Shin Persona Evangelion

by Ultra Sonic 007

Shinji Ikari stared, bewildered by the bizarre-looking man, who gave an intrigued smile. "An interesting guest has arrived. My name is Igor. Welcome to the Velvet Room, young fool...we have important matters to discuss, you and I." (A fusion of the realms of Evangelion and Persona, where not all is as it seems.) (Cover art by Renu of the Sufficient Velocity forums.)

46. Thursday - July 16, 2015

Sokila frowned.

"Today...is when those big monsters will emerge..."

Her bare toes fiddled with the blankets.

"...last time was...painful, for you."

With tiny hands, she latched onto one of his.

"Please be okay..."

The faint haze of blue began to brighten-

xxxx

/Thursday: July 16, 2015/

/Barracks, NERV/

A dainty hand pulled Shinji Ikari out of his cot, the movement jostling him awake. "Huh-?"

"The time is oh-five-hundred," remarked Rei Ayanami (it's five in the morning...?), who had apparently entered his and Kensuke's room without much in the way of noise or aplomb. "We must deploy."

"...can we have breakfast first...?" he murmured.

"That should go without saying. Fighting without fuel would be foolish."

Grimacing, Shinji rose out of bed, trying to steel himself for the day to come. At least Aida-san will get to sleep in a little longer...

xxxx

/Elsewhere in the barracks/

Misato Katsuragi grumbled at the insistent nudging. "...ugh...five more minutes..." The nudging blessedly stopped, allowing her to dig deeper into her cot's blankets.

Five minutes later, the nudging continued. "...said five minutes..." The nudging stopped again.

Five minutes later, the nudging resumed. By this point, Misato was just awake enough to open her eyes. "...Mana-chan...?"

"You told us to wake up at five AM," answered Mana, her axe and shield already affixed to her back.

Blinking wearily, Misato reached for her phone. It read 5:10 AM. "...why'd you let me sleep in?"

"You said to give you five more minutes. Twice. So I did."

...well, that's one more for the List of Things that Mana Kirishima Needs to Learn: how to ignore pleas for the proverbial snooze button! "Welp, it's a busy day ahead of us. Let's get ready!"

xxxx

/Elsewhere in the barracks/

Ryuji Sakamoto tapped his cane against the floor, already dressed for the day to come. "So Suzuhara-kun...are you ready?"

Toji Suzuhara proverbially threw his blankets off, already wearing his tracksuit from school. "I was born ready."

Ryuji arched an eyebrow. "...did you go to sleep with that on?"

"...er...yes?"

"...not really necessary, but points for showing some gusto!"

"Sweet."

xxxx

As the world turned, the distorted skull of Zeruel gazed upon the Earth from within the moon's shadow.

"AND SO IT BEGINS ANEW."

His deathly gaze focused upon the essences of his kin, stirring to their fullness amidst the spiritual manifolds and physical matter of the world.

"WHAT SHALL COME OF THIS DAY?"

His attention focused particularly upon the presence of Ramiel, slowly manifesting amidst a familiar chain of islands. Nearby were the essences of two familiar beings, who would doubtless face Ramiel's rage.

"EMISSARY OF LILITH: HOW LONG MUST YOU TOIL IN FUTILITY?"

The red stars that were his eyes narrowed upon the other.

"IKARI. WILL YOU ASCEND TO NEW HEIGHTS THIS DAY? OR WILL YOU BE UNDONE?"

Truly, only Fate would decide.

And so the Angels began their carnage: one, after the other.

xxxx

As the Sun and the New Moon continued to rise in the morning sky — the latter nigh invisible to the naked eye — Shinji Ikari waited quietly in the Metaverse atop the Cognitive Protection Center, gazing upon the cognitive double of Tokyo-3 and the surrounding region.

Ayanami had been rather particular about taking the first patrol route of the morning, claiming that her mobility would make the task go faster. (It's not like he was going to argue with her, because she was the veteran. Obviously.)

Still...he couldn't help but grimace at how unnaturally quiet everything felt. The Archetypes, much like one month ago, had clustered around the various shelters of Tokyo-3; the barely-contained chaos and ordered panic that normally constituted the city's cognitive patterns was...comforting, in retrospect, now that it was reduced. Such was the sign of life, in all its complexity. (It comforted him far more than the mental husks of empty towns that he had seen in Japan and America: devolving into formless wastelands or generalized forestry, bereft of the thoughts that had carved a form.)

His Other sighed.

"Does the lack of life disturb you?"

The Beast snorted, standing astride a land strewn with corpses.

"Is that so...how fascinating..."

Shinji shook his head, briefly glancing at the stoic form of Andras. The owl-man's wings twitched, sounding audibly loud amidst the unnatural calm of the sky around them. By this point, the bolts of nothingness had begun to rain sporadically from the sky. I wonder...will an Angel appear like before...? If nothing else, it certainly wouldn't be able to attack him by surprise up here.

xxxx

Inside the Cognitive Protection Center, within the main monitoring station, Goro Akechi gave Misato Katsuragi the side eye. "It's unusual for you to take an Oversight shift on the new moon, Katsuragi-senpai," he idly remarked.

The older woman shrugged, looking at feeds being displayed from the various Ocular Drones deployed throughout the region. "Well, I've got a few people to keep an eye on today."

Akechi hadn't been blind to the fact that Katsuragi kept gazing towards two monitors in particular: one showing Shinji Ikari atop the spherical CPC, and the other showing Ryuji Sakamoto and his trio of temporary teenage teammates. "I suppose you do."

"...think we'll have a repeat of whatever happened to Noboru Hanamura's Shadow?"

Akechi huffed, thinking back to how that unlucky man's Shadow had been absconded without warning. "We have more Ocular Drones observing the CPC this time around, and we have more Agents staffed within the Panopticon itself. With the additional insight provided by the MAGI and NERV since last month, any unusual events will be detected before they occur."

"...let's hope so," muttered Katsuragi.

xxxx

Within the cognitive city below, Ryuji Sakamoto sat atop the roof of Jazz Jingisukan, idly noticing shades of sheep playing jazz instruments. "Huh. Neat."

"...waiting is kind of irritating," muttered Mana Kirishima, staring at the nearest designated shelter, made all the more obvious by the Archetypes clustered around. "You'd think those would be death traps."

"Well, the whole point is to keep the Shadows in a spot away from where human thoughts naturally form," remarked Kensuke Aida, watching as the ethereal figments of nonbeing dropped among the Archetypes. Though they reacted with a sense of agitation, nothing came of it...fortunately. "Human thoughts tend to draw attention. It's why the Task Force facilities tend to either be in places far away from populated areas, or are deliberately engineered to be in places that are physically impossible to get to in reality." The bespectacled boy spoke with the faux sagacity of one repeating what they had heard from someone else.

"...man, Angels are complicated," griped Toji Suzuhara.

"That's putting it mildly," said Ryuji, his hand rubbing the hilt of his gun-cane. "Stay on your toes, kids." I've got a bad feeling about today...

Mana promptly flexed her feet, standing on her toes. "How's this helping?"

"...he wasn't being literal," griped Toji, looking at Mana with a perturbed expression. "It's just an expression!"

The lone girl grimaced. "How does it even become an expression?"

"If you two end up spawning Archetypes out of sheer anger, I swear..." muttered Kensuke.

xxxx

In the sky above Hakone, Rei Ayanami stood upon an Ocular Drone, focusing her gaze upon the contours of thought upon reality, and the gaps that lied between them. With that keen insight, she hoped to witness the Angel before it manifested. Where will you emerge...and where will you strike...?

Lilith flew alongside the Drone, purple fairy wings flapping lazily. "It is not quite the height of heroism to broadcast your presence."

"I would rather be the target than anyone else. I can endure."

Lilith knew this, for she was herself, just as much as Rei was her.

Where will you emerge, Angel...?

xxxx

The Angel observed, from the realm in-between.

The Passage of Fate had converged upon this moment. How fitting it would be, to strike in such a manner.

There was no point in waiting. No point in indulging.

A single blow. A solitary attack, strong enough to decapitate the proverbial Beast.

Zeruel would be displeased, surely.

Yet...Ramiel could not find it in himself to care.

sshh

sshh

SSHH

SSHH

With a supreme act of will, the Angel forced himself through time and thought, psyche and spirit, cognition and corporeality.

xxxx

In the real world, at NERV Headquarters, Gendo Ikari sat quietly within his office.

His monitor abruptly flashed very familiar words.

PATTERN BLUE DETECTED
PRELIMINARY LOCATION: TOKYO-3 AIRSPACE

"And so it begins anew," murmured the Commander of NERV.

xxxx

/The Metaverse/

Rei Ayanami paused, feeling a sudden confluence of energy that could only mean one thing. An Angel. Where-? She looked over her shoulder, looking back towards Tokyo-3's mental skyline. No...!

xxxx

Shinji Ikari, as if by instinct, turned to the east.

Nothingness seemed to fold together, a living void that emerged from nowhere. The emptiness quickly became full, as shadow gave way to blue crystal in the shape of giant octahedron. Wha...?

The rims of the giant crystal shined.

Every part of him suddenly screamed to act.

"Die," sang the crystal.

There was a sharp chime, and then the deluge of burning light.

The moment the Angel had manifested in its fullness, dozens of Ocular Drones turned and zoomed in.

Goro Akechi rose with a start, the everpresent voice in his head going still. "What the...?"

Misato Katsuragi froze, the very sight of the floating blue crystal stirring something primal within her. The trajectory and angle of the light along its rim, and the sight of Shinji Ikari — still staring from atop the CPC! — in the line of fire made her blood go cold. "SHINJI!"

xxxx

Shinji Ikari acted by instinct.

The sensation of burning pain was imagined before it could be felt. His spirit seemed to cringe at the prospect of getting hit by...whatever this creature was about to (no, it's doing it RIGHT NOW) fire at him.

His Other's hands tightened into fists.

"Move forward."

The Beast gazed at the oncoming storm with bared teeth.

"Feel the hatred on your skin!"

With a defiant scream, he willed Andras to step forward; the shadow of Shogoki loomed over his Persona, intruding upon the cognitive with the weight of his soul.

Light splashed against a wall of translucent orange, sending sparks of thought-devouring fury flying. Some had enough residual energy to boil through the surface of the CPC's outer shell.

The sheer anger of the Angel still bled through, carrying with it a pain that was no less real.

Shinji screamed.

xxxx

Misato paled at the sight of Shinji standing stalwartly behind his A.T. Field (that still freaks me out, how is he DOING that?!), mouth open into an agonized wail.

"KATSURAGI!"

She whirled towards Akechi, whose face had adopted a stern, no-nonsense expression. He spoke with the authority of the Chief Warden, going so far as to drop the 'senpai' honorific. "Whatever that thing is, the residual energy from its beam is eating deeper into the Protection Center and encroaching upon the Realms of some of our residents."

"...understood. I'm heading down to the Panopticon to provide backup." Action was something she could do. Something she could provide. The focus required would help her to get through the day.

"I will keep an eye on them," remarked Akechi, eyes darting from monitor to monitor with practiced ease.

Misato nodded, steeling herself as she left the monitor station and soared down the halls. As Tokoyo manifested behind her, she spared one last thought for the children. You'd better survive...!

xxxx

One of the ways that Tokyo-3 organized its New Moon shelter policy was that every single resident in the city — from every family to every adult and everyone in between — had a designated shelter to report to. (They didn't go so far as to actually mandate this, because attaching a penalty would only breed resentment. And resentment could bleed over into the cognitive world, and have potentially harmful effects. This was where social engineering and propaganda came in, to make it all seem like it was the individual's idea to go to their designated shelter. Known social units and relationship clusters were kept together as much as feasibly possible, because that only made the monthly day of forced isolation in all but name easier.) However, despite the rather lengthy portion of the civil code which codified how said shelters were to be operated, it didn't quite clarify the unspoken policy at work: namely, that shelter assignments were driven to some degree by which Shadows were under the care of the A.T. Task Force.

One of the consequences of this policy (which wasn't publicly disclosed, because it's not like the public needed to know) was that those whose Shadows weren't registered with the Cognitive Protection Center were all gathered in one particular four-story building on the outskirts of town. This was fairly simple, seeing as how such people numbered under a thousand as far as the Hakone region was concerned.

(Three particular Wild Cards were among this number. However, they usually were out and about on such days, for reasons that were their own.)

It was also fairly logical, since those whose Shadows weren't held within the CPC were therefore the most likely to become Acolytes. It allowed the A.T. Task Force to concentrate their Agents at the area of highest risk with a degree of reasonable efficiency.

Alas, this strategy banked on the civilians' Shadows remaining safe within the CPC.

This had already been falsified last month, with what had happened to Noboru Hanamura because of Shamshel.

Ramiel's wanton fury would have far greater consequences.

xxxx

Goro Akechi watched grimly as an Ocular Drone observed a Shadow tear through the damaged hull of their spherical base in the sky, bearing the ever-familiar avian mask of of an Acolyte. Already it was beginning to hulk up to a greater size. Will it attack Ikari...?

Fortunately, the corrupted Shadow had different plans. With little aplomb, it took great, loping strides towards the edge, leaping off.

But of course, he thought with a frown. Observations of all such incidents throughout the years pointed to the logical conclusion. An Acolyte's Shadow tends to seek out where its cognitive origin is located, after all. As the hulk fell through the sky — its motion tracked all the way by an Ocular Drone — he predicted where it would fall and thought of the Agents which were assigned to that location in both the real world and the cognitive world. Well, as far as the Metaverse is concerned, I suppose it would be former Agent, he mused as he thumbed his A.T. medallion.

xxxx

Down in the city below, Ryuji suddenly paused as a familiar sensation came from his tin badge, carrying with it a very detailed mental impression. "...well, that ain't good." He impulsively craned his head up. "Kirishima-chan, you need to transition into the real world."

Mana blinked, as did Toji and Kensuke. "What for?" she asked.

"Cause I think your unique skills are going to get a workout much sooner than we thought."

The three teenagers followed his gaze, watching as an Acolyte's Shadow fell towards their street.

xxxx

Within the real world (in a shelter located within one of the downtown high rise buildings), the poor individual whose Shadow was falling towards Sakamoto's Team was audibly growling by now, to the point where the people gathered around him could hear and recognize it. "An Acolyte...!" quietly despaired a young woman that knew the signs.

Fortunately, the nearest Agents were on the scene, and they were equipped for combat. "Everyone, back away!" barked a chain-wielding Agent with a baritone befitting an acapella, even as three more — two women and a man — advanced with tasers and Grade 100 alloy chains at the ready. As the civilians quickly vacated the area, the two female Agents quickly jabbed their tasers into the Acolyte's side, physically locking up his muscles; it was just enough time for the baritone barker and his comrade to wrap their chains around the berserk man. With efficient movements, they bound his limbs and body, looping the links and connecting them with thick padlocks that were six inches across and two inches thick.

By the time the Acolyte began thrashing — straining against the links, trying with animalistic rage to get some form of leverage and slack, but to no avail (so far) — the four Agents backed away with some trepidation. "Good thing we got the Warden's warning," murmured a petite female, her taser still at the ready.

"But why here?" asked another woman, her thin black hair parted such that her forehead was emphasized. "Most of our most damaging ordnance is useless now!" It went unspoken that the fear of collateral damage rendered some of their methods of restraint and incapacitation a nonstarter.

It was at that point that a scream could be heard from elsewhere on the floor. "Another one...?" groaned the other male Agent, his dark hair already showing signs of perspiration.

The baritone barker huffed, scratching at his short brown hair. "Ayane, you've got my permission to shock this poor sucker if it looks like he's going to break free. Call for backup in the meantime!"

Ayane Matsunaga saluted. "S-Sir!" Without hesitation, she then jabbed her taser through a cap in the chains, shocking the Acolyte into paralysis once more. "Sorry, mister."

"Kou, Yumi, let's go!"

Agents Kou Ichijo and Yumi Ozawa nodded. "Sir!"

Captain Daisuke Nagase led the way, barking at the civilians to clear a path. I just hope our comrades in the Metaverse will stop their Shadow soon...what the hell is going on?!

xxxx

The onslaught would not end until Ikari was dead.

That much, Ramiel promised to himself. "Thou shalt not last forever," he chanted.

Suddenly, a wretched presence erupted from nearby. Ramiel's attention shifted, witnessing the blooming form of a masked woman with purple wings. Overshadowing the form of a blue-haired nymph, the winged being slammed into his crystalline skin.

The sound of a crystalline chime rang out with all the force of a great gong, as Ramiel's tip was forced off track. The Angel clamped down on his song, gazing upon the form of a hated enemy. "Foul witch."

"You will not kill him," stated Lilith, her yellow eyes glowing ethereally from behind her purple mask.

The red-eyed girl that was Lilith's Other Self simply stared with a dispassionate yet determined gaze.

"Thou art an annoyance," he hummed, intentionally receding.

Unsurprisingly, Lilith and her Other pursued him...which was just as well.

Within his Seat of Power, he would crush her without mercy.

xxxx

The burning sensation finally stopped.

Shinji Ikari slumped to his knees, his throat sore from all of the screaming. Even his soul seemed to be fatigued, sprawling from his heart with a sensation akin to mild cramps. Breathing harshly, he gazed at the form of the Angel, which was slowly beginning to fade away into shadow.

To his surprise, he could see the diminutive form of Ayanami and her Persona following the Angel.

Memories of the battle against Shamshel rang through his mind, clear as a bell. I have to follow her...!

Corresponding to his will, Andras — still bearing the transparent shade of Unit-01 over his form — scooped him up into his arms and took flight, taking aim for the unreal gap that was slowly closing up in the wake of Ayanami and the Angel.

It was just barely (the will of something greater and alien was closing down upon him!) that he slipped through.

xxxx

Rei Ayanami envied the Angels, in a certain sense.

The dimensional divide that they resided in — an un-reality tangential to mind and matter and spirit, separate from them yet touching them all — was...blessedly silent, compared to the world she and the rest of humanity lived in. This was in spite of the turbulent and chaotic gray waters that slowly gave way to twisting labyrinths of non-Euclidean crystals and gems that flickered with melodious lightning and orange thunder.

Her Persona vanished as she fully crossed the threshold into the Angel's domain, landing harshly on a floor formed from living crystal. She slowly rose, her white bodysuit seemingly glowing amidst the reflections. "...Ramiel," she murmured.

"Champion of Lilith," chorused the Angel. The red Core that housed the entirety of his presence gleamed brightly, surrounded by manifolds of blue solidity. Flickers of an avian mask intermittently flashed, reflected eternally within the mirror shine of the crystals.

"Thunder of God," she quietly answered.

"A title ascribed to me by the Lilim."

"One you have nonetheless embraced."

"Thine essence is clear. The echoes of Sachiel make it known."

"And yet I will still fight you."

A ripple of indignation ran through the infinite halls of Ramiel. "And what dost thou gain from facing me?" asked the acapella. "Another repeat? Another battle, doomed to be lost in the seas of memory?"

Rei shifted her feet back, resting a hand over her abdomen. "A chance."

"A chance for salvation? A chance for freedom? A chance for life?" challenged the choir. "We have no chances left."

With a pained grimace, she withdrew Zerogoki from the depths of her being, manifesting her Evangelion. Unit-00 gazed up at Ramiel's Core, burning with the essence of Lilith.

"What you have become is a pity."

"We will not countenance such falsity from thee. Anger and vengeance is preferable to thy miserable despair," harangued the harmony.

Rei did not let the comment get to her (even if, on some level, she agreed with the sentiment). However, before she could strike, a familiar sensation intruded upon them both. (Oh, why didn't you stay outside...?) With a terrific and discordant crash, Shinji Ikari landed behind her. "Your assistance is not necessary," she coolly said.

Already pulling Shogoki from the depths of his head, Shinji growled, "I...I have this power...to face beings like this..." As he rose to his full height — Metaverse outfit giving way to the familiar bodysuit of blue and black, the bluish-white metal gleaming in Ramiel's reflected light — he said, "and I...wasn't going to let you face this alone."

Unit-01 swelled with power, gazing furiously at Ramiel's Core.

"You seethe with a sour note."

Ramiel did not seem perturbed by Ikari's arrival in the slightest. "I would have been content with the true Childe of Lilith. Yet thou art ever predictable, third Champion. This day, thou shalt fall." Crystalline pylons grew like living tissue, shining with energy. "Perish like the rest of thy kind!" triumphantly sang the Angel.

Lasers erupted, pouring down upon them like rain.

"TAKE EVASIVE ACTION!" commanded Rei with an urgency she rarely exhibited. Ikari did so, going one way while she went another.

Thus began the battle for their lives.

xxxx

"PERSONA!"

That was the cry of a man and two boys. (Toji often talked himself up in front of his peers, but compared to his sensei, he knew he was not yet a man.) A trio of Personas burst into being, taking position along the street below.

Their target — the Acolyte's Shadow, who had already begun tearing at the side of the building where a shelter was located in the real world — paused, turning its avian mask towards them.

"HEY, UGLY!" taunted Ryuji Sakamoto, resting his gun cane over his shoulders. Seiten Taisei set him onto the ground, grinning savagely at the hulking Shadow all the while. "Why don't you pick on someone who can actually fight worth a damn?!"

"Should we really be taunting the giant monster?" murmured Kensuke Aida, adjusting his glasses as Ozymandias stood protectively in front of him. (His clothes look like something from a cheap costume shop. Maybe he'd talk to Ken about it later? Eh, I look cooler than he does, why would I care?)

"Better us than causing trouble around the shelter. It'd be a bad thing for the Acolyte to cause a cognitive void in the space where a bunch of frightened people are currently gathered," calmly answered Sakamoto-sensei. "Aida-kun, keep it hampered. Suzuhara-kun, bust a move. I've got long range."

"Roger!" answered Kensuke, gesturing towards the hulk with his hand. Ozymandias, in turn, raised his shepherd's crook and took aim. "Dazzler!" yelled both boy and Persona. A flash of flickering light burst upon the face of the beast, eliciting a pained groan from the being. "Toji!"

"Speed Buster," growled Gilgamesh, burning with purple light as he charged — gauntlet-clad right arm first — at the taller monster. There was a meaty smack as Persona smashed into Shadow with a heavy physical blow, simultaneously imparting Rakunda to the beast.

"Ah, nice!" commented Ryuji, watching critically as Seiten Taisei began flinging lightning. "Keep at it! Don't let up for even a second! The sooner we take one down, the quicker we can focus on the others!"

Toji couldn't help but glance up at the Cognitive Protection Center; true enough, more corrupted Shadows were following in ones and twos. Mercifully, most were falling towards other parts of the city, but more were on their way to their current location. Damn, what's going on up there?!

xxxx

Within the halls of the Cognitive Protection Center, Misato Katsuragi's Persona raised her twin swords, facing off against an Acolyte's Shadow. "Myriad Slashes." Flickering lines cut against the beast, yet not enough to stop it.

Misato quickly shouted, "TAG!"

Another A.T. Agent stepped ahead of her, directing his Persona — a human skeleton, writhed with flame — to attack. "Agilao." A pillar of fire erupted, smashing against the corrupted Shadow's torso.

"TAG!" shouted the man.

Misato stepped ahead of her comrade, already directing her Persona to strike from a separate angle (made possible by how the Acolyte's corrupting influence destabilized the cognitive engineering of the CPC, deforming the hall so that it seemed to bend and expand to fit its bulky form). "KEEP AT IT!" she yelled, knowing that her words transmitted to all of the Agents through her medallion. Dozens, stationed within the CPC, were trying to contain the corrupted Shadows while others worked on excising the damage caused by the Angel.

Alas, there was no telling how many had ended up slipping out of the CPC by this point.

xxxx

Toji shook his head. Focus on what's in front of us, he resolved, turning back towards the tainted Shadow that they were trying to put down.

(Its monstrous appearance made it easy to forget that destroying it would result in the death of a person.)

(But Acolytes were dead men walking anyway.)

xxxx

Events in the real world were no less chaotic.

At least, that was what Mana Kirishima felt as she witnessed panicked civilians fleeing the building. Well, at least this will lower the chance for collateral damage.

The problem now consisted in actually facing the Acolytes themselves, whose durability and strength were infamous by this point.

She glanced down at the large apron which hung over her torso, given to her by Sakamoto for the duration of this mission.

(It was a small thing, going only down to her waist: colored black, with some elaborate silver and yellow symbol embroidered on it that she didn't recognize. "A.T. Agents are trained to recognize this symbol as belonging to a friendly. Useful for when a joint operation gets launched and you don't have time to introduce yourself," he explained. "Should keep any Agents from accidentally attacking you...if they ain't trigger-happy, at least.")

It would have to do. Now it would just be a matter of actually succeeding. This'll be my first time facing an Acolyte. Tokita had held off on deploying her against them, for fear of her abilities being...insufficient. (How much of that concern had been driven by pragmatism? By fear for his investment coming to naught? She would never know, now.)

Could she actually do it?

xxxx

Her Big Sis gazed at a horrific picture of Ikari's Evangelion. Her Little Sis stared at a drawing of the Reaper. They both looked at her, and gave a thumbs up.

xxxx

"Only one way to find out," she said, holding AIGIS forward and LABRYS over her shoulders as she entered the multi-story shelter.

xxxx

The emergence of dozens of civilians from a shelter was not something that could be easily ignored. Social engineering and trust in authority had warred against the simple reality that far too many of their fellows were going berserk right before their eyes: one had been reasonable, and not out of line historically. (After you see an Acolyte get hogtied, restrained, and put down one or two times, they tended to lose their aura of inevitable death.)

Two had been getting into scary territory. Three...four...five...was a sign that something had gone wrong.

The shelter — situated in a twenty-story building that doubled as a supply depot for various stores in the area — had fifteen A.T. Agents assigned to it. When counting all of the shelters throughout Tokyo-3, there were approximately seven hundred Agents currently active throughout the Hakone region. When counting those who were also in the Metaverse at that time, the number rose to over twelve hundred.

By comparison, the total number of Shadows registered within the Cognitive Protection Center numbered well over two hundred thousand, corresponding to well north of 95% of the population of the Tokyo-3 Metropolitan Area.

In other words...even a minor percentage of Shadows becoming corrupted by Angel Syndrome would be enough to overwhelm the city's retinue of defenders.

Not that Minato Arisato knew of any of this, of course. He had just been going on a quiet stroll (because the sidewalks were so mercifully open and quiet on the day of the new moon) when a crowd of people had begun spilling out into the streets a couple of blocks ahead of him. Slipping off his headphones, he idly took a bite of jagariko as dozens of frightened civilians began to disperse. "Well...that doesn't look good," he muttered.

xxxx

Mana held AIGIS ahead of herself, shouting authoritatively at people to get out of her way.

The sight of LABRYS resting on her shoulders was enough for people to part around her, as a river moving about a sturdy boulder.

Keep your eyes peeled, she told herself as she advanced up the stairwell to the second floor. An Acolyte could come from anywhere.

Turning a corner, she saw a typical salaryman, hunched over the pulverized body of an A.T. Agent. (The guy was bald, with a thin mustache, and that was all she could recognize.) The man rose — knuckles smeared with blood — and glared at her with raw hatred. (Had she not seen the malevolent gaze of the Reaper, it would have been intimidating. Had she not witnessed the unbridled fury of Shinji Ikari, it might have made her afraid.) With a furious growl, it charged at her with unbelievable speed. On impulse, she raised AIGIS and dug in with her feet. (I will not move. With my sisters, you won't move me!)

The Acolyte slammed into her shield, possessing enough physical momentum to push her back by several feet. There was a strange whine as kinetic energy bled into the gemstone of her shield.

Grunting, Mana pushed the berserk man back, lashing out with LABRYS.

The Acolyte's A.T. Field rang like a broken bell as she smashed her axe's glowing edge into it; it cracked, but it did not shatter, nor did it break.

(Little did she know, at that same time in the Metaverse, the Acolyte's Shadow faltered. Ryuji Sakamoto saw his chance.)

The Acolyte snarled, stepping forward with a wide haymaker. To her eyes, it seemed to be glowing.

("God's Hand!" With that hooping holler, Seiten Taisei fired a golden fist at the corrupted Shadow.)

Mana barely shifted back in time, using the curved surface of her shield to parry the blow; the fist still caused massive fissures where it landed in the wall. With reflexes born from battle, she spun and swung her axe down at an angle.

(The Acolyte's Shadow — once more briefly faltering from a status effect courtesy of Ozymandias — took the massive fist head on. The force was enough to deform the Shadow's head into the shape of a crescent moon.)

She did not see the Acolyte falter as LABRYS bisected him cleanly, tearing through flesh and bone and smashing into the floor beneath.

(The corrupted Shadow suddenly gurgled, dissipating and coming apart. As the cognitive being melted into a puddle of dissolving goo, Sakamoto shouted. "Keep your heads in the game kids! Onto the next one!" he commanded, gazing at yet another Acolyte's Shadow — now one of four, soon to be five — clambering upon the shelter.)

Multiple thoughts rammed through Mana's mind at once, so stunned was she by how quickly her axe had torn through the man. A mere sample included: wait what; Are humans supposed to have this much blood; Big Sis cut through the Acolyte like paper! Hah; Why do I feel sick...? All these and more swirled around, forming a heady brew. Her brief shock was such that her getting ambushed could be forgiven.

It was the sound of chains dropping onto the ground that jolted Mana out of her nauseous reverie. Looking up, she saw another Acolyte charging, this one bearing at least some clothing damage. However, the glint of fury in his eyes was enough to jar her into action. She raised her shield-

POW!

It was only thanks to the enhanced protection granted to her by AIGIS and LABRYS's bond with her mind and soul that kept her from becoming crushed into paste. Her A.T. Field subconsciously hardened — invisibly so — in response to the protective will of her bonded weapons; it still didn't stop her from crashing through the wall, falling a whole story onto her back. The impact forced air out of her lungs, and her shield and axe went sliding out of her hands. "...ow..." she grunted. That...hurt...

"...that look like it hurt."

The calm and stoic words prompted her to open her eyes fully. They had come from a young man — older than Shinji Ikari, but not quite yet an adult — with blue eyes and hair colored a darker shade. His hands were in his pockets like they belonged there. "...why aren't you running...?" she slurred, trying to feel for AIGIS and LABRYS.

"Why aren't you?" he calmly asked. There was no accusation in his face.

"Have to fight," she impulsively answered, slowly sitting up.

"Seems like your weapons have been doing the fighting for you," he remarked. He looked ahead, staring at where the Acolyte was jumping out of the hole that he had made using her body. "...real shame. They seem pretty neat." Without hesitation, he quietly knelt down and picked up AIGIS and LABRYS from where they had fallen.

Mana's eyes instinctively widened as he stepped ahead of her, mostly from outrage (how DARE he touch them?!) and partly from concern (stupid idiot what is he doing?!) before she blinked again...and witnessed.

xxxx

The blue-haired stranger stood stoically amidst the void, his back to her.

Little Sis was embracing him from the front, holding onto him as though he were...a lifeline? The sheer longing that she was emanating was unmistakable.

Big Sis stood to the side, a curious expression on her face.

He held out his hand. Little Sis mouthed something encouraging.

Nodding with a steely gaze, Big Sis stepped forward and shook the young man's hand.

xxxx

The Acolyte smashed into AIGIS; the young man did not budge even an inch.

Mana blinked. What...?

With a subtle movement, he rebuffed the Acolyte, and swung LABRYS (wait that axe weighs over twenty kilos he must be synching with her but HOW is he synching?!). The gem in the center glowed strangely as the blade bit into the corrupted human's A.T. Field...and slipped through. With a defiant yell, the man cut down the Acolyte, unleashing a burst of power that seemingly vaporized the being. Naught but dust remained of the Acolyte.

(Little did either of them know: in the Metaverse, a Shadow that Kensuke Aida had tried to impair suddenly dissolved, falling apart into nothingness. "...man, Kirishima must be doing well!" he said to himself, before directing Ozymandias towards another one.)

"...what...what just...?" Mana tried to use words, and couldn't force them out. Because...what?!

"...bonds are a two-way street," he vaguely said, turning around. He calmly offered AIGIS and LABRYS, adding, "for all the power your friends hold...you're still an important part of the link. Don't put so much stock into others that you forget about the person that you're becoming...because otherwise, they might as well be talking to an imaginary friend." He blinked slowly. "Not sure it makes sense to you, but that's how I feel."

"...uh..." She dumbly took back her weapons, looking up at the older boy. "Who...who are you...?"

"Death."

"..."

"...that was a joke. I don't think I'm old enough to pull it off."

"..."

"Anyhow, you're still a growing kid." He promptly handed her a coupon to Neo Hagakure, and placed his headphones back over his ears. "Try not to die. I wouldn't recommend it." He then stuck his hands into his pockets and resumed walking.

...what just happened?

xxxx

Little Sis quietly ruffled her hair, staring fondly. Big Sis simply warned her to be careful. Both then promptly aimed a fire hose at a burning building.

xxxx

Shaking her head, Mana hoisted her weapons up. Think about it later. You still have a mission to perform. She turned back towards the shelter, steeling herself to once more plunge into its depths...albeit with a bit more caution, this time.

xxxx

The flow of battle within the Angel's domain had split Shinji Ikari and Rei Ayanami apart, forcing them to fight in isolation.

All the while, Ramiel (the very domain seemed to echo with the being's name, a proclamation in the form of song) seemed to taunt him. "Why hast thou come so far, Childe of Lilith?" The floor beneath Unit-01 suddenly sharpened, extending upward like skewers. Shinji clung tightly to his Evangelion's left shoulder (a function of will; he desired to remain upon Shogoki, and so it was. How long this would last...well, he didn't think about it), wincing as the incarnation of his mind and soul leapt away. "What drives thee?" The skewers seemed to grow with unnervingly organic motions, extending from new octahedrons. "Why. Are. You. Here?" The formality of the Angel's words seemed to decrease the angrier it sounded (emanating with trumpets and pipe organs instead of gentler woodwinds and violins; part of him wondered how he was going to explain this to Dr. Akagi in the debriefing, why am I thinking about that I have to SURVIVE first). "What brought thee to this juncture?"

Shinji wanted to answer the Angel's questions. He would have if he weren't so focused on trying not to die. With Hamlet currently embodied by Evangelion, his A.T. Field had contorted into the shape of his Persona's sword, clenched tightly in Shogoki's right hand; he hissed "cleave" as Unit-01 dove to the side, smashing a spirit-forged blade against the living crystal.

"Shamshel: their test was fruitful."

What test? More octahedrons emerged from the walls, glimmering with light. "Mapsi!" Unit-01's eyes flashed; flickering orbs of color swirled about the crystals, knocking their aim off. Lasers fired nonetheless, smashing about his position.

"Shamshel: ended by YOUR hand."

"He was trying to kill me!" he managed to get off, eyes darting about for the next incoming attack and oh the floor was beginning to glow. Unit-01 snarled, ramming its left fist into the floor. Fissures erupted, and the light — bereft of focus — scattered harmlessly.

The Angel was not amused. "Thou art a wretched thing, driven by base instincts and infantile urges!" sang Ramiel, his Core glowing with irritation (for Shinji could think of no better way to describe it). "Thy decision to come here...was foolish."

His Evangelion simmered with anger (and that anger was his own, born from something deep that he was incapable of articulating).

"And you would know much about being a fool!"

Shinji forced a shift in his mind (Hamlet stepped aside, letting Andras take the reins), and his soul responded in kind; his ego barrier shifted, sword vanishing to make way for ethereal wings. With greater agility, Shogoki took to the air, aiming a hand at a cluster of floating crystals. "Zio," said Shinji. A bolt of lightning erupted from his Evangelion's palm, striking at the tiny octahedrons.

The Core shined with amusement, and the choir boasted "sending lightning against the Thunder of God?"

(Thunder of God?) Shinji impulsively blinked. Oh wait, thunder is caused by lightning-

The floating crystals shined with greater light, loosing empowered beams with triumphant horns.

Shinji's Evangelion impulsively raised its arms (shield shield SHIELD) as the energy washed over them, carrying them into the crystalline walls of Ramiel's domain with a mighty crash.

xxxx

Rei Ayanami frowned at the sound of trumpets and thunder. I have to get to him. Standing upon Zerogoki's shoulder, she calmly gazed at the various crystals which surrounded her.

Little did she know that Ramiel's conversation with her was much different than the one the he was simultaneously having with the Third Child. "Thine efforts will be for naught."

"Your opinion on the matter is irrelevant."

The lasers fired in a random sequence, forcing her to dodge and shield with her soul in equal measure. The cycloptic eye of Unit-00 glared at the brilliantly blue manifold surrounding Ramiel's Core (because oh how she desired to incinerate the Angel right now, with an irritation more appropriate for the Second Child than herself).

"I can hear the song of thine anger," chanted Ramiel. "Thou art...invested."

A roundhouse from Unit-00 launched one of the floating crystals into another, smashing them into pieces. Ramiel willed three more to take their place.

"Thou wilt be disappointed by the result. All you've done is doom him."

"That has yet to be determined." (It was a fear she struggled with on a daily basis, because what if they failed?)

"Thy fear is a gloomy dirge," mocked the acapella. "Let this foolishness end. Let him suffer as we all have. It would be...just."

Rei's eyebrow twitched. "Mamudoon," she stated. Concentric circles — colored like old blood — flashed into being on the floor beneath her Evangelion, glowing with various sigils and symbols that evoked the essence of death. With a burst of power, it flashed over the proverbial dome of crystals that surrounded her.

Approximately half of the octahedrons were vaporized in an instant.

A pipe organ blared with indignation. "THAT'S CHEATING," came Ramiel's death metal scream.

Zerogoki saw the gap in the crystals' coverage, and sighed.

"Randomness and chance are a part of life, even in this place."

As her Evangelion dashed through into the open, Rei focused on making her way over to Ikari's position.

xxxx

Shinji Ikari knew, intellectually, that he would not fall from Shogoki's shoulder.

It didn't stop that brief spike of fear from emerging with each dodge that his Evangelion — now embodied by Yaksini instead of Andras, bearing two swords forged from his spirit — made, rolling and skipping and hopping from the barrage of energy (visible bolts of light and invisible daggers of heat, each one searing with a song that burned and cut) erupting from the walls. Action occurred at the speed of thought, and he focused desperately on trying not to die.

Run. Dive to the right, slash with the right blade against a floating crystal. It split apart (no explosion; some part of him was disappointed, for some reason), crumbling into shards of glowing glass. More running, even as the floor betrayed him. Jump into the air, landing on the wall (gravity reoriented itself in an instant, and the wall was now the floor again); more octahedrons surround him, peppering his position with more fire (it burns, but I can endure it). Spin in place, slicing away with all the grace of a whirling dervish. Living gemstone erupt from the wall, latching for him with sharp fangs and shining beams (it was far less animalistic and more beautiful than that, but the imagery felt consistent); bend the legs, leap into the air and towards the Core. (Shogoki snarled and hissed as it got closer to the Angel.)

The crystalline manifold swirled as he crashed into the Angel's A.T. Field. There was the impression of an avian mask glaring at him. "Thou art an annoyance." There was the pounding of a grand piano's keys, accompanied by concussive force blasting him away.

Harsh hardness, slamming into his back. Pain. (Get up get up get UP!) Scramble upward, look around. Run some more. Force his way through another living wall of crystal. (This time, his soul triumphed, but what did it matter against a mere extension of Ramiel?) Slash some more against the myriad avatars of the Angel. Swish. Slash. Stab. Wince as one of the floating crystals actually explode in his face after getting bisected. Grimace as his Evangelion howls with anger and frustration. Blink as an orange Evangelion rams into a larger conglomeration of living geometry-wait, Ayanami-san?

"Move," she said loudly without yelling or shouting.

Shinji blinked — abruptly shifting out of the trance he had fallen into — before obeying, leaping away from a column of heat and light that boiled the air where he had once stood. "Ayanami!"

"We cannot afford to turn this into a battle of attrition," she remarked, even as Zerogoki slapped its palms together. "Prepare to run."

"Run from wha-?"

"Mabufudyne." Her Evangelion slammed its hands into the ground, summoning a torrent of ice that grew and grew, evoking the impression of dead trees formed from snowflakes.

Shinji blanched at the display, feeling the sudden chill invade the ambience of this space. A gesture from his fellow Evangelion-user prompted him to back away, following her towards the edge of whatever served as the threshold to the Angel's domain. Just one step is all it would take to step into the unreal threshold between dimensions. (Just...where ARE we, anyway? What are the Angels?) "...now what?"

"If we coordinate our attacks, we should be able to breach the Angel's A.T. Field." Rei kept a cool gaze upon the Angel, even as its miniature extensions began to withdraw from the deathly ice field that Ayanami had created. "I suggest you utilize whichever Persona of yours has the greatest offensive capabilities. Piercing, if possible." She quietly exhaled, even as her Evangelion — brimming with the shade of her Persona Lilith, fairy wings flexing in his mind's eye — prepared to move forward. "I will clear the way for you."

"But isn't that dangerous?" Ramiel's power was immense-!

"I will protect you. It is...my duty."

"Then you shouldn't do it by yourself!" Already, the ice summoned by Ayanami was being melted by lasers from the tiny crystals.

"You must do your duty as well, Ikari," she coldly said. "Vorpal Blade." Zerogoki's arms were a blur, carving lines of shimmering white; a whole cloud of crystals was sliced to ribbons. "Go-" There was a sudden glow from beyond.

"Thou hast taken too long, foolish Champions," taunted the orchestral voice of Ramiel, accompanied by a growing bloom of crimson.

Rei's eyes widened; she immediately halted her advance, diving back towards him with sudden panic.

A flash of light. Then the thunder.

xxxx

Within the Cognitive Protection Center, Goro Akechi calmly and deftly coordinated the Agents on the ground...until, in the corner of his vision, he saw a sudden flash. "What?"

The sky where the putative 'Angel' had vanished from — still observed by a number of Ocular Drones — was suddenly pierced by a lance of yellow light, hot and searing; the beam crashed into the ground outside of Tokyo-3's city limits, leaving a vast and terrible explosion. What in the world is happening? The sudden reemergence of the Angel into the Metaverse went unnoticed by most, so consumed were they by their own battles. Akechi directed a few of the Drones to observe the site where the beam had slammed into the ground, while gazing at the image of the Angel, in all its symmetrical beauty and destructive elegance.

The quiet stranger frowned. "A shame."

"What is?"

"That something with such a graceful and dignified appearance would be so devastating."

He snorted. "As though external beauty were an accurate indicator of dread and danger."

"It would be a nicer world if that were true, would it not?"

"If those who were evil or malevolent were as ugly on the outside as they are on the inside? It would make my job simpler."

"Alas."

"That's what animals are for, to provide lessons on such things. After all, even something as inoffensive looking as a pufferfish can carry deadly poison."

"Don't pufferfish have spikes, though?"

"Only when they inflate."

"For that matter, aren't pufferfish considered a delicacy? Fugu, yes?"

He chuckled bitterly. "Well...humanity is rather infamous for taking risks."

Akechi's eyes fell upon various other monitors — inside the Panopticon: Misato was in the midst of a resident's Realm, defending the one within from an Acolyte's Shadow that had so brazenly intruded; various A.T. Agents throughout the city were trying to ward off and disable their targets; not a few Cognitive Freelancers (Ryuji Sakamoto among them) were fighting as best as they could; Archetypes fled from sites of chaos (whether said chaos was occurring in reality or in cognition); blank voids of mental emptiness slowly, inexorably began to bubble into existence; on and on and on — before turning back to the beam that had blasted the ground so spectacularly. The Angel loomed large, as if waiting for something. "This is beyond my hands now," he mused, knowing that his particular skill set (as much as it galled him to admit it) would be unsuited to facing such a creature. "Ikari-san...how will you respond?"

xxxx

Down on the ground, on the slopes of the Hakone caldera (which leaked steamy, healing water from a never-ending hot spring down its sides, instead of lava: such was the impression of Hakone's onsen in the minds of people), the Shadow of Ryoji Kaji had a relatively good view of the action. So to speak.

He coolly watched at the metaphorical (figuratively and literally for all intents and purposes) dust that had been shot up by Ramiel's attack. The dirt and smog mingled with shadowy haze, a sign of the sheer damage wrought by the Angel's blow; if left unchecked, it would likely coalesce into a true cognitive void, a cancerous wound on the fabric of the Metaverse. "Hmm..." His yellow eyes gleamed with curiosity (such a damnable feature of his, truly), even as his cigarette flickered with blue flame. "...wonder how you're gonna get out of this one..." He looked down, noticing an Acolyte's Shadow lumbering in his direction. "Heh. Bet you smell their scent on me. Can't help yourself, can you?"

The hulking beast twitched, its avian mask (slammed over the face like a mythical seal, binding down everything that represented their humanity) blinking curiously at him. Then it growled, apparently not liking whatever it now sensed from him...which was fair enough: he was kind of an abomination, metaphysically speaking.

"This is what you get for standing out in the open."

Kaji's Shadow chuckled, glancing towards his compatriot. "But I have such a fantastic view!" he said to Mister P.

The tuxedo-clad bird-man rolled his eyes, flexing his knuckles as Gryphon was summoned to his side. "A fair enough point." Without a word, Gryphon shot forward, barreling into the corrupted Shadow's legs; without so much as a 'tally-ho!', Mister P leapt into the air, delivering an impressive elbow drop into the monster's back.

As both avians-of-a-sort began to tussle with the Acolyte's Shadow, Kaji turned his gaze back to the battlefield. Okay kids...well, I know how Ayamani will decide to act. But how about you, Shinji Ikari...?

xxxx

It was strangely quiet...but why?

His Other and the Beast looked down upon him.

"Get up."

Slowly rising, the words left his lips before he could think them. "Ayanami-san...?"

"Good. You are...relatively uninjured."

He finally looked around, taking his surroundings in: a blast crater in the midst of rocky ground, with shadowy flickers all about them; the distant figure of Ramiel, looming imperiously (dangerously) in the cognitive skies, a stark contrast to the waves of red and black; Rei Ayanami, hovering over him...was that fresh blood he saw?! "What...?"

"The Angel's attack was very intense," she coolly said, calmly rising to her feet. Her outfit in the Metaverse — a perverse mockery of how the pristine bodysuit appeared in reality: torn, marked with blood not her own, bound by nine iron chains tipped with white crosses — now seemed to fit her actual physical condition, as her entire back had been rendered into a patch of blistered skin, leaking crimson slowly yet surely. "My A.T. Field was not enough to block it entirely."

"...how-?" How are you standing? How are you not crying with pain?!

She took it the wrong way, answering a question he hadn't asked. "Your safety was paramount. I had to ensure you did not come to harm."

That was the wrong thing to say, because all it did was make the bottom fall out of his stomach. "...why...why go that far-?"

"Because your Potential exceeds my own," she said, with a sort of detachment that could be called academic: the mere statement of fact, and nothing more, as far as she saw it. "If we are going to triumph over this Angel, your health takes priority."

Somehow, those words struck a chord.

His Other listened.

"A note of anguish."

The Beast chuckled.

"A bitter and sour note."

It was a chord that ripped at him deeply, because what good was 'potential' if got someone hurt? "That...you didn't have to-"

"It was a necessity," she calmly said. She sounded like a robot.

The sheer incongruity of her words and the sight before his eyes forced him to blurt out, "aren't you in pain?! You need help!" he exclaimed, finally getting up to his feet. The movement forced her to step back a tad, yet it was enough to elicit a wince from her. "Ayanami-san, you need to get out of here!"

"Not until the Angel is defeated. Besides, its attention is on us: if we try to split away, it might begin attacking the city again out of spite." That she could be so confident of an otherworldly being's malice ground away at him.

The Other turned away. The Beast, meanwhile, relished at the sound of cracking, of fire given life.

"It galls you, doesn't it? Good."

Grimacing, he said, "if you have a plan, let me take the lead then...I can take it."

The blunette frowned, quietly flexing her body (how is she not SCREAMING from pain right now?!) to see how far she could stretch herself. "Mobility reduced by...thirty percent," she muttered to herself before adding, "with the power at your disposal, you would be better suited for striking unexpectedly. I can divert the Angel's attention, give you a better chance at infiltrating its interdimensional fortress...when you strike, do so with all the force you can muster. Hold nothing back." She slowly turned away, revealing her burned and bloody back to him; the sight of it made bile curdle within his gut.

His Other stared with keen eyes.

"Look at it. Don't look away."

The Beast's hand around his head made sure he couldn't look away.

"Witness the cost of your weakness."

"When I manifest my Evangelion, Ramiel will likely attack me once more. Be ready to move," she said, beginning to walk to the side of the blast crater. She spoke just like...before.

(As Ayanami spoke of her past encounters with the Reaper — two in total — he was struck by how unaffected she seemed. Did she not care about how close she had come to death? What reasons could drive her to be so cavalier about threats to her own life?)

Like dying didn't matter. Like she was...irrelevant. Determined as he had been to try and understand, he hadn't had the knowledge to speak so boldly to such an aloof girl, to such an enigmatic warrior. Not back then.

But now, after his sojourn to America (and, more importantly, what he had learned from Futaba Maruki)? He knew what to say. "Do you think your life has no worth?!" She kept on going. "I don't know what happened to you growing up, or how you ended up in the Metaverse...I don't know what happened to your parents...from what some people apparently seem to think, you may have even come from the Metaverse...and maybe that's why you think your life doesn't matter compared to mine...I don't know! There's a lot of things I don't know..." But he did know at least one thing, and it was screaming at him from somewhere deep and personal. "...but you're Rei Ayanami, and you're not replaceable."

Those words finally made her stop.

Taking the opportunity for what it was, he kept on talking, blustering past his own insecurities in order to do so. "I...I don't know why I have Evangelion. Neither do you or Sohryu-san. I don't know why I have this power...but what good is it if I can't use it? If I can't help people...then what good am I?"

She quietly looked over her shoulder, an inscrutable expression in her crimson eyes. "Do you believe that you would be without worth if you didn't have Evangelion?"

It was unexpected enough to make him falter. "...I..." That was a very good question. (A familiar question, filled with an anxiety that was a long-lost friend...and didn't that say a lot.) "...I don't know. I...probably wouldn't be here, right now, if I didn't."

"And does that trouble you? Frighten you?" These questions were probing. "If you could give the burden away, would you?"

(Yes, yes, a thousand times yes, anything to have this terror out of me!) His impulsive feelings leaned one way.

The Beast smiled, with mocking gentleness.

"You'll NEVER be rid of me."

His mind recoiled and went the opposite, because how could he put someone else through this?! "...I...part of me wants to say yes," he admitted, feeling the shame of it all, the cowardice. "But...it's so hard...I couldn't put someone else through this...so I just have to be strong enough to handle it..."

"...that is a very honest answer," she admitted.

"Then let me prove it," he said, his right hand nervously curling into a fist. "You say I have more Potential than you. Everyone keeps saying I'm unique, that I have powers that no one's ever seen before...then let me do something with that! If it means we can both live to see tomorrow, then let me do it!"

His Other held up a human skull.

"To be or not to be?"

His yellow eyes gleamed with insight.

"You've already decided, have you not?"

Rei Ayanami remained at that threshold between action and inaction, seeing something he couldn't quite fathom. What her thoughts were, he had no way of knowing...and yet, he couldn't help but sag with relief when she turned back towards him. "If we are going to put your latent power to good use...then it will be in the service of one strike: a single blow, strong enough to destroy the Angel in one fell swoop."

"You're the one with the most experience," he relented, smiling weakly. "I mean...I am still a newbie, right? That's what Sohryu-san called me, anyway."

"You do not have to take her deprecating words to heart."

"...but they are true, aren't they?"

"...objectively speaking, relative to myself and Sohryu-san...yes."

"Then teach me, senpai." Rei arched an eyebrow, and oh gods he could feel the heat rushing up his face. "...I think Aida-san may be rubbing off on me," he said.

"For as much time as you've spent around him, it is only reasonable." She gazed up at the sky, glaring at the death-dealing crystal. "Here's what we're going to do."

Thus did two Children conspire to kill an Angel.

xxxx

Ramiel observed the place where the Champions of Lilith had fallen. They had yet to emerge...but he knew they were still alive.

Part of his very being desired to annihilate them. Immediately, without hesitation. The rest realized that he very well could do so, and despaired at what would come of such an occurrence. Zeruel's threat of pain and retribution had not been idle; the Angel of Might desired Ikari to reach his apotheosis. Even if Ramiel understood why...he did not believe it to be a sound method.

(He would never forget. He couldn't forget the tearing sensation of his very Essence being sundered.)

(He knew that his kin remembered just as well, yet their rage and despair had driven such considerations aside: a chance at true vengeance had rendered their intrinsic dread a nonfactor.)

(A pity that he was not like them.)

At last, they were beginning to stir: he could sense that strange and foreboding mingling of spirit and mind and body that was Evangelion. "And so you arise, only to fall." There was a baritone bellow as an invisible laser flashed downward, known only by the heat wave left in its wake.

CHYOOM!

The energy did not barrel straight through, driving them into the ground. Instead, it splashed off the Light of the Soul, pulverizing the surrounding landscape.

"Oh? Thou thinkest that thy endurance is forever?" This had to be the preparation for some sort of diversion, for there was no way they would just stand there and take it. "I say thee, NAY!" Ramiel's very form began to morph and twist, shifting into a structure that was an unreal cross between a Mandelbrot set and a Sierpinski carpet; power channeled through every single surface, coalescing at a singular point at the center of mass. With a furious cry of the choir, the Angel loosed every ounce of his scorn.

The beam this time was visible, and over a hundred yards in diameter.

Impossibly, instead of burning through not just the ground, but a good chunk of Tokyo-3's cognitive double...it met an immovable wall, going no further.

"...improbable...!" The choir, undeterred, sang even harder.

xxxx

Shinji Ikari felt like he was being split in half.

His left arm was up, manifesting the power of his mind and soul to stop the Angel's attack; this manifested as Unit-01, arms spread wide to take Ramiel's fury, to keep it there, to let it go no further.

His right arm, meanwhile, was straining with visible pain, for his hand held tightly to one of the nine crosses bound to Rei Ayanami's form. The chain continued to pull tighter, even as the First Child kept backing away: concentrating more of her spirit, her soul, the entirety of her very self into potential energy. With each additional step she managed to move back, the more she seemed to glow, and the more the side of the blast crater seemed to bend around her. "Endure, Ikari," she said, with audible strain. "It is almost over."

Diverting his focus in such a manner — holding off the fury of Ramiel, and withstanding the sheer power pulling at him from Ayanami — was agony. Were it not for whatever 'special' power he had, he likely would've been torn to pieces. Such was the 'blessing' of being special and unique: to do what no one else could do.

It hurt. It hurt so much. Why was he doing this? Why suffer like this?!

His Other stood strong.

"You know why."

The Beast kept on devouring the Angel's fire, burning ever hotter, yet never dying.

"To make them pay."

They spoke as One, with a singular voice: his own.

"To reclaim what you've lost."

He thought of why he was here. (A devilish letter, with only one single word, beckoning him to drop everything and come to Tokyo-3; sitting in the darkness, watching events unfold.)

He thought of the people who had made his stay here...bearable. Even pleasurable. (A bespectacled boy with a magical way of looking at things; fighting for his life by providing support in battle. A lonely girl with the aura of an aged shrine priestess; fighting for everyone at the cost of her own blood and tears, preparing to deliver the final blow. A dutiful girl with the air of an imperial matron; demanding that order be kept amidst those fleeing from a compromised shelter. A bizarre bird-man with an emperor's aura; bursting with power and throwing down with a wretched beast. An old teacher bearing the wisdom of an ancient priest; serving as an aura of calm amongst frightened civilians as nearby Agents fought back. A young man, moving through life as an embattled chariot; yelling at the top of his lungs as his Other Self ran into a brutish hulk at full speed. A young girl, forced to be strong by the cruelty of others; shouting hoarsely as she dove under an Acolyte's swing, bringing up her axe to cut it down. A computerized mind, obsessed with right order, reason, and objectivity; computing and processing at speeds beyond the pace of human thought. A beleaguered young man, whose fortune gave him great authority; using that authority to redirect assets in light of the Angel's unbelievable display. A quiet young woman, introspective as a hermit; sitting alone in the dark, knowing that nothing would harm her. An enigmatic young man, with an aura that signified the End; standing atop a hill, overlooking a city embroiled by battle. An elderly man, looking down from atop a great tower; sitting in his office, doing work, because where he lived or died made no difference to him. A woman with hair a false color, as aloof and forlorn as the moon; shouting angrily at assistants as the sheer energy emitted by the Angel caused their cognitive sensors to fry. A vivacious woman with a sunny disposition; screaming herself hoarse as her Other Self kept cutting away at her enemy.)

He thought of an enigmatic world that was the key to mystery and enlightenment. (A bizarre man, who spoke of things that he once would have thought foolish; sitting at his desk, watching everything unfold with a cryptic smile. "Exhilarating, is it not?")

He felt like there should be others he should be thinking of right now...but couldn't. (Four cards: one with a heart; one with a hanged man; one with four symbols that designated harmony amidst opposition; one with a trumpet heralding the End of Days.)

Finally...he thought of her. (A young child, with a soul that shined like a star; hands clasped tightly together, as though praying. "Please...don't die...!")

He was here...because he was here. Nothing more, and nothing less.

(Igor's words were heavy with meaning and promise. "Never shy away from the things that continuously form the person you become...for that is the nature of the Fool: symbolized by zero, seemingly empty, yet endowed with infinite possibilities! A Fool is capable of becoming anything...so do not dread the road you walk.")

There was no point in worrying or thinking or pondering about something he didn't have the power to change.

So instead, he focused on what he could do...and so with a defiant scream, he continued to endure the Angel's fury; he rooted himself further into the ground, resisting Ayanami's pull even more (increasing the force yet greater; mere physical chains would have been torn apart long before now).

His scream must have been heard, because he was answered by a heavenly choir that paradoxically roared with hellish rage. "Your doom has been written in blood and stone! The hearts of lilim are fearful and weak; no judgment will change your fate! But you especially deserve no clemency, no mercy! Wallow in misery, and DIE ALREADY!"

The Beast sneered at the threat.

"The cry of one who ultimately has no teeth."

"NOW!" came Ayanami's scream.

Loosing an agonized wail of pain and pure catharsis, Shinji ripped his right arm forward with the form of a clumsy baseball pitch...yet there was no denying the power behind it. Letting his A.T. Field in front of him drop, he opened the proverbial door for Ayanami to proceed. With clenched teeth, he released the cross.

At last, the First Child...let go, kicking off with gathered power.

The entire world around him seemed to explode with noise and confusion as the Metaverse rebounded to its prior start, no longer deformed by Ayanami's presence; like a rocket, she shot forward through the beam, her spirit dispelling and nullifying it with all the ease of a salmon swimming up a waterfall...and then he saw no more as unconsciousness claimed him.

xxxx

Eight chains flailed behind Rei Ayanami as she swam through Ramiel's beam, empowered by both her own might and the momentum gifted to her by Ikari.

One chain did not, wrapped tightly as it was around her right arm; its cross was held tightly in her hand with the stem pointed forward like a stiletto.

Unit-00's form overshadowed her, granting her additional power and protection. (She would pay for this brief period of Ascendance later, but such was the cost of stopping the Angel.)

Transitioning from thought to something else entirely, she barely had the opportunity to gaze upon the Angel's Core — at the image of an avian mask, perplexed and befuddled; at the sudden dread, as crystals tried to reform themselves into an impenetrable shield, but not fast enough; at the preemptive scream of terror from a chorus of unending voices — before her hand pierced through, backed by too much power and force for even the likes of Ramiel.

One shot.

She continued on through, like an afterthought that the Angel was no longer capable of having.

The moment that Ayanami destroyed Ramiel's Core, the aspects of spirit and mind ceased to be. The A.T. Field drifted away, dissolving into mere traces of metaphysical energy; the greater Mind of the Angel ceased to think entirely. Only the aspect of the body remained.

Denied access to the domain that was the proverbial heart of Ramiel's being, bereft of the capacity for cognition entirely...there was only one thing left.

Abruptly, as in a blink (but one far more brutal and terrible), the crystalline manifold vanished from the Metaverse, 'dropping' into the real world. Deprived of the force binding it into such an elaborate form, the crystal snapped back into the familiar shape of a brilliant octahedron...albeit one that now expelled a great tongue of crimson fire from the exit wound left by Ayanami as she smashed through the other side of the Angel.

There was no great eruption of latent power and energy, like there had been with Shamshel. Ayanami had been too precise, too quick. Even as gravity took hold, she willed her Evangelion to bear the brunt of the fall, no longer overshadowing her form. Landing on the slopes of Myojingatake, she grimaced (feeling wind brush against her bare back, ah yes Ramiel's laser burns were finally having their say; outside the Metaverse, her body suit finally showed only the damage wrought by the Angel, and not that imparted by her own self-conception) from the sensations of her nerves. She glanced down at her right hand, which was coated with the glistening red lifeblood of Ramiel's Core: all that remained of the Angel. "...mission complete," she muttered to herself.

There was a distant echo of crashing glass and crumbling stone; looking over her shoulder, she witnessed as the dead bulk of Ramiel's body crashed on the eastern outskirts of Tokyo-3: an utter anomaly, even in this world.

As Zerogoki faded away, she quietly knelt down, wincing from every single motion. I think I'll just...lie down, for a bit...

She was asleep within five seconds.

xxxx

Elsewhere — at the very instant Ramiel perished — all of the Acolytes running wild went slack, dropping dead at their feet.

In one particular shelter, Mana Kirishima (standing protectively in front of a female Agent who had already made do with all of her armaments that could be safely used indoors) blinked as the Acolyte collapsed before she could swing her axe. "...its Shadow must have been defeated."

"Yes..." murmured the older Agent (who was nonetheless only as tall as Mana herself; some people were cursed by the genetic lottery as far as heights went, it seemed), sighing with relief. "Thanks for the save...I don't know how it managed to break through the chains so quickly..."

Mana wordlessly nodded, looking around with wary eyes and open ears. "...I don't hear any other sounds of fighting." The surviving civilians (at least, those who had not found service closets or various cubby holes to hide in) had already beat feet and fled the shelter.

"Then the current battle in the Metaverse must have been resolved," said the woman. She held a hand to her A.T. medallion, responding to an unheard voice. "Agent Ayane responding...yes Captain, I'm fine. I got assistance from an outsider...you've heard the rumors of where Major Katsuragi got reassigned to, right? Well, I'm with the girl right now...yes, she is as handy with an axe as they say..."

Mana's face scrunched together out of irritation; she had finally gathered that the woman was talking about her. "Hmph." Hearing only one side of a conversation about you was pretty annoying. "I'm just...going to take a seat." With an exhausted sign, Mana sank down to the ground, leaning against the wall. All told...five dead Acolytes wasn't bad as far as her first outing.

(Now she could focus her thoughts on the young man with blue hair from earlier, because that was a mystery which would need solving.)

Her Big Sis looked curiously at Little Sis, demanding to know how she knew that stranger.

Her Little Sis shook her head with confusion, looking down at a photo album with a wistful expression. All of the photos were blurry, and nondescript...and yet she caressed the album as though it were an old friend.

(Yes. Definitely needed solving.)

xxxx

Within the Metaverse — at the very instant Ramiel ceased to be — all of the Acolyte's Shadows stopped their struggles, seizing up and going still. Their distinctive masks blazed with azure, sinking into their bodies.

(As Misato Katsuragi watched her opponent crumbled away and dissolve into shadowy strands, she felt a sense of utter relief. Having seen this before, she knew what it meant. "They defeated the Angel...!")

(Ryuji Sakamoto, Toji Suzuhara, and Kensuke Aida — the latter two short of breath, weary and hopped up on way too many soft drinks, in spite of their 'rejuvenating' effects — paused as their opponents began to die. "...well this is freaky looking," remarked the older man, resting on his gun-cane. Kensuke, though not one to disagree, couldn't help but grin; their fight was finished!)

Goro Akechi watched all of this and more from the monitoring station, finally exhaling a tense breath. It's over. He quickly submitted a command across all channels in the Hakone Region, saying, "this is Chief Warden Goro Akechi to all Agents: commence with pacification measures immediately. To those within the Protection Center, get a count of all residents who are missing from the Panopticon. Delta and Epsilon groups are to maintain their patrols; all others engaged in Metaverse combat are to transition to the real world and assist with clean-up. Further orders will follow shortly. Akechi out." The young teen sighed, running a hand through his hair.

The quiet stranger smiled. "The weight of responsibility is exhausting, is it not?"

"I'm better suited here than someone else that would make our plans unnecessarily difficult to carry out."

"Ah. 'Someone else might get it wrong.'"

"More like 'would'."

"So you say."

"What are you implying?"

"A not insignificant part of you wishes that you could be a lackey...if only because it would allow you the chance for catharsis."

Akechi couldn't help but snort...because it was true. Movement on one monitor caught his attention; a familiar person of avian persuasion was waving at an Ocular Drone, pointing with great emphasis at the unconscious figure of Shinji Ikari in a blast crater. "And so he lives to fight another day..."

"As he should. As he must."

Akechi quietly turned on his heels, intending to grab Ikari and deposit him at the hospital; if nothing else, with the current crisis seemingly averted, it would give him an excuse to get out of this damned monitoring station.

xxxx

Ryoji Kaji's Shadow watched with a grim smile as Mister P stood off in the distance, standing guard over the body of the Third Child until assistance could arrive. "An interesting way of resolving things...but a spectacular one, nonetheless," he said, clapping slowly. "You've certainly become a lot more determined since we last met..."

Perhaps it was finally time to make a more formal acquaintance with the boy.

These thoughts and more dominated the Shadow's mind as he turned away, disappearing from sight.

xxxx

To the north of Tokyo-3: standing atop the peak of Mount Ashigara, Kaworu Nagisa watched silently as the brilliant blue colors faded from the corpse of Ramiel, leaving only a sick pallor, a deathly gray.

"And so it continues," he said to himself.

xxxx

In NERV Headquarters, Gendo Ikari replayed the footage of the Angel blinking into existence, already beyond even death throes. As its body lost its luster, he hummed thoughtfully to himself. Another Angel defeated...and this time with some physical evidence left behind. A very useful turn of events, all things considered.

He quietly sent a directive for emergency medical personnel to retrieve Rei Ayanami before turning his attention back to the various browser windows on his monitors: each one feeding him updates from around the world. Suffice to say...other places were not faring so well as Tokyo-3 had. Things are beginning to escalate...

xxxx

/The Skies above Munich, Bavaria, Germany/

As the afternoon rolled on through Tokyo-3, Europe was in the midst of morning.

As far as one Sister Mary Makinami was concerned, her morning had started terribly.

("...so now we finally have physical proof of an Angel, huh?" remarked Asuka Langley-Sohryu, listening intently as Director Kirijo relayed the news from Tokyo-3. "Interessant!")

Miss Sohryu's planned deployment to North Africa had been abruptly derailed...by Miss Sohryu.

(Right in the middle of the briefing — because Jesus, Mary and Joseph the reports coming from Asia and the Middle East were awful — Asuka suddenly paused mid-yawn. Her eyes narrowed, as she looked towards the wall...oh no, that look was just like the one she had had in Iceland! "Sorry. Be right back!" Without warning, Asuka shifted into the Metaverse by herself.)

That had been about ninety minutes ago.

"What sensations are you detecting now, Sister Makinami?" cooly said Director Kirijo into her earpiece.

The nun sighed, staring intently at the city of Munich below; despite the noise of the NH90 helicopter that had been provided for her transport, the physical senses faded, as her soul took priority. (It also helped her ignore the sound of gunfire and heavy ordnance from the city streets below, as Acolytes warred against the A.T. Task Force and the German military.) "...she's somewhere here, in Munich."

(Every night, she prayed for Asuka's protection. She prayed that her courage would never fail, and that she would always have the graces necessary to do her duty for Miss Sohryu. Over, and over, and over.)

"Are you certain?"

"Positive." The feeling of an Evangelion was quite literally unlike anything else.

"Then transition into the Metaverse as soon as possible and get a sitrep. For her to go AWOL on the day of a new moon is inexcusable."

Sister Mary couldn't begrudge Mitsuru Kirijo's anger. "This has been the worst new moon in years..."

"And it's not limited to Europe. If what I'm hearing is true...this will be a black day for the Anti-Terror Task Force. Our entire paradigm for how we protect and patrol the cognitive world will change because of this, I just know it."

Director Kirijo's anger was punctuated by the sight and sound of one of the Frauenkirche's two towers collapsing (there had been no obvious explosion beforehand, so it was probably due to an Acolyte going...well, crazy. Crazier.) unceremoniously. And there goes the Munich Cathedral, she darkly mused, dismayed by the sight of a centuries-old church suffering such damage. And it even made it through Second Impact! "I'll make the leap once the copter lands...wait." There was a sudden shift; a change, akin to the trepidation felt before an earthquake. "Something's happening." At that moment, without warning, all of the Acolytes that had been raging below collapsed where they stood. "What-?"

CHYOOOM!

A cross formed of crimson energy erupted from the roof of the Frauenkirche, vaporizing a huge chunk of the building; simultaneously, new mass just appeared that pulverized the rest, in the form of four spindly, bug-like legs that towered over every other building in Munich (and three to four times over, at that!). They connected at a bowl-shaped body which had displaced the cathedral, rendering it into a pile of sacred rubble. "Boy, talk about sacrilege," she impulsively said, even as the red cross faded from sight.

"What's going on? I'm hearing that all Acolyte activity in Bavaria just...ceased."

As the NH90 descended towards the strange creature, Sister Mary could make out more details: whatever odd markings had once adorned the giant bug's form had been rendered illegible by electrical burns and scorch marks. Most importantly, however, was the gory hole — easily fifty meters wide! — that had been blown through its center. Standing amidst the green and orange goo...was Unit-02, right fist held high as if it had just finished a ferocious uppercut. "Standby, Director." There was enough room for the helicopter to set down within the wound without risking contact with the Evangelion...and, now that she was close enough to see her, the Second Child herself. Holding a hand onto her habit to keep it from flying away, Sister Mary set foot onto the brown and blue tiles of what had once been the nave, making her way towards her charge. "Miss Sohryu?!"

The redhead — her bodysuit covered by liquified monster — turned towards her, a weary grin on her face. "Heh...couldn't...let...the other two...show me up..." She looked at her handiwork with an approving laugh. "Let's see those idiots call me crazy now...!"

Sister Mary caught Asuka before she could fall unconscious. As Nigoki faded away, the nun shook her head out of exasperation. "You're going to be the death of me, I swear..." Raising her fingers to her earpiece, she said, "Director Kirijo? I think Asuka just killed an Angel."

"...could you repeat that?"

"I will once I get away from the corpse of a giant bug monster...also, I don't think Miss Sohryu will be available for the rest of the day." Seriously, it's like you live to cause me trouble...

xxxx

There was a strangely clean and antiseptic smell to the air, plain and slightly cool to the nostrils: a stark contrast to the dirty, blasted smell of cognitive dirt, to the sheer heat of Ramiel's energy attack...Ramiel...Ramiel...wait, the Angel!

Beep-beep.

Shinji Ikari's eyes opened wide.

Beep-beep.

A heartbeat monitor.

Beep-beep.

"You are awake."

Slowly sitting up, Shinji looked down, seeing that he was clad in the plain baby blue nemaki — a cotton kimono — that signified his status as a hospital patient. Looking to his right, he saw another cot; Rei Ayanami was lying on her stomach, head resting on crossed arms. Her hospital robe was open down to the waist, revealing that her entire torso had been wrapped in gauze. Even from here, he could see that her back had been treated for burns, so bulky was the dressing beneath her wrappings. An IV drip connected to her arm completed the ensemble, yet her expression was...incredibly detached, given her current circumstances. "Ayanami-san...?"

"We were brought to Kobayakawa Memorial Hospital; it was the closest to our respective locations," she calmly explained. "It has been several hours since the Angel was defeated. We have had visits from a few individuals...but you were not in a position to be debriefed or questioned."

"...ah..." So...it worked. We defeated the Angel. We made it out alive. Exhaling with relief, he asked, "um...do you know...what's been happening since...?"

"All Acolyte activity in the region ceased with the death of Ramiel. Events elsewhere have not turned out so...fortunately."

"...what do you mean?"

"We will be informed in greater detail tomorrow. Commander Ikari ordered us to recuperate for the time being."

"...I see." Shinji leaned back into his pillow, gazing at the unfamiliar ceiling. "...but we survived..." So long as he made it to another tomorrow, he could keep becoming better. So long as he survived...

"...Ikari." Glancing back over towards Rei, he nearly faltered at the naked (bad word choice she only has gauze on her top now bad word choice BAD WORD CHOICE DON'T LOOK DON'T LOOK) curiosity in her eyes. "Those words you told me, in the crater...why did you say that?"

"Um...how do you mean? I said...a few things."

"That I'm not replaceable."

"Oh." He tried to think about what had prompted that particular sequence. "Well..."

"I am one of only three Evangelion-users in the world. To the people of the world, I am quite irreplaceable...so I would like to understand your logic. That is all."

"...it's the way you talk. The way you act. The way you behave." The observations and words of Fuyutsuki-sensei and Hikari Horaki provided outside data regarding her school life; Futaba Maruki had provided insight about her mysterious origins. Those enabled him to speak with more confidence than he otherwise felt. "You...it feels like...you don't care if you die or if you live."

"...that is a fair impression, I suppose," she remarked. "I find it easier to live...if others do not care about me. My duty is a tremendous weight that no one else can carry...and so I am able to fight without worrying about others."

"...but...that seems like such a sad way of living," he muttered.

"I am used to it."

"...but I think other people care about you, you know? I mean...who knows how many people you've saved, over the years? I'd think they'd care about you."

Rei sighed silently. "It is one thing to be grateful if someone saves your life; I am not unique in that regard. But it is not automatic license for something as...deep, as a bond."

"...well...I think you have at least one." Her stare suddenly attained more focus than Ramiel's laser beam. "Uh, what I mean is...well...a bond is something that can cause change between two people, right? You've changed me...and I...I think I've changed you...at least, a little bit."

"And what makes you say that?" she calmly and honestly asked, without any snark or irritation.

"...well..." Shinji nervously scratched the back of his head. "I...I don't think we'd be having this kind of conversation when we first met...?" Rei's silence was unnerving in its intensity, to the point where he wondered if he had said something wrong. "...Ayanami-san...?"

"...suppose your observation is valid, that my method of living is deficient: what would you recommend?"

...okay. No pressure. He wracked his brain, trying to think of what would actually be helpful to the First Child (because it wasn't like he was a social butterfly, not at all!).

His Other quietly flipped through a tattered journal, simultaneously old yet new.

"A single sentence...how strange, that it can be so heavy a thing."

Then, like a proverbial lightning bolt, he said, "well...you could just smile."

Rei blinked.

"N-Not that you're not fine as you are now!" he stuttered. "I mean, well, I think if you're trying to obtain absolution and freedom and...all that other stuff...then you enjoy life more than you let on. That's all." Seconds passed. "If I said something rude, I'm sorry..." Quietly, Rei turned her head, looking away. His gut promptly descended to his feet. Great job, me. Who are you to offer advice to anyone...?

"...thank you, Ikari-kun."

Shinji nearly bolted up at the honorific; she had never called him 'kun' before. "...Ayanami-san?" She did not answer, which seemed to decisively signal the end of the conversation. "...you're welcome...?" he said aloud, quietly leaning back into his pillow. Mister Igor, he privately mused to himself, bonds are...tough. That one conversation alone seemed to have taken all of his energy.

Little surprise that he soon fell back asleep.

xxxx

The distorted skull of Zeruel — peering from the shadow of the Moon — gazed upon the handiwork of his brethren.

"A DAY OF HONEST CARNAGE, MARRED BY THE LOSS OF TWO."

Ramiel's death had been expected. Matarael's had not.

"REGARDLESS, WE CONTINUE TO HURTLE ONWARD TOWARDS THE SUMMIT."

Before long, their thralls would ensure that the players would be focused in a particular region. It would make everything...simpler.

"LET THE LILIM LICK THEIR WOUNDS. LET THEM WALLOW IN THE DESPAIR WE HAVE GIVEN THEM."

Indeed, the rest of his brethren had been...thorough, this day.

"WITNESS OUR HANDIWORK, IKARI. WE WILL BE WATCHING."

And so the world continued to turn.

xxxx

END OF 7/16/2015

xxxx

Author's Note: Priestess has now reached Rank 3. And we saw four old (well, new by our story's reckoning) Persona 4 characters (namely the two boys for Strength, and the two girls for Sun)! And...two more Angels down.

Oof. Lots of stuff. Lot of fallout still to come from what happened on this day.

/time to sleep now