Disclaimer: I still (I still) dream of you...

The Reprint and Repackaging of Evangelion

Chapter 26 I Get Dark Only To Shine

By Marik Kurakashi

"So this is the final Angel huh?" Shinji asked, sitting with Asuka and Misato in the ship's mess hall. The food was actually good despite being made by the cafeteria staff.

"Seems that way," Misato confirmed, enjoying a bowl of beef noodle soup. "Leliel confirmed Arael and one other Angel were the only threats that can end humanity right now."

"Obviously, with Arael dead..." Asuka made a leading remark to excuse her shoveling down more sauerbraten, something that reminded her of her seventh birthday back home. Good times, though she realized she should call her father at some point soon.

"It's hard to imagine it though." Shinji said, taking a spoonful of curry and ferrying it into his mouth. "I thought there'd be like a hundred at least."

"Guess we lucked out a little huh?" Asuka asked with a cheery grin. "Woulda sucked if it was the Ars Goetia."

"As amusing that would be," Misato said, cutting off any potential joking there. "I'm actually glad it's gone so well."

"Minor hiccups aside." Shinji couldn't help but quip.

"Better a hiccup than choking." Asuka reminded him.

"Fair."

Misato sighed. "I just wish we didn't need to be so cautious with this last one. As ambitious as the entire operation is, there isn't a lot of certainty to it."

"It's been a while since Armisael came out to play," Shinji said, recalling what Leliel said in their briefing.

Asuka nodded. "And thus we're being cautious in case he has some freaky power she doesn't know about."

"And as for the after bit," Shinji said, taking a steadying breath. "I've been wondering where the espionage factor was gonna kick in. Things like this usually have a lot more efforts to sabotage them."

Misato was quiet, mainly because the Commander readily admitted to her behind closed doors that he was one such subversive agent once upon a time. That it had been both at the behest of a desire for oblivion imprinted in them when they spawned from Lilith AND attempting to impress his wife was plainly awful. Still, somewhere he had a change of heart and was all double agent now.

She finally spoke. "We've actually done a good job in keeping those types of people out of the inner workings of NERV Japan." Helped considerably first by the Sub-Commander's genial old teacher persona making him a master class at getting even trained assassins to drop their guard. Then it accelerated further once Kaji actually showed back up and begin burning a lot of spies. "All that's really left is the grand conspiracy."

"And anyone else who wants a piece of the pie." Asuka commented.

Misato checked her watch, if she wasn't off on her timing, Makinami was going to obliterate the strongest of those threats. "Well, the largest rats should already getting smacked right now."

Asuka didn't react more than nod. "I'm kinda surprised it wasn't already done."

Shinji shared the lack of reaction. "We have been busy right?"

"Don't worry about it, we've been keeping things clear from you because it's not really all that pertinent." Misato felt she could peel this curtain back. "I'm sure you sleep better without paranoia being piled on you."

"Yeah." Shinji said, nodding slightly. "Not to put on airs of being ungrateful, but what can Makinami actually do?"

"Yeah, is she like some kind of British super-spy?" Asuka asked, curious as to the new girl running about the place who wasn't a pilot.

Misato worried her lip with her teeth for a moment, wanting nothing more than to spill the proverbial beans.

It turned out to be for naught. "Do you really want to know?" A voice interjected, one that carried a lot of weight.

"C-Commander?!" Misato blurted, turning to look at Gendo who suddenly seemed to materialize from the very aether.

Asuka whistled. "I never saw him."

Shinji grunted a noise of agreement but didn't speak.

"Much as I designed NERV HQ to allow us to ambush people should we need, this ship does much the same." Gendo explained casually, almost friendly for the gruff man. "It is no trouble to explain about Makinami, things would be declassified for you pilots come the end of the Angel threat."

First Misato had heard that but she wasn't going to voice it. "Well, do you want the honors sir?"

"If they don't mind hearing it from me." Gendo answered, looking directly at Shinji for a long moment before smirking. "It'll probably sound a lot more believable coming from you."

"No no, let's have you say it." Shinji decided, returning the smirk with a full grin. "After all, you leave the job of explaining shit to other people I almost think you don't actually know what is going on."

Misato looked to Asuka for an explanation.

"They're bonding." Asuka said with a flat tone. "It's how they get whenever there is decorum to consider and they can't actually say anything too embarrassing out loud."

"You be quiet." Shinji said, but his face tinged red.

"Anyways," Asuka put her foot down and pushed the talk back on topic. "Please commander, enlighten us as to why Ms. Makinami is engaging in wet work. I had assumed that was the sub-commander's job."

"It is, but Sensei is for kills you can't be linked to." Gendo said, strolling over and taking a seat next to Misato. Coincidentally directly across from his son.

"Well, that clears that up." Shinji leaned forward. "Continue?"

"Mari Illustrious Makinami is not actually a human being." Gendo said with very little flair but a lot more weight. All in all, delivered with the grace of a shotgun blast to the balls. "She is the result of cloning research and whether or not you can place a Machine soul in something without mechanical parts."

Shinji blinked, not really expecting that. "Come again?"

"For all intents and purposes, she is in reality Evangelion Unit-05." Gendo continued, enjoying the shock. "Made her myself, was kind of dodgy but it worked."

Asuka almost didn't believe it. "I guess this also explains Leliel's revival."

"Indeed, the knowledge that Machine souls exist in a static state as well as being able to differentiate them from other souls was most crucial." Gendo nodded along. "She has a physical age similar to yours, but she hasn't actually been alive that long. Then again, she isn't a person so that kind of muddies things."

Shinji gritted his teeth. "I wasn't thinking about that." He actually was, but in a less sexual way.

Asuka ignored the teasing. "So does she transform or something?"

"Transform?" Shinji was now interested.

"Yes." Gendo answered simply, before a thought occurred to him. Reaching into his coat, he pulled out a phone of above average intelligence and dialed a number. "Akagi, we're going to need to make a transformation system for the pilots."

"Why?" Ritsuko asked, sounding bored by the idea.

"Three guess and the first two don't count." Gendo answered.

Oh. "Well in that case, I can draw up something and send it to Leeron to make it." Ritsuko answered. "Just greenlight one of his fantasy projects and he'll have it before we return."

"Send me the list before I send them to you to no doubt kibitz on what they want." Gendo said, before turning to explain to Misato. "Extra precautions for the upcoming operations and look at them."

Misato did, seeing both of her charges glowing with anticipation of the sudden gift. "I wouldn't dream of countermanding it, but make sure it isn't something too high on his list. We want him to get to work."

"Fair enough." Gendo said, opening the text from Ritsuko as a hologram. "Anything else you want to know?"

"Not off the top of my head." Shinji said, looking to Asuka. "You?"

"Nope." Asuka said.

"Escort them to the good doctor would you Major?" Gendo asked. "I don't want them plowing through walls."

Misato gave a small laugh. "Sure thing, sir." She looked at the kids. "Come on, the sooner we get started on this the sooner it finishes."

The three of them left in a swift but safe manner.

"So..." Ritsuko said, the line still open. "What bought this bout of generosity on?"

"You can't mention transformations around teenagers and not have them be interested." Gendo said, evading a little before deciding playing dumb wasn't good form. "Nah, it's more or less because everything is coming to a head and Operation Death and Rebirth still carries some risk. Giving them a little bit of armor isn't going to hamper things."

"And it'd be really cool too right?" Ritsuko needled him just a little.

"Yes, yes, that too." Gendo grumbled.

"We'll make you one later." Ritsuko teased before hanging up.

"You better."

/-\/-\/-\

Rei Ayanami had a problem. This wasn't a problem that required intellect, it was something that required her emotional capacity to solve. She was sure how she felt but she wasn't sure how he felt and ugh.

Not to mention, she was also certain there was complications thanks to Asuka. Even if he complained about the romantic comedy bits, it was because he wanted to play it cool. He was nothing if not a boy, one with a smart mouth and the ability to kill godlings but details.

Those details were what was futzing the cold equations though.

Also complicating things was the existence of the other Reis. Her life was not her own, okay? She had to make not one but two choices here and she had to live with them regardless. Either she lived on whole or remained fragmented as she is now. Once they were free they were never coming back to her.

If only he had confessed before now, things would be easier. Easier to get out of responsibility perhaps, as it wouldn't be her fault that way. Gosh, that sounded pretty cowardly now doesn't it?

How human of her, she with what is equivalent to a god in her body.

But time was running out, the final battle loomed on the horizon. Leaving such an important thing on the backburner was a bad idea. And thus, she was gonna have to be the one to solve this problem.

She was the First Child, it fell on her to be the one to end this stalemate. It was gonna be hard, because she knew it would hurt. Oh it would hurt so much...

Then again, the regrets of never saying anything would hurt even more.

Of course, she really had bad timing for this but now was always better than later right? Right, go ahead Rei, make yourself known.

"My apologies for breaking up the fun," Rei said with a sarcastic tone. "But I need to borrow Shinji for a little bit."

Shinji didn't get it. "Huh?"

Asuka, however, knew from a glance. Her face shifted into her bravest smile, and she slammed a hand onto his back to push him along. "Don't keep him too long, there's still some stuff we need him for."

"Ow!" Shinji looked back at Asuka with a glare. "Hey!"

"Shinji, shut up and go with her." Asuka snapped, uncharacteristically so. "Your wish for the romantic comedy to stop is about to come true."

"What?" Shinji was caught even more off-guard. "Hey what the-"

Unfortunately, he drifted close enough for Rei grab him. "Come along Shinji, this needs to be done as soon as possible."

"Alright but hey!" He tried to get a word in but he was yanked out of the room before he could.

Asuka sighed. "So Rei made her choice huh? But will he respect it?"

/-\/-\/-\

"Alright alright, what's going on?" Shinji demanded when he was isolated in a corridor with Rei.

"Let me apologize for the rough treatment," Rei said, before blowing out a sigh. "As the final battle is to come, we need to end this triangle right? No confessions for after the final battle right?"

"I hear that never works out yeah." Shinji agreed with a certain trepidation, an unusual nervousness.

"As much as I'd like to be the one to confess," Rei said with a sad, thin smile. "There are things about me that mean we can never be."

"...what does that mean?" Shinji bit down on a crack about her liking girls or something crude. This was super serious Rei, and he needed to be at least mildly serious Shinji. He owed her that.

"I am not the first person to bear the name Rei Ayanami and I don't mean my mother held it before me." Rei breathed in stiffly, before puffing it out. "I am a clone of someone else."

"Like Leliel?" Shinji asked, deciding to play it like it was true for now. He couldn't shit on her yet.

"Somewhat, I was never told who it was." Rei didn't lie, Gendo didn't tell her or the First who they were cloned from, just that he was really close to this person. "I am also technically a failure in that regard, because I am also genetically alien from that person."

"I... wow. You mean...?" Shinji wasn't sure how to comment.

"I am a series of clones, one in hundreds. I am also the second Rei Ayanami let out of our aquarium home." Rei said, before she remembered something the commander told her to prove her story true. "Ash begets ash, life flourishes only to die."

"At the end of the promised road is only the ruins of our dreams." Shinji completed it with a shocked look. "Mother made that the tagline to her proposal for Project E. Father he..."

"He was the one who made me yes." Rei confirmed with a nod.

"And there's like hundreds of you, trapped down under NERV..." Shinji muttered, a single tear slipping down his cheek as he understood. "They can't be free as long as you are around and even then, they'd 'die' regardless of their bodily functions."

"They can reunify with me but..." Rei bit her lip and let fly the revelation Leliel gave her. "I would become more like Leliel and stop aging. I would continue to live unfearing the hands of time."

"And I would grow older, which would eventually make our relationship impossible to maintain publically." Shinji got it immediately.

Rei barely held back tears. "So you see... I..."

Shinji finally got over himself. "Damnit Rei, don't waste tears on a dumbass like me."

"Eh?" That wasn't how this was supposed to go.

"Heh," Shinji gave a laugh full of self depreciation. "I drug my feet because I wanted to live the fantasy a bit longer. And maybe you two could get over yourselves and all three of us could date or something. We'd save the world, fuck all of them right?"

"I suppose." Rei felt like she lost the plot.

"So yeah, I forgot for a moment to consider what slamming your feelings in again would do to you or Asuka." Shinji made a wild gesture, flailing his arms about. "All of it becomes a pressure cooker of a complex and blam! You stab me to death one day or Asuka cuts my throat in my sleep. Now, neither of you would do it but I wouldn't share either of you with anyone, not even each other. That would grind away, build an unseen resentment and shrik!"

He made a throat cutting gesture.

"I'm dead, because it'd be my fault." Shinji chuckled darkly. "I'm allergic to nice boats."

"...what?" Rei wasn't sure how she should take the tangent.

"Just a guy who lived back in the hills tried the whole big player thing. Found his mangled corpse on a ferry, a broken flagpole shoved up his ass." Shinji smiled. "It was a nice boat though."

"Oh." Rei said. "I get it."

"So yeah, I'm glad you decided to make the big choice." Shinji said, looking at his hands. "I worried about hurting you where I could see it so I settled for the invisible wounds that don't bleed. I could convince myself you were playing and it was fine."

"Not entirely a thing to hold against you." Rei said, blushing a little. "Your resistance was not a deterrent."

Shinji snorted a choked laugh. "Man, yeah, I guess it would be." He shook his head. "I don't know how life will be, but don't fall in love with someone like me."

"Were such a thing the providence of man, how could I have fallen for you in the first place?" Rei asked with a slightly happier smile. "This went weirder than I expected."

"That's me." Shinji grinned.

"If it had been different... if I could confess, would you have said yes?" Rei whispered, just loud enough in the silence that had followed Shinji's joke.

"Asuka plays the long game so I probably would have said yes since I already took her on a date." Shinji had taken a full minute to come up with a reply. "Who knows, it might have worked out. But then, I would have had someone waiting to crash the boards so it would have been a lot less stress to go with it."

"Always a plan within a plan." Rei complained.

"I am who I am because I gave up on running." Shinji defended himself. "And if I said no, I would have made sure you knew it was me. Men everywhere are losing a treasure alright? You're an incredible girl... even if you're weird."

"Coming from you that doesn't seem like you're saying anything at all." Rei retorted flatly. Still, she managed a full smile. "Thank you for understanding."

"Thank you for not stabbing me." Shinji couldn't resist.

"You're a louse, Shinji Ikari." Rei had to have the final word though.

Their laughter echoed for the next three minutes, tinged without a single sob.

/-\/-\/-\

Asuka hummed as Shinji strolled back into the makeshift lab for Ritsuko. "You don't look like you got confessed to by one of the girls you like."

Shinji rolled with it, along with giving his eyes a turn. "She wanted too but there were issues on her end and no, she likes men just fine."

"Please, she is not Maya." Asuka snorted. "What happened?"

"She's a clone and didn't want to murder a bunch of other hers for me." Shinji said flatly.

Asuka waited and was forced to reply when silence continued for thirty seconds. "Mein gott the boy is serious."

"As I ever am." Shinji said with a small pout. "If not for that, she might have confessed."

"And you would say yes of course." Asuka smiled at his sour countenance.

"Naturally, I have a back-up option if it went south so seeing where it went would have been fine." Shinji didn't deny it.

"Making design on Makinami still?" Asuka asked.

"No, and don't even joke about Hikari." Shinji said, before he realized he was stuck with her jumping from people until he did what she wanted. "I meant you."

"Oh me?" Asuka feigned a lack of understanding.

"Because I like you goddamnit!" Shinji snapped, his face red as can be. "As much fun as it was to joke and play with Rei, most of it was just playing around. I could have made it work but I like you more." He pouted. "Happy?"

'A little." Asuka looked smug. "Of course, you were supposed to confess before she woke up from her dream."

Shinji sighed. "I was just someone she fixated on but as the reality approached, she could only come to confront the truth she wanted to ignore to play even more. Right?"

"A good summary, passing grade." Asuka reached up and patted his cheek. "Good boy."

"Thanks sensei." Shinji said with barely held sarcasm.

"I lack stickers so this will have to do for your prize." Asuka pulled him into a kiss the second he locked eyes with her.

It held for fifteen seconds before she let it go.

"Wow." Shinji muttered.

"Good ja?" Asuka asked with a sinister giggle.

"Ja." Shinji could only blurt, his brain finally rebooting. "I feel kind of bad though."

"Oh protagonist of sorrow, do not lament the path not taken." Asuka could read him like a book and had already found the end of this route. "She decided not to bridge you over to the world where you and her were together. You would have loved her true, no amount of secret longing would spoil that. But that is enough of that, you cannot change things anymore."

Shinji nodded but he couldn't resist one final attempt at winning. "The guy you like is the type to lead a girl on in the hopes of a perpetual threesome relationship. You sure can pick them."

Asuka gave a throaty giggle. "Oh Mein Herr," she said, her tone like silk drawn along a sword. "If you were not exactly my type I would not be caught faking giving you the time of day. I may not have the best taste men, but calling yourself scum to try and spite me is not the flex you think it is."

Shinji winced.

"But you are mine ja?" She closed the distance between them, hugged him so tightly to her he could feel her nipples poking him.

He blushed. "A-Asuka?" He was terrified but also turned on, something he would later come to know as the why boner.

"Shh..." she shushed him, her hands stroking his sides. Caressing him oh so lovingly. "Mine." Both hands found a handful of ass. "Mine."

Shinji whimpered.

"Am I wrong?" She asked.

It took him five seconds to answer because this was kinda awkward. "N-no."

"Good boy." Asuka said, before shifting the embrace around to give him a nice long kiss.

Ritsuko just stood off to the side with a cup of coffee and said nothing. She'd been caught several times in PDAs, plus it meant she could screw with their notes while they were distracted.

/-\/-\/-\

Gendo entered the Evangelion cages on the ship, flanked by Leliel and Bardiel. It was mostly to kill time, but also to pick the brains of the two angels won over to his side. Plus there were some questions they could fully answer that didn't have the ghost of knowing haunting them.

"So Bardiel." He nodded to his right.

"Sir." Bardiel responded, keeping to his plugsuit just so he could access the cages easier without answering too many questions.

"Leliel." Gendo nodded his left.

"Commander," she responded, the bells in her voice trilling with anticipation.

"I have bought the two of you to the cages for a chat about things, mostly how you two view the Evangelion." He looked at Bardiel. "You, now being one technically."

"Oh well, yeah." Bardiel agreed. "It's strange but I understand their growling better now. Before it just sounded like rage but it's... how to put it..."

"...it's a lot less anger and more general chatter." Leliel finished for him, her own theory if nothing else.

"Well yes." Bardiel couldn't say she was wrong. "It's more or less just the machine soul relaying information like a computer program. Most of it, some of it is tinged with amusement. 00 and 01 are mostly playful, 02 just seems a little curt about things."

Gendo looked over at Unit-01. "I'm surprised, a little. But this is the machine soul yes?"

Leliel smiled at Bardiel's confusion. "He refers to the other noise in the soulframe."

"Oh, the fragments of human consciousness." Bardiel frowned. "Sorry I assumed you knew they were there."

"Instinctually yes." Gendo said after a few seconds. "I have approximate knowledge of many things."

Now both angels turned human seemed lost.

"Lilith's captivity wasn't always passive." Gendo explained, nodding his head. "She tried to drive me insane so I'd murder everyone thanks to the revelation that everything I was working towards was impossible."

"She gave you the gift of Knowledge?" Leliel was surprised. "She must hate you especially so."

"Only other being to get that was the third world we landed and their head popped like a pimple.' Bardiel agreed. "You survived and stayed sane?"

"She didn't want to directly kill me. She correctly figured I was the big boss around NERV and tried to make the head cut itself off." Gendo clarified. "Nearly worked, but the only reason it didn't was it reminded me of the truth I forgot in my obsession."

"That was?" Leliel asked when he didn't seem to want to elaborate unless prompted.

"My wife hated this world." Gendo said, putting the words into the air made it all the more real. "She was always misanthropic, but held a zeal for things that ran against it. I think she viewed that if humanity progressed too fast we'd collapse into ruin and decay."

"I find it surprising." Bardiel said, not knowing the woman in question. "She was the lead designer of these machines."

"She was smitten creation and destruction. With death and rebirth, the cycles of everything." Gendo said, a small wistfulness to his tone. "She couldn't help her paradoxical nature."

"I suppose not." Leliel said, looking over at the Evangelion. "So who are the other two?"

"Unit-00 has part of Naoko Akagi, the good doctor's mother. Mostly her anger and rage at being so foolish as to try and change me." Gendo chuckled. "Along with being told to her face she was just a hole. The first Rei really needed a lesson in tact that didn't end with strangulation."

Bardiel seemed a little flustered by that. "So you made a bunch of clones?"

"I tried really hard to get around Third Impact, especially once I knew it wouldn't work." Gendo gestured to Unit-01. "I was in denial that Yui was right where she wanted to be all along."

"And Unit-02?" Leliel moved it along before it'd become morose.

"Asuka's mother, Kyoko." Gendo said, appreciating the change of topic. "Only a small fragment of her anyways, which is kinda weird."

"How so?" Bardiel asked, curious as to why he thought that.

"More in how they all contributed to the project." Gendo said, gesturing first to Unit-01. "My wife designed and crafted the theory and eventually let it consume her entirely. Naoko helped fashion the physical frame but only the less intellectual rage remains. Kyoko finalized and streamlined it, leaving behind naught but a ghost despite how this wouldn't have worked without her."

"That does seem weird." Leliel agreed, pursing her lips in confusion. "Hmm, does the doctor know?"

"Oh yes, Ritsuko found the rest of her mother's mind inside one of the Magi two years ago." Gendo rubbed her chin. "That was a hilarious but stressful conversation. A standoff at gunpoint at three in the morning hungover usually is I suppose."

"Yeah," Bardiel agreed. "So what else do you want to talk about?"

"How is life as a hybrid?" Gendo asked, the first curiosity to pop into his head. "I suppose the adjustment to having a body aside, that probably caused issues."

"Eh, not really. I got used to it pretty quick." Bardiel said, somewhat flatly.

"There is no baseline previously to compare it to so there is nothing to feel weird about." Leliel had to explain for her brother.

"Oh right, I gotcha." Gendo said, nodding slightly. "Outside of that, what are your impressions of the Evangelion now that you are part one?"

"I used to think they were all just hunks of metal but they're a pretty decent piece of work." Bardiel flexed his fingers. "It's pretty responsive to my changes, even the soul doesn't seem to mind."

"I see, I see." Gendo said. "Well I ask because I need to plan for what to do with these guys once this whole thing is over."

"They are alive, so you can't just destroy them." Leliel agreed, humming. "Thinking of turning them into humanoids?"

"Maybe, I don't want to leave them around for someone to try and destroy once the post-save the world glow comes off." Gendo admitted. "Tokyo-3 isn't as free as I'd like it to be but it's better than dealing with riots everyday because some new proselytizer springs up to convince them that if they murder us the Angels will just stop attacking."

"That would be bad, yes." Bardiel agreed. "Hmm, well it could work but you'd need to educate the machine souls if you don't have any other templates in mind."

"Iruel could work if we could corral him long enough for a pitch." Leliel put that out there.

"Oh no, we're gonna have to wait until Armisael is dead before we can get a hold of him." Bardiel said, heaving a sigh. "Even dead he's probably gotten into other electronics which means he's hold up somewhere playing games whenever he isn't watching the battles after his."

"He's that hooked on them?" Gendo figured death would be the end of that.

"This is only the second time he's bothered to even show up." Leliel explained. "Most of other times he just stayed hidden because he just didn't have anyway to actually act."

"Our species is weird," Bardiel chuckled as he realized it. "I had no body, she was a hole in reality and Iruel was no bigger than a cell. I forgot how Adam explained it..."

"The First?" Gendo clarified to make sure he was understanding it right.

"Yeah," Bardiel said, nodding. "I think it was something about genetic stagnation and most of our race but him and Lilith had died off. They found a way to survive..."

"But they couldn't reproduce naturally as you have come to know it." Leliel continued, her own recollection bringing forth new information. "As such, Adam and Lilith eventually figured out how to asexually reproduce but it lead to weirdness."

"Sandalaphon is always a baby all over again." Bardiel complained. "He was the one in the volcano. Just has a thing hot spots, he always takes a nap in spots like that."

"Huh, neat." Gendo kinda wished he hadn't left Fuyutsuki on Earth now, sensei would have some witty remark for this.

"It'd be more fascinating if so much time hadn't elapsed that we forgot most of it." Leliel said, humming a sour note. "Adam forcing us to slumber whenever we first arrive on a planet doesn't help."

"Yeah that'd get in the way a bit." Gendo said. "Well, I suppose we can continue to discuss things here, as well as make sure Unit-03 is behaving itself. I'd like to avoid spontaneous transformations into an Evangelion if I can."

"I'd hate to cause problems," Bardiel nodded.

"But that's for later, Doctor Akagi will be around to do those tests." Gendo said, tapping his chin. "Until then, wanna help design some new weapons for yourself?"

"Oh my yes." Bardiel said.

"I'll stay to keep him off the walls." Leliel said. "Literally, he's still adjusting to a body remember?"

"Right, you do that." Gendo said, trying to avoid thinking about the absurdity of it all.

/-\/-\/-\

Rei sat on her assigned bunk, the ship would return to Earth in the morning some number of hours from now. Anyways, she was sitting up because she had finally done it. She had stopped playing around and had gotten serious about her life.

Once back on Earth, she would remerge with the other Reis. It was time for there to be only one, perhaps as it should have been from the start. Ironic considering the First but...

Ah yes, she'd have to find the remnants that remained strapped to the world or it wouldn't be right.

"I can't deny her anymore," Rei whispered, feeling exhausted mentally. "It's true she may be a part of me that I never want to see again, but she is me and I am her. If I am the body, she is a piece of my shadow, the true self I deny."

Yeah that made sense, but what about-

"No, I made the choice I did because I didn't wish to extinguish the others." Rei reached a hand towards the ceiling. "They will live for once within me, I can't doom them to oblivion for that. I knew once I understood how I felt what I must do.'

She blew out a sad sigh anyways.

"I will not regret it. I am not wrong." She intoned, feeling a little sleepy. "We played our games, had our fun but the final battle looms. The war is over, there isn't time for them anymore."

It was likely she'd feel a melancholic over for now but she would get over it in time.

"Asuka can handle him..." She murmured, a yawn bubbling up and out without notice. "It will be fine..."

Rei snapped her head up from where she sat at a table, having nodded off. But wasn't she...?

"Oh good, you finally fell asleep." A throaty female voice said, something she had only ever heard in the faintest reaches of her mind.

"L-Lilith?!" Rei gasped, looking around. It seemed like a hotel room of some kind.

"Just a border stop on the horizon between dimensions." Lilith said, standing in the doorway. She was dressed in a stately white kimono adorned with purple lilacs. Her hair was unruly and wild purple, held in place by the strap of a face mask, one that matched the pattern on her body down in Terminal Dogma. "It is time for us to go, those of us who are leaving."

"Go? Us? Leaving?" Rei was very confused.

"Do not worry, my soul with remain with you, but my consciousness will be going across that vast blue sea." Lilith nodded her head to a window that appeared, showing a pristine white beach with a blue sea that stretched forever.

"Oh, is the vessel awake now?" A gruff male voice said, the door beside Lilith suddenly pulling further back to expose a tall imposing man. He was almost seven feet tall with brown hair and piercing golden eyes. Unlike Lilith, he didn't have a mask but it was apparent he was-

"Adam." Rei breathed with awe.

"Rei Ayanami." Adam said clearly, cleanly and precisely. "It is good to meet you for once. You are the first beyond my vessel to exchange words with me."

"Ah... I'm honored." Rei felt awkward.

"Do not worry about things, the way things were structured, death was inevitable." Adam said, chuckling. "All of us who are leaving have gathered her to say goodbye, to at least you."

The door opened further, revealing ten more people of varying ages. The first two were twins with matching black hair-the girl having twintails-and masks. The boy's read Sachiel, the girl's read Shamshel, both were around four or five years of age and dressed in matching coverall outfits.

Next to them was a hulking slab of muscle with broad shoulders, wearing nothing more than a kimono suitable for a sumo. He was holding his mask, which read Ramiel, apparently because his topknot hairstyle got in the way of wearing it. By Ramiel, there was a blonde teenage boy with tan skin and wearing a shirt with a whale on it... oh it said Gaghiel on the front.

Past Gaghiel, there was an androgynous person dressed in yin-yang style clothing-black and white naturally-a tengu mask with Israfel scrawled on the nose. In their arms was a baby wrapped in a green blanket, the word Sandalphon was emblazoned on its side. Further down, Rei could see a teenage girl with pink hair and yellow eyes glaring at her, the skirt of her pink dress looked like-

"Oh you must be Matarael." Rei said, amused.

Beside Matarael was a short fat boy who was gazing back towards the sky, a green eye on the front of his shirt with Sahaquiel on it. Next to him was a man with sandy colored hair and dull grey eyes. He was dressed in a pinstripe suit but Rei didn't need any signifier to know it was-

"Zeruel, I would have thought you'd refuse to come see me." Rei had to get a dig in.

"Laugh if you must." Zeruel said, shaking his head. "Adam told us to be here so I am here."

In Zeruel's shadow was a tall slender woman with snow white skin and red eyes. Her platinum blond hair hung long and her foreboding glare gave her away.

"Arael too huh?" Rei said, clucking her tongue. "Must have been a short trip."

"Shut up." Arael snapped, only to wince at the glare from Lilith.

"Behave or you will be left behind." Lilith said, ending any potential hostility.

"Sorry," the two angels murmured.

"I'll apologize as well, I shouldn't taunt them." Rei said, half meaning it.

"I honestly didn't expect this world to win." Adam said, drawing all attention. "I had no hope so I simply wanted to sleep. To think, our journey would end like this."

"It's always the one you don't expect." Lilith said, nodding a little. "I had expected the Commander to kill everyone, I overestimated the despair he would have been under to know his cause was doomed to fail."

"People often do." Rei looked around. "Is Iruel..."

"He remains on Earth, even if dead. Bardiel has a body and wishes to remain, as does Leliel." Adam answered. "As for Armisael, he is the last one to fight you and if your track record is any indication..."

"It doesn't look good." Rei commented.

"Tabris is on your side, as he always will be." Lilith said, nodding a little. "He is hiding in Adam's vessel."

"Do I know them?' Rei asked.

"Does it really matter?" Adam asked.

"No, I suppose it doesn't." Rei answered, thinking on it for a few seconds. "So this is goodbye?"

"For now at least." Lilith confirmed. "Maybe we'll come back."

"Maybe." Adam said. "But for now... congratulations, First Child. You and your friends deserve it."

"Good work." Lilith said, a wall of light appearing behind her and Adam.

"Goo'luck." Sachiel managed.

"Fight-oh!" Shamshel said.

"You. Win." Ramiel intoned. "Do me proud."

"Keh, don't lose to Armi!" Gaghiel said. "You have come too far!"

"Congratulations." Israfel said softly. "From me and Sandalaphon."

"Goo!" The baby agreed.

"I won't forgive you if you fail now." Matarael said.

"Amazing, you won." Sahaquiel said. "Do make sure you beat Armi."

"You are not allowed to lose to Armisael." Zeruel said. "I refuse to lose to you and have him beat you!"

"Don't underestimate him though, he will kill you before you realize it if you do." Arael said. "But good luck on your future, you have earned it."

The twelve Angels stood proud, smiles abounding even if some were forced.

"Take care of my children that remain." Adam said. "They may be rowdy but they mean well."

"I will." Rei said. "Have a safe trip."

"Thank you." Lilith said. "Enjoy your life, Rei. Bonding with you made my imprisonment tolerable."

"You're welcome." Rei said, managing a smile of her own. "Send me a postcard when you get to the other side, alright?"

"Haha, sure." Lilith said, as the group of Angels stepped into the light and vanished.

It was weird, but soothing after a fashion. Everything was really coming to an end, huh? What a nice dream...

"But it's time to wake up now, Rei-chan." A familiar yet unfamiliar matronly voice said.

"N-Naoko Akagi!" Rei screamed, tumbling out of her bed. "Huff huff... but, I heard her... what?"

/-\/-\/-\

"Oh...?" Ritsuko asked as Kaworu entered her lab. "Have you come for your own armor?"

"The Commander sent me for the shot." Kaworu said, making sure the lab was locked now.

"A shot a day keeps 'Them' at bay." Ritsuko said, getting up and going to a cabinet. "How are you holding up?"

"Fine, outside of that bio-virus trying to make me turn on you guys." Kaworu said, trying to be smart.

"I was more talking about Shinji." Ritsuko said, checking the syringe. "Rei finally broke down the triangle and he's with Asuka."

"I'm fine with that." Kaworu said, gritting his teeth. "I'm not gay."

"Yes, it wasn't remotely romantic but you lacked a way to express those emotions conjured up by Adam and Tabris glimpsing at other worlds. Dreaming of other Shinjis and other yous." Ritsuko said, chuckling at his rage. "You are not the first person, boy or girl, to have confusing conflicting emotions nor the first one to be confused on what those feelings entail."

Kaworu turned his head away. "I don't know what you mean."

"Oh?" Ritsuko asked, walking over and grabbing his left arm. "Are you telling me you weren't secretly hoping to find a lonely and broken boy for you to save?"

"Maybe a little, I had dreamt a lot about him without my consent.' Kaworu complained, wincing further when she jabbed him with the needle.

"You would have said yes, if he were inclined that way because it would have satisfied you." Ritsuko said confidently.

"How can you be so sure?" Kaworu asked, frowning.

"Because I've been there, screwed up feelings for the lonely broken person who you want to make smile and laugh." Ritsuko explained. "Misato and I have a very beneficial friendship but I can't be to her what Kaji is. I don't feed the emotional part, but I can help fight the horny."

"You don't seem the type." Kaworu pointed out.

"In myriads of other worlds, I'm probably caught up in intrigue and other nonsense. Perhaps I'd be trying to get at the real truth of everything." Ritsuko demurred the point though. "Or I was obsessed with surpassing my mother. Those me might like men, but the me here likes women. It's how it goes."

"Ah." Kaworu found himself at a loss for words.

"It bugs Misato though." Ritsuko said, smirking a little. "A large number of people think she's the gay one out of me, her and Maya. There are people who firmly believe Maya is in love with Shinji!"

"People think lots of people are in love with Shinji." Kaworu said. "Hint."

"I can tell," Ritsuko said sharply.

Kaworu snorted.

"I can!" Ritsuko poked him in the chest with a finger. "And the very reason I can tell with you is because you shut down whenever Shinji is bought up. You'd be flippant about anything else but you pause and it's like you're trying to not to color just thinking about."

"I'm not in love with him." Kaworu defended.

"No, you're in love with the lonely Shinji from your dreams, wrapped up in his pain and wanting someone to save him." Ritsuko snapped back. "And your awkwardness is pushing award the dream so you can remember he isn't into dudes and treats you as an acquaintance. You're not into him or dudes in general but maybe it'd be alright to pretend for a while if it helps him right? In that dream world, he's alone, isolated and treated like shit. And man alive does it feel good to be his savior right?"

"How are you so sure?" Kaworu could only flip the burden back around.

"Because I happily rode down that road and for my troubles, the girl I thought I was saving found the man of her dreams." Ritsuko said sadly. "You don't want to be in my shoes."

"I'm not trying to be." Kaworu evaded.

"But it's hard right? Sometimes, when he shuts up and there's the moments where the armor of cynicism falls away and the dreams come back." Ritsuko chased after him.

"I... I..." Kaworu said, wanting to deny it but it was hard to do so.

"It's okay." Ritsuko said, holding up the syringe. "Part of it is the control left in by Kheel. Once he's dead, I can start muting the dreams. The drugs involved interact in funny ways, don't want you trying to rape murder Shinji."

"That'd be bad yes." Kaworu managed to say.

Ritsuko reached up and cupped his cheek with her left hand. "As long as you remember who you belong to, everything will be fine." She chuckled darkly. "Do that and Operation Death and Rebirth will be a roaring success!"

End Chapter 26

Preview for Chapter 27 "I Can Always Show My Everything to You":

Maybe this whole thing was pointless now, but doing pointless things was one of Armisael's favorite pastimes. In fact, due to the effectiveness of his siblings, he never really had to fight so hey, first for everything. Sure the consciousness of Adam and everyone else had left for the unseen horizon but that was no reason not to at least try this thing out.

He preferred solitary existence anyways, and if he ended up the last thing on this base Earth, well... he wasn't going to hate it. The others never understood him, thinking him strange even among their numbers. Especially that jerkass Zeruel and he went and died like a chump!

Oh how shameful, big brother!

The ring of light that usually represented the body of Armisael stretched and warped into something vaguely similar to Unit-01, but with two horns and a pair of tusks. This was the ideal form Armisael had always pictured for himself, all regal like as his flesh settled into a mix of silver and gold. His eyes were varnished rubies, burning an intelligent and smokey crimson.

"The throne has been abandoned as I foresaw five worlds ago." Armisael intoned, his voice quaking the surroundings. "The others have left the road to it bare, either dead or traitors. So it falls to I, Armisael, to ascend to the King of Angels."

Arms unfold from his body as he threw back his head and roared in anticipation.

"I have attained Reason. I am the Law made manifest." Armisael shouted towards the empty sky above. "I have descended to this Base Earth to bring the true light of God back to the non-believers. This battle may not need to happen, victory may seem impossible for me."

Deep from within boiled a derisive snort.

"But I, Armisael, am he who finds Reason in all things. This battle still has a purpose for me." He said, finally wrapping up this speech. "O Humanity, o woeful lambs! Come, I will show my Reason for existence!"

Author note: The Last Angel is here, we're just a few chapters from the end. Oh and for fun, the voices of some of the Angels:

Adam: Koichi Yamadera

Lilith: Ai Orikasa

Ramiel: Kenta Miyake

Israfel: Ryoko Shirahashi

Gaghiel: Kosuke Toriumi

Matarael: Sayaka Senbogi

Zeruel: Tomokazu Seki

Arael: Yoko Hikasa

Sahaquiel: Junichi Suwabe

Armisael: Tomokazu Sugita

That's all for now, see ya later.