The Characters and concept of Neon Genesis Evangelion are property of Gainax. I created this "scenario" in the spirit of the TV series. I made it in the hope that it would open up people's minds and give something to a series that really touched me. This little series that I have created is a piece of fan fiction thought up by yours truly, so if you are going to copy or distribute this work, please give credit where it is due, k? Now enjoy!

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(Osaka International Airport.)

(The crowds are heavy with business people and tourist. The crush is uncomfortable and the hushed roar of many, many conversations seems to be the soundtrack of such public places. For some, such a place is daunting at best and downright intimidating for others. For one Akiyama Satoshi, it is a place of comfort…of anonymity. To be normal for a little bit before going back to dealing all those chains of responsibility…)

Akiyama (thinking, hunched down in his trench coat): It is all necessary. We had no choice before mankind was even walking upright.

(A slight smirk appears on the older man's face.)

Akiyama (thinking, looking around at the seemingly mindless masses): Look at them, not a care in the world. Never giving a thought to how their lives might very well end tomorrow.

(A face suddenly seems familiar in the sea of strangers, but it is gone before Akiyama can think on it too closely, much less study it. The graying man pauses for a moment, causing a few people behind him to bump into him, a few making rude comments under their breath. It doesn't matter to the old man as he searches with cautious eyes. After a few moments, Akiyama shrugs and switches his briefcase to his other hand.)

Akiyama (thinking): I'm working too hard. I would should take a vacation…to the hills or something…if only so many things were not coming to a head now!

(Akiyama walks through the sliding set of doors into the chilled night air. His breath rises in a thin line of steam toward the overhanging roof above. He pauses again and reaches into his pocket and pulls out his pack of cigarettes. Inside, his last smoke is revealed and he pulls it out with the brief thought of buying another pack at the gas station nearby. He had work to do and the last thing he would want to do it go into it without a good supply. Meetings, secret contracts, so many things that had to be done to keep his small piece of the world together.)

Akiyama (grumbling around his cigarette): Where the hell is that lighter?!

Female voice (a lighter lighting up before his face, voice husky and somewhat…foreign): Here you go…

Akiyama (puffing contentedly): Thanks much. You have no idea how much I needed that.

Female voice (hardening): I'm sure working day and night as SEELE member 5 rubs you to the bone…

(The older man's eyes snap wide and the cigarette falls from his gapping lips. He slowly turns toward the speaker and his heart races as he catches sight of the blonde hair and proud, Russian features. His mouth opens and closes like a suffocating fish, trying to get some word, try to understand how this could be.)

Natasha (her eyes glittering with a combination of grief and satisfaction as her handgun nudges one of SEELE's numbers under the chin): You always were a stupid, arrogant man, Akiyama-

Akiyama (his voice breaking up in his terror): Natasha! No-

(The gun is not silenced and the shot rings through the airport, sending those close to the sound into aimless, panicked flight. Natasha, her face splattered in the blood of the man who is now falling face down before her, watches security run towards her from within the airport. They would never be able to hold her. She had the devil on her side and he will never let her rot in a prison…at least, not until her job is finished.)

(Casually, Natasha throws the gun always from her. Some young guy comes charging out in his newly pressed security uniform. The Russian Lieutenant, once double-agent for NERV and SEELE, offers the sweating, nervous officer an understanding smile and raises her hands over her head before he even asks. After all, they are both only doing their respective jobs…)

-----------------------------------

(The view screen is simple, but it is enough. For there is not much to see on the screen…not much to analyze. The Third Child…for reasons still to be determined has withdrawn into himself.)

Ritsuko (quietly, her arms crossed over her chest): Has there been any change in Shinji's readings?

Maya (softly): Negative…heart-rate, brain scan, breathing rate…all are normal.

(There is a rustle of clothing and the woman sitting in the darkest corner of the small, observation room speaks for the first time in two days.)

Misato (her voice rough): But he isn't normal.

(Maya looks back at the Major with deep sympathy welling up in her eyes, but says nothing to that.)

Ritsuko (sighing): Misato…you should return to your apartment… If nothing else, take Asuka home…her nerves are close to breaking…

Misato (with sudden viciousness): Ask me if I care?!

Ritsuko: …?!

Misato (wrapping her arms tight around herself, as if to ward off some secret cold): I'm going to lose her too…soon.

(The grief is clear in her voice. Where Natasha Karpov had gone insane, Misato had dropped into a deep depression after the death of Hikaru Sohma. The fact that the Angel attack not only took the Sixth Child's life, but incinerated her body as well seemed to leave that closure a funeral would have given incomplete.)

Ritsuko (turning to face the Major): Major Katsuragi…

(Suddenly, with a violent crack, Ritsuko slaps Misato across the face. Misato's head snaps to the side and her hand slowly touches the offended cheek in a sort of wonder.)

Ritsuko (bracing herself on the arms of Misato's chair, bringing her face into Misato's): Now you listen to me…we are not going to lose anymore Children! …unless you act like they are already dead. Think about what you are saying! Asuka! Shinji! They are not dead yet, Misato! You can not give up on them!

Misato: …

Ritsuko: Misato-!

(The sight of the tears forming silently in Misato's eyes brings the doctor up short. It is as if Misato is crying without her knowing it. The grief is too deep to be dismissed with a firm talking to. It is going to take time…perhaps time that they don't have…)

Ritsuko (straightening herself slowly, whispering): Take your charge home. Share your grief with her…you are both in bad shape. You…of all people, know that misery loves company.

(Misato says nothing to that, but she does get to her feet. Slowly, as if she is ancient rather than just starting her life, Major Katsuragi leaves the observation chamber.)

Maya (shaking, her hand touching her lips): God…poor, Major Katsuragi…

Ritsuko (coming to look at the screen again): She has to be strong…if not for herself, for the other Children…

Maya (a little shocked): Doctor Akagi…that's a little cold-

Ritsuko (taking a sharp breath, hoarsely): I know…when this is all over…I don't know how long it will take for the tears to stop coming…

Maya (her mouth gaping): Sensei…I-I'm sorry…I didn't know-

Ritsuko (shaking her head slightly, smiling despite herself): I know…I know, Maya. I can't do much now…but I can watch Shinji…act as his guardian angel.

Maya (looking back to the screen): H-He will be okay…he was last time…

Ritsuko (bracing her hands on the control console): But, I'm getting sick of putting this poor Child in padded, isolation chambers. Its too much for a soul of one so young.

(On the screen before the two women, Shinji lays on a bed in the middle of a dark chamber. While nothing seems wrong at first glance, one soon would see that the Third Child is staring at nothing…and his eyes are very much green. As green as an Angel's eyes…)

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(Asuka looks over at Misato slowly, as if she is too tired to put much effort into anything. A streetlight flashes by through the car's windshield, revealing the Second Child's red-rimmed eyes. While Misato had been off attending Shinji in some restricted section of Terminal Dogma, Asuka had sat in one of the many lounges within NERV Central. Some kindly private given charge of Asuka while Misato was elsewhere had given her some tea that she didn't drink. It had been as if her mind was shielded behind layers of emotional static.)

Asuka (softly, thinking): They didn't even let me see him… He could be dead for all I know.

(Asuka's eyes trace the numb mask of Misato's face.)

Asuka (thinking): She just sits there, acting like there is nothing to it. It's like she doesn't even give a damn!

(Asuka's hands curl into fists in her lap as the hated tears well in her eyes.)

Asuka (thinking as she stares at her own fists): I couldn't do a thing… I couldn't do a Goddamn thing! What sort of EVA pilot am I?

(The Second Child sniffs her runny nose angrily as Misato pulls into the parking lot next to their apartment building.)

Misato (distantly): You should get to bed and try to rest.

Asuka (very softly): Fuck you…

Misato (turning her eye over at the girl): What was that?

Asuka (screaming): Fuck you! You don't give a damn if he lives or dies! You're a monster! I hate you! I hate all of you!

(Misato draws back, the girl's angry words slipping under the damp grief that has protected the Major until now. She reaches for Asuka, her mind instinctively trying to comfort her second charge. Asuka's eyes are wild as she grabs the door handle.)

Asuka: Don't… Don't ever come near me again. Ever…

(The Second Child pushes the door open and slams it hard enough to rock the car. With a hand to her mouth, Asuka runs up the stairs and out of sight.)

(Misato's mouth opens and closes silently for several long moments. A train's horn echoes in the night and rumbles out of sight.)

Misato: Asuka…Asuka…I'm so sorry…

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(It is a room that has always known darkness. That is the way that the occupants like it, considering that much of what they do is invisible to the outside world. Shaping the world is hard work and the public could only make it harder. But could it be that the individual members of SEELE kept to the dark because there is so much in the light to fear.)

(As it is, two of the panels are forever darkened now. The remaining men look at one another and, despite their ghostly, high-relief faces, they actually appear mortal to each other. For years, these men have believed their actions made the world turn and Mankind continue living the way they chose. But there are now two links gone from the chain. It is not the loss of life that disturbs these men so much, making their meeting quiet and fearful, but the fact that they are not Gods. Their control has been so easily disrupted and questioned. And now, they, who have always been the hunters, the dominant of their species, are the hunted; mere prey for a predator of their own making.)

SEELE: What do we do? This lunatic woman picked 03 and 05 off in broad daylight!

SEELE: We must remain calm. We will accomplish nothing by falling apart now. We did not come so far only to be taken down by some renegade Lieutenant.

SEELE: Ikari must be at the end of this! Surely a mere grunt could not know us so well!

SEELE: 03 was in the middle of an airport! She did not even get away! The local authorities caught her, but she never arrived at the precinct!

SEELE: Remain calm. Despite this little problem-

SEELE (scoffing): Little?!

SEELE: -even Ikari cannot stop the Project now. The prophecy of the Dead Sea Scrolls will be fulfilled.

SEELE: …yes, and then there will be nothing to fear.

SEELE: Stick to the Scenario. Without it…we are lost.

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(Asuka ran into her room, huffing. The apartment is still dark for she has not even bothered to turn on any of the lights. Misato would do it when she came up. The Second Child feels trapped despite her exhaustion.)

Asuka (thinking, savagely): Everyone around here is a weirdo! They act like he's suddenly going to jump up and be fine. Like he's going to come out of this unscarred!

(Asuka comes to her room and slams the door with a vicious tug, almost derailing the door.)

Asuka (wiping at her eyes angrily): They are idiots, all of them-

(That is when she saw the drawing. The portrait still sat on her pillow, where Hikaru had dropped it before they had left to fight for humanity once again. Only she had been trapped in a numb, cold EVA and Hikaru had thrown herself before Shinji, her body incinerated by the Angel's cruel blade. The hand that had drawn an unwilling Asuka Langley Soryu was now gone, never to return.)

(Asuka could feel the tears again, but they were accompanied by such a feeling of rage that she screamed, ripping the blankets away from her bed. The world became a blur, her fists and feet kicking over cabinets and nightstands. Her voice is like that of an animal's. She screams and scratches at the world that wants to hurt her so much.)

(Then the words come…)

Asuka (wailing): Why?!

(She throws a book across the room to crack the window in the wall.)

Asuka (flinging a glass mug partially filled with water against the wall): WHY?!

(The Second Child looks around at the disaster that had been born of her fury. Her chest heaves in sobs and her hands are bleeding from brushing across sharp edges. She looks down and finds the picture with her mysterious eyes and a face that looked too good to be an image of her ill. Somehow, the picture had remained where it had been dropped and she felt her knees quiver and she collapses in the middle of the mess, her hair falling around her, loosen now from her thrashing.)

(She doesn't hear Misato come in, but she feels the gentle touch of the Major's hand on the back of her neck. Asuka gives a violent cry and throws herself into Misato's arms. The Major gathers Asuka to her and rests her head on top of the Second Child's.)

Misato: Shhhh…don't fight it, Asuka…don't…

Asuka (hoarsely): Why did she…have to die…Misato?

Misato (closing her eyes): I…I don't have an answer for you…

Asuka (rubbing her cheek against Misato): I never…s-showed her who the better EVA pilot was…I never…I never…

(Misato feels that her cheeks have become wet.)

Misato (whispering past her aching throat): I…know, baby. I know.

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(The guard, Private Hido Aishi, is walking down one of the corridors in the deeper areas of NERV Central. He had heard that the Third Child is housed in one of the containment chambers a floor above him. The guard wonders what the Supreme Commander could be worried of, the fact that someone could come this far inside without them knowing it or that the Child might escape. Either is a frightening thought.)

(He had been one of the few that had actually seen the Third Child when Unit 01 had walked into the temporary dock and unloaded it pilot. His eyes had been wide open, yet he hadn't seem to see any of them. Someone had whispered that the Third Child's eyes had changed color, but Hido had never been close enough to Shinji Ikari to actually see the original color. But then, he had no reason to doubt a comrade's words.)

(It had been terrifying, seeing the Evangelion without the benefit of armor plating. He could have sworn he heard it breathing. They had not been able to lock the EVA into its support cradle, nor had they been able to do a normal shutdown. Rather, they had left it in the temporary dock where it had stopped. He remembered how Major Katsuragi had pushed aside the dock personnel and looked into the cockpit. She had whispered the Third Child's name and stepped back, her hands covering her mouth. The Third Child had exited the Entry Plug on his own power, watching them all with these insane green eyes. The moment the boy had stepped out of the cockpit, the EVA seemed to groan and slump forward into a nearby support. The impact had shaken more than a few to the deck. Ritsuko Akagi's Lieutenant had chirped something about how the Evangelion had seemed to go dead, Core and all.)

(That had been when Hido Aishi and many others had noticed Supreme Commander Gendo Ikari for the first time. He had quickly snapped out orders to a few nearby technicians to flash freeze the EVA and put it into temporary stasis. The area was quickly evacuated due to the super-chilled chemicals being unleashed on the war machine [though, at that point, Aishi hadn't been sure that the Evangelion Unit 01 could be considered a "war machine" anymore.] As he had followed his comrades out of the dock, he had seen Doctor Akagi calmly walk up to Shinji Ikari and inject something into his arm. He passed out and was carried from the room by someone from Intelligence. The last thing he saw, though, which had chilled the young Private to the bone, was the sight of Commander Ikari, standing on the high, observation platform, a secret smile stretching his lips…)

(Footsteps.)

(Private Hido pauses and looks up and wonders if the Supreme Commander or the Major has decided to come and visit their fallen pilot. The lights flicker and Aishi feels his hand fall to his sidearm without conscious thought. Something is coming. He can feel it in the electrified hairs on the back of his neck. He can feel it in the way that his heart is pounding.)

(That is when the Child walks around the corner.)

(White hair, loose T-shirt, haunted eyes. The boy's worn sneakers pad softly across the corridor tile and he doesn't even seem to notice the Private.)

Private Hido (shuttering): Halt!

Boy: …

Private Hido (drawing his handgun): This is a restricted area! If you do not stop, I will be forced to open fire!

Boy (his eyes flicked at the soldier): Move, now.

Private Hido (coughing): I-I will not-

(The Child is about five meters from Aishi when he is hit by something invisible, but hard and powerful enough to break his nose. He flies back across the floor with a small arc of blood. He rolls twice before coming to rest on his back. The boy stares down at the soldier with wide, observant eyes. It would have been nothing to kill the man. But, even as the Child looks over the small splatter of blood draining down the man's cheek, he knows that he would never have been able to pull it off. To kill without need is not…in him.)

--------------------------------

(Shinji Ikari lays in the darkness.) 

(The bed he is laying on creaks as he sits up.)

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Maya (bolting upright in her chair): Ma'am! The isolation chamber door has opened!

Ritsuko (turning her eyes up to the screen): What did you say?! That's imposs-

(The image of Shinji wavers and all the monitors on the control panel die.)

Ritsuko: Get those screens back! Sound the silent alarm! Get people down here now!

(Ritsuko turns away from the control panel as Maya begins to carry out her commands. When the door swishes open, Maya realizes that the Doctor is leaving.)

Maya (looking over her shoulder, shock in her eyes): Sensei…?

(Ritsuko pauses at the door and looks back at the Lieutenant. She appears so old at that moment. Her hair hangs limply about her face and it is then that

Maya realizes that Doctor Akagi is wearing no make-up of any kind. In the hours since the retrieval of the Third Child, she had had no time to think about such things as vanity.)

Maya (whispering hoarsely): Sensei…please…

Ritsuko (her hands tightening on the open doorway): Carry out my commands, Lieutenant…and wait here until someone comes for you.

 Maya (rising out of her chair, crying out): Sensei-!

(Ritsuko is out the door before the Lieutenant can finish.)

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Boy (softly, looking up at the giant, metal beds above his head): Unfinished…

(There is light coming from somewhere in the chamber, but he could not define the source.)

Boy (shivering and wrapping his arms around himself): Horrible…horrible, place. Death…isolation…

Voice (whispering from the shadows): You fear isolation, don't you, Child?

(The Child's eyes snap wide and he spins around, trying to locate the speaker. His breaths are quick and frantic.)

Gendo (his eyes hidden in the glare of his glasses as he emerges from the shadows): You should never have come here, Adam.

Adam (drawing away from the Commander): …no choice… You don't understand-

Gendo (coming closer until he towered over the boy): You were taken from the place once. You should have stayed away. No matter your memories, no matter your conditioning, you should have remembered the fear!

Adam (turning away to look at the uncompleted Units): …  

(The partial Entities...perversions of the Angels…the wrongness is like a smell in the air. Like red that flows. The Child known as Adam feels himself cowering.)

Gendo (walking slowly toward the end of the chamber): You cannot stop it. You will play your part…as will he…

Adam (screaming with his head bowed): How can you do this to me, FATHER?!

(The Supreme Commander stops with the suddenness of a deer spotting a hunter in the brush. It is almost as though he has become a statue, not breathing, not thinking.)

Adam (gripping his white arms with his hands, trembling so hard that blood is trailing down from his mouth where he's biting his lips): You don't know…you don't know…

Gendo (turning around in a flash of motion): What I know does not matter anymore. Soon…this will not even be a memory. Start from zero. Erase the Original Sin. That is your purpose, Adam!

Adam (looking up with tears in his eyes): I am not a doll.

Gendo (turning his head slightly so he didn't have to stare at the boy): …that…is irrelevant.

(The double door at the front of the chamber slide open to the sound of growling servo motors. When Adam sees the Third Child, he opens his mouth to speak to Shinji, but then he sees, hears, tastes the Beast behind the other Child's eyes.)

Adam (whispering): Monster…

(Shinji begins to walk forward, his eyes glassy, his motion dazed. Behind Gendo Ikari and Adam…the frosted containment chamber of the Infinity Project begins to shiver and open its doors…)

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(There is no school now. There is no reason for there to be. Most everyone has left Tokyo-3 that don't need to be there. The halls are silent and some lockers are even hanging open. The place doesn't even feel like a school anymore. Hikari walks through the school slowly, her footsteps making soft tapping sounds that seem to echo forever.

Hikari (pausing at an open door to look inside, whispering): There is no need for a class Rep…when there is no class.

(She knew she should have left with everyone else, but something told her that it doesn't matter where she is; the result would be the same everywhere.)

(Hikari looks down at the tiled floor and shivers at the sight of the red light coming in through the windows. The sky is a horrible thing to look at nowadays. Ever since that last Angel attack, soupy, red clouds have hovered over the shattered city.)

Hikari (thinking): It's just a city…but for some reason…I feel like I want to cry…

(Hikari finishes her rounds and makes her way to the roof of the school. It has always been a place for her to relax whenever school, home-life, or Suzuhara became too much to bear.)

Kensuke (calling out from the edge of the fence): It's about time you got here!

(Hikari looks up with a gasp and finds Kensuke and Touji leaning against the fence that rings the roof-top. They are both smiling at her and she sniffs and wipes the silly tears away.)

Hidaka (next to the door): Hey, Hikari, are you crying? If my brother said something else to make you cry I'll-

Hikari (laughing despite herself): No! I'm just being ridiculous.

(Hikari looks fondly down at Touji's little sister and rubs the top of the girl's head.)

Kensuke (sighing, folding his arms behind he head): Well, we knew you were always obsessed with this place, so when you weren't home, we decided to come on over and keep you company here.

Hikari (sniffing again): You guys…

Touji (walking up to her): Hey, now. No more tears. Class Reps don't cry…it sets a bad example.

(He grins broadly and wipes away one of the tears that are determined to slip pass her lashes.)

Hikari (looking up at him): Touji…

Kensuke (calling from the fence): Careful, Touji! She's got that look in her eyes!

Hikari (shooting a glare without any real heat at the local military otaku): Hey! Quiet over there!

(Kensuke just laughs and leans his head back against the metal links to stare at the boiling sky.)

Touji: Well, I had to come. After all, you would probably fade away if you didn't have someone to yell at and keep in line.

Hikari (biting her lip): Touji…

Hidaka (walks over to where Kensuke is standing, whispering loudly): Touji! Do something!

Touji (whispering back as he takes Hikari in his arms): Shut up, squirt!

(The little sister's eyes sparkle with laughter as she bounds over to annoy Kensuke.)

Hikari (rubbing her face against Touji's neck): What are we going to do…? I can feel it… Something horrible is going to happen-

Touji (hugging her tighter): Shhh…don't worry your pretty head about that one, Hikari…

(He kisses her gently.)

Touji (thickly): I'll…always protect you. I promise.

(Hikari closes her eyes and rests against Touji. It is never possible to be strong all the time.)

Hikari (thinking): …just be safe and I will be happy.

(And so, the four Children wait on the top of the school. They do not have to wait long…)

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(Within the Command Center, Fuyutsuki is sitting in Commander Ikari's chair. Looking over the vast chamber that it the heart of NERV Central, he can feel something. There is a stirring that prickles the back of his neck that comes whenever something bad is about to happen. It had happened that horrible day when he had lost one of his favorite students. It had happened when the Angels had started attacking again. It had happened just before pretty, young Hikaru Sohma had been taken from them.)

Fuyutsuki (thinking): The Children are so young.

(The Second-in-Command gazes over the pristine desk of the Commander's tower and at the young techs scurrying about below. They are all young. It seemed that after the Second Impact, only the young were optimistic and strong enough to attempt to carry on. You didn't see many people walking around with gray hair anymore. In a way, Fuyutsuki feels like a grandfather to them all. A calculating, old man with ideas for his young charges. But, unlike Ikari, Fuyutsuki can see the effects of the war on their faces. They might all be children compared to him, but they understand perfectly well what is at stake…)

(FLASHBACK)

(Fuyutsuki is standing in a dim corridor at an ungodly hour. Before him sits a vending machine and all he can do is glare with frustration at the stubborn thing. He can't believe it. They could combat Angels and create cities that could utterly change before your eyes in five minutes flat, yet they couldn't make vending machines that didn't eat your money!)

Fuyutsuki (rumbling): Is it too much to ask for a machine that can give you what you ask for without stealing from you?

(He sighs deeply and begins to reach into his pocket again when a slender hand slips the correct change into the slot. Fuyutsuki stares at the hand and slowly looks over to his right. Hikaru is standing here, patting back a yawn.)

Hikaru (blinking tiredly at him): There's a bit of a trick with this machine. Which one did you want?

(Fuyutsuki can only point. Hikaru reaches up sleepily and pushes the correct button. At the same moment, she kicks the left side of the vending machine. It clicks and shakes, then spits out the can of green tea. Hikaru picks it up and hands it to Fuyutsuki.)

Hikaru (smiling brightly): There you go, sir.

Fuyutsuki (his cheeks a little hot from needing the help in the first place): Um…thank you…Ms. Sohma. Here let me give you the change-

(Hikaru laughs as she shrugs her purse strap up on her shoulder. It is then that he realizes that she is in civilian clothes. She must have had a long night of testing and the ex-professor feels all the more embarrassed for her assistance.)

Hikaru (squeezing his arm warmly as she walks by him): Don't worry about it. Perhaps you will be able to do me a favor in the future, eh?

(She peeks back over at the unsettled Fuyutsuki, grinning broadly.)

Hikaru (chuckling): I like the idea of having owed favors in high places…

(Present)

(Fuyutsuki has never been one to get close to anyone under his command. It allows him to make those tough decisions when they are necessary. Someone had once told him that it was never good to come close to those that you may have to send to their deaths. The regulars in the Command Center such as Maya, Shigeru, and Hyuga knew him and would greet him on the street. But they would never meet him in a lounge or talk casually with him over a cup of coffee. Misato and Ritsuko are close to being his equals, but they are of another generation and he could never understand their determination never to relax during their downtime. Gendo Ikari…the man isn't even really human. Fuyutsuki isn't even sure if the man ever was. )

(The Children…well, the only way he keeps his sanity is not knowing them… )

Fuyutsuki (reaching into his pocket, thinking): It is easy to send someone you don't know to their death. If you don't know them, you don't mourn the loss of their personality and special, little flaws they have when they are gone…

(Fuyutsuki slowly pulls out a several coins…just enough for a can of green tea.)

Fuyutsuki (softly, staring down at his hand): I mean…look at me now. I am still holding on to a favor that will never be collected…

(There is a rumble that shakes through the Command Center and alarms scream to life. Emergency icons fill the sensor displays like floating stop signs and the Command Center crew throw themselves into action as they have so many times before. Distantly, Fuyutsuki marvels at their efficiency…their deep-rooted desire to live.)

Fuyutsuki (watching with sad, ancient eyes, thinking): Gendo…I see it now. They never really did need us…

Fuyutsuki (shouting as he stands up): Status report!

Shigeru (calling over his shoulder): It looks like some sort of singularity has formed over the central region of Tokyo-3!

Fuyutsuki (closing his eyes for a heartbeat): Here we go again. Yui…Hikaru Sohma…watch over us now…

Fuyutsuki (crisply): Lieutenant Hyuga, send out the calls to Pilots Ayanami, Soryu, Suzuhara and Major Katsuragi!

Hyuga (pulling a headset on, already dialing): Yes, sir!

Fuyutsuki (sitting down once again): Turn those damned alarms off.

(The silence that came is only broken by the sound of racing fingers on keyboards. Holographic threat boards flash up before the Command Towers, dancing, colorful rectangles that show a scenario that Gendo has whispered about for years now. Seeing it now, in full color, in real-life, sent a shiver through Fuyutsuki. He slowly draws an aged hand over his narrow face. It is not easy to stare Oblivion head-on without blinking.)

(On the holographic boards as well as the external, video links, the red skies over Tokyo-3 began to spin like the clouds between opposing warm and cold fronts. At the center of the rotating mass, where the eye of a tornado would have been, lays infinity. As he watches it, it picks at the corners of the city. It is going to absorb everything in one final attack…Lillith and the city together.)

Fuyutsuki (whispering): Damn…

(Within the eye of the Abyss there is landscape of raw possibilities… A world of the void… A second chance… A Specter of their deaths…)

-----------------------------

Adam (falling back on his rump): No… What have you done?!

Gendo (his back to the monstrosity in the Infinity Project chamber): What I had to… This is necessary.

(Mist from the opened chamber flows out across the dark, tiled floor, dusting everything it touches with a light layer of frost.)

(Shinji stands before the white, hanging mass within the chamber. It towers over him with impossibly long, organic wings and tangling supports. It looks like a giant backpack with a hood. Across the front of the hood is etched a symbol that is somehow familiar. It is a downward pointed triangle with seven eyes lining its edges.)

Gendo (folding his hands behind his back): This…is Lillith. This is the beginning.

Adam (looking around at the mist that clings to the shadows franticly): If you fly in the face of God…you will destroy yourselves! God is…God is…

(The Child arms his arms around his knees and rocks himself on the chilled floor. Gendo watches the boy with a solemn face.)

Gendo (very softly): You were the failed project…Adam. Do you know why?

Adam: …

Gendo (turning his face to the shadows): Man is arrogant. Man seeks to control that which is not his. He tries to be like God and in doing so become a God himself.

Adam: …

Gendo (looking slowly at the final form of Lillith, the Entity is breathing on its own now and it is watching with deep, horrible fascination): God created the Angels because Man is curious, Man is jealous. Man is in God's own image. If Man is curious and jealous, what does that say of Him?

(The wings of Lillith flex gently, testing its strength. The seven eyes turn from Gendo to Shinji. The eyes are hungry.)

Gendo (looking down at Adam, slowly as if he didn't want to be misunderstood): The Angels were created because Man was a mistake. Start from the beginning. Start over again. That is the purpose of the Angels.

(Adam covers his ears, whimpering.)

Gendo (whispering, knowing that Adam could still hear him): Man…in It's simple understanding, believed that an Entity…a creature that was both Man, that which God wishes to remake, and Angel, that which God created out of protection, would have a chance of making peace with Him.

Adam (hoarsely): He…won't listen…

Gendo: Yes.

Adam (looking up slowly): Then…why am I still here?

Gendo (almost sadly): Because, we need a bridge to Him. You are accepted as one of Them and therefore, can let us come to Him.

Shinji (slowly): …Lill…ith…?

(The Third Child is unsteady on his feet, touching his forehead as if he has just come out of a deep sleep.)

Gendo (turning his head toward Shinji): She was rejected by both Man and God.

(The Supreme Commander glances at Lillith.)

Gendo (smirking): His first mistake…

(The breathing is full, deep, and shakes the floor of the Construction Chamber. She is aware now.)

Shinji (taking a step back from Her): She…wishes to devour me…Father…

Gendo (sighing deeply): No…she will devour the Other within you, Shinji.

Shinji (whispering): Other…?

(The floor shutters and Gendo looks toward Adam…the "failed project.")

Gendo (walking toward Adam): We need a link to Him.

Adam (slowly standing before Gendo): I-I-

Gendo (rising up over the white-haired Child, thinking): He…looks so much like Rei…so much like Shinji…

Adam (whispering): I don't wish to die…

(Gendo Ikari stands before the Child. The product of twisting the DNA of Lillith and Man…the best result of the Human Instrumentality Project.)

Gendo (whispering as he strokes back the hair from the boy's face): I'm sorry…

(The gunshot is shocking and Shinji draws away from his father and the Child.)

Adam (choking on his blood, grabbing the front of Gendo's uniform): I…

(Gendo closes his eyes and leans his head close to the Child's lips. The gun is hot in his hand as if he had picked it up out of a fire.)

Adam (looking up at Gendo's face, his red eyes fading): I...could have stopped you…Father…

(Gendo bows his head and Adam falls to the floor before him. The Child's body is silent for a moment, then what look like lights appear across the boy's skin. Gendo slowly steps away from the body.)

Shinji: What have you done?!

Gendo (slowly straightening his back): What was necessary. You will not waste this sacrifice, Pilot Ikari.

(Shinji bites his lip and watches the body that was once a boy become something else. Before the Alter of Lillith, light struck out in what looks like lightning and plows through the armored ceiling. The two Ikaris step closer to Lillith to keep from behind crushed by the falling debris.)

Shinji (softly): Father…was he…

Gendo: You know who he was…Shinji.

(The power surging from the remains grows in strength and becomes a constant beam. Gendo Ikari briefly wonders, with distant amusement, what the professor is thinking of this new phenomenon erupting from the far corner of Terminal Dogma.)

-----------------------------------

Fuyutsuki (wide-eyed as he watches the beam of light coming up from the corner of Tokyo-3): What the hell is that?! An new Angel attack?!

Hyuga (shouting): Negative, sir! The power reading is coming from Terminal Dogma!

Fuyutsuki (thinking): My God…Ikari, what have you done?!

Fuyutsuki: Are we damaged badly?

Shigeru (puzzled): Strangely enough, sir, we are not. While we do now have a hole in all our layers in Sector 27, we have not lost any power to any necessary systems.

Fuyutsuki (softly): God…what could be causing something like that…?

Tech (calling out from Maya's station): Sir, the energy beam has hit the anomaly over Tokyo-3. Sir! I'm getting a reaction from the target!

Fuyutsuki (looking up at the external video feed from the surface): What is…happening?

(The hole in the sky is pulsing now, sending silent waves of energy through the air. The hole within the Entity was now changing from darkness into a warm, ever-changing shade of pink and red.)

Shigeru (gapping at his console): Sir…multiple contacts zeroing in on Tokyo-3.

Fuyutsuki (squinting at one of the images of the distant bogies): What…? …!

Hyuga (looking over his shoulder at Fuyutsuki): Sir…?

Fuyutsuki (quietly): Those heartless bastards… it's the fleet of mass-production EVAs…

(There is something in the way the white EVAs are flying, something about they way that they had those eerie, seemingly smiling mouths told the Sub-Commander everything in a single second and he bows his head.)

Fuyutsuki (whispering): They are…rogue.

------------------------------------------

(The armor of EVA Unit 02 seems to shine under the dim lights of the containment chamber. Asuka stands on the catwalk before it, her plug-suit snug against her body. Misato has left her to report to the Command Center.)

Asuka (quietly): I'm so…tired.

(The EVA seems to watch her with its emerald eyes. She can hear the sound of Tokyo-3's defenses going into effect. Worthless rounds of human-made artillery that will, at most, distract the Angels. But Asuka knows her enemy. It-they-whatever will not be so much as fazed by the impotent display of human power.)

Asuka (bracing her hands against the guardrail): I-I don't want to pilot anymore… I'm…no better than…than…God!

(The girl pounds the rail with her fists.)

Asuka (shouting): Dumphof! Idiot!

(She grips the bar tightly and her slender frame shutters.)

Asuka: …bastard… you made me weak…

Rei (her voice whispering from the other side of the catwalk): This isn't…like you, Asuka.

(Asuka lifts her eyes from the rail to look at the other girl. Rei looks as she did the first day Asuka met her. Utterly calm, utterly composed. Asuka feels she should be ashamed to show her weakness before Wonder Girl, but with her grief has come something else… Maturity.)

Asuka (growling): Damned straight it isn't like me. How can you be so laid back?! You probably know better than I do what we are going up again… And…AND we don't have the invincible Shinji Ikari at our side now!

Rei (looking up at Unit 02): You are wrong. He is with us. He will fight. …you must have…faith.

Asuka (her eyes wide, whispering): Wonder Girl…?

Rei (flashing the smallest ghost of a smile at the Second Child): You are not alone. You will not die.

(With that, the First Child walks up the catwalk toward Unit 00.)

Voice (calling loudly across the containment chamber): Man, you are the last person I want to see, right now! I had my spot all picked out and they have to drag me back here to be faced with your ugly mug!

(Asuka feels her eyes go even wider to find Touji Suzuhara walking down the catwalk in his black and blue plug-suit. He doesn't seem too happy to be there.)

Asuka (her hackles rising): Suzuhara! Y-You are not-

Touji (growling down into her face as he comes before her): I don't have a choice, little girl! See that EVA over there?

(Asuka lifts herself up on her tip-toes to look over Touji's shoulder. In the far end of the chamber, which had always held Unit 01, now sat Unit 03.)

Asuka (thinking): Where is Unit 01?!

Touji (looking back fearfully at the Evangelion): I…I don't want to be here, Asuka…

(Asuka glances up at Touji's face and realizes that he's a little pale and he's trembling very slightly. She isn't the only one who has bad memories attached to that monster.)

Asuka (sighing deeply): Can you control that thing, Suzuhara?

Touji (stiffly, his male pride coming back to the surface): Well enough! I did save your butt a while back, if you would remember!

Asuka (sharply): How they thought you were EVA material is beyond me-

Misato (over the chamber intercom): Excuse me, Children…but if you would be so kind as to get yourselves into your EVAs, we would be so grateful up here!

(Asuka blinks and looks up at the intercom speaker. She could have sworn that it is the old Misato speaking to them now…not the defeated, haunted woman that had brought her here.)

Asuka (thinking): Nothing like the heat of battle to make you forget your pain…

Asuka (sighing…VERY deeply): Okay, come on, moron. You do know how to get into an entry plug, right?

Touji (grumbling as he walked away): Yeah, yeah…

Asuka (thinking as she climbs into her entry plug): Poor Hikari…I know you love that idiot…

(She looks to the far side of the chamber to where Touji is staring at Unit 03's open entry plug, scratching the back of his head. Asuka gives a little shutter.)

Asuka (grimly): I'll see what I can do about getting him back in one piece.

(The entry plug closes and rotates into the EVA. The screens around her flicker and she can see the chamber once more. She looks at Unit 00 out of the corner of her eye and she whispers a German prayer. If Shinji is coming…then she has to live through this battle…someone has to be there at the end to yell at him for worrying everyone. Most of all, her.

(Asuka tosses her head and glares out at the world. Then, she speaks the words she said so long ago.)

Asuka: …let's go, Asuka…

(A few seconds later, the three Evangelions skyrocket along tracks to meet SEELE's fleet.)

----------------------------------

(Evangelion Unit 01 is silent in a way that is utterly unnatural, at least, as far as Shinji Ikari's experience with them has been. Those terrible, green eyes stare blankly into space and Shinji moves a little closer to creature known as Lillith. His father had done something and suddenly, as easily as the EVA was transferred to the surface, it slid down on sparking tracks to a place against the wall next to Lillith.)

Shinji: What is going on, Father…? Why is that here?

(The Supreme Commander is watching the light that was once the Child known as Adam. His hands are folded behind his back and it is then that Shinji realizes that his father's hands are bare. He can see the burns that he had gotten when he had pulled Rei II from her shattered entry plug.)

Gendo (firmly): It is but a vessel, Shinji. You need to fight.

Shinji (shivering): Why?! I-I'm afraid-

Gendo (sharply): Enough!

(He looks over his shoulder at his son.)

Gendo (softly): You cannot understand what I have done for this moment, Pilot Ikari. Do you have any idea what I have become for this to occur?

(Shinji draws away from Gendo, the image of his father's receding back from all those years ago flashes through his mind.)

Shinji (faintly): Why?

Gendo (looking back at his son): Because no one else could. Because I knew what needed to be done. Because I knew in the end that you would be the one to complete the circle.

Shinji (wrapping his arms around himself): F-Father…

Gendo (walking to Shinji): You will not be alone…I have made certain of that…

Gendo (bracing his hands on Shinji's quivering shoulders): Next time we meet…I hope you forgive me…son.

(Shinji rubs his tearing eyes with the back of his hand and looks with eyes that are still green over at the monster waiting for him. He turns toward the naked EVA, his hands balled into fists.)

Shinji (softly): How will I find my way back…?

Gendo (shaking his head): …

Shinji (facing the EVA once more): …I see…

(The Other is alive in him once more, pulsing between his eyes, filling his thoughts with knowledge so horrible, so wonderful, that tears come to his alien eyes.)

Shinji (walking toward the EVA, glancing down at his hospital gown): What about my plug-suit?

Gendo (looking up to the light once more): You will not need it…where you are going.

Shinji (nodding, as if it was as he had suspected): …

(As the Third Child comes close to the Evangelion, the bandaged creation kneels down on its own and lowers a hand for the pilot to stand upon. The EVA is breathing deeply as Lillith, its torso expanding and contracting with each huff. The exposed core at its center is glowing once more, pulsing with heat that Shinji feels on his face. The heat is so familiar…so comforting. Shinji's eyes snap wide.)

Shinji (gasping): Mother…?

(The hand begins to rise toward the Core and Shinji is reaching toward it like a baby reaching for its mother's breast. At that moment, the doors shift open on the far side of the chamber once more.)

Ritsuko (staggering through the doors, out of breath): Shinji! No!

(The hand is at the Core when Shinji turns to face the horrified doctor. His back is at the pulsing orb and it is shedding enough light to equal the beam which is pouring through the ceiling.)

Shinji (his lips lifted into a kind smile): Don't worry…I'm not running away anymore, Doctor Akagi…

(And he steps back through the surface of the Core. The creature that is Evangelion Unit 01 jerks to life and lifts its head back to roar.)

---------------------------------------

(The EVAs on the surface are spaced throughout the ruined city. Touji zeroes his EVA's focus on the sight of Unit 00 pulling the NERV Positron cannon from the weapon's rack at its side. The EVA handles it easily as if it is a seasoned soldier. Perhaps Rei is. The girl has always been an enigma to him. She has become more approachable since Ikari has come around, but she still seems uncertain about what to do with simple human contact.)

Asuka (her face popping up on a screen next to Suzuhara's head): Ogling Rei, you pig?

Touji (jumping in his seat, stammering): W-What?! No!

Asuka (snorting as she turned away, snapping): Meit Gott, jerk! What Hikari sees in you is beyond me!

(Her screen vanishes before he can make any sort of reply to that shot over the bow.)

Touji (his eye glancing skyward, thinking): Why me? Why do I have to deal with her?

Misato (her face flickering up on a floating screen): Are all in position? Damn it, Touji! You are zoned in Sector 5! What are you doing still standing by the exit hatch?!

Touji (wincing, thinking): How do I tell her that just walking is hard for me! Much less understanding these stupid maps that are flashing all over the place!

Touji (sighing): I-I'm sorry, Misato…

(Misato stares at Touji for a long moment before, sighing.)

Misato (quietly): Asuka… I know we are pressed for time, but…

Asuka (Unit 02 turning toward Unit 03 from the top of a ruined office building): Okay, okay, I got it.

(Asuka's face appears up next to Misato. The major turns her attention to fine-tuning Rei's position. The rogue EVAs are almost at Tokyo-3's borders.)

Asuka (grumbling): You are so lucky these bastards aren't much on stealth, Suzuhara!

Touji (sighing): I know…

(Asuka gazes out at Touji, frowning. His unbearable masculine arrogance is missing and it is a little unsettling to see Touji actually listening to what she is saying. It isn't easy explaining the basic functions of the EVA cockpit in such a short amount of time. Supposedly, the last time Touji was actually piloting Unit 03, he had both the real-time support of Doctor Akagi and the dubious assistance of the dummy-system. Asuka had seen the pictures of that battle later. It hadn't been pretty.)

Touji (looking around, still confused, but understanding how to get from point A to point B): Uh…Asuka? How do you walk?

Asuka (her eyes widening): What?

Touji (waving his hands in front of him to keep the onslaught in the Second Child's eyes from being unleashed on him): No, no! I understand the basic steps, but…you make it…grrr…look so easy…

(Asuka gives a laugh at that. Suzuhara is blushing and she snuggles a little into her pilot seat.)

Asuka (grinning wolfishly): …hmmm…wellll, let me see…

Rei (her face appearing under Misato's and Asuka's, quietly): You don't think about it, Pilot Suzuhara. The EVA is bonded with you. It is as much your body as your hand. Just believe that your foot will move and the EVA will move.

Touji (blinking at the simple explanation): T-Thank you, Rei-

Asuka (growling): Yes, thank you, Wonder Girl!

(Rei nods to them and her image vanishes from their screens. Touji glances around at the plug and the butterfly handles about him.)

Touji (thinking): Just…walk. Just…walk…

(Then, the thought comes to him that this isn't unlike his time in the hospital. Hikari had been there, her kind eyes watching him, her sweet, gentle eyes measuring his every step, insuring that he would not fall. He didn't, not while she was there.)

(FLASHBACK: Hikari (whispering): If you fall…I will catch you…)

(Unit 03 lifts it foot slowly, its head bowed to watch its own progress. Touji can feel his cheeks burning because he knows how ridiculous the EVA looks and he knows that the Second Child is watching every shaky step. But he can feel the EVA begin to move.)

Asuka (sarcastically): Lord, it's walking!

(It doesn't look pretty and it isn't by any means the graceful, casual stride of Asuka's Unit 02 or the efficient walk of Rei's Unit 00, but Unit 03 is moving without help through the scattered remains of Tokyo-3. Its dark head is hunched down and it scans the shells of buildings around it. The city had once been glorious to look upon. The Angels had turned into a graveyard. Touji plans on maintaining the pride of Tokyo-3 to the very end. He has loved ones here. This is the last line of defense. And now, NERV is one Evangelion stronger.)

--------------------------------

Ritsuko (sobbing): Y-You monster! You fed your son to that Beast!

(The EVA is slowly standing upright on its own. Ritsuko doesn't care. She is pounding on Gendo's chest, tears sparkling in the beam-light like crystals on her cheeks. Gendo doesn't fight back, his face seemingly lined in a way that the doctor has never noticed before. It as if all his sins have caught up with him at once and aged him.)

Gendo (softly): Ritsuko-

Ritsuko (screaming): Shut up! You never gave a damn to begin with! You know what is going to happen when that-that THING joins with Lillith!

(Gendo closes his eyes and catches Ritsuko's hands in his own. The woman struggles in his grasp desperately before falling against him.)

Ritsuko (her voice breaking): Y-You…never loved any of us…

(Gendo resting his head against Ritsuko's, his lover's, his companion, his greatest tool's.)

Gendo: …more than…you may ever know…

(The Supreme Commander of NERV and Doctor Akagi could only keep a silent vigil as the Evangelion turns to Lillith and walks toward it, curiosity lighting its burning green eyes. The bandages are falling away from its hideous features.)

Ritsuko (whispering against Gendo's cheek): What have we done…?

Gendo (softly): What is necessary.

(The creation known as Evangelion Unit 01 comes within range of Lillith and the organic backpack flexes toward it like a famished octopus, wrapping hundreds of tendrils of white flesh about it. The EVA roars and tries to use its strength against the Angel as it has so many times in the past. Every time, it has worked, but this time, the Angel is too strong, too old, too wise to be conquered by brute force. The EVA screams as tendrils of Lillith sink into its flesh, changing and merging with the Infinity Project. Ritsuko turns her face away as Unit 01's cries take on a human quality. This is what is sounds like when a soul is torn apart.)

Ritsuko (thickly): She…never deserved this…

Gendo: …

(The sound dies away and a new form grows before the two humans. The insane, green eyes are still visible through sinkholes in the fleshy hood, but the rest of the EVA has been remade in Lillith's image. Long, claw-like hands and slender, yet powerful legs. The wings flaring out from its back are tightly hugged to the creation's body, since the chamber is hardly large enough for such limbs. While they are a bit like the wings of the rogue EVAs', they are far more complex and much more elegant. They remind Ritsuko a little of millions of doves' wings.)

(The white-fleshed Evangelion/Angel hybrid steps away from the open isolation chamber.)

(Gendo narrows his eyes and tightens his grip around Ritsuko. Has he been all wrong? Was it all a mistake?)

Gendo: Then, go.

(The EVA turns its eyes to the beam of light still pouring through the hole in the ceiling.)

(The modified Evangelion steps into the light with thundering footfalls and it shimmers within the beam. Then, it looks down at the pitiful human before it. Years of imprisonment flood back into its joined psyche. It would be so easy to crush the flesh and bones creature before it. But…its mind lashes out a single thought instead.)

(And it begins to lift away from the floor as if it is lighter than air. Gendo is on his cell phone seconds later, informing Sub-Commander Kouzou and Major Katsuragi of their new arrival.)

-------------------------------

(Misato glares at the "Audio-Only" icon floating before her with impotent fury.)

Gendo: The Entity coming out of Terminal Dogma is not to be attacked, Major. Remind your pilots of that.

Misato (through grit teeth): I'm sure they wouldn't think of it, sir. Considering who is piloting that…thing.

Gendo (continuing on as if he didn't hear the poison in the Major's voice): The hybrid, while in most cases is one of the most powerful forces in our arsenal, is utterly helpless while in the thrall of the Rapture. Major Katsuragi, have one of your pilots posted near the Stairway to defend…Unit 01's flank.

(Misato glances up at Fuyutsuki. The old man sighs deeply and looks away.)

Misato (turning back to the icon): …with all due respect, Commander, but to do so would almost certainly sentence the other two pilots to death! There are eight Rogue EVAs crossing into our city-limits even as we speak! We cannot-

Gendo (coldly): Those losses are expected, Major. The only important objective at this point is that Unit 01 reaches the Abyss!

(The violence in the Supreme Commander's voice causes Misato to jerk away from the icon. She gazes long and hard at the various views of her three Evangelions on the field.)

Misato (thinking): …a rock and a hard place… This is no choice…

Misato (choking): Understood, sir.

Gendo: I expect results, Major. All you and your crew have to do is protect Unit 01 until it reaches the Abyss. What happens after that does not matter.

Misato (closing her eyes tightly): Sir.

(The Supreme Commander signs off without another word.)

Fuyutsuki (thinking, savagely): You bastard, Ikari! You could have told her!

Misato (calling out): Touji?

(The Fourth Child's face appears on a large screen before the Major. Misato folds her hands behind her back to hide her trembling.)

Misato (firmly): Touji, I want you to take position by the beam of energy coming out of Section 27. You will be defending the back end of NERV's offensive against the anomaly.

Asuka (coming online, shout): What?! Why are you sending this clumsy idiot for that job-

Misato (snapping): Asuka, don't question orders! Just do it!

(Asuka blinks at the look on Misato's face. She draws back and looks off screen…toward Unit 03. Her lips move, but no sound comes. This is supreme helplessness.)

Asuka (whispering): …no…hope…

Misato (shaking her head violently): No…you are not going to this naked.

(The Major is breathing a little quickly as she turns to Shigeru.)

Misato (confidently): Lieutenant Aoba, please call up the Lance of Longinsis.

Shigeru (gapping at her): Ma'am…I'm not authorized-

Fuyutsuki (sharply): You are not cleared for ordering that, Major!

Misato (turning on the sub-commander): I'm not?

(Fuyutsuki's jaw tightens at the sight of the pain in Misato's eyes. He stands slowly and wonders what it feels like to be gunned down before a firing squad…)

Fuyutsuki (quietly): Lieutenant Aoba, enter the release sequence for the Lance.

(His eyes glitter for a brief instant as he sees the shock spread over the Lieutenant's face.)

Fuyutsuki (sighing): I take responsibility and I know that you know the codes, Lieutenant. Don't insult either of our intelligence.

(Fuyutsuki sees how Hyuga and Shigeru glance at each other. Had they thought that he hadn't been aware of their amateur hacking attempts into the MAGI? There are only two people, two ladies to be exact, who could have done so without raising his notice and both were in Terminal Dogma at the moment.)

Shigeru (slowly): Um…yes, sir.

(The long-haired Lieutenant calls up the MAGI system to release the Lance from its containment chamber. His eyes snap wide as he looks back at the Sub-Commander and Misato.)

Shigeru (screaming): Someone has launched an Eater Virus into the MAGI!

Fuyutsuki (leaning forward, his heart pounding): What did you say?! Who-?!

Maya (whispering from the suddenly opened Command Center door): You know…who…

Misato (looks over her shoulder at the young Lieutenant): Maya, thank God you are here-

(That is when Misato sees the blood covering the front of Lieutenant Ibuki's uniform. Her hand is pressed hard against the bullet wound and she is panting against the pain. Misato runs to the young woman catching her as her arm gave out.)

Misato (shouting): Someone get a first-aide kit! Oh God, Maya!

(Maya's face is misted with perspiration and she breaths hard against the icy chill of the wound.)

Maya (softly): Don't ask me how, but I managed to beat them here… Doctor Akagi…I'm so sorry for…not listening…

(That is when the power goes out in the Command Center.)

Misato (grimly): Well, aren't they arrogant to attack us on our home turf?

----------------------------------

(Unit 00 and Unit 02 have taken up position on opposite sides of the rubble city while Unit 03 has dug-in over by the beam of light. Asuka scans the surrounding mountains that are still as green as her memories. The sky used to be a deep blue that some of the stupid boys in school would have said matched her eye-color exactly. She can care less what those morons said. They are perverts and cowards, all of them. Of course, now the sky is blood red, making such hallow words ridiculous now. They had all run except for the people she has grown to depend on. According to Touji, Hikari, Kensuke, and his little sister Hidaka have taken to the shelter near the school. He said that Hikari told him before NERV Intelligence had taken him away that Tokyo-3 was as safe as any other place in the world.)

Asuka (thinking, her EVA adjusting the auto-rifle in its metal-shod fists): This is the edge of the world. There is nowhere else to run now. How did that girl get to be so smart?

Rei (her face appearing on the screen next to Asuka's face): Asuka…there are intruders in NERV Central.

Asuka (quietly): I know.

(Unit 02 kneels on top of a apartment building. The people are all gone now and all the windows are blown out…but it gives Asuka one hell of a view of the surrounding area.)

Rei: I am going to go for the Lance of Longinsis.

Asuka (thinking): That weapon that stopped the Angel when it was trying to destroy my mind…

Asuka (narrowing her eyes): So you are going to just leave me to die up here, Rei? Fine! Go! I can taken them all on myself-

Rei (gently): I will be back in two minutes and thirty-six seconds. Command has managed to disengage the lock, but they are unable to launch the Lance through the normal weapons tubes.

Asuka: …

Rei: I will not let you die, Asuka.

Asuka (bowing her head): …

Rei (her eyes seemingly glowing): You are too important to him…too important to me.

Asuka: …go.

Rei: Asuka…

Asuka (smiling a little grimly): The clock has started…

(Rei nods and signs off. Asuka can see Unit 00 turn away from its post and runs towards the access hatch in its Section. The Second Child lays back in her seat and can feel the icy fingers of fear rippling through her stomach and heart. She can see the flying EVAs without magnification now on the horizon. They are each carrying what appears like modified versions of the Lance. Asuka wonders if they had ever had a chance in the first place.)

Asuka (growling): Come and get it, boys!

-----------------------------------

(The emergency lights cast the Command Center in an eerie amber, making everything seem like it is under tinted glass. Maya flinches as Misato pulls the bandage tight around the young woman's bared waist.)

Misato (speaking around a wad of extra bandaging cloth, both hands securing the bandage): It wooks like de bullwet passed stwaight wough..yer wucky, Maya.

Maya (trembling, watching Misato through half-closed eyes): Ha.

Hyuga (kneeling next to Maya): Are you in too much pain, Maya? I can give you some pain-killer-

Maya (hugging her left arm across her bandaged midsection): No…I need my wits about me. Major…?

Misato (helping the younger woman to her feet): Yes?

Maya (looking up at the Major): The UN troops. They were everywhere…I don't know how they got so many inside without…setting off any alarms.

Shigeru (darkly from his place at the command console): They probably hit the MAGI at the same as they launched the attack. Such a smooth operation can only mean that they have the other MAGI computers involved from the other countries.

Hyuga (hyperventilating): W-What are we going to do?! W-We're technicians…we're scientists! I can read Latin! I can speech French! I-

Fuyutsuki (firmly): Lientanent Hyuga, you have basic training. You know how to fire a weapon.

Hyuga (shivering): I was never thinking I-I would have to use it! I-

Fuyutsuki (gently): Makoto…

(The Command Crew look up at Fuyutsuki in shock. He doesn't sound like a Sub-Commander anymore. He sounds…like a teacher…a professor. He is strong enough to bend…wise enough to guide without an iron fist.)

Fuyutsuki: Take members from Tower 3 crew to the weapons locker and get us armed. Maya?

Maya (struggling to look up at the Sub-Commander): Sir…?

Fuyutsuki (gazing down at her with sad eyes): Are you strong enough to work on the MAGI problem?

Maya (cracking a weak smile as she leans against Misato): I'm not dead yet. Besides…I was trained by the best.

Fuyutsuki (smiling): Good girl… Okay, let's get going! Misato, come up here. We don't know how much time we have left!

(Misato doesn't know what has happened to Fuyutsuki Kouzou, but she decides not to question the gentle voice. As she heads toward the staircase leading to the main Command tower, she trips the emergency lock on the doors leading into the Command Center. It wouldn't be much against a determined UN strike force, but it would buy them time.)

Misato (coming to the top, quietly): Sir?

Fuyutsuki (sitting down in the Commander's chair, tiredly): Major…those Children are isolated without us. We have won in the past because of luck and fate. I think we need eyes top-side.

Misato (shaking her head): That is all fine and good, sir, but without main power we-

Fuyutsuki (leaning his head back against the chair, smiling humorlessly): You kids…you relay too much on technology. Major, we don't need main power. What good is emergency gear if we don't use it during an emergency?

Misato (her eyes widening with understanding): Oh…you mean the handheld audio-video-units? But those won't reach the surface-

Fuyutsuki: Line-of-sight, Major. Well, not quite, but close. Outfit the lesser Techs with the handhelds and send them top-side through the maintenance ducts.

Misato (sighing): There won't be much we can do, even if we can do as much.

Fuyutsuki (looking up at the Major): At least the Children will know…that they are not alone.

(Misato doesn't say another word otherwise and goes about giving the order.)

-------------------------------------

(Ritsuko sits with her legs hanging over the edge of the LCL pool. Never mind that LCL is one of the hardest things to get out of nylon, it isn't like it really matters anymore.)

Ritsuko (speaking softly into the chamber beyond Heaven's Gate): How can you be so sure about this, sir?

(Gendo Ikari stands at the edge of the pool, staring out at the place against the wall where the Angel known as Lillith had once been posted with the Lance of Longinsis sticking out of its chest. That had been before he had struck a deal with the Entity…before She had transformed herself for one moment.)

Gendo (thoughtfully): Sometimes, you have to put all your faith in a single possibility.

Ritsuko (blinking at him): A…gamble.

Gendo (crossing his arms across his chest): Yes. That and a willingness to give up everything for a slender chance of paradise.

(He looks over at the woman next to him, kicking her legs slowly in the LCL like some little girl. There is a little insanity in her eyes, but she is aware. She knows who he is, where they are, and what is happening. That is enough.)

Gendo (smirking): I wonder if the Abyss will destroy me because of my sins. Will anyone…think of me?

Ritsuko (looking over her shoulder at the giant, metal doors behind them): I wonder how long it will take them to find us? Will they shoot us on the spot or take us prisoner to stand before a court in some glorified trial?

(She leans her head back and laughs up at the shadows hovering around the ceiling of the Chamber.)

Ritsuko (hoarsely, a little hysterical): 'The man and woman responsible for unleashing the Armageddon on the World sentenced to death!'

(She hears footsteps and she turns her gaze up to Gendo. He sighs and takes his glasses off. Her eyes widen as she can see his eyes. Whenever she has worked with Gendo Ikari, anytime she had seen him after his wife's 'death,' he has always had his glasses on. His shield to the world. Even when he had caught her in the middle of a darkened office or in her apartment, he has left the glasses set on his face.)

(FLASHBACK)

(Gendo Ikari is kissing her, his hands smoothing over her lean, narrow curves. Her lab-coat is off on one shoulder and his thigh is between hers. It has been a long shift, yet, he had driven her home and now she is braced against the door of her apartment door.)

Ritsuko (whimpering): Ikari…oh Ikari…

(Her hands slip up his sides and she reaches for his face. He is still kissing her when she tries to take his glasses off.)

Gendo (whispering): Do not take them off, Doctor Akagi.

(She blinks at the venom in his voice. His eyes are watching her, but they seem black in the light coming from the overhead lamp.)

Ritsuko: Gendo-?

Gendo (sharply): Hush. Just be silent…

(Present)

Ritsuko (thickly): Ikari…

Gendo (kneeling beside the woman): I don't want you to think about anything, Ritsuko. I want you to be free of mind. Don't think about the future…

(He cracks a smile at her.)

Gendo (kissing her lips): You think too much anyway…

------------------------------

(Touji can only stare at the beam of light. It is beautiful, yet it seems unnatural…wrong, in some way. Like he has never been meant to see this sight. The hairs on his arms are prickling as if he has just walked across a shaggy carpeted floor in socks.)

Touji (softly): W-What the hell is this? Is this…real?

(The light is pure and white, illuminating the slumped building around it in glossy brilliance. It is as if the air has become solid, like the milkiest-white marble ever known. Touji can swear to be seeing ghostly images blurring just beyond his field of vision, as though he is gazing upon a rift in the world, flashing the faces of people he has known and are gone.)

(EVA Unit 03 is standing limp-armed before the beam when the first Angel arrives. He turns his eyes slowly up to the stark, grinning face of the rogue EVA, trying to understand if this is real or another afterimage from the beam. The EVA has a long, double-pronged Lance in its fist as it raises it over its head, the organic metal hungry for the bite of his flesh.)

(Static)

(The white Angel's wings flare in excitement and the Lance dives for Unit 03's chest.)

Voice (hushed with static, but frantic): Touji! MOVE!

(Touji blinks and gives a shout as he realizes that the vision of the Angel is very real. Unit 03 staggers to the side, away from the Stairway. The Lance is driven deep into the husk of a nearby building which promptly crumbles.)

Touji (looking around for the face that belongs to the voice): M-Misato?! Is that you?!

Misato (her voice crackling): Y..ah, it's (-static-) Wha…you do..ng?! Move! That An..el is out for bl..od!!!

(Unit 03's narrow head looks up to find the Angel pulling its Lance out of the building and turning on it.)

Touji (jerking away from the crystal clear projection of the rogue EVA): Misato!

Misato (sharply): Don't ask…for help! You have to do this……. I believe in…ou!

(Touji pulls hard on the butterfly handles, but the EVA moves slowly. The Lance is zipping toward him again, but this time, Touji feels like his leg has been taken off. The Fourth Child screams and the EVA wraps its hands around the Lance buried in its thigh. Tears are blurring Touji's sight and when he looks down, he is shocked to see blood mixing with the LCL.)

Touji (screaming): Misato! I'm bleeding!

Misato (quickly): I…know, Touji! …'s a copy of the….ance of Longinsis! The power…f that staff is beyond…..under…tanding. Do NOT get…hit! It will……ear you ….part!

(Unit 03 hobbles back into a nearby office building, holding the Lance in its flesh. The Angel is leering at it, twisting the staff of the Lance in the EVA. The feeling is close to the time where Asuka had actually punched him in a pressure point by 'accident.' His leg had actually gone out on him and was numb for the better part of that day. Touji screams again, almost letting go of the prongs.)

Touji (snapping): Son of a BITCH!!

(Unit 03's head snaps up to growl at the Angel. The Angel draws back slightly as the sight of the unbalanced Unit 03. The Evangelion lashes out with its

unpinned foot and catches the Angel in the torso. The impact sends the winged Entity sailing back into an industrial park.)

Touji (gritting his teeth so hard that his jaw creaks): God…

(Unit 03 pulls the Lance out of its leg and Touji gives a little yelp of pain. The EVA falls to its knees, bracing its upper body with the captured Lance.)

Touji (whispering): Asuka…are you…there?

(Silence)

Touji (forcing his EVA to its feet, craning his neck): Asuka…? …! My…God…

(When the winged-Angels had struck, a single one had broken off from the fleet and attacked Unit 03, attempting to secure the Stairway. The other seven Angels…had attacked Unit 02, sensing that Asuka is far more agile in her Evangelion than the Fourth Child. The result…was devastating.)

Touji (softly): A-Asuka…?

(Unit 02 is standing over one of the Angels, its wings splattered on a nearby high-rise. But, the EVA is missing an arm and there is a wide gash in its side, thus is using its auto-rifle as a crutch. The EVA's bloodied head is hanging against its chest, its right-set of eyes gouged out.)

Touji (coughing at the cry building in his chest): Asuka?!

Asuka (very softly): S…Shut up, Dumphof. It is hard enough to concentrate……without you screaming my name.

(The six remaining Angels are circling the trembling EVA slowly, their grinning faces painted in the blood of their fallen comrade and Unit 02.)

Asuka (snarling): You GODDAMN vultures!

(Unit 02 staggers toward one of the Angels and it dances away, just out of her reach.)

Touji (starting toward Unit 02): Asuka-

Misato (the line secured and clean now, her voice crystal clear): Pilot Suzuhara! Remain at your post! …there is still…an Angel luring in your sector.

Touji (snapping): Fuck that! I have to- 

Asuka (viciously): Touji! I swear if you come over here…I'll kick your ass!

Touji (whispering): Asuka…

Asuka (breathing heavily): You must…make sure…the invincible Shinji…makes it to…that hole in…the sky!

Touji (eyes widening, thinking): …this is the power of her love. She will fight until those Angels rip her plug out of her dismantled EVA. Hikari…oh God, what am I supposed to do?

(That is when the Messager rises out of the depths of NERV.)

---------------------------------------

(Civilian Shelter Number 3. The place is dark and there is the sound of dripping water somewhere. The place is absolutely empty…save the three children who have found their way there. The ground shakes and a few wisps of dust tumbles to the floor. Hikari is laying against the wall, her eyes closed though she isn't sleeping. Hidaka is snoring lightly, her head resting on the older girl's lap.)

(Kensuke groans and lowers the camcorder he has been trying to use to get information on the battle raging outside their cement and steel world.)

Hikari (cracking her eye): Anything?

Kensuke (laying on his back in the middle of the floor, sighing deeply): Nope. You would think that NERV would care less about censoring the airwaves now, but, once again they surprise me!

(Kensuke rolls the camcorder away and Hikari can see the serene sight of a forest with the usual government dribble about technical difficulties. We will have the viewer net up as soon as possible, etc, etc… She has never really cared about the censorship, since it give her a reason not to care. But now that Touji is out there, she can feel for Kensuke Aida.)

Hikari (leaning her head back against the trembling wall): So…how long do you think it will take?

Kensuke (taking his glasses off and cleaning them with the edge of his button-down shirt): How long will what take?

Hikari (looking at him through her lashes): The end of the world, stupid.

Kensuke (peeking up at Hikari): You don't think that NERV can stop the Angels this time?

Hikari (very quietly, very seriously): Kensuke, you have seen the city. T-There are rumors that Hikaru is dead! This is not a video-game war, no matter what the news has said or what the propaganda says, we are fighting a losing battle. Every time the Angels have attacked, we have lost a little more. Now that the city is rubble, what is left?

Kensuke (putting his glasses back on and folding his hands behind his head, staring at the midnight-blue ceiling): You have a point there.

Hikari (shouting, jolting forward): How-

(Hidaka murmurs in her sleep, frowning at the loud voice. Hikari goes quiet and whispers gentle words to the girl.)

Hidaka (whispering in her sleep): Mama…

(And she is sleeping again.)

Hikari (quieter now): How can you be so calm about this? There-

Kensuke (softly): -is nothing we can do about it. I can go out to the forest, out to the fields and play war. I can be the greatest hero that has ever stepped across the surface of this planet. But you know what? I am still here in this shelter. You know why? Because I can't believe that Fate would be so cruel as to let us come so far as a species, then wipe us out in the blink of an eye!

Hikari (gazing down at Hidaka, stroking her head gently): …

Kensuke (pulling out a hand from under his head so he could rub the spot under his nose): If…if we are to die here…well, then that's how it is to be. Worrying about it isn't going to make the end anymore sudden or kind. But you have to consider this…

(Hikari can feel Kensuke staring at her and she looks up at him. He smiles broadly.)

Kensuke: You have to remember that we have some of the best EVA pilots in the world out there right now, fighting for our lives! Asuka, who is the Queen of all bitches-

Hikari (startled into soft laughter): Kensuke-!

Kensuke (continuing): -but she is one hell of a pilot! You have to remember, I've seen her in action against an Angel while I was on the U.S.S. Over-the Rainbow!

(Pause)

Kensuke (aside): Never mind that she had Shinji backing her up that time…BUT, she was still able to defeat the Angel!

(The ground shakes again and there is an explosion nearby. Hikari clutches Hidaka, but the sound fades away and there is silence again.)

Kensuke: Then, you have Touji…

Hikari (sniffing and nodding): …yeah.

Kensuke (thoughtfully): I'm not sure how he is with an EVA, but I know he can kick ass when he wants to! And you can't forget Rei. Rei is quiet, weird, but something about her makes me that that if she puts her mind to something like a battle, she would be a demon!

(Silence)

Kensuke: And then…there's Shinji. He…He goes through so much. Every time I hang out with him, there's always the shadow of pain in his eyes.

Hikari (awed): Kensuke Aide…I would never have thought that you, of all the people in the world, would have seen something like that.

Kensuke (proudly, puffing his chest out): A good soldier needs to be most observant!

Hikari (sighing): Oh, brother…

(Kensuke is silent for a long moment and the sound of battle rattles about within the shelter. The boy sighs and rolls up so he's sitting on the cement.)

Kensuke (looking at Hikari out of the corner of his eye): If anyone can set us right, it is Ikari.

(Kensuke gives a little laugh and lays back down.)

Kensuke (aloud): In Ikari we trust!

(Hikari cracks a laugh despite the tears filling her eyes.)

--------------------------------

(Unit 03 is staring at the powerful, white creature drifting up from the hole in the ground. It looks nothing like EVA Unit 01. Its arms are heavily armored and it has what looks like wings laying down its back and deep into the hole. Its head is submerged within a organic hood which reminds Touji a bit of the front of one of those old-fashion nuclear submarines that Kensuke is so crazy about.)

Asuka (shouting): Touji! Angel!

(Touji turns his head and sees one of the rogue EVAs stalking quickly towards Unit 01, slipping in between buildings easily.)

Touji (growling): Shit!

(The Fourth Child forces the pain away from his mind and Unit 03 staggers across the ruined street and posts itself in front of the Stairway. Glancing back over his shoulder, Touji can see the modified EVA rising up behind him. The thing is enormous, even with its wings swept back. Its arms are crossed over its chest and its head is leaning back, as if in awe of the Abyss over its head.)

(The Angel tears from the shelter of the crumbling cityscape and charges Unit 03, its wings flared open to appear far larger than it is.)

Touji (bringing the EVA to spin the Lance in its hands, sure that no kung fu actor had ever thought of doing such a thing with a giant robot): Come on, you bastard! I might not know everything there is to know about piloting, but fighting is right up my alley!

(The Angel leaps into the air and glides toward the EVA with enough speed to tear up the surrounding debris in the street up in a whirlwind. Unit 03 stands straight before the Angel.)

Misato (shouting): Touji-

Touji (calmly): I know what I'm doing.

Misato (sharply): I don't think you do! I've already lost…lost Hikaru…I don't want-

Touji (grinning): Trust me.

(The Angel shrieks, though its mouth remains closed. The winged Angel is almost on top of Unit 03 when the Evangelion moves in a way that is utterly unnatural. Its back flexes and the EVA seems to collapse in a tangle of arms and legs like a marionette who has just had its strings cut. The Angel realizes its mistake a second too late. The Angel, which has been diving straight for an upright EVA, left itself no room to attack a grounded one. The Angel's chest and internal Core are completely exposed. The EVA's head flashes up and the Lance is launched.)

Touji (panting): Gotcha!

(A moment later, the Angel plows into a nearby building, thrashing about with the Lance buried in the center of its chest. Unit 03 oozes back into an upright, though hunched over stance and walks over to the Angel.)

Misato (whispering): Touji…how…?

Touji (grimacing as he cracks his neck): I…was conscious during the first activation, Misato.

Misato: …

(The Evangelion grasps the Lance's staff through the clouding dust. The EVA's cruel eyes turn down to gaze at the weak Angel, struggling to get upright. The Lance is pulled out, then thrust back in, this time into the rogue EVA's head, pinning the creature to the mound of rumble. Touji feels no triumph. He is so tired and he has only defeated one. There are another six…left…)

Touji (crying out, looking over his shoulder toward Asuka's last position): Asuka!

(Unit 01's wings flash and extend wide. The EVA is high over the city now and the wings are long, silver, and flowing. Half the city is shadowed by their width. The EVA now spreads its hands wide…)

-------------------------

(Asuka's breath is labored and specks of blood sprinkle her lips. Her "missing" hand is cupping her destroyed eye. She is getting tunnel-vision from the loss of blood and it seems like everywhere she looks, the white Angels are waiting for her. When their comrade had made a run for the Stairway, they had gone silent, moving only when she had made an exhausted swipe at them.)

Asuka (thinking miserably): T-They don't even consider me…a threat anymore!

(Asuka turns her head, blood flowing in between her fingers.)

Asuka (dimly): If I…brace myself…against that building…

(Unit 02 forces its wounded leg to work and Asuka groans as she drags her EVA over to the heavy-walled structure. She braces her EVA's back against the wall and pulls the auto-rifle up. She sees the Angels jolt and she knows that the one giving Touji so much grief has met a gruesome end.)

Asuka (grinning savagely): Good…very good…rookie…

(They suddenly seem to notice that she has moved her Evangelion and they hiss like a pack of wild cats. Asuka closes her working eye and pulls the trigger. Tracers fly in a wide spray, pelting the Angels, causing their AT Fields to flash and spark. They seem to grin wider and the one to her left closes towards her, angling its Lance toward her EVA's side.)

Asuka (slumping in her seat): …I'm…too weak… I can't stop them…

(The closest Angel hisses almost in excitement, remind Asuka perversely of a kid at his Christmas tree, opening his presents.)

Asuka (whispering past dry lips): Shinji…

(Then, its head is gone. Simple as that. One moment it was there, then it is not. The surrounding Angels flutter away, landing on nearby building and hills, crouched low, scanning for the source of danger.)

Misato (shouting): All right, Rei!

Asuka (softly): Rei...?

(She turns her head and sees the Lance of Longinsis sticking out of a nearby building. The beheaded Angel staggers and begins to regenerate its head. What the Lance hasn't done, the NERV positron rifle does. The high-powered beam strikes the Angel right in the back and cuts a clean line through the Entity's Core.)

Asuka (turning her eye up to see Unit 00 standing on the other end of the street): You're…late.

Rei (her face flashing up next to Asuka's): I'm sorry.

Asuka (coughing): Damn…so you aren't perfect…Wonder Girl.

(Rei gazes at Asuka for a long moment, then smiles, which Asuka can only stare at in shock.)

Rei (softly): No…I'm not.

(Unit 00 and Unit 02 turn to the Angels just in time to see them launch from their perches, zeroing in on the pilots.)

----------------------------------

 (The modified Unit 01 hangs just under the Abyss…)

(Unit 00 rests against a building, its head buried in the wall, a Lance sticking out of its back…)

(Unit 02 braces weakly over Asuka's school, unable to even face its opponents any longer…)

(Unit 03 is howling, contamination raging through its pilot's body, its hands peeling one of the white Angel's alive with its bare hands…)

(The door to the Command Center gives away and blank-faced UN soldiers race in…)

(Maya looks up just as she manages to get the MAGI back online…Ritsuko's ultimate anti-hacker program shimmering across the holographic displays. Defeat is luring in her dark eyes…)

(Misato stands tall before the UN, her eyes filled with contempt…)

Misato (whispering): Too late…we will not be silenced!

(The SEELE lapdogs open fire…)

(Gendo Ikari strokes the back of Ritsuko's head which is resting on his naked chest. A gun is cradled in his free hand…)

Gendo (closing his eyes): I am no God…I was never…compassionate enough to be one…

(Unit 01 rises into the Abyss…)

Shinji (tears leaking down his cheeks as he gazes up at the explosion of light): …M-Mother? NO!!!

(As Unit 01 is absorbed, golden, titan wings flash out from its back, extending away from Lillith's wings. The Evangelion screams as its wings punch out through the Abyss and onto space. Shinji trembles as that which he is falls away from the entangled EVA…)

(The world shutters and is engulfed by the Third Impact.)

----------------------------- (INTERMISSION) ------------------------------------

……..

…..

…

.

(Shinji is laying on an obsidian hillside, staring up at the sky. Thoughts are racing through his head, though he can't understand any of them. It is like something terrible has happened, like a horrible nightmare, but he can't remember what it was about. The delicate petals of the cherry blossoms flutter down from the sky, caressing his cheeks like rosy tears. The sky is so dark, yet the petals are bright…almost burning in the gloom.)

Shinji (laying an arm against his forehead, whispering): Where…am I? What is this place?

(There is the faint rustle of cloth and he turns his head towards the sound. Violet eyes that make Shinji bit his lip with the pain the sight gives him. Hikaru is standing there in her school uniform, her head is cocked to one side and she is smiling at him.)

Hikaru (sighing, her hands folded behind her back): Such a sad look for such pretty eyes.

Shinji (reaching out for her, shaking): H-Hikaru?! A-Are you real?

Hikaru (her eyes darkening with a secret pain, taking his hand in both of hers): As real as you.

Shinji (sitting up to look around, but not letting go of her hands): What is this…place?

Hikaru (sitting down besides Shinji, tugging her legs under her): You tell me. This is your place. This is your beginning…I am only here because you need me.

Shinji (looking down with eyes brown once more): I do need you… Why did you have to die?

Hikaru (laughing softly, pulling one of her hands free to cover her mouth): A knight in shining armor can't always save the damsel in distress. Sometimes it works the opposite way. Life isn't planned, Shinji. It isn't…wasn't a perfect world.

Shinji (sharply): I know that! But you were important…to me…to everyone…

Hikaru: …

Shinji (looking at her): When you died…I didn't want to go on… Knowing that you had to die so I lived-

(Hikaru slaps Shinji, hard. Her eyes are blazing with fury barely contained.)

Hikaru (whispering hoarsely): Don't…ever say that! I gave my life willingly, Shinji. I did it because it was the right thing to do! Until you understand that…

(Hikaru looks around while Shinji rubs his cheek, confused.)

Shinji (whispering): I wish…

Hikaru (closing her eyes): …Shinji…no…

Shinji (looking at her): …that everything was as it always used to be!

Hikaru (her eyes sad as the world begins to fade into a blaze of white): …Shinji…this isn't…the way…

(Her thick voice echoes into silence…)

---------------------------------

(The toast pops up and Shinji grabs it while it is still piping hot.)

Shinji (grimacing, tossing the piece of toast from one hand to the other): Ah! Ah!

Asuka (glaring at him from the table): Dumpkof! You are supposed to wait until it cools a bit!

Shinji (sitting across from her, grinning widely): Well, if I waited, then the butter won't melt.

Asuka (shaking her head as she shoves some scrambled egg into her mouth): Idiot…

(Shinji lavishes butter on the toast, but he is staring at Asuka, his eyes glowing as he does so. Asuka notices the look and blushes a little.)

Asuka (scowling, her cheeks burning): W-What?! What are you looking at?

Shinji (cramming a bunch of toast into his mouth): Ah was jus' thinkin' wha' a beautiful day it was!

Asuka (wrinkling her nose as the food coming out of his mouth): Ewww…gross! Finish what you have in your mouth before you speak! Moron!

Shinji (laughing): Yes, Asuka!

Misato (walking in her hair in utter disarray, yawning widely as she comes to the table in her tank-top and shorts): G'morning…Shinji…Asuka…

Shinji (eyes going wide, looking at the Major's empty spot): Oh! Misato, I forgot your breakfast!

(Shinji gets up to get Misato something to eat. When he glances back at her to measure her mood, he realizes with a start that Misato already has a plate.) 

Shinji (thinking, frowning): Where did that come from? I've never forgotten Misato's plate before…but I know I didn't put that plate there…

(The Third Child shrugs it away and smiles again.)

Shinji (happily): No matter!

------------------------------------

(School is boring as usual. Lunch is loud and rowdy as usual. Hikaru and Asuka get into a fight as usual. Touji and Kensuke ogle the pretty girls on the track as usual. Rei sits in the corner of the school room as usual. Shinji goes home with Asuka as usual. Asuka watches TV and Shinji cooks as usual. Shinji falls asleep with his SDAT running…as usual.)

(Next morning…the toast pops up and Shinji grabs it while it is still piping hot.)

Shinji (grimacing, tossing the piece of toast from one hand to the other): Ah! Ah!

Asuka (glaring at him from the table): Dumpkof! You are supposed to wait until it cools a bit!

(Shinji freezes at the counter, forgetting about the scolding piece of toast in his hand.)

Shinji (glancing back at the girl, softly): What?

(Asuka scowls, then shrugs.)

(Shinji bites a bit of the toast off.)

Shinji (softly): A-Asuka-

Asuka (wrinkling her nose as the food coming out of his mouth): Ewww…gross! Finish what you have in your mouth before you speak! Moron!

Shinji (his eyes widening, his mouth hanging open): Asuka! Don't-

Misato (walking in her hair in utter disarray, yawning widely as she comes to the table in her tank-top and shorts): G'morning…Shinji…Asuka…

Shinji (gasping): My…God…

(Misato begins to eat from the plate that he hasn't put out.)

Hikaru (whispering behind him, her arms crossed under her breasts, her eyes sad): Do you understand now?

Shinji (spinning around to look at her): H-Hikaru, what is going on here?! Why is everything-

(His eyes snapping wide as the realization hits him.)

Hikaru (smiling though her eyes are overcast): …as usual? …as it 'always used to be?'

Shinji (staggering against the kitchen counter, his hand pressed against his forehead): …n-no…it isn't possible…

Hikaru (coming before him, leaning down so she could look him in the face…as Misato had a lifetime ago when he was refusing to get into Unit 01 for the first time): Can you describe the human experience so easily, Shinji? Even if you could, would you want to live like that?

Shinji (trembling): W-What is going on, Hikaru?

(Hikaru straightens up and steps out of the way as Asuka rushes to her room, shouting at Shinji about being late.)

Hikaru (gently): Imagine yourself in a field…say one of the fields on the outskirts of Tokyo-3…

Shinji (closing his eyes): …

(When he opens them again he gasps. The wind is teasing his hair and pushing waves through the long grass. The sky is as blue as he remembers it with long, thin wisps of cloud lapping the air currents.)

Hikaru (walking up next to him): This is a place of pure thought…raw ideas…

(The Sixth Child spreads her arms wide and spins around, her skirt is caught up by the breeze and flashes about her thighs.)

Hikaru (stopping a few steps from Shinji, her eyes sparkling): This…is a world of Gods. This is the place in between reality and dreams. Shall I go on?

Shinji (shuttering): H-How did I get here-?

Gendo (appearing behind Shinji): You come here under the cloak of an Angel.

(Shinji turns sharply to look at his father. The elder Ikari is watching Shinji with the coldest look in his eye. It is at that point that Shinji realizes that it is his father, yet it isn't.)

Shinji (whispering): What does that mean? Lillith-

Gendo (his hands are folded behind his back): Correct. This is that moment in which Lillith is being brought back into the fold. When the Abyss appeared over Tokyo-3, I knew that simple combat tactics created by your Major Katsuragi or anything Doctor Akagi would have come up with would have been…ineffective. That is why I had enacted the pact I had made long before the appearance of the Third Angel.

Shinji (his eyes were wide): Y-You knew?

Gendo (pushing his glasses up): Yes. I knew that while Lillith absorbed Unit 01's presence, the Abyss would absorb Lillith, yet not recognize you. It would give you that instant in which to mold the future-

Shinji (shouting): I-Instant?! I've been here for two days!

Hikaru (softly into his ear): Time means nothing in the mind, Shinji. This was the great scenario of your father.

Shinji (looking back at the girl): …my f-father knew?

Hikaru (pressing her lips tight together): H-He hoped…

Shinji: …what now?

(He glances to his father, but the Supreme Commander's image is already gone.)

Hikaru (closing her eyes): Now…you finish what your father has started…

(The wind howls…the sound changes slowly and the universe ripples…)

-----------------------------------------

(…the sky is like a cyclone made of blood, spinning and screaming. Shinji is in the modified Unit 01. The cockpit has been grossly altered, filled with tendrils of living flesh webbing over everything and arching over the Third Child. The unfamiliar plug causes Shinji to shiver and goose-bumps to rise on his arms.)

Shinji (whispering): T-This is EVA?

Hikaru (appearing, leaning casually against the wall of the organic plug, a free-floating ghost of the past): What is left of it, yes.

(She glances around at the white, lumpy walls and her whole body gives a sharp shake.)

Hikaru (softly): The Angels…have a different sense of beauty than Their lesser siblings…

Shinji (touching the butterfly control handles carefully, touching the warm appendages with deep caution in his eyes): What?

Hikaru (crossing her arms over her stomach): Nothing.

Shinji (shaking his head): No! What did you mean by-

Hikaru (glancing to her left, out at the world around the EVA): Look , Third Child.

(Something in her voice, a deep, disquieted tremor makes Shinji look away from her to view the alien world beyond the Abyss once more.)

Shinji (choking): M-My God…

(The land before the EVA is unstable at best, changing from moment to moment under the EVA's feet. Yet, in the distance, the Children can make out a single spot of solidity…a temple of the soul, the resting place of the Consciousness. The structure is alloy and flesh at the same moment, twisting out far and wide like a distorted double-helix. The gray and emerald temple soars up into the sky, disappearing into infinity. It spins slowly and completely, the calm, secret center of the Universe. Flying up with the spinning helixes is a single, focused beam of blinding light that seems to shine forever. The origin of the light lays at the center of the Alter.)

Hikaru (floating close to Shinji, placing a hand on his shoulder so he feels and knows human contact): That is your target, Shinji.

(Shinji nods slowly and urges the EVA to move toward the structure. The human thought flickers through the EVA and it lifts it head from its bowed position. It is gasping weakly, having not come through the journey into the Abyss undamaged. The Angel/EVA begins to drag itself forward on trembling legs. The tortured, nightmare landscape falls away as they get closer to the center of the Abyss until they are walking through the purest night, nothing but the temple and the light are visible.)

(The modified Unit 01 stops and its wings collapse to the unseen ground with a hideous crack of snapped tendons. The EVA screams, falling to its knees. Shinji gasps with the new pain and whimpers as he crosses his arms across his chest so he can reach back and hold his "shattered" shoulder blades.)

Hikaru (coming closer to touch his head, quickly): Lillith…is not able to make it. She is being destroyed as She comes closer to the Center. She is completely melded with Unit 01, so…the Evangelion cannot go any farther.

Shinji (whispering, glancing over at the Sixth Child with tears streaming down his cheeks): …t-then, how are we supposed to go there…?

Hikaru (smiling gently, offering her hand to him): Come with me, Shinji.

(Shinji gazes at Hikaru and wonders if it is a trap. The EVA groans and collapses face-down on the ground, its breath wheezing in the silence of the place.)

Shinji (thinking): I-I have no choice anymore. If it is a trap, then I have failed.

(Shinji takes the girl's hand and the plug fades away around them. When Shinji blinks, he and Hikaru are standing just beyond the EVA. He looks back at the creation and finds it watching him with those familiar, green eyes. It has done so much in its madness-stricken way.)

Shinji (choked): M-My mother gave herself to this thing…didn't she?

Hikaru (bowing her head): …

(The Third Child walks to the EVA and feels as though a dam has broken free within him. His father's mistake…the elder Ikari had no idea what would happen when they had connected the Beast with a human ego. In that single activation test, humanity had learned more about the Angels and the EVAs than even in the Second Impact. Shinji's mother had lost her life, Gendo Ikari had lost his wife and his humanity, and Shinji…he had lost his family. Shinji walks to the monstrous creation and lays his head against the smooth flesh of its forehead.)

Shinji (sobbing against the warm flesh): Mommy…mommy…I release you… Rest now.

(The Evangelion howls and moves to crush the Third Child, but in that instant, Shinji had undone so much. The EVA's metal-shod fist plows into the ground a mere five meters from the Third Child. The consciousness in the green, alien eyes wavers, then fades away. Silken arms unseen reach out from the beyond the flesh of the EVA and slip around Shinji's shoulders and his face is resting against the warm, soft bosom of his mother. He cracks his eyes open and sees her fading, smiling face. She…looks like…Ayanami…)

Yui (very softly): Goodbye…my baby… My dear Shinji…

(The Abyss is silent and Shinji is alone. The EVA has gone quiet, yet the seven eyes of Lillith watch the human curiously.)

(Shinji steps back away from the EVA and rubs the back of his arm across his eyes. Then, he finally turns to gaze at Hikaru who is biting her lip.)

Shinji (quietly): Okay, let's go.

-------------------------------------------

(He can feel it in his bones…he can feel it deep inside as Shinji watches the Throne of Souls pulse before him. The shock-waves are silent, mere distortions of light just within his field of vision. This is the place where it all began…and this is where it is all going to end. Hikaru is suddenly not at his side anymore and he stops to look back at her.)

Hikaru (not meeting his eyes): I-I'm sorry…I can't go any further, Shinji.

Shinji (turning to the girl, cold fear trickling over his spine): What?! Hikaru, I can't go alone-

Hikaru (hoarsely, closing her eyes tightly): Shinji…

Shinji (blinking slowly at her): …what is it?

Hikaru (softly): What is in that Alter…can destroy me in a heartbeat as you have summoned me.

Shinji (letting out a bark of somewhat hysterical laughter): So, what chance to I have-

Hikaru (deep sadness flickering in her violet eyes): When you go within, you will understand. Souls from this place…are fragile things. As it is…

(She looks around and shivers a little.)

Hikaru: You brought me here…you freed my mind to help you. Not all are like that…in fact, you are the only other aware soul in this place.

Shinji (softly): …why?

Hikaru (looking up a little fearfully at him, as if fearing he would strike her down at her answer): Complex Egos are too tangled, too diverse to survive for long here… The Third Impact melted all into a Collective Consciousness.

(Shinji's eyes grows wide with sudden understanding. With new terror. As Hikaru speaks an image appears behind her. Earth on its lonely orbit around the sun. But it isn't as Shinji is used to see it, as he has seen it on news clips or documentaries. The planet is blackened now, as if there had been a great firestorm that had swept across the world. Lines of lava are woven throughout the continents and the Third Child can make out no rivers or oceans. The most horrible thing in the image is the sight of a thick, red mist circling about the burden planet like a ring of fog. Only…it isn't fog… He knows this. He had seen the very same thing in the United States…in Alaska…)

Shinji (his mouth falling open and he crumbles to his knees): N-No…oh God…no…Misato…Asuka…Rei…NOOOOO!!!!

(He clutches his head and begins to scream. He has failed before he even he had even began. There had never even been a chance. He wants to die. He wants to join them. )

Shinji (sitting back on his knees and staring straight up at the sky, staring at the beam of light): God…let me-

Hikaru (slapping a hand over his mouth): NO! Shinji! You don't understand!

(His frenzied eyes turn to her over her hand and she pushes her fingers through his hair before hugging him against her body. His strength leaves him and he rests against her warmth.)

Hikaru (whispering against his hair): You are still here, Shinji. Your father's plan has worked. You were not assimilated with the rest of Humanity. It is true that the Third Impact has occurred-

(His arms tightening around her waist, but she hushes him as she would a sobbing child.)

Hikaru (continuing kindly): I don't understand it all…but this is a place of infinite possibilities…

(The Sixth Child gives a half-laugh, half cry as she hugs him tighter.)

Hikaru: I've seen you defeat creatures so awesome in their power that any other man would have run the other way!

Shinji: …

Hikaru (her hand stroking the back of his head): I've seen you suffer unspeakable pain, yet still walk away from the wreckage…

(She pulls away from Shinji so she can look him in the face. She cups his cheeks so he will look at her. He stares up at her with his dark, dark eyes.)

Hikaru (softly): I will wait for you here…forever if you need that… Beyond those arches...you will be faced with a horrible choice. Afterward, I don't know what will happen…but whatever comes, we will face it together. I will always be here for you.

(With that, she kisses Shinji gently on his lips. The contact warms him where he has been cold for so long. He gazes up at her for a long time, then slowly drags himself to his feet. He is soul-tired, but he is still useful. That is why he came to Tokyo-3 in the first place…why he left his pathetic existence with his relatives. He could have been nobody. He could have been ignorant. He could have died in a single second with the rest of humanity.)

(But he hadn't. He is all that is left and he has a job to do.)

(He walks into the Alter…)

-------------------------------------

(Shinji steps through the arches of the double helix and finds himself in another place. He has come to realize that there is nothing that cannot happen in this world, but still, the transition is startling.)

(Leafless trees rise up around him and he can't see the arches anymore. It is night, but not quite dark. The silence seems so deep that it is almost as if the forest of black, bony trees are holding their breath. There is fog flowing slowing in between the ropy trucks of the trees, covering everything with a milky-white film. The air is so moist, it reminds Shinji a little of the LCL and he coughs softly into his hand.)

Shinji (whispering past dry lips): H-Hello…?

(The fogs flutters like started moths, but the silence is omnipresent. Shinji begins to plod through the slick, muddy ground, losing his footing from time to time. The trees grow up over his head and soon it seems as though he is walking down a vaulted corridor.)

Shinji (glancing up as the trees thin, then fall away to reveal a clearing): …?

(A silent person is standing before him, hands stuffed into khaki shorts. The person is gazing up at the frosted sky at the hazy moon, his back to Shinji.)

Shinji (his eyes growing large): …you!

Adam (turning his face toward the Third Child): Hello, Third.

(Shinji shakes his head and wonders if he has summoned another soul in his desperation. Hikaru had called this place a world of infinity possibilities. Anything is possible.)

Shinji (taking careful steps toward the Child): W-What are you doing here?

(Adam flashes a sad smile and turns his face back to the moon. Shinji opens his mouth, but then sees the Child's legs. He cannot quite contain his gasp of horror. Roots, from the trees most likely, are growing into the Child's calves. Even as Shinji watches, he can see the tendrils of the parasitic forest lacing up the boy's legs like oversized veins.)

Shinji (his heart pounding): W-What…?!

Adam (sighing): What is happening to me? Is that your question?

(Shinji can only nod.)

Adam (looking down at his legs): I am becoming one with Him. It was my fate the moment I felt the world behind.

Shinji (stuttering): Y-You are becoming one-?

Adam: Assimilated…as humanity was assimilated. Become one with the Father. The giver and devourer of life.

Shinji (whispering): 'Giver of life…?'

Adam: You don't really believe your evolution was a mistake, do you?

Shinji (shivering): E-Evolution-?!

Adam: Humanity…the creature that rose above all other species on the planet, not because of your strength or size, but because of your minds… Your ability to become more than you are. A…gift from a sleeping God.

(Shinji feels like he is going to be sick. The thought that everything…everything had begun with the Angels-)

(A vivid image of Unit 01 without the benefit of the head-shielding flashes through the Third Child's mind. That recognition in those eyes…that sense of familiarity that had never left Shinji, even after all the times he had piloted the EVA…it made sense now. He isn't a pilot…he is a guide to a blind sibling. The idea that Mankind has grown from such vicious, destructive creatures…GOD…)

Shinji (slowly, his head bowed): And now that He is awake…

Adam: …he has decided that what he has wrought is not good. He is starting over.

Shinji (shouting suddenly, the image of the burden planet still flesh in his mind): B-But EARTH-!

Adam (sharply): Means nothing to Him. For a homeless traveler, what is one soiled pile of rags? He does as he wishes and he does not care for his Children or Their cries.

Shinji (hoarsely): …don't say that…

Adam (glaring at the Third Child): Even if it is true?

Shinji (shouting): I don't care!

Adam: …

Shinji (clutching his fists at his sides so hard that his arms were trembling): I-I have learned that we are not our parents… We are our own people.

Adam: …

Shinji (pressing a hand to his chest): I am not Gendo Ikari. I have compassion for my loved ones. I would rather sacrifice myself than let those I care about come to harm!

(Pause.)

Shinji (calling out loud and clear so that the whole forest can hear him): I don't care what a callous Father feels! I will live without Him!

Adam (closing his eyes against the savage pain in his soul and smiling despite himself): Shinji…

(Long silence.)

Adam (looking at Shinji with those familiar eyes): Our father chose well.

Shinji: …!

(The forest is filled with terrible tension, but Adam stares hard at the Third Child.)

Adam: Then I have a favor to ask you…

Shinji (looks cautiously at the Child, there is a strange tone in his voice): What is it?

Adam (pulling a switchblade from his pocket): Stop me…

Shinji (drawing back): WHAT?!

Adam (coughing, trembling as his thighs disappear into a mass of twisted flesh): I am being destroyed, but He is completely connected with me now. The death of me…well, you will decide what happens next…

Shinji: I-I can't-

Adam (snarling): Then, this is your grave! Do you believe He will stop with me?!

Shinji (wrapping his arms around himself): I-I-

Adam: SHINJI!! You can't RUN from this!

(The Third Child stands before Adam with his eyes hidden in shadow. His flesh looks like the purest white under the blurry moon. He looks fragile…like he is made of stretched silk and twigs…but the Child knows Shinji…perhaps better than the Third Child himself.)

Shinji (looking up at the Child, choking): Adam…

(He takes the knife.)

------------------------------------

(Flash of a blade.)

(The tear of flesh.)

(A single tear rolls down from a dark eye.)

(The world convulses.)

(The landscape crumbles.)

(The trees burst into flame.)

(Blood spreads over a T-shirt.)

(The Third of his kind falls into the sky…)

--------------------------------------

Voice (gently): You are very brave, Shinji.

(There is a spot of light.)

Shinji (whispering): I…couldn't save him.

(The light is spreading across the horizon. Shinji is sitting atop ancient Greek temple for a long forgotten God, the irony is not lost on him.)

Shinji: I am not brave. Just useful.

Hikaru (her bare feet touching down on the eroded roof of the temple, smiling a little warily): It takes strength to be useful…

(Shinji doesn't laugh.)

Hikaru (looking around, letting the breeze play with her long, dark hair): Nice place-?

(The Greek town is unfinished, vanishing in some places without rhyme or reason.)

Shinji (quietly explaining): I saw this place in a textbook. I have never been here in real-life. I never even really left Japan except for that one time with my father…but then, that didn't really count.

Hikaru (sitting down next to him, letting her feet hang over the side): …

Shinji (staring out at the scattered pillars): I am not my father, Hikaru.

Hikaru: I know that.

Shinji (vaguely): Do you? Then you understand that I don't know how to fix this. It is like the answer is there, but I'm not confident enough to act like I know how to put it all back together.

Hikaru (laying her head on his shoulder): I know, Shinji.

(The sun is setting in this world of the Third Child. The sky is a wash of amber and deep red, turning all the white marble of the buildings pink.)

Shinji (gasping, as he bolts upright): I-I know! I will ask the others!

Hikaru (her eyes sad as she turns her eyes up at him): …the others?

Shinji (quickly, excited): Yes! I will ask Misato…or Asuka…or…or Rei! Maybe with the others, I can do something! You said that I was the last chance-

Hikaru (softly, aching for him): Shinji…

Shinji (continuing): Well, maybe there is something I'm missing! Something that I can do to…to make everything…right…

Hikaru (gently): Shinji…complex Egos don't last long here. By now they-

Shinji (looking down at her for the first time): What? By now what…?

Hikaru: Their worlds will be bleeding into everyone else's. Their experiences will haunt them. They will not be able to think beyond the reality of the Third Impact. You will be able to recognize them, but they may not recognize you, or they might not want to… This place beyond the Abyss is everyone's heaven or hell depending on how strong someone is…and how they handle so much power over their environment.

Shinji (jumping up): But the Abyss is gone! Everything-

Hikaru (holding up a hand): Shinji…

(She stands up and looks around. She finds some rocks scattered around the top of the temple while the Third Child watches her curiously.)

Hikaru (turning back to him, the pebbles held in her cupped hands): My hands are the Abyss and these rocks are humanity.

Shinji (nodding): …?

Hikaru (opening her hands and letting the rocks tumble to the marble): You destroyed the Abyss…thus, freeing all that which is humanity…but look. The rocks are in utter disarray. There are no limits, no sense of Collective. This is a world of infinite knowledge…instant gratification. You are in control of yourself because you did not go through the terror of the Third Impact…and you have me to retain your sense of who you are. Without that guide, others have become their own universe of pleasure or pain.

(Shinji slowly feels his excitement die at Hikaru's words. He looks at her and he can see the pain in her eyes. He shakes his head.)

Shinji (very quietly): Hikaru…I have to try.

(The Sixth Child closes her eyes and gives him a sad smile.)

Hikaru: As you wish…

(The Greek town pulses and vanishes in a blink of an eye.)

----------------------------------------

Shinji (thinking): …Asuka…

----------------------------------------

(It is Tokyo-3 as he had last seen it. It is a mere shell of its former glory, laying on creaking, weakened armored plates. Shinji can make out the Stairway in the distance and realizes that he is standing on a hillside near his school. The hot breath of the burning breeze slaps his cheeks and he shields his eyes to the Stairway's light.)

Shinji (softly): Asuka?

(Something big hits the hill close to Shinji and he is thrown to the ground by the sheer shock-wave that tears through the outskirts of the neo-city. Shinji turns his head slowly toward the impact site and sees a creature that freezes his blood. An Angel. That of which he has never seen before. It has a long, angular head with what looks like red, grinning lips. Long, white wings flutter about its back as it rises to its feet again. Shinji turns his eyes away from the sloped hillside and finds what remains of Unit 02 standing a short distance from the Angel.)

Shinji (whimpering): Oh, Asuka…!

(The EVA is hanging together literally by its armor. It has been stabbed repeatedly by the copies of the Lance of Longinsis, spattering its blood across city-blocks. It is missing an arm and one of its calves are hanging on by a thread of tendon. And…and…its right eyes have been destroyed by a stab wound. Shinji can feel the Second Child's pain as easily as if it were his own.)

Asuka (her voice husky and hoarse over the external speakers): I…won't let you…do it…

(Shinji looks at the building the Evangelion has dragged itself in front of. The school. Their school. The west wing has collapsed under what looks like a giant foot. The sadistic impression left by that simple gesture shakes Shinji to his soul.)

(The Angel seems to grin wider as it leans away from the hillside and comes to its feet once more, a Lance of Longinsis is gripped tightly in its hand.)  

Shinji (cupping his hands, shouting to the girl): Asuka! Run! You can't fight that thing in your condition!

(The EVA forces itself to stand on its injured leg and Shinji can see shaking shutter through its frame. Asuka is putting everything she is into this last battle. The red EVA's hand slowly reaches up to its remaining shoulder tower and pulls free a Progressive Knife.)

Asuka (grimly): I have you where…I want you now. There is…no way I'm going to…let you damage this place…any longer.

(The Angel hops down back onto a city-street. It stalks forward slowly, its head held low like the vulture is so resembles, its wings stretches out wide on either side of it. Unit 02 remains silent. Shinji suddenly remembers their first battle together on Tokyo-3 soil. It had been Asuka's "debut" battle and he had messed it up, according to the Second Child. She had been all to willing to rush head-long into the fight, without so much as a thought about strategy or the position of those around her.)

(The contrast of the two fights are staggering for the Third Child.)

Shinji (thinking): Asuka…you have grown so much. You…are so strong…

(The Angel suddenly launches itself at Evangelion and Shinji gapes as Unit 02 doesn't move at all. He wonders frantically if she has passed out. The Lance of Longinsis…it's power is devastating. It would have been more than bio-feedback…)

(Unit 02 suddenly moves as the Angel is about to connect with the Lance, slamming its forearm into the staff of the weapon, and guiding it to its side. The Progressive Knife follows through, ripping into the Angel's personal space. The AT Field flashes to life, but it is nothing to Asuka Langley Soryu's fury.)

Asuka (shouting): Go to HELL, you monster!

(The Knife sheers through the amber field and plunges into the rogue EVA's chest. The internal S2 engine screams as the blade buries itself in it. The Angel's neck arches in agony and Shinji can sense Asuka's savage grin. Then, as if angrily, the Angel's head lowers again and the Lance flashes forth. Asuka gasps at every plunge of the weapon as it lashes out at her EVA's chest, torso, legs, shoulders, severs the power cable to the back of her EVA, before the Angel finally goes silent.)

(The Angel falls away from Unit 02, but the EVA remains crouched over the school, its hand braced against the basketball court. Its blood is pouring down on the school like rain, washing the building in crimson. Shinji screams Asuka's name and begins running towards the EVA.)

Asuka (her thoughts foggy): That like is like…

(The light pours down from the heavens and her brain is on fire. She screams and the Angel eases its way into her mind, devouring her thoughts, relishing her weakness.)

Shinji (crying out as he stumbles over a bit of rubble): Asuka! Asuka! It's not real-

Asuka (screaming, sobbing): No! Get out of my mind! Those memories are MINE!!

Hikaru (softly, as she appears beside him): Shinji…you can't help her…

Shinji (coming closer to the trembling EVA): I have to try!

Hikaru (folding her hands before her and disappearing once more): …

(Shinji comes before the EVA and calls up to it.)

Shinji (shouting): Asuka! PLEASE, answer me…

Asuka (softly): …get…out…

Shinji: Asuka-

Asuka (lashing out at him with her EVA): Go away! Get out of my head!

Shinji (staggering just far enough to keep from begin crushed): …Asuka…

(Asuka is crying inconsolably about an Angel Attack that is taking place in her mind. His cries fall on deaf ears.)

Shinji (bowing his head): …Hikaru?

Hikaru (her presence felt behind him): Yes, Shinji?

Shinji (bitterly): Take me away from here. Take me to Misato.

Hikaru (shaking her head): Okay, Shinji…

(The two Children leave the world of self-hatred…)

-----------------------------------

Shinji: …Misato…

------------------------------------

(The first thing Shinji recognizes is that it is very dark, but it isn't like the darkness of the Abyss. It is an indoors place…Misato's room. The air is moist…very moist and warm. The next thing he knows is the warm, moist heat is from sex. He can make out Misato's lustful groan and her rhythmic gasping.)

Shinji (whispering past a dry throat): M-Misato…?

(The sour odor of liquor and lots of it hits his nose and he covers the lower part of his face with his hand.)

Shinji (thickly): What the hell is going on here?!

Hikaru (gently): People do what they will with their worlds, Shinji. Where Asuka was punishing herself for perceived failures…well, Misato…um…

Misato (on her back in the middle of her bed, the long-haired, naked form of Kaji on top of her): Oh…Kaji…hmmm…

(Shinji can make out the naked breast of the Major beneath the pawing of the man on top of her and he turns away, blushing brightly.)

Shinji (fumbling with his tongue, speaking over the panting): M-Misato! Uh…there is…uh…something I need-

Misato (purring): Oh…Shinji…

Shinji (turns his face forward and finds that not only is the man gone, but Misato crawling towards him, her naked form sleek and damp from her dreaming): M-Misato! What are you-?!

Misato (caressing his calf with knowing fingers): You are still a virgin, aren't you?

Shinji (taking a step back and finding a door behind him, preventing his escape…he can't find the handle): I am-I mean-MISATO! Don't touch me-

(He jumps as he feels his body react to her fingers sliding over him.)

Misato (coming up on her knees, her hair wild around her face): Oh…come on (giggle), Shinji… You are supposed to be a guy! I might not be Asuka-

Shinji (his voice distinctly higher): Misato!!

Misato (her breath on his cheek now, reeking of liquor and sex): But, I know you want it…every guy wants it! Let me show you all the pleasures a woman can give you…

Shinji (groaning at what Misato was doing to him): Misato…!

(Misato is kissing his neck and Shinji looks around frantically around for Hikaru. She is sitting on a chair in the corner and lifts a eyebrow in question when their eyes connect.)

Hikaru (her thoughts flickering through his mind): What would you have me do? I am only a guide, not a gatekeeper.

(Shinji wonders if it is just him or if there is an angry, jealous tone in the thought.)

Shinji (turning his eyes back to Misato, who has a dreamy look in her eyes): M-MISato!

Misato (her lips warm and soft on his flesh): Hmmm? Yes, sweetheart?

Shinji (pushing at her and gasping when he finds his hands filled with some very warm, very delicate flesh): M-Misato, I NEED you!

Misato (laughing loudly): Well, I knew THAT!

Shinji (shaking his head violently): N-Not like that!

Misato (giggling): Oh, come on! Don't play hard to get!

Shinji (forcing a serious tone): Major, there is a job that needs to be done!

(She is still all over him, but there is a sudden stillness in her that hadn't been there before.)

Shinji (relaxing, trying to focus on his words, despite the feeling of Misato against him and the heaviness between his legs): The world…it has been destroyed, but there's still a chance. WE (something interesting happened down below) have to think of a way to get everything back the way it was-

Misato (slowly drawing away from him): …you don't like me.

Shinji (gapping at the woman): …huh?

Misato (walking unsteadily back to her blankets): You are just like every…other man. You don't give a damn about me as a person.

Shinji (shaking his head): No, no! Misato! I-I…I love you! That's why I want you to-

Misato (continuing as if she hadn't heard him): Love you, then leave you. I didn't know you were like that, Shinji!

(Misato sits back down on the mat, her naked front cast in velvet shadows before him. There is suddenly a large bottle of hard liquor in the Major's hand and she is drinking hard, the red liquid splashing down her chest and over her smooth belly.)

Misato (disgust in her eyes): Just who do you think you are?! Get out!

Shinji (reaching for her): M-Misato-

(Shinji has to duck to keep from being hit in the head by a flying bottle. The sticky liquor splashes over his head and shoulders.)

Misato (death in her voice): Out, now!

(A moment later, another phantom is laying over her.)

Hikaru (walking quietly over to the Third Child): S-Shinji…?

(He is crying.)

Shinji (sniffing, quietly): Take me to Rei…I have to see her.

(Shinji leaves the world of self-distraction behind.)

-----------------------------------------

Shinji: …Rei…

-----------------------------------------

Rei I (softly): Who are you?

(Shinji blinks and looks about himself. He is standing in the middle of a great cathedral with soaring, blood-red stained-glass windows and oaken pews. The chapel is very elegant and there is the thick scent of sweet, spicy incense in the air. Vaulted ceilings rise up over him, seemingly going so high that the roof of the place surely scrapes the sky. White banners with crosses flutter down from the rafters, hiding and creating shadows at the same time.)

Shinji (shaking his head and looking around): Wha…? Huh?

Rei I (standing before him in her white plug suit, clashing with the tranquil setting): Who are you?

Shinji (frowning): Rei? It's me? The Third Child…? Shinji?

Rei I: …?

Voice (viciously snarling from behind): You…should not…have come here…!!

(Shinji turns in time to see another Rei, but this one in a skin-tight, deepest-black bodysuit that seems to suck in the light from around it, revealing no shadow or sense of depth to the girl's slender body. Her red eyes are bright with an insanity that Shinji vaguely recalls when he had been tested in Unit 00's cockpit.)

Rei I: …?

Rei II (her face distorted into a wicked grin as she crawls toward him down the aisle on all-fours): You! Child of HIM! Don't worry, I will EASE your pain!

Rei I (coming to stand in front of him, her face set in a cold mask): You will not touch him. I don't know him, but it is wrong to spill red.

Rei II (hissing): You weak fool! DOLL! TOY!! Move or I will rip your throat out!

(There is a new pair of footsteps and Shinji turns his horrified eyes to the front of the chamber. A new Rei, this one wrapped in a pink kimono with a dusting violet flower petals splashed across its fabric, walks towards the Third Child. Her face is set in a calm, serene expression that he has come to know and love.)

Shinji (whispering weakly): Rei…

Rei III (quietly): Shinji…I was not expecting you to come to this place.

Rei I (cocking her head to the side): You know this Child?

Rei II (hopping up to balance herself on the balls of her feet on the back of a pew): Damnable, dangerous creature!

Rei III (folding her hands within her kimono): Yes. Shinji…my light…my guideline…

(Rei II hisses and lowers her head, as if she can make the young Ikari look at her burning, red eyes. Shinji focuses determinedly on the third Rei.)

Shinji (softly): What is this place, Rei? Who are these others?

(Rei III smiles gently and offers one of the pews to him.)

Rei III (kindly): You must be tired. Why don't you rest?

Shinji (shaking his head): No…Rei, I need your help.

Rei I (blinking): Help?

Rei II (spitting in her rage): NO help! None! There was no help for US! No HELP!!

Rei III (closing her eyes as she rubs her lips in thought): I…cannot help you, Shinji.

(Rei II laughs hysterically and falls backwards off her perch. Shinji glances back at the insane girl, then looks back to the Rei he knows well.)

Shinji: Why not? What has happened, Rei?

Rei III (folding her hands calmly before her): This is my place. I cannot leave.

Shinji (spreading his hands before him): Rei…the world, it is gone!

Rei III (her eyes seemingly burning in the stain-glass light): I know.

Shinji (gaping at her): W-What?!

Rei III (sighing): I know what this place is.

Shinji (blinking): T-Then you are aware! You are not assimilated.

Rei III: It does not matter.

Shinji (excitedly): Of course it does! That means you know how things used to be! With you, perhaps we-

Rei III (closing her eyes to him): Shinji…I'm not complete.

Shinji: …?

Rei II (growling, her head peeking over the back of the pew): That's right, monster! We are the same! We are the SAME PERSON!!

Shinji (whispering): Rei…is that true?

Rei III (nodding): Yes. I am chained here by the fact that my Ego has been divided into its different layers. That Rei…

(Rei I blinks in a confused manner when she is pointed at.)

Rei III: …is the original mind-set of my kind. She does not comprehend the world as normal humans would. She is the clean slate that Commander Ikari wished for.

Rei I (softly): Where am I?

Shinji: …

Rei III (looking at her second sister who draws back with a hiss): That (she points to Rei II) is my warrior self. The destroyed remains left behind by the Dummy Plug programming…

Shinji (gasping): Dummy Plug…?!

Rei II (snarling): Silence, insect!!

Rei I (whispering): Do not yell. There is no need.

(Rei II slinks out from behind the pew, her eyes glowing with a murderous light as she glares at the first sister.)

Rei III (turning her eyes directly on the second): No.

(The second sister flashes her teeth and bounds off into the shadows of the far walls. She disappears into the darkness and there is silence a moment later.)

Shinji (shivering as he looks at the third sister once more): Rei…a-and you?

Rei III (blinking): Me? I am…that which you have created, Shinji Ikari. You showed me kindness and…and an unfamiliar emotion.

Shinji (taking a step closer to the suddenly blushing girl): …'unfamiliar emotion?'

Rei III (finally meeting his eyes, her gaze piercing his soul): Love.

Shinji (trembling, reaching out for her): Rei…

Rei III (shaking her head and stepping just out of his reach): But I must remain here. I am chained to this place more completely than I am to you, Third Child.

Shinji (bracing his hand against a nearby pew): What am I to do…? I don't understand this place, Rei… I am lost.

Rei III (shaking her head): You are not.

Shinji (looking up at her): …?

Rei III (smiling kindly at him, causing his eyes to snap wide at her beauty): You understand what is needed. It is there, within you. I know it.

Shinji (whispering, bowing his head): Rei…

(Rei III comes to Shinji and wraps her delicate arms around his shoulders. Her lips burn as she kisses his forehead.)

Rei III (softly, for his ears only): Don't lose your faith in that which you have learned.

(Shinji nods, unable to speak. He turns and looks at Rei I, who is still gazing at him with no expression other than confusion in her eyes. He glances up at the sound of scratching on the walls and he sees Rei II luring within the network of wood and stone at the higher reaches of the chapel.)

Shinji (softly): Hikaru?

Hikaru (appearing sitting cross-legged in one of the pews, her eyes bright): Yes?

Shinji (walking toward the double doors at the back of the church): Come, let's go.

Hikaru (nodding as she hops out of the pew and hurries after him): Coming!

(Shinji opens the doors and the brightest light pours in from the outside. A second later, Shinji and Hikaru are gone from the world of Man's creations.)

---------------------------------------

Shinji: …Hikaru…

Hikaru (shaking her head, drawing away): N-No! Shinji! I don't want you to see this-

---------------------------------------

(Shinji is standing in the middle of a small, control room like those at NERV Central. He can see men and women walking around in unfamiliar uniforms. He suddenly sees one Japanese man walking around the computer consoles. His dark hair is long, but he doesn't look unkept. Shinji sees something about the man that he recognizes.)

Shinji (thinking, struck by the sudden resemblance): …Hikaru?

Hikaru (a shadow of her former self, her eyes bright with unshed tears): I don't want you to see this, Shinji.

Shinji (glancing at her wispy form): This is your inner-most world, Hikaru? What is it here that chains you?

(Hikaru shakes her head slowly, unable to meet his eyes.)

Tech: We are ready to begin, Dr. Sohma.

(Shinji looks past Hikaru's relative and past the shielded-glass he can see Unit 04 hanging limply in reinforced restrains against the wall. Every time Shinji witnesses an activation test, he gets a thrill of terror, as if the chances are stacked against humanity. Knowing what he does of the Evangelions now, he can understand those past emotions. It is almost like trying to control a raging bull with a length of kite string!)

 Ryo (crossing his arms over his chest): Begin activation test.

(He glances at the immobile EVA and walks over to one of the control plans and hits a switch.)

Ryo (looking at the EVA as he speaks): Hikaru? How are you doing in there, baby sister?

Hikaru (her voice coming up over the speakers): I-I'm fine…

Ryo (raising a brow at the nervousness in the girl's voice): Oh, really…?

Hikaru (laughing a little nervously): Okay…I'm a little scared…

Ryo (smiling): Don't worry…this will all be over soon. Tell you what? After this, you, Natasha, and I will sit down and have a nice dinner together! How does that sound?

Hikaru (softly): It sounds good, big brother.

Tech A (quietly): Approaching Borderline, sir. 

Tech B (typing in a few commands at his console): All readings are within expected parameters.

(Ryo folds his hands behind his back, his ring catching Shinji's attention. The Third Child is breathing a little harder. Something is about to happen. He looks over to check Hikaru's expression, but the girl is gone.)

Ryo: Very good-

(The EVA beyond the glass shifts in its restrains. He narrows his eyes.)

Ryo (frowning): What-?

Tech A (shouting): Sir! Signals are reversing! Something is interfering with the test!

Ryo (gasping, running toward the window): Hikaru!

(The EVA begins to thrash in its bonds. Its neck flexes and frustrated growls echo in the white-paneled chamber. With a sudden howl it grips its arms from the reinforced bonds in the wall. Shrapnel pelts the armored walls and crack the glass.)

Tech B (jumping up from her console): Sir! We need to retreat! The emergency shutdown has been activated, but there is no way that those windows will stand up to that thing's fury!

Ryo (grabbing a microphone from one of the abandoned desks): Hikaru! Hikaru! Are you okay?! Are you there?!

Hikaru (her voice vague and weak): B-Big Brother…

(The EVA suddenly rips its right leg out of the wall and lifts its head. It is staring right at Ryo through the glass.)

Hikaru (hysterical): No! Big Brother! Run-!

(Her transmission is cut off as she screams, then the line goes dead. The Evangelion howls and the remaining restraints shatter like ice. As the last restrain falls away, the power cord flares away from the raging Evangelion. The EVA staggers into the center of the containment chamber and Shinji glances frantically at the Battery Life clock against the wall. Fifteen seconds remaining.)

Shinji (looking back at Hikaru's older brother, shouting): Run!

(The older man doesn't seem to hear Shinji as he takes a slow step back from the spider-web cracked glass, not so much as to run away but more in awe.)

Ryo (whispering thickly): I never…knew…never understood… My poor…poor…baby sister…

(Unit 04 launches itself toward the observation deck, as if it knows that its power is going to be gone in a moment. Its metal-shod fist flies at the window and it splinters. Shards of glass hurl at Ryo, but the man doesn't move, even as his face and body are sliced. Even as his blood trails down his face. The EVA dives into a frenzy, pounding at the glass hatefully, caving in the single barrier between it and its master.)

Ryo (lifting his head to gaze into the EVA's insane gaze): I understand…everything now…

(Shinji jumps forward, screaming for Ryo to step back, but his reaching hands fall through Dr. Sohma's flesh. Tears are in the Third Child's eyes as he sees the utter defeat and acceptance fill the man's eyes. Even as he sees this, young Ikari knows that Hikaru is sobbing at her controls, desperately trying to pull the madness-driven EVA back. He knows the helplessness the Sixth Child is feeling now. He knows that there is nothing she can do either. His knees fail him and he falls against a nearby control console. He thinks of Unit 03…)

(Unit 04 reaches out and Ryo doesn't move. The EVA's shaking hand wraps around the frail human and its eyes are filled with cruel delight. That is when the door opens and a gasping Natasha Karpov staggers into the room. When she sees Ryo in the grasp of the insane monster, she cries out hopelessly.)

Natasha (screaming): Ryo! No!

Ryo (quietly, somehow his voice audible over the EVA's growling): I understand now…Natasha. Please…take care of Hikaru…

Natasha (running toward Dr. Sohma): No! God, no! You can't ask this of me! RYO!!!

(He smiles and his face vanishes in a wash of blood…)

-----------------

(A girl…is crying…)

(Shinji finds her on a stone bench and he thinks of the Traditional Arts Museum. She is weeping into her hands, the skirt of her school uniform tucked around her thighs. He pauses and looks down at his hand where he holds Ryo's ring. It had been the last thing that Hikaru had given him before she had sacrificed herself for him.)

Natasha (coldly): He gave himself to Evangelion Unit 04 so that Hikaru could safely pilot it.

(Shinji looks over at the Russian Lieutenant. Her eyes are blank of any emotion…much like the first Rei.)

Shinji (softly): You aren't…complete. You are-

Natasha: I am a memory, Third Child. I am hardly a complex ego such as you…and her.

Shinji (gazing back at Hikaru): She has suffered a lot…

Natasha: Yes. I did what I could for her. At least she forgot about what happened to her family.

Shinji (shivering): Her…family?

Natasha (folding her hands distantly behind her back): SEELE is thorough. In order to create a Child with her talents and to insert her into the correct position for advancement…she was to lose all that she held dear.

Shinji (thickly): Her dreams…

Natasha (nodding): Exactly. While it is possible to forget for survival's sake, such a powerful memory is not something you can destroy by just not facing it.

Shinji (taking a step toward the girl): You are wrong…

Natasha: …?

Shinji (glancing back at the Lieutenant, his eyes gentle): She did not lose everything she held dear… She had you.

(The Russian woman's eyes widen and she watches Shinji go to the Sixth Child. Then she shakes her head and fades away.)

Shinji (quietly): Hikaru…?

Hikaru (wetly): Now you know. I didn't want you to…

Shinji (sitting down next to the girl): Why? You were not at fault there.

Hikaru (folding her hands in her lap): Oh, Shinji… My brother-

Shinji (sighing): Your brother gave his life to protect you from the beast within your EVA. My mother did the same.

Hikaru: …

Shinji: There is no right or wrong here. People who loved us very much saw to it that we would have protection against something very dangerous…very powerful.

Hikaru (looking over at the Third Child, her eyes red): …

Shinji (shuffling his feet against the cobblestones of the place): My mother is gone…I know that now. She was a beautiful, gentle soul and I wish that she had never had to do combat with such demon to keep me safe.

(Pause)

Shinji (smiling over at the girl): But it seems like loved ones older than us often do things that are for our own good…even if we don't want it or wish for it.

(Hikaru's eyes widen, then she sniffs, wiping away the tears with the backs of her hands. She then reaches out and takes Shinji's hands in her own.)

Hikaru (closing her eyes as she presses her forehead to his): Come now…I believe in you.

(The world of deadly secrets fades away…)

--------------------------------------

(Shinji gazes about himself, never having seen this place before. He is standing in the middle of a overgrown field at the edge of a cliff. The sun is bright overhead and bugs are buzzing through the air. Behind him, he can see hundreds of thousands of flowers spotting the field, some in colors he has never seen before.)

Hikaru (of to the side): Now, is the time for your choice, Shinji.

Shinji (blinking as he glances at her): M-My choice?

Hikaru (smiling sadly, folding her hands before her waist): Yes. You must decide the fate of the world.

Shinji (his eyes flaring wide): B-But-

(They are suddenly not alone and Shinji glances around. His cheeks burn as he sees that Asuka, Rei, and Misato are on three sides of him, all of them nude. Their eyes are blank, telling him that they are not complex entities as he and Hikaru are.)

Shinji (looking frantically at Hikaru): H-Hikaru! What is this?!

Hikaru (looking away so the breeze catches her hair and a few strands flutter before her face): It is your choice.

Shinji (glancing at Asuka, his eyes careful to stay on her face): A-Asuka…what is this?

Asuka (her eyes focusing on him): You must choose one of us, Shinji. In us are your only choices. Join with me and the world will be as it is.

Asuka (lifting her hand to him): Come with me…to our destroyed world…

(Shinji turns his eyes from her and looks to Rei.)

Rei (her eyes focusing on him): Join with me, Ikari. Be one with me mind, body, and soul.

Rei (reaching out for him with her hand): Come with me…to the place Beyond.

(Shinji feels a shiver. He knows that the Abyss will drain him of his thoughts and feelings. He will become…a dream.)

(He looks to Misato.)

Misato (her eyes focusing on him): Join with me, Shinji and all will be as it was.

Misato (reaching for him with her hand): Come with me…to the world of past knowledge.

(Shinji trembles as he gazes into each of their eyes…loving each of them…hating each of them. His choice is…no choice at all. Each choice isn't perfect and he will die a death in each one. He could go to the world after the Third Impact, the dreaming, fading away world of the Abyss, or the world of his past experiences, lived to insanity.)

Shinji (turning desperate eyes to Hikaru): Hikaru…what…?

Hikaru (shaking her head): …I cannot help you…this is your choice…just remember where you are…

(FLASHBACK: Hikaru (continuing kindly): I don't understand it all…but this is a place of infinite possibilities…)

Shinji (his eyes going hard and he looks at each lady in turn): This is not my choice.

The Three Choices (moaning): Shinji…

(He steps back from their reaching hands and finds himself at the edge of this world. Below, there is nothing but mist and darkness. It would be his death for sure if he fell.)

Shinji (his eyes widening, speaking slowly): 'A place of infinite possibilities…' There is a choice that I haven't been given…

(Shinji looks up at the three reaching for him, the fourth with her heart in her eyes. He gives them all a tender smile.)

Shinji (quietly): With my hands in the future and the past, my decision is that that world chooses its own fate.

Hikaru (gasping, staggering toward him): Shinji! You can't run from this-

Shinji (shaking his head as he steps away from the cliff): I'm not running away. For the first time in my whole life…I believe I'm taking complete responsibility.

(And he slips from the cliff to the sound of Hikaru's cry. The world spins away from Shinji and he lays back. The mists reach up to claim him and all is dark.)

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

I remember…

My life's work… My life story… Flowers in bloom… I never knew….. I wish she hadn't told me!

-------------------------------------

Girl (giggling): You are always so melodramatic…I wonder if you are always going to be like that.

Shinji: …?

(He is still falling, but the air around him isn't so cold anymore. There is a warmth that begins to radiate on his face. He opens his eyes. For so long there has been only darkness. Something is there now. In this place beyond the Abyss, in this complete darkness of his own choosing, he didn't think that he would ever see light again. Her face is so kind, so beautiful.

Shinji (thinking, gazing into her eyes): Just like…her mother…

Girl (hovering before his free-falling body): How does it feel?

Shinji (groggy, blinking at her): How does what feel?

Girl (shrugging, her dark, auburn hair flowing about her aggressive, yet sweet face): To throw everything away, yet knowing somewhere that you won?

Shinji (weakly, reaching for the small girl): I don't understand…who are you…?

Girl (laughing as she takes his hand in hers and an explosion of burning white feathers surround him): Someone you hold dear…or will. I was never good with timelines!

Shinji (whispering): You are…

(The girl's eyes are too knowledgeable for a child's. The voice in his head and the girl are connected…)

Shinji (softly as the girl's wings fold around him): How can I trust you?

(Pause.)

Shinji (closing his eyes, chuckling as he rests his head against his own flesh's narrow chest): Neither do you. I have faith now, daughter…

---------------------------------

(The Second Child gasps as she staggers away from the rogue EVA. There are only four left, but her strength is failing her. She can see Ayanami using the Lance of Longinsis like a staff, but she is too weakened by the constant combat. And Touji…well, Touji is all but useless. Damned rookie....)

Asuka (growling as she drags her EVA into combat stance, feet wide apart): I can't believe we are being destroyed by such pathetic Angels…

(The Angel before her grins and takes a step toward her its Lance thrusting toward her.)

(It has been a second since that beast of an Evangelion lifted into the Abyss. Asuka knows death is coming for them all. She hears the crackle of power and the deep humming. That is when a beam of pure gold energy falls from the sky and vaporizes the white Angel before her eyes. Unit 02 falls to one knee and shields its eyes. Then, it slowly lifts its head to gaze skyward. The Abyss…is gone. In its place, the modified Unit 01 hovers over the ruined Tokyo-3 like an angel of death. Its burning wings extend miles into the sky, licking around the white Evangelion.)

Asuka (whispering): Mein Gott…

(Unit 01 turns its head slowly down toward the scene below. The Beast grins and the wings lash out at the rogue EVAs. The rogues step away from their opponents and hiss at the modified EVA. They never had a chance. The golden wings flash about Tokyo-3 with the precision of a surgical knife, carving the Angels to shreds in seconds.)

Asuka (thickly): S-Shinji?

(The EVA begins to lower itself to an area clear of buildings. In fact, it is the same area that was Sector 27 just before the hole made by the Stairway blasted it away just a little while before. Deep down below, the lake of the Geo-Front is bathed in real sunlight for the first time since its creation. Its buildings and the waters of the lake are washed in rose, raining down on the Man-made world like a blessing. The three Evangelions begin to work their way toward Unit 01's landing site.)

Touji (his tired face appearing on Asuka's screen): What…now?

Asuka (shaking her head, her voice strangely without malice): How should I know?

Touji (his eyes snapping wide at the sight of the girl): A-Asuka!

Asuka (frowning): What?

Touji (blinking): Y-Your face!

(Asuka remembers the burning shear of the Angel's Lance as it pierced her eye. She blinks her eyes and finds that both eyes are whole.)

Asuka (reaching for the control handle to change her video pickup source, to view herself, thinking): I still feel some pain…but, I'm not blinded, what…?

(Her own face flashes up before her eyes and she gasps. Her face is not bloodied anymore. She looks down and finds no blood in the LCL. Something has happened. She looks up at the image again and looks closer at her face.)

Asuka (reaching up with trembling hands): M-My eye…

(While her eye is whole, it has changed in color. Her undamaged eye is blue, while her other eye is green. The effect is jarring. Asuka closes both eyes and sighs.)

Touji (grimacing, waiting for the Second Child to scream at him): A-Asuka? Are you okay?

Asuka: I'm fine…

Touji (his eyes huge): Really?

Asuka (her eyes cracking open, deadly quiet): You don't believe me?

Touji: Frankly? No.

Asuka (snapping as she kills his video feed): Well, you are an idiot! Get OUT of my face!

(His shocked face vanishes from her screen and she focuses walking. Her EVA is still damaged, missing one arm and wounded in many places.)

Asuka (sighing again): Well, this world isn't perfect, but it is all we have…

(Her eyes lift and she finds that the modified EVA has landed and has something in its cupped palms.)

Asuka (her eyes snapping wide and she leans forward hard in her seat): Shinji!

-----------------------------

(The sun is setting as Asuka struggles across the broken landscape to the kneeling EVA. Its lightning-like wings flicker and waver quietly overhead, blurring against the deep red sun. The EVA's head is bowed and its cupped hands are held low as if it were just lifting sand from a beach. Rei is already there, climbing carefully up onto the platform formed by the hands. Touji…well, he's still trying to figure out how to get out of his EVA.)

Asuka (limping up to the hands, bracing herself against the rock-hard surface, shouting up): Rei! How is he?! How is that moron?!

Rei (her voice floating down from above): …he's not breathing…

Asuka (whispering): No…Goddamn it!

(Despite her pain, despite everything, Asuka drags herself up onto the hands. Rei is cradling his head, but Asuka pushes the girl away. She doesn't seem to know what to do anyway.)

Asuka (sharply): Shinji! SHINJI!!

(He is naked, but she is willing to forget that for now. She reaches down and grabs him by his shoulders.)

Asuka (viciously): You are not going to die on me!

(Silence)

Asuka (sniffing): You cannot do this to me!

(Rei sits back on her heels and looks to the sky. Her eyes recognize something and she watches.)

Asuka (crying out): You CAN'T LEAVE ME!!

(She leans down and presses her mouth over his. She breathes into his body, let's his body live.)

Asuka (her eyes closed, tears leaking in between her closed lids, whispering against his lips): Y-You can't leave me alone…please…please…

(His hand is very gentle against the side of her face, stroking a long lock of her hair back over her ear.)

Shinji (softly, his eyes warm and brown): You…girls…sure do cry a lot…

Asuka (whispering): S-Shinji?

(She promptly bursts into tears, not caring anymore of he sees her as weak. If he dares to think such a thing, she will have to kick his ass…later. For now, she buries her face in his bare chest and cries. He is alive.)

Rei (softly): Welcome back, Shinji.

(Rei comes to kneel next to him and brushes his hair back from his forehead with her hand.)

Shinji (whispering): I just…wanted to be with all of you again…

(He can hear Touji panting in the distance, running over to them. He strokes the back of Asuka's head gently as he has always wanted to. Overhead, the burning wings of the modified EVA fade away and the actual Unit 01 shutters and turns to stone. It will be a reminder…to all who witness it…a memorial. Shinji's eyes turn up to the neon violet, red, and yellow skies and he wonders if it is just his imagination or if he sees Hikaru in her flowing kimono in the clouds.)

-------------------------------

(It is the place she first brought Shinji to see Tokyo-3 in all of its glory. It isn't much more than a pile of scattered rubble now, but the sunset is still spectacular. She braces her hands against the guardrail and lets the wind play with her dark hair. She hears footsteps and she looks over her shoulder. Shinji is standing there, real and alive. Her is wearing an oversized shirt and an pair of cargo pants some soldier from NERV must have lent him. Just about everyone has forgotten…except for the Children and a few others. But still, there is the unconscious gratefulness in their eyes as they look at the Third Child. There aren't many people like him in the world.)

Misato (softly): Shinji…

Shinji (smiling as he struggled with the length of the pants): Hello, Misato…

Misato (blushing): I-I'm sorry…about…before. I don't know what happened…

(Shinji shakes his head and comes up beside her. Misato turns her head away from the sunset and studies the young boy in her charge. He is…different now. He probably remembers everything, but he also gained something else: responsibility. Responsibility and strength. There are probably military guys that would kill for that information now. Who knows what the UN will do now? On her way out of NERV Central, she had gotten a report that the strike force that had come into the Command Center had been found out in a rice field somewhere, confused and without memory. She grins when she looks at Shinji, knowing that there had only been a very few people in the entirety of humanity that could have changed the truth like that.)

Misato: So, where is everyone else?

Shinji (glancing over at her out of the corner of his eye): Sleeping. Kensuke had a few extra sleeping bags and set them up in the hills, considering NERV Central is falling apart at the seams. Besides, everyone wanted to be under the sky for once. Everyone passed out…even Asuka in time.

Misato (leaning a hip against the rail): How is she? I mean…she did go through a lot.

(Shinji sighs and his face clouds over.)

Shinji (softly): She has got a few scars now. There was only so much that could be done in the end. Ritsuko had to give her some sedatives for the ghost pains she is getting from time to time. I-I wish I had been there for her-

Misato (firmly): Shinji, you did everything you could have done. Asuka is a strong girl, she will be fine.

Shinji (chuckling): I know this…

(There is silence for a moment and the night birds begin their individual songs. Shinji closes his eyes at the beauty of it. People have good memories.)

Shinji (quietly): Misato…?

Misato: Hmmm?

Shinji (softly): I wish I hadn't had to do some of the things I did…

Misato: Shinji, I'm so sorry-

Shinji (looking up at her): But I'm glad that you are all here. I couldn't…I couldn't have gone on without you.

(Misato feels her eyes going hot at the emotion in Shinji's eyes. She isn't the best person in the world, yet he loves her. She murmurs softly and takes him in her arms. His arms slip around her waist and she feels the hotness of his tears against her neck. She rocks him slowly in her arms and looks out at the ruined cityscape once more. She sees the lone memorial statue at the far corner of the once great city and she feels a little of his pain.)

Misato (gently): We are all here for you, Shinji. We always will be.

Shinji (nodding): I know…

(He gives a little half-laugh, half-sob and looks at her.)

Shinji (wiping his tears away, feeling a little silly): We had better get back… Father said that we will need to be careful for now on… He also said it is time to rebuild…to make a home for Mankind.

(Shinji shakes his head.)

Shinji: He said that he can't see the future anymore…and I understand what he means…now.

Misato: …

Shinji (taking a step away from her): But, I have a feeling that everything is going to be different now.

Misato (raising an eyebrow at that): Shinji?

Shinji (taking her hand in his): We are still here, aren't we? With the power of the Abyss, anyone could have created anything…but…

(He looks to the sunset one last time.)

Shinji (giving Misato's hand a squeeze): We are here, to live our lives.

Misato (sighing): Shinji…

Shinji (beginning to walk with Misato): It is time to live as we were meant to.

(The two walk down the cracked, mountain-side road and they both know that the future is not foreseen, but entirely open to them and in the end…that is all that really matters.)

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THE END

Author's Notes:

It was said by some that it couldn't be done. Whether you loved it or you hated it, I was able to complete the SBTA series with a final chapter.

I know that there were people that wanted me to go in several different directions, especially with Shinji's love interest. It might seem a bit cliché by now, but this was the vision I got when I decided to start this series. I knew that Hikaru was going to die, but not. I knew that Rei was going to change, but I wasn't quite sure in what way. I suppose that sometimes, it is best to just let the story lead itself.

Something that might not come through clearly is perhaps the words in italics. Any time in this Chapter that there were words in italics, it marked words being communicated by Lillith. What you make of that last scene with italics is completely up to you. Whether I am going to expand this series at a later date, I will just have to wait and see.

It should probably also be noted that Natasha's reasons for hunting the members of SEELE is that she was ordered to do so by Commander Ikari. This was his retaliation for the last Angel Attack.

For those of you measuring this against EoE, forget it. I have never seen the movie (though I did have the chance to buy a bootleg copy, but I didn't trust the store and…well, that's another story!). I had my own idea of what I wanted the end to look like and I think I came pretty close to my original idea from a year-and-a-half ago (God, has it been that long?!).

I know there are probably some questions I didn't answer and some loose ends I didn't tie up, but I may have a second series in the future… I'm not sure.

I would like to thank all the authors and readers that supported me during this massive effort, especially those last few who wrote in to me in this last month. You guys are probably the reason this chapter is complete!

As always and forever, comments and concerns are loved and welcomed. You can get a hold of me at omnidragon@tokyo-3.com

I sincerely do hope that you enjoyed this last chapter of "Step Beyond the Abyss" and, if all goes according to plan, will meet up with you all again someday!

Thank you,

N. T. Martin

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