Neon Genesis Evangelion Fan Fiction ❯ Heaven and Hell ❯ Air ( Chapter 20 )

Manga - Addicts Presents:
Heaven and Hell
Revelations 2:0 - Air

HTML version 16 May 2008

Neon Genesis Evangelion created by, registered, and copyrighted to GAINAX, Project EVA, Movic, and any other company and/or division associated with the creation and/or production of Neon Genesis Evangelion. A.D.Vision holds the copyrights to the English version of Neon Genesis Evangelion.

This work of fiction is not intended for any commercial purposes but was created for the entertainment of the Author and Fans of Neon Genesis Evangelion.

No copyright infringement was in any way intended.

Heaven and Hell written by Jino Turtlegod

M Rating. For mature readers only. Some scenes, themes, language, and situations are not suitable for younger readers. Reader discretion is advised.

Revelations 2:0 - Air

Shinji felt the tight knot of fear in his chest as he looked at his enemy.

His enemy.

How ironic that the enemy was someone he could not fight.

Even for the woman he loves, he cannot harm another person. It was not within him to willingly harm others. He was too self-sacrificing. Even if he hated pain, he would take it upon himself rather than give it to others.

His arms instinctively wrapped around the warm body snuggled against him. He tried to draw strength from her. He needed every ounce of courage he could gather.

He looked away from the eyes boring into his.

“Tell me, Ikari,” their enemy looked at them with cold, calculating eyes. “Can you take my life?”

And Juno smiled in triumph.

000

NERV-1

Terminal Dogma

 

Santiago knelt by the edge of the causeway before the captured Angel. His head was bowed, as if he was offering a prayer to the white being impaled upon the giant cross by the false Lance of Longinus. Under him, the sacred pool of Angelic blood was corrupted by the corpses of dozens of men - unintended sacrifices to their Causes.

"Commander Santiago?"

Santiago opened his eyes at the voice. His contemplation interrupted by his co-conspirator.

"What is it Shigeru?" Santiago slowly drew himself up to his full height. He slowly dusted off the knees of his pants, as if carefully giving consideration to each movement he made. The man's black uniform was pristine except for a small tear at the shoulder. The dried blood was invisible on the black cloth.

Far above their heads came the muted sounds of explosions.

Section Two Director Shigeru Aoba took off his dark glasses and tucked them inside his suit. "We got word that the Committee has moved. They have breached all thirty armored layers with N2 mines. Missile bombardment has already begun, Unit 14's AT Field is the only thing protecting Central Dogma. As we predicted, one of the pilots had Fallen."

Santiago's breath caught painfully in his chest. "Who is it?"

"Hurst." Shigeru saw the faint, almost invisible signs of relief spread on Santiago's face. "I just turned up her records. It had been heavily tampered with. The Committee sent her."

"I see. The final phase of the first stage," Santiago's eyes stared faraway as if he was seeing something beyond the darkness. "And all that we lack is the Messiah. You know what to do." He began coughing up blood. He tried not to think of the coming slaughter as he sank to his knees.

000

The darkness was chased away by the light spilling in from the newly opened doors of the prison.

Lt. Corrie Hayes covered his eyes with his hands and squinted at the silhouette standing by the doorway. "Well, do I get shot now?"

The spy was surprised when a pistol was offered to him. Corrie looked suspiciously at the man in black by the door. Will he be shot when he takes the pistol or was he being told to shoot himself?

Corrie looked at the offered weapon. `Traitors always get their just deserts'. The light glinted dully off the dark metal of the gun. `Judas and his silver,' the ex-priest sighed. `Today is another day of betrayal.' He closed his eyes as he felt the cold steel against his palm.

000

Mega Depth Shelter 89

NERV-1

 

"Sir, the enemy is here," Lt. Yamazaki said through the oxygen mask he wore as he nervously fiddled with the shoulder strap of his rifle. There was a risk that there were still enemy stragglers this deep in Central Dogma but Col. Hyuga could no longer contain the worry he had for his family - worry that had intensified when the two men were greeted with the hot, dead air of the lower facilities.

The other reason Takashi was nervous was because of the dead bodies that littered the floor of the shelter he and the Colonel were in. Being around dead bodies reminded him of the day he lost his loved ones - a day of fire and water so long ago. "We have to return to the command center, Sir." The Lieutenant was thankful his voice didn't break.

Makoto silently knelt on the floor, his arms cradled his wife and baby daughter. The shelter they were in had ran out of oxygen when the power to the ventilators had been cut. He was the one who had commanded the death of his family - a sacrifice for the better good. A long, drawn-out, agonizing sacrifice.

Only if he didn't had to make such a decision.

"Did you know? I always thought I wanted something else - to be happy in the arms of another. And yet now, I finally realized that I already had what I wanted." Makoto gently kissed his wife's forehead. A hand lovingly caressed the lifeless face of the woman he finally realized he had grown to love with all his heart. "Don't you think that it's sad that people never appreciate what they have until it's taken from them?" Makoto's hand reached inside his tunic, he felt the jewelry case that contained the peace offering he had bought after he had decided to make up with his wife. "Lieutenant, you have to go back - they're going to need everybody. Complementation or Instrumentality, there are only two choices left - I don't care anymore which one. Just make sure that Ascension fails."

"Sir?" Before Takashi could move, the gunshot was fired. The Lieutenant just stared slack-jawed at what had just occurred. He finally cursed under his breath and decided to return to the command center - alone.

000

NERV-1 Secondary Control Center

"Ayanami is ready to engage enemy forces! Suzuhara and Alleyn synchs are below combat requirement - EVAs immobile! Soryu is inside Unit 01 with Ikari! Unit 02 is being remotely prepped!" Miyuki ticked off, glad that the activity of survival was taking her mind off the pain in her chest. "We have lost contact with Unit 30's entry plug! We have no data on Hurst!"

"Sixty bandits counted topside! ETA in two minutes! Unit 01 is still partially restrained and submerged in the LCL Cooling Pool! We don't have the power to remove the restraints! They'll have to remove it manually!" Kano added.

Misato had a tight smile on her face. Her Children had returned. Now to make sure she kept them.

000

Lt. Corrie Hayes ran to the ladders and tried to ignore the fear clouding his mind. Misato had greeted him almost coldly but without hostility when he reported for duty. Didn't she know he had betrayed them? It seemed so. If so, what else did the Colonel did not know?

Did it matter? No. Only the present matters. Corrie started to climb the central hydraulics control tower for the EVA cages.

`Why am I doing this?. Damnit, Judas was nothing compared to me. I've betrayed the Church, NERV, and now the Sword of God. Some sins are forgivable - Necessary Evils. That is the only hope I have for Salvation.'

Corrie paused in his climb as the Main EVA Hangar shook when Juno's Unit 30 roared. There are very few things as scary as being caught in an EVA's AT Field - a sense of inescapable horror that seeps to the very core. Corrie could do nothing but look on, his eyes wide with terror as the EVA's bindings began to fall off as its body began increasing in size.

With great effort, Corrie tore his eyes away from the sight of the EVA ascending to its full potential. He had work to do - he will raise arms against God's messengers once more. `Azazel must be defeated. That is the only way. May God forgive me.'

"I'm going to run out there and into my EVA!?" Asuka exclaimed in disbelief after hearing Misato's orders.

“Yes. Shinji would provide you with cover. You both have to attack while its metamorphosis is still incomplete!” Misato had on her official face - the one Shinji finds scary. “Caspar estimates we have four minutes before the Angel reaches its full potential. We can't read the entryplug but there's a chance Juno is in there so be careful!”

Asuka felt Shinji tense up under her and she decided to speak for the both of them. "Misato, she just threatened to kill us. Something's wrong with Juno! I think she's been corrupted or something!"

Misato felt a chill run down her spine. “Then we'll have to risk it. Our priority is to destroy that Angel.”

Asuka couldn't believe what she just heard. "But-"

“Our first priority is to destroy that Angel.” Misato reiterated. Unknown to both Children she had balled her fists so tightly that her nails had dug into her palms, causing her palms to bleed.

"I can't do that! She's... she's one of us..." Shinji trailed off, unwilling to participate in the coming murder. His eyes were still locked onto his EVA's monitors. The Angel was trying to rip off its head armor.

"Shinji..." Asuka pulled Shinji's head against her chest and murmured softly to him. "I know... we'll find a way." The familiar sense of oneness washed over them. Perfect synchronicity. Asuka let go of him and laid her hands on Shinji's on the control sticks.

Muffled gunshots were heard.

Misato looked to a side, listening to someone the Children couldn't hear. “GO! Lt. Hayes just shot the hydraulic feed to the umbilical bridge! You can move it now!”

"GO!" Both pilots screamed with Unit 01's roar. Before the Angel could react, Unit 01 pushed the forward section of its cage forward in a spray of LCL, tearing it off its railways and slamming the heavy construct against the EVA-Angel hybrid. The entry plug shot out of Unit 01 as the Angel crumpled under the heavy debris.

"Cover me!" Asuka rolled out of the entry plug and crouched on the catwalk.

"Roger!" Shinji said as he retracted the plug into the EVA as the Angel shook off the ruined cage.

The Angel stood, its head armor finally removed. The Angel blinked its two green eyes, and more than a dozen smaller green eyes winked into existence all over its head. The Angel's gray tongue licked the wicked looking teeth of its drooling jaw.

The Angel waited.

Asuka stood frozen by fear.

LCL sprayed into the air and washed over the floor as Unit 01 catapulted itself from its cooling pool - right against the larger Unit 30 - knocking even more bindings off the corrupted EVA.

The AT Field released its hold on Asuka and she began running for her EVA as the two titans grappled in the confined space.

000

Pilot Naota Nandaba looked down at the large crater which used to be Tokyo-3. The young pilot wondered how the commander of NERV-1 could have betrayed his whole command to the Sword of God. The UN had to send in all the remaining EVAs to destroy NERV-1's powerful Evangelion fleet and secure Adam before the enemy could use it to initiate Third Impact.

Naota felt fear as his fully armed winged EVA flew directly over the crater that led into the geofront. Dozens of EVAs flew in formation behind him, but even their presence did not dull the fear in his heart. Two of his friends had died in Brazil and the boy wondered if he was going to share their fate. He swallowed the lump in his throat as he remembered a girl in his apartment building. For a long time he had admired her from afar. `Maybe I should have told her—`

“WARNING!! INCOMING!!”

Naota screamed as he saw the blue EVA coming up towards him.

000

Yuriko slumped back against the seat of her entry plug. The girl's eyes stared blankly at her monitors. She blinked as a red spot appeared in the middle of her monitor. Slowly, the red spot slid downwards, leaving a crimson trail.

More spots appeared.

Unit 40's eyes glowed and it moved. Its hands slowly rose and turned its palms up - like a small child caught in the wonder of a light spring rain.

"See Yuri, there's nothing to be afraid of," her brother soothingly said to her as he gently pulled her out of the dry safety of the house and into the cool drizzle. She had started giggling at the tickling sensation of the raindrops falling over her. She looked back at the house's doorway where her mother, father, and grandfather sat, happily watching the young siblings play in the rain.

She was three years old then. It was her first memory of rain.

But then rain was not red.

A gigantic severed arm crashed into the smoldering splinters of the forest. The little girl's eyes shot wide open. Yuriko screamed in rage as she awakened from her catatonic state.

EVAs began to land around her. Each EVA tucked its wings into its body as each deployed its weapons - a collection of rifles, lances, and knives.

Unit 40's armored jaw case broke open with a bestial roar. The EVA's surging AT Field distorted the light around it. With practiced grace the lance unfolded from the back carrier and landed in the EVA's waiting hands.

"Fifteen," the little girl licked her lips in bloodlust as her EVA twirled the lance in one hand. "Don't think so little of me, because I'M GONNA KILL YOU ALL!!" the girl screamed as she rushed the waiting UN EVAs.

000

Lt. Takashi Yamazaki nervously unwrapped a stick of gum and placed it in his mouth as he made his way back towards the control center. The man was a Section Two agent and yet the events of the day were able to shake him to his core. It was probably due to the knowledge that he was among the less than one percent of the fortress city's population to be still alive. That and the knowledge that he was at the brink of the destruction of the world.

From the other end of the corridor came a muted explosion that surprised the spy and made him choke on his gum. The NERV officer quickly spat out his gum before looking up to where smoke was pouring into the corridor. He swung his rifle off from where it hung from its shoulder strap.

"You guys are early," he said with his usual fox grin.

000

Allen just looked on limply as Juno's Unit 30 smashed Unit 01's head into the hangar's wall. The boy instinctively knew that he was going to die and that he should be very afraid. But he was not scared. More to the point, he did not care.

He was a failure.

An embarrassment.

A tear slid down the boy's cheek as he wished for the mother whom he had betrayed.

The Angel lifted the stunned Unit 01 by the neck and threw it towards Unit 02's cage.

Unit 02's cage shook as Unit 01 crashed into it. Asuka screamed as she lost her grip on the ladder she was climbing up her EVA's cage. The Pilot fell several feet before she grabbed hold of a rung, slamming her body painfully against the ladder but saving her life.

"Asuka!" Shinji screamed as he felt the young woman's cry. Before he could do anything, Unit 30's hands shot out, sending a wave of AT Field towards the purple beast and the caged red demon. Shinji's brow furrowed and he gritted his teeth - if he failed, Asuka would die.

Unit 01 spread its arms and AT Field as a shield. Everything between the combatants exploded as their AT Fields collided.

The Angel paused as a thick blanket of smoke and vaporized LCL from the cooling pool covered the area. Before the Angel could react, a large purple shape exploded from the fog and slammed against it.

"Misato!" Shinji cried out as he forced the Angel onto an elevator. He hoped Misato could get his message without further elaboration. He had to get the Angel away from Asuka!

The elevator platform shot up carrying both EVA and Angel. Shinji knew that NERV didn't have enough power to open any of the doors between the hangar and the surface - the pilot gritted his teeth as the larger and taller Angel smashed through the locked doors of the elevator shaft.

Asuka didn't resist as a hand helped her up to the platform of her EVA's entry plug. She took a short breather on the platform, her hand massaging her bruised chest. Corrie watched Asuka as the young woman contemplated the now silent hangar.

Asuka looked up at the dark shaft through which both EVA and Angel had been ejected through. "Lt. Hayes! Quick, help me open up my entry plug!" The redhead ran to her EVA.

Corrie looked on as the young woman rushed past him before he brought up his gun and lined up the sights of the pistol at the girl's back. His hand shook as he debated whether to kill her or not. Asuka never knew her life was in danger as she was too busy fiddling with the release on her entry plug.

He could probably redeem himself in the eyes of God if he killed this Abomination. As a priest he had been taught that Salvation comes to those who are willing to be forgiven. Just one small twitch of his finger... but then he was also taught that two wrongs never make a right.

With a resigned sigh, Corrie returned his pistol to its holster and hurried to assist the pilot.

000

Santiago sat on the floor of the causeway, his back against the guardrail as he looked up at the darkened ceiling. The man couldn't help but wonder why he was still alive. He could feel the bullet where it was lodged in his chest. Now and then he could feel it move, as if it was slowly making its way to his heart to kill him. Stupid ricochet. Why couldn't the bullet have just torn right through his body? God must really hate his ass right now to make him suffer so much.

Shigeru had already left to do his part. Santiago really felt bad. He had proven Akagi right - he was a traitor. But if it means redeeming himself, so be it. There were far more important things than honor. Besides, today was a day of betrayal.

Santiago gave a start and rolled to his feet as if his wound was inconsequential. He felt the bullet shift once more and the pain nearly forced him back to his knees. He clenched his teeth, his hand tightened nervously on the pistol grip of his rifle as he felt the familiar sensation of an AT Field wash over him.

He turned to face the open Heaven's Gate and began to scan the area. Not that he knew what to do if he actually found the source of the AT Field.

The area before him was empty.

A bead of sweat traveled down Santiago's face as he finally pinpointed the source of the AT Field. It was right behind him!

He whirled around and faced the captive Angel once more.

"Shit!" he exclaimed under his breath as the red shaft of the Lance of Longinus began to throb to the rhythm of a heartbeat.

000

Rei's Unit 14 landed on a damaged building which collapsed in a billowing cloud of smoke and debris under the tremendous falling mass of the mecha. Unit 14 stood up from the rubble, its AT Field scattered the dust cloud.

Rei surveyed her home. The city of tall, gleaming skyscrapers was gone. The beautiful lake and surrounding parks were gone. All that remained were the ruins surrounding a giant hole in the ground. So much like the last time.

She could feel the heaviness in the air, the dissonance in the harmony of Creation due to the violence and released energy of thousands of Souls. Rei wondered if the other Children could also feel it - the build up of potential energy as more Souls were freed from their mortal shells. The fuel to bring about the conflagration that could change Humanity or utterly destroy it.

EVAs began to circle above her - the pilots were smart enough to know that hand-to-hand combat was not a good tactic against someone of her level. Several of their comrades had been destroyed in mid-air by the blue behemoth.

Rei looked up at the scared Children flying above her. She did not want to continue the slaughter.

`we have no choice. there is only our purpose.'

Unit 14 once more leapt into the air as positron shells arced down to meet it.

000

"Allen..." a soothing feminine voice.

The boy sniffled as he raised his head just a tiny bit. Was he hearing things? His eyes grew wide and moist as he saw his mother kneeling in the cramped space beside him inside his EVA's entryplug.

"Baby, you've forgotten..." She touched his cheek, her warm hands bringing back fond childhood memories.

"M-mom!" Allen sat up straight and reached out towards her but she was beyond his reach. It was as if she was being pulled away, she was fading from his sight.

Alicia Alleyn smiled sadly at her son. "Be strong. If you're not, others will suffer." It was her old lesson.

"Mom..." The boy's hands gripped the control sticks tightly, his knuckles turned white from the effort. A resolute fire was in the boy's eyes as he accepted the new charge. He could feel his senses suddenly open up. Strength poured into him from an unknown source. "I will..."

The eyes of Allen's EVA began to glow white.

000

Yuri's EVA was as red as Unit 02. Blood and gore from her enemies covered the EVA. The young girl within did not care about the Children she had killed. They were enemies. Enemies must be killed without mercy - every last one of them. That was the only truth she acknowledged.

The child's eyes darted from side to side as she kept tabs on the remaining ten units surrounding her EVA.

There was a huge crashing noise as the corrupted Unit 30 and Unit 01 burst up from the hidden elevator shaft, several meters-thick armored door panels fell like confetti around the two.

Yuriko was far better than the Children opposing her - she was a genius, just like Kensuke and Shinji. While the other Children were still recovering from the shock of seeing the ashen-white sinewy flesh and tattered armored form of the Fallen EVA, Yuri ripped off the head of one of them.

The UN EVAs wavered as Yuri resumed her murderous rampage in their ranks. Like a well trained dancer, the little girl's EVA hacked through her enemies with abandon. She thrust her lance clean through an EVA - making sure her attack ran through the entry plug and the Children within. With Yuri's lance trapped in the dead mecha, three UN EVAs tried to use the opportunity to attack. The young ace pilot grinned as she used the long shaft like a slingshot pole as she catapulted the corpse on the other end at one of her attackers.

Yuri threw her freed spear at one of the charging EVAs, running it right through the core, and stepped into the path of the other one, grabbed its outstretched knife hand and slammed the EVA into the ground with a shoulder throw. A quick kick to the head splattered EVA brains across the forest floor and instantly killed the Children within its heart.

Three down. Seven to go.

A smile of joy was on the little girl's face as she faced the remaining enemy.

000

The Angel kicked Shinji off, launching the boy against the battered pyramid. The Angel raised its right arm and it warped into a long edged blade. With drool flying off its open maw, the Angel pounced on Unit 01.

The Angel reeled back as a red blur body-slammed it and interspersed itself between the Angel and Shinji. A two-handed push sent the off-balanced Angel flying into the surrounding forest.

"Asuka!" Shinji was very happy to see her.

“Don't tell me you miss me already,” Asuka grinned at him from a mini-screen. She became serious as she watched Unit 30 pick itself up from the forest floor. “We'll have to try and get her entry plug out of the EVA! We have to separate Juno from her corrupted EVA!”

"Won't that hurt her?" Shinji was worried about harming Juno - he knew the mental damage brought by just ripping out a plug from an EVA.

“We'll have to risk it! It her or us,” Asuka mumbled. She wasn't close to Juno, but she still considered the girl a friend. It wasn't Juno's fault her EVA was corrupted! “She'll be back to normal once we get her out of her EVA!” At least she hoped.

Shinji's hands shook on his control sticks. Risks. His eyes darted between Asuka's image on his monitor and the hulking white form of the Angel. He cannot fail her again! Shinji frowned and then launched himself past Asuka.

000

Yuri's EVA froze after dealing a hand chop that had taken off the final UN EVA's head. She watched in awe as the purple demon dodged the sword arm of the Angel and spun to hit the Angel in the face with an elbow. As the Angel fell, Asuka's four-eyed red giant rushed forward and made a spinning kick which knocked the Angel further back. Unit 01 and 02 jumped into the air, their gigantic forms spinning like tops until they finally came back down in a twin kick that the Angel easily dodged. The two EVAs' landing sent up a large dust cloud which they used to cover their retreat as the Angel's AT Field sliced through the area. The attack might have failed but the highly synchronized attack was not something any other pair of pilots could have imitated.

The girl's eyes flickered to the destroyed EVA around her. Content that they were no threat, she charged her EVA at the Angel, her lance ready to deal more death. It didn't matter that it was Juno's EVA and that Juno may be inside. The young girl never even considered that! It was an enemy. Enemies must be destroyed!

Yuri cried out as pain shot from her side, her hand left the control stick and pressed against her belly. She looked down and saw the Lance sticking from her EVA's side. A red shaft with two twisting prongs. The girl's eyes shot wide open as her other hand covered her mouth as she coughed. Red tinted the liquid around her. “NO!!”

000

Tears flowed from Rei's eyes as her EVA stood amidst the carnage above ground. She pressed the heels of her palms against her eyes.

The slaughter was over. The sky was red with fire and empty of flying monstrosities.

How many more shall fall?

000

Asuka and Shinji paused in their assault as Yuri's EVA exploded in mid-air in a fine spray of LCL. The Lovers' jaws hung in horror as the EVA that had attacked Yuri stood up and flicked the gore from the prongs of the Lance of Longinus with a mighty swing.

"I will not let you harm her," Allen whispered with bowed head. The boy slowly raised his head, his eyes ablaze with determination. "I failed my Mother. I will not fail Juno!"

000

"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING!!" Misato screamed in frustration as Allen swung the Lance of Longinus at Shinji. She couldn't believe that the children she considered her sons were doing their best to kill each other. "STOP IT!! PLEASE STOP IT!!" She banged her hands on the surface of the workstation in front of her in anger.

The control officers looked at Misato, no one knew what to do.

Misato shook her head, the tears flew from her eyes. "EJECT UNIT 31 ENTRY PLUG!!" Misato ordered, the professional coldness once more in her tone. A lot of the technicians and control officers shuddered - Misato reminded them of Santiago, but for the few who were in NERV longer, she reminded them of another commander.

"No response! Unit 31 is rejecting all external commands!" Miyuki responded.

Misato gritted her teeth. "Self-destruct power relay to Unit 31."

Kano turned to Misato. "Cannot! We don't have a direct line to the secondary power plant from this center! If we do send it down, it will also shutdown Unit 02 and 14!"

"Give me an intercom line to the EVA Hangar."

"Done." Kano replied as she handed Misato a headset.

"Lt. Hayes, answer me," Misato said into the headset. Moments passed. She was going to repeat her order when the response came.

“Yes. Hayes here.”

Misato almost sighed in relief. "I have a job for you."

000

"fuck." Yamazaki whispered through blood stained lips. He knew he was going to die as the image of the girl he loved knelt before him. She was frozen in time, on the day eighteen years ago when she was taken from him. She still wore the dark blue kimono she had been showing him the night it happened. Tears came to his eyes as the child caressed his cheeks. "chiharu-chan..."

He was gone when the black spheres bounced into the room he had retreated into.

000

"Do this. Do that." Corrie gave an exasperated sigh as he walked down a corridor. He cocked his head as he heard distant explosions. "Oh, great. As if things aren't already complicated."

000

"SHIT!" Asuka cried out as Unit 30's sword hand took off several layers from her EVA's chest armor. "FUCK YOU!" Unit 02's right fin snapped open and spikes shot out, hitting Unit 30's head and knocking the Angel off its feet and onto the scorched forest. Asuka froze after her mistake.

Shinji and Allen screamed in horror as Juno cried out in pain.

The eyes of Allen's EVA flared as he abandoned his attack against Shinji and thrust the Lance of Longinus at Asuka.

Time slowed as the prongs of the Lance twisted together into a single lethal tip.

The tip touched Unit 02's chest.

Unit 02 exploded in a wave of orange liquid.

"NOOO!!" Shinji screamed as Unit 01 deployed its knife and stabbed the back of Allen's Unit 31, lifting the EVA off its feet. The knife's blade broke at the hilt from the force of impact, the blade trapped within the mass of Allen's EVA. Unit 31 fell to its knees as Unit 01 stood triumphantly behind it.

Shinji's head was bowed as tears flowed from his eyes. He had willingly done harm to another. And worse, Asuka-

“Shinji!”

"...what??" Shinji looked up at the image on the monitor. "ASUKA!"

“Watch out you IDIOT!!” she screamed angrily at him.

Unit 01 jumped away from Allen's EVA as Allen swung the Lance at Shinji.

“You better not get yourself killed!” Asuka admonished, a frown on her face. The frown melted away and a longing smile formed. “You better not.” The image disappeared.

Shinji scanned the area and saw Asuka's entry plug lying several kilometers away. He grinned in relief. She was safe. He returned his attention on his enemies.

000

"Unit 02's entry plug ejected on its own! Pilot lifesigns are stable!" Miyuki announced. "Unit 31's internal batteries have been destroyed! It will shut down immediately when the power station is destroyed!"

Misato's hand clenched around the crucifix hanging from her neck. `God, please don't let anymore of my kids die.'

000

Corrie panted as he rolled the final barrel of gasoline against the generator. Getting to the power plant hadn't been easy as the blood stains on his tan shirt attested. He turned and walked towards one of the black-clad UN soldiers he had killed. Corrie briefly wondered how a former priest could be so good at taking life.

He took a grenade from the soldier's pack and juggled it thoughtfully from hand to hand.

"Fuck it all."

000

Shinji gritted his teeth as his back slammed into the pyramid once more. Juno and Allen advanced towards him. Shinji threw his AT Field forward to distract them. Allen held up the Lance of Longinus' point towards Unit 01. The wave parted before the might of the Lance of Longinus and devastated the smoldering trees to either side of Unit 31.

“You cannot harm me, Ikari,” Allen stated as he readied the Lance for a thrust.

A distant explosion.

"What the!! NOOOOO!!" Allen screamed as his Unit shut down, the entry plug fell into darkness. The Lance stopped in mid-thrust less than a meter from Unit 01's chest.

Shinji sighed in relief. Unit 01 blurred as the Angel crashed into the side of Central Dogma. The Angel's sword arm buried itself in the pyramid's side as Unit 01 landed several kilometers away.

“It's just you and me now,” Juno said to Shinji as she licked her lips in anticipation, madness in her eyes. “Henri--- hehe. Sorry, I meant, Koworu sends his regards.”

000

Misato and the other NERV personnel raised their hands in surrender as black-clad UN soldiers poured into the control center. Misato knew that her people were too tired and outnumbered, there was no point in resistance.

One of the NERV soldiers looked at Misato. Misato could see the fighting urge in the man's eyes. She shook her head slightly - she wanted to wait and get to the bottom of this. To her relief, the soldier nodded and signaled the others to wait.

000

"Lucky." Asuka muttered sarcastically as she came to a military Four Wheel Drive vehicle. It was riddled with bullets but looked serviceable. She dragged the dead NERV soldiers from the seats and then settled herself uncomfortably in the blood drenched driver's seat. The 4WD kept sputtering and backfiring as it rumbled down the highway towards the battered Central Dogma.

Now and then the silent figure of Unit 31 could be seen in the breaks in the wall of scorched trees. Asuka's grip on the wheel tightened at such instances as nervous sweat ran down her brow. She shook her head of memories she had always thought of as nightmares - Of white EVAs flying high, circling above a dying red beast impaled by spears.

The 4WD's wheels screeched as Asuka put the brakes to the floor. A line of black uniformed UN soldiers blocked the entryway into Central Dogma. She looked behind the 4WD and saw soldiers blocking her retreat.

"Pilot Soryu! Please come out with your hands up!"

Asuka frowned in annoyance.

000

A large explosion. Trees flew up followed by the purple Unit 01 and the white Unit 30. Unit 30 smacked down Unit 01 in mid flight. Unit 01 crashed on its back while Unit 30 stood straddling it. The Angel's bladed limb was held in Unit 01's bleeding hands, the tip almost touched the EVA's throat.

`I won't win unless I fight to kill,' Shinji gritted his teeth in pain. `There must be another way, I don't want to kill her! It's not her fault!'

"Shinji," the cold voice of Gendo Ikari came over the comm link. "Why don't you fight?"

"But there's a person inside, Father," Shinji squeaked out through the pain coursing over his body.

"It doesn't matter. It's an Angel. Our Enemy."

"But I can't do it. I have to save him. I can't kill a person."

"You will die." It was a statement of truth.

"I don't care. It's much better than killing someone." Another truth.

Shinji screamed as he kneed Unit 30 in the belly and then pushed the Angel away with a kick. He shook his head of the memory - in his battle against Toji's Unit 03, hesitation that cost his friend greatly. Shinji grabbed his control sticks. "There is no other way."

Unit 01 stood up while its enemy was busy regaining its balance. Two quick waves of its hands and the Angel's arms came flying off. Shinji screamed and Unit 01 blurred forward, its palms slid into Unit 30's chest like hot knives through butter. Shinji felt for the center of his enemy's consciousness and grabbed it with both hands, his arms buried to the elbows in the enemy's chest. "DIE!!" the boy screamed.

Unit 30 spasmed and then exploded in a spray of LCL and blood. Shinji panted in exertion but a relieved smile on his face. Held protectively in Unit 01's hands was Unit 30's blood washed entry plug.

In moments, Shinji ran and slid down Unit 01's arm towards the entry plug. He grabbed the emergency release handle, disregarding the hiss and the pain as the palms of his plugsuit melted from the high heat.

LCL spewed out of the entry plug as Shinji threw open the emergency hatch.

"Ms. Hurst!?" Shinji knelt half within the plug.

"I'm fine." Juno sat in the dark, her face clouded by the shadows. "You didn't kill me, Mr. Ikari."

Tears fell from Shinji's eyes, his head bowed in relief. "I'm glad."

"You shouldn't be." From the darkness, two pinpricks of red light glowed.

000

Shinji slowly opened his eyes. He heard screaming. Or was it crying? A small girl's voice.

"Welcome back, Mr. Ikari," Juno sat cross-legged by his side as he lay in a puddle of thick sticky liquid. The girl's ebony eyes were no longer filled with madness but they were cold and distant.

The familiar stink of blood. Shinji felt sick as he pulled himself to a sitting position. As he had guessed, he was in a shallow pool of blood that stretched off into the darkness around him.

The wailing sound was still in the air. Juno stared at something behind him. Shinji woodenly turned to face what was behind him. His eyes shot open as he saw something best left in those cheap, American slasher movies. A small girl jerking like a marionette played by a demented puppeteer. A flashing knife was in the child's hand. The child was astride the source of the blood on the floor, her knife slashed at the lifeless bodies with a frenzy. Shinji felt bile creep up his throat. The child enjoyed her deranged play.

"That's me," Juno calmly stated. "That's me. I'm a fucking murderer. I killed her because she was sleeping with the postman, the Bitch. She was so fucking high and mighty because she took care of me even if she didn't fucking want to. She rubbed it in my face that I had to be grateful and a good obedient little girl. She caned me and made me pray for my Soul's forgiveness whenever I made mistakes that all children made. She called me a dirty slut but she was a greater slut. Going to church like a saint but acted like a whore when no one's looking."

Shinji tore his eyes away from the carnage and looked at the girl by his side. Juno's eyes were full of hatred and sadness.

"I sent her to Hell Mr. Ikari. To fucking Hell where she belonged. Her and her fucking postman. I was eating her heart when the Marduk people came." A quirky smile was on the girl's lips. "The Juno you know was nothing more than a lie... I was a lie. A fucking lie so that they could use me in their plans. A puppet for them to play with. I've never even ridden a roller coaster. I've never been to an amusement park. I've never had any friends. I am a monster. The Angel showed me the truth. I'm nothing..."

Shinji stiffened as the girl slumped forward and buried her face against his chest. Her body shook as she cried. The young man wanted to recoil in disgust after what the girl had confessed. But... Shinji looked around.

He was in the familiar Nowhere of the Sea of Dirac. Inside an AT Field. He remembered the glowing red eyes, then the entry plug had dissolved around him and Juno. They had stood on Unit 01's upturned palm as the Lance of Longinus floated above them. The Lance liquefied and cascaded like a waterfall of blood over him and a cackling Juno.

Shinji knew where he was. In this place, he knew he had strength. The darkness retreated, replaced by the calming amber of the sunset. The blood became LCL, the comforting Water of Life. The horrific scene of murder simply disappeared

Tentatively, Shinji laid a comforting hand on Juno's shoulder. He closed his eyes and synchronized with the girl. He didn't know if it would work but if he could do it with Asuka... Shinji gently probed the girl's mind. He was almost repulsed by what he saw in Juno's mind - the abuse the girl had to live with each day. Pain and shame. And then the horror of her sin. "It's all right, Juno. You're not nothing. If anything, I'm a greater monster than you. It will be all right. Trust me. We'll get through this. Think of something else. Something that you want with all of your heart."

Juno shifted and gently but firmly forced her way into Shinji's lap to the young man's discomfort. Her head rested in the crook of his neck.

"Juno?" Shinji was horrified at the surface thoughts suddenly racing through the girl's mind. Flesh partaking of pleasure. Lustful hunger. He could feel her hands fumbling for the release of his plugsuit, her hot searching lips on his neck. "S-stop that..."

Juno pulled away, a mischievous smile was on her lips. "You told me to think of what I want." She released her plugsuit, the limp fabric cascaded off her bare shoulders. "Allen was inexperienced. You're not." Shinji felt the AT Field wrap around him as Juno's eyes began to glow red. Paralyzed, Shinji could do nothing as Juno licked his face and briefly forced her tongue between his lips.

Shinji knew that the thing before him was no longer Juno.

"Unite with me..."

"Papa is an idiot."

Shinji slowly opened his eyes. His head hurt from the bright sunlight streaming in from the bedroom window. He could feel a dream slip away as the pain of a hangover made itself apparent.

A small girl sat on his chest, her face looming over his. The girl had red hair done up with red ribbons, her yellow pajamas were decorated with penguins, her beautiful dark blue eyes shone with mirth.

"Asuka?" Shinji cupped the little girl's cheeks in his large hands.

The little girl giggled and hid her face behind a stuffed monkey. "Papa is an idiot. I'm Kyoko. Papa shouldn't drink. Papa gets funny when he drinks." The girl pouted cutely.

"KYOKO-CHAN! IS THAT IDIOT UP YET?" a woman shouted in mock anger from somewhere in the house. A familiar, if more mature voice.

"YES! MAMA, PAPA IS UP!" the little girl shouted in response.

"Open the door, Honey. I'm bringing Idiot his breakfast."

Shinji sat up on the bed as Kyoko ran to the bedroom door and turned the knob.

The bedroom door opened.

Shinji sat on a folding chair in the middle of a circle of light. He was in the middle of his old middle school's gymnasium. He wore his old white and black school uniform. His eyes contained shock. "What was that?!"

"You already know what it is."

Shinji turned and saw a man in black. The man contemplated the stuffed monkey he held in his hand. The light glinted off the man's red tinted glasses.

"What are you doing, Shinji?" Gendo asked, his eyes never leaving the toy he held. "She is lost. She is no longer the girl you knew."

"I can't kill her," Shinji bowed his head.

"You were like this with Suzuhara. I had to take the decision from you in order to save you and the world. You are being selfish again. Will you allow Soryu to die? Will you let your future die?"

"Shinji." The boy looked up at his father who now stood in front of him. "I was wrong to hold on to the past. I forgot a lesson that Yui tried to teach me. 'As long as you want to live, everywhere will become heaven.' Your mother used to say that." Gendo dropped the monkey on Shinji's lap. "I'm not asking you to bring Instrumentality or Complementation," Gendo tucked his hands into his trouser pockets. "All I'm asking is for you to decide for your future. Find your own happiness."

Shinji stood alone in the stifling darkness.

Had he seen his father's ghost or was that just a dream of the father he wanted? Shinji blinked. He could feel the darkness creeping up his legs and arms - the cold, deathly touch of nothingness as it ate him piece by piece.

"I've found you. Found you my little darling." Her laugh was horrible, cold and lacking mirth. "You should have killed me, Mr. Ikari. I hate being ignored! I hate being rejected!"

Shinji could feel Juno around him - her anger and hate evident. He remembered. He had pushed her away and slipped into the abyss of the dreaming world which was the Sea of Dirac. But she had found him.

Was she behind him, to his sides, in front? Or was she the darkness?

"You failed everyone when you didn't kill me. You couldn't even save me. How could you save Humanity?" She spat out in sad accusation.

The young man froze in horror at the truth behind those words.

"After I've killed you, what do you think will happen to everyone? To Misato? To Rei? To Asuka? They will also be returned to Nothing. You have sealed their fate."

Finally, after what seemed an eternity, Shinji closed his eyes, and gritted his teeth. His lips moved to form a single word. A word he used often.

He could hear the gurgling sound.

He could feel the desperate grip on his wrists.

He could taste the fear in the air.

He could smell the scent of blood.

Tears.

A hot stream of regret.

His arms ached.

His heart was heavy.

And the young man wondered.

Why?

Shinji opened his eyes. He stood on the upturned palm of Unit 01. The powerful muscles of his arms were tensed and his hands were wrapped around Juno's fragile neck.

She was no longer breathing. Her neck snapped by Shinji's inhuman might. And yet as her eyes glazed over in death, a grateful look was in them and a genuine smile was on her lips.

Juno had received Salvation.

To Be Continued

In the Final Episode of Heaven and Hell:

Misato: In the heart of Tokyo-3 the Truth shall be revealed. Is this reality or a dream within a dream? Heaven and Hell 2:1 - To Everything, An Ending.

Original Author's Notes:

I'm late. Not only that, but I had to cheat, separating this chapter into two chapters. Real life can be so unforgiving.

The lesson I learned from this is never to raise expectations.

The next and final episode will be posted as soon as I'm done with it.

Sorry for the delay.