Apologies for the delay, took too long, blah blah blah. Does anyone ever read these intros?
4100 words to end Chapter 11. Next is Chapter 12, and the Fate of the Gods, in fire, death, and glory.
Today was busy at work. War may be about to start. So we need WAFF and parties.
...this update has no parties. Some WAFF, but wait for the end, and that might change.
It does have ART!
Chapter 11.24
Cards On The Table
+++
Rei's eyes snapped open at precisely 0645, as usual. She immediately sat up to check on Shinji and Asuka. To her mild surprise their lights were not entwined together still in bed. Shinji's slightly dimmed Light still was, but Asuka's was already moving around nearby, in the direction of the kitchen. Major Katsuragi and Inspector Kaji were still asleep together in the Major's room.
Satisfied to their well-being, Rei swung her legs off the bed and looked down four floors. Kaworu was still sleeping, but Rei could not suppress the desire to see him again as soon as possible. She carefully nudged his AT-Field with her own, trying to rouse him without making it feel too intrusive. A smile grew on her face when he woke right away, and caressed her AT-Field back after a moment's disorientation as he shook off sleep. She tugged gently, indicating she wanted him to rise and come up. Another caress, and she felt his attention shift as he began to get dressed. His attention had shifted, but the contact remained, like a warm hand on hers. She was beginning to understand better why Shinji and Asuka spent so much of their time holding hands or some other form of physical contact. Smiling, Rei got out of bed to get dressed herself. This... was a new sort of day. She could get used to this.
+++
Kaworu forced himself to walk steadily and unhurriedly towards Major Katsuragi's apartment. It was difficult to keep his normal vague smile on his face. He wanted to grin and practically skip. He could Hear how eager Rei was for him to come in. It added an even sweeter note to the already beguiling, fractured harmony of her Song.
She wanted to see him! He pressed the doorbell and carefully did not fidget while he waited.
The door slid open to reveal the Second Child. She had a red kitchen apron on that read 'Küss den Koch'. "Oh, guten Morgen, Fisch." She stepped back and waved him inside. "[I should have expected it would be you. She's hovering right out of sight of the door.]"
Kaworu barely remembered to mutter "Thank you," as he zipped in the door, around the corner, and right into Rei's arms. "Hi."
"Hi," was the soft, barely voiced answer from the bluenette. Her arms tightened around him. His eyes slid closed, the hum of her Song washing over him, her AT-Field buzzing happily against his. All was right with the world.
Asuka slid around them to get past where they blocked the hallway to the kitchen. She rolled her eyes as she passed. "[Well, I can see you two will be useless for a while. Go sit on the couch and make out or something.
I'll be in the kitchen making breakfast for everyone, because if I don't my beloved baka will try dragging himself out here to do it himself. God knows I'm not going to let that crazy drunkard do the cooking.]"
"[Thank you, Asuka,]" the two Nephilim murmured in synch, eyes still closed.
+++
Kaji looked like he'd gotten little sleep. He carefully nursed the steaming cup of coffee Misato had placed in front of him before likewise slumping into a chair next to him. Misato had taken the daylight repetition of the story of Rei and Kaworu's true natures with no change to her already haggard expression, but Kaji's face had gotten longer and longer as Rei once more told the story of the downfall of an unimaginably ancient civilization and the creation of the Seeds. He kept darting nervous looks at Kaworu, then at Rei. He finally looked down at his coffee. "I really want a drink," he muttered. Misato grunted agreement next to him.
An uneasy silence fell. No one seemed to know what to say next, and Kaji appeared fully occupied just digesting Rei's story. Asuka pressed her lips together and looked back and forth between the two pairs sitting at the table. She was still standing, herself. She'd been about to take a tray of breakfast to Shinji when Rei had started talking, and it had suddenly seemed wise that she stay and keep an eye on Kaji's reaction.
The strained silence was broken by the squeak and rattle of Shinji's IV stand rolling across the floor and turning into the kitchen. Asuka was torn between a worried frown at seeing him up and weakly leaning against the stand for support and a happy smile at seeing him brighten up and smile himself as soon as he saw her. "G-good morning, everyone," he said, sounding like he was ready to fall back down.
"You are supposed to be
resting, my baka love," Asuka said as she walked over to hug him. "Doctor's orders, very specific, remember?"
He shook his head and hugged her back. "Had to come out. I think..." He eyed the tense situation at the table. "I think everyone will be a little more comfortable if I'm here to help... um, keep things calm."
"Like last night?" Asuka muttered just loud enough for him to hear. She shook her head anyway. "You're probably right, Liebling. Sit down, then. I'll get your breakfast."
Shinji moved to sit down on the third side of the table, but stopped short when he noticed there was no place. The four chairs at their small table had always been enough before. "Oh. Um..."
Kaworu stood. "Take my seat, Shinji. I'll just stand. It's fine." He moved his chair over to let Shinji take a seat.
As he returned to stand next to Rei, she got up herself, pushed him into her vacated spot, and then settled herself sideways in his lap. She snaked one arm around his neck. "This is better. You do not have to stand," Rei said, her face perfectly calm and not a hint of anything out of the ordinary in her voice.
Kaji and Misato
stared.
Rei stared right back, unflinching.
Kaworu stared straight ahead at a point a thousand miles away and slowly turned pink.
Asuka put Shinji's breakfast tray down in front of him and, after a regretful glance at Shinji's lap, elected to stand beside him. "Come on, Misato. I'd have thought you'd be more used to this, after Shinji and I did practically the same thing."
Misato snapped out of it and wryly glanced at her. "This is not quite the same thing, Asuka."
"Yes," Rei said coldly. "You had not tried to shoot Shinji the night before they informed you of their relationship."
Misato bristled. "
Look, Rei, he's an
Angel, a threat to
everyon-"
"You tried to kill him!" Rei almost shouted back at her. "I-"
"Rei, it was me," Kaworu interrupted the spiraling argument.
Rei looked at him, eyes narrowing.
"If you want to blame anyone, blame me. I knew it was a risk, telling her like that. But... if she had killed me, at least it would have solved one problem," Kaworu said softly. His arms finally came up to hold her. "I want you all to be safe."
"And I want you to be
alive, you idiot," Rei growled. "I do not want you to die! How many times do I have to say it?"
"Was
I this clueless?" Shinji muttered to Asuka.
"Yes, you were, baka, I love you anyhow." She bent down to kiss his cheek.
Rei closed her eyes and made a visible effort to calm down. She opened them again and looked back to Misato. "I apologize. But his survival is important to me, Major. More than I ever would have believed. So I am prepared to negotiate."
Kaji frowned. "Negotiate? Rei, if I'm understanding what you've told us right, as long as he's alive he'll be drawn to Adam, compelled to wipe out life on Earth even worse than Second Impact. I'm not happy with the thought of killing him, but he's right, isn't he?"
"No," Shinji said firmly. "We have to keep him alive."
Kaji and Misato both looked at him curiously.
He met their stares without a sign of doubt. "All the Angels have to die before SEELE can start their plan. Same for my father. That's why SEELE tried to kill him. They need him to die. So we need him to
live." He looked at the two Nephilim at the table and his face softened. "That it keeps someone who loves Rei and I alive is good too."
"We're all together on this, Misato," Asuka added from beside him. She put her hand on Shinji's shoulder. "We gave you that bullet, but if it comes to having to stop Kaworu the hard way, any of us will do it. But not until there's no other choice."
"He's still an Angel, even if his being right now alive blocks SEELE," Misato complained. "That's a problem of its own, even if we accept the status quo."
"He's as human as I am, Major," Rei replied coldly. "And there is no one more dedicated to stopping Third Impact than I. I
like how things are now. Humanity
must be protected as it exists now. And that includes him." She took a deep breath. "And as I said, I am prepared to negotiate."
"Negotiate
what, Rei?" Miasto asked. "You're asking us to accept a permanent risk to the whole world because you
like him."
Rei's glare was cold and hard. "He is also an innocent who did not choose this, driven by his nature and the schemes of those we already oppose. He is a comrade who has fought beside us bravely from the moment he arrived. Yes, I love him. But I was also the first person here who promised to end him if he could not stop himself from turning on us. He asked me to promise him that. He hates that he has to fight that side of him, that is a threat to us. And if it comes to that I will still keep my promise,
because I love him."
Rei turned her head to glare at Kaworu. "And you are to keep
your promise, idiot. Or I will beat you over the head with a tree again."
Kaworu just smiled at her. "I love you."
Asuka snickered. "Man, I am such a good influence on Rei."
Kaji rubbed his face and took a long drink of his coffee. "Alright, Rei, accepting for the moment that Kaworu-kun stays alive... what are you talking about for 'negotiations'? What mitigates the long-term threat?"
Rei broke off staring into Kaworu's eyes and turned back two the two adults. "We have been discussing this. Asuka and I may have an idea. But I meant what I could offer, to balance the risk of Kaworu."
"What's worth a risk to the world?"
"The stars."
Kaji and Misato shared a look. Misato turned back to Rei. "Explain."
"I remember everything. Everything Lilith knew. Including..." Rei hesitated. "Including the full details about the theory and construction of compact S2 Engines. I can replicate the technology. Unlimited power to propel humanity to expand off Earth alone."
Kaworu started. "Rei, that... you said that was exactly what caused their downfall. S2 Engines for everyone just led to wars until their entire planet and star were destroyed."
Rei nodded. "That is why the compulsion was imprinted on us, to keep the Fruit of Life and the Fruit of Knowledge apart until we were mature enough as a species and a civilization to handle that power again. The Forbidden Union. But... Asuka has some ideas."
All eyes swiveled to the redhead.
"An S2 Engine doesn't have to be in a person. We've been trying to use them in the Evas," she said. "An unlimited power supply, not constrained by fuel supply could push a constant-burn spacecraft to Pluto in less than two weeks. It could lift thousands of tons into orbit or the Moon without difficulty. If we keep S2 technology to inorganic use, and use it to fast-track human expansion into space, we'll fortify humanity's survival even if a worst-case scenario like what happened to the First Ancestral Race comes up. Rei's offering us the ability to make sure no one threat, not even the Angels or S2 tech run wild or a freaking
real Impact meteor can ever wipe out mankind. The union of the Fruit of Life and the Fruit of Knowledge was meant to be delayed until we met in the stars, to prevent the loss of one world from destroying everything, as it did to them. But we can accomplish the same goal from the other end: forge that union, then use it to reach the heavens," Asuka said as calmly as she could, resting one hand on Shinji's shoulder. "The end is the same: a species and a civilization mature enough to withstand the forces of having both, or at least endure in the event of disaster. And believe me, Misato, Rei and Kaworu are very, very motivated to make this union work. We use S2 tech to get into space in a big way, and the mission the Seeds were built for is finally met."
Rei nodded. "That is what they were for. To ensure that our souls and everything we had created was not lost forever. The Forbidden Union is only such until those conditions are met. Once the children of the two Fruits are ready, union is the intent. And to save his life, I am ready to try."
"What about the risk? By his own testimony, Kaworu says he's come close to," Misato groped for the right term, "falling no less than three times in the last week!"
"Misato-san?" Shinji interjected quietly.
The Operations Major looked at the Third Child.
"I hate this job. I hate every time I have to get into the unholy thing that ate my mother, go out into battles that scare me senseless, and risk dying for a world I never much gave a damn about. I hate every second of it. But I do it. Do you know why?"
"You save lives every time you do, Shinji. You do something only you five can do and protect everyone alive."
Shinji shook his head. "Misato, do you remember when I ran away for a few days, shortly after I got here? And you had to have Section Two's goons drag me back from Kensuke's campout?"
Misato nodded. After Shinji's risky disobedience of orders during the fight with the Fourth Angel, he'd run away from the stress. Section Two having to drag him back had earned him a chewing out from her. In response, Shinji had asked to resign as an Eva Pilot and leave. Only talking to his friends at the train station had made him change his mind and stay. Misato had understood he'd been unwilling to leave behind the closest thing to a home and family he'd had in ten years.
"When I was up in the hills, I sat on the edge of a cliff and thought about jumping."
Misato blanched in shock. Kaji stiffened beside her. Asuka flinched, and squeezed his shoulder tighter. It wasn't news to her. They'd shared such dark memories in whispered confidences in bed at night over the last year. But she still hated hearing how empty Shinji had been before they'd met.
"The only thing that stopped me was that I didn't want to inconvenience you with my death. At the train station, I stayed for you. For offering me a home. For my friends. I hated myself. I didn't think I deserved to live in this world. But you told me to. Other people needed me to. So I did it because I had to. It was an obligation." He looked up at Asuka and smiled wearily. He squeezed her hand and returned his gaze to Misato. "Then I met Asuka. We may not have gotten along at first, but no one could deny how powerful we were together in a fight."
Asuka snorted lightly. "Yeah, once we harnessed the awesome power of interpretive dance," she snarked. "And I got you to notice I kinda thought you were cute."
Shinji just smiled a little more. "So now I fight because Asuka needs me. Loves me. I choose to fight beside her because I love her back. I still hate having to be an Eva Pilot. But as long as she needs me, I will never stop fighting to be the best Pilot I can. I don't do it anymore because I have to. I do it because this is what the one I love needs me to do. I will fight every battle she does, and take any risk. We all would."
He nodded pointedly at Kaworu and Rei. "Can you offer them any less? SEELE knows Kaworu is rebelling against them. They're trying to shoot him to set him off. Because he won't do it voluntarily anymore. Because he loves us. I'll take any risk for Asuka. He'd take any risk for Rei. I bet you and Kaji-san would do the same for each other. Kaworu's as human as we are. He was ready to let you shoot him last night. If it comes to it, all of us have promised we'll stop him. But as long as there's a chance, I will take any risk for someone who loves me."
Silence filled the kitchen when Shinji finished. No one said anything for a minute. "And that is why I love this man," Asuka said quietly. She bent down and carefully turned his head to face her with hands on his cheeks, and kissed him.
Misato's mouth was a grim line. She looked from Rei to Kaworu and back, then to Kaji. He held her stare for a moment, then nodded. Misato turned back to Rei and sighed, closing her eyes. "Fine. I'll provisionally extend that trust you all have. But I'm holding on to that bullet, too. You all may trust him, but we cannot let that be the only thing we have against this kind of risk. And even if so, now what? This 'Call' isn't going to go away, Rei. Are we going to just hope he can resist it forever?"
"Asuka and I discussed that. We have some ideas," Rei said. She shifted a little in Kaworu's lap, getting a strangled gurgle from the Fifth Child and a further reddening of his face. "Both immediate and longer term."
Asuka nodded. She stood up and started to pace back and forth a little behind Shinji's chair. "SEELE and Commander Asshole's plans both call for all the Angels to be out of the way before they can act. But Kaworu with the Call breathing down his neck is a threat on his own, we know. If we can nullify the Call, as long as we keep Kaworu alive, we also block both of them. So we take care of the Call first."
"How?" Kaji probed. "Isn't it inherent in his nature? How do you change that?"
"By incremental implementation of the Forbidden Union," Rei said. "I can manipulate a small portion of Lilith's tissue to integrate into Kaworu. The..." Rei paused for a moment. "The... 'signature' of a Progenitor is similar enough that once I have melded it into his Core, it will satiate the Call. He could still initiate an Impact event if he tried, but he would be freed of the unrelenting urge to do so."
"And I would never want to," Kaworu finally managed to rasp. He cleared his throat and tried again. "As long as my friends live, as long as any of humanity lives, I will never. Never by my will. There is too much beauty in this world."
"Lilith's tissue," Misato said thoughtfully. She looked at Kaji. "In Terminal Dogma. So we need to get some from there?"
Rei shook her head. "No. We must go there. I will need Kaworu there with me, and do it immediately upon taking the tissue from my greater body. It is too unstable to move without extensive equipment that we cannot access."
Misato stared at her hard. "Rei, you do realize you are asking me to not just allow but to
help you let an Angel into the
exact place we've been fighting so hard to keep them out of, right?"
Kaworu shook his head. "All the Angels have been trying to get into the Geofront to seek Adam, not Lilith. They are simply confused because Lilith is so much stronger and the signatures are so similar." He looked down for a moment. "Adam is in there too, though. I can feel it. There is no Progenitor signature anywhere in this world now but below us. Adam is in the Geofront somewhere."
It was Kaji's turn to shift uneasily. "Commander Ikari has it, definitely. That's what I stole for him from SEELE. I handed it to him in his office."
The Pilots all glared at him. "Kaji,
was zum Teufel?!" Asuka said angrily.
Kaji waved his hands placatingly. "I was getting inside Commander Ikari's operation, and hindering SEELE at the same time. I'll admit I didn't know exactly what Adam was, or what either of them had planned for it. I wasn't trying to end the world, believe me."
None of the Pilots looked happy, but they subsided with some sour looks.
"It is most likely in the Commander's office, or Terminal Dogma. He would not keep it anywhere else," Rei said.
Asuka nodded in agreement, resuming her pacing. "Right, he's too paranoid to let it be far. He needs it and Lilith as his key components for his own 'end the world' plan, with Rei to act as an intermediary since she's half-Lilith, half-human DNA. He can't do it without her to act as a 'buffer circuit', right, Rei? Or he'll explode or something?"
Rei bobbed her head slightly. "Correct. His own soul would not take the integration with raw Progenitor well, let alone leave him with any degree of control, or even identity. Attempting to force a Union with both would be... unfortunate. A hybrid soul is required. SEELE's plan must have its own means of obtaining or controlling similar components. Their original plan was to utilize the Lance of Longinus and Lilith and Adam's bodies. Commander Ikari's decision to use the Lance in battle and lose it was almost certainly a deliberate move by him to frustrate their plan. They will have to try something else."
Misato took a sip of her coffee and rolled her neck. "Like what? Both hybrid souls are right here, correct? And so are Adam and Lilith. If SEELE doesn't trust the Commander, what are they going to do?"
"They have cloned Adamite tissue in quantity from building the Evas," Kaworu mused. "But the other things they'd need are all here: Lilith, Unit-01, and Rei. They will have to come here."
Asuka stopped pacing and looked up, frowning. "And they'll have to do it soon. Them trying for Kaworu must mean they're close to the endgame, and Commander Asshole even more so. They'll try to stop him somehow." She looked at Rei and Kaworu and shivered. "And if they've got as total control of the UN and everything as it sounds, they could throw almost anything at us, and really soon. We're going to have to move fast ourselves to stay ahead of all that."
Misato looked at Kaji. "We're going to need to figure out what Commander Ikari is doing right now. The moment he summons Rei to him could be the start of the end. You need to start sneaking around hard."
Kaji sighed and nodded. "And knowing him, he's got something slippery we haven't thought of brewing." He drained his coffee and stood up. "I better get moving."
He took one last look at Rei and Kaworu. Kaworu had closed his eyes and leaned his head against Rei's chest. Kaji squeezed Misato's shoulder. "I think, after all we've been through to get here, we can rely on Rei's judgement about him."
"We all trust Rei, Kaji," Shinji said. "There's nothing that will change that."
+++
The office at the heart of NERV's headquarters was a dim study in black and blood red, as cold, hard, and quiet as the man who occupied it.
Gendo stared across his desk at the key to all his plans. His perfect weapon. "The time is near. SEELE has begun to move. Are you ready to fulfill your destiny and function?"
"Yes."
"Then it is time to kill the last Angel."
"I will obey your orders," said Rei Ayanami.
++++
End of Chapter 11
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