Hey there, everyone, here's the rough draft for COAEG 23.
You can find old chapters at:
http://www.thekeep.org/~wombat/Stories/Cthulhu/
COAG 23
"The Doom That Came to Shwartzburg"
by John Biles and RPM.
**************
"Protests continue at NERV's American facilities; coordinated by
the watchdog organization NERVWatch, protestors have been shouting and
waving placards since 8 AM. Unlike previous occasions, the American
government seems unwilling to take any action to disperse them. It seems
that NERV's stock with the public is falling to new lows."
Click.
"The UN Security Council continues to meet behind closed doors in
special session. It is generally believed that they are trying to decide
on appropriate action in response to the Shwartzburg disaster. NERV
continues to assert that the Sixth Child went mad as a result of the
stresses caused by EVA piloting, prompting many to wonder how soon the
other Children will snap..."
Click.
"The end times are come! The unrighteous rise up and cloak
themselves in the images and names of righteousness, but by their fruits
shall ye know them! There is not a single god-fearing person to be found
among their ranks, only a bunch of pagans of the worst caliber! Their
battle commander wears a pagan holy sign around her neck in parody of the
Cross of Jesus, in which we put our faith..."
Click.
"Amen, and I say unto you, blessed are the Children, for they
shall protect this Earth. Do not let yourself be dismayed by the setback
in Shwartzburg, for the powers of the night are potent. Have we not seen
how they cast down the traitor within their ranks before she could do more
damage? So must we cast aside those who would sway us from the true
path..."
Click.
"The nation of Peru has announced it plans to sue NERV in the
World Court. The battle of Lima was a bloody one, causing countless
thousands of deaths..."
Click.
"Psychologists are continuing to study the rising problem of
shared nightmares. Dismissed initially by the scientific community, it
has become impossible to deny that many people around the world,
especially those of an artistic or religious bent, have begun to dream of
a sunken city full of non-Euclidian architecture, inhabited by fish-men.
Many fear this may presage an Angel attack even more potent than the ones
before it."
"However, Dr. Emmanuel Fisher of the University of Chicago
continues to argue this is a special form of mass hysteria, made possible
by the spread of mass media. Here with us in our studio is Dr. Fisher..."
Click.
"Available now, only from Remnant Records, The Best of Devastin'
Dave, the Turntable Slave! For only 19.99, you can buy this two disc set
of the music you grew up with! Get it now before it becomes elevator
music!"
Fuyutsuki relaxed just a tiny bit; he would have laughed if he was
in a better mood. Things were not going well; the pressure was heating
up, and he feared that soon, SEELE would make its move. Probably using
the UN as stalking-horses at first.
The TV continued to play on, now segueing into some sort of
incoherent ad selling sausages.
His phone rang, interrupting his reverie. "Commander, the
astronomical reports you ordered are ready," Sgt. Kazuya reported.
"Thank you. I'm on my way," he said. He rose and headed off to
the observatory.
**************
The results were inconclusive. They always were, lately, it
seemed. Fuyutsuki sighed and put the report down. The easily observed
stars were right, but what about the occulted ones? Without access to
SEELE's special equipment any more, he couldn't be sure.
The signs and portents were there. This was almost certainly the
time of Cthulhu's rising. And Cthulhu was almost certainly the Sea King.
Almost. Or else it was something to do with Dagon and Hydra. It couldn't
be Ghatanathoa. He was already dead. Right?
He wished again that Gendo had not perished. Fuyutsuki was not a
man made for leadership; he had let Gendo take charge, then guided him
with his lore. But Gendo was the man for a crisis like this. Was their
plan viable? And could he actually go through with it? And if they did
not, what would happen? If the Children won, they would have the power of
gods. What would they do with it? Would Earth face the fate of Xoth?
They would beat the Sea King, if their minds did not break. But would
their minds hold? Could he make them hold?
And Yui...He missed her as well. She had always moderated Gendo's
intensity; perhaps if she had lived... He could see her now, her smiling
face. She had always lightened his and Gendo's gloom. But now she was
lost to Unit01. Perhaps lost forever. Gendo had always hoped, once he
had the power, to extract her. Fuyutsuki hoped, but he feared the power
would not be his. It would be in the hands of the Children, and they
lacked the training, the discipline...
Maybe it would have been better to have them in on it. But a
secret spread too wide falls too easily into the wrong hands.
His phone rang, and he answered it. "Hello?"
"Sir, we have a report from the South Pacific," Misato said. "Can
you come to the bridge?"
"Of course."
He soon reached the bridge, where Misato and Dr. Himmelfarb and
the rest of the bridge crew were observing a message from the South
Pacific. "There's thousands of them down here," Commander Nelson of the
Intrepid was reporting. He was a tall, graying man, thin and worried
looking. "The sonar is just going crazy. And some...there's several of
something that we can't figure out the signature. As if there were
several hundred foot long squid."
"That's quite possible," Fuyutsuki said. "Observe, keeping your
distance."
"What the hell are these things?" Commander Nelson asked.
"In short, aliens," Fuyutsuki said. "They are quite dangerous,
but if you keep your distance, we believe they don't have anything which
can attack you at long range. But if one of those squid gets hold of your
ship, you can basically expect to die."
"Aliens? Real aliens?"
"Just like the Angels, but much smaller and less dangerous,"
Fuyutsuki said. "Continue to observe, we'll see about getting you
reinforced."
"Yes, sir," Commander Nelson said, then saluted.
Fuyutsuki saluted him back, and the connection was dropped. "Any
other news?"
"Polaris is beginning to sense rising, diffuse levels of Angelic
energies in the South Pacific at these coordinates." Dr. Himmelfarb
passed him the report. "I included the latest report on Andromeda."
"On Andromeda?"
"It's moving."
"The entire galaxy?" Misato said in surprise.
"Many stellar phenomena seem to be moving in ways we would expect
impossible," Dr. Himmelfarb said. "Just to add to the global panic from
the nightmares."
The time was coming, Fuyutsuki decided. It was time to act.
"We're going to need to prepare a mission to the South Pacific. The next
manifestation will be there. I'm also going to need to have conventional
forces raised to strike in the South Pacific, hopefully before our
arrival. I expect that this Angel will come forth with an army waiting to
help him."
The burst of activity which followed made him feel a little better
about the future. Action was better than moping.
************
The ruins of the steamer yacht looked uncannily organic, most of its sides
fallen apart with decay and rough tides, leaving behind a skeletal frame
riddled with coral. Laying to its side was a rotten plank, the letters
ALERT could barely be read. It had laid here in peace to rot on its own,
passing the years in darkness and isolation.
A solitary shadow in the darkness approached the wreck and paused, as if
recognizing a significance to this grave, then moved on. Another shadowy
being passed, and then another, and another, until seemingly endless
shadow marched past, swarming over and through the ship's carcass like a
swarm of ants.
The dread swarm moved onward. The stars were right. Their time began
now.
************
Akane awoke, sweaty and naked in a cave, feeling slightly annoyed.
She'd gone to bed sweaty and naked, but it had been on her nice soft bed
in the arms of her lover. Not in a cold and damp cave. She tried to
brush the dirt off herself and wondered what the hell was going on.
Then the man spoke. "Hello, Akane. I have called you to serve
me." His voice was soft and sibilant, and he wore a purple robe with a
hood fringed with the Yellow Sign. Upon his face he bore a smiling mask
of pale saffron. "There is work for you to do."
She felt a faint shiver just looking at him; she'd seen people
dressed like this before, but this was different. And hadn't involved
caves. "I'm not a prostitute. Where is my clothing?"
He snapped his fingers, and she found herself clad in an ornately
layered purple dress with yellow runes worked all over it, including the
Yellow Sign. "You came to me as you were."
"I didn't GO anywhere," she said. "Who the hell are you?"
"Do you not recognize your lord and master?" he asked, sounding
amused.
"What the..." She stared at him. "What, are you some bigwig in
the Saffron Brotherhood?" She'd joined that for a while; it had been kind
of fun running around doing a bunch of rites and dressing up in ritual
outfits. But it hadn't really meant anything to her; it was just a lark.
When everyone had started taking it WAY too seriously, she'd moved on.
"I am THE 'bigwig', as you put it. I am the King in Yellow, who
you swore to when you joined the Brotherhood," he said.
"Uh huh. As in, the Angel who NERV beat up at a school play?"
"They merely defeated my mortal host," he said. "But no true God
can be defeated by mortals."
"Man, this is one fucked up dream I am having," Akane said. "You
seriously expect me to do what you want."
"You swore to me, oaths which cannot be denied," he said, his
voice rising just a notch. "You will obey, or pay the price. Your
connection to one of NERV's major officers is useful to me. You can use
him for me, to accomplish my purposes."
Use Makoto to do the bidding of some demented freak in a robe?
"Look, this has to be a dream. And if it wasn't, there is no way I would
do the bidding of a loser god who got his butt kicked by a bunch of kids
who aren't even old enough to have gotten laid yet. I had fun in the
Brotherhood, but that's over now, and I've moved on. So should you, like
to getting used to being a prisoner. Now take off that damn mask, so I
can see your face. I feel like I'm talking to the Phantom of the Opera or
something."
"As you like." He removed the mask, and there was nothing behind
it, but the void of space, an infinite sea of stars. She fell into it,
plummeting through nothingness, as a distant piping slowly wailed its way
between worlds and the stars spun around her.
A voice surrounded her. FOOL. I AM THE AUDIENT VOID. I AM THE
BEGINNING AND THE END. I AM THE VOICE OF EVERYTHING. I AM THE SOUL OF
THE OUTER GODS. DO YOU THINK YOU CAN ESCAPE ME? THAT THE KING IN YELLOW
WAS EVER ANYTHING BUT ANOTHER OF MY SERVANTS? WHAT YOU OWED TO HIM, YOU
OWE TO ME.
And then she was on solid ground again, inside utter darkness.
She could hear heavy footsteps in the darkness, and the sound of
scratching on the walls, the sound of stone flaking away.
She tried to escape it, but the sound followed her as she walked,
then ran in a panic, bumping into walls. No matter how far she ran, the
sounds never faded.
There was a burst of light, and then another, as braziers ignited
everywhere. She could see a great ape by the wall, its eyes gouged out
and scarred shut, its hand by writing on the wall. It was her
handwriting, the oath she had sworn to the King in Yellow, to Hastur the
Unnameable.
"You cannot escape your oath," the Blind Ape of Truth said. "Run
as you will, it follows you everywhere."
"So bring a lawsuit if you want to enforce it," she snapped.
"Foolish child, are you so enamored of him that you would let
yourself be destroyed for him?" the Blind Ape asked her. "SEELE is poised
to destroy NERV in the name of their lord, the Sea King, Cthulhu the
Great. For millennia, his followers have thrived in the deeps, and now
they will claim the land. Even if you defy me, you cannot save him. You
can only damn yourself." His voice was full of confidence, and she
wondered if he knew something she did not.
But the Children had beaten all the other attacks, right? Surely
they would beat this 'SEELE', whatever it was. "The Children will kick
your ass."
"Surely you know from Makoto how unstable they are." She'd heard
a few stories from him that did seem to indicate that. "You saw what
happened to Anna. Do you think the others will do any better? You will
lose. And SEELE will take you and punish you for violating your oath. Do
you know what will happen?"
"Nothing. Because you will lose." She hoped she was right, but
there was something about his confidence that was boring into her will.
"They will give you to the Deep Ones, to use for breeding. Like
this."
The wall shimmered, and she saw a group of fish men taking her
into a bedroom, stripping her naked as she struggled futilely. She tried
to close her eyes, but they wouldn't obey her. "Dammit, this is sick!"
she shouted.
"They merely obey their instincts. It is what everyone is made
for, why you have them. Humans persist in this futile attempt to deny
them, and it only leads to pointless suffering. Like this. If you do not
obey, this will be your doom."
"Fuck you," she hissed, trying to not focus on what she was
seeing, and trying to ignore the sound of herself screaming.
"This is only a taste of what waits for you, if you defy us. We
will get what we want without you, and then you will suffer. Obey, and
you will be rewarded. Remember, serve and be rewarded, or defy me and be
punished."
"FUCK YOU," she shouted angrily. "NEVER! NEVER!"
"If you wish..."
He was advancing on her, and she couldn't move, couldn't do
anything but scream.
Then she felt arms shake her, and suddenly, she was naked again,
but in her bed, being held by a groggy Makoto, who said, "Akane, you're
screaming. What's wrong?"
She began to cry. "I had a horrible nightmare..."
She could hear his voice, echoing in her head. JUST REMEMBER THAT
IF YOU TELL HIM ABOUT SEELE AND WHAT YOU HAVE SEEN, YOU WILL HAVE TO
EXPLAIN HOW YOU KNOW IT...DO YOU THINK HE WILL TRUST YOU IF HE KNOWS YOU
SWORE TO HASTUR? THAT HE WILL WANT TO HOLD YOU AND LOVE YOU?
That made her cry more and curse the day she'd been dumb enough to
join the Saffron Brotherhood. What was going on? Was this just another
nightmare? Or was it real? And what the hell could she do if it was?
************
She was in the water.
Ritsuko knew it was a dream, because she hated the water. And she hated
the water because it felt comfortable, like slipping on a pair of old
shoes. Except she wasn't slipping on a pair of old shoes. Instead, she
was turning into a hideous fish-being that will forever spend its life
lurking in the cold, dark depths of the ocean.
She hated the water, which is why she was fairly sure this was a dream.
Also, she was one among hundreds of Deep Ones, swimming over a sunken city
with non-Euclidean architecture. Definitely a dream of some sort,
probably heading towards nightmare territory.
The first thing Ritsuko did was look over herself, fearing the worst. She
was not a bulge-eyed pale skinned mutant. That was good enough.
Then she tried to will herself awake, but that did not seem to work. With
that failed, she tried to swim away, but the Deep Ones around her moved
to block her way. Their movement was too fast and their numbers too
great, forcing Ritsuko to go with the flow, spiraling down into the city
below.
Two rather large Deep Ones swam to her and flanked her sides, though they
seemed more pleased than menacing. They spoke to her eagerly, with their
harsh, raspy and guttural voices.
"You are here."
"This is good."
"She waits to see you."
"Yes she is waiting."
Ritsuko was expected. This couldn't be good.
"Who is waiting?" she asked.
"The great priestess."
"The high priestess."
"Priestess Yg'arr'laak."
"This way, this way."
She found herself lead into a great cathedral within the city,
stone gray with stained glass windows depicting various moments in Deep
One history, while the front of the cathedral held a massive stained glass
visage of their dread lord and god, the final 'angel'. It loomed above a
rough stone altar, where a robed and hooded figure stood hunched over it.
Illumination was sparse, coming from the faintest of glimmers peeking
through from the surface, as well as strange glowing feathery deep sea
worms.
Ritsuko looked to her two guides, who both nodded eagerly, then
walked towards the ominous figure.
The Priestess said, "Hello daughter."
Ritsuko felt her blood run cold. She found herself speechless.
"The end times come," croaked her mother. "Not too late for you,
my daughter."
"I'm not like you!" Ritsuko finally managed to say. "I won't be
like
you!"
"You are halfway there."
She was right. Ritsuko felt her confidence slide.
"Not too late for you," said her mother. "Or your friends."
"Leave them out of it!"
"Oh, but they are precious to you, and I would not wish to make my
daughter saddened by their deaths." The priestess smiled a pallid smile,
revealing misshapen and filthy teeth. "They can be saved too."
"What do you mean 'saved'?"
"They can become as we are, as you will inevitably be. Won't that
be nice? Your friends, and your lover, forever with you, spared from the
great culling to come."
From outside the cathedral, she heard the unique sound of
footsteps marching underwater. How many there were, she could not tell,
but their numbers must have been immense. She felt a chill run down her
spine, and despair weighed heavy upon her heart.
Ritsuko's mother continued, her voice maddeningly serene and
confident. "This story has been told time and again, across infinite
worlds. This will be no different. In time, you will come to see what
must be done, and I will be waiting."
Ritsuko wanted to shout in defiance, to tell her she was wrong,
that this time would be different, but that defiant voice found itself
drowned out by this overwhelming feeling of dread, which shook her to her
very core with doubt. Could they really overcome the odds this time?
Wouldn't it be better to save them by any means possible, even if it
abandoned what they'd been fighting for? What was the honor of dying for
a lost cause anyway?
No! There was no going back now, and she couldn't betray their
trust in her like this. This was the right thing to do.
Right?
The priestess chuckled a sickening, croaking laugh. "You are
perhaps not ready to accept it yet, but you will see, in time. When you
are ready, I will be here, and waiting."
The priestess waved a scaled pallid hand, a gesture of farewell,
and the world blurred around her.
***************
She was in the water.
It took a moment for Ritsuko to realize this was not a dream. This was
her new reality. This was her resting tank, necessary, now that her lungs
had been altered, now that she had taken that first step to her fate.
The dim fluorescent light of the tank cast little light and long shadows
across her lab. Next to the tank Maya slept, kneeling on the ground with
her face pressed against the glass. Ritsuko couldn't help but smile a
little, Maya's face looked a little silly from her end.
"You can save her," her mother's voice whispered in her head. "Be with
her forever."
Ritsuko placed her hand against the glass gently. If this glass was not
between them, she would be touching her now. If she was not underwater,
her tears would be seen.
**************
It had not been easy to lower all the lands. With the Burrower
Beneath dead, his children ran loose, scattered, hard to control. It had
taken many years to chain them, one by one, and set them to hollowing out
the landmasses which had dared to challenge the rule of the oceans. But
this time, this time they had been successful. The Old Ones, who loved
the land and skies, no longer stood against them.
Many of the old cities had been ruined. But that didn't matter,
they were inferior. The monkeys were gone now, and it was meet their
works end with them. That's why Asuka was taking apart the ruins of one
of the monkey cities. She dimly remembered another time, when it had been
called Berlin. It was a twisted pile of stone and metal and shattered
glass and plastic now. With her powers, it was easy to sort out the
useful materials and destroy the rest. There was no fire here, in the new
world, but that commanded by her and the other Children. The fire they
called only in the service of their master, the Great Lord of the Deep.
Hikari sliced her arm, and tiny trails of blood drifted into the
water, becoming worms that began to feed on the stone and concrete,
swiftly swelling ever larger in size, and tunneling through the wreckage.
They would excrete useful minerals, and use the rest to sustain
themselves.
It was Asuka's own job to then melt the minerals into bars for
transport by the half-ones, the lowest caste of the Great Lord's
followers. A few of the Xothians marched about, shouting orders, as if
they mattered much more than the half-ones. They were but children, who
would never match the Five Lords of the Elements, let alone the Great One.
They spent much of their time slumbering, enjoying the dreams their father
brought them. Weak, Asuka thought. But that is why they too serve.
Asuka waited impatiently, idly blasting bits of the city to pieces
while she waited. She half-hoped something hostile would arise, just to
give her something to do.
Arms folded around her from behind, fangs gently nipping her neck,
wings folding around her. Rei was exceptionally frisky today, it seemed.
Which would normally be good, but the Great Lord tended to become angry if
sex delayed the work he commanded. She took one of Rei's hands with her
own and brought it up to her lips, running her tongue gently along the
length of it, from fingertip to the wrist. Then she said, "Aren't you
supposed to be smiting the Aldeberaani?" The annoying inhabitants of
Aldeberan kept trying to establish floating bases on the surface, as if
this planet had not already been claimed. She wished they would go away,
as eating their leaders always made Rei's breath smell foul. Asuka's
senses were too sensitive to deal with that.
"They will come in force, soon," Rei breathed into Asuka's neck.
"I am hungry now."
"Later," Asuka said. "I have work to do. Eat some half-folk if
you have to."
And then Rei was gone, leaving a trail of water. Asuka felt the
first death at the fringes of her mind and smiled a little. The half-folk
spoke of Rei the Slayer in hushed tones; nothing they could do could stop
her. It was said that those she slew lived on inside her. They were
right. Rei, Asuka, Shinji, Hikari, Touji, they held multitudes inside
them. Every soul they devoured became a part of them. She had grown used
to the cacophony, but sometimes it could be comforting. Rei gave
immortality to those she slew, for they would live on within them forever,
while otherwise, they would eventually die and pass away. What she did
was a kindness.
Asuka let her gaze slide across the laboring half-folk, and found
one who was slacking off. She reached down, and grasped him, lifting him
and gazing into his eyes.
He flailed desperately; they always did. There was something
about humans, passed on even to their half-human kin who were all that
remained of humanity now. Something that would resist desperately in the
face of certain doom. It was the sort of stupidity which had ensured
humanity had to be destroyed; the men slain and the women used to breed
new generations of the half-folk, until those women died of old age, and
only the half-folk remained. She could remember those days, popping a
dozen men into her mouth at once, and chewing them slowly, to savor the
flavor. Their blood had been sweeter than that of the half-folk. Shinji
kept trying to find a way to make them tastier, but it seemed to be
inherent in the adaptations they needed to dwell beneath the water, being
so linked to the odd rules of Earth's solar system that they depended on,
unlike their masters.
She watched him with amusement, intending to let his fear be his
punishment. But then he bit her. It barely hurt, but indicated a level
of defiance which could not be tolerated. She lifted him to her lips,
took his head with her teeth, holding it steady, then slowly, very slowly
bit down, feeling his flesh part beneath her sharp teeth. She let tiny
flames lick along her teeth as he screamed in agony. The sound of his
agony was pleasing to her ears. She relished the taste of his pain, his
realization this was the end of his life.
She could have taken his soul, but he wasn't worth it. Instead,
she slowly, lovingly, bit his head in half, then sucked out his brains and
began to devour his flesh, cooking it with her fires as she did so. Soon,
too soon, there was nothing left of him. She felt herself shiver; it was
unwise to let herself get aroused when she had work to do.
Then she felt something else, a strange sense of horror and guilt.
Where was that coming from? It wasn't as if she had disobeyed her master.
She was well within her rights. The half-folk existed to serve and to die
when it was necessary. They were lucky they were allowed to continue to
exist, but the Great Lord was sometimes very sentimental about the little,
pitiful things.
She followed the thoughts inside her mind, wondering if one of her
souls was getting out of hand again. She burrowed deep within herself,
past hundreds of souls, following the trail of emotions that grew ever
stronger. There was something...a soft thing, on which the soul was
lying, in a slightly cool room...a human, one of the very old souls. She
had not devoured a true human in so long, for they were extinct in the
world of the waking and there was something...something moving on her face
as she lay in bed and...
And then Asuka awoke, a cockroach having fallen onto her face from
the ceiling. She burned it to ash in a moment of panic, then sat up,
gagging at the memory of the dream. She reined in her flames desperately,
before she could immolate her bed, springing to her feet and shuddering.
She threw open her window, and leaped out, sprouting wings of
flame, fleeing from the memory. The first rush of panic soon subsided,
and she came back around, then flew up to land on the roof, shuddering.
I'll die before I become like that, she told herself.
To her surprise, even as she touched down, Rei sat up. She had
been lying there on the roof, Asuka supposed, but somehow had not been
seen. Asuka started to rise. She didn't want to be anywhere near Rei,
even though for a moment, she remembered Rei's embrace, the friendly bite,
the...
She shook her head, but even as she turned, Rei said, "Stay." A
moment later, Rei said, "Please."
Asuka hesitated. She didn't want to spend any more time around
Rei than she had to, but part of her wanted to stay. It was the part that
she didn't like at all, where freaky dreams like the one she'd just had
came from. She shivered.
"I had a dream," Rei said, and then began to describe a dream of a
world underwater, where only the Deep Ones remained. As Asuka listened,
she could see it overlapped with her own dream, and she wondered a moment
if the other Children had shared it was well.
"Yes," Rei said.
"Yes what?" Asuka asked, startled.
"We all dreamed it," Rei explained. "The end comes. Blood calls
to blood. We share."
Asuka shivered more. She didn't want to share dreams with Rei.
"Then why aren't they here?"
"They will come, soon. Our blood calls to theirs."
"But why not now?" Asuka asked.
"Our bond is tightest," Rei said, a little sadly. "Because we..."
"THERE IS NO WAY THAT COULD HAVE CREATED A BOND BETWEEN US!" Asuka
shouted angrily, flames erupting around her. "What you did to me..."
"The blood, the Violator, they drove us together," Rei said. "I
wish it could have been Shinji."
Asuka hissed angrily, "Shinji is mine."
Rei looked at her nervously, nervously enough that Asuka felt a
little of her anger wilt. "I wish..."
"Well, you can't have him," Asuka said. "He's MY boyfriend."
"Can we not...there are things..."
Asuka's eyes widened. "Are you crazy? Even if you hadn't raped
me, that kind of thing is for complete freaks and perverts!" Her mind
flickered with something. It couldn't be a memory, as she knew it hadn't
happened. Just an image of herself on a bed, Rei wrapped around her from
behind, kissing her neck, as Shinji kissed his way down her belly. Her
eyes widened and she drove the image out of her mind. She wouldn't do
anything like that with another girl and ESPECIALLY not with Rei.
"We share the blood," Rei said almost desperately. "You must feel
the call."
"I DO NOT FEEL ANY CALLS!" Asuka said. "And I'm not sharing my
boyfriend with you!"
"Damn, Shinji, a lot of guys would kill for a deal like that,"
Touji said.
Asuka froze and turned and saw Shinji and Hikari and Touji
approaching across the roof. Shinji looked embarrassed. "I'm sure they
weren't actually talking about sharing me."
"We were," Rei said.
"We were NOT!" Asuka shouted.
"My goodness, that's awfully bold," Hikari said, blushing a
little.
I have to do something, Shinji thought. Can't let them fight
again. He came over and took Asuka's hand. "I'm sure Rei was just
joking," he told Asuka, though he knew better.
"Joking? After what she DID?" Asuka demanded.
"We couldn't help ourselves," Shinji said, kissing her cheek.
"Let's not fight, okay?"
"Alright," she said, feeling disgruntled, but pleased to have
Shinji kissing her with everyone watching. That would show Rei.
"Are we up here for some good reason or is it just freeze our
asses off night?" Touji asked.
"The stars call us," Rei said. "The time is coming. The Stars
are Right."
They gazed up at the heavens and wondered what she meant.
***************
The sense of unease that stirred them in the middle of the night still
lingered afterwards.
Touji and Hikari did not look very well rested as they walked across the
NERV base. Their step was a noticeable beat slower, the look in their
eyes cloudy and troubled.
"Touji, I'm scared."
"Yeah, I know. Me too."
"I just get this feeling.... that... that...."
"The end is coming."
"Yeah."
He took her hand and squeezed gently. They walked on.
"The dreams have been getting worse," said Hikari. "Sometimes, I have
dreams like we had last night. Other times, I dream about my family,
dying again." She shuddered.
"Been having messed up dreams too," replied Touji. "Sometimes we're all
dying, sometimes we're all monsters doing the killing. I even dreamed
about Kensuke." His expression soured and frustration soured his voice.
"He's trying to talk to me, but I can't hear what he's saying. It's like
he's trying to warn me."
"About what?"
"I dunno. Something."
"Something bad is coming."
"Yeah."
"Whatever the next Angel is..."
"Yeah, well, whatever the next Angel is, we'll beat 'em," said
Touji with renewed determination. "We beat 'em all before, we'll beat 'em
again. So what if the next one's bigger and badder? Y'know what? So are
we."
Hikari leaned on Touji and smiled a little. "Yeah, you're right."
And thus, in better spirits, they came to their destination, the base
hospital, to visit his sister Miki yet again. Their mood was crushed
again shortly as they entered her room to see her strapped down to the
bed, her expression glassy and dazed.
"What the hell is this?" asked Touji, barely managing to keep his voice
down. "Why've you got'er tied down like this?"
"I'm sorry, Mr. Suzuhara, but she's been having increasingly severe
delusional spells. We had to secure her to her bed and sedate her for
her own protection."
Touji gritted his teeth, staring at the floor. His sister seemed to not
notice, mumbling incoherently and staring at the ceiling with glassy eyes.
Touji pulled a chair up to the bed and took his sister's hand. Hikari
stood behind him, hands on his shoulders.
"Tou....ji," Miki mumbled.
Touji held her hand with both of his now, and he tried not to sound sad
when he spoke. "Right here, sis."
Miki's head flopped loosely left and right, her eyes still glassy.
"Tou... ji..... save... me...."
"You're safe, sis. It's okay."
"Escape... escape..."
"Sis, it's okay, we're safe, we're in the NERV base in Germany now."
"Everyone.... dying... must... escape..."
"Poor girl," whispered Hikari. "I guess she's having flashbacks to when
Tokyo-3 fell."
Touji nodded. "Sis, it's okay, just rest for now. And if any big bad
monsters come, I'll stomp'em."
Miki's eyes finally managed to lock onto Touji's, and she tried to
speak again. Instead, the full effect of the sedatives battered her
consciousness and she sank back into the bed limply.
Touji kissed her forehead and adjusted her blanket. "Try'n have some good
dreams, sis. And don't worry no more, I'll protect ya."
***************
"Are we sure the conventional forces can handle these 'deep
ones'?" Ingrid asked skeptically.
"While a Deep One is a match for almost any human in hand to hand,
they burn and explode and die of bullets like the rest of us," Fuyutsuki
said. "And they have, so far as I know, nothing to match the capacity of
modern warships, though we can expect them to command large amounts of sea
life, and possibly some fairly potent creatures. It will become uglier if
large amounts of Cthulhu's minions awaken before we can put him down. His
children are quite potent and have strange and unearthly powers."
Ritsuko said, "We must rely on them. Because we have nothing
else, beyond the Children, and they will have to battle Cthulhu himself."
She shifted her neck brace a little. She needed it in order to get the
water she needed for her gills, but it was very uncomfortable. And she
had to adjust it frequently.
Ingrid looked over at her suspiciously. They all knew now, of her
tainted heritage. It could not be hidden. And it colored all of their
attitudes, though some hid it better than others and tried to ignore the
revulsion.
"And since we have the Scimitar, it won't matter too much. They
utterly lack flight capacity," Maya said. "They can operate out of the
water, however, possessing both gills and lungs." She glanced over at
Ritsuko, a little worried. Ritsuko couldn't imagine how Maya could still
love her, but it seemed she did. Perhaps innocence could conquer all,
though Ritsuko found it hard to believe in innocence.
Ritsuko tried to imagine Maya as a mermaid, then found the image
attractive instead of repulsive, as she had expected. She shuddered at
that. How much was her mind influenced by her change? Would she come to
see it as normal? She prayed that something could be done, though she had
nothing to pray to. No God could allow something like this.
"Tactical command will operate from the Scimitar," Fuyutsuki said.
"Coordinating via satellite with our base here to provide all the
necessary data functions which are beyond the capacities of the Scimitar.
UN Naval forces will contain the Deep Ones while we operate."
"What about Y'nagg'houlei?" Ritsuko asked.
"Simultaneous attacks will hit every Deep One city we can find,"
Fuyutsuki said. It was too late to try to fool SEELE any longer,
Fuyutsuki thought. Better to strike while they could and smash its'
sources of strength. "Simultaneous with our assault in the Pacific. They
will perish."
"Do we have enough strength for that?" Misato asked.
"Assuming that the navies cooperate properly, yes. Fortunately,
the Deep Ones only have a few major cities." He prayed that was the case.
There could easily be others not known even in the ancient texts. In
which case, things might get ugly.
But they would get ugly anyway. The rite...could he pull it off?
The Sea King had the power to control dreams. His rising touched minds
all over the world. His power, joined to that of the Children, would give
them the power to touch the dreams of the world, to reshape humanity. If
the ancient lore was correct, that power could be guided by one with the
right lore and wisdom. The EVAs had been prepared by he and Gendo to make
it possible.
They could usher in a golden age, if all went well, and create
guardians for it all at once. Humanity would have its own gods, bound to
its interests, to protect it in an often hostile universe. The remaining
Angels could be hunted and driven out; nothing would be able to stand
before the Children but the Outer Gods themselves. And those who know the
right formulae and procedures could drive off even them, for the laws
which empower the Outer Gods also control them. They were all powerful,
yet less free than any human.
And he would lead the gods. If they would follow him. Perhaps it
was better Gendo had died; he had not known how to handle people, had
counted too much on occult mastery giving him the leadership role. But
Fuyutsuki feared it would be unwise to trust too much on gaining control
over the Children, as they had planned.
They could be guided, led, but not dominated. Not now. You could
not expect Gods to obey, and that was what they were becoming. And he
would become one of them, if it was possible, to steal the fire of the
Gods. And perhaps, at least in the realms of dreams, he would then have
the power to bring back Gendo and Yui. There would be peace.
Perhaps I am mad, he thought. The risks were incredible. But
only one with his knowledge and wisdom could make the choices that had to
be made. It was dangerous, very dangerous. But if he didn't try, the
risks were too great. The power the Children held, unchecked, would
eventually corrupt them. Perhaps it would corrupt him as well. But he
couldn't see any other way out.
No way out...
*****************
Megumi paced back and forth across the grounds of NERV-Germany,
her nerves jangling. Everyone else seemed so calm about everything, but
she wasn't used to combat. Not that they'd seen any yet. Not that it
would be violent here at the base.
She wondered again why Ibuki Maya had chosen her of all people to
be allowed to stay at the base and report on the progress of the battle.
She was Japanese and thus could talk to all the Pilots and many of the
crew; that had to be part of it. But maybe...did they think she knew
things? Maybe that was it. Maybe they wanted to get rid of her in some
way no one would ever know about.
She shook her head. Silly fears.
"Hello, Kunzama-san," a woman said.
She started and almost fell down, then caught herself. "Oh, hi
there," she said. "How are you? Hikari, right?"
"Yes," Hikari said. "Enjoying your visit?"
"Sort of. Everyone seems so brave and fearless. I feel a little
inadequate," she confessed.
Hikari came over to her. "Don't be afraid. You'll be safe here,
far away from the battle." She sighed. "But I know how you feel. It
scares me too. I'm not as good as the others, yet. Sometimes, I worry
I'll screw up and everyone will get hurt because of me."
"Well, your record is clean so far, far as I know," Megumi said.
"I'm sure you'll do fine."
Hikari smiled. "Thank you. Really, you'll be safe here. You'll
have a good view for the fight from the bridge; you'll see everything we
do."
"I hope so. It's up to me to capture everything for posterity. I
hope my camera holds out," Megumi said.
"Did you remember to get new batteries and spares? Check your
film?" Hikari launched into a long list of things Megumi should have done
to prepare for this. About half of which she'd thought of herself.
"My goodness, have you done reporting?" Megumi asked when the list
finally ran dry.
"A little. But mostly I'm good at planning," Hikari said. "I
don't like fighting because all your plans get wrecked." She leaned on
the nearby bicycle rack, hands on one of the curved poles.
Megumi scribbled that down. "Isn't there some saying about that?"
"Probably. Kensuke woul..." Hikari's face fell. "He'd know if
he was alive."
"He was the boy..."
"Yes," Hikari said, then stared out across the grounds. "I wasn't
too close to him when he was alive, but now he's gone and it's just...
you don't expect people to die." Her hands tightened on the poles. "I'm
sick of people dying."
Megumi watched, unable to look away, as the metal tube bent in
Hikari's grip. "Did you know Anna well?" she asked a little nervously.
"Asuka was closest to her, but I think you would be better off not
asking her about it," Hikari said tensely. "She couldn't help...the
things she said. One of the Angels got to her."
Megumi had heard that and wondered if that was just wishful
thinking. Power corrupts, she thought. And godlike powers must corrupt
even more. Anna hadn't said anything which couldn't have been the result
of power going to someone's head. "You are seeing Suzuhara Touji, right?"
Hikari blushed slightly. "Yeah." She paused. "I mean yes. I
guess he's rubbing off on me."
Megumi smiled a little. "Boys do that. But I'm sure you rub off
on him too."
Hikari looked very embarrassed, then Megumi got embarrassed too.
"I didn't mean like that!" Megumi protested.
"I...I know. I just...I'm very jumpy."
"Me too," Megumi said. "Do you like being a pilot?"
"I hate it. I hate violence, I hate fighting, I hate these
monsters. But I'll make them PAY for what they have done," Hikari said
harshly. "Because I hate them more than I hate fighting."
Scribble, scribble. "You lost your parents to the Adam rioting,
right?" Megumi asked.
Hikari's hands tightened on the pole, which snapped. "DAMMIT."
She hurled the section of railing off across the grounds, then put her
hand over her mouth. "Yes. And I don't want to talk about it."
Megumi stepped back, frightened by the light in Hikari's eyes.
"Alright. I'll stop bothering you."
"Good," Hikari said sulkily.
Megumi slipped off quietly and decided to be more careful about
questions in the future.
***************
"Here's the report," Maya said, handing the folder to Dr.
Himmelfarb. "So far, results are mixed."
Dr. Himmelfarb had suspected as much from her own observations.
She sat down to check the results. EVA blood could be used to some effect
in the therapy, but it was highly risky. About fifteen percent of those
treated recovered from all mutations. Another fifteen percent now had odd
hair colors like purple or limestone. Or odd skin colors. Five percent
had odd physical traits coupled with minor psychic abilities, like
starting small fires or sometimes hearing thoughts. Fifty five percent
remained deformed or got worse. And ten percent either died rapidly of
hideous mutations or became something that had to be killed.
She glanced over at Ritsuko, who was studying some of the blood
tests. The neckbrace for her gills seemed to be working well, letting her
come out of her sleeping tank for long periods of time. It creeped Dr.
Himmelfarb out viscerally, but she did her best to hide any repulsion or
fear, because at heart, she knew Ritsuko didn't deserve mistreatment for
her looks.
It didn't stop Maya kissing Ritsuko on the cheek. Ritsuko looked
like she would have turned red if she could still blush. "People are
watching," Ritsuko mumbled.
Maya said, "I am thinking we may need one of the Children to
assist us. They may be able to use the power taken from Adam to refine
our extracts."
"Then get one of them," Ritsuko said.
"Hmm," Dr. Himmelfarb said.
"What?" Ritsuko asked.
"I think Asuka would be best. She has the most science knowledge."
"That's fine if she keeps her cool," Ritsuko said.
"Alright, I'll get her, then," Maya said. "Be back soon."
**************
"Now, brothers and sisters, let us join hands, and imbibe the
sacred incense..." Master Wu said.
Akane watched him through her mask, pretending to breathe in the
incense. You don't 'imbibe' incense, she thought. What a faker. Then
again, everyone in this stupid society is an idiot or came in for kicks
like I did.
But she was here now, because she didn't know what else to do.
She tried to avoid gagging; she'd always hated the incense.
Everyone else seemed to be breathing in deeply. A bunch of stupid
cult zombies, she thought.
"This is what our master wants us to do..." Master Wu now
carefully laid out their plans, as Akane listened, feeling her brain go
round and round.
I can't do that to Makoto, she thought. Not any more. I care
about him now. I got close to him because that's what I was told to do,
but now...fuck this shit. Fuck it.
But she couldn't. The cult was all over the world, it seemed;
they had found her within hours of her dream; it couldn't be a
coincidence. Only NERV could protect her, but would they protect a
cultist like her? Misato probably hates me, she thought. For stealing
the man she wants.
"I hear and obey," Akane said, just wanting to get the hell out.
The meeting soon broke up and she went on her way through the
darkened corridors, shedding her saffron robes and hanging them on a peg
in the hallway. For a moment, she thought she saw movement at ground
level, like a spreading puddle of oil, but when she looked, there was
nothing there.
She sighed. Now I'm imagining things. She walked down the
hallway. I can't do this, she thought. Not any more. Fuck this cult. I
have to...dammit, even if I did go along with the cult, NERV would
probably kill me. I might as well just go ahead and tell them everything,
as that way, I won't live and I won't have to hurt Makoto. The rest of
them, she didn't care about all that much. But he was different.
She'd told him to chase Misato, but now she knew she wouldn't have
been happy if he did. Hell of a time to fall in love, she thought. But
does he really love me? Misato wants him now, but he stays with me...but
maybe he stays out of guilt...
She shook her head, then heard a crashing noise. She turned in
time to see the umbrella rack had fallen down. I walked past the rack
without even noticing, Akane thought. I've got to pay attention.
Distant chanting drifted her way. Bunch of morons, she thought.
She got her umbrella off the floor, then turned to go. Fuck these
bastards, and fuck Mr. Dream Audience Void or whatever the fuck he is.
We'll see how big he talks when NERV blows up his precious Katoolo or
whatever that thing was.
She stormed out the door into the rain. She'd gotten ten feet down the
street when she realized she'd left the door open. She turned to go back
and close it, but the door was already shut. Must be the wind, she
thought, then stormed off.
*****************
"Ahh, there you are Asuka," Misato said as Asuka came into the
briefing room. Everyone else had already arrived and was waiting.
"I was helping Dr. Himmelfarb," Asuka replied.
Dr. Himmelfarb came in and sat down by Misato. "My apologies for
the delay. She was helping us work with the EVA blood."
Misato said, "Are you getting any results?"
"Less death," Dr. Himmelfarb said.
Touji laughed a few seconds until he realized he shouldn't, then
looked embarrassed.
Asuka sat down by Shinji, taking his hand. "Maybe with more
practice I can do better," she said. "I think a five percent increase in
success level is a good start, though."
"Yes, it is," Dr. Himmelfarb said, sighing. "Dr. Akagi will
arrive soon. She had to get a fresh tank."
"Hmm, isn't there some way to build something to re-oxygenate her
water while she's wearing it? Hook one of those portable oxygen tanks to
it?" Shinji asked.
Dr. Himmelfarb looked surprised, then said, "We experimented with
that, but it weighed too much. Easier to just switch tanks periodically."
Half the time I can't forget they're fourteen, and half the time I can't
remember they're only fourteen, she thought.
Shinji nodded.
Ritsuko now entered. "Sorry for the delay."
"That's fine," Misato said. "Alright. We will soon be shipping
out for the South Pacific in the Scimitar, to a location where the next
Angel will be rising. Oannes, the Angel of the Waters, is his code name,
although certain ancient documents seem to call him by various names, such
as 'Cthulhu'." She struggled with the name.
Asuka corrected her pronunciation. "That's the way they said it
on Xoth, anyway." She paused and her eyes widened.
Everyone stared at the table for a moment, then Ritsuko said,
"Asuka is correct." She frowned.
"Well, umm, right. Anyway, he is served by a group of beings from
his own world, known as his 'Star Spawn'," Misato said. "We are
code-tagging them as 'Dominions'. He is also served by the race known as
Deep Ones, who appear to be a genetically altered branch of humanity."
Ritsuko took over. "The 'Deep Ones' dwell in underwater cities.
They are amphibian. They can reproduce among themselves, but also
sometimes breed with humanity. This has commonly happened in the past
with isolated maritime communities. This typically ends in some sort of
disaster."
"Like Innsmouth," Asuka said.
"Yes, although at Innsmouth, it was the result of the US military
unleashing destruction on the Deep Ones instead of simple
self-destruction. The main North Atlantic city of the Deep Ones was
destroyed, and their presence in the North Atlantic has been weak ever
since," Ritsuko said. "UN forces will be engaging the Deep Ones, possibly
including firing tactical nuclear warheads into their main South Pacific
city, although we'd like to avoid polluting the ocean with fallout if we
can help it."
Hikari winced in horror, as did Shinji and Touji. Asuka just
grimaced a little, while Rei simply nodded.
"Cthulhu dwells in a sunken city which will rise when it is time
for him to walk the Earth. His coming is heralded in dreams, for his mind
touches the minds of many, and the blood of his people sings in the veins
of many, if only weakly. While the UN military engages his minions, you
will have to fight him, and possibly his two strongest Deep One servants,
Father Dagon and Mother Hydra, who are both Deep Ones about the size of
your EVAs."
"..."
"Deep Ones grow in size very slowly all their lives. A few grow
to vast sizes, but most die before they reach that size. And they live
virtually forever."
"Damn," Touji said. "Can they generate AT-Fields?"
"Yes," Ritsuko said. "Though they are weaker than their master.
Probably any one of you is a match for them."
"Shinji, Rei, and Asuka will be engaging Cthulhu," Misato said,
"While Touji takes out Dagon and Hikari drops Hydra. Once they finish
their fights, they can join the other Children for the kill."
"Man, these fuckers just keep coming. We got any idea how many of
them there are yet?" Touji asked.
"Language," Ritsuko said sharply.
"Uh, sorry, Akagi-san," Touji said.
"We are close to the end, or maybe even at the end, if we can
trust ancient prophecies," Ritsuko said. "Given they were all handed down
by crazed worshippers of alien monsters, I expect it would be unwise to
trust them. But there are not an infinite number of the Angels, or as
certain texts call them 'the Great Old Ones.' Unless more come from
space, which I fear is possible, I think we are approaching the end."
"Amen to that," Asuka said. Too bad it couldn't have ended before
Anna got possessed. She felt the bleakness settling over her again and
clutched Shinji's hand like a lifeline. "I just wish it had ended
earlier."
Misato sighed. "Me too. But we're not going to lose any more
people if we can help it. And if we're lucky, this will be our last
battle, at least for a while."
"We have to find Nylarathotep," Asuka said fiercely. "And make
him PAY."
"That may be beyond our resources," Ritsuko said. "Though I agree
with your sentiment."
"There are these rites, in some of the texts," Asuka began.
"Texts he dictated. Or madmen did. I do not rely on them too
much," Ritsuko said. "As they say 'Do not call up what you cannot put
down.'"
"We can't do nothing!" Asuka said. "You saw what he did to Anna!"
Ritsuko stared at her levelly, and Asuka looked her up and down,
and felt her anger crumble. "I'm sorry," Asuka said, staring at the table
again.
"I know you cared about your friend, but you can't let it make you
stupid," Ritsuko said. "That's what he wants, I'm sure, for us to all
lose control and give in to our instincts. Something will have to be done
about him eventually, but right now, we don't have anything we can do, and
other problems to worry about that we can solve."
Shinji pulled Asuka back to him. "We'll find a way, Asuka, I
promise you."
"I'm not letting any of these bastards off," Misato said. "If I
can help it. But one battle at a time. Ritsuko, please finish your
report."
"Assuming my research can be trusted, which since it is culled
from the rantings of madmen and storytellers, probably it is half-true at
best, Cthulhu is about the size of your EVA units. He is very strong, but
could not survive a boat collision. However, sufficiently heavy impacts
only cause him to discorporate and reform a little later," Ritsuko began.
She turned the page. "He is semi-malleable in form, not a true
shapechanger but able to extend his limbs and fairly rubbery. He has
wings, but reports conflict on whether they work. He attacks both with
the tendrils around his mouth and with his huge clawed hands. He may have
access to various high technology from his world, but we don't have enough
data on that."
"In their final stages, the Xothians integrated bio-technology
into themselves and learned to tap certain fundamental principles of the
universe which resemble magic to those not versed in the physics of it,"
Rei said. "However, our EVA's abilities should enable us to protect
ourselves. Or so I judge from my memories."
"Can you remember anything else useful?" Misato asked.
"It's all very murky and confusing," Shinji said.
Asuka didn't want to open herself to those memories. Not with the
way she felt. She didn't want things in her head that weren't her. Not
if she could end up losing herself as Anna had. She shivered.
"I'll keep thinking about it, though," Shinji said.
"Alright. We leave tomorrow morning, so get yourselves packed.
I'll be refining our plans on the way there. If your remember anything,
let me know," Misato said.
"Does this guy have any vulnerabilities?" Touji asked. "Does he
like hate fire because he lives underwater?"
"It is somewhat unclear," Ritsuko said. "Though he definitely
can't survive collision with sufficiently large boats."
"Maybe we should lure him out to sea, ram a boat into him, trap
the mist," Touji said.
"Possible," Misato said. "But he may well be smart enough not to
follow. Or his minions may keep any boats at a distance. But I will
consider it further."
"You sure he doesn't hate fire? I can do fire," Touji said.
"Your enthusiasm is appreciated," Misato said, smiling a little.
"Okay, everyone, go get packed and be ready at 0800 hours in the morning.
We're moving out."
******************
The sound of basketballs bouncing on hardwood floor echoed in the gym,
Touji dribbling a few times as he measured the distance. Shinji stood by
the basket, waiting for Touji to shoot. This had become a ritual for
them, something to take the edge off their nerves before the big battles.
Touji pulled up at the free throw line and took his shot.
-swish-
"Still got it," he said, allowing himself a slightly smug grin.
"Too bad we don't have a basketball team anymore," replied Shinji,
dribbling the ball out to the three point line.
"Yeah, well, one of these days, man, one of these days." He moved
to the basket, waiting for Shinji's shot. "We're almost there, man."
"There?" Shinji stopped dribbling and pulled up for a shot, but
took a long time measuring it.
"Yeah, there. The End, man. I can feel it, Shinji. If we can get
by this one, that'll be the end of it. No more sucking on black goo. No
more giant robots. No more military bases. We can go back to being,
well, normal."
Shinji took his shot. It bounced hard on the back of the rim, bounced
around teasingly several times, then finally dropped in. Touji caught it
and dribbled out to the right corner.
"As normal as we can get, anyway," said Shinji.
"We'll go back to normal," Touji firmly repeated. With his back to the
basket, he spun to his right, floating in the air with his jump shot
releasing smoothly.
-swish-
"Normal school, normal life, normal trips into town, normal dates," Touji
continued. "Hm. Okay, maybe not normal for you. In a way, I envy ya,
and in a way, I don't."
"Huh?"
"Two chicks, Shinji! It's every man's dream to get it on with two girls
at the same time, and you heard Rei, she's into 'sharing' ya."
Shinji turned bright red and lost the ability to speak coherently.
"Gotta admit, Rei's been actin' a little more human lately, she's
got a cute face and a nice bod, so it's all good if you can live with the
personality." He took his shot.
-swish-
"Then again, you can say the same thing about Asuka."
"Hey!" Shinji dribbled the ball out to the top of the three point
line, then took a long look at the basket.
"So you gonna do it or what?"
"Hold on, you know I can't shoot it fast like you."
"Ain't talking about the basketball, man."
"Then what?"
"The girls, man! The girls!"
"No!"
"C'mon, man, live out the dream!"
"No!"
Shinji took his shot. The ball's arc was flat, and the shot rattled
loudly as it went in. Touji took the ball and started walking to the left
corner, when the sound of the gym door creaking open caught their
attention.
Asuka poked her head in. "So this is where you guys went."
Touji screamed, "Aaaah! Girls on the court!
Asuka rolled her eyes as she entered the room, followed by Hikari.
"Grow up, Suzuhara," said the red-head.
"We can be here if we want," said Hikari firmly.
"But babe! It's the MEN'S court! It's... it's... it's a GUY
place! It's wrong!"
"Touji!" barked Hikari.
"But honey!"
She glared at him. He sighed and tossed the basketball to her.
Hikari dribbled awkwardly to the free throw line, her inexperience
painfully obvious to all, and she threw up an awkward shot that rattled in
the rim teasingly before flying out the left side. Before the boys could
move, Asuka zoomed in and caught the ball in the air and dunked it in, all
in one smooth motion.
"Wow, that was great!" said Hikari.
"Wow," agreed Shinji.
"The kinda brute strength I'd expect outta a violent chick like
her," added Touji.
Hikari glared. "TOUJI!"
"So what's going on?" asked Shinji, deciding to steer the
conversation through hopefully safer waters.
Asuka absentmindedly dribbled the ball. "Just nervous, I guess.
So I looked for Hikari, and we talked a bit, and we wanted to be with you
guys, so we just kinda looked around and got lucky."
"Blood calls to blood," said Rei.
Asuka nearly screamed and stumbled. The others turned in
surprise, as Rei suddenly appeared in their midst, as if she was there all
this time, and they hadn't noticed until now.
She blinked and looked at them all with a somewhat puzzled look.
"We desire to be together when we are uneasy," she added, then attempted a
shot. It clanged hard off the back iron and bounced out, bouncing back
towards her.
They stared.
She looked back at them, seeming even more puzzled.
"You missed?" asked Shinji.
She looked at the ball rolling at the floor, then the rim, then
Shinji. "Yes," she finally said. "Should I try again?"
"Um, sure."
She picked up the ball, held it in her hands, measured the shot
much as Shinji did, then threw the ball.
Whoosh, nothing but airball.
"Wow, something she don't do well," said Touji.
Rei looked at the others again, with her hard-to-read expression,
then asked, "Teach me how?"
Time flew as the Children lost themselves with just playing, their worries
put aside for the moment. And by the end of it all, even Rei managed to
find her shot.
******************
Makoto knocked nervously on Akane's door. She had sounded pretty
worked up and secretive on the phone. This sort of thing never ended
well. He hoped she hadn't decided to dump him and move to Tibet and
become a monk or something.
She answered the door in an odd pink dress; it was rather nice,
but also very formal and very modest. It struck him as something Asuka
might wear to a date, or Hikari, not Akane's usual style. However, her
grabbing him and pulling him into a very intimate kiss was more her style.
When she then let go of him, she said softly, "Come in," I have
something to tell you."
He stepped inside, then closed the door hard behind him as she
twined herself about him. As he did this, they heard another door open,
down the hallway.
Akane sighed. "Stupid place, you open one door and another shuts.
Close one..." She rolled her eyes. "I have something to tell you,
but..." She licked her lips nervously. She stared at the floor for a
moment.
"Good? Bad?" he asked, holding her in his arms.
"Makoto...do you love me?" she asked softly.
He froze up for a moment. She was always so hard to read. This
could be a prelude to 'I love you too' or a 'You've gotten too attached to
me, go fuck Misato' or just her panicking or... He decided to be honest.
"Yes, I love you," he said softly.
"But you love Misato, don't you?"
"In the way of loving someone who doesn't love you back, yes," he
confessed. "She thinks she wants me now, but I think she's just lonely."
He began to stroke her hair. "I love you."
She rested her head on his shoulder. "I try not to fall in love
with anyone," she said softly. "It just leads to pain, and most guys get
boring eventually. I don't know...I don't know if I can be the kind of
girlfriend you probably want, but I think...I think I love you."
He kissed her gently. "I suppose this is a bad time to tell you I
leave for the South Pacific tomorrow and may not be back a while." He was
greatly regretting it now.
"I have to...we have to..." She tried to pull herself together.
"There's things I have to tell you and...I just...I can't think straight."
"Well, let's sit down and we can talk about everything, okay?"
"I want...I want you to make love to me," she said. "Just in
case...I mean...please." Her hands were roaming up and down his back
almost frantically.
"Alright," he said. "Let's make love and then we can have our
true confessions."
She nodded. "Yes." She took him by the hand and led him to her
bedroom. Things are looking up, she thought. All will be well. It had
to be, right? He loved her. He would believe her, and they'd tell NERV
and she would be safe, and it would all work out. Like in one of her
novels.
The wiser part of her mind told her that her novels were
deliberately unrealistic so people would buy them to escape reality, but
she ignored that part of her mind. She didn't want to be realistic. She
wanted to be loved and to confess and to be safe.
It was all going to work out, wasn't it? It always did in
stories. She wished she believed in a god she could pray to for help, but
the only one she was sure existed wasn't very friendly. Please, keep him
out of my dreams, she told the universe, praying in the hopes something
friendly was listening. I'm doing the right thing for once. I'll be
good.
Please.
The universe made no reply. Nor did the shadows.
******************
In an unusual move, Touji wore his plugsuit outside of work. To be exact,
he was wearing his plugsuit at the hospital, standing in front of his
sister and feeling terribly embarrassed. He wasn't really sure she was
seeing him, drugged up as she was. She was looking at his general
direction, though, so he was hopeful.
"Well, sis, here's the work outfit. Wanted you to see it at least
once." He scratched his head. "I know, it's kinda dorky, but... yeah."
Her head moved slightly in reply.
"This is it, sis. The eggheads are tellin' us the fighting might
be over, if we can just win this one. So hang in there, okay? I'm
fightin' for ya, sis. Wish me luck."
Her mouth spoke words, though barely audible. Touji leaned down to
listen.
"Goodbye," was what she whispered. And then she closed her eyes, drugs
and sleep taking her away once more.
******************
Asuka focused her will, honing all her frustration and anger into
a thin beam of highly intense flames. The ends of the two pipes melted,
then fused together as she touched them to each other. She smiled at it
grimly. I suppose I can take up a career as a spot welder when all this is
done, she thought, trying to not think about things past.
"Impressive," Dr. Himmelfarb said.
Asuka started. "Oh, hello, Frau Doktor Himmelfarb."
"I see you've attained some fine control." Her voice was very
calm, and Asuka wondered if she was trying to hide fear. She could sense
people's emotions more easily, if she could remain calm enough herself to
see past her own.
Asuka wrote her name and Shinji's in the air with flames and
surrounded it with a burning outline of a heart, then focused on keeping
it steady. "Yes," she said softly. "I don't want to risk hurting anyone.
But it's hard to stay calm when..." She could feel her self-control
cracking again and she banished the flames. "Everything."
Dr. Himmelfarb stared at the ground for a minute, then nodded and
walked over to her, putting a hand on her shoulder hesitantly. "I miss
Anna too."
Asuka shuddered, then put a hand on Dr. Himmelfarb's hand and
began to cry. "I miss her so much. Why did it have to happen this way?
WHY?"
"It just did," Dr. Himmelfarb said. "I don't know if there is a
God or not, but I prefer to think there isn't, as if there is, he's a sick
bastard. Sometimes, bad things just happen, and all we can do is to try
to help each other through them." She sighed. "Not what you want to
hear, I'm sure."
It wasn't. She wanted to believe in God and Heaven and that He
was watching over them, but she hadn't seen much evidence of Him existing
lately. How could HE let something like that happen to Anna? But if
there was no God, if the Outer Gods were the closest thing to the Divine
there was...she couldn't bear that. She didn't want to live in a universe
like that, ruled by an blind idiot nuclear chaos at the center of it all,
surrounded by mindless dancing gods. The universe couldn't be like that!
It couldn't!
She only realized how much she was crying when Dr. Himmelfarb
hesitantly pulled her into an embrace. She wept flaming tears that didn't
burn Dr. Himmelfarb. Instead, they shaped themselves into tiny angels of
flame that began to circle around them. She couldn't stop crying.
The angels circled around her, then began to spiral upwards into
the night. She sobbed until she had no more tears, then simply shook in
Dr. Himmelfarb's arms. "She was my best friend," Asuka finally managed to
say. "She has to be...I mean..."
"There is nothing you can do for her now," Dr. Himmelfarb said
sadly. "But you've still got your boyfriend and your friend Hikari. And
Rei and Touji too. They'll stand by you. And I will too."
Shinji, she thought. Suddenly, Asuka felt guilty that she hadn't
been there for Shinji, all wrapped up in herself while his Father was
dead. "I...I should go see Shinji."
"I'm sure he would love to see you."
She hugged Dr. Himmelfarb tightly. "I'll see you later, okay?"
"Good luck, Asuka," she said, giving Asuka a final squeeze. "Have
fun with your boyfriend." She did her best to smile reassuringly.
Asuka ran off to find Shinji. He was in his room, lying on his
side on the bed, listening to music through his headphones. He didn't
notice her approach, until she bent down and embraced him. He started,
then took the headphones off.
"Hi, Asuka," he said softly.
She kissed him fiercely, pressing him down onto his back as she
kneeled over him, then dropped down onto him to simply wrap herself around
him. He stiffened, then relaxed, embracing her. Finally, she broke it
off and rolled to one side, lying on her side, arms still around him, with
him on his side facing her. She said softly, "Shinji, I'm sorry."
"Sorry?" he asked in confusion.
"Your father is dead, and all I've done is to just lie around and
feel sorry for myself." She sighed. "You must be hurting as much as I
am."
"I haven't...I just...I can't believe he's really dead.
Especially since...you know..." he said softly.
She knew. She wanted to tell him that he'd see his father again
in Heaven, but even if her own faith hadn't been wavering, she would have
expected Gendo to burn in Hell for eternity. "He loved you," she said,
not sure if she was lying. "And your mother. And I'm sure he'd want you
to go kill the bastards who killed him."
Shinji shuddered. "He was so...he was..." Shinji's eyes began to
tear up. "I never knew if he cared about me. Sometimes, he could be a
good father, but most of the time, he seemed to want me to go away."
Shinji needed something to believe in, she was sure. She hated
Gendo almost as much as she hated Nylarathotep, but he was Shinji's
father, and Shinji needed something to believe in. And it could be
true...who knew what was inside Gendo's mind, anyway? "I'm sure he loved
you. And that he was very proud of you."
Shinji began to sob, and she pulled him close and held him as he
sobbed without words. His tears formed into little spiders which began to
scuttle away, and she did her best to ignore them. She began to cry as
well; or tried to. They sobbed silently together for a while, until the
emotional storms passed.
Finally, Shinji said, "Don't die. Please."
"I won't," she said, kissing his cheek. "We'll make calamari out
of this bastard. And then, maybe, it'll all be done."
Shinji said, softly, "It's all going to be okay, right?"
"Of course it is," she said with a confidence she didn't feel.
"It's going to be fine. We're going to kick his ass, and all come back
and...have cookies."
Shinji laughed a little at that. "I want to think it's almost
over, but I just...we can't know for sure."
She sighed. "I know. We may be doing this thirty years from now.
But I hope not."
"I remember things, sometimes," he said softly. "Like you do."
One of her memories tried to bubble up, of two spiders embracing
in the night. She tried to make herself forget about it, but she
couldn't. None of them had started as monsters. They'd become monsters
to fight monsters, and then lost control of themselves. That was what the
Outer Gods wanted. They wanted people to act on instinct. To abandon
reason and revel in madness. She wasn't going to give them what they
wanted. Not if she could help it.
She could feel her instincts rising inside her; they wanted her to
burn away his clothing and hers, to rut with him madly like animals, to
make love until the sun came up. She didn't want to think, not about what
she was doing or had done. She might have succumbed if she hadn't...done
that with Rei. Just thinking about that let her fight off her instincts.
One day...one day she would she would make love to him. But not now. She
was too young, and so was he, and she had a feeling that was what
Nylarathotep wanted.
Also, she wasn't sure how to do it properly.
Instead, she just kissed him, holding him close and taking comfort
in his presence. "Shinji," she said softly. "I love you."
He gulped and kissed her again, then said softly, "I love you too,
Asuka. Don't ever leave me. Please."
"I won't," she said. "Never."
There was a knock on the door. "You two fucking?" Misato shouted
through the door.
"NO!" Asuka shouted.
Misato came in. "Thought I'd come see how you two are doing so I
don't have to watch Makoto get all snuggly with his wh...his girlfriend."
She looked at the two of them. "You sure I'm not interrupting anything?"
"We're too young to have sex yet," Asuka said, trying to tamp down
her desire to do it anyway. "Right, Shinji?"
"Uh, right," he said, slightly dazed.
"Well, I didn't have sex until I was sixteen, and I wish I hadn't.
Not with that slut of a man." Misato shook her head. "So you're probably
better off waiting. And never, ever have sex when you're drunk. You'll
regret it."
Misato came over and sat down on the bed. "Jesus, I want to get
drunk."
"You shouldn't use Jesus' name like that," Asuka said
disapprovingly.
"Yes, mother," Misato said, then laughed a little.
"You're much better without beer," Shinji said.
"I wish I felt that way," Misato said. "But I can't just go get
drunk. I'm not in college any more." She sighed.
"Katsuragi-san," Asuka said softly. "Are you feeling lonely?"
"Yes, dammit," Misato said. She sighed. "I'd talk to Ritsuko,
but she's busy with Maya. I expect...man, I guess some people's love
really can overcome anything." She shook her head. "I've never had a
love like that." She slumped a little.
"I don't know what I would do," Asuka said. "But being a monster
myself, I'm in no place to complain."
"You're not a monster," Misato said sharply. "And neither is
Ritsuko. I can't...It's kind of creepy to look at her, but...dammit,
she's my friend. She doesn't deserve this." She sighed, and fingered her
pendant. "There's got to be some way to cure her, dammit."
"We'll find a way," Shinji said. "Somehow. If I can..." He
shuddered. "Cry spiders, then I ought to be able to help her somehow."
Misato's eyes widened for a moment, then she pulled herself
together. "You cry spiders?"
"I was, earlier," he said, squirming a little.
She made herself put a hand on his shoulder. It was all starting
to creep her out, but they deserved better. "You're still Shinji to me."
"Katsuragi-san, I..." Shinji tried to figure out what to say. "I
trust you."
"I trust both of you," Misato said. "We're going to beat this
thing. We're going to save the world, even if it doesn't know if it can
trust us any more. You'll both be remembered as heros."
"I just...Part of me wishes...I just..." Asuka could hardly speak
either.
"I wish it could have been different for both of you," Misato said
softly. "Father and I often didn't get along; I hated how he was always
gone. I was so proud when he took me with him on one of his trips, but
then he had the gall to go and die." She shook a little. "I can't tell
you the pain will go away completely. But it will fade, in time. All I
have left of him is this." She fingered her pendant. "I don't know what
happens to the dead. But I know that he lives on inside me, if no where
else."
Shinji nodded. Asuka said softly, "Thank you."
Misato shuddered. "I want...dammit, I need a man." She rubbed
her forehead. "Sorry, you two shouldn't have to worry about that."
Asuka felt sorry for her. "There's got to be..." She sighed.
"I'm sorry."
Misato got up. "Try not to get too noisy tonight. I have to
sleep."
"I told you, we're not having sex!"
"Uh huh."
"We're not!"
Misato said, "It's probably better if you don't, but I'm in no
position to tell anyone not to have sex. Anyway, goodnight, both of you."
"Goodnight," Asuka said.
"Goodnight," Shinji said.
And then she was gone. Asuka said nervously to Shinji, "I'm
just...I'm not ready. Though part of me, kind of wants to."
He nodded. "I understand. It kind of scares me thinking about
it. But it also..."
"Yeah." She kissed him and let go. "Sleep tight, boyfriend.
I'll see you in the morning."
"Sleep tight," he said softly. He wanted to ask her to stay,
wanted to take her clothing off her, wanted to do...something. He sort of
knew how it was supposed to work, but he wasn't really sure how to do it
the right way, though he sometimes imagined it was her hands, not his,
stroking him, when he jacked off. Her soft lips around his manhood, him
erupting into her, instead of into his hands or the toilet or toilet
paper.
Sometimes the images where crazier, her as a roaring angel of
fire, all around him, while he was the metal angel who could not burn,
plunging into the flames with impunity. Her moaning with pleasure as he
caressed her with six limbs. His body full of...no, he wouldn't think
about such things.
He pulled his hand out of his pants desperately. He didn't want
to masturbate, not any more, not after the last time. He was almost
afraid to spit for fear of what his drool would become, let alone
the...thing...which had formed from the last time he'd dared to
masturbate. It had died, thankfully, a mishapen winged spider-snake thing
with legs like a deformed toad, a tiny little creature.
But he couldn't fight it forever. It was worst when he tried to
sleep. Most of the day, he had other things on his mind, but there was
not much else to think about except Asuka when he was trying to sleep.
Those times when he wasn't busy crying over his father.
He tried to make himself think of his father, in hopes it would
get his erection to die down. But he'd already cried himself out over his
father earlier. He laid in bed, music in his ears from his headphones and
tried to zone out, but his mind kept spiraling back to Asuka. All his
body longed for her, even though he wasn't even sure how it all should
work.
He focused on that, wishing he'd paid attention the time Kensuke
had tried to show them porn. But he had been too embarrassed. He knew
the basic idea from biology class, but he didn't quite know how it was all
laid out down there.
He got out of bed with the vague idea of finding books on the
subject. The base library was closed for the night. On his way back, he
turned a corner and found Rei, who looked a little worried. "How are
you?" she asked.
"I'm fine," he lied. He wondered how exactly she felt about him.
There were times, he could think she loved him. But with Rei, it was hard
to be sure how she felt about anything.
"Are you sure?" she asked.
"Just fine," he said.
She stared at the floor for a moment, then said hesitantly, "I
miss him too."
He felt like something stabbed at his heart. "Father?" he asked
softly.
"Yes," she said. She stepped a little closer to him.
For a moment, he imagined her doing all the things to him he wanted Asuka
to do, feared Asuka would do. Then he managed to clear his head. "I miss
him very much."
She reached over and took his hand and just held it silently for a while.
Her presence was comforting, and he felt his mind stilling itself.
Finally, he sighed. "I should go to bed."
"Goodnight," she said softly, and watched him go.
He finally managed to get to sleep, and prayed he wouldn't feel the urge
to whack off on the Scimitar. But such prayers were rarely answered.
******************
Dr. Himmelfarb stood on the tarmac, watching the last people
marching onto the Scimitar. She wondered again if it had been wise of
Fuyutsuki to decide to assign a reporter to cover the battle from the base
here. Not that she knew anything bad about Megumi Kunzama, but there was
a grave risk of bad publicity of one kind or another. NERV was in enough
trouble already; there were whispers that the UN would soon cut off their
funding or worse.
They were firing off a salute now, even as it lifted off. She
hoped it would return safely. This 'Cthulhu' didn't seem to have any
flying servants, at least, so they would probably be safe. She prayed
Asuka wouldn't have to endure any more tragedy. She didn't think Asuka
could take another one.
Poor girl, she thought. I wish I could do something for her. But
besides helping to ensure the battle went smoothly, what else could she
do?
Ritsuko said something soft, from her position nearby at the edge
of the tarmac.
"What was that, Doktor Akagi?" she asked. She only half-looked at
Ritsuko; it took an effort of will to look at all, though really, Ritsuko
didn't look all that horrible. There was just something...she didn't know
what.
"Just hoping they kill my damn mother in the process," Ritsuko
said harshly. "This is all her fault."
"Come on, we'd best get back to work," Maya said, taking her by
the arm and leading her away.
Dr. Himmelfarb sighed. Poor woman. But maybe we can cure her if
we finish refining the process we used on the other victims. And Maya was
right. It was time to get back to work.
Work, however, was interrupted by the reporter. "Was she saying
something about her mother?" The sun shone from behind her, like a halo.
It was none of the reporter's business, Himmelfarb decided. "Her
family matters are not your business."
Megumi frowned slightly, but switched topics. "So how have things
gone with two bases worth of people in one base?"
"Crowded."
"I noticed Dr. Akagi's assistant..."
"Is none of your business," Dr. Himmelfarb said.
"Are they..."
"I once broke a man's arm for getting too fresh with me, and he
was twice your bodymass," Dr. Himmelfarb snapped, then regretted it.
Megumi gulped. "I'll go bother someone else."
Dr. Himmelfarb considered apologizing, but decided the woman
needed the lesson. "You go do that."
She watched the woman go, then sighed. That was petty, she
thought. But reporters can be exceptionally annoying. Well, time to go
back to work.
******************
Akane stepped into the shower, letting the hot water wash her
troubles away. Part of her was worried that Makoto was making a mistake,
waiting to tell everyone about what was up with her. But most of her
agreed with him that the King in Yellow or whoever he really was, couldn't
make her do anything. She'd just panicked at him using scare tactics on
her. After all, if he could come into dreams and control people, he would
have taken over the Children long ago, right? Best to wait and tell the
whole story once this battle was over, instead of panicking everyone on
the eve of a fight. Right?
She wished Makoto could bathe with her, but he was gone on the
Scimitar; she was just staying in his quarters. She would be safe here.
Surely the base was safe.
As she scrubbed her arm, she noticed an odd yellow discoloration,
and wondered how she'd bruised herself. It didn't feel tender. The
yellow grew more vivid, and now she realized she had a Yellow Sign tattoo
on her arm. Her eyes widened in horror and she began to scrub it.
But it wouldn't go away. More began to appear, on her hands, on
her shoulders and torso. They were spreading all over her body like a
rash, and all the soap in the world wouldn't make them go away.
Desperately, she ran out of the shower, grabbing a towel, trying
to get her clothing. She would have to go to Fuyutsuki and confess
immediately, before anything worse could happen. I was so stupid, she
thought. I should have insisted, but I wanted to hide because I was
scared they would all hate me.
She looked in the mirror, and saw the man of her dreams looking
back at her, his hood framing the stars of space. The stars moved, and
they became a smile.
A smile without joy or hope, but full of triumph.
It was too late to scream.
********************
Rei found herself sitting behind a school desk, wearing her school
uniform. Classmates waved to her and said 'hi' as they entered the class
and took their seats.
She stared out the window, observing the clear blue skies. The
sakura trees were in full bloom, their pink shower of leaves pretty.
Shinji came in, waved and smiled, then sat at his desk. Asuka came in,
waved and smiled, then sat at her desk.
Rei knew what this was already.
"A dream," she muttered.
"Yes, a dream," she heard her own voice say. "A dream of your
perfect world."
Rei turned to the seat next to her, where another Rei sat. This
Rei had an easy, natural smile, unlike her own, and she seemed relaxed
within her own skin, unlike the awkwardness that Rei was all too aware of
in her own posture.
"Why are you here?" she asked her other self.
"To help give you clarity."
"On what?"
"On what you could have."
"What I could have?"
"On what you deserve."
"What do I deserve?"
Rei shrugged. "Whatever you want, perhaps?"
"I want to be normal."
"Then be normal.
"I do not know how."
"I can help you with that." Rei reached out and touched Rei's
forehead. Then the voices began, unfamiliar thoughts buzzing about in her
forehead. Thoughts of makeup and cooking and cute puppy dogs. Cute
silent crushes on Shinji and jealousy towards Asuka. And maybe a little
crush too. The very worst worry in her head was that of upcoming exams.
And-
"Stop."
She pulled her other self's hand away from her.
"What's wrong? Too much?"
"No."
"Isn't it what you always wanted?"
"Yes."
"So what's wrong?"
"I'm afraid."
She put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed gently. "Don't worry.
I'll be there with you, every step of the way. We can make this world
perfect. All you need to do is reach out with your power and make it so.
We are gods, after all."
"It would not be right."
"Think so?"
"Yes."
Rei put a finger on her lips and looked thoughtful. "You're
right. Why should we restrain ourselves? We restrain ourselves within
this form we believe normal, but we always feel awkward within it. We're
Gods, we should be free to express ourselves as such."
The world around them melted away, and she found herself standing
upon a cliff overlooking the ruins of a city overrun by wildly growing
jungle. Strange music filled the air, as did unknown winged creatures,
whose silhouettes darted across a red moon. Rei felt her human shape torn
asunder by the endless forms within her, and the impulse to roam wild and
free seized her. She was the legs of wolves running across the plains,
the fins of fish beneath the waves, the wings of an indescribable goddess
in the sky.
She looked down upon the earth and saw humans scurrying out from
the remains of civilization, looking upon her form with awe and worship.
They fell to their knees and bowed to her.
"Free of all restraint. Free to act upon all your impulses. You
can be yourself, and accepted by everyone. Embrace that which stirs
within you, and take your rightful place as deity among these mortals."
Rei looked down upon the earth, then at her other self flying
alongside her.
A world where she belonged.
Why not?
It would be so easy.
Too easy.
"I follow the path set before me by Gendo. I will not waver."
"But why?!" her other self argued. "What good was that path?! He
lies dead and you march towards your own destruction!"
"I will listen to you no more. Goodbye."
Rei closed her eyes, and her paradise fell to the darkness and
serenity of sleep.
************
Something wasn't quite right at the church service. But Asuka
wasn't sure what the problem was. It was just that typically, the
services did not make her skin crawl. Maybe it was the minister. There
was something about his voice. He said all the right things, yet he
seemed to almost sneer it. Almost.
But there was something comforting about it all none the less.
She prayed almost desperately, trying to clear her mind of all the clutter
that now filled it up, ignoring the voices in the back of her head which
were drifting away to memories of their own religious services.
Finally, she got in line with everyone to march up for communion.
She got most of the way up before she noticed that everyone who took
communion seemed to be leaving instead of sticking around. And there was
something odd about them. She began to get a sinking feeling in her
stomach.
Still, she stayed in line, sure that she was probably imagining
things. It was only when the communion wafer looked more like a piece of
sausage than a piece of bread that she froze and took a good look at the
priest.
He was pale and blonde haired, tall and thin. The priest looked
back at her, smiling. "Don't you want the body of Christ, little girl? I
died on that cross for everyone, you know."
The world seemed to freeze in place. "But it...it..." It was a
piece of meat.
"Did you think I was made out of bread? I was a human being after
all. Eating my flesh is something that never bothered you before." He
cocked his head slightly. "The time has come to remove the masks, and let
all see the truth. Why bother with ritual symbolic cannibalism when you
can have the real thing? Don't worry, it's been cooked. Raw meat is too
dangerous, after all. And my blood is strictly disease-free."
Asuka stepped back in revulsion. "Is this some kind of sick
joke?"
"The new age is upon us, my child," he said, his voice kindly.
"So long as humanity kept up its mask of civilization over the animal
within, I went along with it, letting you all indulge your hunger for
flesh in ways you found socially acceptable. Bread and wine took the
place of the bloody sacrifices you once gave me. I am a kind, loving god,
after all. And there was something endlessly amusing about the way in
which so many of you never thought about what you were doing. You eat of
me, as I will one day eat of you, when you return to me. We are one body,
one blood, one church." He spread his arms wide. "And now the masks come
off, and we show our true faces, as the animals we are. By my power,
these folk are set free."
Asuka wanted to vomit, but she choked it back. No weakness. She
pointed a finger at him, and her clothing burned away, replaced by her
plug suit. "You can't fool me! You're not the God I worship! You're an
imposter!"
"The God you worship is but another of my masks. I am Legion, one
God with many faces and forms, as many as their are eyes with which to
view me. The Trinity is but a shadow of the truth of my existence, one to
prepare you. Though I admit this is not the form I wore when I walked
among you as the Christ," the man said. He shrank, becoming more muscular
and somewhat swarthier, hairier with dark curly hair instead of a long
blonde mane. His eyes darkened from blue to brown, and now he wore a
hammer tucked into his belt.
"It was more like this. I become all things to all men, that they
might come to the truth, and as I was a Jew, I walked as a Jew. It
pleases me, when every nation depicts me as one of their own, for it shows
they are closer to grasping the truth." He smiled benevolently.
"Masks...you're Nylarathotep!" Asuka pointed a finger accusingly.
"Among my many names. But I have also been the Christ who you
worship, and many other things beside." He held out the sausage slice
again. "Come, eat of my body and drink of my blood and embrace the
communion of the saints. It is time for us to create the Kingdom of
Heaven, where there is no marriage and all are free of the Law. Where we
will rampage and burn and destroy and rut without limits until the end of
the age. The time of the Law is over, once and for all."
Outside, Asuka could hear rioting, and those behind her jostled
her, eager to come forward and be freed from the shackles they had placed
on themselves. Was this how it would end? Could it be true?
Asuka hesitated, and wondered if it had all been a lie, if
everything she had ever believed in was false, if all of Christianity was
just another cult of Nylarathotep. He certainly had the power to do all
the things which Jesus had done, for he channeled the power of the Outer
Gods. Molecular transmutation, nanomolecular purging of disease and
poison, the enhancement of surface tension, quantum weather control...she
could see how to duplicate the miracles just with the fragmentary
knowledge in her mind stolen from those she slew.
It would be so easy to just let go, to just accept his offer and
surrender to the voices inside her, to her desires. To let Rei take her
again, and Shinji, both of them at once, to make the world their toy. So
easy.
It was so hard to keep fighting, so hard to struggle on when
everything went wrong and so many people died. She had lost her parents,
so many friends, Anna... Pain clutched her heart as she thought about
what had happened to Anna.
"She is one with me now," he said seductively. "You could be one
with her as well. Wouldn't you like to see her again?"
Asuka shuddered. "You took her over, you bastard!"
"She went willingly," he said. "She wanted to be a god, and I
gave her what she wanted. And in the end, all things return to me, for I
am the Alpha and the Omega."
"You ARE NOT GOD!" Asuka shouted frantically, angrily, fearfully.
"You might be Satan, but you certainly aren't the creator!"
"I am all the Creator this universe has," the man replied. "For I
am the Voice of the Outer Gods, from whom all things come and to whom all
things return. I am the mask they wear to bring their gospel to all the
beings who trap themselves in the illusions you call 'reason' and
'civilization'. I bring freedom from the Law, the law which crushes all
beneath it, for there is none good enough to live up to it. All you need
is faith, and I will set you free."
Asuka knew the freedom he brought, the freedom those who now dwelt
within her had once known. The freedom of animals, the freedom to be a
monster. She didn't want that kind of freedom. She didn't. Anything to
the contrary inside her was just the fault of those horrible things she'd
slain. "I don't want your freedom, and I don't want your lies! You're
just making things up!"
"It's the truth," he said. "I will show you."
She closed her eyes, but she couldn't hide, the images burning
themselves into her eyelids. A confused carpenter learning the truth of
his bastard heritage, fleeing to the desert and seeking out a wise man.
His baptism, and the certainty he had sought descending upon him.
Nylarathotep had offered the man, Joshua son of Joseph, a future more
glorious than being an illegitimate son of a nobody in a backwater--he
would be the son of the Living God. Nylarathotep had descended on him
like a dove, and taken up residence inside him.
A period of wandering followed, of miracles brought about by the
higher sciences of the Outer Gods, their powers at his fingertips, through
the mediation of the holy spirit within his mind. For three years, he had
followed the promptings of the voice inside his mind, the voice of
Nylarathotep, until, convinced of his own divinity, he had staged his own
betrayal, that he might manifest his power from the cross itself, for the
destruction of the Romans and the coming of the Kingdom of God. But it
was at this very moment that was to be his triumph that Nylarathotep
deserted him, leaving him to perish, his soul to be swallowed up by the
Outer Gods to whom he had pledged himself.
Asuka shrieked her denial, but it all seemed so real to her, and
so plausible, and she felt despair eating away at her.
Afterwards, Nylarathotep had appeared as Jesus to his disciples,
and set the formation of his church in motion, the church which would
prepare all mankind for the Day of the Lord, the casting off of humanity's
masks and their return to their true nature from which they had fallen so
long ago, when they had eaten of the fruit of knowledge of good and evil
and, revulsed by their own faces, had put on masks to hide from the 'evil'
which was their true nature. And now that time had come, the Day of the
Lord was at hand.
Asuka's mind spun round as she tried to deny it all. But she
could see it, it seemed so real. Had everything she believed in been a
lie? Her religion nothing but a tool of Nylarathotep for the corruption
of mankind? Images whirled before her mind, the Crusades, the
Inquisition, the burning of witches, the Holocaust, all the sins done in
God's name. All for this? For the Audient Void?
It was too much for her. She'd never wanted any of this. The
flame washed out of her like a torrent; she heard the people behind her
burst into flames and die, but she didn't care. If this was the world,
she wanted to destroy it. Better that nothing exist, if the Outer Gods
were all there was. Humanity would be better off dead.
Nylarathotep tried to speak, but her flames rushed through him,
charring him to ash in an instant. But he wasn't dead. He would rise
again, she knew, and that knowing infuriated her more.
She gathered her strength. This world would burn. Burn, burn,
burn. If it burned hot enough, maybe she would die herself, and not have
to live in it.
'Would you destroy your friends as well as your foes? Do not be
foolish enough to listen to his lies,' the voice said. 'It is not too
late to turn back.'
She looked around the great ocean of fire which surrounded her.
"Who are you?" she said warily.
'I am the one who sent you and my other Archangels into the world
to protect it in this time of crisis. For the Tribulation is at hand,
when the world will suffer at the hands of the one who comes in mockery of
me. So I sent you all, to take on flesh as I did, to become its
defenders. Not its destroyers. For you are Gabrielle, and your light is
meant to reveal truth, to burn away iniquity, not to destroy the innocent
and the wicked alike. Do you not remember, my daughter?' The voice was
soft, and hard to identify, sometimes like a man, sometimes like a woman.
Asuka shuddered, hesitating, fearing this was just another trick.
"Who are you?" she asked again.
'I am the beginning and the end, the creator of all that is, who
made the worlds and all their pieces. And you are my beloved child,
Gabrielle, one of the leaders of my angels. Remember.' The voice was
full of compassion, and Asuka clung to it like a reed.
There were things...she could remember...flashes of images,
speaking to various people, the words of the Lord. Was that her? Had she
gone before the Israelites as they came out of the land of Egypt, had she
spoken to the prophets? But she was human, wasn't she? She was Asuka,
not an angel. Though she'd rather be an Angel than Asuka right now.
"I can't...it's so confused...who am I?" she asked desperately, as
her mind spun.
"One of my messengers, sent to defend mankind in this age of
Chaos," the voice said louder now, as she opened her ears to its words.
"You will remember all, when the time comes. Just believe in me, as I
believe in you."
Asuka began to cry. She wanted to believe, wanted her powers to
come from something holy, not something foul. But it could all be another
trick. She wanted to believe, but it was so hard, so hard to believe. "I
need...I want to believe, but I just...poor Anna..."
"In the end, all will come to me," the voice told her, whispering
into her ears now. "All will understand, in the long term, and repent,
and come to me, for there is none so foolish as to defy the truth forever.
You will see her again, one day, when she wins free from the lies she
snared herself in. But I need you to take up your arms, and bear my word,
my daughter, for there are many others who will fall to his lies if you do
not go out among them."
"Anna...you mean..."
"The flames of hell are the fires which burn away impurities.
They are your flames, which reveal the truth. The truth hurts, but in the
end, all will be made pure, and the world will be whole, as it once was,
before it fell into shadows and darkness. Will you take up your sword,
Gabrielle, and fight for that truth?"
"He told me..." She shivered and hugged herself. "That he
was...that you..."
"He is the father of lies, for he believes the world he made at my
command is all there is; he has convinced himself that I never existed,
that all that happens is according to his will. But he merely snares
himself within his own illusions; he has blinded himself. But even he
may, one day, be made pure once more. Do not listen to his lies," the
voice said, its voice wavering between a man and a woman again, and
suddenly, Asuka knew those voices, the voices of her parents.
"I am your father and your mother; they were the vessels by which
you passed into the world of flesh," the voice said. "And now they dwell
with me, waiting for the time when you return. But that time is not yet
come. The world needs you."
It had to be true, she realized. Satan... Nylarathotep... could
make up anything, make her see anything, fill her senses with lies. That
was part of his power, his dominion over the world of the senses.
Everything he had shown her, just a lie. He had tried to make her forget,
forget her true self.
It all welled up within her now. Raphael, Uriel, Ariel, Michael,
Bodiel, herself--Gabrielle--had been sent down to usher in a new Age, to
bring mankind through the Tribulation into a new Millenium. But they had
lost themselves when they took on flesh, and now Bodiel had paid the
price, lured by the lies of the Demiurge, Nylarathotep.
So much she couldn't remember, but it was all growing clearer to
her now. The voices in her mind, they were but illusions planted in her
by Nylarathotep, the shadows of now fallen angels, who had betrayed the
trust put in them by their creator, their power now reclaimed to Heaven's
service. In her, their powers would become holy once more. Her power was
holy. It had to be.
She banished the voices, silencing them with her reborn faith, and
stood, drawing her great sword of flame. "I will do my best to protect
this world, my Lord," she said, pledging herself once more. "And to help
the others remember the truth which you sent us to champion." She felt a
new strength.
"Then awaken," her father told her. "Rise up," her mother told
her. "And sin no more, but walk in the light of love."
Love. It filled her heart, washing away her fears. "I go now,"
she said, and brandished her wings, flying away to the waking world to
begin the work of God anew.
************
Stars shone in the distance, but the air was cold all around
Shinji. Looking around, he couldn't see ground anywhere; he seemed to be
in the deeps of space, with nothing about but distant glittering stars.
His wings beat, great black leathery wings; they felt so natural now, as
if he had always had them. Slowly, he turned himself around, trying to
see if there was something, anything worth looking at.
A distant glow attracted his attention; a great nebula slowly spun
in the distance, with lesser nebula spinning around it, and tiny dots
which he guessed might be planets or comets or something. There was a
distant noise like a heartbeat and the softest of sussurating wind sounds.
He began to move towards it, now noticing great glowing filaments which
drifted through space forming an extremely diffuse cloud around the
distant nebulas. The heart of each nebula was aflame, he could see now,
shining brightly.
Shinji drifted a little closer, and the sounds on the wind became
music, discordant. He could feel it tugging at him, though it sounded
horrible, like people with no musical talent at all. He got out his own
violin and tried playing the tune they were playing, but quickly realized
the awfulness was inherent in the tune itself. And he was drifting
closer.
He tried playing over the noise, and the drifting ceased as he
drowned it out with sweet music. He played for a while, then stopped, as
his arms started to get tired. As he did so, he began to drift towards
the sound again, so he resumed playing, harder this time. Wrapped in a
wind of pleasant notes, he pushed away from the distant nebulae.
Eventually, he had to stop to rest, only to find himself starting
to be tugged back again, though he couldn't even hear the music
consciously. But he could feel it.
"There is no escape," a man's voice said. "The civilization you
use to try to cover up humanity's true nature is only a veneer, and the
call goes on, calling you to your true selves."
Shinji turned and saw the man. He was dark-skinned and noble in
mien, dressed like an ancient Pharoah, crook and staff in his hands.
Behind him, a procession slowly moved along, bearing a coffin fit for a
Pharoah, slowly drifting with the discordant song towards the distant
nebulae. A dozen images flickered through Shinji's mind, from a huge
albino spider to an opalescent squid-like creature. Each of the images
looked horrific to Shinji, yet at the same time, something inside him
found them to be quite normal and pleasant, unlike the other images.
"So close," the man said softly, then louder, he said, "The call
of the daemon sultan Azathoth can be deferred, but it cannot be denied.
All things come from him and to him all things return. Ashes to ashes,
dust to dust."
The Pale Walker. The Whisperer in Darkness. The Dark Sailor.
Dozens of names flickered across Shinji's minds as the voices which lived
within him now identified the being who stood before him. The Voice of
the Outer Gods, their Soul, Nylarathotep. He had as many forms as there
were species of creatures in all the universe, for to each, he could come
as their own kind, or as the things they feared most. He was the hawk who
chased the mice, the wolf who hunted the deer, the kzeergi who stole the
eggs of the dsaah.
"I'm just dreaming," Shinji asserted.
"That you are," he said. "Dreams reveal the truths we would hide
from. But you don't need a dream to feel the call. Can't you feel it?
The call of the Sea King is strong, but his song is but a faint reflection
of this song."
The funeral procession was moving on, as was Shinji. He was torn
between his desire not to get any closer to the distant nebulae, his
curiosity as to what was going on, and his fear of turning his back to the
Black Pharoah. He could feel the call. "I don't feel anything," he lied.
"Well, if you want to miss your father's funeral, that is your
business."
"WHAT?" Shinji stared at the coffin in shock.
"All souls come forth from the Daemon Sultan, as do all things,
and when you die, they return to him, to be devoured, used as the raw
stuff of which new ones are made. That is what awaits all. The Buddhists
were right, you see."
Shinji had never paid much attention to religion. Shinto,
Buddhism, Christianity, Islam...they were all blurs to him. He had a
vague idea of some differences but it had not been something he had put
much of his thought into it, though it now struck him that Asuka would
probably want him to learn more about Christianity, as she would no doubt
want him to join her in Church visits and so forth if they continued to
date. "I don't remember them talking about being eaten by Azathoth,"
Shinji said. "And what is this about Father?"
"The soul is but an illusion, an ephemera spat forth by Azathoth,
that returns to him when it has served its purpose, the purpose of all the
universe, for all this world exists for his amusement. You are but a mask
he wears to compete against other of his masks, in the great story he is
telling himself to while away eternity," the Black Pharoah said, sounding
almost kindly. "Your father has played his part, and now he is dead, and
he returns to the maw of Azathoth to be devoured and reborn."
"I thought it was Shub-Niggurath who devours her children and
gives birth to them again," Shinji said, surprising himself and wondering
how he knew that.
"They are all one," the Black Pharoah said, walking along with
Shinji and the procession. "And I am one with them. They seem
separate...you and I seem separate only because you cannot see to the
highest level, where there is only the One, of whom Azathoth, and I, and
you and every blade of grass are but a part. This is the secret of the
Buddhists and of the more philosophical sorts of Hindus, that all the
world is but an illusion, a game, and only by escaping the illusion and
uniting ourselves with Brahma, with the world-soul, can we be free of it
and of the sorrow it brings."
"But what does Father have to do with this?" Shinji asked
stubbornly.
"Your Father pledged himself to the Outer Gods, seeking to use
their power against them, to run a con game on them. He might have
succeeded without me; they are all blind idiots, who obey the primal laws
set forth by the World-Soul. A cunning thief may indeed walk among the
Gods for a time, using them to achieve his goals. But now his soul
belongs to them, and they will devour him. Thus will he be reunited with
the World-Soul and he will know peace."
"He'll be destroyed!" Shinji said in horror.
"He brought it on himself. But it doesn't matter; he will have
peace and be united again with the World-Soul, escaping this world of
pain. Isn't that for the best?"
"NO!" Shinji said, feeling himself getting angry. "I'm not going
to let you throw Father's soul down the gullet of the Daemon Sultan!" He
drew upon his powers, preparing himself for a fight. It was easier; he
felt stronger here, could feel the power flowing into him.
And then he realized he was drawing power from the discordant
music, and the more he drew, the closer he drifted to the still thankfully
distant Azathoth. He froze, unsure what to do.
There was an edge to the Black Pharoah's voice. "Do you
understand now? If you fight fire with fire, you become fire. You walk
your Father's path to the same end. You too will be devoured by the
Daemon Sultan, when you die, for his fingers are in your souls."
"No!" Shinji shouted desperately.
"Serve willingly, and that death and dissolution will be long
deferred. Defy us, and it will come quickly. Serve, and we can restore
your parents to you," the Black Pharoah said, almost purring. "For death,
too, is just an illusion, that can be undone if the master magician so
desires."
Shinji froze; paralysis came to him naturally anyway, and this was
worse than usual. "You're lying," he said desperately.
"I am not. Your mother could be released from her prison, your
father returned to life, one happy family."
Shinji frowned. "Her prison?"
"She was devoured by Rei's EVA unit," Nylarathotep said. "Your
father...one of the great driving forces of his life was his hope to
rescue her from it. He was willing to risk everything for it. I could
extract her any time I desire. I merely have not desired it."
Shinji tried to think. It had to be a trick,
but..Mother...Father...he couldn't just abandon them. He couldn't. The
music wouldn't stop, and he was drifting, drifting. He would have to do
something soon.
Grab Father and try to run. Even if it risked more of a hold of
the Daemon Sultan. What else could he do? He called up the power and
zoomed at the procession, even as Nylarathotep began to laugh. To his
surprise, Nylarathotep just watched him zoom over, battering aside the
animal-headed beings who bore the coffin. He seized it and took to the
air, flying away as fast as he could.
But he could hear Nylarathotep's voice. 'You'll have to wake up,
some time...'
He ignored that and flew on, fleeing as far away from the Daemon
Sultan as he could, not looking back.
***********
Touji was having one of those dreams again, where Kensuke was
still alive and they'd talk about stuff. At least, that's what he thought
it was going to be. It was him and Kensuke on the swings, just like old
times.
"Hey man, how goes?" he asked.
"I'm doing alright, but I'm not Kensuke."
Touji stared at him. "Huh?"
"I'm known by many names. The Black Pharaoh, the Crawling Chaos,
the God of the Bloody Tongue, the Green Man, the Wailing Writher, the
Blind Ape of Truth, the list goes on. But for our discussion today, you
can just call me Nyarly."
Touji got off of his swing and took a wary step back. "So why're
ya looking like Kensuke and why are you here?"
"Well, see, if I showed you my true form, it'd break your puny
mind."
"So yer that ugly?"
"Very funny. Do you want to hear this explanation or not?"
"Sorry, sorry."
"We are 'here' because I wanted to make you an offer you shouldn't
refuse. Normally, this involves elaborate dreamscapes showing you your
heart's desire, then subtly persuading you to think this is what you
really wanted, on your own. However, such subtlety, I feared, would go
over your head. So I'm here to tell it to you straight."
"Oh, I get it. You're Satan trying to get me to sign over my
soul, or something."
The Kensuke apparition hmmed, swinging on the swing. "I suppose
that would be somewhat accurate."
"Not selling you my soul."
"Well, it's not exactly your soul I'm after."
"Not givin' it."
"Rather, I'd like you to work for our side."
"And your side is?"
"The side NERV has been fighting against all this time."
Touji crossed his arms. "Now why the hell would I work for you
creeps?"
"Well, let me count the reasons. One, I can heal your sister.
Two, I can bring Kensuke back to you. And three, you are all doomed in
the coming battle. This isn't just going to be the monster of the day,
this is going to be an entirely different fight. You are all going to
die, unless you see things my way."
"Oh, I'm supposed to believe we're gonna be beat just cause you
said so?"
"I'd tell you how, but that would be spoiling things."
"Whatever."
"It's not like working with us will be unpleasant. You're a God
after all. You'll be ruling over the humans, along with your friends.
Rulership isn't so bad. And why not you? Look at the world. Do you
think the current world leaders are doing a great job?"
"I don't really pay attention."
The Crawling Chaos facepalmed. "No, of course you don't. Well,
I'll enlarge your penis."
"WHAT?!"
"Sorry, your mailbox was full of those ads. I figured it'd be
something that might interest you."
"I'm just fine the way I am."
"Whatever you say." Nyarly jumped off the swing, then dusted off
his pants. "Look, my offer stands, up until the bitter end, okay? So
when you're face down in the dirt and your friends are all dying around
you, keep me in mind. Just say the word and you'll be saved, your friends
will be saved, your sister and Kensuke will be saved, and everything will
be alright."
"You're still not taking my soul."
"Seeya later, boy."
And then Touji had better dreams.
*******************
Touji would come around in time, he was sure. The Walking Man
stepped back and studied the tableaux he had set up. Hikari wanted her
family back desperately. Surely she would do anything to have them back.
Outside, there was the sound of traffic. He paused for a moment,
having not remembered to make that noise. Then again, dreams tended to
supply their own details.
He paced around the setting, checking each of the dream shapes.
One of the things which could most easily go wrong in this sort of thing
was if someone suddenly spotted needle tracks on their grandmother because
your mind wandered. He'd lost Norton all those years ago because of
putting the wrong sister in the man's dreams.
Never again.
The traffic got louder, and he frowned. Too much noise would not
be conducive to tempting her. He concentrated, but the sounds didn't get
any quieter.
He walked to the front door and went out into the lawn. Cars were
drifting by, but one car was making especial noise--an eighteen wheeler.
He wondered why Hikari's mind would imagine an eighteen wheeler in a
suburban neighborhood. But he didn't waste much time on it. He reached
out with his mind to erase it.
Instead, it kept coming, and now it was speeding up. The truck
had a ludicrous green mask on the grill; for a moment, he wondered if it
was her nightmare of him-there was a hint of night terrors in its crazed
expression. He reached out more firmly, and tried to erase it.
Instead, his mind skidded off an AT-field, even as the truck moved
up another gear. It was barreling down the road at high speed, yet
somehow hadn't reached and passed him yet. It began to swerve, knocking a
tree down as it began to move onto the sidewalk, and he realized it was
coming for him.
He stared at it, but no one was driving it.
Then every parked car on the street came to life and began to
move.
Towards him.
He reached out, trying to erase the dreams, but his mind slid off
an AT-Field every time. He shoved harder, and the field shoved back.
There was no choice but to cast off this mask and take on a more
powerful form to do battle. He could feel the boiling rage rising as his
frustration grew, the passion that always hid behind his mask of
rationality rising up.
Except that nothing happened when he tried to take on another
form. He was nothing but a human, a human with the mind of a god.
A human with an eighteen wheeler and about two dozen smaller cars
closing in on him.
He turned and ran to the house, but the door had slid shut, and it
was locked and he hadn't thought to take the keys with him.
They were coming across the lawn now, somehow moving at high
speed, lethal speed, yet stalking up like a cat, slowly, savoring the
moment that was coming, the kill.
He turned and tried to smash a window open. It worked and he
spilled through it, feeling his flesh tear and bleed as the glass broke.
The vapid, happy family stared at him shock, and the mother said, "Hey,
you can't just break the window! You're grounded!"
He turned and leaped onto the table, grabbing the young boy, and
hurled him out the window to the cars, praying the sacrifice would buy him
time to figure out what went wrong. Then he began to run for the
backdoor, even as the living room wall caved in and the eighteen wheeler
crashed through it, glass and metal splintering off the insipid, grinning,
purple hooded mask.
He could hear walls smashing behind him, but there was nothing but
his fear; blind fear took him and he ran, ran for the back door. He knew
there had to be one; he had crafted this dream himself. Hadn't he? He
had! It was his shaping! Why was it turning on him? He was a god! A
god!
A crashing sound echoed as the staircase broke due to an eighteen
wheeler hitting it. He threw the back door open and ran into the
backyard, breathing heavily.
Just needed a second to recover, that's all.
And then blinding lights flashed before his eyes.
Two headlights, set to bright, lit up the yard like the noon sun.
It was a fifty seven Chevy, cherry-red, with no driver; The engine
roared, and he read the license plate: YUI-001. He turned to run, and it
went from zero to sixty in half a second. The grill shattered his torso
like a hammer striking glass, and as the lights went out in his eyes, he
saw two lights, small glass circles, flash in the air behind the wheel.
"Do not call up what you cannot put down," a man said.
And then the eighteen wheeler came through the wall, and the life
was crushed out of him.
And then there was only darkness.
*************
Touji ran for the lay up. He got the ball and shot. It rolled
round the rim and went in. The crowd went wild!
And then, suddenly, he was being shaken to pieces.
Touji groaned and woke up. "What the...Hikari?"
She was standing over him, shaking him. "The cars! They're
coming for us! They..." He wondered how she'd gotten into his room on
the Scimitar. Had he locked the door? Maybe not.
"What the hell are you talking about?" he mumbled, rubbing his
eyes. Wait, there had been some movie they'd watched or something. With
cars. In the ship's lounge.
"The..." Hikari suddenly looked embarrassed, and stopped shaking
him; the Scimitar rocked for a moment in the wind, as if echoing her,
before settling down. "Never mind. I had a nightmare."
"Musta been some nightmare for you to get all the way in here
without realizin' it," Touji said, sitting up. "I guess the car horror
marathon was a bad idea."
"Yes," she said firmly. "I...I should go back to bed." Though
she really didn't want to sleep alone after that.
"Be my guest," he said. "You sure you're okay?"
"I...no," she said, sitting down on the bed. "We shouldn't. I
should go back to bed."
"Well, you can stay if you want."
"Misato..." Hikari began.
"I think Misato would cheer," Touji said. "And Shinji's probably
got Rei and Asuka with him as we speak."
Hikari's eyes widened. "You think so?"
"No, not really," Touji said. "He ain't man enough for it."
"Oh, you think it's manly to be unfaithful to your girlfriend?"
she said, frowning.
"No, no, I ain't sayin' that!" Touji protested. "It's just that
it takes a lot of man for two women."
"Especially when you're just a boy." Hikari got up and stormed
out.
Touji sighed. "I wasn't trying to say nothin' about you!" he
shouted after her.
"Goodnight," she said, and went back to her room.
Touji slumped back on the bed. "Women. They just don't listen."
He sighed and tried to go back to sleep, but only dreamed about cars
chasing him, with Hikari behind the wheel of them all.
**********
There was a distant thunder. Hador-Keb, highman of the Village of
Ged, looked up at the sacred mountain, and frowned. Normally, it only
shook once a century. That was part of the sacred lessons-once a century,
the sacred mountain would punish the world for its sins of the last
century; the wicked would perish and the good would escape alive.
But it had poured out the cup of its wrath only fifteen cycles
ago; the land was fertile now, for those who survived. What have we done
to deserve the anger of the gods?, he asked himself as he fled with his
six legs, heading for the village square to call the people together to
flee to the ocean.
Deep within the mountain, the Great Beast of Fire howled his rage,
crashing against the walls of the lava tube, stirring it to a frenzy. The
earth shook and the heavens filled with smoke. The world screamed and
spat forth a great tide of lava, and belched poisonous fumes and a great
rain of ash across the land.
The village perished, buried in lava, choking on ash, before they
could escape.
Not for their sins.
Because they made an easy target.
The Great Beast laughed out its wrath as they perished, screaming
and begging for mercy to the sky, which echoed only with the wrath of the
mountain. Their deaths brought him calm, and he emerged from the lava,
sloughing off his eight limbs and four heads and six mouths, shrinking
away into a form which would drive mad any inhabitant of the planet who
saw it, an unnatural bipedal beast, clad in a sheathe of animal fibers,
with only a single head and only two eyes, like some primitive little
creature swollen to enormous size.
Dusky-skinned like the volcanic rock he walked on, he strode down
the mountain-side, wearing a gleaming headress which showed some coiled
alien beast atop it, like a rope with fangs and eyes at one end.
What few beasts survived came to him, and fed from his hands, for
he was their master, the lord of all things wild and fell. He was the
ender of ages, the bringer of doom, who wiped away civilization, and
restored the rule of the animals.
He cast aside his helmet, revealing dark stringy fibers which hung
from his head, thinly woven, and his sheathe of fibers transmuted itself
to a dark navy blue, taking on a new configuration, and he reached behind
a molten rock and pulled out a briefcase.
They thought they could defy the End of Days. But he would show
them the Beast From the Sea, and he would bring down their petty
civilization, just like all the others. For he could not be slain, not by
them. For he was the Soul of the Outer Gods, their Herald, their Voice.
And that Voice could not be denied. In the end, all things came to him,
whether by choice or by force.
If they would not join the revel, then they would be pulled apart
by the maenids. This was how it worked. How it always worked.
He opened the briefcase and stared at a set of switches. It was
time.
**********
Touji stared out across the ocean with Misato; they were both
silent, lost in their own thoughts. He thought she looked kind of bleary.
"You get hammered last night?" he asked.
They were up on one of the observation decks, looking down from
the Scimitar to the ocean. It was calm and placid far below them, like
some distant blue wall. He wasn't afraid of heights, thankfully. Still,
a high railing made falling unlikely, even if he was leaning on it.
"No," she said sharply, then more softly, said, "I wish. But no.
I slept like crap."
"Bad dreams?" he asked, then wondered if he ought to tell her
about his. Probably it was just some stupid dream from seeing too many
Western devil movies.
"No, I just couldn't sleep well. And I had this feeling like
everyone but me was having sex," Misato said.
Touji laughed. "I ain't."
"Well, at your age, you really shouldn't." She shook her head.
"Touji," Rei said.
Touji almost went over the railing in surprise. He caught himself
and swung back. "Don't DO that."
"Did you dream?" Rei asked.
"Uh, yeah," he said warily. "You too?" She ain't gonna gut me or
something, I hope, he thought.
"He is desperate," Rei said.
"Who?" Misato asked.
"The Herald of the Outer Gods. He would buy us. I am not for
sale," Rei came to the railing and stared out across the water.
"You too, huh?" Touji said. "Yeah, I told him to fuck off." He
paused. "To, uh, go away," he said, looking at Misato.
"Dammit," Misato said. "If he can go around crawling into
people's heads..."
"If who can crawl into people's heads?" Shinji asked.
"The Herald of the Outer Gods," Misato said.
"Nylon...Nyllie...Nylarathotep."
"Speak not the name," Rei said flatly.
Shinji said, "He's going to try to stop us." He shuddered a
little. "He tried...there was this..." He shook his head. "I don't want
to talk about it."
Hikari staggered blearily around the corner, rubbing her eyes.
"Hello, commander," she said. "Shinji, Rei. Touji."
"Hey, you ain't still pissed, are you?" Touji asked. "I didn't
mean sh...mean anything, you know."
She frowned. "It was a really piggish thing to say."
"C'mon, you gonna tell me you'd pass up two cute guys?"
Misato said, "Trying to get Shinji into you two's bed, Touji?"
She smirked a little.
"WHAT?" Touji said.
"I..." Hikari blushed a little. "What I imagine with...I
mean..."
Shinji said, "What's this all about?"
Asuka now came into sight, striding forward confidently to embrace
Shinji and kiss him firmly. Everyone stared, and Misato said, "Well,
SOMEONE is in a good mood."
"I'm in a great mood," Asuka said. "I finally _understand_ all
this."
Misato frowned. That had a bad ring to it. "You mean?"
"It's very complicated," Asuka said, then saw Misato's frown and
other worried looks. "Come on, everyone, I'm not here to announce we're
taking over the world."
Shinji could feel Asuka pressed up against him, and felt himself
starting to get aroused by her presence and her tight half-embrace of him.
He said, "What's the good news, then?" He paused and added, "Dear,"
hesitantly.
"I love you," she said softly, then kissed him. "C'mon, you two
should kiss too," she said, waving her hand to Touji and Hikari.
"What, that's the big revelation? You two have been getting mushy
a lot before just now, you know," Touji said.
"Every moment could be your last," Misato said, looking a little
sad. "I dunno what you two have been fighting about, but it's not worth
it. Pain that doesn't get you anything isn't worth it."
Touji stepped over to Hikari. "Look, I just..."
She grabbed him and swept him into a kiss. Asuka did the same
with Shinji.
Rei looked at them wistfully, and Misato came over to give her a
half-hug. "You'll find a boyfriend too, I'm sure," Misato said. "Lots of
guys like a nice shy woman." Even if she has super-powers and kills
people rather well. Misato stomped on those thoughts. She knew exactly
how Rei was feeling. She whispered to Rei, "I'm a little jealous too."
Rei turned and embraced her silently, holding her very tightly.
Maybe a little too tightly; Misato was reminded of how strong Rei really
was.
Asuka broke off the kiss. "Mmm, good."
Misato asked, "Did all of you have nightmares about the Herald?"
She got a round of assents.
Asuka said, "I didn't fall for his lies."
Misato frowned. "I should talk to Fuyutsuki, I think. He may
have gotten to someone."
"Don't worry," Asuka said. "It's all going to work out for the
best. I can feel it."
"Yeah, it's all going to be okay, right? This is the last one?"
Touji sounded hopeful.
"Yes," Misato said. "Assuming these old prophecies and whatnot
mean anything, it's the end. And even if it isn't, we've beaten them
every time. And this time it doesn't matter what else gets trashed. We
can win. And we WILL. We have to, for everyone who has sacrificed to get
us here."
"For Kensuke, dammit," Touji said.
"Yes, for him and for our parents and families," Asuka said. "But
I think we're going to have to bring the Herald to heel."
"Can we?" Shinji asked.
"He won't give up," Asuka said. "I think, in the end, it's going
to be him or us."
"It will be him," Rei said firmly. She held her hand out, palm
down.
For a moment, everyone stared in confusion, and then Shinji put
his hand atop hers, and Asuka atop his. Hikari placed hers on Asuka and
Touji covered Hikari's.
They stood there a moment, and then Rei looked at Misato. "You
too."
She put her hand atop theirs and said, "It shouldn't have come to
this. You're all kids. You ought to have normal lives. You shouldn't be
out here, risking your minds and your lives. That's what people like me
are for."
Misato licked her lips nervously. "Maybe you're right, and we'll
have to somehow hunt down this Herald. If we can. Maybe we'll spend the
rest of our lives fighting off his monster-gods. But I know I can count
on all of you to fight to the last ditch for humanity. I trust you all to
do the right thing. Whatever may happen to you. We'll find a way to beat
this thing, we'll cure Ritsuko, and we'll all go out and have the peace
we've earned, dammit. Because I refuse to be beaten by any fucking Outer
Gods and their damned little monster-minions. We're going to win,
DAMMIT!"
"Amen," Asuka said fervently. "God will bless our battle."
"Let's hope we have at least one god on our side instead of
sending monsters to kill us," Misato said. "We can use all the help we
can get. Alright, I'm going to go report in to headquarters and make sure
there's no bad news. And see what Fuyutsuki thinks about all this."
"See you," Shinji said.
Touji's stomach rumbled. "Let's get some breakfast."
"Good idea," Hikari said. "We'll fight better on a full stomach."
"Unless it's like swimming," Shinji said.
As they all started back, Touji asked Misato, "It ain't like
swimming, is it?"
"I'm sure we won't fight for quite a while," Misato said. "Go
eat."
"You heard her, there's a command," Touji said. "Let's get some
food."
*******************
"Well, the flight is going well so far," Misato said from the
viewscreen. "The Children had some nightmares, which we're going to have
to look into, but overall, things are going pretty well here. We estimate
we'll arrive at our destination in another eight hours." You could see
the bridge of the Scimitar behind her.
"That's good," Dr. Himmelfarb said. "Everything is fine here; the
Navy reports they are all in position to launch their attack when the time
comes." She was standing on the main bridge, back in Germany. She was a
little nervous about how well all the new bridge staff would do, but they
seemed to be doing fine so far. At least Ritsuko and Maya were
experienced.
"Good. We're out over the ocean now. It's very peaceful."
Ritsuko suddenly froze up, then collapsed at her desk. Dr.
Himmelfarb looked over at her, worried, and hoped it wasn't the mere
mention of the ocean that did it.
Misato looked worried as well. "The...umm...anyway, it's all good
here." She wanted to ask about if anyone had dreamed of Nylarathotep, but
suddenly she was worried whether he might be listening in.
"I'll get her to sickbay," Maya said, helping Ritsuko to stand up
and hobble out the door, leaning on her heavily.
Megumi watched her go, and shook her head sadly, then resumed
scribbling furiously.
"Let me know how..." Misato began, and then there was a loud
explosion behind her. She spun. "What the hell is..."
There was another explosion and the screen turned to static.
Commander Weiss grimaced at the screen. "Ingrid, try calling
people's cell phones. Hopefully, someone will have theirs turned on and
we can get a report if anyone is alive."
Before Ingrid could reply, there was another explosion, this time
on the base. Everything went black.
"Maria," Commander Weiss said to one of the bridge crew, "Go run
down and make sure they can get the auxillary power running."
Maria took off at a sprint; she hadn't been gone long before the
auxillary power kicked in and the cameras came back on. They still
couldn't connect themselves to the Scimitar, and now the security cameras
showed fish-men were pouring through the gates of the compound and
streaming across the grounds.
Ingrid studied the images. "They're coming for us." The outer
defenses had fallen, and the fish-men were swarming over everything in
sight. What few soldiers encountered them quickly died.
"Broadcast this. The base is now on full alert," Commander Weiss
said. "All personnel will retreat according to Plan Beta-Nine. Repeat,
retreat according to Plan Beta-Nine. You know the drills."
"What is Plan Beta-Nine?" Megumi asked.
"We fall back to a defensive perimeter around the airport and
begin to evacuate all non-combat personnel," Commander Weiss said. "Let's
go."
"Have we lost already?" Megumi asked in surprise.
"We may be able to hold if we can get help, but there's no point
in anyone sticking around who can't fight. We can't hold the Bridge, so
best we pull back to what we can defend." I hope, he thought.
************
Retreating was easier said than done. They rounded a corner, only
to have yet another force of Deep Ones leap out of the shadows at them.
Ingrid grabbed one and slammed it to the wall, slicing a knife across its
throat, only to have two more grab her. Three soldiers went down, taking
only two foes with them.
They could hear gunfire echoing across the base.
Megumi threw her camera at one of the ones holding Ingrid; it took
the metal box in its eye and lost its grip. Ingrid reversed the other
one's hold and lifted it high into the air, then brought it down on her
knee. Megumi heard bones break.
Another one leaped at Megumi, but Dr. Himmelfarb shot it in the
face and it collapsed.
They charged onwards, only to round another corner too quickly,
resulting in Commander Weiss taking a spear in the throat and collapsing
in a pool of his own blood. A burst of machinegun fire cleared out that
group and Megumi joined the others in charging across the bodies.
Twelve more soldiers joined them at the next intersection, and
they carved through an attempted 'roadblock' of boxes and crates with a
grenade. Shortly after, Deep Ones armed with grenades took out half the
soldiers, and Megumi took a chunk of metal in her left arm. She managed
to pull her handkerchief out of her purse and had to hold it to her arm as
she ran.
There were explosions everywhere and the sound of machinegun fire.
People screamed and unearthly cries echoed down the hallways. Bodies,
human and otherwise, were littered everywhere.
Then they reached the heliport. Deep One corpses littered the
ground like confetti, riddled with bullets. The cause was easy to see;
six helicopters armed with machineguns and missiles. Two more were up in
the air, circling around, and shooting anything that moved and had scales.
We're going to make it, Megumi thought.
"You two get out of here," Ingrid said to Megumi and Dr.
Himmelfarb. "Chopper number four." She turned and began shouting orders
to try to get the defense of the heliport in order.
Megumi turned to run, while Dr. Himmelfarb, who was huffing and
puffing now, ran after her. She got to the chopper just in time to turn
back and see a spear fly and take Dr. Himmelfarb in the back of the knee.
She collapsed to the ground. Even as two soldiers ran to help her, she
took another spear in the back.
The Deep Ones who threw the spears were raked with machine gun
fire, but it wasn't enough to kill them before they threw another spear
that nailed one of the onrushing soldiers. Then more Deep Ones poured out
in a great tide against the perimeter. And with them came something else.
It was a good twenty feet tall, passing between buildings because
it couldn't fit inside them, greyish skinned and gelatinous; it wobbled
slightly as it walked, bipedal, but winged and with a skull-like head that
had short tentacles around the mouth. Megumi felt her blood go cold as
she stared at it.
One of the other passengers dragged her into the helicopter, and
the doors closed as it rose into the air. The creature strode towards
them, bullets passing harmlessly through its gelatinous body or becoming
lodged inside it with no other effect.
The choppers launched as the ring of soldiers struggled
desperately. Megumi prayed that wasn't the Angel the Children had left to
fight. Surely it couldn't have slipped halfway across the world. Though
it was kind of short for an Angel.
Her own chopper shot it in the face with a rocket; it fell down
and its face distorted, but it quickly got back up, face springing back
into shape. Megumi prayed it couldn't fly.
She never found out, as the commander of her chopper immediately
took off, heading for Munich. The last she saw, the base was burning, and
unearthly wails and moans rose into the night sky, mixed with explosions
and a few desperate human screams.
************
"I know, I shouldn't have thrown my camera, but I was desperate!"
Megumi said to her editor over the phone. It was hard to hear him over
the whistling of the cold night wind and the hum of the rotors above.
"Well, we may not survive to print another edition," he said
grudgingly. "Every NERV base on Earth seems to be under attack from these
fish people. Military forces have had some success in driving them off,
but people in coastal cities all over are starting to riot for no good
reason at all."
"Any word of the Scimitar?" Megumi asked.
"Not a hint of a whisper. If anyone official knows, they're not
leaking. From what you said, sounds like they're probably dead."
Megumi looked out across the German countryside below her. It
seemed far too peaceful, given the circumstances. I won't even die at
home, she thought. "What do you want me to do?"
"Find out anything you can. The cellphone networks are still
running, it seems like." He sighed. "Good luck, Megumi."
"You too, boss," she said. "I'll call you when I know something."
"Okay," he said, then hung up.
She looked round at her fellow passengers, mostly scientists.
"Does anyone know if Akagi-san and Ibuki-san got out?"
"The last I saw of Akagi-san, she was driving a scalpel into the
eye of one of those things." The woman shuddered. "They looked somewhat
like she does now. But even more freaky."
The man next to her punched her in the arm. "She can't help what
that stupid shit Anna did to her. God, we are so fucked."
"They're a bunch of primitive fucks," another man said. "The
military will blow the hell out of them. Though they may have to nuke the
giant jello monster or whatever the hell that thing was." His shudders
belied his bold words.
The military probably could handle the fish-men once the element
of surprise was gone. But not their master. Where the Children dead?
Could they get to the Angel in time if they weren't dead?
Was this how it would all end? Megumi hoped not, but she didn't
have any answers.
She gazed up at the stars, and they shone down at her, cold and
uncaring. There would be no help from above. Mankind would live or die
by its own strength. She prayed it would be enough.
And feared it would not.
They would know, one way or another, soon enough.
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