Still inside Unicron, Shinji felt a burst of power in his head and nearly passed out from the sheer volume of power he could feel. Dark Eva asked what he felt. Shinji wasn't sure what it was, only that it was good but not much more than that. Shinji was suddenly struck with an idea.
"Dark Eva, in Transformers, what is the Spark?" he asked
"Its like our soul or heart, why?" Dark Eva said
"If we find Unicron's Spark then we can kill him if we destroy it, right?" Shinji continued
"Well it's possible but I'm not even sure this guy has a Spark, and if he did it could be anywhere and we need to get this done quickly"
Meanwhile, Dark Eva was thinking. As far he knew there was supposed to be a reaction when all four parts in the prophecy were together but there had been know reaction when he, Shinji, the Loginus Blade and the Matrix had been in one place. Which lead him to think there was a part of this was missing or had been misinterpreted? He was about to give up this line of thinking when he remembered Shinji said he felt a power.
[I wonder if maybe that is the last part of what we need] he thought as they continued inwards.
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Back in Terminal Dogma, the room was starting to collapse under the sheer force of Rei's transformation. So dangerous was the room that Sludge has to move out of it so he wasn't crushed by falling rubble that was flying everywhere. Rei felt the power flowing through her veins as she grew in height. She looked up, her cerise eyes glowing. Then with one great push of her wings, Rei flew up to the roof, effortlessly going through it as if it was not there and kept going
"Wow, cool" Sludge said and ran to follow her
Misato was looking at the various displays in the Command Centre trying to work out what was generating this enormously powerful AT Field. As she went to another console, a white head with red eyes floated out of the floor and kept going up. The figure was enormous, big enough to fill the whole command area. One hand touched Maya and she fell the ground; eyes glazed over. Shiguru dashed to her side and checked her pulse.
"She's still alive, but she seems to have passed out" he said
"What the hell was that?" Hyuga asked
[Rei, what have you done?] Ritsuko thought
"That was Rei, wasn't it?" Fuyutski asked
"Yes it was. Now she is something else, whether or not she'll help or hinder our cause is unknown except to her" Ritsuko explained
The giant white Rei floated up till she breached the atmosphere and stood as tall and strong as Unicron. However she could practically feel the evil Unicron was made with, not even she alone could stand against such a beast; but she would fight. Extending her hand, Rei raised an AT Field around Earth and the Transformer fleet. She then floated forward and spoke to Unicron, psychically.
[So you are Unicron. I shall not let you harm Earth] she said to him
[Move from my path creature of flesh and light, lest the darkness and metal consume you] he replied
[No!] Rei replied and charged Unicron
Unicron parried her blow and continued flying forwards till he hit a barrier. The orange and red hexagonal patter was familiar to him: an AT Field. Unicron simply smiled and drew up his clawed hand and brought it down with a might crash, but the field stayed strong. The Chaos Bringer turned with a look of murder in his eyes.
"That AT Field is unlike any you are likely to have encountered against the Angels, it is also the strongest one in existence" Rei explained
"Well if I kill you, it will disappear" Unicron lunged as he spoke
Rei had to react faster than she thought: for something that was undoubtedly heavy Unicron moved very fast, then again in space, nothing had any weight. They fought with ferocity and strength, like the Titans and Gods in the writings of Ancient Greece. Inside Unicron's fast moving body; Shinji and Dark Eva were shaking from the beating their host was receiving.
"I'm going to 'borrow' a military satellite and see what the hell is going on" Dark Eva used his powerful radio and other bandwidth equipment to hijack a Korean SpySat
"Well I'll be, Shinji check this out man" Dark Eva made a viewing box appear in the corner of Shinji's left eye
"What…Rei?" Shinji asked aloud
"Man, your girlfriend has some amazing powers" Dark Eva observed
"Oh my god, how did she do that?" Shinji wondered
"She is able to do that because that was all she was originally for. A catalyst to begin the 3rd Impact and allow humanity to merge into one giant consciousness" Yui, who had remained silent up to this point, finally spoke
"What?" Shinji and Dark Eva both asked
"Rei was generically engineered as you both know, but specifically for the purpose of becoming an Angel. It seems she somehow managed to take control of her powers" Yui said as she watched them battle.
"Well that distraction aside, we're still no closer to finding out what we're supposed to do no than we were when we arrived" Dark Eva pointed out
Suddenly the very walls around them were ripped away; clearly they were still near the outer parts of Unicron and they were sucked into space despite their best efforts to stay inside the giant's body. Shinji looked out at the area of space before him and wept.
The fleet had been decimated; what remained of it was behind a weakening AT Field that an equally weakening Rei was struggling to hold up in their defence while leaving no Field for her own protection against Unicron's assault. The situation seemed nearly hopeless in Shinji's eyes.
Before he could give voice to this hopelessness however, something in the Universe fell into place. Rei's body began to glow brighter. A light shot from her midsection that hit Dark Eva in the back of the neck. The Matrix floated out of his body. Knowing his purpose, Dark Eva opened the case of the Matrix: all that was left was for Shinji do his part.
Seemingly possessed, Shinji left the plug, but he too simply walked through its body and outside to space, protected by his suit. He felt that his mind now controlled the Loginus Sword. The Matrix had succeeded in making a giant whole in Unicron, who was now shaking and screaming.
"This is it; I can feel it in my bones that this was the moment I was born for, all my pain and suffering and even making my new friends has led to this one moment" he said to himself and looked up: he could see something, a pulsing blue light
[His Spark!] Shinji saw this was their chance so he did only what he thought was right and used his powers to slam the Loginus Sword into the Matrix Crystal
At fist there was no reaction but then, the Matrix began to sort of explode and shot this giant beam of energy into Unicron's spark, then it radiated outwards throughout his whole body, making parts of him explode. Unicron spoke
"You cannot, defeat, my destiny" he growled
"Oh but we can, because we just have. 2 different species have worked together and given their all to defeat you and your plans, we've all fought, suffered and sacrificed" mental images of Starscream and Rei's deaths and the subsequent reactions of their loved ones flashed across Yui's mind as she spoke
Unicron growled and fired something at Dark Eva, making him falter slightly; but it wasn't enough to stop the inevitable: Unicron was defeated and he knew it, but he would be defiant to the end, even if it was the end of him.
"Foolish flesh creature, I'll have my revenge, AAAAGGGGHHHHHHH" these were his last words before his head exploded along with the rest of his body, sending shrapnel everywhere
------------------------
The resulting explosion caused the group to be separated, Shinji was thrown towards Earth; the strain on his mind and body to great for him to stay conscious. Rei saw this and dived after him, catching him easily but she too was tired and began to fall towards Earth. Rei kept up her Field as long as she possibly could to stop them from melting in the atmosphere or better yet liquefying if or when they hit the ground. Dark Eva was left simply in the air, suddenly the being separated once more into Dark Prime and Eva Unit 01, Unit 1, with the also separated Lance of Loginus.
On Earth, the planet had erupted into celebration of their survival, only the upper echelons of ADA and Nerv were worried about the aftermath at current. Ultra Magnus have every possible device tracking their re-entry to the atmosphere
"Track them: I want to send a recovery team to their location as soon as they land" Ultra Magnus barked
"Sir" the staff replied
"Will they be okay?" Misato asked, nearly in tears
"I don't know, I honestly don't know.
Misato went to sit in a corner, now she too felt helpless. They had defeated the enemy, Angels and Transformers and even defeated the original purpose of Nerv. Now in the most dire hour, wondering if the three greatest heroes of the whole operation were still alive or not and it bothered her. Kaji slid down beside her and put his arm around her shoulder
"Hey, have hope, they made it this far, they can make it the rest of the way" he tried to reassure her
"I have hope, just not much" Misato replied
Meanwhile in the background, Soundwave began to organise something secret that he'd discussed with Megatron and Optimus Prime. It was a gift of sorts, for Shinji and Rei. There would be ones for the other humans but this one was priority. He'd seen to the choice of location and staff himself. It would be perfect for them.
"Sir, they've landed. I track their location to, Sicily, somewhere around Augusta"
"This is Ultra Magnus to the Protectobots, get into gear and head to Sicily; you want the area near Augusta" he said on his comm-link
"YES SIR" the sharp reply in his earpiece said
---------------------------------
Shinji's eyes cracked open, he saw a slightly bruised Rei beside him, in nought but her underwear. This jolted him to greater awareness of what had happened: they'd won. He felt joy because he now knew it was over, the hell that had been his life had now been put to rest, permanently. Quickly coming to his senses, Shinji reached over and shook his lover awake, she opened her eyes slowly too and tried to sit up, but her sore muscles and bones stopped her.
"Sit still, I'll find you some clothes" Shinji whispered and groggily got up
He'd only walked a few feet when Shinji saw a large grey overcoat lying in the sand and not really doing anything. Thanking God for this fortunate piece of luck, Shinji picked it up, dusted off and gave it a shake to make sure no creepy crawlies were in it and to rid it of as much sand as possible. He returned to Rei's side
"Here, put this on, I can't believe I found it on the beach" Shinji said with a smile and handed Rei the coat
"Good luck it would seem was with you" she said and put the coat on and did up the buttons: it was so big Rei was able to tuck her legs in if she brought her knees to her chest
They sat on the dune, which was remarkably warm, in silence for a while. Neither was sure what to do because with Eva both their lives had had meaning and purpose, now that was gone and they weren't sure what they would do. This was different from the last time they'd both had these thoughts though, before when they'd been thinking about this, they'd been apart. Shinji and Rei looked at one another, as long as they had each other, then they were fine. With a smile Shinji leaned in to kiss Rei
"SHINJI, REI. WHERE ARE YOU?" a loud voice cut the mood like a knife
"Who was that?" Rei asked
"I don't know" Shinji said and stood up slightly and saw a large robot: Hotspot
"HOTSPOT, WE'RE OVER HERE" Shinji yelled and waved his arm
Streetwise saw him first and called First Aid to go with him. They transformed and sped across the beach towards the two teenagers. First Aid examined Rei first since her body had undoubtedly undergone the most strain from the fight and the transformations. Aside from serious fatigue and the sore muscles, Rei was fine. Shinji had even less wrong with him.
"Okay, they're fit for travel" First Aid said
"Okay. Ultra Magnus sir, we're bringing the heroes home" Hot Spot radioed base
"Hey wait, is that, Dark Prime?" Shinji pointed to a giant black lump on the horizon
"It is too, lets go" First Aid said and transformed.
Shinji and Rei got inside him and he drove towards him. Upon closer viewing it was clear Dark Prime had been injured severely. Shinji vaguely remembered a blast landing on Dark Eva during the fight. Once Shinji got really close he could see how truly hurt his friend was. Cracks littered his body and fluid seeped from every one of them. Shinji tentatively reached out to touch his friend.
"Hey kid, no need to wake me" he said, coughing
"You need help, First Aid is here; I'll get him" Shinji said and turned to call the medic
"No, don't bother. He wouldn't know how to fix me anyway. Besides that, I can tell you myself the damage is too much, I'm dying" Dark Prime said softly
"But, you're practically invincible" Shinji whispered
"Against Unicron, only a soul or a God could make that claim: I am neither" Dark Prime replied
"What do you want then?" Shinji asked, putting his hand up, a signal for the others to stay away
"I can't tell you: If I did you'd do it for the wrong reasons which would make all I've done meaningless" Dark Prime said
"Dark Prime, everything you've done, is to help me, you've, helped make me a better person and for that I thank you. So in return I'll do the one thing I know I can do; I'll wait, here with you so you won't die alone" Shinji said his long speech with some tears
"I'd like that, thank you, my friend" Dark Prime said and looked out across the ocean
The pair sat there for almost an hour; sometimes chatting, sometimes silent. It was early morning in that part of the world and as the pair stared across the ripples and waves of the majestic ocean, the noticed that the sun was coming up. Dark Prime smiled as the light touched his face
"Beautiful; to think I'll die in the presence of that" he mumbled; then his head fell back, Dark Prime was dead
Slowly, he began to dissolve. The wind had begun to blow and his body was blowing away with it as if it were confetti and Shinji watched, more tears in his eyes as he saw each and every part of his friend just blew away until there was nothing left. He was gone, as mysteriously as he had come he had left. Shinji stood up slowly
"Goodbye, my friend" he said and picked up some sand and rubbed it between his hands and threw it into the ocean
"Shinji…" Rei came up behind him
"It was his time, I guess. I could see it in his eyes. I'll miss him Rei, but, I'll never forget him" Shinji said
"And that is why, he will never truly be dead, Shinji. Because you will always remember him" Rei soothed her lover
"Come on, lets go home" Shinji suggested
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They were treated to a heroes welcome at Nerv. The staff of Nerv and Transformers alike clapped and cheered for them, all of them. Asuka got a heroes procession with Starscream beside her. Misato enveloped the three of them in a crushing hug, sobbing. They tolerated it because they knew she had been worried about them, Rei even returned the hug slightly. Optimus Prime and Megatron appeared from a warp gate.
"You did it; all I can say is congratulations and well done. You should be proud, as should you all. Everyone here has contributed something to this victory" Optimus began
"But there have been casualties on both sides, so I ask you all for a moments silence as a mark of respect for the dead" he added
The whole of Nerv went into silence: humans and Transformers alike had died in this war. While the victorious party prayed or simply reflected, a haggard figure sat hidden in the darkness. Picking up a small device no larger than a palm pilot, he walked, in a jagged gait into the lit areas of Nerv.
"Dance and be merry while you can fools, but I have the final say in whether you live or die tonight" a strange voice said
"Father" Shinji snarled
"I wouldn't try your mind attack on me again Shinji: this is called a dead man switch: if I let go in pain, we all die" Gendo warned
"You're full of it" Rumble said
"Have Shinji scan my thoughts if you wish, he'll see its true" Gendo said
"Okay, Shinji, scan him" Rumble prompted
"Okay" Shinji complied and scanned his father's thoughts
"He's not lying, that switch will detonate a 200 Megaton nuclear explosion" Shinji said, panicked
The Transformers and humans all backed off a bit to allow Gendo his space. In the dark corners of the room, Death Strike and Raid watched and waited to for the right opportunity to grab the dead man switch and kill Gendo. Death Strike got his rifle out and set it to narrow beam. Gendo was making demands on what was to happen to Rei and the others. Death Strike saw the opening and took it. His weapon fired and again severed the arm of Gendo Ikari. His grip was still tight when his lifeless arm hit the ground.
"Good work Death Strike" Megatron said and stepped forward
"NO" Gendo shouted and stamped on the control, breaking it
"In about 10 seconds you're all dead" he said and smiled coldly
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. The ten seconds had gone and nothing happened. Then the sounds of moaning and groaning and 'Oh God's' filled the control room and on the giant display of Nerv Central command a porn movie was playing. Two women and one man engaged in acts on the screen that are most likely illegal in some countries. After initial shock and disgust they wanted to know what was going on
"Come on man, let's stop that part now" a familiar voice said
"Kensuke?" Shinji and Toji said
"That's right" Kensuke replied; his face replacing the porn movie
"Me too man" Frenzy leaned down into shot
"Frenzy?" Rumble said in disbelief
"What is going on here?" Gendo demanded
"Well Dickhead, Kensuke and I caught onto your secret plan and of course being the good citizens we ah, stopped you" Frenzy said
"Yeah, we just rerouted some protocols so that when the detonation signal was sent, instead of roasting us all alive, that little gem of the Adult Industry would play" Kensuke explained
"After that we just waited and we gather that we won the war right?" Frenzy put in
"Uh yeah" Ultra Magnus said
"Oh good, don't worry Commander, something went bang, trouble for you was it was the porn stars and not your bombs. See ya in a bit" Kensuke terminated the link
"No, it's not fair, this was supposed to work" Gendo muttered
Raid saw his opportune moment now and ran up to Gendo and used all his might to throw a might backwards spinning kick. The blow not only broke Gendo's neck, killing him but also sent him down the Magi towers and his head smashed on one of them: the same one his jilted lover Naoko hit when she killed herself.
"What can we say, life's tough sometimes pal" Raid replied
------------------------------------------
It was a week after the victory of the war and Shinji and Rei and Asuka were at the Nerv Airstrip once again, only this time they had all their belongings with them and they were being packed into Skyfire's cargo hold. Misato was crying into a hanky as she stood in front of them. Starscream was there too, his robotic body also in Skyfire's cargo hold
"Are you sure this is what you all want?" she asked
"Yes, we're sure" Asuka answered
"Misato, we're tired, we need to rest and being a city busy being rebuilt is not good for that" Shinji explained
"He is right, Sub-Commander Katsuragi. We need tranquillity to be ourselves and freedom to heal. That freedom is not here" Rei added her two cents
"Where the gorgeous woman goes, I go" Starscream said with a grin
Optimus Prime heard the commotion and came over: an honour guard was to see the children off to their destination. He was part of that guard but it seemed he was needed to put some fears to rest among the adults.
"It is okay, Ms. Katsuragi. Like they said, they need the time, to heal their wounds. They'll be well looked after, Starscream and the Dinobots will be with them and they have a comfortable place to live" he assured them
"Goodbye Misato" Asuka said and hugged her guardian then ran with Starscream to the plane
"Goodbye, my friends" Rei said, then she also boarded the aircraft
This left Shinji to say his final goodbyes. Goodbyes to their friends had been taken care of earlier and all that remained now was family, so to speak. Shinji slowly embraced Misato but tightened his grip when she did. They both cried because although they were still within reach, they would no longer be living together.
"Goodbye, mother" Shinji whispered
"What?" Misato blinked and looked at Shinji, her Shinji, her ward, her son
"Bye Kaji, Ritsuko, Mr. Fuyutski. I'll miss all of you" he said and turned his back to board Skyfire
Optimus Prime arranged the honour guard: himself, Megatron, Ultra Magnus and Cyclonus. They saluted the giant plane as it took off into the sky: in its carriage were the three most action weary soldiers in the known history of the world. And they were being taken on these wings to a place of healing and rest.
Eight hours later, Skyfire announced they were landing. The children, minus Starscream, woke up and all exited the plane groggily. They were on the coast of Sicily where Rei and Shinji had been found. Most of that country was deserted since 2nd Impact and as such was perfect for an isolated set of villas.
"As Optimus said, you're well looked after here. The Dinobots are around the corner in the backyard. There are replicators to make food with and they also produce drinks, but fresh water is around the back. Also, direct warp links to more populated parts of the country and Nerv, in case you're home sick" Skyfire explained
"This place is beautiful" Rei said
"It's huge too" Asuka said
"Lets go and see our new homes then" Shinji said
The End
Epilogue
In a deep corner of space, some aliens saw all that had happened on Earth: they all nodded in agreement. This was how it was supposed to go.
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It seemed the death of Dark Prime had far reaching consequences for Earth. The molecules his body blew away as were inhaled, by people. The effect was that it stimulated the latent telepathic gene in all those humans and indeed the whole human race began to have instances of a Telepath being born into a family suddenly.
With the Transformers gone, Earth's government turned to the one man they knew to have experience in this field: Shinji Ikari. Although his other powers had left him after the defeat of Unicron, his telepathy was still strong; his children all had it too. So upon his move back to Japan, Shinji set up the first of a school to train the Telepaths to use their power. He called the Mind School.
It was later renamed Psi Corps