From: archer@senet.com.au (Oska Archer or 'Kon')
Subject: [Eva][FanFic] The Three Colours - Part 1 - Red

Shin Seiki Evangelion Fanfiction
by Oska Archer/ Kon
archer@senet.com.au
written on msdos Editor 1.1


Eva is the product of Gainax and not me and the creation of Anno
Hideaki and not me either. Apologies to Krzysztof Kieslowski for
the borrowed title (he, of course, made the 3 Colours trilogy).
And, I guess, spoilers inherent...

+ Shin Seiki Evangelion * 3iro Aka. Shiro. Ao. +

---------------------
[OP: Zankokuna Tenshi no Thesis _ Evangelion Addition CD]

Evangelion 3iro  *  Aka (Red)

                GENJITSU kamoshiranai
                (It might be reality)


SHINJI DECIDES TO take another stab at it, so to speak, and sets
himself. Since it arrived, the latest Angel has grown geometrically
to cover almost an eighth of Tokyo 3's patchy surface. It had begun
as a small spot of what can only be termed a slime-mould, which
rapidly grew into a vast field of resistant red mess. The Evangelions
can cut at it and so on, but inevitably all the cells will simply
group back together.

  The Third Children hacks rapidly at the creature. It is the 
only thing he can see to do; if Misato or Ritsuko have a better plan,
they will tell him. He knows that inside an operating entry plug is
the safest place to be, but that does not decrease from the fact that
he is fighting a deadly enemy. His Enemy. He cannot spare the brain-
power for planning his moves... Though, he has done a _lot_ of
thinking inside Unit 01... Shinji abruptly pauses, gulping a little.
He looks down at what he is doing.

  "Misato-san," he speaks with a confused voice, "wh --"

  "Look out, idiot!" Misato shouts inside of headquarters. She is
quite relieved when Unit 01 leaps away from the grasping tendrils
of slime-mould.

  "Hmm, its beginning to react," Fuyutsuki observes from the back
of the room. Commander Ikari looks on unreadably.

  Shinji gets his balance, takes a deep breath, then continues,
"Misato-san, where's Ayanami?" As if to illustrate, the Eva's head
rotates this way and that. All it sees is the city skyline, the
Angel and Nigouki over the other side.

  * * *

  "Are you stupid?" Asuka almost says, planning to make the most of
her colleague's apparent absent-mindedness. But she is stopped by
the same thought:

  Where _is_ First? There's... there's something strange about this.
Asuka's brow knits beneath the fringe of her wild auburn hair as
she sits still in her own entry plug.

  * * *

  Shinji cannot work it out. In many ways, he feels like he just
woke up somehow. He tries to recall anything before this moment.
Only vague yet strengthening memories of the immediate past come, in
the little time he is allowed.
  
  Misato is peeved. "Don't you ever listen, Shinji-kun? Rei is not
in a fit mental state to pilot Eva. Now concentrate! The Angel's
body is beginning to take root and dig down through the roof of the
Geofront."

  "But what can we--" Shinji cringes from her scolding tone but is
interrupted again, by the Second Children this time.

  "Iya-a-a!" Asuka shrieks. A tendril of slime has shot from the
Angel's body and latched onto Unit 02's upper right leg. She grits
her teeth and engages her prog knife, but more shoots come from the
field of red to entangle the Eva's arms. "Kya-a-a! It's got me! It
burns!" Sure enough, smoke is beginning to rise from the points of
contact on Nigouki's armour.

  Shinji has a flash, or rather a flame, of inspiration; he grunts
and leaps into action. I'll burn it, he resolves, a feeling of
absoluteness slowly building. I'll burn the Enemy. It'll die in the
flames. A window opens at Shinji's mental command on the entry
plug's screen, displaying the plan for the city's gas network.
Unit 01 sprints over to where Shinji sees a main pipeline, then
thrusts its hands into the road surface.

  Misato and the command team watch speechlessly as the purple
giant finds a part of the underground pipeline, then wrenches it
up violently. Bitumen and concrete and edges of buildings spray
up and everywhere. Unit 01 gets a firm hold on the semi-flexible
dark-coloured pipe then runs back over and around the Angel's body,
tearing up more of the city with the gas line.

  Nigouki is being covered in slime-mould. Instead of drawing the
Eva into its body, the Angel is just growing up and over it. Asuka
started screaming half a minute ago, out of terror and frustration,
and her cries are becoming more desperate and strangled. "A-a-a-a-n!
Stop... Help! Sh...Shinji! Help me!" The Angel's grip allows no
movement to Unit 02.

  Shinji is almost in position. Through gritted teeth, he breathes,
"Field full-power!"
  
  Now he arrives. With quick, precise motions, Shogouki pulls
out its progressive knife, holds the gas pipe laterally in one hand,
and cuts through it. The sparks from the shearing of the steel
reinforcement ignite the rapid rush of gas, and the mass of flame
washes over Unit 02.

  "BUUURRRRN!!!!!" cries Shinji. The slime-mould recoils and lets
go of Nigouki, which stumbles back and collapses at a safe distance.
Flames crackle fiercely from the Angel's tendrils. Unit 01 begins
methodically spraying its body with fire. The creature's response
is to contract in on itself, pulling up the roots it was putting
down and trying some way, anyway, to escape from the heat.

  Hyuga gulps and informs everyone, "Unit 01's AT Field is denying
the Angel even the chance to spread its own Field. It's defenceless."
  
  In another minute, most of it is charred mass or ashes. Shinji
has the Angel down to the size of an apartment block. It falls
apart, its individual cells no longer able to hold themselves
together as a single sentient creature. Despite Misato's calls,
the boy does not stop until every one of the dumb plant-creatures
is burning and dead.

  "Main gas line EE3 now blocked off," Maya announces.

  "Nigouki is ceasing activation of non-vital systems. Asuka isn't
responding."
  
  "Shinji-kun!" Misato nearly screams, "Return to NERV HQ immediately!
You've done by far enough damage!"

  The impromptu flame-thrower finally fizzles and Shogouki drops it.
It strides through the flaming wreckage (the surrounding city has
taken a beating from Shinji's eagerness) towards Asuka's Eva. The
red unit tries to get up but cannot manage. It may be a trick of
the flames' light, but it even seems to be shivering.

  Unit 01 pauses, then kneels down and takes Unit 02 up, an arm
under its knees and behind its shoulders. It is the most bizarre
sight as one Eva carries the other to the elevator.

  * * *

  It is only a moment of recollection. The familiar sting of defeat,
for the Second Children, has a new impact on her. She cringes, trying
to turn her face away, but her eyes wide and still seeing the shadowy
figure striding out of the sheets of flames. Massive pain strikes her
chest and abdomen, and then her face and eye. Her yelp is silent.

  Without thinking, she puts out a hand to hold off the tall figure
with glowing eyes. No! She snatches it back, clutching it with the
other, afraid of what will come next.

  Death. No!

  NO!

  Am I already dead?

  * * *
  
  Asuka has not woken up. Half an hour after the conclusion of the
Angel attack, she lies naked between starched sheets, cleaned of LCL,
devoid of blame. Simple white glare shows through the close window.
It emphasises the whiteness and sterility of the entire room. It is
an unbecoming pallor on the girl's face. As if beaten back and
defeated, even her bright hair is tucked away behind her head.

  It is thus Shinji, out of his suit, opens the door to find her.
Immediately behind him Misato speaks softly to a nurse.

  "She's absolutely fine. Her present condition seems however to have
been caused by sudden unexplained shock. She has, of course, come
out a lot better from far more gruelling battles, so it's hard to
pinpoint an immediate cause."

  Misato agrees. She watches the boy pilot move into the room, his
head bowed above Asuka's bed. He stands for a long moment, shifting
once only to scratch his calf with the other foot. Then a deep
breath, and Shinji's hand begins to reach over, and down--

  * * *

  "Why is this happening? What don't I know? What is the situation
behind all this? Why can't I remember?"

  Shinji's head swims with questions, all asked at once, so many that
they meld into one glowing mass of light, a light that ripples as if
reflected from water, orange-tinted water...

  He made Misato cut her lecture short because she saw how much he
wanted to see Asuka, but Shinji did not listen anyway. He is not
going to argue, but he feels that it did not matter how much of the
city was destroyed this time. He cannot fathom it - the city was not
real under the Eva's feet. It even felt, at that moment when he had
missed Rei, like the city should not have been there.

  Shinji lunges and grabs at the memory, knowing that it will open
the floodgates, and all the pieces he is missing in this... _world_
will be laid bare before him to put together painstakingly, and that
perhaps Asuka can help, and it might even, eventually, make sense.

  I'm always afraid of rejection. It's easier for everyone if I just
don't try.

  But I know Asuka accepts me now.

  After what?

  That's what we have to remember! It's too late to keep living with
the fear. I... I mustn't run away.

  He forgets everything as his fingers make contact with the smooth,
soft, unblemished skin of Asuka's arm. An image flashes, that of him
in one of his battles, lunging, bringing the progressive knife to
bear on the heart of his enemy, driving it home, making it one with
the ...soul of the Angel. With insane resolve, Shinji grasps Asuka's
wrist and shakes her.

  "Wake up! I need your help! You can't lie around now like you
did..."

  Dimly from behind, Misato asks what Shinji is doing, but...
  
  Asuka's deep blue eyes glimmer, slightly open. She exhales then
whispers, "What's... going on..." She looks blankly at Shinji.

  He is paralysed. No... No! I don't want to remember that! I don't
need to know that! Why do I remember only this when I need to know
everything else... Shinji's desperation rises parallel to the shame
he feels as he sees the white hospital room where Asuka was last
time, and himself...

  He snatches his hand away and stares at it, horrified. Then, his
eyes, his mouth clenched shut, Shinji wurls and runs through the
door, out, and away.

  Misato is surprised when Shinji bolts past her and ignores her
yells. She does not follow, but when he vanishes, she looks over at
Asuka, still prostrate all in white.

  "Did she move before?" she asks the nurse.

  The nurse does not think so, and points at the wall instrumentation,
which indicates Asuka's sleep has not been interrupted.

  * * *

  As soon as the women are gone, Asuka sits up and shakes her head,
liberating her hair to clash with the oppressive white of the bed.
With the sheet clutched to her front and her back growing cold in
the sterile air, Asuka lets her mind drift, knowing she has something
she must do, and hoping she might remember by sheer luck. For no
reason at all, she snorts a laugh, her mouth left in a twisted smile.

  "Well, I guess Shinji-sama saved me again." Her mouth moves. But
the humiliation and anger are not there. She misses them. All she
feels is a tired acceptance, without really feeling tired. Her
thoughts are not interrupted as she tears the sheets out from under
a side of the mattress, swings out of bed and stands. She ignores the
cool air.

  Dammit, I've been changed, she thinks. What changed me? How can I
go on, not knowing? Did I have a choice? Or... Am I the same, and
everything else is different?

  "Is there a difference?" Asuka wonders, seeing her red hairclips
on the cupboard in front of her, beside the bed. She grabs them and
pads over to the mirror. The reflection does not look as bad as she
was expecting. "Good meal is all I need." With practised ease Asuka
clumps the right amount of hair on one side and slides the clip on
above her ear, and repeats this on the other side. She runs fingers
through her fringe, regards herself, and smiles.

  Is this happiness an illusion? Because I can't think of a reason
to feel this way... "Oh well, I'd better go find Shinji."

  Asuka passes the window, and closer now, she can see more than just
a square of white. She can see half of Tokyo 3, abstractly inverted,
suspended from the roof of the Geofront. For a nauseating second,
Asuka feels as if she is the one upside-down, walking naked over a
carpeted ceiling with a bed and cupboards nailed to it, and that she
must clutch at something, and hang, and not plummet to the bleak
ceiling... no, the floor of the vast cavern of the Geofront. She
squeezes her eyes shut and shakes her head, then stumbles away and
to the door. There she pauses, and sighs. I wasn't expecting to see
that. I have to tell Shinji.

  * * *

Neon Genesis Evangelion: The 3 Colours  *  Gloved in Blood

  * * *
  
  As soon as Shinji had seen the sky, he felt calmer. He wanders
along the streets of Tokyo 3, trying to avoid the crowds, glancing
idly at shop windows and attractions. He looks blankly at the other
people, following their own paths, he realises, with unseen detail.
Shinji also realises that he does not want to know or understand that
detail.

  This... it isn't so bad, I suppose... If this is all as real as it
looks, what's the point in trying to find a reason for it? I don't
care if I live in a made up world...

  But Shinji is not even sure of this. He never paid attention to the
strangers in the streets before (before what?) so why are they here
now? 

  Why do I see them now, when I'm not even sure they're real? He
glances up just as a street lamp glows to life. He notices a melody
blowing in the breeze from some unseen shop, the strings serious-
sounding and whispering of war and the needlessness of it all at
once.

[4th Movement: Presto, Symphony No.9 in D Minor _ Beethoven]

  Shinji stops, deadly still. He raises his hand again and
remembers more as he stares at it, knowing of the life he has used
it to end. Why, he asks again desperately, do I remember this,
when I don't want to, when I need answers to this situation instead
of such painful memories?

  As like the classical music floating in the air, the breeze
whispers in a voice, now, too painfully familiar to Shinji:

  "It is so easy for Lilim to remember the bad things."

  His heart pounding in his ears, his hands wrapped over them as if
to prevent its escape, Shinji retraces his steps in a blind run,
getting out of range of the music. He heads for the entrance to the
Geofront.

  Behind him, the streetlight fades once more.

  * * *

  "Shinji!" Asuka calls to the boy on the escalator.
  
  He starts, then lets the stairs carry him down to her. "Um. Are
you feeling better?"

  She lowers her voice. "Shinji, do you have a really weird feeling
about all this?"

  He steps off and faces her, then says, "Why did you ask me, Asuka?"

  "Um, because... er..."

  "Weird isn't it? I also felt that you're the only one I could talk
to about it. Hey, Asuka," he turns towards the elevator, "I'll show
you something you'll probably like to see."

  They enter the wide, industrial style lift and it begins its
descent. The fourteen-year-olds both lean on the back wall.

  Shinji asks, "Do you remember anything, I mean, about before this?"

  "Good question." Asuka takes a deep breath and looks at the
ceiling. She uncrosses her arms and puts her hands in the pockets
of her skirt. They remain still for a long moment. The tick of the
level display and the lift machinery's hum accompanies them down.

  "Well? Do--"

  "I'm thinking," Asuka interrupts. "I hate this lift, don't you?"

  "I never... thought about it, but, yeah, I never liked it."

  "I think the main thing," Asuka spoke, "is that before that Angel
got me, I had the feeling that we shouldn't be here, that this is all
finished with. Dammit, I was distracted, otherwise I wouldn't..."
Asuka scowls. "But what's so bad? Everything seems normal, that Angel
wasn't so hard to kill..."

  "Yeah. It seems okay like this, doesn't it?" He looks up as well.
"You... you know the sort of things you see inside Eva. Maybe we're
just thinking like this because we piloted this morning. I've only
talked to Misato after that, but she was just angry about what I
did."

  "Maybe we need to talk to another pilot..."

  * * *

  The main lights have long since been extinguished, and in the
bowels of NERV Headquarters, nearing the centre of the Geofront
itself, Terminal Dogma is almost as dark as it is silent. In all
the cavernous space, indeed there is only one worthy source of
light. The metal of the huge portal to the Main LCL Plant reflects
some of the brightness as the source passes within.

  Ayanami Rei steps softly across the wide platform. She is unsure
as to whether or not she expected to find anything. But she is
impassively certain of one thing, as she lifts her eyes from the
scanning of the cold floor, over the glimmering expanse of stored
LCL, and up the tall red crucifix. Save for the huge iron nails, the
artifact holds nothing upon it.

  She bites her lip, her face almost taking on an expression. The
only sign to get through is a glimmering tear.
  
  * * *

  "Hey, where are we going, Shinji?"

  "I want it to be a surprise."

  Shinji and Asuka walk through the lush green parks of the Geofront,
along the wide easy path bordered in greenery and deep shadows
created by the diffuse sunlight allowed in from the mid-afternoon.
The girl still has a carton of milk with a straw in it from the quick
meal they grabbed.

  "Well, it better be worth the wait."

  Shinji smiles. "You sound like your old self."

  "Huh? Did you think I'd changed?"

  Shinji glances at her and says, "I... don't know."

  Asuka looks ahead blankly. "Before, I thought I had changed some-
how, but I couldn't work out how or why." She returns his look and
smiles a bit. "I guess it's good to hear that."

  Shinji nods. Presently, he announces, "Here we are."

  Asuka walks forward, looking from side-to-side. "Watermelons?"

  "Yeah. That's what I thought first time I saw them. Misato was
supposed to look after them. I don't know if he ever ate any."

  "...He?" Asuka is sitting on her haunches to examine a particularly
impressive plant. She looks up at Shinji with an expression he has
never seen before on her face. Her eyes wide yet unblemished by
pain or tears, her mouth open just a little to breathe through, her
mind on the brink of realisation. Shinji's heart suddenly thumps
against his ribs. Asuka looks so innocent...

  "These are Kaji-san's. We talked here once. He was wise, Asuka."
He watches her stand up, looking down. "He shouldn't have died."

  Asuka looks around, really unsure of what to do. This man whom she
had centred her attention on, and shared with, and who had paid less
and less regard to her upon their arrival, until he had disappeared.
Why couldn't there have been more guys like him?

  She does not look at Shinji, but after a moment walks to the tap
and fills up the watering can there.

  Shinji is not sure if he should say anything, but, "Good idea."

  Asuka stares intently at the plants as they receive their water.
Shinji watches her, beginning to question the wisdom in visiting the
place. I wonder what she's thinking...

  "I'm glad, Shinji. That you showed me this."

  "Uh? Yeah..." He smiles sheepishly.

  "...I don't know what we were thinking before," Asuka speaks
softly. She looks up at him blankly. "Does any of this seem imagined
to you?"

  "Well... no,--"

  "This place really let's you relax and think clearly," she says.
"Not at all like an entry plug." She continues sprinkling, walking
past him.

  "I felt like I was still in there before, but what you're
saying..."

  "Shinji, even if all this isn't real, what would you do about it?
For some reason, I get the feeling the alternative would be much
worse."

  Shinji does not reply. He stands watching her with a slightly sad
expression - he feels the threat she is making, that she is ready to
accept this place, and that she would like Shinji with her, but she
will not follow if he is not. Shinji still feels like he is being
pushed away again. He does not want the feeling to take a grip on
him.

  He moves to the garden's perimeter. "Well, I'm going back to
headquarters, I want to... um, yeah, I'm going back." He starts along
the path.

  "Bye, then," Asuka responds, still diligently sprinkling. But a
part of her is also still in turmoil.

  Oh God, what am I doing?

  * * *

  "Ayanami Rei?" The matron questions. "No, she's not been admitted.
You might have to go to the Control Room and ask there."

  Shinji looks to the side, seeing only the bland hospital wall with
its wooden rail. But Misato said Ayanami wasn't mentally fit, and
here is where she'd be... The boy decides Misato probably knows
anyway, and heads for the Control Centre. The escalator is slow,
and Shinji's mind is too occupied to suggest walking to hurry things
along.

  I wish I knew what Asuka is thinking, he muses. He cannot get rid
of the impression that she is making a mistake.

  "This feeling sucks."

  His eyes widen. When did she say that? I have no idea.

  Shinji knows he cannot accept the situation like his companion
seems to be doing. Dammit, Asuka, if you would just realise for
yourself... If I try to tell her, she'll get more like how she was
when I left her.

  Shinji is staring vacantly to the side; he only notices when he
hears a feminine gasp beyond the termination of the elevator. His
attention snaps onto the source.

  Rei stands in the middle of the corridor in her plug suit. Her
small hands delicately cover her mouth and her eyes are unblinking
and dilated all in an expression of total shock.

  "Ayanami! --What's wrong?" Shinji steps from the stairs.

  Small tears reflect the ambient light before she shuts her eyes
and flings herself around Shinji, her arms tight around his sides
and back.

  "Ikari-kun," she sobs. Shinji is paralysed by her show of raw
emotion. "I didn't expect this. It's lonely, Ikari-kun. I was the
only one here."

  Her usual calm, monotone voice, racked by sobbing, is broken by
the desperation of one completely alone. Shinji does not have the
heart to struggle free of her uncomfortable embrace. He cannot
fight the girl, but he cannot help her either.

  "Where do you mean by here?" Shinji asks, keeping his mouth out
of her pale hair. He does not get any more reply than her quiet
crying.

  Finally, he places his hands lightly over her shoulders.

  * * *

  Makoto hangs the phone up. "Sighting confirmed," he turns to
Misato, "an Angel is approaching."

  "Two in one day?" Ritsuko breathes with annoyance.

  Misato stares up at the display with its projections and the MAGI
System's preliminary data. "Well, we'll be ready. Get the pilots up
here, and the Evas ready for launch."

  "Send Rei first to carry out short range reconnaissance," the
Commander orders, "since we have the opportunity."

  "But Commander, isn't she unable to pilot?" Misato is concerned.

  He smiles a bit behind his hands. "She's not dead."

  
 * To be continued...

[ED: Avenging Angels _ Space]

[Jikai Yokoku _ Evangelion No. 2 CD track 23]

  The Angels do not relent, and after Rei disappears, Shinji must 
deny Asuka her wish and face an unseen enemy. In Shogouki, the boy
meets a much needed part of himself and reaches a final conclusion,
before the shock arrival of a new pilot and a new Eva. What is the
secret of Sougouki? As Shinji's realisations deepen, whether or not
the new Children is another Angel becomes less and less important.
  Will Asuka open her mind for him again?

 * Next Episode: The Sixth Children. Enjoy it and send it to your
              friends!


<Notes>
If you noticed any strange changes in tense, I thank you for getting
into this story that much, but I assure you it is all intended. One
can do some interesting things with present tense prose...

I don't want to piss anyone off with the continuity here either, but
I assure you that it will kinda make sense in the end (well, as much
sense as Eva can make...)

I know it can get annoying when authors change or ignore background
information for their Eva fanfics, so I gotta say that although I'll
try to stick to canonical facts as much as I can, I may have to go
against some of the more widely upheld _theories_ to progress this
story. I mean, there are more angels here for a start... or are
there?

Please send C+C to archer@senet.com.au
Eventually this trilogy will be HTMLised, hopefully with some fanart,
when it will be available at http://www.senet.com.au/~archer

Neon Genesis
Evangelion:  The 3 Colours Red. White. Blue. part 1

                        Oska Archer, July 1998




From: archer@senet.com.au (Oska Archer or 'Kon')
Subject: [Eva][FanFic] The Three Colours - Part 2 - White


Shin Seiki Evangelion Fanfiction
by Oska Archer/ Kon
archer@senet.com.au
written on msdos Editor 1.1


Eva is the product of Gainax and not me and the creation of Anno
Hideaki and not me either. Apologies to Krzysztof Kieslowski for
the borrowed title.
Spoilers inherent.

+ Shin Seiki Evangelion * 3iro Aka. Shiro. Ao. +

---------------------
[OP: Zankokuna Tenshi no Thesis _ Evangelion Addition CD]

Evangelion 3iro  *  Shiro (White)

                Yakusoku 
                (A Promise)


If this isn't reality, Shinji muses, whilst staring at the great
screen in Central Dogma, why does my heart pound so hard?

  Maya announces, "The Angel is circling slowly behind the western
foothills. It is approaching Zerogouki's position laterally."

  The NERV command team look on. Seen from a zoomed camera view atop
one of Tokyo 3's skyscrapers, Unit 00 kneels on the green hillside,
hand gun drawn, positioned so as to have a good vantage - and shot, 
if necessary - through a steeply-sided valley.

  At his side, Shinji's plug-suited hand opens and squeezes tight
continuously. "Where is it?" he whispers nervously.

  Misato catches his question from behind her. "We'll see in a
moment," she speaks softly. "I hope she can handle it."

  I more-than-hope... Shinji thinks.

  "No AT Field detected," calls Makoto.

  Rei's voice, cool and unemotional, feeds into the room. "There."
The view from the Eva's sensors switches, and everyone sees through
the valley. "Target sighted."

  The slanted sun brings its shadow first. The top appears above the
sloped terrain, moving with the constant elevation which suggests
that this is another airborne Angel. When enough is visible, its shape
becomes discernible: a tall cylinder, fluting out at each palely
rimmed end; a band of black around the middle where the core rests,
aimed in its direction of motion, and a concertina-like arrangement
of folds above and below it; and two huge pseudo-eyes, similar to
those on moths' wings, wrapping around over the sickly white skin to
either side of the Angel's 'face'.
  
  "Rei." It is Commander Ikari's voice.

  "Yes."

  "You have the element of surprise. Attack the target."

  "Commander!" Misato cries, "There is no threat yet! She is only
monitoring the Angel."

  "We cannot wait for an attack. Do it."

  Rei sights and fires at the creature's back.

  Shinji gasps at the same time.

  With a familiar concussion, a luminous pattern of orange octagons
strobes for a second, deflecting Unit 00's round. Rei's finger
squeezes a second time, but as the AT Field vanishes, so does the
Angel behind it.

  Shigeru shouts, "Now the MAGI detect that the target's Field has
been constantly active, but shielded from sensors."

  "When it was visible we obtained a lock, but now both Field and
target are masked," Makoto adds. "ECM readings have passed critical."

  "Like the Tenth," Misato says edgily.

  Shinji is allowed a brief shard of memory as he hears her: the
Tenth Angel, a rounded and distended thing of orange with multi-
coloured eyes, screaming out of the sky as he waited beneath it,
waited to catch it, and concentrated on unfolding and manifesting
that known as an AT Field...

  Unit 00 watches the place at which its target vanished, and the
NERV control room remains quiet, nobody game to move.

  ...Screaming down from the sky, as Shinji waited beneath it...

  "Above!" the boy cries.

  Rei's head snaps up at the instant that the AT Field flashes once
above Zerogouki, revealing the towering Angel. The Eva's arms fling
up as the white bulk plummets onto its head, knocking the hand gun
from its grip and swallowing the head, one limb and the housing on
its back into the dark underside.

  "All data from the entry plug is cut off," calls Maya.

  "The electricity from the umbilical cable is being diverted and
dissipated," Shigeru says. "Approximately 80 seconds of running time
remaining."

  Shinji is wrapped up in the moment, and has for now forgotten his
doubts. "Misato-san! Help her!"

  "But we can't tell what's happening to her," she answers indirectly
to Shinji, "while the plug is shielded."

  The technical crew send commands as fast as they can, but it is
no use. The blue Eva has crashed back onto the hillside and is
struggling ineffectually, as the Angel holds onto it, always
remaining vertical despite the movements. With its shaking free
hand, Unit 00 attempts to grasp its Prog knife, but the command
seems to fail midway: the handle only partly ejected from the
shoulder fin as the hand falls limply.

  "34 seconds of active time left, but Zerogouki has ceased movement,"
Maya announces.

  Nobody turns to him as Shinji, now recalling the utter despair of
his first encounter with the Twelfth, 'Sea of Dirac' Angel when
nobody even tried to help, wails, "Do something!"

  * * *

  Rei's eyes open with a start.

  Inside the Angel? Where is this? Inside the Angel. Is Ikari-kun
safe? ...As far as I know.

  Suddenly, she stands in a deserted street in Tokyo 3; a train
platform across from her and a public telephone a short walk away.

  I have told him. I confirmed it for him. Now I have to wait.
  
  Please come, Shinji.

  * * *

  "It's no use. Unit 00 is inactive," says Maya.

  "The target is approaching the centre of the city at its previous
speed," Shigeru says. "No AT Field detected, but..."

  "Zerogouki's internal camera--" Makoto pulls up a smaller view,
auxiliary to the main picture of the floating Angel. The only thing
suspended in the LCL of the plug is Rei's harmonics headband.

  "Absorbed?" Misato asks.

  "But by which one - Unit 00 or the Angel?" Ritsuko adds.

  "Internal monitors have had to reboot. We cannot tell until we
recallibrate the system," Makoto answers.

  "Recover Unit 00 immediately," orders Gendou. "Shinji."

  Shinji regains some of his resolve. "Yes. I will pilot."

  "Good."

  As Misato turns to follow the boy to his Eva's umbilical bridge,
she orders in a strained tone, "Prepare the entry plug and determine
the optimal intercept position."

  "Roger. Fix current course of target..." the voices fade as they
walk down the corridor.

  Misato mutters, "Damn him. What was the commander thinking? We had
no idea of the Angel's capabilities..."

  "We have to get Rei back, Misato-san." Shinji says resolutely.
"Hopefully she's still in Zerogouki like what happened with me...
but don't give me any difficult orders... please," The pair are at
the entrance to the Cage room.

  The sudden sound of an automatic door to the side, and: "Shinji!
Don't go!"

  Asuka... Shinji watches the girl hurry up the way they have come.

  "Asuka!" Misato scolds, "This is an emergency situation! You should
have been here 15 minutes ago!"

  The girl glances at her but says to Shinji, "Shinji, you're the
one who's so determined to disprove this reality. I've got the
perfect way for you to do it: don't fight the Angel, just let it
go and do what it's here for!"

  "What's this crap, Asuka!?" Misato continues. She grasps the girl's
forearm. "Come on, Shinji's got to board his Eva now, like you need
to get into your own to be backup."

  "Asuka --"

  She interrupts him, "Don't fight, Baka-Shinji! How're you gonna win
this time if you accept all of what's happening!?"

  "I'm not _fighting_ you! I don't even think you believe what you're
saying! Do you think it's easy for _me_ to handle this?"

  Misato, trying to ignore the argument, pulls at the pilot and
scolds her further.

  "It doesn't even make sense yet. That's why we have to get Ayanami
back," he holds his fist up and smiles a little at her. "That's why
I'm going to pilot."

  Asuka's voice becomes shrill. "Don't do this! Don't get into Eva!
You don't have to prove anything to me!" She pulls against the angry
Misato, watching Shinji's back with shivering eyes. "I don't want you
to!..."

  She relents and lets the adult pull her back down the passage.
"...Don't do this to me."

  * * *

  Shinji stares distractedly past Rei's pale hair at the far wall
of the landing, feeling spots of warm wetness though the chest of
his shirt and the shivers and silent weeping of the girl he holds.

  "Maybe we need to talk to another pilot..."

  Asuka said that, before she decided to believe all this, Shinji
recalls. He lets go of Rei's shoulders and clears his throat.

  "Ayanami..." he searches for the right words. "What can you tell
me?"

  Her sorrowful eyes look into his. "What do you mean?"

  "Well, both Asuka and I... We have this feeling there's something
more to what's happening here. We sort of both realised while
fighting that last Angel. Where were you, anyway?"

  Her gaze falls. "So you didn't bring your memories..."

  The emergency klaxon suddenly blares, a female voice announcing:
"First stage alert! All pilots report immediately! Zerogouki pilot
report directly to Cage number 3. First stage alert--"

  They start towards Central Dogma. "Ikari-kun," Rei says, leading
the way at a fast pace, "you are right, in what you feel." She pauses
for a moment, her breath quickening, and she glances over at him.
"But the Angels are the most real."

  "Ayanami, please! I-- we have to know."

  "In Eva, you will understand. I hope... that you will."

  "Zerogouki pilot, report immediately!--"

  "But what about Asuka?" Shinji cries, trying to keep up with Rei.
Their steps resound on the platform of the umbilical bridge, and he
stops beneath her as she climbs into her entry plug. The technical
crew go about preparing it for insertion.

  "She will follow you." Shinji hears, and knows she is crying again,
even with her face turned away. As the hatch slides shut, Rei finally
says, "She was your choice."

  * * *

  "Eva Unit 01, launch!"
  
  The press of the linear accelerator assaults his senses as Shinji
finishes remembering his only encounter with Rei. Dammit, why didn't
you explain it to me then? I can't be sure of anything!

  The elevator ends. "Shinji-kun, can you see it?"

  "Yes, Misato-san." Unit 01 advances off of the platform, watching
the Angel floating closer and closer between the buildings. The
sunlight is coming in from the side, casting half of the object in
shadow.

  A weapons building opens and Shinji moves over to it, never letting
his eyes leave the Angel. His Eva's arm grasps a Pallet gun while the
Angel halts its advance and settles onto the ground a few blocks
away.

  Shinji does not draw the weapon out, but turns to face his enemy.
He can never understand how he can sometimes have tense stand-offs
with the Angels; he cannot relate to them at all. As he stares
through Shogouki's eyes at those of this Shito, his thoughts revert
to their now normal state of confusion, mixed faintly with fear.

  "It's preparing something, Shinji-kun. Get your gun ready." 

  "Is it going invisible?" The Eva's arm slowly pulled out of the
building.

  "No, something el--"

  The ground before the Angel's base abruptly warps and darkens, then
shatters away from it, towards Unit 01. Shinji yelps and leaps up,
leaving it to plough into the munitions storage and send weapons
crashing everywhere. The Eva alights over to the side, turning in
time to see the Angel and its AT Field vanish.

  "ECM has passed maximum again," Makoto calls. "We cannot detect
the target."

  Ritsuko instructs, "Shinji-kun, spread your Field!"

  A slight hum as Shinji grits his teeth, and Unit 01 is surrounded
by the invisible barrier. It walks in a circle, holding the gun close
and swivelling its head. Suddenly, the Angel bursts into visibility
in the air above, but when it drops it meets Shogouki's own AT Field.
The Eva is forced onto one knee, then brings its hands (one still
clutching the gun) up to its Field and tilts the thing sideways. The
energy dissipates as the Angel gets thrown a block away.

  Fuyutsuki comments, "Looks like he's on the defensive."

  "Professor Akagi," the Commander says from behind his hands.

  She turns to him.

  "Unit 00 has been retrieved and the LCL of the plug has become a
primordial soup containing all of Rei's base biology. Tell him."

  She is about to protest the deception, but hears swearing from
Shinji, and so turns to the screen and calls to him with the
information.

  "Ayanami is okay, then?" he replies with hope.

  "Okay might be the word..." Ritsuko says, watching Misato for any
action. The young woman's face is set in a grimace.

[Come to Daddy, Pappy Mix _ Aphex Twin]

  "Right!" Shinji brings the Pallet gun to bear and fires. Explosions
bloom around the towering Angel, but it advances slowly. In
retaliation, the holes of its 'face' shine and a beam impacts the
ground immediately before Shogouki, knocking it back without its
weapon. Shinji curses again and rolls backward, spies a Smash Houk
and grasps it before standing.

  With a cry he begins his charge but the target vanishes again. He
slows a bit but then Shinji crouches in his seat and whispers, "Field
full power."

  A little to the left the Angel's Field manifests, losing its
masking capability as it struggles against that of Shogouki, which
strides up to it and shoves a hand in.

  "Phase space is eroded," reports Maya.

  "That was fast," Ritsuko blurts.

  Tearing sideways, the Eva rips a gaping hole in the glowing pattern
which reveals the Angel behind, and swings the axe, glowing from the 
vibration, back to strike.

  "Shinji-kun, you're wide open!"

  The Angel's eyes glow again. Both combatants are enveloped in the
't' shaped explosion, but Shogouki, unharmed, shoves out a hand,
gouging fingers into the holes of the Shito's face. Another cry,
and the Smash Houk embeds in the top its body.

  With a squeal it pulls free and raises about half its height above
the ground. Several lines splay from its base, darkened warpings of
the air which plow into buildings and streets. Unit 01 brings its
arms up to protect from one of them: the attack makes a smashing
noise and shards of purple armour spray everywhere as the Eva crashes
onto its rear.

  The Command team watch the target moving back, then see it rotate
abruptly, dislodging and flinging the axe away. It continues to float
away.

  "It's retreating?" Ritsuko wonders.

  "Misato-san!" the pilot calls, "stop it!" Unit 01 rises to its
feet.

  "Raise barrier shields 14, 15 and 16 zone A!"

  The armour plated walls spring rapidly out of the streets, towering
directly in the Angel's path. It slows down, and Shinji does his best
to close the distance before it can fly over the obstruction. With
practised ease he draws the Progressive knife from the shoulder.

  The Shito turns and Unit 01 meets its AT Field again. Both hands
pushing, the blade inches forward through the centre.

  "Erode the field, Shinji-kun!" Misato shouts.

  "It's different this time!" he responds, and sees the creature
float back a little further to make enough room for a second Field
to appear.

  "Eva's Field inside the Angel's?" Ritsuko is astonished.

  "Negative," Maya reports, "pattern blue. The Angel's original Field
has inverted, and somehow the second one was produced between the
creature and its own first Field."

  "Readings on the first Field are shifting," Shigeru shouts. "Phase
properties are beginning to resemble the synch frequencies between
Shinji and Shogouki!"

  Misato reels.

  While the Angel remains safe behind its second barrier, Shinji
struggles with his prog knife in the grip of the now swirling AT
Field. "Shit!" he growls, trying to pull the Eva's hands free. He
starts getting desperate just as the Field's pattern suddenly becomes
solid, concentric circles and collapses inwards to wrap around and
over the Eva like an orange net of light.

  "Life-signs are not penetrating the interference, " Makoto says.

  Maya continues, "But the synch rate has jumped to--"

  Misato finishes, "...One hundred percent..."

  * * *

  No physical features can be made out in the night's dimness as the
boy strides down the footpath of Tokyo 3's central district. His
hands are shoved deep into what look like pockets on his totally
black plug suit, which doesn't even appear to have a unit number
on the chest. 

  His unkempt, straggling blue hair hides his face. His progress is
illuminated only by the unearthly strobing AT Field further down his
path.

[(CD pause)]
  
  * * *

Neon Genesis Evangelion: The 3 colours  *  The Sixth Children

  * * *

  For the first time, Shinji is conscious of what he is seeing.
Again, he feels as he would upon waking up.

  A patch of red light. Its motion is that of a reflection, and
it is all that Shinji can focus on. It shifts colour to white, then
ultimately to blue.

  Shinji does not understand it, but he feels a presence approaching.
He turns to find an old, large figure coming forwards. The man is
dressed in a uniform resembling that worn at NERV; nearly half of
his face is hidden by a mechanical visor.

  "Third Children," he states in a deep voice. He regards the boy in
the plug suit. "Have you remembered yet?"

  "What?" Shinji understands the question, yet something tells him
not to play along.

  "Well, it will not be long. The scenario may have been ruined, but
I can still see what will follow."

  "Who are you?"

  The visor is levelled steadily at Shinji. "Keel Lorenz. It was my
Committee and I who allowed your father - and mother - to do what they
did. I would have stopped him, too - and we would have succeeded...

  "...If not for you."

  Shinji stares back. "I-- I didn't..."

  "Even by being here you cannot understand what you have condemned
Man to.--"

  "No way!" Shinji yells as comprehension is forced upon him, and
what he would otherwise shut out is printed into his mind. "You're
lying!"

  "Yes, there is no proof. Ultimately you will believe that which
satisfies you, however subjective. But you will see, anyway, when
you face the last Angel."

  "The... last... I already..."

  "I was surprised myself. Apparently, the Dead Sea Scrolls had a
quite limited scope after all."

  Shinji stares, no longer comprehending.

  "Shogouki was our mistake...

  "I always knew we should have used the other, though I never
voiced it. ...All the components we needed, and no meddlesome soul."

  But Shinji shrieks, "No!" and the scene starts distorting. Briefly,
he sees the old man in a half dissolved state, the drooping lower
parts flowing into the liquid of the ground, and Shinji then sinks
in himself. The fluid is cool in his lungs.

  * * *

[(Second Peng _ Autechre)]

  It is a forlorn Asuka who sits inside the red Eva. She is sad and
tired, her fatigued mind able only to hold some of her more
oppressive emotions.

  "How irresolute I am..." she mumbles, then gradually becomes
alarmed at the strong deja vu. The horrible feelings of invasive
reality press on her mind and she groans in struggling feebly against
them.

  "It won't move..."

  "Synchro rate zero..."

  "... Mama..."

  Something grins at her. White and evil, a hungry rictus grin.
  
  "No!"
  
  She struggles up in her seat and grabs at the emergency hatch
handles. Her eyes are wide and dilated and bubbles somehow escape
from her gaping mouth in her panic. The entry plug recognises the
command and ejects from the Unit, LCL jetting out swiftly and the
little door popping open to let her scramble out.

  Asuka's mouth drips fluid and she slides wetly over the purchases
and handholds, missing the last few and tumbling to the metal of the
umbilical bridge. Her hair glistens as she raises herself quietly
onto her hands, then suddenly gags and coughs out gouts of LCL. She
gasps and hacks as the last of it spills, then croaks,

  "No..."

  Her eyes squeeze shut. "I refuse!"

  Her personal conflict is interrupted strangely as she becomes aware
of a certain noise _ending_. Her brows knit for a moment before she
places it: the evacuation of the coolant from one of the Cages. She
also realises it was continuous up till now. And it was close - the
next Cage over.

  The launching centre for the Evangelions is vast and Asuka's
running foot-steps ring unechoingly from the connecting platform.
She makes it to the wall. The access door is open.

  There is nothing inside the wide Cage. Asuka peers steeply over
the railing, before mumbling, "Why did I come here? What do I care?"

  As if in answer, the still-glistening floor of the Cage begins to
shudder and grind, splitting in half and parting to reveal deep
dark. The girl stares down, transfixed.

  Eventually there is silence again, but only fleetingly as huge
gear rails rise from the side of the square darkness. As they get
taller, the head of their cargo enters the light. It is dark blue,
and obviously an Eva, but the helmet configuration, a simplified
version of Shogouki's, is unfamiliar to Asuka.

  The calls over the PA for the Second Child to return to her post
are ignored while she witnesses the growth of the new giant. Navy
blue, with all black detailing. The eyes glowing dully as with
Unit 01, as well as the jaw clamped shut and outlined in metal.
In fact, as the Evangelion completes its rise and begins to transfer
onto the launch tracks, Asuka can finally see the designation:

  "Eva... 01A?"

  * * *

  Misato, Ritsuko and the techs gawk at the new status display. Then
the Major grits her teeth and says, "_Sougouki_? What the hell is
this?"

  Fuyutsuki scowls a little for his part and states, "If I remember
correctly, the Committee made it explicit that that Unit was to be
destroyed. How can its use ever be authorised?"

  For once, the Supreme Commander unclasps his hands and sits back
in his chair. "There's plenty of storage room in Terminal Dogma. But
I didn't authorise this - you'll find that its out of our control
now."

  Shigeru announces, "Unit 01A is rising on a sub-elevator from Cage
2. It's unprepped and unarmed, but-- there's already A10 linkage!"

  Misato: "How's Shinji!?"

  "No change in Shogouki. Rate frozen at a hundred percent," Maya
replies.

  "Damn. Override the elevation control. Stop that new Unit and bring
it back."

  "Command received, but sub-elevators must complete a cycle before
doing anything new. We can't cancel it."

  For the enth time Misato scowls. "But where's the pilot?"

  * * *

  A heartbeat. Two. Mingling together, sharing freely for the first
time in either of their existences. Finding what each has wanted
since its inception.

  Shinji floats in the LCL, the dim red-orange fading into the 
distance in all directions. He recognises the presence, the companion
now with him. Returned to him. In front of him. Shinji makes no
struggle against the painful memories.

  The pale, lean face. The genuine smile. "Remember me?"

  Shinji bites his lip and nods. "I think I remember it all now."

  "This place..." Kaworu says, "I see the temptation for you. It's
always been hard for you to face cold reality. ...Yet at the end,
you do."

  Shinji understands. "I... I didn't want to kill you. And it didn't
matter anyway, did it? There's no-one left."

  "You're wrong, Shinji-kun. It was for you - I did it for you. And
at the end, it was your choice.

  "Go and tell her that."

  "Kaworu-kun..."

  "It's surprising how similar you are. She is just as lost as
you..." Kaworu turns his face, viewing something unseen in the
distance. "You both don't really want to accept the loss... But the
truth is, reality started falling apart the second you saw Sachiel
come around those hills in Tokyo 3."
  
  Suddenly, Shinji gasps, starting from sleep in his bed.

  "But to return you'd have to turn back time," the Fifth Children
continues.

  "How can I even believe time is real?" It sounds like a silly
question, but Shinji has more to worry about.

  "Indeed." Kaworu looks directly at him again. "But the light of
the soul is timeless. The only thing you can believe is the
loneliness of your heart.

  "And that there are only the two."
  
  Again, Shinji starts from sleep.

  Where am I now? I was... fighting. Yes! I need to defeat the Angel.
Ayanami said they are real. But if Asuka and I are the only real
things...

  Light filters dimly yet piercingly from above the surface, which
ripples with an unseen tide. A soft voice echoes through his mind.

  "How can anyone ever..."
  
  Ka... Kaasan... Shinji wonders, hopefully.
  
  "How can anyone ever tell you that you're anything less than  
  beautiful.
  How can anyone ever tell you that you're anything less than whole.
  How could anyone fail to notice that your loving is a miracle,
  And how deeply you're connected to my soul."

  A view from an observation platform through high windows. Shinji
stares down at the incomprehensible purple behemoth shoulder deep
in a reddy-pink sea. He smiles, seeing his mother climbing over its
back in a tight white suit, and she turns and waves at him. He waves
back happily, his attention focused, never noticing until now the
second giant, dark blue and hard to see in the shadows, resting in
the next bay over, or the neat white lettering stencilled beneath
the designation:

   01A
  BACKUP

  For the final time, Shinji's sleeping eyes fling open and see
light.
  
  * * *

  The boy in the plugsuit walks quickly a hundred or so metres from
the base of the Angel, until he reaches the AT Field. He pauses,
staring up the face of the barrier into the darkened heavens, then
glancing at the motionless Eva Unit 01. As the elevator shaft opens
and Unit 01A becomes visible, the boy continues forward and walks
straight through the Field.

  The Angel reels, twisting to 'look' at the newcomer, somehow
displaying its alarm.

  "Readings from Unit 01 are levelling out," reports Maya in the
command room. "Pilot's signs are confirmed."

  "The first Field has dissociated," says Makoto.

  Shinji's radioed voice suddenly follows, "How long was-- My God!
There's someone out here!"

  "What!?"

[(CD unpause - Come to Daddy)]

  Unit 01A rises ponderously from the shaft on Shinji's right. For
the first time he sees it clearly. There are no shoulder fins, and
several areas sport evidence of unfinished repair, but overall it
bears uncanny resemblance to his own Eva. It is halfway emerged when
the person Shinji saw with shock reaches it.

  "Mi- Misato-san!" Shinji manages. "Why is this Eva here?"

  Its arm tears free of the platform restraint, lowering for the
child to jump on.

  Fuyutsuki speaks, "We hoped we would never need to deal with that
one. It is Shogouki's twin brother."

  The plug is ejected by the time the boy gets to it and climbs up
and in. It screws back in immediately.

  "Second stage linkage completed. Synchronisation has already
entered the contamination zone," says Maya.

  An interior image finally appears beside Sougouki's status display.
The blue haired child glances up.

  "Identify yourself," demands Misato.

  "Mitsuwa Kuugya," his deep voice comes. "Sixth Children."

  "Half of Sougouki's systems are working at bare minimum." "Twenty-
eight seconds of battery life remaining." "Elevator beginning
descent," come the reports.

  "Whoever you are,--" Misato replies.

  "No." The view cuts off.

  It happens very fast for Shinji. Unit 01A climbs from the now
sinking lift, tearing free of the remaining restraints. Its slitted
eyes intensify and the metal jaws gape, the roar resounding
throughout the city. Without further ado it leaps at the pale
Angel, ignoring the AT Field and slamming it to the ground with its
knees. With a dozen penetrating, fluid spilling blows, the creature
is dead, and with much tearing of flesh the blue Eva ultimately
rips the dim blood red orb of the core from it. Roaring again,
holding the dripping sphere high, Unit 01A closes its fist around
it, crushing it in the single hand. 

  Shigeru stutters to the awed personnel, "Battery capacity has jumped
to 'undefined'. MAGI confirm the presence of the SS Engine."

  Dropping its head, Unit 01A gazes at Shogouki, as if asking, "What
do you think of that?"

  * * *

  "Linkage disconnected. Standby for plug ejection," Maya's voice
comes to Shinji as the all-encompassing view of the Cage winks out.
The hatch slides open and he climbs out, by which time Asuka has
reached him.

  "So, Shinji-sama, what insights into the situation do you bring
back from your little foray?" Her voice is bitter.

  He avoids looking at her while stepping down, but she stops him
going any further than that.

  "Move, Asuka. I'm not taking it right now."

  "But you have to tell me how wrong it all is, how stupid I'm being,
don't you? Come on idiot, you didn't kill the Angel, so if you didn't
find any answers either then you just wasted your time. I told you
not to go."

  "Shut up!" Shinji cannot stand to hear any more. He tries to push
her shoulder but she grasps his wrist, redirects his force and meets
his face with her suited elbow. He goes down with a small yelp onto
his back. After brief fuzziness, he sees the cavernous ceiling and
blaring fluoro tubes, and hears his colleague mutter something in
faltered German.

  She sniffs as she turns to run back the way she came, hoping
Shinji won't realise that she's crying.


 * To be continued...

[ED: Avenging Angels _ Space]

[Jikai Yokoku _ Evangelion No. 2 CD track 23]

Shinji is intent on finding Rei, and Asuka is left alone with her
fragile state of mind, for which Shinji could pay the ultimate
price. Mysterious Mitsuwa Kuugya's agenda becomes confusingly
apparent as what is left of the Childrens' reality becomes a miasma 
of impulse and experience. As the last hopes of the merciful lie are
shattered, the pilots must take refuge in one anothers' minds, and
the final barrier of the heart is stripped away.
The End of Mankind marks the joining of the circle -

 * Next Episode: Saisho no Ningen. Thrill at the exciting conclusion!


<Notes>
Hope I'm not pissing too many people off ^_^. Hmm, I was going to
go through the whole story assigning tracks from the official BGM
cds to each scene but the silliness of doing that outweighs any
novelty. As it is, there'll just be a couple of normal songs to
go with it. (Not that Come to Daddy is a normal song, mind you.)

That little poem, well, I don't know who wrote that, but it's taped
to my Aunt's kitchen wall, and it's so nice, I had to use it...

Thanks go out to Tets, who helped me with the Japanese designation
for Unit 01A. The "Sou" in Sougouki is from the word "futago" -
twins.

Please send C+C to archer@senet.com.au
Eventually this trilogy will be HTMLised, hopefully with some fanart,
when it will be available at http://www.senet.com.au/~archer

Neon Genesis
Evangelion:  The 3 Colours Red. White. Blue. part 2

                        Oska Archer, August 1998



From: archer@senet.com.au (Oska Archer or 'Kon')
Subject: [Eva][FanFic] The Three Colours - Part 3 - Blue


Shin Seiki Evangelion Fanfiction
by Oska Archer/ Kon
archer@senet.com.au
written on msdos Editor 1.1


Eva is the product of Gainax and not me and the creation of Anno
Hideaki and not me either. Apologies to Krzysztof Kieslowski for
the borrowed title.

Mature situations warning. Only read if you are mature and don't
giggle at sexual situations or innuendo ^_^. This is not a lemon.

Final version. I want to work on my next fic, not fix this one more.

+ Shin Seiki Evangelion * 3iro Aka. Shiro. Ao. +

---------------------
[OP: Zankokuna Tenshi no Thesis _ Evangelion Addition CD]

Evangelion 3iro  *  Ao (Blue)

                Watashi, Ten wo Tasshita.
                (I have found heaven)


"Are internal monitors active?"

  Makoto answers Ritsuko. "They are still deactivated from the plug
side, but sensors confirm that the pilot has vanished."

  "Linkage is frozen," says Shigeru. "Synchro rate is oscillating in
standing wave form. Pattern sepia."

  Less than half an hour following the dramatic conclusion of the
white Angel's attack, the technical division remain in the Control
Centre, studying the status of inexplicable Evangelion Unit 01A...
and its pilot. The Supreme Commander, and Fuyutsuki, the only two
who might have conceivably shed light on events, left immediately
following the recovery. Misato also left, uninformed and ill-
tempered, to debrief her charges. She now re-enters the room.

  "What's the status?" she says a bit loudly. She is not attempting
to hide her understandable frustration.

  "Sougouki is completely silent, save for the connection systems,"
Maya reports. "The plug is ejected, but the pilot appears to have
been absorbed. We're also monitoring some funny, minor signals, which
don't correlate to any precedents."

  Misato manages to look even further fed-up. "Does that mean it's
two pilots in one day, as well?"

  Ritsuko answers, "No. It was apparent upon completion of Unit 00's
salvage ten minutes ago that its plug LCL has remained constant. As
far as we can tell, Ayanami Rei is gone."

  The Major's fists loose their colour and tremble at her sides, and
it is a moment before she can say in a strained voice, "Well, are we
going to salvage this pilot from this other Unit?"

  "Major, you know it doesn't work that fast. With all the
procedures and monitoring we have to work through --"

  "A reaction has been detected by internal sensors," Makoto
interupts. "Signals indicate the formation of an ego border!"

  "What!? Open the redundancy monitor circuits!" Ritsuko orders.

  A bad-angled veiw of the pilot seat appears, showing a suspicious
shape of opaqueness, which seems to be coalescing before their eyes.

  "Commands are being sent through the linkage. It's opening!"

  They all look down upon the huge Cage as the hatch slides open,
gouting the cylinder's load of LCL. Surprised technicians stand back,
and after a few seconds the suited figure emerges and starts climbing
down.

  Misato is still too angry to be speechless. "Right," she growls.
"Maybe now we can get some answers." She adds, There are some of us
who definitely deserve them.

  * * *

  The Major stands at the conclusion of the debriefing. "This would
be so much easier if you would cooperate. I must get back to Command
now. I want both of you to go home."

  Asuka sits sideways on her chair in her suit, looking away from
her guardian, bright hair fallen forward over her cheek, and her lips
set in a slight pout. Her shoulders are slumped. Shinji, on the other
hand, leans over the table and shouts, "You can get Ayanami back,
right? She'll be alright?"

  She stops and answers. "Shinji-kun." A short sigh. "We decieved
you, for the sake of the battle. The Commander wanted you to fight
back. We don't know if we have Rei or not."

  Asuka remains motionless as she is left alone with Shinji, her
half-lidded eyes unblinking when after a few moments the boy growls
a profanity, and his fist impacts the table. After he has stormed
out with a loud, "Damn it!" Asuka draws her legs up and hugs her red
knees.

  * * *

  Ritsuko stands at the front of the dim debriefing room. She faces
Fuyutsuki, Maya, Misato and two men from the Security Division, and
the new arrival identified till now as Mitsuwa Kuugya. She stares at
the seated boy.

  "So do you have any explaination to offer us?" her voice is edgy,
betraying the fact that she, indeed none of the personel know what
they are dealing with. "You are aware that there has been no report
documentation concerning the Sixth Children. We know you aren't from
any other NERV branch. Are you transfered from SEELE?" She regards
his unresponsive face. Thick eyebrows which set his expression in a
continuous scowl. "An Evangelion unit which had been deactivated and
stored deep under this complex was prepared and launched somehow
upon your arrival, all without detection. You must be working with
someone. Will you tell us who is responsible for this?"

  He looks up and regards her with dark blue eyes. The lighting in
the room subtly shifts, a vague sense of something new at play. The
boy pushes his seat out and stands, pocketing his hands in the plain
trousers of the school uniform he has been given. Then he ignores
the silent, motionless people as he walks out of the room.

  "You have an excuse now," he mutters, "but I can only wonder how
such an ignorant organisation managed to stave off the Apocalypse
for so long." He shakes his head, striding down the darkened
corridor.

  "Wait!! Stop right there." His eyes widen as the female voice
breaks the silence that he is leaving. He pivots to face Misato, her
expression locked in that anger born of utter confusion.

  He stares. "I think I see now. I was mistaken about the strength
of their bonds to some of you. Both of them actually give you life."

  Misato sees him turn his back to her again. "I want some answers,
you!" She reaches under her arm and draws her gun. "You're another
Angel, aren't you!?"

  "... _No one_ needs to answer to a memory..."

  And it all winks out.

  * * *

  She makes her way along the electric lit street, the starless sky
forming a darkened dome which, for all its cavernous width, hems her
in. And yet, she feels no fear.

  Her soul is cold. She shivers. He must hate me, her thoughts say.
I should have stayed in Germany. Memories of her childhood, the
loneliness, the alienation and so the isolation. The hatred of Papa.
The loss of Mama, first to insanity, then to death. All those nights
spent crying alone. Wrapped into a ball, crying onto saturated knees.

  The foot steps of the boy behind her, held back by the quarantine
streamer. "I'm glad you're okay, Asuka."

  "Shut up...!"

  "...That GIRL saved me...!"

  "...I hate you! I hate everyone!"

  I hate myself, her thoughts state, the pavement becoming blurry
through the sheet of tears over her eyes, her feet dragging. She
reaches the entrance of her destination and heads for the elevator.
He must hate me because I hate me.

  The voice again, whispering on the back of her neck. "I'm glad
you're okay."

  No, he hates me. Because I deserve it.

  She stands before the door of the Horaki apartment, and presses
the bell. After a minute there is no answer.

  "Hikari?" The normalcy of her voice surprises her. Yeah, I need to
talk to her, she realises. Hikari is a real friend.

  Yet, there is no answer. Her calls get louder and more urgent.

  "Hikari, please be there! C'mon, I need to talk! Please?.." More
silence. "Be here, Hikari!... Damn it, why can't I have _anything_
my way!? Just one thing! I just want to talk to Hikari!" She begins
pounding the door. "Hikari! It's all I ask for... Everything else is
here! Make Hikari be here!" She rears her fist, but drops the punch
before breaking her hand on the metal surface.

  "It's not fair."

  * * *

  The rain hits the train's window with a staccato tap behind the
Third Children's head, barely managing to reach his hearing through
the ear buds in its heavier barrages. He does not hear it; he does
not even hear the music; the other passengers go unnoticed.

  He lacks awareness of where he is anymore. He did not care where
he was going when he boarded the monorail, and it matters even less
to him now.

  He does not care. He has managed to shut his mind off - nothing
can reach him. He is floating. He does not breathe. For now, he is
rejecting any memory which might try to surface.

  But...

  Ayanami was right - she told the truth. It did start to become
clear once he pilotted Shogouki. There was an old man... Shinji never
really heard anything about SEELE. But it was that man who set
everything in motion. It was all part of his plan, which was called
The Instrumentality of Man Project.

  The whole idea was too alien to Shinji. He did not see anything
wrong with people. ...Maybe because I didn't care. I never really
thought of my pilotting Eva as protecting the human race... unless
I had to.

  But this old man controlled NERV, or was supposed to. Why then did
he work towards this 'Completion' of humanity? Now none of them
exist... Shinji wonders this, forgetting himself. Well, doesn't
matter. It's all done now.

[Basscadubmx _ Autechre]

  If there is any sound or sight which might penetrate the train car
as it surges through the deep night, it does not reach Shinji.
Despite his brooding, he keeps himself prisoner in his self-styled
shell of sensory deprivation; any particular thoughts or wonderings
are distant things to be turned away from. Still, Shinji has no idea
of how long he remains there before memory begins overtaking his
vision and hearing, every one of his senses.

  It is definitely the sound of gentle waves rolling and crashing.
The sky is clear. The land is a nightmare. Gradually, Shinji feels
living skin in his hands, and that it is being squeezed out of shape.
He grunts, and through the haze of salt water he meets the eyes of
the girl, and her fingers touch his cheek.

  As Shinji pulls the ear buds out, he opens his eyes slowly to peer
through the redness of the train's lighting, at the small sitting
version of him. His brow furrows, examining the other's shadowed
face - only the mouth is visible. Then he looks to the side to meet
a small version of Asuka, in a colourless, unfamiliar dress, and
little beads holding her hair up instead of the interface clips.

  He looks at her the same way, and she stares back, looking puzzled.

  "Why do you still fight?" the little Asuka asks.

  "I don't anymore," answers Shinji. He thinks about it. I'm not
going to fight any more Angels. I'm not going to fight this world,
either. And I'll never fight Asuka.

  "Asuka was right too."

  A dinging signal dopplers past, though no shadow flicks over the
red wave pattern inside the car. All three continue to sit still.

  Then the little Shinji asks, "Why are you running away again?"

  The boy regards him, and then lifts his head, with an understanding
smile. "I'm not doing that either." And he turns his head, to stare
down the length of the train, through the door windows, in its
direction of motion. "I'm going to find Ayanami."

  Shinji notices the red glow which lights the train is beginning to
brighten, shifting to white in the most intense patches. The little
Asuka slides off of the seat beside him, straightens her dress and
pads across to the other. The whiteness is nearing maximum as the
girl hops up and sits beside little Shinji...

[Furious Angels _ Rob Dougan]

  * * *

  A low bass tone is all that permeates Misato's sturdy apartment
from the dark, heavy downpour outside. The only sign of occupancy
is light shining from the ajar bathroom door. Around the corner, the
phone sits on the desk beside the cradle, the small alarm beeps which
follow the dialtone completely unnoticed.

  Inside the bathroom is Asuka, immersed in hot water. The stool and
plastic tub and a couple of towels are strewn over the floor tiles.
The girl's hair hangs limply into the liquid. Her lidded eyes gaze
dimly through the open inner door at the rainsoaked shirt and dress
and the small, cold pools spread from under them.

  She stares, and all light seems to go out of her eyes. Dimly, the
refrigerator clicks and begins to hum from the kitchen. Her eyes
widen, and she notices the white hairdryer hanging beside the mirror
in the next room.

  Asuka brings her head in line with her body, facing up with eyelids
closed. She tries taking long, deep breaths, letting her torso and
breasts rise high out of the water then sink quickly back on the
exhalation. The steam swirls, rushing into her lungs and out, like
a fluid, like a liquid filling her lungs.

  The entry plug. The only place Asuka can remember feeling... life.
Those times are distant now. The memory is disjointed, at odds with
what now comprises her mind. And she knows the feeling, the smell,
the presence of Mama. Only once, after almost ten years, she felt
Mama, and her Mama's love, the only thing that she knew she ever
really wanted. But it is all finished, the strange place in which
she finally found the comfort is destroyed, and Mama is really dead.
And with these has gone Asuka's will. Nothing is left to give
definition to what is Asuka. No Mama. No Eva.

  Eddies of vapour curl around her lips. "So tired," she says
quietly. "Of everything."
  
  The hot bath was Asuka's last resort. It has not worked.

  * * * 

  As by an undefined cue Shinji gets to his feet and walks out of
the deserted train the moment the doors open onto the platform. For
whatever reason, the brightness of morning surprises him, and he
spends a minute standing and letting the light wash through his head
like a fresh breeze. The train leaves quietly.

[CD fade]  
  
  From the open-air monorail platform down the stairs to the street.
It is all devoid of life and activity, but Shinji hardly notices. He
sees, down the footpath, a payphone, and turning to the side he finds
Rei in her blue dress, standing across the road from him.

  Shinji approaches her slowly with no idea of what to say or do.
She passively watches him, as always. When he is right in front, he
realises that he must do something. It is only when his face moves
into a smile that he feels the extent of his relief.

  And Rei's response is to tilt her head slightly, her own face
showing all the happiness that Shinji would hope to see there.

  "...Here --"

  "Yes," she answers. "You knew, because I was always here. This is
where it starts from."

  "And I... I've come back."

  Rei steps forward to close the distance, encircling Shinji's neck
with delicate white arms. "That's right. It had to be."

  He returns the hug, any apprehension about public display and
social behaviour left unheeded forever now in this barren world,
and Shinji savours Rei's soft hair against his cheek and thinks of
the time he has spent here.

  Finding the means to dispatch that slimey red Angel through frus-
tration and anger. I knew I had to act that quickly - I couldn't let
Asuka be hurt, he reflects. His encounters with Asuka, and knowing
that even in trying to earn her complete trust, she would oppose him.
It was just as hard for me to deal with this, he reasons - before
another insight strikes him: If she was my choice... then is she the
real thing? Is it Asuka, or is it what _I_ perceive to be Asuka? Is
that red-haired girl who is sharing this with me now simply something
that I have because I wanted it hard enough?

  And the other Angels. The white one, which took Ayanami so I would
have to fight. If not for that... I might not have found Kaworu-kun
again. He and Ayanami... He said the same things, but...

  "Kaworu-kun was wrong," Shinji mumbles to the girl. "The Angel's
didn't start this. It was _you_, Ayanami. You were what caused my
reality to come crashing down."

  Her face drops, pressing into Shinji's neck and shoulder. "I'm
sorry, Shinji."

  "...Hey. It wasn't like I had anything to live for."

  Rei moves back, breaking physical contact. Shinji cannot tell by
her face what she might be thinking. But his own train of thought is
still flowing, and there is one thing he must tell her. "I didn't
beat the last Angel. It was another child who they didn't let me
meet, in a new Eva that they called Sougouki. They said it was the
twin of Unit 01."

  They are walking into the station, and Rei looks forward while she
says, "There is no twin. You're talking about an Angel."

  Shinji turns it over then says, "Well, that makes it simpler...
except that I remembered seeing Unit 01A the first time I saw the
Evas... before Kaasan was..." They stop beside the wide yellow line
as a train approaches.

  Rei looks at him in response, saying, "You can rely on memory and
experience as far as you can use reality as a frame in which to
live. This is what you must accept. The Third Impact has occured on
Earth. The future cannot rely on the past."

  In a moment the train has stopped, and Shinji steps in first. And
to the back of his head, Rei adds, "But one final time, the past must
draw from the future."

  * * *

  Many minutes later, and the pair are on the way back to the suburbs
of Tokyo 3. Finally for Shinji, he feels like he has accomplished
something since his 'arrival', for lack of a better word. However,
his reflections are tinged with apprehension: Does this mean the end
of this dream? What will Rei do once we get back? Is the End really
what I want? And even if it is, I can't speak for Asuka...

  I hope she will communicate. It _does_ matter to me, what she
thinks...

  Beside him Rei is seated. It is not until her head nods over and
settles upon Shinji's shoulder that he realises she is sleeping. He
adjusts his arm carefully, unwittingly causing her to snuggle closer.
And he has to smile.

  Get some rest, Ayanami. Kaasan did the same for me.

  * * *

  The elevator doors slide back, and Misato steps out, turns, and
makes the final stretch to her home. She is not in good spirits.
After the horrible night and morning at work, clearing up all the
official mess and unofficial surprises, she really wants to get her
hands around something pliable and squeeze it very hard.

  It isn't Shinji or Asuka's fault. I must try not to take it out
on them, she muses while unlocking the door. Oh, let me finally
sleep...

  As it opens, she hears a strange thump from inside. Slipping out
of shoes, she moves through, lighting the rooms on her way before
reaching the living room. She receives the shock of her life.

  A kitchen chair lies on its side on the floor, with Asuka above
it, wriggling violently on the end of a rope tied to the ceiling.

  Misato's heart bursts and she dives forward to grab the girl's legs
and lifts. Even with her suddenly wet eyes squeezed shut, the image
of Asuka's tear-stained, swollen face locked in an expresion of
agonised, absolute terror is seared across her mind's eye. She lifts
higher, harder. Asuka's makeshift noose is poorly tied and Misato
bursts into tears of relief when she hears the gasps and coughs. She
feels the movements of Asuka's struggling arms and looks up to check
that the girl is free before lowering her to the tatami and kneeling
with her.

  The females share the tightest embrace possible as Asuka begins
wailing like a child, each cry louder and more soul-wrenching. Asuka
turns her face slightly from the woman's bosom, sobbing out a long
"Ma-ama-a-a!!" and hugging tighter.

  "I'm here," Misato manages between her own crying. "It's okay,
Asuka-chan. Mama's here. It'll be alright. It'll be alright... I
won't leave you."

  * * *

  Shinji is aware of lack of sleep, but still feels generally
optimistic about the direction in which his situation is moving. He
knew once he found Rei that things would begin to unravel, and maybe
....begin to make sense.

  But this reality is still here. I think I remember most of what
happened - Asuka being in a coma, the fighting in NERV headquarters,
Misato took me to the Eva and I saw...

  Shinji suddenly feels very sad, remembering what happened to
Misato. If he can find any reason to hate what is happening, it is
the death of his guardian and friend. An unfamiliar feeling grows
in him - if he could find the ones who shot her, he would kill them.
Perhaps crush them underfoot with Shogouki...

  "Ayanami," he says.

  She looks askance at him. "Yes?"

  "I don't know if you can tell me, but... If Asuka really died in
the Third Impact, what is the use in doing this?  How could she be
'my choice'?"

  She looks ahead again, at the apartment block which is very
close now. "You say she really died then? What does 'real' mean,
now?"

  Shinji cannot answer. That's what it's all about... nothing is set
as 'real' anymore. But does that mean I can choose about everything?

  They enter and ride the elevator in silence. The absolute eeriness
of the quiet morning is unnoticed. Clouds have quickly come in; the
sky is overcast. The sun is a white disc through the layer, subdued
enough to be veiwed directly. Shinji and Rei walk to Misato's door.

  The girl presses the bell but Shinji says, "Wait, I've got a key."

  "Oh. Of course," Rei replies.

  While he fumbles through his pockets, the door is opened anyway.
Shinji stops in his tracks on seeing Misato.

  "Wh... where have you been, Shinji-kun?" she asks restrainedly.

  "I had to go and find... Misato-san?" He stops when her face breaks
and tears start glistening in her eyes. "What's wrong!?"

  "It's... uuuhhh," she can't answer, but motions them in and moves
to the kitchen.

  "I found Ayanami," Shinji tries. Misato sits at the table, her eyes
now downcast.

  "Shinji-kun, it's Asuka. This morning, she..."

  * * *

  There is no answer to his knock, so Shinji steels himself and opens
Asuka's door. She is on her bed, her back to him, dressed, but with
a moufu covering most of her. He does not know if she is awake. There
is nothing he could use as a chair, so he stands beside her.

  The implications of what Misato has told him are just now hitting
home.

  "Did... you really want to die... Asuka? Is all this too much? Or
....was it something I did?

  "I've never done enough for you, Asuka. Even here all I could think
about was digging back out of this illusion, and getting us back to
where we started. And I'm sorry -- _really_ sorry.

  "What do _you_ want, Asuka? Whatever it is, I'll try. But... just
...." Shinji's face falls. "Just live, Asuka. I don't know why I want
to live so much now, but I do. If you need a reason, I'll try to find
it for you. But don't die.

  "You're... it sounds so corny, but you're all I have left. So...
what do you want?"

  And Asuka rolls over, her arms spread out, her eyes clear but
mournful, and replies, "I used to want to be liked for being me, not
because I was a pilot or that I graduated so early. I know that
wasn't very obvious, the way I acted. You saw it, right Shinji? I
pushed you away, but from the few times I was nice to you you saw
the part of me I hid. And I don't know why, but you liked me. But
even here, I pushed you away. I understand what is happening, I
remembered, and I just wanted to die."

  Shinji is really depressed. "But why?"

  "Because I never had any control!" her voice strains with emotion.
"I'm here because you wanted me! Now we're here, but here isn't
anywhere, is it? And I can't even kill myself when the illusion can
save me."

  "But Misato-san told me! She saw how scared you were. You didn't
really want to die. I'm sure you didn't!"

  She scowls a bit and looks away. "I used to think you must feel
really tough, even when you acted so floppy. You, a teenage boy,
being chosen to pilot the most powerful fighting machine to save the
world."

  "I never dreamt about it when I was little. I never wanted to
pilot, even when it gave my life a reason."

  Asuka sits up. "Exactly. That made you a screw up. You could see
a bus about to run you down and just accept it as your fate. Your
life was defined by what other people needed from you. And you know
why I always called you stupid?"

  Suddenly, Shinji sees the scene again, Asuka's fingers tenderly
touching the side of his face even as he wishes her dead, believing
that she still rejects him.

  "Because you like me."

  "I --" She is taken aback, now at a loss for words.

  "Asuka, please don't be mad because I chose you. I wish you could
understand the situation I faced. It was the end of the world. And I
needed... I didn't need _someone_, I needed _you_."

  The little venom in her words is faltering and forced. "I was
convenient?"

  "No! Not because you were convenient," he says, looking down.
"Because you were you. Because I wanted... you."

  Asuka looks at him, her mask of defiance laboured then finally
gone. Her expression is sad before she looks down again.

  "Because I've liked you ever since we worked together against that
Angel. Don't you think we made a good team?"

  She only nods.

  "Asuka," he sits beside her. "Too much has happened. I would never
have believed any of this was even possible. Don't you think?"

  She nods again, looking up at him again. "I thought I was ready to
fight the Angels. I was gone by the Fourteenth. It was too much by
then..."

  "I was so worried. They wouldn't tell me where you were."

  "I'm glad you're okay, Asuka," rings through her mind. "You really
meant it," she says. "I... All that time I could only push everyone
away. But... You shared it all with me. I didn't even listen..."

  Shinji leans closer and brings his arms forward, and Asuka responds
with a quivering smile, clasping her own hands around his back. She
speaks into his ear, "I wanted to die. But when I woke up in Nigouki,
and felt -- Mama! Mama was with me. And I wanted to live!"

  He holds her closer, remembering the shock of witnessing Unit 02
broken and torn. But he says, "I always felt my mother with me as
well, but she --" Several things occur to him at once. What was it
that Kaworu-kun said? Is this what NERV was always hiding from us?
Were we pilots because NERV took our mothers and... Is that what
made us the 'Children'?

  Shinji decides the discussion can wait. The only one he has left
tried to kill herself while he was away. It is a miracle that she
was rescued. More than anything, he wants Asuka to know that she
matters to him.

  * * *

  From the shadow of the corridor Rei watches silently the two other
children. Her face shows a mix of satisfaction and sadness. Rei knows
the end of this short interlude is near.

  When Misato's gasp of surprise comes from the kitchen, the girl
does not notice at first, or until she feels eyes on her. She turns
as Misato says forcefully, "What are you doing in my house?"

  The blue-haired boy in the plug suit nods back at the woman, and
she collapses against the wall. Then his eyes come to bear on the
First Children: solid red eyes, filled with malevolence.

  "Move aside. Let me finish this."

  Indeed, the way Rei now stands blocks the corridor and any veiw
into the room. She replies, "They have found what they came for. They
will end this themselves. Do not interfere."

  He examines Rei. "You want them to take Adam? How do you expect
_Lilim_ to achieve it? We who took the nut of life will be there at
the End. You must let us take Adam to the beginning."

  Rei maintains her critical gaze. Kuugya bares his teeth and
advances. "This dream is fragile! I will break it, and I will break
your friends, until you give me Adam!" He reaches forward.

  And the AT Field spreads in a concussive strobing of octagons. The
light patterns sink into the walls; Rei and the couple in the room
are safe behind it.

  "You do not _know_ me. You cannot ignore my AT Field as you did
the white Angel's."

  "Have you listened to them?" he asks with exasperation. "They're
lying! They can't speak truth even now!"

  "They are Lilim. They are seperate, and so truth is not constant
for them."

  Kuugya motions forward with his hands, baring his teeth. "Enough.
I will take Adam."

  Shinji and Asuka poke their heads out of the door. The boy's
mouth tries to form questioning words just as the Sixth's Field
spreads and the fragile world vanishes.

  * * *

Neon Genesis Evangelion: The 3 Colours  *  Saisho no Ningen
  
  * * *

[Second Peng _ Autechre]  
  
  "Where am I?"

  "...Where is this place?"

  "..."

  "What was that?"

  "...ello-o..."

  "Asuka?"

  "..."

  "Asuka-a-a!"

  "...Shinji!?..."

  "Asuka! I'm over ...here."

  "Shinji, where are we?"

  "I'm over here, Asuka! Come closer!"

  "I can't find you!"

  "You're getting further away!"

  "...I'm trying to follow you... ...you're moving away from me..."

  "Asuka, I can't hear you!"

  "...nji..."

  "...Asuka..."

  "..."

  "..."

[CD pause]  
  
  * * *

  "When you get back, we'll continue this."

  Somewhere, sometime, a drop of water impacts a surface.

  "..."

  "Is that okay?"

  Shinji opens his eyes suddenly, to find Misato smiling down upon
him with lidded eyes. Sensations from all over his body assault his
mind - the intensity from certain parts of his anatomy nearly shocks
him.

  "Misato-san..." Shinji realises that he feels very aroused, and
more than that: enveloped, held. The woman's smooth skin is warm
against him, pressed firmly upon his hips. The tightness of her is
startling, and he clumsily lifts his head to look down at their
unity.

  "Let me do this, Shinji. I am older, after all," she lies over him
and he moans into her kiss.

  The softness of her breasts starts tracing overlapping lines on
Shinji's chest; the woman begins to let out short quiet moans of
her own. The sensations are overwhelming for Shinji, but as his body
starts responding, the situation abruptly snaps into clear
perspective.

  "...No!" 

  With sudden strength Shinji tenses and rolls over, taking Misato
with him. He stops above her, looking at her surprised face, then
scuttles bacwards and out of her reach.

  "What's the matter?"

  He stammers, "I can't do this with Misato-san!"

  She kneels facing him, smiling a bit. "I understand. You're just
nervous, it's not your fault--"

  "No! I can't! This isn't what I want!"

  "C'mon, it's not that bad, is it?"

  "I don't want this!" Shinji has to start sliding backwards as
Misato advances on him.

  She regards him silently.

  "Please, Misato-san."

  She now sighs and turns away. "I... alright. I just thought..."

  "Shi-i-inji!"

[CD unpause]

  The boy intakes his breath sharply, recognising the voice and
turning to it. The scene changes as he sees Asuka approaching, a
spotlight lit circle of floorboards with a chair in the centre.

  How can we both be here? he wonders. He sits down as Asuka stops
and asks what is happening. He is dressed.

  For Asuka, it is little Shinji who answers her from the side.
"You're going back."

  Before anyone else, little Asuka asks testily, "To where?"

  "I don't know..." the seated Shinji says, "but..."

  Now Asuka looks at him intently, and sees the memories as they run
through his mind.

  The stigmata; the explosion over the Geofront (it turned out to be
a huge black sphere); the gigantic Rei-like figure which appeared
from below-

  "Just what _is_ First?" Asuka remembers saying once.

  "She was a clone," answers Shinji. "My Father created her, and
used her as a tool in his plans. There were dozens of her under
NERV headquarters, but I think Ritsuko-san said that only the one
we knew had a ...soul. There were also lots of dead Units 00."

  -Unit 01 was wrapped, engulfed in the Lance of Longinus; everything
rose out of the atmosphere.

  "This is when I found out what was happening," Shinji narrates.
"The Instrumentality of Man Project."

  "You chose to live," Asuka says.

  "Everyone can live if they only choose so," replies Rei.

  And then everyone died, converted to LCL.

  "Was that your wish?" Asuka asks levelly.

  "No," Shinji replies, "I didn't care. But I don't like myself in
any case."

  "And that's okay?" A deep voice booms through the darkness. The
blue haired, red eyed boy becomes visible. "The rest of your kind
is dead."

  "That is their reality," says Shinji, standing.

  "Oh yeah? What is yours? How do you define the reality of you
against nothing?"

  Asuka advances. "I am not nothing."

  "Do you really believe that?"

  "I choose to," the pilots both say, then Shinji says for them, "We
choose to."

  The boy turns to stride away, growing distant yet also larger,
rising and taking on the huge dimensions of an Eva - blue, familiar:
Unit 01A. But his voice lingers. "We 'Angels' have been amoung Lilim
for ever. We are what there is in you that you would wish destroyed.
We are your light; we are your terror. The beginning - that was us.
You can't destroy us."

  Somewhere, sometime, a drop of water impacts a surface.

  * * *

  Shinji and Asuka listen, and Rei speaks. "It is a dream. The AT
Fields, the Light of your souls is removed. But when you leave,
they will return for you. It is for you, your chance. Because you
want to live."

  In the Sea of LCL, from behind it seems like the naked figure of
Rei is trying to curl up and stretch out simultaneously. After a
moment she relaxes a bit, bring her hands from out of in front of
her, carefully holding a strange-looking, predeveloped creature.

  "For the beginning. Adam."

  * * *

  The waves of LCL lap gently. The land is desolate. A white cross
is nailed to a post nearby. With a barely perceptible rumble, a
larger wave rolls in, crashing wetly and receding, and, slightly
submerged in sand, a foetus-like creature starts moving and growing.
As it takes on a human shape it moves up the beach.

  Then there is a whistling sound, before streams of red come out of
the sky to run into the black circle on the front of the being. For
almost an hour it grows, its body taking on definite characteristics:
a tapered waist, broard shoulders and tall blades growing up from
the arms. The Earth's ring of blood gradually disappears as the
creature consumes it and grows.

  When the process seems to be complete, the skin of the being begins
to glitter. Out in the sea there is a splash and two heads bob up.
After a bit of coughing, Asuka and Shinji look around.

  "Oh," Asuka mumbles, "_here._"

  "What's that?"

  They watch the glowing creature get brighter.

  "Hey, it... kinda looks like an Eva."

  Crouching over slightly, it turns to look at the children, and they
stare into the hollow black eyes. Then it blinks, and suddenly they
are within, and they see the explosion.

  Antarctica. Smoky red sky.
  
  The Second Impact.

  "Asuka --This must be the First Angel."

  "Adam?"

  Around them are devastated metal structures. It seems to be a pit
of intermediate depth. The wind roars. There is still ice.

  "If this is when it exploded, why is the continent still here?"
Asuka wonders.

  "Hey, look." Shinji 'points' at a small object, just uncovered by
a tearing shed roof.

  A man hunched over an emergency safety pod. The hatch is open for
a second more, and in that time they see the young child's face
looking up at the wretched figure.

  After seeming to hesitate, the giant of light strides across the
scene of devastation, towers as it leans over and gently takes the
pod in its glowing hands. The wind has stopped strangely for the
moment. Then, with increasing speed the giant makes its way shoreward.
Once at the sea, it lowers its cargo, before turning inland, as the
wind's din picks up again, once more, to finish what it started.

  * * *

[The Day Brings _ Brad]

  "So, it ends."

  Asuka and Shinji stand, a chair overturned behind either. "We can
live," he says to Rei.

  "Anywhere can be Heaven as long as you just try to live. The chance
to be content is anywhere," she replies.

  Asuka says, "I didn't want this, but I am not alone now. I will
try to live."

  Shinji responds, "Everything had to happen. And I had to survive.
This is what Kaworu-kun knew."

  The red-head looks at him. "I want to live because I'm too scared
to die now, and that would be cruel to you. I want myself to be
happy, and if you are too, that's good."

  He looks into her face. "I want you to live and be happy because
that will help me be happy. I'm scared of myself but not when I'm
not alone."

  "We are the same."

  "And completely different. Help me, Asuka."

  She smiles at him. "What do you wish for?"

  And with that, the Sun bursts over the horizon and heavenly light
reflects and sparkles over the Sea of LCL.

  * * *

Neon Genesis Evangelion: The 3 Colours  *  Encore
  
  * * *

  A man with a hidden face - Shinji's teacher -  walks through the
spotlight to the enshadowed piano. Shinji follows, and sits on the
chair, his cello adjusted to the right height and leaned on his leg,
the bow in his other hand.

  To Asuka, sitting before him as his audience, he says, "The only
thing I can do that I ever saw impress you."

[The Swan _ Saint-Seans]

  He waits for his teacher to play through the opening bar of piano,
then closes his eyes and lets himself go.


 * The End


Please send C+C to archer@senet.com.au
Eventually this trilogy will be HTMLised, hopefully with some fanart,
when it will be available at http://www.senet.com.au/~archer

Neon Genesis
Evangelion:  The 3 Colours Red. White. Blue. part 3

                        Oska Archer, September 1998