After the initiation of the Human Complement Program,

After the tribulations of the Third Impact,

After Neon Genesis Evangelion…

"Th-this is… this is insane… how can Penpen be here?" asks Misato as she and Aoba start checking the system.

"I don't know how, but I'm glad he phoned." says Aoba, looking at the power grid through a computer. Both of them were now barricaded in the room, under preassure by the JSSDF forces. "According to this, the communications system is back on line!"

"Wasn't that blown apart by the JSSDF?"

"Yeah. But, I won't argue with the physical impossibilities if it can save us! Seeing as it's operational, we can use it to communicate with the Seraph!"

"And Shinji!"

Aoba doesn't reply, but looks gravely to her. They both knew he could well be dead by now… "Damn!"

"What, lieutenant?"

"I can't get a relay from the hospital ward; we need to move to the command centre, or at least the communications grid. They're both about the same distance away."

"Which one takes us away from the JSSDF entry point?"

"Command centre, but there's very little cover if we get attacked. We'd stand a better chance at the grid…"

"No, we can't fight through these guys." Repeats Misato. She fires down the hall and clips the armour of a soldier, then knocking the wind out of another. "The grid also means manually setting up the link. In the command centre all you need to do is log on and type. We'll take the southern corridor and take the service entry. On my mark."

"W-WAIT! We can't just shoot are way through!" Aoba burst out. "Both ends of the corridor are held off! We'll get screwed!"

"On my mark Lieutenant!"

"Major! I… I can't do this!"

"ON MY MARK!"

"Major! Don't let your emotions cloud your judgement! We're no good to him if we're dead! We need another plan!"

"What plan? We have no choice!" Misato thrust another machine gun under his arm. "And you listen to me!" she grabs him by his collar. "If it wasn't for him, for that 'child', I would not have come back here to help you in this rat fight! You would be dead by now and I wouldn't have changed! I would have stayed and dreamed for the rest of my life, ignoring what was really going on! But I have changed and I am helping you now! I threw away paradise, because I believe I can save him, because that is what matters most! Not my dream, but what I still have here! And I will do anything to save the ones I care for, even at the risk of an eternity of happiness, let alone my life!" she sets him back on his feet. "I hope you share the same view too…"

A rifle appears at the corner and Misato pulls it from the soldier's hands in a split second, tearing out his skull in a spray of bullets. Aoba forces back the other troops with another hail of machine gun fire.

Aoba looks at Misato and sees the earnest desperation and worry on her face. 'Like the time he got absorbed into Eva01…' he recalls. He shook his head. It was suicide, and he doubted they would be able to leave the medical wing alive. But seeing as they were likely to die anyway, either by men or angels, he nodded and loaded the last clip.

"The southern corridor is secure major!" said a voice, neither Misato's or Aoba's.

Aoba and Misato look to each other as they hear the familiar voice. "Is that…?"

"Major! Shigeru! You're still okay!" exclaims Makoto Hyuuga happily, appearing at the door in crisp uniform and uzi. A few bullets whisk over his head and he is pulled in by the two. "Phew! That was close."

"Hyuuga you magnificent bastard!" smiles Misato, kissing him firmly on the cheek, making the man blush ten fold. "You got freed too?"

Hyuuga nods, hands on his hips like a superhero (Which tends to happen when kissed by Misato) "Rei told me about all this, and I couldn't stay any longer." He gives Shigeru their secret hand shake. "I told you I would give my life for you Major, and I have yet to do so."

Another spray of bullets zips the hall, but is met by another hail but yet not fired by Misato or her two subordinates. As the shots subsided, Maya and Ritsuko burst in and immediately see to the still fading Asuka.

"Mr. Hyuuga." asks the doctor.

"Yes maam?"

"Give Maya cover fire. Maya, get to the nearest supply cupboard and get a hold of everything you can."

As she finished that sentence, and as Hyuuga and Maya exit, Misato gave her friend a huge hug, crying into her shirt. "Ritsuko! Damn it! You always leave things to the last minute."

"Well, you're usually always late." She replied, prying her off and smiling. It was clear any past enmities were forgiven. "But we have little time to talk. Rei told me what's happening…"

"Shinji…?"

"No… unfortunately." She shakes her head. "But the angel is definitely on the approach, and it will destroy all remaining life on earth."

"But why?"

Ritsuko checks Asuka's pulse "Isn't it obvious?"

Misato looks confused at her "What do you mean?"

…

Shinji's eyes open slightly. His vision is a blur. His arms ache like they were suspended. "K-kaoru…?"

The shape of a boy was before him, below on the ground at the foot of where Shinji was hoisted. His hands hurt.

"Dream Lillim…" said the white haired boy. Slowly, with great weariness, Shinji closed his eyes. "For reality is a nightmare…"

…

"You know that Humans are angels, that they are the latest 'model'." Continues Ritsuko as she explains to Misato. The Major nods as she pieces the puzzle together. "And just like the other angels before it, it has finally reached its end point and now a new model will be set in place, keeping the cycle…"

"What? You mean that before us there were other races of angels living on earth?"

"Is it so hard to believe?" she asks. "Look what's happening! It makes perfect sense! Each angel in itself is a reincarnation of its species. A whole race embodied into one form, sent down to test the strength of the new race…"

"Complementation… the merging with Lilith…" whispers Misato. "It was all to create a new angel… but why? Why this cycle of violence? It doesn't make sense!"

"It is the only way a race can evolve; under stress and through competition. It weeds out imperfections and only keeps the strongest or most successful to spread its genes. Eventually, I presume, it would lead to a pinnacle race…"

"Pinnacle race? You mean a species that is…"

"Perfect in every way. That was the task of this cycle. The continual cycle of Adam, angels and Lilith is a giant experiment. It is a process that hopes to achieve one thing; perfection, at the cost of entire worlds…"

Misato scowls "It's sick."

"It's not beyond some…" Ritsuko sighs, memories of her own horrific experiments coming back. "SEELE thought it could use the process for the preservation of mankind in a new form of life, a perfect complementation of mankind, thus ending the cycle in the process. But their downfall was Shinji's rejection of complementation, and the angels are now back in control." She shook herself. "But we can stop it… Because this time, we have done something that has never been done. We have destroyed the angel before complementation. There is no new model to replace us, which gave us time, and then there's Shinji."

"He… he still needs to fight?"

Ritsuko looks seriously at her. "You know he has to… and he probably would agree with me. Or else why is he up there right now?"

"DOCTOR! HER FINGERS!" shouts Shigeru in sudden surprise. There in front of them, Asuka's fingers start to turn orange and transluscent, at first just at the tips, but was slowly spreading…

"What's happening? What's wrong?" asks Misato frantically.

"She has an unstable and incomplete AT field." Says Ritsuko, waiting impatiently at the door for the medical supplies. "Without it, she will just revert to LCL. And this time, she will not be able to come back…"

"How can we stop it?"

"Transfusion. Blood is the key to all life and contains elements of AT which should slow down the process. I know from practice on Rei's clones; but Asuka will not accept the AT, much like someone would reject the wrong blood type. She will deteriorate unless we can get an greater AT supply…"

"How do we manage that?"

"If we destroy the last angel, Rei said it would give off an AT explosion, distributing and strengthening other fields around it."

"Here is all we could find sempai!" says Maya, wheeling in a trolley of paraphernalia, followed by another trolley pushed by Hyuuga. "And there is something strange going on, on the surface!"

"Check the monitor Shigeru!" says Hyuuga. "It's unbelievable!"

Aoba hobbles over and checks the cameras. After smiling with relief observing the JSSDF leave the base completely, his eyes bulge to see why… "T-the… the ruin… Tokyo3… It's back!"

There is some commotion in the room and they go squeeze at the monitor. Sure enough, there were many building mysteriously resurrected, but not all. A few dazed and confused people also walked around, who were not JSSDF, looking at the orange sea with amazement, and the giant blue comet in horror.

"Are all the JSSDF forces out?" asks Misato.

"They're all out maam."

"Good! Shigeru, you get communication back with the seraph, Hyuuga and I will get the re-entry zone prepared. Will you and Maya be alright by yourselves Ritsuko?"

"I shouldn't be too long getting the Seraph back," answers Shigeru. "I will give them help as soon as I'm done."

"Right! Let's move!"

…

(After almost two years absence, I decide to continue this story, and I mucked up the tense. Sorry)

…

Shinji stared bleakly down at the escalator steps, heading up in the surroundings of the geofront. Slowly trundling along the vertical stairway he stood, one hand on the smooth black revolving rubber banister and his head bowed. He didn't know what he was doin or where he was going. But as he got off the elevator, albeit he walk into something when he got off, he looked up…

An unfamiliar ceiling…

Stars so bright scattered as far as the eye could see; thousands upon thousands. Not even when he ventured into space did he see so many or upon the clearest days of the earth watch them burn so brightly. Not so harsh as to blind or flare, but just enough to match the composure and calm of the black and blue sky they were painted upon. In the distant horizon, was a sway of pale blue, where he could chase after the sun that was sleeping in the west.

And flowers, a whole land of beautiful smelling petals on a thick green carpet that swayed in the rustling of the cool night wind. Yellow, red, orange and blue they prang up as if to try and outmatch the majesty of the sky above. The stars in return, did not laugh or mock their earthly cousins, but gave enough light to illuminate their colours in a glorious, hope filled palette of life.

He felt, as he finally found the time to breath, he had never seen something so beautiful in his life… he was soon put wrong…

"You're home…"

Turning to his right side, tears immediately began to flow out in abundance. Misato smiles at him, standing tall, brave, strong and admirable as she always did, and the hand on his shoulder providing him with the comfort and acceptance he always sought. Her lavender hair flickered in the breeze.

Hope was restored to him, and with that was faith in himself and love of everything around him. Especially the one that now stood beside him and kissed him on the forehead…

"I'm home…" but he didn't know which one of them said it. He wiped his tears away.

They both turn their heads and see a large blood red silk cloth fly along the ground, puppet by the supportive gusts that pillowed and pushed it like a wave that lost itself in the fields of dreams. He feels a warm, gentle hand envelope his own.

He turns to his left and an expression of love completely takes him, strickening his already pulsing heart. But with it came of fear; fear of the rejection he sorely felt he might get… and sorely felt he deserved.

But Asuka did not look at him, she was busy starring at the beauty of the land before her. Her eyes widened and her mouth stayed slightly ajar, but her hand never let go of his. Her flaring red hair blew like the folds of her yellow dress. She slowly turns her head up and closes her eyes to breath in the sweet smelling air. It was a deep breath and it gave her energy and a sense of freedom she had never before experienced.

Suddenly turning her face to him she smiles greatly with eyes filled with dreams and aspirations. He looks back with an expression of fulfilled hopes and the most brimming of treasures. Hand in hand they ran across the fields of dreams, flowers at their feet and stars in their heads. Chasing the red cloth into the west… hand in hand… heart in heart…

Misato smiles as she sees them run into the distance, her heart with them…

Breath did not seem to waste, hope never seemed to end and their legs never tiring as they ran for all their life was worth. Faster and faster. Laughing and smiling as they went, fingers clasped together, hearts beating faster, never wandering if this dream of a vision could end.

The cloth they overtook and soon they come to an edge, the world below them revealing itself as they stood on the cliff where the wind blew and flowers grew; looking at the purple and golden sky of the celebrated setting sun.

But the world below was bleak and barren; wasted and gloom. Nothing seemed to live anymore. No breath of life uttered a sound.

Their smiles gone, they stood on the cliff. Asuka focusing on the crucified evas in the water and Shinji on the sheer terror of the entire scene as a whole. But a familiar voice on the wind blew past their ears…

"Smile…"

Like a cloud in the distant, blown to mist that is blown to nothing, it was like a figure of Rei flew past them. Smiling as she did so… they were smiling as she did so. The heavens erupted…

…

"Home…" whispered Kaowru. He watched with the rest of the angels in the blur of AT energy, as they hurtled towards the Earth for the final impact. "Home…"

…

The transfusion was slowing the process down, but by now, the orange tinge had spread halfway up Asuka's fore-arm and above her ankles. Misato stood by her while Ritsuko and the lieutenants prepared to bring the seraph back.

"How are we going to destroy this angel Ritsuko?" asked Misato, her voice was frantic and void of hope. "How is Shinji meant to fight this thing? We don't have any Evangelions."

"We will have to try and infiltrate the angel again with the Seraph." Ritsuko replied. "But we need to bring Shinji back so we can try and arm the Seraph properly, and perhaps gain insight to what we are facing."

"Is there enough time?"

"Apparently so." Nodded Ritsuko. "For some reason, the speed of the angel has not increased that rapidly. It is actually going slow enough, so that it would have been faster for it to have fallen on Earth. It's probably to protect it's payload for maximum impact."

"We have a lock!" Hyuuga exclaims out loud in a cheer. "1387k! It's the Seraph!"

"Engines are running! Life-form present!" added Maya, punching in numbers. "We have no video link."

"Patching to the remote control." Said Aoba. "We have a connection. Signal strength is holding. Still cannot get video link. Range, Gamma level."

"Send it back." Ordered Misato. "Landing bay is secure."

"Initiating." Said Maya, piloting the remote controls. She pulls up the throttle and the Seraph emerges from the Angel in a spray of blue liquid, heading back to Earth. "He's out!"

"Please be alright…" whispered Misato as they all starred at the radar screen. She clutched at the empty space on her chest, where her pendant had been. "Please… come home to me…"

…

"You can walk?"

"No, I'm flying." Touji replied sarcastically as he stood on his own two feet. He slaps Kenesuke lightly on the head. "What do you think?" The two of them met in the street where everyone else started to emerge, confused and bewildered by events. They hadn't seen Rei, but they were sent back anyway.

"TOUJI-KUN!" shouted out Hikari, running and jumping in an embrace. "YOU'RE OKAY!"

"C-c-can't… b-breathe…"

…

"How can so many people be resurrected so fast?" wondered Maya, looking at the city slowly re-populate. "Did Rei speak to all of them?"

"No… I don't think so." Said Ritsuko as they all waited for the Seraph to land. "The pool of LCL in orbit that was created by the failed human complementation is very close to the Angel. It is probably supplying enough energy to Rei so she can bypass the will of people, and send them to Earth whether they choose it or not."

"Why would she send them down if Earth is about to be obliterated?"

Ritsuko cannot answer.

…

Author's notes: I almost forgot about this story, and when I read it over, I thought in my head… OMG. I WROTE this? I'm a genius! How did I do it? Was I on some sort of weed? lol