COAG 23
"The Doom That Came to Shwartzburg"

by John Biles and RPM.  

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


	"Protests continue at NERV's American facilities; 
coordinated by the watchdog organization NERVWatch, 
protestors have been shouting and waving placards since 8 
AM.  Unlike previous occasions, the American government 
seems unwilling to take any action to disperse them.  It 
seems that NERV's stock with the public is falling to new 
lows."

	Click.

	"The UN Security Council continues to meet behind 
closed doors in special session.  It is generally believed that 
they are trying to decide on appropriate action in response 
to the Shwartzburg disaster.  NERV continues to assert that 
the Sixth Child went mad as a result of the stresses caused 
by EVA piloting, prompting many to wonder how soon the 
other Children will snap..."

	Click.

	"The end times are come!  The unrighteous rise up and 
cloak themselves in the images and names of righteousness, 
but by their fruits shall ye know them!  There is not a  
single god-fearing person to be found among their ranks, 
only a bunch of pagans of the worst caliber!  Their battle 
commander wears a pagan holy sign around her neck in 
parody of the Cross of Jesus, in which we put our faith..."

	Click.

	"Amen, and I say unto you, blessed are the Children, 
for they shall protect this Earth.  Do not let yourself be 
dismayed by the setback in Shwartzburg, for the powers of 
the night are potent.  Have we not seen how they cast down 
the traitor within their ranks before she could do more 
damage?  So must we cast aside those who would sway us 
from the true path..."

	Click.

	"The nation of Peru has announced it plans to sue 
NERV in the World Court.  The battle of Lima was a 
bloody one, causing countless thousands of deaths..."

	Click.

	"Psychologists are continuing to study the rising 
problem of shared nightmares.  Dismissed initially by the 
scientific community, it has become impossible to deny 
that many people around the world, especially those of an 
artistic or religious bent, have begun to dream of a sunken 
city full of non-Euclidian architecture, inhabited by fish-
men.  Many fear this may presage an Angel attack even 
more potent than the ones before it."

	"However, Dr. Emmanuel Fisher of the University of 
Chicago continues to argue this is a special form of mass 
hysteria, made possible by the spread of mass media.  Here 
with us in our studio is Dr. Fisher..."

	Click.

	"Available now, only from Remnant Records, The 
Best of Devastin' Dave, the Turntable Slave!  For only 
19.99, you can buy this two disc set of the music you grew 
up with!  Get it now before it becomes elevator music!"

	Fuyutsuki relaxed just a tiny bit; he would have 
laughed if he was in a better mood.  Things were not going 
well; the pressure was heating up, and he feared that soon, 
SEELE would make its move.  Probably using the UN as 
stalking-horses at first.

	The TV continued to play on, now segueing into some 
sort of incoherent ad selling sausages.  

	His phone rang, interrupting his reverie.  
"Commander, the astronomical reports you ordered are 
ready," Sgt. Kazuya reported.

	"Thank you.  I'm on my way," he said.  He rose and 
headed off to the observatory.


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

	The results were inconclusive.  They always were, 
lately, it seemed.  Fuyutsuki sighed and put the report 
down.  The easily observed stars were right, but what about 
the occulted ones?  Without access to SEELE's special 
equipment any more, he couldn't be sure.  

	The signs and portents were there.  This was almost 
certainly the time of Cthulhu's rising.  And Cthulhu was 
almost certainly the Sea King.  Almost.  Or else it was 
something to do with Dagon and Hydra.  It couldn't be 
Ghatanathoa.  He was already dead.  Right?

	He wished again that Gendo had not perished.  
Fuyutsuki was not a man made for leadership; he had let 
Gendo take charge, then guided him with his lore.  But 
Gendo was the man for a crisis like this.  Was their plan 
viable?  And could he actually go through with it?  And if 
they did not, what would happen?  If the Children won, 
they would have the power of gods.  What would they do 
with it?  Would Earth face the fate of Xoth?  They would 
beat the Sea King, if their minds did not break.  But would 
their minds hold?  Could he make them hold?

	And Yui...He missed her as well.  She had always 
moderated Gendo's intensity; perhaps if she had lived...  He 
could see her now, her smiling face.  She had always 
lightened his and Gendo's gloom.  But now she was lost to 
Unit01.  Perhaps lost forever.  Gendo had always hoped, 
once he had the power, to extract her.  Fuyutsuki hoped, but 
he feared the power would not be his.  It would be in the 
hands of the Children, and they lacked the training, the 
discipline...

	Maybe it would have been better to have them in on it.  
But a secret spread too wide falls too easily into the wrong 
hands.  

	His phone rang, and he answered it.  "Hello?"

	"Sir, we have a report from the South Pacific," Misato 
said.  "Can you come to the bridge?"

	"Of course."

	He soon reached the bridge, where Misato and Dr. 
Himmelfarb and the rest of the bridge crew were observing 
a message from the South Pacific.  "There's thousands of 
them down here," Commander Nelson of the Intrepid was 
reporting.  He was a tall, graying man, thin and worried 
looking.  "The sonar is just going crazy.  And some...there's 
several of something that we can't figure out the signature.  
As if there were several hundred foot long squid."

	"That's quite possible," Fuyutsuki said.  "Observe, 
keeping your distance."

	"What the hell are these things?" Commander Nelson 
asked.

	"In short, aliens," Fuyutsuki said.  "They are quite 
dangerous, but if you keep your distance, we believe they 
don't have anything which can attack you at long range.  
But if one of those squid gets hold of your ship, you can 
basically expect to die."

	"Aliens?  Real aliens?"

	"Just like the Angels, but much smaller and less 
dangerous," Fuyutsuki said.  "Continue to observe, we'll 
see about getting you reinforced."

	"Yes, sir," Commander Nelson said, then saluted.

	Fuyutsuki saluted him back, and the connection was 
dropped.  "Any other news?"

	"Polaris is beginning to sense rising, diffuse levels of 
Angelic energies in the South Pacific at these coordinates."  
Dr. Himmelfarb passed him the report.  "I included the 
latest report on Andromeda."

	"On Andromeda?"

	"It's moving."

	"The entire galaxy?" Misato said in surprise.

	"Many stellar phenomena seem to be moving in ways 
we would expect impossible," Dr. Himmelfarb said.  "Just 
to add to the global panic from the nightmares."

	The time was coming, Fuyutsuki decided.  It was time 
to act.  "We're going to need to prepare a mission to the 
South Pacific.  The next manifestation will be there.  I'm 
also going to need to have conventional forces raised to 
strike in the South Pacific, hopefully before our arrival.  I 
expect that this Angel will come forth with an army waiting 
to help him."

	The burst of activity which followed made him feel a 
little better about the future.  Action was better than 
moping.

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

The ruins of the steamer yacht looked uncannily 
organic, most of its sides fallen apart with decay and rough 
tides, leaving behind a skeletal frame riddled with coral.  
Laying to its side was a rotten plank, the letters ALERT 
could barely be read.  It had laid here in peace to rot on its 
own, passing the years in darkness and isolation.

A solitary shadow in the darkness approached the 
wreck and paused, as if recognizing a significance to this 
grave, then moved on.  Another shadowy being passed, and 
then another, and another, until seemingly endless shadow 
marched past, swarming over and through the ship's carcass 
like a swarm of ants.

The dread swarm moved onward.  The stars were 
right.  Their time began now.

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

	Akane awoke, sweaty and naked in a cave, feeling 
slightly annoyed.  She'd gone to bed sweaty and naked, but 
it had been on her nice soft bed in the arms of her lover.  
Not in a cold and damp cave.  She tried to brush the dirt off 
herself and wondered what the hell was going on.

	Then the man spoke.  "Hello, Akane.  I have called 
you to serve me."  His voice was soft and sibilant, and he 
wore a purple robe with a hood fringed with the Yellow 
Sign.  Upon his face he bore a smiling mask of pale saffron.  
"There is work for you to do."

	She felt a faint shiver just looking at him; she'd seen 
people dressed like this before, but this was different.  And 
hadn't involved caves.  "I'm not a prostitute.  Where is my 
clothing?"

	He snapped his fingers, and she found herself clad in 
an ornately layered purple dress with yellow runes worked 
all over it, including the Yellow Sign.  "You came to me as 
you were."

	"I didn't GO anywhere," she said.  "Who the hell are 
you?"

	"Do you not recognize your lord and master?" he 
asked, sounding amused.

	"What the..."  She stared at him.  "What, are you some 
bigwig in the Saffron Brotherhood?"  She'd joined that for a 
while; it had been kind of fun running around doing a 
bunch of rites and dressing up in ritual outfits.  But it hadn't 
really meant anything to her; it was just a lark.  When 
everyone had started taking it WAY too seriously, she'd 
moved on.  

	"I am THE 'bigwig', as you put it.  I am the King in 
Yellow, who you swore to when you joined the 
Brotherhood," he said.

	"Uh huh.  As in, the Angel who NERV beat up at a 
school play?"

	"They merely defeated my mortal host," he said.  "But 
no true God can be defeated by mortals."

	"Man, this is one fucked up dream I am having," 
Akane said.  "You seriously expect me to do what you 
want."

	"You swore to me, oaths which cannot be denied," he 
said, his voice rising just a notch.  "You will obey, or pay 
the price.  Your connection to one of NERV's major 
officers is useful to me.  You can use him for me, to 
accomplish my purposes."

	Use Makoto to do the bidding of some demented freak 
in a robe?  "Look, this has to be a dream.  And if it wasn't, 
there is no way I would do the bidding of a loser god who 
got his butt kicked by a bunch of kids who aren't even old 
enough to have gotten laid yet.  I had fun in the 
Brotherhood, but that's over now, and I've moved on.  So 
should you, like to getting used to being a prisoner.  Now 
take off that damn mask, so I can see your face.  I feel like 
I'm talking to the Phantom of the Opera or something."

	"As you like."  He removed the mask, and there was 
nothing behind it, but the void of space, an infinite sea of 
stars.  She fell into it, plummeting through nothingness, as 
a distant piping slowly wailed its way between worlds and 
the stars spun around her.

	A voice surrounded her.  FOOL.  I AM THE 
AUDIENT VOID.  I AM THE BEGINNING AND THE 
END.  I AM THE VOICE OF EVERYTHING.  I AM THE 
SOUL OF THE OUTER GODS.  DO YOU THINK YOU 
CAN ESCAPE ME?  THAT THE KING IN YELLOW 
WAS EVER ANYTHING BUT ANOTHER OF MY 
SERVANTS?  WHAT YOU OWED TO HIM, YOU OWE 
TO ME.

	And then she was on solid ground again, inside utter 
darkness.  She could hear heavy footsteps in the darkness, 
and the sound of scratching on the walls, the sound of stone 
flaking away.

	She tried to escape it, but the sound followed her as 
she walked, then ran in a panic, bumping into walls.  No 
matter how far she ran, the sounds never faded.

	There was a burst of light, and then another, as 
braziers ignited everywhere.  She could see a great ape by 
the wall, its eyes gouged out and scarred shut, its hand by 
writing on the wall.  It was her handwriting, the oath she 
had sworn to the King in Yellow, to Hastur the 
Unnameable.    

	"You cannot escape your oath," the Blind Ape of 
Truth said.  "Run as you will, it follows you everywhere."

	"So bring a lawsuit if you want to enforce it," she 
snapped.

	"Foolish child, are you so enamored of him that you 
would let yourself be destroyed for him?" the Blind Ape 
asked her.  "SEELE is poised to destroy NERV in the name 
of their lord, the Sea King, Cthulhu the Great.  For 
millennia, his followers have thrived in the deeps, and now 
they will claim the land.  Even if you defy me, you cannot 
save him.  You can only damn yourself."  His voice was 
full of confidence, and she wondered if he knew something 
she did not.

	But the Children had beaten all the other attacks, 
right?  Surely they would beat this 'SEELE', whatever it 
was.  "The Children will kick your ass."

	"Surely you know from Makoto how unstable they 
are."  She'd heard a few stories from him that did seem to 
indicate that.  "You saw what happened to Anna.  Do you 
think the others will do any better?  You will lose.  And 
SEELE will take you and punish you for violating your 
oath.  Do you know what will happen?"

	"Nothing.  Because you will lose."  She hoped she was 
right, but there was something about his confidence that 
was boring into her will.  

	"They will give you to the Deep Ones, to use for 
breeding.  Like this." 

	The wall shimmered, and she saw a group of fish men 
taking her into a bedroom, stripping her naked as she 
struggled futilely.  She tried to close her eyes, but they 
wouldn't obey her.  "Dammit, this is sick!" she shouted.

	"They merely obey their instincts.  It is what everyone 
is made for, why you have them.  Humans persist in this 
futile attempt to deny them, and it only leads to pointless 
suffering.  Like this.  If you do not obey, this will be your 
doom."

	"Fuck you," she hissed, trying to not focus on what 
she was seeing, and trying to ignore the sound of herself 
screaming.

	"This is only a taste of what waits for you, if you defy 
us.  We will get what we want without you, and then you 
will suffer.  Obey, and you will be rewarded.  Remember, 
serve and be rewarded, or defy me and be punished."

	"FUCK YOU," she shouted angrily.  "NEVER!  
NEVER!"

	"If you wish..."

	He was advancing on her, and she couldn't move, 
couldn't do anything but scream.

	Then she felt arms shake her, and suddenly, she was 
naked again, but in her bed, being held by a groggy 
Makoto, who said, "Akane, you're screaming.  What's 
wrong?"

	She began to cry.  "I had a horrible nightmare..."

	She could hear his voice, echoing in her head.  JUST 
REMEMBER THAT IF YOU TELL HIM ABOUT SEELE 
AND WHAT YOU HAVE SEEN, YOU WILL HAVE TO 
EXPLAIN HOW YOU KNOW IT...DO YOU THINK HE 
WILL TRUST YOU IF HE KNOWS YOU SWORE TO 
HASTUR?  THAT HE WILL WANT TO HOLD YOU 
AND LOVE YOU?

	That made her cry more and curse the day she'd been 
dumb enough to join the Saffron Brotherhood.  What was 
going on?  Was this just another nightmare?  Or was it real?  
And what the hell could she do if it was?


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

She was in the water.

Ritsuko knew it was a dream, because she hated the 
water.  And she hated the water because it felt comfortable, 
like slipping on a pair of old shoes.  Except she wasn't 
slipping on a pair of old shoes.  Instead, she was turning 
into a hideous fish-being that will forever spend its life 
lurking in the cold, dark depths of the ocean.

She hated the water, which is why she was fairly sure 
this was a dream.  Also, she was one among hundreds of 
Deep Ones, swimming over a sunken city with non-
Euclidean architecture.  Definitely a dream of some sort, 
probably heading towards nightmare territory.  

The first thing Ritsuko did was look over herself, 
fearing the worst. She was not a bulge-eyed pale skinned 
mutant.  That was good enough.

Then she tried to will herself awake, but that did not 
seem to work.  With that failed, she tried to swim away, but 
the Deep Ones around her  moved to block her way.  Their 
movement was too fast and their numbers too great, forcing 
Ritsuko to go with the flow, spiraling down into the city 
below.

Two rather large Deep Ones swam to her and flanked 
her sides, though they seemed more pleased than menacing.  
They spoke to her eagerly, with their harsh, raspy and 
guttural voices.

 	"You are here."

 	"This is good."

 	"She waits to see you."

 	"Yes she is waiting."

 	Ritsuko was expected.  This couldn't be good.

 	"Who is waiting?" she asked.

 	"The great priestess."

 "The high priestess."

 	"Priestess Yg'arr'laak."

 	"This way, this way."

 	She found herself lead into a great cathedral within the 
city, stone gray with stained glass windows depicting 
various moments in Deep One history, while the front of 
the cathedral held a massive stained glass visage of their 
dread lord and god, the final 'angel'.  It loomed above a 
rough stone altar, where a robed and hooded figure stood 
hunched over it. Illumination was sparse, coming from the 
faintest of glimmers peeking through from the surface, as 
well as strange glowing feathery deep sea worms.

 	Ritsuko looked to her two guides, who both nodded 
eagerly, then walked towards the ominous figure.

 	The Priestess said, "Hello daughter."

 	Ritsuko felt her blood run cold.  She found herself 
speechless.

 	"The end times come," croaked her mother.  "Not too 
late for you, my daughter."

 	"I'm not like you!" Ritsuko finally managed to say.  "I 
won't be like
 you!"

 	"You are halfway there."

 	She was right.  Ritsuko felt her confidence slide.

 	"Not too late for you," said her mother.  "Or your 
friends."

 	"Leave them out of it!"

 	"Oh, but they are precious to you, and I would not 
wish to make my daughter saddened by their deaths."  The 
priestess smiled a pallid smile, revealing misshapen and 
filthy teeth.  "They can be saved too."

 	"What do you mean 'saved'?"

 	"They can become as we are, as you will inevitably 
be.  Won't that be nice?  Your friends, and your lover, 
forever with you, spared from the great culling to come."

 	From outside the cathedral, she heard the unique 
sound of footsteps marching underwater.  How many there 
were, she could not tell, but their numbers must have been 
immense.  She felt a chill run down her spine, and despair 
weighed heavy upon her heart.

 	Ritsuko's mother continued, her voice maddeningly 
serene and confident.  "This story has been told time and 
again, across infinite worlds.  This will be no different.  In 
time, you will come to see what must be done, and I will be 
waiting."  

 	Ritsuko wanted to shout in defiance, to tell her she 
was wrong, that this time would be different, but that 
defiant voice found itself drowned out by this 
overwhelming feeling of dread, which shook her to her 
very core with doubt.  Could they really overcome the odds 
this time?  Wouldn't it be better to save them by any means 
possible, even if it abandoned what they'd been fighting 
for?  What was the honor of dying for a lost cause anyway?

 	No!  There was no going back now, and she couldn't 
betray their trust in her like this.  This was the right thing to 
do.

 	Right?

 	The priestess chuckled a sickening, croaking laugh.  
"You are perhaps not ready to accept it yet, but you will 
see, in time.  When you are ready, I will be here, and 
waiting."

 	The priestess waved a scaled pallid hand, a gesture of 
farewell, and the world blurred around her.

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

She was in the water.

It took a moment for Ritsuko to realize this was not a 
dream.  This was her new reality.  This was her resting 
tank, necessary, now that her lungs had been altered, now 
that she had taken that first step to her fate.

The dim fluorescent light of the tank cast little light 
and long shadows across her lab.  Next to the tank Maya 
slept, kneeling on the ground with her face pressed against 
the glass.  Ritsuko couldn't help but smile a little, Maya's 
face looked a little silly from her end.

"You can save her," her mother's voice whispered in 
her head.  "Be with her forever."

Ritsuko placed her hand against the glass gently.  If 
this glass was not between them, she would be touching her 
now.  If she was not underwater, her tears would be seen.

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

	It had not been easy to lower all the lands.  With the 
Burrower Beneath dead, his children ran loose, scattered, 
hard to control.  It had taken many years to chain them, one 
by one, and set them to hollowing out the landmasses 
which had dared to challenge the rule of the oceans.  But 
this time, this time they had been successful.  The Old 
Ones, who loved the land and skies, no longer stood against 
them.  

	Many of the old cities had been ruined.  But that didn't 
matter, they were inferior.  The monkeys were gone now, 
and it was meet their works end with them.  That's why 
Asuka was taking apart the ruins of one of the monkey 
cities.  She dimly remembered another time, when it had 
been called Berlin.  It was a twisted pile of stone and metal 
and shattered glass and plastic now.  With her powers, it 
was easy to sort out the useful materials and destroy the 
rest.  There was no fire here, in the new world, but that 
commanded by her and the other Children.  The fire they 
called only in the service of their master, the Great Lord of 
the Deep.

	Hikari sliced her arm, and tiny trails of blood drifted 
into the water, becoming worms that began to feed on the 
stone and concrete, swiftly swelling ever larger in size, and 
tunneling through the wreckage.  They would excrete 
useful minerals, and use the rest to sustain themselves.

	It was Asuka's own job to then melt the minerals into 
bars for transport by the half-ones, the lowest caste of the 
Great Lord's followers.  A few of the Xothians marched 
about, shouting orders, as if they mattered much more than 
the half-ones.  They were but children, who would never 
match the Five Lords of the Elements, let alone the Great 
One.  They spent much of their time slumbering, enjoying 
the dreams their father brought them.  Weak, Asuka 
thought.  But that is why they too serve.

	Asuka waited impatiently, idly blasting bits of the city 
to pieces while she waited.  She half-hoped something 
hostile would arise, just to give her something to do.  

	Arms folded around her from behind, fangs gently 
nipping her neck, wings folding around her.  Rei was 
exceptionally frisky today, it seemed.  Which would 
normally be good, but the Great Lord tended to become 
angry if sex delayed the work he commanded.  She took 
one of Rei's hands with her own and brought it up to her 
lips, running her tongue gently along the length of it, from 
fingertip to the wrist.  Then she said, "Aren't you supposed 
to be smiting the Aldeberaani?"  The annoying inhabitants 
of Aldeberan kept trying to establish floating bases on the 
surface, as if this planet had not already been claimed.  She 
wished they would go away, as eating their leaders always 
made Rei's breath smell foul.  Asuka's senses were too 
sensitive to deal with that.

	"They will come in force, soon," Rei breathed into 
Asuka's neck.  "I am hungry now."

	"Later," Asuka said.  "I have work to do.  Eat some 
half-folk if you have to."

	And then Rei was gone, leaving a trail of water.  
Asuka felt the first death at the fringes of her mind and 
smiled a little.  The half-folk spoke of Rei the Slayer in 
hushed tones; nothing they could do could stop her.  It was 
said that those she slew lived on inside her.  They were 
right.  Rei, Asuka, Shinji, Hikari, Touji, they held 
multitudes inside them.  Every soul they devoured became 
a part of them.  She had grown used to the cacophony, but 
sometimes it could be comforting.  Rei gave immortality to 
those she slew, for they would live on within them forever, 
while otherwise, they would eventually die and pass away.  
What she did was a kindness.

	Asuka let her gaze slide across the laboring half-folk, 
and found one who was slacking off.  She reached down, 
and grasped him, lifting him and gazing into his eyes.

	He flailed desperately; they always did.  There was 
something about humans, passed on even to their half-
human kin who were all that remained of humanity now.  
Something that would resist desperately in the face of 
certain doom.  It was the sort of stupidity which had 
ensured humanity had to be destroyed; the men slain and 
the women used to breed new generations of the half-folk, 
until those women died of old age, and only the half-folk 
remained.  She could remember those days, popping a 
dozen men into her mouth at once, and chewing them 
slowly, to savor the flavor.  Their blood had been sweeter 
than that of the half-folk.  Shinji kept trying to find a way 
to make them tastier, but it seemed to be inherent in the 
adaptations they needed to dwell beneath the water, being 
so linked to the odd rules of Earth's solar system that they 
depended on, unlike their masters.

	She watched him with amusement, intending to let his 
fear be his punishment.  But then he bit her.  It barely hurt, 
but indicated a level of defiance which could not be 
tolerated.  She lifted him to her lips, took his head with her 
teeth, holding it steady, then slowly, very slowly bit down, 
feeling his flesh part beneath her sharp teeth.  She let tiny 
flames lick along her teeth as he screamed in agony.  The 
sound of his agony was pleasing to her ears.  She relished 
the taste of his pain, his realization this was the end of his 
life.

	She could have taken his soul, but he wasn't worth it.  
Instead, she slowly, lovingly, bit his head in half, then 
sucked out his brains and began to devour his flesh, 
cooking it with her fires as she did so.  Soon, too soon, 
there was nothing left of him.  She felt herself shiver; it was 
unwise to let herself get aroused when she had work to do.

	Then she felt something else, a strange sense of horror 
and guilt.  Where was that coming from?  It wasn't as if she 
had disobeyed her master.  She was well within her rights.  
The half-folk existed to serve and to die when it was 
necessary.  They were lucky they were allowed to continue 
to exist, but the Great Lord was sometimes very 
sentimental about the little, pitiful things.

	She followed the thoughts inside her mind, wondering 
if one of her souls was getting out of hand again.  She 
burrowed deep within herself, past hundreds of souls, 
following the trail of emotions that grew ever stronger.  
There was something...a soft thing, on which the soul was 
lying, in a slightly cool room...a human, one of the very old 
souls.  She had not devoured a true human in so long, for 
they were extinct in the world of the waking and there was 
something...something moving on her face as she lay in bed 
and...

	
	And then Asuka awoke, a cockroach having fallen 
onto her face from the ceiling.  She burned it to ash in a 
moment of panic, then sat up, gagging at the memory of the 
dream.  She reined in her flames desperately, before she 
could immolate her bed, springing to her feet and 
shuddering.

	She threw open her window, and leaped out, sprouting 
wings of flame, fleeing from the memory.  The first rush of 
panic soon subsided, and she came back around, then flew 
up to land on the roof, shuddering.  I'll die before I become 
like that, she told herself.  

	To her surprise, even as she touched down, Rei sat up.  
She had been lying there on the roof, Asuka supposed, but 
somehow had not been seen.  Asuka started to rise.  She 
didn't want to be anywhere near Rei, even though for a 
moment, she remembered Rei's embrace, the friendly bite, 
the...

	She shook her head, but even as she turned, Rei said, 
"Stay."  A moment later, Rei said, "Please."

	Asuka hesitated.  She didn't want to spend any more 
time around Rei than she had to, but part of her wanted to 
stay.  It was the part that she didn't like at all, where freaky 
dreams like the one she'd just had came from.  She 
shivered.  

	"I had a dream," Rei said, and then began to describe a 
dream of a world underwater, where only the Deep Ones 
remained.  As Asuka listened, she could see it overlapped 
with her own dream, and she wondered a moment if the 
other Children had shared it was well.

	"Yes," Rei said.

	"Yes what?" Asuka asked, startled.

	"We all dreamed it," Rei explained.  "The end comes.  
Blood calls to blood.  We share."

	Asuka shivered more.  She didn't want to share dreams 
with Rei.  "Then why aren't they here?"

	"They will come, soon.  Our blood calls to theirs."

	"But why not now?" Asuka asked.  

	"Our bond is tightest," Rei said, a little sadly.  
"Because we..."

	"THERE IS NO WAY THAT COULD HAVE 
CREATED A BOND BETWEEN US!" Asuka shouted 
angrily, flames erupting around her.  "What you did to 
me..."

	"The blood, the Violator, they drove us together," Rei 
said.  "I wish it could have been Shinji."

	Asuka hissed angrily, "Shinji is mine."  

	Rei looked at her nervously, nervously enough that 
Asuka felt a little of her anger wilt.  "I wish..."

	"Well, you can't have him," Asuka said.  "He's MY 
boyfriend."  

	"Can we not...there are things..."

	Asuka's eyes widened.  "Are you crazy?  Even if you 
hadn't raped me, that kind of thing is for complete freaks 
and perverts!"  Her mind flickered with something.  It 
couldn't be a memory, as she knew it hadn't happened.  Just 
an image of herself on a bed, Rei wrapped around her from 
behind, kissing her neck, as Shinji kissed his way down her 
belly.  Her eyes widened and she drove the image out of 
her mind.  She wouldn't do anything like that with another 
girl and ESPECIALLY not with Rei.

	"We share the blood," Rei said almost desperately.  
"You must feel the call."

	"I DO NOT FEEL ANY CALLS!" Asuka said.  "And 
I'm not sharing my boyfriend with you!"

	"Damn, Shinji, a lot of guys would kill for a deal like 
that," Touji said.

	Asuka froze and turned and saw Shinji and Hikari and 
Touji approaching across the roof.  Shinji looked 
embarrassed.  "I'm sure they weren't actually talking about 
sharing me."

	"We were," Rei said.

	"We were NOT!" Asuka shouted.

	"My goodness, that's awfully bold," Hikari said, 
blushing a little.

	I have to do something, Shinji thought.  Can't let them 
fight again.  He came over and took Asuka's hand.  "I'm 
sure Rei was just joking," he told Asuka, though he knew 
better.

	"Joking?  After what she DID?" Asuka demanded.

	"We couldn't help ourselves," Shinji said, kissing her 
cheek.  "Let's not fight, okay?"

	"Alright," she said, feeling disgruntled, but pleased to 
have Shinji kissing her with everyone watching.  That 
would show Rei.

	"Are we up here for some good reason or is it just 
freeze our asses off night?" Touji asked.

	"The stars call us," Rei said.  "The time is coming.  
The Stars are Right."

	They gazed up at the heavens and wondered what she 
meant.
	

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

The sense of unease that stirred them in the middle of 
the night still lingered afterwards.

Touji and Hikari did not look very well rested as they 
walked across the NERV base.  Their step was a noticeable 
beat slower, the look in their eyes cloudy and troubled.

"Touji, I'm scared."

 	"Yeah, I know.  Me too."

"I just get this feeling.... that... that...."

"The end is coming."

"Yeah."

He took her hand and squeezed gently.  They walked 
on.

"The dreams have been getting worse," said Hikari.  
"Sometimes, I have dreams like we had last night.  Other 
times, I dream about my family, dying again."  She 
shuddered.

"Been having messed up dreams too," replied Touji.  
"Sometimes we're all dying, sometimes we're all monsters 
doing the killing.  I even dreamed about Kensuke."  His 
expression soured and frustration soured his voice.  "He's 
trying to talk to me, but I can't hear what he's saying.  It's 
like he's trying to warn me."

 	"About what?"

 	"I dunno.  Something."

 "Something bad is coming."

 	"Yeah."

 	"Whatever the next Angel is..."

 	"Yeah, well, whatever the next Angel is, we'll beat 
'em," said Touji with renewed determination.  "We beat 'em 
all before, we'll beat 'em again.  So what if the next one's 
bigger and badder?  Y'know what?  So are we."

 Hikari leaned on Touji and smiled a little.  "Yeah, 
you're right."

And thus, in better spirits, they came to their 
destination, the base hospital, to visit his sister Miki yet 
again.  Their mood was crushed again shortly as they 
entered her room to see her strapped down to the bed, her 
expression glassy and dazed.

"What the hell is this?" asked Touji, barely managing 
to keep his voice down. "Why've you got'er tied down like 
this?"

"I'm sorry, Mr. Suzuhara, but she's been having 
increasingly severe delusional spells.  We had to secure her 
to her bed and sedate her  for her own protection."

Touji gritted his teeth, staring at the floor.  His sister 
seemed to not notice, mumbling incoherently and staring at 
the ceiling with glassy eyes.  Touji pulled a chair up to the 
bed and took his sister's hand.  Hikari stood behind him, 
hands on his shoulders.

"Tou....ji," Miki mumbled.

Touji held her hand with both of his now, and he tried 
not to sound sad when he spoke.  "Right here, sis."	

Miki's head flopped loosely left and right, her eyes 
still glassy.  "Tou... ji..... save... me...."

"You're safe, sis.  It's okay."

"Escape... escape..."

"Sis, it's okay, we're safe, we're in the NERV base in 
Germany now."

"Everyone.... dying... must... escape..."

"Poor girl," whispered Hikari.  "I guess she's having 
flashbacks to when Tokyo-3 fell."

Touji nodded.  "Sis, it's okay, just rest for now.  And if 
any big bad monsters come, I'll stomp'em."

 	Miki's eyes finally managed to lock onto Touji's, and 
she tried to speak again.  Instead, the full effect of the 
sedatives battered her consciousness and she sank back into 
the bed limply.

Touji kissed her forehead and adjusted her blanket.  
"Try'n have some good dreams, sis.  And don't worry no 
more, I'll protect ya."


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

	"Are we sure the conventional forces can handle these 
'deep ones'?" Ingrid asked skeptically.

	"While a Deep One is a match for almost any human 
in hand to hand, they burn and explode and die of bullets 
like the rest of us," Fuyutsuki said.  "And they have, so far 
as I know, nothing to match the capacity of modern 
warships, though we can expect them to command large 
amounts of sea life, and possibly some fairly potent 
creatures.  It will become uglier if large amounts of 
Cthulhu's minions awaken before we can put him down.  
His children are quite potent and have strange and 
unearthly powers."

	Ritsuko said, "We must rely on them.  Because we 
have nothing else, beyond the Children, and they will have 
to battle Cthulhu himself."  She shifted her neck brace a 
little.  She needed it in order to get the water she needed for 
her gills, but it was very uncomfortable.  And she had to 
adjust it frequently.  

	Ingrid looked over at her suspiciously.  They all knew 
now, of her tainted heritage.  It could not be hidden.  And it 
colored all of their attitudes, though some hid it better than 
others and tried to ignore the revulsion.

	"And since we have the Scimitar, it won't matter too 
much.  They utterly lack flight capacity," Maya said.  
"They can operate out of the water, however, possessing 
both gills and lungs."  She glanced over at Ritsuko, a little 
worried.  Ritsuko couldn't imagine how Maya could still 
love her, but it seemed she did.  Perhaps innocence could 
conquer all, though Ritsuko found it hard to believe in 
innocence.  

	Ritsuko tried to imagine Maya as a mermaid, then 
found the image attractive instead of repulsive, as she had 
expected.  She shuddered at that.  How much was her mind 
influenced by her change?  Would she come to see it as 
normal?  She prayed that something could be done, though 
she had nothing to pray to.  No God could allow something 
like this.

	"Tactical command will operate from the Scimitar," 
Fuyutsuki said.  "Coordinating via satellite with our base 
here to provide all the necessary data functions which are 
beyond the capacities of the Scimitar.  UN Naval forces 
will contain the Deep Ones while we operate."

	"What about Y'nagg'houlei?" Ritsuko asked.

	"Simultaneous attacks will hit every Deep One city we 
can find," Fuyutsuki said.  It was too late to try to fool 
SEELE any longer, Fuyutsuki thought.  Better to strike 
while they could and smash its' sources of strength.  
"Simultaneous with our assault in the Pacific.  They will 
perish."

	"Do we have enough strength for that?" Misato asked.

	"Assuming that the navies cooperate properly, yes.  
Fortunately, the Deep Ones only have a few major cities."  
He prayed that was the case.  There could easily be others 
not known even in the ancient texts.  In which case, things 
might get ugly.

	But they would get ugly anyway.  The rite...could he 
pull it off?  The Sea King had the power to control dreams.  
His rising touched minds all over the world.  His power, 
joined to that of the Children, would give them the power 
to touch the dreams of the world, to reshape humanity.  If 
the ancient lore was correct, that power could be guided by 
one with the right lore and wisdom.  The EVAs had been 
prepared by he and Gendo to make it possible.

	They could usher in a golden age, if all went well, and 
create guardians for it all at once.  Humanity would have its 
own gods, bound to its interests, to protect it in an often 
hostile universe.  The remaining Angels could be hunted 
and driven out; nothing would be able to stand before the 
Children but the Outer Gods themselves.  And those who 
know the right formulae and procedures could drive off 
even them, for the laws which empower the Outer Gods 
also control them.  They were all powerful, yet less free 
than any human.

	And he would lead the gods.  If they would follow 
him.  Perhaps it was better Gendo had died; he had not 
known how to handle people, had counted too much on 
occult mastery giving him the leadership role.  But 
Fuyutsuki feared it would be unwise to trust too much on 
gaining control over the Children, as they had planned.  

	They could be guided, led, but not dominated.  Not 
now.  You could not expect Gods to obey, and that was 
what they were becoming.  And he would become one of 
them, if it was possible, to steal the fire of the Gods.  And 
perhaps, at least in the realms of dreams, he would then 
have the power to bring back Gendo and Yui.  There would 
be peace.

	Perhaps I am mad, he thought.  The risks were 
incredible.  But only one with his knowledge and wisdom 
could make the choices that had to be made.  It was 
dangerous, very dangerous.  But if he didn't try, the risks 
were too great.  The power the Children held, unchecked, 
would eventually corrupt them.  Perhaps it would corrupt 
him as well.  But he couldn't see any other way out.  

	No way out...

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

	Megumi paced back and forth across the grounds of 
NERV-Germany, her nerves jangling.  Everyone else 
seemed so calm about everything, but she wasn't used to 
combat.  Not that they'd seen any yet.  Not that it would be 
violent here at the base.

	She wondered again why Ibuki Maya had chosen her 
of all people to be allowed to stay at the base and report on 
the progress of the battle.   She was Japanese and thus 
could talk to all the Pilots and many of the crew; that had to 
be part of it.  But maybe...did they think she knew things?  
Maybe that was it.  Maybe they wanted to get rid of her in 
some way no one would ever know about.

	She shook her head.  Silly fears.

	"Hello, Kunzama-san," a woman said.

	She started and almost fell down, then caught herself.  
"Oh, hi there," she said.  "How are you?  Hikari, right?"

	"Yes," Hikari said.  "Enjoying your visit?"

	"Sort of.  Everyone seems so brave and fearless.  I feel 
a little inadequate," she confessed.

	Hikari came over to her.  "Don't be afraid.  You'll be 
safe here, far away from the battle."  She sighed.  "But I 
know how you feel.  It scares me too.  I'm not as good as 
the others, yet.  Sometimes, I worry I'll screw up and 
everyone will get hurt because of me."

	"Well, your record is clean so far, far as I know," 
Megumi said.  "I'm sure you'll do fine."

	Hikari smiled.  "Thank you.  Really, you'll be safe 
here.  You'll have a good view for the fight from the bridge; 
you'll see everything we do."

	"I hope so.  It's up to me to capture everything for 
posterity.  I hope my camera holds out," Megumi said.

	"Did you remember to get new batteries and spares?  
Check your film?"  Hikari launched into a long list of 
things Megumi should have done to prepare for this.  About 
half of which she'd thought of herself.

	"My goodness, have you done reporting?" Megumi 
asked when the list finally ran dry.

	"A little.  But mostly I'm good at planning," Hikari 
said.  "I don't like fighting because all your plans get 
wrecked."  She leaned on the nearby bicycle rack, hands on 
one of the curved poles.

	Megumi scribbled that down.  "Isn't there some saying 
about that?"

	"Probably.  Kensuke woul..."  Hikari's face fell.  "He'd 
know if he was alive."

	"He was the boy..."

	"Yes," Hikari said, then stared out across the grounds.  
"I wasn't too close to him when he was alive, but now he's 
gone and it's just...  you don't expect people to die."  Her 
hands tightened on the poles.  "I'm sick of people dying."

	Megumi watched, unable to look away, as the metal 
tube bent in Hikari's grip.  "Did you know Anna well?" she 
asked a little nervously.

	"Asuka was closest to her, but I think you would be 
better off not asking her about it," Hikari said tensely.  "She 
couldn't help...the things she said.  One of the Angels got to 
her."

	Megumi had heard that and wondered if that was just 
wishful thinking.  Power corrupts, she thought.  And 
godlike powers must corrupt even more.  Anna hadn't said 
anything which couldn't have been the result of power 
going to someone's head.  "You are seeing Suzuhara Touji, 
right?"

	Hikari blushed slightly.  "Yeah."  She paused.  "I 
mean yes.  I guess he's rubbing off on me."

	Megumi smiled a little.  "Boys do that.  But I'm sure 
you rub off on him too."

	Hikari looked very embarrassed, then Megumi got 
embarrassed too.  "I didn't mean like that!" Megumi 
protested.

	"I...I know.  I just...I'm very jumpy."

	"Me too," Megumi said.  "Do you like being a pilot?"

	"I hate it.  I hate violence, I hate fighting, I hate these 
monsters.  But I'll make them PAY for what they have 
done," Hikari said harshly.  "Because I hate them more than 
I hate fighting."

	Scribble, scribble.  "You lost your parents to the Adam 
rioting, right?" Megumi asked.

	Hikari's hands tightened on the pole, which snapped.  
"DAMMIT."  She hurled the section of railing off across 
the grounds, then put her hand over her mouth.  "Yes.  And 
I don't want to talk about it."

	Megumi stepped back, frightened by the light in 
Hikari's eyes.  "Alright.  I'll stop bothering you."

	"Good," Hikari said sulkily.

	Megumi slipped off quietly and decided to be more 
careful about questions in the future.  


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

	"Here's the report," Maya said, handing the folder to 
Dr. Himmelfarb.  "So far, results are mixed."

	Dr. Himmelfarb had suspected as much from her own 
observations.  She sat down to check the results.  EVA 
blood could be used to some effect in the therapy, but it 
was highly risky.  About fifteen percent of those treated 
recovered from all mutations.  Another fifteen percent now 
had odd hair colors like purple or limestone.  Or odd skin 
colors.  Five percent had odd physical traits coupled with 
minor psychic abilities, like starting small fires or 
sometimes hearing thoughts.  Fifty five percent remained 
deformed or got worse.  And ten percent either died rapidly 
of hideous mutations or became something that had to be 
killed.

	She glanced over at Ritsuko, who was studying some 
of the blood tests.  The neckbrace for her gills seemed to be 
working well, letting her come out of her sleeping tank for 
long periods of time.  It creeped Dr. Himmelfarb out 
viscerally, but she did her best to hide any repulsion or fear, 
because at heart, she knew Ritsuko didn't deserve 
mistreatment for her looks.  

	It didn't stop Maya kissing Ritsuko on the cheek.  
Ritsuko looked like she would have turned red if she could 
still blush.  "People are watching," Ritsuko mumbled.

	Maya said, "I am thinking we may need one of the 
Children to assist us.  They may be able to use the power 
taken from Adam to refine our extracts."

	"Then get one of them," Ritsuko said.

	"Hmm," Dr. Himmelfarb said.

	"What?" Ritsuko asked.

	"I think Asuka would be best. She has the most 
science knowledge."

	"That's fine if she keeps her cool," Ritsuko said.

	"Alright, I'll get her, then," Maya said.  "Be back 
soon."



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

	"Now, brothers and sisters, let us join hands, and 
imbibe the sacred incense..." Master Wu said.

	Akane watched him through her mask, pretending to 
breathe in the incense.  You don't 'imbibe' incense, she 
thought.  What a faker.  Then again, everyone in this stupid 
society is an idiot or came in for kicks like I did.

	But she was here now, because she didn't know what 
else to do.  She tried to avoid gagging; she'd always hated 
the incense.

	Everyone else seemed to be breathing in deeply.  A 
bunch of stupid cult zombies, she thought.  

	"This is what our master wants us to do..."  Master Wu 
now carefully laid out their plans, as Akane listened, 
feeling her brain go round and round.

	I can't do that to Makoto, she thought.  Not any more.  
I care about him now.  I got close to him because that's 
what I was told to do, but now...fuck this shit.  Fuck it.

	But she couldn't.  The cult was all over the world, it 
seemed; they had found her within hours of her dream; it 
couldn't be a coincidence.  Only NERV could protect her, 
but would they protect a cultist like her?  Misato probably 
hates me, she thought.  For stealing the man she wants.

	"I hear and obey," Akane said, just wanting to get the 
hell out.

	The meeting soon broke up and she went on her way 
through the darkened corridors, shedding her saffron robes 
and hanging them on a peg in the hallway.  For a moment, 
she thought she saw movement at ground level, like a 
spreading puddle of oil, but when she looked, there was 
nothing there.

	She sighed.  Now I'm imagining things.  She walked 
down the hallway.  I can't do this, she thought.  Not any 
more.  Fuck this cult.  I have to...dammit, even if I did go 
along with the cult, NERV would probably kill me.  I might 
as well just go ahead and tell them everything, as that way, 
I won't live and I won't have to hurt Makoto.  The rest of 
them, she didn't care about all that much.  But he was 
different.  

	She'd told him to chase Misato, but now she knew she 
wouldn't have been happy if he did.  Hell of a time to fall in 
love, she thought.  But does he really love me?  Misato 
wants him now, but he stays with me...but maybe he stays 
out of guilt...

	She shook her head, then heard a crashing noise.  She 
turned in time to see the umbrella rack had fallen down.  I 
walked past the rack without even noticing, Akane thought.  
I've got to pay attention.

	Distant chanting drifted her way.  Bunch of morons, 
she thought.  She got her umbrella off the floor, then turned 
to go.  Fuck these bastards, and fuck Mr. Dream Audience 
Void or whatever the fuck he is.  We'll see how big he talks 
when NERV blows up his precious Katoolo or whatever 
that thing was.

She stormed out the door into the rain.  She'd gotten 
ten feet down the street when she realized she'd left the 
door open.  She turned to go back and close it, but the door 
was already shut.  Must be the wind, she thought, then 
stormed off.  


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

	"Ahh, there you are Asuka," Misato said as Asuka 
came into the briefing room.  Everyone else had already 
arrived and was waiting.

	"I was helping Dr. Himmelfarb," Asuka replied.

	Dr. Himmelfarb came in and sat down by Misato.  
"My apologies for the delay.  She was helping us work with 
the EVA blood."

	Misato said, "Are you getting any results?"

	"Less death," Dr. Himmelfarb said.

	Touji laughed a few seconds until he realized he 
shouldn't, then looked embarrassed.

	Asuka sat down by Shinji, taking his hand.  "Maybe 
with more practice I can do better," she said.  "I think a five 
percent increase in success level is a good start, though."

	"Yes, it is," Dr. Himmelfarb said, sighing.  "Dr. Akagi 
will arrive soon.  She had to get a fresh tank."

	"Hmm, isn't there some way to build something to re-
oxygenate her water while she's wearing it?  Hook one of 
those portable oxygen tanks to it?" Shinji asked.

	Dr. Himmelfarb looked surprised, then said, "We 
experimented with that, but it weighed too much.  Easier to 
just switch tanks periodically."  Half the time I can't forget 
they're fourteen, and half the time I can't remember they're 
only fourteen, she thought.

	Shinji nodded.

	Ritsuko now entered.  "Sorry for the delay."

	"That's fine," Misato said.  "Alright.  We will soon be 
shipping out for the South Pacific in the Scimitar, to a 
location where the next Angel will be rising.  Oannes, the 
Angel of the Waters, is his code name, although certain 
ancient documents seem to call him by various names, such 
as 'Cthulhu'."  She struggled with the name.

	Asuka corrected her pronunciation.  "That's the way 
they said it on Xoth, anyway."  She paused and her eyes 
widened.

	Everyone stared at the table for a moment, then 
Ritsuko said, "Asuka is correct."  She frowned.

	"Well, umm, right.  Anyway, he is served by a group 
of beings from his own world, known as his 'Star Spawn'," 
Misato said.  "We are code-tagging them as 'Dominions'.  
He is also served by the race known as Deep Ones, who 
appear to be a genetically altered branch of humanity."

	Ritsuko took over.  "The 'Deep Ones' dwell in 
underwater cities.  They are amphibian.  They can 
reproduce among themselves, but also sometimes breed 
with humanity.  This has commonly happened in the past 
with isolated maritime communities.  This typically ends in 
some sort of disaster."

	"Like Innsmouth," Asuka said.

	"Yes, although at Innsmouth, it was the result of the 
US military unleashing destruction on the Deep Ones 
instead of simple self-destruction.  The main North Atlantic 
city of the Deep Ones was destroyed, and their presence in 
the North Atlantic has been weak ever since," Ritsuko said.  
"UN forces will be engaging the Deep Ones, possibly 
including firing tactical nuclear warheads into their main 
South Pacific city, although we'd like to avoid polluting the 
ocean with fallout if we can help it."

	Hikari winced in horror, as did Shinji and Touji.  
Asuka just grimaced a little, while Rei simply nodded.

	"Cthulhu dwells in a sunken city which will rise when 
it is time for him to walk the Earth.  His coming is heralded 
in dreams, for his mind touches the minds of many, and the 
blood of his people sings in the veins of many, if only 
weakly.  While the UN military engages his minions, you 
will have to fight him, and possibly his two strongest Deep 
One servants, Father Dagon and Mother Hydra, who are 
both Deep Ones about the size of your EVAs."

	"..."

	"Deep Ones grow in size very slowly all their lives.  A 
few grow to vast sizes, but most die before they reach that 
size.  And they live virtually forever."

	"Damn," Touji said.  "Can they generate AT-Fields?"

	"Yes," Ritsuko said.  "Though they are weaker than 
their master.  Probably any one of you is a match for them."

	"Shinji, Rei, and Asuka will be engaging Cthulhu," 
Misato said, "While Touji takes out Dagon and Hikari 
drops Hydra.  Once they finish their fights, they can join 
the other Children for the kill."

	"Man, these fuckers just keep coming.  We got any 
idea how many of them there are yet?" Touji asked.

	"Language," Ritsuko said sharply.

	"Uh, sorry, Akagi-san," Touji said.

	"We are close to the end, or maybe even at the end, if 
we can trust ancient prophecies," Ritsuko said.  "Given 
they were all handed down by crazed worshippers of alien 
monsters, I expect it would be unwise to trust them.  But 
there are not an infinite number of the Angels, or as certain 
texts call them 'the Great Old Ones.'  Unless more come 
from space, which I fear is possible, I think we are 
approaching the end."

	"Amen to that," Asuka said.  Too bad it couldn't have 
ended before Anna got possessed.  She felt the bleakness 
settling over her again and clutched Shinji's hand like a 
lifeline.  "I just wish it had ended earlier."

	Misato sighed.  "Me too.  But we're not going to lose 
any more people if we can help it.  And if we're lucky, this 
will be our last battle, at least for a while."

	"We have to find Nylarathotep," Asuka said fiercely.  
"And make him PAY."

	"That may be beyond our resources," Ritsuko said.  
"Though I agree with your sentiment."

	"There are these rites, in some of the texts," Asuka 
began.

	"Texts he dictated.  Or madmen did.  I do not rely on 
them too much," Ritsuko said.  "As they say 'Do not call up 
what you cannot put down.'"

	"We can't do nothing!" Asuka said.  "You saw what he 
did to Anna!"

	Ritsuko stared at her levelly, and Asuka looked her up 
and down, and felt her anger crumble.  "I'm sorry," Asuka 
said, staring at the table again.

	"I know you cared about your friend, but you can't let 
it make you stupid," Ritsuko said.  "That's what he wants, 
I'm sure, for us to all lose control and give in to our 
instincts.  Something will have to be done about him 
eventually, but right now, we don't have anything we can 
do, and other problems to worry about that we can solve."

	Shinji pulled Asuka back to him.  "We'll find a way, 
Asuka, I promise you."

	"I'm not letting any of these bastards off," Misato said.  
"If I can help it.  But one battle at a time.  Ritsuko, please 
finish your report."

	"Assuming my research can be trusted, which since it 
is culled from the rantings of madmen and storytellers, 
probably it is half-true at best, Cthulhu is about the size of 
your EVA units.  He is very strong, but could not survive a 
boat collision.  However, sufficiently heavy impacts only 
cause him to discorporate and reform a little later," Ritsuko 
began.

	She turned the page.  "He is semi-malleable in form, 
not a true shapechanger but able to extend his limbs and 
fairly rubbery.  He has wings, but reports conflict on 
whether they work.  He attacks both with the tendrils 
around his mouth and with his huge clawed hands.  He may 
have access to various high technology from his world, but 
we don't have enough data on that."

	"In their final stages, the Xothians integrated bio-
technology into themselves and learned to tap certain 
fundamental principles of the universe which resemble 
magic to those not versed in the physics of it," Rei said.  
"However, our EVA's abilities should enable us to protect 
ourselves.  Or so I judge from my memories."

	"Can you remember anything else useful?" Misato 
asked.

	"It's all very murky and confusing," Shinji said.

	Asuka didn't want to open herself to those memories.  
Not with the way she felt.  She didn't want things in her 
head that weren't her.  Not if she could end up losing 
herself as Anna had.  She shivered.

	"I'll keep thinking about it, though," Shinji said.

	"Alright.  We leave tomorrow morning, so get 
yourselves packed.  I'll be refining our plans on the way 
there.  If your remember anything, let me know," Misato 
said.  

	"Does this guy have any vulnerabilities?" Touji asked.  
"Does he like hate fire because he lives underwater?"

	"It is somewhat unclear," Ritsuko said.  "Though he 
definitely can't survive collision with sufficiently large 
boats."

	"Maybe we should lure him out to sea, ram a boat into 
him, trap the mist," Touji said.

	"Possible," Misato said.  "But he may well be smart 
enough not to follow.  Or his minions may keep any boats 
at a distance.  But I will consider it further."

	"You sure he doesn't hate fire?  I can do fire," Touji 
said.

	"Your enthusiasm is appreciated," Misato said, 
smiling a little.  "Okay, everyone, go get packed and be 
ready at 0800 hours in the morning.  We're moving out."

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

The sound of basketballs bouncing on hardwood floor 
echoed in the gym, Touji dribbling a few times as he 
measured the distance.  Shinji stood by the basket, waiting 
for Touji to shoot.  This had become a ritual for them, 
something to take the edge off their nerves before the big 
battles.

 	Touji pulled up at the free throw line and took his 
shot.

 -swish-

 	"Still got it," he said, allowing himself a slightly smug 
grin.

 	"Too bad we don't have a basketball team anymore," 
replied Shinji, dribbling the ball out to the three point line.

 	"Yeah, well, one of these days, man, one of these 
days."  He moved to the basket, waiting for Shinji's shot.  
"We're almost there, man."

 	"There?"  Shinji stopped dribbling and pulled up for a 
shot, but took a long time measuring it.

 	"Yeah, there. The End, man.  I can feel it, Shinji.  If 
we can get by this one, that'll be the end of it.  No more 
sucking on black goo. No more giant robots.  No more 
military bases.  We can go back to being, well, normal."

Shinji took his shot.  It bounced hard on the back of 
the rim, bounced around teasingly several times, then 
finally dropped in.  Touji caught it and dribbled out to the 
right corner.

"As normal as we can get, anyway," said Shinji.

"We'll go back to normal," Touji firmly repeated.  
With his back to the basket, he spun to his right, floating in 
the air with his jump shot releasing smoothly.

-swish-

"Normal school, normal life, normal trips into town, 
normal dates," Touji continued.  "Hm.  Okay, maybe not 
normal for you.  In a way, I envy ya, and in a way, I don't."

"Huh?"

"Two chicks, Shinji!  It's every man's dream to get it 
on with two girls at the same time, and you heard Rei, she's 
into 'sharing' ya."

 	Shinji turned bright red and lost the ability to speak 
coherently.

 	"Gotta admit, Rei's been actin' a little more human 
lately, she's got a cute face and a nice bod, so it's all good if 
you can live with the personality."  He took his shot.

 	-swish-

 	"Then again, you can say the same thing about 
Asuka."

 	"Hey!"  Shinji dribbled the ball out to the top of the 
three point line, then took a long look at the basket.  

 	"So you gonna do it or what?"

 	"Hold on, you know I can't shoot it fast like you."

 	"Ain't talking about the basketball, man."

 	"Then what?"

 	"The girls, man!  The girls!"

 	"No!"

 	"C'mon, man, live out the dream!"

 	"No!"

Shinji took his shot.  The ball's arc was flat, and the 
shot rattled loudly as it went in.  Touji took the ball and 
started walking to the left corner, when the sound of the 
gym door creaking open caught their attention.

 	Asuka poked her head in.  "So this is where you guys 
went."

 	Touji screamed, "Aaaah!  Girls on the court!

 	Asuka rolled her eyes as she entered the room, 
followed by Hikari.  "Grow up, Suzuhara," said the red-
head.

 	"We can be here if we want," said Hikari firmly.

 	"But babe!  It's the MEN'S court!  It's... it's... it's a 
GUY place!  It's wrong!"

 	"Touji!" barked Hikari.

 	"But honey!"

 	She glared at him.  He sighed and tossed the 
basketball to her.  Hikari dribbled awkwardly to the free 
throw line, her inexperience painfully obvious to all, and 
she threw up an awkward shot that rattled in the rim 
teasingly before flying out the left side.  Before the boys 
could move, Asuka zoomed in and caught the ball in the air 
and dunked it in, all in one smooth motion.

 	"Wow, that was great!" said Hikari.

 	"Wow," agreed Shinji.

 	"The kinda brute strength I'd expect outta a violent 
chick like her," added Touji.

Hikari glared.  "TOUJI!"

 	"So what's going on?" asked Shinji, deciding to steer 
the conversation through hopefully safer waters.

 	Asuka absentmindedly dribbled the ball.  "Just 
nervous, I guess. So I looked for Hikari, and we talked a 
bit, and we wanted to be with you guys, so we just kinda 
looked around and got lucky."

 	"Blood calls to blood," said Rei.  

 	Asuka nearly screamed and stumbled.  The others 
turned in surprise, as Rei suddenly appeared in their midst, 
as if she was there all this time, and they hadn't noticed 
until now.  

 	She blinked and looked at them all with a somewhat 
puzzled look.  "We desire to be together when we are 
uneasy," she added, then attempted a shot.  It clanged hard 
off the back iron and bounced out, bouncing back towards 
her.

 	They stared.

 	She looked back at them, seeming even more puzzled.

 	"You missed?" asked Shinji.

 	She looked at the ball rolling at the floor, then the rim, 
then Shinji.   "Yes," she finally said.  "Should I try again?"

 	"Um, sure."

 	She picked up the ball, held it in her hands, measured 
the shot much as Shinji did, then threw the ball.

 	Whoosh, nothing but airball.

 	"Wow, something she don't do well," said Touji.

 	Rei looked at the others again, with her hard-to-read 
expression,  then asked, "Teach me how?"

Time flew as the Children lost themselves with just 
playing, their worries put aside for the moment.  And by 
the end of it all, even Rei managed to find her shot.


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

	Makoto knocked nervously on Akane's door.  She had 
sounded pretty worked up and secretive on the phone.  This 
sort of thing never ended well.  He hoped she hadn't 
decided to dump him and move to Tibet and become a 
monk or something.

	She answered the door in an odd pink dress; it was 
rather nice, but also very formal and very modest.  It struck 
him as something Asuka might wear to a date, or Hikari, 
not Akane's usual style.  However, her grabbing him and 
pulling him into a very intimate kiss was more her style.  

	When she then let go of him, she said softly, "Come 
in," I have something to tell you."

	He stepped inside, then closed the door hard behind 
him as she twined herself about him.  As he did this, they 
heard another door open, down the hallway.

	Akane sighed.  "Stupid place, you open one door and 
another shuts.  Close one..."  She rolled her eyes.  "I have 
something to tell you, but..."  She licked her lips nervously.  
She stared at the floor for a moment.

	"Good?  Bad?" he asked, holding her in his arms.

	"Makoto...do you love me?" she asked softly.

	He froze up for a moment.  She was always so hard to 
read.  This could be a prelude to 'I love you too' or a 
'You've gotten too attached to me, go fuck Misato' or just 
her panicking or...  He decided to be honest.  "Yes, I love 
you," he said softly.

	"But you love Misato, don't you?"

	"In the way of loving someone who doesn't love you 
back, yes," he confessed.  "She thinks she wants me now, 
but I think she's just lonely."  He began to stroke her hair.  
"I love you."

	She rested her head on his shoulder.  "I try not to fall 
in love with anyone," she said softly.  "It just leads to pain, 
and most guys get boring eventually.  I don't know...I don't 
know if I can be the kind of girlfriend you probably want, 
but I think...I think I love you."

	He kissed her gently.  "I suppose this is a bad time to 
tell you I leave for the South Pacific tomorrow and may not 
be back a while."  He was greatly regretting it now.

	"I have to...we have to..."  She tried to pull herself 
together.  "There's things I have to tell you and...I just...I 
can't think straight."

	"Well, let's sit down and we can talk about everything, 
okay?"

	"I want...I want you to make love to me," she said.  
"Just in case...I mean...please."  Her hands were roaming up 
and down his back almost frantically.

	"Alright," he said.  "Let's make love and then we can 
have our true confessions."

	She nodded.  "Yes."  She took him by the hand and led 
him to her bedroom.  Things are looking up, she thought.  
All will be well.  It had to be, right?  He loved her.  He 
would believe her, and they'd tell NERV and she would be 
safe, and it would all work out.  Like in one of her novels.

	The wiser part of her mind told her that her novels 
were deliberately unrealistic so people would buy them to 
escape reality, but she ignored that part of her mind.  She 
didn't want to be realistic.  She wanted to be loved and to 
confess and to be safe.

	It was all going to work out, wasn't it?  It always did 
in stories.  She wished she believed in a god she could pray 
to for help, but the only one she was sure existed wasn't 
very friendly.  Please, keep him out of my dreams, she told 
the universe, praying in the hopes something friendly was 
listening.  I'm doing the right thing for once.  I'll be good.

	Please.

	The universe made no reply.  Nor did the shadows.

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

In an unusual move, Touji wore his plugsuit outside of 
work.  To be exact, he was wearing his plugsuit at the 
hospital, standing in front of his sister and feeling terribly 
embarrassed.  He wasn't really sure she was seeing him, 
drugged up as she was.  She was looking at his general 
direction, though, so he was hopeful.

 	"Well, sis, here's the work outfit.  Wanted you to see it 
at least once."   He scratched his head.  "I know, it's kinda 
dorky, but... yeah."

 	Her head moved slightly in reply.

 	"This is it, sis.  The eggheads are tellin' us the fighting 
might be over, if we can just win this one.  So hang in 
there, okay?  I'm fightin' for ya, sis.  Wish me luck."

Her mouth spoke words, though barely audible.  Touji 
leaned down to listen.

"Goodbye," was what she whispered.  And then she 
closed her eyes, drugs and sleep taking her away once 
more.

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

	Asuka focused her will, honing all her frustration and 
anger into a thin beam of highly intense flames.  The ends 
of the two pipes melted, then fused together as she touched 
them to each other.  She smiled at it grimly. I suppose I can 
take up a career as a spot welder when all this is done, she 
thought, trying to not think about things past.  

	"Impressive," Dr. Himmelfarb said.

	Asuka started.  "Oh, hello, Frau Doktor Himmelfarb."

	"I see you've attained some fine control."  Her voice 
was very calm, and Asuka wondered if she was trying to 
hide fear.  She could sense people's emotions more easily, 
if she could remain calm enough herself to see past her 
own.

	Asuka wrote her name and Shinji's in the air with 
flames and surrounded it with a burning outline of a heart, 
then focused on keeping it steady.  "Yes," she said softly.  
"I don't want to risk hurting anyone.  But it's hard to stay 
calm when..."  She could feel her self-control cracking 
again and she banished the flames.  "Everything."

	Dr. Himmelfarb stared at the ground for a minute, then 
nodded and walked over to her, putting a hand on her 
shoulder hesitantly.  "I miss Anna too."

	Asuka shuddered, then put a hand on Dr. 
Himmelfarb's hand and began to cry.  "I miss her so much.  
Why did it have to happen this way?  WHY?"

	"It just did," Dr. Himmelfarb said.  "I don't know if 
there is a God or not, but I prefer to think there isn't, as if 
there is, he's a sick bastard.  Sometimes, bad things just 
happen, and all we can do is to try to help each other 
through them."  She sighed.  "Not what you want to hear, 
I'm sure."

	It wasn't.  She wanted to believe in God and Heaven 
and that He was watching over them, but she hadn't seen 
much evidence of Him existing lately.  How could HE let 
something like that happen to Anna?  But if there was no 
God, if the Outer Gods were the closest thing to the Divine 
there was...she couldn't bear that.  She didn't want to live in 
a universe like that, ruled by an blind idiot nuclear chaos at 
the center of it all, surrounded by mindless dancing gods.  
The universe couldn't be like that!  It couldn't!

	She only realized how much she was crying when Dr. 
Himmelfarb hesitantly pulled her into an embrace.  She 
wept flaming tears that didn't burn Dr. Himmelfarb.  
Instead, they shaped themselves into tiny angels of flame 
that began to circle around them.  She couldn't stop crying.  

	The angels circled around her, then began to spiral 
upwards into the night.  She sobbed until she had no more 
tears, then simply shook in Dr. Himmelfarb's arms.  "She 
was my best friend," Asuka finally managed to say.  "She 
has to be...I mean..."

	"There is nothing you can do for her now," Dr. 
Himmelfarb said sadly.  "But you've still got your 
boyfriend and your friend Hikari.  And Rei and Touji too.  
They'll stand by you.  And I will too."

	Shinji, she thought.  Suddenly, Asuka felt guilty that 
she hadn't been there for Shinji, all wrapped up in herself 
while his Father was dead.  "I...I should go see Shinji."

	"I'm sure he would love to see you."

	She hugged Dr. Himmelfarb tightly.  "I'll see you 
later, okay?"

	"Good luck, Asuka," she said, giving Asuka a final 
squeeze.  "Have fun with your boyfriend."  She did her best 
to smile reassuringly.

	Asuka ran off to find Shinji.  He was in his room, 
lying on his side on the bed, listening to music through his 
headphones.  He didn't notice her approach, until she bent 
down and embraced him.  He started, then took the 
headphones off.  

	"Hi, Asuka," he said softly.

	She kissed him fiercely, pressing him down onto his 
back as she kneeled over him, then dropped down onto him 
to simply wrap herself around him.  He stiffened, then 
relaxed, embracing her.  Finally, she broke it off and rolled 
to one side, lying on her side, arms still around him, with 
him on his side facing her.  She said softly, "Shinji, I'm 
sorry."

	"Sorry?" he asked in confusion.

	"Your father is dead, and all I've done is to just lie 
around and feel sorry for myself."  She sighed.  "You must 
be hurting as much as I am."

	"I haven't...I just...I can't believe he's really dead.  
Especially since...you know..." he said softly.

	She knew.  She wanted to tell him that he'd see his 
father again in Heaven, but even if her own faith hadn't 
been wavering, she would have expected Gendo to burn in 
Hell for eternity.  "He loved you," she said, not sure if she 
was lying.  "And your mother.  And I'm sure he'd want you 
to go kill the bastards who killed him."

	Shinji shuddered.  "He was so...he was..."  Shinji's 
eyes began to tear up.  "I never knew if he cared about me.  
Sometimes, he could be a good father, but most of the time, 
he seemed to want me to go away."

	Shinji needed something to believe in, she was sure.  
She hated Gendo almost as much as she hated 
Nylarathotep, but he was Shinji's father, and Shinji needed 
something to believe in.  And it could be true...who knew 
what was inside Gendo's mind, anyway?  "I'm sure he 
loved you.  And that he was very proud of you."

	Shinji began to sob, and she pulled him close and held 
him as he sobbed without words.  His tears formed into 
little spiders which began to scuttle away, and she did her 
best to ignore them.  She began to cry as well; or tried to.  
They sobbed silently together for a while, until the 
emotional storms passed.

	Finally, Shinji said, "Don't die.  Please."

	"I won't," she said, kissing his cheek.  "We'll make 
calamari out of this bastard.  And then, maybe, it'll all be 
done."

	Shinji said, softly, "It's all going to be okay, right?"

	"Of course it is," she said with a confidence she didn't 
feel.  "It's going to be fine.  We're going to kick his ass, and 
all come back and...have cookies."

	Shinji laughed a little at that.  "I want to think it's 
almost over, but I just...we can't know for sure."

	She sighed.  "I know.  We may be doing this thirty 
years from now.  But I hope not."

	"I remember things, sometimes," he said softly.  "Like 
you do."

	One of her memories tried to bubble up, of two spiders 
embracing in the night.  She tried to make herself forget 
about it, but she couldn't.  None of them had started as 
monsters.  They'd become monsters to fight monsters, and 
then lost control of themselves.  That was what the Outer 
Gods wanted.  They wanted people to act on instinct.  To 
abandon reason and revel in madness.  She wasn't going to 
give them what they wanted.  Not if she could help it.

	She could feel her instincts rising inside her; they 
wanted her to burn away his clothing and hers, to rut with 
him madly like animals, to make love until the sun came 
up.  She didn't want to think, not about what she was doing 
or had done.  She might have succumbed if she 
hadn't...done that with Rei.  Just thinking about that let her 
fight off her instincts.  One day...one day she would she 
would make love to him.  But not now.  She was too young, 
and so was he, and she had a feeling that was what 
Nylarathotep wanted.  

	Also, she wasn't sure how to do it properly.

	Instead, she just kissed him, holding him close and 
taking comfort in his presence.  "Shinji," she said softly.  "I 
love you."

	He gulped and kissed her again, then said softly, "I 
love you too, Asuka.  Don't ever leave me.  Please."

	"I won't," she said.  "Never."

	There was a knock on the door.  "You two fucking?" 
Misato shouted through the door.

	"NO!" Asuka shouted.  

	Misato came in.  "Thought I'd come see how you two 
are doing so I don't have to watch Makoto get all snuggly 
with his wh...his girlfriend."  She looked at the two of 
them.  "You sure I'm not interrupting anything?"

	"We're too young to have sex yet," Asuka said, trying 
to tamp down her desire to do it anyway.  "Right, Shinji?"

	"Uh, right," he said, slightly dazed.

	"Well, I didn't have sex until I was sixteen, and I wish 
I hadn't.  Not with that slut of a man."  Misato shook her 
head.  "So you're probably better off waiting.  And never, 
ever have sex when you're drunk.  You'll regret it."

	Misato came over and sat down on the bed.  "Jesus, I 
want to get drunk."

	"You shouldn't use Jesus' name like that," Asuka said 
disapprovingly.

	"Yes, mother," Misato said, then laughed a little.

	"You're much better without beer," Shinji said.

	"I wish I felt that way," Misato said.  "But I can't just 
go get drunk.  I'm not in college any more."  She sighed.

	"Katsuragi-san," Asuka said softly.  "Are you feeling 
lonely?"

	"Yes, dammit," Misato said.  She sighed.  "I'd talk to 
Ritsuko, but she's busy with Maya.  I expect...man, I guess 
some people's love really can overcome anything."  She 
shook her head.  "I've never had a love like that."  She 
slumped a little.

	"I don't know what I would do," Asuka said.  "But 
being a monster myself, I'm in no place to complain."

	"You're not a monster," Misato said sharply.  "And 
neither is Ritsuko.  I can't...It's kind of creepy to look at her, 
but...dammit, she's my friend.  She doesn't deserve this."  
She sighed, and fingered her pendant.  "There's got to be 
some way to cure her, dammit."

	"We'll find a way," Shinji said.  "Somehow.  If I 
can..."  He shuddered.  "Cry spiders, then I ought to be able 
to help her somehow."

	Misato's eyes widened for a moment, then she pulled 
herself together.  "You cry spiders?"

	"I was, earlier," he said, squirming a little.

	She made herself put a hand on his shoulder.  It was 
all starting to creep her out, but they deserved better.  
"You're still Shinji to me."

	"Katsuragi-san, I..."  Shinji tried to figure out what to 
say.  "I trust you."

	"I trust both of you," Misato said.  "We're going to 
beat this thing.  We're going to save the world, even if it 
doesn't know if it can trust us any more.  You'll both be 
remembered as heros."

	"I just...Part of me wishes...I just..."  Asuka could 
hardly speak either.

	"I wish it could have been different for both of you," 
Misato said softly.  "Father and I often didn't get along; I 
hated how he was always gone.  I was so proud when he 
took me with him on one of his trips, but then he had the 
gall to go and die."  She shook a little.  "I can't tell you the 
pain will go away completely.  But it will fade, in time.  All 
I have left of him is this."  She fingered her pendant.  "I 
don't know what happens to the dead.  But I know that he 
lives on inside me, if no where else."

	Shinji nodded.  Asuka said softly, "Thank you."

	Misato shuddered.  "I want...dammit, I need a man."  
She rubbed her forehead.  "Sorry, you two shouldn't have to 
worry about that."

	Asuka felt sorry for her.  "There's got to be..."  She 
sighed.  "I'm sorry."

	Misato got up.  "Try not to get too noisy tonight.  I 
have to sleep."

	"I told you, we're not having sex!"

	"Uh huh."

	"We're not!"

	Misato said, "It's probably better if you don't, but I'm 
in no position to tell anyone not to have sex.  Anyway, 
goodnight, both of you."

	"Goodnight," Asuka said.

	"Goodnight," Shinji said.

	And then she was gone.  Asuka said nervously to 
Shinji, "I'm just...I'm not ready.  Though part of me, kind of 
wants to."

	He nodded.  "I understand.  It kind of scares me 
thinking about it.  But it also..."

	"Yeah."  She kissed him and let go.  "Sleep tight, 
boyfriend.  I'll see you in the morning."

	"Sleep tight," he said softly.  He wanted to ask her to 
stay, wanted to take her clothing off her, wanted to 
do...something.  He sort of knew how it was supposed to 
work, but he wasn't really sure how to do it the right way, 
though he sometimes imagined it was her hands, not his, 
stroking him, when he jacked off.  Her soft lips around his 
manhood, him erupting into her, instead of into his hands or 
the toilet or toilet paper.

	Sometimes the images where crazier, her as a roaring 
angel of fire, all around him, while he was the metal angel 
who could not burn, plunging into the flames with 
impunity.  Her moaning with pleasure as he caressed her 
with six limbs.  His body full of...no, he wouldn't think 
about such things.

	He pulled his hand out of his pants desperately.  He 
didn't want to masturbate, not any more, not after the last 
time.  He was almost afraid to spit for fear of what his drool 
would become, let alone the...thing...which had formed 
from the last time he'd dared to masturbate.  It had died, 
thankfully, a mishapen winged spider-snake thing with legs 
like a deformed toad, a tiny little creature.

	But he couldn't fight it forever.   It was worst when he 
tried to sleep.  Most of the day, he had other things on his 
mind, but there was not much else to think about except 
Asuka when he was trying to sleep.  Those times when he 
wasn't busy crying over his father.

	He tried to make himself think of his father, in hopes it 
would get his erection to die down.  But he'd already cried 
himself out over his father earlier.  He laid in bed, music in 
his ears from his headphones and tried to zone out, but his 
mind kept spiraling back to Asuka.  All his body longed for 
her, even though he wasn't even sure how it all should 
work.  

	He focused on that, wishing he'd paid attention the 
time Kensuke had tried to show them porn.  But he had 
been too embarrassed.  He knew the basic idea from 
biology class, but he didn't quite know how it was all laid 
out down there.  

	He got out of bed with the vague idea of finding books 
on the subject.  The base library was closed for the night.   
On his way back, he turned a corner and found Rei, who 
looked a little worried.  "How are you?" she asked.

	"I'm fine," he lied.  He wondered how exactly she felt 
about him.  There were times, he could think she loved 
him.  But with Rei, it was hard to be sure how she felt 
about anything.

	"Are you sure?" she asked.

	"Just fine," he said.

	She stared at the floor for a moment, then said 
hesitantly, "I miss him too."

	He felt like something stabbed at his heart.  "Father?" 
he asked softly.

	"Yes," she said.  She stepped a little closer to him.  

For a moment, he imagined her doing all the things to 
him he wanted Asuka to do, feared Asuka would do.  Then 
he managed to clear his head.  "I miss him very much."

She reached over and took his hand and just held it 
silently for a while.  Her presence was comforting, and he 
felt his mind stilling itself.  Finally, he sighed.  "I should go 
to bed."

"Goodnight," she said softly, and watched him go.

He finally managed to get to sleep, and prayed he 
wouldn't feel the urge to whack off on the Scimitar.  But 
such prayers were rarely answered.

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

	Dr. Himmelfarb stood on the tarmac, watching the last 
people marching onto the Scimitar.  She wondered again if 
it had been wise of Fuyutsuki to decide to assign a reporter 
to cover the battle from the base here.  Not that she knew 
anything bad about Megumi Kunzama, but there was a 
grave risk of bad publicity of one kind or another.  NERV 
was in enough trouble already; there were whispers that the 
UN would soon cut off their funding or worse.  

	They were firing off a salute now, even as it lifted off.  
She hoped it would return safely.  This 'Cthulhu' didn't 
seem to have any flying servants, at least, so they would 
probably be safe.  She prayed Asuka wouldn't have to 
endure any more tragedy.  She didn't think Asuka could 
take another one.

	Poor girl, she thought.  I wish I could do something 
for her.  But besides helping to ensure the battle went 
smoothly, what else could she do?

	Ritsuko said something soft, from her position nearby 
at the edge of the tarmac.

	"What was that, Doktor Akagi?" she asked.  She only 
half-looked at Ritsuko; it took an effort of will to look at 
all, though really, Ritsuko didn't look all that horrible.  
There was just something...she didn't know what.

	"Just hoping they kill my damn mother in the 
process," Ritsuko said harshly.  "This is all her fault."

	"Come on, we'd best get back to work," Maya said, 
taking her by the arm and leading her away.

	Dr. Himmelfarb sighed.  Poor woman.  But maybe we 
can cure her if we finish refining the process we used on 
the other victims.  And Maya was right.  It was time to get 
back to work.

	Work, however, was interrupted by the reporter.  "Was 
she saying something about her mother?"  The sun shone 
from behind her, like a halo.

	It was none of the reporter's business, Himmelfarb 
decided.  "Her family matters are not your business."

	Megumi frowned slightly, but switched topics.  "So 
how have things gone with two bases worth of people in 
one base?"

	"Crowded."

	"I noticed Dr. Akagi's assistant..."

	"Is none of your business," Dr. Himmelfarb said.  

	"Are they..."

	"I once broke a man's arm for getting too fresh with 
me, and he was twice your bodymass," Dr. Himmelfarb 
snapped, then regretted it.  

	Megumi gulped.  "I'll go bother someone else."

	Dr. Himmelfarb considered apologizing, but decided 
the woman needed the lesson.  "You go do that."

	She watched the woman go, then sighed.  That was 
petty, she thought.  But reporters can be exceptionally 
annoying.  Well, time to go back to work.  
	 

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

	Akane stepped into the shower, letting the hot water 
wash her troubles away.  Part of her was worried that 
Makoto was making a mistake, waiting to tell everyone 
about what was up with her.  But most of her agreed with 
him that the King in Yellow or whoever he really was, 
couldn't make her do anything.  She'd just panicked at him 
using scare tactics on her.  After all, if he could come into 
dreams and control people, he would have taken over the 
Children long ago, right?  Best to wait and tell the whole 
story once this battle was over, instead of panicking 
everyone on the eve of a fight.  Right?

	She wished Makoto could bathe with her, but he was 
gone on the Scimitar; she was just staying in his quarters.  
She would be safe here.  Surely the base was safe.

	As she scrubbed her arm, she noticed an odd yellow 
discoloration, and wondered how she'd bruised herself.  It 
didn't feel tender.  The yellow grew more vivid, and now 
she realized she had a Yellow Sign tattoo on her arm.  Her 
eyes widened in horror and she began to scrub it.

	But it wouldn't go away.  More began to appear, on 
her hands, on her shoulders and torso.  They were 
spreading all over her body like a rash, and all the soap in 
the world wouldn't make them go away.

	Desperately, she ran out of the shower, grabbing a 
towel, trying to get her clothing.  She would have to go to 
Fuyutsuki and confess immediately, before anything worse 
could happen.  I was so stupid, she thought.  I should have 
insisted, but I wanted to hide because I was scared they 
would all hate me.

	She looked in the mirror, and saw the man of her 
dreams looking back at her, his hood framing the stars of 
space.  The stars moved, and they became a smile.  

	A smile without joy or hope, but full of triumph.

	It was too late to scream. 


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

 	Rei found herself sitting behind a school desk, 
wearing her school uniform.  Classmates waved to her and 
said 'hi' as they entered the class and took their seats.

 	She stared out the window, observing the clear blue 
skies.  The sakura trees were in full bloom, their pink 
shower of leaves pretty.  Shinji came in, waved and smiled, 
then sat at his desk. Asuka came in, waved and smiled, then 
sat at her desk.

 	Rei knew what this was already.

 	"A dream," she muttered.

 	"Yes, a dream," she heard her own voice say.  "A 
dream of your perfect world."

 	Rei turned to the seat next to her, where another Rei 
sat.  This Rei had an easy, natural smile, unlike her own, 
and she seemed relaxed within her own skin, unlike the 
awkwardness that Rei was all too aware of in her own 
posture.

 	"Why are you here?" she asked her other self.

 	"To help give you clarity."

 	"On what?"

 	"On what you could have."

 	"What I could have?"

 	"On what you deserve."

 	"What do I deserve?"

 	Rei shrugged.  "Whatever you want, perhaps?"

 	"I want to be normal."

 	"Then be normal.

 	"I do not know how."

 	"I can help you with that."  Rei reached out and 
touched Rei's forehead.  Then the voices began, unfamiliar 
thoughts buzzing about in her forehead.  Thoughts of 
makeup and cooking and cute puppy dogs.  Cute silent 
crushes on Shinji and jealousy towards Asuka.  And maybe 
a little crush too.  The very worst  worry in her head was 
that of upcoming exams.  And-

 	"Stop."

 	She pulled her other self's hand away from her.

	"What's wrong?  Too much?"

 	"No."

 	"Isn't it what you always wanted?"

 	"Yes."

 	"So what's wrong?"

 	"I'm afraid."

 	She put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed gently.  
"Don't worry.  I'll be there with you, every step of the way.  
We can make this world perfect.  All you need to do is 
reach out with your power and make it so.  We are gods, 
after all."

 	"It would not be right."

 	"Think so?"

 	"Yes."

	Rei put a finger on her lips and looked thoughtful.  
"You're right.  Why should we restrain ourselves?  We 
restrain ourselves within this form we believe normal, but 
we always feel awkward within it.  We're Gods, we should 
be free to express ourselves as such."

	The world around them melted away, and she found 
herself standing upon a cliff overlooking the ruins of a city 
overrun by wildly growing jungle.  Strange music filled the 
air, as did unknown winged creatures, whose silhouettes 
darted across a red moon.  Rei felt her human shape torn 
asunder by the endless forms within her, and the impulse to 
roam wild and free seized her.  She was the legs of wolves 
running across the plains, the fins of fish beneath the 
waves, the wings of an indescribable goddess in the sky.

	She looked down upon the earth and saw humans 
scurrying out from the remains of civilization, looking 
upon her form with awe and worship.  They fell to their 
knees and bowed to her.

	"Free of all restraint.  Free to act upon all your 
impulses.  You can be yourself, and accepted by everyone.  
Embrace that which stirs within you, and take your rightful 
place as deity among these mortals."

	Rei looked down upon the earth, then at her other self 
flying alongside her.

	A world where she belonged.

	Why not?

	It would be so easy.

	Too easy.

 	"I follow the path set before me by Gendo.  I will not 
waver."

	"But why?!" her other self argued.  "What good was 
that path?!  He lies dead and you march towards your own 
destruction!"

	"I will listen to you no more.  Goodbye."

	Rei closed her eyes, and her paradise fell to the 
darkness and serenity of sleep.	

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

	Something wasn't quite right at the church service.  
But Asuka wasn't sure what the problem was.  It was just 
that typically, the services did not make her skin crawl.  
Maybe it was the minister.  There was something about his 
voice.  He said all the right things, yet he seemed to almost 
sneer it.  Almost.

	But there was something comforting about it all none 
the less.  She prayed almost desperately, trying to clear her 
mind of all the clutter that now filled it up, ignoring the 
voices in the back of her head which were drifting away to 
memories of their own religious services.  

	Finally, she got in line with everyone to march up for 
communion.  She got most of the way up before she 
noticed that everyone who took communion seemed to be 
leaving instead of sticking around.  And there was 
something odd about them.  She began to get a sinking 
feeling in her stomach.

	Still, she stayed in line, sure that she was probably 
imagining things.  It was only when the communion wafer 
looked more like a piece of sausage than a piece of bread 
that she froze and took a good look at the priest.  

	He was pale and blonde haired, tall and thin.  The 
priest looked back at her, smiling.  "Don't you want the 
body of Christ, little girl?  I died on that cross for everyone, 
you know."

	The world seemed to freeze in place.  "But it...it..."  It 
was a piece of meat.

	"Did you think I was made out of bread?  I was a 
human being after all.  Eating my flesh is something that 
never bothered you before."  He cocked his head slightly.  
"The time has come to remove the masks, and let all see the 
truth.  Why bother with ritual symbolic cannibalism when 
you can have the real thing?  Don't worry, it's been cooked.  
Raw meat is too dangerous, after all.  And my blood is 
strictly disease-free."

	Asuka stepped back in revulsion.  "Is this some kind 
of sick joke?"

	"The new age is upon us, my child," he said, his voice 
kindly.  "So long as humanity kept up its mask of 
civilization over the animal within, I went along with it, 
letting you all indulge your hunger for flesh in ways you 
found socially acceptable.  Bread and wine took the place 
of the bloody sacrifices you once gave me.  I am a kind, 
loving god, after all.  And there was something endlessly 
amusing about the way in which so many of you never 
thought about what you were doing.  You eat of me, as I 
will one day eat of you, when you return to me.  We are 
one body, one blood, one church."  He spread his arms 
wide.  "And now the masks come off, and we show our true 
faces, as the animals we are.  By my power, these folk are 
set free."

	Asuka wanted to vomit, but she choked it back.  No 
weakness.  She pointed a finger at him, and her clothing 
burned away, replaced by her plug suit.  "You can't fool 
me!  You're not the God I worship!  You're an imposter!"

	"The God you worship is but another of my masks.  I 
am Legion, one God with many faces and forms, as many 
as their are eyes with which to view me. The Trinity is but 
a shadow of the truth of my existence, one to prepare you.  
Though I admit this is not the form I wore when I walked 
among you as the Christ," the man said.  He shrank, 
becoming more muscular and somewhat swarthier, hairier 
with dark curly hair instead of a long blonde mane.  His 
eyes darkened from blue to brown, and now he wore a 
hammer tucked into his belt.

	"It was more like this.  I become all things to all men, 
that they might come to the truth, and as I was a Jew, I 
walked as a Jew.  It pleases me, when every nation depicts 
me as one of their own, for it shows they are closer to 
grasping the truth."  He smiled benevolently.

	"Masks...you're Nylarathotep!"  Asuka pointed a 
finger accusingly.

	"Among my many names.  But I have also been the 
Christ who you worship, and many other things beside."  
He held out the sausage slice again.  "Come, eat of my 
body and drink of my blood and embrace the communion 
of the saints.  It is time for us to create the Kingdom of 
Heaven, where there is no marriage and all are free of the 
Law.  Where we will rampage and burn and destroy and rut 
without limits until the end of the age.  The time of the Law 
is over, once and for all."

	Outside, Asuka could hear rioting, and those behind 
her jostled her, eager to come forward and be freed from 
the shackles they had placed on themselves.  Was this how 
it would end?  Could it be true?

	Asuka hesitated, and wondered if it had all been a lie, 
if everything she had ever believed in was false, if all of 
Christianity was just another cult of Nylarathotep.  He 
certainly had the power to do all the things which Jesus had 
done, for he channeled the power of the Outer Gods.  
Molecular transmutation, nanomolecular purging of disease 
and poison, the enhancement of surface tension, quantum 
weather control...she could see how to duplicate the 
miracles just with the fragmentary knowledge in her mind 
stolen from those she slew.  

	It would be so easy to just let go, to just accept his 
offer and surrender to the voices inside her, to her desires.  
To let Rei take her again, and Shinji, both of them at once, 
to make the world their toy.  So easy.

	It was so hard to keep fighting, so hard to struggle on 
when everything went wrong and so many people died.  
She had lost her parents, so many friends, Anna...  Pain 
clutched her heart as she thought about what had happened 
to Anna.  

	"She is one with me now," he said seductively.  "You 
could be one with her as well.  Wouldn't you like to see her 
again?"

	Asuka shuddered.  "You took her over, you bastard!"

	"She went willingly," he said.  "She wanted to be a 
god, and I gave her what she wanted.  And in the end, all 
things return to me, for I am the Alpha and the Omega."

	"You ARE NOT GOD!" Asuka shouted frantically, 
angrily, fearfully.  "You might be Satan, but you certainly 
aren't the creator!"

	"I am all the Creator this universe has," the man 
replied.  "For I am the Voice of the Outer Gods, from 
whom all things come and to whom all things return.  I am 
the mask they wear to bring their gospel to all the beings 
who trap themselves in the illusions you call 'reason' and 
'civilization'.  I bring freedom from the Law, the law which 
crushes all beneath it, for there is none good enough to live 
up to it.  All you need is faith, and I will set you free."

	Asuka knew the freedom he brought, the freedom 
those who now dwelt within her had once known.  The 
freedom of animals, the freedom to be a monster.  She 
didn't want that kind of freedom.  She didn't.  Anything to 
the contrary inside her was just the fault of those horrible 
things she'd slain.  "I don't want your freedom, and I don't 
want your lies!  You're just making things up!"

	"It's the truth," he said.  "I will show you."  

	She closed her eyes, but she couldn't hide, the images 
burning themselves into her eyelids.  A confused carpenter 
learning the truth of his bastard heritage, fleeing to the 
desert and seeking out a wise man.  His baptism, and the 
certainty he had sought descending upon him.  
Nylarathotep had offered the man, Joshua son of Joseph, a 
future more glorious than being an illegitimate son of a 
nobody in a backwater--he would be the son of the Living 
God.  Nylarathotep had descended on him like a dove, and 
taken up residence inside him.

	A period of wandering followed, of miracles brought 
about by the higher sciences of the Outer Gods, their 
powers at his fingertips, through the mediation of the holy 
spirit within his mind.  For three years, he had followed the 
promptings of the voice inside his mind, the voice of 
Nylarathotep, until, convinced of his own divinity, he had 
staged his own betrayal, that he might manifest his power 
from the cross itself, for the destruction of the Romans and 
the coming of the Kingdom of God.  But it was at this very 
moment that was to be his triumph that Nylarathotep 
deserted him, leaving him to perish, his soul to be 
swallowed up by the Outer Gods to whom he had pledged 
himself.

	Asuka shrieked her denial, but it all seemed so real to 
her, and so plausible, and she felt despair eating away at 
her.  

	Afterwards, Nylarathotep had appeared as Jesus to his 
disciples, and set the formation of his church in motion, the 
church which would prepare all mankind for the Day of the 
Lord, the casting off of humanity's masks and their return 
to their true nature from which they had fallen so long ago, 
when they had eaten of the fruit of knowledge of good and 
evil and, revulsed by their own faces, had put on masks to 
hide from the 'evil' which was their true nature.  And now 
that time had come, the Day of the Lord was at hand.

	Asuka's mind spun round as she tried to deny it all.  
But she could see it, it seemed so real.  Had everything she 
believed in been a lie?  Her religion nothing but a tool of 
Nylarathotep for the corruption of mankind?  Images 
whirled before her mind, the Crusades, the Inquisition, the 
burning of witches, the Holocaust, all the sins done in 
God's name.  All for this?  For the Audient Void?  

	It was too much for her.  She'd never wanted any of 
this.  The flame washed out of her like a torrent; she heard 
the people behind her burst into flames and die, but she 
didn't care.  If this was the world, she wanted to destroy it.  
Better that nothing exist, if the Outer Gods were all there 
was.  Humanity would be better off dead.

	Nylarathotep tried to speak, but her flames rushed 
through him, charring him to ash in an instant.  But he 
wasn't dead.  He would rise again, she knew, and that 
knowing infuriated her more.

	She gathered her strength.  This world would burn.  
Burn, burn, burn.  If it burned hot enough, maybe she 
would die herself, and not have to live in it.

	'Would you destroy your friends as well as your foes?  
Do not be foolish enough to listen to his lies,' the voice 
said.  'It is not too late to turn back.'

	She looked around the great ocean of fire which 
surrounded her.  "Who are you?" she said warily.

	'I am the one who sent you and my other Archangels 
into the world to protect it in this time of crisis.  For the 
Tribulation is at hand, when the world will suffer at the 
hands of the one who comes in mockery of me.  So I sent 
you all, to take on flesh as I did, to become its defenders.  
Not its destroyers.  For you are Gabrielle, and your light is 
meant to reveal truth, to burn away iniquity, not to destroy 
the innocent and the wicked alike.  Do you not remember, 
my daughter?'  The voice was soft, and hard to identify, 
sometimes like a man, sometimes like a woman.

	Asuka shuddered, hesitating, fearing this was just 
another trick.  "Who are you?" she asked again.

	'I am the beginning and the end, the creator of all that 
is, who made the worlds and all their pieces.  And you are 
my beloved child, Gabrielle, one of the leaders of my 
angels.  Remember.'  The voice was full of compassion, 
and Asuka clung to it like a reed.

	There were things...she could remember...flashes of 
images, speaking to various people, the words of the Lord.  
Was that her?  Had she gone before the Israelites as they 
came out of the land of Egypt, had she spoken to the 
prophets?  But she was human, wasn't she?  She was 
Asuka, not an angel.  Though she'd rather be an Angel than 
Asuka right now.  

	"I can't...it's so confused...who am I?" she asked 
desperately, as her mind spun.

	"One of my messengers, sent to defend mankind in 
this age of Chaos," the voice said louder now, as she 
opened her ears to its words.  "You will remember all, 
when the time comes.  Just believe in me, as I believe in 
you."

	Asuka began to cry.  She wanted to believe, wanted 
her powers to come from something holy, not something 
foul.  But it could all be another trick.  She wanted to 
believe, but it was so hard, so hard to believe.  "I need...I 
want to believe, but I just...poor Anna..."

	"In the end, all will come to me," the voice told her, 
whispering into her ears now.  "All will understand, in the 
long term, and repent, and come to me, for there is none so 
foolish as to defy the truth forever.  You will see her again, 
one day, when she wins free from the lies she snared 
herself in.  But I need you to take up your arms, and bear 
my word, my daughter, for there are many others who will 
fall to his lies if you do not go out among them."

	"Anna...you mean..."

	"The flames of hell are the fires which burn away 
impurities.  They are your flames, which reveal the truth.  
The truth hurts, but in the end, all will be made pure, and 
the world will be whole, as it once was, before it fell into 
shadows and darkness.  Will you take up your sword, 
Gabrielle, and fight for that truth?"

	"He told me..."  She shivered and hugged herself.  
"That he was...that you..."

	"He is the father of lies, for he believes the world he 
made at my command is all there is; he has convinced 
himself that I never existed, that all that happens is 
according to his will.  But he merely snares himself within 
his own illusions; he has blinded himself.  But even he 
may, one day, be made pure once more.  Do not listen to 
his lies," the voice said, its voice wavering between a man 
and a woman again, and suddenly, Asuka knew those 
voices, the voices of her parents.

	"I am your father and your mother; they were the 
vessels by which you passed into the world of flesh," the 
voice said.  "And now they dwell with me, waiting for the 
time when you return.  But that time is not yet come.  The 
world needs you."

	It had to be true, she realized.  Satan... Nylarathotep... 
could make up anything, make her see anything, fill her 
senses with lies.  That was part of his power, his dominion 
over the world of the senses.  Everything he had shown her, 
just a lie.  He had tried to make her forget, forget her true 
self.

	It all welled up within her now.  Raphael, Uriel, Ariel, 
Michael, Bodiel, herself--Gabrielle--had been sent down to 
usher in a new Age, to bring mankind through the 
Tribulation into a new Millenium.  But they had lost 
themselves when they took on flesh, and now Bodiel had 
paid the price, lured by the lies of the Demiurge, 
Nylarathotep.  

	So much she couldn't remember, but it was all 
growing clearer to her now.  The voices in her mind, they 
were but illusions planted in her by Nylarathotep, the 
shadows of now fallen angels, who had betrayed the trust 
put in them by their creator, their power now reclaimed to 
Heaven's service.  In her, their powers would become holy 
once more.  Her power was holy.  It had to be.  

	She banished the voices, silencing them with her 
reborn faith, and stood, drawing her great sword of flame.  
"I will do my best to protect this world, my Lord," she said, 
pledging  herself once more.  "And to help the others 
remember the truth which you sent us to champion."  She 
felt a new strength.

	"Then awaken," her father told her.  "Rise up," her 
mother told her.  "And sin no more, but walk in the light of 
love."

	Love.  It filled her heart, washing away her fears.  "I 
go now," she said, and brandished her wings, flying away 
to the waking world to begin the work of God anew.

		


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

	Stars shone in the distance, but the air was cold all 
around Shinji.  Looking around, he couldn't see ground 
anywhere; he seemed to be in the deeps of space, with 
nothing about but distant glittering stars.  His wings beat, 
great black leathery wings; they felt so natural now, as if he 
had always had them.  Slowly, he turned himself around, 
trying to see if there was something, anything worth 
looking at.

	A distant glow attracted his attention; a great nebula 
slowly spun in the distance, with lesser nebula spinning 
around it, and tiny dots which he guessed might be planets 
or comets or something.  There was a distant noise like a 
heartbeat and the softest of sussurating wind sounds.  He 
began to move towards it, now noticing great glowing 
filaments which drifted through space forming an 
extremely diffuse cloud around the distant nebulas.  The 
heart of each nebula was aflame, he could see now, shining 
brightly.

	Shinji drifted a little closer, and the sounds on the 
wind became music, discordant.  He could feel it tugging at 
him, though it sounded horrible, like people with no 
musical talent at all.  He got out his own violin and tried 
playing the tune they were playing, but quickly realized the 
awfulness was inherent in the tune itself.  And he was 
drifting closer.

	He tried playing over the noise, and the drifting ceased 
as he drowned it out with sweet music.  He played for a 
while, then stopped, as his arms started to get tired.  As he 
did so, he began to drift towards the sound again, so he 
resumed playing, harder this time.  Wrapped in a wind of 
pleasant notes, he pushed away from the distant nebulae.

	Eventually, he had to stop to rest, only to find himself 
starting to be tugged back again, though he couldn't even 
hear the music consciously.  But he could feel it.

	"There is no escape," a man's voice said.  "The 
civilization you use to try to cover up humanity's true 
nature is only a veneer, and the call goes on, calling you to 
your true selves."

	Shinji turned and saw the man.  He was dark-skinned 
and noble in mien, dressed like an ancient Pharoah, crook 
and staff in his hands.  Behind him, a procession slowly 
moved along, bearing a coffin fit for a Pharoah, slowly 
drifting with the discordant song towards the distant 
nebulae.  A dozen images flickered through Shinji's mind, 
from a huge albino spider to an opalescent squid-like 
creature.  Each of the images looked horrific to Shinji, yet 
at the same time, something inside him found them to be 
quite normal and pleasant, unlike the other images.  

	"So close," the man said softly, then louder, he said, 
"The call of the daemon sultan Azathoth can be deferred, 
but it cannot be denied.  All things come from him and to 
him all things return.  Ashes to ashes, dust to dust."

	The Pale Walker.  The Whisperer in Darkness.  The 
Dark Sailor.  Dozens of names flickered across Shinji's 
minds as the voices which lived within him now identified 
the being who stood before him.  The Voice of the Outer 
Gods, their Soul, Nylarathotep.  He had as many forms as 
there were species of creatures in all the universe, for to 
each, he could come as their own kind, or as the things they 
feared most.  He was the hawk who chased the mice, the 
wolf who hunted the deer, the kzeergi who stole the eggs of 
the dsaah.  

	"I'm just dreaming," Shinji asserted.

	"That you are," he said.  "Dreams reveal the truths we 
would hide from.  But you don't need a dream to feel the 
call.  Can't you feel it?  The call of the Sea King is strong, 
but his song is but a faint reflection of this song."

	The funeral procession was moving on, as was Shinji.  
He was torn between his desire not to get any closer to the 
distant nebulae, his curiosity as to what was going on, and 
his fear of turning his back to the Black Pharoah.  He could 
feel the call.  "I don't feel anything," he lied.  

	"Well, if you want to miss your father's funeral, that is 
your business."

	"WHAT?"  Shinji stared at the coffin in shock.

	"All souls come forth from the Daemon Sultan, as do 
all things, and when you die, they return to him, to be 
devoured, used as the raw stuff of which new ones are 
made.  That is what awaits all.  The Buddhists were right, 
you see."

	Shinji had never paid much attention to religion.  
Shinto, Buddhism, Christianity, Islam...they were all blurs 
to him.  He had a vague idea of some differences but it had 
not been something he had put much of his thought into it, 
though it now struck him that Asuka would probably want 
him to learn more about Christianity, as she would no 
doubt want him to join her in Church visits and so forth if 
they continued to date.  "I don't remember them talking 
about being eaten by Azathoth," Shinji said.  "And what is 
this about Father?"

	"The soul is but an illusion, an ephemera spat forth by 
Azathoth, that returns to him when it has served its 
purpose, the purpose of all the universe, for all this world 
exists for his amusement.  You are but a mask he wears to 
compete against other of his masks, in the great story he is 
telling himself to while away eternity," the Black Pharoah 
said, sounding almost kindly.  "Your father has played his 
part, and now he is dead, and he returns to the maw of 
Azathoth to be devoured and reborn."

	"I thought it was Shub-Niggurath who devours her 
children and gives birth to them again," Shinji said, 
surprising himself and wondering how he knew that.

	"They are all one," the Black Pharoah said, walking 
along with Shinji and the procession.  "And I am one with 
them.  They seem separate...you and I seem separate only 
because you cannot see to the highest level, where there is 
only the One, of whom Azathoth, and I, and you and every 
blade of grass are but a part.  This is the secret of the 
Buddhists and of the more philosophical sorts of Hindus, 
that all the world is but an illusion, a game, and only by 
escaping the illusion and uniting ourselves with Brahma, 
with the world-soul, can we be free of it and of the sorrow 
it brings."

	"But what does Father have to do with this?" Shinji 
asked stubbornly.

	"Your Father pledged himself to the Outer Gods, 
seeking to use their power against them, to run a con game 
on them.  He might have succeeded without me; they are all 
blind idiots, who obey the primal laws set forth by the 
World-Soul.  A cunning thief may indeed walk among the 
Gods for a time, using them to achieve his goals.  But now 
his soul belongs to them, and they will devour him.  Thus 
will he be reunited with the World-Soul and he will know 
peace."

	"He'll be destroyed!" Shinji said in horror.

	"He brought it on himself.  But it doesn't matter; he 
will have peace and be united again with the World-Soul, 
escaping this world of pain.  Isn't that for the best?"

	"NO!" Shinji said, feeling himself getting angry.  "I'm 
not going to let you throw Father's soul down the gullet of 
the Daemon Sultan!"  He drew upon his powers, preparing 
himself for a fight.  It was easier; he felt stronger here, 
could feel the power flowing into him.

	And then he realized he was drawing power from the 
discordant music, and the more he drew, the closer he 
drifted to the still thankfully distant Azathoth.  He froze, 
unsure what to do.

	There was an edge to the Black Pharoah's voice.  "Do 
you understand now?  If you fight fire with fire, you 
become fire.  You walk your Father's path to the same end.  
You too will be devoured by the Daemon Sultan, when you 
die, for his fingers are in your souls."

	"No!" Shinji shouted desperately.

	"Serve willingly, and that death and dissolution will be 
long deferred.  Defy us, and it will come quickly.  Serve, 
and we can restore your parents to you," the Black Pharoah 
said, almost purring.  "For death, too, is just an illusion, 
that can be undone if the master magician so desires."

	Shinji froze; paralysis came to him naturally anyway, 
and this was worse than usual.  "You're lying," he said 
desperately.

	"I am not.  Your mother could be released from her 
prison, your father returned to life, one happy family."

	Shinji frowned.  "Her prison?"

	"She was devoured by Rei's EVA unit," Nylarathotep 
said.  "Your father...one of the great driving forces of his 
life was his hope to rescue her from it.  He was willing to 
risk everything for it.  I could extract her any time I desire.  
I merely have not desired it."

	Shinji tried to think.  It had to be a trick, 
but..Mother...Father...he couldn't just abandon them.  He 
couldn't.  The music wouldn't stop, and he was drifting, 
drifting.  He would have to do something soon.  

	Grab Father and try to run.  Even if it risked more of a 
hold of the Daemon Sultan.  What else could he do?  He 
called up the power and zoomed at the procession, even as 
Nylarathotep began to laugh.  To his surprise, Nylarathotep 
just watched him zoom over, battering aside the animal-
headed beings who bore the coffin.  He seized it and took 
to the air, flying away as fast as he could.

	But he could hear Nylarathotep's voice.  'You'll have 
to wake up, some time...'

	He ignored that and flew on, fleeing as far away from 
the Daemon Sultan as he could, not looking back.  
	
	
***********


		
	Touji was having one of those dreams again, where 
Kensuke was still alive and they'd talk about stuff.  At least, 
that's what he thought it was going to be.  It was him and 
Kensuke on the swings, just like old times.

	"Hey man, how goes?" he asked.

	"I'm doing alright, but I'm not Kensuke."

	Touji stared at him.  "Huh?"

	"I'm known by many names.  The Black Pharaoh, the 
Crawling Chaos, the God of the Bloody Tongue, the Green 
Man, the Wailing Writher, the Blind Ape of Truth, the list 
goes on.  But for our discussion today, you can just call me 
Nyarly."

	Touji got off of his swing and took a wary step back.  
"So why're ya looking like Kensuke and why are you 
here?"

	"Well, see, if I showed you my true form, it'd break 
your puny mind."

	"So yer that ugly?"

	"Very funny.  Do you want to hear this explanation or 
not?"

	"Sorry, sorry."

	"We are 'here' because I wanted to make you an offer 
you shouldn't refuse.  Normally, this involves elaborate 
dreamscapes showing you your heart's desire, then subtly 
persuading you to think this is what you really wanted, on 
your own.  However, such subtlety, I feared, would go over 
your head.  So I'm here to tell it to you straight."

	"Oh, I get it.  You're Satan trying to get me to sign 
over my soul, or something."

	The Kensuke apparition hmmed, swinging on the 
swing.  "I suppose that would be somewhat accurate."

	"Not selling you my soul."

	"Well, it's not exactly your soul I'm after."

	"Not givin' it."

	"Rather, I'd like you to work for our side."

	"And your side is?"

	"The side NERV has been fighting against all this 
time."

	Touji crossed his arms.  "Now why the hell would I 
work for you creeps?"

	"Well, let me count the reasons.  One, I can heal your 
sister.  Two, I can bring Kensuke back to you.  And three, 
you are all doomed in the coming battle.  This isn't just 
going to be the monster of the day, this is going to be an 
entirely different fight.  You are all going to die, unless you 
see things my way."

	"Oh, I'm supposed to believe we're gonna be beat just 
cause you said so?"

	"I'd tell you how, but that would be spoiling things."

	"Whatever."

	"It's not like working with us will be unpleasant.  
You're a God after all.  You'll be ruling over the humans, 
along with your friends.  Rulership isn't so bad.  And why 
not you?  Look at the world.  Do you think the current 
world leaders are doing a great job?"

	"I don't really pay attention."

	The Crawling Chaos facepalmed.  "No, of course you 
don't.  Well, I'll enlarge your penis."

	"WHAT?!"

	"Sorry, your mailbox was full of those ads. I figured 
it'd be something that might interest you."

	"I'm just fine the way I am."

	"Whatever you say."  Nyarly jumped off the swing, 
then dusted off his pants.  "Look, my offer stands, up until 
the bitter end, okay?  So when you're face down in the dirt 
and your friends are all dying around you, keep me in 
mind.  Just say the word and you'll be saved, your friends 
will be saved,  your sister and Kensuke will be saved, and 
everything will be alright."

	"You're still not taking my soul."

	"Seeya later, boy."

	And then Touji had better dreams.


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

	Touji would come around in time, he was sure.  The 
Walking Man stepped back and studied the tableaux he had 
set up.  Hikari wanted her family back desperately.  Surely 
she would do anything to have them back.

	Outside, there was the sound of traffic.  He paused for 
a moment, having not remembered to make that noise.  
Then again, dreams tended to supply their own details. 

	He paced around the setting, checking each of the 
dream shapes.  One of the things which could most easily 
go wrong in this sort of thing was if someone suddenly 
spotted needle tracks on their grandmother because your 
mind wandered.  He'd lost Norton all those years ago 
because of putting the wrong sister in the man's dreams.

	Never again.

	The traffic got louder, and he frowned.  Too much 
noise would not be conducive to tempting her.  He 
concentrated, but the sounds didn't get any quieter.

	He walked to the front door and went out into the 
lawn.  Cars were drifting by, but one car was making 
especial noise--an eighteen wheeler.  He wondered why 
Hikari's mind would imagine an eighteen wheeler in a 
suburban neighborhood.  But he didn't waste much time on 
it.  He reached out with his mind to erase it.

	Instead, it kept coming, and now it was speeding up.  
The truck had a ludicrous green mask on the grill; for a 
moment, he wondered if it was her nightmare of him—
there was a hint of night terrors in its crazed expression.  
He reached out more firmly, and tried to erase it.

	Instead, his mind skidded off an AT-field, even as the 
truck moved up another gear.  It was barreling down the 
road at high speed, yet somehow hadn't reached and passed 
him yet.  It began to swerve, knocking a tree down as it 
began to move onto the sidewalk, and he realized it was 
coming for him.

	He stared at it, but no one was driving it.  

	Then every parked car on the street came to life and 
began to move.

	Towards him.

	He reached out, trying to erase the dreams, but his 
mind slid off an AT-Field every time.  He shoved harder, 
and the field shoved back.

	There was no choice but to cast off this mask and take 
on a more powerful form to do battle.  He could feel the 
boiling rage rising as his frustration grew, the passion that 
always hid behind his mask of rationality rising up.

	Except that nothing happened when he tried to take on 
another form.  He was nothing but a human, a human with 
the mind of a god.

	A human with an eighteen wheeler and about two 
dozen smaller cars closing in on him.

	He turned and ran to the house, but the door had slid 
shut, and it was locked and he hadn't thought to take the 
keys with him.  

	They were coming across the lawn now, somehow 
moving at high speed, lethal speed, yet stalking up like a 
cat, slowly, savoring the moment that was coming, the kill.

	He turned and tried to smash a window open.  It 
worked and he spilled through it, feeling his flesh tear and 
bleed as the glass broke.  The vapid, happy family stared at 
him shock, and the mother said, "Hey, you can't just break 
the window!  You're grounded!"

	He turned and leaped onto the table, grabbing the 
young boy, and hurled him out the window to the cars, 
praying the sacrifice would buy him time to figure out what 
went wrong.  Then he began to run for the backdoor, even 
as the living room wall caved in and the eighteen wheeler 
crashed through it, glass and metal splintering off the 
insipid, grinning, purple hooded mask.

	He could hear walls smashing behind him, but there 
was nothing but his fear; blind fear took him and he ran, 
ran for the back door.  He knew there had to be one; he had 
crafted this dream himself.  Hadn't he?  He had!  It was his 
shaping!  Why was it turning on him?  He was a god!  A 
god!

	A crashing sound echoed as the staircase broke due to 
an eighteen wheeler hitting it.  He threw the back door open 
and ran into the backyard, breathing heavily.

	Just needed a second to recover, that's all.

	And then blinding lights flashed before his eyes.

	Two headlights, set to bright, lit up the yard like the 
noon sun.  

	It was a fifty seven Chevy, cherry-red, with no driver; 
The engine roared, and he read the license plate:  YUI-001.  
He turned to run, and it went from zero to sixty in half a 
second.  The grill shattered his torso like a hammer striking 
glass, and as the lights went out in his eyes, he saw two 
lights, small glass circles, flash in the air behind the wheel.  

	"Do not call up what you cannot put down," a man 
said.

	And then the eighteen wheeler came through the wall, 
and the life was crushed out of him.  

	And then there was only darkness.

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

	Touji ran for the lay up.  He got the ball and shot.  It 
rolled round the rim and went in.  The crowd went wild!

	And then, suddenly, he was being shaken to pieces.

	Touji groaned and woke up.  "What the...Hikari?"

	She was standing over him, shaking him.  "The cars!  
They're coming for us!  They..."   He wondered how she'd 
gotten into his room on the Scimitar.  Had he locked the 
door?  Maybe not.  

	"What the hell are you talking about?" he mumbled, 
rubbing his eyes.  Wait, there had been some movie they'd 
watched or something.  With cars.  In the ship's lounge.

	"The..."  Hikari suddenly looked embarrassed, and 
stopped shaking him; the Scimitar rocked for a moment in 
the wind, as if echoing her, before settling down.  "Never 
mind.  I had a nightmare."

	"Musta been some nightmare for you to get all the 
way in here without realizin' it," Touji said, sitting up.  "I 
guess the car horror marathon was a bad idea."

	"Yes," she said firmly.  "I...I should go back to bed."  
Though she really didn't want to sleep alone after that.

	"Be my guest," he said.  "You sure you're okay?"

	"I...no," she said, sitting down on the bed.  "We 
shouldn't.  I should go back to bed."

	"Well, you can stay if you want."

	"Misato..." Hikari began.

	"I think Misato would cheer," Touji said.  "And 
Shinji's probably got Rei and Asuka with him as we speak."

	Hikari's eyes widened.  "You think so?"

	"No, not really," Touji said.  "He ain't man enough for 
it."

	"Oh, you think it's manly to be unfaithful to your 
girlfriend?" she said, frowning.

	"No, no, I ain't sayin' that!" Touji protested.  "It's just 
that it takes a lot of man for two women."

	"Especially when you're just a boy."  Hikari got up 
and stormed out.

	Touji sighed.  "I wasn't trying to say nothin' about 
you!" he shouted after her.

	"Goodnight," she said, and went back to her room.

	Touji slumped back on the bed.  "Women.  They just 
don't listen."  He sighed and tried to go back to sleep, but 
only dreamed about cars chasing him, with Hikari behind 
the wheel of them all.

**********

	There was a distant thunder.  Hador-Keb, highman of 
the Village of Ged, looked up at the sacred mountain, and 
frowned.  Normally, it only shook once a century.  That 
was part of the sacred lessons—once a century, the sacred 
mountain would punish the world for its sins of the last 
century; the wicked would perish and the good would 
escape alive.

	But it had poured out the cup of its wrath only fifteen 
cycles ago; the land was fertile now, for those who 
survived.  What have we done to deserve the anger of the 
gods?, he asked himself as he fled with his six legs, 
heading for the village square to call the people together to 
flee to the ocean.

	Deep within the mountain, the Great Beast of Fire 
howled his rage, crashing against the walls of the lava tube, 
stirring it to a frenzy.  The earth shook and the heavens 
filled with smoke.  The world screamed and spat forth a 
great tide of lava, and belched poisonous fumes and a great 
rain of ash across the land.

	The village perished, buried in lava, choking on ash, 
before they could escape.

	Not for their sins.

	Because they made an easy target.

	The Great Beast laughed out its wrath as they 
perished, screaming and begging for mercy to the sky, 
which echoed only with the wrath of the mountain.  Their 
deaths brought him calm, and he emerged from the lava, 
sloughing off his eight limbs and four heads and six 
mouths, shrinking away into a form which would drive mad 
any inhabitant of the planet who saw it, an unnatural 
bipedal beast, clad in a sheathe of animal fibers, with only a 
single head and only two eyes, like some primitive little 
creature swollen to enormous size.

	Dusky-skinned like the volcanic rock he walked on, he 
strode down the mountain-side, wearing a gleaming 
headress which showed some coiled alien beast atop it, like 
a rope with fangs and eyes at one end.  

	What few beasts survived came to him, and fed from 
his hands, for he was their master, the lord of all things 
wild and fell.  He was the ender of ages, the bringer of 
doom, who wiped away civilization, and restored the rule 
of the animals.  

	He cast aside his helmet, revealing dark stringy fibers 
which hung from his head, thinly woven, and his sheathe of 
fibers transmuted itself to a dark navy blue, taking on a new 
configuration, and he reached behind a molten rock and 
pulled out a briefcase.  

	They thought they could defy the End of Days.  But he 
would show them the Beast From the Sea, and he would 
bring down their petty civilization, just like all the others.  
For he could not be slain, not by them.  For he was the Soul 
of the Outer Gods, their Herald, their Voice.  And that 
Voice could not be denied.  In the end, all things came to 
him, whether by choice or by force.

	If they would not join the revel, then they would be 
pulled apart by the maenids.  This was how it worked.  
How it always worked.

	He opened the briefcase and stared at a set of 
switches.  It was time.

**********

	Touji stared out across the ocean with Misato; they 
were both silent, lost in their own thoughts.  He thought she 
looked kind of bleary.  "You get hammered last night?" he 
asked.

	They were up on one of the observation decks, looking 
down from the Scimitar to the ocean.  It was calm and 
placid far below them, like some distant blue wall.  He 
wasn't afraid of heights, thankfully.  Still, a high railing 
made falling unlikely, even if he was leaning on it.

	"No," she said sharply, then more softly, said, "I wish.  
But no.  I slept like crap."

	"Bad dreams?" he asked, then wondered if he ought to 
tell her about his.  Probably it was just some stupid dream 
from seeing too many Western devil movies.

	"No, I just couldn't sleep well.  And I had this feeling 
like everyone but me was having sex," Misato said.

	Touji laughed.  "I ain't."

	"Well, at your age, you really shouldn't."  She shook 
her head.

	"Touji," Rei said.

	Touji almost went over the railing in surprise.  He 
caught himself and swung back.  "Don't DO that."

	"Did you dream?" Rei asked.

	"Uh, yeah," he said warily.  "You too?"  She ain't 
gonna gut me or something, I hope, he thought.

	"He is desperate," Rei said.

	"Who?" Misato asked.

	"The Herald of the Outer Gods.  He would buy us.  I 
am not for sale," Rei came to the railing and stared out 
across the water.

	"You too, huh?" Touji said.  "Yeah, I told him to fuck 
off."  He paused.  "To, uh, go away," he said, looking at 
Misato.

	"Dammit," Misato said.  "If he can go around crawling 
into people's heads..."

	"If who can crawl into people's heads?" Shinji asked.

	"The Herald of the Outer Gods," Misato said.  
"Nylon...Nyllie...Nylarathotep."

	"Speak not the name," Rei said flatly.

	Shinji said, "He's going to try to stop us."  He 
shuddered a little.  "He tried...there was this..."  He shook 
his head.  "I don't want to talk about it."

	Hikari staggered blearily around the corner, rubbing 
her eyes.  "Hello, commander," she said.  "Shinji, Rei.  
Touji."

	"Hey, you ain't still pissed, are you?" Touji asked.  "I 
didn't mean sh...mean anything, you know."

	She frowned.  "It was a really piggish thing to say."

	"C'mon, you gonna tell me you'd pass up two cute 
guys?"

	Misato said, "Trying to get Shinji into you two's bed, 
Touji?"  She smirked a little.

	"WHAT?" Touji said.  

	"I..."  Hikari blushed a little.  "What I imagine with...I 
mean..."

	Shinji said, "What's this all about?"

	Asuka now came into sight, striding forward 
confidently to embrace Shinji and kiss him firmly.  
Everyone stared, and Misato said, "Well, SOMEONE is in 
a good mood."

	"I'm in a great mood," Asuka said.  "I finally 
_understand_ all this."

	Misato frowned.  That had a bad ring to it.  "You 
mean?"

	"It's very complicated," Asuka said, then saw Misato's 
frown and other worried looks.  "Come on, everyone, I'm 
not here to announce we're taking over the world."

	Shinji could feel Asuka pressed up against him, and 
felt himself starting to get aroused by her presence and her 
tight half-embrace of him.  He said, "What's the good news, 
then?"  He paused and added, "Dear," hesitantly.

	"I love you," she said softly, then kissed him.  "C'mon, 
you two should kiss too," she said, waving her hand to 
Touji and Hikari.

	"What, that's the big revelation?  You two have been 
getting mushy a lot before just now, you know," Touji said.

	"Every moment could be your last," Misato said, 
looking a little sad.  "I dunno what you two have been 
fighting about, but it's not worth it.  Pain that doesn't get 
you anything isn't worth it."

	Touji stepped over to Hikari.  "Look, I just..."

	She grabbed him and swept him into a kiss.  Asuka did 
the same with Shinji.

	Rei looked at them wistfully, and Misato came over to 
give her a half-hug.  "You'll find a boyfriend too, I'm sure," 
Misato said.  "Lots of guys like a nice shy woman."  Even 
if she has super-powers and kills people rather well.  
Misato stomped on those thoughts.  She knew exactly how 
Rei was feeling.  She whispered to Rei, "I'm a little jealous 
too."

	Rei turned and embraced her silently, holding her very 
tightly.  Maybe a little too tightly; Misato was reminded of 
how strong Rei really was.

	Asuka broke off the kiss.  "Mmm, good."

	Misato asked, "Did all of you have nightmares about 
the Herald?"

	She got a round of assents.

	Asuka said, "I didn't fall for his lies."

	Misato frowned.  "I should talk to Fuyutsuki, I think.  
He may have gotten to someone."

	"Don't