Neon Genesis Evangelion Fan Fiction ❯ Guest Performance ❯ Rinako, Beyond Her Text ( Chapter 6 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Disclaimer: I'm not Gainax. Eva is not mine. Thank you for your attention.




When Gonkuro Itagaki and the Gainaxian Rei reached Terminal Dogma, they were not alone. Ritsuko Akagi was already there, sitting next to the basin of LCL, staring at the red fluid. "I've been waiting for you," she greeted him coldly, rising to her feet.

"This is unexpected," Gonkuro remarked.

"I know who you are ... what you are," came the scientist's controlled threat.

"Do you really?" Gonkuro asked, unimpressed.

"Yes. You talk in your sleep. About martial arts, black leather clothes, sync ratios of 900 percent. I know what you want and I don't intend to let you get it. This ends here." With these words, she ceremoniously put her hand into her lab coat pocket and pressed a button on a small apparatus.

"Hello. This is the number of Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar," an artificial voice began. "We're not at home at the moment, but you would like to leave a message, please do so after the tone."

The expression on Dr. Akagi's face changed from determined to desperate. Her shoulders dropped.

Gonkuro raised a gun. "Ritsuko Akagi, the truth is ..." The rest of the sentence was drowned by the beep from the Magi's answering machine.

"You LIAR!" Ritsuko hissed.

"Was that a shot?" Mutsuko asked inside of the vents.

Masaki shrugged. "I didn't hear anything."

The grid Masaki had been kicking against at last yielded and snapped. Crawling cautiously through the hole, he jumped the two meters to the ground before helping Mutsuko down. The woman looked around the huge room they were now in; on the other side of the room from them stood a large container with transparent walls, filled with a reddish fluid. Floating within were identical, naked copies of ...

"Anno Hideako!" Mutsuko exclaimed.

... the famous scriptwriter, and director of the most popular movie tetralogy ever created on Earth. The floating bodies simultaneously turned their heads towards her and began to giggle girlishly.

"This is the Annoquarium," Masaki said. "NERV's Annoquarium, to be exact. There are others ..."

"Anno was a clone too?"

"What do you think? Control Anno and you control the Eva tetralogy. He was replaced by interested groups more often than you could count," Masaki explained while they walked towards a door at the end of the hall. "Have you never wondered where the twists and turns in the story of Evangelion came from?"

"Twists and turns?"

"Let's look at this chronologically; the first Anno clone was given the soul of a Shinji fanboy. I mean, he learns to pilot his Eva far better than Asuka and Rei within months, although they themselves trained for years. Pretty unbelievable, right? And he kills practically all of the Angels - and lives under the same roof as two hot females. Lucky bastard."

"Well ..."

"Perhaps there was another Anno who was responsible for the darker course the story took later on. But the next Anno we know about for sure was really a Kaworu fangirl. She ... he ... whatever ... put the mind-rape of Asuka and the self-destruction of Rei II into the script - and invented Kaworu, of course. She planned to end the story with Kaworu marrying Shinji and living happily ever after."

"But then Kaworu was killed ..."

"Yes, probably by Anno the Asuka fanboy that came afterwards."

"Why an Asuka fanboy?" Mutsuko asked.

Masaki looked bewildered. "Isn't it obvious? Asuka is down and out. Deep in coma. And suddenly: bang! She awakes and kills nine mass production Evangelions in a few minutes. Nine! That's hilarious. And what happens to the rest of the female cast? All of them potential members of an Ikari harem, of course. Misato gets killed. Ritsuko gets killed. Rei, Asuka's arch enemy ... she gets groped by Commander Ikari, loses her arm and finally her head. Pretty ugly, right? Maya doesn't get killed but turns out to be a lesbo and is thus also out of reach for Shinji. All that was planned by Anno the Asuka fanboy. Who gets spared? Only Hikari! Hikari, who's Asuka's best friend and never showed any interest in Shinji. She doesn't even appear in the final movie."

"But the scene at the beginning of the film, I mean, in the hospital, Shinji ..."

"That? Asuka always claimed that Shinji was a wimp and a pervert. And the first part of End of Evangelion pulled everything to prove exactly that. This movie would have also ended with a wedding. Kaji turns out to be still alive and ..."

"But then Anno was replaced again, and the scene where the mass production Evas come back to life and kill Asuka was created."

"You're beginning to understand," Masaki praised.

"And then?"

"In the end, Anno was kidnapped and replaced almost every day, it seems. That's why the last part of the movie was so weird."

"But ..." Mutsuko tried to find the right words.

"Yes?"

"But you knew the movies a thousand years before they were filmed, right? I mean, after all the manipulations everything turned out as it had to be ... or not?"

"Yes, the eggheads in the ministry of science had predicted that before, but nobody paid them any attention. We don't know who projected the movies back into the past to close the circle. SEELE seems to know more about the old technology than they admit. NERV too. Even ..." He drew a curl and an X into the air.

"The Evil? What is the Evil?"

"The Evil ..." They reached a door at the end of the hall. "I'll explain that later."

Mutsuko had seen that door before, just not from that side. 'HA 1-25' was written on the other side, as she could see when Masaki opened it. "Hideako Anno number one to twenty-five," Masaki said as he saw her questioning glare.

Beyond the door was Terminal Dogma. Gonkuro stood in front of the LCL pool, in which an apparently dead Ritsuko Akagi was floating. A blue-haired girl stood next to him.

"Rinako?" Mutsuko asked doubtfully.

Gonkuro's head turned towards the intruders. "No. It would be easiest if you call her Rei Ayanami. She is the keeper of Lilith's soul."

"Rinako?" Anja asked hoarsely after the entry plug had hit the ground. "Rinako? Sadao?"

"I'm still here," the voice of Sadao answered. "Where are you?"

"I don't know. Half of the gizmos here aren't working anymore. Rinako?"

No answer.

"RINAKO!"

Masaki drew his gun. "Game over, Gonkuro."

The official commander of NERV made no attempt to draw his own firearm. Instead, he smirked and removed his contact lenses.

"Are you an Angel?" Mutsuko asked as she saw his red eyes.

"I'm just a clone."

"Whose side are you on, Gonkuro?" Masaki demanded to know, waving the gun.

"On my own side. With the help of Rei and Adam, I will create a new world of Evangelion within Instrumentality." Gonkuro made a dramatic pause. "With myself as the Sixth Child," he then revealed.

"The Sixth Child! You're part of the Evil!" Masaki shouted and made the well-known gesture. Mutsuko now fully recognized the symbol for the first time. It wasn't a curl and a cross. It was a crossed-out six.

"This is the name you gave us," Gonkuro replied coolly. "I prefer the term self-inserting fanfic author."

"Rinako," Anja cried, "please say something."

"Anja, I saw the explosion. I don't believe that ..." His voice trailed off. "She's most likely unconscious."

The actor heard his girlfriend rummaging. When Anja spoke again there was fear in her voice. "Sadao, I can't open the exit hatch. How far is the GSSDF away from me?"

Sadao tried to make sense of the readings on his console. "The nearest units are about 10 km away, I think."

"And where are you?"

"4 km away from you, 8 km away from them," he answered reluctantly. Both of them understood that a GSSDF tank could reach Anja sooner than a walking Sadao. "Don't worry, Schatz," he continued hastily. "They'll probably reach me before they'll reach you."

"And then? Will you promise them to propose to a mythological figure if they leave us alone?" Anja screamed.

"Anja, I'll promise them to marry Pen-Pen if it helps us at the moment."

Masaki fired, but the bullet ricocheted off a force field.

"You will not hurt Commander Itagaki," Rei Ayanami declared calmly.

Gonkuro laughed. "Once I have control over the new world of Evangelion, I can do whatever I want to the characters. I can turn Shinji Ikari into an arrogant sword fighter or a super soldier. I can turn Asuka into a helpless, glomping crybaby. I can turn Rei into ..." He stopped. "I never thought about that ..."

"That is why the Evil always fails," Masaki Hokusai interrupted contemptuously. "You never think about the end when you start something."

"Silence. And I will finally be able to lay the complete female cast!" He leered lewdly at Mutsuko, who stared back at him in disgust. "I will be the best Evangelion pilot in the world!" Gonkuro's voice had become triumphant in the end. He lowered it again. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm rather busy. I have a Fourth Impact to start."

As he removed his right glove, Masaki and Mutsuko could plainly see the embryonic form of the first Angel that was embedded in his palm. "SI authors have hidden Adam for centuries, since the end of the old wars, waiting for their chance. I promised the man who brought me Adam to insert him as Seventh Child. The fool. He's a terrible writer. They're all terrible writers. Except me, of course." His hand reached out to touch the body of Rei.

Suddenly however, an AT field stopped his approach.

Gonkuro's eyes widened in disbelief. "You are refusing me? That is impossible!"

Rei stared back in slight confusion. She closed her eyes and concentrated. The AT field flickered for a second before becoming invisible again.

"Leave it, Rei. You're lacking a few years of experience to fight me," came a well-known voice from the other side of the large hall.

All heads spun in that direction.

"Rinako?" Masaki Hokusai asked, baffled.

The actress was clad in a white bathrobe with a red NERV logo above the right breast. While she walked over to the group, she rubbed her wet blue hair with a towel bearing the same mark. "Rinako II, actually. Sorry for being late, but I first had to find something to wear after I left the Rinakoquarium."

"I know everything about NERV HQ." Gonkuro was visibly confused. "There is no Rinakoquarium."

"There are many things in this building that even NERV itself doesn't know about," Rinako replied. She demonstratively turned her head in Rei's direction, then back to Gonkuro. "You should know that," she added.

Mutsuko was sure that she finally had understood what was going on. "You're a clone!" she stated.

"Ah ... well ... yes, sure," Rinako answered, slightly bemused, "but that's not really the point. I'm an Angel."

"An Angel?" everybody with the exception of Rei shouted.

"Yes. I carry the true soul of Lilith."

"You are lying!" Gonkuro shouted. "Rei, kill her!"

Rei again tried an AT field attack that was easily broken by Rinako. "Poor Rei here," she continued, tenderly caressing the girl's blue hair, "has some Angel DNA, but just an ordinary second-hand soul from the gray market. SEELE out-schemed your schemes, Gonkuro."

The older man looked miserable. "That ... that can't be. All those years of preparation ... my dreams ..." He trailed off.

Rinako elbowed the would-be Sixth Child playfully. "Hey, Gonkuro. Take it easy. Let's be friends again. Handshake?"

In a reflex, Gonkuro took the hand Rinako offered. He screamed in pain and surprise as Rinako, in return, took his hand ... away.

Masaki knew what would follow now but made a last attempt to stop the inevitable. "Rinako, no," he pleaded, "don't do it."

Rinako laid a hand on his shoulder, no longer paying attention to the whimpering Gonkuro. "Sorry, Masaki. There were some changes in the script, but the following scene can't and won't be removed."

She turned to Mutsuko for a last time. "Could you take care of this Rei? This whole thing isn't her fault."

The situation had become too much for Mutsuko to grasp. She just stared blankly at Rinako and nodded absently. The Ibuki actress, Rei, Masaki, and Gonkuro watched Rinako as she soared towards the crucified white giant.

"I'm home," the angelic actress proclaimed as her body was absorbed into Lilith.

It's about fucking time.

"Hey!" Sadao shouted. "Something's happening in here."

"What do you mean?" Anja asked nervously, still trying to open the hatch of her plug.

"I dunno ... the sensors are failing one after another." Static noise affected the transmission now.

Anja took a deep breath of LCL. "Do you think it's the GSSDF?"

Sadao didn't answer immediately. "I'm coming to you now," he finally said.

Over the comm, Anja heard the rhythmic humming of the machinery that pumped the LCL from Sadao's plug. "Sadao, forget it," she pleaded. "You know that it's useless."

The only answer was Sadao's heavy coughing as he forced the last amounts of the reddish fluid out of his lungs. Then she heard him opening the hatch.

"Are the GSSDF troops anywhere in sight?" Anja asked.

"No." Sadao's voice was hesitating and sounded very strange.

"But?"

"You wouldn't believe it anyway."

Sadao stared out of the hatch. In the direction of the inner city of Tokyo-5, a gigantic and still growing Rinako dominated the sky, glowing in the sparse light of the beginning evening. She was wearing a white bathrobe and rubbing her hair with a towel that could by now have covered a whole quarter of the city.

Gonkuro had lost consciousness. Masaki was sitting on the ground, staring at the now empty cross as if trying to bring Lilith back by sheer willpower. Mutsuko held the Rei clone in an embrace. "I failed," the girl whispered. "I do not have a purpose anymore."

"Shhh. Everything will be okay," Mutsuko tried to comfort her.

Suddenly, Masaki began to laugh madly. His colleague stared at him. As he noticed her glance, Masaki reduced his laughter to a broad grin and started to rhythmically snap his fingers. After a few seconds, he also began to whistle a tune. He wasn't hitting the notes very well but Mutsuko still recognized the song quickly. She shrugged and started to sing along in a soprano voice.

Rei looked curiously at Mutsuko. She didn't understand the words and it was probably better that way. Yet, the melody seemed to please her as far as the actress could tell from reading the still almost empty face of the blue-haired girl.

"I know, I know I've let you down ..."

A tremor went through Terminal Dogma and the entire Geofront.

Anja also felt the quaking but didn't really register it. The sight of Rinako suddenly appearing in front of her on the console was simply too weird to divert attention to anything else. Her best friend was just sitting there, her legs folded, her chin resting on her hands. She grinned mischievously.

"Hi, Anja."

"Wh-where did you come from? Where have you been? And where did you get that bathrobe from?"

"Oh, so many questions. I think I'll answer them later. This place will soon become a bt uncomfortable." She leaned forward and bopped Anja's nose. "Beep!"

Anja just stared back. "Beep?" she echoed. And turned to LCL.

"Hello Sadao! How are you doing?"

Sadao's eyes went back and forth between the still expanding Rinako outside and the normal-sized woman that was suddenly with him in the entry plug.

"Rinako? Are you ..."

"Don't speak," Rinako whispered. She slowly closed her eyes. When she opened them again, they had lost their Asian shape and assumed a blue color. Her hair had grown in length and turned red. She now looked like a perfect double of Anja. "Do you like me like this?"

Rinako, Rei, Asuka, Anja, or ... Lilith? - Sadao wasn't sure anymore - laid her forearms on his shoulders and inched closer. "I always wanted to play this part, you know?" she whispered as their lips where only a few centimeters apart. "Because I always wanted to do what I'm going to do now ..."

Sadao squirmed. "Rinako ... that's not a good idea."

"Shhhhh ..."

But instead of closing the remaining gap between their lips, she suddenly retreated, grinning like the cat that had eaten the canary. Sadao sensed danger.

"YOU PERVERTED IDIOT!"

The last thing Sadao felt was the pain of Rinako's slap.

The last thing Sadao heard was Rinako laughing.

The last thing Sadao saw was Rinako assuming her usual appearance again and becoming transparent.

Then his body dissolved and mixed with the remaining LCL on the bottom of the cockpit.

When Gonkuro awoke and opened his eyes he immediately felt that something was wrong. He wasn't in Terminal Dogma anymore. He instead found himself in the middle of normal-looking forest excepting the extraordinary size of the vegetation. Or was it him who was so small?

The Gendo actor and failed initiator of Fourth Impact looked around and saw a small pool of water next to him. Moving closer to it, he was able to inspect his image on the reflective surface.

No. That just couldn't be possible. Nobody was allowed to do that to him, Gonkuro Itagaki, the author of such celebrated underground literature such as "Gonkuro slays Angels single-handedly wearing mirror shades" not to mention the unfinished romantic epos "Gonkuro kicks the red-headed bitch in the butt and makes love to Rei Ayanami in more positions than you can imagine". Okay, perhaps they weren't celebrated, but they were at least quite popular. To those who had actually read them. To some of those. Maybe.

The eyes that looked back at him from the water - his eyes - were black. His face was mostly yellow and looked somehow rodent-like. Gonkuro opened his mouth to summon the wrath of all the demons in hell on Rinako Asuhara.

"Pika! Pika pika! Chuuu!" his furious voice echoed through the silent forest.

Anja found herself standing in a featureless gray nothingness. No, that wouldn't be entirely accurate. In actual fact she was standing on a featureless dark gray plane under a featureless light gray sky.

"Now, you have top and bottom. But you've lost a degree of freedom."

Was that a real voice, or just her memory? Was what she saw real, or a dream? Had the whole visit to Gainax just been a dream? Had Rinako really appeared inside her plug? Was this Instrumentality? Or had the GSSDF found and destroyed her plug and this was the afterlife?

All these questions ran through her otherwise empty mind. But at that moment they neither provoked an emotional reaction nor an attempt to answer from the shell-shocked actress.

Anja wouldn't have been able to explain why, but, on a subconscious level, she felt that she was the only inhabitant in this world stretching out to infinity in every direction. She felt lonely, lonelier than she had ever in her life.

Involuntarily, Anja began to imagine the friends who had suffered with her in the last few days. Rinako appeared before her inner eye. The bridge bunnies. Gonkuro, whose betrayal was still unknown to her. Even the alien who had called herself Misato Katsuragi and whose death had almost broken her, despite the fact she had known her only for a few days. And of course, there was Sadao ...

Childish, irresponsible Sadao who had saved her from the replica of the 9th Angel.

"But when it really counts I'll be there for you."

And he had proven that. And yet, he had been wrong. Because he had always been there for her. More than he had ever realized. And certainly more than she had realized.

"The man who makes you laugh when you're worried."

... and that was so much more important than a casual promise of protection against any dangers that she might encounter. A promise that so many men would give, knowing they would probably never be forced to prove what it was worth. And there was the fact ...

"You know that I love you?"

... that this man loved her so much that he had been ready to die at her side instead of leaving her, though at that time even he couldn't reach her anymore in her dejection.

"Then we'll stay here together for a while until you're ready to leave, huh?"

But then ...

"Wimp."

Oh yes, of course. There was somebody else she had to thank for supporting her in that last hour. Somebody who had kicked her forward as Sadao's approach hadn't worked. Thanking her was at least possible because she was always with her.

"Go ahead!"

That voice broke the spell. Anja blinked and shifted her head a bit to look at the source of the voice, the very first movement since she had found herself in this strange place. In front of her stood a teenage girl in a red plugsuit, smaller than her own but otherwise identical. She looked like a younger version of herself, but Anja knew that she wasn't. Not quite.

Asuka Langley Soryu put her hands on her hips and grinned. "Well? You wanted to thank me."

"What are you doing here?"

"What are you doing here?" the Second Child retorted. That was most likely the more important question, Anja admitted silently.

While the actress ordered her thoughts and finally began to contemplate about her situation, the other redhead impatiently tapped her right foot on the ground. "Well?" she repeated.

"Oh ... thank you," Anja answered absent-mindedly.

"IS THAT ALL?"

This Asuka, Anja had already concluded, came almost directly out of her own mind. And Anja didn't feel like dealing with a fuming creation of her subconscious at that moment. But if she could bring her to this place then perhaps she could also bring Sadao. She concentrated as hard as she could and tried again to visualize him.

"Huh? Schatz? Is that really you, or ..."

He was standing in front of her in his plugsuit, looking confused and a little suspicious. His left cheek was slightly reddened.

Anja threw herself into his arms in answer. "Sadao. Is it really you? I've missed you."

Sadao flinched as Anja leaned her head against his. She looked worriedly into his eyes. "What's up?"

"It's nothing." Sadao carefully passed his hand along and over his head. "Hair's dry again but my cheek still hurts," he mumbled. "That bitch."

Anja knit her eyebrows. She didn't understand, but took it as sign that this Sadao was not just a creation of her mind. Why should she imagine him with an aching cheek, speaking in riddles? "Do you know what this place is?"

Sadao didn't even bother to look around. "Oh, it's nice here," he answered casually, bringing his arm around Anja's waist again, and holding her closer to him. "First things first ..."

"Yuck," Asuka expressed her disgust, if only to remind the couple of her presence. How could they dare to ignore her? Her mood darkened from second to second.

Sadao turned his head and noticed the girl for the first time. "Is that ..."

"Oh, I'm sorry." Anja broke the embrace with Sadao. "Asuka, this is Sadao Inoguchi, actor. Sadao, this is Asuka Langley Soryu, Evangelion pilot," she formally introduced them to one other. Even an imaginary girl deserved some politeness.

"The best," Asuka added, a little bit appeased now. "So, this is your idiotic ex-boyfriend."

"Boyfriend," Anja corrected.

Asuka inspected Sadao critically. "Not much to look at."

Sadao stared back at her in fascination. "Is she real?" He poked his finger into the Second Child's shoulder.

"Hey! Who do you think you are?" Sadao's left cheek made a painful contact with the hand of an Anja look-alike for the second time within minutes - at least he assumed that it had been minutes.

"Ow," Sadao cried out, "she is." He blinked back a few tears.

Asuka grunted. "To think that the Third will look like him in a decade makes me shudder."

Anja embraced Sadao again and looked into his eyes. "Shiver, you mean?" she asked smilingly, not bothering to turn her head away from the now also smiling Sadao and toward her alter ego.

Asuka narrowed her eyes. "What?"

"Oh, come on," Anja sighed. "We're alone here and we all know what you feel for Shinji. Do I really have to explain?" Her voice didn't sound teasing in any way. She just spoke matter-of-factly.

"Pfft. Just spare me an example of your completely wrong, sick, and twisted interpretation of my character."

"Don't make me laugh. You came directly out of my head, right? So you're just the condensation of my interpretation of Asuka's character. And that means that Shinji ..."

"THAT'S NOT TRUE!" Asuka rammed her foot into the ground. "And don't you dare kiss this idiot in my body. That's ... that's rape."

Sadao had witnessed the verbal battle with glee, but was now rapidly losing interest. He wanted to share a romantic moment with Anja and Asuka was clearly hampering his plans. "How did you brought her here anyway?"

Anja shrugged. "I don't know. I just thought of her and then she was there."

"Interesting." Sadao closed his eyes and strained his face. As reward for his efforts a fourth person in a plugsuit suddenly appeared next to Asuka.

Asuka's head flew forward. "What are you doing here?" she demanded to know from the newcomer.

The boy jumped back. "I'm sorry," he stuttered.

Sadao opened his eyes again and looked the kid over. "Cool." He impatiently waved his hand. "Now play nicely, you two, and leave us alone, okay?"

Shinji Ikari stared dreamingly at the couple as Sadao again attempted to kiss his girlfriend. Suddenly, however, a fuzzy red blob blocked his view. As he refocused his eyes the blob transformed into a very red-faced Second Child. "You're staring at them," she accused him. "You're staring at her!"

"No I'm not," he defended himself weakly.

Asuka's voice became very low. That was a bad sign. "Tell me Shinji," she inquired in a voice far too friendly, "do you think she looks beautiful, hmmm?"

The young Ikari had no college degree, but he still understood that whatever his reply would be, it would lead to a fatal reaction from his roommate. So after a second of hesitation, he tried another tactic instead of answering - a tactic that had often worked in such situations. He ran away.

"Stand still, Third Child, so I can rip off what makes you at least technically a man!" Asuka howled, shaking her right fist above her head and chasing after him on his zigzag course across the endless gray plane.

Shinji considered this proposal only very superficially before discarding it.

Anja and Sadao watched their secondary personalities as they became rapidly smaller and Asuka's curses became inaudible. "Alone at last," Sadao sighed and brought Anja's body closer to his. "And now ..."

Anja smiled and gave him a quick kiss. Sadao looked disappointed. "That wasn't exactly the kind of kiss I had in mind."

"Sadao. Shouldn't we try to find out what happened and where ..."

"Anja," her boyfriend shook his head, "stop worrying. There's nothing that can't wait for a few minutes."

"But what about the sunset?" Anja interrupted his approach again.

"Oh, the FX people can add that later."

Anja took on a very tender but serious expression. "There's something else, Sadao. If we ever get back to Earth, I want you to ... hmmmmph."

She surrendered and closed her eyes as he finally lost his patience and kissed her again, embracing her even tighter. Lost in the kiss, the couple didn't notice that at that moment yet another person had appeared on the plane. The newcomer raised her right arm and turned her eyes to her palm where suddenly a running stopwatch materialized. "Awwwwww," she muttered after exactly thirty seconds had passed. The watch disappeared again, as mysteriously as it had appeared.

Two heads turned into her direction.

"Rinako?" Anja whispered. "What are you doing here?" She remembered her last seconds on Gainax. "Who are you really?"

"I am the hope that your idiotic boyfriend will finally grow up."

If there was a rule not to mess with divine beings, then Sadao had decided to break it. He gave her the finger. "And I'm the words 'fuck you', Paleface."

Rinako ignored him as on most occasions. "Time to bring the others." She clapped her hands. The three bridge bunnies and Rei appeared. Sugita blinked for a few seconds before beginning to inspect his chest for bullet wounds. He didn't find any.

Sadao looked at Rei. "Who is that?" he asked flabbergasted. "And where is Gonkuro?"

"He shot me!" Sugita shouted.

"He planned the Fourth Impact," Masaki added.

"He wanted his own world where he could mess around with Eva," Mutsuko concluded.

"Oh yes, Gonkuro," Rinako said as if she remembered him just now. "Don't worry about him. I gave him a very central role in a world just for him. Exactly as he always wanted."

"But how could he? He was always such a happy and friendly man." Mutsuko shook her head.

Rinako shrugged. "He was a lousy author, but an excellent actor, you know. Only when he played Commander Ikari he was himself."

"You still haven't told me who you really are," Anja tried again.

"I am - was - a cloned Angel and the keeper of Lilith's soul. And I was working for SEELE."

"You're a what?" Sadao exclaimed.

"An Angel. Who do you think created the second AT field to allow you to rescue Anja from the 9th? The fangirl in your Eva? For Asuka? No way."

"But why did you, I mean ..." Mutsuko began.

"Initiate Fourth Impact? SEELE had come to the conclusion that the Gainaxians had reached an evolutionary endpoint. You saw them: No creativity anymore, just Eva."

"And why ..." Mutsuko went on.

Rinako - or was it Lilith? - interrupted her. "Just let me explain. The Evil, that is Gonkuro and other self-inserting authors, they recreated the Angels from Adam with the help of the ancient technologies they still commanded. Gonkuro just wanted to get rid of the Lance in Lilith's body. His secret helpers persuaded the government to use us - and especially him - to fight the Angels, hoping we would fail.

The government was easy to persuade because SEELE already knew parts of Gonkuro's plan. They needed Adam to start Instrumentality, something only the Evil could give them. And like Gonkuro, they needed a convincing argument to remove the Lance from the well-watched Lilith, something you need an Eva for but also something NERV would never allow without a good reason. Then there was the president, who didn't know much about anything but who wanted to bring his agents Sugita and Masaki back to find out what everybody was planning. And SEELE needed me to control Fourth Impact, of course."

Your appearance here was also a final test of the Gainaxians. Their reaction turned out to be as bad as SEELE had expected. They almost destroyed their civilization once again.

I will now use Instrumentality to show the Gainaxians that there is more than Eva." She pondered for a second. "Star Trek for example. I always loved DS9, you know. Voyager and Enterprise sucked, though."

Anja scratched her head.

"What are you thinking about?" Rinako asked.

Anja shrugged. "I'm asking myself if everything makes sense now."

Rinako/Lilith smiled mysteriously. "If you think long enough about it: probably not. But did you seriously expect that? It's Eva after all. Find your own explanation. But enough with that."

She spread her arms, the palms of her hands facing upwards. Out of nowhere, a notebook and a pen appeared on them. "You've all had a hard time. I was trying to protect you, although I admit that I wasn't always successful and made a few mistakes. I thought I could fulfil a few wishes for you as a kind of compensation - in what kind of world do you want to live in?"

"But ... isn't it better to choose the real world of pleasure and pain over a false dream?" Mutsuko asked.

Her colleagues, even Rinako, looked at her as if she had completely lost her senses.

"That," Sugita said decisively, "is the most stupid thing I've ever heard." Everybody else nodded determinedly.

"Where have you gotten that idiotic philosophy from? Kindergarten?" Anja asked, bewildered.

"Think of the opportunities!" Sadao added.

"Listen to the man!" Masaki shouted.

Rinako sighed. "The real world. That's a big word. You see, nobody knows if there is a real world at all. If there once was one, then even the Gods have forgotten which it was by now."

Mutsuko shrugged. "Okay, it was just an idea. Then I would like to be disgustingly rich instead."

"All we need is a fast ship," Masaki thought aloud. "We could bring Star Trek merchandising stuff or something like that from Earth to Gainax and sell it when the people are back from the soup."

"That's a great idea! That will make us rich in no time," Sugita shouted. "Mutsuko, are you with us?"

"Sounds good to me. As long as I can take poor Rei with me." She laid her arm around the girl.

Rei looked miserable - at least by her standards. "I failed to serve Commander Itagaki. My life has no purpose anymore."

"Purpose, shmurpose," Masaki said casually. "Screw your purpose. Haven't you listened? We will be rich like crazy."

Rei smiled a faint smile. "That would be acceptable."

Rinako nodded and took a few notes. "That's easy. What about you, Anja?"

Anja thought hard. "I just want to work as an actor again."

"But not in mecha dramas, I suppose."

"No. I want a world where I never played a part in Eva; a world where Eva never existed."

Sadao and the bridge bunnies scowled. "That would be a waste, wouldn't it?"

"Then ... then make it an anime series! Yeah, that would be fitting."

Rinako scribbled on her block. "NGE = anime, ca. 25(?) ep., 1-2 movies." She looked up. "But what do you want?"

"I want to play complicated roles in complicated, intellectual films. Loved by the critics of the cultural magazines and watched only by the chosen few."

"Well, you won't get rich with that."

"That doesn't matter. My husband will make the millions."

Rinako nodded. "Husband" she noted, drawing a circle around the word.

"Hey!" Sadao shouted.

"Yes, husband. A man that can make me laugh and who is only serious when it's really necessary. A movie star, who can work off his childishness in the big action film productions he loves so much." Anja looked into Rinako's eyes. "Do you understand?"

"I'm afraid so, yes."

Sadao was shocked. "You ... did you just diss me? After all these years?"

"Sa-da-o."

"Do you know how many fangirls I could've had until now instead of being faithful to you? But okay. Okay. I want a twenty-meters-yacht with at least twenty easy redheads in bikinis. No ... two boats. One for the Caribbean, one for the Mediterranean. And I want ... hey, where are you going?"

Rinako became transparent. And so did the others.

"Hey! I'm not finished yet!" Sadao yelled. But he was also beginning to dissolve.

"WAKE UP!"

Sadao bolted up. "What? What?"

Anja was sitting next to him in bed, a telephone in her hand. "George is on the phone."

"Oh Schatz, it's you," Sadao mumbled. "I was having such a weird dream." While he was trying to remember, the memory already began to fade. Something about Evas and ... he shouldn't read new scripts before going to bed. "George who? Oh my God, it's just after nine o'clock!"

"George Lucas, of course! It's about the script he sent you. He went personally to Japan just to talk with you about it."

"What? I already told him that the script sucks! I won't do that film. Especially not for a mere ten million dollars. Heck, who needs a Star Wars prequel anyway? Tell him the Wachowskis paid me twice as much," Sadao answered, sinking back into the cushions. "Oh God, nine o'clock, tell him he should never call me before noon when I'm not working on the set! Tell him he can visit the Fujiyama and then fly back."

"Okay." Anja delivered Sadao's opinion about the script, the pay, the time of day, and the proposed sightseeing tour, although using slightly more diplomatic tones.

After she had finished talking, Sadao wrapped his arm around her and pulled her closer. "I haven't got the time to do that film anyway, you know?"

Anja rested her head on his chest. "Is it the script you read last night?"

"Right. It's just a small film and they can't pay that much. I'm doing it because of ... sentimentality. Childhood memories."

"So what is it?" Anja wanted to know.

"It's based on an anime."

"Oh." Although Anja had lived in Tokyo for more than ten years she had never warmed up to that part of Japanese culture. "It's about boobs and giant robots and tentacle sex."

"Eh ... it's not about ... tentacle sex. No. And I only have a small part. Mainly spying around and finally getting shot. I'll be working mostly behind the camera," Sadao explained.

"That means?"

"That means I accepted the role only because I also became the director and co-producer. I can take care that they stick to the original storyline instead of screwing around with it." He mumbled something that sounded like "Kate Rose, Kate Rose, those jerks."

"Kate Rose?" Anja asked curiously.

"Oh, nothing. There never was a Kate Rose and there never will be. Only over my dead body," Sadao answered determinedly. He saw that Anja looked confused. "It has something to do with ... a childhood crush." He blushed as he realized that he would probably have to explain a few things to Anja.

"But I decided to change one single role," he went on to change the subject. "Because I want you playing it."

Anja rolled her eyes. "Sa-da-o. No way. You know that I'll never play in these stupid action movies of yours."

"Trust me, you'll like it. It's right up your alley. A very complex role demanding a great - and beautiful - actor like my wife. You'll play a woman that saw hell firsthand and lost her father in her teen years. She spends a long time in a catatonic state. Later on, she's incapable of maintaining more than superficial relationships and tries to drown her inner demons in alcohol."

Something about the description seemed familiar to Anja. But when she tried to remember, she just got a headache. She was getting interested, however. "You're not simply inventing this, are you?"

Sadao just went on with his description. "Plus, she forces fourteen year old children to fight a war to revenge her fathers' death. And she perhaps - but it's a minority opinion so to say - shoots her lover."

"And this lover who gets shot, that's you?"

"Bingo."

"I'll think about it." She gave him a tender kiss. "Listen. You'll make breakfast, won't you?" She let her fingers wander around on his chest. "We could have breakfast here."

Sadao squirmed. "At the moment, you're not really making me want to leave the bed."

Anja began to laugh and tickled him mercilessly. "Now go!"

"Okay, okay." He fled into the kitchen.

Anja leaned off the bed to grab her laptop that was lying on the ground just out of grasping range. The floor was covered with books, CDs, and pieces of clothing as always. She finally managed to get a grip without taking her feet out of the bed.

While she waited for her husband to return, she checked her email. One in particular caught her eye.

Hi Anja!

I'm back. Those Gainaxians are totally crazy. I tried to show them a few alternatives in life and now they're all running around in stupid Star Trek pajamas. Somebody else will have to take care of them. I'm outta there.

But even a Goddess needs to work, so I thought I could just go on acting. You've probably heard it already: they're planning a live action movie in this reality! Cool! Well, I've gotten myself a role! AT field manipulations of brains beats casting couch, I can tell you. Guess what my part is! I'll give you a hint: Do you think blonde hair looks good on me?

Let's talk! What about the corner cafe, today at 2 PM? Just don't bring your boyfriend with you. (I know: You're married now. So he's your EX-boyfriend, right? *grin*) I hope I never have to see him again.

Yours, Rinako aka Lilith

Blonde hair, Anja thought, she could only imagine her with blue hair. She startled. Blue hair? What was she thinking? She didn't even know who this strange woman was - and yet, something about the email seemed to ring a bell somewhere. She tried to remember, only to be greeted with the same mysterious headache.

I never said a word about the timeline but if we assume that the Eva tetralogy (in the "original" reality) and anime series (in the "new" reality) were made at around the same time as in our world, that is starting 1995, then the story plays in the near future. So it took George Lucas much longer to make the new Star Wars trilogy. The same goes for Matrix (that's of course the film the Wachowskis paid Sadao 20 millions for). I could have invented some films for Sadao instead but I wanted to make clear that he is a big star so I mentioned existing movies.

For the last time:

Rinako Asuhara - Rei Ayanami

Sadao Inoguchi - Shinji Ikari

Anja Siebert - Asuka (Langley) Soryu

Gonkuro Itagaki - Gendo Ikari

Sugita Arakawa - Shigeru Aoba

Masaki Hokusai - Makoto Hyuga

Mutsuko Ishimura - Maya Ibuki

Prereaders were once again ChiRho, XXXG-00W0, and Nova. I owe them pieces of my soul.


It's finished! I know, this story was a rather unusual piece of Evangelion fiction and certainly not everyone's cup of tea. In fact, I was positively surprised (to say the least) to get so many reviews (mostly on ff.net) for a story that is not about S/A, S/R, or S/... but about a bunch of ACCs. Anyway, I don't know if everybody liked it but I hope that you liked it since you invested your time to read it until the end. If yes, you may want to read it again. You will notice a few new things after you know the story, I promise.

I hope I managed to solve all important mysteries. If you have any questions left you can always find me at www.evamade.com. A postscript document containing this story can be found at

http://people.freenet.de/lclpuddle/guest.ps

and

http://people.freenet.de/lclpuddle/guest.pdf

is (you guessed it) the same in pdf format.

Anyway, have fun. Puddle's out (for now).