[Warhammer comes out from the light again.]

WH: Dying is easy... living's the hard part. But it makes living more 
fun that way. 


Teknos Warhammer presents

Seraphim's Judgment:
Chapter 12:
The Ikari Redemption 

	Nodoka felt she was flying through darkness. No, it seemed like a 
tunnel. Going through time and space, as she knew it. All the while, 
seeing everything that had happened in her life. Growing up with her 
family, meeting Genma, going through the changes of society, her 
marriage to Genma, her alteration from the Lahdam pod, and all the 
events up to now. 

	The last thing she saw was Seraphina, trying her best to revive her, 
but it was no use. She thought about her family, friends, and everyone 
else that knew her. As much as she didn't want to die, things go beyond 
the control of people sometimes.

	When she felt the tunnel's wind was about to tear her apart, an ending 
to the tunnel appeared and she found herself floating in, what appeared 
to be space. She looked to see four stars in the distance. Though she 
did not know that much about astronomy, she nearly gapsed in awe at the 
sight in front of her. 

        Looking about, she found herself floating in space. In front of 
her, there seemed to be a planet and she was looking at the side that 
was covered in night. Blinking, she noticed a large city with lights 
that glowed from space. Upon closer observation, she saw that there were 
smaller lights going to, from, and about the city, power that she 
recognized as Teknos based.

        "There are others..." she whispered before she felt being yanked 
into another tunnel. The only difference from the previous tunnel was 
that the speed was much faster and the ride more violent. Blinking, she 
looked ahead to see a figured was pulling her along. It was too feint to 
make out details from this distance and with all that was going on. 

        When she felt that she was ready to be torn apart, she began to 
slow down. Ahead, she noticed a blinding light at the end. Beside the 
end of the tunnel, she saw who was pulling her to this light. It 
appeared to be a perky young woman with blue hair, wearing a pink 
kimono, and was riding an oar.

        {This is odd.} she thought, casually passing by the young woman 
who smiled at her. 

        "You don't know odd until you see this place at the end of a 
workday. Now that's scary!" the young woman said, nearly chuckling. 

	Floating into the blinding light, she noticed a series of black shapes 
in front of her. Soon enough, the black shapes turned out to be a rather 
large man behind a desk. A VERY large man, behind a VERY large desk, 
working on papers that looked too high for her to see. Seeing the man 
more clearly, a single name came to her mind.

	"...Enma Daio-sama..."

	Blinking, the giant noticed her, looked down, blinked and said, "That's 
odd... you're early."

	Hearing an 'oops' behind her, Nodoka was pulled back into the tunnel 
before she could do anything. She saw all the retreating shapes and 
shadows as she wondered what else was going on. She turned to see her 
form was going back to Earth at an incredible pace.

	The last thing she saw before colliding with her husk was seeing 
Seraphina, pumping her hands on Nodoka's chest. Everything became bright 
once more as she saw everything come into focus.

	Nodoka coughed violently as Seraphina was finished with the current 
series of chest pumps. She looked up to see Seraphina, minus her helmet, 
fall back and begin to cry happily. 

	"Nodoka-san... you're alright!" Sera sobbed. 

	Teknos Katana blinked and wondered what happened. So, doing the only 
thing she could, she asked.

	"Well, I guess you used a little too much power in that last blast and 
your heart stopped for a minute. I tried to keep your heart going and it 
turns out that it worked, when I thought it wouldn't." Sera replied 
wearily.

	Looking about, Nodoka asked, "What about the other EVAs and the 
Seraphim?"

	Standing up, Sera put her helmet back on and hesitated before 
answering, "Well... the white EVAs are all gone. But the Seraphim... I'm 
sorry."

	Nodoka should have known it was too much to hope for as she put her 
helmet back on and started to where the Seraphim's body lay lifeless. 

	"Wait, what are you doing?" Sera asked trying to catch up as Nodoka 
knelt by the body and picked it up in her arms.

	"The only thing we can do." She said as she started to walk for the 
hills. Changing back to her human form, Sera walked behind her friend, 
taking occasional glances back at the powerless NERV EVAs and the 
personnel of NERV. 

*************************************************

	An hour later, the body of Seraphim was covered with the cool soil of 
the Earth on the far side of the valley. Solidifying two of her 
projectiles, Teknos Arrow made a make-shift cross of gold just above the 
mound. Both warriors stood above the grave and offered a moment of 
silence for the angel that had helped save humanity on more than one 
occasion. 

	With nothing more being able to be done, they left the site and allowed 
the Seraphim her rest. No longer having to hurt herself for the sake of 
humanity.

*************************************************

	Searching through the crowds, Gendou searched for Fuyutsuki, Akegi, and 
a few others who needed to start sending word to the rest of the 
personnel of the salvage of the city. Just then, a voice from nowhere 
whispered, "Gendou, we need to talk." 

        Just then, everything and everyone around him vanished. All that 
Gendou saw was barren ground and a giant sea of orange as far as the eye 
could see. At the very edge of that orange sea was that same man, garbed 
in white. Curious, Gendou walked over to the edge of the sea, knelt 
down, and picked up a handful of the orange liquid. It felt the same was 
as LCL! 

	"That's because it is." A voice said. 

	"What do you mean?" Gendou asked, letting the LCL fall back into the 
sea. He turned to see a man in a plain white shirt, pants, and shoes, 
sitting on a rock. Even his hair was white, but he looked more youthful 
than what one would first think. There was no doubt as to who this man 
was.  

	"Gendou..." the man said as He stood up, "What was the reason you 
joined SEELE in the first place?"	

	Like so many times before, silence was the only answer before the true 
one could come out. "At first, it was just for the good of man. Then, 
when Yui was lost, she came first above all else. To get her back."

	"Even at the possible cost of the human race?" 

	Gendou could not deny the truth, and nodded. "I wanted her back, not 
only for myself, but for Shinji as well. More recently, I realized that 
I never really did know why I joined with the likes of SEELE."

	The man smiled, "In a way, that's good. You see, I was not exactly 
happy with what you were doing. But recent events changed the opinion 
about you."

	Gendou was really confused at this point. "But what is all this... this 
sea of LCL?" 

	"This... is what would have happened had the HCP come to perfect 
completion. It would have reduced mankind to this. To put it most 
simply, a sea of spit." 

	He looked at the man in shock. If this was what was to happen, what 
were they doing wrong? They all the correct tools: the Evangelion, the 
Lancea, and Adam. 

	"That's where you're wrong Gendou. What you and the angels you fought 
against, all that you and they have been fighting for was a lie. It was 
never Adam you found, it was Lillith."

	Once more, Gendou was shocked. Yet, it seemed to make sense. With a 
figure head of someone holy would cause only advancement. The opposite 
would only bring de-evolution and that was what Lillith was. 

	"That is correct. But there was another flaw in the thinking of you and 
SEELE. What you sought for was spiritual evolution. Causing the human 
race to become more than what they were. You and SEELE tried to force 
the human race to evolve at a point where it was far from ready. 

	"True advancement for any form of life cannot be given. It must be 
achieved. Only through perseverance can such a thing be obtained, and 
even then it takes much time and patience. 

        "The reason why I made evolution the way it is for life is 
because it can be sustained that way. But when something is forced, it 
moves into a territory where it has no room or time to adapt and 
inevitably dies off. That is what you and SEELE tried to do, Gendou. 
Sending humanity to its death. Whether they wanted it or not."

	Gendou's head hung low. The truth weighed on his shoulders like a ton 
of bricks and could do nothing to shrug it off. Now he knew where he 
was. It was an alternate Earth where he got his wish. The HCP project 
complete and him back with his family... in a sea of spit. 

        He turned up to see the man was holding his shoulder and He was 
smiling, "Gendou, I didn't come here just to show you this. I also came 
here to say that you helped save everyone. Your son, your wife, 
everyone."

	Gendou stood up to meet the man, face to face. "Why? I don't deserve 
all this praise! I nearly killed my wife, I committed adultery, I 
abandoned my son, and..." Then he walked past the man and several feet 
away before stopping. 

	"Gendou, that's another reason why I wanted to talk to you. You still 
have a chance to set things right."

	Gendou remembered SEELE being taken out by the UN. It was a little more 
than obvious why. The Evangelion as potential weaponry. He figured it 
was too good of a chance for those power hungry slugs to pass up. He 
turned to see the man was smiling and nodded the affirmative to his 
assumption. 

	"Good. Now, you've been given one more chance. Not too many get one, so 
don't waste it." the man said as Gendou found himself back with everyone 
on Earth. From the looks of it all, no time had passed and no one even 
noticed that he was gone. 

*************************************************

	With the EVAs of NERV without power, they all sat down against what few 
buildings that were standing. The pilots were able to get out without 
much difficulty, even without any power. 

	Touji and Asuka were standing against the prone head of Asuka's EVA, 
not even minding the snow that fell. 

	"That was some to do, wasn't it?" Touji asked the German girl. She only 
stared at the little flakes as they fell, but still had enough knowledge 
of what he was saying to nod. Then she turned to him,

	"Touji, were you scared?" 

	He turned to her, blinked, and then answered, "Yeah, who wouldn't be? I 
mean, going through all that, nearly stopping another Impact, and then 
that last EVA..." he paused for a second, "and of course... seeing that 
thing hurt you made me pretty mad. What was worse was that I couldn't do 
anything."

	"You really mean that?" She asked. He nodded. So, she leaned against 
his shoulder and said, "Good, then I'm glad you're ok too." 

	Touji was about to put his hand on her shoulder when...

	"Just WHAT do you think you're doing with my daughter!?!" A voice 
screamed, which sent both pilots scrambling everywhere since they didn't 
know where the voice came from. They both turned to the semi-ejected 
entry plug to see a woman's head sticking out from the edge. 

	Her short brown hair barely covered her gray eyes, which were filled 
with disbelief and anger. That was when Asuka spoke up. "Okaasan?" 

*************************************************

	In both EVA Units 00 and 03, the remaining LCL started to churn and 
stir. Tiny particles of matter spun quicker and quicker until they fused 
into something bigger. More and more matter started to form into larger 
chunks of living matter.  

	Then, it started to grow to the size of human body, sucking up more LCL 
with the increased size.

	The mass in Unit 03 began to grow dark and form a much larger body than 
the one in Unit 00. Little by little, the intricacies about each one 
were found and then formed into what they were to be. 

	When the forming stopped, the entry plug in 03 was occupied by a large 
Greek/African American man. The man's hair was one of the few things 
missing from his well-kept physique, but time would correct that. He 
opened his eyes through the half-filled entry plug and to the snow 
covered sky. That was when Edward Hecatonchires realized he was free 
from his prison.  

	In Unit 00, a small pale body awoke from the puddle of LCL that still 
covered her body. She climbed up to the edge and saw in the distance the 
powerless husks of Units 01, 02, and 03 and realized where she was. She 
ran a hand through her short blue hair out of the way of her face and 
smiled, she was home again. 

*************************************************

	Shinji leaned against the side of the semi-ejected entry plug of Unit 
01, staring at the sky. He wondered what exactly was that light he and 
the others saw, but his thoughts were interrupted when he heard a gasp 
behind him. He turned to see a woman, with soaked, short, dark-brown 
hair, coughing out a little LCL. 

	Widening his eyes, Shinji realized who this was. His mother had escaped 
from the Evangelion! 

	"O... Okaasan?" Shinji stuttered, walking back to the woman within the 
plug. She nodded simply as her son wrapped his arms around her body. Her 
prayers had been answered. Whatever powers that be decided that she 
should be back here and no words could describe how grateful she was. 

	From behind the purple EVA, Reina flew in with her 'older' sister, 
wrapped in a blanket left among the wreckage. She placed Koorichi/Rei I 
on the ground and then left to go pick up her other sister. 

	"Imouto probably wants to be here too, I'll be back in a minute." Reina 
said flying through the trees to where her sister was still.

	The child climbed up the side of the EVA to meet with Yui and Shinji. 
"Well, it appears that you're pleased with coming back Yui-san." The 
small child said with an evident maturity. 

	Yui and Shinji turned to see the child-like version of Rei, covered 
with a large blanket. The elder woman nodded and replied, "I'm really 
happy this happened, but I'm not sure how."   

	Looking to the mid day sun, she said, "Maybe... just maybe, we souls of 
the EVAs have served our purpose and now that it's done, they brought us 
back." She sighed and shook her head, "I don't know, it's just so 
overwhelming to be free again."

	Blinking, Yui said out of the blue, "Wait a minute. What day is this?"

	Looking at the watch on his plug suit, it read the following numbers:

	2015:12:25:1:31:56

	Shinji couldn't believe it. It was Christimas Day!

	He looked over to his right to see his father walking through the 
crowds, checking if everything was in order... if you could consider 
this to be in order. 

	"Now I want you all to go through out the city, find anything 
salvageable, and go to the train station. The trains are automated and 
should be going through here, if they haven't been destroyed already. 
They should be able to take us to Tokyo-2, where we can set up temporary 
quarters there." Gendou said to Fuyutsuki, Misato, Ritsuko, and Shigeru, 
who nodded and started to repeat the orders to more of the personnel. 

	He took a brief glance at Shinji on top of the EVA and found another 
there with him. Two others in fact. He squinted his eyes and looked as 
hard as he could, but the glare from the sun didn't help that much. 
Walking through more personnel, who were on the receiving ends of orders 
from the others in command.

	He whispered a name. "Yui?" That taller person that was with Shinji, 
looked like Yui, but he wasn't sure. It had been so long since he last 
saw her. So, crawling onto the powerless EVA, he walked up to the head 
where it seemed like a long lost dream had come true.

	"Yui." He said again, not being able to believe that this was 
happening. Yui was back, after all these years. She was back. She saw 
him and whispered back as he walked closer.

	"Tadaima, Gendou." 

	After all the years he thought he had cried his last tears when he saw 
Yui vanish, he collapsed in her arms, sobbing all the while. She, too, 
wanted to cry with tears of joy. After being trapped in that EVA all 
those years, she was free again. As she stroked the back of her 
husband's head, she smiled to her son, how sat on the shoulder plate 
beside them. 

        Yet, despite all the happiness she felt, there was some things 
that needed to be taken care of, but they could wait for the time being.
	
*************************************************

	Later that day, all several hundred people that comprised NERV stood at 
the train station, everyone with something they salvaged from the 
wreckage. 

	Turns out that the fight did not touch the station, being at the 
northernmost part of the city, at all. Now, the people of NERV packed 
everything they could into the cars as they prepared to go to somewhere 
else, other than the lifeless battle ground that once was Tokyo-3. 

	"Well, it's too good to be true if you ask me." Asuka grumbled about 
the thought that they were getting out this easily. 

	"Let's just be grateful we can find a way out of here." Touji said, "I 
don't like the idea of walking all the way to Tokyo-2 at all." 

	"Nor do I, so cheer up. Ne, Asuka-chan?" Kyoko said cheerfully, poking 
her daughter in the back of the head playfully. 
        Kyoko's daughter frowned and figured that she liked her mom when 
she was still inside the EVA. She was fourteen years old and more than 
capable of taking care of herself, she didn't need to be pointed out she 
was still a child. 

*************************************************

	Inside one of the more comfortable cars, Yui lay nearly asleep on a 
bed. She was tired beyond words, and needed sleep terribly. Gendou was 
sitting on the chair beside her bed, almost paranoid that he was about 
to lose her again, after everything that happened.  

	She woke after half an hour of blissful sleep on the train that would 
take about another hour or so before it would reach Tokyo-2. 

	"Are you alright?" Gendou asked, taking her hand with both of his. 

	{It's so you, Gendou.} Yui thought with a smile. She nodded in response 
and started to get up. "If you don't mind, I'd like to stand up and walk 
around a bit. If that's all right."

	Gendou didn't want to make it look like he was restricting her, nor did 
he want her to think he didn't think about her health, but nodded 
nonetheless. 

	Yui found her legs were a bit stiff and figured the exercise would do 
her some good. As Gendou stepped out of the room, she felt the pocket of 
the lab coat she was wearing, to make sure it was still there. It was 
still there and it was just about time for it to be used. 

	She walked down the hallway to the car where most of the command staff, 
the former souls of the EVAs, and the Children were.

	"Fuyutsuki-sensei!" Yui exclaimed and hugged her old teacher. The older 
man smiled and hugged his former student back. 

	"Looks like you're feeling better Ikari-kun." He said to her. She 
pulled back nodded, and turned around as if she was looking for someone.  

	"Oh, excuse me sensei, I need to see someone for a second." Fuyutsuki 
chuckled as Yui went over to Misato to express her thanks. 

	{You haven't changed Ikari-kun. It's not surprising at all.} He 
thought, smiling in admiration to one of his best students.  

	"Katsuragi-san. Thank you, ever so much for taking care of my son." Yui 
said, shaking Misato's hand a bit harder than the former would have 
liked. She pulled her hand and somewhat winced.

	{Man, she's got a good grip.} Misato thought as she returned Yui's 
thanks. "Actually, I should thank you. Shinji's been one of the best 
things that's ever happened to me... I think. He's a great boy, except 
for his grades. Didn't you ever notice that he has a tendency to just 
not do his homework?"  

	"Look who's talking Ms. 'I-nearly-flunked-because-I-was-too-plastered' 
Katsuragi." Ritsuko poked from beside her. 

	Yui blinked at Ritsuko, and then realized. "Oh, you're Naoko-san's 
daughter!" The latter nodded and extended her hand.

	"Ritsuko Akegi. Yoroshiku ne."

	Yui shook her hand, although a bit more gently than with Misato. That 
was when she realized, "Oh no, I forgot something in my room. Minna, if 
you'll excuse me for a moment." She was about to leave, but stopped and 
turned back to Ritsuko, "Could you come with me? There's so many things 
I wanted to know about what happened to you mother."

	Not knowing what exactly she meant, Ritsuko shrugged and stood up to 
follow as Yui reassured her husband that she would be right back. 

	Back in her room, Yui stepped forward as her happy, giddy, and innocent 
face had vanished. Without turning to Ritsuko, she asked, "Would you be 
so kind as to close the door? I need to speak to you about something." 

	Not liking where this was going, Ritsuko turned around and pulled the 
door shut. When she turned back, she found Yui had pinned her to the 
wall and had a derringer poked at her head from below the jaw. 

	"Let's get one thing straight Akegi." Yui hissed with a venomous glare. 
"I know everything. About the Second Impact, the Rei clones, how your 
mother fused me to the EVA, and especially what you and your bitch of a 
mother did with Gendou while I was trapped. And there are no words to 
describe how much I hate you, Naoko, Khil, and all the rest of those old 
farts in SEELE."

	Yui forced the gun up higher, forcing Ritsuko to stand up higher, fear 
claiming her common sense.  "I hope you know well enough that I would 
kill you. Not just you, I would kill Naoko, Gendou, Fuyutsuki, Khil, and 
everyone else involved with this delusion!" 

        She brought the gun down a bit, "But too many people have died 
already and I'd rather we just go on with our lives instead of 
continuing the killing. Even after you tried to smother me after Shinji 
was absorbed into the EVA after the twelfth and fourteenth angels, the 
killing stops here!"

	Yui slowly lowered the gun and stepped back, but kept her vicious gaze 
that tore Ritsuko's ego into nothing. 

	"Now go. Get on with your life and stay away from Gendou's, Shinji's, 
and mine. I am only telling you this once Akegi."

	Ritsuko soon enough, got her composure back and retorted as she turned 
to open the door. "Just as well. That old bastard was just using me as 
much as he was using..." *KA-CHINK* Yui's gun pressed against the back 
of her head, with the bullet in the chamber, ready to fire.

	"I said get lost Akegi. I am REALLY stressed after putting on this 
little act where everything is all right! In case you haven't noticed, 
everything isn't. And I'm trying my best to set it right and I don't 
need your crap!" Yui growled. 

	Ritsuko stepped out of the door, and despite how tempted Yui was to 
pull the trigger, dump the body out of the window and say she jumped, 
she shook her head and lowered the gun. She dropped the gun on the bed, 
sat on its side and put her face in her hands. 

	{I can't believe I just did and said that. I never knew I could get 
that angry.} She leaned against the wall on the other side and lost 
herself in thought. It was not to last as she saw Gendou step through 
the doorway. With a look of pure guilt, locked on his face. 

	{You didn't run away, Gendou. Thank you.} Yet, her outside face didn't 
show how she really felt as she whispered to him. 

	"Gendou, we need to talk." 

*************************************************

        In the room next to his mother's, Shinji sat on the bed and 
stared out of the window and into the passing landscape. At first, he 
usually hated trains, but this time, he was leaving the hurt, the pain, 
and the fighting. For one of the few times, he felt relieved. 

        From behind him, someone spoke gently, "Gomen kudasai." He 
turned to see Rei, still in her plug suit, walking inside slowly. 
Thought she seemed weary, it was a relieved kind of tired. 

        "Hi Rei." He said to her as she walked to the head of the bed, 
beside him. As she sat down, she turned to him and whispered. 

        "You kept your promise." She whispered, smiling. "Thank you."
 
        He blinked once, but then his face softened as he remembered. He 
didn't run away and keeping this promise was something that meant much 
to her. "You're welcome."

        What she did next somewhat surprised him. She moved next to him, 
slowly wrapped her arms around his neck and rested her head on his 
shoulder. Although he was surprised, it didn't seem so bad when she 
whispered to him, "Thank you."

        In response, he slowly put his arms around her. He didn't know 
why, but doing this made the weariness he felt a bit more bearable. 
After a few minutes, he looked over to her to see that she had fallen 
asleep on his shoulder. Going through that battle had taken more than he 
would ever know.  

        "I should have known... Shinji, you switch hitter." Shinji 
looked up to see Touji, leaning against the door with a smirk from ear 
to ear. "So... how long have you been sleeping with her?"         
    
        Shinji frowned, "Be thankful I can't reach you. Otherwise you'd 
be out the window in a matter of seconds."   

        Touji's smirk only grew, "I know." With that, he left the room 
and closed the door behind him. 

        Looking back to Rei, he shifted himself on the bed to let her 
sleep a little better. Seeing her like this made several questions flow 
through his mind. Yes, it was obvious how she felt about him, but he 
didn't know how to properly respond. Would there be a need to continue 
this? Of course there was. Now that the crisis with the angels was over, 
he had the rest of his life ahead of him. But what about her? With 
nothing really to drive or to motivate her, she needed someone she could 
trust. And she chose him. Once more, he felt the weight of 
responsibility fall to his shoulders... yet this one wasn't as hard as 
the weight of the EVA. 

        Speaking of which, he wondered what was going to happen to them, 
now that they had nothing more to be used for. He then realized that 
they might as well be salvaged, or just fade into nothing with the 
passage of time. And the sooner, the better. He'd rather let that part 
of his life be that, the past.  

*************************************************

        Asuka left her mother and Edward as they continued to talk. It 
was a little more than obvious that Kyoko liked him and it would not 
surprise Asuka if they stayed that way for the whole trip. She had 
better things to do with her time. 

	In addition, she couldn't figure out that the man was clearly American, 
yet he had a japanese name as a soul for the EVA. That did not make 
sense to her.

	She looked ahead to see a snickering Touji leave Shinji's room. So, 
being curious, she walked up to him and asked, "What's wrong?"

	"Oh, nothing."

	"Now I know something's up! What's Shinji doing?"

	"He's asleep. Nearly tossed me out of the window when I caught him 
making out with Rei."

	"What?! Why that lousy..." before she could charge into the room, she 
was immediately stopped by him.

	"Wait wait wait! I was kidding, they're just tired from the fight and 
needed some sleep."

	"Then why didn't you say so?"

	"Because you didn't let me."

	"Oh. But's he not doing anything perverted is he?"

	"Come on, this is Shinji we're talking about. Like he has the guts to 
do that."

	"Well, you're right about that. Though I don't want to admit it."

	"By the way, what's up with your mom?"

	"Oh, she and Edward have been talking about whatever for who knows how 
long. If I stayed there another minute, I swear, I was going to scream!"

	"That exciting huh?"

	"Yep. " At that time, an uncomfortable silence fell upon both of them. 
"So, uh. What were you planning on doing once we get to Tokyo-2?"

	"Well... to be honest, I really don't know. We might start school again 
and things just might go back to being normal, I guess."

	And that was when it hit her. Without the EVA project, she might be 
going back to Germany. And away from the first guy she liked. "Touji?"

	He turned to her as she continued, "Touji, if I told you I might be 
going home, to Germany, would you miss me?"

	He blinked at the question, "What do you mean? You're going back?"

	"No, no. It's just that I might be going back. And now that... with all 
that's happened, I'm not sure I want to go back." She looked down to the 
ground, apprehension creeping into her eyes and voice. Her eyes widened 
when he felt Touji's arm wrap around her neck from the side and heard 
him say,

	"Well, that'd be bad. If you went away, yes I would miss you." She 
smiled at him for his considerate response, "Knowing you has been one of 
the most jarring, humbling, and irritating things I've ever known."  She 
started to frown at the remark, but it vanished at his next words, "But 
I wouldn't trade them for anything else."

	She started to lean over and chuckle, "Touji, you can be such a moron. 
But I guess that's why I like you so damn much."

	He snorted at her words, "Thanks... I think."

*************************************************

        At the wreckage of Tokyo-3, a single man walked among the ruins. 
Looking at things as they were, He shook His head. 

        "Such a mess." He whispered to Himself. He then looked about the 
valley for something. "Aha! There you are." He said, looking to the 
powerless EVA Units of NERV. One by one, He concentrated His power and 
each one slowly faded into nothing. 

        With that done, He started to walk through the valley to one of 
the slopes on the northern end. Looking through the trees, he knew that 
the object of his search was about here somewhere. When He saw the 
golden cross glowing in the afternoon sun, He knew that she was there.  

        

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