Broken Wings [NGE]

[Teen Spirit]

"You know, I have plenty of space here," Ria said as she paced around the room with her phone. "I mean, I could sleep on the couch for the time being and you could take my room."

"No, it's fine," Asuka insisted on the other line. Her voice sounded like she had been hollowed out.

"Are you sure?" Ria questioned. "I mean it's going to be a while before Misato's back and I don't want you two to be alone."

"It's fine," Asuka said tensely.

"Okay," Ria realized she had pressed too hard. "Well, I'm always here if you need me."

"I know," Asuka replied. "Thanks."

She hung up.

Ria sat on her bed. Her bed, in her apartment. The place was still bare, devoid of anything that really made it a home. But still, the apartment lease was in her name. It was hers. For a moment the many mixed emotions this created almost drowned out the grief she felt for Asuka and Shinji's situation, before her mind realized how petty that was.

"How bad was it?" Mari asked as she sat next to her.

"Well, she's not screaming at me, so that's a start," Ria reported.

"They need time. What they're going through, no one could handle that well," Mari said.

"I just hope they realize they're not alone," Ria sighed.

That was something that seemed to run through everything her parents and Misato told her of the first conflict: How alone they were, how isolated they felt. They didn't share their feelings with each other, none of them really understood the other's pain. That was something the lingering memories of Zeruel made all too familiar; waging a war in isolation was a special kind of hell.

Ria would do her best to be there for both Shinji and Asuka. They were friends and family. The two most important things in the world for her.

She was tired of this, tired of seeing the people she cared about suffer, tired of losing friends. Okito was dead, Kodama hated her, and even Koda seemed to be drifting away. She was somehow losing Kodama twice. And now Shinji and Asuka were suffering more and more.

"It will get better," Mari assured her, clearly seeing what was plaguing Ria's mind. "Soon this war will be over. Asuka and Shinji will be able to forge their own lives. We all will. As long as there's life, there's hope."

"I know," Ria nodded. "But I'm not certain the war's ending anytime soon."

/

The first step to feeling normal was looking normal, Misato told herself. She wasn't an Angel. No matter what Ramiel had done to her that hadn't changed. She was still human, she was still her.

However, looking like she just went an all night bender and had white paint smeared all over her face was not going to help her recover.

Thankfully they had hair dye and contact lenses.

She washed her hair again, the excess hair dye spiraling towards the drain.

It was a token gesture, even she realized that. She had a long road to recovery ahead of her.

Watching what Asuka had gone through with Arael the first time had taught Misato a hard lesson when it came to mental health: Some things couldn't just be ignored. No matter how strong you were or thought you were, some things needed a professional to deal with. But still, this should make her feel at least a little bit better.

She held up a personal mirror that Ritsuko had provided her, to judge the effect.

A moment later the mirror fell to the floor, the plastic frame cracking as the glass shattered across the tile.

The face was hers, but not. It wasn't her current face. It was her old face, the face she had twenty years ago. It was the face of the newly promoted Major staring back at her, the Operations Director of NERV. And even then there was still something ever so slightly off about it. The eyes had a faint glow about them. It was like someone had made a computer simulation of her younger self, it was close, but the way she moved it looked wrong... unnatural.

Inhuman.

Misato returned to her bed and curled up, hold her knees to her chest. The road ahead of her had just gotten a lot longer.

/

For the first time in a long time, Dimitri was free. When he was pulled out of his cell, he was certain Ramiel was going to execute him. Even now he couldn't shake the feeling Ramiel was playing some sadistic game with him.

Still, he was walking the streets of Kyoto a free man, the biggest question now was what to do with that freedom.

Every fiber of his being wanted to go home, hug his family for hours, and then crawl into bed until this whole thing blew over. He knew that would be the dumbest move possible though. Iruel no doubt had his placed bugs, and even if Ramiel had nothing further in mind for him, Iruel certainly would.

Iruel…

Just thinking of him made Dimitri's blood boil. Iruel had used him, tricked him into freeing that other Leliel only for Sahaquiel to try and kill him. Iruel had used him like a wind-up toy.

Revenge, while very tempting, would also be stupid. He was the weakest among them. Even Sandalphon could probably kick his ass in a fight. Which was quite problematic considering that Iruel, Sahaquiel and Israfel would all want him dead the moment they found out he was free.

His only options seemed to be fleeing to the countryside to live like a crazed hobo, fleeing the country, or going to WILLE again.

Dimitri walked through the streets as he considered his options, dressed in stolen clothing and makeup. He may be getting the occasional strange look or glare, but eyeliner and black hair dye went a long way towards hiding his face.

He really, REALLY didn't want to return to WILLE. The last time he had been there he had been shot, repeatedly, in the face. Dimitri didn't much care for that, particularly since it had been how his original self died.

But, the General had been transformed or... whatever the heck had gone on with Langley's machine. So odds were that the former Pilot Soryu was still in charge. And she had shown herself to be quite a reasonable woman, far less bloodthirsty than her daughter. If nothing else, at least WILLE was bound by some sort of law.

Besides the hobo life really didn't suit him, too much nature for his taste.

'Of course that means I have to walk all the bloody way to their freaking HQ,' Dimitri realized with horror and frustration.

He was exhausted. Weeks of captivity were hard on the body, and he had barely stolen enough money to get a little food. He wasn't going to risk another theft for fare money.

So he walked, walked for blocks, pulling himself through crowds, past construction sites and crowds of white-clad Lilith worshipers praying loudly. The people were afraid. They knew something was up. The numerous attacks on WILLE by 'terrorists', Sachiel killing itself only to reappear a third time... The public was starting to realize there was far more to this than what WILLE had told them.

If the public knew the truth, it would mean death for them all. Dimitri liked humans, but the public at large was a monster waiting to happen. A person was smart, people were stupid. Telling them there were a group of young men and women with the souls of Angels running around was how lynch mobs got started.

Dimitri's eye glanced at a news feed on one of the nearby skyscrapers.

'Reported Terrorist, Okito Suzuhara, has died, killed by former comrades in latest attack on WILLE,' the thing said in big, bright letters.

So... Okito was dead. That was a shock. Did go a long way towards explaining Ramiel's recent actions. The boy had mentally snapped like a twig.

That was bad. Not 'Declaring himself Emperor' levels of bad, but still less than ideal.

Dimitri pushed it out of his mind and moved on.

He still had a another hour of walking ahead of him. Ramiel had blindfolded him and then drove around for hours, changing cars three times before tossing him out at the edge of the city. It was almost getting close to morning, the sky turning faintly green on it's edges.

He was tired, but he was making progress. Just a little while longer and he would safe.

Well... safer, at least. He could never be too sure with WILLE after the whole being shot in the face thing.

Dimitri stopped, his blood growing cold, someone was watching him. One of the Angels was watching him.

It didn't take long to find her. Sahaquiel was standing outside of a coffee shop, eyes firmly locked on him as she drank from a paper cup.

Of all the Angels, it had to be her. The Angel who had tried to murder him, nearly blasting him apart.

No doubt she was afraid that he would tell WILLE everything he knew. Dimitri smirked at the idea

'No doubt the old man is telling them everything I said in a desperate attempt to save his skin,' he mused.

That left the question of what to do about Sahaquiel. No way would she allow him to walk away safely, even with them in the public eye. Dimitri was fragile by Angel standards; a bomb, a gun, a large truck, a really pissed off dog. All were capable of killing him without exposing their secret.

Still, he wasn't without defenses and weapons of his own.

He approached her, eyes locked on hers. He did little to mask his hatred as she looked at him impassively

"Dimitri," she greeted evenly.

"Midori," he snarled back.

The two stared at each other for a moment. All the while Dimitri couldn't shake the sense that someone else was now watching them, distantly.

'Why do I feel like we both just sprung a trap?' he wondered.

 

[Teen Spirit]

Chapter 22: Stirring the Pot.

One spit and he could probably melt her face. The idea tempted Dimitri a good deal. This girl had caused him a great deal of pain. If only they weren't in public...

"I suppose you've come to kill me?" he said in low voice.

Sahaquiel raised an eyebrow.

"Nooo," she replied. "Just wanted to see how you escaped."

"I imagine that took you by surprise," Dimitri snarked. "Bet you had hoped Ramiel would never let me see the light of day again."

Sahaquiel looked even more confused.

"...Okay, what exactly am I missing here?" she asked.

"YOU SHOT ME!" Dimitri shouted, earning a few curious stares from people nearby.

"...What?" Sahaquiel looked at him blankly.

If they weren't in public, Dimitri would have spit at her and run, and not just for the hope it would melt her face off.

"Don't play dumb with me," he hissed. "You tried to kill me, and very nearly did."

Midori was still giving him a look that made it seem like she had no idea what he was talking about.

"If I tried to kill you, why would I try to talk to you?" she asked. "More importantly, if I had made an attempt on your life, you would be dead. Being basically made of explosives makes that rather easy."

"I nearly did die. Armisael saved my life." He whispered the last part.

"You mean the lady who's basically just as bad as Arael and Bardiel combined but pretends she's not?" Sahaquiel suddenly looked at Dimitri with great interest.

"What are you implying?" Dimitri glared at her.

"Think about it," she said. "Ramiel let you live, let you escape, why? You really think Ramiel's above using you? He used Sachiel, and he liked Sachiel. He had Armisael play with your mind, put things in there."

It was...odd that Ramiel just let him go like that. And Armisael did have her hands physically inside of him, it wouldn't be impossible…

"No, no," Dimitri shook his head. "You will not gaslight me!"

Sahaquiel sighed with annoyance "I'm not doing anything like-"

Her words were silenced by a loud bang and crack that filled the air. Sahaquiel's shoulder exploded in a shower of blood, sending her stumbling back towards the wall.

The crowd screamed, dissolving into panic, people running in all different directions. The noise quickly reached near-deafening levels as people tried desperately to get away.

"Okay, that hurt, that hurt a lot," Sahaquiel grunted as she steadied herself.

Dimitri turned around, looking towards the source of the bullet. Who the heck would be gunning for…

A brief glint of something in the open window of a nearby skyscraper. Dimitri jumped away, a moment later another bang filled the air and the concrete near where he had been standing was struck with a bullet, sending up a small cloud of dust.

"They're trying to kill both of us," Sahaquiel commented.

"I noticed!" Dimitri shouted as he ran towards a nearby alley.

'Another Gun! Always with the guns?! Who even has access to a sniper rifle? This is freaking Japan!'

Dimitri ran as fast as he could, Sahaquiel keeping pace behind him, holding her wounded arm as it bled profusely.

"Okay, so there's no way anyone out to kill us would just send a sniper. So be prepared for someone or something else," Sahaquiel warned.

A few moments later she was proven correct as they found a figure blocking their escape.

The figure was hunched, a large tattered black cloak covering their body, Ramiel's featureless glass mask upon their face.

In the poor light, it was impossible to tell if they were man or woman, and Dimitri couldn't get any sense of if they were human or Angel.

The two Angels halted, staring at the figure before them.

"I take it you're not Ramiel." Dimitri said

"You are correct, Sahaquiel," the figure replied, their voice altered by some electronic means. They leveled a pistol at Sahaquiel.

Sahaquiel laughed, grimacing from the pain in her shoulder as she did. "Really? You think that's going to do anything? Your friend got lucky and caught me by surprise."

She raised her AT-Field, putting it between the two of them and the figure. The field cast a sickly orange glow on all of them.

The cloaked figure fired. The bullet rocketed towards the field, connecting with it in an instant. Dimitri watched in surprise as the bullet stretched the field backwards and then broke through, striking Sahaquiel in the stomach before smashing into a steel wall behind them.

"Wha.." Sahaquiel whimpered as she now found herself clutching her stomach as blood soaked her shirt.

That….that was not possible. Nothing conventional could break through an AT-Field of Sahaquiel's strength, especially not a simple bullet.

Dimitri spat at attacker, a glob of orange liquid striking the gun and the hand holding, causing the two to melt away in moments, leaving them with a skeletal stump.

"Ow," they said sarcastically.

Moments later the figure was upon him, slamming him into the wall with their wounded arm, pressing against his neck.

Dimitri gurgled in pain. The force on his windpipe was too much to do anything more.

Sahaquiel swung a blood-soaked hand towards them, showering the attacker with her own blood.

For a brief second the stains glowed, then a hundred tiny explosions rocked the figure, knocking them back slightly, just enough for Dimitri to escape.

The blast shredded their cloak, yet despite that it still clung to them, refusing to reveal who they were.

"Not one more move!" Sahaquiel shouted. "One more step and I blow this whole alley sky high!"

She threw down more of her blood on the ground, creating a disturbing barrier between them and the attacker. Part of Dimitri was disgusted, but he knew that was hypocritical. After all, his main attacks were spitting and crying.

"Oh, we're good," the figure said. "They got all the footage they need."

"Footage?" Sahaquiel questioned.

The figure pointed behind them, Dimitri turned to see three teenage boys standing near the entrance to the alleyway, two of them holding their phones out in front of them. All of them staring in terror.

'They had seen everything,' Dimitri realized with terror. 'They had filmed everything.'

The attacker was gone, vanished into the shadows, leaving Sahaquiel and Dimitri alone with the teenagers.

This was bad, this was beyond bad. Film didn't prove anything but it would be enough to start rumors, rumors they absolutely did not need. Rumors the Japanese government and media could connect to their faces.

"Okay," Dimitri began cautiously, "I know you may think you saw somethin-"

The teenagers screamed and ran away as fast as they could, nearly tripping over themselves as they did.

Dimitri ran after, chasing them out of the alley and into the street, only to lose them in the panicked masses.

"Well... shit," he muttered.

/

"So... it was just three of them, with cell phone cameras?" Asuka asked.

She had both Sahaquiel and Dimitri in one of the medical rooms. Sahaquiel was laying on a bed, grumbling as a doctor looked over her wounds.

The situation was confused in the extreme. Dimitri had escaped... No, not even that. Ramiel had let him go. Only for some group to try and assassinate them.

Asuka was relatively glad to see Dimitri was alive and unharmed, and out of Ramiel's prison. He seemed a decent kid and he'd been very helpful before Misato tried to shoot him.

Sahaquiel... that was a different story. Technically they had a truce but the girl was a walking bomb and from all accounts she was not to be trusted for a moment.

"Yeah," Dimitri nodded, " I tried to stop them but they were way too fast for me. Sorry."

"Well, it's not like the whole crowd saw you," Asuka reassured him.

"Still," Sahaquiel grunted, "our attacker wanted that to happen. That entire attack, I don't think they were trying to kill us. They wanted us exposed, in public."

"Who would want that?" Asuka asked.

Sahaquiel threw up her hands in frustration, earning a scream of pain from herself as her wounds reminded her of their presence, and an annoyed look from the doctor.

"I don't know. The same person who made a gun that can shoot through AT-Fields?" Sahaquiel replied.

That was more than a little confusing. Very few things could break through an AT-Field of any real strength. Besides Evas, another Angel, Positron Cannons, the only thing Asuka could think of that could break AT-Fields was the Spear of Longinus, both the real one that was now in orbit, and the false ones the MP Evas had used against her. But none of those existed anymore.

Could someone have redeveloped them, found a way to miniaturize them? It seemed outlandish, but what wasn't possible these days?

"Can I speak to you, in private?" Asuka asked Dimitri, motioning towards the door.

"If he starts up with the whole 'I tried to kill him thing' again, he's lying!" Sahaquiel shouted as the two left, earning her a withering glare from Dimitri.

And of course their attempts at building a case against Iruel and his allies had been shot in the foot. Sahaquiel was claiming that Armisael may have messed with Dimitri's mind and implanted the whole idea of Iruel having left with the other Leliel.

Problem was the Midori girl was very good at making herself seem believable. Asuka didn't buy it, but it created enough doubt that they couldn't bring anything Dimitri said to the Empress without the Prime Minister having a ready counter argument. The only way they were proving anything was by actually finding the girl.

Asuka closed the door behind them, leaving them standing in the hallway.

"So do you think your attacker was Ramiel's 'asset'?" she asked.

Dimitri shrugged. "Could be, or it could have been the gun. Maybe he grabbed a whole stockpile full of weapons like that."

Well that was a wonderful thought that was probably going to keep her up tonight.

"So, how are you doing? Need me to contact your family?" Asuka asked.

Boy had been shot, captured, and held prisoner for months. That would take a toll on anyone, let alone someone his age.

"Well, I wasn't the one shot this time so I'm good," he replied sardonically.

"Yes." Asuka said "On behalf of all of WILLE I would like to officially apologize for... all that. Misato's behavior was beyond the pale and once she's recovered she is more than willing to directly apologize to you and your family, in person."

Dimitri grew nervous. "Yeah, let's not and say we did. I would prefer to be nowhere near that woman ever again if possible."

"Understandable," Asuka replied.

All things considering he was surprisingly friendly and forthcoming considering how his last visit had ended.

"So... I hear Okito is dead. That true?" he asked.

"Yes," Asuka nodded. "Ramiel killed him."

Toji, and both Koda and Kodama had barely left Hikari's side since then. Apparently they've been doing a lot of talking but Asuka had ordered the staff to ignore those cameras unless it was a clear emergency. They deserved some privacy.

"Well... never thought I would see the day," Dimitri said, a bit stunned. "And by Ramiel too. Man, Okito Suzuhara finally managed to pull his head out of his rear. Truly we live in strange times."

"So," Asuka shifted gears, "Your attacker, I'm assuming it was an Angel, right?"

Dimitri shrugged. "I honestly don't know. I mean they were stronger than me but that's not exactly saying much. Didn't flinch when I melted their hand but even most Angels would have flinched there. I mean, probably, but who knows?"

"Could it have been Ramiel?" Asuka asked. They were wearing their mask after all.

"Doubt it," Dimitri replied with confidence. " For starters they said they weren't , and Langley's rather scrawny and short. I could barely tell what I was seeing but unless he was wearing high heels, that wasn't Ramiel."

"So, to ask again," Asuka said, trying to push the main troubling possibilities out of her mind. "Do you want us to call your family or take you home?"

Dimitri looked uneasy. "A phone call would be nice. Though I have no idea how they processed that 'Oh by the way, I'm actually a giant spider' message I left for them."

"Speaking from experience, the fact that you're safe and free is probably going to be far more important for them right now," Asuka assured him, handing him her phone. "That you're in good standing as an ally of WILLE and the Japanese Government is a bonus."

"...Thanks." He muttered as he walked away, dialing the phone.

He held it to his ear for a moment.

"...Hey, mom," Dimitri said after a long pause.

 

[Teen Spirit]

There was a time in Ria's life when things were relatively simple. All she had to worry about was school, friends, and girls. Where the weirdest thing she dealt with besides herself was that one time the Literature Club President went insane, which was definitely an outlier.

Now she was watching Sahaquiel, an Angel who had attacked WILLE not long ago, pace around it's halls. One arm in sling, the other holding a cellphone.

"Dad, as I explained before, I am not carrying bombs, I am just using parts of me as bombs. I'm a freak, not a terrorist."

The girl was decidedly average-looking. Her only noticeable feature was her strawberry colored hair, which she kept in a ponytail. Well, and the mass of scars she had on her legs and arms. Cuts and burns that hadn't healed properly, from the looks. By choice or by inability to fully heal, Ria couldn't be sure.

"I know, I know, you don't like me disparaging myself but come on it's what I am," she said.

Ria turned to one of the men watching Sahaquiel, one of the few security guards left on staff. The rest were gone, set to be replaced by Soldiers, or Marines, Ria wasn't entirely sure.

"Okay, if anyone ever complains about me being here again, I'm going to start punching people," Ria said in frustration.

"Noted," he replied. "And believe me, no one's happy about her being here."

Sahaquiel finally noticed Ria standing there. "I'm going to have to let you go, dad. Talk to you later."

"Hello, Sahaquiel," Ria said with unmasked contempt.

"Ah, so I finally get to met the Pilot's pet," Sahaquiel replied.

Ria glared at the girl "You realize there is frightening little that is stopping me from breaking your spine and eating you, right? So don't push me, Sahaquiel."

Sahaquiel took the threat casually. "Oh, relax, I'm just giving you grief. And I'd prefer we use actual names for this, Ria Soryu. You can can call me Midori, Midori Okuda."

"Are you really trying to play friendly?" Ria replied, growling but managing to keep relative control of her anger. "You attacked this place, and you're allied with Iruel. A boy who exposed my identity and came within inches of ruining my life. A boy who would probably be at the top of my shit list where it not for the many, MANY sins of Ramiel. You live because you helped get Misato back. That does not mean I don't hate you with every fiber of my being."

Sahaquiel rolled her eyes. "The attack was to convince Ramiel of our loyalty. And as we've said, your experience taught us that peace was possible."

Ria glared harder at the reminder of how they had used her.

"But more than that," Sahaquiel said nervously, "we have a bigger issue here than what Iruel did or what Matariel is claiming. Someone nearly got us exposed... did get us exposed. The only reason we're not completely screwed right now is the moment that video gets uploaded to the internet you're going to have millions screaming it's fake. If we had been outed more publicly…"

Ria hated that Sahaquiel had an incredibly good point. What they were, it was never going to be something that would gain public acceptance, at least not without a pain first. Okito had ensured that much with his first transformation.

"Yeah... Ramiel has clearly lost whatever brain he had," Ria commented.

"You sure it's him?" Midori questioned.

"Who else could it be?" Ria replied. "Dimitri gets released and that night on his way towards WILLE a sniper attacks him and you. No, they followed him and they knew you, or at least one of Iruel's group would be there. What happened tonight was exactly what they wanted."

Though the question remained; Why did they stop there? They had a gun that could go through an AT-Field. Even if the shooter was human, which struck Ria as unlikely, they could have pushed much further than they did. So why stop? Why stop at just a video that spread rumors around the internet but little more?

"You have a point. Look, whatever you feel about me, us, we need to work together now. Because if word gets out, Iruel, Matariel, me, you, whoever the hell put that rock on your finger," Midori said as she looked down at Ria's hand, "we are all in danger."

"Fine, then I'm sure you'd be willing to turn over Leliel as a sign that you are taking this completely seriously?" Ria asked.

This hadn't been the plan but screw it, Dimitri's return had thrown that all into chaos anyways.

Midori sighed and shook her head. "We don't have Leliel. How many times do I have to say that?"

"The other Leliels know she's been captured," Ria noted. "Way I see it, if you didn't capture her there are two possibilities: One, Armisael implanted that idea into Dimitri's head and it's not real. That's admittedly plausible. Two, he was attacked by another universe's Sahaquiel. No offense, but it seems like it would be a waste to grab another of you. And both of these have a serious issue, two actually: Why were you waiting for Dimitri and how did Ramiel know you would be there?"

Midori grew defensive. "We wanted to make sure he was okay, figure out how he escaped."

"Then why not wait until he went to WILLE? Learn what he knew from us. We're supposed to be making a pact soon, after all," Ria pointed out.

"WILLE shot him!" she countered.

Ria nodded. "Yes, and Dimitri was still headed towards WILLE. You knew that; he was almost around the corner. We would have picked him up on cameras within minutes. Now if he was headed home or somewhere else entirely I could understand, but he was nearly here, so why stop him?"

Ria let her stew on that for moment before Lilith's looming threat started echoing in her mind again.

They were all dead if Ramiel got too far.

"...Look," Ria said, fighting her anger towards Midori, "you say our top focus should be the people who attacked you and Dimitri. You claim you, Iruel, and Israfel only want to pursue your agenda peacefully. I can't make policy decisions on behalf of my mother or the Empress but I'd be willing to bet they would both be much more willing to actually keep the peace with you, if you turn over Leliel willingly, instead of us having to find her on our own. Assuming you have her of course."

Midori was caught off guard, staring at Ria quizzically.

"That's a sudden tone shift," she noted.

"Like I said, Iruel's not at the top of my list," Ria said wearily. "A certain blue haired deity is sharing that spot with Ramiel."

/

"Pilot Soryu," Rei greeted her fellow pilot, her nerves giving her voice a slight uneasy edge. Which for her was almost the equivalent of screaming in terror.

Rei had been caught off guard by her fellow Pilot's arrival in the bathroom. And judging by Asuka's rather dour look, she was just as surprised.

News of what happened to Shinji and Soryu's world had reached Ayanami during the night. Since then she had been trying to figure out how to comfort Shinji. He had lost a great many people, a few of whom had been precious to him. The thought of him suffering like that hurt Rei in a way she couldn't articulate.

But Soryu was suffering as well. She was a fellow Pilot. The older Soryu treated her like an old friend, and a part of Ayanami wondered if she should do the same for the younger Second Child.

"Asuka," Rei said awkwardly, hesitant to use her first name.

"What?" She replied bluntly.

"I...I am sorry to hear what happened to your universe," Rei said. "I-"

"Why do you care?" Asuka asked, staring at her with dull eyes.

"We are both pilots and you're-" Rei began.

"No," Asuka interrupted again. "I don't exist in your universe, remember? You fight alongside some stupid girl named 'Shikinami'!"

"We are both pilots in this universe," Rei noted.

"Yeah and unlike some people, you get to go home when this all done. Your universe is safe. You have a home!"

That was something Rei had not thought about for a while. She had simply assumed she would be stuck here. To be used in this fight until she was no longer useful. But the Angel responsible for bringing them here was within reach. There was a way for her return to her world. To finish that battle.

It took Ayanami a second to realize Asuka was now glaring at her, inches from her face, hatred in her eyes.

"You know, I never liked Wondergirl but at least she died fighting," Asuka said. "And unlike you she never used people."

"...use people?" Ayanami was at a loss.

"Shinji!" Asuka screamed. "You got him all wrapped up in you when you already had one back home! What was your plan? Were you going to take him home with you? Have your own little Shinji harem?!"

...She had not thought of that. Rei had grown close to Shinji in this universe... and her universe.

Did she confuse her feelings for one with the other? Rei found herself dealing with emotions she couldn't even put into words.

Shinji had shown her kindness since she arrived. But she had been more open to that kindness because of what the Shinji she had known had done for her in her own universe…

Asuka shoved past her, cursing under her breath, leaving Ayanami alone with her doubts.

/

"No, absolutely not," Touji said forcefully.

He, Koda, and Kodama we're all crammed into the viewing room, thick glass and steel separating them from Hikari.

"It's the best way to help mom!" Kodama protested.

"At what cost?" Touji questioned. "What you're talking about would put everyone here in danger."

"No... it wouldn't," Koda said, trying to keep calm as she stood in between her counterpart and their father. "She couldn't infect Ria despite giving it her best efforts. I suspect the stronger the AT-Field, the more one could resist her. And I have a strong AT-Field. So if I have her try to infect me, I might be able to get inside her head without being controlled. I do that, I can untangle whatever mess is in there, silence the other voices at least, and put her back on the road to normal."

It was admittedly a long shot combined with Koda pulling a lot out of her butt. But on principal it made sense to her. Just touching Ria's mind when she was Zeruel lead to her being overwhelmed. If a sane person could make that sort contact...

"You're taking a big risk. Both for you and everyone here if you're wrong," Touji replied.

"Well, the room's armored," Koda pointed out. "And I'm expendable."

"No, you're not!" Touji shouted.

The two Kodamas stared at him for a moment as he collapsed into his chair.

"I know, you have a family waiting for you," he said, head buried in his hand, "I know you're not actually my daughter. I just... I just can't lose anyone else."

"She's not Okito," Kodama pointed out.

"I know," her father replied "I'm not pretending she is. All the same, I can't, I won't lose anymore of my family."

Koda put a hand on his shoulder, doing her best to reassure him.

"I understand where you're coming from. Believe me, I do," she replied softly. "But I can't let my family suffer like this. Mom's not getting better without help. And once I'm gone there's no way of knowing if I will be able to return or if there's any other way of healing her."

As if on cue, Hikari began screaming again, thrashing about against her restraints as a myriad of voices escaped from her mouth.

"To be absolutely clear, I'm not saying I consent to this," Touji said forcefully. "But you know there's no way the Commander is going to approve of this, nor would Misato."

"So screw them," Koda replied bluntly. "We just need to wait until there's a distraction like the deal signing between WILLE and Iruel. What are they going to do to me if it works? Lock me up?"

Touji stared at her.

"I will use the utmost caution," she replied.

"You better," was all Touji could manage.

/

"I want to apologize upfront. What we're doing is at best experimental. I can't promise I will be able to help, but rest assured I will do the best I can to help you."

"I do appreciate that," Ria said as tried to get comfortable on the couch.

Ria couldn't help but feel uneasy, talking to the psychiatrist. She was incredibly glad to finally be talking to him. Therapy had helped her parents so much, after all, and they'd been truly giant balls of issues in the aftermath of the war. But she was going to be pouring her heart out to a stranger. The therapist seemed nice enough, a middle aged man with a widow's peak and six fingers on his left hand, but still a stranger.

The room smelled faintly of vanilla for some reason.

"Let's start with something pleasant," the man's voice remained calm and even. "I understand you've recently become engaged. How do you feel about that?"

Ria surged with confidence. "Oh, wonderful! I mean, I'm fully aware most people think we're rushing like crazy but we both know this is right, and it's going to be a long engagement regardless."

The doctor wrote in his notebook.

"How did you two meet?" he asked.

"Well we were in art class and we'd been assigned together for collaborative project and well…" Ria trailed off, slightly embarrassed.

"Look, I'm fully aware that I'm a bit of a pervert and have a habit of sometimes objectifying other women, okay? Let's just get that out of the way right now."

"And why do you think that is?" he asked.

"Because I know what I like and puberty hit me like freight train," Ria replied. "Anyways, I thought her butt looked cute in the school uniform and I privately let her know that. Naturally she started blushing like crazy and stammering. Which only increased my interest. At first it was just attraction and our shared appreciation of art that caught my interest. Not lot of people in high school have read any art history, after all. But quickly I realized how comfortable I was with her, how safe I felt talking with her about just about anything. Not that I hide things from my parents and friends... besides, you know, the obvious thing. But there's just certain things that are hard to talk about with them. I never felt that way with Mari. Now I honestly think I could have told her what I was before any of this happened and she would have been okay with it… not that I think my parents would have taken it terribly, just to be clear."

Ria mentally punched herself for being so defensive.

The psychiatrist nodded "Telling your parents who you were was always going to carry the shared baggage of your past history. But you didn't have that worry with Mari."

"Right," Ria nodded.

He looked through his notes again. "So, in the preliminary paperwork you listed your anger issues as your biggest concern. Do you feel comfortable talking about that yet?"

She sighed, this was one of the main reasons she wanted to sit down and talk to someone. But talking about it still made her nervous. "It's not just the lack of control I've displayed recently that's worrying me. It's just I have so many things to be angry about, and I know that's not healthy. But I feel like it's all justified. What happened to the Suzuharas, Okito's stupidity, what Leliel did to the pilots, Misato's stupidity, Ramiel's insanity. The way so many reacted when they found out what I was. How do you control your anger when you feel it is entirely justified?"

 

[Teen Spirit]

"Are you planning on talking to him?" Kyoko asked as she and Shinji made their way towards the break room.

"I don't know," Shinji admitted. "He needs to know he's not alone but I'm not sure if I should even be near him right now."

Besides the younger Asuka, Shinji was probably the only person in the world who understood half of what is other self was going through. Feeling lost, alone, and like he had failed everyone he had ever known. It wasn't the same as what he had suffered, but Shinji knew that kind of despair quite well. He'd spent a fair part of the years after the war enduring frequent screaming nightmares from his own.

The point remained though, his other self still hadn't forgiven him, so seeing him might just fill him with even more self-loathing. That was something of a specialty of theirs.

But his younger self did need support, experience had taught Shinji that being isolated and feeling alone would only make the problem worse. Therapy would definitely help. Japan might still have a cultural stigma against it, but it had probably saved his life. Suicide had been all too seductive at times after Third Impact and leaving Asuka. But beyond that his younger self needed support, needed people he could lean on and talk to in the coming days.

Pilot Soryu was suffering just as much as his younger self was, so asking her to help was pretty much out. Rei... Shinji wasn't sure if having her around was helping or just making things worse. Seeing Misato would make things worse for sure, and Asuka had enough on her plate as it was, same with Ria.

"Could you be there for him, for both of them?" Shinji asked.

Asking a fourteen year old girl who was sort of his daughter to help a boy who was deeply emotionally wounded felt wrong, but Shinji didn't exactly have many options. He suppressed an internal wince. Par for the course in their family...

"Sure," Kyoko nodded.

He opened the door.

"Aaaah!" A scream filled the air.

Shinji jumped back, bracing himself for an attack, only to realize the source of the scream was Dimitri Ohta, who fallen to the floor, a bag of chips somehow landing on top of his head.

"Oh, sorry," he said meekly as he picked himself up, grabbing the bag of chips off his head. "Just took me by surprise. Let me introduce myself. I'm Dimitri, Dimitri Ohta."

For a brief moment, Shinji felt awkward. He had been the one to kill Matarael, after all. Then he remembered he had also had a hand in killing Ria's past self, and one could argue the same with Kyoko and Gaghiel. There was something profoundly weird about being friendly with someone you arguably once murdered, but that was far from the oddest thing about this moment.

"Shinji Ikari," he returned the greeting.

"Kyoko Ikari," Kyoko added, her eyes focused on Dimitri.

Kyoko didn't quite have Ria's intensity, but she still looked ready to fight him if he so much as made one suspicious move towards Shinji.

"Sorry again for the scream," Dimitri said.

"It's quite alright," Shinji assured him.

"It's just most of the Angels, we kind of talked to each other a lot before things started going south and well, err...we may have accidentally overhyped you as some sort of Demon King that most of us broke ourselves against," Dimitri rambled.

"Ahh, lovely," Shinji replied, rubbing the back of his head.

"Well it's mostly because you took down the strongest among us. Sachiel, Ramiel, Zeruel, even Tabris." Ohta explained.

"Two of those were more my mother than me. Kaworu let himself die and all I did was shoot Ramiel with a gun," Shinji pointed out.

"Yeah but it was a big gun," Dimitri replied. "Much stronger than what Matariel and Gaghiel were shot with."

"...Are you calling two battleships armed with nuclear shells at point blank range 'weak'?" Kyoko said, suddenly defensive.

This was getting increasingly awkward.

"I'm just trying to say if I'm acting weird, it's not that I'm up to anything suspect," DImitri nervously explained. "It's that rather terrified of you, no offense."

"None taken," Shinji nodded. "And don't worry, as far as we're concerned you're a friend here. No one's going to attack you… er, again."

'Great going, Shinji. Just rub his face in the fact that Misato nearly killed him.' He mentally slapped himself.

"Riiight," Dimitri replied. "Well my mom's going to be here soon, so I'm just going to to wait for her... uh, somewhere else."

He then quickly made his exit.

After all this time with Ria, and later Kyoko, Shinji had forgotten the impact he had on even the 'good' Angels. They were scared of him, and he understood far too well what fear could make a person do.

/

"So are you okay with this?" Mari asked as she taped another box closed, phone nestled between her ear and shoulder.

"You're safer there," her mother replied. "That apartment building is probably the safest place in Kyoto right now. If it wasn't for the PM not wanting me to live on WILLE property I would rent out a place there myself. And High School dorms aren't exactly unheard of."

"You're not answering my question," Mari said.

A brief sigh came over the line.

"Look, I have a million issues with your relationship with Ria," her mother admitted. "And I'm not going to pretend I don't think you are rushing this. But you're happy together and I would be a massive hypocrite if I tried to block you from moving in. You'll be safe, happy and... well, okay, your education for the year is completely screwed, but we can make it up. So two out of three ain't bad."

"...Thank you." Mari said softly.

"I love you, call me when you're moved in," Mana replied, and hung up.

Mari closed her phone and looked at her room, now all packed up and piled into boxes and containers. She had grown up in this room. She had lived in this apartment her entire life. And now she was leaving, almost on a whim.

Well, okay, it was more than a whim. She was moving in with Ria, the woman she was going to marry. Starting their life together.

And... if Mari was being honest, Ria's apartment was safer and that was a huge plus. Custom built by WILLE to be a hidden fortress within the city.

Mari pulled back on the curtain on her window, revealing a cityscape still torn apart by the attacks. It had been a while since the last attack, but the scars were still there, slowly healing. The shattered remains of old being replaced with new concrete and steel. Safer, better over all but... soulless in a way.

None of the attacks had come close to their apartments, but even still she would feel safer in Ria's new place.

She would have moved in regardless of what happened, but Mari couldn't deny part of her reason for so readily agreeing to move in with her fiancée was how secure the place was. None of the other Angels would be able to find her and take her hostage again.

She didn't have the stomach for that kind of danger, Hikari had very close to infecting her or even killing her. The thought of it still sent chills through her. More than that, there was Ria's reaction. What it pushed her towards, what it made her nearly do.

She wasn't going to be used as a hostage again, Mari vowed to herself. No one would push Ria like that again.

/

'Make peace with what you can't change. Focus on what you can.' Ria played the therapists words back in her head.

It had been a good session. At least she thought it was. Too early to tell for certain though.

A lot of difficult stuff had been talked about, but what stuck in Ria's head most was his advice for how to deal with her anger.

'Make peace with what you can't change. Focus on what you can.' Even the therapist admitted it was only a first step on a long road.

But it was a daunting first step for Ria. There was a lot she couldn't change. Iruel, what Misato did, being tasered, everything involving Okito... How could she just let that go? She had every right to be upset about it all.

At the same time... Okito was dead. His body was currently in the basement being picked apart by Dr. Akagi. Holding a grudge against a corpse did seem entirely useless.

Okito was a fool, an idiot, a monster, and the biggest liar she had ever known. And he died understanding that fully.

And he'd once been her friend.

She wouldn't mourn, but hating him now... the more she thought about, the more pointless it felt.

She wandered through the halls some more, more killing time than anything. Then she stumbled across Ayanami.

A knot formed in her stomach. Not because it was Rei, though being around Ayanami did make her uneasy. But just seeing her was enough to have every thought Ria had about Lilith flood her mind for a moment.

That's when she noticed how uneasy Ayanami looked. It was admittedly nothing more than a frown and a sad look on her face, but on Ayanami it looked... weird.

"Are you okay?" Ria asked.

Ayanami looked at her for a moment, frowning in displeasure. Rei did not like her. Ria was pretty sure nothing would change that, but after a moment the annoyance faded.

"May I ask you a question?" Ayanami asked in a very proper manner.

"Sure," Ria replied.

"Do you…" Ayanami grew strangely hesitant. "Do you think I am using Ikari? Taking advantage of him?"

That caught Ria completely off guard.

"I... I don't even know how to begin to answer that." Ria admitted

"She isn't," an all too familiar voice said from behind Ria. "She has just confused the feelings she had for one Ikari for another. Something that would never have occurred had Leliel not brought her here."

Ria turned, arms raise at her sides, fists clenched tightly.

Ayanami gasped in surprise.

Lilith was standing there, looking more real than she had the last time. The only difference between her and Ayanami were their outfits. Ayanami was wearing her plugsuit, Lilith was wearing a schoolgirl's uniform.

The two stared at Lilith. Ayanami's eyes filled with fear and confusion, Ria's red with hatred and contempt.

"How are you even here?" Ria barked. "Okito's dead. Gave his life giving that lovely message you whispered to him. Pretty sure all it did was drive Ramiel insane, so thanks for that."

"I am strong enough now not need an anchor to manifest. Sachiel's usefulness was at an end as it was. The message was needed though. He fulfilled his purpose in the end."

The different between Lilith's tone and Ayanami's was staggering. Ayanami could be cold, emotionless even. But Lilith's voice was devoid of anything resembling humanity.

"Purpose?!" Ria shouted. "Okito was an idiot and a monster but he didn't deserve to be treated like some sort of slave!"

"Are you certain of that?" Lilith questioned. "The only good he ever did was under my orders."

Ria calmed herself as best she could, breathing in and out slowly and deeply.

"I'm starting to see why you hate Leliel so much," Ria sneered.

"Because they meddle in affairs beyond their understanding," Ayanami answered.

"Because they remind you too much of yourself," Ria retorted. "Only difference is they've given into groupthink, whereas you just have your head shoved firmly up your own ass."

Lilith's eyes narrowed. "You have grown insolent."

"No, just less tired of being used by someone with a massively overblown ego," Ria snapped. "I'm going to kill Ramiel, make no mistake. But I'm not doing it for you, or your threat. And when Ramiel is dealt with I'm coming for you and knocking you off that throne of yours. I am not your pawn any longer."

"That is all you shall ever be," Lilith replied.

Something inside Ria snapped, for a brief second she went blind. When her vision and sense returned, she realized she had punched Lilith, knocking her to the ground.

"We are not your slaves!" Ria roared. " You are not a god! The only thing separating you and me is power! And I will not let you toy with my life any more!"

Ria raised her fist for another strike, only for Lilith to grab it, stopping her instantly.

Lilith's grip was strong, stronger than anything Ria had felt before.

Lilith looked at her with unmasked contempt. "You live because of me. You have free will because of me."

Lilith snapped Ria's arm back, shattering it instantly.

Ria cried out in pain and fear as Lilith forced her to her knees. Ayanami powerless to do anything but watch.

"This world belongs to me. All life here has come from me," Lilith said, completely monotone. "Your kind is nothing more than a blight, one which I grow weary of tolerating. You should be grateful for your service to me, Zeruel. It is more than you deserve."

"Fuck you!" Ria shouted defiantly.

Lilith's free hand closed around Ria's throat in an iron grip. She couldn't breathe. Lilith squeezed harder. Ria could hear the bones in her neck begin to crack.

Fear and panic overcame Ria as she desperately clawed at Lilith's arm. 'No...'

"Did you think you mattered?" Lilith questioned. "Did you think were anything more than a pawn, a guard meant to protect those precious to me? You were useful, yes. But if this insolence keeps up-"

"Let her go, Rei!"

Lilith's grip relaxed just enough for Ria to get air back and begin healing herself.

She turned to see her mother standing there, with a pistol trained on Lilith.

 

[Teen Spirit]

Asuka kept her gun trained on Lilith, no matter how futile a gesture it was. No way in Hell was she going to let even a demigoddess hurt her daughter.

Rei retreated behind Asuka, her normal stoic nature completely comprised, leaving her panicked and confused.

"Let her go!" Asuka repeated.

Lilith stared at her, refusing to loosen her grip on Ria. Ria for her part stared at Lilith with a terrified but defiant expression.

"Pilot Soryu, this is unexpected," Lilith's greeting was devoid of emotion.

"Shut up!" Asuka snapped. "I want to speak to Wondergirl, not you."

Lilith tilted her head slightly. "I am standing right here, are you referring to the traveler behind you?"

"I'm asking you to let out the part of you that is still Rei Ayanami," Asuka replied.

"All of me is Rei Ayanami, and Lilith. We are one and the same," Lilith replied.

"Really?" Asuka raised an eyebrow. "Because all I'm seeing right now is Lilith. The Ayanami I knew wouldn't go around acting like Commander Ikari, treating people like they're your puppets."

Lilith frowned. The expression was mild but there's a deep well of annoyance and anger behind it.

'Perhaps there is some of Rei still in there,' Asuka thought. It was a long shot of course, but if she could get through to Rei… Well, Asuka wasn't entirely sure what would happen but it would be better than this.

Lilith was defensive. "Gendo Ikari was a small man who fought for selfish things. My goals are far bigger. And I am not using people, only Angels."

"They're people as well," Asuka replied firmly. "You made them people. You used my daughter more than the Commander used you."

"Your daughter had a family, a home, something resembling a normal life. What I did for her was a far greater kindness than I ever received from Gendo Ikari," Lilith said with a touch of annoyance.

Asuka lowered her pistol and approached, staring down Lilith the entire time. Ria watched, fearful for her mother's safety.

"You made her guard a man partially responsible for her traumatic death, without any instructions, mind you. She had to bear that trauma when she was barely more than a baby, and while Shinji and I were too broken to be of any comfort to her. You tortured her. She recovered, we all recovered. But that doesn't change what you did to her," Asuka ranted.

She stopped less than two meters from Lilith.

"She is a beast," Lilith said, almost flippantly. "They all are. That your daughter is tamer than most doesn't change that. You've seen the destruction they've caused, the dangers even your daughter poses."

"Cut the crap," Asuka angrily replied. "It was stupid hearing it from Misato and it's even dumber hearing it from you. They're people. Some of them are stupid and monstrous, maybe, but there are plenty of monsters among the rest of us. SEELE, Gendo, you."

Lilith stared at her quizzically.

"Oh, don't play innocent," Asuka grated. "Third Impact. You found Shinji at a vulnerable time and enacted the near destruction of humanity."

"A mistake, I admit. I went to the only person I trusted, the only person who ever showed me kindness," Lilith acknowledged. "It is a mistake I have tried to correct. Just as I may have to correct the mistake I made in allowing Adam's progeny to be reborn."

"By torturing his family?" Asuka shot back. "She's just as much an Ikari as she is a Soryu. You may not see her as human, but we do. He'll hate you for this."

Lilith stared at her evenly, saying nothing. Asuka couldn't be sure of what she was thinking but part of her could swear it she looked... jealous?

"Mein Gott!" Asuka exclaimed in disbelief. "It's been twenty years! Twenty years later and you're still mad that I won?! You're mad that I ended up with Shinji and you're taking it out on my daughter! Unbelievable!"

Calling it a win was a stretch, admittedly. Asuka was more the last person standing, but the point remained.

"This has nothing to do with my feelings towards Ikari, or you," Lilith replied.

Asuka raised a skeptical eyebrow. "I doubt that."

"My first choice for guardian was Arael," Lilith revealed.

That struck Asuka hard. Imaging what Ria would be like if she was Arael. How she would react to finding out… it was not a situation Asuka wanted to give much thought.

"I felt the combination of physical prowess and mental abilities would have enabled her to guard Shinji better. But I realized that if you ever found out, her ability to protect him would be comprised badly. And…" Lilith trailed off, a rather puzzled look across her face.

"And?" Asuka asked "And what?"

Lilith let go of Ria's neck, and turned around, not saying a word.

"And what?" Asuka repeated as she grabbed her shoulder. "Damnit Rei what are you-"

She was gone, vanished into thin air.

/

Armisael sat and watched from the upper level as Ramiel sat in the shadows of the decaying factory, lounging upon his makeshift throne. He'd been there for a while, a long while actually. Armisael wasn't even entirely sure when the last time he left. Hours, days? Was he stuck to the thing?

"What are you doing?" she turned to see Arael standing behind her.

"Watching our dear leader and slowly realizing that 'wow, I really fucked up my life, didn't I?'," Armisael commented dryly.

"Aren't their better things for you to be doing?" he asked.

"The batteries on my game died so... no," she replied.

"The video's leaked online," Arael announced.

Well now, that was something. Them releasing Matariel felt less like insanity and more like an actual plan, which was a refreshing change of pace. Even if Ramiel still had crackers for brains.

"Even better, government is trying to take it down," Arael noted. "They're not coming down hard, but they're trying to make sure it doesn't become a huge thing. The conspiracy theorists out there are already latching on to it, though. People are pretty aware WILLE is hiding something. Few are ready to accept the truth but it's gaining traction, slowly but surely."

"No doubt helped by our little minions fueling the fire," Armisael remarked, earning a nod from Arael.

This could actually work, she realized. It was still mad, but it was a madness that could work. Of course the plan would involve untold chaos and destruction. They were going to accelerate a problem that had been growing since Sachiel first attacked. They were going to make themselves enemies of the world.

"So. suppose this works," Armisael said, "suppose we elevate ourselves. How do we deal with the fact that a huge chunk of the world really hates us? I mean I know we'd be beyond being killed at that point but still... it would be annoying."

"Cults, propaganda, that sort of thing," Arael replied dryly. "Not that it matters to me. As long as I can stay alive I don't really care what they think."

Armisael could remember a time when Arael was not this scared of death. Most of them feared it on some level sure, but ever since he fought Zeruel, something about it had spooked him. He didn't seem scared of death because he feared oblivion like Ramiel. He seemed scared that there would be something there, something that would judge him.

"If you understood true hatred you would not be so flippant," a new voice declared.

Armisael jumped slightly, turning to a see a cloaked figure leaning against the railing, their face covered by Ramiel's mask.

"Why does everyone here feel the need to sneak up on people?!" Armisael spat.

The figure just stared at her through their blank visage.

Arael backed away, growing nervous at the presence of the new figure.

"Take it this is the 'Asset'?" Armisael asked.

Arael nodded.

"They have a name?" she asked.

Arael shrugged, he was as ignorant of who they were as she was. Which was not comforting in the slightest.

"You do realize the futility of asking the identity of someone in a mask?" the figure's voice was distorted, making them sound like a sarcastic computer.

Armisael stood up, glaring at mass of ragged cloaks wrapped around the hunched figure.

"We've been betrayed before," she noted. "Trust here is rather thin. How can we be expected to someone who doesn't even show their face?"

"And I care, why exactly?" the figure replied.

There was something off about them. Or maybe she was just being paranoid, Armisael wasn't sure. Regardless of the reasons, regardless of the success, trusting a nameless, faceless, figure sat badly with her.

"My survival is at stake. I'm not putting my life in the hands of someone I know nothing about," Armisael declared.

"Armisael please, shut up," Arael begged.

"Ramiel trusts me. Surely you trust your leader?" the Asset questioned.

Armisael stared at her silently.

The figure chuckled. "Ramiel is indeed quite mad. Knew that from the start."

"Why did you agree to join him if you knew he was mad going in? I'm here because I got in over my head and this seems like the only path to survival left."

"What makes you think I had a choice?" the figure asked.

"Then why do you fight for him?" Armisael pressed, much to Arael's increasing discomfort.

"I'll make you a deal," the figure said. "You can take off my mask, that should be enough to answer all of your questions."

"But…" Armisael said, realizing the figure was playing some sort of game.

"But," the figure pulled out a pistol, aiming it at Armisael, "you have to be willing to take a risk. You reach for my mask and there's a fifty-fifty chance I might shoot you in the face. You back away and I put the gun back in it's holster. But you can't question me again and the mask remains on."

They were completely serious. Armisael began to walk away, before she considered it more.

If she left, she would never know. Which would mean she would have no idea if she could trust this person. She would be always waiting for a knife in the back. If she took it off now, it was a risk, but a risk that might remove her doubt, or convince her that this 'Asset' was more of a threat than anything.

In a fraction of a second, Armisael grabbed at it. Her fingers gripping the edge of it and then tore it away.

The inside of the mask was filled with electronics and sophisticated technology. Voice changers, night vision goggles, things she couldn't even identify.

It was at that point, Armisael realized that the figure had the gun pressed against her temple.

"Are you freaking crazy, what are you-" Arael fell silent as he looked upon the face of the Asset.

The Armisael's eyes went wide as she stared at the figure.

'Why would they of all people ally with us?' she wondered.

The figure withdrew their pistol, an impish smile across their face.

"I take it this answers your questions?" they asked as they scooped up the mask.

"Yeah," Armisael said numbly, "but it raises about a dozen more."

"For another time," the figure replied as they reattached the mask. "For now, you both need to get ready. The day we strike is fast approaching."

/

"Okay I'm just saying. The jig is up. They know we have her-" Midori began.

"They suspect we have her, Sahaquiel," Iruel interrupted. "They don't know anything for certain."

They, along with the combined form of Israfel, were gathered in Iruel's bedroom. Which was far from ideal but the situation was desperate.

Matariel had been written off. They had assumed Ramiel would never release him. Matariel would never work with Ramiel and Ramiel was never going to let him go after his 'treachery'. The release had been a giant wrench in the plans. Then there was the attack Midori had barely survived. What Ramiel had set in motion, what they had nearly risked, no one thought he would ever consider doing it. That had been the one thing unifying all three sides; a desire to keep the fight hidden. Now Ramiel was throwing caution to the wind, trying to get them exposed.

This was a consideration Iruel had never accounted for. None of them had accounted for this.

"Zeruel is offering us an out here," Midori replied. "And she hates us with a passion. We have a way to prevent this from escalating more than it has. We can give up Leliel, deal with Ramiel, and continue our goals peacefully as planned."

Iruel was silent, staring at the window.

"You agree with her, don't you?" Israfel asked.

"But the Prime Minister won't," Iruel replied. "He's getting nervous. Thinks the whole plan is coming undone. I argued for releasing her not two hours ago and he refused. Said WILLE will use it as an excuse to turn against us. He thinks we're safer just sticking with denial. They don't have any hard evidence, after all."

"Yeah, and they still didn't believe me for a moment when I fed them those lines. And they have the ear of the empress," Midori shot back

"I know, I know," Iruel nodded. "But the PM's in a panic and not really listening to me anymore."

"I suppose going to WILLE and pinning everything on the old man is not an option?" Israfel asked, glancing up from the manga she was reading.

"Not unless you want the rest of the Societas out for our neck," Iruel replied.

They weren't the leaders, after all, just members. Ratting them out to WILLE might spare them if things go wrong, but it would also kill their dream.

"So what do we do?" Israfel asked.

"Here's what I think we should do," Midori cut off Iruel's response. "We go to the Prime Minister's office and talk to him until he calms down and sees reason. And we don't leave until that happens. If he realizes all three of his Angels are for handing over Leliel, we might actually get somewhere. Then we have Leliel as a nice little bonus gift when we make this truce of ours official."

"Assuming it's not delayed again." Israfel snarked.

"At the very least it's worth a shot," Iruel agreed. "If nothing else we'll make sure he doesn't do anything rash and stupid."

 

[Teen Spirit]

"So... you stared god in the face and got her to back down?" Ritsuko said with dry amusement, her eyes making it clear she was more fearful than she let on.

Asuka sighed. This was turning out to be a rather strange meeting.

"Can we not call her a god? Ria said. "Her ego is big enough as it is."

"You don't seem to properly appreciate that your mom just took on the biggest threat we have. She... she is our savior!" Dimitri said with joking reverence.

His mother, Anna, a slightly overweight Russian woman with piercing brown eyes and expensive taste in fashion, looked at him with annoyance.

"She is the one," Kyoko added solemnly, bowing in her seat.

"Can we not?" Asuka groaned.

"Sorry, sorry," Dimitri said, trying not to laugh. "It's just so bizarre."

"What does this mean?" his mother asked. "For us, for them? Are we in danger?"

"No more so than you were," Asuka replied. "It just means she's more active, going from having Adam appear in dreams, to visions, to being real enough to physically interact with people."

Asuka thoughts lingered for a moment on Shinji. He was back at the apartment, trying to process what had happened. The poor guy had to deal with the fact that Rei had become something nearly completely inhuman and monstrous, and that she had nearly killed their daughter. It was hard enough for Asuka, and she had never liked her when she was alive. For Shinji this had to be a thousand times worse.

"Still don't understand what exactly I did to get her pissed off at me," Dimitri wondered aloud.

"She's rather full of hatred for all Angels in general," Ria noted as she rubbed her neck. "Like Misato was, but lacking the self-awareness."

"...well that's horrifying," Dimitri muttered.

"It does seem limited to Angels of this universe," Asuka noted. "And Gendo Ikari is still alive, so old grudges clearly mean little to her now."

For the most part, anyways. As much as Lilith had pretended to be a bigoted robot, she still gave off the impression she was bitter towards Asuka.

"Which is lucky for me," Ritsuko mumbled.

Dr. Akagi's treatment of Ayanami was nothing short of horrific, from what Asuka had read. Something Dr. Akagi now readily acknowledged. If Ayanami wanted vengeance for how she had been treated, Akagi and Gendo would have died today.

"So what do we do?" Anna protested. "I am just supposed to wait around until some blue-haired twerp comes and tries to kill my son?"

"We're doing what we can," Asuka tried to reassure her. "But Lilith is a bit... beyond our capabilities. Stopping Ramiel is the big concern."

Anna glared angrily at her.

"...Look, your son has been through a lot," Asuka began.

"Shot, kidnapped, tortured, and imprisoned, yes" Anna listed off, her Russian accent starting to appear.

"I know, I know," Asuka replied. "And believe me, we are sorry for that. But there's nothing more I can say than be vigilant. Anyone sees Lilith again, they need to tell us immediately."

"Of course, Ramiel should be our main priority," Akagi declared. "Kill him and Lilith is no longer a threat to anyone."

"Assuming she's not lying of course," Ria added.

"Right... well the warning is appreciated," Anna said as she stood up, motioning for Dimitri to do the same. "I suspect we will be in contact. And General Katsuragi will be hearing from our lawyers once they get clearance."

That was to be expected, and frankly deserved all things considered. Asuka sighed in resignation nonetheless.

"I'm gonna go, as well," Kyoko added, sensing the meeting was over. "See how Shinji's doing."

"And I have to go finish the autopsy on Okito Suzuhara," Ritsuko said as she left, leaving Asuka alone with her daughter.

"How are you holding up?" Asuka asked.

She painfully understood how terrifying that must have been for Ria. To be so close to death and utterly powerless to stop it.

"It was not the worst thing that's happened to me of late," Ria noted. "Just strange to be in that sort of position."

"What do you mean?" Asuka asked.

"To be facing someone that much stronger than me," Ria said with only the barest hint of ego. "I mean Okito was on the same level as me and I'm sure Ramiel is more powerful in other regards, but in terms of raw physical strength I kind of figured I was at the top."

"Well... next time you see her or Adam, don't try to fight them," Asuka cautioned.

Ria smirked ever so slightly "Yeah that's definitely a lesson learned."

She stood up.

"Thank you by the way, for what you said," she said softly as she approached Asuka's chair.

Asuka stood up and gave her a quick hug. "Honey, you know your father and I would do nearly anything to keep you safe."

And Ria would do the same for them. If the past few months had shown anything, it was how devoted this family was to each other. Asuka wasn't sure if Ria felt the same way about Kyoko yet, but she was coming around.

"I know. But it was still incredibly brave," Ria said as she returned the hug. "And what you said to her. It was really great to hear. Made me feel a lot better about things."

"Well, I'm glad that helps," Asuka said with surprise. "But I was just saying what I knew was true. "

Ria was human in every sense that mattered. Even Andrew Langley was. He just happened to be a criminal idiot in addition to that.

Ria smiled slightly. She was still pained by everything that had happened as of late. What happened with the pilots, Arael, Misato. But it looked liked what happened with Lilith hadn't hurt her as much as it could have.

That was a major relief.

"So you ready for the ceasefire?" Asuka asked.

"Well Sahaquiel hasn't gotten back to me, so that's annoying," Ria sighed. "But dealing with Ramiel comes first. So yeah."

It had been a good idea. An enemy feeling they had no way out was like a wounded animal; dangerous and with nothing to lose. But if Iruel's group had a way out they might grab it with both hands.

"If the Prime Minister tries to pull anything, we'll be ready," Asuka assured her.

"Oh, I will be." Ria let out a cocky grin that was ever so slightly concerning.

"Anyways," she said, her expression returning to normal, "I'm going home. Make sure dad is doing all right. Let the Pilots know that they're free to call me if the need to."

"Will do," Asuka nodded. "And let Shinji know I'll be home as soon as I can."

"Right," Ria replied. "Love you, see you later."

"Love you too."

/

Ria tried to keep her mind free of what had happened with Lilith as she left WILLE. The events of today where enraging but there really wasn't anything she could do about it barring taking care of Ramiel.

Her faith in Adam had been restored when she was most doubting, only to be shattered by the revelization that Lilith had treated Adam and her as nothing more than puppets. But there was nothing she could do about it. She had to make peace with it and focus on what she had control over.

"Yo!"

Ria turned to see Dimitri standing near the main entrance to the building. For a moment she had to bite back a snarl. She was barely comfortable around Kyoko and Koda. But Dimitri was at least an ally, so she needed to be civil with him.

"I thought you had left already?" Ria questioned.

"Mom's in the restroom," Dimitri explained. "Probably be 7:30 by the time I get home."

"So... how it's going?" Ria asked, trying to make conversation. "How's the family... er, handling things?"

Dimitri shrugged. "Mom's said that what matters most is that I'm safe. Beyond that it's… kind of a tricky subject. Other than that, I'm just glad to be going home," he said. "I mean it's not perfect, but compared to what I've been through it's pretty damn close."

He smiled for a second before realization struck him. "I'm not going to be able to escape this, am I?"

"You can try," Ria said. "I mean, you could run to the opposite side of the world or something. It's worth a shot at least."

"Yeah, and I'd be watching over my shoulders the entire time for Ramiel, and Iruel," Dimitri groaned.

Ria felt sympathy for him. For her fighting was easy, it was her strength. But for him fighting was like dealing with a world of Liliths. He was outclassed by almost all of them and they were all quite aware of that.

"Just keep in touch with my mom. She'll look out for you and your family," Ria assured her.

Dimitri nodded. "She pretty much is the closest thing we have to a protector right now."

"Please don't start making those jokes again," Ria warned.

"I'm not, I'm not," he assured her. "Since you're here, let me give you something, for protection against Iruel when you go to that 'ceasefire' meeting."

He pulled out a small glass vial containing an orange viscious liquid and handed it to Ria.

"Please tell me you didn't just hand me a vial full of your own spit," Ria deadpanned.

"No, this is my tears. Much more potent," Dimitri explained. "Pretty much eats through everything but glass. Seen it eat through asbestos like is was rain-soaked cardboard."

'Yes, because holding a vial full of another person's tears wasn't even remotely weird,' Ria thought.

"So then how does the glass hold it?" she asked. If it could eat through asbestos it should go through the glass

Dimitri raised his hands. "Dunno, just does."

"Well we do generally have a relationship with science that can at best be described as 'abusive'," Ria mused. "So, thanks. Not normally how I fight, but I'll figure out a good way to use it."

"My advice, use it against Sahaquiel. Hard for her to start making bombs of herself if she's melting."

That was actually good advice. Also horrifically brutal. Ria hoped she wouldn't have to use it and the event would go peacefully.

Actually the truth of the matter was more complicated. She wanted a fight, she'd been itching to fight something for a while now. She'd considered practice sparring with Kyoko but she was worried she might hurt her. And Koda wasn't exactly an option. But on a non-emotional level she understood that it would be far better for everyone, save Ramiel, if things went smoothly. She personally doubted they would, but she hoped she was wrong.

"I'll keep that in mind," Ria nodded as she turned to leave. "Take care of yourself, Ohta."

"Same to you, Soryu," he replied.

/

Ritsuko was digging through her notes when she entered her lab.

"Hello, Dr. Akagi." The soft voice nearly sent the Doctor to the roof.

As she calmed down her breathing, Ritsuko realized that it was Ayanami was sitting on the bed.

"I... oh, Rei, you startled me!" she replied. "What are you-"

Akagi paused, noticing the rather odd expression on Rei's face. She was terrified and miserable and was showing it on almost a human level.

"Will I eventually become Lilith?" Rei asked bluntly.

Ritsuko did a quick scan to make sure nothing sharp was near Ayanami. She wasn't sure if the First Child was capable of... sudden violence, but that was not a risk she wanted to take.

"No, it's simply not possible," Akagi replied quickly. "The body of Lilith does not exist on Earth anymore."

"What happens when I return to my universe?" Ayanami asked.

Ritsuko did not want to be here, she would give anything to be anywhere else right now. The only place worse than here was Ramiel's cell and at least that didn't have awkward questions. But she was here. And messing up here...well it probably wouldn't be the worst thing she'd done to an Ayanami, but that was exactly a record she wanted to approach again.

"No, because you're not like the Ayanami of this universe was," Akagi answered.

This was not her area in the slightest, but it was clear Ayanami was in distress and the last thing they needed was another Pilot on the verge of emotional breakdown.

Besides, it was the truth. This Ayanami had clearly had a different life, a different Akagi handling her.

"The First Child I knew would not have even considered throwing a party, let alone two. She would not have pursued a relationship with Shinji Ikari so eagerly. She wouldn't be as terrified as you are now of becoming Lilith."

"Oh," Rei answered.

Dr. Akagi couldn't tell if her words made things worse or better.

"Look, I'm really not the one to be talking to about this," Akagi explained. "I'm not good with people, let alone people in distress. You should talk to a therapist, or Misato, Asuka, one of the Pilots. Someone, anyone else."

"It is fine," Ayanami said as her normal cool demeanor returned. "Thank you, Dr. Akagi."

Ayanami left without saying another word.

Ritsuko shuddered and quickly sent a message to Commander Soryu before returning to her work and doing her best to bury the thought of the conversation deep within her mind.

/

It took Kyoko a while to find the younger Shinji. After about an hour of searching she found him in a disused office, staring blankly up at the ceiling. She could tell if he still had is old music player he would be playing it right now.

"Hello," Kyoko said cautiously.

Shinji remained silent. Not a great start.

"Where's Asuka?" Kyoko asked. She wasn't sure if she could even begin to handle Asuka right now, but it couldn't hurt to talk to her too.

Scratch that it could, it absolutely could hurt a lot.

"Why do you care?" Shinji asked darkly. "I'm not your father."

'And thank goodness for that,' Kyoko thought.

"And Ria's not your daughter, but you wouldn't be giving her the cold shoulder, now would you?" she replied.

"Did she send you?" he asked.

"No, no one sent me to find you."

It wasn't technically a lie. Sure, Father... the older Shinji, had told her to be there for the Pilots but no one had asked her to come here now and check on him. That she had done of her own free will.

"So why are you here?" he lashed out.

The pain in his voice was heartbreaking.

"Because I think I know what you're going through better than most people here," Kyoko replied, bracing herself for his response.

"HOW?!" Shinj screamed. "How can you possibly understand?!"

"Because what you're going through is what I had nightmares about every single time I've gone to bed since I've arrived," she explained.

It's part of why she didn't want to get attached at first. Because she was always worried that something bad had happened back home and she had been powerless to stop it.

He stared at her angrily. "But your universe is fine. Mine is dead!"

"I've been told it's fine," Kyoko replied. "But I have no idea if we should trust them or if I'll be strong enough to defend it when I return."

"You at least have a home to return to!" Tears filled Shinji's eyes. "What do I have!?"

"You have a home here," Kyoko replied. "You have people who love you and care about you here! They've screwed up, sure, but they screwed up trying to protect you. Not to use you."

Shinji was silent, trying to form a reply.

"But it's not just that, is it?" Kyoko realized. "You're upset because you've lost so many people, and no one here seems to care. No one besides Asuka is grieving with you."

Shinji's eyes went wide in surprise.

"I've lost people," Kyoko went on. "Friends, comrades, people I considered family. And even now it feels strange that no one around here cares. And I had a chance to mourn. I can't imagine how bad I would be if I had just learned about their deaths third hand."

Shinji nodded silently.

"Do you want to hold a funeral? Some kind of memorial?" Kyoko asked. "I'm sure arrangements could be made for a private one."

"I don't know," Shinji replied softly. "...I never even thought about it before."

"Well, just think it through, maybe talk with Asuka about it first," Kyoko advised.

"I... okay, I'll think about it," Shinji nodded, tears still in his eyes.

Good. She hadn't completely made a mess of things.

"...What happened with Rei?" he asked suddenly. "I heard something happened with her and there was a meeting, but no one's really told me anything."

'Oh, goddamnit.'

"That's…." Kyoko grew hesitant. "That's really something you'll have to ask Ayanami about. It's definitely not my place to be talking about it."

Shinji only grew more suspicious.

"Why are you so scared of her?" Shinji asked. "Why is Ria so scared of her?"

"Please try to take one thing at time here," Kyoko begged. "That's Ayanami's business, she'll tell you when she's ready."

"...Can I trust her?" Shinji asked bluntly.

Kyoko really wished she was dealing with Asuka right now. Being screamed at in German would be a lot easier to handle than this.

"I'll say this," Kyoko breathed in deeply. "If my parents, your other versions, whatever, Ria, or Misato thought for a moment that Ayanami was using you or playing you falsely, they would have warned you. Whatever else, I don't think for a moment Ayanami ever wanted to hurt you."

That answer clearly didn't sit right with Shinji but he didn't know what else to say.

"But like I said," Kyoko added, "that is really something you need to talk with Ayanami about, personally. When you're ready. Give yourself time to recover."

 

[Teen Spirit]

Shinji was not one for self-pride. He had pride in others, his family mostly. But when it came himself the only thing he felt real pride in was his music.

The cello was his one skill that he felt was truly his own. No one had forced him into it. He played because he wanted to play. And he was good at it, as numerous concerts in Europe had shown.

More than that, playing allowed him to forget, allowed him to put a barrier between himself and all the troubles that plagued him, at least for a little while. His own personal AT-Field of music.

So he sat in the kitchen of his apartment, playing his cello for what felt like hours. He was able to put away thoughts of Angels, Evas, the war, his mistakes, Rei. For a time there was just him and the music.

Until the sound of clapping pulled him back to reality. Shinji turned, his eyes briefly going wide in surprise before turning into an annoyed glare.

"What are you doing here, Kaworu?" Shinji asked as the semi-real image of the 17th Angel stood in the living room.

"I came to apologize for Lilith's actions, and assure you they will not happen again," he said softly, still smiling.

"You're damn right they won't. And the only one who should be apologizing is her, to Ria," Shinji snapped back.

He still could barely believe that Rei could have done that, had come so close to killing his family. Rei was many things, but she was never that cruel. She had changed. Lilith had turned her into something she wasn't.

"She won't," Kaworu admitted. "And I would just make things worse for Ria Soryu."

"Apology acknowledged but not accepted," Shinji replied sharply.

Kaworu looked at him with sad red eyes. "This is my fault. I thought this time would be different. I thought I found the proper balance."

Shinji raised an eyebrow. "Do I even want to know what on Earth you're talking about?"

"The souls of the Angels tend to prove problematic after death. Rare has been the time when they don't trouble a surviving world. When I don't grant them bodies they become parasitic entities looking for hosts to possess. When I purge their memories they return slowly anyhow, driving them mad. There have been times when things were relatively peaceful, but lightening never seems to strike twice.What works once rarely seems to work again," Kaworu explained sadly.

It took Shinji a moment to fully understand the implications of what he was saying, but when he did it barely phased him. After everything he been through as of late, Kaworu's words did little more than earn a raised eyebrow.

"You think if you'd done this all before, you would have handled things better when you were alive. Or is playing with my emotions and betraying me really the best you could come up with in how ever many lifetimes you've lived?" Shinji questioned harshly. He was just a little bitter.

Kaworu turned away in shame. "I always forget. Sometimes just a few details, sometimes everything. Eventually I remember, but it's often too late. I've betrayed you, killed you, been killed by you, loved you, saved you, been saved by you, sacrificed for you. Countless times, over and over again."

"You realize that just makes you sound like a crazy person?" Shinji noted.

"If you died and came back to a world, similar but not quite the same as this one, and found Asuka again, maybe different in some details but still her in all the important ways, would you not care for her as much you do now? Or do you think you would just shrug and stop?" Kaworu asked.

"I…" Shinji found himself hesitant to answer. "Aren't you just making the same mistake Ayanami is?"

"Ayanami's only mistake, though Lilith disagrees quite intensely on this point, was developing feelings for your counterpart when she still had a home to return to," Kaworu replied. "And the Shinji she knew needs her far more than the boy here does."

"Speaking from experience, I take it?" Shinji asked.

Kaworu looked up at the ceiling, a small smile appearing across his face.

"That boy's mistakes make yours seem small by comparison," he admitted. "I tried to help him, but I realized only too late that his father had used us both for his own ends. I... I hurt him more than I helped in the end."

'Well, so much for Father being a better person in her universe...'

"But I have gone off on a tangent," he went on. "Sorry, nostalgia hits me at the worst of times."

"I don't get it," Shinji said as his attention turned back to why Kaworu was here and what Lilith had done. "She hurt my daughter, yet she does nothing against Ramiel?"

"If we could reach him, he would be dead," Kaworu declared.

Well, that wasn't helpful, and just raised more questions.

Kaworu looked off in the distance for a moment. "I have to leave, Lilith is calling me away."

"Of course she is," Shinji replied dryly.

"Be wary," Kaworu warned. "Andrew Langley's defilement grows deeper by the day. I'm not sure if he qualifies as Lilin anymore."

"Do you know who Ramiel's new ally is?" Shinji asked.

"No," Kaworu replied. "They hide themselves too well."

He turned back towards Shinji.

"Goodbye, Shinji Ikari. We will meet again," Kaworu said as he vanished.

/

It was late at night when Asuka and Kyoko returned home. Ria had been there for hours, largely making sure Shinji was okay. Mari was with her as well. Thankfully the apartment was rather spacious or else they would be incredibly cramped right now.

Right now it was just Asuka and Shinji in the kitchen, each holding a glass of wine, a small attempt at making this day easier to deal with.

"You do have to admit it's rather romantic," Asuka lightly teased. "Him dropping by to see you."

"Could you not?" Shinji sighed.

"I'm just grateful he has some understanding of boundaries," Asuka went on. "I mean, sure, he made his feelings known, but he clearly realized that his chance had long since passed."

Shinji stared at her blankly. "Understanding now, maybe. But he certainly didn't when he was alive. But can we please stop talking about how two demi-gods have unresolved feelings for me?"

"Yeah, that is getting to be a weird topic," Asuka admitted.

"...So I heard from Ria that Kyoko told the pilots that Rei was..." Shinji said, shifting topics.

"No, no. She was quite clear that she didn't actually tell him," Asuka corrected. "Just accidentally strongly hinted at."

"We still have to tell about the Evas and Rei," Shinji muttered, shaking his head. As if those two didn't have enough on their shoulders as it was.

"Ria says that neither of them really want to hear any more secrets for a while. So hopefully when they do find out it won't set off a whole new set of emotional issues," Asuka replied.

That seemed like a distant hope. Even if the Pilots were far less isolated and, if he was being honest with himself, far less screwed up than either he or Asuka where at this point in their lives, Shinji didn't see 'oh your mom is inside of the robot' going over remotely well, especially after the shock they'd already had.

"How's Ria doing, anyways?" Shinji asked.

"Better than I expected. She's moving on from what Lilith did in a way that doesn't seem unhealthy," Asuka replied

"Thankfully, you were there," Shinji nodded.

"I did what I could," Asuka sighed. "Luckily, there was still just enough of Rei in there for it to work."

Asuka bit her lip nervously.

"Something wrong?" Shinji asked.

"Something bad is going to happen, I just know it," Asuka muttered.

"What makes you say that?" Shinji asked.

"Experience. We finally have a firm, 'No, this is for real, we won't cancel' date for the ceasefire, the day after tomorrow," Asuka explained. "Ria handled a really traumatic event rather well and she's in therapy. The Pilots are doing...well, they're doing horribly but they aren't shutting people out completely. Misato's recovering. Things are far from great but I feel like I can see the end of the storm from here."

"So you're waiting for the other shoe to drop," Shinji finished.

Asuka nodded. "Exactly. Anytime something has started to improve lately, we've been kicked in the teeth. So odds are, ten to one, something bad is going to happen at this ceasefire. Either the Prime Minister pulls something, or Ramiel attacks, or Kyoko reveals she's actually been evil all along, pr... or a freaking space station drops on the palace! Something will happen, I don't know what but I know it will, and I can't back out of the meeting without causing a whole mess of problems."

Shinji was really grateful they had thick walls here. Asuka was being hyperbolic but they didn't need Kyoko overhearing that, or any of the others for that matter.

"So what are you doing about it?"

Asuka shrugged. "Not a lot I can do. I let the Empress know about my suspicions, and she said she'll take precautions, but beyond that there's not a lot we can do."

Shinji placed a hand on Asuka's shoulders. "Well just be careful when you go there."

"Oh believe me, I will be. I'm walking in there fully expecting everything to go to Hell."

 

[Teen Spirit]

Chapter 23: The Palace

Ria awoke with a start, confused and scared.

"Are you okay?" Mari was already up, sitting at the computer, looking at her with worry.

"I'm...it was just a bad dream." Ria fought the urge to lie and pretend things were fine. Over a decade of learning how to lie about what you were had made the act almost instinctive in some ways. She wasn't lying anymore, not as much as she was anyways, but the urge was hard to beat sometimes. She definitely didn't want to start off her engagement with Mari by lying to her, though.

"What sort of dream?" Mari asked intently.

"M-Misato, of all things, I think." Ria scratched her head. "Which... why?"

There was nothing she can change about what happened, and Misato was sorry. The damage had largely been undone. Why was it still haunting her?

"Dreams don't have to make sense," Mari pointed out as she returned to her computer. "But you might want to mention it to the Doctor the next time you see him."

"Maybe," Ria muttered as she pulled herself out of bed. That assumed she would even remember this dream for more than a few hours.

She stumbled for a moment, trying to fully wake up, as she made her way over to Mari. She leaned down and wrapped her arms closely around her fiancée's shoulders. The two smiled and kissed.

So many things lay ahead of her today. Ria wished she didn't have to leave this room, that this moment could last forever. They were both barely awake, their hair was messy and frazzled, no makeup, and yet it was so close to perfect.

"I love you," Ria whispered.

"I know," Mari teased as they kissed again.

It couldn't last forever, but she still had some time.

"I'm going to go make breakfast," she said after a long moment.

Ria grabbed her phone and her engagement ring as she walked out, Mari following closely behind.

Ria scrolled through her phone as she walked towards the kitchen. No missed messages, which was good...or bad, she wasn't sure. It at least meant that at no point during the night had the Pilots tried to contact her.

Things were bad for Ria, but Asuka, Shinji, and now Ayanami had it worse. She couldn't help them as much as she wanted to. She was no therapist and all things considered she would probably crack from the strain of trying to deal with everything she was going through and trying shoulder the Pilots' burdens at the same time.

But still, Asuka and Shinji were family, friends despite all the rough patches. She wanted to be there for them, and yet neither of them had said a word to her since she left WILLE yesterday. Were they shutting her out? Or did they just need time? Ria felt out completely out of her depth. Could she really be of any help or comfort to them?

Regrettably, this was an issue for another time, another day even.

"Alright, so what do you want for breakfast?" Ria asked as she looked in the fridge. "This thing's pretty well stocked, so we could have pretty much anything you want. Including MREs, for some reason."

"What about a salad?" Mari suggested.

"Except that," Ria replied. "Salads do not exist in our household… Hmm, I think I still have that danish pancake puff pan. Now where did I put it?"

Ria began rooting around the cabinets, trying to figure where some of the movers had put her things.

"So I assume you want me to stay here today?" Mari asked.

Ria turned towards her, the reality of the day flooding back to her.

"Yeah. Odds are something bad is going to happen. And this place is about the safest place you can be right now, plus it can evacuate easily if you need to," she explained.

"Oh, okay," Mari nodded. "Are you ready for this?"

"...Honestly, no," Ria admitted.

If the PM and Iruel were playing her false, and they probably were, then more than likely this whole affair was going to turn into a bloodbath. By the end of the day there was a good chance she'll have killed the Prime Minister.

Yesterday she had been almost eager to do the deed, to rid the world of that treacherous old bastard once and for all. Then she had seen the unnerved look in her mother's eyes during their conservation at WILLE. It was small, she might not have even realized she gave Ria the look, but Ria had seen it.

Ria had killed before, Shamshel, some of the people possessed by Bardiel. But that had been either in the grip of a blinding rage or simple self-defense. And there was very little chance she would be killing the Prime Minister for those reasons. If she killed him, even if it was to eliminate the threat he posed, how would people look at her? Would it give credence to Lilith's words?

"Well, whatever happens, I'm sure you'll manage brilliantly," Mari tried to reassure her.

"Thank you," Ria replied. "Well, I can't find that pan anywhere. So I'm thinking Udon this morning. What do you think?"

"Udon sounds great," Mari said.

/

A shrill alarm forced Asuka awake. She beat the alarm to within an inch of its plastic life to silence it.

"Whuh?" Shinji muttered beside her, still almost entirely asleep.

"Go back to sleep," Asuka urged as she forced herself up.

"No, no, I'm awake," Shinji said groggily as he lifted himself up. He tested his artificial hand a few times, squeezing his hand then extending his fingers. They moved gracefully, little different than a normal hand.

It was the mornings that made Asuka feel old. The rest of the time she almost felt like she was just like the other Asuka, only more mature and basically desk bound. The mornings though, the mornings made her feel like she was an old woman. Her body ached all over and begged to return to the warm comfort of bed, and the company therein. Her mind was trapped in a fog and her legs barely obeyed her. She was also sore all over, but that was for far more pleasant reasons.

Asuka slowly woke up in the shower, the warm water and steam making her feel more and more like a person and not just someone controlling a shambling corpse.

Shinji was still yawning heavily as he changed his clothes.

Part of Asuka still desperately wanted to crawl back into bed but today was not the day to do that. Hell, this year was not the time for that.

'The lost sleep time was worth it.'

Asuka walked into the hallway.

"WARK!" The loud cry of penguin filled the air.

Asuka turned to see Pen-Pen standing in the living room, glaring up at Kyoko, who was sitting backwards on the couch, returning his glare. Off in the corner lay a large, custom mobile refrigeration unit.

"Ahh, Pen-Pen's here," Asuka said causally.

"Why. Is. He. Here?" Kyoko demanded.

"Well, Misato's still out of commission, and Asuka and Shinji don't really go home much these days." Asuka explained. "Someone needed to take care of the old bird."

"So give him to Ria." Kyoko's eyes never left the penguin.

"I take it you and him aren't friends?" Asuka remarked.

"No, we are not. He bit me once," Kyoko explained.

A small smile of amusement appeared on Asuka's face.

"And yes, I'm aware of the comedy of this situation," Kyoko added. "But I am not a fish."

"I know that," Asuka replied. "Look. Just treat Pen-Pen with respect. You stay out of his way and he'll stay out of yours."

"Fine." Kyoko made the 'I'm watching you gesture' towards Pen-Pen with two of her fingers before she turned around sat properly on the couch.

Pen-Pen left out an annoyed huff before grabbing his newspaper and a beer and waddling off to his cooler.

"Where did he even get that beer?" Asuka wondered.

"Oh so I just got off the phone with Kodama..err, Koda," Kyoko said. "She says she has family stuff today, so she can't go. So it's going to be me and Ria at the thing instead of her and Ria."

"Ja. That's fine by me," Asuka replied. Bringing Koda along would have been awkward anyways.

"You sure you want to go?" Kyoko questioned. "Iruel's apparently bringing everyone. Not exactly going to be safe."

Asuka wasn't particularly worried about her safety, mainly because Kyoko and Ria would be there. Though relaying on your children for protection was a whole different kettle of issues.

"For this to work I have to be there," Asuka explained. "Besides, the Prime Minister is going to be there. I don't expect him to actually pull something during the actual event. He's not brave enough for that. It's after that where things get tricky."

/

"So what happens after?" the Second Child questioned.

"What do you mean?" Shinji asked.

The two Pilots were sitting in the break room, waiting to begin another series of training routines. They had been doing a lot of that recently. It kept them focused, kept their mind off of things. Some of the times anyways.

"Suppose this treaty of theirs magically works and those Angels get to go free. What happens then, to us?" Asuka asked.

"We uhh,... we still have Ramiel and the others to fight," Shinji pointed out.

"Yeah, that's... three Angels? That's chump change. You went through as many before I even showed up. We could be done with them in a matter of months, weeks even."

"Isn't... isn't that good?" Shinji asked.

Asuka felt her eye twitch for a moment before she remembered what Shinji had told her. Piloting for him was so different than it was for him. He didn't feel any pride in it, he didn't relish it. It was a burden forced upon him.

"...I suppose," Asuka forced out. "But what happens to us when it's all done? What do we do?"

Three victories, three damn victories. That's all she had to look forward to. They were her only chance to outshine Commander Soryu and the other Ikari. It wasn't enough, it wasn't nearly enough. There was Arael though, the one the Commander feared, the one that had hurt Ria. Killing that one... Well, it would be satisfying, if nothing else.

"We move on, find a way to live our lives the way we want," Shinji suggested.

The idea seemed almost alien to Asuka. Being a Pilot had been her whole life. She barely remembered anything before it. Once she was done being a Pilot, what could she be? There was the Air Force maybe, but that seemed so small and insignificant compared to what Commander Soryu had become.

"...So," Asuka found herself desperately wanting to talk about something, anything else. "You talk to Ayanami yet?"

"No." Shinji grew sullen. Well, even more sullen.

"Ahh, avoiding her for the time being I take it?" Asuka asked.

"No... she's avoiding me." Shinji grew even sadder.

Asuka put her arm around Shinji in an attempt to comfort him.

'It was only a matter of time. That girl finally realized she was just using him as a replacement…'

Asuka mentally paused, a realization striking her suddenly.

'Why am I glad about this?'

/

Ria paced around the waiting room, constantly fidgeting with her armor. Her eyes glowed red.

"Are you sure wearing that is a good idea?" Kyoko questioned

It was more or less the same armor Ria had worn the last time, heavy, black, and imposing. Apparently the Empress' staff had just finished repairing it and had presented it to Ria less than half an hour ago.

"It was her idea," Ria pointed out. "Empress wants to send a clear message of what will happen if they try anything funny."

It did feel overly hostile to Asuka, but more protection rarely hurt.

The mood in the room was tense. All three of them expected something to go wrong, maybe not now, maybe not even today. But this still felt like walking into a trap.

But they needed this. Ramiel was ultimately the greater threat.

A man in a suit with white gloves came and bowed deeply.

"The Empress will see you now."

Asuka took a breath to steady herself, then followed the man into the Throne Room, Ria and Kyoko flanking her.

The Empress sat, nearly hidden by cherry coloured screens that surrounded her throne.

The Prime Minister stood next to the Throne, looking pretty damn proud of himself.

And across from them where the Angels. Sandalphon, the two halves of Israfel, Iruel... and a fifth person that Asuka had never seen before.

The girl had long black hair and was wearing what looked like a damaged school uniform. She was thin, borderline unhealthily so.

Ria and Kyoko both stopped and stared in confusion.

"Ahh, I see you've noticed the addition to this affair," the Prime Minister spoke up. "May I present one Tsukiko Yamagishi."

"What," Ria replied bluntly.

"You have the other Leliel?" To say Asuka was surprised was putting it lightly.

They were giving her up? All that denial, then they just decided to hand her over?

"Yes." Iruel stepped into the conversation, wiping sweat off his brow. "Ramiel made an error last night, allowing us to track him towards one of his hidden bases. Israfel, Sahaquiel, and I conducted a raid shortly thereafter. Ramiel escaped but we found her."

"...Let's pretend for a moment that I believe that," Ria said. "Why not contact us? Why make it a surprise?"

"Security concerns. We wanted to make sure Ramiel wouldn't figure out where we were keeping her until we could hand her over," Iruel explained calmly.

"Can you back any of that up?" Asuka asked as she looked towards Yamagishi.

The girl shrugged. "I dunno. I got kidnapped by Ramiel, months ago at this point. He puts me under and the next thing I know I'm waking up in a hospital and these guys are explaining to me the same thing they just told you."

Asuka didn't know what to think right now. The PM and Iruel were still clearly lying, but they were giving up Leliel, the one major concern left they had about this deal. It was strange, to say the least.

"Hopefully this proves that these kids were being honest and that poor Ohta was fed false info by Ramiel's cohorts." The Prime Minister's voice was cheerful but strained.

"So does this mean you can take me home?" Kyoko asked.

"For a visit, sure," Tsukiko replied. "Taking you back full time would piss the rest of my group off and I've called in too many favors as it is."

"A visit is fine, for now," Kyoko nodded, growing quite happy. "Kind of have things I need to wrap up here anyways."

Well, that was a bit of incredibly good news. Asuka was glad something seemed to be going their way.

Another man with white gloves came in carrying a small but ornate desk. Another man besides him carried with him a single piece of paper.

"I'm glad to see this issue has been resolved," the Empress said in a firm voice. "Hopefully this means both sides are willing to work together to bring this crisis to a swift end. Now just sign this document and I can welcome these three back as citizens of the Empire."

"Four," the pink haired half of Israfel complained.

"Quiet, you," the other half chided.

Asuka raised an eyebrow briefly.

The two groups got together in the center of the room, eyeing each other nervously as they approached the document.

The basic gist of the treaty was what Ria expected. A general pardon for Iruel, Sahaquiel, and Israfel, provided they cooperate fully with the Japanese Government and WILLE to bring down Ramiel and those allied with him. Alongside that, it required the three to provide fingerprints and blood samples to the government. There was also some flowery fluff about cooperation between Lilin and Angels, and the two working together to better mankind.

"You have no idea how hard we worked to make sure this happened," Asuka heard Sahaquiel whisper urgently to Ria. "So don't act like we aren't serious about peace."

"I'll give you credit, you managed to surprise me," Ria whispered back.

Asuka was just about to sign when she noticed the Prime Minister walk away, hand near his right ear.

His expression changed from joy, to concern, to terror in a matter of moments.

"Prime Minister, is something wrong?" Asuka asked.

"Seize her!" he shouted towards Sahaquiel, pointing at Ria.

Sahaquiel immediately grabbed onto Ria in an awkward hug.

"What the-" Ria began.

"Nobody move!" The Prime Minister's voice cracked with fear as he pulled a pistol out from his jacket. "Nobody move or Sahaquiel reduces the Palace to cinders!"

Even Sahaquiel seemed confused by this. "I'm doing what now?"

The room went into a state of confused panic. The Personal Guard of the Empress trained their rifles on the PM, Israfel and Iruel moved to defend themselves but even they seemed uncertain as to what was going on.

"Gott in Himmel!" Asuka exclaimed. "Are you insane?!"

"Prime Minister," Iruel's voice was edged with worry. "This isn't what we talked about. Mind explaining to the rest of us what exactly is going on right now?"

Beads of sweat fell across the Prime Minister's face as it turned bright red.

"This is a set up!" he shouted. "This was a set up from the beginning! We're under attack!"

 

[Teen Spirit]

Koda paced nervously in front of the door.

"You can do this, you can do this. You CAN do this," she told herself.

She was nervous, beyond nervous. She was risking Mom's life, her own life, and the lives of everyone nearby. But it was the only way to help her family and save this woman who was nearly her own mother.

She turned to Touji. "Bar the door. No one gets in."

"I'll try," he replied.

"If something goes wrong..." Koda began.

"It won't," her counterpart injected.

"IF it does. Run, run as fast as you can," Koda urged.

Touji sighed, a pained look on his face. "Right."

Koda's eyes went red, her hands forcibly molding themselves into blackened claws. She forced the door to her mother's room open.

Touji and Kodama closed it behind her and moved furniture against the door.

The woman was asleep, but even in dreams she looked tortured, moaning under her breath.

'I'm going to end the nightmare,' Koda told herself, 'Or make it a thousand times worse. Please don't let me screw this up...'

Gently, she wrapped her claws around her mother's head.

"Let me in," she commanded.

Hikari's eyes suddenly opened and the world drained away.

Koda didn't hear the alarms go off a moment later.

/

Ria stared owlishly at the Prime Minister. This was... she wasn't even sure what this was.

"Prime Minister. No one is attacking anyone," The Empress stated calmly. "You're the one waving a gun around."

"Don't lie to me!" the man shouted feverishly. "Nara Air Base just reported it was under attack by Imperial Marine forces!"

He turned towards Iruel. "Activate the enlightenment protocol."

Iruel looked hesitant. "Are you sure?"

"Do it," the Prime Minister ordered.

At that, Iruel closed his eyes and began to shudder, his skin moving around in unnatural and sickening ways.

"They... the council wants you confirm," Iruel said a moment later. "Are you...absolutely positive, sir?"

"Yes!" the man shouted.

"What does an attack on an Air base have to do with us?!" Asuka shouted in confusion

"Don't play ignorant!" The Prime Minister began to sweat even more. "You know as well as I do the importance of that base!"

"I can't say for certain," the Empress spoke up, "but if I were to hazard a guess, I would say Nara air base was loyal to your Societas Eruditorium. Whereas my father founded the Marines, so if any branch was loyal to the Throne besides my own guards, it would be them. So you figured it must have been me who orchestrated the attack on your forces. Understandable assumption, with one flaw: Why would I make a move against you when you were in my throne room, with allies, in the middle of signing a peace treaty to end all this?"

"...Oh shit." Sahaquiel muttered.

The Prime Minister's face twisted with conflicting emotion. Iruel and the Israfel twins looked increasingly nervous and confused.

"You've been had, Prime Minister. And a much more dangerous foe is preparing to attack us. Now if you stand down now you'll escape this with only the shame of having to resign from office," the Empress chided him like a child caught trying to sneak food before dinner.

"WILLE has failed us!" the Prime Minister was shouting again. "They're not strong enough to to stop Ramiel! You're not strong enough to stop him! We came close to the brink with the attack mere steps from WILLE and the video that followed! And what has WILLE done? Nothing!"

'He had planned for the PM to act this way,' Ria realized with horror. The attack on Dimitri and Midori was probably an attempt to set him on edge, push him into making mistakes. Her blatantly pushing Midori into giving up Leliel probably had not helped either.

...Were they trying to get Leliel back? They couldn't possibly know she was here. And yet, they knew this meeting was happening in the first place. The timing of the attack was just too perfect to be anything else. A false flag operation meant Ramiel knew exactly what was going down today.

"You're mad," Asuka declared. "Worse than that, you're giving Ramiel exactly what he wants!"

"We are the only way to defeat to him!" the Prime Minister angrily countered. "With the Societas Eruditorium in control we will no longer be restrained by the simplistic morality of a naive Empress and a broken democracy! We will be free to burn Ramiel out of his nest but whatever means needed!"

Leliel look completely confused as to what to do. The Israfels looked towards Iruel, who could only stare the PM with increasing bewilderment. Ria could hear Sahaquiel muttering in confusion behind her. Whatever the heck was going on, they hadn't planned on it.

Ria was waiting for the right moment. Sahaquiel to change her mind, to get distracted for just long enough. One slip, one moment...

"If such extreme methods worked I would have used them," the Empress noted.

The PM turned towards the throne. "You-"

A beam of light shot through his chest, a hole the size of a fist appearing where his heart had been. For a split second he stood there in shock, deep red blood dripping from his mouth, before he collapsed to ground like a broken puppet.

The whole room turned to stare at the one who had shot him, Kyoko Ikari.

"Someone had to do it," Kyoko said, shocked and horrified by what she had done.

Israfel grew tense, both parts of her looking prepared for a fight. Iruel knelt next to the fallen PM.

"I told them he was under too much stress," he muttered.

"It's regretful that it had to be done," the Empress said, her voice sounding slightly off for some reason. "Hopefully his compatriots will be able to undo whatever damage he has inflicted."

"Would if I could, Your Majesty," Iruel said regretfully. "Unfortunately the T-RIDEN-T has already been launched. The attack has already begun."

/

"Four separate attacks have hit our firewall! The MAGI are struggling to hold them off!" Akagi declared.

"We're picking up troop movements. Speakers on the street are announcing Marital Law. Half of them are declaring us Enemies of the State as well," another voice called out.

"Still no contact from Commander Soryu!" Mana shouted.

"Picking up multiple contacts on Radar! Something massive is coming this way!"

"Launch all Evas!" Ibuki shouted over the chaos engulfing the Commander Center.

Commander Soryu was beyond reach, Misato was still laid up, and Ristuko, the nominal Commander at this point, was completely focused on their computer. WILLE's Command Center was effectively leaderless at this point.

Thankfully, despite the chaos, someone heard her. The three Evangelions thunderously rose to the street.

In the confusion, only Maya noted the distinct dip all three Pilots' synch ratios had taken.

/

"Don't let anything reach WILLE. Those troops are more than likely under orders to kill everyone in this building. Trust me, I'm speaking from experience on this. And we're basically out of security at this point," Ibuki explained over the radio.

"Don't you have that other Suzuhara girl?" Asuka questioned

"She's... locked herself in Mrs.Suzuhara's hospital room." Ibuki replied with a sigh "We're dealing with."

"Well that's just lovely," Asuka muttered. "Well, you heard the woman. We have a pyramid to protect. Shinji, take the South. Ayanami, you have the east side. I'll take the North and West. Shoot, stomp, and stab anything that isn't friendly."

"...Acknowledged," Ayanami said hesitantly.

"Understood," Shinji replied.

He had to force down his misgivings about attacking military units. For a moment he was almost sickened by the thought of actually killing humans. But he quickly realized that he had been fighting against people since he arrived here.

The first wave of attackers never reached them at all, the air wing blown out of the sky by missiles before they were more than a dot on the horizon. Allied support, it would seem.

The second wave was by land. Armored personnel carriers and tanks came charging up the streets towards WILLE. They attacked haphazardly, in sporadic groups, coming at them piecemeal. Shinji barely had to fire his new pallet rifle more than a couple times. Asuka took the brunt of the force, sweeping them aside like they were nothing.

"Fair warning." It was Kirishima on the radio this time. "We have visual confirmation on T-RIDEN-T. It's going to be on you in less than a minute."

"Are you mad that we're going to break your old toy?" Asuka mocked.

"I'm just glad everyone's realized I'm not involved with whatever the heck is going on," Mana muttered.

"Killing Japanese soldiers by the dozen? This must be old hat for you, Asuka Langley Soryu," a new voice declared.

"What?" Asuka replied.

The T-RIDEN-T came roaring at them across the city, propelled by six oversized jet engines. It's feet tore out huge chunks of the road as it landed in front of Unit-02.

The thing reminded Shinji of a Utahraptor in terms of design and general posture.

The T-RIDEN-T was painted a mix of blue and aquamarine. It carried a heavy armament; two cannons mounted on it's almost stub like arms, four Positron Cannons mounted on it's back, and various other weapons mounted on the underside of the beast. It could certainly deal damage if given the chance. If it could take any in return was another question altogether.

"You realize we're going to slaughter you, right?" Asuka sounded unimpressed.

"You can try," the boy on the other end of the line boldly declared.

"Oh, I certainly will," Asuka replied. "You can count on that."

/

Central Kyoto was in a state of confusion. WILLE was being attacked by military forces, the Palace was on lockdown, and military units were fighting pitched battles with each other across the nation. No one knew what was going on. Some said there was a coup, others a civil war. Depending on who you believed the Empress was dead, WILLE had betrayed Japan, WILLE was fighting to save Japan, Angels had taken control of the Empress's mind, among a dozen other rumors. Police could barely keep order as they tried to stage an evacuation.

Not helped by the military, as some units were demanding everyone stay in their home. Others were demanding everyone leave at gunpoint. The police were receiving a half dozen contradicting orders from as many sources. Still, they were keeping things relatively calm in the parts of Kyoto currently not consumed by fighting.

Any calm in downtown Kyoto ended though when he appeared. He first appeared atop a billboard on the front of a skyscraper. A teenage boy with skin and hair as pale white as the robes he wore, his eyes a milky red in color. Two massive wings jutted from his back, thin, jagged, crystal-like things.

People stared in confusion and horror at him, unable to make sense of what they were seeing. Was he wearing some sort of costume? Why do something like that at a time such as this? Then he jumped from the billboard, and hung in the air, his wings completely stationary on his back as he hovered in the air.

Some pressed forward, convinced this was a madman doing some sort of stunt, others just stared and gasped. Then his eyes began to glow a brilliant white.

Those who saw it collapsed, utterly overwhelmed by what was being forced into their minds. For a moment they knew little but pain and terror. Then they knew nothing at all, their minds utterly dominated by Arael.

A few strong willed people resisted, fighting back against the boy, only for those dominated by the Angel to attack them, beating them to death with sticks and bare hands.

Soon the possessed mob spread out, attacking anyone they saw and ripping apart the city, block by block.

/

Iruel paced quickly, threatening to wear a hole in the palace floor. Kyoko and Israfel stared each other down, both sides of Israfel prepared to strike if Kyoko so much as breathed wrong. Leliel stood there, paralyzed with fear.

"You realize the moment I figure out how to get out of this girl's grip without blowing up the Palace in the process, I'm going to slaughter all of you unless you surrender?" Ria threatened.

"...Maybe we should call this off," Midori said nervously. "I mean, the Prime Minister clearly cracked from the pressure. We can just chalk it up to a mistake, right?"

"Except the others agreed to the Prime Minister enacting the plan," Iruel replied. "If we stop now we risk losing everything we've worked for. Unless... unless..."

He turned to the Empress, causing every guard in the palace to focus entirely on him. He then bowed deeply.

"Your Majesty, what happened today was a grave miscalculation brought about by Ramiel's manipulation and the PM's poorly timed mental breakdown. But I believe I can salvage this situation to both of our advantages. The Societas Eruditorium believes in educated rulership."

"And yet you were lead by a moron," Ria muttered under her breath.

"The Prime Minister hated you," Iruel went on. "But I am far more open. You seem to be a good ruler, maybe even a great one. If you agree to join the Societas and allow us to advise you, we can call off this coup right now. Of course you have to agree that the monarchy is an outdated concept from a barbaric age long past and it will end with you, but I think with our help you will enjoy greater power than you ever did before."

"...My thanks, but no." the Empress replied bluntly. "I would suggest you end this madness but you appear to be under orders."

"Unfortunately, yes. My superiors in the Societas have signed off on the PM's plan. I...oh no," Iruel's eyes went wide, terror filling them.

"What?" Sahaquiel questioned.

"Okay, change of plans, change of plans!" Iruel began shouting. "Release Soryu, we have a far, far bigger problem now!"

Sahaquiel let go of Ria. For a split second Ria considered ripping Iruel in half. But Iruel's panic gave her far more worry.

"Let me guess," her mother said. "Ramiel's attacking WILLE?"

"Worse!" Iruel shouted. "Much worse! Oh so much worse! Arael is in the streets! He's using his powers! I'm currently watching a half dozen camera feeds showing him hovering above the streets with damn wings growing out of his back!"

"Oh…" was all Ria could muster.

This was bad, this was... there were very few things that where worse than this. People, could... were going to find out what exactly the Angels were now. And that was a path she really did not want to tread down.

"And somehow, today got so much worse," Asuka muttered.

"Okay new plan, new plan," Iruel's voice grew feverish. "I'm going to do what I can to call off the Societas. Then we can focus on figuring out how to stop Arael before this spirals completely out of control."

"But... doesn't that mean the Eruditorium is-" both halves of Israfel began.

"I know!" Iruel cut them off. "I know it completely screws up everything we've worked for! But what other choice do we have now?! Let the mobs of brainwashed people rip us apart?!"

He turned towards the fallen Prime Minister, kicking his corpse repeatedly in frustration.

"I told you peace was working!" he shouted in between kicks. "In one damn moment you ruined everything I ever hoped to accomplish!"

The room shook violently with the sound of a nearby explosion.

"Oh what now?" Iruel cried out in frustration.

The main doors to the throne room exploded inwards, dark smoke rapidly filling the room. In moments it was all but impossible to see.

Ria immediately rushed towards where her mother had been standing, reaching out and grabbing her arm, holding her close.

The sound of coughing filled the room. The smoke felt like it was burning her lungs.

She heard a scream, then another one.

Moments later the smoke cleared, revealing two new figures had entered the room.

Ramiel stood near the entrance, one arm wrapped around Leliel's waist while he held the other against her throat, molded into a blade. His face was damaged, the wounds Okito had inflicted on him now turned into thick, twisted scar tissue.

The other was a person wrapped in a ragged black cloak, Ramiel's mask upon their face, a sword the same color and texture as Ramiel's Angelic form in their hands. Its edge was soaked in blood.

They stood above the now fallen form of Iruel, his head now a considerable distance away from the rest of his body.

Israfel recoiled in horror.

"Craaap..." Midori muttered.

"Oh, come on," the figure mocked robotically. "It's not like he's actually dead."

Without saying a word, Ria and Kyoko both fired upon Ramiel, trying to strike his head.

The shots hit his AT-Field in a brilliant flash, the field refusing to yield.

Ramiel stared at them, a smug grin across his face.

"You do realize you're still outnumbered five to two, right?" Ria spat.

"Five to one, actually," Ramiel replied. "I'm leaving."

He pulled a thin grenade from his side and tossed it into the center of the room. A blinding flash filled Ria's vision.

She recoiled, blinded and in pain. "Gott verdammt!" she shouted.

Vision returned painfully, rainbow spots distorting everything for a moment. By the time she could fully see again, Ramiel was gone, Leliel with him. Both parts of Israfel had vanished as well. The cloaked one remained, still standing above Iruel's body.

"It appears you've been abandoned, Sahaquiel," they said mockingly.

"Israfel has gone after Ramiel. She'll stop him," Midori said defiantly. Her knees were shaking slightly

"I very much doubt that," the figure replied.

Ria stepped forward. "You realize we're going to kill you right? No, let me correct that, I'm going to kill you by myself because I am just that annoyed right now and you look like a great punching bag, you weird fanboy."

"You can try," the figure said.

"Be careful," Midori warned. "Something's not right here..."

Ria closed the gap between them in moments. The figure swung their sword at her. Ria slammed her foot down on the figure's cloak, throwing them off balance for just a moment. In that moment Ria's arm sliced through the figure's sword arm, taking it off at the wrist.

A moment later Ria's other foot connected with the figure's chest, kicking them into the wall.

"I don't know what weird universe Ramiel pulled you out of," Ria said casually as she picked up the hand. "But a word of advice: loose clothing like that in a fight is just a stupid idea. Then again, so is attacking an Angel with a swor-"

Ria froze, her gaze focused on the severed hand she now held. Specifically, the hauntingly familiar antique ring on one of it's aged fingers. A ring with two diamonds intertwined around each other.

A ring just like the one on her left hand.

"'That... that can't be it, could it?'" the figure mocked as it stood up. "'But she told me it was unique, one of a kind. It has to be a coincidence. Or an alternate! It has to be!' Am I close?"

The figure walked towards Ria, their wounded hand regenerating at their side as they began to pull off their mask, revealing long strands of greying brown hair.

"Because it can't possibly be the same ring you have on your finger," they continued. "Because that would that would just raise too many awful question. What happened? Who did I lose? How bad did things get-"

She pulled off the mask completely, revealing an aged mirror of Ria's own face.

"For you to become me?"

 

[Teen Spirit]

Author's Note: So fair warning. Originally I wanted to have a good deal more than this up before I posted but I simply haven't had the time recently. And I didn't want this to go a whole month without an update. So this isn't going to be a particularly large update.

/

The figure carefully removed her cloak, revealing an armor that almost mirrored Ria's own, though it was thinner and lacked armor around the neck and arms. Her hair had grown long, reaching her shoulders, the brown color in a losing war against grays and silvers.

"I know you're probably going to start saying I'm from another universe. I'm not you. I'm the Koda to your Kodama," the figure said. "And you'd almost be right. You and I are not the same person. We stopped being the same person when Ramiel kidnapped me. It's like what happened with the pilots and our parents, only in reverse."

Asuka was at a loss, not sure what to do, say, or even think. This was Ria, a Ria who looked like she was approaching sixty years old. And she was working with Ramiel? The possibility of something like this happening had been in the back of Asuka's mind since Kyoko and Koda had appeared. But seeing it, seeing her in the flesh...nothing could have prepare her for how much this hurt. Her daughter, gone mad...

"Why?" Ria, her Ria said, her voice shaking with barely restrained rage.

"Gonna have to be more specific, there," her counterpart said. "Why I am doing this? Why the sword? Why did I take Iruel's head?"

"Why are you working with Ramiel?" Ria said through gritted teeth. "Why would you work with Langley and Arael?! Why did you betray everything and everyone we ever stood for?!"

"For the power to save what family I have left," her counterpart replied tightly.

Asuka winced.

"Oh, that's bad," Kyoko muttered.

"What?" Ria replied bluntly.

The older woman sighed, looking at the ceiling. "Oh, fate is cruel. To kill the beast I first must ensure it is born. To defend I must attack. To save I must destroy."

Ria grunted impatiently.

"You don't know loss, girl," her other said. "I've lost parents, friends, children. Everyone of them tore a hole in me that can never heal. I can't bring them back. I can't change what happened. All I can do is protect what I have left. And to do that I need what Ramiel's selling."

Ria's gaze narrowed, her expression becoming less rageful.

"...Who the heck are you fighting?" she asked.

Ria had never shown any interest in gaining power, so for this... other version of her to actually want Ramiel's vision of godhood, she'd either has snapped completely or was fighting something far bigger than normal. Or both. Did she want to kill Rei?

"Oh, roughly ninety eight point... three percent of the world. I still have some friends in North America," the older Ria said casually. "You see, it wasn't Iruel who killed my mother, it was a Societas sniper. It wasn't Israfel who killed my father, it was a protester armed with nothing more than a rock. It wasn't Ramiel that killed my son, it was a missile strike launched at my house by the Chinese government!"

Her voice had become a near scream by the end.

"We killed Ramiel, and all the others," she went on. "But the public found out what I was, and suddenly saving them wasn't enough. I tried to argue with them, convince them they were wrong about me, but that just got people killed. So I ran, I did what Mari and I had talked about so long ago and fled. But that wasn't enough for some of them, and even more of my family got killed. Okito was right in one regard. The world at large won't tolerate our existence if they know what we really are. Ramiel may be accelerating things, worsening them even, but we were past the tipping point when I arrived. They would have found out sooner or later. It doesn't matter what you do, it doesn't matter what I do. They'll hate us both. Only way to survive them is by being so strong nothing they can do will harm you or the people you care about."

So that was it. This Ria had her need to protect them pushed to the point of near madness. No, not near.

Ria sighed, shaking her head. "Fucking Leliel."

"Oh, no arguments here," her other self replied. "Leliel made this entire situation so much worse than it needed to be."

The two gave each other a measured look, both ready to strike at a moment's notice.

"One question. There was a Leliel here, moments ago." Ria said, trying to remain calm. "Why didn't you betray Ramiel, grab her and take your family to some place safe?"

"Why take the risk?" her older counterpart replied. "Too many chances of something going wrong, of me ending up somewhere I can't get out of. Here, here I know what I'm dealing with."

Ria inhaled sharply through teeth. "And there it is."

"Oh, what, you don't approve?" her other chided.

"I started this day hoping, hoping against all hope that for once things would go right. But no, life decided all the shit I'd been through already wasn't enough and added the Prime Minister losing his mind and YOU to the mix," Ria said, anger growing with every sentence. "And for a moment there, a moment. I was actually starting to get you, really understand how I could become you. And believe me, I do sympathize. I'm gonna have nightmares about what you told me for the rest of my life. But that...that right there, no...no. I can't abide that."

"Abide what?"

"You seriously expect us to believe that doing this is safer than just fleeing to a reality where none of this happening? If your family was being held hostage I would get it, but no, this isn't just about protecting your family. You want to prove something, or kill someone. And you're putting your family's safety as risk to do so," Ria declared.

Her counterpart's expression turned furious, mirroring Ria's own.

"Where you not listening?!" she shouted, "I tried, people kept dying."

"And what, the people who want you dead would follow you to another universe? Hell, you could have taken your family here, moved to Boston and even if things had gone to pot like you said, no one would have known to look for you," Ria countered.

The older one laughed slightly. "You think being a coward works? After everything we've been through? You know how much we could have stopped if we had actually opened our eyes to what Okito was doing, we-"

"We made mistakes with Okito," Ria admitted. "But his sins were his own. And that doesn't disprove my point in the slightest. Besides, the only coward here is you."

"...And with that, I'm done with this conversation," the older Ria growled.

Ria snatched up her counterpart's sword and tossed it at her like a spear. The sword flew through the air before her other self caught it by hilt.

"So am I."