Neon Genesis Evangelion Fan Fiction ❯ Hearts & Minds ❯ Autumn harvest & A comfy winter ( Chapter 3 )

Note: I do not own the characters or major themes in this story they are owned by GAINAX. This is a fan-fiction, no income will be generated in its distribution, it is simply a tribute to a great series.

Chapter 3: Autumn harvest & A comfy Winter

3.1 High noon

Authors notes:

[[Final combat scene coming up, bit of everything here, sort of a cross between a spaghetti western and 7 samurais, with robots. Surprisingly not too over the top, and a lot of fun.]]

Shinji and Asuka arrived back at their staging area to find the airfield abuzz with activity.

Returning their Evas to their holding area the two pilots descended the makeshift stairs to meet with a smiling Misato. Dispensing with the pleasantries Shinji immediately told Misato the truth about the combat with the SEELE Evas. Shocked, Misato simply listened as Asuka and Shinji explained.

Soon the pilots and the tactical commander found themselves in conference with the other NERV senior staff, including Rei. Everyone was present bar Kaji. All were impressed with Shinjis and Asukas quick thinking and Gendo apologised for not having informed Shinji of Manas situation earlier, but until now he himself had been unsure. Shinji was slightly irritated, but knew the logic behind his father not having informed him of speculation, and he let the issue slide. Ritsuko informed the pilots that the lance was expected to re-enter the atmosphere in about 24 hours, though the Magi would not be able to pinpoint the exact impact point for another 5 hours. Given this scenario it was highly likely that SEELE would mobilise its entire assets to retrieve the item.

Things had changed in the last 3 months, skilful counterintelligence by NERV and the sheer weight and complexity of SEELES lies and deceit were slowly but surly bringing about the downfall of the organisation. The American government was beginning to doubt SEELES motivation, as the secretive organisation simply couldn't transform itself into a public organisation and still hide the truth effectively. It was quite simply running out of time.

And desperate times called for desperate measures. Many favours had been called in, many bridges burnt, SEELES last role of the dice was in play. Shinji asked about the importance of the lance of logenous. Gendo answered, stating that the lance represented a unique item, one that allowed the initiation of third impact even with the limited resources that SEELE now possessed, there was more then one way to generate third impact. Rei asked about what other resources SEELE had, NERVE after all had unit 01 and Lilith, and Adam had been destroyed. Gendo looked at the pilots and over at Ritsuko, who looked back sympathetically, knowing what was to come.

"They have Kaworu." he said evenly. Misato, Shinji and Asuka looked shocked, even Rei looked surprised.

"Kaworu … Kaworus alive!?" said Shinji eventually. Gendo continued to explain that this also had only become recent knowledge, though it had been heavily suspected.

"It shouldn't come as such a surprise" said Gendo evenly. "Given Kaworus similarities to Rei, I suspect you all knew deep down how Kaworu came to be."

He continued to say that it appeared that Kaworu was the basis for the dummy plug systems encountered in the unmanned Evas. Though this information was now largely irrelevant, because soon the last showdown would occur. Asuka interjected, asking how the third impact could be caused without Adam. All turned expectantly to Gendo. He stated that Rei had been born from Lilith but Kaworu had been born from Adam. Though not a complete copy, with the help of the lance of logenous Kaworu possessed enough power to generate 3rd impact. All Kaworu would need was someone born from Lilith, a human soul. His ability to initiate third impact last time was due to his contact with unit 00, his proximity to Lilith, and the intervention of the AT field of the second Angel, Rei. Silence returned as Asuka gave Rei a worried look. Though Asuka had long since been told that Rei was at least partly Angel, this was the first time that she had heard her designated as the second.

"So what is the objective commander" asked Misato, recovering the quickest.

"Quite simple major" replied Gendo. "We must reach the lance of logenous first, and destroy it."

There was a sharp intake of breath from the participants in general.

"Is that even possible?" asked Fuyuzuki, this comment in itself almost as shocking, being one of the first questions asked by Fuyuzuki that the others had ever heard.

"Theoretically, yes" replied Ritsuko. "We simply need to use two Evas working together, one spreading its AT field the other using the progressive knife."

"Destroying it is not the problem" said Gendo. "Its getting to it first that will prove to be most difficult."

"The enemy has the same Magi that we do" stated Ritsuko.

"Three Evas Vs 4 manned, and at least 7 unmanned Evas" said Misato disheartened.

"Thanks to Shinji that may no longer be a problem." said Gendo evenly. "If the defection is organised it will be 6 Vs 8." he paused for effect, "therefore all our resources must now go to these two endeavours."

Again another pause.

"Professor Fuyuzuki" said Gendo "I want you and Makoto to make your way immediately to Kajis location, you will organise the safe retrieval of the families".

"Yes Sir" replied Fuyuzuki, immediately turning to leave, indicating to Makoto to follow, the two were quickly out of the room. Turning back from watching them leave, Shinji spoke.

"What about Kaworu" he said, slightly moody. "I don't want to fight him, is there no way to avoid this." he continued, though hope was absent from his voice.

"I'm sorry Shinji" said Gendo, feeling apparent in his voice. "But just like Rei every time Kaworu is brought back, his previous memory is destroyed."

"But Rei now remembers a lot of what happened to her before." said Asuka optimistically, though without real conviction.

"And that took three months" said Ritsuko. "It won't be possible to convince Kaworu of anything even if you are able to open communications channels with him"

"He will not turn" came the quiet voice of Rei. Surprised, all turned to look at her.

"One year ago, I would have simply followed orders" Rei continued. "Kaworu has not had the benefit of my experiences" she said simply, though looking at Shinji with feeling. Shinji looked away, recognising the truth but not being happy about it. An awkward silence returned to the communications room…. Everyone caught in the gravity of the situation.

"Well this is the big one" said Misato suddenly, power and purpose evident in her otherwise calm voice.

"One more fight and we can finally have some peace" she continued. Everyone else nodded in similar grim determination. The meeting broke up, as the pilots went off to help with the imminent relocation procedure.

During the next few hours Shinji and Asuka were occasionally updated of the general situation and strategy. It was decided that during the upcoming combat a general link would remain active so that upon contact with the three SEELE pilots a direct lead would be transmitted showing them that their families had been brought into safety, at which point they would hopefully defect. However it would all be a close thing as the operation to free the families could only begin moments earlier so the defection would remain a surprise.

About three hours later they were informed that the landing zone had been narrowed down to Africa, a late last ditch effort coordinated from Australia by SEELE having corrected the decent to avoid a water impact.

Shinji was beginning to worry about Mana, as no signal had been received from the emergency beacon he had given her. However just as they were getting on the now packed transports to move out Misato contacted him to say that a signal had just been picked up, and that Fuyuzuki, Makoto and Kaji were on rout.

Asuka and Shinji were on a different transport to Misato but she would connect through to them with updates occasionally. About 2 hours into the flight she informed them that they would be landing in Zimbabwe. Rei was on route and from there they would deploy to the final landing site. About half an hour later it was confirmed that SEELE had organised a massive airlift to the Congo, Satellite images had picked up approximately, 12 large transporters. So that was it. They could expect to be facing 8 unmanned Evas as well as Kaworu, assuming that the defection worked as planned.

Asuka and Shinji were sitting alone towards the back of the large plain, the sounds of the engines at maximum velocity making conversation impossible. Lost in his own thoughts Shinji drifted in and out of sleep.

In Shinjis mind the events of the last year were playing out.

"Kaworu" Shinji said to himself.

Though he had only known him for a short while Shinji had been greatly effected by Kaworu. And now that he was able to look back at the events with a degree of impartiality and greater understanding, Shinji had developed a high regard for the 17th Angel as a being. The thought of having to fight him did not sit well. Remembering back to their first fight Shinji cringed at the recollection. Suddenly the images in his head turned to his fight with Toji.

`How many people had suffered at my hands' he thought to himself. Then images of Makoto appeared, telling him that there had been no other option. But there had been an option, It had been (his) choice. He remembered back to the guilt he had felt. It had been his choice, the objective had to be accomplished, there was no choice in that. However, how it was accomplished had been in his control, and he had chosen against taking control. Being a coward, taking no responsibility, he had allowed others to act on his behalf, then he had blamed them for their actions. Actions, responsibility, Shinji thought about the words. He had stayed hidden behind his inaction, passivity had been his saviour, his argument against any responsibility, but in the end the inactivity `had' been a choice, and through that inactivity the consequences of that decision had remained, on him. Having given the responsibility to others he had simply forfeited his control. Shinji roused from his slumber as the plane went through a bit of turbulence. Waking up he lazily looked over at Asuka, who was sleeping peacefully. Shinji looked at her for a while. Sleeping, she was a totally different person, all calm and relaxed, though she hadn't had much reason to relax lately. Shinji thought back to a few nights ago. It was such a pity, he thought sadly, that after all this time she had finally had the opportunity to take some steps on tackling her own demons, but just as she had found some peace, the outside world would not allow her to enjoy it. He continued to look at her for a while. Absent-mindedly his hand had started to clench and unclench itself. His expression hardened slightly as he thought about the upcoming fight. Suddenly however his eyes sprang open, he looked down at his hand, palm still open. Taking his hand he observed it, closing and opening it slowly.

"I will take control" he said to himself quietly, his hand still open. "I will protect them all" he said more definitely and with extreme feeling, he was still looking at his hand, satisfied that he had proven a point to himself he clenched his hand into a fist, nodding he took another look at Asuka before leaning back into his chair to get some more sleep.

Shinji and Asuka were both awoken upon landing.

The plane came to a stop. Getting out the pilots found themselves in a similar climate to the one they had just left, hot and sticky, though now it was more open landscape, the airbase they were at was located in light scrub and sparse woodland. It was a larger airbase then the last one they had been at, military aircraft could be seen lined up along one side. Their Evas had just arrived, but looking over they could see Unit 00 already prepared to take off again.

"Rei must be here already" stated Asuka happily. Looking around they spotted Misato talking to some officers a way off. They rushed over, Misato telling them they had to suit up immediately, the orders to go could come at any time. Begrudgingly the two agreed, making there way over to the indicated barracks quickly so that they could get back to finding Rei. Entering they were surprised to find Rei already there, changed into her plug suite and sitting on the couch, reading a small book.

"Rei?!" exclaimed Shinji happily. Rei, smiling, got up, and Shinji move to go greet her, when Rei suddenly said.

"You had better get changed into your plug-suits first"

Shinji stoped in his tracks.

"Oh yes you're right" he said, sweat drop forming. Asuka gave Rei a smile

"Always the pro" she said happily, pushing Shinji towards a door.

"Anyway I think you've done enough greeting of old friends of late." Asuka continued, with a slight snide undertone. Shinji, protesting, gave her a shocked look. Rei looked questioningly after the two as the disappeared. Shinji got changed quickly but Asuka was already back before him when he re-entered the common room. He walked in just as Asuka finished her sentence, but he didn't catch the drift, both girls turned to look at him.

"Asuka was just telling me about your reunion with pilot Kirashema" said Rei with a smile, Asuka turned around and gave Shinji a wink. Hesitantly Shinji moved over to the girls, sitting down at the table they were at.

"I would have thought you girls would have more interesting things to talk about then how I greeted Mana" said Shinji hesitantly.

"Actually I found the farewell a whole lot more interesting" said Asuka evilly. "Even you should realise by now, matters of the heart are far more important to a girl then trivial things like combat." she continued, ending on a sweeter note. Shinji gave her an unbelieving look.

"That, coming from you Asuka?" he said. Asuka shrugged her shoulders.

"I can change can't I" she said happily. "Anyway even I don't want to have to talk about serious matters all the time" she finished neutrally, the happiness being drained out of her during that last sentence. An unhappy silence started to develop between the three.

"What will you do when you have to face her on the field Ikari" said Rei somberly. Shinji looked from her to the ground.

"I don't know" he said at last.

"If all goes to plan they will defect immediately" he said slowly. "But if something goes wrong, well… there are too many things that can happen." he finished. Asuka looked at Rei, frowning she turned back towards Shinji.

"I hope me and Rei can rely on you out there Ikari" she said evenly, but not coldly.

Shinji looked back up at Asuka then over at Rei who was looking at him expectantly. Rei, while having become much more emotional, was still one to follow orders. Shinji knew that she still had a rather ambiguous interpretation to a lot of things, that did not immediately concern the people she new. Looking back at Asuka he said in a decisive voice.

"We have only one `must' objective out there. And that is to destroy the lance of logenous. My second objective is to help the other pilots defect if it goes that way" he looked at his fellow pilots.

"Lets just destroy that bloody thing and make sure everyone gets back safely O.K" he said. Asuka and Rei looked from Shinji to each other, then nodded approvingly. Silence returned, as each pilot thought about the fight to come. Rei, being the least in need of reflection recovered first and interrupted the others train of thought by saying.

"Before I forget, Kensuka, Hikari and Toji all say hello, and wish you both the best of luck."

Suddenly brought out of their thoughts, Shinji and Asuka looked at Rei.

"Thanks" said Shinji lightly. All wished to avoid the serious atmosphere of the moment so the conversation quickly turned to matters back home. The three pilots enjoyed a nice long chat about all the things that were unimportant in life. They even managed a few laughs when Rei told them about PenPens antics while they were away. They chatted for about an hour when suddenly there was a knock on the door, a young lieutenant told them that they were about to move out, and the three should report to Misato immediately. Going over to the control room, they found Misato poring over some maps. Shinji was shocked to see Gendo and Ritsuko there as well, for some reason he hadn't assumed that they would come down as well. Gendo called the three pilots over. The pilots gathered around the large map table, it displayed a barren hilly landscape. Shinji looked at the corner of the map, it was in Libya. The briefing was quick and to the point, the landing area of the lance had been narrowed down to an area with a radius of about 50 km. All three Evas were to take off immediately, briefing would occur on route in the Evas. The pace was hectic and everyone was swept with a sense of urgency. There was no time for pleasantries, nodding in agreement the three pilots left immediately, even before the staff had time to wish them luck. Racing to the transporters it was only as they prepared to part from each other that the gravity of the situation was starting to sink in a little. This was it! Slowing a little Shinji came to a stop, Asuka, also slowing, turned to him.

"What's the matter?" asked Asuka. Rei in the meantime had stoped as well.

"I just wanted to wish you both luck before we split up… that's all" he said calmly, if a little out of breath. Asuka gave him a slightly annoyed look but then it turned into a wry smile.

"We don't have time for this you sympathetic fool" she said in an irritated tone, but her face was smiling.

"Rei come over here" she said, turning to Rei while walking towards Shinji. Shinji a little surprised simply walked towards the girls. Coming together Asuka quickly threw an arm around both Shinji and Rei, forcing the two into a tangled hug before they knew what hit them. Reacting quickly the other two joined in and for a short second they embraced before pulling back slightly, still arm in arm.

"Will that do?" said Asuka jokingly.

"Lets make sure we come back in one piece" said Shinji, ignoring Asukas comment and looking from one pilot to the other.

"Lets do this" said Rei with a determined wry smile. It was one of the most emotional faces that Asuka or Shinji had ever seen from Rei, causing them to mimic in kind. The three nodded determinedly, then broke up and ran to their respective transport.

Soon the three were airborne in their Evas transports. The Evas being located under the massive transports that carried them around the world. Shinji looked out of the small window of his own transport, flanking his plane he could see the transports carrying unit 00 and unit 02. As well as a communications aircraft. He suspected that the command crew were in it. He was still looking when the lap-top that had been set up for him started flashing. Going over he saw the faces of Asuka, Rei, Misato, Ritsuko and Gendo on small comms screens overlaying at the edge of a tactical map. Due to the noise of the engines Shinji had to put on his headphones before he could hear any of the others. Shinji had guessed correctly, it appeared all the NERV command staff were on the other aircraft. For security reasons a very unusual event, there were hostile aircraft in the area after all. But it appeared that the current situation had meant the end of a lot of old procedures. Both sides were risking all on this last endeavour.

"Shinji can you hear me?" asked Misato.

"Yes" replied Shinji.

"O.K then" continued Misato "We have been trying all channels, negotiations with the Libyan government has broken down".

"Have they sided with SEELE?" asked Shinji nervously.

"No" replied Gendo "Thankfully they have claimed sole sovereignty. Unfortunately SEELE did not negotiate aggressively as usual and Libya has denied everyone entry into there territory."

"But that wont stop SEELE" exclaimed Asuka exasperatedly.

"We know that, and that's why we are proceeding with our plans." said Misato. Shinji and Asuka gave a worried look.

"Isn't that a bit risky for both sides? We are all vulnerable in the air. We can't take on the Libyan airforce." said Asuka.

"True" continued Gendo "However we have no choice but to proceed as far as we can, and deploy the Evas upon contact with airial interceptors."

Shinji and Asuka did not look pleased at this contingency.

"It shouldn't come to that anyway. Strangely, both SEELE and NERV have allies in the African coalition congress and they have applied significant pressure onto the Libyans. I doubt they will try to intercept. The engagement area is after all in the middle of no where." he finished.

"Small comfort" remarked Asuka in a lowered voice.

"One upshot is that no strike aircraft, from either side, have been allowed to take off in African airspace." said Misato. "This means its all between the Evas"

There was relative silence, the turbines of the aircraft screamed at full throttle, still quite audible through the fuselage as well as the headphones.

"Six Vs nine" said Rei thoughtfully. The others looked at her.

"That's assuming that they defect" said Shinji unhappily. Asuka looked over at him, it was one of the first truly negative sentences Shinji had spoken in about a year, and somehow hearing it now made it doubly dark.

"There's good news on that front" said Ritsuko enthusiastically, trying to lift the spirit of everyone connected.

"Kaji and Fuyuzuki and Makoto are in position with the NERV special forces unit, commanded by captain Moyo. They are waiting for the signal."

"Fuyuzukis actually on the ground?" said Asuka surprised.

"Don't worry I doubt wether he is going to take part in any actual combat" said Misato smiling. The idea of Fuyuzuki in combat fatigue and crawling through the jungle brought a smile to every ones face.

"Now back to business" reminded Gendo "They will reach the area first, most likely they will set up a defensive perimeter around the expected impact site". An image came up on the screen showing the projected location of the enemy units, the circle was about 10 km in diameter, Kaworu was located in the centre and the manned Evas were evenly spaced out in the surrounding circle.

"Its unlikely they will risk Kaworu in combat" said Misato.

"If the piloted Evas are spread out like that, how can we organise for an effective defection?" asked Asuka concerned.

"Unfortunately we can't" said Misato, the sadness evident in her voice. More images appeared on the screen showing the deployment of the three NERV Evas together and their attack on three unmanned Evas between two of the maned Evas in the circle.

"Hopefully this will allow two of the three to join you and you can sweep left in superior numbers." Continued Misato, the scenario predictions playing out on the screen.

"And what about the third?" asked Shinji unimpressed.

"Hopefully they will have time to get away and join you later in the fight." said Misato seriously.

"This plan has the highest probability for success" said Ritsuko suddenly. "And also a very high chance that all pilots will survive"

"But not the highest, isn't that nice" said Asuka annoyed. There was a short pause as Misato and Asuka exchanged glares.

"You all know what's at stake here" came the controlled voice of Gendo. "If we fail in the destruction of the lance, there is no hope for any of us" he finished, all pilots looked at his screen.

"Yes sir" said Rei evenly. Asuka and Shinji nodded.

"We can only hope that the other pilots react correctly" continued Ritsuko.

"You didn't really come up with a concise plan when you thought this whole thing up" she finished.

"Well excuse me!" said Asuka defensively. "Its not like we had a chance to think this all through you know" she finished. Ritsuko gave her an impatient look.

"They're well trained" interrupted the voice of Shinji.

"There are to many factors yet unknown, we can only deal with them as they arise" reasoned Gendo evenly. Shinji nodded.

The briefing continued and the three pilots were given a list of scenarios, actions and counter measures. Soon an hour had past and all three were asked to enter their respective Evas. Climbing in and activating their systems, soon they were back in the loop, Asuka complained that her left arm still felt a little funny. Ritsuko answered saying there had not been time or facilities to do a proper job, in fact other then superficial armour replacement the only thing that had been achieved was the reconnection of her nerve control. The time for deployment was approaching, the massive NERV transport plane had just crossed the Libyan border. Gendo appeared on screen, radar had picked up the SEELE formation off to the west, they were heading away, they could make out 11 transports.

"Eleven?" Said Shinji.

"6 Vs 8" Came the voice of Asuka smiling.

"Keep quite you two" came Misatos voice. "30 seconds till deployment".

All three pilots prepared themselves. Weapons in hand the counters counted down, 5 ……. 4…… 3…… 2…. 1… deploy!

High above the desert landscape the catches holding the Evas in place under their planes released. Massive gushes of hydraulic pressure spewing out behind the transports. Moving, slowly at first, unit 02 slid smoothly backwards, until it suddenly fell free. Left and right of it unit 00 and unit 01 did the same, seemingly floating the three Evas began the fast descent to the earth. Falling ever faster the three Evas looked down as the earth rushed up to meet them. Waiting until they were 1000m above the earth the three Evas activated their thrusters, slowing there descent until they landed heavily on the earth below. A massive cloud of dust erupted around the three figures, and they were lost to the planes now circling above.

Soon however, 3 dark figures could be made out in the dust-cloud. And suddenly appearing from one side were the massive walking figures of the three Evas. Gleaming in the sun all three Evas had extra battery packs attached. Stopping for a second to orientate themselves. Of the three Evas Unit 00 was holding a sniper riffle, with a revolver strapped to her hip. Shinji and Asuka were both holding assault riffles, extra ammo slung around their shoulders.

"You have 1 hour people, move out!" came the voice of Misato back on the screen. Shinji, Rei and Asuka nodded, together the three began to run towards the engagement area.

Running Shinji had a chance to look at the landscape. It was a dry desolate place, devoid of life, the continual expanses of yellow, red and white extended from horizon to horizon. It was far from plain though, plateaus and monoliths dotted the landscape, and canyons and crevasses cris crossed it, the elevation was very varied, and the Evas had to scamper up and down valleys and run around plateaus. This did however allow the three to travel relatively undetected.

Shinji mused that this hellish landscape was a rather perfect setting for the final confrontation to stop the abortion of mankind.

In his Eva, Shinji looked up. As expected he could see the NERV command aircraft high above, its powerful radar searching the landscape. Suddenly however Shinjis long range sensors started to give out.

"What's going on?" he asked worryingly.

"Its simply enemy jamming, we are doing the same." came the calm voice of Misato. "Both sides will have to rely on short range sensors and sight." she finished.

"Looks like its all down to old style close combat" said Asuka determinedly. The three Evas continued to race towards the target. 5min later they had approached the target area. They had stayed in-between a series of ridges to avoid contact.

"2 minutes until contact." said Asuka to comms. The three Evas stopped, Rei carefully crept up a ridge to scout out the area. Raising her rifle she used the scope to scan the landscape below.

There he was, Kaworu, or at least Rei assumed that was him. The Eva standing at the centre of the target area was menacing . Black with red trimmings it had a similar build to unit 01, only without the horn. He was holding a massive staff with two huge spheres at either end, it did not appear to be a combat weapon, Rei focused on the figure, it also appeared to have a sword, slung around its waste.

"A sword?" asked Asuka.

"Remember that Kaworu is very powerful" said Shinji wearily. "Who knows what he's capable of, let alone inside an Eva".

"What's the other thing" asked Asuka again.

"I do not know" said Rei. She looked around further. Between Kaworu and them was an unmanned Eva. Skulking around it was holding a massive dual bladed weapon, the same type that they had used against Shinji and Asuka before. Looking around she made out another 4 scattered in the area and she saw one of the manned Eva far off in the distance, so far in fact it was almost lost in the heat haze. It was hold up behind a monolith, armed with an assault rifle and a sword, next to it was an UM unit, standing there with its black weapon in hand, they were obviously guarding the far approach.

"I only spot 1 of the defectors units" said Rei calmly. But then she spotted another 2 UM units also armed with hand weapons.

"Those units are obviously incapable of using ranged weapons effectively" came Ritsukos voice.

"This should be easy" said Asuka confidently.

"They don't stand a chance against us once we get the other gunners on our side" she continued her voice almost relieved.

"Don't be so sure Asuka" said Misato adding caution to her words.

"Wait a second go back to the first 2 UM units you saw" commanded Misato. Rei complied .She came back to them just before they moved out of sight, one was armed with assault rifle and sword just like the maned unit, he was also moving much more fluently then its companion.

"What the?" said Asuka.

"Of course!" exclaimed Shinji. "Keitas unit was to badly damaged, they couldn't repair it in time, so they synchronised him with one of the other units.

"You be careful what you shoot at out there" said Misato.

"Well at least that's one less." said Asuka smiling. Rei scanned around some more, but couldn't make out any thing else. Misato reappeared on the screen, tactical information was being relayed.

"Here is the plan, you have two minutes to get into position, at that time we open channels to the other Evas and relay the images of the hostage rescue" said Misato business like. "Once I give Kaji the start signal there is no turning back."

"We're good to go" said Shinji confidently.

Misato, up in the plane, gave the signal to Gendo who immediately picked up a telephone.

Half a world away Kaji looked at Fuyuzuki and Makoto in the dark of the night, the stars were out and their features were illuminated by a light glow, Fuyuzuki was listening to his ear piece. He turned to Kaji and nodded, turning Kaji gave a signal to Captain Moyo who nodded. Soon multiple dark figures began to make their way down the side of the hill.

The compound that the commandos were approaching was another isolated airfield. Surrounded by jungle there was only a small clearing between the jungles edge and the airfield itself, Now that the Evas and support staff had gone there was only a skeleton staff remaining, mostly consisting of guards to look after the families of the SEELE pilots. Un-expectant of action in the area most of the guards were inside one of the barracks enjoying themselves, almost all the officers had left with the Evas. (It was time to relax) was the general attitude. The barracks containing the guards was opposite the hangar containing the families, other then the control tower there were three other guard towers in the area, 2 of which where next to the hangar.

Back in Africa the three Evas moved forward cautiously, unsure of the remaining enemy units position they covered each other while sprinting between positions. They had entered the canyon system to sneak up to a series of ridges from which they would attack from. Not meeting any resistance they moved up to the ridge.

In South America things were proceeding nicely, quickly in position they awaited the final word. Fuyuzuki nodded, Moyo gave the command, springing from their hiding positions the commandos rushed the compound, going for the hanger holding the hostages. Two guards were brought down using silenced weapons, elsewhere the hangar guards were delt with at close quarters having been snuck up on. The way cleared, Makoto and Kaji raced to the wall next to the door. Three commandos and Moyo did the same on the other side . Kneeling down Moyo pushed an optic fibre under the door, observing a small monitor to see the rooms contents. Using hand signals he communicated with his fighters who nodded. Suddenly however all hell broke loose as lights, gunfire and an alarm started up all at once. Kaji held up his hand to shield his eyes from the sudden light. Reacting quickly Moyo threw his weight onto the door, bursting it open and diving to his left. The sudden commotion had worked to their advantage, the three guards inside having been distracted. Only one got a shot off as they were dropped by the in rushing commandos. Still outside Kaji gave Makoto the O.K. Switching on the transmitter, Makoto raced inside holding up his camera to film the cowering people inside.

Back in Africa, Shinji and Asuka were still sneaking forward, having left Rei on the ridge to snipe from a distance. Moving forward in silence Shinji and Asuka were surprised when a large window opened on their console, at its base it said, `emergency comms channel level 55'. The screen flashed red, then a window appeared showing a very shaky picture. It took a while for the content to become clear but soon they could clearly see black clad commandos rushing towards a large group of cowering civilians in the middle of what appeared to be an aircraft hangar. Shocked the pilots stopped to watch the screen.

"Kaji!" said Asuka suddenly. It was true, there was Kaji, racing up to one of the captives, then the camera quickly looked at a dead guard lying on the ground. Then back up, suddenly gunfire could be heard and there was screaming. A large explosion rocked the camera and for a second they couldn't see anything.

"Oh my god." said Shinji. There was obviously a lot of things happening. The camera steadied again, he could see Kaji and Moyo herding the hostages out of a hole in the hanger wall. Makoto was obviously trying to get a picture of the hostages faces as they went past, it wasn't very effective in the commotion but some faces could be made out. Suddenly the signal went dead, replaced instead with the face of Misato,

"Your relatives are free now, they will be taken to safety, your friends are in the area, now is the time to decide!"

After that the screen went blank. Asuka and Shinji blinked, still dazed at the sudden images. Suddenly next to them a shot rang out. Rei had started the mallee with a single sudden shot, the loud clap could be heard all over the plane, shattering the silence which had existed only moments before. The shot raced towards its target. AT field up, the shot smacked into the hexagonal barrier. With the new progressive projectile technology the force was transferred through the field though the projectile itself was annihilated. Faltering, Kaworu was forced backwards. Leaning forward to remain upright, his Eva slid back over 100 feet.

Before anyone could get used to this situation however all hell broke loose. Brought back to reality by the single shot the three SEELE pilots made their decision and quickly turned their riffles at their UM Eva companions. Emptying a full clip at close range the UM Evas were ripped apart, crippled they fell to the side. Shinji turned his head as a bright light appeared from the direction of the SEELE piloted unit they had seen in the distance. Suddenly the shock-wave hit them and his and Asukas unit were violently thrown against the canyon wall. Given the soft sandy nature of the soil the heavens were suddenly filled with a thick blanket of brown dust.

"The S2 engines!" screamed Asuka above the general commotion.

"Quick! Keita is just over the next ridge!" screamed Shinji climbing up the ridge, dust and wind still being wiped around by the explosion some distance away.

Shinji cleared the ridge, visibility had been cut down too less then one kilometre and he started to run off into the smoke.

"Shinji!" yelled Asuka, she had slipped and was left behind, Shinji however had already disappeared into the dust.

While Shinji was running two small screens appeared in his cockpit, it was Keita and Musashi."

"Shinji, Asuka, help!" screamed Keita. He had been the slowest to react and his accompanying UM unit had destroyed his rifle before he could bring it to bare. Map information was coming in for Shinji as Musashi and Keita activated their live tactical link. As well as their own position, the last known position of the UM units was transferred, before the link to them had been severed by SEELE control. Musashi was positioned away to the west, his accompanying UM unit was already down. Shinji looked down at the screen. The remaining 4 units were split into 2 groups, one positioned north near Manas position and the other two were in the canyon, near Asuka, they had been only around the next bend.

"Asuka look out!" screamed Shinji.

Asuka had cleared the ridge and was running, at hearing Shinji she looked behind her automatically. Just in time she dived to her right, still in full run, as the blade of an UM unit impacted heavily against the ground that she had just been running on. Rolling heavily she recovered into a kneeling position aiming up she could just make out the flying figure of an UM SEELE unit still correcting its flight from the heavy throw.

"They're airborne!" screamed Asuka, bringing her rifle up and firing at the figure. Tracers slashed through the smoke, the dark figure dipping gracefully to avoid the fire and disappearing off into the dust. Panting Asuka scanned the area looking for its return. Suddenly out of the corner of her eye she saw the emergence of a figure, coming in low and at high speed it was closing at an astounding rate. Swinging her gun around she pulled the trigger. The tracers flew out at in a graceful ark, the last rounds just impacting upon the creatures wings, but to late. Before she knew it the 2nd UM unit was upon her. Swinging its weapon it didn't connect correctly due to Asukas defensive pose. Colliding heavily the two units ricochet, Asuka being thrown violently to the right, loosing her gun in the process, while the damaged UM unit span into the distance, out of control, and landing heavily. Screaming, Asuka slid to a halt.

Shinji meanwhile could only see Asukas expression on his comms screen, caught between two friendly units in need, he couldn't decide. Looking at the screen he could see that Keita was obviously wrestling with the enemy unit. He checked the map. It was level terrain between himself and Keita.

"Keita I want you to turn on all your Evas lights!" yelled Shinji.

"You want me to do what!" screamed back Keita, obviously in distress.

"Turn them on then throw yourself to the ground away from the enemy unit!" Shinji screamed again. Keita gave him a desperate look, but Shinji was eyeing Rei who nodded then began to act. Convinced they had a plan Keita positioned his Eva, one foot back.

"Ready!" screamed Keita, he and the UM Eva were wrestling for control of the large double bladed weapon. With one massive scream, Keita lifted the blade above their heads, turning on his lights fully his Eva was suddenly illuminated in the dense yellow smoke. Bringing up his foot against the hip of the enemy unit he released his grip on the blade, kicking off he launched his Eva away from the reach of the UM unit. Landing heavily on his front he turned to look back, the enemy unit had held its ground from his kick-off and was even now closing on him to take a swing.

Meanwhile Shinji and Rei had seen multiple points of light appear through the dust as well as the covering movements of the attacking UM unit. As soon as the lights appeared to drop they raised their guns and fired.

Keita, yelling, raised his hands to the attacker, suddenly he could see flashes from two directions, followed by tracers coming in. Hitting the dirt, the air above him soon filled with projectiles. Though the shots were only guesses both Shinji and Rei calculated well and fired a full clip each, only 6 rounds from Reis rifle but still effective. Caught unaware the UM unit was hit by several rounds from Shinji and one from Rei. It stumbled from the impacts, though no hit was critical. After the barrage Keita got back up, finally able to draw his sword. Damaged the UM unit took a defensive position, however one of its arms was not functioning properly, and it could not hold up its weapon. The two units squared off for a second, seemingly coming to a decision the UM unit suddenly broke to its right disappearing into the smoke in the direction of Kaworu. Too relieved to give chase Keitas Eva posture slackened as he exhaled in relief.

Shinji however was still stressed about Asuka, turning he started to run back to her. Suddenly Misato appeared on screen, the first time since combats started.

"Rei make your way to hill 7 re-affirm contact with Kaworu and pin him down. Keita, Musashi and Shinji get back and help Asuka now! after that close on Kaworu." Ordered Misato, her comms link closed just as quickly. Nodding Shinji continued to run back to Asuka, reloading his rifle as his Eva ran. Raising his rifle he unloaded a clip around the area he new Asuka would be.

Meanwhile Keita was still standing there, behind him a figure suddenly emerged from the dust running at full pace, startled, he turned, raising his sword.

"Put that away you idiot, its me" came the voice of Musashi, he had been running from his position to cover the distance. As well as his rifle Musashi was now carrying the double edged sword from the slain UM unit that had accompanied him. Nodding, Keita turned and the two started to run towards Asuka.

Asuka meanwhile was not enjoying herself, getting up she looked over at the stricken UM unit. Soon however the downed enemy had ejected its damaged wings and was getting up. Turning she made to move towards her rifle, however just then the unarmed flying UM unit appeared again out of nowhere, landing heavily on her rifle, splitting it in two. Shocked she took a step backwards, righting herself she drew her progressive knife, taking an aggressive pose. Looking around she eyed the large double bladed weapon sticking out of the ground off in the distance. The recently landed UM unit not having retrieved it yet. Unfortunately it was closer to the winged UM then herself, and it was already starting to move around, keeping Asuka in sight. Looking down at her tactical map Asuka could see Shinji closing at a tremendous speed. He was less then a minute away, all she had to do was bide for time. As if to emphasise the point Shinjis wild fire raced in just above the heads of the three figures. The un-winged UM unit was between Shinji and Asuka, and deciding this was not a good place to be, it charged at Asuka, the other unit meanwhile raced towards its own weapon. Asuka saw the charge and prepared herself. The charging UM unit leaped into the air to cover the last 100m, bringing its weapon across in a wide arc Asuka had to back-flip to avoid it. Still closing the attacking unit made a wide slash which Asuka, using her prog knife, had to use every bit of her skill to avoid. She was however being pushed back towards the other UM unit. Well aware of this Asuka decided to commit. On the back foot she waited for a sweep. Diving left she thrust her dagger at the UM unit. Connecting, the blade cut into the enemies hand and the large blade it was holding. Twisting, the UM unit caused Asuka to lose grip on her knife. Grabbing the enemy units arm she threw herself in a wide arc above its head, swinging her legs around quickly she delivered a kick against the units back throwing it forward. Unable to land properly her Eva impacted heavily against the ground. The enemy unit stumbled forwards. Recovering, it spun around, the winged unit having come up to its side. Together they looked down at Asuka only 100m away, raising their weapons they closed menacingly. Asuka, distraught, was scrambling away frantically, though unable to stand in her panic. Suddenly however the dust parted and the figure of unit 01 came racing into view. Riffle raised Shinji let off a long volley at the two UM units. Weapons raised, the two units used the large double blades in a combination with their AT fields to deflect the rounds. Impacting into the dirt all around them, the earth exploded, and a new, denser cloud of dirt and dust had formed. Asuka, relieved, finally got back up, backing away as Shinji emptied the rest of the clip into the dust cloud, somewhat clearing it, but the two enemy units had disappeared.

"Damn it!" said Asukas now recovered. Looking at her map she noticed Rei had reached the top of a nearby hill.

"Can you see anything Rei." she asked impatiently. Rei meanwhile had reached the top. Relatively high above the dust and debree Rei could see quite far.

"I can only see Kaworu." she said. "He's still standing there." she added, quite calmly. He was looking over at Manas position, Rei could make out some tracers in the distance.

"Mana is in trouble." she said simply. Shinji looked shocked, and began to move towards Manas direction, though suddenly stopped. Shinji looked back at Asuka, Musashi and Keita had appeared out of the dust and came to a stop next to unit 02. Asuka looked at Shinji, the emotions evident on his face, both new that this was against the plan, and he was quite obviously torn between his duty to his team mates and his desire to go and help Mana. They only had 5 minutes left before the lance impacted. It was after all their real purpose here, Asuka, annoyed, let out a begrudged grunt.

"Well go you fool, we'll manage the 5 left here." she said. Smiling.

Shinji, smiling in return, threw her his riffle and the ammunition belt, and started to turn. Musashi called out to him.

"Shinji!"

Turning back Shinji saw Musashi draw his progressive sword and throw it to him. Catching it with a smile, Shinji gave him a nod.

"Thanks Musashi" he said simply, then disappeared into the dust at a run.

Meanwhile above the dust Rei had gotten into firing position, she could now make out the 4 UM units closing towards Kaworu.

"You know what you have to do Rei" came the solemn voice of Misato. Rei, grimacing, concentrated on her target.

"Sorry Kaworu" she said softly. Focusing the crosshairs on the head of the black Eva she pulled the trigger. The gun fired, gaugeing the recoil she corrected, following the first with another 4 quick bursts. The 5 shots raced off towards their targets. Closing in on Kaworu they seemed destined to hit, when suddenly Kaworus head turned, seeing the rounds coming in. The black Evas arm snapped upwards into position, extending out towards the shots. Fingers spread, an energy force seemed to punch the dark Eva back slightly as it braced for impact.

Flying in the first round impacted, a large Hexagonal field became visible. As expected it cracked slightly due to the impact, the next 4 rounds would punch through. True enough the second round impacted, though the desired effect did not occur, instead of punching through the field it simply changed colour. A blue hexagonal field appeared behind the first, mixing together the field turned green, and all the remaining shots disintegrated harmlessly against the new field.

Back in the command aircraft Misato and Ritsuko inhaled in shock.

"A blue AT field!" said Ritsuko, unbelieving.

"A human!?" said Misato, also unbelieving. "What is going on?"

However just then the Black giants hexagonal field disappeared, Kaworus Evas fist began to glow, slowly it opened its palm.

"Rei look out!!" screamed Misato. Rei, still shocked herself, barely avoided the first blast, her rifle however disintegrated in the incoming energy wave. Off balance Rei launched herself down the side of the hill. Seconds later the second blast impacted, effectively vaporising the Hilltop. Sliding down the hill Rei struggled to recover.

"Rei are you alright?" came Asukas worried voice, as her Eva rushed towards the final resting place of the sliding unit 00. Arriving at her side Unit 02 helped unit 00 into a standing position, Musashi and Keita had followed Asuka and were keeping watch.

Rei was soon up, shaking her head to clear her mind.

Misato suddenly appeared back on the screen.

"Where the hell is Shinji going" she demanded

"He's going off to help Mana" replied Asuka evenly.

"He's doing what!?" said Misato enraged, behind her Ritsuko gave an exasperated look.

"Don't worry she's fighting two of the things. And he's given me his rifle, we can handle the other 5" Asuka said.

"Anyway one of them has not recovered fully from fighting Musashi" said Rei evenly. Musashi, who had been wondering about the numbers, suddenly said.

"Those things can regenerate?" he asked shocked. Keita looked around his Eva uneasily, he was suddenly quite unsure about piloting this unusual contraption.

"They have less armour but for that they can regenerate, unless you destroy their S2 engine" Said Ritsuko.

"There is 4 minutes until impact" came the voice of Gendo. All turned towards him, or his screen. Rei now up, nodded determinedly.

"We're ready to go" she said, drawing her revolver. The other pilots nodded, getting up the 4 made their way towards Kaworu, moving through the dust. Musashi called out to Rei, turning her head Rei caught the double bladed weapon with her left hand, while still walking. Spinning the weapon around with her hand she was satisfied, nodding again to Musashi who gave her a nod back. The 4 Evas moved on through the dust. Walking, Asuka turned to Keita who was holding the sword in front of him.

"You any good with that thing?" she questioned, indicating the sword in Keitas hands. Keita looked at her, then sheepishly at the sword.

"No, not really" he admitted. "I was wondering why we were all issued with them actually." he said.

"He is however a crack shot with a rifle" came the voice of Musashi, his tone carrying a hidden request to Asuka. Walking she looked down at her rifle, smiling she looked over at Keita.

"You want to swap?" she asked with a curt smile.

"Really?" replied Keita, not hiding his enthusiasm. Asuka nodded, soon the two Evas exchanged weapons, all grinning, they emerged from the now settling dust.

Kaworu and three UM Evas could be seen about 2km ahead. Standing, ready for them.

"Stay together people, and deploy your AT fields." commanded Asuka. "Kaworu can't possibly blast through all four."

She deployed her AT field right in front of the advancing Evas. The other three pilots did the same.

With weapons calmly by there side they advanced on Kaworu and the unmanned units.

The scene was strait out of a western. The last showdown, the 4 large figures advanced calmly but relentlessly, the dust playing around in the wind, the midday sun gleaming of the armour of unit 00 and unit 02.

5km away Shinji Ikari heard a large energy blast from his left. Running at top speed he glanced over seeing two more bright flashes coming from Kaworus position. He honestly hoped they were all O.K. More tracer fire ahead of him brought him back to the task at hand. Racing forward even faster his Eva bounded recklessly over the uneven landscape.

"Mana! Can you hear me!…. Mana!" called out Shinji, still not receiving her signal. Suddenly a communications link opened on Shinjis screen. It crackled for a second, then a hazy image of Mana appeared on the screen, she looked stressed and a little roughed up, but as soon as she saw Shinjis face she broke into a big smile.

"Shinji!" she said enthusiastically, though suddenly her expression turned serious as she concentrated on firing on the approaching UM units. Tactical data was transferred to Shinjis Eva, he could see that Mana was in a canyon up ahead, she was holding off the two UM units but was being pushed back.

"Shinji I'm on my last clip!" came the worried voice of Mana. "Hurry up!" she said almost pleadingly.

Firing her last burst the gun fell silent. About 500m away the two UM units calmly deflected the rounds, then raising there weapons, they started to close on Mana. Suddenly overcome with fear Mana threw the rifle at the enemy units, one of them calmly slicing it in two with one blow if its mighty weapon. Grinning menacingly they continued to close in, fumbling for her sword Mana held the weapon out in front of her. Regaining a bit of control she dug her back foot into the earth. Unaware of Shinjis ever increasing speed she resigned herself to her fate. She held the sword more confidently.

"Come on you bastards!" she yelled, adrenalin taking over. The world froze as out of the corner of her eye she caught sight of a figure sailing through the air.

Shinji had stayed at full speed, leaping from the edge of the canyon, he was sailing, feet first, into harms way. Shouting like a blood-crazed worrier, Shinji flew onto his target. It reacted late, Shinjis boot caught one of the assailants square in its side, transferring his momentum to the UM Eva it was thrown past its comrade, violently impacting on the crevasse wall.

Shinji landed well, which was lucky, as the second unit immediately brought its weapon to bare. Deflecting a series of blows Shinji counterattacked, forcing the UM unit on the back foot. Mana, still stunned by the sudden appearance of Shinji, recovered, charging forward herself. Fighting two Evas the UM unit was forced further back as it deflected blows from Shinji and Mana. They had forced it to the opposite canyon wall were it took its last step back. It had taken a slash from Mana during the engagement and one arm was relatively limp on the weapon, both pilots panted heavily preparing for the last attack.

"Shinji behind you!!" screamed Mana. Shinji spun around just in time to catch the blow of the other recovered UM unit, Shinji was forced down on one knee, and strained to hold against the massive downward blow. The UM unit facing Mana decided to counter attack, she was in turn pushed back, Mana unsteadily deflecting the new attacks. Not really trained in the swords use she was no match, and soon received a massive gash on one of her legs.

"ARRRggggh!" she screamed out.

"Mana!!" shouted Shinji. Enraged by the shout of pain from his fellow pilot, Shinji screamed as he forced back the strained attack of his opponent, forcing his Eva into a standing position. He looked over at Mana, she was on one knee unsteadily holding her ground. Looking back at his opponent Shinji completely released his grip on his sword while moving to one side. Unprepared for the sudden move the UM unit fell forward his blade impaction on the ground. Swinging around Shinji delivered a vicious kick to the creatures side, following with an elbow blow to the head, and a series of more kicks. The UM unit was still holding on to its weapon, unwilling to let go, it stumbled back un-coordinately. Shinji, still moving, deployed his progressive knife, grabbing it and sweeped his arm around in a graceful arc, delivering a deep slash to the creatures exposed mid section, stricken, the creature stumbled and fell backwards, the fall creating a cloud of dust.

Spinning back around Shinji threw the progressive knife at the other unit. It impacted just below the back of its neck and the creature stumbled towards Mana for a second, then fell. Shinji and Mana breathing deeply, simply looking on for a second. Smiling again Mana looked up at Shinji, though her expression turned to one of horror, instinctively Shinji jumped to the side. The massive double blade just missing him. Rolling sideways Shinji saw it was the UM unit he had just fought, oozing massively from the mid section it was lunging forward in an attempt to finish the now unarmed Shinji off. Turning it lunged again, Shinji just avoided the massive blow by rolling backwards.

"Shinji!" screamed Mana. Shinji turned his head. Mana, still kneeling, threw her sword roughly towards him. As if in slow motion Shinji caught the sword, turning his head he saw the enemy Eva lunging at him again, starting a massive overhead downward swing. In one action Shinji sprang forward from his crouching position, just missing the downward thrust of the massive blade as it slid centimetres past his shoulder. Bringing his own sword up in a vicious circle, the blade struck home, effectively severing the soft creature in two. Coming up Eva unit 01 didn't even look back as the enemy UM unit collapsed into two heaps behind him. Before he could do anything else Shinji heard a yelp behind him. Turning he saw that the other stricken unit, progressive knife still sticking out of his back, was back on his feet and closing in on Mana. In desperation, Mana had reached for her own progressive knife. Shinji moved instantly but was still to slow. He watched as if in slow motion as the UM unit drew back its massive weapon. Spearing straight for the entry plug, it threw all of its force into the thrust.

Shinji screamed out. But the massive blade simply came down. Holding the progressive knife Mana was able to deflect the thrust slightly, the edge of the blade hit on her right chest plate up towards the shoulder, spearing strait through and pinning the Eva to the ground savagely. Shinji, racing from behind, brought the sword up in a massive ark, slicing the unmanned unit from its left hip to its right shoulder. Still as if in slow motion the world just froze, then the lumbering beast slowly separated, the two parts fell on top of the stricken Eva. Shinji, still in his final pose, regained is breath. Still on an adrenalin high he was unable to move for a couple of seconds, then suddenly the world came rushing back. Looking down he saw the collapsed form of the downed UM unit on-top of the stricken Eva. Dropping his sword Shinji threw off the parts of the downed unit and kneeled down next to Mana.

"Mana…… Mana are you O.K?" asked Shinji frantically. Suddenly her comms link reappeared, she was holding her shoulder with one arm, but otherwise she was smiling.

"Shinji" she said sweetly "we did it."

Her smile was broken however when she again grimaced at the pain. Shinji, looking up, saw the blade still sticking into the side of her.

"Turn your nerve connection off manually" commanded Shinji. "Your not going to need it any more"

Mana looked up at him.

"If I do that I probably wont be able to reconnect" said Mana, concerned.

"You can't help any more" said Shinji, looking down at her. "You've done a great job, we'll take it from here" he said sweetly. Mana, smiling again, looked up at him.

"Are Musashi and Keita ok?" she asked softly.

"They're fine, they're with Asuka and Rei" he said softly. Off in the distance there was another explosion, only audible now that their own combat was finally over.

"You had better go help them." Mana said with a look of concern. Shinji could see that she had disconnected the neural link as the lights in her entry plug suddenly changed colour. She removed her hand from her shoulder.

"O.K" he said. Getting up, he went over to retrieve his progressive knife.

"I'll just finish off these two first" he said, starting to rip apart the torso of the first UM unit.

"Aren't they dead?" said Mana with concern.

"They regenerate, you have to destroy the S2 engine inside to kill them. That's what you did to the first one … that's why it exploded" he said. He had found the S2 engine, a small globe of green. Getting up, he moved over to the next one.

"Oh, so that's what that was" said Mana simply. Shinji quickly found the second one and moved back over to Mana.

"Yep, may I take your progressive knife" he asked looking down with a smile.

"Sure" said Mana curious about his next actions. Shinji, holding the two globes in one hand, garbed the knife. Moving up to the ridge he threw the globes, one after the other out onto the plain. They landed a considerable distance away. Getting a firmer stance Shinji grabbed the knife by the blade, ready to throw, he activated his computer to calculate the throw.

"Get ready." he said turning back to Mana. She nodded. Pausing for a second Shinji threw the knife. Diving back down he just avoided the blast as it rushed over above him. He and Mana cowered as the earth shook, the crater almost reached the canyon, but the ground held, and neither unit was injured by the massive expulsion of energy. The explosion seemed to go for ages, but finally the rumbling abated.

Wind and dust still blowing viciously, Shinji got up from his huddled position and brushed of some of the debry and dirt. Moving down to Manas position he dragged the un-mobile unit up and out of the light layer of newly settled dirt, propping it up against the canyon wall so that its entry plug could eject if need be. Manas comms link reappeared on Shinjis screen.

"You going to be alright?" asked Shinji with a small smile.

"I'll be fine, you just take care of yourself O.K" she said softly.

Smiling, Shinji nodded, then turned to run up the other side of the canyon. Picking up his sword he climbed up, looking down at Manas screen one-more time, seeing her smiling face, he gave her one last nod before moving out. Their comms link failed soon after he lost line of site.

Shinji, now running, focused on the terrain in front of him, once again obscured by the new dust thrown up by the S2 engine explosion. Shinji raced towards the far off combat, looking down at his timer he noted he only had 12 minutes left in his batteries and the lance would be landing in 2 minutes. Urgency noted, Eva unit 01 raced on through the smoke.

Back at ground zero Asuka was panting heavily, her shoulder was injured again, looking around she saw the slain figures of the four UM units as well as the fallen figures of Musashi and Keitas' units. Only her and Rei remained standing, Rei had multiple cuts but was still fully functioning, but she had just been thrown back by Kaworu, and was on the ground. Asukas own unit 02 had only had slight damage to its left arm, it was at 60% strength. Launching herself sideways she avoided another blow from Kaworu.

"Ha Ha Ha." laughed Kaworu over the now established comms link "You fight well Lilin, your passion for your futile cause is quite amicable" he said, swiping again at Asuka, she caught the blade with her own pushing back hard against him. Straining, the two squared of, moving suddenly Kaworu put Asuka off balance and delivered a kick that pushed her out and away, landing badly her unit slid to a halt. Kaworu laughed again. He started to move towards Asuka, suddenly he spun around to deflect a blow from Rei, who had recovered. Asuka, leaning up, looked at the two, standing there exchanging blows.

What the hell happened here. She thought to her self… she remembered back to the start of the fight.

The four units had approached the 3 UM units and Kaworu. As expected Kaworu had fired some shots at them. Though between the 4 AT fields they had easily absorbed the impact. Even if some shots had pushed them back due to the blast. Kaworu stopped firing after a number of tries, joining his other units they had simply stood and waited. Keita and Musashi waited until they were about 1000m away before opening fire. Two of the front UM units started to deflect the rounds. Then something strange happened, the last winged unit suddenly sprang into the air, firing its boosters it was quickly at altitude, caught unaware by this action the 4 simply got into defensive poses getting ready to dodge whatever attack would come. Kaworu began to spin the large staff he was carrying, starting slowly, the 4 pilots watched mesmerised as it got ever faster. Suddenly stopping Kaworu thrust the staff into the air, one of the balls detaching and flew up quickly to the waiting UM unit high above. The globe glided up, a small wire trailing behind it, before the pilots knew it the globe was caught by the unit high above, and the wire went taught, glistening in the midday sun.

"Shoot the wire out!" screamed Asuka. Keita brought up his rifle, but it was to late. The four pilots shielded their eyes as a bright light escaped from Kaworu, who stood arms spread wide. They strained against the shock-wave as the earth was ripped from around them. Controls scrambled, it took a second or two for the comms links to come back on line. Looking around Asuka was amazed she was still alive. Blinking she laughed triumphantly.

"Is that all?!" she yelled "How pathetic! Keita, shoot out that line!"

Taking aim again Keita pulled the trigger, however all that happened was that his riffle went

"click"

Musashi and Rei both raised their guns and fired, both clicking harmlessly. Shocked the pilots looked at their weapons. Then suddenly a comms screen showed up on their window, it was Kaworu.

"I'm afraid chemicaly propelled weapons are no longer of use" he said with a smile.

"You have fought bravely, but your time has come, traitors of SEELE." he looked at Musashi and Keita who were backing away uncertainly.

"And children of Lilin!" he continued. With that Kaworu drew his own sword and the three units rushed forward, high above the flying UM unit began to dive. What followed was a difficult and bloody close combat struggle. Blades clashed, knives were thrown kicks, punches and throws were delivered and deflected. Though Asuka was far superior to the UM units the two boys were poorly armed. Taking massive hits while helping Asuka, Keita sacrificed his Eva to protect Musashi from a terminal blow about to be delivered by the forgotten forth UM unit, which had finally recovered from its earlier ambush by Musashi. Enraged by the fall of his comrade Musashi fought through a piercing hit to disembowel an attacker grabbing the S2 engine from the lifeless corps. Seeing his fallen comrade and systems failing he had sprinted towards another lightly damaged enemy, taking another massive blow to his torso on the way. Despite the pain he had managed to effectively tackle the unit and was running with it away from his fallen comrade. Satisfied that he had made enough distance from his friend and about to receive a crippling blow from the tackled UM unit he plunged his progressive knife into the S2 engine. This act igniting it and the S2 engine of the unit he was holding on to. The explosion had been massive, Musashis Eva had barely held up to the blast and both of the boys' units had been damaged beyond continued operation.

Asuka meanwhile, now on her own, had taken the other damaged two UM units on, using her weapon skilfully it took her only 45seconds of glorious combat to successfully disassemble the enemy, picking up the two S2 engines she simply threw them away from the bodies. Rei finally, had engaged Kaworu. Not much of a match against this larger enemy, through sheer determinations she had held her ground valiantly while the others disposed of the last mass produced Evas.

And that's when Asuka had joined the fight against Kaworu.

Her thoughts coming back to the present time Asuka's Eva got back up. Preparing to help Rei once more Asuka was suddenly distracted by a red light appearing in her cockpit. 10min battery remaining. Suddenly Misato came on screen.

"The lance is incoming! Lookout!" she screamed. Kaworu and Rei disengaged from each other, both looking up. High above them they could see a distortion in the sky, the lance was streaking in, accelerating under the pull of gravity. On-board computers gave warning of the impact and the three remaining units dived away at the last second. The impact was impressive, though not as violent as an N2 detonation. As the area was now relatively devoid of dust the last remaining fragments of loose soil were blown clear by the new shock-wave. Standing again, Asuka looked over at the impact crater. The lance had buried itself in the bedrock, looking up she could already see Kaworu standing at the edge of the large shallow crater. Raising his hand he fired a burst of energy at the craters centre. The large explosion throwing massive boulders into the air. Asuka shielded herself from the debris, hunched down. Getting back up again, Asuka was about 500m away, just behind Kaworu, she could see Rei standing up, weapon still in hand. All comms links were re engaged. Asuka could again see Kaworu and Rei.

"It's not over yet Kaworu! You still have to get past me and Rei!" yelled Asuka bitterly, raising her sword and charging at the dark Eva. Rei, from behind Kaworu, did the same. Calmly as always Kaworu looked from one girl too the other.

"If that is your wish." he said simply, still smiling.

What followed was a brilliant display of fighting skills, enhanced by the frenzied adrenalin rush of the two girls and the clam determination of Kaworu. Asuka and Rei slashed and thrusted, Kaworu deflected, dived and kicked. Moving gracefully to defend himself against the two girls he occasionally brought one of them to the ground. The two girls were however, relentless, quite aware of their battery times now down to 6 minutes. After a particularly elaborate exchange Rei was momentarily wrong footed and Kaworu was able to knock up Asukas hands with his elbow, exposing her mid section. Brining back his sword he pierced unit 02 right in the stomach, the blade going clean through the bottom of the entry plug. Frozen Asukas Unit 02 stood there for a second, not moving an inch, a shocked expression on the pilots face. Rei let out a scream of shock.

"Asuka!!!" she yelled out, Eva unit 02 however was beyond help. Dropping her blade Asuka took a step back, her legs failing beneath her. She collapsed, her un-reactive Eva sliding down the side of the crater.

"You bastard!" screamed Rei, making a lunge at Kaworu.

Only worried about one assailant Kaworu delt quickly with the attack, sidestepping the thrust and delivering a cut along the back of unit 00. Shocked Rei stumbled forward, her Eva coming to a slow stop. Standing there for a second, unit 00 dropped its weapon onto the ground, it coming to rest unceremoniously on the bare rock. Unit 00 swayed for a second before collapsing forward into the dirt.

Kaworu, still kneeling in his last pose, calmly stood back up, sheathing his sword slowly, he looked around. All around him were fallen Evas and their discarded weapons. Given the cleanliness of the now exposed bedrock, the debris looked almost clinical, the metal and organic matter shining and steaming in the hot afternoon sun. Casually Kaworu walked over to the edge of the crater. Looking down he could see the end of the lance sticking up.

About to move Kaworus eye caught a figure standing opposite him on the other side of the crater. It was unit 01.

Shinjis comms link flicked on in Kaworus Eva.

"Kaworus, what have you done?!" asked Shinji exasperated, all around he could see the fallen Evas of his friends.

"Merely what had to be done" said Kaworu calmly. "The will of the Lilin is strong, though your decisions are never unanimous, it is the stronger amongst you that forge a path for the masses"

Shinji eyed his opponent warily. He had heard this type of talk before, looking down at his consol he had only 3 minutes of power left. Looking around it was clear that no one remained capable to help destroy the lance, there was only one alternative, Kaworus had to be destroyed. Tears welling up in his eyes, Shinji made up his mind.

"Come on you bastard this ends here! Once and for all!!" screamed Shinji, preparing his sword and racing down the crater side. Kaworu, standing calmly on the far side simply said.

"If that is you wish" calmly and curtly. Drawing his own sword, Kaworu also started to run down his side of the crater. Meeting roughly in the middle the two Evas leapt the last 100m towards each other, the swords clashing violently. Landing roughly Shinji spun around and soon the two were in a close combat exchange. Swords clashing heavily, they caught each other in alternative sweeps, the blades coming to rest against each other as both sides used brute strength to try to push the other away. Thinking quick Shinji deployed his progressive knife. Using his left hand he snatched the hilt sending it towards the head of the dark Eva. Kaworu however, was ready, catching Shinjis Evas wrist with his own hand. Now locked in two grips, the two pilots struggled against each other, for the first time Shinji saw Kaworu really strain himself, as Eva unit 01 started to apply all its hidden power to accomplish its pilots desire. Countdown continuing, Shinjis cockpit turned red as the final 180 seconds of his power began to run down.

Unaware to Shinji, Rei had ejected from the entry plug and had made her way to the edge of the crater. Looking down she saw the two units strain against each other, locked in the final struggle.

"Damn it Kaworu if only there was more time!!!" screamed Shinji, as he prepared for his final effort.

"More time" said Kaworu breaking his mask of concentration. Now calm, Kaworu looked up at Rei, standing there normally, as if nothing in the world were the matter. She seemed relaxed, looking back at Kaworu, Reis form began to glow. Smiling Kaworu looked back at Shinji .

"Time is relative" he said simply.

Shinjis world went black. Blinking once or twice in the new environment, he was completely disorientated. Then in front of him he saw a single drop of liquid hit an invisible sea, the ripples extending out rhythmically.

"Hu?" he said aloud.

Changing to a more relaxed pose, Shinji blinked a bit more.

Finally looking to his left he saw the white naked figure of Rei, standing alone, a way off, seemingly standing on nothing at all. She calmly began to walk over to Shinji. Shinji didn't react, simply turning his head back. And there, standing right in front of him, was the figure of Kaworu. Shinji jumped back a bit, the sudden appearance of the naked boy so close to him giving him a start.

"Nagisa!" said Shinji surprised. Smiling, Kaworu tilted his head.

"You know my second name?" he said pleasantly. Shinji still a little disorientated, calmed a bit.

"Yes of course I do Kaworu, we've met before" said Shinji.

"Ahh yes" said Kaworu in his usual casual tone. "In my last life. I was told we had fought."

His face, as always, gave nothing away other then pleasantness. Shinji wondered what else he had been `told'.

"Kaworu, where is this, why are we here." he said more businesslike, remembering the mission. Kaworu looked across at Rei.

"This is simply a different plane of consciousness" he said. "One not so effected by the restraints of time"

Kaworu bowed slightly as Rei got closer, Rei in return simply looked at him.

"I was simply curious why a Lilith and one half born of Lilin would have the same request" he said finally. Rei had moved next to Shinji and had looped one arm around his.

"And what request would that be" said Rei calmly.

"To find an alternative to combat, of course." he said smiling, and with that he sat on the invisible floor, legs crossed in front of him. Shinji looked over at Rei then back at Kaworu.

"Of course we don't want to fight, I don't want to hurt you" said Shinji again, he and Rei joined Kaworu on the floor.

"You have destroyed me before" said Kaworu, still not hinting at any malice at all.

"That was at your request!" said Shinji defensively, almost getting back up again.

Kaworu simply observed Shinji for a second, facial expression not changing from one of contentment.

"It is true, you sacrificed yourself so that Shinji alone would decide the fate of mankind" said Rei calmly. She was still holding onto Shinji.

Kaworu looked from one to the other.

"Under what circumstances?" he said pleasantly.

"You were in unit 01s grasp directly in front of Lilith. Your and my AT field encased all these elements as well as having contact with Adam" said Rei. The three looked at each other for a while longer.

"Yet here I am again." said Kaworu after a while. "Once more trying for the instrumentality of mankind"

Kaworu calmly raised his hand, making one sweep from left to right. All around him Shinji saw the appearance of figures. He could see Musashi, Keita and Asuka, as well as a woman next to Asuka, looking to his left he could see his mother.

"Mother?" he said surprised. He looked at her for a while, she was floating, eyes closed in a standing position, her hair playing in an invisible wind, head back but otherwise limp. He looked at her for a second then back around, in the distance he could make a faint dot of light.

"Mana" he said softly to himself. Looking closer he could see other figures as well. Next to Keita and Musashi were other figures, they were Kaworu. Looking back to where Rei had come from he could see another Rei, this one floating just like his mother.

"The souls of Evangelion" said Shinji, obviously amazed at what he was seeing.

"Not all of them" said Rei, keeping a fixed stare on Kaworu. "Some of them are the shadows of souls" she said coldly, looking back at the shadowy Rei, Shinji noticed that it was relatively transparent, no where near as brilliant as the sleeping form of Asuka or the floating form of who he assumed to be Asukas mother.

"All that you see around you" said Kaworu, looking around "All this has been created by Lilin, by your own kind… Rei, I myself and even your own Eva, have been created for one purpose" he looked at Shinji "Human instrumentality."

Kaworu smiled for a second. "And now, you would use the same tools to stop that, for which they were designed for?"

"It was a mistake" said Shinji, a little desperately, he was starting to get the impression that he was on trial.

"One would not think that a mistake could exist over such a long period of time, consume so many resources, effect so many people, and not be recognised as such." said Kaworu.

"This mistake was perpetuated by one organisation, by only a small group of people, they don't represent the desires of mankind!" said Shinji desperately.

"Yet mankind did nothing to stop this" said Kaworu evenly. "New Ideas and interpretations must always come from an individual, or a small group. But it is societies choice whether to follow or not."

"Mankind was never given a choice in this!" replied Shinji angrily. Kaworu looked at Shinji for a second as if reading his mind, then calmly as always said.

"Inactivity is a choice, everyone's choice" Kaworu said. Shinji, stunned, remembered back to his fight with Tojis Eva, his inactivity had been his choice, choosing not to act did not absolve a person of responsibility.

As if reading Shinjis mind Kaworu continued "And just as what can effect an individuals choice, is the individuals responsibility, so is what can effect a society, societies responsibility."

Shinji listening to this, strained a little mentally to follow.

"Mankind has allowed for this circumstance to occur, through its own making. The collective choices of all Lilin have culminated in the control over its fate by a small organisation, and now by a small group of individuals." he said looking from Rei to Shinji

"That should never be the case" said Shinji, steadfast.

"Perhaps not, but it is." replied Kaworu. "It has already occurred once before." he said looking at Shinji.

"That time you allowed Shinji to decide for all mankind" said Rei calmly.

"It would appear so" replied Kaworu.

"Why then would you go against his wishes now?" continued Rei.

"An individuals choices are dependent on circumstance, the effect of that choice is also dependent on circumstance" said Kaworu, and looking at Rei, he added. "And the individual."

Rei looked at him for a second.

"The last time your choice was Shinji" said Rei.

"I am also tied to the bonds of circumstance, my decisions are reached by the environment I find my self in, and by past events that I have experienced, just as you have." he said pleasantly. Reis eyes opened a little as she contemplated her own mind set, would she have simply followed orders? Even just after her 3rd reincarnation? Realisation came hard, she would have still simply followed orders, regardless of her experience in the past life, she could remember nothing, doing the will of Gendo was her only purpose, doing the will of Lilin. It had only changed after her interaction with Shinji. Rei looked over at Shinji who, by his expression, was obviously contemplating things. It had been his choice to interact with her on a personal level, he had been the first. And through this she had begun to value the choices of others, of people other then Gendo, the commander. Looking back at Kaworu she gave him a small knowing smile, he simply smiled back as always, she then turned to Shinji, saying.

"Choices are dependant on circumstance, dependent on experiences, dependent on the individual" she said softly. "You will make the right choice."

Shinji, looking a little confused, looked at her. Looking back at Kaworu the images began to fade, "Kaworu! Rei! Wait!" yelled Shinji. It was too late, the images were gone, suddenly however he could see a light, waiting for their return he was somewhat shocked to find himself back in his Eva, Kaworu right in front of him, they were both straining in their struggle to kill each other. Looking at his screen he had 3 minutes left.

"I will not let this happen!" he screamed. Allowing Kaworus weight to push him backwards Shinji twisted the body of his Eva, guiding Kaworu past him. Spinning around 360 degrees his hands were able to break Kaworus grip and he swung around fully with the blade sweeping around in a graceful ark behind him, quick to react Kaworu was ready, having turned around to deflect. Shinji pressed the attack, dropping the progressive knife he swept up in a low ark knocking Kaworus blade vertical. Still using the same sweep Shinji curved the blade back down and around 270 degrees to deliver a powerful double handed horizontal slash to the side of Kaworus now vertical blade, cutting it in two just above the hilt. Not finished, Shinji continued to spin around with his momentum delivering a kick to Kaworus mid-section, causing him to fall backwards and slide a way on the ground. Standing back erect, Shinji calmly walked over to Kaworus Eva. Kaworu, unfazed and still lying on the ground, simply leaned up on the dark Evas elbows. Shinji, sword still in hand, pointed it loosely at Kaworus middle.

"So what is your choice, Lilin?" said Kaworu in his usual cool manner, unknown to Shinji his palm had begun to glow. Shinji looking down at him, still panting, waited a few seconds, battery down to 2 minutes.

"I will not destroy you" said Shinji determinedly, in-between heavy pants, the adrenaline still cursing through his veins.

"You will help me destroy the lance" he finished. Kaworu, still smiling, said.

"And if I do not?"

"I would rather postpone the destruction of the lance, and the ending of the threat of instrumentality, and even risk the possibility of SEELE still gaining future control of the lance, then destroy your existence again. If you do not help me, I will simply throw the lance back into orbit." he said, serious in every way.

With that Eva unit 01 walked over to the lance, pulling it up from the ground with its free hand. Kaworu in the meantime had gotten back up, and walked slowly towards Shinji.

"You have decided for more time, but in such a way that you are once more risk the possible future abortion of mankind. And all this to allow for your Lilin compassion, and this for a creatures life that is not even human, and one that many would consider your enemy." said Kaworu calmly.

"You are truly a species borne of hope, yours is not the future that should die" he said evenly. Shinji smiled, thinking back to similar words Kaworu had said during their first fight. Noting that he had only about 1 minute left Shinji threw the sword he was still holding to Kaworu, who caught it casually, as if expecting it. Spreading his feet apart Shinji held out the lance in front of him, Kaworu only meters away. Shinji screamed out.

"AT field maximum!" The hexagonal field appeared suddenly, accompanied by the usual rush of wind and bright lights. Twisting and turning the field began to distort around the lance, until the lance changed color from red to purple. Walking up, and without another word Kaworu raised the sword and brought it down hard, connecting with the centre of the lance. Shinji, looking down, closed his eyes, it didn't help, the flash of light went straight through him.

From orbit you could see the cross, standing 1000s of km out of the atmosphere, glowing like a galactic beacon, almost half the globe could see the massive column of light towering above the horizon, hands of the cross stretching across almost half the diameter of the earth.

Back on earth Shinji was yelling, the light and sound overloading his senses, his hands burning with unfeeling energy, it lasted almost a full 30 seconds. Finally loosing breath to yell Shinji calmed as the light slowly faded. Expecting to find himself back in his Eva the fading light revealed something totally unexpected, the open air. Shinji blinked. The light was still very bright, but now he could clearly make out his surroundings. Looking around he could see bright traces of light, they were floating upwards, thousands of them, as far as the eye could see, great beacons of light slowly floating upwards into the heavens. Against the still dusty backdrop the scene was quite simply beautiful. Smiling, Shinji couldn't help but admire the view. Looking forward he saw Kaworu, arms stretched, floating 20m or so above the ground. Looking back around he could see nothing of the unit 01, or for that matter any trace of any Eva. Looking around he saw Asuka a way off, looking closer he could see that she was talking to a figure, one standing just in-front of her, floating 1m above the ground. Asuka, as if feeling his gaze upon her, turned to look at him. She gave him one of the most heart-warming smiles he had ever seen her give, turning back, she started to talk to her mother again.

`Mother' Shinji suddenly thought to himself. Spinning back around he was not shocked to find the naked, floating figure of his mother.

"Mother!" Shinji said overjoyed, but unable to move.

"Hello my little Shinji" said Yui tenderly. Tears were present in her eyes, Shinjis eyes were also beginning to well up.

"I am so proud of you" Yui said. Shinji, still struck dumb with joy, simply continued to grin.

"You were able to undo what I had started." she said, still smiling.

"Mother, no. Its not your fault" said Shinji in a caring tone. Yui just looked at him, smiling.

"No Shinji, I and your father were simply wrong, we should not have looked to science to bring man closer to god, we were seduced by SEELE, blinded by our arrogance." she continued.

"But you did not know that" said Shinji, still concerned.

"You are right" said Yui sweetly. "Yet we continued anyway"

"Knowledge without wisdom is a dangerous thing." she added.

"And it took someone, so young." Yui reached out with her hand touching Shinjis face lightly "to see the basic wisdom, we, with our knowledge and arrogance had forgotten"

Shinji lifted his own hand placing it on his mothers.

"I'm not sure I understand" said Shinji smiling again. Yui chuckled lightly to herself, bringing up her other hand she held Shinjis face in her hands.

"That's O.K" she said lightly. "Just remember, no matter how old you get, no matter how complicated the world gets and how much you change, simply be human."

She lowered herself to kiss Shinji tenderly on the forehead and floated down a little, taking Shinji into a tender embrace. They stayed like that for a while, simply enjoying the moment. Shinji released his mother, he looking at her fondly for a second.

"Thank you Shinji" Yui said simply. Beginning to float up slowly.

Shinji, completely at a loss, as to what to say, simply said.

"I love you"

Looking up at her he added "And thank you."

He continued to smile.

"I will always love you Shinji. Remember I will always be there for you" Yui said smiling. And with that final smile she slowly vanished. Shinji, blinking, continued to smile for a while and then slowly looking back around, he noticed that Asuka was hugging her mother, she did not appear to be going anywhere. Shinji smiled to himself, he knew where his mother had gone. Turning around he saw Musashi and Keita on the ridge, they had made their way over from their final positions, both looking up into the sky, amazed. Rei was already halfway down the Ridge. Shinji gave her a smile, which she returned. Turning back Shinji took a couple of steps towards Kaworu who was slowly floating back to the ground. He landed, lowering his arms and opening his eyes, he smiled at Shinji. Shinji walked over to him.

"You have done all this?" Shinji said, smiling.

"You still do not see the truth?" said Kaworu with a smile. Shinji gave him a puzzled look.

"I have done nothing but the will of Lilin" he said "I could not do otherwise, the choice has always been, and will always be yours"

Shinji was still confused. But remembered back to their earlier discussion on society.

"And just as what can effect an individuals choice is the individuals responsibility, so is what can effect a society, societies responsibility." Kaworu had said.

"I am also tied to the bonds of circumstance, my decisions are reached by the environment I find my self in, and by past events that I have experienced, just as you have." he had said.

Shinji thought about the comment. How close had mankind come to its own annihilation? Would it ever know? Would it ever learn? Shinji smiled, humanity has no choice but to continue, to keep trying.

"How powerful are you Kaworu?" asked Shinji. Kaworu simply looked at him, as if waiting for him to continue. Shinji recognising a bit of Rei in his manner so he continued.

"Can you cause third impact on your own?" Shinji looked back around, admiring the view.

"You know the answer to that question" Kaworu said with a smile. Turning a little he faced Rei who had walked up to the two standing boys, she was still in her plug suite.

"Hello pilot Ayanami" said Kaworu pleasantly. Rei smiling, looked at him, stopping she tilted her head a little as if contemplating.

"You intend to stay amongst us, do you not" she said. Shinji, surprised by her action, looked at her a little bemused.

"Yes, that was my intention" he said still smiling.

"Then as a new friend, I think you should call me Rei" she said with a smile. Kaworu responded with a slightly bigger smile then usual. The upwards travelling lights started to fade a little, and the number of lights emerging from the ground began to slow, hearing a voice Shinji turned around, Asuka was running down the side of the crater, shouting out.

"Hey Shinji!" Asuka yelled, running fast.

"Shinji, Rei! We did it! We won!! Its over!" she yelled, still running towards the small group. Shinji hadn't even thought about it, but the idea slowly began to sink in. This was it, it really was over, only now had it struck him.

"Its over" he said smiling, allowing the emotions to take over he got a little more enthused.

"We did it!" he said, excitement growing. He looked over at Rei as if seeing her for the first time.

"Its actually over!" he said to her. Smiling broadly Rei replied.

"And we all made it through."

Shinji, moved over, giving her a huge hug and spun her around on the spot. Rei returned the hug and the two laughing. Shinji had barely released her when Asuka finally closed the distance, jumping at Shinji to exchanging another big hug. That accomplished, she moved onto Rei, joy overtaking the two human pilots. Behind them Keita and Musashi had run up to join them, caught in the moment the young pilots exchanged handshakes, hugs and slaps on the back as they allowed themselves a celebration. Musashi, Asuka and Keita however were slightly taken aback by the fact that Kaworu was naked, but without any other form of clothing there was little any of them could do about it.

"Is Mana O.K" asked Musashi to Shinji, while they were congratulating each other.

"Yep, she's fine" replied Shinji with a grin. "We should make our way over"

Agreeing the small party headed off.

It was an unlikely scene, the small group of pilots walking through the barren landscape, chatting happily amongst themselves, seemingly oblivious of their harsh surroundings.

Soon a helicopter appeared on the horizon, from the direction they were walking to. It quickly closed the distance, landing just ahead of them. It was a large transport helicopter, and coming running from the back appeared Mana Kirashima. Both Musashi and Shinji began to run towards her, though noting Shinjis sudden movement Musashi slowed slightly. Shinji caught Mana in a massive hug, the two pilots laughing in relief and happiness. They detached from each other as the group approached, Mana hugging her team mates and congratulating the other pilots. A crewmember emerged to give Kaworu a blanket. And soon all the pilots were on their way. The 7 had plenty to talk about, and the 2 hour flight was soon over. Shinji truly enjoying the company of so many people. The celebrations and congratulations started all over again upon meeting up with the rest of the Nerve command. Everyone was in a great mood, Ritsuko let the scientist in her take over slightly, asking Kaworu plenty of questions. Misato was unstoppable, hugging everyone, including the former SEELE pilots and Kaworu, Shinji laughed as he finally saw Kaworu shocked, Misato having planted a kiss on his cheek. Shinji and his father congratulated each other with a handshake, Gendo even giving him a pat on the shoulder. The two only had a little time to themselves but Shinji only had to say one thing.

"It was good to see her one more time?" he said, while looking out at the jubilant gathering, not even looking at his father, who was standing next to him.

"It was something I will never forget" replied his father, smiling a little to himself, removing his glasses.

Authors notes:

[[Ka-boom! I'm really glad with how that worked out, gun-fighting and swordplay working together nicely. I'm also quite proud of that introspective stuff with Kaworu and Shinji, nice and trippy, just like the series, hope that made everyone think a bit… O.K onto the epilogue.]]

3.2 So what now? EPILOGUE

[[It's the end, time to round out the happily ever after stuff, I nice bit of contemplation and my views on how each character would continue with their lives.]]

The days following the final battle seemed to be one continual celebration for the pilots, the mood could simply not be broken as the former SEELE pilots were reunited with there families at NERV headquarters. As well as this the return of Kaji, Fuyuzuki, Moyo and Makoto prompted a new round of celebrations. Even though Shinji was caught up in events he did notice that the commanders were still active in their role, SEELE was still out there after all, their demise had to be finalised.

Only a month later the final nail was hit into SEELES coffin, now completely exposed by their desperate role of the dice, the heads of SEELE and the leaders of its tentacle organisation were placed under arrest, while the quicker members distanced themselves from the organisation. SEELE was no-more, and with its demise, there ceased to be a need for NERV.

The alarm sounded. Shinji, lying peacefully in his bed, stirred from his sleep. Physically curling up in protest, he tried to will the alarms noise out of his head. Finally giving up he stretched out, eventually forcing his eyes to open. Blinking a couple of times, he yawned animatedly, stretching out again, his feet sticking over the edge of the bed. Leaning up on his elbows Shinji looked around the room. A muffled moan came from under the sheets next to him. Smiling, he leaned over and stopped the alarm. The movement from the lump on his bed stopped. Grinning evilly Shinji moved over, grasping the doona with one hand he pulled it off the sleeping girl in one swift move. Annoyed, the satin slip wearing figure of a 19-year-old woman curled up into a ball, mumbling unhappily. This situation was not surprising however considering he himself was now 19. Leaning over Shinji tenderly swept her hair away from her hiding face, placing a kiss on her cheek. He left his head were it was, kissing the cheek periodically while he lent on her shoulder, awaiting a reaction. Moving slowly the young lady uncurled. Leaning back Shinji threw the doona back over her to cover her exposed figure. Still leaning Shinji waited for the young woman to fully stretch. Sweeping her hair out of her face, and rubbing her eyes, she opened them reluctantly, smiling upon seeing Shinjis face.

"Hello beautiful" Shinji said sweetly. The young lady reached up, placing her hand behind his neck she pulling him down slowly and proceeded to give him a tender morning kiss. Shinji wrapped his arms around her. `What a great way to start the day' he thought. After a while the young lady pushed Shinji up lightly.

"We should really get ready, we don't want to be late" she said. Smiling Shinji released his grip. Giving her a quick kiss, he rolled out of bed. Standing up he stretched as far as he could reach, letting out a satisfied groan. Meanwhile the young lady leant up against the bed-rest to watch the young man, clad only in boxer shorts, stretch.

Turning his head he said. "Well then, come on Mana"

And gave her a wink.

Shinji leant forward over the sink, using his hand to wipe away some of the steam that had collected on the mirror. Leaning back he observed his reflection, behind him he could see Manas form in the shower, she was humming a little song to herself.

"Now don't use all the hot water!" said Shinji in a light hearted tone. Mana stoped humming for a second. Sliding back the shower screen a little, she poked her head out smiling mischievously.

"You could always join me?" she suggested.

Shinji smiled at her.

"Unfortunately we don't have the time, we can't keep our international visitors waiting" he said with a smirk.

Mana put on a disappointed look, closing the screen door she started humming happily to herself again. Shinji looked at himself in the mirror, rubbing his chin with his hands thoughtfully.

`I need a shave' he thought to himself. He prepared himself, Mana spoke out from the shower.

"Speaking of people who need a shave" she said in an exaggerated innocent tone. "Did Kaji or Misato end up calling you?"

Shinji thought for a second.

"I forgot to tell you, Misato called last night" Shinji answered, lathering up his face. "They've already started moving in, she says there will be plenty of room for us when we come over to visit."

Shinji started to shave.

It was about time those two got their own house' he thought to himself, That apartment was simply too small, especially considering it had effectively become the summer holiday home of 3 of the former pilots. Shinji looked forward to his time back in Tokyo 3. He and Mana had only been in America studying for 2 years, and even though he really enjoyed it here, somehow Tokyo 3 would always be home. And anyway, except for Asuka and Kensuke all his old friends were there.

Shinji remembered back to the first departure. How everyone had come to see him, Mana and Asuka off, it had been great. Asuka was a little miffed that she was not the only one studying abroad, and she was rather cool to her fellow travellers while saying general goodbyes to the friends that had come to see them off. But when she had split from Mana and Shinji to go to her separate plain she hugged Shinji farewell in her now usual pleasant manner. During this hug Shinji thought he might have actually seen a tear in her eye, which would have only been the second time he ever saw her cry. Before he could confirm however, she had quickly given him a peck on the cheek, a punch in the arm and turned to dash to her aircraft, waving to them as she turned the corner.

Back in the present, Shinji had not noticed Mana get out of the shower, he was still shaving absent mindedly.

"Hey you, wake up" she said cheerfully. Bumping Shinji out of the way playfully with her hip and grabbed her toothbrush.

"If Misato hasn't got her stuff together we can always stay with our father and Dr Ritsuko." she said lightly, sticking the toothbrush in her mouth. Shinji gave her a thoughtful look, he had finished shaving, so got ready to enter the shower.

"Ha ha… could you imagine" he said amused. "I think I'll leave our time alone for when we're on the golf course."

Cheerfully he entered the shower. It had only been recently that Doctor Akagi had moved in with Gendo, that too was about time. Smiling, Shinji remembered back to when his father had wanted to explain the situation between the two of them to him, during last summer break. It was the only time Shinji ever saw his father lost for words, it was strange to see that on some-matters even his father was human. Shinji had taken the initiative, saying to Gendo that he had known about the two of them for some time, and he new Yui, like himself, wished them only happiness. Gendo relaxed, saying he should have known a son of his would have figured it out by now.

The two of them actually got on quite well now, Shinji and Gendo, even catching up over the phone about every two months or so, though the conversations were generally short and to the point. Still though, in summer the two would play golf and go fishing together, now that Gendo had the time he enjoyed relaxing past-times, the two would usually spend the day in relative silence, but somehow they both preferred it that way.

Shinji got out of the shower, brushing his teeth now that Mana had left the bathroom.

Outside Mana got dressed. Their apartment was relatively small, but comfortable, and right next to the university. It had seemed like such a big thing to Shinji at the time, studying abroad, but really it had never been a risk. Manas family had lived in America before they were taken into custody, and had returned to their former lives after being released. Manas parents actually only lived in the next county. Not to close but also not to far away, as far as Shinji was concerned

Asuka had also left Japan, returning to Germany to pursue postgraduate studies. She was excelling, as was to be expected, and breaking many a poor German boys heart, or so she continuously bragged. Shinji wasn't so sure about that, and last summer he had managed to get a name out of her, Clause. Shinji was unable to get anything else out of her, but he was sure she would divulge the information in her own time.

A year after they had left, Kensuka had also left for China, to pursue a journalism degree. Shinji kept up with him and Toji over the Internet, Kensuke sending all kind of strange photos from his latest expose projects. Toji himself had remained in Tokyo, he and Hikari had moved in together, surprise, surprise. Toji himself was undertaking a Bio-mechanics degree at Tokyo university, while at the same time working part time at NERV under the direction of Dr Ritsuko. Hikari had continued in her love for cooking, and was currently undertaking an apprentaship at a well known Tokyo three restaurant. Shinji occasionally getting some interesting recipes off her. Shinji looked forward to seeing the two again soon.

Getting dressed he joined Mana in the kitchen table, she had prepared a quick breakfast for them. Though Shinji did most of the cooking Mana did cook occasionally, and usually with good results. Soon the two were in the car, on their way to the Airport. While Mana drove, Shinji, in the passenger seat, listened to the music from the stereo and watched the city go by.

NERV had endured. After the final collapse of SEELE, NERV had gotten jurisdiction over all of the assets under the administration of the UN. Without a clear objective Gendo, Fuyuzuki and Ritsuko had proposed that the aims of NERVE be turned to medical science, it had been a logical step, considering the expertise and resources NERV possessed in research and development of bio-mechanical systems and neural interfaces. The change had been approved, and Gendo, Ritsuko, Fuyuzuki, Misato and Kaji worked hard to restructure the organisation. In the last 3 years they had come far, becoming the leaders in almost all aspects of medical research. The reason why Toji had been drawn to the institute.

Arriving at the airport, Shinji and Mana made their way to the arrivals lounge, hand in hand. They didn't have to wait long. Soon appearing through the arrival gate was a young couple. They were dressed casually, the beautiful young lady in a summer dress, the young man in slacks and a shirt, top button undone to reveal the white T-shirt below. The two walked hand in hand, her blue hair and their red eyes received strange looks from some of the passers by. Seemingly oblivious, the two simply walked through the crowd, seeing Shinji and Mana, Kaworu and Rei smiled, releasing their hands to greet each other with hugs.

With only a few small bags as luggage (both Rei and Kaworu had remained minimalists.)

They were soon on their way. Catching up in the car the time past quickly and they soon found themselves at their destination, a small cafe along a country road. It was located off the main road and looked across a large lake to the mountains behind, it was quite peaceful at this time of day. Soon the 4 found themselves out on the balcony overlooking the lake. Being the only customers it didn't take long for their drinks to arrive.

Sipping his tea Shinji looked across the lake.

"So who does the cooking at your place?" asked Mana. Kaworu, taking a sip of his soda, replied.

"Its depends on who has more time" he said pleasantly. "Though it appears that I have greater enjoyment in preparing food then Rei. She for her part seems to enjoy tending the plants more"

"How is that garden going?" Mana asked, turning to Rei.

"Garden?" said Rei.

"Well I don't think you can really call it a balcony any-more, considering how many plants you have growing there." Mana continued. Rei smiled.

"It is going very well, we almost have something in flower all year round." replied Rei.

"You really have the most beautiful selection of flowers growing, I cant wait to visit again when we're back in Tokyo 3" Mana said enthusiastically.

"Thank you" said Rei pleasantly. Shinji looked on happily. Mana gave him a little smile.

"Kaworu, I have a surprise for you" said Mana. Kaworu turned to face her.

"This place has more then just a beautiful view." she said.

"That's right" said Shinji. "This cafe has one of the most famous cheese cakes in all of America"

Kaworu listened tentatively.

"When Mana heard how much you enjoyed new food she remembered this cafe. It has one of the biggest and best selections in the world." Shinji said with a smile. Mana nodded, Kaworu smiled at the two.

"I am most interested" he said intrigued. Mana, getting up, grabbed Kaworus hand.

"Come on, I'll show you the selection" she said happily. Kaworu raised out of his seat.

"We'll get a selection for these two" she added, nodding at Shinji and Rei. "Finally I have someone with `taste' to help me select" she said teasingly, giving Shinji a wink. Kaworu turned to Rei, leaning over, he gave her a quick kiss, which she lent up to receive, smiling he said.

"I will ensure you will get something you enjoy"

Turning, he followed Mana into the cafe. Shinji watched them go, as did Rei, once they went inside she turned to face Shinji.

"So everything going well with Kaworu?" he asked with a smile.

"We have decided to live our lives as human as possible" she said, obviously referring to the unusual show of affection just then. "It is quite…. Enjoyable" she said, blushing slightly. Shinjis smile broadened.

"You two are good for each other, I'm really happy for you Rei" he said. Rei took a sip of her drink, a large chocolate milkshake.

"I was a little worried leaving you alone in Japan" continued Shinji happily, his smile fading as he remembered his regrets at the time.

"It was for the best" said Rei. "You wanted to be with Mana, and you needed a change, as did Asuka"

Shinji looked at her.

"And you had already done so much for me and Kaworu, it was time for you to look after your own happiness. Kaworu and I will always be grateful" she said, finishing with a smile. It was Shinjis turn to blush slightly.

"So how is Asuka doing really" Shinji asked, moving on. "I haven't visited her in Germany yet, what's her place really like?" he asked after a short pause.

"Its nice… big, but very messy" said Rei.

"That sounds like Asuka" said Shinji, chuckling.

"And did she say anything about a young man?" asked Shinji with a smirk.

"We actually met Claus" said Rei. "He joined us for a whole day, we even had dinner with him"

Shinji looked surprised.

"You met him?! What's he like, she hasn't told me anything, his name is Claus right" stumbled Shinji, eager to find out details.

"He is a very nice young man, his Japanese is not very good, but it's difficult with a German accent"

"He speaks some Japanese… impressive" said Shinji, honestly impressed.

"She met him at university, they are taking the same Martial arts training" she said with a smile.

"He reminds me a lot of Mr Raji" said Rei finally. Shinji looked at her for a second, then leant back in his chair chuckling.

"Also Asuka told me to tell you that you and Kaworu are to get all your `class related psychology discussions' out of the way here. She plans to bring Claus this summer, and if you two end up discussing philosophy all hours of the day, she's going to kick both your asses" said Rei.

"Asses?" said Shinji grinning.

"I am simply relaying a message" Rei replied, taking another sip of her drink.

"That sure sounds like Asuka." said Shinji. "Don't worry, Kaworu and I have already promised to keep the discussions to a minimum"

"You needn't worry on my behalf" said Rei. "Mana and I still have to catch up, she wants to ask me all about my teaching rounds, and her engineering stories always make me laugh." she said pleasantly. Shinji, contented, stretched back in his chair.

"In exactly 4 weeks time, we will all be at Misatos and Kajis house... Asuka with a boyfriend, You Kaworu, Mana, Kensuka, Toji, Hikari, even my father and Ritsuko."

"I think even Fuyuzuki will show up this year" added Rei. Shinji nodded.

"If 5 years ago you would have said that one day we would be all sitting around a big dinner table catching up on each others new lives… enjoying ourselves" said Shinji reflectively "I would have said you were crazy"

Rei looked at him for a second, then looked out at the lake.

"The world has infinite possibilities, controlled by only one thing" said Rei, placing her glass down and also leaning back into her chair.

"Your choices" she said, closing her eyes.

Shinji closed his eyes as well, he nodded in agreement.

Behind the two former pilots, the sliding door of the cafe opened slowly. A lovely aroma filled the air as Mana and Kaworu brought back their partners, `their', chosen selection of cake.

The End.

Authors note

[[Well that's it, it was meant to be quick but it kept filling out, I think it ended up quite well (well I hope it did!) This story represents the most ideal outcome I could see for the existing story, What can I say I'm a sucker for a happy ending! A lot of fun to write and I hope you all liked it, this will be my only long fan-fiction I think. My tribute to a deep and entertaining series, as screwball as elements of it were ! ;)]]