The ending really isn't a full story. But here it is. As usual, past episodes are on http://www.rahul.net/arromdee/fanfic.html Angels, Heaven, and Earth by Ken Arromdee Chapter 11 Time and Space Adventures (II) "You're going to get rid of our family completely, Mom!" exclaimed Rei. "I'm right, right? All to help save these people I never even met." "Wait", said Sasami. "It's not quite like that...." "Listen to Sasami!" interjected Aeka. She used her best princess lecture tone. "Once it's all over, you won't even remember. Now we have some important things to do and...." "No, you listen!" interrupted Rei. "That's... that's so selfish. I never thought you'd want to do this to me, Mom. I thought you loved me. But it's all a lie. That's what you're telling me. No, not only was it a lie, it never even happened. I never met you before today." "That's not true", said Sasami as Noboyuki and the other adults watched, not sure what to say to this girl. They'd all had experiences with handling bratty children, but... Rei was angry over something a lot more serious than not being allowed to have thirty dresses in one's wardrobe. "We've met in the... real world." "Remember that doll you bought for me when I was five, the one I still have on my dresser, Mom?" "Yes...." "You never bought that for me. And remember all the trouble you went through to be sure I got into the school I'm going to now? Rushing to make sure all the papers were done on time even though we just moved here?" Sasami nodded. "Well, you didn't. You didn't do anything." Tears began to run down Rei's face. "Are you really my Mom? Or just... just some monster from some magical kingdom?" Sasami stepped towards Rei and hugged her briefly; she stopped talking long enough for Sasami to look down at her and smile, face bright with hope. She wiped the moisture from Rei's face. Rei would have none of it. "Mom... what?" "Well...." replied Sasami. "You're not going to stop this plan, are you?" "No, I'm not. We'll talk about this later. Now you'd better leave the room. All of you children." Rei hesitated. "There's a time to be feisty", said Aeka. "This isn't it." She helped Sasami push Rei and the other teens out the door, despite their angry protestations. * * * * * Mayuka kept her voice low, so as not to be overheard again. "Rei's right, you know.", she said. "Gendou and Yui wanted to do the same thing as us. Remake the world. It's the second time, but it's still controlling the fate of billions of people without asking them." Aeka shook her head. "Duchess, my parents do it all the time. It's their job. I had thought that none of us would have to, but I was wrong. Mayuka, we're the only people who _can_ make this decision. That's the difference between a king and a dictator. The king makes decisions because he has to. The dictator does it because he likes telling people what to do. We're not the same as Gendou. Not at all." Mayuka thought it over. "It's not an ideal world, Duchess. Sometimes we have to make tough decisions. Even ones which hurt people. We don't want to... and we should never want to, but sometimes, duty calls. Let's go and get it over with now." Mayuka nodded slowly. "You're right." "Wait", said Sasami. "I have to do something." "Rei?" wondered Mayuka. "Yes, Rei. She deserves an explanation before... before it's all over. Wait for me, please. I have to talk to her in private... To my daughter." * * * * * A half hour later Sasami returned. She seemed even more emotionally drained than she was before. "It's time", she said. "Let's go." They all left through the basement door and walked over to Washuu's house. Sasami stood at Washuu's door with the other three Impact survivors, and knocked. A bright, cheerful, hologram shimmered into view. It was about three inches tall and hovering at eye level. "Hello, Sasami!" came the words from the image. "I'm sorry, but I'm not home right now. Please be advised that I won't be moving in until tomorrow morning. Thank you and have a nice day." "Well, even if the world is torn apart and reconstructed, some things never change" said Sasami. "Guess we try tomorrow after all." "Right", said Mayuka. "It... _feels_ like we have to rush. It's all so worrying. But there's really nothing that's going to change if we do it tomorrow. Aunt Aeka, Uncle Noboyuki... you want to go back to Jurai now, right?" Aeka nodded. "We have to, Duchess. If Mom and Dad and Mom knew that there was a way to visit Earth instantly, can you imagine how many visits everyone here would have to put up with?" "If the world ever gets back to normal", said Mayuka. "Anyway, I'll be in the Dark Dimension until I come to get you tomorrow. And Aunt Sasami, you'll be here, right?" "Right." replied Sasami. "I hope so" said a girl's voice, which Mayuka recognized as Rei. They looked around and saw her waiting outside Sasami's own house next door, just peeking around a row of leafy bushes. * * * * * The next morning, the rising sun cast a beautiful red glow down the street... a glow that Sasami had never seen before in this particular way, though her memories said otherwise. She looked towards her house, and then towards Washuu's, pacing until finally a flash of light heralded the appearance of Mayuka, Aeka, and Noboyuki. "You want to get it over with, Sasami, right?" asked Aeka. "I... yes, I do." Suddenly Rei slammed open the door and ran out, carrying a bag of books and a lunch. She looked at Sasami, said "Goodbye, Mom", and disappeared down the street. Everyone watched. The first to speak up was Aeka. "Everything did work out okay, didn't it?" Sasami nodded. "It's all right... I think. We'd better get going." She quickly proceeded to Washuu's door and rapped at it several times. * * * * * Someone said "Door, unlock" from the other side, and followed up "Come on in, it's not locked." Sasami opened the door and of course, Washuu was there waiting for everyone. She really looked and sounded almost the same as she had in what they still thought of as the real world, with spiky red hair and wearing a lab coat. "Have a seat", said Washuu, pointing to some uncomfortable-looking wooden crates. "And put your shoes on that newspaper over there." "Washuu..." said Sasami. "Yes? Get on with it." Somehow, Washuu seemed bored. She took a device out of her pocket and waved it at everyone, seemingly more interested in it than in the discussion. "Washuu", repeated Sasami, "we've come here to ask you to, well, fix the world. Something's made everything be not what it was supposed to be." "Fix the world?" responded Washuu. "Do I look like a plumber? By the way, did you know that all of you have quite a bit of strange energy in you? I don't think any of you are completely human." "There's a reason for that, Washuu. We're not. Because we're all relics of that other world." "Could you be a little more specific?" asked Washuu. "I'll be a little more specific", interjected Mayuka. "Everything was very different. Until, one day, we were unable to completely stop a man from imposing his own vision on the planet Earth. He altered it into the way it is now, and we need your help to bring it back!" "Take it easy", suggested Washuu. "You're really much too tense. Surely if the Earth was altered, I would have heard of it already, right? But I haven't." "Everyone thinks it's always been the way it is now", said Sasami. "Even you." "A strange concept", mused Washuu. "Sasami, tell me, what is this world like? Am I there?" "Well, in the original reality, you were a human incarnation of an immortal goddess, and reknowned throughout the universe for your scientific skills." "I... see" replied Washuu. For a moment, it seemed like she was willing to help; but Washuu had a way of not doing what everyone expected, and even in a world turned upside-down, she was still Washuu. "Very well, come back in, oh, ten years and ask me again. I'm busy." "You're not going to help us?" asked Mayuka. "No, I'm not going to help you. Didn't I just finish saying that?" "But... why?" "Listen, whoever you are. This isn't the first I've heard of this. Let me tell you a story...." * * * * * "It all began ten years ago, Sasami. I was working on the unified theory of everything. It began with just a little piece of analysis. Why so many people died around the turn of the millennium. But the more and more I analyzed it, the worse it all appeared to be. I fed the computer train schedules, death reports, population statistics, everything I could think of. But the outcome... the outcome was that it was all impossible. "It wasn't", continued Washuu, "something that *couldn't* happen. No, it was subtler. The entire world was extremely unlikely. I had my unified theory of everything, all right. Have you ever heard of Last-Thursdayism, Sasami?" "Last-Thursdayism?" "It's a philosophical exercise. How can you prove that the world wasn't created last Thursday? Complete with history, so buildings and trees and rocks all show signs of age, and everyone remembers a past that never existed? How can you prove that the world wasn't created yesterday, or even a second ago? "That was the theory of everything. I never thought I'd prove it, never thought I'd be able to show that there are so many subtle inconsistencies in the world that the sanest explanation *is* that it was created last Thursday, but that's just what I did. I learned how I could reverse it. And for ten years I've kept that theory, and that knowledge, secret. Do you know what the final irony of all this is?" "Yes", replied Mayuka, but Washuu ignored the remark. "If the world was created yesterday, complete with everyone and all their memories, so was the theory. So I haven't kept that theory secret for ten years after all. I just remember doing that. This newly created world was created *as if* all its history really happened, and since *if* it happened I would have noticed it, then the world was created with a false history of myself having noticed it a long time ago." "But then you know how to help us. So do it", demanded Aeka. "No. Because a person's memories and personality are part of their identity. If I were to do what you asked, there would be another world, and another Washuu. She would be a famous scientist, known over thousands of planets. She would be immortal. But she wouldn't be me, she would be a person with a different set of experiences and history that made her what she was. Changing the world would be suicide. And mass murder." The four looked at each other. "She might be right", said Mayuka. "Do we really have the right to demand this?" "Yes, I think so" replied Sasami. "Why?" "Because people here and people there are similar. They don't have completely different experiences, they don't have completely different personalities. They are the same people." "You're not being convincing", said Washuu. "What's so great about this so-called real world that you want to go back to it so badly?" "It's good for our family", answered Aeka. "My brother won't be dying, and Tenchi and Ryouko will live as long as us. And there are people we need to bring to justice." "They never committed crimes now, right? Why do you need to bring them to justice? It's not like they'll do it again if they're not stopped. If they're even the same 'they'." "Washuu", asked Sasami, "do you know the real reason why the population of the world suddenly halved at the turn of the millennium? It's one of those extremely unlikely things now. But before, it didn't happen just by chance. It happened because the project that these people set up did an experiment. They unleashed the First Angel at the South Pole, causing an Impact that nearly destroyed the world just from its effects on the climate. And then came the wars... nations with troubles often take it out on other nations. Three billion people, all dead because of Ikari Gendou and Ikari Yui. And they're not coming back, Washuu. Gendou and Yui killed more people than Hitler, or Stalin, or Pol Pot. It was the greatest crime in the history of the human race." * * * * * The doorbell rang. "Who is it?" shouted Washuu. "Candygram" replied Rei's voice. "Very funny, Rei. Door, open." It did. "Shouldn't you be at school now?" asked Washuu as Rei entered. "I... usually would be", said Rei. "But I came back. I have something to show you. It's really very important." "Are you sure?" asked Washuu. "I've had enough visitors today." "Yes, I'm sure", replied Rei. "I thought about it for a long time before I realized that I had no choice. I was only delaying the inevitable." Rei pulled a squat, pink, wand from her bookbag. It resembled a fat stick with a heart on the end. She whispered something--in obvious embarassment--and suddenly pointed the object at Washuu. Washuu reached for it with her scanner, but beams of radiance from the wand shone onto her, somehow freezing her in place. She feebly clawed at the air, dropping the scanner, which clattered to the floor. Fear and anger suddenly shone through Washuu's eyes. "Now", said Rei while the others stood around not knowing what to do, "you love everyone. You love the world." Rei stammered as she spoke, the words perhaps not meant to be about only Washuu. "Y-- You'll do whatever brings it back at a-- any cost to yourself, because you love the world so much. It's the only right thing to do." The other emotions in Washuu's eyes faded away, to be replaced by a starry-eyed look of adoration. Mesmerized, she reached into the air with both hands, pulling from nowhere an odd machine, about a meter wide and studded with pipes and valves. "I've been so selfish..." she said as she turned a dial on the machine. "Goodbye." "Mayuka, now", said Sasami. Mayuka nodded, and brought out the transport orb. She mentally forced it to do its work, and as light flared around them Sasami grabbed Rei's hand and pulled her with them. All four and Rei vanished as what Ikari Gendou had tried to do, and what Washuu had diverted, finally unravelled all across the globe. They reappeared in what, eighteen years ago, had been Yuzuha's control room. The displays Mayuka had been using were still tuned to Earth, and all the scenes were twisting and warping. "She did it", said Sasami. "We're back...." Rei clutched her head and fell onto the floor, gasping. * * * * * "You brought her along?" wondered Aeka. "And she's ill now." "She's not ill", replied Sasami. "She's assimilating." "Assimilating?" "With Lilith. Like me... me as a Juraian and me as a tree. Combined together. There was no Lilith in that alternate world, but now Lilith suddenly exists again, out there buried in that black cavern beneath Tokyo-3. And Rei exists here, and both are parts of the same being. I'm sorry Rei... you don't have years to do this in. Are you okay?" "I..." Rei tried to get up. Her legs collapsed under her, dropping her unceremoniously to the floor until she grabbed at the air and managed to raise herself to a standing position again. "Gendou, I remember you... everyone... the Evas... Mom?" * * * * * "You've lost", said Yui. "All that power, and you lost. SEELE lost. Prepare for the next step in human evolution." Waves of darkness and light surrounded them and expanded. Sasami shot a blast of unimaginable power at them... but it evaporated in midair as the waves passed it. They overtook Sasami, Akuma, Ryouko and Tenchi, the mass production Evas... then suddenly vanished. Washuu reached for her last-resort device. With it she might be able to interfere with the upcoming Impact... at the cost of the self-identity of every person on the planet. But she hesitated. The momentary feeling that her insides were melting and twisting had abruptly stopped. She glanced around. Stretch of barren sand, check. Monster clones in the sky, check. It wasn't the end of the world after all; somehow, the Third Impact had failed. And there was only one way that could have happened. Washuu felt quite proud of herself. In front of her materialized Sasami, Aeka, Noboyuki, Mayuka, and Rei. No doubt fresh from a stay in the Dark Dimension. "You did it", said Sasami. "It's back." Washuu's keen mind had no problem deducing what Sasami had meant. "Yes, I suppose I must have done it after all. Was it hard convincing me?" * * * * * Shinji turned around and sat down in the sand. He had had to run from that battle for long enough. Would it be all right? He had once considered killing himself, and failed only because he didn't have the courage... now, if Kaworu wasn't stopped, Kaworu would do the job for not just him, but the whole world. Could Akuma win this fight? In front of Shinji materialized Akuma, hovering in the air with his ponytail blowing behind him. He looked down at Shinji, and then raised one thumb in triumph. He smiled. "Come on", he said, "there's not much time, I need to get Asuka and Misato and Kaji too. Besides, you'll kill yourself if you don't come and see the end of the whole Project...." Shinji reached out and let himself be taken along, but grimaced at Akuma's remark. "Hm? Was it something I said?" * * * * * Even when facing SEELE and knowing that the smallest political misstep could send them to an early grave, Gendou and Yui always kept their goal in mind. So many days of the present were full of conflict and despair, but they knew, through their hope for the future, that each day was only an obstacle that had to be overcome before they would achieve their ultimate triumph. And now, as they raced towards their goal, someone came by with a steamroller. It was all gone now; conflict and despair were all that they had left. Perhaps all that they ever really had accomplished. It seemed like the crowd standing around them included every living person that they'd ever done the slightest wrong too. The boy with the ponytail had brought in the three Children, and had just announced he was going to find Kaji and Misato. And the rest of the aliens were there, too; as Ryouko and Tenchi filled the skies with vapor clouds that were once mass-production Evangelion units, husband and wife felt completely impotent, tossed around by forces outside their control. In fact, had they only thought about people other than themselves a little more, they might have realized that at the moment they were only tasting what Shinji had had to swallow for most of his lifetime, all because of them. "It's only a matter of time", said Rei. "A few minutes of time, tops, and then the time waiting for your trial. You finally went too far." Shinji struggled to bring the words out to his tongue. He realized that this was a moment he would remember forever, and tried to say something. But the best he could do was to stammer out "Your... evil plans... are finished". He thought he sounded like a character from an old manga. Gendou rolled his eyes. "Evil plans... no. You always did see things in overly simple terms, Shinji. The entire human race could have been united as one. The project could have succeeded. But you people don't know what you've just destroyed. If you fully understood it, this could never have happened." "You know", said Washuu, "I do have something of a reputation, but there's me, and there's Kagato, and whatever you think, you're rather closer to the Kagato side." "You and Yui", said Rei, "are the ones who did wrong here. You lost track of humanity. You hurt me, you hurt your son, and you hurt everyone in the world. All so you could achieve your dream... *your* dream. Nobody else's. The greatest evils in history were done by men who had the wrong kind of dreams and didn't care what happened to the people who didn't understand them as long as the world was remade in their image." "How dare you?" said Gendou. "Do you understand that your own role in the Project... your very existence, were all our doing?" Rei turned to Sasami and said "Go ahead, Mom. Tell him." At the word "Mom", Asuka opened her mouth. "I want to hear this, Asuka", said Shinji. Miraculously, Asuka did stop. Or maybe she was just speechless anyway. Sasami nodded to Rei. "Mr. and Mrs. Ikari, do you remember the secret of the three goddesses, from the Dead Sea Scrolls? Scientist, mother, and woman, I believe it was translated as. Three aspects, a concept that sparked your own project's peculiar version of artificial intelligence. Do you remember their names?" "That's top-secret...." replied Gendou. "Their names", she continued, "were Washuu, Tsunami, and Tokimi. And Tsunami is me. I remember now; it took me a long time to recall, but after all it was billions of years ago that the first Impact tore the Moon from the Earth. I created Lilith, the source of all life on the Earth. Lilith is Rei, and Rei's mother is me. You're the ones who don't understand." "Congratulations, Wonder Girl", muttered Asuka. * * * * * Kaji held out two pairs of handcuffs. Gruffly, he commanded that Gendou and Yui stick their hands out, expecting resistance and being fully prepared to shoot them. But they didn't resist; of fifteen years of dedication and single-mindedness, all they were left with was a sense of inescapable failure. It was too late for them; they could no longer avoid whatever their fate might be. "Wait", said Washuu. "You have something we might want to use. Ryouko, I need some help here." "What is it?" replied Ryouko. "Tenchi and I were just about ready to go off and have some time to ourselves...." "It'll only be a minute." She pointed to Gendou's hand. "Oh, that? No problem." Ryouko touched the creature buried in the skin and dematerialized, phasing it right out of Gendou's palm. She became solid again, and tossed it to Washuu, who caught it and put it in her pocket. "Good. I've already downloaded SEELE. They had converted themselves into computer programs in the end, and it's a good thing I have all that storage space. By the way, do any of you like playing Quake XII? Kaji looked at Washuu skeptically. Strange people. But then, they didn't seem malicious, and there was precious little he could do if they were. And they had saved the world. He looked Gendou in the eyes. "By the authority I have under the Internal Investigation Department", announced Kaji, "I place you, Ikari Gendou and Ikari Yui, under arrest for conspiracy, misappropriation of funds, assault and battery, felony homicide three billion times over...." He clasped the cuffs around his hands, and theirs. Shinji faced his parents. "Why?" he asked. Neither answered. "Why?" repeated Shinji. "Tell me why!" But he knew there was no answer that could possibly satisfy himself. Epilogue Fly Me to the Moon "Are you sure you want to do this, Kaworu?" asked Shinji. "Washuu brought you back. You don't need to be destroyed again." "I've learned enough, understood enough, from that one day I met you." "It's suicide, Kaworu. I've come too close to it too many times to be able to hide what it is." "You and me are different, Shinji. I am but a portion of Adam, a portion that can't survive alone. Perhaps we will meet in some distant time and place." "How?" "You Lilim have inherited the future, Shinji. Who knows what will happen?" "I suppose", replied Shinji. "We're ready to fly", yelled Akuma from overhead as a gigantic shadow covered the ground. "Get ready...." Shinji looked up. Akuma was hovering in the middle of the air, his body dwarfed by the huge, spiky, spaceship just above him. A beam of energy enveloped him, and Asuka, and all the Masakis, now including Rei. He felt almost jealous that Rei had some sort of family now. It was sad to have such worthless parents as his. But not as sad as not being able to see that and blaming himself instead. * * * * * In the distant past, Shinji knew, men once walked on the moon. They came in peace for all mankind, and they eventually left, never to return again. As he watched the image of the lunar surface on Ryo-ohki's viewscreen grow, he felt like he was cheating somehow. That he was doing something he didn't deserve to do, something only ever done in the history books, something he only did because there were people from space who could break all the rules. There was a slight stop, and then Ryouko announced "We're there, kids." "Goodbye, Kaworu", said Rei. "Goodbye", added Shinji. "Goodbye, Shinji. Goodbye, everyone", said Kaworu. Ryouko gave the transport commands; Kaworu vanished from the bridge in a beam of light. Just before he was completely gone, Washuu reached into her pocket and withdrew a small object, which she tossed into the beam. It dematerialized too. On the stark landscape on the viewscreen appeared a tiny speck. And then suddenly, it was surrounded by a field of energy, pulsating with geometric shapes. "It's done", said Ryouko. "Let's go back." A "Miya" sound reverberated through the bridge, and the view on the screen shrunk away as the ship silently headed back for the Earth. * * * * * Akuma waved around as they all rematerialized on the Earth, indicating the lush green fields and forests of the Masaki estate. "Want to set off some fireworks, Shinji?" he asked. "Hm?" replied Shinji. "Fireworks?" "It's Startica. It's a festival on Jurai." "Oh, that's right. I remember you telling us. So it was real after all. Yes... I'd like to, Akuma. I'd like to stay here for a while; I can't exactly go back now." "Sure you can", said Misato. "The school's funding is officially separate from the project, and it'll probably take a year just to wind everything down anyway." "I didn't know you were here" said Shinji, looking at the woman. "Ryouko offered free drinks. How could I not come?" "Anyway", said Akuma. "Sure you can stay. Come on, lie down on the grass and watch the moon. It's going to be the biggest firework of all time." "If I'm not being too much trouble..." "Shinji, do you know how many times I've *wanted* to have someone visit here without my having to ruin everything by keeping secrets? Stay as long as you want. Please." A glowing red blotch suddenly appeared on the moon's surface. It got bigger, and bigger while everyone watched. "The Third Impact", said Rei. "If you don't want to call it the fourth." "Since when do you volunteer comments, Wonder Girl?" said Asuka. "Since when do you ruin important moments like this?" countered Rei. The redness expanded to cover the whole visible surface of the moon, completely silently. It continued to grow, becoming four times the size of the moon itself as everyone watched. "How long is that going to be there?" asked Rei. "Oh", replied Washuu, "a few hours. Billions of people are going to see it. I doubt too many will know what it is, though." "Well, we know" said Misato, slapping Shinji on the back. * * * * * "What do you think is going to happen next?" asked Asuka. "We're going to go back with Misato. At least for a little while. Rei's staying here... and as for my parents... I suppose we'll find out at the trial. Maybe I haven't learned my lesson after all this, but I hope that they don't get executed." "Don't be an idiot, Idiot Shinji. If you kill a few people, you might get executed. If you kill a million or billion, you get to retire in South America." Shinji glanced down at the ground. "You're still depressed." "I still have reason to be. My parents are mass murderers and we're talking about executing them. And my life is probably going to be as bad as before." "It'll get better, Idiot Shinji. You don't have to pilot Eva. No Angels, no destruction. No conspiracies. And no more mysteries." "You shouldn't feel guilty", said Rei. "You didn't do anything. None of us did." "See?" said Asuka. "Even Little Miss Instant Personality agrees with you. Look, there's a whole world out there. We're kids, we can get over this." Shinji nodded in reluctant agreement. "We just need to figure out what to do next. Does anyone have any ideas?" "Maybe not", replied Asuka, "but we owe it to ourselves to try." END.