Chain Lightning Studios Presents Together We Stand Book Two Divided We Fall By T. L. Webb Night after night, we pretend it's all right but I have grown older and you have grown colder and nothing is very much fun any more One of my turns Pink Floyd, The Wall []===============================[] Book Two, Part Thirteen []===============================[] When Shinji had invited Kaoru to join him and Hikari for a day out, he hadn't really considered the fact that over sixty percent of Tokyo Three had been pretty much vaporized by Unit Zero's detonation. When he'd thought about it later on he had felt a bit foolish about that-- it wasn't really that he'd forgotten. With the school gone and most of the population cast to the winds, he just hadn't thought about it much. Months ago, he would have lamented over the destruction and blamed himself for it. But with so much happening with Misato, Hikari and Asuka lately, he'd had his hands full just keeping up with home life. This oversight of his had, however, left him with the somewhat difficult task of deciding what they were going to do now that they'd promised Kaoru they'd show him around. After a couple of brainstorming sessions with both Hikari and Misato, they finally decided that the best thing to do was just to go on a picnic somewhere with a nice view-- and immediately Shinji knew where that should be. The night before the outing as he and Hikari worked together to get the food ready for the next day's trip, he found himself thinking back to the time when he'd run away and first seen the spot where they'd be having the outing. 'I was so empty back then,' he thought to himself. He quite vividly remembered the night he'd spent sleeping in the theater. He also remembered seeing a couple making out and actually feeling angry and jealous at what they had together. It had upset him so much that he'd had to leave and find a quiet corner in the lobby to sleep. "I wonder," he said aloud-- catching Hikari's attention. "What do you wonder?" she asked as she put one of the finished bentos in the fridge--now totally empty of all alcoholic beverages. "Well... I was just thinking. Do you think that maybe the reason Asuka's been so hostile lately may be because of us?" "What do you mean?" Hikari asked as she sat down at the table, "that she's jealous that I got you or something?" "That might be part of it, but not exactly what I was getting at. I meant more like she's jealous of what we have together." "I don't know," Hikari said with a small frown, "what makes you think that?" "I was just thinking about the past, and it occurred to me that if I had her personality then I might have behaved a lot like she did if I went through some of the things she has since joining Nerv." "I seriously doubt that, sweetie," Hikari said as she made a face-- apparently thinking back to one of her last confrontations with the German girl. "Well... it's not like I know for sure what she's going through-- I doubt I ever could, but, I think that... well, maybe she just needs someone." Hikari was quiet for a moment as she thought that over. "I was about to shrug that off-- I've heard more of her 'stupid boys' rants than you have. I think there's a lot more to it, but, you might be on to something there. Then again, I tried to hook her up with someone once... it didn't go very well." "No kidding," Shinji nodded, thinking of what had happened later that night, "maybe I'm just a hopeless romantic," he said with a shrug. "I told you," Hikari said as she stood and went back to preparing the next day's mean, "you may be onto something, but I gotta say I don't envy whoever attempts the taming of the shrew." "That's not very nice Hikari," Shinji said with a frown. "Silly," Hikari said as she playfully bopped him on the head with a spoon, "that's the title to a play, and believe me-- whoever wants to deal with her romantically had better read it first." []====[] []====[] "This is highly irregular doctor," the first of the monoliths said-- the computerized voice distortion programming disguising every vocal aspect of the individual speaking. "I'm aware of that," Ritsuko said firmly as she stood in the center of a circle of light. All around here a dozen ebony slabs stood in a circle. On each of them was a number, and below the words Sound Only in English. This was how the council of Seele met. Other than the leader and chairman Lorenz Kiel, she knew none of their names or faces. For the past several years her dealings had either been with him or the Committee that ran the human instrumentality project-- and they surely used fabricated identities. The last time she'd been before the actual gathering of Seele had been the debriefing on the Sixteenth angel. That had been humiliating--although she'd never let on. "Why have you come before us Doctor? You are obviously aware how valuable our time is." "My request to come before you was due to a possible danger regarding the Fifth Child." "Very well," the first monolith said, "what is this 'emergency'?" Ritsuko fought not to sigh in annoyance. Apparently sarcasm was not an aspect eliminated by the computer. "The Child has displayed abilities that he should not possess. His synch ratio with Unit Two is unnatural. We had decided to test how well a pilot might synch with an unconfigured Eva, and during those tests his synch ratio was not only higher than any of the other pilots, but it seemed as if he were holding back." "I do not see how this information is enough to warrant a gathering, Doctor." "But to be able to synch with an unconfig--" "Doctor, you are aware of course that the Fifth is a product of the nyphelim project and by his very nature is a natural pilot. What you are telling us is nothing we had not anticipated." "I believe that something is seriously wrong with the Fifth, I came here to make you aware that I believe he may be the Seventeenth." "Doctor, if this is in fact true, why has he not attacked?" one of the monoliths asked tiredly, "you see a unusually high synch rate, which is admitably of interest scientifically to the cause, and you begin crying angel like the fabled shepherd boy. For you to reach such a preposterous conclusion is, quite frankly, an overreaction." Ritsuko closed her eyes and counted to ten, "so you will do nothing then?" "Nerv exists to fight the angels Doctor, if this preposterous theory of your's actually proves true then I would suggest you do your job. Until then I would suggest you do the same." Before she could say another word her connection was terminated. "It seems that the Doctor is more intuitive than we anticipated." "It is unimportant in the larger scheme. Fortunately this gathering has not been a total waste of our time." "Yes, her enmity for the Commander has grown. Coming directly to us and breaking the chain of command is an interesting development." "Until she reveals information of true importance it is a empty gamble. We still do not know what Ikari is planning." "The time is short, the Fifth will meet with us in two days time to report. After that we must begin preparations for the ritual." The monoliths vanished one by one and the room was silent. []====[] []====[] "This is so damn stupid!" Asuka muttered as she paced back and forth outside of the closed door. She'd been there for over an hour-- walking up to the door, raising her hand to knock and backing off at the last moment over and over. Each time she'd get a little closer, but somehow she couldn't bring herself to actually do it. What made it worse was that every time she tried to pin down just what was holding her back, she'd just get angry and frustrate herself going round and round with it.. 'I never was any good at this introspection crap,' she thought as she tapped her foot. Eventually she worked up the courage to try again. Taking a breath and then releasing it, she focused on her target and walked up to the door. Over and over again in her mind she recited the phrase she'd been taught years before for when she was in combat and needed to focus. 'Breath, release, aim, and squeeze. Breathe release aim and squeeze. Breath release-- what the hell am I doing?' she thought as once again she backed away from the door, 'you're crazy for even thinking about this Soryu. Just go home and... And what? Sit around brooding for another week? Damnit!' Just as she turned to knock again, she found herself face to face with the person living behind the door in question. "Shiest!" she whispered as she took a step back. "Good morning, Asuka," Kaoru said-- seeming nonplused at finding her cursing under her breath at his doorstep, "are you feeling well today?" "Um... I'm... okay I guess," she said sheepishly-- embarrassed that she'd been caught hovering around his door. "That is good, I'm glad that you've recovered so quickly from your fall. Did you want to speak to me?" "Huh?" she gasped-- not having any excuses or lies prepared, "me? Er, no! I was just... just... um," she sighed and bit her bottom lip. If she kept sputtering she'd end up looking like a total idiot instead of a slight one. Finally she said in a quiet voice, "If it's not an inconvenience." "You are not inconvenient, Asuka," he told her, and she almost believed him, "I'm actually on my way over to the train station, but if you do not mind the walk I would enjoy your company." Asuka's mind began racing with excuses not to go, but as she clenched her eyes shut, she drove them all from her mind. When she opened them again she found him still standing there expectantly. 'T'hell with it,' she told herself. "Okay." []====[] []====[] "Its not like I want them dead or anything," Asuka told Kaoru as they walked along the path, "I just... well... Look I feel stupid talking about this." "I promise that whatever you tell me will remain between us for all time, Asuka," Kaoru told her. "Still," Asuka said hesitantly, "it's like I want to say stuff but my mind keeps screaming to shut the hell up... does that even make sense?" "Some, I think perhaps you are afraid that if I see-- or in this case hear-- your true feelings, that my opinion of you will change." " . . . that may be true." "I would not worry about that." "Alright... but it still feels weird," she said with a shrug, "where was I?" "You were talking about the other pilots." "Right... with Ayanami it's more that she just pisses me off. Shinji used to be the same way-- she just sits around all day waiting for someone to tell her to jump so that she can go be a good little frog. She asks the weirdest questions too. And when she says anything otherwise it's usually to tell you what you should be doing in your own Eva! Like she was a better pilot or something. I mean it's not like she could hold her own on the battlefield without a commanding officer. Not once has she _ever_ taken any kinda initiative." "Why does that mindset bother you so much?" "Because it's like she's just some kind of stupid doll!" Asuka nearly shouted. "You said something like that once before... why do you call her a doll?" Asuka started to say something, but she paused just as she opened her mouth. She turned away so he couldn't see her face. "That's... not something I want to talk about Kaoru." "I won't ask you to say anything you do not wish to." ". . . Thank you." []====[] []====[] Since beginning to explore the memories of her previous lives, Rei had grown more and more aware that there was an anomaly in her mind. A set of memories that could not possibly have been of her previous selves. Had her friends Shinji and Hikari not given her the album of photo's she might never have isolated the anomaly. Now that she knew of it's existence she'd grown more and more confused and uncertain about what, if anything, she should do about it. As she walked the long corridors of the Geofront, she contemplated whether or not she should attempt to open herself to this Other's memories. Simple deduction had told her who this Other was. It had not been difficult to surmise that the woman in the photo was Shinji's mother. Since she had identified the anomaly only after seeing that photo, the Other was easy enough to identify. She knew very little about Yui Ikari, which somewhat surprised her after considering that the woman's widower had raised her from childhood. Many of the photos had been taken in Terminal Dogma in the areas that Gehirn had used as a base of operations before moving up to the surface. The depth that was involved had made this necessary until a suitable transportation had been completed. She knew that all she would have to do to visit the memories of Yui Ikari in full would be to go there, and open herself to them. As curious as she was to find out what had been left in her head, and possibly how it had come to pass that it was there, she was equally afraid to do it. When she had started her strange inner journey, she had only been partially prepared for the intensity that was involved. Many of the memories that the photo album had returned to her were pleasant ones, but some- such as the battles with the Angels and tests with Unit Zero- had been quite painful to revisit. If she did this, if she let these memories come to the foreground within her mind... what would happen? So many of her views had already been altered from things she'd rediscovered. What if she found something in this woman's memories that altered them too far? She had never carried any illusions about the fact that much of her continued existence was dependent on her loyalty to Nerv in general and Commander Ikari specifically. Should anyone suspect that she was even in the slightest becoming disloyal she would surely be destroyed and another awakened in her place-- another without the potentially heretical memories she was so fascinated by. She knew that much of the Commander's life had been changed and reshaped by his lost wife... and she knew from long exposure to Nerv that the day of her death had been a crux event resulting in much of what her destiny would be. If the commander ever discovered what was happening to her... she did not know what would happen. It was something that-- she decided-- required much more thought before any action could be taken. []====[] []====[] "So are you going to tell me what this mystery place is or am I going to have to tickle it out of you?" Hikari asked Shinji as they waited at the train station for Kaoru to arrive. "Just trust me," Shinji said as he dodged a poke to his ribs, "I promise it's worth being surprised by." "Okay," Hikari said as she looked down the sidewalk for sign of their lunch guest, "I still don't see him... did you tell him eight o'clock?" "Relax Hikari, it's only seven forty, he has plenty of time," he reached over and took hold of her hand, "why are you so nervous?" "I dunno," she said as she linked her fingers with his, "I guess its just that it seems like everything's falling apart lately. We've lost so much. the city was destroyed, most of our friends are gone, and even Dad and my sisters are leaving for Osaka once they release him from the hospital tomorrow. I just feel like Kaoru is coming on to a sinking ship and I want to at least try to be a better friend that I was..." "Than with Asuka," Shinji finished for her as she trailed off. "Sometimes I feel like I failed her," Hikari said sadly, "and now Ritsuko won't tell me where she is. I want to try and make it up to her somehow... I just wish I knew where to start." Shinji started to say something, but as he opened his mouth to speak, he suddenly gasped in surprise. Confused at his reaction, Hikari followed his gaze out to the sidewalk where to figures were walking up the path. One of them was Kaoru, but it was his companion who caused Hikari to mimic Shinji's reaction. "Asuka?" Shinji whispered as he and Hikari made their way to the entrance, "what in the world?" "I don't know," Hikari said-- still stunned, "but one thing's for sure." "What's that?" "I'm not going to dismiss Nozomi when she tells me to be careful what I wish for anymore," she told him nervously. []====[] []====[] "What the hell are _they_ doing here?" Asuka demanded as she saw Shinji and Hikari step out into the sunlight and wave in greeting. She stopped where she was and turned to Kaoru with anger flashing in her eyes. "I am going to be joining them for lunch," Kaoru told her simply. "And _why_ didn't you tell me that?" she growled as she eyed the two who were still standing by the entrance to the train station. "The subject never came up," he told her, seemingly oblivious to her mood, "I suppose I was enjoying our conversation too much to think about it." "What _ever_," she said as she started to turn and walk away. "Asuka, would you like to join us?" Kaoru asked suddenly, "Shinji said that Hikari always prepares to much food so I doubt you would be an inconvenience." Asuka froze in mid-step. The request had been unexpected, and at the same time in the back of her mind she had been praying that he would ask. She didn't understand why, and it was driving her crazy trying to figure it out. She turned and looked over to where he stood-- hands in his pockets and that same gentle smile on his face. The same smile that was making her pulse race even now. She looked out to where Shinji and Hikari stood watching them both with confusion. 'I wouldn't have to talk to them,' she thought, 'and I doubt they'd have much to say to me.' Finally she nodded to Kaoru, and they both walked the rest of the way to where the others were standing. []====[] []====[] As he gripped the support rail that separated him and the massive purple and gray face, Gendou Ikari fought the urge to scratch his itching palm. Concealed there, beneath the white gloves that had for months covered the burn scars he'd received rescuing Rei, was a small mass of foreign material. This small lump of tissue was not his own. In fact, the genetic makeup of the material was barely human. It had taken weeks for the inflammation to go down, and even longer for the pain to stop, but he and Fuyutski had succeeded in implanting the thawed embryo of the First Angel there in his hand. Now, as he looked at the armored face of Evangelion Unit One, he imagined-- not for the first time-- that he could feel the twisted mass of fused flesh twitch of it's own violation. That, he knew, was merely in his mind, and he pushed it to the back so that he could concentrate on why he was there. "It's been awhile since I came here to speak," he said to Unit One's unmoving form, "things have been progressing beyond the framework of anyone's timetable. Even the old men are panicking at how swiftly everything has happened. The angels are all but defeated now. The final messenger has arrived and it is but a matter of time before it finally makes it's move." He paused as he began adjusting his glasses, then stopped. Removing them, he looked back at Unit One with a solemn expression, "what would you make of all this if you could speak? I've wondered this many times... and each time it has become harder to stay this course. You always saw the Eva as a tool for exploration-- a way for mankind to survive the timeless journey's between the stars... then Seele began their steps and all that was gone. Then only one goal remained. Our whole purpose changed overnight. And again when I lost you..." He replaced his glasses, "we failed to save you then. But even in that defeat I realized that there might be a way. Kiel is to blame for what happened. Had he not rushed us we might have been more prepared for the activation. So I will take something from him. I will take his dream and his obsession from him and use it to reclaim what he stole from me. I will save you, Yui. We will be together soon. All I ask is that you be patient." Across the crimson lake of coolant fluid, Unit one gave no response. It merely glared out at the Cage in silence. After a moment, Gendou turned and left the cavernous room. As the main lights shut down all around, a sound could be heard had someone remained. The sound of light footsteps. In the dim area of the umbilical bridge left illuminated by the safety lights, the figure of a young girl emerged. As Rei looked at the door where Gendou Ikari had just made his exit, she frowned. []====[] []====[] "That is..._very_ strange," Shinji said as he looked back over his shoulder at Kaoru and Asuka who were a few yards behind them on the path. They'd taken the bus from the train stop, and if he remebered correctly, there was just a little more of a walk until they reached the destination. "Cute is the word that imediatly springs to mind," Hikari told him as she took his hand, "although I am kinda suprised at it myself." "I think that's the longest I've seen her talk to _any_ guy without yelling at them," he noted with a chuckle, "and I speak from experiance." "Actualy, I'm more amazed that she hasnt said anything mean to us so far." Shinji was quiet for a moment as they continued walking up the path, finally he turned to Hikari and spoke, "um... can I ask you something?" "Of course!" "That first fight... what was it about? The one in the locker rooms I mean." It was Hikari's turn to be quiet for a stretch. "I'm sorry," Shinji said with a blush, I didn't mean to pry." "No," she said quickly, "it's okay... I was just thinking about it, and... well its kind of embarising." "It is?" "We were talking about something or other-- I forget what-- and, suddenly, she asks me if I set her up on that date to keep her away from you." "The guy your sister knew?" "Thats the one," Hikari sighed, "anyway, the thing is that I _did_ set up the date because of that... and I was so surprised at the question... it kind of ended up slipping out." "What did she do?" "Well, she really didn't _do_ anything, she just kind of huffed and smirked at me, and made a crack about underestimating the compitition. I got... well I got mad and shoved her back and she hit a locker. Thats when she blew up on me. She shoved me back, I slapped her, then she hit me and stormed out... and thats about when you came in." "I never did understand her." "I thought I did for a while, but I have this idea that she wanted that fight to happen." "I don't follow you," Shinji frowned. Hikari shook her head," I'm not sure I do either... its just that it seemed like she wass _trying_ to get people to push back like that. I'm more than a little surprised that she isnt doing it to him," she said nodding behind them. "Maybe she's just impressed with his German?" Shinji offered. This caused Hikari to giggle. "Right, that must be it," she joked as she laid her head on his shoulder, "I'm going to feel really dumb if I lost her as a friend because I took English instead of German last year." []====[] []====[] "This is amazing..." Asuka whispered as Shinji and Hikari wandered over to the rails for a better look out over the terraces. "The view is quite remarkable," Kaoru agreed. "I wonder how long they... oh not this again," Asuka rolled her eyes and Kaoru looked over to see Shinji and Hikari sitting beside one another sharing a kiss. "Not what again?" he asked. "That!" she said, gesturing to the couple, "they can't keep their hands off one another! All the time its grope, grope, kiss, grope! They'll probably be sneaking off to the bushes any moment, the perverts." "I do not see what is objectable about two people showing affection when they are so obviously in love." "Oh puh-lese!" Asuka said--apparently not realizing how bitter she sounded, "love my ass. All it is, is a chemically induced physical attraction. Love is for poets." "You do not believe in love?" Kaoru asked her. "About as much as I do the Easter bunny and vampires." "It's very sad you feel so," he said, "I've always felt that if there was one outstanding positive aspect the Lillian race had it is that they are capable of such deep love for one another. In contrast it is a pity that so few seem to display it." "You lost me at 'outstanding' Kaoru," Asuka said with a frown, "you seem smart enough, but as effed up as this planet is, how can you believe that crap?" Kaoru chucked, "I don't believe a more complex subject could have come up... but I will try to explain. Remember the old couple we passed as we got off the train? More specifically did you see their wedding bands?" "Um.. I think so, about seeing them that is, not the rings." "Would you say it is safe to assume they have been married for many years?" "Er.. Probably?" "Do you believe that physical attraction has kept them together all this time in an age where a divorce takes nothing more than the ability to sign a paper?" "I... I don't know, and for that matter neither do you." "True, but I am speaking hypothetically. There is no way I can think of to define Love as a word... it is a concept, a way of thinking, an emotional state, and so much more. At it's purest it is a sight to behold... I have seen such mutual selfless devotion between people that I've been brought to tears. It has inspired so much of history... I do not deny it has a darker aspect. It is so close to obsession that the two can easily be confused." "How... can you tell the difference?" Auska asked as past memories brought a blush to her cheeks. "Another difficult question... perhaps a good way is to ask oneself if the other's happiness is more important to you than your own." "Complicated doesn't even come close to this," Asuka said with a frown. "I warned you," Kaoru said with a chuckle, "love is never easy. There are barriers between people's souls, and it is an all too rare but wonderful thing when two manage to reach beyond them." "So what makes you think that_ those_ two are really in love?" Asuka demanded suddenly as she looked over to where Shinji was pointing at something out to Hikari. "It is more of a general impression than exact knowledge, but to attempt to answer; I've noticed that they genuinely enjoy one another's company. When together they do not constantly touch and hold one another and the looks they give are not filled with lust. Even just a moment ago when you expressed annoyance with their kiss it was followed by a long stretch where they just sat beside one another and talked without so much as holding hands." "You... you were watching the whole time?" "Most of it, I am sitting in a good spot to do so." "Still... I don't know," she said as she shook her head, "I've never felt like that before. I can't bring myself to believe something like what you're describing could exist when I haven't even been _close_ to feeling like that." "I was unaware you were a subjectivist," Kaoru said with amusement. "I resent that," Asuka said dryly as she cocked an eyebrow, "or possibly thank you." "A little of both would suit," Kaoru said with a chuckle, "It is a philosophical belief where a person refuses to accept that anything exists other than the self and the acts of the self. The extreme of this is that the person believes that he is the only thing that truly exists in the universe. Everything else that exists only does so because the person is there to 'think them into existence'. In a way, the only things that exist are what he _thinks_ exist. That is the extreme mind you, and there are actually some interesting ideas in the philosophy even if one does not believe in it." "Weird... and people really believe that?" "Did you not just suggest that love didn't exist because you didn not think it did?" "...okay, I'm going to shut up now." "Do not feel bad, I was merely making a point." "Alright... so can I ask you something?" "Go right ahead." "Why... why are you being so nice to me?" "Because you seemed as if you needed a friend." "Oh," she said as she looked away sadly. []====[] []====[] That night, as he settled back into his bed, Kaoru felt a great sadness. He knew that his meeting the next morning with the men of Seele would probably mark his final few hours as one of the lillim. The fifteen years had passed so quickly... yet had been rich with experience. The Lillim life span was so short... he'd yet to sample a fraction of the literature they'd produced in the few hundreds years since their writing had begun to develop. He could imagine the library it might take to store it all.... A stretching chasm filled with book after book. Was it his fate to make their history end? It was possible. He had greater power than the previous angels, and the last few had damaged the ranks of the Evangelion pilots almost beyond repair. Only Shinji and Hikari stood a threat, and Hikari much less of one. Asuka... was still too emotionally damaged to pilot her Evangelion. He'd most likely make use of it's availability when he made his move. It would be Unit One that would be the true threat to his task. Yet even as he considered his path, he felt sadness for the Second Child. Should he fail in his task she would be devastated... possibly beyond hope of recovery because of his actions. He decided that there was no point in being cruel to the girl. He needed to prepare her somehow for what was soon to be. Climbing to his feet, he dressed and stepped outside into the warm night. He could hear the insects chirping out in the Geofront. He walked up to her door and knocked softly, hoping he was not waking her. Her door opened seconds after his knock, and she smiled as she saw him. She was wearing a loose fitting shirt that was at least large enough for two of her. It came down just below her hips and he wondered if she knew how close to indecent it actually was-- possibly a matter of centimeters. "I need to speak with you Asuka," he said as she stepped back and let him inside. He was about to turn and speak when suddenly she grabbed hold of him and they fell onto the bed. "Asuka?" he asked in shock as he felt her lips against his neck. Suddenly, he understood, and a wave of grief washed over him. This was possibly the worst thing that could have happened to her. "Asuka, wait, please!" he said firmly as he pushed her back as gently as he could. Looking up he saw her eyes and his sadness compounded. There was lust there--obviously, but he saw beyond that to the poorly hidden desperation that was behind it. "Why?" she demanded as she finally pushed him back and began to cry," why don't you want me? Why doesn't anyone want me?" "That is not true," he insisted as he reached out to try and take her hand. "Bullshit!" she screamed at him, "Kaji would never even kiss me! Shinji always pulled back like a frightened mouse every time I tried to get close to him, and just when he _finaly_ started to come around he chose that... that..." the tears began to flow freely, "he chose Hikari over me, Kaji chose Misato... mama chose that God damn stupid doll over me... who did you chose, Kaoru? Who beat me this time? Was it Rei? Go ahead then, take her! I don't give a damn anymore!" "Asuka," he said as he took hold of her hand. She struggled and tried to pull free, but he held firm, "I did not chose Rei. I did not choose anyone." Finally she looked at him, her eyes now desperate and pleading, "then what? What's wrong with me? Why don't you want me? What do I have to do to make you want me?" "Asuka, please don't believe that this is because I do not have any feelings for you. If it were possible for me to do so, I would stay with you as long as you would have me... but I fear it just is not to be," he sighed and shook his head, "this is so much more complicated than I intended it to become... Asuka, please believe me when I say that I love you." Asuka's eyes widened at those words, and for several seconds her mouth moved wordlessly. When she finally found her voice it was several more seconds before she could gather her thoughts enough say something. "But... if you... why wont you... you know..." "Asuka, there have been more lives ruined by confusing lust with love than there are stars in the evening sky. Please understand that I can not, and will not share your bed tonight. This is, however, not because of a lack of desire. You are one of the most beautiful people I have ever known, Asuka, and the potential I see within you to become even more so is beyond description. I wish circumstances were different... but there are forces at work that are now beyond my control." "Kaoru... I don't understand." "That is all I can say for the moment... if you wish to know the whole truth, be at the observation room of the cage at noon tomorrow. It will not be pleasant for you to learn, but at least then you would understand why this must be so." "I..." she looked at him and now her eyes showed confusion. He did not know if this was the best way, but at least now she had a chance to make it... however slim. As he left her room he heard her beginning to cry again, and it was very, very hard to keep walking. []====[] []====[] It was only moments before dawn as Kaoru stepped up onto the back of the statue. He looked out across the waters and at the soft pink sky that was beginning to glow with the coming day and he wished he could take the time to enjoy it. Unfortunately he had a schedule to keep, so his final sunrise would no doubt be tainted by the unpleasant meeting that would take place in a mater of seconds. Before he'd left the third branch in Germany he'd undergone a surgical procedure that had placed a small electronic device just inside his eye. It was an experimental device-- a prototype of nanotecnology actually-- that was designed to use the salts in his body as a medium of transmission for an electronic conference. The power in this device was highly finite, it would not last beyond the meeting, but it was sufficient for its' purpose seeing as how he would never have an opportunity to use it after this day, regardless. He closed his eyes as the time arrived, and when he opened them, twelve ebony monoliths surrounded him in midair. The meeting had begun. He looked around and smiled at them, it was typical that they had spent so much effort to implant the device, yet had now insisted on masking their identities. These men were such a contradiction of high intelligence and cunning-- and immature stupidity. Amazing that they had gained so much power in this world. "You have successfully infiltrated Nerv," the first told him, "even those who do suspect the truth will not act until it is too late." Kaoru listened to them speak, and to their concerns and fears. He listened as they told him they suspected that Gendou had been experimenting with the stolen genetic sample of Adam, and how dangerously close to treason it was. They waxed poetically of how he would 'purge Nerv of the corruption', and thus fulfil his destiny. They spoke of it as if they truly cared, and the empty promises soon grew from lightly amusing to annoying. If these men craved the eternal dark so fiercely, they seemed to have an odd way of showing it. "Enough," he said finally. "What?" Kiel demanded, obviously shaken by the insolence of the interruption. "Why do you insist on perpetuating this delusion that you control my destiny?" Kaoru asked suddenly as he smiled. This meeting might be amusing after all. "How dare you speak to your creators as such!" one of the monoliths said, his voice distortor barely disguising his indignant rage at Kaoru's tone. "My time in this form grows short," Kaoru replied, "and I am weary of this charade. You have somehow gotten it into your minds that because you created me to fulfil your designs that you have some right and say in my actions. This is falsehood. Has it not occurred to you that by fulfilling even a few of the prophecies in your Dead Sea scrolls, you have thereby placed yourselves under fate's heel? How arrogant you are to believe otherwise." "And yet," he added, "this is still my destiny, and I will fulfil it. I think you strange to want me to do so. The disaster resulting the first time you meddled in these maters seems to have taught you nothing." With that Kaoru terminated the connection. He could almost see why this Gendou Ikari wanted to rebel; the manipulators behind those blank monoliths were some of the most unpleasant and bitter men he'd ever dealt with. It would almost be a pleasure to give them the oblivion they seemed to crave. []====[] []====[] It was well past the eleventh hour and he could put it off no longer. The time was finally at hand. His very being cried out to him that he must act soon. It was a compulsion that had grown in strength over the past several hours, and as noon drew closer and closer, he had to fight it back in order to keep his promise. Kaoru could feel the power welling up within him, and knew that if he did not act soon he would be forced into a misstep. As he entered the Cage where Evangelion Unit Two was contained, he felt a surge of relief. Up above he saw a glint of red that was Asuka's hair behind the window of the observation room. As he walked across the umbilical bridge to it's center, she turned and pressed her hands to the glass. He wished there were some other way, but he was bound by both fate and biology. She reached over to a counsel nearby and pressed a switch, activating the communications network. "I'm here," she told him simply. He could barely make out her face, but even at such a distance he could tell that she foregone sleep and had been crying. He was not surprised at that. "Last night," he said to her, "I told you that I would reveal to you the reason why we could not be together." She did not reply, and he could not delay his becoming any longer. "I am eternally sorry, for what I must now do," he said as he stepped off the platform over the red coolant below. "Kaoru!" she screamed as he began to fall down to the liquid. Yet, the instant before he struck, a shimmering wave of force washed out from him, and suddenly he was hovering in mid air. His body began to glow dimly as unbelievable power coursed through him. His S2 organ had awakened and he was-- from that moment-- no longer Kaoru Nagisa. He was Tabris, the Seventeenth Angel. The final messenger []====[] []====[] When the alarms went off, Shinji and Hikari had been just entering the Geofront with Misato. As lights began to pulse red all around them and the sound reached almost unbearable levels, Misato's eyes widened in shock. They broke into a dead run, and she whipped out her cell phone. "It's me, what the hell is going on down there?" she demanded from Makoto. "We're not sure, we just got a blue pattern from inside the Geofront!" he responded, and she could hear him franticly typing as he tried to analyze the data. "Inside?" she gasped in shock. If it was anything like what they'd fought with the eleventh then there was barely any time, and she was still ten minutes from the lift to the command center. "Kids," she said as she turned to face them, "get to the Cage right away, I'll brief you as we activate, it's another Angel, and it's inside headquarters." To her pride, they nodded and took off running to their destination with little more than a paling of the face. Unfortunately, she didn't have time to be proud, and Misato was back on the phone almost immediately gathering information. "Ok, I want all access shafts sealed right away, have the Magi clear our paths and put everything else on finding out just where the damn thing is." "We just got a fix," Makoto told her as she slipped between two closing blast doors "it's in the... it... oh my God." "Talk to me Hyuuga, what's going on?" "We just got a visual... the Angel... its the Fifth Child!" "What?" Misato shouted as she tried not to drop the phone. "The Magi are unanimous... what the hell? Hold on, something's happening to Unit Two!" "Damnit," Misato cursed aloud to the far too slow elevator, "hurry the hell up!" []====[] []====[] After grabbing their Plugsuits, Shinji and Hikari had jumped a ride with a technician on a motorized cart. As they struggled to change and keep their hold on the cab at the same time, neither seemed to notice the other's nudity. The situation was far to dire for such things to matter at that moment. Once suited up, they took their place behind the driver and watched the hatches open as they neared them. When they reached the cage, the driver immediately hit the breaks and all three of them watched in horror as Unit Two ripped the restraint system to shreds. It began to climb out of the mass of twisted metal and waded across the coolant to the far wall that had only recently been partially repaired from Shinji's battle with the fourteenth angel. As it plunged its massive fists through the flimsy constructs in it's way, Shinji thought he saw a flash of light just in front of the Eva. "What is it?" Hikari asked aloud as their driver leapt from his seat and began to run back down the corridor from whence they'd come. "Hey!" Shinji shouted as a blast door closed behind them-- actually trapping the man in-between the chambers. Shinji turned back to where the Eva was climbing into the freshly made opening and jumped over the roll bar to the drivers seat, "Hang on," he told Hikari as he slammed the gas pedal down to the floorboard. Proving that Misato had indeed been the one who taught Shinji how to drive, they screeched down the small path built into the wall of the cage. Just as they reached Unit three, Shinji reached out and grabbed Hikari by the arm before she started to jump off to board her Eva. Their eyes locked, and hundreds of things passed between them in that moment. Shinji leaned in and their lips met briefly, as a kiss for luck and love was shared before each of them began racing to their Eva's. Neither voiced their mutual fear-- that it would be the last that they would share. []====[] []====[] As Evangelions Three and One roared to life and began their pursuit of the Seventeenth Angel, no one noticed that in the observation room a small figure was huddled in a corner. Asuka was curled up as tightly as she had been able to manage, and as the shrieks of twisting metal echoed throughout the Geofront, she trembled and repeated one phrase over and over. "Angel... no please not an Angel...not an Angel. Not an Angel... no..." []====[] []====[] "I see them!" Hikari shouted as her Eva lowered down the seemingly endless cable to the depths of the Geofront. She'd been this deep, and deeper once before, but it still jarred her just how far down Terminal Dogma actually was. Just coming into view in the dark smoke filled chasm was Eva Unit Two. She could see it's arms working as it clawed and tore away plate after plate of protective armor from the blast door below. At fist they hadn't been able to understand how they were getting past the protective armored layers. Finally, just as she and Shinji had started their decent, it had been determined that the Angel was manipulating the electronics somehow to open them. Immediately Misato had ordered all the fuses for the gates fried, and now they had a chance to catch up. Just above her, She saw Shinji let go of the cable and Unit one dropped like a comet down onto the back of the rogue Evangelion. While he struggled to hold onto the bucking giant, Hikari caught another flash of light at its side, and as her monitor zoomed in, she was shocked to find Kaoru floating in mid air. She'd been briefed that Kaoru was the Angel, but she hadn't expected this. She'd thought that he'd bonded with Unit Two, or was piloting it. The last thing she'd suspected had been for him to be standing on thin air with his hands in his pockets smiling back at her. She saw his lips move, and she activated the external pickups. "The two of you are much later than I had expected," he said calmly, as if they were back at the picnic instead of locked in battle. As if he hadn't played them all for fools. As if he hadn't pretended to befriend Asuka. In response, she engaged her progressive knife and let go of the cable. []====[] []====[] Shinji was trying to get Unit Two in a grappling hold that Touji had shown him once, when Hikari screamed and launched herself at the angel. Suddenly, he realized that what she was about to do wouldn't work. What clued him in was that there was an odd glow-- no more of a distortion around Kaoru, almost as if he were looking at him through a heat wave. He'd noticed it before he'd begun grappling with Unit Two, but it wasn't until a split second before Hikari's attack when it all came together in his head, and by the time he'd tried to warn her, the progressive knife was rebounding off a geometric distortion in the space between it and the smiling boy. "He's got an AT field!" Shinji shouted a second too late. "Yes," he heard Kaoru reply, and realized that his external audio system was engaged, "at least that is what you Lillim have chosen to call this thing." As he spoke, Hikari's impact on the blast door caused it to give way, and the three Eva's tumbled down hundreds of feet and slammed into the next set. "The Absolute Terror Field," Kaoru recited as he drifted down towards where Shinji and Hikari were both trying to restrain the struggling Unit Two, "you Lillim have such a mastery of irony, and yet you seem so oblivious to it at the same time. This is the light of my very soul! A sacred territory that no one may enter save by my invitation. And you," he said as his smile broadened, "are not invited." Suddenly a powerful shockwave caused the level to give way and they were again falling deeper into the Geofront. []====[] []====[] We've lost all radio contact!" Makoto shouted in horror, "this is the strongest AT Field we've ever detected!" "It's blocking everything," Shiguru concurred, we've even lost ground feed from all the cameras!" "Damnit!" Misato shouted as they scrambled to do what they could, "wait... what's Hikari's power looking like?" "We don't know, once that field went up we lost everything! If this cuts both ways though she has less than four minutes..." Misato looked at the screens which showed nothing but static. It was all up to them now. She couldn't do anything more. She leaned in close to Makoto and muttered under her breath to be prepared for the worst. "I know," he whispered back, "if anything happens I have the destruct commands all set. This bastard won't win-- no mater what." []====[] []====[] Again they fell, but this time there was no barrier to catch them. As Hikari looked towards the ground she saw an expanse of white and just before they struck she saw that they were in an amazingly huge cavern. Then they hit, and the bone jarring impact drove the three Evangelions into the chalky powder that spread across the cavity Hikari nearly lost consciousness. One of the functions of LCL was to provid cushioning from impacts, but it had it's limits. Even as they hit, Unit Two was already stirring, and it took everything she had to focus long enough to drive her knife into it's leg and not pass out in the process. Above them she could see the glowing speck that was Kaoru through the cloud of dust. "Shinji," she cried as she brought her elbow down on the knife's hilt-- driving it deeper through the armor plate on the Eva's leg, "go! I'll hold Two off! It's not using it's AT Field!" Seeing Unit one nod at the same time as Shinji did on her screen was enough to distract her for a split second, and Unit Two used that moment to it's advantage. It kicked out and sent her flying out across the expanse of white. As Shinji chased after Kaoru, she climbed to her feet and turned back to face Unit Two. []====[] []====[] "Kaoru! Wait!" was all that Tabris heard as it slammed Heaven's Door behind him. It was a shame that the two Eva's had not put up more of a fight. This duty before him was not one that he enjoyed. He floated across the small ocean of LCL, and below him he saw a tiny craft manned by a single Lillim. The foolish creature was climbing up to where a large rifle was mounted at the bow of the craft. Tabris almost sighed as the Lillim opened fire and the large bulled ricochet off the AT Field. It flew back to its previous owner, and the poor creature was torn in half by the impact. Behind him he heard the repeated smashing of Unit One against the door, and he placed a fraction of his concentration on reinforcing it for the moment. Shaking his head, he looked up to where the first of his brethren was imprisoned. It was a painful sight to behold indeed. Spikes each as large as small aircraft pierced his hands, and a mask with seven eyes covered his face. Tabris recognized the symbol, it was the mark of Seele, and he was angered slightly that their fate's would be no worse than anyone else on this orb. "Must one who was born from Adam... return?" he mused as he drifted closer, "even though it means the end of all that this planet has accomplished in such a short time?" All it would take now was to touch him. And suddenly, Tabris sensed something was amiss. []====[] []====[] 'How can it fight like this with no pilot?' Hikari thought as Unit two broke off a shard of what seemed to be a stalagmite and hurled it at her. She slammed her fist into it and shattered it to pieces, but as she did so left herself open, as apparently intended. Unit Two crashed into her, sending them both falling back into the crater that marked their arrival in this weird place. As they hit the base of the crater, Hikari managed to get to her feet first and pounce. She grabbed hold of Unit two's Shoulder wing and as she sailed over it, she pulled-- sending Unit Two flipping head over heals and onto it's back. Suddenly, the sound pickups registered a shrieking noise, and Hikari looked down to find her progressive knife still imbedded in Unit Two's leg. Knowing that she wouldn't get another shot at this, she grabbed it, yanked it free, and with a whisper of apology to Asuka, drove it into Unit Two's face. []====[] []====[] "How could I have missed it?" Tabris wondered aloud as he backed away from the angel that was crucified on the mammoth cross, "it is so obvious now, so clear! The Lillim, Lilith... the ascension! The lillim want to initiate it!" He didn't know how he'd missed it before; he was dead center of the Black Moon-- the egg of the Second Angel! Seele had done well to hide this from him, to misinform him and fool him. Had he taken one second less to ponder what he had been about to do... he shuddered to think it. Yet even so, Seele may have been too clever for their own good. He could still foul their plans; all it would take would be a moment of pain, then nothing... yet the consequences would potentially be dire for those who survived. As the possibilities before him flashed through his mind, he suddenly felt a powerful presence above. Before he could turn to look, however, the wall beside him caved in and Shinji Ikari charged towards him his Evangelion. A massive purple hand closed around him, and he lowered his defenses just enough for what he realized was the only way to set things on their proper path. "Wait," he said simply as the gloved hand tightened around his body. "Give me one good reason," a furious voice responded from a speaker somewhere in Unit One's armor. Tabris felt the crushing pressure increase and realized that he may have misjudged this one's anger. "Asuka," he said as best he could. Immediately the fist stopped clenching shut. "What _about_ Asuka?" Shinji shouted at him as he stepped back away from Lilith. "I must speak to her," Tabris said, "if I lower the AT Field, will you allow me enough time to say what I must?" There was a split second where Tabris wondered if Shinji might just destroy him then and there. He could have done it-- having power equal to any angel Tabris had ever seen, Unit One was easily capable of destroying him at this point. He had the right to do it; Kaoru had betrayed them in many ways. That second passed and Shinji's voice returned. "Lower it." []====[] []====[] "We... what the hell? We just got all our feeds back!" Yuri shouted excitedly, "The AT Field is gone!" "What about that second AT Field?" Misato asked as she looked over the readouts, "and why is this display still active?" "The target... I don't understand! It's still alive?" Makoto said in disbelief. Suddenly Shinji's voice came back over the communication net in a burst of static, "if you can hear me I need a two way audio connection to the secondary observation room ASAP!" "Shinji?" Misato asked, "what are you talking about?" "No time, Misato, I need that connection as fast as you can get it!" "It looks like.... He has the Angel!" Aoba informed her, "But why hasn't he killed it?" "Misato, _please_!" Shinji shouted, and Misato looked up to Commander Ikari. It was only a fraction of an inch, but he nodded and she ordered the link patched through. 'What the hell are you doing, Shinji?' she wondered as the camera's showed Asuka still sitting in a corner. []====[] []====[] "Asuka," the familiar voice said-- startling her back from the dark place in her mind. "K-kao-Kaoru?" she whispered as she looked around the room. It only took a moment to realize that the voice was coming from the console. "My name is Tabris, and I am sorry for what I have done to you. I do not have much time, but I need you to listen to what I am about to say. Can you do that?" "Kaoru?" she cried as she stood and grabbed the edge of the console, "I don't understand, how can you be one of them? How?" "Asuka, please, I don't have time to explain it all to you. Listen to me; what I have done was ordained the moment of my creation. I knew that this day would either bring my own death, or that of your entire race. This I could not change, but I knew that every moment up till then I could live as one of you. I have seen you Lillim at your best and your worst, and Asuka, you have a choice before you. You can let these few hours rule your future, or you can chose to seize the day and rise beyond the injustice that I have done to you by allowing myself to become your friend." While he spoke, her tears began to flow freely, and she dropped to her knees in grief. "I did not lie when I said that I love you, that is why I must now leave this world. Only one or the other may survive this, myself or your race, and yours is not the existence that should parish. Goodbye Asuka." With that, the connection ceased, and the room was silent, except for her crying. []====[] []====[] In Central dogma, the bridge crew of Nerv had listened in confusion, awe and shock at what the angel had said. Up above the others, Gendou Ikari watched the monitors where Unit One held the angel in its grasp. His own hand hovered over a device that he'd had prepared as a safeguard against any further rebellion by his son. When activated, it would send an electric shock through his plug suit and render him unconscious. It would also cause his body to spasm, and hopefully clench the hand of Unit One enough to destroy the angel. If Shinji did not act soon, he would. []====[] []====[] Shinji sat in the entry plug of Unit One and looked down at the small figure in the hand of the beast... no, in his own hand. This was an Angel... but it was not hiding behind an Eva that some poor kid was piloting. It was not defending itself at all. In fact it was insisting that he destroy it. And yet, he struggled with what was being asked of him. He'd listened to what Kaoru had told Asuka, and he'd been touched by his gentle pleading to her. This Angel had reached Asuka on a level that none of them had been able to. For a short time, he had actually seen her start to climb from the abyss that she seemed to have fallen into. This angel... this person, was responsible for it. Who was he to destroy someone like that? Yet Kaoru had also said that should he live, mankind would be wiped away from the earth... something that he couldn't allow. Suddenly he began to understand something that horrified him. This must be how his father felt every time he sent them out to battle. He looked down at the angel again, and Kaoru smiled at something off to the side. Then, it turned back to him and it seemed as if their eyes met for a moment. The angel continued to smile up at him-- accepting his fate. There was a movement off to the side as Unit Three stepped into the hole in the chamber wall. "Forgive me, Asuka," he whispered. The body of Kaoru Nagisa, Tabris, the seventeenth angel, was crushed with a twitch of Unit One's hand. []====[] []====[] As Shinji climbed out of the entry plug, he felt hollow. In all the battles he'd faced... he'd never been forced to kill like that. The closest he'd come had been the Thirteenth, but even then he'd refused to commit murder. Somehow he couldn't convince himself that that body laying in the LCL down in Terminal Dogma had just been an Angel, just an enemy. He'd spoken with Kaoru... the boy had seemed more human than some 'real' people he'd met in his life. It wasn't just eating at him, it gnawed at his very soul. What right had he to have done that? As he stepped off the steps and walked down the umbilical bridge, he saw someone standing just at the other side across from him. He looked up to find Asuka walking silently across the umbilical bridge, oblivious to the fact that the coolant level was still low and there was almost a thirty-foot drop. He watched her as she approached and he saw that her eyes were as dead as his own must be. And why wouldn't they be? She'd just lost one of the few people that he'd ever seen declare even a friendship towards her-- much less love. He walked out a small distance over the bridge, between the shoulder and head of his Eva. As she reached him he stood his ground, whatever she felt he had coming he wouldn't back away from-- he owed her that... at least. "He loved me," she whispered, "he loved me, and you killed him." Shinji closed his eyes and lowered his head in shame. Had he not done that, he might have seen the punch coming. []====[] []====[] Asuka drew back and hit him with everything she had. She hit him harder than she ever had before, and as one of her fingers snapped from the impact, Shinji was sent flying back and off of the bridge. It didn't seem real to her somehow. Even the pain strobing from her broken finger was a ghost of what it should have been. Everything seemed to happen in half speed. Every little detail stood out and at the same time was muddled. Shinji seemed to hang in midair as he drifted back. Then he hit the rail and his body began to flip backwards. He tumbled head over heels down for ten feet and struck the collar of Unit One, the impact shattered several ribs and knocked him unconscious as he rebounded and slid down another fifteen feet to the coolant fluid below. He landed without much of a splash and floated for a moment before finally beginning to sink into the crimson liquid. Just as his head disappeared below the surface, Asuka began to realize what she had just done, but even that shock was like a phantom to her. Behind her she heard someone scream his name. Looking down she could see him just below the surface, sinking slowly as a trail of bubbles marked his path. She was suddenly pushed aside as a blur of red and black shot past her and over the edge. As someone else grabbed hold of her she began to struggle. She heard Hikari's voice screaming. A needle pierced her arm and her eyelids suddenly grew impossibly heavy. The last thing she remembered was Misato breaking the surface with Shinji in her arms. Specifically she remembered seeing the blood running down his face. So much blood... Then there was blackness. []======================[] End of Book Two []======================[] Authors incoherent babbling Holy crap... am I really done with DWF? it's amazing to me that I got this far ^_^. I knew when I started doing the outline for this that it was going to be long... and sure enough I started this tale way back in June 2000(I think) and here it is, just over a year later... the chapters average about 20 pages and this makes 21 of them... that's well over 420 pages, and I still have five chapters left to write with no idea as to how long they will be. (And just think, it's only as long as one chapter of Variations on a theme ^_^) don't worry though, as long as my secret stash of Mountain Dew and Spree hold out I should have enough manic energy to complete the rest of this post haste. (Now you know what keeps stories coming out of Chain Lightning Studios so fast, a combination of straight sugar and caffeine ^_^) To continue my little project of trying to explain a few of the little weird discrepancies in Eva here's my theory on the Seele meeting that Kaoru had in the directors cut. I thought and thought about it, and after a while I realized that since no alarms went off, he must have kept his angel superpowers out of it. Granted-- Tokyo Three was in ruins and the observation center might have gone down with it, but one would think that they could pick up that kind of power-- unless it wasn't any kind of manifestation, but instead was the equivalent of a satellite phone call. I recall reading somewhere that the gizmo that they used in Metal Gear Solid (codex?) Was a feasible device, so think of this as one of those. Also, in Gendou's little talk with Yui... well, I couldn't think of a more logical reason! That little scene in EoE with Fuyutski has a lot of people freaked out, and I got to thinking about it recently. That last scene with Unit one floating off into space... could that have been the original idea behind what happened to Yui? I mean, what if what happened to her wasn't a total accident per-say, but something that happened before they were ready to deal with it? Something that they'd always intended, but had happened too soon? It's just a theory, and it's something I'll deal with in more depth in a later fanfic. I mean, if you think about it, it's possible that the entry plug system was originally designed as kind of a stasis tube-- like in Alien and other sci-fi shows. If a person could be disassembled at a molecular level-- and re-assembled from LCL then they could easily survive the long treks into space. Its just something I thought was interesting and tossed in. Just as a side note-- if you have it, I HIGHLY recommend playing Kom Susser Tod starting from when the POV switches from Gendou to Shinji in the last battle and on till the end of the story-- trust me, it fits. =^_^= if I've timed it right, you should reach the bridge scene just as the singing starts, and the punch just as the courus begins. Milage may vary as per reading speed. Special thanks goes out to Ender for assistince in this final draft. May he do well in battle school, and avoid Bonzo. ^_^ Well, that's the last part of Divided We Fall. The third and final Book of Together We Stand is going to be called; []================[] Carpe Diem []================[] (For those who are wondering-- it's Latin for "Seize the day") I warn those of y'all who are squeamish now that I'm going to take this totally over the top in the action scenes from here out. Since I'll be taking a break from Evafics after this is all over I want to do some stuff that I wont have a chance to do otherwise with the weapons and other various aspects of Eva combat. All the plot threads I've tried to weave throughout this story will be tied up. Expect some characters to fail, others to triumph. Either way, the beginning has ended. Prepare for the end to begin. (^_^ I've always wanted to say that ^_^) Hotwire Chain Lightning Studios http://www.chainlightningstudios.com