XXV: Nightfall, Part III

Instrumentality

Shinji had found himself floating along under an endless sea. Everything was so calm and serene now. He looked upon himself, he was naked. His wounds were gone, even the Stigmata was no longer visible upon his skin.

He was at peace… perfect harmony surrounded him…

But…

"This isn't right," he whispered as Rei began to phase out of him. All at once he felt the warmth travel though his body. It wasn't sexual despite her appearance mounting him upon the sea. He realized it was simply a perfect oneness, symbolic of their physical connection as well as their metaphysical one. He felt the hand within his chest… it almost felt like she was caressing his very soul.

"No… it is not," Rei agreed, though her smile did not leave her face. "This is the result of all of the tampering with Instrumentality. Mankind is joined as one entity… but it is an imperfect union." She wondered if he truly understood this. Only though her final union with Lilith did she even have a clue as to what she was talking about.

"We weren't ready," Shinji answered the unasked question. "Mankind is too used to its trials and tribulations… too accustomed to hardship, unwilling to let go of so many of the things that make us human."

Rei smiled again as she leaned down to kiss him sweetly. He did understand all too well why this is doomed to ultimately fail. Mankind truly hasn't suffered enough yet.

When they parted he spoke again, "But what can we do now? It is over isn't it?"

Rei shook her head. "No… this could be a new beginning if you want it to be. Mankind is not ready; perhaps in another 60,000 years it will be, but certainly not before. So why not give them another shot? This world can be what you want it to be, as hard as you wish it to be, but you will only have one shot at creating this world in the image you desire. After that, you will no longer have the power, and it will be another who brings about another set of events leading to another attempt at Third Impact."

"Fourth time's the charm," Shinji said with a slight smile. "So… I have to decide the parameters of this new world…"

"What constitutes enough pain and misery for Mankind to grow as a species?"

"I think I know…" he whispered. "I want to stay here forever, but I can't… there is too much to do now, and 60,000 years is no where near long enough to simply dally here in the primordial sea."

"You have decided then?"

"I have," he said. "It's time to push the reset button and see what happens."

"Very well," Rei said. "The unique nature of this impact will allow me to return as well. That shouldn't be possible, but Adam and Lilith have been reunited and have allowed me to return with you."

"I want all of our friends to return," he added. "I have that power yes?"

"Yes."

"Then… my will be done…."

Rei smiled at his metaphysical joke and concentrated on his desires, to create a new world upon the ashes of the old.

It would be hellish she realized… a nightmare to the humans that existed before, but she knew this was what needed to be done, only a world such as this could possibly advance man kind to the point where they would be ready for ascension.

"Anyone who can imagine the walls around their heart may return… let the world be populated anew…"

With a burst of blood, the head of Lilith began to slide off of the rest of her body, blood sprayed beyond the atmosphere drenching the world in the precious water of lilfe. And as the body fell apart and turned into ashes as it fell, the reawakening of the world began….

Epilogue: Dark Dawn

10,075 years later…

The Village of Lightspring was a small frontier town on the edge of a wasteland with farmable territory on its eastern border. Population: 312. The ranchers were going about their nightly tasks of making sure the barriers were all in place to keep out the pesky mutated predators of the night. The mist monsters were particularly vicious, but luckily, the residence hadn't seen hide nor hair of their ilk for many seasons.

The hum of the barriers and the movement of steam engines were the only sounds to be heard as the sun quickly dipped below the horizon.

Suddenly, a cry goes out. Coming from the wasteland was a small legion of ghouls, servants of the Vampire Lords who controlled the territories beyond. This many would destroy the town quickly, and the people quickly grabbed what they could and hid below ground.

As the first wave of monsters reached the towns edge, they ran into an invisible field that showed up as a dark wall of energy as they collided with in. Hexagonal shapes ripped across it at the impact points. Several ghouls saw the originator of the barrier… a man, looking all of about 19 dressed in black from head to toe with a wide brimmed hat and a buckled coat to protect him from the night chill.

"This town is protected by The Midnight Order," he said revealing his glowing cobalt eyes had taken on a black quality. "I'd back off if I were you."

The Ghouls pressed the attack and suddenly several of them simply burst into dust as they were slashed in half. The ghouls turned to see a blue haired vampire, looking about the same age as the young mage with a pair of wicked killing blades held in reverse grips.

Their distraction from this was their undoing as two massive werewolves, one red and one black, flanked their line and started tearing the ghouls asunder. From the roof tops two women, both in black were opening fire. One wearing a wide brimmed hat unleashed bolts from her crossbow at break neck pace, while the other, with long purple hair flowing in the wind unloaded with blessed ammunition from a pair of ancient automatic pistols into their ranks.

The ghouls kept coming but where losing terribly as the warriors put their best feet forward and slaughtered the offending monsters, each a veteran of thousands of battles. This was just another day on the job for them.

Within an hour, the enemies of the town were slaughtered and the remaining forces fled back into the wastes. The cheers for the victorious heroes could be heard for miles around.

"Another day," Shinji began, "another few hundred ghouls dead."

"At least until we take it home to Branuer," Misato replied reloading her pistols.

"We can't take him right now," Maya noted. "We need more hunters, and Van Helsing is still over in what used to be North America investigating a noble named Count Magnus Lee."

The werewolves walked over transforming back into their human forms; Asuka Langley Sohryu (now appearing to be 19 years old) and an oddly clean shaven Ryoji Kaji (at Asuka's insistence).

"There is someone who can help us, but he usually works alone," Kaji explained. "I might be able to contact him for help. But I don't even know if he's on this continent or not."

"Try to arrange it," Shinji said. "Can you leave first thing in the morning?"

"No problem boss," Kaji replied with a smile.

"I'm going too!" Asuka cut in. "My Kaji is not going anywhere without me!"

"Nor would I even think to try," Kaji said as he scooped Asuka into a mock dance move and kissed her.

"Ugh!" Maya replied, "Get a room you two!"

"Oh?" Asuka said. "Pot and the kettle much? What about your beautiful little doctor?"

Maya blushed profusely.

"Really?" Rei exclaimed. "Ten-Thousand Years and you still blush when we talk about that?"

"I can't help it!" she explained.

Shinji just shook his head. "before we get any further off topic… Kaji, why do you tell me about this guy you want us to hire."

Kaji walked up next to him as the group headed back into town.

"Well he's a real uber goth, you'd like him," he explained getting a smirk from Shinji. "He's one of the best hunters out there and he goes by the name of 'D'."

It is the year 12,094… the far future, when mutants and demons slither though a world of darkness…

Over 10,000 years ago there was a great war… mankind fought creatures of extraordinary power whose names have been lost in the passage of time. When the dust settled, the world was virtually destroyed… but Vampires who had hidden below ground and stockpiled their supplied arose to take control when the dust settled. They quickly established themselves as the new ruling class and subjected the population to heinous tortures and experiments.

But time changes everything. The vampires were now losing ground to a combination of skilled hunters and persistent frontiersmen across the world. But the war against the supernatural was far from over…

Credits

Story by Archdruid Sephiroth

Cross Over Information from the following features, each property of their respective owners…

Neon Genesis Evangelion (Gainax)

World of Darkness (White Wolf Publications)

Includes Vampire the Masquerade, Mage the Ascension, and Werewolf the Apocalypse

The Darkness (Digital Extremes and Top Cow Productions)

Star Wars (Referenced only, Lucasfilms LTD)

Bluthochzeit [Blood Wedding] (by E Nomine)

No Monetary Gain was produced by the creation of this story, and no copyright infringement intended. Material used in accordance with all fair use laws as of the current year, 2012

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Special Thanks To

Belthasar (for catching important shit I miss all the time)

Cyber-Undead (just because)

gunman (meow motherfucker, do you speak it!)

nobodyreallyimportant (you'd like to think you're not)

The Wandering Soul of 1014 (best username ever)

A/N: So now you know that I am a liar… to clarify this point for you I'll quote something I told a reviewer a while back, close to three years now.

"This is not a Vampire Hunter D Crossover"

This was both true and misleading. It was not strictly a Vampire Hunter D Crossover, but rather an AU Prequel tie-in that may or may not have the only real purpose of leading into a new series someday involving an actual NGE / VH D Crossover. One I may never actually write, but who knows. Stranger things have happened.

I ran into writers block several times over the making of this piece and I'm glad to finally see it though to the end. I hate leaving shit unfinished.

So what's next for me? I have another project in the planning stages, a full rewrite of NGE but that's not next. I have two major Evangelion Projects (Adrift, Too Human) and two minor projects (Trading Places, X-Factor Chronicles) still in the works. I'll be going back to all of these projects in the coming weeks, but I will be taking a short break I think for now. But if I get into the mood to write again… well… we'll just have to see about that won't we.

Thank you so much for reading, reviewing or helping this little crack-fic along. I hope you had just as much fun reading it as I did writing it. See you next story.

-Archdruid Sephiroth, signing off