Neon Genesis Evangelion Fan Fiction ❯ Heaven and Hell ❯ To Everything an Ending ( Chapter 21 )

Manga - Addicts Presents:
Heaven and Hell
Revelations 2:1 - To Everything an Ending

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 2:1

To

Everything

An

Ending

 

In the middle of an endless pool of blood, a young man sat slumped on his knees. The sky was a light shade of orange, the air thick with the sickly sweet smell of death.

The young man's name is Shinji Ikari. He is the Key. Cradled in his arms was the mortal shell of one who had been Children.

Her name was Juno Hurst.

She had been a friend.

She had been an enemy.

She had been murdered.

Her killer embraced her like a mother would a beloved child.

As Shinji's tears fell upon Juno's pallid cheeks, he wondered at how peaceful she looked.

He envied her.

A short distance away a young girl, with flaming red hair and eyes as blue as the sea, looked upon the grim scene. The child hugged a monkey doll to her chest.

000

"Asuka?" Misato worriedly knelt by her ward who sat alone in the corner of the storage room that their captors had turned into a make-shift prison.

Asuka had been silently staring off into nothing for the past hour and that in itself was unnatural for the fiery young woman. Asuka slowly came out of her trance and looked at Misato with thoughtful eyes.

"What is it Misato?" Asuka asked in a calm, almost detached tone.

"Are you all right?"

"Un," Asuka replied with a slow nod. "I was just thinking."

Misato gave a relieved smile. "About what?"

Asuka gave a shudder as she remembered - EVAs descending like white vultures. She could remember the pain of being ripped apart by blades that cannot be stopped. A hand went to the eye she had remembered to have been torn out. "What if I've died and all of this is just a dream?"

Misato drew back in fear and confusion.

Slowly, Asuka's eyes gained a faraway look. Her voice lacked her usual fiery conviction. "Maybe I did die a long time ago... if so, this is not heaven."

000

`Oh, God! What have I done?!' Allen's hands tangled in his long hair, his tears mixed with the LCL in the stifling darkness within the entry plug. The full impact of his sins bore heavily down upon the boy.

To murder a friend - a young girl whom he had eaten with, talked with, trained with, played with, and on occasion had slept under the same roof with.

To fail his mother, whose last wish was for him to be strong - to be a protector of all he held dear. He failed her because he was a weakling. He was not worthy of being her child.

To lose his first love. A girl who needed him. A girl whom he needed. In her time of need he was powerless. He abandoned her.

In the end, it was all too much for the child to bear.

000

Rei sat within the Throne of Souls. She hummed a song to pass the time in her darkened EVA. It was so boring, these last few moments before the Time.

The End.

It was finally here.

`one way or the other, it ends today,' her True Self noted.

`Yes. It ends,' Rei replied.

Now she waited and hummed her song.

An Ode to Joy.

NERV has fallen.

Judgement awaits.

000

Santiago leaned back against a pillar, his senses numbed by the drugs his captors had pumped into his system. One of his eyes was swollen closed and he knew that his nose and several ribs were broken. And yet his arms were shackled though he could barely move. They were afraid of him. The area around his mouth was still stained by the blood of the man whose throat he had ripped open with his teeth as the UN soldiers tried to overpower him. Santiago smirked in satisfaction, they would regret keeping him alive.

"Ah, Cris, I knew you were crude, but I never would have thought that you would have sunk to the level of an animal."

The fallen NERV Commander looked up with his one good eye at the old man who had spoken. Santiago calmly appraised the frail form of Secretary General Reinholt - the man whom he had tried to betray. Satisfied with his scrutiny, he gave his expert opinion: "Call me Cris again and I'll shove that cane of yours where the sun doesn't shine."

Reinholt wrinkled his nose in distaste before nodding to a nearby soldier. The soldier kicked Santiago in the ribs, sending the captive into a bout of wet, bloody coughing as he lay doubled over on the floor.

Reinholt waited till Santiago's coughing subsided. "I don't think you are in any position to threaten me, Cris. The Key has retreated from us. He is keeping me from my destiny."

"Good. He can stay within the Beast forever," Santiago spat out a glob of congealed blood. He pressed his hot forehead against the cool marble floor and prayed that he would die already.

"That is unacceptable," Reinholt used his cane to prod Santiago onto his back. "You know how to control him. Tell me the key to the Key."

"Why should I?" Santiago growled through bloodstained lips.

Reinholt smiled a cold, soulless smile. "Because I hold your heart, Cris. Because I hold your heart."

000

Chief Engineer Sara McDougal listlessly played with her sweat-drenched blonde hair as she sighed in boredom. She regretted not quitting when she had threatened to do so several days before. If she had, she wouldn't be trapped in the bowels of the Earth. Her only companion in the cramped storage room was a silent Doctor Ritsuko Akagi. Sara wondered if the other woman had fallen asleep. The oxygen mask itched where it dug into her skin. She wanted to take off the oxygen mask she wore but she knew she would die of carbon dioxide poisoning since the ventilation had cut off several hours before.

Sara wondered if the two of them were the only living things left in the geofront. The Engineer shuddered, correction - the only living humans.

The Engineer knew she shouldn't give up yet. She remembered the people she had known as she had grown up, the people she loved and adored. They would be disappointed in her if they knew that their little spitfire had grown up to be a loser.

She can wait. And if she ran out of oxygen and died while waiting, then so be it. She patted the hidden weapon under her coverall. She will not end her life. Under the mask, Sara smiled and drifted off to sleep.

Soon, the woman was lost in dreams of her childhood at a boarding house in the outskirts of old Tokyo.

000

Misato stood before the open door, daring the soldiers outside to come in.

"Stand aside, Misato. I have to go." Asuka murmured as the others tried to hold her back. The young woman's face was still streaked by the remnants of tears but her eyes were filled with a quiet strength.

"I can't. I don't know what they're going to do!" Misato growled out in worry.

"They'll kill you all if you resist. I don't want that. Shinji wouldn't like it either. If we can't make him happy, let's not make him sad."

Misato shut her eyes and stood aside, regretting not fighting to the death in the control center. This was her failure.

Asuka stopped before Misato but did not face the woman who had been her guardian and to some extent her substitute mother. "I'll tell him you send your love."

As the doors closed behind her ward, Misato turned to face a dark corner of the crowded cell. She didn't want anyone to see her tears.

Her Children had grown up.

000

Sara jerked awake as she heard the unmistakable hum of the ventilators. She looked across to where Ritsuko sat and saw that the doctor was also awake. They waited for a few tense moments before ripping off their oxygen masks and greedily gulped in the revitalized air.

"It seems that they've finally progressed to the next stage," Ritsuko commented as they brought the MAGI Caspar back to life.

"The end of the world as we know it," Sara murmured to herself. She had found out early that the key to survival in any profession was to know more than your superiors believed you knew - and in NERV, it came with the added clause that you should never let your superiors know you knew.

Ritsuko glanced up at the Engineer. The Scientist's eyes were suddenly guarded as she regarded her cell mate. Sara could care less if Ritsuko knew that she wasn't a naïve NERV drone. The Engineer knew that her chance of survival was small - very small, and near impossible really.

They only had one duty - stop Third Impact.

000

The hover-jet floated over Rei's Unit 14's shoulder while a group of three soldiers jumped off the aircraft and onto the powered-down EVA's back.

Two covered the leader who edged towards the entry plug release. The team leader nervously looked at the others and the dozens of assault hover-jets covering them. The science liaison had told them that the EVA was silent and of no threat.

And yet this behemoth could easily destroy a city.

They had no idea of what to expect from the capture of the First Children. Not that they were ordered to capture her anyway...

The leader nervously twisted the release and the hatch slid back with a hydraulic hiss.

000

What is evil?

Santiago had spent dozens of sleepless nights pondering that question. More importantly, he wondered if he was truly evil.

Looking back on his life, he had always done what was necessary. Some moralists would probably argue that the ends never justify the means, but who were they anyway? Faceless, gutless, cowards who hid behind people like him - those who were not afraid to do what must be done.

Like saving the world.

He had killed more people than he cared to remember but some of their faces stuck in his mind. Most were terrified, some were angry. And then some looked upon him with grim acceptance. That agent from the Japanese Ministry of the Interior was one of them, even to the point of chiding him for being late. Alicia was another, she who had borne him a son.

But it had been necessary to save the world.

Even if it meant to destroy it.

Six billion lives. He would gladly sacrifice each and every one of them to save the world from the rule of a tyrant.

Reinholt had somehow known about the secret of Ascension. To use the shells of Adam and Lilith as his own. If the whole human race can be made to transcend their imperfection, the dead-end of evolution, then surely the same method can be used to make one man into God.

If Santiago stopped such an evil from happening, did that meant that he was good?

But can he willingly sacrifice the life of one he was trying to shelter and save? Wasn't that the very reason he wanted to stop Reinholt? To make up for his sins to the legacy of someone who had been a good, idealistic woman?

He wanted to save Allen. It would probably be the only noble dream he had since he had embraced the darkness which was NERV.

But he may have to sacrifice the boy.

In which case, everything would be for nothing.

Except for a slim hope that rested upon the Key. The prayer that the Messiah would choose to resurrect the world and bring upon Heaven on Earth.

Santiago held onto that thought as he slipped once more under the shade of death.

000

Shinji looked up at the little girl. She cocked her head to a side as she watched him. Their blue eyes met - two bottomless seas. Despite her young age, she bore wisdom in her bright eyes. Her eyes were shining, a light Shinji felt he was unworthy to look upon.

The young man tried to flinch away from her touch but the child showed no hesitation as she reached out her fingertips to Shinji's face. "Shh. Papa, listen."

Shinji's eyes widened. He knew the girl. But, wasn't she just a figment of the Sea of Dirac? A creature of possibility and uncertainty?

The girl pouted in annoyance. "If you don't listen, then I'll never be born. Then you'll be sorry!" The girl admonished, her tone reminiscent of her mother.

Shinji smiled wryly. Yes, he knew this child. "What do you want me to listen for, Kyoko?"

The child was no longer there. Shinji closed his eyes as he still embraced Juno's body. A wind began to blow in the usual still silence of the Sea of Dirac.

000

Screams.

Muffled gunshots.

Even more screams.

Misato couldn't help but feel fear as she stood in front of the closed doors of the prison which muffled the dreadful sounds outside. She could hear nervous whispers and even some crying from the crowd around her.

Someone was praying. After a bit of listening, Misato found to her surprise that it was her.

As Misato finished the almost forgotten prayer from her childhood she could feel death come for her. Her hand grasped her silver crucifix, the edges cut into the soft flesh of her palm.

She forced her eyes to remain open as the doors began to unlock. Misato's flesh began to goosebump as the dreadful presence invaded the room along with the stench of blood.

000

"Anti-AT Field! It's going to Terminal Dogma!" Sara exclaimed as the screens before her went hay-wire.

"It's begun! Lilith has broken through her prison and is returning to her body," Ritsuko said with some disappointment. Rei was no more, only Lilith remained in the cage of flesh. She should have suspected it earlier when she had Rei regain the part of her which had been left within Lilith's shell. That part must have gained enough awareness to rebel against Rei and unleash the part of her which had been contained.

"But without Adam-"

"They have control of Unit 01," Ritsuko curtly replied as she finished the last few lines of her program. "It is the Key to unlock Lilith, its Children will take the place of Adam."

Misato and the rest of the prisoners ran as fast as they can along the corridors. Now and then one of them would slip in the wet floor which was slick with LCL and littered with abandoned weapons and uniforms. Misato and the others were going to put the weapons to good use - each and every one of them knew that there was no escape if they failed.

Nobody spoke until they were all in a transport elevator and on their way towards Terminal Dogma. It was Lt. Kano who asked the question in everybody's minds: "What the Hell's going on?"

Truthfully, Misato had no answer.

000

"He won't listen," Asuka shrugged indifferently as she turned to face the Secretary General.

Reinholt angrily dashed the metal tip of his cane against the floor of Terminal Dogma. Moving the Beast had been a difficult matter, and on top of that a lot of resources and planning had gone into this project, and a boy was keeping him from his destiny! A mere lazy, good-for-nothing boy!

"He will not come," Asuka reiterated as she looked back at Unit 01 as it knelt on one knee on a flatbed rail car. Was that disappointment in her voice? No matter how hard she tried, she could not sense his presence. "Not for you... not for me..." The young woman bowed her head, unwilling to show weakness by crying at the feeling of loneliness, the sharp pain of being abandoned.

Asuka winced as the old man grabbed her arm, his nails cruelly dug into the thin plastic fabric of her plugsuit. "If he will not come, then you are worthless," the old man hissed vehemently.

000

The UN soldier crashed against the wall with a wet sound, blood painting the wall as he slid lifeless to the floor.

The Beast looked at the remaining live soldier - the one It purposely kept alive to witness the slaughter. To witness and experience terror.

The Beast loomed over the soldier, watching as the wounded man vainly tried to crawl away as the Beast had broken his knees. Logically, the man knew he was trapped but his natural survival instinct was working despite his fear-fogged mind.

The Beast finally tired of Its little game and picked up the soldier by his uniform's collar. Fear will make this one sing.

"Where is my son?" Santiago rasped through his parched throat. Through his good eye, the fallen NERV commander glared balefully at his terrified prisoner.

The UN soldier answered truthfully and was thus granted mercy. Santiago snapped the man's neck, killing him instantly. With his guards dead, Santiago went about searching for the keys for his manacles.

It is said that humans are intrinsically both Good and Evil.

And then there are people like Santiago.

000

"In traditional mythology, Lilith was Adam's first wife- created not from him but same as him, a true equal and not a complement. She was banished from Eden for not allowing herself to be subservient to Adam. She roamed the Earth and gave birth to demons that prey upon the children of Eve."

"How does that relate to here and now?" Sara asked as she finished wiring the MAGI to Central Dogma's self-destruct system. The women had been aware that if they had wired it any earlier, the enemy would have found them during a system scan but since they were close to the end, it would be too late for the enemy to find them.

"EVA came from Adam same as the Angels. But one EVA was born from Lilith. EVA-01 acquired a Soul which made it even more powerful than an EVA. In power, it is equal to Adam or Lilith. But unlike Adam or Lilith, it follows the wishes of its Children. It is now both Adam and Lilith and can combine with either for Third Impact."

Wrong. This was all wrong. Sara McDougal stared as Ritsuko finished code to start the self-destruct sequence for Central Dogma. Had they truly lost hope? "And you believe that Shinji is too weak to resist? Rei may have fallen to Lilith, but Shinji..."

Ritsuko bit her lips. She had hoped that in the two years that had passed Shinji would have gotten stronger... "Two years ago he nearly gave in and the world would have ended if I had not disrupted the dummy plug systems making up the Sephiroth."

Sara frowned, the Sephiroth - the Ten Crowns of Heaven, the nine dummy plug EVAs and Unit 01. The Sephiroth was the gate to the end of the world. If Shinji had allowed the process to go that far...

"No. We cannot risk it." As Ritsuko said that she felt a pain in her heart as she knew she did not believe her own words. But she was committed to her path.

From a very young age Sara was taught compassion and hope, to believe in the goodness others. She had been an orphan taken in by kind people whom she knew she had caused a lot of trouble for. To them she owed her very being. The best way to repay them was to trust in the lessons they taught her.

Ritsuko had been prepared when she saw Sara determinedly thrust her hand into her coverall pocket. Even though she was prepared Ritsuko doubted herself, thus she was able to stop herself enough for Sara to accomplish her task, but not enough that Ritsuko allowed Sara total victory.

Two gunshots.

Some place else, Angels wept.

000

A chaotic symphony of voices. Moans, screams, and murmurs. Yet through the cacophony, there were voices which were louder than others.

"MAMA!" Sanctuary long gone.

"I don't want to die!" Fervent wish.

"Ninamori!" Unfulfilled desire.

"SHIIIT!!" Desperate futility.

Shinji swam in the thick, cloying sea of voices. His head hurt due to the incessant cries. Now and then he could pick out other phrases that he could not understand because they were spoken in foreign tongues. But Shinji knew who spoke them, he recognized the feeling of great potential pulsing from the voices. Children. Dead Children.

Shinji screamed, his voice lost amongst the multitude.

Asuka screamed as gunfire erupted around her, the air was filled with the stench of gun smoke, blood, and fear. Misato's little group had burst into Terminal Dogma which was filled with soldiers loyal to Reinholt - the NERV personnel were outnumbered a hundred to one.

It was going to be a massacre.

`you must not interfere.'

Rei looked down at the battle with dispassionate eyes. She floated above the raging battle as she had done when Shinji had taken the Fifth Children's life. People died beneath her gaze. Some had faces she had seen before, a few had names she could recall. And yet, Rei did not intervene.

Rei watched as a soldier behind Asuka raised his rifle to Asuka's head.

`you must not.'

With great effort, the First Children fought against the paralysis imposed by her true self. Rei finally shrugged off her true self and moved to interfere but was frozen as a tremendous wave of fear washed over the area with enough force that ripples formed on the surface of the sea of LCL.

Unit 01 had roared to life.

The soldier who was going to shoot Asuka was but a smear on the metal catwalk. Asuka crouched with her hands over her head, never once suspecting that someone had tried to specifically kill her. Yet the soldier was not killed by the AT Field from Unit 01.

As the battle raged once more, Rei scanned the area for Asuka's savior. The girl sensed the barest hint of the familiar AT Field and she saw the momentary flash of what could have been a golden earring.

Below, it was a massacre.

As suddenly as it had activated, Unit 01 powered down in the middle of the sea of LCL. Its entry plug shot out of its back to the parked position. Shinji's eyes were wild as he came to his senses. He had been lost in the Sea of gathering Souls until he had heard Kyoko's voice, his little daughter.

"Mama's in danger!" the little girl had cried out.

This time Shinji was not in the least bothered by what he had become. The butcher who slaughtered the children of Eve.

Shinji suddenly became aware of his purpose and he clawed at the entry plug's release, impatient to get out. The gunshots were scarce but he could still hear them. Shinji clambered out of the entry plug and fearlessly jumped into the amber liquid dozens of feet below the EVA's high shoulder. Dead bodies littered the liquid, blood mixing into the water of life. As he paddled furiously towards the metal causeway system of Terminal Dogma Shinji could taste the mixture of LCL and blood, Shinji was more bothered by the gunshots and worrying about Asuka than what he was immersed in.

In the confusion Asuka and her captors were separated from Reinholt. Like a headless chicken the group was flapping without direction.

"Where are we?" a soldier snarled at Asuka.

Asuka looked around the cramped corridor of pipes and concrete walls, "Dunno. Never been here." She wasn't lying or even trying to make things difficult. "They didn't exactly give me permission to wander around down here."

The soldier angrily slapped her, slamming her down to the floor. The other soldiers were startled by the action but did nothing to help Asuka.

Asuka looked down at the floor where drops of her blood fell from her cut lip. She slowly looked up at the soldier who had slapped her, a grin blooming on her lips. "You do know that he's now going to kill you all."

"What?!" the soldier raised his rifle to shoot Asuka but several soldiers stopped him as they didn't want to lose their hostage. They were all surprised as Asuka threw herself flat on the floor, her arms protectively around her head.

"Aim for the center... switch."

Gunfire echoed down the corridor. The clump of soldiers was gone before they could even assess the new threat.

Asuka looked up as the dead fell around her. Asuka was on her feet and racing towards the figure at the end of the corridor, tears of happiness flew from her eyes as she tackled her savior. They fell down to the floor with Asuka on top.

"You're late, Baka." Asuka murmured as she buried her face against Shinji's chest.

000

Reinholt did not live to his age by being stupid. Yes, right now the main plan is in shambles as he had lost the only leverage he had against the Key and his main concern right now was survival. He had received word that the soldiers he had sent to execute Santiago had been found dead. And at this very moment he could hear the clatter of the pursuing NERV personnel bent on vengeance. Katsuragi and Santiago - two very deadly opponents who will rest at nothing short of Reinholt's death. For all the odds against him, Reinholt still had a chance resting upon the shoulders of a Children. Reinholt smirked, how much had they depended upon these Children in the last few years.

Reinholt's entourage stopped before a sealed door. The old man tapped his cane impatiently as a soldier opened up the little cell.

Finally the door was open and Reinholt and his men looked upon their sole chance for survival.

Reinholt stepped into the room and spoke to his 'guest'. "Good afternoon Mister Alleyn, I do hope your rest had been peaceful."

000

Misato seethed as she gazed down the sights of her pistol. She and her few remaining people were slowly backing out into Terminal Dogma from one of the side galleries.

Allen was being pushed in front of Reinholt by a soldier, the soldier's pistol was at the back of the boy's head.

Misato could not act as she wanted. The hostage was precious to her. Despite all he had done today, she still felt a maternal bond to the child.

Thus she waited, unsure of the outcome but ready to take action when the time arrives.

It is said that humans are intrinsically both Good and Evil.

And then there are people like Santiago.

They are ruled not by morals but by what was necessary. They are less, yet more, than human.

From his perch up on a catwalk the wounded NERV commander looked down at the impasse. He knew that none of the NERV personnel can make the shot. Especially not Katsuragi whose judgement had lately been clouded by her personal sentiments. He checked the pistol in his hands.

No. The only one who could clearly make the shot was him.

No. He was the only one allowed to do it.

Thus he took the shot.

The gunshot was loud in the tense silence.

Allen's eyes shot wide open in surprise as blood blossomed from the middle of his chest. He saw his killer calmly standing on a catwalk. Before the pain of betrayal could be felt, the child was dead.

Misato cried out in anguish as her child fell.

Gunfire echoed throughout the cavern as the soldiers reacted upon their Pavlovian conditioning to gunfire.

More Souls were released to fuel the end of the world.

"MISATOOOOO!!" Shinji and Asuka chorused as they entered the main cavern of Terminal Dogma.

Commander Crisostomo Santiago knelt by Allen's body as he waited for the Children to reach them. He had done what was necessary. He had burned down the bridges so that he will be forced to go forth to destiny. He did nothing that he wasn't supposed to. But why did his heart feel heavy?

Shinji and Asuka cried as they reached Misato. Shinji sank to his knees and embraced his former guardian, her blood stained his plugsuit. Asuka stood beside her lover, her tears no longer held back by her foolish pride.

Santiago decided that the time for mourning was over. It was time to move on. He stood before the pair. "Well done."

"What do you mean 'Well done'?!" Asuka spat out angrily. "Look around you! We're the only ones remaining!"

"We have Unit 01. We have Lilith. The Messiah's choice is at hand," Santiago's gaze bored into Asuka's sky blue eyes.

"W-what do you mean?"

"Complementation or Instrumentality," Shinji responded, his head still bowed as he held Misato's limp body. "The Messiah has the choice of making humanity ascend into divinity, humans will cease to exists as they are now and everyone will become part of an Angel. However, the Messiah can also choose to remake reality into any image that is desired."

"Any image..." Asuka's mind boggled at the possibilities.

"The Messiah can remake the world into a better place. Where everything may not be perfect but far better than what it has been. Where those who are dead are alive again and living their lives as happily as they could. Your mother would still be alive and well. Or Shinji's parents. The other Children... think about that Second Children. All the happiness that you've longed for these past few years."

In an unconscious imitation of Shinji, Asuka's right hand nervously clenched. Her brow knitted and a tic developed over her right eyebrow. "...bullshit," Asuka whispered. "THAT'S FUCKING BULLSHIT!!" she screamed at Santiago. "Why can't we just get out of here and leave everything behind! Start all over again! Relying on EVA has brought nothing but pain! You can't be so arrogant as to think that the power of God is ours to fuck around with!"

"We can't," Shinji whispered. "Can't you feel it Asuka? We're being watched. The souls of the dead are waiting."

"What?!" Asuka froze as a chill ran down her spine.

"He is right, Second Children," Santiago affirmed. "They are waiting for the judgement. The Final Trial is at hand, the Messiah's choice is needed."

"The Messiah..." Asuka whispered thoughtfully as she gazed down at Shinji's form as he huddled over Misato. "He can make any possibility real..." A drawn out pause an then-- Asuka grinned in self satisfaction. "Then he can decide that everything is all right and that the world should move on without EVA! It's time we stand on our own two feet instead of relying on crutches we made to hide our weaknesses."

Santiago froze. Indeed it was a possibility but Santiago had never thought that the Second Children would be so content or willful enough to believe that she could move on without EVA - to move on and began to dream anew. This was dangerous ground as the Third Children became aware of the new option. And if the Third Children believed that was the best choice...

"No." Santiago growled in desperation, he had high stakes resting upon this gamble. "I've lost so much, you are not going to steal them away again!" He raised his pistol. He was going to force the Messiah to choose Rebirth - by taking that which the Third Children longed for.

Asuka's eyes shot wide open.

Blood splattered on her face.

Asuka stood numbly as she looked at the blood on her hands. Shinji smiled at her, his lips moved but she couldn't hear the words over the raging storm of noise in her mind. She knew he loved her.

She knew because he gave up his life for her.

Shinji had used his speed and strength to put himself in between Asuka and death.

Shinji fell to his knees and died at Asuka's feet.

Asuka screamed as she lashed out and kicked the pistol from Santiago's hand. She punched him in the face but he caught her hand in his and threw her over his shoulder with so little effort.

Asuka had the wind knocked out of her when she landed, she knew her wrist was broken by the throw as she could feel the waves of pain every time she moved.

Santiago loomed over Asuka. He just shot the Messiah... Santiago looked down at Asuka. Yet there was still hope. Asuka was Children - a candidate for Messiah. It was never written that the Messiah of Moses and Messiah of Joshua would be the same person... but everyone had believed it was so because Shinji had been so special. Santiago's eyes narrowed to dangerous slits.

Asuka painfully picked herself up from the rubble but fell to her knees due to pain in her body and in her heart.

She has to be the one. Santiago must bring out her true potential. Asuka must be found deserving of the Choice. And there was only one choice she can make. "Show me you are worthy."

Santiago smirked in triumph as Asuka proved herself by shooting him in between the eyes with a pistol she picked up from the dead bodies.

Asuka stood up and looked around her.

Deathly silence. The room was filled with death. Blood covered most of everything. In the piles of dead bodies Asuka could see familiar faces - some had names and identities, others were simply faces she had seen over the years of work. Was this her prize? All this death and ruin? Was this her kingdom? There must be more... it couldn't end this way...

"Congratulations."

Asuka whirled to face a young man with blonde hair and red eyes. He wore an oversized black school jacket over a black plugsuit. A gold cross glinted on his earlobe.

Shitou smiled and clapped his hands.

Once.

Twice.

Thrice.

000

Heaven and Hell

Revelations 2:1 B - Instrumentality of the Second Children

 

000

 

"What was that?" Asuka mumbled as she sat on a folding chair in front of a stage. The young woman was once more a child of fourteen and wore her yellow sun dress.

"You already know what it is. A dream within the dream had shown you its meaning," Rei whispered from behind and to the right of Asuka.

"It is a glimpse of a possibility, a truth if you will," Shitou remarked flippantly from behind and to Asuka's left.

"What now?" Asuka asked with annoyance. She flinched as she felt Shitou's hands on her shoulders.

"Now I show you the Truth." Shitou smiled.

A lonely stretch of beach by the red sea of a devastated world.

REJECTION

You don't understand.

Idiot!

Do you think you can really understand what I'm thinking?

Do you think you can help me?

This is your egotistic kind of thinking! You don't understand.

He straddled her body, her eyes were open and lifeless.

REJECTION

Idiot.

I know. I know what you've done to me.

Do it yourself, I'll just watch from here.

You... if you can't be mine

I don't need you!

So much pain and hate. Does he hate her? Why?

REJECTION

We treat you really well already.

What is a dream. Was that a dream? Or is this? Why is he crying? She's with him.

She was back in their apartment. She remembers, but is this a dream or a memory? Or was this the present? She could feel the heavy load in her heart. She felt dirty, corrupted by the ravaging she had endured. She sat at the kitchen table, disconsolate as her head lay upon the cool, hard tabletop.

"I want to help you, and I want to be with you forever," Shinji said, hope and nervousness in his voice. Did he plan on saying that or was this spontaneous?

"Then don't do anything. Stop being near me. You'll only hurt me." Disgust. She hated him. She knew that. He was weak, pathetic. Below her notice.

"Asuka, help me! Only you can help me!" The truth finally comes out. Like others, he needed something from her. He'll take advantage of her, rape her soul - her very being until he is sated. And then he will discard her.

"That's a lie! To you, anybody will do!" She had stood up and advanced on him threateningly, she knew her words were like daggers at his heart - and it pleased her to hurt him. "You're afraid of Misato and Rei! You're afraid of your father and mother! You're just using me to run away! You can't really be happy with this!"

"Please, help me!" He begged. She hated it when he begged. She wanted to lash out at him! Push him away! He never cared for her!

"You never think of other people!" She spat out and finally pushed him against the counter, the things on the countertop and the boy fell to the floor. The coffee maker had spilled, its hot contents steamed as it burned Shinji's exposed skin. "You only think of your own existence! You only think of yourself! You are so pathetic."

"Asuka... Who... who can save me? Please help me..." He pleaded and begged once more as Asuka turned a dispassionate glance at him. She observed him as someone would a piece of garbage if one was bored enough to do so. "please help me... please help me! Don't ignore me! Don't ignore me! Don't kill me!"

She hated him. As she said the word that denied him and his existence, she knew she regretted it.

She could feel his hands on her neck. She could feel the anger and sadness in his heart. Was he not happy?

Humanity was ripped from the world in a harvest of souls that turned the world as red as blood.

"What's happening?" Asuka couldn't help but stare as the monstrous white form absorbed the lives Asuka had sworn to protect.

"Rei is tearing the world apart as Mr. Ikari wanted. Currently, that is the Choice he had made. The world that had shunned and hated him - all of it he wants gone." Shitou stood behind Asuka, watching impassively as his purpose was achieved.

"Why?!"

"Because all he had was pain. There was no one there to accept him and care for him."

"That's not true!"

"Is it?" Shitou opened up the Sea to her, letting her mingle her thoughts with the Other.

She falters in her answer. She felt Shinji's pain. The loneliness within his heart. It echoed with hers.

"No one cared for him. Not even himself."

"I-"

"You hurt him despite his efforts to understand you."

"I-"

"His deepest pain was that you hated him."

"I DON'T HATE HIM!!"

Shitou smiled. Yes, of all possibilities, there was always one constant.

She can't raise her hand. She wanted to touch him. To tell him it was OK.

"What is this?"

THIS IS YOUR INSTRUMENTALITY.

"What is this?"

THIS IS YOUR TRUTH

"Why does it hurt?"

FINDING TRUTH HURTS

"Why does it hurt?"

TO REMIND YOU THAT YOU ARE ALIVE

She touched his face.

"Life hurts. People will shun you. They will turn their backs on you." Kyoko Zeppelin Soryu said to her young daughter as they sat looking out the window in the hospital. The mother cradled a young girl who in turn cradled a stuffed monkey. "But there will be someone to help you. There will be someone who will open their arms to you."

The young girl nestled against her mother as birds flew by the window.

"All you have to do is open your arms to them and try to understand them despite your differences." Kyoko hand went to Asuka's chin and gently guided the little girl to look at her. "Asuka, if Shinji ever decides to go back and put the world together again, will you visit him?"

"I will." A fourteen year old, plug suit clad Asuka answered from within her mother's embrace.

"If he wants you to stay by his side?" There was a teasing quality in the mother's voice, a playfulness brought by confidence in the bonds of motherhood and friendship.

The answer was already known.

Asuka lay on the beach while Shinji cried over her. She knew she had a long way to go before she could truly understand this being known as Shinji Ikari.

She turned away, unable to bear to watch his pain.

It will take a lot of time before she could really know him.

But it seems like she will have all the time in the world.

In the meantime,

"I feel sick."

000

Heaven and Hell

Revelations 2:1 C - One More Final : I Need You

 

000

In the countryside, a small farmhouse stood amongst rows of neatly laid vegetables plots and fruit trees.

The air was alive with music. The natural harmony of wind, grass, birds, and insects was augmented by a cello playing Air.

"Ne, Shinji," Asuka whispered as she lay on the couch, listening to Shinji play the cello from a chair beside her.

Shinji didn't pause from playing, wanting the music he made to fill the farmhouse he had rebuilt with his own hands. "Yes, Asuka?" He looked tenderly upon the young woman who lay upon the raggedy couch which she had carefully patched over a couple of weeks. Asuka had taken up sewing to help out in the house. Even now, as she lay restively, she still had her needle and a piece of flannel in her hands.

"I had a dream before I woke up on the beach," Asuka said as she looked up at the crossbeams of her home's ceiling - a ceiling with character, Shinji had proudly stated. "Or more likely, a dream within a dream..."

"What was it about?" He sounded distracted yet Asuka knew she had his attention. There was a time, a long time past, that she would have gone off into a fit at any indication of his incomplete attention.

"Well, it's not the dream that is important - rather..." She paused, not knowing how to continue.

A slight smile played upon Shinji's lips as he answered with a word; "Kyoko."

"What?"

"If it's a girl, I want her to be named Kyoko."

Asuka raised a questioning eyebrow at her husband, for that was what he was even if they didn't have the regal wedding Asuka had dreamed of as a child. Her hand strayed to her belly laden with child as if to reassure herself that this was reality. Confident that this was no dream, Asuka continued her needlework. "How did you know?"

Shinji carefully chose his words as he watched the stuffed monkey come into shape in his wife's talented hands. "It was in a dream within a dream..."

"...within a dream." They finished at the same time.

In the countryside, a small farmhouse stood.

And it was their paradise.

THE END

Original Author's Notes:

Finally finished. Funny thing, I used to think of Eva as another super robot show until I watched my first episode (episode 9) and was hooked. Had this story in mind since Summer of 1997 but didn't have the self-confidence to start writing until 1998. And then it took me several more years to start posting it p

Yes, I'm a rabid fan of Asuka and Shinji pairings.

Additional characters were taken from the following series, all rights remain with their owners and I do not take credit for them : Furi Kuri (FLCL), Kareshi Kanojo no Jijou (His and Her Circumstance), Card Captor Sakura, Love Hina

Oh, and in case you were wondering - Yamato Shitou is Azazel, who by the way is by strict mythology not an Angel. Rather one of the Fallen. He Who Shows The Truth Hidden by God. The serpent who tempted Adam and Eve. The previous three Angels were already named.

And there is a very good reason I used Children in stead of Child - you have to be a fan to know it.

Revised Author's notes 18 May 2008:

Still the work that I like best. Revised for easier reading on FF.net (since it wrecked my original True Text formatting). Nothing new was added but minor revisions done for canonical reasons (just realized that technically Asuka was just thirteen for almost the whole anime: bday of 4 Dec 2001 as per Wikipedia)

I finished reading Studio Kimigabuchi's Re-take last year. It is a work that I recommend to all Eva fans (the All Ages version for those who are too young or uncomfortable with MA/NC-17/X rating works).