Chapter 56 – Thanatos – If I Can't Be Yours...
Kaji stood with his gun in his hand, studying Minister Katsumoto's every facial twitch as he listened to the cassette tape and looked over the files he'd presented him with shortly after he'd started listening. The situation was getting tense. The stand off between Fujita and the armed security outside was escalating rapidly. It had started with tense exchanges of shouted words and the occasional threat of violence but things were really heating up now. Thankfully they still had two bound and gagged hostages along with the minister and his secretary, otherwise they would have already been stormed...
"For the last time, release the hostages and come out with your hands up!" a voice from down the hall shouted.
"For the last time, what are you gonna do, make me!?" Fujita shouted back.
Kaji tensed at the verbal exchange. He knew that it was only a matter of time until things really started cooking and once that happened they'd probably have no more than a few minutes at best. He could only hope that Katsumoto was reaching the end of Commander Ikari's little recorded tell all.
And then automatic gunfire sounded in the halls...
"You fuckers take one more step and I'll kill everyone in here!" Fujita shouted into the hall, poking his head and his pistol up over the overturned desk blocking the doorway to the office. The response from the security forces was to let loose a burst of fire right above the man's head, causing him to duck behind said desk. As soon as they stopped he responded by firing twice before ducking down again, laughing like a maniac as he did so. "Is that all you got, you pigs!?" he cackled.
Kaji's jaw tightened. Things had just gone from bad to worse in the course of half a second. "What the hell are you doing!?" he snapped angrily.
"What does it look like I'm doing!?" Fujita retorted. "I'm keeping these assholes out of this office like I'm supposed to!"
Kaji glared at him. "Yeah, and you're not supposed to be shooting at them!" he hissed.
Another shot rang out in the hall, striking the door frame centimeters above Fujita's head, causing him to flinch. "Yeah, tell that to the ones who started shooting first..." he grumbled angrily before popping up and returning fire with two quick shots. He ducked down again immediately. "I'm shooting at the ceiling above their heads for your information but lets wrap this up quick, huh? Sooner or later they're gonna figure it out that I'm not trying to kill em..."
Kaji breathed a heavy sigh and shook his head. "Just don't get yourself shot..." he huffed in response.
Fujita chuckled. "Hey, it's me we're talking about," he returned boastfully. "I'm like a cat. I've got nine lives."
"Why are you two doing this!?" the secretary, Okazaki, cried out, visibly quivering in fear. "Why are you even here! Just stop this!"
Fujita looked back at her with a sheepish grin. "Sorry, sweetheart, but we're here to save the world," he replied. "We'll do what we have to for as long as we have to."
Kaji heard the sound of headphones clattering to the ground followed by an exasperated groan. He turned back to minister Katsumoto to find him sitting with his head in his hands. "Good heavens..." he murmured. "That... what the hell did I just listen to?"
Kaji looked down at him with an understanding expression. "Trust me, it wasn't easy for me to believe either," he returned softly.
Katsumoto looked back at him with a dour expression. "How am I supposed to believe what you've shown me is real?" he asked. "How am I supposed to believe what I've heard?"
Kaji frowned, glancing between his hostage and the door. "You can believe what you want but that doesn't change reality as it stands," he replied. "That tape and those documents contain the real truth. The operation taking place right now in Tokyo 3 is based on a lie."
Katsumoto folded his arms and frowned. "And if it is true, what would a terrorist like you have me do?" he replied.
Kaji stared back at him, unwilling to back down. "I think it's rather obvious what I'd have you do, and what you should do," he returned firmly, pointing at the files on the man's desk.
Katsumoto regarded him with a stony, conflicted expression. "And what might that be?" he asked slowly.
Kaji could tell he was thinking hard on the matter... or he was stalling for time so that the guards would bust in and arrest them, or both. "Call off the attack," he commanded flatly.
Both of them flinched as another exchange of gunfire between Fujita and the men in the halls took place. Katsumoto's scowl deepened and his eyes narrowed. "You expect me to call off a military operation that is in progress because of the recorded words of a man who is currently under siege by that very operation.," he replied. "Can you see why I'd have my doubts?"
"Well when you put it like that, yeah, but it's the truth, you stupid old bureaucrat!" Fujita scoffed before firing off a round and throwing a broken piece of the desk at the people in the hall, shouting at them angrily. "Eat shit, you assholes!"
"A cautious man is a man who makes proper decisions..." Minister Katsumoto growled, glaring past Kaji to stare at the crass DIH agent. "Unlike the both of you..."
Kaji drew a deep breath and let it out. Tensions were running way too high. He needed to stay calm no matter what happened. "Sir, with all due respect, it's a simple choice," he stated. "By calling off the attack you're preventing needless bloodshed."
"And what if my original information is correct and yours is false?" Katsumoto responded. "What then?"
Kaji frowned. It was a reasonable question born from the kind of cynicism and cautiousness required of a man in Katsumoto's position. "I suppose then the outcome would end up being the same, Third Impact. You need to trust us on this. Your information is wrong."
"Trust you?" Katsumoto retorted. "I should trust some traitors holding me hostage over the entire network of intelligence agencies within this country and those that this country partners with?"
Before Kaji could levy and objection another volley of gunfire sounded behind him. He whipped around to find Fujita firing rapidly. His frustration and his fear got the better of him. He lost it... "Could you seriously try to deescalate things!?" he barked. "Fuck!"
"Well what the fucking hell do you want me do!?" Fujita screamed back. "We're pinned in here and sooner or later they're going to get in, kill us, or worse, we'll all be turned into orange goo shortly after we're arrested!"
"Yes!" Kaji snapped back. "And you fucking shooting at them, even with the intent to miss, is only going to piss everybody off and ensure the latter!"
It was then that a small metal object came sailing into the room causing them to halt their petty argument. Kaji's eyes went wide as it bounced off the door frame and landed on the ground before rolling to a halt a meter away from Fujita. It was a flash grenade and it was going to go off before either of them could shield themselves...
"Oh that's not good..." Fujita murmured numbly.
The grenade detonated with a deafening boom and instantly Kaji's vision became nothing but white light. He tried to walk but the terrible sound had caused him to lose his balance, forcing him to fall to the ground on his hands and knees. He couldn't see anything and all he could hear was muffled commotion and ringing. "Fujita!" he cried out. "Are you okay!?"
"I think so!" came Fujita's muffled, distorted reply. "I hear bells ringing and I can't see but other than that I'm fine!"
Kaji's vision began to come back, the after-image of the moments before the grenade detonating merging with it slightly. It was completely disorienting. It was no wonder the things were so effective in close quarters engagements. Unfortunately being able to see was different than being able to fight and the option to fight was quickly denied to them. He picked up the clamor of voices and before he could even comprehend what was happening the desk Fujita had used to barricade the office door had been shoved out of the way. Seconds later armed guards with guns began pouring into the room.
Kaji watched as Fujita put his hands up feebly before one of the guards struck him across the face with the butt of a pistol, knocking him to the floor unconscious. Kaji had no time to react before he was forced to the ground, his face digging into the carpet. "You're under arrest, swine!" one of the guards barked in his ear.
He struggled impotently as his hands were restrained behind his back, craning his neck with great effort to look at Minister Katsumoto. The older man stood up from his desk. "Have these two processed and interrogated immediately," he stated. "Get them out of my sight..."
Kaji bared his teeth as righteous fury boiled over. He was going to make this man listen to him if it was the last thing he ever did... "Sir, you don't understand what you're doing!" he cried out desperately. "We gave you the truth!"
Katsumoto looked down at him with a very conflicted expression. "I'm sorry, Kaji-san, but the issue is decided for now..." he returned softly.
Kaji struggled against the men pinning him down. "For now!? Sir, if you don't act on the information the two of us gave you right now then you, and me, and everyone else on this entire fucking planet will be dead in less than an hour!" he bellowed.
Katsumoto didn't respond, simply staring down at him, that look of conflict on his face growing in intensity.
Kaji pressed his advantage, if he could call it that. "Katsumoto! If you don't act on the information we've given you then the very thing you're trying to prevent is going to happen!" he cried out as the guards forced him to his feet, trying to drag him out of the room. He struggled desperately against them, glaring at the minister as he continued screaming. "I know it's a catch twenty-two, a lose lose scenario if either of us are wrong, but please! You need to trust me! Fujita and I put our lives on the line just to get this information to you! We had no time for official channels, it would have taken too long! We tried going to the military and they outright fucked us over! You have all the information right there on that tape and on your damn desk! Just fucking act on it!"
Even the guards seemed to be stunned by his outburst as they stopped jerking him around as much. Minister Katsumoto stared at him, that conflicted expression of his remaining as total silence fell within the office. He reached out to the phone on his desk, his hand hovering over it, shaking...
Kaji held his breath, watching intently. "What's your choice?" he murmured nervously.
Katsumoto closed his eyes and breathed deeply, setting his hand atop the phone. After a moment he turned his attention to the guards with a steely, stoic expression. "I need to make a few phone calls..." he stated flatly. "Get these two out of my sight..."
Kaji could only hope that he'd made the choice he thought he'd made as the guards dragged him out of the office...
"What's happening out there!" Major Katsuragi barked out over the bridge. "Someone get me information on what's happening with Asuka!"
Maya pulled herself to her feet using the chair at her station now that gunfire wasn't pouring in over her head, her body still trembling with fear as she did so. She sat down and got it back up and running, nearly fumbling her security code due to how badly her hands were shaking.
"Come on!" Major Katsuragi shouted. "I need to know what's happening!"
Maya couldn't stop her shaking after what she'd just experienced. She understood why her commanding officer was being so demanding considering Asuka had cut all communication but still it was stressful. Ritsuko was so much better at these kinds of high stress situations... but even so, so managed to get her display up and running. "I- I- I have readings..." she replied meekly.
Major Katsuragi was instantly atop her console. "She's almost out of power..." she murmured, her voice hushed.
Maya nodded, a lump forming in her throat. If Asuka couldn't beat them then things were really going to get bad. If Shinji couldn't arrive in time to help her then there was literally no chance that any of them could survive today...
Asuka surged forward with Unit 02, leaping into the air and falling upon one of her foes, screaming with pure rage. It felt so very cathartic to put all the anger and pain she'd been suffering through into each and every blow she struck. The thrill of battle, one she was sure to win, was a hell of a drug. It allowed her to forget all about her suffering, her losses, and her betrayals, and instead live purely in the moment. Her sync ratio was nearly one hundred percent. Nothing could stop her now and nothing else mattered. Nothing else existed in the world other than herself, her enemy, and her mother watching over her within Unit 02...
She tackled her target, sending the Mass Production Eva into the lake where she lifted Unit 02's knife high, bringing it down directly on her opponent's head. The white Eva's jaws opened as it's head was smashed, jutting out a disgusting green tongue before shuddering violently and then laying motionless. Asuka had no time to savor her victory though. Her battery's power was ticking away by the second. She had to keep this quick. She dashed out of the water and charged another target with a feral battle cry.
Her opponent was too slow and she sliced the arm holding its weapon completely off. Her momentum carried her forward and she collided with such force that her knife shattered as she drove her enemy to the ground.
"Scheisse!" she cursed as her foe grabbed Unit 02 by the face, trying to push it away. She snarled as she shoved the beast's one remaining arm off of her then closed the distance and put the rival Eva in a choke hold. One swift twist and she'd snapped it's neck. Then a shadow appeared above her head, drawing her attention. She looked skyward to see yet another enemy diving on her position out of the sun.
She rolled out of the way, fighting to stay in her seat as Unit 02 rolled away on it's side. She came to a stop beside a discarded weapon used by her enemy and grasped it tight in her Eva's hand, snarling as she lifted it. Thanks to her sync ratio she could literally feel it's weight as if she herself were trying to hoist the colossal blade. She barely managed to guard in time before her enemy slashed at her... but it was nothing she couldn't overcome.
"Damn you're persistent!" she roared, bringing the weapon around and hacking at the Eva she was engaged with. The Eva managed to block her strike but only just. Both Unit 02 and its foe bounced back, the collision of the weapons nearly sending both Evas to the ground. Asuka strained at the controls to remain upright, groaning and grunting as she heaved the giant weapon in her hand aloft, ultimately bringing it down on her enemy before it could defend itself. "Eat this!"
The impact was less a slice of the blade and more it crushing through the enemy Eva's armor and body, mashing it into an unnatural shape. Asuka didn't savor the moment and immediately turned around to find her next target. The Mass Production Eva in question was charging at her from behind but she was faster and she knew it. With a sweeping motion that almost sent her tumbling she brought the blade in Unit 02's hands around and cleaved clean through it, cutting it in half at the waist.
"Come on!" Asuka roared, turning to face the next one. "Come and get me, schweinhund! I'll kill you all before that idiot Shinji even shows up!"
Shinji could barely get his feet to move as he stepped out of the elevator and into the Eva cages. His eyes blurry and stinging from tears and he physically felt empty, emptier than he'd ever felt. It was so unreal knowing that his father was gone. It made him question so many things, like how he'd really felt for the man and if he'd ever actually hated him at all. He felt like he'd fallen into some kind of nightmare, this whole day, the last few months, everything... and he hated it. Worst of all, he could see that he was partially to blame for it. If he'd just been paying attention instead of listening to his stupid music player his father would still be alive... it sickened him to know that. It made him hate himself all the more...
But he couldn't think about any of that right now. He had to get to Unit 01 and go fight, otherwise none of this would matter. If he didn't get there and defeat the Evas that SEELE group had sent to start Third Impact then he'd be letting everyone down, his father, Misato, Asuka, Rei... himself. He had to fight. He had to get to Unit 01 and fight one last time. He dashed through the corridors as fast as he could even though the tears made it hard to see ultimately reaching Unit 01's holding cage and...
It was encased in bakelite, unable to move, unable to deploy, unable to do a damned thing...
Shinji stood there across from the behemoth, his eyes wide, his mouth parted in shock. "N- no..." he stammered out, as despair reached depths unfathomable. "No, this can't be happening... this can't be happening!"
But it was happening, it had already happened... Unit 01 was frozen in place and there was nothing he could do about it...
Asuka lunged forward with her pilfered weapon, severing the leg of an Eva that dared to get too close, but before she could finish it off another Eva was upon her. This time though she couldn't bring her weapon up in time, only managing to dodge before her foe tackled her to the ground.
"Damn you!" Asuka screeched as the filthy thing opened its jaws, leaning in to try and bite at her. She pressed Unit 02's hands against its chest and forced it away before arming the flechette launcher on her Eva's shoulder pylon. Grinning with malicious intent she lined up the shot and pulled the trigger, sending a flurry of darts through her enemy's face. The Eva she'd fired into didn't fall so she gave it another shot, expending all the ammunition she had. Only then did it collapse in a heap before Unit 02.
Another one of those stupid white Evas came charging in, shaking the ground as it hurled itself toward her position. She parried it's strike but lost her grip on the sword plate thing she'd been using to defeat her enemies. Asuka let out a scream of frustration, thrusting Unit 02's arm forward and grabbing her opponent by its throat. With one swift motion she smashed it into the dirt and squeezed so hard that the armor plates cracked. Blood began gushing out of the creature's mouth and it when completely limp.
"I can never lose!" she cried defiantly. "Never! Not with mama on my side!"
Asuka lifted the unit in her hand high into the air and hurled it at the last Eva. It collided with it and she closed the distance, throwing a punch with Unit 02 hard enough to punch through it's stomach and gouge her fingers in the one behind it. "This is the last one!" she roared in triumph. She would have them all disabled with seconds to spare!
And then she caught sight of something sailing toward her out of the corner of her eye...
Instantly she spun around, pulling her Unit 02's arm free of the flesh of the two Eva's she'd heavily damaged while holding the opposite arm out, spreading her A.T. Field. The object flying toward her stopped. It was one of those blade things the Mass Production Series had brought with them. Why was it coming at her? Had the one with the damaged leg thrown it at her? It seriously pissed her off!
And then the blade twisted and warped in the air...
Suddenly, in the flash of a second, it had taken the form of a spear that ended in twin points swirling around one another. Her eyes went wide and her mouth parted in genuine surprise. It looked just like the descriptions of that Lance Of Longinus thing Shinji had used to kill the Angel in space, the thing that could puncture an A.T. Field...
"Wh- what the hell!?" Asuka stammered as she watched push against her field, slowly punching its way through. No! No her field had to hold! That was mama protecting her! It had to hold!
It didn't. The spear shattered the A.T. Field and she had no time to dodge. The spear drove itself directly into Unit 02's face... and through it.
A pain that was indescribable shot through Asuka's head and she let loose an agonized scream just as her battery depleted. Her hand snapped up to her left eye, hoping the action would do something, anything to numb it, but it did absolutely nothing. If anything it made the pain worse, even worse than the idea she'd been bested.
She jerked the controls of her Eva violently, so hard that she could hear the sticks creaking and groaning under the strain. Each time she jerked on them she let out a scream of pain, fury and fear. "Move!" she cried, over and over again. "Move! Move! Move!"
And then she noticed it... she couldn't see a thing out of her left eye... and blood was dripping down onto her lap from her face...
Asuka reared her head back and howled, her heart filled with nothing but agony, hatred, and the purest despair...
Shinji stood with his head bowed as the tears kept coming. He couldn't believe this. He'd come down here for nothing. He'd fought so long for nothing. His father had died to bring him here for nothing...
His despair began to twist and contort within him. He balled his fist and he began to feel hot all over. He lifted his head, staring out at the purple cyborg frozen in the bakelite with an angry grimace. No! No he wouldn't accept this! He couldn't accept this! He'd come so far and done so much... he wouldn't just let it all go to waste! "Move!" he shouted as the rage boiled over. "Just move!"
There was silence but the echo of his own voice within the Eva cage. Unit 01 remained motionless...
He closed his eyes and grit his teeth. "I'm sick of this!" he shouted. "I'm sick of the pain! I'm sick of the dying! I'm sick of getting hurt and hurting other! I just want to end this!"
Again, Unit 01 remained motionless, frozen...
Shinji was getting red in the face. Even if there was nothing he could do, even if he was going to fail to affect any kind of change he was going to voice his mind and heart aloud to the universe. "Misato and everyone else are fighting to save everyone! Father died so that I could fight to save everyone! I can't just let them down!" he cried out.
Once more, Unit 01 failed to move...
Angry tears streamed down his face. His heart thumped in his chest, practically leaping into his throat and choking him. He thought back to that time he'd spent trapped within Unit 01, when he'd considered just giving up and giving in. He remembered that presence he'd felt within it when he'd been in that state, the vision of his mother that he'd seen and spoken with. It seemed insane, but... what if that actually had been his mother. What if he could reach that entity, whatever it was with his voice?
What if his mother was really in there, listening to him?
Suddenly it all started to make sense. If she was in there that explained why the Eva would go berserk and take over when he was in grave danger. If she was really there that explained why he'd always felt a soothing feeling just being in the plug. If she was there that explained why his father would have said that he was the only one who could pilot Unit 01...
Even if he was wrong, it didn't hurt to try reaching out. He had nothing left...
"Mother!" Shinji shouted. "If you're in there I need you to help me now! I can't just let everyone die! Get up! Move! Just move! Just-"
He cut himself off as a rumbling filled his ears and the walkway on which he stood began to shake. The bakelite surrounding Unit 01 began to ripple and crack and seconds later it's enormous arm broke free, slamming into the wall just beside him...
Pvt. Ryuji Nakajima sat absolutely stunned from his position on the side of the shattered road, holding the semi-conscious Masaki against him. The clash of the titans he'd just witnessed was something truly awe inspiring. The red one had taken on all nine of the white ones and absolutely slaughtered them in mere minutes, hacking them to ribbons before his eyes. It only ended when one of the white ones, the one the red one had cut the leg off of, threw its weapon before collapsing motionless. Crazier still was when that giant thing morphed in the air and turned into a spear before hitting the red devil and bringing it down.
The whole ordeal was certainly perplexing considering he thought that only NERV possessed Evangelions of any kind. He couldn't wrap his mind around any of it. Why had that weapon changed shape like it was made of silly putty? Why did it look like they were bleeding and had bones on the inside? Why had they been fighting each other in the first place? He really wished to understand any of it but he supposed that didn't matter right now. All that mattered was getting Masaki to the nearest aid station. "Hey," he said, jostling his friend. "Are you still breathing?"
Masaki groaned pitifully. "Y- yeah..." he whimpered pitifully. "Wh- what the hell was all that noise?"
Nakajima exhaled sharply, shaking his head as he was still trying to comprehend what he'd just witnessed. "You still can't see to well, huh?" he asked in response.
"N- not really," Masaki groaned. "Wh- what did I m- miss?"
Nakajima let out a befuddled laugh. "You'd never believe it..." he responded. "A bunch of those Evangelion things, white ones, all showed up and started fighting the red one..."
Masaki was silent and his head lolled off to the side as if he'd passed out... or bled out.
Nakajima jostled him once again. "Come on!" he barked. "Stay with me, man! You're not allowed to die on me!"
Masaki rolled over on his stomach before coughing loudly and wincing, curling into a fetal position. "H- help me stand..." he groaned.
Nakajima breathed a sigh of relief and grabbed his friend by the wrist, pulling him up to his feet shakily and throwing his arm around his shoulder. "Don't fucking scare me like that, buddy..." he hissed under his breath as they started ambling down the road once more.
"Sorry..." Masaki croaked. "Who won?"
Nakajima looked at the desolation surrounding them, at the burning tanks, the churned landscape, the damaged Evangelions, the bloody splatter marks, the dead men... "I don't think anyone did..." he muttered softly after a moment of pause. In a strange way he was starting to get used to the madness. He hated that feeling...
And then, out of the corner of his eye, he watched one of white ones begin to twitch and start to sit up. He stopped walking and took in the sight. It was absolutely dumbfounding. What sort of machine could take such damage and keep going?
Then the mouth opened, revealing teeth and a sickeningly long green tongue. In that moment Ryuji Nakajima had the horrible realization that these things were more than mere machines...
"Unit 02..." Lt. Ibuki murmured somberly. "Its power is depleted..."
Misato felt queasy as her mind processed those words. Her lips contorted down in a deep frown. The data readings from Unit 02 indicated severe damage to the plates surrounding it's left side optical sensors and the surrounding armor plating but without any video feed from the surface it was impossible to fully tell what was happening. If only the SDF hadn't knocked out the majority of their surface surveillance systems... "Is Asuka alright?" she asked.
Ibuki grimaced. "I don't know..." she murmured. "Her sync ratio was over ninety percent when she took damage..."
Misato grit her teeth and balled her fists. It disgusted her that she'd put Asuka in this situation and now she had no way of controlling what happened next. "At least she managed to put the Eva Series out of commission..." she growled under her breath. "Now we just have to worry about the SDF..."
"Energy readings detected from within all nine of the Mass Production Evas!" Aoba suddenly called out from his station. "It looks like they're reactivating!"
Misato's eyes went wide and her heart nearly stopped. "What did you say!?" she screamed, whipping around to face him as fear asserted control over her very being. "That can't be possible! Asuka destroyed them! Get any surface feed that you can up and running!"
"Roger!" Aoba responded. In a matter of moments he'd managed to get one or two of the surface cameras feeding to the central display. The Mass Production Evas were indeed still active and they'd just taken flight. They began circling Unit 02 like vultures for some reason and whatever that reason was it couldn't be good. If only Shinji had been out there to back Asuka up...
"Major!" Hyuga cried. "I'm detecting a high energy reading from within the Eva cages!"
Misato could barely comprehend his words before a deafening explosion shook headquarters...
Colonel Mitsuo Shikishima stood on the hill beside General Oda in utter shock as a pinkish purple glow began shining like a second sun out of the breach where Tokyo 3 once stood. Seconds later the ground shook and his ears rang as the sound of the explosion reached him, the force nearly causing him to lose his footing.
"What the hell was that!?" Oda shouted, panicked.
It was the first time in his career Shikishima had ever heard the man express such an emotion. "I don't know sir..." he responded, his eyes fixed on the flickering light.
Just as he said that a strange and ominous howl could be heard on the winds and a column of golden light sprung forth and formed the shape of a cross. It then split into a pair of wing like beams before fading out of existence. Shikishima had a feeling he knew what it was but he wanted to make sure. He thrust out his hand toward where other officers stood. "Binoculars! Now!" he barked.
Someone shoved a pair into his hands and he raised them to his eyes, daring to stare directly into the glow. It was as he suspected... "Evangelion Unit 01..." he murmured softly.
"It's a devil..." Oda murmured off his side.
Shikishima wouldn't disagree with that assessment...
"What the hell was that!?" Misato shouted fearfully as she struggled to her feet, the floor beneath her still rumbling and shaking. Whatever the heck it was that just hit them had caused an even greater shock than the N2 that the SDF used minutes before. Even more concerning was that awful howling sounds which filled the command center from the audio monitoring equipment on the surface. It reminded her so much of how Adam had sounded just before he'd self destructed fifteen years ago... Was this the beginning of the end? Was this the start of Third Impact?
"Cameras should be back on line in ten seconds!" Aoba replied. "High energy readings stabilizing! A.T. Field detected!"
"What is it!?" Hyuga cried out in fear. "I thought all the Angels were gone!?"
"Its not an Angel," Vice Commander Fuyutsuki stated pensively. "But it might as well be..."
The wait for the cameras to come online was the longest ten seconds of her life. Misato counted them down in her head, expecting something horrible to pop up on her screen at any moment. Five, four, three, two, one, and...
The image of Unit 01, suspended in the air, floating down toward the ground, flickering golden wings of light shimmering out of its back, surrounded by a whirlwind of dust filled the screen...
Misato stood stock still, unable to speak as she took in the sight before her on the central display. It was terrifying and awe inspiring. So this was the power of the Evas truly unleashed. It truly was a god born from man, a power that humanity was never designed to wield. The wings of light flickered away and Unit 01 touched down on the ground, the whirlwind around it slowly dissipating. "Amazing..." she murmured softly, somewhere between awe and horror.
"Our only hope now lies with Shinji Ikari..." Vice Commander Fuyutsuki muttered. "The weight of the world is on that boy's shoulders now..."
The last few minutes had been a complete blur. One moment Shinji had been yelling for his mother to help him to Unit 01 and the next minute he was in the cockpit, barely in control of what was happening. Unit 01 had taken off toward the surface without the need of the catapult, simply punching its way through the armored layers of headquarters until it reached the geofront surface. He supposed it didn't matter what the cause was, he could worry about that later. Unit 01... his mother... had listened to him and allowed him to join the fight.
Unit 01 came to rest on the ground but a massive cloud of dust obscured his view. After a moment the dust cleared enough see. Right beside him he could see the NERV pyramid and the central lake of the geofront. He looked around, searching for Asuka and Unit 02. His eyes went wide when he found what he was looking for...
Unit 02 was laying motionless, partially propped up by the spear through its face...
Shinji's pulse quickened at the sight. No... even though he'd managed to board Unit 01 and actually join the fight he was too late. "This can't be happening..." he murmured to himself, looking skyward as if making an appeal to the gods. "This can't be happening..."
And then he saw them...
Diving in on Unit 02 from above were humanoid figures with white, vulture-like wings, giant bladed weapons in their hands. Shinji wasted no time. He charged forward and the fire in his heart surged to an even greater intensity. He'd let her down so many times. He'd hurt her so badly when he'd killed Nagisa. No more! He was not going to let her down again. He was going to do what was necessary and live up to what he needed to be even if it killed him. He closed the distance before the enemy Evas reached Unit 02 and drew his knife from Unit 01's shoulder pylon. "Stay away from her!" he roared.
The first of the white Evas dropped its weapon and opened its mouth, it's jaws coming dangerously close to Unit 01's head before Shinji drove his knife into its neck. He then threw the creature to the ground with a resounding thud, picking up it's weapon as the others swarmed around him, swinging it erratically in a mixture of fear and fury, his adrenaline surging through his veins.
"Stay away!" Shinji screamed over and over again. "Stay away! Stay away!"
A second one closed in and bit into his shoulder from behind causing him to drop his weapon. With a pained and angered howl he reached Unit 01's hand over its shoulder and grabbed it by its ugly head. He hurled it over his shoulder and into the dirt, smashing it's face with his fist. "Die!" he snarled, slugging it over and over again. "Die! Die! Die! Just fucking die!"
Another one fell upon him gnashing those horrible teeth at him, causing him to break off his attack. He held it back as best he could, straining at the controls, grinding his teeth from the strain. He spread his A.T. Field as forcefully as he could and sent all of his foes flying from the force of it. "That's enough!" he roared as he watched the ones in front of him tumble across the ground.
They just got back up and kept coming, swarming him and Asuka once again. It would seem that no matter what he did they wouldn't stop... but he wasn't about to stop either. The only way they were going to stop him was if they killed him. He wouldn't stop fighting until the last, the last breath, last inch of ground, last drop of blood he could shed...
He charged forward letting loose a bloodcurdling roar as Unit 01 did the same...
Misato watched the events unfolding on the central display with bated breath. Shinji was taking all nine of the Mass Production Series Evas on at once, somehow managing to send them flying with his A.T. Field. She watched as Unit 01 sprouted those wings of light from its back once again. It was truly an awe inspiring sight. Perhaps they actually had a chance. Perhaps Shinji could actually shoulder the weight of the world on his small shoulders...
"Major!" Hyuga cried suddenly from his station. "High velocity object detected leaving lunar orbit and heading for earth!"
She gasped and whirled around to face him. "What is it!?" she screamed.
"I don't know!" he wailed in reply. "But it's headed directly for our position!"
Misato's heart thumped so hard in her chest she thought she might be having a heart attack. Did the JSSDF have some kind of space weapon? No, if they did NERV would have known about it. It had to be something else. "Get a satellite feed up and running now!" she commanded.
"No time!" Aoba cried. "Time to impact less than thirty seconds!"
So fast! Nothing could move that fast! It was impossible! What could cover that kind of distance at such a speed!? The only thing she could think of was...
"The Lance of Longinus has returned to us..." Vice Commander Fuyutsuki murmured nervously.
Shinji howled in frustration and rage as he hacked and slashed and punched and kicked away at his foes. He could feel himself slowly becoming one with his Eva the longer he fought. It felt like his mind and body were slipping away from him with every attack he launched but he didn't care. He didn't care if he died or was lost in the Eva again. All that mattered was protecting those that he cared about from certain death. "I won't let you hurt them!" he howled defiantly as he punched an Eva that dared to get too close to him, smashing a hole clean through it's stomach. "I won't let you!"
And then, just like that, all of his foes backed away from him and took flight...
He panted heavily, utterly exhausted from the battle, as confusion began to set in. He'd barely been able to hold them off and his strength was waning, something they could probably sense, so why weren't they pressing their attack? He stood above Unit 02, watching as they took flight, circling around his position like birds of prey. Were they going to dive on him from above?
He grit his teeth and snarled like a caged animal. No. No, he wasn't going to let them!
Shinji tightened his grip on the controls within his cockpit before willing Unit 01 to leap high into the air. Some way, somehow, he willed his Eva to fly just like his enemies. He sailed through the air towar the nearest enemy, roaring like an animal as he threw a punch. The foe in question dodged his attack and soared away from him.
"Fight me!" Shinji roared as Unit 01 hung suspended in the air. "Fight me!"
And then it happened...
All of a sudden he caught sight of a red flash in the sky. He turned Unit 01 around just in time to see a glowing red object sail down from the heavens and stop just in front of him. The glow began to fade and he realized that it was... the Lance of Longinus?
"How?" he murmured, perplexed. He supposed it didn't matter. It was a weapon, that was all it was. However it had managed to return from space after he'd thrown it there didn't matter. It was a weapon and he was now going to use it against the Mass Production Evas. He willed Unit 01 to grasp it...
And he couldn't move...
Fear began to set in, taking the place of his fury and resolve almost instantly. "Wh- what's happening!?" he cried out desperately. "Why can't I move!?"
Suddenly an intense pain stabbed through both his hands and both his feet. He cried out in pain, closing his eyes and nearly doubled over in his seat. It felt like his own hands had just been pierced by a hot iron spike. This couldn't be happening... what even was happening? He opened his eyes in spite of the pain...
Unit 01's hands and feet had been stabbed by three more lances belonging to the Evas he'd been fighting. He didn't understand. He'd thought there was only one? How was any of this possible? It didn't matter how it was possible, it was happening. He was immobilized and unable to fight back. He was completely at the mercy of these monsters...
The fear began to shift into sadness and despair. He'd failed. He'd failed to protect everyone he cared about, everyone he loved. He'd failed to save Misato, Asuka, and Rei... Everyone he'd ever cared for was going to die because he'd failed...
"Help me..." he whimpered. "Someone... anyone... help me..."
Rei trudged forward through the pitch dark halls of Terminal Dogma, the case in her hand feeling heavier and heavier with each and every step. It seemed like time was stretching out in front of her into eternity but since she'd left the place of her birth... her creation... it couldn't have been more than a few minutes.
Deep down in her heart she still felt some level of conflict regarding her decision. It was probably the only way to spare everyone's life, to limit the damage that SEELE would do, but the closer she got to her goal the more conflicted she felt. In fact... she felt afraid. She was afraid of what would come after she did what was necessary. Would she be able to come back again? No... probably not, and it would be for the best. She'd never deserved to live anyway... but if she did, what would Misato and Ritsuko say to her? What would Asuka say? What would Shinji say?
She halted her march and grimaced. They'd probably be disgusted with her. It would be better if she didn't come back, if she simply surrendered into the void... but if they could live and move on it would be worth it. If Shinji could live on, even just him, then it would be worth it. Perhaps one day he would be able to understand her actions and why she'd been so secretive, why she'd hurt him, why she was doing this for him...
Rei took a deep breath and let it out, trying to keep herself from trembling, to force herself to keep moving. This was the only thing she could do and yet she still felt bitter about it. It seemed so cruel that Yui-sama's gift had been for nothing. She'd gotten a chance to live as a mostly normal girl only to have it ripped away in the worst way imaginable. It wasn't right. It wasn't fair!
...but that was just how the world worked... and everyone else wanted to stay in that world, so she might as well let them have it. If that required her being gone then she'd accept that. She didn't want to be a part of the world anymore anyway. It had been nothing but cruel to her, nothing but hurtful, and dealt her a life where she couldn't even truly exercise her free will. What was the point in continuing such an existence? She might as well just die...
She grit her teeth and kept walking, tears once again leaking from her eyes. Everyone else had contributed to that painful existence. Everyone else had either just stood around and failed to intervene, treated her as a pawn, only offered her the most meager of comfort, or given her friendship and care only to stab her in the back later. Only a few of them had ever tried to understand her and care about her and only on their terms, never unconditionally. Even Shinji, the person she'd loved most in the universe had pushed her away when she'd needed someone the most. Everyone else might as well die too...
She grimaced yet again... she had no right to issue that judgment. That shouldn't be anyone's judgment to make... and yet the thought was there, malignant and festering within her mind.
Soon enough she found herself at the end of her path before a pair of towering obsidian doors. She hesitated, again asking herself if this was what she really wanted. Yes... yes, this was for the best, and she'd been a fool to think that it could have ended any other way.
She reached out and swiped her card...
The doors opened and she stepped inside. There stood Lilith, the source of her body and being, for all intents and purposes her mother, pinned to that red cross of hers, that seven eyed mask looking down at her as if to judge. Rei stood there silently, frozen, trying to process the moment and work up the courage to go through with her decision...
Misato watched in horror as the Mass production Evas bit into the wings of light on Unit 01's back and began pulling it higher into the air and an alarming speed. It seemed like something out of a nightmare but it was real and happening right before her eyes on the central display...
"Eva Unit 01 has been captured!" Hyuga cried out.
"Two thousand meters and rising fast!" Aoba sounded off. "Twenty five hundred! Three thousand now!"
"Those bastards..." Vice Commander Fuyutsuki uttered. "They're planning to use Unit 01 as the medium..."
It was all to much. She couldn't accept that things were about to end this way... "What can we do to stop it!?" Misato snapped, whirling around to face him.
The Vice Commander turned his gaze to her with a distant, pained, and defeated expression. "Nothing..." he responded. "There's nothing we can do now..."
Misato bit her lip and looked down at her feet, balling her fists in as despair and frustration crashed over her in waves. So this was it then... Third Impact was unavoidable. All her life's work had come to this moment and now it was going to end in disaster. "Then we'll face the end as best we can..." she murmured softly.
Shikishima's eyes widened and his pulse quickened as he took sight of what was rising into the sky from the breach through the binoculars he was using. It appeared that the nine white Evangelions were restraining Unit 01 and somehow lifting it into the sky by those glowing gold wings it had sprouted from its back.
He lowered the binoculars and scowled. So this was it. That SEELE group was moments away from completing their plans and there was nothing he or anyone else could do about it. All his efforts had been for nothing. Not even Fujita and Kaji somehow pulling through and getting this mission called of would affect any kind of change. That knowledge sickened him deeply...
"What's happening!?" Oda shouted, fear seeping into his voice. "What are we seeing!? What's going on, Colonel!?"
Shikishima turned to him with a scowl. "This mission is a complete failure," he stated flatly. "We've done nothing but accelerate the inevitable, just as I said we would..."
Oda regarded him with a stunned, silent expression for a moment before looking back toward the breach. "So this is how the world ends..." he murmured softly. "It's strangely beautiful..."
Shikishima stood silent, watching as those golden wings rose higher and higher into the sky. He hated to admit it but the old buzzard was right. It was strangely beautiful...
Ritsuko dashed through the halls of Terminal Dogma. Her chest heaved, her throat felt like fire, her legs like they were about to fall off, and still she kept running. She had to catch up with Rei no matter what. If she faltered in any way then it was all over...
She still couldn't believe that it was coming to this, that after everything Rei had been through and how hard she'd fought to prevent this outcome that she'd willingly embrace it. It didn't make sense from a logical standpoint for her to do such a thing. There had still been a chance for Gendo's plan to work or for Shinji to fight off the Mass Production Evas so why would she choose to give up? Then again, Rei, for better or worse, was a teenage girl. Ritsuko herself remembered how impulsive she'd been when she was that age.
Whatever reason it was she was making this choice she had to stop her, that was all that mattered...
She felt the pistol in her pocket as she ran, a queasy feeling arising in her gut. If it really came down to that could she actually do it? Could she actually use deadly force to stop a person she cared about from doing something horrible, even if that horrible thing was ending the world? She hoped she wouldn't have to answer that question. She hoped that she'd be able to reason with her, to be able to talk her down in some way... but she doubted it would be that easy.
She rounded a corner in the hallway and nearly lost her footing, slamming into the opposite wall and getting the wind knocked out of her, causing her to stop and pant heavily with her hands braced on her knees. No. No, she couldn't afford to stop now. She had to keep going, the fate of the world was in her hands.
Just as she took off running again she saw a pale light appear in the distance of the hall...
Her pulse quickened and her heart leaped to her throat. She had to hurry! Rei had already arrived at Lilith's chamber. If she couldn't catch up quick then it was over and everything would have been for nothing. She grit her teeth and forced her body to cooperate with her, finding new strength and charging ahead until she reached the doors and rushed inside.
She panted heavily as she took in the sight before her. There stood Lilith, pinned to its cross, the way it always appeared, and half way between herself and it stood Rei with her back to her, looking up at the giant, the metal case from her office containing Adam in her hand.
Ritsuko finally caught her breath. "Rei!" she shouted out desperately.
Rei jolted at the sound of her name, dropping the case containing Adam to the floor with a clatter. She'd hesitated too long. If she'd just committed the moment she'd opened those doors then no one could stop her or talk her out of her choice. It would have been easier that way... Slowly she turned around and her lips parted in surprise at who she saw. "Oh..." she murmured numbly. "Ritsuko-san... it's you..."
The faux blonde was standing by the door, panting heavily and regarding her with a fearful and disappointed expression. She looked thoroughly out of breath. She must have ran for a long time just to catch up with her. It piqued man questions, namely how had she known what she was doing? It didn't matter... she was here and she was certainly going to try and talk her out of her decision. It wouldn't work. Her mind was made up. It was the only thing left for her... "Why!?" Ritsuko shouted. "Why are you doing this!?"
Rei grimaced and looked down at her feet. She knew she wouldn't understand. No one would understand. Ritsuko was still foolishly holding on to hope, the same hope that she'd once carried within own her heart. "There's no other way..." she murmured in response. "SEELE is going to initiate their version of Third Impact... it can't be stopped..."
"Why are you so certain!?" Ritsuko screamed back at her, making her flinch. "Rei, it's not hopeless! It's never hopeless!"
Rei closed her eyes and sucked in a deep breath, balling her fists at her side. "How?" she returned bitterly. "How isn't it hopeless? NERV is being overrun and SEELE can't be defeated..."
There was a pause before Ritsuko responded. "I... maybe... maybe Shinji will pull off a miracle..." she replied, her voice coming out shaky and sad. "Rei, just calm down and stop this..."
Rei scowled and looked back toward her bitterly. "You don't understand!" she huffed angrily before pausing and taking another deep breath. When she spoke again her voice came out small and somber. "If I don't do this then SEELE will do it anyway and there will be no way out for anyone. If I'm the one to do it then at least everyone else can come back..."
Ritsuko regarded her with a shocked and horrified expression. After a moment she pulled a pistol out of her lab coat's right side pocket. Slowly she lifted it up, leveling it at her. "Rei, if you don't stop this now I'll... I'll have to shoot you..." she stated, her voice quavering. "Don't make me shoot you..."
Rei grit her teeth and looked away. Of course it would come to this. Even Ritsuko, her closest confidant, would ultimately fail to understand and betray her. She wouldn't understand, just like no one understood, it was pointless to try and reason with her. Besides, if she shot her now she'd be doing her a favor. She didn't want to live anyway. She didn't want to live in a world without friends, a world where Shinji didn't want her in his life...
Slowly she bent down and opened the case containing Adam...
"Rei, stop it!" Ritsuko hissed.
Rei didn't listen, instead lifting the chunk of bakelite out of the case and smashing it on the floor, shattering it into a million pieces and freeing the embryonic Angel from its prison...
"Rei, please!" Ritsuko cried desperately. "I don't want to do this!"
Rei didn't listen to her. She'd already made her choice and Ritsuko threatening her like this only reinforced her decision. She held the embryonic Adam in her hand, lifting it up to examine it as she stood back up. She grimaced as she remembered how Commander Ikari had merged it with her body the last time she'd stood here, how disgusted having his hand inside of her had felt... but there was another way to assimilate it, even if it was disgusting in its own way.
She opened her mouth, placed the creature inside, and swallowed it...
Rei grimaced and nearly wretched at the sensation of the thing sliding down her esophagus. The taste of the bakelite mixed with the squishy texture was horrendous. Seconds later she could feel a great and terrible power begin to surge through her. It was just like when she'd fused with Adam before if not more powerful. This was it. There was no turning back now...
"No!" Ritsuko wailed. "Rei! Stop!"
She paid her no mind and willed herself to fly. She lifted off the ground and began to float through the air, moving closer and closer to Lilith as she did, staring at the creature's mask intently if only to suppress her fears or any regrets she still held on to. She floated closer and closer and breathed a shaky sigh, forcing a smile. This was what was necessary. This was what she wanted... "I'm home..." she murmured softly.
WELCOME HOME...
Rei couldn't be sure if those words were spoken aloud or if she'd only heard them in her head but she knew instantly it was Lilith speaking to her. It sent her heart racing as fear began to set in once more. She was going to become one with this creature once again, lose her identity, and ultimately die once more, this time forever...
IS THIS WHAT YOU WISH FOR?
Rei closed her eyes and steadied herself, continuing her slow drift forward. Doubt began to set in. Was this the right thing to do? Would she be okay with the outcome? She wasn't sure anymore, but she was committed. It didn't matter... "I- I think so..." she murmured softly.
YOU CAN HAVE ANYTHING YOU DESIRE... A PERFECT WORLD... FOR ONLY YOU...
She could feel her body come into contact with Lilith's and start to get sucked in. She felt herself being pulled, stretched, both body and mind, just like she had before in the other world when she'd experienced this union. Even so, she couldn't help but contemplate that statement. Could she really have anything her heart desired? Could she have a perfect world? Could she... have the things she'd always desired? It was certainly a tempting proposition. The idea of having a world that she decided, that she made, that she was in ultimate control over sounded so very appealing...
WHAT DO YOU WISH FOR?
Rei Ayanami let her imagination run wild as she envisioned what that perfect world would be. Her fears washed away, replaced by contentment and bliss as her mind conjured up a new reality. She smiled and opened her eyes as everything faded forever and ever into a bright white light...
Ritsuko lowered the gun in her hand as she watched Rei become one with Lilith, tears burning at her eyes, her breaths coming in short shaky gasps. Even after seeing Rei take Adam into herself she couldn't do it. She couldn't bring herself to pull the trigger. Now there was nothing she could do. Third Impact was inevitable and Rei would be its cause. She wanted to curse her sentimentality but she'd grown to think of the girl as a younger sibling, if not a daughter of her own. How could she go on living if she'd taken her life?
She watched as Lilith broke free of her bounds and collapsed into the lake of LCL that surrounded the giant. Slowly it began to rise, changing shape and growing as it did. Its form slowly shifted and morphed into that of a nude woman, pale as a ghost. The mask on its face fell away to reveal a human face, Rei's face, except it wasn't quite Rei's face. The expression the being wore was uncanny, almost psychotic in appearance... and all the while this horrible being kept growing and growing before her eyes.
"Rei, what are you doing?" Ritsuko whimpered with tears in her eyes, the pain and the sadness of knowing that poor girl had given into despair stabbing at her heart.
All the while, the giant known as Lilith grew in size, stretching higher and higher toward the heavens above...
"Five thousand, fifty five hundred, six thousand..." Aoba stated, calling out a new altitude every two seconds or so.
Maya sat with her elbows on her knees, her head in her hands, staring down at the tiles of the floor. She couldn't believe what was happening, that NERV had been a pawn in some sick game of elites to start the Third Impact, that the Human Instrumentality Project was just the code name for that end, that everyone on earth was probably going to die within the hour... It was all too much. All she could do was sit in her chair, trembling, weeping...
"Sixty five hundred, Seven th- Major Katsuragi!" Aoba suddenly shouted, causing her to jolt up in her seat. "A high energy object is detected within Terminal Dogma and approaching rapidly!"
"What!?" Major Katsuragi gasped. "What is it!?"
"A.T. Field detected!" Hyuga cried. "Pattern blue!"
Maya's heart was beating so fast she thought it was about to explode out of her chest. Pattern blue could only mean one thing. "I- it can't be..." she stammered, her voice shaking with fear. "It's an Angel..."
"Negative!" Hyuga responded to her statement. "It's... human..."
"That's impossible!" Major Katsuragi cried. "What else could it be!? What else could produce an A.T. F-"
The Major's words died in her throat and she stared over the parapet with wide, horrified eyes. Maya had never seen her looking so utterly terrified before. Slowly she stood from her seat and dared to peek at what she was looking at. Instantly her eyes went wide and it felt like her heart stopped in her chest as the horror overwhelmed her.
Rising up through the floor like some kind of massive entity that was as pale and white as a ghost. Whatever this thing was it was getting bigger and bigger as it expanded through the command center. This... thing, whatever it was, it looked like Rei, except it wasn't her. It looked had Rei's face though, but the eyes were vacant black pits with red pupils, and that smile... it was inhuman. The sound of its breathing, something between a ragged gasp and a moan of ecstasy, was deeply unsettling.
Suddenly her vision clouded and all Maya could see were all sorts of red and black threads that looked like worms, wriggling around and pulsing. However, as soon as that vision occurred it passed. She looked up and saw the hand of the being above her head. In that moment she realized that this thing's hand had passed through her, or rather she'd passed through it...
Maya let out a horrified, primal scream, holding her head in her hands, shaking like a leaf. "This can't be happening..." she murmured over and over to herself like a broken record in panic and horror, the madness mantra increasing in volume every time she repeated it. "This can't be happening, this can't be happening, this can't be happening!"
"I don't understand..." she heard Vice Commander Fuyutsuki utter. Somehow his relatively calm voice helped to center her, helped pull her out of the throws of madness. "Lilith must have fused with Adam... but how?"
And just like that, the terror consumed her once more...
Though he hated to admit it, at this point in time Ryuji Nakajima was completely desensitized to the violence and chaos unfolding around him. Perhaps he'd developed a case of combat fatigue, that would certainly explain it. Whatever it was that explained it, he'd now realized that those Evangelion things, the things he'd once written off as Mobile Suit Bullshit, were some sort of living cyborgs and knowing that nearly sent him into a nervous breakdown. It had only been his best friend's pitiful moans of pain that snapped him back to reality.
Then of course that... demon known as Evangelion Unit 01 had exploded out of the ground and engaged the white Evas. He'd admit it was a truly awe inspiring sight but he'd force himself not to look at it or pay attention to the battle between those monsters. It was best not to think about the insanity unfolding around him lest he go insane as well. The only way he could keep himself sane with how bad his ears were ringing and with how much truly crazy shit he'd seen was to try his best to tune it out.
He'd kept moving down the road toward where he hoped any comrades would be waiting all while the fight raged but didn't find anyone. That was unfortunate, but not without a bit of a silver lining. He did manage to find a discarded first aid kit which he was currently using to help bandage Masaki up as best he could. The wounded man was not being too cooperative, but as Nakajima wasn't a medic, he didn't want to give his wounded friend any painkillers. With how much blood he'd lost it simply wasn't a good idea, he knew enough to understand that. "Hold still!" he hissed.
Masaki yelped and kicked his good leg in protest. "I can't help it!" he cried. "It hurts!"
Nakajima applied more pressure on the wound he was dressing and ignored his friend's pleas. "I know it hurts," he replied. "But it's either you eat this pain or you bleed out, you read me?"
Masaki tensed and bit his lip, arching his back as he did, clearly in agony. On the bright side of things, the pain was keeping him a bit more aware than when they'd just been ambling down the road... "I- I know..." he groaned. "Just fucking distract me or something! Fuck... I'm in so much pain..."
"I get it..." Nakajima replied, finishing with the bandages as best he could.
Masaki laid his head back on the pavement and breathed heavily. "What's happening now..." he murmured between breaths. "I heard some commotion and then it stopped again... Is the battle finally over?"
Nakajima looked over to where the battle between those monsters had raged. The Evas, all of them, were gone. He looked up to the sky and high above, almost too high to make out individual forms, were the nine white Evas surrounding the purple demon itself, seemingly latched on to those golden wings the thing had sprouted. "I hope so..." he murmured, his voice shaky. "I fucking hope so..."
And in that moment, as if the universe were mocking him, something truly unbelievable happened...
Nakajima watched as a pale, ghostly form began to emerge from the ground near the NERV pyramid. It looked like a giant naked woman but it was clearly not human. The sight was terrifying enough, how it rose in complete silence... but then he saw its eyes. Those horrible black eyes with red pupils looked like portals into hell. That smile this monster wore was the stuff of nightmares. He closed his eyes and shook his head. "I'm having a nightmare..." he whispered to himself, trying to dismiss the terror as best he could. "I'm having a horrible nightmare..."
He opened his eyes and the apparition was still there... and then he heard a ragged, moaning, airy sound on the wind and realized the growing entity before him wasn't a ghost. It was breathing...
As the terror and madness overwhelmed him, Ryuji Nakajima screamed... and screamed... and screamed...
Shinji sat in the cockpit of Unit 01 as it rose higher and higher into the sky, staring blankly ahead. He was above the clouds now and there was nothing he could do. He'd given up trying minutes ago. He'd failed. He'd let everyone down, and nothing, not even his mother within the Eva was going to help him now. He doubled over in his seat and held his head in his hands, grimacing, unable to accept that reality. "Dammit..." he hissed somewhere between anger and anguish. "Dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit!"
All of a sudden, he heard a sound like some kind of gasping breath. He snapped his head up and looked around just in time to see the nine Evas holding him hostage break away from him and form a circle around Unit 01. Then, rising up through the clouds he saw it...
It... it looked like a giant woman, pale and naked, it's white hair obscuring its face. His pulse quickened. What was this entity? What was happening? How was this possible? It didn't make any sense! "Wh- what's happening!?" he exclaimed, pushing himself back in his seat as if to try and retreat even though he knew there was no way to run. His instincts simply took over.
And then the creature lifted its head...
Shinji gasped and froze in his seat. This thing's face... it had Rei's face except for those black, empty eyes. "R- Rei?" he stammered in shock.
The creature blinked and when it opened its eyes they'd changed. Now they looked exactly like Rei's eyes. Its expression changed too, from a wide smile to a deep frown before it reached out to hold both its pale hands on either side of Unit 01.
At first Shinji wanted to scream, the insanity of the situation threatening to overwhelm him, but as his mind raced his terror turned to sadness. He remembered the conversation he'd had with Rei in the place where she'd been born, how she'd told him she'd been made from Lilith by his father in order to bring his mother back. He hadn't understood at the time but this was probably what she'd meant. His father had made her to do his own version of Instrumentality, start his own version of Third Impact...
But his father had given that up. His father was now lay dead... so why was Rei doing this? Why would she turn her back on the world?
His heart sank into the pit of his stomach. After a moment of contemplation he understood. The last time he'd spoken to Rei he'd hurt her so badly, utterly destroyed her with his words. She probably knew the battle was going poorly and simply given up... and that was his fault. If only he hadn't pushed her away then this might not be happening. If only he'd have listened to her and taken his time to understand her instead of reacting the way he had. If only he hadn't been so rash and leaped to judgment. It was all his fault...
But at this point it was too late to change anything... all he could do was sit here and wait for the end, whatever end Rei decided that would be.
He doubled over in his seat once again, tears pouring from his eyes, sobs wracking his entire body. "It's all my fault..." he whimpered, wallowing in his regret and despair. "I'm sorry, Rei... I'm so sorry..."
Author's notes
There we have it... in the throws of her despair, Rei has turned her back on the world...
I must confess that this one was rather challenging to compose despite its rather compact length in comparison to previous updates. This is partially due to the subject matter being rather, well, emotionally heavy, and also because it marks perhaps the largest turning point in the entire story. At this point things are at their most dire and Third Impact is all but assured. It's up to Rei now to decide what happens next. Her future and everyone else's is now in her hands. What she decides to do in this darkest hour awaits to be seen...
The opening with Kaji and Fujita is a sequence that I've been excited to share for a long time and I hope it satisfies. Also I'll admit that I had quite a bit of fun writing Asuka's desperate battle against the MPE's. In addition, Nakajima slowly losing his mind over the course of the battle was particularly fun. Even in the midst of utter chaos and despair a little humor is always nice, even if it's gallows humor.
I must warn everyone reading though... the next few chapters are going to be... different, in a very Evangelion way...
Please read and review! See you again very soon!
Regards,
A.F.