Lord Sovereign
The Emperor of shitty fanfic
- Location
- England
...nothing to stop the Japanese checking again. You can never be too careful with bloody Evangelions, considering they are the most temperamental war machines in fiction.
Advice and Trust [NGE]
...nothing to stop the Japanese checking again. You can never be too careful with bloody Evangelions, considering they are the most temperamental war machines in fiction.
Schpoonman
They call me the Bord of Lays
- Location
- United States
I s
Ignoring that point blank none of the following Angels would be vulnerable to a Dummy Plug eva, you can always cut the Dummy Plug as soon as it started to attack another eva. The problem with a genuinely berserking eva is that you CAN'T stop them until they run out of power.
I see your point, a little. My problem with it is that it's not very dangerous in practice. How regularly are you expecting them to go on the attack against other evas? Are you expecting the Dummy Plug to go berserk against your average Angel and attack its fellow eva in the middle of a sortie?
Ignoring that point blank none of the following Angels would be vulnerable to a Dummy Plug eva, you can always cut the Dummy Plug as soon as it started to attack another eva. The problem with a genuinely berserking eva is that you CAN'T stop them until they run out of power.
- Location
- Volksstaat Hessen, Deutsches Reich
My take is that Tabris, the final angel, has to make an attempt at Third Impact. Which raises the question, is that an actual metaphysical requirement, or is SEELE just being all "The Scenario must be followed" cult-like again? I mean, what you say goes even further: It was SEELE who had made Kaworu. Why even raise him to become a threat at all? So, either SEELE just behaves like a cult again (just as they did with "Blah blah, man was not meant to create a god, blah"), or there is a real requirement for 15 angels to make a run at Terminal Dogma.
Alternatively, I think the idea has been floated that Tabris is a kind of a failsafe plan by SEELE. Because if he does fuse with Lilith, well, that isn't SEELE's preferred scenario, but it still is a Adam-Lilith "Forbidden Union" kind of Third Impact. Of course that goes into the never explained details of how the different Third Impact scenarios of different factions actually differ...
As for the money question... yes, 9 EVAs suddenly popping out of nowhere when over the course of fifteen years only 5 had been built is... uh... yeah. One wonders how that even works. Why it was a huge project for America to build two EVAs, and then suddenly nine completely different looking EVAs, apperently completely revamped technology, all with S2 engine and wings to boot. Which also means all those EVAs were built in about half a year, since S2 technology only became available after Shamshel was defeated. So 9 EVAs had to be built at the same time in probably 9 locations at the same time, and even that really super-fast. When before construction of even a single EVA was a huge deal.
It goes even farer: In episode... 23? 24? Hyuga tells Misato how Unit 05 has been cancelled and NERV Japan is receiving the spare parts. That means only then did they start to stop the Standard Production series and start constructing the MP series. So, 9 EVAs built at the same time in 9 locations within mere weeks. Or, considering how the last 4 or so episodes are apparently all in December, maybe even days. But then, as Stryp has noted, the NGE chronology is a bit wonky.
Given that successful effort, I think it would be hard to argue that SEELE was running out of financial or political capital. Also, there is a reason given in the series for why the plan is sped up: IIRC, SEELE-01 (i.e. Lorenz Kiel) says the destruction of Tokyo-3 (in the fight against Armisael) gives them an opportunity. So my take is SEELE then spreads "OMG the angels are gonna destroy us all" panic mongering and hence gets enough countries to sign up to the MP EVA program.
The Englanderish
Schrödinger's Kuudere Kitty Caliph(a)
- Location
- Califat de Chats
The NSFW omake is done. Look in QQ's NSFW creative writing section. If anyone wants a direct link, PM me.
Dragxon
King of The Dragonhumans
- Location
- Realm of the Dracanthropes
Sounds like she's projecting if you ask me.
akrasiel23
A wraith no more
- Location
- Peru
My personal suspicion on this one is that Gendo deliberately made an stupid battle arrangement for the fight against Bardiel. He needed a field test to ensure that the Dummy plug would be as vicious and effective as it had to be in case the pilot was knocked out, so, by making it so that the battle went in a way so that the Eva-01 could be alone, he had all the excuse he wanted to use it.
Which makes him even more of a dick because that would mean he told Ritsuko to fetch for Shinji's friend knowing that he would most likely die after this.
Crossing this with the Rebuild movies, there is some base on this interpretation. Tabris must be lured into acting as the final Angel so that Gendo and SEELE have free way to do their version of the scenario.
DocMatoi
Theoretical Lover of Girls
- Location
- within 2 hours of the White House
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Yeah that's what about half the madokas fandom thinks too
- Location
- Volksstaat Hessen, Deutsches Reich
That last part only holds true if he knew Bardiel would befall EVA-03 before Toji was made Fourth Child.
As for the first part, that would be quite stupid. As was said: Putting two EVAs out of commission and making the pilot of the remaining machine leave. Yeah, great. If the Dummy Plug system then doesn't work we're all screwed. Which kinda is what happened against Zeruel. Though I suppose Gendo had no way of knowing 01 would refuse Rei as well...
BadRoad
a thousand miles
The fact that 01 is made from Lilith's flesh rather than Adam's?
Given that 06 through 14 were the Mass Production Evangelions, I assumed they were all built in the same facility (or each part, e.g. left arm, was made in one facility and they were assembled at a central location) using an assembly line process, unlike 00 through 05 which were individually crafted. The process is still a little fast, but the S2 organs may even have helped to grow more of Adam's tissue if SEELE only needed to produce the mechanical parts.
- Location
- Volksstaat Hessen, Deutsches Reich
As I've said, 9 units in a matter of maybe weeks. That's already mass production alright. After how difficult it was to build standard model EVAs, EVA assembly line sound too ridiculous for me. Also, I doubt they'd already have S2 engine assembly lines, anyway.
akrasiel23
A wraith no more
- Location
- Peru
I think that Gendo was blindsided on that one, he expected the Unit-01 to work without Shinji if it was needed, but as the fight goes on you can see how the Eva refuses both Rei and the Dummy Plug. You do make a point in that it does sois somewhat stupid to try to make a plan out of that without foresight of what could happen.
- Location
- Volksstaat Hessen, Deutsches Reich
Also, if he were to really test the thing, wouldn't it make most sense to position Unit-01 as the front unit? So in case both Shinji and the Dummy Plug fail, there are still two other EVAs to take care of it?
Dragxon
King of The Dragonhumans
- Location
- Realm of the Dracanthropes
I know I was referencing that opinion.
- Location
- Canada
My god, you beautiful bastard. That was... something. That was really something.
Matt R
Giant Robot Pilot
- Location
- North Dakota
Sandalphon, on the other hand, never made a run at Adam or Terminal Dogma; it was intercepted in the volcano and slain there. I suppose its fight with Unit-02 might count, but then engaging Tabris in any battle might do.
Which also raises the question of to what degree SEELE created Kaworu, versus manipulating something they found, which already existed, towards their purposes? Something like, they found the Angel/Human hybrid body which was created by introduction of human DNA into Adam in the contact experiment, and combined it with Adam's soul, which they salvaged after Second Impact? But to what end? To put a Seed of Life into a form they could communicate with, or even try to control? Maybe they found out Kaworu couldn't do whatever they originally created him to do, nor could they destroy him themselves, so they sent him to NERV to be destroyed as the last Angel.
That's part of what had me wondering if SEELE used Kaworu in some fashion in the construction of the MP EVAs; having an Angelic being who could communicate as a human might have provided useful theoretical knowledge to refine the construction process.
Come to think of it, Kaworu could have also provided some sort of assistance in further refining their understanding of the Secret Dead Sea Scrolls.
(Now picturing Kaworu acting as Mephistopheles to SEELE's collective Faust; the source of forbidden knowledge...)
Not necessarily relevant to the A&T version of events, or the manga, given that Kaworu had only been active 5 months or so before coming to Tokyo-3 in A&T, and supposedly only for a matter of days in the manga version.
Fusion between an Angel and Lilith seems to be the worst outcome, of a "nobody wins, everybody loses" kind -- my understanding is that it would basically reset all life on Earth back to the Primordial Soup phase, without handing the planet over to Adam's descendants. I think you need the actual bodies of Adam and Lilith to trigger the sort of "ascend to a higher state of being" Impact that SEELE wants.
It could be that construction of the MP EVAs began before S2 technology was actually available -- Unit-01's incorporation of an S2 into itself didn't seem to change its structure, after all, so they could have started earlier in anticipation of S2 technology becoming available later. The MP EVAs could have been a largely parallel development from NERV's EVAs from the beginning, sharing technical data and lessons learned but evolving in their own way.
Does that necessarily mean that they only started production of the MP series then, or simply that they were confident enough in it at that point to stop construction on the regular series? I don't think the regular series were ever intended for SEELE use in a 3I scenario, nor that NERV was ever intended to receive an MP EVA as a frontline unit, so that means they're not exactly interchangeable programs. While the MP EVAs were probably justified to those aware of their construction (for example, most of the peons actually building them) as next-gen anti-Angel weaponry, I suspect they were really meant purely for 3I.
Not to mention, if SEELE was able to crank out 9 MP EVAs in weeks or days, why not build the whole 12, or even more, for the extra margin of safety against having too few left to accomplish 3I after the attack on NERV, rather than speeding up their scenario by sending Kaworu on his suicide run with only 9 complete? Kiel doesn't seem that close to Death's door.
- Location
- Volksstaat Hessen, Deutsches Reich
Hrm. True. And Gaghiel was intercepted outside Japan. So, yeah, why not just kill Tabris?
I think the reason is quite analogous to Rei: To have a vessel for a progenitor soul they can control. They can't control Lilith or Adam, but if their souls are in a new, malleable person... which is also why Rei is indoctrinated as all fuck and has been largely isolated from all other people. It's all about trying to gain control over progenitor souls. Obviously, Kaworu, while still quite alien, is not quite as socially maladjusted as Rei, and by far not as much under SEELE's control as Rei is under Gendo's, which opens up the bitterly amusing possibility that SEELE was just not ruthless enough with their Nephilim, while Gendo, even though he made Rei in the image of his dead wife, was.
It is possible that SEELE at the beginning was grasping at straws. They wanted a Forbidden Union 3I under their control. They eventually settled on the plan "Lilith under the control of the Spear of Longinus plus Adamite EVAs", and when the Spear was lost switched to "Lilithian EVA-01 plus Adamite EVAs". It's possible that one of their initial ideas was to use the soul of Adam, i.e. Kaworu, for the Adamite element, the same way Gendo used Rei for his 3I scenario. Hence they created him to keep that possibility open, but then decided on another plan. Which of course still doesn't explain why they didn't just kill him.
Oh, and SEELE used him for their dummy plugs, of course. But that seems like a weak reason. I mean, yes, it is notable that both Dummy Plug systems we see are based on Nephilim, but I see no reason why one couldn't use a normal human mind, digitalized...
Hm. It is noteworthy Kaworu is present at Instrumentality. GNR even becomes GNK at one point. So maybe Adam's soul had to be involved in some way? And that is why Kaworu had to be there and had to be killed? But that was, initially, Gendo's 3I: The 3I started by Rei, Lilith and Adam's body fusing. I'm not sure where Adam's soul would even enter the scene in an EVA-started 3I as planned by SEELE.
Anyway, as for Kaworu's creation: In the manga, his official date of birth is a lie, but I could imagine in the series SEELE just hides the truth in plain daylight: He really was "born" at Second Impact. He might even have been the reason for it: Adam's soul is transferred to an angel-genetic construct (with God knows whom as genetic donor). As a consequence 1) Kaworu is created and 2) Adam reverts to foetal form, causing 2I. Oh and 3) this buys humanity 15 years until the angel appears; if we're to trust what Misato says in EoE, 2I was necessary.
As I've said, SEELE's emergency plan after the loss of the lance was "hot Adamite MP EVAs on Lilithian 01 action". Ehem. So, you apparently don't need the progenitor bodies, though that is how Gendo achieved 3I. And SEELE definitely wanted an Adam-Lilith 3I, just one with them in control. As I've argued before, I even think "Reset to primordial soup" is what they actually want because humanity is an evolutionary dead end. That is their overriding aim, ultimately, not a bug. Ideally, they would also like to be in control of the evolutionary process afterwards, hardwire themselves as control module into Lilith... but achieving hitting the reset button is still better than nothing. Probably even better than letting Gendo get away with his 3I plans.
Side note: I'm pretty sure the MP EVAs where built at NERV. It's just that Gendo's personal domain is only NERV-HQ, and the other NERV branches don't really listen to him, but to SEELE. But yes, what you say could be true. Even so, I do think the point they start the construction of the MP series is the conversation between Misato and Hyuga. Hyuga also notes how the budget has been dramatically increased - probably in order to build the MP EVAs. As for why only 9 were then built, even though SEELE/SEELE-loyal NERV was able to produce 9 in a matter of weeks? Well, maybe they should in fact have sending Kaworu to Japan through more thoroughly
Before Tabris came, yes, but still... some episode after episode 20. Way after Zeruel, in any case. Around Arael at best. Chronologically, mere weeks before EoE.
Schpoonman
They call me the Bord of Lays
- Location
- United States
On the subject of "Why didn't SEELE kill Kaworu?" I'm guessing that they couldn't. You can't kill him with small arms fire, his AT Field is borderline impenetrable (requiring Rei in close priximity to Lilith/him not resisting after he finds Lilith), and any Adamite evangelion sent at him will just be controlled the same way he did Unit-02. SEELE effectively needed Unit-01, a Lilithian evangelion with an active human pilot, to beat him. As we saw in episode 24, that still wasn't enough. Only after he finds Lilith instead of Adam, and after he throws the fight, is Tabris put down. Maybe if Shinji hadn't been so deeply attached he could have done something, but it looks like to me that his death basically came down to blind luck on the Lilim's side.
- Location
- Volksstaat Hessen, Deutsches Reich
Since Kaworu goes through Tokyo-3 without pushing away objects left and right, and without setting off NERV's sensors, I would assume his physical AT field is not always active/mostly at minimal strength. A sniper, or maybe a "sniper artillery" could hence maybe take him down. Plus, he himself is unsure if he even wants to initiate 3I, so how much would he even have fought back?
Still, I like the thought of SEELE essentially throwing a hot potato to NERV...
Still, I like the thought of SEELE essentially throwing a hot potato to NERV...
Matt R
Giant Robot Pilot
- Location
- North Dakota
Which leads to my theory: all SEELE's Angel-killing weapons are Adam-based MP EVAs controlled by Kaworu Nagisa-derived dummy plugs. Given how Kaworu was able to seize control of Unit-02, it seems plausible that he could take over any (or all) of the MP EVAs if they tried to use them against him. SEELE easily could lose MP EVAs they couldn't afford to lose even if they succeeded in killing him. Worst case, Kaworu subverts the entire MP EVA series, trashes SEELE's facilities, then assaults Tokyo-3 (now down to one viable EVA to defend it) in a rage over his betrayal, at the head of a host of MP EVAs under his control. Ouch.
(Given Kaworu's fondness for music, I could almost see him somehow arranging to have "Ride of the Valkyries" blasting out over all radio frequencies during such an event. Or just humming it in the middle of the commotion.)
EDIT: Ninja'd by Lord of Bays on this point.
Do we know for sure what the Dummy Plugs consist of? Is it just a digitized mind, or something more? Some fanfics seem to think the Dummy Plugs contain an entire clone, but there doesn't seem to be room for that in Shinji's Dummy Plug-equipped entry plug in the Bardiel battle. That doesn't preclude that the plug contains all or part of a brain, though...
Agree on the use of substitutes for the progenitor bodies -- although, was Unit-01 a viable substitute prior to its acquisition of an S2 organ from Zeruel?
Not so sure about "reset to primordial soup" being a viable goal for SEELE. My understanding is that humans or something like them is the natural endpoint of Lilith-based life; resetting evolution to the start point would just proceed to something fundamentally similar. Remember that before NERV, before GEHIRN, was the Artificial Evolution Laboratory -- I think SEELE's goal all along was to surpass the mortal human condition, not just try a different pathway to mortal sapience. Whether you get mammalian civilization, or reptiles, or social insects, or sapience that derives from some form of life that never emerged in Earth's original evolutionary path, you still fundamentally get individual, incomplete souls in fragile mortal bodies -- indeed, without mortality, you get no selection for evolution. That's what they need the Forbidden Union for: to combine the Fruit of Knowledge with the Fruit of Life. Human sapience, the infinite power of the S2 organ, and with the weaknesses of individuals' souls compensated for by mashing all humanity's souls together. No sort of natural selection will bring mankind any closer to divinity than it already is, nor fundamentally change the human condition of loneliness, conflict, and toil; it must be artificially forced.
Side note: I'm pretty sure the MP EVAs where built at NERV. It's just that Gendo's personal domain is only NERV-HQ, and the other NERV branches don't really listen to him, but to SEELE. But yes, what you say could be true. Even so, I do think the point they start the construction of the MP series is the conversation between Misato and Hyuga. Hyuga also notes how the budget has been dramatically increased - probably in order to build the MP EVAs. As for why only 9 were then built, even though SEELE/SEELE-loyal NERV was able to produce 9 in a matter of weeks? Well, maybe they should in fact have sending Kaworu to Japan through more thoroughly
Before Tabris came, yes, but still... some episode after episode 20. Way after Zeruel, in any case. Around Arael at best. Chronologically, mere weeks before EoE.
I'm wondering now if Kaworu, as a partial Seed of Life, could have somehow created the MP EVAs directly, with manufactured cybernetic parts submerged in whatever the Adam-derived equivalent is to LCL, with Adamite Angel souls from Adam's Room of Guf? It would account for a sharply accelerated construction schedule, and presumably reduced costs. Unlikely, I think, but an interesting concept...
(And for an even sharper turn to the bizarre-but-perhaps-plausible, now picturing A&T Rei and Kaworu, having put aside their differences, secretly creating their own MP EVA series in this fashion in NERV's basement, to counter SEELE's army of EVAs.)
Matt R
Giant Robot Pilot
- Location
- North Dakota
Might not have been willing to risk it. Screw it up, and your enraged pet Angel knows you're out to kill him, seizes control of the MP EVAs, and more hell breaks loose than anyone can control. Pissing him off might even make him more inclined to initiate 3I, having judged humanity unworthy this time.
Turing Decidable
𝕘𝕒𝕣𝕗
- Location
- Belgium
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Lilith: "IT SEEMS YOU ARE NOT SO BAD AFTER ALL, ADAMITE BOY. YOU GAVE MY LITTLE GIRL HEALTHY AND STRONG BABIES."
Kaworu: "I would appreciate it if you never spoke to me again."
The Englanderish
Schrödinger's Kuudere Kitty Caliph(a)
- Location
- Califat de Chats
Hang on a minute...
If Kaworu's sill alive by EoE time... SEELE's gonna get one hell of a surprise!
Omake: Keep on Dreaming on, you sweet summer child.
- Location
- https://discord.gg/z9tBvbh
Hello, my name is Shade, and I want to write a fluffy Omake for Strypgia's awesome Fanfic. (actually, I just wanted to write this, and Strypgia gave the go ahead. So...His fault~)
Keep on Dreaming on, you sweet summer child.
It was night. The sound of chirping crickets mixed with the rare car that honked its way through the streets of Neo-Tokyo.
Asuka smiled as she watched the sleeping form of Shinji by her side, gingerly playing with a lock of his hair even as her lover slept peacefully after the much enjoyable performance. It was good to be alive. It was good to be here, in this moment. It was good, and beautiful, and she would fight anyone who dared to take it away.
"Oh...is that so?" a voice spoke, and the voice was calm, it was tranquil, it was a shadow against the corner of the room, a shadow of smoke and ashes, a shadow of crimson eyes and long, dirty hair. "You would fight anyone?" the voice mocked her, the tone childish as the eyes stared right at her like daggers, her body paralyzed from sheer fear, no words leaving her mouth. "You would fight, uh? So...like you fought to get mommy down from the ceiling?" the voice spoke and mocked her, taking her time to savor her fear.
Asuka could not speak, even as the smoke trailed across the floor, a tiny flame flickering to life in the spot where the crimson eyes stood. "Tell me how much you fought, Asuka dear. How much you cried? How much you cried we all know. How much you hurt? We know that too. But if you think you can fight...think again," the figure began to move, slithering more than walking, across the tatami mats. Her eyes followed her, even as her body remained transfixed on the flames that began to burn the corner of the room, jumping right and left like tiny devilish Reis.
A whisper reached her ear, smoky lips touching her earlobe like the tender caress of a seductive demon, but with the aftertaste of ash, of cigarette burns, of disgusting, nauseating medicines. "Your father fucked the nurse in the next room and you heard it all~" the voice whispered, a smoking hand grabbing her shoulder, "Your father loved your mother so much~" the voice hummed and sang, "And then...he left her when she could no longer work properly. When she could no longer talk properly. When she could no longer fuck properly," the voice spoke angrily. "Tell me, little, precious, Asuka. Tell me...do you really believe this story will have a fairy tale ending?"
The fires kept burning. "It is when our hearts are the warmest, that they bleed the most," the voice of smoke and ashes spoke. "You think this is a dream?" the voice laughed, cruelly engulfing her in a tornado of ashes that ripped down her throat and nostrils, making her cry from the pain. "Is this pain not real!? What is it then!? Do you think you are safe? Do you think you will ever be safe? Your love...is but an illusion!" the voice laughed as the smoke dissipated to the remains of a charred room, a lonely doll hanging from the wooden ceiling by a burnt piece of rope.
"W-What do you want?" Asuka grunted out. "W-Who are you!?" she snapped towards the figure.
"Oh, Asuka-chan," the figure said with a click of his tongue. "I..." the ponytails, the dress, the summer heat-it all came back, did it not? Mama-Mama-the pathetic whimpering remains of what was nothing more than a husk of a mother, the smell of smoke in the other room, the cries- "Am an Angel." The Asuka in front of her smiled brightly, her eyes crimson red. "You know, you humans think you are so, so smart, you think you can have everything, fight against everything-" he shook his head, this creature of smoke and crimson eyes. "But...you can't. There are mountains that can never be dug. There are walls that can never be breached. Futilely trying to break through them..."
The creature shook his head. "You can't. Want to know the funny thing?"
He waved a hand, and all was darkness.
"You're in a coma, Asuka. How does it feel!?" the creature spoke with bubbling laughter. Even as the darkness that claimed her was all encompassing.
When will she wake up? This was Shinji's voice. Her Shinji's voice-
We don't know yet-
Will she wake up?
We can't say-
She won't wake up.
"This is a lie!" Asuka yelled, flailing her arms in the darkness. "This is just a lie! Shinji loves me! He loves me because-"
"He would love a rock if a rock had a pair of arms and legs and a hole to dig in!" the monster of shadows roared with enough fury to make Asuka whimper. "He would love a beggar if it told him how good he was. He would love and gleefully stick by his father if he only told him what good work he is doing for him!" the figure hissed and snarled, "He does not love you. He does not care. You were simply the first to grab his hand. This does not mean he loves you...it simply means he's grateful to you." The figure smiled, and extended both arms of willowy smoke.
Asuka...I'm sorry. You didn't come back. The voice was Shinji's, but it was older.
Asuka-It's me...Rei. I'm sorry. There was nothing we could do. I...I will keep him happy in your place.
The voice laughed. The figure of smoke laughed and grinned and belatedly, Asuka realized that he truly loved this. This misery, this agony-the pain that lashed out in her chest were to him delight and pleasure.
"You! That's-I don't believe this! I don't believe any of this! Shinji will rescue me!" Asuka yelled, "And-And Rei too! And...Rei loves us! And We love her! And...and if it's not a lie, then...then I'm happy for-"
"Liar!" the figure's eyes were an inch away from hers, teeth of sharp white splendor snapping curtly in front of her. Asuka screamed and fell backwards, falling down and down a black hole that seemed to have no end as the figure of smoke and sharp fangs flew around her like a curtain of smoke. "You don't want to share him, you don't want to hand him over-you want him all for you! That's what you are, you filthy liar! A needy girl who needs someone to love, otherwise she has no meaning! This girl-This girl has no meaning if she does not love someone!" the Angel laughed and twirled his smoky body a bit more before coming to an abrupt halt as Asuka's back hit the ground.
Asuka...this is Asuka. We...we decided to name her after you-we...
"They are guilty of leaving you behind," the voice spoke softly, enraptured by those words that came in the darkness of the room. "How does it feel? Uhm? You, human, tell me...how does it feel? An Angel such as myself-these things..." he laughed. "Oh, how cute, you are hiding your eyes away from the truth with your arm, crying tears-how very much humane of you," Asuka's eyes burned as she pressed her forearm tightly against her eyes.
"How long are you going to ignore the truth in front of your eyes, uh?" the figure whispered.
Asuka...
"How long are you going to believe in happy endings for the likes of you!?" the figure snarled.
Asuka!
"In the end, you will be abandoned! Just like your mother was! Just you wait and see!"
Asuka wake up!
"So enjoy your happiness," the figure said with a bright smile, the teeth sharp, coiled scales shining of darkness and smokes, "for in the end...even love dies when it hangs himself up..." the figure laughed at his joke. He laughed...and laughed...and laughed.
Asuka! Please! Wake up!
"Bye bye, Asuka-chan, see you next time you go to sleep," the figure said with a bright smile, as her eyes snapped open to Shinji's worried face, to his harsh breathing, to his hands shaking her awake. She stopped flailing around, her eyes on every corner of the room, her thoughts in disarray.
"The nightmares..." Asuka mumbled, "They were supposed to be...gone..." she whimpered and croaked, even as her body pressed against that of Shinji, his arms around hers.
"I'm right here, Asuka..." Shinji whispered gently, rocking her with a lullaby that made her sleepy, that made her reminisce of times long gone of happiness and bedtime stories-of-...
"How do you know that lullaby?" she whispered, her eyes rising up to stare into the glass ones of her deceased mother's rotting corpse.
"Don't you remember my song, Asuka!?" the corpse shrieked as thundering maggots left the rotten mouth, and Asuka screamed in turn, fighting for her dear life as she pushed the monster away and cried, cried, and then crawled into a corner clutching on to her legs and whimpering.
"It's not real!" she screamed to herself. "It's not real!"
"We have all the time in the world to make you forget about that tiny detail, Asuka dear," the voice of smoke and crimson eyes spoke, and with it, the nightmare began anew.
For he was Bardiel, the Angel of the Haze, and within his purpose...
There was only laughter.
*Elsewhere*
"Asuka!" Shinji screamed, "Asuka, please fight this!"
"Activate the Dummy System," Gendo spoke firmly.
Then all was blood and fury, pain and misery.
Keep on Dreaming on, you sweet summer child.
It was night. The sound of chirping crickets mixed with the rare car that honked its way through the streets of Neo-Tokyo.
Asuka smiled as she watched the sleeping form of Shinji by her side, gingerly playing with a lock of his hair even as her lover slept peacefully after the much enjoyable performance. It was good to be alive. It was good to be here, in this moment. It was good, and beautiful, and she would fight anyone who dared to take it away.
"Oh...is that so?" a voice spoke, and the voice was calm, it was tranquil, it was a shadow against the corner of the room, a shadow of smoke and ashes, a shadow of crimson eyes and long, dirty hair. "You would fight anyone?" the voice mocked her, the tone childish as the eyes stared right at her like daggers, her body paralyzed from sheer fear, no words leaving her mouth. "You would fight, uh? So...like you fought to get mommy down from the ceiling?" the voice spoke and mocked her, taking her time to savor her fear.
Asuka could not speak, even as the smoke trailed across the floor, a tiny flame flickering to life in the spot where the crimson eyes stood. "Tell me how much you fought, Asuka dear. How much you cried? How much you cried we all know. How much you hurt? We know that too. But if you think you can fight...think again," the figure began to move, slithering more than walking, across the tatami mats. Her eyes followed her, even as her body remained transfixed on the flames that began to burn the corner of the room, jumping right and left like tiny devilish Reis.
A whisper reached her ear, smoky lips touching her earlobe like the tender caress of a seductive demon, but with the aftertaste of ash, of cigarette burns, of disgusting, nauseating medicines. "Your father fucked the nurse in the next room and you heard it all~" the voice whispered, a smoking hand grabbing her shoulder, "Your father loved your mother so much~" the voice hummed and sang, "And then...he left her when she could no longer work properly. When she could no longer talk properly. When she could no longer fuck properly," the voice spoke angrily. "Tell me, little, precious, Asuka. Tell me...do you really believe this story will have a fairy tale ending?"
The fires kept burning. "It is when our hearts are the warmest, that they bleed the most," the voice of smoke and ashes spoke. "You think this is a dream?" the voice laughed, cruelly engulfing her in a tornado of ashes that ripped down her throat and nostrils, making her cry from the pain. "Is this pain not real!? What is it then!? Do you think you are safe? Do you think you will ever be safe? Your love...is but an illusion!" the voice laughed as the smoke dissipated to the remains of a charred room, a lonely doll hanging from the wooden ceiling by a burnt piece of rope.
"W-What do you want?" Asuka grunted out. "W-Who are you!?" she snapped towards the figure.
"Oh, Asuka-chan," the figure said with a click of his tongue. "I..." the ponytails, the dress, the summer heat-it all came back, did it not? Mama-Mama-the pathetic whimpering remains of what was nothing more than a husk of a mother, the smell of smoke in the other room, the cries- "Am an Angel." The Asuka in front of her smiled brightly, her eyes crimson red. "You know, you humans think you are so, so smart, you think you can have everything, fight against everything-" he shook his head, this creature of smoke and crimson eyes. "But...you can't. There are mountains that can never be dug. There are walls that can never be breached. Futilely trying to break through them..."
The creature shook his head. "You can't. Want to know the funny thing?"
He waved a hand, and all was darkness.
"You're in a coma, Asuka. How does it feel!?" the creature spoke with bubbling laughter. Even as the darkness that claimed her was all encompassing.
When will she wake up? This was Shinji's voice. Her Shinji's voice-
We don't know yet-
Will she wake up?
We can't say-
She won't wake up.
"This is a lie!" Asuka yelled, flailing her arms in the darkness. "This is just a lie! Shinji loves me! He loves me because-"
"He would love a rock if a rock had a pair of arms and legs and a hole to dig in!" the monster of shadows roared with enough fury to make Asuka whimper. "He would love a beggar if it told him how good he was. He would love and gleefully stick by his father if he only told him what good work he is doing for him!" the figure hissed and snarled, "He does not love you. He does not care. You were simply the first to grab his hand. This does not mean he loves you...it simply means he's grateful to you." The figure smiled, and extended both arms of willowy smoke.
Asuka...I'm sorry. You didn't come back. The voice was Shinji's, but it was older.
Asuka-It's me...Rei. I'm sorry. There was nothing we could do. I...I will keep him happy in your place.
The voice laughed. The figure of smoke laughed and grinned and belatedly, Asuka realized that he truly loved this. This misery, this agony-the pain that lashed out in her chest were to him delight and pleasure.
"You! That's-I don't believe this! I don't believe any of this! Shinji will rescue me!" Asuka yelled, "And-And Rei too! And...Rei loves us! And We love her! And...and if it's not a lie, then...then I'm happy for-"
"Liar!" the figure's eyes were an inch away from hers, teeth of sharp white splendor snapping curtly in front of her. Asuka screamed and fell backwards, falling down and down a black hole that seemed to have no end as the figure of smoke and sharp fangs flew around her like a curtain of smoke. "You don't want to share him, you don't want to hand him over-you want him all for you! That's what you are, you filthy liar! A needy girl who needs someone to love, otherwise she has no meaning! This girl-This girl has no meaning if she does not love someone!" the Angel laughed and twirled his smoky body a bit more before coming to an abrupt halt as Asuka's back hit the ground.
Asuka...this is Asuka. We...we decided to name her after you-we...
"They are guilty of leaving you behind," the voice spoke softly, enraptured by those words that came in the darkness of the room. "How does it feel? Uhm? You, human, tell me...how does it feel? An Angel such as myself-these things..." he laughed. "Oh, how cute, you are hiding your eyes away from the truth with your arm, crying tears-how very much humane of you," Asuka's eyes burned as she pressed her forearm tightly against her eyes.
"How long are you going to ignore the truth in front of your eyes, uh?" the figure whispered.
Asuka...
"How long are you going to believe in happy endings for the likes of you!?" the figure snarled.
Asuka!
"In the end, you will be abandoned! Just like your mother was! Just you wait and see!"
Asuka wake up!
"So enjoy your happiness," the figure said with a bright smile, the teeth sharp, coiled scales shining of darkness and smokes, "for in the end...even love dies when it hangs himself up..." the figure laughed at his joke. He laughed...and laughed...and laughed.
Asuka! Please! Wake up!
"Bye bye, Asuka-chan, see you next time you go to sleep," the figure said with a bright smile, as her eyes snapped open to Shinji's worried face, to his harsh breathing, to his hands shaking her awake. She stopped flailing around, her eyes on every corner of the room, her thoughts in disarray.
"The nightmares..." Asuka mumbled, "They were supposed to be...gone..." she whimpered and croaked, even as her body pressed against that of Shinji, his arms around hers.
"I'm right here, Asuka..." Shinji whispered gently, rocking her with a lullaby that made her sleepy, that made her reminisce of times long gone of happiness and bedtime stories-of-...
"How do you know that lullaby?" she whispered, her eyes rising up to stare into the glass ones of her deceased mother's rotting corpse.
"Don't you remember my song, Asuka!?" the corpse shrieked as thundering maggots left the rotten mouth, and Asuka screamed in turn, fighting for her dear life as she pushed the monster away and cried, cried, and then crawled into a corner clutching on to her legs and whimpering.
"It's not real!" she screamed to herself. "It's not real!"
"We have all the time in the world to make you forget about that tiny detail, Asuka dear," the voice of smoke and crimson eyes spoke, and with it, the nightmare began anew.
For he was Bardiel, the Angel of the Haze, and within his purpose...
There was only laughter.
*Elsewhere*
"Asuka!" Shinji screamed, "Asuka, please fight this!"
"Activate the Dummy System," Gendo spoke firmly.
Then all was blood and fury, pain and misery.
- Location
- Volksstaat Hessen, Deutsches Reich
Hm. Yes, actually, despite my counter-arguments I think that would work. Passing a hot potato on to NERV. Of course, that then raises the question why SEELE hasn't done so earlier already?
Even if it takes an entire clone - what makes the Nephilim special is the progenitor soul in them. Soulless clones of them are no big deal. They could probably have kept their Kaworuquarium even with the ensouled version of Kaworu dead. Kaworu himself doesn't need to be alive for this.
Well, that emergency plan was only decided when NERV conveniently "lost" (ehem) the Spear, at which point EVA-01 already has the S2. It's possible that is required, yes.
...which in turn makes me wonder why EVA-01 getting that organ was part of Gendo's plan, while SEELE protested. What did Gendo get out of it? His 3I scenario involved Rei, Adam's foetus and Lilith's body. Unit-01 wasn't required, and he knew SEELE's 3I plans were EVA-based - that this in fact (not angel fights) were the primary reason EVAs had been created. So surely, a powered up EVA will only help SEELE while he doesn't need it. So why was this part of his plan?
Well, if humanity is really an "evolutionary dead-end" this implies there is some evolutionary barrier to cross, and humanity can't. So the end point of starting all over might in fact not be something like humanity, but something that does in fact transcend humanity. Especially if SEELE is guiding the process as sorta-gods.
Remember the final conversation between Gendo and SEELE in EoE. Gendo insists that death creates nothing (and it shows quite something about how bad SEELE is when Gendo appears as the idealistic hero). SEELE's scenario is not just a continuation of humanity. That is Gendo's scenario, human complementation. SEELE's scenario is indeed death.
Something which they seem to be deeply opposed to, though, going by their protests after EVA-01 ate Zeruel's S2 organ.
Hah. But yeah, I don't think so. Again, what makes him special is Adam's soul, whereas EVAs are Adam's flesh. EVA production doesn't need Kaworu and I can't see where he would be helpful. Even if Kaworu could help in getting angel souls into EVAs, he couldn't help with the actually expensive and time consuming part, the construction.
Though the idea of angel souls in the MP EVAs... now that I find intriguing. It would explain much about their behaviour, and also why the Kaworu dummy plug can "pilot" them...