- Location
- Spain
She does, I'm pretty sure.
-
Going forward, links to content from Twitter (now X) will no longer be embedded. Pre-existing links should not be affected.
You Are (Not) at Fault
- Thread starter MisterHalt
- Start date
She does, I'm pretty sure.
- Location
- Australia, mate
Back near the start of the story, Asuka asked Misato what Kaworu looked like after being saved by Adam.
- Location
- National Capital Region, USA
So they have never met in person, but Asuka knows of him and has a description from Misato?
- Location
- Australia, mate
...Technically yes? Depends on how you define 'met'. They certainly saw each other during the rescue.
Schpoonman
They call me the Bord of Lays
- Location
- United States
The best kind of "yes." 
- Location
- supernatural
MisterHalt do you have any plans to bring Yui Ikari in to the story i would to see Asuka chew her out and give her a big fat reason you suck speech of how she let Shinji watched her "die" as at least her mother was insane when she hanged herself and when she saw her again her mother begged for forgiveness, plus she still has not left instrumentality or unit-01 and that she most likely does not feel sorry for anything she's done.
Ranma-sensei
Sorcerer
- Location
- Citrix Receiver
- Pronouns
- Weatherdependent
Punctuation. Use it.
Chapter 31.1
- Location
- Australia, mate
...Well I technically got this finished on the weekend, but Ranma wasn't available to look it over for a couple days and I wasn't comfortable posting it until he did.
XX
Chapter 31
Not a single word had been spoken in the NERV command centre since the loss of Rei and Unit-00 to the Revenants. Everybody was too focused on what the orange beasts were now doing with the stricken Evangelions.
Everybody, that is, except for Kyoko, who had slid bonelessly down a wall shortly after watching her daughter vanish. Misato vaguely thought that she had half-expected the mother of NERV's most fiery employee to have made some effort to regain that title for herself. But Kyoko was now sitting on the ground, arms wrapped around her knees, mumbling to herself and focusing intently on the screen. Misato sighed and turned her own attention back to the screen, still puzzled by what was going on on the surface.
After their victory, the Revenants had carefully dragged the Evangelions, a Lance still lodged in each core, to a point some distance away from the city and laid them down next to each other to form a three-pointed star with their heads at the centre. Each Revenant was kneeling at the foot of an Evangelion, looking to be concentrating deeply. There was an occasional orange flicker in the air around the scene, a sign of an immense AT-Field building up.
Misato finally broke the silence.
"Any-" She swallowed in a dry throat, and tried again. "Any response from the Evas? Anything at all?"
"No ma'am," Makoto dully replied. "Activation commands are having no effect, and all emergency systems are failing to respond. Their AT-Field seems to be-"
There was a brilliant flash, and the flickering AT-Field became a solid orange dome.
"...is blocking everything," the spectacled officer lamely finished.
"It's just like when Nagisa blocked out everything in Terminal Dogma," Ritsuko remarked. "Only this time, we have nothing to counter it." The scientist leaned over Maya and typed a few commands on the console, before straightening up with a frown. "There's not even any point throwing N2 mines at it. We'd do more damage to the landscape than the enemy. And I'm not exactly confident that nuclear weapons would accomplish much either."
"Just what the hell are they doing?" Misato hissed. "They come along, wipe the floor with us, and then... begin some kind of ritual?" The day was well past being too much for the woman, and she just barely restrained herself from slamming a fist against the wall. Again.
"I have a pretty good guess that it has something to do with the anomalous reading coming this way."
The Sub-Commander's words pulled Misato's gaze away from the main screen, towards the console Shigeru Aoba was sitting at. Indeed, there was something the MAGI couldn't easily identify rushing through the ocean on a direct course to Tokyo-3.
Mere seconds later, an immense orange orb burst out of the water by the shoreline, its rippling surface giving it the appearance of a ball of liquid held aloft by an invisible hand, heading straight for the dome the Revenants were hiding under with the Evangelions.
"Oh. Oh don't you dare," Misato growled out. "Don't you fucking dare steal my kids!" She took a quick breath and gave the order. "I want everything firing on whatever that is, now!"
Even if they had their doubts about the effectiveness of human weapons against this threat, all three bridge officers immediately jumped to obey, intent on doing something to try and hurt the enemy. Above their heads, all around Tokyo-3, the static defenses came to life and opened up on the new arrival. Bullets, cannon shells, and explosive warheads all streaked through the sky towards the floating orange mass.
And every single projectile passed right through it as if it wasn't there. A couple of weapon emplacements suffered friendly fire as a missile exploded near them.
It was, Misato decided, adding insult to injury that the thing refused to even pretend to be affected.
"Energy spike detected within the target!" Makoto loudly called out. Nobody needed to hear him, as they could all see for themselves what was happening.
A glowing white hand, larger than even an entire Evangelion, was reaching out of the bubble towards the dome. The sight of that hand, and the realisation of just what was in the bubble, froze Misato solid.
"Adam..."
Despite the weapon emplacements shifting their aim, there was no stopping the hand of the First Angel as it latched onto the orange dome and slowly lifted it up into the air. As it ascended, rock and dirt fell away to reveal that the dome had cut through the ground as well to create an impenetrable sphere a mere fraction of the size of the bubble it was now being drawn into.
"Commander, if we're going to use N2s or nukes, we'd better do it now," Ritsuko warned. "Bombers have already lifted off and are en route. Shall I give the order for them to drop everything on Adam?"
The Commander of NERV dropped her chin to her chest, unwilling to look at the screen anymore. "Give... give the order," she whispered. "We'll burn the entire region to radioactive ash if we have to. It'll still be better than the alternative. At least humanity will still be alive."
The AT-Field sphere was soon lost to sight inside the bubble.
XX
"Rise and shine, Miss Soryu. Rise and shine."
Pain was the first thing Asuka felt as she fought her way back to consciousness, taking the form of an incredibly bad headache. Thankfully, that quickly disappeared, and she blinked the fuzziness out of her eyes as she got to her feet.
Asuka was standing in a city plaza, but she couldn't make out any details. The entire area was blanketed in a thick fog that seemed to begin a few meters around her. With a start, the redhead realised that she had been here before. It was the same plaza where she had spoken to her mother the last time she had been in Instrumentality. But unlike that time, she was still in her plugsuit.
Somebody politely cleared their throat behind Asuka, and she whirled around to face them.
"Hello, again," said the newcomer. "It's been a while since we last met, hasn't it?"
The look of death now aimed at them would have sent any normal person running for the hills. The way the angry German girl was stomping towards them would have made that same person decide it wasn't worth packing. Asuka slipped past the casually raised hand they held out, before grabbing onto both their shoulders and slamming a knee into a certain part of their anatomy.
After a few seconds, the young man hesitantly said, "Is this... some sort of Lilim greeting? Should I be doing the same to you?"
Asuka blinked, before hurriedly letting go and backing away. The boy had not even twitched at the blatant attack, and was simply giving her a bemused look. If anything, that only made her madder.
Now that she had time to fully regard him, she saw that he still had the appearance of Kaworu Nagisa. Despite never having seen the Seventeenth Angel herself due to being in a coma, the memory of him rescuing her and Shinji was still etched clearly in Asuka's mind.
And now she knew exactly who he was.
"Come to gloat about winning?" she contemptuously asked. "Beating us wasn't enough, you have to personally rub it in our faces as well, oh mighty Adam?"
"No, nothing of the sort," the First Angel replied. "My plan requires the Evangelions but not their pilots, so you three were extracted once I gained control of them."
At the mention of her fellow pilots, Asuka glanced around. There was no sign of Shinji or Rei nearby.
"Where-"
Anticipating the question, Adam cut her off with an explanation. "They are with Lilith for the time being. I understand she wished to speak with them about a few things."
The redhead narrowed her eyes and clenched her fists as she walked in a slow circle around him. "'Things'? What things? And why did I get left out? Why am I stuck with you?"
Adam smiled and did not turn his head to follow Asuka as she stalked around him. "Out of respect for Lilith I did not press the matter when she brought it up, but I can assure you that your friends are safe and that you'll see them again soon."
Asuka stopped at a point behind Adam where the circle of clear space in the fog around her just barely began to creep over his form. "And the reason for me being here with you?" she asked again.
Without seeming to even move a muscle, Adam was suddenly facing her again. "A couple of reasons; purely for your benefit. As the chariot you rode against my Revenants was made from my flesh and a fragment of my soul, I felt it would be appropriate if I were to be your guide. I would have extended the same offer to the other Lilim girl, but..." He shrugs.
"Guide? Guide to what?"
Adam raised his hands to gesture at the plaza they were standing in. "Why, Instrumentality of course. If I were to simply leave you alone, you'd soon become nothing more than another lost soul."
"Get to the point!" Asuka snarled. "Why the hell would I want to wander around this place?!"
As his arms faltered before dropping back to his side, Adam stared quizzically at her. "You... do not wish to see any members of your family that are still in Instrumentality? This would be your last chance, after all. Once everything is ready, it won't be possible for any more Lilim to leave."
Asuka snorted derisively. "The asshole who happens to be my father? Yeah right." She stomped towards Adam, stopping when only centimetres separated their faces. "What I wish right now is to perform some below-the-belt surgery for what you and your damn toys have done," she said in a dangerous tone of voice.
It was probably an automatic response built into every male in existence, but that didn't stop the tiniest of smirks from appearing on her face when she saw the First Angel clench his body slightly at the threat and twitch his hands towards his groin.
Although that didn't explain his lack of reaction to Asuka's 'greeting'.
"Peace, please," Adam requested, once he had backed away and managed to recover. "The fighting is over. There is no need to get violent anymore."
"Oh, there is every need," Asuka retorted. "You want to wipe humanity off the planet just so you can give it to your Angels." She took a step forward. "You preyed on Shinji at his most vulnerable moment, turning yourself into his friend and then forcing him to kill you." Another step, putting her well inside Adam's personal space. "And you hurt him. I may not have my Evangelion but that won't stop me from kicking your ass!"
Asuka pulled her fist back and and drove it into Adam's fa-
Through Adam's face, throwing her off-kilter as her attack hit nothing but air. She stumbled for a moment before regaining her balance, and turned around. Adam was still standing there, staring nonplussed at her.
"You are an... interesting Lilim," he said, all emotion gone from his face and voice. "Alone, without your weapon of war, against a god, and yet you attack despite the futility of such an action." Adam looked down at his body. "I suppose this form has something to do with it. Perhaps it is finally time to do away with it."
His body... flickered.
And then melted into the ground. Before Asuka could even begin to process what had just happened, the ground beneath her feet began to rumble. She cast her gaze about, looking for the source of the quaking, but saw nothing until she looked behind her.
A humongous white head was emerging from underneath the plaza, phasing through it as if it didn't exist. Asuka stared in shock as the rest of the body slowly followed, and she had to squint and shield her eyes from the glow its flesh was producing. Its shoulders were already at the height of the tallest building in the plaza when it finally stopped ascending and the ground stopped shaking, putting Asuka at eye height to the middle of a glowing white stomach.
Part of her wanted to move, to run, but her legs wouldn't obey, frozen to the spot by something Asuka refused to admit was fear. Her fists and teeth clenched.
"Y-you think that's enough to scare me?" she yelled up at the giant. "So what if you're huge? That's just more of you to hurt!"
In response, the white giant slowly folded its arms in front of a chest almost the width of the plaza itself. The brilliant glow faded slightly, just enough for Asuka to be able to cease squinting and make out what little detail there was on its body.
The giant was almost completely featureless, like a department store mannequin. Except for the the wings. Asuka was pretty sure she had never seen a mannequin that had six thin but incredibly long wings seemingly composed of pure light.
The ends of the wings curled up and over the giant's shoulders, before slamming into the ground around Asuka. She held her ground -or perhaps was still unable to move, she couldn't tell which-, even as the giant began to lean forward.
Asuka Langley-Soryu stared into an eye with a pupil as big as her entire body.
"Alright, father. I believe you've made a suitable impression on her by now."
The eye swivelled upward, focusing on something behind Asuka. She slowly looked over her shoulder, and raised an eyebrow at what she saw.
A couple of metres away, standing with his hands in the pockets of his school uniform pants, was a young white-haired teenager that looked exactly the same as Adam had, before the Angel had shed that form.
"Hello, Miss Soryu," said the boy. "May I request that the two of you stop this pointless posturing?"
Asuka stared at him, before casting her gaze to the giant in front of her for a moment then returning her attention back to the boy.
"...Nagisa?!"
XX
Chapter 31
Not a single word had been spoken in the NERV command centre since the loss of Rei and Unit-00 to the Revenants. Everybody was too focused on what the orange beasts were now doing with the stricken Evangelions.
Everybody, that is, except for Kyoko, who had slid bonelessly down a wall shortly after watching her daughter vanish. Misato vaguely thought that she had half-expected the mother of NERV's most fiery employee to have made some effort to regain that title for herself. But Kyoko was now sitting on the ground, arms wrapped around her knees, mumbling to herself and focusing intently on the screen. Misato sighed and turned her own attention back to the screen, still puzzled by what was going on on the surface.
After their victory, the Revenants had carefully dragged the Evangelions, a Lance still lodged in each core, to a point some distance away from the city and laid them down next to each other to form a three-pointed star with their heads at the centre. Each Revenant was kneeling at the foot of an Evangelion, looking to be concentrating deeply. There was an occasional orange flicker in the air around the scene, a sign of an immense AT-Field building up.
Misato finally broke the silence.
"Any-" She swallowed in a dry throat, and tried again. "Any response from the Evas? Anything at all?"
"No ma'am," Makoto dully replied. "Activation commands are having no effect, and all emergency systems are failing to respond. Their AT-Field seems to be-"
There was a brilliant flash, and the flickering AT-Field became a solid orange dome.
"...is blocking everything," the spectacled officer lamely finished.
"It's just like when Nagisa blocked out everything in Terminal Dogma," Ritsuko remarked. "Only this time, we have nothing to counter it." The scientist leaned over Maya and typed a few commands on the console, before straightening up with a frown. "There's not even any point throwing N2 mines at it. We'd do more damage to the landscape than the enemy. And I'm not exactly confident that nuclear weapons would accomplish much either."
"Just what the hell are they doing?" Misato hissed. "They come along, wipe the floor with us, and then... begin some kind of ritual?" The day was well past being too much for the woman, and she just barely restrained herself from slamming a fist against the wall. Again.
"I have a pretty good guess that it has something to do with the anomalous reading coming this way."
The Sub-Commander's words pulled Misato's gaze away from the main screen, towards the console Shigeru Aoba was sitting at. Indeed, there was something the MAGI couldn't easily identify rushing through the ocean on a direct course to Tokyo-3.
Mere seconds later, an immense orange orb burst out of the water by the shoreline, its rippling surface giving it the appearance of a ball of liquid held aloft by an invisible hand, heading straight for the dome the Revenants were hiding under with the Evangelions.
"Oh. Oh don't you dare," Misato growled out. "Don't you fucking dare steal my kids!" She took a quick breath and gave the order. "I want everything firing on whatever that is, now!"
Even if they had their doubts about the effectiveness of human weapons against this threat, all three bridge officers immediately jumped to obey, intent on doing something to try and hurt the enemy. Above their heads, all around Tokyo-3, the static defenses came to life and opened up on the new arrival. Bullets, cannon shells, and explosive warheads all streaked through the sky towards the floating orange mass.
And every single projectile passed right through it as if it wasn't there. A couple of weapon emplacements suffered friendly fire as a missile exploded near them.
It was, Misato decided, adding insult to injury that the thing refused to even pretend to be affected.
"Energy spike detected within the target!" Makoto loudly called out. Nobody needed to hear him, as they could all see for themselves what was happening.
A glowing white hand, larger than even an entire Evangelion, was reaching out of the bubble towards the dome. The sight of that hand, and the realisation of just what was in the bubble, froze Misato solid.
"Adam..."
Despite the weapon emplacements shifting their aim, there was no stopping the hand of the First Angel as it latched onto the orange dome and slowly lifted it up into the air. As it ascended, rock and dirt fell away to reveal that the dome had cut through the ground as well to create an impenetrable sphere a mere fraction of the size of the bubble it was now being drawn into.
"Commander, if we're going to use N2s or nukes, we'd better do it now," Ritsuko warned. "Bombers have already lifted off and are en route. Shall I give the order for them to drop everything on Adam?"
The Commander of NERV dropped her chin to her chest, unwilling to look at the screen anymore. "Give... give the order," she whispered. "We'll burn the entire region to radioactive ash if we have to. It'll still be better than the alternative. At least humanity will still be alive."
The AT-Field sphere was soon lost to sight inside the bubble.
XX
"Rise and shine, Miss Soryu. Rise and shine."
Pain was the first thing Asuka felt as she fought her way back to consciousness, taking the form of an incredibly bad headache. Thankfully, that quickly disappeared, and she blinked the fuzziness out of her eyes as she got to her feet.
Asuka was standing in a city plaza, but she couldn't make out any details. The entire area was blanketed in a thick fog that seemed to begin a few meters around her. With a start, the redhead realised that she had been here before. It was the same plaza where she had spoken to her mother the last time she had been in Instrumentality. But unlike that time, she was still in her plugsuit.
Somebody politely cleared their throat behind Asuka, and she whirled around to face them.
"Hello, again," said the newcomer. "It's been a while since we last met, hasn't it?"
The look of death now aimed at them would have sent any normal person running for the hills. The way the angry German girl was stomping towards them would have made that same person decide it wasn't worth packing. Asuka slipped past the casually raised hand they held out, before grabbing onto both their shoulders and slamming a knee into a certain part of their anatomy.
After a few seconds, the young man hesitantly said, "Is this... some sort of Lilim greeting? Should I be doing the same to you?"
Asuka blinked, before hurriedly letting go and backing away. The boy had not even twitched at the blatant attack, and was simply giving her a bemused look. If anything, that only made her madder.
Now that she had time to fully regard him, she saw that he still had the appearance of Kaworu Nagisa. Despite never having seen the Seventeenth Angel herself due to being in a coma, the memory of him rescuing her and Shinji was still etched clearly in Asuka's mind.
And now she knew exactly who he was.
"Come to gloat about winning?" she contemptuously asked. "Beating us wasn't enough, you have to personally rub it in our faces as well, oh mighty Adam?"
"No, nothing of the sort," the First Angel replied. "My plan requires the Evangelions but not their pilots, so you three were extracted once I gained control of them."
At the mention of her fellow pilots, Asuka glanced around. There was no sign of Shinji or Rei nearby.
"Where-"
Anticipating the question, Adam cut her off with an explanation. "They are with Lilith for the time being. I understand she wished to speak with them about a few things."
The redhead narrowed her eyes and clenched her fists as she walked in a slow circle around him. "'Things'? What things? And why did I get left out? Why am I stuck with you?"
Adam smiled and did not turn his head to follow Asuka as she stalked around him. "Out of respect for Lilith I did not press the matter when she brought it up, but I can assure you that your friends are safe and that you'll see them again soon."
Asuka stopped at a point behind Adam where the circle of clear space in the fog around her just barely began to creep over his form. "And the reason for me being here with you?" she asked again.
Without seeming to even move a muscle, Adam was suddenly facing her again. "A couple of reasons; purely for your benefit. As the chariot you rode against my Revenants was made from my flesh and a fragment of my soul, I felt it would be appropriate if I were to be your guide. I would have extended the same offer to the other Lilim girl, but..." He shrugs.
"Guide? Guide to what?"
Adam raised his hands to gesture at the plaza they were standing in. "Why, Instrumentality of course. If I were to simply leave you alone, you'd soon become nothing more than another lost soul."
"Get to the point!" Asuka snarled. "Why the hell would I want to wander around this place?!"
As his arms faltered before dropping back to his side, Adam stared quizzically at her. "You... do not wish to see any members of your family that are still in Instrumentality? This would be your last chance, after all. Once everything is ready, it won't be possible for any more Lilim to leave."
Asuka snorted derisively. "The asshole who happens to be my father? Yeah right." She stomped towards Adam, stopping when only centimetres separated their faces. "What I wish right now is to perform some below-the-belt surgery for what you and your damn toys have done," she said in a dangerous tone of voice.
It was probably an automatic response built into every male in existence, but that didn't stop the tiniest of smirks from appearing on her face when she saw the First Angel clench his body slightly at the threat and twitch his hands towards his groin.
Although that didn't explain his lack of reaction to Asuka's 'greeting'.
"Peace, please," Adam requested, once he had backed away and managed to recover. "The fighting is over. There is no need to get violent anymore."
"Oh, there is every need," Asuka retorted. "You want to wipe humanity off the planet just so you can give it to your Angels." She took a step forward. "You preyed on Shinji at his most vulnerable moment, turning yourself into his friend and then forcing him to kill you." Another step, putting her well inside Adam's personal space. "And you hurt him. I may not have my Evangelion but that won't stop me from kicking your ass!"
Asuka pulled her fist back and and drove it into Adam's fa-
Through Adam's face, throwing her off-kilter as her attack hit nothing but air. She stumbled for a moment before regaining her balance, and turned around. Adam was still standing there, staring nonplussed at her.
"You are an... interesting Lilim," he said, all emotion gone from his face and voice. "Alone, without your weapon of war, against a god, and yet you attack despite the futility of such an action." Adam looked down at his body. "I suppose this form has something to do with it. Perhaps it is finally time to do away with it."
His body... flickered.
And then melted into the ground. Before Asuka could even begin to process what had just happened, the ground beneath her feet began to rumble. She cast her gaze about, looking for the source of the quaking, but saw nothing until she looked behind her.
A humongous white head was emerging from underneath the plaza, phasing through it as if it didn't exist. Asuka stared in shock as the rest of the body slowly followed, and she had to squint and shield her eyes from the glow its flesh was producing. Its shoulders were already at the height of the tallest building in the plaza when it finally stopped ascending and the ground stopped shaking, putting Asuka at eye height to the middle of a glowing white stomach.
Part of her wanted to move, to run, but her legs wouldn't obey, frozen to the spot by something Asuka refused to admit was fear. Her fists and teeth clenched.
"Y-you think that's enough to scare me?" she yelled up at the giant. "So what if you're huge? That's just more of you to hurt!"
In response, the white giant slowly folded its arms in front of a chest almost the width of the plaza itself. The brilliant glow faded slightly, just enough for Asuka to be able to cease squinting and make out what little detail there was on its body.
The giant was almost completely featureless, like a department store mannequin. Except for the the wings. Asuka was pretty sure she had never seen a mannequin that had six thin but incredibly long wings seemingly composed of pure light.
The ends of the wings curled up and over the giant's shoulders, before slamming into the ground around Asuka. She held her ground -or perhaps was still unable to move, she couldn't tell which-, even as the giant began to lean forward.
Asuka Langley-Soryu stared into an eye with a pupil as big as her entire body.
"Alright, father. I believe you've made a suitable impression on her by now."
The eye swivelled upward, focusing on something behind Asuka. She slowly looked over her shoulder, and raised an eyebrow at what she saw.
A couple of metres away, standing with his hands in the pockets of his school uniform pants, was a young white-haired teenager that looked exactly the same as Adam had, before the Angel had shed that form.
"Hello, Miss Soryu," said the boy. "May I request that the two of you stop this pointless posturing?"
Asuka stared at him, before casting her gaze to the giant in front of her for a moment then returning her attention back to the boy.
"...Nagisa?!"
trob030490
Professor Kokonoe
- Pronouns
- she/her
Always Late
Lacking in coffee, sleep, and brains
- Location
- Ohio
Whelp. Kyoko's gone.
Fourth Impact.
Yup, that looks like fourth impact.
Figures. A meeting with one of the primogenitors of humanity, and the first thing Asuka does is kick him in the dick.
Explaining what's going to happen now that the game is lost?
Any more? So those who have left aren't going to be stuck back in? You're just going to wipe them out and let your children replace them? And why would Asuka let you take her around Instrumentality?
*opens mouth*
*closes mouth*
*reads next sequence*
OK, Asuka decided to play dick-measuring contest with a God.
That is stupid, yet epic.
Next lines from him will be:
Turing Decidable
𝕘𝕒𝕣𝕗
- Location
- Belgium
- Pronouns
- He/Him
At least Asuka can be content with kneeing Angel-boy where it hurts for all eternity if they can't escape Instrumentality.
- Location
- National Capital Region, USA
Hahahah, OW.
Plan? What are you up to, Adam?
Are you at all surprised?
Always Late
Lacking in coffee, sleep, and brains
- Location
- Ohio
Wipe out Lilith's children with 4th impact to continue his species, steal the fruit of knowledge to become a Perfect Being, find the secret to the perfect tan, what can't you do with a trio of Evas?
Better question: Should Adam have been?
- Location
- Really? This field is required?
See why kids love the taste of Cinnamon Toast Crunch?
Schpoonman
They call me the Bord of Lays
- Location
- United States
Hey, don't make fun of the MP Evas for not having eyes. Not their fault SEELE was weird about their design.
- Location
- Australia, mate
I wanted to put a picture of a sad MP Eva here, but I couldn't find one. So just use your imagination.
Ranma-sensei
Sorcerer
- Location
- Citrix Receiver
- Pronouns
- Weatherdependent
Is that like seeing a smiling Wednesday Addams? *shudder*
Turing Decidable
𝕘𝕒𝕣𝕗
- Location
- Belgium
- Pronouns
- He/Him
The closest you'll get are probably those that got their faces mangled by Asuka.
Chapter 31.2
- Location
- Australia, mate
Whoops, I forgot to post this before going to bed last night. To be fair though, I have been sick since last Friday. Dry coughing and breathing problems causing more coughing and keeping me from being able to sleep properly. Fun.
**
Chapter 31.2
For somebody who had once been merely one clone of a batch numbering well over a dozen, Rei still found herself shocked to wake up and look into her own face. She stared for a long while, before it finally clicked in her head.
"...Lilith," she said.
The other person nodded. "It is good to see you again, my child," Lilith replied as she offered a hand to Rei and lifted the girl to her feet.
"I wish it were under more pleasant circumstances, however," Rei remarked.
Lilith smiled. "All will be made clear in due time. For now, know that you are safe."
"And... Shinji? Asuka?"
"Asuka is with Adam." At Rei's shocked expression, the mother of humanity quickly added, "Do not worry, she will still be safe. As for Shinji-"
"Waagh!"
Both bluenettes turned at the startled yelp to see the object of their discussion a couple of metres away, sitting up and staring agape at them.
Upon noticing that his eyes were jumping between the two of them, Rei cleared her throat and said, "I believe he is surprised to see what appears to be a clone of me."
"...Ah," Lilith replied. "My apologies. I have worn this form for so long I had forgotten about it."
A brilliant white glow erupted out of Lilith's chest, blinding the two teenagers for a moment. When Rei blinked the spots out of her eyes, she saw that Lilith was now a white-skinned, somewhat-feminine figure with six thin white wings, floating just above the ground. The glow had faded to the point where the figure's skin now seemed lit by an inner light.
If anything, Lilith's new form only surprised Shinji more, but Rei was soon by his side to lay a hand on his shoulder in reassurance. He looked up at her, and the relaxed expression on her face was enough to settle him back down.
"Hello, Shinji."
Lilith's voice, sounding almost like two people speaking at exactly the same time, drew the boy's attention back to the floating goddess.
"U-um... hi," he weakly replied as he got to his feet.
"Before anything else happens, I would like to say something." Lilith placed a hand on her chest. "I am... sorry for what you endured in your role in Third Impact. I realised too late that you should not have been put in such a-."
"No!" Rei angrily interrupted. "If anyone is to blame for that it is me! I was the one who believed that Gendo Ikari was unworthy, and I sought somebody else." She calmed down slightly, and her head sunk to her chest.
Lilith smiled slightly. "To be honest, if it hadn't been for the ones you call SEELE, none of us would have faced such a conundrum in the first place."
"Yeah," Shinji mumbled, before letting out a harsh, humourless laugh. "But that knowledge doesn't exactly wipe away everything I've been through."
"Again, I am sorry, Shinji." Lilith placed a hand on the boy's shoulder. "If I could take away all that pain, I would."
"You gave me the memories of the ones who came before me," said Rei. "Surely you could do something about his trauma."
The goddess gave a sad shake of her head. "It is not as simple as removing a memory. Those ordeals have left their mark on your soul. I could remove the memories, but the emotional scars would remain. I could make a person forget about the most horrible day of their life, but what would that do to their personality?"
"P-please..." Shinji begged. "There has to be something you can do!" He slapped a hand to his forehead. "Being with... being with Asuka has helped, but... I can still hear the screams sometimes."
Lilith raised an eyebrow, before floating towards Shinji. Her feet touched the ground when they were almost nose-to-nose, and she gently removed the boy's hand from his forehead before bringing her own hands up to cup his ears. Her head tilted back slightly, and the glow of her body seemed to intensify slightly. Shinji's eyes turned glassy as Lilith held his head.
Rei took the time to look around, which didn't take long as they appeared to be in an utterly featureless white room. Only a slight difference in tint prevented the goddess from being invisible.
After several minutes, the glow dimmed once more as Lilith let go and stepped back. Rei was quick to catch Shinji before he collapsed, and the boy roughly shook his head as his senses returned.
"Feels like... somebody just poked me in the middle of my brain," he muttered.
"Now I believe I do have something to actually apologise for," said Lilith. "That was not a memory you had been experiencing, but a..." She stopped speaking Japanese, and the doubled effect of her voice ceased as she said something in a language Rei could not understand before returning to Japanese. "...It is impossible to describe properly in a human language. The closest I can get is that a fragment of Instrumentality itself was still attached to your soul."
"Was?" Shinji repeated.
"I have removed it." The boy collapsed again, but it was with relief on his face. "It should not have been there in the first place, for which I am really to blame." Again, one of Lilith's two voices ceased as she said something in her strange language, and then shook her head in dismay.
"It doesn't matter if you can't explain it," said Shinji. "The fact that I don't have to deal with it anymore is enough."
Lilith smiled. "In that case, I have something for the two of you that may lift your spirits."
"Should we not be concerned about Adam's plan, first and foremost?" Rei interjected. "He has beaten us, after all."
"There is nothing to worry about. Trust me, we have plenty of time before anything will happen. Now then..."
Lilith waved a hand at one of the walls, and a door appeared with no fanfare, as if it had always been there.
"Shall we go?"
Shinji and Rei looked at each other in confusion. After a moment, Rei moved towards the door and Shinji followed. It opened as they approached, and the teenagers stepped through...
Into a hallway.
"Um... is this...?" Shinji began.
"Whatever you see in Instrumentality is merely your mind's interpretation," Lilith explained as she stepped out of the door behind them. "Right now we are moving from one... closed off section to another."
She set off down the hallway, and Shinji and Rei followed hesitantly. What felt like only seconds later, despite passing seemingly dozens of doors, the goddess stopped in front of one that looked no different from the others. With a wave of her hand the door opened, but whatever was inside was covered by a brilliant glow that the teenagers had to shield their eyes from.
"I will not be following you just yet," said Lilith. "What is through this portal would best be experienced without my interference..
Again, Shinji and Rei glanced at each other. This time, Shinji was the first through the door. Rei followed, and almost immediately bumped into his back as the boy had stopped suddenly.
There was a woman in front of them, sitting on a bench under a tree in a beautiful park. A brown-haired woman with a very familiar face.
"M-mother...?"
XX
"...Nagisa?!" Asuka exclaimed incredulously as her clenched fists relaxed out of sheer surprise.
Kaworu Nagisa nodded and smiled. "Correct. And I would just like to clarify something." The smile vanished. "Adam had nothing to do with what happened to Shinji Ikari. That was all me, and I regret it now as much as I did back then."
That got Asuka's legs to move. She stormed up to Kaworu and gave him the exact same greeting she had given Adam. This time, the redhead got the reaction she was expecting as the boy collapsed to the ground and curled into a ball.
Behind Asuka, she heard a growl of anger, but Kaworu swiftly raised a hand and wheezed out, "N-no, father, there's... nothing to worry about." He gingerly got to his feet and continued. "It's far less than I deserve, after all."
"So what happens now?" Asuka asked. "Do I get to kick your ass instead of your dad's?"
"No, that won't be necessary," Kaworu replied. "There are more important things right now than delivering the punishment I deserve. Such as congratulating you."
"...What," Asuka flatly replied.
"You won. You were victorious."
The redhead felt a gust of wind against her back as Adam snorted contemptuously, but she kept her focus on Kaworu.
"To put it simply, Adam has... conceded," the boy explained. "With some... ah... convincing, we managed to come to something of a compromise."
"Conceded. A compromise," Asuka flatly repeated, before her voice rose. "So what you're saying is that the entire last year was a fucking waste of time, effort and resources!"
"No no no!" Kaworu hurriedly said, waving his hands in front of him. "Your victories against my father were what finally got him to agree."
"Yes," said the giant behind Asuka, in a voice like lead slabs falling on a marble floor. "If you had failed, if humanity had simply given up in the face of my attacks, I would have had no qualms about ending their existence."
Asuka turned around. Adam was now leaning on the ground as if it were a table, chin in hand and tapping a finger on his cheek.
"But... what kind of being would erase such a tenacious, determined race just to propagate another?" The giant looked down at the redhead. "The universe would be a poorer place without humanity. But at the same time, the urge to spawn my progeny, to restart my race is... almost overwhelming."
"And so Lilith, Father and I managed to work something out," said Kaworu. "The Angels are from an entirely different galaxy, sent to this one billions of years ago when their race was about to die out. Adam and Lilith were not meant to be in the same solar system, let alone land on the same planet. Father doesn't know what happened, though."
"It is something perhaps only Lilith could explain," Adam stated. "Her Seed was launched second, and was supposed to go in a different direction, yet it turned to follow mine not long after it left orbit. By then it was too late to do anything but watch."
Asuka blinked, before shifting her attention back to Kaworu. "So what is this 'compromise'? Are the Angels going to exist alongside humanity or something?"
"That would be... nice," the boy admitted, "but impossible. In order to create more Angels now, Father would have to initiate something similar to an Impact event. That is what would have happened if humanity had lost. But there would have been no chance for you to survive in any form, unlike what happened with Third Impact. No, instead he will leave Earth with Lilith and the Evangelions."
"He's taking the Evas?!" the redhead loudly exclaimed.
Kaworu nodded. "That is the compromise. Their bodies are needed, as Adam and Lilith cannot exist outside of Instrumentality. The S2 Organ that Unit-01 possesses is also required."
"But..." Asuka began. She felt utterly torn on how to feel about losing her Evangelion. On the one hand, it was what she had almost literally spent her entire life working with. On the other... if there were no Evangelions, Shinji would be safe. He would never need to pilot again.
And Asuka realised that she would give anything to prevent Shinji from such a fate.
"...Alright, I guess I can't actually do anything to stop that," she conceded, before a thought occurred. "Wait, there's Adam and Lilith, but there's three Evas. What's happening to the last one?"
"It is going with them as well, simply to remove its presence from this planet," said Kaworu. "Humanity was never really meant to have such a thing to begin with."
"The chariots of you and the other Lilim girl were made from my flesh," Adam rumbled. He leaned in close to Asuka. "Is there a problem with that?"
Asuka stared right back at the giant for several long seconds, before shrugging and saying, "Eh, you may as well take it anyway. Humanity would only get... ideas if an Eva was left behind."
Like building more of them. And more. Along with weapons for them to wield. Wars would erupt, spearheaded by bipedal giants that could only be stopped with massive quantities of explosives, and piloted by children. As it was, there was going to be somebody attempting to build their own Evangelion in secret. It was inevitable that someone would try.
A vision flashed in Asuka's mind of a war-weary child that looked strikingly similar to Shinji, staring out his Evangelion's cockpit at another behemoth across a wasteland, and she shuddered at the thought.
"Good."
Adam's flesh began to glow, forcing Asuka to shield her eyes again. When the glow faded, the giant was nowhere to be seen.
"Father is preparing for the exodus," Kaworu explained. "But there is still plenty of time left, if you wish to meet anybody still in Instrumentality."
"Like I said to the big guy," Asuka irritatedly replied, "I don't give a damn about my father. Besides, anybody who hasn't left yet is obviously perfectly happy with their own perfect world."
The teenage boy tilted his head in a half nod of agreement. "True. I can say that the members of SEELE wholeheartedly believe that they actually succeeded in their plan. Every single one of them is convinced that humanity has become a singular being, ruled by them."
The redhead snorted. "Old men, running the world. A new age," she sarcastically commented, before turning serious. "So... everybody got their perfect world thanks to Third Impact, but most people rejected it. And yet everybody who left couldn't remember that world."
"A simple failing of the human mind, unfortunately."
"Yeah, pretty much exactly what Doctor Akagi said. Anyway, I distinctly remember not getting any world at all. I went straight to my mother convincing me to leave."
"Oh no, you did have your own world, Miss Soryu, but you're still human." Kaworu shrugged helplessly. "You remember your mother because at that moment you two had been... separated from the rest of Instrumentality. And you did not reject your reality, you were pulled out of it for the meeting."
"Damn," Asuka muttered, but then she brightened up. "But hey, my reality back then would probably just have revolved around my mother. Now I have her and Shinji. The real reality is definitely better than whatever's in here."
"Actually..."
A hand shot up to forestall any comment. "Let me guess: My false reality was me, Shinji and Mama."
"...Pretty much. It was a world where Evangelions and Angels never existed. You and Shinji found love and..." Kaworu broke off with a smile. "Well, I'm sure whatever comes next for you two after this will dwarf the false reality."
More dates.
Graduating together.
Being with Shinji through college.
Getting... married.
...Having... children...?
Asuka's cheeks were now burning brightly, and she missed the chuckle the boy let out as she turned her head away.
"Shinji is truly fortunate to have you, after everything that life has thrown at him," Kaworu commented wistfully. When Asuka looked back at him, there was melancholy written all over his face. "I almost wish I could return with you so that I could apologise for what I did to him. But for his own good, I must remain separate."
"I don't want you anywhere near him either."
"Soon, I will be about as far away from him as it is possible to be."
"Good," Asuka replied in a reasonable impression of the departed Adam's voice.
A moment of silence passed between the two, before Kaworu spoke up. "How... is Shinji doing now, anyway? While he has been in here, I have not had the... courage to check on him."
"He's fine... or at least much better, thanks to me." The redhead stopped and thought a bit. "Okay, thanks to me, Misato, Wondergirl and our friends, I guess."
"Then I am satisfied. It is certainly an improvement compared to Shinji's false reality."
"...What do you mean?"
Kaworu sighed, long and deep, before turning away from Asuka. "It would perhaps be better to show you," he said as he waved a hand in front of him.
A doorway was suddenly always there. The boy beckoned Asuka to follow before stepping through. With some trepidation, she went in after him. Her vision shimmered and wavered, before refocusing on the back of Kaworu's white school shirt. In front of them, hovering in a black void, were what looked like several television screens, all showing friends and family that Asuka easily recognised.
On one screen, Class 2-A at school were chatting before the first bell rang. On another, Misato, Asuka, and Rei were at the beach with their friends. On yet another, Asuka was at a restaurant talking to a strangely handsome young man that wasn't Shinji and-
"Wait," she said, as she started to realise what the common thread between the realities was. "Where's..."
"He's not there," Kaworu sadly replied. "In these realities Shinji created, he simply doesn't exist." He glanced sidelong at Asuka, who was staring in horror at the visions.
"He... he thought a perfect world was one without him?" Asuka asked in a voice filled with horror.
"There were a dozen more, similar to this. There was one where he did exist, but it didn't... last long, so to speak."
"Show me."
The redhead's voice seemed to be all that Kaworu needed. He crossed his arms in front of his chest for a split second before throwing them outward as if he were tossing confetti. The images of the worlds without Shinji evaporated into dust, and something seemed to fly out of the boy's chest; a screen that expanded to fill the void left by the smaller ones.
"The one reality Shinji created that was... nice," Kaworu murmured. "It is... what I have been using to stay hopeful for him."
A scene played out in front of their eyes on the screen. A larger-than-life Asuka burst into a bedroom, waking up a sleepy Shinji before being shocked by something the real Asuka had already accidentally experienced once or twice thanks to their sleeping arrangements (Shinji had had to embarrassedly explain, with a bright red face, the male phenomenon of 'morning wood' to her, and after that Asuka simply poked a little fun at him whenever it happened).
The scene progressed, showing both of Shinji's parents in the kitchen as the children got ready, and then went on to have Rei Ayanami crash headlong into Shinji on their way to school. Various other 'normal life' things happened, but the scene dissolved just as Asuka was beginning to enjoy it.
"Even after all his hardships, and despite all those realities he made without himself, Shinji still managed to create a happy world," Kaworu mused. "For a while I kind of... regretted that he chose to end Third Impact so soon."
"Take me back to him," Asuka quietly ordered.
"Hmm?" The boy twisted his upper body slightly to glance at her. "What was that?"
"I said take me back to Shinji."
"Oh." Kaworu distractedly waved a hand, and another doorway appeared. "Go out there, turn left and take the twenty-eighth door on your right."
Rather than waste time analysing the directions or convincing him to come along, Asuka simply committed them to memory and ran through the doorway.
Kaworu returned his attention to the screen as the scene replayed itself, and he smiled contentedly.
"Godspeed, Frau Soryu," he whispered. "I wish you two all the best."
**
Chapter 31.2
For somebody who had once been merely one clone of a batch numbering well over a dozen, Rei still found herself shocked to wake up and look into her own face. She stared for a long while, before it finally clicked in her head.
"...Lilith," she said.
The other person nodded. "It is good to see you again, my child," Lilith replied as she offered a hand to Rei and lifted the girl to her feet.
"I wish it were under more pleasant circumstances, however," Rei remarked.
Lilith smiled. "All will be made clear in due time. For now, know that you are safe."
"And... Shinji? Asuka?"
"Asuka is with Adam." At Rei's shocked expression, the mother of humanity quickly added, "Do not worry, she will still be safe. As for Shinji-"
"Waagh!"
Both bluenettes turned at the startled yelp to see the object of their discussion a couple of metres away, sitting up and staring agape at them.
Upon noticing that his eyes were jumping between the two of them, Rei cleared her throat and said, "I believe he is surprised to see what appears to be a clone of me."
"...Ah," Lilith replied. "My apologies. I have worn this form for so long I had forgotten about it."
A brilliant white glow erupted out of Lilith's chest, blinding the two teenagers for a moment. When Rei blinked the spots out of her eyes, she saw that Lilith was now a white-skinned, somewhat-feminine figure with six thin white wings, floating just above the ground. The glow had faded to the point where the figure's skin now seemed lit by an inner light.
If anything, Lilith's new form only surprised Shinji more, but Rei was soon by his side to lay a hand on his shoulder in reassurance. He looked up at her, and the relaxed expression on her face was enough to settle him back down.
"Hello, Shinji."
Lilith's voice, sounding almost like two people speaking at exactly the same time, drew the boy's attention back to the floating goddess.
"U-um... hi," he weakly replied as he got to his feet.
"Before anything else happens, I would like to say something." Lilith placed a hand on her chest. "I am... sorry for what you endured in your role in Third Impact. I realised too late that you should not have been put in such a-."
"No!" Rei angrily interrupted. "If anyone is to blame for that it is me! I was the one who believed that Gendo Ikari was unworthy, and I sought somebody else." She calmed down slightly, and her head sunk to her chest.
Lilith smiled slightly. "To be honest, if it hadn't been for the ones you call SEELE, none of us would have faced such a conundrum in the first place."
"Yeah," Shinji mumbled, before letting out a harsh, humourless laugh. "But that knowledge doesn't exactly wipe away everything I've been through."
"Again, I am sorry, Shinji." Lilith placed a hand on the boy's shoulder. "If I could take away all that pain, I would."
"You gave me the memories of the ones who came before me," said Rei. "Surely you could do something about his trauma."
The goddess gave a sad shake of her head. "It is not as simple as removing a memory. Those ordeals have left their mark on your soul. I could remove the memories, but the emotional scars would remain. I could make a person forget about the most horrible day of their life, but what would that do to their personality?"
"P-please..." Shinji begged. "There has to be something you can do!" He slapped a hand to his forehead. "Being with... being with Asuka has helped, but... I can still hear the screams sometimes."
Lilith raised an eyebrow, before floating towards Shinji. Her feet touched the ground when they were almost nose-to-nose, and she gently removed the boy's hand from his forehead before bringing her own hands up to cup his ears. Her head tilted back slightly, and the glow of her body seemed to intensify slightly. Shinji's eyes turned glassy as Lilith held his head.
Rei took the time to look around, which didn't take long as they appeared to be in an utterly featureless white room. Only a slight difference in tint prevented the goddess from being invisible.
After several minutes, the glow dimmed once more as Lilith let go and stepped back. Rei was quick to catch Shinji before he collapsed, and the boy roughly shook his head as his senses returned.
"Feels like... somebody just poked me in the middle of my brain," he muttered.
"Now I believe I do have something to actually apologise for," said Lilith. "That was not a memory you had been experiencing, but a..." She stopped speaking Japanese, and the doubled effect of her voice ceased as she said something in a language Rei could not understand before returning to Japanese. "...It is impossible to describe properly in a human language. The closest I can get is that a fragment of Instrumentality itself was still attached to your soul."
"Was?" Shinji repeated.
"I have removed it." The boy collapsed again, but it was with relief on his face. "It should not have been there in the first place, for which I am really to blame." Again, one of Lilith's two voices ceased as she said something in her strange language, and then shook her head in dismay.
"It doesn't matter if you can't explain it," said Shinji. "The fact that I don't have to deal with it anymore is enough."
Lilith smiled. "In that case, I have something for the two of you that may lift your spirits."
"Should we not be concerned about Adam's plan, first and foremost?" Rei interjected. "He has beaten us, after all."
"There is nothing to worry about. Trust me, we have plenty of time before anything will happen. Now then..."
Lilith waved a hand at one of the walls, and a door appeared with no fanfare, as if it had always been there.
"Shall we go?"
Shinji and Rei looked at each other in confusion. After a moment, Rei moved towards the door and Shinji followed. It opened as they approached, and the teenagers stepped through...
Into a hallway.
"Um... is this...?" Shinji began.
"Whatever you see in Instrumentality is merely your mind's interpretation," Lilith explained as she stepped out of the door behind them. "Right now we are moving from one... closed off section to another."
She set off down the hallway, and Shinji and Rei followed hesitantly. What felt like only seconds later, despite passing seemingly dozens of doors, the goddess stopped in front of one that looked no different from the others. With a wave of her hand the door opened, but whatever was inside was covered by a brilliant glow that the teenagers had to shield their eyes from.
"I will not be following you just yet," said Lilith. "What is through this portal would best be experienced without my interference..
Again, Shinji and Rei glanced at each other. This time, Shinji was the first through the door. Rei followed, and almost immediately bumped into his back as the boy had stopped suddenly.
There was a woman in front of them, sitting on a bench under a tree in a beautiful park. A brown-haired woman with a very familiar face.
"M-mother...?"
XX
"...Nagisa?!" Asuka exclaimed incredulously as her clenched fists relaxed out of sheer surprise.
Kaworu Nagisa nodded and smiled. "Correct. And I would just like to clarify something." The smile vanished. "Adam had nothing to do with what happened to Shinji Ikari. That was all me, and I regret it now as much as I did back then."
That got Asuka's legs to move. She stormed up to Kaworu and gave him the exact same greeting she had given Adam. This time, the redhead got the reaction she was expecting as the boy collapsed to the ground and curled into a ball.
Behind Asuka, she heard a growl of anger, but Kaworu swiftly raised a hand and wheezed out, "N-no, father, there's... nothing to worry about." He gingerly got to his feet and continued. "It's far less than I deserve, after all."
"So what happens now?" Asuka asked. "Do I get to kick your ass instead of your dad's?"
"No, that won't be necessary," Kaworu replied. "There are more important things right now than delivering the punishment I deserve. Such as congratulating you."
"...What," Asuka flatly replied.
"You won. You were victorious."
The redhead felt a gust of wind against her back as Adam snorted contemptuously, but she kept her focus on Kaworu.
"To put it simply, Adam has... conceded," the boy explained. "With some... ah... convincing, we managed to come to something of a compromise."
"Conceded. A compromise," Asuka flatly repeated, before her voice rose. "So what you're saying is that the entire last year was a fucking waste of time, effort and resources!"
"No no no!" Kaworu hurriedly said, waving his hands in front of him. "Your victories against my father were what finally got him to agree."
"Yes," said the giant behind Asuka, in a voice like lead slabs falling on a marble floor. "If you had failed, if humanity had simply given up in the face of my attacks, I would have had no qualms about ending their existence."
Asuka turned around. Adam was now leaning on the ground as if it were a table, chin in hand and tapping a finger on his cheek.
"But... what kind of being would erase such a tenacious, determined race just to propagate another?" The giant looked down at the redhead. "The universe would be a poorer place without humanity. But at the same time, the urge to spawn my progeny, to restart my race is... almost overwhelming."
"And so Lilith, Father and I managed to work something out," said Kaworu. "The Angels are from an entirely different galaxy, sent to this one billions of years ago when their race was about to die out. Adam and Lilith were not meant to be in the same solar system, let alone land on the same planet. Father doesn't know what happened, though."
"It is something perhaps only Lilith could explain," Adam stated. "Her Seed was launched second, and was supposed to go in a different direction, yet it turned to follow mine not long after it left orbit. By then it was too late to do anything but watch."
Asuka blinked, before shifting her attention back to Kaworu. "So what is this 'compromise'? Are the Angels going to exist alongside humanity or something?"
"That would be... nice," the boy admitted, "but impossible. In order to create more Angels now, Father would have to initiate something similar to an Impact event. That is what would have happened if humanity had lost. But there would have been no chance for you to survive in any form, unlike what happened with Third Impact. No, instead he will leave Earth with Lilith and the Evangelions."
"He's taking the Evas?!" the redhead loudly exclaimed.
Kaworu nodded. "That is the compromise. Their bodies are needed, as Adam and Lilith cannot exist outside of Instrumentality. The S2 Organ that Unit-01 possesses is also required."
"But..." Asuka began. She felt utterly torn on how to feel about losing her Evangelion. On the one hand, it was what she had almost literally spent her entire life working with. On the other... if there were no Evangelions, Shinji would be safe. He would never need to pilot again.
And Asuka realised that she would give anything to prevent Shinji from such a fate.
"...Alright, I guess I can't actually do anything to stop that," she conceded, before a thought occurred. "Wait, there's Adam and Lilith, but there's three Evas. What's happening to the last one?"
"It is going with them as well, simply to remove its presence from this planet," said Kaworu. "Humanity was never really meant to have such a thing to begin with."
"The chariots of you and the other Lilim girl were made from my flesh," Adam rumbled. He leaned in close to Asuka. "Is there a problem with that?"
Asuka stared right back at the giant for several long seconds, before shrugging and saying, "Eh, you may as well take it anyway. Humanity would only get... ideas if an Eva was left behind."
Like building more of them. And more. Along with weapons for them to wield. Wars would erupt, spearheaded by bipedal giants that could only be stopped with massive quantities of explosives, and piloted by children. As it was, there was going to be somebody attempting to build their own Evangelion in secret. It was inevitable that someone would try.
A vision flashed in Asuka's mind of a war-weary child that looked strikingly similar to Shinji, staring out his Evangelion's cockpit at another behemoth across a wasteland, and she shuddered at the thought.
"Good."
Adam's flesh began to glow, forcing Asuka to shield her eyes again. When the glow faded, the giant was nowhere to be seen.
"Father is preparing for the exodus," Kaworu explained. "But there is still plenty of time left, if you wish to meet anybody still in Instrumentality."
"Like I said to the big guy," Asuka irritatedly replied, "I don't give a damn about my father. Besides, anybody who hasn't left yet is obviously perfectly happy with their own perfect world."
The teenage boy tilted his head in a half nod of agreement. "True. I can say that the members of SEELE wholeheartedly believe that they actually succeeded in their plan. Every single one of them is convinced that humanity has become a singular being, ruled by them."
The redhead snorted. "Old men, running the world. A new age," she sarcastically commented, before turning serious. "So... everybody got their perfect world thanks to Third Impact, but most people rejected it. And yet everybody who left couldn't remember that world."
"A simple failing of the human mind, unfortunately."
"Yeah, pretty much exactly what Doctor Akagi said. Anyway, I distinctly remember not getting any world at all. I went straight to my mother convincing me to leave."
"Oh no, you did have your own world, Miss Soryu, but you're still human." Kaworu shrugged helplessly. "You remember your mother because at that moment you two had been... separated from the rest of Instrumentality. And you did not reject your reality, you were pulled out of it for the meeting."
"Damn," Asuka muttered, but then she brightened up. "But hey, my reality back then would probably just have revolved around my mother. Now I have her and Shinji. The real reality is definitely better than whatever's in here."
"Actually..."
A hand shot up to forestall any comment. "Let me guess: My false reality was me, Shinji and Mama."
"...Pretty much. It was a world where Evangelions and Angels never existed. You and Shinji found love and..." Kaworu broke off with a smile. "Well, I'm sure whatever comes next for you two after this will dwarf the false reality."
More dates.
Graduating together.
Being with Shinji through college.
Getting... married.
...Having... children...?
Asuka's cheeks were now burning brightly, and she missed the chuckle the boy let out as she turned her head away.
"Shinji is truly fortunate to have you, after everything that life has thrown at him," Kaworu commented wistfully. When Asuka looked back at him, there was melancholy written all over his face. "I almost wish I could return with you so that I could apologise for what I did to him. But for his own good, I must remain separate."
"I don't want you anywhere near him either."
"Soon, I will be about as far away from him as it is possible to be."
"Good," Asuka replied in a reasonable impression of the departed Adam's voice.
A moment of silence passed between the two, before Kaworu spoke up. "How... is Shinji doing now, anyway? While he has been in here, I have not had the... courage to check on him."
"He's fine... or at least much better, thanks to me." The redhead stopped and thought a bit. "Okay, thanks to me, Misato, Wondergirl and our friends, I guess."
"Then I am satisfied. It is certainly an improvement compared to Shinji's false reality."
"...What do you mean?"
Kaworu sighed, long and deep, before turning away from Asuka. "It would perhaps be better to show you," he said as he waved a hand in front of him.
A doorway was suddenly always there. The boy beckoned Asuka to follow before stepping through. With some trepidation, she went in after him. Her vision shimmered and wavered, before refocusing on the back of Kaworu's white school shirt. In front of them, hovering in a black void, were what looked like several television screens, all showing friends and family that Asuka easily recognised.
On one screen, Class 2-A at school were chatting before the first bell rang. On another, Misato, Asuka, and Rei were at the beach with their friends. On yet another, Asuka was at a restaurant talking to a strangely handsome young man that wasn't Shinji and-
"Wait," she said, as she started to realise what the common thread between the realities was. "Where's..."
"He's not there," Kaworu sadly replied. "In these realities Shinji created, he simply doesn't exist." He glanced sidelong at Asuka, who was staring in horror at the visions.
"He... he thought a perfect world was one without him?" Asuka asked in a voice filled with horror.
"There were a dozen more, similar to this. There was one where he did exist, but it didn't... last long, so to speak."
"Show me."
The redhead's voice seemed to be all that Kaworu needed. He crossed his arms in front of his chest for a split second before throwing them outward as if he were tossing confetti. The images of the worlds without Shinji evaporated into dust, and something seemed to fly out of the boy's chest; a screen that expanded to fill the void left by the smaller ones.
"The one reality Shinji created that was... nice," Kaworu murmured. "It is... what I have been using to stay hopeful for him."
A scene played out in front of their eyes on the screen. A larger-than-life Asuka burst into a bedroom, waking up a sleepy Shinji before being shocked by something the real Asuka had already accidentally experienced once or twice thanks to their sleeping arrangements (Shinji had had to embarrassedly explain, with a bright red face, the male phenomenon of 'morning wood' to her, and after that Asuka simply poked a little fun at him whenever it happened).
The scene progressed, showing both of Shinji's parents in the kitchen as the children got ready, and then went on to have Rei Ayanami crash headlong into Shinji on their way to school. Various other 'normal life' things happened, but the scene dissolved just as Asuka was beginning to enjoy it.
"Even after all his hardships, and despite all those realities he made without himself, Shinji still managed to create a happy world," Kaworu mused. "For a while I kind of... regretted that he chose to end Third Impact so soon."
"Take me back to him," Asuka quietly ordered.
"Hmm?" The boy twisted his upper body slightly to glance at her. "What was that?"
"I said take me back to Shinji."
"Oh." Kaworu distractedly waved a hand, and another doorway appeared. "Go out there, turn left and take the twenty-eighth door on your right."
Rather than waste time analysing the directions or convincing him to come along, Asuka simply committed them to memory and ran through the doorway.
Kaworu returned his attention to the screen as the scene replayed itself, and he smiled contentedly.
"Godspeed, Frau Soryu," he whispered. "I wish you two all the best."
Always Late
Lacking in coffee, sleep, and brains
- Location
- Ohio
... wut.
'All will be clear in due time' trope.
AKA: 'NOT THIS SHIT AGAIN!'
In other words, a mix of GNR and what was in Terminal Dogma.
Yes, yes SEELE are dicks, let's move on.
Bit of a monkey's paw there, don'tcha thing?
Hm...
A literal void. Huh.
*facepalm*
1. That explains everything.
2. How the fuck did that happen?
3. How the fuck did you miss that?
Shinji reflexively speaks in German.
Damn right you should be ashamed.
So... there's nothing to worry about?
Duly noted.
"You cheated on father with Professor Fuyutsuki! About time!"
*facepalm* He had to start with that.
*thinks to A&T*
Yeah, no shit.
... wut.
So because we only tripped at the finish line, we get a silver medal?
So why not go somewhere else?
Yup. Go somewhere else.
Host bodies... fair enough.
Uh... never underestimate the ability of Humanity to make weapons. The genie's out of the bottle.
Nope!
And the loss of the base Eva units won't stop the knowege of how to build them from still existing and people trying to build them.
Not to mention T-RIDEN-T and Jet Alone stuff.
Huh.
AKA, I got what I wanted.
Pretty much!
1. Asuka goes back through college?
2. Hello Aki-chan!
Damn right.
aaaaaaw.
Now that's utterly believable and depressing.
Hoo boy.
Happy Shinji...
I swear I know that one...
Dick. Making Asuka run like that.
Now that was... interesting.
M. H. Fuzzball
Aperture Science-certified Horrible Person
- Location
- Sector 2814
Perhaps, but these new weapons most likely won't require Shinji to pilot them, which at the moment is all Asuka cares about.
Post-grad degrees, maybe she wants to learn some robotics? Unless Lilith and Adam decide to give Shinji a new arm and legs as a congratulations-for-defending-your-world gift...
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Schpoonman
They call me the Bord of Lays
- Location
- United States
Asuka's reality was one where the Angels and Evangelions never existed. Without her mother's death in her life (shut up, it makes sense), Asuka has no reason to go off the deep end. She probably met Shinji when she was young and took school at a normal pace.
M. H. Fuzzball
Aperture Science-certified Horrible Person
- Location
- Sector 2814
But it seems more like Asuka is considering her personal future going forward, rather than what she had in Instrumentality.
- Location
- Australia, mate
It's the 'school life' reality from Shinji's headtrip in EoE. At least as far as I could remember it.
Ranma-sensei
Sorcerer
- Location
- Citrix Receiver
- Pronouns
- Weatherdependent
Pretty spot on, though a quick search on YouTube does immediately produce results.