[FFML] [Cthulhu / Evangelion ] Partial COAEG Draft of 24

[John Biles]

That is not dead
Which cannot die
But only sleeping lie
And with strange aeons
Even death may die.



I had originally hoped to have the whole rough draft of COAEG 24 ready for
today.  It didn't happen.  But to celebrate our 11th anniversary of working
on this fic ^^^^;;;;;;  I am releasing the first third of the final chapter
for people's reading enjoyment on Halloween.


COAEG 24 Partial Rough Draft:
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed

TURNING and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?
--The Second Coming, William Butler Yeats (1865-1939)

***

     "Well, the flight is going well so far," Misato said, facing the
viewscreen in the bridge of the Scimitar. "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."

    "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 looked a
little nervous to Misato.

    "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.

    "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 went dead. "Communications
link down!" the Scimitar's communications officer shouted. "No signal at
all."

     "Nothing?" Misato replied, head snapping around to face him.

     "Nothing," he confirmed, scanning the boards quickly before looking
back at her. "Either the line to the antenna, or the antenna itself, has
been destroyed. We can't receive or transmit." He pulled out a cellphone and
started punching. "I'm getting cell signal, but calls to NERV-Germany are
not going through. The network's gone down."

     "Keep trying to get hold of someone at the base," Misato said. "Or UN
HQ, or anyone else you can. Find out where the network's out. Commander
Fuyutsuki, we're getting you to safety." She detailed three security men to
hustle him out, over his protests, then tried calling the security office on
her phone. "Local calls still working," she shouted back over to the
communications officer. Then a third bomb went off.

     Power went down all over the ship, leaving the windows as the only
light source. The blimp started drifting, though fortunately it didn't need
power to stay aloft, and they should be able to stay alive until they could
call for help.

    Misato called the Children, telling them to meet her at the bridge;
moments later, they appeared in a cloud of bubbles, startling the security
team she had started gathering. "We need to find out where those explosions
came from, and fast."

    "Who could do this?" Shinji asked.

    "A traitor," Misato said.  "Probably working for whoever sent those
Nazi-wannabes when we were still in Germany."  Her face was grimly
determined.  They couldn't afford failure, not this close to victory.

    Asuka grimaced, and Touji and Hikari looked around warily.  Rei moved,
taking the lead just ahead of Misato, so she was ringed round by the
Children, Rei in front, Shinji to the left, Asuka to the right, and Touji
and Hikari behind her.  Four security men were ahead of Rei, four more
behind Touji and Hikari.

    She called Makoto again, but he didn't answer.  Please don't let him be
dead, she thought.  Not now.  She took a moment to pray for Ritsuko as well,
even if she didn't know what she was praying to.  Something, anything out
there that might hear a plea and have a little pity on mankind, specifically
her friends.

    Her imagination painted the picture for her, Makoto lying there dead
like Shigeru, his brain hollowed out, accusing her with his eyes, another
one of her failures.

    For a moment, she intensely wanted a beer, then she shoved the thought
away and forced herself to think positive.  Makoto was off duty and probably
taking a nap with his cellphone off, not expecting any calls out here.  Some
poorly vetted person from NERV-Germany would turn out to be the traitor,
probably working for the cult of the next and hopefully LAST Angel.

    She called the bridge, which was thankfully explosion and death-free,
and asked the communications officer if he'd gotten hold of anyone.

    "No one is answering their cellphone, but I got a text message
indicating the base is under attack and being evacuated," he told her.

    Shit, she thought.  "Okay, find out whatever you can," she said.

    "Yes, Commander Katsuragi," he said.

    Hikari was fiddling with her own phone. "Texts might be getting through,
but I can't get to the web."

    "Dammit," Asuka said.  "I..."

    Gunfire cut off Asuka's answer, and they turned and raced towards the
sound. In the generator room, they found Makoto sitting against the wall,
bleeding from multiple wounds; a security guard turned from him to look at
them as they came in, then shook his head. As they stared, a single yellow
line began to run out of his shirt, curving up his throat like a question
mark, glowing evilly.

    "No, no, no," Misato said, agonized.  "Not you too!  DAMMIT!"

    Rei slowly advanced on him, flanked by Shinji and Asuka, while Touji and
Hikari stood next to Misato.

    "The Old Ones were, the Old Ones are, the Old Ones yet will be," he
mumbled.  "Ancient and unseen, they walk among us and we know them not."

    "Maybe...we can drive it out of him," Shinji said hesitantly.

    Rei looked skeptical, but she nodded.  "It would not hurt to try."

    "Hold on, Makoto," Asuka said, stepping closer.

    Touji frowned.   Wouldn't he just die of the bullet wounds even if they
got rid of whatever was inside him?  He'd lost a hell of a lot of blood.
But he didn't want to rain on their last hope.

    Hikari watched tensely, expecting that if they did drive the creature
out of him, it might well try to eat Commander Katsuragi.

    "This is all your fault, you know," Makoto said, pointing at Misato.
"We're all dying one by one because you're too weak to protect us."

    For a moment, Misato cringed, then she hardened.  "Don't play games with
me, whatever you are!  Get out of Makoto!"

    "It's too late to save Makoto.  You let a cultist of Hastur fuck him
over and over for months.  He's dead and gone and never coming back.  But
you'll be dead soon too," Makoto said harshly.  A yellow dot appeared on his
forehead and lines began to blossom across his forehead.

    Rei, Shinji, and Asuka now formed AT-fields and pressed in on him, the
fields shaping around him, pressing down on him.  Makoto began to thrash and
howl.  "Just look at your precious Children!  Even if they slay the Dream
King, they'll just do to this world what the Champions of Xoth did to their
own world!  TEAR IT APART!  You sacrificed them for your own benefit, but
they'll repay... aaaaaaaa!!!!!"  He howled and shook and frothed.

    "YOUR VICTORY IS YOUR DEFEAT!," he screamed, twitching like an
epileptic.

    Live, live, live, be free, BE FREE! Asuka chanted to herself, focusing
her will.

    Rei concentrated fiercely, though you could hardly tell it from her
blank expression.

    Come on, come on, hold on, come on, Misato thought desperately.

    The Yellow Sign on Makoto's forehead caught fire and burned away. The
rest of his body convulsed, but Makoto's expression changed.  "Misato!
There's a bomb in the fuel and it's about to go off and another one by the
gas bag!  He came down here to distract you!"

    "Oh no," Hikari said.

    "Makoto!" she cried out.  "Rei, carry him."  She pulled out her
cellphone to call the rest of security.

    The remaining bombs now went off; it was too late to stop them.

    Fire bloomed out of the gondola as the fuel caught fire and burned; the
torn edges of the canopy started flapping violently in the wind as the
Scimitar began falling, helium rushing out of the gas bag. The shockwave
hit; Misato nearly fell, but Touji caught her.  While the Children were able
to save themselves and those near them from immolation, the ship now lurched
and turned and began to fall.

    The ship lurched again, and they all slid across the room, slamming into
the wall.  Makoto grunted sharply as the breath was forced from his lungs,
then went limp; obviously dead. Rei looked to Asuka. "Get us out."

    "No, we have to save as many people as we can!" Misato said.

    "No time," Rei said, though she did grab a security man; the other
Children followed suit, taking as many security men as they could carry as
Asuka burned them a way out. They all sprouted wings and flew away from the
burning, plummeting, collapsing wreck of the Scimitar.

    Misato stared aghast as it burned and fell.  "Commander Fuyutsuki!"

    Shinji winced, holding a security man with each hand as best he could.
"I think he was in the middle of that firestorm."

    "Find land," Misato said, wanting to cry but knowing she couldn't afford
tears.  "No point in staying up here."

    Below them, the EVA transport bay burst apart as Units 00-04 ripped
free, flying upwards to join the Children, growing great wings of fire,
feathers or skin.

    With a huge splash, the corpse of the Scimitar plunged into the ocean
and sank. Fires snuffed out one after the other as the ocean closed over it,
burying the dead as the Children flew for land.

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

    Maya was busy giving Ritsuko an injection when the first of the froglike
men came through the door.  Maya fumbled for her purse as he approached and
produced a pistol.  Even as he began to gesticulate and croak at her, she
levelled it at him.  "Back off!  Back off!"

    "He wants us to come with him," Ritsuko managed to say, recovering her
strength and sitting up.

    They could hear anarchy in progress, distant shouting and shooting and
explosions.  Something blew up and the table shook as Ritsuko got up off
it.

    "What do we do now?" Maya asked.  "Should I shoot him?"  She shivered at
the very sight of him.  But she'd die before she'd let him touch her
Ritsuko.

    Ritsuko said something to him and he backed off.  "Follow me," she said.

    Maya kept the gun out, swept a bunch of extra doses into her purse, and
took several unused syringes, then followed.

    To her surprise, Ritsuko led her into the women's bathroom.

    "I suppose this may be our last chance to go," Maya said hesitantly.

    Ritsuko laughed softly.  "Best take it, but we're going to sneak out the
window afterwards, so turn a sink to full blast once you're done," she
whispered.

    Maya got out the window easily; it was harder for Ritsuko, but she
managed to squeeze out the window.

    Unfortunately, this was a case of out of the frying pan and into the
fire.  There were bodies scattered across the yard, corpses of soldiers.
Some had been stabbed, others were missing limbs, some had large holes in
their head which were eerily dry.

    Maya stared in horror, shivering at the widespread devastation.
Distantly, she could hear shouts and shooting and cries of pain as the
battle still raged.  Out over the Rhine, she could see helicopters fleeing
into the distance.

    Worse, she could now see the leader of the Deep One forces.  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.  Maya stared at it in horror and could hardly
move.  "What is that?" she whispered.

    "Death for us," Ritsuko said.  "If we are lucky, we can make it to the
west gate."

    They creeped across the grounds to the distant cry of battle and death.
The amount of gun firing was fading, however; it was clear the Deep Ones
were victorious.

    They reached the edge of Building 28, a storage building for various
mundane goods.  From here, there was open ground to the West Gate of the
compound, through which supplies were often delivered.  There was also a
parking lot, which Ritsuko hoped might have a vehicle.

    Unfortunately, a squad of twenty Deep Ones squatted at the gate, leaning
on their spears and looking bored with sitting here and preventing escape.
The tires had been slashed on the vehicles, except for the ones which were
on fire.

    Light and shadow played across Maya and Ritsuko's faces as they peeked
around the corner.  "Maybe the south gate?" Maya suggested.

    It was worth trying but it was probably guarded too.  By the time they
headed that way, they could hear a squad of Deep Ones coming their way, and
Ritsuko could tell they were looking for her and Maya, though she kept her
mouth shut so as not to discourage Maya.

    But as they crept up around the laboratory building closest to the south
gate and its parking lot, they could see more deep ones guarding the gate
and amusing themselves playing frisbee with car tires.

    "Now what?" Maya said in frustration.

    "We try and get some wireclippers and cut a hole in the fence," Ritsuko
said.

    As they doubled back, however, a dozen Deep Ones came around the corner
and pointed at them.  One said something authoritative.  Ritsuko put a
bullet in his eye and into his skull, killing him.

    The others howled and rushed at them.

    "Run, Maya!" Ritsuko said, shooting a second one with three rounds and
injuring two more.

    "I can't leave you!"

    "RUN!"

    She ran.  Right into a group of six more Deep Ones who threw a net over
her and knocked her to the ground.

    She heard more gunshots and then just grunts and shouting.

    "SEMPAI!" she howled, and then the Deep Ones clubbed her until she
passed out.  Maya's last sensation was that of some kind of nasty gel being
forced into her mouth; it tasted rather like LCL.  And then there was only
darkness and the smell of salt.

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

    They'd dropped the security men off on an island, with cellphones to
call for help. Now they had to figure out what to do next.

    Specifically, what to do about Misato. Contrary to many a giant robot
show, you can't ride on the outside of a giant flying thing and continue to
function very well - unless it goes verrry slowly. Even then, how could she
actually track things in battle and give orders? They could use her GPS
program on her phone to reach the right location; she had the coordinates.
But transporting her, protecting her in battle, and communications were all
issues.

    "I can protect her," Rei said.  "She must ride with me and lead us."

    "You can?" Touji said.  "I thought that LCL shit was dangerous for
anyone who can't pilot EVA."

    "It is," Rei said.  "But I can protect her.  Otherwise, we must leave
her behind or wait for backup." She paused. "I do not think backup is
coming."

    NERV was in chaos; NERV-Germany had been attacked and many of the
personnel were dead.  The other bases were too far away to help.  They had
to act and act swiftly, before it was too late.

    "I hope Commander Fuyutsuki didn't have any big secrets he was waitin'
for the last second to reveal," Touji mumbled.  Poor guy, he thought.  What
a shitty way to go.  "Ya really think you can do it, Rei?"

    Asuka felt vaguely bad for Fuyutsuki; his death must have been horrible,
if swift. But she'd no longer trusted him. Not after all the lies he'd
spread. She felt a lot worse for Makoto, who she'd liked; but surely he was
in Heaven now.

    Shinji felt worse, but he was trying to hold it in, until the battle was
over.

    Hikari only vaguely knew the man and felt an abstract sympathy for his
death, but had little tie to him.

    Misato felt the worst, though Makoto was far more on her mind than
Fuyutsuki; she was squashing her pain until later.  Or else she would just
collapse.

     And they needed her.

     "I am willing to trust Rei's judgement," she said, looking down at the
glow. After all, she didn't have much other choice; they'd have to abandon
her, and she them.

    "I believe I can do it," Rei said.  They didn't have a plug suit, but
Misato didn't need to synchronize, just to survive.  Rei took her hand and
concentrated and now Misato began to glow very softly; you couldn't really
notice it in the bright light here.

    Misato's first act on experiencing LCL for herself was to nearly vomit.
"THIS IS GOD-FUCKING-AWFUL," she howled.

    Having all of the Children laughing at her didn't help.

    "Damn straight, it tastes terrible!," Touji said.  "Nastier than
anythin'."

    "It is quite foul, though you tend to blank it out with time," Hikari
said.

    "I hardly notice it anymore," Shinji confessed.

    "Is this an AT-Field?" Misato asked, studying her glow.

    "Something like it," Rei said.  "A sign of my power.  Guide us."

    Misato took her phone and punched up the coordinates. "Right. Let's go."

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

    Indonesia seemed to go on forever, long enough even flying at high speed
for their minds to drift and worries to try to surface.

    Misato finally managed to get through to some survivors at NERV-Germany,
but they seemed shellshocked; about all they could tell her was that
everyone thought Ritsuko and Maya were dead.  She couldn't believe that.
Didn't want to believe that.  Not until she saw the body.  Not her too.

    She could have told the Children, but it would have only hurt them.  Rei
knew, but Rei kept silent for whatever reason, and Misato was grateful.

    And there was still hope.

    Please, don't let them die, she begged the universe.

    But it made no reply.

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

    As the desolate ocean rolled away beneath them, Touji was starting to
wonder if there was going to be anything left to defend once this was all
over.  Though at least no one could blame any of this on him.  Damn
possessin' monsters.  Damn fishmen.  Damn everything.

    This was the end, right?

    Right?

    He couldn't take much more of this shit, though at least his closest
friends were alive.

    Except for Kensuke.  But at least I set his soul free, Touji thought.
That had to count for something.

    Right?

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

    Hikari tried to remember when she had been a normal girl with normal
worries.  She could dimly remember things like homework and playing with
Toonces and going to the mall and worrying about her hair and her makeup.
She couldn't actually see herself now, but she had a strong feeling she
looked a fright.

    But it all seemed unreal, like another life.  She'd lost everything.
Her position as class representative, her school, her family, even her pet.

    Only her friends and Touji were left and not even all of her friends.
Some were scattered and she might never see them again.  And some were
dead.

    She tried to remember her classmates.  She could summon most of them to
her mind's eye, but names...habits...everything felt like a blur.

    Touji loves me, she told herself.  And I love him.  Asuka is still alive
and so are Shinji and Rei and Commander Katsuragi.  And I have to be strong
for them.  They need me.  I can't believe I'm here, but I am and I have to
be strong.

    Because if she lost them, there would be no more reason to keep on
living.

**********

    Shinji stared at the landscape below, wondering what the people of
Indonesia thought of the huge monstrosities flying over them.  They were too
high up to make out people, but he could see towns and cities and fields.
Some parts of the country looked much like Japan from this high up; other
parts looked like jungles, mountains, volcanos, and other wild places.

    On an impulse, he sent out a command to every spider in the country to
weave webs that would read 'Don't Worry, We're Only Passing Through.'
Hopefully that would reassure them.

    He paged Asuka.  "Asuka," he said softly.  "How are you?"

    "I'm fine, Shinji dear," she said softly.  "Just feeling a little
melancholy."

    "Me too," he said.  "Do you think this is the end?"

    "I think so," Asuka said.  "Unfortunately, for all that Fuyutsuki was
lying to us, he also was the only person left who might be able to answer
that."  She sighed.  "And he was on our side, sort of, at least.  What a
terrible way to go."

    "And Makoto too," Shinji said.  "Do you think..."

    Asuka made a face.  "She was on the rebound and would just seize anyone
who came along.  And you'll note she didn't take an interest UNTIL he got a
girlfriend."

    Shinji sighed.  "She must feel terrible."

    "I feel terrible.  I really liked him," Asuka said.  "But I've lost so
much, it's hard to hurt."  Her voice ached despite her words.

    "I know exactly what you mean," Shinji said softly.  "I don't want to go
back to the old me, but I wish...I wish we could live in peace."

    "Me too," Asuka said.  "But without this, we would never have met.  I
don't know...I don't want to live without you, Shinji," she said urgently.

    "I don't want to live without you either, Asuka," Shinji said, catching
her urgency.  "I wish I could kiss you."

    "Me too," she said.

    "You two trying to make out?" Misato asked, suddenly linking into the
conversation.

    "I wish," Asuka mumbled.

    "Are we getting close, Misato?" Shinji asked.

    "This is a private thing," Misato said.  "Look.  I'm a shitty
housekeeper.  I'm a terrible role model.  My love life is a shambles.  And I
think my best friend..."

    "I'm sure she's alive," Asuka said firmly, though she was lying.  If
they hadn't heard from Akagi-san, she was probably dead.  But she couldn't
tell Misato that.

    "No one is dead until you see the body," Shinji said, trying to be
encouraging.

    "That's right," Misato said, rallying.  "Damnation, this stuff still
tastes god-awful."

    Shinji laughed a little.

    "Anyway.  I want...I guess this is a stupid time to ask you, though."

    "Go on," Shinji said.

    "I want to be your guardian when all this is over.  Until you come of
majority."  Misato looked down, giving them a very good view of her
forehead.  "I kind of like having you two around."

    "I'd like that," Shinji said.  "You've been...I..."  He struggled to
find the right words.

    "There is no one else I would rather live with but you and Shinji,"
Asuka said flatly.  "Though I am going to make you learn to cook."

    "Yes, master," Misato said, then laughed.  "Okay.  Seriously, though, we
will get through this.  One way or another."

    "After all we've fought, this can't possibly be too tough a fight,"
Shinji said.  "I'm sure we'll be just fine."

    "We will win," Asuka said firmly.  "This time the stars are right for
US."

*********

    "What a shitty looking place," Touji observed, studying the new island
which squatted in the South Pacific, freshly risen from the ocean floor.
Looking at it made his head hurt, though; the buildings all looked distorted
and wrong, like an entire city built by Escher.  Cross-bridges between
buildings twisted like mobius strips, but surely you weren't expected to
walk upside down.  Some of them jutted at extreme angles where they should
have fallen down, but somehow they stayed up.  Yet surely inside them you'd
be constantly trying to walk uphill or to keep the furniture from sliding
downhill, right?

    Others twisted and bored into each other, like bamboo growing into the
back of a tied-down victim of the green death.  Some split into branches as
you looked up them then fused back together or joined with other buildings.

    Hikari and Touji had seen the city in their dreams, but it seemed even
more freaky and alien now that they were awake.  It didn't seem so alien to
Shinji, Asuka, and Rei, who knew it was typical Xothian architecture,
designed under the laws of physics which held sway on distant Xoth, where
certain key principles differed from Earth; Cthulhu's power held it all
together, a tiny bubble of long fallen Xoth on Earth; if he won this day, he
would have enough strength to remake the Earth into a new Xoth, where the
laws of physics men take for granted would no longer hold sway.  If he fell,
the inexorable laws of geometry would turn on once sunken Ry'leh and destroy
it in a cataclysmic collapse which would smite the hordes of Deep Ones and
Xothians who roamed the streets.

    "I don't like it," Hikari said.

    "Well, some of this would never have passed muster in the old days,"
Asuka said disparagingly.  "You can see that whole district was made with
substandard materials and there's little imagination.  Just look over there,
it's a total imitation of a much superior Fourth Era monolith in the
Cytorrian style.  It's pretty clear that..."  She paused, then looked
horrified.  "DAMMIT."

    Unit01 patted Unit02.  "I know, I know," Shinji mumbled.

    Misato carefully did not comment.  "Asuka, Shinji, Rei, I know you don't
want to dredge up Angel memories, but anything you can tell us about this
place from them or where our foe is likely to be would be very good, given
we don't have a feed from Polaris to guide us."

    "Probably that giant ugly as fuck palace," Touji said, pointing to the
huge pile of stone in the middle which had five evenly spaced leaning
towers.  He was pretty sure it should have collapsed under its own weight,
given the way it was built.  "I think it's a palace."

    "Language," Hikari said firmly.

    "Sorry, babe," he muttered.

    Before they could go look, another building - reddish stone, with veins
of purple - collapsed. Five giant blue humanoids erupted out of it,
sprouting metal spines from their backs. Red leathery skin stretched between
them, forming giant wings. They were Evangelion units, blue and red, with an
design traced out in gold on their chests and brows - oval, trailing
tendrils at its bottom, and ringed by the words "Ph'nglui mglw'nafh C'thulhu
R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn."

    "Dammit, SEELE found the resources to actually make the planned
mass-production EVA units," Misato said.  "We can assume, however, that they
should be weaker than you, since they haven't been fighting Angels."

    Touji hoped that was a good assumption.

    They were armed with long red-shafted poles, a forest of long metallic
blue blades at the end, giant quinta-tridents.  The shimmer of AT-fields
danced along the blades as the Mass Production Units drew closer.  You could
read the giant stamps on their backs as they flew up:  Unit06, Unit07,
Unit08, Unit09, and Unit10.

    As they approached, they split off, Unit06 going after Rei, Unit07 after
Shinji, Unit08 after Asuka, Unit09 after Touji, and Unit10 after Hikari.

    "Do not engage according to their preferences," Misato ordered.  "I
don't know why they decided to line up against you like this, but we don't
want to find out.  Touji, teleport behind Unit06 and slice its wings with
your Progressive Knife. Then engage it at your discretion if that doesn't
work. Hikari, engage Unit07 and keep its attention.  Rei, double-team Unit07
once Hikari draws its fire.  Asuka, I am giving you a hard task.  Take on
Unit09 and Unit10 at the same time.  Evade, dodge, and so on, attacking just
enough to keep them busy.  Shinji, try to web up Unit08.  Kill it if you
can, keep it busy if you can't.  Once we have one of these bastards down, we
can begin double and triple-teaming them safely.  These things are remote
controlled, so there is no need for mercy; I don't know how they got DAGON
to work, but we have to stop these things without being weakened too much to
deal with the last Angel."

    The Children saluted, then moved into action.

    Unit02 arced upwards, then dove at Unit09 and Unit10, spewing fireballs
at them, forcing them to dodge and dive.  She chased them downwards,
shouting imprecations in German.

    Unit01 charged at an angle, parrying a thrust from a trident, then
spewing webs over the head of Unit08; it began flailing blindly. Closing,
Unit01 grabbed Unit08's right arm and bit down, trying to chew it off; 08
clawed at its own face with its left hand, trying to restore its sight.  Its
trident flopped uselessly in its right hand.

     Touji concentrated, and the world erupted in stars and galaxies; he
appeared behind Unit06, slashing with his knife. It turned and forced him
back, attacking with considerable skill - but he'd cut one of its wings and,
now it tended to wobble tremendously.  This kept him alive, as he quickly
realized it actually fought with much more skill than he did and had a lot
more reach with its spear.  But it was unstable and many of its blows went
wild.

     Hikari cut across the incoming enemy line to charge at Unit07, wishing
she was better at this.  She had the least experience of any of them, and
the least power...  which is why she ended up accomplishing her mission of
drawing Unit07's fire by getting Unit04's arm impaled on a lance.  Unit00
dived on Unit07 and took it from behind; claws dug in and drove tendrils of
ice deep into its flesh, as it howled and Unit04 tried to get free from the
trident spines.  But now the spines were burrowing up 04's arm, following
its veins, seeking its heart.

    Unit09 broke left, Unit10 broke right - and now Asuka realized she'd
charged down into attack range of a squad of Xothians. 'Miniature' versions
of their lord, the Dream King, they were about the height of double-decker
busses, and armed with Y'glai Crystalline Rods which produced Corgathic
blasts. Which is to say, she found herself blasted by a barrage of energy
beams, and had to raise an AT-field to defend herself.  But now Unit09 and
Unit10 were above her, preparing to dive-bomb her.

    "HIKARI!," Touji shouted, and teleported Unit03 over to begin hacking at
the trident impaling her arm.  However, this left Unit06 free to come to the
aid of Unit08, by driving its trident into Unit01's gut.

    "SHINJI!" Asuka shouted.

    "Touji, you just left Shinji vulnerable!  Unit04 already has help!  Get
on Unit06 now!  Shinji, form an AT-field and force out the trident!  Hikari,
do the same thing!  Asuka, go full defensive!" Misato shouted.

    "And I?" Rei asked from right next to her.

    "You obeyed orders. Finish Unit08.  Then we can help Shinji," Misato
said softly to her.  So did Hikari, but I will praise her later, Misato
thought.  She needs to focus.

    Rei nodded and continued to savage Unit08.

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

    Maya woke up, feeling soaked to her skin.  A few swishes of her hand
told her this was because she was, in fact, underwater.  Her mouth and nose
felt very strange; she quickly realized some sort of gelatinous gunk was
filling her mouth, nose, and throat, extending over her face just enough to
seal off both passages.

    Ritsuko's voice said, "It's alive.  It absorbs oxygen from the water and
passes it to you, down your throat and into your lungs."  Maya turned to
look at her; she no longer had to wear the 'breathing' apparatus down here,
but she looked very worried.

    Maya said, "Amazing.  Are you okay?"

    "I'm fine," Ritusuko said softly.  "Are you?"

    "I'm just fine," Maya said, then came over and kissed her gently - it
felt very strange, through the gunk - then rested her forehead against
Ritsuko's and whispered, "Are we being watched?"

    Ritsuko's eyes had widened but now she relaxed.  "Yes," she whispered.

    Maya could see they were lying on a bed of very soft and comfortable
moss, laid out on a smoothly polished floor of coral; the walls were also
coral - but more natural, full of holes - and the ceiling likewise.  There
were curtains, rather than doors, made of many little beads of coral strung
together on golden wires.  There was a table, carved out of basalt, and 4
wicker-like chairs, sea-green in color.  Four gourd-like things, purple with
a sort of baby bottle-like nipple, sat on top.

    Maya asked, "What are those?"

    "Some sort of juice, very nutritious and tasty.  You suck it out through
the nozzle," Ritsuko said.  "Part of the organism extends down to your
stomach, so if you drink, it will transmit it there."

    "Is it safe?" Maya whispered.

    "I think so," Ritsuko said.

    Maya drank two of them; it tasted like cocoanut to her, and she rather
liked it.  She now felt very hungry, though.  "Aren't you going to have
one?"

    "I had some earlier."

    "Where are we?"

    "In a city of the Deep Ones, with the usual incomprehensible name which
sounds like someone sneezed," Ritsuko said.  "Or threw up."

    Maya laughed at that, and Ritsuko's concerned face briefly quirked to a
smile.

    Then Ritsuko's expression crashed.  "This is where Mother lives.  I
believe we are under the Baltic."

    Two Deep Ones entered, unarmed, and spoke to Ritsuko.  Ritsuko replied
to them in their sibilant tongue.  "Mother wishes us to dine with her," she
said to Maya.

    "Fine," Maya said.  No point in avoiding food.  If they wanted me dead,
they would have killed me already, she thought.

    They walked down a long, wide hallway, from which smaller ones
periodically branched.  Some areas had porous walls, giving glimpses of
other rooms; others had walls built to conceal.  Most of what Maya saw
looked like various kinds of craftwork - though in one room, Deep Ones knelt
and prayed, chanting to a statue of a really big Deep One.

    They passed a kitchen, and Maya paused, staring into it through a hole
in the wall.  There was no fireplace, obviously enough, but she could see a
metal box glowing as if very hot. Various fish hung from hooks over it, the
water around them boiling, all of this held within a large stone-and-glass
container.  Two Deep Ones holding carven rods watched it very intently.

    "How are they generating that much heat underwear?" Maya asked
curiously.

    "It's probably best we not know," Ritsuko said.  "It's a sign of
Mother's importance, one of her ways of showing off, that she can actually
have food cooked instead of eating raw."

    "She's a bigwig here?" Maya asked.

    "She possesses a great deal of lore which gives her a great deal of
power," Ritsuko said.  "Unfortunately, she's also assimilated, and
completely insane.  She surrendered to the monster inside her."  Ritsuko
sounded angry and disdainful, but then she looked at herself, and sighed.

    Maya took her hand and squeezed it.  "You didn't surrender," she said
firmly.

    "I am sorry to drag you into this," Ritsuko said.

    "I dragged myself in," Maya said.  "I will follow you to the bitter
end."

    Several passing Deep Ones paused and stared at Ritsuko, looking
confused; the two escorts shouted at them and they all bowed until their
heads nearly touched the floor, then turned and ran off down a side tunnel.


    Maya laughed softly, while Ritsuko looked a little embarrassed.  "This
place would be really neat if we weren't prisoners."

    "Don't let your guard down," Ritsuko said.  "This place is extremely
dangerous."

    Maya nodded.

    The dining room had more of the wicker-style chairs, with a long table.
A female Deep One sat at one end, with two more chairs placed to her right
and left.  Unlike most of the Deep Ones, she wore clothing - namely a robe,
made mostly of seaweed, with various gems and pieces of coral set into it.
If you studied it carefully, you could see they formed various arcane
patterns; especially the repeated motif of an oval standing on end, with
dangling, irregular lines descending from the bottom of it.

    More of the gourds sat on the table, next to very fancy (and very wet)
cloth napkins, silver tableware, and porcelain plates.  "I would have
supplied glasses but you can't drink from them here.  My apologies,"
Ritsuko's mother said with a deep voice.

    "Mother, this is my assistant, Ibuki Maya.  Maya, this is my Mother, Dr.
Akagi Naoko."

    "You can call me Naoko," Dr. Akagi said with what was clearly supposed
to be warmth, though her intonations were strange.

    "Then you may call me Maya," Maya said, trying to be polite.

    They soon sat down and made uncomfortable small talk.  Maya felt
incredibly strange; if Dr. Akagi...Naoko...wasn't an inhuman monstrosity,
this would be just like she'd imagined meeting a lover's parents would be
like.

    But Ritsuko's mother was a frog-woman, they were deep beneath the Baltic
Ocean, some sort of slime monster was in her mouth and nose and lungs and
stomach enabling her to breathe, she was sucking juice out of some alien
gourd and...how was coral growing in the Baltic?  Isn't it tropical?

    "Some species of coral are not dependent on sunlight and algae and can
grow in much deeper, colder water.  There is, in fact, a community of our
people off the Aleutian Islands," Naoko said.

    Three covered plates were brought in now; the Deep Ones carrying them
pulled off the covers in unison, as if trying to show off.  Each plate had a
carp, some roast potatos, some kind of white and purple thing which Maya
wasn't sure what it was, a small pile of green and purple goo, a pile of
sliced carrots, and an apple.

    Naoko immediately cut up the potatos and mashed the goo into them, so
Maya did likewise, nervously.  Ritsuko ignored the goo and began cutting up
the carp.  "I take it SEELE supplies you with all the surface foods you
want?"

    "This city has always been in contact with the shores, covertly.
Ancient Lithuanians helped to supply us once, then the Teutonic Knights
conquered them, but elements within the Knights came around soon enough.
Then the Prussians, and now the Poles.  Gold will always get you what you
need," Naoko said.  "You should try the sauce, Ritsuko."

    "I don't like sauce on my fish," Ritsuko said a little petulantly.

    "If you would try it, you would like it," her mother said.

    Maya tried the mashed up potatos.  It had a tangy, spicy taste and she
rather liked it.  "This is pretty good, sempai," she said.  "What is it?"

    "You always say that," Ritsuko snapped at her mother.

    "I'm always right," she said sharply.  "You close yourself off from new
opportunities too much.  How hard was it for you to get her to open up to
you, Maya?" Her voice had shifted from hard-edged to soft and friendly when
she spoke to Maya, though Maya could see she was twitching a bit.

    "I had to ambush her," Maya said.  Maybe this wasn't going to be so bad
after all.  She'd half expected to be tied to a wall with runes being drawn
on her body for sacrifice by now.  Though she could see why the two didn't
get along.

    "I thought so.  Anyway, this is a mix of six or so spices with liquified
Shantak brain tissue, marrow, and blood.  It's a hassle to bring it over to
this side of reality, but only the best for my daughter and her lover,"
Naoko said, again trying to sound kind, though she looked ominous.

    Maya turned a little red at being referred to as such, then wondered
what a Shantak was and whether it was safe to eat.  "And this?" she held up
the purple and white thing.

    "Turnip," Naoko said.

    "That sounds rather like...," Ritsuko began, sounding angry.

    "It is in the style of Tcho-Tcho cuisine, yes, but there is absolutely
no human in any of this," Naoko snapped at her.  "We are the next stage of
human evolution, humanity perfected to live in the majority of this planet,
the ocean.  We are higher beings, but we do not eat humans any more than you
would eat a Neanderthal.  Mind you, some of the early Cro-Magnon were not so
picky, but they were barbarian thugs and killers."  Naoko shook her head,
her voice wobbling from anger to civilized.  "I want you to join us, not
turn into ghouls."  She said this as if Ritsuko was a small child who had to
be reminded not to eat cat food.  "You and your lover, of course."

    Ritsuko paused in the middle of eating fish and stared at her mother.
"What?"

    "She is your lover, correct?"

    For a moment, Ritsuko's mouth moved soundlessly.  Maya stuffed food in
her own mouth. Eating with this stuff was very strange; she could feel it
move inside her mouth as she chewed, which was rather creepy.  But it all
tasted so good.

    Even if she didn't know what a Shantak was.

    "She doesn't act ashamed of you in public, does she?" Naoko asked Maya
curiously.

    "I AM NOT ASHAMED OF MAYA," Ritsuko shouted, trembling with anger.  "I
could never be ashamed of her!"

    "Sempai is always very kind to me," Maya said firmly.

    "Then kiss her," Naoko said.

    "I can't kiss her from across the table," Ritsuko said a little
petulantly.

    "You have feet, you know," her mother said.

    "It's okay, sempai," Maya said.  She turned to Naoko.  "She gets
embarrassed when I kiss her in public, but that's just cute."

    Ritsuko said, "I do not get embarrassed."  Maya found this to be cute
too, though she knew it wasn't true.  But that was okay.  Maya rather
enjoyed embarrassing her sometimes.

    "Well, if you're ashamed to kiss your lover in public, I suppose there's
nothing to be done.  You always were stubborn," Naoko said, then ate some of
her own food.

    Maya put some of the sauce on her fish and tried it; it was really
good.  Then, suddenly, Ritsuko was standing over her, bending down with her
eyes shut and then they kissed and Maya got some crumbs of fish and sauce
into Ritsuko's mouth; Ritsuko tasted a little strange herself, but Maya
didn't care, kissing her firmly.  For a moment, she thought Ritsuko was
crying, but you couldn't really tell as any tears blended right into the
water.

    Naoko applauded.  "See?  Not hard at all."

    "I hate you," Ritsuko snapped at her mother and stormed back to her
seat.

    "But I love you and you clearly love her," Naoko said.  "Which is why
I've brought you here to make you an offer.  Your side has lost.  NERV's
main bases have been destroyed, Dr. Fuyutsuki is dead and only Commander
Katsuragi and the Children of Adam survive.  But they will soon be defeated
by SEELE's own Evangelion units, piloted by DAGON capsules.  Then they will
let our Lord, the King of Dreams, the Master of our race, devour them and he
will take their power and ascend.  This world now belongs to us.  You cannot
hope to defy our Master."

    "I will sooner DIE than bow to an alien monster with delusions of
grandeur!," Ritsuko snapped, pointing with her fork for emphasis.

    "You were always stupidly stubborn," Naoko snapped back angrily, then
shook for a few seconds, then forced herself calm, though her voice was
tense.  She took a moment to gobble down some carrots, then breathed hard
until her breathing gradually calmed.  "And you bring out the worst in me."

    "You surrendered to the worst in you and told me to surrender too,"
Ritsuko almost hissed.

    "So you're offering us protection?" Maya asked, trying to calm them
down.

    "Yes," Naoko said.  "I can, in fact, make you like Ritsuko, so you would
no longer need the Abra'crtha and would be safe here. Instead of living
under the risk that the priests would select you for the breeding pits, or
insist on you being sent to the mines, or any of a variety of other terrible
things which could happen."

    "You mean..." Maya said hesitantly.  "Physically."

    "Yes," Naoko said.  "It is among the many fruits of research on Adam,"
she said.  "The leadership of SEELE will be undergoing this process once
victory is guaranteed and the ability to pass in human society is no longer
needed.  It is rather expensive and requires hard to acquire materials and
supplies that are limited now that Adam is dead, but I am quite willing to
expend them to transform you as well, so the two of you can be together
forever."

    "Forever?" Maya squeaked.

    "Forever.  We are immortal and never die, barring accident, disease,
violence, and the like.  Imagine spending an eternity with the woman you
love, free of the ravages of time," Naoko said kindly to Maya.

    For a moment, Maya lost herself in a fantasy of what that would be
like.  To be with sempai forever, ferreting out all the mysteries of the
universe.

    "And what is the catch?" Ritsuko asked, stabbing her carp and cutting it
viciously.

    "What catch?  Eternal life with the one you love and all the mysteries
of the universe to explore.  You'd be working for me, which I suppose you'd
think is a 'catch', Ritsuko," Naoko said, sounding amused.  "No signing over
your soul, or murdering your friends or whatever you're expecting me to ask
of you.  Don't you want to be with Maya forever?"

    Ritsuko said, "Of course I do!  But there's no such thing as eternity!"
She pounded her fist on the table.  "And you're asking her to give up her
humanity!"

    "To become more than human.  Immortal and ageless, adapted to live in
the vast majority of this planet better than any human.  You think Ritsuko
is beautiful, don't you, Maya?" Naoko asked.

    Maya thought the Deep Ones were hideous and inhuman and creepy, though
it was oddly easy to almost forget that Naoko was a Deep One.  But Ritsuko
was beautiful to her, whatever might happen.  "Yes," she said softly.  She
didn't know what to think.  She didn't want to spend forever surrounded by
inhuman monsters who raped human women to breed more of themselves.  It was
easy to forget, sitting her and bantering with Ritsuko's mother as if this
was a normal 'meet the parents' date.  But they were terrible monsters who
did terrible things and sacrificed to an alien god who wanted to destroy
mankind.

    But she could almost forget that, here and now.

    Which was probably what Naoko wanted her to do.

    She shivered, not sure what to do.  Eternity with sempai...but to give
up her humanity as the price.

    "Can we have some privacy to discuss this?" Ritsuko asked tensely.

    "Of course.  Yell for me when you wish me to return."  Naoko swept out
of the room, leaving them alone.

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

    Touji shattered the haft of Unit07's trident, but the head continued to
burrow into Unit04, snaking its way up through the shoulder; the will of its
pilot and that of Hikari clashing violently, the shoulder of Unit04 pulsing
and throbbing and distorting into hideous shapes as energy and wills
thrashed wildly inside it.

    "HELP SHINJI NOW!" Misato barked at Touji.

    "I can't just abandon Hikari!" Touji said, putting Unit03's arms on
Unit04 and trying to help her.

     Asuka called upon the power of Rahab; and while the two EVA Mass
Production Units diving towards her resisted it, the Xothians suddenly
stiffened - no longer able to move their arms to aim, their limbs to move,
or their mouths to breathe.  Their bodies turned leathery and darkened to
brown, then grey, until finally they looked like statues of Xothians.  But
their minds lived on, trapped inside an immortal, unchanging, ageless shell,
unable to see or smell or hear or taste or touch, locked in with themselves
forever.  This was the gift of Ghathanoa.  Unchanging immortality.  Never to
age, never to die, never to know the fading of mind and body.  Left alone
forever to contemplate eternity, until the stars went out and the universe
went cold or fell in on itself to return to the cosmic womb.

    In theory.

    In practice, Unit09 and Unit10 drove Unit02 into the ground, and several
of them were broken into shards, quickly crumbling to leathery grey dust as
the mass-production Evas pinned her to the ground with their tridents,
howling in triumph.

    Unit01 lost its grip on Unit08's arm; but the mangled arm now lay
helplessly at its side, flopping wildly as it moved. 08 switched its trident
to its left hand and prepared to press the attack which Unit06 had begun on
Unit01.  Meanwhile, Unit01 grabbed Unit06's trident with one hand, trying to
pull it out as the tines began searching through the chest cavity for
Shinji's entry plug. Unit01's other arm became a serpent, which now latched
onto Unit06's face and began to pump deadly poison into Unit06's head. It
began to turn green and to distort as every vein and artery inside it
started expanding to several times normal size. Green lines ran down its
skin towards its 'heart'... but it was clear the tines would reach Shinji
before the poison reached the heart.  And now Unit08 drove its trident into
Unit01's chest, and its tines began to seek his entry plug as well.

    The sun now set. Darkness descended upon them, the stars glittering high
above in a pattern long anticipated.  And down below them, two great stone
doors began slowly moving.

    Hordes of Xothians closed on Unit02, armed with appropriately scaled
versions of the mass production tridents, like Lilliputians preparing to pin
down Gulliver or ants swarming a sleeping man.  Unit 02 flailed, trying to
force out the tridents as they sought out Asuka's Entry Plug, to pierce it
and her.

    "TOUJI!  HELP SHINJI NOW!" Misato shouted angrily.  Then she noticed her
skin was paling, and her hair starting to take on a bluish tinge. Her elder
sign necklace was shimmering and sparking, and she could see things, flows
of energy she was pretty sure no human eye should see.  "Rei, I think I'm in
trouble."

    Rei made no reply, savaging Unit07 as fast as she could with claws and
ice blades and fangs at once.  It was clear her attention for shielding
Misato was flagging.  Misato didn't know what this would do but it could not
possibly be good.

    But she would have to risk it; Rei needed her attention on the battle.
Especially since Touji was busy wildly stabbing Unit07 and shouting INSTEAD
OF HELPING SHINJI.

    Far below, a great stone door fell to the ground, crushing several dozen
Xothians.  A hideous green glow shone forth, casting shadows and drowning
out the stars.

    Misato could see the entry plug of Shinji's EVA crack now; three tines
broke through, heading for his body, and she stared in horror.  "No!
SHINJI!" she and Rei shouted in unison.

    Asuka howled incoherently, and flames rushed everywhere, turning
onrushing Xothians into piles of ash.  She tried to blast Unit08 and Unit06,
but Unit09 and Unit10 shielded them with AT-fields while driving their
tridents home, and now the tines were almost to her entry plug.

    Only a few months ago, Shinji would have simply died.  Not just because
of a lack of power, but because of a lack of will.  He had been unformed
clay, drifting with the current, not living, but surviving.  He had nothing
to live for, he was just too weak to end it all.  He hadn't chosen to pilot
EVA; his father had chosen for him, forced the choice on him.  And he had
caved in because his entire way of life was based on caving in to all
demands that could not be run away from.

    That was what SEELE was counting on, broken Pilots, whose wills would
snap when it came to the final crisis, so their power could be devoured by
docile hunting dogs, who themselves would be eaten by their master, the
Dream King, who would reshape the Earth into the veritable eidoleon of now
long dead Xoth, the world of his birth.  In that world, they would rule,
immortal, ageless, and serene.

    This was their plan, their dream towards which they had worked for
untold aeons, piecing together clues and hints and messages from dreams and
prophecies, messages from their masters.  They would rule, rule as Kings and
Queens, as GODS, sharing in the power of their Master, worshipped by all.

    And as the tines touched his flesh, Shinji knew their dreams for
delusions.  The Dream King did not share power and he cared nothing for his
worshippers.  They were humans who had put together a web of delusions to
give meaning to their lives, to give them hope in a cold and empty world
that did not care if they lived or died but would inexorably kill them,
however well they might cheat death for a time with machines and the arcane
sciences.

    Even now, the Dream King's mind flooded into theirs, filling them with
ecstasy, as the shields fell away which had protected humanity from the
madness inevitable when alien minds touched human ones.  But even for the
corrupt and warped minds of the leaders of SEELE, the touch of the his Mind,
the very call of Cthulhu itself, was too much.  A drunkard might consume a
lot more alcohol with less effect than an ordinary person, but if he drank
enough, he would still die of alcohol poisoning.  And so it would be with
them; their pleasure would mount until it became pain and then their minds
would be scoured away, leaving only fleshy shells to eventually be eaten by
fish.  Even the Deep Ones would perish, for they were wretched chimera, part
Xothian and part human, wretched abominations in the sight of the Dream
King; even their memory would be destroyed by him as they perished so that
they would not even haunt his dreams with their twisted, hideous, mutated,
imperfect bodies.  Their faithful service would meet the end of all faithful
service--death and eternal nothingness.  He would not even remember them.

    And no one would remember Shinji, Unit06 promised.  Wasn't that what he
wanted?  Sweet oblivion, never to have to struggle or strive or be forced to
do things again?  This world was doomed; even now, the Dream King's power
was beginning to touch the world, even now, the visions of his glory flooded
every mind, even now, humanity was prepared for the slaughter.  Did he
really want to fight on and have to see all that and know it was his fault?
Why not just give up?

    The final door shook and cracked and rumbled and a single star slowly
crept across the sky, seeking its destined place for all things to find
their perfection in the one who had slept in death and now came to life, the
King of Dreams and Flesh, the last of the Children of K'kansh on ancient
Xoth, who had risen from a hapless child to the final master and avatar of
his race.

    Bow to him and perish, Unit06 whispered to Shinji.  Then you will be
free.

    The Shinji believed in by SEELE would have given up.  He would have
caved in and snapped under the pressure and surrendered.  That Shinji was a
weak and lonely boy with no friends, no family, no hope and no reason to
continue to exist but pure animal instinct.

    That Shinji was the last and most fatal of the delusions of SEELE and
their creations, the DAGON units which drove the Mass Production Evas, which
responded now not to SEELE's commands but those of their master, the Dream
King.  And so it was his delusion too.

    That Shinji was dead.

    The Shinji who grabbed the tines with his hands, forcing them together
into a single long spearpoint, was another Shinji entirely.  He didn't
really fight for humanity.  He didn't fight for faith, for he didn't really
believe in anything he couldn't see.  He fought for people, not for
abstractions.  He fought for his family.  Asuka.  Rei.  Misato.  Touji.
Hikari.  All of them here.  All of them depending on him.  All of them
fighting by his side.  He would not fail them.

    His entire body glowed with an AT-Field, and now it rushed up the spear
towards the hands of Unit06.  He fought for the dead.  His mother, Yui.  His
father, Gendo.  Commander Fuyutsuki.  Makoto.  Shigeru. Kaji. Anna.
Kensuke.  And all the others who had perished because of this endless,
stupid game of the gods!

    They had not died just on Earth.  World after world had been put to the
test by the Herald of the Outer Gods, the Crawling Chaos, the Blind Ape of
Truth.  Nyarlathotep.  Who put every world to the test, a test that was
always failed.  A test he believed must inevitably be failed, and every
failure reassured him that it was not his fault his own world had been
destroyed. That he was not a filthy traitor who sold out his own race for
power; that it was nothing but the inevitable way of the world.

    Xoth. Celeano. Yuggoth. Alabraxas.  M'kare.  Shirrioth.  Calabnur.
Sarnath.  The Kingdom of Joy. World upon world destroyed by outside conquest
- or destroying itself, by fighting fire with fire, and burning alive as its
defenders became what they fought.

    The spear now turned into another giant snake, its head next to the hand
that weilded Unit06's trident.  He fought for all these worlds in his
memories, the worlds destroyed by those whose power he bore, that the Earth
might not join their ranks.  And he fought especially for the dream of the
Kingdom of Joy, in whose story he was now entangled.

    And now that head vomited spiders and snakes and disgusting creepy
crawling things which mixed aspects of crab and snake and bat and cat and
dog and wolf and chicken and pig and fish and all the other living things of
Earth, and they swarmed over Unit06 and ate it alive, for all animals must
kill to continue to live, in the end, all things are the vampires they
fear.

    And Shinji felt another will beside him, inside him, outside him, moving
through multiple dimensions at once and now Unit01 moved of its own accord
and seized Unit08's trident, pulling it out of Unit01 and hurling the
trident to Unit00, which caught it.

    "Through the head, Rei!" Misato commanded, and she felt the trident
pierce Unit07's brain, felt the ecstasy of power as she and Rei and Unit00
found its soul and drained it, crumbling it to dust which turned to dull
flakes of flesh, that rained down upon the lone, crumbling giant door below,
which was now breaking apart into rubble.  Misato screamed with pleasure the
likes of which she had never known.  Her flesh rippled and shifted, barely
keeping its integrity and she and Rei lost themselves in the pleasure of
victory.

    Unit06 was dying now as it was eaten alive and Shinji drank down the
power and moaned as the pleasure of victory flowed through him.  Vengeance
and victory at once.

    Unit03 was freed by Unit07's death, and now Unit03 and Unit04 attacked
the unarmed Unit08 in unison, mauling it in a crazed frenzy.  They held
Unit08's spear together; it had repaired itself by their power, and they
drove it deep into Unit08 and began to devour his essence through it.

    Unit02 now stretched its arms and grabbed her foes, impaling them on
their own tridents, which now connected both of them to her.  One of the
tridents sprouted into feeding tendrils and began to suck the fluids and
power out of Unit09.  The other turned into black, inky fluid and flowed up
into Unit10's brain; Unit10 then turned on and began to eat Unit09 alive,
even as the black inky fluid, connected to Unit02 by a slender thread,
consumed more of its own flesh, hollowing it out into a mere shell full of
inky darkness.

    The Dream King emerged. A cyclopean beast with the rough form of a man -
though great green greasy tentacles protruded from his chin, acquired when
he slew one of Rhan-Tegoth's kin. And great gelatinous wings, stolen from
the fallen world of Alabraxas, and long claws on his fingers which once had
belonged to Ytur'gna, who had tried to defend Celeano from his hunger.  He
was larger even than the EVA units, towering over his Xothian kin,
themselves large enough to dwarf an ordinary human.  And his mind now shone
forth unhampered over all the world, even as his defenders fell.

    But he was confident, for the Earth was not the first world he had
smashed to splinters and remade in his own image in accord with his fantasy
of what his own world had been like before he had annihilated it in his
quest for power.  He was confident, for he had always given death and never
tasted it.

    He gazed upon the Children as the last bits of the Dagon Units were
either devoured or subverted.  That did not make him afeared.  He feared
nothing; all other life was contemptible and only the Stars and the Outer
Gods could not be defied and devoured in his experience.  His mind rushed
against them, but it bounced off their AT-fields.

    Across the Earth, heads exploded as he pushed against them and against
all of mankind and many others collapsed in agony.  Riots erupted across the
equatorial belt as already stressed humans slid into primal rage.  His rage,
riding them.  They could not resist his power.

    But these before him were not the broken, empty, weak fools he was used
to fighting and devouring.  They had lost everything, everything but each
other.  Their dead formed a nearly endless litany, but they had not been
broken by death.  The memories which haunted them had not devoured them.
Rather, they had been forged into weapons by their joint suffering and death
and pain, but they had also been forged into a family, a pack, a nakama by
the power and the love they shared.

    They wanted his heart and THEY WOULD HAVE IT.  This ended here and now.

    Misato could hardly think.  The hunger was upon her and her body kept
changing, and it terrified her and it felt so right.  These were her
children, and she had taught them and she had loved them and she would lead
them.  But she could feel the instincts of Unit00; it had been prepared for
this day.  They could all feel it, their EVAs moving without the need for
concious thought, guided by a common purpose, a common mind, a common soul.

    They spread out around the Dream King as he took to the skies, as his
mind pressed upon theirs, as his worshippers and followers clutched their
heads and died of ecstasy and agony at once in the streets below as he threw
all his strength at them.  Without their presence, this would have slain
most of humanity in a storm of thought.

    But they had formed a pentagon around him and now they held out the
lances they had claimed for themselves, Unit02 tossing its extra lance to
Unit04, so all could wield one.  Lines of light, shimmering AT-Fields rushed
out between them, forming a five pointed star and in the middle was the
Dream King.

    And a woman's voice began to speak the words of an ancient rite and
Misato's Elder Sign necklace glowed like the sun, but she no longer needed
eyes to see for she could see with her skin and her hair and the visual
spectrum is so limited anyway.

    Unseen and ignored, screens within the EVAs blinked the message
'CEREMONY OF INNOCENCE INITIATED.  Hearthstone:  IKARI YUI.'

      Five AT-Fields closed in on the Dream King, crushing him ever tighter
and tighter, five crossing fields forming an ever shrinking inner pentagon
to match the outer, constricting him until his flesh became so dense, it
ignited into flame of a kind unnatural to the Earth, but sweet nectar to the
Children.

    They spoke in unison, allowing themselves to be guided, and Misato spoke
too, for she had been there at the beginning, the last witness to the end of
the old world and the beginnings of the birth pangs of a new one.  And now
the final remnant of the old world was under attack.

    The Dream King's dreams all turned to nightmares and his power turned in
on itself, as the Children began to devour it and to weave it into great
throbbing webs of dream, bridging the gap between dream and waking once
guarded by Matriel, Atlach-Nacha, whose soul now rested inside Unit00 and
Unit01 and the First and Third Child.

    His flesh became a doorway of light between dreaming and waking and his
mind collapsed in on itself and his final sight before oblivion were once
gentle brown eyes through which now he glimpsed the center of the universe
where great Azathoth howls and thrashes and burbles idiot melodies to the
blind, arrythmic pipings of twisted monstrosities whose job it is to keep
the King of Creation from destroying it in his mindless rage and whim.

    The universe was a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
signifying nothing.

    And that was the last thing he would ever see or realize.

    As his body became living flame, a living doorway where dreams and flesh
could meet, the Ceremony of Innocence was loosed upon the world.

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

    "Mother cannot be trusted," Ritsuko said flatly.  "She's given herself
to the darkness.  And she wants us to do the same.  Sell out the human race
for our personal benefit."  Her voice was tight with anger.  "She let it
slip, just a little.  Mines, breeding pits...they may not eat humanity, but
they'll rape half of it and work the other half to death."  She shivered.
"And Mother approves of that."

    Even an eternity with Ritsuko would be no good if it meant being part of
that.  "You're right, sempai," she said softly.  "I wouldn't mind spending
forever with you, but not like that."

    "There is no such thing as forever," Ritsuko said harshly.  "That's
nothing but a delusion."  Her voice now softened.  "But I would gladly spend
the rest of my years with you, Maya.  Unless we are lucky, however, that
will be more like the rest of my minutes."  She sighed.  "I am sorry, you
would not be stuck here if not for me."

    "While there is life, there is hope," Maya said.  "If we're going to die
anyway, we have nothing to lose by trying to escape."

    Ritsuko nodded.  She placed herself by the door, holding two of the
sharp knives for cutting the fish.  "Come in!" she shouted.

    Naoko walked in.  "What is..."

    Then the knives plunged into her eyes.

    "I will die a woman instead of a thing," Ritsuko said, pulling out the
knives and slashing Naoko's throat with them.  Naoko made gurgling noises
and slowly fell down, clutching at her throat as blood poured everywhere.
Maya stepped forward, but Ritsuko waved her back and kept stabbing until
Naoko's blood was rising everywhere in streamers, obstructing vision and
spreading out to darken the water.

    "It's just like you, Mother, that the one time you do something nice for
me, I have to kill you."  Ritsuko was shaking and laughing hysterically.
"You're a monster.  I did the right thing..."  She was crying and laughing
at once and this scared Maya more than any of the physical transformations
ever had.  "Damn you, Mother.  Damn you."

    Maya forced herself past her fear to hug Ritsuko, though Ritusko quickly
shook herself loose and now Maya felt some of the blood wash onto her,
staining her soggy clothing.

    "We can't stay.  We must go, even if we don't know where to go."

    They started running, but very quickly, a horn blew and increasing
numbers of Deep Ones began to chase them.  They swam as fast as they could,
but the Deep Ones were in their element, abandoning the habit of walking to
swim after them.  More moved ahead to road block them and they found
themselves trapped at a four way intersection.

    "This is the end, I'm sorry," Ritsuko said softly.

    "There is no one I would rather die with than you," Maya said, swishing
around the table knife she'd taken with her, in a manner she hoped was
menacing.

    "I would rather die and you live but if we must both die, then to die
with you by my side is best," Ritsuko said.  "I...I love you, Maya."

    "I love you too, Ritsuko," Maya said softly, then quickly kissed her,
though the goo in her mouth and nose got in the way and it ended up like
trying to kiss through jelly.  An entire jar of it.

    The Deep Ones were approaching, but oddly slowly.  Why weren't they
finishing this?  Ritsuko tried to figure it out, but unless they feared...

    They must fear I possess some of Mother's lore and will do something
hideous to the first to attack, she thought.

    Ritsuko began babbling, half-remembered fragments of words.  "Y'nagg
Achtir'neh K'ylagh Brazzt Mic'ir'los!" she shouted and waved her hands in a
wide arc.  Her own veins seemed to ignite and she gave a blood curdling howl
of pain, praying she hadn't just killed herself somehow.

    Then a voice spoke in her mind, a woman's voice, one she'd known
somewhere, some time, hadn't she?  BRK'NAK.  And the burning in her veins
ceased.

    And now the Deep Ones staggered, howling and clutching their heads, eyes
rolling back as they fell to the ground writhing. Soon were they were still;
though clearly alive, as their gills worked busily.

    Be not afraid, the voice whispered in Ritsuko and Maya's minds.  You
have fought valiantly and well and in the new world, virtue will be rewarded
as it was not in this one.  Now rest.

    Exhaustion took Maya and Ritsuko as they stared around in confusion and
tried to figure out if they were going crazy.  Maya landed on Ritsuko and
then there was only silence and the working of many gills.

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

    SEELE had gathered for its moment of triumph.  More precisely, they were
meeting virtually, each of them esconsced in their own place of power, but
projecting their images magically or electronically to a single location,
where Keel Lorenz sat at the head of the table enjoying the fruits of
centuries of work.  He had sustained himself through the lore of SEELE in a
variety of ways, defying the passage of time -- stealing bodies, being
resurrected by the same ancient alchemy Fuyutsuki had once used to revive
Gendo when Gendo had first died, rejuvenating those bodies which had proven
most useful by arcane means, whatever worked.

    He had even been forced to turn to cybernetics to sustain himself after
Second Impact; the alchemical resurrection had brought him back afterwards,
but was warped and twisted by the energies he had absorbed, forcing them to
cut away portions of his flesh and replace them with metal.  When his God
triumphed, when the world was remade, then he would be given new flesh.
True immortality for himself and all the leaders of Seele.  The technicians
stood by for the moment of triumph.  Finally he would be free of these
clumsy, aging, dying shells he had haunted for so long.

    He could feel the power of his God in the air, feel the visions which
rushed through his mind and those of his compatriots.  They sat silently,
lost in ecstasy as they experienced visions of their Master's home and his
triumph over the Children.

    It was the greatest pleasure he'd ever experienced.  The greatest
imaginable.  His body was too dried up for any sort of sexual release,
indeed, it just barely functioned, as he'd neglected it in the rush of work
needed to get to this day.  And after so long, even the arcane was failing
him in terms of life extension, and technology could only do so much.

    Except then...

    There was a presence, a woman.  He could see her in his mind's eyes,
standing in the middle of the visions his Master gave him, though she could
not be seen with his physical eyes.  She blazed with light, light that
forced him to his knees within his mind.  The AT-Field pinned him in place
and she stepped into the cockpit of his mind and he knew her.

    Ikari Yui, the wife of Gendo, who had died in the first experiments with
Unit00.  Or so they all had thought.  And in the knowing, his mental
speaking of her name, she took the mastery over him, totally and completely,
casting him down from the seat of his reason, to grovel before her, wicked
and withered.  For she wielded the Violator's power now, along with that of
many other gods.  This vision of glory and triumph was only an illusion she
had fed them to keep them from being aware of her victory until it was too
late.

    He tried to rise up but he could not; she held him down with
contemptuous ease, and then she took command of his physical form, raising
his withered hands into the sign known as the Dragon's Tail descending.
Then, slowly, painfully, she forced his lips to move in the ancient formula
whose first half had helped to return him from the grave so many times.

                                        OGTHROD AI'F

     He grovelled before her on the floor inside his mind as she spoke
through him in the world of flesh.  "No!  Please!  Mercy!"

                                           GEB'L-EE'H

    With the second word, his body froze in the sign of the Dragon's Tail,
but all his allies were lost in imaginary ecstasies, unable to percieve his
plight.

                                        YOG-SOTHOTH

     The Dread Name of Yog-Sothoth echoed through his mind and through the
meeting room, but none could hear it, though his allies felt a nameless
dread overcome them, even in the middle of the dream-forged ecstasies of
victory which still shielded them from the deadly truth.  Unseen by any,
tiny bubbles began to rise out of his clothing and his body began to twist
and bend, shrinking in on itself, limbs contorting.  Several fingers fell
off and his visor now burned with tiny stars.

                                         'NGAH'NG AI'Y

    The fourth word echoed and the room shook and his body fell to the
floor, parts of it swelling hideously, others shrinking and yet others
crumbling to dust.  The stars blazed in his visor and shone before his
vision within the dream, and now all doubt was gone, the ecstasy shattered
and he saw the great starry void and the tiny bubbles of light within it,
the pleasant dreams of all his ancient allies, all the masters of SEELE, and
the strings which connected them and billions of other dreams in a great
web, and at its center sat a throne and on the throne sat Ikari Yui clad in
glory, wearing the rainment of the stars.  Upon her brow was a crown of
orichalcum and set into it were stars and planets and galaxies and her eyes
blazed with fire and ice.

    "Mercy," he begged.  "I can serve you well."

    Flanking the throne were two men, and he knew them as well and in the
knowing, he knew there could be no mercy for him or for any within SEELE.
"TRAITORS!" he shouted.  "You will..."

    And his lips in the physical world betrayed him.

                                                ZHRO!

    And with that final syllable, the body of Keele Lorenz, the Ancient of
Days, the Eldest of Men, crumbled away into a fine blue-grey powder. A few
cybernetic parts sat atop the dust, caving in on themselves as the gravity
of a thousand tiny stars tore them apart.  And then the lights winked out
and there was only darkness, and the agonized howling of the rest of SEELE
as fate took them.

    DOOM came to SEELE.

****

    For in the end, none may resist she who sits upon the throne, the
Hearthstone of the Ceremony of Innocence, the Queen of Light and Darkness,
the Victor of the Game of the Gods, the new Soul of the Elder Gods.

    And she spoke her command.  LET THERE BE A NEW HEAVEN AND A NEW EARTH.

    As she commanded, so it would be, for there were none to resist her, no
not one.

    And she looked upon her works and judged that they were good.

    Goddess is in her heaven...all's right with the world.

**********

To be continued when the rest of the first draft is finished.

Though this is actually more like draft 2 of the first third of the story as
it's been through one revision cycle...
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