet wound underneath it.

"Our interests aligned this much." A smile appeared on his face, "Or would you have preferred it if I stopped your plan?"

Fuyutsuki blinked when he heard this. Now it all started to make sense to him. "Is this why you've helped us for this long? Just to see Unit 02 be launched into space for my contingency plan if we were to lose Unit 01 and Shinji Ikari? My plan to ensure that Unit 02 will not fall in their hands as well?"

Kaworu smiled but didn't answer his question. It wasn't needed. The Pilot's silence was enough for the old man.

Besides, Kaworu knew he wouldn't have been able to stop the launch with the amount of time remaining and the defensive measures that were set up by both Gendo and his partner. It would've been futile to even try.

So, having fulfilled the main goal with Unit 02, Mark.06 made its way out of the hangar to meet up with the group invading NERV who were here to retrieve Unit 01 and rescue Shinji Ikari. "Farewell, Sub Commander Fuyutsuki. I appreciate the time we had together. And thank you for teaching me shogi, it was entertaining. I shall give Shinji your regards."

Kaworu's main objective with Unit 02 has been met. Everything was going according to his wishes and plan. Now all he had to do was find a way to bring a smile to Shinji.

Kaworu took a few steps back until he's back was met against the wall in the room he and other Pilots were in. Little to say, while he expected this, he was still surprised by the outburst from-

"WHY! Why did you let her go?!" Shinji, in a new gray and dark navy blue plugsuit, cried out as he was being held back by both Rei and Mari, each one holding onto one of his arms. He was struggling to break free as tears streamed down his eyes. "She… Asuka… She's out there! Why didn't you stop it from happening?!"

Rei, struggling to keep Shinji back, said, "While I understand your frustrations, Shinji, please calm yourself."

Mari gritted her teeth as she tried to hold him back with the Clone as she said, "I'm sure that White did everything he could to stop it." She glared at the newcomer, "Right?"

Kaworu didn't answer. How could he?

All he could do was look into Shinji's face and hear his voice filled with so much pain…. That face Shinji made with the sound of pure sadness that came out of his mouth when he found out that Unit 02, which was housing Asuka's soul, was no longer on Earth and its retrieval was near impossible…

Kaworu will never forget them. This was worse than he's ever seen before. He expected Shinji to be sad, yes, but not to this extent.

No…

What he did was right. This… this was what needed to have happened in order to help Shinji smile again.

Kyoko and 'her' Asuka were the cause of all of this and Shinji's road to despair. He merely took them out of the equation. That's all that was needed to help bring Shinji's pathway into one that will lead to his smile. Without them interfering, Shinji's smile was all but assured.

This was what had to have happened. This is the corrective action that was required to make everything okay. This was what was needed to make Shinji smile again.

He was sure of it.

Kyoko screamed in frustration as she fell to her knees and pounded the imaginary ground beneath her.

Everything went wrong. So very wrong.

Nothing she planned went the way she wanted. If she could just have one more chance, she was sure that she could get it right.

But all the implications from that boy, Kaworu Nagisa… Could she even trust him?

She released another frustrated scream.

"You don't understand anything! This is not a solution! Why does this have to be all about you and him? What about us? What about everyone else?"

Kyoko took a deep breath and released a third throat-breaking scream, "What do you know about my plans? All I ever wanted was to make sure my Asuka here will be happy and to finally return! What's wrong with that? There will be bumps in the road in all plans but they can be fixed!"

But he didn't give her a chance to fix anything. Instead, he made sure that she would never interfere again, or at least for a long time. And she can't awaken the EVA to go back to Earth with the way things are. With the strange coffin around them and her soul being sealed back into Unit 02's core by that boy, Kyoko couldn't awaken the EVA even if she wanted to.

The two of them were trapped. Unable to escape from this prison.

She pounded the ground once more. "You… I'll make you pay. One day I will make you pay!"

And that, she was sure of it, it was only a matter of time.

Until then, she just needed to make sure that Asuka would be in an eternal dream, a state where she'll always be happy, where she won't feel the pain of eternal loneliness like Kyoko would feel from here on out…

But that can only go so far.

After a few minutes on the floor, Kyoko got up and took a deep breath while wiping off the tears in her eyes. Now that she had the time to vent out her frustrations, she needed to think about what she needed to do, especially for her child, who was now her immediate concern.

"A dream is still a dream. It won't last for long…" She waved her hand and saw a small space showing Asuka eating with her roommates in the apartment. "But until the time comes, I need to make sure the dream never ends… to do that I have to make sure it'll go on as long as it needs to…"

She looked at Asuka's hidden smiling face as she ate her meal that was made by her roommate. "A dream doesn't have the same sense of the flow of time… yes… that can work."

She touched the surface of the vision that separated them through a glass wall. "Asuka… I'm sorry Asuka. I failed as a mother. At first, I didn't see you as my Asuka… But you are my Asuka here."

"But I'll do what I can to make it all up to you. I will fix this, and when all is fixed, in the end, you will be happy, I promise you. And… I can finally return once I've given you the world you deserve. A world where you can be happy."

FOURTEEN YEARS LATER

Kaworu Nagisa looked at the red sea under the moonlit sky from the dock next to a strange giant ship of sorts. He was reminiscing about what had happened within the past years.

He realized that even though all that planning and thinking… Kyoko Zeppelin Shikinami was right. He didn't understand anything about what made Shinji try to be happy and what made him smile. He misunderstood everything about what made Shinji smile and happy. But… her method of handling this was wrong as well.

And Kaworu vowed to fix this. For he now understood truly the meaning of what made Shinji happy.

Kaworu placed his hands in his pocket and looked up to the night sky, "One way or another, Shinji, I will find a way to fix this. To make you truly smile. Even if I may not agree with what makes you smile, it is the only way."

He turned and made his way towards the strange ship.

The mission was about to start. Even if he won't be a part of it, he'll still be there for support and make sure everything goes right.

"After all, you wouldn't allow things to go any other way, would you?" Kaworu said to the ship in front of him.

Author's note: This chapter was a bit slower and shorter. Hopefully, it wasn't too text-book-like when it came to some of the explanations and reveals. There are still some things that aren't answered which will be (hopefully) explored later. And I hope this wasn't too bad or painful to read.

We are now entering the 3.0 territory for this story. I just hope I can handle it well from here on out.

Lastly, thank you all of those who left a review from the previous chapter: Guest reviewers, corvi1718, engel17white, LetsPilot, tomdj1701, Alfredo12StarLegionaire, calborghete, JIM D. Zas, AirGuitar035, YourBlandestNightmare, Greg242, MooseTracks101, sjzyr.

I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Till next time.

Take care.