Sorry about the little formatting problem in the prologue.
I think this one'll come through without any problems.
As some of you will note, the [heavy revision] in the
subject header means something . . .
I need the C&C folks. ^_^
SeventhOne
***
"And he stood on the sand of the seashore . . ."
- Rev. 13:1
***
When a future denies itself by changing the past
that leads up to it, it forever prevents itself from
happening. Its influences on the past remain unless
the resulting future changes the conditions under
which its influences apply, but it itself ceases to
exist. This is the manner in which paradoxes
resolve themselves. The present is absolute until
somebody changes the past.
ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss
Nanashimanga presents
A Completely Ignored fanfic
Sailormoon [Impact]
A Sailormoon / EVA crossover
Chapter One:
"In the morning . . . "
by SeventhOne
ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss
***
Kanagawa
(originally the Kanagawa prefecture)
5-27-3096
[Lilith]
Drip.
Eyes open.
Drip.
Darkness.
Drip.
Something's missing.
Drip.
Need it.
Drip.
Where?
Drip.
To him.
Drip.
Go . . .
Drip.
I know where.
Drip.
Let us join.
Splash . . .
***
13 km from Tokyo-3
Street-side phone booth
6-28-2015
[Ikari Shinji]
It's said that human arms can't withstand the
force of high-mass objects impacting against
them. This previously proven theory is about to
be put to the test again. Observe.
At point A, next to the telephone stand, we
have our subject, Ikari Shinji, age 14. No, we
aren't cheating. He is, at this point, a perfectly
normal boy. Here, at point B, we have a large
chunk of cement, approximately 40 kilograms
in mass. The cement is travelling at a velocity
of 20 kilometers per hour toward point A, and
is about ten meters away from reaching its
destination. Again, we are not cheating. The
cement is of normal density and hardness.
Now, in slow motion, we will allow the cement
to travel towards our subject.
No, don't close your eyes. Observe.
Yes . . . yes, open your eyes, yes. Where's your
spirit of science?
*Clang*
You missed it. You can open your eyes now.
No, there's no blood, don't worry.
Now, notice. Our subject is unscathed. On the
other hand, the car that got in the way of the
cement's flight trajectory is seriously damaged.
The theory has thus been proven false.
Oh look, there's a woman inside the car. She
isn't dead. Damn - oh, sorry. Didn't mean to
say that. I meant thank goodness.
No, she isn't dead. She's drop dead gorgeous.
And not only that . . . it appears that our subject
is staring.
"You must be Shinji," she says to him.
The subject appears to be nodding his head.
Common reaction.
"Sorry to have kept you waiting. I'm Tsukino
Usagi. Your father sent me to pick you up."
The woman smiles.
"Come on. Let's go."
***
Tokyo
(Juuban district)
2-7-1996
[Kaji Ryouji]
�Hmm . . . looks like that Kaji kid is out with his
binoculars again. Wonder what he�s up to?�
�Wasn�t he trying to peep on the fight between the
Sailor Senshi and the monsters last time? Bragged
about it for a week, if I recall correctly . . .�
�Yeah . . . the kid seems to admire that Tuxedo
guy or something. He�s not gay is he?�
�You mean Tuxedo or the kid?�
�The kid.�
�Nah, he just sees Mr. Tuxedo as a role model.�
�The guy ain�t a very good role model if you ask
me . . . with what? Dressing up in a tuxedo all the
time? He can�t be right in the head.�
�Tell that to the kid.�
�Uhh . . . yeah. Nevermind.�
***
Tokyo-3
(NERV Headquarters)
6-28-2015
[Ikari Shinji]
The elevator door slid open.
"Lost, Captain?"
"Ehh . . . hi, Ritsuko."
"Usagi. How many times have I told you to
memorize the map?"
"But . . . But this place is so big!"
Ritsuko closed her eyes and sighed. She opened
one and looked Shinji over.
"So . . . that's the Commander's son?"
"Uh, hello," said Shinji.
"Follow me," said Ritsuko as she turned and
started down the hall.
Shinji looked to Usagi.
"Um, she's . . . ?"
"She's kinda the head technician around here."
"Oh."
"We better follow her before we get lost again."
They looked down the hall. There was no sign of
Ritsuko. Not good. Usagi and Shinji began
running.
***
Tokyo
(Tokyo University)
4-4-1980
[Katsuragi Kenji]
There was a boy sitting very still in front of his
roommate's Macintosh Classic. He'd been typing
away furiously the moment before, but now he
was sitting still. And sniffing.
"Strange . . . What's that smell?"
After a few more moments of sniffing, he
convinced himself that it'd been his imagination
working overtime. He typed down the last
sentence of his thesis essay and pushed open-
apple-S.
The screen went dead. The top of the Mac began
smoking.
"Shit! The deadline's fifteen minutes away!"
He clutched his head.
"What am I gonna tell Tsukino-san?!"
Outside, Setsuna cried.
***
Tokyo-3
(NERV UNIT-01 Containment Chamber)
6-28-2015
[Ikari Shinji]
Shinji stood on the deck in front of the EVA,
looking up into its eyes in a sort of a horrified
awe that left him trying to recover his train of
thought. It stared back.
"It's . . . It's a robot . . . "
"Mankind's ultimate all-purpose humanoid
weapon, the Evangelion."
"This . . . Is this what Father's created?"
"Correct."
"Father's . . . "
"He didn't tell you of this?"
The klaxons began sounding.
"Haven't seen you in a long time," said a voice
through the speakers.
Shinji looked up. A figure appeared in the
window of the observation room above UNIT-
01.
"Father."
A smile appeared on Gendo's lips as the image
of Shinji's face flickered to life on the wall of
screens to his side. It wasn't a pleasant smile.
In two short words, Gendo summoned up
Shinji's fears.
"Move out," he said, in a voice that was almost a
whisper.
***
Tokyo
(Juuban District)
9-13-2000
[Kino Makoto]
Jupiter struggled uselessly as the angel held her
above the burning city. The grip was a grip with
a single hand, enclosed around her throat,
inhumanly strong, and totally immobile.
The angel smiled.
"You are the last of the daughters of Eve here,"
he said. "Once you are gone, she will have no
one else to protect her."
"Who . . . are you?"
A wind blew the angel's gray hair away from his
eyes, and Jupiter finally saw.
The eyes were red. Red like the sunset. Red like
the fires eating away the buildings below. Red
like . . .
There was a muffled sputtering sound, and then
the sound of something heavy and soft hitting
the ground. The angel licked the blood away
from his hand.
"My name is Adam."
***
Tokyo-3
(NERV Control Center)
6-28-2015
[Akagi Ritsuko]
"Super-cooling completed."
"R-wrist restraint completed."
"Ready to dock the containment chamber."
"Termination signal plug discharged."
"Roger. Insert entry plug."
"Plug secured."
"Initiate primary psyche contact."
"Entry plug LCL injection."
"Roger. Injecting LCL."
"Completed. Connect to main energy supply system."
"Connecting . . . completed."
"Power source ready, connecting to all circuits."
"Roger."
"Initiate secondary psyche contact."
"A10 nerve connection functional."
"Thought pattern set to Japanese."
"No problems with the initial psyche contact."
"Initiate two-way psyche contact."
"Two-way circuit ready."
***
Antarctica
9-13-2000
[Tsukino Usagi]
She floated in the darkness of the void, slowly
awakening to the sounds of voices. She opened
her eyes.
*Usagi . . .*
"Rei? Is that you?"
A different voice, this time.
*Usagi . . .*
"Ami? Makoto? Who are you?"
And yet another. And another. And another . . .
*Usagi . . .* said the voices in unison.
"Who? Who's talking?"
*We are.*
"What . . . am I dead?"
There was a shock wave. It wasn't a physical
one. It was just . . . there. It was a wave of
numbing emotion. A wave of . . . regret? Usagi
couldn't tell. She felt as if she were drowning in
it.
*We're sorry we couldn't be there for you.*
There was a blinding flash, and Usagi squeezed
her eyes shut. When she opened them again, she
saw the farewell party . . . the tears . . .
*It's only half a year . . . not forever.* she heard
herself say.
"No! What . . ."
*Live on for us, Usagi.*
"No! This isn't happening! This is not
happening!"
Her brooch began glowing, as did the rest of her
body. Glowing . . . until there was nothing to see
except the white.
A inhuman wail rang in the Antarctic sky, over
the sounds of the explosion, over the crash of the
waves.
***
Tokyo-3
(NERV Control Center)
6-28-2015
[Akagi Ritsuko]
"Synchronization rate is 96.2%."
"Impossible," said Ritsuko. "How can he . . ."
She was cut off by the klaxons of the alarm.
"Danger. Mental contamination detected."
"Contamination at 5.3% and rising."
"Psychogram at unsafe levels. A-Series nerves
refusing all commands."
"Contamination 25.6%. Rising exponentially."
"No response from pilot."
"Mental contamination has broken the
borderline."
"Bring entry-plug interior to display."
"Mental contamination at 63.4%. Rising."
"Display system non-functional. The circuit
appears to have been cut."
"What?"
"AT-field detected. Pattern orange."
"The angel's here already?"
"Target has passed B-03."
"Arriving at immediate contact radius in 30
seconds."
"So it's not here yet. Where's the AT-field
coming from?"
"It's coming from the entry plug."
"That's . . ."
Ritsuko couldn't find the word she wanted.
"89.4% and rising."
"95%."
"Shit."
"Full contamination. We've lost the pilot."
***
Tokyo
(Ruins of an unknown hospital)
9-15-2000
[Osaka Naru]
Dawn.
The woman leaned against a broken wall,
holding a newborn. It was hers. No doctor had
helped her. No midwife. They were probably
all dead by now.
It was hers.
What should have been happiness, however,
was not.
The father was dead. The senshi had done
everything they could to save him.
But . . .
They were dead, now. They died several
minutes after the building had fallen. She had
seen them die.
The remains of one was a few inches away
from her now. It, or she, or whatever it had
been, had died saving her baby from a falling
piece of wreckage.
The piece of wreckage in question was about
the size of an industrial trailer.
She had always thought the senshi weren't
human. Now she knew. When they died, they
turned into puddles of water. This one certainly
had, and anything that *could* do that
*couldn't* have possibly been human.
There was a small gadget that looked like a
pair of sunglasses in the puddle.
A sort of a relic. It was holy. It had given her
everything she had now.
She reached out for it.
Touch.
***
Tokyo-3
(NERV Control Center)
6-28-2015
[Akagi Ritsuko]
"AT-field lost."
"Display system restored."
Ritsuko put her hands to her face.
Usagi eyed her for a moment, then turned to
the screen.
"Bring the pilot to the screen."
***
Tokyo-3
(NERV Headquarters)
3-28-2014
[Tsukino Usagi]
The words [First Children - Status: LOST]
blinked to the sound of the alarm, but nobody
paid any attention to it. All eyes were on the
main screen, watching as UNIT-01 convulsed in
a fit, seemingly in complete pain.
There were other words blinking on screen, but
these were ignored as well. They were words
like [Synchronization Rate - (- 437)%] and
[Anti-AT-Field detected]. If anybody had been
looking, they would have been more shocked
than they already were.
One set of eyes was closed. In a voice nobody
could hear, the one who saw darkness spoke.
"I'm sorry, Rei. This is for your own good."
***
Tokyo-3
(NERV Control Center)
6-28-2015
[Akagi Ritsuko]
For a moment, all motion ceased.
There was no sound in the control center
except for the abrupt end of the klaxons. All
eyes were on the screen, watching the sleeping
face of a girl none present had seen for nearly
the whole of the past year.
For the techs who had grown indifferent to the
emotions that should have behind every word
of the commands given to them, there was
perhaps a sort of an awakening; a revelation of
the person behind the purple mask of UNIT-
01. A mere moment, and they'd forgotten who
they were and what they were doing. A mere
moment, and they remembered that they too
were humans, and that miracles did happen . . .
***
Antarctic Sea
(previously known as Antarctica)
unknown date, 2002
[Fuyutsuki Kouzou]
"Who's she?"
"Apparently, she's the sole survivor of the
expedition came out here at around 2000. We
don't know what her name is, though. Doesn't
seem to be in any of the files."
"Didn't Tsukino-san bring a daughter along
with him on the trip?"
"Um, yes, but . . . You see, the daughter was a
college freshman. This girl is a sixteen-year-
old."
"Have you asked for her name?"
"She hasn't spoken in two years."
"Poor girl."
"Can't blame her. She's literally seen hell."
***
Tokyo-3
(NERV Control Center)
6-28-2015
[Akagi Ritsuko]
"Pilot unconscious. All systems otherwise
normal. Synchronization rate 63.1%, pattern
green."
"Target arriving at immediate contact radius in
five seconds."
Usagi glanced over to Ritsuko, who was still
staring open-mouthed at the screen.
"How . . . isn't that Rei?" asked Ritsuko.
"It most certainly is."
***
Tokyo-2
(Umezawa Memorial Psychiatric Ward)
3-3-2003
[Nagisa Kaworu]
There was a little song, from an anime drawn
in the nineties. A catchy little tune, but you can
ignore it for now. It does get a little annoying
after a while.
~//I'll be holding, never let you go//~
And there was laughter, and there were tears.
The laughter came because a girl remembered
happy times.
The tears?
The tears were there because a woman
remembered the loss of that happiness.
~//sail away for future//~
And there was the rain.
A sea of rain. It sounded as if the parking lot
outside was one huge frying pan, sizzling
furiously away on a day so cloudy, it looked to
be night.
As they say, "The darkest hour is that before
dawn." It was one in the afternoon. Not quite
dawn yet.
~//Come together! Just think of tomorrow!//~
And there were eyes. Two pairs.
One pair was shut, filled with the tears of
laughter. They belonged to a teenaged girl who
remembered too much and could forget
nothing.
The other pair was open, dry from staring too
long at something the owner couldn't quite
place. They belonged a young boy, a boy who
remembered nothing and had forgotten too
much. They were red.
Everybody has tears. Whether they come out
or not is a different matter.
The song ended with the words, "Liftoff."
After a moment, there was a little beeping
sound.
The closed eyes opened.
"Do what you want, the way you want to," said
a man.
The old, dusty VCR cranked to a stop. The
automatic rewind kicked in, and there was the
whirring sound of the tape spinning
backwards.
The eyes met.
For a long time.
The red pair closed, and there was the sound of
a body slumping to the ground.
The girl stared, shivering a little at what she'd
just seen.
They say that eyes are the windows of the
soul . . .
***
NERV Headquarters
(NERV Control Center)
6-28-2015
[Akagi Ritsuko]
"Pilot recovered. Currently being transferred to
the medical wing."
"AT-field detected. Pattern orange."
"Location?"
"Tangent to the predicted path of target."
Gendo eyed the screen.
"Designate it as Eve," he said.
***
Tokyo-2
(Tokyo-2 Metropolitan University)
10-23-2005
[Akagi Ritsuko]
"Tsukino?"
"Yeah. I'm Tsukino Usagi. Nice to meet you."
The girl swept back her two long braids and
smiled.
~
Hello, mother. I haven't talked to you in a
while . . . I'd just like to say I've made a new
friend. I met her just a few days ago, during
lunch break. She came over and asked me
whether or not she could sit at my table.
It turned out that she was a freshman. Tsukino
Usagi. Yeah. That's her name. One of those
real air-head types. Not all that annoying,
though. I kinda like her attitude.
I don't know why, but it looks as if she's the
only other person on this campus willing to
talk to me besides you. The others just tend to
sort of observe me from afar. I guess it's
because you're famous.
The girl's rather strange. She constantly blabs
gossip, but . . . whenever I ask her about her
self, she changes the topic. It's as if . . . as if
she had something to hide . . .
I must be getting paranoid.
I did get her tell me just why she wanted to be
friends with me, though. She says its because I
remind her of a classmate she had in high-
school. So far, that's all she's revealed to me
about her past.
Oh yeah. Forgot to mention that there's this
pervert stuck on me in the last week or so. The
name's Kaji, and I hate his guts. You know the
type. Wandering eyes and wandering hands.
Geez, I wish he would stay away from me.
Usagi's not helping all that much. I'm under the
impression that she think's I should have a
boyfriend, and that Kaji is the best choice. She
wants to pair me up with him.
Classes are going as usual, and the professors
are still dumb. I'm hoping to find out more
about Usagi, so I'm gonna try to get her drunk.
That's all for now. Talk to you next week. Bye.
***
Tokyo-3
(NERV HQ, Medical Wing)
6-29-2015
[Ayanami Rei]
Room: 446.
ID No.: 0001-225-09.
Name: Ayanami Rei.
Sex: Female.
Age: 14.
Diagnosis:
Unconscious. Muscular stress in all parts of the
body, apparently caused by over-exertion. No
outward injuries visible.
Remedy:
Muscle relaxants. Nutrition supplements. Pain-
killers.
Record:
None.
Notes:
The girl just needs some rest. She should be able
to leave the hospital when she recovers from the
effects of the pain-killers. (Special note: The
head of the department has asked that she not be
disturbed.)
***
Outskirts of Kyoto
(a mountain path)
9-6-1999
[Fuyutsuki Kouzou]
"I really like the nights here."
"Why's that?"
"Hmm . . . dunno. I guess it's because I can see
the sky real clearly. It's so beautiful . . . the
moon and stars and everything."
"I take it that the skies in Tokyo are completely
black?"
"Yeah. It's probably because of the light
pollution."
"I see."
"Well, you know, with this place being a
'country-side' town and all that . . . it's really
nice. I don't regret coming here at all."
"Hehe, really now. You don't regret not taking
up that offer from Tokyo U?"
"Sensei, it wasn't *that* great of an offer."
"Don't know about that. Plenty of people would
sell their souls for that kind of offer."
A moment of silence.
"Sensei, what do you like about the nights
here?"
"Well . . . I haven't actually thought about it.
What do you like?"
***
Tokyo-3
(Tokyo-3 Military Hospital, NERV Sector)
6-29-2015
[Ayanami Rei]
"I don't want to be important when I grow up.
Dreams, hopes . . . I have no use for such
things. Never thought about them. Don't need
to."
"If anybody ever thought it fit to ask me why
this is, my answer would be simple. Why not?
If I die in some accident, it probably won't
matter very much. Nobody would care. If you
told someone about me and my accident,
they'd shrug, and then say something to the
effect of, 'These kids nowadays. What are we
gonna do about them?' I'm not a real person to
these people."
"And so, I'm fourteen. I work just hard enough
to get by. Why work any harder? The end
result would be the same."
"The teacher gave us an assignment a few
months ago. The instructions were to write
about our 'deepest and most sincere beliefs
about life.' I failed the assignment."
"And now . . ."
"Now I'm in a bed I've never slept in before,
staring at a ceiling I've never seen. There's a
strong smell of disinfectant in the air, and I'm
covered with bandages. Either I'm in a hospital
or . . ."
"Or they have some pretty strange customs in
this city."
"I can't move without feeling the rest of my
body, and I can't feel the rest of my body
without hurting. It's all numb . . . until I try
lifting my index finger. What happens then is
that I get a taste of what all those poor witches
had to go through in medieval Europe. I've
come to respect witches in the past half-hour."
"It's a blessing that I can move my eyes
without hurting. I can at least see where
father's dumped me this time. I suppose
flowers were too much to expect."
"At least it's a hospital. I mean, I haven't been
left to die. It means that I'm important enough
to keep alive. Not to mention that it's a *clean*
hospital. Then again, father probably wouldn't
have it any other way. Dirt is too good for me."
"What does all of this prove?"
"Not much. Just that my assumptions about
life, the universe, and everything are true. No,
not much."
"I can't remember how I got here. Last thing I
remember is looking at the big purple robot. Or
whatever it was. Humanoid all-purpose
something something. I remember getting on. I
remember sitting inside. And then?"
"Oh yeah, the dream. Can't forget the dream.
There was this really cute girl. Blue hair, red
eyes. She was Japanese though. She was
looking at me. After a while, she walked
towards me. Then through me. That's why I
woke up. It's not very nice to walk through
people when they're injured."
"I guess this is dumb. Speaking to myself
inside my head an all that. I'll just be going to
sleep now. Maybe when I wake up, I'll actually
be able to move a little more than my eyes."
"Bye."
***
Tokyo-2 outskirts
(Old department complex)
10-23-2005
[Meiou Setsuna]
"Usagi . . ."
"I haven't forgotten what you've done,
Setsuna."
"Please, Usagi . . ."
"Don't Usagi me, you bitch."
"Please, Usagi. It was matter of whether or not
reality could continue. If I hadn't let events go
as they did, we wouldn't even exist anymore."
"And that gives you an excuse not to have at
least warned us, allowed us some time to
accept this fate?"
"If I'd warned you, you would have tried to
prevent it, and that would have caused yet
another paradox . . ."
"You don't know that."
"Usagi . . ."
"Go away!"
The words were cold, filled with venom.
Setsuna sighed. It wasn't working. She had
hoped that somehow, the princess could have
forgiven her . . . but that didn't seem to be the
case. She glanced at the girl once more, then
vanished into the shadows.
"Bitch," said Usagi.
***
Outskirts of Kyoto
(a mountain path)
9-6-1999
[Fuyutsuki Kouzou]
"The moon."
"The moon, eh? . . . the moon . . . I have a story
about the moon. Would you like to hear it?"
"Sure."
***
Tokyo-3
(Tokyo-3 Military Hospital, NERV Sector)
6-29-2015
[Ayanami Rei]
"I'm waking up for the second time, I think.
Can't be sure. Nevertheless, I'm glad I'm awake.
I don't think I could have slept any longer. The
dream . . . I don't remember much of the dream I
just had. No, I don't mean the dream with the
girl walking through me. The dream I had, just
now. It was . . . I can't describe it. I just have a
feeling it was horrible. A nightmare."
"There was . . . I don't know where it was. It
might have been a reflection off water. Part of
the reflection was the moon. Wait. It couldn't
have been off the water. I mean, there was quite
obviously light refracting off of something
moving in waves . . . but . . . The image of the
moon stayed still. If it was really a reflection off
water, the image of the moon wouldn't have
stayed still like that . . ."
"I dunno. It was a pretty strange scene. Really
dark, so I didn't see much. I did, however, notice
that there was a person floating next to the
reflection. Upside-down too. I don't know if it
was male or female. Way too dark. It was naked.
I think."
"Hmm . . . A visit to the head shrink might be in
order."
"I do think I know where the scene comes from,
though. Got it memorized. The Revelation of
John, 12-1. 'a woman clothed with the sun, and
the moon under her feet, and on her head a
crown of twelve stars;'"
"The moon was in the dream. Clothed with the
sun? The reflections of light off the water. I
didn't see any stars though. And I don't know if
it's a woman."
"Of course, the fact that the woman mentioned
in the line is supposed to be pregnant screws the
entire theory. The figure definitely wasn't
pregnant . . ."
". . . can't be sure, though. It might have been
early preganancy . . . and the line doesn't say
that the woman in the scene is pregnant *while*
she's in the scene. It just sticks this semicolon in
and continues to 'and she was with child.' As far
as I know, it could have been a progression of
scenes."
"Well . . . I guess my aunt's 'Christian
educational experience' succeeded. The 'words
of God' come to me in my sleep. I didn't like it
then. I don't like it now. Like I said, a
nightmare."
"And I still don't know if my theory is correct or
not. If it is, then I really gotta go visit the shrink.
I mean, the text from the scene got . . . well, all
twisted. 'the moon under her feet' became
'floated upside-down with feet next to what
appears to be a reflection of the moon.'"
"If I wasn't crazy, the words wouldn't have
gotten jumbled like that . . ."
"I'm getting needlessly upset over some jumbled
words. God, that's dumb . . ."
"On to lighter topics then."
"I still can't move. I don't hurt anymore, but all
of my muscles feel stiff. Numb, even. It's
extremely tiring trying to lift an arm, but I can
manage it, I think. If you think I'm gonna try it,
you're crazy."
"I've heard of these things happening before. A
classmate of mine broke a leg once. He was in
bed for about a month, and when they finally
took off the cast, it took some time to 'get used
to' being able to use the leg again. 'Course, he
was normal again after a few days, but that's not
the point. The point is that the experience was,
according to his description, just like what I'm
going through now. I'm getting used to having a
body again, so to speak."
"Hehe. Sounds totally ridiculous."
"It's not so ridiculous as the dream, though . . .
still can't remember anything after the scene."
"Or, for that matter, the other dream with the
girl."
***
Outskirts of Kyoto
(a mountain path)
9-6-1999
[Fuyutsuki Kouzou]
"'Once upon a time, there was an old sage, who
lived alone in his garden with a maiden. The sage
loved the maiden dearly, and dedicated his heart
and soul to making her happy.'"
***
Tokyo-2
(Iwaaki Public Elementary School)
1-13-2008
[Osaka Hitoshi]
There was a window on one side of the hall, but
it was the only one there was, a single light
floating in a darkness of medicinal smells and
wax. It was bright, much too bright in
comparison with the rest of the place, and almost
blinding if you'd been wandering around in the
darkness for too long. It hurt to look at it.
An afternoon on a holiday. One wouldn't expect
to find any students here. That was one of the
reasons the main switch had been shut off. The
temperature of the hall, however, wasn't affected.
It was unnaturally cold, and the darkness didn't
help. Considering that it felt like summer
outside, the coldness would've been welcome by
many.
Course, it wouldn't be that way if you'd been
stuck in here for more than twelve hours.
There was a boy, huddled against the wall just
outside the light of the window, shivering. His
eyes were closed, and there were streaks of dried
salt across his cheeks.
In a cracked voice, he managed to repeat a line
he'd been saying to nobody in particular for
hours..
" . . . please . . . help . . . me."
***
Tokyo-3
(Apartment in the outskirts)
6-30-2015
[Osaka Hitoshi]
Hitoshi pressed down the recording button of his
SDAT.
"Log, six thirty fifteen. Today, at one in
afternoon, I put the finishing touches onto
system number CS-074(11). It's now complete,
and functioning perfectly."
He smiled.
�I am Abaddon, Lord of the Deep.�
***
Outskirts of Kyoto
(a mountain path)
9-6-1999
[Fuyutsuki Kouzou]
"Wait a sec, I think I've heard of this story
before. They get separated, right?"
"Yes. A tragic accident separated them against
their will, and try as they might, they couldn't
reunite themselves."
"Yeah, that's what I thought."
"The story's not over yet, Yui."
"It goes on?"
"Yes."
***
Tokyo-3
(park)
7-1-2015
[Osaka Naru]
It'd been a statue of an angel, but the bomb that
had been dropped just several days earlier had
blown off the head, and now it was an angel
without a face. It was, in a way, kind of fitting,
considering the sort of person the statue was
made in tribute of had been. The men who had
commissioned it had named it, "The Goddess."
There was another name.
The night had been somewhat rainy, and now
there were several puddles on the ground near
the statue. The head was sitting in one of them,
and rain had gathered in the depression next to
the right eye, making it look as if the face were
crying.
The puddles didn't stop the woman from
approaching the head, however. It was a
relatively young-looking woman, probably only
a little older than thirty. Her eyes, though . . .
her eyes said that she was far older than that. The
fact that they were red from crying didn't help
much.
"Please help me," she said, embracing the mud-
covered head as a young child would embrace a
doll. The goddess would help, a little voice said,
she would make things all better again. Nothing
else mattered . . .
***
Outskirts of Kyoto
(a mountain path)
9-6-1999
[Fuyutsuki Kouzou]
"'The Sage took of his own flesh and
created a being in the likeness of the Maiden. He
named this being Eve, and kept her at his side to
remind himself of his loss.' You recognize this
story yet?"
"Um . . . Adam and Eve?"
"Yes. It's a perversion of the original Genesis
text. I came across it in my research."
"Who was the Maiden?"
"Her name is Lilith."
"Hmm . . . I think I've heard the name before.
Don't remember her from the Adam and Eve
story, though."
"She doesn't appear in every version."
Another pause.
"What happens next?"
***
Tokyo-3
(Geofront)
7-2-2015
[Kaji Ryouji]
Those who knew him called him Stan the Man,
because that's how he introduced himself. It's
not his real name, not really . . . But then again,
no one actually knows his real name. Most of
those who "knew" him died a few minutes after
he gave his pseudonym. Some of them died with
a rubber chicken stuck down their throats.
Talk about bad cooking . . .
His appearance wasn't especially striking. Or
rather, it was, but he somehow blended himself
in with the rest of the crowd. It was his hair.
Yeah, black, normal for someone Asian.
Somehow it caught the light in a strange way. If
you looked at it out of the corner of your eye,
it'd look blond. Just an illusion, but he does
stand out. When he walks past, people stop and
look around, wondering what caught their eye.
Of course, it might have just been the stench of
cigarettes and beer . . .
Seen him before?
Sure you have.
I mean, it might not have been *him* exactly,
but there are plenty of people like him. You
know what I mean.
"The one who steps from the shadows all
trenchcoat and cigarette and arrogance, ready to
deal with the madness."
Yeah. Him. Bastard ain't he? The problem is,
he's always there. It doesn't matter what world
your in, or what job you're doing. There's
always him. Or if it's not him, it's someone
relatively similar to him. And no matter how
many differences there are, one thing'll stay the
same: "He'll kick you on the bollocks and spit
on you when you're down." And if he's not
doing that, then you're doomed. Why? Cause it's
bound to happen. Sometime real soon.
This one, though. This one is special. This one
can actually win a fist fight. Not that it matters. I
believe the saying goes, "If you fight and run
away, you live to run another day."
He had plenty of reasons to run. The police were
pretty high on the list.
And he didn't run. Mostly. Why run when you
can hide?
When asked for the best stealth equipment, black
market merchants will occasionally show the
customers smelly old trenchcoats. Available in
beige, beige, and beige. Now you know why.
Yes. Him.
Watch. He's taking something out of his coat.
Fine place to do it, in the depths of the dark
alley. Fits the mood, cause what he's taking out
was born of the darkest emotions.
It's a box of seeds. Simple little thing, really.
There are seven of them, and Stan has orders to
plant them, each at a specific time and place.
As for the person who'd hired him . . . nice kid.
He'd probably grow up to be someone
important.
Too shy, though. Gotta get out of that stuffy
room of his more.
The kid was the nerdy type. Probably didn't
have a girlfriend. The seeds . . . well? As far as
Stan could tell, they were a science project gone
way too far.
He knew what would happen when he planted
them. He knew that he'd have to use that little
trick with the trenchcoat to get out alive every
time.
Stan laughed.
"Them wankers are gonna get it good."
With a smile, he vanished into the shadows.
***
Outskirts of Kyoto
(a mountain path)
9-6-1999
[Fuyutsuki Kouzou]
"It goes on pretty much the same as the Genesis
text from there on until Eve leaves. Eve eats the
fruit of knowledge, and Adam banishes her from
the garden."
"Not God?"
"No, not God. Adam. In this version God makes
Adam in his image, and then leaves Adam to be
the Lord of the world. Adam created life on
Earth."
"Then where does Lilith come from?"
"This text doesn't say. Lilith just sort of appears
half-way through the story."
"Hmm . . ."
"Of course, there is another text with a similar
story. It answers your question."
"What happens there?"
"Adam and Lilith were two sides of the same
androgynous being. When God separated them
into their male and female aspects, they
struggled for dominance over one another."
"And then?"
"And then Lilith gave up and left the garden.
She became the mother of the Lilim."
***
Tokyo-2
(Umezawa Memorial Psychiatric Ward)
7-2-2015
[Osaka Naru]
It was a relatively young-looking woman,
probably a little older than thirty, though her
eyes said that she was far older than that.
Currently, she was grinning like a maniac.
Shoko sighed. It wasn't that she didn't like her
job. It was just that it'd be a little more
encouraging if her patients didn't come in
wearing straightjackets.
"Osaka Naru, age 34. Admitted on October
nineteenth, the year two thousand and one.
Mother of one child, Osaka Hitoshi, father
unknown. Is all of this information correct, Ms.
Osaka?"
"I like this jacket. Can you give a jacket like this
to me? It's really nice and warm."
"Um, yes, Ms. Osaka. Now, could you please
answer my question."
"Um, okay. If you give me this jacket."
The woman giggled.
"I'll repeat my question, is all of the information
I was given correct."
"Uh-huh." Another giggle.
Shoko paused for a moment to get the woman's
attention away from the birds at the window.
When the pause didn't work as expected, she
clapped her hands.
"Ms. Osaka."
The woman turned back to her.
"Yes?"
"Yesterday you left our facility and took a train
to Tokyo-3. What was the reason behind this
action?"
"Uh, dunno. If you're so smart, why don't you
tell me?"
Shoko stopped again. This was not what she'd
been expecting.
"Well, Ms. Osaka. Since I'm asking you, maybe
it's because I don't know. I'm trying to find the
reason."
"Well? . . . Only if you give me this jacket!"
"Ms. Osaka. I told you earlier that I'd be willing
to give you the jacket if you would answer my
questions."
"Oh, okay. What question?"
"Why did you leave our facility yesterday?"
"I was gonna go and meet the queen."
Shoko raised an eyebrow.
"Who is this, 'queen.'"
"The queen is the woman that talks to me
sometimes when I'm alone."
"May I ask, what is she queen of?"
"She's the queen of a great kingdom called
Tokyo."
Shoko smiled. The woman had an imaginary
friend. The queen of Tokyo. The idea was kinda
cute.
"Tell me, what does this queen speak to you
about?"
"Um . . . she cries sometimes and says I
shouldn't deserve this."
A mother figure, perhaps? It would make sense,
though a bad relationship with a mother figure
wasn't on Osaka's record.
"What does you think she meant by, 'shouldn't
deserve this?'"
"Um, dunno."
A unconscious thought, perhaps.
"Does she say anything else?"
"Uh, yeah. She say's she'd find a way."
"A way to do what?"
"She never said."
***
Tokyo-2 UN Headquarters
(HCP Committee Virtual Meeting)
1-27-2009
[Keel Lorenz]
"We have been expecting you, Lieutenant
Tsukino," said the man.
Usagi sweated and put an arm behind her head.
"Um, uh . . . have I done anything wrong?"
"No, Lieutenant. We merely wanted to interview
a promising new recruit."
"Um, I've been in the JSDF for a little over two
years now, so . . ."
"No, Lieutenant. A letter of transference should
have been put into your mailbox yesterday. Have
you received it yet?"
"Uh . . . actually, I haven't checked my mail for
the past week or so."
Keel sweated. *Stupid girl.*
"You've just been transferred to NERV."
"Really? I knew I would make it eventually!"
Keel felt the stares of the board members.
"You are excused now, Lieutenant."
"Thanks!"
Usagi left the room.
"You are certain this is a good idea, Keel?"
"Yes, gentlemen. She is, after all, the successor
of Eve."
***
Tokyo-3
(Tokyo-3 Military Hospital, NERV Sector)
6-30-2015
[Ayanami Rei]
�In the Year of Our Lord 1995, a woman named
Miura Noriko published a shojo manga called
�Return.� Quite an interesting piece.�
�Here�s a rough outline of the first chapter:�
�We get this kid, right? He�s the intellectual type,
highest scores in the school. Then we get his
friend, who�s the muscle-brain type, not very
smart. The friend�s just gotten a driver�s license
and a motorcycle, and invites the kid on a ride.�
�No problems so far, yeah?�
�Well, at this point the friend decides that he�s
gonna test the limits of the bike�s speed. They go
up to, I dunno, a hundred kilometers per hour or
something? There�s an accident.�
�The friend breaks a leg. The boy dies . . . and
then?�
�The boy wakes up in a room he�s never seen
before. He�s a bit thirsty, and he sees a pitcher of
water to his side, so he takes a drink. The water
wakes him up a bit, and he decides to look
around.�
�The first thing he sees: a girl in the mirror on the
wall, sitting in bed. He thinks, �Hmm . . . cute girl.
Is she in the next bed? This *is* a hospital,
right?��
�He turns to the next bed, and to his surprise, it�s
empty. He turns back to the mirror. The girl�s still
there. �Strange mirror,� he thinks to himself. He
raises a hand. The girl in the mirror raises a hand.
He decides to investigate, and walks over to the
mirror.�
�So does the girl.�
�Then he realizes that the girl in the mirror is him,
and that not only is he a girl, he�s cute. The
situation gets too ridiculous for his sanity, and he
decides to ignore it by coming to the conclusion
that it�s all a dream. He goes back to bed. That is,
until his bladder forces him to find a place to let
his fluids out. There wasn�t a toilet connected to
the bedroom, so he went out into the hall,
searching for the male restrooms.�
�We *know* what happens next, right? It involves
a lot of screaming and some acute penis envy.�
�Like I said, interesting piece. I love antediluvian
manga. They reflect events that happen in
everyday life. Like, yeah, note the irony, I�ve
always wanted acute penis envy.�
�I mean, why *blue* hair? Why *red* eyes? And
why, for the love of God, *albino?*�
***
Outskirts of Kyoto
(a mountain path)
9-6-1999
[Fuyutsuki Kouzou]
"What happened to Eve?"
"She left and created her own Eden on the moon.
Her children built her an empire."
"That's kinda sudden."
"Well . . . it was gradual. The actual text spends
about two pages plotting out the bloodline of Eve.
I believe it went through about twenty generations."
"You mean like the ones we see in Genesis?"
"Yes."
"Hmm . . . wait a sec. How could she have
children?"
"What do you mean?"
"Your story doesn't mention any men available
to father her children, right? I mean, this is
Adam and Eve we're talkin about. The first man
and woman. There were no other men. Who was
the father?"
"There was no father. She had the ability to
create."
"She created the 'children?'"
"Yes."
"Does Lilith have this ability?"
"Apparently."
***
Tokyo-2 UN Headquarters
(HCP Committee Virtual Meeting)
6-30-2015
[Keel Lorenz]
�So Ikari has edited the Marduk Report?�
�Yes.�
[It wasn�t so much that the glowing figures of the
members of the Human Complementation
Committee materialized out of the darkness of the
meeting room purely because it looked cool.
Rather, they did so because the designers of the
room had originally decided that the presentation
of the various holographic images would be most
visible against a black backdrop.]
�What were the changes?�
�It appears that he changed his son�s priority
stats.�
�He lowered them?�
�Yes. He set them to third class.�
[The fact that nobody was in the room might have
also had something to do with it. As it was, the
room had been empty for most of the time it�d
existed, and it�d only come into existence because
someone had felt it proper that meetings
concerning the future of the world were to be held
in the United Nations.]
�Do you believe he has done so to protect his
son?�
�No. According to my agents, his son is missing.�
�What are the details?�
�Currently unknown. We haven�t managed to
directly penetrate NERV.�
[As 2-D virtual conferences had gone out of
fashion quite some time ago, the founders of the
committee had seen to it that each of the members
had a small meeting room built somewhere in their
homes.]
�Interesting. Do you know if Eve has reacted?�
�No.�
�Anything on her?�
�We think she might have caused Ikari�s actions.�
�Really?�
[When the meetings occurred, each member sat
down in his own private room with all but one the
lights off (the one in front of them) and waited
(about 0.5 seconds) for the other members to
holographically appear in the chairs around the
table they were sitting at. Formality was heavily
implied, and frequently enforced..]
�Are we going to do anything about it?�
�Not yet. I suggest that we might contact the
author of the original Marduk.�
�Name? Location?�
�Kii Choueda. He�s currently the landlord of an
apartment in Tokyo-3, otherwise
unemployed.�
�Rather convenient. I say we contact him.�
[In this manner, the members were denied the
luxury of having an excuse for being late, and the
costs of the trips between their homes and the
meetings were rendered nonexistent.]
�What shall we have him do?�
�Just tell him that he should stay where he is until
we contact him. We�ll worry about what we�ll
have him do later.�
�Does he still have the clearance to veto any
changes Ikari might make?�
�Yes. He was never actually removed from his
position as the head of Marduk. He merely
assumed that he was.�
[This conservation of spending found its way into
the program that facilitated the meetings. Most
notably, the AI in charge was programmed to close
off the power source of a hologram immediately
after the member the hologram was attributed to
left his seat. This meant that when a member
wanted to leave, his holographic icon would just
blink out. The opposite was true for arrival.]
�What about Nagisa child?�
�We�ve contained him. Unless there�s a change, he
won�t be escaping from us for some time.�
�Do we know that he�s working with Eve?�
�I think it�s certain.�
�You believe that he was the one who stole that
shipment of LCL?�
�Yes. Only he had the power and the reason to do
so.�
[The net of effect of the entire display was cool, to
say the least. Instead of looking like the type of
meeting you�d expect an underpaid government
worker to attend (which it actually was), it
appeared to be the type of meeting that traditional
Japanese filmmakers just *have to* script in when
they get some ancient warlord to summon his
ninjas/familiars/gods/demons/etc./etc. (which it
most definitely was not).]
�Kaji is on the move.�
�Indeed.�
�How much does he know?�
�Most of the truth, by this point.�
�Is he to be allowed to continue?�
�Yes. His existence only furthers our cause. He�s
not powerful enough to do otherwise.�
�You shouldn�t underestimate him.�
[One got the impression, however, that the latter
description was much more fitting of the
atmosphere. No matter how innocent the members
were, they managed to radiate a sort of a sinister
presence that got amplified by the darkness. Sort
of. Don�t get me wrong, though. Just because they
*are* underpaid government workers doesn�t
make them normal. They�re some of the most
powerful individuals in the world.]
�Is there anything else?�
�No.�
�Then let us part for now. Things must me done.�
�Yes.�
[And so the meeting ended. No minutes were
taken. No agenda was read. These things don�t
have to be done in a meeting of ghosts. Extra-legal
organizations had a tendency to not exist.]
***
Outskirts of Kyoto
(a mountain path)
9-6-1999
[Fuyutsuki Kouzou]
"What happened after that?"
"I'm not quite sure. The text says the children of
Lilith/Adam destroyed the empire of Eve."
"Lilith/Adam?"
"The separate words representing Lilith and
Adam are placed adjacent to one another in the
text and used as a single noun. I'm taking it to
mean the collective children of Lilith and
Adam."
"So that means . . . including the Lilim?"
"The Lilim were from the other text. I don't
know if they exist in this one."
"Hmm . . . so Eve's children were killed."
"Yes."
Yui sighed.
"I hate sad endings."
***
Kanagawa
(originally the Kanagawa prefecture)
5-27-3096
[? ? ?]
Light rain falls upon a field of grass.
I hate the rain.
***
Tokyo-3
(Street)
7-2-2015
[Tsukino Ukyou & Tsukino Sakyou]
�Another day.�
�Yeah . . .�
�You think she�s gonna come home tonight?�
�I dunno. I hope she does.�
�I do too.�
***
(To be continued . . . ?)
Author�s Babble:
C&C would be GREATLY appreciated. I don�t
think I can continue otherwise . . .
SeventhOne